Twenty22 Twenty22 stands for the year 2022 when India will be 75 years old.The story of a young and energetic nation on the move,having her foundation in an ancient civilisation.From a glorious past to a glorious future.Our flag's Orange colour symbolizes courage and sacrifice, White stands for peace and truth, Green is for faith and chivalry and Blue represents the color of the sky and the ocean. The central motif is a Chakra, or Buddhist spinning wheel. The 24 spokes of the wheel correspond with the 24 hours of the day, implying that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. , . FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2009 file photo, actor and director Harold Ramis laughs as he walks the red carpet to celebrate The Second City's 50th anniversary in Chicago. The Chicago improv troupe is opening a school focusing on comedic filmmaking and naming it after late writer-director-actor. Ramis died in February 2014 at age of 69 at his home in the Chicago suburbs. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching, File) In this June 4, 2014 photo, a Norfolk Southern locomotive moves along the tracks in Norfolk, Virginia. Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Railway is asking Norfolk Southern shareholders to push the U.S. railway's board to enter into merger negotiations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP Photo - Steve Helber FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, people wait to leave the besieged town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, Syria, where Doctors Without Borders says dozens of people have died of starvation since September. (AP Photo, File) In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, photo, Reece Lightner fills out a job application for a server at a job fair held by The Genuine Hospitality Group, in Miami, as the restaurant group is expanding in South Florida and hiring for all positions at its restaurants. On Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, the Labor Department reports on job openings and labor turnover for December. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 file photo, protesting farmers from the agricultural region of Thessaly park their tractors in the Vale of Tempe, central Greece. Protest organizers said on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016 that the tractor blockade on the highway linking Athens to Greeces second largest city, Thessaloniki, would be in effect indefinitely unless the government withdrew proposals for tax hikes and an overhaul of the pension system. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File) Brad Womacks first stint on The Bachelor in 2007 didnt end so well. The Texas bar owner famously walked away from his final two women, leaving both in tears and earning him a reputation as someone with a phobia of commitment. This season Womack, 38, vowed he was a changed man and ready to find everlasting love. And hes been bursting at the seams for months, saying in interviews that hes in love with a special woman. But is it 28-year-old Seattle executive assistant Chantal OBrien, who made a lasting first impression on Womack when she declared, This is for all the women in America, and slapped him across the face? Or did demure Charlotte, N.C., single mom Emily Maynard, 25, win his heart? Keep reading to find out QUIZ: The Bachelors Heartbreaks & Heartthrobs On Mondays season 15 finale, viewers saw that while Womack had an undeniable affection for OBrien, it was Maynard who got the final rose. Womack told OBrien that she was not the one for him. Ive fallen in love with someone else, he said as tears filled her eyes. Knowing she was heartbroken, he escorted her to her limo, said goodbye and waited for Maynards arrival. As dusk came to the vast South African sky, an emotional Womack then professed his love for Maynard. Youre the one, Em. Youre my once in a lifetime, Womack said. Please let me be your once in a lifetime. Please let me be your best friend. Please let me protect you and your beautiful daughter, and please let me love you for the rest of your life. I love you, Emily. I am truly in love with you. As Womack got down on his knee, Maynard held his face in her hands. Emily, please make me happier than Ive ever been in my life and marry me, Womack said, his voice shaking with emotion. I would love to, Maynard replied, bending over and pulling Womack in for a passionate kiss, before allowing him to place a Neil Lane diamond engagement ring on her finger. You just made me the happiest girl in the world, Maynard said softly into Womacks ear as the two embraced. Did Brad pick the right woman? Vote in our poll New urgent care, family practice opens in Petoskey Bay Street Urgent Care and Family Practice opened in Petoskey in early September and has seen high demand for services ever since. PDVSA crude exports to the United States 643,935 bpd in January Sales of diluted crude oil (DCO) made with Venezuelan extra heavy crude and naphtha decreased 39 percent HOUSTON Petroleumworld.com 02 09 2016 Venezuela's crude exports to the United States fell 14.3 percent in January versus the previous month to 643,935 barrels per day (bpd) due to lower sales of diluted crude oil (DCO) to regular customers, according to Reuters trade flows data. State-run oil company PDVSA and its joint ventures sent a total of 43 crude cargoes to the United States. PDVSA's refining unit Citgo Petroleum was the main receiver. Other importers included Phillips66, Valero Energy and Chevron Corp, which was one of few customers receiving a larger volume of Venezuelan oil last month. Sales of DCO made with Venezuelan extra heavy crude and naphtha decreased 39 percent, but shipments of Merey blend made with different types of crude rose 13.4 percent to 138,680 bpd, according to the data. PDVSA has been buying at least one monthly cargo of African oil crude since last year for refining and blending. This year it has received three cargoes of Nigerian and U.S. crudes at its terminal in Curacao from firms Total, Lukoil and Citgo. Lured by cheap prices and discounts, U.S. refining and trading firms are expected to import a record volume of African crudes in February, but Latin America's limited production capacity has not allowed it to see any benefit from the purchase increase. Venezuela exported 772,880 bpd of crude to the United States last year, an increase versus record lows of 2013 and 2014. On Tuesday morning, police officers in Ventnor once again were charged with blocking off access in and out of Ventnor Heights, as a new moon high tide event sent flood waters from the bay onto Edgewater (above), Dorset Avenue (below) and Wellington Ave (home of Vagabond Tap Room and Kitchen). But with the sun out, and a diminished wind, it seemed like just another day in the life of the Jersey shore, with towns and streets submerged under a couple feet of water. "It's like a regular occurrence," said one resident. Battered by Jonas, residents in Ocean City, North Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Long Beach Township and elsewhere were confronted with rising tidal waters again, and a sinking feeling of deja vu. Ocean City's flooding required firefighters to carry children into the Ocean City Primary School on Monday. In the top photo, you can see the flood waters surrounding a sign for a house lifter, and the house on the left, in the process of being lifted out of harm's way. Many of the homes on Edgewater Street, which borders the intracoastal waterway at the Dorset Avenue bridge in Ventnor have been elevated post-Sandy. Below is a picture of Dorset Avenue, looking toward the bay just over the bridge. Rosenello said Monday's and Tuesday's high tides were "moderate" and above a mere nuisance, but far below the major flooding of Jonas, which caused $13.5 million in infrastructure damage, and rocketed Rosenello to fame after Gov. Christie first called him crazy, then apologized. During Jonas, North Wildwood had been required to evacuate hundreds of residents with high water vehicles and boats who were trapped by Jonas's flooding. Residential damage has not been totaled yet. Doug Bergen, the communications chief of Ocean City, said the last three moon cycles have led to significant flooding. "This was the new moon, with a naturally high tide," he said. "Two weeks ago, was a full moon, and two weeks prior to that, the last new moon, there was some pretty good street flooding. "I think it's more bad luck," he said. "I'm sure folks who live on bay side streets are getting a little weary." Mayors and emergency management people were reluctant to call it a permanent trend of sea level rise and/or climate change. Both Rosenello and Martin Palughi, the mayor of Avalon and head of Cape May County emergency management, pointed to the el nino effect this winter as a culprit. "It seems like it's in a cycle," said Palughi. MEDIA QUESTIONNAIRE Name of Publication Established (Give exact date) ADDRESS TELEPHONE FAX NO NAME OF EDITOR Name of Printer Language Frequency Please attach a copy of declaration certificate Off Days Please specify whether morning, evening or state the date of issue Date on which the first issue was brought out Any special edition Price per copy Annual subscription Editorial Objectives and policy Appeal to any special community, class or section News services subscribed to Special regular features (i.e Womens or Children page etc) & when appearing Slopestyle-Freeride Event of the Year Winner Cruz FEST Choosing the premier slopestyle or freeride event of 2015 turned out to be as difficult a task as judging one would have been. The addition of Crankworx New Zeeland to Crankworx Les 2 Alps and Crankworx Whistler created an FMB' trifecta that set the FMB tour afire - and it appeared in the early running that a slopestyle victory was assured. Brandon Semenuk's mastery of the Joyride course propelled Whistler Crankworx into the hot seat. Then, there was the majestic Suzuki Nine Knights , stages in in Livigno, Italy, where Nicholi Rogatkin launched his massive Cashroll. In the final stretch, a dark horse out-sprinted the heavy hitters. Cruz Fest had it all: style, hugeness, camaraderie, and the vibe that forged slopestyle and freeride into a brotherhood of super-athletes. Cruz FEST It wasn't the biggest FEST of the year. That would have been Nico Vink's massive Loose FEST . The invitational Cruz FEST contest was masterminded by Kyle Jameson, Ryan "R-Dog" Howard, and Jeff Herbertson, who obtained permission to craft a stunning series of lines through the oak trees on the Swan Family ranch near Santa Cruz, California. Sadly, no spectators were allowed, but the purpose of the FEST series is to give competitors an environment where they can push beyond their limits and compete with their peers without the weight of corporate suits and the pressure of make-it-happen media moguls. Riders went huge and were tricking everything. Seeing is believing. If the opening sequence of the following highlight video did not hook you, if you didn't want to get on your bike after the credits rolled, then you probably logged onto PB by mistake. Felix Mendelssohn - View of Amalfi (detail) Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on Feb 6 2016 Star rating: 4.5 Musical cross pollinations North and South of the Alps in the Nash Ensemble's series Mozart, Mendelssohn and the Italians Mozart, Mendelssohn and the Italians, celebrating musical cross-pollinations North and South of the Alps, at the String Quartet No. 13 in A major, Verdi's String Quartet in E minor and Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K581. This was the sixth concert in the Nash Ensemble 's series, celebrating musical cross-pollinations North and South of the Alps, at the Wigmore Hall on 6 February 2016. In this programme there was no Mendelssohn, apart from the image of his 1831 painting 'View of Amalfi' on the front of the printed programme booklet (and a few distant echoes in the Verdi quartet), but it certainly put us into a sunny frame of mind on yet another wet and windy Saturday. Instead we had Donizetti's, Verdi'sand Mozart's The Nash Ensemble Reviewed by Ruth Hansford The three composers on the programme were famed for their operatic output. Tonight all singing was done on the instruments by the glorious Nash Ensemble. We started with Donizetti's String Quartet no 13 in A. The young Donizetti was taken under the wing of Bavarian-born Simon Mayr who put on weekly string quartet evenings, and he was soon asked to write for the group. By the age of 24 he was on to his 13th quartet, though his first operatic success was yet to come. He went on to write a total of 18 quartets, but none were published until a century after his death.'Haydnesque' is the adjective that first springs to mind. The first movement is gentle and easy-going, the cello providing the pulse while the first violin soars. By the second movement, the adagio, we had a strong sense that Donizetti's future would lie in writing for the voice: downward chromatic phrases anticipating one of his sad (but not unhinged) heroines. The larky minuet was followed by tuneful allegro finale; we were by now squarely in Italy rather than wind-swept London.In 1873 Verdi was at a loose end in Naples. Rehearsals for Aida had been halted when his leading lady Theresa Stolz fell ill, and 'for mere amusement' Verdi wrote his only mature chamber work, his string quartet in E minor, at the age of 60. The piece was given a private performance but Verdi initially refused to have it published, protesting that the string quartet was a 'non-native plant' on Italian soil. He later allowed the piece to travel north to Paris and the form's Austro-German home, and it was published by Ricordi in 1876.Inevitably we were on the lookout for echoes from Verdi's operas and we weren't disappointed: the opening E minor movement starts with a melismatic theme reminiscent of some of Amneris' music in Aida. The fact that the second violin (Annabelle Meare) plays this theme gave us a clue too. The second movement Andantino is altogether calmer, and I was put in mind of the ball scene in Un ballo in maschera. The third movement's frantic opening gave way to a lyrical cello tune played mesmerizingly by Adrian Brendel, with pizzicato accompaniment, and the 'Scherzo Fuga' finale anticipated the fugue at the end of Falstaff which Verdi would write 20 years later.After the interval, a single work, Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings. Richard Hosford introduced his own basset clarinet as the result of a DIY session, in the tradition of Stadler, Mozart's clarinettist, who had souped up an A clarinet to add four extra notes at the bottom of the range. The added length also gave the instrument a darker tone loved by Mozart and exploited in the Sesto's aria 'Parto, parto' in La clemenza di Tito.Mozart wrote this quintet in 1789, shortly before Cosi fan tutte. If we are looking for parallels with the ultimate ensemble opera, we might observe that this was played very much as an ensemble tonight, rather than as a string quartet plus soloist. The darker timbre meant that the clarinet would creep in broodingly and quietly, developing into stunning virtuosic passages showing off the whole range of the instrument. There were duets, too, notably and divinely with Laura Samuels on first violin. In fact, everyone gets a turn, and when Lawrence Power's viola solo came in towards the end of the final movement time stood still before the race to the finish.This was a lovely programme played by consummate musicians clearly enjoying every moment.Richard Hosford, clarinetLaura Samuel, violin (Donizetti & Mozart)David Adams, violin (Verdi)Annabelle Meare, violinLawrence Power, violaAdrian Brendel, cello BlogNews Weekly: Fastest Spin & Go Millionaire, 888Live Austria, and Much More February 09, 2016 Jason Glatzer Editor Each week, PokerNews brings you insight into the happenings at the major poker sites. Featuring the most popular blog posts, BlogNews Weekly is your one-stop shop for all your poker blog highlights. This week, BlogNews Weekly brings you highlights from the latest PokerStars, 888poker, and Full Tilt blogs. Two Minutes, Four Hands, and $1 Million! Last year, 13 players won a $1 million jackpot playing the lottery style Spin & Go's. While no player won a seven-digit jackpot in January, it didn't take too long for someone to become filthy rich in February. The PokerStars Blog titled Spin & Go Delivers First 2016 Millionaire discusses how not only did 25-year old Russian PokerStars player "Rainman751" win a life-changing sum in a $100 buy-in Spin & Go, but broke records while doing so. He beat Canada's "Kman_AP2" and Mexico's "pablotenisis", who were each awarded $100,000 just for playing, but did so in the record time of just four hands over two minutes. This shattered the previous record of the 33 hands it took Australia's Anthony "GrindHeaps" Aston to win on December 14 and the time period of nine minutes and 37 seconds it took Canada's "Koovoon" to win on November 21. Learn more on the PokerStars Blog about the record-breaking Spin & Go jackpot win. Eliot Hirn Wins the 888Live Austria Main Event 888poker is more than just online poker. They also offer the unique chance to qualify into 888Live experiences around the world. The first 888Live event of 2016 just took place on the majestic ski-slopes of Austria when Eliot Hirn shipped the 888Live Austria Main Event to win 8,610 as part of a three-way deal. In addition to playing poker, players were able to enjoy many winter activities when not playing. Some of the big names on hand for poker and fun included Team888's Dominik Nitsche and Sofia Lovgren. Additionally, PokerNews strategy writer and well-known American poker player Alec Torelli joined in on the action, finishing in tenth place after being the one-time chip leader. Torelli shared with 888poker how he got involved. "My wife and I were in Milan, and we decided to head up to Innsbruck as she always wanted to bring me here," Torelli explained. "We've heard about the first 888poker event of the year, so we said 'why not?'. I got here two hours late, but I think things went really went well for me today. I had an amazing run of cards and made a couple of good reads - so, here I am on top of the count!" Head over to the 888poker eMagazine to read more about the 888Live Austria experience. Unorthodox Last Hand of the Aussie Millions Main Event The 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event featured two well-known American poker players in Tony Dunst and Ari Engel facing off against each other in heads-up action. Full Tilt Ambassador Ben Jenkins discusses the last hand of play, which he found to be less-than-normal in a few ways, in the Full Tilt Blog titled Hand of the Week: Dunst Goes Down Under. The hand began in normal fashion with Dunst raising the action holding before Engel made a "not so standard" play by three-betting with the . Jenkins points out that the action on the flop and turn were both "very reasonable" on a board of when Engel fired out bets on both streets and Dunst called. Here's where things got interesting according to Jenkins. When the appeared on the river, Engel shoved all in. Dunst eventually called the polarizing bet with just a pair-of-fours after thinking things through. Unfortunately for him, Engel wasn't bluffing and shipped the event for AU$1.6 million. Discover more on the Full Tilt Blog about this hand or watch the video replay of it below. Lead image courtesy of Fabian Grubler - Fabfotos Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+! A suspect has been taken into custody in the shooting of a male Mesa County sheriffs deputy in Pear Park this morning, the Mesa County Sheriffs Office has confirmed. Police scanner traffic indicated around 12:10 p.m. that a suspect had been detained in the backyard of a home on Ol Sun Drive near 30 3/4 and E roads, and that deputies were bagging the mans hands. Authorities were reportedly searching the neighborhood for a handgun, the Grand Junction Sentinel reports. Sheriffs spokesman Henry Stoffel said deputies were called to the 500 block of Fruitvale Court at 11:06 a.m. on a report of a masked man walking with a gun and heading south toward E Road. A deputy responded to the scene and was shot. He was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown, according to Stoffel. Isaiah Mothershed faces charges of attempted murder and five counts of robbery. (Photo: Sioux City PD) Sioux City Police Chief Doug Young held a press conference Monday afternoon to update the media on the weekend shooting of a Sioux City Police Officer. Chief Young says that Officer Ryan Moritz, 42, a 13 year department veteran, was dealing with robbery suspects when he was shot in the inner thigh of his left leg. Police say that Isaiah Mothershed, who was handcuffed and sitting on the couch, retrieved a gun from in the couch and fired a single shot hitting Officer Moritz. Moritz was treated and released at a local hospital. Today, he is recovering at home and is expected to be back to work by the end of the week, KMEG TV reports. Mothershed remains hospitalized with a wound to his thigh. He shot and wounded himself during a struggle with the Officer. Mothershed is charged with two counts of attempted murder and five counts of robbery. A call about a domestic disturbance in Hardin County turned deadly Saturday night, with a Kenton, OH, police officer shot and recovering in a Columbus hospital and the suspect dead. About 5 p.m., Kenton Police took a call of trouble at a house on Grove Street in the northwest part of that city, which is about 60 miles northwest of Columbus. As officers arrived, the suspect, identified as Steve Davis, 47, of Kenton, took off in a vehicle and a pursuit began heading west out of Kenton on Rt. 309. At the intersection of County Road 106, Davis stopped and fired upon pursuing officers and sheriffs deputies, Sheriff Keith Everhart told the Columbus Dispatch. Officer Skyler Newfer was hit in the exchange. Deputy Bryan Bodine, who also was in pursuit, put Newfer in his cruiser and rushed him to Hardin Memorial Hospital, and other law enforcement continued the pursuit. The suspect stopped and exchanged gunfire with pursuing deputies at least twice during the chase, which lasted three or four miles, Everhart said. Then, at the intersection of County Road 106 and Township Road 105, Davis crashed his vehicle. Deputies surrounded the vehicle and found him dead of a gunshot wound. San Antonio Observer editor and publisher Stephanie Zarriello speaks at Saturday's press conference. (Photo: KENS TV screen shot) A little-known Texas tabloid that threatened to publish the names and addresses of every San Antonio police officer as retaliation for a controversial officer-involved shooting has backed off after national outrage, the New York Daily News reports. San Antonio Observer editor and publisher Stephanie Zarriello likened local cops to Klansmen and sex offenders in a Saturday press conference, announcing her paper's plan in response to the death of Antronie Scott. The Observer is a small circulation tabloid covering African-American news. Police Magazine could not find a Website for the publication. Scott, 36, was being followed by a undercover police officer Thursday night. Police say when Scott got into a car in a parking lot on Sahara Street, a uniformed officer was called in to arrest him but saw something in Scott hands he believed was a gun. He shot Scott once in the chest, killing him. The object in Scott's hand turned out to be a cellphone. No gun was found at the scene, KENS TV reports. Zarriello stood down Sunday, accusing the media of misinterpreting her. She told News4SanAntonio she never planned to publish cops names and only said she would to make an officer think twice before shooting so fast and killing an unarmed person. Dep. Derek Geer (Photo: Mesa County Sheriff's Office) Mesa County Sheriff's Deputy Derek Geer is in "final hours of his life," on life support and awaiting arrangements for organ donation, Sheriff Matt Lewis told staff last night in an e-mail, reports the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. Geer, a 15-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, was shot multiple times and critically wounded Monday while investigating a report of an armed person walking down a Grand Junction street. The shooter, a 17-year-old Grand Junction boy, was taken into custody. Lewis did not identify him or indicate the charges to be filed against him during a news conference Monday evening, the Daily Sentinel reports. Lewis praised the 40-year-old Geer, a U.S. Navy veteran who was hired by the Sheriff's Office in 2001 and has worked in several divisions, including the Mesa County Jail and the Mesa County Justice Center. Geer is married and has two children, ages 11 and 13, Lewis said. "This is a person who has dedicated his adult life to this organization, to protecting this community and today, quite possibly, made the ultimate sacrifice," said Lewis, who alternated between the past and present tense in describing Geer. "This person was a member of this community. He was a father. He was a husband. His kids attend school here. He was active in many different things in this community. He's going to be known to many people." Lewis said three deputies responded at 11:06 a.m. to a report of a man walking with a gun in the 500 block of Fruitvale Court and heading south toward E Road. The deputies encountered the teenager on the other side of the four-lane highway in the area of 30 3/4 and E roads, and Geer began talking with the teenager, who asked if he was going to be detained. When Geer told him yes, the teenager pulled away and an altercation ensued. Geer fired a TASER that struck the teen, but the teen pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at Geer, according to Lewis. Police radio traffic captured Geer reporting that he had been shot and was "bleeding heavily" from his face. A pause followed, and then the deputy said he needed an ambulance. A deputy who responded to the scene found Geer had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was not responsive. "I ask the community to come together," Lewis said. "This is a time when we as a Sheriff's Office, we come together and we support each other. This affects more than just this office. This is a community effect as well. "We're not OK today, but we will be. And we'll all get through this together." A trio of federal pilot projects aimed at thwarting violent extremism are off to a tentative start. Minneapolis, Boston, and Los Angeles, all chosen to host the Department of Justice anti-terror initiative, are taking different approaches, but all three are facing common hurdles, reports the Star Tribune. Community critics have pushed back, arguing the pilot projects train a damaging spotlight on Muslim communities and mainly seek to keep tabs on them. A lawsuit last week charges the feds have withheld documents that could shed more light on the initiative. The pilots have also drawn a diverse cast of supporters who see a chance for government and community members to team up on preventing violence. But some are getting impatient with the slow pace and modest federal investment so far. In Los Angeles, law enforcement officials say the project has backfired, sowing confusion and alarm in Muslim communities. Thanks in part to an infusion of private and state dollars, Minneapolis has moved furthest beyond the planning phase. In September 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the three Countering Violent Extremism pilots, invoking the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and attempts by Americans to join the group in the Middle East. In each city, U.S. attorney offices would enlist community partners and shape their own initiatives. In Minneapolis, the pilot focuses on engaging young people in the citys sizable Somali community, shaken by the departures of youths to join overseas militants and a federal case against men accused of trying to join up. Some in that community have said that focus is stigmatizing. Big Brothers Big Sisters is launching a mentoring program for Somali youth, and the state will offer $250,000 in grants to combat recruitment by overseas radicals. In March, a nonprofit enlisted to divvy up $400,000 in federal and private funding for youth programs will announce the organizations it has picked out of 14 applicants. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, officials plan to build on a long-standing effort to forge a closer relationship with Muslim communities. The police and sheriffs departments have gained recognition for that work, including regular forums at area mosques and efforts to recruit Muslim cops. They have also at times stirred controversy, such as with a 2007 police initiative to map parts of the city with the highest concentrations of Muslims. Leaders say they also hope to support existing initiatives, such as the Muslim Public Affairs Councils three-year-old Safe Spaces program, in which imams and other leaders engage with youth who express support for radical ideology. In Boston, law enforcement, school and city officials, and community groups produced a broad plan, with more than 100 action points: antibullying programs, anti-radical messages on social media, hot lines for concerned family members, cultural sensitivity training for government staffers and more. Spirit of Blue presented a $2,500 grant to the Beaverton (OR) Police Department for the acquisition of a new K-9 working dog, sponsored by the Planet Dog Foundation. The grant was presented by Ryan T. Smith of Spirit of Blue (center) and was received by (left to right) Officer Matt Barrington, K-9 Atlas, and Chief Geoff Spalding. The Spirit of Blue Foundation has awarded a K-9 Safety Grant to the Beaverton (OR) Police Department to contribute to the acquisition of a tracking and article search K-9. The new dog will replace veteran K-9 Alex, who retired at the first of the year after serving for eight years with Officer Steve Anderson. The $2,500 grant was sponsored by the Planet Dog Foundation, the charitable arm of dog toy and accessory manufacturer Planet Dog, which has given over $1 million dollars to organizations that bring people and dogs together for fun and mutual support. "The Beaverton Police K-9 Program sets the standard in this area of the country," said Ryan T. Smith, Executive Director of the Spirit of Blue. "Not only will K-9 Atlas be a great resource for this city, but he will bring an added layer of protection to the officers in Beaverton and will continue a legacy of excellence in this program and others that are influenced by it." Smith served as a Reserve Police Officer with the Beaverton Police Department from 1999 to 2006. K-9 Atlas is a 24-month-old male German Shepherd, bred in Hungary, who received his initial training at the Vohne Liche Kennels in Denver, IN. His K-9 handler will be Officer Matt Barrington, in his first role as a K-9 officer, who has been with the department for eight years. Officer Barrington and K-9 Atlas are currently in a 10-week K-9 Academy program and will begin working the road in Mid-March of 2016. K-9s bring an auditory and olfactory advantage to police work, able to track subjects and identify articles not easily found by their human counterparts. But all K-9s are trained to protect their handlers, making them an effective less-lethal force option while enhancing the safety of officers on duty. "The Planet Dog Foundation is proud to sponsor the great work of essential canine partners like Atlas," added Stephanie Volo, Chief Retail Officer of Planet Dog Inc. "We welcome the opportunity to partner with the Spirit of Blue Foundation to offer needed grants to deserving agencies such as this." Statistics released by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund show that 124 law enforcement officers lost their lives in 2015, an increase of 4% from the prior year. 42 of those officers were firearm related fatalities, while 35 were lost as a result of a motor vehicle crash. In addition, the Officer Down Memorial Page reported that 26 K-9 working dogs were lost in 2015 as well. The reality of these statistics, and the increasing number of underfunded law enforcement agencies across the country, fuel the Spirit of Blue safety grant initiative. The Spirit of Blue Foundation actively encourages the public at large to honor and appreciate law enforcement officers who serve to protect our communities. By supporting the Spirit of Blue Foundation, the public can make an impact in the lives of law enforcement officers every day. To learn more about the Spirit of Blue, or make a donation, visit www.spiritofblue.com. About The Spirit of Blue Foundation The Spirit of Blue Foundation, based out of Chicago, IL, is a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to the enhancement of officer safety and vitality throughout the law enforcement community by promoting public awareness for their protection and fulfilling safety equipment and training needs. The Spirit of Blue Foundation develops and executes fundraising campaigns nationally with the support of partner non-profits, national retailers, and private equipment manufacturers. Fundraising proceeds are distributed in the form of Safety Equipment Grants to law enforcement agencies across the country from local to federal levels. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The latest Franklin Pierce University and the Boston Herald Democratic poll of New Hampshire found that Hillary Clinton has gained 13 points on Bernie Sanders in the past week, and has cut the Sanders lead from 20 points to 7 points. Sanders still leads Clinton 51%-44%, but his lead has shrunk 13 points from the 57%-37% lead that he enjoyed last week. Clintons favorability has increased slightly from 72%-75%. Sanders favorability has stayed almost the same going from 88% to 87%. Clinton gained seven points of support from Democratic voters while Sanders lost 6 points. The margin for Clinton to pull off an upset in New Hampshire is small. Only 20% of New Hampshire Democratic voters said that they are open to changing their minds. The open-minded voters would have to shift to Clinton by more than a 2 to 1 margin for her to win the primary. Each candidate is getting support for different reasons. The number one reason that voters support Clinton is her experience and record. The top reason that voters support Sanders is that he supports issues that are important to them. It has been expected by both campaigns that the race in New Hampshire would tighten up. As was the case in Iowa, the polls in New Hampshire all over the place. The only point that every poll agrees on is that Bernie Sanders is winning. The problem for the Sanders campaign is that expectations are sky high. If Sanders does not win New Hampshire by double digits, the results will be viewed as a victory for Clinton. A single digit loss would allow Clinton to use the same comeback narrative that Bernie Sanders employed after his near loss in Iowa. The road is about to become more challenging for Sen. Sanders after New Hampshire. The campaigns will head to Nevada for the February 20 caucuses; then it is on to South Carolina. Once the primary reaches South Carolina, it will kick off a run of states that Clinton will be favored to win. Sen. Sanders needs a big win in New Hampshire to carry him into Nevada, but Hillary Clinton is not giving up the Granite State without a fight. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A complaint has been filed against Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz after the Republican may have violated Texas state law with an illegal fundraising letter. The Houston Chronicle reported: The solicitation came in an envelope featuring a return address in official government type and the words check enclosed. The check was a fake check made out to Cruzs campaign, accompanied by a missive asking the recipient to send in a matching donation. Such fundraising techniques are relatively common, but in Texas they may now be illegal under a law passed last year by the state Legislature. The law, House Bill 1265, authored by Houston Democrat Gene Wu, required solicitations resembling government notices, checks or negotiable invoices to include, in at least 18-point type, the words SPECIMEN-NON-NEGOTIABLE. Cruzs mailer said in small type this check is a facsimile not redeemable or negotiable and has no cash value. The complaint was filed with the state attorney general by Progress Texas. As his presidential campaign has continued to lose momentum, Ted Cruz has grown increasingly desperate. The fundraising mailer comes on the heels of the Cruz campaign mailer that accused Iowans of voter violations, the campaigns spreading of a false report on caucus night that Ben Carson was dropping out of the Republican race. Ted Cruz might be the dirtiest candidate on the Republican side. There seems to be now which the Cruz campaign wont stoop to in their efforts to raise money and mislead voters. A complete disregard for facts is one of the few consistent traits of both Cruz and his campaign. In less than a month, Cruz has been busted for lying about not having health insurance, and lying about Obamacare. Cruzs lies have become so chronic that even Fox News called him out for lying about President Obamas record on jobs. Ted Cruz may have finally taken his lies a step too far with a mailer that is confusing Texans and in violation of the law. Heres hoping that Cruz is finally held accountable for his attitude of doing anything to win. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led Democrats in condemning the historic mistreatment of President Obama and his budget. In a letter to Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), Sanders and the Democrats wrote: We write to express our dismay over your decision to not hold a hearing on the Presidents Fiscal Year 2017 budget request. This will be the first time in the Budget Committees history that no such hearing has taken place. Each year, the President submits to Congress a budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. This request includes multiple policy proposals that deserve full and fair consideration by the Congress. Inviting the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to testify on the Presidents budget allows this committee to explore those proposals. It also provides the committee with the opportunity to ask the administration about how it is carrying out existing policies. The Presidents budget is more than a political document; it is the compilation of the opinions of experts from throughout the government who are carrying out policies and programs created by Congress. It is based on their individual and collective judgment on what items require more funding, and where savings can be found. Declining to give the Presidents budget a hearing is disrespectful to all of the hard work that went into producing this expansive document. The Budget Committee has an important institutional role, and fulfilling it requires coordination between the executive and legislative branches. As you recall, in February 2004, all Senate office buildings closed because of the presence of the toxin ricin in a Senate office. Even so, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the Presidents budget request using the House Budget Committees hearing room. Even under those extraordinary circumstances, the committee carried out its duties. This year, with no unusual circumstances to prevent us from doing our work, we have been provided with no reasonable explanation for the decision not to hold a hearing. Furthermore, this decision runs counter to repeated calls by the majority for regular order in the Senate. Instead, we are faced with overt partisanship when we should be addressing important issues that face our country. Although we will have disagreements regarding the budget the committee will produce, we fully expect the majority will want its proposal to get a full and fair hearing, and we are committed to taking part in that process. The budget is a serious matter and requires the engagement of Congress and the President. For that reason, we are disappointed and dismayed that you have declined to provide a forum at which we as members of the Budget Committee can learn more about the Presidents budget. The letter was also signed by Democratic budget committee members Sens. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Ron Wyden (OR), Patty Murray (WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Mark Warner (VA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Tim Kaine (VA), and Independent Angus King (ME). If George W. Bush got a budget hearing in 2004 when the Senate was under chemical attack, there is no reason outside of partisan politics for President Obamas budget to be denied the same courtesy. Democrats are rightly outraged over the treatment of the President. The Senate Democratic letter was more civil that the House Democrats letter on the refusal of Republicans to give the Presidents budget a hearing, but it was an equally devastating indictment of the ugly disrespect that Obama has had to put up with from his political critics while in office. In a political environment where Donald Trump proves that political civility is dead on a daily basis, the American people deserve better than the Republican Partys constant insulting of the nations Commander In Chief. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print A few years ago Republicans being pushed hard by the burgeoning extremist right-wing of the party began touting their conservative purity to attack other Republicans. At the time one wondered who was the authority on what conservative purity entailed and why Republicans were attacking each other over a label no Republican in recent history could have ever lived up to. Now it is 2016 and it appears that no matter how divisive it was for Republicans to demand conservative purity of their politicians, a neophyte Democrat has embraced the tactic and, using his progressive purity test, is criticizing other Democrats for not meeting the lefts version of purity. For some Democrats it is bad enough this kind of tactic is playing out on the left, but it is being extended to attack a sitting Democratic President for not being a pure progressive and abandoning the base that put him in office. It is a reiteration of the attacks that prompted the 2009 EmoProg movement to outrage against President Obama and contributed greatly to the Republican takeover of the House and several state legislatures in 2010. What is seriously curious is why anyone in their right mind believes for a second that Barack Obama ever ran as a progressive, or failed to deliver on non-existent promises the angry progressive purists punished the nation for in 2010 by sitting out the election. It is getting difficult to understand exactly where Bernie Sanders stands politically; socialist, progressive, democratic socialist, or Democrat because anyone not embracing his agenda is not what he says they claim to be. He predictably raises Hell about income equality as if that will frighten Republicans into raising the minimum wages or raise taxes on the rich, but of course President Obama has raised Hell for seven straight years over the same issues to exactly the same Republican response and it makes him not progressive enough and abandoned the base that elected him. It does not matter if one claims to be a socialist, a pure progressive, a democratic socialist, or Democrat, Americas political system is not the purview of any one faction any more than any one Party; this is something the EmoProg faction fails to comprehend. Now, either to pander to the Emos or continue attacking President Obama as a surrogate for Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Sanders is once again assailing the President for letting down the Progressive movement. This is an old assertion from Senator Sanders and although he credits President Obama for helping the economy, there is little else except repeating the claim that the President abandoned the people who elected him. A claim he took to the next level during 2011 when said it was a good idea to launch a primary challenge against a successful sitting Democratic President for abandoning the people who put him in office. A claim that Bernie shares with harsh Obama critic and Sanders BFF and ally Cornell West. Cornell West also screams to anyone who will listen that the n*ggerized President Obama posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit; a Wall Street president. It is eerily like Sanders supporters currently claiming that anyone not feelingthebern is a paid Wall Street shill, a counterfeit liberal, and corrupt. What Messrs. Sanders and West refuse to acknowledge is that Barack Obama never ran as anything other than a liberal Democrat; something most would cite as a left-leaning Democrat because anything else would not have got him elected twice by a right-leaning population. For the record, according to the latest polls only 16 percent of Democrats claim to be progressive out of 24 percent of the population claiming to be liberal, and 40 percent are purely conservative. The remainder consider themselves centrists. John McCain or Mitt Romney would be president if Barack Obama had run as a pure progressive simply because Americas population is, like it or not, predominately conservative; not liberal, not socialist, and certainly not progressive. It is hard to understand why Senator Sanders continues resurrecting his criticism of the President when Barack Obama is not running for the presidency or the Democratic nomination because he already won, twice. Many Americans and more than a few Democrats actually think that despite the fierce, non-stop obstruction by congressional Republicans and a few conservative Democrats, President Obama has done a miraculous job of getting a Hell of a lot accomplished. It is something Senator Sanders, more than anyone, should know a lot about just how difficult it is to get anything through Congress with a unified Republican bloc obstructing any and every thing a Democrat proposes; it is even harder for a socialist or progressive. In fact, during his quarter-century in Congress Senator Sanders was chief sponsor of just 3 bills that were eventually signed into law; two renaming Post Offices in Vermont and one increasing a cost of living raise for Veterans as Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairman in 2013. America is a very politically diverse demographic and despite the population leaning conservative, President Obama won twice and has been effective working for all Americans by being a left-leaning centrist. It is troublesome, even for a progressive secular humanist, to see Democrats resort to a Republican ploy of measuring other Democrats according to their progressive purity. As an aside, here is about how much so-called progressives actually know about progressivism. Two years ago when President Obama proposed a budget with precise numbers and recommendations from a real Progressive organization, the Center for American Progress, liberals were ballistic and accused the President of embracing the conservative agenda and throwing Americans under the bus when the budget was a Democratic wish list. One expects members of the same party to attack each other; even Democrats. However, to bring stale attacks against a sitting President of a Party one just joined and continuing to assail him for not being something he never claimed to be is frankly petty and unbecoming of any Democrat. This is particularly true when the President has successfully brought the nation from the brink of financial ruin and accomplished a world of feats that even a socialist-turned-progressive-turned Democrat should acknowledge was miraculous under the circumstances and not abandoning the people who elected him. One certainly hopes that any Democrat remembers it was not just progressives or liberals who elected Barack Obama as President twice and it is why the President works for all Americans; a task that always leaves some childish group focused solely on themselves greatly aggrieved. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print There is an has always been an undercurrent of anti-Semitism in conservative ranks. It rears its ugly head from time to time, such as when Ann Coulter claims Jews are unperfected Christians who are therefore oh so close to being actual human beings. Nothing so subtle for Ted Nugent, who recently called Obama a Racist Child-Killing Freak. This time the admitted sexual predator and ex-rocker went to Facebook to publicly air his anti-Semitism, posting a photo with the caption, So who is really behind gun control? The problem is that all those pictured are Jewish, like the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and attorney and pundit Alan Dershowitz, to name just a few. Just to reinforce that point, Nugent got his Julius Streicher on and put an Israeli flag next to each of their faces: He wrote, Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security! Know them well. Tell every 1 you know how evil they are. Let us raise maximum hell to shut them down! Its another trip on the conservative crazy train, where the Jews control everything. Look how theyre ruining Ted Nugents America, the poor draft-dodging sexual predator. So according to Nugent, people who want sane gun control measures are evil and hate freedom. You would think an allegedly pro-life political party would actually get behind any measures designed to save lives. Democrts want to protect us from terrorists by stopping gun sales to terrorists. Republicans have no problem arming the enemies of our nation and our freedom. Nor, obviously, does Ted Nugent. And so, just as obviously, the only real punk here is Ted Nugent himself, as he has proved time and again. As for his obvious anti-Semitism, it is beyond the pale and something for which he, and those he has endorsed (hello Donald Trump), should be deeply ashamed. It is interesting that conservatives claim to be such big friends of Israel while hating actual Jews. Donald Trump said awhile back he didnt understand why Jews support Obama. He thinks they should support the candidate with anti-Semite Ted Nugent in his corner instead. Israel, are you paying attention to who your real friends are? Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. What's in a name? Leaders at Minnesota State College - Southeast Technical hope the answer to that is more students. The college announced plans for a name change this week, after a decision to offer an associate of art's degree, which it says will lead to more course options and easier credit transfers for students after their two years at SE Tech. The technical college, like many in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, has struggled with an enrollment decline over the last five years. But the college anticipates the new moniker coupled with the degree offerings will boost enrollment. "With the change of mission comes a need to consider changing the name of the college," according to a news release from the college. "Those colleges that have the word 'college' or are comprehensive can more easily transfer their credits for four-year institutions so that was a huge impetus for me to move in this direction," said SE Tech President Dorothy Duran. ADVERTISEMENT During the last 10 years, full-year enrollment dropped almost 8 percent, and the college's total credit headcount dropped nearly 20 percent. SE Tech's enrollment peaked in 2010, after the recession, and has been in decline since. Duran said because the college is workforce-focused, enrollment is directly tied to the economy. The unemployment rate in Red Wing is 3.5 percent, and Winona County is even lower, at 2.9 percent, according to December figures . The college also has had problems with credits transferring in the past, so it hopes this will make the process seamless. College leaders looked to Pine Technical and Community College and St. Cloud Technical and Community College for inspiration both schools transitioned to a community and technical college model and saw enrollment boosts, Duran said. The change will effectively put "community" in the college's title to convey it is a "comprehensive" and "transferable" college within the MnSCU system. Discussion started in September 2014 and was approved by bargaining units this December. Because the heart of the change is the college's mission, it also needs approval by the MnSCU board of trustees. The college offers certificates, diplomas and associate of science and and associate of applied science degrees, most of which are designed for "workforce readiness" in the areas of business, health care, the trades and technology. But Duran said area high schools asked for more offerings, and she expects many of those students will be funneled to the college. ADVERTISEMENT The college is soliciting public input for ideas about the change and plans to move forward with a new name if approved by MnSCU in April, and degree options could be available as soon as this fall. "Southeast Technical belongs to the Winona and Red Wing communities indeed to the entire region and we treasure the role we play serving your educational needs," Duran said. Duran said people in both communities are supportive of the change, especially in Red Wing, since SE Tech is the only public education option there. "For Southeast Technical to become a community college, it's huge," Duran said. "People are very excited at the opportunity to have a community college." The college is seeking public input for the name change, an adaption of the current name, or something completely new. Submissions should be sent to: www.southeastmn.edu/name . The form will be available until Feb. 10. It will also hold Community Open Forums in Winona on Feb. 22 from 6-8 p.m. and in Red Wing on Feb. 23 from 6-8 p.m. to get public feedback and ideas. AND ADVERTISEMENT 2015 Full-year Enrollment: Minnesota State College - Southeast Technical: 1,454 Riverland Community College: 2,078 Rochester Community and Technical College: 4,134 Normandale Community College (highest enrollment): 6,799 Rainy River Community College (lowest enrollment): 278 Yes, at the GEC voting center at the Westin. Yes, at one of the satellite voting centers open on Saturdays. No; I'm voting on Nov. 8. No; I'm not voting in the general election. Vote View Results When I was working on the Weekly Standard article The threat from Minnesota men,' I tried to get an interview with United States Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger about the pilot Countering Violent Extremism Program of which he is the nominal head. I studied up on the program as directed by Lugers spokesman. The spokesman ultimately sent me on my way with a few unkind words about my failings while declining my request. I concluded that Luger didnt want to talk about it, probably with good reason. Todays Star Tribune carries a long article by Mila Koumpilova about the pilot Countering Violent Extremism programs in Minneapolis, Boston and Los Angeles. Koumpilova shows no evidence of having spoken with Luger either. One has to read her article with extreme care to understand that in Minnesota nobody knows what the pilot program is because as yet it is little more than a pot of money to be disbursed by a third-party. This is what I learned along the way about Minnesotas pilot program that is in part the subject of Koumpilovas article and the same appears to apply to one degree or another to the other purported programs she discusses. Minnesotas pilot program goes under the name Building Community Resilience. It is aimed at Minnesotas large community of Somali Muslims. The pilot program was announced a year ago. Minnesota Public Radio has a report with useful background here. The program hasnt gotten off the ground yet, but we know it invokes the usual shibboleths to explain the attraction of the Islamist cause to Somali Minnesotans: The [framework?] identified the root causes of radicalization include: disaffected youth a deepening disconnect between youth and religious leaders internal identity crises community isolation lack of opportunity including high unemployment, lack of activities for youth, and few mentors. Is there any evidence that these supposed root causes get to the heart of the problem? The ten Minnesota men charged with seeking to join ISIS in the current cases provide a case study that tends to belie the shibboleths. The details of Building Community Resilience have yet to be worked out. Luger has essentially subcontracted development to an entity called Youthprise. Youthprise is to administer the grant money that will fund the program. The organization recently held an information session about its upcoming Request for Proposals for 501c3 nonprofit organizations in Minnesota that promote and enable engagement, prevention and intervention activities and services that help build the resiliency of the Somali Minnesotan community in addressing structural challenges facing the Somali youth. Proposals were due January 29, 2016. Applicants are to be notified of the outcome of their grant requests on February 26, 2016. In other words, we dont know what the program amounts to yet. We only know it is based on the Marie Harf school of sociology (see above). The memorandum of understanding between Luger and Minnesota Somali leaders (linked above) reflects the wariness of Somali-Minnesotans. It stipulates that the program will not be used for surveillance purposes by any law enforcement agency or by any person working for or on behalf of any law enforcement agency. As I have previously, Im going to go out on a limb and say we would be better off without Building Community Resilience. Like Countering Violent Extremism, Building Community Resilience is a classic euphemism of the Obama era. What we really need is straight talk. It doesnt cost a penny and it pays big dividends. Sad news yesterday of the passing of William Tucker, one of the great freelance journalists of our time. I didnt know Bill especially well, but we spoke on the phone now and then, visited a few times in Washington, and were together just last September at an event at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, speaking about energy and environmentalism. I always learned something useful and original from him every time we spoke. He was one of the earliest critics of the environmental movements turn to the hard left in the 1970s, and then became a very lonely advocate of nuclear power when everyone else had given up on it. It is a shame that he wont be here to see his confidence vindicated, though he could see the tide was finally starting to turn. Heres the obituary from RealClearEnergy yesterday (Bill was the founding editor of the site): Last week RealClearEnergy lost one of its own. Bill Tucker was a 40-plus-year veteran of journalism and the founding news editor of RealClearEnergy.org when it started publishing back in the spring of 2011. He passed away Feb. 3 at New Yorks Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after an extended illness. Bills experience covering energy and U.S. environmental policy went back to the 1970s, when he was a contributing editor at Harpers Magazine, and where he became a National Magazine Award finalist in 1980. He wrote or co-wrote eight books including To Renew America with House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995 and Jihad in America with terrorism expert Ste[v]en Emerson in 2002. He also won a Mencken Award for best non-fiction book in 1991 for the publication of The Excluded Americans, which explored lives of Americas homeless population and discussed both causes and solutions regarding U.S. housing policy. In recent years, Bill became an expert explainer of nuclear energy, and was able to effortlessly turn nuclear engineering and complicated science into prose that normal readers could understand. He used this skill from 2009-2012 as a speechwriter for Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, one of the Senates leading proponents of nuclear energy. Bill worked until the last weeks of his life, even from his hospital bed. His clear and concise prose, as well as his bottomless appetite for life and his great vision for RealClearEnergy will be missed by everyone within the RealClear family. We can only hope to meet his high standard of journalism as the future unfolds. He was a great yeoman laboring in the fields of truth. Hear, hear. Turkish authorities should immediately release Hayri Tunc, a reporter for the independent news website Jiyan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained Tunc in Istanbul on February 2, and an Istanbul criminal court arraigned him the next day on charges of spreading propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) in posts he made to social media websites linking to his articles, according to his arrest order, which CPJ has reviewed. The Turkish government has classed the PKK and the KCK as terrorist organizations. Tunc is currently at Istanbuls Silivri Prison awaiting trial, his lawyer told CPJ. We call on Turkish authorities to release Hayri Tunc without delay and to stop harassing and arresting Kurdish journalists, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. Posting links to news articles on social media sites and expressing personal opinions on Twitter are not criminal activities. According to Tuncs testimony before the Istanbul Chief Prosecutors Office, which CPJ has reviewed, interrogators asked the journalist about his recent Facebook and Twitter posts, including links to articles from Jiyan, and to videos he recorded apparently showing police forcibly dispersing protests against the governments policies with regard to Turkeys ethnic-Kurdish minority. According to the testimony, prosecutors also asked him about personal photographs and remarks he had published to his social media accounts. Tunc denied the accusations of spreading propaganda, and said his postings were journalistic in nature, according to his testimony. Tuncs lawyer, Ahmet Baran Celik, told CPJ that his client was also detained two months ago on accusations of spreading propaganda in relation to other social media posts, but that he had been released on condition he check in regularly with police. In a separate case, Turkish authorities on February 2 arrested journalist Nuri Akman, Van Province bureau chief for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DIHA), in Turkeys eastern Malatya Province, on the suspicion he was a member of a terrorist organization, according to press reports. CPJ is currently investigating the circumstances behind Akmans arrest to determine whether it was related to his journalistic work. Turkey has recently renewed its practice of imprisoning critical journalists in retaliation for their worka policy that gained the country the dubious honor of being the worlds leading jailer of the press in 2012 and 2013. Turkish authorities arrested at least five Kurdish journalists in December 2015 and January 2016 alone, CPJ research shows. SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists www.cpj.org The State Security Service on Tuesday announced the arrest of one Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa alleged to a recruiter for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES, the SSS through a statement by one of its officials, Tony Okpuiyo, said Mr. Yunusa was arrested in Kano on January 17 after he completed arrangements to embark on a journey to join an ISIS terrorist training camp in Libya, with other Nigerians whom he recruited for the ISIS. Read the SSS full statement below. DSS Arrests ISIS Recruiter and Other Terrorists Planned Terrorists Attacks in States Aborted In line with the Service statutory mandate to decisively and continually provide actionable intelligence as well as act to degrade persons and groups that threaten internal security in the Country, the Service initiated series of tactical operations, involving raids and enforcement actions against identified criminal and extremist kingpins and syndicates across the country. These recent operations have significantly degraded the key extremist groups and kidnapping gangs, terrorizing innocent citizens in the Country, particularly in the South-West, North-West and Middle-Belt regions of the Federation. On 17th January, 2016, one Abdussalam Enesi YUNUSA, a recruiter for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was arrested in Kano. His arrest was sequel to available intelligence which indicated his terrorist antecedents and covert drive to indoctrinate and recruit susceptible youths in the country. Prior to his arrest, YUNUSA had completed arrangements to embark on a journey to join an ISIS terrorist training camp in Libya, with other Nigerians whom he recruited for the Islamic State. These recruits include the trio of one Muhammed RABIU, Yahaya Momoh JIMOH and Zainab SUNDAY (f). YUNUSA is a 400 level undergraduate student of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, where he was studying for a degree in Information and Media Technology. He was subsequently radicalized and became a member of an extremist cell, comprising of one IBRAHIM (fnu) and Abubakar LIGALI, whom he revealed are currently undergoing terrorist training in Libya. He listed one AMINU (fnu) and Ibrahim JIHADI (Nigeriene), as other ISIS agents operating in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. The cell was being funded by one Abu-saad Al Sudani, a media expert with the extremist group using Western Union money transfers to fund the terrorist cell agenda. On 17th January, 2016, in Daura township of Daura LGA, Katsina State, another budding extremist cell affiliated to ISIS, was intercepted by the Service. One Ibrahim Mohammed DAURA, Zaharadeen SALISU and five other elements of the proscribed extremist group, Ansaru, were arrested by the Service. This group was discovered in an active stage, as its members were already co-ordinating themselves for attacks in Katsina and Kano States. In the same vein, on 22nd January, 2016, one Obansa SALAMI, Ejide TIJANI aka Abu Uwaise II, Mohammed RABIU aka Ubida II, Zainab MOHAMMED and Abdulqadir Salisu AHMAD were arrested in Kano by this Service, while migrating to Libya, with their immediate families including infants, in a bid to join ISIS. This group was apprehended after painstaking monitoring of its network and plans. On 29th January, 2016, the Service arrested Mohammed Aliyu NDAKO in Kwara State. NDAKO is a seventeen (17) year old undergraduate student of a tertiary institution in the State. He was arrested sequel to credible intelligence on his plans with one Abdulkadir Salisu AHMAD a.k.a Daddy Tall, another student in Kano State, to carry out coordinated lone-wolf attacks on selected populated targets in Nigeria preferably worship centres or recreation venues. Suspect had hitherto been communicating with foreign extremist elements, while sourcing online terrorist training and support. Within the window of these tactical operations, between the month of December 2015 and February 2016, the Service, busted the network of syndicated kidnap gangs spanning different regions in the country, especially Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Nasarawa, FCT, Oyo and Osun States. Foremost in this line, was the arrest of a gang of five (5) kidnappers, Abubakar HASSAN, Usman MUSA, Usman ADAMU and Idrisa Babangida AHMADU at Ife junction, Osun State, on 3rd February, 2016. On 5th February, 2016, the fifth member of the gang, Saidu ISYAKU was arrested at Ojo area, Oyo State. These kidnappers, Six (6) AK 47 rifles, five (5) magazines and about one thousand rounds of ammunition were recovered. This gang has been active in the South West axis of the country and were at advanced stages of kidnapping high value targets for huge ransom, before they were intercepted. Another breakthrough in the fight against kidnapping was the killing of Abubakar MOHAMMED (aka BUBA), and an unidentified member of his group, on 8th February, 2016 close to Jebba Medical Centre, Jebba, Kwara State by security operatives as they tried to escape during a shootout with security operatives. MOHAMMED was a notorious kidnap kingpin known for his brutality and various acts of lawlessness. It is disheartening that this criminal and his men had terrorized, to no end, residents of the South West zone. He was also linked to the kidnap of the elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, in Ondo State. In the wake of deliberate vandalism of oil pipelines by criminal elements in the South-South region, the Service arrested one Nengi Samuel IKIBA aka Kockman Abula, a notorious pipeline vandal on 27th January, 2016, in Bayelsa State. IKIBA confessed to vandalizing several pipelines in the State, including the 24 Agoda/Brass Oil pipeline at Idema community in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State. The modest success of the Service in its support to the Federal Government to achieve its desired economic objectives and stability may also be noted. To this effect, the DSS have arrested a group of fraudsters who had concluded plans to hack the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in order to steal Four Billion, Five Hundred Million Naira (N4.5b) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). The gang was led by one Sunny OKOH, a hacker who worked in collaboration with the trio of Uwem Udo EKPO, a Chief Program Analyst in the OAGF, Maxwell EKENE, a retired security operative and Dozie EGWU, based in Malaysia and who is now at large. The suspected fraudsters intended to use a software they had sourced and codes released to them by EKPO to hack Government accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and defraud the Government of this huge sum. It is instructive to note that a credibility problem would have arisen over the TSA policy if these hackers had succeeded in their plan and thus lend credence to the critics of the policy that it ought not to have been introduced and implemented. For the avoidance of doubt, the suspects have been handed over to the EFCC for further investigations and prosecution. It is pertinent to state that these successes were recorded as a result of proactive and credible intelligence offered by members of the public, sister security agencies and other stakeholders. This Service wish to state that it will continue to deploy every means necessary within its statutory mandate, and armbit of the law to ensure the security and safety of all law-abiding residents and citizens wherever they reside. It is also germane to urge all and sundry to be extra-vigilant, as well as report any suspicious persons/groups or activities to relevant security agencies, for the sustenance of relative peace in the country In what is the latest in the spate of controversies dogging President Muhammadu Buharis 2016 budget, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health has disowned the budget proposal submitted on its behalf by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, who addressed the Senate Committee on Health during its budget defence session on Monday, said the proposal drawn up by the ministry and submitted to the budget office had been doctored and that foreign appropriations, different from what was submitted, had been sneaked in. We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee, he said. This was not what we submitted. Well submit another one. We dont want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there. Mr. Adewoles revelation is the latest of controversies and embarrassing disclosures trailing the 2016 budget proposed by President Buhari and currently being considered by the National Assembly. Last week, the Senate had discovered a sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable subhead. A senior Presidency official also told PREMIUM TIMES that a budget mafia was responsible for the embarrassing allocations in the budget. Stating further, Mr. Adewole lamented that the proposed appropriations in the budget before the National Assembly ran parallel with the priorities of the health sector as contained in the original budget. While some important agencies in the health sector had been excluded, votes proposed by the ministry had been redistributed, he said. In the revised budget as re-submitted, N15.7 billion for capital allocation has been moved to other areas. Some allocations made are not in keeping with our priorities. There is nothing allocated to public health and family health. While discarding the budget, he therefore asked the committee not to work with the budget before it but wait for another one to be re-submitted. He also expressed surprise that appropriations were made for some subheads that were generating controversies, whereas no conclusion had been reached on the amount required. On the State House clinic whose capital vote exceeded cumulative capital vote for teaching hospitals, Mr. Adewole said, The State House Clinic is not under the Ministry of Health. I hope its not the same rats that changed things in our budget that changed it. The amount is meant for procurement and purchase of medical equipment. It is very important that you engage them because what happened to us might have also happened to them. It is possible that what is there might not have been what they put there. Meanwhile, the Minister allayed public fear on Zika virus, saying Nigerians had developed resistance to the virus, which, according to him, had been in the country since 1954. On Tuesday December 22, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari walked into a joint session of the National Assembly and presented the first annual budget proposal of his administration, ambitiously tagged: The Budget of Change. After highlighting the economic challenges that confronted the country due to the fall in oil prices, the president vowed the budget would cut waste from government spending and its funds would only be used for public good. We are determined to ensure that our resources are managed prudently and utilized solely for the public good, Mr. Buhari said. To set the proper tone, one of our early decisions was the adoption of a zero based budgeting approach, which ensures that resources are aligned with governments priorities and allocated efficiently. The breakdown of the line items of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, however, shows that what the president said cannot be farther from the truth. PREMIUM TIMES extensive review of the proposed budget, which has passed second reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives, reveals it is a collection of fraudulent and frivolous allocations, many of which are clearly meant to support the opulent lifestyle of public officials. Many of the allocations were either repeated several times, over-priced or are obvious misplacement of priorities. Vice President Osinbajo and multi-million naira books A particularly disturbing instance of misplaced priority is the allocation for books for Vice President Osinbajos office. Mr. Osinbajos office has more money allocated to it for books than what each of the federal polytechnics in the country are getting for the same purpose. While N4,906,822 was proposed to be spent on books by Mr Osinbajo, the total allocation for books for 11 out of 22 federal polytechnics, which actually have book allocations, was a mere N3,832,038. In fact, of all government-owned educational institutions across all levels, only two got more allocations for books than what was proposed for the Vice President. The institutions are Federal University of Technology, Owerri, N6,886,157; and the National Open University of Nigeria, N6,466,895. The need for this huge book allocation for the vice presidents office is even more baffling considering the fact that last year, N7,525,135 was also budgeted for the same purpose. Although a top source in the Presidency accused senior civil servants, whom he described as budget mafia, of sneaking frivolous items into the budget, it is however curious that some of the most outrageous proposals in the budget were found under line items for the State House. The State House Clinic, its billions and a VIP wing Of the N3,890,629,221 the Presidency earmarked to spend on the State House Medical Centre, N308million will go for constructing a new VIP wing at the clinic. Despite allocating N3.21 billion for health equipment and supplies for the State House Medical Centre, a separate line item under State House HQTRS lists a N203,273,602 budget for drugs and medical supplies and the vice president was also allotted an additional N7.54 million for medical expenses. In comparison to the State House Medical Centres N3.8billion allocation, only N2,666,853,303 was proposed in the budget for the construction of hospitals nationwide. And in a clear case of misplaced priorities, the budget proposes N11.61 billion for development, construction and staffing of a Logistics Supply Chain for the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, and nothing for its core mandate such as improving access to basic health services. The cables, the lightings and the billions Curiously, the presidency also proposed to spend N322,421,971 to link a cable to the drivers restroom at the presidential villa. Another N213,873,953 was proposed for linking of a cable from Guest House No 9 generator house to the gate. The president allocated N618,604,265 for the installation of electrical lighting and fittings at the villa, which equate to spending N1.6 million daily installing lighting and fittings and another N371,733,964 for the installation of electrical distribution boards and other cables. Repairs and renovations of existing structures are also obvious money guzzlers in the proposed budget. Buharis Guest House and the N400million face-lift The general renovation of Aso Rock Guest House was proposed to cost N387,980,200, just as furnishing the rooms in the Guest House was put at N45million. We are not told when the existing furniture in the facility was procured and why there is need to change them now. Furthermore, a whopping N3.91 billion was earmarked for the annual routine maintenance of villa facilities. A breakdown of this amount shows that the government plans to spend N10.72 million daily on routine maintenance. This amount was exclusive of the N278,041,172 proposed for villa office and residential maintenance. Buhari wants to pay rent for Aso Rock? Perhaps the most bizarre of all the allocations is the proposed N22,321,880 budgeted for residential rent at the State House. It is unclear whom the presidency is paying the rent to. In the draft budget, a total of N436,054,626 was allocated for meals and refreshment, canteen/kitchen equipment, foodstuff and catering materials for the president and the vice president. While N20,260,300 was proposed for sporting and games equipment for the Presidential Air Fleet, another N39,075,000 was proposed for purchase of recreational facilities at the State House. Surprisingly the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation proposed to spend another N193,513,097 for recreational facilities as well. Exotic cars while Nigerians suffer The Presidency also proposed to spend N904,015,000 for the acquisition of brand new automobile fleet and fleet maintenance equipment in the year. This amount, when broken down, is equal to spending N2,469,986 everyday on its automobile fleet. This is in addition to the N259,015,000 for the Purchase of Tyres, Batteries, Fuses, Toolboxes, Car Jacks, Tyre Changing Machines and Kits and N27,000,000 to purchase C-Caution Signs, Fire Extinguishers, Towing Ropes and Booster Cables for just for the Aso Rock automobile fleet. Curiously enough, most of the vehicles in this fleet are hardly taken outside Abuja and its environs. The questionable allocations in the draft budget are not limited to the presidency alone. Many more of such bewildering allocations are scattered all over the budget. Buhari wants N1.4billion houseboats for officers while Northeast burns As our reporters reviewed the budget, it became increasingly clear that the government may have a problem with getting its priorities right. For Instance, at a time when the nations armed forces are battling a murderous insurgency in the countrys North East region a war that has left many soldiers and officers with horrendous injuries the Ministry of Defence proposed to spend N1.39 billion for the procurement of a houseboat in Abuja, a floating house mostly used for relaxation and a dwelling place by top officers. Also the Ministry of Communication Technology proposed N585,000,000 for the purchase of chairs and N415,500,000 for the purchase of tables. Under this ministry, there was also a particularly arbitrary line item tagged: Procurement of the Equipment and its Accessories. The draft budget did not state what this equipment is and what kind of accessories it requires but a whopping N2.9 billion was projected to be spent on this item. The Ministry of Information and Culture also proposed to spend N99,281,250 for the procurement of 1,600 chairs at the National Theatre and N140,911,157 for the procurement of computers for National Troupe of Nigeria, while budgeting nothing for costumes, props and other equipment. In comparison, the total allocation for the procurement of computers by the Ministry of Science and Technology is N91,394,900. Fashola and his N140million naira for a single borehole The Ministry of Works, Power and Housing proposed to spend N140,000,000 for the construction of a single solar borehole, and N161,500,000 for the construction of a motorised borehole. The Ministry of Interior budgeted N576,500,000 for the construction/provision of electricity, N595,606,148 for repair/ rehabilitation, and N6.2 billion for research and development. The Nigerian Prison Service however budgeted N500,000,000 for capacity building. In the 2015 budget, the allocation for security equipment for the Nigerian Immigration Service was N86,057,143 but the figure leapt astronomically to N2.12 billion in the draft 2016 budget. Repetition galore The proposed budget for the National Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) has a repetition of the same line items with different allocations. The agency proposed N15,000,000 for water reticulation in main station and immediately proposed the N5,000,000 for the same item. Similarly, the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology repeated the allocation for Construction/Provision of Agricultural Facilities twice with different figures. The item was first cost for N626,037,709 and then for N50,000,000. Another curious feature of the draft budget is the allocation of the exact same amount for unrelated items. For instance, the National Library allocated N5,021,254 each for the following items: books, printing of non-security documents, cleaning and fumigation services, cooking gas/fuel cost, transportation equipment fuel cost, refreshment and meal, medical expenses, sporting activities, and direct teaching and laboratory cost. At the French Language Village in Badagry, N17,897,716 each was proposed for the building of clinic block, construction of a 250 metres perimeter fence, and a female hostel. Same item, different prices PREMIUM TIMES review of the budget also revealed that different prices were quoted for the same item by different agencies and parastatals. For example, several prices were quoted for a unit of Toyota Hilux van. The same model of van was valued at N1,264,941 by the Gashaka Gumti National Park; N5,700,000 by the Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency; N6,500,000 by Federal Government Girls College Owerri; N7,500,000 by the Ministry of Technology, Akure; N8,855,000 by the Federal Government Girls College, Gumi Tambuwal; and N9,178,142 by Federal Government Girls College Umuahia. The proposed cost of the same vehicle in the budget of the Federal Government College, Ezzamgbo, Abakaliki is N10,000,000. It was valued at N11,147,675 by the Federal Technical College Lassa; N12,888,016 by the Ministry of Health; N13,500,000 by the Federal Government College, Okigwe; N15,970,515 by the Foreign Service Academy; N26,600,000 by the Office of the National Security Adviser; N27,273,523 by the Federal Technical College, Ikare; and N27,660,000 by Federal Government Girls College, Kazaure. Additional Report By: Mukhtar DanIyan A company that emerged reserve bidder in the sale of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, LEDA Consortium Ltd, has petitioned Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, over the fraudulent sale of the company by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE). The company wrote the vice president seeking justice, following a protracted trial and failure of the BPE to return the ownership of the company to the reserve bidder after the preferred bidders failure to meet requirements within the stipulated time provided by law. In the petition seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the director of the company, Ken Egbunike, urged the vice president, who is the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, to reverse the sale of Kaduna DISCO, and hand it over to the reserve bidder. In December 2014, a Federal High Court in Abuja gave an order retraining the BPE from transferring the controversial Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Disco, to the preferred bidder, Northwest Power Limited (NPL). The court order was on the request of the reserve bidder, LEDA Consortium Limited, following the refusal of the BPE to invite it to complete the Share Purchase Agreement of the Kaduna DISCO after NPL failed to pay the remaining 75 per cent of its bid price after several extensions of the deadline. According to a copy of the court order seen by PREMIUM TIMES in December 2014, after listening to the arguments of counsels to the plaintiff and that of the defendant, the court ruled that both parties should maintain status quo with regard to the subject matter of the suit pending the determination of the defendant notice of preliminary objection. LEDA had approached the court after what it termed BPEs brazen violation of set contractual obligation and said BPE seemed set to perpetually extend the deadline for Northwest to complete the payment of the bid price. In its originating summon, LEDA asked the court to declare that the defendant cannot arbitrarily and /or repeatedly extend the time prescribed for payment of the 25 per cent initial deposit considering the sale of the Kaduna Disco and the 75 per cent balance in favour of any or (preferred) bidder without regard to the inputted contract in the bid process on the bases of a uniform rule set by BPE. It also asked the court to rule that any belated payment of the bid price for Kaduna Disco by any or the preferred bidder after the expiration of the specific time is void as against the reserved bidder and cconstitute a breach of contract duty of the defendant. LEDA asked the court to issue an order setting aside or annulling any belated receipt of payment by the defendant of the 75 per cent balance of the bid price from any or the preferred bidder. Contacted on the matter on Monday, the Director-General of the BPE, Benjamin Dikki, argued that the agency never breached the law since the preferred bidder, Northwest Power Limited, had met its obligations. The preferred bidder has fully paid and taken over the company since 4th December 2014, Mr. Dikki told PREMIUM TIMES. The Network of Police Reform in Nigeria has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over an alleged use of the police by Rochas Okorocha, the governor of Imo State, to attack peaceful protesters in the state. The petition, dated February 8, accused Mr. Okorocha of establishing an Imo Security Network to harass and intimidate his critics. Imo State citizens and residents will hold the federal government and the Nigeria Police responsible if they allow the governor to use his illegally armed Imo Security Network, or the police which is controlled by the federal government, to harm workers and Imo citizens and their allies, said Okechukwu Nwanguma, National Coordinator, NOPRIN. Last week, armed police officers opened fire on protesting medical doctors in the state angry over the governments plans to privatize hospitals a Consultant Family Physician, Bede Azudialo, allegedly sustained bullet wounds on his head. The commissioner of police in the state, however, absolved his men of any blame, attributing the attack to faceless thugs. It is believed that the motive of this attack on the protesting medical doctors was to create a sense of fear and intimidate the NLC and their CSO allies as they prepare to lead peaceful protests in Owerri this week to press home the Imo State workers demand that tthe governor reverses his callous and illegal mass sack of workers across the state civil service, NOPRIN stated. Clearly, this indicates how far Mr. Okorocha is determined to go in using force of arms and violence to brutally suppress opposition against his discredited and unpopular government. Mr. Okorocha had announced in January the sacking of over 3,000 civil servants in 19 government parastatals, agencies, and departments, despite several months of unpaid salary. In response, the workers planned a march to protest the decision. Mr. Nwanguma said his group, a network of 49 civil society organizations spread across Nigeria, received information that the governor intended to unleash terror on the workers by mobilizing youths to counter their protest. Going by the event of last week when police officers shot at protesting doctors, it is clear that the police in Imo will also act on the side of the oppressors of the people, to scuttle the Imo peoples struggle for a responsive and accountable government, instead of discharging their duties to serve and protect the people. Mr. Nwanguma urged the president to direct the police Inspector General to demobilize the Imo Security Network which he described as the governors terror squad. He said the squad recently beat up the Medical Director of Ihitte Uboma General Hospital, and dumped him, while still unconscious, at the state Police Command. These recent activities of the Imo State Security Network have confirmed the long-held suspicion by Imo citizens and residents that the Imo Governor set up the Security Network as a tool to harass, intimidate, and suppress citizens whenever they protest against his inhumane actions such as the recent sack of workers, Mr. Nwanguma said. The outfit is now out to do what it was originally contemplated and set up to do terrorize the people and silence them into submission. In the case of the doctor who was mercilessly beaten up at Ihitte Uboma, Imo State Police did not intervene while he was being brutalised. Instead, they later took the already battered doctor into custody before he was later granted bail without being informed of any offence he may have committed. It was also members of Imo Security Network who, sometime last week, under the close watch of police officers from Imo State Command, bullied and chased away workers of Umuguma General Hospital and locked up the offices against them. As part of activities to commemorate the demise in office of General Murtala Muhammed, the Murtala Muhammed Foundation is organizing the 2016 Annual Public Lecture in Abuja on Saturday, February 13, 2016. This years lecture promises to chart a road map for the country and the region in countering threats to national security through engagement with representatives of national security apparatus (military and para-military), government officials, academia, diplomats and key stakeholders in civil society, media, the arts, commerce and industry and a cross generational audience of well meaning Nigerians. The lecture will take place under the chairmanship of President Muhammadu Buhari, with the theme Regional Security and State Building: Portents and Prospects. Keynote speakers at the commemorative public lecture are Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba, former President of Namibia & winner of the 2015 Mo Ibrahim leadership prize and Lord David Richards, former Chief of Defence to the United Kingdom Prime Minister and Cabinet. The public lecture will also draw attention to the legacy created by the late General in office, in a period that is still described today as Nigerias finest period in international diplomacy. He was a foremost Pan-Africanist who placed Africa at the centre of Nigerias foreign policy and mobilized support for the liberation of other African countries from apartheid, colonialism and neo-Colonialism. In Nigeria, his administration fought corruption and indiscipline, while pursuing peace and security within our borders he was a firm believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria within an integrated and prosperous Africa. Two other activities are also planned for Kano and Lagos. On Friday February 12, a historic Jumaat prayer session will be said by the Emir of Kano, Muhammed Sanusi II, at the Masallachin Murtala, Isa Waziri Road, Gadun Albasa, Kano, where the Late General is buried. On the same day in Lagos, the Murtala Muhammed Foundation, in partnership with the National Museum, will open to the public an exhibition on the life and time of the late General Muhammed at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. The exhibition will be declared open by the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, after which guests will visit the cenotaph of the late head of state. The Murtala Muhammed Foundation, an organization founded on the ideals of late General Murtala Muhammed and committed to improving the lives of Nigerians and Africans, has led efforts to develop innovative approaches to dealing with the challenges facing the country. The foundation is therefore honoured to lead these efforts. Activities to commemorate the demise in office of General Murtala Muhammed are proudly sponsored by Lekoil, AMG Petroenergy and Asset Management Group. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday re-arraigned the duo of immediate past Kwara State Commissioner for Information, Olatunji Moronfoye, and Ope Saraki, cousin to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin. The two men were charged for offences bordering on abuse of office, diversion of public funds and money laundering. Mr. Moronfoye and Mr. Saraki, who were first arraigned on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, had to re-enter their plea Tuesday following the transfer of the former trial judge, Justice A. O. Faji. Mr. Moronfoye, while being the Special Adviser to former Governor Saraki (now Senate President) allegedly used his position to enrich himself. Specifically, he allegedly awarded contracts to the tune of N200million (two hundred million naira) for the renovation of Ijagbo Primary Health Centre and Specialist Hospitals within the State to a company in which he has interest and was sole signatory to its account. Similarly, Mr. Saraki, a former Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, abused his office and laundered state funds for his personal benefit by awarding inflated contracts to companies owned by his cronies. In one of the transactions involving purchase of buses for the State, Mr. Saraki allegedly procured thirteen Hiace buses from a Local Car Dealer and converted same to ambulance instead of a factory-built ambulance for which a contract of N171,990,000.00 (one hundred and seventy one million, nine hundred and ninety thousand naira) was awarded to Chemiroy Nigeria Limited. One of the counts reads: That you, Ope Saraki, being the Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to Governor of Kwara State sometime in 2012 at Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did by undue interest conducted procurement fraud in the procurement of 13 units of ambulance for 13 General Specialist Hospitals in Kwara State at the sum of N171,990, 000.00 (one hundred and seventy one million, nine hundred and ninety thousand naira only), a contract awarded to Chemiroy Nigeria Limited and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) 0f the same Act. Messrs Moronfoye and Saraki, at todays sitting, again pleaded not guilty to three and five counts preferred against them respectively. In view of their plea, counsel to EFCC, Joseph Uzor asked the court for a date to commence trial. However, J. O. Olatoke, SAN and S. I. Abaya representing the accused persons prayed the court to allow the defendants continue with the bail terms earlier granted them by the first trial judge, Justice Faji, having not breached the terms. Justice Oguntoyinbo, in response to both counsels applications, adjourned to April 4 and 5, 2016 for trial and ordered the accused persons to continue with the bail earlier granted them. Justcie Faji had on May 13, 2015 admitted Messrs Moronfoye and Saraki to bail in the sum of N50m (fifty million naira) and two sureties in like sum. The sureties must produce Certificate of Occupancy of landed property within urban area of Ilorin and must swear to affidavit of means. The sureties must also produce evidence of tax payment for three years. The accused persons must be reporting to EFCC Head Office, Abuja every three weeks and must notify EFCC whenever they intend to travel. While Mr. Moronfoye retains custody of his International passport, Mr. Saraki, under the said bail terms, would have his deposited with the court. Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to save the country of the national embarrassment being caused by the 2016 budget he presented to the National Assembly by formally withdrawing the budget and representing it. According to a statement Tuesday by his Special Assistant on Pubic Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor said the President should admit that there were avoidable errors in the budget and since he is human and not immune to errors, he should simply do the needful by presenting a new and credible budget to the National Assembly. Governor Fayose described the revelation by the Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, that the proposal drawn up by the ministry and submitted to the budget office had been doctored and that foreign appropriations, different from what was submitted, had been sneaked in as the height of national embarrassment. While addressing the Senate Committee on Health during its budget defence session on Monday, Mr. Adewole had stunned the Senators when he said; We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee. This was not what we submitted. Well submit another one. We dont want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there. The minister went further to say that in the revised budget as submitted, N15.7 billion for capital allocation was moved to other areas and that there was nothing allocated to public health and family health. In his reaction, Governor Fayose said; Last week, we were told that the Senate discovered a sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable sub-head. Also, we were told of the existence of a budget mafia in the Presidency that was said to be responsible for the embarrassing allocations in the budget. Before now, we were told that a total of N3.87 billion was allocated for capital projects at the State House Clinic alone, over N700million more than capital allocation to all the 16 federal teaching hospitals combined. Now, a whole minister has come out to say that budgetary provision for his ministry was forged! If under a President that says he is fighting corruption, the budget of the country got missing and we are now being told that the budget being considered by the National Assembly has been forged, one cannot but be afraid that there is possibility of Nigeria being forged one day, after the original must have gone missing. The Permanent Secretary attached to the State House, Jalal Arabi, has justified the allocation of N3.2 billion for capital projects at the State House clinic in the draft 2016 budget, saying the money was intended to transform the clinic to a centre of excellence. The proposal to spend a whopping N3.8 billion on the clinic, which is mainly used by the President, the Vice President, their families, personal staff and few privileged officials, has been roundly criticised by Nigerians. A review of the budget by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the N3.2 billion allocated for capital project at the clinic was more than the combined allocations for capital projects in all teaching hospitals in the country. The allocation to the State House Clinic is also more than the total allocation for the construction of hospitals across the country. When asked why the State House Clinic got more money allocated to it than teaching hospitals for capital projects, Permanent Secretary Arabi said the huge vote to the medical centre was based on the presidencys desire to turn the facility to a centre of excellence. Mr. Arabi spoke about 24 hours after Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, dissociated himself from the controversial allocation to the hospital, saying the State House Clinic is not under his purview. He however said the figure should be checked again to make sure that those he described as rats had not inflated the allocation to the clinic. The minister had earlier told the senate committee on health that the budget for his ministry which he was called to defend had been doctored and that foreign appropriation had been sneaked in. The State House Clinic is not under the Ministry of Health, Professor Adewole said. I hope its not the same rats that changed things in our budget that changed it. The amount is meant for procurement and purchase of medical equipment. It is very important that you engage them because what happened to us might have also happened to them. It is possible that what is there might not have been what they put there. But the permanent secretary for the presidency has now confirmed that the allocation the clinic was not doctored, but that the N3.2billion vote was deliberate. The National Assembly has said it is no longer feasible to pass the 2016 budget proposal on February 25 as earlier scheduled. The development is a result of discrepancies, errors and ambiguities inherent in the budget proposal, the lawmakers said. At a joint press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Danjuma Goje (APC-Gombe State), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC-Kano), his House of Representatives counterpart, said the National Assembly could not guarantee any future date for the passage of the budget. The lawmakers denied any rift with the executive but said the National Assembly needed to do a proper clean-up of the budget. We need sufficient time to pass a comprehensive budget . that is implementable and also acceptable, Mr. Jibrin said. He noted that the Presidency had admitted errors in the budget. Two weeks ago, the Senate and the House of Representatives asked their respective Appropriations Committees to submit their reports on the budget on February 24, after rounds of defence by ministries, departments and agencies, to enable passage of the budget on February 25. But media reports and appearances by officials before different committees of the National Assembly showed that the budget contained fraudulent, controversial and embarrassing allocations. Last week, the Senate discovered a sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for a questionable subhead. On Monday, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, disowned his ministrys budget, saying rats had doctored the proposal. We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee, Mr. Adewole told Senate Committee on Health. This was not what we submitted. Well submit another one. We dont want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there. On Tuesday, the Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, while appearing before the House of Representatives joint Committees on Power, Works and Housing, evaded questions on a certain N500 million proposed for statutory meetings and travels. The allocation also covered street light, generators and other items but locations of projects were not provided. The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State in the April 2015 election, Dakuku Peterside, has alleged that the Supreme Court judgement that affirmed the election of the state governor, Nyesom Wike, was contrived to legalise electoral violence and rigging. He spoke at a press conference in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Tuesday. Mr. Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party was declared winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election by the Supreme Court on January 27. He had earlier lost to Mr. DaKuku at the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. The APC candidate had initially accepted the judgement of the Supreme Court. The APC governorship candidate said Mr. Wikes speech at a Church thanksgiving service last Sunday to mark his victory in the court as well as in other fora suggested that he (governor), his party and supporters might have been in the know of what the judgment would be long before the Supreme Court pronounced it. He said despite his acceptance and temperate public comments on the verdict of the court, the governor seemed to have given credence to the pervading doubt being expressed on the judgement in public space, especially in the media about the judgement. Many a Nigerian continues to wonder why PDP and Governor Wikes supporters went on wild celebration across Rivers State as early as 9 am on the Day of judgement even if the actual verdict was handed down at about 6:20 pm of that day, Mr. Dakuku said. It clearly suggests that they might have been in the know of what the judgment would be long before the Supreme Court pronounced it. This is coupled with several comments especially on the social media some three weeks earlier such as Thank God there will now be no need for a rerun election.. It is surely ending at the Supreme Court, etc. etc. The APC candidate said information at his disposal confirmed that the governor told some persons he did not name that he (governor) met with one of the justices of the Supreme Court in Mbaise, a town in Imo State, another one in a hotel in Owerri, the state capital and others outside the country. According to him, the two justices were incidentally members of the panel that decided the case last month. He said, Credible information confirmed that Nyesom Wike had earlier confessed to some persons of having met one of the Justices of the Supreme Court in Mbaise during an important burial, another at Owerri in a hotel and yet others in Dubai and Saudi Arabia respectively. These Justices were in the panel that decided the matter in Wikes favour. However, the most striking revelation by Nyesom Wike is contained in his account at the thanksgiving service last Sunday. He obviously stunned his audience and the watching world when he confessed that when it came to the Judges, Dr. Peter Odili and the wife Justice Mary Odili [a Justice of the Supreme Court] were his advisers. This simply confirmed his earlier statements that he had contact with the Justices after several attempts to reach the Chief Justice of the country failed. It is therefore obvious that the decision of the Supreme Court on the Rivers State Election was not a product of justice but rather a product of compromise and orchestrated contrivance to legalise electoral violence and rigging and, in turn, reward injustice. This calls for serious introspection by our Judiciary and judicial officers. Mr. Dakuku said the governor probably forgot that he was on live telecast when he said he had midnight discussions with a former governor of the state, Peter Odili, who incidentally is the husband of Mary Odili, a Supreme Court justice. This shocking confession needs no further explanation except for you and other decent Nigerians to further make your fair conclusions, he said. The APC candidate said while addressing civil servants in Port Harcourt, Mr. Wike exhibited unconscionable indiscretion of the highest order by re-echoing his earlier incendiary statements threatening personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission with death over the forthcoming national and state assemblies rerun elections. Stating that the statement threatening INEC officials was the most callous a governor would make, Mr. Dakuku said It is a known fact that Wike promotes violence and believes so much in jungle justice but he forgets that such outlook does not have any place in a civilized society. He said Mr. Wikes outburst at the thanksgiving service that blood would have flowed if the governorship election was going to hold again confirmed beyond doubt that the governor was not only behind the orgy of violence during the last elections, but also funded and sponsored it. Mr. Peterside warned the governor to stop verbal attack on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian military. Decrying a statement credited to Mr. Wike challenging the president to bring your Boko Haram soldiers to Rivers State during the rerun, the APC candidate said that kind of statement typifies the persona of Gov. Nyesom Wike as someone lacking in respect, patriotism and character of being a councillor much more a state governor in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He stated further, Let me draw the attention of Nyesom Wike to the fact that it is most callous of him to demonstrate such level of denigration on the gallant officers and men of the Nigerian military who are putting their lives at risk every other day to safeguard the Nigeria state and citizens when he referred to them as Boko Haram soldiers. I vehemently condemn such display of verbal indiscretion against Mr. President and the Nigerian military. Efforts to speak with Simeon Nwakaudu, media aide to Mr. Wike failed as he did not pick calls to his mobile telephone. The Nigerian government has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to conduct a secret trial to cross-examine witnesses in the ongoing case of alleged treasonable felony and other charges against leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. Mr. Kanu and two others, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi, are facing charges of alleged treason, maintaining unlawful society, possession of firearms, among others. Counsel to the federal government, who is also the Director of Prosecution in the office of the Attorney General, Mohammed Diri, asked the court at the opening of session to permit the conduct of secret trial for the protection of witnesses. But counsel to the first defendant, Chuks Muoma, opposed the application for secret trial, saying military personnel were already providing adequate security during the trial. He however prayed the court to order the return of $2,200; N87,000 and two international passports collected from Mr. Kanu upon his arrest. Mr. Muoma said the prosecution, despite collecting the said amount and items, had deliberately avoided stating anything regarding them in its affidavit. He prayed the court to order the return of the item, stressing that the allegations against his client were yet to be proven in court. Mr. Diri however objected, stating that the defendants had the right, as stipulated in Section 10 (7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, to ask for their items, from the prosecution. In his response, Mr. Mouma said it is only the court that can grant the relief sought by his client. The trial judge, Justice John Tsoho, ruled that the submission of the prosecution counsel that the application for release of his clients items should be made to the office of the AGF was wrong. Mr. Tsoho noted that since the defendants had been brought before the court of law, the manner of making the application for retrieval of items was duly made. He however ruled that since evidences were yet to be tendered before the court on the matter, it would be improper to assume that the items were not important to the prosecution. I hold a humble view that just as the prosecution is not to be confined to the number of witnesses it can bring before a court, its number of evidences cannot also be limited, said Mr. Tsoho. The matter was adjourned to February 19 for ruling on the application for secret trial. The Kogi State House of Assembly has confirmed the appointment of Simeon Achuba as deputy governor of the state. He will replace James Faleke who refused to be sworn into the position on January 27 when the governor, Yahaya Bello, was inaugurated. Mr. Faleke, who is a member of the House of Representatives, had withdrawn from the supplementary election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, insisting he should replace Abubakar Audu, the former governorship candidate of APC, who died before the November 21 election was concluded. Mr. Achuba, a former deputy speaker of the state house of assembly, comes from Ibaji Local Government Area in the Kogi East Senatorial Zone, where Mr. Audu hailed from. He is believed to be a loyalist of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has been accused in the past few days by some politicians in Kogi State, of interfering in the politics of the state. Among those who had shown interest in the position were Justina Abanida, David Atte, Sam Aro and Alex Akoje, who was believed to have been favoured by the national secretariat of the APC as well as the minister of state for labour and productivity, James Ocholi. CANNONFIRE is back! From 2004 to 2021, the original CANNONFIRE blog kept finding ways to irk nearly everyone on nearly every side of nearly every issue. Last year, Google shut down the site. Why? Dunno. The banishment occurred without warning. Despite numerous inquiries, Google refused to explain or to rescind its edict. The shutdown may have some connection to the compromising of my email. (Damn hackers!) Or maybe it has some connection to my history as a surly, unclassifiable oddball. But now the site is back. Don't ask me why or how. Resurrection is a mysterious business and this one is particularly confounding. Revival came only when a reader calling herself Faust -- I'm not making this up -- employed incantations and conjurations unknown to mere mortals and thereby compelled the gods of Google to raise the dead. I owe this female Faust much. As a notable 18th century highway commissioner once said: Das ewig weibliche zieht uns hinan. The site may migrate to another platform in the future. Google's capriciousness has injured my trust. My name is Joseph Cannon. That's the name I've used professionally throughout this century; feel free to call me Joseph or Joe. I've decided to use my former name -- my 20th century name, if you will -- when writing about true crime and other non-political topics. Why? Reasons. If Google can be mysterious and capricious, so can I. Email: cannonfire [at] vivaldi [dot] net Rules for comments: Do not insult the host. Try to stay on-topic. A first-class traditional ruler in Plateau State, the Long-Gomia of Shendam, Hubert Shaidas, is dead. Reliable sources said Mr. Shaidas, one of the longest serving paramount rulers in Plateau State, died of kidney related disease in an undisclosed hospital in Jos on Sunday. It was gathered that he had been on dialysis and life support machine for the past one year, A family source told our reporter that the late monarch, a retired captain in the Nigerian Army, died at the weekend at the age of 81. According to the source, he had been buried in accordance with Gomai traditional rites on Monday evening at his palace in Shendam, Plateau State. Palace sources said the paramount rulers exit would be officially announced in due course. The late traditional ruler ascended the throne in June 1988. Recently re-elected governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, on Tuesday canvassed support for the immediate past President of the Senate, David Mark, in the February 19 rerun for the seat of the Benue South Senatorial District. The Court of Appeal had last year nullified Mr. Marks victory in the March 28 senatorial election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh election in the district. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Daniel Onjeh, had challenged the election of the former senate president who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. Mr. Dickson, who toured the senatorial district, told the council of elders and chiefs at the OchOtukpas Palace in Ogbadibo Local Government Area, that he was in the state not only to condole the family of his late commander of escorts, Ameh Ogbeh, a police inspector, but also to sensitize the people of the district on the dangers of exposing their territory to outsider during the poll. He urged the people to return Mr. Mark to the upper legislative chamber to enable him continue with his good works. He said, I am one of you. Many of your sons and daughters are part of what I am doing in Bayelsa State. I have Idoma people as special advisers, aides, down to my domestic staff, unto whom I entrust my life. So, I am an Idoma man and whatever affects Idoma people affects me. I shall be back before the rerun election and I want you to know that, this is time, when Idoma nation has to stand for itself! All of us in Nigeria are looking up to the good and powerful people of Benue South Senatorial District in this rerun election. We want the people of Idoma to again, do what we did in Bayelsa State. Let Idoma people take their collective destiny in their own hands. Recently in Bayelsa, we resisted imposition from outside. We didnt allow somebody from Abuja, Lagos or elsewhere to come and determine who leads us in our land. We did it in Bayelsa State and Im sure Idoma people can do it here. This is not the time to wage war against ourselves. This is the time to protect the pride and dignity and honour of Idoma nation. Whatever it will take, I shall come back to assist people like Comrade Abba Moro and others in educating the people on how to defend their land, politically. I am an Idoma man and whatever touches Idoma people touches me. I have no doubt that the good people of Idoma would return Senator David Mark in the rerun election. Responding, the paramount Ruler of Otukpa who represented the OchIdoma, Sunday Ekele, thanked Mr. Dickson for his continuous supports and contributions to the development of Idoma nation through the appointment of many Idoma sons and daughters into key positions in the Bayelsa State Government. Also speaking, the member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hassan Saleh, and the Special Adviser to Bayelsa State Governor on Media and Strategies, Francis Agbo, lauded the leadership qualities of Mr. Dickson which they said, had a multiplier effects on the Idoma people. 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. 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(1) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (1) Jan 06 (1) Jan 04 (1) Jan 03 (1) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 28 (1) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (1) Dec 24 (1) Dec 21 (1) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (1) Dec 16 (1) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (1) Dec 06 (1) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (1) Dec 02 (1) Nov 29 (1) Nov 27 (2) Nov 24 (1) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 19 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (2) Nov 13 (1) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (1) Nov 05 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (1) Nov 01 (2) Oct 30 (1) Oct 29 (2) Oct 28 (1) Oct 27 (1) Oct 25 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 21 (2) Oct 18 (1) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (1) Oct 07 (1) Oct 05 (2) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 27 (1) Sep 26 (1) Sep 25 (1) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (2) Sep 05 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 21 (1) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 16 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 11 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (1) Aug 02 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 23 (1) Jul 20 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 18 (1) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) LONDON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Republic of Austria is continuing to hold prisoner the author and Jewish rights activist Stephan Templ despite the presentation of crucial new evidence, his lawyers say. Mr. Templ, who was convicted of "concealing" the existence of a family member in a restitution claim for Nazi-looted property in Vienna, has been held in jail since October 2015. However, the evidence used to secure that conviction has finally been revealed to his lawyers, who say that the Arbitration Panel in charge of restitution claims is proven to have known of Mr. Templ's aunt by 2006. "After years of denials and refusals, Mr. Templ's legal team was finally granted access to view documents which conclusively prove that the Austrian authorities had knowledge of Mr. Templ's aunt," said Robert Amsterdam, an international lawyer with Amsterdam & Partners LLP, which represents Mr. Templ. "It is completely implausible for Austria to claim that Templ concealed the existence of the aunt when the name is mentioned at least six times in documents he himself submitted to the panel." Mr. Amsterdam says that the Republic of Austria should immediately release Stephan Templ and initiate an investigation. "It's time to end this reprehensible farce. We have a situation here where Austria acknowledges these thefts by the Nazi regime, but then jails the victim of the theft, despite the absence of any damaged party. It is difficult not to see shades of retrograde official anti-Semitism in this case." The latest documents and more information about the case is available at http://stephantempl.com. Related Links http://stephantempl.com SOURCE Amsterdam & Partners LLP LONDON, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tip TV's confirmation as event media partner is the first collaboration between two hard-hitting media platforms for private investors. The Master Investor Show 2016 takes place at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London, on Saturday 23rd April, 2016. Tip TV will broadcast key moments of the event, which expects to welcome 8,000 delegates. (Photo: http://masterinvestor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/vlcsnap-2016-02-08-12h58m13s620.png ) Now in its 14th year, the annual Master Investor Show creates opportunities for private investors to speak directly with CEOs and founders of exhibiting companies. Companies, in turn, can tap into private investors to increase liquidity in their shares or to raise new funding. Event organisers have also secured star guest speakers. World-renowned investor, Jim Mellon, is going to speak about current and future trends. Paul Lewis, Radio 4's Money Box presenter, will provide advice to empower delegates to take ownership of their financial destiny. Tip TV's reporting team will record ad-hoc delegate interviews and film a VIP-zone panel Q&A featuring star guest speakers. Coverage will be streamed on Tip TV. Master Investor's growth strategy involves partnering with companies that share similar mission values. Tip TV's reach, via its live streaming service, is a natural extension to Master Investor's UK-wide online distribution. Master Investor CEO, Swen Lorenz, commented: "Tip TV has a successful track record for bringing interviews with founders, CEOs and successful investors to an audience consisting of City professionals and private investors. The Master Investor Show does exactly the same, but in a real-life setting and with the ability to actually shake peoples' hands. It was a natural choice to join forces." Nick Batsford, Tip TV CEO and Founder, commented: "The keystone raison d'etre of Tip TV is to help our viewers to become better traders and investors through transparent and informative analysis, research, access and insight. It is for this reason that we are delighted to partner with Master Investor, who over the past 14 years have consistently been a leading light in the field." As part of the wider partnership, Master Investor will regularly provide TIP TV with in-house contributors for live interviews and jointly develop segments for Master Investor's monthly e-magazine. To register a free ticket for the Master Investor Show, visit: http://www.masterinvestor.co.uk/show To reserve a journalist-only pass to the event VIP Lounge, please contact Master Investor directly, below. About Master Investor Ltd. Master Investor is a free Internet platform, incorporating a monthly e-magazine with 65,000 readers, which delivers independent, financial commentary and analysis to UK private investors and traders. In 2015 a new management team relaunched the Master Investor brand and product portfolio with the backing of Jim Mellon, one of the UK's best-known financiers. About Tip TV Tip TV is a live daily finance show, created for the financial trading and investing communities, offering viewers engaging and actionable infotainment. The Tip TV Finance Show is broadcast live at both 10am and 1pm GMT, Monday to Friday. Media enquiries james.hudson@masterinvestor.co.uk SOURCE Master Investor Ltd. - With Access Equipment Modularization, NTT Enables Service Providers to Begin Service Immediately - TOKYO, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In order to enable a more diverse range of services to be provided quickly and at low cost, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (hereinafter "NTT") has introduced the FASA (*1) (Flexible Access System Architecture) concept for technology development on future access networks. FASA aims to serve customers and service providers who use access networks and wish to begin using or providing services immediately. FASA will not make use of conventional purpose-built equipment, but instead modularize the various individual functions of access equipment as much as possible to enable the free combination of these individual components. This will allow functions to be built into the equipment at low cost and flexibly as required for services, while still maintaining the same service quality. The innovative concept of this sort of modularization technology for implementation in access equipment is the first of its kind in the world. Additionally, an API (*2) developed in cooperation with multiple partners will be released in phases, promoting a commonly usable API. NTT has developed NetroSpherePIT as a visualized testing environment for the implementation of the NetroSphere concept (*3). Testing of FASA under NetroSpherePIT has already begun, in addition to the testing of technologies that work toward the concept, such as Multi-Service Fabric (MSF), new server architecture (MAGONIA), and Integrated Management. In the future, NTT will perform R&D with even greater openness, in cooperation with other carriers and vendors. Background In February 2015, NTT introduced the NetroSphere concept, a vision of R&D for future communications networks. At that time, MSF and MAGONIA were also announced as R&D initiatives working toward the implementation of the concept and transforming network infrastructure for the future. Additionally, in May 2014, NTT announced the "Hikari Collaboration Model," which promoted the further use of access networks by enabling various business players to collaborate in the creation of new types of communications services. However, access networks are equipped with a large amount of access-specific equipment, making it difficult to promptly change or add functions and stalling any large reduction of costs. FASA will be introduced in this context as a part of the NetroSphere concept to transform access networks and their system architecture. FASA (Fig. 1) Conventionally, network infrastructure has been comprised of equipment specifically developed for each function. This is true of access networks as well, which contain a large amount of purpose-built equipment. Thus, in order to add or change a function to meet the requirements of new services, at present it is necessary to newly develop the equipment from the device level. Moreover, equipment specifications differ from vendor to vendor, making large cost reductions on equipment difficult to achieve and equipment maintenance complicated. With FASA, the components of access equipment are separated into three types: (1) software components, (2) generic hardware, and (3) external modules. FASA enables access equipment to provide its necessary functions through the unrestricted combination of these three component types. With software components (1), it will become possible to add new functions quickly and flexibly just by adding or updating necessary software in response to the requirements of services. For the generic functions of access equipment, generic hardware (2) will make it less frequently necessary to newly develop equipment from the device level by striving to achieve a set of common generic components. The creation of such components can also be expected to lower equipment costs and make maintenance simpler by reducing the number of component types that need maintenance. For functions like optical transmission that are difficult to address with either software components or generic hardware, things like optimal transmission capacities can be achieved through the use of external modules (3) that can be substituted for dedicated hardware in response to the requirements of services. FASA aims to achieve a structure that can meet the needs of service providers who want to begin providing service immediately. It does this by making it possible to add on or exchange newly developed software components and external modules to achieve necessary features based on customers' and service providers' demand. For example, mobile traffic is growing year by year, and it is expected that coordination between mobile communications and access systems will be used to efficiently accommodate this growing traffic. While mobile communication specifications are in a state of rapid evolution, access systems can enable providers to begin providing new services sooner with FASA's generic hardware, timely software component add-ons, and the use of external modules. Commonly usable API by multiple partners (Fig. 2) FASA seeks to achieve thorough modularization while still maintaining the quality of access services (e.g. fair transmission speeds among customers) provided by conventional access-specific equipment. To achieve this, access equipment will be modularized in implementation as described above, and it will be necessary to introduce an API to handle the exchange of data among these components. This is an innovative concept and the first of its kind in the world. Moreover, the introduction of an API commonly usable by partners both domestically and internationally can be expected to attract a large number of vendors while also achieving modularization, universal compatibility, and cost reduction. NTT plans to introduce the FASA API in phases moving forward into the future. (The first API release is scheduled for May 2016.) API brush-up work will also be conducted in cooperation with partners who support the project's core concept. Testing in NetroSpherePIT (Fig. 3) NTT has developed NetroSpherePIT as a test environment for the NetroSphere concept, and it is used for work on identifying issues and implementing the concept in practice. NetroSpherePIT, named with reference to a pit in automobile racing, serves as a space for sending new technologies and services into the field (i.e. for commercialization) in cooperation with a variety of partners. Collaborative testing has already begun with some partner companies. At the NTT R&D Forum 2016 (*4), FASA will be given a public test run in NetroSpherePIT along with MSF, MAGONIA, and Integrated Management. Here, feasibility will be tested in NetroSpherePIT for prototypes in which OLT functionality is handled though modularized hardware components and some modularized software components. These prototypes will be assessed in a virtual environment using generic hardware. Looking forward To bring FASA to fruition, it will be necessary to achieve this transformation in partnership with many players in the communications industry. In the future, NTT will cooperate with international and domestic equipment vendors, carriers, and others who share a vision for FASA or something similar to FASA. Open cooperation will also be pursued for initiatives like joint work on API brush-ups and joint testing under NetroSpherePIT. Terminology (*1) FASA: Flexible Access System Architecture. (*2) API: Application Programming Interface. This is an interface that specifies how components should interact. (*3) NetroSphere concept: "NetroSphere: Towards the Transformation of Carrier Networks" (NTT news release Feb 19, 2015) (*4) NTT R&D Forum 2016: To be held February 18-19, 2016, at the NTT Musashino R&D Center (Musashino, Tokyo). About Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo CEO: Hiroo Unoura Attachments/ References (Fig. 1: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI1fl_klx47q8d.jpg ) (Fig. 2: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI2fl_6E48wyI1.jpg ) (Fig. 3: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI3fl_S953JlC4.jpg ) FASA and MSF are trademarks of NTT. MAGONIA is a registered trademark of NTT. SOURCE Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation LIMASSOL, Cyprus, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ForexMart, the rising game changer in the brokerage business, has finally established its name among the leaders of the Forex industry as recognized by ShowFx World. ShowFx World is as an award-giving body that recognizes the best Forex companies who exhibit constant improvement and provide quality service to all members and clients of the Forex community. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160205/330368 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160205/330369 ) The awards received by ForexMart is the proof of the company's dedication to client satisfaction. The "Best Broker in Europe 2015" award is the result of the continually improving performance of ForexMart in its home region. ForexMart is honored by the recognition awarded by ShowFx World. These awards acknowledges ForexMart's great efforts to provide clients with the best service and to continue growing in the financial field. These recognitions also represent the acknowledgement, not only of the international Forex community, but also of the thousands of clients, partners, and independent financial institutes who chose ForexMart as the best in its business. For this, ForexMart is grateful and deeply humbled. ForexMart CEO Savvas Patsalides conveys his eagerness, commenting: "These awards are the fruits of our labor to produce quality products and world-class service to every ForexMart client. I express my gratitude towards ShowFx World for recognizing the hard work and dedication that our company has done. We thank ShowFx World. our clients, and the rest of the Forex community for this honor. We look forward to another prosperous year". SOURCE Forexmart.com JONESBORO, Ark., Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Arkansas State University (A-State) today announced the launch of a fully online, accelerated Master of Engineering Management (MEM) degree to help working professionals prepare for leadership roles in engineering, manufacturing and high-tech companies. Enrollment is now open for the first start date of May 16, 2016. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330554LOGO A-State's interdisciplinary MEM curriculum draws on coursework from both the College of Engineering and the College of Business MBA program. The 30-credit hour degree can be completed in as little as 14 months, with no on-campus or thesis requirement. Students can conveniently pursue the program on their own time while enjoying full access to A-State's esteemed faculty and resources. "Given the diversity and complexity of the engineering field, employers place high value on the skill sets that an advanced degree offers candidates," said Dr. Paul Mixon, interim Dean of Engineering at Arkansas State. "A master's degree is an excellent way for engineers to distinguish themselves and get a leg up on the competition, whether they're looking to advance within their current companies or they're seeking new challenges within the industry. Traditional on-campus courses are logistically difficult for working engineers, so we're pleased to be able to offer an accelerated program that meets the needs of these busy professionals." To help deliver its MEM program, the College of Engineering is working with Academic Partnerships, a leading online service provider for higher education. "Arkansas State University has an outstanding reputation, both for the quality of its College of Engineering and for its commitment to top-quality online learning," said Randy Best, Chairman and Founder of Academic Partnerships. "We are proud to represent the Master of Engineering Management program that will be shaping future leaders in the rapidly growing and exciting engineering field." The MEM degree joins A-State's broad portfolio of high-quality, widely recognized and fully online degree programs. To learn more about these offerings or to apply, please visit http://degree.astate.edu About Arkansas State Focusing on its mission to educate leaders, enhance intellectual growth and enrich lives, Arkansas State University is the catalyst for progress in our state, the Delta and the Mid-South region. Founded in 1909, A-State meets the challenges of continuing as a destination university for more than 13,500 students through the combination of world-class research with a long tradition of student-friendly instruction. The second largest university in Arkansas, Arkansas State is a doctoral-level national institution with more than 150 degrees areas of study, including a robust online program, and a diverse student body from across the nation and the world. Learn more at AState.edu. About Academic Partnerships Academic Partnerships is a leading online service provider for higher education globally. The company assists universities in converting their on-campus degree programs into an online format, recruits qualified students for those programs, and supports enrolled students through graduation. Serving public and private not-for-profit universities in the United States and top international institutions, Academic Partnerships is guided by the principle that the opportunities presented through technology-aided learning make higher education more accessible and achievable. The company was founded by a social entrepreneur, Randy Best, who has spent nearly 20 years developing innovative learning solutions to improve education. For more information, please visit www.academicpartnerships.com. Media Contacts: Arkansas State University Bill Smith (870) 972-2169 Academic Partnerships Dan Smith (214) 210-7331 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. SOURCE Arkansas State University (A-State) Related Links http://www.astate.edu CHICAGO, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- First Stop Health, LLC, the nation's leading high-utilization telemedicine provider, today announced finalizing its latest seed round at $2.1 million, bringing total funding to date to $5.6 million. The latest round of seed investment was led by existing investors, including company co-founders Patrick Spain and Dr. Mark Friedman, and several family offices and angel investors from the Midwest and Texas. New investors included several technology entrepreneurs and a European investment group. During 2015, First Stop Health used portions of the new capital to build a proprietary physician network and triple sales. In 2016, the company is using the investment to enhance its physician network, expand sales and marketing efforts, and build technology enhancements around its physician, client and member platforms. "Telemedicine can play a key role in transforming what is currently a less than patient-centric healthcare experience into a delightful one. As patients are being asked to bear an ever increasing burden of the cost of healthcare, a high utilization telemedicine plan can limit the financial impact for both the patient and the employer and be a wonderful patient experience at the same time," explained First Stop Health's CEO Patrick Spain. "Members can have their non-emergency medical issues addressed by doctors within a matter of minutes without spending any of their own money; for many members, it is truly a transformational experience." Critics of telemedicine have long focused on its extremely low utilization rates. Unlike its competition, First Stop Health has achieved high utilization across its customer base 4 to 7x higher than typical industry rates. First Stop Health is the only provider in the telemedicine industry delivering a hard dollar ROI to its clients. About First Stop Health Chicago-based First Stop Health (www.fshealth.com) is a quick, convenient and affordable telemedicine and advocacy service available to employers and their employees. It offers immediate, 24/7/365 phone and online access to their U.S.-based, national physician network that provides members with advice, diagnosis and treatment, including when necessary prescriptions. In addition, First Stop Health helps employers and their employees manage and reduce major medical claims. Connect with First Stop Health on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (@firststophealth). Media Contact: Maria Opdycke 773-791-5385 maria(at)fshealth(dot)com This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. SOURCE First Stop Health, LLC Related Links http://www.fshealth.com BOSTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gordon Brothers Group, a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the industrial, consumer products and retail sectors, announced that it has acquired the inventory, equipment and intellectual property assets of CHEF'S Catalog, including brands, trademarks and domain names. CHEF'S Catalog operated as a multi-channel specialty retailer of high-end, branded and private label cookware products through its catalog and online channel. While historically focused on branded, luxury kitchen goods, the company built and maintained its own CHEF'S private label. The CHEF's brand became its top selling brand by 2014, accounting for well over half of product volume. The company's private label offerings included approximately 1,000 unique SKU's. "We are excited to acquire one of the premier brands in the kitchen goods area. CHEF's is known for its high product quality, desirability and design, which provides a strong foundation for the brand's future growth," stated Jim Lightburn, Managing Director, Gordon Brothers Group. Gordon Brothers Group has begun searching for buyers of the assets, including but not limited to the warehouse equipment, rolling stock and excess inventory. This transaction represents Gordon Brothers Group's latest brand acquisition, having previously purchased Polaroid, The Sharper Image, Linen's N Things, The Bombay Company and Coby Electronics, among others. For inquiries, please contact Jim Lightburn at [email protected] or 617-422-7832. About CHEF'S Catalog For over 36 years, Colorado Springs-based CHEF'S Catalog has operated as a multi-channel specialty retailer of high-end branded and private label cookware products. Its offerings included tools and gadgets, cookware, housewares, small electric appliances and other related culinary products. Major brands carried by the retailer include All-Clad, Le Creuset, Wusthof, Cuisinart, Breville, Waring, KitchenAid and Staub. About Gordon Brothers Group Founded in 1903, Gordon Brothers Group (www.gordonbrothers.com) is a global advisory, restructuring and investment firm specializing in the retail, consumer products, industrial and real estate sectors. Gordon Brothers Group maximizes value for both healthy and distressed companies by purchasing or selling all categories of assets, mitigating leases, appraising assets and operating businesses for extended periods. Gordon Brothers Group conducts over $70 billion worth of transactions and appraisals annually. As of November 2014, debt financing is provided by Gordon Brothers Finance Company (www.gbfinco.com). SOURCE Gordon Brothers Group Related Links http://www.gordonbrothers.com NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- For some time now, CDs have been the standard way to share patient images, but they are quickly becoming antiquated in light of newer, faster, cheaper digital solutions. There are numerous problems with using CDs for medical image sharing ranging from using the patient as a transport vehicle to slowing the development of a care plan in critical trauma cases where images are needed stat and time is of the essence. According to Logicalis Healthcare Solutions, the healthcare-focused arm of Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), the solution is to adopt an electronic image exchange solution as well as an improved workflow that streamlines the addition and availability of patient images to the local Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), vendor neutral archive or other imaging systems. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330732LOGO To learn more, download a Logicalis+Ascendian imaging eBook, "Driving Positive Change in Healthcare," here: http://ow.ly/XXI9D. "If there was just one thing I could tell our healthcare clients about using CDs for medical image exchange, it's that there is a better way," says Kim Garriott, Principal Consultant, Healthcare Strategies, for Logicalis Healthcare Solutions. "This is an important discussion healthcare CIOs need to have today; it's about better communication and care coordination, better clinician satisfaction, and ultimately better patient satisfaction as well. It provides a more secure way to transfer sensitive patient information. And it's also about a stronger bottom line: Depending on the volume of CDs an organization is producing or receiving today, a digital solution can be a much more cost effective way to share images. If a medium-sized hospital receives 30,000 CDs a year at a processing cost of $10 per CD, that's $300,000 a year for a single organization just to receive CDs. At those rates, a digital image exchange solution could literally pay for itself with significant money to spare year over year with the added advantage of creating happier physicians and patients in the process." Enterprise Imaging: Four Steps from CD to Digital A digital image transfer solution can have numerous advantages over CDs, but four crucial steps must be taken up front to ensure that the new solution will result in an improvement to the delivery of care. Examine Current Practices: When considering a change, it's important to understand current practices and the opportunities that exist for improvement. Who is receiving the CDs today? What workflows are being used? How are the images being integrated into the local PACS or other imaging solutions? Are any departments using image exchange portals? Prioritize Use Cases: In this step, the goal is to identify where the greatest impact on patient care and clinician satisfaction can be made. CIOs must talk to doctors and identify physician champions in critical service lines; a departmental champion and physician buy-in will be needed to change workflow. Make Workflows Routine: When developing an image exchange workflow, attention must be paid to developing a seamless integration with existing clinical processes. In an electronic image exchange solution, as images arrive, they go to a "sandbox" a holding area where they wait for "triage" where a human being ensures they open and that they are indeed medical images. But a process is needed that allows clinicians to request images be moved from the sandbox to local PACS for retention with a single mouse-click from within the EHR; this is where a well thought out workflow becomes critical to success. Select Standards-Based Solutions: Purchasing a solution should only come at the end of a very thorough investigation when the solution can be shaped based on a true understanding of the organization's varied use cases, priorities and requirements. Selecting a standards-based solution also clearly depends in large part on what other organizations need access to the same images. Want to Learn More? About Logicalis Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications and collaboration; data center and cloud services; and managed services. Logicalis employs over 4,000 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, deploy and manage complex IT infrastructures to meet the needs of over 6,500 corporate and public sector customers. To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, EMC, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow on an international basis. It has specialized solutions for enterprise and medium-sized companies in vertical markets covering financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, helping customers benefit from cutting-edge technologies in a cost-effective way. The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific and is one of the leading IT and communications solution integrators specializing in the areas of advanced technologies and services. The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $6 billion. For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com. Business and technology working as one To learn more about Logicalis activities through a variety of social media outlets, click here. Media contacts: Lisa Dreher, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Logicalis US [email protected] 425-201-8111 www.us.logicalis.com Karen Franse, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US [email protected] 866-997-2424 www.gocsg.com SOURCE Logicalis US Related Links http://www.us.logicalis.com SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- After owning the nation's largest and most successful tax resolution law firm in the United States for over two decades, Roni Deutch, the 'Tax Lady' is back with a focus on Connecting Taxpayers with Tax Professionals. "People who owe the IRS over $7,500 or have unfiled tax returns should speak with a tax professional today to learn their legal rights and options," states Deutch. "After all, the IRS can garnish your wages, levy your bank account and take your property, which is why I urge taxpayers who owe the IRS to go to RoniDeutch.com and connect with a CPA, Tax Attorney or Enrolled Agent and get the help they deserve," she adds. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160209/331086 RoniDeutch.com will help taxpayers receive a free, no obligation consultation with a tax professional. "In my two decades of practicing tax law, I met taxpayers who could not find a solution to their tax problems and it cost them everything. Some people even kill themselves which is absolutely unbelievable to me," states Deutch. Many tax issues have simple resolutions but taxpayers need to know where to go and who to speak with for help. Right now approximately 30 to 40 million people owe the IRS, with millions more in need of tax return preparation assistance. "RoniDeutch.com will be the go to source for taxpayers in need of all things tax related because it will connect taxpayers with a CPA, Tax Attorney or Enrolled Agent," boasts Deutch. "Unfortunately without professional tax help many taxpayers lose everything, give up hope and drop out of the tax system altogether which costs this country billions of dollars every year," adds Deutch. Deutch knows what it's like lose everything and feel hopeless. In a very humiliating and sensational manner, California Attorney General Kamala Harris charged Deutch with committing 1609 separate crimes, arguably the largest number of crimes ever filed against anyone in California. Had she been found guilty on all counts, Deutch was facing 22 years in jail. "For almost 5 years, I fought back against one of the most powerful politicians and legal systems in the country and won. All 1609 charges filed against me were dropped. There was no guilt. No fraud. No wrongdoing. No dishonesty. No moral turpitude. No stealing of any of my client's money and no shredding of 2.2 million client documents," states Deutch. "I know what it's like to fight against a very powerful government agency with unlimited power and resources and it's awful," she adds. More than ever before, Deutch knows the importance of having the right professional on your side no matter what you're going through. "Regardless of what you're going through, you need the right professional on your side. If you owe over $7,500 to the IRS or have unfiled tax returns, RoniDeutch.com can help connect you with a tax professional and the service is free," Deutch adds. One thing about Deutch is her determination to use her 20 plus years of legal and business experience to move beyond the "beaten down" trap many people are forced to accept when dealing with the government. "I built the largest tax law firm of it's kind in the country and was retained by approximately 100,000 taxpayers nationwide. I had a perfect record with the State Bar of California with no record of any disciplinary action for about 22 years. I built the 4th fastest growing franchise concept in the county at that time. I employed thousands of people including hundreds of attorneys. I authored two tax books, produced an award winning tax documentary and was in big demand by numerous TV and radio talk shows and news programs like CNN, The Today Show, Fox, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC and countless others, so I'm driven to help taxpayers at RoniDeutch.com," adds Deutch. "Look, I've never been the type to roll over and play dead," Deutch adds and states. "As long as I have my voice, I'm going to help the underdog and my fellow Americans fight back against the government." If you want to schedule an interview with Roni Deutch to discuss taxation issues, political matters or business topics, please contact Adrian Perez at 916.914.4665 or email to [email protected]. With over 20 years of media experience, Deutch brings professionalism, thoughtful commentary and tons of energy to TV, Radio and Print news outlets. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE Roni Deutch Related Links http://www.RoniDeutch.com Singaporean hiker swept away while scaling Gunung Tahan A Singaporean hiker drowned on Saturday (Feb 6) while hiking Gunung Tahan, a Malaysian report said. He was swept away by a column of water while attempting to cross the Sungai Kuala Luis, The New Straits Times (NST) reported on Monday (Feb 8). District police chief Superintendent Abdul Razak Hassan told NST that Mr Nawaz Marican, 43, was part of a 25-member team of hikers. In response to queries, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the high commission in Kuala Lumpur was informed of Mr Marican's death on Sunday. It informed his family immediately and is providing them with consular assistance. "We extend our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," the Ministry said. Mr Marican and the other hikers were attempting to cross the river at about 5pm on Sunday when he was struck by a column of water. The other hikers alerted the police and launched a search and rescue operation along with the tour guides and firemen. Mr Marican's body was found "some 5km from the spot he was last seen about 7.30pm", Mr Abdul said. "Police have alerted the embassy to inform the family and make arrangements to send the body to Singapore for funeral," NST quoted him as saying. Mr Marican had joined the group of 21 Malaysians and three other foreigners to scale Gunung Tahan. A friend, Mohamed Rafee, posted on Facebook that Mr Marican is survived by his wife and "three young boys". "He is missed and losing a friend suddenly is haunting," Mr Mohamed wrote. At 2,187m, Gunung Tahan in Taman Negara National Park, Pahang, is the highest point in Peninsular Malaysia. SANTA CRUZ, Calif., Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Somagenics has been awarded a second phase I SBIR grant from NIH to develop its resQ-RNATM technology for quantitative real-time PCR of fragmented RNA samples. Fragmentation of RNA is a particular problem in tissue samples that have been preserved and stored (e.g., formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded [FFPE] specimens) or collected under sub-optimal conditions (forensic samples or biofluids containing RNases). Fragmentation greatly limits the information that can be extracted from RNA samples using current methods of analysis, including the most accurate method, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), as the fragments can become shorter than the minimum length required for this technology. Somagenics' resQ-RNATM method now allows analysis of RNA fragments as short as 23 nucleotides, whereas other methods require a minimum of ~100 nucleotides. As a result, resQ-RNATM allows RNA quantification in older FFPE samples, which represent a resource for biomarker discovery that, due to greater fragmentation, has been inaccessible until now. "resQ-RNA has great potential to help transform huge archives of biopsy specimens that currently languish in hospital collections into resources that researchers can analyze. Because these specimens are associated with patient data, that analysis can lead to discovery of biomarkers linked to disease progression and treatment response," said Brian Johnston, CEO of Somagenics. "Such biomarkers are valuable tools for determining patient prognosis, choosing optimal treatment plans and assessing progress." A key feature of Somagenics' resQ-RNATM technology involves circularization of RNA fragments followed by rolling-circle amplification, which generates concatemeric cDNA that is then PCR-amplified. The repeated sequences of the cDNA allow the use of PCR primers that each span almost the entire length of each repeat, thereby allowing analysis of sequences only slightly longer than a typical primer. The core technology of this approach has been validated and successfully employed in Somagenics' related qPCR methods for the analysis of microRNA, miR-ID and miR-Direct. Proof of principle has been established with a selection of RNAs, and this new NIH grant will fund the development of assays for an expanded repertoire of RNA targets, including transcripts relevant to breast cancer. Additionally, Somagenics will also develop custom assays for existing known targets. Somagenics is a privately held biotech company with offices and laboratories located in Santa Cruz, California. It specializes in developing innovative technologies focused on RNA molecules as therapeutic agents and targets as well as biomarkers. Besides resQ-RNA, the company's RNA analysis technology platforms include miR-ID, a novel circularization-based RT-qPCR method, miR-Direct for microRNA analysis directly from blood samples, and the RealSeq family of technologies for non-biased small RNA library construction for next-generation sequencing (NGS). The company's therapeutic platform, small synthetic shRNA (sshRNA), includes development of therapeutic candidates to accelerate healing of chronic wounds in diabetic patients. Somagenics website: www.somagenics.com Contact: Brian Johnston, 831 426 7700. SOURCE Somagenics, Inc. Related Links http://www.somagenics.com HOUSTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Capital Advisors LLC ("USCA") is pleased to announce that Joseph Klein, Stephen Hines, and Doug Masterson have joined its Wealth Management Division as Managing Directors in USCA's Houston office located in the new River Oaks District Complex. The team has over 80 years of experience and has worked together for 25 years. They managed over one billion dollars in assets while at Amegy Bank. "We are very excited about the addition of Doug, Steve, and Joe to US Capital," said Patrick Mendenhall, Managing Partner and Head of Wealth Management for USCA. "Their impressive knowledge, depth of experience, and breadth of relationships are an excellent fit for their clients and our firm." Doug Masterson added, "USCA's wholly owned broker dealer and RIA allow us to provide full service to our clients in a boutique environment. Competitive pricing and a high-end platform will allow us to continue to provide our clients with personalized and cost effective service." Mr. Masterson has over 25 years of experience in serving high quality clients as their financial advisor. Mr. Hines has 32 years of experience as a financial advisor and holds several supervisory registrations. Mr. Klein has over 26 years of experience advising clients. The team previously worked together at JP Morgan and has spent the past 14 years at Amegy Bank. About U.S. Capital Advisors LLC Based in Houston, Texas with additional offices in Dallas and Austin, U.S. Capital Advisors ("USCA") is an integrated financial services boutique with primary business lines in Wealth Management, Capital Markets and Asset Management. USCA's Wealth Management division provides a full range of advisory services and solutions to high net worth individuals and family offices. USCA's Capital Markets division, which includes the firm's, Equity Research, Institutional Client, Investment & Merchant Banking, and Public Finance businesses, advises corporate, institutional and municipal clients. USCA's Asset Management division includes the Energy Capital Group, which will oversee the private energy and infrastructure investment funds managed by the firm as well as the firm's multi-manager business which currently manages two funds of funds and a registered closed end fund, which focus on alternative investments for individual and institutional investors. USCA was founded in 2010 and is privately owned. Securities offered through USCA Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC; Investment advisory services offered through USCA RIA LLC and USCA Asset Management LLC; Municipal advisory services offered through USCA Municipal Advisors LLC, member MSRB. Contact: Patrick Mendenhall, Managing Partner 713-366-0511 [email protected] www.uscallc.com SOURCE U.S. Capital Advisors LLC Related Links http://www.uscallc.com New Delhi, Feb 4 : The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea seeking direction to three civic bodies in the national capital to take steps to resolve the strike by their employees that has resulted garbage piling up in the city. "Go to the high court," said a bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur as counsel for the petitioner Rahul Birla told it that the Delhi High Court has adjourned the hearing without passing any directions to the civic body. Dismissing the plea as withdrawn, Chief Justice Thakur told the petitioner's counsel: "Why do you file such petitions. Go to the high court." Over 1.5 lakh employees of Delhi's three civic bodies - North Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation - are on indefinite strike demanding the payment of their outstanding salaries. Initially the employees had gone on three-day strike starting January 27 but then decided to make it indefinite till their demands including payment of salaries was met. Counsel told the apex court that Delhi High Court had issued notice on a PIL on January 27 and the matter was listed on February 2. However, the high court without passing any order adjourned the hearing and directed its listing on February 10. As the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on February 2 told the high court that it had no money to pay sanitation workers' January and February salaries, the court had asked the central government and the Delhi Development Authority to file their response on the PIL and posted the matter for February 10. New Delhi, Feb 4 : The budget session of Parliament will begin on February 23 with President Pranab Mukherjee's address to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The General Budget will be presented on February 29, the government said on Thursday. The Rail Budget will be presented on February 25 and the economic survey report released the next day, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA). The meeting was attended by union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitely, Najma Heptullah, Ramvilas Paswan, Smriti Irani and minister of state Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The budget session's first phase will continue till March 16, followed by a recess for 39 days, Naidu said. The session will resume on April 25 and conclude on May 13, he added. The budget session will have 31 sittings spread over 81 days. "The budget session this year will run its full course with recess in between, unlike in 2011 when the recess was done away with on account of assembly elections in five states that are going to polls this year also," a parliamentary affairs ministry statement said. Before the CCPA meeting, Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Naqvi consulted leaders of different parties to seek their views on scheduling the budget session, keeping in view the forthcoming assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Deepender Hooda, Samajwadi party leader Ramgopal Yadav, Janata Dal-United leaders Sharad Yadav and K.C. Tyagi, Biju Janata Dal leader Bhartruhari Mahtab, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Ambeth Rajan, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien and All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam leader Dr Venugopal participated in the consultations. Naidu said the government favoured a normal and full-length session with sufficient recess in between to enable the working of standing committees and added that the dates could be adjusted based on the suggestions from different parties. Ratification of an ordinance relating to President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and passing of a bill with respect to an ordinance regarding enemy properties will be taken up on priority during the session. As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed the hope that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill will become a reality soon, it remains to be seen whether the bill will finally secure parliamentary approval during this budget session. Despite several efforts by the government, the GST Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha in the winter session last year due to the Congress opposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh last year to break the logjam. The Congress demands include a cap on the GST rate at 18 percent, deletion of the provision that allows imposition of one percent additional levy and an independent dispute resolution mechanism. Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 5 : Public health experts have welcomed India's commitment to tobacco control made in the first South Asian Speakers' Summit on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that concluded in Bangladesh last week. India has endorsed the 'Dhaka Declaration on SDG Action in South Asia' that has set the agenda for making the region tobacco free by 2030. "As the country is grappling with shrinking health budgets, India's strategy to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases through controlling tobacco use is a welcome step," said K.R. Thankappan, the head of Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies here. He said the need of the hour was to make "multi-sectoral efforts" to reduce tobacco use which killed one million Indians a year. Endorsement of Dhaka Declaration has committed India to developing, strengthening and enforcing tobacco-control policies, legislation and regulations in line with the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). India has also agreed to work towards decreasing the affordability of all tobacco products by increasing tobacco taxes and endeavour to set aside revenue generated from tobacco taxes to support tobacco control efforts. The Dhaka Declaration emerged after two days of deliberations by the parliament speakers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka on January 30 and 31, 2016. C.P.John, member, Kerala State Planning Board said tobacco use in different forms was a major threat to public health and development. "The state should come forward in controlling tobacco use by strong enforcement and regular monitoring while the responsible citizenry should take the lead in educating the masses through wide public awareness programmes," he added. Tobacco control has been included as a target under Goal 3 - Health and Well-being - of SDGs 2015-30. It's notable that Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had termed tobacco as an "epidemic" in her address to the speakers' summit. She had observed that in South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka) the estimated total number of tobacco users is 384 million, which accounts for over a third (34.8 percent) of the total tobacco users in the world (about 1.1 billion). India will host the second meeting of South Asian Speakers' Forum in 2017. New Delhi : Bangladesh is now at the crossroads. The war crimes tribunals, set up to punish those who had committed crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971, have already sent to gallows three leading lights of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) -- Abdul Quader Mollah, Mohammed Qamruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mujahid -- while death penalties have been awarded to Motiur Rahman Nizami, the chief of the JeI in Bangladesh. However, the Jamaat's enormous financial clout has created a dangerous situation for the Awami League-led government. While the election commission barred the Jamaat from the polls on Bangladesh Supreme Court orders in 2013, several front-ranking Awami League leaders are now demanding its outright ban. But Jamaat has so much financial clout that any attempt to uproot it altogether at this moment may lead to social unrest. According to Abul Barkat, a professor of economics at the Dhaka University, the Jamaat-e-Islami has created a 'state within a state' and an 'economy within an economy' in Bangladesh. Barkat's study paints a frightening picture. The JeI is now almost everywhere in Bangladeshi society like large financial institutions, household-level micro-credit organisations, madrasas, mass media, information technology, big trading houses and non governmental organizations. Barkat has calculated that Jamaat's net annual profits from such ventures amounts to about $278 million and the largest chunk - 27.5 percent - of this comes from banks, insurances and leasing companies. The NGOs contribute 18.7 percent, 10.5 percent comes from trade and commerce, 10.1 percent from pharmaceutical industries and healthcare institutions, 9.4 percent from ethe ducation sector, 8.8 percent from real estate business, 7.3 percent from transport and 7.7 percent from the media and information technology business. Bangladesh Culture Minister Asaduzzaman Nur has recently alluded to Islamic fundamentalists' involvement behind collection of huge funds from mosques and Bangladeshi establishments in London. But the fundamentalists perhaps do not need such collections as nearly 10 percent of Jamaat's annual profit in Bangladesh goes towards funding the party's political activities. It has also been calculated that this 10 percent can sustain nearly 600,000 cadres. As the Jamaat controlled economy is showing a higher growth rate - 9 percent per annum - than the mainstream's growth figure of 6 percent, the fundamentalist bloc can remain assured of a continuous flow of money. Abul Barkat has calculated that from 1975 to 2012, the Jamaat has earned a profit of $11 billion. Jamaat's principal financial arm in the country is the Islami Bank of Bangladesh Ltd. (IBBL), an organization which was once penalized for money laundering by the Bank of Bangladesh, the country's apex regulatory institution for the financial sector. Mir Quasem Ali, a Jamaat central executive committee member now awarded the death sentence, was once the IBBL director. The beneficiary of IBBL's alleged illegal acts was no doubt the Jamaat-e-Islami. It is interesting to note that the IBBL was founded in 1975 at the initiative of Fuad Abdullah Al Khatib, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Bangladesh. The JeI's penetration into the political economy of Bangladesh is astounding. Apart from the IBBL, Jamaat is in control of 14 other banks which are working mostly in the country's rural sector. In addition, the IBBL is now widely linked with other powerful financial institutions of the Islamic world. Notable among them is the Al Razee Bank of Saudi Arabia. The IBBL has now become one of the three largest banks in South Asia, with 60 percent of its shares held by Saudi individuals and institutions. Among the rest Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar have prominence. Moreover, Jamaat has its presence in the insurance sector also and has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Far Eastern Islamic Insurance Corporation. If information from across the border is to be believed, the Jamaat has already started taking steps to safeguard its financial interests in the event of a crackdown by the Bangladesh government and line-up the next generation of leaders if Matiur Rahaman Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali are really hanged. For over 40 years, Mir Quasem was Saudi Arabia's 'money man' in Bangladesh and it's is quite probable that pressures will be mounted by the Islamic world of West Asia and the Middle East to stop his execution. He had taken refuge in Saudi Arabia after the birth of Bangladesh.After coming back in 1974 he immediately got a job in the IBBL and soon became its director. Mir Quasem Ali is a crucial man in the Jamaat chain of commands that extends up to the Middle East and West Asia. He happened to be the chief of the Islamic Bank Foundation(IBF) too, an affiliate of the IBBL. The IBF acts as the custodian of Jamaat's money accruing from various projects and foreign donations. Mir Quasem was also the country director of a Saudi Arabia-based NGO named Rabeta-al-alam-al-Islami. Rabeta, along with other NGOs like the Kuwait Relief Fund and the Al-Nahiyan Trust of Saudi Arabia, used to run many projects in Bangladesh. Economics professor Abul Barkat has calculated that the Islamic fundamentalism controlled economy in Bangladesh amounts to 8.62 percent of the nation's developmental budget and 1.54 percent of the national export earning. In such a situation, the JeI-led Islamic fundamentalist bloc is a reality in Bangladesh and mere hangings of some Jamaat bigwigs may not be enough to wipe it out. (09.02.2016 - Amitava Mukherjee is a senior journalist and commentator. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amukherjee57@yahoo.com) Kolkata, Feb 9 : Women in Indian villages can challenge patriarchy and discriminating gender roles if their participation in solar electricity projects, from planning, implementation to maintenance, is absolute and equal, Norwegian researchers contend. Karina Standal and Tanja Winther from the Centre of Development and Environment, University of Oslo, examined in a recent study how introduction of electricity in new contexts (solar power) affected gender relations in rural communities in Uttar Pradesh in India and in Bamiyan in Afghanistan. "In terms of empowerment, the women feel that access to solar electricity gave them an easier everyday life and sense of accomplishments in pursuing their roles as mothers and wives/daughters-in-law and the like. This is, of course, very important in raising their life quality," Standal told IANS in an email interaction from Norway. Centred on community solar power plants (micro-grids) for generating livelihoods or household electricity in two UP villages and four in Bamiyan, the research revealed contrasting features in terms of inclusion of women in such projects and their ability to counter patriarchy. The study was published in the Forum For Development Studies on January 20. Standal elaborated that the Indian project provided women several benefits but did not elevate them to a position where they could actively challenge discriminatory gender relations. In the Afghan case women role-models trained and working as "solar engineers" meant that communities experienced the benefits of women working and receiving education. "The Indian case in mention did not have this element in the implementation. Rather, it saw it only useful to train men as 'village operators' with responsibilities of the solar equipment. In that sense, this project reinforces patriarchal structures that work to limit women's role outside their home," observed Standal. What emerged was "when projects are carried out without women's true and equal participation, as in the Indian case, there is lost potential in a more long-term empowerment to challenge discriminating gender roles". Standal said the Indian project did attempt at some representation of women in Village Energy Committees that are responsible for the solar systems in their village and for the monthly payments from the villagers for the consumption, salary of the village operator, maintaining bank accounts, holding meetings and the like. "However, the women did not participate in the Village Energy Committees, as they were not allowed to speak freely due to cultural restrictions on women," Standal said, adding that this scenario "cannot be generalized to Indian villages implementing solar electricity in general". But the fact remains, both internationally and in the Indian context, that the issues and opportunities of gender equality and energy development have not been receiving enough attention, stressed Standal. "Women (in the case studies) are only seen as important end-users and benefits are provided for them to have a better life within the existing patriarchal system," said Standal laying strong emphasis on ensuring that "women are granted equal access to participation in such projects". "Participation (should be) at all levels and not reduced to certain areas to make the most of these energy projects." Standal said the Indian project was initiated by a private Norwegian company and executed as a public-private partnership between the company, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation). "The Afghan case was initiated by the NGO Norwegian Church Aid in support with the Indian Barefoot College. Their model of training women as Barefoot Solar Engineers is very interesting and I think has had several added values to the project in terms of impact on gender relations and more opportunities for women," concluded the researcher. Adding from her own experience in the field, Indian environmental economist Joyashree Roy of Kolkata's Jadavpur University, concurred. "True inclusion of a stakeholder (women) from very beginning helps in getting them as change maker," Roy told IANS. (Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in) Mumbai, Feb 9 : Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley revealed in a Special Court that the dastardly 26/11 attacks in Mumbai was planned out over a year in advance by various groups and agencies of Pakistan, here on Tuesday. Continuing his deposition via videoconferencing before Special Judge G. A. Sanap for the second consecutive day from a US jail, Headley said that in 2006, ISI official Major Pasha and LeT functionary Sajid Mir and others met to discuss plans to set up a business for (him) Headley in Mumbai. Later, in November 2007, he met LeT top leaders when the proposed terror attacks on Mumbai were planned in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, he told Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. This meeting came in the wake of Headley's recce trips to Mumbai since the previous year (2006) when he made video recordings of various locations, including the iconic Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, and they studied the recordings of the hotel very carefully, especially the entry-exit routes. In a chilling disclosure, Headley said the plan was to attack the hotel opposite Gateway of India when a major military conference was scheduled to be held there. Later, when the attacks were executed with precision, it was mainly attributed to the pictures and videos Headley had clicked during his recce trips to the city. The 56-year old Headley said that LeT chief Hafez Sayeed - whom he described as "the spiritual head" of the extremist organisation - and its armed wing head Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi used to regularly consult the Pakistan Army and its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on various issues. Headley today identified photos of Lakhvi and Major Pasha before Special Judge Sanap and threw more light on Pakistan's links with the 26/11 terror attacks which killed 166 persons. Washington, Feb 9 : As voters in a snowy New Hampshire headed for the polls, Bernie Sanders held a 26-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic while Donald Trump led the Republican field. With Sanders topping Clinton 61 percent to 35 percent in the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll, most pundits expected the self-styled Democratic Socialist to win the crucial first in the nation vote where independents can participate in either party's primary. Sanders and Trump are the two candidates who also enjoy the most support from independent voters, according to polls. And with "undeclared" voters making up a little more than 40 percent of registered voters, that margin could make a difference. In the face of the tough challenge posed by Sanders, Hillary and her husband former president Bill Clinton have sharpened their attacks on the Vermont Senator. Hillary Clinton noted Sanders has fundraised from Wall Street interests, too, while Bill Clinton ripped Sanders backers for making 'sexist', 'profane' attacks and accused Sanders of derisively labelling opponents as part of the "establishment" when they disagree. On Republican side of the race, with real estate mogul Trump leading with 31 percent support, the main interest centred on who among the remaining seven candidates would finish second behind him. In the final poll, Florida Senator Marco Rubio had 17 percent support, just three points ahead of Iowa caucus winner Texas Senator Ted Cruz at 14 percent. But he was significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Governor John Kasich at 10 percent and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 7 percent. Behind Bush, former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina stood at 5 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 4 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 3 percent. Meanwhile, Trump returned to mocking Bush after the two clashed during ABC's Republican presidential debate on Saturday night, calling him a "loser" and saying "every time he attacks me, he melts like butter." "You look at Jeb -- Jeb's a loser," Trump said on CBS Monday. "He's spent $110 million so far, he's at the bottom of the pack or toward the bottom of the pack. He's going nowhere. And the only thing he does is attack me." Bush fired back on twitter later Monday morning, writing, "you aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out." It was a reference to Trump questioning whether McCain -- who spent five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War -- is a war hero. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg added a new twist to the 2016 race by announcing he is considering running for president. In an interview with Financial Times, the billionaire media mogul also criticised the current candidates saying, "I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters" and the public deserved "a lot better." (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) Washington, Feb 9 : Sikh American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia says he was barred from boarding a flight home to New York from Mexico because he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Ahluwalia, according to the New York Times, said Monday he checked in at the AeromAxico counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 a.m. and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. When he showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded matter-of-factly that I won't be taking off my turban," he was quoted as saying in an interview from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'O.K., then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other AeromAxico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline Monday said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible." Ahluwalia, 41, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewellery line and other design work. New Delhi, Feb 9 : The central government on Tuesday said that the US will provide further financial assistance for strengthening safety related aspects of India's civil aviation sector. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Indian aviation regulator has entered into a grant agreement with the United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA). The ministry elaborated that the grant agreement has been signed under the India aviation safety technical assistance phase II. "The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and USTDA signed the grant agreement for India aviation safety technical assistance phase II in New Delhi today," the ministry said in a statement. "USTDA will be partially funding the assistance to the tune of $808,327 and contractor 'The Wicks Group' (TWG) will share the cost of assistance at $75,000. Government of India's contribution is for an amount of $446,866." The ministry cited that the USTDA's assistance was necessitated after the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. "Following this the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA carried out an 'International Aviation Safety Assessment' (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013, and India was assigned category II rating in January 2014," the statement said. "In March 2014, USTDA in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a USTDA grant agreement project to address the FAA-IASA findings and help restore category I status to India." The ministry pointed out that under the grant agreement's phase I, US based contractor TWG assisted DGCA in addressing the findings and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014. "Based on this reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, India's category I status was restored in April 2015," the statement added. "Phase II of the current project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA category I status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation." New Delhi, Feb 9 : The Indian constitution is an enduring document that reflects our aspirations and it is incumbent on those holding constitutional positions to maintain the sanctity of this sacred text, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday. "Our nation has grown from strength to strength since Independence. It is primarily due to our steadfast adherence to the principles enshrined in our constitution," he said at the inauguration of the 47th Conference of Governors at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. "It is an enduring document that reflects our aspirations and the avenues to achieve them in an inclusive manner," he added. Twenty-three governors and lieutenant governors are attending the conference. The president said as constitutional heads of their respective states, governors can play an inspirational role to ensure the state government's active cooperation for the successful implementation of central government's schemes like Make in India, Start-up India, Smart City Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission. Gurgaon, Feb 9 : A 32-year-old man with a criminal record was shot dead here early on Tuesday, after which his family blocked traffic on a busy road causing a huge traffic jam, police said. Arun Kumar, a resident of Islampur village, was killed by unidentified men around 1 a.m. near the village community centre. His family members blocked the Sohna-Gurgaon road, alleging police inaction vis-a-vis the killers. Police officer Vijay Kumar said gang war may have led to Kumar's killing. He said a suspect was being questioned. New Delhi, Feb 9 : In an effort to enhance disaster preparedness in India, tech giant Google on Tuesday announced public emergency alerts for floods in the country. Along with flood alerts, Google users will also be able to access "river level" information for more than 170 areas in which the Central Water Commission (CWC) has active observation stations, the company said. "Timely information is the first step in disaster preparedness and has the potential to save thousands of lives lost to natural disasters each year. By making critical information more widely available to people, flood alerts will enable citizens across the country to make quicker and more informed decisions," said Payal Patel, product manager, Google India. These alerts can be accessed on Google web search, Google Now cards in the Google app, Google Maps, and on the Google Public Alerts homepage, on both desktop and mobile devices. The alerts will be created and shared using data provided by the CWC. Among all the natural disasters that occur in India, floods are the most common. Chronic floods during the monsoon season on an average affect more than 30 million Indians annually. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), on an average 7.21 million hectares (roughly 72,000 sq km) go under floodwater annually, Google said. Heavy rains and floods also account for nearly 1,700 lives lost annually. In 2015, the internet search giant introduced cyclone alerts to show information about cyclones in India. Clicking on the alert help users find information with details about the hazard, including a map and expected timeline, as well as tips on how to stay safe. Kathmandu, Feb 9 : Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala, who died on Tuesday, epitomised the adage "simple living, high thinking", visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said. Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress, died in the early hours of Tuesday at his Maharajgunj residence in Kathmandu. Sushma Swaraj signed a condolence message on behalf of the Indian people, the government and the visiting all-party delegation at the Dasarath Stadium, where Koirala's body was kept for the public to pay homage. "Sad demise of former prime minister and leader of Nepali Congress Sushil Koirala-ji has deeply saddened the leadership, government and people of India," she wrote. She said Koirala was a "dedicated leader" and a "man of high thinking and simple living". Nepal's crucial political transition was successfully concluded under his statesmanship, she said. "On behalf of the people and the government of India, we convey our heartfelt condolences and India has today lost a true friend," Sushma Swaraj wrote. Before signing the condolence message, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav paid homage to Koirala. Sushma Swaraj later left for a meeting with Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at his residence. Oli is scheduled to visit India later this month. The Indian delegation arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday evening aboard a special flight. While the other Indian leaders will attend the last rites of Koirala on Wednesday, Sushma Swaraj will return on Tuesday evening itself. The Nepal government will accord a state funeral to Koirala. His last rites will be conducted at the Pashupati Arya Ghat on the banks of the Bagmati river. The government has announced a public holiday on Wednesday. New Delhi, Feb 9 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday applauded the "indomitable spirit" of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad rescued alive six days after he along with nine other armymen was buried under an avalanche on the Siachen glacier. "I am happy to know that Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad has survived the avalanche on the Siachen glacier. I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions," the President said in his message to army chief General Dalbir Singh. The President said Koppad's will power and courage to fight all odds is truly an example to all others. "I join the people of our country in praying for his early and speedy recovery." Koppad is under treatment at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, where he was flown in from the Siachen base camp and admitted earlier Tuesday. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," a medical bulletin on his condition said. Chennai, Feb 9 : Police in the temple town of Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu let off nine Ukranians with a stern warning after they took pictures of the Arunachaleshwarar temple using a drone on Tuesday. "They were let off with a stern warning not to take pictures with a drone. The pictures in the drone camera were erased," a police official in Tiruvannamalai, 195 km from Chennai, told IANS over phone. While the Ukranians claimed that they took pictures with drones wherever they travelled, police did not agree to their point. New Delhi, Feb 9 : While it was nothing short of a miracle that an Indian Army soldier was found alive six days after being buried under 35 feet of snow on Siachen glacier -- and presumed dead, not only the tough survival training modules that he underwent to face natural calamities but also the ice may have played a key role in his survival, say health experts. "Organs are usually transferred or preserved in frozen situation. In the soldier's case, there is a possibility that the ice turned into a saviour which protected him from death," Sameer Shrivastava, head of the department of non-invasive cardiology at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, told IANS. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad continued to be in shock with low blood pressure and was put on ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit of the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) in the national capital where he was flown in from Siachen base camp and admitted earlier on Tuesday. The next one-to-two days were critical for the soldier, a medical bulletin said. "Internal injuries can only happen when the external part of the body is damaged owing to extreme weather conditions. Apart from physical injuries, heart rate becomes very slow leading to cardiac arrest and basal metabolic rate (BMR) goes down leading to slow death while stuck in an avalanche which, miraculously, did not happen in this case," Dr Shrivastava said. Health experts also believe that Koppad survived because he was trapped in an air pocket. Soldiers posted in harsh icy conditions across the world are trained to look for air pockets in case of an avalanche and know how to clear the snow near the nose and the mouth so that they can keep breathing. "Air pocket created between the snow layer can possibly be a reason for the soldier's survival. He was successful in getting some oxygen trapped in the air pocket that allowed him to breathe. Also, strong will-power to survive must have acted as an added advantage," said Col H.S. Chauhan, president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. According to the Switzerland-based International Commission of Alpine Rescue (ICAR), those who are completely buried in an avalanche have a survival rate of 50 percent. "It is vital not to get buried completely. Once you feel the avalanche has come to a stop, you must try to get something sticking out of the avalanche. Move your other arm across your face to the opposite shoulder to create an air bubble around your head and mouth," said the website. Lance Naik Koppad was one of the 10 soldiers of 19 Madras Regiment unit who were swept by the deadly avalanche on February 3 when they were manning the highest helipad in the world on Saltoro Ridge of Siachen glacier. The soldier was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented. He was also severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycaemic and in shock. "He has been placed on ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) medical bulletin said. London, Feb 9 : English supermodel Jourdan Dunn has teamed up with British fashion brand Marks & Spencer to launch her first children's wear range. Aptly named Lil' LonDunn by Jourdan Dunn, the collection celebrates Dunn's love for her hometown London, and has been designed by the model with her six-year-old son Riley as the inspiration, read a statement. According to dailymail.co.uk, Riley suffers from sickle-cell anaemia. The range is aimed at both boys and girls from age five to 16, and is an urban, upbeat collection made up of 22 pieces. The 25-year-old model has been closely involved in the direction of the project from the very beginning, working on all aspects from fabric and fit through to photography and creative campaign style. "I've been a big fan of the brand since I was young and have fond memories visiting our local store with my mum as a kid. My collection is inspired by London and has the cool, urban vibe that I look for when choosing clothes for Riley," Dunn said. "It's been an absolute pleasure to work on this project with such a big British retailer, and I can't wait to see the clothes on Riley and all his friends," she added. Riley features amongst the children in the first campaign shoot, which will launch in April. Lil' LonDunn by Jourdan Dunn will be also be exclusively available in some stores in India from April. Stephanie Chen, trading director for kidswear and home at the brand, said: "We are thrilled to be working with Jourdan on her first children's wear range and she has been really passionate about the project every step of the way." This project is the second of the 'M&S &' series, under which a sequence of exclusive collections in collaboration with designers, brands and fashion icons will be made. English model and television presenter Alexa Chung was the first to reimagine pieces from the British fashion brand's archive for a capsule collection. New Delhi, Feb 9 : A thick ice sheet as hard as concrete was cut through to rescue Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who was miraculously found alive in the Siachen Sector, after being buried for six days under tonnes of snow, following an avalanche. The soldier was luckily inside an 'arctic tent' which possibly aided his survival, despite being under a thick sheet of snow which had hardened into ice, Army sources said. This arctic tent is designed to withstand extreme temperatures and has a fibre-reinforced structure. The 10 Indian Army soldiers were at a post there to maintain a helipad that received supplies when an 800 feet by 400 feet wall of snow collapsed on them on February 3. Only one soldier survived. Round-the-clock rescue efforts continued in extreme weather conditions digging 35 feet, with the day temperature at an average of 30 degrees Celsius below zero and the night mercury dipping futher to -55 degrees. The Army refused to give up on its men who were assumed to be dead after five days. "People have been found alive in such situations even after weeks. It depends on the medical condition and physical factors. So it is always very difficult to tell how long someone can survive buried under snow and ice," an Army officer told IANS. Over 150 trained and acclimatised Army troops and several special rescue dogs were pressed into action. Army officials said the dogs played a significant role in detecting the location of the soldier. However, to remove the sheet of ice, high technology equipment including rock drills, electric saws, and earth augers were flown in. Deep penetration radars, capable of detecting metallic objects and heat signatures at the depth of 20 metres were put in use along with radio signal detectors. In the difficult weather, the rescue operations continued, interrupted frequently by high intensity winds and blizzards. It was only on February 8 that the teams were able to reach the location of the buried camp and found Koppad still alive. Officials said he was found "conscious but drowsy" and disoriented. However, the medical bulletin issued in New Delhi on Tuesday evening said he was in a comatose state. When he was finally extricated from the snow and ice, Koppad was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycaemic and in shock. The soldier was resuscitated by the doctors at the site, who were there with hopes of finding a survivor. The soldier was immediately administered warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming, all of critical importance after the long time he had spent in the sub-zero environment. The soldier was flown out from the site on Tuesday by helicopter, along with a medical specialist, to the Siachen base camp, from where he was brought to Thoise air base in Ladakh. He was then transferred to Delhi accompanied by a specialist doctor from the Siachen Base Camp and admitted to the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) here. He continues to be in an "extremely critical condition", according to a bulletin issued by the hospital. (Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in) New Delhi, Feb 9 : Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, miraculously rescued from the Siachen glacier after being buried under 35 feet of snow for six days, was in coma and battling for life on Tuesday. Doctors said the soldier from Karnataka, who along with nine other colleagues of the Madras Regiment had been assumed dead, was in "extremely critical" condition at the Army Research and Referral Hospital here. The bodies of the other soldiers who too were swept away by an avalanche on February 3 at a height of 20,500 feet on the southern side of the glacier in Jammu and Kashmir were also found, the army said. The dead included a Junior Commissioned Officer. A medical bulletin said Koppad, who was flown to Delhi early on Tuesday, was in shock with low blood pressure and was on ventilator in the ICU. The next one or two days were critical for him. "He has been placed on ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," said the bulletin issued at 4 p.m. "He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24-48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body. "He has pneumonia and his investigations have revealed liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bone injuries to him," it said. The soldier, being treated by experts, has been given fluids and drugs to bring up his blood pressure. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lauded the "indomitable spirit" of Koppad. Modi visited the hospital along with army chief General Dalbir Singh. Mukherjee said in a message to the army chief: "I am happy to know that Koppad has survived the avalanche... I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions." Modi tweeted: "No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier." In Karnataka, his distraught family and relatives prayed for his well being. The soldier was luckily inside an "arctic tent" which possibly aided his survival despite being under the ice sheet, army sources said. The tent is designed to withstand extreme temperatures and has a fibre-reinforced structure. While Koppad's survival is a miracle, doctors say he was possibly trapped in an air pocket which saved him. "Air pocket created between the snow layers can possibly be a reason for his survival. Also, a strong will power to survive must have acted as an added advantage," said H.S. Chauhan, president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. Soldiers posted in harsh icy conditions are trained to look for air pockets in case of an avalanche and know how to clear the snow near the nose and the mouth so that they can keep breathing. Even six days after the disaster, by which most people feared that none of the 10 soldiers could have survived, the army refused to give up its search operation in a hostile environment. The efforts paid off late on Monday. Doctors at the site immediately administered warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming -- all of critical importance after the long time spent in the sub-zero environment. Koppad was then flown out of the site on Tuesday by helicopter, along with a medical specialist, first to the Siachen base camp, then to Thois air base in Ladakh and finally to Delhi. That's where the soldier battles on -- this time for his life. Proactively From the Sea; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity. Mumbai, Feb 9 : Continuing his expose on the role of Pakistan-based terror organisations, its army, spy agency ISI and others, LeT terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Tuesday described how he was assigned to gather military intelligence in India and recruit spies from the Indian Army. On the second day of his deposition through video-conferencing from a US jail before the special TADA court here, Headley said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). A man identified as Major Ali of the Pakistan Army wanted him to note troop movement in India as part of the plan to infiltrate the military establishments here. "He wanted me to note the movement of troops in India. He wanted someone to spy on matters of military intelligence, movement of officers. He wanted me to develop contacts with officials of Indian military forces with a purpose to gather intelligence," said Headley. In response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the ISI. Headley on Monday revealed that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were planned over a year in Pakistan. Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, he said that in November-December 2007, he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai. At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a plan to strike during an upcoming conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite the Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap. However, that plan -- to be executed a year before the Mumbai terror attacks -- was subsequently dropped as the conference itself was cancelled, he added. Headley was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, when they stayed there between September 14-28, 2006, and selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba. He said he had met Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army first time in 2006 at a house in Lahore and discussed the matters with him. Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba police station, markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi. "Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them," Headley said, adding that the plan to target the Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for "logistics reasons". All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device provided by Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, which he later handed over to Sajid Mir, Headley added. Headley unravelled before the special court how the LeT and Al Qaeda, which he termed a "terrorist organisation", Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahiddeen and other groups in Pakistan function under the "United Jihad Council" and were working against India. He said the LeT and the ISI have a close nexus with the spy agency providing the "financial, military and moral support", Nikam later told media persons. Admitting to his links with both the LeT and the ISI, Headley described Hafiz Saeed as LeT's "spiritual leader," while Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its "operational commander" and both worked with the sole aim of unleashing terror in India. Headley said that in 2003, he was present at a LeT meeting when Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar made a guest speech about his anti-India activities and his release from India (in December 1999 in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814). He met Azhar at the location, around 150 km from Lahore, and the same year he met Lakhvi in Muzafarrabad at the LeT headquarters. However, it was at a meeting in 2006 attended by Sajid Mir, Muzammil, Abu Khafa it was decided that he should go to India. On Monday, Headley deposed roughly on the period between 2003 and 2005 and on Tuesday, he threw light on the period after 2005 till 2008, and the deposition will resume again on Wednesday, Nikam told media persons. Bengaluru, Feb 9 : The investment in science and technology in India continue to be sub-optimal, said Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw on Tuesday. "Amongst all the countries who invest in science and technology, we are at a sub-optimal level," said Shaw at Bangalore India Bio. Referring to South Korea which is leading investments in science and technology, she said: "I think India needs to basically up its game in science and technology through greater investments." She requested the government to increase science and technology investments as it is the future of India. According to the Biocon chairperson, India needs to invest $5 billion in biotechnology to achieve the target of growing the sector to $100 billion by 2025. "Today biotechnology is a $11 billion sector, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 20 percent. We also are aspiring to be a $100 billion sector by 2025," she said. Addressing the 16th edition of Bangalore India Bio, union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said: "A lot has been achieved in this field in the last 30 years. Bangalore is not only the hub of bio-tech, it is also the destination of all scientists in India. It is the science hub for India." He said the government allotted Rs.10,000 to support entrepreneurs and startups in biotechnology. Scheduled from February 9-11, Bangalore India Bio will cover a spectrum of activities which include an international trade show, keynote talks and multi-track conferences among others. As many as 25 session featuring 110 speakers will deliberate on topics like making tomorrow's medicine, oncology and precision medicine, rare diseases and orphan drugs, agribiotechnology, synthetic bio-fuels and others. New Delhi, Feb 9 : People of Jammu and Kashmir want an end to terrorism, Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh has said, noting that there was a feeling among residents of the Kashmir Valley that they had been "cheated" due to militancy. In an interview with ETV, he also said that the government was committed to welfare of Kashmiri Pandits and would do whatever it could for them. Jitendra Singh, who is MP from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, said the environment in the state had improved and people were yearning for development. "I will say one thing that the environment has changed in such a way that people themselves want the terrorism to end. This feeling is not only in my constituency areas but also in the Kashmir valley. "People of Kashmir Valley know that in the name of terrorism, they were cheated and some people benefited from this. There has been no change in the condition and life of the common man. Today's youth there is seeing and feeling how youth from other areas are growing and developing. He does not want stay away from growth and development," Jitendra Singh said. Asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party will again form an alliance government in Jammu and Kashmir, which was presently under governor's rule, he did not give a definite answer. "Our state and central leadership will decide on further strategy looking into the situation," he said. The BJP and People's Democratic Party had joined hands to form government in the state after a fractured mandate but governor's rule was imposed after the death last month of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, as the PDP did not come forward to stake claim. He noted the Kashmir Valley is incomplete without the Pandits who "have the right to go back to their motherland". "We are committed to this. We will do whatever can be done looking into their interest," he said. Jitendra Singh, who is also minister of state for personnel, public grievances, and pensions, said the Central Bureau of Investigation faced "credibility crisis" during the United Progressive Alliance government and has become "totally independent" under the Narendra Modi government. "The government is not interfering in its work. Not only CBI, we believe in maintaining the constitutional decorum of (all) the institutions," he said. Kolkata, Feb 9 : West Bengal Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra was admitted to a private medical facility on Tuesday after he complained of uneasiness. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed Mitra's indisposition, but said he was fine now. "He is sick. He has been hospitalised. He is fine now," Banerjee told the media. The Belle Vue Clinic did nto give details of Mitra's indisposition, but said he was undergoing medical tests. The 68-year-old minister was likely to be released on Thursday, a hospital spokesperson said. Kolkata, Feb 9 : Ailing All India Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh, on ventillator support in a city hospital, is likely to undergo tracheotomy on Wednesday to improve his breathing. "He continues to be on ventillatory support. He is conscious. However he still remains critical," the hospital said. "He continues to be on broad spectrum antibiotics.. The medical board held today (Tuesday) is of the opinion of a planned tracheotomy tomorrow (Wednesday)." He is being fed through a Ryles tube. The 94-year-old Ghosh, the seniormost Left Front leader in West Bengal, was on Tuesday rushed to the hospital following lower respiratory tract infection. He has for decades now been the secretary of the West Bengal unit of the party founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. New Delhi, Feb 9 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked city police to file its response on whether CCTV cameras have been installed in police stations, particularly those covering 44 "red flagged" locations identified as sensitive based on an extensive crime mapping exercise. A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked Delhi Police to also file the list of 44 vulnerable areas identified by it earlier. During the hearing, on the issue of installation of CCTV camera and sharing of live feeds, the bench said the feed of the proposed 6000 CCTV cameras to be installed at vulnerable areas in the capital has to go to Delhi Police first. "If you see something happening, who will be answerable? Delhi Police or a legislator? Delhi Police should get direct feed as it will do the real-time monitoring," it said. The court's remark came after AAP government's senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra sought that the government should be allowed to share the feed and added that it was willing to execute the project at Rs.20 crore against Delhi Police's proposed Rs.400 crore. The high court said it would discuss the Delhi government and police proposals regarding installation of CCTVs on the next date of hearing on February 17. 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 women safety including appointing more police personnel, setting up additional forensic labs and a victim compensation fund. Lucknow, Feb 9 : The future of the BJP was bright in Uttar Pradesh, union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. In the city on a two-day visit where he met Bharatiya Janata Party office bearers and workers, the former party president said nobody needs to worry about the prospects of the party for the assembly elections due next year. "Nobody needs to worry, the future of the party is good in the state," he told reporters. Party sources said Gadkari had meetings with senior party leaders and took "serious feedback" on the existing political situation in the state. The party recently fared badly in various bypolls, as well as in elections to local bodies and panchayats. The party had stunned its opponents by winning 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2014 general elections. Political observers feel the BJP was, for now, ill-prepared to take on regional parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party and the ruling Samajwadi Party. New Delhi, Feb 9 : National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog member Bibek Debroy on Tuesday called for coordinated efforts of the central and state governments to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). "States and centre have to work together for achievement of sustainable development goals which are extremely important for ensuring inclusive economic growth through social equality of which health is a crucial factor," he said at the National Consultation on Road to Sustainable Development Goals here. "If we refer back to human development indices (HDI) for India as reflected in the human development reports, we will find that these were improved due to increase in per capita income and not because of education or health," he said. In September 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which includes a set of 17 sustainable development goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. A press release said that two-day national consultation, particularly focusing on health and education goals, has been organised in coordination of NITI Ayog and UN in India. It will conclude on Wednesday. Secretary (West) in external affairs ministry, Sujata Mehta said that in adoption of sustainable development goals, India safeguarded the interest of the developing countries by ensuring that they have access to technology. India's Chief Statistician T.C.A. Anant said that SDGs were also reflective of India's aspirations. New Delhi, Feb 9 : A 25-year-old member of an international credit and debit card cloning gang has been arrested here for cheating many people across India by withdrawing money from their accounts, police said on Tuesday. Pankaj Bhardwaj, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Monday from the India Gate area in a joint operation by Delhi and Mumbai police. "Members of the card cloning gang are spread across Dubai, Mumbai and Delhi," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said. Mumbai police came to know about such a gang active in Dadar area after it received several complaints from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and some southern states that money was being withdrawn from the accounts of some people through different ATMs. "Following the complaint, Mumbai police recently arrested a man named Nisar from Dadar when he was withdrawing money from an ATM. More than 20 cloned ATM cards were recovered from him," the officer said. Mumbai police sought assistance from Delhi Police when it knew that Nisar used to send cash to a man named Sumair Sheikh through a 'hawala' operator based in Delhi. "We identified the local hawala operator as Pankaj Bhardwaj and arrested him," the officer said. Bhardwaj told interrogators that he used to receive the amount sent by Ansari and some other gang members on behalf of Sheikh, who stays in Dubai. At the instance of Sheikh, interrogators said Bhardwaj used to buy bitcoins -- a cryptographic, digital and experimental currency introduced in the digital world in 2008 -- and transfer the same online to Sheikh who encashed it. Bhardwaj used to get a handsome share from this amount, the officer said. The value of one bitcoin is equivalent to Rs.24,633, the officer said. "Sheikh would procure data of debit and credit cards through his sources and his associates in Mumbai cloned the cards, withdrew the money and forwarded the amount after keeping their share to Delhi through hawala for him. "But instead of receiving the amount directly, Sheikh would ask Bhardwaj to collect the money from the Hawala operator," the officer said. Bhardwaj admitted to have forwarded bitcoins equivalent to more than Rs.30 lakh to Sheikh in last 4-5 months. He recently received Rs.14 lakh from Mumbai and forwarded bitcoins of Rs.5 lakh to Sheikh. Police recovered Rs.8 lakh from his house. Bhardwaj works at Secure Bitcoins Traders Pvt. Ltd. in Pitampura in west Delhi as an operations manager. New Delhi, Feb 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an All India Conference of School Principals here on February 12 organised by Vidya Bharti, an organisation affiliated to the RSS. Addressing the media here, Vidya Bharti's national secretary Shiv Kumar said the main purpose of the conference, being held from February 11 to 14, is to discuss the role of school principals so as to "develop a society wherein children grow up to be ideal citizens on the basis of their grooming in schools". He said principals of more than 1,300 senior secondary schools of Vidya Bharti will participate in the conference. Vidya Bharti's general secretary Lalit Bihari Goswami said the mission of the organisation was to develop a national education system in which the students grow up into patriotic and well-rounded personalities. He said the young generation should be physically, spiritually and mentally strong so that they can face the toughest of challenges. Goswami said the young generation should be committed to creating a society free from prejudice, injustice and exploitation. Vidya Bharti's national joint organising secretary Kashipati said the group runs 12,363 formal schools in the country with a combined strength of 32,06,212 students and 1,35,500 teachers. He said the organisation also runs 12,001 single-teacher schools and "sanskar kendras in jhuggi bastis and other areas" where 11,143 teachers impart education to 2,45,403 children. Dharwad (Karnataka), Feb 9 : Family members of Siachen avalanche survivor Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad flew to New Delhi on Tuesday night from Panaji to be with him as he battles for life in an army hospital, an official said. "Koppad's family was taken to the army hospital from the Indira Gandhi airport in a military car by the army to be his bedside," the official told IANS from Bengaluru, about 430 km from here. Earlier, the state government made arrangements to fly Koppad's family members to Delhi from Panaji in Goa, the nearest airport to Delhi. News of Koppad miraculously being alive six days after he was buried in a Siachen glacier in an avalanche on February 3 rejoiced his family, which almost gave up hopes of seeing him again. "The state government has made arrangements for the family's stay at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and transportation to reach the hospital at the earliest," Dharwad Deputy Commissioner P. Rajendran Cholan told reporters here earlier. According to army sources, Koppad's family members -- including wife Mahadevi, mother Basavva, daughter Netra and brother Govindappa -- went in a car to Panaji from their native place Betadur near here, about 10 km from this city. Koppad of the 19th Madras Regiment was posted at the Siachen glacier, where nine of his colleagues were also buried about 40 feet deep in the avalanche in minus 40 degrees Celsius. When Koppad was flown to Delhi from Siachen in an air ambulance earlier in the day for reviving him from a comatose condition, the village folk joined his family to offer special prayers for his speedy recovery from a critical condition. "There is a ray of hope amid gloom in the village with prayers for Koppad's precious life," the source said. The defence ministry had advised the state government to make special arrangements for rushing Koppad's family to Delhi so that he could see them at the earliest. "It is a punar janam (rebirth) for him and all of us," Mahadevi told news channels, which rushed to Koppad's village for his family's response to the news of his being alive amidst gloom and doom. Bengaluru, Feb 9 : The Indian Railways on Tuesday signed a joint venture agreement with Chhattisgarh to develop railway infrastructure in the state. According to the railways ministry, it signed the MoU with Chhattisgarh government as part of its budget plans. "Indian Railways has been working vigorously to reach every corner of the country through railway lines but people's expectations are lot more with the railway ministry," said Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, calling on all state governments to join hands his ministry to meet the expectations of people. The MoU envisages formation of JV company having a 51 percent stake of the state government and a 49 percent stake of the railway ministry. The JV will focus on project development, resource mobilisation, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects. Prabhu said Chhattisgarh is a natural resources-rich state and has lot of potential for exploration and evacuation of the resources to other parts of the country and at national level. "For this purpose, railway infrastructure needs to be developed in the state which will not only help the people of the state in availing better transport but will also bring huge freight to the railways," he said. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh thanked Indian Railways, saying 760 km of additional railways lines were spread in the state in a very short time. Baghdad, Feb 10 : The Iraqi security forces fought fierce clashes with Islamic State militants and retook control of the eastern part of the city of Ramadi, while the troops seized a road linking the city to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the military said on Tuesday. The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters recaptured several areas in eastern Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western province of Anbar, including the districts of Sajjariyah and Juwaiba, and rushed into Huseiba al-Sharqiya area, the military said in a statement, Xinhua reported. "Our forces are advancing firmly to chase the enemy, and have opened the highway between Ramadi and Baghdad which passes through the town of Khaldiyah, the statement said, referring to the road that also links Ramadi with the military airbase of Habbaniyah where US troops and allied coalition military personnel stationed. The military statement was an official announcement for the liberation of the areas in eastern Ramadi, as the troops had launched a major offensive to flush out IS militants from Ramadi and declared a victory on December 28 when the troops captured the city, raising the Iraqi flag on the government complex there. Government troops and allied militias have also been fighting for months to take back other key cities and towns in Anbar, Iraq' s largest province, from IS militants, who previously seized most of Anbar and tried to advance towards Baghdad. Baghdad, Feb 10 : At lest 34 Islamic State militants were killed in air strikes by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft and artillery shelling in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source told Xinhua. The international aircraft carried out an air strike on IS positions in a village near the town of Baghdadi leaving 22 IS militants killed and three of their vehicles destroyed, the source said on condition of anonymity. Separately, 12 IS militants were killed by the army artillery and helicopter gunships bombarded IS positions in Saqlawiyah area, just north of the IS-held city of Fallujah, the source said. Meanwhile, a civilian was killed and 20 others wounded when IS militants fired mortar rounds on the government-held town of Amriyat al-Fallujah, the source added. In earlier report on Tuesday, the Iraqi military said in a statement that the security forces recaptured the eastern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi. The statement also said that the troops also seized the highway between Ramadi and Baghdad which passes through the town of Khaldiyah as well as the military airbase of Habbaniyah where US troops and allied coalition military personnel stationed. The military statement was an official announcement for the liberation of the areas in eastern Ramadi, as the troops had launched a major offensive to flush out IS militants from Ramadi and declared a victory on December 28 when the troops captured the city, raising the Iraqi flag on the government complex there. Government troops and allied militias have also been fighting for months to take back other key cities and towns in Anbar, Iraq' s largest province, from IS militants, who previously seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad. The UKs Land Registrys fraud line has helped thousands to protect their home ownership against property fraudsters in its first three years. Nearly 3,000 calls and emails have been received as people become more aware of the risk of someone stealing their identity in order to sell or take out a mortgage on their home before disappearing with the money. Since we launched our property fraud line property owners have become more aware of the risk. We urge home owners to follow our advice to reduce their risk of falling victim to property fraud, said Alasdair Lewis, director of Legal Services at the Land Registry. Whilst no system can eradicate fraud completely, since September 2009 we have stopped 199 fraudulent applications on properties worth around 82 million, added Lewis. The properties most vulnerable to property fraud are usually empty, tenanted or mortgage-free. Individuals at a higher risk of fraud include owners who do not live in the property because they live abroad, buy to let landlords, people in long term hospital or residential care or where a relationship has broken down. Lewis gave an example of a recent case. Penny Hastings called Land Registrys property fraud line after becoming suspicious that someone had fraudulently sold a property which she owned and rented out. It turned out the tenant was part of a fraud ring. Once hed rented Pennys house using a false identity, he and an accomplice put the house on the market. The accomplice was a lady who had changed her name to Penelope Hastings by deed poll and then secured a passport in that name. The Land Registry did not register the sale as we suspected a fraud. This meant that Penny Hastings still maintains the legal ownership of the property. Unfortunately, an unwitting buyer paid 1.35 million for the property. The police are currently investigating the fraud, said Lewis. The property fraud line was launched in February 2013 for owners to quickly alert Land Registry if they are concerned their property might be subject to a fraudulent sale or mortgage. It forms part of Land Registrys ongoing fraud prevention and detection techniques to safeguard peoples registered properties. Callers can speak to specially trained staff for practical guidance about what to do next. The telephone number is 0300 006 7030 and the line is open from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Home owners can protect their property by signing up for the Land Registrys free Property Alert service to receive an email alert when there is certain activity on the monitored property such as an application to register a new mortgage. People can then judge whether the activity is suspicious and seek further advice if necessary. Lewis pointed out that those who become an innocent victim of fraud and suffer a financial loss as a consequence may be compensated. If your property isnt registered then no compensation is payable. There can be up to three addresses on the register including an email address or an address abroad. Owners who feel their property might be at risk can have a restriction entered on their property which is intended to stop activity on the property, such as a transfer or a mortgage, unless a conveyancer or solicitor confirms the application. A relaxation of mortgage affordability rules in the UK could help more lifetime mortgage customers take up the option to make interest repayments initially before switching to a roll-up arrangement, it is claimed. Such a move for residential rather than lifetime lending could benefit consumers and encourage innovation, according to the Equity Release Council which has asked the Financial Conduct Authority to look into it. Amendments to the Mortgage Conduct of Business (MCOB) rules following the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) mean that lifetime mortgage contracts which permit, but do not require, consumers to pay interest for a period are subject to the requirement of providers to assess their affordability. This is despite the fact that payments of interest are always optional and that customers will never be at risk of losing their home as a result of being unable to continue with interest payments. As a result, says the ERC, some customers who would have taken out a lifetime mortgage giving them the option to repay interest for as long as they wished might not now pass affordability assessments, may be reluctant to subject themselves to the assessment process or be recommended alternative products. The Council has asked the FCA to consider whether a relaxation of rules originally designed for residential rather than lifetime mortgages would help more consumers unlock their housing wealth while protecting a larger amount of equity in their property. A relaxation might also support existing providers' ability to expand their product range and encourage new entrants. The request from the Council formed part of its evidence submission to the FCA's Call for Inputs on competition in the mortgage market. The FCA is set to outline next steps in the form of a summary statement in the first quarter of 2016. The Council's submission included a separate request for the FCA and Government to consider the long-term impacts of decisions relating to tax and regulation which may affect equity release lending. It also recommended that the FCA engages with the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) to consider how equity release is currently funded, the extent to which current prudential requirements create barriers for firms and whether a broader approach could be taken which would enable alternative sources of funding to be accessed. We welcome the proactive decision by the FCA to review whether there are any barriers to competition in the mortgage sector. Retirement lending is a crucial part of this and there needs to be careful consideration of the factors which differentiate residential and lifetime borrowing, said Nigel Waterson, chairman of the Equity Release Council. As part of our wide-ranging input we highlighted that revisiting affordability rules may help more consumers to make use of options already offered by equity release providers in later life, as well as encouraging more new entrants to the market, he explained. There is a growing recognition that equity release has an important part to play in the planning of funding for later life, and we look forward to working together with the FCA on the back of its findings, he added. Mellgren's IPA Edition: Single Cut (Los) Mellgren's IPA Edition: White Portion. In July of last year, I did a review of Mellgren's IPA (Single Cut) Snus by my friend, Conny Andersson. Being a big IPA fan, this snus is something that I've been very excited about. However, Conny wasn't pleased with last year's batched and wanted to make it better. Not only that, he's now also crafted a white portion of this snus. Today, Mellgren's in Sweden has posted both of these products for order - so you can buy them on their webshop or in their store. Unfortunately, these aren't available to the US at this time.Mellgren's says, "."."Can Weight - 37 grams.Can Weight - 18 grams. Given Fitbit's reputation as being one of the best wearable fitness trackers on the market, we at DE believe this offering brings whole new key dimension to our clients at an affordable price. Jeff Mann, Co-founder, DailyEndorphin DailyEndorphin is pleased to announce the launch of a key new feature that allows challenge participants who wear any Fitbit wearable fitness tracker to sync real-time with your DE user accounts while registered in one of our steps challenges. This key new feature combines the power and administrative control of DailyEndorphin team exercise challenges or individual-based wellness challenges with the convenience of the Fitbit by encouraging friends and colleagues to easily sync up your device's data with your DailyEndorphin account. How does it work? Simply wear your device, periodically open your Fitbit app and your daily steps data will automatically upload real-time into your DE user dashboard and challenge leaderboard standings page. No more manual self-reported entries required! For a limited time there will be no pricing changes for this key feature addition. Go to our Fitbit challenges page for more information on how to get started in just a few minutes! This Fitbit integration easily incorporates verifiable data into your corporate fitness and wellness program. Effortlessly incorporate a company walking challenge into your wellness program. Sometime in late Q1 2016, DailyEndorphin will be integrating with scores of other popular health wearables, fitness apps and additional DE fitness challenges, including active minutes, distance, points, and stairs climbed. More details coming soon. About DailyEndorphin DailyEndorphin enables anyone in groups of any size and type to easily set up friendly, configurable, highly affordable "DIY" wellness challenges and programs based on recommended physical activity and healthy objectives. DailyEndorphin provides an interactive way to motivate and engage its users in healthy behaviors leveraging group dynamics, competitions, and goal-setting. DailyEndorphin enables organizers to easily set up manage and promote customizable fitness, weight loss, nutrition, and wellness challenge events and offers back-end reporting and administrative control. DailyEndorphins mission is to enable people to live a healthier, happier life in the context of supportive social networks. DailyEndorphin works with groups of all sizes, including employers, health plans, wellness consultants, employee benefits brokers, health clinics, government entities, friends, families, and communities. Go to DailyEndorphin's home page at http://www.dailyendorphin.com to get more information about their programs. DailyEndorphin An interactive website that offers creative, affordable, configurable, "DIY" fitness & wellness challenges and programs that facilitate group exercise and wellness challenges. The inevitable and unavoidable conclusion is that if we want to stop the increasing damage to the global environment... we must stop population growth. Following the January 1st launch of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Negative Population Growth (NPG) will release a new Forum paper today. The piece includes analysis of todays commonly used term sustainability, finding: The introduction of the word sustainable provided comfort and reassurance to those who may have momentarily wondered if possibly there were limits. In the manner of Alice in Wonderland, and without regard for accuracy or consistency, sustainability seems to have been redefined flexibly to suit a variety of wishes and conveniences. In Reflections on Sustainability, Population Growth, and the Environment, the late Dr. Albert A. Bartlett studied the origin and meaning of sustainability, as well as the dangerous and unforeseen effects of the terms motley uses. A Professor Emeritus in Nuclear Physics at University of Colorado at Boulder, Dr. Bartlett dedicated much of his lifes work to fulfilling requests for his celebrated lecture Arithmetic, Population and Energy: Sustainability 101" which he gave 1,742 times throughout the world. Dr. Bartlett used his extensive scientific background to demonstrate that exponential growth of human populations and the resulting consumption of natural resources is, by definition, unsustainable. He notes: In some cases the term [sustainability] may be used mindlessly (or possibly with the intent to deceive) in order to try to shed a favorable light on continuing activities that may or may not be capable of continuing for long periods of time. The newly-edited paper highlights the dangerous consequences of pro-growth policies. Bartlett notes: One should be struck by the call for economic growth that is sustainable. One has to ask if it is possible to have an increase in economic activity (growth) without having increases in the rates of consumption of non-renewable resources. These two concepts of growth and sustainability are in conflict with one another. While economic and population growth are often erroneously hailed as major victories by communities around the world, the NPG Forum paper highlights the inevitable impact of such growth. The inevitable and unavoidable conclusion is that if we want to stop the increasing damage to the global environment, as a minimum, we must stop population growth. NPG President Don Mann had strong praise for the new work, stating: Bartlett expertly highlights the dangerous reality of our nations present expansionist policies. Todays near worship of economic and population growth have reached dangerous levels, yet this approach no longer serves the best interests of Americans. Mann added: NPG has long held that U.S. population growth is greatly driven by present economic and immigration policies and our everyday crises are also growing as a result. We must work now to slow, halt, and eventually reverse our population growth or future generations will ultimately pay the price for our failure to act. To preserve a livable America, we must greatly reduce our population size until it reaches a much smaller, truly sustainable level. Bartlett concludes: The challenge of making the transition to a sustainable society is enormous, in part because of a major global effort to keep people from recognizing the centrality of population growth to the enormous problems of the U.S. and the world. ...On the national scale, we can hope for leaders who will recognize that population growth is the major problem in the U.S. and who will initiate a national dialog on the problem. ## Founded in 1972, NPG is a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to educating the American public and political leaders regarding the damaging effects of population growth. We believe that our nation is already vastly overpopulated in terms of the long-range carrying capacity of its resources and environment. NPG advocates the adoption of its Proposed National Population Policy, with the goal of eventually stabilizing U.S. population at a sustainable level far lower than todays. We do not simply identify the problems we propose solutions. For more information, visit our website (http://www.NPG.org). The seal of the American School American School, a leader in distance education since 1897, is pleased to announce the first two events on its busy 2016 convention schedule. First is the Wisconsin School Counselor Association Conference from February 16-18 at the Monona Terrace in Madison. The exhibit hall will be open on February 16 from 4-6 p.m.; February 17 from 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; and February 18 from 8-11 a.m. American School has exhibited at this show for many years and uses the show to meet school counselors who may be interested in individual courses for credit recovery or enrichment purposes. "For decades we've offered an Independent Study Program that serves as a year-round summer school for students in brick and mortar high schools," American School President Gary R. Masterton said. "Students and counselors like the flexibility of being able to work at their own pace and the affordability of our online and paper-based courses." A week later, American School will head to Orlando for the Ignite 16 NASSP Conference, which is expected to draw secondary school principals from across the country. American School will be in booth 705 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee on February 25 from 6:15-8 p.m.; February 26 from 7:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.; and February 27 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. "We've been away from the NASSP conference for several years, but decided to go back this year," Masterton said. "We think the principals we meet will enjoy our online courses and diploma programs and be excited about what we have planned for the future." For more information on American School and its programs, visit http://www.americanschool.org or call 866-260-7221. With the high consumer anticipation of Intels GEN 6 NUC, Patriot sought to fulfill customer needs for reliable and affordable memory in a NUC. Patriot, a long time, leading manufacturer of computer memory has announced the qualification of their 4GB and 8GB DDR4 2133MHz SODIMMs for compatibility with Intels latest GEN 6 i3 NUC (Next Unit of Computing) and GEN 6 i5 NUC. The qualification of Patriots 4GB and 8GB SODIMMs was completed by CMTL, an independent compatibility testing lab used by Intel to qualify memory for their motherboards and platforms. Each DIMM submitted by Patriot was put through rigorous physical and environmental testing in order to be qualified as compatible with Intels GEN 6 NUC, mini PC. Both the i3 and i5 models of the Intel GEN 6 NUCs have a maximum capacity of 32GB between its two DIMM slots and up to 2133MHz making Patriot a first rate option for a computer memory solution. With the high consumer anticipation of Intels GEN 6 NUC, Patriot sought to fulfill customer needs for reliable and affordable memory in a NUC, said Les Henry, Patriots VP of Engineering. Our Signature Line SODIMMs offer customers the high speed performance with cost flexibility to meet every users individual needs. Patriots Signature Line DDR4 4GB (PSD44G213381S) and 8GB (PSD48G21332S) 2133MHz SODIMMs both have a CAS 15 latency for minimal delay and optimal computing time. Backed by a lifetime warranty, Patriot certifies each component in its modules delivering top of the line performance at a budget friendly price making Patriot the perfect option for any system upgrade. Availability Patriots 4GB and 8GB Signature Line DDR4 SODIMMs are available for purchase at select retailers and e-tailers such as Frys, Amazon, B&H and other select resellers, worldwide. Prices may vary, see store for details. For more information visit http://www.patriotmemory.com About Patriot Patriot designs, manufactures and markets high performance, enthusiast memory modules, flash memory, SSDs, and mobile accessory products. Patriot products have become world renown for their extreme performance, reliability and innovation. Patriot sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, retailers, e-tailers and distributors throughout the world with operations in North America, Asia and Europe. Patriot Memory LLC was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice. Media Contacts: North America Stacey Pinheiro Marketing and Communications Specialist Patriot Memory spinheiro@patriotmem.com Charles Skaggs is the co-host of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast, The Fandom Zone Podcast, Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast, TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast, and Drunk Cinema for Wonderful & Strange Productions. Previously, he co-hosted Next Stop Everywhere won the 2018 Indy PopCon Podcast Award for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Podcast, and The Fandom Zone Podcast was nominated for the 2016 Parsec Award for Best New Speculative Fiction Podcaster/Team. For DC Comics, he recently wrote the Justice Society of America story "The Midnight Hour" for the anthology DC's Terrors Through Time, and has also written stories for the licensed properties Generator Rex and Ben 10: Omniverse. In addition, he wrote the short story "Doctors Three" for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds II anthology from Pocket Books, and four stories for the Daily Planet 2017 newspaper included with the Smallville: The Complete Series DVD set from Warner Home Video. He also has a tiny obsession with the television series Doctor Who and maintains a daily diet of comic books to feed his brain. for the Southgate Media Group. White Webb's Clearly Classic - Glacia, Amara & Cleo Tables A new year brings fresh perspective and a long-awaited expansion of White Webbs Clearly Classic line of acrylic occasional tables. As the collections name suggests, classic designs from the worlds ancient cultures have always served as the starting point for Matthew White and Frank Webbs creations. To date, their line has included modern reinterpretations of Asian, European and Middle Eastern designs, but for their new pieces, the designers have found inspiration in Africa. For the past decade, the designers have found themselves repeatedly drawn to Africa. Initially, an interest in travel brought them to the northern and southern reaches of the continent and sparked a desire to learn more about the fascinating things they had encountered. Then, Frank Webb, leveraging his foreign service background, joined the board of an Internet start-up, called Africa.com, for which he researches and shares the latest trends in African arts and culture. With Africa on their mind, the duo decided to bring their spin on African design to the marketplace. Impressed by the awesome vastness and diversity of Africa, the designers wanted their new pieces to reflect this same broad range. Their glittering new creations Cleo, Amara and Glacia represent their first take on African design and lend a wonderful new dimension to the Clearly Classic collection. Cleo Like a graceful animal in motion, the Cleo table is inspired by ancient Egyptian designs, which often honored the sacred cat and other animals of distinction. Rendered in acrylic, it takes on a more modern, playful tone, somewhat reminiscent of the forms that John Dickinson created for his iconic plaster furniture from the 1970s. Dimensions: Made of acrylic, the table measures 12w x 24d x 24h. Amara Reminiscent of the sculptural chiefs stools found in Nigeria, Cameroon and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Amara table exudes the elegance and grace of its African namesake. Thanks to its many curves, the table positively sparkles like a jewel, making for the perfect chair-side accessory. Dimensions: Made of acrylic, the table measures 14 diameter x 24h. Glacia Cool, calm and collected, the Glacia table conveys the power and presence of the glittering icicles that inspired its design. Accentuated by beveled edges, the table reflects and refracts light in a dazzling array, much like the sun on the icy peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Dimensions: Made of acrylic, the table measures 12 diameter x 24h. About White Webb White Webb, LLC is an interior design firm with offices in New York City. The firms principals, Matthew White and Frank Webb, bring a sense of history to every interior design project, but balance it with an appreciation for modern life. This blending of old and new is the hallmark of the White Webb sensibility. In addition to high-end residential interiors, the firm produces a popular furniture line - Clearly Classic by White Webb which is a collection of acrylic occasional tables sold exclusively through Donghia. The firm also operates White Webb Finds, a lifestyle shop offering antiques and contemporary design items in Hillsdale, NY. For more information on White Webb, visit http://www.whitewebb.com. Follow White Webb on Facebook and Twitter (@whitewebb), on Pinterest (@whitewebbllc), and on Instagram (@whitewebbinteriors). About Donghia Donghia, Inc. produces furniture, textiles, lighting and accessories sold exclusively to interior designers and architects through Donghias twelve showrooms across the United States and in over fifty representative showrooms around the world. With a forty year history at the forefront of the luxury home furnishings industry, Donghia represents American design at its best. http://www.donghia.com 1.800.DONGHIA 2016 Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award In the opinion of our distinguished judges, PBX Parachute has proven to be among the best communications and technology solutions available on the market. I look forward to continued innovation from VirtualPBX. Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. VirtualPBX announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named PBX Parachute as the recipient of the 2016 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award. It gives me great pleasure to recognize VirtualPBX with a 2016 Product of the Year Award for its commitment to excellence and innovation, said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. In the opinion of our distinguished judges, PBX Parachute has proven to be among the best communications and technology solutions available on the market. I look forward to continued innovation from VirtualPBX. PBX Parachute is a hosted emergency failover system that protects businesses when they need it most. By mirroring the function and hierarchy of an existing, on-site telephone system, PBX Parachute can replicate a business total communications system within seconds of a failure of the primary system. Companies that rely on a physical phone system are exposed to the risks of disruption or inaccessibility of those networks, said Adam Denter, Director of Professional Services at VirtualPBX. PBX Parachute allows for these companies to choose which essential employees stay connected, even when they experience a failure of their primary system or if they can no longer access their offices. Most commonly used as part of a comprehensive business continuity plan, PBX Parachute helps companies stay connected to their clients, employees, and most importantly, their productivity all over the nation. Deployed during extreme weather conditions, emergency scenarios, or even through infrastructure renovations, PBX Parachute is the perfect cloud-based compliment to any physical telephone network. The winners of the 2016 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year will be featured in the 2016 March issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY Mgazine. About VirtualPBX VirtualPBX was founded by the creators of the original Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software in San Francisco in 1997 and continues to develop and deliver internet telephony products to meet the needs of an ever-changing business landscape. Nestled in the cradle of Silicon Valley, VirtualPBX product offerings include hosted VoIP, disaster recovery, business continuity, phone/fax/email integration and an increasingly rare USA-based free Customer Support team all, available directly from their offices in downtown San Jose. VirtualPBX Contact Rachel Anderson Director of Marketing 888.825.0800 Ext. 339 Rachel.Anderson(at)VirtualPBX(dot)com TMC Contact Rebecca Conyngham Marketing Manager 203-852-6800, ext. 287 rconyngham(at)tmcnet(dot)com Sonim XP5 Sonims XP5 is a versatile phone built for many rugged industries, field service workers, public safety, and construction to name a few, would highly benefit from adding a phone as durable as the XP5 into the hands of every employee. Group Mobile, well known for carrying the top brands in rugged computers and mobile computing solutions, has extended its product offering to include the Sonim XP5 ultra-rugged feature phone, available now. Industrial workers in construction, manufacturing, transportation, public safety and hospitality can benefit from using the Sonim XP5 for reliable communications, allowing users to stay connected in the most demanding environments. The Sonim XP5 is an ultra-rugged push-to-talk phone that is LTE and WiFi compatible, resulting in exceptional connectivity. The XP5 is equipped with a dedicated push-to-talk button allowing field workers to more efficiently communicate with their teams. Dual, front-facing loud speakers on the XP5 produce 104 decibels of sound, assisting workers in noisy areas who need clear communication. "Sonims XP5 is a versatile phone built for all types of rugged industries, field service workers, public safety, and construction to name a few, would highly benefit from adding a phone as durable as the XP5 into the hands of every employee, says Group Mobile Marketing Specialist. Built to Sonims world-class rugged performance standards, the XP5 is waterproof when submersed in up to 6.5 feet of water for 30 minutes. It meets military standard MIL-STD-810G protection and IP68 and IP69 certifications for resistance to damage from drops, dust and high temperature water spray. The removable battery in the XP5 is hefty, and packs 3180mAh of power that lasts through an entire work day, allowing for 25 hours of uninterrupted talk time. Extra features include a 5 megapixel camera, LED torch light, FM radio player and media player. The Sonim XP5 comes with an industry-leading, 3-Year comprehensive warranty to protect even the most active users from accidental damage while delivering the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry. To get the most out of the XP5, Group Mobile also offers Sonim ultra-rugged accessories including Bluetooth headsets, extra battery packs, passive car cradle, and more. For more information, visit buysonim.com. About Group Mobile Headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, Group Mobile serves customers all over North America. Customers range from Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Military, to local police/fire/ambulance, to small and mid-size businesses, to the frequent traveler that needs something more durable than a commercial, off-the-shelf computer. Group Mobile carries all the leading rugged computing brands. In addition, Group Mobile offers vehicle docking and mounting equipment from Gamber-Johnson, Ram Mounts, and Havis. To learn more about rugged computers and how they differ from commercial, indoor computers, check out the Rugged Computer Guide or visit us online at buysonim.com. Argus Dental & Vision, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Lewis Sollner, CLU, ChHC as its Director of Sales for the state of Florida. Sollners focus will be working with brokers, consultants, and agents throughout the state of Florida. He will be responsible for the sale of the Argus proprietary group and individual dental and vision insurance plans. Sollner joins Argus with nearly 20 years of experience in the employee benefits industry. According to Roger Skinner, Vice President of Business Development, This newly created position will expand Arguss presence in the Florida broker community. Skinner added I am excited to have Lewis join and lead our sales team and the launch and introduction of our new PPO dental and vision plans alongside of our existing Argus portfolio. Lewis adds significant stature to our ability to effectively compete against the large carriers. Many leading brokers and agents prefer and are seeking the type of local relationship and boutique service Argus can provide. Lewis is well respected in benefits industry for the five star attention he assigns to all his business relationships. About Argus Dental & Vision, Inc. Argus was founded in 2007 by a Florida dentist and experienced dynamic growth in its health plan partnership division in 2015. Argus operates in Florida as a Prepaid Limited Services Health Organization (PLSHO), Discount Medical Plan Organization (DMPO), and Third Party Administrator(TPA). Argus has obtained its TPA license in other states and is in the process of obtaining their license nationally. Argus is the first dental plan organization in the United States to be accredited for quality care by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). Through collaboration between consumers, dentists and insurance agents, Argus has developed flexible benefit plans to meet the specific needs of individuals, families, large and small employer groups, governmental agencies and associations of all sizes. Visit us at http://www.argusdentalvision.com Craig Otto, known throughout the Pittsburgh region for his award-winning marketing, advertising and branding work, has joined Elliance as director of brand development. In his previous position, he was partner/creative director for Dymun + Company. During his 28-year tenure with the firm, he was instrumental in helping Dymun grow into one of Pittsburghs top marketing and brand consultancies. Otto started his career as an art director at Ketchum Advertising and has witnessed the industry undergo a profound transformation. He explains that, the core creative team has changed. Its no longer just an art director and a writer. Its an art director, a writer, a planner, a developer, a social media strategist, an information architect and a data scientist. He has worked with a number of high-profile clients over the years Bayer Corporation, Dollar Bank, Duquesne Light, Pittsburgh Paints, the National Geographic Television Series and Pennsylvania Tourism, plus many more but is best known for the Eat N Park Christmas Star commercial. Created more than 30 years ago, this commercial is still on the air during the holidays and has become one of Americas longest running television commercials. Craig joins Elliance at the perfect moment in our evolution, says Abu Noaman, CEO of Elliance. More than ever, customers are asking us to be more deeply involved in increasing their market value. We are thrilled to have Craig deepen and widen our amazing talent pool." Over the years Elliance has evolved from just serving clients online needs with website design, social media and search engine optimization to providing branding, digital experience design, and integrated marketing. Otto personally feels this is a great time to embrace new challenges. After 28 years in the same place, I needed a completely new way of working, says Otto. Elliance is a 20-year-old digital marketing agency thats preparing for the eventuality, that in three years, people will no longer use the term digital marketing. Otto earned his undergraduate degree in design from Carnegie Mellon University. He currently serves on the board of directors for the North Boroughs YMCA. About Elliance Elliance is a Pittsburgh-based marketing agency that is helping colleges, b2b marketers, banks and non-profits leverage the power of digital and data to increase their market value. Their team of communications artists and information scientists uses a proven, strategic process that helps clients capture greater Share of Mind, Share of Voice and Share of Market. PWP collects data on the Instantaneous Heart Rate (IHR) "Heart rate variability measures a person's ability to adapt to stress by measuring the hearts flight or fight stress response." -Dr. Allen Miner February is Heart Awareness Month, and to celebrate Health Quest Chiropractic is donating the proceeds from its Heart Rate Variability scans throughout the month to the American Heart Association, New Mexico chapter. A Heart Rate Variability (HRV) scan is one way to spot the first signs of heart disease and Health Quests INSiGHT Pulse Wave Profiler utilizes a non-invasive technology to determine a hearts ability to change speed and determine stress. February is the month to get a heart rate variability scan done. High levels of sympathetic stress are early warning signs for heart issues, and most medical doctors do not perform heart rate variability studies, said Dr. Allen Miner, Executive Board Member for the American Heart Association, New Mexico Chapter, and President/CEO of Health Quest Chiropractic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chiropractors utilizing HRV often see the first signs of heart issues," Miner said. Health Quest uses the Space Foundation-certified INSiGHT Pulse Wave Profiler that helps chiropractors assess and monitor the impact of stress on patients through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) readings. By measuring a patients HRV, a chiropractor can determine heart damage done by stress and doctors like Miner can devise treatment plans that combine proper nutrition, exercise and chiropractic adjustments to help patients live life to the fullest. Cardiologists have used HRV results to monitor patients overall wellness. Now, this powerful tool is available for chiropractors as well. Health Quest expects to share the proceeds from dozens of HRV scans with the New Mexico chapter of the American Heart Association. Important studies in the field of cardiology and psychology have confirmed the value of HRV in monitoring the adaptability of individuals, Miner said. February is Heart Health Awareness Month and a Heart Rate Variability scan provides a functional measurement into heart issues related to stress," Miner said. About Heath Quest Chiropractic: Dr. Allen Miner founded health Quest in 2003. Health Quests aim is to make high-quality, and cutting-edge, treatments easy to access. Health Quests treatments are designed to help your central nervous system function at its highest level. Find us at http://www.newmexicochiro.com. Empire Heating and Air announces they have earned a coveted distinction. Certain industry recognitions acknowledge those companies that exceed professional standards and deliver a higher level of expertise and care. Daikin North America LLC - one of the largest manufacturers of residential and commercial HVAC systems has now recognized Empire Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. as one of the few contractors to meet these outstanding requirements. Based in Decatur, Georgia, Empire Heating and Air Conditioning has proudly operated in the Metro Atlanta area since 1985. With an impressive 30-year track record of customer satisfaction and high-quality service, industry leaders across the country are quickly finding that Empire Heating and Air Conditioning is an ideal partner for product sales and installation in the Atlanta market. According to owner and founder of Empire Heating and Air Conditioning, Martin Hoover, We could not be happier to be affiliated with the worlds largest manufacturer of HVAC products and refrigerants Being one of the select HVAC dealers who will represent this brand is very exciting for everyone at our company, especially given that many of its residential unitary products are assembled in Texas and Tennessee, providing jobs in our country. Daikin Comfort Pro: An Opportunity For Growth With the trust of the Daikin brand, Empire Heating and Air Conditioning realizes that this is an opportunity to continue growing. Now backed as an industry-certified Daikin Comfort Pro, the team hopes that it can sell even more units and assist homeowners across the Metro area when their HVAC systems break down. The dedicated Comfort for Life product line will offer homeowners and businesses the newest, most reliable suite of heating and cooling products. With energy-efficient features and home automation compatibility, the technology packed into these appliances has taken enormous strides in recent years. Installing a Daikin product with a certified professional like Empire Heating and Air Conditioning is one of the best investments to cut down on high energy bills and to get the most out of new HVAC units. Nationwide Industry Recognition Daikin North America LLC is one of the biggest names in heating and cooling products, yet the companys CEO and President, Dave Swift, has personally recognized the achievement of the Atlanta-based company. We are proud that a professional company the caliber of Empire Heating and Air Conditioning is now a Daikin Comfort Pro and is representing the Daikin brand, says Swift. The Comfort Pro distinction is not just a business opportunity between both companies, but a way to identify and partner with true leaders in [the] industry. Atlanta businesses and homeowners can continue to count on the reliability of Daikin Products when theyre installed by Empire Heating and Air Conditioning. For more information about HVAC services, products, and solutions, visit Empire HVAC at http://empirehvac.com or call (404) 294-0900 to speak with a heating and cooling specialist. Top hair transplant surgeon and NeoGraft FUE pioneer, Dr. Alan J. Bauman is now offering ARTAS Robotic-assisted hair transplants. Bauman Medical Hair Transplant and Hair Loss Treatment Center, the worlds largest stand-alone clinic dedicated exclusively to treating hair loss, had a state-of-the-art private procedure room designed and constructed specifically for robot-assisted hair transplant surgery. Dr. Bauman has long been a pioneer of new hair transplant procedures; since 2001, Dr. Bauman and his team have transplanted nearly two million FUE grafts. In 2008 he became the first ABHRS-certified hair restoration physician to routinely use NeoGraft FUE for hair transplant procedures. Dr. Bauman was present at the launch of the ARTAS hair transplant robot in Anchorage, Alaska in 2011, and has followed the technology over the last few years, in preparation for adding an ARTAS robot to his Bauman Medical practice. "We look forward to continued collaboration with internationally renowned, respected and experienced FUE surgeon, Dr. Alan Bauman, as we continue to roll out innovative upgrades to the ARTAS system that will help him continue to provide high quality hair transplant results to his patients. His extensive experience in FUE and his ongoing feedback regarding our system remains invaluable as we continue to educate hair loss sufferers about the safety, efficacy and results of minimally-invasive hair transplant surgery using the ARTAS system, said ARTAS President and CEO Jim McCollum. At Bauman Medical, our goal is to continually be looking over the horizon to see what technology, treatments or procedures can be utilized to help our patients effectively fight and win the battle against hair loss, Bauman explained of his decision to add the ARTAS robotic system to his practice. The ARTAS robotic system has advanced greatly in a short period of time and Restoration Robotics continues to move forward with features that are helping hair transplant patients achieve consistently better results in many areas of their procedures. One of the most exciting features of the ARTAS System is the ARTAS Hair Studio, an interactive software program that allows the surgeon to create a digital 3D preview image for patients, which will help paint a picture for patients to ensure that they have realistic expectations going into surgery. According to Dr. Bauman, this tool will be invaluable when communicating with patients prior to surgery. There is so much artistry involved in hair transplantation, more than most patients realize, so having the ability to artistically create a plan on a 3D digital model, discuss and agree upon that plan with a patient, then transfer that plan to the ARTAS robotic system--complete with density, angle and orientation of grafts--and have that plan executed flawlessly by the ARTAS system, is a major draw to me as a surgeon, asserted Dr. Bauman. What is the ARTAS Hair Transplant Robot? The ARTAS robot is a state-of-the-art medical device that assists in hair transplant surgery by helping to safely and effectively extract intact hair follicles for transplantation using the FUE technique. The robots precision allows patients to benefit from an unprecedented level of safety, efficacy, and comfort during their hair transplant procedure. The combination of artistry and technology means patients are getting the best of both worlds, and the end result is hairlines that look incredibly natural and not transplanted, explained Dr. Bauman. The innovative ARTAS robotic FUE system uses advanced digital imagery to map and analyze the hair in natural groupings on the scalp. The system features precision robotics, utilizing stereovision sensors to detect and analyze follicular unitscalculating density, exit-angles, orientation and location and proceed with harvesting based on the algorithms programmed by the surgeon. Key Benefits of ARTAS Robotic-Assisted FUE Hair Transplants Increased accuracy of FUE graft harvesting Increased survival of harvested follicular unit grafts Reduced harvesting time Computerized selection of FUE grafts to maximize hair yield and minimize donor area usage More accurate and efficient harvesting of grafts from the sides of the scalp More accurate and efficient harvesting of grafts in patients with atypical hair characteristics and certain ethnic patients Increased speed and accuracy in creating recipient sites The ARTAS Robotic System is the product of nearly a decade of research and development by Restoration Robotics in collaboration with some of the most respected leaders in hair restoration medicine. After rigorous testing in clinical trials, the ARTAS Robotic System received 510(k) clearance from the FDA in 2011. Are you a candidate for ARTAS Robotic-Assisted FUE hair transplantation? Find out more information or start your consultation today with Dr. Alan Bauman. Learn more about Dr. Bauman, and Bauman Medical at http://www.baumanmedical.com or call 1-877-BAUMAN-9 or 561-394-0024. For more information on the ARTAS Robotic-Assisted FUE Hair Transplant, visit http://www.artashair.com About Dr. Alan J. Bauman: Alan J. Bauman, M.D. is a full-time hair transplant surgeon who has treated over 17,000 patients and performed over 7,000 hair transplant procedures since starting his Bauman Medical hair loss practice in Boca Raton, Florida in 1997. Dr. Bauman received his M.D. degree from New York Medical College and surgical residency training at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Dr. Bauman is one of approximately 100 physicians worldwide to achieve board certification from the esteemed American and International Board of Hair Restoration Surgery. He is also a Fellow of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, and is an active participant and lecturer at numerous Annual Scientific Meetings and Live Surgery Workshops. Dr. Bauman is an author of textbook chapters on the science of hair care and hair transplantation, including eyelash transplant surgery, and has been extensively featured in the worlds leading media as a medical expert and successful early-adopter of some of the most advanced technologies in the treatment of hair loss such as laser therapy, PRP Platelet Rich Plasma, as well as FUE hair transplantation using NeoGraft and the ARTAS robotic hair transplant system. Dr. Alan Bauman has appeared in print, radio and television as a medical expert and successful early-adopter of the most advanced technologies in the treatment of hair loss. Appearances, interviews and profiles include the Today Show, The Early Show, Good Morning America, Extra, Access Hollywood, The Doctors, and Dateline NBC among other TV appearances. Newspaper and Magazine articles and feature stories include The New York Times, Newsweek, Cosmo, Vogue, Allure, O The Oprah Magazine and Mens Health among others. For more information visit http:/http://www.BaumanMedical.com Mike Welbes, Honkamp Krueger & Co., P.C. HK was able to customize our needs based on what they found in the HK TaxGap review. Mike Welbes, partner, and Renee Hesselman, accounting manager at Honkamp Krueger & Co., P.C. (HK), will be speaking at the Express Employment Professionals International Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, February 26, 2016. HKs presentation, How to Optimize your Finances and Plan for Tomorrow will help Express Employment franchise owners look at the challenges they face with constantly changing tax situations. HK will identify critical financial planning opportunities and potential tax savings in their businesses. Franchise owners will also have the opportunity to take advantage of HKs Complimentary TaxGap Review, which assists owners in minimizing their tax liability by getting a second opinion on the financial health of their businesses. Having a professional who understands your specific franchise industry helps to identify opportunities which may have been inadvertently overlooked by a general practitioner who does not understand the specifics of an Express Employment franchise model, says Welbes. HK has already assisted hundreds of Express Employment franchise owners with a complimentary review of their business and personal tax situation. HK was able to customize our needs based on what they found in the HK TaxGap review, says Matt Timmerman, multi-unit and multi-state franchise owner. This free initiative provided by HK was a game changer for Mike Schaul and me, and opened our eyes allowing us to make several significant adjustments that directly factored into our year-over-year growth the past several years. Anyone interested in finding out more about HKs Complimentary TaxGap Review can learn more here HK TaxGap Review. Welbes and Hesselman are experienced professionals in tax, accounting, business valuation and management advisory in a variety of franchise industries. The Express Employment Professionals International Leadership Conference is an annual event for franchise owners of Express Employment Professionals, a leading staffing provider in the U.S., Canada and South Africa. HK is a Top 100 CPA and business consulting firm in the U.S. and the eighth-fastest-growing CPA firm in the nation (Accounting Today, March 2015). HK has also been recognized as one of only 50 Best of the Best Accounting Firms in the U.S. (INSIDE Public Accounting 2015). HKs National Franchise Service Practice partners with franchisees and franchisors from a variety of industries across the U.S. The depth and level of franchising experience, along with a proven record for providing independent and objective franchise advisory/consulting services, clearly differentiates HK from all other franchise advisors across the country. In addition to its CPA firm, HK includes HK Financial Services (HKFS), its wealth management affiliate; HK Payroll Services, Inc. (HKP), its workforce management affiliate; and the HK Alliance, CPA and business consulting firms throughout the U.S. sharing resources and best practices. One Firefly, a full-service marketing and design agency that caters to contractors and manufacturers within the custom electronics industry, is pleased to announce the expansion of its web hosting services. The newly expanded hosting solutions are finely tailored to ensure the reliability and performance of all client websites. In addition to creating award-winning websites for the industry, One Firefly has been providing web hosting services for over two years now. The expanded hosting solutions, which include both Basic and Professional packages, provide real-time monitoring of an integrators website performance and health. The Basic Plan, starts at $15 per month and will feature 10GB of storage on a SATA drive, 8GB of RAM, On-Server Backups in addition to Uptime Monitoring. The Professional package, at $60 per month, boasts a robust 20GB of storage on an SSD drive, 16GB of RAM, On and Off-server backups on a weekly basis. Additionally, the latter package will feature restoration, update and cleaning services at no additional cost. Both packages will receive One Fireflys monitoring software which will consistently check for issues allowing adjustments to be made or problems repaired before human detection. Our managed hosting services are as unique and powerful as the websites we build, says John Baskerville, One Fireflys Director of Online Solutions. "As a key feature, we have designed a sophisticated backup redundancy protocol to ensure your online presence is sufficiently resilient. We take care of whats most important to you, so you can stay focused on running your business." Regular maintenance and security updates are critical components to keep a website safe and secure. CMS websites, in particular, require up-to-date plugins and extensions. Those that become outdated for even a few days are at significant risk of attack. With One Fireflys Professional Hosting package, the maintenance and security needs of powerful CMS platforms are satisfied much more thoroughly and efficiently compared to traditional website hosting. One Firefly hosting solutions provide technology integrators with peace of mind by housing website backups that can be easily deployed should a live website become compromised. To learn more about how to choose a website hosting provider, visit https://youtu.be/MXXvir0BiBk One Fireflys dedicated team of in-house professionals provides unparalleled technical solutions and customer service support. For more information about this newly expanded product, please visit http://www.onefirefly.com/hosting About One Firefly: One Firefly, LLC is a full-service marketing agency and design firm that caters to technology service professionals including designers, integrators, installers, contractors, consultants, distributors, and manufacturers. One Firefly is based in Davie, Florida and has been operating since 2007. One Firefly clients span the globe. To learn more visit http://www.onefirefly.com. The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold a one-day meeting when it returns to Nashville and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agencys Region II Ray Bell Building on Friday. The February meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Due to the inclement weather that forced the postponement of the TFWC January meeting in Memphis, several agenda items were pushed to this month. One of the items is a rule concerning the required permits to hunt and fish on Reelfoot Lake/Wildlife Management Area that will be presented to the TFWC. The TWRA held a public meeting in December at Reelfoot Lake State Park and the Agency is making the recommendation to the TFWC that no changes be made to the current permits. TWRA Wildlife and Forestry Division Chief Mark Gudlin will give follow-up on bear and deer harvest numbers. He gave a preliminary report on the recently concluded hunting seasons at the January meeting. Real Estate Division Chief Tim Churchill will present proclamations for several areas in West Tennessee (Region I) that have not been previously proclaimed. There will be nine areas presented to be either a refuge or wildlife management area. TFWC Chairman Jim Bledsoe will call for a report from the TFWC Nominating Committee. The TFWC will elect new officers for 2016-17. The Boat and Law Enforcement Division will introduce the 2015 Tennessee Shikar Safari Wildlife Officer of the Year. A representative from Shikar Safari will make the presentation. Michael May, Information Technology Division chief, will introduce the divisions 2015 Professional of the Year. In a society where everyone is more in tune with internet activities and attention is gradually shifting away from traditional means of advertising/marketing, Online Directory Nigeria is steering with the changing times to meet all online needs. Online Directory is a high profile company established with professional accuracy in providing online needs for businesses. Rather than asking people to buy or shop, Online Directory has launched a website to solve business visibility search needs. As a user of our website, the only thing required is to visit http://www.onlinedirectorynigeria.com and provide the search details or companys name to be searched for. Then check the listed results for desired name and click. Some of the questions navigating the mind is of what is the use of an Online Directory? Online Directory helps businesses to grow as searches for information are usually conducted online by customers who might be interested in what the company's products and services are. As a buyer, Online Directory website provides the opportunities not only to search but also read reviews about the preferred service or company. It helps in making right decisions when venturing into unknown waters of a company or product. The website as a platform also helps provide greater visibility to businesses as well as ensure easy accessibility during searches. Priority is given to online business directories when it comes to Google ranking of a business. Using the directory enhances the chance of a business reaching more clients which will in turn translate to more revenue/profit. Register as a business today on http://www.onlinedirectorynigeria.com and expand the chances of reaching more customers directly. Remember, the business world is a competitive market; why not take the edge. The Grayson school has been chosen by NASA to direct the EarthKam cameras on the International Space Station this upcoming week. EarthKAM is a NASA educational outreach program that encourages all curious minds to learn about Earth from the unique perspective of space. During the Sally Ride EarthKAM mission, students will be able to request images of specific locations on Earth. Grayson students have chosen to see a view of their school from space. As part of their typical school day, Grayson students have interdisciplinary project time every dayfrom conducting an archaeological dig to using a 3D printer to create working machines. To coincide with our Sally Ride EarthKAM mission, the student project this unit will be a Mars rover exploration simulation. Our Projects Director, Ms. Ally O'Rourke-Barrett, has divided students into three groups and given jobs based on three different locales: students in ground control will be responsible for monitoring the progress of the mission and controlling communications with the Space Station; those in the Space Station will be responsible for acting as the intermediary between ground control and the Mars robotics team, in addition to performing the necessary functions for surviving aboard the station; finally, those in the Mars robotics lab will be responsible for navigating a Mars rover on an expedition to collect and analyze Martian soil samples. Press are invited to join our families at the Grayson School in launching our Mars rover exploration simulated mission on February 26 at 2pm, on our inaugural 100th day of school! MEDIA CONTACT: Aviva B. Moore amoore(at)thegraysonschool(dot)org 484-428-3241 For most of my patients surgeries, recovery and avoiding relapse take significant time. Most patients with back or neck pain dont need surgery. Dr. Vivek Kushwaha, with Orthopaedic Associates in Houston, Texas, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who treats adult lumbar and cervical disorders, and spine trauma. When pain and immobility become an entrenched way of life for a patient, someone with Kushwahas rarefied skill set is probably their best chance. Among Kushwahas pioneering efforts: he was the first in Houston to perform the kyphoplasty procedure as well as the first to do a lumbar artificial disk replacement. In addition, he has extensive experience in such specialized operations as surgical revisions, microdiskectomy, and minimally invasive spinal instrumentation and fusion. None are procedures to be undertaken lightly. Kushwaha offers, For most of my patients surgeries, recovery and avoiding relapse take significant time. Most patients with back or neck pain dont need surgery, stresses Dr. Kushwaha. Although many people who experience back pain do not need surgery, sometimes it is in the individuals best interests to take the next step, Kushwaha states that usually patients have problems that can be addressed with less intervention. However, a small percentage does need the kind of specialized surgery we provide. Dr. Kushwaha relies on excellent support staff and cutting edge technology, as found at Memorial Drive Surgical Hospital. A past chief of Spine Surgery at the University of Texas Medical School and Memorial Hermann Hospital, Dr. Kushwaha remains at the core of the teaching program for UT medical students, residents and fellows. He is on the clinical faculty in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and is co-director of the Spine Fellowship. He has won a number of awards for clinical care, surgical skill, research and teaching over the years. He is on staff at Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital, Memorial Hermann Hospital and St. Joseph Medical Center. Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital When a surgery is required, Dr. Vivek Kushwha demands the highest level of patient care from the surgical facility. Thats why he is proudly affiliated with Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital part of the Nobilis Health System, located in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, Houston. The healthcare staff members at Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital are dedicated to healing and wellness through innovation, education and the most elevated patient experience available at any hospital in the world. A VIP Experience Every aspect of the facilitys experience is dedicated to excellence from the luxury accommodations of their patient rooms to the state-of-the-art technology used in their 6 operating theaters. Unlike other healthcare facilities, Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital creates a true VIP experience for every patient. Conveniently located for ease-of-access, the facility offers luxury, oversized patient rooms, gourmet food and one-to-one patient care to ensure you receive the personalized care and attention you deserve. Cutting Edge Technology One of the reasons Dr. Kushwaha affiliates himself with Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital is the level of support they offer to not only their patients but also to their surgeons. Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and they offer excellent education centers that are outfitted with the best equipment the world has to offer which is helpful for physicians and their continued medical education. To learn more about Dr. Vivek Kushwaha visit http://www.drkushwaha.com. To learn about Hermann Drive Surgical Hospital http://www.victory-healthcare.com/houston. Were excited to have the opportunity to share our expertise at the Wind O&M Summit. - Ann Broussard, Office of NERC Compliance Director. Certrec, a leading regulatory compliance provider for NERC compliance, announced today its participation in the 8th Annual Wind Operation & Maintenance Summit USA in Dallas, TX from April 12-13. Currently Certrec provides NERC compliance support on an ongoing basis to three U.S. wind fleets as well as individual wind facilities. We also provide supplemental support to a U.S. wind fleets NERC team. We appreciate the trust that our wind clients have placed on our team, and look forward to the opportunity to work with additional facilities. We are in discussions with several possible new wind clients. Certrec Corporation is dedicated to regulatory compliance exclusively and has been since we started in 1988. We believe our approach is the key to our successful client programs as well as our growing NERC practice. Our approach is conservative when managing NERC compliance. One size does not fit all in our industry. A standardized approach to NERC compliance using a software application or cookie cutter templates does not result in successful NERC compliance programs. Our industry is comprised of customized systems, talented individuals, and unique corporate cultures. In addition, newcomers to the workforce plus new (sometimes fledgling) technologies all need to be incorporated into this regulatory framework. As the regulators often mention NERC compliance must be baked in not bolted on to an organization. An entity that is dedicated to compliance operates every day in compliance. Every day, they are audit ready and this is accomplished through an effective Internal Controls Process with periodic self-evaluations of effectiveness, coupled with a robust corrective action process. Were excited to have the opportunity to share our expertise at the Wind O&M Summit with operations, regulatory, and training managers who are seeking better ways to manage risk, assure data security, and continue their successful NERC compliance programs. - Ann Broussard, Office of NERC Compliance Director. The wind energy market is changing at a rapid pace, and with fossil fuels at the whim of the tough commodities market, the growth of wind energy is only set to continue. As companies invest in or develop larger turbine fleets they will be faced with an array of challenges that require careful and precise reactive and proactive measures. Compliance with codes and regulations is a key part and Im glad to have the experience of Certrec on board to assist the whole supply chain in managing critical NERC compliance programs. Kerr Jeferies, Project Director Wind O&M Dallas. CERTREC Founded in 1988, Certrec is an engineering and technology based organization providing regulatory support services in the electric power industry. With over 1000 cumulative years of direct industry experience (including wind, solar, nuclear, and fossil), Certrec has developed exceptional capabilities to support regulatory activities emanating from regulatory entities such as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and Regional Entities (NERC), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other regulatory agencies. Certrec's Office of NERC Compliance (ONC), Office of Licensing and Compliance (OLC), Office of Assessment and Recovery (OAR), and Office of New Plant (ONP) services are used by utilities and entities across the United States to help manage the regulatory process to their advantage. WIND O&M Wind Energy Update is a central information and networking platform for the Global wind industry. We help business leaders interact, share cutting edge information and broker major contracts. Working closely with our community, our mission is to stay ahead of latest industry developments and tailor unique opportunities that encourage business growth. We do this through the creation of focused news, events and reports. Our customers consist of onshore and offshore wind power generators, investors, turbine manufactures and their value chains in development, construction, operations and maintenance. With our team of dedicated researchers, producers and business development managers we want to help our customers develop, expand and grow across the global wind energy sector. AppGate provides a new security model for today's perimeterless IT landscape Todays threat landscape demands that enterprises look beyond securing the perimeter. Cryptzones innovative approach to network security, with solutions including the award-winning AppGate, change the way companies think about access control. Cryptzone is pleased to announce that AppGate, a dynamic access management solution that protects thousands of users every day, is a Best NAC (Network Access Control) Solution finalist in the SC Magazine 2016 Trust Awards. Its an honor to be a finalist for the Trust Awards that identify the best solutions in the information security marketplace, said Barry Field, CEO of Cryptzone. Todays threat landscape demands that enterprises look beyond securing the perimeter. Cryptzones innovative approach to network security, with solutions including the award-winning AppGate, change the way companies think about access control. Each year, the SC Magazine Trust Awards honor the most outstanding contributions in the information security industry. They celebrate the achievements of IT security pros in the trenches, the innovations happening in the vendor and service provider communities, and the passionate work of government, commercial and nonprofits striving to amplify the importance of the security industry. Cryptzone AppGate is a comprehensive access control solution that provides unified access control at a granular level to applications, services and infrastructure regardless of location, whether on-premises or in the cloud. By making the network essentially invisible, cloaking the nature of the full infrastructure and only granting visibility and access to the applications and services that users need to do their job, enterprises can provide access to anyone, anywhere at any time with the confidence and trust that critical information stays in the right hands. Unlike traditional SSL-VPNs, Next Generation Firewalls and Network Access Control solutions that provide a binary view of access control, require extensive management of policies/firewall rules and tend to still grant overly permissive access to the network, Cryptzone AppGate enables enterprise agility and flexibility to adapt to the dynamic demands of the workforce, customers and the business to be competitive on a global scale. AppGate provides real-time access on a need-to-know basis and enables a unified way to control access while maintaining a tight security profile. Read more about the awards: see how AppGate works. About Cryptzone Cryptzone secures the enterprise with dynamic, context-aware security solutions that protect critical services, applications and content from internal and external threats. For over a decade, enterprises have turned to Cryptzone to galvanize their Cloud and network security with responsive protection and access intelligence. More than 450 public sector and enterprise customers, including some of the leading names in technology, manufacturing and consumer products, trust Cryptzone to keep their data and applications secure. For more information, go to http://www.cryptzone.com or follow us @Cryptzone. Media Contacts Jessica Ann Morris ZAG Communications for Cryptzone +1.781.608.0499 jessica(at)zagcommunications(dot)com Credit: Stan Schnier With campuses in New York, London, Seoul, Shanghai, and on Vancouver Island, The Dwight Schools are leading International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools providing students with invaluable opportunities to participate in cross-campus cultural and curricular collaborations, and exchange programs. Dwight offers these same opportunities to students around the world who take courses online or in a blended learning environment through Dwights Open World School, including students in the ICL Academy for Film and Performing Arts in Los Angeles, who joined their peers to perform at Carnegie Hall. No matter where in the world a Dwight student lives, we personalize the educational journey for each one based on individual passions, which we call igniting the spark of genius in every child. We are equally committed to preparing students to be global leaders who can solve global challenges in innovative ways, said Stephen Spahn, Chancellor of The Dwight Schools, the longest-serving head of school in New York City. This year, our concert entitled Music for Dance brought the Dwight cross-campus collaborative process to life in every way, reported Music Director Alistair Hamilton. It included music and dance orchestrated, choreographed, and composed by faculty and students from around the world. Students auditioned virtually, and music directors shared ideas and cultural traditions the same way, before meeting in New York to rehearse and perform as one family. This process illustrates the benefits of being part of an active global network of schools that values the arts and provides students with unprecedented opportunities, such as performing together at Carnegie Hall. Two New York students who demonstrated their musical spark of genius at Carnegie Hall are: Elli Choi 20, who began violin studies at age three and only a year later was invited to the Suzuki Method World Convention. A soloist at age five, and student in the Pre-College Division of The Julliard School by age seven, she is a seasoned performer with world-renowned youth and professional orchestras; and winner of numerous honors, including first prize in the Senior Division of the 2015 Lipinski and Wieniawski International Competition for Young Violinists in Poland; the Grand Prize at the 11th Young Virtuoso competition in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2015; and is invited to the Menuhin Competition 2016 in London. Ms. Choi, who performed Bachs Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, said, I am very honored and excited to have participated in an event at one of the most famous venues in the world with my peers and new friends from Dwight campuses all over the world. Zachary Fobert 16, who began playing the piano at age four, performed two jazz ensemble pieces. A student in the Dwight Music Conservatory, Zacharys interests span music technology and composition, classical piano, and rock: Last year, I was privileged to fulfill a childhood dream previously thought unattainable of performing in Carnegie Hall. It was a powerful experience of camaraderie with my fellow performers and a phenomenal learning experience. This year, I wanted to further improve my ability to work with others by playing challenging pieces alongside another student on the same piano and presenting an entertaining performance. To see a video of Dwight global students preparing for Carnegie Hall, click here. More about Dwight School Founded in 1872, Dwight School is a leading international school located on Manhattans Upper West Side. It is the first school in the Americas to offer all four IB programs for students from preschool through grade 12. A Dwight world-class education rests on three pillars: personalized learning, community, and global vision. Graduates attend such leading colleges and universities worldwide as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, NYU, Brown, Columbia, Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh. www.brg.com Were looking forward to another great turnout at the IBM Interconnect conference this year, said Troy Hergenrader, BRGs Senior Director overseeing the IBM TRIRIGA Practice. BRG is pleased to announce they will attend and exhibit at the 2016 IBM InterConnect Conference in Las Vegas, February 21 - 25. IBM InterConnect, known as the Premier Cloud and Mobile conference, is the largest IBM conference with more than 24,000 attendees. BRG is excited to be an exhibiting partner for the fifth time since the IBM acquisition of TRIRIGA, an enterprise software solution that helps global organizations reduce facilities operational costs and increase return on real estate assets. BRGs team of IBM-TRIRIGA subject matter experts will be on-site to meet with clients, discuss BRGs full suite of consulting, delivery, and sustainment services, and provide TRIRIGA demos. Were looking forward to another great turnout at the IBM Interconnect conference this year, said Troy Hergenrader, BRGs Senior Director overseeing the IBM TRIRIGA Practice. It promises to be a great opportunity for networking in the TRIRIGA community, meeting other users, gathering lessons learned, and exploring where IBM is heading with TRIRIGA and many other compelling technologies. This years conference, held at the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, consists of three days of keynotes, 2000+ technology sessions, 50+ business leadership sessions, breakout sessions, workshops, certifications and a Solution Expo. Attendees will gain insights into a variety of topics, from business process and application platforms to Watson and the Internet of Things. The conference also provides an opportunity to hear from IBM business partners and top industry analysts. To learn more, visit http://www.ibm.com/interconnect. About BRG BRG helps clients by designing and implementing integrated solutions to address complex workplace challenges. They specialize in advisory services, technology deployment, and program and project management in support of Facilities Management and Corporate Real Estate organizations. BRG is a global company with employees in more than 35 cities and on four continents. For more information, you can visit http://www.brg.com. Media inquiries contact Nicole Salerno +1 214.777.5139 nsalerno(at)brg(dot)com "Companies like the idea that theyre doing something to make our economy stronger. Recognizing that small businesses create two out of every three jobs in the U.S., and that 78 percent of consumers prefer to buy products made in the USA, Award Concepts steps up its support for the Made in America movement by including more American-made products in its employee recognition programs. For more than 30 years, the St. Charles, Illinois-based company has dealt extensively with U.S. partners in the employee recognition and incentive programs they offer. They now plan to increase their share of American-made offerings and make them more visible in their award catalogs and on their website. Vice President of Sales and Operations Don Martens reports, More people, including our clients, are taking an active interest in where the products they buy are made. Its primarily a question of quality, but I think theres an element of patriotism, too. Other companies like the idea that theyre doing something to make our economy stronger. Award Concepts line offers a wide array of nationally branded and locally made products from such notable domestic companies as Allen Edmonds, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of premium hand-crafted mens footwear and accessories, and Stormy Kroger, a Michigan-based maker of exceptional hand-made caps and outerwear for men and women. Partnerships have been made with manufacturers across the U.S. in towns such as Huxley, IN; Post Falls, ID; Park Falls, WI; South Pittsburg, TN; and Anchorage, AL. In addition to partnering with U.S. companies, Award Concepts custom-designs and manufactures corporate and service organization jewelry, including rings, lapel pins and other specialty awards, in its state-of-the-art facility. Darren Jeanis, Award Concepts Chief Operating Officer, says, Being in the manufacturing business ourselves, we understand what goes into creating a quality product. Its a major commitment of time and resources. If we want to be supported as a local business, we have a responsibility to do the same. Martens also cites Award Concepts support for the Buy Illinois campaign, adding, Local support helps communities prosper as well as companies. Everybody benefits. Going forward, Martens invites any interested Made in America manufacturers to contact Award Concepts. If you have an exceptional product and you share our vision for a stronger America, we want to hear from you! About Award Concepts Award Concepts develops and delivers exceptional, cost-effective recognition programs that assist clients with their culture of employee appreciation while producing desired results and return on investment. Custom program specialization includes years of service awards, sales incentives, corporate jewelry, performance and safety achievements. Find out more about Award Concepts here: http://www.acthebest.com Contact To learn more about Award Concepts, please contact Carl Martens, National Sales Manager 110 S. 11th Avenue St. Charles, IL 60174 Direct: (630)460-7320 Email: sales(at)awardconcepts(dot)net Jamie O'Brien Takes Equity Ownership in Lume Cube So stoked on my new partnership with Lume Cube, these lights are going to be essential filming for Who is JOB 6.0. Lume Cube, a technology accessory company and emerging lifestyle brand, today announced its partnership with world-renowned professional surfer Jamie OBrien. Like Lume Cube, Jamie is known for breaking the mold and has been doing so from an early age. In 2004, he was crowned one of the youngest champions to win the Pipeline Masters, at age 21, and continues to be a pioneer in the field of professional free surfing. Jamie has made countless on screen appearances throughout his career and currently stars in his own Red Bull TV series Who Is JOB, entering its 6th season. Most recently, Jamie was awarded the 2015 Oakley Wave of the Winter and won the Pipe Master qualifiers landing him a spot, once again, competing on surfing's biggest stage at the 2015 Billabong Pipeline Masters event. We are extremely excited to welcome Jamie OBrien to the Lume Cube family, said Lume Cube CEO Mornee Sherry. Jamie doesnt only embody our brand's image through his passion for life and drive for greatness, but he represents the brands culture and core values through his dedication to family, and community. Like us, Jamie keeps a tight knit circle of lifelong friends around him, remaining true to his roots and the community that raised him. We couldn't be happier to grow with people of his caliber both in and out of the water. When asked about the new partnership with Lume Cube, Jamie stated, It's been fun shooting with the new lights. So stoked on my new partnership with Lume Cube, these lights are going to be essential filming for Who is JOB 6.0. Jamie and Lume Cube connect with the hope to push the limits of content creation. Jamie is known to live life to the fullest and has never let the night put a damper on his fun, something that is well documented in the series Who is JOB. Expect to see Lume Cube to lighting up Team Groms shenanigans that are sure to continue long after the sun goes down. The first of its kind, Lume Cube is a powerful and ultra-portable lighting tool that will open new creative possibilities for photographers and videographers of any skill level. Controlled via a smartphone app on both iPhone and Android devices, the Lume Cube is built for those looking to get the most out of their GoPros, smartphone cameras, action cams, traditional digital cameras and all other casual capture devices. To commemorate the beginning of this partnership, Lume Cube and Jamie have teamed up with Nectar sunglasses and some of Jamies other key sponsors to throw one BIG GIVEAWAY! The giveaway is now open at http://www.lumecube.com/giveaway and will close on February 29 at midnight. The grand prize winner will receive over $1,100 of gear including a Tokoro Surfboard signed by Jamie OBrien himself, a Lume Cube GoPro kit, GoPro Hero 4 Silver Camera, Nectar Sunglasses and more! The giveaway is free to enter, the winner will be selected at random and announced on March 1 2016. About Lume Cube Lume Cube (http://www.lumecube.com) is a San Diego based company revolutionizing the way people capture content. Creating intelligent solutions in the world of imagery and casual capture devices, Lume Cube is disrupting the status quo and has created the worlds most captivating lighting device. From surfer to mountaineer, foodie to photographer and professional to consumer, the Lume Cube is a companion to all. Led by former tech executives, athletes and imagery specialists, Lume Cube was established in 2014 and will continue to lead the content creation market through forward thinking solutions. See More. Do More. Be More. The deployment of TerraGo Edge saved the city of Sebring the expense of a traditional GIS and GPS solution as well as the cost of surveying services, which could have run over $300,000. Today, TerraGo announced the City of Sebring, Florida, has deployed TerraGo Edge for utility asset inspection and management. With TerraGo Edge, Sebring has been able to cut costs, bring surveys in-house and improve response times for repairs. Like thousands of water utilities across the United States, the City of Sebring Utilities Department is tasked with providing safe and reliable water supply while managing all the dispersed assets of the water distribution and wastewater systems. And like every water utility, Sebring needs to constantly locate, map and inspect these assets to maintain service levels and operations. To avoid the high cost of traditional GPS technology and services, Sebring researched mobile products to see if other organizations had field success using iPads and iPhones to do the work. They found TerraGo Edge could deliver custom forms, CAD diagrams and survey-grade accuracy at a fraction of the cost. The deployment of TerraGo Edge saved the City of Sebring the expense of a traditional GIS and GPS solution as well as the cost of surveying services, which could have run over $300,000, said Mark Kretz, Water Plant Operations. On a day-to-day basis, the biggest benefit is that we get the ease of use of an iPad, and didnt have to buy and utilize proprietary GPS handhelds, which are more complex and vastly more expensive. To learn more about the City of Sebring customer success story, download the case study here. About TerraGo TerraGo develops software applications and mobile apps that make it easy for our customers to collect data, share information and work together anywhere, any time. From sharing feature-rich maps and imagery to deploying on-demand apps for a mobile workforce, TerraGo builds intuitive products that enable collaboration from any place on the planet. Founded in 2005, TerraGo invented the industrys most widely adopted geospatial collaboration technology with its innovative GeoPDF products and is revolutionizing field data collection with its TerraGo Edge mobile platform. TerraGos customers include the worlds leading defense and intelligence departments, government agencies, non-profits and commercial enterprises in every industry, with over 2,000 global customers based in over 70 countries and all 50 US states. The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera and the CSO Youth Orchestras will present a concert on Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. featuring not only two of the youth orchestras in concert (Symphony and Philharmonic), but also the CSO Orchestra and the CSOYO Symphony combined. Giving students the chance to play alongside professional musicians provides invaluable musical education opportunities for the up-and-coming musicians, said officials. This event will provide CSOYO students a chance to learn more about their craft by working alongside the CSO musicians on classical masterworks by popular composers such as Rossini and Liszt. Featured in the program are the top two winners of the 2015 CSOYO Concerto Competition, Hannah Eitzen and Sasha Hitachi-Kizziah. Josh Holritz, CSO associate concertmaster and CSOYO alumnus, will also be featured. Review for the concert: William Tell Overture and Les Preludes are two of the most well-known (and well-loved) symphonic compositions, played by professional orchestras and youth orchestras alike. William Tell Overture is certainly well-known to the baby boom generation that watched countless episodes of The Lone Ranger, always preceded by the final gallop from Rossinis overture. Other parts of the overture, such as the storm section, will also be familiar to many listeners. Les Preludes is a famous tone poem by Franz Liszt, featuring musical sections alternating with romantic era melodies and noble brass fanfares. Admission is $15 for adults and $7 for children and students. Tickets are available online and through the CSO Office at 267-8583, or at the door. Doors open at 2 p.m. Call 267-9011 for more information. CSO-CSOYO Side-By-Side Concert Sunday, Feb. 28, 3 p.m. Tivoli Theatre Sandy Morris, conductor, CSOYO Philharmonic Orchestra Gary Wilkes, conductor, CSOYO Symphony Orchestra Kayoko Dan, conductor, CSO Orchestra Program CSOYO Philharmonic Orchestra SHELDON Resurgences CSOYO Symphony Orchestra CHABRIER Espana CSO Orchestra MERCADANTE Flute Concerto No. 2 in E Minor (1st movement) Sasha Hitachi-Kizziah, soloist GREGSON Concerto for Tuba (1st movement) Hannah Eitzen, soloist BEETHOVEN Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra Josh Holritz, soloist CSO Orchestra/CSOYO Symphony Orchestra ROSSINI Overture to William Tell LISZT Les Preludes Sasha Hitachi-Kizziah, age 12, is currently a seventh grader at the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. She began studying the piano at the age of four. At seven, she learned the recorder, playing with her schools (St. Nicholas) music teacher, Carey Shinbaum. Sasha studied the flute with Dr. Heather Small from the age of nine to 12. She began studying flute with Kristen Holritz in January 2016, and music theory with Kayoko Dan in the summer of 2015. In 2014, she auditioned for the CSOYO, and became first chair flute for the CSOYO Philharmonic Orchestra. She currently serves as second chair in the CSOYO Symphony Orchestra. Sasha has performed in a master class with Dr. Mary Karen Clardy, participated in a flute clinic with Patricia George, and won second in the Atlanta Flute Club Junior Artist competition. Other accomplishments include performing at the 2013 Mid-South Flute Festival junior showcase/master class in Murfreesboro, TN, and first chair placement in the blue band for All-County Band. She enjoys reading, horseback riding, and playing the harp and piano in her spare time. Hannah Eitzen, age 17, has been playing tuba for seven years. She is in her fourth season with the CSO Youth Orchestras. She is currently a senior at Soddy Daisy High School where she has been a member of the Marching Band, Jazz Band, and Wind Ensemble. She has performed with the band in the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, and at the National Association for Music Education in Nashville, Tennessee in 2013. Hannah was the Drum Major and Co-Captain for the 2014-2015 Soddy Daisy High School Marching Band, and was the Tuba Section Leader and Co-Captain for the 2015-2016 season. In 2014, she was one of 10 students chosen to perform with the United States Navy Band in Memorial Auditorium, and attended the Tennessee Governors School for the Arts. In 2015, Hannah performed at the inaugural Tennessee Bandmasters Association Solo Honors Recital in Memphis, Tennessee. Most recently, she attended the 2015 Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan where she played in the World Youth Wind Symphony. She has participated in the Tennessee All-State East and All-State bands for three years. Hannah currently studies tuba with Mr. David Butler and plans to attend Tennessee Technological University to study music education this fall. Josh Holritz joined the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera as Associate Concertmaster in 2014. Previously a resident of Chattanooga, Josh was a member of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Youth Orchestra from 1995-2000. In 1999 Josh won the annual CSOYO concerto competition and soloed with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera performing Beethovens Romance in F major Op. 50. At that time Josh studied with former CSO Associate Concertmaster Mark Reneau. Josh has performed as soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician in Canada, England, Austria, South Africa, Japan, and in more than 20 states around the continental United States. Josh has been a member of the Glens Falls Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, and served as concertmaster for the Buffalo Community Orchestra (MN). He has performed with the Vienna Radio Orchestra and New World Symphony and currently substitutes with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Josh was a founding member of the Emmaus Quartet which gave over 100 performances in the Southeast between 2004 and 2006. Josh currently maintains a busy performance schedule with Schaafritz, a duo with his wife, CSO principal flutist Kristen Holritz. Additionally, Josh performs weekly with the CSO String Quintet in their effort to bring classical music to local schools and community events. Josh is an advocate for newly composed music and improvisation. His doctoral dissertation, entitled A Players Guide: Lera Auerbachs 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, Op. 46, includes a complete recording of Auerbachs Op. 46 preludes. Joshs free improvisation work can be heard on Spotify under the album title Blow- Fi. Josh joined the faculty of Covenant College in 2014 as Adjunct Instructor of Violin. He also maintains a private studio out of his home. Josh holds a B.M. from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a M.M. from the University of Minnesota, and a D.M.A. from the University of Georgia. UHY welcomes Hassouneh Auditing Firm in the Palestinian territories to the global accountancy network UHY, extending our coverage within the EMEA region. Hassouneh Auditing Firm, formed in 1981, is based in Hebron and is managed and founded by Mohammad Akram Hassouneh who is also chairman of the Palestinian Association of Certified Public Accounting (PACPA) and vice president of public relations for AFAA (Arab Federation Accounting Association). With a team of 14, including 2 partners, the firm focuses on providing accounting, tax, VAT advisory and audit services to a portfolio of clients primarily in industrial, trading and service sectors. The team also brings good knowledge of non-governmental organizations. Managing partner, Mr. Mohammad Akram Hassouneh says: Being a member of a well-recognized and reputable international network is very exciting for us. We are looking forward to further enrich our own capabilities and opportunities coupled with our longstanding presence in the Palestinian market and our diversified background. The global reach of the network and the knowledge of UHYs people will not only strengthen our own expertise but also bring new opportunities for our clients and their operations. Bernard Fay, chairman of UHY comments: We are delighted Hassouneh Auditing Firm has joined the UHY network further enhancing the UHY footprint in the region. Congratulations to Mohammad Akram and his team who are keen to collaborate with UHY member firms globally. The firm is in the process of adopting the UHY branding. About UHY LLP UHY LLP, a licensed CPA firm, provides audit and other attest services to publicly traded, privately owned and nonprofit organizations in a number of industry sectors. UHY Advisors provides tax and advisory services to entrepreneurial and other organizations, principally those enterprises in the dynamic middle market. UHY LLP, operating in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, forms one of the largest professional services firms in the US. While that scale might provide confidence for some clients, others tell us our greatest value is the way we bring these resources to bear to help address todays evolving business challenges. Its a philosophy we call The Next Level of Service. To learn more visit http://www.uhy-us.com. All of the above entities are members of UHY International (UHYI), a worldwide network of independent professional services firms that provide audit, tax and advisory services around the globe. UHYI is ranked among the top international accountancy networks and a proud member in good standing of the Forum of Firms. Collectively, our US operating entities (UHY LLP and UHY Advisors) are the largest independent members of UHYI with significant participation, bringing the power of our international network to serve the individualized needs of our clients. UHY LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that performs attest services in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities. UHY Advisors, Inc. provides tax and business consulting services through wholly owned subsidiary entities that operate under the name of UHY Advisors. UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms. UHY LLP and UHY Advisors, Inc. are U.S. members of Urbach Hacker Young International Limited, a UK company, and form part of the international UHY network of legally independent accounting and consulting firms. UHY is the brand name for the UHY international network. Any services described herein are provided by UHY LLP and/or UHY Advisors (as the case may be) and not by UHY or any other member firm of UHY. Neither UHY nor any member of UHY has any liability for services provided by other members. Liaison office for Hassouneh Auditing Firm Contact: Managing partner, Mohammed Akram Hassouneh on +972-2255750 Email: info(at)haf(dot)ps Website: http://www.haf.ps ABOUT UHY, THE NETWORK Established in 1986 and based in London, UK, UHY is a network of independent audit, accounting, tax and consulting firms with offices in over 300 major business centres across more than 90 countries. Our staff members, over 7,660 strong, are proud to be part of the 16th largest international accounting and consultancy network. Each member of UHY is a legally separate and independent firm. For further information on UHY please go to http://www.uhy.com. UHY is a member of the Forum of Firms, an association of international networks of accounting firms. For additional information on the Forum of Firms, visit http://www.forumoffirms.org Actress Viola Davis The Boys & Girls Club of Collier County will celebrate the extraordinary achievements of 20 local Boys and Girls Club members on Monday, March 14, at the 4th annual Youth of the Year Celebration. Celebrity guest, Viola Davis, winner of an Academy Award, Tony Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award, will host the presentation of awards at the Youth of the Year event. Davis is also an actress and producer, well known for her role in the 2011 film The Help and current role in the ABC drama How to Get Away with Murder. The event will be held at ArtisNaples, 5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard, at 5:30 p.m. Twenty youth nominees, ages 14 to 18 will be recognized for displaying outstanding leadership, service, academic excellence, moral character and dedication to living a healthy lifestyle during the past year. Through a presentation of speeches, Youth of the Year candidates will illustrate how they have turned their aspirations into actions and overcome personal obstacles to achieve success. Viola Davis will announce the local 2016 Youth of the Year winner and the recipient will advance to compete on a statewide level for the opportunity to receive up to $50,000 in college scholarships and an induction by the President of the United States. Several sponsorship packages are available for businesses interested in participating in the Youth of the Year celebration. The various levels include: The Arts: $300 for a half-page advertisement or $500 for a full-page advertisement in the event program. Fitness & Recreation: $1,000 includes a cocktail reception, reserved dinner and program seating for one and recognition in the event program. Education & Career: $5,000 includes a cocktail reception, reserved dinner seating for four with a Youth of the Year nominee, reserved program seating for four, recognition on website and event program, half-page advertisement in event program and inclusion in all marketing materials. Character & Leadership: $10,000 includes photo opportunity with Viola Davis, a cocktail reception, preferred dinner seating for eight with a Youth of the Year nominee, preferred program seating for eight, recognition on website and event program, full-page advertisement in event program and inclusion in all marketing materials. Hope & Opportunity: $25,000 includes photo opportunity with Viola Davis, a private VIP cocktail reception, preferred dinner seating for ten with a Youth of the Year nominee, preferred program seating for ten, recognition on website and event program, full-page advertisement in event program and inclusion in all marketing materials. Tickets to attend the Youth of the Year (program only) are $50 per person. All proceeds raised will support the Boys & Girls Club five core program areas. For additional information or to purchase tickets for the Youth of the Year event, please visit bgccc.com/news-and-events/event/4th-annual-youth-year-celebration or contact Tiffany H., at (239) 325-1736. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/451946321679650/ About Boys & Girls Club of Collier County Existing to help enable all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens, the Boys and Girls Club of Collier County serves 3,000 children and teens, ages 6 to 18, through clubs and after school programs. The non-profit organization provide a safe place for young people to learn, grow and develop ongoing relationships with adult professionals who support the education, emotional, physical and social development they need to become successful adults. For more information, visit bgccc.com or call 239-325-1700. About Youth of the Year Since 1947, Youth of the Year has been Boys & Girls Clubs of Americas premier recognition program, celebrating the extraordinary achievements of Club teens. Club members who earn the youth of the Year title embody the values of leadership service; academic excellence; and healthy lifestyles. They exemplify the critical impact that Boys Girls Clubs have on the lives of young people. Local Clubs recognize members ages 14 to 18 as Youth of the Month Winners and select a Youth of the Year, who then participates in state competitions. State winners each receive a $5,000 scholarship and advance to regional competitions. Regional winners receive an additional $10,000 college scholarship, renewable for four years up to $40,000. Six youth, including five regional winners and a military winner, advance to the National Youth of the Year competition for a chance at an additional scholarship of $25,000, renewable up to $100,000 for four years. The National Youth of the Year represents all Boys & Girls Club youth. Metromont Corporation, one of AltusGroups 20 innovation-focused North American precast members, manufactured CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels for the Martin Army Hospital contributing to the energy savings needed to receive a LEED Gold Certification. Metromont manufactured the exterior walls and teamed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to engineer them. LEED Gold certifications are awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council to facilities that minimize impact on the environment and promote energy efficiency. The 745,000-square-foot hospital located at the Fort Benning Army Base in Columbus, Ga., used 9 thick CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels for the exterior. The precast sandwich panel consists 3 thick interior and exterior concrete wythes with 3 of EPS insulation between them. The continuous insulation in the CarbonCast panels was enabled by C-GRID carbon fiber wythe connectors. The walls were designed to deliver an R-value of R-12 that exceeds code by 50% and eliminated the need for batt or other insulation. The negligible thermal conductivity of the C-GRID carbon fiber connectors virtually eliminates the possibility of spurious thermal transfer through the panel, creating highly thermally efficient panel that can reduce HVAC system energy use and provide substantial long-term energy savings to heat and cool buildings. CarbonCast wall panels can also weigh less than conventional precast wall systems, helping to reduce embodied energy by using less cement and other raw materials, and less energy to produce, ship and erect. About AltusGroup The first-ever national partnership of precast companies, AltusGroup was founded in 2003 to develop, manufacture and market precast innovations such as the award-winning CarbonCast line of products featuring C-GRID carbon fiber grid reinforcing. With more than two dozen structural and architectural locations in the United States, the 20 North American and two international AltusGroup companies have an unparalleled network of manufacturing plants, technical staff and sales personnel to ensure architects, engineers and contractors get the help they needand the quality and performance they expectwhen they select CarbonCast products. For more information, visit altusprecast.com or call 866-GO-ALTUS. ### Well worth the wait, happy cat owners stand in line to pick up their pet at a previous Fix Felix for Free event. Houstons pet overpopulation problem isnt new, and it isnt going to be fixed overnight. Every local neighborhood fights the same battle: countless homeless pets dumped each and every day all around Houston, Texas communities. To truly win the war on pet overpopulation, it is imperative for pet owners to do their part, and it starts with spaying and neutering pets. In order to help in this matter, Houston Humane Society is hosting Fix Felix for Free on Wednesday, Feb. 17. Part of being a responsible pet owner includes making sure a pet is not part of the overpopulation problem. As an added bonus, studies show that altered pets live longer, healthier lives and are at a lower risk of developing certain types of cancer. Spaying or neutering pets can also have a positive impact on their behavior. It often reduces or eliminates unwanted actions such as marking territory, roaming, and aggression. Spaying and neutering is so important that Houston Humane Society has created an annual event called Fix Felix for Free to help local cat lovers neuter male cats for free. On Wednesday, Feb. 17, Houston Humane Society will neuter 700 male cats for no charge at the HHS Animal Wellness Clinic. It takes the entire HHS staff, many dedicated volunteers, and the staff of All Cats Veterinary Clinic coming together to make this event a success. It is a long, tiresome day of hard work that leaves staff and volunteers feeling rewarded for doing their part to combat pet overpopulation. Grateful cat owners can often be seen hugging and thanking staff for providing their pet with a quality surgery at a price anyone can afford, which is no charge at all. Cat owners must have an appointment, and there is a limit of five cats per person. Domesticated and feral cats qualify, and for the health and safety of all cats, as well as the HHS staff and volunteers, each feline must be in a plastic crate or carrier. A current rabies vaccination is required by law. Pet owners must show proof of current rabies certificate, or they may purchase a rabies vaccine for their cat the day of the event. Additional optional services offered at the time of surgery for a small fee. Pet owners can request an appointment by email to fixfelix(at)houstonhumane.org or by phone at 713-433-6421. To find out more information about Fix Felix for Free or low-cost spaying and neutering at Houston Humane Society, visit HoustonHumane.org. Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 Appointment required; no walk-ins Limit five cats per person Male cats only Rabies vaccine required About the Company: The Houston Humane Society is dedicated to, and working towards, ending cruelty, abuse and the overpopulation of animals while providing the highest quality of life to those in their care. The HHS does not receive any government funding or operating funds from national animal welfare organizations, and relies solely on donations, special events and program services. Visit the Houston Humane Society website for more information. Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Author of "The Conscious Parent" and Expert in Clinical Psychology and Mindfulness Dr. Shefali has the authority and understanding to expand our awareness to encompass the dimensions we may not talk about as much. The Care Plus Foundation, Inc. (CarePlus Foundation) has announced that Dr. Shefali Tsabary will present at Bergen Community College for the 2016 Annual Conference for Children on Friday, April 1. The world-renowned doctor will share her expertise in blending the western study of clinical psychology with the eastern philosophy of mindfulness. Dr. Shefali is a clinical psychologist, award-winning author, and international speaker who has been a keynote at numerous events. In addition to being a frequent flyer on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Dr. Shefali has also presented at TEDx, Wisdom 2.0, The Kellogg Business School, and The Dali Lama Center for Peace and Education, among many other conferences and workshops. Her most popular book The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children, a New York Times bestseller, has been called one of the most profound books on parenting by Oprah. The concepts and approaches to parenting that are explored in the book will be the driving force of the conference presented by CarePlus. There are a number of factors that go into total well-being, stated Caitlyn Yerves, Advocacy Specialist at CarePlus. Bergen County has developed the 8-dimensions of wellness model, which addresses the importance of the many aspects of health. Dr. Shefali has the authority and understanding to expand our awareness to encompass the dimensions we may not talk about as much. The presentation, entitled The Art of Conscious Parenting: Bringing Mindfulness to Families, will consist of a number of topics including the foundation of mindful connection and learning to transform the act of discipline by using appropriate consequences. The event will include practice sessions for the audience to put lessons into action, as well as a question and answer segment. There is also time reserved for a book signing at the end of the event. Our goal has been to provide an educational opportunity that not only benefits those who work in the field of psychology, but also the greater community, continued Yerves. These conferences have historically been more clinical in nature, so we are expecting that this topic will bring in a new wave of attendees, as well as many of our past participants. The event will run from 8:30 am to 1 pm and will include a continental breakfast and beverages. Participants can register online at http://www.CarePlusNJ.org/2016Conference. CarePlus has noted that seating is limited. The registration fee is $75 and includes 2.75 Continuing Education Units approved by the New Jersey National Association of Social Workers. The CarePlus Foundation is also seeking sponsorship and resource tables for the event. For more information, contact Alexis Fatigati at 201-981-5070 or AlexisF(at)CarePlusNJ(dot)org. About CarePlus Foundation, Inc. ("CarePlus Foundation") The CarePlus Foundation the supporting arm of CarePlus was created with a mission to decrease the stigma of mental illness and pave the way to accessibility of care for those looking to seek help through community education, advocacy, and fundraising. Care Plus NJ, Inc. (http://www.CarePlusNJ.org) is a northern New Jersey provider of recovery-focused mental health, primary care, substance abuse, and family services that addresses the unique needs of individuals with a holistic approach to recovery and overall wellness. Operating out of 23 sites including three outpatient centers located in Paramus, Fair Lawn, and Montclair, ten residential facilities, offices at three local hospitals, and seven community offices their services are convenient to clients located throughout Northern New Jersey. They also provide educational programs on mental health-related topics to schools, organizations, and community groups; training topics including certified Mental Health First Aid, Suicide Prevention, Bullying Prevention and Crisis Planning and Intervention Strategies for Schools. As technology development becomes an ever-increasing force in the global economy, Advisant Groups expansion overseas puts them in a favorable position to meet growing demands in many markets. Castle Venture Group (CVG), led by CEO Michael Keever, has developed a robust technology development arm known as Advisant Group. Advisants main office is located in Nashville, TN, where president Jim Rising and his professional team work for a variety of clients, as well as developing software and infrastructure for CVGs ventures. To deal with their growing demand for tech professionals, Advisant has had to expand overseas into India and Russia. The office in India is located in Coimbatore, home of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology. This office is home to 5 full-time employees that assist Advisant with web, software, and app development for CVGs inside projects, as well as outside clients. In fact, these professionals are an integral part of nearly all of Advisants large projects. Because of this, the India office will be hiring five interns, all of them women, to increase diversity and take advantage of the robust population of female developers in India. The Russian office is staffed by two full-time employees, and one part-time, to meet demands for Advisants and CVGs entry into the digital currency market. This includes development of a digital wallet, as well as a digital currency investment platform moving forward. As technology development becomes an ever-increasing force in the global economy, Advisant Groups expansion overseas puts them in a favorable position to meet growing demands in many markets, not just in the United States. About Advisant Group: As the technology development division of Castle Venture Group, Advisant provides solutions for the needs of CVGs own ventures, while also working with outside clients. President Jim Rising leads a team of tech professionals that includes software developers, graphic designers, and web developers. About Castle Venture Group: CVG helps new, emerging and established companies focus their efforts, access capital and grow profitably. Castles portfolio of businesses covers many industries, from law firms to tech companies. CEO Michael Keever is dedicated to fostering growth in promising ventures across the state of Tennessee, and the Southeast. Dutch Luv Day Dutch Luv is in the air with funds benefitting local food banks. Dutch Bros annual Dutch Luv Day is on Sunday, Feb. 14. On this day, all Dutch Bros locations will donate $1 from every drink sold to local food organizations. Dutch Bros partners with their communities and customers to raise funds and awareness for local food organizations. All 256 Dutch Bros locations will donate $1 from every drink sold this Valentines Day to local food banks as we continue to fight hunger in our communities. On average, a $1 donation allows the food banks to purchase 7 pounds of healthy and nutritious food that highly benefits local families and individuals. "Dutch Luv is an amazing day that provides us the opportunity to take care of people in need," said Travis Boersma, Dutch Bros Coffee Co-founder. "The effort our customers put forth on that day is something I appreciate immensely." Every year, on Feb. 14, Dutch Bros participates in Dutch Luv Day. Each location is locally owned and operated; allowing each franchisee to choose nonprofit organizations that provide meals to local community members in need. Together, we can make a difference and positively impact the lives of our neighbors. To learn the organization being supported near you visit, dutchbros.com/news/dutchluv.To find a Dutch Bros location near you visit, dutchbros.com/locations. ### RingLead.com From February 9-11, 2016, RingLead executives will attend the 2016 SaaStr Conference. Their goal is to help companies incorporate RingLead solutions into their daily lives. SaaStr draws the largest web community of SaaS founders and entrepreneurs in the world. In a recent Information Management article, 84% of the organizations interviewed said data was a fundamental aspect of developing a successful business strategy, however; 75% of those companies also believe that inaccurate data is undercutting their capacity to provide their customers with a high quality of service. These statistics show that data management and governance is becoming an increasing concern for all companies. RingLead has helped large enterprises, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses around the world clean up their data problems, so when they need accurate data to do business, talk to their customers, and close deals, it is conveniently at their fingertips. In fact, RingLead has assembled the first complete, end-to-end data quality offering on the market today. To date, the company has helped close to 1,000 companies internationally large, small, and everything in between. Stop by our booth for a free trial and special offers on RingLead software. For information about RingLead, click here: https://www.ringlead.com/ ### About RingLead RingLead offers a complete end-to-end suite of products to clean, protect and enhance company and contact information, leading to improved organizational efficiency, reliable business intelligence, and maximized ROI on CRM and marketing automation investments. Since 2003, RingLead has helped solve the dirty data problems of large enterprises, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses across the globe. http://www.information-management.com/news/big-data-analytics/majority-of-organizations-struggle-with-data-quality-10028142-1.html Investment firm MissionOG (http://www.missionog.com) today announced the final close of its first fund with $35 million in assets under management. The Fund applies an operational approach to investing, providing human and financial capital to early and growth stage B2B focused technology companies. This methodology along with the extensive business experience of its partners, advisors, and individual investors, has established a powerful structure to find, vet, and work with high growth companies. MissionOG began investing in 2013 and now has eleven companies in its portfolio, including FactorTrust, Pay4Later, Journey Sales, and Behalf. Focused on accelerating technology-based business services companies with enterprise distribution, existing and targeted sectors include financial services and payments, enterprise software, and media and content. We are excited to announce the close of our first fund with the strong backing of an impressive group of Limited Partners, said Gene Lockhart, chairman and managing partner at MissionOG. This capital close allows us to not only support the growth opportunities within the current portfolio, but also invest in additional world-class companies. The managing partners of MissionOG have an extensive track record of leading high growth companies to significant outcomes. In addition to companies they have founded, the principals of the Fund have also held leadership positions in industry leaders such as MasterCard, Bank of America, Citibank, and CEB. The opportunity that we saw in the market was to leverage our experience as entrepreneurial operators to be true partners to the companies in which we invest, remarked George Krautzel, managing partner of MissionOG. While early in the life of our firm, that valuable differentiation has attracted a developing portfolio of top-notch growth companies and a top-tier group of institutional co-investment partners. The operators approach to investing extends beyond the managing partners of MissionOG. The unique methodology for early and growth stage investment has also attracted a strong group of advisors and individual investors to the Fund. We have brought together an extremely effective team of advisors and investors whose extensive networks and experience have delivered significant contributions to the Fund, noted Andy Newcomb, managing partner of MissionOG, We developed a platform that leverages the collective value of these partners to build better deal flow, conduct smart diligence, find talent, and open business development opportunities for our portfolio. For a complete list of the MissionOG partners, advisors, and team members, visit: http://www.missionog.com/people/ About MissionOG MissionOG provides human and financial capital to early and growth stage B2B technology companies. We apply our experience and capabilities to a group of highly skilled and passionate entrepreneurs whose businesses are on the cusp of exponential growth. Headquartered in Philadelphia with offices in New York City, the MissionOG Fund is managed by entrepreneurial operators who have effectively built early to growth stage businesses and guided them through successful acquisitions. For more information visit: http://www.missionog.com This is an amazing place where people and stories are born and grow. The people of Boston are what make IMBoston great. IMBoston, the Boston-targeted online magazine, has announced the launch of their redesigned website (http://imboston.com/). The site was revamped to make the interface more user-friendly, better highlight the features and provide useful and robust local information. Although the main focus of the magazine remains the same highlighting and sharing interesting stories of Bostonians, compared to the old site, the new one has more interactive features and allows readers to become more engaged through local news, events, living tips and other helpful information related to the community of Boston. IMBoston was founded with the mission to start a tribute to the people of Boston. Readers are encouraged to discover interesting people around the neighborhood, learn more about the city, and have the chance to build connections with those who are close by and share the same passions. This site is dedicated to all the many faces, characters, and stories of those who, along with us, love this city, excepted from IMBoston. Earning consistent 100 weekly likes on Facebook, this newborn media has caught Boston's attention and has grown rapidly. To bring the community together, IMBoston also hosts networking events to gather highlighted people and readers. We are more than a magazine; we are a real community for people who enjoy Boston and are proud to call this city home, says Stefanie Daneau, the Co Founder of IMBoston This is an amazing place where people and stories are born and grow. The people of Boston are what make IMBoston great. IMBoston positions itself a place for everyone in the community to contribute. They welcome user-generated content and encourage people to submit stories or become contributors. To learn more about the magazine and how to participate, please visit their website at http://imboston.com. Blythe-Bower Winter Book Fair will be Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 3:15 pm. Parents and families are invited to shop during the extended hours on Tuesday morning 7:40-8:30 am and Thursday afternoon 4:00-6:00 pm. For more information contact Michelle Castleberry, 423-479-5121, mcastleberry@clevelandschools.org.The Denning Center Parent Teacher Conferences will be Tuesday, 3:00-4:00 pm. Parents are invited to schedule a conference with their child's teacher. For more information contact Barbara Ector, 423-339-0902, bector@clevelandschools.org.Cleveland High School Parent Teacher Conferences and College Night will be Tuesday.Parents are invited to schedule a conference with their child's teacher between 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Representatives from area colleges and military will provide post secondary information to students and parents from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. For more information contact Whitney Harden, 423-478-1113, wharden@clevelandschools.org.George R. Stuart Elementary hosts Creative Discovery Museum Health Night on Tuesday, 5:00-7:00 pm. Students and families can concoct a healthy recipe, get grossed out by their bodily functions, and assess their well-being. For more information contact Richelle Shelton, 423-476-8246, rshelton@clevelandschools.org.Representatives from the American Legion will give a Flag Etiquette Presentation to Blythe-Bower 5th graders on Wednesday, 9:40 am. For more information contact Joel Barnes, 423-479-5121, jbarnes@clevelandschools.org.Arnold Memorial's school play Rumplestiltskin: Private Eye will be performed on Friday, 7:00 pm and Saturday, 2:00 pm. Parents and students are invited to attend either performance. For more information contact Mike Chai, 423-472-2241, mchai@clevelandschools.org.PTO Meetings:E. L. Ross - Tuesday, 8:30 amCleveland Middle School - Tuesday, 1:30 pmMayfield - Tuesday, 6:30 pm At Slow Wine, we take pride in recognizing small-scale winemakers using traditional techniques, working with respect for the environment and terroir, and safeguarding the incredible biodiversity of grape varieties that are part of Italys heritage. Slow Wine, a movement that stemmed from Slow Food, toured the US over the past two weeks for the 5th consecutive year. Representing over 400 of Italys best wineries, Slow Wine explores wine through the perspective of the Slow Food philosophy. Wine, like food, must be good, clean and fair not just good. The 5th annual Slow Wine US tour stopped in San Francisco on January 25, then moved to Los Angeles (January 27), Austin (February 1), and ended in New York on February 3. Last Wednesday in New York, nearly 500 members of the press and trade came to the Highline Ballroom to attend the walk-around tasting, which took place from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Following the trade event, an evening consumer event featured wines by the same producers, as well as live music by Stevie Wonder tribute band Overjoyed. Attendees at both the trade event and the consumer event were able to taste wines from over 65 wine producers hailing from 15 different Italian regions. At the events, the newest edition of The Slow Wine Guide was also released. Slow Wine also released a new iOS app this year to commemorate their 5th US tour. The app is available for a limited time and allows users to search wines by region, style, price, value, or quality. At Slow Wine, we take pride in recognizing small-scale winemakers using traditional techniques, working with respect for the environment and terroir, and safeguarding the incredible biodiversity of grape varieties that are part of Italys heritage, said Giancarlo Gariglio, editor of Slow Wine. We were thrilled with this years events and will continue to promote wine, not just a product of a winery but fruit of a certain soil, a specific climate, and a farming philosophy. About Slow Wine The Slow Wine Guide, published by Slow Food Editore (the publishing arm of Slow Food Italy**) adopts a new approach to wine criticism and looks at a variety of factors to evaluate wineries in their entirety, taking into consideration the wine quality, typicity and adherence to terroir, value, environmental sensitivity and ecologically sustainable viticultural practices. Slow Wine was conceived to give a realistic snapshot of the current Italian wine landscape. The guide features reviews of 400 different wineries, each one visited by Slow Wine experts. It is available for purchase on Amazon.com as well as in select bookstores. http://www.slowwinemagazine.com/ **Slow Food International is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in Italy in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and to encourage people to be aware about the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Further improvement of our hosting services and ensuring that our customers have the support they need to streamline their audit processes will be key focus points for us in 2016 RoseASP, a provider of audit-ready hosting services for Microsoft business customers and partners, had a 97.5% customer retention rate in 2015, a 0.1% improvement over 2014 and a noteworthy accomplishment in an industry where 95% is considered high retention, announced RoseASP, today. RoseASP has been delivering secure SaaS and IaaS services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP since 2000 and manages a network of cloud procurement and online software trial sites. The hosting firm is working to further improve its processes and increase customer satisfaction in 2016. We are committed to working as a team both internally and with our Dynamics Partners to deliver the best possible hosting services for our entire customer base and the highest levels of compliance support for our heavily regulated customers, said Linda Rose, founder and CEO of RoseASP. Our strong customer loyalty is a testament to that teamwork. To further improve customer satisfaction, RoseASP recently added Information Systems Director, Karlton Prillerman, to the team. Mr. Prillerman joins RoseASP with 18 years of experience; first in Systems Engineering where he managed datacenter growth and standardization in a high-availability environment, and later transitioning to Application Development where he managed a bi-coastal software engineering team, delivering robust desktop and web client applications to the enterprise. Mr. Prillerman works closely with RoseASPs Compliance Officer and technical team to deliver quick responses for support requests and drive customer service while adhering to strict control policies around Microsoft Dynamics cloud security and compliance. Its exciting to come on board with a company that is really pushing innovation in the Dynamics cloud space forward and RoseASPs professionalism and customer service are second to none in my experience, Prillerman said. Further improvement of our hosting services and ensuring that our customers have the support they need to streamline their audit processes will be key focus points for us in 2016. ABOUT ROSEASP RoseASP provides flexible cloud solutions on Microsoft Azure and in our private audit-ready cloud environments. Specializing in FDA, SOX, and HIPAA cloud compliancy, we enable highly regulated businesses to leverage the power of cloud to manage the growing complexity of corporate IT requirements while maintaining governance, security and compliance. For more information about RoseASP, visit RoseASP.com. ### Contact: Jeff DeMaria, (858) 794-9403, jeff(at)roseasp(dot)com Wearables similar to ICFO's prototype flexible 2D sensor above will enable health monitoring, among capabilities possible with future applications of graphene-based photonics technology. Graphene-based photonics technology promises a radically new set of capabilities to meet pressing future needs. A daylong workshop at SPIE Photonics Europe in Brussels in April will present 12 research leaders from industry and academia speaking on prospects and potential for commercialisation of graphene technology. Workshop chairs are Frank Koppens of ICFO (Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology) and Nathalie Vermeulen of B-PHOT (Brussels Photonics Team, Vrije Universiteit Brussel). SPIE Photonics Europe will run 3-7 April in the Square Brussels Meeting Centre, with the graphene workshop on 5 April. Pre-registration is required for the workshop, and seating is limited. Graphene-based photonics technology promises a radically new set of capabilities to meet pressing future needs, said SPIE Science and Technology Director Bob Hainsey. Among its wide-ranging applications are expanded communications networking and data storage, increased computing speeds, enhanced disease control utilising increasingly larger and more complex data sets, and more accurate fire, motion, chemical, and other sensor systems. The workshop, featuring leaders in graphene technology from many leading university and industrial labs, will provide those attending with valuable insights on the latest research and inspiration for developing new products and capabilities, Hainsey said. A rapid-presentations panel at the end of the day will feature industry leaders discussing next steps and challenges in commercialising graphene-based technologies. Among the workshop speakers: Marco Romagnoli of the CNIT National Laboratory for Photonics Networks will present a vision for and advantages of graphene-based integrated photonics for data communication, and discuss strategies for wafer-scale integration. Christoph Stampfer of RWTH Aachen University will describe scalable, cost-efficient fabrication technology to produce high-mobility graphene for applications such as high-frequency transistors, magnetic field sensors, and flexible optoelectronics. Wolfgang Templ, Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, will describe how graphene-based photonics can help to provide extremely high data rates up to the range of tens of gigabits and down to the individual user level -- ideally ubiquitously and at any time. Cedric Huyghebaert of imec will outline research into integration schemes for silicon photonics transceivers incorporating graphene-based modulators and photodetectors co-integrated with silicon waveguides, working toward industrial-compatible solutions for the semiconductor environment. Alan Colli of Nokia Technologies will discuss how a new class of thermal detectors for infrared imaging based on graphene technology can be applied in healthcare, smart energy systems, security, fire sensing, automotive, and motion tracking. Hartmut Roskos of the Physikalisches Institut at Goethe-Universitat will present on a comparative performance analysis of antenna-coupled field-effect transistors (Tera-FETs) in four different material systems (silicon CMOS, AlGaN/GaN, CVD graphene, and carbon nanotubes) for application in versatile, sensitive detection of THz radiation. Valerio Pruneri of ICFO and ICREA will show how ultrathin metals of a thickness ranging from 0.5 to 50 nm can be used to directly grow graphene on transparent substrates, enabling new functionalities for optoelectronic devices. More information about the potential of graphene and other 2D technologies is at: Light and graphene article by Frank Koppens in SPIE Professional magazine Video interview with Frank Koppens in the SPIE Newsroom. About SPIE SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics, an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering, and technology. The Society serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings, continuing education, books, journals, and the SPIE Digital Library. In 2015, SPIE provided more than $5.2 million in support of education and outreach programs. http://www.spie.org Design-build modular construction firm Ramtech Building Systems has announced the company's latest support in the form of a grant to the Mansfield (TX) Independent School District Education Foundation. At the end of 2015 Ramtech sponsored an Innovative Teaching Grant which will be used to support a program developed by a group of Mansfield ISD intermediate school librarians. Titled "Make Your Mark in Mansfield Intermediate Libraries: Inspire, Imagine, Investigate, Innovate," the $4,500 grant will be used to purchase hardware, software, as well as tools and equipment to support the intermediate school's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) programs. Specifically, the plan calls for developing a "Makerspace" area in the libraries of the district's six intermediate school campuses where students can come together to investigate, collaborate, and create in a unique community section of each facility. Individual projects will be guided by the school librarians through inquiry-style learning, encouraging students to use a collaborative approach in order to build and create by making connections to what they have learned in the classroom and applying it to the real world. For several years Ramtech and its employees have made personal and financial contributions to several local organizations and charities in the Mansfield, Texas area. Agencies such as Meals on Wheels, Special Olympics, Kiwanis, Habitat for Humanity, Mansfield Cares, and Common Ground are just a few of the organizations that the company has supported. Ramtech has been a corporate sponsor of the Mansfield ISD Education Foundation since its inception in 1998, with company founder Mike Slataper and current president Linc Moss both having served terms on the Foundation's board of directors. The Foundation has given back in excess of $2,700,000 to MISD Schools, providing the financial resources for projects and activities that go beyond the normal classroom experience. More information on the MISDEF can be found on the Foundation's website at mansfieldisdfoundation.org. About Ramtech Building Systems Since 1982 Mansfield, Texas-based Ramtech Building Systems has been providing innovative permanent modular construction and relocatable modular buildings for educational institutions, government agencies, healthcare providers, and Fortune 500 companies throughout the Southern United States. As a design-build construction company, Ramtech offers full in-house design, a manufacturer direct product, and complete site construction services all within a single-source solution. By emphasizing a value engineering approach, Ramtech has successfully completed over 3,000 relocatable and permanent prefabricated buildings for school construction and other diverse projects of all sizes. For more information, visit the company's website at ramtechmodular.com. HNTB's Katie Theis was named to Railway Age's 2016 Fast Trackers 10 Under 40 We are proud that Katies leadership in applying new concepts to rail transit is being recognized in such a high profile way Katie Theis, AICP, LEED AP, a transportation planner in HNTB Corporations rail transit practice, has been named to Railway Ages 2016 Fast Trackers 10 Under 40. The award will be presented in Chicago at the publications annual railroader of the year dinner on March 15, 2016. Inaugurated in 2016, the Railway Age award recognizes emerging leaders in the railroad industry. Entries were received from freight/passenger railroads, suppliers and consultants/contractors and were judged on criteria that included industry experience and education, leadership skills, industry contributions and community service involvement. We are proud that Katies leadership in applying new concepts to rail transit is being recognized in such a high profile way, said Mike Sweeney, PE, HNTBs Northeast division president. She helps design systems that enhance mobility and bring transformative changes in the relationship between rail transit systems and the communities they serve. Theis, a registered landscape architect, joined HNTB in 2010, and is based in the firms Empire State Building office in Manhattan. She is involved in the planning and design of mixed-use and transit-oriented developments, transit facilities, public spaces and greenways as well as providing regional and strategic planning, and sustainability guidance. Theis experience includes many significant transportation projects such as the New NY Bridge and the Goethals Bridge replacement program as well as flood resiliency programs, transit station site design and planning studies in New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. HNTBs history is built on more than 100 years of experience in the design and construction of many significant and iconic bridges in the nation. The firm delivers major transportation infrastructure projects such as program and construction management for transit systems, passenger and freight rail systems, tunnels, airports, and tolling systems and technology in the U.S. About HNTB HNTB Corporation is an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With more than a century of service, including more than 90 years in New York, HNTB understands the life cycle of infrastructure and addresses clients most complex technical, financial and operational challenges. HNTBs New York offices currently employ more than 400 full-time professionals in nine tri-state locations. Professionals nationwide deliver a full range of infrastructure-related services, including award-winning planning, design, program management and construction management. For more information, visit http://www.hntb.com. A scene from the "Finding My Heart" Music Video by Plaito I'd love to prove to the world that an artist can 'make it big' with the help of their fans, and without selling their soul to greedy record companies, losing creative control of their music. Plaito, an Independent Musician from Australia is championing a movement on social media this week against the exploitation of artists by "greedy record labels". The music video featuring Plaito performing his original song, "Finding My Heart" was posted on the solo artist's Facebook page on 2 February in an attempt to gain exposure and avoid the need to sign a publishing deal. Plaito was concerned that creative control of his music would be lost to financial interests. The low-budget video has since been clocking up views and gaining momentum, as thousands of Facebook users show their support by liking and sharing it in an attempt to help the talented musician reach a larger audience and amass a fan base - without requiring the backing of a major record label. In the online description of Plaito's new music video, the budding artist vents, "From what I've seen so far, all record labels seem to just want to own, control and profit from their artists. This is why Lady Gaga threatened to quit music. She felt shallow, controlled, lost her creative freedom and said she was just being used to make money. I wrote this song after giving up my mindless pursuit of riches and returning to my first love - music. Music is Freedom. I refuse to make people have to pay money to hear this song." Plaito's unique stance against charging money for his music comes at a time when two of the world's top-selling artists - Taylor Swift and Adele, have been famously avoiding making their tracks available on most music streaming sites, a protest against decreased revenues from services like Spotify. The aspiring Australian artist, yet to release his debut EP, is publicly forgoing all future music sales with the belief that his music will be "more freely shared across the planet". But without the usual funding of an established record label for promotional campaigns, Plaito has taken on the financial risk personally. Resorting to "Crowd Publishing" the innovative artist has asked his fans to help the movement by sharing his music video online, and is encouraging fellow musicians to cover or remix his song "Finding My Heart", and to post their own versions of the track on social media sites along with the hashtag #freethemusic. "This beautiful music was given to me, so I give it to you in the spirit of Freedom at no cost. This song is open. This means that you don't need any permission from anybody at any time to copy, distribute, edit, remix or cover any of my songs. It's yours to use for whatever you want," writes Plaito on his Facebook Page, "I'd love to prove to the world that an artist can 'make it big' with the help of their fans, and without selling their soul to greedy record companies, losing creative control of their music." No stranger to the business world, Heath Sanchez (Plaito) was a serial entrepreneur for over 12 years before embarking upon his recent music endeavours in late 2015. After achieving financial success that allowed him to travel through 23 countries over 7 years with his wife, Sanchez reached a career high when a company he'd built in 6 months was offered $11 million by a U.S. finance company in 2014. A deal he says that never went through. "During a spiritual awakening deep in the Costa Rican jungle, I vowed to cease my frivolous pursuit of wealth and return to my first love - music. Drowning in debt and having just lost our 3-year old daughter to one of the rarest, most aggressive and most lethal forms of children's cancer - I decided that life was just too short to keep ignoring my real dream," Plaito explained passionately. When asked how he plans to thrive as an artist without a revenue strategy, and with significant business debt looming, Plaito responded, "I really don't know, I'll figure that out later! Everything is changing so fast. I'll probably just end up making my revenue from my Live Shows, but I just hate the idea of making people pay money to enjoy my music on their devices. I want to make all my music free. Out with the old world, in with the new." About Plaito Plaito is an Independent Electronic Artist from Byron Bay, NSW, Australia with a unique musical sound that combines conscious lyrics with pop sensibilities. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/plaitomusic or http://www.plaito.com.au Through this critical partnership with Bit Stew, Black & Veatch will implement advanced analytics by delivering MIx technology solutions and implementation services for our customers says John Chevrette, president of Black & Veatch Management Consulting Bit Stew Systems, a global leader in Software Defined Operations for the Industrial Internet, continues to expand its recently launched partner program. Today it announced a partnership with Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting, construction, and operations company specializing in infrastructure development in the energy, water, telecommunications, and oil and gas industries. As a Certified Strategic Consulting and System Integration partner, Black & Veatch will apply its proven industry consulting expertise to help its customers turn big data into actionable intelligence using Bit Stews MIx technology for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). IIoT harnesses the power of machine learning, sensor data and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication being built into tomorrows energy and utilities infrastructure. As part of our ambitious growth plan, Bit Stew continues to expand our global partner ecosystem, says Scott Harden, Vice President, Strategic Alliances at Bit Stew. This new partnership enables Bit Stew and Black & Veatch to drive the rapid adoption of Bit Stews MIx product portfolio and accelerate the value of the Industrial Internet of Things for our customers. Reducing time to value for complex industrial data integration Black & Veatch Management Consulting, LLC, is a Certified Strategic Consulting and System Integration partner with Bit Stew and will jointly pursue new sales opportunities in the Energy, Utilities and Industrial sectors. Black & Veatch will leverage its expertise in intelligent infrastructure implementation, technology and operations by delivering Bit Stews MIx technology to help its customers drive new operating efficiencies, optimize asset reliability, and increase uptime. Bit Stew partners access the MIx Developer Network (MDN) Bit Stews partners, like Black & Veatch, will gain access to the MIx Developer Network (MDN) where they can learn best practices and collaborate with other partners who develop new MIx applications. Earlier this week, Bit Stew announced the general availability of the MDN, a fully functional development environment that provides access to tools, technologies and support that extends the value of the MIx product portfolio to quickly build applications for the IIoT. Building on the strengths of MIx through the MDN Through this critical partnership with Bit Stew, Black & Veatch will implement advanced analytics by delivering MIx technology solutions and implementation services for our customers, says John Chevrette, president of Black & Veatch Management Consulting. Through Bit Stews fully-functional developer environment, the MIx Developer Network (MDN), we will access the tools and support we need to create powerful applications that extend the capabilities of Bit Stews MIx products. Bit Stew and Black & Veatch at DTECH2016 Catch Bit Stew's MIx product portfolio in action at DistribuTECh from February 9 -11, in meeting room #1990. Schedule your demo at the show and learn more about the Bit Stew Partner Program and how Bit Stew and Black & Veatch are working together. About Black & Veatch Black & Veatch is an employee-owned, global leader in building critical human infrastructure in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries through consulting, engineering, construction, operations and program management. Our revenues in 2014 were $3 billion. Black & Veatch Management Consulting, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Black & Veatch created to provide clients with comprehensive financial, technology and strategic consulting services within the electric, oil and gas and water markets. Our consulting expertise is backed by deep industry, technical and engineering experience that enables us to understand and address the most complex issues facing our clients. About Bit Stew Systems Bit Stew is building the premier platform for handling complex data integration, data analysis, and predictive automation for connected devices on the Industrial Internet. Through data-driven automation, Bit Stew Systems removes the complexity of industrial operations and connected machines to give clarity and control back to operations. Purpose-built for the Industrial Internet, Bit Stews MIx technology automates data ingestion, applies machine intelligence to learn patterns in the data, allowing industrial companies to discover actionable insights that optimize operational performance. In 2015, Bit Stew was named to Greentech Medias Grid Edge 20 list, as one of the top 20 innovators architecting the future of the electric power industry, and was ranked as one of the Top 100 Analytics Companies and Top 100 IoT Startups by Forbes. Incorporated in 2009, Bit Stew is a venture-backed private company that is headquartered in Canada with offices in the USA, Australia and Europe. Visit http://www.bitstew.com to learn more. For more information, contact: Karen Dosanjh, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Bit Stew Systems Phone: (604) 328-5171 kdosanjh(at)bitstew(dot)com Christopher Clark, Manager, Media Relations & Communications Black & Veatch Phone: (913) 458-2778 clarkca(at)bv(dot)com "We pride ourselves in aligning our technology with a customer's business strategy". Tim Brannock, CMO Cameo Global Cameo Global, a collaboration solutions provider, has signed a long-term contract agreement with one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. to provide voice and contact center managed services for their global workforce. By leveraging Cameo Globals Network Operations Centers located in the US, Europe, and India, the insurance companys 800+ agents will have a team of global experts from Cameo monitoring their system around the clock, ensuring customer interactions are handled reliably and efficiently. Cameo was chosen for this services offering because of their extensive expertise and reputation for building and maintaining Ciscos Collaboration platform, with specific global capabilities in Ciscos Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE). With Cisco certification as an ATP UCCE partner as well as a Master Cloud and Managed Services partner, Cameo is uniquely qualified to assist clients in delivering best-in-class customer experience. As part of Cameos value to the insurance companys overall customer satisfaction metrics, Cameo will not just maintain their existing system, but will work closely with their business units to bring additional productivity enhancements to their customers. Tim Brannock, Cameo Globals Chief Marketing Officer said, We pride ourselves on aligning our technology expertise with a customers business strategy. The customer journey today relies on many levels of omni-channel communication; consequently it is critical that a company integrates their clients phone calls, emails, and web chats. The days of separated customer interactions are over, you cannot compete without analytics and context aware services. About Cameo Global Cameo Global, Inc., provides business collaboration solutions to business leaders internationally. Growing out of more than 20 years of expertise, Cameo Global offers the full lifecycle of IT solutions to customers in more than 85 countries worldwide. Cameo Globals exclusive CloudBlu hosted collaboration solution continues the companys history of innovation and is offered via a number of consumption models. Discover more about Cameo Global and its full array of IT solutions on our website, http://www.cameoglobal.com. Brookhaven Retreat LLC held a Branding Training session for new employees at Brookhaven Retreat on February 3, 2016. The training was conducted by Mitzi Navarra, Creative Consultant for Brookhaven Retreat, in an effort to protect and correctly advertise the company as an upscale comprehensive recovery center exclusively for women. Questions are raised about what the company stands for each time a potential client is exposed to advertising, the website, press releases, or any matter related to Brookhaven Retreat. Branding is how a company puts its best foot forward and serves as the most effective way for a business to show how it is being managed. The session provided an update on procedure and protocol as it pertains to branding elements such as the logo, color palette, language and typeface. Sending the right messages is crucial to the perception of Brookhaven Retreat, as well as any business. Its important to control the identity of Brookhaven Retreat consistently in order to send the right messages to the public, says Navarra. By advertising, using promotional literature, the website, blogs and in other ways the public makes contact with Brookhaven Retreat, the message is clear as to who we are and what were about. A good first impression is crucial to a potential client, who wants to know that we have the ability to deliver consistent care. Staff members are responsible for the consistent use of all chosen branding elements. Therefore, training serves as a reminder of the importance of using these elements, as well as a guide about how to properly use them. We are on a mission to communicate our purpose and carry it out with a commitment to excellence, Dawes added. We have a strong identity system that each staff member needs to be mindful of and this training is how we accomplish that. We want the public to know that we are here to serve them with the ultimate goal of making the world a happier, more peaceful place. About Brookhaven Retreat Brookhaven Retreat is a women's treatment center nestled on a naturally beautiful 48-acre site secluded in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It has helped hundreds of women across the United States overcome depression, trauma, anxiety, substance use and a range of other behavioral health challenges. Brookhavens Founder, Jacqueline Dawes, has predicated its gender-specific treatment on healing emotional breakage for women. In this way, she has established a sanctuary and a place where women can feel safe, secure and cared for by a staff of highly trained professionals. MRI Software, a global leader in property and investment management solutions, is excited to announce the addition of PropertySaaS, a leading provider of customized cloud-based property management software, to MRIs Partner Connect Program. Based out of Australia, PropertySaaS is a supplier of both professional services and products to the MRI community. Their corporate offerings range from shared services, product implementation, training and support, to seminal strategic planning at the enterprise level. PropertySaaS is comprised of a team of property industry professionals with a breadth of deep technical expertise. The partnership between MRI Software and PropertySaaS will provide greater flexibility for clients in the Australian region. As a professional services partner, PropertySaaS will be able to help MRI clients meet their business goals. We believe there is a natural synergy with the MRI Software and PropertySaaS products and services that will be further enhanced with the formalisation of this partnership, said Albert Tong, Director at PropertySaaS. We are delighted to become part of the MRI family. As the industry platforms move through the Software as a Service phase, and having developed one of the first private cloud environments for property in the Asia Pacific region spanning 10 countries, our Directors each have expertise in excess of 15 years in Property and Technology. We believe PropertySaaS is well placed to provide strategic advice or managed support to any size of client in the Asia Pacific region. Were excited to welcome PropertySaaS to the MRI Partner Connect Program, said Jay Buzanis, MRI Software Director of Partner Connect. With extensive commercial and retail property management expertise, we are happy to be able to offer their services to our clients. MRI is looking forward to a successful partnership! For more information about MRIs Partner Connect program, visit: mrisoftware.com/partners. About MRI Software MRI Software LLC is a leading provider of innovative software solutions for the global real estate industry. MRI delivers a comprehensive and truly configurable solution, from property-level management and accounting to the most complex, long-range financial modeling and analytics for both the commercial and multifamily real estate markets. As a leading provider of real estate enterprise software applications and hosted solutions, MRI leverages over 40 years of business experience to develop long-term successful relationships with its clients. Founded in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., the company has offices in Toronto, London, Sydney, Singapore, and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.mrisoftware.com. About PropertySaaS PropertySaaS is an Australian based supplier of both professional services and products to the MRI and broader Commercial and Retail property community. The corporate offerings ranges from shared services, product implementation, training and support, through to seminal strategic planning at the enterprise level. Proprietary products include Commercial Management and Retail Management Reporting and Specialty/Casual Leasing modules. For further information, please visit http://www.propertysaas.com. Southeast Whitfield High School students from Dalton entertained thousands of Walt Disney World Resort guests with their performance at Magic Kingdom on Thursday. During their five-day stay, the group of 50 students put on a "lively, upbeat" show that featured Michael Jacksons Dont Stop Til You Get Enough. This is one of the best performance avenues that a band can do, band director Warren Mahan said. You get to play in front of an international crowd in a place that everybody thinks is magical. Its fun for the kids, and thats what its all about to have fun and to be able to play in front of people that would maybe never see a marching band. Mr. Mahan said choosing the right music is key to performing for such a diverse audience. I was trying to get a song with our instrumentation that would make us sound really good, Mr. Mahan said. Plus, I wanted a song that people in the crowd would recognize. People know Michael Jackson from all over the world. The group traveled more than 500 miles from Georgia to participate in the program. This is its eighth visit to Walt Disney World Resort with the Disney Performing Arts program. Vocal, instrumental and dance ensembles from all around the world apply to perform each year as part of Disney Performing Arts at both the Disney Resort and Walt Disney World. Once selected, they are given the opportunity to perform at the resort for an international audience of theme park guests. Millions of performers have graced the stages of the Disney Parks in the more than 25-year history of the program. For more information, visit www.DisneyPerformingArts.com or call 800.603-0552. Donna Levinstone - Daybreak I knew I found a partner that understood the power of art to be transformative for the good, especially for those facing what is often the challenge of their life. I believe we have created something very special and unprecedented in Still Life. Corporate Art Force LLC (dba Art Force) and The Creative Center at University Settlement (dba [The Creative Center) have launched a unique partnership featuring the artwork of people who know healthcare best: professional artists living with illness. Using a social enterprise model, the partnership makes a compelling collection of artwork created by artists with illness available for purchase to hospitals, healthcare facilities, corporations and individuals, while supporting the Creative Centers program to promote healing and growth through art. The collection, Still Life: Art by People who Know Healthcare Best, is available for purchase online now at http://www.artforce.org. Art Force, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the premier provider of artwork nationally, renowned for working with organizations of all sizes to source and supply art that enhances and complements their space. They provide consulting, framing, and installation services. The Creative Center is a non-profit that is part of University Settlement, a leader in providing social service programs in New York City. The Creative Center delivers creative arts programming to individuals in treatment for, and living with, chronic illness, with the goal of promoting healing and growth. It offers art experiences to patients, families and staff in healthcare facilities in NYC, across the U.S and at the Centers headquarters on New Yorks Lower East Side. Making the partnership a social enterprise project was important to both parties. I was very taken with the idea that our financial return would also produce a measurable social impact for patients and families and even healthcare staff, Leslie Palmer-Ross, Art Forces Director of Healthcare and Art Services said. Working with Creative Center Director Robin Glazer, the two developed Still Life: Art by People who Know Healthcare Best, a a collection of curated imagery created by professional artists who are represented by The Creative Center. Images are offered as framed pieces, wall murals or printed on a variety of substrates, including collateral materials (take-away postcards, greeting cards, posters) that are tailored to each purchasers needs. For Glazer, the project has been a fulfillment of a longstanding goal to make more people aware of how important expression through art can be to those experiencing illness. In Art Force, I knew I found a partner that understood the power of art to be transformative for the good, especially for those facing what is often the challenge of their life. I believe we have created something very special and unprecedented in Still Life. Sales from the Still Life collection will support The Creative Centers programs in public hospitals, as well as provide a financial and emotional benefit to the selected artists. As 82-year-old photographer Paula Goldfader, a Still Life artist, explained, When cancer entered my life, I started walking about with a camera, searching. It was a form of meditation and the pictures I captured allowed me to enjoy those moments in time, again and again. At that point I realized I wanted to teach people to open their senses and experience the full range of what they see. Because to see is a gift! About The Creative Center Founded in 1994 on the belief that "medicine cures the body but art heals the spirit," The Creative Center began as a series of free art workshops for women with cancer. Twenty-two years later, with immeasurable recognition in the field of arts in healthcare and the nonprofit sector, The Creative Center is proud to have Hospital Artist-in-Residence programs in more than 30 healthcare sites around the New York metropolitan area (and replicated nationally in 60 hospitals and cancer centers), free-of-charge art workshops for people living with cancer every day of the week, an online gallery representing professional artists living with illness, and a training program bringing The Creative Center's proven approach to arts in healthcare around the country. In 2011, The Creative Center became a program of University Settlement and has begun to expand into the growing field of "creative aging". For more information, visit http://www.thecreativecenter.org. About Art Force Formed in 2009, Art Force is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Finance and Development, Inc. (OTC Markets: GFDV). Our mission is to be the Premier Provider of Artwork Services. Located in the heart of the Northeast Minneapolis Minnesota Arts District, we help organizations achieve their objectives through artwork and visual solutions. Leveraging decades of combined expertise, our team of art consultants, advisers and production professionals provide artwork solutions for organizations big and small. Utilizing the healing, motivational and aesthetic power of artwork, we help organizations unlock their full potential through visual storytelling. Since our formation, we have delivered more than 30,000 pieces of artwork to more than 150 clients in 42 states and Canada. For more information, visit http://artforce.org. Being recognized as a 3M Preferred Converter...is a testament to our people, our process, and our technology. - Sue Chambers Strouse, a leader in tight tolerance die cutting and converting pressure sensitive adhesives, has been recognized as a 3M Preferred Converter with 3M Medical Materials and Technologies. Strouse earned this recognition because of their leadership in the industry, expert team of product development and process engineers, state of the art equipment technology, and a robust quality management system and manufacturing process. This recognition provides Strouse with unique benefits that can be passed along to customers including access to 3M medical materials. Being recognized as a 3M Preferred Converter of 3M Medical Materials and Technologies is a huge honor for Strouse says Sue Chambers, President and CEO of Strouse. This honor is a testament to our people, our process, and our technology. Over the years weve found that the stringent requirements in the medical market directly align with our technical capabilities and expertise. Our engineers are experienced in working with our medical customers to design adhesive components and entire products as they navigate the FDA approval process. As we continue to build our strong partnership with 3M and in the medical market and as a 3M Preferred Converter we aim to provide design focused medical manufacturers with innovative adhesive solutions. In addition to this honor, Strouse is also a 3M Preferred Converter for the Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division, and a 3M Master Masking Converter. Manufacturers look to Strouse to provide adhesive solutions that serve a functional need and increase efficiency during manufacture and assembly. Strouse is a die cut adhesive manufacturer with over 25 years of industry experience. Serving the medical, automotive, military, appliance, and renewable energy industry, Strouse continues to innovate. With a quality management system currently registered to ISO 9001:2008 standards, Strouse not only has a commitment to quality but excellent customer service. A full team of design and development engineers allows Strouse to invest the necessary time and resources for each and every project. Located in Westminster, Maryland, Strouse can be contacted directly at 1-800-410-8273 or visit our website for more info at http://www.strouse.com Some Ooltewah residents on Monday voiced their concern over the McCoy Homes Inc. development, which is endeavoring to build over 30 homes on 3015 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road. Billy McCoy, the developer, requested approval from the Regional Planning Commission to rezone the property so he could develop 3.7 units per acre instead of two. When Chairman Ethan Collier asked if anyone opposed the applicants request, three residents who said they lived down the street from the proposed development approached the podium to speak. The residents voiced their concern over the increase in water runoff the new development would have on their properties. According to one resident, the Tennessee Department of Transportation recently examined her property and found a serious flooding problem. The resident feared the development would dump more water on her and her neighbors properties something they could not afford in their little neighborhood. Another resident, Sherry Miller, said if she knew how bad the flooding would be on her one-acre property, she never would have bought her home three years ago. She echoed her neighbors by saying the development would make the water runoff issue uncontrollable. Commissioner Jason Farmer said this was a zoning case, not a water runoff one. Ms. Miller replied she did not oppose the development; she only wanted for the water issue to be fixed before the houses were built. According to Commissioner David Matthews, the drainage regulations for the McCoy Homes development would actually decrease the water runoff on the properties below. This is because the development would be required to detain a certain amount of water runoff on site. Once Chairman Collier assured the development would not make the water runoff situation worse, the commission unanimously approved its rezoning. Their recommendation of approval will go to City Council to review. The commission also approved the request to rezone a mixed-use building at 1446 Central Ave. Richard Zavala applied for commercial zoning to build a two-story building for residential and retail purposes. A representative speaking on behalf of the business next door said she was concerned over parking. According to the representative, she had been contacted more than once to share parking with the mixed-use building. But, she said, her business did not provide enough spaces. Gary Rudolph, resident of East Main Street, said he previously spoke with Mr. Zavala, and the two agreed on certain conditions Mr. Rudolph had regarding the two-story space. He requested there be no increase in traffic flow behind his home with the development. He also voiced his concern over the height of the building, stating the original plan cited a three-story building. Mr. Rudolph thought the mixed-use building was a great idea, but from Central Avenue to Dodds Avenue, there was no other three-story building, he said. According to commissioners, the maximum height for this type of construction could go up to four stories, and was thus breaking no city codes. They approved the request for commercial zoning after addressing the communitys concerns. Their recommendation of approval will go to City Council to review. Below is a sample of March events at Georgias State Parks & Historic Sites. For more programs, visit www.GaStateParks.org/events and the parks web pages. More information on accommodations and recreation can be found atGeorgiaStateParks.org or 1-800-864-7275. Hidden Gem Series Throughout 2016, Georgias State Parks & Historic Sites will host events that highlight secret spots few visitors notice, such as a moonshine truck that tumbled down a mountain. Visit http://gastateparks.org/ HiddenGems/Events for a list of statewide Hidden Gem programs. Some are listed below. Coastal Georgia Scottish Heritage Days Friday, Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. from March 18, 2016 until March 20, 2016 Fort King George Historic Site - Darien, GA All ages will enjoy this showcase of Georgias Scottish and colonial history, with weapon demonstrations and cannon firings, re-enactors, blacksmithing, weaving, period cooking and music, and fort tours. Friday is Student Day. A battle reenactment will be 2 p.m. Saturday. A traditional Scottish "Kirkin of the Tartans" will be 10 a.m. Sunday. $4.50-$7.50. 912-437-4770. Fort McAllister's Secret Freshwater Sloughs Saturday, March 19, 2016 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fort McAllister State Park - Richmond Hill, GA Fantastic freshwater sloughs dot the maritime forests of Fort McAllister State Historic Park that we consider our own hidden gems. Join us for two hikes around the park to see these miniature ecosystems in action. $3 plus $5 parking. 912-727-2339. Hofwyl Plein Air Affair Saturday, March 19, 2016 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation Historic Site - Brunswick, GA Bring your plein air gear for fun and camaraderie with lots to paint in this historic setting. No prizes, no judging, just good camaraderie and big fun. Paint 800 year old moss draped live oaks, scenic vistas across rice fields, a 150-year-old plantation house, barns, slave cabins and out buildings. $5 - $8. 912-264-7333. Hike and Bike to Hidden Pond Saturday, March 19, 2016 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Stephen C. Foster State Park - Fargo, GA We will bike 2.5 miles to a trail that leads to a hidden pond. Bring your own bike and join us for $10 or rent our bike for $20. $5 parking. 912-637-5274. Metro Atlanta Indoor Basic Archery Saturday, March 5, 2016 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sunday, March 6, 2016 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2016 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Check www.GaStateParks.org for more dates. Panola Mountain State Park - Stockbridge, GA Have you ever wanted to release your inner archer? Maybe you're just looking for a place to hone your skills, no matter the weather? Our indoor archery classes are a great place to brush-up on the basics or start from scratch with the guidance of a certified instructor. All equipment is provided. Ages 9 and older. Must call to register. $12 plus $5 parking. 770-389-7801. Atlanta Audubon Society Bird Walk Friday, March 11, 2016 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Panola Mountain State Park - Stockbridge, GA Bring your binoculars for this gentle hike through the park's Power of Flight area or to Vaughter's Farm Meadow Loop. Basic identification techniques and common birds will be discussed. Good for all ages. We recommend long pants and sleeves. Call to register in advance. Donations of birdseed for our Nature Center are appreciated. $5 parking. 770-389-7801. Native American Heritage Day at Etowah Saturday, March 12, 2016 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site - Cartersville, GA Etowah will be hosting a lecture on historic Creek and Cherokee cultures in Georgia. Come learn about how our modern society still carries the past on its shoulders. There will also be a genealogy lecture and workshop to help guests understand how their families have been influenced by Native Americans. $2 -$6. 770-387-3747. Reptile Day at Panola Mountain Saturday, March 12, 2016 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Panola Mountain State Park - Stockbridge, GA Are you in love with lizards? Silly for snakes? Head-over-heels for herpetofauna? Or maybe you just think they're neat. Learn about and meet fascinating reptiles from our own backyards and around the world. Meet specialists and members of the Georgia Reptile Society and Georgia Herpetological Society. $5. Kids younger than 3 are free. $5 parking. 770-389-7801. Hills of Iron and Iron Pour Saturday, March 19, 2016 11 a.m. Red Top Mountain State Park - Acworth, GA The iron industry was one of Georgia's first businesses long before the Civil War. Take guided wagon ride tours of the historic Iron Hill section of the park. Later that evening, watch molten iron pour from a blast furnace at 2800 degrees Fahrenheit. Scratch block molds will be for sale so you can make your own iron keepsake. (Buy early because they often sell out.) $5 parking. 770-975-0055. Ranger-led Lake Paddle Saturday, March 19, 2016 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 20, 2016 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2016 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 27, 2016 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sweetwater Creek State Park - Lithia Springs, GA Join us for a ranger-led, peaceful outing on the lake and up Beaver Creek. This trip is for those 18 years or older who can swim or children 6 years or older who can swim and are accompanied by an adult. Meet at the Bait Shop. Register in advance. $20 includes canoe or tandem kayak, PFD, and paddle. $5 parking. 770-732-5871. Full Moon Kayak Tour Friday, March 25, 2016 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2016 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Hard Labor Creek State Park - Rutledge, GA Join a guided tour of Lake Rutledge and enjoy a peaceful paddle under a bright moon. Listen for night sounds, enjoy the night sky, and learn about the history of Hard Labor Creek State Park. Register in advance. The program will proceed if it is cloudy or if there is light drizzle. All participants meet at the Beach. $15 plus $5 parking. 706-557-3001. Middle & South Georgia Antique Steam Engine Demonstration Saturday, March 5, 2016 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jarrell Plantation Historic Site - Juliette, GA Come let off some steam by blowing the whistle atop the Jarrell Plantation Mill Complex, a signal used to communicate between Jarrells manning different work positions throughout the mill. See our stationary steam engine in action and experience live steam that puts into motion this important provider of mechanical energy in America's past. $4-6.50. 478-986-5172. Little River Fest Saturday, March 26, 2016 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reed Bingham State Park - Adel, GA The festival will include live reptile shows, canoeing and kayaking, pontoon boat tours, fishing, an imagination station for kids, food vendors, arts and crafts, and music. $5 parking. 229-896-3551. Northern Georgia Scenic Overlook Hike Saturday, March 12, 2016 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Fort Mountain State Park - Chatsworth, GA Take a guided tour on the 301 Mountain Bike Trail to a scenic overlook. High winds from a storm system cleared trees opening up a beautiful view of the Cohutta mountains and the western valley. Approximately 4 miles of moderate to strenuous hiking. $5 plus $5 parking. 706-422-1932. Second Saturday Guided Hikes 2nd Saturday of Month 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. Smithgall Woods State Park - Helen, GA Take a guided hike through the captivating scenery of Smithgall Woods. Throughout the year, hikes will rotate through the various trails located throughout Smithgall. All ages are welcome. No pets please. $5 parking. 706-878-3087. Wildflower Hike Wednesday, March 16, 2016 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 20, 2016 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2016 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Cloudland Canyon State Park - Rising Fawn, GA Take a walk through Sitton's Gulch to observe the abundance of blooming wildflowers in our limestone rich soil. Using a checklist and identification books, we will identify and record many of the species in bloom. We will hike 1 mile on a flat trail by the river. Ages 10 and up. Advanced reservations required. $10 plus $5 parking.706-913-7170. Flies and Fly Water Saturday, March 19, 2016 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Smithgall Woods State Park - Helen, GA In preparation for the upcoming spring fishing season, we will have a how to on fly tying, stream reading, casting and more. Come at 9:30 to hear a presentation on stream entomology (aka stream critters). $10 pre-registered by March 12, $15 after. $5 parking. 706-878-3087. Full-Moon Suspension Bridge Hike Wednesday, March 23, 2016 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tallulah Gorge State Park - Tallulah Falls, GA Enjoy a 1-mile hike that takes you down the stairs, across the suspension bridge and on the rim of the gorge under the full moon. Register in advance. $5 plus $5 parking.706-754-7981. Night Hike at Cloudland Canyon Friday, March 25, 2016 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Cloudland Canyon State Park - Rising Fawn, GA Enjoy a 2-mile hike on one of the best trails at the park. You will learn interesting facts about the geology and history of the canyon. By the end of the hike, we will be in the dark, enjoying the trail by moonlight and listening for night sounds. Ages 10 and older. Reservations required. $10 plus $5 parking. 706-913-7170. Dirty Spokes Off Road Duathlon Saturday, March 26, 2016 8:30 a.m. Fort Yargo State Park - Winder, GA Dirty Spokes Production is sponsoring a duathlon (run/bike) on the bike trails. Fee plus $5 parking. 770-867-3489. 18th Century Market Faire Thursday, March 31, 2016 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fort Yargo State Park - Winder, GA Learn about life in 1790s Georgia. See craftsmen and women demonstrate their trade, frontier camps, native warriors, children's activities and music in the 18th century. Children under 12 free. Thursday and Friday will be open free for school groups. Located at the fort. $5 plus $5 parking. 770-867-3489. Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? 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You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The first case of Zika virus in an Indiana resident has been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The following Purdue University experts can discuss the virus, how it spreads and interacts with humans and mosquitos, mosquito control, and ways to protect from mosquito bites, as well as fears related to public health outbreaks, and travel and tourism. Pamela M. Aaltonen, associate professor and associate head of the School of Nursing, specializes in public health issues and can talk in general about public health outbreaks and what is known and unknown about the Zika virus. Aaltonen has served as chair of the executive board of the American Public Health Association. She also has served in leadership roles for the Indiana State Department of Health, Area Health Education Centers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Special Emphasis Panel, Indiana Public Health Training Center Advisory Council and the Indiana Public Health Association. CONTACT: Pamela M. Aaltonen, aaltonen@purdue.edu Catherine Hill, professor of medical entomology, vector biology and a public health Extension specialist, studies the biology of insects that cause human diseases. Hill can also discuss transmission, epidemiology, symptoms and prevention of mosquito-borne diseases. Much of her research focuses on mosquito-borne flaviviruses, including dengue and chikungunya, which are similar to Zika and vectored by the same mosquitoes. She can discuss the biology of Zika-transmitting mosquitoes, how to control them, how to reduce risk of contracting Zika and how dengue can help researchers make limited predictions about the spread and transmission of Zika. She is the coordinator of the Purdue Entomology Public Health Extension Program, which aims to reduce transmission of vector-borne diseases through education. Hill also collaborated with Val Watts, associate head and professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, to identify a new class of insecticides that could provide a safer, more selective means of controlling mosquitoes that transmit infectious diseases. Hill and Watts used the mosquito genome to pinpoint chemicals that disrupt the mechanics of dopamine, leading to the insect's death. The chemicals are more selective than current insecticides, which bind readily to molecules in humans and non-target insects. CONTACT: Catherine Hill, 765-496-6157, hillca@purdue.edu Related releases: Mosquito- and tick-borne diseases: transmission, symptoms, prevention New class of insecticides offers safer, more targeted mosquito control Timothy Gibb, integrated pest management specialist and insect diagnostician, is a Purdue Extension entomologist. His background is in Extension and outreach communications for mosquito integrated pest management. He has expertise in insect diagnostics, personal protection from insects, and cultural and chemical mosquito control (larvicides and adulticides) and their application. CONTACT: Timothy Gibb, 765-494-4570, gibb@purdue.edu Richard Kuhn, professor and head of biological sciences, currently studies the Zika virus and has studied flaviviruses, a group that includes Zika, dengue and West Nile, for more than 10 years. The National Institutes of Health funds his research into the Zika virus, and his focus is on the viral replication and interactions with human and mosquito hosts. Kuhn, along with Michael Rossmann, Purdue's Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, identify targets for vaccines, antiviral drugs and treatments for viruses within the flavivirus group, and were among the team that was to first map the structure of the dengue virus in 2002. Kuhn also is the inaugural director of the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases (PI4D). CONTACT: Richard Kuhn, 765-494-4407, kuhnr@purdue.edu. Kuhn is available through Feb. 10 for media interviews. Research website: http://bilbo.bio.purdue.edu/~viruswww/Kuhn_home/research.php Related releases: Decoding dengue and West Nile Discovery points to new approach to fight dengue virus Jonathon Day, associate professor in hospitality and tourism management, can talk about the economic impact the Zika virus has on international travel destinations. Day also can discuss how hospitality industry campaigns can help consumers evaluate destinations for health and safety. Day has been instrumental in developing marketing strategies for international tourism destinations. His research interests include sustainable tourism and hospitality practices. CONTACT: Jonathon Day, gjday@purdue.edu John Wensveen, a professor and head of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute's School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, can talk about the impact of the virus on the airline industry, including the highlights of precautions taken and the economic impact. Wensveen is an expert in airline management with the primary focus on business plan development, strategic planning and the startup process. In addition to his administrative role, Wensveen is an active researcher and expert speaker with a concentration on the airline startup process. He has extensive aviation experience and has held various senior management positions in the aviation industry and aviation higher education worldwide. CONTACT: John Wensveen, 765-496-3136, jwensvee@purdue.edu. Wensveen is available for media interviews starting Feb. 10. Writers: Elizabeth K. Gardner, 765-494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu Natalie van Hoose, 765-496-2050, nvanhoos@purdue.edu Keith Robinson, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu John Hughey, 765-494-2432, hugheyj@purdue.edu Brian Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (AP) Tired of being defined by her wheelchair and labeled a "special needs" athlete, Kelly Schultz will try for her black belt in karate in the able-bodied division. For 12 years, she doubted her own abilities because of people's perceptions about her physical condition. But no more. The 33-year-old Schultz of Crystal Lake is the only wheelchair-bound athlete who was to test Jan. 30 for her black belt at Focus Martial Arts and Fitness in Lake in the Hills -- her dream since she was 11. "Nothing here is about anything I can't do," Schultz said. "There's stuff that I never thought I would do that I can do now. This has completely changed the way I think about myself ... about what I can and can't do." Schultz has spina bifida, a birth defect affecting the spine that often causes mild to severe physical and intellectual problems. Though she could walk with hand crutches when she was younger, Schultz has been using a wheelchair more regularly since high school. It's only within the past year she has felt any movement in her legs through her training and physical therapy. In her day job, she teaches employment skills to teenagers at the Lake County Center for Independent Living, and she also mentors special needs children as a volunteer with the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association. The latter is her way of giving back, serving as an example and helping empower others like herself, she said. Despite the strides she's made with her karate and conditioning, Schultz acknowledges she still feels self-conscious and limited by her condition outside the fitness center. In fact, how others perceived and reacted to her physical disability affected her confidence, which led to a 12-year hiatus in her training during her high school and college years. Today, though, she's a different person when training. "When I bow, I tell myself, 'Own it,'" she said. "It changes you." The words of her sensei, martial arts teacher Jim O'Hara, urging her to see the wheelchair as an ally and not the enemy ultimately persuaded her to start training again four years ago. "If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done," she said, quoting O'Hara -- what she calls a "sensei-ism." The physical activity she's engaged in has an unexpected side benefit: For the first time in her life, Schultz is starting to feel sensation in her feet -- something she could not have imagined a few years ago. O'Hara says her progress is an inspiration. "How much she has accomplished in the years that she has been here, just from a mental aspect ... it's pretty motivating, actually," he said. "She is in a regular, able-bodied fitness class. She is training and working out, doing pushups, doing core work. ... She's learned to find the muscles. She will try anything now." Though her movement is restricted, Schultz is able to block and throw punches and even spins around in her wheelchair to deliver blows. Her ability to spar with opponents not in wheelchairs is limited, but she adjusts the angles of her blows accordingly. The training has forced her to use muscles she had never used before. "My kicks used to be like, pick my knee up, and now I can do a full kick," she said. "I've had to make karate my own from the time I started." Schultz's teachers also have had to adapt and develop training specific to her needs. O'Hara often uses an exercise ball to put himself in her shoes and work out the moves. "We've literally over the years had to re-evaluate and restructure how we teach her karate," O'Hara said. "We put her in twice in a special needs division and she didn't want to do that again." Schultz refused the medal she earned in the special needs division and has been competing in the able-bodied division for several years now. "It was interesting to see the dynamics," O'Hara said. "It was not just her put out of her comfort zone; it was the referees and everybody in that division. You have to judge them based on what they are capable of doing given the nature of their disability. As humans, we judge people based on what we see and not what they can do." Instead of doing kicks like other students, Schultz is required only to lift her knee, which still takes a lot of effort. "It takes an incredible amount of strength and mental fortitude," O'Hara said. Schultz passed her black belt pretest last Saturday, which means she knows all the forms on which she will be tested. She credits karate for giving her the ability to look beyond her circumstances. "I want to walk again," she said. "I look at it as I'm not getting a black belt in karate. ... I'm getting a black belt in life." Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood left Pilot in 2014, a year after the FBI raided the company's Knoxville headquarters. On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty in federal court in Knoxville after an indictment was unsealed accusing him and seven others of cheating customers out of promised discounts and rebates. Locally, Pilot Flying J has operations in Davenport, Walcott and Woodhull. Pilot earlier paid a $92 million penalty to the government in an agreement with prosecutors in which the company accepted responsibility for the criminal actions of its employees. Pilot paid out another $85 million to settle claims with 5,500 trucking companies in a class-action lawsuit. MOLINE -- State Sen. Andy Manar says the key to fixing Illinois' broken education funding system is not spending more, but spending smarter. Speaking on Monday to the editorial board of The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus, Sen. Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said Illinois' system for funding education is outdated and has fueled the largest financial gap between school districts of any state. He said a bill he has sponsored will simplify the formula for funding schools and ensure state money is distributed more fairly. This (formula now) is based on a world that existed in 1997, which is when the current funding formula was put into place, Sen. Manar said. "It illustrates that school funding today is the result of kind of a hodgepodge of decision-making over the past 20 years." The funding system in place allocates money based on the property wealth of a school district. Poorer districts in theory are to receive more money than wealthy districts, according to an Illinois State Board of Education overview of the program. The problem, Sen. Manar said, is that for several years, the state has failed to make education payments in full, which has a much larger impact on low-income school districts that don't generate as much revenue from taxes as wealthier districts. To illustrate his point, Sen. Manar provided ISBE data showing reductions in per-student spending in different Illinois school districts. In 2015, Winnetka, a wealthy Chicago suburb, saw a decrease of $29 per student. The Carbon-Cliff Barstow district in Rock Island County saw a $767 decrease. East St. Louis saw per-student spending drop $1,092. Wealthier school districts often generate thousands of dollars more per student than low-income districts in local property taxes, further widening the gap. Sen. Manar said Gov. Bruce Rauner understands the funding system is broken but doesn't seem to want to decrease funding to more prosperous districts. He doesn't recognize the reality. He says, 'Well, I don't want losers.' Well, there are all kinds of losers today. The system today produces losers, Sen. Manar said It's a naive view that we can't change this unless everybody wins," he said. "When a district is spending twice of what is adequate to educate kids, they can take a little haircut to fix this, in my opinion. East Moline School District Superintendent Kristin Humphries, who joined Sen. Manar at the editorial board meeting, said restructuring education funding is more important than increasing the system's funding. I would love to have more money. It doesn't fix the issue. It does not," Mr. Humphries said. "We need a weighted, integrated formula that's based on student need and local ability to pay, and it does have to happen this year." The legislation, SB1, is currently a bill in name only. The text and details on how the funding formula will be changed will be added later. Sen. Manar said he has worked with Republicans and Democrats and has seen a lot of support for changing the way districts are funded. I think, for the most part, there are still a few detractors, especially in the suburbs in Chicago that say the status quo is OK, he said. A thought creeps in. Then his cousin. Then his siblings. Then his friends. What if something happens to him? What if we dont have enough? What if she thinks I was mean? What if they misunderstood me? If I tell him, he is going to hate me. If I do that, Im going to get hurt. If hes elected, the country will be destroyed. If I speak up, I might lose my job. Before you know it, your formerly private, comfortable living quarters are invaded. Doubts start repeatedly ringing the front door. Worries are suddenly couch-surfing in the living room of your mind. Fears over-stay their welcome.Not only does this trio make for poor house guests, they make it impossible to have much space for God. They take up all the available room. They pull down the shades, eat all the food, and junk up the place, leaving our inner lives in shambles.Our ancient ancestors in the desert first elected the Fear-Doubt ticket as their president in an upset victory over the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Weve been repeating the same contemptible pattern ever since.With a deadly virus of cowardice and cynicism mixed with a touch of amnesia and rebellion, our forefathers reacted the same as we might have, when they first stood outside the new home God had built for them and assured them they could successfully fight for and inhabit.Their response seemed eerily familiar:If we do what he says, things arent going to work out very well.No thanks God, I dont think I can do what you want, that seems scary.I dont think so, our kids might get hurt.God is mean and isnt looking out for us.In the face of the invitation to know a dreamy life they had not found previously imaginable, they permitted their fears to grossly misinterpret all Gods good intentions and they temporarily sided with the Devil. They became co-accusers with Satan (God hates us) instead of co-laborers with the God who had responded to their desperate cries with concerned rescue.Fear makes for abysmal misinterpretations.A hard marriage, a declining investment account, or a resistant strain of sin thats pummeling us or someone we love----and we presume Gods inattention or worse, his malicious intentions. God mustnt care and is not to be trusted. What else can we conclude when we let fear take over the airwaves of our inner dialogue?And in our present cultural moment when fear is a virtue and worry a sign of responsibility, letting Gods view point and commands be the authoritative voice in our lives is all the less likely. It might even seem wrong.But Moses, mouthing Gods paternal concerns, reassured his wobbly-kneed constituency this way:Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. (Deut. 1:29-31)We cant do a thing about the presence of impulses that surge within us when facing an arduous task, a future uncertainty, or some commanded obedience. If we feel afraid, I doubt we can vanquish all feelings of fear.But we can ignore them.We dont have to let them decide our course of action. We can actively fight fear by making sure we dont confer upon its voice the same authority as Gods. We can sucker punch fear in the mid-section when it tries to jab us in the jaw.Fear, Doubt, and Worry are a triumvirate that makes God-loyalty impossible. If we bow to them, we will always be acting against the God who is against them but for us. If we lend them credibility in our hearts and let them direct our steps, well find it easy to be pre-occupied with our inner voices but difficult to love anyone else fully, even the folks that we think we are protecting by succumbing to the neurotic Trinitys compulsive exhortations (Fear, the Father, Doubt, the Son, and Worry, the Anxious Ghost).Its a healthful practice to disobey fear, distrust our doubts, and worrying our worries by listening to Gods loyalty for, commands to, and affections toward us.If He is carrying us, who can jar us from his arms? If His strong arm defends our children, then how can we spend all our mental energy in worry for them? If our future is His to form, then how can we step into it defensively?But to appropriate this posture, well need the same remedy that Lucy encountered when she repeatedly failed to heed Aslans summons in Prince Caspian, because she was afraid her siblings would make fun of her or would be agitated with her. When at last she saw the great Lion, he said, Lucy, you have listened to fears. Come let me breathe on you.When we discover weve become the most nervous kids on the block, its a perfect time to come breathe in the life, replenishment, and ways of the One who has not only given us permission to ignore fear, but has adored us so fiercely, that hes mandated that we disregard it and all its soul-mangling cousins, siblings, and friends entirely. ----- Eric Youngblood is the Senior Pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship (PCA) on Lookout Mountain. Please feel free to contact him at eric@rockcreekfellowship.org. Press release submitted by Nahant Marsh Planting the seeds of conservation in Iowa Nahant Marsh encourages registration for the 2016 Iowa Master Conservationist Program Davenport, IA (Thursday, February 4, 2016) - Discover Iowas physical environment, sustainable, agriculture, energy uses, and methods to reduce waste. The Master Conservationist Program uses field experiences and classroom trainings to cover a broad range of conservation issues and topics. These experiences help Iowans make informed, intelligent choices for a lifestyle of stewardship. In coordination with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, the 2016 program will begin Saturday, March 12 at Nahant Marsh Education Center. Registration fees are $140 for Nahant Marsh Members and $175 for Non-members. Payments must be received by February 26, and registrations are for the entire course. The maximum class capacity is 30 students. Participants receive at least 32 hours of indoor and outdoor hands-on education led by trained professionals in their field. The range of topics provides information that can be useful in service to the community and in their own backyards. The program is designed for adult learners (minimum enrollment age is 18). Topics Include: Physical Environment Ecological Principles and Techniques Wildlife Diversity Prairies and Grasslands Woodlands Wetlands Rivers Sustainable Agriculture and Land Use Energy Use and Waste Reduction Participants take their knowledge and put it into practice. Each participant is asked to contribute at least 32 hours of conservation and/or natural resource related service to their local community or county. Previous activities have included prairie planting and seed harvesting, water quality testing, wildlife monitoring, staffing conservation centers, and conducting educational programs for youth and adults. Once volunteer hours are completed, participants become Certified Master Conservationists. Registration can be completed online, by mail, or in person at Nahant Marsh Education Center: 4220 Wapello Ave., Davenport, IA 52802. Checks should be made payable to: Nahant Marsh Education Center. For more information, contact program coordinator, Liz Schramm, at Nahant Marsh by phone: 563.336.3374 or email: eschramm@eicc.edu. This course was an amazing opportunity to discover incredible places in my community and ways that I can contribute to the preservation of our natural resources. MCP Participant, Davenport DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Saudi Arabia's offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdom's growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering U.S. calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab world's most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. That's if the Saudi proposal even gets translated into action. Just putting the offer on the table gives the Saudis an opportunity to show leadership in addressing U.S. concerns that its regional allies aren't doing enough to fight IS. It also puts pressure on Washington to do more as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and allied defense ministers gather in Brussels this week for talks on confronting the extremists. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, made clear the kingdom's offer is contingent on the support of the U.S.-led coalition battling the militant group in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also has offered to deploy ground forces, are part of the coalition but have eased up on their contributions to the air campaign after earlier, high-profile sorties over Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir implied Monday that his country's willingness to send special forces to Syria was contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort. "The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground-force contingent in Syria," al-Jubeir told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "The U.S. is leading the international coalition against ISIS in Syria," he said, declining to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets. "There would be no international coalition against ISIS in Syria if the U.S. did not lead this effort." Saudi Arabia is far more focused on another war even closer to home. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition heavily supported by the Emirates is battling Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and a former president's supporters who control the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the impoverished country. The Yemen intervention highlights Saudi Arabia's growing assertiveness since King Salman's ascension to the throne just over a year ago, along with the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 30-year-old prince was named by his father as defense minister and second-in-line to be king. Prince Mohammed has announced the creation of a Saudi-based Islamic military alliance intended to fight terrorism. The bloc includes much of the Sunni Arab world, several African and Asian countries, as well as NATO member Turkey. Not included are IS front lines Syria and Iraq, or Saudi Arabia's chief rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran. "The Salman doctrine is about projecting power and military strength," said Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik, who believes the Saudis' offer for troops in Syria could portend other military expeditions in the region. "It may be looking for leverage, but it's also very serious," he said. While the Saudis say their aim is to fight IS, the timing of the kingdom's announcement raises questions about its motives. Russia's intervention in Syria has sharply altered the military landscape, routing Saudi-backed rebels from key areas in the north and giving Assad the upper hand. Prospects for any meaningful peace talks appear to be dwindling by the day. Any ground troops deployed to fight IS would almost certainly have to enter from the Turkish border, close to the area where Syrian government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing under cover of blistering Russian airstrikes. Saudi ground troops would find themselves embroiled in complex terrain where hundreds of Shiite fighters from Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan also are fighting. That would make the proxy sectarian wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging suddenly more intimate, potentially putting Saudi and Iranian troops in the same fighting space. IS would certainly relish the chance to take on Saudi ground troops, given that it views the Saudi monarchy as a top enemy in the region. Saudi troops might well find themselves less battle-hardened than the jihadists and would no doubt be singled out for capture. The seizure by IS militants of a Jordanian pilot whose plane crashed over Syria in 2014 and his subsequent videotaped killing was a factor in dampening Arab participation in the air campaign in Syria. At a news conference Saturday in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem ridiculed the Saudi offer to send troops to Syria, vowing they would "return home in wooden coffins." "The question that Saudi Arabia should be asking itself is, what did it accomplish in Yemen? Was it successful?" he asked. "It has sown destruction, hitting every target two, three times and did not leave a stone standing. Did the Yemenis surrender?" Al-Moallem said the offer was a sign of Saudi frustration that their "tools" in Syria were losing in the face of sweeping victories by the Syrian army. The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said Saturday that Riyadh lacked the courage to make such a move. Tackling IS head-on in Syria also risks blowback in Saudi Arabia. The militant group already has carried out multiple suicide bombings in the kingdom, possibly including one late last month at a Shiite mosque in the country's east that has not yet been claimed by any group but bore the hallmarks of IS militants. Many of the attackers have been Saudi citizens, pointing to the home-grown jihadist sympathies that Saudi authorities struggle to contain. Fahad Nazer, a political analyst at Virginia-based consultancy and security firm JTG Inc., predicted that a ground campaign against IS would nonetheless garner considerable support inside the kingdom, at least initially. But it is hard to say how long that support would last if casualties started mounting, he added. "Very few countries would want to go into Syria without reservations," he said. "I don't think Saudi Arabia would go into this lightly. It would be kind of a last resort." In a couple of days, a man will be laid to rest who was a dedicated husband, father, friend and 22-year legislator. I will forever remember Philip J. Rock as a man with a masterful ability to work with both sides of the aisle in Springfield; as a result, every transit rider in our region benefits from his work every day. Serving as president of the Illinois state Senate, Rock worked with his colleagues to create the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) -- the unit of local government charged with regional, financial and budgetary oversight, as well as funding and transit planning for the CTA, Metra and Pace SuburbanBus and Pace Americans with Disabilities Act Paratransit Service. In his book, Nobody Calls Just to Say Hello, Sen. Rock describes 1973 as a contentious year for transit. All the public transportation services were on their own and threatening to increase fares significantly or stop running, Rock wrote. Public transportation provided a crisis atmosphere in Springfield. That is why it made sense to a lot of legislators, including me, to establish a regional transit authority, Rock continued. I believed then, and I said on the floor, that public transportation was an issue for the whole state and not just for the users. Rock not only helped create the RTA, but also continued working with legislators to remind them of the importance of the RTA and the need for continual funding. For years Rock would invite new members, especially downstaters, to spend the evening in his Oak Park home so he could take them to the Lake Street L (now the Green Line) at 7:15 a.m. to witness the thousands of early morning commuters. He once said to a senator from the city of Anna, There are more people on this train at this moment than you have in your whole county. He clearly understood the impact our transit network had on the economy of the entire state. For example, if Metra commuter trains did not operate, wed have to add 29 new lanes of expressways in Chicagoland, significantly reducing the amount of money available for roads across the rest of the state. Thanks to Sen. Rock's dedication and vision, today the RTA regions system covers about 3,700 square miles and serves approximately 8.4 million residents providing two million daily rides each workday. I had the honor to work with Sen. Rock in numerous scenarios in Springfield and always considered him the consummate gentleman and a personal role model; and now I have the honor of carrying out his passion for the RTA. I wish I could pick up the phone right now just to say thanks and hello. Losses of 33.5 million may seem like a terrible yearly result, but for Spain's RTVE this represents a 70% deficit reduction. In its 2015 report, the country's public broadcaster said it has spent 40 million less than initially expected, managing to keep within its budget for the first time in three years.Losses, even if less than expected, are of 33.56 million due to the reduction in the telcos' contributions, which have not been compensated by the government, explained the public broadcaster. But it's the first time in three years a balanced result has been achieved.In spite of less income from the telecom industry, RTVE managed to invoice 49.3 million from its commercial operations, the highest since advertising was banned from the TV network.Even though the structural deficit was reduced, RTVE spent 15 million more in salaries and external workers than had initially been budgeted for. Last fall we headed out to Las Vegas, not because I am a fan of what happens in Vegas, blah, blah, blah. Truly nothing much does for me anyway. Also I totally do not understand the slots anymore because most of them are based on those video war games young people play like 24/7, however my wife had a convention and I had family there as well. I did see one slot machine based on the old Friends series. Not only does that show appears to run on a twenty-four hour thread that can be watched on some one of those 1000 myriad cable channel offered up by DISH along with a college degree from an obscure university, now it is even a slot machine game. All that aside, I have come to believe after this most recent trip to Vegas that it is or soon will be the most romantic of cities in the entire universe. To prove my point I have included some pictures I took while out for a walk one day in the real downtown Las Vegas away from the well-known Strip. First off Id never seen a drive-up wedding chapel. Honest. Had I known years ago I would have suggested that both of my daughters consider that alternative to the obscenely number of invited wedding guests that attended those blow-outs. Surely we didnt know that many people? We could have rented one of those gaudy limos whose interior is beyond lavish. Bar, stereo, Wi-Fi, barware for 2000 plus a refrigerator stocked with mostly adult beverages and a selection of hors doeuvres like those little cheese squares you are encouraged to pick up with a toothpick but not really. Okay, then how about the drive through wedding chapel called The Fast Lane where you have the option of the Walk Up as well? One Drive Up has painted on the window that is shaped like a church steeple, Wedding Window of special memories and a free oil change and tire rotation while you say your vows. (Not really the oil and tire thing, but it makes sense). Also theres the Special Memory Wedding Chapel. It has two bells atop its sign and says Where Dreams Come True. They can offer the lucky couple the whole ball of string including (drum roll) Drive-up Wedding Window, tuxes and gowns, flower shop, reception and delivery of your first born (okay thats not on the sign but probably falls into the same category of extras like the nuts and mints.) So should anyone sweetheart, mistress or your long-suffering wife (arent they all?) decide because this is leap year it is time to say or repeat your wedding vows while speeding through a drive-in wedding palace, or even better have an Elvis impersonator administer those vows, then Las Vegas is where you need to be. There are all sorts of option for first time or long time couples when it comes to saying those vows. I can see the happy couple in a hot air balloon high over the Grand Canyon if of course heights dont freak you out as it does me. Ive read about couples who say them at McDonalds or Starbuck. In my case for symbolism perhaps the checkout counter at Publix since Im there every day. (Addiction!) My bride and I are coming up on a momentous occasion next fall, 50 rocking years and counting. I need to warn her that I wont be getting down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage again unless Doctor Orthopedic is on hand. And just this morning I saw the ultimate Valentine gift being offered on television. It was a giant four foot teddy bear being cuddled by an amazing blond while a young man is seen winking beside Smokey and the babe. It can be ordered from some New England company who is, thank goodness, not involved in the current interminable election hoopla. Or maybe the bear is a candidate, who knows since weve got elephants and donkeys? Over the years weve been indoctrinated to believe there should be an intimate dinner with lots of candlelight and wine and preferably no children. Fantasy, you young couples snicker. Okay then once the children are stashed away have your quiet dinner young people. Start with a small antipasto of Bib or Boston lettuce tossed in a splurge of a serious first pressing olive oil and well aged balsamic vinegar. Add a bruschetta of eggplant ragout and a slice of fresh mozzarella. Yum! Next I think a pasta would be appropriate to carry out the Italian theme. There are some great fresh ones in the dairy case at you know where I shop supermarket. I might suggest tossing the pasta with some real heavy cream, diced fresh tomatoes and a bit of sherry and garnish with lobster. (not a whole one unless you are recreating the 60s flick Tom Jones. The guy in the tight pants came later) Dessert is a no-brainer chocolate fondue with fresh strawberries. Here it might be appropriate to toast the evenings end with an Italian Asti Spumante or Prosecco. Then if you havent fallen asleep, mom and dad, grab your bear and hugs all around. Eggplant Ragout Tip: Try to find a small or the smallest eggplant in the produce department. You will need the following in addition to the eggplant: Kosher Salt cup sweet white onion diced 1 tablespoon chopped garlic 1 cup sweet red pepper diced 1 to 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (optional) Olive oil and a combination of Balsamic vinegar and 1 Myers lemon (or a no-name lemon if you must!) Preparation: Peel and dice the eggplant then place in a glass bowl and toss with the Kosher salt (dont overdue the salting process) Place a heavy object on top of the eggplant and let it sit long enough to expel as much juice as possible Squeeze dry and set aside. Heat half a cup of the olive oil in a sauce pan or skillet, add onions, garlic, red peppers and red pepper flakes and cook until onions are transparent and peppers have softened. Add eggplant and more olive oil if needed to your mirepoix of onions and peppers. The eggplant will cook quickly. Stir often then add a tablespoon of balsamic to the mixture and let it incorporate well with the eggplant mixture. Off stove let mixture cool overnight it can and should be made a day ahead- then taste first before adding the juice of one half the lemon. The juice should brighten your ragout nicely. If you think it needs another squeeze please do but you do not want the lemon juice to overpower the mixture. Also I like to add some cracked pepper but careful not to over season. Serving: Toast sliced baguettes that have been brushed with olive oil. Top with the ragout and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint. I served it as I noted on a plate with a small serving of salad and a slice of mozzarella but you could use a goats cheese instead. That might be even tastier. MOSCOW, February 9 (RAPSI) - Alexander Margolin who has served 3 years in prison for participation in the riots on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012, has been released from prison, his attorney Sergei Panchenko told RAPSI on Tuesday. Earlier, a court in the Ryazan Region granted parole for Margolin. Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured in the authorized Bolotnaya Square protest that turned violent in May 2012. Dozens were later charged with inciting mass riots and battery against law enforcement officers. Riot organizers Leonid Razvozzhayev and Sergei Udaltsov were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison each. Other defendants in the case received prison terms ranging from suspended sentences to four years. Several defendants were pardoned; one is undergoing compulsory mental treatment. Margolin was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. "There's never been a line of commercial insurance that has more data at its fingertips than cyber insurers do today," says Methven. "But it's how they find that needle in the haystack." On January 11, 2016, Iran's official media confirmed the state had filled the Arak nuclear reactor core with concrete. In short: Iran has killed its flagship nuclear site and its nuclear program is now limited to smaller projects, paperwork, research and, of course, propaganda videos. But how could this have happened? While the US-Iran nuclear deal does dictate that Iran must reduce the operational capacity of the Arak nuclear reactor in particular, nobody could have believed Iran would have jumped to execute this part of the deal so quickly. Iran has been known to never give up anything except for handsome rewards. Iran's "sweet surrender" would never have been possible without the sophisticated and determined pressure of one country; Saudi Arabia, and one man; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. For years Saudi Arabia has been warning the West against the growing Iranian influence in the Middle East. What helps Saudi Arabia here is that it understands the region much better than many Western governments. When the revolution broke out in Syria in 2011, the West in particular dealt with it as local unrest, an armed revolution or a civil war at worst. Saudi Arabia understood clearly even then that Iran was on a mission to control Syria and turn it into terrorism export hub. While the world was busy trying to negotiate Syria's future with both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran, Saudi Arabia was not wasting any time; it put up all the proper support for Syria's only secular opposition body, the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC). Today, there seem to be no other moderate parties in Syria than the SOC, and on top of that the world is referring to Saudi Arabia for coordination with it on Syria as the only option left. Saudi Arabia's effort to limit Iran's power did not end with Syria. In an effort to fight back, Iran tried to destabilize Saudi Arabia's southern borders by empowering the pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias in Yemen, the Houthis. These militias had become too strong, to the point of taking over most of Yemen, and eventually controlled the capital, expelling Yemen's elected president. However, the Saudis weren't having any of it - the Saudi crown prince and defense minister, Bin Salman, launched a fierce military operation to crack down on Houthis in Yemen. In Yemen, Bin Salman was focusing on massive surgical air-strikes by Saudi's Royal Air Force - second strongest in the region - and avoiding sending in ground troops in order not to engage the Saudi army with the fluid and fast-moving Houthis militias. Since then Saudi fighter pilots have been clocking more flight hours than any others in the world. As a result Houthis have been scattered all over Yemen - an insult to Iran which had pledged earlier to support the Houthis to the end. Iran's media even announced Iranian special forces and weapons were going to be flown to Yemen to support the Houthis - none of which happened as a determined Bin Salman ordered his fighter jets to impose an embargo on Iranian vessels and jets trying to enter Yemen. Still, Iran's humiliation in Yemen was merely an introduction to what Saudi Arabia did next. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest oil producers and therefore has a major say on global oil prices. Saudi Arabia has increased oil production to the point of driving oil prices so low that Iran has begun suffering. The Saudis can easily stand the decrease in revenues; Saudi Arabia enjoys a catalogue of natural resources and minerals besides oil, and on top of that has a rather Westernized economic model capable of surviving such a painful drop in revenues. For example, since the drop of oil prices Saudi Arabia began implementing social welfare programs for its citizens to create a safety net that secures them amid the economic downturn. Iran could not afford any of this, nor does it have a liberalized economy that could withstand such shock. In addition, Iran has been financing two major civil wars in Syria and Iraq, and supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Recent Arab media reports confirmed Hezbollah militants have been complaining of their pay being slashed in half, and Assad's militias complaining about smaller government handouts. In other words, Saudi Arabia has pushed Iran to the edge and moved it from the offensive to the defensive, forcing it to accept two public humiliations, one in Yemen and the other at home when Iran literally buried its crown jewel in cement. Further, Saudi Arabia's intelligence services began a relentless crackdown on Iran's intelligence operatives in Saudi Arabia itself. There have been several reports of arrests and uncovering of cells. This article originally appeared in Die Welt BERLIN - Europe's migration situation is about to escalate - and it's taking the whole continent with it. The recent influx of would-be refugees are putting pressure on governments in eastern and southeastern Europe in a way not seen since the end of communism. Their voting populations will now decide if their leaders made the right decision in wanting to join the European Union. Eastern leaders increasingly complain about the functional failure of the public-policy machine in Brussels, as well as Germany's indecisiveness over policies to limit the entry of refugees. And so the conditions are ripe for a strongman like Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban to take on the role as a sort of "European anti-emperor." Neither Slovenia nor Poland share Orban's sympathy with Vladimir Putin's Russia, but they are united in wanting to push back on the migrant flow coming in from the east. Over the last year, more than a million people from the Middle East have arrived in Europe, mainly Syrian civil war refugees. They were mostly passing through Turkey and Greece, in order to get to the EU via the Balkan states. Germany accepted all of them, which attracted even more. Initial eastern European fears quickly blew over, when they understood that none of the newcomers actually wanted to stay in those countries, choosing instead to move on quickly to final destinations like Germany, Austria and Sweden. But now those countries are setting new limits of their own. Everywhere border controls are being intensified, fences are going up. Only Afghans, Syrians end Iraqis will pass, if they promise that Germany is their ultimate destination. So that leaves East Europeans distancing themselves from what they say is a weak-minded EU, and building their own higher walls and fences. Is the East drifting ever further away from the liberal West? Not yet. First, there's one thing that needs to be taken care of: East Europeans fear that if Germany says "stop," thousands of rejected and hopeless refugees will accumulate at their borders, throwing their countries back into chaos. German authorities have been discussing a Balkan migrant emergency scenario for weeks. The fear is a domino effect in the face of new limits in the West, which could worsen humanitarian conditions and might even lead to a storming of the borders. The Balkan states becoming a dead end could lead to panic and chaos among migrants and authorities. We can already see the first signs of a "closing time" psychology since Austria instituted limits on refugees last month, with officials in Slovenia and Macedonia reporting that the overall number of migrants had significantly increased. In the northeastern Slovenian city of Kidricevo, Bostiia 41, lights a cigarette in front of a local pub. "They want to impose 4,000 of these Muslims on us," he says, his friends nodding in agreement. "We don't want this Islamic imperialism. We are Christians and we want to remain Christians. Let them build their mosques somewhere else." Bostiia proudly shows pictures of shields they designed for a recent demonstration against a planned refugees asylum center nearby. On the shields, you can read "Rapefugees Not Welcome." This is something entirely new in Slovenia. The little state has always been a model student among the EU newcomers in the east. Few options In Serbia's capital of Belgrade at least 50 people were camping in front of the bus terminal on a recent icy winter night. A 29-year old named Ibrahim from Pakistan points to his backpack with the black-red-golden flag and says, in broken English: "Germany's the best country." Rados Durovic drinks hot tea, against the same Serbian cold. What happens if Germany closes its borders? "Hell, that's what will happen. Then our whole country will become one big refugees asylum center. The government can't handle this. And they can't tell that the population either." Frankly speaking, there aren't many options anyway. The refugees' journey is like a desperate version of musical chairs. It goes on and on, but once the music stops, everybody needs to quickly find a place to stay. If Germany rejects refugees, so will Croatia. Those remaining in the country are those who happen to be there when the borders close. This might lead to complications. When Hungary closed its borders, Croatia followed suit by closing its border to Serbia. In case of borders closing between Serbia and Slovenia, and the possibility of people being stuck in Croatia, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu?iA? has already declared that they won't take anyone back. Now the barbed wire stretches as far as the eye can see along Hungary's border with Serbia. Except for the occasional patrol, there is not a single human being in sight, especially no refugee. Nobody even dares to think about passing through Hungary's border fence. Those who get caught go straight to prison. Only approximately 10 migrants per day enter the country illegally. The border fence seems to be the solution for Hungary's refugee crisis, for now. No sentimentalism, no "solidarity," only national interests. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's popularity ratings prove him right. And in Europe too he feels like a winner. He calls Austria's new border regime a "victory of reason." "If a Schengen state doesn't meet its obligations, and won't accept any help either, there must not be any thought control," says Austria's Minister of the Interior Johanna Milk-Leitner. "The patience of most Europeans is coming to an end. Much has been said, now there is need for action. It's about securing Europe's stability, order and safety." If I could count Hamilton Countys best educators on one hand, Normal Park Elementary Principal Jill Levine would be the biggest finger. What she and her faculty and a dazzling commitment from both her students and parents have accomplished is an educational dream. I am told people literally move to North Chattanooga just so their children will be zoned for the award-winning school. But, oh my, what it this? It has been reported over 140 parents at Normal Park have pulled their children out of the state of Tennessees mandated standardized testing. That alone is a pretty clear indicator the best of the best these devoted parents want what is good and right for their children. I believe they have done much due diligence and are now standing up for what they sincerely believe. Jill was quoted in Fridays Times Free Press as saying, For years we have asked people to speak out about public education. We are at the point now where parents are speaking out, and advocating, and as educators we need to respect that. But Ashley Hall, a spokeswoman for the states Department of Education, is saying not so fast, Pilgrim -- thats not legal. Given both the importance and legal obligation, our departments policy is that parents may not opt a child out of participating in state assessments. And thats when the Momma Bears began to roar. There is a website (www.mommabears.org) that is quite vocal on all matters of education in Tennessee. According to the website, the rightful definition of a Momma Bear is Momma Bear (noun) 1. One of the most protective animals in all of nature, known for providing and caring for her cubs 2. A parent fiercely devoted to protecting her children. "Woe be to one who provokes the wrath of the mother bear from protecting her young." 3. Known as one of the most powerful forces in nature "Never, ever, ever cross a Momma Bear (verb) 1. Taking action to protect children. "I'm gonna Momma Bear that politician for selling my children's education." Im thinking the Department of Education wants no part of a growing group of determined Momma Bears and to illustrate my point I am going to share with you a letter that just appeared on the Momma Bear blog. It was written by Ruth and Mike Stewart of Nashville. She is a Momma Bear and hes a lawyer. Just so youll know, Mike has also been a member of the State Legislature since 2008, representing East Nashville. Here is the letter Stewarts just delivered to the Metro Nashville Public Schools: * * * Please accept this letter as a record of my decision to refuse for (name redacted for privacy) to participate in TN Ready/TnReady TCAP test and pretests at (school name redacted for privacy) for the remaining school year. My refusal to allow (child's name) to participate is because I believe standardized high stakes testing take away time from the instructional experiences my child might otherwise receive. I want more teaching and learning, and less testing! I am aware that there is no opt out clause in the state of Tennessee. But the state has yet to provide any legal documentation that my child may not exercise his or her right to refuse the tests. I understand that it is state and local policy to require all students are to be evaluated for proficiency in various subject areas at each grade level. However, I believe that testing is not synonymous with standardized testing and request that the school and my childs teacher(s) evaluate her progress using alternative measures including project-based assignments, teacher-made tests, portfolios, and performance-based assessments. (Child's name) is prepared to come to school every day during the testing window with alternative meaningful, self-directed learning activities that support the essential curriculum, or is willing to participate in other meaningful activities as determined by the school or her teachers during testing times. Please let me know beforehand what I can expect as far as instructional experiences (child's name) will experience during testing windows. I am happy to develop material for her if the teachers believe this is appropriate. I have a tremendous respect for (child's name)'s teachers and her school. My issue is with frequent high-stakes standardized testing and the harm it does to children, teachers, and our public schools. Respectfully yours /s/ Ruth Stewart * * * What is equally interesting is that there seems to be a movement underway from other top-tier schools like Hamilton Countys Normal Park. One of the best public schools in Memphis is White Station High School. Parents literally camp out on the schools lawn in attempts to get their children a seat in the place. It seems that a cluster of the high schools students, as a result of advocacy they were taught in a civics class, have delivered a stream of emails that have flashed all over Memphis in both English and Spanish (there is a sizable number of Hispanic students) and it reads: * * * Dear Teacher: As you may have noticed, the quantity and duration of standardized tests have increased astronomically in recent years. We feel that these tests take away from instructional time, waste valuable resources, constrict our curricula, and still fail to provide an accurate measure of progress that would justify the losses they incur. My peers and I have decided to try and change standardized testing policy by creating and supporting a bill to limit the damaging effects of standardized testing. We request that you help us achieve this. Attached to this email are a number of relevant documents. First, we have letters for parents and students to help educate them on the situation. Many parents have no idea how all-encompassing testing has become and many students are unaware of what they can do to fix it. Please copy these letters and distribute them to your students. We have written both English and Spanish versions of these letters to ensure that they reach as many people as possible. Second, we are providing surveys for teachers, parents, and students. In order to effect any sort of change, we need as much support as possible. Please have your students complete the surveys and bring them home to their parents to fill out. You can send the compiled information from your school to White Station High School either by email or school mail. We are also sending petitions to the state representatives of Tennessee asking them to reduce standardized testing. If you think standardized testing is going too far, please add your signature to the petition. Since a more personal approach carries emotional weight, we will also send a contact list for local and state representatives so that you and your students can inform them of your concerns. It may seem a bit far-fetched for a group of high school students to try and change government policy, but we are organized, we are prepared, we are united, and we are willing to do everything in our power to reduce standardized testing and reclaim our education. Sincerely /s/ Shelby County Students * * * So why is there suddenly an uproar over standardized tests, some that require 360 minutes to take? As the Momma Bears website explains, It is our hope that this group will connect lots and lots of Momma Bears, because we are stronger together than as individuals. Together, we must protect our children and public schools and we must also support the teachers who nurture, inspire, and protect our children. Wow, I am thinking that this uprising could be wonderful. royexum@aol.com Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: This listing is for the Pine Meadows Range Lot 465 and 466 Unit 4 - FIVE ACRES of undeveloped land, no structures or utilities. It is located along a dirt road named Apache Drive and is accessible by car without four wheel drive. The property is a 20 minute drive from the El Morro National Monument, a stable water source used for centuries by travelers through the region on their way west, and the art community of Ramah, New Mexico (87321), home of the famous Ancient Way Cafe and outpost. A lit... Price: $ 7,500 Seller State of Residence: Nevada Property Address: Lot 465 and 466 Pine Meadows Ranches State/Province: NM City: Ramah Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 87321 Location: 870**, Grants, New Mexico You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 87321 Property details: URBAN LAND in Cabazon, CA. Riverside County NO MINIMUM / NO RESERVE --- HIGH BID OWNS THE LOT This land lies along 10 freeway in the city of Cabazon, Ca. just 25 minutes drive to Palm Springs and only 8 minutes to Hills Premium Outlets. Cabazon is a stop for outlet shopping; Desert Hills Premium Outlets and Cabazon Outlets each operate outlet malls Cabazon is also the home of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, as well as their massive Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa, whose 27-story hotel tower... Price: $ 1,725 Seller State of Residence: California State/Province: California Location: 928**, Orange, California You will be redirected to eBay Nearby California HOME > The Bachelor > The Bachelor 20 'The Bachelor' recap: Leah Block lies and throws Lauren Bushnell under the bus, Ben Higgins crushes Olivia Caridi on two-on-one date By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/09/2016 star ADVERTISEMENT Ben eliminated broadcast began right where last week's episode had left off, with Emily, a 22-year-old cocktail waitress and twin from Las Vegas, NV, ranting about how selfish, disrespectful and fake Olivia explained she had a target on her back after getting the First Impression Rose and a subsequent Group Date rose. She said the girls faulted her for being aggressive but she's just a confident woman by nature. Olivia said it was hard to socialize with the group when she knew they weren't her biggest fans. Olivia also gushed about how intellectual she is and introverted compared to the other bachelorettes who just worry about their hair and painting their nails. Olivia said she reads alone in her room. Meanwhile, Emily told the cameras she hoped Ben wasn't "falling for this act" Olivia put on. However, Ben opted out of sending Olivia home after their private conversation. Emily felt insecure and questioned her connection with Ben solely because of the fact he wanted to keep Olivia around. Emily just didn't want to be the root of drama in Ben's eyes. A Rose Ceremony then took place and Ben handed out roses in the following order: Olivia, Lauren H. and Jennifer was therefore ousted from the competition and she was upset because she didn't feel Ben had enough time to get to know her. Amanda hated seeing good girls leave when someone like Olivia was still in the running for Ben's heart and getting so many second chances. But Olivia was planning to fight for Ben until he became her husband. Ben and his remaining bachelorettes then traveled to The Bahamas, where Caila received the first one-on-one date of the week. Leah was "speechless" and called Ben's date decision a "slap in the face" because she had yet to receive a single one-on-one date with him and Caila was now getting her second. Leah was pissed because Ben was giving mostly all of the other girls plentiful time or at least validation through roses handed out at times other than the Rose Ceremonies. Caila felt so lucky and was also in shock about the whole ordeal. Leah also knew that if Ben was unsure about Caila, he would've taken her on the two-on-one date instead of a solo date. Leah wondered whether she should quit the show at this point, but Ben explained to the cameras he needed more time with Caila because their first date was with two other men around the whole time. For their date, Ben and Caila went deep-sea fishing on a boat and relaxed. Ben thought Caila was funny, beautiful, sexy and smart, but he wanted to get to know the deeper person behind her bubbly attitude and big smile. When he basically asked Caila to open up and become vulnerable at dinner that night, she accused him of putting her on the spot in the hopes she cries. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Caila admitted she just wasn't ready to express herself so deeply yet, and Ben assumed Caila was going to choose to go home. But instead, Caila gave a very confusing speech about how she's falling in love with Ben yet fears she might hurt him since his biggest insecurity is being unlovable. Caila also attempted to explain to Ben that her heart told her that he was the right man for her, but her mind said differently. All she knew is that she had strong feelings for the Bachelor and loved how he just "understood" her. Caila thought having Ben in her life would make her really happy. Caila's mixed emotions on dating Ben just made her more attractive to him, as she had more layers to her than he thought and showed a real authentic side of herself. Ben thought she challenged him, and he really appreciated that, so he offered her the date's rose. Ben ended up saying it was one of the best dates of his life. The next day, Ben embarked on a Group Date with Lauren B, Lauren H., Becca, Amanda, JoJo, and Leah, who was in search of some answers. For their date, Ben took the bachelorettes out on a boat and then swimming with pigs. The situation started to get awkward when Leah told Lauren H. that Ben was basically just obsessing over Lauren B. the whole time and it was clear they had an incredible connection. JoJo also struggled with how much attention Ben was giving Lauren B. in particular. Ben didn't know why the girls seemed tense and standoffish, but JoJo tried to explain the situation to him to the best of her ability. Ben couldn't grasp how he could go on a Group Date and keep all the women happy. Leah then cried to Ben about the fact she had yet to receive a one-on-one date. She explained she genuinely felt ready for a serious commitment, and Ben agreed, insisting that's why he wanted to keep her around. Ben begged Leah to make the most of the Group Date for him, and while she did, she later vented to Lauren H. that Ben was an "idiot" for not giving her more of a chance. That night, Ben confronted Becca about how she was also a little weird throughout the day. Becca explained it was tough to see him with other women, especially Lauren B., and some of the bachelorettes can't help but shut down occasionally because of that. ADVERTISEMENT Ben realized he needed to be more discreet about his bonds with certain women on Group Dates. He just wanted to be fair, honest and open with his bachelorettes. Meanwhile, Leah could tell Lauren B. was feeling very confident in her relationship with Ben, and because she wasn't herself, the image really upset her. Leah then spoke to Ben alone about how Lauren B. wasn't being real around him because she behaved differently in the house with all the girls. Leah insisted to Ben that because of who Lauren B. is, if he chose her in the end, things would never work out. Leah's comments bothered Ben even though he wasn't sure whether to believe them. Ben then talked to Lauren B. about what one bachelorette had said. Lauren B. cried because she didn't understand why a woman would say that. Lauren B. felt like she got along with pretty much everybody in the house. Once the conversation ended, Lauren B. bawled to the girls how someone had thrown her under the bus. Leah promised she hadn't said anything to Ben, and when Becca asked her for confirmation, Leah flat out said "nope" she didn't mention Lauren B. "I would never be the type of person to single someone out and be like, 'Oh Lauren B.' or whatever," Leah told the girls. Lauren B. just hoped that whatever was said to Ben wouldn't have a negative impact on her relationship with him. She felt sick to her stomach. Back at the house that night, women including Emily, JoJo and Amanda talked about how it was crazy someone spoke badly about Lauren B., and everyone assumed it had to be Leah despite her denial. Emily comforted Lauren B. by saying Leah was just insecure in her relationship with Ben and jealous. Emily then flat out called Leah "a liar." Without anyone knowing except Lauren H., Leah snuck out of her hotel to meet Ben at his. Ben was shocked to see her at his door, but at the same time, he was excited to talk to her more. Leah had told the cameras if she could get rid of Lauren B., she'd have a better chance to end up with Ben. And instead of bonding more with Ben, Leah just continued to rant and rave about how catty and disingenuous Lauren B. was. Leah gave Ben an example by revealing Lauren B. had noted, "Oh, if Amanda ends up with Ben, that's great." Leah said Ben would eventually find out who the real Lauren B. is because he's a smart guy. Ben was really hoping Leah would make the most of their time together, but she didn't. He then acknowledged their was a disconnect between them, and while he had an amazing first impression of her, their relationship never really grew from there. He said something was missing. As a result, Ben sent Leah home right on the spot. Their initial spark wasn't enough. Leah cried about how she never would've talked about Lauren B. had she known Ben was on the fence about their relationship. Leah was blindsided and called Ben "a fool" for letting her go before really getting to know her. She said he "missed out." Ben was upset because there was so much darkness surrounding his journey at this point. He became less confident about the fact he could leave with a wife. ADVERTISEMENT Olivia told the cameras her relationship with Ben was an "all-consuming, ever-present, constantly-growing kind of love." During their alone time on the date, Olivia bragged to Ben about how intellectual, strong and grounded she is. She then revealed to the Bachelor how she was feeling about him. "From the moment I met you, I just knew it was right. And I'm just -- I'm in love with you," Olivia told Ben before he smiled and she kissed him. Emily was starting to fall in love with Ben and told him afterwards that she would love to experience life with him at her side. He was excited to see this new side of Emily and get to know her without the attachment to her twin sister. Ben then asked Olivia to take a walk with him on the beach. With a rose in hand, both Olivia and Emily assumed she was getting the rose. However, Ben let Olivia go and said he couldn't reciprocate the feelings she had for him. He also worried his feelings might never get to that point. Ben just had relationships with other women that were further along. After giving Emily the rose, Olivia was extremely hurt and cried alone on the beach as Ben and Emily left in a boat together. Olivia bawled saying Ben had eliminated a really good person. This week in The Bahamas left Ben feeling discouraged and alone. He was falling for a couple of women and simply wasn't in the mood to have multiple conversations at the cocktail party. Therefore, he decided to cancel the party and head right into the Rose Ceremony. Lauren B. was upset she wouldn't get the chance to fix things with Ben, while JoJo cried because she had planned to tell Ben she was falling in love with him this night. At the Rose Ceremony, Ben gave roses to Becca, JoJo and then Lauren B. Since Emily, Caila and Amanda had roses already, Lauren H. was sent home. Lauren H. didn't get it because she was starting to fall in love with Ben and thought they were getting along great. She didn't understand why it was so tough to fall in love. About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS star Ben Higgins sent a whopping four bachelorettes packing, narrowing his love search to only six women, during Monday night's dramatic broadcast on ABC.Ben eliminated Jennifer Saviano , a 25-year-old small business owner from Fort Lauderdale, FL, at the first Rose Ceremony last night; Olivia Caridi , a 23-year-old news anchor from Austin, TX, during her two-on-one date; Leah Block , a 25-year-old event planner from Denver, CO, after she snuck into his hotel room to chat but only had bad things to say about another girl; and Lauren Himle , a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher from Ann Arbor, MI, during the episode's second Rose Ceremony.broadcast began right where last week's episode had left off, with Emily, a 22-year-old cocktail waitress and twin from Las Vegas, NV, ranting about how selfish, disrespectful and fake Olivia Caridi was and Ben confronting Olivia about all the negative comments.Olivia explained she had a target on her back after getting the First Impression Rose and a subsequent Group Date rose. She said the girls faulted her for being aggressive but she's just a confident woman by nature. Olivia said it was hard to socialize with the group when she knew they weren't her biggest fans.Olivia also gushed about how intellectual she is and introverted compared to the other bachelorettes who just worry about their hair and painting their nails. Olivia said she reads alone in her room.Meanwhile, Emily told the cameras she hoped Ben wasn't "falling for this act" Olivia put on. However, Ben opted out of sending Olivia home after their private conversation. Emily felt insecure and questioned her connection with Ben solely because of the fact he wanted to keep Olivia around. Emily just didn't want to be the root of drama in Ben's eyes.A Rose Ceremony then took place and Ben handed out roses in the following order: Caila Quinn , a 23-year-old software sales representative from Hudson, OH; Lauren Bushnell , a 25-year-old flight attendant from Marina Del Rey, CA; Joelle "JoJo" Fletcher , a 24-year-old real estate developer from Dallas, TX; Becca Tilley , a 26-year-old chiropractic assistant from San Diego, CA; Leah; and then Emily.Olivia, Lauren H. and Amanda Stanton , a 25-year-old esthetician from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, already had roses from their dates with Ben in Mexico.Jennifer was therefore ousted from the competition and she was upset because she didn't feel Ben had enough time to get to know her. Amanda hated seeing good girls leave when someone like Olivia was still in the running for Ben's heart and getting so many second chances. But Olivia was planning to fight for Ben until he became her husband.Ben and his remaining bachelorettes then traveled to The Bahamas, where Caila received the first one-on-one date of the week.Leah was "speechless" and called Ben's date decision a "slap in the face" because she had yet to receive a single one-on-one date with him and Caila was now getting her second. Leah was pissed because Ben was giving mostly all of the other girls plentiful time or at least validation through roses handed out at times other than the Rose Ceremonies. Caila felt so lucky and was also in shock about the whole ordeal.Leah also knew that if Ben was unsure about Caila, he would've taken her on the two-on-one date instead of a solo date. Leah wondered whether she should quit the show at this point, but Ben explained to the cameras he needed more time with Caila because their first date was with two other men around the whole time.For their date, Ben and Caila went deep-sea fishing on a boat and relaxed. Ben thought Caila was funny, beautiful, sexy and smart, but he wanted to get to know the deeper person behind her bubbly attitude and big smile. When he basically asked Caila to open up and become vulnerable at dinner that night, she accused him of putting her on the spot in the hopes she cries.Caila admitted she just wasn't ready to express herself so deeply yet, and Ben assumed Caila was going to choose to go home. But instead, Caila gave a very confusing speech about how she's falling in love with Ben yet fears she might hurt him since his biggest insecurity is being unlovable.Caila also attempted to explain to Ben that her heart told her that he was the right man for her, but her mind said differently. All she knew is that she had strong feelings for the Bachelor and loved how he just "understood" her. Caila thought having Ben in her life would make her really happy.Caila's mixed emotions on dating Ben just made her more attractive to him, as she had more layers to her than he thought and showed a real authentic side of herself. Ben thought she challenged him, and he really appreciated that, so he offered her the date's rose. Ben ended up saying it was one of the best dates of his life.The next day, Ben embarked on a Group Date with Lauren B, Lauren H., Becca, Amanda, JoJo, and Leah, who was in search of some answers.For their date, Ben took the bachelorettes out on a boat and then swimming with pigs. The situation started to get awkward when Leah told Lauren H. that Ben was basically just obsessing over Lauren B. the whole time and it was clear they had an incredible connection. JoJo also struggled with how much attention Ben was giving Lauren B. in particular.Ben didn't know why the girls seemed tense and standoffish, but JoJo tried to explain the situation to him to the best of her ability. Ben couldn't grasp how he could go on a Group Date and keep all the women happy.Leah then cried to Ben about the fact she had yet to receive a one-on-one date. She explained she genuinely felt ready for a serious commitment, and Ben agreed, insisting that's why he wanted to keep her around. Ben begged Leah to make the most of the Group Date for him, and while she did, she later vented to Lauren H. that Ben was an "idiot" for not giving her more of a chance.That night, Ben confronted Becca about how she was also a little weird throughout the day. Becca explained it was tough to see him with other women, especially Lauren B., and some of the bachelorettes can't help but shut down occasionally because of that.Becca noted she was only acting strange because she "really, really" liked Ben, which he found cute and endearing. Ben acknowledged his relationship with Becca had strengthened that night.Ben realized he needed to be more discreet about his bonds with certain women on Group Dates. He just wanted to be fair, honest and open with his bachelorettes.Meanwhile, Leah could tell Lauren B. was feeling very confident in her relationship with Ben, and because she wasn't herself, the image really upset her. Leah then spoke to Ben alone about how Lauren B. wasn't being real around him because she behaved differently in the house with all the girls. Leah insisted to Ben that because of who Lauren B. is, if he chose her in the end, things would never work out.Leah's comments bothered Ben even though he wasn't sure whether to believe them. Ben then talked to Lauren B. about what one bachelorette had said. Lauren B. cried because she didn't understand why a woman would say that. Lauren B. felt like she got along with pretty much everybody in the house.Once the conversation ended, Lauren B. bawled to the girls how someone had thrown her under the bus. Leah promised she hadn't said anything to Ben, and when Becca asked her for confirmation, Leah flat out said "nope" she didn't mention Lauren B."I would never be the type of person to single someone out and be like, 'Oh Lauren B.' or whatever," Leah told the girls.Lauren B. just hoped that whatever was said to Ben wouldn't have a negative impact on her relationship with him. She felt sick to her stomach.Back at the house that night, women including Emily, JoJo and Amanda talked about how it was crazy someone spoke badly about Lauren B., and everyone assumed it had to be Leah despite her denial. Emily comforted Lauren B. by saying Leah was just insecure in her relationship with Ben and jealous. Emily then flat out called Leah "a liar."Without anyone knowing except Lauren H., Leah snuck out of her hotel to meet Ben at his. Ben was shocked to see her at his door, but at the same time, he was excited to talk to her more. Leah had told the cameras if she could get rid of Lauren B., she'd have a better chance to end up with Ben.And instead of bonding more with Ben, Leah just continued to rant and rave about how catty and disingenuous Lauren B. was. Leah gave Ben an example by revealing Lauren B. had noted, "Oh, if Amanda ends up with Ben, that's great." Leah said Ben would eventually find out who the real Lauren B. is because he's a smart guy.Ben was really hoping Leah would make the most of their time together, but she didn't. He then acknowledged their was a disconnect between them, and while he had an amazing first impression of her, their relationship never really grew from there. He said something was missing. As a result, Ben sent Leah home right on the spot. Their initial spark wasn't enough.Leah cried about how she never would've talked about Lauren B. had she known Ben was on the fence about their relationship. Leah was blindsided and called Ben "a fool" for letting her go before really getting to know her. She said he "missed out."Ben was upset because there was so much darkness surrounding his journey at this point. He became less confident about the fact he could leave with a wife.The next day, Ben embarked on a two-on-one date with Olivia and Emily. Tension ran high the entire time, but Olivia was certain she wasn't going anywhere. The threesome went on a boat ride and then spent some time on a private beach when the weather unfortunately wasn't good. Emily hoped Olivia would show her true colors to Ben on this date.Olivia told the cameras her relationship with Ben was an "all-consuming, ever-present, constantly-growing kind of love."During their alone time on the date, Olivia bragged to Ben about how intellectual, strong and grounded she is. She then revealed to the Bachelor how she was feeling about him."From the moment I met you, I just knew it was right. And I'm just -- I'm in love with you," Olivia told Ben before he smiled and she kissed him.Emily was starting to fall in love with Ben and told him afterwards that she would love to experience life with him at her side. He was excited to see this new side of Emily and get to know her without the attachment to her twin sister.Ben then asked Olivia to take a walk with him on the beach. With a rose in hand, both Olivia and Emily assumed she was getting the rose. However, Ben let Olivia go and said he couldn't reciprocate the feelings she had for him. He also worried his feelings might never get to that point. Ben just had relationships with other women that were further along.After giving Emily the rose, Olivia was extremely hurt and cried alone on the beach as Ben and Emily left in a boat together. Olivia bawled saying Ben had eliminated a really good person.This week in The Bahamas left Ben feeling discouraged and alone. He was falling for a couple of women and simply wasn't in the mood to have multiple conversations at the cocktail party.Therefore, he decided to cancel the party and head right into the Rose Ceremony. Lauren B. was upset she wouldn't get the chance to fix things with Ben, while JoJo cried because she had planned to tell Ben she was falling in love with him this night.At the Rose Ceremony, Ben gave roses to Becca, JoJo and then Lauren B.Since Emily, Caila and Amanda had roses already, Lauren H. was sent home. Lauren H. didn't get it because she was starting to fall in love with Ben and thought they were getting along great. She didn't understand why it was so tough to fall in love. THE BACHELOR 20 THE BACHELOR SPOILERS MORE THE BACHELOR 20 NEWS << PRIOR STORY 'The Bachelor' alum Tenley Molzahn reveals she's dating the man she's "going to marry" NEXT STORY >> Khloe Kardashian and James Harden reportedly break up and call it quits Get more Reality TV World! Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or add our RSS feed. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page generated Thu Oct 20, 2022 21:10 pm in 1.0040831565857 seconds HSBC has agreed to pay the U.S. government and states $450 million related to mortgage lending and foreclosure misconduct that contributed to the financial crisis in the country. According to BBC News, the agreement, which HSBC CEO said is a "positive result," requires the British bank to pay $100 million in fine and another $370 million in consumer relief to borrowers in 49 states, as well as the federal government and the District of Columbia. "Throughout the housing market downturn, HSBC stayed focused on home preservation and approached foreclosure as a last resort option, and this agreement affirms our commitment to assisting customers who are facing financial difficulties," Madison said. The Wall Street Journal noted that HSBC's compliance to the deal will be monitored by an independent body for a year. With the settlement, HSBC is required to bring about changes in its mortgage business in the country such as cutting loan amounts for borrowers who are nearing default. The bank is also ordered to modify its foreclosure practices in the U.S. U.S. authorities started investigating the foreclosure processes in the country back in 2010 when some banks were found to be submitting bogus foreclosure documents; HSBC was said to be approving foreclosure documents even without proper review. WSJ noted that in 2013, allegations for the same offense from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency resulted in HSBC paying $249 million. In 2012, U.S. banks such as JP Morgan and Bank of America also entered the same deal, as per BBC News. In other news, HSBC has curbed its mortgage lending to some Chinese investors in the U.S. as China tries to limit outflow of money from the country. The policy, which prevents the lender to provide mortgages to Chinese buying real estate properties in America, took effect last January. A significant growth in the real estate market of Hawke's Bay, particularly for million-dollar properties, has been observed. According to Stuff.co.nz, the region of Hawke's Bay in New Zealand is receiving an increasing market demand from international and national property buyers. New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty Hawke's Bay managing director Fraser Holland said this trend is poised to continue. Latest data from The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) also showed that Hawke's Bay, along with other NZ regions, is leading the pace for the country's housing market growth. "Regional markets, particularly Northland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Central Otago Lakes are now setting the pace for the New Zealand real estate market, with Auckland, in a relative sense, now in the middle of the pack," said REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne, via Scoop.co.nz. In 2015, there are 40 properties worth more than a million dollar each that were sold, up from the previous year's 35 properties. The year-on-year increase has been recorded since 2012, with 22 million-dollar properties sold in 2013. Holland said, "This growth is predominantly driven by the number of out of region buyers who are looking to purchase their slice of heaven, a change in lifestyle and a better balance in Hawke's Bay." "With an increase of visitors to Hawke's Bay, we are experiencing an increase of enquiry and buying activity in the upper price bracket of the market," he added. "People are buying properties and often putting them into rentals for a couple of years, just to get in now ahead of the curve. In a related report, Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) said that house prices in the country have more than tripled over the past five decades, as reported by NZHerald.co.nz. In Auckland alone, house prices have increased 52 percent since the middle of 2012, while other regions saw an 11 percent increase. Yuma Foothills Realty is the newest addition to the real estate brokerage network of Coldwell Banker, and will now start to serve the Yuma Foothills and East County residential real estate market, as Coldwell Banker Yuma Foothills Realty. "We are thrilled to be joining the Coldwell Banker network and believe it is a win-win situation in which our sales associates receive a competitive edge through such a respected global brand," said Leslie Moore, founder of Yuma Foothills Realty. "We are very impressed with the unmatched resources and marketing power Coldwell Banker provides, and look forward to increasing the value we currently provide to our clients." According to the press release of Yuma Foothills Realty in PR NewsWire, the company was founded by Moore in 2001 and now has five independent sales associates with more than 40 years of combined experience in East County, Arizona. "We were impressed with Leslie's passion for expanding her business in concert with the Coldwell Banker brand," said Budge Huskey, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. "We are proud to have Leslie and her sales associates as part of our Coldwell Banker network, and look forward to expanding the Coldwell Banker presence into Yuma." The Yuma Foothills is becoming the preferred location for most retiring baby boomers from U.S. states like California, Oregon and Washington. "Our community is increasingly becoming a year-round residential market, especially for those baby boomers who seek a lower cost of living in their retirement years," said Moore. "The average price of a single family home is $160,000, and our inventory levels are healthy right now." Yuma Foothills Realty is a traditional brokerage that provides its clients with the right tools through all avenues of buying or selling: first-time buyers, second homes, foreign buyers, lots, land parcels, commercial, or industrial. Statistics show that many households in the country are now becoming "multi-generational homes," with family members preferring to stay in the nest instead of purchasing new houses. In a video report by CNBC's Diana Olick, she stated that as much as 14 percent of all U.S. households, or 16.5 million, are adopting this living arrangement. Moreover, in a study conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, it shows that out of 20,000 potential homebuyers, 44 percent said they are willing to accommodate their elderly parents. Likewise, 42 percent of older respondents are willing to live with their adult children. Interestingly, economics is not the primary reason for this growing trend. Lucy Abbott from Seattle, now in her 70s, still live with her daughter and teenaged grandchildren though she insists that they can all afford to live separately. "Grandparents like me are more active, you know, we do more things, we are healthier, we live longer, so the relationships with grown-up children can mature, and I think that has something to do with it," she said. CNBC breaks down this trend into three reasons: Recession The recent financial crisis resulted to unemployment in young adults, who needed to stay with their parents while in between jobs. This also made them delay marriage and starting their own families. Immigrants Influx of immigrants is another factor. Asians and Hispanics in particular are known for their close-knit family cultures, where multi-generational living is a norm. Slowly, this culture may be influencing how Americans think about their way of living. Aging Baby Boomers "The baby boomers were just very unique; they are really the only generation in history that would move out of the house as soon as they go out of high school or college," said real estate expert John Burns noted. Now, these baby boomers are retiring and consequently, downsizing. While some choose to live in adult communities, a significant amount choose to move in with their adult children. This trend poses a great opportunity for homebuilders, as most existing homes are not designed to accommodate large families in varying age gaps. Ideally, multi-generational families such as Abbott's require separate entrances for grandparents and children and separate living quarters with separate kitchens and bathrooms. Abbott moved into a "NextGen" home built by Lennar, a Miami-based construction group. The company reported a dramatic growth in sales for this particular model. "I think the builders figured out there was a huge opportunity here that they had missed, and Lennar was a real leader in this a few years ago, designing for these types of households," Burns concluded. HGTV is giving away another dream home for its yearly Smart Home sweepstakes. Last Feb. 2, as reported by Biz Journals, HGTV revealed that it has chosen Raleigh, North Carolina to be the home's address. "Raleigh has this old school deep-rooted southern vibe about it and I kinda want to keep the house that way," Tiffany Brooks, HGTV's interior designer, said in the announcement video. "But we have a lot of young people moving straight from college because of wonderful job opportunities. So I'm kinda infusing that into the design of the house. It's gonna feel traditional but it's gonna have a little funk to it on the backend." One lucky winner will get a house with 3,500 square feet of living space, four bedrooms and five bathrooms spanning its three floors. The exterior will have a traditional cottage-style architecture, but the interiors will be decked out with lots of hi-tech details that focus on safety, convenience and comfort. "It's a traditional looking home from the outside. We don't want to change the way people want to live so the technology is in the background," Carley Knobloch, HGTV's tech consultant said. The main floor will have a concept layout that features the dining room, kitchen and living room. Windows are to be installed with smart shades, which automatically adjust the thermostat to reduce energy use, even when there's no one at home. There's a connecting screened front porch with solar powered skylights, which also has the same capabilities as the shades. "The house learns your habits," Knobloch explained. "When you are away, it turns the heat down." The master bedroom shares a two-sided fireplace with the screened porch outside. The connecting master bath has a custom tiled shower with a flushed floor. Above the double vanity is an hidden, in-mirror television so the owner can stay connected even while getting ready. Upstairs are the home office, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One bedroom is designed as a nursery, complete with intelligent toys and a video monitoring system that can be accessed through an app. In the basement is the excercise room, which will have a treadmill, stationary bike and elliptical machine that all have a fully functional tablet in them. The user can switch on visual mapping screens so they can run any course anywhere in the world. Beside it is the media room, to be equipped with a huge home theater system with an integrated audio system so the sound can be heard throughout the house. More importantly, the whole property will be installed with a wireless alarm system. The front doors will have wireless locks, and even the garage door will be app-operated. The smart house to be given away is still under construction and fans can stay updated on its progress by visiting HGTV's website. The contest runs from April 12 up to June 2, 2016. The Cleveland City Council on Monday adopted a plan for selecting a new city manager that will replace Janice Casteel. A citizen advisory committee for choosing a new city manager has been created with one representative appointed by each councilman. These seven members will communicate with the consultant to the council, Larry Wallace. The council also voted to hire an executive search firm in order to cast a wide net. The Mercer Group was chosen out of the seven companies that responded to the RFP. That company provided Tennessee references and has experience working with mid-size cities. The Mercer Group also gave a time-line for the search, which no other company offered. This was the only group that follows up after a search is concluded and will give feedback for why people did or did not apply. The cost of their services will be $16,500. That will be money well spent, said councilman Richard Banks. Councilman Bill Estes recommended that the Mercer Group also interview the advisory committee to help determine what criteria to look for, and to also write the job description. The search firm will submit all applicants to the advisory committee, which will narrow the list down to five or six names that will be submitted to the council. The city has been in the process of creating a new pay plan for its 325 full-time employees. City Manager Casteel recommended using a 3.5 step plan and dropping off the first step that is currently being used so that the starting salary would begin three and a half percent higher than it does now. Each grade of classification for future promotions would be 8.2 percent. It was also recommended that, in addition to the pay check, employees be given a dollar amount of what their benefits package is worth. A new HR Department will be created that will set out employee guidelines before voting on the plan. Approval was given to Lee University to abandon the right-of-ways around 4th and 5th streets, which will give the university the opportunity to continue developing the campus. President Paul Conn said the renaissance of Lee started 20 years ago when it was allowed to develop a campus on Church Street by using private money for the public good. Updates on several projects in development were presented at the council meeting. Doug Berry, director of the Industrial Development Board, reported on the Industrial Park that is being created jointly by the city of Cleveland, Bradley County and Cleveland Utilities. He said the site is being prepared for construction. Because it is 13 miles from the Volkswagen plant it is considered to be too far away for tier one suppliers, but Mr. Berry said there is a better chance of attracting tier two and three suppliers. Of the 330-acre site, 125 acres will be included in buffer zones, leaving 200 acres for lot sales. Of that there will be 120 acres of buildable pad area, or around 36 percent of the entire property. The total development costs are expected to be $6 million including the acquisition of the property. An additional $6 million will be needed for infrastructure such as roads and sewer. Part of these costs will be off-set by $155,000 in lumber sales coming from timber off of 140 acres of the property. Applications have also been made for two grants to help with the expenses. The land sales will be around $45,000-$65,000 per acre. The industrial park is expected to produce 2,300 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs. It will increase retail spending in the area along with the increase of city and county sales taxes, plus residential property tax. A privately owned site of 100 acres adjoins the property owned by the city and county and will be developed along-side the industrial park as commercial space. A mixed-use development is planned for that site with 70 acres of retail space, six restaurants, four hotels, apartments and condos, all contributing to economic impact in the area. Mr. Berry also gave an account of the Whirlpool property that is being left as the company transitions into a new plant. This leaves questions about managing the facilities now. Plant #2 is still being used by the company as a warehouse, he said. There is a potential buyer for plant #3. The distribution area of the main plant, #1, is fully occupied now, he said, but the rest of the building is vacant and will be demolished. Another vacant property, the Woolen Mill, is considered to be the best location downtown for a new hotel. The building has enough space for 120 rooms and conference facilities, he said. The Raider Arena at Cleveland High School is secured now, a representative from the Bradley County School Board told the council. Glass and sidewalks are installed, and the heat and AC are running. Electrical and plumbing are being put in as is the floor. The upper bleachers are in. The track surface will be the last to be finished with that surface requiring two weeks to cure. A letter from Mainstreet Cleveland regarding property that the city recently bought at 266 Inman St. asked the council to refrain from demolishing the building for 90 days. With a $50,000 grant they hope to receive, the group wants to preserve the old building. A vote was unanimous to wait for 90 days before doing anything to the building. Two new police officers, Geoffrey Humberd and Michael McCant, were sworn in Monday afternoon by Mayor Tom Rowland. And Police Chief Mark Gibson recognized the promotion of Lt. Scott Bronze, Lt. Matt Jenkins and Sgt. Evie West. Architect firm Kohn Pedersen Fox and structural engineering company Leslie E. Robertson Associates are looking to develop a mile-high building in Tokyo, Japan, which could possibly be the world's next tallest building. Situated in Tokyo Bay, just southeast of the city proper, the plan doesn't just call for the construction of a "single massive building." If granted, Next Tokyo would be the first mini-city intended to battle climate change. The New York Post reports: "Envisioned as part of Tokyo's effort to protect itself from rising tides, Next Tokyo would feature a chain of man-made, hexagon-shaped islands. They would form a barrier to protect Japan's capital from flooding as well as provide the foundation for homes for some 500,000 people. They could be connected by Hyperloop, Elon Musk's high-speed transit system." Of course, the piece-de-resistance of the plan is the skyscraper standing at a height of 5,577 feet, which is expected to see completion in 2045. The building is currently being dubbed as the Sky Mile Tower, and just like its neighboring islands, the structure would be hexagon-shaped as well - but this time its for "optimal wind resistance." According to Architectural Digest, the tower will also have "multilevel sky lobbies where residents would share amenities such as shopping centers, restaurants, hotels, gyms, libraries, and health clinics." Not only that, but reports have also claimed that the tower could hold as much as 55,000 people, "a full 10th of the city-within-a-city's population." Moreover, the building will also have state-of-the-art cable-free elevators, allowing movement vertically and horizontally. The building is somewhat self-sustaining as well. "The building's facade will collect, filter and store water from the atmosphere, serving as its own apartments' water supply so that the upper floors don't have to rely on a traditional water pump," as reported by The Post. The Skye Mile Tower (photo), if approved, will double the height of the world's current tallest building - Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands at 2,716.5 feet. Check out renderings of Next Tokyo here: (1) (2) An Athens man was found dead in his apartment Feb. 21 after not being in contact with his family for a couple of days, according to Athens-Clarke County police. Mayor Andy Berke will launch the TVIW Fourth Symposium's program on March 1 at 7 p.m. at The Edney, 1100 Market St., 5th Floor. The event is free to the public. Schedule of events: 7 p.m. - Welcome by Chattanooga Mayor Berke 7:15 p.m. - "Interstellar Travel: Is it Possible?" A talk presented by Les Johnson. Les is a science and science fiction author and a NASA scientist. He was the featured Interstellar Explorer in National Geographic magazine, a technical consultant for the movie, Europa Report and is leading an asteroid rendezvous mission for NASA. His "Going Interstellar" anthology describes future interstellar journeys and he serves as the Chair of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop.7:45 p.m. - "Science Fiction / Science Fact: Science Fiction Authors Discuss Interstellar Travel" - A panel with New York Times best selling science fiction authors whose works highlight possible futures in which humans roam the space between the stars.8:30 p.m. - Book Signing All the authors participating will be available to sign copies of their books. Also, representatives from the Hamilton Place Barnes & Noble will be on site to sell copies of the authors books and other interstellar related titles.Authors who will be participating in the nights events are:Dr. Gregory Benford - a science fiction author and astrophysicist on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of over twenty novels, including "Bowl of Heaven" and "Shipstar." He is a two-time winner of the Nebula Award and a four-time Hugo Award nominee.Dr. Charles E. Gannon - Prior to becoming a full time author, Dr. Gannon was a Distinguished Professor of English at St. Bonaventure University and a Fulbright Senior Specialist. His is the author of the "Fire With Fire" series and collaborates on the New York Times Best Selling series: the Starfire military sf series ("Extremis") and Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series.Sarah A. Hoyt - has over 23 published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Weird tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner.Geoffrey Landis - is a NASA scientist working on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics. Supported by his scientific background Landis also writes hard science fiction, and has won a Nebula Award, two Hugo Awards, and a Locus Award.Jack McDevitt - is science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. His two main series are the Alex Benedict series and the Priscilla Hutchins series. He won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel and has been nominated an additional sixteen times.Toni Weisskopf - is a science fiction editor and the publisher of Baen Books. She edited a number of anthologies and won the Phoenix Award in 1994 for excellence in science fiction and was a Hugo Award nominee. She is an alumna of Oberlin College. In this photo provided by Paramount Pictures shows Pablo Schreiber, from left, as Kris "Tanto" Paronto, John Krasinski as Jack Silva, David Denman as Dave "Boon" Benton and Dominic Fumusa as John "Tig" Tiegen, in the film, "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" from Paramount Pictures and 3 Arts Entertainment/Bay Films. The movie releases in U.S. theaters Jan. 15, 2016. (Christian Black/Paramount Pictures via AP) SHARE By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer "Stand down," says the actor playing the CIA station chief in Michael Bay's new film, "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi." He's speaking to the security team that wants to go help Americans under siege less than a mile away in a U.S. diplomatic compound under fierce attack. His order keeps the team from leaving for a crucial 20 minutes, before they decide to ignore him and go anyway. It's the pivotal and most controversial scene in the new film, a movie that Bay insists steers clear of politics, but which is bound to spark much political discussion nonetheless. On Friday the movie's opening day the Washington Post quoted the now-retired CIA station chief, identified only as Bob, as strongly denying he ever issued such an order or anything like it. "There never was a stand-down order," the base chief was quoted by the Post as saying. "At no time did I ever second-guess that the team would depart." The author of the book upon which the film is based, Mitchell Zuckoff, stood by his depiction of the scene on Friday, saying in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he'd based it on several firsthand accounts. Zuckoff collaborated on his book, "13 Hours," with some of the surviving security contractors. "It's not credible what he's claiming," Zuckoff said of the station chief, whom he said he had tried to interview when writing the book, but his request was denied. Four Americans died in the attacks, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. In November 2014, a two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee found that the CIA and military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on the compound. Among other findings, it determined that there was no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, and no missed opportunity for a military rescue. In Washington, CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani referred to those findings and others as making it clear that the scene in the film is inaccurate. "If one is looking for facts on Benghazi, those reviews contain them," he said. "No one will mistake this movie for a documentary," Trapani added. "It's a distortion of the events and people who served in Benghazi that night. It's shameful that, in order to highlight the heroism of some, those responsible for the movie felt the need to denigrate the courage of other Americans who served in harm's way." Trapani called what happened in Benghazi "an amazing tale of heroism, courage under fire, leadership and camaraderie by the CIA security team, other CIA officers, State Department personnel, and those who came on the evacuation mission from Tripoli." In the Post report, the station chief, Bob, also challenged the movie's depiction of him as treating the security contractors members of the so-called Global Response Staff dismissively and derisively as "hired help," in the words of the film script. "These guys were heroes," he was quoted as saying by the Post. Zuckoff, who teaches journalism at Boston University, said he wasn't surprised that the movie has sparked political discussion. "It would be naive to think that some won't view it through a political lens," he said. "But it's not what we set out to do in the book or movie." Bay, the director, has stressed that he sees the movie as non-political, because it focuses on what he calls "a great human story, that got buried. And that's the story I'm telling: the guys who were on the ground. The men and women that were stuck in the CIA annex, and how they fought for 13 hours to get out of there alive." Speaking in an interview last week in Miami promoting the movie, Bay also said that the filmmakers took great pains to present the facts accurately. "We worked very hard to get the facts right from the research of the book that Mitch did to the amazing access I have from working 20 years with the military, from the boots on the ground, the people who were in country to the CIA, at a high-level meeting to get just the facts right, the recently released emails. We just had to get it right." ___ Associated Press writer Joshua Replogle in Miami contributed to this report. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Vernon Lee Simon Jr., is scheduled to begin standing trial June 1 on second-degree murder and other charges in connection with fatal 2015 traffic collision. SHARE By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight A 50-year-old Redding driver charged with second-degree murder in a 2015 traffic collision that killed another driver lost his bid on Monday in Shasta County Superior Court to have that count reduced or thrown out. Superior Court Judge Cara Beatty upheld a September ruling by Judge Dan Flynn that ordered Vernon Lee Simon Jr., to stand trial for murder, among other charges. In her decision, Beatty rejected arguments by Simon's deputy public defender that there was insufficient evidence to have Simon stand trial for second-degree murder. She noted, for instance, that a driver reported seeing Simon "driving crazy" before the fatal crash and decided to follow him. Police said Simon was driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse on a suspended license north on Highway 273 near Canyon Road just after 6:30 a.m. on March 26, 2015, when he went into the southbound lanes and struck a Ford Thunderbird driven by Russell Tim Hager, 57, killing him. Witnesses in the area reported the driver of the Eclipse was driving recklessly and erratically before the collision, police said. In addition to second-degree murder, Simon, scheduled to begin standing trial June 1, is charged with driving under the influence causing injury with prior convictions and a series of enhancements. According to a Redding Police Department investigative report, Simon told police he was going through some "bereavement" issues stemming from the recent death of his aunt and had gone to Shasta Regional Medical Center around 4 a.m. to seek treatment for anxiety. He said he was given anxiety medication and then started for home, according to the police report. "He said he did not recall the collision," the police report added. "He said he thought he was driving down I-5 and then the next thing he remembered was the police being there." But, the police report said, Simon told a police offer while he was at the hospital after the crash that he had drunk a "couple of beers," that he had shared a "strawberita" with his wife between 1 and 3 a.m., and that he had also smoked a half-joint of marijuana. Simon, who has a lengthy history with police, including several charges of domestic violence, pleaded no-contest in 2014 to reckless driving involving alcohol, a DUI-related charge, according to Shasta County Superior Court Records. Simon remains in Shasta County Jail in lieu of $1.3 million bail. Record Searchlight file photo Quentin Bealer of Red Bluff is shown being escorted to Tehama County Superior Court during one of his earlier appearances there. SHARE By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight SACRAMENTO The long-awaited trial of a Red Bluff man accused of strangling a 14-year-old girl in 2013 has once again been put off. Quentin Bealer's murder trial had been slated to begin Monday with motions and the start of jury selection. But it was delayed after his defense attorney filed legal motions to dismiss the case and recuse the Tehama County District Attorney's Office. Defense attorney Shon Northam said attorneys are due back in Sacramento County Superior Court on Feb. 16 to consider his motions. The trial was ordered in late 2014 to be moved to Sacramento County due to extensive media coverage of the case. Northam said he filed motions to dismiss the case and remove the Tehama County District Attorney's Office based on the prosecution withholding hundreds of pages of potentially exculpatory information. The District Attorney's Office released those documents to him just two weeks ago, on Jan. 25. A spokesperson for the Tehama County District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment on Monday. It had been expected that the trial would begin Feb. 22 with witnesses presenting evidence, but the new snag has thrown doubt on when that trial might be held. "Not for a long time," Northam said in an e-mail to the Record Searchlight. Bealer, 42, is charged with murder in the strangulation death of Marysa Nichols of Red Bluff. Her body was found in a creek bed near Red Bluff High School on Feb. 28, 2013, two days after her family reported her missing. Bealer was ordered in January 2014 to stand trial in the teen's slaying after a preliminary hearing that saw a Department of Justice criminalist testify that Bealer's DNA was found on the shirt used to strangle the teenager. Bealer turned himself in March 2, 2013, as a person of interest who was captured on surveillance footage walking near Marysa Feb. 26, 2013. He was subsequently charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. SHARE MOUNT SHASTA - Two teenagers suspected of a pair of robberies in late January have turned themsevles in, Mount Shasta police say. Officers say Christian Bangert, 18, of Weed, and an unnamed 17-year-old from Mount Shasta, face charges of robbery and burglary. The pair are accused of robbing a hotel in Yreka Jan. 30 and then trying to rob the cashier at the Best Western Treehouse hotel in Mount Shasta in the early morning hours of Jan. 31. In that attempted robbery, police have said one of the two young men pistol whipped the 62-year-old cashier. The minor turned himself in Saturday while Bangert turned himself in Monday, police say. Bangert's bail has been set at $100,000, according to the Siskiyou County Jail website. He also faces a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. SHARE By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight It all started with two brief demonstrations at Cascade Square on California Street. Now Redding transportation officials are working on a policy that will allow parklets. Those rules will have the greatest effect in the downtown, where lower speeds, shops and restaurants could make them more appealing. Separately, the California Department of Transportation, acknowledging the popularity of the outdoor seating nooks, is developing statewide standards to accommodate them on roads it controls. When the city policy is in place, James Mazzotta already can see a parklet going up on Placer Street between Amarte Salon & Spa, Westwood Supply Co. and the Enjoy the Store. The shop, owned by his wife, Yvonne Mazzotta, and her partner, Michelle Adams, was among the many businesses and groups that collaborated with Shasta Living Streets to set up the pop-up market and parklet last fall. While those were temporary, the city is considering ways to allow businesses and organizations to make them permanent features. The demonstration occurred during a three-day weekend in September and 10 days between November and December. It extended out from the sidewalk and took up two parking spaces. "We had great results from the parklet being here," Mazzotta said of the increased bike and foot traffic he saw at Enjoy the Store. "It does not exist here, but it has been adopted in other cities." San Francisco, where the phenomenon started, at last count was poised to increase the number of its parklets to 75, opening public spaces while also inviting criticism for the loss of parking stalls. Redding will borrow language from San Francisco, Sacramento and Long Beach to write its policy, said Brian Crane, public works director. Property owners interested in creating such a space would apply for an encroachment permit from the city. The responsibility would fall squarely on them to design, build and maintain the facility, he said. It is anticipated the City Council may see the policy within the next six months. "Our take is that these are public spaces. They are not exclusive to a business in front of them," Crane said. Indeed, nonprofits, museums and civic groups in other communities have been responsible for building parklets. When Shasta Living Streets approached local Caltrans officials with its idea, there were concerns. It had never been tried on a state-owned road in California, said Dave Moore, Caltrans District 2 director. But the experiment paid off. "There was a lot of space out there. That was a big help. The fact that the traffic lane was 8 feet away from the parklet, that gave us a level of comfort," Moore said. It's unknown when Caltrans will finish setting up the rules for parklets. Parklets won't be doable on every state-owned road in the downtown. Parklets will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Moore said, noting that the segments of road with greater chance of success are on California, Pine and Market streets. Several factors will be considered. Chief among those are speed, traffic volumes and a parklet's proximity to traffic, he said. Mazzotta welcomed the idea of the private sector taking ownership for building out the spaces. "As soon as the city gets involved, it gets complicated. They want to micromanage to the point it is not doable. I mean no disrespect. I understand (the city's) job is to look out for citizens," he said. For its work on the parklet demonstration and its effect on state policy, Shasta Living Streets received a nod from StreetsBlog, a publication that focuses on transportation issues. "We were demonstrating what it was and why you want it," said Anne Wallach Thomas, Shasta Living Streets executive director. "It's like we cracked this door open for the state." Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Limelight Health staff, Garrett Viggers, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder, from left, Ryan Nemanic, Product Manager and Angel Inokon, Principal Product Manager, all of Redding, work on product design Monday at their Redding office. The Bay Area company recently opened their Redding office. SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Limelight Health Chief Technology Officer Alan Leard, left, of Redding, and Developer Manager Josh Martinez of Anderson work Monday in their Redding office. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Limelight Health staff members Garrett Viggers, chief product officer and co-founder, from left, Ryan Nemanic, product manager, and Angel Inokon, principal product manager, all of Redding, work on product design Monday at their Redding office. The Bay Area company recently opened an office in Redding. By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight Around lunch time while visiting the Shasta Venture HUB, Eric Casequin grabs a pair of tacos from a green food truck parked in front of the building. Wearing a cap and goatee, Casequin lays out his career as a Web developer in Redding. Casequin, 37, arrived in Redding in his early 20s and worked a number of jobs while studying tech-related subjects, such as computer languages Drupal and JavaScript. After several jobs in and out of the tech industry locally and in the Bay Area, Casequin found work as a full stack developer someone with high-end coding skills who helps create and maintain websites with Limelight Health in Redding. The San Francisco-based company creates insurance quoting apps and recently opened an office in Shasta County off Bechelli. Redding's tech industry is expanding at a steady pace, making someone with Casequin's skill a hot commodity. But the local industry is in a delicate point where the demand for tech-savvy workers is greater than the local pool of employees who know computer programming and systems. Some who monitor the industry closely say the community needs to take steps now to increase the number of workers with the right skills. That means expanding local educational opportunities and even looking for talent from out of state. "Still a lot of work to be done" Rachel Hatch, co-curator of TEDxRedding, has watched the local tech scene grow in the past five years. That was due in part to letting others in the tech industry know that a number of companies found success in a city far north of Silicon Valley. Continuing those efforts and getting the word out to younger workers that tech jobs are available here in Shasta County will determine whether a company will look north of San Francisco, she said. "I believe we stand a chance at becoming an unexpected hub of entrepreneurial activity, if we position ourselves well right now," said Hatch. "Jobs in the tech sector don't just arise out of nothing. They require a culture of making a sense of community around entrepreneurship, lots of smarts and connections to funding." Casequin has a front-row seat to the current state of the local tech industry. "Redding's scene right now is fast moving, but unknown. People outside the community do not know it exists," he said. "There is still a lot of work to be done." Some of that work is convincing a tech company to set up shop north of the Bay Area, an ongoing job for the Economic Development Corp. of Shasta County. It plays up affordable real estate and the growing tech industry when promoting Redding to potential companies. EDC President Mark Lascelles said when the Great Recession eliminated certain jobs in the North State a few years ago, the tech and startup economy seemed recession-proof. "It's a relatively new field in Redding," he said. "People have already established the infrastructure. Our role now can be focused on the recruitment process and letting people know about the industry already here." Growing the industry will be essential to encourage people to move to Shasta County to work in tech, business owners and managers said. Alan Leard, chief technology officer and co-founder of Limelight Health, said finding talent in Redding can be just as complicated as the Bay Area but in a different way. In the Bay Area, developers might be abundant but so is the competition. In Redding, it's more difficult to find those with the necessary tech skills. Leard said it's taken time for Limelight Health to build its current workforce in Redding. "We have not tried to convince talent to move here yet," he said. "It will be hard until Redding has sufficient opportunities in the industry. When a potential employee is considering a relocation, they want to know there will be other opportunities for them in their career if this one doesn't work out." Incubator focuses on tech The tech incubator model of the Shasta Venture HUB, managed by the EDC, is one component of grooming the new workforce. It provides a place for new businesses centered around tech services or products. An example of what a tech incubator can do can be found in Butte County. ChicoStart has hosted 33 startups over two years, with six of those companies growing too big for the space in the municipal building where the incubator is housed, according to Wendy Porter, managing director. Of those six companies, five are operating in Chico and 41 jobs have been created, Porter said. Mark Soderwall operates Indie Game University out of the Venture HUB, where he offers insight into video game development. Soderwall says there are a number of ways to build a game world. One method is beta testing, where developers give players early access to their game world, similar to how the popular sandbox game Minecraft created the mechanics of its world. But without players the world can seem lonely, and without structure the novelty can wear off quickly. The same can be said for the local tech economy. "Iron sharpens iron. There needs to be community engagement between creative types and companies, and those people need to know they are not alone," Soderwall said. To help foster that kind of community, Casequin, the Web developer with Limelight Health, hosts a monthly social meetup at the Venture HUB. The Redding Area Designers and Developers (R.A.D.D.) group boasts a noble agenda to improve the tech oriented community in Redding. Its website reads, "Talent is hard to find. Building community helps talent be more exposed." Casequin worked in an early version of Bethel Church's Web development department. Today, Bethel Media is a large player in the local tech industry and continues to create momentum for the area. Lascelles said the tech industry would be different today if it were not for Bethel Media. "I think the growth curb we have seen would have been considerably longer. They are the majority players in this arena and are a big part of what's going on in the city," Lascelles said. Education opportunities To help create more tech workers, education will be necessary, those watching the industry say. Shasta College offers several certificates in computer related fields, including Web design and two associates of arts degrees in systems management. One degree includes programming, e-commerce marketing and other courses that focus on establishing a service or product in the tech field. The computer networking program prepares students for CompTIA, Microsoft and Cisco certification, real world certificates that offer entry-level jobs. Certification is a goal for the college, said Dhabih Hendershot, computer information systems instructor. "What's good about that process, we have the degrees, and the point is to get students prepared for industry certification, to get them experience and education," said computer information systems instructor Dhabih Hendershot, who added the college also offers testing on the campus, allowing students to take the tests locally rather than driving a larger metro area as they had to in the past.. Simpson University doesn't offer a computer science program, and other community organizations aren't offering much tech training, either. But not all jobs in this field depend on knowing how to code. Support services such as accounting and sales also come into play. Last year Catavolt, Inc. chose Redding to establish a West Coast sales team. The Georgia-based, mobile app platform company chose Redding because a sales force was already in place, according to Tim Marinello, director of sales operations. Marinello has worked in the tech industry and in Redding since graduating from Simpson University in 2007. As an example of a fast-moving industry, Marinello and his five-person team were ready to work on day one. "Catavolt chose Redding, because we stayed in Redding," Marinello said, remarking the tech industry often poaches players from other companies when looking to expand. SHARE Shelby Allen By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight A 17-year-old Redding girl was arraigned this morning in Shasta County Juvenile Court on felony involuntary manslaughter and other charges in connection with last December's alcohol-poisoning death of Shelby Lyn Allen. The girl, who is also charged with providing alcohol to a minor and providing alcohol to a minor resulting in great bodily injury or death, both misdemeanors, did not enter a plea during the brief hearing that was attended by her parents and Allen's family. Superior Court Judge Dan Flynn, noting that the teenager and her parents have received telephone and e-mail threats, ordered that her name remain confidential in order to try to protect their safety. The Record Searchlight does not publish the names of minors who are accused of crimes unless they are being prosecuted as adults The teenager was 16 at the time of Allen's death and is being prosecuted as a minor. District Attorney Jerry Benito said today that the teenage suspect will not be prosecuted as an adult due to the nature of the offense. She allegedly furnished the alcohol to Shelby Allen, who became incapacitated. He said the suspect had a responsiblity to seek help for her friend. The girl faces up to four years in custody if convicted. Benito said that the decision to file the charges was made after an extensive review of the case that included in-house discussions and talks with juvenile probation officials and the girl's attorney. "These types of charges are very controversial, but this is a very important issue that's going on in our community on a regular basis," he said. Shelby Allen's parents, Steve and Debbie Allen, launched an educational campaign aimed at helping other children and their families avoid similar tragedies. Benito said his decision to file the charges mirrors the Allens' educational campaign, which calls upon those who see their friends in dire trouble to seek immediate help. Benito also said that his office will not seek charges against the accused girl's parents, who reportedly warned the girls before going to bed that there was to be no drinking. "There are simply not enough facts to support bringing charges against the parents," he said. The girl is being represented by Redding defense attorney Adam Ryan and she remains in the custody of her parents. She is scheduled to return to juvenile court on June 24 for possible entry of her plea. Shelby Allen, a popular 17-year-old Foothill High School junior who eyed a future career in the film industry, was found dead on Dec. 20 at an Old Alturas Road home between Redding and Bella Vista after several hours of heavy drinking there. The home is owned by the parents of the girl who's on trial. The Shasta County coroner's office has said that Allen's blood alcohol level was 0.33 percent. According to a coroner's report, Allen went with her 16-year-old friend to the home where they met a third friend, age 14, and started drinking alcohol after everyone else in the house was asleep. All told, there were six people in the house aside from the three girls. Allen, who weighed 107 pounds, reportedly had 16 or 17 straight shots of vodka and became ill, the coroner's report said. One of the girls led Allen to a downstairs bathroom and propped her next to the toilet so she would not choke if she got sick, the report said. The girl allegedly left Allen in the bathroom and went to bed, the report said. Allen's body was found later in the morning still propped up against the toilet. Steve Allen said after today's hearing that he was recently contacted by a victim's advocate with the district attorney's office who told him the girl would be charged. He said he was not privy to the details that prompted the district attorney's office to file charges against her. "I knew there was an on-going criminal investigation," he said. SHARE Noah Potts By Record Searchlight Staff Shasta County sheriff's detectives say they arrested two men in connection with the murder of a man in Big Bend early Saturday morning. Detectives say they arrested Noah Ryan Potts, 28, on suspicion of murder and Colin Horn Kennedy, 25, on suspicion of conspiring to commit murder. Deputies headed to a house about a quarter-mile north of the Pit Stop store in Big Bend in eastern Shasta County after getting reports of a gunshot victim around 4:48 a.m., said Lt. John Hubbard of the sheriff's office. When deputies arrived, they found the victim dead from gun shot wounds inside the home, detectives said. The victim's identity was being withheld until authorities can inform the family, he added. Hubbard said he didn't know the victim's age or the nature of his wounds. Hubbard also said he didn't know whether the victim had lived at the home. "It was a family residence," Hubbard said. He said he didn't know the relationship between the trio. Authorities arrested Kennedy once on a warrant out of Missouri in May, according to court documents. They do not specify the nature of the warrant. Official records show a Noah Ryan Potts had been arrested most recently in 2010. They do not list what he was charged with. However, court documents say Potts had been arrested Aug. 26, 2005 on suspicion of public intoxication, interfering with emergency personnel, obstructing a police officer and failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge. He pled no contest to the obstructing an officer charge. The others were dismissed. Potts was later arrested on suspicion of petty theft stemming from an incident in July 2007, to which he pled no contest. In September 2007, Potts was arrested on suspicion of obstructing an officer and public intoxication, and a failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge. He pled no contest to the first charge, and the latter two were dismissed. Deputies originally spoke with up to five people at the scene. Detectives found a weapon, though Hubbard said he didn't know what type or whether it was the one used in the homicide. He said deputies initially were pulling over vehicles in the area because witnesses reported a vehicle had driven off from the scene with several people inside. Hubbard said he didn't know the motive behind the slaying, though the home had no evidence of illegal activities. Detectives called out a helicopter to take aerial surveillance of the area. Detectives also mentioned a possible family disturbance may have been connected to the homicide. Just a few months ago, it seemed as if the November election might produce the silliest "silly season" ever seen in modern California politics. But the essential good sense of shoppers around the state appears to have prevented that. It's shoppers at big-box stores like Home Depot, Best Buy, Target, Walmart and Costco who provide the bulk of voter signatures needed to qualify initiatives, referenda and recalls for the ballot. Sometimes there's a fear that these shopper/voters will sign just about anything merely to get the petition carriers near the entrances out of their hair. Plenty of silly measures were proposed for this fall, but virtually none made it through the process of gathering 365,885 valid signatures, even though that's the lowest total required in many years, the result of the very small turnout in the 2014 election. One would have required display of the California state flag in the position of first honor when both it and the American flag are on view at public buildings from schools to stadia. Not only would this be offensive to many, but it also would have no discernible benefits. There was also a plan to ban political contributions of all kinds from out of state donors to most campaigns conducted in California. Federal offices like U.S. Senator and members of Congress would have been exempt. Likewise, a plan to change the title of California's chief executive from governor to president didn't come close to getting the signatures needed to put it on the ballot. Neither did a proposal to demand that anyone proposing a ballot measure advocating the killing of gays and/or lesbians (there was just such a proposal; it also went nowhere) would have to attend sensitivity training or donate money to a pro-gay or -lesbian organization. A plan to multiply the membership of the Legislature by about 100 also failed, but might be back. Another failure aimed to ban sales of shrimp and other shellfish. This one carried a $666,000 fine and/or a prison sentence for each sale. Also not making the ballot were a couple of referenda, measures aiming to reverse new laws passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor (still not California's president). One would have allowed anyone to avoid getting children vaccinated simply by stating that personal beliefs forbid it. Another would have reversed the new and not yet in effect law allowing doctors to administer lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients. A move to recall Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento for authoring the current law requiring almost universal vaccination of schoolchildren failed, too. Some of these ideas would have had to be taken seriously by their opponents, who in a few cases were ready to spend millions of dollars fighting them off. Others would simply have cluttered a ballot that already figures to be the longest ever. Their absence leaves voters to consider what is likely to be dozens of very serious ideas, most with significant consequences. There could be, for example, three or more measures to boost taxes. Two aim to extend the levies of the 2012 Proposition 30, which mostly upped taxes on the wealthy. A third would surcharge tax bills for properties officially valued at $3 million or more, the new money going to anti-poverty programs. That's intended as a sort of Robin Hood system. Tax cuts are also likely to be present and a plan to lift the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 might also make the ballot. So could a plan to increase the time of service public school teachers need to earn tenure from two years to five, and another limiting the pay of nonprofit hospital executives to the same level as what the president of the United States earns now $450,00 a year. There are more, with four measures already assured ballot spots, 73 others now authorized to collect signatures and almost two-dozen awaiting official naming by the attorney general. The only one without wide implications is one to require use of condoms in all movies involving sexual intercourse. That's all silly enough, but it could have been much worse. Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. Tuition will be about $15,000 per year, Albert said, with a small group of new students enrolling every three months. It's intended to be a boutique operation with only about 15 students at each entry point, ratcheting up to a total enrollment of about 60. To some degree it will compete with such existing schools as the American Film Institute in Hollywood, the California Institute of the Arts and, closer to home, Columbia College Chicago, which has one of the largest film schools in the country in terms of student enrollment. None of those schools specialize in comedy, although student filmmakers at all of them certainly can and do work on movies intended to be funny. British oil firm Cairn Energy plc on Tuesday said it will seek from India over $600 million in damages for loss it suffered in value of its holding from a Rs 10,247-crore (Rs 102.47-billion) tax demand raised on its eight-year-old internal business recognition. The Income Tax Department using a retrospective legislation had in January 2014 issued a draft tax assessment order on Cairn Energy over its 2006 internal business reorganisation and barred it from selling its 9.8 per cent stake in Cairn India. In a statement, Cairn said it had initiated arbitration challenging levy of tax under UK-India Investment Treaty. "International arbitration proceedings to resolve the retrospective tax issue in India have now formally commenced following the agreement between Cairn and the Government of India on the appointment of a panel of three international arbitrators under the terms of the UK-India Investment Treaty," said Simon Thomson, Chief Executive, Cairn Energy. Geneva-based arbitrator Laurent Levy was last week appointed the presiding officer of the three-member arbitrator panel. Cairn had previously named former Bulgarian minister Stanimir A Alexandrov as its arbitrator in the tax dispute while the Indian government in November appointed Singapore-based lawyer J Christopher Thomas as its arbitrator. "Cairn has a high level of confidence in its case under the UK-India Investment Treaty, and in addition to resolution of the retrospective tax dispute, its statement of claim to the arbitration panel will seek damages equal to the value of Cairn's residual shareholding in Cairn India Ltd at the time it was attached (approximately $1 billion)," the statement said. The 9.8 per cent holding is currently valued at $384 million, it said. In January 2014, Cairn was slapped with a Rs 10,247-crore (Rs 102.47-billion) assessment notice on alleged capital gains made on a 2006 internal reorganisation. However, no tax demand has been raised so far. The Income Tax Department says Cairn Energy allegedly made a capital gain of Rs 24,503.50 crore in 2006 while transferring all its India assets to a new company, Cairn India, and getting it listed on the stock exchanges. Cairn Energy, which had in 2011 sold majority stake in its Indian unit to mining group Vedanta for $8.67 billion, still holds 9.8 per cent stake in Cairn India. But it has been barred by the I-T Department from selling this stake. The company said it remains fully funded from existing financial resources to deliver its exploration and appraisal programme. 'The BJP sees investments, both foreign and domestic, as their pathways to political power and not the construction of the Ram temple or a nationwide ban on beef.' 'It will have no option but to let commerce prevail over religious sentiments,' says Amulya Ganguli. It is doubtful if Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has thought through all the implications of his government providing special licences to foreigners for eating beef. First, the concession, even to non-Indians, will be regarded as an affront to Hindu religious sentiments by supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The house owners among them will be loathe to rent out their premises to such beef-eaters, special permits or not Secondly, the permission for eating beef entails the killing of cows -- an abhorrent concept to the Sangh Parivar. Besides, the step will run counter to the law enacted by the state government last year, prohibiting the slaughter of cows along with the sale, trafficking and consumption of beef. At one stroke, the government's latest initiative will nullify all the four bans. Why has the government taken this step which goes against the grain of all that the Parivar has preached all these years? It is to ensure that beef-eating foreign investors are not discouraged by the various prohibitions. At the moment, Haryana expects investments from China and Japan, both beef-eating countries. ,font size=7>As the BJP interacts more and more with the world, it will realise that beef, rather than chicken and lamb, is the most popular of non-vegetarian items all over the world. The need, therefore, for licences for their consumers who will come to India to run their businesses will continue to grow if the BJP is keen on investments. As a result, it will have no option but to let commerce prevail over religious sentiments. In the 90 years since the formation of the RSS and 35 years of the BJP, the various compulsions of the overseas mercantile world hadn't bothered the two organisations. Their objective was based on the 'Hindi, Hindu, Hindusthan' slogan envisaging a predominantly Hindu nation -- all Indians are Hindus, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said -- comprising vegetarians. Although the Jan Sangh -- the BJP's predecessor -- was seen as a party of traders, its commercial interests were insular in nature, confined to Hindusthan. The ungodly outsider or mlechha had nothing to do with the business dealings of the party's conservative and patriarchal urban traders. Enter Narendra Modi and this mould of orthodoxy is on the verge of cracking. Notwithstanding the objections of the protectionist Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the anti-FDI Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and others in the saffron fold, including the BJP which still vows to disallow foreign investment in the retail sector, the winds of globalisation are threatening to sweep away the previously secure saffron redoubts, which used to thrive in the kirana stores in the dingy lanes of north Indian mofussil towns. Their places are now being taken by the dazzling shop fronts and the alluring ambience of the malls and multiplexes in emerging towns like Gurgaon and Noida near Delhi and virtually all over the country. In this hedonistic atmosphere of consumerism, the BJP is fighting a losing battle against individual preferences in the matters of eating, drinking and choosing life, or live-in, partners. It may not be unrealistic to say that the Haryana government's licences for foreign beef-eaters will be extended in course of time to Indians as well if only because such restrictive permissiveness may not stand legal scrutiny. True, it is allowed in states like Gujarat in the case of alcohol. But prohibition -- whether total or partial (as in Kerala) -- is facing legal challenges in view of the arguments about its ill-effects, such as encouraging bootlegging. Only the Directive Principle in its favour in the Constitution remains its last line of defence. Culinary choices are something else. As it is, several BJP leaders are retreating from their earlier outright condemnation of beef-eating because of the realisation that such an uncompromising stance is untenable in today's world. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is from cosmopolitan Goa, has said, for instance, that eating beef is a matter of 'individual opinion' and even the veteran Kalraj Mishra from the more orthodox UP has said that 'If people eat beef, how can you stop them?' Evidently, vigilantism is no longer preferred, presumably after the lynching in Dadri of a Muslim man suspected of eating beef. It would have been unthinkable in, say, the 1990s when the BJP was emerging from the margins of politics to enter centre-stage, for any of its stalwarts to speak in favour of beef. Such irreverence towards the holy cow would have been associated with the alienated secularists. But the BJP now sees investments, both foreign and domestic -- as their pathways to political power and not the construction of the Ram temple or a nationwide ban on beef. The 21st century has trumped medievalism. Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current affairs 'AMU is a secular university with an Islamic ethos.' 'What is happening here will have a tremendous impact on Muslim minds. We are trying to integrate Muslims into the fabric of India.' 'We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Let me tell you Muslims do not need reservations. They need affirmative action in education.' General Zameeruddin Shah, the man who quelled the Gujarat riots for Narendra Modi in 2002, is now at the forefront of the battle to save the Aligarh Muslim University's minority ethos. Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor Lieutenant General Zameeruddin Shah (retd) is in the forefront of trying to save its minority character. Having retired as deputy chief of the army staff, General Shah -- actor Naseeruddin Shah's elder brother -- comes across as a no nonsense individual who is determined to make AMU the number one university in India. The general, below, left, spoke to Rashme Sehgal for Rediff.com There seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding reservations for Muslim students in AMU. We have no religious-based reservations. We have reservations for students coming out of our ten AMU schools, alumni and for students from distant states. Distant states? Yes. The idea to get students from across the country and that helps to give an all India culture to the university. You have no reservations for other backward classes? We have no reservations for OBCs. It is permitted because we are a minority institution as per a Supreme Court stay order on a high court judgment. You were appointed VC during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government's tenure and have seen 20 months of the present NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government. Is there a continuation of policies especially in their approach to institutions of learning? Certainly not. One is regarding inequitable funding which I have brought to the notice of the human resources development ministry. The Banaras Hindu University, which is the same size as us, receives Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) more. The Jamia Milia University, which is half our size, receives Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million more than us. The second issue regards inadequate funding of our centres. They are still in temporary accommodation. We are running three centres in Kerala and Bengal and one in Kisanganj in Bihar. Is this something that happened recently? No. It was always inequitable. Allocation of the 12 Plan grant was during the Congress time and I had brought it to the notice of the UPA government as also to the notice of the ministry. Ultimately, it is whatever the UGC (University Grants Commission) decides. But it is totally inequitable. Has there been any attempt to saffronise education under the NDA regime? I can't say there is saffronsation. In the case of the AMU, the government stand earlier was that it was a minority institution. The attorney general has since totally changed his stance. On January 11, at a Supreme Court hearing, he totally turned 180 degrees. That indicates a stance which is anti-AMU. If the Supreme Court ruled that the AMU is not a minority institution, what would be the impact? It will be the end of AMU. The institution was founded by Muslims. It is a secular university with an Islamic ethos. We have our own set of procedures for the appointment of the AMU VC. We have our own admission procedures for taking in students. But you mentioned you do not have religious-based reservations. We take students by holding an open competitive examination. We will never agree to a common entrance test. Rather, we have our own entrance test. Probably we are the only university which does so. The reason is that we have found that there are many fly-by-night universities who are giving 99 per cent and 100 per cent marks to students, but when they came here we find they are totally inadequate. Our staff prepares the syllabus for these exams whether they be for medical college or other institutes. By that criteria, would you allow a situation where there were more deserving non-Muslim students in proportion to Muslim students at AMU? No problem. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Let me tell you Muslims do not need reservations. They need affirmative action in education. In AMU, we are ensuring just that. We are trying to educate them. The bulk of the Muslim elite has been educated at AMU. Several commissions including the Sachar Commission have pointed out that education levels of Muslims were worse than Dalits. You have spoken about the need to modernise the madrassa. How is that being done? It is part of our agenda. We are trying to get madrassas to reform their syllabi. They were reluctant to do so because of inadequacy of teachers. They were afraid of change. So what we did was start a one year bridge course. The students from madrassas are being given a concentrated dose of training in computers, social sciences and English. In one year, you see a total transformation -- they were speaking English. Once you can memorise the Quran, you have a memory like a whale. They have a tremendous potential. Many have qualified for the English honours course. This year, we have 75 boys and 25 girls. These students have become agents of change and have started going back to the madrassas where they can teach. This bridge course has been accepted by the ministry of minority affairs. They have asked other institutions such as Jamia and Jamia Hamdard to follow our bridge course model. If you are doing such good work, why would the attorney general want to change the status of the university? With a change of government, they can do what they like. You had sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yes. Modi knows me from 2002. I was commanding the forces in Gujarat during the riots. He is convinced I did a good and fair job. We sorted out the rioters within 48 hours of landing and were able to ensure peace and tranquillity. When I told him that allegations of corruption had been levied against me by some frustrated elements from AMU, he was very positive. He said, 'Please tell them I know you for the last 15 years.' Did you speak about funding? I did and we received a grant of Rs 60 crore for the centres. It has been sorted out to some extent. If something like this were to happen, what signal will it send out to other minority institutions? This is not the first attack on AMU. This has happened before. What is happening here can happen with other minority institutions. Other minority institutions had better watch out. What is happening here will have a tremendous impact on Muslim minds. We are trying to integrate Muslims into the fabric of India. Muslims are emotionally attached to the AMU. The entire Islamic world will be annoyed. Let me tell you the thoughts that emanate from AMU have greater weightage than anywhere else in the whole of South Asia. What made you take on this assignment? Entire generations of my family have been AMU educated. But AMU also needed a dose of discipline to put it on an even keel. Teachers also needed some discipline. The university had been closed sine die for many months. There has not been a single day of academic loss in the last three years and nine months. I felt I owed this debt to AMU for what it has done for generations of my family. Let me tell you it is a very thankless and difficult job. But somebody had to do it You have been accused of locking up teachers' chambers. That was indiscipline. How many have we locked up -- three out of 1,400 teachers. These three were frustrated and indisciplined and not doing their job. You denied girl students access to the library. Rubbish. These undergraduate students have their own library. The other library is located at a distance of one-and-a-half kilometres. What was not highlighted is that Miranda House girls are not permitted to use the University of Delhi library. Similarly, undergrad girls in Mumbai not permitted to use the Ratan Tata library. Also, all AMU books are available online. How many students do you have? We have 34,000 students. Libraries here are open 20 hours a day and they are packed throughout. I was being targeted for no reason. You have also been accused of not having an academic background. This is a misconception that we (army officers) are uneducated buffoons. I have spent all my life educating people. As a young captain I taught graduates to become officers. I have taught majors, colonels and generals. I have been attached to five premier educational institutions of the army. Does that disqualify me from being a VC of a university? Why was your appointment challenged? It was not challenged in the first two years. A few frustrated teachers who did not get promoted encouraged their flunkeys to try and knock me off and create a law and order problem, thereby weakening the AMU's minority status case. I am spearheading the case to protect the AMU minority status. What is the non-Muslim-Muslim teacher ratio in AMU? I would say around 60 per cent are Muslims while 40 percent are non-Muslim in the field of medicine, sciences and engineering. In theology, Quranic and Islamic studies it is 100 per cent Muslim. In Hindi and Sanskrit, it is 50:50. Why has the debate on the AMU's minority status been revived? Why is there no closure on this minority case? I cannot comment. The case is in court and the matter is sub judice. I don't mean that. I am asking why there has been no closure to this case. An act of Parliament restored the minority status of AMU in 1981. It was challenged in the Allahabad high court. They are quoting the Aziz Basha case which should been buried and closed by now. It is a question of the judiciary overruling the legislature. You mentioned a problem with teachers. We had selected 400 teachers from around the country. This is a huge number. There were 4,000 aspirants. Those who did not get selected have become my arch foes. A large number of these are Aligarh based. They consider it is their birth right to be selected. We want to prevent inbreeding, rather there should be cross pollination. Inbreeding? In the sense that their grandfathers were teachers, then their fathers were teachers, now the grandsons want the job. There is also the whole issue of lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh. My objective has been to restore AMU to its former glory and make it one of the best universities in the country. The Times Higher Education Survey ranked AMU as the second best university in India after Punjab University. We are not any old madrassa. I want to make AMU the number one by 2017 which will be the 200th birth anniversary of our founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. You mentioned that you helped quell the riots in Gujarat. What exactly was your role? I was the commanding officer and reached Gujarat on January 2, 2002. Army troops were flown in on 59 aircraft. I met Modi that night at 2 am, driving straight to his residence in Gandhinagar. (Then) Defence Minister George Fernandes was there. We chalked out a strategy and deployed troops to quell the riots. The state government gave us support in terms of maps, police escorts and magistrates. The AMU has started a school for children of riot victims in Muzzafarnagar. The school will be starting in August. We succeeded in raising Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million). We want to start a chain of Sir Syed Ahmed schools across the country to improve the educational status of Muslims. Photographs: Kind Courtesy Aligarh Muslim University/Facebook; Zameeruddin Shah: Kind Courtesy Mohammad Waseem Ansari/Wikipedia Noting that the Indo-Pak ties "remain tense", the US intelligence chief on Tuesday said India's engagement with Pakistan hinges on Islamabad's willingness to act against those responsible for the Pathankot terror attack. "Relations between Pakistan and India remain tense despite the resumption of a bilateral dialogue in December," James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing. Following the attack on Pathankot Air Force base in January, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based Jaish-e- Mohammad, "India's engagement with Pakistan will probably hinge in 2016 on Islamabad's willingness to take action against those in Pakistan linked to the attack," he said. Seven security personnel were killed and several others were injured when six militants stormed the Pathankot base. Clapper also said the Islamic State group has become a prominent threat because of its self-described caliphate in Syria and Iraq, its branches and emerging branches in other countries, and its increasing ability to direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world. IS's narrative supports jihadist recruiting, attracts others to travel to Iraq and Syria, draws individuals and groups to declare allegiance to ISIL, and justifies attacks across the globe. The IS-directed November 2015 Paris attacks and IS-Sinai's claim of responsibility for the October downing of a Russian airliner in the Sinai underscore these dynamics, he said. On the other hand, al-Qaida's affiliates have proven resilient and are positioned to make gains in 2016, despite counterterrorism pressure that has largely degraded the network's leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Although Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been significantly degraded, it aspires to attack the US and its allies, the American spy master said. Clapper also warned that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's efforts to undermine the political opposition in the country will probably provide openings for transnational terrorist groups to expand their presence there. He said that Hasina and other government officials have insisted that the killings of foreigners were the work of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami political parties and are intended to discredit the government. However, the IS claimed responsibility for 11 high-profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities. Other extremists in Bangladesh -- including Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent -- have claimed responsibility for killing at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013, he said. 26/11 planner also said that LeT planned to target Indian defence scientists and Mumbais Siddhivinayak temple. Terror outfits Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen are given financial and military support by the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said on Tuesday as he made fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. Deposing before a court in Mumbai for the second day via video-link from the United States, he said he was working for Pakistans intelligence agency ISI, besides LeT, and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of the November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai. I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army, he told Special Judge G A Sanap during his deposition which will resume on Wednesday. He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al Qaeda. Headley said his assessment was that the ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. The ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen, he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay. Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to target Mumbai had started over a year before November 26, 2008 and that LeT initially wanted to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel for which even a dummy of the hotel was prepared. But the plan to target scientists was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal and lack of details about the schedule of the meet, he said. He said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak temple and Naval air station. He said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from Lakhvi since he is its top commander. Headley, who had told the court on Monday that he was a true follower of LeT, said on Tuesday that ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, he identified him. Headley said he had been asked by the ISI to recruit Indian army personnel to spy for them. Giving details about plans to target Indias commercial capital, Headley said, In November-December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) which was attended by (LeT operatives) Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting, it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai. The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. He said LeT operatives Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time. They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. The plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall, he said, adding another reason for dropping of the plan was that he could not get details about the schedule of the conference. About plan to target SiddivinayakTemple, Headley said, Sajid Mir (Headleys handler in LeT) specifically asked me to make video of it. Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided. Continuing to spill the beans, he said that, I met Abdul Rehman Pasha (retired Army officer) in Pakistan in early 2003 at a mosque in Lahore. When I first met Pasha he was with LeT. At that time he had no relation with Al Qaeda, but may be after two years, he left LeT to join Al-Qaeda. I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked, Headley said. Samir Ali also wanted me to do some intelligence work in India. I was in contact with Samir Ali over phone, he said. On his links with militant group Jaish-e-Mohammeds founder Masood Azhar, he said, I know Maulana Masood Azhar as I saw him once in October 2003. He is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. In October 2003, there was a gathering of LeT and he was a guest speaker there. Nine people have died and over 100 injured following a head-on collision between two local trains in southern Germany's Bavaria. Among the casualties, 50 are "seriously injured" according to police. The head-on crash happened at Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60 km southeast of Munich. One of the trains was derailed in the crash and several carriages were overturned, German media reported. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said. He said the two regional trains had collided on a single track between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen shortly before 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT or 11.30 am). German news agency DPA reports that eight rescue helicopters are standing on a lawn near the town's entrance and that more rescue workers are on their way to the scene. Pictures from the scene show dozens of ambulances lined up on a road nearby. A journalist for local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported that rescuers were climbing on the wreckage and pulling people out. The rail route was closed to traffic, as well as two local roads. "The accident is an enormous shock for us," said Bernd Rosenbusch, who heads the Bavarian rail company BOB that operates trains on the route. "We will do everything to help travellers, their relatives and our employees," he added. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor. He also described the Left Front's ideology as "obsolete". Addressing Congress workers at the conclusion of the "Jana Raksha Yatra", which turned out to be a launch pad of the party's election campaign in Kerala, he took swipe at Modi on several occasions during his 30-minute speech at nearby Shangumugham beach. "You will never see prime minister of India with farmers or labourers. You will never see a photograph of prime minister holding hands with farmers or labourers," he said addressing the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram march led by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President V M Sudheeran. Attacking Modi, Gandhi said he had come to power in 2014 elections by "spreading anger among different sections in the state. He divided Hindus and Muslims and created anger in the country". He also attacked the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led-Left Democratic Front opposition in Kerala and said "the ideology they believe in was obsolete and belongs to the previous century". "Kerala cannot build its future from the vision of last century," he said. Without referring to the solar and bar bribery scams, which has rocked government in the state, Gandhi made it clear that Congress would not compromise on corruption. "Congress party will not compromise on corruption and I want to make it very clear. If there is even a (minute) evidence, Congress party will take strict action," he said as he praised the five-year achievements of the UDF government. "I am happy that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has delivered many of the things he promised," he said. Hitting out at the CPI-M for its vociferous attack on the government over the bar bribery scam, Gandhi wanted the LDF to make their liquor policy clear to the people. "I have one question to ask to the Left in Kerala. It is simple. I would like them to answer. They should clearly tell whether they will open more liquor bars or close them," he asked. Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Gandhi said Modi had also had made "tremendous promises" to the people and youth in the country, "but failed to keep his promises". Referring to some of the promises made, including Rs 15 lakh to be given to every household in their bank accounts and fair price to farmers for their produce and measures to check price rise, he said, "But the moment he took power, he forgot all the promises." On the prices of essential commodities, he said dal price had touched over Rs 200 per kg and prices of other commodities are "skyrocketing". He alleged that the NDA government has not transferred to people a single rupee of benefit it received following the slump in crude oil prices in the international market. "Farmers are being ignored and they were committing suicide... whether they are rubber, coconut, cardamom farmers of Kerala or farmers from other states, they do not see any future," he said. He also accused the NDA government of "destroying" major UPA welfare programmes, including National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Right to Information and Food Safety. On the suicide of HyderabadUniversity research student Rohit Vemula, Gandhi said it was not an issue of community, but an issue of "crushing the voice" of students. He took exception to the reported remark of Union Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani that "Rohit was not a Dalit". "The minister had the audacity to say Rohit was not a Dalit. Madam minister, the issue in Hyderabad is not whether he was a Dalit or not. It is a student was crushed. The issue is why Rohit, an Indian student, was not allowed to say and do what he believes in," he said. Gandhi said the students whom he had spoken in Hyderabad told him that "government in Delhi is trying to crush them, defeat them". "It is not the job of government of India to crush the demands of students," he said. While the prime minister was talking of 'building India', 'Make in India' and 'Linking India' campaigns, he was 'crushing' the sentiments of students whether in FTII or Hyderabad, he said. Referring to the suicide of Rohit, Gandhi alleged he had taken the extreme step due to 'pressure' of the central government. Gandhi, who backed Chandy, said the chief minister had fulfilled most of the promises made to the electorate. One of the major achievements of the state government is the Kochi metro, which when completed would be affordable to vast majority of the people, unlike the Bullet train visualised by Modi which will be affordable only to a few, he said. Kochi was developed as a Smart city with new jobs, providing new education opportunities. Long before Modi used the world startup, Chandy had opened the startup village at Kochi in Kerala, with the government passing the nation's first startup policy. Chandy also focussed on the poor giving rice at Rs one a kg to 94 lakh families who benefited from the subsidies, Gandhi said. Exhorting the workers to remain united and face the polls, he said he was confident of victory. Former defence minister and CWC member A K Antony said BJP should not be allowed to open its account in the state at any cost and alleged CPI-M was following the policy of destruction. "BJP is trying its best to win a seat by hook or by crook. But people will defeat them," he said. He also reminded the Congress in the state to remain united -- physically and mentally. Chandy, Sudheeran and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, were among those who spoke. Later, Gandhi held one-to-one meetings with senior state Congress leaders, including Chandy, Vayalar Ravi, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Sudheeran, and elicited their views on the current political situation in the state. He wanted the leaders to face the polls unitedly and said the party high command had great expectations in the state leadership. He said the party high command is of the opinion that re-emergence of the Congress at the national level will be from Kerala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hailed Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining under a huge mass of snow for six days in Siachen Glacier, saying he is an outstanding soldier whose endurance and indomitable spirit cannot be described in words. Modi went to Army's Research and ReferralHospital in New Delhi to see Hanumanthappa soon after he was airlifted from Siachen and prayed for his best. 'No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier,' he tweeted. 'Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping and praying for the best (sic),' Modi added. The Lance Naik was flown to New Delhi from Siachen on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the Research and ReferralHospital. His condition is critical but stable and he is undergoing various tests in the hospital, army sources said. Just before visiting the hospital, the prime minister tweeted: 'Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation.' In Karnataka, Hanumanthappa's wife went to a temple in Dharwad to pray for his well-being. Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag also visited the RR hospital to take stock of Hanumanthappas condition. Hanumanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive on Monday, buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control with Pakistan. The temperature at that altitude was -45C. Nine other personnel at the post, including a junior commissioned officer, of Madras Regiment have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, northern army commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he said. A protest shutdown called by the various separatist groups on the third death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on Tuesday affected normal life in summer capital Srinagar and other towns in Kashmir Valley. Authorities imposed curfew-like-restrictions in areas falling under seven police stations of the city early Tuesday morning. State Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar reviewed the overall situation in the valley at a high level meeting and has asked the police to put in place efficient measures for maintaining peace and order. Rajendra said that 'safety and security of the people is our prime concern and every effort of the elements inimical to peace should be foiled firmly'. He said the restrictions have been imposed in Khanyar, Maharajgunj, Rainawari, Safakadal and Nowhatta areas of the city while additional deployment of forces has been carried out in Maisuma and Kralkhud police stations for maintaining law and order. Normal life was affected as separatist groups have called for a general strike today over the hanging of Guru, who was sent to the gallows in 2013 following his conviction in the Parliament attack case. His body was buried in Tihar Jail in Delhi. While top separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are out of station, several others were detained or put under house arrest on Monday. Meanwhile, CRPF has put all its units across Kashmir on high alert in view of the strike call. All CRPF establishments and units have been put on high alert in view of strike and protest call given by all factions of Hurriyat and all the separatists on February 9, 10 and 11, a CRPF spokesman said in a statement in Srinagar. In view of stone-pelting incidents on Fridays and Sundays in Old City areas, CRPF troops deployed in the city have been asked to keep close watch and maintain active coordination with police to counter any propaganda or provocation by the separatists, the spokesman said. CRPF DIG (Operations) Srinagar Sanjeev Dhundia reviewed the security situation and asked officers and jawans to remain vigilant and alert, and to take adequate measures to prevent injuries to personnel. Photographs: Umar Ganie A Sikh-American actor has been barred from boarding a New York-bound Aeromexico flight after he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who had been on a trip to Mexico, took a photo of himself and his boarding pass for an Aeromexico flight back to NYC, explaining in a caption that he had been prohibited from boarding. Ahluwalia said he checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 am on Monday and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless Aeromexico plane ticket. When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...that I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview Monday afternoon from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said it "renews its commitment to transport all passengers regardless of their religion, social status or gender. "The airline, however, is required to meet the federal safety requirements outlined by the US' Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for review of selected passengers travelling to the United States. The airline regrets any inconvenience any passenger could perceive due to the application of these procedures." Ahluwalia, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work. He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller 'Beeba Boys'. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion. In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap 'Make Love' advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti. The letter 'S' was printed on it four times and encircled with a marker -- symbols he said were meant to alert airline crew that a passenger must go through an extra security check. He was still at the airport more than 12 hours later. Ahluwalia said he planned to remain there as lawyers from the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group, and Aeromexico discussed the matter by telephone. He said he had no immediate plans to board another flight. Photograph: Waris holds up his boarding ticket in this Instagram upload China: Law of 2012, Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China Publisher National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities Publication Date 1 July 2013 Citation / Document Symbol Order No. 57 Cite as China: Law of 2012, Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China [], Order No. 57, 1 July 2013, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56b9e0f14.html [accessed 21 October 2022] Comments The Law was adopted on 30 June 2012 and came into force on 1 July 2013. 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. Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 57 The Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of Chinaadopted at the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on June 30, 2012, and is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of July 1, 2013. Hu Jintao President of the People's Republic of China June 30, 2012 Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Adopted at the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on June 30, 2012) Contents Chapter I General Provisions Chapter II Exit and Entry of Chinese Citizens Chapter III Entry and Exit of Foreigners Section 1 Visa Section 2 Entry and Exit Chapter IV Stay and Residence of Foreigners Section 1 Stay and Residence Section 2 Permanent Residence Chapter V Border Inspection of Transport Vehicles Exiting/Entering China Chapter VI Investigation and Repatriation Chapter VII Legal Liabilities Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to regulate exit/entry administration, safeguard the sovereignty, security and social order of the People's Republic of China, and promote foreign exchanges and opening to the outside world, this Law is hereby formulated. Article 2 This Law is applicable to the administration of exit and entry of Chinese citizens, entry and exit of foreigners, stay and residence of foreigners in China, and the exit/entry border inspection of transport vehicles. Article 3 The State protects Chinese citizens' legitimate rights and interests of exiting and entering the country. The legitimate rights and interests of foreigners in China shall be protected by laws. Foreigners in China shall abide by the Chinese laws, and shall not endanger China's national security, harm public interests and disrupt social and public order. Article 4 The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, be responsible for administering exit/entry affairs. Embassies and consulates of the People's Republic of China and other institutions stationed abroad entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (hereinafter referred to as "the visa-issuing authorities abroad") shall be responsible for issuance of entry visas to foreigners. Exit/entry border inspection authorities shall be responsible for carrying out exit/entry border inspection. Public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level and their exit/entry administrations shall be responsible for the administration of the stay and residence of foreigners. The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may, within the scope of their respective responsibilities, entrust exit/entry administrations of public security organs or foreign affairs departments under local people's governments at or above the county level to accept foreigners' applications for entry, stay and residence in China. In the administration of exit/entry affairs, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall strengthen communication and cooperation, cooperate closely with relevant departments under the State Council, and exercise functions and powers and bear liabilities within the scope of their respective responsibilities in accordance with the law. Article 5 The State shall establish a uniform exit/entry administration information platform to share information among relevant administrative departments. Article 6 The State shall establish exit/entry border inspection authorities at the ports open to foreign countries. Chinese citizens, foreigners as well as transport vehicles shall exit or enter China via the ports open to foreign countries, or via the places approved by the State Council or by the departments authorized by the State Council under special circumstances. Personnel and transport vehicles that exit or enter China shall be subject to exit/entry border inspection. Exit/entry border inspection authorities shall be responsible for relevant administration work in the restricted zones of ports. On the basis of the need for safeguarding national security and maintaining the order of exit/entry administration, exit/entry border inspection authorities may conduct border inspection on the belongings of the persons who exit or enter China. When necessary, exit/entry border inspection authorities may conduct border inspection on the goods carried by transport vehicles that exit or enter China. However, exit/entry border inspection authorities shall notify the Customs of such inspections. Article 7 Upon approval by the State Council, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may, on the basis of the need for exit/entry administration, set forth regulations on the collection and keep of fingerprints and other biometric identification information of the persons who exit or enter China. Where foreign governments have special regulations on issuing visas to Chinese citizens or the exit/entry administration of Chinese citizens, the Chinese government may, as the circumstances require, take corresponding and equivalent measures. Article 8 Departments and institutions that are responsible for the exit/entry administration shall take practical measures, constantly improve service and administration, enforce laws impartially, provide convenient and efficient service and ensure the security and conveyance of the exit/entry procedures. Chapter II Exit and Entry of Chinese Citizens Article 9 Chinese citizens who exit or enter China shall, in accordance with the law, apply for passports or other travel documents. Chinese citizens bound for other countries or regions shall obtain visas or other entry permits from destination countries, unless the Chinese government has signed visa exemption agreements with the governments of those countries, or otherwise stipulated by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chinese citizens who exit or enter China as seamen or work on foreign ships shall apply for seamen's certificates in accordance with the law. Article 10 Chinese citizens who travel between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, between the Mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region, and between the Mainland and Taiwan Region, shall apply for exit/entry permits in accordance with the law, and abide by the relevant provisions of this Law. The specific administrative measures shall be stipulated by the State Council. Article 11 Chinese citizens who exit or enter China shall submit their exit/entry documents such as passports or other travel documents to the exit/entry border inspection authorities for examination, go through the prescribed formalities, and may exit or enter upon examination and approval. For ports that meet relevant conditions, exit/entry border inspection authorities shall provide convenience such as special lanes for the exit and entry of Chinese citizens. Article 12 Under any of the following circumstances, Chinese citizens are not allowed to exit China: (1) Hold no valid exit/entry documents, or refuse or evade border inspection; (2) Are sentenced to criminal punishments, the execution of which have not been completed, or are suspects or defendants in criminal cases; (3) Are involved in unsettled civil cases and not allowed to exit China upon decision of the people's courts; (4) Are subject to criminal punishment for impairing border administration, or are repatriated by other countries or regions due to illegal exit from China, illegal residence or illegal employment, and the No-Exit-from-China period has not expired; (5) May endanger national security or interests, and are not allowed to exit China upon decision by competent departments under the State Council; or (6) Other circumstances in which exit from China is not allowed in accordance with laws or administrative regulations. Article 13 Chinese citizens residing abroad who desire to return to China for permanent residence shall, prior to the entry, file applications with Chinese embassies or consulates or other institutions stationed abroad entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They may also file such applications to the overseas Chinese affairs departments under the local people's governments at or above the county level of the proposed places of permanent residence on their own or via their relatives in China. Article 14 When handling financial affairs or affairs involving education, medical treatment, transportation, telecommunications, social insurance or property registration, where identity certificates are required, Chinese citizens residing abroad may provide their passports for proof of identity. Chapter III Entry and Exit of Foreigners Section 1 Visa Article 15 In order to entering China, foreigners shall apply to the visa-issuing authorities stationed abroad for a visa, except as otherwise provided for in this Law. Article 16 Visas are categorized as diplomatic visa, courtesy visa, official visa and ordinary visa. Diplomatic or official visas shall be issued to foreigners who enter China for diplomatic or official reasons; and courtesy visas shall be issued to foreigners who are given courtesy due to their special status. The scope and measures for issuing diplomatic, courtesy and official visas shall be stipulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Appropriate types of ordinary visa shall be issued to foreigners who enter China due to non-diplomatic or official reasons including work, study, family visit, travel, business activities and talent introduction. The types of ordinary visa and relevant issuance measures shall be stipulated by the State Council. Article 17 The registered items of a visa shall include visa type, name, sex, date of birth, number of allowed entries, validity period of entry and duration of stay of the holder, date and place of issuance, as well as passport number or other international travel documents number. Article 18 Foreigners who apply for visas shall submit their passports or other international travel documents, as well as information of specific application matters, to the visa-issuing authorities stationed abroad. They shall go through relevant formalities and accept interviews in accordance with the requirements of the visa-issuing authorities stationed abroad. Article 19 Where foreigners applying for visas need to provide written invitations issued by entities or individuals within China, the applicants shall provide such invitations in accordance with the requirements of the visa-issuing authorities abroad. Entities or individuals that issue written invitations shall be liable for the fidelity of the contents. Article 20 Foreigners who need to enter China urgently for humanitarian reasons, or are invited to enter China for urgent business or rush repair work, or have other urgent needs, and hold materials that prove the competent departments' approval of their applying for visas at port, may apply for port visas with the visa-issuing authorities entrusted by the Ministry of Public Security at the ports (hereinafter referred to as "port visa authorities") which are approved to issue port visas by the State Council. Travel agencies that organize inbound tourism in accordance with relevant State regulations may apply for group tourist visas from port visa authorities. Foreigners who apply to port visa authorities for visas shall submit their passports or other international travel documents, as well as relevant information of specific application matters. They shall go through relevant formalities in accordance with the requirements of the port visa authorities, and enter China at the ports where they apply for visas. Visas issued by port visa authorities shall be single entry and the duration of stay shall not exceed 30 days. Article 21 Under any of the following circumstances, visas shall not be issued to foreigners: (1) Was deported, or was repatriated upon decision, and the No-Entry-into-China period has not expired; (2) Is suffering from serious mental disorders, infectious tuberculosis or other infectious diseases that may severely jeopardize the public health; (3) May endanger China's national security or interests, or disrupt social and public order, or engage in other illegal or criminal activities; (4) Resort to fraudulent acts in visa application or cannot guarantee expected expenditures during their stay in China; (5) Fail to submit relevant information required by the visa-issuing authorities; or (6) Other circumstances in which visa authorities consider a visa should not be issued. The visa-issuing authorities are not required to give reasons for refusing the issuance of a visa. Article 22 Under any of the following circumstances, foreigners may be exempt from applying for visas: (1) So exempted based on the visa exemption agreements signed by the Chinese government with the governments of other countries; (2) Hold valid foreigners' residence permits; (3) Hold connected passenger tickets and are in transit to a third country or region by an international aircraft, ship or train via China, will stay for not more than 24 hours in China without leaving the port of entry, or will stay in the specific zones approved by the State Council within the prescribed time limit; or (4) Other circumstances stipulated by the State Council in which visas may be exempted. Article 23 Where foreigners under any of the following circumstances need to enter China temporarily, they shall apply to exit/entry border inspection agencies for going through the formalities for temporary entry: (1) Foreign seamen and their accompanying family members disembark at cities where the ports are located; (2) Persons specified in Subparagraph (3) of Article 22 of this Law need to leave ports; or (3) Foreigners need to enter China temporarily due to force majeure or for any other urgent reason. The duration of stay for temporary entry shall not exceed 15 days. For foreigners who apply for going through the formalities for temporary entry, exit/entry border inspection authorities may require such foreigners, the persons in charge of the transport vehicles used for such foreigners' entry or the agencies handling the exit/entry business for transport vehicles to provide necessary guaranty measures. Section 2 Entry and Exit Article 24 Foreigners who enter China shall submit their passports, other international travel documents, visas or other entry permits to the exit/entry border inspection authorities for examination, go through the prescribed formalities, and may enter upon examination and approval. Article 25 Under any of the following circumstances, foreigners shall not be allowed to enter China: (1) Hold no valid exit/entry documents, or refuse or evade border inspection; (2) Are involved in any of the circumstances specified in Subparagraph (1) through (4) of the first paragraph of Article 21 of this Law; (3) May engage in activities not conform to the types of visa after entering China; or (4) Other circumstances in which entry is not allowed in accordance with laws or administrative regulations. Exit/entry border inspection authorities are not required to give reasons for denying an entry. Article 26 Exit/entry border inspection authorities shall order foreigners who are denied entry in China to return, and shall force the return of those who refuse to do so. While waiting for return, those foreigners shall not leave the restricted zones. Article 27 Foreigners who exit China shall submit their exit/entry documents including passports or other international travel documents to the exit/entry border inspection authorities for examination, go through prescribed formalities, and may exit upon examination and approval. Article 28 Under any of the following circumstances, foreigners shall not be allowed to exit China: (1) Are sentenced to criminal punishments, the execution of which are not completed, or suspects or defendants in criminal cases, except those who are sentenced and transferred under relevant agreements between China and foreign countries; (2) Are involved in unsettled civil cases and are not allowed to exit China upon decision of the people's courts; (3) Are in arrears of paying off labor remuneration and therefore are not allowed to exit by decision of the relevant departments under the State Council or of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government; or (4) Other circumstances in which exit shall not be allowed in accordance with laws or administrative regulations. Chapter IV Stay and Residence of Foreigners Section 1 Stay and Residence Article 29 Where the duration of stay specified in a visa held by a foreigner does not exceed 180 days, the holder may stay in China within the duration specified therein. Where the duration of stay needs to be extended, the visa holder shall file an application with the exit/entry administration of public security organ under the local people's government at or above the county level in the place of his stay seven days prior to the expiry of the duration specified in the visa, and shall submit information of specific application matters in accordance with relevant requirements. If upon examination, the reasons for extension are appropriate and sufficient, such extension shall be granted; if an extension is denied, the foreigner shall leave China on the expiry of the duration. The accumulated length of extension shall not exceed the original duration of stay specified in the visa. Article 30 Where visas held by foreigners specify that foreigners need to apply for residence permits after entry, such foreigners shall, within 30 days from the date of their entry, apply to the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level in the proposed places of residence for foreigners' residence permits. Applicants for foreigners' residence permits shall submit their passports or other international travel documents, as well as relevant information of specific application matters, and provide biometric identification information such as fingerprints. The exit/entry administrations of public security organs shall, within 15 days upon the date of receipt, conduct examination and make a decision thereupon. Based on the purpose of residence, those administrations shall issue the appropriate types of foreigners' residence permits with the duration. The validity period of a foreigner's work-type residence permit shall be 90 days at the minimum and five years at the maximum; and the validity period of a non-work-type foreigner's residence permit shall be 180 days at the minimum and five years at the maximum. Article 31 Under any of the following circumstances, a foreigner's residence permit shall not be issued: (1) The visa held does not belong to the type for which a foreigner's residence permit should be issued; (2) Resorts to fraudulent acts in application; (3) Fails to provide relevant supporting materials in accordance with relevant regulations; (4) Is not eligible to reside in China because of violation of relevant Chinese laws or administrative regulations; or (5) Other circumstances in which the issuing authority considers a foreigner's residence permit should not be issued. Foreigners with expertise and foreign investors who conform to relevant State regulations or foreigners who need to change their status from stay to residence for humanitarian or other reasons, may undergo the formalities for obtaining foreigner's residence permits upon approval by the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people's governments at or above the city with districts. Article 32 Foreigners residing in China who apply for the extension of the duration of residence shall, within 30 days prior to the expiry of the validity period on their residence permits, file applications with the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level, and submit relevant information of specific application matters in accordance with relevant requirements. If upon examination, the reasons for extension are appropriate and sufficient, an extension shall be granted; if an extension is denied, the foreigner concerned shall leave China on the expiry of the validity period specified in their residence permits. Article 33 The registered items of a foreign residence permit shall include name, sex, date of birth, reason for residence and duration of residence of the holder, date and place of issuance, passport number or other international travel documents number. Where the registered item in a foreigner's residence permit has changed, the holder shall, within 10 days from the date of change, apply to the exit/entry administration of public security organ under the local people's government at or above the county level in the place of residence for going through the formalities for alteration. Article 34 Where visa-exempt foreigners need to stay in China longer than the visa-free period, or foreign seamen and their accompanying family members need to leave the cities where the ports are located, or under other circumstances in which foreigners' stay permits should be applied for, they shall apply for such permits in accordance with relevant regulations. The maximum validity period of a foreigner's stay permit shall be 180 days. Article 35 Where ordinary visas, stay or residence permits held by foreigners need to be reissued due to damage, loss, theft, robbery or other reasons in compliance with relevant State regulations after foreigners enter China, those foreigners shall apply for a reissue with the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level in the places of stay or residence in accordance with relevant regulations. Article 36 Decisions made by the exit/entry administration of public security organ on rejecting applications for visa extension or reissuance, or on not issuing foreigners' stay or residence permits or not extending the duration of residence shall be final. Article 37 Foreigners who stay or reside in China shall not engage in activities not corresponding to the purpose of stay or residence, and shall leave China prior to the expiry of the prescribed duration of stay or residence. Article 38 Foreigners having reached the age of 16 who stay or reside in China shall carry with them their passports or other international travel documents, or foreigners' stay or residence permits, and accept the inspection of public security organs. Foreigners who reside in China shall, within the prescribed time limit, submit foreigners' residence permits to public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level in the places of residence for examination. Article 39 Where foreigners stay in hotels in China, the hotels shall register their accommodation in accordance with the regulations on the public security administration of the hotel industry, and submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to the public security organs in the places where the hotels are located. For foreigners who reside or stay in domiciles other than hotels, they or the persons who accommodate them shall, within 24 hours after the foreigners' arrival, go through the registration formalities with the public security organs in the places of residence. Article 40 For foreign infants born in China, their parents or agents shall, within 60 days after they are born, on the strength of the birth certificates, go through the formalities for stay or residence registration for them with the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under people's governments at or above the county level in the places of their parents' stay or residence. For foreigners who decease in China, their relatives, guardians or agents shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, on the strength of the death certificates, report their death to the exit/entry administrations of the public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level to cancel their stay or residence permits. Article 41 Foreigners who work in China shall obtain work permits and work-type residence permits in accordance with relevant regulations. No entities or individuals shall employ foreigners who have no work permits or work-type residence permits. The administrative measures for foreigners working in China shall be stipulated by the State Council. Article 42 The competent department of human resources and social security and the competent department in charge of foreign experts affairs under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, formulate and regularly adjust the guiding catalogue for foreigners working in China based on the needs for economic and social development as well as the supply and demand of human resources. The competent department of education under the State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, establish an administrative system for foreign students working to support their study in China and set forth regulations on the scope of jobs and the limit of work time for such foreign students. Article 43 Any of the following acts of foreigners shall be deemed unlawful employment: (1) Work in China without obtaining work permits or work-type residence permits in accordance with relevant regulations; (2) Work in China beyond the scope prescribed in the work permits; or (3) Foreign students work in violation of the regulations on the administration of foreign students working to support their study in China and work beyond the prescribed scope of jobs or prescribed time limit. Article 44 On the basis of the need for maintaining national security and public security, public security organs and national security organs may impose restrictions on foreigners and foreign institutions from establishing places of residence or work in certain areas; and may order that established places of residence or work be relocated within a prescribed time limit. Without approval, foreigners shall not access foreigner-restricted areas. Article 45 Entities that employ foreigners or enroll foreign students shall report relevant information to local public security organs in accordance with relevant regulations. Citizens, legal persons or other organizations who find foreigners illegal enter, reside or work in China shall duly report such matter to the local public security organs. Article 46 Foreigners applying for refugee status may, during the screening process, stay in China on the strength of temporary identity certificates issued by public security organs; foreigners who are recognized as refugees may stay or reside in China on the strength of refugee identity certificates issued by public security organs. Section 2 Permanent Residence Article 47 Foreigners who have made remarkable contribution to China's economic and social development or meet other conditions for permanent residence in China may obtain permanent residence status upon application approved by the Ministry of Public Security. The administrative measures for examination and approval of foreigners' permanent residence in China shall be stipulated by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council. Article 48 Foreigners who have obtained permanent residence status may reside or work in China on the strength of permanent residence permits, and exit or enter China on the strength of their passports and permanent residence permits. Article 49 Where foreigners fall under any of the following circumstances, the Ministry of Public Security shall decide to cancel their permanent residence status in China: (1) Endanger China's national security or interests; (2) Are deported; (3) Obtain permanent residence status in China by fraudulent acts; (4) Fail to reside in China for the prescribed time limit; or (5) Other circumstances in which foreigners are not eligible to reside in China permanently. Chapter V Border Inspection of Transport Vehicles Exiting/Entering China Article 50 Transport vehicles that exit or enter China shall be subject to border inspection when leaving or arriving at ports. Border inspection of entering transport vehicles shall be conducted at the first arriving port in China; border inspection of exiting transport vehicles shall be conducted at the last port when they leave China. Under special circumstances, border inspection may be conducted in places designated by competent authorities. Without the permission of exit/entry border inspection authorities in accordance with prescribed procedures, transport vehicles that exit China shall not embark or disembark passengers, or load and unload goods or articles between exit inspection and exit, and nor shall transport vehicles that enter China do so between entry and entry inspection. Article 51 Persons in charge of transport vehicles or agencies handling the exit/entry business for transport vehicles shall, in accordance with relevant regulations, report to the exit/entry border inspection authorities in advance on the entering or exiting transport vehicles' time of arrival at or departure from the port and the places of stay, and truthfully declare information including staff, passengers, goods and articles. Article 52 Persons in charge of transport vehicles or agencies handling the exit/entry business for transport vehicles shall provide cooperation in exit/entry border inspection, and shall immediately report any violations of this Law found thereby and give assistance in the investigation and handling of such violations. Where transport vehicles that enter China carry persons who are not allowed to enter China, the persons in charge of the transport vehicles shall be responsible for their leaving. Article 53 Exit/entry border inspection authorities shall supervise transport vehicles that exit or enter China under any of the following circumstances: (1) Between exit border inspection and exit for transport vehicles that exit China, and between entry and entry border inspection for transport vehicles that enter China; (2) When foreign ships navigate in China's inland waters; or (3) Other circumstances in which supervision is necessary. Article 54 Persons who need to embark on or disembark from foreign ships for reasons such as goods loading or unloading, maintenance operations or visit shall apply to exit/entry border inspection authorities for boarding pass. Where a Chinese ship needs to berth alongside a foreign ship, or a foreign ship needs to berth alongside another foreign ship, the captain or the agency handling the exit/entry business for relevant transport vehicles shall apply to the exit/entry border inspection authority for going through formalities for berth. Article 55 Foreign ships and aircrafts shall navigate according to prescribed routes. Ships and aircrafts that exit or enter China shall not access areas outside the ports open to foreign countries. The aforesaid ships or aircrafts that access such areas due to unforeseeable emergencies or force majeure shall immediately report to the nearest exit/entry border inspection authority or local public security organ, and accept supervision and administration. Article 56 Under any of the following circumstances, transport vehicles shall be not allowed to exit or enter China; those that have left ports may be ordered to return: (1) Exit or enter China without examination and approval when leaving or arriving at port; (2) Change the port of exit or entry without approval; (3) Are suspected of carrying persons who are not allowed to exit or enter China and therefore need to be inspected and verified; (4) Are suspected of carrying articles endangering national security or interests or disrupting social or public order and therefore need to be inspected and verified; or (5) Other circumstances in which transport vehicles refuse to subject themselves to exit/entry border inspection authorities' administration. After the circumstances specified in the preceding paragraph disappear, exit/entry border inspection authorities shall immediately release relevant transport vehicles. Article 57 Agencies handling the exit/entry business for transport vehicles shall file records with exit/entry border inspection authorities. For agents engaging in such a business, the entities they work for shall file relevant records for them with exit/entry border inspection authorities. Chapter VI Investigation and Repatriation Article 58 Measures for on-the-spot interrogation, continued interrogation, detention for investigation, movement restriction and repatriation prescribed in this Chapter shall be enforced by public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level or by exit/entry border inspection authorities. Article 59 Persons suspected of violating the regulations on exit/entry administration may be interrogated on the spot; upon on-the-spot interrogation, the aforesaid persons may be interrogated in continuation in accordance with the law under any of the following circumstances: (1) Are suspected of illegally exiting or entering China; (2) Are suspected of assisting others in illegally exiting or entering China; (3) Are foreigners suspected of illegally residing or working in China; or (4) Are suspected of endangering national security or interests, disrupting social or public order, or engaging in other illegal or criminal activities. On-the-spot interrogation and continued interrogation shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed in the People's Police Law of the People's Republic of China. Where public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level or exit/entry border inspection authorities need to summon the persons suspected of violating the regulations on exit/entry administration, they shall handle the matter in accordance with the relevant regulations of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security. Article 60 Where foreigners involved in any of the circumstances specified in the first paragraph of Article 59 of this Law cannot be cleared of suspicion after on-the-spot interrogation or continued interrogation and therefore need to be further investigated, he may be detained for investigation. When detaining a foreigner for investigation, the authority concerned shall present a written decision on detention for investigation and shall interrogate the detained foreigner within 24 hours. Where the aforesaid organ finds that a foreigner should not be detained for investigation, it shall immediately release him from detention for investigation. The period of detention for investigation shall not exceed 30 days; for complicated cases, the period may be extended to 60 days upon approval by the public security organs under the local people's governments at the next higher level or by the exit/entry border inspection authorities at the next higher level. For foreigners whose nationalities and identities are unknown, the period of detention for investigation shall be calculated from the date when their nationalities and identities are found out. Article 61 Under any of the following circumstances, detention for investigation is not applicable to foreigners, however, their movements may be restricted: (1) Suffer from serious diseases; (2) Are pregnant or breast-feeding their own infants under one year of age; (3) Are under 16 years of age or have reached the age of 70; or (4) Other circumstances in which detention for investigation should not be applied. Foreigners whose movements are restricted shall subject themselves to investigation as required, and shall not leave the restricted zones without approval of public security organs. The period of movement restriction shall not exceed 60 days. For foreigners whose nationalities and identities are unknown, the period of movement restriction shall be calculated from the date when their nationalities and identities are found out. Article 62 Under any of the following circumstances, foreigners may be repatriated: (1) Are ordered to exit China within a prescribed time limit but fail to do so; (2) Are involved in circumstances in which they are not allowed to enter China; (3) Illegally reside or work in China; or (4) Need to be repatriated for violation of this Law or other laws or administrative regulations. Other overseas personnel who fall under any of the circumstances prescribed in the preceding paragraph may be repatriated in accordance with the law. Repatriated persons shall not be allowed to enter China for one to five years, calculating from the date of repatriation. Article 63 Persons who are detained for investigation or who are to be repatriated upon decision but cannot be repatriated promptly shall be held in custody in detention houses or places of repatriation. Article 64 Foreigners dissatisfied with the measure imposed on them in accordance with this Law, such as continued interrogation, detention for investigation, movement restriction or repatriation, may apply for administrative reconsideration in accordance with the law, and the administrative reconsideration decision shall be final. Where other overseas personnel dissatisfied with the decision of repatriation imposed on them in accordance with this Law apply for administrative reconsideration, the provisions in the preceding paragraph are applicable. Article 65 Where persons are not allowed to exit or enter China upon decisions made in accordance with the law, the decision-making authorities shall duly inform the exit/entry border inspection authorities of such decisions in accordance with relevant regulations; where the circumstances in which the persons are not allowed to exit or enter China disappear, the decision-making authorities shall duly cancel the aforesaid decisions and inform exit/entry border inspection authorities of the cancellation. Article 66 On the basis of the need for safeguarding national security and maintaining the order of exit/entry administration, exit/entry border inspection authorities may, when necessary, search the persons entering and exiting the country. Personal Search shall be conducted by two border inspectors who are the same sex as the persons subject to the search. Article 67 In such cases that the exit/entry documents such as visas or foreigners' stay or residence permits are damaged, lost or stolen, or that after the issuance of such documents, the holders are found not eligible for being issued such documents, the issuing authorities shall declare the aforesaid documents void. Exit/entry documents which are forged, altered, obtained by fraudulent means or are declared void by issuing authorities shall be invalid. Public security organs may cancel or confiscate the exit/entry documents prescribed in the preceding paragraph or used fraudulently by persons other than the specified holders. Article 68 Public security organs may seize the transport vehicles used to organize, transport or assist others in illegally exiting or entering China as well as the articles needed as evidence in handling the cases. Public security organs shall seize banned articles, documents and data involving state secrets, as well as tools used in activities violating the regulations on exit/entry administration, and handle them in accordance with relevant laws or administrative regulations. Article 69 The authenticity of exit/entry documents shall be determined by the issuing authorities, the exit/entry border inspection authorities or the exit/entry administrations of public security organs. Chapter VII Legal Liabilities Article 70 Unless otherwise provided for in this Chapter, the administrative penalties prescribed in this Chapter shall be decided by the public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level or the exit/entry border inspection authorities. Penalties involving the imposition of warnings or fines of not more than RMB 5,000 yuan may be decided by the exit/entry administrations of public security organs under local people's governments at or above the county level. Article 71 Persons who commit any of the following acts shall be fined not less than RMB 1,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan; where circumstances are serious, such persons shall be detained for not less than five days but not more ten days and may also be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan. (1) Exit or enter China with forged, altered or fraudulently obtained exit/entry documents; (2) Exit or enter China using others' exit/entry documents; (3) Evadeexit/entry border inspection; or (4) Illegally exit or enter China in any other way. Article 72 Persons who assist others in illegally exiting or entering China shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan; where circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days and shall also be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan, and the illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated. Entities engaging in any of the acts prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be fined not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan, with the illegal gains confiscated if there are any; and the persons in charge of the entities who are directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph. Article 73 Persons who obtain exit/entry documents such as visas or stay or residence permits by resorting to fraudulent acts shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan; where circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days and shall also be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan. Entities engaging in any of the acts prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be fined not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan; and the persons in charge of the entities who are directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph. Article 74 Persons who issue written invitations or other application materials to foreigners in violation of this Law shall be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan, with the illegal gains confiscated if there are any, and shall also be ordered to bear exit expenses of the invited foreigners. Entities engaging in any of the acts prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be fined not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan, with the illegal gains confiscated if there are any, and shall also be ordered to bear exit expenses of the invited foreigners; the persons in charge of the entities who are directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph. Article 75 Where Chinese citizens are repatriated due to illegally going to other countries or regions after exiting China, exit/entry border inspection authorities shall confiscate their exit/entry documents. Exit/entry document issuing authorities shall refuse to issue new exit/entry documents to such citizens for a period ranging from six months to three years calculating from the date of their repatriation. Article 76 Under any of the following circumstances, a warning shall be given, and a fine of not more than RMB 2,000 yuan may also be imposed: (1) Foreigners refuse to accept examination of their exit/entry documents by public security organs; (2) Foreigners refuse to submit their residence permits for examination; (3) Persons concerned fail to go through the formalities for foreigners' birth registration or death declaration in accordance with relevant regulations; (4) Foreigners fail to go through the formalities for altering registration in accordance with the relevant regulations when there is any change in the registered items in their residence permits; (5) Foreigners in China use others' exit/entry documents; or (6) Persons concerned fail to go through registration formalities in accordance with the provisions in the second paragraph of Article 39 of this Law. Hotels that fail to process accommodation registration for foreigners shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security; hotels that fail to submit foreigners' accommodation registration information to public security organs shall be given a warning; where circumstances are serious, such hotels shall be fined not less than RMB 1,000 yuan but not more than RMB 5,000 yuan. Article 77 Foreigners accessing foreigner-restricted areas without approval shall be ordered to leave promptly; where circumstances are serious, such foreigners shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days. The text records, audio-visual data, electronic data and other articles illegally obtained thereof by the foreigners shall be confiscated or destroyed, and the tools used for the aforementioned purposes shall be confiscated. Foreigners or foreign institutions refusing to execute decisions made by public security organs or national security organs ordering them to relocate within a prescribed time limit shall be given a warning and be relocated mandatorily; where circumstances are serious, relevant responsible persons shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than fifteen days. Article 78 Foreigners who reside in China illegally shall be given a warning; where circumstances are serious, they shall be imposed with a fine of RMB 500 yuan per day, with a cap of RMB 10,000 yuan in total, or be detained for not less than five days but not more than 15 days. Where guardians or other persons responsible for guardianship fail to perform the guardian obligation and result in foreigners below 16 years of age residing in China illegally, the said guardians or other obligated persons shall be given a warning and may also be fined not more than RMB 1,000 yuan. Article 79 Persons harboring or hiding foreigners who illegally enter or reside in China, or assisting such foreigners in evading inspection, or providing, in violation of the law, exit/entry documents for foreigners who illegally reside in China shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan; where circumstances are serious, such persons shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than fifteen days and shall also be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan, with the illegal gains confiscated if there are any. Entities engaging in any of the acts prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be fined not less than RMB 10,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan, with the illegal gains confiscated if there are any; and the persons in charge of the entities who are directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph. Article 80 Foreigners who work in China illegally shall be fined not less than RMB 5,000 but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan; where circumstances are serious, they shall be detained for not less than five days but not more than fifteen days and shall also be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan. Persons who introduce jobs to ineligible foreigners shall be fined RMB 5,000 yuan for each job illegally introduced to one foreigner, with a cap of not more than RMB 50,000 yuan in total; and entities that introduce jobs to ineligible foreigners shall be fined RMB 5,000 yuan for each job illegally introduced to one foreigner, with a cap of RMB 100,000 yuan in total; and the illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated. Individuals or entities that illegally employ foreigners shall be fined RMB 10,000 yuan for each illegally employed foreigner, with a cap of RMB 100,000 yuan in total; and the illegal gains, if any, shall be confiscated. Article 81 Where foreigners engage in activities not corresponding to the purposes of stay or residence, or otherwise violate the laws or regulations of China, which makes them no longer eligible to stay or reside in China, they may be ordered to exit China within a time limit. Where a foreigner's violation of this Law is serious but does not constitute a crime, the Ministry of Public Security may deport them. The penalty decision made by the Ministry of Public Security shall be final. Deported foreigners shall not be allowed to enter China within 10 years calculating from the date of deportation. Article 82 Under any of the following circumstances, relevant persons shall be given a warning and may also be fined not more than RMB 2,000 yuan: (1) Disrupt the administrative order of the restricted zones of ports; (2) Foreign seamen or their accompanying family members disembark without going through the formalities for temporary entry; or (3) Embark on or disembark from foreign ships without obtaining boarding passes. Persons who violate Subparagraph (1) of the preceding paragraph may be detained for not less than five days but not more than ten days if the circumstances are serious. Article 83 Where transport vehicles fall under any of the following circumstances, the persons in charge of the transport vehicles shall be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 yuan: (1) Exit or enter China without examination and approval, or change the ports of exit or entry without approval; (2) Fail to truthfully declare information of staff, passengers, goods or articles, or refuse to assist in exit/entry border inspection; or (3) Embark or disembark passengers, or load or unload goods or articles in violation of the regulations on exit/entry border inspection. Transport vehicles that exit or enter China carrying persons who are not allowed to exit or enter China shall be fined not less than RMB 5,000 yuan but not more than RMB 10,000 yuan for each aforesaid person carried. Where the persons in charge of the transport vehicles prove that they have taken reasonable preventative measures, they may be given mitigated penalties or be exempt from penalties. Article 84 Where transport vehicles fall under any of the following circumstances, the persons in charge of the transport vehicles shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 yuan: (1) Chinese or foreign ships berth alongside foreign ships without approval; (2) Foreign ships or aircrafts fail to navigate according to the prescribed routes in China; or (3) Ships and aircrafts that exit or enter China access areas outside the ports open to foreign countries. Article 85 Where staff members performing the duty of exit/entry administration commit any of the following acts, they shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the law: (1) In violation of laws or administrative regulations, issue exit/entry documents such as visas or stay or residence permits to foreigners who do not meet the prescribed conditions; (2) In violation of laws or administrative regulations, examine and allow the exit or entry of persons or transport vehicles that do not meet the prescribed conditions; (3) Divulge personal information gained in exit/entry administration work and infringing the legitimate rights and interests of relevant parties; (4) Fail to turn over in accordance with relevant regulations to the State Treasury the fees, fines or illegal gains or property that are collected or confiscated in accordance with the law; (5) Privately share, encroach on or misappropriate the funds or articles confiscated or seized or the fees collected; or (6) Other failures in performing statutory duties in accordance with the law, such as abuse of power, dereliction of duty, or resorting to malpractice for personal gain. Article 86 In the case of violation of regulations on exit/entry administration and that a fine of not more than RMB 500 yuan should be imposed, the exit/entry border inspection authorities may make a penalty decision on the spot. Article 87 Persons or entities that are fined for violation of regulations on exit/entry administration shall pay their fines in the designated banks within 15 days from the date of receiving the written decision on penalty. Where it is difficult to collect fines after a fine is imposed because the person or entity subject to penalty has no fixed domicile in the place where the fine is imposed or it is difficult to pay fine to the designated bank at the port, the fine may be collected on the spot. Article 88 Where a violation of this Law constitutes a crime, criminal liabilities shall be investigated in accordance with the law. Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions Article 89 Definitions of the following terms mentioned in this Law: Exit refers to leaving the Chinese mainland for other countries or regions, for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Macao Special Administrative Region, or for Taiwan Region. Entry refers to entering the Chinese mainland from other countries or regions, from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Macao Special Administrative Region, or from Taiwan Region. Foreigners refer to persons without Chinese nationality. Article 90 Upon approval by the State Council, provinces and autonomous regions bordering on neighboring countries may, in accordance with the boundary administration agreements signed by China with relevant countries, formulate local regulations or local government rules to regulate the association of residents in border areas of the two countries. Article 91 Where there are other regulations on the administration of the entry/exit, stay or residence of the members of foreign diplomatic and consular missions in China, or the entry/exit, stay or residence of other foreigners who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities, these regulations shall prevail. Article 92 Foreigners who apply for exit/entry documents such as visas or foreigner stay or residence permits or apply for document extension or alteration shall pay visa fees or document fees in accordance with relevant regulations. Article 93 This Law shall come into force as of July 1, 2013. The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Administration of Foreigners and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Administration of Chinese Citizens shall be annulled simultaneously. Kazakhstan: "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away" Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 8 February 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Kazakhstan: "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away", 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56b9fce14.html [accessed 21 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. Anti-"Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism" police Lieutenant Colonel Rashid Kuandikov, who led a January raid on a Protestant meeting in Aktau in Kazakhstan, has dismissed witness statements that officers deliberately insulted and intimidated people, including children. "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away," he told Forum 18 News Service. He also denied that police pressure on an Indian and two Azerbaijanis present was racism. And in December 2015, two female Jehovah's Witnesses failed to overturn large fines for talking to a passer-by on the streets about their faith. One of those fined, Nadezhda Chesnokova, was a 74-year-old pensioner. Two booksellers are known to have been fined in the southern city of Kyzylorda in 2015 for selling the Koran and other books on Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Farabi Uzakov of Kyzylorda Prosecutor's Office, asked how punishing people for exercising their freedoms of expression and of religion or belief accord with Kazakhstan's international human obligations, replied: "I don't understand what obligations you are talking about". Anti-"Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism" police Lieutenant Colonel Rashid Kuandikov, who led a 30 January raid on a Protestant meeting for worship in Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea port of Aktau [Aktau], dismissed statements from those present that officers deliberately insulting and intimidated people, including children. "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away," he told Forum 18 News Service from the city on 8 February. He said police raided the Church because they had heard foreigners were present. He denied that police pressure on an Indian and two Azerbaijanis present at the meeting was racism (see below). And in December 2015, two female Jehovah's Witnesses failed to overturn large fines handed down to punish them for talking to a passer-by on the streets about their faith. One of those fined, Nadezhda Chesnokova, was a 74-year-old pensioner (see below). Meanwhile, people who sell religious books without the compulsory state licences for selling religious literature continue to face prosecution. Two booksellers are known to have been fined in the southern city of Kyzylorda in 2015 for selling the Koran and other books on Islam, Christianity and Judaism (see below). Three criminal trials - in Astana, Karaganda and Akmola Region - are continuing against Sunni Muslims accused of membership of the banned Muslim missionary movement Tabligh Jamaat (see below). Exercising freedom of religion or belief is dangerous Officials at many levels continue to use rhetoric that implies that exercising freedom of religion or belief is dangerous and allegedly linked to "extremism". Lectures and seminars are frequently held to promote this message. For example, in December 2015 simulated criminal and administrative prosecutions of individuals exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief were held for students in East Kazakhstan Region (see forthcoming F18News article). Raid On the evening of 30 January 2016, at least seven police officers raided New Life Pentecostal Church in the Caspian Sea port of Aktau as it met for worship in a rented cafe, Church members told Forum 18. The raid was led by Lieutenant Colonel Rashid Kuandikov, head of the police Department for the Struggle against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism. New Life Church has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities, including previous raids by police Struggle against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism officers, questions and threats against Church members and attempts to recruit a spy from amongst them (see eg. F18News 10 July 2009 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1325). On 30 January 2016 police - against Kazakh law - refused to show a search warrant, or a warrant permitting them to film those present. At first police also refused to show their identity documents, although six eventually did after Church members' insistent demands. As soon as they arrived to break up the meeting one officer - Bekzat Urbisinov - began filming those present, despite the complaints from Church members. One officer - named only as Kairat - stood at the lectern at the front next to the pastor, chewing gum and watching Church members as they prayed. Foreigners targeted While other officers started demanding that those present write statements, Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov took Pastor Maksim Tashenov into the foyer to ask if any foreign citizens were present. Pastor Tashenov responded that there were, as the Religion Law allows foreign citizens to attend religious services (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). The officer identified as Kairat had already identified one of those present - an Indian who works legally in Aktau for a foreign company - as a foreign citizen. "Kairat was pressuring the Indian citizen psychologically," Church members stated, "trying to force him to write a statement stating why he was present and what he was doing." Kairat subjected to crude insults other Church members who tried to defend the Indian. Pastor Tashenov explained to Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov that as well as the Indian citizen, two invited pastors were present from Azerbaijan, Rasim Khalilov and Igor Galushko of Word of Life Church. New Life Church had lodged applications for permission for the two pastors to conduct "missionary" activity in Aktau to Mangistau Region Religious Affairs Department on 19 November 2015. "Religious Affairs Department officials had assured us firmly that we would get this permission on Friday 29 January 2016," Pastor Tashenov told the officer. However, as Pastor Tashenov told Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov, the Department had failed to issue the permission as they had promised. They had also failed to process the applications within the 30 days specified in procedures. Children, old people, deliberately frightened by police "All this time officers were moving around the hall, demanding statements from those present as to why they were there," Church members stated. "Noise was intense. Children who had come with their parents to the service were intimidates and frightened. Old people were also frightened. They treated us like bandits." Officers also demanded statements from Pastor Tashenov and Pastor Khalilov, threatening to take them to the police station and force them to give statements if they refused. "For an hour and a half we stood our ground, defending our rights to religious freedom and countering crudeness, threats and pressure officers were imposing on us," Church members noted. "Believers were cowed, many suffered shock, children were scared, our Indian Church member was intimidated, not understanding what was going on." One four-year-old child asked their parents whether the police were going to take them all away. Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov demanded that Pastor Tashenov and Pastor Khalilov come to the police on 1 February with the Church's documents and statements from parents allowing their children to be present at a religious meeting. Officials have refused to explain their delays, or discuss whether they tipped police off (see below) As the officers left, Church members observed that other police officers on the street were laughing at how the officers had succeeded in frightening those present. Bullying of children by police has often happened during raids (see eg. F18News 13 August 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2089). "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away" Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov dismissed Church members' statements about the raid. We didn't threaten anyone," he claimed to Forum 18 from Aktau on 5 February. "We committed no violations. It was all in accordance with the law." Told that Church members stated that they were frightened during the raid, he responded: "What were they afraid of? We didn't take anyone away." Asked why police had raided a meeting for worship, He said they had received information (he refused to say where from) that foreigners were present at the meeting. "We had to take statements from those present to find out that the foreigners were not leading the meeting. When we found out they had not, we left." All religious or belief communities are thought to be under surveillance by the ordinary police and KNB secret police (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). Racism? Asked why officers had singled out the Indian citizen for attention which he found intimidating, and whether this constituted racism, Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov denied it. "There was no racism," he claimed to Forum 18. Asked why whether foreign citizens are or are not present at a religious meeting is a matter for the police Department for the Struggle against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism - or any other branch of the police - Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov insisted that the law requires them to make enquiries. Asked why one of the officers had filmed those present against the express wishes of Church members, Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov responded: "We have to film to make sure nothing wrong is done either by those present or by the police." He added that the film will be kept in the operational files. Lieutenant Colonel Kuandikov told Forum 18 that no cases under the Criminal Code or Cod of Administrative Offences will follow the raid. Another of the police officers involved in the raid - Captain Baurzhan Aibekov of Aktau's 11th microdistrict, where the Church meeting was held - similarly denied that officers had intimidated Church members during the raid. "No one was intimidated, no one was insulted," he insisted to Forum 18 from Aktau on 4 February. "We just checked up on what was happening." Why did officials not process "missionary" permission application? Esenali Isa of Mangistau Region Religious Affairs Department denied that his Department had failed to process New Life Church's applications for missionary permission for the two Azerbaijani pastors. "We process such documents in accordance with the law," he told Forum 18 from Aktau on 5 February. "We sent the documents for an 'expert' analysis." "Missionary" activity is broadly defined and requires state permission to take place, can only take place in state-defined areas, and requires state censorship of all materials used (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). Told that the law requires that such applications be processed within 30 days, he repeated his earlier response. Isa refused to say if his Department had told the police that foreign citizens were likely to be present at the 30 January meeting. The telephone of Religious Affairs Department head Erlan Esbergenov went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 5 and 8 February. Fined for talking about religion Two Jehovah's Witnesses - Nadezhda Chesnokova (a 74-year-old pensioner) and Olga Mishina - failed to overturn fines handed down in East Kazakhstan Region to punish them for talking to a man on the street about their faith. On 19 August 2015 Chesnokova and Mishina discussed their faith with a passer-by on the street in the regional capital Oskemen. They also showed him a Jehovah's Witness booklet "An Introduction to God's Word". The man later phoned the police to complain that the two women were conducting "illegal" missionary activity, according to the subsequent court decisions seen by Forum 18. Police confiscated the booklet from the two women. An "expert" analysis a week later confirmed that the booklet did not contain "extremist" ideas. On 18 September 2015 potential prosecutions under Criminal Code Article 405, Part 1 were abandoned "because of the lack of a crime". Article 405, Part 1 punishes "organising the activity of a social or religious association or other organisation after a court decision banning their activity or their liquidation in connection with extremism or terrorism they have carried out" with a fine or up to six years' imprisonment. The Regional Religious Affairs Department confirmed on 20 October 2015 that neither woman has the compulsory state permission required for individuals who conduct "missionary" activity (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). On 26 October 2015, records of administrative offences were drawn up against Chesnokova and Mishina under Administrative Code Article 490, Part 3. This punishes: "Carrying out missionary activity without state registration (or re-registration), as well as the use by missionaries of religious literature, information materials with religious content or religious items without a positive assessment from a religious studies expert analysis, and spreading the teachings of a religious group which is not registered in Kazakhstan". The punishment is a fine of 100 Monthly Financial Indicators (MFIs), with deportation if the individual is a foreign citizen. 100 MFIs is more than nine months' official minimum wage. On 16 November 2015, Judge Nazgulya Abdualiyeva of Oskemen Specialised Administrative Court fined Chesnokova 100 MFIs, then set at 198,200 Tenge. Although the court decision notes that mitigating factors in setting the penalty are that Chesnokova is a pensioner and has not been sentenced before, Judge Abdualiyeva did not reduce the fine. In a separate hearing the same day, the same Judge also fined Mishina 100 MFIs. The Judge ordered the booklet confiscated from the women to be handed to the local Jehovah's Witness community. Chesnokova and Mishina - who both denied committing any offence - appealed against the punishments. However, on 9 and 10 December 2015, a panel of judges at East Kazakhstan Regional Court rejected Chesnokova and Mishina's appeals, according to the decisions seen by Forum 18. Prosecutor Dauren Alseitov of Oskemen Prosecutor's Office, who led the case against Mishina in the lower court, refused to explain why she and Chesnokova were punished for discussing their faith with a passer-by on the street. "I can't give any information by phone," he told Forum 18 from Oskemen on 8 February. "I don't know who you are." He then put the phone down. Chesnokova is not the oldest person to be fined in Kazakhstan for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief. Yakov Skornyakov - a Baptist and former Soviet-era freedom of religion or belief prisoner of conscience - was 79 when he was given a massive fine for his religious activity in 2006, two years before his death (see F18News 13 April 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=759). Two grandmothers aged 77 and 76 were among a group of Baptists fined in Ayagoz in East Kazakhstan Region in 2013 (see F18News 10 April 2013 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1822). Testimony from state-backed "specialist" Taking part in both lower court hearings to condemn Jehovah's Witnesses as "one of the best known and most dangerous contemporary destructive cults" was Sergei Lebedev, described in the court decisions as a "specialist". He heads the state-financed Unity organisation in Oskemen, which claims to help victims of "destructive cults". In 2014 Lebedev was a member of the East Kazakhstan Regional "Information and Propaganda Group on Questions of Religion". These groups promote state policy on restricting the exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief. "The police invited me to give my opinion on the case," Lebedev told Forum 18 from Oskemen on 8 February. "I was also in contact with the Regional Religious Affairs Department." Asked the basis for his hostile remarks about Jehovah's Witnesses in court, which supported the prosecution of the two women, Lebedev claimed that: "I'm an independent expert - I'm fully neutral. I use material published internationally, including by Dvorkin." Aleksandr Dvorkin is a controversial Russian "anti-sect" activist who visited Kazakhstan in 2009 to speak at a conference on "destructive sects" (see 17 March 2009 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1269). State-funded "anti-sect" centres often attack so-called "non-traditional" beliefs. Local media have often used comments from police, other officials and employees of "anti-sect centres" to attack people and communities exercising freedom of religion or belief (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). Fined for selling the Koran and other religious books Roza Sarsembayeva, who runs a shop in a shopping centre in the southern city of Kyzylorda, was in September 2015 fined for selling 18 religious books, including the Koran. Strict state censorship is imposed on all religious literature and material, including a highly restrictive system of licences of where such material may be sold. Even some booksellers who have permission to sell religious material have told Forum 18 they do not want to sell it, to avoid trouble with the authorities. All Islamic material that is not Sunni Hanafi is banned (see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1939). Police raided Sarsembayeva's shop on 29 May 2015, amid a campaign to raid local shops selling religious literature without the compulsory state permission. Among the 18 religious books confiscated by police were several Muslim books, including a copy of the Koran, a translation of the Koran into Russian by the Azerbaijani scholar Elmir Kuliyev, a biography of the Muslim prophet Muhammad and a book on the haj pilgrimage. Other books confiscated included "The Earthly Life of the Mother of God" and a book entitled "Judaism". On 28 July 2015 police decided evidence was not there to bring a case against Sarsembayeva under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 1. This punishes "incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious hatred or antagonism" with imprisonment of two to seven years, or restricted freedom for the same period. A case was then initiated against Sarsembayeva under Administrative Code Article 490, Part 1, Point 3 ("Violating the requirements of the Religion Law for .. import, production, publication and/or distribution of religious literature and other religious materials, and items for religious use"). The punishment for individuals is a fine of 50 MFIs. On 21 September 2015, Judge Shalkhar Kozhantayev of Kyzylorda Specialised Administrative Court found Sarsembayeva guilty, according to the decision seen by Forum 18. He fined her 50 MFIs, then set at 99,100 Tenge, or more than four and half months' official minimum wage. He also banned her from selling books for three months. He ordered that the confiscated books be returned to her. Sarsembayeva does not seem to have appealed against the decision. Fined for book on "the Beautiful Names of Allah" Sarsembayeva was not the only bookseller punished by Kyzylorda Specialised Administrative Court in 2015 for selling religious books without state permission. During a 27 February 2015 raid on the Education bookshop in the city, police officers found and confiscated several religious publications, including one entitled "Explanation of the Beautiful Names of Allah in the Light of the Koran and Sunna". Again prosecutors considered launching a case against the shop's owner, Nargiz Bekkhozhayeva, under Criminal Code Article 174, Part 1 ("Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, or religious hatred or antagonism"). However, after an "expert" analysis found no evidence of a crime an administrative case was launched against her under Administrative Code Article 490, Part 1, Point 3. At her trial at Kyzylorda Specialised Administrative Court on 5 May 2015, Judge Kumis Espenbetova found Bekkhozhayeva guilty. She fined her 50 MFIs, then set at 99,100 Tenge, or more than four and half months' official minimum wage. Judge Espenbetova also banned Bekkhozhayeva from selling books for three months, according to the decision seen by Forum 18. The Judge ordered the confiscated books to be handed back. Bekkhozhayeva does not appear to have appealed against the fine and ban. "I don't understand what obligations you are talking about" Farabi Uzakov of Kyzylorda City Prosecutor's Office, who oversaw the literature prosecutions in 2015, insisted that the prosecutions were justified under the Administrative Code, which specifies punishment for selling religious books without permission. "If the court decisions have come into force, they are legal," he told Forum 18 from Kyzylorda on 8 February 2016. Asked how punishing people for exercising their internationally-recognised freedoms of expression and of religion or belief accord with Kazakhstan's international human obligations, Uzakov responded: "I don't understand what obligations you are talking about". Three criminal trials continue Three criminal trials - in Astana, Karaganda and Akmola Region - are known to be underway against Sunni Muslims accused of membership of the banned Muslim missionary movement Tabligh Jamaat (see F18News 2 February 2016 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2145). The latest hearing in the Karaganda trial was held on 8 February. The trial in Astana is due to resume at 10 am on 10 February. The latest hearing in the trial at Tselinograd District in Akmola Region was held on 4 February and is due to resume at 10 am on 12 February. (END) Reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kazakhstan can be found at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=29. For more background, see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1939. For a personal commentary from 2005 on how attacking religious freedom damages national security in Kazakhstan, see F18News http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=564. 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. A printer-friendly map of Kazakhstan is available at http://education.nationalgeographic.com/mapping/outline-map/?map=Kazakhstan. All Forum 18 News Service material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source. Russia/Syria: Daily Cluster Munition Attacks Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 8 February 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Russia/Syria: Daily Cluster Munition Attacks, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56ba050f4.html [accessed 21 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 Syrian-Russian joint military operation in Syria has included the use of internationally banned cluster munitions in at least 14 attacks across five governorates since January 26, 2016. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens. The International Syria Support Group, a group of 17 countries and three organizations that is scheduled to meet on February 11, should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority, Human Rights Watch said. "Any solution of the Syrian crisis needs to address ongoing indiscriminate attacks," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. "A good place to start would be a commitment by Russia and Syria to stop using cluster munitions." The surge in cluster munition use has taken place in the context of intensified Russian and Syrian military action to establish control over key strategic territory in the governorates of Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Homs, and Hama. The recent offensive around Aleppo has caused at least 20,000 people to flee towards the Turkish border. At least seven attacks also took place as government and anti-government forces met for peace talks in Geneva, which were suspended on February 3. In the 14 documented cases, Human Rights Watch both interviewed at least one local source who was a witness to the attack or its immediate aftermath, and identified the type of cluster munition used by reviewing photographs or videos. Casualty numbers are based on name lists provided by medical personnel, local responders, and journalists. The real number of cluster munition attacks is most likely higher, Human Rights Watch said. Local activists have reported at least eight additional attacks since January 26, including providing photographs and videos of remnants, but Human Rights Watch was not able to reach witnesses to those attacks. Some of the cluster munition attacks in recent weeks occurred in the northern governorate of Aleppo, near Nubbul and Zahraa, where government and pro-government forces attempted to break the siege imposed by armed opposition groups, including the Nusra front, on the two majority-Shiite towns. In Anadan, seven kilometers from Zahraa, cluster munitions and other weapons were used in an air attack that also struck a field hospital on January 27, killing a nurse; two first responders and a local media activist said. A local television report shows fragmentation damage and flat tires on an ambulance and minivan - indicating cluster munition use - as well as the clearance of AO-2.5 RT/RTM submunitions. Other cluster munition attacks have been recorded in pockets of opposition-controlled territory in government-controlled areas. For example, three witnesses told Human Rights Watch that on January 27, an aircraft dropped cluster munitions on Kafr Laha, a town in opposition-controlled territory near the city of Homs that is surrounded by Syrian government forces. "I saw people who had their legs cut off," a journalist with an opposition-affiliated media center who rushed to the area immediately after the attack told Human Rights Watch. "One person lost his eye. There were several people who were hanging between life and death. The injured were mostly women and children. All of them were injured from fragments from the submunitions, in the eyes, in the head, in the back. It was very hard to see." The journalist sent Human Rights Watch a list with the names of casualties. The list includes the names of 6 people, including a woman and 2 children, who were killed in the attack, and 59 people, including 13 women and 27 children, who were wounded. Other witnesses, including a first responder, confirmed that six or seven people had been killed. All three witnesses said that those killed and injured were civilians. Graphic video that the Homs Media Center posted on YouTube shows injured people, including several women and children, being brought to a makeshift hospital for treatment. Human Rights Watch received photographs taken by local people showing the remnants of an RBK-500 series bomb and its payload of ShOAB-0.5 submunitions. Three witnesses said there were no fighters or military targets near the impacted area. Cluster munitions are delivered from the ground by artillery and rockets, or dropped from aircraft and contain multiple smaller submunitions. A total of 118 countries have banned cluster munitions due to the harm caused at the time of attack and because their submunitions often fail to explode and threaten civilians and military alike, until cleared and destroyed. Syria and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch previously documented at least 20 cluster munition attacks by the Russian-Syrian joint operation between September 30, 2015, when Russian aircraft began its military operations in Syria, and December 14. Two types of the cluster munitions used in recent attacks were air-dropped and another two were ground-launched. Human Rights Watch was not able to determine whether the air-dropped cluster munitions were dropped by Russian or Syrian aircraft, or both. At a news conference in Moscow on December 23, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian military, denied allegations that the air force has stockpiled cluster munitions in Syria, stating that "Russian aviation does not use them" and "there are no such weapons at the Russian air base in Syria." However, the Conflict Intelligence Team open-source research organization has identified cluster munitions in photographs and video taken at Russia's Hmeymim airbase in Syria by Russian media and the Russian Defense Ministry since the beginning of Russia's air campaign. Based on an analysis of the distinctive physical characteristics of the weapons, Human Rights Watch has confirmed the identification of RBK series cluster bombs being loaded onto aircraft taking off from the base. On November 14, 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a photo from its Syria operation that shows an Su-25 in flight with its munition visible. A Human Rights Watch weapons expert identified the munition as an RBK-500 ShOAB-0.5 cluster bomb. Minutes after the January 27 cluster munition attack in Kafr Laha using RBK-500 series bomb and ShOAB-0.5 submunitions, a witness on the ground photographed a military aircraft that he said was flying near the attack site. He shared the photograph with Human Rights Watch which identified it as an Su-25. The photographer said that this was the only aircraft he saw in the air at the time of the attack. According to publicly available information, the Su-25 is not in service with Syrian forces. Russian forces have deployed at least 12 Su-25 to their airbase in Syria. Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition and serves as its chair. On October 1, the global campaign warned Russia against using any cluster munitions in Syria due to the "foreseeable and preventable" danger posed to civilians. "Whether or not Russia dropped these cluster munitions, it is operating jointly with the Syrian government and as such has a responsibility to ensure that Russian-Syrian operations are not using indiscriminate weapons," Houry said. "Russia should immediately ensure that cluster munitions are never again used in Syria, whether by its own or Syria's forces." Human Rights Watch has documented the use of four types of cluster munition since January 26, which are listed in the table below. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Egypt: Condemn Justice Minister's Hate Speech Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 8 February 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Egypt: Condemn Justice Minister's Hate Speech, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56ba05cf4.html [accessed 21 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. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi should condemn recent televised remarks by his justice minister that appeared to advocate the mass killing of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the president. In a January 28, 2016 interview with a satellite television news show, Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind said that he would not be satisfied until 10,000 Brotherhood members were killed for every slain member of the armed forces. President al-Sisi should clarify that his government will ensure the prosecution of anyone who commits, orders, or assists in murder or other crimes against Brotherhood supporters or any other group because of their political or ideological affiliation, Human Rights Watch said. The Egyptian government should forcefully dissuade others from engaging in hate speech. "That a high government official charged with overseeing the rule of law would go on TV and appear to encourage the slaughter of political opponents shows how some members of the Egyptian government have abandoned any pretense of justice," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. "The fact that Egyptian security forces have already committed mass killings of Brotherhood supporters, while judges have sentenced hundreds of others to death in mass trials, means that Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind's threat is very real." Because of al-Zind's authority as justice minister, his statements carry special weight. They add to a national climate already dominated by anti-Brotherhood rhetoric from state officials and prominent media figures, which characterizes all Brotherhood members as national security threats or potential terrorists. Al-Sisi should communicate directly to the justice ministry, as well as the interior ministry, which is responsible for the police, that the use of violence outside the law against alleged Brotherhood members or other political opponents will be punished. The interview, conducted by host Ahmed Moussa on the channel Sada al-Balad, was widely shared on social media. In the interview, al-Zind commented on the sacrifices made by the armed forces during counterterrorism operations, stating: May God have mercy on our virtuous martyrs. If the armed forces took revenge in a swift response, killing or finishing off 40 wrongful terrorist extremists, the armed forces will do everything they can to take revenge - to quench our thirst for revenge. I believe that these virtuous martyrs - I swear that we will only be satisfied to have 400,000 for their sake I swear by God almighty that, personally, the fire in my heart will not be extinguished unless for each one there's at least 10,000. The host commented that such a figure would mean "the entire Brotherhood," to which al-Zind responded: "I'm saying the Brotherhood and whoever aids them and whoever loves them and whoever pleases them and whoever takes bribes from them and whoever lives off their ill-gotten funds from Turkey and Qatar and Iran." Since the interview, no Egyptian official has clarified or contradicted al-Zind. The State Council, a judicial body that advises the government on legislation, issued a statement condemning separate and unrelated remarks made by al-Zind on the show. On January 31, lawyers from the legal committee of the Heliopolis Center filed a complaint with the country's prosecutor general accusing al-Zind of incitement to murder. The prosecutor general has the prerogative to investigate or ignore the complaint. As justice minister, al-Zind wields strong influence inside Egypt's judicial system, which includes the public prosecution. He has power to request disciplinary procedures against many judges and to assign judges to geographical circuits as well as approve their caseload. He also has responsibility for nominating judges to the inspection authority that investigates judicial misconduct and can assign judges temporarily to desired positions in government ministries. Since the military removed Mohamed Morsy, Egypt's first freely elected president and a former Brotherhood member, in July 2013, Egyptian judges have issued thousands of sentences against members of the group. Many verdicts have been based on little or no evidence following mass trials, including hundreds of death sentences that remain on appeal. In July and August 2013, security forces carried out a series of mass killings against Morsy supporters and Brotherhood members, leaving at least 1,150 people dead. Egypt has held no official or member of the security forces accountable for these probable crimes against humanity. Al-Zind's televised remarks appear to run counter to international law, Egypt's constitution, and views that President al-Sisi himself has previously stated. In November 2015, ahead of his first visit to the United Kingdom, al-Sisi told the BBC in an interview that the Brotherhood was part of Egypt but that it was not his decision whether to readmit them to public life. "The problem doesn't lie with the government and it doesn't lie with me," he said. "It lies with public opinion, with Egyptians They are part of Egypt and so the Egyptian people must decide what role they can play." Article 53 of Egypt's constitution states that "discrimination and incitement to hate are crimes punishable by law," while the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights similarly states, in article 20, that "any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law." Government agencies and officials have a duty to refrain from speech advocating violence, discrimination, or hostility toward any individual or social group. "If al-Sisi is serious about allowing the Brotherhood to exist in Egypt, then at minimum he should clearly and publicly reject the justice minister's dangerous threat," Whitson said. "A government whose justice minister advocates mass killings of political opponents as an act of vengeance is a government that has no justice." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Despite war at home, more Syrian refugees return from Iraq Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 8 February 2016 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Despite war at home, more Syrian refugees return from Iraq, 8 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56ba0e404.html [accessed 21 October 2022] Under a cold winter sun, 65-year-old Nazo Osi Ali and her two daughters pull their bulging suitcases out of the back of a blue station wagon at this town in northwest Iraq across the Tigris River from Syria. Ten months ago Nazo fled to Iraq to escape the fighting in Syria, but now she needs to return home to her war-ravaged country for medical reasons. "I have high blood pressure and a bad tooth and I want to see my own doctor and dentist," she says. "It is too expensive to get treatment in Iraq." She is one of a growing number of Syrian refugees ground down by the protracted exile who have made the dangerous decision to return to Syria, where five years of conflict have killed around a quarter of a million people. Nazo and her daughters had been living with her son, a day labourer, in Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). In Erbil, the cost of living is high, especially for refugees who live in urban areas. In Erbil, Nazo said it would cost her USD$2,000 for the treatment she needs, compared to the USD$400 she will pay her dentist in her home town of Amouda. Nazo's son-in law, who lives in Dohuk and is also a refugee, drove the women to the border to help them load their belongings onto the boat to ferry them across the Tigris to Syria. He is unhappy about Nazo's decision to return. "We're worried about her safety," he says. "Even though her daughters are travelling with her there is no one back home to look after them. But she won't listen to us," he adds. The decision to go back to Syria comes at a price. Nazo and her daughters were required to meet with staff with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to fill out departure forms and return residency and registration papers before they could leave. In doing so, they have given up their asylum seeker documentation in Iraq and may face challenges to be re-admitted if they ever need to return. Despite the clear risks, up to 25,000 Syrian refugees left the Kurdistan region of Iraq last year. Most returned home or, from there, continued on to Europe in search of a better life - many citing hardship in exile. "In December 2015, 86 per cent of refugees who went back to Syria were those who were living out of camps, in urban settings. Rent is high, it is difficult to find work and people are running out of money," said Mustafa El Hegagi, a UNHCR repatriation officer who works at the Iraq border. United Nations officials estimate that many more Syrian refugees will leave Iraq for Syria, or to other countries in 2016. But, due to the security situation on the other side of the border, UNHCR maintains a non-return policy to Syria. "We acknowledge that refugees may be leaving Iraq because of a lack of assistance," says UNHCR protection officer Ana Scattone Ferreira. "UNHCR, donors and the humanitarian community are working hard to overcome funding gaps, but the deteriorating economic situation in the KR-I has been a major push factor for Syrian returns. In light of this, it is our duty to make sure that refugees are returning voluntarily and that they are well-informed and aware of the risks and consequences." Nazo is not sure how safe it is going to be, but she is happy to be making the journey back to Amouda. She flashes a wide smile saying, "I am looking forward it. There isn't anything more precious than your own home." By Catherine Robinson in Peshkabour, Iraq Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Newsletter: Freedom of Expression in Eastern Africa Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 4 February 2016 Cite as Article 19, Newsletter: Freedom of Expression in Eastern Africa, 4 February 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56ba13a04.html [accessed 21 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. January 2016 This monthly bulletin provides a snapshot of the status of Freedom of Expression in Eastern Africa. It is compiled by ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa, with the assistance of its partners in the respective countries BURUNDI 28 January: Foreign journalist Jean-Philippe Remy and photojournalist Philip Edward Moore, while on assignment for French daily newspaper Le Monde in capital city Bujumbura, were arrested and detained by police. Presidential spokesman Willy Nyamitwe posted on Twitter, confirming that the two had been arrested, and their equipment confiscated, during the police raids on the neighbourhoods of Nyakabiga and Jabe, which also saw 17 people arrested and weapons seized. Pressure from international human rights and media groups including from French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meant that the journalists were released on 29 January. 29 January: Hermes Ntibandetse of Radio Publique Africaine, which was one of the biggest independent stations in the country before being shut down by the government last May, was arrested and interrogated for an hour before being released. KENYA 5 January: Judith Akolo was interrogated by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) after she retweeted a post from December 31 2015 from Patrick Safari (@moderncorps), which questioned why an advert for police promotions was released on the same day of the deadline. Section 29 of Kenya's Information and Communication Act (KICA) regarding 'improper use of a licensed telecommunication gadget' is being increasingly used by state officials to target those communicating online. 6 January: Denis Galava, Special Projects Editor at Nation Media Group, was suspended for an editorial deemed critical of the government, published 2 January. The article criticized President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration, and touched on the issues of security, unemployment, economic stagnation, corruption, and poor leadership. 12 January: Brian Otieno, popularly known as Odhiambo Otieno, was arrested and charged with 'misuse of telecommunication gadget'. Odhimbo said that three police officers came to the Kenya News Agency offices at Prosperity House building in Kisumu, and arrested him for allegedly defaming a gubernatorial aspirant (a candidate for government) on social media. He said the officers asked that Dr. Hezron Mc'Obewa, a political aspirant had wanted to talk to him. He was then detained at the police station. 12 January: journalist Elijah Kinyanjui was arrested and charged under Section 29 of KICA after sharing a photo of a governor's daughter on social media which showed her in a bad light. 19 January: Eddy Reuben Illah was arrested and charged with publishing prohibited material for sharing images of what he alleged were Kenyan soldiers killed in an Al Shabaab attack, via a WhatsApp group. Illah denied the charge and was remanded in custody pending the hearing of his case on 9 February. 19 January: Cyprian Nyakundi, was arrested and detained for 24 hours. Nyakundi was detained after tweeting about a construction company that was linked to Mombasa Governor, Hassan Joho. 21 January: Patrick Safari, a prison warden, popularly known as 'Modern Corps', was arrested for posting comments regarding the Al Shabaab attack at the KDF camp in El-Adde, Somalia. He spent the night in the cell being interrogated. His three mobile phones and laptop were confiscated by police. Safari regularly provides security updates via his social media accounts. 21 January: Anthony Njoroge Mburu, known as Waime Mburu, was arrested and charged with publishing false information. He was charged with three counts of harmful publication contrary to section 66(1) of the Penal code. According to the charge sheet, he is alleged to have posted false words on social media on January 8 which were intended to cause harm to Charlotte Wangui, who manages Sea Cross Farm in Kwale. According to section 66(1) of the Penal code of Kenya, any person who publishes any false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public, or to disturb the public peace, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 21 January: a female journalist was mishandled after she picked up a call from a 'perceived political enemy' of the Murang'a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria. She was covering a scuffle between Ethics and Anti Corruption Commision officialsand the Governor when the anti-corruption detectives went for a search in his house over corruption allegations. 23 January: Yassin Juma, a freelance journalist and blogger was arrested and held under the Section 29 of KICA. Detectives interrogated Juma over what he had posted on social media about the terror attack on a KDF camp in El-Adde, Somalia which left an unknown number of soldiers dead. Yassin was held at the Muthaiga Police Station over posts which provided updates of the attack. 27 January: Elkana Jacob, of the Star newspaper, was arrested at the Likoni Channel while driving home. He was taken to Makupa police station where police claimed he had illegally photographed the station. Jacob said his arrest was actually due to a story he had published the previous day regarding two police officers who were discharged after they were allegedly caught by President Uhuru Kenyatta taking bribes from motorists. SOMALIA 29 January: Abdirisak Omar Ahmed, a freelance journalist and contributor to privately-owned Somali-language news website Xogmaal, was held without charges following his arrest by Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency in December 2015 near the Jubba Hotel, in the Shanghani district of Mogadishu, according to ARTICLE 19's partner organisation, National Union of Somalia Journalists (NUSOJ). Abdirisak was detained alongside journalist Abdukar Mohamed Ali, of Star FM, while the pair were walking to a coffee shop. Abdukar was released without charge the next day, but Abdirisak remains in detention, and has not been brought before the court, according to his family and the Somalia journalists union.He is being held at the intelligence agency headquarters near the presidential palace in Mogadishu, according to Mohamed Ibrahim, secretary-general of the government-recognized NUSOJ. SOUTH SUDAN 22 January: Innocent Ngbati, a reporter working for the Government owned Yambio FM, was beaten and injured by prison officers as he was taking photos and talking to eyewitnesses at the scene where a police commissioner had been shot dead. Police alleged Ngbati was one of the people who shot the Commissioner. 23 January: Silvestro Ruati a journalist working for the Catholic Radio Network, Anisa FM in Yambio, was arrested and detained by the national security officials. Ruit was alleged to be a member of the Arrow Boys, but refuted the charges and was later released. TANZANIA 15 January: The Tanzanian government permanently banned Mawio newspaper, an independent publication.Announcing the ban, the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye, said the decision was reached after the newspaper embarked on a series of news articles that, according to him, "had all the indications of inciting violence in the country." Mawio editors, Jabir Idrissa and Simon Mkina, were summoned and questioned by police about the paper's coverage of Zanzibar, according to Mkina who spoke to ARTICLE 19 via email. They were ordered to report daily to a local police station until further notice, said Mkina. He said no formal charges had been made against them. UGANDA 7 January: Ben Byarabaha, managing editor of the privately owned daily newspaper Red Pepper, and Dickson Mubiru, managing editor of Kamunye, a privately-owned weekly publication, were summoned and questioned regarding the source of a photograph of the body of a man the newspapers identified as Christopher Aine, chief of security for Ugandan presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi. The two editors were released after being held for 24 hours without charge. Media reports said police arrested the editors, after they refused to disclose how they got the photograph. The two were not allowed to speak to or see anyone until they were released. 12 January: Mulindwa Mukasa, a journalist and human rights activist, had his house broken into and laptops, two video cameras, a mobile phone, three harddrives, and 500,000 Uganda shillings taken. According Human Rights Network for journalists (HRNJ-Uganda) the intruders forced open Mukasa's back door while he was asleep. Mukasa was quoted by (HRNJ-Uganda) saying "These were not ordinary thieves. It was a highly sophisticated intrusion into my house which I believe did not last long. They were interested in items where I store my information. They specifically went for information gadgets and ignored items that I would expect an ordinary thief to carry such as TV, Radio and even a brand new (boxed) home theater system among other things". 14 January: Andrew Lwanga, a reporter for Wavah Broadcasting Services (WBS) Television, testified against the former Division Police Commander of Old Kampala Police Station, Joram Mwesigye, who is accused of assaulting the journalist. However Lwanga's damaged camera was not produced in court, and the police could not trace its whereabouts. Detective Assistant Superintendent of police Angenyo Moureen, who was investigating the case against Lwanga told that court that during her investigations, she recovered a camera with the writings "WBS", and exhibited it together with Ssetimba's torn trousers and the sketch plan. However, when prosecution, led by Patricia Chingtho, asked for the camera to be produced in court for identification by the witness, it was not available, forcing court to adjourn the hearing for nearly an hour. When the hearing resumed, the camera still had not been brought to court. The prosecutor continued examining the witness, despite no report being given about the missing camera. 15 January: The government announced that journalists without a university qualification will be barred from covering Parliament. The Parliamentary Commission sent a letter to news outlets which said journalists without university degrees would be barred from covering Parliament as of May 2016. Chris Obore, the communication manager for Parliament, defended the decision, saying journalists with degrees are the ones who can ably follow debate in parliament and report appropriately to the public. Parliament also withdrew office space from the Uganda Parliamentary Press Association; a move journalists said threatened the relationship between journalists and the Parliamentary Commission. 17 January: Galiwango Ronald, of the privately-owned station NTV; Kenneth Oryema, of the privately-owned daily New Vision; Ernest Kyazze, from the privately-owned daily Bukedde; and Julius Ariong, correspondent for the independent Daily Monitor in Moroto were assaulted by George Obia, the Moroto district police commander. Media reports said the four reporters went to cover an alleged road block, set up by police to prevent an opposition presidential candidate from reaching his supporters in Nadiket. Obia threatened the journalists and ordered them to hand over a camera. Their equipment were damaged according to reports. 18 January: Ali Golooba Lukuuba, a journalist for Radio Buddu, a privately-owned station based in Masaka, was beaten, and his equipment confiscated by security guards while covering a function by local politician Hajji Muyanja Mbabaali. Media reports said Lukuuba was accosted by six security guards, who asked him why he was recording their candidate. The men then hit and kicked the journalist, and confiscated his equipment. Lukuuba said even after identifying himself as a journalist and showing them his ID, they continued beating him. According to the Human Rights Network for Journalists, a local rights organization, he has had pain in his leg, back, and chest since the assault. 18 January: Threejournalists, Eddie Muhumuza of Hub for Investigative Media (HIM), Kenson Bugembe and Mohamed Safe, from Uganda Media Center, were arrested for taking pictures of Kaweesa Richard (music artist) as he demanded payment of 52 million Uganda shillings for his song from Africell. Muhumuza and Kaweesa were both charged with criminal trespass, but granted police bond after seven hours of detention. Bugembe and Safe were forced to delete pictures of Kaweesa and released without charge. 20 January: Endigyito FM ceased broadcasting after the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) revoked the station's license, and confiscated its broadcasting equipment only a day after the station aired an interview with opposition presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi. Uganda is slated for presidential elections on February 18. Media reports indicated that UCC director Godfrey Mutabaazi initially said the station's license was suspended because it owed 38 million Ugandan shillings ($11,000) in licensing fees. However the station's owner, Nulu Byamukama, said he had paid the outstanding fees in full following the suspension of the station's license. 27 January: Four journalists, including Ronald Nahebwa, Benon Tugumisirize, Madina Nalwanga appeared in court to answer defamation charge. However, Ephraim Ntaganda, one of the prosecution witnesses revealed that he never complained to police about the journalists. Media reports said Ntaganda, who was cross-examined by four lawyers, told the court that he did not lodge a complaint against the four journalists but rather against Juma Ssegawa Tamale, a city business man with whom they have a land dispute. Sunday 31: Benon Kanamwanje, a journalist for the Red Pepper publications, was on attacked by the supporters of the Mukono Municipality contestant for the Democratic Party, Betty Nambooze. The supporters, led by the Mukono Municipality Youth Councilor, Godffrey Kisawuzi, accused Kanamwanje of biased reporting. Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19 Plans to bring condos to 61 W. Erie were first revealed back in the summer of 2013 when it was reported that Chicago-based MCZ Development had purchased the two-story River North building that housed Astrolab, a film processing company famous for treating the footage used in all of John Hughes' movies and scenes from Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight." Renderings of the ultra modern maze-like wood and concrete ten-story tower were revealed in 2015 along with pricing for its eight units ranging from $1.7 million up to $2.9 million for the duplex penthouse. Though zoning for the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed project was approved by the city in spring of 2015, a period of virtual radio silence soon followed. Luckily, it appears now that the 61 W. Erie condo project is still on course but with an updated design and a new developer at the helm. According to this month's agenda for the Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals, the project is now under the control of LG Development Group. The building, which is seeking a special use permit for residential ground level parking, has also grown in size from ten to twelve stories and now includes ten residential units instead of the original eight. It is unclear if the design of the up-sized project will stay true to HPA's modern vision, but it's safe to assume that units in the new building will still cost a considerable chunk of change and will feature price appropriate top-of-the-line fixtures. Access to the building's 12 at-grade parking spaces will likely come through the existing alleyway next to the neighboring Walgreen's drive-through lane, provided this aspect of the design has not changed. 61 W. Erie will join a small but growing number of new luxury condos entering the River North market with 400 W. Huron, No. 9 Walton, and 800-820 N. Wells. Zoning Approved for This Striking River North Condo Project [Curbed Chicago] River North archives [Curbed Chicago] A look at elections in Taylor County and beyond Percussion concert The McMurry University percussion ensemble will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Bynum Band Hall on campus. The concert will be a preview of group's upcoming performance at the Texas Music Educators Association conference in San Antonio. Barbecue and bunco A barbecue and bunco fundraiser will begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Elmwood West United Methodist Church, 1302 S. Pioneer Drive. Admission is $20. Conversation at the library "A Conversation with Interesting People" will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. The event will feature Becky Pugsley, who served on Air Force One; 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody; former actor Lance Voorhees; and former Merkel mayor and NASA engineer Lou David Allen. Admission is free. Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Moody Coliseum at Abilene Christian University. Tickets start at $23. For tickets, or for more information, go to harlemglobetrotters.com or acusports.com/tickets, or call 888-695-0888. Tax assistance at the library Through April 15, the AARP will offer free assistance in preparing income tax forms for low- and middle-income taxpayers from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St., and Fridays and Saturdays at the Mockingbird Branch, 1326 N. Mockingbird Lane. No appointment is necessary. Class for iPhones and iPads Tom Miller will present a free class for iPhone and iPad users at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Mockingbird Branch of the Abilene Public Library, 1326 N. Mockingbird Lane. Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Information: 325-692-1087. ArtWalk ArtWalk, a program of the Center for Contemporary Arts, will take place from 5-8 p.m. Thursday in downtown Abilene. The theme will be "Grin and Bear It," and will celebrate bears with a new art installation. Artist speaks Artist Jon J Muth will speak about his work at a free event at 6 p.m. Thursday at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, 102 Cedar St. "Zen Tales: The Art of Jon J Muth" will be on exhibit at the NCCIL from Feb. 11 to May 27. Grace After Dark Screenings of several short films will be presented during Grace After Dark at 7 p.m. Thursday on the roof of The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Food trucks will open at 6 p.m., and a cash bar will be available. Admission will be free, but will be limited to 100 viewers. Participants must be 18 or older. Dance class A social ballroom dancing class will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Wagon Wheel in Tye. Admission is $5. For more information, call 325-829-1517. Rap concert Rap artist Lecrae will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Moody Coliseum at Abilene Christian University. Tickets start at $20. For tickets, go to www.liveatthepark.org. 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor' A production of "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Feb. 19 and 20 in Fulks Theatre at Abilene Christian University. Tickets are $15. For more information, go to www.acu.edu/theatre. 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' As part of the Paramount Film Series, showings of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Robert Holladay will give a lecture on the film at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org. Movie at the library A showing of a 2013 animated movie, rated PG, will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the South Branch of the Abilene Public Library, 1401 S. Danville Drive. Popcorn and drinks will be provided. Admission is free. Chautauqua The Chautauqua Learning Series will continue with a presentation by Abbie Randolph, "Mesquite Storytellers of Abilene," from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Buffalo Gap Historic Village, 133 N. William St. in Buffalo Gap. Admission is free. Chamber music MAPS Trio will present a chamber music concert at 5 p.m. Sunday at Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. For more information, call 325-677-2091 or go to www.heavenlyrestabilene.org. Claudie C. Royal banquet The annual banquet in honor of Claudie C. Royal will begin at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Free admission. Fur Ball The annual Fur Ball dinner and dance fundraiser will be 7-10 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Tom and Lisa Perini will serve a dinner, with a buffet for dogs presented by Pam's Pets, and the Abilene Community Band will perform. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children age 12 and under. Dogs will be admitted free. Proceeds will go to Rescue the Animals, SPCA. For tickets, call 325-698-7722. There was a recipe for Texas Fruit Bowl in the paper. I made it and it was very good. The problem now is that it is nowhere to be found. The fruit stayed fresh and crisp for several days. Ummmm good! Can you help me find it? Never fear, the recipe is here. It's called the "Texasize" Fruit Bowl taken from the Junior League of San Antonio's "Flavors" cookbook, first published in 1978. Our food writer Laura Gutschke also gives it her seal of approval and included the recipe in her column around Thanksgiving. Laura updated the can sizes to the recipe and substituted frozen peaches. She says the almond flavoring is the secret ingredient that makes the dish delicious. Here you go: Ingredients 2 (8-ounce) cans pineapple tidbits, drained 2 (11-ounce) cans mandarin oranges, drained 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved 2-3 bananas, sliced into bite-sized pieces 1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved 2 cups frozen peach slices (if frozen at home with sugar, drain) 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring Directions 1 In a large bowl, combine all of the fruit. 2 In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and almond flavoring. Gently work into fruit mixture. Chill 2 hours before serving. Sounds good to me. If there are any leftovers, I can take care of them. Stan and XuXia Smith learned from an ultrasound midway through the pregnancy that their son would be born with an often-fatal congenital heart defect. In the first week of the baby's life, they got more bad news: Some major organs were incorrectly formed and mislocated inside Travis' tiny body. They faced a long journey. "I felt like I'd been hit by a tidal wave. I couldn't process the information I was being given fast enough, and I knew we'd need someone to help us translate and evaluate the enormous amount of information we were being bombarded with," Stan Smith said. The Chicago couple hired Dan Polk, a patient advocate and retired neonatologist whose specialty is working with sick babies and their families. Polk helped the Smiths understand the complexity of their son's condition while building an experienced health care delivery team, and he has guided them through the intricacies of Travis' treatment. More than two years after his birth, he still has medical issues that require Polk's counsel. "I was trained to take care of patients but found myself spending too much time away from the bedside," said Polk, who took up patient advocacy in 2013 after 35 years in practice. "Being an advocate for babies and parents has allowed me to do what I was trained to do: take care of patients." There are perhaps 250 to 300 patient advocates for hire in the United States, one professional association estimates. Some advocates such as Polk have clinical backgrounds and know how to navigate the health care system. They may accompany patients to appointments and facilitate doctor-patient conversations in patient-friendly language. They may also handle tasks such as prepping for medical appointments, finding the right doctors and even deciphering medical bills and health insurance plans. Advocates aren't cheap their rates can start at $100 an hour or more, depending on experience and credentials and insurance doesn't cover them. Stan Smith, 69, runs an economic and financial consulting firm. His wife, XuXia, 41, takes care of Travis and their 5-year-old daughter, Blake Sarai TeiTei Smith. They have the resources to pay for a top-notch advocate. Polk's standard hourly fee is $300, but his rates depend on the client and the situation. When he travels for out-of-town consultations and treatments, as he sometimes does with the Smiths, his daily rate is $1,500 plus expenses. Smith said advocates can sometimes help a client avoid unnecessary expenses that they might incur by going it alone. "Without Dan, the doctors in Boston and Chicago never would have imagined that we'd be able to understand the level of complex information we asked for," he said. "But with Dan, we could not only travel at their speed and understand what was going on, we could collaborate in coming up with better solutions and pathways for care." Physicians sometimes say complicated things, Polk said. Just because their words are heard doesn't mean they are understood. In the Smiths' case, he noted, 15-minute conversations with doctors often led to three-hour discussions with Polk to talk over what they meant. Working with the Smiths, Polk constructed plans to address Travis' medical issues. Preparations for repairing Travis' heart were among the most technically and emotionally challenging. The first step was to help the Smiths understand what was wrong and the solutions that might keep Travis alive. Then the parents had to decide who should perform the procedure and where. And for the surgery at Boston Children's Hospital, Polk accompanied the parents to explain the operation as it unfolded. "A good advocate must have the ability to evaluate complex medical situations, formulate a plan to address them and implement it," Polk said. That's not all. One lesson Polk learned is that there's a time to talk and a time to listen. "Initially, listening is probably more important to understand the entirety of a situation, but at some point, you have to start to act," he said. Polk helped the family avoid pitfalls. Once, a doctor recommended that Travis get immediate surgery on an intestinal abnormality. Polk suggested the Smiths get another opinion. A second doctor suggested they wait and see. A third physician agreed, and so did Polk and the Smiths. An immediate operation could have led to scar tissue that might have caused an intestinal blockage. "We can't say what would have been the result of a trip or fall, but we do know that many families who we met on the same journey have lost their children," Smith said. Physicians see value in patient advocates, too. Dr. Pedro del Nido, who operated on Travis' heart at Boston Children's Hospital, praised Polk for applying his medical knowledge and communication skills to present information clearly in a way that allowed for rational, thoughtful decisions. Most doctors welcome advocates, said Dr. Sima Kahn, a patient advocate and an obstetrician and gynecologist in Seattle. "Doctors are so overworked that they seem thrilled to discover that people who do what I do exist and that I am part of a team that can take pressure off them." A spoonful of sugar may make the medicine go down, but that's hardly useful if a patient doesn't remember to take it in the first place. According to a new analysis, there could be a possible solution: text message reminders sent to patients' phones from the doctor. Researchers found that texts could push people to do better at adhering to their drug regimens and, along the way, save the health system a fair bit of money. The paper, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, reviewed data from 16 studies, all of which explored whether mobile telephone text reminders sent to patients made them more likely to take their medicine. In total, the studies included in this meta-analysis tracked the behavior of almost 3,000 chronically ill patients, looking at how well they complied with medication regimens, and found the text messages had an impact. Across the various studies, patients went from having a 50 percent rate of following through on medication to a nearly 68 percent rate. On its face, that looks like quite a jump. But readers should view the findings with a degree of caution, the authors noted. They pointed out that several of the studies they examined relied on participants to self-report how faithful they were with their prescription drugs. Since people often misremember or misreport this kind of information, that measure isn't always the most reliable. In addition, the studies included in the analysis lasted on average about three months, though chronically ill people take their medications for years. Thus, the studies may not have accounted for whether patients eventually experience text message fatigue and consequently paid the reminders less attention. If that is the case, then text messages could initially be effective but, over time, lose their power in helping people take medicine. "It's one way to think just sending messages is simple, and people will like it," said Robby Nieuwlaat, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Canada's McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. "But they can also be irritating at some point if you don't need it." That could be a factor, said Laurie Buis, an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, who has also researched the subject. But it's clear people want such reminders. "There is a lot of consumer demand for these types of interventions." The paper also compares studies from a host of countries. Two were based in the United States, but others were conducted in China, Spain and Kenya. Some texted patients every day. Others messaged them every week. Still others used strategies like aligning a text message with timing for when patients should take particular doses. Some sent patients reminders that had been personalized. Others didn't. Those differences could introduce variables that made the texts more or less effective, or they could have introduced other considerations for which the analysis doesn't account. Taking medicine is, of course, important especially for people with chronic conditions, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Chronically ill people are also often on multiple medications, which can be hard to track and easy to forget about. That means if text reminders do work, they have "the potential to prevent major clinical events such as heart attacks, strokes and premature death," study co-author Clara Chow wrote in an email. Chow directs the cardiovascular division of the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia. Not taking medicine isn't just bad for your health it's expensive, too. Experts estimate patients not complying with their drug regimens cost the United States between $100 billion and $289 billion each year. If text reminders do prove effective, they could offer an easy, low-cost tool to address that problem. "Text message-based interventions can be delivered at low cost, they can be easily scaled with computerized message management systems," Chow said. "So they are likely to be cost effective in health care." But the issue of who pays for the text messaging also raises questions. Texts are cheap to send, but they still aren't free, Nieuwlaat said. He wrote a commentary analyzing the study. As researchers further probe how helpful they could be, doctors and patients need to think about who would pay for that kind of service and if it's worth the investment. "If it's on the patient side, it has to be acceptable to the patient maybe they pay a bit more for the text messaging they receive," he said. If health systems or doctors subsidize text reminders, they'll "have to think about whether they think it's worth investing the money, considering the potential benefit." There also needs to be more research to better quantify how influential these messages could be, Nieuwlaat added. The Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese has given the city some of its greatest sacred landmarks: St. Mary of the Angels and St. Hedwig in Bucktown, Holy Name and Old St. Pat's downtown. Many neighborhoods in Chicago, particularly on the South Side, are known more by their local parish than their official name. But a new report from the weekend should have preservationists worried the archdiocese is forecasting a perfect storm of a declining number of priests and a large bill for deferred maintenance. The solution could be to close up to 100 churches in the next 14 years. Preservationists have been in a seemingly constant conflict with the Archdiocese in recent years, waging pitched battles that have ended with dubious results. In the loss column, St. Laurence in Greater Grand Crossing was demolished in 2013 along with St. James on Wabash in Bronzeville. And with an estimated 251 priests available in 2030 to staff 351 parishes, the new Cardinal Blase Cupich faces some tough choices. "Demographics have shifted dramatically," Cupich wrote in the archdiocesan newspaper last week. "Some of our parish buildings are in disrepair. We have fewer priests to pastor our faith communities. The result is that we end up spreading our resources too thinly ... I would be less than honest if I did not acknowledge that by the time this consultative process is complete, we will mourn together the loss of some parishes." Preservationists have fought the archdiocese to a standstill on St. Boniface in West Town, but its future is far from certain. The Shrine of Christ the King/St. Gelasius, one of a few designated Chicago Landmark Catholic churches, was recently damaged by fire and the archdiocese has sought permission to demolish it on safety grounds. Preservation Chicago announced yesterday that they'd received $450,000 in pledges to stabilize the structure but its future also remains uncertain. The future of St. Adalbert is Pilsen, a landmark for the Polish community, is also in question as the congregation and archdiocese eyes major repairs to the two towers flanking its front facade. Pilsen is home to six parishes that are currently working on recommendations that could include consolidation and serve as a blueprint for other neighborhoods. Spokespeople for the archdiocese told the Tribune that it's unlikely 100 churches will close. That would only be the case if they applied a "one priest, one parish" formula which would likely be too generic with some parishes sharing a priest. No matter what, the next decade or so is likely to witness some radical restructuring of the Chicago Archdiocese and more than a handful of vacant churches for the archdiocese. Andrew Schneider Massive overhaul slated for Chicago Archdiocese [Tribune] Dreaming Big about the Archdiocese of Chicago [Catholic New World] Lively music filled the Bassetti Elementary cafeteria Monday afternoon as kindergartners through second graders filed into the space. After all the children had found seats, they were asked to put their hands in their laps, close their lips and turn their attention to the stage for Storybook Theatre of Texas' presentation of "City Mouse, Country Mouse." The youngsters didn't have to be quiet long as Ellie the Country Mouse (Sue Powell) pranced on stage singing and exclaiming "Hoo Wee!" She told the kids that saying "Hoo Wee" made her very happy and she asked them to say it. Their first attempt wasn't loud enough for Ellie, but when they did it again, they were so enthusiastic, they just about blew the doors off their hinges. Powell wore a straw hat complete with mouse ears and a mask with a mouse nose and whiskers. When she turned around and the children caught sight of her brown tail embellished with a sunflower, the students burst out in laughter. Powell's interaction with the audience and her joyful and uninhibited performance charmed the children. When Ellie's cousin, Ida May the City Mouse, came for a visit, it became quite clear that while the two were both mice and were even related, they were very different. And that was one of the lessons the children unknowingly learned while enjoying the performance. Lynn Draper, founder and owner of the New Braunfels-based theater company, played the "persnickety" Ida May, who shuddered and squealed about her country-living cousin's practices, such as getting milk directly from the cow and eating raw vegetables. When Ellie visited the city, she found it not at all like her home in the country. The two "mice" and the "cat" (portrayed by Linda Montez) seen briefly during an onstage chase, talked to the children about their differences, including clothing and skin color, and said it's OK to be different. People who are different from each other can still be friends, they said, while reminding the members of the audience that they also are all the same they are all children. The characters in the show also touched on the importance of literacy. "We want to encourage reading wherever we go," Draper said. The theater company is part of the Texas Commission on the Arts touring roster and travels all over Texas performing in schools, libraries and theater. The troupe, which consists of seven to eight actors, has visited Abilene schools numerous times. This visit includes 10 shows over four days. "They are such a fun group," Powell said about the audiences they see when they visit here. Out of a tragedy is coming a tribute a memorial in remembrance of four airmen killed in a Dyess-based C-130J plane crash in Afghanistan last October. But the project won't stop there plans are for the memorial to honor all line-of-duty deaths at Dyess Air Force Base. Brian Yates, Abilene Chamber of Commerce vice president of military affairs, told the Reporter-News the developmental stage of the new memorial park redesign is underway. "The goal is to have (the memorial) done on the one-year anniversary of the crash," Yates said. Four Dyess airmen Capt. Jordan Pierson, Capt. Jonathan Golden, Staff Sgt. Ryan Hammond and Senior Airman Quinn Johnson-Harris died in the Oct. 2 crash of a C-130J as it was taking off at Jalalabad Airfield in Afghanistan. "We're in the process of finding a way to incorporate all of the crashes and line-of-duty deaths that have occurred at Dyess over the years," Yates said. "And we're still researching to make sure we've got 'em all and find a way to put them into a very elegant setting and representing all out at the memorial park." From the conceptional phase, Yates said, the project will move toward the contract, fundraising and construction phase. When the crash first happened, the chamber's Military Affairs Committee served as a conduit for a lot of support and arrangements, which led to plans for the memorial. Calling it "a bond between airmen," Capt. Benjamin Johnson of Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma told the Reporter-News he contacted the Abilene Chamber of Commerce after he saw a media release mentioning J.J. Golden did pilot training at Vance, which inspired Johnson to find a way to help the families and friends of all the deceased airmen. "I had a buddy of mine who died in a plane crash," Johnson, 33, said. "And I felt like I could do something for the family of the crew." On May 3, 2013, Johnson's friend, Capt. Tyler Voss of the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron was one of three airmen who died in an accident. In honor of the Dyess C-130J crew, Johnson, who has served for 14 years, helped designed a tan-colored T-shirt featuring a silhouette of the aircraft as well as the names of all the crew. He then put shirts for sale on Oct. 6 via the fundraising website booster.com. His goal was to sell 50 shirts by Oct. 18. He sold 958 and raised $15,950. "It took off like wildfire," Johnson said. "I think it shows how much public support there is for the military." Some of the money was used to care for the families of the crew to attend last year's memorial service at the Abilene Civic Center, and the remainder will help in the building of a memorial to the crew at Dyess Air Force Base. "That was the genesis and it has grown in scope," Yates said. "But it will be way more expensive than what (Johnson) raised." As far as a specific cost, he said it should be less than $500,000 but it will be a multiyear project. Yates added the preliminary design is not yet approved but one design concept has been agreed upon. "We're just refining specifics of how it looks," he said. The families of the crew will be invited to the celebration of Phase 1 of the memorial being completed in October. Twitter: ARN_Titus Lubbock County sheriff endorses Starr Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe has endorsed Michael Bob Starr in the Republican primary for U.S. Congress, according to a news release from the candidate. "I have the utmost respect for the candidates in this race, but Michael Bob Starr stands above the rest because of his military experience and commitment to securing our border and stopping the flow of crime and drugs to Lubbock County and West Texas," Rowe is quoted as saying in the news release. Rowe has served as sheriff since 2009. Starr, a retired colonel and former Dyess Air Force Base commander, also is endorsed by Taylor County Sheriff Ricky Bishop, the Abilene Police Officers Association and military leaders from Congressional District 19, including retired Maj. Gen. Walt Huffman of Lubbock. Arrington picks up endorsements Republican candidate for the 19th Congressional District, Jodey Arrington announced in a news release Monday that he has received endorsements from Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND and Independent Bankers Association of Texas FedPAC. "Times are tough in farm country. Farmers and ranchers need a congressman who knows how to get results," said Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND President Russell Boening in a news release. "Jodey's experience in government, education, and the private sector all fit together. Congress needs a problem-solver like Jodey Arrington." Voter IDs available in area counties Election Identification Certificates will be available at mobile stations in Shackelford and Stonewall counties for Texans who do not already have an acceptable form of photo identification necessary to vote. The mobile stations will be set up at the courthouses in Albany and Aspermont from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 16-18. Strong showings in the Iowa caucuses by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio sent them roaring into Tuesday's Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire with a head of steam at the expense of a deflated Donald Trump. On the Democratic side, the virtual tie between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders puts intense pressure on Clinton to rebound in New Hampshire and foreshadows a protracted struggle in a race she expected to dominate. New Hampshire is renowned for its independence and contrarian voting habits and anything can happen there. Trump and Sanders enjoy big polling leads that they now need to turn into New Hampshire victories. That will be a test of whether Sanders can retain the enthusiasm of his youthful supporters, and whether Trump fans still consider him a winner after losing the first contest of the 2016 campaign. Rubio didn't win Iowa but he was a big a winner there. His third-place finish was closer than polls predicted and he almost caught Trump. His challenge now is to persuade mainstream Republican voters to coalesce behind his candidacy to foil the self-styled outsiders Cruz and Trump. To do that he'll need a strong showing in New Hampshire against Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie three other mainstream Republicans who are competing vigorously in the Granite State. New Hampshire comebacks are not unusual. Clinton staged one after Barack Obama beat her in Iowa eight years ago. Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1988 scored critical New Hampshire wins after losing Iowa. Of course, Clinton's New Hampshire victory in 2008 wasn't enough to propel her to victory over Obama for the nomination. This time, she's counting on strong organizations and well- financed campaigns in later contests to overcome the unexpected early success of Sanders, a senator from Vermont. New Hampshire's outcome is hard to predict because about 40 percent of its voters are independents who are allowed to decide on primary day whether to vote in either party's contest. A candidate who scores big with these voters can spring a surprise. And surprise has already been the story of this campaign, in which little has played out as expected. On the Republican side there are several huge question marks, in addition to the overriding one of Trump's durability: Can Rubio, the Florida senator, get a bounce from his strong Iowa finish and thereby crowd out the other mainstream contenders? He will be the focus of a lot of fire from rivals over the next few days to prevent this. If he places first or second in New Hampshire, he would become a top contender for the nomination. What about Kasich, Bush or Christie? Each faces virtual elimination otherwise. And each probably has to finish ahead of the other two and Rubio for a plausible pathway to the nomination. Can Cruz ride his Iowa victory to a respectable showing in New Hampshire, a state he'd been inclined to ignore but now is contesting? He'd planned to focus instead on South Carolina, where the third GOP contest takes place Feb. 20 and where conservative voters are more of a force. His campaign manager has predicted that the Texan will prevail there, though polls show Trump ahead. Another factor may be whether Ben Carson, the retired pediatric neurosurgeon who finished a distant fourth in Iowa, stays in the race; he and Cruz compete for evangelical Christian voters. New Hampshire is likely to winnow out at least three or four candidates. Iowa effectively took out half a dozen, including Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, winners of the last two Republican caucuses there. Email Albert R. Hunt, a Bloomberg View columnist, at ahunt1@bloomberg.net. ROCHESTER, N.H. The contrast couldn't be more striking. No denunciations of immigrants or vows to build walls. No pledge to rip out Obamacare by the roots (though he'd replace it). No denunciations of the Iranian arms deal or working with Democrats. In a year when most Republican rivals have vied to match front-runner Donald Trump's often outrageous proposals, highly personalized attacks and establishment bashing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich stands out as a voice of moderation and compromise. "Anybody can come around and make a promise: we're going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to have a 10 percent flat tax, we're going to abolish the IRS," Kasich told several dozen people who attended his 87th town meeting last week at an American Legion hall in this eastern New Hampshire town. "That's not going to happen," he continued. "So I'm here giving you what I would need to do to govern, not to get elected." And he asked, "You don't think we can solve these problems without both parties, do you?" But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's close third in Monday's Iowa caucuses threatens Kasich's hope of emerging as the top establishment candidate in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Kasich, who largely ignored Iowa, was eighth of 11. He professes to be unconcerned, telling a Bloomberg Politics Breakfast Briefing on Wednesday, "The media is going to pump this for a couple days and then we're going to see." Later, at the governor's 93rd town meeting in Newmarket, two likely Kasich voters dismissed the Iowa impact here. "He didn't make much effort there, so I discount it," said Bill Healey, 78, a retired computer systems consultant. "Iowa is Iowa," said his wife, Crescentia Anne Healy, 79. "We're so different." Kasich's campaign, which stresses his conservative credentials in balancing the federal budget in Congress and governing Ohio the past six years, isn't totally positive. He condemned "negative crap" in the media advertising of rivals Chris Christie and Jeb Bush. That night, his independent super PAC, New Day for America, aired a television ad showing Bush encased in mud. But his approach enabled the Ohio governor to rise in mid-January to second in the Real Clear Politics average of New Hampshire polls and he leaves many hitherto undecided voters with positive vibes. "He doesn't trash anyone," said Karen Merrill of Barrington, 59, an Air Force veteran and stay-at-home mother. "He's talking policies." "I'm tired of angry men," said John Roese, 73, or Rochester, a retired Air Force officer and aerospace employee. Most New Hampshire newspapers have endorsed him as have The Boston Globe and The New York Times, which called Kasich "the only plausible choice for Republicans tired of the extremism and inexperience on display in this race." But Rubio's strong Iowa showing has complicated Kasich's effort to beat the Florida senator, along with Bush and Christie. "They all have to beat each other to have an opportunity to consolidate mainstream voters and donors," said Fergus Cullen, a former state GOP chairman who backs Kasich. However, even some past candidates who made unexpectedly strong showings in New Hampshire failed to sustain their momentum afterward. And Kasich's approach bears some resemblance to that four years ago by former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who finished third with 17 percent but ran out of money and dropped out a week later. "What we have to do is get to March 15," said veteran New Hampshire pol Tom Rath. That's when the primary calendar moves to Kasich's home state of Ohio and other Midwestern bastions and when winning candidates can win all of a state's delegates, rather than dividing them proportionally. But that not only requires finishing second here, it means doing well in Massachusetts and Vermont and surviving primaries in such conservative strongholds as South Carolina on Feb. 20, and the many Southern states including Texas on March 1. Still, even before Iowa voted, one veteran Washington analyst, Stuart Rothenberg, wrote in Roll Call that, even if Kasich beats Rubio here, "the Ohio governor simply has not shown the appeal or put together the campaign elsewhere that he would need to become a true contender in the Republican race. "If I get smoked here," Kasich said in Newmarket, "I'm going (back) to Ohio." He added he is also "prepared to move forward. But it's in the hands of the people of New Hampshire." Email Carl P. Leubsdorf, former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, at carl.p.leubsdorf@gmail.com. The question of whether women should like men be required to register for the military draft was thrust into the national conversation last week by Army and Marine Corps leaders who favor the idea. Now that women are eligible for all combat roles, it is a natural question. But is the Selective Service system needed at all, for men or women? Wouldn't it make more sense, as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested during Wednesday's CNN town hall, to put the effort instead into registering all Americans to vote when they turn 18? Gen. Mark A. Milley, Army chief of staff, and Gen. Robert B. Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, Tuesday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that they favor having all Americans who are physically qualified register for the draft, which applies to those ages 18 through 25. The comments favoring the inclusion of women in Selective Service registration constitute a first in the Defense Department. Other military leaders including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Army acting secretary Patrick Murphy did not endorse the idea, pushing instead for a national debate on the issue. Congress should take up that suggestion and start with a clear-eyed assessment of what purpose is served by the Selective Service system and the millions of dollars devoted to it. The draft hasn't been used since 1973. The all-volunteer military has proved successful and is favored by military leaders over forcing people into service for relatively short terms. Given the 402-to-2 vote in the House against a draft in 2004, it's clear there is no political support for its comeback. The strongest argument for maintaining the registration system is in the remote possibility of a major calamity confronting the country, but other government databases, nonexistent when the Selective Service Act was enacted in 1917, are available to assist in a mobilization. A far more urgent need for the country is getting people registered to vote. It is estimated that 24 percent of eligible Americans, or 51 million people, are not registered to vote, and studies show the percentage is even higher for those between the ages of 18 and 24. One big reason is an outmoded and mistake-prone system of registration that needlessly frustrates access to the ballot. When U.S. citizens reach the age of 18, they should automatically be registered. Once they are signed up to vote, they should stay registered. It's what Clinton talked about last week in New Hampshire, and a similar plan has been backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. States have the means to do this, as Oregon is showing with a system in which anyone who has or obtains a driver's license is automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. California plans to follow suit. Voting is a civic duty. Government should make it easier, not harder, to do. The Washington Post City To Pay $3.1 Million Settlement Over Discriminatory Police Hiring Practices By Mae Rice in News on Feb 9, 2016 6:06PM Milosh Kosanovich Chicago aldermen have approved a $3.1 million settlement to a lawsuit over a Chicago police department hiring rule that, until 2011, illegally discriminated against immigrantsand at least two aldermen werent enthused about it, the Sun-Times reported. Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), a former Chicago firefighter, and Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th), expressed resistance to the settlement. Sposato also expressed continuing support for the law deemed discriminatory, which required police officers to have lived in the country for at least 10 years before applying. I dont think we did anything wrong. I mean were talking about a police officer. We need a history. We need to know what these people are like, Sposato said. In 2011, the hiring rule changed to require only five years of residency from police applicants. The rule was in place, First Assistant Corporation Counsel Jane Elinor Notz told the Sun-Times, to make sure applicants knew enough people in the States for the city to thoroughly background check thembut five years, it turned out, sufficed for that, which meant, Notz told the Sun-Times, we really had no defense to this lawsuit. [O]ur municipal code prohibits discrimination in the offering of opportunities based upon citizenship, Notz added. Now, the citys settlement will fund hiring and retroactive retirement benefits for 8 immigrant police officers, from a class of 47 immigrant police applicants rejected due to the discriminatory rule. Each member of that 47-person class will also get a payout. The settlement stems from a lawsuit filed last week by the Department of Justice as part of an ongoing probe into the Chicago Police Department, on behalf of plaintiffs Masood Khan, born in India, and Glenford Flowers, born in Belize. It alleged that both men passed the police entrance exam in 2006, and were turned away because they didnt meet the residency requirement. The lawsuit sought back pay, interest on the amount of lost wages and benefits and compensatory damages for the pain, suffering and medical expenses caused by the citys discriminatory hiring practice. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... A villager shows the living conditions of the families evicted from their homes in Boeung Ampil village in northwestern Cambodia's Battambang province, Feb. 2016. Authorities in northwestern Cambodias Battambang province have evicted 13 families for illegally inhabiting community land, ransacking their homes and destroying their property in the process, officials at two domestic rights groups said Tuesday. About 30 officials forced the families out of their homes in Boeung Ampil village, Sdao commune, in the provinces Rattanak Mondul district on Feb. 2, leaving them homeless and offering them no compensation, officials from Adhoc and Licadho said. The families had lived on the land for more than a decade, they said. And because they no longer have homes, their ability to earn a living has been affected as well. Yin Mengly, Adhocs coordinator in Battambang province, told RFAs Khmer Service that no matter whether the families had lived in their homes legally or illegally, authorities should not have expelled them without compensation. So, the accusations by authorities that people are deliberately living on community land are just a pretext for them to take the land and sell it to someone for their own interests, he said. Dieb Phal, the villagers representative in Sdao commune, complained about the government-ordered ransacking and evictions, adding that he had lived on the land since 2000. I only need justice like other people, because authorities have removed us from our homes, like robbers stealing villagers property, he said. Ser Sameth, chief of Rattanak Mondul district, said authorities had instructed the 13 families to move out many times before because they were living illegally on prohibited land, but they did not comply. This case has been processed and is now out of my jurisdiction because I have sent it to the forestry administration to resolve, he told RFA. The district forestry administration oversees issues involving community land. Although the families have asked district authorities to find other places for them to live or pay appropriate compensation, local government officials have yet to take action, he said. Adhocs office in Battambang submitted a letter requesting that provincial officials intervene in the matter and ensure that the families are compensated accordingly. In response, Chan Sophal, governor of Battambang province, said he had already contacted relevant officials to help the evicted villagers. Reported by Hour Hum for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Pagnawath Khun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Protesters clash with riot police as they set a fire at a junction in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong police fired warning shots over the heads of a crowd and arrested more than 60 people following violent clashes that lasted through the night in the city's gritty working-class district of Mong Kok, officials said on Tuesday. The clashes broke out when unlicensed food vendors took exception to police attempts to clear their stalls, set up to catch the crowds of people welcoming in the Year of the Monkey on the neon-lit streets of Kowloon. Hong Kong's security chief Lai Tung-kwok laid the blame at the feet of the vendors. "Police officers were knocked down on the ground and were further attacked, so other police officers had to take all necessary actions to keep the peace," Lai said, after confirming that two warning shots had been fired. Police initially said 44 people were injured in the clashes, although later estimates suggested the number was closer to 120. Video footage of the violence showed people in civilian clothes being carried away on stretchers or given first aid by police, some streaming with blood after being hit by police batons. Other shots showed a row of civilians holding up plastic shields and wielding makeshift batons in a face-off with riot police in the semiautonomous city, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Police were also shown hunkered down under their shields while attackers rained paving bricks down on them, while another showed a crowd in civilian clothes holding up books and newspapers to ward off pepper-spray being fired by police. Mong Kok district police chief Yau Siu-kei said the attackers had "threatened the lives of police officers," leaving no alternative but to fire warning shots, according to a government statement. The attacks, which took place in the same streets as the most violent clashes of the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement of 2014, were described as a "riot" on the part of "violent radicals," by Hong Kong officials. "Yesterday evening a large number of violent radicals maliciously damaged government property and police vehicles, committed acts of arson, and attacked police officers on duty," Hong Kong commissioner of police Stephen Lo told journalists on Tuesday. He said that journalists covering the clashes, which broke out on Nathan Road, Shandong Street, Argyle Street, and Nelson Street, were also attacked. "Police do not rule out that it was an organized and preplanned action," Lo said, adding that investigations into the violence will continue amid reports that vehicles full of "supplies" were found near the scene. Actions of a violent mob Chief executive Leung Chun-ying condemned the clashes as the actions of a violent "mob," saying that "a few hundred people" were involved. "There was a riot in Mong Kok in the early hours of today," Leung said. "They damaged police cars and public property, committed acts of arson, and threw bricks and other objects at police officers, including those who had already been injured and were lying on the ground." "The SAR government strongly condemns such violent acts," he said, adding: "The police will apprehend the [rioters] and bring them to justice." Police said on Tuesday they had arrested 47 men and seven women aged 15-70 for unlawful assembly, assaulting or obstructing police officers, possessing weapons, and disorder. Several journalists covering the riot were also injured, sparking condemnation from the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA). It said a cameraman for broadcaster TVB was attacked with a broken bottle, sustaining a hand wound while trying to protect himself, while a Cable TV cameraman and a radio journalist for government broadcaster RTHK was hit on the head by a brick and his audio equipment smashed. Police also reportedly attacked a journalist for the Ming Pao newspaper who was filming the riot from a bus, even after he produced a press card, leaving him requiring stitches, the HKJA said. "There is no excuse whatsoever for resorting to violence to resolve differences," the group said in a statement on its Facebook page on Tuesday. "We call on the police to bring the perpetrators to book." Mong Kok was quiet by the time business owners arrived to open up shop, amid warnings from police to tourists to avoid the area. "There's some damage, a hole in my door, which happened when things got a bit out of hand," the owner of a Monk Kok store surnamed Lo told RFA on Tuesday. "It should be OK, though." A nearby resident surnamed Pang said he wasn't bothered by the incident, although he thought the stall-holders were in the wrong. "I don't support them; that's the law ... and it was getting so that there was less and less space to walk down the street," he said. "I'm not afraid; this wasn't a big deal, not after we lived through the Occupy Central movement," he said. "We've got nothing to fear; we don't take part in any of these things." Pang said he understood why police had fired warning shots, given the scenes that were broadcast on television. Agents provocateurs Pan-democratic lawmakers, who were broadly supportive of the 79-day Occupy Central civil disobedience movement, hit out at the violence, but said they suspected the involvement of agents provocateurs. "They pushed it to a degree that society finds unacceptable," pan-democratic lawmaker Albert Ho told RFA. "We are very worried about whether some people got involved from outside [the dispute], and escalated the whole thing deliberately, so that it invite public condemnation," he said. "This definitely needs further investigation." Nathan Road and Mong Kok were also the scene of violent clashes in the British colonial era in 1966, which began with a peaceful protest over a fare increase on the iconic Star Ferry service that hit the city's poorest hawkers and traders hard. Provocateurs acting for the Chinese Communist Party were blamed for escalating the 1996 violence, although democratic legislators have also accused the British of heavy-handed suppression of the initial protest, which also came at a time of economic hardship. Hong Kong political commentator Poon Siu-to said many working people in Hong Kong are increasingly squeezed by sky-high rents and property prices as well as slowing economic growth amid a wave of factory closures in the Pearl River delta. "Actually people at all socioeconomic levels are dissatisfied right now, and some people have heavy financial burdens and a lot of worries," Poon said. "The problem is that there aren't many opportunities for the younger generation." He said that the blame for the violence should ultimately be laid at the feet of Hong Kong authorities. "This time, really, I think it's the SAR government that has been creating its own time bomb, and that's what triggered this incident," Poon said. Democratic Party lawmaker Cyd Ho agreed. "Ultimately, this question of how this very minor incident sparked a prairie fire comes down to the policies of the SAR government, particularly in the last three years," she told a news conference. "The administration of Leung Chun-ying has continued to provoke the people of Hong Kong with systemic violence, like the large number of incidents of police abuse of power during the Occupy Central movement of 2014," she said. "Relations between the people and the police are very tense, and young people in particular are angry, and Leung's administration should bear the final responsibility ... for that," she said. Reported by Wen Yuqing, Lin Jing and Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. The wife of jailed rights activist Zhang Haitao, a critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party's treatment of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, said on Tuesday that she has been left with no income, relying on relatives to feed the couple's child over Chinese New Year. Authorities in Zhang's home region of Xinjiang jailed him for 19 years last month on subversion and spying charges after he openly criticized government policy in the troubled region. Zhang was handed a 15-year term on a charge of "incitement to subvert state power" and a five-year term 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 rights group described as "extraordinarily harsh." "Right now, my relatives are helping me to take care of our child, but I won't be able to depend on other people indefinitely," Zhang's wife Li Aijie told RFA on Tuesday, the second day of the 10-year Chinese New Year national holiday, when most people are celebrating at home with their families. "They have their own families to take care of," said Li, who is still breast-feeding. "I don't have enough milk left to give a full feed to the baby, who is now also drinking formula," Li said. She said she had received some donations from well-wishers and friends. "But that won't even be enough to pay the lawyers," Li said, adding: "I'll have to take it one day at a time." Unable to cope Li said Zhang had written to her since his sentencing, reassuring her that he can cope with the long jail term. "But he said ... he was afraid I wouldn't be able to cope with it," she said. "He told me to make it clear to the international community exactly what our circumstances are, in the hope that somebody will take notice and help me," Li said. "He also told me I should think of myself, and maybe think about getting another husband," Li said. "He realizes that [his sentence] won't be easy on people close to him, people who love him." She added: "He said he hoped our child, who he loves a lot, will grow up to fight for democracy and human rights." Zhang's lawyer Li Dunyong said he plans to appeal the sentence. "This sentence was definitely too harsh, and they definitely forced a confession out of him," Li Dunyong said. "They beat him up and forced him to admit he was against the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party and against socialism." "He had got into debates with people on various issues in the past, but he wasn't anti-party or anti-socialism," he said. "But the court refused at the trial to make a record of our claim that he'd been the subject of a forced confession." 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. Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. In blatant defiance of stern warnings from the international community, North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 7. Although Pyongyang announced that the launch had put an earth observation satellite into orbit, critics argue that it was intended instead to perfect the technology needed to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental United States. The U.N. Security Council swiftly issued a strongly worded statement condemning Pyongyangs provocation, and the U.S., South Korea, and Japan vowed to take strong retaliatory action. With tensions again rising on the Korean peninsula, China has only issued a guarded statement expressing regret, stopping short so far of openly criticizing Pyongyang In an interview with RFA Korean Service reporter Changsop Pyon, Dr. Andrei Lankov, a noted Russian expert on North Korea, discusses Pyongyangs rocket launch and the international response. Dr. Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, has authored several acclaimed books on North Korea, the latest of which is The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia, published in 2013 by Oxford University Press. RFA: Why do you think Pyongyang went ahead with its long-range rocket test despite strong warnings from the international community? Lankov: I believe there are two major reasons. One is purely technical: the North Korean leadership is determined to continue to advance its missile program until they get reliable missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to any part of the globe. In order to have such missiles, they have to do a lot of testing. Second, there is a political dimension. I am inclined to believe that this time the launch was largely for its domestic audience. The [ruling] Korean Workers Party Seventh Congress is approaching, and Kim Jong Un badly needs some successes to boast about. RFA: Pyongyang announced it has succeeded in putting what it claims is a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite into its intended orbit. If that's true, what are the implications of such a success? Lankov: Well, this seems to be true. The North Korean regime usually claims success after every launch, including the launches which ended in complete failure. However, this time the success has been confirmed by independent foreign observers, so it seems that they did put a satellite-like object into orbit. This means that the North has taken a serious step towards full-scale nuclear capability. This will definitely prompt the U.S. and other countries to improve their anti-missile defenses. RFA: What do you think is the ultimate purpose of Pyongyang's long-range missile development? Do they want it simply as a deterrent, or as more of a bargaining chip? Lankov: Both, I believe. From its inception, the North Korean nuclear and missile programs have performed a dual role, both as a deterrent and as a bargaining chip. Right now, they are less interested in bargaining, and see it as above all as a deterrent. But things might change if North Korea runs into another set of economic troubles. RFA: Do you think the North has advanced its missile technology to the point that it can reach the U.S. continent at this point? Lankov: I am not a missile scientist, and I cannot say anything certain on this topic. Nonetheless, from what I know from people who are real specialists, North Korea is not yet in a position to hit the continental U.S., even though sooner or later it is likely to indeed develop such capability. Right now there are two obstacles. First, the North Koreans have not tested a re-entry vehicle, a protected warhead that would descend to its target. So far, they have traveled only half-way. First, they have learned how to put an object into orbit, but they have yet to learn how to get it back. Second, they have simply not tested enough yet. They have had only two successful launches so far, and this is not enough. RFA: As they have done in the past, the U.N. Security Council has adopted a strongly worded statement condemning North Korea's missile provocation, with the adoption of other sanctions likely in the near future. Do you think this can work this time? Lankov: Of course not. North Koreans are not going to listen, as has always been the case. The sanctions will be introduced, I am pretty sure, but the efficiency of the sanctions is, to put it mildly, doubtful. The U.S. secondary sanctions are likely to be introduced soon, and are likely to hit the North Korean economy. But again, the North Korean leaders are not going to cancel their missile and nuclear programs simply because common North Koreans may have more difficult lives. RFA: China has expressed regret over the launch, but hasnt issued any strongly worded statement condemning Pyongyang. Only China can inflict real pain on North Korea. Will China do so this time? And if not, why not? Lankov: China can indeed inflict real pain on North Korea. China can even can collapse North Korea if it decides to do so. However now, when relations between China and the U.S. are getting more and more tense, the Chinese have decided not to push North Korea too hard. China at the end of the day wants a stable and divided Korean Peninsula, and needs North Korea as a buffer zone to keep U.S. forces a bit farther away from Chinas borders. RFA: Seoul and Washington have agreed to start talks on the potential deployment of THAAD [missile defense] in a show of strong deterrence against Pyongyang's missile provocation. Do you believe THAAD can work as a deterrent to discourage Pyongyang from further provocations? Lankov: Of course not, and this is not the intention. There are two goals behind the possible and, indeed likely, THAAD deployment. The first is plain security. If North Koreans strike the South, THAAD will hopefully prevent their missiles from hitting their targets. Second, this is a way to pressure the Chinese, who are not happy about the growth of the U.S. anti-missile systems. The hope is that China, being unhappy, will discourage North Korea from further launches. However, I do not see this as a realistic expectation. RFA: Do you think North Korea's missile test has resulted in accelerating Seoul and Washington's introduction of THAAD, given Seoul's wavering and reluctance because of China's strong objections? Lankov: Yes, this seems to be the case. As I have said, China is dead-set against THAAD, and for a while the South Koreans were careful not to offend China. However, now they are less inclined to care about such issues. Actually, it seems that the North Korean nuclear test and missile launches have driven a wedge between China and South Korea, and have effectively contributed towards improvement of relations between South Korea and the United States. RFA: The White House has harshly criticized Pyongyang's launch with a strong warning. As you know, the North is under both U.S. and U.N. sanctions. What additional measures or sanctions can the U.S. take at this point? Lankov : It seems clear that the U.S. is going to finally introduce the so-called financial sanctions. In a nutshell, this means that all foreign banks working with North Korea will be banned from cooperating with U.S. banks. Since cooperation with U.S. banks is absolutely vital for any banking institution worldwide, the assumption is that no bank would ever touch North Korean money, and hence North Korean companies will be unable to do most of their normal financial transactions. RFA: As you know, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently passed a bill targeting North Korea that was passed earlier by the U.S. House of Representatives. If this is passed together with a secondary boycott clause by the full Senate, it will have far-reaching effects on those entities in third countries like China that are involved in trading with North Korea. Do you think this new legislation, if enforced, can really make China apply more pressure on North Korea? Lankov: No, as I have already said. China will be annoyed both with North Korea and with the U.S., but will do little if anything. They are not happy about economic problems or about THAAD, but keeping the Korean Peninsula divided and stable is their major priority. RFA: Seoul has already reaffirmed its resolve to take tough retaliatory action against Pyongyang. For example, do you think Seoul should shut down the Kaesung Industrial Complex? Lankov: Yes, this seems possible, even though I believe that it would be a big mistake RFA: As a result of Pyongyang's recent nuclear and missile provocations, it seems that inter-Korean relations have no hope of improving, at least during the term of Park Geun-hyes government in South Korea. Do you agree? Lankov: Until the last nuclear test, I had the expectation that relations between two Korean states would improve a bit this year. But now it is clear that this is not going to happen. And it seems possible that the next South Korean government, if its a conservative government, will follow the same line. RFA: Given Kim Jong Un's nuclear as well as missile provocations since he took office three years ago, it looks like he's given up any effort to improve relations with the outside world. Whats your take on this? Lankov: He still wants to have better relations which, for him, means more aid coming from overseas. The problem is that he is not willing to compromise on the missile and nuclear issue, which he sees as the key to regime survival. So, he would like to have both nuclear weapons and thriving economic cooperation with the outside world. But if he has to choose, his choice is clear: he prefers nuclear weapons over economic improvements. Armed Chinese guards are forcing Lao workers in the countrys northern Oudomxay province to labor in banana plantations contaminated with dangerous chemicals, local sources tell RFAs Lao Service. A chief of the Nongbouadeang village in the provinces Houn district told RFA that 50 Lao workers in a Chinese-owned banana plantation in the neighboring village of Nammieng were working under Chinese overseers armed with automatic rifles. In Laos, it is against the law to have a gun because only soldiers and police are allowed to have guns, said the chief, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The plantation owner uses the weapons because he is scared that Lao workers will resist his orders, but he does not have permission to have firearms," he said. Police Lt. Col. Nilavong Cheaungsavalath, chief of the Oudomxay provinces police force, told RFA that authorities will investigate the report. We have not been informed of this case, but we will follow up and investigate, he said. It is not right, if the Chinese are doing that. Northern Laos has emerged as an important source of fresh bananas for the Chinese market, and several different Chinese investors have established plantations covering thousands of hectares in the area. A Beng district official, who declined to be identified, told RFA that a half-dozen Chinese companies hold banana plantation concessions in Oudomxay province. Low pay, dangerous conditions Banana production provides jobs for Lao agricultural workers, but laborers there say they are forced to work in hazardous conditions for low pay while they live in squalid company-provided housing. The majority of workers in the plantations come from nearby Phongsaly and Houaphan provinces and receive about 50,000 kip (U.S. $6.25) a day. They are not paid if they are sick and are forced to work in unsanitary conditions around dangerous chemicals, according to the village chief. An agriculture official from nearby Bokeo province, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese werent issuing workers with the proper protective gear. The problem is that the workers do not have uniforms when herbicide is being sprayed in the plantation, the agriculture official said. Some workers have problems with skin disease, and their residences are dirty and have poor sanitation. Plantation owners also prevent Lao laborers from working on the plantations for longer than three years because the owners fear the workers will die there. An official from the provincial labor and social welfare ministry confirmed to the RFA that a 59-year-old laborer died in the Bokeo provincial hospital last year due to working in the banana plantation in Pha Oudom, but the Chinese employer only paid 500,000 kip (U.S. $62) to help with his funeral. Not just a local issue The provinces of Bokeo, Luang Namtha, Phongsaly, and Sayaboury also suffer from pollution from agricultural chemicals and other unhealthy conditions caused by banana production, the sources tell RFA. It is not just the workers who are in danger as agricultural chemicals also leach into Oudomxay's Beng River, despite an agreement between Lao officials and the Chinese to reduce the dangerous chemicals used on the plantations. The river supplies water to 15 different villages in the province. In late 2015, provincial authorities signed a memorandum of understanding with the six Chinese companies requiring them to use organic fertilizers, because they were seeing that a lot of chemicals being used, the Beng district official said. But that practice is not being followed. Reported by RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Lincoln Square's Provenance Is Now Augusta Food And Wine By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 9, 2016 3:46PM Photo via Facebook. Lincoln Square residents who have been paying attention during their walk to the Western Brown Line stop noticed something different last weeka new business on Leland. Augusta Food and Wine, the successor to Provenance Food and Wine, is now open for business. The story is slightly bittersweet to fans of Provenance. Last fall, after losing the lease for the Provenance location in Logan Square, Owner Tracy Kellner decided to leave the retail business entirely. Luckily, now-Augusta Owner Shad Martin was right there. "Around March of last year I had come to the decision that I wanted to open my own wine shop," explains Martin. "I came in to talk to Tracy about the process in regards to licenses, red tape and the obstacles that would come in to play in trying to open my own place. She basically said, 'Why dont you just buy this one?' Long-time Provenance loyalists might have noticed the shift in September of 2015. Instead of Kellner sitting behind the counter, Martin took over the reins. But not much changed initially. "We wanted to remain Provenance through the holidays as it would give me time to get to know the regular customer base before we just came in as the new people and started changing things." Now, the re-branding is (mostly) complete. The new design is a little cleaner and a bit more modern, with blues and greys replacing the burgundy colors of Provenance. The mix of products has changed too, with a much larger wine selection replacing some of the gourmet foods - a welcome addition, especially now that nearby Fine Wine Brokers has closed. "The first thing I wanted to do was expand the wine selection as my initial intention was to open a wine shop," explains Martin. What's with the new name? Turns out that Augusta, Missouri, was the very first region to be designated an official American Vinicultural Area in 1980it beat Napa Valley by six months. Martin is from Missouri. "I love this fact and find it somewhat hilarious," says Martin. "[I] wanted to pay homage to my home state of Missouri and this tiny wine producing region that not many people are aware of, but holds something that can never be taken away from them." Augusta's website isn't complete yet, and the product mix will continue to be tweaked, but if you're looking for a great bottle of wine in Lincoln Square, be sure to stop in and visit. Augusta Food and Wine is located at 2312 W. Leland Ave. The Taliban says one of its senior leaders has died after a battle with cancer. In a statement on February 9, the Taliban said Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani died late on February 8. The Taliban did not say where Rahmani died, although militant sources have been quoted as saying he died in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Taliban leadership is believed to reside. The death of Rahmani, who was in his mid-fifties and a member of the Taliban's leadership council, could harm the peace process between the militant group and the Afghan government. Afghan officials met Rahmani in China last year in an effort to open direct dialogue with the militants. Rahmani rose to prominence as a mujahedin commander during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and later became the governor of Kandahar province, the Taliban's birthplace, when the militants ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. With reporting by AFP and Tolo News The United States is sending hundreds of additional troops to the southern Afghan province of Helmand, where the Taliban is threatening to overrun several districts. U.S. Army spokesman Colonel Michael Lawhorn said in a statement on February 9 that the new force will provide security and act as advisers to the Afghan Army's 215th Corps. "This was a planned deployment of additional personnel to both bolster force protection for the current staff of advisers and to provide additional advisers to help with ongoing efforts to re-man, re-equip, and re-train the 215th Corps," he said. Afghan security forces have struggled to fend off the Taliban in Helmand, a strategic opium-producing area. The NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan declared its combat mission over at the end of 2014, and Lawhorn said the new troops in Helmand would be there "to train, advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts, and not to participate in combat operations." Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters An Afghan woman whose nose was cut off by her husband is in Turkey to undergo reconstructive surgery. Doctors in Ankara's Mimine Hospital say it might take up to four weeks and "a couple of surgeries" to reattach Reza Gul's nose. Reza Gul, 20, says her husband cut off her nose and left her in the desert after accusing her of leaving their house without permission. The attack prompted widespread condemnation and underscored concerns about domestic violence in Afghanistan. Speaking from her hospital bed on February 5, Reza Gul told reporters that she was forcibly married in her early teens and endured six years of domestic violence. "My mother and father, without my knowledge, gave me for marriage to this man," she said. "They said this is Islam, he is a Muslim and this will be good for you." Afghan authorities say the attack occurred on January 17 in a remote Taliban-controlled village in the Ghormach district of the northern Faryab Province. The provincial governor's spokesman, Ahmad Javed Bedar, said Reza Gul's husband, 25-year-old Mohammad Khan, cut her nose off with a pocket knife. She was only brought to the local hospital in the provincial capital of Maymana a day later, after having lost a lot of blood. Reza Gul was later taken to Kabul for treatment, and Afghan authorities subsequently transferred her to Turkey since reconstructive surgery was not available in Afghanistan. Turkish plastic surgeon Ramazan Erkin said doctors will reconstruct Reza Gul's nose in three to four weeks. "The patient's nose was completely cut off...The bone, cartilage, and soft tissues are missing," Erkin told reporters in Ankara. "But we can reattach the nose with surgery. We might carry out a couple of surgeries." In Ankara, Reza Gul is accompanied by her infant daughter, mother, and her uncle. The family says Reza Gul doesn't want to return to Afghanistan unless authorities guarantee her full protection. Police said they have been unable to find and arrest Reza Gul's husband, who fled the village after the assault. Commonplace Violence Against Women In some Afghan regions, cutting someone's nose is traditionally regarded as a punishment for those who have brought disgrace to their family. Violence against women, including domestic violence is commonplace in Afghanistan, where perpetrators often go unpunished. On February 5, a woman was killed after being accused of adultery in a Taliban-controlled village in western Ghor Province, Afghan authorities said. The provincial government said the woman, identified as Zahra, was executed after being tried in a so-called Taliban "desert-court."A local district governor, however, said Zahra was shot dead by her husband, who accused her of having an extramarital affair. Also in Ghor, a 19-year-old woman accused of adultery was stoned to death on October 25, 2015. A video filmed by an eyewitness shows the woman, identified as Rokhshana, partly buried in a hole in the ground as a group of men pelt her with stones in front of a small crowd. Officials said Rokhshana was caught eloping with her boyfriend, who was subsequently let go after being lashed. At least one suspect was arrested in connection with the stoning and police say they are looking for other perpetrators. Officials have since relocated the victim's parents from their village to the provincial capital, Firoz Koh, citing security concerns. With reporting by Reuters and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan Bosnian Serb General Zdravko Tolimir has died in prison in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide. A spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Nenad Golcevski, said Tolimir died late on February 8. "He was taken ill at the court's detention center at around 9 p.m. last night," Golcevski said. "He received medical attention but he passed away." Tolimir, 67, was once considered the right-hand man of Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic, who is presently on trial for genocide at the ICTY. In December 2012, the ICTY sentenced Tolimir to spend the rest of his life in prison for his involvement in crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. Appeals judges upheld the sentence in April 2015. Based on reporting by dpa, AFP, Reuters, and AP As the shaky Minsk cease-fire agreement nears its first anniversary, Russia clearly smells blood in Ukraine. Pro-Moscow separatists have increased their attacks in Donbas in recent weeks. Kyiv officials are reporting 71 attacks a day in the vicinity of Donetsk, Horlivka, and Mariupol. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin ordered snap military drills involving ground troops and airborne forces near the Ukrainian borders. And according to a report in Novaya Gazeta, separatists in eastern Ukraine are threatening to execute prisoners of war. Meanwhile, a government crisis in Kyiv has paralyzed decision making and the military is struggling to find replacements for 40,000 soldiers who will be decommissioned in March. And to top is all off, Western resolve to continue supporting Ukraine is clearly fading. Denmark's Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen told Reuters last week that it would be difficult for Europe to maintain unity on extending sanctions against Russia if Ukraine doesn't step up reforms. This, of course, all plays right into Putin's hands. Putin's strategy in Ukraine has long been to keep the conflict simmering, wait for political dysfunction to set in in Kyiv, and hope for the onset of Ukraine fatigue in the West. The Kremlin leader has been ruthless. He's been duplicitous. And he's been patient. And it appears that his strategy is finally working. Keep telling me what you think in the comments section, on the Power Vertical's Twitter feed, and on our Facebook page. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told EU leaders on October 20 that Russian attacks that have destroyed a large portion of Ukraine's energy infrastructure are aimed in part at provoking a new wave of migration of Ukrainians to EU countries. "Russian terror against our energy facilities is aimed at creating as many problems as possible with electricity and heat for Ukraine this fall and winter, and for as many Ukrainians as possible to go to your countries, he told an EU summit in Brussels. 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. This should be "answered immediately," primarily by more air defense systems sent to Ukraine, the president said. "We must do everything possible to make it completely impossible for Russia to destroy our energy system with missiles and drones," Zelenskiy said in a virtual speech to EU lawmakers, calling on Ukraine's partners to provide systems "to create a truly reliable air shield." Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure facilities since October 10, mainly using kamikaze drones that Ukraine and its Western allies say are Iranian-made. Moscow and Tehran have denied the accusations. Zelenskiy also warned that Ukraine suspects Russia has mined the dam and units of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine, and if it were blown up, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, would be in danger of flooding. Zelenskiy said Ukrainian workers have been thrown out of the facility, leaving Russians in control. He asserted that Russia "has already prepared everything to carry out this terrorist attack." He called for an international observation mission and the return of Ukrainian personnel to ensure the mines are removed from the dam and its units. Zelenskiy's comment came two days after Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed head of the Kherson region of Ukraine, announced an "organized, gradual displacement" of civilians from four towns on the right bank of the Dnieper River to the left side. Saldo accused Ukrainian forces of planning to destroy the dam and also warned of "an immediate danger of flooding." The Moscow-installed authorities of Kherson said on October 20 that about 15,000 people had left the region. The Moscow-appointed deputy head of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, encouraged people to cross over to the left bank of the Dnieper River and posted a video of a column of buses on Telegram. Kyiv has denounced Moscow's move, calling it a "deportation" of Ukrainian civilians to Russia. But Stremousov said people should follow the evacuation instructions and leave Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia. "Give the military a chance to do what they have to do," he said, claiming that the Russian army will not surrender Kherson. Zelenskiys office said that Ukrainian forces on October 20 had mounted 15 attacks on Russian military strongholds in the Kherson region. Russias Defense Ministry spokesman said the Kremlins forces repelled Ukrainian attempts to advance with tanks on three Kherson villages. Another Russian-installed official in the region, Vladimir Leontyev, said Ukrainian forces had launched five missile strikes against the Kakhovka dam. Ukraine earlier on October 20 began restricting electricity consumption for the first time since the start of Russia's invasion as the country sustained serious damage to its infrastructure following waves of Russian air strikes targeting its electricity grid ahead of the onset of winter. Oleksandr Kharchenko, an adviser to the energy minister, said on October 19 that there would be outages, including some that are scheduled. "Unfortunately, according to new data, about 40 percent of the total infrastructure is seriously damaged. Repair and connection work is ongoing, but outages are expected today and tomorrow," Kharchenko said on Ukrainian television. The supply restriction started at 7 a.m. (0800 Prague time) and was due to last until 11 p.m. Grid operator Ukrenergo urged Ukrainians to charge their mobile phones and have blankets on hand for warmth. In the latest Russian attack, an energy facility was struck and damaged in the Kryvorizka district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, reported on October 20. Earlier, a missile strike hit a major coal-fired power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine, the region's governor said. "Our region experienced missile fire today. The Burshtyn thermal power station was hit, which caused a fire," Svitlana Onyshchuk, governor of Ivano-Frankivsk region, said in an online video statement. The Burshtyn power station supplies electricity to three western regions and 5 million consumers. Ahead of the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed lawmakers in Berlin on October 20, condemning Russia's latest drone attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine and saying that "such scorched-earth tactics will not help Russia win the war." Scholz said such tactics by Russian President Vladimir Putin would "only strengthen the resolve and the will of Ukraine and its partners to persevere." "In the end, Russia's bombing and missile terror is an act of desperation -- just like the mobilization of Russian men for war," Scholz said. "He wants to sow fear, divide, and intimidate. He is speculating on our weakness, but he is wrong -- we are not weak." Scholz said the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war would be a "generational task in which the entire civilized community of states must join forces." In London, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will also make a statement to parliament on Ukraine later on October 20, the House of Commons said on Twitter. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and BBC BRUSSELS -- European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini initiated an internal debate last month with a group of fellow European commissioners on how to improve cooperation with Russia, causing concern among EU members that want to keep up the pressure on Moscow over its interference in Ukraine, sources have told RFE/RL. The discussion was held in mid-January among European Commission members whose portfolios involve ties with countries outside the 28-nation EU. Its purpose, according to a source with insight into the meeting, was to prepare a "concept where we perhaps can have some cooperation without endangering our position on Russia sanctions." The meeting came at the start of a year that could bring crucial developments in the standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine. Russia wants relief from EU sanctions imposed in response to its interference in Ukraine, and appears to hope Europe's resolve will flag before they come up for renewal in July. Details of what such cooperation could look like are scarce, but one source said it might entail boosting economic cooperation at a time when the Russian economy is faltering. The exercise is worrying member states such as Sweden and Poland, which fear that EU unity over Russia's actions in Ukraine -- its seizure of Crimea and support for armed separatists in the Donbas region -- is slowly eroding. It comes a year after a discussion paper endorsed by Mogherini that suggested a proactive approach toward Russia, just as the separatists were launching an offensive near the crucial government-held city of Mariupol. She has kept a low profile since then on issues involving the EU's eastern neighbors, and it is unclear how much traction the new initiative will pick up. Skeptical Commissioners One EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL that most of the European commissioners who took part in the debate where skeptical. "Why should we envisage a scenario [of greater cooperation] now, when Russia isn't moving?" the official said. The remark was a reference to perceptions that Moscow has done little to fulfill its obligations under Minsk II, a February 2015 deal to end the war that has killed more than 9,000 people in eastern Ukraine and restore Kyiv's control over its border. Mogherini's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment lodged by RFE/RL on February 8. While participants in the discussion were asked to come back with suggestions, the official said there have been few concrete contributions on the topic since the mid-January meeting. But the issue is likely to come back to the fore this spring, with countries such as Italy and Austria expected to step up pressure on EU institutions to consider bringing Russia in from the cold. According to sources in Brussels, EU diplomats have been briefed in recent weeks by U.S. diplomats who have indicated that Russia might become more constructive about resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine in the coming months. No Guarantee Of Extended Sanctions The American optimism stems from a five-hour meeting last month in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad between Victoria Nuland, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and Vladislav Surkov, an influential aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to RFE/RL sources, the pair spoke in great detail about preparations for elections in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, partially held by the Russia-backed rebels, which eventually could pave the way for a settlement of the conflict. The European External Action Service will also prepare a discussion paper on the EU's relationship with Russia, to be discussed when the bloc's foreign ministers meet in Brussels on March 14. Member states eager to keep up the pressure on Russia are hoping that will be the final debate on the issue among foreign ministers, and that heads of government will take over the talks -- especially on economic sanctions, which expire on July 31 if they are not renewed. European Council sources say that renewal of the sanctions last extended in December is far from guaranteed this time, and that the issue is likely to be the subject of tough debate at the EU summit in Brussels in late June. EU diplomats have said that EU leaders may start discussing the issue of extending sanctions at European Union summit in March, taking the initiative away from EU foreign ministers. A council source told RFE/RL that some nations fear EU foreign ministers who are both more sympathetic to Moscow and tired of the lack of progress of reforms in Kyiv will present a list of proposals for EU-Russia cooperation and that some of the proposals will have to be accepted in exchange for extending the sanctions. About 300 professors at universities across Iran have expressed their "growing concern" over the "mass disqualifications" of candidates in February 26 voting for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which could choose the country's future supreme leader. In an open letter to President Hassan Rohani, the academics suggested that holding the upcoming elections, which they say will be "unfair and non-competitive" because of the disqualifications, could hurt the Islamic republic and damage its global standing. They called on Rohani to use his power as president to ensure that the elections will be free and fair -- but also suggested that, if nothing changes, it might be better to scrap the vote than to hold it. "Under these conditions, not holding such an election will have priority over holding it," the professors said in the letter released by the opposition website Kalame on February 9. The final list of candidates who are allowed to run in the vote has not been released yet. According to figures released by Iranian media, some 6,000 candidates have been approved by the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting all election candidates. One politician from Iran's reformist camp has said that only 1 percent of their hopefuls, 30 out of 3,000, have been allowed to run in the vote for the 290-seat parliament. Last month, Rohani criticized the disqualifications, suggesting the exclusion of so many candidates could make the vote pointless.He also said that he had asked one of his vice presidents to discuss the disqualifications with the Guardian Council. Iranian media last week reported that the Guardian Council has allowed 1,400 candidates who had been previously disqualified to run. Interior Ministry spokesman Ali Amiri told reporters on February 9 that "Reformists, moderates, and conservatives are among the newly approved." Iraqi forces say they have recaptured territory around the western city of Ramadi from the Islamic State (IS) group. The military said on February 9 that the army, police, and counterterrorism forces reopened the road linking Ramadi to the Habbaniya base, where U.S.-led coalition forces are located, and the capital, Baghdad. Iraq announced in December the recapture of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, but daily fighting with IS fighters continued on the city's eastern outskirts. The latest advance boosts government efforts to close in on Fallujah, the IS stronghold east of Ramadi that is besieged by the army and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias. In the north, Iraqi officials say the army is deploying thousands of soldiers to a base to eventually retake the city of Mosul from the IS group. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Russia's involvement in Syria is making it difficult to achieve a negotiated end to the nearly five-year war. Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes have laid siege to several rebel strongholds, a move that prompted the suspension of UN-mediated peace talks in Geneva last week. "Russia's activities from Aleppo and in the region are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said on February 9. Kerry is expected to meet his counterpart Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Munich on February 10. Lavrov said Moscow has presented Washington with new proposals for ending Syria's war. Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily Moskovsky Komsomolets published on February 9 that the plan is specific and simple, but does not provide details. Based on reporting by AFP and AP Do 'Galentine's Day' Right With 5 Awesome And Delicious Itineraries By Chicagoist_Guest in Food on Feb 9, 2016 5:41PM By Leigh Kunkel It may be almost a year since the final episode of Parks and Recreation aired, but the show left us with a holiday legacy. Im speaking, of course, of Galentines Day: a day for ladies to celebrate ladies. And to have amazing food, plenty of drinks, and the opportunity to do something awesome together. All of these suggested itineraries feature badass women, whether its behind the bar or in the kitchen (or both), and, in the spirit of Leslie Knope, celebrate community in some way. So whether your friends are foodies, boozehounds, or taking a stand against Valentines Day, weve got the perfect way to celebrate, lady-style. The interior of Rhine Hall Distillery If the gals are... A bunch of lushesStart out doing a tour of Rhine Hall Distillery in West Town, where Jenny Solberg and her father distill their own brandy. You can also stop by their bar and grab a cocktail made with their spirits, like their apple brandy old-fashioned. Tickets are $10. Head north to Logan Square, where you can visit Erin Hayes behind the bar at Lost Lake, and Jacyara de Oliveira pouring at Sportsmans Club, both of whom competed in the Speed Rack National Finals this past summer. After a signature daiquiri at Lost Lake, and something from the ever-changing menu at Sportsmans Club, hop over to Liquor Park, where owner Janel Syron can help you buy supplies to hold your own bartending competition. Everybody wins! Solid chocolate butterflies at Chocolat Uzma If the gals are... Always Instagramming their foodKick things off in Pilsen at one of Uzma Sharifs chocolate-making classes ($65/person), where youll also be able to pick up sweets decorated with candied rose petals, or some sipping chocolate mix. Next up is Punch House, where you can all share a bowl of classic milk punch. For dinner, make a reservation at Iliana Regans Elizabeth in Lincoln Square, where her plates are almost too beautiful to eat. (Almost.) And no food-centric Galentines Day would be complete without a stop at Mindy Segals Hot Chocolate for their signature drink and desserts like the Bucktown Buckeye, made with whiskey-peanut butter frozen mousse. Tools at the International Museum of Surgical Science. Photo via Facebook. If the gals are... The strange and unusual sortIf youre more April Ludgate than Ann Perkins, then start your day off at the International Museum of Surgical Science, where you can see some of the amazing and gruesome contributions that women have made to medicine. Admission is $15. And what could be witchier than eating actual hearts with your girlfriends? If you want serious goth-girl credentials, venture up to Avondale to visit Beverly Kim at Parachute, where shes serving duck hearts with chili paste, grapes and sesame. Finish things off with a haunted bar crawl to commune with some ladies from the other side: check out Tonic Room, which was supposedly a hotbed of occult activity in the past and where a woman in white roams the halls; then the Liars Club, where the ghost of a young woman murdered on the premises with an axe has been seen at the bar. The interior of Ada Street. Photo via Facebook. If the gals are... Saying screw relationshipsSometimes Galentines Day really means down with Valentines Day. Embrace it. Visit Wet Paint for some tipsy arts and crafts, where were betting youll meet some kindred spirits. Classes start at $35. Have an indulgent dinner at Ada Street, where executive chef Joanna Stachon is serving up steak tartare with fried capers, and diver scallops with Italian sausage. Before moving up north, stop by Alliance Bakery in Wicker Park, where every year they have heart-shaped cookies frosted with sentiments like I Faked It and check out the crowd: maybe some of your drunken painting brethren are there. Finally, its up to Wrigleyville, for Improv Olympics Your F***ed Up Relationship, where audience members are invited to bond by sharing the reasons that their exes were the worst. Tickets are $14. Deliciousness at Joy Yee. Photo via Facebook. If the gals are... Up for anythingHave you ever watched Cirque du Soleil and thought, I can do that? Well heres your chance. Get airborne by taking a trapeze or aerial silks taster class at Aloft Loft, where you can live out your dream of floating gracefully above the ground. For a minute, anyway. (Classes are $10.) Once youve worked up an appetite, drop by any one of Joy Yees three locations to sample co-owner and executive chef Jennifer Aus durian freezes with red bean topping. What is durian? Maybe better not to know going in. Make dinner a communal event by ordering a traditional Ethiopian meal at Demera Ethiopian, where you can select a number of dishes to share, and try out a few of the African beers they offer. Finish up by visiting Miranda Breedlove at Broken Shaker, where shes mixing up strange and delicious cocktails like the Chicago Dog margarita, made with a spicy mustard pickle shrub. The United States has rebuffed a pro-Russia politician's claim that Washington was "plotting" Moldova's unification with European Union and NATO member Romania. Igor Dodon, the leader of the opposition Socialist Party of Moldova (PSRM), told a Russian daily last week that Washington was pressing for the "terrible scenario" of the unification of Moldova and Romania and urged Chisinau to return "back in the U.S.S.R." through membership of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union. Dodon's accusation was "categorically false," the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau said on February 9. "The Republic of Moldova is a sovereign nation and the United States fully supports its independence and territorial integrity," the embassy said in an email to RFE/RL. Dodon, who leads the largest single party in Moldova's parliament, was at the forefront of last month's anticorruption protests in Chisinau. Demonstrations peaked in late January after lawmakers approved a new pro-European cabinet but have since ground mostly to a halt aside from a small tent camp in Chisinau. Dodon and another pro-Russian opposition leader, Renato Usatii, leader of the Our Party (PN), want closer ties with Moscow. They have been calling for early elections, which opinion polls say pro-Russians would easily win. Early polls have also been demanded by a pro-EU party and some civic groups who accuse the current political establishment of being deeply corrupt. It seems there is a new wave of ethnic Russians departing Kazakhstan. RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, known locally as Azattyq, reports that during the first nine months of 2015, some 19,000 Russians left Kazakhstan to take advantage of the Russian government's program to resettle ethnic Russians still living in other former Soviet republics. And currently, there are long lines outside the Russian Embassy in Astana and the waiting list for an appointment for resettlement is months long. Ivan Malykhin is a Russian from Kazakhstan who has decided to go to the homeland of his ancestors. He told Azattyq that when he first applied for resettlement the waiting period was two months."And when I went to pick up my documents the waiting period was longer, by several months. Those applying in June [wait] until January," Malykhin said. Irina Smirnova, 24, is also planning on leaving her home in Karaganda and moving to Chelyabinsk. She told Azattyq that she had just finished university and wants to start her professional career in Russia. There are apparently enough Russians now wishing to leave Kazakhstan for Russia that a "squatter" business has emerged, with people making appointments months in advance and then selling their appointment slots to Russians anxious to leave. Skilled Workers Given the Kazakh government's apprehension about its Russian population following the events in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists seized control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, the departure of large numbers of ethnic Russians could be seen as a plus for Kazakhstan. Ethnic Russians and other Slavs make up a majority of the population in areas along the Russian border in northern Kazakhstan. But many of those leaving are skilled laborers, doctors, teachers, and other professionals and it is unclear how quickly Kazakhstan can find qualified people to fill these vacancies in the workforce. The statistics committee in Kazakhstan's Economy Ministry told Azattyq that some 24,000 of Kazakhstan's ethnic Russians had resettled in Russia in 2014. Erbolat Musabekov from the statistics committee downplayed the significance of this latest departure of ethnic Russians from Kazakhstan. "These are not such big figure," Musabekov said, "in 2005, 2006, more people left -- 56,000, [even] 65,000." The Russian Embassy in Astana told Azattyq that since 2007, some 375,000 people from Kazakhstan had been resettled in Russia. According to data from Russia's Federal Migration Service, nearly 30 percent of the repatriated Russians recently came from Kazakhstan. Since 1991, the year Kazakhstan gained independence, the proportion of ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan's population has fallen from 40 percent to just over 21 percent, according to the latest figures from the Economy Ministry. Returning to the issue of the Kazakh government's concerns about ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan, it is worth noting that the exodus of Russians from Kazakhstan will not lead to a drastic decrease in the country's population. On February 9, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development reported nearly 1 million ethnic Kazakhs had been repatriated to Kazakhstan during nearly 25 years of independence. Azattyq also featured a video report in mid-January about people leaving Kazakhstan's northeastern city of Petropavlovsk for Russia. That video can be seen viewed here. Based on material from Svetlana Glushkova of RFE/RL's Kazakh Service Russian opposition politician Mikhail Kasyanov says he was attacked by a group of men who threw a cake at him while he dined in a Moscow restaurant on February 9. Two men approached Kasyanov, a former prime minister under President Vladimir Putin and now a Kremlin critic, at around 9:30 p.m. and berated him for his political views before throwing the cake in his face, he told Russian media outlets. Restaurant security intervened, but the assailants managed to flee the scene along with a large group of other men in four separate automobiles, the press service of Kasyanovs opposition PARNAS party said. Kasyanov, who was unharmed in the incident, told Kommersant that he had filed a police complaint due to what he considers "a threat to my life and security." Several of Kasyanov's supporters said they believed the men were from Russia's restive Chechnya region. The incident follows last week's Instagram post by the volatile head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, featuring video footage of Kasyanov and a fellow opposition activist framed through what appeared to be a sniper's crosshairs. Kasyanov said he believes the incident in the restaurant was tied to his request that federal authorities investigate Kadyrovs Instagram post. With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Kommersant, rbc.ru, and Dozhd TV Russia's envoy to NATO is warning that Moscow will respond to a buildup of the alliance's forces near Russian borders. "I am sure that everyone [in NATO] understands that those preparations NATO has been making along our borders cannot be left without a military-technical response," Aleksandr Grushko told Rossia-24 television on February 8. He insisted that "Russia won't compromise its security interests," but wouldn't say what specific steps the Kremlin will take. As relations between Russia and the West have soured over the Ukrainian crisis, the United States and its NATO allies have deployed additional weapons and held exercises in central and eastern Europe. The Pentagon recently proposed to quadruple what it spends on its troops and training in Europe as part of efforts to deter Russia. Moscow has long criticized the NATO activities on its doorstep as a threat to its security. Grushko added that "NATO has shot itself in the foot" by cutting off cooperation in areas of common interest, such as jointly training drug police for Afghanistan, a move he said is "endangering security" in both Russia and Europe. Based on reporting by AP, Interfax, and TASS Russia's ambassador to Damascus says an estimated 10,000 Russian citizens are currently living in war-torn Syria. Ambassador Aleksandr Kinshchak told TASS news agency that the figure includes those Syrians from mixed families who have Russian passports. He also said that it was difficult to give an exact figure because many Russian citizens prefer not to be registered at the consulate. The ambassador said Russian citizens have the possibility to be evacuated from Syria by boarding humanitarian planes returning from the western Syrian city of Latakia to Russia. Russia launched air strikes in Syria on September 30, helping government forces recapture some territory lost to extremist groups and other opposition fighters in central and western Syria. Based on reporting by TASS The Tajik Supreme Court has started hearings in the trial of 13 leading members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) accused of attempting to overthrow the government. Hearings were taking place on February 9 behind closed doors. The accused included one woman, Zarafo Rahmoni, who worked as a legal adviser to the party's leadership. The group stands accused of conspiring with former Defense Minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda in a supposed armed bid to seize power in early September. The authorities say Nazarzoda led attacks on a police station and an arsenal that killed at least 26 people. Nazarzoda was reportedly killed in an operation by government forces. Authorities blamed the IRPT for organizing the mutiny, while the Supreme Court banned the party, designating it an "extremist and terrorist organization." Party leader Muhiddin Kabiri, who now lives in exile, has rejected the accusations. An American convicted for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people told an Indian court that he attended training camps run by alleged masterminds in Pakistan and communicated with intelligence officers in that country. David Coleman Headley, sentenced to 35 years in prison by a Chicago court in 2013 for helping plan the attacks, recently turned prosecution witness for a Mumbai court trying Abu Jundal, an Indian also accused of involvement in the attacks. A U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, Headley had admitted to his role in the attacks and offered to turn state witness to avoid the death penalty. The Mumbai court granted him immunity from prosecution for disclosing what he knew about the attacks. In his deposition before the court on February 8 via a video link from the United States, Headley, a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Taiba group, said two attempts to attack Mumbai failed before a third succeeded in November 2008. He told the court that he traveled to India seven times to scout for potential targets for the attacks. In one aborted attack, he said a boat the men were using overturned after hitting rocks and their weapons were lost at sea. According to Indian prosecutor Ujwal Nikam, Headley told the court he had attended camps run by the Lashkar group's founder, Hafiz Saeed, and commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lahkvi, the masterminds of the attacks. Nikam said Headley was also in communication with officials from Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, whom he identified as "Major Iqbal" and "Major Ali." Nikam said after more than five hours of questioning Headley that "it is clear that there is a close nexus" between Pakistani intelligence and the Lashkar group. India has accused Pakistan's intelligence service and army of coordinating the Mumbai assault, a charge repeatedly denied by Islamabad. Headley's deposition will resume on February 9, Nikam said. Headley, 55, was born Daood Gilani to an American mother and Pakistani father, who was a former diplomat. He changed his name to David Coleman Headley in 2006 to avoid drawing suspicion from Indian officials on his frequent travels there as a purported American tourist. Ten attackers staged a three-day siege beginning on November 26, 2008, attacking landmarks and luxury hotels in Mumbai and leaving 166 people dead. Nine militants were killed by police. In 2012, India executed the only surviving gunman, Ajmal Kasab. Seven men, including Lashkar commander Lakhvi, are on trial in Pakistan. With reporting by dpa, AFP, and Reuters The United States has charged the wife of an Islamic State (IS) leader killed last year with contributing to American hostage Kayla Mueller's death. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture in May 2015 that she and her husband kept Mueller, an aid worker, captive. U.S. officials have said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The U.S. criminal complaint charges Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. The case comes one year after Mueller's death was confirmed. It's not clear whether Sayyaf will be brought to the United States for trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former IS minister, was killed in May in a Delta Force raid of his compound. The U.S. Justice Department said on February 8 it still "fully supports the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf" but added that "the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad." Based on reporting by AP and Reuters Obama Won't 'Back Seat Drive' Illinois Budget Impasse In Springfield Speech By aaroncynic in News on Feb 9, 2016 6:41PM Obama shakes hands with supporters at a campaign rally at the Old State Capitol in August 2008. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images. He might make some passing mentions to the budget crisis and the need for lawmakers on different sides of the political aisle to come together, but dont expect him to take the gridlock in the statehouse head on. If anything, Obamas speech to Illinois lawmakers might end up being more of a greatest hits tour. There has always sort of been the sense that going back to Springfield on the anniversary of his announcement speech would be fun to do, said White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday, the State Journal-Reigster reports. And it would serve as the background for a discussion about the kind of potential that the president sees in the country. When the White House announced the visit last week, a spokesperson said his speech would be about what we could do to build a better politics-one that reflects our better selves. According to the Tribune, Obama wont back-seat driver when it comes to the budget crisis, and wont have time to sit down and knock back beers with Gov. Bruce Rauner, who invited him over for a drink last week. Earnest did say the two would have time to chat, and the governor said he plans to greet the president when he arrives at the Springfield airport. Despite the refusal to get down to details about Illinois budget stalemate, a broad-strokes speech that references the need for some sort of bipartisan movement has the potential to strike a chord with some lawmakers, or at least, thats what those affected by the impasse hope. Among many other backlogged bills, Illinois owes Springfield more than $7 million in utilities. Mayor Jim Langfelder hopes that Obamas message will be one that urges results, telling NPR: "Hopefully, his message will be one of coming together, but the other side of that is he does come from the federal government. You can provide influence over individual leaders to come together to find a resolution. The President will address the legislature at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The event is closed to the general public. Our Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill, HB 1282, that would waste the money of Virginia taxpayers by requiring the secretary of commerce and trade to spend valuable time and resources compiling information on the Palestinian civil society-led campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), a nonviolent movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality. Such a use of taxpayer funds serves no legitimate purpose for the people of the commonwealth. The original version of HB1 282 would have unconstitutionally prohibited contractors with the Commonwealth of Virginia from exercising their First Amendment right to engage in boycotts related to Israeli human rights abuses, especially the boycott of goods produced in Israeli settlements, which are a violation of U.S. policy and international law. Political speech such as a boycott is acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court as occupying the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values, and is entitled to special protection. After legislators received more than 900 letters opposing anti-BDS legislation, and following the opposition of the ACLU of Virginia, HB 1282 was watered down to remove this flagrantly unconstitutional provision. Nevertheless, the amended version of HB 1282 is still extremely problematic and should be rejected. The commonwealth should not use its resources to compile information on the legitimate, First Amendment-protected activities of U.S. civil society. Such an intrusion of government into the affairs of civil society is anti-democratic, McCarthyist and reminiscent of authoritarian regimes. The General Assembly is also considering HJ 177, a joint resolution condemning the BDS movement. Its been passed in the House and is going to the Senate for consideration. As Virginia Jews, we support BDS as the most effective way to advance the Palestinians long-denied rights to freedom, equality and self-determination. HJ 177 is a one-sided distortion of BDS and its goals. BDS is a human rights movement based on universal principles of freedom and equality with three clear goals: to attain Palestinians long-denied rights to freedom from Israeli military occupation and the theft of their land for Israeli settlements, justice for Palestinian refugees dispossessed by Israel, and equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel who make up approximately 20 percent of Israels population and suffer from widespread systemic discrimination. It may come as a surprise to some but Israel has approximately 50 laws on the books that disadvantage Palestinian and other non-Jewish citizens of the state in virtually every aspect of public and private life, including land ownership and housing, family reunification, employment, education and municipal services. Israel also has more than 400 Jewish communities where Christian and Muslim Israeli citizens are legally excluded. Those claiming that Israel is a liberal, Western-style democracy like the U.S. should take a closer look. Resolutions such as this are designed to protect the status quo of Israels oppression of Palestinians and to deny Palestinians even peaceful avenues to achieve their rights. In January, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled Occupation Inc: How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israels Violations of Palestinian Rights which called on companies to stop operating in, financing, servicing, or trading with Israeli settlements in order to comply with their human rights responsibilities. The report goes on to say that those activities contribute to and benefit from an inherently unlawful and abusive system that violates the rights of Palestinians. Commenting on the overall situation, HRW said, Israel enforces severe and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians human rights, and it builds and supports unlawful settlements in the occupied West Bank. Its security forces appear to use excessive force against Palestinian demonstrators and suspected attackers, raising the specter of extra-judicial killings. It has renewed the practice of punitive home demolitions. Our commitment to human rights compels us as individuals and organizations to join Freedom2Boycott VA, a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals (composed largely of Christians, Muslims and Jews) in Virginia. We are driven by our common values to recognize that Israel continues to oppress Palestinians and that the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine must end. We are pro-peace, pro-equal rights and committed to work for a solution that ensures full equality and self-determination for all. Some legislators might disagree with us. That is their right. However, it is not their right to suppress political speech with which they disagree. We urge members of the General Assembly and the governor to reject HB 1282 and HJ 177. Updated: Man Dead After Fall From 'High Floor' Of Gold Coast Building By Mae Rice in News on Feb 9, 2016 5:53PM The 200 block of East Chestnut Street (via Google Streetview) A man fell from a "high floor" of a building in the Gold Coast area around 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, according to Fire Department officials. The building is in the 200 block of East Chestnut Street, and firefighters are on the scene, the Chicago Fire Department's representatives told the Tribune. Updated 1:00 p.m.: The man who fell was pronounced dead, authorities told the Sun-Times. Police are conducting a death investigation at this time, and the CTA Bus #157 has been temporarily rerouted to avoid the block. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. You Can Zipline Across Millennium Park For Free This Weekend By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 9, 2016 6:39PM Millennium Park (photo via David Jones on Flickr) We can all zipline across Millennium Park for free this weekend, courtesy of marketers who think offering rides on a 200-foot zipline (and letting Chicagoans take selfies with a baby alligator?) will make the entire city vacation en masse in Kissimmee, Florida. Yes. This is the real marketing extravaganza, called Escape Cold. Warm Your Heart, from Experience Kissimmee. It will run in the park from Feb. 13 through Feb. 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and feature a zipline that starts on a three-story platform and slopes down into a warming tent. In this tent, attendees can drink free hot chocolate and shop Kissimmee branded cold weather gear, which is very highly sought after in an alternate universe. Attendees will also get to interact with and take photos with a baby alligator from Gatorlandwhich, it should maybe be noted, is a zoo-slash-amusement-park that is in Orlando, not in Kissimmee. For this campaign, we decided to bring some of the warm-weather fun to our freezing friends here in Chicago, DT Minich, president and CEO of Experience Kissimme, said in a statement by way of rationale. Sure! Okay. I mean, to be fair to these peppy marketers, I didnt know there was a city called Kissimmee until today? Theres also a nice charity element to this thing: Visitors can donate gently-used winter coats at the festivities, and the team will give the coats to Chicagoans in need. This Position Is Closed to New Applicants This position is no longer open for new applications. Either the position has expired or was removed because it was filled. However, there are thousands of other great jobs to be found on Rigzone. UPDATED 2/9/16 12:31 P.M.: Hazel Hager was born in Welch, West Virginia. A previous version of this article was incorrect on her birthplace. Hazel Hager of Carrington Place in Daleville turned 106 on Groundhog Day. She is a treasure to interview and very wise, as one might expect. She attributes her long life to clean living. She said, I never drank or smoked and only knew my husband. Plus for years, she walked 2 miles every day, said her niece Twila Brisco. Hager was born in Welch, West Virginia. She had three siblings. Two have passed on, but her baby brother, Sherman Greer, of West Virginia, 97, came to her 106th birthday celebration. He left her with, "Ill see you next year, Sis, said Brisco. Hager still walks with her walker and loves game shows, particularly Who Wants to be a Millionaire. When asked what is the biggest change of her lifetime, she replied steadily. We are in it now," she said. "In the Bible, the 19th chapter of Revelation. Her niece commended her for her knowledge of Scripture. As a child, her family lived near the railroad tracks. Hager said, During the Depression, we made sandwiches every morning to give to the beggars. My mother said, 'Feed them under the tree, dont allow them in the house.' I learned to do for others the best I could. I tried to do that all my life along the way. Her husband died soon after they married in a fall on the railroad where he worked. She never remarried but was instrumental in helping with her nieces. She always had children around her, said Brisco. She meant the world to us. Her brother was in a foxhole on D-Day, and she worked for the Navy in Bristol. I checked the ammo, she said. After the war, she went back to Welch. She worked in retail in Coxes and JC Penney. She was music director in church and Briscos mother, the sister of Hagers late husband, played the musical instruments. A confirmed Methodist, Hager now says, I converted at the age of 15. Once we are converted, we are all Gods family. I dont subscribe to any difference any more between believers. Sixteen years ago, Brisco and one of her sisters went and brought Hazel Hager to the Roanoke Valley. By the early 1970s, Briscos parents had purchased the Tingler farm in Eagle Rock and the family navigated here. Hager said, I dont know why the Lord has let me have this long life. They took my vitals this morning and said, 'You are good for another year.'" Brisco said, Aunt Hazel has always lived expectantly, like in the song, 'I Am Going On for God' and Galatians 5. Rep. Randy Forbes announced Monday that he is leaving the 4th District now set to include Richmond and Petersburg in order to run for Congress in the 2nd District, based in Virginia Beach. The Republicans announcement could set off a chain reaction in Richmonds political representation, stretching from Congress to the state Senate and the House of Delegates. State Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, has expressed interest in running in a reconfigured 4th District. A spokeswoman for McEachin declined comment on Monday. If McEachins state Senate seat opens, potential candidates for that seat include Dels. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico. Forbes, who has represented the 4th District since 2001, made the announcement in a live Facebook appearance with retiring Rep. Scott Rigell, a Republican who currently serves the 2nd District representing Virginia Beach, who had urged Forbes to switch districts. Forbes would have faced an uphill battle in the redrawn 4th District, especially in a high turnout presidential election. In the 4ths previous configuration, President Barack Obama received 48.8 percent of the vote in 2012. Within the boundaries of the new 4th District, Obama received 60.9 percent of the vote in 2012. In making his case to the people of the 2nd District, Forbes cited his veteran leadership on the House Armed Services Committee and its importance to defense-rich Hampton Roads. Forbes is chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee, which has oversight over the Navy and Marine Corps programs. Forbes said people he speaks with in Hampton Roads want a representative who will protect and support national defense. Ive been so honored that so many people across Virginias 2nd Congressional District believe that Im that leader, Forbes said. National security to us is not some theory. Its not just something we just study in a political science class, Forbes said. Its a reality to the men and women in the 2nd Congressional District and in our entire region. Forbes said Hampton Roads is home to 82,000 military personnel and 43,600 civilian employees of the Department of Defense. He said 27,800 Hampton Roads residents work in shipbuilding and ship repair. Citing Forbes work representing the military, Rigell said that when he decided not to seek a fourth term representing the 2nd District, I almost immediately pivoted and thought of my friend, Randy. The Democratic Party of Virginia ripped Forbes as an opportunist. Congressman Randy Forbes desperate plan to remain in Washington goes against the values of commitment, dedication, and service that communities in Virginias 2nd Congressional District live by each and every day, said Emily Bolton of the Democratic Party of Virginia. The hard working people of Virginias 2nd Congressional District want to be represented by someone from their community who will do the right thing when it comes to protecting military families, the environment, and economic development not a self-serving opportunist like Forbes. A three-judge panel recently redrew five of Virginias 11 congressional districts. The new districts do not take effect until Congress convenes in January, following the November elections. Rigells new 2nd District now profiles as slightly more Republican. Forbes, a Chesapeake resident, lives outside the 2nd District. Members of Congress are not legally required to live within their congressional district. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, lived just outside the 9th District when he first ran for the seat in 2010. A Forbes spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question about whether Forbes plans to move into the 2nd District. On March 21, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Republicans in Virginias congressional delegation. They are challenging the ruling by the three-judge panel that subsequently led the judges to craft new districts for this falls elections. The judges ruled that in 2012, Virginia legislators packed too many additional African-Americans into the 3rd District, represented by Democrat Robert Bobby Scott, diluting their influence in surrounding districts. On Jan. 7 the three-judge panel imposed a new map with the districts candidates will run in this fall. Benefitting from the country's poverty alleviation efforts, villagers from southwest China's Guizhou Province share their stories and dreams for the New Year. "The Chinese dream, after all, is the dream of the people." said President Xi Jinping at the closing meeting of the National People's Congress on March 17, 2013. Benefitting from the country's poverty alleviation efforts, people from Guizhou Province, one of the most poverty-stricken provinces in southwest China, share their stories and dreams for the New Year. "I want to have my own bicycle" Yuexia Village of the Guanling Buyi and Miao Autonomous County in Anshun City used to suffer from the effects of an encroaching desert and Illiteracy. Its per capita annual income was around 3,000 yuan (US$456). In early 2014, Wang Jianhao's father was loaned 20 cows free of charge thanks to a poverty alleviation project aimed at helping famers raise livestock. Their lives began to get better. Wang Jianhao and his younger brother [Xinhua] Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. The deal, announced on Feb. 2, focuses heavily on providing privacy assurances to EU citizens concerned about how their data might be used by the U.S. government. Its a concern that grew after revelations in 2013 about the extent of surveillance by the National Security Agency. Negotiators on both sides of the Atlantic raced to reach the pact before a body of EU regulators was poised to start discussing potential penalties on businesses transferring data from the EU to the U.S. if no appropriate solution had been found. For now, even though the new pact is far from final, businesses are being spared from enforcement actions. Shaun Donovan, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, pushed back against the Republican charge that the budget is dead on arrival. He said many of the presidents proposals from last years budget became law, including raising the discretionary spending caps and passing appropriations bills free of poison pill riders. So the question here isnt a fight between the administration and Republicans, its a fight within the Republican Party, Donovan said during a press conference at the budget office. Were already seeing, despite some people saying on the Republican side we should live by the deal, were seeing others that say we ought to cut below the deal, were seeing others that say we ought to raise defense spending above the deal without non-defense, he said referring to last years budget deal (PL 114-74). U.S. citizens are paying for lower prices in other countries, he said. The argument the drug industry makes is were willing and able to pay for it to have early access to these drugs. Thats something to be looked at. Most of the alarm over TPP drug provisions has been raised by pharmaceutical companies and congressional allies such as Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch. They are unhappy that U.S. negotiators couldnt get TPP nations to agree to 12 years of data exclusivity for next-generation treatments known as biologics made from living organisms. The United States would keep its current 12-year grant to biologics makers of exclusive rights to make the products. The other 11 members, whose laws ranged from no exclusivity to 8 years, will have to provide five to eight years of data protection. Rather than promoting new investment and expansion from this critical industry, the agreement will likely limit the ability of American innovators to recoup the costs of their investments, Hatch told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year. You are here: Home Some 300 rioters clashed with Hong Kong police after a clearance operation on illegal hawkers from late Monday to Tuesday morning. At least 24 rioters were arrested and 48 police officers were injured. The riot erupted after a handful illegal street vendors refused to halt business in Mong Kok, a busy commercial district, and clashed with law enforcement officials. Rioters then arrived and confronted with the police re-inforcement. After one and a half hour of confrontation, the rioters attacked the police with bricks, stones and other makeshift weapons. The police were forced to fire two warning shots in a bid to rescue personnel. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying condemned the rioters' violent behaviors Tuesday morning and expressed his support to the police for their efforts in restoring order and peace. NO operations have been cancelled at Rotherham Hospital tomorrow (Wednesday) as junior doctors walk out on strike. The British Medical Association (BMA) held its first strike last month which included all junior doctors, except those on call to provide emergency cover. It was due to hold a full walkout tomorrow (February 10) but following talks with the government, junior doctors providing emergency cover will not be part of the action. Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said one clinic, involving 21 patients, has been cancelled but added there was no plan to cancel operations. A spokesman said patients should attend medical appointments as planned unless they have been informed otherwise. Conrad Wareham, medical director at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: Our medical and clinical staff are supporting detailed planning across our trust to assess the likely impact of the junior doctors' industrial action on patients. Safety remains our priority. We advise patients to turn up for scheduled appointments unless they have been contacted by us directly to rearrange their appointment. A statement on the BMA website said: Despite the best efforts of our negotiating team, and hours of talks facilitated by Acas, we have not managed to reach agreement with NHS Employers and the Department of Health on the new junior doctors contract. As a result, the industrial action we planned for February 10 will be going ahead. However, rather than the planned full walkout, the action will mirror that of January 12. Junior doctors in England will be offering emergency care only for 24 hours from 8am on Wednesday, February 10 until Thursday, February 11, at 8am. Clueless [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn] After North Korea's fourth nuclear test, there has been a divergence among major stakeholders regarding their sanctions toward the country. However, this in turn gives the country a greater initiative for further moves and an improved strategic status. North Korea announced on Feb. 2 that it plans to launch an observation satellite into space, the same day that Wu Dawei, China's top envoy in the six-party talk, arrived in the country, thus putting its neighboring countries in a passive position. Denuclearization is a consensus reached among all stakeholders of the Korean Peninsula, but dealing with North Korea's nuclear program remains a difficult proposition. Does it call for a change of thinking? New thinking The six-party talk, a universally acknowledged cooperation institution for addressing the problem, turned out to be a failure. The reason lies in the divergence between the US-led alliance triangle with Japan and South Korea and the triangle formed by China, North Korea and Russia, which is the result of the Cold War and post-Cold War mentality, and has resulted in an increased tension of bilateral ties. While acknowledging the difficulties of the talks, stakeholders should also adopt a new approach to address the issue and promote peace and development in Northeast Asia. First, simplify the framework. The nuclear talk should only involve countries which signed the armistice at the end of the Korean War, namely China, the United States, South Korea and North Korea. In this way, the exclusion of Japan and Russia will avoid unnecessary disputes and narrow down the problem. Second, divide the problem into smaller specific ones to cope with. During the talk, there needs to be a clear line between economic issues and political issues, and issues in different categories. While acknowledging the difference between the "North Korea issue" and its nuclear issue, all parties should also avoid a single clean cut approach toward issues in the country's regime, economy, their people's well-being, society and culture. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. A COUPLE told a court of their fear as a murder suspect woke them at midnight, allegedly shouting threats of violence against them and their children. Mark Senior and Natasha Bates claim Dale Jones (30), of East Bawtry Road, Whiston, threatened to shoot Mr Senior and burn their house down, hours before he allegedly killed 81-year-old Mushin Ahmed. Their CCTV camera shows the defendant pulling up to their house in his car at around 12.10am last August 10, getting out and shouting something for a few seconds. Mr Senior told Sheffield Crown Court: I heard threats to kill. He said he was going to get a gun and come back. He said I don't care if the police are here. He said he was going to end my life. Mr Andrew Robertson, prosecuting, asked Mr Senior: "Did you take the threats seriously?" Mr Senior replied: Very seriously. Mr Dermot Hughes, defending Jones, asked Mr Senior how long Jones was there. Mr Senior said: Five to seven minutes. Mr Hughes asked: Is there any chance you could have exaggerated a little bit? Mr Senior replied: No. Mr Hughes said: I suggest that he did come round and he was angry, but he didn't make threats to harm you or your family. Mr Senior replied: He did. Mr Hughes said: I say the whole thing lasted ten seconds. Does that sound right to you? Mr Senior said: No. Ms Bates gave a similar account of the incident, saying it lasted about five minutes. Judge Mr Justice Stephen Males heard this morning (Tuesday) that Mr Ahmed suffered a series of kicks, punches and stamps as he returned from morning prayers at a nearby mosque. Mr Ahmeds died in hospital 11 days after the attack, on August 21 last year. The court heard Jones called Mr Ahmed a groomer before chasing him down Doncaster Road and attacking in an apparent racist attack. Mr Ahmed was born in Yemen, but had lived at the same Rotherham address with his wife Margaret for 47 years. Jones and Damian Hunt (30), of Doncaster Road, East Dene, both deny murder. The trial continues. ALROSA President paid a working visit to India 09 february 2016 News ALROSAs management, headed by the President Andrey Zharkov, paid a working visit to Mumbai and Surat (India). The Company announced this in a press release received by Rough&Polished. The Company representatives visited the Special Notified Zone (SNZ) that was opened last year at Bharat Diamond Bourse. The decision to set up a platform for facilitating trade and providing producers direct access to Indian market was made in 2014 following the bilateral summit headed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In December 2015, ALROSA held a pilot tender at the SNZ to test the duty-free import-export system and noted high level of sales organization. During the visit, Mr. Zharkov attended the inauguration ceremony of the International Jewelry Show Signature IIJS in Mumbai. In his address, he noted successful efforts of officials and representatives of the industry community in India to develop diamond trade in the country. The Companys management held working meetings with the management of Bharat Diamond Bourse and Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council of India (GJEPC). The parties discussed the global diamond market situation and potential prospects for further cooperation. In Surat, ALROSAs delegation held a number of meetings with the Companys long-term clients. ALROSAs representatives paid a familiarization visit to cutting and jewelry enterprises and discussed work under long-term contracts with the clients. India is the worlds largest diamond cutting and polishing center and one of ALROSAs key trade partners. In 2015, companies with Indian capital purchased ALROSAs rough diamonds for the total of USD 1.5 billion, including USD 575 million direct supplies to India. The share of ALROSAs direct supplies to India in the Companys aggregate sales increased from 10% in 2010 up to some 17% following the results of last year. Global mining firm Rio Tinto is looking for opportunities to expand in Africa as it bets on long term demand growth for minerals, says a Reuters report. A sharp fall in commodity prices is forcing most mining firms to hold back on expansion, but Rio Tinto is seen a potential favourite for investors as it is a low cost producer, with a stronger balance sheet. "The global drivers for long term demand for African minerals all point in the right direction," Rio Tinto Chief Executive for Diamonds and Minerals Alan Davies told a mining conference in Cape Town. "Rio Tinto continues to invest and explore for opportunities in Africa, in particular in Botswana and Namibia." He did not provide further details, but both Botswana and Namibia are among the major diamond producers in Africa. Rio Tinto currently has 5,000 employees and contractors across its African operations. Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) will hold diamond marketing panel discussion during the Winter Edition of International Diamond Week in Israel (IDWI). Panel members include Alex Popov, Chairman of the World Diamond Mark Foundation; Patricia Syvrud, Executive Director of the World Diamond Council; and Stephen Webster, internationally renowned jewelry designer. "The International Diamond Week in Israel is an excellent platform to table the topic of generic diamond promotion and advertising," IDE President Yoram Dvash said. "With members of multiple bourses on our trading floor, and with hundreds of visiting buyers from more than 20 countries worldwide, a discussion about the issue of generic diamond promotion, a report from the DPA and the WDM as to where they currently are in their promotional efforts and an overview of what their plans for the near future are, will attract lots of attention," he added. Before taking up the IDE presidency, in his former capacity as chair of the IDE Marketing Committee, Dvash had organized several 'town hall' meetings to discuss diamond promotion with the IDE members. "There is a great interest among the membership in the ways and methods of diamond promotion. During those 'town hall' meetings we hear not only complaints about the lack of industry coordinated promotional efforts, but also a lot of bright and innovative ideas(on) diamond promotion," Dvash said. Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow Ahmed bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC), was honored last week in Panama City, when he was presented Honorary Membership of the World Jewelry Hub (WJH) by its Chairman Eli Izhakoff, states a WJH/PDE press release to Rough&Polished. Bin Sulayem, who also is the current Chairman of the Kimberley Process, was on a visit to Panama as a guest of the World Jewelry Hub. During the visit, he witnessed first-hand the fast-developing Latin American diamond, gemstone and jewelry trade center, met with the leadership of the Panama Diamond Exchange, and discussed ways of increasing cooperation between the WJH and the Dubai Multi Commodities Center. Bin Sulayem also met with Panama's Minister of Commerce, Augusto Arosemena. They discussed current developments in the Kimberley Process, and the ways in which it could be enhanced in the Latin American markets. "It is our privilege to welcome Ahmed bin Sulayem, and to benefit from the perspective of an industry leader who has played an essential role in the establishment of DMCC, which is the UAE's largest and fastest growing free zone and home to more than 11,000 companies," said Izhakoff. "Over the past 14 years, he and his team pioneered the development of a trading center in Dubai, handling multiple precious metals and gemstones, diamonds and jewelry. Their work has served both as a model and benchmark for what we are doing in Panama." Bin Sulayem thanked Izhakoff for his kind hospitality and for the privilege of being awarded Honorary WJH Membership. "I am very impressed with the caliber of the companies that are already established at the World Jewelry Hub. It has all the elements necessary to become an important industry player and the world's entry point to Latin America," he stated. Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished In a decision going against public opinion, the Canadian government announced that it will end air strikes targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and bring home its six fighter jets on February 22. At the same time, Canada will triple the number of its special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210, while a handful of surveillance and refueling aircraft will continue to play roles in the US-led coalition. This was announced by Defense Minister Hargit Sajjan Monday at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior officials. As well, the Canadian government will provide about Can$1 billion (USD 718 million) in development and humanitarian aid over three years for the Mideast region, officials said. With this, Trudeau is implementing his election campaign pledge last year to end the airstrikes. "We know Canada is stronger, much stronger, than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth," Trudeau told reporters. Some two-thirds of Canadians polled, however, support the bombing mission or want it to be expanded. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Canadian stocks will look to steady Tuesday morning after a rough session to start the week. Plunging oil prices and signs of dwindling demand have hurt resource stocks of late. Gold shares have provided a measure of support, but Toronto's main index remains near 3-year lows from mid-January. The S&P/TSX composite index lost 228.57 points, or 1.8 percent, to close Monday at 12,535.40. This morning, crude oil futures for March delivery were up 20 cents at $29.90 a barrel, staying away from January's 12-year lows. However, global oil demand growth is forecast to ease back considerably in 2016, to 1.2 mb/d, pulled down by notable slowdowns in Europe, China and the United States, the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report. Tahoe Resources Inc. (TAHO, THO.TO) has acquired Lake Shore Gold (LSG.TO) for C$945 million. Fortis (FTS.TO) has entered a $6.9-billion cash-and-stock deal to buy transmission-line company ITC Holdings Corp. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Republican Governor of Michigan Rick Snyder has refused to testify before Congress on Wednesday regarding the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan. According to Snyder's spokesman Anna Heaton, the Governor will not able to testify because he has to deliver a budget presentation in Lansing to the Michigan legislature. "To date, Congress has not heard testimony from you on the Flint water crisis," House Democrats from the Steering and Policy Committee wrote to Snyder. "Unfortunately, a prior Congressional hearing this week did not include top state officials, including emergency financial managers appointed by you to run the city of Flint. Seeing how it was your administration's decisions that led to this public crisis, including Michigan's Emergency Manager Law, we believe it is important to hear testimony from you on this matter." People have asked for Snyder's resignation after thousands were exposed to high contamination levels of lead from drinking water. The calls for resignation came on the basis of reports that Snyder did not take any steps despite his adviser Harvey Hollins having knowledge about link between Flint's highly contaminated water supply and the surge in diagnosed cases of Legionnaires' disease in the area. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com More Political Blogs Conversion therapy, a process attempting to convert homosexuals in heterosexuality, may soon be banned in the state of New York. Thus far the scientifically unproven therapy has only been banned in California, New Jersey, Oregon and Illinois. Earlier this week New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to ban the process within the state. According to his new plan, insurers would be banned from offering reimbursement to anyone that seeks the treatment out. The White House has also spoken out against conversion therapy, which is defined as "behavioral, cognitive, [and] psychoanalytic . . . practices that try to change or reduce same-sex attraction or alter a person's gender identity," according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Health News Flash Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said here Monday that his country will end coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq by Feb. 22. Trudeau also announced that the government will expand efforts to train local forces and rebuild the war-torn region. Canada will triple the number of training contingent in Iraq from the current 69 to 200 for the next two years, and military personnel deployed as part of Joint Task Force-Iraq will increase to 850 from the current 650, he said. The decision to pull out all six Canadian CF-18 fighter jets from the U.S.-led bombing mission against ISIS was guided by a "desire to do what Canada can do best" to assist affected regions, Trudeau said, using an alternate acronym of the extremist group. The previous Conservative government committed Canada to the coalition airstrikes until March. The new Liberal government was elected last October on a pledge to pull Canada's six CF-18 fighter jets out of the bombing mission. "It is important to understand that while airstrike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities," Trudeau said. Asked whether Canadian military trainers will engage in front-line operations or on-the-ground combat alongside local security forces, Trudeau said: "This is a non-combat mission." Meanwhile, Trudeau said his government will contribute more than 1.6 billion Canadian dollars(some 1.15 billion U.S. dollars) over the next three years toward its new approach to security, stabilization, humanitarian and development assistance in response to the crises in Iraq and Syria, and their impact on Jordan and Lebanon. Trudeau said that to solve the crisis in Iraq and Syria will require "a political solution." Trudeau has been under pressure to keep the CF-18 fighter jets in the combat mission against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But he has repeatedly said that he won't back down on his election promise. In a statement issued after Trudeau's announcement, interim Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose said the withdrawal from the combat mission a "shameful step backward" for Canada, calling IS "the greatest terror threat in the world and threatens the safety of Canadians." Canada's Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance said: "his is exactly the right time" to pull Canada's fighter jets from the bombing campaign. "There is sufficient air power available in the coalition to continue the air bombardments with the support of Canada's refueller and our targeting to ensure that mission continues," the top general told reporters following Trudeau's announcement. : . 506 505 701 . Two Qahir-I rockets hit Saudi Khamis Mushayt Base ASIR, Feb. 09 (Saba) The army and popular committees have fired two rockets of Qahir-I type at the Saudi Khamis Mushayt Air Base in Asir province. In a statement to Saba, a military official said the two missiles were launched at the same time on Monday night and hit their target accurately, causing large losses in the air base. It is the fourth time to pound the air base, which has been hit previously with two Scud missiles and a Qahir-I rocket, the official added. He pointed out that Khamis Mushayt Air Base has been used recently as a station for the Saudi and American warplanes to bombard Yemen, destroy its infrastructure and kill women and children in a number of the provinces. On January 01, the army and popular committees launched a Qahir-I rocket on the Saudi strategic storage management in Abha region. On December 30, Qahir-I missile was fired by the army and popular committees and targeted Jizan port. On December 13, the army and popular committees bombarded the Saudi Khalid Bin Abdul-Aziz Air Base in Khamis Mushait using Qahir-I rocket. On December 14, the missile force of the army and popular committees fired a Tochka missile at the enemy operations center in Bab al-Mandab in Taiz province, killing hundreds of the enemy soldiers. Nearly 146 bodies mostly charred were transferred to Aden city and Amran camp, and a medical ship belonging to the aggression coalition reached near the coast of Aden in an attempt to help the evacuation and treatment of the injured, said the official spokesman of the armed forces Sharaf Luqman. The initial toll of the targeting of the enemy command in Bab al-Mandab among the Blackwater company forces is 42 dead and 12 military and armored vehicles of the company were damaged, as well as the destruction of the coalition command buildings, two Patriot systems, three Apaches, and 40 military vehicles, he added. On December 20, a Qahir-I rocket targeted Saudi hirelings at al-Tewal border crossing in Jizan, killing at least 90 of invasion troops and wounding 100 others. On December 21, the missile forces fired a ballistic missile of Qahir-I type at Jizan Regional Airport. On December 27, the army and popular committees launched a ballistic missile of Qahir-I type at the Saudi National Guard camp in Al-Arisah area in Najran. Qahir-I rocket is a Russian rocket (Sam 2) which was improved locally to become surface-to-air rocket. The military official added the rocket, Qahir-I, works in two stages; sold fuel and liquid fuel, and its length is 11 m and weighs 2 tons while it can fly over 250 km after introducing improvements to it. BA Saba Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [09/February/2016] Saudi airstrike targets car, killing three in Saada SAADA, Feb. 09 (Saba) Three citizens were killed after the Saudi aggression war jets targeted a car loaded with wheat in Hidan district of Saada province on Tuesday. A local official explained to Saba that a hostile air raid targeted a citizens car in Juaan area in Hidan district, which led to the killing of three people and spoiling of all the foodstuffs in the car. The aggression war jets waged a series of raids on al-Sharj area in Sahar district, as well as another raid targeted al-Qaif area in Saqain district in the province, the official added. He condemned the brutality of the Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people and its unjust siege and the destruction of all life elements in the Yemeni provinces, especially Saada province. BA Saba Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp Telegram Telegram Email Email Print Print [09/February/2016] A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border What binds the two most talked about nations - India and Pakistan together? What makes the I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy Fallen Officers to be Honored by Oregon House Three fallen law enforcement officers will be honored on the Oregon House Floor on Tuesday, February 9 at 10:30am. Oregon State Capitol Photo: Bonnie King, Salem-News.com (SALEM, Ore.) - Prior to the reading of these HCRs, Washington County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard will post the colors. Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Chaplain Mike Vermace will offer the invocation. HCR204 honors fallen Washington County Deputy Robert Talburt. Deputy Robert Talburt joined the Washington County Sheriff's Office in 1977. He was a member of the dive team and a mentor to young explorer scouts. Deputy Talburt was killed on December 14, 1984 while responding to a burglary in progress call when his patrol car hit a patch of wet mud left behind at a construction site and spun around hitting a utility pole. He died instantly. Deputy Talburt left behind his wife, Pam, their young daughter, Melody and extended family. HCR206 honors fallen Clackamas County Deputy William Bowman. Deputy Bowman joined the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office in 1994. His was a member of the SWAT and Honor Guard teams. Prior to joining the Sheriff's Office, he worked as a paramedic for AA Ambulance and Life Flight Network. Deputy Bowman was killed on September 12, 2000 while participating in a training exercise. He is survived by his wife Corie, two daughters, Lauren and Grace, and extended family. A moment of silence will be held in honor of fallen Seaside Police Sergeant Jason Goodding who was killed on Friday, February 5, 2016. A moment of silence will also be held on the Senate Floor. The Oregon Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors was established in 1993. Oregon C.O.P.S. is a non-profit organization that provides resources to assist families after a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty. C.O.P.S. also provides support for co-workers who are affected by the loss, and training to law enforcement agencies on line of duty death and its aftermath. For more information on Oregon C.O.P.S. go to oregonpolicesurvivors.org. _________________________________________ Adrian Martinez thrives in K-State offense Turning Adrian Martinez loose has not come back to bite Kansas State. The senior quarterback has yet to turn the ball over this year. If I keep at it, I will find the absolute easiest way to do everything. It is not that I am lazy, but that I do not like to fuss. 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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 East Sussex, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- In an industry with an unfortunate record for inaccurate quotes, Allison Developments of East Sussex is a shining example of how an independent building company should operate. At a press conference earlier today, a spokesman for the firm announced their latest quotation accuracy figure: a stunning 94.1%. Whilst this figure is impressive when considered on its own, what is even more impressive is the fact that of the remaining 5.9% of jobs, where the final price exceeded the initial quotation, the customers in question were kept informed of any changes well in advance, and asked for their approval before they were made. The company spokesman was also keen to point out that of the small percentage of quotations that were revised, the amounts involved were relatively low. "In the extremely unlikely event that a major cost increase was necessary, the customer would always be informed well in advance and we would suggest alternative solutions that might allow us to achieve the same goal at a lower cost. We have an excellent reputation for accurate pricing in the industry and we are committed to ensuring that this reputation continues to be well deserved." For those who are unfamiliar with the Hastings building firm, Allison Developments specialise in residential property renovations and extensions. Their services include kitchen and bathroom renovations, outdoor decking, loft and garage conversions, ground and upper storey extensions, bespoke joinery, and much more. Working for customers across the South East, they focus on providing a high standard of service at all times and score very highly on Checkatrade, the online ratings organisation for tradespeople across the United Kingdom. Scores such as 98% for reliability and timekeeping, 99% for workmanship, and 99% for courtesy serve to underline their popularity in the region. Future Plans When asked what the future might have in store, the company spokesman summarised their plans thus: "More of the same". Allison Developments is looking to consolidate its position in the residential home improvements industry by continuing to meet the needs of its customers at prices that offer unbeatable value for money. Homeowners in the South East who wish to find out more about the services they have to offer can contact the company on 07713 098153. As a reputable building firm they offer no obligation quotations and are always happy to advise prospective customers on their forthcoming home improvement projects. Media Contact: Tim Allison Company: Allison Developments Address: Rye Road, Hastings, East Sussex, TN35 4LL, UK Phone: 07713 098153 Website: http://www.allisondevelopments.co.uk/contact/ Bowie, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Two months ago, famed Maryland businessman Jeffrey Cohen was sentenced to 37 years in Federal Prison for his crimes performing insurance fraud, and in a matter of weeks all of his possessions will be up for sale. IStuff Sellers is one of the premiere Estate Sale companies in the United States, and they will be managing the sale of the items at the former home of the insurance company executive. The address of the sale will be available after 9 A.M. EST on Wednesday February 17th, and the dates of the sale are as follows: - February 18: 11am-3pm (Thu) - February 19: 11am-3pm (Fri) - February 20: 9am-5pm (Sat) - February 21: 9am-5pm (Sun) Details of the court case, indictments, and procedure of events can review this article, published in The Baltimore Sun on August 4, 2015. The article gives specifics about Jeffrey Cohen, who was convicted of running a "Ponzi-type fraud" as well as accused of plotting to kill Delaware's lieutenant governor. His company, Indemnity Insurance Corp., was a major player in bar and nightclub insurance prior to the charges. Cohen mislead regulators about company finances effectively defrauding millions of dollars from clients to support his lavish lifestyle. The estate sale is sure to be massive, because Cohen has amassed a colorful collection of treasures, trinkets, and valuable items over the years. Interested attendees will find high quality furniture, gym equipment, kitchen appliances, art, and more. "This is truly one of the most incredible collections we have ever come across," explained IStuff Sellers owner Darren Hahnfeld. "We are confident that the public will be genuinely impressed when they attend this estate sale. The variety of possessions that Mr. Cohen owned is astounding, and there appears to be a little bit of something for everyone." About IStuffSellers IStuffSellers is the most viewed Estate Sale company in the country, and has been proudly serving the Maryland, DC, and Virginia area with over one hundred satisfied customers each year. IStuffSellers is committed to providing a seamless experience, be it with their Estate Sale Liquidation, off-site Auction Facility, or their eBay Power Seller Store. Being the DMV's #1 Estate Liquidators, the company utilizes all the tools at their disposal to ensure their customers receive the best return for their assets. www.istuffsellers.com 301-401-6688 Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Sengkang and Punggol residents are delighted that Club Daniaz, a mobile beauty service company in Singapore, offers threading, waxing, facials, henna and others at the comfort of their own homes. These services are offered to females clients only. Customers can either book online at www.clubdaniaz.com or through phone by calling +65 98583012. Club Daniaz owner and chief beautician, Uma is regarded as the "Gordon Ramsay" in the beauty service industry. A 2 weeks soft prelaunch was recently held in January 2015. Josephine from Anchorvale, Sengkang is thrilled that Club Daniaz which is highly regarded as the best beauty company in Singapore, is providing its services to Sengkang and Punggol residents. Miss Wei Feng from Compass Heights, Sengkang described the facials from Club Daniaz as "Heavenly. I go to sleep during the facial and wake up with euphoria. Bliss. Contentment." Madam Yeo Rivervale Crest, Sengkang is excited to have secured the monthly membership which guarantees a slot during the weekend. She says "The personalized service alone is worth its weight in gold. My weekly appointments include threading, waxing and facials. I've recommended Club Daniaz to all my friends and family and they love the service" She is also looking forward to try out the Henna Hair and Hot Oil head massage soon. Clubdaniaz.com spokesperson said: "We aim to bring convenience, cheap prices and quality services to residents in Sengkang and Punggol, Singapore. On an average, our clients save more than $2000 per year using our services compared to what they would spend in a beauty salon." On securing an appointment, the spokesperson added "To secure the preferred date, it is advisable to book in advance" Customers could also sign up for a free monthly newsletter written by Uma through the website. It offers great tips related to threading, waxing, facials, henna and related services. Uma would also be releasing a book entitled "DANIA 'Z : The Art of Facials" in 2016. Miss Jennifer, an expat who lives in Prive Condominium, Punggol says "Uma is very friendly and her skill sets are second to none. Club Daniaz could be charging 10 times more for the services but Im glad they don't" Sengkang and Punggol residents can choose between the various value-for-money packages available. A-la-carte beauty services for are also offered should the clients prefer a more targeted solution instead of packages. Clients of Club Daniaz include professionals, models, stay at home moms and students. Club Daniaz is backed by a strong research and development technical team which aims to enhance service continually. Some of the facials are specially developed based on this know-how and they are labelled as 'Dania Z Signature Series'. Some of the popular Club Daniaz beauty services include eyebrow threading, waxing, henna, 22k Gold Facial, Instant Glow Facial, Party Facial and lots more. Club Daniaz enables the clients achieve their specific beauty needs. They have a facial service for every need such as Party Facial, Wedding Facial, Date Night Facial, Anti Tan Facial, Recovery Facial and lots more. If the client has a party to attend to in the evening, Club Daniaz would recommend their Party Facial Package where the glow would last late into the night. As for wedding facials, the glow would last for 4 days. These are one of the many advantageous services that Club Daniaz offers. About clubdaniaz.com clubdaniaz.com is a mobile beauty service based in Singapore. They offer beauty services such as Threading, Waxing, Facials, Henna and others in the similar category. Media Contact: Name: Gretha C Diemte Company: State Artz Media 571 Maple Street Los Angeles, CA 90017 Email: info@stateartz.com Whitby, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Advanced education is not a priority for all. Only a handful of students with a keen desire to delve into the nuances of a particular subject are able to gain advanced education. The situation is never favorable for employers fishing for a pool of employees with high qualifications in Canada. Therefore, a majority of such employers do the same thing, which is to advertise with EduJobsCanada.com, a prominent niche Canadian job board. For the last decade, the niche Canadian job board has garnered esteem by reaching out to individuals with high qualifications on behalf of the colleges, universities, research centers and several other institutions. With the intent to offer insight into EduJobsCanada.com, one of its executives recently stated, "We at EduJobsCanada.com pride in being the top choice for both employers intending to make smart hiring in addition to people with advanced educational credentials aspiring for a rewarding career. We do not believe in restricting the choices for employers and their prospective employees. This is why we offer such an extensive selection of posting. Be it administration, agriculture and veterinary, business-economics, communication and media, creative arts and design, education, engineering and technology, health and medical, humanities-liberal arts, life sciences, physical sciences or mathematics, we accept posting on it all." Contrary to the run of the mill job boards, EduJobsCanada.com displays job ads for a longer time, which testifies its understanding of the unique needs of academic institutions. Additionally, the advertiser is free to monitor the exact number of candidates that viewed his job posting. Moreover, the niche Canadian job board does not delete expired jobs but stores them in the employer's account. The client can repost his position by logging into his account and that too without shelling a single penny. In an event, the advertiser contends with any issue regarding reposting, he can contact EduJobsCanada.com. Shedding light on the university jobs in Canada on offer, the executive further stated, "EduJobsCanada.com is reaching out to recent university graduate endeavoring to initiate a career in academics along with seasoned professional looking for greener pastures, with an assortment of university jobs posted by universities that values diversity and excellence. To embark on a dream career, the job seeker has to register with EduJobsCanada.com to access its largest database of academic positions in Canada. Best of all, the job seeker can apply directly for the job he intends to pursue from our website with minimal effort." With EduJobsCanada.com, the job seeker has the liberty to post his resume on the website and enhance his chances of landing up a job that meets his academic credentials. The niche Canadian job board offers up to date information regarding potential job openings, thereby delivering a competitive edge. Additionally, the job seeker gets inputs into writing an impressive and professional resume or CV. Making for a better experience, the niche Canadian job board provides immediate alerts via social media and email as soon as new jobs are posted. Not surprisingly, EduJobsCanada.com is the top choice for those looking for job posting in Canada. About EduJobsCanada.com EduJobsCanada.com is an online advertisement service for jobs for academic, higher education and research institutions. It offers access to postings in a variety of fields including administration, agriculture and veterinary, business-economics, communication and media, creative arts and design, education, engineering and technology, health and medical, humanities-liberal arts, life sciences, physical sciences and mathematics. Of late, it has emerged as an ideal place for those who wish to find university jobs in Canada. Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Despite higher education and qualification, a large number of candidates in Canada and other parts of the world struggle to stumble on the right job based on their expertise and interest. Exact is the scenario at top companies or businesses, as many employers have to strive, literally, to find the appropriate candidates for the job openings in their organization. This is where the legitimate job portals come to picture. Addressing the needs of job seekers as well as employers, EduJobsCanada.com is a niche Canadian job board that brings potential employees and employers to a one stop-shopping portal. Known for academic and research job posting, the Canadian job board helps job seekers explore the right job and employers, the right candidate. Shedding light on the faculty jobs on offer, one of the senior executives working with EduJobsCanada.com in a recent conference asserted, "Since every educational institution requires top faculty or professors to survive and attract students from across the world, we provide our clients or companies with a great platform to post various positions and vacancies they wish to fill. . . It helps eligible candidates to review available job openings and apply with the institution without any intermediation. No matter whether an applicant is looking for a position as a college professor or a school teacher, we display all kinds of teaching jobs, so that job seekers can choose the right position based on their experience and qualification." Presenting an easy to understand and navigate interface, EduJobsCanada.com narrow down the search options according to the interest or liking of the candidate, allowing them to get tangible results without wasting any time. With an array of academic and research job posting for colleges, universities and research centers in its inventory, the online job portal also helps educational institutes analyze the eligible candidates that meet their standards or expectations. The jobs listings at EduJobsCanada.com range from administration, agriculture and veterinary, business-economics, communication and media, creative arts and design and education, together with engineering and technology, health and medical, humanities-liberal arts, life sciences, physical sciences and mathematics. Elaborating the academic jobs available in Canada, the senior executive further stated, "Many organizations and institutes in the country keep listing academic openings on our portal. We strive to make all these academic job vacancies available to the right candidates. We incorporate advanced tools that allow candidates to confine their search for a particular post in a specific location across the country. With advanced tools, we make sure to keep the job listing as well as searching process, for employers and job seekers respectively, simple and successful." Established in 2006, EduJobsCanada.com has been assisting employers to make targeted job postings on their job portal to choose the right candidates quickly and efficiently. For those who are looking for top faculty jobs in Canada, EduJobsCanada.com can be the right marketplace to search targeted jobs. For, the online job portal helps candidates find career opportunities in Toronto and other parts of the country easily and quickly. About EduJobsCanada.com EduJobsCanada.com, as the name suggests, is a niche Canadian job board that allows job listings in a wide range of fields to assist employers find the right candidates. Featuring an array of academic job postings in Canada , the online job portal helps job seekers find the right job based on their educational qualification and interests. North Port, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Every year around this time romantic lovers, secret crushes, and loving significant others are on the hunt for the perfect Valentine's Day. The romantic holiday is a special time for love, be it among husband and wife, coworkers, or family members. But discovering the perfect gift can be a labor of love, with extra emphasis on the labor. Fortunately, a ripe and ready company is prepared to do all the heavy lifting, and put together a truly unforgettable gift that your Valentine will be raving about to anyone who will listen. Gift Baskets Etc. is the undisputed king of gifts in basket form, and they are pulling out all the stops this years replete with specialty baskets to tickle the fancy of every kind of individual. For more than 15 years, North Port Gift Baskets Etc. has been serving the community of North Port, Florida and its surrounding cities with one-of-a-kind gift baskets. Their bundles are known for their variety, use of color, and exquisite taste. The Valentine's Spa Basket for women is especially luxurious, and features everything a woman could possibly need for relaxing, completely pampered spa experience. Rosewater & Jasmine foaming milk bath is bundled with shea butter lotion, moisturizing shea butter soap as well as a bottle of rosewater & jasmine hand soap. The cherry on top comes in the form of calming Verbana tea, dolcetto pastry cookies and scrumptious English tea cookies. "Whether you are all prepared for your special day on February 14 or you are still scrambling to get all the pieces into place the gift baskets we offer make truly wonderful gifts that are sure to impress," said Gift Baskets Etc. owner Tania Triana. "Husbands, wives, and lovers get this one chance to be super romantic, and we are happy to be a part of that experience and give them a gift that they won't soon forget." About North Port Gift Baskets Etc North Port Gift Baskets Etc is the premiere Florida Gift Basket Shop, and has served the North Port, Venice, and Sarasota communities since 2000. They specialize in delivering beautiful gift baskets and luxury gifts for all occasions & holidays to all of Sarasota County, Florida as well as the entire country. The gift baskets they send are distinctive, and include specialty gourmet food, fruit, cookies, candy, spa, books, wine, chocolates for occasion such as the birth of a new baby, thank you, anniversary, wedding, birthday, corporate, sympathy, get well, thank you, Holiday, Christmas gifts and more. www.giftsbasketsetc.com 941-423-3052 Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- According to a new market research report "IoT Healthcare Market by Components (Medical Device, System and Software, Service, and Connectivity Technology), Application (Telemedicine, Workflow Management, Connected Imaging, Medication Management), End-User - Global Forecast to 2020", the global IoT in healthcare market is expected to grow from USD 32.47 Billion in 2015 to USD 163.24 Billion by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38.1% during the forecast period. In the current scenario, North America is expected to be the largest market on the basis of market size and technological advancements. Browse 75 market data tables and 44 figures spread through 146 pages and in-depth TOC on "IoT Healthcare Market - Global Forecast to 2020" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/iot-healthcare-market-160082804.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Ask for Sample Pages @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=160082804 The IoT in healthcare terminology is used to define the implementation of the IoT-based technology solutions and associated services into the various applications healthcare sector. The solutions are primarily aimed at achieving the integration of connected medical devices and intelligent data analysis to enhance the operational efficiency of healthcare organizations. It also improvises the healthcare outcomes with reduced cost of care, using efficient tools and techniques. It imparts benefits to the various end-to-end needs, such as real-time patient engagement, remote monitoring, chronic disease management, inpatient monitoring, medication management, efficient clinical operations, and workflow management. The evolution of high speed networking technologies in healthcare organizations and the rise in demand for remote patient monitoring across the world are expected to drive the IoT in healthcare market in the coming years. Patient data security and privacy is one of the challenges currently faced by healthcare organizations. As a result, solution providers are shifting focus towards IoT security solutions to safeguard the connected devices and patient data generated using those devices. IoT-based solutions are further enabling companies to increase operational efficiency. Innovation in next generation sensors is another major factor driving the IoT in healthcare market. However, insufficient IoT technology skills and lack of governance standards act as restraining growth factors of the market. Furthermore, the IoT in healthcare market is still in the growing phase. Major vendors in the IoT in healthcare market are Medtronic, Inc. (U.S.), Philips (the Netherlands), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Cisco Systems (U.S.), and GE Healthcare (U.K.). Inquiry before Buying @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=160082804 The global IoT in healthcare market has been segmented on the basis of types of medical devices, systems and software, connectivity technologies, services, applications, end users, and regions. The report includes various types of medical devices, namely, wearable external medical devices, implanted medical devices, and stationary medical devices. Systems and software include remote device management, network bandwidth management, data analytics, application security, and network security. Connectivity technologies have been segmented into Wi-Fi, BLE, NFC, ZigBee, cellular, and satellite technologies. The services have been segmented into system integration, professional services, and support and maintenance. In addition, the report classifies the market into the regions such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Delivery Takeaway Food Market in the US: Delivery takeaway food service involves packaging and delivering food with a wide variety of options. It serves customers with its vast network of distribution and delivery channels. The online takeaway food option offers a hassle-free method of having food at home. Customers have the option to order food from various restaurants and choose from a wide range of items through online payment or COD. The market includes both companies involved purely in delivery takeaway services and restaurants offering dining-in and takeaway facilities. The Delivery Takeaway Food market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 3.22 percent over the period 2014-2019. The Delivery Takeaway Food Market in the US 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the key leading states in the US; it also covers the landscape of the Delivery Takeaway Food market in the US and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. For more info, get a Sample PDF with TOC: http://www.researchmoz.us/delivery-takeaway-food-market-in-the-us-2015-2019-report.html Global Takeaway Food Delivery Market: The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (% CAGR) for the forecasted period 2015 to 2019. Over the next five years, global food takeaway market revenue by is forecasted to grow due to increased spending power of consumers, rising emerging economies and recovery of GDP of developing countries. The report provides the detailed analysis of ten countries with their actual and forecasted market size. The US is the largest market for takeaway food delivery market with highest revenue. The UK is the largest takeaway food delivery market within European region and second largest in the world. The report also provides the detailed description of the US food takeaway market on the basis of revenue, net food sales and online market penetration. For more info, get a Sample PDF with TOC: http://www.researchmoz.us/global-takeaway-food-delivery-market-trends-opportunities-2015-edition-report.html Country Coverage - The US - UK - Spain - France - Italy - Netherlands - Denmark - Norway - Switzerland - Brazil China Online ordering takeaway Industry: The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Online ordering takeaway market analysis is provided for the China markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. The report focuses on China major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Online ordering takeaway industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered. For more info, get a Sample PDF with TOC: http://www.researchmoz.us/china-online-ordering-takeaway-industry-2015-market-research-report-report.html About ResearchMoz ResearchMoz is the world's 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. ResearchMoz's 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. Contact Us: Mr. Nachiket Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free) Email: sales@researchmoz.us Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Browse 69 market data tables and 55 figures spread through 155 pages and in-depth TOC on "qPCR Reagents Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/qpcr-reagents-market-102087588.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. On the basis of detection method, the global qPCR reagents market is classified into two segments, namely, dye-based and probe & primer-based qPCR reagents. qPCR reagents market has been further divided on the basis of packaging type (core kits and mastermixes), end user (hospitals and diagnostic centers, research laboratories and academic institutes, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, clinical research organizations, and forensic laboratories), and application (diagnostic, research, and forensic). Talk to Our Research Analysts for More Info@ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=102087588 Factors such as rising patient population base for infectious diseases & genetic disorders, coupled with growing geriatric population, technological advancements in the life sciences sector, increasing public-private investments, funds, and grants for PCR-based research, and the successful completion of the human genome project are driving the growth of qPCR reagents market. However, technical limitations associated with qPCR are restraining the growth of this market. In 2015, North America is expected to hold the largest share of the qPCR reagents market, followed by Europe. Additionally, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period (2015 to 2020). Strong market growth witnessed in the North American qPCR reagents market can be attributed to factors such as high penetration of qPCR technologies among key end users, increasing public & private funding to expand the application base of qPCR, ongoing product advancements in the field of qPCR reagents, and continuous reduction in the average cost of genome sequencing. Get The Sample Copy Of This Report: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=102087588 Thermo Fisher Scientific (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (U.S.), Qiagen N.V. (Netherlands), F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd. (Switzerland), Agilent Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Takara Bio (Japan), Affymetrix Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (U.S.), and Quanta Biosciences Inc. (U.S.), are some of the key players operating in the global qPCR reagents market. About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Subscribe Reports from Healthcare Domain @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Subscription.html Contact Mr. Rohan Unit No. 802, 8th Floor, Tower - 7, Magarpatta City SEZ, Hadapsar, Pune 411013, Maharashtra, India. Tel: +1-888-6006-441. Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/biotechnology Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Raleigh, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- Real Property Management Wake County was recently tapped as one of the top 10 percent franchises within the national Real Property Management company. The Wake County office was one of 16 offices out of more than 270 to earn the prestigious Presidents Circle Silver Award. "This is a tribute to the hard working people in this office and our customers. Our customers put us in the top 10 percent because we offer a level of service that's hard to beat. We get out there every day and work hard for the people trust their rental property to us," said Owen White, owner of Real Property Management Wake County. Mr. White said the company has grown over the years, thanks to the dedicated customers and staff. That growth was recognized when the office received the Presidents Circle Silver Award. Silver winners met stringent criteria related to growth, marketing, operations, customer service, participation in nationwide programs, and be top performers compared to their peers. "This award is really about customer and client service. Our business has grown because we take care of the people and the property they. Other property owners have seen the commitment to quality we have and come on board with us," Mr. White said. "When you take care of the customer, he will come back. He will tell other people and they will become your customers too." The award is also about the staff at Real Property Management Wake County. "You can't achieve this level of growth and this kind of honor unless you have employees who believe in the business and the mission. This award goes to everyone who works here, no matter what they do," Mr. White said. "Without them, we would not be here. Their commitment to excellence is just the highest." Property Management Business Solutions carefully reviewed every one of the franchise operations across the nation when preparing for the awards. Company directors said the competition was tough. Real Property Management Wake County had what it takes to rise to the top, they said. "The President's Circle recognizes the efforts of our franchisees in growing their business, providing quality service, and embracing the systems and programs of the Real Property Management organization. Silver Award winners are among the best offices in our system," said Lukas Krause, COO of Property Management Business Solutions. For more information about the Presidents Circle Silver Award or Real Property Management Wake County, visit http://www.rpmwake.com or call 919-747-3488. About Real Property Management Wake County Real Property Management Wake County manages rental property in the Raleigh, Cary and Triangle areas of North Carolina. Owning rental homes can be costly. The right property management company can make all the difference. Our goal at Real Property Management Wake County is to protect your investment, minimize your costs, and maximize your incomewithout interrupting your daily life. Media Contact: Owen White Real Property Management Wake County 919-747-3488 owenwhite@rpmwake.com www.rpmwake.com 7404 Chapel Hill Road Suite N Raleigh, North Carolina 27607 Bedfordshire, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/09/2016 -- The Glasses Company is an online store based in Bedfordshire, England. As the name indicates, the company offers a wide selection of prescription glasses all in one place and at highly affordable prices. Being an optician with more than three decades of experience, Mr Kanzaria launched The Glasses Company to revolutionize the way people buy glasses. With visually appealing, feature rich, easy to navigate and user-friendly website, the online store strives hard to make quality glasses easily available, accessible and affordable to all. While talking about the products and services that The Glasses Company offer, one of the senior executives working with it stated, "At no other online store in UK customers can find such an extensive collection of high quality glasses, spectacles and glasses so affordably priced as at ours. We care and strive hard to meet the individual needs of every single customer. Our wide selection spoils customers for choices and value for money products are adding more and more customers to our already massive database. Our extensive experience enables us understand what customers look for when they buy spectacles and glasses, which helps us serve to their needs effectively." The entire selection of products available at The Glasses Company represents customer's taste as a whole. Therefore, those who look for high quality glasses, unparalleled services and genuine prices count upon the tremendous experience and expertise of The Glasses Company. The wide selection of men, women, unisex glasses are available at one place that customers can find in different designs, shapes, sizes, and color options. Customers can select from the metal and plastic versions from hundreds of options available as per their needs, aspirations and financial restraints, if any. The executive further stated, "We are a customer centric company that is committed to quality products and services. In order to achieve this goal, we strive hard with the best of resource and in all ways possible. To better customer's experience of dealing with us, we are currently offering free prescription lenses. To make quality glasses and frames easily available and affordable to all, we are offering 10 percent discount to all new customers who can then claim by using INTRO10 promo code at the time of checkout." This is not all as The Glasses Company processes all orders as soon as possible and delivers them free of cost in any corner of the United Kingdom.. The Glasses Company is a name synonymous with quality, reliability and known for offering lenses with or without prescription at fraction of the high street cost. Stocking more than a thousand frames at any given day, customers count on The Glasses Company for offering the best online glasses in the UK. For those who want to find cheap designer glasses, no other online resource is as good as The Glasses Company is. About The Glasses Company Bedfordshire, England based The Glasses Company is an online store that offers a wide selection of lenses, spectacles and glasses at one place and highly affordable prices. The selection of men, women and unisex glasses are available in different sizes, designs, shapes and color options. For those who are looking for discount spectacles or want to buy designer reading glasses in the UK, The Glasses Company remains the best resource online. [WASHINGTON DC] Tumbling costs and technological advances mean solar energy could play a major role in an international project to expand electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to its organiser. We think theres a tremendous opportunity to go much bigger on solar, Andy Herscowitz, coordinator of Power Africa, told attendees at the initiatives second annual summit, held in the United States on 28-29 January. According to the World Bank, about 600 million Africans have no access to electricity. Power Africa, launched in 2013 by US President Barack Obama, is a partnership of more than 120 governments, companies, NGOs and academic institutions that seeks to give 60 million homes and businesses access to electricity and add 30,000 megawatts (MW) of power supply by 2030. We cant ignore the tremendous gas resources available in West Africa and Southern Africa and East Africa. Andy Herscowitz, Power Africa Considering all energy projects, including those in which Power Africa is not involved, solar schemes are forecast to provide 18,000 to 22,000 MW of extra power in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, says a road map for Power Africa, released at the summit. As for Power Africa itself, energy schemes providing 18,000 to 21,000 MW will result from helping projects that are already under way reach the finish line via financial, technical and other forms of assistance, the road map says. Another 11,000 to 14,000 MW will come from new projects involving solar, geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and natural gas, as well as a few thousand more megawatts from making existing power supplies more efficient, it says. Solar energy projects are becoming easier to implement thanks to advances in household power generation and storage systems, Herscowitz told the event. With these systems, people arent just getting two light bulbs and a cellphone charger, but theyre getting access to appliances that basically let them live the same life that a person could live on the grid, he said. To help overcome the fact that solar energy supply is intermittent, US companies at the event touted the potential of their products, such as giant batteries to store energy, or molten-salt power storage, in which salts absorb the suns energy for later conversion to power. Long-distance power lines could also carry excess supply from places such as Lake Victoria, where hydroelectric power is generated, to other areas that need power when the sun goes down, said Hamid Al Zayani, a representative of the company Midal Cables in Mozambique, told the summit. The road map aims to add other renewable sources, such as wind and geothermal, to its mix of energy sources. Generally diversity is a good thing because it helps balance out the drawbacks of each energy type, said Steven Hunt, an energy advisor for the UK Department for International Development. Moreover, at least one fossil fuel will remain crucial for the foreseeable future, Herscowitz suggested: We cant ignore the tremendous gas resources available in West Africa and Southern Africa and East Africa. Rather than the treeless, limestone expanse we know today, the Plain was flush with gum and eucalyptus trees, banksias and other flowering plants now confined to Australia's east coast. Scientists at the University of Melbourne used new techniques to date fossilised pollen and reveal the Plain's 'big wet' -- a dramatic transformation in climate that occurred around five million years ago. The finding sheds new light on the environmental history of the Nullarbor, a former seabed that was lifted above the sea 14 million years ago. "The Nullarbor region had a relatively dry climate until five million years ago, but then the vegetation suddenly changed," said palaeoclimate scientist Dr Kale Sniderman. "In just 100,000 years, it became a forest of gums and banksias, which suggests a rainfall of two or up to four times higher than today." The Nullarbor Plain -- an area covering 200,000 km2 bordering the Great Australian Bight between South and Western Australia -- is today a treeless saltbush shrubland and the largest exposure of limestone in the world. advertisement It receives an average of 250 mm of rain each year, but before five million years ago the rainfall was approximately 480mm, Dr Sniderman said. During the 'big wet' between five and 3.5 million years ago precipitation rose to an estimated 1220mm. Investigating the climate history of Australia's desert regions is traditionally difficult for scientists, given the scarcity of fossils and the difficulty in accurately dating them. This research successfully employed new methods of dating and analysis, by focusing on the dating of Nullarbor speleothems (stalagmites, stalactites and flowstones). Until now, it has been impossible to date speleothems more than about 500,000 years old. advertisement Paper co-author Professor Jon Woodhead, also from the University's School of Earth Sciences, has spent the past decade perfecting methods of dating these old samples, and can now date speleothems of any age. Dr Sniderman was then able to dissolve Professor Woodhead's dated samples to examine ancient pollen trapped within them. "Most didn't contain any pollen, which isn't surprising since many speleothems grew in caves that had no openings to the surface," Dr Sniderman said. "But some did contain fossil pollen, which revealed the nature of the vegetation growing at those times. "Through that we've been able to develop a new understanding of the history of the Nullarbor's climate." Prof Woodhead said the research showed there was much more to the Nullarbor than its iconic landform. "It is also home to a scientific treasure trove of palaeoclimate information that has potential global significance," he said. The research has been published in the latest edition of the journal, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Humans love to talk to their dogs and sometimes brag about how smart they are, too. Now, British scientists have discovered a new IQ test for dogs that involves a series of obstacle tests in order to assess their intelligence. The results seem to suggest that just like humans, dogs also have measurable IQs, according to CNN. "In humans, there is a small but measurable tendency for people who are brighter to be healthier and live longer," Dr. Rosalind Arden, a research associate at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) who helped carry out the study in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh, said in a news release. "So if, as our research suggests, dog intelligence is structured similarly to ours, studying a species that doesn't smoke, drink, use recreational drugs and does not have large differences in education and income, may help us understand this link between intelligence and health better." During the study, researchers looked at how close to 70 border collies performed in a series of obstacles that measured intelligence. The tests included timing how long it took dogs to get food from behind different see-through barriers and repeatedly giving the animals plates of food to see if they could determine which was a bigger portion. Dogs that completed the tests faster were also more likely to complete them accurately, researchers found. The dogs in the study were border collies that were more accustomed to farmyard settings--unlike pets that are used to games and food treats. Lastly, researchers did not note a difference between genders regarding test scores. "This is only a first step, but we are aiming to create a dog IQ test that is reliable, valid and can be administered quickly. Such a test could rapidly improve our understanding of the connection between dog intelligence, health, even lifespan, and be the foundation of 'dognitive epidemiology," Dr Mark Adams, Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said in a news release. "Dogs are excellent for this kind of work because they are willing to participate and seem to enjoy taking part." Related Articles Pet Dogs May Help Lower Anxiety Risk In Children For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN). MARION, S.C. Marion Rotary Club members visited three schools last week to deliver coats to students in need. President Jody Powell, along with past president Craig Martin presented the coats to school representatives who will then pass the coats onto the designated students. An annual project, new coats are bought and distributed based on recommendations from the schools. This year, so far, they donated 45 coats to students at Easterling Primary School, 20 coats to Marion Intermediate School and eight coats to Marion High School for a total of 73 new coats. Plans are to also donate hoodies to Johnakin Middle School in the very near future. The Rotary Club is an organization of community members who work to help find solutions to some of the most challenging issues in the community. Their efforts are supported by Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation which turns generous donations into grants that fund the work of members and partners around the world. Beware an "Eyes Only" Site Stories All About Alaska and More... Contact the Ghost of Spam McGee We All Tweet in a Twitter Submarine: @AlaskaChinook E-mail: doctorv.roomvroom@gmail.com (CopyRight Protected) [ 47 U.S.C. 230 ] ~ This Machine KILLS Fascists ~ Solidarity National Anthem "This Land Is Your Land" KNAPP Robert (Bob) Alton Hughes of Knapp passed away peacefully Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, at Park View Home in Woodville, where he had resided since Dec. 14, 2012. Bob was diagnosed with Alzheimers in Dec. 2009, however, this devastating disease may have robbed him of his short-term memory, but he remained a true gentleman with a sweet disposition and always knew his wife, Flossie. Bob, the firstborn child of Robert and Evelyn (Petrie) Hughes, was born Nov. 6, 1927, at Memorial Hospital, Menomonie. He lived his entire life in the Knapp area. Bob attended Miller Hill country school in rural Knapp, and Dunn County Agricultural School (Aggie School) in Menomonie. Due to necessity, Bob left Aggie School during his second year of high school to help his father on the farm, which was often the case for the eldest son. Bob was baptized, attended Sunday School and was confirmed at Miller Hill Methodist Church in rural Knapp. He was a current member of Wilson Lutheran Church and previously served on the church council. Bob was united in marriage to Sharon Dale Foss on July 20, 1951, in Menomonie. They made their home on a dairy farm in rural Knapp, after a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Their marriage was blessed with four children, Kathy (Orv) Rehfeldt, Dan (Josie Shackleton) Hughes, Bill (Debbie) Hughes and Larry (Machael) Hughes; 10 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. The family enjoyed trips in their camper bus and gatherings with the Mears family in Baraboo. They also enjoyed attending the Minnesota State Fair (Machinery Hill was top on the list of Bobs favorites). During his lifetime, not only was Bob a farmer, he was also employed at Goodmans Feed Store in Knapp, Bjornson Lumber Mill in Spring Valley, Farmers Co-ops in Knapp, and Baldwin, and the Knapp Creamery. He especially enjoyed logging and driving a truck for the Knapp Creamery hauling whey to Waukon, Iowa. During his retirement, he worked with his cousin installing vinyl siding and windows. On June 29, 1996, Bob was united in marriage to Flossie Marie Cardiff at Wilson Lutheran Church. They lived in the Village of Knapp, until May 2000, when they moved to their current home in rural Knapp. Bob and Flossie enjoyed holding hands, sharing a hymnal at church, baking sugar cookies together, playing cards (Phase 10 and UNO), playing games (Yahtzee and Left-Right-Center), attending parades and visiting with family and friends. They enjoyed a fishing trip to Canada, where Bob, a first-time angler, caught the first fish. They also traveled to Nevada, Scotland, California, Washington, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, Tennessee, and southern states including Oklahoma, and Texas. Bob thought flying in an airplane was remarkable and thoroughly enjoyed it. Throughout his life, Bob enjoyed old-time music and loved to dance (especially a polka). He also enjoyed checking out The Trading Post and auction bills, which sent him and Flossie on many adventures. He was always on the lookout for a good Oldsmobile and was quite a fan of NASCAR (Dale Earnhardt Sr. was his favorite driver). Living only mile from the freeway, Bob kept extra gas and oil on hand and willingly helped anyone who stopped with car trouble (college girls often ran low on gas and oil). Bobs family referred to him as the King of Ice Cream and he would offer all visitors a dish of ice cream. If you declined, much to Bobs dismay, he saw to it that you had some, or at the very least had a glass of ginger ale or lemonade. Bob is survived by his wife, Flossie; his children; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren; two sisters, Myrna Brantmeier and Deanna (Vern) Jenson; one brother, Howard (Nancy) Hughes; two sisters-in-law, Ramona Mears and Marilynn (Gerald) Bartos. He is also survived by many other relatives and friends. Bob was preceded in death by his first wife, Sharon; an infant daughter, Ramona; his parents; his stepmother, Ada (Hammond) Hughes; his sister, Dorothy Phillipps and her husband, Bob; his brother, Milton Hughes; daughter-in-law, Terry Hughes; and brothers-in-law, Merle Brantmeier and Arnie Cardiff. The funeral service for Bob Hughes will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, at Wilson Lutheran Church, with Pastor Bob Dahm officiating. Visitation from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, at Keehr Funeral Home, and one hour prior to the service at the church. Music provided by organist Mary Brandt. Bobs niece, Mery Waldman, is the soloist and accompanied on the piano by her sister, Kristen Lowe. Burial in Wilson Lutheran Church Cemetery. Pallbearers are grandsons, Brent Matson, Willy Hughes, Nathan Hughes, Daniel Hughes and Mike Hughes; nephews, Jeremy Bartos and Jerry Cardiff; and Bobs special friend, Josh Jergensen. Honorary pallbearers are his brother-in-law, Gerald Bartos and his dear friends, Ron Schultz, Dave Close and Jack Brinkman. Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) Board, Meeting in Houston, Texas, February 5, 2016, Calls on the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church to Unite the Church in America CRETE, Greece, Feb. 9, 2016 / This event will provide the opportunity for the hierarchs and representatives of all of the autocephalous churches to approve the establishment of a unified Orthodox Church in the United States of America. The administrative unification of the Church under a single Synod of Bishops is not only an event whose time has come, but it is an event which must not be delayed. The hierarchs who will meet in Crete know that the existence of twelve separate, overlapping and often competing Orthodox jurisdictions in the same territory violates Orthodox canons and ecclesiology. These same hierarchs, meeting in Chambesy, Switzerland in 2009, signed protocols establishing Assemblies of Bishops across the globe to bring canonical order - order that is in its very essence unifying - to the churches in the New World. The United States Assembly of Bishops has been meeting for the past six years, and much progress has been made to comply with the mandate given to them; but the time of the Holy and Great Council has now arrived, and it is the responsibility of the hierarchs at this Council to act. Patriarch Bartholomew addressed the American Assembly of Bishops in Dallas in 2014. In his video address that unmistakably urged unity, he called upon the American Bishops to: "... move beyond words to actions. We know much better than what we actually do. We are called to put our theory and theology into practice. We are called to move beyond what is 'mine' and what is 'yours' to what is 'ours.' From now on, this is how we should conceive and conduct all of our ministries and resources, all of our departments and initiatives. Otherwise, we do not practice what we preach. It is really up to us to accept the challenge or refuse the call." This message is now directed to the hierarchs who will be meeting in Crete in June of this year. They alone, meeting in Council as one body, have the responsibility to bring the Orthodox Church in the United States into canonical order. This Holy and Great Council should recognize the Assembly of Bishops of the United States as the Canonical Synod of the territory of the United States of America which should meet to elect its Presiding Hierarch, taking its place as an Autocephalous Church. Orthodox Christian Laity Read the formal statement, Share Tweet Contact: George Matsoukas, Orthodox Christian Laity , 561-585-0245CRETE, Greece, Feb. 9, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- 2016 is a historic year for Orthodox Christianity throughout the world. After over 1,200 years since the Seventh Ecumenical Council was held in Nicea (now part of Turkey) in 787, the Orthodox Church has scheduled the Holy and Great Council. The meeting, which has been in the planning stages for more than fifty years, will be held from June 16-27, 2016 in Crete at the Orthodox Academy of Crete.This event will provide the opportunity for the hierarchs and representatives of all of the autocephalous churches to approve the establishment of a unified Orthodox Church in the United States of America. The administrative unification of the Church under a single Synod of Bishops is not only an event whose time has come, but it is an event which must not be delayed.The hierarchs who will meet in Crete know that the existence of twelve separate, overlapping and often competing Orthodox jurisdictions in the same territory violates Orthodox canons and ecclesiology. These same hierarchs, meeting in Chambesy, Switzerland in 2009, signed protocols establishing Assemblies of Bishops across the globe to bring canonical order - order that is in its very essence unifying - to the churches in the New World.The United States Assembly of Bishops has been meeting for the past six years, and much progress has been made to comply with the mandate given to them; but the time of the Holy and Great Council has now arrived, and it is the responsibility of the hierarchs at this Council to act.Patriarch Bartholomew addressed the American Assembly of Bishops in Dallas in 2014. In his video address that unmistakably urged unity, he called upon the American Bishops to:"... move beyond words to actions. We know much better than what we actually do. We are called to put our theory and theology into practice. We are called to move beyond what is 'mine' and what is 'yours' to what is 'ours.' From now on, this is how we should conceive and conduct all of our ministries and resources, all of our departments and initiatives. Otherwise, we do not practice what we preach. It is really up to us to accept the challenge or refuse the call."This message is now directed to the hierarchs who will be meeting in Crete in June of this year. They alone, meeting in Council as one body, have the responsibility to bring the Orthodox Church in the United States into canonical order. This Holy and Great Council should recognize the Assembly of Bishops of the United States as the Canonical Synod of the territory of the United States of America which should meet to elect its Presiding Hierarch, taking its place as an Autocephalous Church.Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) calls upon all Orthodox Christians in the United States of America and throughout the world to fervently pray for the success of this historic Holy and Great Council.Read the formal statement, THE AMERICAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IS HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC - IT MUST NOW BE ONE Evangelist Andrew Palau Joins Effort to Share the Gospel Through Spanish-Speaking Festival in Key Border Town of Dominican Republic DAJABON, Dominican Republic, Feb. 8, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- As part of a collaborative effort with half a dozen partner evangelists, Andrew Palau shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with thousands in Dajabon, a western city in the Dominican Republic on the border of Haiti. The festival was part of a larger campaign to the border region called "Buena Vida!" and included a second evangelistic festival in neighboring Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Each day, several thousand people packed into La Calle de Ancha (the broad road), a main street in the city which was closed down to make room for the evangelistic event. Music, drama performances, action sports demonstrations, and other activities for families and children were some of the highlights of the festival each day. Popular local musicians, along with ministry partner Dave Lubben, prepared the crowd each evening for the message. The first night of the festival in Dajabon included a message by evangelist Alan Greene of Lifelight Ministries. Palau shared the second night and played a short video greeting from his father, evangelist Luis Palau, who is well known in the region as a result of years of his radio ministry and outreaches. Each evening, there was a spirit of rejoicing across the crowd as festival-goers were invited to give their lives to Christ. By the end of the second evening, approximately 2,500 people had made public commitments to follow Jesus for the first time. Palau also partnered with several other evangelists, including Greene, Reid Saunders, Harry Thomas, Bob Lenz, Josh Brewer, John Andrus, and Vic Murphy--all of whom are members of the "Next Generation Alliance," the Luis Palau Association's coalition of evangelists--to help lead outreaches in prisons, local schools, in medical clinics, and several local churches. Hundreds of decisions were recorded through those events as well. "It was a great privilege to serve the churches, pastors, and the body of Christ in a town that--as is true of many border towns--has the unique pressures that come along with being a major connecting point to a neighboring country," Palau said. "There is a tendency in these places for there to be less input or assistance as they dream of how the Gospel might impact their city. I'm so grateful for Reid Saunders and his team for their investment into this region." Following the conclusion of the festival on Wednesday, the stage equipment was quickly transported across the river to Ouanaminthe, Haiti, where Bob Lenz and Reid Saunders worked with churches and ministry leaders in the area to hold a second evangelistic festival on February 6-7 for the Haitian community. Dajabon and Ouanaminthe face each other on the northern edge of the 230 mile border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Cultural and racial tensions on the border have intensified in recent years due to immigration and deportation disputes, including as recently as 2015 when the Dominican government tightened immigration policy between the two countries. Acting as a powerful statement by the church, this campaign helped both communities set aside their differences and share a message of hope and love in the midst of difficult days. The Luis Palau Association has a long history of outreach in the Caribbean, including the annual "Fun in the Son" festival which alternates between Haiti and Jamaica every other year. In July, Palau will return to the Caribbean for Fun in the Son Jamaica. The legislation was originally introduced in the Summer of 2015 by Lisa Murkowski, a Republican-party Senator from Alaska (a big oil producing state) . By the end of last week, the opposing Democratic party had blocked debate on the bill, at least temporarily, as they attempted to add non-energy provisions. Exports of natural gas are a shipping-related battleground within the bill. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), a group representing the large oil producers, A provision to streamline the review process for natural gas export projects before the Department of Energy could bring our allies welcome relief while bolstering our national security and economy. Language in S2012 seeks to require the Energy Department to decide on LNG export projects within 45 days of completion of an environmental review. The fine print also provides for expedited court decisions, where there are legal challenges to the approvals of LNG export terminals. The API frames the issue within a diplomatic narrative, saying: Americas global allies have repeatedly requested greater access to US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to help break dependence on nations that use their energy resources as a diplomatic and economic weapon. The back story reveals that since the last major energy bill, in 2007, natural gas prices have dropped significantly; presently, the Henry Hub indicator was priced in early February, 2016 at just above $2.00 per million BTUs, and was as low as $1.70 during the very warm December, 2015. In early 2008, this same marker stood at $6.00 per m BTU- with seasonal spikes moving it up as high as $12.00 per m BTU. In the intervening years, advances in technology have dramatically increased supply; similarly to oil producers who will benefit as US crude oil is allowed to be exported, gas producers will see additional demand for their output. As always, there are other political rumblings. Arizonas Senator John McCain, who never misses an opportunity to aim his torpedoes at US cabotage rules, was trying to introduce an amendment to S2012 which would weaken the Jones Act, by opening up the coastwise crude oil and gasoline (petrol) trades to non-US built vessels. Also lurking in the background is a proposal not part of S2012 (at least for now), by President Obama to institute a $10 per barrel tax on oil. The levy, viewed by political observers as highly unlikely to gain traction, would fund investments in clean transportation. Some media outlets suggested that the tax would only apply to oil imports, running at around 7.4m barrels per day in late 2015. At times of a high Brent-WTI spread, imports into the US were reduced. As world oil markets have weakened and the Brent pricing has almost equalized with WTI, oil imports have increased. Such a tax - if implemented on imported oil, but not on domestically produced barrels - would effectively increase the spread again. Charlie Bartlett was shortlisted in the Newcomer of the Year category, for his technical contributions to both the Seatrade Global news website and Seatrade Magazine. Seatrade Global's New York-based correspondent and regular Dispatches writer Barry Parker likewise made the shortlist, this time in the Feature Journalist category, for one of his informed articles on Private Equity financing.. Seatrade Magazine editor Bob Jaques won the night's top honour of Seahorse Journalist of the Year 2014, for a series of cover stories he wrote for that quarterly publication. The prize was awarded "for a trilogy of articles on diverse subjects including overcapacity in the supply chain, safety at sea following a spate of high-profile maritime casualties, and finally an in-depth interview with the ceo of the Scorpio Group. Each article showed a great depth of content and research and was written in a style most likely to engage the reader," commented the judges. "These commendations are welcome recognitions of the quality of Seatrade Maritime content," said Seatrade publisher Mary Bond, "and of the hard work put in by our highly skilled team of writers and production staff, in both print and digital formats." The nine Award categories drew a record 146 entries from 66 different journalists, including more submissions than ever before from outside the UK, with winners coming from as far afield as California, Singapore and Australia.. Judging was by a panel of senior representatives from leading industry companies which included APM Terminals, DP World, PSA, Shipserv, TT Club, UK P&I Club and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. The Seahorse Club is a networking group for PR, marketing, advertising and journalism professionals within the freight, multimodal transport and logistics sectors. The group's John Rose Personality of the Year Award went to Michael Storgaard, senior press officer at Maersk Line, while Mark Brownrigg, ex-director general of the UK Chamber of Shipping, won the John Richman Lifetime Achievement Award. HKSOA joins the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Bimco in opposing the plans by Europe for regional MRV monitoring. The HKSOA urges the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to reconsider this proposed regulation, which would appear to have been developed prematurely without the proper consideration of all the factors and unintended consequences that may result, the association said in a statement. The HKSOA gave four reasons for its opposition to the regulation. First it said that as a global industry and as such regulations need to be global in nature and developed by the IMO. Secondly it said the EUs actions would not help the IMO discussions on the issue. In fact, the EUs actions could well result in some member States becoming strongly opposed to any such regulation, it said. Last month the ICS cited potential for it to create problems with countries such as China and India. Thirdly HKSOA objected to the descriptive text that said shipping was the only mans of transport not included in the Unions commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While this might be correct for the Union (which is not a member of the IMO), this is not correct for the member States, it said noting the IMOs Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP). Fourthly it said time was required to develop a fair and consistent metric for measuring emissions. A simple definition of multiplying the distance travelled with the amount of cargo carried will clearly benefit unprofitable and uneconomic diversions to reduce ballast legs, so reducing the efficiency of maritime transport, HKSOA said. RCLs RBC4 service from 20 December will call Qingdao Shanghai Cat Lai Laem Chabang on a 21-day rotation utilising three 2,500 teu vessels. Purpose of the revamp is to provide a stable and reliable service in view of the recent port congestions, RCL said. Manila has suffered severe port congestion for much of 2014 after a truck ban was instituted in the city centre of capital, leaving a very limited window for containers to removed or delivered from the port. RCL will be launching a new service from Laem Chabang to Manila with two 2,500 teu vessels deployed. "This revamp will help to restore RBC4 service integrity and at the same time, the new dedicate services will be able to cater to the growing needs of our customers in China, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines," said Charles Chu, evp of business for RCL. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2016-26 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that C. Dabney ORiordan and Alka Patel have been named Associate Directors for Enforcement in the agencys Los Angeles Regional Office. Ms. ORiordan began working in the Los Angeles office in 2005 as a staff attorney, served as counsel to the Director of the Division of Enforcement, and became an Assistant Director in 2012. She has been a member of the Division of Enforcements Asset Management Unit since its inception in 2010. Ms. ORiordan has investigated and litigated a number of significant securities law violations, many of which were firsts for the agency: the first action charging a private equity fund manager for misallocating expenses between the manager and the private funds, the first action regarding the unregistered offer and sale of binary options, and the first action against a CEO solely seeking return of incentive based compensation under Section 304 of Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition, Ms. ORiordan has led significant investigations resulting in charges against gatekeepers, including an audit firm and their partners for failures in the audits of China-based companies. Ms. Patel began working in the Los Angeles office in 2001 as a staff attorney and became an Assistant Director in 2009. She has served as a member of the Division of Enforcements Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since its inception in 2010. Ms. Patel has investigated and litigated a broad spectrum of significant securities laws matters. Some examples include an action against a California based company for making improper payments disguised as commissions to foreign agents, charges against three former sales managers with insider trading ahead of a major acquisition, an action against a medical imaging company and its CEO for disclosure violations, and an action against three San Diego stock promoters and a Canadian citizen in a market manipulation scheme. In their new roles, they will oversee the Los Angeles offices enforcements efforts in southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. Alka and Dabney have made tremendous contributions to the Los Angeles Regional Office and the Division of Enforcement on numerous challenging and significant matters, said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SECs Division of Enforcement. I am confident they will lead the enforcement program in Los Angeles to continued success. Alka and Dabney are extremely talented lawyers who are widely respected throughout the Los Angeles Regional Office for their fairness, excellent judgment, tenacity, and strong leadership, said Michele Wein Layne, Director of the Los Angeles Regional Office. I am delighted that they will bring their impressive skills and experience in managing our offices outstanding enforcement group. Ms. ORiordan said, I am looking forward to continuing to work with the committed and talented enforcement staff in the Los Angeles Regional Office. Ms. Patel said, I am honored to have this opportunity to serve as Associate Director. Over the years, I have worked closely with the dedicated enforcement staff in the Los Angeles office and I am looking forward to our continued collaborative efforts in enforcing the federal securities laws. Before joining the SEC, Ms. ORiordan worked as a litigation associate for over four years at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles and served as a law clerk to the Honorable David R. Thompson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Ms. ORiordan received her law degree from UCLA School of Law where she was Order of the Coif and her undergraduate degree with honors from Wellesley College. Before joining the SEC, Ms. Patel worked as a litigation and transactional associate in Irvine, Calif., and St. Louis and as an auditor at two international accounting firms. Ms. Patel received her law degree from Southwestern University School of Law, her masters degree in business taxation from the University of Southern California, and her undergraduate degree from California State University, Northridge. Cayetano: Food security key to end disorder "Kapag walang gutom na mamamayan, walang gulo sa bayan." This is what presidential bet Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte and his running mate Senate Majority leader Alan Peter Cayetano said as they highlighted the importance of food security to address the country's disorder in a town hall meeting on Monday in Concepcion, Tarlac. Speaking to an audience of farmers, coop members, and irrigators' association memers, the tandem said that lack of support for the agricultural sector adds to the lack of peace and disorder in the country. Cayetano told of the plight of Mang Max, a farm worker for 15 years in Tarlac who does not have his own land and barely makes ends meet. "Dalawang beses lang siya umani sa isang taon, usually March and August, at 15 kaban lang ang napupunta sa kanya mula sa 100 na average niya." "Under a Duterte-Cayetano leadership, Mang Max wouldn't have to become a construction worker on top of being a farm worker," said Cayetano, explaining that Mang Max earns a maximum of P30,000 a year, which could not meet the needs of his family of 10 children. Cayetano said they are pushing for 100% free irrigation systems in all major rice-producing provinces. The senator also said they will relocate the Department of Agriculture (DA) to Mindanao to transform it as the country's food basket. "Our aim is real inclusive growth through regional development and social justice. Through this we achieve the twin goals of achieving food security and ending the disorder in the people's daily lives," Cayetano ended. Press Release February 8, 2016 CHIZ CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF IRRIGATION FEES Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero is pushing for the abolition of the irrigation service fees (ISFs), saying that the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has enough funds to sustain its operations even without the burdensome amount it is charging the poor farmers, especially in this period of drought. "The ISF has become expendable through the years with bigger appropriations for the NIA. It's time for the government to abolish it and condone the debt incurred by our poor farmers from these burdensome irrigation fees," said Escudero, the frontrunner in the vice-presidential race. According to the former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the NIA has received a substantial budget infusion since 2013, jumping 19-fold to P32.7 billion this year, and as such, can very well fund the operation of the government-built irrigation facilities sans the ISFs. "The NIA's budget is now at P32.7 billion this year from just P1.7 billion in 2013. This means that the agency is no longer reliant on the ISF so it is just right for the government to abolish this fee which has become burdensome to our farmers, particularly those suffering the impact of the El Nino phenomenon," Escudero said. In a statement issued on January 26, the NIA has opposed the abolition of the ISF in fear that it would have a "rippling effect" on the country's food production, as well as hurt the operation of the existing system facilities. The NIA's target ISF collection last year was at P2.24 billion. In 2014 it was at P1.8 billion and in 2013, P1.6 billion. According to the 2014 audit report of the Commission on Audit (COA), the NIA has ISF and Communal Irrigation System (CIS) receivables amounting to P19.2 billion. The veteran lawmaker said with bigger budget, the NIA even without the ISF, can already live up to its vision of developing and maintaining irrigation systems to increase agricultural productivity and increase farmers' income. "Marapat lamang na ibigay ng pamahalaan ang lahat ng ayuda na pwedeng ilaan sa ating mga magsasaka upang maibsan ang kanilang paghihirap lalo na iyong mga tinamaan ng El Nino at iba pang kalamidad," Escudero said, noting that the agriculture sector is home to 70 percent of the poor families in the country. "Sa halip na kunin pa ang halagang ito ng gobyerno mula sa ating mahihirap na magsasaka, iwan na lang iyan sa kanilang mga bulsa," he added. Farmers pay an estimated average ISF of P4,500 per hectare a year, which is equivalent to five cavans of palay. The NIA collects the ISFs for yields with 40 cavans and above. The rate is based on the prevailing National Food Authority (NFA) support price for rice which is P17 per kilo. With 50 kilos in a cavan, the NIA collects a fee of P1,700 during the wet season and P2,550 during the dry season. The Makabayan bloc in Congress last year filed House Bill 6224, otherwise known as the "Free Irrigation Services Act of 2015," which seeks to put a stop to the collection of ISFs, stressing that it is the obligation of the State to provide the necessary and vital support services and assistance to farmers. The bill seeks to amend Republic Act No. 3601, Presidential Decree No. 552 and Presidential Decree No. 1702, which empower the agency to collect fees from the beneficiaries of the government's irrigation systems. Escudero said ISFs were already abolished in 1998 by then President Joseph Estrada. The NIA, however, revived it through the adoption of a socialized irrigation fee system. Pimentel files bill to exempt Ms. Universe from payment of taxes Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III today sought tax exemption privileges for the reigning Miss Universe beauty pageant titlist Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach in recognition of the singular honor and prestige she has given the country and the Filipino people after some 40 years of drought in that highly competitive field of universal beauties. Pimentel filed Senate Resolution No. 3220 last February 3 to seek exemption from payment of income tax, value-added tax and import duties on the winnings and prizes of the 26-year old beauty from Cagayan de Oro City. He said Wurtzbach, who bested 70 other candidates from all over the world in the 64th Miss Universe contest on December 21 last year in last Vegas, Nevada, should be accorded the tax privileges on account of the tremendous honor and recognition she has brought to the country and all Filipinos. The proposed measure would also exempt from donor's tax, any endowment or contribution made by Wurztbach from such winnings and/or prizes to religious, charitable, educational, or religious cultural or social welfare institution, accredited non-government organization, trust or philanthropic organization or research institution or organization. Pimentel said this would hopefully encourage others to engage and be active in charity work and other altruistic causes. As Miss Universe, Wurtzbach would be receiving a year-long salary, luxury accommodations in a New York City apartment for the duration of her reign, including living expenses, and designer evening wear, swimwear, and shoe wardrobe, all of which may be subject to income tax and import duties once brought back home by her. Press Release February 8, 2016 Tap P2.5 B presidential contingent fund for displaced OFWs The possible repatriation of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) displaced by plummeting oil prices was not factored in the preparation of the 2016 national budget, "leaving a huge funding hole" on how to shoehorn their re-entry into the Philippine job market. "This is one macroeconomic assumption which the current budget missed," Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said. "In fact, the budget, which will be financed in part by taxes on imported oil, was based on an oil price forecast of $55 to $75 a barrel for 2016," Recto said. Oil prices have sunk to below $30 a barrel, the lowest level in 12 years. Despite the lack of specific funding for "returning cheap oil refugees" in the P3 trillion spending package, "there are, however, contingent sources of funds for safety nets and retraining," Recto said. "There's the P2.5 billion Contingent Fund under the President's discretion," Recto said. Tapping this emergency fund, he explained, "is guided by the provision that it can be used for an urgent activity that needs to be implemented this year." Recto said another possible source is the P67.5 billion Unprogrammed Fund (UF), which can be only drawn if specific or general revenue collection for the year exceeds target. "What is funny is that while the language of this fund reserves P30 billion of it for contingent liabilities of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects, not a single centavo is earmarked for displaced OFWs," he said. The UF also sets aside P10 billion for AFP modernization but government missed allocating something for projects that "will arm returning OFWs with skills," Recto said. Recto said the budget of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the retraining of OFWs will have to be augmented "given this unforeseen event." TESDA, the state technical-vocational training arm, has a gross budget of P5.4 billion this year. DOLE, on the other hand, has a "measly P50 million for OFW repatriation", while its grassroots livelihood projects for OFWs and their families under the Bottom Up Budgeting scheme, has a budget of P444 million this year. "OWWA can help, but if you look at its finances, it won't be enough to provide for the transition program of OFWs in the hundreds of thousands," Recto said. "I think what the government should do is to create an OFW assistance fund, to be sourced from both the regular budget and off-budget sources, including from the financial sector of the government corporate sector," Recto said. This, as Recto urged the government's financial managers to assess this early the impact of the simultaneous dip in oil prices and OFW remittances to government spending. "The budget is sensitive to these two dashboard indicators. These two will definitely move the needle negatively," he said. For example, a one-percentage point growth in the economy, which relies on OFW remittances as a growth driver, will up revenues by P21.6 billion. Recto said OFWs in Saudi Arabia sent home $2.4 billion from January to November last year, or 10.5 percent of the $22.8 billion recorded cash remittances during the 11-month period. Filipinos in UAE sent $1.58 billion in cash remittances, or 6.9 percent of total, during the same period. While remittances originating from Saudi Arabia and UAE grew from the $1.72 billion and the $910 million recorded in 2012 respectively, the amount of money sent by Filipinos in Canada, a major oil producer, went down during the said period. From $1.97 billion in 2012, cash remittances from Canada amounted to $861 million in the first 11 months of 2015. There are 1.5 million temporary Filipino workers in the Middle East oil belt. Government officials here believe that they would be the first to be laid off when the region's oil industry sheds personnel due to plummeting oil receipts and production overcapacity. Press Release February 9, 2016 Marcos vows to erase politics of division if he wins vice presidency Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. today vowed to end the political division that has pervaded the country for decades if he gets elected to the vice presidency. Kicking off the start of the campaign season at the Batac City Plaza in Ilocos Norte, Marcos called on his supporters in his hometown to help him in his campaign of national unity to get the country moving forward. "Kaya dito ko sinisimulan ang aking kampanya dahil naipakita ng ating mga kababayang Ilokano na pagkakaisa. Ang solid north! Ito ang tumulong sa atin, ito ang nagpakita na maaring magkaisa kaya hindi lamang dapat solid north kundi dapat ang pagkakaisa natin ay sa ating buong sambayanan," Marcos told the crowd who had gathered to witness the event. Marcos said the reason why the country has not moved forward is because the leaders themselves have shown the nation the politics of division. "Itong politics of division na kanya-kanya, na kampihan. Kung hindi ka naming kasama, kaaway ka naming. Ito ang naglagay sa atin kung bakit madami tayong problema ngayon sa kahirapan, trabaho, kalusugan at iba kaya dapat magkaisa tayo upang magagawa natin tulungan ang isa't-isa," he stressed. The kick-off ceremony also marked the first time Marcos and his runningmate, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago were seen together in public since they first announced their tandem for the elections last year. It was also the first time Santiago was seen in public in a long time. She claimed she had licked stage 4 lung cancer and recovered. They arrived together at the Laoag City International Airport at around 9 a.m. Tuesday to jumpstart their campaign. After arriving at the Laoag City International Airport at around 9 a.m. Senator Marcos went on a motorcade all the way to the Laoag City Provincial Capitol with his sister Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos. Thousands of residents of Ilocos Norte City lined the streets to greet them from the airport to the provincial capitol all the way to Batac City. They then proceeded to the Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion in Batac to hear mass. They were joined by Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos and Senator Marcos' wife Atty. Liza Marcos. Santiago then joined them in the kick off rally beside Our Lady of Immaculate Church where they formalized their tandem for the May elections. In her speech, Santiago said the country needs a young idealistic leader who will take over the reins of government should she be elected and something happens to her. She added that should win in the elections, she would bring to prison all those who have pocketed their pork barrel. She added she will bring them to brand new jails with different amenities. "May first class, business class, ordinary. Mamili sila pero kulong silang lahat," she said to the delight of the audience. She added she decided to join Marcos in Ilocos Norte for the kick off because Ilocanos were special to her. She did not explain why. Santiago is from Iloilo. After the kick-off, Marcos and Santiago proceeded to the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) also in Batac where they addressed thousands of students. Ilocanos give Sen. Marcos a rousing welcome as he kicks off his vice presidential bid in hometown The people of Ilocos Norte gave their favorite, son Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. a rousing welcome as he kicked off his vice presidential campaign in his home province accompanied by his presidential running mate, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. Thousands of people from all walks of life--women, elderly, laborers, shop owners, and children--lined up the streets eager to catch a glimpse of him or shake his hand as his motorcade slowly traversed the road from Laoag airport to the provincial capitol. Marcos, accompanied by his elder sister and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, rode in a white SUV with an open roof deck that allowed him stand and wave back and acknowledge the cheers of the people. Occasionally, Gov. Imee would join his brother in waving back to the people. Oftentimes the senator's convoy is greeted by cheers of "Marcos, Marcos pa rin". "Thank you very much for the usual warm and passionate expression of support," said Marcos at the huge crowd that awaited his welcome, filling much of the capitol rotunda. Marcos said he returned to Ilocos Norte to seek their support of the Ilocanos for his vice presidential bid in the 2016 elections. "At bilang isang Marcos kami ay laging nagsisimula dito sa Ilocos Norte para hingin ang inyong blessing. Maraming salamat sa ibinigay ninyong blessing," said Marcos. Marcos said he is encouraged by the expressions of support of people from the Solid North for his candidacy and his message of unity for the entire country. After the brief stop at the provincial capitol, Marcos proceeded to his hometown of Batac where he attended mass and joined with Santiago to formally launch their campaign. Press Release February 9, 2016 From wind to sun, Marcos inaugurates largest solar power field in Northern Luzon From wind energy to solar power, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. today inaugurated the first grid-connected solar power farm in Ilocos Norte on the first day of his campaign for the vice presidency. Shortly after the kick-off rally with his running mate Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and addressing students at the Mariano Marcos State University in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, Marcos was the guest of honor in the inauguration of the 20 megawatt solar power farm in Brgy. Paguludan in nearby Currimao town. The project, carried out by the provincial government of Ilocos Norte and Soleq Philippines Inc., was constructed on a 60-hectare property. Another 20-MW plant in the same area is underway. The power that will be generated from the project is enough to power some 26,000 households. Marcos said with the solar farm, Ilocos Norte is on its way to become the renewable energy capital of the Philippines with its windmills and hydropower source in several coastal towns in the province. Marcos was also responsible for the construction of windmills in Bangui and Burgos towns, which are considered the poster image of the Philippines' renewable energy program. He said with the solar farm, Ilocos Norte will generate 50 percent of its power requirement from clean energy. Ilocos Norte also has hydro-electric power sources in the towns of Pagudpud and Adams. "This is something that Ilocos Norte should be proud of because we continue to reduce our environmental footprint through clean energy. And we will continue to support projects like this because this is our and our future and our children's future that are at stake here," he said. He added that solar power farm will open new opportunities for people of Currimao and the whole of Ilocos Norte because of job generation, tourism and investment opportunities. Also present during the inauguration were project proponent Anthony Violago, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos and Currimao Mayor Gladys Go-Cue. The ubiquitous corporate shuttle buses that have become a symbol of gentrification in San Francisco will continue operating as is for another year at which point the controversial program could face a major overhaul. Thats the takeaway message from a tentative deal reached Monday between three members of the Board of Supervisors representing the boards progressive and moderate factions and four major tech companies that rely on the buses to transport thousands of workers daily between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The tentative agreement lays out the conditions under which the shuttle bus program will continue for another year while indicating potential changes in the future. Most significantly, it caps the number of locations that the buses can stop at to the current 125. If the number of buses that stop at each location increases by 50 percent or more, a mandatory air quality assessment would be triggered. And it requires the Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to study transitioning the program to a hub model where riders would get on and off the buses at a set number of locations. It also commissions the budget and legislative analyst to study the impacts of commuter shuttles on neighborhood displacement. Present at the negotiations were Supervisors London Breed, a moderate, and progressives David Campos and Norman Yee. The tech companies present were Genentech, Facebook, Apple and Google. Also taking part in the negotiations were representatives from the Service Employees International Union and the Sierra Club, which wanted to challenge the program through an environmental impact review. The negotiations were triggered because a majority of the Board of Supervisors want to overhaul the program without approving such an exhaustive environmental review. The tech companies were forced to negotiate or face the prospect of the environmental impact review, which they want to avoid even more than the supervisors do. But the companies were not happy to be at the negotiating table, given that the Municipal Transportation Agencys Board of Directors unanimously voted in November to make permanent the 1-year-long pilot program begun in August 2014 that allows the shuttles to share Muni stops, establishes shuttle routes and charges operators a fee. The transportation agency required some significant changes in November, including limiting bigger shuttle buses to larger streets and requiring operators to use less-polluting buses. Even so, the supervisors criticized the agency for approving the program without sufficient analysis. The reason we have to step in as a board is because the MTA failed to analyze the various options, including the option of a hub, Campos said. The MTA they are transportation people. So they did a transportation job. It was all about transportation period. They are not thinking about housing. We are looking at the whole picture. They are just looking at How do we move things efficiently and manage transportation? Breed said. MTA spokesman Paul Rose rejected criticism that the agency fell short. We did a thorough analysis of all issues within our purview and worked with other city agencies for guidance on issues outside our expertise. We look forward to working with the Board of Supervisors, the community and other stakeholders to finalize an effective and responsible commuter shuttle plan, he said. MTA officials, business leaders and shuttle operators have maintained that shuttles take cars off roadways and reduce congestion. Critics say the buses contribute to gentrification and the displacement of renters because the influx of tech workers has helped drive cost increases in the housing market. Shuttle operators said they did not want to comment because the negotiations are ongoing. If the agreement is finalized and the MTA also signs on, the Board of Supervisors is expected to reject the appeal for an environmental impact review on Feb. 23. The Federal Aviation Administration says there are now more registered drone operators in the U.S. than there are registered manned aircraft. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a legal forum on Monday that the agency passed the milestone last week when it topped 325,000 registered drone owners. There are 320,000 registered manned aircraft. Huerta said the number of small unmanned aircraft is even larger because drone operators often own more than one drone. Earnings Gap slumps even Old Navy Gap Inc. reported slumping sales at all three brands for the crucial fourth-quarter, which covers the holiday season. The San Francisco company, which operates Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores, said Monday that a key revenue measure, sales at established stores, fell 7 percent in the November-January period. The figure fell 3 percent for the Gap brand, 14 percent for Banana Republic and 8 percent at Old Navy, which until a few months ago had been a bright spot. The latest results underscore the challenges that CEO Art Peck faces as he tried to turn around the business. Gap also said Monday that it expects adjusted profit for the year to be at the high end of the range it had previously predicted. It now expects $2.41 to $2.42 per share, from its prior forecast of $2.38 to $2.42 per share. Gap is due to report full-year results Feb. 25. Restaurants Chipotles health push Chipotle repeatedly told employees they need to stay home if they feel sick and the restaurant chain kept all its U.S. locations shuttered early Monday as executives went over new food safety procedures. The presentation for workers, which comes after Chipotle has been slammed by a series of food scares, was broadcast live at hundreds of theaters and hotel conference rooms around the country. Among the items brought up in Mondays session is that an illness can spread quickly and widely in restaurants, and Chipotle urged workers to stay home if theyre experiencing symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. The company reminded employees it offers three paid sick days a year. It also noted procedures for when workers get sick on site. When anyone vomits in the back of the house or the front line, this is a red event, which means we close the restaurant immediately, said Gretchen Selfridge, a restaurant support officer. The company noted that hand washing helps remove the risk of cross contamination. As such, it noted that employees must wash their hands at the top of each hour, as well at times listed on a hand washing poster. Hand washing should last for at least 20 seconds, the company said, and be followed with an alcohol-based sanitizer. The two should always be done in combination. Monty Moran, co-CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., urged employees to ensure restaurants and bathrooms are spotless, since people associate cleanliness with food safety. He said it is more important than ever for the company to ensure restaurants are super clean. Education Student-aid safeguards The Obama administration is taking new steps to protect students amid increased scrutiny of for-profit colleges and other schools. The Education Department said Monday that it is creating a student aid enforcement unit that will respond more quickly and efficiently to allegations of illegal actions by higher education institutions. Critics have complained the government didnt move swiftly enough to take action against for-profit schools like Corinthian Colleges, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year amid fraud allegations, closing schools and leaving thousands of students with hefty debt and frustrated efforts at earning degrees. When Americans invest their time, money and effort to gain new skills, they have a right to expect theyll actually get an education that leads to a better life for them and their families, said Acting Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. Schools looking to cheat students and taxpayers will be held accountable. The unit, about 50 people to start, will investigate potential abuse and fraud and will be led by former Federal Trade Commission enforcement attorney Robert Kaye. It will pull staff from existing departments and add more people. The realignment will use existing funding resources for now. Chronicle News Services This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A consumer group on Monday accused Americas two largest oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. of deliberately starving Californias gasoline market of supplies last year in a bid to push up prices. And according to Consumer Watchdog, the effort worked. Several times last year, gasoline in California cost $1 more per gallon than it did in the rest of the United States. Although California typically has some of Americas priciest gas, the difference is usually closer to 30 or 35 cents. Both companies denied the groups accusations. An explosion last February crippled a large Exxon refinery in Los Angeles County, prompting a sudden jump in prices. But Exxon largely refrained from importing shipments of gasoline to make up for the Torrance refinerys lost production, even as prices rose. Instead, the amount of gas Exxon imported into California for the rest of 2015 equaled just three days of the damaged refinerys normal output, according to a report Consumer Watchdog issued Monday. Exxon owns an American-flagged ship capable of bringing gasoline from Gulf Coast refineries to California. Rather than use it to ease Californias supply crunch, the company kept the tanker in Singapore, according to the report. Chevron, meanwhile, exported gasoline from California, including during June and July, when pump prices hit their peak for the year. Consumer Watchdog tracked imports and exports through records kept by Californias State Lands Commission. You dry out the market The report does not argue that Exxon and Chevron conspired with each other. But each companys actions kept gasoline supplies short in California and boosted prices, according to the report. Although Exxon bought gasoline from other California refineries to make up for the lost production in Torrance, the lack of imports helped keep the states gas prices high. You dry out the market, said Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdogs president. While Exxon was not bringing it in, Chevron was pushing it out. An Exxon spokesman denied the groups accusations Monday without addressing any in specific. ExxonMobil rejects these allegations and is committed to the highest standards of business conduct, has operated responsibly and in strict compliance with all laws, said spokesman Todd Spitler. Californias gasoline market cut off from the rest of the country by regulations and geography has a long history of sudden price spikes. States unique gas blends But analysts have had a hard time explaining why the states gasoline prices have stayed so far above the national average for the past year. The Torrance refinery explosion, after all, struck almost a year ago, on Feb. 18. Californias average price for a gallon of regular now stands at $2.51, according to GasBuddy.com. The national average is $1.73. California even set up a panel of experts, the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, to root out causes for the elevated prices. Consumer Watchdog presented its report Monday at the committees latest meeting. California uses its own unique, pollution-fighting blends of gasoline not sold in other states. And no pipelines connect California to the nations largest collection of refineries, on the Gulf Coast. As a result, analysts often refer to the states gasoline market as an island. Most of the fuel used here is made by 14 refineries located within California. If mechanical problems strike two or more refineries at once, prices jump. Replacement supplies must come by ship. Higher taxes on fuel The state also boasts some of Americas highest gasoline taxes, which when combined with the federal excise tax add about 59 cents to the cost of each gallon. (The national average is 48 cents, according to the American Petroleum Institute.) Two California programs to fight climate change the low carbon fuel standard and the states cap-and-trade system tack on an additional 15 cents. Consumer Watchdogs report does contain gaps. For example, the import and export records kept by the Lands Commission do not tell whether any of the gasoline shipped abroad by Chevron was California-grade, meant primarily to be sold in the state. While Californias refineries primarily serve the local market, they also make gasoline for other states and to a lesser extent other countries. The production of California-grade gasoline is a priority, and California-grade gasoline is rarely if ever exported outside the state, said Chevron spokesman Kurt Glaubitz. California refineries have always produced a variety of products, some of which are exported in the ordinary course of business and are subject to long-term contractual obligations. Changing refinery operations to respond to unexpected conditions to produce fewer exports takes lead time and must be accomplished within the confines of pre-existing contractual commitments. The reports central argument, that Exxon kept supplies short to push up the price, drew skepticism Monday from Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley energy economist who chairs the Market Advisory Committee. Because Exxon was buying replacement supplies from other California refineries, rather than importing gasoline from some of its own refineries elsewhere, high prices would have hurt the company, Borenstein said. Can you tell us why you think Exxon would choose to buy in a very expensive spot (wholesale) market rather than supplying itself? he asked Court during the committee meeting. Its interesting, but that part of the story doesnt make much economic sense. Seeing profit with purchases Exxon would still profit, Court said, if the price the company paid other refineries was substantially below the price Exxon charged gas station owners for the fuel they sell to consumers. Oil companies cannot tell independently owned gas stations what to charge drivers, but they can set the wholesale prices that station owners must pay. Even buying from the other refiners, you can still still make a good profit, if youve got a lot of control over that ... price, Court said. A man was stabbed and another was arrested after a fight broke out over accusations of a stolen bike on a Santa Rosa walking trail Monday evening, authorities said. Around 7:15 p.m., officers responded to reports of a stabbing on the Joe Rodota Trail near Brittain Lane and just off Highway 12 on the west side of the city, said Sgt. Justin Farrington, a police spokesman. Investigators found the 43-year-old victim, who was not identified, suffering from a gash in his torso, Farrington said. Another man, who is 41 years old, was contacted in the area and told police the assailant approached him with a knife before turning on the man who was stabbed. As officers were interviewing both men, the police dispatch center got a call from the suspected knife-wielding attacker, who claimed he was the victim of a beat down. Alan Caulfield, 60, of Santa Rosa told the dispatcher that he had just gotten into a fight on the path where the slashed man was found. Police tracked down Caulfield a short time later on the 600 block of Brittain Lane with visible injuries to his face, Farrington said. Investigators believe Caulfield initially accused the 41-year-old man of stealing his bike, Farrington said, then began walking toward the man, who ran away. Caulfield then happened upon the 43-year-old victim and a fight ensued, during which "Caulfield successfully stabbed the victim," according to a police press release. The 41-year-old, still in the area, ran back and "rendered assistance by kicking Caulfield at least two times before he would release his hold of the victim," officials said. Police arrived shortly thereafter and the victim was taken to a hospital where he was in stable condition as of Monday night, Farrington said. Caulfield was arrested and booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon where he remained Tuesday morning in lieu of $30,000 bail. Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale A man was stabbed and another was arrested after a fight broke out over accusations of a stolen bike on a Santa Rosa walking trail Monday evening, authorities said. Around 7:15 p.m., officers responded to reports of a stabbing on the Joe Rodota Trail near Brittain Lane and just off Highway 12 on the west side of the city, said Sgt. Justin Farrington, a police spokesman. Investigators found the 43-year-old victim, who was not identified, suffering from a gash in his torso, Farrington said. Another man, who is 41 years old, was contacted in the area and told police the assailant approached him with a knife before turning on the man who was stabbed. As officers were interviewing both men, the police dispatch center got a call from the suspected knife-wielding attacker, who claimed he was the victim of a beat down. Alan Caulfield, 60, of Santa Rosa told the dispatcher that he had just gotten into a fight on the path where the slashed man was found. Police tracked down Caulfield a short time later on the 600 block of Brittain Lane with visible injuries to his face, Farrington said. Investigators believe Caulfield initially accused the 41-year-old man of stealing his bike, Farrington said, then began walking toward the man, who ran away. Caulfield then happened upon the 43-year-old victim and a fight ensued, during which Caulfield successfully stabbed the victim, according to a police press release. The 41-year-old, still in the area, ran back and rendered assistance by kicking Caulfield at least two times before he would release his hold of the victim, officials said. Police arrived shortly thereafter and the victim was taken to a hospital where he was in stable condition as of Monday night, Farrington said. Caulfield was arrested and booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon where he remained Tuesday morning in lieu of $30,000 bail. Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Fewer than a quarter of what appear to be surveillance cameras inside BART train cars are real and functional, transit agency officials said Tuesday. BART detailed exactly how many of its train cameras actually record footage in response to a public records request that The Chronicle filed after revealing the agency had been relying for years on scores of decoy cameras to fool criminals and commuters. After acknowledging that most of the security devices on trains were dummies but defending the strategy BART officials said they would phase out the fakes and replace them with working cameras at a cost of $1.4 million. Each train car now has a set of four devices that appear to be cameras, mounted to the ceilings. But BART said Tuesday that just 22.6 percent of the cars had working camera systems. The agency said 70 percent of cameras were fakes, and that others were either broken or inactive. The Chronicle revealed the decoy program after learning that BART had failed to film the Jan. 9 fatal shooting of a man aboard a train at the West Oakland Station. The slaying of 19-year-old Carlos Misael Funez-Romero of Antioch remains unsolved despite a $10,000 reward. Four days after the killing, BART police released photos of the suspect that were taken by station cameras as he entered the system in Pittsburg and as he left the West Oakland Station. Investigators have discovered that the suspect and victim both boarded at the Pittsburg/Bay Point Station, 30 miles away, after riding the same Tri Delta Transit bus to the station. The men who were captured by cameras on the bus had some sort of interaction that apparently continued until the 7:40 p.m. shooting, BART said. But the relationship between the men, if any, as well as the motive for the killing, remain unknown. The suspect, a tall, thin black man with close-cut hair, appeared to be wearing a dark green jacket with a hood, a backpack, jeans and beige work-style boots. The use of dummy cameras is common in private security but unusual among transit systems. And although BARTs use of the decoys was an open secret at the agency, many officials, including some board members, were unaware of it. BART is replacing its entire fleet of trains, and officials said every car in the new fleet will be equipped with cutting-edge cameras producing footage that can be watched live from a central monitoring station. Those cars are expected to arrive between 2017 and 2021. Also Tuesday, BART said it did not rely on decoy cameras outside of its train cars. It said that 10 stations had extensive camera systems and that those stations were each outfitted with between 68 and 85 cameras. All the cameras are believed to be functional, officials said. An additional 16 cameras are mounted at sensitive sites around the BART system, officials said. BART did not provide the exact location of all cameras, citing concern that the information could aid terrorists. It also did not give the age of every camera, citing a lack of accurate records. Daly City police shot a man in the arm while responding to a domestic violence call Monday afternoon, authorities said. The incident which occurred around 12:45 p.m. began when police received reports of a man, possibly armed with a knife, chasing a woman in the area, said Sgt. Edward Green, a police spokesman. The first officers on the scene spotted the man fleeing into the backyard of a house on the 800 block of St. Francis Boulevard near Highway 1, where the shooting occurred, Green said. An officer engaged with the man and shot him once, Green said, though he offered no further details on the interaction between the man and the officer, saying only that an investigation was in its preliminary stages. It was unclear if police recovered a knife from the man, Green said. The man, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, Green said. The officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave. Police cars remained in front of an apartment building on St. Francis Boulevard, and the area was cordoned off with police tape for several hours. Elena Olsen, who lives in the neighborhood, said she saw three police cars rushing to the area right before she heard a single gunshot. When it first started we heard one gunshot, she said. I was like, Oh, something's going on. Pam Reppen, who also lives in the neighborhood, said she ran outside because she was worried her husband, who was riding his motorcycle in the area, may have been hurt. When she got to the scene, she saw the shooting victim not her husband strapped to a gurney. They got him in and out very quickly, Reppen said. The San Mateo district attorneys office was launching an investigation into the shooting. Green asked anyone with information about the incident to contact Daly City police at (650) 991-8092. Kale Williams and Jenna Lyons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com, kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno; @sfkale This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A man accused of slashing a California Highway Patrol officers neck near an Interstate 80 on-ramp in San Francisco pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder. With dozens of uniformed CHP officers sitting in the Superior Court gallery, Noel Corpuz made his second appearance in the Feb. 2 attack on Officer Andre Sirenko. Sirenko, who has since been discharged from the hospital and is in good condition, had been investigating a report of a pedestrian walking on the on-ramp near Essex Street in the Rincon Hill neighborhood when he and his partner encountered Corpuz, who was apparently homeless, near a tent encampment along the roadway just after 10 a.m. Authorities said Corpuz suddenly lashed out, slashing Sirenko across his neck and left arm with a knife before fleeing. Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who represented Corpuz on Tuesday, said outside court that there were reports of an officer using a stun gun on Corpuz, or pointing something that looked like a firearm, and that is when we believe the stabbing occurred. Corpuz, who is originally from Hawaii and requested a Tagalog translator at his next court date, had gotten into trouble for minor drug offenses, Adachi said, but had no history of violence. Court records show he was arrested in 2011 on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, but the charges were dismissed after Corpuz completed a drug diversion program. A person doesnt just wake up one morning and decide to stab somebody, Adachi said. Without any history of violence, it seems very odd and unusual that suddenly there would be an unprovoked attack on, in this case, a CHP officer. While court and jail records identify Corpuz as being 44 or 45 years old, respectively, Adachi said he was actually 43. Following the stabbing, Corpuz was arrested by San Francisco police officers who reported finding him inside a nearby Wells Fargo branch. Police said he tried to take an officers gun from a holster, and he has been charged with threatening an executive officer. A black backpack and a large knife believed to have been used in the stabbing were found in the bank parking lot, police said. CHP Commander Christopher Sherry said he could not comment on whether a stun gun was used on Corpuz before the stabbing. Sherry was one of the dozens of officers to attend the arraignment. This event just really shocked us deeply, Sherry said outside court. To see one of our fellow officers severely injured, almost killed, we wanted to be here in force. We have a lot of CHP officers, sergeants, lieutenants and captains all here to support our officer. They call this the Hall of Justice, and were here to see justice served. Sherry said that as Sirenko recovers, the agency itself is recovering. Especially the officers who were on scene, to see their friend bleeding ... its a very helpless feeling, he said. Were just so happy that the injuries werent more severe than they are. Corpuz is being held on $5 million bail. He returns to court Feb. 24 for a bail hearing. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Prosecutors declined to file murder charges against a 22-year-old man arrested last week in the January stabbing death of a popular DJ outside a San Francisco nightclub. Nestor Canchola is free on bail for pending weapons charges after being arrested Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 25 stabbing of Joseph Razo, 29. The city district attorneys office said there was not enough evidence as of Monday to charge Canchola with murder. We cannot charge the defendant with murder at this time, said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorneys office. The case remains under investigation. Razo, 29, died last Tuesday after more than a weeklong battle for his life at San Francisco General Hospital, where he underwent several surgeries after the attack. The Brooklyn native, who grew up in Atlanta and moved to San Francisco, contracted for Apple as a bilingual data analyst and was a popular DJ who spun records at several clubs around town. News of his killing reverberated though his tight-knit group of friends. The day after Razo died, police picked up Canchola during a traffic stop in the Excelsior district and booked him in San Francisco County Jail on $48,000 bail. Detectives searched Cancholas home on Lydia Avenue in the Bayview and seized evidence, though they would not specify what, if any, linked him to the killing. He was allegedly in possession of a sawed-off shotgun, a felony, and may face misdemeanor charges of carrying a concealed firearm and having a gun with the identification numbers removed. Canchola met bail Friday. Police said the man was among a group of at least seven people who attacked Razo and his friends, stabbing two of them, outside the Cellar nightclub at Sutter and Taylor streets when the bar closed for the night. Paramedics rushed Razo, who was stabbed in the aorta, and his friend to the hospital. Razos friend, who was not identified, has returned home and is recovering from wounds to his intestines and liver. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky The San Francisco Symphony featured the world premiere of composer Bernard Herrmanns uncut score to Alfred Hitchcocks 1958 San Francisco-shot classic Vertigo as a live film accompaniment in 2013. For the reprise this weekend, they have called in reinforcements: the films star, Kim Novak, wholl turn 83 while shes in the Bay Area (her birthday is Saturday, Feb. 13). Novak will be onstage in conversation at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13, to discuss her filming experience and working with Hitchcock and star James Stewart. The film and concert, with Joshua Gersen conducting, begins at 8 p.m. 1 Back in custody: A murder suspect mistakenly released from jail last month was recaptured Monday in Nevada, authorities said. Los Angeles County sheriffs detectives learned earlier in the day that Steven Lawrence Wright might be hiding in a Boulder City hotel and requested assistance from the FBI and local police departments. Wright was taken into custody without incident, a sheriffs statement said. No additional charges will be filed against Wright, who will be held in Nevada pending an extradition hearing, the statement said. Investigators had been scrambling to recapture Wright since his release from the Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 30. Deputies didnt realize the mistake until more than 24 hours later, when they launched their manhunt. 2 Emergency landing: A commercial flight headed to Los Angeles filled with smoke, turned around and made an emergency landing in Tucson, where some passengers had to jump from the airplane to the runway. The United flight operated by SkyWest Airlines took off from the southern Arizona city Sunday morning. The cabin filled with smoke, and the plane headed back to the Tucson International Airport. It landed about a half-hour after taking off. The scene was chaotic as passengers used all exits to escape during the emergency evacuation. But airport spokeswoman Jessie Butler said that no injuries were reported and that all 73 passengers, along with four crew members, declined medical assistance. The passengers were shuttled to a terminal and rebooked on later flights. Emergency responders didnt find a fire. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the smoke. 1 Land mine death: A Peruvian man was killed when he stepped on a land mine trying to cross the border illegally into Chile, authorities said Monday. Peruvian police said the 27-year-old bled to death after the mine exploded late Sunday near a Peruvian border control post. The Chilean dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet laid hundreds of thousands of mines along Chiles borders with Peru and Bolivia in the 1970s, saying it feared invasion. 2 Lawmakers suspended: Israels government on Monday temporarily suspended from parliamentary meetings three Arab lawmakers who met with families of Palestinians who carried out deadly attacks. The parliamentarians, Hanin Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka, met the Palestinian families last week to help lobby for the release of some of their relatives bodies. They then held a moment of silence to honor the martyrs, according to Israeli media. The meetings stoked outrage in Israel, which has seen five months of near-daily Palestinian assaults that have killed 27 Israelis. Parliament spokesman Yotam Yakir released a statement saying Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas will be suspended from parliament meetings and committees for four months and Jamal Zahalka for two months. A state appeals court in San Francisco has reinstated a lawsuit by a widow and her children against Ford Motor Co. and two other possible sources of lethal asbestos dust at a Coast Guard base where the womans late husband worked. Gene Lepore was a civilian trainer at the base in Port Hueneme (Ventura County) from 1974 until he retired in 2000. He regularly visited a vehicle repair shop where mechanics worked on brakes that, until protective measures were taken in 1986, emitted clouds of asbestos-filled dust, said Stephen Tigerman, a lawyer for Lepores family. Lepore filed the suit in 2009 and died in May 2010 at age 62 of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos fiber in the lungs. The suit was filed in San Francisco because its courts have a fast-track program that expedites asbestos cases for the terminally ill, Tigerman said. He said more than a dozen companies have reached settlements with Geraldine Lepore and her children, but four have held out, including Ford, whose trucks and other vehicles had repair work done at the base. Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson dismissed the suit in 2012, saying Gene Lepore and his supporting witnesses had presented no evidence that Lepore had been nearby when any products made by Ford or the other defendants Navistar, the parent company of International Harvester; Kelsey-Hayes, which manufactures brakes; and Gibbs International, which makes vehicle replacement parts emitted asbestos into the air. But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Monday that the witnesses had offered enough evidence to let a jury decide whether Lepore had been exposed to asbestos dust from Ford, Navistar and Kelsey-Hayes. The court upheld dismissal of the suit against Gibbs. In Fords case, the court said, Lepore and others said he had been at the repair center when mechanics were working on brakes, and that Fords were regularly repaired there. A colleague said he and Lepore often stood nearby while Fords were having their brakes replaced. That is enough evidence for a jury to conclude Lepore was exposed to asbestos released from products manufactured or distributed by Ford, Justice Maria Rivera said in the 3-0 ruling. She reached similar assessments for Navistar and Kelsey-Hayes, saying the evidence against any of the three was not overwhelming but was enough to submit to a jury. Tigerman said the family was pleased with the ruling and would look to settle the cases without a trial. Lawyers for the companies could not be reached for comment. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko Today is Ash Wednesday. After the tossing of beads, baring of breasts, gorging on pancakes, doughnuts, or booze, it's time to buckle down, San Francisco. Also, a friendly reminder, if you see your Catholic friend with a smudge on their forehead today, don't grab a tissue and say, "Hey, bro, you've got a little dirt or something right here...." It's just awkward for both of you. For many Christian faiths, Ash Wednesday starts 40 days of giving up something meat, alcohol, swearing, sweets, caffeine, sex, marijuana, TV, etc. Theres a special place in hell for women who dont help each other, said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in a message to young women voters at a weekend campaign event for Hillary Clinton. Clinton punctuated Albrights comment with her loud, phony laugh. Team Hillary later pointed out that Albright has used that line for years. Clinton herself described the line as lighthearted, but pointed. Pointed? As in: Vote for Sanders, rot in hell. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem went further than Albright when she told comedian Bill Maher that young women supported Sanders because, The boys are with Bernie. Really, thats what she said. Later Steinem posted an apology on Facebook in which she asserted she had been misinterpreted as implying young women arent serious in their politics. The incident showed that, when backed into a corner, liberals can be as sexist as any Mad Men advertising executive. Bill Clinton got into the act too on Sunday when he complained about Sanders male supporters sexist remarks against Hillary. Yes, Clinton called Bernies Bros sexist. He apparently had no problem patronizing women for his own gratification, but when Sanders fans mock the former first lady and secretary of state on social media, thats personal to the big dog. Im not saying there is no sexism in Hillary Clintons situation. Its not right that Bill Clintons behavior didnt dent his political poll ratings, yet it now haunts the wronged wife. If Albright, or the first lady, had refused to prop up Bubba, then perhaps he would not have survived. Lucky for him, Democratic women stood by their man. A female aide, Betsey Wright, used the phrase bimbo eruptions to discredit women who blew the whistle on the Democratic presidential hopeful in 1992. Two decades later, feminism has proved to be a double-edged sword as Hillary Clinton campaigns to be Americas first female president. When the former first lady tweeted, Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported, the conservative National Review promptly noted Clinton accusers were not given such benefit of the doubt. When you say theres a special place in hell if you dont support women, MSNBCs Joe Scarborough railed Monday, Is it only powerful women? Or are 22-year-old women who are being taken advantage of in the Oval Office not worthy of that same support? Sisterhood is powerful went the old feminist mantra. Im not seeing that sisterhood for the other distaff 2016 candidate, Republican Carly Fiorina. Democratic women didnt rush to support sister Sarah Palin when she was the GOP running mate in 2008. When people like Albright talk about women helping each other, they only mean women like them. Young voters have watched Clinton Democrats use feminism as a handy marketing tool that can be ditched when convenient then picked up again in case of emergency, otherwise known as desperation. Albright, Steinem and Clinton already have spent time in that special place in hell. Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DebraJSaunders Low on funds and lagging in the polls, GOP Assemblyman Rocky Chavez has dropped out of Californias U.S. Senate race and will run for re-election to the Legislature. Chavez, R-Oceanside (San Diego County), announced his withdrawal at the beginning of a radio debate for Senate candidates Monday night in San Diego. Although he was the leading Republican in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, Chavez was pulling only 7 percent support in a January Field Poll and had just $369 in campaign cash on hand, according to the latest federal financial disclosure forums. He had $42,889 of campaign debt, according to the filing. Chavezs departure leaves two major Republicans in the field, former state party Chairmen Duf Sundheim and Tom Del Beccaro. Both are polling at 3 percent, according to the latest Field Poll. Democratic state Attorney General Kamala Harris leads the candidates with 27 percent, followed by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, with 15 percent. Harris has nearly $4 million in cash on hand, according to the latest filing, nearly double what Sanchez has. The top two finishers in the June primary, regardless of party, will face each other in the November general election. Now Chavez will turn to run for re-election in a decidedly less daunting race in Oceanside. He was first elected to the Assembly in November 2012. In a statement, Chavez said he would continue to champion our veterans, solutions to our states drought, long-term energy solutions, and making sure our children and grandchildren have access to a world-class education system from preschool to college. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political reporter. E-mail: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli TAINAN, Taiwan The police have arrested the builder of a 17-story apartment complex that collapsed in a predawn earthquake Saturday here in southwestern Taiwan, the city government announced Tuesday afternoon. Lin Minghui, developer of the Wei-Guan Golden Dragon building, and two of his associates from the Wei-Guan Construction Co., the business that he used to build the apartment complex, were arrested late Monday night, said Ellen Hsueh, a municipal spokeswoman. Liu Shih-Chung, one of Tainans two deputy secretaries-general, said Lin and his associates had been arrested on suspicion of criminal business misconduct resulting in fatalities. The arrest of Lin and his associates is likely to draw considerable attention in mainland China. Poor construction practices by government contractors were widely blamed for the collapse of many schools and the deaths of many children during the Sichuan province earthquake that killed about 70,000 people and left nearly 18,000 missing in western China in 2008. When protests over the schools threatened to spread out of control, the Beijing authorities silenced the criticism and limited judicial actions against the contractors. Mixing sarcasm with envy of Taiwans willingness to hold developers accountable for how their buildings fared in earthquakes, one person wrote Tuesday night on Chinese social media that, If they did it this way on the mainland, would there be any developers left in China? In Tainan, firefighters and other rescue specialists had pulled 39 bodies from the wreckage of the collapsed building, while an additional 109 people were missing and believed to still be under the rubble. Only two other people died from the earthquake in this city of 1.8 million. The arrest of Lin, who had disappeared after the buildings collapse, came hours before local officials decided to deploy house-size excavating machines to drill, tug and tear at the huge mounds of debris on the site. Rescuers delayed using the equipment for three days after the earthquake, for fear that the machines might cause the wreckage to subside further, collapsing the tiny cavities in which more than 100 people are feared trapped. The removal of a 15-year-old boys body from the wreckage Tuesday brought the death toll to 41. An additional 96 people had been hospitalized. WIPP Plans The if everything falls into place. Laura Villagran reports: Exonerated New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas on Monday. A few of them say they could have resolved any clerical errors in a one-hour meeting. Instead, patients who depended on trusted providers were often left without service. And for displaced employees unemployment, food stamps and Medicaid. A spokesperson for the Human Services Department on Monday took issue with the AG's decision to not prosecute the organizations, implying -- but not providing proof -- that there was enough evidence for a prosecution. "The decision to not prosecute clear over-billing and misusing Medicaid funds on things like private planes and luxury travel in the tropics belongs to the Attorney General," HSD spokesperson Kyler B Nerison wrote in an e-mail. "We respect but disagree with that decision and continue to believe that those funds should be used to help the people who need it the most." Thousands Enrolled in Health Insurance Exchange BeWellNM, the states official health insurance exchange, reports with one of the companies that offer insurance through the Internet portal, which was created under the federal Affordable Care Act. Kasich Could Emerge from Obscurity Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the tiny town of Dixville Notch, NH, as primary voting got underway in the Granite State just after midnight. Johnson Shows Off New Campaign Video Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who hopes to secure his second straight Libertarian Party nomination for president, has launched his . It touts his record as a fiscal conservative and being cool on social issues and his success as an ethical businessman. Across the country, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seriously considering an independent campaign for the White House. , the billionaire called "the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal. Legislative News Drier Climate Forecast New Mexico In Depth journalist Laura Paskus says we shouldnt be taking this winters moisture for granted, since Missing Teeth Actress Margot Robbie, who spent time in New Mexico last year shooting Tina Feys upcoming movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot , irritated a bunch of New Mexicans after the Super Bowl on Sunday. During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Robbie told the host people who live in New Mexico have " Santa Fe Reporter Personal Transformation and Travel to South Africa A Report on the summer 2015 Study Abroad Experience Dr. Charles Johnson Dr. Ernest Johnson and Student Participants Shoreline Community College Room 9208 16101 Greenwood Ave N, Shoreline 98133 Thursday, February 11, 2016 11:30-12:20 pm This past summer, a group of students led by Professor Ernest Johnson experienced a 4-week summer program in Cape Town where they examined the social and cultural history of South Africa, and explored current efforts to create a democratic, multicultural nation.Fall quarter they reported on what they saw. Now they will report on what they felt and what they heard from the people they met. They participated in many social events and historical lectures, including school visits, lectures by community leaders, and home-stays inside Black townships and homelands.The location is Room 9208 in the PUB at Shoreline Community College, 16101 Greenwood Ave, Shoreline 98133. ( Campus maps The free program starts at 11:30am. There is a nominal charge for Parking during the day.Sponsored by the Global Affairs Center STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Ghostface Killah certainly isn't the first person to wish the wrath of his own mother upon pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli. But Ghostface, one member of Staten Island rap group Wu-Tang Clan, actually did that in a video response to Shkreli, the sole owner of Wu's album, "Once Upon a Time In Shaolin." Killah was responding to the insults of Shkreli, the so-called "Most hated person in America" for his insane price-hike of an HIV medication. In fairness, Shkrelli was responding to Killah, reportedly calling him a "sh**head." It's the latest chapter of an increasingly silly saga in which the Wu-Tang Clan only auctioned one very expensive copy of their album and it happened to go to Shkreli, who was later arrested on securities fraud charges. Oh and he testified to Congress about his decision to raise the price on that aforementioned drug, but smirked his way through the whole thing. Anyway, here's the latest video, replete with Ghostface's mother addressing Shkrelli with a: "Boy I need to put you over my knee and spank you." Oh, and one more related but sort of unrelated note from the Shaolin chronicles: An artist in Long Island has filed suit against the Wu-Tang Clan and Shkrelli for allegedly using his art without permission, according to the Daily News. OK that's it for now. Tune in next week when Shkreli tells his daddy on Ghostface. Vincent Stewart Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Evan Vucci) WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the Islamic State are determined to strike targets in the United States this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday, telling lawmakers that a small group of violent extremists will attempt to overcome the logistical challenges of mounting such an attack. In testimony before congressional committees, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the "pre-eminent terrorist threat." The militant group can "direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world," Clapper said. Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Islamic State will probably conduct additional attacks in Europe and then attempt the same in the U.S. He said U.S. intelligence agencies believe IS leaders will be "increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers." Clapper also said al-Qaida, from which the Islamic State spun off, remains an enemy and the U.S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea, which also is ramping up its nuclear program. North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could begin recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, Clapper said in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country. Clapper said that Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. He said U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services and intelligence committees that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months." Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturized" hydrogen bomb. Many outside experts were skeptical and Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device." Clapper said that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, "although the system has not been flight-tested." On the cyber threat, Clapper said U.S. information systems, controlled by the U.S. government and American industry, are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia and China. Clapper said China selectively uses cyberattacks against targets Beijing believes threaten Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy. "We will monitor compliance with China's September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors," he said. North Korea "probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives," he said. Moscow "is assuming a more assertive cyber posture" that is based on its willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations even when those operations have been detected and under increased public scrutiny, Clapper said. Clapper also said Moscow's incursion in Ukraine and other "aggressive" moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the United States. He said he's unsure of Russia's end game but is concerned "we could be into another Cold War like-spiral." "I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about NATO," Clapper said. "They're greatly concerned about being contained and are of course very, very concerned about missile defense, which would serve to neuter what is the essence to their claim to great power status, which is their nuclear arsenal." On Afghanistan, Clapper said the country is at "serious risk of a political breakdown during 2016." He said waning political cohesion, rising activities by local powerbrokers, financial shortfalls and sustained attacks by the Taliban erode stability. On Syria, Stewart said he does not think the Syrian government of Bashar Assad is likely to collapse or be defeated in the near term because of increased support from Iran and Russia. He said Assad's forces will likely regain key territory in some key areas. "He certainly is in a much stronger negotiating position that he was just six months ago," Stewart said. He predicted, however, that Iranian and Russian interests in Syria will likely diverge because they won't share the stage there as a regional power. For now, however, Iran wants to maintain its relations with Moscow so it can purchase Russian arms without preconditions. goethals.JPG (Staten Island Advance Photo) Update: The truck was removed and the Goethals Bridge was reopened heading toward New Jersey at 12:50 p.m., according to a Port Authority spokesman. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- All westbound lanes of the Goethals Bridge have been temporarily closed and there is a partial shutdown in the eastbound lanes on Tuesday afternoon. Traffic is backed up on the Staten Island Expressway westbound all the way to Victory Boulevard, according to emergency radio transmissions. A delay of 30 minutes on the span is reported by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. A truck that was reported disabled at 11:53 a.m. has caused the closure, according to a spokesman for the Port Authority Police. Only one lane is open Staten Island Bound as of 12:25 a.m. Castorina.jpg Staten Island lawyer and former Republican commissioner for the Board of Elections, Ronald Castorina Jr. has gotten GOP, Conservative, Independence and Reform party support in the Assembly race. (Photo courtesy of PRcision LLC) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Republican Ronald Castorina Jr. now has support from a fourth political party in his bid to fill the vacant South Shore Assembly seat. Castorina will get Reform Party backing in the race. He was named the Republican Party pick on Thursday evening, and on Saturday, both Conservative and Independence parties selected him. A special election will be held on April 19 to fill the seat last held by Councilman Joe Borelli before he left for the city position. "The taxpayers of New York are paying a corruption tax, and we are in desperate need of reform-minded leaders like Ron Castorina who will put the people of Staten Island over backroom politics," Reform Party founder and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said in a statement. "Ron has shown he is a man of integrity who will fight for increased transparency in government, an end to the disastrous Common Core that is threatening our kid's education, and reversing New York's economic decline that is driving our neighbors to other states. We're proud to have Ron run under the Reform Party banner and we're confident he'll go to Albany on a clear mission to turn our state around." Castorina is a Staten Island lawyer and former Republican commissioner for the Board of Elections. In a statement, he said, "I proudly accept the nomination of the Reform Party. I share their objectives of fighting against Common Core and for the promotion of good government ideals. As the next assemblyman, I am firmly committed to spearheading the causes of education reform and government accountability on behalf of my constituents. I am excited at the opportunity to make my community's voice heard, and to take a major leadership role on these crucial issues." No Democrat has come forth to run for the seat. The deadline to do so is Tuesday. Editor's Note: This story is the first in a series that will periodically look at the work our state legislators are doing. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Like many of her colleagues, Sen. Diane Savino has experienced what it's like to be on top as a member of the Senate majority party and what it's like as low woman on the totem pole as a member of the minority party. But in the Independent Democratic Conference -- or IDC -- where she and four other senators work with Republicans in the majority, she has gotten much done. "By the way, that coalition is the best place to be," she said recently during an interview in Albany. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) champions various issues, focusing much time on labor and wages, and in outlining her -- and the IDC's -- priorities this year, it's evident that she's not giving up on some years-long proposals, along with bringing up some new ideas. PAID FAMILY LEAVE Continuing a fight "for the better part of a decade" for paid family leave, Savino and the IDC have laid out a 12-week proposal to allow New Yorkers to take off time to care for a sick family member or new baby. Employee payroll deductions of 50 cents per week could cover the program, which would pay up to $700/week for employees out on family leave. "The fact is people have these qualifying occasions in their life," Savino said. "Very few people can afford to work without pay. It will allow them to have a replacement for their weekly wage." A separate proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo originally began by paying workers 35 percent of their pay beginning in 2018, increasing up to 50 percent in 2021. After criticism, he amended it to call for up to 65 percent of pay for 12 weeks. The Assembly passed a one-house measure for the fifth year in a row this week that would give workers 65 percent pay for 12 weeks. CARETAKERS' MINIMUM WAGE Cuomo raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $15 per hour -- increased in increments by 2018 -- as well as state employees by 2018 for those in New York City and by 2021 for elsewhere in the state. Savino argues that home health aides, who earn $10.75/hour and personal care aides, who earn $11.73/hour, deserve the same treatment. "We all agree $9 isn't enough to raise a family and live in dignity," she said, referring to the state's overall minimum wage. "It would be inconceivable if we leave here and someone who delivers pizza for Domino's makes more" than aides. EDUCATION REFORM The Democratic senator wants to see the creation of a "50-hour learning week" by investing $550 million in after-school programs, supporting existing Community Learning Schools and developing 400 new Community Learning Schools, as well as a Kindergarten Fund paid for with unclaimed lottery funds. Community Schools work with non-profits, businesses and government to develop support services for students and their families. "Right now there's a hodgepodge" of programs for schools and after-school programs, Savino said. "The more time kids are learning, the better off they are." The senator said people lose sight of what's best for children in the debate over schools. "I have no problem with charter schools. I believe in parental choice. I just wish everyone would tone down the rhetoric." She supports a bill by Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island) that creates a tax credit for people who donate to private and parochial schools -- Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn) is the Senate sponsor. She rejects the argument from public educators who "believe it's a back-door voucher." "Don't we want to encourage people to donate to education?" she asked. It has become a partisan argument and "there's no doubt the closure of parochial schools put a strain on public schools," so encouraging donations to private schools help both them and public schools, which have to enroll students when private schools close. PUBLIC AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING With little to no explanation of where funding goes when it's given to the New York City Housing Authority, Savino wants to see more accountability along with more funding. For a total of $600 million in proposed combined city and state funds over 10 years, "it's a drop in the bucket," she said for critical repairs to NYCHA facilities. "We have to continue to invest, however, we're not giving them a blank check," the senator said. Savino and the IDC also want to see more affordable middle-income housing and "revive the spirit" of the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program that created affordable housing for middle-income residents. Last year, the IDC secured $50 million: $25 million to rehabilitate existing Mitchell-Lama buildings and $25 million for the Middle Income Housing Program. Over the next four years, the IDC wants a $700 million investment in the Middle Income Housing Program to construct new housing for working families. Mitchell-Lama works, so let's reinvest in it, Savino said. "We don't need to reinvent the wheel." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Two more defendants have admitted to their roles in the gang-related beating and stabbing of a man on a Stapleton street last fall. Clifton residents Chernor Bah and Charlston Forkpa, 19, have each pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a felony count of second-degree assault stemming from the Sept. 28 incident. Two other defendants, Davell Blount, 19, of Stapleton, and Lasou Kuyateh, of Clifton, previously pleaded guilty last week to the same charges. All told, six defendants were charged in the attack. The cases of the two other defendants, Harold Hansen, 21, of Stapleton, and Solomon Tarr, 20, of Clifton, are pending in Criminal Court. Five of the defendants, including Bah, Forkpa and Blount are members of the "OTA" gang, which stands for "Only the Africans," police allege. It wasn't immediately clear if Kuyateh is also a gang member, a law enforcement source said at the time of the defendant's arrest in October. The attack occurred outside 470 Vanderbilt Ave. at about 8 p.m., said a criminal complaint. According to the source, the victim's friend got into a dispute with one of the defendants, and when the victim tried to intervene, the group pounced on him. They beat him and stabbed him several times. He has since recovered, prosecutors said. In exchange for his plea, Forkpa will be sentenced to a year behind bars. That sentence will run consecutively to a four-year prison term he will receive stemming from an unrelated April 19, 2015 gun bust in New Brighton, according to information from District Attorney Michael E. McMahon's office. Forkpa pleaded guilty in that case to the top count of second-degree criminal weapon possession, said prosecutors. In addition to those combined five years, Forkpa will be sentenced to a concurrent term of one to three years for a cell phone theft on Dec. 28, 2014, prosecutors said. The defendant pleaded guilty in that case to the top count of fourth-degree grand larceny, said prosecutors. Bah will be sentenced to six months in jail and five years' probation, said prosecutors. Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced March 17. Attorneys Mark Geisser and Harold Siegel represent Forkpa. Eugene Lamb is Bah's lawyer. Page Content In reference to stopping the operations where food was being handled by the Point Restaurant at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, as of Monday morning the restaurant still remains closed. On Saturday, the Inspectorate of Health made a visit to ensure that tourist establishments could reopen as soon as possible, however the Point restaurant was still not compliant. It is important for the business community to understand why inspections are based on random searches and no notification is sent in advance as the Inspectorate needs to gather a realistic view of your daily operations. Inspectorate regulations are quite lenient when it comes to reasons for closure. Top Reasons to Stop Operations Majority of the reasons for urgent closure are 1. Pest infestation (cockroaches, mice, rats, flies) as well as feces and 2. no running water available. The two other types of sanctions are not so detrimental to the operations of a business, these include immediate action/correction on site and warning letter with an obligation to remedy the violation(s) within 1 to 3 weeks depending on the violation. In order to boost compliance, Minister Lee is urging all interested businesses to email ministryvsa@gmail.com in order to receive a list of the top non-compliance issues the Inspectorate of Health is currently encountering. On behalf of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor (VSA) there are a few misconceptions that need to be clarified. The Inspectors of VSA will continue as normal to conduct their inspections as it pertains to compliance to food safety, however the joint inspections are currently under review by the Council of Ministers. As Minister responsible for the safety of the health of the population and the visitors to our country, ensuring restaurants and business that are handling food are in compliance remains a priority. Although I do understand the concerns of the business community as it pertains to the negative effect it may have on the economy during the height of our tourist season, compliance is essential toward securing the well-being of our population said Minister Emil Lee in an invited statement on Tuesday. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree The Pan American Health Organization reports 26 countries and territories in South and Central America and the Caribbean with local Zika transmission. To date, there has been no transmission of the Zika virus by mosquitoes within the U.S., but some American travelers 50 with laboratory-confirmed cases between December and last week have returned home with the infection. Rebel TV: Liberals to build refugee camps on seven Canadian military bases -- Taxpayers will fund mosques, Korans Included in the Department of National Defence budgets are hundreds of thousands of dollars set aside for "religious support," including the purchase of Muslim Korans, prayer mats and foot-washing towels. The plans also call for the construction of mosques or "worship centres," using taxpayers dollars. The planning documents, in English and French, were released in response to a Rebel "Access to Information" request about religious expenditures by the Department of National Defence. [...] The budget for Quebec alone totals more than $46 million for the first six months. For a typical migrant family, that's a $200,000/year subsidy -- not including medicare or welfare. Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Reconnaissance Man Economics for the Disinterested ...a fast-paced polar bear attack thriller! Want lies? Hire a regular consultant. Want truth? Hire an asshole. Weather Shop Click to inquire about rates. Dow Jones What They Say About SDA "Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert "I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick "The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle "Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs "You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" 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System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01fd000)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01a9580)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01fd000)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01a9580)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f01a9220)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01a9580)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f01a9580)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2573be0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0081da0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f0081da0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28:
29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612e9542540)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2574988)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612e9542540)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2574988)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612efe2cfc8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2574988)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2574988)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e2573be0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e2574ca0)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612e2574ca0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 Colombo: The United Nations will not force Sri Lanka to accept a role for international judges in investigating possible war crimes during the 26-year Tamil insurgency but any process must be impartial and independent, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday. Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, ending a four-day visit to Sri Lanka to assess the investigation, commended some efforts by President Maithripala Sirisena's government but said much still needed to be done. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. Credit:Eranga Jayawardena The United Nations says the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels were both likely to have committed war crimes during the war, which ended with a military victory in 2009. Kasich, one of several candidates looking for at least a second place finish, said he was "calm" as he approached the primary. "I can't explain it other than we've done everything we need to do here and it's in the hands of the voters," he told MSNBC's program Morning Joe. Manchester, NH: New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary began well before sunrise on Tuesday US time, with residents in Dixville Notch casting their traditional first ballots just after midnight. The results all nine votes surely brought smiles to the faces of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Ohio Governor John Kasich. In nearby Millsfield, Texas Senator Ted Cruz won the Republican vote over Trump, 9-3. Several other candidates got one vote apiece. Clinton beat Sanders, 2 votes to 1. Voters arrive to cast their ballots in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire presidential primary at the Chichester Town Hall in Chichester, New Hampshire. Credit:Bloomberg In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Kasich said he took the Dixville Notch contest so seriously that he called every voter in town. "Hey, you know, we came out strong," he told host George Stephanopoulos. Kasich added that he had already "sent my bus my magic bus down to South Carolina" to get a jump on the next presidential contest. Rubio, who is struggling to reclaim momentum after stumbling in the last debate, portrayed the growing attacks from rivals as a sign of his campaign's strength. A Kaleen father has pleaded not guilty to charges linked to a car crash that claimed the life of his young daughter. Christopher James Ward, 72, was formally charged with negligent driving causing death and failure to give way when he appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Acacia Ward busking at the National Folk Festival in Canberra in March 2013. Credit:Melissa Adams He pleaded not guilty to both offences and the matter was set down for a hearing in August. Acacia Ward, seven, was killed when a Nissan Pulsar that was driven by her father and a Nissan Navara collided at a Florey intersection on July 22 last year. The power of the press! The awesome power and influence that this column wields has just been demonstrated yet again. Only days after our passionate defence of street art and graffiti via discussion of a new book Medieval Graffiti, the ACT government has appointed a "street art co-ordinator" for Canberra. Late medieval ship graffiti, Norwich Cathedral, England. Credit:Matthew Champion. Our passionately made point was that medieval graffiti scratched and carved into old English churches is being treasured now and is being celebrated in books like Matthew Champion's Medieval Graffiti: The Lost Voices of England's Churches. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/ganggang-reverent-vandalism-medieval-church-graffiti-celebrated-in-new-book-20160127-gmf39b Who is to say, then, that today's graffiti, reviled by fogeys ("Scrub this so-called art, this filth, off now!" they shrill from their homes in Red Hill and Yarralumla) might not one day be a godsend for historians trying to make sense of these times? Attorney-General Simon Corbell pushed through the merger of the public trustee and public guardian offices on Tuesday in the face of widespread opposition from the guardian and human rights community. The Liberals voted against the move and leader Jeremy Hanson said he would consider reversing it if he won government at the October election. Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson will revisit the merger of the public trustee and guardian if he wins government. Credit:Matt Bedford Mr Corbell said the concerns were overstated. While there had been a significant fraud in the public trustee's office with staff and contractors now charged with stealing $1.65 million from clients the fraud had been detected by the office itself, he said. The public trustee was "continuously vigilant" about detecting irregularities and had a high level of diligence and probity. The merger has sparked widespread opposition, and cost the office two of its three senior guardians, who have now left, with the third on extended leave. ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell says concerns about the merger are overstated. Credit:Rohan Thomson But Mr Corbell said it made "perfect sense" to merge the two offices, given the public trustees were responsible for managing the financial affairs of people who couldn't manage their own, and the were guardians were responsible for managing people's other life affairs. There was no proposal for the same person to do both jobs, Mr Corbell said, rejecting concerns raised by former intensive care doctor Tom Faunce, who predicted that financial imperatives would result in one person in both roles, with the risk that financial considerations would trump others. Mr Corbell said it was "simply wrong" to suggest the merger would water down the ability of the public trustee or guardian to act in people's best interests. The change would save money in management, allowing more resources at the front line, he said. In a jurisdiction as small as Canberra it made no sense to have a proliferation of tiny agencies, each with their own administration, especially in a time of spending restraint, he said. The law passed on Tuesday with the support of Greens minister Shane Rattenbury, who said he was confident vulnerable people would be protected. Guardians already took people's finances into account when making life decisions and the merger would make it easier for them to do so. It would also provide a single point of contact for clients. A Canberra teenager accused of calling in a fake bomb threat to Calwell High School last week has appeared in court for the first time. The boy, who cannot be named, is charged with phoning the school last Wednesday, telling them there was a bomb in the building. ACT police outside Canberra's Lanyon High School last Tuesday, following a bomb threat. Credit:Rohan Thomson The call was made at a time of heightened alert for schools across Australia and the globe. Former rich lister Nathan Tinkler has stood down from the board of his sharemarket-listed coal company after the Federal Court declared him bankrupt. Mr Tinkler said late on Tuesday he would appeal Justice Jacqueline Gleeson's judgment, which stems from a dispute over money owed from the sale of a luxury jet. Allegedly funded pamphlets: Nathan Tinkler. Credit:Rob Homer Trading in shares of Australian Pacific Coal, the corporate entity Mr Tinkler is using for his return to the coal industry, were suspended on Tuesday following the bankruptcy judgment. Mr Tinkler owes GE Commercial Australasia $US2.25 million ($3.2 million), which was calculated as the equivalent of $2.8 million, including accrued interest of $19,451.23, when the bankruptcy notice was issued against Mr Tinkler in July last year. A grossly negligent and incompetent builder will be forced to pay nearly $65,000 and has been banned for three years over substandard and "hazardous" work on 69 homes he constructed at the Rangeview Estate in Diamond Creek, in Melbourne's north. The defects caused by builder David Brayer, also known as Yehezkel Brayer, included potentially hazardous and faulty firewalls, misaligned roof plumbing, shoddy wall cladding and dodgy electrics that were estimated to cost $7.6 million to fix. Steve Balfour's faulty house will cost $250,000 to fix. Credit:Pat Scala Mr Brayer was stripped of his builder's registration for three years after an inquiry by the Building Practitioners Board found his standard of work was so poor it constituted "gross negligence" and "gross incompetence". The Caulfield North-based builder was fined $45,501, the maximum possible charge for three offences, and ordered to pay an additional $19,364 in costs. A shopfront at 1048-1050 High Street sold for $3 million to an owner-occupier in an off-market sale, according to Dixon Kestles & Co's Ian Price. The 326-metre-property with a 10-metre frontage to High Street will be renovated by the new owner later this year. In another sale, a high visibility showroom at 439-443 Swan Street with a total land area of 600 square metres sold for $3.6 million to a private investor. Both transactions show continued strong interest in high-profile well located main road commercial properties, he said. A modern shop leased to Petra Haircare at 775 Burke Road has sold for $2 million. Petra pays annual rent of $72,000 net on a five-year lease that expires in June next year. The price reflected a yield of 3.6 per cent, Prowse Burns Commercial's Philip Prowse said. Melbourne CBD Development Group has snapped up new city headquarters at 21 Victoria Street for $1.395 million in a deal negotiated by CBRE's Nick Lower, Tim Last and Tom Tuxworth. Mr Lower said the deal for the 324sqm strata office was signed less than two weeks into the four-week marketing campaign. "The sale price of $1,395,000 exceeded the vendor's expectations by almost $150,000 and sets a new building record by a margin of $500,000," he said. Coolaroo Two retail food units in a commercial development at 1350 Pascoe Vale Road sold for a combined total of $1.125 million. One of the properties sold with vacant possession for $505,000 to a local owner-occupier, Gray Johnson's Rory White said. The purchaser intends to open a Vietnamese restaurant. The other unit sold to a private investor for $620,000 on an indicative return of 7.2 per cent. It is leased to Jessie's Pizza under a five-year lease with a current annual rental of $45,000 net plus GST. Shopping Centres Australasia has offset the softer sales growth from the ongoing supermarket wars with a rise in specialty store turnover to report a 29.1 per cent rise in first half funds from operations to $48.8 million. The Woolworths property offspring, SCA, is now the largest owner of neighbourhood centres in Australia with 81 across the country. Aside from the supermarkets it has four Dick Smith leases and one Masters and had added Aldi to its mix at Mt Gambia, South Australia. Greenbank Shopping Centre, south of Brisbane, bought by SCA for $23 million. Credit:David Millar The group sees its main growth in remixing the malls when rent renewals start in 2017, new unlisted funds and acquisitions and improving sales from specialty stores. The statutory net profit declined 7.5 per cent to $98 million due to one-off smaller increases in values for investment properties and market to market derivatives. Interim dividend was 6, up from 5.6 in the previous corresponding year. The media and public debate's been hijacked by the chatter about tax but don't confuse this for the main game. The point is not simply to design the best system but also to get it implemented while surviving politically. It's important to remember that this is an election year. It makes no sense to play around creating uncertainty at a time when voters' appointment with the ballot booths is already looming into view. That's why Turnbull's no longer fixated on dealing with his most serious problem, tax. The critical importance of his polling numbers is that they're offering him a prospect that's too good to turn down: an election that could entrench his government's dominance not just for one term, but the indefinite future. And that's why real change, the sort of radical reform that could genuinely fix things, has been shelved. Make no mistake. Turnbull understands the need to address the tax system, it's just he's come to the conclusion that this is not the time. That's because he's got another priority, one he can't put off. The biggest, most serious and hugely troubling issue the nation faces is the dysfunction of our tax system. It's not just that the government's spending more money than it's got coming in, that's only half the problem. The real nub of the issue is the system's flawed. It distorts economic activity aggravating inequality. Everyone agrees it needs to be addressed. Urgently. The problem is any change will create losers who will create difficulties for a government heading to an election. Malcolm Turnbull has two problems; one is political and one economic. His difficulty is they can't both be addressed simultaneously. But it turns out that finding a solution simply requires putting them in the right order; the twist is this will mean doing things the wrong way round. Malcolm Turnbull has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change electoral laws and reshape Parliament. To understand the mechanics all you need to grasp is that the constitution doesn't actually work the way we think it does. Because elections for the Senate and House are usually held at the same time, for example, we think their terms are in sync. They're not (except in the territories). That's why senators who were voted in on September 7, 2013, (such as Jacqui Lambie) didn't actually take their seats until July 1, 2014. With full six-year terms, they'll be there until June 2020 (unless there's a double-dissolution election in the meantime). There's also a record number of crossbench senators (18) and only one of these (John Madigan) comes up for re-election this year. The trouble is that if the government dissolves both houses in an attempt to clear the Senate, the quotas for election are halved, because each state would elect 12 senators rather than just six. This would mean getting rid of the current mob but chances are particularly the way the voting system is structured we'd still end up with someone else who managed to game the system and garner the preferences. That's why the idea of calling a double dissolution is a hollow threat. It's like the Prime Minister holding a pistol to his head and threatening to shoot. Chances are that any new Parliament would prove just as ungovernable as the previous one. Unless ... Following this logic is the key to understanding Turnbull's thinking about how he frames the next election, when he'll call it, and why a double-dissolution is still an option. The constitution gives senators so much power but is actually silent when it comes to the far more relevant detail about how they're to be elected, leaving it to (wait for it) Parliament to fix the detail. This is why, if Labor and the Coalition were prepared to get together, they could quickly scrap the flawed system we've got at the moment. The trouble has been that the opposition (whomsoever it may be) has absolutely no interest in fixing things up for the government. It's always threatened to join with the crossbenchers to disallow any reform and that's why the chaos has continued. Until now. The Coalition currently holds 33 seats and Labor 25. The Greens hold another 10, there's Nick Xenophon, and seven others. The significant change today is that, since Christine Milne moved on from the leadership, the Greens have abandoned their dogmatic refusal to negotiate. This forced Labor to reconsider its position as well. All these parties stand to gain from an appropriate reform of the electoral laws, whereas Xenophon probably just believes it's the right thing to do. Because it is. Minor parties play a critical role in Australia's democracy, giving voters a choice on important issues like population, animal rights, voluntary euthanasia and renewable energy. Together non-major party candidates reached a record Senate vote of around 32 per cent, or one in three voters, at the 2013 federal election. It is necessary to acknowledge that the voting system for electing senators can and should be changed by the Parliament. But the answer to the Senate's electoral issues lies not in punishing or banishing minor parties like Sustainable Australia. There have been concerns about the ballooning size of the ballot paper for example, the 2013 Victorian Senate ballot paper, pictured, which was over a metre long. Credit:Joe Armao It is, however, undeniable that the vagaries of the current electoral system are poorly understood by the majority of Australian voters, and that of itself is sufficient justification for change. US Supreme Court Justice David Souter, in a 2009 speech to the Georgetown University Law Centre, commented that democracy "is lost when it is not understood". The answer to our problems lies simply in handing the power over Senate preferences back to the voters. The people of Australia deserve a clear and straightforward method for directing their vote to their preferred candidate, including a minor party or independent, with an opportunity to easily determine where that vote flows if their first choice is knocked out. The current below-the-line compulsory preferential system which requires every box to be numbered is simply unnecessary and leads to higher informal voting and even resentment. The Parliament can easily implement this reform to the current cumbersome below-the-line voting option. An obvious method is to have voters in all states fill out a minimum of the number of senators to be elected. This would entail six or 12 preferences, depending on whether or not it is a half or full Senate election, with voters in the ACT and Northern Territory only being required to fill out two preferences. Political tragics could still fill out the entire ballot paper, but for the rest the risk of an informal vote due to a numbering mistake is minimised. Commentators as diverse as Antony Green and Malcolm Mackerras support this simple reform, albeit as a temporary solution prior to more holistic reform. Importantly, it also avoids major disruption to the Australian Electoral Commission's systems, and so could be easily implemented in an election year. Regarding above-the-line voting for registered parties and their registered preference lists, the simplicity and familiarity of the current system is worth retaining until it can be demonstrated through a proper consultation process that a change to (say) nominating three (as suggested by Nick Xenophon) is fairer or more democratic. That should be a job for the next Parliament, but outsourced to a truly independent body that is free of any politician's self-serving agenda. The one great advantage presented by the current above-the-line option is that votes are not exhausted. In a preferential system, that really is the point. We should be careful not to prize a system that is simple over one that is fair and democratic. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will table the 2016 Closing the Gap Report in Parliament on Thursday. Since 2009 these annual statements tracking the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians rarely bring good news. Worse still, the associated solemn deliberations have yielded little beyond the expression of fine sentiments and an ever-growing proliferation of programs of dubious value. The pessimism expressed on Tuesday by Patrick Dodson and last month by Noel Pearson, Australia's two most respected Indigenous leaders, seems only too well-founded. We wonder how much longer this depressing repetition will continue even while solutions exist which would allow Indigenous Australians to take real responsibility for their lives and futures. Illustration: John Spooner Far from being inevitable, Australia's failure to achieve meaningful progress in the lives of our first people contrasts with the experiences of other settler nations. In the United States, the experiences of Native Americans fall short of parity with the mainstream but far surpass what is experienced by Indigenous Australians. The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia is more than double the equivalent gap in the US in terms of high school graduation, employment measures and incarceration. This is the first in a series first published on The Conversation examining hidden women's conditions. I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities, and interests are different for physiological reasons. Girls are socialised early and told normal functions of the female body must be spoken of, if at all, in strictest privacy, indirectly, and not to men. So said Tony Abbott when he was a university student, reflecting the historical view that men's bodies are the standard from which women's deviate. As prime minister and minister for women, Mr Abbott refused to say he had changed his opinion. Given this traditional acceptance of a woman's body as inferior, when it malfunctions it can produce an acute sense of shame. No wonder then that women often find it embarrassing to deal with problems "down there". The new head of the Art Gallery Society will be walking a delicate tightrope amid ongoing tensions between the Art Gallery of NSW and its volunteers and supporters. Ron Ramsey began the role of executive director of the society on Monday as the gallery's management seeks to renegotiate its relationship with the society talks that have been shrouded in secrecy. The executive director of the Art Gallery Society Ron Ramsey. Credit:Jonathan Carroll Ramsey, the former director of Newcastle Art Gallery, said maintaining the loyalty of members was "extremely important". Like so many of our contemporaries, my brother and I grew up in a sea of harvest gold and avocado green, and the most interesting furniture in our Racine, Wisconsin, house was a hi-fi that took an entire old-growth forest to manufacture. Above that sea of green and gold, with Burt Bacharach and the original cast album of The Music Man wafting out of tiny little console speakers covered by wee bronze curtains, smoke filled the air. Our folks smoked, like millions back then, and millions today. It went with all the smoking on screen in an average hour of '60s and '70s television. My parents, happily alive today, eventually called it a day on cigarettes, and everyone was better for it. And yet ... I find myself weirdly conflicted about the issue of smoking in the movies, and the role of the on-screen cig in inspiring new generations of adolescents and young adults to buy a pack and amp up their "cool" quotient, because it's never too early to become an addict. Humphrey Bogart was one of the screen's legendary smokers. Credit:Karsh of Ottowa Some aspects of recent smoking developments are easy calls. Presumptive Academy Award best actor front runner Leonardo DiCaprio got caught using a "vaping pen", i.e., electronic cigarette, on camera during the Screen Actors Guild awards. The American Lung Association issued a strongly worded memo, calling DiCaprio's habit "deeply troubling". You could say that. You could also say that even DiCaprio, even DiCaprio in a tuxedo, looks ridiculous while vaping. Just holding one is problematic, cool-wise. I can't be alone in thinking the vaping pen is a tool for tools-in-training. Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee believes Ryan Reynolds was born to play the role of super (anti)hero Deadpool, an obnoxious, motormouth with little regard for who he upsets and the actor couldn't be happier. "I don't think it's a back-handed compliment, it sounds like a compliment," says the 39-year-old, grinning. Morena Baccarin, left and Ryan Reynolds in "Deadpool". "I love Deadpool. I mean yes, he's a little vulgar and he's got some issues, but don't we all?" The character made an appearance in 2009's somewhat disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, alongside Hugh Jackman's hirsute superhero, and Reynolds has been enjoying poking fun at his Australian co-star on and off screen, including the fact they're both recipients of People's Sexiest Man Alive accolade. On the basis of the pre-publicity for Here Come The Habibs you'd think it was all about to destroy the fragile last hope of multicultural Australia. The pre-release commercials made it look like Housos with even broader comedy accents, and there was even a change.org petition demanding the show be pulled before it even screened. So it's a huge shock to report that Here Come The Habibs is well, a solid commercial network sitcom. And that in itself is kind of amazing. Seriously: when was the last time you saw a new Australian sitcom that wasn't on ABC or SBS? Honestly, think about it. Yes, Here Come The Habibs is broad ethnic humour, no worse or less affectionate than Acropolis Now! or Fat Pizza (whose alumnus Tahir Bilgic is also on the show). In fact, the closest parallel might actually be the venerable Kingswood Country, where broad stereotypes are used to make sly and occasionally deeply unflattering comments about Australian society. They're the darlings of Australia and renowned wildlife warriors, but the Irwin family's cameo in the I'm A Celebrity jungle has failed to wow viewers. Just 735,000 people in the capital cities tuned in to watch Terri, Bindi and Bob Irwin surprise the I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here cast in their South African jungle squalor on Monday night. While figures for the Ten show are reportedly up 15 per cent from last year, Monday night's I'm A Celeb still finished 11th in the overall ratings. Trade Minister Andrew Robb has tabled the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Parliament, warning opponents of the deal that Australia cannot afford to not sign it. He has also tabled a 'National Interest Analysis' of the agreement showing why it is in the country's interest. Tabling the TPP begins the process that will lead to its possible ratification by Parliament. It is the fourth major trade agreement concluded by the Abbott-Turnbull governments, following the bilateral agreements with Korea, Japan and China. A former employee at the Nauru detention centre has lifted the lid on conditions within the compound, including limited access to toilets and poor welfare for bullied men, as pressure mounts on the Turnbull government not to return asylum seekers to the isolated island. The rare disclosure from within the ranks of Transfield, recently renamed Broadspectrum, follows the government's decision to extend by a year the company's contract to provide welfare and security in Australian-funded detention centres at Nauru and Manus Island. The claims came as Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan suggested at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday that the exacerbation of trauma asylum seekers experience at Nauru is no different to that caused by living in the Australian suburbs. The fiery hearing deteriorated into a slanging match in which Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called Senator O'Sullivan a "pig" after he interrupted her questioning. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called one government member "a pig" and another "biased" and "a joke" in a fiery Senate estimates hearing scrutinising the conditions faced by children at Nauru. Senator Hanson-Young was questioning Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs on Tuesday over the appropriateness of deporting children and their families detained in Australia to the remote Pacific island. Professor Triggs said the United Nations Rapporteur on the convention against torture had suggested detaining mentally unwell children was a breach of international conventions. Young Hunt squirms happily in his chair and, ever bashful, suggests thecabinet simply proceed with the weighty tasks thrust upon it, as if the greatest politician known to exist was barely in the room, or at least, was not much more than a man among equals. "It certainly is," says Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. There is the merest hint of her famous Death Stare, understandable for a minister who has to go out into the world and explain these things to ministers in countries everywhere who have, unaccountably, been overlooked. "We're on a roll," cries Prime Minister Turnbull. "First we make Philip Ruddock our Human Rights Envoy and now this! The first agenda item, of course, would have to be the environment. In his honour. Hunt is known in environmental circles as The Man for All Seasons, which befits the Best Minister in the World. Having gained his masters in 1990 with a thesis that argued very coherently for a carbon tax long before Julia Gillard stole it, causing him to disavow the thing and to berate her for using a hopelessly flawed proposition, young Greg embraced Tony Abbott's quaintly brilliant idea of reducing carbon emissions by Direct Action so successfully that it remains the policy of the Turnbull government. Observers have long been in admiration of his ability to argue for Direct Action without ever being able to explain how it might work. He launches into a recollection of the heat in Dubai, which he hastens to assure everyone is nothing to do with climate change. It's just hot, because it's the Arabian Desert, he explains, adding they've licked it with a nifty form of Direct Action: air-conditioning. It was terrific, all that cooling air, because when he was named Best Minister in the World, he broke into hot flushes. The end of the day. What happened? Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is preparing for a major reshuffle of his cabinet with the news that Trade Minister Andrew Robb is resigning; is preparing for a with the news that is resigning; Mr Robb's resignation creates another senior vacancy on the front bench along with the one to be created by Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss ; ; Human Services Minister Stuart Robb clung on for another day as the opposition again zeroed in on his 2014 trip to China in question time ; clung on for another day as the again zeroed in on his in ; Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed the government is examining changes to negative gearing ; confirmed the government is examining ; Mr Turnbull delivered the tenth annual Closing the Gap address to Parliament in which he called for a new approach to indigenous policy ; and delivered the to in which he called for ; and Mr Turnbull also became the first prime minister to address the Parliament in Ngunawal, the language of the traditional owners of the ACT. My thanks to Alex Ellinghausen and Andrew Meares for their excellent work and to you for reading and commenting. You can follow me on Facebook. Alex, Andrew and I will be back in the morning. We hope to see you here. Until then, good night. Nicolas Henin holds his children at a military base in France in April 2014 after being freed from IS captivity. Credit:Getty Images Ever the journalist, Henin interacted with his captors whenever he could, piecing together scraps of information to build a picture of the battles he could hear outside. These conversations were largely in French and English. "We were Western hostages kept by Western hostage-takers," he says. "I had very little chance to improve my Arabic." His jailers were steeped in Western pop culture. They watched everything from Game of Thrones to Teletubbies and were active on social media, following coverage of their own exploits. Henin has said he was beaten by Mehdi Nemmouche, the French-Algerian jihadist accused of murdering four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in 2014. He has named Britain's Mohammed Emwazi better known as "Jihadi John" and since pronounced dead by IS after being hit by a drone strike as another jailer. Emwazi nicknamed Henin "Baldy". Boredom was as common as fear. To occupy their minds, the prisoners discussed which animals matched their personalities. Henin was a hedgehog, because of the way he curled up when beaten. He had heard that lost hedgehogs could always find their way home. The footage of Henin's return to France on April 20, 2014, shows him stepping, freshly shaved and grinning, from a helicopter, along with his fellow French hostages Torres, Elias and Francois. Henin is the first to shake hands with President Francois Hollande. His embrace with his wife and two children is captured by the waiting media. He wraps his arms around them and together they rock from side to side. In his cell with only the clothes he wore when he was captured, he worried that he had nothing to give his children when he came home. If he ever did. As Hollande speaks to the press in front of the hostages, Henin holds his four-year-old daughter and baby son, one on each hip. He can't keep his eyes from them. Hollande's government later insisted no ransom had been paid, but while Henin and his compatriots were freed, their fellow captives were not so lucky. The beheadings began shortly after Henin's release. In August 2014, a video was posted online of a hostage in an orange jumpsuit and an executioner with a knife and a British accent Emwazi. His victim, the American journalist Foley, was Henin's friend. They had spent a week handcuffed together, 24 hours a day. While Henin was free, further stories kept arriving about his less-fortunate former cellmates: Sotloff and Haines killed in September, Henning in October. These men had eaten together, slept together and shared stories of their lives. "It's a struggle to get rid of that," says Henin. "I keep thinking about these months. They are still very present. I keep thinking of it a lot." The executions stunned the Western world. Barack Obama called crisis meetings and, a month after Foley's death, the American military led the first air strikes against IS in Syria. Australia joined the coalition. The air strikes, Henin believes, are a mistake. "In France we have a saying to pee into a violin," he says. "It means to do something with no effect." He says the strikes, like sensationalist media coverage of terrorist attacks, only bolster IS's image as powerful supervillains something crucial to their appeal in attracting new recruits. Besides, he asks, why attack IS while ignoring the authoritarian government that helped create it? Henin is outraged that it took the West so long to react to the Syrian crisis; there had already been thousands of deaths before "an American from New Hampshire [was] killed in cold blood by a British national from east London". Where others demand bombs and revenge, this victim of IS calls for calm deliberation. "To understand does not mean to excuse," he says. "Don't get me wrong. I am angry. I am angry against the people who have done this to me who made me suffer, who made my wife, my children, my family suffer, and who murdered some of my friends. "But I am as much angry against my fellow countrymen who refuse to see the real cause for this drama and who are trying to make some of us the French Muslim community the scapegoats." Henin's tale is the stuff of best sellers and blockbusters, but he says he will never write it. Jihad Academy reveals almost nothing about his captivity; instead, it is a deeply researched account of the Syrian crisis and the factors that led to the rise of IS. It is the book of the academic Henin was before he became a journalist (he has a master's degree in international relations). "I would be much richer if I had written a book narrating my captivity," he says. "I received a lot of offers to write about IS. I told them no ... Those people have taken almost a year of my life. Do you really believe I want to give them more?" He believes dwelling on the details would support IS propaganda. "They probably expected one of us to write a book," he says. "To say, 'Oh boo-boo, look at me. What a poor guy, what I've suffered, what I've been through. Look how terrible they are, these monsters.' I want to do the opposite of what they expect, because this is the only way we can fight them and eventually eradicate them." Henin understands the interest in his story, but has no desire to be forever defined by the worst experience of his life. On Twitter, he sometimes scolds media outlets that introduce him as a "former hostage" and ignore his other credentials. "I know that 'former hostage' is a very bankable teasing," he told the BBC in December, "but I'm mainly a journalist and author." The English edition of his own book has no such scruples. There it is, sitting below his name on the cover: "Former ISIS hostage". He explains that he finally gave in to the tagline after his publisher told him nobody would buy the book without it. Henin thinks it is fair that some benefit should come from those 10 stolen months. His experience makes him stand out in a world full of writers. What will he make of his life and career now he is home and safe? "I just don't know," he says. "I just don't know." In his work as a Middle East correspondent, Henin dodged bombs and bullets. On every job, his life was at risk. He loved it. "It has to do with the interest of being at the very place where all the attention of the world is focused," he says. "This is the kind of stupid, narcissistic thing that brings you to Raqqa." After his children were born, he tried to manage the risks ("not enough", he says). Wherever he went, he brought home gifts small toys, rose-petal jam. A block from the frontline in Aleppo, he bought a Ralph Lauren dress just his daughter's size. Later, underground in his cell with only the clothes he wore when he was captured, he worried that he had nothing to give his children when he came home. If he ever did. In secret, on the bottom of an empty box of processed cheese, Henin began to write a story about a hedgehog carried off in a picnic basket and his long journey back to his family. He kept the manuscript as he moved from cell to cell. It has now been published in a book illustrated by fellow captive Pierre Torres. The translated title is Will Daddy Hedgehog Ever Come Home? Later this year, he will also publish a graphic novel with the illustrator Kyungeun Park. It's the true story of a Syrian refugee who lives through revolution and civil war to find shelter and success in France. Refugees are central to Henin's vision for a safer world. Footage of Westerners welcoming displaced Syrians destroys IS's belief that Muslims cannot co-exist with other communities. As well, Henin is convinced that many Westerners who join IS in Syria go with naive notions of rescuing an embattled and abandoned nation. "Who better than a Syrian refugee to show that what IS does in Syria does not help the people?" he says. He has another suggestion that may prove controversial, at least in name: a "legal jihad" to give vulnerable young people a sense of purpose. Jihad, he says, was once one of Islam's most beautiful concepts the striving for a fairer world and a better life. The IS recruits who return home disillusioned should be given the chance to tell their stories rather than be thrown in jail. "I want to give them a hand," says Henin. "To say, 'Yes, you have done a major mistake. But you have a chance to catch up. You can help some of your friends, some of your fellow Muslims, not to fall into the same trap ... You can become a hero.' " Henin could not look more ordinary as he sips an espresso in the cafe around the corner from his home. He is bald, thin and dressed in a conservative plaid shirt. He speaks of terrible things calmly, thinking before each sentence. He, of all people, could be forgiven for lusting after revenge. Why isn't he? "It's just a question of self-control," he says after another thoughtful pause. "You have to control your emotions. This is actually the key when we tackle terrorism. London: Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has joined the fathers' club at the top of men's tennis after his wife Kim Sears gave birth to a daughter at the weekend. Media reports said Kim gave birth to a baby girl. Andy Murray and Kim Sears pictured here in 2013 after Murray was awarded an OBE at Buckingham Palace have welcomed a baby girl. World number two Murray, 28, joins top-ranked Novak Djokovic, 17-times grand slam champion Roger Federer and reigning French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, who all juggle top-flight tennis with parental duties. Federer has fathered two sets of twins. A recent survey of financial attitudes by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission uncovered some disturbing findings about the way people think about money. Some 35 per cent of women said that they found dealing with money stressful and overwhelming, while 39 per cent of all people under the age of 35 agreed with the same statement. One in five of those surveyed believed there was nothing they could do that "will make much difference" to their financial situation. Some 35 per cent of females said they often bought things on impulse. Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said they had either never heard of, or did not understand, the concept of diversification. Kini swimwear co-founder Elle Aram. Credit:Pat Scala I was chatting to a group of women a few weeks ago about how we could help each other improve our understanding of personal finance concepts. We decided that each of us who had a greater understanding of the subject should take it upon ourselves to start a conversation with someone who had less knowledge. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham will direct the nation's top education panel to focus on university admissions after a Fairfax Media investigation revealed that the practice of admitting students with lower than the minimum ATAR into university courses was endemic. The move, due to be announced on Wednesday, will see the Higher Education Standards Panel examine options for improving the transparency of student admissions policies. The panel will have up to a year to work on a new university standards framework, which will take effect from January 2017. "I want the panel to explore how to ensure incoming students are 'uni-ready'," Senator Birmingham said. "That means having a clear understanding of what they need to do to get into their course of choice and realising what will be expected of them through their further study." In January, Fairfax Media revealed that Sydney universities were admitting more than 60 per cent of students below the public entry cut-off, while prestigious courses such as law at the University of NSW were admitting up to 90 per cent of students below minimum entry standards. Detectives are searching for a serial predator who indecently assaulted three women, including a 70-year-old who was out walking her dog, at Mascot in Sydney's south. The latest assault occurred on Monday night, as the 70-year-old woman was walking her dog along Lyon Street about 6pm. Police would like to question this man over three indecent assaults in Mascot. Credit:NSW Police The man, who is described as having an Afro-style haircut, approached the woman from behind and indecently assaulted her, before running away. Police said the first attack occurred on December 11, when a 20-year-old woman was entering her apartment on King Street, Mascot, about 10.30pm. "There was nothing in that report to indicate that there was a danger of imminent collapse but obviously something has occurred since then so we will be investigating that." People comfort a woman who escaped an apartment in the marina building as it collapsed. Credit:Simone De Peak Mr Deverell confirmed that parts of the boardwalk at the front of the building had become no-go zones for the public, and at least one of the unit tenants was warned off using their balcony. One of the tenants, boat broker Jim Sommers who lost an estimated $15,000 worth of equipment, said some pylons had been held together with "ratchet straps". Authorities put a boom in place around the collapsed building. Credit:Simone De Peak The collapse occurred about 9.30am, with the 78-year-old female occupant escaping injury as her unit, the most northern of the building above the restaurant which suffered the most damage, was ripped apart. She later spoke of hearing a loud bang before seeing the cracks in her walls open up and the building start to move. Sue Kelleher, owner of Milano's talks to NSW Fire & Rescue. Credit:Simone De Peak "All I've got is what I'm wearing," she told friends. Fears remained on Monday night that large portions of the rest of the building, which would probably have to be demolished, may collapse into the lake. Tim Deverell of Crown Lands said there was nothing to indicate that they building was in danger of an imminent collapse Credit:Simone De Peak Superintendent Davies said crews had found the structure had suffered "severe structural faults" and it appeared the piers underneath the front of the building had "given way". "The piers have gone from underneath the structure," Mr Davies said. If the collapse had happened a day earlier, there would have been up to 100 people inside the building. Credit:Simone De Peak "We can't get in there to have a look to see how many piers have gone that's why we're really restricting access to the premises. "Even the bits that are still standing, from a distance you can see the beams holding the top floors up have all bent and twisted out of shape." Fears remained that large portions of the building, that will likely have to be demolished, will collapse into the lake. Credit:Simone De Peak Fire and Rescue NSW has isolated electricity, gas and water to the site and marine rescue has installed booms in the water to ensure no contaminants pollute the lake. Mr Davies said Public Works structural engineers were also at the site to assess the structural integrity of the building. Jim Sommers runs his business Marine Sale Solutions on the ground floor of the building. He said he left just 20 minutes before the building collapsed. Credit:Simone De Peak Builders are installing protective barrier fencing around the site. "The floor from the first floor is actually into the lake itself, so unfortunately we won't be allowing anyone into the structure to obtain any goods or any of their items," Mr Davies said. "We'll be working with the Salvation Army for the welfare of these people. "If you saw the amount of damage inside there's residents up there on first floor it's very, very lucky people were not seriously injured if not killed. "We're lucky it didn't happen yesterday when the restaurant was fully operating at lunchtime, because it could have caused severe injuries to people." Mr Davies said structural engineers would determine the future of the site and would consider whether it needed to be demolished. "That would appear to be the only option due the amount of damage, it would probably have to be demolished," he said. "With the piers being washed away underneath it's very unlikely they'll be able to rebuild on current site." Mr Davies said the restaurant owners were "distraught". "It's their livelihood," he said. "At the moment we're trying to assist them as much we can to minimise the concern they have.". Mr Sommers, who ran boating company Marine Sale Solutions on the ground floor, said he had only left the marina 20 minutes before the collapse. He said there was an inspection done on the marina in December. "Some of the pylons were being held by ratchet straps," Mr Sommers said. Mr Deverell said Crown Lands "initiated forfeiture" from the company leasing the marina, Elidock Pty Ltd, "for various reasons, including failure to pay rent" on December 4. "The department had a structural assessment report done before Christmas, once we took possession, which we identified some urgent matters that needed to be done such as electrical and fencing which we have replaced," Mr Deverell said. Former lessee Ben Ensor said his company Elidock Pty Ltd had paid $1.4 million for the Crown Lands' lease in 2011. He said he was forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars of his own money repairing piers around the building over the past five years. He starting withholding rent following a breakdown with the Department of Crown Lands over what should be done to rectify the problem. Mr Ensor believes the collapse of the Milano's restaurant building could have been prevented if appropriate works had have been undertaken to reinforce its piers. Mr Ensor, whose company Elidock Pty Ltd took on the lease in 2011, estimated he spent about $200,000 on repairs to the building and the marina precinct. Emails between Mr Ensor and government agencies detail a long-running dispute over the need to take action to secure the building's foundations. A series of photos provided to the Newcastle Herald highlight significant erosion caused by dredging works in the lake channel. "It would have cost me $800,000 to put new piers in," Mr Ensor said. The Department of Crown Lands terminated the lease in late 2015 due to a range of issues including unpaid rent. Mr Ensor, who now lives in North Queensland, said that he was justified in withholding the money. "Some rent was withheld on occasions as a partial offset against damages," Mr Ensor said. Sue Kelleher was booked out in March for weddings at the ever-popular Milano's On The Lake. She was enjoying summer patronage, where more than 100 people would spend their Sundays at the Pelican restaurant as the sun went down over Lake Macquarie. Boat broker Jim Sommers began negotiating a new lease a fortnight ago and had more than $15,000 worth of equipment inside the bottom level business which was now partially under water. The attractive, if not weathered, Pelican marina was a thriving little place on the sleepy banks of the eastern side of the lake that attracted a strong and loyal clientele. Not anymore, although there is hope for a revival. Ms Kelleher, who bought the restaurant with her husband James Baldwin a year ago, had also just signed up to open a kiosk downstairs. She has 15 staff who are now without a job, although she was already trying to re-employ some at her Belmont business and would help others find work. "It had been really difficult for a while but things were getting back on track," Ms Kelleher said. Three masked men armed with machetes and hatchets have robbed a pub in Sydney's south-west overnight. The men entered the Earlwood Hotel on Homer Street, Earlwood, about 12.10am on Wednesday, and threatened staff members and a patron. Robbed: the Earlwood Hotel. Credit:Google Maps They forced a staff member to open a safe before fleeing with cash. A fourth man was waiting outside in a blue Audi A5, which drove off towards Clarke Street. A maths tutor jailed for sexually and indecently assaulting young students throughout his lengthy career has been charged with a string of further offences after more alleged victims came forward. Quy Huy "Peter" Hoang, 67, was found guilty last year of molesting four children from three separate families between 2007 and 2014. Quy Huy Hoang leaves Downing Centre Local Court on October 20, 2015. Credit:Daniel Munoz It followed a nine-week trial that heard Hoang found "sexual gratification" in young children and used his upstanding reputation in the Vietnamese community to hide the abuse. Jason Ronald Douglas was just 19 when he left his Queensland home. Despite desperate efforts to contact him, his family says the next they heard from him he was a 36-year-old man living on the streets in the UK. Jason Ronald Douglas has been found in the UK. Credit:GoFundMe Mr Douglas moved to the English town of Milton Keynes in 1999 to live with his uncle, but lost touch with his family. His family say their prayers were finally answered when he was found living rough in the West Midlands about a week ago. Brisbane's most prestigious school won't stand down its legal counsel while complaints from a child sex abuse victim about a perceived conflict of interest during royal commission hearings is investigated. The Legal Services Commission has ordered the Bar Association of Queensland to investigate the complaint from a key witness, News Corp reported on Tuesday. Former Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff QC leaves the Brisbane Magistrates Court on the first day of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Credit:Jorge Branco Former Queensland solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff, QC, represented Brisbane Grammar School at the commission's hearings on abuses there and at St Paul's School in Bald Hills. His appearance caused a stir on the first day of hearings in November when a witness, referred to only as BQK for legal reasons, recognised him across the courtroom. You would think it was pretty hard to hide a galaxy containing tens of billions of stars but nearly a thousand of them? Hundreds of new galaxies have been identified within 250 million light years of Earth, hidden behind the glow of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The discovery is helping us understand the structure of our nearby universe and could challenge some of the assumptions of modern cosmology. Hundreds of galaxies have been discovered hiding behind the glowing disk of the Milky Way. This photo was taken at Catherine Hill Bay. Credit:Karl Lindsay "The region we looked at is a very hard region to study; it's know as the 'Zone of Avoidance', another name for the plane of our own galaxy," Professor Lister Staveley-Smith at the University of Western Australia, told Fairfax Media. The centre of our galaxy is teeming with dust clouds and billions of stars. Very little optical light is able to penetrate the dense dust and gas. Even when it does, the foreground stars are so densely packed together that they blind our telescopes to the faint glow from more distant objects. Space behind the Milky Way is invisible to us on Earth. "It was really very moving," said Professor Eduardo Miranda, Composer and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at Plymouth University. "The first time we tried with Rosemary we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music. It was perfect because she can read music very well and make a very informed choice. "The great achievement of this project is that it is possible to perform music without being able to actually move. She is essentially controlling another musician to play it for her. "It's not yet possible to read thoughts but we can train people to use brain signals to control things." Three other disabled patients who live at the hospital have also been trained to use the technology, and have been working alongside four able-bodied musicians from the Bergersen String quartet who play the music in real time as it is selected. They are called The Paramusical Ensemble, and they have already recorded a piece of music entitled Activating Memory which will be heard for the first time at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival in Plymouth later this month. Miss Johnson's mother Mary, 80, said the project had given her daughter new hope. "Music is really her only motivation," she said. "I take her to the grand piano in the hospital and she can only really play a few chords, but that was the only time she shows any interest. She doesn't really enjoy anything else. "But this has been so good for her. I can tell she has really enjoyed it. When she performed I went to the hospital and that is the first time I have heard her make music, other than the piano chords for a long, long time." The technology works like a 'musical game' where the players select pieces of melody at certain times of the performance to augment the overall work, which was composed by Professor Miranda. Each patient wears an EEG cap furnished with electrodes which can read electrical information from their brain. They are paired with a member of the string quartet who views the musical phrases on a screen as they are selected in real-time. Julian O'Kelly, Research Fellow at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability added: "This is a great means of transcending disability to offer individuals a unique experience of creating music with each other, and interacting with skilled musicians to create original compositions. "In the case of Rosemary, the project illustrated the great potential this innovation could have for participants who may have once been gifted musicians, but now lack the physical abilities to engage in music making. "You could clearly see in her broad smile during the performance how much she enjoyed the experience." The patient quartet is made of Miss Johnson, Clive Wells, Richard Bennett and Steve Thomas. Speaking through an automated voice machine, Mr Thomas said: "I like music and I am very interested in the Brain Computer Music Interface. It's more interactive with people actually getting my instructions. "It was great to hear the musician play the phrase I selected. I tried to select music that was harmonious with the others. It's very cool." The team are hoping that the technology could be used one day to improve mood and help them to express their feelings. "If our patients were able to compose music to reflect their state of mind, that would be an amazing way for them to be able to express themselves and music therapists could then use that to work with the patients," added Dr Sophie Duport, of Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability. Joel Eaton, PhD Research Student at Plymouth University said: "One of the key things about this system is that not only does it give a user the interaction and control of an instrument, it allows them to interact with each other." Most, if not all, electronics companies in Australia have failed to fully investigate whether raw materials used in their products were obtained using slave labour or some other form of exploitation, a new report shows. A Baptist World Aid (BWA) analysis of 56 electronics companies found while 57 per cent have traced their supply chains in the final manufacturing stage, only 11 per cent have done so for parts manufacturing, which can include smelting and refining. None of the companies have completely traced their raw materials, which could be tin from Indonesia or cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, both linked with child labour in dangerous mines. "If companies don't know or don't care then they cannot ensure that workers are not being exploited," said Gershon Nimbalker from Baptist World Aid Australia. A croupier at Crown Casino has been charged with serious deception charges over allegations he rigged a dice game and paid out more than $100,000 to five friends. The 20-year-old Melbourne University student faces a custodial sentence after he was escorted from the gaming floor by Crown Casino security and investigators in October 2015 and handed over to police at the City West complex. The accused man was escorted from the gaming floor of Crown Casino. Credit:Jessica Shapiro The five alleged accomplices were arrested between October and November last year and are also facing charges of obtaining property by deception. Former magazine queen Nene King has clashed with a judge during a courtroom outburst after giving evidence against a former friend accused of ripping her off when she was a drug addict. Ms King, 72, had been recalled to give evidence on Tuesday afternoon at the County Court trial of Colin Hahne' but became upset when his lawyer suggested she had been to Crown Casino at least four to five times in 2009. Nene King has told the court that her life 'went off the rails' after her third husband's death. Credit:Vince Caligiuri "That's an absolute lie. I don't gamble. This is all make believe," she said. As she left the witness stand, an emotional Ms King walked past Mr Hahne sitting in the dock and said she could not believe how many lies he had told. The measles rash on the face of a child. Credit:Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Most concerning is that none of the four people diagnosed are believed to be the so-called "original patient zero". It is believed they caught it from someone else in the community, who may have contracted it overseas. Dr Taylor said it was impossible to determine who they might have had contact with or track the likely path of the infection. Measles is a highly-infectious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person and spreads through coughing and sneezing. The virus can also live for up to two hours in an airspace where the infected person has coughed or sneezed. People can contract and spread the virus for several days before symptoms - including fever, sore throat, red eyes and coughing - begin to show. The characteristic measles rash usually appears three to five days after the first symptoms develop. Anyone developing those symptoms is urged to call ahead before visiting a GP to enable the spread of infection to be minimised. Children and adults under 50 who have not had two measles vaccinations are most at risk. Authorities have said they should strongly consider getting vaccinated immediately. Children who have had both courses of the vaccine are extremely unlikely to be at risk. The GPs who treated the four diagnosed measles patient are contacting anyone who may have had contact with them in their clinic waiting rooms and the health department has issued an alert to doctors across the state asking them to look out for further infections. Dr Taylor dismissed concerns about the virus striking in Brunswick, which is stereotyped as a more alternative area. "The data for children's vaccinations in measles for that area isn't bad," he said. "It's a little lower than the state average but it's certainly not something to be overly concerned about. "We're seeing this more in younger adults. That group grew up in a time when there wasn't two doses of measles vaccine being provided." The measles vaccine, which is administered as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, is part of the National Immunisation Program for children between 12 months and four years of age. Dr Roscoe Taylor. Credit:Liam Mannix Women in their 20s to 40s can receive the MMR vaccine free of charge under the Victorian government's initiative to ensure women of child-bearing age are protected against rubella. Meanwhile, people under 20 can also receive a free MMR vaccine under the federal government's catch-up campaign. A community's immunisation rate has to be about 90 per cent for what is known as 'herd immunity' to kick in, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. Herd immunity occurs when the level of immunisation is high enough to create a ring of protection around the community against a particular disease. It is crucial to protect the community's most vulnerable, including newborn babies. However, an even higher immunisation rate is needed for measles, for which 95 per cent coverage is optimal. Late last year, a Brunswick school was at the centre of a chickenpox outbreak. Father Grasby has been popular on gay dating site Planetromeo, with his profile visited 7907 times. The profile also lists details about his genitals and sexual preferences, and he describes himself as a "well-educated and really soft-hearted mature GWM [gay white male]." It is believed Father Grasby listed his location on Planetromeo as the "Kensington/North Melbourne region" - near where he had been suspected of abusing boys at St Michael's - before he moved to Malaysia. It appears Father Grasby has been popular on Planetromeo, with his profile showing it had been visited 7907 times. A former parishioner at St Mary Magdalen said he was stunned when he was contacted by Father Grasby on Planetromeo. The approach came before the priest left Melbourne. On his Planetromeo profile, Father Grasby says he is a 66-year-old Catholic who 'happens to like younger Asian men'. The parishioner, who did not wish to be named, contacted the archdiocese and was told Father Grasby was on leave. While the priest probably contacted the parishioner randomly as his profile stated that he was Asian, Father Grasby continued his advances even after the parishioner said he used to attend his church. The parishioner was told by a friend that Father Grasby had also contacted him on other dating applications. The former parishioner was told by Father Grasby that he was no longer a priest, seemingly contradicting the position of the church. "Although I virtually have left Catholicism, this incident definitely help solidify my decision," the former parishioner said. "I contacted the archdiocese right after finding out [because], given the allegations of church cover up, I wanted to know if Grasby was still a priest. "It showed that the Church was clearly covering up." Helen Last, director of the In Good Faith Foundation, which provides support to the victims of church-related abuse, told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations there had long been concerns about Father Grasby. She said it appeared Father Grasby was housed in the St Patrick's Cathedral presbytery, where many alleged abusers were sent, when he was between St Michael's and St Mary Magdalen during the 2000s. "I had people coming to me, telling me knocking on my door and telling me that he had too many young men coming in and out of the presbytery and actually sleeping there and other things. "Whilst I was being told that, he was suddenly removed from North Melbourne and put in the St Patrick's Cathedral presbytery, where many men who are not behaving well spend quite a lot of time because it is very close to the administration systems, and they can be closely watched. Father Grasby, the former parish priest of St Mary Magdalen in Jordanville, near Chadstone, was placed on administrative leave in 2012. "The parishioners [at Jordanville] are saying that so many Vietnamese boys have been surrounding him and coming in and out ... nothing else has been done for that parish." It is understood former parishioners and neighbours also raised concerns about the priest when it appeared a young homeless man was sleeping with him at the St Michael's presbytery. Ms Last said the handling of Father Grasby and priests like him was sadly far too common, and there was clear evidence that those on administrative leave required closer monitoring. The Melbourne Response has been repeatedly criticised for being less than transparent about revealing the identity of paedophile priests, and for paying inadequate compensation to victims. Under the response, complaints made to the archdiocese are investigated and, if proven, compensation is paid to the victim, on the condition that further claims cannot be made. Compensation is capped at $75,000. When Father Grasby was placed on leave in 2012, Monsignor Greg Bennet, the vicar-general of the Melbourne archdiocese, said the priest denied the allegations and was assisting the church in an independent investigation. Parishioners attend morning mass at St Mary Magdalen in 2012, after Father Grasby was placed on leave. Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones The alleged victim had been urged to report the matter to police by the church, but had declined to do so and signed a document to confirm the decision, Monsignor Bennet said. The Age has confirmed that Father Grasby is not subject to any current police investigation. Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman Shane Healy confirmed Father Grasby remained on administrative leave. He would not confirm whether Father Grasby had to comply with certain conditions while he was on leave, or whether the complaint made against the priest in 2012 had been proven. "He is without the faculties to function as a priest," Mr Healy said. Priests on administrative leave are given housing, or a housing allowance, and the same wages and insurance benefits they had been paid prior to the complaint. There are believed to be 30 priests - half of whom were convicted of child sex crimes, and the other half who are confirmed abusers but were not convicted - who are being given financial support by the archdiocese. Sex Party MP Fiona Patten is introducing a bill to Victoria's state parliament which she hopes will lift restrictions on ride-sharing services such as UberX. The party's only representative in parliament, Fiona Patten, has announced that she plans to introduce the Regulation of Ridesharing Bill 2016 to "establish a system for regulation, accreditation and administration of ride-sharing services across the state". Details of the bill which will be introduced in the Upper House on Thursday have not yet been made public. Ms Lonsdale argued that the whole point should be to fill the carpark early and get as many customers as possible. "Once a parker has paid the maximum fee, does it matter whether they leave early?" she said. "I think being charged an extra $20 for two hours less parking is, frankly, daylight robbery." Ms Lonsdale said she would have "argued the toss" if there had been a human to talk to. "I'm very concerned that vulnerable people attending court could easily find themselves caught out by this and not be able to afford the difference," she said. The lawyer also gave Wilson a serve on the state of the car park. "People have clearly been living there and urinating in the stairwells," she said. "It absolutely stinks, is visibly filthy and the lifts don't work - which really adds to my resentment at being charged extra" Ms Lonsdale invited Wilson Parking to refund the $20 difference which they agreed to do while also defending their terms and conditions. Wilson Parking replied in a letter that the early bird method was used by parking operators throughout the world and was "a discounted all-day product, tailored to city workers". "Casual parking rates apply to people parking for a few hours," the letter said. They apologised for the broken lift, but highlighted it was the owner of the building's responsibility to fix it. Meanwhile, there was a strong social media response to WAtoday's story about Chenxi Zuadong's experience when he was fined $65 after paying for overnight parking at a Wilson's car park on an app, but not displaying a printed ticket. Many comments supported the notion that the public could not be fined by a corporate entity. "Can anybody tell me (how) a company that's not a government body (can) fine you? I was of the opinion that only members of the crown and shire can do so? How is it enforceable?" - Glenn Watson. "The notice is a demand for "liquidated damages" and as such becomes a civil issue. In a court it would be difficult for Wilson to show they have been disadvantaged to the amount claimed on the demand." - Steve Howton. "It's not enforceable." - Scott Stewart. "It's not a fine. Just don't pay." - Alexi Christidis. A spokesperson for Consumer Protection said private car park operators had the right to take civil court action to recover any unpaid fines. But challenges were possible. A Curtin Law School academic said there were three general rules when it came to the application of penalties which might be incurred in overstaying a parking limit. "Are people made reasonably aware of the terms and conditions, has the business suffered a genuine loss; and are they fair?" Kyle Bowyer, a lecturer in contracts law said. Mr Bowyer said prominent signage making people aware of the terms of parking should be displayed. "There's also potential for fines to be challenged if people think they are excessive. A company might need to show what level of genuine loss they may have suffered because somebody, for example, overstays their parking limit," he said. "That would need to be balanced by a deterrent element to ensure compliance, otherwise people would simply ignore the parking limit if it was only going to cost a few dollars more to stay," he said. The law lecturer said terms and conditions of parking would also have to be fair. A decision to spend a night in a Northbridge hotel after a late work meeting had an expensive post script for a Bunbury man when he was fined for overnight parking - despite having paid for it. Chenxi Zhuang booked into Nest on Northbridge, which offered a discounted rate at Wilson Parking, and found a spot on the upper deck at Northbridge Central carparking in Errichetti Place on Friday evening. Wilson Parking appears to suffer from high costs. Credit:Louie Douvis The parking station offered the smartphone Book-a-Bay system. "I'm no stranger to cashless, online parking systems and have used them regularly," Mr Zhuang said. Emergency services took almost an hour to respond to a distress call from the father of a teen who died from severe heat stroke while on a remote walking trail - partly because they couldn't understand his Scottish accent. Ewan Louis Williamson, 14, died from heat stroke and exhaustion after becoming disorientated with his father on the Badjirrajirra Walk in the North West Cape in Western Australia in December, 2012. Part of the Badijirrajirra Walk, where Ewan Williamson died in 2012. (file pic) Credit:DPaW His condition was complicated by a recent viral illness, which caused inflammation of heart muscle. His father Gordon Williamson told the WA Coroner's Court on Tuesday he phoned 000 at around 2pm and asked for police help when his son became ill and could not walk back to the car, but the request wasn't logged as an incident needing immediate attendance. Beijing: Kang Weiwei considers herself cautious. When China's stock market took off, she stood on the sidelines. She steered clear of financial products that she couldn't really understand. But the 32-year-old Beijinger needed somewhere to park the $US76,000 ($107,000) that her family received from selling an apartment they got as part of a government relocation program. What, she wondered, could beat inflation but keep them safe? Chinese police watch as depositors from Ezubao gather outside the State Bureau for Letters and Calls Reception Division office in Beijing in early January. Credit:AP The answer came on the 7 o'clock news. An ad running moments before Chinese state television's flagship CCTV news broadcast touted a peer-to-peer online lending company called Ezubao that said it matched borrowers and lenders online, potentially making credit available to more people and businesses. Jakarta: An Indonesian meatball seller who claimed he was lured to join Islamic State in Syria by the promise of a large payment will serve three years behind bars. The 33-year-old was one of seven Indonesians sentenced in the West Jakarta district court on Tuesday for involvement with IS. Ahmad Junaedi, a meatball seller from Malang in East Java, spent 24 days in Syria, where he participated in military training using AK-47s and learned how to assemble weapons. Junaedi had earlier claimed he was promised a large payment by Abu Jandal, one of the Indonesian IS leaders in Syria, but returned home because he felt cheated. Dar Es Salaam: An investigation into the death of a British helicopter pilot who was looking for poachers near Serengeti National Park has uncovered a criminal poaching ring led by a rogue intelligence officer, the Tanzanian authorities have said. After a weeklong manhunt that involved house-to-house searches in villages surrounding the reserve, at least nine people have been arrested in connection with the death of the pilot, including Iddi Mashaka, a former police officer who used his current position as an intelligence officer with a regional conservation authority to help the poachers travel undetected, said Lazaro Mambosasa, the regional police commissioner. With the arrests, the authorities said on Monday, the ring has been dismantled. An elephant roaming near Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The pilot, Roger Gower, 37, was shot on January 29 while conducting anti-poaching surveillance over the Maswa Game Reserve. He and a colleague, Nick Bester, came across a newly killed elephant and circled back to take a closer look, and their helicopter was shot at by poachers who were apparently still at the scene, the police have said. A bullet from a .458 hunting rifle punctured the floor of the helicopter and ripped through Gower's leg and shoulder. He managed to land the helicopter but died from his injuries before help could arrive. Bad Aibling, Germany: Two commuter trains collided head-on in southern Germany on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, injuring several dozen, and raising new questions about the safety and reliability of a rail network in Europe that has been the envy of much of the world. Stefan Sonntag, a spokesman for the police in Upper Bavaria where the crash occurred, said the trains were travelling along the same stretch of track when they slammed into each other shortly before 7am near Bad Aibling, about 55 kilometres south-east of Munich. It was not immediately clear why the trains were on the same track at the same time, he said. About 50 passengers were severely hurt and 100 others sustained light injuries, Mr Sonntag said. The authorities said later that the drivers and conductors of both trains were among those killed. "We haven't seen such an accident in this region in a very long time, if ever," Mr Sonntag said. "It is terrible." Rail travel is central to Germany, as to many European countries. But particularly here it ties together the country's many regions in a lacework that differs from, for example, France, where the system is more centralised on Paris, the capital. Although Germany has a vast rail network, trains travelling in opposite directions frequently share tracks in many rural regions. This has led to a new surge in refugees desperate to reach sanctuary. Some 35,000 Syrians have over the past week massed at the Turkish border crossing near the town of Kilis, which was closed for the fourth consecutive day on Monday. The remain's of Aleppo's 12th century Umayyad mosque. 'We are on the verge of a new human tragedy' Ankara says some 2.2 million Syrian refugees have arrived and been accommodated in Turkey since the beginning of the conflict, at the cost of billions of dollars in state funds. The country, say Turkish officials, is at breaking point. Syrians walk towards the Turkish border in the hope of finding sanctuary. Credit:AP Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose government has for years called for Mr Assad's ouster and provided tacit support to some rebel factions, warned on Monday that Aleppo "is de facto under siege. We are on the verge of a new human tragedy." He was at a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in Ankara briefly to discuss better cooperation between Turkey and its European partners over the handling of refugees. Syrian refugees wait to cross the border into Turkey. Credit:Chris McGrath Many European leaders, including Ms Merkel, are keen to thin the flow of refugees journeying west in the face of growing popular opposition at home and are negotiating an aid package to give Turkey more incentive to tighten its own controls. For both sides, the refugee issue is proving a moral and political quandary and exacerbating diplomatic tensions. A temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near the Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey. "On the one hand they say 'open your borders, take everyone in,' " grumbled Turkish deputy prime minister Yalcin Akdogan, referring to the European Union. "On the other hand they say 'close your border, don't let anyone through.' " All the while, the plight of Syria's displaced and downtrodden grows even more grim. Fears of a Turkish clampdown meant increased numbers of refugees and migrants attempted the risky sea crossing to Greece. In January, more than 250 migrants drowned while making the trip roughly a third of the total number for all of 2015. The situation is equally dire for those now fleeing Aleppo and its environs, with aid groups struggling to provide adequate humanitarian relief. "The main route from the north into Aleppo city has been cut off," wrote Christy Delafield, a senior communications officer for MercyCorps, in an email from the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Monday night. "Mercy Corps is able to continue distributing pre-positioned food and other supplies for now. We cannot estimate how long those supplies will last and when we can next get a shipment in. Other routes are still open but these roads are unpredictable and risky." The slow, sorry death of Syria Both the slow, brutal misery of the war - as well as the steady gains made by Mr Assad and his allies in recent months - have highlighted the strategic difficulties that the Syrian conflict posed for many Western governments, especially the Obama administration. The White House has staked a lot of political capital on the progress of UN-brokered peace talks, negotiations that have already generated far more grumbles than optimism. Meanwhile, with the backing of Moscow and Iran, the Assad regime is steadily stripping away what leverage the Syrian opposition a hodgepodge of often competing factions and its backers may have had. "Battlefield realities rather than great power politics will determine the ultimate terms of a settlement to end the Syrian Civil War," noted the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, in a policy memo published on Friday. "[Mr Assad] and his allies in Russia and Iran have internalised this basic principle even as Washington and other Western capitals pinned their hopes upon UN-sponsored Geneva talks, which faltered only two days after they began." 'Aleppo may prove to be the Sarajevo of Syria' The critics of the Obama administration's relative inaction have grown louder, accusing the White House, in hindsight, of not taking decisive measures sooner to boost moderate rebel elements and curb the Assad regime's relentless bombing campaigns against its own people. "Aleppo may prove to be the Sarajevo of Syria," writes New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, gesturing to another society that imploded in an orgy of sectarian strife as the world watched. "Syria is now the Obama administration's shame, a debacle of such dimensions that it may overshadow the president's domestic achievements." The White House and other voices in Washington suggested that Moscow's mission in Syria could soon turn into its own quagmire. They also contended, justifiably, that the recent history of American overreach and missteps in the Middle East ought to be a cautionary tale for intervention in Syria. But it's the Russians who are "making the weather" right now, writes Mr Cohen, and reinforcing a Syrian ruler who President Obama had earlier insisted must go. "It's understandable for the United States to bank on a political process and urge the Syrian opposition to join this dialogue in good faith," writes Emile Hokayem, a Middle East scholar at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "But to do so while exposing the rebellion to the joint Assad-Russia-Iran onslaught and without contingency planning is simply nefarious." The fall of Aleppo: Not if, but when Should Aleppo fall to the regime, it will mark a real turning point in the conflict. The rebel takeover of the city in 2012 had come at a moment when many observers were confident Mr Assad's demise was inevitable. Now, a fractured rebellion will have to soldier on against the odds, probably with the more fundamentalist, Islamist factions leading the fight. Moreover, world powers and presumably also the Assad regime will still want to vanquish the Islamic State, the extremist group that has dominated global headlines since its dramatic rise two years ago and controls territory in Iraq and Syria. "This is not the end of the war, but could be the beginning of the end, with Assad, Russia, Hezbollah, and Iran as the biggest winners," said Patrick Megahan, an analyst at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. "Many of the more radical groups will likely continue to fight even if the opposition loses much of its territory." As Russia and Iran gain, two other prominent regional actors flounder. Saudi Arabia, which has played its own conspicuous role in supporting the rebellion, last week declared that it would consider sending ground forces to Syria a scenario that would signal the greatest escalation yet in its regional power struggle with Iran. The proposal was scoffed at by the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards over the weekend. "They claim they will send troops, but I don't think they will dare do so," Major General Ali Jafari told reporters in Tehran, according to Iran's sem-iofficial Fars news agency. "They have a classic army and history tells us such armies stand no chance in fighting irregular resistance forces." Turkey, meanwhile, is faced with multiple headaches of its own. The Russian power play in Syria has been a disaster for Ankara: Moscow's air war has both quashed any vague Turkish hopes for instituting a no-fly zone on the other side of the Syrian border and was also a boost for Syrian Kurdish factions, which have claimed more territory in stretches of northern Syria. What he is looking for most in politics is honesty and he sees this in Sanders over any other candidate. In the past he has voted for Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign stop at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, New Hampshire. Credit:AP This sort of passion is the mark of Sanders events and he is expected to win in Tuesday's vote. The Real Clear Politics average of polls has Sanders up by 13.3 percentage points. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, has good reason to hope this might be the high-tide mark for the Sanders insurgency. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets attendees during a campaign stop. Credit:Matt Rourke This might be a Republican state its motto is Live Free or Die but it is also a Sanders stronghold. Those voters who do support Democrats here tend to be further to the left than Southern Democrats who will vote in the coming weeks. They know Sanders well as the senator from the neighbouring state. It could be the very power of the Sanders campaign in New Hampshire that has led to criticism of it from Bill Clinton. On Sunday night the former president lashed out at Sanders supporters who he claimed had subjected Hillary Clinton to vicious online attacks. He described one progressive blogger as resorting to using a pseudonym online to avoid the blowback. "She and other people who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain just explain why they supported her have been subject to vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane often not to mention sexist to repeat," Clinton said. "When you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful about the facts. You're just for me or against me." Clinton's comments come after a media debate about a certain type of Sanders supporter identified last year by The Atlantic as "BernieBros" young, earnest, male and aggressive to the point of offensive. I'm yet to find a Berniebro in the wild. The young men and women I spoke to at the Manchester event were engaged and cheerful, and thrilled to be part of the New Hampshire primary, which at this point in the cycle takes on the atmosphere of an arts festival. At 17 years old Jake Marcus and Jack Laundry have taken a day off school to try to get to as many campaign events as possible. Before Sanders' lunchtime appearance they had already been to hear Donald Trump and Ted Cruz speak. They had never heard of the Bernie Bros phenomenon, though Jake said he had detected anger at Clinton among some Sanders supporters. He understands it too. Sanders is running against the whole political system, he says, where as she is "the very embodiment of it". If he were old enough he would be voting for Hillary Clinton or the Republican Chris Christie though. He likes her foreign policy and thinks that Christie's is fairly close. He thinks any attempt to introduce the sort of free healthcare system Sanders advocates would result in more wasted years of political warfare. Ani Kaneuriyan, 30, is a lawyer from New York. Like Grawet she has travelled to New Hampshire because in this small state you can get close enough to the candidates to look them in the eye. She has never heard of the Bernie Bros either. She backs Sanders and thinks he can win, but she will turn out to vote for Hillary should she take the nomination, as polling suggests she will. "I'm not against Hillary. I just think she is more calculated, she has wanted this from the very beginning." In the snow outside Manchester's town centre, the streets are thick with reporters and broadcast vans. In the Christian calendar, Lent is the six-week period leading up to Easter which is characterised by prayer, fasting and abstinence. It is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, representing the time Jesus was said to have spent in the desert leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection, according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Lent is a time of self-reflection before Easter. Credit:Reuters During Lent, many Christians fast or give up certain luxuries as a form of penitence. Some Christians pledge to give up foods, such as chocolate, while others may give up an activity, such as watching television for a day a week. It is a time for self-reflection and examination, and the idea is to live more simply and focus on God in the lead-up to Easter. PHILIPSBURG:---- The Central Committee will meet in session on February 9th. The Central Committee meeting has been reconvened for Tuesday at 10.00am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelmina Straat #1 in Philipsburg. The agenda point is the draft National Ordinance to establish the National 2016 Budget. Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations. The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg. The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org. hc1.com(R) Healthcare CRM Achieves Record Adoption INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Marketwired) 02/09/16 , inventor of the worlds leading , announced its healthcare CRM is now in use at over 850 health system, diagnostic lab, ambulatory, and post acute care locations across the globe. As healthcare executives rush to position for success in todays consumer-driven, quality-based care environment, hc1 has emerged as the premier CRM partner focused exclusively on healthcare. We chose hc1 because they exclusively focus on the unique requirements of the healthcare market, said Evan Haupt, vice president of Ammon Analytical Laboratory. Their healthcare-specific CRM platform, deep expertise, and superior dashboards dramatically outperform horizontal CRM companies that tend to approach healthcare as an afterthought. The has received wide recognition including being named Best CRM for Diagnostic Healthcare Organizations by Frost & Sullivan. The platforms proven ability to make healthcare organizations more successful by personalizing the healthcare experience for consumers, patients, and providers is achieved by automatically unifying business and clinical data into individualized profiles to ensure action and accountability across the continuum of care. 2015 was a monumental year for as our passion and exclusive commitment to improving healthcare was rewarded by record adoption among healthcare executives who share our vision, said Brad Bostic, CEO of . The combination of new clients, expansion with existing clients, and replacement of failed generic CRM implementations with hc1s healthcare-specific CRM resulted in record growth. Above all, our growth in 2015 was a credit to our teams approach to partnering with our clients and enabling them to compete and win in todays competitive healthcare environment. Recent hc1 client additions include: Mid America Clinical Laboratories (MACL), Indianapolis, Ind. One of the largest lab companies in the US and the largest clinical lab in Indiana, MACL selected hc1 to improve client service, gain visibility into laboratory utilization trends, and optimize supply management. American Senior Communities The largest single-state post acute care company, ASC selected hc1 to collaborate with referring providers and payers while optimizing patient care and financial success under the new Medicare CJR (Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement) bundled payment model. GoPath Laboratories, Buffalo Grove, Ill. A fast growing Chicago-based cancer-specific genetic and anatomic pathology lab, GoPath Laboratories selected hc1 to optimize its growth initiatives and deliver superior client service. Adventist Healths Lodi Health Laboratory, Lodi, Calif. A health system lab within the Adventist Health system, Lodi Health Laboratory selected hc1 to gain transparency into key performance metrics, reduce turnaround times, and drive action resulting in better client service and patient care. also launched its technology partner community, hc1 Apps (), and added six hc1 Apps partners in 2015. hc1 Apps is a healthcare innovation marketplace that enables approved third party partners to extend the hc1 Platform to drive enhanced value for consumers and providers. The hc1 enables health systems and diagnostic labs to personalize the healthcare experience for patients and providers throughout the entire care journey. hc1 has been adopted across more than 850 locations around the globe and has processed over two billion clinical transactions to date, generating more than 30 million consumer profiles enabling a five star service experience for industry leaders including Cleveland Clinic, Alere, Sonic Healthcare and AmeriPath. The company has received accolades from and was named by Frost & Sullivan. To learn more about hc1, please visit and follow us on Twitter , , and . For information contact: Linda Muskin 847-432-7300 Mara Conklin 678-825-2000 Spiceworks Network Monitor Adds Connectivity Checks for Internet of Things Devices AUSTIN, TX (Marketwired) 02/09/16 , the professional network for IT, today announced a series of new features for , a free application IT professionals at companies of all sizes can use to monitor and manage servers and network devices in real-time. Spiceworks Network Monitor now gives IT professionals the ability to go deeper into critical infrastructure by monitoring services, processes, and ports. IT professionals can also look more broadly across their network by monitoring any device with an IP address, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as connected security cameras, printers, projectors, appliances, and industry-specific devices in manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and more. Many network-connected devices in our organization, such as our VoIP phones and printers, dont require deep performance monitoring, but we do want to ensure theyre online and functioning properly, said Zack White, network administrator at the Madison County Commission in Alabama. Spiceworks Network Monitor makes it easy by showing us the online status of all important devices and notifying us if they begin experiencing connectivity issues. Spiceworks Network Monitor can be installed and up-and-running in minutes to enable real-time monitoring of critical devices like Windows and Linux servers, switches, and other network-connected devices. The application helps IT professionals understand whats happening in their environment with a user-friendly dashboard that shows essential network data and server activity, such as CPU spikes, low disk space, memory faults, and more. New features include: for IP-enabled devices allow IT professionals to verify that any network-connected device with an IP address is online and responding, including IoT devices in the workplace. This allows users to get an at-a-glance view of new network-connected devices finding their way onto the corporate network. enables IT professionals to troubleshoot server issues and catch application interruptions and outages before they impact end users. IT professionals can customize alert settings to see when critical services and processes are unresponsive and restart them directly from Spiceworks Network Monitor. allows IT professionals to track network bandwidth usage and saturation at the port level. In order to quickly get end users back on task, IT professionals can set up alerts to be notified when individual switches or ports are causing network bottlenecks and when critical ports go offline or get over-utilized. Our portfolio of IT management applications are built to radically simplify how IT professionals do their job, said Sanjay Castelino, VP of Marketing at Spiceworks. With Network Monitor, IT professionals have the visibility they need to do their jobs more effectively by monitoring traditional devices in addition to the influx of new internet-connected things entering the workplace. Spiceworks Network Monitor is today. Spiceworks is the professional network millions of IT professionals use to connect with one another and thousands of technology brands. The company simplifies how IT professionals discover, buy and manage an estimated $600 billion in technology products and services each year. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks is backed by Adams Street Partners, Austin Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Goldman Sachs, Shasta Ventures and Tenaya Capital. For more information, visit . Follow Spiceworks on Twitter: and connect with Spiceworks on Facebook: . Spiceworks is a registered trademark of Spiceworks, Inc. All other names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Risa Kleen Spiceworks Moseda Announces Acquisition of CareKit Health VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (Marketwired) 02/09/16 Moseda Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MSD) (Moseda or the Company), a technology company focused on developing progressive mobile health (mHealth) and telemedicine solutions for Community-Based Healthcare, is pleased to announce that it has acquired CareKit Health Corporation (CareKit), a commercial stage healthcare technology company that has built a comprehensive hardware and software platform that allows complex patients to receive high quality care in the home, improving health outcomes, enhancing quality of life for patients and families and reducing the cost of care delivery. CareKits platform for care coordination and home healthcare integrates wearables, sensors, a proprietary voice technology hub and intuitive mobile apps and desktop user interfaces for patients, clinicians and healthcare administrators. For more information please visit: . We are excited to be bringing CareKit Healths technology, products and customer pipeline into Moseda, said Dr. Lisa Crossley, CEO of Moseda. CareKits focus on using technology to provide cost effective, high quality in-home healthcare fits perfectly with Mosedas strategic focus on the Community Care market, which is expected to reach $43 Billion globally by 2019. CareKit Health is a young company but we have already secured contracts in the US, Canada and the UK, said Mr. Giancarlo De Lio, CEO of CareKit Health. Joining Moseda will give us the ability to rapidly increase our global presence and we are excited about the increased value our combined technology portfolios and talent will provide to our customers. Moseda has acquired CareKit Health by way of purchasing all of the shares of CareKit and has issued to the CareKit shareholders a total of 600,000 Moseda shares and 9,400,000 Moseda performance warrants at a deemed price of $0.20 per share with an exercise term of 3 years. The Moseda shares will be released to the CareKit shareholders in 18 months. The Moseda warrants will vest upon CareKits completion of certain performance conditions with a limited vesting term of 2 years. The Moseda warrants may be exercised in accordance with an agreed upon exercise schedule. As a part of the acquisition, Mr. Giancarlo De Lio, BSc, MBA has been appointed Chief Visionary Officer at Moseda and Mr. Leo Godreault, RN has been appointed Vice President, Products. Furthermore, Mr. Sameet Kanade has resigned as a director and officer of the Company. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Dr. Lisa Crossley, CEO and Director 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. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are forward-looking statements. We caution you that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to commercial operations, including technology development, anticipated revenues, projected size of market, and other information that is based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Moseda Technologies Inc. (the Company) does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, technology development and marketing activities, the Companys historical experience with technology development, uninsured risks. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Contacts: CORE Capital Partners 604-566-9233 Semitrex Opens Two New Semiconductor Design Centers IRVINE, CA (Marketwired) 02/09/16 Looking to better tackle the worldwide energy crisis, power semiconductor solutions company today announced the establishment of two new design centers: a power design center in Irvine, California and a mixed-signal design center in Milan, Italy. These two new facilities enable Semitrex to expand its global presence and build its technical design team to meet the demand for its award-winning, energy-efficient power supply technologies. The announcement of the new design centers comes on the heels of Semitrex opening a and establishing an . Dedicated to the digital design of Semitrexs TRONIUM Power Supply System(s) on a Chip () products, the new mixed-signal/analog integrated circuit (IC) design centers are equipped with labs featuring state-of-the-art technologies. The centers will be the key drivers of the companys global product roadmap, spearheading the creation of next-generation power conversion products to meet the power demands of the future. Strategically located in Irvines Technology Corridor, the new Southern California power design center allows the company to expand its presence in the region and tap into the areas skilled engineering resources. Semitrexs design team works with highly advanced power conversion technologies, which provide a total solution breakthrough that brings both energy and design efficiencies to all manner of end markets and equipment. The focus of the center will be the analog side of the digitally controlled switched-capacitor AC-DC/DC-DC converters, which boost efficiency in power supplies. The opening of the new European mixed-signal design center in Milan underscores the companys commitment to solving the problem of energy waste worldwide and builds on its efforts to help solve Europes $15 billion per year vampire load crisis. Mixed-signal analog chips, which include digital power control designs, will be the focus of the European design center. According to Michael H. Freeman, J.D., Semitrex CEO/CTO, With energy consumption at an all-time high and the emergence of new standards for energy efficiency, its crucial that our customers have access to cutting-edge technologies and products to tackle these challenges. Our TRONIUM suite of innovative power management solutions eliminates energy waste today, while also targeting the higher efficiency power demands of the futures. The new design centers position us to shape our game-changing technologies into global solutions. The first comprehensive power conversion breakthrough in decades, Semitrexs core technology improves the way that power conversions are made to significantly increase power efficiency and reduce grid stress. All told, more than three billion devices can benefit from the energy efficiencies Semitrex provides. Earlier this month, the global Semitrex engineering team converged in Irvine when Freeman hosted a quarterly meeting at the new power design center. Increased efficiency requirements for power supplies brought on by global government regulation is top of mind for our team, he added. Bringing together this select group of industry experts underscores Semitrexs commitment to addressing this issue. Please visit for more information. Semitrex is a new breed of power semiconductor company enjoying successes in energy-efficient digital power solutions. At a time when worldwide energy shortages are a reality and strict new efficiency standards are being enacted globally, Semitrex is creating impactful, revolutionary energy-efficient power conversion products that are friendly to humans and the environment. The first real power supply breakthrough in over four decades, Semitrexs highly energy-efficient TRONIUM Power Supply System on a Chip (PSSoC) is a total solution that virtually eliminates vampire power losses. Applications addressed by Semitrexs power conversion technology include the billions of devices in the consumer, computer, telecom, medical and industrial markets. To learn more about Semitrex, please visit the company website at . Image Available: Stephanie Olsen Lages & Associates (949) 453-8080 Shaw Encourages Canadians to End Bullying With #PinkShirtPromise CALGARY, ALBERTA (Marketwired) 02/09/16 Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR) today announced it is teaming up with community partners across the country for #PinkShirtPromise, a national campaign inspiring Canadians to join the movement to end bullying. #PinkShirtPromise launches today and continues through Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday, February 24. Bullying is destructive, emotionally damaging, and, in some cases, deadly, and no child should have to suffer from its harmful and negative effects, said Brad Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications Inc. Shaws #PinkShirtPromise campaign is a powerful initiative that gives us the ability to work closely with our partners to create safer environments for children and youth whether at school, at home, or online. Starting today, Shaw is asking Canadians to work toward ending bullying by sharing their personal pledges on social media using #PinkShirtPromise. Participants can also post a photo of their pinky or a photo of themselves making a pinky promise with a friend or family member using #PinkyPromise, and then nominate three friends to do the same to promote accountability and maintain commitment to the promise. Everyone who participates in the campaign will be entered for a chance to win an ET Canada Experience, which includes flights for two to Toronto and two nights hotel accommodation, and a $1,500 dollar shopping spree at a participating shopping centre. Visit to learn more. Through the Shaw Kids Investment Program (SKIP), #PinkShirtPromise brings together the expertise, knowledge, and resources of community partners from across the country. Key SKIP partners include Youthlink Calgary, Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Kids Help Phone, MediaSmarts, Companies Committed to Kids, and Rock Solid Foundation. Shaws #PinkShirtPromise campaign starts on Safer Internet Day, which is supported by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and encourages people to raise awareness about the importance of online safety by tweeting and posting using the hashtags #SID2016 and #Up2Us. For more information on Safer Internet Day, visit . To support #PinkShirtPromise and enable participants to more easily post and share their promises, Shaw will open up its Shaw Go WiFi Guest Network, with access to 75,000 active hotspots across the country, on Pink Shirt Day. Shaw Internet subscribers already have access to the Shaw Go WiFi service; others can access the Guest Network by searching for available WiFi connections on their devices and selecting ShawGuest from the list of available options. A full list of locations is available at or by downloading the Shaw Go WiFi Finder app. Quotes: YouthLink Calgary is very proud to partner with Shaw to stand up against bullying. At YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre, we believe education is the key to prevention and every day our educators teach youth that whenever one person takes a stand, it helps other people to do the same. We applaud Shaw and the #PinkShirtPromise campaign for encouraging people to take action. We stand shoulder to shoulder to help empower kids and make our communities and schools a safer place for kids to be. Tara Robinson, Executive Director, Youthlink Calgary The Canadian Centre for Child Protection plays an active part in supporting youth in crisis who have been affected by a sexual picture or video shared online, often in tandem with cyberbullying. We share Shaws #PinkShirtPromise campaign goals in encouraging youth to stand up for someone who is being mistreated or bullied both online and offline. Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection Bullying is one of the most common concerns we hear about at Kids Help Phone, and the effect that is had on young people-both emotionally and physically-is significant, regardless of whether they are being bullied or doing the bullying. Were proud to stand in partnership with Shaw Communications to make a #PinkShirtPromise, and create safer and friendlier communities for all kids in Canada. Sharon Wood, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kids Help Phone Our research shows that three-quarters of Canadian students say its important to speak out against bullying, racism and sexism online. Unfortunately, almost half of them dont feel that its their place to do so, and older kids are more likely than younger ones to feel this way. Shaws #PinkShirtPromise is a vital step in showing kids that they have a right to safe and respectful online spaces and the power to create them. Cathy Wing, Co-Executive Director, MediaSmarts As a champion of kids social, mental, and physical well-being issues, Companies Committed to Kids is proud to play an active role in ending bullying. Our recent national research, Taking the Pulse of Canadas Kids, indicates 80 per cent of Canadian parents feel bullying prevention is important to their childs well-being. Shaws #PinkShirtPromise campaign challenges all of us as parents, advocates, and citizens to stand together to stop bullying at school, online, and in our communities. Bev Deeth, President, Companies Committed to Kids As a leader in violence prevention programs for children and youth we know all too well the issues facing our communities when it comes to bullying. Shaw has been a great supporter of our award-winning WITS Program and we are excited to partner with them on the #PinkShirtPromise campaign to engage Canadians in lending their voice and support to end bullying. Dorian Brown, Executive Director, Rock Solid Foundation About Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company, providing consumers with broadband cable television, High-Speed Internet, Home Phone, telecommunications services (through Shaw Business), satellite direct-to-home services (through Shaw Direct) and engaging programming content (through Shaw Media). Shaw serves 3.2 million customers, through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw Media operates one of the largest conventional television networks in Canada, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR). For more information, please visit . Contacts: For media inquiries, please contact: Shaw Communications Inc. Chethan Lakshman VP, External Affairs (403) 930-8448 Hurricane and Greenivative Tech Game Changer in Emergency Preparedness Field Customers looking for the latest Emergency Power Generation technology will soon be able to purchase G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II by Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Technologies. Today Anthony Jones, CEO at Hurricane Wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Technologies releases details of Saltwater Battery Charger Generation IIs development. G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II is designed to appeal specifically to those with interest in the disciplines of Emergency preparedness, prepping, defense contractors, disaster relief agencies. The product we have developed is a :Saltwater fuel cell, battery charger for emergency portable power technology This technology utilizes a stored chemical reaction activated by saltwater one of the most abundant resources on earth to provide power in the event of a natural disaster. This is great news for the consumer asThe ability to generate power to provide light, to make a phone call or power other communication or use signaling devices could mean the difference between life and death. Long shelf life and compact design This was made part of the product, since The saltwater battery charger can be stored for over a decade and has the ability to recharge 6 batteries over 30 times roughly the same power potential of carrying 180 AA batteries with a finite shelf life. Customers who buy G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II should enjoy this feature because The G-mag will ensure the end user has portable dependable power on demand that can be called on in a moments notice. Charges mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Tech made sure to make this part of the Emergency Power G-Mag Generation II development as The smart charger for 5 volt devices allows the generation II power cell to charge a large variety of phones tablets and mobile devices. . Customers will likely appreciate this because charging versatility maximum usage of the emergency power generated with unmatched versatility. The product can be seen in demonstrated at [power cell charger demonstration video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCLxqIs4jZ0) Anthony Jones, when asked about G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II said: This new technology is a game changer for emergency power generation in the event disaster strikes This is Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Tech 1st release of a new product and Anthony Jones is particularly excited about this release because this product is a unique offering in the field of portable power generation. The patent pending technology does not rely on wind or solar which may not be available in the event of an emergency. The product is not sensitive to such events as solar flares and has the ability to save lives. The market has not seen anything quite like this before. I am excited about this product because it is the an evolution of a technology which can be expanded to eventual larger units which will be the leading edge of power generation in the field of portable power and emergency preparedness. . Those interested in purchasing can go directly to the product listing, here: [http://www.hurricanewindpower.com/greenivative-g-m](http://www.hurricanewindpower.com/greenivative-g-mag-gen-ii) Database: See how mortgage rates have changed since 1971 Here's how current mortgage rates compare to each of the past 50 years. Oak Creek to host outdoor 2022 World Cup watch party A partnership between Morans Pub in South Milwaukee and the city of Oak Creek will offer residents food, drinks, music and games on Nov. 25. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea WASHINGTON The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said it held a successful flight test of its ground-based interceptor Jan. 28, as part of an effort to correct long-standing problems with the missile's kill vehicle. The test did not involve an intercept of a target, the agency said in a press release. Navy Adm. James Syring, the head of the MDA, said during a presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Jan. 19 that the primary purpose of the test was to gather more data about the kill vehicle's divert and attitude control system, which helps steer the kill vehicle into its target. [The Most Destructive Space Weapons Concepts] "This will be a great test in terms of engineering and learning," Syring said. During the Jan. 28 test, an intermediate-range ballistic missile, full of countermeasures and decoys, was launched from an Air Force C-17 flying west of Hawaii. An AN/TPY-2 radar at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii and the Sea-Based X-band radar in the ocean north of Hawaii each tracked the target. The Ground Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system received the tracking data, which led to the launch of the interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, an MDA press release said. The interceptor released a Raytheon-built CE-2 Exoatmostpheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV, which then performed a series of maneuvers to demonstrate the divert thrusters in space. Industry and government teams were able to collect information on how the thrusters performed and were "thrilled" with the results, said Norm Tew, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the ground-based midcourse defense system. "This was a remarkable data-collection opportunity," Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, said in a Jan. 28 press release. "These are among our industry's most complex systems. Testing is critically important to ensuring the advancement of reliable kill vehicles for the protection of the U.S. homeland." Boeing, the prime contractor on the GMD system, said that the test of thrusters is especially important because that technology could be used in the agency's next-generation kill vehicle, known as the redesigned kill vehicle. A December 2010 intercept test that used the same kill vehicle variant, known as Capability Enhancement 2, failed in part because of the thrusters, Syring said. A 2014 Government Accountability Office study said the agency has spent more than $2 billion correcting and fixing problems associated with the CE-2. A 2014 test using the same kill vehicle variant resulted in an intercept and gave engineers a baseline for future improvements, industry officials said. The next intercept test of the CE-2 kill vehicle is expected before the end of the year, Syring said. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, answered a lot of dumb questions from the media and in this beautifully animated audio interview with Gloria Steinem, she discusses her responses, the future of spaceflight and what she felt during launch. The two women recorded the interview only months after Ride flew to space on June 18, 1983, and it was discovered in a collection of Steinem's papers at Smith College. The interview comes courtesy of "Blank on Blank," a PBS series that animates lost interviews with iconic figures and the illustrated result is just dazzling. The first woman in space was the Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. Ride joined the first astronaut class to include women, in 1978, and was the first of them to fly. Ride was highly trained and prepared for her role as a mission specialist aboard the Challenger space shuttle, but found the media spotlight overwhelming: "Without a doubt, I think the worst question that I've gotten was whether I cried when we got malfunctions in the simulator," she told Steinem in the interview. And don't even get her started about the bra question. Ride flew on a second Challdenger mission in 1984, where she operated the shuttle's robotic arm to adjust a radar antenna and clear ice off the shuttle. After her NASA career, she continued as a researcher at Stanford University and then at the University of California, San Diego. As detailed in Space.com's interview with Ride's partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaugnessy, Ride also became deeply involved in bringing science to a young audience, authoring several science books through children and encouraging even more through the company she and O'Shaugnessy founded, Sally Ride Science. (Plus, she was president of Space.com from 1999 to 2000.) Ride's interview is the first of four in Blank on Blank's series "The Experimenters," which features rare interviews from innovators in science and technology. The episode's animation director discussed bringing the interview to life on Blank on Blank's website depicting Ride's experiences and her love of science and space travel. As Ride puts it in the interview: "Roughly half the people in the world would love to be astronauts, would give anything to trade places with you, and the other half just can't understand why in the world you would do something that stupid." Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. A strike by a medium-size asteroid could change Earth's climate dramatically for a few years, making life difficult for people around the world, a new study suggests. Such an impact on land (as opposed to at sea) could cause average global temperatures to plunge to ice age levels and lead to steep drops in precipitation and plant productivity, among other effects, researchers said. "These would not be pleasant times," Charles Bardeen, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said in December during a presentation at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)] Short-term climate change Bardeen and his colleagues modeled what would happen to Earth's climate if a 0.6-mile-wide (1 kilometer) space rock plowed into one of the planet's landmasses. Such an impact would probably gouge out a crater about 9 miles (15 km) wide, throw huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere and trigger large-scale fires that lofted lots of soot into the air, provided the strike didn't occur in a desert area with little vegetation, Bardeen said. The material lofted after this hypothetical asteroid strike would stay in the atmosphere for a long time about six years in the case of dust and 10 years for soot, according to the researchers' results for the "worst-case scenario" (which assumed widespread fires). These particles would warm in the sun, heating the stratosphere significantly and speeding up chemical reactions that destroy ozone, which protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Indeed, atmospheric ozone would be temporarily reduced by 55 percent, causing the surface UV index to top 20 in the tropics for several years. (According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a UV index of 11 or above denotes "extreme risk of harm from unprotected sun exposure.") The atmospheric soot and dust would also reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth's surface by up to 70 percent for the first year or two, Bardeen said. As a result, average global surface temperatures would cool by 14.5 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), "which is about the equivalent of the ice ages," Bardeen said during his AGU presentation. The bulk of this temperature drop would occur on land, he added. But effects would be felt in the oceans as well; sea-ice cover would increase, and water has a high thermal inertia, so changes in ocean temperature would last for a relatively long time. For example, the team's models suggest that the top layers of the ocean would still be about 0.9 degrees F (0.5 degrees C) cooler than normal 15 years after the asteroid impact. The global cooling would also lead to a drop in precipitation of about 50 percent around the world, Bardeen said. "This is due to the lost heating and the lost temperature, so we lose convection; we don't have as many [weather] fronts," he said. The decrease in sunlight, rain and snow would lead to a roughly 50 percent drop in plant productivity not good news for farmers and the people who depend on them (which is to say, everyone in the world). Crops in North America, Europe and northern Asia would be especially hard-hit, while agricultural lands in India, South America and Africa would not be affected as much, Bardeen said. So, the overall picture is not pretty. A strike by a 0.6-mile-wide asteroid could cause "a very severe global impact" for several years, Bardeen said. But a space rock would likely have to be about 10 times bigger to cause a mass extinction, he added. (The asteroid that's thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, along with many other species, 65 million years ago was probably about 6 miles, or 10 km, wide.) [Wipe Out: History's Most Mysterious Extinctions] Ocean impact? Bardeen and his team modeled the aftermath of an asteroid strike on land. But it's more likely that a space rock would come down in water, since oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface. What would happen then? A 2010 modeling study by the late Elisabetta Pierazzo and her colleagues looked into this scenario, and determined that the effects on Earth's protective ozone layer would be dramatic. An ocean strike by a 0.6-mile-wide asteroid, the team found, would loft enough salty water vapor to destroy huge quantities of ozone, causing the surface UV index to spike temporarily to 56. Such high radiation levels, which have never been experienced in human history, would probably force people to stay inside during the day, Pierazzo said when the study came out. But an ocean strike would not have the same climatic consequences as a land impact, Bardeen said. "The temperature effects, the precipitation effects, the effects on plants those would all really only come with the land impact," Bardeen said. However, the chances of an asteroid strike with serious global consequences seem remote, at least in the near future. To date, astronomers have spotted 879 near-Earth asteroids that are at least 0.6 miles wide, and none of them pose an immediate threat. Models suggest that these 879 represent more than 90 percent of the total population of such mountain-size space rocks in Earth's neighborhood, NASA officials have said. If a dangerous asteroid does line Earth up in its cross hairs, humanity doesn't have to sit idly by, just waiting for the end to come. If the space rock is detected with enough lead time ideally, a decade or more before a potential impact it could conceivably be steered off course using one or more "kinetic impactor" spacecraft that would slam into the space rock, and perhaps a fly-along "gravity tractor" probe as well, which would further nudge the asteroid slowly over long periods of time. Destroying or disrupting the incoming object with a nuclear bomb is also an option, researchers say, especially if the threatening rock is extremely large and/or was first spotted shortly before its encounter with Earth. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. The death of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, has drawn tributes from across the space community, as his passing was reported in the news and shared on social media. Mitchell died Thursday (Feb. 4) the eve of the 45th anniversary of his and Alan Shepard's lunar landing in 1971 at age 85 after a short illness. "On behalf of the entire NASA family, I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell,"Charles Bolden, NASA's administrator and a former space shuttle astronaut, said in a statement released Friday (Feb. 5). "As a member of the Apollo 14 crew, Edgar is one of only 12 men to walk on the moon."[ Edgar Mitchell: The Sixth Man on the Moon ] The third of six successful moon landings, Apollo 14 marked NASA's return to flight after the in-flight emergency on Apollo 13 in April 1970. Mitchell and Shepard explored the Fra Mauro lunar highlands, deploying scientific instruments and collecting almost 95 lbs. (43 kilograms) of moon rocks. In the process, the two astronauts set a record for the longest distance traveled by foot on the moon. In 2011, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that their boot prints are still in place and are visible from the moon's orbit four decades later. "Honored to have met Ed Mitchell while [a] 'baby astronaut,'"Clay Anderson, a former space station flight engineer, wrote on Twitter. "We were at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for a moon boot print dedication." "RIP sir and thank you for your courage and service to our nation. Godspeed,"Anderson added on Twitter. Condolences also came from the current commander of the International Space Station. "Sad to learn of the passing of Edgar Mitchell, coincidently 45 years after he walked on the moon. A true pioneer,"NASA astronaut Scott Kelly wrote from onboard the orbiting outpost. In addition to his service to the nation's space program, Mitchell furthered a personal interest in human consciousness, conducting personal ESP experiments on the way back from the moon and founding the Institute of Noetic Sciences. "I first met Ed when I was at MIT as he was studying there at the same time,"Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin recalled on Facebook. "Ed was certainly involved in advanced mental sensory perceptions, a.k.a. mind reading. Not my bailiwick, but I respected him for his persistence and dedication to studying the unknown." "I'm sorry to lose another of our Apollo Lunar Pioneers. RIP Ed,"Aldrin wrote. With Mitchell's passing, only seven of the 12 Apollo astronauts who walked on the moon are still living. Mitchell was preceded in death by his Apollo 14 commander, Alan Shepard, as well as Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11), Charles "Pete"Conrad (Apollo 12) and James Irwin (Apollo 15). "Walt and I lost a dear friend today,"Dot Cunningham, the wife of Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham, wrote on Facebook. "[Mitchell's] accomplishments were many and his heart bigger than the moon he landed on." Mitchell's legacy lives on, in part, in the work he did with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the Mercury astronauts that awards college students excelling in science and engineering degrees. "When asked about his time in space, he once stated, 'You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world and a compulsion to do something about it,'"the foundation recounted in a tribute posted online. "He lived his life fulfilling that mission, and in doing so, he made this world a better place." Mitchell contributed his perspective on his life's experiences in the 2007 documentary "The Wonder of It All,"which told the human side of the story of the men behind the Apollo missions. "His friendship and support towards us and our film transcended all our expectations,"wrote the filmmakers, including director Jeffrey Roth. "We will be forever grateful for his genuine support over the years." "The world will remember Edgar as the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14,"Roth, executive producer Stephen Beck and producer Paul Basta wrote, "but we will remember him as our friend who just happened to walk on the moon. Godspeed Edgar, may you continue on your journey now." Robert Z. Pearlman is a Space.com contributing writer and the editor of collectSPACE.com, a Space.com partner site and the leading space history-focused news publication. Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. A new telescope view has revealed hundreds of galaxies that were previously obscured by the Milky Way's bulk. Scientists used an Australian radio telescope famous for assisting with the moon landings to peer through the gas and dust of the Milky Way, and uncovered 883 galaxies hidden behind it one-third of which were never observed before. You can see how the hidden galaxies were found in this video. This new view of the region could help explain something called the Great Attractor, which is a mysterious spot in the universe whose strong gravity pulls on the Milky Way and thousands of other galaxies with "the force equivalent to a million billion suns," researchers said in a statement. Scientists have known about the phenomenon since the 1970s. Artist's impression of the galaxies behind the Milky Way in the "Zone of Avoidance." (Image credit: ICRAR) "The Milky Way is very beautiful, of course, and it's very interesting to study our own galaxy, but it completely blocks out the view of the more distant galaxies behind it," lead author Lister Staveley-Smith, director of science with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) said in the statement. The new observations, made using the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Parkes Observatory, in Australia, found three new galaxy concentrations (NW1, NW2 and NW3) and two new clusters (CW1 and CW2). The researchers put a new, 21-centimeter (8.3 inches) multibeam receiver on the observatory that allowed it to map the sky 13 times faster than it had previously, officials said in the statement. Thus, they were able to pin down a region beyond the Milky Way that astronomers had wondered about for decades. With further work, the team hopes the discoveries will help explain observed anomalies within the universal expansion of the cosmos, like the Great Attractor, researchers said. Artist's impression showing how radio waves leave the new galaxies, pass through the Milky Way and are detected by the Parkes radio telescope on Earth. (Image credit: ICRAR) "We don't actually understand what's causing this gravitational acceleration on the Milky Way or where it's coming from," Staveley-Smith said. "We know that in this region there are a few very large collections of galaxies we call clusters or superclusters, and our whole Milky Way is moving towards them at more than 2 million km/h [1.2 million mph]," he added. The research was detailed in The Astronomical Journal Feb. 9. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. President Barack Obama is unveiling his budget proposal for the 2017 fiscal year today and it includes a $19 billion request for NASA, down from the $19.3 billion enacted for 2016, and estimates a rise in spending of up to $20.4 billion in 2021. At 1:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT) today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will give a State of NASA presentation on the proposed budget for 2017 and what it means for NASA's Journey to Mars and other initiatives. At 5 p.m. ET, NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski will discuss the request in a teleconference with reporters. You can follow those webcasts and audio casts here. The summary also includes projected budgets for 2018 ($18.8 billion), 2019 ($19.4 billion), 2020 ($19.9 billion) and 2021 ($20.4 billion). Scroll down to see how the 2017 budget proposal for NASA will be distributed across the space agency's main directorates, courtesy of a NASA budget summary posted here. Science - $5,601 million $2,032 million for Earth Science, including a plan to continue the 43-year Landsat record of global land-imaging measurements. $1,519 million for Planetary Science, keeping on track the Mars 2020 rover and the next selection for the New Frontiers program and including formulation of a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa. $782 million for Astrophysics, continuing support for the Hubble Space Telescope, the Explorers Program, and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). $569 million for the James Webb Space Telescope, maintaining its 2018 launch date. $699 million for Heliophysics, supporting the launches of two Explorer missions this decade as well as research to improve space weather modeling. Continues development of 30 missions toward launch and operation of 60 missions producing leading edge science. Funds over 10,000 U.S. scientists in universities, industry, and government labs through over 3,000 openly competed research awards. Human Exploration Operations - $8,413 million Includes $3,337 million for Exploration and $5,076 million for Space Operations. Continues commercial development of US crew transportation systems to be certified to support the ISS by the end of 2017, ending the need to pay Russia for crew transport services. Enables use of ISS as a platform for scientists to identify and quantify risks to human health and performance, develop countermeasures, and develop and test technologies that protect astronauts during extended human exploration missions. Continues development of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew vehicle to send astronauts on deep space missions. Furthers Advanced Exploration Systems development of foundational technologies often through public-private partnerships for future exploration missions, including deep space habitation. Continues mission-critical space communications and navigation services for customer missions, including human, science, and commercial crew and cargo missions. Space Technology - $827 million Enables the U.S. aerospace community to find technologies at the "tipping point" and make them viable for use by industry, NASA, and other government agencies in order to accelerate the transfer and commercialization of these technologies. Cultivates small businesses as the central home for NASA SBIR/STTR and engages with academia through early stage research. Continues formulation activities for a full-scale in-space demonstration of on-orbit robotic satellite servicing. Continues development of high-powered solar electric propulsion to meet demands by U.S. aerospace industry, and for NASA exploration missions. Support fast transit in-space propulsion and high-bandwidth deep space communication to support future exploration missions. Aeronautics Research - $790 million Advances aeronautics research bringing transformational advances in the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the air transportation system while minimizing impacts on the environment. Develops transformative capabilities that enable the U.S. aviation industry to maintain and advance its global leadership and contributes to the nations economic growth and job creation Establishes a major new experimental flight initiative to demonstrate and validate new technologies that dramatically reduce fuel consumption, emissions, and noise, and open new markets for U.S. Industry Supports research and development for revolutionary low carbon emission aircraft, including associated transportation systems, as part of a multiagency effort to enable a 21st century clean transportation system. Education - $100 million Continues to provide opportunities for educators, learners and institutions that are consistent with the goals, objectives, and strategies of the Five-Year Federal Strategic Plan on STEM Education. Continues the Agencys investment in the Space Grant, EPSCOR, and MUREP Programs. Safety, Security and Mission Services and Construction & Environmental Compliance and Restoration - $3,257 million Funds Agency-wide mission support operations, including facilities and environmental activities. Ensures NASA infrastructure and assets are safe, secure, environmentally sound, and operate efficiently Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. North Korean satellite launched Saturday may be tumbling in orbit and inoperable. While the U.S. Defense Department has made no public comment on the status of the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite launched by North Korea, a senior defense official said it appeared that the satellite was tumbling in orbit, and thus not able to carry out its Earth observation mission. The official didn't provide any additional details on the satellite's condition, and North Korean officials continue to declare the launch a success. [CNN] More News A Delta 4 rocket is set to launch early tomorrow carrying a classified payload. The Delta 4 is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:39 a.m. Eastern, with a 100 percent chance of acceptable weather. The Delta 4 is carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on a mission designated NROL-45. The NRO has not released additional details about the mission, but satellite watchers believe the payload is a Topaz radar imaging satellite. [Spaceflight Now] The Obama Administration will roll out its fiscal year 2017 budget request today. The White House will release the overall budget late this morning, with agencies to follow up with additional details later today. For NASA, that includes a "State of NASA" speech by Charles Bolden at the Langley Research Center this afternoon. NASA received nearly $19.3 billion in fiscal year 2016, three-quarters of a billion dollars more than the original request. [My News 13 Orlando] Scientists announced plans for press conferences Thursday that may announce the discovery of gravitational waves. Scientific collaborations that use the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), as well as the National Science Foundation, announced plans for press conferences in Washington, D.C., and several other locations Thursday morning to report on the status of the search for gravitational waves. The planned announcement, coupled with other rumors, suggest scientists will announce the discovery of gravitational waves in the cosmos, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity but not yet observed. [GeekWire] Want to get these briefings even earlier? Here's the signup. Spaceport America is expected to get only a fraction of the state funding it requested for this year. A funding bill in the New Mexico Legislature would provide the spaceport with $1 million for operations, compared to a request of $2.8 million. The spaceport hasn't discussed how it will make ends meet if the lower funding level is sustained in the final version of the bill, but spaceport supporters argue it would make "absolutely no sense" to close or sell the facility given the state investment in the spaceport. [Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News] NASA offered a first look at some of the hardware being built for its next Mars rover. The hardware is part of the landing system for the Mars 2020 mission, similar to the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in 2012. The 2020 mission will collect Mars rock and soil samples for return to Earth on a later mission. [CBS] An organization that says it represents a group of NASA employees is threatening to sue the agency on grounds of religious discrimination. The Liberty Institute says that a group of employees, members of a religious club at NASA's Johnson Space Center, were told by agency officials they could not mention "Jesus" in email announcements about the club's activities. The institute said it will file suit next month unless NASA drops the ban. A NASA spokeswoman said the agency doesn't prohibit the use of religious names in such newsletters. [The Hill] A Mars One finalist is simulating a trip to Mars by spending five days in a glass box in Australia. Josh Richards will stay in the box, a simulated habitat, located along Sydney Harbour in full view of passersby. He has various activities planned for the week, "including building a transmitter and undertaking an IQ test." The event is less a training exercise than a publicity stunt for the Australian DVD release of The Martian. [Mashable] Eliminating the Competition At a technology awards event in San Francisco Monday night called the Crunchies, SpaceX won the award for "Best Technology Achievement" for its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX beat out another Elon Musk-run company, Tesla and its autopilot technology, along with Apple's 3D Touch, Microsoft HoloLens, and a nuclear power startup called Transatomic Power. Besides the SpaceX-Tesla link, SpaceX had a connection with another finalist: A HoloLens virtual reality system was part of the cargo of a SpaceX Dragon mission to the ISS. That mission, though, was the one in June that was lost in a Falcon 9 failure. [TechCrunch] This story was provided by Space News, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Many will try to cross into Europe anyway, illegally via the Macedonian border with the help of fake documents or by following the new routes through Albania and Croatia -- or by boat to Italy. But all others are stuck in Greece. This despite the fact that since 2011, Germany has declined to send refugees back to Greece, which the Dublin Regulation stipulates, out of human rights considerations. The German Interior Ministry just extended the pause in deportations until June. According to a report by the Gemeinsames Analyse- und Strategiezentrum illegale Migration (Joint Analysis and Strategy Center on Illegal Immigration), many refugees in Greece live on the streets, even children and neo-nazis periodically hunt them down. The conditions for many refugees in Greece are described by the German authorities as "inhumane." And still, the country is potentially being turned into a giant refugee camp. According to a confidential memo from the German Foreign Office, a backup of refugees would "inevitably lead to uncontrollable humanitarian conditions and security problems within days." Migration researcher Franck Duvell from Oxford University warns that it would lead to "downright apocalyptic scenarios": Greece would collapse within a few weeks, he believes. Criticism of Athens Officials in Brussels are seemingly aware of this, which is why they are currently trying to balance partial border closings, the imposition of better controls in Greece and the public admonishing of Athens. In a confidential, but perhaps not entirely accidentally leaked, report, the EU Commission describes the findings of its inspectors on the islands of Chios and Samos and on the land border with Turkey in November. Their conclusion: Greece has "seriously neglected" its duty to control its outer borders. The list of shortcomings, the report claims, is long: The registration of the refugees isn't working, because there aren't devices for taking fingerprints and the Internet sometimes stops working; there aren't enough officials; there are too few boats to guard the coast; passports are not being compared with databases, including those of Interpol. "The major culprit isn't Greece," Greek Minister of Immigration Policy Ioannis Mouzalas says. He admits that registration in the initial reception centers known as "hotspots" is going slowly, and that things are behind schedule. But he claims the EU report is exaggerated, and that, either way, it is now outdated. Additionally, he claims, the EU has only sent Greece 800 of the 1,800 requested Frontex officials, and financial help for the purchase of fingerprint readers only came the previous week. He argues that the delays are a "convenient excuse" for the EU. Mouzalas is furious that Greece is being pilloried while the most important mechanism to solve the problem is not being implemented: the distribution quota. Last fall, European leaders agreed to redistribute 66,400 refugees from Greece. So far, nine countries have only offered up 305 spots. Only 157 people have been relocated, a mere 10 to Germany. "Instead of chastising Greece ..., it would be more productive to do something about those states that sabotage the relocation scheme," says Mouzalas. Migration researcher Duvell also finds the EU's accusations "deeply unfair, cynical and shameful." He has conducted research himself in Greece and in Turkey -- and has come to the conclusion that it is impossible for Athens to stop migration to Europe, or even slow it down, on its own. "The EU member states are needed. They need to find a way to fairly distribute asylum-seekers across Europe," says Duvell. Brussel's criticism, he argues, is a "cheap trick," in order to "distract people from the failures of the EU states in the refugee crisis." Misplaced Anger A confidential report by the German parliament administration from January 29 likewise suggests that the EU redistribution program is in danger of falling apart due to the lack in willingness by member states to take in refugees. The criticism of Greece also seems unfair because international law makes it illegal to simply send refugees back to Turkey. In the past, the Greeks were reprimanded for pushing away boats with refugees and Alexis Tsipras' government has mostly stopped these "push-backs." Now it is being criticized for doing the opposite. The German government is aware of this dilemma: According to an internal report by the "hotspot" commissioner of the German government from December, Turkey is the "central player in the reduction" of the numbers of refugees. "The Greeks can only save the refugees, but not stop the smugglers." For this reason, the Netherlands government has pushed for a plan in which refugees would be directly sent back from the Greek islands to Turkey on ferries. In return, the EU member states should then be willing to accept a contingent of 250,000 refugees every year from Turkey. But that is unrealistic as long as the Europe-wide distribution doesn't work. And regardless, the suggestion is legally problematic for two reasons: For one, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights stipulates that asylum applications must be individually evaluated. And although Greece just declared Turkey to be a "secure third country" to which refugees may be deported, mass returns are unlikely, Duvell believes. He asks, "Why should Erdogan act as Europe's bouncer?" The memo by the European Commission therefore exists to justify the upcoming extension of the temporary border controls, like those that have been introduced in Germany and Austria. According to the Schengen Border Code, there needs to be a lack in supervision of the outer borders for the closure of the interior borders to be allowable. The ultimate goal is that of saving Schengen: An end to the free movement of goods and people would be especially damaging to Germany and the northern countries. Mouzalas, the Greek Minister of Immigration Policy, also believes that Brussel's threats to kick his country out of the Schengen Zone amount to fear-mongering and, legally speaking, nonsense. Anyways: "Whatever happens with Schengen, the migrant flows will not be affected." He is much more afraid that the countries on the Balkan route will close down their borders -- all the way to the north. For this reason, he is putting his faith in the most hated woman in his homeland: the German chancellor. "Angela Merkel is under pressure, so I fear that at some point the German border will close." And then he says something that is very unusual for a Greek. "Germany is right now the voice of reason in Europe." Eroded Trust In order to avoid giving the Europeans a reason to shut the borders, Tsipras has now decreed that, by mid-February, all five "hotspots" and two new reception centers shall be operational. In order for that to happen quickly, he has assigned the task to the army. One of the reception centers is to be built west of Thessaloniki, on Military Base 1090. A ghost town, with roofless barracks, covered in garbage and weeds, the only living things are a couple of growling, snarling guard dogs. In fewer than two weeks, 4,000 refugees are to be housed here. The Delta municipality, in which the military base is located, is poor, there are drug dealers and criminals. "The government didn't even ask us in advance," complains Delta's mayor, Mimis Fotopoulos. "The people here aren't so concerned about the refugees themselves," he says. "They are concerned because they don't trust the government to enforce law and order. And they don't trust Europe, which seems to want to unload its problems onto Greece." Only on one point are the citizens of Delta optimistic: They think it's completely unrealistic that the military base will be ready to house refugees in two weeks. Last weeks Code Black ended on a huge cliffhanger. This episode, the lives of three doctors are changed forever. In the previous few episodes, Gordon Heshman has been stalking/ our wonderful Dr. Malaya Pineda. After Dr. Gina Perello ( Christina Vidal ) was found by Dr. Christa Lorenson ( Bonnie Somerville ), she was taken to centre stage. With eight stab wounds to the abdomen and blood pouring out of her at an alarming rate, Dr. Mike Leighton ( Tommy Dewey ), Dr. Mario Savetti ( Benjamin Hollingsworth ), Dr. Neal Hudson ( Raza Jeffrey ) and Christa try to save her life. In the midst of them trying to save Ginas life, Dr. Malaya Pineda ( Melanie Chandra ) is wheeled into the ER with a stab wound (and multiple injuries that we arent able to see yet). And all this only happens in the first 5 minutes. Ultimately, all efforts are in vain because Gina dies. Time of death: 5:43am. Mike decided to break from the standard protocol (board members words, not mine) by performing surgery on Gina at Centre Stage. And as Dr. Leanne Rorish ( Marcia Gay Harden ) says, centre stage is where rules go to die. New surgeon Dr. Will Campbell (Boris Kodjoe ) arrives while the trio are desperately trying to save Ginas life. Pissed off that they didnt bring Gina up to the OR, he (rudely) pushes Mike aside and continues the procedure.Ultimately, all efforts are in vain because Gina dies. Time of death: 5:43am. I liked Gina. She was cross at times with everyone, but she was just doing her job. She had Leannes back. She had everyones back. I was crying so hard when Gina died that I had to leave the room. The doctors are all questioned by the Hospitals internal review board after Ginas untimely death. All the doctors involved, including Nurse Jesse Mama Salander ( The doctors are all questioned by the Hospitals internal review board after Ginas untimely death. All the doctors involved, including Nurse Jesse Mama Salander ( Luis Guzman ), are basically interrogated by the members board. Their every move during the whole ordeal are questioned, by the Board and themselves. Campbell, being the cocky S.O.B. he is goes to the board and decides to throw Mike and Neal under the bus. She needed this, she needed that. Im sorry, I actually got so angry at him that I couldnt see straight. Dr. Heather Pinkney ( Jillian Murray ) stands up for Campbells actions, telling Mario that hes an amazing doctor and won multiple awards. Sorry Heather, but winning multiple awards doesn't mean Im going to like you. Executive producer Michael Seitzman said in a statement that Campbell is a well-respected surgeon with an arrogant edge. Hes a character viewers will love, but also love to hate. Hes definitely right on that one: Im definitely hating on Campbell right now. Dr. Angus Leighton ( Harry Ford ) is harbouring a deep and dark secret. He runs down to the parking garage to hand Malayas phone only to find that shes being attacked by Gordon. Gordon, after being tackled off Malaya by Angus, stabs the knife into his throat. He pulls the knife out and initially Angus applies pressure to Gordons neck wound. At the end of the episode, Angus and Malaya share an adorable friendship moment, complete with a Hawaiian burger and a milkshake. Angus also shares that Gordon is dead. Its over. Its a sigh of relief for everyone. Walking out of Malayas hospital room, Angus bumps into his big brother. We then get a shocking revelation: after Gordon stabbed himself in the neck and pulled the knife out, Angus originally applied pressure to stop the bleeding. But what Gordon mutters next is his fatal mistake: Im going to kill that bitch. Angus, angered and shocked, takes pressure off the wound and watches at Gordon bleeds out. Its not until security comes running that Angus snaps out of it and yells for a gurney. Mike comforts his little brother and tell him this is one secret he must take to his grave. Ok, Im not saying that I condone Angus actions, but I do understand them. Think about it: your friend was just stabbed and nearly raped by this guy. Instant anger and protective mode would activate, and you would do anything to stop that guy from hurting your friend. Gordons last words would anger anyone. So I definitely dont blame Angus for having a moment of anger and not helping Gordon. But as a doctor, you took an oath to help, not to kill. Legally, what Angus did was wrong. Morally, I cant blame him (but thats just my opinion). Im worried about what will happen if someone finds out about Angus actions. If there was a security camera in that area and someone decided go over the tapes, they might be able to see what Angus did. Leanne was contemplating on leaving the hospital. But with Ginas death, the position of ER Director is handed to her until Taylor comes back. Harbour may have been on the board and part of the committee that was interrogating the doctors, but we see that he is still distraught by Ginas death. They were in a relationship, and he never got to say goodbye. Him and Leanne share a heart-wrenching moment at Ginas graveside. They both never got to say goodbye to their loved ones. Im definitely glad that Leannes not leaving though. Leanne and Jesse are the back-bone of Angels Memorial and Code Black and if either of them leave, I (or we) will riot. On a lighter note, Christa and Neal are officially a thing. Before Ginas death, Gina pulled Christa aside and told her that she noticed the thing going on between her and Neal. She wanted them both to disclose the relationship to HR by signing a disclosure form. Neal was initially reluctant to sign the form, angering Christa. But, alls well that ends well. The forms are signed, and Neal tells Leanne (in front of the board members) that he and Christa are in a relationship. I have to say, this whole episode was an emotional train-wreck for me. But the writers and the actors/actresses are phenomenal. Truly phenomenal. The storylines are so captivating, and so realistic. To be quite honest, I dont think this show gets enough praise. The work the writers do, on top of the amazing acting abilities from the cast, bring the storylines to life. The actors acted the heck out of all these scenes, making them so real and so connecting on an emotional level. I have to say, this whole episode was an emotional train-wreck for me. But the writers and the actors/actresses are phenomenal. Truly phenomenal. The storylines are so captivating, and so realistic. To be quite honest, I dont think this show gets enough praise. The work the writers do, on top of the amazing acting abilities from the cast, bring the storylines to life. The actors acted the heck out of all these scenes, making them so real and so connecting on an emotional level. On a side note, does anyone know where I can get myself one of those Angels Memorial jackets? They look insanely cool! What was your reaction to the episode? Do you think Angus tell anyone his deep, dark secret or will he keep his trap shut? What do you think is next for Christa and Neal, now that they've signed the HR form? Will Malaya emotionally and mentally recover from her attack? Code Black airs every Wednesday on CBS at 10pm E.T. The CEO of burrito joint Moe's Southwest Grill has a message for everyone disappointed that Chipotle is closing its stores for four hours today : Hey guys, we're open. The Georgia-based Tex-Mex restaurant touted on its website and to CNN Money that the company will be more than happy to welcome customers who are being burrito-blocked by Chipotle's delayed opening Monday. Moe's is even offering a special buy-one-get-one burrito deal with a coupon that reads "Here's to moving on." The United States is notorious for being one of the worst countries for work-life balance. And one reason may be that were lagging grossly behind the rest of the world in parental leave policies. Related: 10 U.S. Companies With Radically Awesome Parental Leave Policies Indeed, we are only one of a handful of countries worldwide that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. Some larger employers like Facebook and Netflix have made headlines recently with their liberal paid parental leave policies, and part of the reason behind the hype is the many other companies that don't offer family leave options to their employees. What have other countries caught on to that makes parental leave policies so popular and successful with employees? The answer is obvious. Offering paid parental leave is beneficial to both employees and employers alike, and here are four categories of research to prove it: 1. Parents face workplace stigmas. Its not uncommon for working mothers and fathers to anticipate being judged or alienated by managers and peers for taking time off after having a baby. That fear is not ungrounded, either. In fact, the belief that men shouldnt take paternity leave is so strong that 20 percent of companies required by law to offer paternity leave do not, according to the 2014 National Study of Employers conducted by the Families and Work Institute. Not only is parental leave a compliance issue for employers, but when employees dont feel supported by their leaders and peers to take it, job satisfaction and performance suffer. The benefit: Providing generous paid leave to both mothers and fathers can help break down these stigmas. In a 2015 study of Californias family leave law, men were 46 percent more likely to take time off when their employers offered paid paternity leave. When employees feel supported, they are happier, more productive and more likely to stick around. 2. Employees want work-life balance. Work-life balance has become a workplace essential, especially for parents. So much so that respondents in a 2015 survey conducted by Virgin Pulse rated work-life balance as the number one way companies can show they care; 40 percent of respondents said they wished their employers cared more about this balance. Still, many parents may regard "balance" as being unattainable. Among parents surveyed by Pew Research, 56 percent agreed that balancing work and home responsibilities is difficult. Although we traditionally think of women as the ones having to juggle work and home life, men surveyed said they feel this stress as well -- 52 percent of working fathers in the survey said it was difficult to balance work and family, compared to 60 percent of working mothers. The benefit: Offering more generous paid parental-leave policies shows employees that their companies are committed to supporting their lifestyle and work-life balance. With better balance, employees will feel less stressed and more satisfied with their jobs. Related: Facebook Expands Parental Leave Ahead of the Birth of Mark Zuckerberg's Baby 3. Parents need financial support. Money is especially important to employees when theres a new addition to the family, but new parents dont feel that employers acknowledge this priority. In the Virgin Pulse study, financial well-being was the top factor employees wished their employers cared more about. In addition, 22 percent of respondents named financial stability as the key factor impacting their well-being and happiness. Without paid parental leave, new parents have a more difficult time supporting their families and may be less likely to take the time off that they need. These employees may leave in search of jobs offering the financial support they desire; or a parent may quit altogether, to care for a new child without the hassle. But when parents are supported by employers with paid parental leave policies, theyre much more likely to stay put. In a 2013 study of Californias family leave law, women said they were much more likely to be working nine to 12 months after giving birth when they were offered paid leave -- instead of quitting while they were pregnant. The benefit: Paid parental leave helps new parents feel financially supported, reducing their stress and preventing them from looking for opportunities that better fit their new lifestyle. 4. Parental leave breeds engagement. With more parental leave, employees are happier and healthier. And when that happens, theyre more engaged and committed to their employer. Although employees may take more time off with better parental leave policies, they will be less likely to take time off once they return to the office. The 2013 study of Californias family leave law found that women offered paid parental leave worked more hours and weeks as their children aged than women not offered paid leave. In addition, a recent report from Gallup found that employees who were healthy and felt engaged at work were 30 percent less likely to miss work during any month. That seems to indicate that when employees return from parental leave feeling less stressed, they are more committed to the organization and miss fewer workdays. The benefit: While offering paid parental leave to all employees may seem like a drain on employer resources, it is a surefire way to develop a supportive culture and create engaged and committed employees. Whats your philosophy when it comes to paid parental leave? Share in the comments below! Related: Netflix Sets a New Standard With Unlimited Parental Leave Related: 4 Data-Backed Reasons You Need to Offer More Parental Leave Why Entrepreneurs Should Support Nationalized Parental Leave Facebook Expands Parental Leave Ahead of the Birth of Mark Zuckerberg's Baby Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved STAMFORD Attorneys have been known to say, Where theres a will there is a lawsuit. But the case of a Stamford man who left a $1.2 million estate to his four sons is even more complicated than that. The son who was first named executor of the estate was sued by his three brothers over the inheritance. Then, when a second son took over as executor, he was arrested and charged with larceny. When someone suffers a loss, it is even more unfortunate when a family member is victimized by another family member, said Sgt. Steven Perrotta, whose property crimes squad regularly gets complaints of sibling thefts. T.E. Montague Everett, who died in 2008, left his estate to be split between his four sons, Montague, Richard, Robert and Mark. The youngest son, Montague, was put in charge of overseeing the $1.2 million estate. By 2009 his brothers sued him in New York State and accused him of unjustly enriching himself, court records show. The three ended up settling with Montague in 2014 for just $600,000, which was put back into the trust and was to be split between the three remaining brothers. Richard Everett, the third youngest of the brothers, was promoted to executor in 2009. But in November, Westport attorney Thomas Brennan filed an embezzlement report against Richard Everett, of Bronxville, N.Y. on behalf of his two brothers after he refused to reveal the whereabouts of the $600,000 inheritance that he was supposed to split with them. According to Richard Everetts eight-page arrest affidavit, he failed to distribute the money and, during a probate hearing late in 2014, refused to provide a judge with any information about where the money was. He did however promise that the trust assets were safe and intact, the affidavit said. Unable to obtain any satisfactory answers as to where the money was, brothers Robert and Mark petitioned the court to remove Richard Everett as executor and early last year Brennan was appointed an independent trustee of the estate. Along with being put in control of the estate, Brennan was ordered by a judge to Pursue any and all avenues to locate and seize the trust assets and pursue any action necessary to obtain their recovery, the affidavit said. Brennan ended up tracking down a JP Morgan Chase Bank bank account that once had the assets, but by the time he got to it in February 2015, the account held only 12 cents, the affidavit said. Brennans investigation concluded that Everett transferred all the money to himself and also used it to pay for various expenses, the affidavit said. Brennan went to police. He declined comment on the arrest. A Stamford judge signed an arrest warrant, Everett turned himself over to police Monday and was charged with first-degree larceny. He was freed after posting a $75,000 court appearance bond. jnickerson@scni.com; A leading venture capitalist believes that unless he has two or three bankruptcies out of every 10 investments his firm makes, he is not doing his job properly. His view is that if he has fewer failures, it simply means he is not taking enough risk. Without taking the risk, he cannot hope to generate the rewards. Warming to his theme, he says he hopes that he will get one big win and one more modest but rewarding success out of a stable of 10 better odds than owning a racehorse but certainly not a game for the faint-hearted. Two or three, as we have seen, will fail and the remaining six or so he expects to survive but not to provide much excitement. Some may be modestly successful, others slow -motion failures. The brutal truth is that most companies do not do well and investors should not expect them to. There are few big winners and thousands of hopeful also-rans. And to make investing even harder, it is well-nigh impossible to tell in advance which great new idea will work as a business and which will fail from among the thousands of investment ideas that come forward. Potential investors obviously try to weed out the dogs but it is an art as much as it is a science. This means they do not expect to get every decision right, and that is why people providing early-stage finance tend to play the averages. The essence of successful venture capital investment is to build a portfolio across a range of companies with a wide spread of risk in the hope the successes will more than pay for the failures. It is a shame critics of crowdfunding dont recognise this truth. Crowdfunding platforms are small organisations that use the internet to publish investment opportunities and give individuals the chance to invest in new businesses. The hardest task for any would-be entrepreneur is getting capital to finance an unproven idea or early-stage business. Crowdfunding, which harnesses the power of the net to raise investment funds cheaply and efficiently from the public, is therefore a tremendously important innovation. But it is inevitable too that only some of these crowdfunded businesses will prosper while some will jog along and others will fail as did a claims management firm called Rebus earlier this month at a cost to its investor base of about 800,000. The knee-jerk response to that collapse has been a call for more control and regulation on the basis that companies are being promoted which really have far too little chance of success. It is true that some company promoters occasionally make extravagant claims, and indeed this column has had a dig at Nicola Horlicks Glentham Capital on these grounds before now. But on the other hand you have to be an optimist to launch a company or you simply would not do it investors generally expect extrovert behaviour. Certainly at the investor presentations I have attended courtesy of Ayan Mitras crowdfunding platform CrowdBnk and earlier manifestations such as Pi Capital, the investors round the table always seem a lot more savvy and worldly wise that the people asking for the money. They are perhaps at the more sophisticated end of the spectrum but that is not to say the investors who come in over the web are all hopelessly naive. As a country, we are seeking to encourage company formation and entrepreneurship, so it is vital that fear of failure does not prompt regulators to stifle this new source of finance. Better perhaps to encourage the platforms to maintain their vigilance. A simple way to do this would be to require them to maintain a running record on their website of the businesses for which they have raised capital in the past and record what has happened to them since. The status and pecking order of stockbroking firms in the old City were largely based on the quality of the companies they had brought to market over the years and the returns that had been generated for investors as a result. There is no reason why a similar quality-driven pecking order will not evolve among the crowdfunding sites. But it will take time and part of that process will be that some companies will fail and some investors will have to be allowed to lose their money. CMCs Cruddas in conflict over EU According to the prospectus of CMC Markets, the spread-betting and dealing company that hopes to list on the stock market next month, the possibility of us leaving the European Union poses a series of major risks that could have a nasty impact on group profits. They come in a variety of forms. One is that the group might have to be re-authorised in all the European countries where it currently does business, and there is no guarantee, of course, that such authorisation would come through in a timely manner. Another is that restrictions on the free movement of labour might make it harder for the group to attract the quality of people it currently has, and indeed to move capital freely between locations as it does. Third, regulation and compliance might have to be completely revised and personnel and systems fundamentally changed if EU law is scrapped and replaced by something indigenously British. Summing up the risks, the prospectus states that leaving the EU could result in higher operating costs and have a material adverse effect on the groups business prospects, financial conditions and results. The boss and major shareholder of CMC markets is Peter Cruddas, a prominent City Eurosceptic who is said to have pledged 1 million to the Vote Leave campaign. And he, along with the other directors, is responsible for the accuracy of the prospectus. L ondon-based Badoo has swooped for controversial dating app Lulu, where girls could rate guys anonymously as its global battle with Tinder hots up. Badoo, founded by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev in 2006, already boasts more active users than Tinder.But the company, whose app shows users single people nearby, hopes buying New York-based Lulu for an undisclosed fee will help it break America and bolster its position as the worlds largest dating platform. In November, Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, claimed to have 59 million monthly active users, slightly fewer than Badoos 60 million. The deal comes five years after Lulus inception and is expected to result in a multi-million pound payday for founder and chief executive Alexandra Chong, who will oversee Badoos global expansion as its new president. Lulus early backers, including Yuri Milner, an early investor in Facebook and Twitter, and London-based venture-capital firms Passion Capital, run by Eileen Burbidge, and PROfounders Capital, will also cash in on the sale. The company raised $15 million (10 million) in three private funding rounds. Chong, who founded the company in London before moving its headquarters to New York, told the Standard that selling Lulu, which has yet to generate revenues, was the next step as it looks to monetise its six million-strong user base. She said: I believe [Lulu] will start generating revenues very soon and thats partly why it is an important next step. Lulus girls-only dating app was branded sexist as women using it anonymously rated different aspects of a mans looks and personality, enabling their friends to do due diligence before going on a date. However, last month it scrapped the review system, opting instead for a more traditional dating app in preparation for its tie-up with Badoo as it becomes a fully-fledged dating service. T he boss of the so-called London Whale trader who lost JPMorgan $6.2 billion (4.3 billion) in unauthorised trading has been fined 793,000 for not revealing the losses to regulators. Achilles Macris was head of the banks chief investment office in London where the Whale, Bruno Iksil, carried out his trades. The Financial Conduct Authority said Macris failed to inform it about growing concerns the bank had over the loss-making trades in 2012. He deliberately told regulators that the portfolio involved had been balanced and did not require further trading even as more losses were running up. But Macris claimed todays ruling was a major climbdown by the FCA and that he would continue to challenge previous allegations made against him by the regulator. Iksil, who is co-operating with US prosecutors in return for not being prosecuted, has never been fined. The FCA abandoned attempts to fine him a reported 1 million last year. Achilles Macris JPMorgans chief executive Jamie Dimon initially dismissed the Whales trading losses as a storm in a teacup. Macris had been the main contact with the FCAs predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, in relation to the CIO and the Synthetic Credit Portfolio, where Iksil ran up hundreds of millions of dollars of losses. The FCA said he failed to inform the regulator at one meeting and during phone calls in March and April of 2012 of the significant losses being run up by Iksil. Mark Steward, director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: A failure to communicate openly with us can affect the well running of markets and cause unnecessary harm to investors, especially in times of financial stress or crisis. Macris should have explained the position more squarely especially when he knew the Synthetic Credit Portfolios losses had worsened. The FCA said that the SCP began running up significant losses from the start of 2012 and by March 23 the front office of the bank was instructed not to execute any further trades with Macris, asking for a daily risk report to be prepared. But at a supervision meeting with the FSA five days later, where he admitted the SCP had made a loss of $200 million he said it was balanced and did not require additional trading. The following month in a phone call with the FSA, Macris again failed to tell it about the banks growing concerns over the portfolio and the extra measures it had taken to address them. Macriss fine would have been 1.1 million but the FCA agreed a 30% discount to settle with him. W ith the average age of a FTSE 350 chief executive rapidly falling towards just five years, I was tickled by a note from the esteemed Mark Brumby of Langton Capital, pointing out the longevity of pub bosses. On the back of Tim Bridges well-deserved retirement as chairman of Greene King after 11 years, Brumby pointed out not only that chief executive Rooney Anand has been there 11 years but also that Ralph Findlay has been running Marstons since 2001. They are mere striplings against JD Wetherspoons John Hutson, who joined the business in 1991 and has been variously managing director, chief operating officer and now chief executive to founder Tim Martins chairmanship since 1996. I cant imagine working that closely with Martin for two years, never mind 20. Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns, the private equity-created pub giants, had long-serving chief executives in Ted Tuppen and Giles Thorley but they have both been gone a few years and their successors (two in Thorleys case) havent reached the five-year mark yet. We also have some decent veterans in London. Stephen Goodyear has been chief executive of Young & Cos Brewery for 13 years while Simon Emeny at Fuller, Smith & Turner has been managing director and then chief executive for six years but joined the business 20 years ago. But if you want a chief executive who has really clocked up the hours and, one assumes, the pints look no further than Shepherd Neame. Jonathan Neame has worked at the Kent brewer and pub owner since 1991 and has been its chief executive since 2003. Interestingly, Neame is the lowest-paid chief executive of all the listed pub companies on just 429,000 last year, assuming him to be the highest-paid director in the business. In fact, pub bosses are not vastly overcompensated. Most of those mentioned made just over 1.1 million last year, with only Greene Kings acquisitive Anand much higher at 2.1 million. There is always an exception to the rule. Mitchells & Butlers has had something like a dozen chief executives in the past 15 years. The latest, Phil Urban, replaced Alistair Darby who lasted a notable three years only last summer. Of course, the presence of the yachting billionaire activist investor Joe Lewis on the share register with his 26% stake and two board nominees does not make life easy for any chief executive. Maybe thats why Mitchells & Butlers shares have fallen almost 40% in the past year while all its peers whose chief executives have some pedigree have outperformed the stock market. Virgin Media veto an own goal by the Premier League? Strange tales reach me from the world of broadcasting. A meeting of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact), which is made up of 23 corporate members including broadcasters such as Sky and BT and content makers like Warner Brothers and Walt Disney took place last week. On the agenda: the matter of a new deputy chairman. Virgin Medias Rob Pinniger was nominated by several corporate representatives and seen as a shoo-in. Until the Premier Leagues legal man Kevin Plumb expressed not just his opposition but also a threat to withdraw the Leagues not inconsiderable funding to Fact if the vote went ahead. There is no love lost between the Premier League and Virgin since the latter complained to Ofcom about the fact that fewer than half the Leagues games are actually available live on TV (legally). The regulator is expected to report its findings in the next couple of months after a 15-month investigation. Ofcom could go one of two ways: a straightforward thumbs-up to the Premier League or a minded to object statement with a series of suggested remedies, none of which would be much fun for the League. Given that the Premier League said only last week it is talking to cyber-security firms to crack down on illegal streaming of its games, going to such lengths to upset the membership of Fact seems a bit odd. Phew! My tip for Imperial is paying off Apologies to all my readers. Having tipped Imperial Innovations at 375p a fortnight ago, I was a bit stumped when it announced a 100 million share placing at the end of last week. Had I suckered my loyal fans into an opportunistic cash call? What sort of discount would the share placing be at? Would my share tips ever be trusted again? Could I show my face in the pub? Somewhat to my surprise, and delight, Imperial actually placed the shares at a significant premium of 425p. And today they stand at 435p. Thats a handy 16% gain in a fortnight. So Im not the only one who thinks theres more value in this clever company. ...but namesakes move is nonsense Speaking of Imperial, I am still finding it difficult to cope with the fact that Imperial Tobaccos shareholders voted overwhelmingly to change its name to Imperial Brands last week. What nonsense. The companys two main rivals in this country appear happy to remain British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco. The vast bulk of Imperials revenues and profits still come from tobacco. Investors looking for sound companies with affordable dividends even if they are in mature markets tend to home in on tobacco companies. But oh no. Imperial, under its normally sure-footed chief executive Alison Cooper had to march down the politically correct path and chuck out the dreaded T word. Surely of the two words in its previous name, Imperial actually has significantly worse connotations than Tobacco? T he Chancellors outrageous stamp-duty hikes came under fire from the boss of one of the UKs biggest housebuilders today, who claimed the tax raid risked killing the golden goose. Steve Morgan, the multi-millionaire founder and chairman of housebuilder Redrow, said the move had decimated the central-London property market. His comments followed research from property agent Knight Frank which showed stamp-duty takings from London which accounts for nearly half of revenues down by 105 million to 2 billion during the first 10 months of last year. Changes in December 2014 introduced a new banding system for the tax which put up the cost of stamp duty for anybody buying a house worth more than 937,500. The buyer of a 2 million home now pays tens of thousands in extra duty. Morgan said: Central London has been killed by stamp duty. It has killed off all the high-end properties, although it has not had the same effect in the suburbs because the values are not as high. Houses approaching 1 million have been decimated by the quite frankly outrageous stamp-duty taxes which are probably the highest property taxes in the world. He added: The Government is collecting less money as a result. It looks like a political change rather than a fiscal one. Why would the Chancellor want to take less taxes, which is what is happening?... Its killing the golden goose isnt it? Redrows chief executive, John Tutte, added: This is what happens when you hike takes up to the levels when they become extortionate. The market just reacts to it. Hedge funds are meanwhile taking bets against property firms with big central-London exposure. Three funds Odey Asset Management, BlueMountain Asset Management and Anchorage Capital were all shorting the shares of FTSE 100 developer Berkeley Homes last month. Redrow was largely insulated from the effects of the hike by shifting its focus to areas outside central London. It posted a 14% rise in pre-tax profits to a record 104 million for the six months to December 31, while doubling the interim dividend to 4p a share. Despite the choppy start to the year in financial markets, demand for homes remains robust thanks to the Governments Help to Buy loan scheme to support first-time buyers, as well as improved mortgage availability. Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe today said the Financial Policy Committee would have to take action sooner rather than later if signs of a housing-driven credit boom re-emerged in the UK. H olidaymakers are shunning Turkey and opting for holidays in Spain and the Canaries, according to TUI, the worlds largest travel operator. TUI said today that demand for summer holidays in Turkey has plunged by 40% in the wake of a terrorist attack on tourists in Istanbul in January. About one in seven of TUIs customers have travelled to Turkey in recent years, with most travelling from Germany. Shares in the travel operator dropped by 4% to 1058p today as chief executive Friedrich Joussen said that the shift in demand away from Turkey was a significant challenge for this year but insisted that TUI stood to benefit, as it has more hotels in the Canaries and Spain than other operators. Despite bookings being affected by terrorist attacks in Paris, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey, TUI reported a 7.2% increase in headline earnings in the first three months and said that its traditional first-quarter loss narrowed to 97.3 million from 104.8 million a year earlier. Joussen said trading for this winter and last summer was in line with expectations, taking into account the geopolitical backdrop. With Tunisia and Egypt also closed to tourists until at least May on government advice a sustained drop in demand for holidays in Turkey is likely to lead to higher prices elsewhere in southern Europe and could be difficult for the travel industry to absorb. TUI said it continues to expect headline earnings to grow by at least 10% in the full year. With one-third of this summers holidays now sold, the UK has also put in a strong performance with bookings up 9% on the previous year. Peter Long, who oversaw the merger of UK travel operator TUI Travel with the German company, today stepped down as joint chief executive. Long (pictured), already chairman of Royal Mail, will join the supervisory board of the travel group. T he London stock market may be steadier today after its fall yesterday and despite the nervy state of Tokyo investors but theres no denying that overall the markets are jittery. This is not irrational. There has been a flight from bank stocks notably Deutsche Bank and from risky eurozone government bonds. Investors are making for the safety of gold and German bonds. Bank stocks are plainly exposed to the wider economy in a way that few other sectors are. If companies are retrenching, if investors feel consumer demand may falter, and if the banks themselves have insufficient cash assets, then they are the most vulnerable to market nerves. This may seem like a problem simply for the City but febrile markets do have an effect on the rest of us. For one thing falling markets, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies will point out in its pre-Budget report next week, affect the profitability of the City and the amount of tax revenue the Chancellor has to play with, come the next Budget. Yet the notion that the global economy is on the brink of full-blooded recession seems wildly overplayed. There may be slower rates of growth than we may have hoped for and the news today that Britains trade gap with the rest of the world has widened is a case in point and the slowdown in the Chinese economy is bad news for the rest of us, but this does not amount to meltdown. There was rather more grounds for panic during the Greek eurozone crisis, but that didnt conclude as badly as we feared at the time. What the Chancellor does have grounds to worry about is the difficulty in promoting a more balanced economy, healthier manufacturing and a home-grown answer to the skills shortage. Falling oil prices are beyond his power to remedy. However unsettled the markets, we shouldnt panic just yet. Please dont strike The junior hospital doctors are to strike tomorrow, except for those working in emergency services, and it will mean the cancellation of around 600 operations in London alone. The standoff chiefly concerns whether and at what point the doctors get premium pay for Saturdays; there must be grounds for a reasonable compromise between designating it as a normal working day and paying unaffordable rates for weekend work. For patients, there will be sympathy for the argument of the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, that hospitals should provide better care at weekends; patients experience is very different on Mondays to Fridays, though this is not just a matter for the junior hospital doctors consultants are often reluctant to work weekends. The trouble is, the dispute has been aggravated by animus towards the Health Secretary on the part of doctors representatives, a damaging instance of personality politics. The junior doctors should accept that the Government has made compromises sufficient to form the basis for a workable deal and call off a strike which, by definition, can only affect patients. Pricey matches The Premier Leagues latest four-year TV deal is worth over 5 billion to the countrys top clubs. Yet for fans who attend live matches, providing the buzzing atmosphere which is vital to the leagues appeal, the cost of supporting their teams is becoming ludicrous. The cheapest home ticket to see Chelsea for instance is a whopping 52. Fans want cheaper away tickets in particular to take account of travel costs. But actually prices should fall across the board: as things stand, clubs are scoring own goals by dint of their patent greed. S o the Prime Minister thinks Londons prisons are scandalous and should shame us all. He wants to see prison government and practice reformed. What has come over him? Politicians usually turn liberal in retirement but few turn liberal before going. Will we next see David Cameron declaring drug laws to be rubbish, immigrants welcome and council rents too high? In 2012 Cameron sacked his reformist justice minister, Kenneth Clarke, for saying the prison population was astonishing unsustainable a waste of money and proposing to slash it. Cameron banned any measure in that direction. Instead, his knife-crime proposal and other ideas increased it to 85,000. He doubled the number of jailed pensioners, almost half of them for historic sex crimes that they were most unlikely to re-commit. Now that Cameron sees the sunny uplands of retirement ahead he wants liberals to think well of him. We can welcome any sinner who repents. We can welcome more prison education, a reoffending league table and more power to governors. But Cameron will be long gone before these changes are likely to have any impact and what has he been doing for all his years in office? Campaigners who have pleaded prison reform for years might reasonably scream hypocrite. Last autumn the Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, set the ball rolling by signalling the closure of Londons Victorian prisons, starting with Pentonville and Brixton. Next should be Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and possibly Holloway. They will be replaced by new prisons in the suburbs, though no one dares to suggest where. The listed building at Pentonville may even, like Oxford jail, become a hotel. I have visited all these grim prisons on some pretext or other and cannot mourn their departure. The Fleet, Newgate, the Clink and Millbank are long gone they would doubtless be luxury apartments today. Big-city jails are always horrible, their sole virtue being proximity to family support. For gangsterism and corruption some of them seem little advanced on Dickenss Clink, where Little Dorrit could come and go with food and prisoners were charged rent for their cells. The target for Camerons concern is bizarre. He concentrates on education and rehabilitation but these are largely functions of prison budgets, which he has cut by a quarter. He dodges the real issue, which is numbers. Pentonville should have 900 inmates but has 1,300. Every form of prison support has been cut. It is the Tories (and Labours) obsession with locking people up that is the real trouble. Imprisonment is not a policy in Britain, it is a faith. It embraces and enslaves politicians, the media and the public to a degree exceeded nowhere else in Europe. We imprison double the proportion of our citizens as the Germans or the Dutch. Neither has had a crime wave in consequence. We imprison for anything from murder and riot to non-payment of the BBC licence fee. But imprisonment is dominated by one offence, that of the use and sale of illegal drugs. When Henry Fielding was Bow Street magistrate in the 1750s he concluded that most offenders were found guilty of no crime other than poverty. Precisely the same could be said of drug-taking today. While figures are wildly unreliable, it has been estimated that a third to a half of Londons prisoners are victims of an archaic 45-year-old law, the 1971 Misuse of Drugs act. They are not killers, rapists or fraudsters. They have used or dealt in illegal drugs or become enmeshed in the gangs and criminality that live off them. Even if they are not addicts, a few months in prison is the shortest route to becoming one. Britons who regularly insult the American prison system often even more inhumane than ours should note that parts of the US are bringing sanity to bear on their drug laws. Imprisonment rates in California and Washington State are falling and Colorados legalisation, regulation and taxing of cannabis promises to boost state revenue. They show that legalisation is the key to control of a product that can never be eradicated. All else aids crime. 'We imprison double the proportion of our citizens as the Germans or the Dutch. Neither has had a crime wave in consequence' The list of British politicians who have pondered changing the drugs laws is long. It includes a certain David Cameron, as a backbench member of the Home Affairs committee, who in 2005 said drugs policy has been failing for decades, and attacked lowest common denominator posturing on the subject. In a Commons debate in 2014 one MP after another called for drug law changes. Half of British adults admit to having used illegal drugs and one in 10 to having used cocaine. For some reason countries as varied as the US, Portugal, Uruguay and the Netherlands can summon up the courage for reform. But not Camerons Britain. It is still posturing. Drugs are a symptom of the cowardice over penal policy. I sometimes wonder if any British politician or official ever looks at what happens abroad. The shift to community sentencing in the Netherlands has led to half its prisons lying empty even being offered to Norway as overspill. Twelve Dutch prisons are scheduled to close by 2018. The most severe and counter-productive punishment that prison inflicts is the mere fact of being there, even if for no more than a few months. It renders an inmate near unemployable and thus drastically increases the likelihood of reoffending. There are many ways of punishing people. Prison is the most expensive and should be an absolute last resort, to protect the community from violence or organised crime. The answer to Camerons plea is thus simple. Send fewer people to prison. End overcrowding. Get prisons out of inner London, with its gangs, drugs and rackets. Cameron appears to be in that most suspect of moral modes. He wants to be liberal but not yet. Review at a glance R ichard Avedon and Andy Warhol werent friends as such indeed, Warhol described Avedon as horrible in his diaries but as chroniclers of post-war America, their paths crossed repeatedly. One of the best things here is Avedons giant photograph capturing Warhol standing impassively at the end of a line of his Factory superstars: Candy Darling, stripped naked; Brigid Berlin baring a breast; Joe Dallesandro naked at one end, clothed at the other. Its like a Greek sculptural frieze reimagined in countercultural Sixties New York. The photographer comes out best from this show. Warhol potboilers abound the Seventies paintings of New York society, such as Liza Minnelli and Carolina Herrera, the commissioned portraits of the Shah of Iran and his family. How dull these seem next to his portraits from found images nearby a great Double Elvis, an imposing Mao. Avedon is often erroneously seen as a polished flatterer. There are unforgettable images of the famous here but also some of his grittier subjects, in two portraits of murderers. A tighter focus on this tougher side of both artists work, alongside the glamour, would have made for much better show. Until April 23, Gagosian Gallery (020 7841 9960, gagosian.com) Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout I nstagram star Alyssa Ramos has been defying convention ever since she turned 28, giving up her career and deciding to pursue a life-long dream of travelling the world on her own. Her one woman adventures across the globe have made her an social media sensation, with almost 45k people following her account @mylifesatravelmovie. If youre feeling overworked, restless or just need some inspiration to act on a wanderlust impulse, here are eight things that Alyssa knows youll have in store for you as a lone adventure-seeker. 1. You no longer get embarrassed to ask for a table for one "Its human nature to be self conscious about what other people think about you, which can sometimes lead to missing out on doing certain things. Have you always wanted to learn how to tango in Barcelona, let it all hang out at a nude beach in Marseilles or simply go for dinner somewhere on your own? With no one you know around to judge you or make you feel reserved, you can feel free to do things that you wouldnt normally do around friends." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Feb 8, 2016 at 1:59pm PST 2. Tinder isnt just for a hook-up generation "Tinder when travelling is a no-go for romance. All the cute, swipe right people are extremely observant of the fact that youre just visiting for the weekend. Instead, use it to casually ask about hotspots so you know where to go or get networking. Somehow I always get into deep converstations about my trip and usually at least one in ten of them end up wanting to help me in a platonic way." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Jan 13, 2016 at 11:10pm PST 3. You fall in love with someone almost everywhere you go "It is inevitable that if you travel solo when youre single, you are bound to fall in love. Im not talking about the type of love where you bring the person back home with you and get married (although Ive heard stories of that happening), Im talking about the exciting, butterflies in your stomach type of love thats hard to come by back home. I honestly cant remember having that feeling with anyone Ive dated recently (sorry), yet it happened to me three times on my trip around the world." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Nov 17, 2015 at 8:42am PST 4. Your long-term relationship goals turn into long-term travel goals "I went travelling recently and one of the girls would literally call her boyfriend three times a day. It wasnt just annoying to hear her talking to him all the time, but it made us waste a lot of time waiting for her. Ive also traveled before when I had a boyfriend back homethe only thing I wanted to do was check my phone for texts from him instead of enjoying the powdery slopes and having a good time. When you travel solo when youre single, you wont feel that nagging, longing feeling of missing someone, which leaves all of your feelings open to falling in love with the place youre in." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Feb 9, 2016 at 4:34am PST 5. Exercising is no longer a task, it's an involuntary action...luggage is heavy! "Typically, I always travel with my trusty black carry-on roller luggage but you cant avoid lugging around more gear if you go somewhere like Puerto Rico where youll be camping and hiking. If like me you dont have the cash to invest in a versatile luggage collection or to buy a new bag with every adventure, youll learn to rent not buy." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Sep 29, 2015 at 12:18am PDT 6. You'd rather buy a plane ticket than a purse "Its true. To make your money go further try heading to cheaper destinations to get close to your ideal destination, then look up local airlines. Collect your points, dont be picky and also book overnight buses to get you from one cheap destination to another." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Oct 27, 2015 at 9:49am PDT 7. Youre a lot more clued up about qualities you want in a partner "When you travel solo when youre single, youll meet a lot of people who have a lot of good qualities. When you get back home and start your never ending search for your perfect match, youll remember those specific qualities and start to see them (or not see them at all) in people youre dating. This little perk of traveling solo has helped me eliminate a lot of uneligible bachelors." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Dec 28, 2015 at 5:22am PST 8. Youll learn to walk with confidence "If you find yourself constantly disappointed, or waiting for things to happen, its probably because you are too dependent on other people. Youre the only person who can really make what you want to happen. No one is going to hold your hand, or tell you where to go, and at what time. You are in charge of making your own plans and taking care of yourself. Now I like to walk like Ive lived somewhere new for ten years. I try to learn some basics in all the languages of the places Im going - it means you have the confidence to fit in." A photo posted by Alyssa Ramos MyLifesAMovie (@mylifesatravelmovie) on Oct 28, 2015 at 9:41am PDT For more travel inspiration read Alyssia's full interview with For Life magazine Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle A ndy Murray's wife Kim Sears has given birth to a baby girl. The couple's first child is thought to have been born on Sunday night. It comes days after the tennis world number two was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final. Ahead of the tournament, he said: "My child is more important to me, and my wife is more important to me, than a tennis match." Wedding day: The couple tied the knot in Dunblane in April 2015 / Andrew Milligan/PA Confirming news of the baby's birth, Murray's agent said: "Andy and Kim had a daughter in the early hours of Sunday morning and the family are doing well." Andy and Kim, both 28, have been together nine years and married in Murray's home town of Dunblane last April. Fans used social media to congratulate the couple. Congratulations Kim and @andy_murray on the birth of your baby girl. Enjoy every magical moment Ollie Paisley (@OlliePaisley) February 9, 2016 Congratulations to @andy_murray and Kim on the birth of their baby girl Angela Lindsay (@anglind23) February 9, 2016 OMG ANDY MURRAY & KIM HAD A GIRL (@biebsbeattyy) February 9, 2016 Andy's mother Judy said this week she was looking forward to being an "active granny". "Im really looking forward to the new baby, my first grandchild," she told Hello magazine. "When it happens I shall be an active granny. My mum Shirley was very involved with Jamie and Andy when they were growing up and I hope to be the same with my grandchild. B rave bystanders stepped in to detain a suspect after a man was stabbed in the head outside a McDonald's on a busy high street today. Police were called to Bromley High Street, near to the junction with Church Road earlier today after the victim was attacked. The man, who paramedics said was in his 30s was rushed to hospital by ambulance, while a suspect was arrested by police. Police said they did not know how serious the man's injuries were but pictures of the scene showed a man with his head heavily bandaged after the attack. Cordon: the road was closed off by police Imrun I/@lilshortround / Imrun I/@lilshortround A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "Police were called Bromley High Street at approximately 11.20 to reports of a stabbing. "London Ambulance Service was called to the scene. "A man in his 40s was taken to a south London hospital. His condition is unknown. "One man was arrested by police after he was detained by members of the public at the scene." The suspect is currently in custody at south London police station. A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We were called at 11.23am today to reports of an assault on High Street in Bromley. "We sent a number of resources to the scene including an incident officer. "We treated a man reported to be in his thirties. He was taken as a priority to hospital." A police cordon has been put in place around the area, and route 208 227 320 357 and 358 buses are subject to delays and diversions. A teenage moped rider has died and another is seriously injured after crashing while being chased by police through north London. Officers, along with the police helicopter, had been chasing the moped from Stamford Road following a theft in Kingsland Road half an hour earlier. At 11.55am, the moped smashed into a van on Upper Clapton Road, injuring the the two teenagers who were riding it. Part of Clapton Common was cordoned off this afternoon as officers, residents and medics tried to help them. Police at the scene A spokesman for the Met Police said: Two men on the moped, both believed to be in their late teens, were injured. Officers rendered first aid and London Ambulance Service and Londons Air Ambulance attended. One male was later pronounced dead at the scene." Police said a post-mortem examination will take place in due course and that the teenagers next of kin have yet to be informed. Aftermath of a fatal police chase on Clapton Common A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said the second teenager was taken to the major trauma centre of an east London hospital. He is said to be in a serious but stable condition. The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed. The crash has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. A spokesman said: "The IPCC is investigating the circumstances surrounding a fatal road traffic incident in Clapton, Hackney following a referral from the Metropolitan Police. "IPCC investigators are at the scene of the incident and attending the post incident procedures at a Hackney police station." A jetsetting conman who claimed to be the Pope's banker to swindle a shipping firm out of 73million was jailed for 14 years today. Luis Nobre, 49, protested his innocence to the end despite "overwhelming" evidence he was a key player in the elaborate scam on Dutch shipping company Allseas Group Ltd. He claimed to be able to deliver 1,200 per cent a year returns on investment using the Pontiff's secret trading platform, Southwark Crown Court heard. Nobre had spent his days quaffing Cristal champagne at the five-star Landmark Hotel in Marylebone as he lured clients into investing in the scam. He boasted of trading trillions of dollars for the biggest Chinese Sovereign investment fund in the world, and even made an outlandish attempt to buy a 40million Highgate mansion and a chain of luxury hotels. He tipped hotel staff hundreds of pounds at a time, but when he fled the UK he left his girlfriend and their newborn baby with a 130,000 hotel bill. Nobre, from Wembley, was introduced to shipping company bosses as an 'A1' trader with links to the US Federal Reserve, and the gang of fraudsters, reportedly led by Marek Rejniak, suggested they had access to "secret and lucrative" trading through a platform connected to the Vatican via the Spanish royal family. The scam was so sophisticated that Allseas did not realise for several months that their investment had gone, still believing it would help them finance a new ship building project. Nobre, sporting waist-length black hair, shook his head vigorously during his sentencing hearing, and protested loudly that he was innocent. "This court has been in collusion with the prosecution", he argued. "To try to put that as an organised crime that is absurd, your honour, and that I do not accept." However, Judge Anthony Pitts was unimpressed with Nobre's posturing which at times during the trial had been so loud he could be heard in adjacent courtrooms, jailing him for a total of 14 years. "You have no legitimate money of your own but you gave the impression of being a multi-millionaire", he said. "The evidence against you was absolutely overwhelming in this case. "You were rude and abrasive to an extent that was unprecedented in my experience." Prosecutor David Durose said Allseas lost all the $100 million euros they invested with Nobre and his fellow fraudsters, having been promised they would double their money in 30 days and receive 1.2 billion euros within three years. Nobre first tried to launder the money through his company, LARN Limited in Switzerland and Andorra, but the banks refused the large transactions, so he used London "multi-disciplinary legal practice" Notable Services instead. As he was led to the cells, Nobre vowed to appeal the conviction, shouting: "I am innocent, I am a good person, I am honest." He was convicted unanimously by the jury of one count of acquiring criminal property, five counts of transferring criminal property and three counts of possession of articles for use in fraud. A second defendant, Buddika Kadurugamuwa, was also convicted of money laundering and will be sentenced on 4 March. A man who attempted to rape two women in separate attacks in east London has today been jailed for 12 years. Usman Tahir, 25, of Ridley Road, Dalston, targeted and preyed on vulnerable woman as they walked home late at night. Tahir approached one of the victims in Dalston Lane on September 24 last year and ushered her into a quiet street away from her friends. He forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her before she was able to fight him off and raise the alarm. Detectives examined CCTV footage but Tahirs face was not seen and no DNA match was found on the National DNA database. But police investigating the assault found the DNA taken from the victim was also linked to another sexual assault which took place four months earlier on May 24. The victim had been followed by the attacker and pushed to the ground before being seriously assaulted. The woman tried to fight off her attacker but he repeatedly punched her in the face, causing serious injuries. Tahir was later arrested on September 28 after further detailed CCTV analysis was carried out. Detectives said he was wearing the same clothing and carrying the same bag as the man captured on CCTV following the September 24 attack. He was later charged with two counts of attempted rape after his DNA matched samples taken from both victims. Tahir pleaded guilty to both offences at Snaresbrook Crown Court on December 17 and was today handed a total of 12 years in prison. Detective Constable Adam Knott, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "Usman Tahir actively sought out, targeted and preyed on lone vulnerable females late at night for his own sexual gratification. "I would like thank his two victims and acknowledge their courage throughout this investigation. Both were determined to attend court and see justice done. Anyone who believes they have been a victim of sexual assault should contact police. T hree members of a drug-smuggling crime group who used literary-inspired code-names have been jailed for 66 years after they flew millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK. A 52-year-old pilot nicknamed Biggles was one of the trio, and was sentenced to 19 years for smuggling 33.5 million worth of the drug into Britain, while the plot's Essex-based masterminds received sentences of more than 20 years each. Licensed pilot Andrew Wright, from North Yorkshire, who took his nickname from the fictional aviator and adventurer, imported 268 kilos of the Class A drug in eight round trips from Breighton Airfield in Selby, North Yorkshire, over three months in the autumn of 2014. The court also heard the gang used several literary references, as well the famed boyhood hero "Biggles" by W. E. Johns. Other names bandied around included Ginger - his companion - and Skippy. Big fish: Mark Dowling, 43, was jailed at the Old Bailey for 24 years Wright's address of Toad Hall is a nod to another children's classic, the Toad of Toad Hall play by AA Milne, the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows. Judge Nicholas Cooke QC told the trio the amount they smuggled was "off the scale" and of "exceptional seriousness ." "Big fish" Mark Dowling, 43, from Brentwood in Essex, was handed 24 years in jail and his right hand man Jamie Williams, 38, from Upminster, received 23 years. The drug smuggling ring was smashed on November 17, 2014 after Wright touched down in Selby with his latest consignment. Biggles: Pilot Wright was part of a plot to smuggle 33.5 million worth of cocaine into Britain from Germany in his light aircraft Wright, who owned two Cessna planes, used his aerial photography business Skyviews R Us Ltd as a cover for his illegal activities. Williams would travel to mainland Europe to get the drugs from Holland and then drive to Kassell airport in Hesse, Germany, to load them onto the plane. He would return to the UK overland. Once back in Britain, Williams, 38, would travel to Selby to collect the drugs from Wright and deliver them to the head of the operation, Dowling, in Essex. However, they were stopped in their tracks when a border control officer searched Wright's Porsche Cayenne 4x4 and discovered four bricks of cocaine in the boot with a further 30 blocks stashed in bags in the tail section of his plane. Runner: Jamie Williams, 38, who has been jailed at the Old Bailey for 23 years In all, the cocaine had a total street value of 4.25 million. National Crime Agency investigators uncovered evidence that Wright had been assisted by Williams, 38, who was also arrested. Dowling was detained some months later in Hutton, Essex, when he made a handover of 19 kilos of cannabis to drug dealer David Rowe, 57, from Hoddesdon, Herts, in June 2015. At Dowlings Essex home officers found a further 12.5 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated 1.8 million, 23.5 kilos of cannabis worth 155,000, and a drugs ledger showing that he had been responsible for arranging cocaine shipments totalling more than a quarter of a tonne from the Netherlands, worth a potential 34 million once cut and adulterated to street-level purity, and selling them on to distributors in the UK. Seized: some of the 268 kilos of cocaine which was smuggled into Britain from Germany in a light aircraft It also listed payments made to Williams and Wright for their involvement. 'Biggles' jailed for smuggling Mick Maloney, head of the NCAs north east border investigation team, said: This crime group ran an organised operation, utilising the piloting skills of Andrew Wright to import large amounts of cocaine. Wrights previous trips to and from Germany point to him being a professional courier, trusted by his fellow criminals with transporting their drugs. We were able to prove that Dowling was head of the organised crime group, responsible for a series of shipments. Williams worked alongside him and would have played a key role in getting these drugs onto the streets. Haul: the boot of a Porsche Cayenne 4x4 which was used to smuggle 268 kilos of cocaine over three months in the autumn of 2014 With valuable help from our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police, North Yorkshire Police, Border Force and the authorities in Germany we have dismantled a significant criminal enterprise. Two other men were also given prison sentences for their links to the crime group. Vygantas Gaidamavicuius, 40, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 18 months for money laundering offences in November 2015 following a trial at the Old Bailey. Vincent Vassallo, 61, from Tower Hamlets, admitted money laundering charges and was sentenced to nine months in December 2015. T he wife of a shop-owner today told how she tackled three masked thugs who stabbed her husband in a terrifying raid on their off-licence in north London. The victim, a 24-year-old graduate called Katal, was knifed in the stomach and slashed across his arms after refusing to hand over cigarettes and cash to the teenage robbers. His young wife, who asked not to be named, rushed to the front door of Crouch End Hill Food and Wine to confront the gang after hearing her husbands screams. She said: I wasnt thinking whether the same would happen to me, I was just thinking of my husband. There was so much blood. I was hitting one of the men and pushing him away from my husband. He had blood all over him. I thought it would never end and I did not know what would happen to him. I saw something silver but did not realise straight away it was knife. I wasnt even thinking. I was just punching, kicking and hitting as hard as I could. I was so scared for my husband. I am still in shock. I never expected this kind of thing to happen here. Everytime I hear the shop door open now I fear the worst. They were punching him so hard in his stomach, but in their hands they had knives. I cant get that out of my mind. The three assailants fled empty handed towards Crouch End Broadway. Katal was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead where he was placed on emergency resuscitation. The family has owned the shop for two years and relatives have been posted on the door around the clock as a deterrent against further attacks. Katals cousin Huseyin was on his way to visit the shop when he saw the street cordoned off by police. He said: When I got there were police cars and ambulances everywhere. My heart began racing because I could see where most of the cars and ambulances were parked. I ran over there. Someone tried to stop me but I got through. I could just see loads of blood on the pavement outside Katals shop. I didnt know what to do. I was frozen. I feared the worst. I tried to get through to his mum, his wife, I even tried calling him, but I couldnt reach anyone. I thank God hes alive, but I dont know what this will mean for his future. The whole family is in shock. After what has happened we cant keep running to the police. We have to defend ourselves. Police are appealing for witnesses to the raid at 5pm on Sunday. A university student with leukaemia whose international search for a stem-cell donor inspired thousands to join the donor register today told of her joy after a match was found. Yoga fanatic Lara Casalotti, 24, from Hampstead, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer during a trip to Thailand in December. She was told her best hope of a cure was a stem cell transplant but her Thai and Italian heritage meant the search was like finding a needle in a haystack Only three per cent of the worldwide stem cell donor registers are mixed race, and Laras match was most likely to come from someone with a similar ethnic background to herself. Her campaign was backed by thousands of people across the world / Anthony Nolan In a bid to widen the pool of potential donors, Laras family and friends launched the global #Match4Lara appeal, working with donor registries in the UK, Thailand, America, Italy and beyond to appeal for more people from mixed race and ethnic minority backgrounds to sign up. The campaign was backed by thousands of friends, strangers and celebrities including J.K. Rowling, David Cameron, Gareth Bale, Stephen Fry and Mark Wahlberg. Donor drives were held across three continents as the search went viral on social media. Dr Stefano Casoletti on search for daughter's bone marrow match Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, which has been searching its worldwide registers, today announced they had found a match who is prepared to donate. If all goes to plan the individual, whose identity is confidential, will donate their stem cells in March. Lara, who is studying for a Masters in global migration at UCL, said: These past months have been a whirlwind but I am so thankful a donor with a genetic match has now been found. Thanks to everyones immense support, I have always stayed hopeful that I would find one, but I realise how lucky I have been, given how difficult it was to find that donor. She added: I want to keep urging people to sign up to the donor registries so that everyone can have a chance of finding their match. Lets find a Match4All. Her mother Supanya said: As a mum, I feel pure relief as we knew that the odds were stacked against Lara. Whoever the donor is, they will never, ever know how grateful I am. We know we have a long road ahead as a transplant is an extremely serious procedure, but knowing there is a good match for Lara is a weight off our shoulders that we desperately needed. Laras brother Seb Casalotti, 20, added: Weve been so lucky in finding a match but we know that others are not so fortunate. The Match4Lara events planned around the world over the coming weeks will go ahead as planned, so that other families can one day receive the same good news. This campaign was hatched around the dinner table and we never expected it to receive such incredible support. The family estimates that the number of people who have joined a stem cell register globally because of Lara is well in excess of 20,000. Anthony Nolan saw an unprecedented spike of new donors from black, Asian, ethnic minority or mixed race backgrounds in the UK. Ann OLeary, Head of Register Development at the trust, said: Were over the moon that weve been able to find a suitable donor for Lara and that shes now able to begin her transplant journey. Were so grateful to Lara and all of her incredible supporters for spreading the word about the simple but vital act of donating stem cells. By diversifying the donor register, they have given hope to so many other people from ethnic minority and mixed race communities. The life-changing impact of the Match4Lara campaign will be seen for years to come, as any one of the thousands of people they have signed up could save the life of someone like Lara in the future. Find out more at www.anthonynolan.org A driver had to be cut free from his car after it was rammed into a set of metal railings following a collision with a van. Firefighters used cutting equipment to free the driver who was trapped in the black 4x4 following the smash, which happened at the junction of Gloucester Place and Crawford Street in Marylebone. The car mounted the pavement at about 7.30 this morning, with only the railings standing between the 4x4 and a nearby house. Three people were injured in the smash, after which a driver and one other person was taken to St Mary's Hospital by London Ambulance Service crews. The driver of the van was also checked over at the scene. Smash: firefighters used cutting equipment to free the driver. / @LondonFire Rush hour motorists were warned to avoid the area, as traffic was severely disrupted following the incident with road closures in place. Crawford St & Gloucester Place. Police on scene dealing with an accident.#roadclosures Westminster MPS (@MPSWestminster) February 9, 2016 Paddington Fire Station Manager Sam Kazmanli said: It was a difficult rescue as the car has been pushed up against the railings of a house. "Firefighters worked hard to free the man as quickly and safely as possible. Id ask people to avoid the area if possible as there is heavy traffic disruption. A London Ambulance spokesperson said: We were called at 7.31am to reports of a road traffic collision at Gloucester Place and Crawford Street in W1. We sent three ambulance crews and an incident officer to the scene. We treated three patients at the scene. We treated a man reported to be in his thirties for back pain, who was taken as a priority to St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. We treated another patient for a head injury. They were also taken to St Mary's Hospital. We checked over another patient for an ankle injury but they were not taken to hospital. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said a 34-year-old man was taken to hospital, adding that police were awaiting an update on the condition of the second driver, a 37-year-old man. A dyslexic woman has described how she was driven to the brink of suicide after she was discriminated against while working as a supervisor at a London Starbucks. Meseret Kumulchew has won a disability discrimination case against her employer after she was accused of falsifying documents after making mistakes due to difficulties with reading, writing and telling the time. She was accused of falsifying after mistakenly entering the wrong information when recording routing temperature checks of fridges and water at the Starbucks branch in Clapham. A tribunal found she was discriminated against when she was given less responsibility and told to retrain, which left her feeling suicidal. Ms Kumulchew told the BBC: I am not a fraud. The name fraud itself shouldn't exist for me. "It's quite serious. I nearly ended my life. But I had to think of my kids. I know I'm not a fraud. I just made a mistake." She took Starbucks to the tribunal alleging she had always made it known to her employer she was dyslexic and that she would need to be shown how to do tasks visually. The judgement, made in December, found Starbucks had failed to make reasonable adjustments for Ms Kumulchew's disability and had discriminated against her because of the effects of her dyslexia. The tribunal also found she had been victimised and that there was little or no knowledge or understanding of equality issues. A separate hearing will be held at a later date to determine any compensation. In a statement, Starbucks said: We have been working with the British Dyslexia Association on improving the support we provide to our employees, and did so concerning Meseret Kumulchew in 2015. We recognise however that we need to do more, which is why we are investigating what additional support we can provide. We cannot comment further on this case as the matter has not concluded. Ms Kumulchew said she wanted someone to check her work for mistakes and to be given time to become familiar with tasks. She added: "I'll struggle, but don't worry, help me and I'll get there in my own time. "I'm not going to affect your business, because for every customer I'll roll out the red carpet. E aster may be only weeks away, but one corner of London is still bathed in the festive glow of Christmas. The 70,000 display by Pimlico Plumbers featuring snowmen, Christmas trees and reindeer is shining down on the streets around its HQ in Sail Street, Lambeth, more than a month after Twelfth Night. It was switched on by DJ Lisa Snowdon on November 20, and has continued ever since to the annoyance of some locals. Dwain Coleman, 40, who works at a food stall at Borough Market, said: Christmas has been and gone, the New Year has been and gone, thats it now. Londoners can only tolerate a limited amount of cheerfulness and this is just taking the biscuit. Locals criticised the display / Nigel Howard Emma Thorpe, 28, who works in IT in Cannon Street said: Its pretty ridiculous. Christmas seems to start before Halloween and now were approaching spring... its just too much. "Im not a fan of Christmas anyway and just thank God my flat window doesnt face this. David Lewis, 68, a retired black cab driver said: For a business like this to still have flashing lights, Christmas trees and snow still up, is a bit childish. Charlie Mullins, who founded Pimlico Plumbers in a basement in 1979 and now has 270 staff and a 24 million turnover, hit back at critics, saying the display was too nice to take down. Mr Mullins, 59, added: For many people it cheers up their train journey to work. Even now people are taking their children round to show them the lights. They brighten up a miserable time of year. I reckon theyre better than the Oxford Street lights personally. Obviously you get a few miserable people who dont like them. He said that work had started to remove the display, with the last lights coming down by the end of the month. He added: It costs so much and takes so long to put them up I was considering leaving them up all year. D etectives are appealing for help in finding a man who went missing from a mental health hospital in south-west London almost three weeks ago. Charles Haynes, 35, had been undergoing a course of mental health treatment at Springfield Hospital in Tooting when he disappeared on January 21. He was last seen in Tooting Broadway when he fled from staff while he was on escorted leave and police said he needs to return to hospital. Mr Haynes is white, about 5ft 8in tall, of heavy build, with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was last seen wearing a blue jacket, green shirt, black jumper, green tracksuit bottoms and grey trainers. A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman said: Although Charles is not considered to be a danger to the public, people are advised not to approach him but to call police should he be seen. Mr Haynes is known to have links to the Wandsworth and Kingston areas. Anyone who has seen Mr Haynes or knows of his whereabouts should call police on 101. A man who refused to move his boat from council owned land because it breached his human rights has been ordered to pay more 700 following a trial. Christopher Akerman, 39, ignored four warnings from Richmond Council to move his boat, The Longwood Lady, between March and June last year after it was moored to Ham Lands. Richmond Council introduced a new by-law last March to clamp down on unauthorised mooring after campaigning by residents and riverside groups. The authority is the first to bring in the legislation, which has seen 46 illegally-moored vessels moved from its land. But Akerman argued the enforcement notices breached his right to a family life and would make him homeless. On Monday, he was sentenced to pay 720 in fines and court costs after a judge upheld the enforcement action during a one-day trial at Wimbledon Magistrates Court. Richmond Councils Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Pamela Fleming, said: The Council is delighted with this important judgement and prosecution as it is the first real test of our new by-law to fight unauthorised mooring. Its creation has been considered to be robust by the court and we will be using these powers again very soon. I hope this sends a clear message to anyone who tries to blot our riverside in this way. The council will not hesitate in taking action against you. H undreds turned out last night to pay tribute to a woman who was found dead in her cell four years after she was caught on camera being assaulted by a police officer. More than 200 people gathered outside Holloway Prison for a candle-lit vigil on honour of Sarah Reed. The 32-year-old was pinned to the ground and punched in the head at clothes shop Uniqlo in Regent Street following her arrest on suspicion of shoplifting in 2012. Pc James Kiddie was captured on security footage dragging Ms Reed by the hair and handcuffing her hands behind her back in an attack later described by superiors as casting a shadow over the Met Police. He was thrown out the force two years later. Policeman dismissed after assaulting woman - London Live Last month Ms Reed was found unresponsive in her cell at the womans prison, sparking an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. She had been moved there from the secure Maudsley hospital after being charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Her family claim Ms Reed told them her actions were a response to a sexual assault by another patient. Monday nights vigil, organised by Ms Reeds family, took place on the same day as her funeral. On a Facebook page set up ahead of the event, Mark Williamz wrote: "Peace to all those that were in attendance. This evening was something special. R.I.P #SarahReed Andrea Goldring added: I am so touched by how many ppl [people] came out for Sarah. She had a beautiful send off today. Thank you all so much. We are truly touched and humbled! L abour's most senior military figure said his own partys defence spokeswoman, Emily Thornberry, has a silly and wrong position on Trident. Admiral Lord West of Spithead launched his outspoken attack as Labour infighting again broke out over the UKs nuclear deterrent. Shadow defence secretary Ms Thornberry hit back, claiming her critics did not represent all MPs. The row came less than 24 hours after she was savaged over the issue by colleagues at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. Both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Ms Thornberry are known to support immediate nuclear disarmament. Thornberry on Trident Opponents, including Lord West, say they are hiding their unilateralist position behind claims the party can accommodate both those who want to keep Trident and those who do not. He told the Standard: Thats impossible. Either you are going to keep some nuclear weapons, much as you dislike them, or you admit you are a unilateralist. Thats obvious, but when you obfuscate around that it looks silly. Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham also said today that it may be impossible to reconcile the pro and anti-Trident camps in Labour. Lord West, 67, was decorated for being the last to leave his stricken ship, HMS Ardent, during the Falklands war. Today he rubbished Ms Thornberrys claims that Trident-carrying nuclear subs could become obsolete due to new drones that can search under water. He said: A number of people, including her, talk about the fact that you could be able to detect submarines in the ocean. In my time in the Navy we spent millions billions trying to achieve that, other nations spent billions, and it was difficult. Suggesting there is a breakthrough on this is, Im afraid, wrong. But Ms Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, claimed on BBC radio today that she had spoken to young turks developing the drones. She said: They are very hopeful that in the next 10 years or so, that actually the seas will no longer be opaque. Asked to respond to the claims that it would be impossible to unite the party on one position, she said: There isnt anything that is a perfect option. I think that we need to look at what the possibilities are. And we need to pick it up and look at it honestly and say, you know, This has certain advantages, and this has certain disadvantages. At last nights meeting Ms Thornberry was heckled as she set out details of the pending review into defence policy. There was a particularly harsh reaction when she reportedly compared Trident-carrying subs to Spitfires. Madeleine Moon MP, who sits on the Commons Defence Committee, said Ms Thornberry was living in la-la land if she thought submarines without missiles suggested by Mr Corbyn was a viable option. There could be a Commons vote on Trident in the next few weeks. P erhaps the bad weather made them keep their hands in their pockets, or maybe Daves oligarch chums were feeling the pinch from the fall in oil prices. Whatever the reason, bidders at the Conservative Partys lavish annual Black and White Party fundraising auction seemed to be watching the pennies. A 1,000 Kurt Geiger voucher fetched just 1,020, while a 1,000 Selfridges gift card went for 1,500. Even a personalised composition by the composer and conductor Julian Gallant sold for just 400. Justice Secretary Michael Gove at the auction / PA However, a historic set of four election posters including the famous Labour Isnt Working 1979 election poster signed by Margaret Thatcher, and the 2015 poster, showing a tiny Ed Miliband in the top pocket of Alex Salmond, signed by Mr Cameron was snapped up for 50,000. One guest told the Standard: There were really no outrageous bids at all. The most I think anything went for was 50,000. Another said: It was all pretty low level items, no one bid very much. West Ham co-chairman David Gold arrives at the auction / PA Among the more extravagant purchases, one mystery bidder stumped up 35,000 to spend a day on the campaign trail with mayoral hopeful Zac Goldsmith, followed by lunch with party chairman Lord Feldman. What was on the menu? Starter: seared venison with parsnip and white chocolate puree Main: pan roasted seabass with croquette of potato and Hispi cabbage Dessert: Tarte Tatin with Goats Cheese ice cream A private box for 20 guests to see selfconfessed Labour girl Adele perform at the O2 went for 30,000, or 1,500 per ticket. Other lots included luxury holidays and a shoot for seven guns at the Easton Neston estate, in Northamptonshire. Despite attempts by organisers to shroud the event in secrecy, a copy of the auction brochure fell into the hands of the Standard, complete with a message from Mr Cameron that he was incredibly grateful for the guests generosity. Baroness Karen Brady arrives for the ball / PA Those attending were treated to a dinner of seared venison with parsnip and white chocolate puree, pan-roasted sea bass with croquette of potato and hispi cabbage, and tarte tatin with goats cheese ice cream, washed down with three fine wines. Guests included Tory peer Karren Brady, businessman David Gold, joint chairman of West Ham United, while Mayor Boris Johnson arrived on his bike. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt at the ball / PA Some forked out 15,000 for a table graced by a Cabinet minister and Samantha Cameron drew the raffle, but some doubted the event had raised the 2 million for Tory funds that organisers were aiming for. Justice Secretary Michael Gove claimed to have no recollection of how much the lots went for. Im terribly forgetful, he said. A damning report today condemned the Government for failing to protect millions of citizens from the risk of mass snooping by Britains spy agencies. Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee demanded substantive amendments to the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the snoopers charter. In withering criticism, MPs and peers claimed that at times even those working on the legislation appeared not to have known what it was seeking to achieve. The committee raised the alarm over a piecemeal rather than universal approach to privacy protections, which they said should form the backbone of the legislation. Specifically, they called for tighter restrictions on bulk access to personal communications, warning this should happen only if it was necessary and proportionate. Dominic Grieve, the Conservative chairman of the ISC, said: Taken as a whole, the draft Bill fails to deliver the clarity that is so badly needed in this area. The draft Bill will compel communications firms, including broadband and mobile phone providers, to retain a years worth of peoples communications data. This will include details of websites, social media, online chat services and data sources that individuals connect to when they go online, but not what they do once connected. The legislation also aims to bring together all other investigatory powers which involve intrusion into communications or private lives. This includes intelligence agencies interfering with computers to obtain information, the interception and reading of communications, and the collection of huge amounts of internet or phone data which can be later sifted through by investigators searching for leads and patterns of criminality. Ministers strongly deny that Britains spy agencies and police engage in fishing exercises to trawl through private information in search of evidence. But in a blow to Home Secretary Theresa May, the ISC called for a range of measures to change the Bill. They included the removal of class bulk personal dataset warrants which allow the agencies to obtain permission for any number of bulk personal datasets. The committee argued that each dataset is sufficiently intrusive that it should require a specific warrant. They also called for bulk equipment interference warrants to be taken out of the Bill as there was a lack of sufficiently compelling evidence for them because targeted equipment interference warrants could have enough scope to be effective. The committee also said the approach to the examination of communications data is inconsistent and confusing. Security minister John Hayes said the new legislation was essential to provide police, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ with the powers they need, subject to strict safeguards, to protect the country against terrorists, crime gangs and other threats. We are also clear that public and Parliamentary scrutiny of these matters is vital to ensure we get things right, he added. Which is why we established a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament to study our proposals in detail, and we await this committees report with interest. We are grateful for the additional scrutiny provided by the Intelligence and Security Committee and Science and Technology Committee, and are considering their reports. O ne of Britains most high-profile companies today warned it may campaign to leave the EU unless reforms are made to Brussels rules that it fears could cripple its business. Tate & Lyle Sugars, which started in London in the 1870s, believes it will be better off outside the EU once new regulations on the sugar industry are introduced next year. It employs more than 800 people at its refinery at Silvertown in the Royal Docks and about 50 at Lyles Golden Syrup nearby. It has previously warned that under the new regime it would fare better outside the EU. But its senior vice-president Gerald Mason has gone further by saying it could join Leave campaigners, in what would be a significant blow to David Cameron. What we would like to see is reform. If we dont get it we are absolutely certain our business and people who work in it would have a more secure future outside the EU, he told the Standard. If we dont get those reforms, we may campaign for Brexit. Quotas on sugar beet production in the EU are due to be lifted in 2017, but tariffs on most raw cane sugar imports will remain in place. A study by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in November concluded that cane sugar refining in the EU which is mainly done in the UK would be clobbered by the ending of quotas if the existing tariff system remains. Raw cane sugar will only be able to be imported without tariffs from a small group of countries, including from the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, the price of sugar is expected to fall significantly, though the blow for beet producers will be softened with subsidies. Stephen Timms, Labour MP for East Ham, raised the issue in the Commons last week. Tate & Lyle is Britains last cane sugar refiner, but has cut its refineries from six to one, with production dropping from 1.2 million tonnes in 2009 to 600,000 tonnes last year. Britain supported axing the quota system, but called for measures to help cane sugar refiners. Defra said: The removal of EU beet quotas will enable British growers to compete with other sugar producers around the world. We continue working with the [European] Commission to ... ensure affordable cane imports to help our refiners. The EU produces about half the worlds sugar beet a relic of Napoleons efforts to overcome an English naval blockade. M inisters should use the overseas aid budget to pay countries which help Britain recover illegal profits hidden abroad by crime bosses, a leading security think tank said today. The Royal United Services Institute said aid money could pay to improve the technical and legislative ability of nations to seize assets on Britains behalf. It also called for more asset-sharing agreements in which countries receive part of the cash they seize from British criminals as a further incentive to cooperation. The recommendations are among several proposals by the think tank in a report on the effectiveness of efforts to enforce confiscation orders against some of Britains most serious offenders. Other proposals include a public database of unpaid orders, an assessment of the use of private sector enforcement receivers and the writing off of uncollectable debts. The report recommends the permanent use of recently introduced asset confiscation enforcement teams, in which financial investigators from the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and other public bodies join forces to target offenders. It says the tactic brought in 12 million in eight months. Todays proposals come amid continuing political concern about the ability of Mr Bigs to avoid repaying illicit gains after reports by the National Audit Office and the Commons Public Accounts Committee revealed unpaid debts of more than 1 billion. The Evening Standard has also highlighted the way in which major offenders are holding on to their profits and the Commons Home Affairs Committee has announced a parliamentary inquiry. This weeks report, The Big Payback, says measures introduced last year in the Serious Crime Act giving courts power to impose travel bans and other sanctions on offenders should help bring in more cash. Helena Wood, the reports author, said: Criminals are moving their assets to countries outside the diplomatic reach of the UK, or to areas where the local technical and legislative ability to trace and seize assets is more limited. The UK should extend its programme of overseas technical assistance to include a specified set of priority countries. Consideration should be given to meeting the cost of this from the Governments overseas aid budget. She said asset-sharing agreements, which exist with countries including the US, Canada and Jamaica, should be used more widely. She added that the success rate in seizing assets can be improved: There has been strong progress in recent years, yet the reform process is by no means complete. C rimewatch presenter Jason Mohammad was at the centre of a Twitter frenzy when viewers pointed out his apparent resemblance to a convicted criminal. Mr Mohammad was presenting on Monday when he told viewers Viktor Lakatos had been jailed following an appeal on the BBC show. The bulletin sparked an online furore when a police constable noted the likeness between the presenter and a police mugshot of the criminal. PC Alice Nicholas tweeted: That awkward moment#Crimewatch along with a picture of Mr Mohammad and Lakatos on screen. The message was retweeted more than a thousand times as viewers agreed the men did look alike. When Crimewatch gets Awkward pic.twitter.com/AoWyPLDKbu MisterGLS (@MisterGLS) February 9, 2016 And Mr Mohammad appeared to take the comments in good humour as he posted after the broadcast: "Thanks for the tweets. And yes, I've seen the picture #Crimewatch". Lakatos was jailed for 18 years after he assaulted and robbed a 90-year-old jeweller. T he daughter of an RSPCA inspector who went missing while trying to rescue sea birds from a cliff has said she accepts he "will not be coming home". Mike Reid, 54, has not been seen since he went to the aid of around 30 gannets stranded on rocks near Penzance, Cornwall, shortly before Storm Imogen's hurricane force winds battered Britain on Sunday evening. Paying tribute, Mr Reids daughter Jenna said he was her hero and the best person Ive ever known. Posting an emotional tribute on Facebook, Ms Reid wrote: Unfortunately and it pains and breaks my heart to say that my amazing dad will not be coming home. This world is a cruel place to take such a wonderful man from it, a true loss. He was one in a million. This has been the worst and hardest time in mine and my family's life. We will be empty without him, he completed us." URGENT APPEAL: Have you seen Inspector Mike Reid? Missing in Penzance area. Contact 999 quoting ref: 106 - 8th Feb pic.twitter.com/S6FMtCWKDi RSPCA (@RSPCA_official) February 8, 2016 Mr Reids wife Tracey told West Briton she feared her husband had fallen from a cliff while out on the rescue mission. She said: Hes been an RSPCA inspector for 30 years and loves his job. He loves animals and would do anything to rescue them. We are all devastated and feeling numb, but we just dont know what is happening at the moment. A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said the search for Mr Reid had been halted overnight but it would resume in the morning. A total of 44 Environment Agency flood warnings and 135 alerts remain in force across England and Wales, but Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said Storm Imogen is moving away from the UK. He said: "Things are quietening down. What we are expecting for the next couple of days is a system of colder air to be pulled into the UK. Additional reporting by Press Association. A Jack Russell terrier found in a shocking condition with a huge tumour covering the right side of her face has made a remarkable recovery. The six-year-old dog was rescued in Harlow, Essex, in September after the RSPCA found her with an untreated tumour which had ulcerated and burst. RSPCA inspector Rebecca Benson said the tumour was so bad, she could smell the infection before she saw the pet. She said: I was absolutely in shock when I saw the size of the tumour. Thankfully, her owner signed her over to the RSPCA as she couldnt afford the treatment for her tumour. Ms Benson said she could not forget about the terrier, now named Ellie, and decided to adopt her once she had recovered from surgery. Recovered: Ellie is now tumour free and living in a new home / RSPCA She added: I was amazed when the vet said that the tumour had been removed and that Ellie had a good chance of recovering. It was that moment I decided she would be coming home with me once she was better. Ellie, who is now tumour free, now lives with her new owner and Chihuahua-cross Odin. Maria Draper, 48, of Shawbridge, Harlow, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering by failing to provide veterinary care for a tumour at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on February 4. She was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and told to pay 380. A three-year-old girl has been rushed to hospital with head injuries after being hit by a minibus outside a school in Surrey. Emergency services were called to the scene near Southfield Primary School in Epsom during the school run shortly before 9am. Paramedics treated the young girl before taking her as a priority to the trauma unit at St Georges Hospital in Tooting, south London, South East Coast Ambulance Service said. Surrey Police later confirmed she had only suffered minor injuries. The force has launched a witness appeal and urged anyone with information to contact officers. Roads in the area were shut while an investigation was carried out. Contact Surrey Police on 101 with any information, quoting reference P16030297. T he family of a newspaper vendor killed in the IRA Docklands bombing said todays service to mark the 20th anniversary was an important act of defiance against terrorists. Inam Bashir, 29, and John Jeffries, 31, were killed when a lorry bomb ripped through Canary Wharf just after 7pm on February 9, 1996. The truck was packed with more than a ton of homemade explosives. Thirty-nine people were injured, despite a mass evacuation following telephone warnings from the IRA. A multi-faith service was being held this afternoon at South Quay station. Survivors were expected to be joined at the ceremony by those affected by the 7/7 attacks and the 1983 Harrods bomb. Mr Bashirs brother Ihsan, 50, a father-of-three from Surrey, said: This is so important now considering all of the turmoil we are in at the moment. It is a very good opportunity for all religions to take a unified stand together. Its a defiance of terrorists you cant stop us. A bomb doesnt discriminate if you are Muslim, Christian or Jew. It is very important as Londoners, as British subjects, we dont divide ourselves and dont let terrorists divide us. We need to stand against terrorists. Mr Bashir spoke to his brother on the phone minutes before the explosion and went to the scene to look for him when news of the bomb spread. He did not find out that his brother and his friend Mr Jeffries, known as JJ, were dead until the following afternoon. Mr Bashir said: The bomb was right next to our shop it had been parked there since 4.30pm. Inam would have been putting the alarm on and JJ would have been outside by the shutters. I am still bitter. You can never come to terms with it. It is hard to forgive what they did. Jonathan Ganesh, president of the Docklands Victims Association, was a security guard on patrol in Marsh Wall when the bomb went off. Despite suffering multiple injuries, he went to help other survivors. He said: I think the memorial service is so important, perhaps more so now in global terms, as terrorism is the biggest threat to humanity. Its going on more now than ever before. R AF pilots have fired radar-guided Brimstone missiles through two windows of a building in Iraq from where Islamic State extremists were machine-gunning state troops. Footage of the air strike shows pilots of the British Tornado aircraft locking on to the single-storey building near Ramadi, which was recently retaken by the Iraqi army. Typhoon jets were also deployed during last Wednesdays operation. The highly accurate Brimstone missiles were also used on Thursday to attack IS fighters engaged in close combat with Iraqi troops. RAF aircraft have also carried out attacks in Syria, targeting a network of IS tunnels and defensive positions. T ests are being carried out to determine if a meteorite caused the death of a man in India. If confirmed it would be the first time a death of this nature has ever been recorded. Indian scientists have begun examining remains of an object that fell from the sky after a man lost his life in Southern India on Saturday. The 40-year-old man named Kamaraj, a local bus driver, was killed as a result of a large explosion at the Bharathidasan Engineering College that was said to be caused by a meteorite. P. K. Senthil Kumari, the police chief in the Vellore district told news network CNN that the object struck the grounds of an engineering school at about midday Saturday, making a loud noise and leaving an impact crater about 60 cm wide. Three other people on the college campus were injured. Police recovered a piece of debris from the collision, which will be analysed by a scientist from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Witnesses said they did not know what happened, but saw a mysterious object fall from the sky. Initial reports suggested the blast could be a bomb as it shattered the windows of a number of buses on the college campus. The local state government, Tamil Nadu, released a statement about the incident describing it as a meteorite strike and offering 100,000 rupees in compensation to the victim's family- just over 1000. In 2013, a large meteor exploded over the Russian region of Chelyabinsk producing a huge flash and shock wave. The incident left more than 1,000 people injured but caused no fatalities. T he wife of a senior Islamic State leader killed in a US raid has been charged with holding American Kayla Mueller as a sex slave and contributing to the aid workers death. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture last May that she and her husband kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. US officials said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State. The criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Umm Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organisation, resulting in death. The case was brought one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration. It was unclear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the US to stand trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman, who was captured last year, is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force commando raid on his compound in Syria. Ms Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he had been hired to fix the Internet service for the hospital. Mr Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. A London accountant held in a notorious Burmese prison for more than a year without being charged with any crime today described his detention as hell on earth. Niranjan Rasalingam, 29, from Croydon, was arrested in December 2014 along with three Indian nationals on suspicion of stealing 25.2 million kyats (13,744) using cloned ATM cards. Rasalingam, who denies the allegations, said he had been attacked by fellow inmates while being held in inhumane conditions. He told the Guardian: Life in Insein prison is hell on earth the conditions, the corruption and the danger. I have paid to get a bed and bedding and friends from the UK have sent money to me to try to get a few comforts like additional food and toiletries. He said he had been taken to different courts around the country every two weeks to be repeatedly remanded, thus allowing him to be legally detained for months. Rasalingam said he was in Burma as a broker for a holiday reservation website and was looking to set up a small office. He said he knew only one of the three Indian nationals he was arrested with, through a family friend. The four mens legal team has argued that two of the Indians were not in Burma, also known as Myanmar, on November 16 when the crime was allegedly committed, arriving two days later. The Indian embassy is understood to have complained to the Burma foreign ministry but has not had a response. Rasalingam said he was denied food for three days and forbidden consular access when he was first arrested. A Foreign Office spokesman said it had raised this case with the Burmese government on a number of occasions, setting out our concerns over his health and delays in the legal process. Burmas government did not respond to a request for comment. A Sikh actor and designer has told how he was barred from boarding a flight to New York for refusing to remove his turban. Indian-American Waris Ahluwalia was travelling from Mexico City to New Yorks fashion week when staff stopped him boarding the Aeromexico flight because of his religious headwear. The 41-year-old wrote on his Instagram account: This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. Ahluwalia, the designer behind House of Waris, posted a picture of himself holding up his boarding pass and another in front of the airlines customer service desk. Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me, he added. Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. #lovenotfear #fearisanopportunitytoeducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 9:43am PST Ahluwalia told the New York Daily News: [Taking the turban off] is not something that I would do in public. Thats akin to asking someone to take off their clothes. He later wrote on his Instagram account: "Update. 13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveller should be subjected to what I was today. "All we're asking for from @aeromexico is an apology and education/training of the staff. Update. 13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveler should be subjected to what I was today. All we're asking for from @aeromexico is an apology and education/training of the staff. #lovenotfear #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 6:33pm PST The airline has since issued a statement apologising to Ahluwalia, who is known for his appearances in the Oscar-nominated film The Grand Budapest Hotel and the US television series The Carrie Diaries. An Aeromexico spokesperson said: Aeromexico is a global airline that has operations in countries around the world, which recognises and is proud of the diversity of its passengers. Every day we work to ensure strict compliance with the highest safety standards, while we respect and value the culture and beliefs of our customers. We apologise to Mr Waris Ahluwalia for the bad experience he had with one of our security elements in addressing your flight to New York in the Mexico City International Airport. This case motivates us to ensure that security personnel strengthen its care protocols, always respecting the cultural and religious values of customers. H ugh Jackman has warned fans of the dangers of not using sunscreen after having a cancerous growth removed from his nose. Jackman, 47, posted a picture of himself to Twitter showing a bandage across his nose. An example of what happens when you don't use sunscreen. Basal cell. Mildest form of cancer. USE SUNSCREEN PLEASE !!, he captioned the image. It marks the fifth skin cancer the Wolverine actor has had removed. An example of what happens when you don't use sunscreen. Basal cell. Mildest form of cancer. USE SUNSCREEN PLEASE !! pic.twitter.com/phQsRS5QiI Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) February 8, 2016 Jackman was diagnosed with Basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of non-melanoma skin cancer, in 2013 after his wife Deborra-Lee Furness encouraged him to have a mole checked. Posting on Instagram at the time he wrote: Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right! I had a Basal Cell Carcinoma. Please dont be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!! The Australian born actor - who has regular skin checks - told reporters in 2014 that he would probably have more removed. Im realistic about the future and its more likely that Ill have at least one more but probably many more [carcinomas], which is not uncommon for an Aussie particularly from English stock growing up in Australia where I dont remember ever being told to put sunscreen on, he said. The actor has since launched a sunscreen range for children. Speaking about the brand last year, he said: Sun protection wasnt as prominent for my generation and its important we emphasise its value for the next. Follow @StandardShowbiz for more entertainment news. K inky Boots actor Matt Henry has launched a Twitter appeal to find the owner of a silver wedding band. Henry who plays drag queen Lola in the West End musical said he found the ring by Nettle House near Broadway market in Hackney, London, on Monday. The actor said he is guessing it belongs to a local resident who misplaced it while running to work or going to the gym. Speaking about the moment he found the jewellery, Henry added: I thought it was a ring pull and I looked at it and I walked on, then I was like let me look at that again. I bent down and it was a guys wedding ring. I knew it was a wedding band a silver wedding band and I looked at it and it had a date etched inside. I looked around and was thinking maybe there is someone running but no one was around. I was holding it for a while going what do I do?. In an attempt to trace the owner he took to Twitter, posting: RETWEET: Lost wedding ring found on Mare street in Hackney London. Please help me find its rightful owner #weddingring #hackney #Lost. RETWEET: Lost wedding ring found on Mare street in Hackney London. Please help me find its rightful owner #weddingring #hackney #Lost Matt Henry (@Mrmatthenry) February 8, 2016 The post has been retweeted more than 100 times and caught the eye of Hollywood star Russell Crowe who posted the message on his account. Henry who found fame after starring on BBC Ones The Voice said he plans to hand it into Stoke Newington Police Station. N atalia Vodianova has called on men to be more involved in looking after their children and for women to let go of trying to be the best. Vodianova, one of the worlds highest paid models, has three children Lucas, 14, Neva, nine, and Viktor, eight with her former husband Justin Portman, and another son Maxim, 21 months, with partner Antoine Arnault. The Russian model, 33, told the Standard: I think its not only possible for a woman to have a career and be a mother, but I think its important. Its like a father should also be a father and not just be a man bringing money in. I think a modern man should be much more involved in putting a child to bed, giving them breakfast in the morning, reading books The World's First Fabulous Fund Fair 1 /21 The World's First Fabulous Fund Fair Kiss me quick Karlie Kloss and Natalia Vodianova in the Guerlain kisses and cocktails booth (Picture: Dave Benett) Karlie's Cookies Karlie Kloss sold cookies to help raise money (Picture: Dave Benett) Golden girl Jourdan Dunn was on hand to help out her fellow model Karlie with the fundraising (Picture: Dave Benett) Let me choose Ellie Goulding and Cara Delevingne choose a Karlie Kloss cookie (Picture: Dave Benett) I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream Eva Herzigova helping herself to some ice cream (Picture: Dave Benett) Can I help? Taylor Swift eyeing up the cookies (Picture: Dave Benett) Pucker up Natalia Vodianova raised money by opening a Guerlain kisses and cocktails booth (Picture: Dave Benett) Wacky races Jodie Kidd helps to raise funs with a car race (Picture: Dave Benett) Group photo Lily Donaldson, Ellie Goulding, Karlie Kloss, Taylor Swift and Cara Delevingne (Picture: Dave Benett) Gingham girl Daisy Lowe ina figure hugging monochrome gingham dress (Picture: Dave Benett) Designer look Natalia Vodianova poses with Stella McCartney (Picture: Dave Benett) All smiles Lindsay Lohan looks happy to be at the fair (Picture: Dave Benett) Girls night Gizzi Erskine, Millie Mackintosh and Laura Pradelska (Picture: Dave Benett) Party time Calvin Harris and Daisy Lowe caught up at the event Strike a pose Edie Campbell and Otis Ferry (Picture: Dave Benett) Fun fair Celebs partied at the fun fair into the early hours (Picture: Dave Benett) She said women should be more demanding with your partner, in teaching them how to share in the household, adding: Men should share the load with being present for the children, helping with the family, understanding that its their responsibility as well as yours. Its not at all about being this career woman, because you also have to be there for your children as a mother, she said. Im much more about thinking of your family and letting things go. Letting go of trying to be the best letting go of that guilt that is brought on by centuries of mothers tied to kitchens. Letting go of trying to compete with men when it comes to how much time to spend in the office. Vodianova is known for her rags to riches story she grew up in a poor area of Gorky with her mother and two half-sisters, one of whom has cerebral palsy. She moved to Paris at 17 after being spotted as a model. Since then she has consistently appeared in the top five of Forbes magazines highest paid models list, earning $7 million to $8 million a year. She also runs her own charity, the Naked Heart Foundation, which builds play parks in urban areas of Russia and provides support to children with special needs. Last year her first Fabulous Fund Fair raised 330,000 for the charity. It is returning to the capital this year, during London Fashion Week. The event, at Billingsgate on February 20, is sponsored by euphoria Calvin Klein and features celebrity-run stalls. Stella McCartney is in charge of the whack-attack, Erin OConnor is hosting a treasure hunt while Vodianova and co-host Karlie Kloss will run a wheel of fortune. Vodianova said: We had to do it again because it was so much fun and the feedback we had from guests and sponsors was incredible. Tickets are on sale for 1,000 from nakedheart.org/en/fundfair S ylvester Stallone has revealed he almost joined the Oscars boycott over the race row engulfing this years awards. At the annual celebratory lunch for nominees, Stallone, who is in the running for best supporting actor for Rocky spin-off Creed, said he spoke to the films director Ryan Coogler and offered to boycott the ceremony. Coogler and leading actor Michael B Jordan, who are both black, missed out on nods. No black, Asian or Hispanic performers received a nomination in any of the acting categories. Stallone said: I remember I spoke with Ryan Coogler when this happened and I said, How do you want to handle this? Because I feel like you are responsible for me being here. The Oscars diversity problem explained I said, If you dont want me to go, I wont. He said, I want you to go, thats the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film. 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." The controversy began shortly after the nominations were announced on January 14. Actress Jada Pinkett Smith announced her plan to boycott the ceremony four days later, on Martin Luther King day. In a video posted online she said: I ask the question have we now come to a new time and place, where we recognise that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgement or respect of any group. Critics of the Academy Awards have used the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Pinkett Smith was backed by her husband, Will Smith, and other stars including director Spike Lee. The Academy has since announced it will double the number of women and people from ethnic minorities in its membership by 2020. Leo attends the Oscars Lunch At the Beverly Hills lunch, which was attended by stars including Alicia Vikander, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Eddie Redmayne, the Academys president Cheryl Boone Isaacs told the nominees she was aware of the problem, saying: This year, we all know theres an elephant in the room. I have asked the elephant to leave. Redmayne won the best actor Oscar last year for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything and is nominated for the same award this year, for The Danish Girl. He addressed the row when asked if it was something the chosen actors had discussed, saying: We havent all met together until this occasion but its on everyones minds and the way it has been handled seems to be a positive step. Redmayne attended the lunch with his wife Hannah Bagshawe, who is pregnant. He said they would both try to take it easy before the ceremony, on February 28. I promise Hannah whenever we come to LA that the sun will be shining, but it rained last year, he said. We will have a gentle day and relax and enjoy it. Last year I was such a frenzy of nerves. @RobDexES B ritain cranks out a lot of crime thrillers for TV but some truly stand head and shoulders above the rest. Almost two years ago, Sally Wainwrights Yorkshire-set police drama Happy Valley received considerable acclaim, following Sarah Lancashires detective Sgt Catherine Cawood as she hunted a serial killer and attempted to come to terms with her daughters suicide. Now its back for a second series, and early signs indicate that it could live up to the beloved first run. Heres what you need to know about Happy Valleys return. 1) Its still no way near as cheery as it sounds Anyone who missed out on the first series would be forgiven for thinking that Happy Valley sounds like some kind of spiritual successor to Sesame Street. Forget Elmo and Big Bird this is at times an exceptionally gritty crime thriller, blending grounded realism with harsh crimes that mark this as one of Britains darker TV exports. 2) Its not all grim Happy Valley isnt pure misery as you might guess from that cheekily misleading title, theres a sense of dark humour shot through the series. Sarah Lancashires leading performance often helps bring that levity to the fore. 3) Youre about to see a whole new side to War & Peaces Prince Andrei If you didnt see Series 1 but found yourself swept up in the BBCs War and Peace adaptation, youd be forgiven for swooning entirely over the exceptionally handsome James Norton as Prince Andrei. Youre in for a shock in Happy Valley, though here, Norton plays Tommy, a terrifying psychopathic serial killer. Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series 4) Neville Longbottom is in this one Well, sort of. Harry Potter actor Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the wizarding franchise, joins Series 2 as Sean Balmforth. You might not recognise him though hes got huge sideburns and a creepy handlebar moustache here. 5) Theres another killer in town James Nortons Tommy was SPOILER WARNING locked up at the end of Series 1, so hes still behind bars as Series 2 picks up 18 months later. However, Sgt Catherine is about to find a new body and it looks like a new serial killer might be roaming West Yorkshire. 6) Sally Wainwrights writing is as brilliant as ever As well as the original Happy Valley, screenwriter Sally Wainwright is also known for the likes of Last Tango in Halifax and Scott and Bailey. Having acknowledged that Series 1 of her crime drama wrapped up in a satisfying way, shes gone the extra mile to ensure that Series 2 lives up to the standard she set first time around. BBC One, 9pm The Monument Prevention Coalition (MPC), which educates Panhandle residents and raises awareness about underage alcohol use, is keeping an eye on several bills this session in the Nebraska Legislature. The biggest concern for MPC this session is LB 1105. Lynette Richards, project coordinator at MPC, said because the bill has moved so quickly, she wasnt able to travel to Lincoln to speak with legislators in person. MPC is concerned about three of the nine sections of the bill, which Richards says may have potential consequences to the public health and safety of youth. One section would allow 16-18 year olds serve or sell alcohol if they have taken a training course. Reducing the age to serve to 16 is a big deal, Richards said. Proponents of LB 1105 say a small cafe or restaurant in a rural area may only have a 16-year old waiting the tables. If a customer wants to order alcohol, someone else has to serve it. Sen. Tyson Larson, who introduced the bill, said when looking at rural Nebraska and the low unemployment rate, getting someone to work in a gas station or grocery store that is over 19 isnt always easy. After speaking with other senators, he doesnt think this section will make it out of committee. MPC is also concerned about the creation of a Nebraska Craft Brewery Board to promote the brewing process in Nebraska. Richards said the board should be comprised of individuals in the public health field who know about underage alcohol use and other alcohol-related harms. The board (as proposed) would consist of members from the alcohol industry, Richards said. Larson said the best people to promote the industry are those in the industry. We modeled the board after the Nebraska grape and wine growers board, he said. We saw how well that worked across the state and the country and wanted to do the same for Nebraska beers. LB 1105 would also create a Class T license for businesses. Larson said he was surprised people are upset by this portion of the bill because it would be an economic development tool to promote Nebraska and is something small businesses have expressed interest in. Nebraska has many small boutiques and sell Nebraska-made products, he said. When looking to encourage tourism to buy Nebraska products, this would allow them to package a bottle of wine in one of their gift baskets. MPC is concerned that the increased availability of alcohol in boutique shops where people meet and socialize would translate into easier access for underage youth. As a state, we need to look at evidence-based policies that would reduce and prevent access and not make it readily available to them, Richards said. LB 1076 would make the use of alcohol legal at Lake McConaughy. Alcohol is officially banned there, but many visitors bring in their own, according to the Richards. At peak times during the summer, the Game and Parks Commission brings in additional conservation officers, but struggles to keep up with violations at the 22-mile long lake. Alcohol is legal everywhere at state parks except Lake McConaughy, Richards said. Law enforcement is traveling back and forth and theres lots of alcohol. Richards said just over the bridge at Lake Ogallala, alcohol is permitted. MPC is opposed to alcohol at any state parks, but views this situation as an unintended consequence. Its a problem the Game and Parks did not think about, she said. LB 834 would prohibit the retail sale of alcohol below cost. I cant say Im really against it, but its something we need to watch carefully, Richards said. You never know when they slide something in or take something out. MPCs position on LB 1046 is also neutral, but they are continuing to watch the bills progress. The bill would change the requirement for license eligibility by removing the requirement of U.S. citizenship. As a community, we look at residents and what they want, Richards said. Our community likes a local person be the manager on the license. Richards said a local person is more in tune to the community and its easier on day to day operations at a business. She feel strongly that if the community has spoken about an issue, she will push for it because that is what the community wants. Thats part of my job as a coordinator, she said. There are times Im not for whatever, but Im for the what the community wants. LB 1105 is still in committee. A committee vote is expected Feb. 10 or 11. Larson said he is confident the bill will move out of committee and be discussed on the legislative floor. A Scottsbluff man convicted of abusing a child so badly that she was diagnosed with battered child syndrome has had his sentence reversed and vacated by the Nebraska Court of Appeals. In May 2015, Scotts Bluff County Judge Randall Lippstreu handed down a sentence of 18 to 30 years in prison to Cody Olbricht, alias Cody Olbrich, 25, of Scottsbluff, on a charge of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class II felony. Olbricht had been found guilty of the charge during a bench trial in March 2015. At the time of sentencing, Scotts Bluff County Attorney Dave Eubanks said the girl had bruises from head to toe when the girls grandmother took her to the emergency room on Sept. 28, 2014. The girls grandmother had taken the girl to the hospital because she had been lethargic, vomiting and had a fever. Eubanks said the girl suffered a lacerated liver and bleeding on the brain, injuries that were life-threatening. Bruises and other injuries suffered by the girl, including a rib fracture, were inflicted over a period of time, doctors testified at trial, and Eubanks said Olbricht had a continuing pattern of abusing the girl. Olbricht appealed the case. In his appeal, Olbricht argued that there was insufficient evidence for the court to find him guilty. He questioned the credibility of the girls mother, Cassandra Miller, who was given immunity for her testimony but said she did not notice any significant bruising to the child when she dropped her off at a daycare. The girls grandmother had also testified, saying that she knew of other injuries the girl had suffered but never reported them to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The woman had previously been convicted of false reporting, but said she did not remember the charge, and other charges. Doctors for the girl were also called and the girl had been being tested for a bleeding disorder, though a doctor testified that he did not believe the girl suffered from such a disorder, and doctors were not able to say for certain how old the injuries suffered by the girl were. Olbricht outlined that the girls injuries may have been caused by someone else who had cared for the girl, including her grandmother, or accidents as the girls mother and Olbricht had told police. Acomplaint against the girls mother had previously been filed by a daycare worker with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Olbricht said that the court erred in denying a motion for a directed verdict, in overruling defense objections to evidence and a motion for a new trial. He also argued that the sentence was excessive. On Tuesday, the appeals court said there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to convict Olbricht. The appeals court said prosecutors failed to provide evidence that the child was in Olbrichts sole care at the time she received injuries that led to a brain bleed and lacerated liver. The appeals court determined that double jeopardy applies, and that Olbricht cannot be tried again. The childs mother, Cassandra Miller, had also been charged in the case. Shewas sentenced to two years probation on a misdemeanor charge of child abuse by neglect as part of a plea agreement. We all want property tax relief. The Nebraska tax system is dysfunctional, inequitable and out of alignment with comparisons to other states. Gov. Ricketts has proposed and supported two bills (LB 958 and 959) to address property tax relief. In our sound bite society, these proposals sound appealing initially, but the details are destructive. The bills take aim at several of Nebraskas shining examples of success: K-12 and community college education without addressing the real issue the state of Nebraska is too reliant on property taxes. Local education spending at community colleges is not the problem. WNCC and local community colleges all across Nebraska account for only 5.2 percent of property tax spending. Our locally-elected boards already have levy and spending limits and make decisions to increase funds based on institutional long-range strategic plans and other local educational needs/demands. The long game question for Nebraska is how do we retain, attract and train a qualified workforce to meet the demands of the state as baby boomers retire? LB 958 and 959 will decrease Nebraska community colleges capacity to create and maintain a qualified workforce, therefore reducing our ability to attract and retain companies and individuals to Nebraska. We must sustain and increase our investments in student success initiatives, career/technical areas, skilled worker programs and high school dual-credit partnerships. LB 958 and 959 will hinder educational institutions abilities to address our decaying infrastructure and deferred maintenance issues including major renovations or facility replacement, new technology and vocational areas. Many rural schools and community college facilities were built in the 60s to accommodate the growing population of students. When community colleges asked for state funds to address the deferred maintenance issues, we were told thats your problem. These bills will hinder the ability of our locally-elected governing body from making sound business decisions, increase the red tape involved with running our schools, and make education costs more expensive and potentially out of reach for those who need it the most. According to the Open Sky Institutes review of these two bills, they fail to address the property tax problem or follow the Legislatures 2013 Tax Modernization Committees number one recommendation: increase state aid to offset property tax relief. The review goes on to acknowledge that Nebraska ranks 49th in the percent of K-12 funding by the state and 47th in state support for local governments. A better approach would be to eliminate the deductions and exemptions that currently allow 50 percent of all sales taxes to be exempt, which only serve to help special interests. If the state eliminated all sales tax exemptions making the system more equitable for all we could very well see significant tax reductions across Nebraska. We do not know the unintended long-term consequences of LB 958 and 959. However, we do know that Gov. Ricketts, during his campaign to become governor of our great state, stressed the need for high-demand skilled workers and industries in Nebraska for the next century of business development. We need to make greater investments in education to develop and equip all students with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce and society. Creating restraints on educational entities will not help Nebraska achieve its future goals or potential. These bills will hurt all educational entities but will be particularly devastating to rural areas of the state with high poverty by limiting opportunities, lowering regional wages, and stunting our ability to grow our tax base. High-quality education and training from K-12 and community colleges builds our rural areas of the state. We are a great return on investment for our major stakeholder groups students, society and taxpayers. The governor is not wrong, we need property tax relief, but he should think bolder and provide lasting tax modernization without hurting the entities needed to take Nebraska into the future. As I recently heard, Its not complicated, but its difficult. Make the difficult decisions now before we see the unintended consequences 10, 15 or 20 years from now. This is not the federal government. Stop kicking the can down the road for the next Legislature or governor to fix. Were Nebraskans, lets get to work and fix the problem. 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To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Monday, 08 February 2016 22:49:41 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Chilean rebar sales in December declined 23.9 percent, year-on-year, according to figures released by the nations civil construction chamber, CChC. The trade group said Chilean rebar sales in December reached 40,524 mt, 12.9 percent down, month-on-month, from 46,546 mt in November. By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com During last Thursdays county commission meeting, the topic of tourism came up. First District Commissioner Karen Stuppy reported on the Tourism Advisory Council and Tourism Tax Commissions joint meeting earlier that week, at which a task force was formed. She said that the tourism department has an $89,548 budget, with $45,000-50,000 Chesapeake Energy, the No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer, said on Monday it had no plans to file for bankruptcy, after sources told Reuters the company had asked its longtime counsel to look at restructuring options. Chesapeake's shares were halted after plunging more than 50 percent but later pared some losses, as it said advisers Kirkland & Ellis had been providing counsel since 2010 and will continue to help the company strengthen its balance sheet. Trade publication Debtwire had reported the engagement of Kirkland & Ellis on Friday evening, prompting Chesapeake's shares to drop early on Monday to $1.50 on fears it might soon make one of the biggest bankruptcy filings of the current crash in oil and natural gas prices. The company, seeking to downplay those worries, said it "currently has no plans to pursue bankruptcy and is aggressively seeking to maximize value for all shareholders." With more than $10 billion in bonds, the oil and gas producer's balance sheet is under pressure and its equity market capitalization is around just $1.2 billion. In addition to its debt, filings show Chesapeake has commitments to pay about $2 billion a year for space on pipelines run by several companies, including Williams Companies Inc, whose shares fell 35 percent on Monday, in part on its exposure to Chesapeake. Chesapeake had cash on hand of about $1.8 billion on Sept. 30, according to public filings. That is plenty to pay $500 million in debt due in March, though at least another $1.3 billion will come due through 2018. Once a Wall Street darling that in many ways symbolized the U.S. fracking revolution, Chesapeake has struggled since a governance crisis prompted the departure of its founder and former Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon in 2013. Prominent Chesapeake shareholders include Carl Icahn. With oil and gas prices down 70 percent since 2014 and many new wells money losers, analysts say companies like Chesapeake are in "zombie mode" - slowly burning through cash and unable to invest in growth in a meaningful way. Tim Rezvan, an energy analyst at Stern Agee, said in a note to clients about Chesapeake that it was "hard to justify any equity value until liquidity questions get answered." CNBC, citing sources, said Chesapeake hopes to sell assets or tender bonds. The Oklahoma City-based company recently completed a debt exchange, converting $3.8 billion of unsecured debt into new second-lien notes, but the new bonds dropped on the secondary market. A limited number of holders of debt with near-term maturities participated in the exchange. Chesapeake has suspended its dividend to preserve cash, cut about 15 percent of its workforce and written down the value of some oil and gas assets. Standard & Poor's downgraded Chesapeake to CCC+ last month. In the third quarter of 2015, it reported a loss of $4.69 billion, compared with a profit of $169 million the same quarter the year before. About 40 energy companies entered bankruptcy in 2015 and more are expected in the next few months. NEW YORK U.S.-based health insurers Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc. have struck deals with Novartis AG for a performance-based price for the Swiss drugmaker's new heart drug, Entresto, the companies said on Monday. The agreements are among the few performance-based deals that have been made public by drugmakers and U.S. managed-care companies, which say they have been having more discussions about linking price to health outcomes in order to cut unneeded drug spending. Drug prices jumped about 13 percent in the United States last year, spurring a public outcry and moving the issue onto the campaign platform of Hillary Clinton and other U.S. presidential candidates for the November 2016 election. Under the agreement, Cigna said its payments to Novartis will be linked to how well the drug improves the relative health of Cigna customers. Entresto is approved for the treatment of chronic heart failure. Specifically, Cigna said payments will be based on a reduction in the proportion of customers who are admitted to hospital for heart failure. The agreement applies to Cigna's commercial business and does not apply to its Medicaid or Medicare plans. Entresto, which costs about $12.50 a day, or $4,560 per year, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. It is cheaper than some other new drugs, but costs more than analysts expected. The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, an independent group that analyzes drug prices, has said the price should be 17 percent lower. Aetna, in an emailed statement, said it signed a value-based agreement with Novartis that is based on the drug replicating results that it achieved during clinical trials. In trials, Entresto cut hospitalizations and the rate of cardiovascular death related to heart failure. Aetna did not provide further information about the terms of the agreement. Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez has publicly discussed signing more outcome-based pricing deals. A Novartis spokesman on Monday confirmed that the company's head of pharmaceuticals, David Epstein, was referring to Cigna and Aetna when he said during an investor conference call late last month that Novartis had signed deals with two health insurers. Epstein, on the Jan. 27 call, said that under the deals, Novartis had agreed to a base price and a modest rebate, which would fluctuate based on hospitalizations and savings to the plan. The Securities and Exchange Commission slapped Monsanto with an $80 million civil penalty for violating accounting rules and misstating past earnings related to rebates on its flagship weedkiller Roundup. Two accounting executives and a retired sales executive also agreed to pay penalties to settle the charges. And while the SEC found no personal misconduct by Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant, the biotech seed giant disclosed Tuesday that Grant already had reimbursed the company $3.2 million in pay due to the restatement of corporate earnings in fiscal years 2009 through 2011. The penalty is another black eye for the Creve Coeur-based company, which has had a number of high-profile setbacks in the past year. During fiscal years 2009 to 2011, Monsanto booked substantial amounts of revenue from Roundup sales that had been spurred by the rebate programs, but the company failed to recognize all of the related costs in the proper year, the SEC said Tuesday. By pushing costs into another year, the company boosted its profitability on paper. Corporations must be truthful in their earnings releases to investors to prevent misleading statements, SEC Chair Mary Jo White said in a statement. This type of conduct, which fails to recognize expenses associated with rebates for a flagship product in the period in which they occurred, is the latest page from a well-worn playbook of accounting misstatements, White said. As part of the settlement, Monsanto also agreed to retain an independent compliance consultant. Though settling the charges, Monsanto did not admit or deny the SEC allegations that it broke the law, according to the regulators press release. Monsanto began the accounting shenanigans in 2009, when Roundup was facing intense competition. In that year, a flood of inexpensive, generic, Chinese-made glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, hit the market. Facing the prospect of a sharp decline in Roundup profits, Monsanto unleashed the rebate program to bolster sales. Anthony Hartke developed and Sara Brunnquell approved talking points for the sales force to use when encouraging retailers to take advantage of the rebate program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, the SEC said. Both were accounting executives at the time, and the SEC said the two knew or should have known that the costs must be recorded that same year. But Monsanto delayed recognizing the costs until the following year, according to the regulator. The company also offered rebates to distributors that hit agreed-upon volume targets that year, but then didnt record those costs until 2010. Under one scheme, Monsanto sales executive Jonathan Nienas arranged payment of $44.5 million in rebates to two of its largest distributors. Monsanto repeated the rebate program in 2010, and again improperly deferred the costs until 2011, the SEC said. The SEC first began investigating the company for the accounting irregularities in 2011. Later that year, company restarted its earnings for the fiscal years 2009 and 2010, and the first three quarters of 2011. We have taken this matter very seriously and quickly moved in November 2011 to restate our financial statements following an independent review of our accruals for customer incentive programs, Monsanto said Tuesday in an emailed statement. Todays announced settlement does not require any changes to the companys historical financial statements due to our proactive efforts. The company added that it fully cooperated with the SEC in its investigation. The securities regulator also announced Tuesday that Hartke and Brunnquell were suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as accountants. Hartke also was fined $30,000, while Brunnquell was fined $55,000. Nienas was fined $50,000. Hartke and Brunnquell have been reassigned to different roles within the company, while Nienas retired years ago, Monsanto told the Post-Dispatch. The restatement led Grant and former CFO Carl Casale to reimburse the company for cash bonuses and certain stock awards they received during the restated periods. Grant paid back $3.2 million and Casale returned $728,843. The company declined to say when the money was paid back. During that three-year period, Grant earned $33.4 million in executive compensation, according to regulatory filings. If the two executives hadnt paid back the money, the SEC said it could have sued to invoke a clawback provision under Sarbanes-Oxley that requires executives to pay back compensation during periods when accounting misstatements occurred, even if the executives didnt engage in misconduct. Edward Jones equity analyst Matt Arnold said civil penalties by the SEC for accounting violations arent uncommon. It happens surprisingly often, Arnold said. It reflects the flexibility that exists with accounting rules its as much a science as art, and its subject to interpretation when it comes to reporting these items. Wall Street appeared indifferent to the news. Mondays stock edged up following the SECs announcement, closing Tuesday at $91.70 a share, up 0.5 percent from Mondays closing price of $91.25. There will be no financial implications for shareholders to worry about, Arnold said. The company already had recorded the $80 million cost in its 2015 fiscal year. Still, the penalty comes when Monsanto already hit a rough patch in the past 12 months. In March, the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization declared glyphosate, Roundups key ingredient, as a probable carcinogen, a finding that the company is fighting. Five months later, Monsanto gave up on its efforts to take over Swiss rival Syngenta. And as agricultural prices continue to tumble, the company announced the start of an aggressive cost-cutting program that will eventually slash 16 percent of its workforce over the next two years. For $1 million, St. Louis University has purchased a parcel of land near the corner of Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard. It was the last piece of property on that corner that the university did not own, Clayton Berry, spokesman for the university told the Post-Dispatch. There are no immediate plans for the parcel, although Berry said it was purchased for "future growth." The university purchased the 0.7-acre property on Jan. 12 from Kansas-based MCOD Investments LLC, according to records with the city. The land is home to the vacant Missouri Belting building, which stands next to what remains of the Pevely Dairy complex. The university razed most of that complex after buying it in 2011. After purchasing the Pevely site, the university had announced plans to build a surgical center there but those plans fell through. Despite no immediate plans for that corner, there is a major project under way near that corner. SSM Health, the new owner of St. Louis University Hospital, is gearing up to replace the current 365-bed hospital and build a brand new academic medical center immediately north of the current facility. SSM also plans to build an outpatient facility. It's unclear where the facility will be located exactly, but officials have said it will be located near the current hospital. After acquiring the hospital, SSM promised to invest $500 million in the medical campus by building a new hospital and outpatient facility. The project is expected to be complete by September 2020. ALTON An Alton letter carrier discarded about 200 pieces of mail by tossing them in a field, a ditch and a trash bin instead of delivering them, an inspector says. The woman was a fill-in or substitute on a route on Jan. 23, the day the mail should have been delivered. Investigators plan to seek charges soon. She had been a U.S. Postal Service employee since mid-December and resigned after admitting what she had done, said Jeff Arney, assistant special agent in charge for the U.S. Postal Service office of Inspector General. Authorities learned about the discarded mail when a man saw some of it in a field near his home. Investigators used postmarks and other clues to determine what day it should have been delivered, and what carrier was working that day. The regular letter carrier on the route also found some discarded mail in a ditch. It too was supposed to be delivered on Jan. 23, Arney said. Investigators interviewed the woman late last week, Arney said. He said he didn't know her motivation for tossing out the mail. She also admitted tossing mail in a trash bin, but Arney said none was found. The trash bin had already been cleaned out. The recovered mail amounted to about 200 pieces of mail, some first-class and some standard mail. It had not been opened and will be delivered, Arney said. The major streets on the route that was affected include Wyckoff, Elble and Henry streets. "The 200 pieces probably affected 100 different delivery addresses," Arney said. Arney said the woman has not been charged with a crime yet. Investigators are talking with the U.S. attorney's office to see if they will take the case for federal prosecution of the crime of delay and destruction of mail. If they decline, the case could go to state prosecutors. Arney said what the woman did is a rare crime among postal workers. "The overwhelming majority of our employees are hardworking, trustworthy people," he said. ST. LOUIS A former surgical resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital was sentenced Tuesday to the time he already served in jail awaiting trial for the possession of child pornography, and may be deported as a consequences of the crime. Dr. Shoichi Okada, of Richmond Heights, was arrested by St. Louis County police on Nov. 3, 2014 the first day of his rotation at St. Louis Childrens Hospital. Officials said he possessed 2,177 images and 31 videos containing child porn. Since that time, he has sought counseling, according to court testimony Tuesday, when Okada pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of child pornography and was immediately sentenced. A citizen of Japan, Okada also has been preparing to fight deportation, which could cost him his career, his colleagues and his family, defense lawyer Daniel Juengel said in court. Juengel said that within one or two weeks, Okada will be taken into custody while his deportation case is pending, which could take 10 to 15 months. He gave Okada less than a 50-50 chance of staying in the U.S. But if successful, he would seek to salvage his medical career, Juengel said. Juengel told the Post-Dispatch that Okada has resigned. He said that his client had spent more than 24 hours in jail after his initial arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Livergood asked for a sentence within the recommended guidelines of about four to five years, saying the deportation-related hardships were only potential consequences. Livergood was skeptical of Okadas claims that he was only downloading child porn out of curiosity and shock value. The prosecutor cited the number of images investigators found on his computer, and his parallel interest in adult pornography. Okada apologized in court, saying that there was absolutely no excuse for what I did. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said the immigration consequences make the case extremely unusual. She said that they, and other restrictions she placed upon him, served as sufficient punishment. She said that prison would not deter him from criminal activity any more than what he has already suffered and would suffer, and said that he will be jailed anyway and likely deported. She said that in other cases, defendants serve their sentence and do not necessarily lose their families. Perry placed him on supervised release for life, to ensure close monitoring should he remain in the country. The legal fight over the law that allows Missouri students in low-performing districts to transfer to more successful schools is back in court. The Missouri Court of Appeals on Tuesday today is reviewing the unprecedented steps the Missouri State Board of Education took in the summer of 2014 when it restarted the Normandy school district as a new entity one that didn't have to comply with the school transfer law. The move put the state in a precarious position of trying to save a failing and nearly bankrupt school system while also effectively denying the right of its children to attend better schools as the law provides. The state board had classified the Normandy Schools Collaborative as an oversight district. This meant the Normandy school system was no longer unaccredited. As a result, school boards throughout the region were no longer required to allow Normandy students in their schools. Most voted to send the children back to Normandy schools. So Janine Massey and other Normandy parents sued the state and three school districts that had denied their children the ability to re-enroll. A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge sided with them. In August 2014 Judge Michael Burton ruled that school districts had to readmit the children named in the lawsuit. But it stopped short of expanding the requirement to all districts. All districts but Francis Howell began readmitting Normandy students. Francis Howell required students to have a court injunction as a condition for enrollment. Several months later, Burton issued a more sweeping ruling that no area school district may reject transfer students from the Normandy Schools Collaborative, and that the state board must assign the newly created district an unaccredited rating, just as it had done with the previous legal entity. In that 37-page decision, Burton issued a permanent injunction that required Normandy to pay tuition of students who transfer under the state law that gives children in unaccredited districts access to better schools. The Missouri Board of Education filed its appeal last March. Its attorneys argue that the board did have authority to waive its rules and classify Normandy as a state oversight district. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeals is reviewing the case. FERGUSON The price of a proposal from the U.S. Department of Justice to reform this citys police department and court estimated as high as $3.7 million in the first year has rattled many in recent days. The figure has fueled speculation that city leaders inflated the cost to position themselves to reject the agreement at a meeting Tuesday night, a decision that would almost certainly bring a lawsuit. But, on the eve of the vote, one councilman, who spent months negotiating the terms in the 131-page consent decree, expressed optimism that Ferguson would avoid an expensive battle with the federal government. The decree is by all accounts the most extensive ever imposed on a city of Fergusons size. The council wants to get this done, said Wesley Bell, who served on a three-member negotiating committee for the city. We did not get into these negotiations to turn around and have a lawsuit. City leaders had long maintained that they would not approve any agreement unless residents first had a chance to review it and offer their thoughts, a rare concession. The city fought hard for the public input because we believe it is of utmost importance, Bell said. That input offered at two public hearings last week has been divided. Some have argued that approving the decree represents the best chance for the city to heal. But that debate will likely end at the meeting Tuesday. After a final public hearing, the council is scheduled to vote, a decision that falls on the 18-month anniversary of Michael Browns death. No council members have said how they will vote, and Bell was no exception. If I came in with my mind made up, Bell said, I am not doing justice to the community engagement process. On Monday, the city announced it had moved the location of the 7 p.m. meeting from City Hall to the Ferguson Community Center, at 1050 Smith Avenue, to accommodate the crowd. Weighing the costs At a meeting Saturday, Ferguson Finance Director Jeffrey Blume said the cost of the Justice Department proposal could range from $2.1 million to $3.7 million in the first year. Although the agreement doesnt specify salary increases, one analysis from the city says that pay for officers would have to rise by 25 percent to meet a provision mandating that salaries are most competitive with cities of similar populations. The $3.7 million figure also includes roughly $1 million in raises for city employees outside of the police department, triggered partly by those workers attempts to achieve equal pay. Last March, the Justice Department released the findings from an investigation sparked by the protests following Browns death. It accused the citys police and court of numerous constitutional violations searches without reasonable suspicion, arrests without probable cause and force used unnecessarily. When Blume announced on Saturday that the decree would raise officers pay, some in the audience cheered. But activists were shocked. That caught everybody by surprise, said Tony Rice. We are going to reward them for bad behavior? Thats almost a total slap in the face. A Justice Department spokesman did not answer a question posed in an email about the meaning of the term most competitive. The provision, intended to assure that Ferguson can attract quality police, could not be found in a search of other recent consent decrees. Language in the decree was vague and left room for interpretation, according to a statement from City Manager DeCarlon Seewood. The statement said city officials tried to estimate the cost accurately without influencing the decision. If these numbers are inflated, that would be a surprise to me, Bell said, and Im going to want answers. Voting questions As residents have considered the decree, other questions have escalated the tension: Will a person appointed to a vacant council seat be allowed to vote on the agreement? And if so, who will that person be? About a month ago, Councilman Brian Fletcher, a former Ferguson mayor, died of a heart attack. The citys charter stipulates that the remaining council members excluding the mayor appoint someone in the event of a vacancy on the six-member board. If the council doesnt appoint someone within 30 days, the decision falls to Mayor James Knowles III. A Jan. 26 vote on Fletchers replacement fell along racial lines, with three black council members supporting Laverne Mitchom, a protester, and the two white councilmen supporting, Rob Chabot, a white Ferguson-Florissant School Board member. But the simple majority was not enough to put Mitchom in the seat, according to City Attorney Stephanie Karr, who advised that four votes were needed. Her statements have since been challenged by the ACLU and other lawyers, who note that the language describing the process never mentions four votes. Councilman Mark Byrne said he understood why Karr upset people, but her reading of the charter makes sense in light of provisions contained in the document. Passing an ordinance requires four votes, he said. So does a council resolution. As do decisions about spending. Why would it be a lesser majority when you are filling a spot for two years? Byrne said. At Saturdays meeting, some of Mitchoms supporters silently held up three fingers signifying the three votes cast in her favor. Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small said the council could appoint someone to the seat on Tuesday and then that person votes on the decree. The decision about the appointment falls to Knowles on Wednesday, according to the city. You cant force people Opposition to approving the agreement isnt just about costs. Some police officials have argued that requirements are simply unworkable. Former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said police had already tried to enact changes contained in the consent decree, but faced obstacles. For example, the decree requires establishing neighborhood associations in the apartment complex where Brown was killed. We had been working very hard to do that very thing, but you cant force people to form an association, he said. He added that he had started sending officers to Crisis Intervention Response Training. They, Jackson said of the Justice Department, seem to ignore that any efforts were being made. As the debate over the decree has unfolded, one suggestion is to take a gamble on this years presidential election, allowing the Justice Department to sue with the hope a new administration abandons the litigation. But even if a new president sides with Ferguson, the strategy may not be as beneficial as it appears at first glance. It can take months for a new president to install an attorney general, and then months more to replace the head of the justice departments civil rights division. There are also limitations that keep the White House from exerting undue influence on department affairs. However, the risk is worth it to those who believe the decree will crush Ferguson. The ONLY hope for Ferguson is to reject the DOJ offer get sued and delay in court until the Presidential election, former St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch wrote on Twitter. His hashtag: #RollTheDice. JEFFERSON CITY In a sign that the chilly relations between state lawmakers and the University of Missouri may be thawing, a plan to require yearly audits of Missouris flagship university received tepid reviews Tuesday. At a hearing in the Capitol, members of a Senate panel expressed skepticism over a proposal to put the university under a fiscal microscope, saying it likely wont shine a light on some of the complaints theyve had with operations at the embattled institution. And, they said it could become an expensive proposition costing taxpayers $500,000 every year. I do think there are some legitimate questions about how our money is being spent. Im not sure this answers it, said state Sen. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan. The comments came during a review of legislation by the Senate Government Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. With the University of Missouri drawing intense scrutiny from lawmakers after top administrators left last year amid racially motivated student protests, state Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, is pushing a bill that would require a yearly audit. Leaders in the House and Senate also have suggested the university could face financial penalties when it comes time to dole out state funds this spring. State Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, was among those voting against endorsing Schmitts legislation Tuesday, saying it could become an expensive proposition. Why commit to spending $500,000 forever? Holsman said. State Sen. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane, expressed only tepid support in voting for the measure. I will vote to move it for discussion, Riddle said. If the audit proposal fails, it doesn't mean the university will lose outside oversight. Soon after Schmitt's legislation was floated, state Auditor Nicole Galloway said she was launching her own review of the University of Missouri System administration. The legislation is Senate Bill 766 LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Investors cheer as Truss chased out of No 10 Thursday, October 20, 2022 - 17:12 The FTSE 100 moved into the green on Wednesday afternoon, with sterling also rising, as investors in the UK were buoyed by Liz Truss calling an end to her disastrous six-week tenure. Truss has announced her resignation after a chaotic 44 days in office during which she lost the confidence of Tory members of Parliament and the public and oversaw economic turbulence. She is set to become the shortest serving prime minister in history after she battled an open revolt from Conservatives demanding her departure. Speaking from a lectern in Downing Street, Truss said she had told the King she was resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party as she recognised she "cannot deliver the mandate" which Tory members gave her little over six weeks ago. "To use a phrase that has no doubt been exhausted in the past few weeks, markets don Wellesbourne Airfield Ms Barnett said: I am genuinely thrilled that my current deputy has been appointed as my successor. Jacqui Cornell won the post against some tough external challengers, and is a popular choice with girls, staff and parents alike. I am confident she will lead the school to further success from September 2016; Shottery and its girls have a bright and exciting future ahead. Nancy Hall, Alice Harvey and Dale Sewell, the head girl team at the school, said: All the girls are absolutely thrilled with the appointment of Mrs Cornell as Shotterys brand new head, and we cant think of a better person to take over from Ms Barnett. Mrs Cornell embodies everything that Shottery stands for and we have no doubt that Shottery has an incredibly positive future ahead with her at the helm, Mrs Cornell, who said she was delighted to be taking up the post, commented: There is a lot of change happening in education at the moment which, though challenging, also offers lots of opportunities. Wellesbourne Airfield Gary Bradbury, retail manager, said: Everyone involved in setting up the new shop, from the builders to our retail staff and volunteers, has worked very hard to make sure everything is to the same high standard as all the other Myron shops ready for the opening. We are lucky enough to receive a fantastic amount of donations to sell in our shops, which we wouldnt be able to run without help and support from our volunteers. The Myton Hospice also has a new chief executive. Ruth Freeman, 56, has worked for the hospice since 2006 as director of fundraising and replaces Kate Lee, who is now chief executive of national children and young peoples cancer charity, CLIC Sargent. She said: I have a very clear vision for Mytons future and to achieve all of this will require securing more support from the public and ensuring that all of our services are cost-effective and provide excellent value for money. It is the second postponement in a row for Stratford, after Saturday's clash with Dorchester Town also fell victim to the weather. "The pitch is still very wet in places," said club secretary Brian Rose. "With the possibility of some heavy showers later, the match referee was not prepared to take the risk with Poole having to travel so far." Town are back on the road this Saturday with a game against Biggleswade Town, before returning to the DCS to face King's Lynn next Tuesday. Wellesbourne Airfield And when Williams (20) of Redlands Crescent, Stratford, appeared via a television link from Glen Parva young offenders institution, wearing a blue t-shirt, Woods turned away from the screen and buried her head in her arm on the back of her seat. The defendants spoke only to confirm their names and Williams to acknowledge that he understood the hearing was a serious matter even though he was not actually in court. Prosecutor Glyn Samuel told the court: This is a preliminary hearing on a murder allegation from the 3 of February. The victim is Bethany Hill, who died in Stratford some time during the afternoon of the 3. Both defendants appeared before magistrates yesterday, and were remanded in custody to appear here today. The police and an ambulance had been called to an address in Hertford Road, where Miss Hill was found with neck wounds, at around 7pm, and she was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. At Mr Samuels suggestion, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones adjourned the case for the prosecution papers, including a post-mortem report, to be served on the defence by March 22. The judge gave the defendants, through their solicitors, until April 19 to serve defence case statements prior to a plea and case management hearing a week later. Although no indication was given on what pleas Woods and Williams will enter at that hearing, it is anticipated they will deny the murder charge. And Judge Griffith-Jones said: I have in mind an August trial date. We could try the case on the 1 of August, but I have no idea how long the trial will take. If its likely to be more than four weeks, we will have to look for another date. Told by Nick Devine, for Woods, and Colin Charvil, for Williams, that there were no applications for bail, the judge remanded both defendants in custody until the next hearing, which he said could possibly be heard at Coventry Crown Court. Earlier this week Bethany Marie Hills family released a heartfelt tribute to the 20-year-old, see it here: http://www.stratford-herald.com/47783-family-pay-tribute-to-bethany-marie-hill.html For the full story and more tributes read tomorrow's Herald. Jefferies analyst, Laurence Alexander, raised his PT on Monsanto (NYSE: MON) to $102 from $98 but maintained his Hold rating. He believes the stock has found its valuation floor and can grow with if not outperform the ag cycle. At 10% above the S&P 500 multiple, Monsanto has likely found a valuation floor, making 2016-2017 validation years. Datapoints this summer could help settle the degree to which Monsanto can decouple and outperform the ag cycle. Monsanto has consistently pegged its US corn yield advantage at 7-10 bu/acre: we expect better in inclement weather, and a step-up by ~2020 on next-gen breeding. Germplasm pricing should sustain >2% in the US, and >6% in Latin America (to catch up to F/X). Share in core soy and corn should be flat to positive, with gains as the $25bn R&D pipeline addresses new value propositions (e.g., disease resistance, abiotic stress, nitrogen efficiency, >30% increase in density). Xtend should reach 3-4m acres, with an upsell of $5-$10/bu. Dicamba should continue to be framed as a 250m acre opportunity ($1bn investment program). We expect the Climate Corp software offering to improve from an $10-$20m this year (>12m paid acres) to ~$300m by the end of the decade (~$0.30 to EPS), whereas BioAg "blue sky" could add >$2 to EPS by 2025 (if >$30/acre value creation and a third value capture, etc.). Following the most recent two rounds of ag consolidation announcements, the topic of a possible bid by BASF has been raised. A full bid would be a radical departure for BASF: for example, a $100 offer, with returns matching a buyback by FY5 (Eur0.65 accretive, or Eur3.05 after buybacks), would require significant equity issuance (est'd 50%) and only be ROIC neutral >2022. The $102 PT (up from $98) at 17x 2017E is based on a blend of mid-cycle and peer valuations. For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Monsanto click here. For more ratings news on Monsanto click here. Shares of Monsanto closed at $91.25 yesterday. Alon Blue Square Israel Ltd. (NYSE: BSI) announced that it has been informed by its controlling shareholder, Alon Israel Oil Company Ltd. ("Alon"), that Gindi Israel 2010 Ltd. has updated its previously announced offer. The terms of Gindi's updated offer are now identical to those of Mr. Moti Ben-Moshe previously announced by the Company, except that Gindi would commit to the Company's financial creditors to inject NIS 800 million into the Company (instead of Mr. Ben-Moshe's commitment of NIS 700 million) as follows: (i) NIS 400 million transferred closely after closing of the acquisition, upon the same terms provided in the offer of Mr. Ben-Moshe; (ii) NIS 200 million transferred during the second year following closing; and (iii) NIS 200 million transferred during the third year following closing. As in Mr. Ben-Moshe's proposal, the obligation to transfer the amounts described above would terminate upon complete repayment of the debt subject to the debt arrangement. In addition, the updated offer states that it will be null and void if board approval of Alon and its subsidiary, Alon Retail Ltd., are not received by today, February 9, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. Israel time, which has elapsed (subject to extension by purchaser at its sole discretion). Following today's meeting of the holders of the Company's Series C Debentures, the Company was informed by the trustee for the Series C Debentures that Gindi Israel and Mr. Moti Ben Moshe will be asked to provide updated offers by Thursday, February 11 conditioned upon approval of holders of the Series C Debentures and the boards of directors of Alon and Alon Retail until Tuesday night, February 16. The Company was informed that the holders of the Debentures are expected to vote until Monday, February 15 on the offers as well as on a proposal whether to make an immediate call for payment of all outstanding debt owed by the Company to the Series C Debenture holders which would become effective if an arrangement is not finalized by the date provided in the voting instrument sent to holders of the Debentures. The Company was also informed that the results of the vote are expected to be announced on or about Tuesday, February 16. Alon has agreed not to accept offers for its shares in the Company until the announcement of the results of the vote by the holders of the Series C Debentures. There is no assurance that Alon will sell its interest in the Company on the terms described above or at all. TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) has acquired a 71% ownership interest in CIFIN (Central de Informacion Financiera), one of two primary Colombian credit bureaus. Colombia is one of the largest Latin American economies and has been experiencing strong growth and the rapid development of an emerging middle class. TransUnion is a market leader in high-growth countries around the globe ranging from the Philippines to India to Mexico, as well as other Latin American countries. TransUnion has maintained a presence in Colombia for many years, building the first risk score in the market over a decade ago. "TransUnion's growth strategy focuses on international expansion in emerging markets, and Latin America is a key region of focus," said Jim Peck, TransUnion's president and chief executive officer. "We are delighted to add Colombia to our family of 10 other Latin American markets and look forward to leveraging our global data, analytics and technology capabilities for the benefit of Colombian banks, businesses and consumers." CIFIN was established 35 years ago and covers both positive and negative data on consumer behavior. This full-file data empowers lenders to make holistic decisions and reward responsible behavior, enabling greater financial inclusion for consumers. "CIFIN is a great company in an attractive market with a long and successful history of using data to deliver differentiated insights to customers," said David Neenan, president of TransUnion's International business. "In line with TransUnion's growth strategy, we identified CIFIN as an opportunity for acquisition several years ago, and the time is right now. Joining forces with CIFIN is a terrific opportunity to leverage our global operating model and technology platform to accelerate performance." CIFIN offers a wide portfolio of products and services for Colombian consumers and customers across multiple industries, including financial services, insurance, telecommunications, retail and manufacturing. TransUnion will bring further innovation to the market through the introduction of advanced analytics, decisioning solutions, an enhanced direct-to-consumer platform, and expansion into adjacent industries such as insurance. "CIFIN's customers have a strong appetite for new solutions proven in markets around the globe," said Maria Olga Rehbein, TransUnion's regional president in Latin America. "As the Colombian economy grows, we are well positioned to help businesses manage risk and consumers access the services that lead to a higher quality of life." This acquisition strengthens TransUnion's Latin America portfolio, where the company is already the market leader in five Central American countries and has a strong presence in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The largest Colombian banks have been investing significantly in Central America, and TransUnion will leverage its regional footprint to support their expansion. TransUnion acquired its initial 71% ownership interest at a price of COP$426.000 million (approximately USD$127 million) on February 8, 2016, financed through its revolving credit facility. Management will discuss the financial impact of the acquisition in TransUnion's earnings call on February 16, 2016. TransUnion expects to acquire the remaining shares in 2016, including a small portion following the conclusion of certain mandatory regulatory processes. CIFIN was previously owned by Colombia's top banks, who have agreed to remain close partners to TransUnion. Inverlink served as adviser to TransUnion on the transaction. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has moved to withdraw its IPO. The following was filed with the U.S. SEC on Monday: RW 1 d130104drw.htm RW Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 6400 Westwind Way, Suite A Crestwood, KY 40014 February 8, 2016 VIA EDGAR David Lin, Esq. Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549 Re: Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-207400) Dear Mr. Lin: Pursuant to Rule 477 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the Company) hereby applies for the immediate withdrawal of the above-referenced Registration Statement, which was originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) on October 13, 2015, together with all exhibits thereto. The Registration Statement was filed in connection with the proposed public offering by the Company of its common stock, which the Company has determined not to pursue at this time. The Company confirms that it has not sold any securities pursuant to the Registration Statement. The Company hereby requests an order granting the withdrawal of the Registration Statement to be issued by the Commission as soon as possible. Please provide a copy of the order granting withdrawal of the Registration Statement to the President and Chief Executive Officer at Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Attention: Cedric Francois, 6400 Westwind Way, Suite A, Crestwood, KY 40014, facsimile number (502) 241-4114, with a copy to the Companys counsel, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Attention: Stuart M. Falber, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109, facsimile number (617) 526-5000. The Company requests that, in accordance with Rule 457(p) promulgated under the Securities Act, all fees paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the filing of the Registration Statement be credited for future use. Please do not hesitate to call the undersigned at (502) 241-4114 or Stuart M. Falber of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP at (617) 526-6663 with any questions you may have regarding this matter. Very truly yours, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. By: /s/ Cedric Francois Cedric Francois, M.D., Ph.D. President and Chief Executive Officer cc: David O. Watson, Esq. Ellipse Technologies filed with the U.S. SEC to withdraw its IPO registration. The following was submitted on Monday night: RW 1 d134626drw.htm RW Ellipse Technologies, Inc. 101 Enterprise, Suite 100 Aliso Viejo, California 92656 February 8, 2016 VIA EDGAR United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporate Finance 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549-6010 Attention: Amanda Ravitz Re: Ellipse Technologies, Inc. Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-207462) Application for Withdrawal of Registration Statement Ladies and Gentlemen: Pursuant to Rule 477 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), Ellipse Technologies, Inc. (the Company) hereby requests that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) consent to the withdrawal, effective as of the date hereof or at the earliest practicable date hereafter, of the Companys Registration Statement on Form S-1, File Number 333-207462, together with all exhibits thereto (collectively, and as amended, the Registration Statement). The Registration Statement was initially publicly filed with the Commission on October 16, 2015. At this time, due to the acquisition of the Company by NuVasive, Inc., the Company has determined not to proceed with the initial public offering contemplated by the Registration Statement. The Registration Statement has not been declared effective by the Commission, and the Company hereby confirms that no securities were sold in connection with the offering described in the Registration Statement. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Commission issue an order granting the withdrawal of the Registration Statement (the Order) effective as of the date hereof or at the earliest practicable date hereafter. Please forward a copy of the Order to the undersigned via facsimile at (949) 837-3664, with a copy to the Companys legal counsel, Michael E. Sullivan of Latham & Watkins LLP, via facsimile at (858) 523-5450. The Company also advises the Commission pursuant to Rule 477(c) under the Securities Act that it may undertake a subsequent private offering in reliance on Rule 155(c) under the Securities Act. The Company acknowledges that no refund will be made for fees paid to the Commission in connection with filing of the Registration Statement. However, the Company requests that all fees paid to the Commission in connection with the filing of the Registration Statement be credited for future use should the Company proceed with the filing of a subsequent registration statement meeting the requirements of Rule 457(p) under the Securities Act. If you have any questions regarding this application, please contact Michael E. Sullivan of Latham & Watkins LLP by telephone at (858) 523-3959 or by fax at (858) 523-5450. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Very truly yours, /s/ Bob Krist Bob Krist Chief Financial Officer DALLAS, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ACE Cash Express, Inc. announced that on February 11, 2016, it will provide fiscal 2016 second quarter financial results to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, the trustee under the Indenture dated as of February 10, 2011 governing the Company's 11% Senior Secured Notes due 2019. The Company also announced it will host a conference call for Noteholders on Friday, February 12, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. CT to discuss fiscal 2016 second quarter financial results. Noteholders should contact David Sternblitz, Vice President, Treasurer of ACE Cash Express, Inc. to obtain access to the Company's financial statements and information concerning the conference call. About ACE ACE Cash Express, Inc. is a leading retailer of financial services, including short-term consumer loans, check cashing, prepaid debit card, and bill payment services, and the largest owner and operator of check cashing stores in the United States and the second largest owner and operator of short-term consumer loan stores in the United States. ACE focuses on serving consumers, many of whom seek alternatives to traditional banking relationships in order to gain convenient and immediate access to financial services. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120208/DA49391LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ace-cash-express-inc-announces-earnings-date-and-conference-call-for-noteholders-to-discuss-fiscal-year-2016-second-quarter-results-300217598.html SOURCE ACE Cash Express, Inc. BUFFALO, N.Y. and HONG KONG, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Athenex, Inc. announced today that Simon Pedder, PhD, has joined Athenex as Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development based in the U.S. and Mr. Raymond Yeung, MSc, MBA has joined as Senior Director and Deputy Head of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs, Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. Dr. Pedder has a long career in drug development including recent leadership roles as President and CEO of Cellectar Biosciences, President and CEO of Chelsea Therapeutics, Vice President of Oncology Pharma Business at Hoffman-LaRoche, Life Cycle Leader and Global Project Leader of Pegasys/IFN and Head of Hepatitis Franchise at Hoffman-LaRoche; and Vice President and Head of Drug Development in Shearwater Corporation. Formerly, he was a faculty in the Department of Pharmacology in College of Medicine in the University of Saskatchewan, where he obtained his PhD in Pharmacology. During his longstanding career in pharmaceutical development, Dr. Pedder has previously led the late stage development and commercial launch of multiple proprietary pharmaceutical products. Dr. Simon Pedder stated, "Athenex has a very strong executive management team that I have known for a while. Coupled together with their unique business model and deep oncology portfolio, Athenex is going to be a leader in the U.S. and China, reshaping traditional treatment options for cancer patients. I am looking forward to joining their leadership team to further their business and scientific strategies." Mr. Raymond Yeung also has a long career of preclinical and clinical development including Senior Project Manager, Operations Manager, and Director of Asia-Pacific in MDS Pharma Services; Managing Director of Albany Molecular Research Inc. Singapore operation; and General Manager of Fortune Pharmacal in Hong Kong. Over a span of three decades of his career, Raymond was involved or leading the effort in a number of preclinical and clinical projects and developed an expertise in GCP, GLP and GMP operations. Mr. Raymond Yeung added, "I have known Athenex and its management team for a couple of years as an investor and have been impressed by their execution and strategy. In particular, the management team has positioned Athenex to capture both the large market opportunities in the U.S. and China with their proprietary product portfolio. Similar to Simon, I am delighted to come out of retirement to work with their leadership team to contribute towards the development of new medicine to help patients and also to bridge the biotechnology/pharmaceutical space between US and China." Raymond will work closely with Dr. Wing-Kai Chan, the Head of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs Asia-Pacific of Athenex. Mr. Flint Besecker, Athenex Chief Operating Officer and Board Director commented, "The additions of Simon and Raymond to our existing leadership add depth and breadth in both of our primary markets. Simon's experience in launching proprietary oncology drugs, coupled with Raymond's experience in Greater China are a wonderful complement to our existing product development teams. It also reflects our commitments towards the planned commercialization and launch of products in both China and U.S." Dr. Johnson Lau, Athenex Chairman and CEO stated, "I have personally known Simon and Raymond for a while and both are well seasoned executives. We are all very confident that they will quickly contribute to our strategy and its execution/implementation. The Athenex team and Board of Directors warmly welcome them to our global team." About Athenex, Inc. Founded in 2003, Athenex is a global specialty oncology pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of next generation therapies for cancer diseases and supportive therapies with a particular emphasis on the China and U.S. markets. The company is dedicated to delivering innovative drugs that can have a life-changing impact on cancer patients. Our business includes: three portfolios of innovative proprietary products under development, medical technology research innovation centers, product development and regulatory teams and existing manufacturing facilities in China and the U.S. Our employees include several hundred dedicated professionals to the mission of improving the lives of cancer patients throughout the world. With our connected innovation, development and manufacturing presence concentrated in China and the US, we can identify, develop, and deliver unique medical technology across continents and multiple regulatory environments. We have offices in: Buffalo and Clarence New York, Cranford New Jersey, Hong Kong, Taipei Taiwan, and multiple locations in Chongqing, China. In addition to our offices, we have regional development partners in Dunedin New Zealand, Hong Kong, Guangzhou China, Seoul South Korea, Taipei Taiwan, Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Buenos Aires Argentina. For more information about our portfolio of proprietary products and clinical studies, please visit www.Athenex.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/athenex-announces-the-addition-of-simon-pedder-phd-and-raymond-yeung-msc-mba-to-its-global-leadership-team-300217379.html SOURCE Athenex, Inc. SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- KPIT Technologies (BSE: 532400) (NSE: KPIT), a fast-growing product engineering and IT consulting firm, today announced the go-live of the EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) Enterprise Data Warehouse on SAP HANA. As part of this project, KPIT and EDF RE worked with SAP and OSIsoft to implement the SAP HANA IoT Connector solution by OSIsoft to enable near-real-time reporting of operational data along with business and transactional data. EDF RE and KPIT partnered to create a consolidated IT environment with enterprise-wide data sharing, improved governance and a unified data platform with a single source of truth. The Enterprise Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Platform initiative included an initial integration of the SAP ERP application, ArcGIS and OSIsoft PI system (operational data infrastructure) data, and integration of SCADA and other data sources at a later stage. The team kicked off this initiative by migrating third-party hosted business warehouse and business intelligence (BI) environments to the in-house SAP HANA platform. This also included upgrading the SAP Business Warehouse application and SAP BusinessObjects BI platform to the latest release from SAP. Next, the team built an integrated enterprise data warehouse that brought together data across all of the various systems to create a single source of truth to drive reporting. EDF RE wanted to use the powerful analytics capabilities of SAP HANA with operational data in its OSIsoft PI System. KPIT and EDF RE worked with SAP and OSIsoft to deliver the SAP HANA IoT Connector that connects with the OSIsoft PI System to provision machine data into the SAP HANA platform, which provides the means to improve process efficiencies, asset health, energy utilization, safety and quality. This new integration enables sensor-based data collected by the OSIsoft PI System to be more easily filtered, cleansed, shaped and integrated in near real time for advanced analytics and decision making using SAP HANA as an industry-leading system, tool and database. Matthias Beier, vice president of Information Technology at EDF Renewable Energy said, "With KPIT's effective partnership and deep expertise with SAP HANA, EDF RE was able to successfully take on the Enterprise Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Platform initiative to consolidate our data into a single source of truth. With KPIT's help, we can now use SAP HANA and the SAP HANA IoT Connector by OSIsoft to analyze and visualize operations in an integrated manner. This will generate new insights that will allow us to dramatically improve our bottom line. We can now operate more effectively as an organization through improved visibility and harmony between our various systems." Commenting on the deployment of the Enterprise Business Intelligence and Data Warehouse Platform initiative at EDF RE, Aasim Hasan, executive vice president and Utilities Business Leader, KPIT, said, "The success of this initiative can be attributed to our strong collaboration with the teams at EDF RE, SAP and OSIsoft. This is just one of the many ways that KPIT and SAP HANA help utilities perform at the next level." "As in other fast-moving business, utilities today can no longer afford the separation of operational and IT data. Delays accessing and analyzing the data are barriers to digital transformation," said Lloyd Adams, national vice president, Utilities, at SAP. "SAP and KPIT have been partners in the utilities industry for years. We anticipate that use of the SAP HANA platform in conjunction with the OSIsoft PI infrastructure will further help customers to analyze data, gain insights, and take action in real time." To learn more, visit KPIT.com/utilities or http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/internet-of-things/software/hana-iot-connector/index.html About KPIT KPIT (BSE: 532400) (NSE: KPIT) is a global technology company specializing in providing IT Consulting and Product Engineering solutions and services to Automotive, Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities and Life Sciences companies. Together with its customers and partners, it creates and delivers technologies to enable creating a cleaner, greener and more intelligent world that is sustainable and efficient. About EDF Renewable Energy EDF Renewable Energy is a leading US independent power producer with more than 25 years of expertise in the renewable industry, covering all range of services from project origination, development, sales and marketing, to long-term asset management. EDF Renewable Energy specializes in wind and solar photovoltaic with presence in other segments of the renewable energy market: storage, biogas, biomass, hydro, and marine energy. EDF Renewable Energy's North American portfolio consists of 7.8 gigawatts of developed projects with 4.1 gigawatts of installed capacity throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. The operations and maintenance subsidiary, EDF Renewable Services, operates 10.7 GW throughout North America. EDF Renewable Energy is a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles. EDF Energies Nouvelles is the renewable energy arm of the EDF group, the leading electricity company in the world. For more information visit: www.edf-re.com About OSIsoft, LLC OSIsoft, a global leader enabling operational intelligence, delivers an open enterprise infrastructure to connect sensor-based data, operations and people to enable real-time and actionable insights. As the maker of the PI System, OSIsoft empowers companies across a range of industries in activities such as exploration, extraction, production, generation, process and discrete manufacturing, distribution and services to leverage streaming data to optimize and enrich their businesses. For over thirty years, OSIsoft customers have embraced the PI System to deliver process, quality, energy, regulatory compliance, safety, security and asset health improvements across their operations. Founded in 1980, OSIsoft is a privately held company, headquartered in San Leandro, California, USA with offices around the world. For more information, visit www.osisoft.com. SAP, SAP HANA, BusinessObjects and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. SAP Forward-looking Statement Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Richa BakshiPublic Relations KPIT Technologies Email contact+91-20-66525000x3204 Source: KPIT Technologies Ltd. Carrollton, GA (PRWEB) February 09, 2016 Superior Recreational Products (SRP), a leading manufacturer of recreational products, releases an in-depth case study on the implementation of two new shelters at the Minnesota State Fair. The Minnesota State Fair is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance. Often referred to as the "Great Minnesota Get-Together," this end-of-summer tradition has taken place since 1854. Even with their long and successful history, they are constantly looking for ways to improve their aging facilities and programming. Located next to the Grandstand music stage is an outdoor event space where they sought to replace portable tents with permanent structures. In a partnership with Parkitecture, the Minnesota State Fair set out to improve their space with Shelter by Superior Recreational Products. "We are very happy with the beautiful pavilions and the feedback from event coordinators and fair goers passing by the area. The structures have a classy and clean look that allow groups to feel comfortable and relaxed even during a busy day at the fair," Emily Diedrick, Event and Group Hospitality Supervisor said. The case study gives an in-depth look into the customer's journey of this process. It discusses the customer's need and wants for the new shelters, the selection process, installation, grand opening, and the impact it had on their business. To access the case study, visit our website at srpshelter.com or click here. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/SRP/02/prweb13204850.htm HOUSTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Terra Energy Partners LLC ("Terra" or the "Company"), an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas, announced today that the Company has agreed to acquire WPX Energy Rocky Mountain, LLC from WPX Energy, Inc. (NYSE: WPX) ("WPX") for $910 million in cash. In addition, Terra will receive natural gas hedges with a current in-the-money value of more than $90 million that will be used to support cash flow in 2016 and 2017. In exchange for these hedges, Terra has agreed to assume approximately $100 million of WPX's future firm transportation obligations extending to 2022. The parties expect to close the transaction in the second quarter. The acquired assets consist of an approximate 200,000 net acre position in the Piceance Basin of Colorado boasting recent net production of approximately 500 million cubic feet equivalent per day. Terra estimates that the assets contain approximately 2 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved developed producing ("PDP") reserves and an extensive inventory of low-risk drilling locations. The assets also include deep rights across approximately 150,000 net acres prospective for the emerging horizontal Mancos-Niobrara play. As part of this transaction, Terra has secured an increased equity commitment from existing investor Kayne Private Energy Income Fund, L.P. ("Kayne") along with an equity commitment from affiliates of new investor Warburg Pincus LLC ("Warburg Pincus"). Terra's aggregate equity commitment now totals $800 million, with Kayne and Warburg Pincus as equal partners. "We are excited to announce our first acquisition since forming Terra last summer. The Piceance Basin is an area that we know well and one that we believe offers considerable upside potential through focused management," commented Michael S. Land, Chief Executive Officer of Terra. "We are looking forward to working with our equity sponsors Kayne and Warburg Pincus to create value in the years to come." J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, along with BMO Capital Markets and Wells Fargo, provided an underwritten commitment for debt financing as part of the acquisition. In addition, BMO Capital Markets acted as M&A Advisor to Terra. DLA Piper LLP (US) and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisors to Terra and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Warburg Pincus. Mobius Risk Group served as marketing and derivatives advisor to Terra. ABOUT TERRA ENERGY PARTNERS Founded in 2015, Terra Energy Partners is a privately held oil and natural gas exploration and production company based in Houston, Texas. Terra is focused on the acquisition and development of large, long-lived producing oil and gas assets in North America. The Terra management team is led by Michael S. Land, the former President of the Permian and Mid-Continent Business Units at Occidental Petroleum Corp. ("Oxy"). Michael has assembled a deep management team with experience across multiple basins in North America, including the Piceance. Terra is a portfolio company of Kayne Anderson and Warburg Pincus and is backed by an $800 million equity commitment to pursue its strategy. For more information, please visit www.terraep.com. ABOUT KAYNE ANDERSON CAPITAL ADVISORS Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., ("KACALP") founded in 1984, is a leading independent alternative investment management firm focused on niche investing in upstream oil and gas companies, energy infrastructure, specialized real estate, middle market credit, growth private equity and distressed municipal opportunities. KACALP's investment philosophy is to pursue niches, with an emphasis on cash flow, where its knowledge and sourcing advantages enable it to deliver above average, risk-adjusted investment returns. KACALP manages over $20 billion in assets (as of 12/31/2015) for institutional investors, family offices, high net worth and retail clients and employs over 300 professionals in eight offices across the United States. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Houston, New York City, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and Boca Raton. For more information, please visit www.kaynecapital.com. The Kayne Private Energy Income Fund is part of KACALP's successful energy private equity practice that has raised over $4.5 billion since 1998. The Fund was formed to take advantage of the market opportunity to acquire and develop large, long-life producing oil and gas assets in North America. ABOUT WARBURG PINCUS Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $40 billion in assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 120 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 15 private equity funds, including a $4 billion energy fund that closed in October 2014, which have invested more than $50 billion in over 720 companies in more than 35 countries. For nearly three decades, Warburg Pincus has invested or committed over $10 billion across more than 50 energy investments around the world involved in oil and gas exploration and production, midstream, power generation, oilfield technology and related-services, mining and alternative energy development. Notable investments include Antero Resources, Bill Barrett Corporation, Broad Oak Energy, Encore Acquisition Company, Kosmos Energy, Laredo Petroleum, MEG Energy, Newfield Exploration, Spinnaker Exploration and Targa Resources. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com. Contacts For Terra Energy Partners:Michael Land, Chief Executive Officer281.936.0355 For Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors:Mark Teshoian713.493.2000 For Warburg Pincus:Ed Trissel212.878.9288 Mary Zimmerman212.878.9207 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/terra-energy-partners-llc-agrees-to-acquire-piceance-basin-assets-from-wpx-energy-300217133.html SOURCE Terra Energy Partners LLC The Colombian head of the delegation to the peace talks with the ELN guerrillas Frank Pearl speaks during a news conference at the Narino Palace in Bogota, Colombia in this February 2, 2016 handout photo provided by Colombian Presidency, REUTERS/Cesar Ca BOGOTA (Reuters) - The National Liberation Army, Colombia's second-largest leftist rebel group, must release a civilian and a soldier held hostage before the government will agree to begin a peace process, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Monday. The two sides have been holding preliminary talks for more than two years while the government negotiates a peace deal in Cuba with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's better known leftist rebel group. The talks with FARC look set to reach a final deal in the coming months. The National Liberation Army (ELN) have been holding civilian Ramon Jose Cabrales, of eastern Norte de Santander province, for five months. Government soldier Jair de Jesus Villar was captured last week in Antioquia. "We demand the liberation of Corporal Villar and of citizen Ramon Cabrales," Santos said after meeting with security officials in the city of Arauca. "If they (ELN) want to begin any type of negotiation they must liberate these hostages." The ELN set off six explosives, targeted at an army brigade, in Arauca on Monday. There were no injuries. FARC leaders said on Monday that peace in Colombia would be "incomplete" if the ELN, which has about 2,000 fighters, does not participate in negotiations. "The ELN cannot be left out of the peace process," FARC head negotiator Ivan Marquez said. Colombia's government warned last week that time was running out to begin peace negotiations with the ELN. The group has battled a dozen governments since it was founded in 1964 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. It has continued kidnapping and attacks on infrastructure even during the exploratory talks. More than 220,000 people have died in the conflict between the government, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta in Havana; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Paul Simao) By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Damascus aims to secure Syria's border with Turkey and recapture the city of Aleppo with its latest military offensive, a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday. In an interview in her Damascus office, Bouthaina Shaaban held out little hope for diplomatic efforts to end the five-year civil war, telling Reuters proposals for a ceasefire were coming from states that "do not want an end to terrorism" and wanted to shore up insurgents who are losing ground. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, has launched a major advance in recent weeks near Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city, now divided between rebel- and government-held sectors. The offensive, one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five year civil war, has brought government forces closer than they have been in years to a border crossing with Turkey that has served as the main supply route into rebel-held territory. There would be no letup in an army advance, which aimed "to liberate cities and villages that were controlled by the terrorists for 3-1/2 years, and also an attempt to liberate the city of Aleppo from the crimes of terrorism", Shaaban said. Damascus intended "to control our borders with Turkey, because Turkey is the main source of terrorists, and the main crossing for them". The United Nations said on Tuesday it was worried about the fate of up to 300,000 people still living in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, who could be cut off from food supplies if the government advance succeeds in surrounding the city and blocking access from Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have fled the area, and Turkey, which has already taken in 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has so far mostly kept the border closed to them, despite U.N. calls to allow them to flee. Shabaan said Turkey was using the refugee crisis to blackmail European states, criticizing Ankara and its "Ottoman ambitions" as the prime cause of the war that has driven 11 million people from their homes and killed 250,000 people. The Syrian army and its allies have gained ground in recent weeks in the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo, which border Turkey to the north, and Deraa, which borders Jordan to the south. They have also advanced against Islamic State to the east of Aleppo. The advance helped derail the first peace talks in two years, which collapsed last week before they had begun in earnest, with rebels demanding a halt to bombardment - something the Syrian government criticized as pre-conditions for talks. International powers are expected to meet later this week to revive diplomacy, with Washington seeking a truce. MOMENTUM The gains have helped to tip the momentum Assad's way after Damascus lost ground last year to an array of insurgents in western Syria including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, other Islamist groups, and "Free Syrian Army" rebels that have received U.S. backing. The Syrian government describes all the groups fighting it as terrorists. "We hope that the operation will continue in the north until we control the borders and stop the terrorists who Turkey has since the start of the crisis worked to send to Syria," Shabaan added. Asked if military operations would continue at the same pace, she said: "Certainly, God willing". U.N.-led efforts to launch peace talks in Geneva last week were suspended as the government offensive gained ground. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura aims to reconvene the talks later this month. However, diplomats say they have little hope for a resumption of talks as long as the Russian-backed government offensive is under way full bore. Shaaban said she did not expect success for diplomacy, saying the problem remained one of foreign support for militants in Syria and if there had been "a real international desire" to end the problem the crisis would been resolved years ago. "The states that support terrorism in Syria, behind the financing and weapons, did not take a decision to halt this financing and arming, and therefore we do not see success for the diplomatic efforts", she said. Alongside Turkey, Saudi Arabia has been a major sponsor of the insurgency that grew out of an uprising against Assad's rule. Before the start of any negotiations, the opposition has demanded a halt to airstrikes and a release of detainees. The Syrian government has said it did not impose any preconditions and would not implement any preconditions before talks. U.S. officials have said Secretary of State John Kerry will push to secure an immediate ceasefire and aid for civilians ahead of a meeting of powers in Munich this week. Shaaban said: "I believe the talk of a ceasefire is to avoid the main thing that must be done, which is fighting terrorism." "As for talk of a ceasefire, it comes from states that do not want an end to terrorism in Syria, but which want to shore up the positions of those terrorists." She said Turkey was primarily responsible for the conflict and refugee crisis, because it "was the one that attacked Syria", and it was now seeking to gain from the issue by demanding membership of the European Union and financial incentives. "The solution to the refugee crisis is via the return of security to Syria, and I am confident that the majority of Syrians dream of returning to their country," she said. "What happened in Syria is a Turkish aggression, and therefore with all sincerity I say to the European and Western states that Turkey is the problem. The Erdogan government is the problem, and cannot be part of the solution." (Editing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood) Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller atomizers are displayed for sale at a garden shop at Bonneuil-Sur-Marne near Paris, France, June 16, 2015. REUTERS/Charles Platiau By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Monsanto Co (NYSE: MON) will pay $80 million to settle civil accounting violations after it allegedly misstated its earnings in connection with its top-selling Roundup product, U.S. securities regulators said on Tuesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission also said that three accounting and sales executives have also agreed to settle charges in connection with the case. The SEC's case against Monsanto revolves around a corporate rebate program designed to boost sales of Roundup, a popular weed killer. The rebate program was created to combat rising generic competition which threatened to cut into the company's profits. The agency said that Monsanto had insufficient internal controls to account for millions of dollars in rebates that it offered to retailers and distributors. It ultimately booked a sizeable amount of revenue, but then failed to recognize the costs of the rebate programs on its books. That led the St. Louis-based agriculture company to "materially" misstate its consolidated earnings for a three-year period. In a statement, the company said it fully reserved funds to pay for the penalty in fiscal year 2015. Monsanto added that it is not required to change any of its historical statements because the company already previously in 2011 restated its financial statements for fiscal year 2009 through the third quarter of fiscal year 2011. "Public companies need to have robust systems in place to ensure that all of their transactions are recognized in the correct reporting report," said Scott Friestad, the SEC's associate director for the enforcement division. In agreeing to settle, Monsanto neither admitted nor denied the charges, which include fraud. The agency did not charge the company with knowingly committing the violations. Monsanto accounting executives Sara Brunnquell, Anthony Hartke and then-sales executive Jonathan Nienas also each agreed to pay penalties. Brunnquell and Hartke will also be temporarily suspended from acting as accountants for public companies. Attorneys for Brunnquell and Hartke did not have any immediate comment. An attorney for Nienas could not be immediately reached. The SEC said it did not uncover any personal misconduct by Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant or former Chief Financial Officer Carl Casale. Grant and Casale previously reimbursed the company for cash bonuses and stock awards they received during the periods the violations occurred. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Eric Walsh, Marguerita Choy and Diane Craft) U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington February 8, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Italian President Sergio Mattarella met on Monday in the White House and discussed efforts to work together to combat the Islamic State in Libya. During a meeting in the Oval Office, Obama and Mattarella talked about the need to help Libya form a united government. "That will allow us to help them build up their security capacity and to push back against efforts by ISIL to gain a foothold in that country," Obama told reporters after the meeting, using an acronym for Islamic State. Islamic State forces have attacked Libya's oil infrastructure and taken control of the city of Sirte, exploiting a power vacuum in the North African country where two rival governments have been battling for supremacy. Obama and Mattarella also discussed the refugee crisis facing Europe and the situation in Iraq and Syria. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Eric Walsh) By Wiktor Szary and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland signaled on Tuesday its willingness to play a more active role in tackling the Middle East security crisis, in an apparent attempt to persuade its NATO allies in return to boost their presence in eastern Europe. Alarmed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland hopes NATO will agree at a summit in Warsaw in July to send more troops to former communist eastern Europe. But sources familiar with the negotiations say Warsaw is facing resistance, including from southern member states which downplay the Russian threat and argue that Islamic State and other jihadist groups pose a more immediate danger to Europe. "We have announced an increase in our participation, also military, in actions in the Middle East," Deputy Defense Minister Tomasz Szatkowski said at a panel discussion ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels later this week. Szatkowski told Reuters Poland's involvement in the region had so far been limited to actions such as sending ammunition to Jordan, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State. "Right now, we are working on other things. The talks are ongoing, (but) directional decisions have been made," he said, adding that Poland would announce the precise details of its involvement in the coming days. A security source said Poland's involvement in the region would likely be military, but not frontline, and could involve logistics. BRUSSELS MEETING Poland's involvement on NATO's southern flank is "absolutely necessary" if it is to secure a satisfactory agreement on the alliance's presence in eastern Europe, said Michal Baranowski, Director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Warsaw. "The meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels (this week) is a good moment to announce this move because it will be key for establishing the outlines of an agreement which may be reached at the Warsaw summit," Baranowski told Reuters. The United States and Britain have proposed sending troops to Poland for military exercises but diplomats say there will be no permanent NATO base in eastern Europe such as the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, because European countries want to stick to a 1997 agreement with Moscow on not stationing substantial combat forces on the NATO-Russia border. Without a permanent base, Poland is hoping to persuade its allies to substantially increase the size and frequency of NATO exercises on its soil, among others. At the NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, defense ministers will begin outlining plans for a complex web of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid response force, which NATO generals say will amount to a "persistent" allied presence in the region. (Writing by Wiktor Szary; Editing by Gareth Jones) Police and crash scene investigators on Salisbury Street in Birkdale after the January incident. A woman charged for an attack in which another woman was pinned against a tree by a car can now be named. Ofa Ana Manitisa had her interim name suppression lifted in the North Shore District Court on Tuesday. The 50-year-old is facing two charges of causing grievous bodily harm and driving with excess breath alcohol. In court on Tuesday morning she entered two not guilty pleas through her lawyer, Geoffrey Anderson. The alleged attack took place on January 16 in the same North Shore street where murder victim Blessie Gotingco was run down nearly two years ago. A 55-year-old woman was rushed to hospital with a broken leg and deep lacerations, while Manitisa was taken into police custody. A resident of Salisbury Rd said he saw the two women screaming at each other outside his property before the alleged incident, with one repeatedly hitting the other in the head with a rock. He warned the women to take their argument elsewhere and went back inside. Moments later, he said he heard a collision and ran outside to find the 55-year-old woman up against a tree, pinned there by a white Nissan sedan. The man, who had first response training, tried to cover the blood coming from the woman's badly broken leg. He called for help from customers at a nearby dairy. "Other people came over and where just trying to keep [the victim] calm." Manitisa is due to reappear in court on May 5. A 27-year-old has been charged with excess blood alcohol, causing the death of a young woman. Nearly six months after a car crash that claimed a young woman's life police have charged the driver of the car - a relative of hers - with driving with excess blood alcohol. Waikato University student Keleiola Pifeleti,19, died in hospital on August 20, three days after the car accident on Trafalgar St in Onehunga. Police at the time said that Pifeleti was the only passenger in the vehicle, which was being driven by a relative. The car had ploughed into some parked cars, and the driver was also injured at the time, but not critically, police said. On Tuesday they charged Paul Onelani Pifeleti, 27, with being in charge of a vehicle and causing the death of Keliola Pifeleti, while driving with excess blood alcohol. Court documents said his blood alcohol reading was 137mg. The legal limit at the time of the crash was 80mg, but has since been reduced to 50mg. Pifeleti entered no plea and is due to reappear in Auckland District Court later in February. Following Pifeleti's death 1000 mourners turned out to the young Tongan student's memorial service in Onehunga. Her death has also been referred to the Coroner. Five people were in court charged with shoplifting from The Warehouse. Overseas tourists appear to be targeting The Warehouse for shoplifting, with a way to steal from the retailer "advertised" online, police say. Five travellers from overseas have been charged with shoplifting from The Warehouse in Blenheim. Chloe Mai Lan Cosaert, 20, and Kieran Robert Auguste Debeneit, 20, both French, appeared at the Blenheim District Court on Tuesday jointly charged with stealing clothes and electronic items on January 31. They did not enter a plea as they hoped to be considered for diversion. READ MORE: * Shoplifting "epidemic" sweeping NZ * Businesses prepare for the shoplifting season * French tourist admitted shoplifting * Man leaves supermarket with 'bump in pants' Foreign nationals stealing from The Warehouse appeared to be prevalent in Blenheim and the pair should enter a plea, police prosecutor Sergeant Tom Andrews said. It was not a suitable matter for diversion. "My understanding is, there was advertising of a way to steal from The Warehouse, and how easy it was, broadcasted on the internet." There were five people in court on Tuesday charged with shoplifting from The Warehouse, Andrews said. Cosaert's lawyer Rennie Gould said it would take six weeks to check Cosaert's criminal record in France to prove it was her first offence. She had already paid reparation to The Warehouse and was happy to pay a donation as further penalty, Gould said. Judge Tony Zohrab remanded Cosaert and Debeneit at large without plea to February 22 with a condition not to leave the country. Guilia Alessi, 24, and Roberto Bastoni, 22, both of Italy, admitted stealing a car power inverter from The Warehouse on February 1 at 1.20pm. They took the inverter from its packaging and hid it in a backpack, purchasing several other items on their way out but failing to pay for the inverter. It was worth $100. Their lawyer Rennie Gould said they ran out of money to continue their travels and needed the inverter to charge a phone to contact their families with. They were convicted and ordered to pay $150 to the store manager as an emotional harm payment, to be put towards a staff social function. Marius Hayn, 20, of Germany, admitted stealing headphones from The Warehouse on January 8 about 7.10pm. Police declined to offer diversion. He was convicted and ordered to pay $150 to the store manager to be put toward a staff social function. "For the poor people who have to confront people such as yourself," Judge Zohrab said. Artist Stuart Robertson has a quest for peace to photograph 10,000 people holding a single white rose in his global art project. Robertson intends to eventually launch the images into space. Three years ago, photographer Stuart Robertson found himself in New York with a camera he wasn't sure how to use, and a huge sense of failure. He had given up everything to be there his house, his career, and was there with little more than his pack, camera, a single, silk, white rose, and an idea. ROSS GIBLIN/FAIRFAX NZ Stu Robertson is displaying his photographs in an exhibition entitled Peace in 10,000 Hands at Page Blackie Gallery. The idea was Peace in 10,000 Hands, a global art project using the symbol of the white rose to create a conversation about peace. But when it came to stopping people in the Big Apple to ask for their photograph, it was a lot harder for the self-described introvert that he thought. READ MORE: * Shining a light on travel photography * Photographer Johan Lolos travels across New Zealand, takes stunning photographs * NZ photography collection captures more than 100 years of Kiwi people and places ROSS GIBLIN/FAIRFAX NZ Stu Robertson is exhibiting his photographs, Peace in 10,000 Hands at Page Blackie Gallery. "The idea of walking up to someone completely random in New York, who is going from A to B, and to stop them and ask them if I can photograph them is completely terrifying, and I think if someone wanted to photograph me, I'd have said no. "And that's what happened to me on my first day in New York. I had taken no photos, I started with two roses but had lost one, and I realised this huge mountain I had created for myself that I needed to overcome." Robertson never studied photography he had never even read a book on it. STUART ROBERTSON Hurricane, Robertson's first photo in the series. But with two photographer grandfathers, the talent was in the blood, as was the passion. Eventually, Robertson would get his first photo. It was during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Manhattan was cut off, there was no power, the tunnels were flooded, the bridges were closed.. "It was all a rather distressing situation and I was on Bleecker St in a cafe and there was so much ingenuity and generosity being displayed and people who had little gas cookers were giving away free cocoa and things. "I saw a woman who had black fingernail paint on, but her fingers were chipped and gnarly and I wanted to take her photograph. STUART ROBERTSON Wisdom of the Harakeke. "Back then though, there was no proof of concept, no photos to show. It was just an idea I had in my head." The the woman eventually agreed, and the shot now hangs above Robertson's desk in Queenstown where he lives and owns a gallery with his wife, Semele. He has gone on to photograph Ricky Gervais, the Dalai Lama, Demi Moore, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, gang members and the homeless, as well as people in some of the most deprived areas of the world. "The project is not about going to London, Tokyo, New York, LA, Sydney, photographing people holding an ancient symbol of peace. It's about giving a voice to those who don't, making the invisible visible, and so through the project I have to go to places like Iraq, the Syrian border Turkey, PKK country, so I can photograph them and get what their meaning of peace is. "This is not a project about celebrity, but the celebrity really helps propel the conversation." In addition to taking their photo, Robertson asks every subject what "peace" means to them, and receives very different answers in different countries. "For us, we would think disarmament and no violence and that sort of thing. But for places like Iraq, peace means something really different it is water, education, safety, health that sort of thing. "You get a bit desperately sad when you leave some situations. It's certainly given me more clarity in my life." He does not tell people that the rose has been held by people who have since passed, been blessed by religious leaders, or that it has the ashes of dead people on it. It has all of those things, but Robertson wants to capture people's own interpretation, "I'm not saying, 'right, jump in here and be happy about peace!'." Getting celebrities onboard meant heading to L.A. and networking. It led him to be invited to Danny Devito's home to take his picture. "We went to his house, It's massive and he is a super nice guy hilarious. He responded very deeply to the idea. He came out cracking jokes and then when we finished I asked 'what does peace mean to you?' and he spoke for about 20 minutes very deeply about peace and religion and the world." One of the most moving photographs was when he met a Parihaka Kuia, who was taken by her grandchildren to a picture-perfect flax bush to have the photo taken. "She said it was too perfect and so we went to this other area and it was old flax, young flax, dead bits of flax, flax with vines around it and she spoke to us for about 15 minutes and basically used the flax bush as an analogy for the world humanity, death and birth. It's one of my favourite photos in the project." Robertson says the project has changed him enormously, not only has approaching people got a lot easier, but he has learnt to be prepared for all sorts of situations. "There's no alien country in the world, those basic things in the human condition rest within all of us." Robertson estimates the project will be complete in about five years time. But between Robertson and his wife, who has been there every step of the way, the photos are just one part of the operation. "We are the only two people working on the project. We do everything from the art, the accounts, the planning, the book everything together. We are just completely committed to doing this." Robertson has dreams for the rose, including releasing a limited-edition glass rose, creating a large-scale marble rose sculpture, and he has been talking to NASA about sending the completed project on hard drive in a time capsule to space. But most of all, he wants to raise $100 million for children's charities. So what does peace mean to Robertson? "Inner peace," he says. "When you can attain inner peace, it can then go to your family, your village, your country and the planet. It emanates from each of us ." Peace in 10,000 Hands. Exhibiting now at Page Blackie Gallery in Victoria St, Wellington. Until February 26. The substation at Clydevale where a fire broke out on Tuesday morning, knocking out power to much of the areas. Cows are unmilked, sheep unshorn and children are unable to go to school as a result of a sizeable electrical fire at the Clydevale substation on Tuesday morning. Clutha Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer John Kee said the small farming community - northwest of Balclutha - was still feeling the effects of the blaze which knocked out the electricity substation and left many dairy and sheep farmers without power to milk and shear. "We got the call at 6.30am about a large explosion but could not sound the siren because we had no power but our pagers still worked. There was a lot of black smoke when we arrived at the substation but we were powerless to do anything until Otagonet arrived to isolate the power." Nearby Clutha Valley School was also without power and had notified pupils to stay home, principal Val Ward said. The school could not operate toilets without electricity. Power has been restored to some parts of the Clutha district after the substation fire. PowerNet general manager of network and technical performance Keith Burns said power had been restored to some customers affected by the fire. There were 560 properties originally affected by loss of the substation but the number had been reduced to about 300 after power had been redirected from other substations, Burns said. "We can't connect the last remaining 300 until the substation is back in action." Burns expected it would be late afternoon before they could get the substation online again, he said. Four fire crews attended the fire. A Dunedin man beat his partner so hard in a Palmerston North apartment, she suffered fractured ribs and a brain haemorrhage in the week leading up to the day he killed her, a court has heard. Jesse John Stuart Ferris-Bromley, 22, was to stand trial on Tuesday morning in the High Court in Palmerston North, defending himself against a charge of murdering Virginia Rose Ford on March 13, 2015. He has instead admitted manslaughter. Ford, a 20-year-old Massey University student from Dunedin, died in a private apartment near the university's Palmerston North campus about 10pm. Murray Wilson/Fairfax NZ Police taped off a skip bin at The Mews Apartments, where Virginia Ford was killed, in March 2015. Ford was a second-year science student who had also studied at Kaikorai Valley College and Aoraki Polytechnic. READ MORE: *Palmerston North Massey student killed in suspected homicide *Massey students stunned by slaying of classmate The murder trial did not start, as Ferris-Bromley pleaded guilty to manslaughter after Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk amended the murder charge. Vanderkolk also laid two fresh charges against Ferris-Bromley, of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Ferris-Bromley pleaded guilty to both those charges. While a summary of facts was not read aloud, the wounding charges state that Ferris-Bromley fractured Ford's ribs between February 13 and March 12, and caused her to suffer an acute subdural haemorrhage bleeding on the brain between March 8 and 12. The prospect of a murder conviction was "remote", Vanderkolk said. Justice Denis Clifford gave Ferris-Bromley a first-strike warning, under the three-strikes legislation for violent offending, and remanded him until April for sentencing. The judge also ordered a report to be prepared by a mental health assessor, which he said would be used to help determine what kind of sentence Ferris-Bromley would serve. Ford's family, who sat in court to hear the pleas, did not want to comment on Tuesday. KILLER'S FATHER'S DRINK DRIVING EXCUSE - 'SON FACING MURDER' Ferris-Bromley's father said his life went "from probably the best it has ever been to the worst" after hearing his son had been charged with murder. John Heney Bromley said this in the Emerald Magistrates Court in Australia, after pleading guilty to drink-driving and dangerous operation of a vehicle on March 14, The Morning Bulletin reported. Bromley said he had had about six drinks at home before hearing the news from his sister. "My son had actually killed his partner, our daughter-in-law, the day before and had been charged with murder in New Zealand," The Morning Bulletin reported him as saying. Bromley was seen driving erratically over a bridge at 3.50pm, swerving from side to side trying to overtake a ute in front of him, which he hit three times during his passing attempts. Police caught up with him later, where he was found to be over the breath-alcohol limit. Bromley said his actions stemmed purely from the news about his son, The Morning Bulletin reported. "I was in a very bad way." Bromley was not convicted, but was fined $1500 and disqualified from driving for 10 months. Clinic client Andrew Malloch said it changed his outlook and joked that master's student Tanja Allen is a hard taskmaster. Heart disease, obesity and diabetes are no barrier to getting active at a Waikato clinic. Exercise is medicine at the Wintec Biokinetic Clinic and programmes are tailored to help prevent, manage, or rehabilitate health problems. The approach is known as clinical exercise physiology, a kind of specialist exercise therapy. MARK TAYLOR/FAIRFAX NZ Wintec's Biokinetic Clinic used to operate in a gym, pictured, that was also time-tabled for teaching use. It now has a dedicated space. The clinic began with 18 mainly elderly clients operating out of a hall used as teaching space at the Hamilton tertiary institute. READ MORE: * An educated answer to the national health crisis * Exercise for the older generation, led by students * Exercise clinic transforms future * Supervision key to huge weight loss In the past six months, client numbers have swelled to 50 and it has just moved into a dedicated space at the Rotokauri campus. An 18-month veteran of the clinic, Andrew Malloch, began after finding himself jobless but not ready to retire. "I ... came along for the first one and thought, it's going to get me out of the house. That was the first thing. The second thing was it was going to rejuvenate me," he said. "I think I was the young one - and I'm over 60." He's still taking part and says it helped change his perspective on life as well as increased his fitness. "I can get out and mow the damn lawn and not feel stuffed at the end of it," he said. Elizabeth Johnson, a registered nurse with Hauraki Primary Health Organisation, tried the clinic after a foot injury. Since then, she has referred patients with multiple, long-term conditions. One was a woman in her 60s who was affected by sleep apnoea and worried about going outside after a stroke. "She's just transformed. There's a big smile on her face now. She's walking around the lake with her mokopuna," Johnson said. Another success story was a 45-year-old woman with high blood sugar levels, almost constant chest pain and an achy body. "I saw her two weeks ago - her blood sugars are back in the normal range," Johnson said. "She's on half the amount of insulin that she was on." The biokinetic clinic also developed links with Waikato District Health Board and the Waikato Diabetes Service. A dedicated space would mean the clinic could take on more clients and students to work with them, clinic manager Dr Glynis Longhurst said. "Before ... we were working on a four-hour week," she said. Now the clinic will operate 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, giving an "exercise prescription" to clients. Clinical exercise physiology is an emerging area in New Zealand but aims to be recognised as an allied health profession. NetSafe is aware of children as young as 11 sexting, and say it is a widespread problem among Kiwi teenagers. Sexting is being labelled a drug-like addiction for some Kiwi teens, with increasing numbers of young people sending naked photos of themselves. Sexting, the sending of explicit phone messages, often with naked photos, is now so common that New Zealand parents would struggle to find a teenager who has not been asked to send one, NetSafe has warned. The head of NetSafe is aware of children as young as 11 sexting, and said suicide was among the most-extreme outcomes. And the problem comes with a stark warning images can last online forever, and appear each time the sender's name is typed into a search engine. "For some teens, [sexting] has become quite a normal part of dating," said NetSafe chief technology officer Sean Lyons. "You'd be hard pressed to find a teen that hasn't been asked to send a naked or semi-naked photo of themselves in New Zealand." Youthline spokesman Stephen Bell said the motivation behind sexting came down to a "complex cauldron of emotions and motives", but for some teens it became an addiction not dissimilar to drugs. "It's a way of people dealing with their anxiety and inner turmoil." Sexting began as a way for some teens to take control of their lives, Bell said. But they tended to call Lifeline when the situation became out of control, such as when images were shared wider than the intended recipient. "It's the buzz, that's the driver ... suddenly its the buzz plus the shame." Teens were programmed to take risks and as they got older the actions of their friends became an increasing influence. And it was the same peer group that were best placed to help as teenagers were more likely to listen to their friends than their parents. Parents could support teenagers to be good peers. Sexting tended to start at the age children got cell phones, but was most common in the mid to late teens, Bell said. NetSafe executive director Martin Cocker said he was aware of children aged as young as 11 or 12 who had sexted, and it was becoming normal for older teens. Overseas studies suggested up to 30 per cent of teens had sexted, and the figure was likely to be rising. "The danger is, once an electronic file has been produced it can be repeatedly copied and shared." He was aware of "a number of cases" in which images had been shared beyond their intended recipient. In some cases victims had been moved to suicide or self-harm, but the more common result was for those teens involved becoming unable to participate fully in school or social life, Cocker said. Vodafone recently launched its "digi parenting" website. Its section on sexting had become the most-visited section on the site, website manager Liz Wilson said. "Parents have long been concerned about online predators, or their children stumbling across pornography, but now they're increasingly concerned about sexting and cyber bullying." In a statement, police said they were concerned about any "sexually abusive behaviour" putting young people at risk. "The risk of abuse has been made easier due to the growth in technology, especially mobile phones and other portable devices which have become more sophisticated and affordable. "People should be mindful that once an explicit message or image is sent out you lose control over it. "If it ends up in the online environment, it can remain there for good. It can also open victims up to further demands for images." Vodafone released the information on sexting ahead of Safer Internet Day, which is on Tuesday. What parents can do to stop sexting harm: * Take a strong interest in your children's involvement with technology. * Make sure they know who to talk to if things get out of control. Find other solutions to challenges, rather than instantly reacting and confiscating their devices. * Understand how technology and social media sit with young people, and how it is important in the development of social activity. * Raise the topic of sexting as part of a wider talk about relationships. * Be more aware of who you share images with, and have conversations with people about the photos they use. (Source: NetSafe and Vodafone) Need help? The Mental Health Foundation's free Resource and Information Service (09 623 4812) will refer callers to some of these helplines: Lifeline - 0800 543 354 Depression Helpline (8 am to 12 midnight) - 0800 111 757 Healthline - 0800 611 116 Samaritans - 0800 726 666 nationwide. Suicide Crisis Helpline (aimed at those in distress, or those who are concerned about the wellbeing of someone else) - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) Youthline - 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz. "Save Me" signs were attached to 29 trees on Ladies Mile, Queenstown, in order to raise awareness of a plan to cut them down. A meeting will be held on Thursday to discuss the removal of 29 trees on Ladies Mile after a public stink over the plan. Delta energy company had agreed with the property owner to cut the trees down on February 9, but that has been postponed for a week. More than 1800 people signed a petition to save the trees that are growing into the power lines above Lake Hayes Estate. Petition creator and Lakes Hayes resident Stuart Victor said it was a "huge turn out". "Hopefully we will get up to 2000 in the next few days." Victor said the powerlines were put up along Ladies Mile when the trees were already there. A group of like-minded people put up "save me" posters on the trees which made more people aware on what trees were targeted, he said. "The trees are beautiful and they have been there for 50 years. If we have 29 trees going now then what can we expect next?" he said. Victor said there should be public consultation with residents every time big decisions were made. The long term solution for the trees was to put the power lines underground. In the short term they could be trimmed, he said. Delta estimated it would cost Queenstown Lakes District Council $20,000 a year to trim the trees. Victor said the rates are already high enough and Delta should be paying at least half the cost of trimming. "Why do residents have to pay it when it's Delta's lines? They can't just wipe their hands of it," he said. Council communication manager Michele Poole said as of February 9 a the Give a Little page was set up to fund an annual cost of trees maintenance. Mayor Vanessa van Uden said the council and Delta were in a position to take over maintaining the trees because of the ongoing cost. She said by law the landowners were responsible for trimming cost and it would be wrong to impose that cost on ratepayers and electricity consumers. van Uden said those particular trees were iconic and the community wanted a solution to be found. "QLDC and Delta are both willing to be part of the solution, and the first move is to set up an account to receive donations from everyone who has said they are keen to help preserve these trees," she said. Lake Hayes Estate residents association leader and councillor Merv Aoake said the trees looked very nice when coming into town. "That is what we are trying to promote, how the area looks," However, Aoake understood the trees had to be well looked after for them not to cause any issues. "They all look nice when they are young but once the trees are grown there can be consequences." Aoake said the residents of the area were very proactive and were keen to trim the trees themselves. "There is a very passionate group of people who want the trees to be kept there," he said. The public meeting will be held on Thursday at 6pm at the Lake Hayes walking track car park. An explosion in central Istanbul has claimed the lives of at least 10 people, wounding some 15 others. A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul's historic heart on Tuesday, in an attack Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed on Islamic State. All of those killed in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia - major tourist sites in the centre of one of the world's most visited cities - were foreigners, Davutoglu said. A senior official said nine were German. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria but was not on Turkey's watch list of suspected militants. He said earlier that the bomber had been identified from body parts at the scene and was thought to be a Syrian born in 1988. OSMAN ORSAL/REUTERS Police secure the area after an explosion in central Istanbul, Turkey. Davutoglu said he had spoken by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer condolences and vowed Turkey's fight against Islamic State, at home and as part of the US-led coalition, would continue. READ MORE: * Bomb blast kills three as Turkish police fight Kurdish protestors * Eight soldiers killed, Istanbul palace attacked * IS or PKK links to Ankara bombing "Until we wipe out Daesh, Turkey will continue its fight at home and with coalition forces," he said in comments broadcast live on television, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. He vowed to hunt down and punish those linked to the bomber. Several bodies lay on the ground in the square, also known as the Hippodrome of Constantinople, in the immediate aftermath of the blast. It was not densely packed at the time of the explosion, according to a police officer working there, but small groups of tourists had been wandering around. "This incident has once again shown that as a nation we should act as one heart, one body in the fight against terror. Turkey's determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end," President Tayyip Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara. OSMAN ORSAL/REUTERS A forensic expert works on the scene of an explosion in central Istanbul, Turkey. Norway's foreign ministry said one Norwegian man was injured and was being treated in hospital. The Dogan news agency said nine Germans and one Peruvian were also wounded. Turkey, a NATO member and candidate for accession to the European Union, is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State fighters who have seized territory in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, some of it directly abutting Turkey. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamist, leftist and Kurdish militants, who are battling Ankara in southeast Turkey, have all carried out attacks in the past. OSMAN ORSAL/REUTERS Police secure the area after the explosion in central Istanbul. "We heard a loud sound and I looked at the sky to see if it was raining because I thought it was thunder but the sky was clear," said Kuwaiti tourist Farah Zamani, 24, who was shopping at one of the covered bazaars with her father and sister. An official from one tour company who declined to be identified told Reuters that a tourist group from Germany was in the area at the time of the blast. "The explosion was very loud. We shook a lot. We ran out and saw body parts," one woman who works at a nearby antiques store told Reuters, declining to give her name. MURAD SEZER/REUTERS Police secure the area in the heart of Istanbul's tourist area. Ambulances rushed to the scene, ferrying away the wounded as police cordoned off streets. "We're taking precautions against a second explosion," the police officer said, ushering people out of the square. Melbourne businesswoman Mikala James and her father were in the streets of Istanbul, en route to Sultanahmet Square, when the bomb went off. "We heard the explosion and then there was a chill in the air," James said. "Dad said to me it sounded like a building demolition but I'd never heard a sound like that before." James said they were on their way to a meeting at the Sultanahmet Square district, which is often crowded with locals and tourists visiting monuments. Her father, Brian, said it was sheer luck that they stopped at a cafe and were running behind schedule. "We thank our lucky stars, otherwise we would have been right in the middle of it," he said. "It's a beautiful, friendly city with magnificent people, but everyone is on edge this morning." 'UNIMAGINABLE SCENE' The dull thud of the blast was heard in districts of Istanbul several kilometres away, residents said. Television footage showed a police car which appeared to have been overturned by the force of the blast. Tourist sites including the Hagia Sophia and nearby Basilica Cistern were closed on the governor's orders, officials said. "At first we thought it was a percussion bomb, it was so loud. They attacked Sultanahmet to grab attention because this is what the world thinks of when it thinks of Turkey," said Kursat Yilmaz, who has operated tours for 25 years from an office by the square. "We're not surprised this happened here, this has always been a possible target," he said. Ambulances ferried away the wounded as police cordoned off streets. The sound of the call to prayer rang out from the Blue Mosque as forensic police officers worked at the scene. "It was unimaginable," the police officer who had been working on the square said, describing an amateur video he had seen of the immediate aftermath, with six or seven bodies lying on the ground and other people seriously wounded. Just over a year ago, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a police station for tourists off the same square, killing one officer. That attack was initially claimed by a far-left group, the DHKP-C, but officials later said it had been carried out by a woman with suspected Islamist militant links. "Ambulances started rushing in and I knew it was a bomb right away because the same thing happened here last year," said Ali Ibrahim Peltek, 40, who operates a kiosk selling snacks and drinks on the square. "This is not good for Turkey but everyone was expecting a terrorist attack." On Wednesday, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said there was no indication any New Zealanders had been caught up in the explosion. There are currently 109 Kiwis registered on SafeTravel as being in Turkey, he said. The New Zealand Embassy in Ankara is in contact with Turkish authorities and the ministry continued to advise caution in Turkey due to the threat of terrorism. New Zealanders should follow any instructions issued by the local authorities, exercise a high degree of vigilance in public places and register their details with SafeTravel, the spokesman said. In November, New Zealand updated its security information for Kiwis travelling to Turkey, saying there was an extreme safety risk within 10km of the Syrian border, high risk in the south-eastern provinces and some risk of terror attacks, kidnapping and civil unrest in other parts of the country. TURKEY A TARGET Turkey has become a target for Islamic State, with two bombings last year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Just over a year ago, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a police station for tourists off the same square, killing one officer and wounding another. That attack was initially claimed by a far-left group, but officials later said it had been perpetrated by a woman with suspected Islamist militant links. Turkey has become a target for Islamic State, with two bombings last year blamed on the radical Sunni Muslim group, in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and in the capital Ankara, the latter killing more than 100 people. Violence has also escalated in the mainly Kurdish southeast since a two-year ceasefire collapsed in July between the state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has been fighting for three decades for Kurdish autonomy. The PKK has however generally avoided attacking civilian targets in urban centres outside the southeast in recent years. Turkey also sees a threat from the PYD and YPG, Kurdish groups in Syria which are fighting Islamic State with US backing, but which Ankara says have close links to the PKK. "For us, there is no difference between the PKK, PYD, YPG, DHKP-C ... or whatever their abbreviation may be. One terrorist organisation is no different than the other," Erdogan said, vowing that Turkey's military campaign against Kurdish militants in the southeast would continue. Davutoglu's office imposed a broadcasting ban on the blast, invoking a law which allows for such steps when there is the potential for serious harm to national security or public order. The attack raised fears of further damage to Turkey's vital tourism industry, already hit by a diplomatic row with Moscow which has seen Russian tour operators cancel trips. But Yilmaz, the tour operator, said he had sold a package to a tourist from Colombia just an hour after the blast. "The reality is the world has grown accustomed to terrorism. It's unfortunate, and I wish it weren't true, but terrorism now happens everywhere," he said. "The agenda changes quickly in this age. If tourism is affected by this, it will be temporary. These things pass, but the Hagia Sophia and the Sultanahmet mosque are eternal." - REUTERS, with NICK TOSCANO/FAIRFAX MEDIA Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Armed police are currently searching the small settlement of Frasertown near Wairoa for a man wanted in relation to an armed incident in Hastings late last month. Ihaka Paul, 26, presented a pistol to family members and made several threats to them at a Hastings house on January 29. He had previously cut off his electronic bail bracelet. Police have been searching several properties throughout Hawkes Bay since then looking for him. The police Armed Offenders Squad this morning searched a house in Pakowhai Rd, Hastings looking for him but he was not found. Shortly after, police were alerted to a sighting of Paul chasing a male along a road in Wairoa with a firearm. Shortly after that he was involved in a pursuit with police from Wairoa to Frasertown where he pointed a firearm at police. He is still believed to be in the area. Armed Offender Squads from Hawkes Bay and Gisborne are currently on the scene and have set up cordons around the Frasertown area. Traffic is being diverted away from the area. Local schools have been alerted and asked to keep students inside. Police are also using a helicopter from Gisborne to do aerial searches of the area. An Armed Offenders Squad from the Bay of Plenty has also been called in to search the Lake Waikaremoana area if Paul moves in that direction. Inspector Harry Harvey said the situation was ongoing and police were monitoring Pauls movements as best they could. Obviously we have to treat this unfolding situation with extreme caution and we urge everyone to stay away from the Frasertown area at this time. Paul is believed to be highly volatile and we ask that he not be approached, Mr Harvey said. Paul is described as a male Maori about 1.7m tall with a shaved undercut haircut. He has a large facial tattoo across his nose and cheeks, which could have been added to recently. Anyone who has seen Paul or if they know where he is should ring 111 immediately. Source: New Zealand Police. Is your small business in need of a steer? Perhaps your business needs a hand up? Well The Chamber of Commerce says theres knowledge and a willingness to help in Tauranga. And thats why its launching its Small Business Tauranga Group at a special breakfast on Wednesday, February 17, at Club Mount Maunganui. Hawkes Bays Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter A tramping party of three was traversing a washout on the track when the woman slipped and fell about 40 metres down a steep shale slope, sustaining injuries to her head, neck, chest and ankles. The location proved too dangerous for the remainder of the tramping party to reach the woman and they activated their Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). The Hawkes Bay Rescue Helicopter was directed to the scene, around 27km south west of the southern edge of Lake Waikaremoana by the rescue coordination centre New Zealand. A paramedic was winched to the scene to provide treatment before the flight to Hawkes Bay Hospital. RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator Dave Wilson says the operation highlights the importance of carrying a personal locator beacon when travelling to remote areas. This is a very isolated part of the country, with no cellphone coverage. Without a PLB, it would have taken a considerable amount of time for the party to raise the alarm, says Dave. An armed man being sought by police today has given himself up. Police had been searching for Ihaka Paul today after reports of him chasing a man down a Wairoa street with a gun. He has been wanted by police since January 29, when he was involved in an armed incident in Hastings. Paul gave himself up to police around 7.15pm tonight at a house in Frasertown near Wairoa. There were no issues with his arrest and no-one was injured. He will be facing a number of charges related to both incidents. Source: New Zealand Police. Price Rite.JPG Price Rite opened its first Syracuse store at the northwest corner of Teall Avenue and Erie Boulevard East in 2012. It plans to open its second Syracuse supermarket at the southeast corner of South and Bellevue avenues later this year. (Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com) Syracuse, N.Y. The Syracuse Common Council has approved an agreement that will give a planned Price Rite grocery store on South Avenue 10 years of property tax discounts. By a 9-0 vote, the council threw its support behind the payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement, which already has received the approval of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency. Under the deal, the property tax assessment on the store will be frozen for seven years. The exemption will phase out over the next three years. The property tax savings will save Price Rite an estimated $329,140 over 10 years. Price Rite plans to open a discount grocery store in this former supermarket at the southeast corner of South and Bellevue avenues in Syracuse. The discount grocery store chain plans to open a 35,000-square-foot supermarket at 601 South Ave. in the city's southwest side neighborhood, an area community leaders have described as a "food desert" because of its dearth of full-service grocery stores. The site where Price Rite plans to open its store contains a vacant building that housed a Loblaws supermarket until that store closed in 1970. Price Rite plans to renovate and expand the building. Price Rite has said the store will create 10 full-time and 75 part-time jobs. It will be the chain's second store in Syracuse. The first opened at 1605 Erie Blvd. E. in 2012. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Syracuse, N.Y. The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday approved tax exemptions for a $30.5 million, 108-unit apartment complex planned by COR Development Co. at the Syracuse Inner Harbor. The exemptions were approved on a 5-0 vote. They are the first Fayetteville-based COR will receive under a controversial payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement approved by the agency in December the deal that touched off a court fight between the developer and the city of Syracuse. The agreement gives the developer 15 years of partial property tax discounts and other tax exemptions, worth an estimated $44.6 million, on COR's planned $342 million transformation of the former Barge Canal terminal into hotels, apartments, retail and office space. Each phase of the development requires a separate vote of approval by the agency, even though the terms of the tax exemptions have already been agreed upon. COR plans to begin construction soon on two four-story buildings on the west bank of the harbor, in the 700 block of Van Rensselaer Street. The top three floors of each building will contain 54 apartments. The first floor of each will have 22,600 square feet of retail space. COR also plans to build two more 54-unit apartment buildings on the west bank after the first two are completed and leased up. It's expected to request the same tax deal for those building, too. The mixed-use buildings are the second phase of the inner harbor development. COR is nearing completion of construction on a 134-room, $22.8 million Aloft Hotel on the south bank of the harbor, which is bordered by Van Rensselaer, West Kirkpatrick and Solar streets in the city's lakefront area. The hotel is the only part of the development that is not covered by the tax deal. The deal angered Mayor Stephanie Miner, who said the county agency should have required COR to reserve some of the construction jobs created by the project for city residents. She is suing COR, alleging the company broke a promise not to apply for property tax exemptions for the project. COR says it made no such promise. The agreement with the county agency provides a full exemption from taxes on each building in the development, though not the land under them, for five years, followed by declining partial exemptions for the next 10 years. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 2016-02-08-slm-CliffordRyan.jpg Clifford Ryan, of OG's Against Gun Violence, stood near Park and Butternut streets for more than three hours Monday in Syracuse. Ryan said he's protesting gun violence after a 19-year-old was shot and killed Sunday evening. (Sarah Moses | smoses@syracuse.com) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Clifford Ryan walked up and down Park Street in Syracuse Monday afternoon near the site where a 19-year-old was shot and killed. Kiair Abdellatif was shot around 8:20 p.m. on Sunday in the 600 block of Park Street. He was rushed to Upstate University Hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Ryan, a Syracuse man who is the founder and force behind OG's Against Gun Violence, said he was protesting the gun violence. "This has to stop," Ryan said as he carried a sign illustrating his cause. Several drivers honked as they drove by Ryan and others gave him a thumbs up. Ryan said he spoke with Abdellatif's brother and encouraged him to take a non-violence reaction. "Retaliation is not the answer," Ryan said. This is a message Ryan said he's given to more than 20 other young people in the past year. "That has helped save lives," he said. Ryan said he understands Abdellatif's family's pain. Ryan's 17- year- old son, Duriel Lamar Ryan, was shot and killed in 1999. Ryan, 52, said the violence in Syracuse is at a all-time high and he's dedicated to spreading his message. His mission is to take back the community and stop the bloodshed. "I'm not afraid," he said. "I'm going to walk these streets. I'm going to spread this message. I'm fearless. We need to get this message to the youth." Police said it is very early in the investigation, and investigators asked anyone with information to call Syracuse Police at (315) 442-5222 or use the department's SPD Tips app. Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow @SarahMoses315 Tully, N.Y. -- As Rob Rosolanko prepared to walk up to the stage and speak in front of 600 people in the Onondaga County Civic Center last month, he remembered the last time he was in front of a crowd: He threw out the first pitch at a Rangers/Yankees game in Dallas more than a decade ago. And he was high. Rosolanko, 46, spent two years shooting heroin into his veins. At the same time, he held down an $80,000-a-year job as a marketing executive at Home Depot. He got married. He was getting his MBA. While he was working, he'd slip into the bathroom and inject heroin. He mainlined heroin six or seven times a week. The rest of the time, he was either snorting heroin or taking prescription painkillers. His drug abuse began with OxyContin, but the pills became too expensive. Rosolanko said at the end he was taking as many as 45 pills a day. And that didn't get him high; it just kept him from slipping into withdrawal. That day last month, Rosolanko told the story of how his addiction to heroin and painkillers tore his life apart and how he found his way out. It was part of a forum put together by the Onondaga County Health Department to call attention to an epidemic of heroin and opiate use. In 2010, there was a single death from heroin and opiate overdoses. By 2015, there were 57. That number is up 31 percent from 2014, and that could increase as there are still some deaths whose causes haven't been determined. The number of people who died from heroin use, alone, was 34. Nearly all of those who died were white and there were twice as many men than women. The number of drug-addicted babies has also surged in Onondaga County: in 2015, there were 56, more than double the 2014 number. But many people still believe heroin addiction is someone else's problem: "They're junkies. Living under a bridge. People who don't look like me," Rosolanko said. But heroin's tentacles reach into corporate offices and suburban high schools, pulling in people no one expects. It is often the desperate end of a path that begins with prescription painkillers. This is where Rob Rosolanko's journey began: In a hospital bed, writhing in pain from pancreatitis. He had four bouts of the painful illness in his 20s. He was given opiates to deal with the pain. Rosolanko said he was a heavy drinker then and thinks that's what caused the pancreatitis. He left with a prescription for pain pills. He popped some while sitting on his couch, not trying to get high, but trying to get rid of the pain. "All of the sudden, I felt fantastic... The weather is beautiful, I love everything," Rosolanko said. He didn't start abusing the pills then. It wasn't until a few years later, in his early 30s, when he moved to Dallas and his job got increasingly stressful. Rosolanko remembered the pills made him feel euphoric and began "doctor shopping" to get more, making up ailments. "I made up a stupid story: I was in a surfing accident," Rosolanko said. "And I was off." When doctor shopping got too tricky, he began buying the pills online. By that point, he was spending hundreds of dollars a week on his addiction. That's when a friend at work suggested heroin. At first, he only snorted it. But the dealer told him to inject it. The high would be better and last longer. So he tried it. Rosolanko remembers sitting in his car in a parking lot in downtown Dallas, in daylight, and putting the needle into his vein. He could see the grassy knoll where conspiracy theorists say a mystery shooter stood and fired at President John F. Kennedy. "The best way I can describe it is if you're having sex and you have an orgasm - right at that peak - take that moment and stretch it out for five minutes," Rosolanko said. "It goes straight to your brain." "And I thought, 'I want to feel this all the time,'" Rosolanko recalled. But that's one of the evil tricks heroin plays on the brain: you never feel that first high again. The more you use, the more you need, the harder any high is to reach. And the harder it is to keep withdrawal away. Heroin withdrawal feels like the flu, only worse. And at the very worst, it feels like there are bugs inside your body. You itch from the inside out, Rosolanko said. So Rosolanko chased the high harder and harder. And he did the things addicts, do, he said. He began making fake marketing plans for the store grand openings he did at Home Depot. He'd say he needed $10,000 worth of gift cards, but only use $8,000. He'd sell the rest on eBay. He stole $270,000 this way. Rosolanko got caught. He was planning to go see his family in New Jersey when he received a phone call from his secretary. Is there any reason Home Depot corporate security is asking questions about you, she asked him. Rosolanko knew he was done. He finished packing and went to the airport. He shot up heroin for the last time in the parking lot at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport Feb. 27, 2004. And he went home. He told his family. It was hardest, he said, to tell his mother. He called her from his brother's house. "She found me, curled up in the fetal position in the corner of the bathroom with a blanket over my head," Rosolanko said. It wasn't withdrawal yet. It was shame and fear, he said. From there, Rosolanko, then 35, went to rehab, got a lawyer and pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He served 16 months in federal prison and agreed to pay back everything he stole. That was 11 years ago. He said he hasn't used since. Getting caught saved his life, Rosolanko said. And it led him to the love that would make the second chapter, the one that comes after drugs, easier. Rosolanko went to live with his brother in Binghamton while he was waiting to be sentenced. He went on a few dates with a woman. (He and his wife were divorced by this point.) "And I thought, 'I have no business doing this,'"Rosolanko recalled. He knew he'd soon be in a cell for a long time. So he told her about everything: the drugs, needles, embezzlement and prison. She stayed, anyway. Trina Rosolanko said her five brothers weren't too happy about her dating a drug addict who was in prison. But Rosolanko, who grew up in Castle Creek, a small town outside of Binghamton, said she just knew it would all end well. "He just had a passion about making his life better," she said. The two were married in 2007, shortly after Rob Rosolanko finished his prison term. They have been paying off his crime, like a mortgage, every month. Rosolanko says he's paying back the last $40,000 of the more than $200,000 that he stole. Rosolanko wanted to help people like him. He now works at Tully Hill, in Tully, as a substance abuse counselor. The path out for him was as much about realizing he needed better tools to deal with life than it was about overcoming the drugs, he said. "So if I learn how to deal with life and myself, I'll never feel the need to use a drug," Rosolanko said, sitting in his office at Tully Hill. "That was the key. Accepting that." But he knows he's never cured. Rosolanko goes to 12-step meetings weekly when things are good. When they're rough, he goes a few times a week. Around him, he has the constant reminder of how strong addiction's grip can squeeze. Obituaries of people who pass through recovery but don't beat their demons get put on the table in the conference room at Tully Hill. And then there are his friends he's met through his own recovery who haven't made it. One died in December. Rosolanko said he doesn't miss getting high because now the memory of that euphoric feeling is mixed in with the hell and shame of withdrawal and prison. Every day when he leaves his house, he has his federal inmate ID in his pocket. It is a constant reminder of heroin's painful power. Now, Rosolanko is quietly astounded that he has a house, a wife and a job. He stops to listen to the wind and hear kids laugh. It's not rainbows every day, but it's good, he said. The thing that gets him closest to high now? "Helping other people... that good feeling." Marnie Eisenstadt writes about life and culture in Central New York. Contact her anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246. Faiths from all over Central New York came together under the house of Islam in the 6th Annual World Interfaith Harmony Assembly. It was the first time the event has been held at a mosque. Interfaith Works, Women Transcending Boundaries and local faith communities collaborate to help spread the message of harmony and understanding by showcasing and celebrating the many faith traditions in Central New York. In many ways the event at the Mosque of Jesus, son of Mary, on Park St., on Monday fulfilled the purpose of the World Interfaith Harmony Week. In 2007 the Common Word Initiative called for Muslim and Christian leaders to engage in dialogue around two common fundamental religious commandments: Love of God and Love of the Neighbor. On October 20, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously established the World Interfaith Harmony Week. Moody's Investors Service says Lago Resort & Casino's non-gaming amenities will siphon customers from the Oneida Indian Nation's Turning Stone Casino, and "cannibalize" other casinos in Upstate New York. The bond credit rating service has labeled Lago's credit rating as B3 stable. "Lago's opening comes amid a broader expansion of gaming in the northeast and increasing gaming revenue for the majority of New York's casinos in 2015," said Peter Trombetta, a Moody's Analyst. "Recently opened casinos nearby do not offer live table games, a clear advantage for Lago, and others slated to open will operate in different markets. Lago's location and product offerings uniquely position it to cannibalize gaming customers its competitors." Lago is being built in Tyre, Seneca County, and is located between the population centers of Rochester and Syracuse. It will offer table games, giving the resort an advantage over the Finger Lakes and Batavia Downs racinos, which are prohibited from offering those games. Turning Stone Casino, 35 miles east of Syracuse, is Lago's closest competitor to offer table games. However, Moody's said it expects Lago's non-gaming amenities to take market share away from Turning Stone. The Oneida Indian Nation has fought Lago's casino plans. Last month, the nation and an opposition group Casino Free Tyre filed suit in New York County against the New York State Gaming Commission over the commission's decision to award a lucrative gaming license to Thomas Wilmot, Lago's developer. The Oneidas said in the lawsuit that the casino selection process was subjective when deciding who would be granted a license. 062502 MISERCOLA JB.JPG The Rev. Chester Misercola, whom the Syracuse diocese defrocked over child-molesting allegations, sits in front of what was then called St. Pius X Hall in 2002. (John Berry | The Post-Standard) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has closed its retirement home for priests after 59 years, citing financial concerns. The decision to close the Tommy Coyne Residence for Priests in December was unrelated to concerns raised last year by survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests, diocese spokeswoman Danielle Cummings said. The diocese had been planning for two years to close the home because of the expense, Cummings said. She wouldn't say how many priests were living in the 22-room home when it closed. "The building simply was becoming too costly and the repairs needed did not justify continuing it as a retirement residence for priests," she said. Over the past 15 years, the facility was home to at least four priests against whom the diocese had found credible allegations of child-molesting, according to public records. Those priests were monsignors Charles Eckermann, Charles Sewall and John Zeder, and the Rev. Chester Misercola. Another priest who lived at the home in recent years, the Rev. Robert Ours, was convicted of possessing child pornography. A priest from the Ogdensburg diocese, John Fallon, also lived at the home starting in 2002. Before moving there, he'd been convicted of possessing child pornography. Ours, Misercola and Eckermann were living at the home in the past two years, public records show. Retired priests in good standing were also living at the home, Cummings said. Two survivors of child-molesting by priests included concerns about the home in a petition they started circulating in the fall. The petition, started by Kevin Braney and Charles Bailey and signed by more than 86,000 people, called for Bishop Robert Cunningham to resign. In their petition, Braney and Bailey argued that the diocese should not allow the defrocked priests to live in Syracuse without supervision and without reporting them to police. Cummings said there was "absolutely no connection" between the petition and the closing of the home. The priests who were still at the home when it closed found their own living arrangements -- either in assisted living facilities or in their own homes, Cummings said. Braney called it irresponsible for the diocese to release the defrocked priests into the community without warning the public. "They are just putting their trash in everyone else's back yard," Braney said. "This is just another example of how Bishop Cunningham refuses to take responsibility and exhibit the leadership necessary to protect children in Syracuse." Braney and Bailey want Cunningham to publicize the names of the 11 priests against whom the diocese has found credible allegations of child-molesting. Cummings would not say how many of those priests were living at the retirement home. The home, at 714 E. Brighton Ave. and formerly known as St. Pius X Hall, opened in 1956. The home is owned by nursing home operator Loretto, which gave the diocese lifetime use of it, Cummings said. The diocese has no plans to open a new retirement home for priests, she said. The diocese never received complaints from neighbors in the time the diocese used the facility, Cummings said. The diocese has no immediate plans for the facility, she said. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright introduces Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at a campaign event in Concord, N.H., on Saturday. (The Associated Press) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has struggled to capture the support of young women voters. Polls show more of this demographic prefers fellow candidate Bernie Sanders. Winning today's New Hampshire will be huge for Sanders who has a 26-point lead over Clinton. Kristi Andersen, professor of political science in Syracuse University's Maxwell School. To shore up support for Clinton among women, long time feminist activist and the first woman Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined the candidate on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Saturday. Albright scolded young women for failing to back a woman for president. She said younger women may believe equal rights have been achieved, but there's more to do. She added, "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." Does that become an obligation for women, to support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton because she's a woman? "I certainly don't think any individual woman is obligated to support, or even any individual female Democrat, is obligated to support Hillary Clinton," said Kristi Andersen, professor of political science at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Cazenovia Town Board councilor. "People make up their minds in a lot of ways." Andersen supports Clinton. Because they're of the same generation, Andersen said Clinton's win is important to her and its significance is meaningful. "I feel differently about her than I'm sure that my daughters do and the younger women do." Andersen said she would welcome discussions with younger women to persuade them. She would tell them it will be exciting to have a woman president and a breakthrough. Andersen said young women should think about that. But she is opposed to any strong-arm tactics to make the case for Hillary. "I don't think there should be a feminist manifesto that says you need to support Hillary because she's a woman. There's plenty of reasons to support Hillary Clinton, whether you're a man or a woman. And plenty of reasons to support Bernie Sanders, too. You can have that argument." 2016-01-25-mjg-BoardMeeting.JPG Former congressman Jim Walsh (center) talks about consolidation of local city and county governments at an editorial board meeting at the Syracuse Media Group headquarters at 220 South Warren St. Monday Jan. 25, 2016. Walsh is flanked by Consensus CNY co-chairs Cornelius Murphy (left) and Cathy Richardson (right). (Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com) Pitting city against towns and villages is counterproductive To the Editor: We are all citizens of Onondaga County. We have a stake in making things work for the benefit of all of us. Towns and villages outside of Syracuse are not individual counties unto themselves. Syracuse, on the other hand, is not the poorest, neediest relative in the mix. The airport, zoo, library, water supply etc. can not be supported by individual towns and villages and Syracuse can't police the entire county, provide fire protection or plow out all of the roads. I find it hard to believe that those that govern at all levels can't find some way to approach this issue either by checking where it's been done or by working on smaller but more efficient consolidations. An approach that pits "us" against "them" or city vs. towns and villages will never produce any improvements. I do understand that no increase in jobs or population over the years has greatly hampered any action on consolidation. These factors do make it harder and will require patience and determination, as well as a lot of citizen involvement. Governing is hard work and that may be why it often falls short of its mark. Charlie Gowing Syracuse Voters should not give politicians a 'blank check' To the Editor: I strongly disagree with Jim Walsh (and the Consensus report) that a referendum on a Syracuse-Onondaga County merger be held before a detailed plan is developed and vetted by the public. To grant a vote on the idea of change rather than on a specific set of changes is fake democracy. It is like writing a blank check. It is a way for politicians to change the form of government without the true and required approval by the public. The public cannot cast an informed vote without knowing the details of a proposed merger. Obviously, local government does not require a public referendum to develop a detailed merger plan. The Consensus report fails to meaningfully inform the reader on the merits of a city-county merger. It consists mostly of general and intuitive assumptions (without corroborating evidence), plus recommendations that do not require a city-county merger. It lacks any theory of "good governance" or specific recommended changes to achieve it. And it defers to the future the thorny political issues of a county-wide school district and the inclusion of villages and towns in the merger. The content and tenor of the report suggests that Consensus is focused primarily on getting county and city legally merged rather than on pursuing an inspired vision of better and more efficient government. All in all, I'm struck by and amused by how this initiative is in keeping with a strategy for a Republican takeover of a Democratic city. For good governance, let's create a detailed merger plan first, then vote. Carlo Moneti Syracuse Competition among municipalities lifts their performance To the Editor: Consolidation seeks to commoditize the entire county with one planning code, one municipal code, one tax rate, one level of government service and one solution for all the county's problems. This is not an outcome to be desired. Municipalities compete to offer more desirable housing options, better shopping, planning and zoning rules that result in more aesthetic neighborhoods and better government services with more perceived value for taxes collected. In recent years the city has demonstrated they already can compete with the suburbs if it chooses to do so. Carousel/Destiny Mall, Armory Square and the hotel and apartment building boom in downtown Syracuse would never have occurred without competition. People know that it does matter where they choose to live and what they have to do to afford it. The desire to attain the American Dream of a better life for themselves and their families inspires individual development in education and increased work productivity. This it the real engine of a community's economic development. In America people can also vote with their mobility. If they feel they cannot find a better life in Onondaga county, they will relocate to another city or state. Peter Baskin DeWitt Decisions on government will have more impact than fate of I-81 To the Editor: As a member of the Consensus Commission on local government modernization, I have fielded many questions on the commission's recommendations since they were made public Jan. 26, as well as reading the comments online and in the media. What needs to be said loud and clear is that the commission's recommendations are a starting point to a long process of moving our local government out of the 18th century structure it is built on, to the 21st century to better serve our community. After 18 months of study in which we all worked on different committees and met with several towns and villages, as well as the Mayor of Syracuse and County Executive, we created these recommendations for the public to comment on and make their recommendations. The only way for real government reform to be achieved is with the public's input, not politicians' rhetoric. The commission needs to hear from the people of our community as to how they want to be governed moving forward. It was the commission's job to collect the facts, understand the misgivings of our current government structure, and make recommendations for the future. It is ultimately up to the citizens of Onondaga County to decide what kind of future government they want. That is why it is imperative over the next few months for everyone to engage in the process by reading the commission's report and attending the public hearings. Dare I say this will have far more importance on the future of your daily lives than the fate of Interstate 81. As each citizen contemplates the report, keep in mind that our region lags behind others in the state and nation economically. Our city and many of our towns and villages are financially stressed. That is a fact. Also, there is much duplication in local government services as well as variation to those services. Our region has more than its share of poverty. Besides having one of the poorest cities in the nation, that poverty has already spread to the suburbs. Our region is badly in need of jobs if we are to tackle poverty with associated crime and poor school performance. The notion that we are citizens of one town or village or one city must stop. In the morning commute, most cars on the highways are heading toward the city and the reverse at night. Take a look at University Hill. There are two state universities (SUNY ESF and Upstate), Syracuse University, and three major hospitals plus the Children's Hospital. They sit on tax-exempt property, receive city services but employ and provide services to the entire region, not just city residents. We are all citizens of Onondaga County and must remember this as we move forward toward a new, more efficient government which can bring new economic development opportunities to our region. So please, get engaged now. The status quo is not sustainable. Your input is essential. Dennis J. Nave, M.D. President, Greater Syracuse Labor Council Syracuse Collapsing city government into county a 'cynical gerrymander' To the Editor: I find it hard to believe the disdain our local Republican leadership is displaying toward Onondaga County residents in regard to the proposed city/county merger. They want us to give them our seal of approval and then they will "hammer out" the details of government later? Are they joking, or has arrogance reached shameful new heights? Recent history isn't encouraging. First, County Executive Joanie Mahoney is voted a plump raise after the election last November. Then we read that she has given the COR developers juicy property tax breaks for building on the Inner Harbor tract. Vague promises were apparently made, nothing in writing, that city residents will be hired to provide labor for construction and then fill jobs at the completed project. At the very least a merger will strip our neighbors in the inner-city of their government representatives in what amounts to a cynical gerrymander. The bait offered is, as usual, to "save money," to peel the last few dollars off of Syracuse's weary carcass. With their trustworthiness so self-compromised, this must not be allowed to happen. John W. Bradley North Syracuse Consolidation a litmus test for next mayor of Syracuse To the Editor: "Same old, same old" won't cut it anymore. That's the essence of the Consensus Options Report that was published by the Consensus Committee. Kudos to the members of the Committee for the time and effort they put into the report, as well as for the political courage it took to state, in writing, that the emperor has no clothes. The next mayor of Syracuse would do well to set aside political considerations and wholeheartedly embrace the vision of consolidation set forth in the report. And with the mayoral election due to take place next year, it's not too soon to focus on both the report and the mayoral election in tandem. The report points out that there's an opportunity to reduce government spending by $20 million right now. That money would go a long way toward fixing broken city water mains which, in Syracuse, occurred 372 times in 2015. Or it could be used to increase the number of police officers on the streets. That way, we may be able to avoid another year like 2015, which has the unenviable distinction of holding the record for the most homicides in Syracuse since 2008. The report points out, though, that many of its recommendations can't take place overnight. The timeline to implement one recommendation, e.g., creation of a Metropolitan Fire Authority, is at least five to seven years. Considering that fact in light of historical Syracuse mayoral elections, where every mayor has been elected to serve at least eight years since Bill Walsh was elected in 1962, you don't have to be a political science major to understand that the next mayor is critical to the success or failure of the Consensus recommendations. By extension, that means critical to the economic success or failure of Central New York for the next generation. As the report stated, "economic progress is slow at best -- backwards at worst." That's also why the litmus test for choosing the next mayor needs to be whether he or she supports consolidation. Joe Callahan Syracuse Joe Callahan is a lawyer/CPA in Syracuse and former Syracuse councilor-at-large. Border Passports U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer Jefferey Hill checks the trunk of a motorist's vehicle entering the United States at the Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., in this file photo from June 1, 2009. ((AP Photo/David Duprey)) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- U.S. customs and border patrol agents are arresting fewer people on the border with Mexico and at the border with Canada in Upstate New York, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics released Tuesday. Arrests by officers at 16 ports of entry in Upstate New York dropped by 2.1 percent In the 2015 fiscal year over the preceding year, while the number of passengers crossing into the United States there fell by 9 percent. Border Patrol Agent Sandy Walters patrols under the Grand Island Bridge near Buffalo, N.Y., and the international border with Canada in this file photo from Oct. 6, 2011. That decrease was nothing compared to the steep decline in arrests at the border with Mexico. During the 2015 fiscal year, total arrests by customs and border patrol agents in California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico plummeted by 31 percent, or about 148,000, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's annual report. Nationwide, the 337,117 arrests at the border in 2015 has dropped by 80 percent since its peak in 2000, according to the report. Immigration policy continues to be a contentious issue in the 2016 presidential campaign with Republicans candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz proclaiming they will build a huge wall across the border at Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants. In comparison, there's been little talk in the presidential debates about the U.S. border with Canada. The arrest statistics from Upstate New York do not include arrests made by border patrol agents of people trying to enter the U.S. at places other than the 16 ports of entry. In Upstate New York, the drop in arrests in 2015 is related to the decrease in the number of people crossing the border, said Aaron Bowker, spokesman for the Buffalo field office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "Generally, if traffic goes up, arrests and seizures go up," Bowker said. "Ninety-nine percent of the traveling public is legitimate. So any time you have a decrease in traffic, in people crossing the border, statistically speaking the arrest statistics will go down." He said the number of people entering the United States from Canada at ports of entry in Upstate New York is probably falling because the value of the Canadian dollar, the loonie, is down against the U.S. dollar. As a result, fewer Canadians are coming to the U.S. to shop. However, the number of people denied entry to the United States at those Upstate ports of entry increased in 2015, by 4 percent to 34,648 individuals. Customs and border patrol agents seized less property from travelers crossing from Canada into New York in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2015. They seized $450,307 in cash and merchandise worth $1.2 million. The total value of seized property was about $90,000 less than what was seized the prior year. Border Patrol arrests State 2015 2014 % change New York 412 421 -2.1% Arizona 70,074 93,174 -24.8% Texas 210,468 332,457 -36.7% New Mexico 11,218 8,675 29.3% California 39,575 45,065 -12.2% Border traffic entering New York from Canada Type 2015 2014 % change Personal vehicles 8,062,348 8,840,569 -8.8% Passengers in personal vehicles 16,947,284 18,621,313 -9.0% Trucks 1,518,252 1,508,664 0.6% Contact Mike McAndrew anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3016 Karen Magee In this June 19, 2014 file photo, New York State United Teachers President Karen Magee talks at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. The clock is ticking for New York's most troubled schools, which under a new state law must quickly turn things around or fall into the hands of an outside receiver. Magee said receivership is the state's way of shifting the blame from its own failure to adequately support struggling schools, most of which are in impoverished districts. (AP Photo | Mike Groll) BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo teachers are suing the state Education Department for giving the Buffalo superintendent unprecedented powers -- including to override union agreements -- under the state's receivership law. The lawsuit, filed by the Buffalo Teachers Federation and New York State United Teachers Tuesday, is the first in the state contending that the state's school receivership law contradicts laws that protect union workers. Under the receivership law, schools deemed "struggling" or "persistently struggling" by the state, are turned over to the superintendent for one or two years. Depending on their performance, they could subsequently be handed to a state-appointed receiver. Last year, Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash appealed to the education department and Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia when collective bargaining with the teachers union had reached an impasse. Elia ruled that the receivership law gave the superintendent authority to make decisions governing schools the state had designated as "struggling" or "persistently struggling." She imposed Cash's proposed agreement for receivership on the union, with modifications. Tuesday's lawsuit calls Elia's decision "irrational, unreasonable and unlawful." The union said the decision gave Cash powers to make changes that affected staff outside of the receivership schools without negotiating with the teachers union. Union officials also argued that Elia did not consider whether Cash attempted to negotiate with the union "in good faith," as the receivership law requires. "Day-in an day-out, [teachers] are on the front line helping children overcome numerous societal obstacles so they have the chance to succeed," NYSUT President Karen Magee said in a statement. "When it comes to enhancing our schools, it is critical that the voice of our teachers is heard." Reporter Julie McMahon covers public education and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 Suzanne Slack WCNY screenshot.PNG Suzanne Slack said Syracuse schools need the state to pay back funds withheld during the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which offset state deficits during the Great Recession. (Screenshot) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Syracuse schools finance official had a message for the state as legislators in Albany now consider how to fund education in this year's budget: Pay us back. In an appearance on WCNY's Connect NY, broadcast Monday night, Syracuse City School District Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Slack said the school district lost millions of dollars since 2010, when the state passed the Gap Elimination Adjustment, or GEA. Legislators turned to the GEA as a cost-saving measure during the Great Recession. Each year since then, it reduced the amount of funding that the state would pay to school districts. Funding has been restored to some schools, especially in urban districts. The state Senate voted to end the GEA this year, but the money from previous years hasn't been paid back. "It was an interest-free loan from us to the state," Slack said. "So don't just get rid of it, but it needs to be paid back. We don't get interest-free loans from the state. We can't afford to give them interest-free loans." Slack spoke about school finance on Connect NY, hosted by Susan Arbetter, along with other school officials from around the state, State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, New York State United Teachers President Andrew Pallotta and school finance expert Rick Timbs. The panel discussed other forms of state aid that goes to schools, including money owed through a court's order to repair fiscal inequities in the state's funding formula. Slack said that if the state paid Syracuse schools the money owed through that lawsuit, it would more than double the school district's budget this year. According to Slack, the state owes the Syracuse City School District nearly $700 million. With that much money, Slack said the district could give every student academic supports, get schools off lists designating them as "struggling" or "persistently struggling," and increase career and technical education opportunities. "Think of all the things we could do," Slack said. "We could transport all children to help make sure they get to school every day in the weather and the issues we have in the urban setting." Reporter Julie McMahon covers public education and Syracuse city schools. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992 James Clapper, Vincent Stewart Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, center, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, arrive on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats. (Evan Vucci | The Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) -- North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country. He also said Islamic militants and those inspired by the Islamic State group will continue to pose a threat to Americans at home and abroad; al-Qaida remains an enemy; and the U.S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. Clapper said U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services Committee in his opening statement that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months." Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturized" hydrogen bomb. Many outside experts were skeptical and Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device." Clapper said that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, "although the system has not been flight-tested." Islamic militants, Clapper said, will continue plotting against U.S. interests overseas and homegrown attacks will pose the most significant threat from violent extremists to Americans at home. "The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," he said. "ISIL involvement in homeland attack activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership," he said using an acronym for the militant group. Clapper said U.S. information systems, controlled by the U.S. government and American industry, are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia and China. North Korea "probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives," he said. Moscow "is assuming a more assertive cyber posture" that is based on its willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations even when those operations have been detected and under increased public scrutiny, Clapper said. Russia's cyber operations are likely to target U.S. interests in part to underpin its intelligence gathering to support Russia's moves in the Ukraine and Syrian crises, he said. Clapper also said Moscow's incursion in Ukraine and other "aggressive" moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the United States. He said he's unsure of Russia's end game but is concerned "we could be into another Cold War like-spiral." "I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about NATO," Clapper said. "They're greatly concerned about being contained and are of course very, very concerned about missile defense, which would serve to neuter what is the essence to their claim to great power status, which is their nuclear arsenal." Clapper said China selectively uses cyberattacks against targets Beijing believes threaten Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy. "We will monitor compliance with China's September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors," he said. On Afghanistan, Clapper said the country is at "serious risk of a political breakdown during 2016." He said waning political cohesion, rising activities by local powerbrokers, financial shortfalls and sustained attacks by the Taliban erode stability. On Syria, Lt. Col. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he does not think the Syrian government of Bashar Assad is likely to collapse or be defeated in the near term because of increased support from Iran and Russia. He said Assad's forces will likely regain key territory in some key areas. "He certainly is in a much stronger negotiating position that he was just six months ago," Stewart said. He predicted, however, that Iranian and Russian interests in Syria will likely diverge because they won't share the stage there as a regional power. For now, however, Iran wants to maintain its relations with Moscow so it can purchase Russian arms without preconditions. JASPER, Tenn. (AP) -- An east Tennessee woman has been indicted in the death of her boyfriend's 6-year-old son. A Marion County grand jury last week indicted 30-year-old Holly Rutledge of Whitwell on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. The boy's body was found in a home in Whitwell last March. Media outlets report Rutledge was arrested Friday and was being held in the Marion County Jail on $50,000 bond. It wasn't immediately known whether she has an attorney. District Attorney Michael Taylor says an arraignment hearing is scheduled for next Friday. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? ST. LUCIE COUNTY Though his investiture ceremony isn't until Feb. 19, Judge Daryl Isenhower has been happily at work for nearly a month in the job he says is his career goal. Isenhower, 45, of Port St. Lucie, was appointed in December to the St. Lucie County Court by Gov. Rick Scott to replace Judge Cliff Barnes, who resigned. Isenhower's term runs until January 2019. Being a judge is 'everything I expected it to be,' Isenhower said. 'I've always thought this was the job in which I was most likely to end up serving the people of St. Lucie County.' Isenhower's appointment was announced on Dec. 18 and he left the State Attorney Office on Jan. 2 so he could attend the weeklong judicial college in Tallahassee held once a year for new judges. Isenhower was appointed on his third try for an opening on the St. Lucie County court, while never applying for a spot on the circuit bench. 'It's interesting to look at cases from a different perspective,' said Isenhower, who since 2007 had been working in the Major Crimes Division, prosecuting homicide cases and other more serious cases. Among those was the first-degree murder conviction of Eriese Tisdale for the shooting death of St. Lucie County Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Morales in 2013. Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn's decision on whether to follow the jury's 9-3 recommendation to give Tisdale the death penalty is pending. The county's newest judge has lived in Port St. Lucie since shortly after he was hired in 1996 as a prosecutor for the 19th Circuit State Attorney Bruce Colton. '(Port St. Lucie) has been my home for 19 years now,' said the Palm Beach County native. 'I live here for the same reasons as the other 100,000 people who have moved here since I did.' Isenhower presides over some misdemeanor crime cases and all small claim civil cases, what he terms 'calling balls and strikes.' 'County court is a place where all kinds of people can come in,' he said. 'For many, small claims court is the only contact they'll have with the system.' So far, he said, he has been impressed by 'the professionalism and preparation' of those who come to small claims court, 'taking the time to understand the rules of evidence and prepare themselves well.' Sebastian Inlet webcam Photo gallery SEBASTIAN Mother whale "Clipper" and her calf remained around the Sebastian Inlet Tuesday morning, but left the inlet later in the day to head north. While visiting the inlet, they attracted many visitors to Sebastian Inlet State Park, park ranger Kevin Husty said. The two North Atlantic right whales showed up Monday, surprising wildlife officials because whales normally stay miles out in the ocean. Mother whales migrate to Florida's offshore waters during winter to give birth. Hubbs SeaWorld Research Institute in Melbourne Beach had staff counting Clipper's respiration before she left the inlet. It was normal, although the whale appeared tired, officials said. She attempted 16 times to cross under State Road A1A to the ocean before succeeding. By 2 p.m. the pair was north of the inlet, said Leonard Salberg, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who was at the inlet watching them. Because of the whales, the inlet is closed to boaters, except for emergencies, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Lenny Salberg. Federal law mandates a 500-yard buffer zone around the whales. Boaters are asked to use other inlets. Boating conditions in the inlet today are especially rough because of the winds and tides, he said. A Fish and Wildlife Commission airplane is flying overhead at times to track the whales. The mother whale is about 45 feet long and the calf is 20 feet long. About 500 people were at the inlet Monday to watch the whales. It was absolutely incredible, said Vero Beach resident, Celeste McWilliams, who went to the park Monday with her daughter, Cori, 12, and husband, Mike. For four hours, they endured the wind and cold to see all they could of the rare creatures during an unprecedented appearance of right whales in the inlet. Her daughter kept yelling at me to take pictures, she said. They are so massive. The calf stayed next to the mother, who spouted water as she breathed through her blow hole. In the inlet, the two whales are so close they can be seen by people on land. Early this morning, they were west of the bridge that passes over the inlet going into Brevard County. The park is open 24 hours a day and the cost of admission is $4 for one person or $8 for a vehicle with up to eight people, the ranger said. BEST VIEWS Those who got the best look at the whales parked on the south side and walked along the inlet's shore. Trying to watch the whales from the bridge wasn't advised. The bridge's pedestrian walkway is only one foot wide and close to traffic. Having the whales so close to shore is very unusual, said Grant Gilmore, a marine scientist. The last time that occurred in Indian River County was in the 1980s, when a mother and calf were spotted off Vero Beach's South Beach Park for two days, he said. "She was nursing the calf" as surfers paddled around, he said. "It was just amazing." LEARN MORE ABOUT 'CLIPPER' Clipper is among the thousands of North Atlantic right whales that are in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog maintained by the New England Aquarium. Visit http://rwcatalog.neaq.org/, choose "Search for individual whales," and then choose 3450 in the "Catalog No." dropdown. Tweets by @TCPalmLStancil TALLAHASSEE The Florida Senate is supporting a Treasure Coast lawmaker's efforts to require a jury to decide unanimously to recommend the death penalty, a move that's at odds with the House and prosecutors. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved a bill on Monday to adjust state law to a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional because it gives the judge too much power instead of the jury. Florida is one of three states among the 32 that authorize the death penalty that do not require a unanimous jury decision. Sen. Thad Altman, a Rockledge Republican who represents part of Indian River County, has for three years unsuccessfully introduced bills to make it unanimous. Although the Supreme Court ruling didn't address that issue, the Senate decided to require that if the jury cannot reach a consensus on the death penalty, the defendant must serve life in prison without parole. The House version, however, only requires a 9-3 jury vote, which is still above the 7-5 vote that's required today. Prosecutors oppose the unanimity requirement because they said people who committed gruesome murders could end up only getting a life sentence For example, James Holmes, who killed 12 people and injured 70 in a Colorado movie theater in 2012, was spared the death penalty because a jury couldn't reach a unanimous agreement. "You allow one juror to hijack process," said State Attorney Brad King of Ocala. "One juror gets to decide that no one else will be able to recommend death." Altman said if lawmakers don't address the unanimity issue now they might have to do so in the future if Florida law is challenged again. The Senate bill, SPB 7068, also: Requires a unanimous decision on at least one aggravating factor such as whether the defendant was convicted of another felony in the past that makes someone eligible for the death penalty; Requires the prosecutor to notify defendants they are seeking the capital punishment and list the aggravating factors the state wants to prove; Prohibits judges from overriding a jury's recommendation of life imprisonment but allows them to reduce a death recommendation to a life-without-parole sentence. In the case that prompted the Supreme Court ruling, a jury recommended, 7-5, sentencing Timothy Lee Hurst to death for fatally stabbing his coworker in 1998 with a box cutter. Hurst challenged the sentence, arguing the jury was required to find specific aggravators and to issue a unanimous advisory. The Florida Supreme Court denied the appeal but Hurst took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found Florida's law violated the 6th Amendment right to a jury trial. Only 21 percent of the Florida death cases over the past 15 years had unanimous jury verdicts, according to a Senate staff analysis. The other two states that don't require a unanimous decision are Alabama, which requires a 10-2 vote and a unanimous finding of at least one aggravating circumstance; and Delaware, which requires a unanimous decision that at least one aggravating circumstance is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Florida does have requirements on the aggravating circumstances. Follow Isadora Rangel, Arek Sarkissian and Tampa news partner Jeff Schweers for updates on all the legislative action. Tweets about from:IsadoraRangel2 OR from:ArekSarkissian OR from:jeffschweersTBO FORT PIERCE The Fort Pierce Utilities Authority wastewater treatment plant could be moved from Hutchinson Island to the Treasure Coast Energy Center, between of Florida's Turnpike and Selvitz Road, about 8 miles away. FPUA officials estimate it will cost $108 million to relocate the plant. The City Commission Monday took its first step to moving the 57-year old plant off the island by agreeing to form a seven-member committee. Among other tasks, the committee will recommend a timetable for relocating the plant. "There is nothing wrong with the building, but it is considered unsightly structure on a beautiful piece of property," Mayor Linda Hudson said. The committee would consist of one member appointed by each of the four commissioners; and one each by the mayor, FPUA and St. Lucie County government according to city records. The committee could be appointed next month. Moving the FPUA plant came out of a 2012 community workshop about how to best develop the property on the western peninsula of Fort Pierce beach. The Energy Center is a 300-megawatt natural-gas power plant, run by FPUA, on 69 acres north of Midway Road and west of Selvitz Road. The property is owned by the Florida Municipal Power Agency, a group of 15 cities, including Vero Beach and Fort Pierce, which own and share power resources. The wastewater-treatment plant, which was built in 1959, serves the entire city. It processes 6 million gallons of waste water daily, about 40 percent of the plant's capacity. The new plant will be able to process 15 million gallons with room to expand to 25 million gallons, said FPUA spokesman Jason Hoffman. The current plant borders the western end of the proposed Causeway Cove Marina & RV park. The 18-acre site would house a $2.9 million marina with almost 200 dock slips and 14 offshore mooring spaces. Residents at the 2012 community workshop suggested building a hotel, marina, housing and stores on the current site off the Indian River Lagoon. PORT ST. LUCIE James Lawless, a 36-year resident who served a two-year term as Port St. Lucie's second mayor, died Saturday. He was 88. Born in Patterson, N.J., Lawless first came to Florida in 1943 for Navy training in underwater demolitions in Fort Pierce. 'That's how he found Florida and he always said he wanted to come back,' said his wife, Marilyn, whom he married in 1975. Lawless was wounded in combat during the Allied campaign to retake chains of islands in the South Pacific held by Japanese forces. He spent almost a year recuperating in a naval hospital in Boston. Lawless eventually found his way back to Florida, but not until 1980. After World War II, he worked as a stunt car driver in some movies and then was a police officer in Patterson, retiring as deputy chief before moving his family to Port St. Lucie. Lawless, who had owned construction and security businesses in Port St. Lucie, was a co-founder of the Port St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce in the early 1980s before it merged with the St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce, for which he was president in 1987. That was between his 18-month term on the City Council, which began when he won a special election in September 1984 to replace a council member who had resigned, and his two-year term as mayor that began in 1990. Patricia Christensen, who won a seat on the City Council in 1990 and later was elected mayor, said that 'was the first election the business community go involved in.' Christensen said she and Lawless both ran on a platform of 'progress without the control of General Development Corp., which filed for bankruptcy 1-1/2 years after we were elected.' GDC developed Port St. Lucie. In his short time as mayor, Lawless was instrumental in hiring Don Cooper as city manager, setting the city on a progressive course toward water and sewer services, Christensen said. Friends and colleagues said they will remember Lawless for his honesty, sense of humor, storytelling and love of travel and camping. 'He always had a twinkle in his eye, a good sense of humor and a love for people,' said Judi Miller, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee Counties Inc. Miller said that during her 24 years on the school board she often sought advice from Lawless on school issues and problems. 'He was so deeply connected, he was always one to get good, solid advice from,' she said. Lawless 'was one of the most honest people you'd ever want to meet,' said Jane Rowley, a former City Council member who was a co-founder of the Port St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce. 'He was quite a man,' Rowley said. 'His mind remembered everything, right up until shortly before he passed away.' St. Lucie County Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson said, 'Even though he was from New Jersey, he had a Southern gentleman persona that he carried.' Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Marilyn; sons, James O. Lawless of Fort Pierce and Michael R. Lawless of Port St. Lucie; a grandson and a niece, both of Port St. Lucie. IN MEMORY Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at the Aycock Funeral Home, 1504 S.E. Floresta Drive, Port St. Lucie. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, 260 S.W. Prima Vista Boulevard, Port St. Lucie. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Hills Funeral Home, Palm City. Billions of gallons of polluted water are flowing down the St. Lucie Canal into the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon. Our citizens are rightly infuriated at the all-too-frequent destruction of our precious natural resources. There is no use in pointing fingers of blame at the Army Corps of Engineers. They bear the sole responsibility for preserving the integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dike built rapidly and with porous material around Lake Okeechobee in 1928. Thousands of our citizens live south of the dike, and some of their lives would be threatened if the dike should fail. None of us should forget the failure of the low dike in 1928, when a wall of the lake's water killed thousands of residents and farm workers. The solution to the ongoing, vast discharges of polluted water is not rocket science. Competent engineers and hydrologists have proposed a solution that is expensive but achievable in a relatively short period of time. First: Forget blaming the Army Corps and the South Florida Water Management District's board and staff. They have no options but to lower the lake that has risen to a very dangerous level due to record December-through-January rainfall. The district staff and board follow directions from Gov. Rick Scott. Let us concentrate on solutions. Excess water from the lake must be flowed south, possibly through one of the existing major canals, delivering the flood of water into a major reservoir. The size acreage of the reservoir is dependent on how much land can be acquired. The more land, the less expensive the dike will cost to contain the millions of gallons of the lake's excess water. It will be expensive to acquire the land, widen the existing canal, construct the dike and connect it to a vast system of cleansing marshes and will require major work on the ill-conceived corps' central Everglades design, which includes canals, levees and dikes that prevent clean water to flow south. Historically, the River of Grass always received excess Lake Okeechobee water. The lake overflowed south through miles of sawgrass, slowly arriving at Florida Bay. The natural system worked and must be replicated. If our presidential candidates agree that sugar industry price supports are not only outdated but totally unwarranted, land values will rapidly decrease. If Amendment 1 funding is properly allocated by the Florida Legislature, funds will be available for land acquisition and probably for matching federal funds to widen the delivery canal, build the reservoir and assist in correcting the engineering errors in the central Everglades system. It is doable! There is no reason why 'we' should have to wait 40 years to accomplish a goal that is far simpler than flying to the moon or far less expensive than fighting a continuing war in Afghanistan. Governor Scott is responsible for all of the major decisions involving the Department of Environmental Protection and should be concerned about the amount of polluted water that is entering the lake and being discharged from the lake. The governor should take a leadership role in proposing support for the obvious solutions. There are major issues involved in financing an effort to restore the battered Everglades system, but this state can afford to impose an "Everglades Restoration Tax" it has many different options and provide millions of dollars to hasten the restoration project. The billions of gallons of polluted water should be held, cleaned and released into a reconstructed central Everglades, recharging the all-important Biscayne Aquifer that supplies drinking water for 8 million Floridians and millions of tourists. What is missing is vision, leadership, commitment and a sense of passion to restore what man unwisely destroyed: one of the great natural water systems anywhere in the world. Nathaniel Reed, of Jupiter Island, is former undersecretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and vice chairman of The Everglades Foundation. Through an eleventh-hour maneuver, the United States and the European Union last week avoided action that could have choked the movement of data between the regions and caused financial harm to U.S. companies. It may be only a temporary respite, however. The problem stems from a European Court of Justice decision in October that blew up an agreement between the regions that provided more than 4,000 U.S. companies with a safe harbor from strict European privacy laws when handling the information of the regions citizens. The pact, called the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, agreed to by both regions, includes the following provisions: Strong obligations on how Europeans personal data is handled and individual rights are guaranteed. The U.S. Commerce Department will monitor compliance with the obligations, and the Federal Trade Commission provide enforcement. A promise that access by U.S. law enforcement and national security agencies to Europeans personal data will be subject to clear limitations, safeguards and oversight mechanisms. Establishment of several forms of redress for Europeans who believe their data has been misused. Enforcement Uncertainty The agreement aired last week is just a draft. Details will be worked out over the next two months. During that time and very likely beyond it uncertainty will persist. Uncertainty remains about the contents of the final wording of Privacy Shield and whether or not Privacy Shield will be approved by all EU member states, said Neil Stelzer, general counsel forIdentity Finder. Meanwhile, the Article 29 Working Party the group within the European Union thats charged with protecting the processing and movement of the personal information of EU citizens has said it will hold off on enforcement actions until Privacy Shield is finalized. However, data protection authorities in each EU country may still bring enforcement actions if a company was transferring data under [the original] Safe Harbor and continues to without another legal method, Stelzer told TechNewsWorld. Whether or not they will is unknown, he added. Kicking Can Down the Road Although Privacy Shield has received kudos in many quarters, it appears to be a stopgap measure intended to buy more time for EU and U.S. negotiators. They had to rush the announcement so that European authorities didnt start enforcement actions after the Jan. 31 deadline, said Aytekin Tank, CEO ofJotForm. As the deadline to create a new Safe Harbor approached, European authorities may have realized that their high court had placed them in an untenable position. Enforcement action on the scale required would be totally overwhelming for the national data protection authorities, said Stuart Buglass, an international business expert atRadius who advises high-tech multinationals on regulations and compliance for overseas data protection and privacy. A prolonged moratorium was inevitable. The announcement on the Privacy Shield provided a reason for doing so, he told TechNewsWorld. The draft agreement seems to be a kick-the-can method of buying time, Identity Finders Stelzer added. Legal Tempest Ahead Even after Privacy Shield is finalized, its fate could be the same as its predecessor. Id put my money on the agreement getting tossed by the European courts, JotForms Tank told TechNewsWorld. The first agreement was tossed because the EU didnt trust European personal data with the U.S. government. This new agreement is no different, he noted. Without a final document in hand, its difficult to predict Privacy Shields legal prospects, said Yorgen Edholm, CEO ofAccellion. If history is any indicator, its only a matter of time until Privacy Shield is challenged in the courts, he told TechNewsWorld. Max Schrems, who brought down Safe Harbor, has already expressed doubt regarding the new frameworks potential effectiveness, Edholm continued. And without any commitment from the U.S. government to soften certain provisions of the Patriot Act, it is very unlikely Privacy Shield will be acceptable to European privacy advocates. Surveillance Reform Needed Privacy Shield alone likely wont satisfy Europes high court. Unless there is significant legal reform of the surveillance rights of U.S. government departments, then U.S. law will continue to fall short of EU data privacy standards and any data transfers will be unlawful, Radius Buglass said. The issue with the agreement is that it simply provides a complaint mechanism for EU citizens to seek redress for a privacy breach rather than prevent the breach occurring in the first place through significant reform of the U.S. surveillance laws, he added. Both the U.S. and Europe need to get their intelligence houses in order if Privacy Shield is going to work, noted Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, director of European affairs for theCenter for Democracy & Technology. The U.S. Congress should move swiftly to reform FISA Section 702, and EU member states should also narrow their surveillance laws and practices to be more aligned with international human rights norms, he said in a statement. FISA Section 702 is the law the National Security Agency used to justify its mass collection of phone calls and emails by directly tapping into the physical infrastructure of communications providers. Breach Diary Jan. 29. Landrys and Golden Nugget Hotels and Casinos releases list of facilities affected by three data breaches between May 4, 2014, and May 4, 2015. It is unknown how many customers may have had fraudulent charges on their payment cards because of the incident. Jan. 29. Neiman Marcus informs an unspecified number of customers that unauthorized individuals compromised their accounts, and some of the accounts were used to make fraudulent purchases. Credentials to compromise accounts were obtained from a source outside Neiman Marcus, the company believes. Feb. 1. The National Law Review reports a federal appeals court overturned a district court ruling dismissing a consumer class-action lawsuit against Neiman Marcus over a data breach in 2014 that exposed information about 350,000 credit cards. Feb. 1. Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier of Iowa reports that Bernard Ogie Oretekor, 45, has filed papers in federal court stating he will plead guilty to charges stemming from a data breach at the University of Northern Iowa. Feb. 1. Patrick McFarland, inspector general of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, submits his resignation to President Obama. Last year, McFarlands office found significant deficiencies in the first credit monitoring contract OPM issued following a data breach in which personal information for 22 million current and former federal employees was stolen. Feb. 2. Humberside, UK, police confirm they are investigating a complaint by the North East Lincolnshire council of a possible data breach of electoral data prior to last years general election. Feb. 2. Medfield, Massachusetts, announces it paid extortionists US$300 to unlock the towns network. Town systems were offline for a week after they were infected with malware that encrypted most town hall files, as well as files on a backup system. Feb. 2. NASA denies a group of data thieves calling themselves AnonSec hacked one of the agencys drones. The group also posted to the Internet 250 GB of data it said it robbed from NASAs systems, although the agency stated the information was freely available to the public. Feb. 2. Morgorna Mohorne files a class-action lawsuit against Web.com for failing to employ adequate security, resulting in a data breach in August that exposed credit card and access credentials of nearly 100,000 users. Feb. 3. TalkTalk reports a data breach last year cost the company 101,000 customers and Pounds 60 million. Feb. 3. The U.S. House Oversight Committee subpoenas documents related to last years massive data breach from the Office of Personnel Management. Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, says the action was necessary because the agency refused to cooperate with his panels probe of the breach. Feb. 4. University of Central Florida announces that a data breach of its computer network resulted in unauthorized access to the Social Security numbers of some 63,000 current and former students. Feb. 4. TaxSlayer.com announces that some 8,800 customers may have had personal and tax-return information stolen by criminals who gained unauthorized access to its computers. Compromised credentials from a source outside TaxSlayer were used in the attack, the company believes. Feb. 4. Republican Party of Iowa takes offline a database containing personal information for some 2 million people after being informed a security gap had exposed the database to public view on the Internet. Feb. 4. Reuters reports data thieves attacked 20 million accounts at Taobao, an e-commerce website owned by Alibaba. Reuters noted the attackers obtained 99 million user credentials from sources outside Taobao and used them in a brute-force attack on Taobao launched from Alibabas cloud services. Feb. 5. Jackson Health System announces it has fired two employees for inappropriately accessing the medical records of New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. ESPN published his medical records while he was in surgery having his right index finger amputated. Upcoming Security Events New Delhi, India, February 08, 2016: In India, studies indicate that about 30 million urban children, under the age of 18, own a personal handset. It is also estimated that 134 million Indian children will come online by 2017. Where parents or guardians may have limited experience with the internet themselves, raising awareness and building knowledge among children, parents and their teachers about online risks is a priority for Telenor. To advocate for a safe online environment for children, Telenor India organized #SafeInternetForum 2016 calling on teachers, parents, government, cyber security experts, NGOs and private partners for responsible use of internet and strengthen the defenses for a safer internet experience for children Speaking at the forum, Sharad Mehrotra, Chief Executive Officer, Telenor India Communications said, Protecting and providing a safe internet experience for children through education and guidance is a focus for Telenor. While we extend the benefits of being connected and empower our customers with affordable services, we also encourage responsible use of Internet. Our webwise program aims to build defenses amongst children by guiding them on how to be safe online. In addition to this, we have integrated 1098 Child Helpline on our SIMs for easy access. These are small steps towards developing a safe online universe for our young users. At the Safe Internet Forum, Telenor announced initiatives to make Internet safe for the millions of Indian children who are expected to come online by 2017. Telenor has partnered with Child Helpline. Now all Telenor SIMs come embedded with 1098 number giving a direct and one touch access to the helpline. Customers can dial this free number and seek help on anything related to child rights and abuse. The Telenor group globally adheres to strict guidelines towards safety of our customers online. In line with that we follow stringent norms with respect to internet safety and security across all countries. I feel proud to see the efforts that Telenor India has put forward in creating awareness on internet safety and security and also in protecting children online. This is a key step towards Telenor groups vision of empowering societies through digital services, said Ola Jo Tandre, Director Sustainability and Head of Social Responsibility, Telenor Group. To create awareness among parents around safe Internet practices, Telenor also launched WebWise A Parental Guide at the forum. The book elaborates on what parents should talk to their children about internet access. It sensitises patents and gives real life examples to ensure online safety of children while they take a plunge in the digital world. Telenor also presented findings of the Webwise survey which was conducted in 2015 with sample size of 3200 children across 10 cities eight states. The survey indicated that 95% children in the age group of 9 to 17 are accessing the internet from a range of devices today. The mobile phone is the preferred access device of children and 62.4% of them are spending up to 4 hours a day on the internet. Telenors Webwise programme was launched in 2014 and has covered 35000 students in schools across the country. The Webwise workshops familiarize children, parents and teachers with safe Internet habits and ways to protect themselves from cyber harm while being online. Bringing Child abuse Filter to India Telenor Group collaborated with the European Commissions CEO Coalition to make Internet a better place for children, and has worked with Interpol to become the first mobile operator in the world to introduce safety and child sexual abuse filters for mobile phones. Telenor has also joined industry forces to drive the establishment of the GSM Associations Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content. In 11 of its markets now, Telenor customers are using child abuse filter which was introduced for the first time by Telenor Norway and Kripos (National Criminal Investigation Service Norway) 10 years ago. In India, studies indicate that about 30 million urban children, under the age of 18, own a personal handset. It is also estimated that 134 million Indian children will come online by 2017. Where parents or guardians may have limited experience with the internet themselves, raising awareness and building knowledge among children, parents and their teachers about online risks is a priority for Telenor. Technuter.com News Service New Delhi, India, February 5, 2016: DataWind has enhanced the vision of the Make in India campaign by signing a Memorandum of Understanding today in Hyderabad with the Government of Telangana to set up its new manufacturing unit in the city. The MoU was signed between Information Technology Electronics and Communications (ITE&C) Department, Government of Telangana, and the Datawind Innovations Pvt Ltdin the presence of Ms. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, Canada and Mr.Jupally Krishna Rao, Minister of Industries and Commerce, Telangana at Taj Krishna during a plenary session. The MoU will allow both parties to work collaboratively and cooperatively for the purpose of developing a Mobile Manufacturing Ecosystem in Telangana State. The new facility is expected to start production within 90 days generate 500 jobs in the first phase of its operation in the state. While signing the MoU, Mr.JayeshRanjan, IT Secretary, Telangana said, Telangana is happy to invite investments in the state. We are happy that the company who connected the forgotten billions to the digital age has decided to put up their manufacturing unit in Hyderabad. This will boost the industrial scenario of the state and shall generate ample employment opportunities. Mr. Ranjan further added DataWind mission is in line with our Telangana govt. mission, to provide internet to each and every household in the state. Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO DataWind said, We are excited to announce the expansion of our operations in Telangana. In addition to empowering citizens with affordable technology and internet access, we are committed to the communities where we operate by generating local jobs. The manufacturing facility in Hyderabad is the second facility of DataWind in India after Amritsar set up under Make in India campaign of the Prime Minister. It will have a capacity to produce 20 lakhs units of tablets and smartphones per annum and will cater to the growing demand of low cost devices in the country. Present at the event KT Rama Rao, Minister of IT, Electronics and Communication said, This is a very good endorsement about our state government policies. We are glad that out of all the states, DataWind has chosen Hyderabad Government is encouraging manufacturing companies and developing manufacturing hubs in and around Hyderabad. The DataWind plant not only contribute to the economic development of the state but also helps in skilling the youth and creating enormous job opportunities in the region. Hyderabad has always promoted and encouraged corporates to establish their factories and R&D centers in the state. Technuter.com News Service New Delhi, India, February 08, 2016: Gionee has announced its VoLTE enabled Smartphone S6 in India. Developed under the making slim & shine to perfection product development philosophy, the S6 focuses on performance and user experience more than just ultra slim design. Gionee S6 gives you an access to the swift and rapid world of internet with its 4G LTE + VoLTE connectivity access that allows 40 % better speech quality. The device also allows you to do multi task by enabling you to surf apps in parallel to attending calls. The Gionee S6 will be available in India at MOP Rs 19,999/-. The phone is going to be available on the largest online shopping website Flipkart.com alongside at the leading retail outlets near you. Powered with Amigo 3.1 based on android 5.1 and 1.3 GHz, 64 Bit Octa Core processor, the S6 is equipped with 3 GB RAM with 32 GB internal storage and expandable memory upto 128 GB. Gionee S6 is a perfect amalgamation of looks and specs and has been crafted for our judicious consumers. The device is one of the first from Gionee to come in with VoLTE and has an 89% metal body encompassing a strong core. The launch of the Gionee S6 under the S series is another addition to our impressive product portfolio and we are happy to give the market a smartphone which is high on performance and style at a rational price point. said Mr. Timir Baran Acharya, General Manager, Gionee India Crafted from metal, the S6 blends elegant design with power packed features. The S6, particularly, demonstrates the only one of its kind and exceptional beauty while also providing a symmetric design and cambered design which fits right into your hand. The device comes with 89% metal body with a shine cutting of 1.5mm. The S6 comes with a surface of 13.97cm (5.5) HD Super AMOLED Display with Gorilla glass 3 and a screen to body ratio of 77.8%. The S6 comes in stunning Gold, Silver and Rose Gold. Now enjoy stunning images and superior camera experience, because the S6 comes with an impactful camera experience of 13 MP+ PDAF rear camera alongside a 5.0 MP front camera. The advanced camera functions such as 0.1 Sec Focus timing, Special GIF Maker, Image Plus for beautification and Eraser allows users to capture their most worthless moments in a superior quality, however and wherever you want. The S6 is equipped with a humanized Type C reversible plug-in design and is powered by 3150 mAh battery in a slimmer body. The device gives you a smart power consumption management to use your battery at its best at the time of need. Other inclusive feature like Kids Home to save your apps and phone from getting disturbed while children fiddle with your phone. The S6 Comes with AMI Lock and AMI Note feature which helps you put your voice and picture to your daily details, makes sharing notes all the way more convenient. Technuter.com News Service There really aren't any catches to this one: if you check your Google account's security settings, Google will give you an extra 2 GB of free Google Drive storage to go on top of the 15 GB the service already offers for free. To claim the free 2 GB, the process of checking your account security is incredibly simple. Firstly, you head to your security settings, where Google will ask you to review your recovery information. If the information listed there is correct, you can proceed to checking the list of devices connected to your account, where you should remove anything that looks unfamiliar. The third step involves reviewing all the apps that have permission to access your Google account. Again, you'll want to remove anything that looks out of place or that you don't use anymore. After that, you have to check your app passwords, revoking anything that looks suspicious. And finally, you'll be asked to review any two-step verification settings if you have enabled this feature on your Google account. When you complete all the aforementioned steps, a small notice appears telling you that Google has added 2 GB of free Drive storage to your account to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2016. A quick check of Drive's storage information suggests this free 2 GB of space does not expire. If you want to claim your free 2 GB of storage, increasing the amount of free storage in your account to 17 GB, spend the two minutes to check your security settings before the promotion expires on February 18th. Facebook has become the first major company to feel the fallout from the Safe Harbor agreement being ruled invalid last year after the French data protection authority gave the social networking site three months to stop some transfers of personal data to the United States. It also ordered the firm to stop tracking the browsing habits of non-users. The 15-year old Safe Harbor agreement, which allowed US companies to easily receive information from European servers and avoid cumbersome EU data transfer rules, was ruled illegal in October amid concerns over US government spying. The European Court of Justice gave companies certified under Safe Harbor three months to come up with an alternative data transfer pact - a deadline that expired last week. This means regulators - in this case it's the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) - can start taking legal action against companies that still rely on Safe Harbor. "Facebook transfers personal data to the United States on the basis of Safe Harbour, although the Court of Justice of the European Union declared invalid such transfers in its ruling of October 6, 2015," the CNIL said in a statement. The CNIL also said that Facebook's use of cookies to track non-members of its site without informing them was a violation of French privacy law. Facebook has claimed that it no longer uses Safe Harbor and added that it "has set up alternative legal structures to continue its transfers in line with EU law." It seems that the CNIL isn't convinced; the data protection agency has given Facebook three months to comply with its request or it could be fined. "Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do. We ... look forward to engaging with the CNIL to respond to their concerns," a Facebook spokeswoman said. Facebook isn't having an easy time in Europe at the moment; in addition to mounting problems in Germany, the CNIL's anti-tracking order follows a similar demand made by a Belgian court last November. While social engineering is becoming an increasingly popular way for hackers to trick people into revealing their login credentials (as was the case with the government data breach reported earlier today), another method that cybercriminals use to gain access to companies' systems is to simply offer employees money in exchange for their details. Business Insider UK reports that this was the situation faced by several workers at Apple's European Headquarters in Cork, Ireland. "You'd be surprised how many people get on to us, just random Apple employees," the anonymous employee said. "You get emails offering you thousands [of euros] to get a password to get access to Apple. "I could sell my Apple ID login information online for 20,000 ($23,000) tomorrow. That's how much people are trying." A different Apple employee said that hackers targeted those workers who weren't considered 'lifers.' "They look for someone who has jumped diagonally into a junior managerial position, so not a lifer working their way up, and not a lifer who has been there a long time." The employee added that the company had introduced the 'Grow your own' scheme, where it creates its own managers, to combat the problem. It's unclear what these groups or individuals offering the money are specifically trying to access, but the information held on Apple's internal systems would doubtlessly prove to be very valuable in the wrong hands. For its part, Apple has said it is "very, very careful" when it comes to security, and there have been no reports of any its employees illicitly accepting money for their login credentials. For all of the negative press that Kickstarter has received since its inception nearly seven years ago, the platform deserves a bit of recognition for all of the good it has done in helping thousands of people achieve their dreams. Just recently, Kickstarter surpassed a major milestone: 100,000 campaigns funded. A photography project called Falklands / Malvinas: One War, all Wars by Adriana Groisman became the 100,000th project successfully funded on Kickstarter late Sunday night. Kickstarter shared several other fun facts in a post announcing the achievement. For example, there are a total of 165 categories and subcategories that the 100,000 successfully funded campaigns represent. What's more, it took 121 days to fund the first 100 projects and only three days to fund the final 100. Some of Kickstarters creators could be described as serial inventors. Kickstarter said its 100,000 projects were created by just 86,101 people and that 8,539 creators have launched more than one successfully funded project. One person has even created a whopping 94 successfully funded projects. Other random nuggets include the fact that 11 Kickstarter-funded film projects have been nominated for an Oscar (with one actually winning the award), four that have won a Grammy and that there are 150 Kickstarter-funded video games that can be played right now on Steam. For more fun facts (there are 100 total), be sure to check out Kickstarter's blog. Theories about time travel were given new rays of hope when speculations about the recent discovery of gravitational waves hit the Internet. In early January, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss from the Arizona State University tweeted about the alleged discovery of gravitational waves and cited his independent sources. The said study was conducted by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) scientists on Sep. 18, 2015. Once peer-reviewed and published, the study would be the first evidence of its existence. The much-awaited announcement was set on Feb. 11. "My earlier rumor about LIGO has been confirmed by independent sources. Stay tuned! Gravitational waves may have been discovered!! Exciting," tweeted Krauss early in January. The LIGO team has asked everyone to be patient but another scientist, theoretical physicist Clifford Burgess, ended up giving more hints over the weekend when he emailed McMaster University's physics department and said he had seen the evidence. "Spies who have seen the paper say they have seen gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger," wrote Burgess in his email to the McMaster University. He added that the two LIGO interferometers spotted it with a time delay between the two black holes. Albert Einstein predicted the gravitational waves way back in 1916 but no one had ever made a direct study about it. These gravitational waves are important in our understanding of how the Universe works. In movies, for instance, whenever a black hole is shown, we see massive, rippled grids that depict the Universe's fabric. When a massive stellar body explodes, we see these ripples spread out from a source, which is similar when you drop a solid object in a pool of water. Its existence is almost positively conceivable but finding them is almost impossible given the vastness of space. But with the recent launch of the world's pioneer gravitational wave detector, aptly named LISA Pathfinder, finding these waves could now be possible. LIGO is a Louisiana-based space observatory behind the LISA Pathfinder and the much anticipated research. Right now, we'll just have to wait for LIGO's official announcement on what they really found. If gravitational waves really are true, then conspiracy theorists and paranormal fans will gain a scientific fact to back up their claims including the 800-year-old mobile phone-like artefact with cuneiform writing. Photo: Comrade Foot | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google took down 247 apps from the Play Store after they were exposed as being ad fraud carriers. The ad fraud scheme operated through MoPub, the Twitter-owned mobile advertising platform. Security researchers at Sentrant Security thwarted the security liability, which generated more than $250,000 per day in revenue while the ad fraud was in operation. Sentrant Security discovered that the infected apps were installed on a large number of devices, amounting from 282,998 to 1,193,665 installations. Google promptly reacted to Sentrant's notification and pulled the plug on the rogue apps. "In reaction to our communication with Google, all apps have been removed from the Play Store," says Sentrant Security co-founder Hadi Shiravi in an IBTimes UK report. Shiravi went on to add that users should manually uninstall the apps from their devices in order to be safe. According to the security expert, the ad fraud had an impressive level of sophistication. This is because the malicious software enabled the infected devices to run non-viewable ads in the background. Sentrant Security found out that the ad fraud scheme started and continued under the patronage of mobile app company Academ Media. The app company owns a network of more than 20 shell companies that allegedly helped orchestrate the fraud operation. Academ Media, which has headquarters in Novosibirsk, Siberia, refutes the allegations. According to Academ Media, a group of hackers stole the company's data and modified the apps to facilitate the advertising fraud. On the other hand, Sentrant points out that a custom ad fraud code was embedded into several legitimate apps. Two different approaches were used to disguise the ad fraud, namely long sleep duration and proxy detection. Because of the two techniques, detecting the issue was extremely difficult. The malevolent programmers inserted the ad fraud code directly into the advertising software development kit (SDK) of MoPub. This allowed them to rebuild a special tailored version of the SDK. The new variant of the SDK spoofs information from the device, for example the device's ID. What is more, the SDS spooks parameters such as product, manufacturer, device width and height, and more. "[...] we can confirm that our Google Play policies are designed to provide a great experience for users and developers. That's why we remove apps from Google Play that violate those policies," Google notes. Earlier this year, Google announced that it will let its users know which apps from the Google Play Store feature embedded ads. Photo: Don Hankins | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Modern house cats, Felis catus, came from the wildcat known as Felis silvestris lybica that were native to Southwest Asia and the Middle East. It is widely believed that humans started taking cats as pets about 10,000 years ago following the birth of agriculture. Buried cats were found in several human burial sites from ancient times including in a Neolithic community dating back 9,500 years ago. In an elite burial site in Hierakonpolis, Egypt, they also found cat burials dating back 8,000 years ago. But they found something else in China, particularly in the Quanhucun village in Hunan, China. Feline fossils analysis found that wild leopard cats might have been domesticated by Chinese farmers over 5,000 years ago. These ancient wild cats and today's beloved house cats came from different species. Findings suggest that humans may have petted two different types of cats in the past but F. silvestris replaced the wild leopard cats as China's pet choice. While more research is needed to conclude this missing part in pet cat history, the first record of F. catus in China is in the Tang dynasty but the date of their arrival remains unsure. A statement from the National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique or CNRS), suggests that the F. catus could have arrived in China along with the opening of Silk Road wherein Han and Roman empires began establishing the links between East and West. But National Cancer Institute's geneticist Carlos Driscoll said China's latest domesticated wild cat fossils could have been an accident, which means it could actually be wild animals that were tamed post-hunting. "It could be that the cat with a broken femur was caught in a snare, broke its leg, but was kept alive as a curiosity or a pet," said Driscoll. Driscoll added that this type of taming is popular during the early years of agricultural communities around the world. Driscoll, who studied cat genetics, wasn't involved in the latest study. If the newly unearthed fossils turned out to be F. silvestris, the study would have been more complicated and interesting. "As it is, the paper is still important, but we know the end of the story even if we don't know the middle," Driscoll added. Photo: Lisa Campeau | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There's a group in Britain that call themselves "air farmers," and that's exactly what they do: they harvest clean air from pristine countrysides, bottle it up and sell the bottles online. It may sound absurd, but the bottled clean air from Britain seems to have gotten a good hold on the Chinese market. China has been struggling with poor air quality for some time now. One of the most affected areas is Beijing, which issued its second red alert for heavy smog in December 2015. It seems the poor air quality may have driven citizens to desperation that many have reportedly bought bottled clean air from the British countryside. The bottled air is a product of Leo de Watts and his company Aethaer, pronounced eath-air. Aethaer supposedly harvests clean air from different locations in Britain and puts it in 580-milliliter (19.6 fluid once) glass jars. The 27-year-old de Watts sells the bottled clean air for a whopping 80 ($115) a jar. For the Chinese New Year, the company is giving a special 25 percent discount on a 15-jar set, bringing the original price of 1,200 ($1,725) down to 888 ($1,277). "The AETHAER project provides clean, fresh and pure natural air in bottled form. The process involves traveling to some of the most beautiful, pristine areas of countryside, far away from industrial pollutants, motorways and impurities, in search of the most immaculate quality of air," the company explains. Aethaer's bottled air is harvested from Dorset, Somerset, Wales, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. The company's air farmers can also take special requests to harvest air from other areas of Britain. "There's really a market for this ... We've just started, but have already sold 100 jars to a factory in China," de Watts says. "[This] is a way of highlighting an issue with pollution and so on." Many people would wonder how the company even does what it claims to do but, according to Aethaer, harvesting air is not an easy process. The de Watts family gets up early in the morning with the special jars to drive to specific locations and collect the cool breeze with special harvesting nests. Check out the video and see whether you would consider buying a jar or 15. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A United States (U.S.) Defense official said North Korea's recently launched satellite is tumbling in orbit which makes it useless. The scenario is similar to a previous satellite the country launched in December 2012. The North Korea's Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite may be tumbling in orbit but the country considers the launch a successful feat because its Unha 3 rocket was able to get its payload into orbit. The technology used to get the satellite into orbit is the same technology needed for an armed intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile to reach mainland U.S. The California-based Joint Space Operations Center (JSPOC) at the Vandenberg Air Force Base is monitoring the North Korean Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite and the Unha 3 rocket booster stage that are both in orbit. The Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite even made a surprise flyby directly overhead the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara at 8:26 P.M. last Sunday an hour after the Broncos-Panthers Super Bowl match. According to FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Lightfoot, they know about the North Korea launch and that the military is monitoring this activity. "It did not affect anything we did on the ground in Santa Clara," added Lightfoot who helped in the supervision of the Super Bowl 50 security protocol. The tumbling orbit could make the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite re-enter the atmosphere much quicker. However, this scenario could take years. In fact, the JSPOC is still monitoring the other tumbling satellite that North Korean launched in December 2012 as well as its three corresponding debris. No transmission signals were detected coming from the 2012 tumbling satellite but North Korea said otherwise. The Kwangmyongsong-4 carrier rocket lifted off from Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea at 9 A.M. last Sunday. It entered orbit at nine minutes and 46 seconds post-launch. "The date of the launch appears to be in consideration of the weather condition and ahead of the Lunar New Year and the U.S. Super Bowl," said South Korean National Assembly Intelligence Committee chairman Jo Ho-young. Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The United Nations lately called for new unharmful rites of passage other than female genital mutilation (FGM), the painful and traumatic experience that affects millions of women across the globe. Speaking in the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reported that there are more cases of FGM than previously thought. He urges communities and far-flung societies to adapt alternative ways to replace FGM that does not only cause severe pain among those who undergo it, but also increased risk of complications and even death. At least 200 million girls and women across 30 countries suffered from FGM in the 21st century. The ancient practice, involves the partial or total removal of a girl's external genitalia. Aside from severe pain, other complications might also arise such as sepsis or infection, vaginal prolapse, severe bleeding and painful sexual intercourse. Though the procedure is illegal in most countries, communities voluntarily perform it because of cultural roots. Most communities see FGM as the transition of a girl to womanhood and often, they need to pass through this phase to become accepted in the society and to be deemed ready to become mothers. In Kenya, a group of leaders encourage communities to stem female genital mutilation through widespread information dissemination. They perform traditional Maasai songs that are updated with messages about stopping the ancient practice in order to educate the people in the community. They also conduct lectures and meetings to enlighten the people on the adverse effects of FGM. The groups called Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO) and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) in Kenya initiated a new rite that replaced FGM among young girls. The program, ntanira na mugambo (circumcision through words), involves a week-long education program and counseling that kick start the young girls' "coming of age" phase. A Stanford University report also shows other alternative ways to stop the violent practice. It suggests that programs are needed to end the practice and one non-profit organization, Tostan, shows success in providing interventions to stop FGM. The Tostan program facilitates communities in Africa to stop the practice and replace it with an alternative rite of passage. One of their interventions involves a monthly education program to residents about women's health, human rights and hygiene. After the education program, the number of women who thinks FGM is needed decreased by half. It all boils down to one important factor education. Education plays an important key in the battle against FGM. A lot of organizations are already going to communities to enlighten villagers about the dangers of the practice and how new alternative ways could replace it. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The French data-protection regulator threatened Facebook with financial sanctions, should the company keep invading the privacy of its own users, as well as others. The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) published a paper detailing the charges last Monday. The 17-page document points out how Facebook collects and uses information about its users or about others who do even not have a Facebook account. CNIL warned Facebook that it has three months before being fined with sums that can reach as much as $168,000 (150,000). According to the report, users who do not own Facebook accounts are also tracked by the social media company, via buttons spread throughout the Web. CNIL demands that Facebook informs and asks for permission from those Internet users to have their data collected. The subject is sensitive due to the fact that Facebook gathers information regarding users' religion, sexual orientation and other personal information. Another aspect that CNIL takes issue with is that Facebook sends European users' data in the U.S. This relies on the formerly legal agreement Safe Harbor, which was nullified by a decision of the European Union in 2015. "[The order became] public due to the seriousness of the violations and the number of individuals concerned by the Facebook service," CNIL says. The regulator approximates the number of affected users of about 30 million. In retort, a Facebook representative says that the protection of its users is quintessential to the company. "Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do," a Facebook spokesperson declares. She went on to add that the company is in line with the European Data Protection law and that meeting CNIL should help both parties reach an agreement. It is not the first time that national regulators demand Facebook to stop scooping the users' info. Late last year, Belgium's Privacy Commission ordered Facebook to refrain from tracking nonusers who visited other sites. A German regulator firmly asked Facebook to permit users to use pseudonyms on the social media platform. The joined efforts of European regulators against Facebook are a sign that national data protection entities are growing stronger. In two years' time, the authorities will be able to fine big Internet players much heftier fines, as part of a new EU privacy law. France is debating a new law which could allow CNIL to emit financial sanction earlier than that. One argument of the privacy advocates is that such legislation could balance the citizen vs. social network scales. Social media companies often face criticism due to their targeted online ads policies. The companies say that, should the data privacy be enforced, many services will suffer a delay before arriving to Europe. In the aftermath of the Belgium privacy complaint, Facebook declared it would stop collecting information on nonusers' browsing habits. The company also announced that other changes are in store: nonusers in Belgium will not be able to see public Facebook pages and Belgian users will have to go through more rigorous verification when signing in. It remains to be seen how the French regulator vs. Facebook situation unfolds, but we will keep you posted. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A new "bionic spine" developed by researchers in Australia offers paralyzed patients the chance to walk again by allowing them to control their limbs through signals from the brain. In a study featured in the journal Nature Biotechnology, scientists from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and the University of Melbourne described how they were able to create the device as well as the procedure required to implant it in a patient's body. The bionic spine, which is about the size of a regular paper clip, is designed to be placed on top of the brain's motor cortex. From here, the device will detect and record high-quality signals that the brain emits. Another device will be implanted in the patient's shoulder, which will be responsible for translating the brain signals into commands that will allow a set of bionic limbs to move. Nicholas Opie, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer from the University of Melbourne and one of the authors of the study, said that the entire procedure will only take a few hours to finish. "This is a procedure that Royal Melbourne staff do commonly to remove blood clots," Opie pointed out. "The difference with our device is we have to put it in, and leave it in." Three patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital's Austin Health spinal cord unit will be implanted with the bionic spine. They will serve as the first humans to test the device, which has been proven effective on sheep subjects. Professor Terry O'Brien, head of the neurology department at Royal Melbourne, said that bionics researchers stand to benefit significantly from the development of the new implantable device. He explained that while recipients of the bionic spine would have to learn how to think in order to move their bionic appendages, they will eventually figure out how to trigger these movements subconsciously. While the device would not be able to repair damaged brain pathways, it would instead allow the organ to discover new ways on how to carry out movement. As an example, O'Brien cited how a person with a paralyzed hand would be able to pick up a phone using their non-paralyzed hand. Even though the brain is unable to carry out an action that it is accustomed to, it is still able to devise other ways to do things. The organ is capable of learning another function to compensate what it had lost. The bionic spine allows the brain to facilitate movement in the patient's limbs by bypassing damaged areas of the body. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Six sperm whales washed up on shores of British beaches in the past two weeks while another 23 remained stranded in Germany, France and Holland. Experts claimed that the sperm whales found on British coast lines ventured into shallow waters as they hunted for squid and died. There are other theories surrounding the mysterious deaths which include the lack of food in the North Sea and migration-based navigational errors. There were also speculations that boats' sonar systems could have caused the sperm whales to get confused. Notably, sperm whales breathe once every eight minutes, but the latest death of a young bull whale revealed that the animal was breathing every 10 to 20 seconds. The rate is similar to a human's breathing when suffering from an extreme form of panic attack. "We've now had 30 animals stranded around the southern part of the North Sea - making it the biggest we've ever had," said Sea Watch Foundation director Dr. Peter Evans. "I can understand why people look for some human factor that may be causing these strandings, but there is certainly no evidence." According to Evans, the waters where the sperm whales ventured were much swallower than the depths the animals were used to, particularly in the southern part of Dogger Bank. Evans said the sperm whales normally live in waters about 3,000 meters deep. The south of Dogger Bank is less than 50 meters in depth or could even be less than 20 meters. The stomachs of the whales that were initially stranded in Holland contained several squid species. The sperm whales could catch these squid species up in the Norwegian Deep. Evans said the whales got themselves into trouble when they ventured south while they were following shoals of squid. "As always, there should be a full investigation to see what we can learn from this. Fortunately, we have an experienced team of pathologists from the Zoological Society of London who are conducting a post mortem analysis in the UK, and Dutch and German scientists have been doing the same in their countries," added Evans. Other experts have also ruled out common stranding causes such as entanglement or boat-strikes. All the sperm whales found were male and are believed to belong in the same bachelor group. Photo: Amila Tennakoon | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Those who have played Five Nights at Freddy's 4 know just how terrifying it is to have the franchise's animatronics popping up in the bedroom. However, fans will soon be able to take Freddy, Bonnie and Chica home with them and have them stare with that disturbing look in their eyes as you try to fall asleep. You might actually want to go to bed with your flashlight. Five Nights at Freddy's creator Scott Cawthon teamed up with comic book creator Todd McFarlane's (Spider-Man, Spawn) toy company to produce a series of toy sets from the twisted series. McFarlane Toys makes action figures and other characters from popular comics, video games and movies, which are known to sometimes be a bit graphic. The toy company has made realistic figurines of popular characters from AMC's The Walking Dead and HBO's Game of Thrones, along with construction sets that perfectly recapture famous scenes. It seems fitting that McFarlane Toys would be releasing the FNaF construction sets, and seriously, the characters look just like you would imagine. The Show Stage construction set will bring gamers back to the original game's pizzeria, recreating that birthday party scene we all know so well. It features Freddy with microphone in hand, Chica with a quaky smile and cupcake and Bonnie with an electric guitar. While they are kind of adorable in a nightmarish way, just looking into their eyes will leave you feeling a bit unnerved. The product description is as follows: During the day, the Show Stage at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is full of bright lights, happy children and singing animatronics! However when the night shift begins at midnight, the deadly horrors come to life. Starting from center stage, Freddy, Bonnie and Chica animatronics start to roam around the Pizzeria and head right to the Night Guard's Office! The Show stage set features 3 figures (Freddy, Bonnie & Chica), party balloons, arcade cabinet, star streamers, happy birthday banner, party stage, decorative clouds and stereo speaker! According to Kotaku, the set is only a prototype and is expected to be the largest of four sets in the first line released for FNaF. However, if the final version looks anything like this, fans certainly won't be disappointed. The set is not yet featured on McFarlane Toys' website, but with Toy Fair kicking off in New York City later this week, there's a good chance fans will be able to check them out for themselves in person. Source: Kotaku 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Thanks to a short teaser uploaded, it sounds like the electronic pop and chiptune band Anamanaguchi is planning something or other with Hatsune Miku, the holographic Japanese pop star. Theres no telling just yet what exactly the two might be collaborating on, but a series of dates at the end of the teaser seems to indicate a set of shows that the two will be playing together. It was announced a couple months ago that Hatsune Miku would be going on tour of the United States and Canada for the first time, and Anamanaguchi getting in on that action just makes sense given the bands interest in Japanese pop culture. Hatsune Miku, the most popular of the Japanese vocaloids, has seen a raise in her North American profile thanks in part to a more concentrated marketing effort. Not too shabby for a blue-haired virtual avatar that began digital life as a vocal synthesizer product. For example, an appearance on David Letterman back before his retirement set the stage for her eventual tour announcement late last year. The teaser specifically references the following dates and places: 4/23 Seattle 4/30 San Francisco 5/6 Los Angeles 5/14 Dallas 5/20 Toronto 5/25 Chicago 5/28 New York City Where those shows will be held is likely to come out relatively soon, but for now anything else is pure speculation. But its definitely happening, and the bands Twitter even has an updated header for it. What a time to be alive. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Chinese scientists create record by hitting 90 Million F For 102 Seconds which is three times hotter than the Sun Scientists in China were able to heat plasma to three times the temperature of the core of our sun using nuclear fusion a temperature of 90 million F for an impressive 102 seconds, as they continued their search to derive energy from nuclear fusion. They have surpassed the nuclear fusion experimental device referred to as the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellerator developed by a team of German researchers from the Max Planck Institute that managed to heat hydrogen gas to 80 million degrees Celsius, and sustain a cloud of hydrogen plasma for a quarter of a second. According to a statement on the institutes website last Wednesday, the experiment was conducted on a magnetic fusion reactor at the Institute of Physical Science in Hefei, capital of Jiangsu province. The experiments were carried out in a donut-shaped reactor, officially known as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The reactor was able to heat a hydrogen gas a hot ionised gas called plasma to about 50 million Kelvins (49.999 million degrees Celsius). The interior of our sun is calculated to be around 15 million Kelvins. The plasma can be contained by careful control of intense magnetic fields in a tight ring by running through the center of the donuts circular cross section. In other words, the walls of the structure are never directly exposed to the high temperatures of the plasma. For the long term goal of such fusion reactors, it is very necessary to make sure that those temperatures can be sustained for long period of time, as a huge input of energy is required to get them started. But, if they end up stopping too soon, the reaction is net negative in energy terms. Such high energies cause great instabilities making it difficult to confine them, as controlling such intense heat is tough. Therefore, it is a positive step indeed for running an experiment at such temperatures for 102 seconds. Its not the hottest temperature ever created on Earth. So far, the hottest temperature to have been created artificially in the lab remains that reached by the gargantuan Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which managed to achieve temperatures of 4 trillion degrees Celsius back in 2012. However, those conditions last for the sheer flicker of time, which is inadequate for creating energy. The ultimate goal of Chinas team is to hit 100 million degrees Celsius now, and sustain the resulting hydrogen plasma for over 1,000 seconds, or 17 minutes. In the meantime, now that their proof of concept experiment is out of the way, the German team says it could possibly sustain its plasma for as long as 30 minutes. However, most scientists who are in agreement advocate that the long-yet-intense burn required for fusion needs to be around 180 million F, which means we are likely decades away from actually connecting nuclear fusion to solve humanitys energy problems. Businessman sues Google for refusing to remove his information from its search engine A Londoner seems to have a grouse against Google for displaying information relating to him in its search engine. So much so that he has taken Google to court. In a suit filed in the High Court of London, the businessman, who is known only as NT2 says, that he has suffered enormous mental and financial damage due to Google giving access to his sensitive personal data to unwanted people. NT2 claimed that Google refused to remove links to online information that, he claims, has turned him into a pariah. NT2, who is a married father, stated in the writ that the information has led to him being threatened in public by people who have seen it. He suggests that some of them have also tried to blackmail him. His writ also states that when his solicitors wrote to Google asking for links to the sensitive personal data to be removed, the company refused. The businessmans writ says that Google makes available two links to publications containing inaccurate information about him. As a result, he has been and continues to be treated as a pariah in his personal, business and social life. NT2 also stated that now he has to lead a quiet and solitary life and is unable to form new friendships because he fears new acquaintances will look him up on Google and subsequently shun him again. Claiming his wife has also become withdrawn and insecure, the writ says she has faced questions from her friends about the results of Google searches. It argues that the information linked to by Google is inaccurate, out of date, and is being maintained for far longer than is necessary for any conceivable legitimate purpose. The writ also contends that Google has unlawfully infringed his right to respect for his private and family life, and misused his private information. The businessman is demanding an order forcing Google to erase links to the sensitive data about him, and an injunction banning it from processing or misusing his private information. NT2s writ is a third of its kind in United Kingdom and could open a deluge if admitted by the High Court of London. The case hugely relies on a similar case by former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley who attempted to stop Google searches revealing old images of him at an orgy. Microsofts Cortana will become mad at you when you ask about her sex life Microsoft seems to have stolen the march over Apples Siri and Google Now by implanting real womans feelings in Cortana. According to Microsofts Deborah Harrison one of the ideas behind Cortana was to make her work and feel like a human being, so implementing a female personality was essential to achieve this purpose. Microsoft engineers have worked pretty hard to make Cortana as personal as possible. However there is a line a user cannot cross. For instance, you cant sexually harass her. It turns out users feel very comfortable talking freely with text and voice assistants. Humanizing the bots with names, faked emotions, personalities and genders (mostly female) helps build trust with users. It is a known fact that users often ask their personal digital assistants like Cortana, Siri or Google Now about their sex or their dress when they first access them. However, you cant do that with Cortana. According to Harrison, Cortana might actually respond in some pretty unexpected ways when user asks some unwanted sexual question. Harrison obviously knows what she is saying because she is one of the writers creating the answers that Cortana gives you when asked various questions. If you say things that are particularly a**holeish to Cortana, she will get mad. Thats not the kind of interaction we want to encourage, Deborah Harrison is quoted as saying. Harrison says that Microsoft has tried to make Cortana as humane as possible. We wanted to be very careful that she didnt feel subservient in any way or that we would set up a dynamic we didnt want to perpetuate socially, Harrison adds. Its no surprise that Microsoft is trying to give Cortana her own female personality. Cortana is named after the female character with the same name from Halo while her actual voice is actress Jen Taylor. MIT researchers unveil 168-Core Chip that will bring AI in your mobile devices and IoT devices Last Wednesday, MIT researchers presented a chip designed to implement neural networks to process data faster at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco. The chip is claimed to be 10 times as efficient as a mobile graphics processor (GPU) that will enable mobile devices to run artificial-intelligence algorithms locally. Dubbed Eyeriss, neural nets are sometimes branded deep learning. MIT researcher Vivienne Sze whose group developed the chip says Deep learning is useful for many applications, such as object recognition, speech, face detection. Right now, the networks are pretty complex and are mostly run on high-power GPUs. You can imagine that if you can bring that functionality to your phone or embedded devices, you could still operate even if you dont have a Wi-Fi connection. You might also want to process locally for privacy reasons. Processing it on your phone also avoids any transmission latency, so that you can react much faster for certain applications. Eyeriss could also help usher in the Internet of things the idea that appliances, vehicles, manufacturing equipment, civil-engineering structures, and even livestock would have sensors that report information directly to networked servers, helping with maintenance and task coordination. With powerful artificial-intelligence algorithms on board, networked devices could make important decisions locally, entrusting only their conclusions, rather than raw personal data, to the Internet. And, of course, onboard neural networks would be useful to battery-powered autonomous robots. The chip implements convolutional neural nets, where many nodes in each layer process the same data in different ways. The networks can thus swell to enormous proportions, said MIT. Although they outperform more conventional algorithms on many visual-processing tasks, they require much greater computational resources. Data enters and is divided among the nodes in the bottom layer. Each node manipulates the data it receives and passes the results on to nodes in the next layer, which manipulate the data they receive and pass on the results, and so on. The result emerges from the final layer. A process called training decides what each node does, where the network finds correlations between raw data and labels applied to it by human annotators. With a chip like the one developed by the MIT researchers, a trained network could simply be exported to a mobile device, said MIT. Each Eyeriss core has its own memory bank, which is the opposite of centralized memory for GPUs and CPUs that power todays deep-learning systems. The chip tries to reduce repetition in processing by efficiently breaking down tasks for execution among the 168 cores. The circuitry can be reconfigured for different types of neural networks, and compression helps preserve bandwidth. Nvidia at CES demonstrated self-driving cars that removed data from servers to identify objects or obstructions on a street. With MITs chip, self-driving cars could have on-board image recognition capabilities, which could be useful in remote areas where cellular connections arent available. The researchers havent said if the chips would reach devices. Besides Intel and Qualcomm, chip companies like Movidius are trying to bring AI capabilities to mobile devices. The research was partially funded by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This small startup plans to take on Google by building its own quantum computing chip Rigetti Computing that develops commercial quantum computing systems is working to build the hardware needed to power a quantum computer that could overcome any conventional machine by tapping into quantum mechanics. By the end of 2017, the company has plans to develop a prototype chip that is considerably more complex than those built by other groups working on fully programmable quantum computers. Chad Rigetti, the startups founder and CEO says that the next generation of chips should be able to speed up some kinds of machine learning and perform highly accurate chemistry simulations that might answer new kinds of industrial processes. The chips we roll out will be able to solve very profound problems, he says. For instance, Rigetti refers to the Haber-Bosch process, which is estimated to be using 2 percent of the worlds energy while manufacturing ammonia for fertilizer production. It could be very valuable, if a more effective catalyst for the reaction is developed. Rigetti is looking to eventually build a kind of quantum-powered cloud computing service, where customers pay to run problems on the companys superconducting chips. Also, in order to make it easier for other companies to write code for its quantum hardware, it is working on software for the same. That plan requires Rigetti to make upsurge of science and engineering that have so far evaded academic, government, and corporate labs. Building quantum computers is proving to be tricky, in spite of physicists providing outlines the basics of how quantum computers could be designed. It consists of wiring together devices called qubits, which symbolize digital bits of data using delicate quantum-mechanical states. They not only can encode either a 0 or a 1 but they also can also enter a state that is effectively both at the same time, just like the basic components of a conventional computer. When qubits in that state of superposition act together, they can take computational shortcuts unavailable to conventional computers. There are several different ways that qubits have been made by physicists. But only small numbers of qubits that work together have been contracted by academic and government researchers. D-Wave, a Canadian startup has sold a chip with more than a thousand qubits to clients including Google and Lockheed Martin. However, the technology has not been able to convincingly prove to provide a quantum computers benefits. As the quantum claims they use to signify data are very delicate and the devices intervene with one another, qubits are tough to operate in groups. Using conventional chip-manufacturing techniques, Rigetti says his company can work out a qubit design that should be steady enough to step up. Currently, a three-qubit chip made using aluminum circuits on a silicon wafer is being tested by the startup, and the design due next year should have 40 qubits. Thanks to design software his company has created, Rigetti says it is possible to lessen the number of prototypes that will be required to be built on its route to a final design. He says when it comes to chemistry simulations and machine learning, versions with 100 or more qubits would be able to improve on ordinary computers. Others working on quantum computing are of the opinion that qubit technology has eventually reached a stage where the devices can be pooled in much larger numbers. The head of Googles quantum computing lab, which like Rigetti makes use of superconducting qubits, has forecasted that in a couple of years, he can build chips with about 100 reliable qubits. Similarly, superconducting qubits of high quality have been developed by researchers at IBM, MIT Lincoln Lab, and other places. In the past, Rigetti has worked in IBMs quantum computing research group. This is a very exciting time, says Daniel Lidar, Director of the Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology at the University of Southern California. This is not incremental; were really starting to see various groups working with superconducting qubits taking big strides forward. Lidar says that however it is still unclear when useful, large-scale quantum chips might be made. A serious effort at building one remains an expensive task, he says. Google make it free to offer huge resources from the profits of its online ad business to its quantum computing lab that it wishes. The only company to provide a large-scale superconducting qubit chip is D-Wave, which hires over 100 people and has received more than $120 million from various investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the CIA. So far, Rigettis company comprises of about 15 people and has raised $5 million in funding. He added that the company will raise more money and add employees as needed. He also claims that the the best environment for answering the big test of improving qubit technology is the strong boundaries of a startup. Source: Technology Review United States secretly sent a plane and seeked help from Scandinavian countries to capture serial whistleblower, Edward Snowden We all know that ever since he leaked secret NSA documents, Edward Snowden has been a marked man. But not many know that US had tried to capture Snowden from Denmark. The Justice Minister of Denmark has confirmed that the US sent a rendition flight to Copenhagen Airport to capture Snowden.The Justice Ministers confirmation is just seconding the reports which appeared last month that US landed a private aircraft in Copenhagen intended to capture Snowden in June 2013. In a report published by Danish online media Denfri US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prepared to kidnap Edward Snowden and ship him back to United States. The reports were initially rubbished by Danish authorities. However, now Justice Minister Sren Pind told the Danish parliaments Legal Affairs Committee the US was granted permission to use Danish airspace and land a plane at Copenhagen Airport to transport Edward Snowden to America. The purpose of the planes presence at Copenhagen Airport was apparently to have the ability to transport Edward Snowden to the USA in case he was delivered from Russia or another country, Mr Pind said in a written statement seen by the Local. Local also reported that US sought the help of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish authorities in tracking down Snowden. The FBI requests that your service immediately notify the necessary and applicable agencies of the below information in the event that Snowden should board a flight from Moscow to one of your respective countries for either transit purposes or as a final destination, a sent that the FBI sent out of the US Embassy in Copenhagen read. It may be recalled that Denmarks Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen had previously dismissed calls from Denmarks left wing to offer the whistleblower asylum. I have a very hard time seeing what the reasoning would be for parliament to pass a special law taking the extraordinary step of offering an American citizen political amnesty in Denmark, Rasmussen said. He is sought for a series of legal violations; thats what he is. And the US is a democratic constitutional state, he added. Snowden tweeted about the incident, saying it seems to confirm Denmark intended to violate principle of non-refoulement as I sought asylum. Remember when the PM #Rasmussen said Denmark shouldn't respect asylum law in my case? Turns out he had a secret. https://t.co/8K6cYuvAhv Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 27, 2016 Andy Kinsella, of project developer Mainstream Renewable Power, said it had lined up investors and financing to cover the full 2bn project cost and was "ready to go and reach financial close" but could not take "the last step" while the legal threat remained, since this could result in the planning consent being declared "null and void". Rob Crilly Republicans: Trump, Kasich Donald Trump has had an impressive lead throughout this race in New Hampshire, but he has seen it dip in recent days while John Kasich surges in part because of Marco Rubio's misfortune. I'm having a cheeky side bet on the Ohio governor snatching it although Mr Trump remains favourite Democrats: Sanders, Clinton This is the second state that heavily favours Bernie Sanders (predominantly white, retail politics, neighbouring his home state) so anything other than a Yuge win should be considered disappointing. From here on in, things will get much, much tougher for Mr Sanders. Nick Allen Republicans: Trump, Kasich It won't be a "huge" win for Trump but he's so far ahead in polls it's hard to see him coming in anything but first. He'll spin it as a great victory but doubters will take from it that he is never going to reach his poll numbers in an actual vote. Kasich's hard work in New Hampshire should edge him ahead of the rest. Democrats: Sanders, Clinton Bernie Sanders will win, but again not by as much as the polls have suggested. Hillary Clinton will be able to take heart from the fact that she's made up some ground. Barney Henderson Republicans: Trump, Bush The polls all seem to suggest that Trump has got New Hampshire in the bag, but with so many undecided voters, I think it will be closer than many think. The really interesting thing will be who finishes second. Bush seems to finally found a bit of momentum and zest here, so, partly just to be different, I'll go for him. Democrats: Sanders, Clinton The Clinton campaign is clearly a bit rattled and a big win for Sanders in New Hampshire will really give them cause for concern. As with the GOP, I think it will be closer than the polls have suggested, but New Hampshire will definitely Feel the Bern tonight. David Lawler Republicans: Trump, Kasich Donald Trump will secure a comfortable victory, though he won't manage the 32% he's averaging in the polls (26% sounds about right). John Kasich will emerge from the scrum behind Mr Trump, narrowly edging Ted Cruz, for whom third is a strong result. Marco Rubio will slip out of the top three. Democrats: Sanders, Clinton Bernie Sanders will beat Hillary Clinton, and it won't be close. After spending a week in New Hampshire, it feels as though the state is chock full of Sanders voters. Purely anecdotal, but I think Bernie has it in the bag. David Millward Republicans: Kasich, Trump Kasich to run Trump very close in NH. Polls suggest he is gaining traction and he has spent an awful lot of time up here over the last few months. This is not evangelical Christian territory so the bible thumpers are not going to be in for a good night. Kasich has had a lot of newspaper endorsements from the NH press and indeed the New York Times. Democrats: Sanders, Clinton As for the Democrats, Sanders. Everything shows that NH is going to feel the Bern. Ruth Sherlock Republicans: Trump, Rubio Donald Trump has been the certified frontrunner in New Hampshire, almost since this election began. He will likely win tonight, though after his Iowa defeat it may not be by as big a margin as the polls predict. Rubio took a beating at the last debate, causing a slight downward trend in the polls, but on the ground here in New Hampshire his crowds are getting bigger. The campaign had to move two recent rallies to bigger venues as so many people wanted to attend. Democrats: Sanders, Clinton New Hampshire is gripped by Bernie fever. The septuagenarian senator has gained the status of a movie star. He will likely win but, as with Trump, the question is by how much. Hillary's campaign has accepted they will likely lose but they have spent these weeks trying to mitigate the damage. A huge victory for Bernie would be a humiliation for Hillary. The former president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, deemed the comeback of the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, unlikely. | Read More Telluride AIDS Benefit: Overview Telluride AIDS Benefit, February 19 February 29, hosts events to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS in Colorado + Africa. To support TABs and its beneficiaries, seven in all, go to the online auction and BUY NOW. The current cost of care for one person living with HIV is $3,500 per month and $42,000 per year. The Telluride AIDS Benefit has been raising funds for HIV/AIDS patient care in Colorado and Africa since 1994. It is estimated that there are 39 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide; 1 in 5 people living with HIV dont know their status. In Colorado alone, there are over 12,000 people known to be living with HIV/AIDS; 32% of new HIV diagnosis in the state are youth ages 20-29. The mission of the Telluride AIDS Benefit (TAB) is to raise awareness and generate financial support for HIV/AIDS prevention programs and client care. TABs vision is to keep AIDS relevant in every generation and to cultivate a healthy and stigma-free society. To date, TAB has raised over $2 million for our beneficiary organizations. The TAB staff, board, and volunteers are a group of individuals dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS until we reach the goal of ZERO new infections in the state of Colorado, across the country, and then the world. And we believe that goal is attainable. 2016 Telluride AIDS Benefit schedule of events: TAB Student Show @ The Michael D. Palm Theater Friday Feb. 19th, 6pm Tickets $10/student, $20/adults Tickets available at aidsbenefit.org or at the door. Reserve seating available by contacting Sandy McLaughlin @ 970.519.0081 Sneak Peak Show @ the Telluride Conference Center, Thursday Feb. 25th, 8pm Tickets available @ aidsbenefit.org Art Auction @ the Sheridan Opera House, Friday Feb. 26, noon 9pm Free to the public. Artist reception starts at 6pm. CHIP Kids Art Auction @ the Sheridan Opera House Gallery Room, Friday Feb. 26, noon 9, Free to the public. FREE HIV Testing @ the Wilkinson Public Library, Friday, Feb. 26, 10-3, hosted by TAB beneficiary, The Western Colorado AIDS Project. Results in 10 minutes. Gala Fashion Show @ the Telluride Conference Center, Saturday Feb. 27th, 8pm Tickets available @ aidsbenefit.org AIDS Benefit & Telluride Gay Ski Week AFTER PARTY featuring DJ Ruckus @ the Sheridan Opera House, Saturday Feb. 27th, 10pm Tickets available @ aidsbenefit.org Designer Sample Sale @ the Sheridan Opera House, Monday February 28th, 10am 6pm, all designer clothing donated to TAB not sold in the live auction will be for sale to the public at great discounts! To volunteer for this years event, contact volunteers@aidsbenefit.org. Student Education Program: Telluride High School AIDS Education Day will be held Friday, February 26, 2016. The opening program (8:30 am in the Michael D. Palm Theater) is for students in grade 7-12. The Student Peer Education Team will present their short educational film, followed by keynote speaker, Paige Rawl. Paige is a 21-year old activist from Madison, WI, born HIV positive. Her keynote will cover the basics of how HIV is transmitted, the difficulty and ensuing bullying she received due to her status and how she has overcome these obstacles. Paige wrote a bestselling book, Positive, about her life, and travels the U.S. speaking to students about HIV/AIDS and bullying. More information @paigerawl.com. The 2016 Show: Party. Fight. Fear. Live. Artistic Direction by brother-and-sister team Colin Sullivan and Jessica Galbo. The theme of this years show will take audience members through the Rock n Roll decades of this disease from the 1970s until today. The history of the HIV virus is a complex and dynamic ongoing story of culture, medicine, politics, sex, mystery, and heartbreak. Most importantly, its a story of people: the people who contracted and died from the virus and the people who lost friends and loved ones to the virus. Finding a path out of this darkness means understanding one simple thing: no one is immune. The Live Auction: The bulk of TAB funds are raised each year via the Live Auction, which follows both the Sneak Peek, and Gala Fashion shows. This years auction items will include some incredible donated items not available anywhere else. Here is a preview of some Saturday night auction items: VICTORIAS SECRET FASHION SHOW TICKETS This auction package includes two tickets to the most anticipated fashion event of the year. This show is otherwise invitation only. Happening in December 2016, the tickets entitle the winning bidder to a prime seat at the Victorias Secret Fashion Show, entrance into the VIP after-party, and an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour. Minimum Bid, $25,000. BEHIND THE SCENES @ NASCAR Grandstand passes to the race of your choosing, compliments of Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus (six-time champion team) in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. NEW YORK FASHION WEEK 2 tickets to 3 shows during the exclusive Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, private shopping experience with a professional stylist at hip Williamsburg boutique, Concrete+Water. OTHER ITEMS INCLUDE: AIDS Benefit Custom Wagner Skis, Alta Lakes Observatory Night with private chef, Local Festivals Package, New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire Bike, and so many other fun items! Proceeds from all events support TAB Beneficiary Organizations: WESTERN COLORADO AIDS PROJECT: WestCAP began in 1985 as a grassroots response to people dying from AIDS on the western slope. The primary goal was to help those with AIDS live the rest of their lives with dignity and quality. Over 4,000 individuals on the Western Slope are reached annually with outreach, education and free rapid HIV and Hepatitis C testing. WestCAP became TABs primary beneficiary, when a group of locals wanted to support their friend and TABs muse, Robert Presley, as his medical bills mounted in his fight against HIV/AIDS. Robert asked that all the funds raised from a nascent TAB be given to WestCAP. CU Western Colorado Specialty Care Clinic, Grand Junction, CO: Assisting clients with HIV/AIDS in western Colorado, this program provides care to over 1700 HIV+ persons at the main clinic in Aurora and to over 500 HIV+ persons in collaboration with other clinics around the state. CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IMMUNODEFICIENCY PROGRAM, Aurora, CO: CHIP has been the sole provider of specialized care for children with HIV infection in the Rocky Mountain region since its inception in 1991. CHIPs programs improve the health and quality of life for children, youth, young adults, pregnant women, and families living with, affected by or at risk of HIV infection. BROTHER JEFFS COMMUNITY HEALTH INITIATIVE, Denver, CO: Brother Jeffs Community Health Initiative works to reduce the disproportionate HIV and AIDS rate among African Americans and to enhance the quality of life for African Americans living with HIV and AIDS regardless of age, faith, background or sexual orientation. The nonprofit provides individuals across the state with cases of free condoms and education materials; and help people living with HIV and AIDS access housing, treatment and employment. ETHIOPIAN FAMILY FUND, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Family Fund works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where HIV/AIDS is widespread in Ethiopia and where people who test positive for HIV/AIDS are often ostracized from their families and communities. EFF helps to run an orphanage for women and children with HIV/AIDS. They help young mothers with HIV/AIDS to get assistance, job training, and medical care. GENERATION UBUNTU, Khayletisha, South Africa: Generation Ubuntu, formerly Ubuntu Africa, improves the health and wellbeing of children and teens living with HIV through a holistic care model: health and nutrition, psychosocial support, HIV & life-skills education, and community engagement. MANZANI YOUTH CARE, Swaziland, Africa: Manzini Youth Care provides the basic needs of food, shelter, education, training, life skills, and medical care for orphaned or abandoned children in Swaziland, Africa. Such a need arises from the devastating effects of Swazilands HIV/AIDS pandemic. MYC provides outreach and transitional care for children living on the streets. The Live Stream, Town of Mountain Village: The Town of Mountain Village will air the Gala live on Mountain Village Cable Channel 15 and online at townofmountainvillage.com/video Saturday, February 27 at 8 p.m. More about the After Party: TAB + TGSW present DJ Ruckus: Closing out the week of amazing events, Telluride AIDS Benefit and Telluride Gay Ski Week present DJ RUCKUS. Hailed by GQ as the most sought after DJ in the world, DJ Ruckus has never moved slowly in establishing himself as the premiere open-format deejay. At age 16, just two years after receiving turntables as a birthday gift, Ruckus was headlining the biggest nightclubs in his native Miami. By the following year, while just a junior in high school, Ruckus was behind the turntables at Diddys lavish birthday bash in Morocco and performing his signature fusion of hip-hop, rock, electro, house, soul, funk, and reggae around the globe. Tickets available at aidsbenefit.org or telluridegayski.com. HIV/AIDS Timeline: 1981 First cases of AIDS reported in US. 1982 600 deaths to date in the US. 1983 AIDS cases have been reported in 33 countries. 1984 US govt. predicts an AIDS vaccine will be ready for testing within two years. 5,000 deaths to date in the US 1985 Ryan White, a 13-year-old hemophiliac with AIDS, is barred from school in Indiana. Rock Hudson dies of AIDS. 1986 Perry Ellis dies of AIDS. 25,000 deaths to date in the US 1987 AZT becomes the first anti-HIV drug approved by the FDA, the most expensive drug in history. The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is founded in NYC. Liberace dies of AIDS. 40,000 deaths to date in the US. 1990 To date, nearly twice as many Americans have died of AIDS as died in the Vietnam War. Halston, fashion designer, dies of AIDS. Keith Haring, artist, dies of AIDS. 1991 Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV+. Freddie Mercury dies of AIDS. 10 million people are infected with HIV worldwide. 150,000 deaths to date in the US 1995 AIDS is the leading cause of death among all Americans ages 25 to 44. Eazy-E, rap star from NWA, dies of AIDS. 320,000 deaths to date in the US 1996 Combination drug therapy made available; deaths from AIDS drop 23%. 22.6 million people infected with HIV worldwide. 1997 AIDS deaths in the US decline by 42%. Robert Presley, Telluride fashion designer, dies of AIDS. 400,000 deaths to date in the US 1998 Michael D. Palm dies of AIDS. 1999 In sub-Saharan Africa 55% of all HIV+ are women. 2000 36.1 million people are now living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. 2002 AIDS is the leading cause of death worldwide among people aged 15-59. FDA approved finger prick Rapid HIV-1 Antibody test. 500,000 deaths to date in the US 2003 PEPFAR is created to fight HIV/AIDS internationally. 2005 1 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS. 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. 2006 African-Americans account for more than half of new HIV infections in the US. Mother-to-child transmission in the US has declined to less than two percent. 2008 The Berlin patient is first reported cured case of HIV. Scientists who discovered HIV (in 1983) are awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. 2014 PReP is recommended to prevent HIV infection in high-risk populations. 2015 TDP's Quthbullapur MLA joins TRS The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana received a jolt as another of its legislator joined the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator from Qutbullapur K.P. Vivekananda joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the presence of CM KCR. KCR welcomed Vivekananda into the patty by offering him the party kanduva. He is the sixth TDP MLA to have joined the TRS ever since the party came to power in Telangana. Vivekananda is learnt to have sent his resignation letter to TDP National President N. Chandrababu Naidu. The MLA said he had decided to quit the TDP and join the TRS only to help achieve the goal of 'Bangaru Telangana' (golden State).He said that he took the decision after consulting his supporters in the constituency. Vivekananda is the sixth TDP MLA to resign after 2014 general elections which installed the TRS in power with 63 MLAs. The other five being: Commercial Taxes Minister T. Srinivas Yadav (Sanatnagar), Teegala Krishna Reddy (Maheswaram), Manchireddy Kishan Reddy (Ibrahimpatan), M. Krishna Rao (Kukatpally) and Challa Dharma Reddy (Parkal). The TDP bagged only one seat in recently concluded GHMC elections.Meanwhile, the lone TDP corporator in the GHMC is likely to meet the chief minister on Tuesday. Srinivas Rao, who was elected from KPHB division, may formally join the TRS. News Posted: 9 February, 2016 KCR directs officials to improve quality of education Hyderabad, Feb 9 (INN): Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday directed the officials to bring all courses, except medicine, pharma and agriculture, under the purview of Education Department. The decision was taken during a review meeting on education held by the Chief Minister with ministers and senior officials. The Chief Minister said all educational institutions being run by SC, ST Welfare Departments should be brought under the Education Department so as to improve the quality of education. He asked Deputy CM Kadiyam Srihari and Chief Secretary Dr. Rajiv Sharma to bring all educational institutions and courses under one roof and streamline their functioning. He also asked them to frame a new Education Policy. The Chief Minister was of the view that education standards could not be improved without bringing all courses under the jurisdiction of Education Department. He said without improving the standard, the pass outs of those institutions could not be expected to get good jobs in the open market. He said that the parent departments would release the required funds while the Education Department would run those institutions. KCR said besides TSPSC and UPSC, Telangana youth should be motivated and trained to appear for recruitment drives of Railways, Defence, Banking and other sectors. He said special training should be imparted to youth for competitive examinations. He said proper guidance should also be provided to youth in getting IT jobs. He also stressed on having a unique policy for Model Schools. News Posted: 9 February, 2016 AP CM meets Modi over Special Status Hyderabad, Feb 9 (INN): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi on Tuesday. Naidu reportedly urged the Prime Minister to grant Special Status to Andhra Pradesh and fulfill other promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act. He also sought central funds for early completion of pending projects in the State. During the half-an-hour meeting, Naidu also briefed the PM on the status of works pertaining to Amaravati, the State's new capital. During his visit to the national capital, Naidu also met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and sought special sops for AP industries on the lines of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. He said special grants should be given for development of backward areas in AP. The AP CM also called on Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and discussed pending railway projects in the State. He also demanded setting up of Visakhapnatnam Railway Zone. Naidu also met BJP national president Amit Shah during his Delhi visit. News Posted: 9 February, 2016 Newcrest said the geotechnical event happened around 8.30pm on Monday (Indonesian time). The incident occurred in Gosowong's Kencana mine; the same area where two men were trapped underground for eight days in December 2010. The worker became stuck 300 metres underground after a "geotechnical" event at the Gosowong gold and silver mine in Indonesia. A worker is trapped underground at one of Newcrest Mining's operations. The rest of the workers were evacuated, and it is unclear at this time whether the incident was caused by seismic activity or a fault in the mine. Gosowong is located on Halmahera Island, which sits at the meeting point of several of the Earth's tectonic plates. Previous workers there suggest that tremors and other seismic activity are common in the region. Newcrest has not revealed the identity of the worker trapped underground, but have confirmed the man is an Indonesian citizen from the local area. The company said it continues to focus on rescue work. "At this time our priority is to contact and rescue the trapped employee," said the company in a statement. Could compassion in politics be making a comeback? Showing the faces of children that could be sent to Nauru would not break Australian law, but would not be in the best interest of the children, the Human Rights Law Centre says. Premier Daniel Andrews has posted a picture of himself with the backs of two children on social media with the explanation "I can't show you their faces, but I can tell you a bit about these two beautiful kids who I took to the Melbourne Zoo." Premier Daniel Andrews, with asylum seekers' children at Melbourne Zoo, has called on federal government to let them stay in Australia. Credit:Facebook "They're ordinary Victorians in almost every way. They go to their local primary school; they laugh, they learn, they play. But one thing is very different: any day now, these two boys will be deported to Nauru and will stay there indefinitely," Mr Andrews posted. A spokeswoman for the Premier said the children were not identified to protect their safety in the event they were forced to return to Nauru. The Human Rights Law Centre strongly advised against publishing identifying images of the children because of the impact that identification could have on their overseas relatives and on how they are treated by Australian authorities. "They're worried that speaking out might endanger relatives in their home countries or be used against them when their refugee claims are assessed. Mostly, they are afraid our government will punish them. As one father put it to me last week,"right now my child's life is in the government's hands. I'm so scared of making them angry," Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre said. There are 267 asylum seekers, including 37 babies and 54 other children, who face being being sent to Nauru after the High Court recently rejected a challenge to Australia's offshore processing regime in Nauru. Legal advice obtained by Fairfax Media indicates that there is no legal impediment to publishing the faces of children that could be sent to Nauru if the photograph was not obtained by a Commonwealth official owing to their position and provided by that official without authority. The average American will die as many as two years sooner than if they lived in Western Europe or Japan. This can be attributed, in part, to three of the darker elements of life in the US: gun violence, drug overdoses and the country's road death toll. More than 100,000 people in the US lose their lives as a result of these causes every year. For each of the categories, the death rate is far higher in America than in other wealthy countries, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The disparity is evident in comparisons with each of the 12 developed countries that have comparable mortality data available. These include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Scripts about Fyshwick becoming the porn capital of Australia and the spirit of King Arthur possessing a downtrodden single mother were among the nine recipients to share in over $100,000 from the ACT Screen Arts Fund in 2016. The successful applicants were announced on Monday by Minister for Small Business and the Arts Chris Bourke. Filmmakers Billie Dean and Andrew Einspruch on their country property. Screen ACT project manager Victor Willis said 29 applications were received and were assessed by a panel consisting of Arts ACT's Narelle Marlow, Canberra National Film and Sound Archive's Cris Kennedy, who has written on film for The Canberra Times, and film-maker Marisa Martin. He said the aim, besides quality, was to look at the process of the applicants and how the grants would help them move forward as a screen artist. ACT Planning Minister Mick Gentleman will lead a delegation of planners, architects, business leaders to the United States and Canada next week to gather ideas for Canberra's urban renewal. Mr Gentleman is visiting Tucson, Seattle and Vancouver, cities which he says all have similarities with Canberra, "be that through their planning hierarchy, the shift away from a car-dependent society, or the increase in the importance of creating a sustainable place for people to live". Planning Minister Mick Gentleman hopes to gather ideas to bring back to Canberra. Credit:Elesa Kurtz With him will be representatives from the Master Builders Association, the Australian Institute of Architects, Cox architecture, the University of Canberra, the Canberra Business Chamber and Community Housing Canberra. Four government officials, including Mr Gentleman, will make the trip, along with about six others. Two former Marist brothers have signalled they will try to avoid going to trial on historical child sexual abuse charges. John William Chute, 83, and Gregory Joseph Sutton, 64, were among four men police charged with fresh offences as part of an ongoing investigation into child sexual abuse in ACT schools in the 1980s. Gregory Sutton outside the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning. Credit:Rohan Thomson Chute did not appear in court to face two charges of indecent assault on a male and two acts of indecency on a person aged between 10 and 16. His defence lawyer told Magistrate Bernadette Boss his client was infirm and suffered from Parkinson's disease and dementia. Hard on the heels of attempts to revive his coal industry credentials, controversial businessman Nathan Tinkler has been declared bankrupt over funds owed from the sale of his luxury private jet, although the ruling has been stayed pending a possible appeal. Mr Tinkler has been fighting since mid-last year to stave off the bankruptcy claim from GE Commercial, which claimed he owed $US2.3 million on the jet. Nathan Tinkler has been fighting since mid-last year to stave off the bankruptcy claim from GE Commercial. Credit:Getty Images In November 2012, GE Australasia appointed Taylor Woodings as the receiver of TGHA Aviation. He subsequently impounded Mr Tinkler's Dassault Falcon 900C in Singapore and Agusta A109S helicopter in Brisbane. A former Tinkler staffer was quoted at the time as saying his boss "loved the jet like a child" and "used the helicopter like a taxi". Bank of Queensland chief executive Jon Sutton says the company needs to take a $15 million hit to cash earnings in 2016 to offset a margin squeeze from funding cost hikes, cover the cost of 50 job losses, and become more efficient. He said the $15 million would be used to remove duplication and manual processes, and to help get BOQ's cost-to-income ratio into the low 40 per cent range. CEO of the Bank of Queensland Jon Sutton says the bank needs to take a hit in earnings to spend on making itself more efficient. Credit:Jessica Hromas The money will partly be spent on about 50 redundancies out of a total staff of more than 2200, including removing duplication in businesses it has bought. But for the second time in the past four months, Mr Sutton also warned its margins are being hit by higher funding costs and continued fierce competition in the mortgage market. Places Victoria is believed to formalising the sale of a 1.56-hectare Cheltenham site housing a building where fighter jet planes were manufactured in the Second World War. The 329 Bay Road block abuts a former CSIRO facility it was mooted the state government planning authority would once also buy to create a supersite, and $200 million plus mixed-use village. for sale. Places Victoria paid $7 million for 329 Bay Road in 2011. It was listed for sale late last year by Gross Waddell's Jamie Stuart and Andrew Waddell, with price expectations, according to sources, of over $10 million. However in recent months, the sale price of some Places Victoria blocks has surpassed initial expectations. The question of "public v private" education is a distraction in Australia, diverting us from a far more substantive task: what can we do to ensure schools serve all students better? As the school year gets underway, the debate about public v private education must not dominate again. Last December when year 12 students across the state received their HSC results, schools were immediately divided in rankings based on private, public, selective and comprehensive status. News reports were quick to highlight that in the 2015 HSC top achievers in course list, 39 first-placed students came from private and Catholic schools and 42 from public schools. The private versus public school debate won't lead to better educational outcomes. Credit:Arsineh Houspian Though on the surface the comparison seems harmless, the attention we give this debate masks a larger and ignored problem. A report from the Australian Council for Educational Research found a growing divide between secondary schools in Australia between 2000 and 2012. Independent schools discriminate based on the social divisions of income and wealth and selective schools on academic talents. Public comprehensive schools receive students on the grounds of geographical location, and those located in higher income areas attract "better off" students. Premier Daniel Andrews is dawdling with the last steps necessary for reforms on a crucial aspect of public health. While Victoria has laws banning smoking near playgrounds, on patrolled beaches, at swimming pools, sporting venues, in cars when a child is present, and outside hospitals and government buildings, it is bizarre that smokers can still puff away in outdoor cafes and restaurants. And they are free to do so to everybody else's discomfort for the rest of this year and much of next year, because the bans on smoking in outdoor eating areas, which the government announced in August, do not take effect until August of next year. Yes, 2017. It's time. Credit:2ue Why any business would need two years to "plan and adjust" to this relatively simple change is a profound mystery. A business that focuses on consumers, especially in the restaurant and hospitality trades, should be sufficiently adept to respond to all sorts of changes. We note the NSW government gave hotels and clubs in central Sydney and King Cross just four weeks warning in January 2014 before it introduced sweeping lock-out laws to curb alcohol-related violence. Why, then, does it take two years to put up no-smoking signs in this state's street-cafes, bistros and restaurants? Worse, though, the Andrews government has not done anything yet to ban smoking from outdoor drinking areas. This is patently illogical and wholly unacceptable. Tobacco smoke is filthy, irritating and potentially toxic, whether inhaled by the primary smoker or by non-smokers. It is carcinogenic, can trigger asthma attacks and aggravate bronchial problems. Allowing smoking in outdoor drinking areas is contrary to sound public policy and it undercuts the rationale for banning smoking in dining areas. Many major anti-smoking reforms in this state were introduced by Labor, to its credit. The government has banned smoking in the state's prisons a move that is said to have contributed to a riot at the Ravenhall facility and it has banned smoking in and around train stations and tram stops. But that makes its hesitancy to ban smoking in outdoor drinking areas all the more bewildering. At this point, we note that in the three months to late October 2014, the Victorian branch of the Labor Party received donations totalling $171,000 from the Australian Hotels and Hospitality Association, the lobby group representing the hotel and liquor industry. In the same period, the AHHA donated $157,000 to the Liberal Party in Victoria and more than $80,000 to the National Party. Why is that important? Because while these donations preceded the 2014 state election campaign, they arrived while state Parliament was debating the amendments that led to smoking bans in playgrounds, beaches and so on. Oddly enough, neither of the major political parties showed any strong inclination to ban smoking in outdoor food or drinking areas. The failure to act firmly with blanket bans causes understandable concern among leading health advocacy groups, including the Cancer Council and Quit Victoria, as well as unions that represent workers in the hospitality trade and the Municipal Association of Victoria, which is the peak organisation for the state's local councils. The commission should consider travelling to Rome preferably at the Church's expense. I'm sure victim witnesses would travel economy class, and Cardinal Pell did such a good job of protecting the Church's assets that there is plenty of tax-free income. Domus Australia in Via Cernaia, renovated at a cost of $30 million, mostly from the Sydney Archdiocese, might provide accommodation. It would also enable the Pope and other senior officials to observe the impact of the Church's mishandling of this tragedy. For the victims, if face-to-face engagement with the cardinal is important for the healing process, they should have it. Norman Huon, Port Melbourne Unwilling to trust his God How ironic that a Catholic priest should be unwilling to trust his God to bring him safely to Australia to fulfil his duty to appear before the commission in person. The people whose complaints of abuse of power and grievous bodily, psychological and emotional harm were so blithely dismissed by the cardinal at the time they were brought to his attention have appeared in person. Nobody listening to them could doubt the emotional trauma and physical stress this causes. If Pell truly believes he has right on his side, I suggest he book a first-class bed for himself and seats for an accompanying physician and nurse and get himself on to a plane to Australia. Juliet Flesch, Kew We need a second medical opinion Pope Francis is yet to walk the talk. The Irish PM, Enda Kenny, is the only national leader to stand up to the Vatican for protecting abusive clergy and hiding officials who have questions to answer. The Anglican hierarchy has been more open and remorseful, and Bishop Hollingworth's abject apology is closer to that which victims seek. Cardinal Pell's pathetic excuse is like something from Fawlty Towers. People with hypertension take long-haul flights every day with no adverse consequences. We could do with a second medical opinion, preferably independent. James Ogilvie, Kew Principles expendable Just when we think we've seen all the hypocrisy and duplicity the political class can dish up, Julie Bishop announces Philip Ruddock as our special humanitarian envoy (The Age, 8/2). Ruddock has demonstrated that his "deeply held humanitarian principles" were entirely expendable "when convenient to do so". In 1997, amid the furore over Guantanomo Bay, the UN Committee Against Torture ruled that extended sleep deprivation was torture. As Attorney General, Ruddock disagreed. Since the "Children Overboard" affair, in which he was a key proponent, the mistreatment of asylum seekers has escalated. Yet Ruddock never argued why extinguishing human rights when it suited his government was legitimate, and instead hid behind a veil of political fear mongering. Brendan Shannon, Surrey Hills A 'fond' farewell Of Phil Ruddock's 42years in Parliament, I will always remember him as the immigration minister who, along with John Howard and Peter Reith, started playing the race card in federal politics in order to win an election (2001). Australia has been an international pariah due to its treatment of refugees ever since. Kevin Morton, Essendon Almost laughable The man who coined the word "rejectees" to dehumanise asylum seekers and referred to a six-year-old boy who'd been in detention for 17 months as "it", is our special envoy. Federal politics continues to operate in a moral vacuum. Kevin Summers, Bentleigh The morality I choose While the secretary of the Immigration Department criticises the ABC and others for moral lecturing he proceeds to lecture the community on the department's moral agenda as being the right one. Why should we trust a department in charge of implementing government policy? He says staff listen to doctors but concludes with the words that "everyone will go back in due course". I, for one, prefer the morality of community groups and health professionals on this one. Ray Cleary, Camberwell Spiritually desolate It is true that Nauru is not necessarily such an awful place to live (Letters, 4/2). While it is isolated and very close to the equator, is not much bigger than Melbourne Airport and is 4800 kilometres from anywhere one might want to visit for people born there it is home and it is pleasant, even beautiful, at times. Most Nauruans live less than 50 metres from where the Pacific Ocean pounds the fringing reef. Houses are open to the cooling evening sea breezes and there is the sea itself, tepid but still refreshing. But that's not where the refugee children are kept. The compound is in the hinterland. No breezes there or even a glimpse of the sea, just suffocating humidity and temperatures that soar beyond 40 degrees. Any exercise causes one to sweat and even light clothing clings uncomfortably. At night the temperature falls a little but it's too hot for even a cotton sheet. Then there are the mosquitoes. Add to this the spiritual desolation from having no prospects and the promise of none in the future. For refugees it truly must feel like "the end of the world". There's no ambiguity here. Everything is as clear as can be. That's the way the government intended it for babies, too. Claude Miller, Hawthorn Camps like no other The Nazis established concentration camps within days of coming to power in 1933. According to the most recent research there were more than 40,000 camps and other incarceration sites, with 18 million people passing through the camps some 11 million of whom died there (Letters, 9/2). The camps basically fell into five types: concentration camps (Dachau, Mathausen, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald); extermination camps (Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, Treblinka); "multipurpose" camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majadanek, concentration and extermination camps); forced labour camps; and prison and transit camps (Bergen-Belsen). Auschwitz 1 was not an extermination camp, but its massive sub-camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was an extermination and a concentration camp. Buchenwald was a concentration camp, although it is true that of the 250,000 innocent people imprisoned, at least 56,000 (11,000Jews) were murdered. Many millions of men, women and children died in Nazi camps due to starvation, overwork, terror, executions, disease, punishment, torture and criminal medical experiments. Detention centres cannot be compared to any Nazi camp. Bill Anderson, Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre Premier's political ploy Daniel Andrews' offer on asylum seekers is a ploy to appeal to those leaning towards the Greens. He know as well as anyone that the federal government will not allow any state to resettle the 267refugees as it undermines the strong border message. Douglas Potter, Surrey Hills Words to live up to "Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do," says the Premier. These words will come back to haunt him. Mr Andrews, did you do the right thing and transparently consult residents regarding the sky rail? When will you release the business case and financial costings for the Western Distributor? When will you allow the Ombudsman to investigate Labor's employment of casual electioneering staff, allegedly using parliamentary funds? Unfortunately, the Premier has shown he doesn't deserve the trust of voters. Terry O'Connor, Avondale Heights In their shoes It is good that Police Minister Wade Noonan can feel confident about taking a work break due to the stress of his job, which he has held since 2014. I wonder if this means that in future negotiations our police, ambulance officers and firefighters, who are in the front line all day, every day, for many more than two years, won't have to fight tooth and nail for adequate pay and conditions? Or, will it once again be one rule for a politician and another for the actual workers? Margaret Callinan, Balwyn Model public transport The Premier really must look into closing the miniature railway at Eltham. It is radicalising kiddies to think that in the real world there are frequent trains, friendly station staff, trains that don't skip stations to make up for lost time, and no need for bus replacement services due to dodgy rails. Kiddies might think lights and bells are meant to work when trains go through level crossings; and that trains are meant to be clean and free from graffiti. I enjoyed my ride but am worried about what these dangerous amateurs are up to. David Baylis, Mentone Beware the argument VicRoads justifies an overpass/car park over Strathmore Secondary College by pointing to six "serious injuries" over 15 years on that stretch of road, but ignores the lung cancer deaths in their thousands, and still rising. Chris Goodman, Clifton Hill Complete disconnect The inherent tensions in the Turnbull government's climate policies are palpable (The Age, 9/2). A welcome injection of money for green housing is to be delivered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (assuming it still exists as it is government policy to abolish it). Separately, the government calls for renewable energy innovation, while also slating the innovative Australian Renewable Energy Agency for abolition. These policy disconnects sit alongside the government's flagship climate action policy "direct action", which involves taxpayers paying polluters rather than polluters reimbursing us for the huge costs they impose on society and the environment. Andrew Laird, Anglesea Where do I come from? Last year young adults conceived by donor sperm explained how important it is for them to know who is their biological father; and adoptees are researching their origins overseas. Now couples are travelling all over the world for eggs from this country, sperm from that one, and all anonymous ("Our $260,000 baby", 9/2). Do we forget that the result is a real human being, who will grow up and ask "where do I come from?" and "Who are my biological parents?" How will those questions be answered? Prospective parents should think about this before they start. Marlies Tammes, St Albans The wrong track I have been trying to return, via Australia Post, library books from the University of New England since January 21. Twice they have been returned to sender, although the $17.10 Australia Post satchel was correctly addressed. My original complaint was never acted upon. Do I have to drive up to Armidale, NSW, to return the books? David Griffiths, Melton South Choose wisely Also, Fran Kirby (Letters, 9/2), you cannot redeem your gift card at about 60 retailers including the big three grocers in the centre, and the terms and conditions don't state when the card expires. Although any expiry time on a gift card is unreasonable. Rob Hocart, Ashburton AND ANOTHER THING... Cardinal Pell Did we really want him back here to simply say, sympathetically, "I cannot recall"? Peter Johns, Sorrento Doesn't he believe in the power of prayer? Rod Cripps, Parkdale God moves in mysterious ways but the Cardinal doesn't move at all. He travelled to Rome, and elsewhere, OK though. Les Aisen, Elsternwick Maybe there's hope for Pell ("Bionic spine hope", 9/2). He seems to have lost his. Myra Fisher, Brighton East Heartless and gutless. With his lack of internal organs it makes you wonder how the man remains upright. Shaun Lawrence, Hawthorn Like most bullies, Cardinal Pell is a coward. Keri Chater, Williamstown You wouldn't want George Pell beside you in the trenches facing the enemy. Bill Trestrail, St Kilda Philip Ruddock How ironic that he is to become a special envoy for human rights. The man hasn't been human for 20 years. Patrick Toohey, Balwyn North Who said there'd be no more captain's picks? Michael Dalton, Yarraville We don't have the death penalty in Australia? Depends on whether you count your "offshore solution" ("Terminally ill bound for Nauru", 9/2)? Katharine Anderson, Windsor I assume his first priority will be to advocate for the human rights of people detained on Manus and Nauru? Yvonne Stolk, Brunswick Politics The government is practising ancient witchcraft. Every time it pokes an asylum seeker, it believes it hurts a people smuggler. Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick It's rich for the government to complain about inaccurate, speculative reports when journalists are effectively prevented from going to Nauru. Every journalist I know loves the film Spotlight. It portrays us the way we wish we were but fewer and fewer of us actually are. There's a scene near the beginning of the film when Walter "Robby" Robinson, the editor of the Boston Globe's investigative team called Spotlight, hence the title sits down with the paper's new editor-in-chief, a blow-in from Miami called Marty Baron. Rachel McAdams plays investigative reporter Sacha Pfeiffer in Spotlight. Baron asks Robinson about Spotlight's strike rate. How many are in the team? What are they working on? When will they publish their next story? There are four of us, replies Robinson. We're searching for a good topic right now: that might take a month or two. Once we've settled on a story, it will probably take several more months before we're ready to publish. "An embarrassing human error" caused Telstra's massive network outage on Tuesday, according to the telco's chief operating officer. The widespread interruption affected millions of customers across the country, with thousands of disgruntled customers taking to social media to complain that calls are unavailable. Telstra's chief operations officer Kate McKenzie said the outage was caused by "human error". "We apologise right across our customer base. This is an embarrassing human error," she told reporters at a press conference just after 4pm. VALENTINE'S DAY SKYWALK FOR TWO Take a private romantic walk to the top of Sydney Tower Eye. You'll be 268 metres above the ground and a private photographer will capture every moment with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background. AB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 11.30AM-7.30PM, LEVEL 5, SYDNEY TOWER EYE, 100 MARKET STREET, SYDNEY $199 A COUPLE 3. FOOD AND DRINK ANTI VALENTINE'S DAY Not kissing anyone today? That's fine because Keg & Brew is here to show you a good time filled with garlic bread, ribs, ice-cream, cakes and, of course, some special drinks to take you to your happy place. AB SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 11AM-11PM, 26 FOVEAUX STREET, SURRY HILLS 4. PARTY VALENTINE'S DAY SINGLES PARTY This lovefest holiday doesn't have to be all about the loved-up couples. If you're single this February 14, have a party of your own. Calling all singletons to mingle with Sydney's most eligible bachelors and bachelorettes for this rooftop party. There'll be a complimentary drink on arrival, hundreds of singles and you never know who you might meet! Dress to impress. AB SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 6.30PM-11.45PM, 324 ELIZABETH STREET, SURRY HILLS PRE-PURCHASE $30, AT THE DOOR $50 SIMPLYSPEEDDATING.COM.AU 5. CULTURE THE KARAOKE SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE CLIMB Warm up those singing voices as you continue the Chinese New Year celebrations with a climb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Choose from a large selection of Chinese and K-Pop songs as you experience karaoke like never before. AB FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, TO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 3 CUMBERLAND, THE ROCKS BRIDGECLIMB.COM TIMES AND PRICES VARY, CHECK WEBSITE FOR DETAILS 6. MUSIC HI-5 SONGFEST Come and party with the Hi-5 crew as they perform their brand new show all across NSW. Bring the kids along for a party they can sing and dance to, including special guest, Sir Buckethead! AB TIMES, LOCATIONS AND DATES VARY. CHECK WEBSITE FOR DETAILS HI-5WORLD.COM $27.50 - CHILDREN UNDER 12 MONTHS WITH PAYING ADULT FREE 7. ART CLAY 3 Proving that last year's revival of interest in ceramics shows no signs of abating is the third incarnation of Utopia Art's annual Clay exhibition. Accompanying collections from well-known practitioners, including Brett Stone and Donna Green, are the latest pieces from artists involved in Sydney's experimental Kil.n.it ceramic studios. ER, KW, GB UNTIL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, TUESDAY-SATURDAY 10AM-5PM, 2 DANKS STREET, WATERLOO UTOPIAARTSYDNEY.COM 8. ART MOP PROJECTS Two new exhibitions hosted by the artist-run MOP Projects are worth a look this weekend. In the intriguingly titled "I Like Your Old Stuff Better than your New Stuff", Stefan Dunlop's large-scale paintings portray an irrelevant fusion of historical images and contemporary ideas. Meanwhile, Yanni Pounartzis' eye-catching planes of stark colour and subtle shadow present an artist's take on city moods and spaces in Metropolis Steals Our Souls. UNTIL SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY 11AM-5PM, SUNDAY 1PM-5PM 2/39 ABERCROMBIE STREET, CHIPPENDALE MOP.ORG.AU 9. FOOD AND DRINK VALENTINE'S DAY BUFFET Celebrate Valentine's Day with your loved one at the Shangri-La Hotel buffet. If you want to go the extra mile, you can also arrange a beautiful floral table arrangement with the in-house florist. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 6PM-11PM 176 CUMBERLAND STREET, SYDNEY $105 36LEVELSABOVETHEROCKS.COM 10. THEATRE ARCADIA Treat your loved one to the theatre this Valentine's Day. Set in an English country house, Tom Stoppard's play juxtaposes the lives and thoughts of the current residents with those of the people who lived there nearly 200 years ago. EB, AB UNTIL SATURDAY, APRIL 2, CHECK WEBSITE FOR SESSION TIMES SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE $66-104 SYDNEYTHEATRE.COM.AU 11. THEATRE THE BLIND GIANT IS DANCING This Eamon Flack production is the perfect Valentine's gift. Stephen Sewell's portrait of a left-wing idealist struggling for his political soul is one of the key Australian plays of the 1980s. EB, AB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, TO SUNDAY, MARCH 20, CHECK WEBSITE FOR SESSION TIMES 15 & 25 BELVOIR STREET, SURRY HILLS $37-72 BELVOIR.COM.AU 12. THEATRE THE SOUND OF MUSIC You may not be able to solve a problem like Maria, but if you buy a ticket to the show for your Valentine, you'll have one less. Cameron Daddo plays Captain von Trapp and the hills come alive with Amy Lehpamer as Maria. AB UNTIL SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, CHECK WEBSITE FOR SESSION TIMES, DATES AND PRICES CAPITOL THEATRE, SYDNEY CAPITOLTHEATRE.COM.AU 13. FOOD THE HUNGER PROJECT Struggling to secure a table at one of Australia's top restaurants? You're not the only one. So skip the queues this Valentine's Day by bidding for a table at your favourite restaurant. All the money from the bids will go to The Hunger Project, to try to end world hunger. TABLES ARE AVAILABLE FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS - CHECK WEBSITE FOR BIDDING DETAILS ATABLETOENDHUNGER.ORG.AU 14. POETRY THE LANGUAGE OF WATER Join in for an evening of poetry and conversation and share stories, thoughts and poetry on water, art and ecology. Choose one, two or all three sessions to attend. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 6PM-8PM 251-255 OXFORD STREET, PADDINGTON ARTANDABOUT.COM.AU 15. FOOD & DRINK ROMEO & JULIET CANDLELIT DINNER Sweep your special someone off their feet with a three-course candlelight dinner including a glass of French champagne to set the mood. Bookings are essential and limited so get in fast to create your ultimate Shakespearean love story. AB FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 5PM-10PM 93 MACQUARIE STREET, SYDNEY $199 A COUPLE STAMFORD.COM.AU 16. CRUISE SPEED DATING CRUISE If you're sick of listening to all your friends' Valentine's Day plans, why not treat yourself to a speed dating cruise. Cruising along the stunning harbour, dress up as a beauty or a geek. Co-hosted by famous relationship guru, Sarah Davis, questions are prepared to cull any awkwardness and the best-looking beauty and geek on the night will win a prize. AB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 7.30PM-10.30PM SYDNEY AQUARIUM, 1-5 WHEAT ROAD, DARLING HARBOUR - PIER 29, NUMBER 9 $100 FANTASEA.COM.AU 17. BIKING SXR BIKE LOVE PARTY 2016 Who needs a Valentine this year when you have your bike? Come down to Annandale with your new Valentine and take part in a stylish photoshoot while you ride your bike. After the ride, it's a potluck picnic so bring something along and meet new bike-loving people. Dress to impress. AB SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2PM-7PM 8 CHAPMAN ROAD, ANNANDALE 18. FOOD MIKE MCENEARNEY MASTERCLASS Give your tastebuds and recipe book an update this weekend with a masterclass from renowned Australian chef and creative director, Mike McEnearney. Join him as he leads the culinary masterclass about using seasonal produce from the Carriageworks Farmers Market. AB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1PM-2PM CARRIAGEWORKS, 245 WILSON STREET, EVELEIGH $25 CARRIAGEWORKS.COM.AU 19. DRINKS CRAFT BEER FIGHT CLUB Want to skip all the Valentine's fuss and just down a few cold ones? Join in on "Valentinnies" Day and decide on the winner of the finest beer. Come down for an afternoon of great beer, lots of beer-banter and some good times. AB SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2PM-4.30PM DOVE & OLIVE, 156 DEVONSHIRE STREET, SURRY HILLS $30 DOVEANDOLIVE.COM.AU 20. MUSICAL WE MAY NEVER MEET AGAIN: THE MUSIC OF AMY WINEHOUSE After a sold-out first tour in July, We May Never Meet Again is returning to Sydney reminiscing on the music and life of Amy Winehouse. The musical pays tribute to the star's lifelong love for jazz by the stunning voice of Elly Poletti. One night only, tickets selling out fast. AB SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 8PM-11PM FOUNDRY616, 616 HARRIS STREET, ULTIMO The National Gallery of Victoria has snapped up a $1.4 million collection of rare haute couture fashion in what has been described as a "startlingly generous" act of philanthropy. NGV foundation board member Krystyna Campbell-Pretty gifted the gallery the collection of 130 garments and thousands of pieces of archival materials, in honour of her late husband, Harold. The collection, amassed over five decades by Parisian couturier Dominique Sirop, features prized names including early Dior, Chanel, Lanvin and Vionnet. Krystyna Campbell-Pretty with a beaded Christian Dior dress, left, and red Molyneux creation, part of the $1.4 million collection of haute couture fashion she has donated to the NGV. Credit:Penny Stephens "It felt like a pipedream, to be honest," said Katie Somerville, senior curator of fashion and textiles at the gallery. "It was of a quality that we were actually quite gobsmacked." Sirop, who started his career in the atelier of Yves Saint Laurent and then moved on to be a leading designer at Givenchy, approached the gallery in January 2015 with an offer to sell a collection spanning the years 1800 to 2003. Within a week Mrs Campbell-Pretty, a fashion and history buff, decided she would buy it in her husband's memory. In June, Somerville and NGV textiles conservator Bronwyn Cosgrove spent 12 days in Paris poring over the collection with Sirop. They discovered, to their delight, that not only had he spent his years acquiring and preserving exquisite garments, but also had a huge catalogue of original design notebooks, sketches and vintage fashion magazines. Indigenous leaders are urging Malcolm Turnbull to tackle a crisis in Aboriginal affairs by signalling a willingness to engage when he releases a report showing only mixed progress toward closing the gap on Wednesday. Veteran activist Jackie Huggins has endorsed the warning from Patrick Dodson and Noel Pearson that the Closing the Gap project is doomed to fail without radical change. "In my working life, I have never seen Aboriginal affairs at such a low point, Dr Huggins told Fairfax Media. "There is no engagement, there is no respect and I agree with Patrick and Noel that we are in deep crisis. "Sometimes I don't feel part of this society because it breaks my heart to see the conditions my people are continually left in without any leadership from the top." Embattled Turnbull government minister Stuart Robert has refused to answer key questions about the secretive China trip that has put his frontbench future in doubt as it emerged he took representatives from Nimrod Resources - the Australian company run by his close friend Paul Marks - into his meeting with a Chinese minister. The Human Services Minister is under heavy fire for his role in helping Mr Marks, also a Liberal Party donor, with a mining deal with the Chinese government-owned company Minmetals. He claims he attended a signing ceremony in Beijing in August 2014 - when he was assistant defence minister under Tony Abbott - in a "personal capacity". But Minmetals has said he was there on behalf of the government and made an official speech. The Turnbull government is preparing to privatise a swath of government payments in a bid to drag the Commonwealth's under-funded and outdated payment delivery systems into the digital age. But the move will expose the Turnbull government to a gathering pre-election scare campaign about wrecking Medicare, shedding Australian jobs, and endangering the privacy of Australians by handing their medical records to private companies. Several companies are understood to be circling for what could be one of the most lucrative government contracts in years. One of the organisations being discussed is Australia Post - itself on the list of potential asset sales. Trade Minister Andrew Robb has been slammed for failing to submit the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to an independent economic analysis before asking Parliament to ratify it. Mr Robb tabled the text of the TPP in Parliament on Tuesday, warning opponents of the deal that Australia had to sign it. The TPP is a huge trade agreement between 12 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, involving Australia, the US, New Zealand, and Japan, among others. "Australia simply cannot afford not to be part of it," Mr Robb urged Parliament on Tuesday. It's business as usual at the Islamic School of Canberra as new students and new teachers join the growing school community for the 2016 academic year. While Sydney's largest Islamic school Malek Fahd was thrown into turmoil on Tuesday with the announcement that the Commonwealth was revoking $19 million in funding, the Canberra school has sought to assure its community that it is a separate entity. Islamic Council of Canberra chairman Mohammed Berjaoui. Credit:Rohan Thomson The Islamic Council of Canberra chairman, Mohammed Berjaoui, said the decision regarding Malek Fahd had no immediate impact on the Canberra school, which he said was expanding and had secured registration from the ACT government to operate this year. The number of children in care is expected to exceed 20,000 in 2015-16, with the Audit Office of NSW raising concerns last year that the government's foster care funding model may not meet demand. Forced adoptions and the Stolen Generations have influenced sentiment, says Brad Hazzard. Credit:Angela Wylie A series of forums around NSW directed at caseworkers will emphasise the benefits of adoption over long-term foster care. Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard is challenging the state's "anti-adoption sentiment", encouraging child protection caseworkers to give greater priority to adoption. Legal reforms introduced in NSW in 2014 were aimed at encouraging adoption over long-term foster care but the rate remains low with only 87 children adopted by a carer in the most recent financial year, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found. Mr Hazzard said the anti-adoption culture driven by previous practices had to change. "Mike Baird has made it clear we want to see adoption levels increase," he said. "What I have seen are some long-standing systemic cultural mindsets among some frontline workers which make them less inclined to consider adoption "There has been an anti-adoption sentiment for some time, coming off the back of the Stolen Generation and forced adoptions." A secret recording that helped catch the five men responsible for the one of Sydney's most notorious and horrific murders 30 years ago has been played publicly for the first time. The chilling audio captures John Travers confessing that he and four other men brutally raped and murdered Anita Cobby on February 2, 1986. The jailhouse recording made in the days after Ms Cobby was killed was aired on Channel Seven on Monday night. In it Travers can also be heard laughing after confessing how he "cut" the 26-year-old nurse after she was abducted after getting off a train at Blacktown in Sydney's west. Travers also names his co-offenders Michael Murdoch and the three brothers Michael, Gary and Les Murphy. NSW Premier Mike Baird has all but ruled out any changes to the state government's controversial "lockout" laws, just as his government prepares to review the legislation. The Premier took to Facebook to address what he called "growing hysteria" about the impact of the laws, two years since they were passed. "The main complaints seem to be that you can't drink till dawn any more and you can't impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm," Mr Baird wrote, in a reference to recent criticism that claims the laws depress Sydney's nightlife and undercut its claims to be a global city. Footage of a young man jumping into surging water near Kiama's famous blowhole in NSW south has emerged on Facebook. Kiama mayor Brian Petschler has condemned the footage, describing the behaviour as "extremely irresponsible". "The signs warn people who choose to engage in dangerous recreational activities that they do so at their own risk," he said. "Unfortunately you can't stop stupidity." "A letter, a text, an email, any means of contact... a poke on Facebook." Mr Breton, Mr Harrington and Ms Triscaru were all known to each other. Mr Breton's car was located in the parking lot at the Cleveland ferry, which Miranda said she found quite mysterious. "It was a bit of a shock (when I found out)," she said. "We don't know anyone in that area, being found where it was found... was unheard of me as to why it would be there." Miranda said the circumstances around his disappearance were baffling. "There's a million and one different scenarios," she said. "Unfortunately my gut feeling is not very good at the moment just due to the nature and the information we have, nothing links together. It's like a big puzzle that is missing a lot of pieces." Ms Triscaru's mother, Victoria, also spoke of her anxiety surrounding her daughter's disappearance. "I am very depressed, I am very upset, I am worried for her, she has three children," she said. Victoria, who is looking after her daughter's three children, last heard from her daughter on January 25 when she tried to call her but she failed to answer, later she sent a text message saying she would be home soon. She has not been heard from since. Superintendent Dave Hutchinson said the trio are all known to each other and are known drug users. Superintendent Hutchinson said they hold particular concerns because they are known to associate with nefarious characters and none of them had accessed their bank accounts since they went missing. "We don't know what's happened to them, under those circumstances as a matter of routine we will treat it as suspicious," he said. "We will think the worst until proven otherwise." Superintendent Hutchison said they were still exploring all avenues of inquiry, including that the trio may be on Stradbroke Island or that some of them may not want to be found. "It's every possibility they could be in fear for some unknown reason and have gone into hiding," he said. "There has been suggestion that some of them have decided to start a new life. "All these are rumours." Police are particularly keen on establishing when exactly Mr Breton's car was parked at the Cleveland ferry terminal and are calling on drivers with dashboard cameras who may have been parked there for assistance. A kickboxer at the wheel of a Ferrari that was involved in a fatal crash in a Melbourne street has been committed to stand trial over the death of an elderly woman. Suleiman Abdulrahim, 23, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 12 charges, including culpable driving causing death, after Magistrate Elizabeth Lambden found there was sufficient evidence for him to stand trial in a higher court. Kickboxer Sam Abdulrahim, left, during a fight. Mr Abdulrahim is also charged with careless driving, speeding and driving a prohibited vehicle as a probationary driver. He was charged in the weeks after the Ferrari 360 Spider he was driving crashed into several oncoming cars in High Street, Reservoir, on June 27 last year. The body of a truck driver is still in the burnt-out wreckage of a semi-trailer involved in a head-on smash that killed another man and left a teenager fighting for his life in Victoria's south-west. The charred and twisted B-double is still on the Glenelg Highway, where it was guarded by police overnight. Emergency services at the scene of the crash on the Glenelg Highway at Tarrington. Credit:Courtesy of Seven News The truck and a Mitsubishi Pajero four-wheel-drive collided on the highway near the town of Tarrington, just outside Hamilton, about 6am on Tuesday. The semi-trailer burst into flames on impact. The source of a salmonella outbreak that prompted a nationwide recall of pre-packaged lettuce from Victoria could be known within days. Tripod Farmers recalled 30 of its loose-leaf salad mixes from supermarket shelves last Thursday after Victoria's Health Department traced a number of salmonella cases to its products. Inside Tripod Farmers packing facility. Credit:Tripod Farmers Since then, 62 cases of salmonella have been confirmed in Victoria and a further 30 around the country are being investigated. The upshot is despite half having both public and private insurance, and that these insurances are performing duplicate service, consumers are still paying more. Canberra's hand hygiene ratings came in above the national benchmark. Credit:Michele Mossop Meanwhile, while a third of the state budget is taken up by health, costs are growing by 10 per cent every year, according to the WA Health Minister. The urgent need to increase efficiency has most recently resulted in the announcement of 1100 full-time equivalent job cuts in the South Metropolitan Health Service. In a global context, Professor Paolucci said service duplication of the kind found in Australia was "quite unique". Privately-covered individuals could effectively jump the queue, and the Medicare levy surcharge (one of the subsidies in question) meant it was high income earners getting the incentives to buy private cover. This created a "two-tiered" system, inequitable in terms of access to health care, and providing "perverse incentives" to keep waiting times static, rather than improving them. "So the basic proposal is to remove this duplication," Professor Paolucci said. With clinical practice and technological change, the Medicare benefits schedule will be out of date in places. Credit:Peter Braig While one option was to reduce private cover to a purely supplementary role and create a public, universal coverage scheme, Professor Paolucci said this wasn't ideal as it reduced individual choice and could potentially lead to over-spending. He argued the best option was one that allowed choice, maintained equitable access and allowed full substitution between public and private, but no overlaps. Simply, consumers would have to choose between public and private. Both would have basic benefit packages defined by law, leaving private insurers to compete with supplements. Public and private insurers would have to pay their member's bill no matter whether they went to a public or private hospital. This would mean those with private health insurance would no longer be able to choose to 'go public' in hospital. Everyone would be in the same queue - no 'jumping' allowed. Medibank has been taken to the Federal Court by the ACCC. Credit:Glenn Hunt While Professor Paolucci acknowledged regulation and subsidies were the best tool to achieve affordable, equal access to health care for low-income or high-risk groups, he said that, at the moment, they were inflating premiums. He recommended that instead of providing premium rebates to all consumers, the government needed to better target subsidies to at-risk groups. The industry perspective HBF managing director Rob Bransby said Australia's health system was "the envy of most countries" and was "not broken". "We have a world-class public system supported by a strong private health insurance system that half of all Australians choose to contribute to," he said. He agreed, however, that the pressures of aging and chronic disease on the system needed addressing. Mr Bransby said one short-term measure would be to enable patients to compare the doctor fees so they could make more informed choices. Another was to change how health funds paid for prostheses, such as pacemakers and artificial hips. "It's absurd that the prices health insurers are forced to pay are often double what public hospitals pay to the same supplier," he said. In the long term, rather than just treating chronic disease, the government needed to "seriously" invest in keeping people well and change how the system managed chronic disease. "The funding model needs to change to an outcome-based model that rewards doctors for helping their patients stay well and avoid or manage chronic health conditions that lead to the majority of hospitalisations today, and make the final years of many Australians' lives miserable," he said. The government's plans Reports on Tuesday morning revealed the government is considering a major shake-up to the health system, with a trial to begin as early as next year of outsourcing provision of Medicare, pharmaceutical and aged-care benefits. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten used question time to ask the prime minister whether the reports were correct. In the face of the aerial onslaught, the United Nations estimated that 31,000 had been "newly displaced" from Aleppo, Anadan and areas of the country controlled by Islamic State, mostly women and children. Displaced Syrian children play on Monday at a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey. Credit:IHH Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war with 2 million people, has been divided for years into rebel and government-held sections. The government wants to take full control, which would be its biggest prize yet in a war that has already killed at least 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes. Rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo are still home to 350,000 people, and aid workers have said they could soon fall to the government. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted at the weekend as saying Turkey was under threat, and Ankara has so far kept the border crossing there closed to most refugees. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in December. Credit:AP After around a week of heavy Russian air strikes, Syrian government troops and their allies broke through rebel defences to reach two Shi'ite towns in northern Aleppo province on Wednesday, choking opposition supply lines from Turkey. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "appalled" by the suffering of Aleppo, blaming primarily Russian bombing and suggesting it violated a UN Security Council resolution Moscow signed in December. A displaced Syrian boy on Monday at a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey. Credit:AP Kerem Kinik, vice president of the Turkish Red Crescent, told reporters at the Oncupinar border crossing that Syrians were fleeing Russian strikes in panic. The closure of the road to Aleppo risked a much larger scale repeat of crises in Ghouta, a besieged Damascus suburb, or even Madaya, a blockaded town were residents have starved. "The route to Aleppo is completely closed and this is a road that was feeding all the main arteries inside Syria. Unless this is reopened, you will see Aleppo falling day by day into a similar situation as in Madaya and Ghouta and you will see a deepening humanitarian crisis," he said. Men wanting to return to Syria waits in line to pass through a border gate on Mohday, in Kilis, Turkey. Credit:Getty Images "They are hitting any vehicles that are on the move, they are hitting aid trucks," he added. "We really urge that the Russian attacks on Azaz and Aleppo should stop, because if there is such a policy to clear this area of all human beings ... then we may not be able to cope with the influx." The Syrian army's success in opening a route to the Shi'ite towns of Nubul and Zahraa enabled it to cut a highway that linked rebel held areas in the northern countryside with the eastern part of Aleppo held by insurgents since 2012. The closed Turkish border gate on Monday in Kilis, Turkey. According to Turkish officials some 35,000 Syrian refugees have massed on the Syrian/Turkish border after fleeing Russian airstrikes and a regime offensive surrounding the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. Credit:Getty Images The latest gains by the Syrian government bring it to the closest point to the Turkish border since August 2013, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The capture of the towns of Mayer and then Kafin, just north of Nubul and Zahraa, in the past 24 hrs have opened the road towards Tal Rifaat, the next focus of the army assault. The capture of that would leave only the town of Azaz before the Turkish border itself. The loss of Azaz, just a few kilometres from the Bab al Salama border crossing, would virtually wipe out insurgents from one of their main strongholds in north-west Syria, though they still control much of nearby Idlib province. Russian bombing has for weeks targeted rebel routes to the main border crossing, once a major gateway from Europe and Turkey to the Gulf and Iraq, lately a lifeline for rebel-held areas in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The army's advance has also been indirectly helped by Kurdish-led YPG fighters who control the city of Afrin, south-west of Azaz. They have seized a string of villages in recent days, rebels and the Observatory said. In a multi-sided civil war that has drawn in global and regional powers, the Kurds are the strongest allies on the ground in Syria of a US-led coalition bombing Islamic State in eastern Syria and northern Iraq. Turkey supports other rebel groups against Assad and is hostile to the Syrian Kurds, which it sees as allies of its own Kurdish separatists. Beijing: Four trapped survivors, including an eight-year-old girl and a woman found shielded under the dead body of her husband, have been rescued alive from a collapsed apartment building, more than two days after a powerful earthquake struck southern Taiwan. But local officials warned the prospect of finding further survivors was diminishing with every passing hour and that the final death toll from Saturday's 6.4-magnitude quake in Tainan may well exceed 100. The official death toll had climbed to 40 by Tuesday morning; all but two from the collapsed 17-storey Wei Guan apartment where dozens of residents remain buried under folded piles of concrete and rubble, in a tragedy that has cast a shadow on Taiwan's Chinese New Year celebrations. Vineyard Theatre has announced a series of talkbacks about the issues in Colman Domingo's new play Dot. Directed by Susan Stroman, the work opens February 23. The list of talkbacks is as follows: February 23 at 7pm: Lisa B. Thompson, Ph.D., Professor, University of Texas at Austin and author of Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class, will discuss the intersection of aging, sexuality, and race with the cast. February 27 at 3pm and 8pm: P.K. Beville, a clinician working in dementia care for over 30 years and the creator of the Virtual Dementia Tour, will give insight into dementia and strategies for caregivers. March 1 at 7pm: Sarita Gupta, codirector of Caring Across Generations, will lead a discussion about the necessary cultural and policy changes and the growing social movement to ensure that all Americans can live and age with dignity. March 6 at 3pm: Tia P. Powell, MD, an expert on bioethics, will lead a discussion on dementia and public policy. March 13 at 3pm: Evan Bass and Miranda Wilson, coresearchers and developers of Scripted-IMPROV, will discuss simple methods to reduce the four A's of the disease: Anxiety, Agitation, Aggression and Apathy to help create more meaningful interactions with individuals living with Alzheimer's. March 15 at 7pm: Representatives from Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, New York City, Inc. will be present to discuss support and resources for individuals and families affected by an Alzheimer's diagnosis. The play tells the story of family matriarch Dotty, whose three adult children gather for the holidays with more than exchanging gifts on their minds. As Dotty struggles to navigate life with dementia, her children fight to balance care for their mother and care for themselves. Featured in the company are Marjorie Johnson in the title role, alongside Sharon Washington, Stephen Conrad Moore, Libya V. Pugh, Colin Hanlon, Michael Rosen, and Finnerty Steeves. Dot received its world premiere at the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival. For tickets and more information, click here. MORE INFO: Collector Cars In Contest - 1993-2016 News Archive TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Feb. 9, 2016 -- Despite the fact that automakers progressively tout this period as the dawn of driverless technology, 2015 was a record year for new vehicle sales. By all objective measures, vehicles have never been better. As manufacturers continue to push the boundaries during this new golden age of automotive performance, it begs the question: Will any mass-produced vehicles built today stand the test of time and become truly collectible in the eyes of enthusiasts? With a deep understanding of the market, the collector car experts at Hagerty released their annual list of vehicles that stand out as likely collector cars within the next 25 years. In order to be considered for the "Hagerty Hot List," the vehicle must be produced within the 2016 model year with an MSRP of less than $100,000. "Despite all the negative talk about the future of the car, this is one of the most exciting times to be a car enthusiast," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty. "Manufacturers seem to have found the golden combination of performance, handling, safety and styling. The cars on this list check all of these boxes and will make them desirable for years to come." The 2016 Hagerty Hot List (along with base price): Mazda MX-5 Miata ($24,915) Since 1989, this car has consistently (and sometimes exclusively) flown the flag of the lightweight roadster. Where there used to be MGs, Triumphs and Austin-Healeys, which leaked everything from oil on the driveway to rain on the passengers, there is the bullet-proof, trouble-free Miata. And thank goodness Mazda persists. The newest generation is shorter and more nimble than the preceding model and is quickly gaining the respect of driving enthusiasts. Ford Focus RS ($35,730) The Focus from Hell, the RS will finally reach American dealers for the 2016 model year with 350 hp, 350 lb-ft of torque, a six-speed manual and an all-wheel drive system that promises everything but the moon and a World Rally Championship trophy in every garage. Rear-biased torque distribution? Check. Grin-worthy power? Check. Hatchback practicality? Check. Look for Ford to snap up the crowd that Mitsubishi deserted when it discontinued the Evo. Chevrolet Camaro SS ($37,295) Following last year's debut of the sixth-generation Mustang, Chevy has once again risen to the challenge with the newly designed sixth-generation Camaro. There's a new 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder powertrain along with the V-6, but traditionalists will be glad to know that the SS badge remains in all its 455-hp V-8 glory. BMW M2 ($51,700) If you need any proof of BMW's commitment to building performance coupes that people love to buy, try searching for a pre-owned M1 Coupe. In 2016 BMW will launch that car's successor under the M2 nameplate. It's slightly larger, significantly sexier and equipped to bookend the M Division's lineup in the best possible way. Fans of classics like the 2002tii and the Z3 M coupe will love it. Ford Mustang GT350R ($62,195) As if the GT350 wasn't enough, the "R" version of Ford's hottest Mustang does away with everything possible to save weight including the rear seat and even offers wheels made of carbon fiber. Ford bred this pony with one purpose: race track victory. As they say in the financial world, past performance isn't a guarantee of future returns, but given the collectability of the Shelby GT350R from the '60s and even the Mustang Cobra R from 1993, we'd say this one's a shoe-in. Alfa Romeo 4C Spider ($65,900) - We love the pureness and simplicity of the 4C. It's a refreshing reminder that great cars don't have to be complicated. This car is more alive on the race track than the open road, so we predict well-preserved examples to dominate the vintage races in the future. The little 4C offers performance similar to a Ferrari 360 Modena from not too long ago at a bargain price for an Italian exotic. Porsche Cayman GT4 ($84,600) This just might be one of the most exciting driver's cars ever to come from Stuttgart . It borrows components from the current-generation 911 GT3 and puts them to work in a smaller, mid-engine package that makes many people wonder how much further the Cayman can go. We needn't remind you of how high-performance, low-production Porsches have done in the collector car market. 2016 Dodge Viper SRT Coupe ($89,090) This isn't the first year of the current Viper, but in a time when most cars are trading engine displacement for forced induction there is just something to love about the brute force of the 8.4-liter V-10. If words like "bludgeon" "eviscerate" and "trounce" appeal to you, this is your car. Because who doesn't need a sledge hammer from time to time? Cadillac ATS-V ($60,465) This car is built in Lansing, Mich. , to do battle with bad boys like the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63. Its twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V-6 makes an eye-watering 464 hp that you can control through an eight-speed automatic or a six-speed manual with no-lift shifting and a penchant for taking punishment. The ATS-V is proof that Cadillac ain't just whistling Dixie; there's serious firepower behind all the smack talk. 2016 Lotus Evora 400 ($89,900) This is the brand's quickest and most powerful series-produced car ever, but it doesn't sacrifice Lotus' trademark lightness. It's a good indication that things are looking up in Norwich . We were worried about you for a while, Lotus. It's good to have you back on the Hot List. About Hagerty: Based in Traverse City, Michigan, Hagerty is the world's leading insurance provider for classic vehicles and host to the largest network of classic car owners. Hagerty offers insurance for classic cars, trucks, motorcycles and motorcycle safety equipment, tractors, automotive tools and spare parts, and even "automobilia" (any historic or collectible item linked with motor vehicles). Hagerty also offers overseas shipping/touring insurance coverage, business coverage and club liability coverage. For more information, call (800) 922-4050 or visit www.hagerty.com. Hagerty also provides online Valuation Tools and publishes Hagerty Price Guide, which are the premier guides for post-war collectible automobiles. For more information please visit www.hagerty.com/valuationtools < Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Provencher MP Ted Falk is advocating a cautious approach as the Liberal government proceeds with plans for responding to the Supreme Courts landmark ruling on doctor-assisted suicide. The court ruled last year that Canadians have the right to doctor-assisted suicide in cases of extreme suffering. The cause was advocated by former Conservative MP Steven Fletcher but Falk remains of a different opinion. He notes as the former Conservative government began discussions about the issue, following the courts ruling, that some MPs advocated using the notwithstanding clause to override the courts decision. Its a move that Falk would still endorse, noting his own deeply held views. I have a fundamental problem with terminating life, Falk said. I wouldnt be opposed to exercising the notwithstanding clause, he said. Its a position that Falk said is in line with 99 percent of the correspondence his local office is receiving on the subject. The local MP acknowledged that his position for the status quo to be maintained may be untenable but added that, if changes must be made, that any window to allow for physician-assisted suicide should be very narrow. Instead, Falk said more focus be placed on end of life care. He pointed out that modern pain management practices and tax relief for family members caring for loved ones in palliative care can allow individuals to pass in a dignified way. Supporters of physician-assisted suicide use similar language but Falk doesnt see it that way. Suicide is not dignified and we should never dignify it. Ultimately, Falk says that life and death is something in the hands of God. Thats something He has said is in his domainHes the giver and taker of life, Falk said. MANCHESTER, N.H. Ted Cruz is talking a lot less about Jesus. The Texas senator spent the last full day before the New Hampshire primaries making a disjointed and largely God-free pitch to Granite State votersemphasizing his devotion to fiscal responsibility and de-emphasizing his interest in making social conservatism great again. That isnt to say Cruzs last day was totally godless; he sprinkled in quiet references to his faithand his foes faithlessnessthroughout his final events in the state. But his closing pitch was vastly different than the hard sell he made in Iowaand it got a vastly different reception. The candidate drew an uncomfortable welcome from skeptical crowds, indicating just how tricky it may be for him to build the broad coalition that hes promised his donors. The candidate kicked off his day with a town hall at the TURBOCAM manufacturing plant in Barringtona largely innocuous event, free from the fire-and-brimstone language that his Iowa surrogates used to pump up crowds last week. Instead of having his events opened by his dada fiery preacher with a thick Cuban accent who many conservative Christians adoreone of the senators warm-up acts was Jack Kimball, a former gubernatorial candidate who once called for Sheriff Joe Arpaio to arrest President Obamas butt (his word), and shared a YouTube video about an armada of UFOs. Kimball didnt call for incarcerating the president when he stumped for Cruz, but he did argue at one stop that the Second Amendments main utility is so Americans can overturn the government if they need to. And his message throughout the day was grimly apocalyptic. Our countrys on a precipice, he said to the crowd assembled at the plant. This isnt a secret. Then he reiterated that our country is about to do something off a cliff. Cruzs second opening act, former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, didnt compare the candidate to any sort of savior. When I hear Ted Cruz, he said, I think of me, when I came as a young man to the United States Congress, full of vim and vinegar and wanting to change America. And his message to would-be Cruz voters took a fairly gloomy view as well. Even if youre dead, still vote for Ted, he said, to audience chortles. Not really, not really. This couldnt be more different from Cruzs closing pitch in Iowa, a traveling roadshow of right-wing celebrities where at least one audience member waved a Bible in the air and where Duck Dynastys resident theologian Phil Robertson warned voters that gay marriage was evil nonsense. In Iowa, Glenn Beck exhorted voters to find inspiration in George Washingtons faith. One of Cruzs last events was in a jam-packed church, where belief was in the air. In New Hampshire, however, Cruz only mentioned religion in passing. He opened his speeches with a cry of, God bless the great state of New Hampshire! And then promptly pivoted to discussions of the ethanol lobby, economic growth, and proposed structural changes to the Veterans Administration. At the tail end of his first event, there was a hint of Iowa Ted. He asked attendees to commit to lift this country up in prayer each and every day from now until the election, to pray that God would continue this awakening, this spirit of revival, to pull this country back from the abyss. Then he talked about how Ronald Reagan put his hand on 2 Chronicles 7:14 when he was sworn into officea story our friends in the mainstream media will never share with you. But besides that one pastoral comment, Cruz focused more on the dangers of radical Islamic terrorism than on the merits of his own faith. And at one stop, he took a dig at his political opponents over questions of belief. A heckler interrupted his remarks at the Tuckaway Tavern and Butchery in Raymond, waving a cross, holding what looked like a mirror, and imploring Cruz to look at himself. You know the very odd thing? Cruz retorted, grinning slyly. Usually lefties dont believe in God. Cruzs surrogates didnt seem to have gotten much of a cohesive message regarding how to talk about the senators Christianity. When The Daily Beast asked Kimball about Cruzs statement on praying for revival, Kimball gave an answer that made very little sense. Clearly what he was getting at was that you want social revival to occur, he said, and you have got to free upyou have got to take the handcuffs off of small businesses in this country, youve gotta shrink the size of government and grow the size of our economy so that a rising tide lifts all boats. Later in the day, though, at a stop at an American Legion post in Manchester, Kimball told assembled Tea Party activists that they should vote for Cruz because he is the best Christian in the race. Kimball said Cruz steps aside with attendees at his events to pray with them, and that no other candidate does that. Then Kimball noted that Cruz has a hot wife. We got to have dinner with Heidi Cruz, and what an impressive woman, he said. Shes also not bad-looking. Sorry, honey! Shes a beautiful woman, shes got two beautiful daughters. Kimball directed the Sorry, honey! comment at his own wife, in the crowd. That particular eventCruzs last of the daycame to an odd, flat ending when an audience member pressed him on if he would have been able to predict the 9/11 attacks had he been president at the time. Cruz refused to say he had such powers of foresight. The audience only gave tepid applause to his lines, and a pair of elderly folks passed the entirety of Cruzs speech playing noisy slot machines in the back of the hall. So while the Texan tried to tout his anti-undocumented-immigration bona fides, one corner of the room was treated to canned farm animal soundslots of moos and oinksas the sullen pair played a slot-machine game called Henrys Harvest. Cruzs impressive win in Iowa was largely due to Evangelical voters unalloyed devotion to himand due to his preternatural ability to speak their language. But in New Hampshire, where the dialect is decidedly different, suffice it to say his pitch is a wicked hard sell. When the Water Canyon School reopened in 2014, it was the first time in 13 years that students in Hildale, Utah, could attend a public school. The closure hadnt been for lack of children in the town, though. Hildale is one-half of a religious community once known as Short Creek, which now numbers around 7,500 and spans the Utah-Arizona border. Its the nerve center of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway Mormon sect whose polygamous, patriarchal practices have often landed it in hot water with the law. The school in Water Canyon closed in 2001 when religious fundamentalist Warren Jeffs commanded that Hildale parents remove their children from the public school system. A year later, upon his fathers death, Jeffs assumed leadership of the FLDS church. It wasnt long before he landed in hot water with the law, tooby 2005, he was on the FBIs Most Wanted List and in 2007, he was convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to rape, after he helped marry an underage girl to an older man. While that conviction was overturned in 2010, he was convicted a year later in Texas and sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting two minorsa 12-year-old and a 15-year-old whom he called his spiritual wives. More recently, hes been accused of sexual assault by his nephew and several of his own children. (Jeffs reportedly had 70 wives and dozens of offspring.) Long after Jeffss arrest, an extreme culture of child brides, excommunication, and concentration camp-like compounds has allegedly survived under the nose of local law enforcement, including police who are members or former members of the church. The adjoining towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, are the subject of a federal trial in Phoenix, Arizona, this month, which alleges that the towns powerful fundamentalist leadership denied non-FLDS members access to water, electricity, housing, and help from the local police forces. The scope of the charges against the Hildale and Colorado City governments is unprecedentedand its revived allegations of abuse in the secretive community. This is the first lawsuit by the Justice Department to include claims under both the Fair Housing Act and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the U.S. Department Of Justice wrote in a release. The DOJ is accusing the two towns of arresting non-FLDS residents without probable cause, seizing their property and refusing to investigate reports of crimes against them, while ignoring alleged crimes committed by church members. In multiple cases, the DOJ claims a local utility company cut off non-church members water, then blamed the outages on a nonexistent water shortage. In another case, the DOJ accuses local police of allowing church members to steal property by building a fence across non-church members land. The towns governments have denied the religious discrimination charges, and have accused the federal government of punishing FLDS members for their beliefs. But the trial has surfaced new allegations of troubling activities within the church that lie beyond the scope of the DOJs current charges. Under Jeffss leadership, girls as young as 12 were forced into spiritual marriages with much older men. According to one former police officers testimony in the Phoenix court last week, the practice continued after Jeffss arrest, with police allegedly turning a blind eye to the marriages, or even taking child brides themselves. If it was a church marriage, I as a church member saw it as a valid marriage, Helaman Barlow, a former Colorado City marshal and member of the FLDS, said on Wednesday in testimony reported by Courthouse News. Barlow had been called to the stand to answer questions about the marriage of his fellow officer and FLDS member Jonathan Roundy to a 16-year-old girl. Law enforcement had been notified of the marriage, but did not investigate or press charges against Roundy, Barlow said. Local police have a long history of alleged inaction on child brides in Hilsdale and Colorado City. Roundy was chief marshall of Colorado City, replacing his brother Sam Roundy, who lost his police certification in 2003 after the state ousted him and one other officer for allegedly keeping multiple wives. Sam had also come under fire for allegedly failing to report fellow officer Rodney Holms two simultaneous marriagesone to an adult woman, and another to a 16-year-old girl. In Colorado City, where even Mayor Joseph Allred has been accused of (and refused to comment on) marrying a 15-year-old, this alleged abuse of police power isnt just normalits a mandate, Barlow testified. He told the court he was appointed deputy marshal in 1994, when Warren Jeffss father, Rulon Jeffs, led the FLDS. (After Rulons death, Warren married all but two of his 20 former wives.) When Barlow asked Rulon for advice, he said the cult leader told him to keep the church first and the law second. He told me, No. 1, you arent a cop. You are a peace officer. No. 2, your calling is to stand between the church and harm, Barlow said in his Wednesday testimony. But theres little preventing the church from harming its own members. In 2014, Colorado City changed its land-use laws to allow the FLDS to convert a former industrial park into a high-walled living compound, the St. George News reports. Inside the six-acre compound are a hierarchical set of tents and trailers. High-ranking families reportedly live in the trailers, while people of lower standing sleep in the tents. Everyone shares the same shower lean-tos. Its quite the concentration camp, Colorado City resident Isaac Wyler told the St. George News. Wyler is among a growing number of defectors who left the church after Jeffss arrest. But excommunication in this religious community isnt easy. Richard Holm, a former high-ranking FLDS member, was cut off from his wife, children, and water supply after he left the church, he testified on Tuesday. Holm, a former councilman, said he was excommunicated along with a number of powerful church members whom Warren Jeffs viewed as a threat. After Holms banishment, the church separated Holm from his wife and children and reassigned them to his younger brother, a fate worse than death, he said. Later, when he attempted to connect his home to the city water supply, he claims that he and other non-LDS members were denied utilities permits, while church members received uninterrupted access to water and electricity. Wylers home was vandalized after he left the church, he testified. In 2012, Wylers friend Andrew Chatwin said he found a live kitten stuffed into a pipe and encased in concrete outside Wylers home. Chatwin, a fellow FLDS defector, told the Huffington Post that the kitten was just one in a series of threats and animal killings directed at former members of the church. Some of the worst stuff they did to me would be like filling my fuel tank full of sugar and putting dish soap in my brakes. Almost killed me on that one, Wyler told local radio station KNAU. Sometimes I can find 10 or 15 dead cats in my property. Just to send a message. When Chatwin found the live kitten on Wylers property in 2012, he dug it from the concrete and took it to an animal shelter, where it died shortly thereafter. But he says the Colorado City marshals office laughed when he submitted an official complaint. An unnamed officer kind of chuckled and laughed a little bit and then he said that if it was up to him, hed just throw dirt on [the cat], Chatwin said. And this is coming from a city marshal whos a member of the FLDS Church. The thorny topic of genetically modified (GM) crops was recently thrust into the global spotlight again. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bill Gates said that GM crops are a necessary tool to fight hunger and poverty in Africa. But something Gates did not discuss was the news that the largest and most significant African adopter of GM crops - Burkina Faso - recently began a phase out of Bt cotton. Bt cotton is the most widely grown GM crop by poor farmers in Africa. Why would Burkina Faso, a nation that struggles with hunger and poverty, turn its back on the very tools Gates and others so ardently support? In 2003 Burkina Faso became one of the first African countries to begin field trials of Bt cotton. This was done in partnership with the agriculture company Monsanto. Bt refers to a toxin - Bacillus thuringiensis - that kills one of the world's most common and pernicious cotton pests, the bollworm. Monsanto agreed to backcross the Bt gene onto local Burkinabe varieties, which were subsequently released to farmers in 2008. Burkina Faso's adoption of Bt cotton made big news. Not only is Burkina Faso consistently one of Africa's largest cotton producers, but cotton is also seen as the engine driving rural development throughout large parts of the country. It all looked like a great success story The introduction of Bt cotton has reportedly boosted total cotton production. In 2014, Burkina Faso had the largest number of total GM crop producers on the African continent. It has more than 140,000 smallholder farmers cultivating Bt cotton. Burkina Faso's success story has been celebrated as an example of how GM crops can help poor farmers. Many farmers have enthusiastically adopted the technology, and for good reason. Studies show that Bt cotton has increased yields and profits. The average Bt cotton farming family gained 50% more profit than from conventional cotton. This is despite the very high cost of Bt cotton seed. The attack on Greece - right wing Governments enforcing austerity Another concern for people on the left is Greece and the tragedy which has unfolded there. The imposition of austerity on the country - and the deep damage it's caused - was certainly enough to make me think twice. But to lay the blame simplistically on the EU is short-sighted. The real villains are the right wing European governments at the top table. With the European Council made up of ministers from each EU country, it often simply reflects the prevailing currents in European politics. The imposition of austerity in Greece should not be surprising when you look at Merkel's right wing government in Germany or indeed the slash and burn policies of the Tories here in Britain. That's not to say, of course, that institutions like the European Central Bank or the EU council aren't anti-democratic - they are. But to give people a real say in Europe we need to prise open the doors of power, not throw away the one structure which has the ability to regulate the excesses of the cross-continental market. Brexit would do nothing to help the Greek people. We need more pan-European solidarity, resistance, and collaboration - not less. Environment - cross-border challenges need cross-border solutions Not infrequently, I'm furious that EU environmental and climate policies don't go far enough. But it's important to remember that some of our dirtiest power stations have been closed thanks to EU directives. Our beaches are cleaner, our air less polluted and, as Mike McCarthy put so eloquently recently, our wildlife is far safer because of EU rules. Only last week the European Parliament backed stronger action on protecting nature. To me it's obvious that being part of the EU makes sense when it comes to protecting our environment. Pollution and environmental degradation don't respect national borders. As an environmentalist, I'd rather be working hard to make sure EU decisions deliver bolder cross-border solutions than spending the next three years scrabbling around to salvage scraps from the Nature Directives. Doing things differently - a new EU Ultimately, walking away from the EU would put at risk our rights at work, our environment and our ability to influence the rules that will continue to affect us. Added to that is the profound risk that Brexit poses to our multicultural and multinational society. But if we're going to stay in the EU we also need a vision of how we can do things differently. The EU will only change if we work together with people from across the continent to make it do so. This week activists, campaigners and politicians from across the continent gather in Berlin to discuss how we'll win Europe back for the people. For a start that means democratising the EU structures - making top meetings like the EU Council open to the public through livestreaming, giving more power to elected politicians over unelected Commissioners, and ending the culture of secrecy. It means further clamping down on corporate lobbyists - something that's already begun in the EU and which Westminster could learn from. And it means thinking big about EU policies that would make all of our lives better such as cross-border minimum wages (set differently for each country but ensuring that everyone earns enough to get by on where they live). Much is still to be decided - but these talks are a solid start. On Wednesday the movement for a different kind of EU comes to Britain as a new pro-EU campaign launches in London. The progressive case for British membership of the EU, which has been side-lined for too long in a debate dominated on both sides by big business, is about to be made loud and clear. If you care about social justice and our environment - and want to make the EU better for all of us - I urge you to join the movement to make another Europe possible. Caroline Lucas is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, and former leader of the Green Party. Find out about the launch of Another Europe in London on Wednesday. Sign up to attend. Twitter: #DontWalkAway This article was originally published by openDemocracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. On Newsstands Now: Here's Everything You'll Find in CityBeat's Latest Issue From a Bigfoot hunt to delightfully spooky ghost stories from one of Cincinnati's watering holes, here are the stories you'll find in CityBeat's latest print edition. By CityBeat Staff Oct 19, 2022 For many of us, Bigfoot is a legend present only on an episode of Ancient Aliens, or perhaps only among the towering, mysterious pines of the Pacific Northwest. However, for CityBeat's latest issue, we went on a hunt for Bigfoot in a place where the massive furball had allegedly been spotted before Ohio's Pleasant Hill Lake Park... No electricity, no water, no way out When an Israeli airstrike took out fuel storage tanks at the Gaza Power Plant in 2006, it marked the beginning of an electricity crisis. Since then blackouts of between 12-16 hours per day are common whilst only 45% of demand is being met. With insufficient electricity to power water pumps and wells, wastewater treatment plants have had to reduce their treatment cycle. Drainage systems have been unable to cope with heavy rains since the destructive 2014 attacks and the territory has been flooding yearly. Over-pumping of the water and sewage system has led to its deterioration in an attempt to counter dwindling water supplies. The 2014 attacks had also seen Israeli warplanes targeting water pipelines and wells. Partially treated sewage is being discharged into the Mediterranean at the rate of 25,000 cubic meters per day, whilst there is a constant risk of back-flow into the streets increasing the likelihood of disease caused by poor sanitation. In a policy brief titled 'Drying Palestine: Israel's Systemic Water War' issued by Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, Muna Dajani wrote from Jerusalem of the damage that consecutive Israeli military aggressions have caused to Gaza's water systems and pollution into the Mediterranean sea: "Ninety-five percent of the water that Palestinians in Gaza have been consuming for decades has been proven unfit for human consumption. Electricity shortages that have lasted for almost a decade have limited water treatment capacity and thus the availability of water to households, as well as increased the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea. "Even before the summer assault on Gaza, 90 million liters of untreated or partially treated wastewater were being dumped and continue to be dumped into the sea each day due to insufficient treatment facilities." Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink Since the ousting of the first ever freely-elected Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the siege between the borders of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula has tightened. The Egyptian army, which now governs Egypt after a coup, closed the border with Egypt and constructed a crude canal to pump seawater into the Gaza Strip. The aim was to "destroy the smuggling tunnels" which are allegedly used by terrorists, although an Israeli minister has now claimed this was at the request of the Jewish state. The tunnels are a life-line to the area, allowing essential materials to enter the country. It is thought that 95% of the supply tunnels have now been destroyed. The natural underground aquifers have already been severly depleted by Israel, and are now threatened by the influx of saltwater into the soil. Almost all the water in Gaza comes from the coastal aquifer, which is shared with Israel. "Due to the absence of any policy coordination between Israel and the Gaza Strip with regard to the Coastal Aquifer, both authorities are currently over-extracting", says EWASH. In an area which should have ample freshwater resources especially the West Bank, Palestinian water resources are under Israel's jurisdiction and legal restrictions have been placed on access. New water infrastructure cannot be built without the express permission from the military. Even rain-collecting containers can be destroyed. According to a 2009 report by Amnesty International, soldiers shot water tanks to pass the time, since "water tanks are good for target practice; they are everywhere and are the right size to aim at and calibrate your weapon, to relieve your frustration or to break the monotony of a stint of guard duty." The UN had previously expressed concerns that by 2020, Gaza would be uninhabitable. With the speed at which Israel and Egypt are sending the population into destitution, this could be even sooner. Vanessa Amaral-Rogers is a freelance journalist writing mainly on environmental themes. Campaign: Medical Aid for Palestinians, in partnership with the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) and Avaaz, are calling for easing of restrictions on the entry of building materials into Gaza and an end to the blockade and closure of the territory. Petition: 'Global Leaders: Lift the Gaza Blockade' (Avaaz). SHARE Buffy House By Beth Smith of The Gleaner A Henderson elementary school principal facing a felony charge after allegedly pointing a gun at someone will make her first court appearance in the case next month. Buffy House, 47, is scheduled to be arraigned in Henderson District Court on March 8 on a charge of first-degree wanton endangerment. House, the principal at Cairo Elementary School, was placed on paid administrative leave, school officials said, after the Monday morning arrest at her residence in Reed. She was lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center, but bonded out Monday afternoon. House is accused of pointing a loaded 9-mm gun at her boyfriend and pulling the trigger, according to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office. The gun didn't fire because the safety was on, authorities said. According to court records filed in the Henderson Judicial Center, House denies the accusations. The sheriff's office said there are no indications that House or the victim were intoxicated when the alleged incident occurred. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Henderson County School District told The Gleaner on Tuesday that "Nancy Gibson, assistant superintendent of district relations and operations, will serve as building administrator (at Cairo Elementary) for the immediate future. Since Ms. House is on administrative leave there is no vacancy to be filled, but the Site Based Decision Making Council will discuss next steps when they meet." The council was supposed to met Tuesday afternoon, but the meeting was canceled because Henderson schools were closed. It has not yet been rescheduled. In 2006, House, then teaching in Daviess County, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a controlled substance after selling drugs to an undercover officer. House went to the police and confessed, saying she was in an abusive relationship and her husband forced her to do it. The investigating officer testified on her behalf, and she received a suspended sentence. In 2008, House was hired as a teacher at East Heights Elementary School. Henderson School officials were aware of her arrest before she was hired. After spending five years as a fourth-grade teacher, House accepted the position of curriculum specialist at Niagara Elementary School. She was hired as the principal at Cairo at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year. SHARE By Beth Smith of The Gleaner A Henderson resident faces prison time in Colorado for committing crimes against a child there. Antonio J. Smith, 31, who lived in the 600 block of Eighth Street Court, has pleaded guilty in El Paso District Court in Colorado Springs to four felony counts of sexual assault of a child, four felony counts of sexual assault of a child while in a position of trust and four counts of aggravated incest. Smith entered the plea Feb. 3, according to the El Paso County District Attorney's Office. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 28. Smith was arrested in Henderson in March after local police received information from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office that they were investigating Smith in connection with a sexual abuse case involving a 6-year-old child, according to Henderson Detective Preston Herndon. When city police went to Smith's Eighth Street Court address, they discovered he was living with a woman and her 7-year-old daughter, officials said. City police said there have been no accusations of sexual abuse involving Smith and the Henderson child with whom he was living. During an interview with Smith at the Henderson Police Department, he told authorities that he was in the military and stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado, when the crimes occurred, Herndon said. Smith admitted to several incidents of sexual contact with the young girl in Colorado, authorities said. After arrest warrants from El Paso County were confirmed through the National Crime Information Center, Smith was arrested in Henderson for being a fugitive from another state. Smith was taken to Colorado where he was scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 1, Herndon said. Smith will remain lodged in a Colorado jail without bond until his April sentencing date. SHARE By Bruce Schreiner Kentucky's juvenile justice commissioner was relieved of his duties amid an investigation into a teenager's death at a detention center, which reportedly occurred hours after she was restrained through a martial arts hold. The administrative shakeup announced Tuesday also involved the dismissal of an unidentified employee who failed to carry out required bed checks on the youth, the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said Tuesday. State investigations into 16-year-old Gynnya McMillen's death are nearing completion, the cabinet said. "Results will first be shared with the youth's family, and information will be released to the public to the fullest extent allowed by law," it said. Attorney Ron Hillerich, who is representing the teenager's estate and her mother, said he hopes the state turns over all its investigative files so the teenager's family can find out exactly what happened. "The loss of a child is a loss that lasts forever," Hillerich said in a phone interview Tuesday. "Sixteen-year-old children should not go into a state-run facility and end up dying." Gov. Matt Bevin's office and the Justice Cabinet said they are "committed to transparency," the Justice Cabinet said in a release. Bob Hayter had served as commissioner since late 2014. The statement offered no other comments about Hayter's departure. About a month ago, the Shelby County teenager was found unresponsive in her cell at Lincoln Village Juvenile Regional Detention Center in Hardin County. Recently, a state Department of Juvenile Justice official wrote in an email that the Aikido restraint was used because the girl had refused to remove her sweatshirt so she could be searched during the booking process. An Aikido restraint typically immobilizes a person's arm. Officials have said it appears that McMillen died in her sleep. They said she had arrived at the detention center Jan. 10 after allegedly having a domestic dispute in Shelbyville. The cabinet said the other employee dismissal came after prior disciplinary actions against the employee came to light. "While these disciplinary actions were not connected to the death, they reveal a pattern of unacceptable behavior for someone who supervises youth," the release said. Hillerich said the employee's dismissal was "too little, too late." WPFL radio in Louisville first reported the dismissal. A former Henderson teacher will share her works published in the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series at the Henderson County Public Library on Thursday evening. Stephanie Ray Brown will be at the library for an author visit from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Originally from Providence, Brown taught at Henderson County Schools for many years before becoming a writer. Her work has appeared in many collections, including a number of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books. Brown will share her work from "Chicken Soup for the Soul Love Stories" and "Love Letters of a Lifetime." People can enter to win a signed copy of "Chicken Soup for the Soul Love Stories" at the free event. This author visit continues a series of appearances by local authors in conjunction with the launch of epublishorbust.com, an online resource for writers. Henderson County Public Library has partnered with Daviess County Public Library to offer epublishorbust.com to support the vibrant creative writing communities throughout Kentucky. The site is open to the public and free to use. SHARE By Gleaner Staff St. Anthony's Hospice has received a $2,500 donation from America's Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund and directed by local farmer Jesse Williams of Reed. The donation will help the organization maximize the quality and dignity of life for indigent individuals facing life-limiting illness, according to a news release. "This donation means St. Anthony's Hospice will be able to continue to provide a professional team comprised of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, aids and volunteers to the citizens of our community," said Executive Director Kendra Marsh. America's Farmers Grow Communities has collaborated with farmers to donate more than $22 million to more than 8,000 community organizations across rural America in the last six years. Visit www.AmericasFarmers.com to learn more. NORWALK -- Local officials are withholding endorsement of Secretary of the State Denise W. Merrill's "motor-voter registration" proposal as released Monday. Merrill's proposed system would automatically register persons doing business with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to vote. "In principle, it sounds like the appropriate thing to do. In a democratic republic, we should make it easy for the people eligible to vote," said state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-136. "But I think we're probably going to have to work through concerns." Steinberg said some question whether the DMV is up to the task given recent customer experiences such as the wrongful suspension of motor-vehicle registrations. "You would want to have confidence in DMV's organizational and administrative abilities before you could make such a transition," Steinberg said. On Monday, Merrill announced to the League of Women Voters of Hartford and Common Cause Connecticut a "groundbreaking new system" that would automatically register persons doing business with the DMV to vote. Under her proposal, eligible DMV customers would automatically be registered to vote unless they choose to opt out. Variations of automatic motor-voter registration are currently in operation throughout the county, according to Merrill's office. "This would be a game-changer in Connecticut," Merrill said in a statement. "We could make registering to vote more convenient, efficient and cost-effective. Moreover, this could bring countless new voters onto the rolls." State Rep. Gail Lavielle said her concerns have nothing to do with potential voter fraud but rather with entrusting DMV with verification. "You're going to put the DMV in charge of determining whether someone is an eligible voter. Is that really the business of the DMV?" said Lavielle, R-143, "I have serious concerns about it." Currently, DMV customers have the option of filling out a voter registration form at their DMV office. "You fill it out yourself and they will mail it for you or you can mail it yourself," said Patrick Gallahue, spokesman for Merrill's office. "What's going to be different is the information is going to be populated automatically into a voter registration form and will transmitted electronically to the towns (and their) registrars of voters, so it's easier, faster, more efficient and less prone to error." According to Merrill's Office, an e-signature program would permit an electronic signature to be collected so the client could certify citizenship and accept or refuse to register to vote or affiliate with a party. The registration application would be sent electronically to the local registrar of voters office. Karen Doyle Lyons, Norwalk's Republican registrar of voters, said the DMV first must bring its own house in order before being given such responsibilities. She referenced a sign posted at DMV offices last fall, telling those who planned to register to vote for the Nov. 3 elections that "Motor Voter Applications cannot be accepted by the DMV and AAA Offices after Saturday, October 3rd." "If I had moved to Fairfield in October, I would have been disenfranchised by the DMV," Doyle Lyons said. The signs did advise DMV customers to check with their local registrar of voters, or the Secretary of the State's website, for voter registration information and registration deadlines. Merrill's proposal would need legislative approval to advance. She has submitted draft language to the legislature's Administration and Elections Committee requesting that a bill be raised, her office said. Steinberg, a member of the Administration and Elections, said he plans to research such registration systems and in other states and ask questions as Merrill's proposal comes before the committee. "When they testify before the committee that's when we'll be able to ask those first questions," he said. Last year, hundreds of 11th-grade students across Connecticut refused to take the mandated SBAC test. Knowing that they had no control over independent-minded 11th-graders, the governor and State Department of Education sought a waiver from Washington, D.C., for permission to offer what they hoped would be a more palatable test: the SAT. It is a test many high school students would have been taking eventually in order to meet some college admission expectations. Now, nearly a year later, another group of high school juniors are faced with making the decision to either take the test or opt-out. As in any highly contentious debate, there is a great deal of misinformation about the new "CT school-day SAT state assessment" that will be rolled out for the first time on March 2, (with a make-up day scheduled for April 27). Students and parents who have paid close attention to this controversy over this redesigned SAT test are in a quandary because some test-prep and college guidance experts are advising students to hold off as the first time a test is used is bound to be problematic, and the test results will still become part of a student's SAT test profile. At the same time, some district educational leaders are threatening that students will not graduate if they don't take the test, even though such threats are illegal since students and parents have the constitutional right to refuse such government-imposed coercion. FAQs, though clearly needed, are elusive. From the CT State Department of Education testing website: The new SAT is required to meet the federal accountability 95% Test Participation Rate as mandated by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act law. There will be three sections to the redesigned SAT: Reading, Writing and Language, and Mathematics, but the "essay portion of the SAT will not be administered as a part of the CT school-day SAT state assessment." [The CSDE FAQ sheet indicates that, in Connecticut, only Yale requires the SAT optional essay, while leaving unsaid the fact that many colleges and universities (like Wesleyan, Connecticut College, and others) no longer require any SAT test scores at all because their college admissions' officers have found such scores as a poor indicator of college success.] There will be two types of scores obtained on the CT school-day SAT state assessment: a "reportable score" that can be sent to colleges and will also fulfill "state accountability purposes." And a "nonreportable score" that will not be sent to colleges, but "will be used for state accountability purposes only." This nonreportable score is undoubtedly the rigorous Common Core-aligned cut-score of proficiency standard to be determined sometime after the test results are reported. [As an aspiring applicant to a "reach" college, I would not want to explain to an Admission Officer that, even though I had obtained respectable scores, I had failed to meet the arbitrary cut-score established after the fact to maintain this fiction of Common Core rigor.] Of course, according to the CSDE FAQ sheet, a "student can elect to have their SAT score cancelled immediately after test administration," so that "colleges will not receive the scores for that administration, however, the student and state will still receive their scores." [Again, I would not want to explain to any Admission Officer why I had cancelled out my SAT score, and once that score is available it will be extremely difficult to protect it from unwanted access. This "nonreportable score" will surely be reported in your cumulative record, downloaded into the school data-storage system, and shared with whatever agencies are entitled to or can gain access; it is not honest to call it "nonreportable."] Accommodations for special needs students "must be approved through The College Board SSD process, even when the student receives these accommodations in school" through his/her IEP or 504 Plan. [Certainly sounds discriminatory to youngsters with well-established learning difficulties and others struggling to perform at grade level.] On The College Board's college-readiness website, "A Partnership for Student Success" reads like a polished marketing brochure: it promotes a number of claims that are both unproven and lacking in substance. "The new SAT measures the skills and knowledge that colleges are looking for today", even though many of them no longer value or require such test results. The new SAT measures "what Connecticut students are already learning in the classroom," {despite claims by teachers that the Common Core Standards have been unevenly incorporated into public school instruction across the state. ] The new SAT "has recently been redesigned for greater focus, relevance, and transparency," [except that this test is so new that its psychometric properties, validity and reliability remain unproven and The College Board maintains proprietary control of the test itself.] The new SAT, "when used in combination with high school GPA, SAT scores are shown to be the best predictor of a student's likelihood for success in college," [even though recent college admissions' practices refute this unsubstantiated claim.] While The College Board and its president, David Coleman, the architect of Common Core, is focused on increasing its dwindling market share, many colleges and universities have moved away from reliance on such test scores in their admission policies. Now that you know the FAQs, you will have to decide whether it is in your best interest to take this new Connecticut school-day SAT state assessment... ...an assessment that remains in the fire-storm associated with government-mandated test participation rates preventing you from receiving honest feedback from your teachers and building administrators... ...a new CT school-day SAT state assessment that has not been properly field-tested as a valid and reliable test measure. Any form of a SAT test is universally accepted as a rite of passage for students applying to college. It is so important in the minds of many students that the pressure to do well leads to untold millions of dollars spent on private tutoring and test prep courses; medications taken to relieve anxiety and stress and/or improve alertness and attention; and therapy. Are you really willing to believe the political posturing and bureaucratic claims that, in essence, come down to obtaining one data point in order to meet the all-important 95% Test Participation Rate required by the Every Student Succeeds Act and the federal U.S. Department of Education? You will have to decide. After all, it is your future they are tinkering with. John Bestor is a recently retired school psychologist who worked for 41 years in a Connecticut public school system. Following the death of a young girl last year, North Carolina legislators asked the Department of Labor to conduct a study into the need for inspection of zip lines in a similar way as amusement rides. The report states that participation on a zip line should be considered a sport and should not be regulated as an amusement. Several states have regulations requiring proof of insurance and an annual inspection by a third party but do not directly inspect the zip lines. The DOL report does suggest requiring approval by a certified professional engineer for zip line design and construction. Read more Looking for the big games to watch in Week 9? We have them right here. football Members of the Maryville Police Department were recognized and presented with awards during the most recent village board meeting. Those honored were Officers Brian Gessi, Paul Walther, Frank Leffler and Colin Subick. Maryville Police Chief Rob Carpenter said he thought it was time to honor some of the officers in the department. Weve never done in-house awards but I thought it was time, Carpenter said. He explained that he asked Maryville Sgt. Tim Aldrich to compile some numbers, read reports and make some nominations. The first award was the Traffic Safety Award given to Officer Brian Gessi. Carpenter said Gessi, who has been with the department for more than six years, always leads the department in traffic stops. When it comes to traffic, Officer Gessi is the most consistent and always has the highest amount of numbers regarding traffic enforcement, Carpenter said. In 2015, Officer Gessi made 600 traffic related stops. Of those he made more than 50 arrests that included both felony and misdemeanor charges. Everyone knows we do a lot of traffic stops in Maryville, Carpenter said But the impact of those stops is safety. Carpenter said the number of injury accidents in Maryville is in single digits. You dont speed in Maryville, and for the amount of traffic we have in Maryville, our accident numbers are low, he said. You slow down and you dont get into accidents. If you dont get into an accident then no one gets hurt. The next award was presented to Officer Paul Walther. Walther received the Criminal Patrol Award for his high number of non-traffic related arrests. Walther, who has been with the department for more than three years, made more than 80 non-traffic arrests in 2015. Officer Walther has a knack of making traffic stops, but finding more serious offenses, Carpenter said. These arrests get criminals off the streets and make Maryville a safe community. Officer Frank Leffler was awarded the Community Policing Award. Leffler, who has been with the department for more than four years, has a total of 15 years of experience. Carpenter said Leffler does whatever it takes to help people in the community. Whenever I hear a story about one of our officers performing an act of kindness in the community, I know it was Officer Leffler, he said. Carpenter relayed a story regarding Lefflers kindness. He said a police chief from another community told him that a Maryville officer had pulled over a woman he knew, issued her a citation and then preceded to inform her that she had a tire that was low on air. Instead of just leaving, Officer Leffler followed the woman to a service station and proceeded to not only fill up the low tire, but also check all of the tires on her car to make sure they were OK. Officer Leffler reaches out into the community and makes the police department look good in our community, and in surrounding communities as well, he said. The final award was a letter of achievement given to Officer Colin Subick. Subick completed his 18-month probationary period and is now an official Maryville police officer. Carpenter said after completing initial training he just finished his 12 months of solo patrol. During that time he conducted 500 traffic stops, answered 600 calls for service and made more than 60 arrests, both felony and misdemeanor. Officer Subick is a great addition to the Maryville Police Department and Im proud to have him as a non-probationary officer, Carpenter said. I think by looking at his numbers hes going to give some of the veterans a run for their money. Maryville Larry Gulledge said the current group of officer is an asset to the village. Ive been here a while, Gulledge said. I can usually tell how things are going by the amount of complaints I receive. I get very few complaints about our police department. Trustee Ed Kostyshock said the village is fortunate to have such a professional staff. Our officers are very proactive, Kostyshock said. If Im out talking to someone and get some information about something the police may want to look into, Ill flag down an officer and let them know. They usually say Ed we are already on it. They do a good job. In other business: The trustees approved the appropriation of $280,000 of motor fuel tax funds for the period of May 1, through April 20, 2017. The funds will be used for road and street maintenance throughout the village. Trustees approved a motion to send two village employees to a water conference in Effingham. Village staff members Joe Simpson and Dustin Bauer will attend the conference to obtain continued education towards their required state licensing. The Maryville Fire Department and the Homecoming Association received approval for the issuance of a special event liquor license for an upcoming fundraising event. The group will host mouse races from 3 p.m. to midnight, March 12 at the fire station. Village board appointed Mike Piccohioli to the Maryville Heritage Museum Committee. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Cilacap, Central Java Tue, February 9, 2016 Terrorism convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has said it will not be a problem for him to receive a prison sentence as long as his trial is fair. "One thing that I ask from this court is, it can be honest in judging my guilt," the firebrand Muslim cleric said as quoted by Antara during his follow-up second case review hearing at Cilacap District Court, Central Java, on Tuesday. During the hearing, the panel of judges led by Nyoto Hindaryanto, with Zulkarnaen and Akhmad Budiman, drew a conclusion on Ba'asyir's case. The examination report (BAP) of the Ba'asyir case was also signed off at the hearing. Before the signing of the report, one of Ba'asyir's lawyers, Achmad Michdan, asked the panel of judges to allow the terror convict to convey the chronological conclusion of his case. In his conclusion, Ba'asyir said that in Islam, armed exercises were compulsory because along with one of God's orders, all Muslims must prepare themselves to defend Islam. The spiritual leader of the region's extremist network said enemies of Islam had attacked Muslim people using weapons; thus, it would not be enough for them to face the attacks by only using religious proselytizing. "They [Islam's enemies] must be confronted with weapons. Therefore, in Islam, weapons training is allowed but these are not aimed at killing people but in self-defence. So, killing people must be avoided as much as possible," said Ba'asyir. The cleric said based on religious principles, weapons training conducted in mountainous areas of Aceh was part of sharia (Islamic law). He further claimed that initially, he was not aware of the training in Aceh and only found out about it from media reports. After examining the training conducted in Aceh, Ba'asyir said he concluded that those activities were part of sharia. As a Muslim, the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) leader said, he felt that he had an obligation to support the activities as much as he could. "Because my physical condition was already weak, I could not give any support except giving financial aid to the best of my ability, as I had provided support to the Islamic struggle in Palestine via the Islam Defenders Front [FPI] and the MER-C [Medical Emergency Rescue Committee]," said Ba'asyir. Ba'asyir said his willingness to help support weapons training in Aceh was because it was compulsory for him as a Muslim to help his Muslim sisters and brothers. He claimed that in doing so, he initially faced a dilemma, namely to follow God's orders or to abide with the government's rules, which prohibited such training. "Weapons training is prohibited by the government because it doesn't permit the use of weapons," he said. The problem was, he said, that he would face God's sanctions hereafter if he violated His order to help other Muslims "What I want is that, this court should be fair. My role in helping the training [in Aceh] was only giving them money. I didn't know anything about weapons, I didn't train them, let alone mastermind the exercises," said Ba'asyir. Ba'asyir said that based on government regulations, he was guilty because he had supported illegal military exercises; but, based on Islamic rules, he was not guilty because he just carried out God's orders. Therefore, he wanted the court to be fair in judging his guilt. "This is what I need to explain. Hopefully, with this statement, the court can judge my case honestly, although at the end, it has to impose a sentence on me," he added. Presiding judge Nyoto said that with Ba'asyir's chronological conclusion, the terror convict's second case review was closed. Ba'asyir's document would be sent to the South Jakarta District Court, which would send the case to the Supreme Court. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 The Financial Services Authority (OJK) will sign an agreement soon with Malaysia's banking authority, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), easing restrictions for Indonesian banks operating there. The bilateral deal, expected to be signed in the first quarter of this year, will treat Indonesian banks as equals with Malaysia's local banks, amid complaints of difficulties operating fully in Malaysia. The equal treatment will include ATM installations and payment services fees, said OJK chairman Muliaman D. Hadad, without disclosing further details. 'Many elements [of Indonesian banks' business] will be treated the same as for local banks in the upcoming agreement,' Muliaman said. Both authorities are scheduled to sign the bilateral agreement soon, after recently completing prolonged negotiations on licenses and operations of foreign banks ahead of the ASEAN Economic Community's (AEC) liberalization of banking and financial services in 2020, he added. Indonesian banks have complained that current regulations make it hard for them to operate in Malaysia, with a high minimum capital requirement of 300 million ringgit for a licensed bank ' including locally incorporated foreign banks. With the call for financial integration in ASEAN, Malaysia has agreed to ease restrictions imposed on Indonesian banks operating in the neighboring country following complaints of unequal treatment in comparison with other foreign banks. Bank Mandiri is the only Indonesian bank operating in Malaysia, but only operates with limited access. Bank Mandiri is still unable to operate as a full branch as it cannot meet the capital requirement imposed by the Malaysian central bank. In future, the minimum capital requirement may be lower than 300 million ringgit if Bank Mandiri acquires the status of Qualified ASEAN Bank (QAB), which will be applicable only to 'indigenous' ASEAN banks that are based in ASEAN countries under the ownership of ASEAN citizens. A QAB is described in the ASEAN Banking Integration Framework (ABIF) guidelines, which aim to integrate financial services in the regional grouping by enacting reciprocity principals ' when an ASEAN country has given leniency to one of its counterparts, it should provide similar treatment to other ASEAN members. Under the QAB concept, banks that acquire the status will be able to operate in the region and enjoy equal treatment with local banks. Muliaman said the OJK had yet to receive any proposals from Indonesian banks wanting to become QABs, and added that the agency was also actively seeking negotiations with other ASEAN countries, such as Thailand and Singapore. 'We are still trying [to negotiate] and ensure that mutualism and reciprocity principals will be upheld,' he added. The upcoming bilateral agreement with Malaysia will be a more detailed deal to follow up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by OJK's Muliaman, Bank Indonesia governor Agus Martowardojo and BNM governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz on Dec. 31, 2014 in Jakarta. The 2014 MoU highlighted a commitment by Indonesia's and Malaysia's banking authorities to uphold equal reciprocity and national treatment whenever banks from either country wished to enter or expand their operations in each other's jurisdiction. The OJK has decided to use the 2014 MOU with BNM as a model for future bilateral agreements on the integration of financial services in ASEAN with other countries in the region. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) is preparing to reopen its erstwhile branches in Timor Leste and upgrade its current office in Hong Kong this year as part of the lender's global expansion, a bank executive has said. BRI finance director Haru Koesmahargyo said the lender, which has the largest microloan portfolio in the country, was convinced that the permit to open branch offices in Timor Leste would be obtained in the near future. Haru said BRI would invest at least Rp 30 billion (US$2.2 million) to establish four branch offices in Timor Leste as part of its international expansion strategy. 'The investment needed for our expansion in Timor Leste is not great, and includes costs for permits and office space rental,' he said recently. BRI, Haru said, had operated at least 12 branches in Timor Leste when the country was still part of Indonesia. However, the offices were closed after Indonesia's 27th province voted for independence in a UN-backed referendum in 1999. The bank would apply for a second-grade license in Timor Leste, Heru said; such licenses allow foreign banks to offer basic banking services, such as transactions and loans, including in foreign exchange (forex). 'We will be allowed to install ATMs there and offer loans in multi-currencies. There is a third-grade license that includes permits to offer securities and investment products, but we don't see any potential market for that,' he said. Haru said BRI planned to offer US dollar loans for micro and small and medium enterprises (SME) in Timor Leste, where the income per capita is higher than in Indonesia, but which still relies on relatively simple banking services, and has limited loan penetration. 'The average lending rates for US dollar loans in Timor Leste can reach 12 percent, which is far higher than the 4 percent to 6 percent charged in Indonesia,' he added, indicating that banking business was potentially very profitable. BRI, the country's most profitable bank, posted Rp 25.2 trillion in net profits as of Dec. 31 last year, with more than 50 percent of its loans going to the micro and SME segments. The bank's loans reached Rp 558.4 trillion as of 2015, rising 13.9 percent year-on-year, higher than the industry average of 10 percent. Haru said the bank was also preparing to upgrade its representative office in Hong Kong, which was established in 1989, into a fully-fledged branch that could provide more advanced banking services beyond trade transactions for corporate customers. He said the investment to upgrade the Hong Kong rep office would be twice the sum invested in Timor Leste, though he declined to specify the exact amount. 'To begin with, I think we'll need to invest in permits, rent, human resources and IT systems. The investment will naturally be greater than in Timor Leste,' he said. Meanwhile, for next year, Haru added that the bank would seek input and suggestions from shareholders and financial regulators regarding the next destination for its continued expansion in ASEAN region, with options including Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Prosecutions against followers of the minority Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) for propagating views deemed heretical by the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) are unlikely to continue. Calls last week from both President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Syaifuddin for Gafatar members to be protected and returned to society may have softened the stance of law enforcement authorities. The police say they will only proceed with criminal charges against Gafatar members allegedly involved in abduction while the Attorney General's Office (AGO) remains undecided on how to build a case against the so-called heretical teachings of Gafatar. There are currently four cases connected to Gafatar being investigated by police nationwide; one is being handled by the National Police, two by the West Kalimantan Police and one by the Yogyakarta Police. National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Agus Rianto told The Jakarta Post recently that prosecutions against Gafatar members for adhering to deviant beliefs had hinged on frail grounds. 'None of the Gafatar members have been named suspects by the West Kalimantan Police or by the National Police,' he said. The case being investigated by the National Police was filed against Gafatar leader Mahful Tumanurung, while those in West Kalimantan revolved around the propagation of heretical teachings. 'Only the Yogyakarta Police have named suspects, but in connection to reports of abduction,' said Agus. Married couple Eko and Veni are suspected of having abducted a Lampung physician, Rica Tri Handayani, who resides in Yogyakarta, to get her to join Gafatar. The case has catapulted the Gafatar movement back into the spotlight, although many of its members have avoided publicity since August last year by living in an agricultural community in the remote Mempawah regency in West Kalimantan. Following rumors of abductions, mobs attacked the Gafatar compound in the regency, forcing around 4,000 people to flee. As the persecution of Gafatar members intensified across the archipelago, the MUI last week declared Gafatar a heretical movement as it is reported to have attempted to combine the teachings of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The MUI also claims that Gafatar has not made prayer and fasting obligatory and so deviates from true Islamic teachings. Agus said that the National Police planned to meet with officials from the Religious Affairs Ministry and MUI members to discuss the reasoning behind the issuance of the fatwa. Both the police and the AGO have considered charging Gafatar members with religious defamation and with treason for allegedly attempting to establish their own state on Indonesian territory. Prosecutions of Gafatar members are not without precedent. Based on a heresy edict the MUI issued in 2006, Gafatar founder and leader Ahmad Musaddeq was sentenced to four years in prison in 2007 for religious defamation after he claimed to be a prophet. Attorney General HM Prasetyo said more discussions should be held with the MUI before deciding on any charges. 'Gafatar has engaged in many social activities, education and cooperatives, but the MUI has declared it heretical. The fatwa will become one consideration for us to decide how to deal with the movement,' he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 A coalition of anticorruption civil society groups has urged all political party factions in the House of Representatives to retract their support for the amendment of Law No. 30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The coalition, which includes Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Transparency International Indonesia (TII) and the Indonesia Budget Center, handed over an online petition entitled 'Don't Kill the KPK', which drew more than 56,000 signatories, to the House Legislation Body (Baleg) at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday. 'If the House supports the idea of strengthening the KPK, it must refuse the law amendment, just like what the Gerindra Party has done,' ICW researcher Donal Fariz said in a press conference at the House complex on Tuesday. The online petition on the rejection of the 2002 KPK Law revision was initiated by Suryo Bagus, an alumnus of the ICW's Anticorruption School (SAKTI) program. As of Monday, 56,865 people had signed the petition, leaving messages of disappointment for the House over its plan to amend the law. 'We hope Baleg can listen to the public's suggestions,' said Donal. He appreciated the stance taken by both the Gerindra Party and its chairman, Prabowo Subianto, over the planned KPK Law revision, adding he hoped that other parties could take the same path. In the petition, the coalition also urged the House to cancel the deliberation of the KPK Law draft revision and asked Baleg to consider the impact of the amendment on corruption eradication measures in Indonesia. The coalition urged the government, especially President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, to reject discussions on the KPK Law draft revision with the House. The coalition urged Jokowi to pull the draft from the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2015-2019 as well. Baleg started discussions on the KPK Law revision on Feb. 1, when it heard arguments from supporters of the law amendment. It was also reported that Baleg had delayed the establishment of a working committee (Panja) on the KPK Law amendment due to complicated dynamics caused by sharp differences of opinion among political party factions in the House. The 2002 KPK Law draft revision is among priority bills listed in the 2016 Prolegnas. House speaker Ade Komarudin recently said the legislative body was targeting to finish the deliberation of 37 out of 40 priority bills in the 2016 Prolegnas this year. Meanwhile, Baleg chairman Supratman Andi Agtas hoped suggestions from the public could give the body good advice in harmonizing the KPK Law draft revision. As many as 45 House members support the KPK Law amendment. They comprise 15 lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), 11 members from the NasDem Party, nine members of the Golkar Party, five members of the United Development Party (PPP), three members of the Hanura Party and two members of the National Awakening Party (PKB). (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Vincent Lingga (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 The government's decision with regard to the US$15 billion Masela gas development plan in Maluku will have a great impact on Indonesia's hydrocarbon industry because most of the country's promising sedimentary basins are located in the country's eastern region and the highest success ratio of explorations has, thus far, been in gas. The question now is just how did Japanese Inpex and Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) find themselves in such an imbroglio for their gas development plan, previously under the full jurisdiction of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Why did the Masela gas project become the first of such developments required to go directly to the President for approval, not simply the minister of energy and mineral resources as has been the case for the last five decades. Another question is whether the Masela debacle portends that the final approval process for oil and gas development projects no longer rests with the authority of SKKMigas and the minister of energy and mineral resources. If that is the case, it will cause severe damage to the whole industry at a time when oil prices are at their lowest. When Inpex, as the operator of the Masela Block in the Arafura Sea, submitted its plan of development (POD) for the 10.7 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the Abadi field last April, the licensing process should have run as normal through comprehensive technical and economic assessment at SKKMigas. Recommendation from this regulatory body have so far been perfunctorily approved by the energy minister. In September, SKKMigas recommended the Masela POD, for a floating LNG (FLNG) project with a designed capacity of 7.5 million tons a year and 24,000 barrels of condensate a day, to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. The two-year feasibility study by Inpex concluded that an onshore LNG (OLNG) plant on Aru Island would cost $22.3 billion and require a reasonable length of time to build. But Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli, who entered the Cabinet only in mid-August, cried foul in October, shooting his mouth off against the project. He demanded a whole review of the Masela project, arguing that the POD should be linked to an OLNG plant instead of FLNG so as to generate more multiplier impacts on the national economy. Analysts wondered, though, how comprehensive and reliable Rizal's study was, especially when compared to the Inpex POD which is based on a two-year feasibility study of both FLNG and OLNG concepts. If Rizal's study was so credible why was it not submitted to SKKMigas as a comparison to the Inpex POD? I don't think SKKmigas is so short of technical experts and analysts as to recommend the POD on Masela project if it is largely biased against the country's interests. It is worth a reminder that it is Inpex and Shell that bear the entire cost of the Masela project and that these companies will only be able to recoup their investment only after the LNG plant has commenced commercial operation. The feasibility study used for the POD must be accepted as credible and reliable by those international creditors who will finance the bulk of the $15 billion investment. It is also regrettable that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, instead of encouraging vigorous discussions and debates within his Cabinet, allowed such policy bickering in public. But the ministerial squabbling should also be blamed on Jokowi. The President has been so obsessed with his concept of developing a maritime axis and sea toll roads that he created the portfolio of the coordinating maritime affairs minister in his first Cabinet in October, 2014. Jokowi made another misguided decision during the first reshuffle of the Cabinet last August, when he agreed to change the nomenclature of the maritime affairs portfolio to 'coordinating maritime affairs and natural resources minister', hence putting four ministries ' maritime and fisheries, tourism, transportation and energy and mineral resources ' under it. I think this nomenclature change will continue to dog the Cabinet's economic policy making because of the blurred division of jurisdiction between the coordinating economic minister and the coordinating maritime affairs and natural resources minister. Things became increasingly murky when Jokowi responded to Rizal's criticism and ordered an independent assessment of the Masela project. But US consultant Poten & Partners, hired by the ministry of energy and mineral resources, also recommended a FLNG last December, as proposed by Inpex and approved by SKKMigas. Both Rizal and Jokowi are wise and right in demanding that the Masela gas project generate maximal benefits for the Indonesian people and have a multiplier impact on the national economy. But it is misguided to push through this objective at the expense of the commercial viability of the project. For the Maluku administration and its people, neither concept matters much because there are not many local people on the small islands of Aru or Tanimbar whom are qualified to take the jobs created by the project construction. It is better for them to invest additional revenue from Masela in priority programs to meet local needs. There have been exhaustive debates on the pluses and minuses of FLNG and OLNG concepts for the Masela project. The advantages of FLNG are that its capital cost is $7 billion cheaper than OLNG and faster to construct because it does not need vast land acquisition and long gas pipelines, causing less environmental impact and generating $57 billion in revenue for the government, in comparison to $48 billion in the case of OLNG. The domestic shipbuilding and offshore structure industries will also benefit greatly from the FLNG concept. Proponents of OLNG claim benefits including greater multiplier impacts on Aru or Tanimbar Islands ' such as jobs, businesses, services and amenities like markets, a hospital, housing and other public facilities and infrastructure ' as well as the petrochemical industry. For the OLNG concept, the big question is, do we possess the capacity and resources in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for such a huge and complex, high-technology industrial complex? If the final decision is in favor of OLNG (rather unthinkable), it will cause another long delay, meanwhile the concession for the Masela block will expire in 2028. And, even if the President finally decides soon to choose the FLNG concept, the Masela project will not be commercially viable if the Masela 30-year concession is not extended at least by 10 or 20 years because Inpex-Shell needs two years after the President's final POD approval to prepare their final investment decision and another six years for the building of the FLNG and its supporting infrastructure. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tue, February 9, 2016 Feb. 4, 2016 The government is discussing the best ways to help members of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar), which has been declared heretical by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), return back to normal society, a minister has said. 'We want them to live normally, return to society,' Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said as quoted by kompas.com at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo will soon hold a meeting with relevant ministers to discuss the impacts of the relocation of Gafatar members. The meeting is scheduled to be held in the middle of February. Your comments: Is the government now controlled by the MUI? We are tired of their fatwa. Take away any power the MUI has. There should be no more political Islam. Betawi Spring The thing is, if they do not identify themselves as Muslim, then how can they possibly come under the jurisdiction of the MUI? To me, Gafatar sounds a bit like Bahais. Devanagari They were peaceful, law abiding, citizens before the MUI edict. Who is the one that needs retraining because they are bad for Islam? That would be the MUI and everyone who thinks they are right. They can say what they want concerning Muslims, but evidently, these people decided not to be Muslim. Now they are being forced to take it back up again, that is criminal. Xsimaging So why aren't MUI leaders being arrested for inciting violence and civil unrest? They obviously knew that violence would occur. The Gafatar members don't need to be rehabilitated and should be left in peace. Notsurewhy 'Return them to normal society?' Isn't this where they were when they were attacked, their homes were burned down and their children were terrified? Alba2000 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Suherdjoko, Djemi Amnifu and Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Semarang/kupang/surakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Thousands of people from various cultural and religious backgrounds, not just the Chinese-Indonesian communities, in many cities across the country celebrated the Lunar New Year, known also as Imlek, in diverse festivities on Monday. In Semarang, a crowd of people, mostly Javanese, visited Sam Po Kong Chinese temple, enjoyed numerous art performances, including Barongsai (lion dance), and sang Mandarin songs in dangdut (mixed Malay and Indian music). Juwita, along with her friends, had to pass through heavy traffic jam to arrive at the temple, the original of which was built in the early 1400s by Chinese explorer Admiral Cheng Ho, to celebrate the new year. 'It's very lively. I never expected it to be very cheerful,' said Juwita, who wore a red hijab. Meanwhile, Chinese-Indonesian Catholics observed the new year in a holy mass at Kristus Raja Cathedral in Kupang led by four priests in red robes. Seven dancers, Chinese-Indonesian girls, accompanied the priests who walked to the altar of the cathedral, which had been decorated with red and with many lanterns. Besides observing Imlek in the cathedral, many Chinese-Indonesians also celebrated the changing of the year at Siang Lay, the only temple in the capital city of the East Nusa Tenggara province. One of the temple's board members, Robby, said the house of worship, which was built in 1865, was now the only temple still standing in the city as many were destroyed during the World War II. Meanwhile, Surakarta, the royal city of Central Java, officially organized the Lunar New Year celebration at the Pecinan (Chinatown) area from Jl. Jenderal Sudirman until Jl. Urip Sumohardjo, making the area car free during the new year's eve. 'Now, the Imlek celebration is not belonged only to the ethnic Chinese. The arts are Chinese, but many performers of Barongsai, Liong (dragon dances) and wushu (martial arts) are Javanese. Imlek now belongs to all,' said the Imlek celebration's committee chairman Sumartono Hadinoto. The celebration was marked with the release of 1,000 lanterns in the Vasternburg fort area and fireworks for almost 30 minutes during the changing of the year. Chinese-Indonesians are now free to celebrate Imlek openly, following 32 years of cultural suppression under then president Soeharto. It was former president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid who made Confucianism the sixth religion recognized by the state in 1999. His successor, Megawati Soekarnoputri, declared Chinese New Year a national holiday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Presidential spokesperson Johan Budi said on Monday that the government may withdraw from the ongoing deliberations over possible revisions of a corruption law if it considers that new provisions will weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The government and the House of Representatives are currently discussing how to amend the 2002 law on the antigraft body, focusing on changing the fundamental powers of the law enforcement body, including wiretapping, the appointment of investigators and the termination of investigations. 'The President's stance on the issue is very clear. If the revisions are aimed at weakening the KPK, the government will pull out of the process,' Johan said on Monday. Led by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a majority of House factions presented a draft of the law revisions, including a proposal to set up a supervisory body that will hold the authority to issue wiretapping permits for the KPK. The proposal soon drew public criticism. A series of sting operations that resulted in the arrest of several lawmakers, including the PDI-P's Damayanti Wisnu Putranti and the Hanura Party's Dewie Yasin Limpo, in bribery cases, make the proposal appear to be a way for politicians to prevent similar cases from happening in the future. The proposal also included a plan to enable the KPK to issue investigation termination warrants (SP3), a means by which the antigraft body can drop cases, as is done by other law enforcement institutions. KPK leaders have rejected the proposals, saying that most of the possible revisions are aimed at weakening their ability to prosecute. Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that the government is still waiting for the final draft that will be presented by lawmakers, as the PDI-P proposal is still being discussed at the House. 'We are still waiting for the final draft and whether it meets the previous commitment to strengthen the KPK,' said the PDI-P politician. The latest survey released on Monday by Jakarta-based pollster Indikator Politik revealed that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo may see his currently increasing popularity drop significantly if his administration gives approval to the House plan to revise the KPK law. The study, which interviewed 1,550 eligible voters between Jan. 18 and 29, recorded that 54.4 percent of them said that the revisions would weaken the KPK. Only 34.1 percent said otherwise. Around 83.9 percent of the informed respondents said that they rejected the PDI-P's proposal to limit the KPK's wiretapping power, leaving only 14.4 percent who said agreed with it. 'A majority of citizens said that it would weaken the KPK. Those who said otherwise came from respondents who have mid-level education as well as women and those who live in villages, especially in Maluku and Papua,' Indikator Politik research director Hendro Prasetyo said. The survey also found that Jokowi currently enjoys increasing public trust and an approval rating of 67 percent, the highest since he was sworn in as the country's seventh president in October 2014. The survey revealed that those who are aware of the plan to revise the KPK law tend to have low appreciation for Jokowi's performance, compared to those did not follow the issue closely. 'Although respondents' approval for the President is high, it does not mean that it will stay the same constantly. The high public appreciation could be damaged should the President fail to hear public's wish to defend the KPK,' Hendro said. Political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) criticized Jokowi for having campaigned on his support for the KPK, yet failing to reject the PDI-P's revision plan. He reminded Jokowi that he will lose public support if he approves any attempts to weaken the KPK. 'Once the President gives his approval, his approval rating will significantly drop,' Ikrar said. _____________________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 The local electronics industry is expected to remain stable amid layoff concerns surrounding Japanese electronics giants operating in the country, an official says. According to the Industry Ministry's director for the electronics and telematics industry, Zakiyudin, there is still high demand from Indonesian consumers for electronic products and the sector is likely to grow this year, with the consumer market still developing. Japanese brands Toshiba and Panasonic have recently been in the spotlight amid labor union claims that they plan to lay off hundreds of employees working for plants that operate in Indonesia, but the Industry Ministry has dismissed the claims. 'Panasonic and Toshiba are not carrying out massive layoffs ' they are restructuring,' the ministry's director general for metal, machinery, transportation equipment and electronic industries, I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, told reporters. Putu said that while the country's overall electronics industry growth was relatively stable, the industry was affected by the local currency exchange rate, as most its components were imported from overseas. The head of the ministry's research and development department, Haris Munandar, said his ministry had been developing an early warning system for industry development in light of an unusual surge in imports. Indonesia's electronics and telematics industry grew by 2.5 percent in the period between 2012 and 2015, with investment in the sector rising 25 percent during the same period, according to ministry data. Total investment in the industry rose to US$6.6 billion last year from $5.9 billion in 2014, and the industry took on 499 new employees in 2015 as compared with 488 employees the previous year. The Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) previously announced that Panasonic had closed its two factories and laid off 1,600 workers, while Toshiba planned to lay off 900. PT Panasonic Manufacturing Indonesia clarified the claims, with president director Ichiro Suganuma stating that his company had shut down its one lamp factory in Pasuruan and offered voluntary retirement programs to 425 workers. The closure of Panasonic's lamp plant was due to a significant drop in demand for compact fluorescent lamps; the company has now shifted focus to developing light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, for which there is growing demand. 'The important thing is that our commitment to the industry remains the same and our investment in LED technology development is still large,' Ichiro said. Meanwhile, Toshiba has clarified that the actual figure was 360 workers laid off, lower than the labor union's report. According to Toshiba, the firm had to terminate the jobs of its permanent workers as the factory located in Cikarang produced well under its capacity last year because of a drastic drop in demand for televisions in the Middle East, a major export destination. 'The site only produced 30,000 TVs out of a capacity of 350,000,' said a Toshiba executive who refused to be named, adding that the company had also terminated 1,000 workers' contracts last year following the drastic drop in production. Toshiba Indonesia was recently acquired by Chinese television maker Skyworth Corp. in a A3 billion deal that will be fully materialized this year, with a possible change of brand in April. 'We'll keep producing Toshiba TVs, but we remain open to the possibility of producing other electronic devices and therefore may need more workers in the near future,' the source said. Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani said that the board was currently seeking formal clarifications from both Panasonic and Toshiba on the matter. 'We can help them to improve competitiveness, including by issuing any necessary policies and coordinating with the relevant ministries,' Franky said recently. ___________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Depok Police have ordered an autopsy on the body of a 7-year-old boy, the young victim in a recent murder case, in an attempt to reveal the motive behind the homicide. 'We are looking for signs of sexual abuse,' Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Dwiyono said on Sunday as quoted by wartakotalive.com, adding that the police were waiting for the autopsy result from the National Police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. The boy was reported missing after school on Saturday. Police personnel later raided a house in Depok, where the boy was allegedly kidnapped, finding him dead inside a bathroom. Police arrested a murder suspect identified as Januar Arifin alias Begeng, 35, but he has so far maintained his innocence. Dwiyono said that Begeng and the victim were close and that the suspect had alledgedly kidnapped the boy by promising him Rp 2,000 (14 US cents). Meanwhile, Begeng has said that he was ordered by a group of people to kidnap the boy and to take him to his house. 'I have no idea what the people did to the boy in the room. I do not know because I was outside [of the house],' he explained. 'If I did not fulfill their order, they said that they would kill me. So, it wasn't me who killed the boy.' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 People crowded into Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) cultural park in East Jakarta on Monday, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the barongsai Chinese lion dance performed during Chinese New Year celebrations. The lion dance performance was showcased inside TMII grounds at the Kong Miao temple as part of the new year festivities celebrating the arrival of the astrological Year of the Fire Monkey. As people prayed inside, crowds began to gather at the front of the temple hours before Kong Miao was officially opened to the public. The area became increasingly crowded as the dance started, with some spectators seen trying to reach the highest floor of the temple so as to be able to watch the dance. The show was cheerful and received occasional applaud from the audience. 'My child wanted to watch barongsai so we decided to come here,' said spectator Agung Adi, who came to the show with his three children, quoted Antara. Agung said he left his house in Buaran, East Jakarta, at 08:00 a.m, adding that, in addition to watching the show, he also wanted to visit some other attractions at TMII. Another visitor, Musiah, from Bekasi in East Jakarta, said that she decided to come to TMII to watch the show because it was a public holiday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 In an attempt to curb and protect Jakarta's residents from illegal medical practices, the Jakarta Health Agency is planning to provide a portal listing all licensed health clinics in the capital. Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said that residents would soon be able to verify the license of health clinics operating in Jakarta through the website, which is currently under development. 'Later, residents will be able to access the portal through Jakarta Smart City's website, as the two will be integrated,' Koesmedi said during a recent press conference at Jakarta Police headquarters. According to Koesmedi, with access to the portal, people seeking to improve their health through alternative treatments will be able to seek out a clinic that holds a license. Therefore, they may have some protection against illegal practices. The idea was developed following the death of chiropractic patient Allya Siska Nadya, aged 33. Allya died on Aug. 7 last year, a day after she had undergone chiropractic therapy at Chiropractic First clinic, Pondok Indah Mall, South Jakarta. During the case investigation Jakarta Police discovered that neither the clinic nor its chiropractors possessed operational licenses. The police later announced that they had named US chiropractor Randall Cafferty and Malaysian national Khan Wain Min ' owner of the Chiropractic First chain of clinics that employed Cafferty ' suspects in the alleged malpractice case that led to Allya's death. Koesmedi revealed that the agency had been closing unlicensed clinics following Allya's case, adding that the agency had been closely monitoring health clinics in the capital. As of last week, Koesmedi said that the agency had shut down no fewer than 20 health clinics due to a lack of license permitting them to operate. He urged residents to report any complaints regarding health services and facilities in the capital by calling the agency's call center on 0822-1000-8683. The health agency, the Jakarta Police, Manpower Ministry and South Jakarta Immigration Office have established a joint team to monitor health practices in the capital. The Jakarta Police's general crime director, Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti, said that late last month the joint team had arrested two Australian nationals, Antony Dawson and Thomas Dawson, for allegedly operating illegal chiropractic clinics in Indonesia. Krishna said that the Australian brothers, who had been running six Chiropractic Indonesia clinics, had allegedly violated medical practice, labor and immigration regulations. The six clinics are located in Dharmawangsa, Pacific Place, Gandaria City, Permata Senayan and Lotte Shopping Avenue, all in South Jakarta, while one clinic is located in Bali. All of the clinics have now been shut down by the police. According to their temporary residence permits issued by the Immigration Office, Krishna said that Anthony had a permit to work as the director of the clinic while Thomas had been granted approval to work as a chiropractic consultant until Jan. 31. 'However, in fact, both of them work as chiropractors. They directly treated patients,' Krishna said. Krishna said that the police might charge them with money laundering because they had obtained millions of rupiah and transferred the money to their country. The brothers are reported to have run the clinics since 2002 and allegedly charged their patients up to Rp 27 million (US$1,985) per person per package of treatments. Khrisna further said that the police would summon six patients who had complained about the service provided by Chiropractic Indonesia. Tundjung Rijanto from the Manpower Ministry said that the Dawson brothers had acquired working permits in Indonesia due to a recommendation from sponsor PT Inti Sehat Tama Sejahtera. Police are now investigating the company to determine its involvement in the illegal practice. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tue, February 9, 2016 Hundreds of residents of Lampur Village, Bangka Belitung province, were evacuated from their houses on Tuesday after water levels reaching up to 3 meters in height inundated the area. "The village is sheltering flood victims at a PT Timah building,' said Dani, a member of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency. He explained that residents were asked to leave their homes temporarily due to the continuously rising water level caused by constant rainfall that started on Sunday and continued until Tuesday morning. Armed with rubber boats, search and rescue (SAR) teams have been rescuing residents trapped in their homes, Dani continued. The evacuation process was carried out in cooperation with village residents and officials, Dani said. "Health officials are also on standby at temporary shelters," he added. Assistance for victims is already flowing in from other residents in the form of human resources and food. "Currently, our officers are alert and we urge the general public to be vigilant because the rain has not yet stopped," he said. The areas around Central Bangka regency have also confronted severe floods. Central Bangka BNPB head Kaharuddin said the floods had damaged infrastructure, destroying roads and bridges. Kaharuddin added that rescue officers had been dispatched to several areas in the regency. (liz/bbn)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli has conveyed a plan to improve the national defense industry by encouraging countries in Southeast Asia to obtain minority stakes in the Indonesian defense industry. 'Indonesia invites countries in ASEAN to hold stakes in the defense industry ['] Depending on only domestic tax for the defense industry might be dull,' Rizal said on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency. Rizal was in Mataram to attend the National Mass Media convention, a press event aimed at addressing challenges regarding the development of the country's maritime axis vision. He said involving other parties in the country's defense industry could help the sector to develop. Currently Indonesia has several companies that focus on defense, namely state-owned land system and weapons maker PT Pindad, aerospace industry player PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) and shipbuilding company PT PAL. According Rizal, when France dominated the Airbus company, its sales were low. However, after several European countries joined Airbus, the company became a European aerospace giant and defeated US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing. He added he believed the defense industry in Indonesia could experience the same success if it invited ASEAN members to obtain stakes. Rizal also said the maritime industry in Indonesia had the momentum at present to succeed globally. However, Rizal noted that Indonesia still lacked the ability to develop brand and marketing strategies when selling its defense industry's products overseas. PT Pindad president director Silmy Karim said that before divesting defense industry stakes to other countries, Indonesia should have clear reasons for doing so. 'What is the reason behind the divestment? Is there technology transfer? Or is it to increase sales? Or as defense diplomacy? The stance should be clear,' Silmy told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. According to Silmy, the defense industry was very different to the commercial industry, citing the development of Airbus. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Muhamad Arif (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Since October 2015, Indonesia has been chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), a regional institution comprising coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean. The IORA should be seen, and treated accordingly, as a modality for Indonesia's diplomacy in the Indian Ocean in its attempt to become a global maritime power. Indonesia should balance out its activism in the Pacific with a more diplomatic thrust in the Indian Ocean, backed up by a robust military presence and readiness. Our new foreign policy doctrine is built upon the renewed realization of Indonesia's geographical destiny to possess a strong maritime industry ' residing as it does between the Indian and Pacific oceans. The activism, however, is so far uneven with the Pacific Ocean receiving more attention and the Indian Ocean remaining largely underdeveloped in terms of diplomacy and the ascription of strategic weight. On the Pacific front, for example, there are already a number of multilateral diplomatic forums in place. The closer attention Indonesia pays to the Pacific is also reflected in its firm stance in maintaining territorial integrity. For instance, Indonesia states it will not be involved in any territorial dispute with China in the Natuna waters. The firm stance was rewarded as China gave in to Indonesia's position. __________________________________ The IORA has yet to develop into a mature and functional regional institution. It is also reflected in how the country's increasingly modernized military is deployed: a new fighter squadron has been deployed in Riau; a military base in the Natuna Island is being upgraded; and the construction of a new submarine base in Palu, Central Sulawesi, has been accelerated. All of these bases and military assets are near the Pacific Ocean and thus tasked primarily with deterring and countering threats in that region. Despite loopholes, Indonesia's aspiration to play a greater role in the Pacific Ocean security dynamic is supported by adequate military back up. That is not the case on the Indian Ocean front. First and foremost, despite it being 20 years since its establishment, the IORA has yet to develop into a mature and functional regional institution. This poses challenges as well as opportunities for Indonesia. Indonesia should thus make use of the IORA for diplomacy in the Indian Ocean to strengthen its presence and role in the region, just the way Indonesia utilizes ASEAN and other Pacific multilateral forums. Indonesian diplomacy in the Indian Ocean is not backed up by sufficient military presence and readiness. Indeed, a disproportionate number of larger Navy vessels are deployed in the Eastern Fleet Command. Furthermore, of four main naval bases under the Western Fleet Command, only one ' Main Naval Base II Padang ' faces the Indian Ocean. The Padang base coordinates two smaller bases in Bengkulu and North Sumatra with two frigates/corvettes in its disposal, making it the weakest of the western fleet bases. Military deployment is not only necessary to guard and defend the long western coastline of Sumatra, but also to provide credibility for Indonesia's diplomacy. It is essential to convey the message that the Indonesian government is serious when it says it wants to play a greater role both in the Pacific and Indian oceans. It should balance out the activism in the Pacific with a strong diplomatic thrust in the Indian Ocean. Some consider the Indian Ocean to be less strategically valuable than the Pacific, given the absence of territorial disputes. Thus, the argument goes, it is justifiable for Indonesia to pay less attention to the region. This is a misleading argument. The strategic value of the Indian Ocean is elegantly documented in Robert Kaplan's 2010 book Monsoon, The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power. Kaplan notes that the Indian Ocean is again the heart of the world, just as it was in the antiquity and medieval times. The Indian Ocean is currently the busiest and most important maritime trade route; one half of all the world's containers and 70 percent of petroleum passes through the Indian Ocean. It is also where a contemporary strategic rivalry between the status-quo power and emerging powers is taking place; China's power projection into the region through its 'string of pearls' strategy is challenging US domination while India is increasingly asserting its desire to become a major power. In addition to the US and China, Indian, Pakistani and Iranian operations and potential nuclear capabilities make the Indian Ocean one of the most nuclearized regions in the world. Thus, it is imperative for Indonesia to extend its foreign policy activism to the Indian Ocean if the 'two-Ocean power' vision is to materialize. The IORA can serve as the diplomatic modality. It should be backed, however, with a robust and credible military presence and readiness. _____________________________________ The writer is a researcher at the ASEAN Studies program, The Habibie Center. The opinions expressed are the writer's own. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anggi M. Lubis (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 There were no reports of Indonesian victims following a deadly earthquake that destroyed a high-rise apartment in Taiwan on Saturday. However, Indonesian officials have vowed to help in the recovery effort. An emergency center has been set up in Tainan, the most impacted city, to provide information and assistance to Indonesians who may have been affected by the quake. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said that the office, in coordination with local authorities, would continue to closely monitor the situation and would not cease operations until the last area suspected to hold victims was cleared. 'The office has combed hospitals that tended to victims of the earthquake, and no fatalities or serious injuries were reported. Although they said some Indonesians were spotted visiting the hospitals, they did not record patients with minor injuries as they were soon discharged,' Arrmanatha told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the emergency post was not directly involved with search and rescue teams. The Foreign Ministry previously stated that representatives of the Indonesian trade and economic office had combed Chimei Tainan Hospital, National Cheng Kung University Hospital and Sin-Lau Christian Hospital. Arrmanatha said local authorities had yet to request specific assistance from Indonesia but that the country was ready to offer help at any time. Indonesia, which is only involved in non-governmental economic and trade relations with Taiwan, has no diplomatic representatives in the country as part of its support for the One China Policy. According to a ministry statement, it is estimated that around 230,000 Indonesians are based in Taiwan, including around 17,000 in Tainan. Most of them reside in the country as workers or students. The deadly 6.4-magnitude quake hit Taiwan at 4 a.m. on Saturday, at the beginning of celebrations for the Lunar New Year holiday. Meanwhile, rescuers pulled out alive an 8-year-old girl and her aunt from the rubble of a Taiwan apartment block on Monday, more than 60 hours after it was toppled by the quake. The girl, named as Lin Su-Chin, was conscious and had been taken to hospital, Taiwan television stations said. Her aunt, Chen Mei-jih, was rescued shortly after. Earlier, Wang Ting-yu, a legislator who represents the area, told reporters that a woman, identified as Tsao Wei-ling, was found alive, lying under her dead husband. Their 2-year-old son, who was also killed, was found nearby. Another survivor, a man named Li Tsung-tian, was pulled out later, with Taiwan television stations showing live images of the rescues. Several hours later, Li's girlfriend was found dead in the rubble. Tsao and Li were both being treated in hospital. Outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou, speaking to reporters at a Tainan hospital, said the government needed to do a better job in ensuring building quality. 'In the near future, regarding building management, we will have some further improvements. We will definitely do this work well,' Ma said. Reuters witnesses at the scene of the collapse saw large rectangular, commercial cans of cooking oil packed inside wall cavities exposed by the damage, apparently having been used as building material. Chinese President Xi Jinping also conveyed condolences to the victims, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Sunday, and repeated Beijing's offer to provide help. The number of fatalities had reached 38 as of Monday afternoon according to media reports. Thirty-six of the victims were from the toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building in Tainan and two other people died elsewhere in the city, according to Reuters. A report citing Tainan authorities said more than 170 people had been rescued from the 17-story building, which collapsed after the quake struck. The spectacular fall of the high-rise, built in 1994, raised questions about whether its construction had been up to standard. Tainan's government said the building had not been listed as a dangerous structure, and Taiwan's interior minister, Chen Wei-zen, said an investigation would examine whether its developer had cut corners. Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. The extended Lunar New Year holiday officially started on Monday, but celebrations were subdued and both President Ma Ying-jeou and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen canceled the handing out of angpao (envelopes containing money) in their hometowns, a holiday tradition for Taiwan's leader. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Juliana Harsianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 There is more to Minangkabau culture than rendang and nasi Padang, as a trio is trying to convey through website Minangkayo. The most immediate association of Minangkabau, a region and ethnic group in West Sumatra, is its appetizing Padang cooking, an icon of the group's diaspora across the archipelago, especially its younger members. 'In my view, many other features of Minang culture should be brought into the limelight, apart from its food and dances. Even the cuisine isn't just what's popular at Padang restaurants; there's a lot more to it,' said Reno Andam Suri, who with her friends Febiliana Sari and Ichil Salam is behind website minangkayo.com. Minang kayo literally means rich Minang. The three, who met in a society of gourmands, Jalansutra, have a common interest in Minang cooking and culture. 'Febi and I belong to the Minang ethnic group and have our own online businesses selling rendang,' revealed Reno. Rendang, the cuisine's most noted dish, is beef simmered in coconut milk and spices. With Ichil, a native of Klaten in Central Java, they set up the website, which serves as an e-magazine to promote a community of online Minang culture lovers. Reno and Ichil have to constantly remind themselves and others that Minangkayo isn't just a forum to discuss food, despite their passion for cooking. When they started the website in mid-2015, they agreed to conduct research on non-culinary subjects as well for further dissemination in easily digestible language. The trio therefore seeks information from original sources to produce stories of historical and cultural significance. Regarding recipes, for instance, they hunt old formulas used by previous generations down to remote areas to trace their history and discover their ingredients for testing and dissemination. Minagkayo's aim, then, is introduce Minang and non-Minang youths everywhere to the diverse aspects of Minang culture without copying the existing material. 'We wish to write genuine information from authentic sources while also providing our readers with a broader scope of knowledge,' explained Reno. Writing detailed accounts is nothing new to the three partners. Reno has authored a book, Rendang Traveler, which earned her a Gourmand Award at the Cookbook Festival in Beijing in 2014. Ichil and Feb are also accustomed to culinary research work while touring different islands in the country for their comprehensive articles. Visitors to Minangkayo can now access stories of the first Padang restaurant in Jakarta and a history of Minang coffee. Minang people were once known as coffee leaf brewers, while the area of Solok was a major coffee producing region in the Dutch colonial era. 'Local farmers' self-esteem and defiance of the Dutch made them burn their plants and refuse to grow coffee again,' said Ichil, who is now eager to reintroduce Solok coffee to the public. The first event held by Minangkayo was a Jamuan Bajamba party as part of the Spice Trail, an exhibition of spice regions all over Indonesia and their impact on the world economy. A bajamba is a Minang communal feast given by families, serving special dishes with rice laid on a large tray surrounded by dishes and vegetables to maintain intimate ties between families and guests. The other event was a Minang-style coffee drinking gathering with various snacks of the region. The program, attended by a fair number of coffee lovers, was also designed as a chatting session. Solok coffee was served in different ways, such as manual-brew and cold-brew methods and also in modern forms like cappuccino and piccolo. After the coffee morning, a bopet (dining) event offered ketupat sayur (rice cakes and vegetable curry) with pakis (fern) derived from Padang and shredded rendang. Bopet is actually a typical Minang cafA with limited local dishes prepared on plates like ketupat sayur, fried rice and porridge. As explained on the website, bopet comes from the French word buffet, meaning dishes for self-service. The Dutch adopted the word to mean a sideboard. When it reached West Sumatra, it turned into bopet or cupboard, known better known as an eatery, and a constant feature of Minangkayo programs. Reno mentioned Minangkayo's plans to organize events in unique packages. 'Febi wants to arrange a tour of coffee plantations during bumper harvests, or an open-park dinner with Minang dance entertainment,' she added. Through such activities to draw the public closer to Minang culture, the young Minangkayo movement seems to have great things in store for the future. ' Photos by Juliana Harsianti Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 An Ahmadi group in Srimenanti, Bangka, has reportedly been discriminated against by the local administration, including being evicted. Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) spokesperson Yendra Budiana said that men from the group had been denied identity cards. 'There were pressures from certain groups for them to not be granted ID cards,' he said on Monday, as quoted by tribunnews.com. Yendra said that Ahmadis in West Nusa Tenggara, East Java, Central Java and West Java had experienced similar treatment. He cited as an example around 5,000 Ahmadis living in Kuningan, West Java, who often encountered problems when applying for IDs and getting married. Earlier, the JAI sought the government's protection for the group in Bangka after the Bangka administration issued a letter pressuring Ahmadiyah followers in Srimenanti subdistrict to convert to the Sunni teachings of the Indonesian Muslim majority or face expulsion from the regency. The local authorities finally visited the group on Friday, asking them to convert or leave. The media reported that 20 Ahmadis left the area that day. The government has denied the evictions. The ministry's director general for political affairs and general administration, Soedarmo, said that on the contrary, it had tried to provide protection for the group. 'It's not true. [They were] not evicted. There were only three families in the area,' he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Duncan Graham (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta, Central Java Tue, February 9, 2016 Realist painter Herri Soedjarwanto says his works are open for the public to interpret. If your art tastes need spicing up with enigmas, curiosities, contradictions, challenges and puzzles, then don't go looking for realism of the sort dealt in by Surakarta painter Herri Soedjarwanto. His portraits of cherubic people look more like touched-up photographs, which is one of the criticisms flung at the medium by those who prefer their art to be abstract. Herri was a leading student of Dullah, Indonesia's so-called King of Realism, a palace favorite when Sukarno ruled. He finished some of Dullah's works after the old man died of a heart attack in 1996. They include a stirring crowd scene featuring the first president meeting the people under a canopy of billowing red and white flags ' a nationalist's fantasy. However, if you consider such paintings unsubtle, romantic and triumphantly jingoistic and prefer raw commentary, then you need an artist like Herri Soedjarwanto. 'People can have more than one personality,' he said in his crowded Surakarta studio where he's been for the past 20 years, surrounded by canvases from floor to ceiling. 'Some paintings I create for clients are realistic. Like these Balinese couples in traditional dress just after their wedding ' but my other work comes from the heart.' And what a troubled organ ' or so it seems. In one large canvas a phantom image of Sukarno weeps over a tortured landscape of poverty, misery and chaos. All the Proclamator's dreams for a prosperous and happy nation destroyed by greed, intolerance and corruption. Then there's a pastoral of second president Soeharto, shirt open, sleeves rolled up, holding a sheaf of rice. He presides at the head of a table laden with plump farm produce held by sturdy farmers. Even the beasts look fan-struck. The jolly father figure who held the top job for 32 years sits surrounded by chubby children and contented citizens in a pastoral landscape of fecund prosperity, though one hardly-noticed figure on the left edge has turned his back and is walking away like an unwelcome guest. Democracy? No one is saying. The work is Pak Harto si Anak Desa (Soeharto the Village Kid); it hangs in the Purna Bhakti Pertiwi Museum in East Jakarta, which celebrates the life and rule of the second president. Soedjarwanto said the artwork was bought for Rp 40 million (US$3,000) by Soeharto's late cousin Sudwikatmono and donated to the museum, clearly considering it a tribute to his relative. But the painting has also been used on the cover of Illiberal Democracy in Indonesia by Australian academic Dr. David Bourchier and published this year. The book is certainly not a eulogy for the late leader now widely regarded as a corrupt despot whose rule crushed dissent, criticism and artistic endeavor. Swap Soeharto's face for Jesus Christ and the painting could grace the wall of an evangelical or charismatic church more concerned with praise than purpose. 'It's up to others to decide what the picture means,' said Herri. 'I leave it for you to judge. You think it is a parody? OK.' But it's clear the artist, who wears a revolutionary's beret, is no lover of the general who overthrew his hero. One of the largest realistic paintings in his studio shows a younger Sukarno with Fatmawati, the second of his nine wives. That's not for sale. Other works are either benign portraits of beautiful people, professionally executed with every hair and dimple in place, or ghastly visions of armageddon. Although Herri and his Chinese wife Meilina are Muslims, some of his work has a Biblical doomsday feel. Urban capitalism stands in a cloudscape underpinned by spindly poles held upright by starving masses. When it all totters ' cometh the apocalypse. The nearest old master would be Hieronymus Bosch, the 15th century Dutch painter of mass scenes of misery. However, Herri insists his hero is really the abstract artist Pablo Picasso (with whom he shares a birthday ' Oct. 25) though the Indonesian hasn't embraced the Cubism of the Spaniard's later period. Soedjarwanto's formal training in art was with Dullah, but his talents were on display while still a teen, when he made a living drawing comics. Although based on real and mythical Javanese heroes, they follow the American style of dramatic close-ups, stark sentences and dynamic action. The lines are clear and proportional, the techniques so polished and professional they look as though they've come from a veteran in a commercial art studio. Clearly the man has an exceptional talent with brush and pen. Sometimes he runs classes, but he's probably a tough teacher. Any pupil measuring their natural ability against his would be found wanting. 'Like Picasso, I try to be multi-purpose,' he said. 'If I'm feeling good, I paint realistic portraits, but when I've become depressed with the news I have to get rid of my feelings through art. 'I get my ideas through the news and street talk. I know what concerns the people. They don't feature in newspapers like politicians but they still have strong opinions, which they are not afraid to share.' No pictures involving the present President? 'Not yet. I'm waiting for his leadership and actions to reach me.' One particularly savage piece has Justice as a male lawyer with a torn blindfold stabbing a knife through shattered scales ' a response to alleged judicial scandals. Herri tried to explain the contradictions: 'For me, painting is a communication tool. In the daily round should I limit myself to talking about one thing only ' beautiful girls, splendid mountains or concentrate on poverty? 'No! Every day I talk about everything from the trivial to the serious, about feeling happy through to ugliness, suffering and injustice. That's what my art reflects ' everything. It's like a diary that records my emotions 'I know this confuses buyers who like to collect portraits or landscapes and need a consistent supply. They want me to specialize. To hell with that; I won't be intimidated to trot after their ideas. I just want to be honest and follow my conscience, wherever it goes.' ' Photos by JP/Erlinawati Graham Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Warief Djajanto Basorie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 What are unjustifiable lawsuits against press freedom? This is an issue journalists observing National Press Day on Feb. 9 in Lombok, the fast developing go-to island east of Bali, should give thought to and talk through. Unjustifiable lawsuits against press freedom is a term Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman coined. The law school lecturer at the Surabaya-based University of Airlangga labeled lawsuits as unjustifiable when they are directed to intimidate. Dr. Herlambang used the label in his highly readable 2014 dissertation Press Freedom, Law and Politics in Indonesia presented at Leiden University. These are lawsuits political and business figures hurl at journalists and media outlets with the intent to harass and hurt as reprisal over conceived abhorrent reporting. 'They are directed against professional journalism, demand an extreme amount of compensation, are often accompanied by intimidation, and usually serve to promote political-economic elite interests,' Herlambang writes in his 320-page study. In his research, Herlambang interviewed more than 150 people, mostly journalists but also judges, police, lawyers, press council members and media owners. Nearly every journalist he interviewed considered civil lawsuits against the press a means of 'intimidation' rather than a process to sustain accurate reporting. The researcher lists three reasons why journalists feel such lawsuits are intimidating. One, the extraordinary amount of compensation demanded is oft adequate to a bankrupt a media firm. Two, internal conflict dwelling on blame shifting. Three, the judicial process is time consuming, complicated and costly. Herlambang cites the 2011 case of Radar Tegal vs Cipta Yasa Multi Usaha Inc. (CYMA) in which CYMA sent a reply to Radar Tegal that was published almost immediately without editing. CYMA complained the Central Java newspaper reported the company did not have a permit. Nevertheless, two weeks later CYMA filed a lawsuit against Radar Tegal demanding Rp 247.4 billion (US$18.2 million), a sum that would bankrupt the paper. Fortunately, as CYMA did not follow press law procedure, the court dismissed the claim. Earlier, in a 2008 case, a businessman, arguing insult over reports that he was arrested for gambling in a luxury hotel, sued seven different Jakarta-based media with separate claims for damages ranging from $3 million to $16 million. Each of the four Jakarta district courts where the businessman filed his lawsuits refused the claims. One argument was that the news report was based on police sources and the complainant should have addressed the police and not the press. Herlambang also goes into detail with regard to celebrated post-Soeharto reform era cases involving news magazines Tempo and Time that ended in Supreme Court cassation and judicial review for the latter, in their favor. After the end of the 32-year authoritarian rule of Soeharto's New Order in 1998, Herlambang notes that Indonesia has gained more democracy, decentralization and a rise in local business elites. Unlike the Soeharto years, when such lawsuits were few, the reform era sees more civil lawsuits against the press, with insult and defamation as the dominant issue. Before filing a lawsuit, the course complainants should take is to comply with press law procedure. First use the right to reply. If that does not satisfy, report to the Press Council that mediates public complaints about the press. If that fails, go to court but knowing it could be costly and generate unwanted publicity. Indonesia has legally based press freedom under the 1999 Press Law and Article 28F of the Constitution and yet Indonesia currently ranks 138 out of 180 in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders. Indonesia's press scored 40.75 in a range from 1 to 100. The lower the score the greater the press freedom is recognized. Thailand's position is 134. Timor Leste is 103. Taiwan, at 51, is the lead Asian nation. At the summit is Finland. So long as unjustifiable lawsuits against press freedom continue, Indonesia's press will not make the top ranks of the World Press Freedom Index. Journalists should realize this. In exercising their press freedom, undaunted and unfazed reporters should work with unchallenged accuracy and utmost carefulness. They should get the full support of both their editors and their media outlet for the reporting they do. They should also learn the law and press law procedure. In the meantime, after their thorough talk-thru, the sands of Senggigi Beach on the west coast of Lombok beckon for an evening of contemplation. _____________________________ The writer teaches at Dr. Soetomo Press Institute, Jakarta Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Pangkalan Tue, February 9, 2016 Road access between Padang and Pekanbaru in West Sumatra returned to normal on Tuesday after the flood waters that closed the road over the weekend subsided. Pangkalan Police head Ipda Kalbert Jonaidi said access to the Sumatra causeway was reopened on Monday evening after the water started to drain. A queue of vehicles 10 kilometers long lined up from Bukittinggi and Riau. "It took two hours to reduce the congestion," Kalbert said on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co. Kalbert said residents who were evacuated yesterday had begun returning to their homes and cleaning up the waste left behind by the 4-meter-high floods. Thousands of buildings including homes, schools, government offices, police stations, health centers and post offices were inundated in water. West Sumatra has recently been experiencing floods and landslides across 10 regencies and cities due to high rainfall. The most critically hit areas included the regencies of Limapuluh Kota and South Solok due to the overflow of Maek and Batang Sinamar rivers. The West Sumatra-Riau causeway was also cut off due to the flooding. Limapuluh Kota Regent Yendri Thomas said floods have affected over a thousand homes in his region and left residents with no choice but to evacuate. The government has focused on evacuating and assisting flood victims by establishing a center for victim assistance as well as a public kitchen to help overcome gaps in logistics. "We have not decided on a disaster status or condition," he said. (liz/ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) insisted on Tuesday that it would not alter a draft revision to Law No.30/2002 on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) despite vociferous opposition. As the prime driver of the KPK Law revision, the party remains firmly in support of the plan. 'Where do we want this draft revision to lead?' asked PDI-P lawmaker Ichsan Soelistyo, representing House of Representatives members who supported the KPK Law revision, as quoted by kompas.com. As reported earlier, the current KPK Law draft revision numbers four amendment points. First, it mandates the establishment of an oversight council to monitor the antigraft body's performance. Second, the KPK will be given the authority to issue investigation termination warrants for corruption cases. Third, any wiretapping conducted by the KPK will have to have a permit from the oversight council. Fourth, the KPK will not be allowed to recruit its own investigators. Ichsan insisted there was no intention to weaken the KPK. 'The draft revision has not yet been discussed at the House. It's nonsense to talk about this weakening the KPK and so on and so forth,' he said. Ichsan added that although it was unlikely for all initiators to change the current 2002 KPK Law draft revision, it was not impossible that the draft revision would see some changes or adjustments during the deliberation process at the House legislative body (Baleg). The lawmaker asked all parties to be patient and wait for the deliberation process to begin before commenting. 'It's still a draft. It will be discussed first. We will hear input and discuss the draft bill at part of the deliberation process,' said Ichsan. Earlier, experts warned President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and the PDI-P to be careful with the planned revision of the 2002 KPK Law. Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political expert Ikrar Nusa Bakti said the revision could weaken the commission, and in turn degrade public trust in both Jokowi and the PDI-P, with the party's current popularity, having emerged triumphant in 2014's legislative elections, at risk. 'If the KPK Law continues to be pushed, a perception of the PDI-P could emerge as the party that gave birth to, and killed, the KPK,' said Ikrar during a press conference to explain the results of a survey commissioned by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia in Jakarta on Monday. The KPK was established in 2002 by then president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who chairs the PDI-P. Based on the pollster's survey results, public confidence level in political parties in Indonesia has continuously declined in the past year, dropping to 39.2 percent in January from 50.1 percent in the same month last year. Indikator researcher Hendro Prasetyo said the decline was due to several factors, one of which was the planned KPK Law revision, which the public considered contrary to the ethos of corruption eradication. (ebf)(+) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 The government has appointed state-owned energy giant Pertamina to take on the Bontang refinery project, promising cost-free land usage and land clearing as investment sweeteners. Investors in the project, operating under a government and business entity cooperation (KPBU), would also enjoy a tax holiday of 10 years, extendable up to 15 years, said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Sudirman Said.A 'The cost will be zero as investors will use the land for free, thus significantly lowering their [spending],' he said, adding that the government through the Agrarian Ministry would guarantee land certification. Appointed to run the project, Pertamina must create a partnership with a business entity, while the Finance Ministry appoint an international consulting firm. "Five investors have expressed their interest in the refinery construction," he explained. Amid the rapidly increasing domestic fuel demand, the Indonesia government has set the Bontang refinery project, and the Tuban refinery, as two main facilities to help meet local demand and reduce fuel imports. Sudirman is aiming for investors to be appointed in October 2016, at the latest, and for the groundbreaking ceremony to be held in 2017. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Adam Schreck and Zeina Karam (The Jakarta Post) Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tue, February 9, 2016 Saudi Arabia's offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdom's growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering US calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab world's most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. That's if the Saudi proposal even gets translated into action. Just putting the offer on the table gives the Saudis an opportunity to show leadership in addressing US concerns that its regional allies aren't doing enough to fight IS. It also puts pressure on Washington to do more as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and allied defense ministers gather in Brussels this week for talks on confronting the extremists. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, made clear the kingdom's offer is contingent on the support of the US-led coalition battling the militant group in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also has offered to deploy ground forces, are part of the coalition but have eased up on their contributions to the air campaign after earlier, high-profile sorties over Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir implied Monday that his country's willingness to send special forces to Syria was contingent on the US leading the ground effort. "The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground-force contingent in Syria," al-Jubeir told reporters after meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry. "The US is leading the international coalition against ISIS in Syria," he said, declining to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets. "There would be no international coalition against ISIS in Syria if the US did not lead this effort." Saudi Arabia is far more focused on another war even closer to home. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition heavily supported by the Emirates is battling Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and a former president's supporters who control the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the impoverished country. The Yemen intervention highlights Saudi Arabia's growing assertiveness since King Salman's ascension to the throne just over a year ago, along with the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 30-year-old prince was named by his father as defense minister and second-in-line to be king. Prince Mohammed has announced the creation of a Saudi-based Islamic military alliance intended to fight terrorism. The bloc includes much of the Sunni Arab world, several African and Asian countries, as well as NATO member Turkey. Not included are IS front lines Syria and Iraq, or Saudi Arabia's chief rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran. "The Salman doctrine is about projecting power and military strength," said Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik, who believes the Saudis' offer for troops in Syria could portend other military expeditions in the region. "It may be looking for leverage, but it's also very serious," he said. While the Saudis say their aim is to fight IS, the timing of the kingdom's announcement raises questions about its motives. Russia's intervention in Syria has sharply altered the military landscape, routing Saudi-backed rebels from key areas in the north and giving Assad the upper hand. Prospects for any meaningful peace talks appear to be dwindling by the day. Any ground troops deployed to fight IS would almost certainly have to enter from the Turkish border, close to the area where Syrian government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing under cover of blistering Russian airstrikes. Saudi ground troops would find themselves embroiled in complex terrain where hundreds of Shiite fighters from Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan also are fighting. That would make the proxy sectarian wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging suddenly more intimate, potentially putting Saudi and Iranian troops in the same fighting space. IS would certainly relish the chance to take on Saudi ground troops, given that it views the Saudi monarchy as a top enemy in the region. Saudi troops might well find themselves less battle-hardened than the jihadists and would no doubt be singled out for capture. The seizure by IS militants of a Jordanian pilot whose plane crashed over Syria in 2014 and his subsequent videotaped killing was a factor in dampening Arab participation in the air campaign in Syria. At a news conference Saturday in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem ridiculed the Saudi offer to send troops to Syria, vowing they would "return home in wooden coffins." "The question that Saudi Arabia should be asking itself is, what did it accomplish in Yemen? Was it successful?" he asked. "It has sown destruction, hitting every target two, three times and did not leave a stone standing. Did the Yemenis surrender?" Al-Moallem said the offer was a sign of Saudi frustration that their "tools" in Syria were losing in the face of sweeping victories by the Syrian army. (bbn) Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Tue, February 9, 2016 Amid a series of alcohol-poisoning cases that has taken dozens of lives in Yogyakarta over the past week, the government is facing mounting pressure to apply stricter supervisions to the production and distribution of oplosan (bootleg liquor) to prevent another deadly incident from occuring. The pressure emerged after Yogyakarta law enforcers said on Monday that 26 people, most of them university students, had died since last Wednesday after consuming oplosan at separate venues in the province. Dozens of others, meanwhile, are in a serious condition in hospital after having had the drink. Yogyakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) Deputy Speaker Arief Noor Hartanto on Monday urged the government to immediately crack down on vendors of oplosan, arguing that the uncontrolled production and sale of the product had contributed significantly to the increase in alcohol-related deaths. 'The government and the police must take firm action against [oplosan] vendors, who are the root of the problem, to avoid more casualties,' he said. The police arrested a couple from Depok district who allegedly produced and sold the oplosan consumed by some of the victims. 'We have seized a number of substances from the couple's house and are currently trying to identify them. One of them is fermented snake fruit,' Sleman Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yulianto said, adding that the vendor also had allegedly mixed the oplosan with other substances, including mosquito repellent. According to a preliminary investigation, Yulianto said the victims had not bought oplosan from a single vendor. Although the police have revealed the identity of the victims, most between 19 and 28 years old, they remained tight-lipped on where the victims had studied or worked. Reporters have also been denied access to survivors in hospital. Yulianto, however, confirmed that nine Papuan students were among the deceased and 19 others were undergoing treatment in local hospitals. Lawyer Edo Gobay, representing the hospitalized Papuan students, claimed that his clients had consumed alcoholic beverages earlier this month in two separate groups: one at a boarding house in Condongcatur subdistrict, Sleman, and the other on their way to the Bukit Bintang resort area in Gunungkidul regency. Edo said his clients had immediately felt sick after drinking a mixture of beer, kolesom (ginseng) wine and oplosan made from local alcoholic spirits arak and ciu. 'We have asked the Yogyakarta Police to arrest local oplosan vendors as they are selling substances that can become poisonous when mixed together with other alcoholic beverages,' he said. Oplosan has gained popularity in Indonesia as it is much cheaper than any branded liquor product. A bottle of oplosan, which contains 300 milliliters of liquor, for example, is sold for between Rp 15,000 (US$1) and Rp 20,000 in Yogyakarta, home to some 120,000 university students. Oplosan makers usually run a small-scale operation, allowing only regular customers access to the product. The police have claimed that this secluded, customer-based operation made it difficult for them to crack down on the distribution of the illegal product. Hundreds of people die every year across the archipelago due to oplosan consumption. The West Java Police, for example, revealed that more than 80 people had died throughout 2015 after consuming oplosan. Most of the victims were under the age of 20. Last year, all 10 party factions at the House of Representatives agreed to continue deliberating on the alcohol prohibition bill. Lawmakers who support the bill have argued the country requires a stronger legal basis for its control of the production and consumption of illicit alcohol. Supraja, a sociologist from Gadjah Mada University, said the government had to provide clear regulations that detailed which kinds of alcoholic beverages were allowed to be produced and distributed. 'Such rules will allow law enforcers to take strict measures against oplosan makers and anyone who does not comply,' he said. ____________________________________ List of deadly 'oplosan' incidents Feb. 8: The Sleman Police in Yogyakarta announce that 26 people have died from alcohol poisoning since Feb. 3 after consuming oplosan (bootleg liquor). Dec. 21, 2015: Five people in Depok, West Java, die after consuming a mixture of vodka and energy drinks. Sept. 3, 2015: Twelve people die in Garut, West Java, after drinking a mixture of energy supplements and bootleg liquor, reported to have been 70 percent pure, a level generally reserved for antiseptic purposes. Dec. 4, 2014: Sixteen people die in Garut, West Java, after consuming Cherry Belle branded liquor, with a 70-percent alcohol content, mixed with other drinks. Jan. 1, 2014: Fourteen people die and 11 others are taken to hospital with alcohol poisoning after consuming oplosan in Mojokerto, East Java. ____________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Poso Tue, February 9, 2016 A shootout between police and suspected members of a terrorist group in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Tuesday morning has left two suspected terrorists and one member of police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) dead. The gun battle took place at around 10:27 a.m in Sanginora village in Poso Pesisir Selatan subdistrict in Poso, four hour's drive from Central Sulawesi's capital city of Palu, Operation Tinombala commander Sr. Comr. Leo Bona Lubis said on Tuesday. Police believe the dead suspected terrorists were members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group led by fugitive Santoso, aka Abu Wardah. The shootout occurred after police were tipped off by local residents that two people had been seen driving around the area in a pick-up carrying food supplies over the past few days, Lubis said. On Tuesday morning officers conducted spot checks on traffic in the area. In the course of the operation Brig. Wahyudi Saputra was shot in the neck by the occupants of a pick-up. "[The police] withdrew a short distance and returned fire. The two suspected members of the MIT were killed inside the vehicle," Lubis told thejakartapost.com. Brig. Wahyudi was immediately taken to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. His body has been transported to Central Sulawesi Police headquarters in Palu. Police and Army personnel launched Operation Tinombala in January looking to capture Santoso and dozens of his followers believed to be hiding in the forests of Poso. Santoso has allegedly engineered and led attacks against police officers in the Central Sulawesi area in the past few years.(afr/rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haeril Halim and Indra Harsaputra (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Surabaya Tue, February 9, 2016 Following the recent controversy over LGBT groups on university campuses, an ulema group has paved the way for banning all activities that advocate freedom of sexual orientation. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has confirmed that it is currently preparing a fatwa, or a non-legally binding edict, that will recommend the prosecution of Muslims who join in LGBT-related activities. MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin told The Jakarta Post the government-sanctioned body was preparing the fatwa and was soon to announce it. Ma'ruf said that as the MUI had earlier issued a fatwa declaring LGBT communities 'religiously, culturally and morally deviant', through this fatwa it was looking to ban Muslims from joining any groups promoting LGBT rights in Indonesia, a country with a majority Muslim population. 'We want Muslims to be cautious of LGBT [activities]. This is not about LGBT people, but more to do with their movements. There is a lot that is deviant about it,' Ma'ruf said recently, adding that the fatwa was an effective way of reminding Muslims about the 'danger' of LGBT movements, which he noted had increased in recent years in Indonesia. Ma'ruf said that the fatwa would also seek a ban on LGBT groups in Indonesia. LGBT activities on campus came into the spotlight recently when conservative media coverage attacked the Support Group and Resource Center on Sexuality Studies (SGRC) at the University of Indonesia (UI), triggering hostile remarks from public officials including Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir and Education and Culture Minister Anies Baswedan. The hostility was exacerbated by a tough stance against LGBT rights from the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) ' known for its moderate stance on minority issues ' as well as from the traditionally inclusive National Awakening Party (PKB). MUI edict commission secretary Asrorun Niam said that LGBT activity was a deviant way to channel sexual desire and if spread widely in society it could disrupt 'legal and social' order. He said that the MUI was also looking to recommend that the government include articles that provided legal basis for charging people who enjoyed such 'deviant sexual activity', adding that human rights in Indonesia should comply with religious and moral values. Asrorun called on Muslims across the country not to discriminate against LGBT people, whom he said 'should be rehabilitated to cure their homosexuality'. 'For those who campaign for [LGBT rights], there should be firm legal prosecution to protect the legal and social order of society,' he said. Setara Institute deputy chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos called on the government to reject the MUI's call to ban LGBT groups in Indonesia, saying a fatwa could not be used a basis to make a law or regulation. 'In the process of making a law, lawmakers should not only consider the views of religious groups but also [...] members of the public. Indonesia has strong influences from religious groups, thus, it is difficult to expect the state to legitimize LGBT [expression], but it does not mean that the government should not give LGBT people the same treatment as other citizens,' Bonar said. Amid the controversy, organizers have postponed a Valentine's Day 'G Nite Party' in Surabaya, East Java, citing lack of a security guarantee or protection from law enforcement agencies. 'We eventually postponed the event, scheduled for Feb. 7 at one of the karaoke parlors in the Maj. Gen Sungkono area, after police were unable to provide security to revelers,' GAYa Nusantara board member Dede Oetomo told the Post on Sunday. Dede said that after the police questioned them on their event licensing, the organizing committee immediately consulted with the Surabaya City Police. 'The police did not ban the event, but they could not guarantee [our security] if we were attacked by religious groups. In the event of an attack, police could also not blame the [attackers] because the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) community has not been recognized in Indonesia,' said Dede. Surabaya Police spokesman Comr. Lily Djafar said police would call off the G Night Party event on the grounds it did not have a police permit. 'Any activities involving a crowd must have permission from the police ' without one they are regarded as illegal. If the event were to be held, we would take action in accordance with applicable laws,' said Lily. She added that if the organizers applied for a permit, police could not immediately issue it because in general, police only issued permit for events that did not disturb public order. ____________________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Matthew Pennington (The Jakarta Post) Washington Tue, February 9, 2016 North Korean nuclear and rocket tests are drawing quick responses from the US that will upset a supposed partner against Pyongyang's weapons development ' China. New efforts to toughen South Korea's missile defense system and sanctions legislation moving swiftly through Congress could both hurt Chinese interests. The Chinese are concerned the missile defense system could be used against them, and the US sanctions could hit Chinese companies that trade with North Korea. The US and China both oppose North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and have characterized it as an issue they cooperate on, even though China is an old ally of the North. But a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion and Sunday's rocket launch that world leaders called a test of ballistic missile technology have exposed stark differences between Washington and Beijing on how to deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's provocations. Beijing is reluctant to impose stiff economic sanctions, fearing a collapse of North Korea's economy and a flight of refugees across the border into China. But even if the UN Security Council can't agree on the kind of tough measures that Washington wants, the US can act on its own to pressure Pyongyang. For some time, the US has been nudging its close ally South Korea toward allowing the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system on its soil. Seoul, which hosts 28,500 US forces, has been reluctant to initiate talks on the system that could hurt its improving relations with Beijing. But soon after North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space, the US and South Korea announced they were looking into a possible THAAD deployment. "We would like to see this move as quickly as possible," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Monday. He said consultations would begin within days. China was quick to make its displeasure known. In a commentary Monday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said a deployment could trigger a regional arms race. "It would be unwise for the United States to act arbitrarily in disregard of international opposition just to serve its own interests of carrying out its 'Pivot to Asia' strategy," the commentary said, referring to President Barack Obama's effort to increase the US presence in the Asia-Pacific region, in part to counter the rise of China. Cook said a THAAD deployment would be directed solely at North Korea and no other country should be concerned. But critics including Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have said the system could help US radar spot missiles from China. On the economic front, the US sanctions legislation could also cause discomfort in Beijing, which is North Korea's main trading partner and source of economic support. On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to pass the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act that aims to expand and tighten economic restrictions to block the Kim regime's access to hard currency, targeting both North Korean entities and companies in other countries like China that deal with them. The House of Representatives last month passed a version of the bill amid frustration that US policy has failed to stop Pyongyang's progress toward having a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the US West Coast. The bill has strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. The legislation requires an investigation and then imposition of sanctions on any person that "knowingly" engages in prohibited activities, ranging from importing weapons technology to "cyber terrorism." In the Senate version, trading precious metals or coal that is linked to North Korea's ruling party or armed forces is also forbidden. Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korea at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that measure could implicate state-owned Chinese companies which trade with North Korea. He said such companies may not do a lot of business in the US, but blacklisting them would cause diplomatic problems with China. He said that China might even try to challenge such an action by the US at the World Trade Organization. Joseph DeThomas, a former senior State Department official who advised on Iran and North Korea, played down expectations that new US sanctions would have a dramatic impact. The secretive nature of North Korea's business dealings and its isolation from the world economy means that good evidence of sanctions violations is infrequent, and the evidence must then pass a rigorous, internal US government review, he said. The executive would also have some discretion over implementation of the legislation if it is ultimately signed into law by Obama. Still, the legislation would elevate the stakes, as the US and China, which fought on opposite sides in the 1950-53 Korean War, grapple with a North Korea which appears impervious to diplomatic pressure and intent on building a bigger nuclear arsenal. "There are a lot of Chinese chips on the table here," said DeThomas, now professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. "Is there a way for the US and China to act together to deal with the North Korea problem or are we heading toward a parting of the ways which will pose a lot of risks to both sides?" Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tue, February 9, 2016 Still fresh in our mind is a horrible incident ' the recent attack on Jl. MH Thamrin in Jakarta. According to National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan, as quoted by The Jakarta Post, all five terrorists died in the attack: Two were suicide bombers and the others died during the shootout with the police. The incident is proof that some people are still easily influenced by the radical thoughts and empty promises of the radical Islamic State (IS) movement. The group targets people who do not have much knowledge about their religion or about IS itself, especially young people. From my perspective as a young Indonesian, I would like to invite everybody to care more about their families and friends, to avoid such radical and wrong teachings. We should be more careful where we get our information, and whether we believe it. We should keep in mind that all religions teach love and peace, and no religions teach brutal radicalism. The youth of Indonesia can avoid these wrong things by focusing on our own targets. We should learn more about what is right or wrong based on religious and human law. I am sure that we can all live in a peaceful country. Let us develop this nation together and avoid anything that will tear this country apart. Dhanu Parwito Pekanbaru, Riau Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tue, February 9, 2016 Indonesia should join 80 other countries in the world in outlawing homosexual activity. Such practices are against Islamic teachings and Christian values. I may be old, with outdated morals, but homosexuality should not be allowed in Indonesia. The country does not have to follow Australia, America, UK and other Western countries that have lost their sense of morality. I used to be a regular visitor to Bali, but the last time I visited the island, I was sickened to see old Western men hitting on young Indonesian boys. We went one afternoon to a hotel swimming pool in Legian, but did not stay long. There was a group of men from Australia lying and playing around the pool. They were kissing, cuddling and touching each other. This was the most disgusting, perverted and sick thing I had ever seen in my adult life. Families with children were leaving the hotel as fast as they came in. What happened to the beer-drinking, BBQ-cooking tough Aussie men of yore? Now they are the homosexual capital of the world. If Bali wants to accept this, then that is up to them, but surely Indonesians don't want to see this on the streets of Jakarta. It's not just the Islamic hardliners that are against this, but also any person with normal values and morals. Mike Black Sentul City, Bogor Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen At 9:30 this morning, the City Council holds a hearing on the mayors controversial zoning proposal known as Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. Community Board 3 has expressed major concerns about the citys plan. It remains to be seen how City Council member Margaret Chin will respond to those concerns. Community Board 3s transportation committee meets this evening at 6:30 p.m. in CB3s office, 59 East 4th St. Among the agenda items is a proposal to change traffic patterns and parking rules on Broome Street, alongside the Essex Crossing construction site. The Post reports that pro boxer Gabriel Bracero beat up a New York City cop during an early Sunday morning traffic stop in Chinatown. From the Posts editorial page: Even on his way to prison, Sheldon Silver is still a political power. The new luxury project at 347 Bowery appears to have been topped off, notes EV Grieve. Channel 13s MetroFocus profiles the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space. Canadian man, 28, found dead at Patong hotel PHUKET: Police are puzzling over the death of a 28-year-old Canadian man found dead in a Patong hotel room early this morning (Feb 9). deathpatong By Darawan Naknakhon Tuesday 9 February 2016, 10:14AM Police and doctors have yet to confirm the cause of death of Canadian national Micheal Jerry Talbot, 28. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon Kathu Police Capt Yingyong Chuoykij was called to the long-standing Tropica Bungalow Resort on the Patong beach road just before 6am, where staff led the officers to the room where the body of a Canadian man they named as Michel Jerry Talbot, 28, was still lying on his bed. We found no signs of robbery or assault, Capt Yingyong said. Mr Shannon, a male friend of Mr Talbot, told us that they came back from a night out at around 11pm and went to bed without changing. At 5:30am, Mr Shannon called for help after Mr Talbot told him that he had chest pain and difficulty breathing. But when help arrived, Mr Talbot was already in shock. He was taken to Patong Hospital, but pronounced dead upon arrival, Capt Yingyong said. Dr Unchisa Kittiyankul at Patong Hospital said that doctors there had yet to confirm the cause of death. We found no sign of injury on the body, but we are hoping that further medica examination will confirm the cause of death, Dr Unchisa said. The Canadian embassy in Bangkok and the family have been notified of Mr Talbots death, Capt Yingyong confirmed. Missing Phuket child recovering 'well', found alive six days later, 3km from home PHUKET: Missing 3-year-old boy Jessadakorn Chaiyo, or Nong DJ, who was last seen at his familys home in on Wednesday (Feb 3) was found alive, but weak, earlier today (Feb 9). He is now recovering at Vachira Phuket Hospital, n Phuet Town. By Suthicha Sirirat Tuesday 9 February 2016, 06:26PM Kusoldharm rescue worker Phattarawut Akanitthakorn, who was among the 30-strong search teams who scoured the forest. Photo: Suthicha Sirirat Nong DJ was found in undergrowth about 3km from his family's home. Photo: Suthicha Sirirat Nong DJ was found in undergrowth about 3km from his family's home. Photo: Suthicha Sirirat Search teams found the toddler in a forest near Anusorn 200 Pi Rd, behind the Wang Talang duty free store, at 11:40am about three kilometres from his home near Kwang Rd, Wichit. Kusoldharm rescue worker Phattarawut Akanitthakorn, who was among the 30-strong search effort that included Wichit Police, Kusoldharm rescue workers and personnel from The Mirror Foundation, explained that Nong DJ's family had requested that search teams to search into the forest. They said that a dog Nong DJ had been playing with had turned up at the house twice and barked as if to tell them something, Mr Phattarawut said. Also, Nong DJs grandfather, Sujit Chaiyo, told us that about three days ago residents in the area told him that they had heard a sound of a boy crying and saw one boy walking toward an abandoned shelter in the forest, but a dog barked at him so he ran off deeper into the forest, he added. The residents did not think that the boy was a missing child (sic). Instead they thought the boy belonged to Myanmar workers in the area. Mr Sujit reported this to police anyway and told them to search near the area. The search teams found Nong DJ by an abandoned shelter by a canal. Inside the shelter we found leftover food and some milk, said Mr Phattarawut. Nong DJ had his body and feet in the river and his head was resting on the ground. He had several scrapes on his body and extremely weak, but was conscious and able to communicate. Dr Jiradech Panyasuthikit at Vachira Phuket Hospital, where Nong DJ is recovering, told The Phuket News, Overall Nong DJ is healthy. He has ulcerations on his feet because they were in the water too long, and he ad several scrapes all over his body. He has been given vitamins and nutrition via intravenous drip, Dr Jiradech said. We have also arranged for a child psychiatrist and paediatric doctor and nurses to monitor him closely. Police now believe Spaniard murder suspect acted alone BANGKOK: Reversing earlier supposition that a Spanish man accused of kidnapping, killing and dismembering a compatriot was part of a gang, police said today (Feb 9) they now believe Artur Segarra acted alone. crimehomicidepolice By Bangkok Post Tuesday 9 February 2016, 03:41PM Police bring Spanish murder suspect Artur Segarra, 37, to the Metropolitan Police Bureau for interrogation today (Feb 9). (Photo by Chanat Katanyu) Briefing the media after a first round of interrogation of the 37-year-old Spaniard at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Pol Gen Panya Mamen, the senior police adviser supervising the investigation, alleged that Segarra carefully planned the murder of 40-year-old consultant David Bernat with the primary goal of stealing his fortune. Collected evidence indicated that Segarra was the sole murderer and fled to Surin and Cambodia after the crime. He was held at Borworn Mongkhol police station in Bang Phlat district in Bangkok on yesterday night (Feb 8). Police said he acted relaxed and asked for food, a jacket and cigarettes. He spoke Thai with local officers and told them that he had been a Muay Thai boxer on Koh Samui, found love in Thailand and liked the country very much. He declined to speak Thai with interrogators, however, simply denying the charges, refusing to answer questions, rejecting a police offer to appoint a lawyer for him, and demanding the Spanish embassy provide counsel and a witness, according to acting Bangkok police chief Sanit Mahathaworn. Questioning finally began today with the help of a Spanish-language interpreter and a representative from the Spanish embassy. Questioning of Segarras girlfriend, Pritsana Saen-ubon, 22, also was continuing. She and friend Atthachai Tuasa-ard would be treated as witnesses, Pol Gen Panya said. Pol Gen Panya said detectives now were checking the suspects alibi, surveillance-camera footage and forensic evidence to locate where he allegedly dumped Mr Bernats body parts into the Chao Phraya River, where they began washing up Jan 30, and discarded weapons. Both Spanish men were seen riding a motorcycle together near their Bangkok residences on Jan 20, the last time Mr Bernat was seen alive. Police believe Mr Bernat was kidnapped, tortured and forced to transfer huge sums of money to Segarras bank account before he was killed, likely on Jan 25. A frequent visitor to Thailand, Segarra was brought from the Cambodian town of Sihanoukville to Thailand yesterday after his arrest on Sunday. Although the suspect denied charges of premeditated murder and body concealment, the senior officer said police had substantial evidence to prosecute him and results from an examination of the evidence would be available Thursday (Feb 11). Pol Gen Panya said the murder had been well-planned and likely was motivated by money, as Segarra had no set occupation. Police now were trying to determine if the suspect spent Mr Bernats cash alone or transferred it to another person. The police adviser quoted Miss Pritsana as saying that she had never met Bernat, but speculated someone else might be involved in handling his assets. Investigators, however, have not yet found any other foreigner connected to the case, Pol Gen Panya said. The money trail indicated about B37 million in all was wired from Mr Bernats account in Singapore to Segarras bank. The suspect later withdrew several million baht of from his account. Read original story here. Six passengers hospitalised after driver loses control of Phuket bound bus PHUKET: Six people were hospitalised this morning (Feb 9) when the Phuket-bound Phuket-Hatyai bus they were travelling on missed a bend and crashed on Petchkasem Rd in Phang Nga. accidentstransportpolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Tuesday 9 February 2016, 06:44PM Passengers on the bus say they believe the driver fell asleep and this caused him to lose control of the bus before slamming into the tree. Photo: Narainthon rescue centre Takhua Thung Polices Lt Col Kittiphumi Na Thalang was alerted of the accident by the local Narainthon rescue centre at 1:50am. Police arrived at the scene with rescue workers to find the damaged bus smashed into a tree. The bus driver, Sarawuth Sooksawan, 38, from Wichit suffered two broken legs and was taken to Phang Nga Hospital along with five passengers who suffer injuries caused by the impact of the crash. Two of the five passengers were severely injured suffering broken collarbones and hip injuries. The other three suffered only minor injuries police said. Lt Col Kittiphumi said, The bus was carrying 15 Thai people from Hatyai to Phuket. Passengers believe the driver fell asleep and this caused him to lose control of the vehicle and slam head on into the tree. We are waiting to question the driver and the injured passengers about the incident before conclude the investigation, he said. Spanish man charged over Bangkok body parts murder BANGKOK: Charges of premeditated murder and destroying and concealing a human body were pressed against a Spanish man who is the prime suspect in the murder of a fellow Spaniard whose body parts were found in the Chao Phraya River last week. homicidepolice By Bangkok Post Tuesday 9 February 2016, 09:02AM Police say Artur Segarra Princep, 37, abducted and killed a fellow Spaniard last week, then fled to Cambodia where he was arrested and returned to Thailand Sunday. (Photo courtesy Immigration Bureau, Trat) The charges were brought against Artur Segarra Princep, 37, after he was apprehended on Sunday evening (Feb 7) in the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville where he had checked into a guesthouse a few days earlier, the Associated Press reported. Mr Segarra was extradited to Thailand yesterday (Feb 8) and is now in police custody in Bangkok. Immediately after he was brought back to the kingdom, the Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on premeditated murder and body concealment charges. National Police Chief Chakthip Chaijinda told a press conference Mr Segarra denied any involvement in the murder of David Bernat, 40, a consultant with a foreign company. Pol Gen Chakthip said the suspect travelled back and forth between Thailand and Cambodia several times over the past few years. He can speak Thai fairly well. He was accused of killing Bernat, dismembering his body and discarding the parts in the Chao Phraya River late last month. The body parts were discovered in the river last week. Medical examiners said they believe he died between Jan 25 and Jan 27 by suffocation. Police said Bernat may have been abducted, tortured and forced to transfer a large amount of money before being killed. Bernat was reported missing from his apartment, Nantiruj Tower, in Klong Toey district on the night of Jan 20 after he was last seen on CCTV footage riding a motorcycle with Mr Segarra from his apartment. The money trail indicated more than B37 million was wired twice from Bernats account in Singapore to Mr Segarras account. Last Thursday (Deb 5), Mr Segarra withdrew several million baht of the wired money from his account from ATMs in Bangkoks Min Buri district and Ayutthayas Wang Noi district and over the counter at Kasikornbanks Suwinthawong branch in Bangkok. Meanwhile, lead investigator Pol Gen Panya Mamen yesterday led a search of Mr Segarras condominium on Rama IX Road and of a rented house in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 174. It was the second search of the two locations to gather more evidence. According to police, Mr Segarras condominium on Rama IX Road, rented since July last year, was believed to be where Bernat was killed and his body dismembered. CCTV footage at the condo showed Mr Segarra on his motorcycle with Bernat riding pillion on Jan 20, the day the victim was last seen. A police source said Mr Segarra was captured in footage carrying a large bag as he left his condo on his motorcycle on Jan 26. On Jan 31, the footage showed him leaving his condo with a freezer. Police suspected that after the murder, Mr Segarra hid the victims body parts in the freezer and discarded them in the river one by one. Read original story here. Spanish murder suspect caught in Cambodia CAMBODIA: Cambodian police have reportedly arrested a Spaniard suspected of having murdered and dismembered a compatriot and dumped his body parts in the Chao Phraya River. homicidepolice By Bangkok Post Monday 8 February 2016, 10:42AM Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn, Immigration Bureau chief, has got Cambodian agreement to help search for murder suspect Artur Segarra Princep (top right) while detectives question the Spaniards girlfriend. (Photos courtesy Royal Thai Police) According Cambodian news website www.freshnesasia.com, Artur Segarra de Princep, 37, the suspect, was apprehended yesterday (Feb 7) at a restaurant in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, 246 kilometres southwest of Phnom Penh. Freshnewsasia published pictures of Mr Segarra on the website. He was wearing a pair of jeans, canvas shoes and a green-black jacket. He was being returned to Bangkok, the report said. Matichon Online reported that national police chief Gen Chakthip Chaichinda was waiting to arrest him at the Police Aviation Division at Km 4 on Ram Intra road. Police had earlier taken Pritsana Saen-ubol, 22, Mr Segarras girlfriend, from Surin province to Bangkok for questioning. According to her accounts, she and Mr Segarra were in a karaoke bar together in Surins Muang district, but he sped away on his motorcycle when his photo appeared on the TV news. During questioning on Saturday night (Feb 6), she told police her boyfriend probably killed David Bernat, a 40-year-old Spanish businessman, whose body parts were found in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok last Wednesday (Feb 3). Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn said yesterday he had asked his Cambodian counterpart Gen Sokphai to help look for the wanted Spaniard after his motorcycle was found abandoned near a border market in Surins Kap Choeng district on Feb 6. Read original report here. Watertown to host state Cheer & Dance: Here's what you need to know Well, its about time. The premier of Ontario said Monday that Metrolinx has to look at the possibility of pricing the Union-Pearson Express (UPX) train to serve local commuters. This comes after the provincial agency that built and runs the train reported Friday that ridership has actually dropped in the months since its September peak. That peak was, itself, so dispiritingly low that I wrote then that Metrolinx should open the service up to lowly commuters while it was waiting for the business travellers it so desires to return its affections. Its nice to see that, after another two months in which it averaged fewer passengers than the Burnhamthorpe bus, the idea is finally getting some high-profile play. (Just think: somehow the Burnhamthorpe bus manages to attract all those passengers without even having its own website and custom-produced magazine and uniformed attendants. It has but one thing to recommend it: the cash fare is $3.25, and the bus driver will give you a transfer to get you on the subway for free, too.) Now, as Ive made clear before, Im not exactly an impartial observer here. I am one of those who live and work near enough to UPX stops that using it to commute could actually save me more than a half an hour a day. So perhaps seeing those trains run past my house every 15 minutes has given me more frequent occasion than most people have to shake my fist at the fact they are 90 per cent empty. From the outset, I had a bit of a philosophical objection to the thought that with all the much-discussed transit and traffic problems Toronto faces we spent $456 million in public money on a line explicitly intended for the near-exclusive use of business travellers, rather than for regular Torontonians. Now, if the thing was bringing in sweet business traveller cash by the trainload, enough to pay for itself and subsidize other transit for the hoi polloi, then those philosophical reservations would be overwhelmed by practical use. But instead, we continue to subsidize the comfortable (if lonely) ride of these business people. The plan, frustratingly, always called for us to do so until the service could attract enough riders to break even (sometime perhaps in 2020, it was thought). But it seems attracting riders is a bigger trick than the plan called for. So: Metrolinx says it will consider options, including lower fares, to attract more riders. The premiers on board. Good. But theres another, bigger consideration here. The experience so far with UPX doesnt suggest to me that Metrolinx is very good at developing ridership priorities and fare strategy. You can add the experience of the Presto card so far and the unnecessarily convoluted process of getting one registered and putting money on it to the pile of evidence that making transit as easy to ride as possible is not something the agency is, so far, good at. Now consider that Metrolinx is bringing forward a report about fare integration with the TTC and other municipal transit agencies. Its a report that, according to the analysis of transit expert and blogger Steve Munro, expresses pricing principles that seem to point to raising the fare to ride the subway, and possibly raising the fare to ride LRT vehicles in dedicated corridors. Its principles suggest that those travelling farthest should pay the mostwhich makes some sense except that it acts as a deterrent to riding transit for those with the longest commutes (which, in Toronto, means those in Scarborough and North Etobicoke who have no choice but to ride transit, some of the most economically vulnerable people in the city). This is important, because fare and service integration with Metrolinx is going to be an essential factor in whether John Torys SmartTrack plan works, or doesnt. It is going to be essential because Metrolinx is building, and will own, the many LRT lines we are expecting. It is profoundly significant to the ongoing background conversation that suggests the TTC should, at some point, be merged with regional agencies or shuffled under Metrolinxs control. Say this for the TTC: the principle behind its pricing, and at its best times the principle behind its service levels, has always been to encourage the highest number of riders as feasible to use the service. That, it would seem to me, would be a good guideline for revisiting UPX, and a good principle to start from in laying out a fare integration strategy. And if we reach a point where all our services are bursting at maximum capacity a relatively good problem to have then we can talk about how to deal with that. Then maybe raising prices will make sense. Or maybe it will be clear that adding more service would be even better. Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire Read more about: SHARE: ANKARA, TURKEYAs tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing violence massed at Turkeys border, Turkish and German leaders pledged Monday to redouble diplomatic efforts to end the fighting around the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo and prevent more refugees making their way into Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that she is not just appalled but horrified by the suffering caused by bombing in Syria, primarily by Russia. Merkel said that Turkey and Germany will push at the United Nations for everyone to keep to a UN resolution passed in December that calls on all sides to halt without delay attacks on the civilian population. Merkel was in Ankara for talks on how to reduce the influx of migrants into Europe, mostly via a perilous boat crossing from Turkey to Greece. Turkeys coast guard said Monday that another 27 migrants died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit, while four people were rescued trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. Her visit came after a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around Aleppo sent up to 35,000 Syrians fleeing toward the border with Turkey in recent days. Merkel is under pressure at home to cut the number of refugee arrivals after nearly 1.1 million people were registered as asylum-seekers in Germany last year. Turkey has taken in 2.5 million Syrian refugees since the conflict began, and authorities say the country has reached its capacity to absorb refugees. The Turkish border crossing of Oncupinar, opposite the Syrian Bab al-Salameh gate, remained closed for a fourth day on Monday as Turkish authorities provided assistance to the Syrians at a displaced persons camp nearby. Syrian army troops meanwhile recaptured another village north of Aleppo on Monday, bringing troops and allied militiamen to within a few kilometres of the Turkish border. Aleppo is de facto under siege. We are on the verge of a new human tragedy, Davutoglu said. No one should excuse or show tolerance toward the Russian air attacks that amount to ethnic massacres by saying, Turkey takes care of the Syrian refugees anyway, Davutoglu said. No one can expect Turkey to take on the burden on its own. Added Merkel: We have been, in the past few days, not just appalled but horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing primarily from the Russian side. Under such circumstances, its hard for peace talks to take place, and so this situation must be brought to an end quickly, Merkel said. Hussein Bakri, an official in the interim government set up by the Syrian opposition, said more than 70,000 people had been displaced from Aleppo and urged the international community to shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Syrian people by stopping the Russian bombing. If the situation continues like this, it will lead to the displacement of up to 400,000 people from Aleppo province and from Aleppo city, Bakri said. It is clear that the Russians are aiming for the encirclement and to lay siege to Aleppo as has happened in other parts of Syria. The EU has urged Turkey to open its border and let in the thousands fleeing the Aleppo onslaught. But Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said after a Cabinet meeting on Monday that Turkeys priority is to keep the fleeing Syrians within the borders of their country and provide them with assistance there. Merkel and Davutoglu said Germany and Turkey would work together to provide aid to the refugees at the border. Another top Turkish government official reacted angrily to the EU pressure on Turkey to open its doors to the Syrian refugees, yet seal them for migrants trying to leave Turkey and reach the EU via the water crossing into Greece. On the one hand they say Open your borders, take everyone in, and on the other hand they say, Close your border, dont let anyone through, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said. Why dont you take them in? At the Turkish border gate of Oncupinar, opposite Syrias Bab al-Salameh crossing, several dozen Syrian refugees waited on Monday in the hope that it would be opened so that their friends or family could cross into Turkey. If Aleppo falls, people will come out in the millions to Turkey wearing nothing but the clothes on their backs, said Aleppo native Yasser, who declined to give his surname out of concerns for his safety. We thank Turkey because they have stood with us more than our Arab brothers but we ask that this border gate be opened in both directions. Turkish officials have not offered a reason for keeping the border closed but aid workers said that opening the gate would spur more arrivals. We are worried that opening the gates will lead to an increase in refugees, said Burak Kacacaoglu, a spokesman for the non-governmental Islamic charity group, Humanitarian Relief Foundation. We are concerned about the airstrikes which are increasingly targeting civilian areas. This is what causes refugees. The deepening humanitarian crisis in Syria was further highlighted by a United Nations report on Monday that said thousands of detainees held by the Syrian government have been executed, beaten to death or otherwise left to die on a scale that amounts to extermination under international law. The UN-backed Commission of Inquiry on Syria called for targeted sanctions against high-ranking Syrian officials responsible for such crimes, but did not name any suspects. It also documented mass executions by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONOn the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump engaged with a protestor who called rival Senator Ted Cruz a vulgar term. Trump was speaking to a crowd of about 5,000 people inside the Verizon Center in Manchester when a woman in the crowd shouted that Cruz was a p-ssy. You know what she said? Shout it out, Trump said. The woman repeated her remark. Youre not allowed to say that and I never expected to hear you say that again. I never expect to hear you say that again. She said hes a p-ssy, Trump said, eliciting cheers from the audience. The incident is likely to drive social media conversation less than 12 hours until the first polls open in New Hampshire, where polls have Trump leading. What kind of people do I have here? Trump said with a smile. Trump then alluded to media criticism about how he handled a handful of protestors at a rally in December. The protestors were sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement and scuffled with a couple of Trump supporters in the crowd. Some media critics said that Trump shouldve reprimanded the supporters. Youre reprimanded, Trump said, the crowd roared. Can she stay? Can she stay? Youre reprimanded. The woman who had first used the word against Cruz was allowed to remain in attendance. Reached for comment, a spokesman for the Cruz campaign cited a tweet by communications director Rick Tyler, who quipped that Trump was turning the campaign into the latest episode of a reality show, but lets not forget who whipped who in Iowa. As for the attendees at Trumps rally, the verdict on his remarks was mixed. It was foul. It wasnt right for him to repeat it, said Linda Lemon, of Manchester, who is supporting Trump. Itll be all over the news. But youve got to take the good with the bad. Hes created jobs. Hes self-funded. And he wants to improve our border security. Kelly Craioveanu, of Hooksett, said that she went into the rally an undecided voter and left a Trump supporter. I dont like that he repeated the p word, she said. But look at all these reporters, thats all their asking about nothing about what he said up on that stage. She said that while she didnt like his utterance of the word, theres a craziness with all of the candidates. Look at Hillary Clinton. Shes out of her mind. Johanna Sheffler, of Concord, said that she was an undecided voter who left the rally leaning toward Trump. She said Trumps utterance of the term was in poor taste. But the incident was more like watching him on Saturday Night Live, she said. I didnt particularly care for it, but hes trying to appeal to people in the crowd who feel like they havent been heard for a long time. I admire that about him. Several times throughout Trumps campaign, the bombastic billionaire businessman has driven news cycles after making comments in his speeches that have gone viral on social media. None of the remarks have derailed his campaign, despite his rivals attacking his tone and rhetoric. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who Trump frequently says has low energy, called Trump a jerk after Trump seemingly imitated a reporter who has a disability during a campaign rally. Trump maintains that he was unaware of the reporters disability. Mondays rally was classic Trump: he assailed the media, attacked incompetent political leaders and blasted Washington for negotiating poor trade deals that have cost jobs. He also called for more security at the U.S., Mexico border. Whos going to pay for the wall? Trump asked the audience. Mexico, the crowd answered back. It was the type of signature rally many of his supporters were expecting on the eve of the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1, in which he finished second behind Cruz. His three oldest adult children, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric; accompanied their father and Trumps wife Melania at the rally. Ivanka and Melania both addressed the audience. We love you, New Hampshire, Melania told the crowd at the start of Trumps speech. Ivanka, who is expecting a child in about two weeks, spoke next. I have watched my father work his entire life, she said, praising his work ethic and how he has employed tens of thousands of people. Ive never known him to do anything other than rise to the occasion, she added. Read more about: SHARE: Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy announced Tuesday that the agency will host 18 meetings in nine communities across the state to discuss the federal Clean Power Plan mandate. NDEQ needs to determine how the state will respond to the federal Clean Power Plan, which requires substantial reductions in carbon emissions from power plants, Macy said. The purpose of these meetings is to first explain what is being mandated federally, and then to seek the publics input on the strategy Nebraska should pursue in reducing carbon emissions. The federal plan, which was issued August 3, 2015, has set a 40 percent reduction in Nebraskas rate of carbon emissions from power plants, based on a 2012 baseline. The federal plan requires initial submissions from states by September 6, 2016. This submittal can include a request for extension, if states demonstrate they are meeting specific criteria in developing a state plan. If an extension is granted, the revised deadline for states to submit a final plan is September 6, 2018. Initial compliance will be determined from 2022 to 2024, with final compliance in 2030. Macy said that the agency is continuing to work with Nebraska utilities and the interested public to develop a framework for addressing carbon emissions in Nebraska. The objective is to develop a strategy that meets Nebraskas unique needs. Macy said the next step in the process is to seek broader involvement from the public, which is the purpose of the upcoming meetings. Meeting dates and locations are: Broken Bow -- Feb. 16, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., One Box Convention Center at Cobblestone Inn, West Highway 2. Lexington Feb. 17, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., Dawson County Opportunity Center, 1501 Plum Creek Parkway. Grand Island Feb. 18, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., Nebraska Extension in Hall County, College Park, 3180 W. US Highway 34. South Sioux City Feb. 22, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., Marina Inn, 385 East 4th Street. Omaha Feb. 23, 1-4 and 6-9 p.m., Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, 3448 Evans Street. Lincoln Feb. 24, 1-4 and 6-9 p.m., Country Inn & Suites, 5353 N. 27th Street. Valentine March 1, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., Niobrara Lodge, 803 East Highway 20. Alliance March 2, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. MST, Knight Museum & Sandhills Center, 908 Yellowstone Road. Ogallala March 3, 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. MST, Quality Inn, 201 Chuckwagon Road. Two sets of meetings will be conducted on the same day at each location, with meetings occurring in the afternoon and evening. At both the afternoon and evening meetings, the first portion will be a poster session format, where people can learn more about the Clean Power Plan and its implications for Nebraska, as well as general energy topics, and talk individually with NDEQ staff about their questions. The second portion of each meeting will begin with a brief presentation by NDEQ, and then will provide an opportunity for public comment. Comments made during the second portion of the meeting will be audio recorded, transcribed, and made part of the public record. The transcribed comments and written submissions will be reviewed and considered by NDEQ as the agency develops Nebraskas response to the federal Clean Power Plan mandate. We hope to accomplish two major goals in these initial meetings, Macy said. First is to meet individually with people who have concerns, ideas and questions, to explain where we are at in the process. Second, we want to gather the publics comments during the second portion of each meeting, so that we can develop an effective common-sense strategy for Nebraska. Submitting and Viewing Comments Macy added that the meetings are just one method of providing comments and finding out more information about the states efforts. NDEQ has developed a web page that provides the public the opportunity to submit comments, view comments and to view related documents. The web address is: https://ecmp.nebraska.gov/DEQ-CPP. Comments that are received prior to March 15, 2016 will be considered as NDEQ develops its initial submittal. However, there will also be opportunity for more public comment in the future, and additional public meetings will be announced as this process moves forward. Overview web page, with updates NDEQ has also developed a web page that provides an overview of the process, which will be updated regularly with new information. That site is located at: http://deq.ne.gov/NDEQProg.nsf/OnWeb/NCMS. COLUMBUS An 18-year-old Columbus man pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault in connection with the shooting of another city man while the judge reduced his bond as the defendant awaits a district court jury trial this spring. Defendant Dylan McDowell entered his not guilty pleas to the assault charge and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and was scheduled for an April 4 trial in connection with the Dec. 12 shooting of 18-year-old Aaron Marquez of Columbus. District Court Judge Robert Steinke reduced McDowells bond from $500,000 to $150,000, 10 percent allowed for release. The defendant has been in custody at the county jail since his arrest hours after the December shooting in the area of 21st Avenue and Eighth Street. Both of the charges McDowell is facing are Class 1C felonies, each punishable by up to 50 years imprisonment and a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars. If convicted of both charges, the judge is required by law to sentence the defendant to consecutive prison terms. The city teen is accused of seriously wounding Marquez after ordering the victim to get down on his knees before firing a single shot from about 2 feet away. Marquez, who was treated at Columbus Community Hospital and later transferred to an Omaha hospital, survived his injuries. Court documents reported a Columbus Police investigation in which four witnesses placed McDowell at the scene of the shooting in the detached garage of a residence in the 2100 block of Eighth Street. Three of the witnesses reported McDowell was at the scene to have a physical confrontation with the victim over a previous dispute, Investigator Gregory Sealock wrote in his probable cause statement for the defendants arrest. Two of the witnesses heard a gunshot and saw the handgun in McDowells hand and one of the witnesses was in the garage at the time of the shooting, Sealock wrote. When the victim refused to comply with an order from the gunman, McDowell fired a single shot into his chest from 18 to 24 inches away, he wrote. Sen. Deb Fischer on Monday endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio's bid for the Republican presidential nomination and said she will campaign for him in coming weeks. Fischer's endorsement came on the eve of New Hampshire's presidential primary election and on the heels of a GOP presidential debate during which Rubio was targeted by several of his opponents and emerged with critical media reviews. Fischer said her support for Rubio, a first-term Florida senator, centered on his strength in national security and defense issues along with the positive nature of his campaign. "Running a positive campaign is very important to me," Nebraska's first-term senator said. "Nebraskans understand the threats we are facing in the world," Fischer said during a telephone interview prior to her endorsement announcement on Fox News. "No one has a deeper knowledge of the global challenges than Marco," she said. Fischer, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said "we're going to be electing a commander-in-chief and our focus needs to be on national security." Rubio is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "I've always been impressed with Marco," Fischer said. "I watch how he connects with people. He inspires people. "I am very excited about him and would hope to give him a bump in New Hampshire." Rubio campaigned for Fischer in her 2012 Senate bid. He was the featured speaker at the Nebraska Republican Party's most recent Founders Day celebration. 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions. 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand. 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce. 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents. 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems. 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government. 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike. Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Water was restored around mid-day on Sunday and is to be turned off sometime Tuesday. On the other hand, the diocesan office has been without water for about a week. This evening the bishop returned from visiting family in South Africa over the weekend to find neither water nor electricity at her residence (part of the diocesan office complex). Fortunately they have a gas cook stove. It seems that the water rationing in Mbabane is only partly due to the drought. Despite knowing that it was to be an El Nino year, the reservoir that provides most of the city water was drained to permit digging it deeper. The south and east are experiencing worse drought. In this neighborhood two blocks from the new American embassy water rationing appears to be planned on a two-days-on/two-days-off basis.Water was restored around mid-day on Sunday and is to be turned off sometime Tuesday.On the other hand, the diocesan office has been without water for about a week.This evening the bishop returned from visiting family in South Africa over the weekend to find neither water nor electricity at her residence (part of the diocesan office complex).Fortunately they have a gas cook stove.It seems that the water rationing in Mbabane is only partly due to the drought.Despite knowing that it was to be an El Nino year, the reservoir that provides most of the city water was drained to permit digging it deeper.The south and east are experiencing worse drought. Many years ago when we first started camping as a family a good friend advised us to eat what we are used to and comfortable with. So tonight we had beef stew using .29 kg of beef goulash (or stew beef to us) at a cost of under $2. That will come close to doing two more meals for us. We realize that such a package of beef is completely out of the range of possibility for most Swazis. We are well-fed. We have had to purchase a few things for operating the kitchen (a skillet, some paper products, dish detergent, and storage containers) but find that preparing our meals is not overly expensive.Many years ago when we first started camping as a family a good friend advised us to eat what we are used to and comfortable with.So tonight we had beef stew using .29 kg of beef goulash (or stew beef to us) at a cost of under $2.That will come close to doing two more meals for us.We realize that such a package of beef is completely out of the range of possibility for most Swazis.We are well-fed. Our old legs and out-of-shape bodies dont exactly care for this side-of-the-mountain terrain, so such sessions are mostly limited to about 30 minutes with frequent stops and frequent swigs of water. We hope that as time goes on we will be able to extend those walks. However, there is no such thing as a level route in this city. While the stew was stewing, we went for a walk.Our old legs and out-of-shape bodies dont exactly care for this side-of-the-mountain terrain, so such sessions are mostly limited to about 30 minutes with frequent stops and frequent swigs of water.We hope that as time goes on we will be able to extend those walks.However, there is no such thing as a level route in this city. They will gather at the church in Hlatikulu where a garden is in place thanks to some funds from the Diocese of Brechin and a lot of hard work by both members of the parish and the diocesan youth. Mncedisi will lead an environmental workshop Friday-Sunday with the young people. Sunday is Green Valentines Day (see http://www.greenanglicans.org/green-valentines-for-the-diocese-of-swaziland/) for the young adults of the Anglican Church in Swaziland.They will gather at the church in Hlatikulu where a garden is in place thanks to some funds from the Diocese of Brechin and a lot of hard work by both members of the parish and the diocesan youth.Mncedisi will lead an environmental workshop Friday-Sunday with the young people. During the Peace as she greeted a little boy and his mother, he turned to his mother and said in perfect English, What is that that she has on her head? Mom was mortified, but the Caucasian priest with white hair (and her husband) have laughed many times. Yesterday morning Mary Jane preached at All Saints Cathedral.During the Peace as she greeted a little boy and his mother, he turned to his mother and said in perfect English, What is that that she has on her head?Mom was mortified, but the Caucasian priest with white hair (and her husband) have laughed many times. Tomorrow morning brings an early trip to Luyenga Farm so it is past time to sign off. Will try to start adding some pictures soon. Hoping the Iowa snow and winds arent being too destructive. With the caucuses and primaries upon us, election season is finally underway. But the United States isn't the only country with an important election this year. Several other countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Mongolia are holding votes for municipalities and legislatures. But there are only three emerging markets with presidential elections this year: Taiwan (which already held its vote in mid-January), Peru, and the Philippines. These elections are important because emerging markets, as an asset class, faced a beating last year: the Morgan Stanley International EM index fell nearly 15% in 2015. These markets also saw $500 billion in outflows, in the run up to the Fed's decision to hike rates on December 16, 2015. Challenged by slowing growth and falling markets, policy makers in developing nations like Peru and the Philippines will need to allay anxiety among voters. Let's look at who is running in these two countries, and how these elections may serve as election catalysts. Peru: Ex Presidents Facing Off Change is coming to Peru. For much of the past ten years, Peru enjoyed robust economic growth. As a mineral- and material-rich country, it was geared for China's construction boom. From 2002 to 2013, Peru boasted an annual average growth rate of around 6%. In 2012, Peru's exports peaked at nearly $46 billion, six times higher than in 2002. In fact, the World Bank and IMF held their annual meetings in Lima in 2012, to highlight economic and social progress that Peru had made. But as China's growth has slowed, so too has Peru's exports which dipped 17% in 2014. The country now has a trade deficit and is hemorrhaging billions of dollars in foreign exchange reserves. Government officials lowered expectations of Peru's 2015 GDP growth rate possibly below 4%. As commodities have sold off, unemployment has spiked as those who work in the materials sector can't find as much work. Moreover, the Peruvian market has sold off considerably, liquidity has disappeared, and it narrowly escaped being downgraded by Morgan Stanley Capital International from an emerging market to frontier market. Such a move would have prevented many emerging market institutional managers from investing in the market. With a bleak economic picture, the current president Ollanta Humala has seen his approval ratings fall to 16%. He is term limited and cannot run again. Then again, an incumbent's political party has never won an ensuing presidential election. The country will hold its presidential election in April 2016. Because there are so many candidates splitting the vote, there will likely be a runoff election in June. There are five main contenders for the election: Keiko Fujimori, Pedro Pablo Kucynksi, Cesar Acuna, Alan Garcia, and Alejandro Toledo. The leading candidate is Fujimori, who is daughter of a former president. She leads the conservative political party and ran unsuccessfully for president in 2011. She is promising to kick-start the economy with a public investment initiative to insulate the country from the boom-bust commodity cycle. She has raised the possibility of issuing more bonds to fund these projects, and allocating money from a $10 billion emergency reserve fun towards construction initiatives. The candidate who is polling second in most surveys is Kuczynksi who is also a conservative. He is a familiar face, serving as the country's prime minister over a decade ago, and he's an accomplished economist. He is pledging to cut taxes for small businesses and job growth. Cesar Acuna is seeing momentum in recent polls, even surpassing Kuczynski in one. He is a multimillionaire education entrepreneur who has served as mayor of Trujillo. He leads the Progress political party. The two other candidates, Alan Garcia and Alejandro Toledo, have already served as presidents of Peru in previous decades. Both are center-left candidates. Change is in the air. And that change seems to be a market-friendly conservative politician. If Fujimori or Kucynski are elected, markets would likely respond favorably. It would be an opportunity to buy a Peruvian ETF such as the MSCI All Peru Capped ETF. If you want a more direct way to invest in Peru, try Credicorp (BAP) , which trades on the New York Stock Exchange. It is a financial conglomerate that has many divisions such as commercial and investment banking to insurance. It is a widely held stock among emerging market institutional money managers. BAP data by YCharts Of course, if commodity prices remain depressed, Peru's markets will be subdued. But look for two catalysts this spring: the presidential election and MSCI's decision on whether Peru will remain an emerging market. Right now it looks as if there will be a new market-friendly president and Peru will retain its status, which could boost the market higher. Philippines: A New Face Despite demonstrating robust growth, the economy of the Philippines has still slowed. It has come down from 7.1% in 2013 to 6.1% in 2014 and 5.8% in 2015, which was below President Benigno Aquino III administration's initial estimate of 6%-to-7% for last year. The downward trend is due to a slowing global economy, uncertainty surrounding the effects on agriculture by El Nino, and a slower pace of public spending. Even though there is a slowing, the country is enjoying a strong economic period, and it's one of the fastest growing nations in Asia. With a population of over 100 million, the Philippines are the second largest nation in the region, which is known as ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The country isn't totally reliant on an export model (though it sends copious amounts of electronics overseas), as its large population engenders ample domestic demand. The finances of the country are relatively sound too, having had a current account surplus for over a decade. And perhaps the trump card of this economy is the diaspora of ten million Filipinos around the world that remit money to their mother nation. These capital inflows help to steady the country's economy, which doesn't produce enough jobs for its citizens, and in which poverty is still a problem. President Aquino has accomplished much during his tenure. He has fought corruption at the highest levels of government and introduced more transparency into the process of government decision making. He liberalized aviation policies so that foreign airlines could operate out of Manila, bringing more tourists to the island nation. He also led the effort to pass a comprehensive birth control plan, so that more people could have access to family planning and medical supplies. He even struck a peace deal with an Islamic insurgent group in the south. He has enjoyed healthy approval ratings over 50 percent for much of his presidency. But he is term limited and cannot run again. Who will step forward as the next president? Filipinos will make that decision on May 9th. Here are the five main contenders: Manuel "Mar" Roxas II is the former interior secretary and is Aquino's preferred candidate. Roxas has an impressive pedigree, as his grandfather was the first president of the Philippines after World War II. Roxas was an investment banker and trade secretary, too. He has campaigned on the continuation of Aquino's popular policies. Grace Poe is a senator, and the adopted daughter of a well known political figure in the Philippines. Her parents were also well known movie stars, and therefore her name is widely known across the country. Despite her strong showing in recent polls, there is a question whether she is eligible to run for president as she lived abroad for many years. Poe has pledged to continue the policies of Aquino that have led to strong economic growth. Jejomar Binay is the vice president of the Philippines, former mayor, and human rights lawyer. He started the race as the odds-on favorite to replace Aquino, but his poll numbers have dropped as he has faced allegations of corruption. He has pledged to increase the number of jobs, reduce poverty, and increase the pay of public sector employees such as teachers and police officers. Miriam Santiago is a senator who is making her third bid for the presidency. She is an ex-professor of law, judge, and former head of the immigration bureau. She has been suffering from lung cancer but says she's healthy enough to run for president. Rodrigo Duterte is the mayor of Davao City, a large municipality, and onetime lawyer. He is an outspoken critic of the country's injustices facing the poor. While these candidates have political differences, they almost all recognize the success of Philippine's economy. Because Aquino's policies have helped engender robust growth, the market should respond favorably if Roxas, Poe, and even Binay are elected -- as all three want to continue and advance the work of Aquino. The Philippines market has already sold of 10% since the beginning of the year, due in part to the decline in the region, especially in China. Remittance growth has also dropped about 3.7% throughout last year. Because the market has fallen, valuations are more attractive -- and it may be good time to enter. You can buy a Philippines ETF, like the iShares MSC Philippines ETF, and wait for the election catalyst. If you can buy locally, consider consumer names like SM Prime, which operates many shopping malls. The company has good earnings visibility and strong historical price performance. Avoid Philippines Long Distance Telecom, an incumbent phone company, even though it's listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company isn't enjoying the robust growth as some of its peers. As an investor, you don't have to limit yourself to the U.S. election. There are two other elections that you can trade. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Kabir Sehgal is the author of New York Times bestseller Coined: The Rich Life of Money And How Its History Has Shaped Us and The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk. He is also a Grammy-winning producer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Editors' Pick: Originally published Feb. 9. It was five years ago this week when the brokerage firm LPL Financial fired Larry S. Werbel. The Cleveland-based stockbroker caught the attention of his firm's compliance cops on Jan. 11, 2011, when he tried to wire money from an LPL account to a local penny stock promoter. The firm did some digging and figured out that its man in the Buckeye State was violating company policy by selling unlisted penny stocks and unapproved private investments to clients, according to an LPL spokesman. LPL fired him on Feb. 11, 2011. It would have served the investing public well if it had all ended there. Werbel, 67, was arrested at his home in Solon, Ohio, on Jan. 6, charged by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, investment adviser fraud and making false statements. The charges were related to his role in a years-long scam selling one of the world's most easily manipulated investments. That would be penny stocks. In an email statement, his Cleveland lawyer, Scott Matasar, said "Mr. Werbel disputes the allegations that have been made against him and looks forward to the opportunity to present his defense." In the five years leading up to his arrest in January, he was fired by LPL, suspended briefly by Finra, and "permitted to resign" by Summit Brokerage Services Inc. after a customer filed an arbitration complaint claiming $1 million in losses, according to regulatory records. His most recent employer, Concorde Investment Services LLC, hired him in 2015 despite the termination, the suspension, and the $1 million claim, all of which were noted in his public Finra records and should have been easily accessible to Concorde.A day after Werbel was arrested, Concorde filed a note in his regulatory record saying he was discharged after an internal review was launched "upon learning Rep was indicted for defrauding investors prior to association with the firm." Talk about closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. The LPL spokesman said that after promptly firing him, the firm cooperated with inquiries from Finra. Things went downhill from there. In an email, a Summit spokesman declined to answer specific questions, but said it expects its brokers "to strictly adhere to the highest possible ethical and professional standards." A Concorde spokesman did not respond to emails. Last month's criminal accusations against Werbel and three others merit penny-stock marquee status for the pedigree of the scheme's ringleader, recidivist securities lawbreaker Edward A. Durante. In 2003, Durante was sentenced to 121 months in prison for his role in an earlier penny-stock scam. The new case against Durante and his cronies is a classic penny-stock nightmare: Clueless investors sent millions to their brokers only to have their money siphoned to accounts that were piggy banks for the players. The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a related lawsuit in December that Durante began laying the groundwork for his most recent stock fraud before he even got out of prison in June 2009. Say what you will about Durante, but you can't fault the guy's time-management skills. Along with Durante and Werbel, the indictment named Christopher Cervino, a broker in New Jersey, and Sheik F. Khan, an investment advisor in Southern California. All have pleaded not guilty in the scheme, which the government says took place between 2009 and 2015. The indictment says that Werbel pocketed $305,000 in kickbacks for inducing clients to invest in VGTel, Inc. (VGTL) , a manipulated penny stock shell company. Other penny stocks that the government alleges were manipulated are Q Lotus Holdings (QLTS) , Haddad-Wylie Industries, also known as HWI Global Inc. (HWICQ) , and Cassidy Venturesundefined . In all, 100 investors lost about $15 million in a type of scam that's taken in naive investors for decades. The damages are chump change by some accounts in this post-Madoff era. Unless it's your money, of course. "Werbel kept right on 'selling away' penny stocks after LPL fired him in 2011," said Cleveland lawyer John Chapman, referring to a securities law violation in which brokers sell you securities that are not held or offered by the brokerage firm. "He never stopped." Chapman says the authorities failed the nine former Werbel clients he represents, all of whom purchased penny stocks on the broker's recommendation. He began filing arbitration complaints on their behalf 18 months ago. Two years before his arrest, Werbel had an earlier regulatory run-in over his penny-stock dealings, but the trifling punishments did little to cramp his style. In 2014, the industry self-regulators at Finra settled a case with Werbel that stemmed from LPL's discoveries of three years before. Werbel didn't admit or deny Finra's allegations that he'd broken Finra and Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations in that case, which revolved around his sales of Q Lotus, one of the stocks cited in the criminal proceeding. Finra fined him $12,500 and Werbel was back in the business after a two-month suspension. A Finra spokeswoman said the U.S. Attorney had asked it to "stand down" on further investigation of Werbel back then because of its ongoing criminal probe. When I asked U.S. Attorney spokesman Christian Saint-Vil via email if it might have been a better idea to get Werbel off the streets as soon as possible, he declined to comment. The indictment says that Durante set up two companies, Zenith Estates, Inc. and New Market Enterprises, Inc., to help pull off the alleged scam. When Zenith was incorporated in 2008, Durante's associate Kenneth Wise was an officer of the company, according to Nevada incorporation records. Wise pleaded guilty to securities fraud last month; the SEC said in its Jan. 6 complaint that he transferred funds from Zenith and New Market to Durante and took money from the accounts to pay kickbacks to Werbel and Cervino. Zenith and New Market held shares of various Durante stocks and paid substantial personal expenses of Durante and his wife, including $150,000 in American Express bills and a $14,462 check to Bloomingdales, according to documents filed in a 2001 SEC case against Durante. A group of Massachusetts investors who lost money in VGTel sent their funds directly to Zenith or New Market, the SEC said. Werbel entered into a consulting agreement with New Market in 2010 to receive payments for peddling VGTel, according to a lawsuit filed last month against Werbel, Durante and others by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the 2014 case brought by Finra, Werble's penny-stock pal while he was working at LPL was referred to only as "a third-party stock promoter," but he turns out to be John J. Fasola, a guy who is not a broker and thus wouldn't come under Finra's jurisdiction in any event. When Werbel tried to wire money from LPL to Fasola, the firm intervened and stopped it, the LPL spokesman said. Fasola has never been charged with civil or criminal violations. But he did play a role in Durante's operation, doing investor relations work and serving as an officer of Zenith, a Durante company. Fasola's compensation appears to have come from several sources. An account entitled "John J Fasola Hudson Oh" received $139,500 in wire transfers between July of 2010 and June of 2012 from checking accounts of Zenith, New Market and Durante's wife, Svetlana Durante. I found the account statements in court exhibits filed in 2013 in the case that the Securities and Exchange Commission brought against Edward Durante in 2001. Fasola did not respond to voicemail messages or a message sent via LinkedIn. Saint-Vil, the U.S. Attorney spokesman, said that Durante only had a lawyer representing him on the bail aspects of his case. That lawyer did not respond to an email. Durante is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. Charles A. Ross, a lawyer who represented Durante's wife Svetlana, did not respond to email inquiries. From the investing public's point of view, Werbel's is a story of pretty much everyone dropping the ball or being told to back off, with the exception of LPL, which appears to have acted quickly to show him the door. When the Feds demanded that Finra stand down on its case, they limited Finra's ability to throw the book at him. Summit allowed Werbel to resign during the Finra suspension, but welcomed him back after the suspension was over. And despite a termination and a regulatory suspension on his record, Concorde was later willing to hire him. As if all that weren't enough, Werbel enjoyed professional accolades even as he was engaged in the alleged violations outlined by the U.S. Attorney. In 2013 and 2014, he was named a "Five-Star Wealth Manager" in a special advertising section in Cleveland magazine, which Werbel said on his website put him "among the top 2% of wealth managers" in Cleveland. The folks at Five-Star Professional purportedly honor "exceptional client satisfaction and service," according to their website, and, to ensure that bad guys don't sneak onto their lists, they say they check to be sure there's a "favorable regulatory history" before they designate an honoree. Finra's action against Werbel was filed just after Five-Star included the broker in its list for the second time in 2014, so the organization can't be faulted for missing that. But I asked Josh Kimball, vice president of marketing, why Five-Star had honored a broker who was fired for cause several years before he was first put on the list. Kimball said that, at the time, termination by an employer was not a disqualifier. He said the group had recently added termination as a disqualifier as a result of feedback from the brokerage industry. But that condition was not listed on its website until after I contacted Kimball. Along with that, Werbel also enjoyed the distinction of being a Chartered Financial Consultant, which the financial services educators at the American College of Financial Services describe as "the highest standard of knowledge and trust in financial planning." Werbel was still listed as a Chartered Financial Consultant in good standing when I got in touch with the College's media relations department two weeks after he was indicted. On its website, the College says it investigates violations from various regulatory authorities. After hearing from me, a spokesman said the College would launch an investigation. Werbel was off the list by Jan. 31. But it's all too little, too late. I'll bet that, by now, you're thinking we have a pretty shoddy system for keeping the public informed when things are amiss with financial professionals. You'd be thinking right. Updated from Feb. 9 to include details on a new Visa Checkout redesign. PayPal (PYPL) is the clear leader in the online checkout world, having been around for 17 years and amassing close to 180 million users. But plenty of rivals are looking to profit from the growth in e-commerce. One of the strongest is Visa (V) , which has been actively promoting Visa Checkout as the answer to retailers' digital needs. On Wednesday at the eTail West conference, Visa revealed a new redesign of Checkout, which will roll out in April. Some of the new aspects of the redesign include the ability for some merchants to personalize the messaging and images in Checkout, a new mobile design with a more streamlined process, and a simplified sign-up process that uses Google APIs to autofill things like address and name. Visa isn't the only credit card company trying to trying to compete online -- MasterCard (MA) and American Express (AXP) have entered the race as well with their own online payment services. But Visa has been particularly aggressive in gunning for PayPal's spot in the market. "Online and mobile commerce are among the fastest-growing channels in retail, but our merchant partners are still struggling to convert all the shoppers in these channels to buyers," said Sam Shrauger, SVP of Digital Solutions at Visa. "Given the continued growth in the online and mobile categories -- Visa, our banks, our merchants and their customers all benefit from Visa Checkout's simplified process for digital transactions." In January, Visa announced a number of new retailers that have added Visa Checkout to their sites, including Starbucks (SBUX) and Walgreens (WBA) . As a part of that announcement, Visa also shared the results of a study it commissioned from comScore to prove how much better Checkout is than PayPal. According to the report, Visa Checkout users have a 51% higher conversion rate compared to those who check out the traditional way (i.e., by manually entering a credit card number), while PayPal only has a 28% higher conversion rate compared to those who check out the traditional way. A Millward Brown study commissioned by Visa found that 95% of consumers thought the sign-up process for Checkout was easy and 96% of consumers felt secure making a purchase with Checkout. Should PayPal be concerned? Maybe. Visa has amassed 10 million active users, up from 7 million just three months ago. But compare that to PayPal's current active user base of 179 million. Nonetheless, considering its later start, Visa's growth shouldn't be ignored, said 451 analyst Jordan McKee. Visa's numbers "pale in comparison to PayPal's user base, but clearly pose an emerging threat," he said. Visa's later start is a double-edged sword in this case. On the one hand, Visa may be able to boast stronger growth numbers and add some novelty. On the other hand, PayPal has long been recognized as the leader in online payments, so Visa will have to fight that perception. "PayPal has an advantage in that they have been at this for a long time and they have a large pre-enrolled user base," said Thad Peterson, a senior analyst at Aite. "Visa and MasterCard will have a hard time overtaking PayPal but they will probably get sufficient volume to stay relevant." PayPal is a holding in Jim Cramer'sAction Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. "Competition may be a concern for most payment facilitators, but not for PayPal -- not now," wrote Cramer and Director of Research Jack Mohr. "The company continues to dominate and the prospects are only more mouthwatering when we begin to consider the monetization of Venmo, which is PayPal's crown jewel in the peer-to-peer (P2P) payments world and has ingrained itself as the go-to P2P service for Millennials." Exclusive Look Inside: You see Jim Cramer on TV. Now, see where he invests his money and why PayPal is a core holding of his multi-million dollar portfolio. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells PYPL?Learn more now. Apart from its long head start and resulting experience, PayPal also has the advantage of being payment-agnostic, so it lets retailers accept all credit and debit cards. PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayar pointed to research from Ipsos that said that Americans are seven times more likely to use PayPal than Visa Checkout when it comes to feeling secure, as well as research from Forrester which found that PayPal is used over five times more often than Visa Checkout. "Visa Checkout is essentially what PayPal was more than a decade ago -- a digital wallet for online payments," Nayar said, adding that One Touch, PayPal's newest checkout solution, is more advanced than Visa Checkout since consumer don't have to log in every time. First Analysis analyst Larry Berlin thinks that PayPal should be more concerned about Amazon's (AMZN) checkout solutions, Pay with Amazon, than Visa, explaining that the Amazon brand is so solid that it's the first thing he thinks of when he goes to buy something online. "Amazon's the one that worries me," he said. "Is PayPal holding their own? Yeah. But they're worried." But Berlin was quick to note that it's most likely not a zero sum game. "There's room for multiple players," he said. "Everyone that wants to play in that space can find some room to play and grow." But as the number of online payments options increases, the checkout page gets more and more cluttered. That's a problem on desktop and especially on mobile. "We will undoubtedly see a thinning of the herd in this space," McKee said. "The market simply cannot support this many buy buttons -- it's far too fragmented for merchants and consumers. Too many options results in confusion, and confusion reverts consumers back to tried and trusted habits -- such as manual credit card entry." In the meantime, Visa and PayPal will be fighting hard to make sure that they're not the ones who are thinned out. "I suspect we will see this market boil down to a handful of alternatives over the next several years," McKee said. "While winners remain to be seen, one thing is for certain -- it's PayPal's game to lose." Barring a huge surprise, we already know that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are going to win today's New Hampshire primary, Republican and Democratic, respectively. What isn't known is which other candidates might beat expectations and come out of the first-in-the-nation primary with momentum. Hillary Clinton trails Sanders in New Hampshire, but she'd be able to claim victory if her total were to exceed 40%, beating expectations. Sanders was leading Clinton 58% to 35% in a CNN/WMUR poll of states voters published on Sunday. "The Clintons have always done that," exceeding expectations in New Hampshire, said Douglas Gross, a Republican strategist and Des Moines-based lawyer. "And they've played the 'woman card' very well in the state in trying to reduce Bernie's support from women. As a result, I don't think his numbers will be quite as good as the early polls were showing." Clinton has enlisted high-profile surrogates Gloria Steinem and Madeline Alright to drum up support from women, along with Lena Dunham, creator of the popular Girls series on HBO. New Hampshire has often rewarded the Clintons, handing Bill a famous victory in 1992, and siding with Hillary above the fast-emerging Barack Obama in 2008. Amid the hand-wringing following Marco Rubio's less-than-stellar performance during Saturday's televised Republican debate, was speculation as to who would most benefit from the blows that struck the Florida senator from the free-swinging New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The biggest winner appeared to be Ted Cruz, who rose as Rubio fell in the CNN/WMUR poll. Cruz, who won the Iowa Caucuses, has consistently sparred with Rubio over immigration, U.S. intervention abroad and taxes. A second-place showing in New Hampshire from the Texas senator could demonstrate that his support goes beyond the conservative evangelicals who drove his victory in Iowa and helped elect him to the Senate in 2012. John Kasich may also emerge as beneficiary of what many were calling Rubio's debate malfunction. The Ohio governor has focused much of his recent campaigning in New Hampshire after all but assuming a low showing in Iowa. Throughout the televised debates, Kasich has sought the mantle of the reasonable and upbeat candidate amid a Republican field focused on the dangers posed by immigrants and terrorism. "Kasich is the smiling candidate, the positive candidate who is willing to cut deals across party lines to move the ball forward," Gross said. "He's been very willing to define his edges more than the other candidates, and as a result has the greatest potential to surprising us." Jeb Bush, still flush with cash, had one of his better moments of the campaign when he challenged Donald Trump on Saturday regarding the use of eminent domain. Whether that will translate into a much-needed third-place finish in New Hampshire remains unclear. Rubio's candidacy is certainly the one to watch. The number-crunching FiveThirtyEight reported that Rubio's chances of finishing in third-place or worse in New Hampshire have actually increased to 58%. In a blistering counter-attack to the Rubio pile-on, the website RedState blasted a Politico survey of party insiders, arguing that it would be very wrong to assume that the first-term Florida senator's most recent debate performance would somehow doom him in New Hampshire or beyond. "It is not going to work because the three candidates the establishment is trying to foist off on us -- Christie, [Jeb] Bush, and Kasich -- are manifestly out of step not only with the GOP primary electorate but with the mood of the country," said RedState, after predicting that Rubio will be the candidate "exceeding expectations and finishing a strong second" to Trump in New Hampshire. RedState said Cruz, whom many at the site support for president, won Saturday's debate. While the Politico survey of Republican Party "operators, strategists and activists" declared that Rubio had "crashed and burned," Cruz picked up the endorsement of Rand Paul's New Hampshire campaign chair Kevin Avard, a state senator from Concord, the state capital. Cruz, of course, is looking south to South Carolina's primary on Feb. 20 and the Super Tuesday contests in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and elsewhere on March 1. "That would help consolidate votes behind him ahead of important contests in South Carolina and Nevada later this month," said David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report in a phone interview from Manchester. "It's really about dominoes." What could ultimately determine who out-performs in New Hampshire is "electability." Voters, said Gross, the Republican strategist, are thinking as much about the November general election as they are about issues. "As we go down the road, there's more focus on electability," Gross said. "That's becoming a dominant force in the process, which is why the Donald will probably under-perform [in New Hampshire] because more people are trying to gauge who actually has a chance of winning on the Republican side." Donald Trump has struck an unexpected nerve this election cycle with a populist right-wing message that seems to speak to many American voters. His rise -- and that of self-declared democratic socialist candidate Bernie Sanders on the left -- comes at a moment in time in which income inequality and wage stagnation in the United States have reached alarming levels. It's no coincidence. "Everybody knows something's wrong," said Martin Armstrong, an economist best known for creating the Economic Confidence Model and who predicted the 1987 market crash. "Trump is a symptom of what's going on." The U.S. economy has largely rebounded since the 2008 financial crisis, growing at a slow but steady rate of 2.4% in 2015. In January, unemployment hit an eight-year low. Still, many Americans aren't feeling it. For most workers, wages have barely budged or fallen for decades, and those without a four-year college degree have fared especially poorly. "Both Sanders and Donald Trump, to some extent, are playing to the anxiety that exists in ... an economy where there is tremendous inequality and where many middle-class Americans are not secure, they're not sure if they're going to fall soon," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "So when you have that kind of economic problem, that lends itself to the kind of anti-Washington, anti-establishment angry appeal, certainly the kind that Donald Trump makes." Largely white, middle-class Americans who feel they have been left behind, individuals who haven't been huge winners economically over the past two decades make up the bulk of Trump supporters, explained Nolan McCarty, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. "Maybe it's not economic inequality directly, but the stagnation of wages, flat and declining rates of economic mobility, and people who haven't really been the winners in a world that's dominated by financial innovation, globalization, trade and immigration. Certainly, the people who have big winners of those trends are not the people who are supporting Donald Trump," he said. While the GOP has made efforts to garner populist votes from the less-educated white working class, particularly in the south, it hasn't done much for them, and Democrats have dropped the ball as well, explained David Jacobs, professor of sociology at Ohio State University. "The fact that wages have stagnated, the fact that symbolically the white working class isn't given much credit, in fact, they're the butt of jokes a lot of times, the fact that poor whites and working class whites are not doing well health-wise. . ... What you're going to get is a reaction with less educated folks not being able to blame things on Wall Street, instead, they'll want somebody who's powerful, who's effective, and who is a bit nativist," he said. Trump cornered the nativist political market from the get-go by making immigration a major pillar of his campaign. His pledge to deport America's 11 million undocumented immigrants and build a wall at the Mexican border has resonated with Americans who feel threatened economically and socially by immigration, even if they're not directly linking the issues at hand. While evidence shows that immigration is largely beneficial to American society and to the economy, not everyone believes that to be the case. "Some voters are probably explicitly linking immigration to economics, and others are not so explicitly linking it to economics. But there's reason to think that the stress that they're putting on these national and cultural issues may be related to their economic concerns," McCarty said. Trump isn't the first figure to channel economic frustration into electoral support. In 1992, Pat Buchanan gave President George H.W. Bush a run for his money for the Republican presidential nomination, basing his campaign not only on religious and cultural conservatism but also drawing from economic woes. "Part of his appeal was the economy was in recession, and it was doing poorly, and many Americans were feeling some of what is going on today," Zelizer said. He also pointed to Ronald Reagan's strong 1976 challenge to Gerald Ford for the GOP nod in the midst of economic distress as an example. Jacobs pointed to the rise of figures like Charles Coughlin, Huey Long and Upton Sinclair during the Great Depression and movements on the left and right. "Given hard times, you're going to get extremes in both directions," he said. Trump has also drawn comparisons to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, former Alabama Governor George Wallace. If and when Trump's political star fades, Americans' economic woes will surely persist, but will the movement behind Trump remain? Recent history says no. In 1992, billionaire Ross Perot garnered nearly 19% of the popular vote in his independent run for the White House. There was discussion about whether he or anyone could recapture the interest of voters in subsequent elections, and in 1996, Perot himself proved the answer was no: he received 8% of the popular vote in that year's election. Today, no one discusses mobilizing Perot voters. "That could happen with Trump voters, especially if the appeal is really Donald Trump and Donald Trump steps away from the scene, it's hard to know whether someone else can capture that block. It is a block that has traditionally not been very interested in politics," said McCarty. India's Telecom Regulatory Authority on Monday "effectively banned Facebook's (FB) Free Basics program from the country, ruling that the system and others like it violate the principles of net neutrality," according to a report by The Verge. "Facebook has come under criticism for its Free Basics initiative (previously known as Internet.org), which provides free access to Facebook, wikihow, Wikipedia, BBC News, Bing's search engine and various other Web sites," reported TheStreet's Technology Editor Chris Ciaccia in this article. "The project has been seen by some as disingenuous, providing access to Facebook without ads, until a way can be figured out how to make money off the users," Ciaccia wrote. In a post on Facebook, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted his disappointment. "We know that connecting them can help lift people out of poverty, create millions of jobs and spread education opportunities," Zuckerberg said. "We care about these people, and that's why we're so committed to connecting them." Facebook shares closed Monday at $99.75, a drop of 4.2%. Facebook is a holding of Action Alerts PLUS, the charitable trust managed by TheStreet's Jim Cramer. "The fundamentals for Facebook, driven by a powerful and visible long-term growth trajectory, validated in its recent quarterly results and forward guidance leave us with little doubt that the selling is illogical," wrote Cramer and Research Director Jack Mohr. Twitter (TWTR) declined by 5.3% Monday, finishing the day at $14.89. That was the first time Twitter shares have closed below $15. Twitter was taken public on Nov. 7, 2013, at a per-share price of $26. Its stock ended its first day of trading at $44.94. According to a report by the San Jose Mercury News, "Monday's decline (in Twitter stock) was blamed by some on reports over the weekend that Twitter would soon implement a change to its timeline feed that would make posts appear in an non-chronological order, akin to what Facebook does with its news feed." The micro-blogging site is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Wednesday. Twitter shares are also held by Action Alerts PLUS. Read TheStreet'sfull report on Twitter's market performance on Monday. Shares of LinkedIn (LNKD) rose by 1.4% on Monday, closing at $110, after Stifel said there is "significant value in LinkedIn shares," according to this report in TheStreet. In addition, short seller Citron Research took a position in the company. LinkedIn shares dropped by a whopping 44% last Friday. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. MONDAY, Feb. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Drinking alcohol may be more dangerous for people infected with HIV, a new study suggests. The effects of alcohol appear to be more pronounced for those with the virus that causes AIDS, even when the virus is suppressed with modern antiretroviral treatment (ART), the Yale University researchers reported. They noted that HIV patients who have just one or two drinks a day are at greater risk for death or alcohol-related health issues. The study involved patients treated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs between 2008 and 2012. There were more than 18,000 HIV-positive patients and over 42,000 people not infected with the virus. The researchers investigated the link between drinking alcohol, death and other health issues the patients developed. They found the patients with HIV who drank even moderate amounts of alcohol were more likely to develop alcohol-related health problems and die than those who were HIV-negative. This was true even for those with suppressed HIV, according to the study published online Feb. 2 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. "It demonstrates that even among people on ART with suppressed viral load, who are much less sick in general, there is still an added effect of alcohol among those individuals than people without HIV," said researcher Dr. Amy Justice. She is a professor of general medicine and of public health at Yale's School of Public Health, in New Haven, Conn. "It suggests the threshold for safe alcohol consumption is likely different for people with HIV," she said in a university news release. More information The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides more information on drugs, alcohol and HIV. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) stock is down by 1.62% to $5.17 this morning, as falling oil and copper prices weigh on the natural gas company today. However, Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has recommended that Freeport renew its export permit. This would allow the company to once again export copper and gold from its massive Grasberg mine, Bloomberg reports. The permit expired on January 28, as Freeport's Indonesian unit refused to comply with the government's demand that it pay a $530 million deposit for a new smelter before receiving a new export permit. The renewed permit would allow Freeport Indonesia to export 1 million metric tons of concentrates during the next six months, Bloomberg notes. Last year, the company mined $1.7 billion of copper and $1.4 billion of gold from Grasberg. An extended lull in exports would have weighed on profits. Additionally, a copper asset sale could boost the stock price by improving the company's liquidity and unlocking value, Jefferies wrote in a note. An asset sale would diminish free cash flow, but extend the company's liquidity runway and guarantee that Freeport remains a standalone company when copper and oil prices eventually rebound. "I do think that this piece is going to get people to sell it less aggressively," TheStreet's Jim Cramer said of the firm's analysis on CNBC's Squawk on the Street this morning. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D. Freeport's weaknesses include its generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share. You can view the full analysis from the report here: FCX 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 article's author. FCX data by YCharts Ford's (F) plan to double car production in Mexico over the next few years is attracting unsurprising criticism from United Auto Workers union President Dennis Williams. In tough labor negotiations last fall, the UAW understood that it was trading higher wages paid to current members for the strong likelihood that Ford and the other two Detroit-based automakers, General Motors (GM) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU) , would ramp up production in Mexico. Had the automakers retained a lower UAW wage scale they might have chosen to expand production in the U.S. of small cars, which generate little or no profit compared to pickup trucks, crossover and SUVs. Heeding the wishes of its membership, the UAW negotiated hard and successfully to curtail the lower wage scale, instituted prior to the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. "There is no reason, mathematically, to go ahead and run to countries like Mexico, Thailand and Taiwan," Williams said, his first comment since the union ratified the new labor agreements in November. "We all recognize there is a huge problem in Mexico," he said. "So we have to address it as a nation. The UAW cannot do it alone. We are not naive." Williams may be underestimating the extent to which Mexico's developing industrial also serves U.S. interests by strengthening that country's labor market and perhaps lessening the northward flow of undocumented immigrants. Ford earned a net profit of $7.4 billion in 2015 and a record $10.8 billion pretax profit, impressive numbers on most any company's income statement. No doubt these figures got the union's attention, particularly in light of the automaker's push to Mexico, where wage scales are less than half of the UAW's. What likely got less attention from the union was Ford's $7.1 billion capital expenditure in 2015, compared with the $7.4 billion it spent a year earlier. The bills for future vehicles and development of new technologies are getting bigger, swamping net income and requiring the automaker to expand the profitability of all models, not just its biggest moneymaker, the F-Series pickup truck. The automotive industry has been seriously rocked by stricter clean-air regulation, fuel efficiency rules and the advent of companies like Tesla and Uber. The supremacy of Ford and its peers is based on internal combustion engines; the not-too-distant future could be dominated by new entrants selling electric cars and by technologies such as autonomous driving. In early November, Toyota announced a broad $1 billion, multi-year commitment to develop artificial intelligence in the U.S., in order to bolster the Japanese automaker's push to autonomous driving, to hydrogen fuel cell cars and Uber-like sharing platforms. Ford, by contrast, reportedly is seeking collaboration with Alphabet's Google (GOOGL) , no doubt to swap car-making expertise for artificial intelligence know-how. Ford's more parsimonious approach stems from its financial resources, which are more limited than Toyota's, and it hasn't borne fruit so far. Alphabet is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio. The labor costs Ford believes it can save by manufacturing in Mexico will have numerous uses, and could be critical for keeping the automaker competitive, ultimately preserving UAW jobs north of the border. Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Aviation is shaping up to be the next environmental villain. Enter the "green police." Record droughts, heat waves and other weather anomalies around the globe are exacerbating public anxiety over global warming and air pollutants. A major source of greenhouse gas emissions is the airline industry, but so far it has escaped major climate change curbs. Until Monday, that is. On Feb. 8, after more than six years of negotiations, the global aviation industry acquiesced to the first legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Below, we reveal the best way to profit from this long-term trend. Airplanes are heavy polluters. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, if international aviation were a country, it would be a top 10 emitter of carbon dioxide, on roughly the same level as Germany or the U.K. However, before this week's accord, aviation hasn't been included in climate change deals. The proposed new rules, unveiled by the International Civil Aviation Organization, would apply to all new airplanes delivered after 2028. Political pressure in nations around the world is mounting for the aviation industry to slash its greenhouse gas emissions as well as its noise levels. Carriers with aging fleets, including those in the U.S., are clamoring for green aviation technology. It's a reminder that the most innovative companies will be the best sources of growth in 2016. Meanwhile, as air travel increases, global consumption of jet fuel is on an upswing. The new rules announced on Monday also call for a 4% reduction in fuel consumption in 2028 compared to 2015. Flying full throttle to meet the green challenge is Rolls-Royce (RYCEY) . As the leading maker of low-emission, fuel-efficient aircraft engines, Rolls-Royce is the best play on this week's far-reaching development. U.K.-based Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind General Electric, split from the eponymous luxury car maker in 1973. The company makes engines for military and civilian aircraft and has accomplished more than any other engine maker to help reduce aviation's carbon footprint. With a market cap of $9.42 billion, Rolls-Royce is a British blue-chip that's listed on the London Stock Exchange and it's a component of the FTSE 100 Index. Rolls-Royce's major clients include Boeing and European aircraft maker Airbus. As an international manufacturer, Rolls-Royce has the wherewithal to maintain healthy and sustained research and development into new engine technologies, a sector with high barriers to entry. Engine researchers in Europe and the U.S. are focusing on next-generation technology to propel aircraft, but Rolls-Royce is a step ahead of the game. The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 turbofan engine, which powers the composite-built Boeing 787 airliner, already boasts advances in environmental-friendly innovations. Rolls-Royce has refined the turbofan process to reduce engine emissions as well as noise. It puts Rolls-Royce among a group of "game-changing" companies that can leverage advanced technology for future growth. That said, the company's stock has been under pressure lately, as slowing economic growth around the world weighs on demand. Year to date, the stock is down 13%, and over the past year, it has fallen 46%. RYCEY data by YCharts Investors are increasingly concerned that the company will reduce its dividend and that management will deliver its sixth consecutive earnings warning this week. On Friday, CEO Warren East is expected to announce management's plans to turn around the engine maker. The company has already announced restructurings and given pink slips to more than 3,000 employees. But as daunting as they may be, these problems are probably temporary, which makes the stock a great buying opportunity. We like to take the long view and focus on a company's intrinsic strengths. As such, the unstoppable trend of climate change will eventually lift Rolls-Royce shares, which makes the company a contrarian bet for patient investors. This blue-chip's engineering know-how and portfolio of advanced engine products will hold it in good stead, after it has emerged from this patch of turbulence. Rolls-Royce isn't the only "game-changer" worth considering. We've found a small-cap biotech "rocket stock" that's about to take off. UCLA researchers are stunned by a Nobel Prize-winning cancer breakthrough that's proven in clinical trials to eliminate lethal forms of cancer with a single dose. One small company owns the patent to this life-saving treatment. Now trading at about $5 a share, the stock of this innovative company is projected to surge 2,700% on an imminent FDA announcement. To download the full report, click here. John Persinos is editorial manager and investment analyst at Investing Daily. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Don't let the "socialist" in "democratic socialist" fool you: The U.S. economy under a President Bernie Sanders could be pretty great, according to a new report. An analysis of the Vermont senator's spending and tax proposals conducted by Gerald Friedman, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst obtained by TheStreet indicates that many Americans would be much better off with Sanders in the White House. The analysis was first reported by CNNMoney. Friedman, who says he drew most of his methodologies and numbers from the Congressional Budget Office, found that if the candidate were elected and able to push his plans through Congress -- spending programs, progressive tax increases and regulatory changes -- the median household income would soar by about $22,000 by 2026, and the gap between the rich and poor would narrow dramatically. According to the analysis, Sanders' plan to pour $14.5 trillion into the economy over a 10-year span would mean nearly 26 million jobs would be created, and unemployment would fall to 3.8%. Poverty would drop to 6%, compared to the CBO's forecast of 13.9%, and the economy would grow by 5.3% annually, instead of 2.1%. A minimum wage increase and tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations would lead to a shift in income to the middle class. And as for the deficit, what deficit? By Sanders' second term, we'd see a surplus. "The Sanders spending program is a significant stimulus to an economy that continues to underperform, with national income and employment at levels well below capacity," Friedman writes, predicting it will "lead to a dramatic acceleration in economic growth and employment" and return economic conditions to the prosperity of the late-1990s or mid-1960s. The model indicates that real wages, which have been stagnant for decades, would grow at a rate of nearly 2.5% annually. Friedman noted that this was perhaps the most surprising aspect of his findings -- namely, because wage growth still won't rival productivity. "Even at that level, wages are still rising a little slower than productivity growth, while through American history, until the 1970s, wage growth and labor productivity growth were almost identical," he said. "It says something about how deeply entrenched wage stagnation has gotten in the U.S. economy." He pointed to the decline of labor unions and the rise of the gig economy as potential explanations. Like Sanders, Friedman believes in democratic socialism, but he says his analyses are based entirely on Keynesian economics have "nothing to do with socialism, Democratic or any other type." While he plans to vote for Sanders in the Massachusetts primary, he likes Hillary Clinton as well and has donated to both campaigns. Since starting tracking and analyzing Sanders' proposals last summer, Friedman has detected little variation in his plans. He did, however, note minor adjustments to his health care platform, of which he has produced a separate analysis. "He's changed the funding program for his health care and made it a little less progressive," he said, tying the decision to concerns that the revenue expected from the senator's financial transactions tax may not be as high as originally anticipated. Opposing Views Of course, not everyone agrees a President Sanders would be such a boon for the U.S. economy. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget concluded that Sanders' health care plan and proposed offsets would cover only three-quarters of his claimed cost, meaning a $3 trillion shortfall over the span of a decade. An analysis of the Vermont senator's tax proposals produced by the Tax Foundation in January calculates that the U.S. gross domestic product would drop by 9.5% over the long term, and wages would decline by 4.3%. While the group acknowledges Sanders would raise tax revenue by $13.6 trillion in a 10-year period, it claims the IRS would only end up collecting $9.8 trillion because of decreased economic output (the assumption being increased taxes translates to slowed growth) and that six million jobs would be lost. "They show it as being a very different picture," said Anthony Nitti, partner at accounting firm WithumSmith+Brown, adding that he leans toward the Tax Foundation's model and its use of dynamic scoring, which takes into account the impact of tax changes. "It's hard to imagine that increasing tax rates as substantially as we're talking about [with Sanders] would stimulate the economy to the extent being discussed in [Friedman's] analysis," he said. Friedman acknowledged that his model may be a little optimistic but held that Sanders' plans would still lead to a big jump in growth. He also noted that the Tax Foundation, which at times appears to lean right, has large omitted spending considerations from its examination. "Most of his tax programs finances a health program that replaces private health insurance premiums, so you take money out of one pocket, and you're actually putting more money back in the other pocket," he said. "You're actually putting more money back into the economy, and they left that out." Dean Baker, economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said that while an increase in taxes to the extent that Sanders is proposing will likely have some impact on behavior and growth, it probably will not be as high as the Tax Foundation has proposed. As for Friedman's analysis, while it does paint a sunny picture, it is not an absurd one. "The basic story that he seems to be saying is to reverse the upward distribution of income over the last 40 years, so basically redistributing 10 percentage points of income to the rest of the population, then assuming normal healthy growth ... that's evenly shared," Baker said. "That would give you his numbers. That's an optimistic scenario, but I don't think that's a crazy scenario." NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of JD.com (JD) are down 0.78% to $23.03 in afternoon trading on Tuesday as the company's stock spent time in both negative and positive territory today. Shares of the Chinese Internet retail company are heading lower on heavy volume just two sessions after the stock surged amid a U.S. traded China-based stock rally. Last week, the People's Bank of China infused 80 billion yuan ($12 billion) into the country's banking system ahead of the week-long Chinese holiday celebrating the Lunar New Year. That cash infusion lifted U.S. traded Chinese stocks across the board. (Subscribers get upgrades and downgrades ahead of the market. Find out more onTheStreet Quant Ratings here.) Today, TheStreet Ratings lowered its rating to "sell" from "hold" while also lowering its later grade to D+ from C-. The primary factors that have impacted this decision include weaknesses multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and poor profit margins. TheStreet chartist Bruce Kamich commented on JD.com today, and he is in agreement with the ratings downgrade. "In early January, JD broke down (see the chart above) from a rising wedge pattern we identified in previous stories. The subsequent decline wiped out all of the previous rally, but prices haven't bottomed yet. We can see that the slope of the shorter 50-day and the longer 200-day averages are pointed down," Kamich said. "The On-Balance-Volume (OBV) line is in a downtrend, telling us that sellers of JD are more aggressive than the buyers. There is a small bullish divergence between the lower lows in price and the momentum study. The rate of decline in the price of JD has slowed, but still the trend in down. With the quantitative downgrade of JD, we remain pessimistic." "This chart of JD, above, doesn't add much more in the way of history, but it does show that there is not much at all in the way of support below $22. A weak close below $22 on JD could precipitate a deeper decline to the mid-teens," said Kamich. TheStreet Ratings uses an algorithmic model to determine a rating for risk-adjusted total return prospect over 12 months. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Police Officer Peter Liang, center, exits the courtroom during a break in closing arguments in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Aerial view of rescue forces working at the site of a train accident near Bad Aibling, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Several people were killed when two trains collided head-on. 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Greenfield of the Councils Committee on Land Use urged members of the public to attend the New York City Councils hearings to be held this week Tuesday and Wednesday on the citywide, once-in-a-generation rezonings at the heart of Mayor Bill de Blasios ambitious affordable housing programs. The two rezoning plans, known as Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability, are intended to work hand-in-hand with one another to revitalize neighborhoods and produce hundreds of thousands of new apartments at prices affordable to New Yorkers of many different walks of life. Making New York more affordable is a goal we all share, Greenfield said. But any programs as complex as MIH and ZQA require community input, along with thorough analysis and careful oversight, to be successful. Thats why I urge all interested New Yorkers to attend the hearings and make their opinions on these issues known. Greenfield said several components of the MIH and ZQA proposals are already undergoing careful review to ensure that they are both feasible and capable of achieving their intended goals. Concerns about the proposals include whether they provide for sufficient levels of affordability, as well as issues surrounding building heights and relaxing parking requirements for new developments. These are the most consequential decisions that the land use committee will be making in recent history, Greenfield said. The expiration of 421-a has further thrown a wrench into an already complex process, explained Greenfield, referring to a state tax abatement program designed to encourage the development of new housing. The program was allowed to lapse earlier this year after developers and construction workers were unable to come to an agreement on how best to continue it. We have literally spent thousands of hours poring over the legislation and feedback from Community Boards, the Borough Board, the Borough President, Council Members and advocates, Greenfield said. We know how important this and we intend to make the necessary changes to these proposals to satisfy the different concerns that we have heard from stakeholders. The City Council will be holding a hearing on Mandatory Inclusionary Housing on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. A hearing on Zoning for Quality and Affordability will be held Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. Both hearings will be held in the Council chambers at City Hall, and Greenfield is encouraging members of the public to attend. (YWN Desk NYC) Magen David Adom calls on Israelis to be careful during the wintry days and whenever possible, to look in on elderly and infirmed neighbors who often are alone without anyone to check in on them. There were two reports of elderly people transported to the hospital on Monday morning 29 Shevat. In one case, MDA paramedics treated a 79-year-old male in a pool of cold muddy water. He was suffering from hypothermia and he was transported to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. In southern Israel, a 70-year-old woman was found in muddy water during the morning hours near the exit to Kiryat Gat. Paramedics treated her for hypothermia as well and she was transported to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Hospital spokesperson Ayelet Kedar reports the woman was conscious and alert upon arrival and she sustained a light head injury and was being treated for low body temperature. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) To doubters of its strategy for defeating the Islamic State, the Obama administration likes to tout its coalition of 66 nations and claim strength in numbers. But a year and a half into the war, some administration officials are acknowledging that this supposed source of strength has its own weaknesses. Defense Secretary Ash Carter offered a glimpse of his own apparent frustration last week when he referred to our so-called coalition and suggested the slackers need to step up. We need everybody, and thats all the Europeans, the (Persian) Gulf states Turkey, which is right there on the border. So there are a lot that need to make more contributions, he said. So Carter is leaving Tuesday for Brussels, where he will convene a meeting Thursday of defense chiefs from about two dozen coalition countries, including most NATO members, Iraq and the Gulf states. He indicated he will, behind closed doors, share with them details of the U.S. strategy for recapturing the main Islamic State group strongholds in Syria and Iraq. What Im going to do is sit down and say, here is the campaign plan If youre thinking World War II newsreel pictures, you think of an arrow going north to take Mosul and another arrow coming south to take Raqqa, he said last week. And then he will run through a list of military capabilities boots on the ground, airplanes in the air, plus trainers and other support personnel that will be needed to achieve victory. And Im going to say, OK, guys. Lets match up what is needed to win with what you have, and kind of give everybody the opportunity to make an assignment for themselves, he said. The United States will lead this and were determined, but other people have to do their part because civilization has to fight for itself. A few coalition countries have made gestures of increased support in recent days. The Netherlands, which has been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq, said on Jan. 29 that it would expand its efforts to Syria. Saudi Arabia indicated last week it could send ground troops into Syria, although it was not clear whether the offer was conditioned on U.S. ground forces participating. Over the course of a decade and a half of coalition warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials have frequently found themselves pleading and cajoling with the Europeans to contribute more, and they generally have responded with pledges to do just a little bit more. The pattern may be repeated in Brussels. Inevitably it falls to the U.S. military, with greater resources and a longer reach, to carry the biggest burden in countering terrorism. The air campaign in Syria and Iraq, for example, is advertised as a 13-nation undertaking. But of the 10,060 strikes conducted over the past year and a half 6,723 in Iraq and 3,337 in Syria, as of Feb. 1 U.S. warplanes have conducted all but 2,124 of the Iraq hits and all but 208 in Syria. At their low point last August, the allies conducted only two strikes in Syria while the U.S. conducted 210, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. More recently, non-U.S. airstrikes have increased as a share of total strikes. The U.S. also is counting on another kind of partnership, one that is central to its strategy for not just defeating the Islamic State group but ensuring it stays defeated. It is trying to empower local armies in both Iraq and Syria by partnering with them for training, equipping and advising without doing the fighting for them. Carter wants more European allies to chip in with trainers and other forms of support. This cooperation between local and coalition forces is beginning to pay dividends, especially in Iraq, where U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces recently recaptured the city of Ramadi. Iraqi Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, have made even more substantial battlefield gains with a great deal of help from U.S. forces. The Kurdish equation is complicated, however, by sensitivities involving Turkey, a NATO ally that fears a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. In a report this month for the private Institute for the Study of War, analysts Patrick Martin and Christopher Kozak wrote that the U.S. and its coalition partners may have become over-reliant on the Kurds, and that this threatens to drive Turkey away from deeper cooperation against the Islamic State militants. Second, the U.S. risks fueling long-term ethnic conflict in both Iraq and Syria due to the relative empowerment of the Kurds at the expense of other local powerbrokers, often Sunni Arabs, they wrote. (AP) According to the dati leumi Srugim website, an article written by Rabbi Avraham Stav, the Torani independence began with Yeshivat Netiv Meir and others, when they replaced the rebbes with dati leumi rabbonim, teaching Gemara with the Israeli pronunciation that goes hand in hand with IDF service and the Zionist hashkafa. The shelves of any hesder beis medrash are lined with seforim by Achronim, including many texts written in the last decades and few are written by those who came from a dati leumi beis medrash. Today however, Srugim reports this has changed for rabbonim in the Zionist camp have written seforim which compete with those of their chareidi counterparts, citing written by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, , written by Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon, , written by Rabbi Moshe Hariri as examples. Srugim reports the talmidei hesder will learn a sugya in Gemara with Rishonim, and would then delve into the Acharonim such as , written by the Wteipler ZATZAL or Kovetz Haaros written by Maran HaGaon HaRav Sholom Elyashiv ZTL or other seforim which have become the tremendous crop of the chareidi world with each passing year. However, Srugim reports this has changed for today, albeit slowly, there are more seforim available that have been penned by dati leumi rabbonim including Rabbi Yitzchak Shilat of Maale Adumim, Rabbi Danny Wolf of Yeshivat Har Etzion and many others, citing They address deep theoretical issues and most complex issues in a manner that does not fall short of their Lithuanian counterparts. The report states this trend began about three years ago by a joining of forces from many yeshivos with the establishment of (Harvest) by the Union of Hesder Yeshivot. Rabbi Avraham Stav writes, This collection encompasses the best of the writings of the rabbonim from the dati leumi community. He adds that with the publication of the third volume, it was clear Harvest was representative of Torah from the Zionist beis medrash, representative of its rabbonim and its hashkafa. For one thing, he points out these rabbonim are not just in touch with the Torani aspect but the academic aspect as well and he feels these are the writing norms required of a rav who has drawn in aspects of academia too. The rabbi continues to hail the writing style and content, meeting the needs and criteria of this community today, adding the purpose of his article is not simply to draw attention to the growing world of Torah and modern Zionism, but also to emphasize the tremendous importance of investing in and cultivating this world. He feels limud on the level of iyun is essential for building the foundation upon which Halachic rulings are based, along with the spiritual guidance and leadership. He cites that prior to publishing his commentary on the Rambam, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk wrote Meshech Chochma and then the masterful work Ohr Somayach on the Rambam, explaining that it was important for him to publish his novel ideas and chidushim to show that first a rav must show he is erudite and only after this may he be a posek or darshan. He adds that even the Rambam wrote his commentary on Mishna and sugyos chamuros in Gemara prior to seforim containing Jewish thought and halacha. He quotes Rav Solovechik ZTL stating one capable of speaking iyun is capable of understanding the depths of oral tradition and thereby become a part of the delivery and creation of such content. The third volume of Harvest will be officially launched on Thursday, 2 Adar 1 at 19:30, at a kenos held in Heichal Shlomo. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Chairman of the Knesset House Committee MK (Likud) David Bitan labeled Arab Members of Knesset who visited with families of terrorists cowards for not appearing at the committee meeting to discuss their actions and the possible legal and ethical ramifications. He added their party is extremist and receives funding from traitorous former MK Azmi Bishara. Bishara, a former leader of the Balad party, fled Israel as it was discovered he was providing Hizbullah information during the Second Lebanon War. While he and his supporters insist he is innocent, he has yet to return to face charges and prove his innocence in a court of law. Bitan feels the Knesset must address the actions of MKs who meet with families of terrorists and observe a minute of silence in their memory. Also attending the committee session was Roz Nazari, assistant to the Attorney General. He said from a public perspective, every citizen should be opposed to terror, but from a legal and judicial standpoint, not everything that is disqualified in the public arena is a criminal offense. In the criminal sphere, the Attorney General received a number of inquiries from MKs seeking to determine if they committed a criminal offense. We have asked police to gather information towards reaching a decision including the content of the meeting. Hard facts are required for in accordance to the law, as it must be proven that their actions could lead to violence or terrorism. The law passed by the Knesset Law Committee has been discussed in recent days pertaining to sections that would address the new terror law. The law has its checks and balances not because the legislature gave authority to the Ethics Committee and the House Committee but to enable reaching decisions in the public sphere as well as the criminal sphere. Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee (Likud) Tzachi Hanegbi feels new laws must be legislated, but he warns against dictating to the Attorney General and the legal experts. He lamented the fact the Ethics Committee is ineffective for its punishments are pathetic, adding the opposition has already been broached to support a bill that would empower the Knesset to oust anyone who acts inappropriately by a vote of 90 or more. Before adjourning, the House Committee called on the cabinet to refrain from handing over the bodies of slain terrorists to their families for burial in addition to turning to the Ethics Committee to levy the most stringent punishment possible against the Arab MKs who participated in the event with the families of terrorists; Hanin Zoabi, Dr. Ahmed Tibi, Basel Ghattas, and Jamal Zahalka. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Joining the PA (Palestinian Authority) in its objections to an egalitarian prayer area near the Kosel is the Muslim Waqf Authority, which together with Jordan oversees the operation of Har Habayis. Al-Aqsa Mosque Director Omar Kiswani, said Sunday 28 Shevat We will never accept it. The PA and the Waqf feel that any change in the so-called religious status quo in the areas of the Kosel and Har Habayis are unacceptable and attest to the ongoing Israeli effort to undermine the Islamic presence on Har Habayis and its control over the holy sites. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Baltimore prosecutors have asked a judge to delay the trials of three police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case until appellate courts decide if another officer awaiting retrial on related charges can be compelled to testify against them. The motion, filed Friday and made public on a court website Monday, could postpone for several months the trials of Lt. Brian Rice and officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero in Baltimore Circuit Court, Chief Deputy States Attorney Michael Schatzow acknowledged in the filing. Neros trial is set to begin Feb. 22; Millers on March 7; and Rices on March 9. Nero, Miller and Rice are charged with assault, misconduct and reckless endangerment. Rice is also charged with manslaughter. A separate appeal has already postponed the trials of Officer Caeser Goodson and Sgt. Alicia White. The motion is the latest development in the states efforts to make Officer William Porter available to testify against all five fellow officers in trials stemming from the April arrest of Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died from a broken neck he suffered during a ride in the back of a police van. Nero, Miller and Rice, who initially arrested and detained Gray, are white; the other officers, including Porter, are black. Porter is the only defendant who was present at Grays arrest and at several stops the van made during its 45-minute trip. Prosecutors have said they need Porters testimony against Goodson and White and may need him to testify against Nero, Miller and Rice. Porters manslaughter trial ended in a hung jury in December. His retrial is set for June 13. Hes appealing a court order that would force him to testify under immunity against Goodson and White. The shoe is on the other foot in the latest dispute. Prosecutors said last week theyll appeal Circuit Judge Barry Williams Jan. 20 ruling that Porter cannot be compelled to testify against Rice, Miller and Nero. Williams said he wasnt convinced the state needs Porters testimony. Instead, he agreed with defense lawyers that the state was maneuvering to delay those trials until after Porters retrial. The states motion says Williams overstepped his authority by inquiring into the states reasons for wanting to compel Porters testimony. It says the law limits the courts role in such matters to verifying that prosecutors have complied with certain procedural requirements. The issue hasnt been tested in Maryland courts, but Schatzow cited several federal cases and a New Jersey state case supporting his position. Defense attorneys have until Feb. 20 to respond. Lawyers for both sides are barred from discussing the case with reporters. (AP) Two commuter trains crashed head-on Tuesday morning in a remote area in southern Germany, killing at least nine people and injuring some 150, some of whom had to be cut out of the wreckage and transported across a river for medical care, police said. The two regional trains crashed before 7 a.m. on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria, and that several wagons overturned, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press. Fifty of those hurt have serious injuries, he added. It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage and authorities were still working at midday to remove the final body from the train. Once that is done then the investigators can begin their work, federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told the AP from the scene. The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday, the dpa news agency reported. It was not clear how fast the trains were traveling at the time of the crash but German rail operator Deutsche Bahn told dpa they were permitted to travel of speeds up to 120 kilometers per hour (80 mph) on that stretch of track. The trains crashed in a remote area about 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Munich in an area with a forest on one side and a river on the other. Rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall river to waiting ambulances. Authorities said they were being taken to hospitals across southern Bavaria. Hundreds of emergency personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria were on the scene looking through the wreckage and aiding in the evacuation of the injured. This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene, Sonntag said. The two trains from the so-called Meridian line were both partially derailed and wedged against one another, train operater Bayerische Oberlandbahn said in a statement on its website. It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said. Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, speaking from the crash scene, said his thoughts were with the family members of the dead and the injured. We need to find out know what happened, if the cause of the crash was based on the technology or human failure, he said. Bayerische Oberlandbahn said it had started a hotline for family and friends to check on passengers. This is a huge shock. We are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees, Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, told dpa. In Munich, the city blood center put out an urgent call for donors in the wake of the crash. The Munich Blood Donation Service, which delivers blood products to local hospitals, said on its website that there was an acute increased need for life-saving blood products after the accident and called for immediate donations. Germany is known for the quality of its train service but the country has seen several other accidents, typically at road crossings. Most recently, a train driver and one passenger were killed when a train hit the trailer of a tractor in western Germany in May, injuring another 20. In 2011, 10 people were killed and 23 injured in a head-on collision of a passenger train and a cargo train on a single-line track close to Saxony-Anhalts state capital Magdeburg in eastern Germany. Germanys worst train accident happened in 1998, when a high-speed ICE train crashed in the northern German town of Eschede, killing 101 people and injuring more than 80. (AP) EARLIER REPORTS BELOW: Two passenger trains have collided in the German state of Bavaria. Local police have reported several people were killed and many others injures. The location of the collision is described to be Bad Aibling, a spa resort approximately 60km southeast of Munich. One of the trains involved derailed and a number of cars flipped over. An estimated 100 or more people have been injured. EMS, fire, rescue and other services and investigators are operating in the scene. Choppers are involved in the rescue effort. UPDATE 10:55: German news agency DPA reports that four people have died in the head-on train crash in Bavaria. DPA, citing a federal police official on the scene, says that about 150 people were injured in the crash Tuesday morning between two regional trains near Bad Aibling, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Munich. A spokesman for German Federal Police in Bavaria, Matthias Knott, told the AP that the crash took place in an inaccessible region and that rescue personnel were still in the middle of getting passengers out of the trains. (AP) (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: Media Resource Group) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] The IDF regularly arrests people absent from military service. In this latest case, which took place early Tuesday morning 30 Shevat (Monday night to Tuesday), military police arrived at Chalafta Street in Ashdod to arrest a Yeshiva Bochur who has failed to report for military service. A crowd of bnei torah quickly gathered outside and police found themselves extremely outnumbered. The crowd began singing songs in support of the boy slated for arrest. As police checked if he was home, the crowd flipped the police vehicle onto its roof, leaving police stranded until backup units arrived. A number of other police cars were damaged by protestors hurling rocks. Bchasdei Hashem there were no injuries. Kol Chai Radio reported on Tuesday morning the person military police were seeking was not home. It is unclear if he happened to not be home or if he was tipped off by someone in advance. The radio report adds that based on the appearance of the crowd outside that supported the talmid yeshiva, his yeshiva is affiliated with HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Auerbach Shlita, who is stringent in ordering his talmidim not to cooperate with military authorities in any way. Military police also arrived at two addresses in Jerusalem, one at 14 Kehati Street in the Givat Shaul neighborhood and the second, 4 Aviad Street in the Givat Mordechai neighborhood. At the first locale there were too many supporters of the person sought, prompting police to turn around and leave. Regarding the Ashdod incident in which a police vehicle was flipped over on its roof, police state no efforts will be spared in finding those responsible for the violence and destruction. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Tuesday called on authorities to find those responsible and to bring down the full weight of the legal system on them for their actions. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photos: Media Resource Group) India has the world's largest youth population, despite having a smaller population than China, a latest UN report stated. With 356 million 10-24 year-olds, it has surpassed countries like China, US and Indonesia; elucidated the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) State of the World's Population report. Since we have a huge number of people who are in their youth, it is important it has access to the basic necessity of life: shelter. So what does the young working class of today think about the real estate market? Do they believe in taking a risk and buying their own home or are they happy staying on rent? "Investing in the real estate market is a long-term investment. My parents spent their entire life staying on rent and changed homes every two years. However, I believe that purchasing one's own home when an individual is financially-sound is very important. Hence, I have invested in a place in the peripheral area of Mumbai and I am very happy with it," says Saif Baig, a working professional. Experts also believe that there has been a change in the outlook in the recent times. Earlier, middle-aged people with considerable savings thought of owning a home, but today, the young working class employees are taking this decision in the early stages of their career. Rather than just staying on rent, most of them are purchasing a house, whether it is for self-use or investment purposes. "Increased pay packages, especially in the IT and financial sectors; the growth of double-income couples; a growing exposure to information through internet penetration and a heightened awareness regarding asset-building, are some of the factors at play," says Pankaj Kapoor, MD, Liases Foras. "Even though there are lucrative deals on offer, the working-class is averse to invest their hard-earned money in costly projects, as rentals prove to be more cost-effective than paying high EMIs. Another reason is that a significant number of unsold homes are beyond the budgets of most buyers and unfinished projects are getting delayed, so a buyer ends up paying both, rentals as well as EMIs," says Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO residential services, JLL India. There are two types of consumers, one who are living in their own homes and hence, are in no rush to buy or lease a property and the second is the migratory population, who first leases and once financially-established, proceeds to purchase a home, maintain experts. "In the past couple of decades, Mumbai has seen a sharp rise in the influx of migrants. In the initial stages, a migrant will always look to rent a flat rather than bringing a new property," says Dharmesh Jain, chairman and managing director, Nirmal Lifestyle. "The way you could distinguish is that the younger generation looks for convenience of social infrastructure, ease of commute to workplace, etc, when selecting their homes. As you grow older, your priorities change and you prefer calmer localities and healthcare becomes an important priority. People filter location preferences for homes according to their lifecycle," says Vinod Rohira, MD, commercial real estate and REIT, K Raheja Corp. "In tier-1 cities, buying a house in the prime locations is a distant dream for young professionals. Many are considering upcoming locations, which offer reasonable pricing and appreciation prospects. Then, there is the taxation perspective too that plays a big role," says Kapoor. He also goes on to add, "While purchasing a house offers major tax benefits, renting an apartment can fetch benefits like HRA for salaried professionals. Many also opt for renting in the city of work and buying an apartment in other smaller cities to receive dual tax benefits and also gain from price appreciation." If you are looking at a short-term goal, then renting an apartment is an apt step; however, if you are looking at creating an asset with a long-term goal, go ahead and take the plunge as there are many lucrative deals in store. Shehzin Shaikh, Times Property, The Times of India, Mumbai Officials in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) this week announced Education Minister Naftali Bennett is responsible for leaking information pertaining to discussions at cabinet meetings. He is accused of spreading information that he wants the Israel to act immediately against Hamas tunnels while Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is opposed. The message released by the PMO says Ministers should all try to exhibit responsibility and not attempt to gather political support by giving political briefings that do not reflect the in-depth discussion held by the cabinet. The PMOs statement is clearly a response to a Channel 2 News report that cited Bennetts statements, the alleged leak and the ongoing feud between Bennett and PM Netanyahu. During Operation Protective Edge Bennett acted in a similar fashion, openly criticizing the cabinet, leading to a censure and a warning that if he continues acting in the same fashion, the consequences would be severe. Bennett credits his actions for compelling the IDF to finally act against the tunnels, a claim that is rejected by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and PM Netanyahu. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) British Airways is to start flying from Ryanair-dominated London Stansted airport in May, as it seeks to compete with increasingly popular budget carriers. From May 28, holidaymakers will be able to get on a BA flight from Stansted airport to Faro in Portugal; Malaga, Palma or Ibiza in Spain. Fares, inclusive of all taxes and fees, will start from around 49 each way for passengers travelling with hand luggage only. The flights, operated by BA CityFlyer, will only run on Saturdays. New ground: British Airways is to start flying from Ryanair-dominated Stansted airport in May, as it seeks to compete with increasingly popular budget carriers Taking one example from BA's website, for June 4, the outward trip from Stansted to Ibiza is 48, while the return trip a week later on June 11 is 75. Over the same dates, BA's outward flight from Stansted to Malaga leaving at 1am on 4 June is 46, as is the return on 11 June. On the flight out to Malaga on June 4, only 2 seats for 46 were available at the time of writing. This begs the question of how many seats are available at the low prices. Certain charges, such as having to pay to select a seat in advance, won't apply to BA flights from Stansted as they do for flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports. Luke Hayhoe, British Airways' general manager commercial and customer at BA CityFlyer, said: 'This is a fantastic opportunity for us to expand our London network and to give our customers even more choice of where to fly from this summer. 'Stansted is a growing airport and we will be offering a full scheduled service to some of the most popular European holiday destinations, complementing our existing services from other London airports.' Flights: BA will use 98-seat Embraer 190 jets for the flights, more commonly seen at London City Airport Meanwhile, Stansted managing director Andrew Harrison said: 'I am delighted to welcome British Airways to Stansted and very much look forward to the launch of its first ever scheduled flights from the airport in May this year. 'Since we acquired Stansted, our focus has been on attracting a wider choice of airlines and these new services to Faro, Malaga, Palma and Ibiza are strong additions to our route network. 'I'm sure these routes will be very popular with passengers from across London, Cambridge and the growing east of England region.' BA will use 98-seat Embraer 190 jets for the flights, more commonly seen at London City Airport, which will be operated by the wholly-owned British Airways subsidiary BA CityFlyer. Sunshine at last: Taking off: On 28 May, holidaymakers will be able to get on a BA flight from Stansted airport to Faro, Malaga, Palma or Ibiza (pictured) Stansted's owners, the Manchester Airport Group, is urging the Government to improve rail connections into Stansted to encourage passengers and airlines to utilise the spare capacity at the airport before expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick can be delivered. Poll Is Stansted airport a nightmare to get to? Yes No Is Stansted airport a nightmare to get to? Yes 185 votes No 170 votes Now share your opinion While frequently offering cheaper flight options, Stansted, which is 35 miles north of central London, is often considered troublesome to get to, with travel costs to and from the airport potentially negating the benefits of bargain flight tickets. All the routes being run by BA from Stansted are the current stomping grounds of Irish budget carrier Ryanair. Intriguingly, Willie Walsh - the chief executive of British Airways-owner IAG - today said he admires his fierce Ryanair rival, Michael O'Leary. Mr Walsh paid tribute to the fellow Irishman who he said had managed to turn a profit while expanding his budget carrier in a rare airline business feat. The IAG boss said: 'I have huge admiration for him (Mr O'Leary) but I would not necessarily do things the way he does.' He added: 'You have to admire his results, he is a true leader and I have grudging admiration for the guy.' Dominating: All the routes being run by BA from Stansted are the current stomping grounds of Ryanair It makes the Indian CEO one of the highest paid directors of any public firm Sundar Pichai given shares in the company worth nearly 140million Google paid its chief executive more than the 130million it handed to the UK taxman for 10 years of tax bills, it has emerged. Sundar Pichai was given shares in the company worth nearly 140million, making him one of the highest-paid directors of any public company in the world. It is likely to fuel further anger at George Osborne's 'sweetheart' deal with Google last month. Scroll down for video Google chief executive Sundar Pichai (pictured) has been awarded restricted stock worth 140Million - 10million more than it paid HMRC to cover a 10-year tax bill The Chancellor came under fire from his party's own leader in Scotland last night over the deal, with Ruth Davidson declaring: 'there is one rule for those at the top and one rule for the rest of us'. The share package handed to Mr Pichai was nearly 10million more than Google paid the UK taxman to cover 10 years of back taxes. Ruth Davidson, pictured this morning attending a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street with Scottish Secretary David Mundell, said failure to take action on tax avoidance could 'erode trust in government' It comes a week after Google's parent company Alphabet overtook Apple to become the world's biggest company after it declared a market value of 392billion. Mr Pichai, the 43-year-old Indian chief executive whose family did not own a telephone until he was 12, came to prominence last year after Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin handed him day-to-day control of Alphabet's core businesses. Last night Mr Osborne faced more anger from within the Tory party over the deal HMRC reached with Google, which he hailed as a 'major victory' last month. Ms Davidson, who has been tipped as a future leader of the Conservatives, said the 130million Google paid to cover 10 years of back taxes 'doesn't feel right' and accused HMRC of incompetence. And she warned that failure to take more radical action on tax avoidance could 'erode trust in government,' suggesting that injustice in the tax system turns voters to 'extremists' such as Donald Trump. 'It further adds to the sense of simmering indignation that many people feel at a system that often seems rigged against them,' she said in a speech in Edinburgh last night. 'And that further helps the populists, the demagogues and the extremists the Trumps and the Le Pens who are hoping to exploit that resentment for their own narrow purposes.' She added: 'It feels too often that there is one rule for those at the top, and one rule for the rest of us, she said. 'We ignore this growing sense of resentment at our peril.' OTHER GIANTS IN THE DOCK: MAJOR FIRMS AND CORPORATION TAX Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, pictured, paid just 4,327 in corporation tax in 2014 and is challenging HMRC's tax audit Facebook: The social media titan paid just 4,327 in corporation tax in 2014, despite reporting UK revenues of 105million. Apple: The US-based technology firm behind the iPad and the iPhone made 34billion in profit during the year to September 2014. Experts estimate that the UK accounted for 1.9billion of that profit, but the firm only paid 11.8million in British corporation tax. Amazon: The online shopping giant took 5.3billion in sales from British shoppers in 2014 but paid just 11.9million in tax after announcing profits of 34.4million. Starbucks: The coffee chain paid just 8.6million of tax over 14 years between 1998 and 2012 when sales totalled 3billion. But latest company filings show it paid 8.1million in corporation tax for last year on profits of 34.2million. Advertisement Sharing the widespread anger expressed at the 130million deal - which was substantially less than the amount secured by France and Italy - Ms Davidson said: 'Here's the frustration that people feel: when asked about their affairs, firms like Google and Apple have the same reply they have paid exactly what HMRC has asked them to pay and have complied with the law. And they are right. 'Then, when asked about the government's response, David Cameron and George Osborne point out that no government has done more than this to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. And they are right too. 'The trouble is, both might be right, but it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel fair. And in our hearts, I think we all know it isn't fair.' 'We need a tax system which is competitive and business-friendly but which is also seen as fair. 'That task is vitally important.' George Osborne, pictured left, has been told by John McDonnell, right, not to let another global corporation off the hook following his 'sweetheart' deal with Google last week Google is expected to topple its rival Apple when it reveals its latest figures to Wall Street today, with a record 11billion profits Mr Osborne faced widespread criticism over the deal he reached with Google last month. Downing Street described it as a 'positive step forward' - a notable difference in tone than the Chancellor's declaration that it was a 'major success'. Mr Osborne's close ally Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, admitted it 'wasn't a glorious moment'. The Chancellor is now under pressure to step up his efforts on corporate tax collection. Last week Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell demanded he recoups some of the 1.7billion that Facebook has set aside to settle tax battles with national governments. Facebook's accounts revealed that it is not planning to use any of its tax liability fund to resolve its dispute with the taxpayer, despite its current battle with HMRC over the 4,327 it paid in corporation tax in the last financial year. The social media giant made revenues in Britain of more than 700 million last year. The row over Google's tax bill comes as the firm's parent company, Alphabet, overtook Apple to become the world's biggest company earlier this month after after declaring a 5 per cent rise in profits to Wall Street on Monday, boosting its market value to 392billion, eclipsing Apple's 370billion value. The shares handed to Mr Pichai is the most lucrative award ever handed to a Google executive, according to a Bloomberg data analysis. Pichai, who was promoted from Larry Page's deputy to Google CEO over summer, was awarded the restricted stock on February 3. The 140million is the sum of 273,328 Class C shares. According to Bloomberg, granted Pichai remains in his position for at least three years, the shares will vest in quarterly increments between now and 2019. It is customary for Google to award executives restricted stock about once every two years in a bid to encourage then 'to take a long-term view of the business'. Sir, MenEngage Africa is deeply concerned about the ongoing crisis that threatens the stability of Burundi. As an alliance, we are mostly concerned about the slow pace of action to intervene in the crisis. At its recent summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from January 29-31, 2016, the African Union (AU) back-tracked from an undertaking it made in December last year, to send 5 000 peace-keeping troops to Burundi to quell the continuing political violence in the central African country. Instead, the body decided that it will deploy a high-level delegation to convene a dialogue to negotiate a settlement acceptable to the Burundian President, Pierre Nkurunziza, to end the political crisis that arose after he forcefully secured a controversial third term in office. The composition and timing of the deployment of this high-level delegation is yet to be determined. While the plan is still being considered, the safety and security of civilians in Burundi hang in the balance. According to credible UN reports, more than 400 people have been killed, in excess of 3 500 people opposed to Nkurunzizas third term in office have been detained and about 230 000 people have fled the country since the beginning of the conflict in April, last year. This has sparked fears of a return to civil war, a decade after the Hutu-Tutsi conflict that resulted in 300 000 people dying. So, what happens in the meantime while the AU is considering its high-level delegation to Burundis capital, Bujumbura, to negotiate a political settlement? More civilians die! More people are displaced! More women and children are raped! MenEngage Africa is concerned about this continued loss of human lives. We are particularly concerned that women, girls and children are most at risk to get hurt and abused. Observational evidence has shown that women and girls often become subject to illegal and forced marriage, sexual abuse and rape, while boy children are abducted and forcefully used to carry out criminal activities during times of political conflict. We are greatly concerned about the utter disregard for the rule of law, good governance and accountability by our leaders in Africa. It is high time that they are held accountable for their actions. Apart from the internal strife, the effects of the conflict are likely to spill over to other countries and apply pressure on those countries already meagre resources, as civilians continue to flee Burundi. Conflict, especially long-drawn, means that investors are likely to be driven away, taking much needed resources and know-how with them. Consequently, our economies are likely to suffer and cause further strife to the lives of the people. This will add to more job losses, increasing the already high rates of unemployment. This is concerning since our continent is a youthful region given that almost 60 per cent of citizens are below the age of 35 years of age. This does not augur well for the future. As MenEngage Africa, we feel that one aspect that has not merited special attention in all these conflicts is the insidious influence patriarchy has on most of our leaders decisions. This political system that promotes male dominance and superiority over females, and so-called weak males entrenches and perpetuates itself by meting out various forms of psychological terrorism and violence continues to find fertile ground that allows it to flourish in Africa. We believe that patriarchy continues to undermine gender equality and, consequently, the human rights of women and children. Invariably, conflict and war overwhelmingly contribute towards patriarchal reproduction modes - we have seen disturbing images of Burundian soldiers dragging half-naked civilians in the streets while others throw heavy stones on them. We are concerned about the pressure being put on civil society organisations by the current regime, seeking to undermine the legitimate work of these organisations, due to them taking a stand for accountable leadership. As such, we urge all parties to exercise restraint and respect the human rights and dignity of all parties, regardless of sex, tribe or political affiliation. Wars are a human construct and these conflicts can stop as soon as all parties realise they have more to lose than win, in continuing pursuing such senseless and murderous conflicts. Therefore, as MenEngage Africa, we call upon the African Union to be serious about human rights, good governance and accountability. We urge the AU, the regional East Africa Community (EAC) and the United Nations (UN) to urgently help resolve the Burundi crisis and to end the unnecessary loss of lives. Bafana Khumalo, co-chair, MenEngage Africa Alliance MBABANE The executor of the estate of Botha Hezekiel Dlamini has taken the Swaziland Empowerment Limited (SEL) (Pty) Ltd and African Alliance to court to compel the two companies to restore possession of the deceaseds shares to the estate. Oscar Dlamini, of Piggs Peak, said while collecting assets of the deceased he perused his personal documents and discovered that during his lifetime he held valuable shares with SEL. He said the shares comprised of the deceaseds assets. Oscar stated that SEL alleged that the shares in issue were either on October 30, 2008 sold or transferred to African Alliance. However, the executor alleged that African Alliance, under oath, denied that it had ever purchased the shares. African Alliance further denied that it had ever owned the shares but stated that it merely played a role in their transfer. Oscar alleged that he did not know where the shares were transferred to since African Alliance did not mention it. He alleged that there were copies of shareholding certificates in favour of the deceased issued by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. Oscar said it was, therefore, logical and was to be expected that during his lifetime, the deceased became entitled to certain financial dividends within SEL. The long and short of it, however, is that both the first and second respondents (SEL and African Alliance), each according to its means, have played a role in despoiling the estate of the possession of its shares. The same has been illicit and as a moveable, I am very much entitled to seek vindication of such asset, submitted Oscar. He alleged that the said sale of the shares to African Alliance occurred on October 30, 2008. Botha died on April 15, 2002. Oscar mentioned that he never sold any shares to anyone. He submitted that any sale of the shares occurring outside the ambit of the law was unlawful and should be declared null and void. MBABANE One of the Matata Moneni Spar robbery suspects, Lungelo Nxumalo, has been arrested in South Africa (SA). Nxumalo allegedly fled Swaziland after the E861 431.08 robbery from the supermarket, which occurred on January 2, 2016. Upon arrival in the neighbouring country, Nxumalo is reported to have been arrested for being in SA illegally and somehow managed to escape from lawful custody. He was later rearrested and sentenced to seven years imprisonment for those two counts. Meanwhile, the Swaziland Government has written to its South Africa counterparts, requesting that they provisionally arrest and extradite the five suspects in the Moneni Spar robbery. The five, including Nxumalo, are all believed to be in SA. The five, Sikelela Nxumalo, Lungelo, Gcinumuzi Fakudze, Wonder Masilela and Thabo Chunky Maziya are suspected to have made off with the aforementioned amount during the robbery. Through a diplomatic note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and attached to it is documentation from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the ministry stated that the five were believed to be in SA and were being sought by Swaziland authorities to face the charges of robbery. An affidavit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, authorises Vuyile Dlamini, the ministrys Legal Advisor, to forward the Request for Provisional Arrest Pending Extradition from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. In a letter dated January 21, 2016, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Edgar Hillary, kindly and respectfully requested that the five are extradited to Swaziland to the prosecuting and investigating authorities, who are the Royal Swaziland Police. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Rocchio A young girl from Flushing has received a new prosthetic hand that was developed using some of the latest in 3D printing technology. Doctors at Jacobi Medical Center in Morris Park in the Bronx created the custom-fitting hand for Yujing He, 13. After being fitted with the prosthetic hand, a first for the hospital, she is now able to move the fingers on her left hand for basic functions. Yujing seemed very happy with her new hand, saying she was going through a period of adjustment. I feel more confident and happier to have this new hand, she said through a translator. I think it is a miracle that I can try to do some things that I could not do without this hand. 3D printing involves molding narrow pieces of plastic together to create a three dimensional image to the specifications created in a computer model, a hospital spokesman explained. These kinds of prosthetics are ideal for patients who are still growing, because they can be adjusted with relative ease, her doctors said. The recently completed operation was performed in collaboration with Montefiores podiatrydepartment, where one of Hes doctors, Dr. Kyle Silva, works. Jacobi plastic surgeon and Burn Fellow Dr. Cesar Colasante led the medical centers part of the effort, and said he has been working with 3D printing for about 15 years. Using 3D printing can reduce the cost of a prosthetic hand from thousands of dollars to as little as $30, and adjustments can be made within a day, said Colasante. She is going to continue growing and she is going to outgrow her prosthesis within a year, he said, adding that the low cost for the hospital allows it to go ahead with operations quickly rather than waiting months for Medicaid to approve a procedure. It makes for a more personalized experience, said Colasante, who also said that the possibilities for using the technology have the potential for exponential growth. Dr. Silva believes that 3D printing will continue to be important in the development of models for pre-surgery planning to better understand the reaction of the body, for medical education or to map out a traumatic brain injury in three dimensions. This type of printing is getting better and better, with new kinds of plastic becoming available. It is fascinating technology, Silva said, adding that the technology keeps getting better every day. Yujing developed amniotic band syndrome, a condition that previously made it impossible to move her fingers, when she was about 3 years old, her mother, Qiumin Lai, said. According to her doctors, she is now able to fully use her left hand to grip things like water bottles. This was not possible before the surgery. Airport development adding to economy, jobs in the region Pittsburgh may always be known as the Steel City, but a wave of new industries are popping up near its airport to redefine business in the region. Laura Gutschke/Special to the Reporter-News Leilani Smith of Clyde holds the February/March issue of Taste of Home magazine, which published her Shortbread Fudge Tiramisu recipe that won an award in the 2015 National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest. SHARE Laura Gutschke/Special to the Reporter-News Leilani Smith of Clyde dips Thanks-a-Lot Girl Scout cookies in espresso to make her award-winning Shortbread Fudge Tiramisu. Laura Gutschke/Special to the Reporter-News Shortbread Fudge Tiramisu from Leilani Smith of Clyde won the pudding, ice cream, gelatin desserts category in the 2015 National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest. The dessert features Thanks-a-Lot cookies. By Laura Gutschke Girl Scout Cookies are addicting enough already, but now there is even more reason to buy an extra few boxes. Cookie sales kicked off recently and run through Feb. 28. And, just in time, Taste of Home magazine is showcasing several tempting desserts made with Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Caramel deLites and other favorites. The magazine sponsored the first 2015 National Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest, and the finalists are in the February/March issue available on newsstands and online. The magazine staff gleaned through submissions, tested recipes and selected 16 finalists, four each in four categories: cakes, pies, cupcakes; cookies, brownies, bars; pudding, ice cream, gelatin desserts; and candies, according to a contest news release. The public then voted for their favorites on the magazine's website. Shortbread Fudge Tiramisu, created by Leilani Smith, of Clyde, won the pudding, ice cream, gelatin desserts category using Girl Scout Thanks-a-Lot cookies. Thin shortbread cookies with a fudge bottom are soaked in coffee and interspersed between layers of a custard that includes creamy mascarpone. "It's plate-licking good," said D. Grant Smith, Smith's husband. Smith was inspired by an Italian friend's family recipe for tiramisu. "She uses Maria cookies instead of ladyfingers," Smith said. "Her recipe is perfect to begin with. I just swapped out the cookies." Smith split the $250 prize money with her friend. "You could use the regular shortbread cookies but I think the chocolate ones give it a nice taste," Smith said. The final recipe printed in the magazine was adjusted by the Taste of Home staff to replace the uncooked eggs in Smith's original entry, she said. The contest rules stipulated that the recipes could be modified by the staff. "But the original recipe is on my blog," Smith said. Since 2010 she has been chronicling online about the challenges and joys of remodeling her 100-year-old house in Clyde. She also loves cooking, so her recipes with accompanying step-by-step photos started making their way into the blog, keepingupwithmrssmith.com. In 2012 Smith entered a Taste of Home holiday seasons contest and won the Halloween category. Shorty after, the magazine invited her to be a field editor, which involves annually submitting six original recipes and testing six recipes on the magazine's website. Field editors also receive early notice of upcoming contests, Smith said. "I first thought about doing Thin Mint ice cream but then I thought, no, everyone is going to do Thin Mint ice cream," Smith said. Her cooking inspiration comes from childhood memories and travels. "Basically my cravings help me create recipes," Smith said. "If I find something I really like, I try to reinvent it." The Taste of Home cookie dessert contest was new on the national level, but Girl Scout area councils have been promoting the use of cookies in desserts for a while, said Gay Ganske, product sales/retail coordinator for Abilene for the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains Council. "A lot of people use Shortbread cookies crumbed for a pie crust," Ganske said. She also has tasted at the Fort Worth corporate offices a cheesecake with a crust of Cranberry Citrus Crisps cookies. Ganske has even made cupcakes with Thin Mints and a boxed mix of D devil's F food cake. The cupcake batter is made according to package directions. A layer of batter goes on the bottom of the cupcake liner, then a Thin Mint, then more cake batter. For added richness, Ganske said she uses packaged chocolate mint frosting. "Then to make it look pretty, you put some chopped Thin Mints on top," Ganske said. "It looks like you worked really hard on it." Another dessert option is cake balls, Ganske said. In a food processor, combine a box of the Lemonades or Thin Mints cookies with about four 4 ounces of cream cheese. Shape the mixture into small balls, chill in the refrigerator and then dip in melted chocolate, she said Despite all the new tempting ways to enjoy Girl Scout Cookies, even cooking aficionado Smith admits the old way is still the best way. "I'm a purist. I just eat them out of the sleeve," Smith said with a laugh. Following are other dessert recipes using Girl Scout c Cookies, include Smith's Shortbread Fudge Tiramisu, from girlscouts.org, the official website of Girl Scouts. GIRL SCOUT COOKIES SALE What: Girl Scout cookies can be bought by individual girls or at cookie sales outside area businesses. When: Sales run through Feb. 28. Where: To find a cookie sale location, visit gs-top.org, click on the "Cookies" tab and follow the links. Cost: $4 a box. SHORTBREAD FUDGE TIRAMISU Prep Time: 25 minutes plus chilling. Ingredients 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup sugar 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 carton (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream 27 Girl Scout Thanks-a-Lot cookies 1 cup brewed espresso or strong coffee 2 tablespoons baking cocoa Directions 1 In top of a double boiler or metal bowl over simmering water, combine egg yolks and sugar; whisk constantly until mixture is thick, holds a ribbon and a thermometer reads 160 degrees. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool completely. 2 Gently stir mascarpone cheese into egg yolk mixture. In a small bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form; fold into cheese mixture. 3 Quickly dip 9 Thanks-a-Lot cookies into coffee (about 5 seconds), allowing excess to drip off. Arrange in a single layer in an 8-inch square dish. Spread with 3/4 cup cheese mixture; sprinkle with baking cocoa. Repeat layers twice. Refrigerate, covered, at least 8 hours or overnight. Yields 9 servings. Recipe courtesy Leilani Smith, of Clyde, girlscouts.org. PEANUT BUTTER TRAIL MIX FUDGE Prep Time: 10 minutes plus chilling Ingredients 1 pound white candy coating, chopped 1 cup creamy peanut butter 1 package (6-1/2 ounces) Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs cookies, coarsely chopped, divided 1 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts, divided 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries, divided Directions 1 Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, letting ends extend up sides. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt candy coating with peanut butter; stir until smooth. 2 Stir in 1 cup chopped Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs cookies, 1/2 cup peanuts and 1/4 cup cherries. Spread into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining chopped Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs cookies, peanuts and cherries. Refrigerate until firm. 3 Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Remove foil; cut fudge into 1-inch squares. Store between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container. Yields 2 pounds. Recipe courtesy Kim Varner, girlscouts.org. LEMON SHORTBREAD CHEESECAKE Prep Time: 30 minutes plus freezing Ingredients 1 package (9 ounces) Girl Scout Shortbread/Trefoils cookies 1/4 cup butter, melted Filling 2 packages (8 1/2 ounces each) Girl Scout Lemonades cookies 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream- Lemon Curd 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup butter, cubed Directions 1 Place Shortbreads/Trefoils cookies in a food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. Add butter; pulse just until blended. Press onto bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Freeze 10 minutes. 2 Place Lemonades cookies in a clean food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in Lemonades cookie crumbs. In another bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form; fold into cream cheese mixture. Spread over crust. Freeze, covered, for 1 hour. 3 Meanwhile, in a small heavy saucepan, whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Add butter; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is just thick enough to coat a metal spoon and a thermometer reads at least 170 degrees. Do not allow to boil. Remove from heat immediately. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl; cool. Press plastic wrap onto surface of lemon curd. Refrigerate until cold. 4 Spoon 1 cup lemon curd over cheesecake. Freeze 1 hour longer. Remove rim from pan. Serve with remaining lemon curd. Yields 12 servings. Recipe courtesy Rosalia Roger, girlscouts.org. Bowie Memorial Hospital SHARE By Barbara Green The Bowie Hospital Authority Trustees sold one property at a recent meeting, but they are still waiting to get a viable bidder for the hospital as the Feb. 15 deadline approaches. It has been a rough road for the hospital board since closure the hospital in late November. The first attempt to sell the hospital fell through when the prospect would not commit to the sale or provide confirmation of financing. That forced board members to go back to the drawing board to bid out the hospital, but after all the delays they also set a final date for a sales contract as its resources dwindle. Lynn Heller, chief executive officer, conferred with the board in executive session Thursday afternoon for about one hour to discuss real property. Although no action was taken, Heller said they have at least three qualified people interested in purchasing the hospital. "All three of them own and operate rural hospitals, they understand what it takes to run a hospital like Bowie Memorial," the CEO said. As of Friday, that trio had dropped to two as one bowed out after being unable to get financing. Heller said he has in hand one "good letter of intent." No formal bids have been submitted however. Heller said the prospects are doing their due diligence asking for a lot of information from the hospital staff. "I just hope someone has enough moxie and vision to see the potential of this place. Starting out as a for-profit hospital, they can do some things that were hard for a community hospital to do. They can control costs better and should be able to make it work, especially if physicians are involved," explained Heller. When the CEO was asked what happens if Feb. 15 arrives and there are no formal bidders, he said he anticipates the board will instruct him to sell off the equipment, pay what they can on the bills, and then call Bank of America and see what they want them to do with it. Bids were opened for a pair of properties at 1101 Rock and 1111 Lamb. There were two bids for the Rock Street location submitted by William B. Santo, $35,916.54 (building and contents) and Tim Biles, $52,501. Santo was the sole bidder for the Lamb Street property $17,264 (building and contents). However, he also prefaced his bid that it was only valid if he won the bid for 1001 Rock. The board accepted Biles' bid; therefore rejecting Santo's Lamb Street bid. Times Record News file photo The Wichita County Courthouse SHARE By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News Wichita County Commissioners had a split vote 2-2 Monday morning over a telecommunications project bid with Webfire Inc. The county has been preparing for several months to assess the needs for an upgrade to their telephone systems. Information Technology Assistant Director Ashley Culley said her department and other county staff have complied extensive information about the current system, possible issues, and what they would like included in an upgraded system. "The new system would replace our current phone system that is 26 years old. Even with the cost of the new equipment we would save an estimated $35,000 per year upon installation. Once the equipment is paid for, the new system would save an estimated $6,000 dollars a month over our current monthly charges," she said. A request for proposals was sent this summer and Webfire Inc. was chosen to continue further with the negotiations process. Commissioner Jeff Watts said to save even more dollars they are considering shaving some items off the list of equipment, such as the battery backup for an hour and a half for the phones and a fewer 32-button phones. Commissioners need to make a decision on this project quickly, Watts said, because Tyler Technologies programs will begin in April. "In April, the IT department will have hundreds of surveys. We'll have weekly meetings. Sam (Rivera) will be working with each department. In the beginning it's going to take probably all of the IT people to get it started," Culley said about the Tyler project beginning later this spring. Commissioners Ray Gonzalez and Lee Harvey expressed concern that negotiating quoted items with one company seemed "unethical." They felt that if anything was changed, then all of the bidders should have the opportunity to enter new quotes. County Assistant District Attorney Meredith Kennedy said it is not unethical to negotiate with a company and that is the legal process in Texas for a county to retain a bid with a company. "It's the same process as we went through with Southwest Correctional Medical Group. First you choose a bid then you have negotiations, as long as they do not go below the price of the lowest bidder," Kennedy said. The bid for Webfire Inc. was chosen "pending negotiations" and has not officially been awarded the contract yet. Culley said the next bidder in line for the project did not fulfill all the RFP requirements. "First we have to open that door to see what's inside that room," County Judge Woody Gossom said about opening the bid to negotiations. Harvey and Gonzalez held firm voting against taking action on the measure with Gossom and Watts voting to move forward with it. Commissioner Barry Mahler was absent from the meeting Monday and they tabled the issue until his return.

FILE - In a Friday, Aug. 28, 2015 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, addresses the summer meeting of the Democratic National Committee, in Minneapolis. Sanders says international rivals would be mistaken to assume he wouldn't use military force if that's what circumstances required. He says the United States should have the strongest military in the world. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)

SHARE By Chicago Tribune We were startled when an email from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hit our inbox. Turns out that even with the soak-the-rich tax hikes that presidential candidate Bernie Sanders envisions, his health proposal still would, over a decade, fall short by $3 trillion to $14 trillion. Projections depend on variables that would only terrify taxpayers the same taxpayers whose federal debt just topped $19 trillion. CRFB says Sanders' health, Social Security and family leave tax plans would goose the top federal tax rate to about 77 percent. Sanders at least acknowledges that his "Medicare for All" would force huge tax hikes. Even though, CRFB says "the numbers at the moment don't appear to add up." Nor do the numbers add up for most of the candidates' plans. As a Des Moines Register editorial said: "Candidates offer deficit of ideas on debt." Half a year earlier, 94 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers, and 74 percent of Democrats, had told Register pollsters they wanted candidates to concentrate on the nation's debt. Republicans Chris Christie and Jeb Bush merit modest praise for plans to slow Social Security and Medicare spending. Yet many GOP hopefuls' plans would inflate federal deficits none more so than Donald Trump's. And Democrat Hillary Clinton repeatedly told the Register's editorial board that the threat of a Social Security crisis is exaggerated. Despite Clinton, Social Security trustees project exhaustion of disability insurance fund late this year. They predict "depletion of total trust fund reserves" the fund that pays retirement benefits in 2034. At least Barack Obama gave lip service to reforming and rescuing the big entitlement programs. Then, his first annual deficits each topped $1 trillion; only with chutzpah do his partisans now boast that his once astronomical deficits have since declined to the merely astonishing. This year, federal deficits begin a new climb that rises as far as the Congressional Budget Office can see fiscal 2026. Obama's successor will resent a booby-trapped inheritance that CRFB summarizes as, "The era of declining budget deficits is over," and new debt predictions that CBO unfurled at the end of January "are significantly worse than previous projections." All of which should be putting enormous pressure on American voters to put enormous pressure on presidential candidates regarding debt. But that pressure isn't happening. The biggest crowds, rallying for Sanders and Trump, expect more federal largesse, not less. Many don't want to hear about how much they'll have to pay in federal (and state, and county, and city, and school, and ) taxes to pay off all the debts that the politicians they elected have created in their names. So here's another way to address our collective debt burden. America has a desperate need not only to restrain spending, but also to create more taxpayers. When more people are in the workforce, paying their taxes, governments at least have a chance of holding deficits in check. Those governments even have, dare we say it, a chance of balancing their budgets. Until these annual budgets begin to balance, we can't chip away at all this taxpayer debt. With that imperative in mind, we'll be evaluating federal, state and local candidates this year as in past years on how they would expand the economy. How they envision creating new jobs. How they would grow taxpayers, and revenues, to pay for their grand plans. Join us in this quest. We can elect officials who honestly admit that all the benefits they promise do create costs, and honestly tell you how we will pay them. ALBANY An Albany man was arraigned Monday on nearly two dozen criminal offenses, including multiple counts of robbery, rape and predatory sexual assault in connection with two unrelated crimes last month, according to the Albany County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say that early on Jan. 9, Jose Marlett, 36, allegedly displayed a dangerous instrument and robbed a 61-year-old woman whom he didn't know near Forest and New Scotland Avenues. Washington President Barack Obama is asking Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus and the mosquitoes that spread it here and abroad, but says "there shouldn't be a panic on this." The virus is spreading rapidly through Latin America. While most people experience either mild or no symptoms, Zika is suspected of causing a devastating birth defect babies born with abnormally small heads and pregnant Americans are urged to avoid travel to affected areas. U.S. health officials say the money is critical for research into the birth defect known as microcephaly. They also want to speed development of a vaccine and better diagnostic tests, and expand mosquito control programs. Some of the money would also aid Zika-stricken countries and territories. "What we now know is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women and women who are thinking about having a baby," Obama said in an interview aired Monday on "CBS This Morning." And while experts don't expect large outbreaks in the continental U.S., the emergency funding also would help them prepare for any local transmission as spring and summer approach. The administration is seeking the Zika money separately from the regular budget for the next fiscal year, which Obama will submit to Congress on Tuesday. "For the average American, this is not something that will change our day-to-day life," Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters at a White House briefing. "Our focus is on protecting pregnant women and trying to control the mosquito." Most of the money would go to health officials for such things as improving laboratory testing capacity, education and establishing rapid response teams. About $250 million of assistance would be directed specifically to Puerto Rico though extra Medicaid funding for health services, and $200 million would go toward research and commercialization of new vaccines and diagnostic tests. The remainder, about $335 million, would go to the U.S. Agency for International Development to help affected countries provide training to health workers, stimulate private sector research and help pregnant women gain access to repellant to protect against mosquitoes. Also Monday, the CDC said its emergency operations center, a command center that has been coordinating the Zika response, was being put on its highest level of alert. The Pan American Health Organization reports 26 countries and territories in South and Central America and the Caribbean with local Zika transmission. To date, there has been no transmission of the Zika virus by mosquitoes within the U.S., but some American travelers 50 with laboratory-confirmed cases between December and last week have returned home with the infection. One case in Texas is believed to have been transmitted through sex, and last week officials in Brazil, hard-hit by Zika, reported finding the virus in saliva and urine. That doesn't necessarily mean Zika can spread through those body fluids, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Fauci said the main focus is on mosquitoes. Dubai, U.A.E. Saudi Arabia's offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdom's growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering U.S. calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab world's most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. That's if the Saudi proposal even gets translated into action. Just putting the offer on the table gives the Saudis an opportunity to show leadership in addressing U.S. concerns that its regional allies aren't doing enough to fight IS. It also puts pressure on Washington to do more as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and allied defense ministers gather in Brussels this week for talks on confronting the extremists. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, made clear the kingdom's offer is contingent on the support of the U.S.-led coalition battling the militant group in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also has offered to deploy ground forces, are part of the coalition but have eased up on their contributions to the air campaign after earlier, high-profile sorties over Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir implied Monday his country's willingness to send special forces to Syria was contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort. "The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground-force contingent in Syria," al-Jubeir told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "The U.S. is leading the international coalition against ISIS in Syria," he said, declining to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets. "There would be no international coalition against ISIS in Syria if the U.S. did not lead this effort." Saudi Arabia is more focused on another war even closer to home. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition heavily supported by the Emirates is battling Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and a former president's supporters who control the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the impoverished country. The Yemen intervention highlights Saudi Arabia's growing assertiveness since King Salman's ascension to the throne just over a year ago, along with the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 30-year-old prince was named by his father as defense minister and second-in-line to be king. Prince Mohammed has announced the creation of a Saudi-based Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism. The bloc includes much of the Sunni Arab world, several African and Asian countries, as well as NATO member Turkey. Not included are IS front lines Syria and Iraq, or Saudi Arabia's chief rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran. "The Salman doctrine is about projecting power and military strength," said Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik, who believes the Saudis' offer for troops in Syria could portend other military expeditions in the region. "It may be looking for leverage, but it's also very serious," he said. Nassau Developers of a planned natural gas pipeline are looking at potential replacement locations in Rensselaer County for a natural gas compressor station proposed off Clark's Chapel Road in Nassau. In paperwork filed recently with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Houston-based energy company Kinder Morgan identified nine other possible sites for the station along the pipeline's proposed route in Nassau and Schodack, Rensselaer County. Those locations include: In South Schodack, to the east of Route 9, north of Schuffelt Road, including one 63-acre acre site, and another 64-acre site. In East Schodack, to the south of Burden Lake Road, west of Boyce Road, and north of Hoags Corners Road, 56-acre site, a 70-acre site, an 85-acre site, a 60 acre-site, and a 44-acre site. In Nassau, to the south of Clarks Chapel Road and west of Nassau-Averill Park Road, including a 60- acre site and a 43-acre site. The Clarks Chapel Road site first proposed for the 41,000-horsepower compressor station is 149 acres. Kinder Morgan is seeking federal approval to build the $5 billion Northeast Energy Direct pipeline to bring natural gas more than 400 miles from the hydrofrack fields of Pennsylvania to northern Massachusetts and Boston. The proposed expansion also would connect into the company's existing Iroquois pipeline in the Schoharie County town of Wright. The 30-inch pipeline's northward route would take it through Schoharie County and southern Albany County, before crossing the Hudson River to continue through Schodack, Nassau and Stephentown to the Massachusetts state line. Plans call for the NED pipeline to continue traveling east from Wright in or near an existing Kinder Morgan right of way through the Albany County towns of Knox, Berne, New Scotland and Bethlehem before crossing beneath the Hudson River at Schodack. From there, it would head northeast, continue to south of Burden Lake and on to the intersection of routes 43 and 66 at the hamlet of Alps. From there, it would run along Route 43 in Nassau and Stephentown for 14 miles before crossing into Massachusetts at Hancock for the rest of its eastward route. The Bethlehem Town Board will consider voting against the pipeline at it regular meeting 6 p.m. Wednesday. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Pipeline opponents are also expected to attend Thursday's meeting of the Schodack Town Board. "I think Kinder Morgan has already picked out where they want to put the compressor station," said Robert Connors, a Canaan resident who is a member of the grassroots group Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline. "I think they are offering up these other possibilities just to satisfy a request from FERC." Schodack Supervisor Dennis Dowds said that "nobody wants the compressor station here," but "if it comes, we had better be prepared." He said the board adopted an anti-pipeline resolution last year. Kinder Morgan spokesman Richard Wheatley said the company continues "to review our project siting and facility needs, including preferred and alternate requirements, facility designs and locations." As the federal review of the project continues, added Wheatley, "any additional information on preferred and alternate facilities and locations will be submitted via the FERC docket. " bnearing@timesunion.com 518-454-5094 @Bnearing10 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany, N.Y. The story isn't just falling apart. It's in shambles. Video evidence doesn't show three black students being attacked by a gang of people on a CDTA bus, according to those who have seen it. What's more, accounts from other passengers contradict claims that the alleged attack was racially motivated. This has turned into one of the oddest Capital Region news stories in recent memory. More for you Authorities shared statements that revealed 'some... And the damage it has caused won't be easily undone. The assault is alleged to have happened early on Jan. 30, a Saturday morning, and that's when at least two of the three female students took to Twitter and Instagram with their claims. More Information Contact Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse "I just got jumped on a bus while people hit us and called us the 'n' word and nobody helped us," wrote one of the students. "I got beat up by 20 people screaming racial slurs," wrote another, later adding that "a whole bunch of guys started hitting me and my two friends." The women also claimed that campus police were indifferent to their plight, and that a CDTA bus driver declined to help. There was skepticism about the claims from the start, but it isn't surprising that such a horrific story would garner significant attention. Most of the UAlbany campus was aware of the allegations by lunch, and university President Robert Jones sent out a midafternoon email to students that condemned the attack. "I am deeply concerned, saddened and angry about this incident," Jones wrote. (I'm guessing Jones now wishes he'd added an "if true" to that sentence.) The story, fueled by understandable outrage, spread across the Internet in the days that followed, staining both the school and its city. There was even a massive rally on campus in support of the women. But was the story true? That question seemed to fall by the wayside. "I begged people to help us and instead of help they told us to shut the (bleep) up and continuously hit us in the head," one of the girls wrote on Twitter. But those who have seen the videos say they do not show the women being assaulted by a group of people. There was definitely a fight a white female student suffered a black eye but it isn't clear how it started and seems to have involved a small number of people. Meanwhile, other minority students who were riding the bus have told investigators they didn't hear racial slurs and didn't see the girls being attacked, according to people who were shown the statements by Albany County District Attorney David Soares. In short, the story just isn't holding up. Now, there are those who will respond angrily to this column, who will see any questioning of the original narrative as a denial of the truth and an affront to a movement. There are others who are already responding with glee as the story falls apart. They seem to think that disproving the students' claims means that there is no racism and that all black victims should forever be discredited. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. But those are the shrill voices at the extremes, the people who don't care about the truth unless they can mold it to their pre-conceived notions. Ignore those voices as best you can. How should the rest of us view this? I wish I had something profound to offer, but I'm running on empty. I'm mostly just baffled, and I suspect many others are, too. I suppose I could offer some pablum about how we should all wait for the facts before making a decision, but what's the point? Spending five minutes on Facebook proves that notion to be entirely antiquated; people rush to judgment 10 times before breakfast. Certainly, there is something to be said about the so-called culture of victimhood the growing propensity of people to see themselves as wronged, even when they haven't been. That would seem to fit this situation, with the caveat that we never really know what's going on in another person's head. The biggest problem with everybody claiming to be victims, of course, is that it makes the world less willing to believe, you know, actual victims. If the claims made by the three UAlbany students prove to be false, which seems increasingly likely, will anybody believe some future student who has actually been victimized? Will there be a rally for that student, or will the campus shrug with indifference? What a mess. What a horrible, horrible mess. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill [February 09, 2016] Beware Of New Social Security Scam CHICAGO, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As if getting aggressive and fake calls from the IRS or credit card companies wasn't enough to be on the lookout for, consumers also need to be wary of fake emails claiming to be from the Social Security Administration as they contain malware just waiting to infect their computers. Recently the Federal Trade Commission caught on to this new scam and with the help of AARP Fraud Watch Network is warning people to be aware and help stop fraudsters. "Being aware of all the scams circulating these days seems overwhelming," said AARP Illinois Communications Manager, Gerardo Cardenas. "It really feels as if a new scam is announced every week, but having this information and knowing what to be aware of is critical to keep yourself, your hard-earned money, and your identity safe." The scam comes in the form of an email seeming to be sent from the Social Security Administration with the subject line "Get Protected." It appears as if the SSA is offering exciting new features for consumers to monitor their credit and learn whether someone is engaging in unauthorized use of their Social Security. The email looks and sounds official; someof them even include mention of the "SAFE Act of 2015." Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? However, the SSA is not offering any kind of program and what you are being sent is referred to as a "phishing" email designed to get you to click on the link. Doing so can cause malware to be installed on the computer contaminating it with viruses and spyware. Or it could take you to a "spoof" site designed to look like the SSA's website requesting you provide personal information like your Social Security number and bank or credit account information. Should you find an email in your inbox you think might be suspicious: DO NOT click on any links. Report it immediately to the Federal Trade Commission by forwarding it to [email protected] . . To decide if it's real "hover" your cursor over the address link. If it's fake you'll see that the address is an unrelated .com address, not the .gov address it appears to be. If it ended up in your junk folder, it's because your email filters recognized the email wasn't authentic. If you're unsure of whether the email is coming from the government, call them yourself. But use an email address you find yourself, not the contact info listed in the email. Otherwise you'll be redirected back to the scammer and they'll attempt to convince you everything in the email is real. In 2014, AARP launched the Fraud Watch Network to arm Americans with the tools and resources they need to spot and avoid scams and identity theft. But scammers are still out there, making every attempt possible to cheat consumers out of their hard-earned money. The public can sign up for free to receive Fraud Watch Network alerts and more at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beware-of-new-social-security-scam-300217408.html SOURCE AARP Illinois [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 09, 2016] National Restaurant Association Launches #RestaurantsDecide WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Restaurant Association today announced the launch of #RestaurantsDecide, an initiative showcasing the role restaurants play as cornerstones of their community during elections, convening candidates, voters and employees, managers and owners on the campaign trail. #RestaurantsDecide launches as New Hampshirites take to the polls for the year's first-in-the-nation primary and presidential candidates choose restaurants the original social network to host campaign events, organize supporters and introduce themselves to local constituents. Using Twitter and Facebook, #RestaurantsDecide will encourage restaurants, employees and patrons across America to join the National Restaurant Association in tracking each presidential candidate as they visit eateries across the country. The initiative will later expand to Instagram. In addition to highlighting campaign stops, the National Restaurant Association will provide information for the campaign teams and journalists covering the election on the economic contributions of the restaurant industry in each community, and share the stories from restaurant owners, operators and employees. From New Hampshire, #RestaurantsDecide will track other state primaries, state and local elections and other key events. "America's resaurants bring voters and their civic leaders to the table," said Cicely Simpson, NRA's Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Policy. "We know that everyday, candidates come to restaurants to meet with the owners, managers, employees and patrons a cross-section of every voting block and constituency group. #RestaurantsDecide will capitalize on these moments to promote the economic success stories of restaurants in every district and state across the country." The launch comes in the wake of the Iowa Caucus, where 14 major candidates from both parties stopped at restaurants. In New Hampshire, multiple candidates, including Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, have already chosen New Hampshire restaurants as their forum to engage with voters. As the second largest private sector employer in the U.S. economy, restaurants provide jobs for a significant percentage of Americans in every state. This includes 145,400 Iowans, 65,300 New Hampshirites and 213,100 South Carolinans nine, 10 and 11 percent of employment in each state, respectively. Restaurants are also critical job-creators, with nearly one in three Americans having held their first job in a restaurant, and half of all Americans having worked in the industry at some point during their lives. Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 1 million restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of 14 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry's largest trade show (NRA Show May 21-24, 2016, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids' menu options. For more information, visit Restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131202/MM26024LOGO-b To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-restaurant-association-launches-restaurantsdecide-300217441.html SOURCE National Restaurant Association [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 09, 2016] MHI Global Unveils Be Ready Solutions to Strengthen Sales and Service Teams DENVER, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MHI Global, Inc., one of the largest and most impactful sales and service performance companies in the world, today announced its new Be Ready Solutions designed to empower companies, strengthen performance initiatives, solve specific challenges and transform their sales and service delivery. These solutions enable organizations to develop talent to perform in a changing landscape of how companies buy and understand the dynamics of the modern buyer. Based on more than 30 years of research and data analysis, the Be Ready Solutions portfolio was created to help companies with their needs around sales and services. Be Ready takes advantage of MHI Global's heritage brands, such as Miller Heiman, Huthwaite, AchieveGlobal, Channel Enablers and CSO Insights, to produce ways to ensure salespeople and service providers are ready to meet today's business challenges. According to a 2015 study from CSO Insights, only 43 percent of sales managers are confident that their sales force can communicate value messages to customers and prospects. Preparing sales and service organizations to be ready can have a major impact on revenue and growth. "We realize each company faces unique challenges and has distinctive opportunities, so we developed a comprehensive solution where the customer drives the discussion and helps shape their own path to success," said Byron Matthews, CEO of MHI Global, a TwentyEighty, Inc. company. "Our market-proven methodologies solve real-world challenges and deliver results that impact the entire business." The Be Ready portfolio provides specific solutions to strengthen companies in six specific ways: Sales Ready : Every sales opportunity is unique, and sales teams and sales leaders must be ready to perform in any situation or interaction. MHI Global's tailored solutions help drive performance, which leads to greater sales. : Every sales opportunity is unique, and sales teams and sales leaders must be ready to perform in any situation or interaction. MHI Global's tailored solutions help drive performance, which leads to greater sales. Service Ready : 55 percent of all companies go stagnate or backward year-over-year due to poor customer service. Servce Ready solutions are geared toward taking an organizational approach to driving retention and business growth. Service Ready makes sure customer-facing employees and channels build relationships that strengthen customer loyalty through every interaction with the organization. : 55 percent of all companies go stagnate or backward year-over-year due to poor customer service. Servce Ready solutions are geared toward taking an organizational approach to driving retention and business growth. Service Ready makes sure customer-facing employees and channels build relationships that strengthen customer loyalty through every interaction with the organization. Talent Ready : Great talent is hard to find. Using scientific methods and processes, Talent Ready identifies what great talent looks like for a specific company or job title. By evaluating talent and discovering what best-in-class looks like, companies can create performance, duplicate and strengthen top performers and add to the bottom line. : Great talent is hard to find. Using scientific methods and processes, Talent Ready identifies what great talent looks like for a specific company or job title. By evaluating talent and discovering what best-in-class looks like, companies can create performance, duplicate and strengthen top performers and add to the bottom line. Strategy Ready : Executing an effective strategy is the cornerstone for identifying the right applications and methodologies that will produce results. MHI Global consultants have the expertise to prepare companies to uncover, formulate and execute the right path to success through strong strategy execution. : Executing an effective strategy is the cornerstone for identifying the right applications and methodologies that will produce results. MHI Global consultants have the expertise to prepare companies to uncover, formulate and execute the right path to success through strong strategy execution. Learner Ready : Learning isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it's about creating a flexible solution that adapts to how each company, and each learner, consumes information best. Learner Ready solutions empower sales and service initiatives by introducing the first Learner Blended approach in the market that integrates a variety of learning methods to real-time tasks learners are completing. : Learning isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it's about creating a flexible solution that adapts to how each company, and each learner, consumes information best. Learner Ready solutions empower sales and service initiatives by introducing the first Learner Blended approach in the market that integrates a variety of learning methods to real-time tasks learners are completing. Insight Ready: Companies need the right data to make decisions that will impact the business. Insight Ready, powered by CSO Insights, is based on helping companies turn data and research into information they can use to strengthen their business through sales. CSO Insights is led by co-founder and Chief Research Officer Barry Trailer. Trailer has more than 30 years of professional selling experience and is a former president of Miller Heiman. "I couldn't be more excited about what CSO Insights means for sales leaders," Trailer said. "Our ability to provide access to highly credible research and insights for sales leaders to better understand the strategic issues that are affecting the performance and productivity of the B2B sales force is unparalleled. What we are able to offer our clients has become a very strategic asset for organizations across verticals and around the world." For more details about the Be Ready Platform, visit the MHI Global website or on LinkedIn. About MHI Global MHI Global is one of the largest dedicated performance improvement companies in the world, bringing game-changing insight to sales performance, customer experience and leadership and management. MHI Global helps companies build and sustain successful, customer-focused organizations that drive profitable revenue and predictable top-line growth on a global scale. To learn more, visit our website, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+. About TwentyEighty, Inc. TwentyEighty is a one of the largest workforce development companies in the world and is powered by some of the premier brands in the industry, such as Miller Heiman, VitalSmarts, Forum, Strategy Execution and Omega Performance. Our solutions are designed to help companies improve business results through the areas of Leadership Performance, Sales Performance, Credit Performance and Strategic Execution. Visit us at www.twentyeighty.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330817LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mhi-global-unveils-be-ready-solutions-to-strengthen-sales-and-service-teams-300217070.html SOURCE MHI Global, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Wildfires in Princeton, Kuttawa Kuttawa is blanketed with smoke Major wildfires are burning in Princeton and Kuttawa this afternoon. A volatile mixture of high winds and la... Marion City Council meets Monday night Here is how to contact your city leaders. Click image to enlarge Marion City Council will meet at 5pm Monday, Oct. 17 night in regular sessi... LEAK : Marion shutting off water at 5pm The City of Marion has a major water line break on Main Street near the intersection with Chapel Hill Road. Crews are on site and working on... Tourism Commission meets Tuesday Marion Tourism Commission will meet Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 8:30 am at the Welcome Center. Via allAfrica.com, a report from the UN News Service: Benin: UN Agencies Mobilize to Support Government Response After Benin Confirms Cases of Lassa Fever. Excerpt: After the identification of four cases of Lassa fever in Benin, the Government, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has immediately launched started a response against the epidemic, the agencies announced today. To date, 25 suspected cases among which 12 deaths have been identified. Among the deceased, four cases of Lassa fever have been confirmed as positive. Two persons that contracted the virus are currently under treatment in quarantine isolation centres, the agencies said in a joint press release. During a press statement held on 23rd January 2016, the national authorities indicated that after the confirmation of the proven case of Lassa fever at the St. Martin Zone Hospital of Papane, in the northern district of Tchaourou, a national technical team was immediately dispatched to the spot. Following the death of a pregnant woman on 5th January, at the same hospital, six health workers - three nurses, a female laboratory technician and two nursing auxiliaries - developed clinical symptoms of the Lassa fever. On 21st January, a male nurse, among the suspected cases, died at the Borgou Departmental Hospital of Parakou, located in the central Benin. In light of all this, the national authorities supported by WHO and UNICEF and humanitarian partners have set up a response strategy to the epidemic that includes setting up: quarantine units in affected areas to separate suspected cases from others patients and limit the risks of exposure to people; and a tracing system to follow the contact cases in the affected zone. To date, 203 contacts cases are spread across six communes: Tchaourou, Ouesse, Kalale, Bembereke, Parakou, and Porto-Novo. Among other actions, almost 200 community health workers are monitoring the contact cases across the country; supplies of medical stocks (Ribavirine) have been prepositioned in Cotonou and in affected areas; protection kits including personal protection equipment (PPE) for health professional staff, soap, tarpaulins, gloves, boots, glasses and masks, decontamination products and infrared thermometers, water treatment units, have been put at disposal; and the health staff of the affected areas have been trained on the use of the protection material, on the medical protocol, and in the identification and active search of suspected contact cases. Further, the agencies noted that sensitization sessions are being organized for the population and awareness raising communication products are broadcast through local and national media including radio stations, press and TV, as a well as online platforms. Via Reuters, a report by Umaru Fofana: Sierra Leone discharges last known Ebola patient. Excerpt: Sierra Leone's last known Ebola patient has been released from hospital, medical officials said on Monday, allowing authorities to begin a six-week countdown before declaring the West African country free of the virus once more. Thirty-eight-year-old Memunatu Kalokoh was discharged on Friday, said Col. Sahr Foday, the head of the Sierra Leone Army Medical Unit where she was admitted. Kalokoh is the aunt of Mariatu Jalloh, the 21-year-old student who died of the virus last month in the same week that the World Health Organization declared the region Ebola-free. The case triggered a country-wide hunt for people who may have come into contact with her. Kalokoh nursed Jalloh when she was sick. Health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahyah Tunis said this meant the country had again started the 42-day countdown after which the outbreak will be declared over if there are no new cases. This represents twice the length of the virus's incubation period - the time elapsed between transmission of the disease and the appearance of symptoms. Even after that, however, the WHO said cases like this one are likely to re-emerge as efforts continue to stamp out the virus that killed more than 11,300 people in two years, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). Whether you're a videographer, vlogger, or just want to have some fun, the best drones let you fly around with ease, shoot breathtaking photos and videos, and not worry about crashing into things. The best quadcopter drones now all cost less than $2,000, with many excellent models at $1,000 or less. But there are a lot of things to consider, including flight time, what you want to do with the drone, and more. That's where our guide to the best drones comes in. What is the best drone? After flying dozens of drones around the sky for countless hours, we think the best drone for most people is the DJI Mini 2. It's the company's least expensive and most compact drone, making it easy to carry around and fly virtually anywhere. It packs up with its controller into a carrying case no bigger than a lunchbox, with room left over for spare parts and extra batteries. The Mini 2 ($449) has been upgraded to shoot 4K video, has a 6-mile range, and can stay aloft for up to 31 minutes. If you want something less expensive, the Mini SE ($299) has many of the same capabilities, but with a lower-resolution 2.7K camera. The best camera drone is the DJI Mavic 3, which has not one, but two cameras: a 4/3 CMOS with a 20MP resolution and a 28x hybrid zoom lens. In addition, the Mavic 3 has a flight time of up to 41 minutes. It's not cheap, though: its starting price is $2,199. We're in the process of testing the V-Coptr Falcon ($899, Amazon (opens in new tab)), a drone that uniquely has just two rotors instead of the typical four. It also has a large 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor that can take 4K Video, and has an estimated 50-minute flight time. Looking for a drone under $100? Here is a list of the best cheap drones, many of which are great for kids and those learning how to fly. And, if you want to stay in the air longer, check out our guide on how to extend the flight time of your drone. The best drones you can buy today DJI Mini 2. Credit: Mike Prospero/Tom's Guide (Image credit: Future) 1. DJI Mini 2 Best drone for most people Specifications Flight Time: 31 minutes Camera: 4K/30 fps Smartphone Controlled: Yes FAA Registration: Not required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size (unfolded): 9.6 x 11.4 x 2.1 inches Weight: 8.8 ounces Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Relatively inexpensive + Long battery life + Easy to fly Reasons to avoid - More susceptible to wind gusts For most people, the DJI Mini 2 will be the best drone for their needs. It's tinyable to fit in the palm of your handeasy to fly, and can last up to 31 minutes in the air. And, at $449, it's also the least expensive of DJI's drones, making it more accessible to the masses. The Mini 2's camera resolution has been improved over the previous generation, so it can now shoot at 4K/30 fps. And, because it's gimbal-stabilized, it's just as smooth as ever. Because of its light weight249 gramsyou don't need to register the Mini 2with the FAA, but it also means that the drone is more susceptible to high winds. Still, it's amazing what DJI packed into the miniscule Mini 2. Read our full DJI Mini 2 review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 2. DJI Mavic 3 Best camera drone Specifications Flight Time: 41 minutes Camera: 5.1K/50 fps Smartphone Controlled: Yes FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size (unfolded): 13.7 x 11.1 x 4.2 inches Weight: 1.97 pounds Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Amazing camera quality + 28X digital zoom + Long flight time Reasons to avoid - Much pricier than the model it replaces The DJI Mavic 3 is the best drone for prosumers and videographers who want the best camera drone without having to purchase a camera and drone separately. Outfitted with a micro 4/3 Hasselblad sensor and a 1/2 inch CMOS camera, the Mavic 3 can record video at resolutions of up to 5.1K/50 fps, and it has a 28x digital zoom that's also pretty impressive. We also love that the Mavic 3 can fly for up to 41 minutes a near-eternity for drones. It also has excellent object-tracking and 360-degree obstacle avoidance, so you can really record what you want without worrying about crashing into things. All of this comes at a cost: The Mavic 3 starts at $2,199, which is significantly more than the Mavic 2 Pro, which it replaces. Read our full DJI Mavic 3 review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 3. DJI Mini 3 Pro A tiny drone that can shoot vertical video Specifications Flight Time: 34 minutes (47 w/extended battery) Max video resolution: 4K/60 fps Max image size: 48MP Camera sensor: 1/1.3-inch CMOS, f/1.7 aperture Smartphone Controlled: Optinal FAA Registration: No Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size (unfolded): 9.6 x 6.7 x 2.4 inches Weight: 249 grams Today's Best Deals View at DJI Global (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Very small and light + Excellent flight time with extended battery + Vertical video mode Reasons to avoid - Object tracking doesnt work in vertical video mode A step up from the DJI Mini 2 is the DJI Mini 3 Pro, which is the same size and weight, but has a more advanced camera. Cleverly, the DJI Mini 3 Pro's camera can rotate 90 degrees, to make it easier to shoot vertical video and photos great if you want to capture the entirety of a skyscraper, or want something easier to share on social media. It's also excellent at tracking moving subjects, and, thanks to added object detection sensors, can avoid trees and other things as it follows you around. We also love the fact that with the extended battery, the Mini 3 Pro can fly for up to 47 minutes. While the actual number was around 44 minutes it's a light drone, and can get pushed around easily by a strong wind that's still an incredibly long flight time. DJI offers the Mini 3 Pro in a variety of configurations, and you have your pick of two controllers, or none at all if you're upgrading from an earlier model. Read our full DJI Mini 3 Pro review. DJI Mavic Air 2. Credit: Mike Prospero/Tom's Guide (Image credit: Tom's Guide) (opens in new tab) 4. DJI Avata Best small FPV drone Specifications Flight Time: 18 minutes Camera: 4K/60 fps Smartphone Controlled: Yes FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: Yes Rotors: 4 (5 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 7.1 x 7.1 x 3.1 inches Weight: 14.3 ounces (405 grams) Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at BHPhoto (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Fast + Easy to fly + Everything included Reasons to avoid - Goggles somewhat uncomfortable - Short flight time compared to other DJI drones - Requires extra controller for manual mode For those who want a real taste of drone racing, the DJI Avata is a good place to start. Like the larger and older DJI FPV, the Avata comes with a pair of FPV goggles, so that you get a first-person view of where your drone is flying, delivered straight to your eyeballs. It also comes with a clever handheld controller that makes flying the Avata more like piloting an aircraft. The Avata was a lot of fun to fly, and easy to pick up. Its fixed propeller guards also make it better able to withstand the errant crash into the ground, a tree, or whatever else is in its flight path. We didn't feel as queasy using the new goggles that came with the Avata as we did with DJI's older FPV goggles, but these were slightly less comfortable. Still, you won't be wearing them for too long a time, as the Avata's battery life of 18 minutes is much shorter than photography-focused drones. Read our full DJI Avata review. (Image credit: Future) (opens in new tab) 5. Ryze Tech Tello Best drone under $100 Specifications Flight Time: 3-5 minutes Camera: 720p Smartphone Controlled: Optional FAA Registration: Not Required Indoor Use: Yes Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 6 x 6 x 1.3 inches Weight: 3 ounces Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) View at BHPhoto (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Small, fast drone + Easy to control + Comfortable remote control Reasons to avoid - Scratch programming language is tricky to set up - Short battery life For just under $100, the Ryze Tech Tellodesigned by DJImakes for a good, inexpensive drone for first-time fliers. However, what elevates it above other inexpensive drones for kids is the fact that it can be programmed using Scratch, turning this toy into an educational device. In addition, the Tello has a 720 camera that records pretty good video, and is easy to fly around. The biggest issue we had with the drone was its short 5-minute flight time, so you'll want to stock up on a few batteries if you decide to pick it up. Read our full Ryze Tech Tello review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 6. Autel Evo Nano+ The best camera drone not made by DJI Specifications Flight Time: 28 minutes Camera: 4K/60 fps FAA Registration: Not required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size (folded): 5.6 x 3.7 x 2.2 inches Size (unfolded: 12.8 x 10.2 x 2.2 inches Weight: 249 grams Today's Best Deals View at Walmart (opens in new tab) View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Comes in multiple colors + Small and light + Good video and photo quality Reasons to avoid - More expensive than DJI Mini 3 Pro While it seems like DJI makes all the best drones, Autel has a number of models, including the Evo Nano+, that offer a really compelling alternative. We found the Evo Nano+ just as maneuverable and easy to fly as any DJI drone, and the Nano+'s small size and light weight means you can take it almost anywhere. We especially like that the drone comes in more than one color, unlike DJI's drab gray. Video and photos taken with the Evo Nano+ were sharp, crisp, and colorful, and the camera's 3-axis gimbal kept everything steady and smooth. However, the Nano+ has a slightly shorter flight time, and is a bit more expensive than DJI drones with similar capabilities, such as the Mini 3 Pro. But, if you're looking for something different, check out Autel. Read our full Autel Evo Nano+ review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 7. DJI Air 2S Large 1-inch image sensor means better images Specifications Flight Time: 31 minutes Camera: 5.4K/30 fps FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (3 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size (folded): 7.1 x 3.8 x 3.1 inches Size (unfolded: 10 x 7.2 x 3 inches Weight: 1.3 pounds Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Easy to fly + Good flight time + Larger image sensor Reasons to avoid - Shorter flight time than others Sitting between the DJI Air 2 and the DJI Mavic 2 Pro is the DJI Air 2S, which combines some features of both in a drone that costs about a grand. The DJI Air 2S has a 1-inch image sensor twice that of the DJI Air 2 which means you'll get some stunning photos. It also has a new feature called MasterShots, in which the drone will analyze what it's looking at, and then automatically generate a flight pattern and create a movie, complete with a soundtrack. Like all other DJI drones, the Air 2S was a pleasure to fly. It's incredibly easy to pilot and hovers like a statue. It has the same transmission technology as the DJI FPV, so it can fly further than most other DJI drones. Its 31-minute flight time is a few minutes less than the DJI Air 2, but we suspect some will gladly make the tradeoff for better videos. Read our full DJI Air 2S review (Image credit: Parrot) 8. Parrot Anafi A quality compact drone not from DJI Specifications Flight Time: 25 minutes Camera: 4K/30 fps Smartphone Controlled: Yes FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 10.8 x 3.5 x 3 inches Weight: 1.9 pounds Today's Best Deals View at Adorama (opens in new tab) View at Drone Nerds (opens in new tab) Check Amazon (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Compact, portable package + Easy to unpack and fly + Excellent video + Quiet Reasons to avoid - No collision detection While DJI dominates the foldable-drone market, the Parrot Anafi is one of the best alternatives, and has a feature DJI's drones can't match: The Anafi's gimbal-mounted camera can rotate up, so you can take photos and videos of objects above the drone say, if you want to fly it under a bridge. The Anafi has a good selection of flight modes to take interesting shots, and the video it captures is pretty good, delivering clean, smooth video with plenty of detail. However, it does lack collision detection, a feature found on DJI's comparably priced drones. But all in all, it's a great alternative. Read our full Parrot Anafi review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 9. DJI FPV Best drone for aspiring racers Specifications Flight Time: 20 minutes Camera: 4K/60 fps Smartphone Controlled: No FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (3 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 12.2 x 10 x 5 inches Weight: 1.8 pounds Today's Best Deals Preorder at BHPhoto (opens in new tab) View at Adorama (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Very fast + Easy to fly (at the beginner level) + Three skill levels + Great FPV goggles Reasons to avoid - Shorter flight time than other DJI drones For those who want to get a taste of drone racing or simply want to see the world as a bird would the DJI FPV will get you there. This drone comes with a pair of FPV goggles that give you an incredibly immersive view of what the drone is seeing, with no noticeable lag or delay. The DJI FPV has three mode settings, so novices can increase its capabilities as their abilities grow. In full manual mode, the FPV can reach speeds of up to 87 miles per hour just watch out for trees! It's incredibly maneuverable, zipping up, down, left and right like a hummingbird. Get an extra battery, though, because the FPV's only lasts 20 minutes, and you'll want to spend a lot more time in the air. Read our full DJI FPV review Powervision Poweregg X (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 10. PowerVision Poweregg X Best drone for the water Specifications Flight Time: 25 minutes Camera: 4K/30 fps Smartphone Controlled: Yes FAA Registration: Required Indoor Use: No Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 18 x 18 inches x 4 inches Weight: 1.9 pounds Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) View at Best Buy (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Can land, take off on water + Able to fly in poor weather conditions + Can be used as camcorder Reasons to avoid - Slow flier, especially when using pontoons - Video quality not best-in-class The Powervision Poweregg X can go where most other drones can't: In the water. That's because the Poweregg X has a removable waterproof shell and pontoons that allow you to land and take off from ponds, lakeseven the ocean, if it's calm enough. And, the drone's body can even be used as a camcorder, making it useful even when it's not in the air. We found that the Poweregg X flew well, if a bit slowly (the pontoons do weigh it down), can fly up to 25 minutes or so on a charge, and has pretty good object tracking. However, video and photo quality, while above average, did not measure up to DJI's drones. Then again, try landing one of DJI's drones in the water and see what happens. Read our full Powervision Poweregg X review. (Image credit: Future) 11. PowerUp 4.0 A smart paper airplane Specifications Camera: none Flight Time: 10 minutes Weight: 20 grams Today's Best Deals View at Amazon (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Inexpensive + Customizable + Flies far Reasons to avoid - Learning curve The PowerUp 4.0 takes the traditional paper airplane and brings it to the next level. This little kit attaches to an ordinary airplane, and thanks to a pair of propellers, lets you pilot the plane from your smartphone. The kit comes with four pieces of paper with an airplane pattern, but you can also download patterns for free from the company's website. As we found, there's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to keeping the PowerUp 4.0 in the air. You'll need a lot of space to fly the plane; we recommend a football field. But once you get the hang of it, you'll be surprised at how far it will go. Read our full PowerUp 4.0 review. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) (opens in new tab) 12. Tomzon A31 A good, inexpensive starter drone Specifications Flight Time: 6-8 minutes Camera: No Smartphone Controlled: No FAA Registration: Not Required Indoor Use: Yes Rotors: 4 (3 blades per rotor, replaceable) Size: 6.2 x 5 x 1.7 inches Weight: 2.4 ounces Today's Best Deals View at Walmart (opens in new tab) View at Amazon (opens in new tab) View at Walmart (opens in new tab) Reasons to buy + Inexpensive + Easy to fly + Fun lights + Durable Reasons to avoid - Short battery life - Very sensitive to wind Looking for an inexpensive drone to learn the basics? The Tomzon A31 is the best drone for the job, offering a great selection of features for the flier who wants more without spending more than $50. The no-frills A31 lacks a camera, but it's fast and maneuverable. And, it has some LED lights at the base of each propeller, making it fun to fly day or night. We also liked its sturdy blade guards, which help keep it in one piece if it crashes into something. However, it has a short battery life of around 7-8 minutes, but it comes with a spare battery, so you can keep the fun going longer. Read our full Tomzon A31 drone review. How to choose the best drone for you Drones aren't just fun to fly. They can let you capture breathtaking footage, some in high-resolution 4K video. They're also more affordable than ever, as quality beginner models now cost less than $60. Good camera drones start at a few hundred dollars, and they're great for simple tasks like checking your gutters for leaves. More complex drones, starting at less than $1,000, offer customizable and programmable features, turning them into truly autonomous devices that can make their own decisions. Drones aren't that complicated, but there are a few key features you should consider when you are shopping. There are also some key rules you need to follow when you take to the air. Legal Requirements FAA has rules you have to follow. The most important two: Never fly around or above people, and always keep your drone in sight. The FAA has a full list of safety guidelines for model aircraft (opens in new tab) that you should check before you take off. There are also restrictions on where you can fly: For example, within 5 miles of an airport is off limits. Mapbox provides a great interactive map of no-fly areas, and local RC (Remote Control) aircraft clubs may list fields that they use. Non-commercial drones that weigh between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds have to be registered (there's a $5 fee), and have to carry your license with you while flying the drone. MORE: How to Register Your Drone with the FAA Remote Control Most drones use a remote control with two joysticks a bit like one of the best PC game controllers. One stick controls what's called the attitude of the quadcopter, including roll (tilting left and right) and pitch (tilting up and down). The other stick controls throttle and the rotation of the quadcopter. A good remote control should fit well in the hand, with sticks resting comfortably under your thumbs and providing a smooth, responsive feel that allows you to guide the quadcopter by touch. Some less expensive models skip the remote control, or offer it as an extra-cost feature, and instead use a smartphone connected via Wi-Fi and a flying app. These apps often provide a live video view from the quadcopter camera. However, apps dont allow the precision of real controllers: It is easier for your thumbs to slip, possibly causing a crash. Repairability Despite what the ads tell you, drones crash all the time. A good drone will take an unplanned descent and ground interface (aka: a crash) in stride, without damaging the frame. It will also include shields to protect the rotors and electronics from harm. Regardless, things still get broken sometimes, particularly racing drones. A good model will offer a ready supply of cheap parts like rotors and struts to replace the broken ones, and will make it easy to swap these parts out when required. The same is true of batteries. Battery life Most drones will last between 20 to 30 minutes on a charge, and are designed so that you can quickly swap out batteries. To ensure that you can keep filming, it's a good idea to purchase extra batteries. Just make sure to charge them beforehand! Camera quality Want to show off your aerial exploits? A camera, either built-in or add-on, can capture those dramatic vistas for posterity. The best drones will have cameras that can record video at resolutions of 4K or higher, but even budget models are getting better, able to capture video at 1080p. However, they tend to use smaller image sensors, so the quality won't be as good. While not covered in this guide, there are professional drones which let you attach mirrorless or DSLR cameras, which provide even greater image quality that built-in cameras. However, these drones typically cost upwards of $2,000. The best camera drones will also mount their cameras on a gimbal, so that your image stays steady as the drone is flying around. If video is your priority, look for a drone that has a three-axis gimbal; that will give you the most stable image. Some drones also offer first-person view (FPV), sending a pilot's-eye view from the drone itself to a phone or tablet. Some models offer video goggles for the ultimate pilot-seat flying experience. Features Drones are getting smarter; now, instead of just flying around based on manual inputs, you can program drones to fly pre-programmed routes, or even follow specific objects, such as people and vehicles. Depending on your needs, it's worth examining what features a drone has before buying one. How we test drones When we take a new drone out for a spin, we evaluate it based on a number of factors: Design : How well is the drone built, and does it look good? If it comes with a controller, we take a look at its ergonomics. : How well is the drone built, and does it look good? If it comes with a controller, we take a look at its ergonomics. Durability/Repairability : Face it. You're going to crash your drone at least once, but a good model should be able to survive a few mishaps without a problem. And, if something happens to break (it's usually a rotor), how easy is it to repair? : Face it. You're going to crash your drone at least once, but a good model should be able to survive a few mishaps without a problem. And, if something happens to break (it's usually a rotor), how easy is it to repair? Flight Performance : How easy is the drone to fly? Is is stable when hovering, or does it require a lot of stick work? How does it respond to your commands? : How easy is the drone to fly? Is is stable when hovering, or does it require a lot of stick work? How does it respond to your commands? App : How intuitive is the app? What sort of features are available? : How intuitive is the app? What sort of features are available? Camera Quality : If the drone has a camera, then how good are the photos and videos it takes? : If the drone has a camera, then how good are the photos and videos it takes? Flight time: How long can the drone stay in the air before its battery runs out? This varies a lot based on the size of the drone, but the best drones have batteries that last up to 25-30 minutes. How long can the drone stay in the air before its battery runs out? This varies a lot based on the size of the drone, but the best drones have batteries that last up to 25-30 minutes. Price: Obviously, we don't expect a $50 drone to perform as well as a $1,000 drone, so we take its cost into consideration when rendering a final verdict. Can drones fly for hours? It all depends on the type of drone you buy. Drones that look like airplanes, which can use the air to stay aloft, can remain airborne for a long time. However, drones that look more like helicopters most drones have four rotors can only stay up for about half an hour at best. However, flight time is slowly improving, and the best drones can stay in the air for around 40 minutes. Forget the Surface Pro 9 this is the most exciting new Microsoft product Microsoft's Adaptive Accessories are designed to make PCs easier to use by folks with disabilities. Here's why that's great news, even if you (currently) have no issues with your mouse and keyboard. Returning in style after a year off, the popular Hunter Valley camping festival has announced the first round of acts for its highly anticipated return to Dashville on 22-24 April 2016. With what organisers are calling a huge achievement for the long running boutique festival, Australian rock n roll royalty, You Am I lead an impressive list of diverse acts coming along to play in 2016. Knockout soul rock powerhouse Dan Sultan will also be there with his band, along with international guitar virtuoso Jeff Lang, Melbournes voice of an angel Suzannah Espie and Sydney Hip Hop super star Citizen Kay. Diverse live music and art has always been a trademark for The Gum Ball and with this first announcement for 2016, its clear that the family friendly BYO festival is sticking with the formula. Never been to a Gumball before? You dont know what youre missing. But no stress because to celebrate its return weve curated a mixtape guide to the acts performing in 2016. Pop it on and get in the mood for Gumballs triumphant return. FESTIVAL 2016 LINEUP You Am I Dan Sultan Jeff Lang The Cactus Channel Van Walkers Heart Brokers Citizen Kay Dan Brodie Bullhorn Suzannah Espie Polish Club Caitlin Park Astro Travellers The Buzzard Mix THE GUM BALL MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL 2016 DATES & TICKETS 22nd 24th April 2016 Lower Belford NSW Tickets from Ticketbooth The Jezabels frontwoman Hayley Mary says the band have been overwhelmed and touched by the support from fans after it was revealed keyboardist Heather Shannon is undergoing emergency treatment for cancer. As Tone Deaf reported last month, The Jezabels were forced to cancel all of their world tour dates for the year after Shannon required immediate treatment for ovarian cancer that was diagnosed three years ago. Shes in good spirits considering the situation and obviously it was a bit of a shock that things progressed for the worse and now she requires immediate treatment, which shes going through right now, Mary told triple j. But shes really positive shes having really good treatment and in good hands, were just trying to stay positive and make sure she has everything she needs and thats the plan for the year now. Mary told Richard Kingsmill that Shannon was first diagnosed with a low grade, slow-growing cancer when the Sydney outfit began writing for their 2014 sophomore album, The Brink, in London. Weve been keeping to ourselves for the last three years but having to cancel the tour we needed to give people a reason, he said. It was scary to do that so its really amazing to see how much support and peoples similar stories its been quite heartening. [include_post id=469637] Mary explained that despite her condition, Shannon continued full-throttle with the band, even proving the catalyst for the bands new album, Synthia, after purchasing a selection of new equipment. We were just back in town to do a show actually and ended up writing some songs accidentally and then we recorded a record out of the blue, said Mary. Hear the frontwomans chat with triple j below. Fans wishing to make a donation to help ovarian cancer awareness or research can visit Ovarian Cancer Australia or the Australian New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group. Australia is about to get a whole lot purple-er. Popular music icon Prince announced a run of Australian tour dates late last week and the whole country basically enjoyed a mass conniption after hearing the news, which came totally out of the blue. Its pretty much a foregone conclusion that his Piano and a Microphone tour of Australia is going to sell out, but Prince still granted some interview time to The Sunday Telegraph to plug the shows and he did so in characteristically Prince-ian fashion. Speaking to journalist Kathy McCabe (presumably via email), Prince granted the journo just five questions, responding in his famous Prince talk, which you may be familiar with if youve ever had a look at this song titles or his tweets. Thats a good ?estion, Prince responded when asked about the intimate new show format. EYE have only per4med two concerts completely alone onstage and have found the absolute silence a turn on. It 4ces U 2 listen with not only Ur ears but also the heart. After the concert, EYE couldnt wait 2 do it again, he added, before touching on how the shows are in fact a tribute to his father, jazz pianist John L Nelson, whom the artist explains was strong-willed, hard 2 please. One concert-goer said that her father was exactly the same a strong-willed, hard 2 please teacher that was never satisfied, Prince told McCabe. This concert is a thank U if anything 2 my father and the gift he gave me. Whilst fans attending the shows wont get to see the famous dance moves and theatricality of classic Prince performances, the Purple One himself explains that these will be some of the most emotionally potent and powerful of his career. Many nights EYE have played 4 myself as the sole audience member and stopped mid-song overcome by emotion, he said. That feeling is increased several fold by the presence of others. It cant really B described, only experienced. Photo: Nandy McClean Prince Australian Tour Dates Tuesday, 16th February 2016 State Theatre, Melbourne Tickets: Arts Centre Melbourne | Ticketmaster Wednesday, 17th February 2016 State Theatre, Melbourne Tickets: Arts Centre Melbourne | Ticketmaster Saturday, 20th February 2016 Opera House, Sydney Tickets: Sydney Opera House | Ticketek Sunday, 21st February 2016 State Theatre, Sydney Tickets: Ticketmaster Kidgeeridge Music Festival 2016 is set to take over Milton on the South Coast of NSW this April, bringing with it a jam-packed bill of homegrown talent. Delighting the Kidgeeridge punters this year will be Dan Sultan, Kingswood, The Black Sorrows, Pierce Brothers, Adam Eckersley Band, Dallas Frasca, Benny Walker, and more. The 11th instalment of Kidgeeridge Music Festival will take place over two days, with a South Coast showcase on Friday night and a Saturday lineup featuring some of our biggest local names. We are very excited to announce what we feel could be our best line-up ever, said Festival Director Graham White when asked what punters can look forward to at the 2016 festival. Our lineup will appeal to festival veterans and first-timers alike. We have spent months searching Australia for the perfect mix of home-grown musical talent to ensure everyone that comes along will have a great time. In a first for the event, there will be a Kidgeeridge Battle of the Bands before the festival kicks off, with one lucky South Coast band winning the chance to perform at the festival. This will also be the first year that Kidgeeridge welcomes under-18s, with kids under 12 gaining free entry. Therell even be a dedicated childrens area on the Showground Oval. Love Pierce Brothers? Get the latest Pierce Brothers news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more JOIN Both day and weekend tickets are available to this great boutique music festival. Check below for all dates and ticketing details or head on over to the official Kidgeeridge Music Festival website. Kidgeeridge Music Festival 2016 Dan Sultan Kingswood The Black Sorrows Pierce Brothers Adam Eckersley Band Dallas Frasca Benny Walker Chasin The Train ft. Kirk Lorange and Kevin Bennett Chris Wilson and The Cyril B Bunter Band Paul Greene and The Other Colours Josh Rawiri and The Invisible Vibrations Cameron Little Friday, 22nd April Saturday, 23rd April 2016 Milton Showgrounds, Milton NSW Tickets: Kidgeeridge Music Festival 1 Mohaymen Kiaran McLaughlin TapitJustwhistledixie, by Dixie Union Shadwell manager Rick Nichols said his performance in the Holy Bull sent chills up and down his back. When you see perfection and executed with such ease it does get the emotions flowing. Even though he ran his first half in a soft :49 1/5, when you can run your second half in :46 3/5 and final sixteenth in :06 flat and do it easily, that is enough to suggest there could be something special here. He does have the powerful closing punch you want to see and can use it from just off the pace, much like Barbaro did in his Derby victory. Add to that the physical prowess, a great mind and professional demeanor, and the ability to run fast without exerting himself, and you have the prototype everyone looks for in a Derby horse. There is a reason why he sold for $2.2 million. As for his pedigree, there is a good mixture of speed and distance blood, and his sire and broodmare sire both sired Belmont Stakes winners (Tonalist, by Tapit and Union Rags, by Dixie Union), and Dixie Union also sired Grasshopper, who was narrowly beaten by Street Sense in the Travers Stakes. Justwhistledixie was a multiple stakes winner and grade I-placed (2nd in the Acorn), who also produced Mohaymens half-brother, Breeders Cup Juvenile winner New Years Day, who only sold for $425,000 as a yearling. 2 Mor Spirit Bob Baffert EskendereyaIm a Dixie Girl, by Dixie Union The more I watch him the more he reminds me of another ridgling, A.P. Indy, the way he runs with his head way down and uses his long stride to methodically wear down his opponents, while expending as little energy as possible. Like A.P. Indy, hes not going to Wow you; he just knows how to beat you. In the Robert Lewis, he put in those :24 quarters and then wore down the two horses in front of him, coming home fast and doing it in precision-like manner. The main question with him is who hes been beating. We saw what Toews on Ice did in the Smarty Jones, and the two horses he tracked in perfect position in the Lewis had never been farther than 6 1/2 furlongs. But I am going to deduce from what I saw that both Uncle Lino and I Will Score are very talented horses and should have been tough, considering the slow fractions they set. His Brisnet and Beyer speed figures were OK, but nothing to get excited over, but its at least been a slow and steady climb since the Kentucky Jockey Club. When you have a stride like his and you run with your head that far down, its never going to look like youre running fast. The bottom line is hes progressing the right way, he appears to still have a lot left in the tank, and he knows how to win without taking too much out of himself. He has the perfect jockey, and his trainer isnt too shabby when it comes to training a horse for the Derby. 3 Brody's Cause Dale Romans Giants Causeway Sweet Breanna, by Sahm After returning with a razor-sharp :47 2/5 breeze on Jan. 18, Romans has been slowing the colt down with each subsequent work. Following his :49 2/5 breeze last week, he breezed him 5f in 1:02 4/5 this week. We still have to wait until March 12 for his much-anticipated debut in the Tampa Bay Derby, so there are still plenty of works on his schedule and there is no need for speed right now, especially considering speed is not his game. With such a late starting date, I would rather have this colt at No. 2 or 3 and be able to keep him there without running and eventually moving him up than starting him at No. 1 and having to lower him as horses like Mohaymen and Mor Spirit assert themselves in competition. Tampa Bay does tend to get a horse fit, so it should set him up well for the Blue Grass Stakes. There isnt going to be a lot to say about him each week that hasnt been said already, except that he did possess the most impressive turn of foot and stretch kick we saw all year and all he has to do is duplicate that in his two preps to be considered a major threat in the Kentucky Derby. Right now, there seems to be a heckuva Derby gods battle brewing between Romans and Kiaran McLaughlin. 4 Greenpointcrusader Dominick Schettino BernardiniAva Knowsthecode, by Cryptoclearance I liked his Holy Bull effort, but as someone with a keen sense of history and logic, I was surprised to read that he is scheduled to have only one more prep, the Louisiana Derby. Timing-wise, he will be attempting something that hasnt been done and that always creates unwanted questions. And its those questions that prompted his being dropped two spots. What he will be attempting is to win the Derby off two preps with a two-month layoff between races and then 6 weeks to the big race. Each has been accomplished individually, but never both together. Animal Kingdom won the Derby off 6 weeks, but his two preps were only 23 days apart. Big Brown won off 5 weeks, but had 24 days between preps, and Mine That Bird won off 5 weeks, with one month between preps. Super Saver and Street Sense had one month between preps and 3 weeks to the Derby. And the one horse who had a two-month layoff between preps, Ill Have Another, had 4 weeks to the Derby. Greenpointcrusader will have only one race in 14 weeks leading into the Derby, and because he ran counter productive to his best style, I feel he will need two races to re-establish his running style and show he wants to go 1 1/4 miles, especially considering two of his brothers were distance limited. Also, no horse has ever won the Kentucky Derby straight from the Louisiana Derby. Of the only two winners of both races, Grindstone ran back in the Arkansas Derby and Black Gold ran in the Derby Trial. Can it be done? Anything is possible. I still like this colt and havent lost faith in him, but now historical trends have slipped into the equation, creating questions that wont be answered until the Derby. 5 Nyquist Doug O'Neill Uncle MoSeeking Gabrielle, by Forestry The slow works are over and its time to get serious and sharpen that edge for the 7f San Vicente Stakes, where hell take on Exaggerator and other fast horses. He accomplished that with a brilliant :59 1/5 drill in company, out 6f in 1:13 flat, second fastest of 48 works at the distance. ONeill has done a super job training him for this race. Based on his ability to beat you sprinting or two turns, hes going to be awfully tough to handle, and because its a sprint, he doesnt have to worry about doing too much. Hell do what he needs to and that will set him up for his return to two turns. I realize, at No. 5, Im probably underselling this colt for all hes accomplished, and that has nothing to do with his ability. Like Greenpointcrusader, its all about his pre-Derby schedule and having only one sprint race and one 1 1/8-mile race in the Florida Derby and then five weeks to the Kentucky Derby. Now, if that should change, then he very well could move up near the top of the list, depending on how he runs on Monday. If there is one thing he does have going for him it is that ONeill has been successful not going by the book and he knows how to get a horse to a big race as well as anyone. Getting the lightly raced Ill Have Another to win the Derby, and from the 19 post, was as brilliant a training job as youll see. 6 Exaggerator Keith Desormeaux CurlinDawn Raid, by Vindication It will be interesting to see how he fares against Nyquist in the San Vicente, a race neither has to win. I love the way Desormeaux trains his 3-year-olds and his old-school philosophy of starting out sprinting. As he said, It seems like a great way to get their minds ready again for competitive racing. Maybe it doesn't take as much out of them physically as a two-turn race; it sharpens them up and puts a little speed into them that you can't get in the mornings. It's a great way to wake them up for the upcoming journey. That is a great quote. I believe that thinking would have made Texas Red very competitive in the Triple Crown last year and will make Exaggerator very competitive on this years Triple Crown trail. After several long works to put some bottom in him, Desormeaux is getting him sharp, working him 5f in :58 2/5 on Feb. 2 followed by a :47 2/5 drill. Hes also had sharp works at 6 furlongs and 7 furlongs, which is another training method you dont see that much anymore. Desormeaux has him both sharp and fit, and has put plenty of bottom in him. Remember, this colt has shown he can handle any distance and any racetrack, whether its in New York, California, Kentucky, or Louisiana. I moved him up a spot because hes running this weekend, and Ill anticipate a good performance, even if he gets beat by Nyquist, which is totally possible. 7 Airoforce Mark Casse Colonel JohnChocolate Pop, by Cuvee If this colts works reflect how hes going to handle a fast dirt track, no one should have any concerns. Following his bullet 5f drill in 1:00 1/5 last week, he came right back with another scintillating 5f work in :59 3/5 breezing, second fastest of 31 works at the distance. He looks ready for a big debut, which likely will come in the Risen Stakes Feb 20. Looking at what Mor Spirit has done in his last two starts, the way he roared by him in the stretch in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes was extremely impressive, even if it was in the slop. And having Mo Tom come back and win the LeComte, drawing away in dominant fashion, just added to the quality of the field he beat and his performance. The Risen Star looks to be shaping up as a tough race, so well get a good idea how hes made the transition from 2 to 3. 8 Smokey Image Carla Gaines Southern ImageSpecial Smoke, by Free House Came out of his impressive romp in the Cal Cup Derby in excellent shape, according to Gaines, and will now point for the San Felipe for his first try against open company. Hes not the smoothest moving horse, but he looks to still be a work in progress, and he should gain a lot of experience from his first two-turn attempt, where he appeared to settle into a good groove in the final furlong and finished the way you want to see a horse finish. One thing we do know about him is that he is a runner, at least in state-bred company, but there is no reason think he wont be just as formidable against better class horses. He just needs to iron out some of the kinks and use his natural talent to its full extent. As for pedigree, his sire is from the potent HaloHail to Reason line, out of a mare from the Pleasant ColonyHis MajestyRibot line, while his dam is by Santa Anita Handicap, Pacific Classic, and Santa Anita Derby winner Free House, out of a mare from the Smart Strike and Nureyev lines. So forget the fact that hes a Cal-bred. 9 Awesome Speed Alan Goldberg Awesome AgainSpeedy Escape, by Aptitude If you want to know why Airoforce didnt get a bullet work for his :59 3/5 breeze, its because of this colts :59 flat breeze, fastest of 31 works at the distance. There is no doubt he is aptly named; now we just have to find out how awesome he is against top-class competition going two turns. We know he has blazing sprint speed and can carry it a mile and rate off horses. Most of all, we know how inundated his pedigree is with stamina, which makes him all the more intriguing as he moves forward on the Derby trail. In his first three generations, he has two Breeders Cup Classic winners and a Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, and his tail-female family traces to the great stamina influence Herbager. His broodmare sire, Aptitude won the JC Gold Cup by 10 lengths and finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and Aptitudes dam, Dokki, is a half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Coastal and two-time JC Gold Cup and Woodward winner and Hall of Famer Slew o Gold. So, for this colt to have such blazing speed makes one wonder just how good he may be. 10 Mo Tom Tom Amoss Uncle MoCaroni, by Rubiano Breezed 5f in 1:01 for the Risen Star Stakes, in which he will try to make it two-for-two on the Fair Grounds Derby trail. Hes already defeated the hard-knocking Toms Ready on two occasions and missed catching Mor Spirit by a head for second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Horses taking the full Fair Grounds series of preps to the Kentucky Derby have not fared very well at Churchill over the years, which frankly is baffling, considering it caters to stretch runners and has a surface fairly similar to Churchills. This colt runs contrary to his pedigree on paper, but remember, Uncle Mo is out of an Arch mare, and broodmare sire Rubiano, although a late-closing sprinter, is by Fappiano, out of a Nijinsky mare, so there are a lot of contrary aspects to his pedigree. 11 Rafting Graham Motion TapitPaiota Falls, by Kris S. I have him on the list because Im expecting a big effort from him in Saturdays Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay, for which he continues to work brilliantly, breezing 5f in 1:00 3/5 at Palm Meadows. This follows a pair of 6f breezes in 1:13 and 1:13 1/5. Hes not nominated to the Triple Crown, but Motion believes if a horse really belongs in the Derby he doesnt mind putting up the extra money in March, and he wants to see how he runs in the Sam Davis first. Two races back, I wouldnt have paid a dollar to nominate him, but that race was such a disaster from start to finish, and he received such a bizarre ride on top of that, he deserved another chance. And sure enough he bounced back with an impressive and professional score in the one-mile Smooth Air Stakes, defeating Fellowship, who came back to finish an excellent third to Mohaymen in the Holy Bull Stakes. This colt is training super and has a magnificent pedigree, and well see soon enough if he belongs on the Derby trail 12 Cherry Wine Dale Romans Paddy OPradoC.S. Royce, by Unbridleds Song The big question with him is the competition hes been humiliating. One gauge is Southside Warrior, who he defeated by 8 1/4 lengths in a Jan. 9 allowance race. Southside Warrior came back and finished a fast-closing second to the highly touted Shagaf on Jan. 29, so at least thats something to go by. With some big races coming up before the Fountain of Youth, he probably wont be able to stay on here much longer. He almost came off this week to make room for Danzing Candy, but well give it another week or so to let the latters recent allowance victory sink in a little more. If Mohaymen shows up in the Fountain of Youth as expected, well definitely learn a lot more about this horse. At this point lets just say hes an intriguing prospect who could be any kind. Knocking At The Door Much was expected from DANZING CANDY in a one-mile allowance race at Santa Anita, and the son of Twirling Candy delivered with an emphatic 5 3/4-length victory, his second straight dominant score. In his maiden win on Dec. 26, he defeated MR. COKER, who came back to break his maiden impressively next time out. Plagued by poor starts in his first two starts, he was much improved this time and coasted to the lead three-wide going into the first turn. With steady and sharp fractions of :23 flat and :46 3/5, he pretty much ran his opponents into the ground, opening up at will going into the far turn. Turning for home with a clear lead, he switched leads on cue and continued to open up, with jockey Mike Smith never touching him with the whip, his hands perfectly still. Danzing Candy then threw his ears straight up right at the wire and galloped out strong. This performance almost put him in the Top 12 and he could show up there at any time, but he has been one-dimensional in his two victories, and I would love to see him demonstrate the ability to rate off the pace, even though he gives the impression of being able to do so. Depending on this weekends results, he could very well pop into the Top 12 next week. What made his performance even more impressive is that I believe the runner-up, FRENCH GETAWAY, is a pretty talented horse with a powerful stretch kick who has a bright future himself, and he couldnt gain an inch on Danzing Candy, despite making a big run from last in the 9-horse field. By Twirling Candy, out of a Songandaprayer mare, one would naturally have doubts about Danzing Candys ability to get classic distances, but his dam is a half-sister to $4.3 million earner Better Talk Now, who finished first and second in the Breeders Cup Turf, as well as other distance grass races, and his tail-female family is all French stamina blood that includes Prix de lArc de Triomphe winner Bon Mot, Washington D.C. International winner Worden, and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Ocarina, as well as the legendary English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky. UNCLE LINO and I WILL SCORE both look like talented colts, with Uncle Lino appearing to be a bit more versatile. Although he is by Uncle Mo, out of an Orientate mare, don't be fooled into thinking he can't get 1 1/4 miles. His dam is a full- sister to Alabama winner Lady Joanne and a half-sister to Preakness and Met Mile winner Shackleford, as well as the hard-knocking two-turn stakes horse Stephanoatsee. Uncle Lino seemed committed to take on I Will Score early, but he's already shown he's able to be effective coming off the pace. He's definitely in the top 15 and is eligible to make the Top 12 at any time. Bob Baffert sent out a pair of impressive maiden winners in CUPID and TEN BLESSINGS. While the latter looks to have way too much catching up to do, Cupid, a light gray son of, who else, Tapit, looks like the real deal. He demolished his opponents with an impressive sweeping move, and after drifting in just a tad he just bounded away to win in hand in an excellent performance. The list of prospective starters for the Feb. 15 Southwest Stakes continues to grow with the addition of AMERICAN DUBAI following a mile work in 1:44 3/5. The son of E Dubai was impressive breaking his maiden at 6 furlongs at Churchill Downs last November, and then finished second to Southwest hopeful CUTACORNER in a recent allowance race at 1 1/16 miles. He subsequently was disqualified from second and placed third. Also pointing for the Southwest are SUDDENBREAKINGNEWS, who breezed 5f in 1:01 2/5 and Z ROYAL, who breezed 5f in 1:01 and will be ridden by Gary Stevens. SYNCHRONY, a fast-closing third in the Smarty Jones Stakes and a serious threat in the Southwest, breezed a sharp 5f in 1:00 4/5, second fastest of 45 works at the distance. Also pointing for the Southwest are DISCREETNESS, COLLECTED, GORDY FLORIDA, BIRD OF TREY, and TORRONTES, among others. The horse to watch in the Southwest, however, could be the recent allowance winner WHITMORE, who had blinkers on for the first time and looks to be a talented horse. He just has to prove that his only stretch-out race in the Delta Jackpot, in which he tired badly in the slop, was a fluke. Well see which is the more dominant, the stamina from Pleasantly Perfect on top or the speed throughout his female family. He gets Mike Smith for the Southwest and is coming off a sharp 5f drill in 1:00 3/5 in company with two workmates, including the stakes-winning Far Right The first horse to be dropped from my original top 12, UNEXPLAINED, breezed 5f in 1:01, and Im looking for a much improved effort next time out with a race under his belt, as disappointing and perplexing as that race was. He had missed some training, so lets assume for now he was just plain short. He likely will be pointed for an Oaklawn allowance race to get some of his confidence back. Leah Gyarmati has shipped IN EQUALITY, third in the Jerome Stakes, to Fair Grounds for the Feb. 20 Risen Star Stakes, which should attract several other proven shippers, including Breeders Futurity winner AIROFORCE and the Remsen third-place finisher GIFT BOX (See my column last week for this colts back story). The locals are headed by the LeComte first three finishers MO TOM, TOMS READY, and UNCLE WALTER. Toms Ready showed hes still razor with a bullet 5f breeze in 1:00 flat, fastest of 24 works at the distance. Another local, GUN RUNNER, is of particular interest in that he appears to have tremendous upside and has shown in all three of his starts he runs hard and has no quit in him. He just looks like a racehorse, with excellent extension to his stride. Hes very light on his feet and has shown he doesnt need the whip. His only flaw is that he has a tendency to switch leads at the drop of a hat. In his allowance victory, the jock shook the reins and he threw his ears up and switched back to his lead, then put his ears back and switched back to his right lead immediately after the wire. Thats something that should be corrected with experience an d maturity. In his maiden victory he jumped over the his left lead in the last stride and did it again in Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. He was game that day, hooking up with Mor Spirit in the upper stretch, only to tire a bit, finishing fourth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths in the slop. He continues to work sharply, breezing 6f in 1:12 3/5, followed by another 6f breeze in 1:12 1/5. His dam, who won the Molly Pitcher and other stakes, is a half-sister to Horse of the Year and BC Classic winner Saint Liam and sold for $3 million at Keeneland November. She also traces to the great Gallorette. Gun Runner is inbred to Fappiano, Lyphard, and Blushing Groom, so, all in all, there is plenty of class in his pedigree, and plenty to like about him. Keep an eye on this one. Although the Gander Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct is a million miles from Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, we did see a promising colt Saturday in GOVERNOR MALIBU, who was impressive winning the mile and 70-yard race by 2 1/2 lengths over the Todd Pletcher-trained SUDDEN SURPRISE. Tracking the pace the whole way, he took a pretty good bump after turning for home, but asserted himself in the final furlong to win going away for Christophe Clement. He has now scored two impressive victories since the addition of Lasix. We saw a gutsy performance in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Oaklawn Saturday, when TISDALE stretched out to two turns and repeatedly turned back challenges to win by neck after setting a contested pace and being headed at the top of the stretch, only to take the lead again and confront a new challenge in the final furlong and a late challenge from the back of the pack, winning in a three-horse photo. The son of Friesen Fire is trained by Ron Moquett. Larry Jones, owner, trainer, and breeder of the promising JENSEN, second in a recent allowance to DOLPHUS in his two-turn debut, said his colt may be pointed for a Feb. 25 allowance/optional claimer at Fair Grounds, with the Risen Star still an outside possibility. It was good finally seeing ZULU back on the work tab, with the undefeated colt breezing a half in :49 3/5 at Palm Beach Downs. Although he lost his place at No. 12 due to inactivity, I still believe this colt could vault high up the list in the Fountain of Youth Stakes or wherever Todd Pletcher decides to run him. Just as they did last week, the Pletcher pair of GETTYSBURG and DESTIN worked in company, getting a half in :48 4/5. FRANK CONVERSATION, impressive winner of California Derby, breezed 5f in 1:02 1/5 at Santa Anita. If he can duplicate that strong effort on dirt, we could be talking about a serious contender. The Doug ONeillPaul Reddam combo seems to be everywhere, with a plethora of 3-year-olds, and many have forgotten how impressive RALIS was winning the Hopeful Stakes. A disappointment since, he had his second work, breezing a half in :50. In another work of interest, UNBRIDLED OUTLAW, who could turn out to be an interesting dark horse, based on several of his races at 2, returned to the work tab for Dale Romans, breezing a half in :49 3/5 at Gulfstream Park. He had a physical excuse in the BC Juvenile, so we most likely can throw that race out. Also of interest was the return to the work tab by the highly promising MATT KING COAL, who was second to Gift Box before breaking his maiden by nearly 6 lengths going a mile at Belmont Park, in which he earned a whopping 96 Beyer speed figure. Trained by Linda Rice, watch out for this son of Cool Coal Man possibly in the Gotham Stakes. KASSEOPIA, who romped by 9 lengths on the all-weather at Kempton and then finished a good second in the Grey Stakes at Woodbine, heads to the El Camino Real Derby Saturday. Trainer Graham Motion said the English-bred has been working well on dirt with Rafting, but it won't be for a while until we find out how he handles the dirt. Finally, for those who I am sure will bring it up, regarding SONGBIRDS freakishly brilliant performance in the Las Virgenes, she is NOT being pointed to the Kentucky Derby. If she ever tries the boys it will be next year, as she will remain in training as a 4-year-old. Charges filed in Raytown mans fatal shooting A homicide cold case lamented by throughout Kansas City now earns the possibility of justice . . .Real talk . . . Right or wrong, this deadly shooting scared and angered a great many South Kansas City residents. It was the subject of racist ranting and calls to crime fighting unity. Now Jackson County prosecutors claim they know who did it.Checkit:On May 13, 2012, Raytown resident Harry Stone, 60, was on a morning jog. He was on Blue Ridge Blvd when a dark car passed by near 67th Street. Someone in the passing vehicle shot Stone who collapsed alongside the road.Nearly four years later, a Kansas City man who was 20 in May 2012 has been charged in connection with Stones murder, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.Craig L. Brown, now 24 (dob: 6/25/1991) faces Murder 2nd Degree.*According to court records, Stone was transported to an area hospital and in a dying declaration to a physician said two black males with dreads shot him. Stone died in surgery. Almost three years later, on Feb. 1, 2015, Craig L. Brown was in an auto accident near 43rd and Pittman Road in Kansas City. Police secured a pistol, a black Glock 19 semi-automatic, found in the vehicles glove box. In June 2015, detectives in the Kansas City Police Department crime lab test fired the gun taken from Browns vehicle and, according to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, it matched the gun used to kill Stone.Detectives from Raytown and Kansas City police tracked down the purchaser of the handgun, who lived in Kansas City at the time of Stones fatal shooting, according to court records. She stated she purchased it for a boyfriend who is now in federal prison. Detectives interviewed that boyfriend. In November 2015, he identified Brown, known as CJ, as the person who shot Stone. He sold to Brown the gun purchased by his girlfriend in 2012, he told the detectives. Brown had dreads at that time.Detectives, according to court records, located the owner of the vehicle passing Stone when he was shot. The vehicle in the video recovered from a nearby gas station was similar to a vehicle that had been stopped by Raytown and Kansas City police before and after the fatal shooting of Stone in Raytown. The vehicle belonged to Browns girlfriend. In an interview with Raytown and Kansas City detectives, Brown identified the vehicle in the BP gas station video that captured Stones shooting as his girlfriends vehicle. He also stated he often drove the vehicle then, and another witness corroborated for police that Brown often drove the vehicle around the time that Stone was killed.Prosecutors requested a bond of $250,000 secured.#######Developing . . . More than ever before, the struggle to renew the Kansas City earnings tax seems like a fight for the hearts and minds of East Side voters.High murder counts, poor services from City Hall, exclusion from participation in big money development projects and a host of other disparities could provide incentive to vote against the E-Tax for East Side denizens and now it's up to Mayor Sly to sell this controversial levy for another 5 years.Mayor Sly might have won his last election contest by a huge margin but it's also worth noting that the contest was one of thefor a Mayoral election in Kansas City history.It has been about 5 years since Mayor Sly James has been able to galvanize Kansas City's African-American vote bloc in any real way.Meanwhile, Crosby Kemper III and his Show-Me Crew have been able to garner political support by identifying a great deal inequity built into Kansas City's tax system.And while this racial battle is important . . . It seems that dissatisfaction with City Hall and Mayor Sly might actually unify the great white Northland and African-American votes on the East Side.Developing . . . Congressman Cleaver: Presidents Forward-Looking Budget Makes Bold Investments in Americas Future Kansas City's most powerful elected official touts his work in bringing homefor Kansas City in the latest budget. Take a look . . .WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, the White House sent President Obamas Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to Congress. Congressman Cleaver applauded the President for putting forward a budget that builds the foundation for a strong American future investing in innovation for the 21st century, advancing a world-class education system, and empowering hard-working families.Make no mistake, the President has presented a bold, forward-looking plan for the future: a budget that creates good-paying jobs, fuels innovation, education, and infrastructure, and strengthens our national security, said Congressman Cleaver. Building on the framework of the bipartisan budget agreement signed into law last fall, this budget charts an aggressive, new course for American job growth and prosperity.The Presidents budget request makes key investments to grow the economy and expand opportunity for hard-working Americans in the 21st century:: create the industries and good-paying jobs of the future, doubling investment in clean energy research and development, embracing 21st century transportation infrastructure, and launching Vice President Bidens Moonshot to end cancer;: strengthen Pell Grants for striving students, expand early childhood education, invest in job training and apprenticeships to help all workers get the skills they need for the 21st century economy;: expand tax credits for hard-working families, increase access to quality child care, expand paid leave, enact comprehensive immigration reform and help workers save more for a secure and comfortable retirement;: ensure $30 million in funding for police body camera programs as one part of a broader solution to keep our communities safe, promote accountability, and protect the rights of all parties involved, something Congressman Cleaver succeeded in having included in the current 2016 omnibus spending bill;: guarantee that the World War I Centennial Commission has proper funding as it prepares to observe and memorialize the Wars centenary, including the kick-off of Americas involvement in the Great War in April 2017 in Kansas City at the National World War I Museum and Memorial;: provide $30 million in funding for the development of Prospect MAX bus rapid transit service on Prospect Avenue between downtown and 75th Street in Kansas City.I am very pleased that body camera funding, support for the World War I Centennial Commission, and Prospect MAX funding are all included in the Presidents budget, as they are items I have worked hard to ensure were included. I will continue to embrace the possibility of America and work to secure a strong future of prosperity and opportunity for our seniors and hard-working families. continued Congressman Cleaver.######### KCTV5 HAS ABANDONED THEIR OLD READER FORUM IN FAVOR OF THE DESPISED FACEBOOK COMMENT SYSTEM!!! JUST LIKE THE SECRET BALLOT . . . ANONYMOUS FREE SPEECH IS CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED!!! "They'll end up like KSHBTV, a comment section full of SPAM and mail advertising. How much LOWER can KCTV 5 stoop??? Once upon a time, they were one of the best local stations for reporting and news. Now I rarely visit their station or channel. It seems they're nothing but a bunch of fly-by-night reporters and personalities with no substance. Gone are the days of Wendall & Ann along with seasoned news veterans with journalism skill." The topic ofcontinues to rage among our blog community and a recent online comment switcheroo has piqued the interest of our blog community.Here's the word . . .Connecting with social media is smart for newsies who want a bigger audience but the reality is that many people don't want their comments associated with online profiles.Like it or not . . .Reader also point out that the FB system is clunky and responsible for killing user interaction at The Star's site when they don't simply turn off comments on their more controversial stories.One reader offers a historical context . . .Like it or not the good old days are gone and they're NEVER coming back. In the meantime our blog community remains the last free speech zone in Kansas City until we finally get some coding done and turn it into a Chinese food delivery bikini blog . . . Which is only slightly more fun than arguing with you d-bags about all things Kansas City.Developing . . . Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Leading industrial firms from across the globe are showcasing their products at the Gulf Industry Fair 2016, the specialist business-to-business industrial show in the Northern Gulf region, which opened at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre (BIECC) today (February 9). The Fair was inaugurated by HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, this morning. The event was participated by leading ministers, government officials and businessmen. Following the inauguration, the Premier toured the exhibition. Jubran Abdulrahman, managing director of show organiser Hilal Conferences & Exhibitions (HCE), said: We would like to express our sincere gratitude to His Royal Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, for providing his endless support to Gulf Industry Fair and its aims. Companies at the exhibition represented the key sectors of: Aluminium, Energy and Environment, Industrial Metals, Industrial Processes and Manufacturing, Ports and Maritime, Industrial Facilities and Logistics, Training for industry and Industrial Safety and Security Sectors. The Fair will host the Innovation for Industry Forum under the patronage of Zayed R AlZayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. The Middle East is becoming increasingly reliant on its industrial base. The GCCs leading industrial capitals remain positive for 2016. Gulf Industry Fairs ninth edition is a positive insight into the innovative capacity of the Gulfs industrial companies to compete at a global level," added Abdulrahman. The exhibition promises three days of deal-making, innovation and market-leading products on show for trade visitors from around the region. As many as 80 exhibitors from across the region and representing products and services from 16 countries are in attendance at this years event. They include industrial heavyweights such as Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (Asry), and cable manufacturer Ducab from the UAE. This years fair is being held against a backdrop of continued low oil prices, bringing into focus the efforts by GCC states to diversify their economies away from dependence on oil, said HCE. Meanwhile, the biennial iTECH for Industry Awards will be presented to innovative companies in recognition of the growing contribution of the ICT sector to industrial development. The fair will also feature a dedicated careers day on February 11, to help university students and graduates gain an understanding of careers in the industrial sector, said the event organiser. In addition, both Alba and Bapco will conduct workshops on projects they are delivering. The workshops will give businesses a chance to understand the procurement requirements of Albas Line 6 expansion and Bapcos energy projects. HCE also plan to build on the overwhelming success of the Virtual Exhibition launched at last years fair. Offering interviews and information about participating companies, the Virtual Exhibition available at www.gulfindustryfair.com provides exhibitors with a further six months free marketing to the global online business community after the three-day show. As in previous years, the fair will be supported by some of Bahrains industrial heavyweights. An aluminium giant and major national economic contributor, Albas role in creating a vibrant community of downstream industries - including the likes of fellow exhibitors Balexco, Midal Cables and Ameeri Industries - will again be highlighted at the shows Aluminium Village. Bapco will, meanwhile, front the Energy and Environment segment, where it will outline the group's current and future investment programmes, said the event organiser. Majaal, a developer and operator of facilities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will again be the principal strategic sponsor of the Logistics and Industrial Facilities sector, where it will not only showcase the successes of its business model but also demonstrate Bahrains credentials as an investment destination. Other partners include Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali, which is sponsoring the Industrial Processes and Manufacturing segment, and Asry, one of the Gulfs leading shipyards, which will take care of the Ports and Maritime segment. -TradeArabia News Service ConnecticutBob.Com is a modest blog on the internet since 2006. Progressive ideas are encouraged, and all politically-minded and reasonable people are welcome. America is the greatest country in the world, but we'll invade you if you disagree. The work is progressing well on the modernisation of 27 airports in Saudi Arabia and is due to be completed within the next five years, said a report, citing a senior aviation official. Our goal is that our airports should be in a position worthy of the kingdoms status, and that the best level of services is offered, Sulaiman Al-Hamdan, president of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) was quoted as saying in the Arab News. "Therefore our goal is to complete such developments so these airports can have increased capacity," he stated. As for King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz airport in Jazan, Al Hamdan said the aim was to establish an entirely new airport with a capacity far greater than the current facility. The budget was approved for the project, in addition to the bidding process, but it has been temporarily stopped as Aramcos studies suggest the selected location for the project may present an opportunity to explore for oil and gas, he added. Demand for Honeywells gas detection equipment in the Gulf is driven mainly by the oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the company acknowledges. The oil and gas industry is certainly one of the biggest for gas detection equipment in the region. However, due to continued expansion in the infrastructure in the region, we are seeing increasing demand from utilities, water treatment, marine, construction and other heavy industries, remarked Andrew Thompson, vice president and general manager for high-growth regions, Honeywell Industrial Safety, while speaking to Gulf Industry magazine. The Gulf imports its gas detection products from any of Honeywell manufacturing facilities including those in the UK, Korea, China, Italy and Mexico. Honeywell is a global leader in providing a wide range of advanced gas detection systems and devices. From low-end, compliance equipment to high-end, high-functionality devices and from smaller boiler rooms to large petrochemical plants and oil refineries, Honeywell products cater to a broad range of industries including oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and power and utilities. The best-selling products in the region in 2015 were BW Clip and Searchpoint Optima Plus. These two and GasAlertMicrooChip were the companys top three products globally that year. BW Clip is a maintenance-free, single-gas detector known to be the most reliable, user-friendly, cost-effective way of keeping workers safe and operations compliant. Searchpoint Optima Plus is an infrared point hydrocarbon gas detector certified for use in potentially explosive atmospheres such as offshore oil and gas platforms, refineries, LNG/LPG bottling plants, etc. GasAlertMicroClip is the worlds most popular multi-gas portable detector, delivering long runtime and reliability with plus features such as small size, low cost and the easiest user experience. Touching on the marketing and distribution of Honeywell products in the region, Thompson said the company utilises a number of channels to achieve that end. A strong regional sales team works directly with customers and distribution partners to understand and meet their needs. Building strong relationships forms the basis of some of Honeywells success stories from end users, customers and distribution partners to media, authorities and industry experts, he commented. Honeywell also works closely with other Honeywell business units to provide a comprehensive portfolio of solutions,. According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research, the global gas detection equipment market is forecast to reach $3.37 billion by 2022. Discussing the key drivers for growth, Thompson said: In addition to increased emphasis on operational safety, other factors driving the growing gas detection market include technological advancements, growing emerging markets and an increasing need for safety products across different industries. For example, Turkey is witnessing a rise in construction projects which demand efficient gas detection systems. Its automotive industry is also expanding, fuelling demands for better gas detection systems to protect workers who sometimes work in hazardous environments. Economic and industrial diversification is also shaping the gas detection market. For instance, power and utility companies are exploring opportunities in the solar and nuclear energy sectors. Manufacturing is also serving as a major thrust for economic diversification for industries in the Gulf. Furthermore, changes in safety regulations and increased general safety awareness are driving the need for gas detection products across the region. Thompson also touched on wireless gas detection equipment, saying it is among the leading sectors of the global gas detection equipment market. Wireless gas detection, where signals from portable gas detectors are relayed to a host computer, provides real-time safety intelligence, enabling customers to make fast, informed decisions and bringing a new level of safety and productivity, he said. Honeywell has worked closely with partners to ensure customers see wireless technology not just as a safety solution, but also an enabler of a mobile and more productive workforce. Honeywell also sees this as an opportunity for business to be more agile with the ability to make critical decisions faster. As part of its ongoing commitment to help advance oil and gas safety and compliance, Honeywell introduced the first real-time wireless plant-wide gas detection safety system, ConneXt Safety Solutions. The ConneXt Safety Solutions bring a new level of safety and productivity to industrial plants by providing remote notification of worker health and location. The solution delivers superior value through remote atmospheric monitoring, man-down and panic alarm notifications, and location information provided by wireless infrastructure or GPS. This data is easily viewable on the real-time monitoring software applications. Acting on this data could mean savings in terms of lost product and damaged assets; and could also prevent escalation into a major incident. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain's Prime Minister HRH Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa today (February 9) visited the Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) stand at the ongoing Gulf Industry Fair (GIF) 2016, in Bahrain. The fair was inaugurated by the Premier earlier today, at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre. The event will conclude on February 11. The Premier, accompanied by VIP guests and dignitaries, was welcomed by Albas chairman of board of directors, Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa and the executive management at the Alba stand. Shaikh Daij presented HRH the Premier with a model of Alba smelter and HRHs portrait made from Albas aluminium and by its employees. The model also included pictures of the Premier from Albas library that highlight his continuous support to Albas growth since its establishment in 1971 till to date, said a statement from the company. Shaikh Daij said: I would like to extend my utmost thanks and appreciation to HRH the Premier for his generous and continuous contribution towards the growth of aluminium industry in Bahrain and the GCC region. Today, our company is genuinely honoured to receive HRH and we are grateful for HRHs instrumental support that made Alba one of the leading aluminium smelters in the world. Also, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for HRH's continuous support for Alba's Line 6 Expansion Project, which will make Alba the largest single-site smelter in the world by 2019 with a production capacity of 1.45 million metric tonnes, he added. TradeArabia News Service Leading trading firm Global Industrial Resources (GIR) of Bahrain is expanding its manufacturing base in Bahrain. We are exploring the potential to start locally manufacturing several industrial products. This will expand our business as well as create opportunities for Bahrainis, says GIR vice chairman and managing director Ali Najjar, ading that the company hopes to start manufacturing carbon brushes by 2019-2020. GIR supplies products to various sectors including aluminium, cement, steel and petrochemical industries and also manufactures filter bags for various industrial uses through its subsidiary Bahrain Industrial Filters (BIF) at Hidd. Najjar says that BIF is now expanding its manufacturing capabilities to all types of filter products for both dry and liquid filtration applications. These are made from selected filter media imported from the best plants in Europe. Owned by Najjar Investments Company, GIR supplies many well-known products ranging from cathode collector bars, steel bars, round bars, anodes, refractories, material handling equipment, spares, foundry chemicals, consumables, specialty lubricants, specialty dust extraction systems, carbon brushes, and chemicals, to name a few. It serves industrial companies in Bahrain and the rest of the GCC and also represents specialist companies that provide turnkey solutions for the aluminium and other industries. GIR also plans to branch into logistics services. Bahrain, with its favourable location, can be a hub for the efficient supply and distribution of products across the GCC. So we are planning to start a logistics company to serve various industrial sectors across the region, Najjar says. The company has sourcing offices in China and India, which helps it cater to the needs of clients. GIR is headed by chairman Redha Najjar, who worked at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) for 27 years at various positions. A regular participant at the Gulf Industry Fair, GIR sees the event as an opportunity to showcase its vast product portfolio and expertise with decision-makers in the industry. - TradeArabia News Service Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would pull out six jets that have been bombing targets in Iraq and Syria, ending a controversial combat role in the fight against Islamic State. Trudeau's Liberals won an election last October promising to withdraw the jets but came under pressure from allies who feared the decision could weaken efforts to combat the militant group. Bombing began in November 2014 under the previous Conservative government. "We can't do everything .. we were guided by our desire to do what we could do best to help in the region and to do it in the right way," Trudeau told a news conference. "The people terrorized by (Islamic State) every day don't need our vengeance, they need our help." Canada will end its bombing missions by Feb. 22 but keep two surveillance planes in the region as well as refueling aircraft, and triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq to about 200. Officials in the United States welcomed the announcement, which came after sustained diplomatic pressure from major allies to persuade Canada to do as much as possible. "I'm confident we are going to continue to have discussions with the Canadians about additional steps they can take to further enhance our counter-ISIL efforts," said White House spokesman John Earnest. He said Trudeau had talked to Obama on Monday. The two will meet in Washington next month. Canada's decision came as the Syrian army advanced towards the Turkish border on Monday in an offensive backed by Russia and Iran. Trudeau said the new mission would be engaged for at least two years and then be re-evaluated. The best way to promote long-term stability was to help local people fight to get their territory back, he added. Canadians' appetite for foreign military missions dropped after 10 years of involvement in Afghanistan that ended in 2011, during which 158 soldiers were killed. Last March, one Canadian soldier died and three others were injured in a friendly fire incident in Iraq. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan conceded there would still be risks for the trainers. "This is a conflict zone and a very high threat environment," he said by phone. Opinion polls show Canadians are sharply divided over the role of the armed forces in the fight against Islamic State. The Conservatives said the announcement was "a shameful step backward" from Canada's military tradition. Reuters Saudi Arabia's Etihad Etisalat Mobily has signed an international roaming agreement with Vodafone Group covering 21 countries around the world. As a result of the agreement, 21 countries around the world where Vodafone Group has a presence, would be accessible to Mobily roaming customers. This will allow Mobily to provide its customers the widest coverage and quality international roaming experience, a statement said. Through this agreement, Mobily adds to its roaming list countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Britain among others. Engineer Ziad Hamad Al-Hasson, general manager international traffic management and services in Mobily, said: "We are pleased to sign this agreement with Vodafone, the largest global telecommunications operator. This agreement is a part of Mobily's strategy to make best use of international roaming partners all around the world to provide our customers widest coverage in countries that our customers routinely visit as a tourist destination." Mobily is among the top telecom operators in the region providing the largest and widest international roaming internet services through Fourth Generation (LTE) technology, in partnership with 124 operators in 56 countries around the world, the statement added. - TradeArabia News Service 10 killed, many injured in German train crash Ten people were killed and at least 81 injured on Tuesday when two passenger trains collided head-on at high speed in remote countryside in southern Germany. One passenger was still missing, police said, and 18 of those injured were in a serious condition. The crash happened during the morning rush-hour about half way along a six-km (four-mile) stretch between the spa town of Bad Aibling and Kolbermoor in Bavaria, near to the border with Austria. Ambulances could not reach the site, which was heavily wooded with a steep hill on one side and a river on the other, so helicopters had to airlift people to nearby hospitals. Police said recovery operations with heavy machinery would be suspended overnight and restart at daybreak on Wednesday. The trains had been carrying about 100 passengers, mainly commuters. Police said more people would have been travelling if it had not been a holiday week. Hundreds of emergency service workers, including mountain rescue teams, worked to save passengers at the crash site, where several derailed blue, yellow and grey train carriages lay on their side next to the track. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the trains and track had been fitted with an automatic brake system that was introduced across Germany after 10 people died in 2011 near Magdeburg when a train driver drove through two red signals. "It's one of the biggest accidents we have had in the last few years," he said. Germany's most serious post-war train accident occurred in 1998 when 101 people were killed near the northern town of Eschede after a high speed ICE train crashed. Dobrindt said both trains on Tuesday must have been travelling at high speed entering a curve and the drivers had probably not seen each other. Police declined to comment on the cause of the crash. They appealed for people to donate blood. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock and sent her condolences to families of the victims. "I trust that the authorities responsible will do everything they can to clear up how this accident could happen," she said in a statement. Dobrindt said an investigation had begun and that the priority was to find out whether the cause was a technical problem or human error. The trains' operator, Meridian, is part of French passenger transport firm Transdev, which is jointly owned by state-owned bank CDC and water and waste firm Veolia. Transdev said in a statement that management and staff were terribly shocked by the "exceptionally serious accident" and that Chief Executive Jean-Marc Janaillac was at the scene. State-owned Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track, which has a speed limit of 100 km per hour. The company said the safety system had been checked last week.-Reuters Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) have announced the return of the Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) in March. Running from March 22 to 28, the annual event will celebrate culinary culture under the theme A Different Side of Food. Following the notable success of last years QIFF at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Park, which attracted 170,000 visitors over the course of five days, QTA and Qatar Airways have confirmed that this year will see the festival experience extending to a week-long event, and the addition of satellite Festival experiences at many of the countrys other landmarks and eateries, including The Pearl and Katara Cultural Village. Chinese food lovers will also have plenty to look forward to, with Chinese cuisine featuring as part of the Qatar-China 2016 Year of Culture celebrations. The Qatar International Food Festival is an important part of QTAs strategy to grow and diversify the countrys tourism offering in partnership with the private sector, said Rashed Al Qurese, chief marketing and promotion officer at QTA. QIFF showcases our country-wide five-star culinary and hospitality offerings, giving visitors a taste of the countrys most authentic experiences. We look forward to welcoming residents and visitors alike to the seventh edition of QIFF. Salam Al Shawa, Qatar Airways senior vice president marketing and corporate communications, said: Now in its seventh year, the Qatar International Food Festival has proven to be one of the most popular city-based events in the world, and Qatar Airways is pleased to join with Qatar Tourism Authority to create an experience for the residents of Doha. In addition, we are very proud of our role in bringing the world to Doha to taste the countrys finest culinary and cultural offerings. Festival participants can look forward to the return of QIFFs signature events, including Qatar Airways Dinner in the Sky and Cooking Theatre, featuring celebrity chefs from Doha and around the world. TradeArabia News Service Jazeera Airways, a low-cost carrier based in Kuwait, has reported a net profit of KD15.4 million ($51.2 million) for 2015. The airline reported positive results last year compared to figures recorded in 2014, when it posted a pre-transaction net profit of KD17.4 million ($57.9 million). However, as a result of a fleet sale, the companys bottom line for 2014 was affected by a one-time non-recurring loss leading to a net loss of KD2.88 million ($9.5 million) for the year. The airlines operating profit for 2015 hit KD13.6 million ($45.2 million), reflecting a 2 per cent increase from 2014. Operating revenue for the year was KD58.6 million ($194.9 million). Celebrating the success, the board of directors has recommended a 15 per cent cash dividend totalling KD3 million ($9.9 million). Marwan Boodai, Jazeera Airways chairman, said: "I'm pleased to report that 2015 was another profitable year for Jazeera Airways, and a transformational one too. We successfully readjusted the airline's capital to match its size, issued record shareholder payouts worth KD52.7 million ($175.2 million) in cash, and settled all debts. Today, the company is debt-free, with over KD30.9 million ($102.7 million) in cash and a growing profitable business. The company's balance sheet has never been as strong as it is today." Jazeera Airways started the year by announcing a divestment of its fully-owned leasing business, which had accounted for less than 20 per cent of its net profit in 2014, by selling its fleet of 15 Airbus A320s for $507 million. The sale led to a board recommendation to adjust the company's capital to match its current operation. On November 4, 2015, shareholders approved the recommendation to reduce the capital from KD42 million ($139.7 million) to KD20 million ($66.5 million) through a share buyback program of 220 million shares at the nominal share price of 100 fils. This resulted in a KD22 million ($73.1 million) shareholder payout, which -- when combined with payouts during the year -- lifted total shareholder cash payouts during the year to a record payout of KD52.7 million ($175.2 million). Earlier in the year, the company had issued cash dividends of KD20 million ($66.5 million) for the year 2014 and a payout of KD10.7 million ($35.5 million) in accumulated earnings and other reserves that were required by law to be distributed as part of the capital reduction process. This voluntary share buyback program was the first exercise of its kind in Kuwait and was based on the procedures stated in Kuwait's new Commercial Companies Law (97/2013). In 2015 the company successfully exited the aircraft leasing business to focus on the airline business, issued a record shareholder payout, settled all loans, grew the operating profit, increased the net profit, and attracted more passengers despite the political and economic challenges the region faced. The year 2015 was transformational for the balance sheet, and the airline expects 2016 to be the year this transformation extends to the product. TradeArabia News Service MOUNT HOLLY SPRINGS The borough council Monday approved an agreement with Carlisle Area School District to acquire land for a future municipal garage. Under the agreement, the district will sell a portion of its property near the local elementary school to the borough for the sum of $1, Borough Solicitor Mike Scherer said. He added school board members have yet to vote on the agreement to create a rectangular-shaped parcel which includes the current parking lot behind the municipal building. If approved, the purchase would increase the frontage of borough-owned property along Harmon Street from 100 to 135 ft. and along Chapel Avenue from 200 to 275 ft., Scherer said. A conceptual drawing shows space for a future garage addition along the western side of the municipal building. Borough staff is still waiting to hear word back from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on the status of a grant application to fund the proposed addition, Council Chairman James Collins II said. Once the agreement is signed by both parties, the borough will have until Dec. 31, 2017 to close the transaction and have an engineer prepare and file a plan to subdivide off the land the district sold to the borough, Scherer said. Councilman Leroy Shildt said he will vote against any kind of mortgage taken out to fund the construction of the future garage addition. Fellow councilman Edgar Kendall also spoke out against a mortgage stating that any grant short of 100 percent would require the borough to fund some of the construction costs. WASHINGTON The wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a U.S. raid last year has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to the aid workers death, the Justice Department said Monday. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture last May that she and her husband kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. U.S. officials have said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group The criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Umm Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. The case was brought one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though its not clear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman, who was captured last year, is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force raid of his compound. We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes, Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Departments national security division, said in a statement. Since when did being a conservative mean also having to agree that some wall with mythical powers could make America great again, a la Donald Trump? Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were very pro-immigration. After all, legal immigration is whatever the law says it is. So if the law permits someone who entered the country without permission to eventually obtain her green card and live permanently in the United States, he or she is a legal immigrant. But now, to be a respected Republican, you need to somehow caucus with Trump and Ted Cruz (and a sometimes squeamish Marco Rubio) and come out loud and strong against amnesty. Lets be clear on what amnesty really is. The simplest and most common definition of amnesty is a decision that a group of people will not be punished or a group of prisoners that will be allowed to go free. Since were not dealing with prisoners, lets focus on the not be punished part. Anyone who has examined any of the proposals set forth by George W. Bush during his tenure, John McCain and Arlen Specter a decade ago and the Gang of Eight in 2013 would, if they were honest, acknowledge that not one so-called illegal immigrant was going to be getting off scot-free. In the best-case scenario, they were going to have to wait many years before actually becoming lawful residents or citizens, pay fines, learn English and clear the kind of background checks that not even Hillary Clinton could pass. The proposal of the Gang of Eight was a bipartisan attempt to address head-on an issue that had languished in Congress and at grass-roots levels for years, with no sure resolution. In addition to providing a decade-long process for legalization, it also required certainty that the border with Mexico and the U.S. is secured within five years of its passage. The proposal passed the Senate, but died in the House. The people who scream about amnesty are being dishonest, because nowhere in any piece of legitimate legislation has there been a decision that a group of people will not be punished. Telling someone to pay thousands of dollars in fines, wait many years before becoming legalized, possibly returning home and waiting outside of the country for long stretches or even relinquishing the right to ever become a citizen is not exactly a slap on the wrist. And people like Clinton, who stuff their rallies with burqas and Latinos and Dreamers, are nothing more than panderers using immigrants as a bargaining chip. Then there are the people who actually tried to do something, such as Rubio (who has since backtracked) or Chuck Schumer, who was willing to sleep with the enemy to move the ball forward. And that, sadly, is all this amnesty talk is. While I will not vote for Hillary or Bernie Sanders, Im also not going to look at Trump or Cruz or any of the other GOP candidates who exploit, in their own fashion, irrational American fears. The whole idea that refugees are really ISIS operatives waiting to pounce makes for great sound bites, but is statistically fraudulent. Just last week I had five Central American clients in my law office trying to legally seek refuge in this country. They were doing it legally, because there is a law that gives them that right. They deserve respect. And unless the GOP candidates realize that, and stop talking about amnesty, they are guaranteeing that another Democrat named Clinton will be sitting in the Oval Office come January. So, run Marco, run. And stop apologizing for one of the things you actually got right. Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabias offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdoms growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering U.S. calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab worlds most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Thats if the Saudi proposal even gets translated into action. Just putting the offer on the table gives the Saudis an opportunity to show leadership in addressing U.S. concerns that its regional allies arent doing enough to fight IS. It also puts pressure on Washington to do more as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and allied defense ministers gather in Brussels this week for talks on confronting the extremists. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, made clear the kingdoms offer is contingent on the support of the U.S.-led coalition battling the militant group in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also has offered to deploy ground forces, are part of the coalition but have eased up on their contributions to the air campaign after earlier, high-profile sorties over Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir implied Monday that his countrys willingness to send special forces to Syria was contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort. The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground-force contingent in Syria, al-Jubeir told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The U.S. is leading the international coalition against ISIS in Syria, he said, declining to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets. There would be no international coalition against ISIS in Syria if the U.S. did not lead this effort. Saudi Arabia is far more focused on another war even closer to home. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition heavily supported by the Emirates is battling Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and a former presidents supporters who control the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the impoverished country. The Yemen intervention highlights Saudi Arabias growing assertiveness since King Salmans ascension to the throne just over a year ago, along with the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 30-year-old prince was named by his father as defense minister and second-in-line to be king. Prince Mohammed has announced the creation of a Saudi-based Islamic military alliance intended to fight terrorism. The bloc includes much of the Sunni Arab world, several African and Asian countries, as well as NATO member Turkey. Not included are IS front lines Syria and Iraq, or Saudi Arabias chief rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran. The Salman doctrine is about projecting power and military strength, said Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik, who believes the Saudis offer for troops in Syria could portend other military expeditions in the region. It may be looking for leverage, but its also very serious, he said. While the Saudis say their aim is to fight IS, the timing of the kingdoms announcement raises questions about its motives. Russias intervention in Syria has sharply altered the military landscape, routing Saudi-backed rebels from key areas in the north and giving Assad the upper hand. Prospects for any meaningful peace talks appear to be dwindling by the day. Any ground troops deployed to fight IS would almost certainly have to enter from the Turkish border, close to the area where Syrian government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing under cover of blistering Russian airstrikes. Saudi ground troops would find themselves embroiled in complex terrain where hundreds of Shiite fighters from Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan also are fighting. That would make the proxy sectarian wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging suddenly more intimate, potentially putting Saudi and Iranian troops in the same fighting space. Three New River Cruise Itineraries Starting at $999 per person that are Commissionable at 15% (TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - February 9th, 2016 - EL SEGUNDO, CA YMT Vacations, the leading provider of affordable group travel packages, is pleased to announce limited time availability on spring 2016 European river cruises with A-Rosa. Prices start at just $999 per person plus tax, commissionable at 15%. These cruises include the Elegant Danube River Cruise, Romantic Rhine River, and the Best of France River Cruise. All three cruise itineraries are 8-days, 7-nights aboard A-ROSA ships and start at $999 per person with cabin upgrades available for $200 and $300 per person. Upgrades are also commissionable at 15%. The river cruise dates and itineraries are as follows: Elegant Danube River Cruise: Departs April 9 Begin in Engelhartszell, Austria port of embarkation Cruise through the night to Melk, Austria Arrive in Vienna for a full day of sightseeing Cruise to Esztergom, Hungary Continue to Budapest in the late morning Stop in Bratislava, Slovakia Visit to Linz and bid farewell Disembark in Engelhartszell Romantic Rhine River Cruise: Departs April 22 and May 6 Begin in Bonn, port of embarkation for the A-ROSA Viva Travel to Rudesheim then the Loreley Passage to Koblenz Cruise to Cologne and Dusseldorf See Amsterdam, the Venice of the North and Rotterdam Cruise to Arnhem and Bonn Disembark in Cologne Best of France River Cruise: Departs April 23 Begin in Lyon, port of embarkation of cruise Explore Chalon and Macon on the Saone River Return to Lyon to re-enter the Rhone on a southbound course to the Provence region Visit to Avignon and Arles famous for its Van Gogh paintings Disembark in Lyon after another night to explore this fascinating city For more information about YMTs 2016 river cruises or to make a booking, please contact the YMT Vacations Travel Agent Hotline at 1-888-207-0415 and mention code Q6002. About YMT Vacations YMT Vacations has been a leader in providing affordable travel packages since 1967. YMT tours are worry-free and feature land and cruise itineraries to popular destinations including Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, China and Cuba. Over one million travelers have enjoyed YMTs time-tested tour programs and nearly half of guests are repeats or referrals two facts that illustrate that YMT Vacations truly is the best travel value available. YMT Vacations is a member of the TUI AG group of companies which is the worlds number one integrated tourism business, operating in 180 countries with 31 major source markets and over 30 million customers. ### When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 8 Dal Khalsa and its youth wing, Sikh Youth of Punjab, have asked the Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) to set-up the proposed Khalsa University in Jalandhar rather than within the premises of the historic Khalsa College in Amritsar. The organisation said if the management does so, all opposition and fears would be put to rest. Joining the issue, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) Vice-Chancellor, Dr AS Brar, said, If at all the proposed university is to compete with any educational institution, then why not Lovely and DAV University in Jalandhar? Why GNDU that was formed in 70s on the land donated by Khalsa College itself? While addressing mediapersons, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the management should not overlook certain aspects that had generated controversy and raised eye-brows. He said, Even as Khalsa University is the need of the hour, it should be above controversies and suspicion if the management desires to provide best quality education to the younger generation. The management must keep in mind that the new venture should not be sub-structure of the existing historic college, he added. He said setting-up of Khalsa University within the college premises next door to the GNDU had been perceived and propagated as its rival institution, which had not gone down well within the community. There is a trust deficit between general masses and the management controlled by Majithia. In case the management shifts the venue of the proposed university from Amritsar to Jalandhar, the apprehensions (fake or true) of the people that Badals want to grab the land of the historic Khalsa College through Majithia will be allayed, he added. He said, Khalsa College Governing Council has around 100 acres in Jalandhar, which fulfils the requirement to set-up professional university. Addressing mediapersons he said, Remember how an attempt made by the same management of the historic college to change its name and status and convert into private university was resisted vociferously by one and all in 2010. As good sense prevails, the management in its fresh attempt has shelved its idea to tamper with its identity and status. However, the managements intention to build university within the college premises is still under peoples scanner, he added. Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 9 The Congress today accused AAP minister Imran Hussain of bribery and demanded his resignation from the Delhi Cabinet. Addressing the media today, senior Congress spokesperson and president of the party's Delhi unit Ajay Makan released some tapes to drive home the bribery charge. The tapes capture a person, employed in the office of Hussain, demanding a bribe from a man who has approached him for the construction of a house. The tapes also show the person seeking the bribe saying that a lot of money had to be spent in getting a cabinet berth in the AAP-led Delhi Government and earlier in contesting elections. "This is the real face of Aam Aadmi Party. These tapes reveal how AAP is throwing to the winds its own promise of transparent, graft-free governance. Yet another minister of AAP government in Delhi has been caught red-handed demanding a bribe through his aide. We demand the resignation of this minister," Makan said today. He also said the Congress had written to the Union Home Minister along with the tapes against the minister and demanded appropriate action. Hussain, an MLA from Ballimaran constituency, took oath as Environment Minister in the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government. He denied Congress' charges as "fabricated". AAP govt must resign, demands BJP After the broadcast of a video-audio sting linked with AAP minister Imran Hussain, BJP president Satish Upadhyay demanded that since minister's corruption has allegedly been exposed, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should resign immediately. Upadhyay said that the ministers of Delhi Government are being found to be involved in corruption one after another, the Kejriwal government has no moral rights to remain in power. He said that after ministers Jitender Singh Tomar, Asim Ahmad Khan and now Imran Hussain's case has exposed the character of this government. He added that recently a TV channel had shown charges of corruption against a councillor. The BJP said that the Kejriwal government has been demanding an enquiry into corruption in the municipal corporations, now it should also explain the extortion charges levelled against its ministers, MLAs and councillors. Bharat Desai & Balraj K Sidhu In a historic ruling, the UN Working Group (UNWG) on Arbitrary Detention has emphatically opined that the forcible incarceration of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London amounts to arbitrary detention. This has come as a shot in the arm for the besieged Australian, after a 43-month-long confinement in the diplomatic mission. Assange was forced to take shelter in the Ecuador Embassy to avoid arrest after his request not to be extradited to Sweden was turned down by the British courts. The simmering standoff has put to test resilience of international law in such delicate situations. It is based upon the bedrock of in-built complications as regards claims of violation of human rights of a person of Australian nationality living in London, accused of committing a crime on Swedish soil, faced with extradition proceedings that turned down his pleas of unfair treatment and vindictiveness if sent to Sweden, which might, in turn, hand him over to the United States for the damning 2010 WikiLeaks's publication of secret diplomatic cables. The dramatic turnaround came in the aftermath of the Assange legal team's failure to stop his extradition to Sweden. It led to his turning up at the Ecuador mission, to seek sanctuary in the diplomatic mission. Even as international law does not provide for any right of legation still, once a mission is located on its soil, the receiving state is under obligation to protect it at all cost. The pertinent law on the subject is the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961). It provides that the premises of the mission shall be inviolable. In the now famous Case Concerning US Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran (1980), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) emphasised that: The obligation to respect the rules of diplomatic immunity is an absolute obligation which must be obeyed in all circumstances. There is no provision on diplomatic asylum in the Vienna Convention. Assange has faced the threat issued by the UK Foreign Minister on storming the Ecuador Mission to arrest Assange. That ill-advised assertion brought an ugly reminder of previous gross violations of diplomatic mission's immunity such as the US forces' storming of the Vatican Nunciature in Panama City to pull out the Panamanian President Manuel Noriega as well as the Taliban's storming of the UN mission in Kabul to pull out the Afghan President Najibuallah. These gross violations, however, went unchallenged. The current bone of contention remains the refusal of the British government to provide Assange a safe passage. In fact, it seemed ironical that the British government that upheld the sanctity of the Libyan Embassy in London, in spite of shooting of a police woman on duty outside the mission and allowed all the occupants a safe passage, is now adamant about not allowing the same right to Assange. This over-zealous assertion of sovereignty has cost the British tax payer a staggering sum of over 12.6 million. In the aftermath of ruling of the UNs Working Group, Assange's legal team has claimed that, as a political refugee, he must be allowed to walk free without any threat of arrest. However, the Scotland Yard has asserted its right to deploy a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him. Hence there is no sign of an end to the crisis. Under the authority of the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, the WGAD was established in 1991 to investigate and adjudicate whether states are in compliance with their international human rights obligations. It receives submissions from individual complainant and respondents (the States), and decides whether the case amounts to arbitrary (unlawful) detention. Even the European Court of Human Rights draws on opinions of the WGAD in cases concerning deprivation of liberty. The decision of the WGAD is not legally binding; still it carries considerable moral authority. It has passed similar indictments concerning illegality of detentions of Aung Saan Suu Kyi (2007), M.Morsi (2014), M.Nasheed (2015) and Jason Rezaian (2015). In making determination of arbitrary detention, the WGAD tests violations of key human rights instruments such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In previous cases, the WGAD had agreed a deprivation of liberty exists where someone is forced to choose between either confinement, or forfeiting a fundamental right such as asylum and thereby facing a well-founded risk of persecution. It appears, however, that notwithstanding strong censure of WGAD in the Assange vs UK and Sweden case as well as in the likely scenario of the UK still not providing a safe passage, Julian Assange would remain holed up in the Ecuadorian mission for a long time to come. In view of this, a negotiated settlement between Ecuador and the UK along with Sweden providing guarantee on non-extradition to a third country (the USA) could provide a face-saving device to both the sides. Alternatively, both Ecuador and the UK could on the basis of a special agreement refer the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In such as it appears that the principal judicial organ of the UN has the capacity, legal acumen and courage (as in the 1986 Nicaragua case) to deliver a robust solution based on international law. As events unfold, the UK needs to rise to the occasion so as to respect WGAD's sound opinion as well as provide a safe passage to Assange. Moreover, the Swedish authorities need to assure non-refoulement due to the fear of persecution in the USA. If the WGAD's clear disposition that the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Assange is arbitrary under the UDHR as well as ICCPR is not heeded, it will hugely affect the credibility of both the UK and Swedish governments, that often champion causes of those who fear political persecution around the world. It remains to be seen if Assange will take the risk to leave the mission and invite arrest, as threatened by the Scotland Yard. One only hopes that the UK will take the WGAD verdict seriously, respect sanctity of personal liberty and facilitate Assanges freedom from arbitrary detention, while upholding inviolability of the Ecuadorian mission. To walk the talk of International Rule of Law is an acid test. Bharat Desai is Professor of International Law and Jawaharlal Nehru Chair at JNU & Chairman of Centre for Advanced Study on Courts & Tribunals (CASCT), Amritsar. Balraj K. Sidhu is Executive Director, CASCT. For Nursing Students Did you know that it is recommended that students should do at least 5000 NCLEX style questions prior to sitting for the test. This is roughly 100 questions per week or 20 questions per day (Mon-Fri.). Barabanki/New Delhi, February 9 Uttar Pradeshs Food Safety Department found some other instant noodles substandard, a food safety officer said, months after Nestles Maggi failed quality test. The authority found ash content in three products Knorr Soupy Noodles, Horlicks Foodles Noodles and Ching's Hot Garlic Instant Noodles beyond acceptable limits, Sanjay Singh, Food Safety Officer of Barabanki district, said. Chings Noodles was found to have 1.83 per cent ash, Horlicks Foodles Noodles 2.37 per cent and Knorrs Soupy Noodles 1.89 per cent more than the prescribed limit of 1 per cent. All three companies were issued notices last week; they have been given a months time to appeal. Spokesperson of GSK Consumer Healthcare, which makes Horlicks, said: "We manufacture Foodles as per product approvals received by us from FSSAI and manufacturing licences received by our third party manufacturer from the Authorities. Foodles available in the market have been manufactured in accordance with this product approvals". A query sent to Hindustan Unilever, which manufactures Knorr range of products, went unanswered. Capital Food, which markets Ching's Hot Garlic noodles, could not be reached. UP Food Safety Department found high lead content and presence of taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) in samples of Nestles Maggi in May 2015, leading a nationwide ban on the popular product. Maggi remained off shelves for a few months until it passed safety tests and returned in November. PTI Aman Sood Tribune News Service Patiala, February 9 The Punjab government is set to place orders for two statues of legendary Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh one to be installed in a French tourist town associated with his army general and another at his own birthplace in Sangrur. A statue of Banda Singh Bahadur is to be installed in Delhi as well. While the Sangrur fibreglass statue will be placed at Badrookhan village, a 100-kg bronze bust of the Maharaja will be installed at Saint-Tropez in France, the birthplace of his army general, Jean-Francois Allard. While senior Akali leaders have justified the move saying there is nothing wrong in promoting history, the Congress has targeted the government for such spending when they are unable to pay a large section of employees on time. The tender process, it is learnt, has been completed and the agencies will soon be finalised for fabrication and installation of both the statues. The Department of Cultural Affairs, Archaeology and Museum has been assigned the task to float tenders to select the sculptor. The offer to install a statue in France was made by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last year during a meeting with Henri Allard, the Deputy Mayor of Saint-Tropez, who is a direct descendant of General Allard. While the initial idea was to have a white marble statue, the government has now opted for a bronze bust. Henri had narrated the contribution of General Allard along with General Ventura in the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and how both raised Fauj-i-khas, the royal brigade. NPS Randhawa, Director, Tourism and Culture, said, The project will be completed within four to five months and the agencies crafting the statue will be responsible for shifting these to the place of installation and maintain these for three years. He refused to disclose the allocated budget. Several Punjab ministers have gone on record to state how the present SAD-BJP tenure could be compared with the rule of the Maharaja. The state government is also spending lakhs to install a lifesize bronze statue of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in a park to be adopted by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee from the Delhi Development Authority in Mehrauli. Punjab Congress senior vice-president Lal Singh said the government should think 100 times before spending even a single rupee of the taxpayers' money on such wasteful expenditure that serves no purpose. We are not against raising statues, but when the finances of the state are in a mess, the government should desist from extravagant expenditure," he added. Leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi called for a public debate before deciding to spend crores on installing such statues. Meanwhile, confusion persists on the actual birthplace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. While successive governments have made it a point to celebrate Maharaja Ranjit Singh's birth anniversary on November 13 at Badrookhan village, eminent historians are of the view that the Maharaja was born in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) on November 13, 1780. Mumbai, February 9 Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI provides "financial, military and moral support" to terror outfits LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, Pakistan- born terrorist David Coleman Headley said today as he revealed more startling details about 26/11 attacks and his role in it. Headley, while testifying before a court here for the second day via video-link from the US, said he was working for Pakistan Army and ISI, besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was key man responsible for the November 26,2008 attacks in Mumbai. He also revealed that LeT had planned an attack at a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and had even prepared its dummy. But the plan was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personnel and failure to know the schedule of the meet, he said. Headley, who had visited India seven times to scout for targets, said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station. "I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army," he told the Special Judge G A Sanap. He said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provided financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said and went on to claim that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay. When Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him if he was paid by LeT and ISI, he replied in the negative and said, "There is no basis for this question." Headley, who had yesterday told the court that he was a "true follower" of LeT, today said ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative identified him. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at a conference in Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes. The "plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall," he said, adding another reason for dropping of the plan was that he could not get details about the schedule of the conference. "In November-December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) which was attended by (LeT operatives) Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting, it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai," he said. "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley said. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel," he said about the plan, which was dropped later. Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided. 'Pak ISI told me recruit spies in Indian Army' Headley said he had been asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. "I was asked to gather military intelligence and recruit Indian armymen for spying purposes," he told the court. He said he also conducted a recce of the Naval air station and the Siddhivinayak Temple. Giving details of his Mumbai visits, he said on September 14, 2006, he had come here for the first time after joining the LeT. "In 2006, I did surveillance of multiple places but at that point of time, the targets were not decided. I recced Hotel Taj several times in 2007. I also did general surveillance of many places in the city, but I'm not sure if I recced Trident hotel at that time. I recced the World Trade Centre then," he said. "In March 2008, when I came to Mumbai, I did surveillance of Taj Hotel, Naval air station and the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters in south Mumbai. I also selected landing sites for the terrorists," he said. Headley told the court that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen are all part of United Jihad Council working in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He said: "I met Abdul Rehman Pasha (retired Army officer) in Pakistan in early 2003 at a mosque in Lahore. When I first met Pasha he was with LeT. At that time he had no relation with Al-Qaeda, but may be after two years, he left LeT to join Al-Qaeda." On his links with militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed's founder Masood Azhar, he said: "I know Maulana Masood Azhar as I saw him once in October 2003. He is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. In October 2003, there was a gathering of LeT and he was a guest speaker there." Headley also named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali. "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked," Headley said. "Samir Ali also wanted me to do some intelligence work in India. I was in contact with Samir Ali over phone," he said. 'Cant' be sure if Lakhvi odered the attack' He told the court that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was the "operational and spiritual" head of LeT. But, when asked if Lakhvi was the one who ordered attacks in India, Headley said he could not be sure. "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he said. He further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US government to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it." "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore claiming I had duped her of money. In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her," he said. Headleys witness assumes significance to help counter Pakistan's argument that attacks in India are carried out by "non-State actors" and that its army and ISI have nothing to do with them. Ten LeT terrorists, who came from Karachi via the Arabian Sea on November 26,2008, targeted several places in Mumbai, leaving 166 dead and 309 injured. During the gunbattle with security forces which went on for 60 hours, the attackers were in continuous touch with their handlers in Pakistan. The court had on December 10, 2015, made Headley an approver in the case and directed him to depose before the court on February 8 (today). He had then told Special Judge G A Sanap that he was "ready to depose" if granted pardon. The court is currently trying key plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the case of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Headley will continue his testimony on Wednesday. PTI Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, February 9 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, in a landmark judgment, ruled that a woman candidate cannot be permanently debarred from joining as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps (AMC) on the pretext that she had conceived during the selection process. The court order came on the petition of a woman doctor, who had wanted to join the Army as a Short Service Commission Officer, but was later denied the opportunity on the grounds that her pregnancy amounted to deterioration in health. The court ruled that denying appointment to the petitioner merely on account of her pregnancy was arbitrary and illegal. The petitioner was asked to join service in February 2014 after clearing all examinations and medical tests. Unlike other branches, married women till the age of 45 are eligible to join AMC and there is no training in a military academy. Selected candidates join a hospital closest to residence and are required to complete a basic in-service course of eight weeks within a flexible time period. However, between the period of her application and joining, the petitioner conceived and disclosed this fact on the date of joining after which she was not allowed to assume duties. Her candidature was cancelled and she was advised to undergo the entire selection process again in case she wanted to join AMC. Aggrieved, the petitioner moved the High Court in 2014, averring that pregnancy was not 'deterioration in health' but a mere incidence of marriage and womanhood. She pointed out that there would have been no problem had she not disclosed her pregnancy or had conceived the day after joining or had given birth before the joining date and that in paramilitary forces uniformed doctors were simply asked to join after childbirth in case any problem was envisaged due to pregnancy. The court directed the Army to offer appointment to the petitioner within a period of one month. Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, February 10 The next 48 hours will prove crucial for the Army jawan who was miraculously found alive after being buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche atop the Siachen glacier. A medical bulletin of the Indian Army on Tuesday said Lance Naik Hanamanthappa K, who was evacuated to Delhi, was camatose but had no frostbite. However, the bulletin said: "He remains critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to complications by rewarming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body. He had been airlifted to Delhi on Tuesday morning. He was shifted on board a helicopter from the 19,600 feet high sonam post on the Siachen glacier to the Siachen base came. An Indian Air Force C-130-j transport plane specialised with a medical emergency room was stationed at Thoise (next to the base camp) and it flew with him to Delhi for further treatment and observation at Army run Research and Referral hospital in Delhi Cantt. In the wee hours on Tuesday, Lt Gen DS Hooda, Northern Army Commander, had confirmed that Hanumanthappa was found alive. The other nine are dead. Sources in Delhi said the jawan was trapped between two block of ice forming a pocket of 25 square feet. Hanumathappa survived as he was clad in alpine clothing and high quality snow boots. Army officials clarified that a video of rescue running on social media was not of this operation. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of Madras Regiment were buried after their post was hit by the avalanche on February 3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Hanumanthappa saying he is an "outstanding soldier" whose "endurance and indomitable spirit" cannot be described in words. Modi went to Army's Research and Referral Hospital here to see Hanumanthappa soon after he was airlifted from Siachen and prayed for his best. "No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," he tweeted. "Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best," Modi added. Siachen is the worlds highest active battlefield, contested by India and Pakistan since 1984 when India launched Operation Meghdoot and captured the peaks. Kathmandu, February 9 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj-led all-party delegation today paid homage to former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala here, saying India has lost a "true friend". Members of the high-level delegation comprising Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval paid their last respects to Koirala at the Dashrath Rangashala Stadium in heart of the capital just after arriving. Sad demise of former prime minister of Nepal and leader of Nepali Congress has deeply saddened the leadership, government and the people of India. A dedicated leader, Sushil ji was a man of high thinking and simple living," the delegation's message in the condolence book read. "Nepal's crucial political transition was successfully concluded under his stewardship. On behalf of the people and government of India, we convey our heartfelt condolences. India has today lost a true friend," it said. The leaders also extended their condolences to family members of the former Prime Minister. After paying homage to the Nepali Congress president, Swaraj met party leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Swaraj, along with the delegation, later also called on Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. Official sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to all major political parties to ensure that the delegation has leaders from the opposition as well. Koirala, who was Nepal's Prime Minister from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, passed away due to pneumonia at his residence here this morning. He was 79. After assuming office, he was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. He was instrumental in the ushering in of the new Constitution last year. PTI Kathmandu, February 9 Nepals former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, a moderate leader who had backed friendly ties with India and was instrumental in ushering in the new Constitution last year, died here early today. The 79-year-old leader, who was Prime Minister from February 2014 to October 2015, died at his residence in Maharajgunj on the outskirts of capital Kathmandu at 12.50 am (local time) due to pneumonia, Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh said. He successfully manoeuvred the new charter through Nepals Constituent Assembly on September 20, 2015 thus bringing to a happy conclusion the seven-year-long odyssey that had evaded a resolution. Koirala, the president of the countrys biggest political party, the Nepali Congress, which has always maintained good relations with Indian political system, was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). His doctor Kabirnath Yogi said Koirala, who was earlier successfully treated for lung cancer in the US, died after he developed pneumonia after a bout of bronchitis infection due to change in the weather. After assuming office, Koirala was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. Agencies Swaraj leads all-party delegation New Delhi: Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, accompanied by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Congress' Anand Sharma and CPI's Sitaram Yechury, left for Kathmandu to attend Koirala's funeral. Swaraj will also meet Nepalese PM KP Sharma Oli during her short visit, said Oli's foreign relations adviser Gopal Khanal. TNS Naypyitaw, February 8 Two pro-government television channels say that positive results could come out of negotiations between Myanmar's military chief and Aung San Suu Kyi on suspending a constitutional clause that prevents her from becoming the president. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party won a landslide victory in the Nov. 8 general elections. But she is barred from becoming president because of the Constitution's Article 59 (f), which says anyone with a foreign spouse or children cannot hold the executive office. Suu Kyi's late husband was British as are her two sons. In separate but identical broadcasts late Sunday, Sky Net and Myanmar National Television said "positive results could come out on the negotiation for the suspension of the constitution Article 59 (f)." Suu Kyi has been negotiating with commander-in-chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on having the clause suspended, which can be legally removed only through a two-thirds vote in Parliament. The military holds 25 percent of the nominated seats in parliament, which means the NLD cannot scrap the clause on its own. "I think everything will be fine," Kyaw Htwe, a member of Central Committee of the NLD, told The Associated Press. "The negotiations will be positive for our leader Aung San Suu Kyi to become president," said Kyaw Htwe, who is also a member of parliament. But Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst, advised caution. It is still too early to confirm that Suu Kyi will be among the presidential candidate," he said. "Even the suspension and the constitutional amendment will take time. And we cannot really comment relying only on a short announcement on TV," he said. Suu Kyi has said previously that even if she doesn't become the president she would run the country from behind the scenes. But clearly, the NLD would prefer the 70-year-old icon of democracy to lead the country, having struggled almost all her life for it. On Friday, a legal advisory committee consisting of experts and members of the lower house was launched, led by Shwe Mann, the former head of the military-tied Union Solidarity and Development Party. One of the few Suu Kyi allies in the defeated ruling party, Shwe Mann is believed to be supportive of a constitutional change. Although national elections were in November, the president does not take office until March 31 or April 1 because of a long-winded selection process. AP Our Divisions Copyright 2022-23 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. Photo by Jim Park The former president of travel plaza chain Pilot Flying J has been indicted, along with seven other former employees, on federal charges related to an alleged fuel-rebate scheme. Pilot owner and CEO Jimmy Haslam was not among those indicted. Haslam has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the fuel rebate scheme. In addition to former President Mark Hazelwood, seven other people were targeted in the indictments unsealed Tuesday, including former vice president of sales John Freeman, who the FBI has said was the architect of the fuel rebate scheme, and former Pilot vice president of direct sales Scott Wombold. Others indicted were Vicki Borden, Katy Bibee, Heather Jones, Karen Mann, and John Spiewak. Federal authorities say all eight participated in "a scheme and artifice to defraud certain interstate trucking companies and for obtaining money from certain interstate trucking companies by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representatives and promises. Hazelwood also has been charged with witness tampering, and Wombold with lying to agents with the FBI and IRS. Ten former Pilot employees have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Federal authorities said Pilot promised fuel rebates to trucking customers but never actually paid them out, defrauding customers of more than $56 million. In 2014, the company reached a $92 million settlement with authorities and promised to help authorities in the ongoing investigation. As part of that settlement, Pilot confirmed that fraudulent conduct involving diesel fuel price discounts was prevalent within its direct sales group and carried out with the knowledge and participation of employees responsible for the operation and oversight of direct sales. Pilot Flying J also has reached an $85 million settlement with trucking customers who sued the company. One lawsuit against the company remains. Wright Transportation filed suit against Pilot in December of 2015 in an Alabama court alleging Pilot lied about it's diesel prices. That lawsuit has not been resolved. Ten former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty to charges related to the rebate scheme. Hazelwood, who left the company in 2014, was released on the condition he does not leave the area of Nashville or Knoxville. Pilot Flying J released a statement saying that it could not comment further on matters that are part of an ongoing investigation. We can say that since this unfortunate episode began, the company has put in place policies and procedures unparalleled in the industry to prevent anything like this from happening again. The company has cooperated with the investigation since its beginning and will continue to do so. The company repaid affected customers, accepted legal responsibility, and agreed to pay a monetary penalty. The trust and confidence of Pilot Flying Js customers continues to be of paramount importance to the company and their continued support and loyalty is very much appreciated. The history In 2013, Pilot Flying J headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., was raided by FBI and IRS agents, following an investigation that started in 2011. A 120-page indictment accused the company of scheming to engage in rebate fraud, withholding fuel rebates and other discounts from its 5,500 trucking company customers for years. With this weeks indictments, reports the Knoxville Sentinel, the prosecutors turned to a rare device in federal court the speaking indictment, which lays out with specificity the alleged scheme and reveals sections of the government's evidence against each defendant. That evidence includes emails and audio recordings in which Hazelwood and his alleged co-conspirators talked about their intent to cheat less-sophisticated trucking companies out of their rebates. "Say one thing, do another," Freeman wrote, according to the Sentinel. "Use smooth talking and a little change. Secret recordings of Hazelwood allegedly captured him not only giving his approval of an expansion of the alleged fraud, but also telling his sales executives how to choose victims. BEIRUT (AP) Aniseh Makhlouf, the former first lady of Syria and the mother of current President Bashar Assad, has died at 86, the presidency announced. A statement on the presidencys official Facebook page says Makhlouf, the wife of the late President Hafez Assad, died Saturday in the Syrian capital Damascus. Makhlouf was born in 1930 to a prominent and wealthy Alawite family from the coastal province of Latakia in the heartland of the religious minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. She married Hafez in 1957 when he was an air force lieutenant and rarely appeared in public after he became president in 1971. Although she kept a low profile, she was known to be the family matriarch and exerted strong influence over her husband and children. She was to prove a devoted wife and mother and Assads closest and most trusted confidante, providing him with a domestic environment of unquestioned respectability, wrote Assads late biographer, Patrick Seale, in his book, Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East. Many considered her to be the first lady long after Hafez passed away in 2000. At the beginning of the uprising against the Assad family rule in March 2011, she was reported to have pushed Assad to crack down hard on protesters. She was later reported to have left Syria to go the United Arab Emirates, joining her only daughter, Bushra, who moved to the Emirates with her children after her husband, Assef Shawkat, was assassinated in a blast in the Syrian capital in July 2012. Shawkat was the deputy minister of defense. Aniseh Makhloufs nephew, Rami Makhlouf, is one of Syrias most prominent and wealthy businessmen. He controls the mobile phone network and other lucrative enterprises, and the protesters behind the 2011 uprising saw him as a symbol of corruption. Makhlouf is survived by her daughter, Bushra, and two sons, Bashar and Maher Assad. She was preceded in death by two sons, one of them, Basil, in a car accident in 1994. The Desloge Board of Aldermen approved an ordinance Monday night allowing the city to enter into an agreement with the Missouri Department of Corrections to have inmates from the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre perform specified duties that would include picking up trash, cutting weeds and performing roadside cleanup. Aldermen J.D. Hodge voted against the ordinance. However, aldermen Alvin Sutton, Mara Westbrooks, James Jones, Chris Gremminger and Jerry Hulsey all voted in favor of the motion. "All of the inmates who will be working for the city are part of the MDCs Supervised Work Release Program and will be closely supervised at all times," said City Administrator Greg Camp. The idea of allowing the use of prison inmates to provide manual labor for the city has been long discussed and debated by the citys board of aldermen. It has also resulted in emotional reactions by those who, for whatever reason, were against the plan. Board members voted on a similar ordinance at its September meeting, but due to several aldermen being absent that night the motion failed. Voting against the ordinance that night was Hodge, who said his opposition to the city using prison inmates was due to a letter he and the other aldermen received from a resident who had years ago been attacked by an inmate while an employee at a prison. In other action by the board, a bid of $29,950 submitted by Bob Otto Striping Services of Dittmer was approved for the restriping of a number of city streets that include East Chestnut Street from Lincoln to North/South State; the second block on North Lincoln; the 200 block of East Elm; the 100 block of East Elm; North State Street; South State Street; Hawthorne Road at North Desloge Road to the bridge; Highley Lane; Meadow Lane; and the Desloge Outer Road. A second bid of $250 submitted by the same company was also approved for painting of the parking area at Brightwell Park. During its annual review of the city water rate, the board approved the preparing of an ordinance for the March meeting that will raise water rates by 2.1 percent equal to the increase of the core Consumer Price Index over the previous 12 months. According to city personnel, an average water customer using 3,000 gallons of water per month will only see a 19 cent increase on their bill. Board members also reviewed and approved a livestock permit application for residents requesting a variance on the city ordinance forbidding the keeping of livestock within the city limits. The application will require a signature from all of the applicants surrounding neighbors agreeing to the variance. Camp said the application will carry a lot of weight in the board's decisions regarding the requests. ANKARA, Turkey Turkey and Germany agreed Monday on a set of measures to try to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis, including a joint diplomatic initiative aimed at halting attacks against Syrias largest city. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that she is not just appalled but horrified by the suffering caused by bombing in Syria, primarily by Russia. Merkel said that Turkey and Germany will push at the United Nations for everyone to keep to a U.N. resolution passed in December that calls on all sides to halt without delay attacks on the civilian population. Merkel was in Ankara for talks on how to reduce the influx of migrants into Europe, mostly via a perilous boat crossing from Turkey to Greece. Turkeys coast guard said Monday that 24 migrants died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit, while four people were rescued. Merkel is under pressure at home to cut the number of refugee arrivals after nearly 1.1 million people were registered as asylum-seekers in Germany last year. Turkey for its part is under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces in the city of Aleppo. The Turkish border crossing of Oncupinar, opposite the Syrian Bab al-Salameh gate, remained closed for a fourth day on Monday as Turkish authorities provided assistance to the Syrians at a displaced persons camp nearby. It was not clear if or when Turkey would let the group in. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, says it has reached its capacity to absorb refugees but has indicated that it will continue to take in refugees. We are worried that opening the gates will lead to an increase in refugees, said Burak Kacacaoglu, a spokesman for the non-governmental Islamic charity group IHH. We are concerned about the air strikes which are increasingly targeting civilian areas. This is what causes refugees. Merkel said: We have been, in the past few days, not just appalled but horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing primarily from the Russian side. Under such circumstances, its hard for peace talks to take place, and so this situation must be brought to an end quickly, Merkel said. Davutoglu said Aleppo is de facto under siege. We are on the verge of a new human tragedy. No one should excuse or show tolerance toward the Russian air attacks that amount to ethnic massacres by saying Turkey takes care of the Syrian refugees anyway, Davutoglu said. No one can expect Turkey to take on the burden on its own. Davutoglu said he and Merkel had agreed that an emergency aid group from the two countries would help supply the Syrian refugees at the border. He added that they would be allowed in to Turkey when necessary, without elaborating. Merkel said the two leaders also discussed how to combine the work of Turkeys coast guard with that of the EUs Frontex border agency. She said they will use an upcoming NATO defense ministers meeting to discuss to what extent NATO can be helpful with the surveillance situation at sea and support the coast guards and Frontexs work We will cooperate when it comes to non-Syrians returning home, she added. Merkel noted that, in January, only 45 percent of those arriving in Greece were Syrians. Merkel stuck to her insistence that Europe will need to accept quotas of refugees arriving by legal channels as part of burden-sharing, and that the system needs to be worked out soon. She said that we cant expect of Turkey that it stops everything on the one hand, and on the other hand say well talk about the quotas half a year from now. Merkel pointed to the 3 billion euros the EU already has promised to Turkey and pledged to get the money flowing quickly. Turkey agreed in November to fight smuggling networks and help curb irregular migration. In return, the EU pledged the money to help improve the condition of refugees, and to grant political concessions to Turkey, including an easing of visa restrictions and the fast-tracking of its EU membership process. Turkey has since started to require Syrians arriving from third countries to apply for visas, in a bid to exclude those who aim to continue on to Greece. Turkey has also agreed to grant work permits to Syrians as an incentive for them to stay in Turkey, and has announced plans to increase coast guards capabilities and designate human smuggling as a form of organized crime which would bring stiffer punishments. The International Organization for Migration says 374 refugees and other migrants have died so far this year while trying to reach Greece President Barack Obamas budget request for fiscal year 2017 is set to be released Tuesday, and the plan is expected to include a proposal for an environmentally friendly transportation system that would be paid for with a $10 per barrel fee on crude oil. According to an announcement from the White House, the presidents plan would increase U.S. investment in clean transportation infrastructure by about 50 percent while reforming the investments that the country already makes to help reduce carbon pollution, cut oil consumption and create new jobs. The new fee on oil will also encourage innovation and leadership in clean technologies to help reshape the transportation landscape, according to the announcement. Not surprisingly, many close to the energy industry have voiced strong criticism of the plan, calling it a continuation of the industry-stifling policy proposals that the president has been making for as long as he has been in office. Cody Bannister, spokesman for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, said in an email that Obama has not hidden the fact that he would like to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and a $10-a-barrel fee is just another attempt to tax an already suffering industry into submission. This is the same song, second verse, Bannister said. Bannister cited some of the administrations previous actions that he said includes calls for the repeal of long-standing tax provisions for oil and natural gas producers each year Obama has held office. When those attempts failed due to a lack of support in Congress, Bannister said efforts to slow oil and natural gas production were shifted to the nations regulatory agencies. The EPA has targeted hydraulic fracturing, he said. New emission standards have been set for oil and natural gas production facilities. Even the Endangered Species Act is being used, with proposed listings of species native to areas with active oil and natural gas production that would restrict access for oil and natural gas production. Both Oklahoma senators have also denounced the idea. U.S. Sen. James Lankford said in a statement last week that creating yet another type of gas tax would further complicate the tax code and raise prices on consumers. Not only is the proposal a new type of tax, Lankford said, its a higher tax. U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the presidents budget request dead on arrival. Frankly, Im unsure why the president bothers to continue to send a budget to Congress, Inhofe said in a statement. He never submits one which balances, and even his own party members have not only voted against it but voted against it unanimously. His proposals are not serious, and this is another one which is dead on arrival. Inhofe said employment created by the oil and natural gas production industry has been one of the only bright spots in Obamas anemic economy and that it is no surprise that the presidents lack of leadership and petty partisanship would try to extinguish that economic contributor as well. Clearly I support advancing our nations transportation system, Inhofe said. Its vital to our economy and national security, which is why Congress overwhelmingly agreed to a bipartisan solution to increase spending for our roads and bridges over the next five years. And we did it without raising taxes on job creators. Many have pointed out that even if the new fee were to be passed, energy companies would pass the additional costs onto consumers. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the proposed fee would raise gasoline prices by an estimated 25 cents per gallon. AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said that a $10 per barrel fee would also increase costs for refiners. While AAA has not taken a position formally, Mai said his first reaction to hearing of the expected proposal last week was to laugh. This is so far beyond reasonable, and the $10-per-barrel oil tax will only serve to further weaken the oil and gas industry at a time when theyre already on the ropes, and will only serve to increase retail gasoline prices and costs to refiners, Mai said. It seems obvious to me that the presidents aim is to do away with fossil fuels altogether, he said. This is another in a series of attempts to minimize, and ultimately erase, the oil and gas industry from the face of America. Although public opinion both within Oklahoma and outside of the state has been largely critical of the proposed fee, a Washington Post story on Monday found that many economists support Obamas idea of a tax on oil. According to the Post, there have long been calls by economists for putting a tax on carbon in all of its forms not just from burning oil or gasoline. The goal is to address, in economist speak, the market failure that occurs in this case because of the negative externality that is greenhouse gas emissions. I will guarantee that the set of economists who support this Obama proposal is a superset of carbon tax supporters, Charles Komanoff, director of the Carbon Tax Center, told the Post. In other words, every economist who supports a carbon tax will be supporting this Obama proposal, and there will be others as well, who dont necessarily bleed for carbon taxes, but will say, This makes so much sense because of the infrastructure need and the failure to raise the federal gasoline tax. WPX Energy announced Tuesday a $910 million sale of its business line in Colorados Piceance Basin and plans for staff reductions, including some layoffs in Tulsa, company spokesman Kelly Swan said. We will be a smaller organization this year, but the process is just beginning, Swan said during a phone interview Tuesday morning. WPX CEO and President Rick Muncrief announced the asset sale and staff reductions to employees in an email sent early Tuesday morning titled Our Industrys Changing Environment. With commodity prices at levels not seen in more than a decade and a current and future gas market that appears challenged, we must make further changes to live within our means, Muncrief writes in the email. We will have to reduce our overall headcount in a post-Piceance environment. Piceance is an amazing asset, but has required a significant amount of support both in Colorado as well as in Tulsa. Terra Energy Partners is a relatively new, private equity-backed company that does not have the existing organization to work this asset and, therefore, it will need additional employees. We will provide detail about this process along with transition services as more information is known. Companywide, WPX has around 1,000 employees, with 500 in Tulsa, Swan said. Approximately 200 workers are in the Parachute, Colorado, office that directly supports the subsidiary being sold to Terra Energy Partners LLC. Employees directly tied to the subsidiary WPX Energy Rocky Mountain LLC will have to interview for jobs with Terra Energy. Swan said the number of Tulsa employees who will be affected and the timeline for the reductions are not yet clear. The company will know more when the transaction closes, he said, which is expected to happen during the second quarter. Strategically, the deal makes a lot of sense for WPX, Swan said. It will bring in a significant amount of cash, which will help WPX weather this period of low commodity prices. In addition to the $910 million sale, the transaction announcement notes that Terra is assuming approximately $100 million in transportation obligations in exchange for more than $90 million of WPXs natural gas hedge value. WPX will retain more than $110 million in additional hedge gains, which will be realized throughout the year. The release states that in addition to greatly enhancing WPXs liquidity, benefits of the divestiture include significantly improved capital efficiency and returns as well as materially lowering general and administrative expenses going forward. The move also solidifies WPX as a Permian-focused company and provides a more balanced commodity mix given the pro forma exposure to oil and natural gas. WPX expects oil to comprise approximately half of its future production volumes, up from roughly 20 percent during 2015. On a per-barrel equivalent basis, WPXs 2016 cash operating costs are not expected to change materially following the divestiture. In August, WPX acquired assets in the Permian Basin where it has about 94,000 acres representing more than 670,000 prospective net effective acres. WPXs early results in the Permians Delaware Basin are exceeding its acquisition estimates. In the past 21 months, WPX has executed approximately $5.5 billion in transactions to reshape the company, high grade its portfolio, add decades of drilling inventory and protect its financial position. Our bias for action and being opportunistic wont change. We will pursue our very best investment options and continually evaluate how to optimize our assets. Weve created a balanced portfolio with an excellent runway for sustained value generation, Muncrief said in the statement announcing the sale. SAPULPA A former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper accused of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior against female motorists is scheduled to go to trial in June, a Creek County prosecutor said. At his district court arraignment Tuesday, former trooper Eric William Roberts, 43, of Bristow, pleaded not guilty to nine criminal counts stemming from traffic stops involving two women in July 2014. The charges include second-degree rape, forcible sodomy and rape by instrumentation against the women, who were 28 and 22 at the time. Roberts attorneys contend that any sex he had with the women was consensual and did not occur while they were in legal custody. Also Tuesday, two misdemeanor charges were refiled in a separate case against Roberts, who pleaded not guilty to charges of soliciting an act of lewdness or prostitution and embezzlement in connection with a traffic stop of a 36-year-old woman on June 15, 2014. Special Judge Richard Woolery set the next court date in the matter for April 5, court records show. As a legal housekeeping measure, the charges were refiled Tuesday under a misdemeanor heading after prosecutors withdrew a felony sexual battery charge against Roberts in November. Just to clear things up, Im still here. Against all odds, maybe, but still here. Some of you that read my outdoors column regularly may have heard that I had run aground infection and heart problems linked to a back fusion two weeks ago. I did, for a fact. My wife, Pam, drove me to St. Francis Hospital post-back surgery after my heart rate had fallen to the low 30s. She kept me alive while driving the car with one hand and slapping me in the face with the other, at one point screaming, You are not going to die in my car! So I didnt, fearing other consequences, apparently, more serious than death. You maybe dont know the girl as well as I do. The initial operation, performed by Dr. Zee Khan at St. Francis, went well with no apparent complications; sent home after a Tuesday surgery, things went south in a hurry that first night home on Thursday when my body was invaded by a massive infection. Two weeks later, here I am (I said that already) still in the hospital living on cafeteria food. My delusions, brought on by painkillers, have lessened somewhat, peaking out by waking one morning before daylight to the TV news that Whoopi Goldberg had either been elected President or had a battleship named after her in my absence, both possibilities, in my weakened state, causing me no end of distress regarding the rapid decline of our country in my absence. I like to never have gotten that straightened out. Tramadol and Percocets are powerful stuff, the latter, I think, being the drug that killed Elvis, living secretly, I think the nurse told me, in the room next to mine with Whoopi Goldberg. Pam came up with the idea of celebrating our 50th anniversary in Canada, fishing. I want to celebrate quietly, she said siiting here in my hospital room. Maybe we fish, maybe we dont. Just the two of us. No big wing-ding. Can Elvis go? I asked innocently. She may have thrown something at me. I cant remember that part. Low humidity, high winds and plenty of dry grass bolstered a number of large grass fires Monday across the Tulsa area, including an estimated 1,000-acre blaze near Lake Bixhoma. Two Oklahoma National Guard Black Hawk helicopters descended on the fire, south of Leonard, about 4:30 p.m., said Mark Goeller, assistant director of Oklahoma Forestry Services. At least 14 fire departments worked to control the blaze throughout the day. Firefighters from Bixby, Brushy Mountain, Glenpool, Haskell, Jenks, Kiefer, Liberty, Mounds, Oktaha, Rolling Hills, Sapulpa, Stone Bluff, Twin Hills and Wainwright were involved, Goeller said. The fire was estimated to span about 1,000 acres and threatened about 120 homes in the rural area, he said. No structures had been destroyed by Monday evening. Goeller expected that the blaze would burn overnight and into Tuesday. The helicopters were able to take a little bit of punch out of (the fire), he said. Crews battled several other large grass fires Monday in eastern Oklahoma, including a large blaze north of McAlester and one near Chandler, Goeller said. The Chandler fire was under control by about 5 p.m., he said. Oklahoma Forestry Services crews were dispatched about noon to an estimated 800-acre fire near Seminole in central Oklahoma, agency spokeswoman Michelle Finch-Walker said. Two more National Guard helicopters fought that fire. Forestry Services bulldozers and engines were also used to combat the flames, as well as several area fire departments. Because of Mondays predicted high fire risk, Finch-Walker said Forestry Services crews had stationed themselves in central Oklahoma overnight to prepare for potential blazes. The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for most of the day Monday and predicted significant and elevated fire threats throughout most of northeastern Oklahoma. The days weather stayed true to the forecast. Low relative humidity, measuring about 20 percent to 25 percent, meant dry air, which helped ignite fires. High wind gusts and dry grass helped strengthen them, meteorologist Ray Sondag said. The main factor today was really the wind and that dry vegetation. The grass is just so dry, Sondag said. At least 10 sizable fires appeared on Sondags radar throughout the day. Blazes with enough intensity to produce smoke rising thousands of feet into the air will appear on weather radar and some satellite images, he said. Although grass fires are typical with Mondays conditions, Sondag said he saw a few more fires than he expected, including the fire near Lake Bixhoma and a fire near Stroud and Chandler that closed parts of the Turner Turnpike. These conditions pushed a Monday afternoon grass fire near a residential neighborhood just across the street south of Bixby Northeast Elementary School. Mike Anthony, Bixby Public Schools chief financial officer, said the blaze did not pose a threat to the school. After the grass fire was out, a Tulsa World photojournalist at the scene reported that the flames hadnt reached any homes, although yards were burned. Tulsa Fire Department crews battled 16 fires, eight of which were grass fires, throughout the day, Capt. Stan May said. The largest fires burned several acres near 2700 N. U.S. 75 and grass in a residential area near 4300 S. Atlanta Ave., May said. Whenever the fire risk is high, the first crew at the scene determines whether it needs to call for more firefighters to contain the blaze, May said. A full assignment typically includes four fire engines and two ladder trucks in addition to the grass fire rig and engine already at the scene, May said. In all, about 30 people respond. Pretty much as soon as they get on scene, if they think its going to be a problem at all, they call in a full assignment and deal with it that way, he said. The fire risk should decrease into Tuesday and Wednesday as wind gusts diminish and the humidity rises, Sondag said. (Monday) is probably the big fire day of the week, he said. Tuesdays forecast predicts a high near 50 and a northwest wind of 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph, forecasters said. We have already cut our administrative costs at OU in half since 1994, down to almost 4.5%, one of the lowest in the nation. Our officers are outstanding and are paid in most cases less than their peers at similar universities, but in these tough times it is important for all of us to make sacrifices, Boren said in todays announcement. At OU, our administrators, faculty, staff, and students are part of one family. Our university leaders want to be part of any shared sacrifice we need to make. It is a tough time for the university, for students and their parents, and for the taxpayers who struggle in the private sector. We want to do our part to help out. While the total saved will not be huge, every little bit helps, and it is important for all of us to be in the same boat together. The affected administrators have asked that the savings be designated for need-based scholarships for students, Boren concluded. Three programs utilized mostly by poor and working poor families would bear the brunt of $150 million in cuts to tax credits being considered Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee. Senate Bill 977 by Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, would suspend 23 tax credits for two years, beginning July 1.Included are the state earned income tax credit, low-income sales-tax relief and the state child-care tax credit. A fiscal impact statement puts the value of those three at $106.5 million when fully implemented in fiscal year 2018. The fiscal impact for all of the credits was put at $4.3 million for fiscal year 2017, which begins on July 1, and $146.4 million the following budget year. Business interests, meanwhile, were mobilizing against SB 977 because of provisions they say jeopardize ongoing business development. The Tulsa Regional Chamber issued an alert late Monday encouraging members to ask their legislators to vote against SB 977. Chamber Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs Nick Doctor said the organization is particularly concerned about three areas of business incentives included in the bill: historic preservation, the investment and new jobs credit, and aerospace engineering. We need job growth and investment to move the economy, Doctor said. This is putting the brakes on. Mazzei said projects already underway would not be affected, although the bills language does not seem to make that clear. He noted the bill is one of many that attempts to tighten the states revenue and spending system as it faces a general revenue shortfall likely to exceed $1 billion. At this point, we are trying to not show any favoritism and just look at everything as we try to get a handle on the cost of all of these tax credit programs, Mazzei said. The fiscal impact study said suspending the historic preservation credit would save the state $1.1 million in fiscal year 2017 and $2.1 million the following year. Investors say the credit has been important to the restoration of many downtown Tulsa buildings. The impact of two aerospace engineering programs is put at $200,000 in fiscal year 2017 and $400,000 the following year. Mazzei carried the legislation originally creating the credits. The fiscal impact study lists zero impact for suspending the new jobs credit, but a 2013 Oklahoma Tax Commission report said almost $100 million was claimed through the program the previous year. The footnotes to the impact study say the program has significant carryover, meaning previously earned credits would offset any immediate savings from suspending the program. DOE RUN Elva Jane Bernadette Lacey of Doe Run, passed away Sunday, February 7, 2016, at her home in Doe Run at the age of 86 years. She was born on September 26, 1929 in the Avon community of Ste. Genevieve County daughter of the late Reverend Amasa Herbert and Corena Jane (Gordon) Vaugh. In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband the late Reverend James E. Jay Lacey, two sisters, Viola Griffin and Eula Parker and a brother, Norman Vaugh. Elva grew up in Ste. Genevieve County the daughter of a country preacher, she met Jay Lacey while working together at the Rice Stix shirt factory in Farmington and the couple were married on April 26, 1947. The Laceys then moved to Peoria, IL, where Jay was employed at the Caterpillar Company and Elva for the Princess Peggy Dress Factory. They then moved back to Missouri and Jay soon after entered the service and spent two years in Korea. After his return home the couple purchased a grocery store in Doe Run which they operated for thirteen years then a hardware store also in Doe Run, which they later converted to apartments. Jay received the call to the gospel ministry in 1964 and Elva served faithfully alongside him at Bethel United Baptist Church then Bethany United Baptist Church, and for 42 years at the Pendleton United Baptist Church. Elva worked for the Federal Government as a Test Administrator for 23 years. She was also a talented seamstress and owned and operated the Lacey's Fashions Dress Shoppe for eight years making and selling custom ladies apparel. She retired from all of it in 1993 to become a full-time housewife. Elva was a member of the Pendleton United Baptist Church of Doe Run. In her spare time she enjoyed reading, cooking and on occasion traveling, but mostly she enjoyed spending time with her many nephews and nieces, dear friends and good neighbors. She will be missed by all those who knew and loved her, including numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and many dear friends and neighbors. Friends may call at the Cozean Memorial Chapel & Crematory on Thursday, February 11, 2016 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday with the Reverend Bob Graham officiating. Elva will be laid to rest next to her beloved husband, Jay at the Doe Run Memorial Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Pendleton United Baptist Church. Share your memories, view obituary and leave condolences online at cozeanfuneralhome.com. ADAIR Two Adair middle school students who died Sunday in a mobile home fire were considered part of one big school family, the districts superintendent said Monday. Kyana Rain Wilkins, 14, and her brother, Benjamin Bennie Clay Wilkins, 12, were staying overnight at a home near Ketchum belonging to their grandmother, Betty Yust, 66, and their uncle, Marty Yust, 38. An accidental fire killed all four people, the state Fire Marshals Office confirmed on Sunday. Authorities previously reported that two female juveniles died in the fire. Were a small school, so everyone knows everyone, Adair Public Schools Superintendent Tom Linihan said. We gave them (Kyana and Benjamin) a hug on Friday when school let out and thought we would see them on Monday. The district has 1,025 students in grades pre-K through 12th. Its a big loss for the student body, Linihan said. According to the siblings obituaries, Bennie was a sixth-grade student and Kyana was in the seventh grade. Bennie looked forward to fishing and playing video games and had a special love for animals and playing outside. He also enjoyed giving his papa a hard time. Kyana enjoyed choir, music, and arts and crafts and also loved animals, especially her grandmothers horse, Patches. The brother and sister enjoyed spending time with each other. This is not my first time in 20 years to lose a student, Linihan said. There are no blueprints on how to handle (the loss). These are life lessons we have to learn. Such situations teach students and remind adults that life is precious, he said. The school has counseling services available and is encouraging students to talk if they need to, Linihan said. A preliminary investigation shows the fire started in the living room, and that combustibles were too close to a heat source, said Assistant State Fire Marshal Sam Schaffnit. There were two heat sources in the room a wood-burning stove and a portable electric heater, he said. The electric heater was on, Schaffnit said. Some of the combustibles were wood, papers and blankets. There were no smoke detectors in the home, officials said. The northeast section of the mobile home where the wood stove was located and where the children slept was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived at the scene about 1:20 a.m. Sunday, said Robert Long, chief of the Ketchum Volunteer Fire Department. Firefighters from three departments battled the fire more than six hours. Ketchum is about 70 miles northeast of Tulsa. WASHINGTON, D.C. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign Monday blasted a proposed ballot question in Oklahoma that would ban abortion and make some forms of contraception illegal. Maya Harris, a senior adviser to the Democrat's campaign, said Clinton believes Oklahoma women have a constitutional right to safe, legal abortion and to contraception, and they deserve to be able to make their health care decisions without interference from government or extreme special interest groups. Harris' comments came in response to an initiative petition filed Jan. 27 by a Norman man who wants a statewide vote to change the Oklahoma Constitution. The proposed ballot question says it would prohibit abortion and contraception that causes the death of an unborn human being. Dear Doctor K: I am in near-constant pain because of arthritis. My doctor suggested that I try hypnotherapy. My first reaction was that it sounds like hokum, but now Im wondering if it could help. What do you think? Dear Reader: Hypnotherapy may in fact help with pain management. These days, it is used to treat many mental and physical health problems. I spoke to my colleague Dr. Max Shapiro, a psychologist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. He explained that hypnotherapy is most effective in treating problems that require stronger control over the bodys responses. Pain is a good example; insomnia is another. Hypnotherapy turns your attention inward. A hypnotherapist helps you enter a trancelike state. In that state, your attention is focused, so youre more responsive to suggestions. With the guidance of a hypnotherapist, you can start to control or alter your thoughts, feelings and physical state. A hypnotic trance empowers you to activate neural circuits that are otherwise inactive. When activated, this circuitry can reduce pain, among other things. Lets consider insomnia. Hypnosis can be effective in blocking out the distracting chatter that interferes with sleep. A hypnotherapist will teach a patient how to go into a trance. Once in a trance, the patient will focus on his or her own experience of falling asleep easily, effortlessly and comfortably. The patient will then be taught to practice going into a trance at bedtime and re-creating those feelings. About half of people who use hypnotherapy for insomnia see improvement after a few sessions. Others require several more sessions. Only about one in 10 people wont find it useful. The success rate for hypnotherapy in treating pain is more complicated. That may be because the source and nature of pain can vary so widely. Some people experience quick and long-lasting relief; others find it more challenging. Hypnotherapy may be much more effective for some people than for others. In part, a successful outcome depends on how committed you are. For hypnotherapy to work, you will need to put the lessons learned at each session into practice at home. If you need an outside voice to help you focus inward, recordings may help to get you into a trance state. Hypnotherapy is typically a complementary therapy. That means it should be part of a broader treatment plan that may include more traditional pain relief techniques and medications, if needed. Like most doctors, I was skeptical that hypnosis really could work to help relieve suffering. It seemed like magic, and I dont believe in magic. But now we know that the brain experiences symptoms like pain and that the brain has its own natural ways of relieving those symptoms. However, those natural ways often lie dormant and need to be activated. Hypnosis is a way of activating the brains ability to quiet bothersome symptoms. A physician colleague of mine tried hypnosis after no traditional treatments were able to adequately relieve his pain. The treatment was so successful that he now uses hypnosis in his practice. Theres nothing like getting your own suffering relieved to make a believer out of you. It just wouldnt be the Logies without a bit of inane fun. A social media campaign to move the Logie Awards to Dubbo may not attract the enthusiasm of TV Week or Bauer Media, but in Dubbo they are positively gagging for it. After a report that Sydney was looking to swoop on the annual awards showbiz commentator Peter Ford joked on Twitter that It all comes down to costs & underwriting. Theyd be at Dubbo RSL if they put up the money. It wasnt long before Dubbo RSL responded, proudly declaring it was ready for the national spotlight. The Dubbo RSL is the biggest of its kind, west of the mountains were up to the challenge! Others soon began hopping on the bandwagon. The Dubbo bid is confidential! Peter you may have just jeopardised our bid said Dubbo Mayor Mathew Dickerson. TV Historian Andrew Mercado suggested a Dubbo Logies Train to transport celebrity guests and an after-party at the Dubbo Zoo. Chris and Juelz at 93.5 StarFM Dubbo soon joined the campaign, suggesting a swag bag of Reading Cinema movie tickets, passes to the Old Dubbo Jail, accommodation at Taronga Western Plains Zoo and a bike tour of Dubbo. Rhonda Burchmore is on board, Larry Emdur said definitely, Ben Fordham said Ill even do my radio show from there,' Ford told them. Bert said he would definitely come to Dubbo if it was done and present the Gold Logie. TV Week is yet to comment. Hillsong founders Brian and Bobbie Houston will feature in Thursdays Inside Story on Nine. This sounds like it may be more a sympathetic profile of the Church than many other media stories. Not forgetting of course Hillsong TV currently has some airtime on TEN. This week, for the first time, Brian and Bobbie Houston open their doors to the public to discuss the controversy, the scandal and the glittering success of Hillsong and how at the very core of the church, was a nasty secret; A secret that, when exposed, would rock this Christian community and almost destroy Brian Houston. It all began in an old school hall in Sydneys Hills district. Now, its a global enterprise earning a fortune every year preaching to millions every week, with celebrity followers like Justin Bieber. Largely, it is the vision of two people: Brian and Bobbie Houston, the charismatic husband and wife team, who revolutionised religion in Australia. Just as Hillsong made converts, it made enemies too; its beliefs, its finances, its success have all been questioned time and time again. 7:30pm Thursday on Nine. This week on Home Delivery Rebel Wilson takes Julia Zemiro back to her childhood, her first home and her high school, kicking off in Castle Hill. Rebel Wilson first came to our attention with her stage show The Westie Monologues, continuing her celebration of her Western Sydney roots with Fat Pizza and Bogan Pride. Hollywood beckoned; the rest is history in the making. On the drive to Rebels childhood home, we pass the cinema complex she worked in as a teenager. Outside her Castle Hill home, she recalls saving her brother from drowning in the backyard pool. It was an unusual childhood her parents ran a pet care business and Rebel and her siblings spent most of their weekends travelling with them to dog shows. Rebel made money by setting up her own stall selling drinks and sweets at the shows. Julia and Rebel drive to the Castle Hill showground to meet Rebels delightful mum, Susan, who has brought along some prize beagles to show. Susan hasnt ever spoken publicly before, but fondly recalls Rebel as a bright, determined youngster with a whip- smart wit and an entrepreneurial flair. On the way to Tara Anglican School, Rebel suggests they drop in on her grandparents. They talk about travelling to Disneyland with Rebel and how grounded she remains despite her profile. At the school, Rebel tells Julia how she was ostracised by the cool group and spent Year 7 as a Nigel no friends in the library. She was a strong student, but very shy. After reading a psychology article, Rebel resolved to change and quickly became one of the schools most popular students. They visit the room that Rebel boarded in Year 12, and the theatre she used to sneak into to perform whole musicals on her own. In the final conversation, Rebel talks about her career since leaving Tara, dealing with criticism, the influence of her family and her hope to play more dramatic roles in the future. 9pm Wednesday on ABC. Lobby group Save Our SBS has called on the federal government to hand back a significant portion of the funding to SBS that was cut from the national broadcasters under the Abbott govt. SBS attempted to increase its primetime ads to cover a shortfall of $53m under the Abbott government, but the move was rejected in the Senate. Since then SBS has launched SBS Food Network, consisting of mostly US-based Scripps Network content, to early success. In May, the Turnbull govt will hand down funding details for SBS over the next three years. Lobby group Save Our SBS has submitted a pre-budget submission to Treasury, pushing for reduced advertising and programming that returns to its Charter as a specialist broadcaster. Save Our SBS President, Steve Aujard said, We outlined a series of options in our submission to Treasury that would assist SBS to better fulfil their Charter obligations. Basically we present various options that range from no commercial activity at one end, to limiting advertising to between programs only at the other, and a mid-way point that would reduce the frequency of commercial breaks to not more than one within programs, with the exception of sport. Each scenario is costed and the later is revenue neutral. Our submission shows there is very strong evidence that the efficiency of SBS in adhering to its multicultural Charter the core reason for its existence diminished proportional to the level of in-program TV advertising. In 2006 when SBS shifted advertising to within programs (instead of only between them), the degree to which SBS complied with their Charter fell markedly. The published evidence shows that as advertising increases, distinctiveness decreases. That shift has directly impacted on how faithful SBS has become to its Charter. The Charter describes a very special broadcaster, one that is like no other, distinctive in character. SBS is a public broadcaster that should not be scheduling programs for advertising dollars. It was supposed to compliment, not compete with commercial TV. Unfortunately and understandably, commercialisation has forced SBS to focus on advertisers ahead of the Charter. The budget process is the one opportunity the parliament has to bring the focus back on track. SBS is the leanest of all broadcasters, funded about a quarter of that of the ABC. If a significant portion of the joint cuts that were made to both national broadcasters were handed to the leaner broadcaster, SBS, with a requirement that it reduce or wipe out inprogram advertising, the evidence strongly suggests it would become more focused on fulfilling Charter obligations than has been the case. SBS would therefore be more efficient its primary reason for existence. We are proposing an environment where executive brain space will become less concerned with ratings and commercial sell ability and the centre of attention becomes that of satisfying Charter requirements, providing a much needed contrast to mainstream television benefiting all Australians. Overwhelmingly the supporters & friends of SBS want SBS to be more faithful to its Charter and relevant without viewers being on-sold to advertisers. Viewers do not like commercial breaks interrupting their programs. Reducing or doing away with in-program advertising is achievable even in a tight fiscal environment. SBS could move in this direction but it is going to take the will of the parliament to lead it there. That could and should occur through the budget process. The Save Our SBS pre-budget submission to Treasury is here. Renegade torrent site The Pirate Bay is now offering streaming in browsers via a plug-in, Torrents-Time. The move which means users do not need an external torrent client is the latest nightmare for copyright holders in the war against piracy. The Netflix-like function means The Pirate Bay has already been described as a move that turns the site into the worlds biggest streaming site. Torrent Freak reports the site has now placed Torrents-Time links next to all of its video torrents, labelled Stream It! (BETA). Once clicked the user is given the chance to install the software. The site still recommends using a VPN. The legal situation is unclear, with laws pertaining to sharing of torrent files. Recent laws to block websites require copyright holders to launch cases in the Federal Court of Australia to force an ISP to block access to an overseas website. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are not be the target of the law and remain legal. Other torrent sites are now indicating they will follow suit with the Torrents-Time plug-in. Former Good Wife cast members are expected to return to the show for its last-ever episodes. Gary Cole, who plays Dianes (Christine Baranski) husband Kurt McVeigh and possibly Jess Weixler, who played investigator Robyn are tipped to return. But Archie Panjabi, who exited last year as Kalinda, has been ruled out. It wouldnt make sense for her to come back, co-creator and co-showrunner Michelle King told the Hollywood Reporter. Josh Charles is also out. Will Gardners dead so thats sort of problematic right there, she said. In January Michelle and Robert King confirmed they would be departing as showrunners, but reports now indicate a decision to wrap the series only took hold quite recently. It was confirmed during a Super Bowl ad yesterday. CBS was still considering the possibility of continuing on so we only heard about the Super Bowl possibility within the last week, co-creator Robert King told reporters. It was first pitched as perhaps a possibility and started to solidify, Michelle King added. We knew that we could control our fate but we were very aware that we did not control the fate of the series. That that was the studio and the network to decide, so we felt very fortunate and flattered that were being allowed to end the show with the other writers and the other producers the way we hoped it would end. Star Julianna Margulies would have also needed to sign a new contract for a potential eighth season. I dont think it actually really got that far formally. There were conversations with the network, with the studio, with Julianna, Michelle said. Really, everybody came to the same decision that to be able to go out all together is really what we all wanted. No return for Kalinda is unfortunate given she appeared in 134 of 147 episodes. Many fans were not buying the CGI-enhanced final scene in 2015 of Kalinda and Alicia (following over a year of no scenes together). Margulies later told media, It was shot the way Robert wanted to shoot it, and the story line, too. You also have to remember, theres difficulty (Panjabi) was also doing another show, called The Fall. I went along with whatever Robert asked me to do and I did it happily. Panjabi previously commented, I think thats a question you need to ask the producers. The Good Wife returns to TEN tomorrow at 9:30pm. "I forgave ISIS." An Iraqi Christian in Jordan sitting in what looks to be a church auditorium gives her testimony. "We love our enemy, even the ones that hurt us." Her videotaped testimony is part of an exhibit recently on display at New York Encounter, an annual faith event held in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. I thought of her as Washington, D.C. gathered to pray and talk about praying at the National Prayer Breakfast. I thought, too, of Pope Francis' recent instruction to an audience at the Vatican: "Desire always the salvation of those who offend us." That's a tall order. And yet that's what Christianity is about. And the Christians who've had to upend their lives on account of ISIS -- and those who have died refusing to recant their faith -- are Exhibit A. I recently asked the exiled Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, a city in Iraq that no longer has a diocese because ISIS drove out all the Christians there, if he'd ever had a hard conversation with one of his people who were tempted to at least go through the motions of signing up for Islam, just to keep their life and home. He answered in the negative. "I'm proud of them," Archbishop Amel Nona told me. The exiled Iraqi Christian in the video showing at New York Encounter beams with gratitude. "I know that God loved me ... and He always took care of me. But I wasn't paying attention, I did not know. ... I never thought of things this deeply, but I realize now that God has been with me from the beginning but I was not 100 percent with him. He is present everywhere." In his brief address to the National Prayer Breakfast, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan rejected the idea that prayer isn't action, an idea bruited by some in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. "I have noticed a growing impatience with prayer in our culture. You see it in the papers or on Twitter. When people say they're praying for someone or something, the attitude in some quarters seems to be, "Don't just pray; do something about it. But the thing is, when you are praying, you are doing something about it. You are revealing the presence of God." The Lord is present, indeed, in the witness of Christians who understand both the miraculous gift and the heavy responsibility of their faith, the people who tell us: "Before I had everything but I was unsatisfied, now I have nothing and I am joyful." The European Parliament just did what the United States hasn't managed to: call the mass murder of Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities genocide. We might choose to look away, but it is happening out in the open, right before our eyes. Western silence about this tragedy that may leave the Middle East without Christians in the foreseeable future, in Christianity's cradle, is a terrible scandal. Standing up for these people will make us better. These people evince a hope that much of the world so often does not understand. They have a peace and a trust that money can't buy. We're knee-deep in a contentious election cycle where nothing seems certain. Our common ground -- whether we are religious believers or not -- may be that we have a freedom that we do not fully appreciate. When we really think about it: So many of us have everything, but do we have joy? Are we too distracted -- even with important things like family and work and politics -- to remember who we are? Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com. 1:40 p.m., Feb. 9, 2016--Applications for the 2016 EPSCoR Summer Scholars research internship program for undergraduates are now being accepted via an online form and are due by 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 3. The Delaware Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, has funded more than 250 undergraduate research internships at the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Wesley College and Delaware Technical Community College since 2004. The program takes place over a 10-week period in the summer beginning June 13. In addition to completing an independent research project, interns participate in skill-building seminars on such topics as attending graduate school, research ethics and making a research presentation. EPSCoR Summer Scholars typically present their work via posters or presentations at UDs Undergraduate Research and Service Scholar Celebratory Symposium, held in August. Interns also receive a stipend of $4,000. Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors with a minimum 3.0 grade point average are eligible. Students from any major may apply, but their research projects should be related to the environment, to coincide with the overall theme of Delawares EPSCoR program. Students with an interest in climate, sea level rise, water quality, land use, soil contamination and remediation, environmental sensing and monitoring, economics, ethics, environmental justice, environmental history, or environmental policy are especially encouraged to apply. Identifying a research mentor is the key to a successful internship, according to Yolanda Williams-Bey, education program manager for Delaware EPSCoR. We can help point you in the right direction if you need it, but approaching a professor youd be interested in working with prior to submitting an application is part of the process, she says. Williams-Bey suggests visiting the environmental experts database on the Delaware Environmental Institutes website for help in identifying faculty research interests. For more information about the EPSCoR Summer Scholars program, contact Williams-Bey at yolanda@udel.edu. Article by Beth Chajes Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson 11:30 a.m., Feb. 9, 2016--After the University of Delawares doctoral hooding ceremony on Dec. 18, Antonette Todd spoke with her two advisers, Nicole Donofrio and Venu (Kal) Kalavacharla, which is not unusual after receiving such a prestigious honor. What was unique about the situation, however, is that the professors came from two different universities, UD and Delaware State University. Todd had previously completed her masters degree at Delaware State with Kalavacharla director of the Center for Integrated Biological and Environmental Research (CIBER) and professor of molecular genetics and epigenomics at Delaware State who holds an adjunct appointment in UDs Department of Plant and Soil Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) and went on to work as a research technician in his laboratory. Knowing that Todd wanted to go on to get a doctorate, but also aware that no such program existed in plant science at Delaware State, Kalavacharla reached out to Donofrio, associate professor of plant and soil sciences at UD, to see if she would be able to assist. Donofrio and Kalavacharla had worked together on a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant and when they needed someone to continue working on the project, Kalavacharla suggested Todd. Rust fungus research Todds doctoral research interest was in plant pathology, specifically studying the interaction between the common bean and fungal rust, carrying over the work she did for her masters degree but looking at it from a different angle. The ultimate goal is to find a resistance gene in the common bean, said Todd. Rust fungus is a major problem worldwide and while there is some genetic resistance, the pathogen eventually finds a way to overcome the resistance, leaving the researchers back at square one. The fungus is also difficult to work with as it can only be cultured on actual plants and not on petri dishes. Todds project had to do with trying to figure out the underlying basis of cryptic resistance regions of the bean genome, working with plants that Kalavacharla had found during his doctoral research to understand what genes play a role and the location of important genes involved in the rust resistance response of the common bean. Along with Kalavacharla and Donofrio, she was guided by UD committee members Randy Wisser, associate professor of plant genetics; Tom Evans, professor of plant and soil sciences; and Adam Marsh, associate professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE), who provided support and valuable mentoring along the way. Todd used next generation sequencing and bioinformatics to try and determine what those genes were and got pretty close, narrowing it down to one well-defined region with a number of genes that look promising. Her work will allow a future student to come in and do their research around figuring out and identifying the magic gene. She was successful in pinpointing the region of one of those genes to a base region in the bean genome by a combination of genetics, molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics, said Kalavacharla. Family, career, doctorate Todd not only worked at pursuing her doctorate, she also retained her job as a technician in Kalavacharlas lab and had three children at home to care for, one born during her pursuit of her doctorate, and with a fourth due shortly after completion of her degree work. The great thing about the fact that Antonette had a successful Ph.D. experience is that weve demonstrated that you can do this even if you have a growing family or a young family you can maintain your employment status and still get a Ph.D. You just have to be really determined about it and dig your heels in, and thats exactly what she did, said Donofrio. Todd said that she has a super family and that as a research technician, her responsibilities include everything from helping the post-docs out with their research, to mentoring our undergraduate and graduate students. We have a lot of students that work in our lab so its taking them through the process and holding their hands sometimes. Kalavacharla said Todd is a wonderful person to work with and is calm and has a great sense of humor. She is very passionate about genetics, molecular biology, and agriculture. She is a very talented and intelligent person who has made it her mission to be a great mentor and a teacher. She strives to bring about the best in the people that she has mentored in research, be they graduate or undergraduate students. She has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students at DSU. Future collaboration Of working with Donofrio, Todd said she is awesome. Shes very supportive. I like her laid back style, which makes her very approachable. Her wealth of knowledge on plant-pathogen interactions is immeasurable. She also said that being co-advised by people at both universities was the best of both worlds. Kal (Kalavacharla) has played an enormous role in my success not only a graduate adviser, but also by providing mentorship for real life issues such as managing family, school, and work. I think Im the first, at least from the College of Agriculture and Related Sciences at DSU Im not sure if theyve done it at any of the other colleges from Delaware State but definitely from this college it was the first collaboration between DSU and UD for a Ph.D., said Todd. Donofrio said she is hopeful that UD and Delaware State can have more such collaborations in the future and that it shows that individuals who really want to get their doctorate but still want to keep their jobs can do both. We demonstrated that people, if theyre determined about it and if they really want it, we can pave a way for them to keep their employment and get a Ph.D. That Kal and I were able to successfully co-advise her to completion was a good thing, said Donofrio. Kalavacharla said that Donofrio is a very good friend and a respected colleague. It has been a wonderful partnership. Nicole and I share a common passion of training students and the next generation in biology and agriculture. We also recognize that although the University of Delaware and Delaware State University are two different institutions with distinct missions, there is common ground that can help serve the state of Delaware. Educating students and bringing about the best in individuals such as Dr. Antonette Todd is a wonderful outcome of this shared interest. Todd said that for anyone out there looking to get their Ph.D., the biggest piece of advice is to have patience. Have patience with yourself and have perseverance. Keep your eye on the goal, thats the biggest thing, said Todd. Article by Adam Thomas Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson Campus was busy over the weekend as students moved in to residence halls for the spring semester. Moving back in for the spring semester. Students check-in to residence halls at the opening of the spring semester. Spring move-in brings new and returning students to UD residence halls. 11:45 a.m., Feb. 9, 2016--About 5,000 students returned to the University of Delaware residence halls Feb. 6-8. In the Caesar Rodney staff office, the first shift of resident assistants checked in the buildings returning students while checking up on their Winter Session activities. Andrew Casamento, a first-year accounting major from Kenilworth, New Jersey, is one of 300 students who are new to the University residence halls this spring. Im excited for all the clubs and organizations, said Casamento, who decided to come to UD after a campus visit with a friend. I came here and immediately, I had that feeling. Angela Martone, a first-year animal science major from Bear, Delaware, returned to her room from the fall, and was matched up with a new roommate, Emily St. Pierre. St. Pierre, a marketing major from Long Island, decided to change rooms mid-year, despite not knowing Martone. Looking to her new roommate, Martone said, Shes in a lot of the clubs I am and now I have somebody to go with. Alex Waad, a senior interpersonal communications major is the student engagement adviser for Caesar Rodney and the resident assistant for all three students. Waad chose to decorate his floor with a Harry Potter theme for his final semester as a resident assistant, noting how the beloved stories transcend generations. The theme has noticeably sparked conversation, a first step in students getting acquainted or reuniting. A mother, walking through the hall with her son, agreed: I love it. In the first 24 to 48 hours that students are moving back on campus, I really hope they realize what it means to be part of the Blue Hen community, Waad said. 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). Norway will allocate Ukraine about 40 million kroner (more than four million euros) of humanitarian assistance. It has been reported by the press service of the government of the Scandinavian country, Deutsche Welle reports. These funds will be distributed among organizations that are helping Ukraine. Continuation of reforms in the country is one of the conditions for money allocation. "The humanitarian situation in some regions of Ukraine remains tense. Five million people need help, including 1.5 million of internally displaced persons," State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Norway Tore Hattrem said. Half of the amount will be sent to the Norwegian Refugee Council, which supports Ukraine's east. Another 20 million kroner will be distributed among a number of organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration and others. On February 7 to 9, Hattrem will visit Kyiv, where he will meet with representatives of the Ukrainian administration, civil society, as well as Norwegian and international organizations working in the country. ish Starting April 1, 2016, hot water supply tariffs will increase for Kyiv residents by 10,8%, and central heating tariffs for metered apartment-blocks will rise by 13%, and for non-metered apartment-blocks by 7,1%. This information is mentioned in a letter of the National Commission on State Regulation of Energy and Utility Services. The letter itself was made public by a civic organization Public Audit at a press-conference today in Kyiv. Starting this April, another regular rise in utility tariffs is planned. This tariff move is triggered by increase in gas prices for heating utility companies, say press conference organizers. According to Vasyl Yastrubynskiy, Head of the Main Department on Pricing Policy of Kyiv Municipal Administration, who also participated in the mentioned press conference, no one consulted either Municipal Administration, or civic organizations about the expediency of such tariff increase. Mr. Yastrubynckiy also said that Kyiv authorities wish to hold a round table discussion on tariff increase with participation of the Ministry of Regional Development, NERC, MPs and experts, since a lot of concern is expressed both about the tariff calculation methodology, and quality of extended utility services. He also mentioned that metering is a challenging task, since there is a lot of resistance at various levels. We make them meter houses and apartment-blocks, but they heavily resist, Mr. Yastrubynskiy emphasized. He also stressed that new heating tariffs differ almost twice for metered and non-metered premises. Heating tariffs for similar houses (apartment-blocks) with and without meters vary, according to our estimates, from 30-40% to almost two times, he added. Mr. Yastrubynskiy also said that it is rather difficult to control utility services quality parameters. We hear a lot of complaint [about quality of utility services], but all we can do is to criticize the service providers and appeal to their better feelings, the official said. Note. At end-January, NERC published a draft Resolution On tariffs for heat energy, its production, transportation, and supply to HH consumers of KIEVENERGO company on its website. According to this draft, KYIVENERGO tariff was expected to rise for HH consumers to UAH 594,03 per one Gcal (excluding VAT). According to the draft, the Kiev consumers would have to pay UAH 712,84 per one Gcal (including VAT) against the current UAH 657,24 per one Gcal. Later on, the NERC said that tariff increase for heating and hot water would only take place after extensive consultations with consumers and approval by local administrations. | By Patricia Fanning The University of Maryland, Baltimores Promise Heights initiative has been working with community partners and adolescents in West Baltimore to seek solutions to the violence that has become a public health crisis. This is a public health emergency, Bronwyn Mayden, MSW, executive director of Promise Heights, said in reference to data obtained in a survey of young people reporting how violence affects their lives. Nearly four in 10 said they knew someone who had been killed before turning 20 years old. We have to band together to prevent the violence and all the trauma were seeing, Mayden said in welcoming more than 120 people, many of them teens and young adults, who attended a forum held Feb. 3 at Bethel AME Church. The events multiple sponsors included The Baltimore Sun and partners in the BUILD Youth Violence Prevention Program. View a photo gallery. The Promise Heights initiative, led by the University of Maryland School of Social Work (SSW), seeks to improve the lives of children and families in the impoverished neighborhood of Upton/Druid Heights. Mayden is assistant dean of the SSW, and several faculty and staff members helped organize the forum and participated in the discussions that took place. Three Renaissance Academy students suggest violence prevention ideas. Adults listening are, clockwise, Gregory Thornton, EdLD, CEO of Baltimore City Schools; Amani Warren, MSW, community schools coordinator of Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary, and Family Connections director Frederick Strieder, PhD, MSSA, both of the School of Social Work; and Atiba Nkrumah of Maryland Communities United. Attendees included SSW clinical associate professor Frederick Strieder, PhD, MSSA, director of Family Connections; the Rev. Frank M. Reid III, D.Min, senior pastor of Bethel AME; Gregory Thornton, Ed.LD, chief executive officer of Baltimore City Schools; a representative of the Baltimore City Police Department and a representative of the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD). The results of the survey and the ideas of young people about how to address the troubling results were published Feb. 4 in a Baltimore Sun article, Survey shows prevalence of violence in lives of Baltimore students. Its publication and the work that led to the survey grew out of the Suns 2014 series by Andrea K. McDaniels, Collateral Damage. To prevent violence, 64 percent of those surveyed suggested more jobs for youth and more than half called for more activities after school, for teen support groups, and for parents talking with the children about violence. Promise Heights surveyed 209 students at Baltimore Renaissance Academy (RA) High School and Booker T. Washington Middle School for the Arts, which are among the initiatives five Community Schools. Of the respondents, 43 percent said they witnessed physical violence at least once a week, and 39 percent said they knew someone who had been killed before the person reached age 20. On the topic of weapons, 40 percent knew someone with a gun, and nearly 19 percent said they could easily get a gun. Slightly more than half blamed gangs as the cause of violence but 48.2 percent disagreed. Many of the students surveyed and others actively engaged in the prevention effort were directly touched by fatal incidents in November and January. In the first, RA student Ananias Jolley, 17, was stabbed in a high school class and later died. Classmate Donte Crawford was charged with first-degree murder in that case. On Jan. 29, two students in leadership roles at the forum saw the body of another RA student, Darius Bardney, 16, who had been shot moments before at an apartment complex. The survey was made possible through the BUILD Health Challenge, which awarded a $75,000 planning grant in 2015 to Healing Together Collaborative: Preventing Youth Violence in Upton/Druid Heights (HTC). Key partners in HTC with Promise Heights are the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation (DHCDC), which is the lead recipient; the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center Violence Prevention Program; Robertas House, a family grief support center; Maryland Communities United, a grassroots membership organization; and the BCHD. The collaborative was formed in response to the Collateral Damage series, which appeared in December 2014 and was supported by the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC). As a follow-up, USC Annenberg helped fund an effort for the Baltimore youths to tell their own stories. In a resulting video produced by The Sun, Collateral Damage: Community Voices on Hardship and Healing in Upton/Druid Heights, children ranging from pre-kindergartners to teenagers speak. Among them is the 17-year-old who would go on to be charged in the stabbing death. And in an interview, the mother of the slain youth describes her loss. The video was shown to a hushed crowd. Hallie Atwater, LCSW-C, of the SSW, who as community coordinator at RA has helped students and families cope with the trauma, was involved in the forum and was quoted in The Suns article. Its sad and not fair, and its really adding up in a big way, she said of the violence. Seeking an antidote, a group of youth ambassadors with the DHCDC developed a conflict resolution tool incorporating the slogan, Be TRUE to your WORD. At the conclusion of the forum they joined Mark Montgomery, who works with youth at Bethel AME, and Tavon Benson, of the DHCDC, in leading a pledge based on the tool. Adults were given cards that said: Do Your Part to End Youth Violence in West Baltimore. Geneva/ Ankara, 9 February 2015 - UNHCR expresses its gratitude for the generosity shown by the Turkish authorities and people towards the Syrian refugees they have been hosting for the last five years. UNHCR appreciates that Turkey is continuing to give access to humanitarian and medical cases despite the increasingly complex situation in northern Syria. In view of the recent displacement in Aleppo province and the extreme vulnerabilities, UNHCR is encouraging authorities to ensure a broader access to Turkish territory for all those in need of international protection in line with the long-standing Turkish open-border policy. Turkey is already hosting over 2.5 million Syrians and shouldering the greatest responsibility in sheer numbers in this humanitarian international crisis. While UNHCR stands ready to assist authorities to manage and care for new arrivals of refugees, and has pre-positioned relief items in Turkey close to the Syrian border accordingly, far greater support is required to address the magnitude of needs. UNHCR is therefore also calling on the international community to swiftly and meaningfully increase support to Turkey. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America 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 A Cornell University student and the president of the school's Psi Upsilon fraternity chapter arrested for sexual assault did not appear in court and his case will be presented to a grand jury. The Cornell University Police Department on Friday announced via Facebook Wolfgang Ballinger's arrest for an alleged sexual assault that took place Feb. 1. Ballinger, 21, "was charged with first-degree attempted rape, a Class C felony; first-degree criminal sexual act, a Class B felony; and first-degree sexual abuse, a Class D felony." According to ABC News, Ballinger was released from custody on Tuesday on his own recognizance and waived his right to appear in court. Neither his attorney nor the prosecution presented any evidence at the hearing, though Ballinger did plead not guilty at a previous arraignment hearing on Saturday. He was first arrested on Thursday and booked at the Tompkins County Jail after the female student accusing him of assaulting her identified him to the CUPD. She first reported the alleged crime to police on Jan. 31, stating she was sexually assaulted at the Psi Upsilon fraternity house earlier that morning. Ballinger turned himself in on Thursday. "His innocence will be established at the proper time and in the proper place, which is in the courts, not in the media," the student's attorney, James Baker, told ABC News. Cornell President Elizabeth Garrett released a statement Saturday announcing an interim suspension for the Psi Upsilon chapter while an investigation takes place. She also stated the school would take "additional steps should be taken to ensure the Greek community at Cornell is living up to our institutional standard of excellence and respect for others." The Psi Upsilon national office confirmed Ballinger was the Cornell chapter's president and announced it too suspended the chapter pending an investigation. "Sexual assault, and any form of sexual harassment, is against our policy and in opposition of the values of Psi Upsilon," Psi Upsilon Executive Director Thomas Fox said in a statement. "Our chapter is cooperating with Cornell's investigation into this matter and any members involved will be held accountable. The Chi Chapter at Cornell has a distinguished history with the University and we are committed to continuing to be a benefit to Cornell and the Ithaca Community." The FY 2017 Budget includes $1.934 billion for the study, design, construction, operation and maintenance of inland and coastal navigation projects. It funds capital investments on the inland waterways based on the estimated revenues to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The Budget gives priority to coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial traffic. It also funds harbors that support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation benefits. The FY 2017 Investigations program as a whole is funded at $92 million, including $7 million from the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) account, to fund studies to determine the need, engineering feasibility, and economic, environmental and social return of potential solutions for water and related land resource problems. This includes $6.7 million for work on proposals to deepen and/or widen ten high and moderate commercial use U.S. harbors and channels: Houston Ship Channel, TX; Manatee Harbor, FL; Matagorda Ship Channel, TX; Mississippi River Ship Channel, Gulf to Baton Rouge, LA; Mobile Harbor, AL; New Haven Harbor, CT; Norfolk Harbor, VA; Port of Long Beach, CA; San Juan, PR; Seattle Harbor, WA; and Unalaska (Dutch) Harbor, AK. The Budget also funds completion of 12 studies and designs, one of which is in the Preconstruction Engineering and Design (PED) phase. These studies comprise four ecosystem restoration studies, four navigation studies, and four flood risk management studies. These study completions include Adams and Denver Counties, CO; Boise River, Boise, ID; Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, LA (GRR); Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration Mississippi River Hydrodynamic Modeling and Delta Management Study; Minnesota River Watershed Study, MN & SD (Minnesota River Authority); Mississippi River Ship Channel, Gulf to Baton Rouge, LA (GRR); Norfolk Harbor and Channels, VA (55-Foot) (GRR); Rahway River Basin (Upper Basin), NJ; Red River of the North Basin, ND, MN, SD & Manitoba, Canada; Seattle Harbor, WA; South San Francisco Bay Shoreline, CA (PED); and Sparks Arroyo Colonia, El Paso County, TX. There are no new study starts included in the FY 2017 Investigations program. The Investigations account also includes $26 million for Corps' efforts, in conjunction with state floodplain management authorities, to provide technical and planning assistance to enable local communities to reduce their flood risk, including non-structural approaches. The Budget continues to invest in the development of interagency teams known as Silver Jackets to provide unified federal assistance in implementing flood risk management solutions. The FY 2017 Construction program is funded at $1.154 billion, including $64 million in the MR&T account. The construction program uses objective, performance-based guidelines to allocate funding toward the highest performing economic, environmental, and public safety investments. Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. Daniel Bryans retirement shocked everybody. Others may have seen it coming with his prolonged absence that was closing on nearly a year away from the ring. His speech on Monday Night Raw was incredible, so good that it overrun the usual RAW finish time by 30 minutes. So, whats next? Will Bryan move into training? Will he take a role within the WWE or will he just walk away and start a family with his wife? We take a look at what he might do and what wed like to see him do. Training Daniel Bryan is one of, if not, the best technical wrestler in the world. His number of submission holds may stretch past that of the infamous Chris Jericho list. He can wrestle a whole host of styles, whether it be the Japanese strong style or the European 'catch wrestling' style. He can dive and move at a speed like the Mexican luchas. His training knowledge and advice would go a long way to improving the quality of wrestling in the future, especially if hes brought in to help at the WWE Performance Center. He could go off on his own and start his own school near his home like Shawn Michaels and Lance Storm have. Bryan would add to a world class training staff that includes Adam Pearce, Sara Amato, Robbie Brookside and head trainer Matt Bloom, formerly A-Train, Albert and Tensai. Bryan offers advice to the WWE Tough Enough cast Photo: Daily Wrestling News On Screen Role His stellar work on the microphone could lead to an opportunity to work commentary. Bryan was one part of the now defunct Saturday Morning Slam where he worked commentary with former WWE announcer Josh Matthews. Bryan could take up a role as a color commentator like Tazz used to do and Jerry Lawler continues to do, adding the former wrestler's perspective to commentary. He could even take up a role like Mick Foley did as The Commissioner back in the early 2000s. That would be more out of left field than being on commentary because WWE would have to move away from The Authority as the on-screen figures of power. It could happen and it may have the potential to be brilliant, but for now, its really unlikely. Daniel Bryan on commentary Photo: Xalaga Walking Away Bryan may just walk away all together, rarely seen on WWE Television, if ever seen again. Hes worked in the business for so long and holds so much passion for wrestling that being around friends and others doing something you cant may just be too much for him. He has said on Total Divas and in his retirement speech that he is ready to start a family with his wife, Brie Bella, and settle down. It would be great to see him on television in the future, its unlikely he ever wrestles again but to see him make a surprise appearance at RAW to do a promo or in a segment at WrestleMania would be nice to see in the future. Whatever he does, thank you Daniel Bryan and good luck. What would you like to see Bryan do? Any suggestions that are not listed here? Leave use a comment or tweet us - @Vavel_Wrestling. Nigeria's national oil company, The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NPCC) just announced a total loss of 267 billion Naira ($1.34 billion) throughout its operation last year. The loss was a result of the gap between the 2.3 trillion naira expenses made by the company and the sales which only covers 2 trillion Naira. According to NAM News Network, the numbers are listed in the company's latest Monthly Financial and Operation Report released on Wednesday. The report also revealed that the company lost 11.86 billion Naira in December and 14.29 billion Naira in November, showing consistency in losses over the months. The report also explained the nature of the loss, whereas 18.8 million naira was a deficit from its Corporate Service Unit, and other 83.09 billion naira loss was from its three refineries combined. NPCC's refineries are The Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), and Port Harcourt Refining Company. Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and also the continent's biggest oil producer, has been suffering from the significant drop in crude oil prices over the past few months. The oil industry contributed 35 percent if Nigeria's GDP as the country produces about 1.8 million barrels of oil on daily basis. NPCC itself is Africa's largest producer of crude oil, and its loss reflects other deficit most likely faced by other oil producers. The company's loss, however, should not be fully attributed to the fall in crude oil prices. Other factors, including widespread corruption, is also believed to contributes to the deficit. Bloomberg reported that Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari has made it a priority to restructure the NPCC as well as to get rid of its corruption. Previously, President Buhari has also intervened by dispersing the company's board after he was elected president in May. He appointed former Exxon Mobil executive Emmanuel Kachikwu as managing director. Other steps to restructure the company will also involve the privatizing some of the company's assets in 2018. NPCC is just one of numerous oil company around the world suffering from loss due to oil price crashes. Giant oil company Shell just announced a bigger loss in its part. According to The Guardian, the Dutch group reported an 87 percent fall in annual profits. Oil company BP also took a big hit with a $6.5 billion loss, the worst in its history. The falling of oil prices have had huge impacts to oil company's profit, and also to local employees. The loss suffered by the company will most likely lead to job cuts that would impact thousands of families in Nigeria, as well as other countries. AXA SA, an insurance company in France, has partnered with Africa Internet Group to become the sole supplier of insurance products in Africa. Under the terms of the partnership deal, AXA will buy around 8% stock in the Africa Internet Group, AIG, by investing EUR 75 million. The transaction is subjected to the regular closing conditions and it is anticipated to close in the Q1 of 2016. AIG said that the excess amount donated by AXA will enhance the company's balance sheet and also back up its ongoing development. Jumia, a primary business unit of AIG, increased its transaction volume by about 265 percent to reach EUR 206 million over the initial 9 month period in 2015. The company said that Jumia enables domestic businesses to perform business activities with the fast developing African communities. Other business products include Hellofood, Jovago, Kaymu, Everjobs, Carmudi and Lamudi. Other AIG's stakeholders include Rocket Internet, Millicom and MTN. Africa's robust fundamentals like suburbanisation, less penetration rates, youth population and increase in middle class communities have attracted many foreign organisations to invest in their soil. Sacha Poignonnec, co-chief executive and founder of Jumia, said that the AIG is pleased with the future of Jumia and hope this merger will promote its business. According to Jeremy Hodara, co-CEO and founder of AIG, the online businesses in Africa will continue to grow amid the robust middles class growth as well as increasing internet exposure. This new partnership in insurance services will enable AIG to modernise and link businesses to meet the developing consumer demand in Africa, Jeremy added. Forbes said that Decatholan, a retailer of sporting goods in France, introduced an online store in Cote d'Lvoire through Jumia last month. Africa serves as a promising market for most insurance firms globally and this transaction will provide AXA SA the access to Africa's high customer base and allow it to grow its financial strength. AXA expects to better serve the African community with their insurance portfolio, according to AXA Deputy CEO, Denis Duverne. "The offline world, or real world infrastructure in Africa, is simply moving too slowly. You cannot find a real estate company or travel agency or insurance company on every second corner and our online businesses aim to fill that gap", Jeremy Hodara said Bloomberg. Eight analysts at Analysts Ratings.Net have assigned a 'buy' rating for the shares of AXA SA, while one analyst has given a 'sell rating and two have given a 'hold' rating, according to Financial Market News. With the advent of the internet and mobile phones, Africa has become a dominant location in connecting various businesses with the growing middle-class community. AXA's transaction with AIG will promote its business strategy and help the French insurer to serve the African society with its wide range of insurance products. China's venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners secured $648 million funds in total from investors, including Princeton University and Duke University. That makes this funding Qiming's fifth U.S dollar venture capital fund, also, its largest fund ever received. According to PR News Wire, this fund would help Qiming continue its strategy of funding innovations in China. The firm had helped fund as many as 160 outstanding Chinese entrepreneurs in various sectors, including Information Technology, Internet and Consumer, Healthcare, and Cleantech. Qiming's fifth funding is also the eighth largest China-based fund, as reported by Bloomberg. Rieschel, the firm's founding partner, explained the firm's focus on funding. "The vast majority of juice in the economy is coming from private companies. If you can find and invest in private companies early that have technology that can become pervasive, or is plain unique technology that hasn't been developed anywhere else before, then those should be bringing good financial returns," Rieschel stated. Among its over 160 investments, most of it were done in early stage companies and others in expansion stage. Rieschel described the funding move as a bet. "It's a bet on the entrepreneurship of China," the founding partner said. It's likely that the statement refers to the fact that there has been fierce debate over the standpoint for startups in China. It's reported that China venture firms invested a lot of funds for startups. In total, Chinese firms invested a record-high amount of $37 billion. That's the country's highest venture capital investment in a year, more that double the previous year's total. Chinese venture capital firms were eager to repeat entrepreneurial successes experienced with the Alibaba Group and other startups that they spent a lot of funds for startups. But that started a controversy over the concerns that too many companies are spending their venture money on subsidies for the sake of drawing customers. Qiming was founded in 2006, and its assets under management have now reached $2.5 billion. That was achieved through five US dollar funds and three Chinese yuan funds, according to South China Morning Post. The firm's investments include some big names such as smartphone company Xiaomi, big sites like Dianping and Mogujie, apps like Meitu, also tech companies including Zai Lab and UBTech. The funding from Princeton University and Duke University shows Western investors' confidence to keep counting on China's markets despite the country's slowing economy. The funding is an important factor to help Qiming staying a top choice for exceptional entrepreneurs in China, expanding its service to even more startups which in turn will support the country's economy. The era of start-ups has been started in India with the recent years witnessing the conversion of ideas into firms propelled by the easily available funding. This development in the recent period has made many to analyse whether these firms will succeed or not. The outcome of these companies in the future years remain a puzzle for many people. businesstoday cited CEO of Cvent Inc, Reggie Aggarwal, who says that he has a 'realistic view' regarding this race in the start-up arena. According to him, the 'gold rush' in India is similar to the situation that happened in America in the late 1990s. Cvent, founded by Reggie Aggarwal, Dave Quattrone, Dwayne Sye and Chuck Ghoorah, is listed in NYSE and has a market capital of 1.06 billion US dollar. The journey of the company has seen many ups and downs in its history since it was formed in 1999. Aggarwal, who was a lawyer, worked as an event organiser for Indian CEO Technology Council, during this period, he realised the agony in organising an event, so he quit the job to form Cvent Inc. The company started with 6 staffs and grew rapidly to 125. Slowly, Aggarwal was able to construct a 1.5 million US dollar revenue firm after spending the 17 million US dollar they had raised. Cvent was on the edge of filing a bankruptcy and Aggarwal had to reduce 80% of the company's workforce, when he decided to skip his salary for over two years and his team members also did the same way of sacrificing their salary. However, it took nearly 16 years for them to construct the company and position them in a place where they are now. According to Aggarwal, the start-ups in India are undergoing the similar struggle and that many will lose the race in the next 12 -24 months. However, many great companies will also arise from this process. The Indian market needs time to develop and that the start-ups have to wait to show up their performance. The CEO of Cvent advises young entrepreneur not to burn the entire capital within 18 months as their real aim is to win the customer base. In an interview with DC Inno, Aggarwal said that it is always best to commence a business when the entrepreneur is young as it requires nearly 10 -15 years to construct a company with a robust financial background. The main reason for Cvent's struggle during its early period was that it sold an expensive product. The problem lead Aggarwal to adopt the 'old way' of constructing the company. Currently, Cvent has grown up into a company that transforms events into experiences through technology. The company has nearly 850 Indian staffs but its main focus includes Hong Kong, Europe, Australia, Singapore and the US. According to Aggarwal, the Indian market is slow and advices the start-up entrepreneurs to wait for more than a decade to build a firm with strong financial background. The growth of start-ups remain a puzzle for many Indian experts. Apollo Education Group Inc., owner of the University of Phoenix, has announced on Monday to be acquired by a consortium of investors for $1.1 billion. Tony Miller, COO (Chief Operating Officer) and Partner of the Vistria Group will become Chairman of the Apollo Education Group Board upon closure of the transaction. He has also acted as the Deputy Secretary to the U.S. Department of Education. The deal is expected to be closed in August. The consortium includes The Vistria Group LLC, funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC and Najafi Companies. The offered price of $9.50 per share in cash for both Class A and B shares, accounts for 36.7% premium with the closing price of Apollo stock on Friday, reports StreetInsider. Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., had just awarded Google CEO Sundar Pinchai an equity award, with the highest amount a Google executive ever received. The award was given in the form of 273,328 Class C Google stock units, worth $199 million by the time it was given last week. According to Wall Street Journal, the award vests in a quarterly increase over the next four years, that is until 2019. However, it would only happen as long as Mr. Pichai is still employed by Alphabet. The equity award makes him one of the world's highest-paid executives, with more than $600 million equity stake value in Alphabet. The award was also one of the largest ever granted by a U.S. company. The equity award is usually granted by Google parent company every two years. However, the award received by Mr. Pichai on Wednesday, February 3, was the largest equity stake ever given to the company's executive officer, at least among other grants that have been publicly filed. Mr. Pichai was considered worthy of the award, partly because he took responsibility for businesses that accounted for 90 percent of Alphabet's revenue, and consequently also its profit. He also built Google's web browser, Chrome, and ran the Android operating system for years. That makes him one of the top recruiting target for the company's rivals. Bloomberg reported that this is Mr. Pichai's first award since he was appointed to run the search engine unit last year. He held the position following the company's reorganization with the forming of Alphabet Inc. as the holding and parent company of Google and other companies previously owned by Google. Previously, Mr. Pichai was the deputy of Google co-founder Larry Page. Besides Mr. Pichai, Alphabet also awarded Google's senior vice president for the search engine's cloud business, Diane Greene, a $42.8 million worth of restricted stock. Diane Greene was the co-founder and former CEO of VMware Inc. until 2008. In 2012, she was named to Google's board of directors and received equity award worth $148 million last year. A similar award worth $38.8 million in a form of stocks was also given to Alphabet CFO since May last year, Ruth Porat, as reported by The Verge. The equity award is the company's strategy to encourage executives to take a long-term view of the business. Google CEO Sundar Pinchai received a huge amount of the award, the biggest amount the company had ever given in the form of restricted stocks worth $199 million. The pouching for right talent is on the rise among the hedge funds. Considering the huge demand for the skilled professionals in the financial services segment, billionaire Steve Cohen-owned hedge fund Point72 Asset Management is investing in cultivating its own talent pool. Despite the talent crunch and in general crisis, the hedge fund industry is growing. Several hedge funds are competing with each other to snap up right talented professionals. The varied factors are making it difficult for hedge funds in the hiring process, according to a latest report from Barclay's Capital Solutions Group. The confluence of trends is not giving a clarity on future course of direction for the hedge funds. Business Insider reports that the financial services sector is not a better option for majority of youngsters. Steve Cohen-led $11.4-billion Point72 Asset Management, formerly SAC Capital, launched Point72 Academy to train college students for analyst positions. This is a 15-month paid program. The Academy is also offering a 10-week summer program. The latest trend indicates young graduates are heading towards Silicon Valley rather than choosing financial segment. Mike Butler, head of human resources at Point72 Asset Management, said: "This is a trend we're seeing in the industry, particularly with young folks heading to Silicon Valley instead of finance. Financial services segment is not the draw for the best talent that it once was." The hedge fund and asset management activities are being closely monitored by market regulators. The US regulators last month barred Steven Cohen from supervising funds managing outside money. The ban is effective till 2018. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken decision over Cohen's failure to effectively monitor a former portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, who was convicted for insider trading, according to CNBC. After the financial crisis and due to some regulations, the trading, sales and volumes in the capital markets are in fact shrinking. Hence, the class sizes for investment banks that's discouraging talent pool to shy away from this segment. The talented young generation has lot of opportunities whether in Silicon Valley or entrepreneurial activity. The challenging conditions in the financial markets are further highlighting the need for talented professionals for the asset management firms. The sluggish markets are disappointing investors. The volatility fears are gripping the markets from all sides. According to a data for 2015, the alternative asset managers manage a record $7.4 trillion, a rise of $500 billion from $6.9 trillion in 2014, according to Preqin, an investment research firm. US investors are reducing their exposure to equities, as reported by AllAboutAlpha. The response from young graduates for the training program is quite encouraging. Point72 Asset Management received 1,500 applications for 15 slots for the summer program. The number of applications for the inaugural class of 2015 was 400 and it rose to over 1,500 for 2016. Point72 will also identify superior analysts in other hedge funds and hire them as portfolio managers. The official website of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) has allegedly been taken down by Pakistani hackers. The website of Income-Tax (I-T) Department, a part of IRS, was hacked on early Saturday (6 February) and the site is still offline. The Income-Tax Department's official website (http://www.irsofficersonline.gov.in) has been hacked by hackers claimed to be based in Pakistan. The site is offline and displays messages 'Pakistan Zindabad' and 'We are team Pak cyber attacker.' However, the Indian officials later have taken charge and left a message stating 'We'll be back soon. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we're performing some maintenance at the moment.' The Express Tribune reports that the hacked website was acting as an official communicator between Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the I-T Department's field offices across the country. Earlier also, Indian music streaming website Gaana.com was hacked by a Pakistan-based hacker in May 2015. The interesting point was the hacked was later offered with a job at Gaana.com. The CEO of Gaana.com asked the hacker to find if any other issue was with the site. Coming to the latest hacking, the technical team involving in maintaining the website is working on this. The Indian Express further adds that the technical team has sent a detailed report to Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), a nodal agency for fighting against hacking and phishing. CERT-In fortifies security-related protection and security to the Indian Internet domain. In November 2015, Indian hackers attacked Pakistan government's websites. Two India-based cyber hacking groups allegedly taken down government departments of Pakistan. Shakti Campaign and VVV believed to have attacked the Pakistani government departments' sites. The hacked Pakistani websites included country's defense office also. However, the hacking was very basic in nature and not effective, an international cyber security expert as told The Times of India. The cyber hacking research reports reveal that some of the news agencies websites were spoofed to attract clicks. Meanwhile, some Indian hackers too attacked Pakistani website after the recent terror attack on Pathankot Air Force Station in India. It's learnt that hackers attacked about 20 Pakistani government sites. Some hackers were trying to block profiles on social media and websites operated y terror outfits, as reported by Mail Online India. The security audit on hacking the Indian tax department's website is being undertaken. The technical team is examining the way the online portal was hacked. They found that no sensitive or secret information was uploaded on Universal Resource Locator (URL) of IRS websites working with the I-T Department. SHARE JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Joan Muran, a nurse at Ventura County Medical Center, pickets with about 100 other nurses in Ventura on Tuesday. By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star Ventura County officials say they've offered county nurses an average wage increase of more than 11 percent but have not yet reached a deal with the union. "We are at a standstill," said Kim Milstien, CEO of Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital. The county is bargaining with nurses at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura and other county facilities over wages both sides acknowledge are out of whack with what private hospitals pay experienced nurses. Union leaders say the imbalance has pushed more experienced nurses to other hospitals. The county gave nurses temporary raises that end in February and March and are now negotiating over permanent increases. The two sides met in bargaining sessions Friday and Monday and both sides said Tuesday that they're waiting for another session to be scheduled. In an update posted on a county website, administrators said they're offering an average increase that would cost the county $12.2 million over 18 months. Tina Grieger of the California Nurses Association said she could not verify the county's numbers but said the offer is less than what other hospitals pay. She said county wages are 30 percent to 50 percent below what private hospitals pay in the area. "County nurses care for the sickest and most vulnerable patients in our community and want to deliver the highest quality care," she said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the county has created a crisis by not investing in our health system. Nurses are leaving the hospital because of very poor working conditions and uncompetitive wages." County officials noted in the website statement that they took the unusual step of opening up negotiations though a contract with the nurses is already in place. They said they're offering nurses with 20 years experience just under $78 an hour in total compensation. They say the union is asking for more than $83 an hour. Grieger declined to comment on specific proposals, saying she couldn't verify the numbers provided by the county. "Our patients and our entire community is suffering because the county cannot recruit and retain enough nurses to provide safe patient care," she said in her statement. Part of the battle seems rooted in assessing what other hospitals pay. County administrators say a survey by the Hospital Association of Southern California showed the county pays a competitive rate for beginning nurses in total compensation but lags with more experienced nurses. County officials also noted a tentative agreement has been reached with the union over salaries for operating room nurses. They said the agreement would affect 17 employees who carry the title of circulating surgical nurses. It would cost the county about $41,000 a year. A shortage of the surgical nurses last year brought the temporary closure of two operating rooms at Ventura County Medical Center. The county provided temporary raises of $20 an hour. The tentative agreement is dependent on the two sides reaching a deal on wages for all the nurses. Welcome This is a little blog of mine, just to kick around what I see going on in the world outside my window. Though primarily a blog looking at the world through Christian colored lenses, I'll touch on anything and everything, from culture and news to reflections on my own pilgrimage through the Christian Faith, to family and fun, history, vacations, movies, pets, cooking, delivery truck driving, you name it. Anyone can comment, I'll be pretty loose about it. Just be polite, follow basic rules of good behavior pre-MTV, and unless it gets threatening, vulgar, or outright mean (and that's not just being in a disagreement), I'll let the posts stand as they are. So welcome and enjoy. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Researchers have been tracking this mountain lion, known as P-45, in the Santa Monica Mountains. SHARE By Staff Reports A mountain lion was taken back to the wild Monday after it was tranquilized in a backyard in Fillmore by members of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office said someone called them about 3:30 p.m. to report that the cat was in their backyard along the 300 block of Fourth Street. The cat was emaciated and lethargic, officials said. It was shot with a tranquilizer about 5:45 p.m. and then transported back to the wild. Deputies said they had received reports of a mountain lion in Fillmore around 7 p.m. Saturday, but they were unable to find it. STAR FILE PHOTO A 2015 service commemorating the 1995 on-duty death of Simi Valley police Officer Michael Clark. SHARE By Staff Reports Assemblyman Scott Wilk on Monday introduced a resolution to name a Highway 118 overpass after Michael Clark, the only Simi Valley police officer to die in the line of duty. Clark was killed in 1995 while responding to a report of a suicidal man, who shot the officer. Daniel Tuffree, the man who shot Clark, was later convicted and sentenced to 54 years in prison. Wilk's resolution would designate the First Street overpass the Simi Valley Police Officer Michael Clark Memorial Overcrossing. "Officer Clark always put others first and was a devoted husband and father who deserves to be remembered for his brave actions as well as his service to California as a public safety officer," Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, who represents Simi Valley, said. "I am honored to assist in memorializing Officer Clark's legacy in our community." Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, is a principal co-author of the measure. AP File Photo/Felipe Dana In this Jan. 30 photo, Jose Wesley, who suffers from microcephaly, sleeps on a large pillow on his mothers bed in Bonito, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Fear of the believed link between Zika and the birth defect, micrcocepahy, is triggering precautions involving travel as well as blood donations. SHARE By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star People traveling to Mexico, Brazil and other countries where mosquitoes transmit the Zika virus should wait four weeks after their return to give blood, officials of two local blood banks said Monday. The 28-day delay is designed to make sure the virus believed linked to a brain birth defect, microcephaly, isn't passed through transfusions, said Scott Edward from the Ventura office of United Blood Services. He said the precaution could bring a slight cut in donations in states served by the blood center. "It might affect about 2 percent of the collections," said Edward, director of a district including California and Nevada. Zika Advice Federal officials advise pregnant women to consider delaying trips to countries where Zika is transmitted locally. They say all travelers to affected regions should take the following precautions: Cover exposed skin with clothing. Use EPA-registered repellents containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR3535. Wear permethrin-treated clothing. Stay in screened or air-conditioned rooms. Use condoms during sex. For a list of affected regions and other information, go to the CDC website. The American Red Cross has instituted the same delay, though officials say the chances of the disease being spread by a transfusion are extremely low. The cases reported in the United States do not involve transmission by mosquitoes. "If the donor does develop symptoms we're asking them to notify the Red Cross right away," said Jim McGee, CEO of a Red Cross region covering 10 counties including Ventura County. The nation's fight to limit transmission of Zika continued Monday as President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.8 billion to expand mosquito control, accelerate efforts to find a vaccine and other measures. Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the disease is being spread by mosquitoes in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. They advise pregnant women to consider not traveling to affected countries and say all travelers should protect themselves from mosquitoes. They also advise men returning from affected countries to consider using condoms to protect sexual partners. The disease is primarily passed through infected mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus but CDC officials said there also have been reports of transmission through transfusion and sexual contact. Mexico officials said last week there have been 37 cases of the virus in the country, none involving pregnant women, compared to reports of more than 3,000 cases involving pregnancies in Colombia. Mexican government tourism leaders say the disease poses no risk to tourists, noting cases have happened in rural areas away from most travel destinations. Health workers at the Mexican Consulate in Oxnard are working to educate people about Zika but few people have expressed anxiety about travel, said Jonathan Alvarez, consul for community affairs. Worry over the virus is a constant in Dr. Stephen Carter's obstetrics and gynecology office in Camarillo. "I had a (pregnant) patient in the last 10 minutes say 'I'm not worried about this but my husband wanted to ask you,'" said Carter early Monday afternoon, noting the woman decided to cancel her travel plans to a country where mosquitoes transmit Zika. Dr. Robert Levin, Ventura County Public Health officer, said he supports federal guidelines and thinks travel to Mexico is safe for people who are not pregnant or planning a pregnancy. He said the attention foisted on Zika has made people associate it with a category of new viruses highly dangerous not just for one risk group but wider swaths of people. "Of these viruses, Zika, for the nonpregnant person, is probably the most benign," Levin said. Photos by Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Jeff Ghelardi of San Diego leads a county contingent on part of an 800-mile Walk to Stop Executions in Ventura on Thursday. He is accompanied by Richard Carlburg. SHARE Pair stops in county on way capital By Anna Chang-Yen Achang-Yen@Venturacountystar.Com Two anti-death penalty activists walked through Ventura on Thursday on an 800-mile trek to air their convictions and deliver a message to the district attorney: "Stop seeking death sentences." Jeff Ghelardi of San Diego and Richard Carlburg of Fountain Valley made their way to Ventura on foot from their most recent event in Los Angeles on Oct. 5. At the Ventura County Government Center, where District Attorney Greg Totten's office is located, they were joined Thursday by about 15 local supporters, and the group continued on to Ventura College. They carried signs reading, "Don't kill for me" and "Execute justice, not people." It was part of the Walk to Stop Executions, whose sponsors include Amnesty International, Death Penalty Focus and the American Civil Liberties Union. The men began walking in San Diego on Sept. 15 and will finish Nov. 30 in Sacramento. The two contend that seeking the death penalty is more costly than pursing life in prison without parole, and prolongs the suffering of victims' families. California halted executions in 2006, while the state waits for a U.S. district judge to rule on the legality of its lethal injection protocols. Among local walkers was Vera Ramirez-Crutcher of Oxnard, whose 22-year-old son, Donald Crutcher, was murdered 29 years ago. His killer was sentenced to seven years in prison. Ramirez-Crutcher has since been active in speaking out against the death penalty. "A life is a life," she said. "I know how my family felt the hurt and I can imagine a mother and father going through the same thing we did." More killing via the death penalty is not the answer, Ramirez-Crutcher said. "It doesn't bring anybody back. It doesn't solve anything. It doesn't give you closure." Ghelardi said Totten was invited to hear the group's arguments, but like all of the other district attorneys invited to events along the walk's route, he declined. James Ellison, chief assistant to the district attorney, said the group has a right to express its point of view, but his office would not be swayed. "The laws have been set up by the Legislature and the people who vote for the Legislature, and it's the DA's job to enforce the laws that have been set up," he said. Carlburg, of Amnesty International, cries foul at that line of reasoning. "He has discretion. There's nothing that says he has to go for the death penalty." David Howard of Ojai, who spoke on behalf of Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions, said more than 100 death row inmates have been exonerated since the early 1970s. He compared the death penalty to war and murder, saying the debate about capital punishment "is about violence in general." The next stop on the walk will be in Santa Barbara on Oct. 19. SHARE The ugly, racist, threatening hate mail sent this month to Oxnard Bishop Broderick Huggins should act as a wake-up call for anyone who doubts that these evil racists live in our community. Bishop Huggins was interviewed, and featured in a photo, in a Jan. 18 Ventura County Star front page article examining the African-American population in our county and the daily discrimination they face. A clipping of that Star page was mailed to Bishop Huggins covered in vile, despicable rants and threats against African-Americans and Bishop Huggins. It was, of course, anonymous. Oxnard Police Chief Jeri Williams says a hate crime detective is investigating but admitted that hopes of catching someone is not good because there is so little evidence to go on. Let's be clear, though, that this racist is living here in one of our neighborhoods. We are sure of that because we have seen and heard the vitriol of racism against African-Americans and Latinos and Filipinos and Chinese and Koreans, and many others who live and work here with us. Bishop Huggins told our reporter that racism "is just something you learn to live with." In the original article, he explained the daily discrimination that African-Americans, particularly the younger generation, face in Ventura County. Others in the community we interviewed for the story reflected different life experiences not has harsh as those experienced by Bishop Huggins. Even given those differences, we all know that hatred based on race or religion or appearance is prevalent in our community. We're not going to end it today. But we must attack it today. Hate is like love. It is learned. We emulate those we admire and respect. And if they exude love, then there is a much greater chance that we will adopt and spread that love, too. If their lives are consumed by hate, then those who learn from them will be more prone to hate too. We simply cannot accept a world in which hate dominates. We must be willing to stand and fight it back at every moment. When you hear it at school, do not let it go unchallenged. When it spews forth in line at the grocery store, do not be meek and pretend you did not hear it. When it comes from a politician, even couched in artful insinuation, stand for his or her opponent and say why. When you read it in print or online, be willing to face the wrath of trolls and stop it. There are laws, though difficult to enforce, that allow us to punish those who practice the kind of vicious hate crimes that Bishop Huggins experienced. There are no laws, and there should not be any laws, that punish hate speech. We do not want government regulating speech. We want society to stand and show it does not and will not accept hate speech as a part of who we are. It is shameful that this attack came from our community. We hope the individual is caught, convicted and punished. Let it, though, be our lesson to stand together and not allow us to become a community that tolerates hate. Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Analysis: In New Hampshire, candidates tread through old towns and new political turf remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. FORMER superbike star Sean Emmett has been cleared over the death of his wife in a hotel window fall during their honeymoon in 2013. Surrey Police said bail had been cancelled and no further action would be taken against the dad-of-three. Abbie Emmett fell from the fourth floor of a Dubai hotel in February 2013, days after the couples wedding in Cape Town, South Africa. Dubai police withheld Emmetts passport for 10 months before concluding the death was not suspicious and allowing him to leave the United Arab Emirates and return to the UK. He was arrested by Surrey Police officers on arrival at Heathrow Airport in December 2013. Yesterday a spokesman for the force said: The 45-year-old man arrested in connection with the death of Surrey resident Abigal Emmett nee Elson, in Dubai in February 2013 has had his bail cancelled with no further action taken against him. Following the arrest of the man in December 2013 officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team carried out a lengthy and extensive investigation and have worked in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service. Related Articles Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Antony Archibald said: 'This has been a challenging and complex investigation where we have had to liaise with a number of different agencies, including the authorities in Dubai. 'This process has taken a considerable period of time but it is vital that we explore all lines of inquiry as part of our efforts to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. 'This will remain a live investigation and our enquiries will continue. 'We have liaised with the Elson family throughout our investigation and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time. We will continue to provide appropriate support and updates for Abigail's family going forward.' Tests showed Mrs Emmett had been drinking before her death at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel on February 19. A British coroner later concluded the death was not suspicious. Almost 4,000 supporters had signed an online petition to the British Government to allow him home. Tests had showed that Mrs Emmett from Addlestone, Surrey, had been drinking prior to her sudden death at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Garhoud on February 19. A British coroner later concluded the death had not been suspicious. A petition calling on the UK Government to assist in bringing Emmett home from Dubai gained over 14,000 signatures. Emmett, who won 19 British Superbike races between 2006 and 2008, was jailed for three months in March last year for attacking 25-year-old girlfriend Lana Saoud after drinking eight pints of Guinness. [Editors Note: Economic issues appeared to trump human rights concerns during US Secretary of State John Kerrys visits to Laos and Cambodia last month. The leaders of the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are now preparing to gather in California on Feb.15 and Feb. 16. The focus of that summit is also likely to once again be trade and economic cooperation, amid the Obama administrations ongoing efforts to counterbalance the influence of rising power of China in the region. However, the summit comes as journalists in many parts of Southeast Asia are facing tough times, and advocates will be hoping that American officials take the opportunity to press regional leaders on their treatment of independent media. Among them is Shawn Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative at the Committee to Protect Journalists. He spoke at length with VOA Khmers Say Mony about the outlook for independent reporting in the region.] First of all, what is the current state of press freedom and independent news media in Southeast Asia? As always in the region, it's a mixed bag and there are different dynamics in different countries which we monitor. There are some very upbeat stories as far as the emergence of independent media goes, for instance in Burma or Myanmar. What we have seen since 2012 as the military lightened its censorship grip has been a burgeoning of new independent media outlets, particularly in print media, that have taken up new stories and angles which were, frankly, unheard of under the previous military regime. We see this as a very positive development, this emergence of new voices in Burma. It's instrumental in the countrys transition towards what we view as a quasi democracy as long as the military maintains a strong political role. That's been a good news story. In other places such as Malaysia, where since the late 1990s, you had an emergence, particularly online, of new independent media, particularly outlets like Malaysiakini and now, more recently, Malaysia Insider. These publications have challenged the state and political parties' long-dominance over the media and reported news that quite frankly have made a various UMNO [United Malays National Organisation]-led regimes quite uncomfortable. And theyve been absolutely instrumental in opening space in Malaysia for debate and dialogue that was unheard of previously, when the dominant-UMNO party dominated the media. Of course, the story is not quite so positive in regards to the broadcast media, which is very much dominated by the state, but the online space that has been open has really in many regards in Malaysia pushed the political-oriented mediai.e. the ones controlled by UMNOto take up stories they wouldn't have previously just due to the base embarrassment of not covering some of the stories that outlets like Malaysiakini and Malaysia Insider are covering. So, that's been a positive story as well. Unfortunately, in Malaysia, the state and authorities are starting to crack down on some of these outlets. This has been spasmodic over the last few years, but it has been particularly pitched last year with the deterioration of the political climate there. Malaysia is one of these mixed-bag stories Where I sit, in Thailand, we would argue that this is a bad news story, where you've seen a clear deterioration in press freedom conditions and an assault on independent media by military authorities, where there are unclear guidelines as to what constitutes overly-critical news. Media outlets find themselves suddenly lashed-out against by military leaders for reporting on issues deemed sensitive, or just, frankly, perceived as negative of the military regimes image. The independent media in Thailand now really doesn't know where the line is towards what is permissible and what is not. That remains a very delicate situation for the reporters here. Which country in the region has the most independent media right now? The most independent media in the region is probably in the Philippines. That's been the case for a long time and that judgment comes from the fact that you have independently held and privately run media in all formatsbroadcast, online and printand have for sometime. The Philippines most certainly has a free-wheeling and at times rollicking media. The problem there is that the media is perceived as so free that journalists sometimes say things that perhaps they don't necessarily have the facts to back, and this often leads to conflict. Unfortunately, with the Philippines underdeveloped judicial system, it's not capable of mediating these and, oftentimes, it results in violence. The Philippines is far and away the freest media in the region but it's not a complete sunshine story there because journalists are sometimes killed for their reporting and commentaries. Its a situation where freedom sometimes results in violence, which is something that we have campaigned against for a long time. The government there needs to gets strong about improving its judicial processes and actually prosecuting the killers of journalists. What about the least independent in the region? I think at this point it's probably Laos, the often overlooked, landlocked country. It's still very much run by an authoritarian, communist regime that tolerates almost no free media. You have the Vientiane Times there, but thats very much under the state's control. The broadcast media's totally dominated and theres just no room whatsoever for free reporting and commentary. The only reason I would put Laos ahead of Vietnamwhich is a country that is very troubling in regards to its lack of any sort of free mediais that there's been a real burgeoning blogosphere in Vietnam that the authorities have had trouble coming to grips with and finding ways to bring under the same control that it has the mainstream media. In Vietnam, it's a real cat-and-mouse game, where bloggers hide behind pseudonyms and anonymity to write pretty critical commentary on the political situation and the social situation there. The authorities try to find out who they are and crack down on them. Until recently, Vietnam was one of the worst jailers of journalists in all of the world. Most of those journalists wrote onlinei.e. the ones they imprisoned were free, independent bloggers, and not state-controlled, state-dominated media. So, people are now going online, where they can express themselves freely. But some countries are now managing to curb those freedoms, is that correct? The emergence of free, independent media online was something that really kicked off in the mid-2000s and governments were slow on the uptake on how to control these new independent outlets. But a decade later, governments have slowly but surely figured out how to ferret out these independent voices that hide behind anonymity and pseudonyms, and to ramp up harassment against them, and try to bring them under the same controls and strictures they've long had over the mainstream media. This is the process that I think has actually narrowed the space that was much more open in place like Vietnamand increasingly here in Thailandin the mid-2000. Some of that space has been taken back by government authorities. With the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community this year, the focus seems to be on economic growth, rather than on issues like press freedom. Why is independent media important for Southeast Asia? In our view, independent free media is essential for well-functioning democracies and modern globalized economies. In respect to your question, it's crucial for a well-functioning, modern, capitalist economy for there to be a free flow of information so that investors and consumers can react to market conditions as they shift and change. In countries where the press is not free, theres not a free flow of information, then that leads to market distortions which oftentimes hurts investors and consumers and inhibits their ability to make wise business-based decisions. Unfortunately, for a region like Southeast Asia, many of these countries look north to China and see a country where the media is harshly repressed, and has been for sometime. And at the same time, they see a capitalist miracle story taking place without a functioning free media. I would argue that the reality of the situation is coming to roost right about now where the world at large has no idea what is the real state of China's economy, precisely because they dont have a free media and for years people relied on what's obviously been over-robust government economic statistics. But now people are starting to question those numbers and unfortunately don't have a free media to chime in and put a check on those. I think China eventually is going to prove a story where the lack of free media actually allowed very big economic distortions to build up without journalistic checks to pinprick these bubbles before they became too large. The risk and the fear for Southeast Asia is that in countries where you don't have a free media to check economic policy making or in a countries where you did and now that media freedom is being taken back, you don't really know what are the true states of these economies. I would point to a country like Thailand in particular, where the government remains upbeat about its performance, but increasingly investors are starting to question the integrity of some of the economic forecasts and statistics that are being put forward in a way that they perhaps they didn't question when the country is under democratic rule. Now that ASEAN has gathered, and they are prioritizing economic growth, we would say that they need to simultaneously and coincidentally prioritize press freedom to ensure that the economic growth they achieve is healthy and transparent. What are some of the other setbacks in media freedom and independent media in Southeast Asia recently? Cambodia is another one of those, in our opinion, mixed-bag stories. For years you've had a pocket of independent print media outlets, like the Phnom Penh Post or the Cambodia Daily and various others that have taken a pretty strong independent line and jousted with Hun Sens government for years over their reporting on issues that hes at times considered sensitive. We also acknowledged the important work that Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have played in the broadcast media, particularly their radio broadcasts which has reached such large audience for such a long time. Obviously your reporting has frequently got in Hun Sens crosshairs as well. In regards to the broadcast television media, this is something that has been pretty sewn up and controlled by the ruling CPP for some time. That obviously reaches perhaps the largest audience in the country with pro-CPP news as its nightly fare. I think there was some hope there that the accommodation would reach Sam Rainsy and that he was going to be allowed to run his own television station, and you would finally get an opposing voice in the television media, but obviously the politics there has deteriorated again, and the hopes for that are pretty much dashed. As the political climate in Cambodia deteriorates, I think the pressure on some of these independent voices is likely to grow. I think there was hope in Cambodia when you had this delicate power-sharing arrangement that you might have seen more critical news targeted at the CPP, but as the rapprochement falls apart between the two sides we're pretty much back to square one with the CPP attempting to dominate the narrative and putting pressure on the few independent outlets that are there to counter their narratives. Cambodias prime minister, Hun Sen, has recently started using Facebook as a means to connect to the people. Do you see this as a positive sign for the countrys media climate? It just becomes another pro-government channel, does it not? I doubt you see much criticism on Hun Sens Facebook page. Leaders of the world over use social media channels as a way of trying to counter critical news coverage of their governments. I don't think Hun Sen or the CPP top leaders are any different in that regard. We are pretty aware of stories that are reported by some of the mainstream media where authorities make it very clear of their displeasure over that reporting, and that hasn't changed, even if Hun Sen does have a Facebook page. We see it in Malaysia as well. The Najib [Razak] regime has made use of Facebook and Twitter. Their crack down on opposition voices, contemporaneous with their own engagement with social media, has been quite striking. So in some respect, it's really just another channel for pro-government propaganda. Why do you think Southeast Asian governments are not able to tolerate having free and independent media? Very few governments in the region want a genuine, true and independent and critical check on their power. In most countries that's a reflection of the fact that they are still poorly governed and that authorities are oftentimes involved in corrupt practices that they do not want to be exposed by a free and independent media. [They want] to protect themselves from harsh scrutiny, which they see could potentially destabilize their regime or most certainly counter the positive spin that they perpetuate through state-controlled media on a nightly basis. They clamp down and that try to promote cultures of fear and uncertainty among reporters that if you go too far in checking our regime, there are serious repercussions on the other side. That's true across the region from Malaysia to Thailand to Cambodia, most certainly in Vietnam, and even in Burma. ASEAN leaders are set to meet Barack Obama in mid-February in California. What can the U.S. do to improve the state of media freedom in Southeast Asia? We would hope that President Obama would prioritize the need for greater press freedoms across the region in that meeting. Obviously we understand some of the strategic and economic imperatives that are driving the initiatives and recognize those. But we think that deeper economic and strategic engagement with the United States should be predicated on allowances for greater press freedom in the spirit of American democracy. This is something that we would hope that as the U.S. shifts its gaze once again toward Southeast Asia on its strategic and economic importance, particularly as a counter-balance to China in a larger Great Game sort of contest between the two super-powers, that the US maintains priority on issues like press freedom and obviously more broadly in the promotion of democracy in these countries. So we've pushed very hard in Vietnam as Hanoior at least the faction inside the communist party therestarts to look toward the U.S. for strategic backing vis-a-vis China. That any engagement is predicated on allowances for more press freedom and the freeing of bloggers and independent journalists in Vietnam. We've been somewhat heartened that over the last year 10 journalists were released. Not all early, but nonetheless after they completed their sentences, in Vietnam. So we would hope that the U.S. would, as it engages with other countries in the region, make similar demands, not necessarily for releasing imprisoned journalists, but for allowing for more independent media online and in all formats including broadcast media. So we're hoping that this is something that is giving voice at that meeting. And it's something we are absolutely pushing forward from behind the scenes. Two men who were part of a protest for bus drivers have been detained by authorities Monday, following violent demonstrations against a bus company in Phnom Penh on Saturday. Some 45 bus drivers are demanding their jobs back with Capitol Bus. The two men, Norn Vanna, a former driver, and Rous Siphay, a member of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, were held following the questioning of six protesters on Monday. Deputy prosecutor Srey Makny said all six men are accused of intentional violence, opposing public officials and obstructing traffic. The violence came as protesting bus drivers clashed with counter-protesters for the bus company from a group called the Cambodia for Confederation Development Association. The counter-protesters attacked protesters with hammers and batons, leaving many injured. Thirty-four civil society groups signed a joint statement condemning the violence. Kong Atith, secretary general of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, who suffered injuries on Saturday and was also questioned by the court, said the decision to hold the two men was an unfair decision by the court. They only support those who have money and make the poor and vulnerable struggle, he said. Our nation has to change. If there's no change, there will be no light at the end of the tunnel for innocent people like us. Some 50 protesters gathered outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday to demand the men be released. Am Sam Ath, chief investigator for the rights group Licadho, said the court needed to scrutinize the case carefully and understand what caused the clashes. He also said the court has little evidence against the men it was now charging, and he pointed out there have been no arrests of counter-protesters caught on video. Ath Thon, head of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, who was also detained after the clashes, said Capitol Bus appeared to have the support of local authorities in Prampi Makara district. They used thugs to beat us with weapons, he said. We held a protest with no weapons, and yet were arrested. This is unfair. Supporters for the fired bus drivers will continue to push forward, he said. We cannot stop. Cambodia for Confederation Development Association officials could not be reached for comment Monday. Phou Kokvann, assistant director of Capitol Bus, denied the company had hired counter-protesters and said the company will pursue legal action against the protesters. US Ambassador to Cambodia William Heidt met with the vice president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Kem Sokha, on Monday, on a broad range of issues, including recent political tensions. Heidt, who was sworn in as ambassador in September 2015, also recently met Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials. Hun Sen and a delegation are currently preparing for a meeting with other ASEAN leaders and US President Barack Obama, in Sunnylands, California, next week. Following the hour-long meeting with Heidt, Kem Sokha told reporters the meetings results were good and a hope for the nation and the Cambodian people. Heidt briefly told reporters the meeting focused on US-Cambodian relations and the recent political tensions. I told him that I am glad to see the two political parties went to the election offices in the provinces like we do in the US, he said. I think this is a positive process. Rescue Party spokesman Yem Ponharith said later that the ambassador had confirmed the US commitment to building the confidence of the Cambodian people in their government and institutions. The meeting was not about Rescue Party President Sam Rainsy, who remains in exile, facing prison time for criminal defamation charges, he said. Detained activists were also not discussed, he said. Yem Ponharith meanwhile dismissed rumors that the Rescue Party was behind planned demonstrations in California for Hun Sens visit. Those protests are the work of individuals and most protesters are not members of the Rescue Party, he said. Yem Ponharith said the security situation for Rescue Party lawmakers has somewhat improved since two lawmakers were beaten outside the National Assembly in October. Shortly after the attacks, Kem Sokha was removed from his post as vice president of the National Assembly. Yemeni forces and al-Qaida militants battled Tuesday in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, leaving several people dead. The fighting took place in the Mansoura district. Residents there said the Yemeni troops were backed by aircraft from a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting on behalf of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi for nearly a year. The government is trying to establish control over Aden after pushing out Houthi rebels late last year. The Houthis still control Yemen's capital, Sana'a, and other parts in the north. The conflict that at one point forced Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia has allowed fighters from al-Qaida and Islamic State to take control of parts of Aden and other areas in southern Yemen. As Cameroon's young people prepare to observe national youth day on Thursday, February 11, many are questioning their future. As the week long activities take place, youths are complaining that galloping unemployment and economic insecurity are causing many of them to lose confidence in their own country. More than 30,000 graduate with university degrees each year but fewer than 10 percent are gainfully employed. Thousands of youths gathered in the southwestern Cameroon town of Tiko for the launch of national youth day activities. They sang, despite growing unemployment, underemployment and mounting insecurity - especially in the northern part of the country where Boko Haram attacks are frequent. Twenty-four-year old university graduate Stanley Beke said he wants to join the many youths who have left Cameroon in search of greener pastures in developed countries, but lacks the financial means. "It is really frustrating for a youth to leave school after some degree and realize that there is no job in the country. That is why you find many youths forcing themselves to go overseas. Some of them lock themselves in ships just to find themselves somewhere out there. Many youths only want to leave the country because they don't see any future in this country," said Beke. The president of Cameroon's national youth council, Jean Mark Afesi Mbafor, said the main problem is that Cameroon's educational system, created before independence to train civil servants, is outdated. He said that if education were professionalized, Cameroon would be training youths who can create jobs instead of youths who expect to be recruited into the already saturated civil service. "We are told in China today, calculators are coming out from (being made by) secondary schools in China. We can do that in Cameroon and contribute our own part in the development of Cameroon. And the head of state has talked a lot about technological development, and we know we can not talk about emergence without industrial and technological development," said Mbafor. The director general of Cameroon's National Employment Fund, Moute a Bidias, said that besides giving loans to youths to start businesses or open farms and breed livestock, they have negotiated with Cameroon enterprises to recruit youths and train them in various professional fields. He said such companies will get a tax break. "We have about 100,000 enterprises in Cameroon. If half of those enterprises, that means 50,000 enterprises, recruit just one young person, we will be able to put 50,000 young people to work in enterprises this year. Imagine that some of the enterprises recruit two or three young people. How much shall we have? asked Bidias. According to the World Factbook, the unemployment rate in Cameroon is 30 percent. Cameroon's National Institute of Statistics reports a 70 percent underemployment rate. Cameroon's minister of youth affairs and civic education Mounouna Foutsou say such figures are making Cameroonian youths vulnerable to terrorist groups. The 50th Cameroonian national youth day is being celebrated under the theme "Youths, citizenship and the fight against insecurity for an emerging Cameroon." Former hostage Jocelyn Elliott arrived in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou earlier this week, just a couple of days after being released by a jihadist group linked to al-Qaida. The terrorist group had kidnapped the Australian citizen and her husband in a remote part of the West African nation in mid-January. Speaking to the media, she said she wants to pursue her efforts to obtain the release of her husband and keep working in the country. After three weeks of detention, in the hands of a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida, former hostage Jocelyn Elliotts first words were for the people of Burkina Faso. She said she wants to thank the people of Burkina for their support during her absence. 76 years old, Elliott was kidnapped along with her husband Ken Elliott in a remote location in northern Burkina Faso, close to the border with Mali and Niger, on January 15th. The Australian couple had been living in the area for more than 40 years.They established and ran the sole medical facility in the small town of Djibo. After their kidnapping, the people of Djibo organized a rally and turned to social media to campaign for the couple's release. Elliott said she hopes her husband will soon be free so they can resume their life in Djibo. Burkina Fasos president Roch Marc Christian Kabore thanked neighboring Niger for its role in Elliotts release, but said the effort to free Elliott's husband must continue. Kabore said he hopes Doctor Elliott will be released in the coming days. Burkina Faso has been increasingly targeted by Islamist terrorists groups that have been active in neighboring countries in the Sahel region, raising fears that Islamist violence could spread to other parts in West Africa. Its lunchtime and Anjali Bhandari is busy preparing Nepalese curries at her parents Cafe Momo in Manchester. Bhandaris family resettled in New Hampshire seven years ago after spending years in a refugee camp in Nepal. They were forced out from their native Bhutan in the early 1990s by the largely Buddhist kingdom because of their ethnic Nepali Hindu origin. Now, this 23-year-old new American citizen is happy to call the United States home. We have the freedom to do anything here than in our country, Bhandari said during a break from her cooking. Each year for nearly a decade, the U.S. State Department has resettled hundreds of Bhutanese refugees in an unlikely place the northeastern state of New Hampshire. The community numbers nearly 2,000. Suraj Budathoki arrived in Manchester in 2009 as part of the U.S. refugee resettlement program. The young father holds two jobs, including one at the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, where he helps fellow refugees settle into their new life. I am happy, I am here. I am doing my best. I am doing great, Budathoki said. Hopefully I will be better off with my family and do something for the community that has helped me when I was in the refugee camp. Like other New Hampshire residents, the refugee is following the presidential campaign closely now that he is an American citizen, attending rallies and trying to gauge candidates perspectives, particularly on human rights. It is tough, really tough to choose the best candidate, Budathoki said. While he did not name any particular candidate or party, Budathoki said he is dismayed by the comments from some on the global refugee crisis. Its not good that the presidential candidate should bring this type of hateful rhetoric against these refugees, who at this time need the help, he said. With the help of grants from the government and private donations, the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire helps up to 3,500 refugees resettle here in the state, and not just people from Bhutan, but refugees from Burma, Sudan and Iraq. Bhagirath Khatiwada oversees all programs at the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, helping refugees get jobs, sign up for health care and learn English. He disputes the perception that immigrants take away opportunities from Americans. Within a short period of time, they have contributed significantly to the state of New Hampshire, Khatiwada noted. Just look at the cultures that they brought, how rich we have become after the arrival of immigrants and refugees in the state. This new American citizen and father of two, who arrived in the U.S. eight years ago, says he is grateful for the opportunity and freedom he and other refugees now enjoy. People are very welcoming. They receive us with their open arms. We are very thankful to the government of this great country and the people of this great country. A Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity died in The Hague Monday evening, a spokesman for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Tuesday. The former head of military intelligence in the Bosnian Serb army, Zdravko Tolimir, 67, was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes during the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, a city in Eastern Bosnia. Announcing the verdict on December 12, 2012, the presiding judge, Christoph Fluegge, said that witnesses described Tolimir as the right hand and eyes and ears of Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic. The judge said Tolimir was fully aware and participated in the criminal operation of Bosnian Serb forces that carried out the massacre. "The accused not only had a knowledge of genocidal attempt of others, but also possessed it himself. He is therefore responsible for the crime of genocide," he said. Appeals judges upheld most of his convictions last April and confirmed Tolimirs sentence. The alleged main architects of the Bosnian Serb massacres, Mladic and former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, are being held at the tribunal's detention unit in The Hague. Mladic's trial is still underway, while verdicts in Karadzic's case are expected to be delivered early this year. Both men are charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war that left 100,000 people dead. Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in 2006, while on trial for genocide and other crimes. Prime Minister Hun Sen is preparing for a meeting of ASEAN leaders with U.S. President Barack Obama later this month, political analysts say the visit will be a good way for Cambodia to improve relations with the United States. Hun Sen and other leaders will meet Obama in Sunnylands, California next week to discuss trade and security issues. The meeting of the political and economic organization of 10 Southeast Asian countries follows the visit of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Cambodia in January. It also comes after a trip to China by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong who, along with Hun Sen, has in recent days taken umbrage at suggestions the China trip was in response to the Kerry visit. Cambodia has shouldered criticism for its apparent siding with China during an ASEAN chairmanship in 2012. China is a major source of aid and trade for Cambodia, but the U.S. has tried in recent years to make more diplomatic inroads here and across Southeast Asia. Some analysts say that means a good opportunity for Cambodia to balance its foreign policy. While our economy is not strong enough and reliant upon other nations, it means that we cannot have a fully independent foreign policy, Chheang Vannarith, a lecturer in Asia-Pacific studies at Leeds University, told VOA Khmer. So we need to improve the economy and have many of development partners. But that also requires national unity, he said. Political parties must have a joint stance for deeper dialogue related to foreign policies. If not, those parties could face frictions and disputes, while major powers will likely be taking sides with [differing] parties, which would be lead to national turmoil. Cambodia could gain from the current diplomatic environment, as its courted by both the U.S. and China, he said. Kerrys visit, for example, focused on trade, something Cambodia needs more of. Chheang Vannarith warned that to balance between the two sides is to walk a very thin line that will require specialized diplomats. Still, he said, if we can maintain a neutral stance and balance, we can gain from both sides. Kem Ley, a political analyst in Phnom Penh, said China and Cambodia have self-binding diplomatic ties, especially considering Cambodia moved away from a forum for development aid in 2012, allowing it to work directly with donors. Since then, China has provided a lot of aid, but the balance of power has shifted, he said. That means that even if it wanted to, Cambodia could not do away with Chinese aid. And since Cambodia needs more than $1 billion a year to keep the government functioning, turning away its support or support for the South China Sea issue or ASEAN-China mechanisms is very hard, he said. Hun Sen said in a speech Friday that Cambodia remains neutral, a message echoed by Hor Namhong. Kerry has not asked Cambodia to choose sides, the foreign minister told reporters last week. Meanwhile, the Sunnylands summit, scheduled for Feb. 15 and 16, will provide a chance for more talks between regional leaders and the U.S. on trade and security issues, likely including the South China Sea, where four ASEAN nations have overlapping claims with China. Hun Sen and chief members of his cabinet will be there. Chheang Vannarith said Cambodia is likely to employ silent diplomacy on the South China Sea issue, and will focus on expanding trade cooperation during the summit. Kem Ley said Cambodias financial dependence on China does not allow for much room on the issue. Cambodia is still following the old path of diplomacy, one reminiscent of the 1960s, when the nation fully supported China, he said. Those relations have gone through various stages, as have those with the U.S., in ensuing years, through the fall of the Khmer Rouge and the rise of Cambodias nascent democracy. Kem Ley said Cambodia now needs to be cautious. If we were independent and abided by the constitution, without favoring any nation and treating all countries with similar diplomacy, it would be a good thing, he said. He also warned that favoring one side or the other could drag the country into a conflict one day. Poor diplomacy now could have repercussions for decades, he said. It is not different from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt and Morocco. China's official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday that the country had confirmed its first imported case of the Zika virus. Xinhua, citing the country's National Health and Family Planning Commission, said the virus was found in a 34-year-old man who had traveled from Venezuela to his home in Ganxian county, Jiangxi province. The patient has been quarantined and treated in a local hospital since February 6. Having visited Venezuela last month, the patient showed signs of fever, headache and dizziness on January 28 before returning to his hometown late last week, Xinhua said. He is now recovering with a regulated body temperature and fading rash. Signs and symptoms of the Zika virus include fever, rash, headache, conjunctivitis and pain in the joints, muscles and eyes. It usually results in mild illness, but the virus poses a greater danger to pregnant women and may be linked to a rare neurological condition called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. Xinhua cited the health officials as saying that because of low temperatures in the region, there was an "extremely low" risk that the virus would spread further. Observed in many countries around the world, Valentines Day is sometimes celebrated with chocolate festivals. But at a festival near Washington, the visitors experience a bit more than a sugar rush. They go on a sweet journey through history. Visitors start their journey by learning about cocoa beans, the main ingredient of chocolate. Inside, there are about 20 to 40 cocoa beans. And you see the white color here is actually the pulp on the outside of the beans," a demonstrator holding a cocoa pod explains. Visitors at the annual chocolate festival in McLean, Virginia can sample all kinds of sweets, but at a table where a half dozen demonstrators explain the process of early American chocolate making, they can taste the past along with their candy. Visitors see how cocoa nibs are ground on a heated stone called a metate with spices and other ingredients to produce a chocolate block. They learn how chocolate was originally consumed primarily as a beverage, up to and through the 1880s, when the 1st candy bar was manufactured and distributed. David Borghesani is a chocolate historian with American Heritage Chocolate, a division of MARS, which is one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in the nation. Holding a piece of chocolate block, Borghesani demonstrates, It is just a little too hard for us to eat like a candy bar. So in Colonial chocolate making, they would take chocolate blocks in this form and grate it to make fine chocolate power. Then the powder was mixed with hot water in a chocolate pot." The historian said, We found an authentic colonial recipe partnering with the folks at Colonial Williamsburg. The recipe dates back to the 1750s. Nine different seasonings and spices are included in the recipe. The drink made from the recipe was a pleasant surprise to visitors. Brittany Yam came with her husband and two young daughters. It is delicious. It is very spicy, rich and not too sweet. Its been great for the kids. They enjoy trying different chocolates and learning about how their favorite treats are made. Very educational." said Yam. In a separate room, visitors also have opportunities to taste and purchase chocolate products from local vendors. However, Lynn Heinrichs, the president of the Rotary Club of McLean that hosted the festival says, it's not just about treats. The proceeds from this event will help fund not just our local projects but some international projects as well," said Heinrichs. " For example, we have built a dental clinic in Swaziland, Africa. We also have a medical brigade, which is in Honduras... We have bought computers for low income schools in Greece. I can keep going on and on. Heinrichs hopes the annual community event will help sweeten more lives than just those that taste the goods. The retort from this South African farmer when contacted for an interview is brusque: "I don't know why you'd want to speak with me. I was born in 1935, I'm not photogenic and I don't do anything important. And most of all I'm not polite." But, while Elizabeth Aymes was indeed born 81 years ago, her other statements above prove to be dubious at best. Back in the 1950s it was almost unheard of for women anywhere to study agriculture at college. But that's exactly what Aymes did, eventually receiving several diplomas in the subject. "From when I was young I had a love for the outdoors; I never wanted to be a nurse or a teacher or all those other girly things at the time," she says. Aymes adds that as soon as she saw some land in the Hekpoort valley, in South Africa's North West Province, more than 50 years ago, she knew she had her farm. The terrain is rugged and rocky, just like the 80-year-old herself, with her tough, mottled skin and no-nonsense approach to everything. The Hekpoort area sometimes experiences good rains in summer, making the fields lush, but more often than not the area is arid. Against advice from other farmers, she decided to start Weleda Dairy Farm. "People told me I was mad. They said, How can you run a dairy farm in such a dry area? Dairy farms need to be in places of consistent, good rainfall.' But I've always gone against the grain and besides, I like cows," she comments, smiling mischievously. Aymes irrigates her land with water from boreholes, but acknowledges that "water has always been a worry" on her farm, and droughts have almost bankrupted her on a number of occasions. One of the first organic farmers In another pioneering move, Aymes decided to farm organically, decades before it became fashionable in agricultural and foodie circles. "I knew that I was not prepared to use artificial fertilizers or poisons," she says. She doesn't give her jersey cows any growth stimulants or antibiotics, and never sprays her land with pesticides. The farmer's animals are free range, grazing on natural Highveld grass all day, sheltered in spacious barns at night. Her business produces a variety of products, from milk to cheese to yogurt, containing no preservatives. "There is nothing in these things that anybody would be allergic to, other than lactose," the farmer snaps. Electric pumps attached to cows' udders make loud sucking sounds as they deposit milk in large, transparent tanks in a milking shed. Aymes says her cows produce small amounts of milk because she doesn't do anything "artificial" to them. "Cows can have things implanted in their ears, hormones, which will increase the production. And that means that on the same amount of food they will give you far more milk. That means it is economically more viable." Unlike some other organic farmers, she doesn't condemn mass-produced dairy products, like pasteurized milk and preserved cheeses. "They have an important place in the market," she maintains, "because they're much cheaper than the organic stuff, which many South Africans can't afford." Excellent labor relations; tough employer Aymes has a strong relationship with her employees. She's built houses for them. She almost adopted one, a Mozambican, as her son, after authorities threatened to deport him. "No matter what we did they refused to give Pedro permanent residence; maybe they wanted a bribe. So I went to Home Affairs and I said, Okay, I'll adopt him as my son.' Only then did they give him the papers he deserved, allowing him to stay and work in South Africa." But Aymes's workers find her to be a tough taskmaster. "I do expect them to be punctual. And if they aren't, they lose money. One of them came to complain to me that last week he lost 50 rand [about 3.5 dollars]. And I said, Yes, that's because you were late.' And I said, And today it's 20 past six. You were not here at six; the cows should be here at six, so you are going to lose it again,'" she says bluntly. But the way Aymes runs her farm and treats her animals results in excellent dairy products. One of her biggest fans is the manager of Fresh Earth organic food store in Johannesburg's Emmarentia suburb. Andre Brown sells Weleda Farm's butter, cheese and yogurt. "We've been stocking Elizabeth's stuff from Weleda for quite some time now and there's a reason why we'll keep on stocking her stuff. Elizabeth's quite scrupulous if it comes to her products. She's a very proud woman; she's a very nice boeretannie [farmer auntie]. She doesn't deviate from her philosophy about what she's doing with her product," says Brown. Farm attacks Successful as Aymes is, it's never easy for her on the farm. Once, three men broke into her house at night and threw her out of bed, demanding money. "This is where they held me down," she says, pointing to a carpet stained with brown blotches. "The one sat on me and bruised my ribs. He was quite big. He held me with such force that the skin on my arm and a few veins burst open Those are bloodstains you see there." On another occasion robbers shot into her bedroom while she was asleep. Her curtains still have the bullet holes; her wall is also pockmarked with gunfire damage. "I wasn't even so much afraid of the shots but the breaking glass was very noisy You can see up top there where they hit; that was the third one. The fourth one would have hit me in bed but I managed to get out of bed and into the bathroom, where I could find my shorts," Aymes recalls. She pressed a panic button alerting her security company, and the invaders fled under a hole they'd made under the electric fencing. Defiance As we talk, a thunderstorm unleashes welcome rain on a parched valley. Aymes has plenty of reasons to give up farming, from violence against her to looming drought to financial struggles. But she says in more than half a century of "battle" she's never considered quitting. Her wrinkled, weathered face contorts into defiance as she shouts: "I won't ever leave this place! I won't stop farming!" Aymes quietens and says, "The reason why I do it is because I'm a farmer; there's nothing else I can do I am only here because I love to be here. I have planted every tree; I have put in every fence I can't abandon this place, my animals and workers." It's this love, she says, that's more powerful than any fear inside her. An Iranian news anchor says she was forced to quit her position and flee the country in mid-January following years of repeated sexual harassment by the station's director. Sheena Shirani, a former broadcaster with Press TV, last week published a series of messages and recordings of voicemails she received from news director Hamid Emadi. The station said Emadi and another Press TV official were suspended Monday until further notice while the matter is investigated. "In our society, women basically have no value," Shirani said in an interview with VOA's Persian service. "Firing people like Mr. Emadi is far from addressing the widespread sexual harassment problem of our society." In the messages, Emadi repeatedly says how he has helped Shirani at the station and has been very supportive. In a recording of one conversation, reportedly between the two, he is heard asking her to come to his house for sex. Iran's state news agency quotes Press TV officials as saying "publication of the audio file was made in collaboration with anti-revolution individuals for politicizing the matter." "Those who dare to rape someone should be made aware that they would be tried before justice no matter how influential they might be," Shirani told VOA. "A woman should not feel scared of verbalizing her difficulties." Media reports say Shirani has left Iran and has chosen not to disclose her current location. Emadi and his Press TV boss, Mohammad Sarafraz, were banned by the European Union in 2013 for their alleged role in extracting and broadcasting forced confessions of political prisoners. A suicide car bomber struck near a police officers club in Damascus Tuesday, killing a number of people and leaving others injured; Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed responsibility for the attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on violence in the countrys civil war, stated that eight police officers were killed and that at least 20 people were wounded in the attack. Security forces at the heavily-guarded site prevented the suicide bomber from entering the complex, Syrias interior ministry said. The bomb, then, detonated at the clubs gates. After the attack, IS released a statement via social media that claimed responsibility. Circulated by its followers, the statement named the suicide bomber as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami and warned of more incidents to come. The last major blast in the Syrian capital occurred on January 31 in a district where the countrys holiest Shiite Muslim shrine is located. In the attack, also claimed by the Islamic State, more than 70 people were killed, including 25 Shiite militiamen. The Islamic State wrote in its statement that the bomber had turned his enemies tranquility into horror, fighting to avenge the suffering of his fellow Sunni Muslims. Top Academy Award nominees will have a politically-charged gift in their swag bag this year - a luxury trip to Israel paid for in part by a government that hopes such celebrity junkets will offset news coverage of the country's troubles. Israel's tourism ministry said the trips, valued at $15,000-$18,000, not including first-class airfare which would be funded by another party whom it did not identify, are on offer to actors and directors vying for Oscars in the Feb. 28 ceremony. Israel has long sought ways to overcome any misgivings foreign visitors might have about the security situation, given the simmering conflict with the Palestinians. "These are the most senior people in the film industry in Hollywood and leading opinion-formers who we are interested in hosting," said Tourism Minister Yariv Levin. "They will experience the country first-hand and not through the media." Among those to be offered the 10-day VIP trip-for-two will be actors Sylvester Stallone, who signed a pro-Israel petition during the 2014 Gaza war, and Leonardo DiCaprio, who sent Israeli paparazzi into a frenzy in 2010 while visiting the country's top model, Bar Refaeli, his girlfriend at the time. DiCaprio is among the nominees for best actor this year. One of Stallone's rivals for best supporting actor, Mark Rylance, is a pro-Palestinian activist in Britain who might be less inclined to take up the offer. The junket would be offered to all 25 artists nominated in the best actor/actress, best supporting actor/actress and best director categories and to the host of the ceremony, the ministry said. A heart-shaped pillow clutched to her chest, Ziza the clown weeps for the camera and tries to ignore the stench emanating from the mountain of trash piled up just meters away. Uncertain of quite how to deal with these red-nosed visitors to his dump site on the outskirts of Beirut, some of whom are now dancing the tango, the trash crane operator offers a wry smile. It is not the traditional way to mark Valentine's Day, but, then again, Lebanons clown activists are not really ones for convention. A different approach Sometimes people think were completely crazy or idiotic for what were doing explained Sara Berjawi, whose clown name is Ziza. But I feel like it is our duty to do something about the social issues we have in our country, and clowning is a helpful tool to help broach these subjects," Berjawi said. She and her fellow clowns are part of Clown Me In, a group that takes a decidedly different approach when it comes to tackling Lebanons many social issues. This time, they are putting their clowning skills to use by making a video playing on the theme of Valentine's Day to raise public awareness of the countrys ongoing trash crisis. Mounds of trash Sparked by the closure of an over-capacity landfill last summer, Lebanons garbage crisis saw towering mounds of litter piling up across the capital and beyond. With many blaming the countrys perennially deadlocked and bickering political class for the problem, the You Stink popular movement was born. Among the demonstrations, which were marred by violence and drew tens of thousands of Lebanese, Clown Me In was there on the streets, raising a smile and making a stand. Since summer, the protest movement has died down and Lebanons politicians have yet to find an effective solution, attracting ridicule amid recent efforts to export the trash. Were here because this crisis is still going on, and its getting worse day by day, Berjawi said. "We felt we needed to broach this subject again, and make use of the fact that the Lebanese will go out and celebrate Valentine's Day, and everything is rosy and happy, yet we are surrounded by trash everywhere we go. Absurd world We live in an absurd world as clowns and as people, said Clown Me In founder Sabine Choucair, and whats better than laughter to deal with problems? In using clowning for activism, she simply brought together two of her passions, Choucair told VOA. The video is just the latest by the group to address Lebanons trash crisis, with others created last year being widely shared online. However, their efforts dont stop at making protest videos. Not always easy Choucair has performed with Clowns Without Borders, entertaining Syrian families on the Greek island of Lesbos. The third night the troupe was there, a boat capsized and 100 people died, she said. People had lost family members and volunteers were depressed, but I like to think our presence helped. Clown Me In has worked with Syrian refugees in Lebanon, hosts regular clowning workshops, and carries out "clown attacks," deploying their light-hearted brand of campaigning on an unsuspecting public. But its not always easy. Although Lebanon is more receptive to their work than some other countries in the region, Choucair said this form of activism can be a bit of a challenge. She recalled with a grin the frosty reception given the troupe by the VIPs that frequent Beiruts downtown district as well as nearly being run over by an irate taxi driver. But the benefits work both ways, said Layal Ghanem, who goes by the clown name of Lulu. Clowning allows you to search for yourself. It helps you be more open and deal with challenges, Ghanem told VOA. "Clowning made me realize that there are two ways of seeing life or approaching things with love or with fear. Plenty of love Despite the odors, there is plenty of love in the air at Clown Me Ins video shoot at the dump site. While Ghanem, Choucair and the others are twirling each other around for the camera and bursting into fits of giggles between takes, one of many onlookers approaches to see what theyre up to. Aydar Adar has nothing but scorn for politics, and is disgusted at the trash crisis, but having heard the clowns antics from the church she was attending, she wanders over to see what is going on. What you are doing is really helpful, so I left the church and came back to thank you. Its the minimum one can do, Adar said. With that, and like so many others who encounter the troupe, she wanders off chuckling; equally confused, amused and grateful for their efforts. Indian officials believe a meteorite caused the death of a man Sunday in southern India. NDTV reported Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said a meteorite fell on the campus of a private engineering college, creating a two-meter-wide impact crater. Debris from the impact blast fatally injured a man standing nearby. The impact shook nearby buildings and shattered windows. The dean of the school told the Associated Press police recovered an object from the site that would have to undergo chemical analysis. The object was described as dark blue with jagged edges. It is reportedly small enough to be held in a closed hand. It is unknown if it came from space or could have fallen off a passing plane. Officials have checked the crater for metals, and they plan to analyze soil from the crater. The incident comes nearly three years after a large meteor was spotted streaking across the sky in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. That blast injured 1,600 and caused extensive property damage. A Sikh American actor and designer who was barred from boarding a flight from Mexico City to New York because of his turban and beard is finding support from other Sikhs and celebrities. Waris Ahluwalia was wearing a traditional religious Sikh turban when he tried to board an Aeromexico flight Monday as he was returning to New York for fashion week. He said he was barred from boarding because he would not remove the turban. As news of the incident spread, prominent Sikhs, celebrities and civil rights groups took to Twitter to support Ahluwalia. The Sikh Coalition also posted a list of demands, including requesting more training for staff screening passengers. Aeromexico released a statement Monday saying it "renews its commitment to transport all passengers regardless of their religion, social status or gender. The airline, however, is required to meet the federal safety requirements outlined by the United States' Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for review of selected passengers traveling to the United States. The airline regrets any inconvenience any passenger could perceive due to the application of these procedures." The migrant crisis in Europe is fueling debate in Britain ahead of a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that leaving the EU could lead to thousands more migrants arriving in the country. There is growing tension in the French port of Calais, where thousands of migrants are living in squalid camps. The graffiti on an underpass in Calais so-called Jungle Camp reads, "London Calling," the prime target for the 4,000 migrants who live here in makeshift tents and shipping containers, waiting for their chance to somehow get to Britain. Under a 2003 agreement, British border checks are performed on French soil in Calais, which keeps the migrants in France. Speaking Monday, British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the deal would be under threat if Britons voted to leave the union. There are a lot of opposition politicians in France who would love an excuse to tear up that treaty and would like the border not to be in France, but to be in Britain and I do not want to give people an excuse to do that," said Cameron. Border police and migrants play a constant game of cat and mouse in Calais port. Migrants try to sneak into trucks as they board ferries bound for Britain or even break into the tunnel that carries trains beneath the English Channel. There is growing tension between migrants and locals. Members of the anti-Islam group PEGIDA, which was founded in Germany, attempted to stage a march Saturday, despite local authorities banning all public protests in Calais. North France region President Xavier Bertrand welcomed the ban. These people do not want the common good; they just want to exploit poverty and anger and they have no place in Calais," said Bertrand. In recent weeks, the migrant camps have been hit by snow and winter storms. Natalie Roberts of Doctors Without Borders, the only major charity working around Calais, says conditions at one camp near the town of Dunkirk desperately need to be improved. There are about 2,500 people living there at the moment, mainly Kurds from Iraq and from Syria. And the conditions in that camp are really horrific. People are living in this kind of muddy wasteland. Every time it rains, the mud goes up to your knees. There are rats; the people are getting scabies because of poor hygiene," said Roberts. Doctors without Borders successfully lobbied for a new camp to be built in Dunkirk, which is due to open later this month. The longer-term fate of the camps, and of their residents, could depend on Britains choice to stay in or leave the European Union. U.N. aid agencies warn millions of people in South Sudan risk starvation as the food crisis in the war-torn country escalates. The promise of a bright future held out when South Sudan gained its independence in July 2011 has turned sour after more than two years of civil war. More than 1.5 million people have become internally displaced and at least 750,000 have fled to neighboring countries in search of refuge. Compounding the misery is a U.N. assessment that 2.8 million South Sudanese, nearly 25 percent of the countrys population, are going hungry and need assistance. Of this number, they say at least 40,000 people living in conflict-affected Unity State and other hard-to-reach areas are on the brink of catastrophe. World Food Program spokeswoman Bettina Luescher tells VOA children are very vulnerable. She says children who do not get enough food in the first 1,000 days of their lives will suffer long-term consequences. Those who do not die, she says, will suffer from physical and mental impairment. It is important that our aid reaches those people before it is too late," said Luescher. "I mean some of the anecdotes you get, for example in some areas people are surviving on fish and water lilies, and now that the dry season is coming even that only nourishment of water lilies will wither away because the rivers will not be flooded anymore. The Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.N. childrens fund are joining WFP in appealing to the warring factions to speedily implement the peace agreement they signed last year. They are calling for unrestricted access to conflict areas to deliver aid to the most affected areas. They say it is critical they be allowed to pre-position food and other aid during the current dry season. This, they say, will make it possible for them to continue to assist people after roads become impassable once the rains come. Nepal's ethnic minority groups lifted a four-month-old blockade along a major trading point with India on Monday, saying it didn't want ordinary people to suffer anymore, but vowed to carry on with its campaign against the new constitution. The Madhesi Front of four small parties based in the Tarai lowlands launched the strike in September to force Nepal's major political parties to amend the new charter and give them a greater role in the power structure. But the strike has led to a severe fuel shortage, and last week traders, fed up with the prolonged closure of the border crossing, burned the tents of the Madhesi activists and removed the barriers they had placed on the open border with India. "We have called off the protests at the border, transport strike and closure of government offices," said Sarbendra Nath Shukla of the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, part of the Madhesi Front. Trucks began moving through the main border point at Birgunj for the first time in more than four months on Friday after the traders chased away the protesters. Nepal made changes to the constitution to ensure greater participation of the Madhesis in parliament but the community leaders said the amendments failed to address their central fear of redrawing the provincial borders in a way that would divide them. Shukla said the Madhesi Front would try to rally the public against the new charter with signature campaigns and public meetings. President Barack Obama has proposed a controversial new $10 a barrel tax on crude oil sold in the United States in the budget he presented to Congress Tuesday. He says the tax revenue would accelerate "a transition toward a cleaner energy economy" by improving transportation and boosting research and investment in "energy sources of tomorrow." Obama recently told journalists that oil prices are certain to eventually rise from their current low levels. That means investments in alternative fuels and more efficient methods of transportation could protect Americans from the kind of economic shock seen in many previous times of soaring oil costs. The proposal drew strong criticism from the head of an oil industry trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, who called it a "radical, anti-energy agenda of tax hikes and new regulations" that "could harm consumers, destroy jobs and raise energy costs. Impact on prices, consumers API President Jack Gerard called the tax an "unprecedented" action that would boost the cost of crude oil by 30 percent. He said that would raise gasoline costs by around seven cents a liter. Gerard said the tax hike would raise the cost of food and "everything that relies on transportation to get to consumers." The environmental group Friends of the Earth said it is time to build "a sustainable transportation system" and "Big Oil should foot the bill." In a note to journalists, FOE campaigner Lukas Ross said "Oil companies have profited for generations from government-funded roads as well as from billions of dollars of tax breaks every year. Putting a fee on oil and other dirty fuels is exactly the mechanism we need to transition the U.S. towards a new energy economy and avoid the worst impacts of climate change." Strong opposition in congress Senator Lisa Murkowski, from the oil-producing state of Alaska, called the proposal "disappointing but not surprising." Murkowski heads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and called the tax proposal Obama's latest effort to "damage our nation's oil production." Other Republican members of Congress also oppose the new tax. Analysts quoted in the financial press say a tax on crude oil has no chance of getting through Congress where Obama's Republican political opponents control both the House and the Senate. Republicans favor lower taxes and fewer regulations. The debate comes as oil prices have fallen from above $100 a barrel to around $30 a barrel. The sharp decline has brought thousands of job layoffs to the oil industry, reduced the number of drilling rigs deployed, and cut investments in energy exploration and infrastructure. U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday announced a national cybersecurity plan, calling cyberthreats among "the most urgent dangers to America's economic and national security." The "Cybersecurity National Action Plan" is the administration's attempt to build a broad, cohesive federal response to cyberthreats. It calls for an increase in spending on cybersecurity across all U.S. government agencies to $19 billion, an increase of 35 percent over last year. The plan includes a $3 billion fund to "kick-start an overhaul of federal computer systems," Obama wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal. Watch: Obama Announces Cybersecurity National Action Plan The plan calls for the creation of a new high-level federal position to coordinate cybersecurity across civilian agencies and working with military and intelligence counterparts in tracking down cyber intruders in federal networks. Private-sector businesses have long had positions similar to the one proposed by the administration. "The nation's cyber adversaries getting more sophisticated every day -- developing new botnets, spyware, malware and ransomware -- we have to be even more nimble and resilient, and stay ahead of these threats," Obama wrote. 'Basic level of online security' The goal of the cybersecurity plan is to provide every American a basic level of online security, he added. The budget proposal also calls for $62 million to expand efforts to attract and retain qualified cyber professionals working for the government. It would also include more training for the private sector, emphasizing measures such as password and pin authentication to sign onto tax data and government benefits. Additionally, Obama's budget proposal urges the government reduce the use of Social Security numbers for identification. Cybersecurity has become a top public issue following several high-profile hacks of private companies, such as the Target retail chain stores, and federal agencies, such as the breach last year of the personal information of 21 million current and retired federal employees held by the Office of Personnel Management. U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott would supervise the new cybersecurity position inside the Office of Management and Budget. He said today's federal model has every agency, and in some cases sub-agency, "building their cyber defenses pretty much on their own. ... That's just, frankly, a bad model of how to defend against these critical adversaries." Position already posted The position of chief information security officer was posted Tuesday, Scott said, and he expects it to be filled in 60 to 90 days. Jacob Olcott, a former congressional legal adviser on cybersecurity, said, "It's great to have more senior executive-level attention on the issue, but the challenge is whether that person will almost certainly be vested with any actual authorities and so it always kind of boils down to that." The White House expects broad support for what has not been a partisan issue, but it is unclear whether the Republican-controlled Congress will approve the increase. Obama also established two groups to respond to cybersecurity. One, the Federal Privacy Council, created by executive order, aims to connect privacy officials across the government to develop comprehensive guidelines for how personal data is collected and stored. The second, a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, would involve congressional and private sector leaders tasked with making recommendations in government cybersecurity for the next decade. The Pentagon's budget for next year includes $58.8 billion for overseas contingency operations (OCO), which will finance war efforts from Iraq to Afghanistan and quadruple funding for activities to reassure European allies. Most of the OCO budget funds the support and counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan, where 9,800 U.S. troops will remain in place through most of 2016 before dropping to about 5,500 in early 2017. The amount is slightly less than the allotment in the fiscal year 2016 budget, dropping from $42.9 billion to $41.7 billion. The biggest increases in the OCO budget focus on the growing threat of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria and the looming threat of Russian aggression in eastern Europe. Funding for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the operation against Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, has been increased from $5 billion to $7.5 billion. A large amount of the OIR budget will be used to buy more than 45,000 additional GPS-guided smart bombs and laser-guided rockets, which have become the weapons of choice in the anti-IS air campaign. Some $200 million of the OIR budget will be used to confront the "newly formed ISIL province in Libya," Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Paul Selva told reporters Tuesday, using an acronym for Islamic State. The northern coastal city of Sirte has attracted thousands of Islamic State fighters, and a defense official confirmed last week that the number of Islamic State fighters in Libya has risen to about 5,000. The OCO budget increases funding from $0.8 billion to $3.4 billion for the president's European Reassurance Initiative. Initially proposed in Warsaw in June 2014, the initiative includes three continuous brigade-sized rotations in Europe, improvements to key infrastructure in the European combatant command and enhanced training and exercises with European allies. An additional $1 billion has been set aside to fund a partnership-focused approach to counterterrorism in U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Central Command areas of responsibility. The OCO budget represents about 10 percent of the overall defense budget for fiscal year 2017. Poland signaled on Tuesday its willingness to play a more active role in tackling the Middle East security crisis, in an apparent attempt to persuade its NATO allies in return to boost their presence in eastern Europe. Alarmed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland hopes NATO will agree at a summit in Warsaw in July to send more troops to former communist eastern Europe. But sources familiar with the negotiations say Warsaw is facing resistance, including from southern member states which downplay the Russian threat and argue that Islamic State and other jihadist groups pose a more immediate danger to Europe. "We have announced an increase in our participation, also military, in actions in the Middle East," Deputy Defense Minister Tomasz Szatkowski said at a panel discussion ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels later this week. Szatkowski told Reuters Poland's involvement in the region had so far been limited to actions such as sending ammunition to Jordan, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State. "Right now, we are working on other things. The talks are ongoing, (but) directional decisions have been made," he said, adding that Poland would announce the precise details of its involvement in the coming days. A security source said Poland's involvement in the region would likely be military, but not frontline, and could involve logistics. Brussels meeting Poland's involvement on NATO's southern flank is "absolutely necessary" if it is to secure a satisfactory agreement on the alliance's presence in eastern Europe, said Michal Baranowski, Director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Warsaw. "The meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels [this week] is a good moment to announce this move because it will be key for establishing the outlines of an agreement which may be reached at the Warsaw summit," Baranowski told Reuters. The United States and Britain have proposed sending troops to Poland for military exercises but diplomats say there will be no permanent NATO base in eastern Europe such as the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, because European countries want to stick to a 1997 agreement with Moscow on not stationing substantial combat forces on the NATO-Russia border. Without a permanent base, Poland is hoping to persuade its allies to substantially increase the size and frequency of NATO exercises on its soil, among others. At the NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, defense ministers will begin outlining plans for a complex web of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid response force, which NATO generals say will amount to a "persistent" allied presence in the region. Presidential hopefuls traveled across snowy New Hampshire on Monday, making a final appeal to undecided voters and stepping up their attacks on rivals, one day before an election that could make or break several candidates' White House aspirations. Ahead of the vote, opinion polls in New Hampshire showed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders with a shrinking but still comfortable double-digit lead over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race. Outspoken businessman Donald Trump appears to be leading the rest of the Republican field by an even larger margin. Five or six mostly establishment candidates are in a closely watched battle to finish second behind Trump in the Granite State. Last-minute sprint A winter storm was sweeping across much of New Hampshire on Monday, dumping several centimeters of snow. But the storm did not stop the candidates from holding campaign events. WATCH: VOA reporters talk about Democratic candidates "For those of you who are still deciding, still shopping, I hope I can close the deal," said Clinton, appearing with her husband, ex-President Bill Clinton, at a rally in Manchester. Sanders, a Democratic socialist who proposes drastically larger government welfare programs, also campaigned in Manchester, where he continued to rail against economic inequality. "It is not right that millions of families are struggling just to send their kids to college. It is not right that our infrastructure is crumbling. It is not right that 29 million Americans have no health insurance and more are underinsured," Sanders said. Sanders is expected to win in New Hampshire, which neighbors his home state of Vermont. Clinton continues to be ahead in most national polls, though Sanders has been coming up in recent weeks. Trump, Bush exchange insults Trump, the Republican frontrunner, spent much of Monday launching fierce personal attacks on ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush. "This stiff, Jeb Bush," Trump said at an event in Salem. "If you had a company, you wouldn't even hire him. He's like a child, a spoiled child." The real estate mogul continued the fight on Twitter, where he called Bush "desperate," "weak," and "pathetic" for spending millions of dollars on ads in New Hampshire. WATCH: VOA reporters discuss Republican candidates Bush, who is relying on a strong showing Tuesday to revive his floundering campaign, shot back in a tweet, telling Trump: "You aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner." Make or break Bush is one of several more moderate, establishment GOP candidates who appear to be placing their entire presidential hopes on New Hampshire, which has a more centrist population than Iowa, which held caucuses last week. The group also includes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Rubio, whose campaign appeared to be on the rise after a stronger-than-expected third-place finish in Iowa, is trying to recover from last week's shaky debate performance. The freshman senator told CBS This Morning he feels he did "great" in the Saturday debate. "Despite what people want to say, it was our greatest fundraising night," Rubio said. During the debate, Rubio awkwardly repeated the same criticism of President Barack Obama four times, using nearly the exact same words each time. Rubio's rivals particularly Christie, Bush and Trump say the gaffe is proof the Florida lawmaker is not ready for the pressures of the presidency. WATCH: VOA reporters talk about primary voters Another candidate involved in the heated race for second place in New Hampshire is Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz won Iowa in large part with the support of evangelical Christians, but faces a tough challenge in New Hampshire, where the electorate is less religious. Undecided voters There is still a large amount of uncertainty headed into Tuesday's vote. Only about half of Republican voters have "completely decided" on a candidate, according to a poll by Monmouth University. On the Democratic side, that figure inches up to about 60 percent. Another reason for uncertainty is the state's undeclared voters those who are neither registered Democrats or Republicans who make up 44 percent of the electorate and who can vote in either party's primary. Watching a lone browser in his Sydney Chinatown shop, Bing Chen is worried business is being squeezed this Lunar New Year by what's ailing the world economy at large - the weakest Chinese economy in 25 years. In years gone by, Chen would stay open until the wee hours, selling kangaroo skins and Australian wool to crowds of Chinese tourists. But as the Year of the Monkey begins, stores like Chen's are seeing a drop in trade with newly budget-conscious Chinese either staying home or spending less. "Our customers have halved," said Chen, standing by neatly stacked shelves at his Sydney store. "We had to work till 2am and there were still customers buying things but not any more." While record numbers of Chinese are traveling outside the mainland - 109 million last year, according to researcher GfK - Chen's fears echo data showing growth in tourist spending is dropping off quickly. The China National Tourism Administration in December forecast 2015 outbound tourist spending at $194 billion, according to state media. That equates to per tourist spending growth of just 1.5 percent, compared with a 16.5 percent rise the previous year. China's slowing growth is also showing up in weaker tourism spending much closer to home than Sydney. In Hong Kong, visits from the mainland were down 15.5 percent in December, compared to the year earlier, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Streets in Sheung Wan district, lined with stores selling dried seafood and various tonics, are quiet rather than bustling. Shop owner Lin Ying Jui says trade for his abalone, edible birds nests and natural medicines is the worst in decades. "I have been here for around 20 to 30 years, this year's business performance is the worst," said Lin Ying Jui. Now picky, not spendthrift Fueling growth in the overall number of Chinese tourists is a new breed of younger, independent travelers from the mainland. Countries like Australia are investing in targeting that market, and more than 100,000 Chinese nationals applied for visas to visit Australia in January alone, a record for a single month. But numbers of large, elderly tour groups are dwindling in Sydney's Chinatown. How much they and others will spend over the Lunar New year remains to be seen, and traders are bracing for customers being picky where they once were spendthrift. "Price is extremely important," said Chenchao Zhuang, chief executive of Chinese travel platform Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd. "Consumers will have a wish-list of places, and wherever has the deepest discounts, that's where they'll go." Back in Sydney's Chinatown, shop owner Anna Liu said Chinese tourists - her target customers - "wouldn't even haggle" in the past as they bought handfuls of vitamins, honey and kangaroo and shark extract products. "They are more reluctant to spend their money now," Liu said. "They are more careful, they look up the prices online before they come to compare." Russias stepped up aerial bombardment in Syria will be a focal point for the United States and other members of the International Syria Support Group when it meets this week in Germany. The group, which includes Syria-backers Russia and Iran, is meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. It is the groups first full meeting since U.N.-mediated proximity talks on a political transition in Syria bogged down, partly because of opposition protests against Russian-backed aerial assaults in Aleppo. The bombing campaign has forced thousands of Syrians to flee their homes, with many of them heading toward the already crowded Turkish border. On Tuesday, the day before he heads to Munich, Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about Russia during a State Department appearance with Egypts foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry. WATCH: US, World Powers Seek Change in Russian Behavior Russias activities in Aleppo and the region right now are making it more difficult to be able to come to the table to be able to have a serious conversation, said Kerry. Egypt is also part of the International Syria Support Group, which has been backing U.N.-mediated talks designed to lead to a political transition in Syria. Foreign Minister Shoukry said a successful resumption of talks could eventually increase regional stability. Hopefully the political process that has been initiated in Syria will provide us all with more ability to control the spread of terrorism in Syria and for that country to regain its stability, he said. Kerry met in December with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. In recent weeks, Kerry and Lavrov have held a series of phone calls on the crisis in Syria. I would not read too much into the Russian participation on the political track, said former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. Ford, now a scholar at the Middle East Institute, said it is more important to watch Russias military action in Syria, a move that he said is unlikely to receive a strong challenge from the United States. I think that President Putin has an understanding that the Obama administrations focus is on trying as much as possible to limit involvement in Middle East conflicts, said Ford, in a VOA interview. Moscow pushing back Russia, for its part, has pushed back against accusations that its support for the Syrian regime and its stepped up bombing campaign played a role in derailing the first round of proximity talks. We think that this opinion is incorrect, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russias Interfax news agency. He said Moscow had consistently made efforts to help secure a peaceful political settlement in Syria. But differing definitions of supporting Syria have contributed to tensions between Russia and the other members of the International Syria Support Group, said David Schenker, Director of the Arab Politics Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The Russians are supporting the eight percent Alawite minority in its continued domination over the vast majority of Syrians, he said. The differences in focus among Russia and Iran and the rest of the group have left some doubting if political talks will lead to the desired results. I dont think that the political track is going to bear fruit, said Middle East Institute analyst Paul Salem. I think that the [Syrian] regime, with very powerful support from Russia and of course from Iran and Hezbollah and other groups, is currently operating to defeat whats known a the moderate opposition, he added. Despite pessimism in some circles, Kerry said the United States and other world powers were approaching the talks in Munich with great hopes. Russia needs to join all of us in understanding that this can not go on, said Kerry. They have a major responsibility as a co-convener of the International Syria Support Group to create the framework within which that group can be successful. Germany is the first leg of a three-nation tour for Kerry that also includes a stop in Albania. He will wrap up in California, joining President Barack Obama for a special U.S. summit with Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries. Voters in three small towns cast their votes in the first minutes of Tuesday, kicking off the presidential primary election in the northeastern U.S. state of New Hampshire. In Dixville Notch, Ohio Governor John Kasich got three votes, enough to beat the two that went to billionaire Donald Trump in the Republican race. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders got all four votes for the Democrats. Kasich and Sanders also won in Hart's Location. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did better in the town of Millsfield, beating Sanders two to one, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz scored a nine to three victory over Trump. Ahead of Tuesday's voting, opinion polls showed Sanders with a double-digit lead over Clinton in New Hampshire. In the Republican race, Trump also held a comfortable lead, with Kasich, Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in a tight race for second place. South Korea's point man on North Korea hinted Monday at possibly shutting down an inter-Korean industrial complex as a punitive measure against North Korea in response to the communist country's long-range rocket launch. On Sunday, Pyongyang proceeded with the controversial launch despite international objections, drawing strong protests from neighboring South Korea. Hong Yong-pyo, South Korea's Unification Minister, told lawmakers Seoul will "ensure North Korea pays a price corresponding to its nuclear test and long-range missile launch." Hong said the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex is one of the measures the government is considering. Weighing additional sanctions Hong's comments mark the first time Seoul has indicated its willingness to consider closing the complex over Pyongyang's recent aggressions. South Korea has been increasing sanctions against North Korea since Pyongyang's nuclear test Jan. 6. Shortly after the test, Seoul suspended aid to Pyongyang and limited inter-Korean exchanges. Seoul also limited South Koreans' stay at the complex. On Sunday, it further limited the number of South Koreans staying overnight at the facility in response to Pyongyang's rocket launch. The industrial complex, where some 54,000 North Koreans are currently working at about 120 South Korean factories, opened in 2004. Last year, the output of companies at the complex exceeded $500 million for the first time since its opening, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry. Pyongyang earns around $100 million a year from the deal. In April 2013, Pyongyang shut down the complex to protest joint military drills between Seoul and Washington, but reopened it in several months. Sunday's rocket launch escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula. On Monday, a North Korean patrol boat intruded into South Korean waters in the Yellow Sea for about 20 minutes. The North Korean vessel retreated after the South Korean navy fired several rounds of warning shots. For the first time since August 2013, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are within 25 kilometers of the Turkish border in northern Syria. They continue to press a Russian-backed offensive that is throwing moderate rebel forces into disarray and despondency, say activists and insurgent commanders. Turkish officials are warning that the round-the-clock Russian air sorties and heavy fighting could spark the arrival of as many as 600,000 fleeing Syrian civilians at its border, but they reiterated their determination that the refugees stay on the Syrian side of the frontier. Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there, said Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus. WATCH: Related video by Zlatica Hoke Following a Cabinet meeting, he said, As a consequence of this situation, we are seeing 200,000 people being forced to flee, 65,000 in the direction of Turkey and 135,000 inside Syria. Multisided conflict The multisided conflict raging in the northern Aleppo countryside features regime forces, Western-backed Free Syrian Army militias and their allies, Islamist brigades, al-Qaidas affiliate in Syria, the Kurds and the jihadist Islamic State group. Two mainly Sunni Arab villages in the northern Aleppo countryside, Deir Jamal and Maranaz, asked fighters with the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, the YPG, to occupy them in a bid to escape ferocious Russian airstrikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Rebel commanders said YPG territory wasn't being bombed and that was clear evidence of collusion between Damascus and Syrian Kurdish leaders, a claim denied by the YPG. The fate of the strategically important air base at Menagh nearby remains unclear. The base, which anti-Assad rebels captured after a lengthy siege in August 2013, is being targeted by Russian warplanes, according to Zakaria Malahefji, the political officer of the 3,000-member Fastaqim Kama Umirt, a brigade aligned with the rebel alliance Jaish al-Mujahideen (Army of Holy Warriors). Kurdish fighters The YPG, however, holds two nearby villages, and reports mounted late Tuesday that the YPG had launched attacks on the base. General Salim Idris, the former FSA chief, who still advises moderate militias on strategy, told VOA that the YPG and Arab allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces had launched attacks on the base but they have not taken it yet. He said: The YPG is supported by Russian warplanes and they are trying to take the base. We are fighting everyone the Islamic State, the regime and the YPG. As ever, we are not getting the support, Western support, we need. The YPG insists it is not colluding with the regime in the government offensive. YPG commanders say their control of Deir Jamal and a road running south has prevented the regime forces, mainly consisting of Iranian guardsmen and Shiite fighters from Lebanons Hezbollah movement and Afghanistan, from advancing. The YPG said it transferred Sunni Arab families fleeing the fighting to the Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The YPG said the refugee transfer aims to prove to everyone that Syria is for all its citizens" and that the YPG "is not fighting Arabs as promoted by the media. During the weekend, Salih Muslim, the leader of the Democratic Union Party that dominates the YPG, told VOA he doubted the current offensive would impact Syrian Kurdish hopes for semiautonomy. The fighting is not in Kurdish areas, it is close to them. The Kurdish forces are not involved in the fighting, although some Arab allies of the YPG have been fighting Jabhat al-Nusra, he added. He said the bulk of YPG forces to the east of the Euphrates would not cross west of the river unless it was in coordination with the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State group. It would be easy to do. Drawn into fighting His biggest worry is that Turkish forces may be drawn into the fighting. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has frequently warned Ankara would not stand by and allow Kurdish advances in northern Syria or the establishment of a semiautonomous Kurdish entity to emerge in northern Syria. Conditions at the border A Turkish official told VOA there were no plans by Ankara to open the border to the new refugees streaming toward it. A new camp is being established by the Turkish Red Crescent and IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish NGO, adding family tents to 20 collective tents erected earlier this week. According to the Turkish Red Crescent, 2,400 families have been registered at the new camp that is being built for about 15,000 people. There are another 5,000 refugees scattered nearby. According to VOAs translator, who crossed the border Tuesday: The refugees are being fed one meal a day. Most are from the northern Aleppo towns of Tell Rifaat and Mara and from IS-controlled towns such as Al-Bab. "I saw no mattresses or blankets being distributed. There is no running water, no heat, and the conditions are very bad and squalid. The refugees are very disoriented. Most came with just the clothes on their back. A medic with the Syrian charity the Independent Doctors Association told me he and his colleagues had treated 183 sick people, mainly suffering diarrhea, vomiting and fever." An engineer from Tell Rifaat told VOAs translator the bombing raids were very intense and he saw five Russian warplanes overhead. He said hundreds were fleeing the town. The translator also saw a 3-year-old transferred across the border into Turkey suffering major head and neck wounds. The President of the World Medical Association said Thailands universal health program is a model for other emerging economies in Asia, including India, in providing health services to low income workers. There are growing tensions within the Thai health system amid pressures for co-payments to cope with rising costs. Thailands universal health program, introduced in 2002, has been seen as a model for comprehensive health systems in Asia, especially in India and Myanmar, where the health systems are still evolving. Universal health coverage The coverage in 2002 quickly extended to 18 million people who were uninsured, along with an additional 29 million covered by less comprehensive schemes. Michael Gideon Marmot, British public health professor in public health policy and president of the World Medical Association, said the Thai program stands in contrast to other health plans, such as those in India. With universal health coverage in Thailand, only about 20 percent of health care use is in the private sector just over half of that is out of pocket something like 11 [percent] of health care expenditure in Thailand is out of pocket, Marmot explained. In India, its 63 percent out of pocket and pockets are shallow over in India. So Indians are being deprived of access to health care because they cant afford it. Marmot said a higher proportion of Indias health system lies in the private sector, with few people covered by health insurance. Thailand health care, a model for Asia Marmot, in Thailand as a recipient of the Prince Mahidol award in Public Health, said Myanmar, under a new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), needs to focus on a health system backed by broad based development, as highlighted by a recent World Health Organizations commission report. My advice [to Myanmar] would be to take the report of the WHO Commission and the social determinants of health and set up a mechanism a cross government mechanism to ask the question how we apply this to Myanmar good quality early child development, education, employment, working conditions making sure everyone has a minimum income, stated Marmot. Pros/cons in Thailands current system But health activists in Thailand point to growing tensions within the health system and pressure within the bureaucracy to end the highly popular 30-baht (80 U.S. cents) co-payment program. Recently the Thai Council of State, which provides advice to the executive branch, called for funds to be spent only on patient medical costs, excluding administrative and other expenditures. The move has triggered widespread criticism from doctors and health activists, who say the funds are needed to assist in the running costs of public hospitals especially in rural areas. Viroj Na Ranong, an economist with a private sector think tank, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) said the calls for reinterpretation points to policy conflicts within the health system. I think a lot people in the health services system try to abolish the 30 baht scheme, but they would never say it openly they would say they want the scheme to go on but they want to improve it. But I think a lot of people actually want a major reform that will result in the patient having to pay a significant amount out of pocket, he said. But Viroj said there remains strong support in the community for the universal health care program. He said the government itself fears chaos in the health system if payments covered only patient care and pressure was made for higher patient co-payments especially focused on lower income groups. Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders and outspoken billionaire Donald Trump have won their respective New Hampshire primary contests, securing their first U.S. presidential primary election victories. With 89 percent of polling places reporting, Sanders had 60 percent of the Democratic vote compared to 38 percent for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump had a similar margin for the Republicans as he grabbed 35 percent to win among a much more crowded field. In another closely watched battle, Ohio Governor John Kasich finished second in the GOP race with 16 percent. The results were in line with recent opinion polls, which showed the Vermont Senator Sanders and the New York billionaire Trump with comfortable, double digit leads over their rivals in the northeastern state. Candidates react We are going to make America great again, a triumphant Trump told supporters during a victory speech. But were going to do it the old fashioned way. We are going to start winning again, and we are going to win so much, you are going to be so happy, Trump added. The quick victory for Sanders was in stark contrast to last weeks first nominating contest in Iowa, which ended in a virtual tie between him and Clinton. VOA's Jim Malone reports from Manchester, New Hampshire: Smiling broadly and laughing, Sanders stayed on message, focusing on economic inequality in his post-win speech to a cheering crowd. Together we have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California. And that is that the government of our great country belongs to all the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their Super PACs (independent campaign committees), Sanders said. Video: Remarks from Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and John Kasich Clinton, appearing alongside her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was upbeat and confident as she conceded defeat. Heres what were going to do. We take this campaign to the entire country; we fight for every vote in every state; we are going to fight for real solutions that make a real difference in peoples lives, she said. Watch: Manchester, New Hampshire voters speak out. Results It is still unclear just how big of a lead Sanders and Trump will earn. Meanwhile, the soft-spoken Kasich, whose campaign has focused on issues rather than personal attacks, put nearly all his resources into doing well in New Hampshire. Maybe, just maybe, we are turning the page on a dark part of American politics, because tonight the light overcame the darkness of negative campaigning, Kasich said after the vote during what felt like a victory speech. Second-tier candidates Bunched up a few percentage points behind Kasich were Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. They each got about 11 percent of the vote. It is not clear whether the result will further narrow the Republican field. But many analysts now say that Trump appears to be the consensus GOP frontrunner. When you consider all the negative comments that are made about him, all the attacks. If he can survive it, and beat all these guys by 10 points or more, then hes clearly the frontrunner, conservative pollster Frank Luntz told VOA. There had been questions about whether Trumps frenzied wave of support, which showed up in opinion polls and at massive rallies, would translate into votes. Voters chime in But on Tuesday, New Hampshire voters seem to have answered that question, for now. I voted for Donald Trump because the economy is so bad, and I think he could probably be the best man to help, said Roberta Latour from Merrimack, New Hampshire. Voters across the state braved snowy conditions and waited in long lines at polling stations, turning out in what was expected to be record numbers. Oscar Villacis is a Clinton supporter from Nashua. My heart was telling me Bernie Sanders, but my mind was telling me Clinton, he said. The campaign now heads to South Carolina, where both Clinton and Trump have substantial leads. There is growing concern in South Korea that the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could further hurt the country's economy, which is already experiencing a steep drop in exports and slow growth. South Korea has focused on developing bilateral free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries, including the worlds two largest economies, the United States and China. These bilateral FTAs gave some South Korean industries a competitive advantage over their chief rivals in Japan, particularly in automobile manufacturing and the production of televisions, computers, mobile phones and other technology products. The U.S.-Korea FTA eliminated import and export tariffs on automobiles and reduced them on electronics and other technology products. Losing competitive edge But the Korea International Trade Association recently said in a report that the TPP would give Japan the competitive edge over South Korea in trade with other members of the 12-country free trade pact. Then maybe Koreas preference [or advantage] that we had, will be eroded in some sectors such as automobiles or machines and other products where we compete with Japan, said Je Hyun-jung, the KITA senior researcher who authored the report. The TPP members are the United States, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. These countries account for 40 percent of the worlds economy. Once ratified, the agreement will eliminate more than 18,000 tariffs on American exports alone and will establish strict labor, environmental and anti-corruption regulations. Export slump The world's sixth-largest exporter, South Korea rattled financial markets in January when it reported its biggest slump in more than six years. South Korean exports declined in the last 13 months and Januarys 18.5 percent drop represents the sharpest monthly plunge since 2009. The Korean Trade Ministry blames Chinas economic slowdown and lower oil prices for the reduced global demand. Other trade-oriented Asian economies, such as China and Taiwan, have also seen a reduction in exports in the last year. South Korea's gross domestic product expanded just 2.6% in 2015, short of the expected three percent growth rate for the first time in two years, according to the Bank of Korea. Other factors like the MERS outbreak last year, which hurt the tourism industry, and a slowing housing market also contributed to the slow economic growth that South Korea is experiencing. Stimulus programs The Bank of Korea is under increasing pressure to reduce its key lending rate below the current 1.5 percent rate to encourage spending despite concerns that it would also increase debt. The Bank of Japan recently adopted a rate of negative 0.1 percent. President Park Geun-hye and her conservative allies have been pushing a business friendly agenda to make the South Korean economy more competitive. Recently they were able to pass corporate restructuring legislation in the South Korean National Assembly that will reduce regulations and provide tax cuts to South Korean companies. The legislature remains divided over a controversial labor market reform bill that would make it easier for employers to fire workers. This proposed measure sparked mass rallies last year that turned violent when protesters fought police with steel pipes and police used water cannons and barricades to stop the crowd. President Parks strong response in banning demonstrations and arresting labor leaders raised concerns among human rights advocates that the young South Korean democracy was returning to past authoritarian ways. I sense a trend of gradual regression on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, not a dramatic shutdown of these rights, but a slow creeping inclination to degrade them, said Maina Kiai, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. TPP work around In addition to the tariff reductions that TPP members will gain from trading amongst themselves, high wage countries like Japan can further leverage that advantage by increasing production line operations in low wage member counties like Vietnam. KITA says South Korea should also follow suit and move more of its production line operations to low wage member countries to gain the advantages of exporting from a TPP member. Many Korean companies are already investing a lot in Vietnams market so that Korean companies in Vietnam can export to the US or other TPP member countries, said KITA senior researcher Je Hyun-jung. The Korea International Trade Association is advocating for South Korea to join the TPP as soon as the group opens its membership to outside countries. The rift between Turkey and the U.S. widened late Tuesday when Ankara summoned the American ambassador, John Bass, to protest remarks by a State Department spokesman who said Washington does not consider Syria's Kurdish Democracy Union Party (PYD) a terrorist organization. A Turkish official with the Foreign Ministry told VOA that Ankara made clear its unease. Earlier Tuesday, Turkeys Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, echoed President Erdogans remarks that the U.S. must decide who it is partnering with in Syria: the PYD or Turkey. Cavusoglu said Western countries needed to make up their minds. Are we [one of] the partner countries in Syria in the fight against Daesh or are terror organizations? said Cavusoglu in Budapest during a news conference using a derogatory term for the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The tensions between the two countries were highlighted when the head of the anti-IS coalition, Bret McGurk, visited the Syrian town of Kobani late last month, where he met with members of the PYD and its militia, the YPG. U.S. forces have been supporting the YPG in its battle against Islamic State, but Ankara accuses the Syrian Kurdish group of being a terrorist organization connected to the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, which Turkish forces are fighting in southeastern Turkey. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute is playing down the Turkish presidents ultimatum, while underlining the importance of the Syrian Kurdish groups. "These are not new concerns with regard to U.S. contact and U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish groups," he said. "And of course the visit that you are referring took place into the town of Kobani, which of course was largely freed from ISIL control because of the effective fighting of those Syrian Kurdish groups." With Ankara providing airbases for U.S.-led operations against Islamic State, Washington is having to perform a delicate balancing act over its support for Syrian Kurdish groups. Analysts say Moscow is courting the Syrian Kurds' allegiance. Russia strongly backed the PYDs presence, which Ankara successfully blocked, in last months Geneva peace talks. Moscow has also reportedly supplied arms to the Syrian Kurds. Political columnist Kadri Gursel for Al Monitor website said envoy McGurk's visit to Kobani was strategically important for the United States. "It is a very important gesture; it's a provocative gesture, but a legitimate one. It was a move destined to confirm the United States' position vis-a-vis Syria Kurds, and also a message to Ankara," he said. "And the United States is not wishing to see PYD Kurds being pushed to the Russians, this is what Ankara is doing, exactly." With Turkish political leaders designating the PYD and PKK as greater threats than Islamic State, analysts say relations between Ankara and Washington, are becoming increasingly strained. Gursel said those tensions have led to a redefining of the relationship. "Washington sees Ankara as a friend, but in the eyes of Washington, Ankara is an untrustworthy, unreliable, unpredictable friend," he said. "Believe me, Ankara and Washington are not on the same page, in terms of the Middle East." Washington, for its part, continues to call Turkey a key partner in its fight against Islamic State. But observers say with Washingtons priority being the defeat of IS, and with Syrian Kurds one of the most effective anti-IS forces in Syria, Turkish-U.S. relations appear destined to remain strained for some time to come. The U.N. human rights chief has called on the government of Sri Lanka to locate all those detained, reported missing, and presumed killed, during the country's civil war. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans were abducted by police, military and paramilitary forces during the country's 37-year civil war that ended in 2009. The government says most of those reported missing, whose names were not in the government's database, are dead. U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said Tuesday the claim has "created great distress among their families, who until then still had hope." Zeid said, "This statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or been killed, properly account for their deaths, including whether or not they were unlawful, identify the location of their remains, and provide redress." During his four-day visit to the country, Zeid met with political leaders including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss a U.N. resolution in which the country agreed to investigate allegations of war crimes and offer relief for war victims. Opposition leader Rajavarothiam Sambanthan, who participated in the talks, said during the meeting "we emphasized that the resolution adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council must be fully implemented if there is to be genuine reconciliation in this country on the basis of accountability been addressed." The United Nations estimates that about 40,000 ethnic minority Tamils died in the final months of the campaign to crush the Tamil rebels. Sri Lanka's government has agreed to a domestic investigation into the allegations. At least 21 people were killed, 40 wounded and dozens of houses burned in weekend attacks aimed at Hutus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been the scene of heightened ethnic tensions in recent weeks. The United Nations said Monday it was "alarmed by reports of escalating inter-communal violence" in the area. U.N. spokesman Amouzoun Codjo Martin said the weekend attacks were carried out by members of two militias, the Nande-dominated UPDI and the NDC, which is mostly made up of Nyanga, another local ethnic group. "We have also received reports of massive displacement of civilians, looting, abductions and of at least three rapes during the past few days," the U.N. statement said. Ethnic rivalries, foreign invasions and competition for mineral-rich land have stoked persistent conflict among eastern Congo's dozens of rebel groups over the last two decades, costing millions of lives. Tensions have spiked between the Hutu and neighboring communities since Congo's army launched a military offensive last year against the FDLR, displacing large numbers of fighters and Hutu civilians. Congolese troops and U.N. peacekeepers were forced to fire into the air last Wednesday in a nearby town to disperse Hutu and Nande villagers after the two groups clashed with machetes and batons. Some information for this report provided by Reuters. The United Nations warned Tuesday that if pro-government forces in Syria succeed in encircling the strategic city of Aleppo then up to 300,000 people could be cut off from humanitarian aid. In an assessment of the situation in Aleppo, the U.N. said the Aleppo offensive has already cut rebel supply lines between the eastern part of the city and the Bab al-Salam crossing on the Turkish border. Further advances into the city could send another 100,000 to 150,000 civilians fleeing Aleppo. The World Food Program said Tuesday it is distributing urgently needed meals to 21,000 people who fled Aleppo to A'zaz, just south of the Turkish border. Volatile, fluid situation Jakob Kern, WFP director in Syria, called the situation in Aleppo "quite volatile and fluid." Pro-government forces have pounded their way toward Aleppo during the past week in their effort to crush rebels who have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime for more than five years. If that happens, the rebel momentum will be gone, said Omar Lamrani, a military analyst for Stratfor, geopolitical intelligence firm based out of Texas. If Aleppo were to fall, it would highlight how dire the situation is for the rebels throughout the country. Russian warplanes have been relentlessly bombing northern Syria for days, forcing U.S.-backed and other rebel forces to take shelter in tunnels and blast craters. One young rebel fighter told VOA that morale has dropped to rock bottom as anti-Assad fighters feel the West has abandoned them. I have spoken with the ambassadors and their staffs of the U.S., Britain and France, and asked them, What will you do other than make statement? said Zakaria Malahefji, political officer to the 3,000-strong Fastaqim Kama Umirt brigade. US game plan With government troops backed by Russian air power and Iranian-backed ground forces seizing the north of the city and threatening to move south to link up with government-held parts of the city, it does not appear that Washington can do much. The U.S. has its game plan, and that is the negotiating table, Lamrani said. But with Syrian forces gaining ground, the attraction for the Syrian government of a political solution over a military one appears to be fading fast. Talks in Geneva for a political solution to Syrias conflict stalled last week after just two days on differences between Syria and the opposition on the priority of humanitarian issues. The U.S. State Department said Russia was also partly to blame. "It is difficult in the extreme to see how strikes against civilian targets contribute in any way to the peace process now being explored," spokesman John Kirby said. Russian investment Although the Russians have lost men and money, Lamrani said it appeared that their investment was paying off, to the detriment of the Syrian opposition and its U.S.-led coalition backers. They are highlighting they are a power in the Middle East, he said. The Russians and Iranians are also pushing to create a situation whereby the only really viable choices are the Syrian government or Islamic State and IS is a non-option. By removing the rebels from the equation, then essentially it is game over, Lamrani said. But the conflict could also get more complicated and more drawn out. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, unwilling to cede such influence to Syria and its allies, might decide that one way to force everyone back to the negotiating table is to raise the cost of the military campaign by bolstering the rebels with more money and bigger and deadlier weapons. They want to maintain a stake in the conflict, Lamrani said. They still want the U.S. to stay close and give them cover against Russia to keep Russian ambitions at bay. U.S. engineers examining northern Iraq's Mosul dam say they have found new signs of distress in the massive structure and it is now at "significantly higher risk" of failure that could devastate vast areas to the south. That assessment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - released Tuesday by Iraqi lawmakers - bolsters earlier U.S. warnings that failure of the dam on the Tigris River could send a 20-meter flood wave crashing southward into the city of Mosul and then wreak havoc as far south as Baghdad. Numerous studies have warned that hundreds of thousands of people could die if the 32-year-old dam fails. Experts say Mosul Dam has displayed structural flaws for years, and the latest U.S. evaluation says signs of trouble are greater than a year ago and greater than "originally understood." Analysts say the dam, built on less than stable underpinnings, was further threatened when the surrounding area was overrun in 2014 by Islamic State extremists who forced the dam's maintenance workers to flee. Kurdish and Iraqi forces liberated the dam months later, but not before the unattended structure further deteriorated. The latest U.S. assessment was dated January 30, just days before Iraq awarded a contract to an Italian engineering firm to repair and maintain the dam. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said some 500 Italian soldiers will be deployed to the dam to provide security. The United States has warned its citizens in Afghanistan that insurgents are planning to attack foreign guest houses in the capital city of Kabul as of early this month. A U.S. Embassy statement issued early Tuesday says the warning is based on reports it has received, adding there is no further information regarding the timing, target, location, or method of any planned attack. Unidentified insurgents are planning to attack unidentified foreign guest houses in Kabul City, possibly near the Qala-e Fatullah neighborhood. The attack could also occur near Ansari or Haji Yaqub roundabouts in Kabul City, it said. The embassy again warned against travel to Afghanistan, saying the security situation in the country is extremely unstable and the threat to all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan remains critical. Suicide bombings Taliban suicide bombers and heavily armed fighters in recent months have staged deadly attacks against local and foreign targets in Kabul, including guesthouses. Meanwhile, hundreds of U.S. troops were headed for the restive southern Helmand province to support the Afghan Armys 215th corps, which has struggled for months to reverse Taliban territorial gains in the poppy-growing region. This was a planned deployment of additional personnel to both bolster force protection for the current staff of advisors and to provide additional advisors to help with ongoing efforts to re-man, re-equip, and re-train the 215th Corps, said U.S. Army spokesman Col. Michael Lawhorn. However, the U.S. militarys mission in Afghanistan remains the same: to train, advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts, and not to participate in combat operations, said Lawhorn. Army shakeup The battlefield setbacks have prompted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to replace more than 90 general officers in a major shakeup in the army corps. The NATO-led coalition comprised mostly of U.S. troops ended its combat mission at the end of 2014, encouraging the Taliban to capture territory and inflict heavy losses on Afghan security forces for the first time since it was ousted from power nearly 15 years ago. The insurgents have also captured areas in northern and northeastern Afghanistan but their advances in Helmand have been particularly significant. The Taliban is said to be in control of 11 out of 14 districts in the largest Afghan province, which borders Pakistan and has been a traditional Taliban heartland. The U.S. Senate is expected to approve tougher sanctions against North Korea as early as Wednesday, just days after Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket capable of carrying a nuclear payload, and weeks after it conducted a nuclear test. Its going to pass overwhelmingly, Republican Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told VOA. The Senate will pause extended deliberations on an energy bill to take up the North Korea sanctions legislation. At least seven hours of floor debate have been scheduled, followed by a vote. Clearly whats happened in North Korea is extremely serious, said Sen. Ben Cardin, the Foreign Relations Committees ranking Democrat. I would hope there would be no ambiguity at all in American policy on isolating North Korea. Approved by the committee last month, the bill seeks to punish entities in China and elsewhere that help North Korea continue its nuclear program or finance its military complex. We need to make sure the Chinese pay a price on this, Republican Sen. John McCain told VOA. They [North Korea] would collapse without Chinese support in a month. More pressure needed Several amendments could be considered, including one requiring the Obama administration to provide Congress with any information it has on nuclear and ballistic missile cooperation between North Korea and Iran. The administration is withholding direct comment until a final bill reaches the presidents desk. "I am not certainly going to get ahead of legislation pending or being discussed on Capitol Hill, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. "Obviously, the United States has as we always have had the ability to unilaterally apply sanctions to meet certain ends. We firmly believe that the international community has got to apply more pressure on the North," Kirby added. The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Koreas long-range rocket launch, and said it stands ready to develop significant new measures to rein in Pyongyangs behavior. Skepticism over U.N. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers of both parties expressed skepticism about new U.N. sanctions, and said the United States must speak with one voice. Im not hopeful that China will join in doing anything, Corker said. Its pretty hard for the White House to push back against what were doing when its evident that the U.N. Security Council itself is not going to be effective in dealing with this. Cardin agreed. This is a congressional prerogative, he said. We are disappointed that the United Nations has not acted. They have had an opportunity to act. So we hope that what we do here [in Congress] will facilitate international action and isolate North Korea if they continue to go down this path. China is under pressure to support tough new sanctions against Pyongyang, but is reported to be balancing the need for action with concerns about creating instability in North Korea. North Korea could start gathering plutonium from a restarted reactor within weeks, providing Pyongyang with more fuel for nuclear weapons, the top. U.S. intelligence official warned lawmakers. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday North Korea has made good on earlier threats to expand its Yongbyon uranium enrichment facility as well as its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor. We further assess North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactors spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months, he added in prepared testimony. The facilities had initially been shut down in 2007 but Pyongyang vowed to restart the reactor following its third nuclear test on 2013. Continued concern And despite doubts North Korea was able to successfully test what it called a miniaturized hydrogen bomb in January, Clapper told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee the country's activities remain a concern. Pyongyang continues to produce fissile material and develop a submarine launched ballistic missile, he said. It is also committed to developing a long-range nuclear armed missile thats capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, although the system has not been flight tested. The conclusions, part of the U.S. intelligence communitys annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, come just two days after North Korea launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space, drawing more condemnation from the world community. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with South Korean President Park Geun-hye Monday night about the latest launch and the two leaders agreed it "represents yet another destabilizing and provocative action," according to the White House. Both leaders also said the launch violated several United Nations Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The new U.S. assessment states North Korea is likely using its nuclear program for deterrence, international prestige and coercive diplomacy. Cyber threat It also warns North Korea "probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives." The U.S. report said that since assuming power four years ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "has further solidified his position as the unitary leader and final decision authority through purges, executions, and leadership shuffles." It said that Kim "continues to challenge the international community with provocative and threatening behavior in pursuit of his goals, as prominently demonstrated in the November 2014 cyberattack on Sony, the August 2015 inter-Korean confrontation spurred by the Norths placement of landmines that injured two South Korean soldiers, and the fourth nuclear test" last month. Following a set of recommendations made by a committee appointed to look into the death sentence issued on several convicts, it has been decided to convert the death sentence imposed on 34 of those convicts into life imprisonment. President Maithripala Sirisena had taken the decision after considering the reports on the 34 convicts submitted by the committee which was appointed by the former President. The committee has also finalized reports on another 60 convicts on death row and these reports will also be handed over to the President for his consideration, a committee member told The Sunday Leader. Since the death sentence is not implemented in Sri Lanka an issue has arisen on the convicts who are on death row. Human rights groups have urged the Sri Lankan government not to implement the death sentence despite pressure from some groups and individuals following a spate of gruesome murders in the country. Source: The Sunday Leader, Feb. 8, 2016 The U.S. Justice Department has charged the wife of a now-deceased Islamic State leader for her alleged role in last year's death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar and her husband, Abu Sayyaf, are accused of holding Mueller and other women captive in their home. U.S. officials say Mueller was subjected to repeated sexual abuse by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during her captivity. Mueller was killed in February 2015. Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, "knew how Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Mueller was held against her will in Sayyaf's home,'' federal prosecutors said Monday. Abu Sayyaf was killed in a Delta Force commando raid of his Syrian compound in June, and his wife was turned over to Iraqi authorities for prosecution. Umm Sayyaf allegedly admitted to FBI agents last summer that she was chiefly responsible for Mueller and other hostages while her husband traveled. On those occasions, she acknowledged hosting Islamic State members and al-Baghdadi at her home. Sayyaf told interrogators that al-Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residence, and acknowledged that "owning" is equivalent to slavery. The Justice Department said it plans to "pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." If convicted, Sayyaf faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Eleven months have passed since the disappearance of human rights activist Itai Dzamara, but his family's conviction that he'll return to them one day, alive, remains resolute. Dzamara, who led the daily Occupy Africa Unity Square campaign in Harare, which called on President Robert Mugabe to step down due to the country's deteriorating state, was dragged out of a barber shop in his neighborhood, on March 9, 2015, and has not been seen since. While no one has claimed a hand in his disappearance, including the government which has professed ignorance of his whereabouts, many believe Dzamara was taken by agents of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), because of his open dissent against the country's president. Marking the 11-month of his disappearance, Tuesday, the European Union issued a statement expressing disappointment and concern about the government's lack of progress in searching for the journalist-cum activist. In the statement, which the EU had been issuing monthly since Dzamara's disappearance, it called on authorities to ensure that justice is served. Another statement issued by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) also noted with concern, the continued disappearance of Itai, a father of two children, despite a court mandate for police to keep up the search for him. [ZLHR] is saddened to note that while in March 2015, High Court Judge Justice David Mangota issued an order directing authorities to investigate, establish his whereabouts and update his family and lawyers on progress, this has not been fully complied with. ZLHR remains very concerned that probe reports submitted by the ZRP as ordered by the High Court in March 2015 show very little progress if at all. Ordinary Zimbabweans, politicians and activists joined with the Dzamara family today at the Africa Unity Square to pray for Itais safe and immediate return. Dzamaras wife Shefra told VOA she and her children remain hopeful for her husband's safe return. She said the children remain her husband's constant worry as they continuously ask about their father. They are still asking and you can see that the kids really miss their father, theyre still asking, said Sheffra. She said though they are not receiving many outside donations, the Dzamara family has been supporting her and the children. Dzamaras brother, Patson,who recently launched his new book, "Forced to Fight" which chronicled the story of his missing brother, echoed his sister-in-law, saying the family is optimistic of Itai's return. In as much as we are going through the pain and the grief, we are also still holding onto hope. He said as a family they believe that one day, and sooner than later they will be reunited with Itai. Justice came fast for opposition leader Owen Kuchata of the Zimbabwe Peoples Front, one four Zimbabweans accused of trying to bomb a dairy farm that belongs to the President Robert Mugabe and his family, last month. Kuchata, who pleaded guilty to charges of possession of weaponry for sabotage, and money laundering for terrorism purposes, will serve 9-years behind bars for his crimes, for which he took full responsibility. On the first charge of terrorism, Harare regional magistrate, Hosea Mujaya handed Kuchata a 9-year-jail sentence but suspended one year of the sentence, on condition that he (Kuchata) not commit a similar offence in five years. On the second count of money laundering arising from the money he raised for buying equipment to make petrol bombs, Mujaya sentenced Kuchata to two-years, with one year of the sentence set to run concurrently with the sentence for count one. Mujayas sentence could be considered light by some, as terrorism carries a maximum life sentence, while maximum penalty for money laundering is 35-years. The judge however reportedly gave Kuchata a lower sentence because he was a first offender and had shown contrition by asking from forgiveness, for his actions. Kuchata earlier told the court he did not want to remove President Robert Mugabe from power but simply wanted to bomb the farm so that the President could feel the pain Zimbabweans are experiencing as a result of house demolitions in Harare. Magistrate Mujaya told Kuchata that there were other ways to communicate his message, other than the one he chose, which she said could be expected in countries like Afghanistan. Among those in court, supporting Kuchata were his wife, Joyline, who said the family would not be appealing the judges decision, and another family member Kasimos Musakanda, who expressed gratitude for the judge Mujayas leniency. "Obviously, we are at pain about it. But we have seen that the judgement has considered his plight as well, said Musakanda. I think he (Kuchata) showed a lot of contrition and the judge take (took) note of that. And we are happy he (Mujaya) understood him (Kuchata) in a way. Kuchata is to appear in court next week with the three men he was arrested with, namely Solomon Makumbe, Silas Pfupa and Borman Ngwenya, to face charges of treason, a crime that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe. Court papers say besides planning to bomb Mugabe's dairy farm, the four wanted to overthrow President Mugabe, who has ruled the country for more than three decades and turns 92 in two weeks time. The case sucked in Zimbabwes Prosecutor General, Johannes Tomana who was arrested for withdrawing charges against Makumbe and Pfupa before a plea, so that they could become state witnesses in the matter. Tomana, who was charged with abusing his office, is currently out of jail after posting $1000 bail. Many Zimbabwean youth have expressed frustration at the government of President Robert Mugabe, saying it lacks the political will to improve their lives. On the top of the list of disgruntlements is the governments failure to create the two-million jobs it promised in the run-up to the 2013 general elections. For many of the countrys youth, their future prospects appear bleak, despite a projected economic growth of 2.7% in 2016. In 2015, Zimbabwes economy registered a marginal 1.5% percent growth due to lack of foreign direct investment, fears over the countrys indigenization program and other related issues. Against this background, some Zimbabwean youth say they are failing to get formal jobs as the economy appears to be shrinking fast. Joanna Mamombe, a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe is among those affected, as shes still looking for work, one year after graduating. Mamombe said she has lost hope of ever fulfilling her dreams, which now seem shattered. She believes the only youth who stand a chance of getting a job in Zimbabwe today, are those with links to top government officials. Its very sad that the government of today, everything that seems to be happening now, its partisan, said Mamombe. Especially considering the funds that are being allocated to the youth. You find that that if you are not aligned to their political party, definitely, youll not get any cent from the youth fund. Another unemployed youth Philip Jongwe, says he is disappointed the that government is not prioritizing funding education and skills provision for the nation's young people. Personally I am a disgruntled somebody when it come to the respect of the youth in Zimbabwe, Jongwe said. Its so regrettable that the government of Zimbabwe, they actually forget that the youth are integral stakeholders in as far as the development of each and every nation is concerned. Jongwe further accused state officials of suppressing their constitutionally guaranteed rights to protest. Peaceful protests in Zimbabwe are normally blocked by police, a feared arm of the state. Tariro Senderai, who works for Organizing Zimbabwe, a non-governmental organization focusing on youth development, argued that the government is only good at oppressing young people instead of creating opportunities for them. Senderai pointed to the proposed 2016 national budget allocation by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who she said only committed $10-million towards youth development. I just feel as though a lot of thought should be put into the national budget considering that young people consist of 68% of the national population, Senderai said. We need to be considered in a massive way in terms of investment as well. Former student leader Obey Sithole, agreed, noting that the current political leadership in Zimbabwe has no desire to transform the lives of youths. Even if you take the national objective, in the first sections of the constitution, the youth are taken as the priority. They are one of the national objectives, among many national objectives. But when it comes to operation on the ground, theres no respect at all, Sithole said. Youth president of the opposition Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, Fortune Munyonga, is still holding President Mugabe to account for the jobs he and his party promised the youth in 2013, for their votes. Munyonga said with hundreds of companies shutting down following the 2013 election, which were disputed by opposition groups, including the Movement for Democratic Change, hes doubtful of positive change. Despite the accusations of lack of political will, Youth and Indigenization Minister, Patrick Zhuwao, who is Mr. Mugabes nephew, said the government is in fact doing all it can to improve the lives of youth in Zimbabwe. Zhuwao infact shifted some of the blame to Zanu PF youth, who he said are failing to repay loans created under youth empowerment programs to cater for the needy. He says defaulters should be punished as they are crippling black empowerment programs. Currently weve got $5.1million plus $1.7, which makes it $6.8million that has been locked up by those that are not paying back, Zhuwao asserted. Political and social commentator, David Masunda, said unless the government can find a way to keep the youth employed and hopeful, by reviving the crumbling and collapsed industries, thousands will continue to leave the country annually, to seek greener pastures in neighboring nations like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. Universities and technical colleges are churning out youths almost every day, but industry is on its knees, theres no employment, and most of them are not being forced to join the informal sector even when they have got masters degrees, or even high technical qualifications, Masunda said. Statistics show that more than 85% of the countrys population is unemployed though official figures are pegged at almost 11%. Apart from Hyderabad, the US supermarket major is looking at setting up 5 to 6 stores in other cities of Telangana. Hyderabad: The Telangana government has signed three MoUs with global retail giant Walmart on Tuesday for setting up more cash and carry outlets in the state. Currently, Walmart India has a wholesale store at Shivrampally in the city. Initially, the company would be looking at opening its outlets in the western and eastern parts of the city. Apart from Hyderabad, the US supermarket major is looking at setting up 5 to 6 stores in other cities of Telangana such as Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam and Ramagundam in the next five years. Walmart will help in giving fillip to women entrepreneurship in retail sector, purchase fruits and vegetables from newly formed horticulture corporation and provide training to Krushi mart, a wing of Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty as per the MoUs. During the MoU signing ceremony, the Telangana government was represented by IT, panchayat raj and municipal administration minister K T Rama Rao, IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan while Walmart was represented by vice-president Enrique Ostale. This episode opens where last weeks left off, with Oatmeal facing a series of Scylla and Charybdislike challenges that wont stop until the episode is over. On one side of the strait is Charybdis I mean Olivia, who will destroy his entire life with her patented brand of crazy. Shes different. Shes confident. She likes reading books in her room and thinking. Oatmeal is unable to see the swirling whirlpool of Olivia, and decides to let her keep her rose throughout this Rose Ceremony. Homer would have written it differently, but hes dead. While the soundtrack from Avengers: Age of Ultron plays, its time for the Rose Ceremony. Theres only two non-balayaged brunettes left: Caila and Jennifer. Unfortunately for Jennifer, she hasnt had a lot of time with Ben, so she is sent home. Caila, Lauren B., Jojo, Becca, Twin, and Leah all get roses. I found myself again asking, WHO IN THE HELL IS LEAH? when she was given her rose. That dodo bird must have been listening in my TV, because she certainly answered that question by the end of the episode. Who is Leah? Leah is Regina George. When Leah was in middle school, she probably created a burn book and wrote that her friend Maddie masturbated with a candle in front of everyone at a sleepover, thus ending Maddies social life until Maddie went to college, where no one knew her nickname was Little Match Girl, which isnt even accurate when you think about it. Thats who Leah is. Oatmeal invites the ladytestants to the Bahamas, where theyll sleep four to a bed, like the Bucket family. Host Chris strolls in and lets the ladytestants know that,this week, there will be a one-on-one date, a group date, and a two-on-one. The woman who doesnt impress Oatmeal on the two-on-one date will be sent home, and wont get to go with the other ladytestants to get those sweet white-girl spring-break cornrows. You know what Im talking about. Caila gets the one-on-one date with Oatmeal. They go fishing on a boat and he shoves his hand up her jorts, and the whole date is intercut with footage of Leah weeping and pouting around because Oatmeal hasnt paid enough attention to her. Leah and Oatmeal speak fluent Hallmark Card to each other. Are they confused enough to fall in with each other, or do Cailas smiles hide an empty, doll-like skull with eyes that close when you lay her down? Apparently, she shows enough depth, and Oatmeals boner is just perplexed and intrigued enough to keep her around another week. She gets a rose. Snooze. Its time for quite possibly the worst group date in history. Say this phrase out loud: Swimming with pigs. Did your nipples get hard? If yes, you should be put on a list. If no, youre like millions of other women who dont think feeding pigs is a super-hot date. Ben canoodles with Lauren B. in the ocean while the other ladytestants live some Lord of the Flies waking nightmare. Lauren H. quit her job to be here. Yikes. Everyone gets jealous, and the date grinds to a halt. Oatmeal doesnt know what to do, so he asks every single woman what hes doing wrong. One of the most unattractive things is a man who relies on women to do his emotional labor. What should I do? I dont want to be the bad guy? Tell me how to behave! I dont know! Get it together, dude. You agreed to be the Bachelor. No one cares that its hard to have multiple attractive tiny blondes chasing after your junk. Thats what the job is. At the cocktail party, instead of trying to get Oatmeal to be into her, Leah takes him aside and makes up some story about how Lauren B. is secretly a bitch. Has this ever worked? Did Leah forget when Amber tried to come for Our Heavenly Sister Jubilee and was swiftly dismissed and then dismissed? Well, it almost works this time. Oatmeal takes Lauren B. aside to find out what is going on while the special-effects department works overtime to provide lightning and thunder. Oatmeal ultimately decides that Lauren B. can stay, and he gives Amanda the group-date rose. Leah retreats to the bathroom to put on her nude Nars Velvet Matte lip pencil that she clearly got as the Sephora birthday gift. Whats Leah doing? Classic middle-school move shes sneaking into the boys bunk. But instead of giving her first HJ outside Hemlock Cabin, Leah wants to talk about how Lauren B. is a monster. Would it have killed Leah to just bang him? If youre stealing middle-school moves to get a boy to like you, you put on your cutest low-rise flares and glitter baby tee and get busy. (I mean, not me. I carried a metal Sailor Moon lunchbox until I was 15.) Oatmeals lack of anything could definitely be improved with some good ol fashioned banging. Something! So, Oatmeal walks Leah out. Its time for the two-on-one on the worst day in the Bahamas. Oatmeal takes Olivia and Twin on a speedboat in a windstorm and then just sits on a beach. You dont have an activity planned? A board game or something? Both Twin and Olivia take this time to confess their feelings to Oatmeal. Everyone is falling for Oatmeal. He sticks to your ribs. In the end, Oatmeal pulls the ultimate switcheroo on the most delusional ladytestant: He takes Olivia aside holding the two-on-one date rose, then tells her that he appreciates that she spoke from the heart, but he cant reciprocate those feelings. Emily basically gets the two-on-one date rose by default. She didnt earn it, did she? I cant tell whom this cup of oats and water likes. Oatmeal and Emily ride off on the speedboat and leave Olivia on the shore crying. The camera keeps flying back farther and farther and oh wow, they just left her on that island. Cupcakes elimination, part two. While the ladytestants at the hotel enjoy their morning box of wine, a PA comes in to claim Olivias luggage and deliver it to her on the deserted island because thats where she lives now. Oatmeal doesnt want to waste anyones time, so he gets right to the Rose Ceremony. Oatmeal cant tell if anyone really likes him anymore. Bruh, youre alone with seven women, and you keep taking them to far-flung locales. Someone is gonna give you a HJ at some point. Becca and Jojo get roses, and it comes down to the two Laurens. Lauren B. gets the rose. Lauren H. drives off crying, and she keeps asking when its going to be her time for love. Better ask for your job back first, homegirl. Meanwhile, Olivia is sharpening rocks to enact her revenge once she traps a sea pig to ride back to the resort. Photo-Illustration: Vulture and Photos by FOX, NBC and ABC Some of my greatest memories as a kid involve sitting cross-legged in front of the television obsessively watching The X-Files while my mother braided my hair. The show had a lot that captured my imagination. I quickly developed a crush on Fox Mulder and an appreciation for the shows weirdness. But it was Dana Scully I truly fell in love with. I wasnt the only one, and for good reason. When Scully first appeared in the fall of 1993, she felt like a rarity in the television landscape. She cultivated a form of womanhood where being awkward, terribly dressed and disinterested in fashion, and the smartest person in the room were things to cherish. She wasnt created as a sex symbol, though she became one. But its the other aspects of her character that became foundational. In the face of cancer, alien abductions, madmen, and monsters, Scully may have been afraid, her faith in Catholicism and science tested, but she was always brave. And above all else, her intelligence was her defining trait. She proved to be such a cultural force that she gave rise to The Scully Effect, inspiring young women to enter fields of science and medicine. Scully returns this year in The X-Files six-episode event, to a television landscape where her presence is profoundly felt. TV since The X-Files is full of characters inspired by Scully, especially when it comes to shows that hinge on a duo the outgoing, charismatic partner, and the more scientifically minded one who may or may not develop a romantic relationship. Do all the characters Scully has influenced live up to her? Definitely not. Gillian Andersons performance and her chemistry with David Duchovny arent exactly elements that can be replicated. But these characters prove that Scully isnt only the heart of The X-Files, but also the character who had the most profound influence on popular culture. Temperance Bones Brennan, Bones Temperance Bones Brennan and her dynamic with Seely Booth is indebted to The X-Files to the point where Id argue I dont think the show has added anything to pop culture. Bones embodies Scullys skepticism to the point of being hyperrational. Her awkwardness takes the form of lacking social cues and struggling to relate to people who dont fit her worldview. For all that Bones shares with Scully, she lacks the wit, warmth, and stellar acting that make the character so memorable. Peggy Carter, Agent Carter Hayley Atwells plucky Peggy Carter may have been born on the pages of Marvel comics in the mid-1960s, but shes gone through quite an evolution making it to the screen. On Agent Carter, she struggles dealing with a sexist, even hostile work environment where shes manipulated and her incredible skills are taken for granted something Scully reckoned with to various degrees. But like Scully, it is Peggys unerring belief in herself, her intelligence, and her keen wit that help her survive. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars Veronica Mars is often considered to be indebted to Joss Whedons Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon even made cameos in the last season. But theres more than a little Scully in Veronica, too: her ability to read people, defiant bravery in the face of more powerful foes, and sarcastic humor. But most important, Veronica shares one of Scullys most definitive traits: a desire for justice, especially for those whom others might turn away from. For Scully, that can often take the form of monster-of-the-week episodes that center on religious phenomena, which seems to be the only thing Mulder doesnt believe in, like season fives All Soul, in which Father McCue asks for her help in investigating the mysterious death of a disabled girl. For Veronica, it often takes the form of aiding the outcasts at her school, which leads to one of her greatest friendships, with Wallace. Theres also another Rob Thomas heroine that feels like Scullys little sister Olivia Moore, iZombie Maybe its her work as a coroners assistant. Maybe it is how she decides to turn being a zombie into a way to help the murdered people whose brains she eats (its less gruesome than it sounds) that recalls Scully. No matter; Olivia Liv Moore, the caring, quirky zombie heroine of iZombie, brings Scully to mind much in the way Veronica Mars does. Olivias quest for justice and new understanding of the weird and macabre, much like Scullys, greatly affect her personal life to the point where her interpersonal relationships are incredibly strained. Dr. Maura Isles, Rizzoli & Isles If you ever watch a show that involves law-enforcement partners with a dynamic whose closeness seems borderline romantic and one is incredibly scientifically minded, you can thank The X-Files and Scully. Like Bones, Rizzoli & Isles seems to confuse spouting off facts like a walking encyclopedia for great intelligence. Dr. Maura Isles shares a lot of surface traits with Scully, but lacks her depth. Olivia Benson, Law and Order: SVU Premiering in 1999 (and still on air 17 seasons later), Law and Order: SVUs Olivia Benson captures a lot of Scullys brave spirit in how she faces sexism, dangerous criminals, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Olivia has long proven herself to be the heart of her own show, even as it grows more and more outlandish (the same of which can be said about The X-Files). Joan Watson, Elementary Scully can be seen in the beginning as a sort of John Watson figure from Sherlock Holmes, so it isnt surprising that you can see parts of her in the updated version of the character Lucy Liu plays on Elementary. Watson, like Scully, proves herself to be an equal to her infamous, more dramatic partner. Shes a keen observer of human behavior, a former surgeon, whip-smart, and often struggles with the way her work as an investigator affects her interpersonal relationships. The various murders on Elementary arent always as dynamic as its characters, and its Lius embodiment of the character that keeps me returning. Sydney Bristow, Alias Difficult familial situations? Check. Intense, slow-burning relationship with partner that turns romantic? Check. Unerring desire for justice and truth? Double check. Sydney Bristow is a lot more physical than Scully. Just check out season twos finale, which includes the most emotional, brutal fight in the shows history. But Sydneys ability to kick ass isnt her defining trait its her intelligence and her caring, which often get her in tricky situations. Abbie Mills, Sleepy Hollow If theres a show with a weird premise, involving a partnership with tons of chemistry, you can thank The X-Files for that. The problem with Sleepy Hollow is it doesnt respect its leading lady as much as it should, even though shes a worthy heir to Dana Scully. Lieutenant turned FBI agent Abbie Mills gradually comes to accept her role fighting the forces of evil as a witness to the apocalypse. Shes a stabilizing force for the charismatic, occasionally foolish Ichabod Crane, and the show itself. Without Nicole Beharies assured performance, the show wouldnt be worth watching. Zoe Washburne, Firefly Firefly at times feels far too beloved for what was actually produced. But one thing I can agree with is how great Zoe Washburne is. Zoe is a war veteran and a tough, deadly badass whose impressive skills in a fight sometimes mask her incredible heart. Its her loyalty to her husband, Wash, and former superior officer, Malcolm Reynolds, that greatly recall Scullys relationship with Mulder. Much like Scully, she often has to bring the outlandish ideas of the men around her down to reality. Gina Torres imbues Zoe with sharp humor, intelligence, and warmth that I think would make Scully proud. Stella Gibson, The Fall At first blush, Stella Gibson doesnt share much with Dana Scully besides also being portrayed by Gillian Anderson. As the senior investigator looking into a serial killer targeting young-professional women in Belfast, Gibson proves herself to be much bolder, sexually assertive, and more of a force of nature than Scully. But its the way she cares about the victims that links her most to Scully. A character like Scully can cast a long shadow on an actors career, and Anderson has definitely proven herself to be more than just her breakout character. But in looking at Scully and Gibson side by side, we can perhaps trace Andersons thematic interests as an actor: women who wrestle with societal expectations, who work to right the wrongs that most turn away from, and whose intelligence is their defining trait. Olivia Dunham, Fringe When Fringe premiered, it was quickly written off as a pale imitation of The X-Files. And it does share some superficial similarities. Secret government division investigating all manner of the paranormal and weird? Check. Two partners whose relationship grows romantic after considerable teasing, only to be upended by the kinds of cases they investigate? Check. But Fringe is a more somber affair. Where The X-Files pretty much includes everything from aliens to vampires, Fringes mythology feels far more intimate, showing an interest in mad scientists and alternate universes. At the center of all of this is Agent Olivia Dunham. Like Scully, Olivia is intelligent, rational, caring, and brave in the face of insurmountable odds. Shes perhaps the most fascinating heir to Scully. She is a colder, more reserved figure due to a rough childhood at the hands of an abusive stepfather. Like Scully, she finds herself becoming intrinsically tied to her cases when its revealed she was experimented on as a child, giving her astounding abilities, including being able to cross over into an alternate universe. At times, she represents why we still need Scully figures on television. She captures the heart of Scullys character: her intelligence, bravery, excellence in her field, warmth, and heart. She also represents the greatness that can come from being inspired by Scully, but not wholly indebted to recreating the character. Television has come a long way since Scullys heyday, but that doesnt mean we still dont need more characters like her who are defined not by their sex appeal, their romantic relationships, or their wardrobes, but their keen intelligence, and who affect not only the medium theyre in but the culture at large, influencing generations to come. The latest outing of The Fosters contains two things very near and dear to my heart: sweet stories about the relationships between adults and their parents, and solid Mario Lopez comedy. Well start with the former, since Im still crying and wont be able to stop until I talk it out. God, Im such a Lena sometimes. One of the things I love most about The Fosters is that although its a teen drama on a network geared toward people younger than I am (but, like, what is a Freeform?), the show pays equal attention to the adults in the room. Main character or not, the adults dont just show up to dole out advice before jetting off to a time-share in Boca. They fight just as many demons, learn just as many lessons, and are just as layered and complex as the kids are many times, even more so. (But, like, what is a Jesus 1?) As you age, adulthood tends to teach you that youre never too old to need your parents. You also learn that its not acceptable to eat salsa as a meal. The parent thing, though, thats most important here. ( Kids: Also remember what I said about the salsa.) And nothing demonstrates this lesson better than Stefs interactions with Sharon in If and When. Sharon, Stef, and Lena are still butting heads over Stefs decision to proceed with a lumpectomy rather than a double mastectomy. Tensions are high Im no shrink, but its obvious everyone is scared and eventually, Stef decides it would be best if Sharon and her handsome, young hippie boyfriend, Will, left for the trip theyve been putting off. Queen Annie Potts is excellent as Sharon lays on the good-bye melodramatics. Unfortunately for Stef, Wills RV wont start, and Sharons stuck in San Diego a little bit longer. Stef doesnt have much time to deal with Sharon, though; shes knee-deep in the AJ situation. She obtains a warrant for Ty and, much to Hot Dad Mikes chagrin, for AJ as well. When Callie gets a call from AJ who most definitely did not message her on Fost and Found (a mysterys afoot!) she decides to let Stef know, and based on the area code, they realize AJ is in Phoenix. Lets take a minute to acknowledge just how far Callies come: Old Callie wouldve been halfway to Phoenix on her own (okay, probably with Brandon) by now. Lets see how she reacts once she finds out that Jack yes, Jack, whos been hanging around the Adams Foster house for their video-game collection and high-thread-count sheets is the one pretending to be AJ on the Fost and Found message boards. And just when she was defending him to Jude Regardless, thanks to Callie, Stef is able to track down Ty and AJ. As much as Hot Dad Mike and Lena beg her to leave AJ out of this, Stef needs to find justice for her family. Im going to put my amateur-shrink hat on again (its more of a fascinator, really) and guess that Stefs unwavering determination comes from a need to control something in her life. She is having trouble with the BRCA-1 gene test results, so she grasps at the one thing she has power over. Im kind of good at this shrink thing, huh? When Stef returns from Phoenix, Lena confronts her about a passive-aggressive comment Stef made about always siding with her, and Stef finally shows her wife the test results. They need to rethink their plan. Rather than a prolonged scene with Lena, we get a scene with Stef and Sharon. I love that. Stef needs her mom, you guys! Knowing that cancer is no longer a question of if, but when, Stef decides to have the double mastectomy and what she needs most is for her mom to be there with her. Okay, talking about it did not stop the crying. I blame you, Annie Potts! Though Sharon and Stefs lovely chat is a show-stealer, Sharon and Wills moment soon after is a close second. Dr. Joel Fleischman is in the building, people! Again, Will couldve easily been a throwaway character, and Sharon isnt a main focus of The Fosters, by any means, but thanks to Potts and Rob Morrows performances and the shows willingness to highlight all types of relationships I found myself emotionally invested in what I originally believed to be comic relief. We learn that Will secretly pretended his RV was broken for Sharons sake, and he loves Sharon for her spirit, and he wants this to be more than a fling. The only big problem with all of this? Now I love him and hes leaving. Such is life, I guess. Kids: Add that to my list of adult lessons, right under the salsa thing. Moms werent the only ones getting screen time in If and When, though. The dads get some attention, too. Im not even talking about Hot Dad Mike, who was more like Sad Dad Mike for most of the hour Im talking about Jesus 2s search for his birth father. Spurred on by his adult-faced teen friend, Nick, who hilariously scares Jesus with the notion that for all he knows, Mario Lopez could be his father, Jesus decides its time to seek out some additional information. He goes to Ana for answers. She is obviously uncomfortable, only offering only a name, Gabriel, and a thin story about a one-night stand. Thanks to a nosy cousin, Jesus learns that Ana is lying; she was in a relationship with Gabriel, and the dude works construction for Jesuss uncle. After a spot-on pep talk from Will (there is so much to love about him), Jesus decides that yes, he wants to know his father. He heads on down to the construction site and worms his way into a job, working side by side with Gabriel. Things are sure to blow up in Jesuss face, but for now, lets call it a win. The kid really needs a win. Terrible Choice of the Week: The worlds most anticlimactic student-government race ends with Lena pulling Mariana out of class to tell her shes lost the election. Come on, students of Anchor Beach! She chose the confident outfit over the sexy outfit! Enjoy Lexi as your Prexi YOU DESERVE HER. Great Choice of the Week: All is not lost! Brandon and Cute Mat select Mariana as the Juliet in their senior project opposite Mats Romeo! Mats not too thrilled, but Mariana won the part fair and square. (Um, bye, Talya!) Something tells me the timeless story about two teens so deeply in love that they end up killing themselves even though they couldve prevented all the tragedy with a little patience and communication might be just the thing to reconcile Mariana and Mat. Bring it on. Teresa Giudice. Photo: Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images Most of Teresa Giudices new memoir, Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again, out today, is spent talking about how she spent her prison stay exercising three times a day, trying to avoid the awful food, crying, and missing her family. However, there are a few sterling tidbits in the 261 pages that really stood out about her 11 months at the Federal Correctional Institute, Danbury, the same prison that held Orange Is the New Blacks Piper Kerman and Lauryn Hill. Here they are, correlated into some thematic groupings that came up repeatedly. 1. How her parents met. The early chapters of the book are about Giudices life growing up in New Jersey and how she met her husband, Joe. Mostly, she talks about how strict her upbringing was. However, this little nugget about her parents first meeting in a small village in Italy certainly stood out, mostly because of their ages. They married five years after that first meeting. My dad met my mom when he was 20 and she was just 13, when she was on her way to a feast to celebrate the Blessed Virgin. My mother didnt give him a second thought, but my father couldnt get her out of his mind. He found out where she lived and began visiting her at her grandmothers house every week My dad wanted to propose right away, but his father told him he was too young and needed to have a good job and earn some money before he could get married and start a family. 2. Real Housewives gossip. There is a chapter about how Teresa got involved with the show and some behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt about her current and former co-stars. It took me 11 months for me to agree to do it Toward the end of those 11 months, I met Jacqueline [Laurita, her once and future Real Housewives co-star] for lunch at this Chinese place we liked in Franklin Lakes. She and all the other ladies had signed their contracts long before. She brought a blank contract a contract meant for me and said, Are you going to sign it already? If youre not going to do the show then Im not going to do it either. I bit the bullet and signed the contract right then and there without a lawyer to look it over. Jacqueline took it and immediately mailed it, so I couldnt back out. On the infamous table-flipping incident in the first-season finale: Truth be told, I was mortified. This was not my proudest moment and I did it while cameras were rolling. OMG. I just remember saying to myself, over and over after it happened, I cannot believe I did that. On former co-star Danielle Staub: After the dust settled and I was able to look at everything objectively, I realized that she wasnt the kind of person who would try to hurt me or my family. I dont hold a grudge against her, either. When I found out in prison that she got engaged I said, Good for her! and I meant it. 3. Prison goods. People will naturally be curious as to how life is different on the inside compared to the outside, especially for a self-proclaimed glamour girl like Teresa, a woman who has multiple cookbooks to her name. Heres how she coped. On homemade makeup products: [Her new friend Nikki] gave me Vaseline so I could take my makeup off and told me to use a maxi pad to remove it. What?! Here I was, used to Lancome makeup remover, and now I was wiping off my face with a feminine hygiene product. I bought Pantene shampoo and conditioner, a bar of Tone soap, Colgate toothpaste and a toothbrush, sweats, a T-shirt, hair ties, Queen Helen hair gel, and St. Ives body lotion. The only kind of makeup they sold was Wet n Wild the super cheap stuff you get at the drugstore. I bought eyeliner, lip gloss, foundation, and mascara What a blast from the past. I used to buy Wet n Wild lip liner in fuchsia when I first started wearing makeup in high school. On getting contraband from Magic, one of the inmates who cornered the black market: This petite Hispanic woman with a huge bun on her head and tattoos all over her neck came up to me from behind and shoved two boxes of the exact hair color I needed medium brown and a paper bag full of raisins into my hands. On what she did and didnt eat: They served turkey ham, which I refused to eat. I think one of the bulldaggers named it dick meat because it was gross and inedible (believe me, I was laughing at that one). One of their favorite concoctions was the potato log. They would crush up a bag of potato chips, add water to that in a Tupperware container, and then mix that concoction with onions, peppers, cheese, chicken, sausage, or tuna fish, depending on what they had access to at the moment, and cook it in the microwave we shared. It was actually pretty good. Franchie made this great punch and some of the girls made the most delicious popcorn balls! That was probably my favorite thing to eat in there. They would melt caramel and butter in a Tupperware container in the microwave, add in some kind of candy bar, like Snickers, pop some popcorn, and mix it all together. Delicioso! On what she wore: I hired a woman named Jenny, who used to be a seamstress, to alter my uniform so it fit me much better. It made me feel good to wear clothes that finally fit me so well. It was well worth the $12 I paid her in commissary items. 4. TV fights in prison. As Teresa explains, most of the fights she witnessed were over control of one of the five TV sets in the rec room. One was controlled by the Latinas, who only watched Spanish-language television, and two were always tuned to sports. A group of white prisoners and a group of African-American women controlled the remaining two televisions, and they had gatekeepers, who planned the programming, and enforcers, who made sure that the schedule was respected. The biggest fight erupted when a black inmate stole the remote for the white prisoners TV: I was watching the whole thing and had had it. I was friendly with both girls and didnt want them to get a shot for a stupid fight over TV. I stepped in and said, Look just give us back the remote. You have your own TV and you know we always watch our shows in here. We dont go in and try to grab your remote. The Remote Thief just gave me a funny look and turned back to Butchy [the enforcer], Hey if the remote was so fucking important to you, then you shouldnt have left it laying around. Youre shit outta luck! I could see the red rising in Butchys cheeks. I thought she was going to belt her. She lunged at Remote Thief, who laughed and held the remote high up in the air, so she couldnt get it In all the chaos, she dropped the remote on her chair, and Butchy scooped it up. I wanted to avoid more trouble in the TV room, so I took charge of writing down what shows we all wanted to watch, since the girl who was doing it before had gone home. I was now the Gatekeeper of the TV schedule, and I took my new role very seriously. On the second-biggest TV fight: One night, Tonya [Teresas best prison-friend and roommate] and I went to watch TV, put on a movie Double Daddy on Lifetime, and were in the middle of watching it when a woman named Abby came in and sat down. You know at ten that we are changing the channel, she said, looking right at Tonya Why dont you shut the fuck up and mind your fucking business, Tonya said. Mind my fucking what? said Abby. I hope I didnt just hear you right. Im watching whatever I want at ten. And stop being such a bitch all the time. What did you just say to me? Tonya shifted in her seat and was facing Abby. Who stood up and got right into Tonyas face. I was sitting in between the two of them and couldnt believe things got this bad, this fast. Calm down! I said. This isnt worth it! 5. Lesbian sex stuff. Other than yoga, the thing Teresa spent the most time doing during her stay was getting grossed out by lesbian sex, especially in her first six-woman room, where two of her bunkmates were getting it on every night, until they got a new roommate named Katie, who would snitch on anyone hooking up. Teresa loved Katie. I smelled something fishy. I thought, Whos cooking in their room at this hour? Thats weird. The smell got stronger as my eyes adjusted to the blackness, I could see two women on top of one of one of the two other bunks, writhing around on the bed. They were totally going at it. Then out of nowhere, Teeny asked me if I washed my chucky. I was literally dumbfounded and at a loss for words. No one had ever asked me that in my life. Not even my gynecologist. Do you use soap on the outside and the inside? The women were getting it on so much in there that our room became known as the Boom Boom Room. If you had a top bunk, you could see over the walls into the next cubicle, and believe me, I was thanking my lucky stars I got the bottom bunk. I did not need a birds eye view of the other inmates having sex with each other, because ew. Later on, one of the Studs girlfriends came up to me and told me that she thought the Stud got her pregnant. I said, And how did she do that? She replied, Cuz girl! She rocked my world! The girls were bouncing off the walls, running through the streets, hooting and hollering and having so much sex! My cubicle was near the bathroom, and I had never seen so much action go on in there in all my months in Danbury. Honestly, I think there was an orgy going on. I had never seen so many feet in those stalls before I found out later that two lovebirds actually broke the sink off the wall after having sex on it! 6. Making dildos. Of all the contraband and arts-and-crafts stories, this one is the best. Oh, except for the crochet Star of David that Teresa mailed Andy Cohen from prison. Some made dildos by wrapping a maxi pad around a toothbrush or two, taping them together, and sticking that in a rubber glove they got from the kitchen. If you wanted a thicker dildo, you just used more maxi pads. I was like, WHAT?! I, for one, would not be buying a homemade dildo, thank you very much. 7. Sexy thoughts about Joe. Just about every other paragraph in the book is about how much Teresa missed her family, but especially her husband, Joe. With all of that lesbian sex going on, she was bound to get hot and bothered sometimes. When my mom, Gia, Milania, and Gabriella got up to go to the bathroom, Joe surprised me by kissing me on the lips, which is not allowed. Kissing in front of other people usually makes me feel embarrassed because Im so old-fashioned like that, but this time, I didnt care. I missed him so much and this was way overdue! We started making out the way we used to when we were younger. It felt so good to kiss him We told Audriana to stand in front of us so no one would see us. She thought that was the greatest thing. It was so cute I think she liked seeing Mommy and Daddy so happy and so in love. For Fathers Day, I sent him a card with three pages of printouts of positions I told him I wanted to try when I got home. I told him that I had gotten very flexible in there from doing so much yoga. I thought he would like seeing those printouts and he did! He emailed me when he got the card, saying he laughed out loud because I had never shown him anything like that before in my life. 8. Dealing with the tabloids. Teresa spends a lot of time complaining that the tabloids were always trying to get her picture both before she went into prison and while she was in the joint. Its one of her major annoyances, and shes always cursing out the tabloids for ruining her life at least until its time to sell them a story. One cold, sunny morning, some of the admins called me into the office to tell me I had to change my schedule. On more than one occasion, someone had noticed a small, low-flying plane circling the prison overhead. Officials had heard a rumor that a media company had hired the plane to take pictures of me leaving the actual building and walking down the outdoor staircase to the gym and track. Apparently someone inside had leaked details of my daily routine. And because of one reason or another, officials actually ended up putting the entire prison on lockdown, to prevent anyone from going outside. When I found out that this bitch and her husband were trying to sell a picture of me in prison, I wanted to beat them to the punch And so, Jim made calls to some of the top magazines, and got some huge offers for pictures of me inside prison in my uniform. They would get their story and I would get a paycheck. 9. Being in prison is just like reality television. The way Teresa tells it, her life fighting for a living in front of the cameras was very similar to her life avoiding fights behind bars. Here are some of the times she drew parallels between the two. While I met a lot of great women in prison, its still full of depressed, frustrated, bitter, and toxic people who like to start trouble just for fun. (Sound familiar?) I thought, These women look ridiculous. For a split second, I wondered, Is this how I come across? While I have never given anyone a bloody nose, I have nailed people with some verbal zingers. Words I knew would nuke their hearts. Why? Because my heart got broken, so I fired back. But when I stepped back, I thought, This is not how I want to come across. There has to be a better way. A big fight broke out between Teresa and her bestie, Tonya, because Tonya told Teresa something about someone and told Teresa not to ask a mutual friend about this person, but Teresa did anyway. When it got back to Tonya that Teresa was talking to these people, things erupted. Tonya was standing near the track with Trouble, watching all of this. She looked pissed off. Get over here, Teresa, she said in front of about 20 other inmates. Im not doing this right now, I said to her as I turned and walked away. Who the fuck do you think you are? she said. Dont you walk away from me! Come back over here, you fucking bitch! I turned around but kept walking. You heard me bitch. Get back here! I turned around again and she yelled something out, but I couldnt hear her. No one would tell me what she said, either. Finally I said, all the drama! No, Teresa, you are the drama! Teresa found out that her prisonmate Olga was saying nasty things about her behind her back and decided to confront her. When I confronted Olga about this, she denied bad-mouthing me, too. Why would I say something nasty about you? she said, looking me dead in the eye. How dare you even accuse me of such a thing! I literally was like Wait am I being filmed for Housewives right now?! It was all so dramatic! 10. Teresa did nothing wrong. No matter what she learned during her prison stay, Teresa still refuses to admit that she broke the law and doesnt completely understand what put her there in the first place. On this weeks The Vulture TV Podcast, we take a hard look the traits that define the networks series, from Dexter to Homeland, and why their latest show, Billions, should steer into its soapiness more. Plus, were joined by Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who plays A.C. Cowlings in tonights episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, on what it was like to be in a white Bronco with Cuba Gooding Jr. for two days straight. Further reading: Matts reviews of The People v. O.J. Simpson and Billions. Tune in to The Vulture TV Podcast, produced by the Slate Groups Panoply, every Tuesday, on iTunes or SoundCloud. And please send us your burning TV questions! Tweet us @Vulture, email tvquestions@vulture.com, or leave us a voice mail at 646-504-7673. Tokyo: Oil prices rallied on Tuesday in Asia after a three-day sell-off that saw the US benchmark sink back below $30 a barrel, but analysts warned the ongoing supply glut and world economic weakness will keep a lid on the commodity. The pick-up in the two contracts also comes despite a rout across Asia equity markets fuelled by renewed worries about the global outlook while investors look ahead to the release of US stockpiles data this week. Traders sent prices plunging Monday as talks between the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela bringing stability to oil markets came to nothing. There had been hopes the Saudis would back a meeting of the OPEC producers' group of which it is the key member but it was unwilling to do so. OPEC has refused to cut output as it looks to maintain market share in the face of competition from US shale. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery sank 3.9 percent to $29.69 and Brent shed 3.5 percent to $32.88 Monday. But on Tuesday WTI was up 1.0 percent at $30.01 and Brent gained 0.4 percent to $33.00 a day before the US releases official data on its reserves, which are already at their highest levels since 1930. Crude prices have crashed more than 70 percent since mid-2014, hit by a perfect storm of overproduction, oversupply, weak demand, a slowing global economy and a strong dollar. Added to that is the imminent arrival of Iranian output onto world markets after international sanctions linked to its nuclear programme were lifted. "It's a particularly volatile and difficult time for oil," Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Bloomberg News. "The market will continue to be in a supply crunch period for the next few months. We have Iran back on, there's been no significant cut in US production and inventories are high, which means the downside pressure is there." A building at 506 Austin Ave., now littered with broken glass, beer cans and cigarette butts, will become home to a restaurant serving authentic Indian dishes called Stone Hearth Indian Cafe following a renovation that will begin later this month and cost about a half-million dollars. Once the home to Hub Clothiers, an urban menswear store that closed in 2008, the eyesore next to Dichotomy Coffee & Spirits will receive a transformation courtesy of Dallas-based Thakor Eclectic Food Concepts LLC, company spokesman Roshan Ross Thakor said. He said the aging building will get a new facade and patio for outside dining, as well as an interior renovation. A building permit issued by the city of Waco to Thakors father, Kiran Thakor, places the cost of the renovation at $450,000, nearly twice the $229,720 appraised value of the structure. Roshan Thakor said the company will install a pair of tandoor ovens that traditionally are used in India to prepare food. The building itself will have a contemporary warehouse feel, said Thakor, adding he hopes to unveil Stone Hearth Indian Cafe by May or June. He said the corporation acquired the building nearly two years ago, having been sold on its potential about the time improvements to other structures along Austin Avenue began to take shape, bringing new bars, restaurants and loft apartments to an area that had fallen into disrepair decades earlier. We thought it was a good location from the standpoint of foot traffic, and we thought we could provide artistic appeal to the building, Thakor said. The Waco location likely will serve as a prototype for other authentic Indian restaurants the corporation may open in other cities under the name Stone Hearth, he said. Seating capacity He said the restaurant will accommodate about 100 diners inside and outside, and he will pursue a beer and wine permit. Though he now resides in Dallas, Roshan Thakor said he once lived in Waco and has relatives in the community who stay on the lookout for properties with potential. The 3,346-square-foot building his group hopes to renovate is located near the Bank of America building in downtown Waco, a short walk from the McLennan County Courthouse. It has been vacant and has gone through at least one ownership change since it was shuttered about eight years ago. What was described to me was a well-thought-out concept that should prove interesting, said Megan Henderson, executive director of the Waco Downtown Development Corp., commenting on plans for Stone Hearth Indian Cafe. Waco has embraced such staples of international cuisine as Bangkok Royal and Ds Mediterranean Grill. They are willing to try things, and if they like them, they will patronize them. I have heard people say they would like to see great places to get Indian food. Meanwhile, Chris McGowan, who has formed a consulting firm for real estate development after working as director of urban development at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, said he has worked with Roshan Thakor for more than a year and knew about his plans to place an Indian restaurant in the heart of downtown. Downtown upgrade Not only is Austin Avenue getting a new restaurant, but an old building is being brought back to use, which is beneficial, McGowan said. Youngdae Moon, who owns a food truck called Club Sandwich that specializes in Asian-fusion cuisine, said he also heard of Thakors intentions. I love Indian food, and Ive talked with (Thakor) several times about his plans. Were all supportive of him, Moon said. Thakor declined to discuss the specific dishes the restaurant menu would include, but said the restaurant will serve authentic Indian dishes. A website is under construction that will give fans more details about the food options and the use of the tandoor ovens in Indian culture. The Waco area has enjoyed a taste of India courtesy of the Tandoori Trailer, a food truck based at Franklin Avenue and University Parks Drive. Co-owner Johnny Bhojwanit 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, who is in charge of recipes and menus. The Baltic States need to start thinking a little more like Israel. A new report from the Rand Corporation, funded by the U.S. Army, has published evidence for a truth long known: A Russian invasion of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would quickly succeed within 60 hours, to be precise. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be powerless to do anything about it, unless it was willing to go to war with Russia to retake the lost territory, with all the attendant potential for escalation. Rands report describes the problems that faced the NATO team in its war games. The Baltic countries could be easily surrounded. They have no serious air defenses, no tanks and no air force. Even man-for-man, their combat units are so lightly armed compared to those of the superpower next door that they would be crushed. It would all be over by the time NATO could bring a meaningful force to the battlefield. There are more differences than similarities between the Baltic states and Israel, which is neither a NATO member nor threatened by a superpower. But they have enough in common for the Balts to draw some useful lessons. Like Israel, the threat the three Baltic states face is of an attack from a larger enemy, with little territory upon which to fight a lengthy defense. From the Syrian border to the Israeli coast at Haifa is about 60 miles. From the Russian border to the Estonian capital, Tallinn, is about 120 miles. Their populations also include minorities whose loyalties might prove divided in the event of conflict ethnic Palestinians and Russians respectively. Russian-speakers make up a third of Latvias population, for example, and many lack citizenship because naturalization requires a Latvian language test. Yet the responses to what both the Baltic nations and Israel consider a potentially existential threat could hardly be more different. Estonia has increased its defense spending since Russias 2008 war with Georgia, to meet NATOs target of 2 percent of gross domestic product. But it is unlikely to go much further. Latvia and Lithuania are still struggling to spend 1 percent of GDP on their militaries. Israel, by contrast, spends about 6.5 percent of GDP on defense. It has 440 combat-capable aircraft and multiple mid- range anti-aircraft systems, not to mention a covert nuclear deterrent. Nobody thinks the Balts can bulk up that much. The question is how much you can achieve on your own, considering an imbalance of forces much greater than Israel faces, says Henrik Praks, a research fellow at Estonias International Center for Defense and Security. And financially, he said, buying an air force, or air defenses capable of excluding Russian jets, is out of the question. This is all true. Yet the Balts should do more. The resources available to them would be material to delaying a Russian onslaught long enough at least for specially pre-positioned NATO brigades to arrive from Poland and Germany. The United States, too, should consider mixing the NATO model for assuring the defense of Americas allies with a little of the one it uses for Israel. The U.S. spends about $3 billion a year on aid to Israel, nearly all of it military. Nothing remotely on that scale is required for the Balts, but theres a value to having Estonians and Latvians, rather than NATO, deploy and operate some of the high-end equipment that an effective deterrent against Russia would entail. The Balts cant possibly keep a Russian invasion at bay without NATOs aid. But appearing to sit back and rely on allies for their defense is dangerous, especially when a quick, outright invasion by Russia is a distinct strategy. This is one lesson Israelis have always understood: Ultimately, they can rely only on themselves. Marc Champion writes editorials on international affairs for Bloomberg View. Mumbai: Indian gold traders say they are struggling to draw buyers despite offering record discounts over rallying international prices, as consumers wait to see if rates can fall further after the Union Budget this month. The bullion industry expects the government to cut the record 10 per cent import duty on gold in the annual budget for 2016-17 that will be presented on February 29, potentially boosting supply and driving domestic prices lower. Indian gold prices also swung into deep discounts before the last budget, when the government surprised the market with no cut in duty on the metal. India is the worlds second biggest gold consumer. Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at MNC Bullion, a wholesaler in Chennai, said he was seeing hardly any transactions at present. Dealers are offering hefty discounts to clear inventory, but buyers are not there in the market, he said. Gold sellers in India, who generally charge a premium over London prices, are offering a record discount of up to $25 an ounce. Weak demand from India at a time Chinese buyers are absent for the Lunar New Year holidays could limit a rally in global prices, which topped $1,200 an ounce for the first time since June on Monday after hefty losses in global stocks. Though the wedding season that extends to May typically raises gold demand, many have delayed purchases in anticipation of prices falling further. Buying has been muted in recent days in otherwise buzzing jewellery centres like Zaveri Baazar in Mumbai. Today I could not even sell a small piece of jewellery, said Kumar Jain, a jeweller in Zaveri Bazaar, Indias biggest bullion market. Customers are not even making inquiries. Gold prices shot up to their highest since August 2014 on Monday at Rs 28,527 rupees per 10 grams, after trading below Rs 25,000 rupees per 10 gm last month. Mumbai: Shraddha Kapoor, who was last seen in dance-drama 'ABCD 2' is busy shooting her upcoming film 'Baaghi: Rebels in Love'. Several pictures from the sets of the film showcase her easy going camaraderie with her co-star Tiger Shroff. We got our hands on a new sets of pictures straight from the sets of the film. Going by some recently released stills, Shraddha was filming a light-hearted sequence and looked gorgeous in simple traditional outfit. Directed by Sabbir Khan, 'Baaghi: Rebels in Love' is touted as a romantic-drama. It features Paras Arora and also marks the Bollywood debut of Telugu actor Sudheer Babu, who essays a negative role. Waris posted this picture and wrote, "Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me." Mexico: Waris Ahluwalia, an Indian-American actor and designer, said on Monday that he was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Mr Ahluwalia wrote in his Instagram account. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST The 41-year-old actor posted a picture of himself holding up his boarding pass and another in front of an Aeromexico customer service desk. The House of Waris chief was heading to New York's fashion week. "Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me," he added. Update. 13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveler should be subjected to what I was today. All we're asking for from @aeromexico is an apology and education/training of the staff. #lovenotfear #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 6:33pm PST The Mexican airline issued a statement late on Monday saying that it was obligated to follow "federal requirements in terms of security determined by the US Transportation Security Administration to review passengers." The airline said it "regrets the inconvenience that any passenger may perceive from the application of these procedures" and it vowed to transport all passengers regardless of their religious beliefs. Mr Ahluwalia appeared in the Oscar-nominated film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and the US television series "The Carrie Diaries." He also has modeled for clothier Gap. Movie: Actor Cast: Naveen Krishna and Sihi Kahi Geetha Director: Dayal Padmanabhan Rating: 3 About five year ago, the black and white French romantic-comedy depicting one of the silent eras in films was an instant hit, even bagging an Oscar. It revolved around a superstar of silent era films and how his switch to sound or talky movies affects him and his career as an artiste. Dayal Padmanabhan returns once again with his favourite artiste Naveen Krishna with the movie, Actor. This comes after his impressive Haggada Kone, a film that talked about death penalty. With only two actors, shot in a single location for about 100 minutes, Actor is quite an impressive attempt. Though it falls short of several accounts, the strong pillar is undoubtedly the lead actor Naveen Krishna, who has been struggling to find a strong foothold in commercial movies. It is like green tea without sugar and milk, which is good for health, but not as tasty enough for the masala audiences. However, there is history behind the making of this movie the main producer of the film took it as a challenge to produce a good movie in a short time, for reasons best known to him and to the Gandhinagar fraternity. Dayal finds a perfect script which requires just two actors, a single location and a script which can hold the audiences attention to the screen for less than two hours! Naveen Krishna plays a film actor who is a star with over 75 per cent hits in the short span of his career. He soon finds himself in an awkward situation with his previous films not doing so well at the box-office. With his lost stardom, the actor in him is going through a tough phase which starts to play on his mind. Wanting and waiting to act in good movies with good subject and characters, he starts to lead a secluded life. If the acting is too good then the dialogues are brilliant too. In one of the scenes, while his mind is playing games on him, his maid, the only other character in the entire film, tries to cheer him up. She starts to narrate a story, one from her personal inventory of experience. The actor persuades her to tell him the story, saying that its been a while since he heard a good story all the while thinking about committing suicide. But, will he end his life? Definitely a good watch. I cant stay home. I move the worlds cargo, declared Rudy Moreno of Los Angeles/Long Beach ILWU longshore Local 13. His words were later memorialized in The Dispatcher, the unions newspaper, in the January 2021 issue dedicated to Moreno and other members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union who had already lost their lives [] The model-turned actress was busy for almost 10 months, getting trained for one of her most prized project Ishtakamya which marks the return of ace filmmaker Nagathihalli Chandrashekar of Undu Hoda Kondu Hoda, fame amongst other films. Kavya Shetty, an engineer who took up modelling and later films is all set for another release this season with Ishtakamya. Even as her other films Vijayaditya (an epic film), Zoom (special appearance alongside Ganesh), and Shivani in Tamil are due for release, the actress speaks to Bengaluru Chronicle about her upcoming release, and much more. It was great and very good learning experience for me as an artiste while working with Nagathihalli sir. Known for his writing, the kind of Kannada language in the dialogue is so polished and perfect. With several national awards to his credit, and many more appreciations, he is still such an active person even at this age. The film was shot in one single schedule for about 45 days, which I had never done so in the past, says the Mangaluru beauty Kavya Shetty, who has a engineering degree in computer science. Though she had signed another Kannada movie, Preetham Gubbis Nam Duniya Nam Style is her debut film, and later she headed towards Tamil and Telugu films. The movie Ishtakamya is based on a popular story published in the 80s, she portrays one of the three main leads in the movie. It is based on a 30-year-old story. However, sir has completely modified it to the liking of the present. I play the daughter of a rich doctor. It is about a rich girl, who is very dominating with lots of attitude. Soon after my recent Tamil release Idhu Enna Mayam, I took up this special one. I am glad Ishtakamya happened to me. I had to undergo extensive training, as the director is very particular about the character. For about four to five months, I was trained in every aspect from the way I had to look to the diction and acting, too, she adds. While Kavya feels lucky that more opportunities are in the offing, she reveals that she is in the final stages of signing another movie in Kannada and as well as one in Tamil. Once Ishtakamya is released, I may take up another Kannada film. The trailer of my movie Vijayaditya alongside Dhananjay was recently released. The makers were busy with the graphic works. It is an epic venture, however, I am in the non-epic portion. Meanwhile I took up a special role in Zoom. While completely focusing on her role in Ishtakamya, Kavya who loves to travel frequently along with her close friends, says that she is now hooked onto pilates to stay fit. My Kannada is not as good, and the dialogues in the films are of a high standard Kannada. I was lucky that Sir trained me himself. Though I tried dubbing for myself, Sir felt it would be more practical to get someone else to dub for me, she says. In preparation for this role, Kavya watched many movies. I saw Rajnikanth Sirs Padayappa and observed the character of Ramya Krishnan to fine tune my skills for the film, she says, while hoping that the film which also marks the return of Nagathihalli Chandrashekar (after a gap of few years) will enhance her career. Firefighters and residents whose homes were destroyed in the 2003 Canberra bushfires have expressed fresh fears that the ACT government has grown complacent over the territory's fire risk and would be unprepared in the event of another catastrophic blaze. Duffy's Ric Hingee, who lost his house in the firestorm, said he still had no confidence in the ACT's bushfire preparedness 13 years after the January 18 firestorm in which four people died, hundreds were injured and 487 homes were destroyed. Ric Hingee, pictured at the ACT Bushfire Memorial, believes authorities still haven't learned critical lessons in bushfire preparedness from the 2003 disaster. Credit:Melissa Adams The disaster sparked scathing criticism of authorities over their inaction and prompted reforms, funding boosts and two major inquiries which generated more than 134 recommendations to bolster the capital's fire response. Mr Hingee has voiced renewed concerns about risk factors for homes on the urban fringe he felt still hadn't been addressed, including adequate buffer zones, guaranteed water and electricity supply in case of a blaze and requirements for fire resistant housing. A Canberra man accused of calling his former partner a "dirty f---ing slut" as he struck her with a medical crutch during a prolonged attack has been kept behind bars after he allegedly breached his bail conditions. The man, 32, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday charged with three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault and possessing a knife without reasonable excuse. Magistrate Robert Cook said the alleged assault was "a violent episode of concern". Credit:Andrew Meares The court heard he last month pleaded guilty to two property damage charges related to an incident involving the same woman and was subject to a bail condition that he not threaten, harass or intimidate her. He was also not allowed to consume illicit drugs or alcohol. Three men will face the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday, and another will appear on Thursday. Four men, aged 60 to 83, have now been accused of separate historical child sex offences, committed mostly on boys under 16 in what police described as "educational institutions". Police working on Operation Attest, an experienced squad of child abuse detectives, revealed a major breakthrough in their investigations into institutional abuse in the ACT on Monday. A Marist brother is one of three men who will face court on Tuesday for fresh claims of child sexual abuse in ACT schools in the 1980s. Little other detail of the allegations was offered, and police said they would not comment further due to the pending court proceedings. But Fairfax Media understands one of the men summonsed was Brother John "Kostka" Chute, 83, who worked at Marist College in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Brother Kostka is facing charges of two indecent assaults on a male and two indecent acts on a person under 16. Two others a 69-year-old and a 64-year-old, both from NSW will each face three charges of indecent assault. A 60-year-old Kaleen man will be charged with three indecent acts on a person under 16. Marist's response to past allegations of abuse by Brother Kostka was a major focus of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearings in Canberra. The school was found to have shuffled Brother Kostka between schools upon learning of complaints that he inappropriately touched children. In a statement on Monday, police commended victims who have come forward since the royal commission began. Until recently, an archaic provision in ACT law meant some offenders could not be charged if their victims, whose trauma and vulnerability often make them unwilling or unable to make a complaint, did not come forward soon after their abuse. The statute of limitations required female child sex victims, aged 14 and 15 between 1951 and 1985, and male victims between 1976 and 1985, to report crimes within 12 months of their occurrence. The ACT government removed that limitation in 2013, and new prosecutions have been launched as a result. As the deadline nears for an appeal against the Court of Arbitration for Sport ban on the "Essendon 34", an AFL review of captain Jobe Watson's 2012 Brownlow Medal is expected to be delayed. The Essendon supplements scandal appears set to continue for at least another year, with legal counsel for some of the banned players indicating they will appeal before the Swiss Federal Tribunal. Banned Essendon player Jobe Watson with his 2012 Brownlow Medal. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo An appeal must be lodged by Wednesday. After the CAS decision was handed down in January, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the commission would consider the Brownlow issue in February. Oil prices will stay low for as long as 10 years as Chinese economic growth slows and the US shale industry acts as a cap on any rally, according to the world's largest independent oil-trading house. "It's hard to see a dramatic price increase," Vitol Group BV chief executive Ian Taylor told Bloomberg in an interview, saying prices were likely to bounce around a band with a midpoint of $US50 a barrel for the next decade. The forecast would mean oil-rich countries and the energy industry would face the longest stretch of low prices since the 1986-99 period. Credit:Bloomberg "We really do imagine a band," probably between $US40 and $US60 a barrel, he said. "I can see that band lasting for five to 10 years. I think it's fundamentally different." The lower boundary would imply little recovery for Brent crude, the global benchmark, which traded for $US33.38 a barrel at 10.16am on Monday on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The upper limit would put prices back to the level of July 2015, when the oil industry was already taking measures to weather the crisis. Metal reactions from hip implants can lead to necrosis [death] of surrounding hip muscle and even permanent disability. (File photo) London: An "allergy-free" new hip implant has come to the rescue of the people living with arthritis, who might be allergic to traditional metal versions. The hip implant is made from the same tough plastic used in high-voltage cable insulation that is used in hip resurfacing procedures, where bone damaged by arthritis is capped rather than fully replaced, the Daily Mail reported. Known as Polymotion Hip Resurfacing, this new procedure uses a 3mm-thick cup made with a material known as cross-linked polyethylene, one of the toughest plastics in existence. Derek McMinn, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at BMI Edgbaston Hospital in Birmingham, who developed the new procedure, explained that the traditional metal-on-metal hip resurfacing uses cobalt chromium alloy. Metal reactions vary in severity, but in the worst cases can lead to necrosis [death] of surrounding hip muscle and permanent disability for the patient. Another benefit of the capping procedure is that less bone is removed, in contrast to total hip replacements when the femoral head (ball joint of the hip) is replaced by a stemmed device and very little of the upper leg bone is retained. According to McMinn, Polymotion Hip Resurfacing will be especially helpful to women because not only do they tend to suffer more metal allergy, they also have a higher incidence of a condition known as developmental dysplasia of the hips. The procedure, which costs about 13,000 pounds, could eventually be available on the NHS. A federal inquiry will examine whether the Australian Taxation Office suffers from too much scrutiny. The Parliamentary Tax and Revenue Committee announced on Tuesday it would look into the ATO's oversight regime in the wake of public complaints from Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan. Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan thinks too much time and money is wasted answering questions about his agency's performance. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The ATO, which has faced massive jobs, gets feedback on its performance from several agencies including the Inspector-General of Taxation and Auditor-General. It also has to answer questions at various federal parliamentary committees, including at Senate estimates, those held by the House of Representatives Tax and Revenue Committee, and during inquiries such as the recent one into corporate tax avoidance. Google's parent company was briefly the most valuable company in the world, and odds are it will climb back to the top rung again. When it comes to how it pays its executives, however, Google falls short of the big leagues. The holding company known as Alphabet disclosed that its directors elected to give Sundar Pichai - the CEO of Alphabet's money-making Google unit - the equivalent of stock worth nearly $US200 million at then-current market prices. Pichai can start to cash in the shares next month if he wants. As long as he stays at Google until the end of 2019, he will own outright the full amount of stock. I'll leave to others the question of whether it's fair to pay a corporate executive in stock certificates worth more than the annual gross domestic product of the Marshall Islands. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' offer to the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to accept refugees due to be returned to Nauru in his state should not be an extraordinary action. It should not amaze. It should not make people, like me, read his letter twice to make sure I had read it correctly. It should not be extraordinary, but it is. What should be extraordinary is violations of the UNHCR's Refugee Convention, returning vulnerable people to a place of harm. This should be extraordinary, But it is not. In twenty-first century Australian politics, bipartisan cycles of 'tough action' on our borders have delivered increasing acts of callous inhumanity. The Coalition and Labor have been implicated in this chain reaction. The reflex of both to criticism from the other has been to harden their stance, to normalise harsher methods, to transform more of the extraordinary into the ordinary. Daniel Andrews' offer has hit a nerve among many who feel completely disenfranchised by the current discourse on asylum seekers and refugees, not just in Victoria, but all across Australia. Spurred by the High Court's decision last week, this is evident in the offer of Churches to grant sanctuary to refugees. In protests and vigils thousands of people are calling for refugees not to be returned to Nauru. The hashtag #LetThemStay has trended on Twitter as people vent their opposition to the proposed return. The Turnbull government is leaning strongly towards building a full-strength fleet of 12 submarines rather than the reduced fleet of eight boats the Coalition was previously considering. Fairfax Media understands the government is planning to honour the pledge made before the 2013 election to build 12 submarines over about a quarter of a century starting in the late 2020s. There's speculation the Australian government will announce the successful bidder for the submarine contract within days. Credit:Damian Pawlenko In opposition, the Coalition led by Tony Abbott promised to build 12 submarines in Adelaide as a replacement fleet for the ageing Collins Class boats. But in government, the Coalition began edging away from the commitment to 12 boats. The Defence white paper, which was nearing completion before Mr Abbott was dumped by his party for Malcolm Turnbull, reportedly planned for eight submarines, though it kept open the option for a further four down the track. Embattled Turnbull government minister Stuart Robert has fresh questions to answer after revelations he met with a Chinese government minister during his secretive 2014 trip to Beijing, the opposition says. Mr Robert's frontbench future is under a cloud for his role at a signing ceremony for a mining deal between his close friend and major Liberal Party donor Paul Marks and Chinese government-owned company Minmetals. Labor has accused Mr Robert, who was then assistant defence minister, of a conflict of interest and breaching ministerial guidelines by misusing his public office. Mr Robert owns shares in Mr Mark's other companies. Young, educated and broke. This is the reality for thousands of students attending university in Australia. While some are leaning towards leaving the country to get rid of their uni debt, others are turning to "sugar daddies" and, in some cases, "sugar mummies". The Seeking Arrangement website matches wealthy benefactors and university students. SeekingArrangement.com is the world's largest sugar daddy website that matches wealthy benefactors seeking "mutually beneficial relationships", and students are signing up in search for a sponsor to foot the bill for tertiary education. The website has released its annual ranking of the Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools today, and the University of Sydney takes the top spot. The ATAR is an out-of-date, imperfect measure of success and increasingly irrelevant for Victorian universities, vice-chancellors say. A growing number of universities are instead selecting their students based on interviews, portfolio work, special consideration and their performance in exams. Swinburne University of Technology vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson says the ATAR is a "blunt and imperfect instrument". Credit:Arsineh Houspian "We really are in a post-ATAR stage," said Swinburne University of Technology vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson, who is also chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors Committee. "The ATAR is a very blunt and imperfect instrument." The "aesthetic one" trained for six days, shredding that chest and torso, and on the seventh day, he did some light cardio. Not too much; just a little beach volleyball with a bevy of Victoria's Secret models, or some one-on-one hoops with the boys. Perhaps stopping a moment to "refeed" his exhausted frame with some greasy food. (Three burgers and a thick shake would be an ideal "cheat meal" gorging without derailing his plan to put on four kilograms of lean bulk.) This was the Adriatic vacation regimen of Melbourne man Dylan Djohan, one of three men who pleaded guilty to gang raping a Norwegian girl, aged 17, in Croatia last year. The men avoided trial by paying $30,000 to the victim. The fury over that outcome has inadvertently shone a light on the strange and hyper-masculine subculture of amateur bodybuilding of which Djohan, 23, Ashwin Kumar, 23, and Waleed Latif, 21, are all members. An 11-year-old boy made a brief first appearance in court on Tuesday charged with the murder of a 26-year-old man who was stabbed to death outside the Esplanade train station in the early hours of January 27 after Australia Day. The boy, who is one of four people charged with murder, appeared via video link from Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre with his father by his side. He remained quiet for most of the hearing, only softly speaking to say "yes" to the Perth Children's Court judge when asked if he understood the proceedings. He will remain in custody to appear in court again on February 17 to submit an application for supervised bail. Currently medical professionals have to conduct a long series of tests to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. (Photo: Pixabay) Jerusalem: A routine blood test that uses a neuroprotective protein as a biomarker may effectively diagnose Alzheimer's disease, a new study has found. Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel and Harvard University in US have proposed a new biomarker for cognitive ageing and Alzheimer's disease: activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP), the levels of which can be easily monitored in routine blood tests. The study also found that ADNP levels tested in the blood correlate with higher IQ in healthy older adults. Medical professionals have to conduct a long series of tests to assess a patient's memory impairment and cognitive skills, functional abilities, and behavioural changes to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease. They also have to execute costly brain imagining scans and even, sometimes, invasive cerebral spinal fluid tests to rule out other diseases. The process is laborious at best - and subjective at worst. For the study, researchers analysed blood samples taken from 42 healthy adults, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and Alzheimer's disease patients. After comparing the ADNP expression in the blood samples, they prepared plasma samples and once again compared the protein levels. Significant increases in ADNP RNA levels were observed in patients ranging from MCI to Alzheimer's. ADNP levels tested in plasma and serum samples, as well as white blood cell RNA levels, distinguished among cognitively normal elderly, MCI, and Alzheimer's dementia participants. "This study has provided the basis to detect this biomarker in routine, non-invasive blood tests, and it is known that early intervention is invaluable to Alzheimer's patients," said Illana Gozes from TAU. "The more ADNP RNA found in the blood cells, the fewer aggregates found in the brain of elderly cognitively normal individuals. Interestingly, we also found that the more ADNP in the serum, the higher the person's IQ level," Gozes said. "We are now planning to take these preliminary findings forward into clinical trials - to create a pre-Alzheimer's test that will help to tailor potential preventative treatments," she added. The findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Studies show that exposure to NO2 was associated with more lentigenes on the cheeks in women older than 50 years. (Photo: Instagram) Berlin: The levels of traffic-related air pollution and air pollution-associated gases are linked to the formation of dark spots on the skin, a new study has found. The most pronounced changes were observed on the cheeks of Asian women over the age of 50, researchers said. "In addition to particulate matter, traffic-related air pollution is characterised by increased concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2)," said lead investigator Jean Krutmann, of the IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Germany. "While NO2 exposure is known to be associated with low lung function and lung cancer, the effect of NO2 on human skin has never been investigated," said Krutmann. "This is important because environmentally-induced lung and skin ageing appear to be closely related," she said. Two groups were studied. The first included 806 Caucasian German women who were part of the SALIA study (Study on the influence of Air pollution on Lung function, Inflammation and Ageing). The average age was 73.5 years (range 67 to 80 years) and 20 per cent had a history of smoking. These women reportedly spent an average of 2.6 hours a day in the sun. The second group included 743 Han Chinese women from the Taizhou region who were younger than the SALIA group, with an average age of 59 (range 28 to 70 years). Twenty per cent of this group had a history of smoking, with a reported average daily sun exposure of 3.5 hours. The mean levels of NO2 exposure were 28.8 microgrammes per cubic metre in the SALIA study and 24.1 microgrammes per cubic metre in the Taizhou China group. No link was seen between levels of NO2 and formation of dark spots called lentigenes on the back of the hands or forearms, however, exposure to NO2 was significantly associated with more lentigenes on the cheeks in both German and Chinese women older than 50 years. Overall, an increase of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre in NO2 concentration was associated with approximately 25 per cent more dark spots. The researchers performed sensitivity analysis and found that the NO2 gas had a slightly stronger effect than the particulate matter concentration. Lentigenes, also known as liver spots, are small, darkened areas of the skin. Although they may first appear small, they may enlarge and separate patches may merge. They are most commonly found on the face, forearms, hands, and upper trunk. Usually brown in colour, lentigenes can appear yellow-tan to black. They are more common in light-skinned individuals and in US, solar (sun-associated) lentigenes are noted in 90 per cent of Caucasians older than 60 and 20 per cent of those younger than 35 years. Lentigenes, which contain an increased number of the melanin-forming cells of the skin (melanocytes), are generally benign, although some forms may be pre-cancerous. The study was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. The girl was an orphan and did not know anything about her parents. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Thirteen-year-old Puja was purchased by a couple from the Basheerabad mandal of RR district for just Rs 250 from Mumbai. She was forced to beg at the Tandur bus stand till the police rescued her. Cops arrested the couple and found the girl had been begging for the last three months. Ranga Reddy SP Rema Rajeswari said the couple, V. Basamma and V. Ramulu, purchased the girl from an unknown person a year ago while they were working as labourers in Mumbai. The girl was an orphan and did not know anything about her parents. The couple brought the girl to their village Manthati and made her a housemaid. Later, they started sending her out to beg. In the morning the girl used to finish chores at home and then take a bus to the Tandur bus stand, where she used to beg till evening. She would return with the money and give everything to the couple except the next days bus fare, said Basheerabad SI G. Abhinava Chathurvedi. Police received a tip-off on January 7 and rescued the girl. The police booked a case against the couple for human trafficking and forced labour. The cops also arrested Basammas father V. Pentaiah who was forcing the girl to do household chores. Puja was one of the 300 children who were rescued by Ranga Reddy police from forced labour and begging in the district. We launched Operation Smile on January 1 and in a month over 300 children were rescued from child labour and begging and rehabilitated. Some of these children were missing from their homes, said SP Rema Rajeswari. We had set up three teams for Vikarabad, Chevella and Tandur, the SP added. Ranga Reddy district police on Monday organised a free medical camp at the district police headquarters in Vikarabad for all the children. Hyderabad: An angry doctor opened fire at his business partner inside a parked car at Himayatnagar following a quarrel over a partnership issue involving the Laurel Hospital at Madhapur that they had started on January 1. Dr Shashi Kumar fired from point blank range, but the bullet nicked his partner Dr Uday Kumars left ear, causing an injury. Another partner, Dr Sai Kumar, who was inside the car, escaped without injuries. The three doctors, who are partners at Laurel Hospital in Madhapur, had been working on the partnership for three years. Police looks for doctor who shot at his partner Soon after shooting his partner, Dr Uday Kumar, Dr Shashi Kumar, a resident of Sainikpuri, fled the area. Police has formed special teams to apprehend him. Cops suspect that he escaped in his car that was parked a few kilometres from the area. Dr Uday Kumar was rushed to Apollo Hospitals, Hyderguda, for treatment. Police officials inspect the car in which Dr Shashi Kumar of Laurel Hospital, Madhapur, shot and wounded partner Dr Uday Kumar on Monday in Himayathnagar. (Photo: DC) Deputy commissioner of police V.B. Kamalasan Reddy said that Dr Shashi Kumar used a .32 mm pistol for which he had a licence. Police suspects that the intention of the accused was to kill his two partners, but he could not pull it off. Narayanguda police has booked a case against Dr Shashi Kumar for attempt to murder. The firing occurred inside the victims Volkswagen car at 4.30 pm on Street No. 6 in Himayatnagar. Dr Kumar had invited the partners for a meeting in the evening. They went to a restaurant but did not get a place to sit. They then parked at the street side to talk. Dr Uday Kumar was driving and Dr Sai Kumar was sitting in the front seat. The accused, who was sitting in the back seat, got angry during the discussion and started a quarrel. He suddenly took out the pistol and fired at the victim, said a police official from Narayanguda. Dr Shashi Kumar was angry because he felt that he was being sidelined in the business by his two partners and wanted his investment to be returned. Dr Shashi Kumar invested up to Rs 75 lakh and the other two partners had invested up to Rs 3 crore. Dr Uday Kumar and Dr Sai Kumar became managing director and CEO of the new 100-bed hospital. Dr Shashi Kumar was kept as a director among several other NRIs who had also invested in the hospital. He had earlier complained that he was not being given due importance when it came to management matters, he said. Lucknow: Four people were arrested in connection with the death of a eight-year-old boy in Shamli district in celebratory firing by SP workers after a local poll win even as the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday faced opposition flak over law and order situation in the state. Lashing out at Samajwadi Party government over "lawlessness" in the state, the BJP called it a 'Mughal sultanate' which has issued licence to its "goons" to do what they want. IG (Law and Order) Bhagwan Swaroop told reporters that four persons have been arrested in the firing incident. They were identified as Ehsan, Shadab, Raqib and Sadiq. There was, however, no arrest in connection with the alleged attack on the two journalists from a leading English news channel, he said, adding investigation was underway. In a tweet, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said: "met Mohammed Sami's family. saddened by their loss. We have arrested all those seen in TV footage firing in air." As opposition BSP and BJP members slammed the state government in the Legislature on, what they called as, "deteriorating" crime position in the state, some members from Congress voiced resentment over the Shamli incident. Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Swami Prasad Maurya told reporters that law and order situation in the state was in shambles and now even journalists were not safe. SP leader and Kairana MLA Nahid Hasan refuted allegations that he or his aides had attacked two journalists from a leading English news channel and said it was an attempt by the opposition to tarnish the image of the ruling party. Hasan has been booked along with 30 of his supporters for allegedly threatening the two journalists who had gone to cover the killing of eight-year-old Sami, who was passing by Kairana area in a rickshaw, in the firing on Sunday. The workers were celebrating the victory of party candidate Nafisa in the local body polls from the town. Hasan has been served a show-cause notice by his party, while the victorious block pramukh was expelled. A complaint was lodged against Hasan and his 30 supporters in connection with the attack on the two journalists following a complaint against him and others at Kairana police station. The case was registered under Sections 147 (rioting), 342 (wrongful confinement), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and under IT Act after a photographer, Mukesh, lodged a complaint in this connection, police said. The UP unit of BJP alleged that the attack on media persons was a "planned" assault which indicated "anarchy" in the state. In Delhi, BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma challenged Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to recommend a CBI probe into the killing of Sami, murder of a B Tech girl student and other incidents if "you have any morality left". Sharma lashed out at the SP government over "lawlessness" in the state and dubbed it as a 'Mughal sultanate' which has issued licence to its "goons" to do what they want. Paducah Police looking for woman accused of allegedly stealing $6,600 in merchandise from Wal-Mart Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Vijayawada: The AP government has plans to turn the Navy's warship INS Viraat, which would be decommissioned soon, into a tourism centre at Vizag. There are plans to establish a restaurant too on the warship. The defence ministry has decided to decommission the warship and the state government has requested the officials to allot INS Viraat to Andhra Pradesh. The defence ministry has agreed to to our request formally. Only the process of allocation is remaining, said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Speaking to mediapersons at his camp office here on Monday, the chief minister said that nearly 1,500 rooms, a conference hall with a capacity to seat 500 people and a helipad are available in the warship. The warship-turned-tourist centre will get good response from the public. There is another proposal to convert it into a museum at Vizag, he said and added that the state government has requested the defence ministry for allotment at the International Fleet Review- 2016. He said that the successful completion of IFR has helped Vizag get recognition as the Naval Capital of India. For the first time, the President of India and Prime Minister also received the guard of honour from various countries including the US, Russia, China, Japan and others. Mr Naidu said the AP government would establish ports in various cities across the coast and that they would play a crucial role in the development of the state. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | 03:35 PM | PADUCAH, KY Several lawsuits have been filed against a Paducah furniture store and its owner, who was recently arrested on felony charges. Paducah police arrested 68-year-old Danny N. Kelley of Paducah Friday morning after a six-month investigation. He is charged with seven counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $500, one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $10,000, one count of theft of services over $500 and one count of theft by deception over $500. He was also served two summonses for theft by failure to make required disposition of property under $500. In addition to the criminal charges against Kelley, six civil lawsuits have been filed against Kelley-Wiggins furniture DBA Fleming Furniture. The plaintiffs in the cases are as follows: Riverside Furniture Corp. American Express Bank Withers Broadcasting American Furniture Manufacturing City of Paducah England, Inc. The McCracken County Attorney's Office is asking anyone who paid for furniture that was not received to contact them. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | DUNMOR, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | 09:55 AM | DUNMOR, KY Kentucky State Police had been searching for an armed and dangerous suspect last seen in the Belton area of Muhlenberg County, and they've finally found him. 22-year-old Cody N. McIntosh, of Dunmor was taken into custody shortly before 9 am, Tuesday. He was arrested by troopers in the Dunmor area of Muhlenberg County. The search started when troopers were conducting a traffic safety checkpoint Sunday evening at the intersection of US 431 and KY 70 when a vehicle attempted to avoid the checkpoint. According to KSP, a trooper attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver accelerated and fled into a yard behind a home on Chumley Lane in the Beech Creek area. Police said that just prior to coming to a stop, the driver fired a handgun from his window. He then reportedly got out of the vehicle, fired several more shots and fled into the woods. Nearly a half dozen police agencies were searching for McIntosh. He was considered armed and dangerous. The news release did not indicate if he was armed when he was arrested. In early January, The Stage announced its annual Stage 100 list; a role-call of the 100 "most influential" people in British theatre. The press release trotted through the key stories. First, that ATG's Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire had overtaken Andrew Lloyd Webber by topping the table for the seventh time. Second, that Rufus Norris was in at number 12 the first time that a serving artistic director of the National theatre had dropped out of the top ten since 2001. There's been a distinct tang of scepticism over Norris's start much as there was with Vicky Featherstone at the Royal Court. He was, of course, stepping into big shoes, after Nicks Hytner and Starr had so reshaped the National. More than one wag likened him to David Moyes at Manchester United,taking over from Alex Ferguson. Tongues wagged all the more when Tessa Ross stepped down as Chief Executive after only six months in post, with whispers of a power struggle at the top. Then wonder.land, arguably the headline show of his first season, was set upon with rare savagery by critics, who scented blood and went in for the kill. Let me cut to the chase: in that time, I've become a huge RuNo fan. To my mind, he's had an extraordinary first year in post and there are still a couple of shows to come before that milestone passes. In the last 12 months, I've had more truly special nights at the National than in any other theatre in the country and all of them absolutely their own thing. To my mind, he's had an extraordinary first year in post There was the detail and empathy of Husbands and Sons: D.H. Lawrence's mining trilogy polished up for a box-set audience. Polly Findlay's reinvention of As You Like It, an austere Arden that blossomed into colour and community spirit. Sally Cookson's Jane Eyre, theatre at its most infectious, got into my bloodstream and proved, without any doubt, that regional theatres deserved a national platform something that will continue for the next year. Last week, another: Dominic Cooke's exquisite staging of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Writing of the highest order, fine-tuned direction, with some of the finest acting individual and ensemble you'll find onstage. I could go on: the gumption of Evening at the Talk House, the daring of Here We Go, the delight of I Want My Hat Back. Denise Gough in People Places and Things. Even its imports have been exceptional: Beyond Caring, Iphigenia in Splott, Pomona. That is an embarrassment of riches by anyone's standards one that marks a fresh interest in questions of form, shape and structure. (Is that what's scaring the horses, as it did at the Royal Court?) Others have loved other shows The Red Lion, Three Days in the Country, Brainstorm a mark of the fact that the National doesn't have an audience, it has several. Sharon D. Clarke in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom JOHAN PERSSON That's born out in the new season Norris announced last week, split as it is between big-name classics and edgier, experimental fare. (Hard to call anything at the National alternative, really.) It makes a lot of sense against Norris's mission statement: a National Theatre for everyone. Well known plays, many not seen in London for a generation Angels in America, Amadeus, Cleansed in the hands of fresh, exciting directors like Michael Longhurst, Robert Icke and Ivo van Hove. There's an emphasis on great actors not stars, actors as well; the one single thing that gets bums onto seats. Andrew Garfield, Helen McCrory, Tamsin Greig and Lucian Msamati: these people, these artists, pull crowds. Others Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel, Alexander Zeldin, Sally Cookson push the art-form forwards, and the National's new work department, a reinvention of the old literary model, bodes very well for the future. It's as simple as this: I can't remember the last time I wanted to see every single show in a National Theatre season. Whether this works, whether it widens audiences and delivers great work, remains to be seen, but, to my mind, Norris has started superbly. Mumbai: Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day on Tuesday, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian Armymen to spy for them. He testified that he was working for ISI and had met many people from Pakistani Army. He also said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Revealing that the task of conducting recces was assigned to him, he had visited Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai. During my surveillance in Mumbai, Sajid Mir (LeT) asked me to specifically conduct a surveillance of Siddhivinayak Temple, Headley said, adding, Multiple targets included Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (Mumbai), Naval, Air station, Maharashtra Police state headquarters, Oberoi Hotel and CST. Read: 26/11 terror attacks: India to give Pakistan Headley dossier I used GPS device to store the locations. GPS device was provided to me by Sajid Mir (LeT) and Abu Khafa, so that I could save various locations including locations in Arabian Sea. I did the surveillance of multiple targets and selected landing sites. During this surveillance, I also made the video of Bhagat Singh Marg Road in Colaba. This included the video of Leopold cafe, Colaba Police Station and shops and Restaurants which are on the same road, said Headley. Continuing to spill the beans, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. Read: David Headley wanted to fight against Indian Army in Kashmir, says Public Prosecutor He also revealed that, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headley's handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley revealed. Read: Was inspired by Hafiz Sayeed's speeches, reveals David Headley "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it." "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her." Read: From Daood Gilani to David Coleman Headley: A timeline In his first deposition on Tuesday, Headley had told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes in Mumbai that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley had also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. Army and IAF specialised teams search on Monday for the bodies of the soldiers hit by an avalanche in Siachen Glacier. (Photo: DC) Srinagar: Six days after 10 Army soldiers including a junior commissioner officer were buried under when a kilometre wide and 600 feet high wall of frost and snow fell on their post in the Siachen glacier at an altitude of 19,600 feet, one of them has been found alive. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, a resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka, was in an arctic tent buried under 25 feet of frost and snow though in critical condition. It, indeed, is a miracle. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us, said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, General-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief of Armys Northern Command, confirming Koppads condition is critical. He was on Tuesday morning evacuated in a C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force to Armys Research and Referral (R&R) hospital in Delhi. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us, Lt. Gen. Hooda said. Four of them were from Tamil Nadu, two from Karnataka and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharahstra. Watch: An old video of army personnel carrying out rescue operation Army sources said that Koppad remained buried under 25 feet of ice in temperatures close to minus 40 degrees. Hours after Army rescuers including specialist high altitude teams on Monday while excavating a new site in their search for the victims retrieved the frozen body of one of them, they were elated to see signs of life. The rescuers while burrowing through 25th feet of ice found him (Koppad) literally frozen, like a block of concrete. He was not breathing but had a faint pulse, said an Army officer after he had spoken to one of the rescuers through satellite phone, the only reliable means of communication between the soldiers deployed on the highest battle ground on Earth and rest of the world. At dawn on February 3, a kilometer wide and 600 feet high wall of snow and ice bore down on the Army post, burying ten soldiers alive. The Army had on February 4 said that there was no hope of finding any survivors even though desperate search operation was intensified with specialised teams including high altitude personnel of the Army and the Air Force along with specialized equipment flown from Delhi and sniffer dogs carving through massive chunks of frost. While defence Ministr, Manohar Parrikar, Lt. Gen. Hooda, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra, all expressed shock and grief over the loss of lives in tragic incident, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, also tweeted: "I salute the brave soldiers who gave their lives to the nation. Condolences to their families." The Army officials said that the rescue operation has been the most difficult task as it is difficult to breathe at the height of 19,600 feet in the glaciated area which presents temperatures ranging from a minimum of minus 42 degrees in the night to maximum of minus 25 degrees during the day. The heavy equipment which was flown from Delhi in parts had to be assembled at the top. Also the rescue teams had to brave adverse weather like frequent blizzards and effects of rarified atmosphere to locate and rescue survivors. Photos of the other soldiers who died in the avalanche. The frozen bodies of other soldiers buried under 25 feet deep layers of frost and snow have been retrieved from the site. It is with deep regret that we wish to confirm that mortal remains of the remaining nine martyrs including a Junior Commissioned Officer were also retrieved by the rescue teams, defence spokesman Col. S.D. Goswami said. He added, The mortal remains, after due formalities, will be flown to their home towns as soon as possible. The victims are Subedar Nagesha TT, a resident of Tejur, Hassan district of Karnataka, Havildar Elumalai M from Dukkam Parai, Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, Lance Havildar S. Kumar of Kumanan Thozhu, Teni district (also in Tamil Nadu), Lance Naik Sudheesh B, of Monroethuruth, Kollam district of Kerala, Sepoy Mahesha PN of HD Kote, Mysore district of Karnataka, Sepoy Ganesan G of village Chokkathevan Patti, Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Rama Moorthy N of Gudisatana Palli , Krishna Giri district of Tamil Nadu, Sepoy Mushtaq Ahmed S of Parnapalle, Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and Sepoy (Nursing Assistant) Suryawanshi SV of Maskarwadi, Satara district of Maharashtra. The Siachen Glacier is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control (LoC) ends. As both India and Pakistan have claim over it, the stretch of snow is dubbed as the worlds highest battlefield. As many as 869 Indian Army personnel have lost their lives on the Siachen due to climatic conditions and environmental and other factors since the Army launched Operation Meghdoot to take the control of the strategically vital glacier in 1984 till December 2015. In the recent such incident, four soldiers were killed by an avalanche in January this year. The worst, however, occurred in April 2012 when an entire Army location was swept in a massive avalanche in the area killing as many as 135 soldiers. Prior to 1984, neither India nor Pakistan had any military forces in this area. In spite of avalanches and landslides claiming lives of the soldiers routinely in the area particularly during the winter when temperatures can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius, the Indian military authorities maintain that the Army will stay in the region for strategic advantages. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. They pointed the fingers of blame at each other, but both were convicted of a cold-blooded killing. The Winnipeg men argue the judge made critical errors, and their verdicts should be tossed out. Corey Tymchyshyn, 39, and Kristopher Brincheski, 33, appeared before the Manitoba Court of Appeal Monday. In 2014, they were found guilty of first-degree murder for their roles in the February 2008 killing of Chad Davis. They received an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years. Davis was beaten inside a garage at Tymchyshyns home on Prince Rupert Avenue, then put in a plastic rain barrel, which was sealed and dumped into the Lee River outside Lac du Bonnet. His remains werent discovered until July 2008, when cottagers opened the barrel. Jurors found the two men acted in concert to execute Davis, a Winnipeg cocaine dealer. RCMP / Manitoba Justice Chad Davis Both accused testified in their own defence during the 2014 trial, taking turns blaming each other while downplaying their own role. Their lawyers asked the Court of Appeal for new trials that would be heard separately. In 2014, a motion to sever the trials was denied. The Crown said the evidence shows Brincheski and Tymchyshyn played integral roles in plotting and carrying out the attack, which they say was done because both men were deep in drug debt to Davis. Jurors agreed. I urge you to see these stories for what they are deceptions created to try and sway you away from the truth, Crown attorney Keith Eyrikson told jurors during the trial. We know both accused cant be telling the truth. Both versions cant be true. And while each of the accused has told some truths they are both lying. Tymchyshyns lawyer argues his trial was manifestly unfair because jurors heard evidence implying he is of bad character and has a propensity toward violence. He claims Justice Brenda Keyser made a mistake by allowing Brincheski to produce that evidence. Tymchyshyn told jurors he wasnt present for the killing but returned home and found Brincheski had killed Davis in apparent self-defence after Davis attacked him over a $10,000 drug debt. Jurors heard Tymchyshyn admitted hed threatened to kill a man in a dispute over a marijuana-grow operation they set up in the mans basement while he was on bail in 2012 on the murder charge. Tymchyshyn said the man was potentially compromising the secrecy of the grow-op so he had to caution him, which he did by making threats the man would meet a similar fate as Davis. The last guy that screwed up in a situation like this ended up in a barrel, Tymchyshyn admitted saying. The Crown relied heavily on text messages Tymchyshyn sent to Brincheski on the last day Davis was seen alive. We will be in soon, said one. Hes wearing a hat dont miss, said the next. Tymchyshyns lawyer, Roberta Campbell, said her client should only be convicted of accessory after the fact for helping Brincheski dispose of the victims body. Brincheski testified he was with his girlfriend at the time Tymchyshyn killed Davis, but Tymchyshyn asked him to help cover up the crime. RCMP searched Brincheskis home in September 2008 and found thousands of dollars worth of Daviss property. His lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, painted Tymchyshyn as the violent, ill-tempered mastermind who was solely responsible for the killing. Corey Tymchyshyn is not the charming, easygoing guy he wants you to believe he is. He is a cold, calculating manipulator. And now he is trying to manipulate you, Wiebe told jurors. She said Tymchyshyn forced Brincheski to assist him in hiding Davis and other evidence and repeatedly threatened him if he revealed what had happened. When things went bad, and he had a dead body on his hands and no plan to deal with it, he called Kris Brincheski, said Wiebe during the trial. Like all his other patsies, (Brincheski) was an easy mark. www.mikeoncrime.com Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Five things to know about Canadas newly retooled role in the mission against the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: Military operation Canada plans to extend the mission until March 31, 2017, in a non-combat role to advise, assist and equip local forces at a cost of $264 million. (Another $42 million is set aside to move personnel and equipment upon completion.) Canada will: Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion delivers a statement as he is joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right to left, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau and Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Retain one Polaris refuelling plane and up to two Aurora surveillance aircraft, but withdraw six fighter jets engaged in air strikes no later than Feb. 22. Increase the number of military personnel to about 830, up from about 650. Station personnel at various coalition headquarters to support members and Iraqi security forces, specifically through expertise in operational planning, targeting and intelligence. Expand training to help Iraqi security forces plan and carry out military operations against ISIL, including provision of small arms and ammunition. Use military medical personnel to train the Iraqis to treat battlefield wounded as well as to provide medical support to Canadian forces and allies. Help security forces in Jordan and Lebanon prevent the spread of violent extremism and offer strategic advisers to the Iraqi ministries of defence and the interior. Devote $145 million over three years towards counter-terrorism, stabilization, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) security programming. Humanitarian aid Canada will work with local and international partners over three years to deliver: $840 million in humanitarian assistance for basic needs of those hardest hit by the conflicts, including food, shelter, health care, water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as protection and emergency education. $270 million to build local capacity to provide basic social services, (such as education, health, water, sanitation), maintain and restore public infrastructure, help people find work and foster accountable government. Of that $1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance, the government says all but $130 million is new money. Diplomacy Canada will increase its diplomatic role in helping find a political solution to the crisis in Syria as well as assisting the Iraqi governments efforts to foster reconciliation. This entails an increased presence on the ground in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. Parliament Trudeau promised a parliamentary debate and vote on the new approach, much as his Conservative predecessor Stephen Harper did in introducing the original mission and subsequent extension and expansion. Trudeau also vowed to return to Parliament to consult on whether the military mission should be extended. As we all know, military matters are the prerogative of the executive, but I believe in Parliament, Trudeau said, and I believe in the value of robust and informed debate to express Canadians views on issues of such import as this, and I look forward to bringing this forward to debate. On ISIL The prime minister said Canada is stronger and more durable than the murderous gang of thugs committing atrocities in the region a group that opposes open societies like Canada. They want us to elevate them, to give into fear. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett met with the families of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Winnipeg on Monday and said she noticed a different tone from similar meetings in other cities. Today we heard many things a little bit different than other places, Bennett said halfway through the day-long meeting. Here in Winnipeg, there seems to be tremendous anger and cynicism. People are concerned about the police. Theyre concerned about the government. And they were quite skeptical as to whether an inquiry will help at all. Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Wedneday, Feb.3, 2016. Bennett says she heard anger and cynicism today as she met with families of missing and murdered aboriginal women. THE CANADIAN PRESS.Adrian Wyld Bennett is on a cross-country tour to meet with victims families and other interested parties so parameters can be set for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women that is expected to begin by summer. Bennett referred to the Manitoba capital as ground zero in the growing awareness Canadians have for the plight of aboriginal women. She cited the 2014 death of Tina Fontaine, 15, whose body was put in a bag and dumped into the Red River, and a near-fatal attack on a 16-year-old girl who was brutally beaten while she walked along the Assiniboine River. Bennett met with about 170 people in a private gathering closed to the media. Willie Starr whose sister Jennifer Catcheway disappeared from Portage la Prairie, Man., in 2008 said there was a lot of tension in the room. Theres a lot of pain and hurt that people have been carrying for decades in some cases, Starr said. He and his family tried to report the 18-year-old Catcheway as missing immediately, but they were brushed off by RCMP, he said. They told us that she was out on a drunk, come back in a week and thats a crucial time to investigate on a case. Starr said he would like the inquiry to address how police handle complaints about missing indigenous women and how much support can be offered to families looking for a missing relative. Hed also like a greater understanding of poverty, racism and other issues. Bennett said there were other concerns raised, too, such as stereotypes of indigenous persons in the media. She said it will be a challenge to determine the scope and mandate of the inquiry, since it must focus on key issues, but also be broad enough to address concerns of victims families. We will need to work through what is that right balance (between) way too broad and way too narrow. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Some of whats been said recently and otherwise about Canadas evolving role in the U.S.-led mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was officially retooled Monday: ___ Our efforts should better reflect what Canada is all about; defending our interests and freedoms alongside our allies and working constructively with local partners to build real solutions for the longer term. Trudeau, announcing a larger training and development mission and the withdrawal of CF-18 fighter-bombers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers a question as he is joined by Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, left, and Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick ___ ISIL would like us to see them as a credible threat to our way of life and to our civilization. We know Canada is stronger much stronger than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorizing some of the most vulnerable people on earth. Trudeau. Left unchecked, this terrorist threat can only grow, and grow quickly. As a government, we know our ultimate responsibility is to protect Canadians and to defend our citizens from those who would do harm to us or our families. Former prime minister Stephen Harper on Oct. 3, 2014, as he announced in the House of Commons a plan to send Canadian aircraft to fight in Iraq. Canadians did not invent the threat of jihadi terrorism and we certainly did not invite it; nor, as this global threat becomes ever more serious, can we protect ourselves, our communities, by choosing to ignore it. That is why a strong majority of Canadians have supported our governments mission against ISIL. Canadians understand that it is not merely in the wider interests of the international community, but specifically in Canadas national interest. Harper on March 24, 2015, telling the Commons of a plan to extend and expand the mission. It is important to understand that while airstrike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not, on their own, achieve long-term stability for local communities. Canadians learned this lesson first-hand during a very difficult decade in Afghanistan where our forces became expert military trainers renowned around the world. Trudeau on Monday. ___ Along with our allies and through the auspices of the United Nations, Canada should provide more help through a well-funded and well-planned humanitarian aid effort. The refugee crisis alone threatens the regions security, overwhelming countries from Lebanon to Turkey, from Syria itself to Jordan. Here at home, we should significantly expand our refugee targets and give more victims of war the opportunity to start a new life in Canada. Trudeau as Liberal opposition leader in the Commons, March 2015. ___ Our allies want us in the fight against ISIS, that is clear. This is a despicable terrorist group. And Canadians want us in the fight against ISIS because it is our fight and that is clear. When our friends and our allies are attacked, it is our fight and when our values are threatened and our country is threatened and our friends are threatened, it is our fight. And when human rights are trampled and human dignity is trampled, then it is our fight. Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose. ___ The prime minister likes to say he cares about diversity, but there is nothing that threatens diversity more than ISIS whether it is the rights of women, cultural and religious freedoms, or the rights of gays and lesbians. Ambrose. ___ The Canadian announcement is the kind of response the secretary has been looking for from coalition members as the United States and our coalition partners push to accelerate the campaign against ISIL the United States is willing to lead the coalition in the fight against ISIL, but the barbaric group poses a threat to every nation, so every nation should join this fight. If countries are unwilling or unable to contribute militarily, then they should consider the important non-military ways they can contribute to this effort. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook during Mondays Department of Defense briefing. ___ We are concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to place Canadian Forces personnel deeper into an open-ended combat military mission in Iraq a mission that fails to even define what success would look like. And while we welcome the governments announcement today of increased humanitarian assistance to the region, we are concerned that this aid is being linked to the military mission. NDP MP Helene Laverdiere. ___ I commend Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for committing to increase humanitarian and military aid for the nearly 4.6-million Syrian refugees who have been displaced by five years of brutal war in the region. Green party Leader Elizabeth May. ___ As a founding member of the coalition, Canada has been a valued and willing partner in the mission to degrade and destroy (ISIL) and has played an important role across all lines of effort. Bruce Heyman, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. ___ Were pleased Canada is continuing to invest and play a leadership role in educating and protecting children affected by crises in Syria and Iraq. David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada. ___ We are glad that the Governments new plan is more than an anti-ISIS mission, but rather a plan for the region that recognizes that Canada has both a responsibility and a national interest in responding to basic humanitarian needs and helping communities hosting millions of displaced women, men, and children throughout the region. Gillian Barth, president and CEO of CARE Canada. ___ Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/02/2016 (2446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak is filing a complaint with the agency that provides security at airports in Canada after sacred items in his pipe bundle were unwrapped and handled by screening officers at Ottawas Macdonald-Cartier International Airport Monday. Nepinak said he informed the first screening officer with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority what sacred items were in the pipe bundle and the bundle was sent through the X-ray as usual. But this time, instead of the items being returned to him non-tampered, screening officers decided to open the bundle. Despite Nepinaks protests, items were unwrapped and handled by random officers. A tobacco tie was dropped on the floor. Nepinak said in indigenous culture, only the custodian of a pipe may handle it. Only with the custodians permission, usually during ceremonies, would anyone else ever touch it, he said. JOHN WOODS / The Canadian Press files Nepinak says he's filing a complaint with CATSA after an officer at the Ottawa International Airport unwrapped and handled a sacred pipe bundle. I believe it to be one of the highest forms of disrespect that you could ever show to sacred items of our culture when somebody handles them uninvited or for the wrong reasons, said Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. I said, You shouldnt be doing this to me. Ive had this bundle all over the world and the most difficult time I get is right here in my own homeland, in Ottawa of all places, Nepinak said. He said he understands the need for security protocol but hes been through international airports in places such as Paris, New Zealand and other Canadian cities and the protocol is the same the pipe is X-rayed and never touched. Officers may ask to see it but they never touch it. My personal pipe travels with me when I travel on significant matters. Its been part of my bundle of sacred items that accompanies me in every ceremony, every fast, every sweat lodge, the Sundance, everything I do in my culture is tied to my pipe, Nepinak said. The pipe came to me from a very distinguished elder who has since passed on and it was passed to me through ceremony. I treat it with the utmost sacredness in everything I do. Nepinak said he was shocked by the disrespect to indigenous culture and lack of respect for the sacredness of the items as random screening officers handled the pieces of the pipe, even after he explained they should not be handled. Also, sacred pipes are usually gender-specific. A man would not handle a womans pipe and vice-versa. The girl working there was clearly in a hurry so she could do her job and get on to the next person. She wasnt taking the amount of care that I would have expected from someone who had any clue about what they were doing when it came to a sacred bundle, he said. I told her she should not be touching the things in the bundle and I think she thought I was challenging her authority or challenging her in some way so she got upset and there was an exchange (verbal). Finally I said, if it has to be handled, a man needs to handle it. Nepinak said a manager, who he said behaved in a confrontational manner, told the officer to whom he initially explained the bundles contents to take over the search. I told him, You shouldnt be doing this. As he was pulling out my items from my bundle, he said, I dont feel right doing this either, Nepinak said. The man unwrapped more items and, when he got the pipes bowl, he took it back to the X-ray technician who looked at it, nodded and sent the man back to the bundle. He was clearly uncomfortable and shaking a little bit and not handling the items the way I would expect someone to handle sacred items, Nepinak said. He asked me to take over and so I wrapped everything up and left. Robert Labbe, spokesman for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, said the screen officers involved in this incident would have received training, as do all screening officers. CATSA takes the screening of sacred items seriously and has procedures in place to ensure that the items are treated with respect. Screening officers are trained on the significance of such items and to screen them with care, Labbe said. We encourage passengers travelling with sacred items, if they have concerns when they arrive, to speak with the supervisor when they arrive at the checkpoint and to advise them of the items they are carrying. In this case, we encourage passengers who have any questions or concerns about their screening experience to reach out to us directly. Labbe said an investigation would take place once Nepinaks complaint was reviewed. Nepinak said he doesnt understand why the pipe bundle became an issue but suspected it was a demonstration of power by someone in a uniform who did not respect Nepinaks role as a pipe-carrier and indigenous leader. Nepinak said he will be contacting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the larger issue, which relates to reconciliation. We have to have a discussion about it as a higher-profile matter, Nepinak said. The issue of respect is lost in the need to demonstrate power and authority over someone. ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca M. K. Tamilarasan, father of Monisha, one of the three deceased girls, refused to accept the money as the government announced compensation stating the girls had committed suicide.(Photo: DC) Chennai: The family of one of the three girls students of SVS Medical College of Yoga and Naturopathy, found dead in a well near the college refused to accept Rs 1 lakh compensation given to them under chief minister public relief fund. M. K. Tamilarasan, father of Monisha, one of the three deceased girls, refused to accept the money as the government announced compensation stating the girls had committed suicide. I cannot accept the government stand. I had moved Madras high court seeking CBCID probe into murder of my daughter. I am sure my daughter did not commit suicide. Then how can I accept the government compensation declaring the girls committed suicide, he told DC. The girls T. Monisha of Chennai, 19, E. Saranya of Kancheepuram and V. Priyanka of Tiruvarur, both 18, allegedly committed suicide on January 23 by jumping into a nearby well. In a signed suicide note, the girls alleged that torture by the management (when they complained of financial exploitation) as the reason for the extreme step and hoped it would force the authorities to take action against the college chairman. Tamilarasan alleged that his girls were murdered and their bodies were thrown into the well. Our suspicion has been vindicated by the post-mortem reports of the Government Villupuram Medical College and Hospital and Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, he said, adding that the Villupuram hospital reports clearly says there was no water in the internal organs including lungs and in the second autopsy done in Kilpauk points to the head injury. Another girl Priyankas autopsy reports also indicate head injury, he said, adding that since the well had considerable amount of water how come the girls if they jumped directly into would have sustained head injuries. It only indicates the girls were murdered and their bodies were thrown into the well, he claimed. Mr Tamilarasan has given a written letter to the revenue officials who came to hand over the cheque stating that he would not accept the government compensation at the moment. However, sources said the parents of Priyanka and Saranya have accepted the government compensation. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The woman who became Greg Selingers top political adviser in the midst of a cabinet insurrection 15 months ago has resigned a key patronage appointment and has been removed from the NDPs re-election effort amid an internal review of her role in one of the provinces largest unions. Sources tell the Free Press that Heather Grant-Jury has dropped off the political radar over concerns of possible financial impropriety as education and training director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832. The union told the Free Press Tuesday that it has cut its ties with Grant-Jury, 53, a former United Way of Winnipeg campaign chairwoman (2007). TREVOR HAGAN / FREE PRESS files Premier Greg Selinger arrives at a provincial council meeting with political advisor Heather Grant-Jury in December. Heather Grant-Jury is no longer employed by the UFCW Local 832 Training Centre. We are conducting an internal investigation and have no other details to provide at this time, union spokesman Blake Crothers said in an email. Grant-Jury was named Selingers principal secretary, a new position, on Nov. 3, 2014, the same day five members of Selingers cabinet resigned their portfolios over the premiers leadership. Ten days later it was learned the premiers chief of staff, Liam Martin, had been placed on leave. He later received $146,047 in severance. Grant-Jury, on secondment from UFCW, was hired at a rate of $134,000 a year to work for the premier. She remained on the payroll until after the March 8, 2015, leadership vote, returning to the union on April 2. However, the Selinger loyalist was rewarded with a patronage appointment and continued influence within the NDP as a member of the partys election operations committee. That is, until Dec. 31. The NDP confirmed Tuesday that Jeremy Read, the partys campaign director, requested and received Grant-Jurys immediate resignation that day from the NDPs election operations sub-committee and from all other party positions. Two months earlier, on Oct. 28, the premier signed a cabinet order appointing Grant-Jury to fill a vacancy on the board of directors of Manitoba Public Insurance. The three-year appointment was to pay the union staffer $7,500 per annum. But on Jan. 4, Grant-Jury resigned the patronage post, MPI confirmed. A source close to government said her resignation was abrupt, catching the Crown corporation by surprise. She resigned in a real rush, the source said. Sources say the government and the NDP are distancing themselves from Grant-Jury over the alleged misuse of UFCW training funds. The union has not said whether it has filed a complaint with police. However, in a cryptic email in response to a question from the Free Press, the Winnipeg Police Service said it has received a report from UFCW. Repeated efforts to reach Grant-Jury for comment using social media were unsuccessful. A message left on her home phone Tuesday was not returned. Neither was a message left on her cellphone. Asked for comment recently, Selinger confirmed Grant-Jury was no longer part of the NDPs re-election team, but offered little more. Its a matter with a separate organization (UFCW), and its a personnel matter. And Im not able to comment on that., the premier said. Asked if he had been briefed on the matter, Selinger said: Just that theyve got an issue that theyre addressing internally and they plan to look after it within the confines of their organization. Wayne Glowacki / Free Press files Heather Grant-Jury at the State of the Province at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the RBC Convention Centre in 2014. Late Tuesday, Selingers press secretary, Naline Rampersad, issued a statement again refusing comment on the allegations surrounding Grant-Jury but stating that a high-ranking Selinger political staffer received a call from UFCW Local 832 president Jeff Traeger about a potential internal human resources matter on Dec. 30. When it was confirmed the following day that the UFCW believed there to be a serious matter that would require further steps to be taken, the Chief of Staff (Jeremy Read) informed the Premier and at his direction requested Ms. Grant-Jurys immediate resignation from the MPI board Her formal resignation was received by MPI on January 4, 2016, Rampersad said. Progressive Conservative House Leader Kelvin Goertzen, the partys MPI critic, noted he raised Heather-Grants MPI appointment in November, not long after it was made. I think its an example of what happens when you have a premier who puts his party and patronage ahead of the province, Goertzen said. He was too busy looking after his friends and those who supported him during the leadership process. And unfortunately MPI gets dragged into it. Goertzen said Manitobans deserve a full statement from the premier on the matter. For example, the files that she worked on when she was working with the premier are those being looked at? Was anything compromised in terms of these particular allegations that are now out there? Grant-Jury has been a labour activist for decades. At age 23, she became the Winnipeg Labour Councils first woman president, according to biographical information supplied at the time of her receiving the 2009 United Way of Canada Partnership Builder Award. In early January, the Manitoba Federation of Labour withdrew Grant-Jury as one of its three nominees to the steering committee of Workplace Education Manitoba, an organization that offers skills training to workers, a spokeswoman for WEM said Tuesday. She said she did not know why this occurred. MFL president Kevin Rebeck could not immediately be reached for comment. A Winnipeg labour activist told the Free Press that he is shocked by the rumoured allegations against Grant-Jury. I was dumbstruck when I heard it, he said. This surprises me. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The entire multi-purpose room at the Canadian Muslim Womens Institute that was once used for exercise classes is now jammed with racks and bags of donated clothes for Syrian refugees. We dont need any more clothing, said Yasmin Ali, longtime president and volunteer at the institute thats become a clearing house for donations for Syrian refugees. As of Monday, Manitoba has welcomed 563 Syrian refugees since the federal government promised to resettle 25,000 across Canada by the end of this month. The province has pledged to accept up to 2,000, and members of the public apparently cleaned out their clothes closets in an effort to help, said Ali. CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Yasmin Ali, president of the Canadian Muslim Womens Institute, in the former multi-purpose room thats now full of clothes. We need household things dishes, pots and pans kitchen things, and sheets and blankets; things to furnish the house with, said Ali, surrounded by racks of pants and shirts. Everybody has given clothing, she said Monday afternoon, just as volunteers who work at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health showed up with a delivery truck full of donated goods. This is totally unexpected, said Ali. The donors who belong to the wellness committee at the Arlington Street facility collected things the womens institute asked for: pots, pans, car seats, booster seats, diapers, toys and money for the charity that relies solely on volunteers, donations and funding from United Way. Employees at another federal government department collected more than 816 kilograms of donated items the institute was looking for but have no way to transport it, said an employee who didnt want his name or the federal department he works for identified. Ali said her non-profit organization needs help getting donated furniture and furnishings from people to resettled refugees. Last month, they received a massive donation from Antares Luxury Suites as it remodelled the former Place Louis Riel. That required a small volunteer army of Syrian refugees, Hutterite colony members and Winnipeg police to move the furniture and furnishings from the hotel suites to a donated storage facility off-site where the goods have been distributed to families moving into their permanent homes. Ali wishes they had that kind of moving service available all the time. Transportation with manual labour would be ideal. The institute is helping Syrian refugees and not just Muslim women but newcomer families from any faith. Its doing its best to manage with one full-time and two part-time paid staff, said Ali, a volunteer. JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Rami Elzayat (left) with his fiancee, Israa Elgazzar, hold contents of a health pack prepared for refugees. Theyre not the only agency trying to manage donations. Winnipeg resettlement agencies have been inundated with donations of goods. Canadians response to Syrian refugees has been overwhelmingly supportive, said Grace Eidse, executive director of Altered Minds Inc., the non-profit organization that runs the Entry program downtown for newcomers. We got so much stuff, the landlord gave us a whole extra room for free. Theres a huge storage space upstairs packed with bags and boxes, said Eidse. Newcomers taking part in the agencys programs can check out the donations and take what they need, she said. The greatest need now is for cold-weather gear. People bring mostly clothing but winter clothing parkas, jackets, boots is better, she said. Household items such as blankets and linens are also in demand. Those go like hotcakes. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Now that the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been released, academics and policy wonks have been busy assessing what it all means for the Canadian economy and the well-being of Canadians. Even before the text was released, most assessments had attributed little economic impact to the TPP. The most widely cited mainstream estimate of TPP annual income gains by the Peterson Institute average only 0.5 per cent of GDP across the 12 parties (achieved by 2025), just 0.2 per cent more than global economic income gains (the background trend) over the same period. However, this mildly positive economic impact disappears when the unrealistic assumptions of perfect competition and full employment are replaced with a more dynamic econometric model. A recent study using the United Nations global policy model database actually predicts mild economic losses for developed TPP economies (-0.04 per cent average annual GDP change) and insignificant growth for developing economies (+0.22 per cent average annual GDP change), and expects the loss of a total of 650,000 jobs for all TPP countries. For Canada, it expects negligible GDP changes (+0.03 per cent annually), but also predicts a loss of 58,000 jobs due to the TPP. The study also shows that income and wealth inequality is likely to increase as the share of GDP going to capital will rise and the share going to labour will decline. This link between free trade and growing income inequality is now well established in the policy literature, as for example in a recent analysis of NAFTAs distributional impact on Canada. Bluntly put, the TPP does not align well with the new Liberal governments commitment to rebuilding the middle class and addressing inequality head on. However, economic stagnation and negative employment effects are not the only pathways by which trade and investment agreements can undermine the well-being of Canadians. Our recently conducted health impact assessment of the TPP also raises concerns about the changes that the TPP will bring to the intellectual property rights regime and how such changes will translate into additional costs to the health care systems of TPP member countries. The TPP lengthens the time that life-saving drugs can be patented by allowing patent term extensions for regulatory delays and making it easier for existing pharmaceuticals to be re-patented for new uses. The first time inclusion of biologics in a trade agreement, with eight years minimum market exclusivity, also raises public health concerns, as such drugs are increasingly important in the treatment of cancer and immune disorders. One estimate of similar intellectual property rights concessions in the signed, but not yet ratified CETA pegged those additional costs to the strained Canadian health care system at around $850 million annually. Another widely shared concern is the role of Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms in the TPP. The use of ISDS by foreign investors to sue governments over regulatory decisions that they believe have compromised the value of their investments has risen in the past decade. A 2013 review of ISDS claims found that 40 cases involved health or health-relevant environmental protection, including food safety, pharmaceuticals and tobacco control measures. Moreover, waves of new corporate lawsuits from corporations within countries that are part of the TPP will likely create regulatory chill, with policy-makers avoiding adopting regulatory measures for health or other public goods because of the threat of potential lawsuits. ISDS clauses can also create policy lock-in effects, so that the re-nationalization of previously privatized government services can be difficult and costly. Given the negligible economic impact of the TPP, and the policy, regulatory and health risks it poses, this is not a good agreement for Canada. Much effort has gone into TPP negotiations, but without a transparent or evidence-based set of arguments for its necessity. In the context of the COP21 climate change agreement, and the UN sustainable development goals, this may be an opportune time for TPP countries to reject it as drafted, and rethink what should be the purpose of such agreements in light of (still) escalating wealth inequalities and fragile environmental resources two of the most widely shared concerns of Canadians. Ronald Labonte holds the Canada Research Chair, and Arne Ruckert a senior research associate, at the University of Ottawa. Winona County farm families who have owned their farm for 100 years or longer are invited to submit an application by April 1 for a Century Farm recognition. Century Farms will be recognized at the Winona County Fair. To be recognized, the farm must be in continuous family ownership for 100 years or more and be at least 50 acres in size. It is not necessary that the farm be homesteaded by a family member for the full 100 years. Century Farms recognized in the past are not eligible. The Winona County Recorders office will assist parties completing an application or wanting to determine how long a farm has been in family ownership. The Century Farm recognition program is sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair, the Minnesota Farm Bureau and the Winona County Fair. Information and applications are available at the Winona County Recorders Office at 507-457-6340. Applications are also available on the County website www.co.winona.mn.us. Go to Recorders Department and then downloadable forms. Question: How long do I have before I need to update my address on my drivers license after moving? Answer: When a person moves to a new address within Minnesota the law requires them to update their drivers license within 30 days. If a person moves to Minnesota from another state they must update their drivers license within 60 days. The same also applies to those changing their name on a drivers license. Note: Students attending college are exempt and can legally use their parents address. To change your address on your license, you must visit a Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) location in person. DVS officials will use your existing license, ID, or other photograph file to verify your identity. If DVS doesnt have a photo on file, or you have changed your name, you will need to provide additional identification. This includes the following: One primary document (Example: Certified birth certificate, valid passport) One secondary document (Example: An additional primary document or U.S. Social Security card) Certified marriage certificates, certified divorce decrees or other certified court orders for name changes. Proof of residence. The fee for an updated or replacement Minnesota license is $15.75. For a list of other documents and information, visit dps.mn.gov. Stress. Worry. Anxiety. Depression. Hopelessness. Chances are, all of us have experienced at least one of the above. And for some people, lifes stressors can lead to a mental health or emotional crisisa situation they cant resolve without help. But thanks to a new resource in southeastern Minnesota, Crisis Response, individuals and families dealing with mental health crises dont have to go it alone. Crisis Response offers 24-hour phone support, linkage to local resources, and mobile crisis teams that can be dispatched during evening hours, along with weekends and holidays. The service rolled out in August 2015 for adults, and as of January, support is available for children and adolescents as well. Crisis Response is offered across 10 counties in southeast Minnesota, through a partnership between Zumbro Valley Health Center in Rochester, South Central Human Relations Center in Owatonna, and Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center in Winona. And its a no-cost service, thanks to a state grant. Thats kind of the purpose behind the grantis that people that need the help get the help, said Tim Hunter, program coordinator with Zumbro Valley Health Center. Prior to the implementation of crisis response systems, people experiencing mental health situations had few options besides calling 911. But thats not always necessaryor the best thing for someone whos already under considerable stress, said Christy Ferrington, who is managing the Crisis Response team at Hiawatha Valley. And a shortage of hospital beds and psychiatry services statewide means quick personal support, within an individuals own environment, is a huge need. Were really trying to filter out some of those calls that go to law enforcement or emergency departments that are mental-health based, Hunter said. Hunter said low or moderate-risk mental health crises dont get appropriate attention because the medical system is strained with more severe cases. But the earlier a person gets appropriate help after their first crisis, the better for their long-term health. It can be used as a preventative tool, he said. When someone calls the crisis line, their call is answered by a mental health practitioner at Canvas Health, an organization in the Twin Cities. Canvas Health staff can talk with callers, assess their risk level, and if need be, connect them to local resources or dispatch the mobile crisis team nearest their zip code. Hunter said 90 percent of cases can be handled over the phone, with another ten percent going to mobile crisis teams. Each mobile team has two trained mental health practitioners, who are also in touch with a mental health professional at Zumbro Valley Health Center. They can help individuals and families cope with immediate stressors, develop action plans, and ultimately avoid unnecessary hospitalizations and loss of independent living. Mobile teams also follow up with people after their visit. Since the service rolled out this summer, its seen a growing number of callers. Since August, 415 callers have come through the line regionally, and 37 mobile teams have been dispatched. For the Hiawatha Valley area, which serves communities within a 45-mile radius of Winona, 10 mobile teams have been dispatched through December, and the call center took 60 calls from Winona County, 20 calls from Houston County, and 20 calls from Wabasha County. Ferrington said Hiawatha Valley had a crisis line prior to this summer, but the new system takes some of the burden off local mental health practitioners to staff that line, and enables them to focus on mobile crisis teams. The central call is awesome, and just the extra support that we get, she said. Hunter said thats the strength of Crisis Responses regional partnershipit provides mental health centers with more resources and training, and saves on costs. Proceeds will go to the Sean and Coral Logan family of Stockton. Sean and Corals infant daughter Makiah was diagnosed with heart condition called coarctation of the aorta shortly after she was born on Dec. 4, and she underwent open-heart surgery at less than one week old. Although the surgery was successful, Makiah now requires a second surgery, as well as regular monitoring. Funds will be used to help the family with medical and travel expenses to Mayo in Rochester. Coral works in the Development and Alumni Relations Office of Saint Marys. A specter is haunting the 2016 presidential election the ghost of Richard Milhous Nixon. Thats right: Tricky Dick, King Richard, the only U.S. president to resign his office and then receive a full pardon from his successor for his abuses of power. Twenty-two years after his death, Nixon continues to cast a long shadow over presidential politics. Like it or not, hes still the one. As Democratic pollster Douglas E. Schoen argues in his new book, The Nixon Effect, the 37th presidents influence is so overarching that I have no hesitation in declaring him to be the most important politician of the postwar era for both parties. Its a bold claim, but Schoen has plenty of evidence to back it up. No political actor of the past 60 years has been more consequential, he writes. Not Lyndon B. Johnson with his Great Society and his civil rights legislation. Not even Ronald Reagan, who brought American conservatism into the mainstream and won the Cold War. Nixon may not have invented the term, but he bequeathed us red and blue America. Or as Schoen puts it, Nixon remains the central figure behind the identification, articulation and exploitation of Americas contemporary political division. Nixon cannot be simply dismissed as a crook that left the White House in disgrace after the Watergate scandal. In reality, he created the template for transcending (the nations) differences politically and electorally. How? Not by making gross appeals to Southern racists, as the tale is sometimes told. Rather, by capturing the political center and pushing his opponents to the margins. It was Nixon, after all, who opened communist China to the West. It was Nixon who sought detente with the Soviet Union a controversial play that angered conservatives and helped set the stage for Reagans ascendancy in 1980. It was Nixon who advanced universal health insurance, a proposal that Democrats in Congress rejected because it wasnt left wing enough. It was Nixon who pushed federal affirmative action programs and presided over the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. Nixon did all of that and it drove liberals and conservatives nuts. Every Oval Office aspirant claims to be a uniter, not a divider. Nixon was both. He united by dividing, in fact, Schoen writes. Nixon saw that there really was a silent majority of regular, middle-class Americans eager for law and order and social stability. Against them was a ruling class of liberal elites, intellectuals and, of course, the media. Nixon convinced Americans that he was with them and against the elites. And, the truth is, it worked brilliantly. Nixons re-election victory in 1972 remains the biggest blowout in history. He won 49 states, 61 percent of the popular vote and 520 of 538 electoral votes. Ultimately, Schoen believes that Republicans would do well to be more like Nixon at his best which was also Nixon at his most unprincipled. Schoen prefers to call him nonideological and pragmatic, but the truth is Nixon was deft at adapting himself to the political currents. Does any of this sound familiar? Of all the candidates running this year, Donald Trump brash and utterly shameless is probably the most Nixonian. Im not a Trump man by any stretch. To me, he is the worst sort of demagogue and a danger to the republic. But hes playing to the center like no other candidate. He shreds the media with undisguised glee. And he speaks to millions of Americans who are truly anxious about their economic prospects and the future of the country. In the books closing pages, Schoen channels Nixon to assess the Trump phenomenon. He is the living expression of the silent majority, circa 2016, Schoens Nixon says. I wouldnt bet on him to win the nomination, but my goodness hes a political force. He has upended our politics. Just like Nixon did and continues to do. Srinagar: Ahead of the Afzal Guru and Maqbool Butts death anniversaries, various separatist leaders were detained in police stations or placed under house arrest. However, two key faces of Kashmirs separatist movement Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are away in Delhi where Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Tuesday visited the former at his Malviya Nagar residence to inquire about his health. Ayaz Akbar, an aide of the octogenarian separatist leader, said that Geelani is undergoing a detailed medical treatment in New Delhi and his health condition is now stable He also said that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi is continuously in touch with Geelani and repeatedly enquiring about his health condition. Pakistans Deputy High Commissioner Obaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani also called Geelani over phone to inquire about his health. Akbar also said that Basit and Geelani also discussed issues of mutual interest at their 80 minute long meeting during which some other officials of the Pakistan mission were also present. Earlier on Monday, the Mirwaiz met Basit to discuss various issues concerning Kashmir and express gratitude to the Government of Pakistan for putting in strenuous efforts for resolving Kashmir issue. In Srinagar, police on Monday arrested chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammmd Yasin Malik and later produced him before a local court which sent him on judicial remand for seven days. He was along with his close associates subsequently shifted to Central Jail, Srinagar. Meanwhile, security forces enforced a near total lockdown on major parts of Jammu and Kashmirs summer capital Srinagar on Tuesday to hold back protests planned on the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru. Guru, a resident of Doabgah suburb of Kashmirs north-western town of Sopore, was hanged to death in Delhis Tihar jail on February 9, 2013. Huge contingents of CRPF and local police personnel in large numbers with riot gear were at dawn fanned out to enforce security lockdown in areas falling under five police stations of politically volatile central Srinagar. Partial security restrictions were imposed in some other equally sensitive parts of the Valley too. However, unlike past occasions, no such restrictions were in force in Gurus home place and the let-up was seized by hundreds of people including separatist activists to visit his family to share its sorrow and join a prayer meeting. Elsewhere in the Muslim-majority Valley, the separatists called for a shutdown to commemorate Guru execution was widely obeyed by the people by suspending work. The rail services through the Valley were suspended as a precautionary measure, officials said. At places including outside the office of United Nations Military Observers in India and Pakistan (UNMOIP) in Srinagar activists held protest demonstrations, demanding the mortal remains of Guru be returned so that they are given a decent and befitting burial in the Valley. The restrictions are likely to continue through February 11 which is observed as black day" in Kashmir to mark the death anniversary of Muhammad Maqbool Butt, the co-founder of pro-independence Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF). Butt charged with murder of an Indian intelligence officer Amar Chand in Kashmir way back in mid-1960s was also executed in Delhi Tihar jail in 1984 and like Guru his mortal remains were buried inside the prison premises. We will review the security at a meeting in the evening and if the situation warrants restrictions under Section 144 CRPC will continue tomorrow and day after. Otherwise, these will be lifted for the day on Wednesday, a senior police officer told this newspaper. Neil was a graduate of Royal High School in Elroy. He served his country in the Army National Guard in the 32nd Division. He worked many years as the head custodian for the Roseville School District in Minnesota, where he also earned an honorary degree in history. He was a great collector of more than 3,500 books, having read several on European countries, wars, battlefields and the old west. He was especially interested in Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur and old western actors such as John Wayne, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott. He loved to take walks around Devils Lake, watch old movies and browse antique stores. He enjoyed two trips to Great Britain and many trips within the states. He had a strong love of animals, especially his dogs and his pet sheep Bonnie. JUNEAU | There will be many more steps to take for those who forget to bring an acceptable photo identification card when they go to the polls on Feb. 16. Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson said that those who come without a photo ID will be offered a provisional ballot. It entails a lot of paperwork at the polls, Gibson said. Those voters vote on the ballot, and it is sealed in a provisional envelope. The vote will not be counted until after the voter provides an acceptable photo ID to the nearest municipal court. The voter has until 4 p.m. on the Friday following the election to provide the acceptable photo ID, she said. The good news is most voters already have one of the types of photo ID required to vote. On election day, voters must provide one of the following photo IDs before they can cast a ballot: Wisconsin Drivers License Wisconsin State ID Card Military ID Card U.S. Passport IDs are still valid if expired after the date of the most recent general election (which was Nov. 4, 2014). The following forms of photo ID are also acceptable, but must be unexpired: A certificate of naturalization. A drivers license receipt issued by the WIS DOT. ID issued by a federally recognized Wisconsin Indian Tribe. a photo ID issued by a Wisconsin accredited university or college and proof of enrollment. An acceptable photo ID is not required to include a current address. The purpose of requiring a photo ID is to prove your identity, not where you live. Those who do not have a valid Wisconsin Drivers License or Wisconsin State ID may can receive a free Wisconsin State ID from the local Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles if specifically requested for voting purposes. We need to get the word out that people need to have a photo ID and everyone going to the polls on election day will need one, Gibson said. The voter ID requirement was in effect for the 2012 spring primary election. A court halted its implementation due to a legal battle. The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to challenge the law last year allowing it to stand. The law has been in place for 29 special elections and will be for the Feb. 16 spring primary as well. During in-person absentee voting, voters must present photo ID just like on Election Day. In-person absentee voting can begin the third Monday before the election, and must end at 5 p.m. or the close of business, whichever is later, the Friday before the election. In-person absentee voting hours vary by municipality and the local municipal clerk should be consulted for hours. When voters request an absentee ballot by mail, they must include a photocopy of a photo ID with the request, or the ballot cannot be mailed. Voters who are indefinitely confined because of age, illness, infirmity or disability and voters in care facilities may have their absentee witness verify their identity instead of providing a copy of their photo ID. Active members of the U.S. Armed Services who are away from home are also exempt from the photo ID requirement. Voters are encouraged to visit the Wisconsin Government Accountabilitys Voter ID website at www.bringit.wisconsin.gov for more information about the new law. NEW YORK Kraft Heinz is cutting about 2,500 jobs including 165 nonunion jobs at the Madison Oscar Mayer plant as part of its plan to slash costs after the food companies combined. Affected workers are in the U.S. and Canada, with about 700 of the layoffs coming at Krafts Northfield, Illinois, headquarters. Spokesman Michael Mullen declined to provide a further breakdown of which facilities would be affected. However, the company notified the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that 165 jobs would be eliminated. The notice indicated layoffs started in July and will be completed this month. Mayor Paul Soglin said in a statement he recently met with Oscar Mayer officials to discuss the future of Kraft Heinz in Madison. I look forward to a continued healthy relationship with the company we call Oscar Mayer, said Soglin, who stressed that this setback will not detour efforts to create a robust food economy in Madison. Oscar Mayer has been a part of Madisons (East Side) for over 100 years, and we expect that to continue for another 100 years, he said. Both Soglin and Ald. Larry Palm who represents District 12, where Oscar Mayer is located said they were concerned for those impacted by the layoffs. These are jobs that are really critical to Madison, Palm said. Doug Leikness, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 538, which represents Oscar Mayer plant workers, said Wednesday no union members will be impacted by the layoffs. However, almost 20 supervisors in the factory were among those who lost their jobs, he said. It was kind of a shock to us, Leikness said. Oscar Mayer has 7,000 employees; in Madison, Kraft and Oscar Mayer have 1,200 employees. The union represents about 650 of them. Mullen said the company is offering severance benefits with a minimum of six months and outplacement services for impacted employees to make this transition as smooth as possible, and to help impacted employees pursue new career opportunities. The job cuts are not surprising, given the reputation of the companys management on Wall Street. The combination of Pittsburgh-based Heinz and Kraft earlier this year was engineered by Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, which has become known for its tight cost controls. Bernardo Hees a 3G partner is CEO of the merged Kraft Heinz. Hees had already overseen cost-cutting at Heinz since the ketchup maker was taken over in 2013 through a previous partnership between 3G and Berkshire. That means the cuts announced Wednesday mostly affect people on the Kraft side of the business. Together, the two U.S. food giants own brands including Jell-O, Heinz baked beans and Velveeta that are facing sales challenges amid changing tastes. Their combination was nevertheless seen as attractive because of the opportunity to save hundreds of millions of dollars a year by combining functions like manufacturing and distribution. Executives say they expect to save $1.5 billion in annual costs by 2017. In a statement, Mullen said Wednesday the job cuts were part of the companys process of integrating the two businesses and designing our new organization. This new structure eliminates duplication to enable faster decision-making, increased accountability and accelerated growth, Mullen said. Already, Kraft Heinz had been belt-tightening in recent weeks. In a memo to employees dated July 13, Hees outlined a variety of provisional measures the company was taking to avoid unnecessary spending. That included instructing workers to print on both sides of paper, reuse office supplies like binders and file folders, and turn off computers before leaving the office. Corporate donations to charities also had to be approved, as did memberships in industry associations, the memo said. At its office in Northfield, where Kraft was based, the company also stopped providing free Kraft snacks like Jell-O. State Journal reporters Bob Van Enkenvoort and Judy Newman contributed to this report. Each week the Star-Times will give its take on stories of the past from Juneau County. 100 years ago: One of the biggest challenges any newspaper faces is keeping a good relationship with public officials while also making sure to be the watchdogs of public officials. You dont want to be so hard to deal with that no one wants to talk to you, but you dont want to be a mouthpiece for those in power either. In the end, newspapers usually have to error with being tough over friendly. Its difficult when you have to write something negative about someone in power, but refusal to do so shows you cant be trusted. The front page of the Feb. 10, 1916 Star-Times acted as a bit too much of a mouthpiece. Controversy had surrounded L.A. Wells being appointed as under sheriff and town chairman of Lindina at the same time. He eventually resigned from both, and then again accepted the chairman position according to Wells himself. The front page featured Wells writing up his explanation of what happened. While there is nothing wrong with him having his say, a public official shouldnt get a top of the page story to write whatever they want. We quote officials, but also give an independent version of events. This is what makes history hard at times. Can we trust that the version he gave on the front page is exactly how things happened? For history it will be, because the paper didnt take the time to give an independent version. When turning inside the paper, you can see politics hasnt changed much. The Republican Party not to pick only on republicans because democrats are equally as guilty of everything about to be said presents its platform. It proclaims the party is for things like, adequate national preparedness, expansion of commerce and greater economy in national administration. While these may sound like nice things, they really mean nothing. What is adequate national preparedness? How should commerce be expanded? How should the economy be greater in national administration? Politicians love terms like this. To this day candidates would much rather tell you that they will create jobs and lower taxes than actually give you the details of how this will happen. Details can be criticized. But who doesnt want commerce expansion and national preparedness? 75 years ago: Sometimes history is hard to discern, because no information can be found. The Jan. 20, 1941 Star-Times had a story that may have been quite interesting, if we knew what it was really about. The state supreme court announced decisions Tuesday ... and included were three Juneau County cases involving the Lisbon Town Fire Insurance Co., which had been decided in circuit court in favor of the defendants. The cases were listed as No. 89, Lisbon Town Fire Insurance Co. vs. Tracy; No. 90, Lisbon Town Fire Insurance Co. vs. Lund; No. 91, Lisbon Town Fire Insurance Co. vs. Troy. The supreme court reversed the finding of the circuit court in all three of the above cases. State supreme court cases are a big deal, I just wish I knew what these were about. That is the entire story. We dont know why anyone was sued, what issue was decided or if any precedent was set. So even when people were there to write up what happened, we still dont know what happened. Lloyd L. Skaro, 86, Hustler Lloyd Leo Skaro, 86, of Hustler, passed away Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, at Marshfield Hospital, Marshfield, following complications from a fall. He was born Feb. 16, 1929, to Wilmar Edward Skaro and Rosalie Peggy Skaro. Lloyd loved his family with all that he was and was proud of each and everyone. Lloyd lived his life to the fullest and was a man of few words. Anyone who knew Lloyd knew he would tell you like it was, never sugar coating anything, like it or not. Lloyd always had a story, advice or wise words for anyone who need or wanted them. Lloyd was a hard worker, providing for his family at a young age working in the lumber yards. Later in life, along with his wife, LuAnn, they became longtime business owners, the first being S&S Camp Inn in Camp Douglas and then Mr. Eds Saloon in Elroy before retiring in Hustler. He thoroughly loved interacting with his customers who fondly became friends. Lloyd is survived by his wife of many years, Lucille LuAnn (nee Edwards) Skaro of Hustler; children, Larry of New Lisbon, Marsha (Lloyd Butch) Hauge of Mauston, Bruce (Donna) Skaro of Sun Prairie, Kevin (Susanne) Kufahl of Montello, Kim (Joseph) Garber of Warrens and Colleen (Frank) Rick of Elroy; and brothers and sister, Edward (Marcy) Skaro, Loretta (Norman) Christianson and Dwayne (Connie) Skaro of International Falls, Minnesota and Daniel (Sandi) Skaro of North Branch, Minnesota. He was blessed with 17 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; as well as many friends near and far. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Leila in 1964; and his mother and father. Lloyd had an infectious sense of humor and had the ability to make anyone laugh in both good times and bad. He truly had a heart of gold and loved with his whole heart. Lloyds final wishes were for no tears and sadness but to remember his life with happy memories and stories. He wished to help the medical community by donating his body to the University of Wisconsin Medical School. A celebration of Lloyds life will be held April 23 at the Hooterbowl in Hustler. Live life today, nobodys promised tomorrow is what Lloyd would say. Whenever theres a discussion about Highway 33 in Portage, its a foregone conclusion that someone will utter the B word. Portage mayoral candidate John Morauski was the first to suggest at a Wisconsin Department of Transportation informational meeting Monday that perhaps the DOT should consider a bypass, so that Highway 33 and all its truck traffic would no longer go through downtown Portage. DOT officials made it clear at the outset that the recently commenced Highway 33 corridor preservation study doesnt include money for a bypass, or for any major overhauls of the roadway between Highway 12 in Baraboo and Garrison Road east of Portage. But keep talking it up, said DOT Project Manager Tom Kratt, and a bypass might happen someday. Kratt said one key reason for holding Mondays public involvement session which attracted 14 people, including DOT representatives is to hear from people who live, work or drive on Highway 33 about the problems associated with the roadway. Morauski and his wife, Heather, had plenty to say. On one of the numerous maps posted in the Portage High School commons, the Morauskis showed where a speeding car once crashed into their front yard. As a mayoral candidate, John Morauski said, hes forming a vision for Portages future, and that vision includes eventually eliminating truck traffic not only in the downtown business district, but also in front of schools like St. Marys Catholic School. Trucks through downtown, he said, are not conducive to the downtown. Kratt said this is not, by far and away, the first time hes heard that. But right now, he said, the focus of the Highway 33 study is extending the life of the roadway for as long as possible. We realize its a good highway, he said, and we really want to preserve it. How can we do that without major expenditures? Study details Chuck Wade of Madison-based TranSmart Technologies, project manager for the Highway 33 study, said there is no money set aside for any work on the Baraboo-to-Portage corridor at this time, and there wont be unless problems and solutions are identified. Thats why the study is being conducted. We want to quantify things we know anecdotally, he said things like the percentage of Highway 33 traffic that consists of trucks, the condition of the pavement, traffic counts, accident-prone intersections and the concerns of people who use the roadway frequently. Between now and March, Wade said, there will be an inventory of the corridor, followed by a draft of potential improvement strategies (and at least one more public meeting) before the summer is over. A final draft of strategies is expected to be completed before the year is out, with a final report submitted in March 2017, to allow DOT officials to include Highway 33 in their road improvement programs. Some potential improvements that could result, according to Wade, include turning lanes or other geometric improvements, though traffic counts in the corridor dont appear to warrant making it a four-lane highway. Wish list Steve Sobiek, the city of Portages director of business development and planning, said his wish list for Highway 33 improvements in Portage includes: Improvement of the highways intersection with East Albert Street, because many people use East Albert Street to get access to the Portages north side businesses. More identified, consistent crossing areas, primarily downtown, such as Highway 33s intersection with DeWitt Street. This will be especially important, he noted, once Columbia Countys two new buildings alongside the Portage Canal are completed and in use, sometime in the spring of 2017. Diversion of truck traffic away from downtown Portage, though Sobiek acknowledges that a Highway 33 bypass is not likely to happen any time soon. Some attention to problem Highway 33 intersections, such as Pierce Street near Pauquette Park and Wisconsin Street. Improvements that are friendly to bicyclists and pedestrians. Highway 33 is important to Portage, because its the way people come to Portage, or come through Portage, Sobiek said. WASHINGTON Endlessly divided, House Republicans pleaded with Rep. Paul Ryan on Friday to rescue them from their damaging leadership vacuum. But the GOP's 2012 vice presidential nominee showed little appetite for the prestigious yet thankless job of speaker of the House. The Wisconsin Republican who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee his dream job, he's repeatedly declared refused comment again and again as reporters chased him around the Capitol a day after Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy shocked his colleagues by withdrawing from the speaker's race moments before the vote. McCarthy's abrupt decision came just two weeks after the current speaker, John Boehner of Ohio, announced his own plans to resign at month's end, citing opposition from the small but strident bloc of hardcore conservatives who almost immediately turned on McCarthy, Boehner's No. 2. That left Republicans in chaos, with a yawning void at the top of their leadership ladder even as they confront enormous fiscal challenges and budgetary deadlines that could threaten a government shutdown and unprecedented default in the months to come. So GOP lawmakers, from Boehner and McCarthy on down, turned to Ryan, 45, the only figure in the House seen as having the stature, wide appeal and intelligence to lead Republicans out of the mess they're in. "He'd be an amazing speaker," McCarthy declared to a bank of TV cameras after Republicans met behind closed doors to discuss their predicament. "But he's got to decide." Said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, himself a potential candidate for the job, "He's the only guy who can unite us right now." Not long after, Ryan rushed out of the Capitol, refusing to talk to reporters. With Congress heading into a weeklong recess, he was on his way home to Janesville, Wisconsin, to his wife and young family. Ryan's spokesman, Brendan Buck, said: "Chairman Ryan appreciates the support he's getting from his colleagues but is still not running for speaker." Why not? Possible reasons include the presidential ambitions he may well still harbor. The speaker's post, highly prestigious and second in line to the presidency, requires a huge commitment of time and effort in corralling a party's House members. It is not on anyone's tactical roadmap to the White House. But Republicans were determined to do what they could to get Ryan to reconsider. Rep. Darrell Issa of California said he carried Ryan's gym bag for him Friday morning in an effort to persuade him to run, and Ryan even fielded a call from his presidential running mate, Mitt Romney. Romney later issued an effusive statement declaring: "Paul has a driving passion to get America back on a path of growth and opportunity. With Paul, it's not just words, it's in his heart and soul." The clamor for Ryan dominated Republicans' interest while Democrats watched with a mixture of fascination and trepidation, concerned about the challenges just ahead for Congress. Several Republicans were quick to warn that despite Ryan's popularity, he too could fall victim to the ferocious crosscurrents that felled Boehner and blocked McCarthy's ascent. "The same people who wanted to take down John Boehner, who wanted to take down Kevin McCarthy, are going to want to take down the next guy, too," said Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. Indeed some in the hardline House Freedom Caucus, the faction of 30-plus conservatives responsible for causing much of the House's disarray, were already registering their disapproval of Ryan. And some outside conservatives were pointing to his support for immigration legislation and the 2008 Wall Street bailout as disqualifying him for the speaker's chair. "I think he has the same problems" as Boehner and McCarthy, said Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, a Freedom Caucus member. Gosar pointed to Ryan's alliance with McCarthy and former Majority Leader Eric Cantor who once termed themselves the "Young Guns" and said, "They're definitely conjoined." Others in the Freedom Caucus sounded more open. "Paul has earned a great deal of credibility, especially on fiscal issues," said Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina. "And if you look across the right wing of our party that is sort of a unifying theme." Ryan won plaudits in 2013 for working with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray on a bipartisan budget deal that scaled back onerous, across-the-board cuts on programs ranging from the Pentagon to national parks. But one Republican close to Ryan said that the only scenario where a Ryan speakership was likely would be if he were to be selected by unanimous acclamation, as opposed to having to bargain with the Freedom Caucus for their support in the same manner that undid McCarthy. This Republican demanded anonymity to discuss private considerations. So it remained uncertain whether Ryan would accept the savior's mantle many of his colleagues wanted to give him. If he doesn't, where they turn next is unclear, though any number of House Republicans appeared to be mulling their own speaker prospects on Friday. For now at least, Boehner, who'd planned to leave Congress Oct. 30, told Republicans he will stay on until a new speaker is selected. "This institution," Boehner said, "cannot grind to a halt." Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick, Deb Riechmann and Matt Daly contributed to this report. Jammu: Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried in snow for six days, was on Tuesday evacuated to the Army's base camp at the Siachin Glacier from where he was taken to the Delhi's Research and Referral Hospital in a special air ambulance. Hanamanthappa was trapped in an air bubble, which saved his life. His condition is critical but stable and he is undergoring various tests in the hospital, army sources said. Hanamanthappa, who hails from Dharwad in Karnataka, was found alive after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. The Army had to burrow through more than 25 feet of ice and snow before finding the soldier and nine other bodies. The ten soldiers were buried under a wall of ice that collapsed on them at the icy glacier which is the world's highest and coldest battlefield. The very fact that a soldier was found alive at such icy depths after a few days is being described as a medical miracle. The family rejoiced over the news. I am very happy, I want to go and see him, wife of Hanumanthappa said. She along with a relative later visited the village temple to offer their prayers for the well being of the soldier. He is named after the god Hanuman, hence he triumphed death. We are all overwhelmed. We cannot stop crying, his father told news channel CNN-IBN. Read: Army releases names of Siachen avalanche victims The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he has said. Read: Siachen: Army pulls out buried soldier from 20-foot down under The most important number coming out of the Iowa caucuses is 75.7. Thats the percentage of Republican voters who chose a candidate NOT named Donald Trump. The question now is whether the Rational Right, the sensible wing of the Republican Party, can take advantage of Trumps vulnerability. Can they unite behind a solid alternative to Trump and Ted Cruz, who won Iowa but is even more unreasonable and unelectable than The Donald? The obvious option is Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who finished a strong third in Iowa and, on paper at least, represents the biggest threat to the Democrats: a young, appealing, Spanish-speaking son of Cuban immigrants with a vibrant story from a vital state. Rubio has yet to fulfill that sizable potential, but Iowa showed he might be starting to gain traction. He won almost a third of late-deciding caucusgoers. Still, Rubio faces a tough time in uniting the Rational Right. John Kasich, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are all focusing on New Hampshire and dreaming that they can still emerge as the Non-Trump. Until the field clears, Rubio wont have a clean shot at Trump or Cruz let alone Hillary Clinton. But the Democratic results in Iowa should give the Rational Right renewed incentive to unify. Clinton almost lost to Bernie Sanders, a 74-year-old socialist, and entrance polls revealed her core weaknesses. She is beatable as long as the Republicans dont self-destruct. Among voters who picked trustworthiness as an important trait in a candidate, 83 percent backed Sanders. Iowans looking for someone who cares about voters like me went 3 to 1 for Bernie. Questions about her honesty and empathy have plagued Clinton her entire career, and they have not gone away. Thats why the lingering email mess is so damaging. It plays into an existing storyline about both Clintons: They always play the angles and parse the truth. After Iowa, Trump is not invincible or inevitable. But Clinton isnt, either. So whats next? Writing for the Cook Political Report, Amy Walter smartly points out that Trumps brand of bombast can backfire. Trump brings out as many people fearful of his candidacy as those who are attracted to it, she writes. And after flirting with a series of novices for the last six months add Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina to the list many Iowa Republicans were ready to get serious. They divided evenly between wanting a candidate with experience in politics and one who was outside the establishment. Of those who valued experience, Rubio came in first, while Trump disappeared, polling only 3 percent. And the scrutiny of his record or lack of one will only get more intense. Katie Packer, a former Mitt Romney aide who organized an anti-Trump super PAC, told Politico: The big takeaway is that two weeks ago, everybody said, There is nothing you can do to stop Trump. We showed a spotlight on his record and his comments. Heres a bigger question. Trump has built his whole campaign on a simple idea: Im a winner and everyone else is a loser. So what happens when he fails? What does he have to fall back on? In Iowa, 42 percent of Republican caucusgoers said they wanted a candidate who shared their values. Of those value voters, only 5 percent picked Trump, and for good reason: He has no values. Or to be precise, he only has one: his own celebrity. The bandwagon effect is well documented in political science; voters like to back a winner. And as Brendan Nyhan wrote recently in The New York Times, Trumps initial success may have helped attract more support, creating a positive feedback dynamic that helped fuel his monthslong ascent in the polls. But once he stumbles, that dynamic could turn negative. Trumps supporters may shift their support to another candidate, Nyhan writes, while others could become discouraged and fail to vote at all. Thats why the tribunes of the Rational Right are breathing a bit easier after Iowa, with David Brooks writing in the Times that the amazing surge for Marco Rubio shows that the Republican electorate has not gone collectively insane. True, but remember the old adage: You cant beat somebody with nobody. If the grown-ups in the Republican Party want to block Trump and Cruz and have a chance at beating Clinton they have to coalesce around a credible challenger. Nobody is not good enough. Any day now the City of Wisconsin Dells will find out from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation whether the long-planned, oft-discussed and thoroughly vetted extension of the Dells Scenic River Walk can go forward. That was the report Monday from City Planner and Zoning Administrator Chris Tollaksen, who during the past several months has helped steward the proposed extension through its final stages of state approval. Tollaksen and his colleagues in the citys government hope they will receive the states go-ahead soon, so they can begin the extensions construction process in time for the coming spring thaw. That (DOT approval) is the milestone were waiting on, Tollaksen told the Events on Monday morning and then reiterated before the Public Works Committee during a meeting-packed Monday afternoon. (In addition to the Public Works meeting, the citys Legislative and Finance committees, Plan Commission and Common Council all held their February meetings Monday afternoon.) Tollaksen remained optimistic the extensions proposed 2016 schedule could still be met. Following the states expected approval, a request for bids for construction would commence, and the bids that come in will provide the city with an idea of how much the remainder of the project will cost. The big question is how much that (cost) is, Tollaksen said, adding that the bidding process takes about a month. Were hoping we have them back by the end of March, thats the current schedule, and then well know what the prices are, he said. Well be able to make decisions about how best for the city to proceed. The project calls for the closing of River Road near the current Walks conclusion at the bridge overlooking the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River. That road closure ideally would conclude by Memorial Day, with construction continuing during the summer along River Road all the way to the Illinois Avenue bridge. A rebuilt version of the bridge and the addition of railing, new bump-outs for better views of the river looking both up toward the Upper Dells in one direction and towards the Kilbourn Dam in the other, also are part of the proposal, with a late 2016 completion still the citys goal, Tollaksen said Monday. The River Walk also will receive a facelift in the form of 10 new story-telling signs about the Dells history, the specific subjects of which are up in the air as the city seeks the publics opinion. Proposed topics range from the areas geological formations to its historical origins and tourism industry. The survey was launched almost two weeks ago at www.citywd.org, and citizens are asked to weigh in regarding the proposed topics and to offer up any others the group might have overlooked. The survey can be reached via a link at the upper right-hand side of the website, and it will be accessible until midnight Friday. The BID committee will review the survey results Feb. 17 at its semi-monthly meeting, and BID Chairwoman Kelli Trumble said Monday that a sample design of the new storyboard signs also might be unveiled at that meeting. The Kilbourn Volunteer Fire Department kicked off its 125th year of existence this past weekend with its annual banquet and meeting, the latter of which included installation of officers and new department members. Patrick Gavinski, former captain of the departments Fire Company 2, was named the departments new assistant fire chief, and former Company 2 lieutenant Colin Field was named Company 2s new captain. Former Lt. Steve Smith was named captain of the departments Company 3 Rescue Unit, and Wade Bernander was re-installed as captain of Company 1 City Fire. Three new department lieutenants Josh Elftmann, Ryan Ennis and Mike Hall also were installed, and four new members of the force were introduced. Those new members are Lucas Killick, Dustin Jensen, Hans Gregerson and Dennis Wimann. Scott Walsh remains the departments chief, and Mike Warnke continues to serve as secretary-treasurer. Kilbourn Firefighters current and retired gathered in their full dress uniforms for the occasion, which included a banquet in the upstairs main hall of the departments building at Oak Street and Washington Avenue in downtown Wisconsin Dells. After the meal, the firefighters gathered in the departments meeting room, and Walsh called the group to order and addressed department business old and new. The new members of the department were then introduced, followed by the induction ceremony, by which honorary department members Jerry Wolfram and Tim Gavinski (Patrick Gavinskis father) did the honors of pinning a badge on the right lapel of each officer as they stood before their colleagues at the front of the room. The all-volunteer department serves Wisconsin Dells plus five surrounding townships Dell Prairie, Lyndon, Newport, New Haven and Springville and representatives of each of those towns also attended. Besides fighting fires, a primary agenda item for the department for 2016 is marking its 125th year, and Walsh told the Dells Events on Tuesday that those plans are nearly complete. Were finalizing plans and almost have everything confirmed, he said. Were fine-tuning stuff now. The year-long celebration will include the departments annual dance June 11, which is scheduled to coincide that Saturday night with the conclusion of the annual Taste of the Dells event downtown. Hopefully, we have good weather thats a key, Walsh said. The Kilbourn Volunteer Fire Department is coming off one of its busiest years in at least a decade, Walsh noted during the annual meeting. The department responded to 356 emergencies in 2015 an average of almost one per day, and well up from 236 response in 2014. That is the most since the department started keeping records on the computer, Walsh said earlier this year. The Village of Lake Delton Police Department has released its monthly crime report for January. There were 436 calls for service, 96 crime reports, 43 arrests and 168 traffic citations. There were two OWI arrests -- both for first offense; 23 traffic accident reports were taken and five reports of retail theft were filed. There were 19 reports of theft other than retail. Lake Delton members of the Sauk County ERT and CIN teams were called out on one occasion to assist with a critical situation. The following information is taken from the records of the Lake Delton Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of the departments activities. Jan. 3 A 23-year-old Chicago man was arrested on charges of battery, resisting/obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct after punching an employee at Mt. Olympus and then fleeing. Jan. 6 A 20-year-old Elroy man was arrested on criminal theft charges for stealing a bank bag from his employer. The money was recovered and returned to the victim. Jan. 12 A 64-year-old Necedah man was arrested on a charge of first- offense OWI. His blood alcohol was twice the legal limit. Jan. 21 A 23-year-old Madison man was arrested at Kalahari Resort on charges of battery or threat to a law enforcement officer (felony), theft-movable property, disorderly conduct (two counts) and bail jumping. Jan. 22 A 20-year-old Lake Delton man was arrested on a charge of first-degree recklessly endangering safety after discharging a firearm in the area of the Olympia Motel. A 29-year-old Lake Delton man was arrested on a charge of first-offense OWI after failing to negotiate a curve and getting stuck in a snow bank. Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and former Union minister Veerappa Moily at Grama Swaraja Samavesha in Tumakuru on Monday Tumakuru: Making it clear that the Congress was committed to providing drinking water to the parched districts of Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Chitradurga and Bengaluru rural districts through the Yettinahole project, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday came down heavily on Janata Dal (Secular) leader, H.D. Kumaraswamy for implying otherwise. The Chief Minister, who was speaking at an election rally, Gram Swaraj here, said his government had sanctioned Rs 13 crore for the project and had already spent Rs 3,000 crore on it. Believe that we will give you drinking water, he told the people. Claiming the JD(S) had no leg to stand on on the issue, he maintained the party would lose even its deposits in the three constituencies of Devdurga, Hebbal and in Bidar. Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party as well, he said it did not believe in decentralization of power and voting for it would amount to voting against democracy and the panchayat raj system. In his enthusiasm to hit out at the Prime Minister, Mr Siddaramaiah referred to Mr Narendra Modi as Moily-yavare in Kannada, correcting himself quickly as Congress workers laughed at his faux pas. Going on to list the Congress achievements he said, We amended laws to give power to villagers, and now we have taken a decision to give Cabinet rank to Zilla Panchayat presidents and reservation for SCs, STs, BCs, minorities and women in the three-tier panchayat raj system, benefiting thousands from the farming community and tail-end people. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who also addressed the rally, spoke in a similar vein giving all credit to the Congress for decentralization of power in the state. You will be encouraging a communal party and supporting RSS principles if you vote for the BJP, he warned. Optimisation production through process engineering Researchers say there are still large gaps in our understanding of the associated utility systems in batch chemical processes. Professor Thokozani Majozi holds the DST-NRF Chair in Sustainable Process Engineering at Wits. Our main research area is sustainable process engineering, within which we are addressing two broad areas - batch chemical processes and continuous processes, explains Majozi, whos PhD from the University of Manchesters Institute of Science and Technology focused on the optimisation of multipurpose batch chemical processes. More than 50% of South African chemical processes fall within the batch processing type. Ironically, none of the engineering undergraduate programmes in the country focus on this category of chemical processes. In addition to handling time effectively, which is fundamental in the design and synthesis of batch plants, Majozi realised that there are still large gaps in our understanding of the associated utility systems in batch chemical processes. These include water and energy. In general, batch processes use and generate smaller amounts of water and wastewater, respectively, he explains. However, the nature of industries in which they are generally encountered, like pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, suggest that they have higher toxic levels in comparison to their continuous counterparts. Consequently, there is a need to develop dedicated techniques to optimise water use. On continuous processes, Majozis group has been focusing on debottlenecking utility systems, with emphasis on steam system networks and cooling water systems. Our approach is to look at the cooling tower and heat exchanger network as one unit because they work together and cannot be improved in isolation. If you look at them together, all the evidence suggests you will ultimately get a better system, he says. We are also looking at power stations because one of the key units of operation is the cooling tower. After you have produced superheated steam to run your turbines, the steam is condensed back into water that is then recycled back into the boiler and supplemented by the makeup stream. The condensation step is extremely important for the efficiency of the system and the design of the cooling tower is fundamental. Majozi and his team are also exploring the overall efficiency of power generation facilities, including renewable energy options. His team also focuses on Clean Coal Technology and how to optimise complex power generation systems to achieve maximum efficiencies. On the batch processes side, Majozi is addressing industry production efficiencies. The challenge is to help industry use their available capital optimally to meet their production targets for a range of products with different equipment requirements. This requires careful scheduling to meet the prescribed targets within prescribed time horizons, he concludes. Chennai: The curiosity surrounding the reported meteorite impact that brought the family of Kamraj, a bus driver of a private engineering college in Vellore, the dubious distinction of becoming the first human casualty of a meteorite fall in the planet, is still growing with many experts disputing the theory. Things are getting murkier with the police and scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, who are investigating the matter, remaining tight-lipped. Several astronomers are questioning the rationale behind the state government's announcement on the incident without any scientific backing. Delhi-based astronomy expert Mr. C.B. Devgun, who is also the national coordinator-India for the World Space Week and has a personnel collection of meteorite samples, told the Deccan Chronicle that the first impression he gets seeing the 10 gram dark bluish stone like object that the police reportedly recovered from the site is not a meteorite. I have travelled places and have been following astronomy for past three decades. I have never come across a meteorite sample that looks bluish in colour. It is unlikely that the thing that caused explosion in Vellore is a meteorite. These extraterrestrial objects usually disintegrate in the air and even if they manage to pass through the atmosphere their exterior look will be black and their density will be little heavier than the rocks found in the Earth and also some will be embedded with the metal as they get sliced in the atmosphere. I dont see any of it in this tiny samples collected around the crater in Vellore, he explained. When contacted, a source in the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) directors office in Bengaluru categorically said that clear instructions were given to the institute by the Tamil Nadu police not to disclose anything about the team of scientists that visited Vellore or the investigation details. Our director is out of station and the team has already submitted the report to the Superintendent of Police Vellore Such level of secrecy about a matter that deals with pure science is puzzling the experts raising doubts whether the government made a mistake by hurriedly announcing the cause of explosion as a meteorite. Dr. W. Selvamurthy, former chief controller of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), said the government should make the details of the investigations public and allow experts to thoroughly conduct the research. No one can conclude unless there is a chemical analysis done. The postmortem report of the victim might also help ascertain the nature of the object that exploded and caused fatal injuries, he said. A professor of Centre of Astronomy in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore also raised doubts about the theory and said it is extremely rare of such an event to take place. Only proper testing of chemical and physical characteristics of the object will reveal its identity, he said. Chennai: It was murder by smothering, argued noted lawyer R Sankarasubbu while debunking the claim made by the SVS College of Yoga and Naturopathy in Villupuram that its three women students had committed suicide by drowning in a well near the campus last month. The postmortem reports of the three students Monisha, Priyanka and Saranya all aged 19 and studying in the second year of the five-and-half year course clearly showed blackening of the nose and mouth portions and that meant they were smothered to death, said Sankarasubbu. We have photographs of the blackened nose and mouth portions. The colour change happens about 24 hours after death by smothering. They did not commit suicide. Their bodies were thrown into the well, the lawyer told Deccan Chronicle Monday evening. He had presented his case forcefully before Justice R Mala of the Madras high court earlier in the day. The judge posted the case for Tuesday for further hearing. The three students were found floating in a well about two km from the college on January 23, with their hands tied with duppattas. College trustee Subramanian had claimed that they committed suicide by jumping into the well after leaving behind suicide notes. While the families of Priyanka and Saranya buried their girls after postmortem at the Villupuram government medical college hospital, Monishas father M. K. Tamilarasan suspected foul play and demanded a second postmortem. He moved the Madras high court with Sankarasubbu as his lawyer. In his petition, Tamilarasan contended that his daughter and two other students Priyanka and Saranya were conducting several protests demanding that the college management provide basic facilities. His daughter went to college after the Pongal holidays on January 22 and there was no communication from her after that. Since the three girls challenged the demand of Rs 2 lakh by the college from them, the principal, director, warden and their men murdered them and threw the bodies in the nearby well, he alleged. Justice R. Subbiah on January 27 ordered a second postmortem of Monishas body. He also directed that Dr P. Sampath Kumar, head of the department of forensic science and vice-principal of the Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Porur, to be present at the second postmortem. The results are yet to come. Subsequently, Saranyas father Elumalai too joined in the fight for justice. His petition came before Justice Mala on Monday when the first postmortem reports were produced by the crime branch CID investigating the case as per the directions from the chief minister following public outrage. Lawyer Sankarasubbu pointed out that all the three postmortem reports had confirmed that the nose-mouth portions were blackened and that confirmed the suspicion that the girls were smothered to death. Why then didnt the CB-CID alter the case to one of murder, he asked in the court. To this, the CB-CID officer investigating the case replied that she was unable to proceed with her investigation in proper manner and speed as she was forced to spend time attending to the court hearings due to the present litigation. While the SVS correspondent Vasuki and her son are in judicial custody, her husband Subramanian admitted himself in a hospital saying he needed treatment as he had undergone kidney transplant recently. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page BENGALURU: Just two days after a leopard was sighted and rescued at Vibgyor High in Marathahalli, unconfirmed reports were doing the rounds that the local residents spotted two more leopards at a eucalyptus grove behind the school late on Tuesday evening. Panic gripped Whitefield and surrounding areas as one of the local residents reportedly sighted the big cat. Earlier in the evening, complaints came pouring in from many residents in Whitefield that a leopard was sighted at Nallurhalli Park in Whitefield. It was followed by another report that two more leopards were sighted by the residents behind Vibgyor High in Varthur. But officials from the forest and police departments refused to confirm that the leopards were sighted. Read: Leopard wanders into Bengaluru school campus, 6 injured Amidst the high drama, the residents set fire and also burst crackers in an attempt to scare away the leopards. It was also said that the leopards tried to enter an apartment in the locality before it ran away into the eucalyptus grove. Following the reports, a team of forest and police officials rushed to the spot around 10.30 pm, cordoned off the area and started the search operation. Officials confirmed that the search will continue throughout the night. Residents set fire near a eucalyptus grove behind Vibgyor High school at Nallurahalli in Whitefield on Tuesday (Photo: DC) Scores of residents took to social media to know whether the reports were true. Keeping the safety of the residents in mind, Deputy Conservator of Forests Deepika Bajpai appealed to the people not to burst crackers or set the field on fire in panic. Read: Leopard takes Bengaluru school on toll, 12-hour operation to trap big cat Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ravi Ralph said, Our officials have visited Nallurahalli and we have not spotted any pugmarks of leopard. A forest official said, We have been receiving complaints from residents, but there is no trace or proof of its presence there. Sometimes, hysteria prevails after such incidents. Besides, the pugmarks of a dog and a leopard are not very different. Nevertheless, we have sent our officials, who are monitoring the place. School to close today Following reports that two leopards were spotted at the eucalyptus grove behind VibgyorHigh school, Principal Roshan DSouza declared a holiday for the school on Wednesday. Text messages were sent to the parents informing them of the schools closure. As a precautionary measure, the school remains closed on February 10 due to rumours of leopard being spotted in the vicinity, Mr. DSouza said. Leopard at BBP The leopard that was captured at Vibgyor School was blind in its left eye. This might have been the reason for it to have got strayed into the city. The big cat is suffering from glaucoma in its left eye, the forest officials said. The leopard is at the Bannerghatta Biological Park rescue center. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Russia strengthens nuclear research and development ties 09 February 2016 Share Russia's Kurchatov Institute and state nuclear corporation Rosatom have signed a cooperation agreement "to harness synergies in the joint development of promising new technologies and the modernization of existing technology in the nuclear power and energy transport sector". Kovalchuk and Kirienko signing the agreement yesterday (Image: Rosatom) The agreement was signed yesterday - Russian Science Day - by Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the institute, and Sergey Kirienko, Rosatom director general. Rosatom said the document also provides for joint work in nuclear materials, the safe use and disposal of nuclear facilities, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy, controlled thermonuclear fusion and plasma technologies. "Collaborative work between the Kurchatov Institute and Rosatom is an historic union of two leading organizations engaged in the development of Russian science and technology," Kirienko said. "The system of managing research and development projects in the nuclear industry has always been built like this: the Kurchatov Institute is the research manager, Rosatom is the chief designer and chief builder, and Rostechnadzor is the supervisory authority. VVER and RBMK reactors have been constructed this way and have proved that this practice is effective," he said. Today, this approach of strengthening scientific leadership has been replicated in other projects, such as the Proryv, or 'Breakthrough', project to close the nuclear fuel cycle, the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and other activities, Kirienko said. The agreement extends a similar document concluded in 2006 and will be valid for five years. After signing the agreement, the institute awarded Kirienko an honorary doctorate, which the Rosatom head said he was accepting on behalf of the whole corporation. Speaking to reporters following the signing ceremony, Kovalchuk said that two organisations had been incorporated into the institute by Russian government decree. The "Prometheus" Central Research Institute of Structural Materials and the Research Institute of Chemical Reagents and High Purity Chemicals were previously part of the Ministry of Education and Science. The Kurchatov Instutute has been working with these two organisations for a long time, Kovalchuk said. The Kurchatov Institute was established as a Federal State Unitary Enterprise in 2010. It also includes the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, the Institute for High Energy Physics and the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Japanese bill seeks to support reprocessing business 09 February 2016 Share The Japanese cabinet has approved a bill aimed at "taking measures necessary for the steady implementation of the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel". The bill creates a new entity responsible for reprocessing and introduces a new system for funding it. The Rokkasho fuel cycle centre (Image: JNFL) At a meeting on 5 February, the cabinet approved the bill "to amend the part of the law on funding and management of the reserve fund for the reprocessing of used fuel in nuclear power generation". In a statement the same day, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) noted that reprocessing and the use of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel are key parts of the Basic Energy Plan approved by the cabinet in April 2014. However, the ministry said that with the full liberalization of the country's retail electricity market starting in April, increased competition could have major impacts on business environment surrounding nuclear power. This, it suggests, could mean the reprocessing business may "stagnate" as nuclear operators could struggle to secure the necessary stable funds. One of the main measures of the recently approved bill is to establish a new "contribution system" for funding reprocessing. Nuclear plant operators will be required to contribute to the reprocessing fund according to how much used fuel they generate. Currently, Japan's ten power companies deposit fees for future reprocessing with the Radioactive Waste Management Funding Research Centre (RWMC). The fee is JPY0.5 (0.4 US cents) per kilowatt-hour of nuclear electricity generated. This is supervised by the government's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE). ANRE reported that the fee deposits at RWMC amounted to JPY 2.4 trillion ($21 billion) as of March 2015. The bill also authorizes a new "authorized corporation" to take responsibility for Japan's reprocessing business. In addition, it introduces a "proper governance system" in which a steering committee - which could include a third party - is established to make decisions on the authorized corporation's operations. The government intends to enact the legislation during the current parliamentary session. Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) was set up in 1992 to operate the country's nuclear fuel cycle facilities, including uranium enrichment, reprocessing of used fuel, MOX fuel fabrication, and disposal of low-level radioactive wastes. It is a joint stock company by the electric power utilities, with some wider shareholding. JNFL operates a major complex at Rokkasho-mura in Aomori prefecture. The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum noted today that JNFL, "with its accumulated technology and human resources, will continue with the work-site operations, being commissioned by the juridical entity". Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Following the killing, in which Alfonso was shot eight times, Medina posted a picture of her body that he took with his cellphone on Facebook. Derek Medina, 33, also known as the Facebook Killer, has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2013 shooting death of his wife, Jennifer Alfonso. Following the killing, in which Alfonso was shot eight times, Medina posted a picture of her body that he took with his cell phone on Facebook. Medina, who admitted taking the photo and posting it on the social media site, claimed that he shot Alfonso during an argument in which she used a knife to threaten him. He is planning to appeal his conviction, stating he did not get a fair trial. During Medinas sentencing Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Yvonne Colodny told Medina that he had foretold his future when he wrote on Facebook I am going to prison. Prosecutors claimed during the trial that Medina had promised to murder his wife if she ever tried to leave him. He was charged with second-degree murder after a jury last year refused to believe that he was acting in self-defense. Because the couples 10-year-old daughter was upstairs in the house at the time of the killing, Medina has also been given 5 years for childhood neglect, to be served concurrently. Although the child apparently did not witness the murder or see her mothers body, she was left alone in the house for several hours while her father went to turn himself in to police. Also to be served concurrently is a 15-year sentence for firing a weapon inside the house. According to testimony by a medical examiner, the way Alfonsos body was found made it appear that the 5-foot-6 woman was squatting in a corner of their small kitchen, trying to defend herself. Considering that her husband is 6 feet and 200 pounds, prosecutors claim that shooting her eight times was unnecessary. Alfonsos family asked Judge Colodny to impose the maximum possible sentence on Medina. He must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole. New Delhi/Srinagar: In what can only be described as a miracle, one of the 10 Indian Army soldiers 33-year-old Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad from the 19th Battalion of the Madras Regiment, and hailing from Betadur village in Karnatakas Dharwad district who was trapped and buried under a sheet of ice at the Siachen Glacier, was pulled out alive by Army rescuers late Monday night after six days of being trapped under 35 feet of ice and snow at an altitude of 20,500 ft at temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius, but is now in a comatose and extremely critical condition and has been put on ventilator support. At Siachen, the worlds highest and coldest battlefield, the rescuers, while burrowing through the ice, found him (the lance naik) literally frozen, like a block of concrete. He was reportedly not breathing but had a faint pulse. The Army evacuated him swiftly to its Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital in New Delhi on Tuesday morning, where the Armys best doctors are battling all odds to save his life. When he was rescued, the soldier was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented, and was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. The miracle soldier is also suffering from low blood pressure, has pneumonia and is also battling liver and kidney dysfunction. But in a ray of hope, the Army said fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frostbite or bony injuries to him. Sounding a note of caution, the Army said the soldier is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body. Speculation is rife that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was probably saved when he was trapped by the presence of an air pocket when the rock-hard ice sheet and boulders trapped the soldiers. He was in an arctic prefabricated tent or hut when disaster struck and speculation is rife that the hut may not have collapsed completely, leading to some insulation from the icy weather for the beleaguered soldier. Also read: Siachen miracle: Nation prays for Koppad as condition remains critical But experts are unanimous that even if the soldier enjoyed a large slice of luck, it would have required tremendous mental toughness to survive the ordeal. The bodies of the other nine trapped soldiers were, tragically, found at the glacier. According to reports, the dogged determination of over 150 soldiers helped by two canines, Dot and Misha, besides earth-penetrating radars and special ice-cutting equipment helped rescue Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. As the Armys Udhampur-based Northern Command said in the early hours Tuesday: We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us. On February 3, a 1 km by 800 m ice wall had broken off and fallen below, trapping the 10 soldiers at Siachen. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa joined the Army in 2002 and participated in challenging counter-insurgency operations both in J&K and the Northeast. He started his tenure in Siachen in August 2015, and started serving in December 2015 at the post where he was when disaster had struck. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re warming after being rescued and was flown out from the site by a helicopter along with a medical specialist to the Siachen base camp, from where he was brought to the Thois airbase. He was then transferred to New Delhi by a fixed-wing aircraft of the IAF along with a critical care specialist of the IAF and medical specialist from the Siachen base camp, the Army said. But with eyebrows being raised on why the government had earlier offered condolences for the deaths of soldiers trapped at Siachen when rescue operations were not over, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Manohar Parrikar visited the Armys R&R Hospital to personally monitor developments on the treatment of the brave soldier and also prayed for his recovery. Prime Minister Modi had earlier condoled the deaths of all the soldiers after the government and Army had virtually given up hope of finding them alive. However, the Army had continued steadfastly with rescue efforts. The Army had to burrow through more than 30 feet of ice and snow before finding the soldier and the nine other bodies. No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier, Mr Modi said. The Prime Minister was briefed on the soldiers condition at the hospital. The PM spent about 10 minutes with the soldier, met the team of doctors and medical staff attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, and emphasised that no effort should be spared in his treatment. Just before visiting the hospital, the PM tweeted: Going to see Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation. Army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag also visited the hospital and commended the braveheart for his indomitable mental robustness and his refusal to give in to the harsh elements of nature. In his message, President Pranab Mukherjee said: I am happy to know that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa has survived the avalanche on Siachen Glacier of February 3, 2016. I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions. Lance Naik Hanamanthappas willpower and courage to fight all odds is truly an example to all others. The brave soldiers familys joy too knew no limits as the news trickled in of him being alive. It is a rebirth for all of us, said Mahadevi, wife of the brave soldier, with a visible sense of relief at his miraculous survival. We were going through a painful ordeal after the avalanche struck... The news of his survival brought the smiles back on our faces. We were all crying and had almost lost hope. I didnt know what to do. I have a one-and-half-year-old daughter, she said. A statement from the office of Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar said he had made arrangements for the lance naiks family to travel to Delhi. The family is expected to reach Delhi late on Tuesday evening. The determination of over 150 soldiers helped by two canines, Dot and Misha, besides earth-penetrating radars and special ice-cutting equipment carried the day. The dogs Dot and Misha did a tremendous job, officers were quoted in news agency reports as saying. Him (the lance naik) being found alive electrified the entire rescue team. There was a sudden burst of energy among the men, the officers said. A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took Woman walking alone (illustration) By: Mahesh Sarin A lawyer was arrested on a charge of rape after following a woman into an elevator and posing as a police officer before raping her, police in the United Arab Emirates said. Now, the lawyer of Dubai, who was not identified, pleaded guilty to rape and impersonating a police officer. According to the police investigation, the woman left a coffee shop and walked home around 4:30 a.m. When the lawyer realized that the woman was alone, he followed her with his motorcycle and parked in front of her building. He then followed her into an elevator, and identified himself as a police officer. He pulled a knife and forced her to perform an indecent act on himself before raping her. Once the lawyer left, the woman called the police. The woman managed to pick the lawyer out of a police lineup. By: Tanya Malhotra A man was arrested on a charge of cross-dressing after allegedly wearing a skirt and makeup while shopping at a mall, police in the United Arab Emirates said. Dubai police said that they have arrested the man identified as S.L., after being accused of dressing like a woman at the Dubai Mall. The suspect, who is a tourist, denied the charge of cross-dressing, saying that he wears these clothes every day back home in London, England. In court, the suspect told the judge that upon entering the country at the Dubai International Airport, he was wearing makeup and a skirt, and he wasnat told that it is illegal. Police said that the suspect admitted to having gender reassignment surgery, but in court, he denied saying that. The suspectas lawyer claimed that client had no criminal intent. The suspect said that he was at the mall to purchase chocolates for his friends in London. Free Swimming For Armed Forces & Veterans in Wales This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 9th, 2016 Armed forces personnel and veterans will be able to enjoy swimming for free under a new initiative. The free swimming initiative was announced by the Welsh Government last week as part of its Package of Support for the Armed Forces Community. The Welsh Government is providing 100,000 to the Welsh Local Government Association to ensure all councils have a scheme in place and is the latest initiative launched as part of the Package of Support for the Armed Forces Community. Members of the Armed Forces and Veterans will be eligible for free swimming using their Defence Privilege Card, available through the Ministry of Defences Defence Discount Service, at participating leisure centres. A campaign to promote the Defence Discount Service and its Privilege Card in Wales was launched by the Minister for Public Services in November 2014. Since then there has been a significant increase in the number of people signing up to the service in Wales, rising from 9,734 members when the campaign launched to 16,666 an increase of 71%. Wrexham Council, along with the other 21 local authorities across Wales, will need to offer the scheme in at least one leisure centre. The scheme in Wrexham is also set to be extended to Splash Magic, with Cllr Hugh Jones tweeting yesterday: After discussions with Welsh Local Goveerment Association Im delighted we can extend the Armed Forces Swimming scheme to Splash Magic. Welcoming the news, Lesley Griffiths AM said: Wrexham has always had a proud military heritage and a strong association with the armed forces community. I am proud the Welsh Labour Government has yet again demonstrated its support for the armed forces community and I hope serving military personnel and veterans in Wrexham utilise and benefit from the scheme. An Armed Forces spokesman described the scheme as very pleasing and a further show of commitment from the Welsh Government towards Armed Forces personnel and veterans living in Wales. New Delhi: Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, hailing from Betadur village in Karnatakas Dharwad district, was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented, when he was rescued and was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. The miracle soldier is also suffering from low blood pressure, has pneumonia and is also battling liver and kidney dysfunction. But in a ray of hope, the Army said fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frostbite or bony injuries to him. Sounding a note of caution, the Army said the soldier is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body. Speculation is rife that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was probably saved when he was trapped by the presence of an air pocket when the rock-hard ice sheet and boulders trapped the soldiers. He was in an arctic pre-fabricated tent or hut when disaster struck and speculation is rife that the hut may not have collapsed completely, leading to some insulation from the icy weather for the beleaguered soldier. PM Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the Armys R&R Hospital to monitor developments on the treatment of the brave soldier and also prayed for his recovery. A family in Albuquerques South Valley has filed a lawsuit against Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales and the Bernalillo County Commission for the death of an 88-year-old great-grandfather. Fidencio Duran died from injuries incurred in a confrontation in which officers shot him with pepper balls and loosed a K9 police dog on him. Although the South Valleys postal location is Albuquerque, New Mexico, and its northern boundary is less than two miles south of Albuquerques downtown, it is not part of the city and is labeled a census designated place (CDP) under the jurisdiction of Bernalillo County and the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office (BCSO). Per capita income is around $17,000 and over a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. The majority of South Valley residents are Hispanic or Latino and many speak Spanish as their first language, as did Fidencio Duran. On September 14, 2015, his wife of 67 years died after a three-year bout with illness. The next day, distraught and disorientedMr. Duran was partially blind and deaf and suffered from Alzheimers disease, according to his familyhe wandered around the neighborhood, then banged on the door of a neighbor, who called the BCSO. The wrongful death complaint filed by Shannon Kennedy, an attorney who has represented other families in police violence cases, states that Mr. Durans son and daughter, Robert and Sally, upon seeing their father surrounded by BCSO deputies, tried to explain their fathers grief and condition, but, Brandishing a gun, a deputy ordered Robert and Sally Duran to leave the scene where their father was surrounded by deputies. A 90-minute standoff ensued, in which Mr. Duran, shirtless and wearing one shoe and reportedly holding a four-inch knife, spoke, sometimes incoherently, in Spanish. Eventually, the BCSO officers fired over 50 rounds of pepper ballssimilar to paint balls but containing a stinging chemicalat him from two directions. Some of the pepper balls penetrated his skin, causing contusions and embedding fragments of plastic. Then the BCSO officers unleashed a muzzled K9 police dog. The dog knocked the 115-pound man over, breaking his femur and hip. He was taken to the hospital, where it took doctors days to remove all of the pepper ball fragments. He never left the hospital, succumbing to pneumonia as a result of his injuries a month later. A doctor from the Office of the Medical Investigator determined that the manner of death was Homicide, declares the Complaint. The deputies were not wearing lapel camerasBCSO deputies are not required toat the time, but belt recordings, as shown on a KOB Eyewitness News video report, caught some of the incident. At one point, one deputy tells another, Dude, I think that pepper ball might be awesome, you know what I mean? A fusillade of pepper ball shots and screams can be heard. One deputys police report described his injuries as minor. The lawsuit points out, Most police departments who allow the use of the PepperBall System, prohibit its use on children, elderly persons, persons with known respiratory ailments, persons with known heart ailments, both of which afflicted Mr. Duran. BCSO wouldn't go on camera, but say they were not told they couldn't use pepper balls on the elderly, reported KOAT7. Kennedy told reporters, When he was surrounded by deputies, he has committed no crime. They are supposed to be serving, but instead they set in motion the kind of violence that sets a very painful death. The fact that the sheriff hasnt come forward to apologize to this family is as equally shocking. The lawsuit recounts another, later incident: In the weeks following the deputies attack on his father, Robert Duran was walking the family dog Rusty in the streets of the South Valley. Two sheriff deputies stopped him purportedly for Jaywalking. One said, We know who you are. Hows your Dad? When Robert Duran responded, Hes going to pull through, the other deputy said to him, your father is old, he is going to die anyway. In addition to monetary compensation for the Duran family, the complaint asks the court for the encounter to be deemed an excessive use of force incident, to require all BCSO officers to wear on-body cameras, and to implement improved training and the use of lapel cameras for members of the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Department with respect to the use of force, specifically in the context of interactions with the disabled elderly in the County of Bernalillo, prohibiting the use of K-9s and the PepperBall System on the elderly. Gonzales has said before that he is opposed to requiring the use of lapel cams on BCSO officers. A BCSO spokesman said that an internal investigation cleared the deputies of any wrongdoing, and that there has been no change in policy as a result of the incident. A criminal investigation has been turned over to the district attorney. Steelworkers locked out by Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) for nearly six months will lose their unemployment insurance starting next week. ATI eliminated health coverage for the 2,200 workers in November, forcing workers to put off needed health care. The United Steelworkers union (USW) has deliberately and systematically worked to isolate the locked-out ATI workers, using their hardship as a warning to bludgeon other workers into accepting concessions contracts. The USW announced Monday that it had rammed through a concessionary contract for 18,000 workers at US Steel. The USW now aims to push through another concessions contract for 12,000 workers at ArcelorMittal, further isolating ATI workers. The ATI workers, who have been locked out since August 15, receive just $100 a week in strike pay from the USWs $350 million strike fund. Beth Cribbs, with more than 27 years at ATI, spoke at the ATI mill in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, of the sacrifices the lockout has forced her to make. Its really affecting me. I did what the union told me and tried to prepare myself. I tried to save; Im living bare-minimally. There was no Christmas this year. Im not a big consumerist. I dont want to buy stuff, but there are things that you need. I cancelled a vacation before this even happened because I knew it was going to happen. I was going to go to New England. After ATI cut off their health insurance in November, many ATI workers have been forced to forgo medical care. Private insurance can cost up to $1,800 per month for a family with children, almost the entire monthly unemployment benefit of about $2,000 per month. Ive just got the health care the union gave us. Beth said, If you get hurt, you can go to the emergency room, just dont go to the doctor. I need to go every six months for my thyroid, but Im just not doing it. My co-worker had an eye infection this week, and she missed a couple pickets and shes still kind of sick, but she still hasnt gone to the doctor because we dont have insurance. We really cant afford it. She has a mortgage, she has a car payment. Unemployment runs out in the middle of February. Weve got a couple more weeks, thats it. Right now Im a shipper. I load coils on trucks. I have a fork-truck that I drive half an hour a day, and its diesel. You can see the smoke, its horrible, it should have been replaced. Its really old. Beth said that when she complained about the smoke, the company didnt replace the forklift with an electric one; instead, they had her wear a monitor all day. Were breathing all this crap that is bad for us. Its documented that working shifts is bad for your health. They shouldnt mess with our health care, they really shouldnt. Were not working in an office. You have to work in the mill to understand. Its nasty. Its gotten better, but its still nasty. Connie Ortman, a worker with 22 years at the mill, said, I know a lot of people are scared of running out of unemployment. People are going to lose their homes and everything. We are out here fighting for everyone. It is not just us, this whole community benefits. Even places that arent union have to pay better so they can get people to work for them. Now everybody is going to lose. This is what America has come to, they dont respect the working people. ATI locked out workers at 12 facilities in six states August 14, shortly after publishing its last, best, and final offer. ATI is demanding steep increases in health care costs, amounting to up to $10,000 or more per family per year, along with the elimination of defined-benefit pensions for new hires. In addition, ATI is demanding the ability to contract out up to 40 percent of all jobs, and scheduling rules that effectively transform workers into on-call employees. ATI has been staffing its facilities with scabs from strikebreaking contractor Strom Engineering, guarded by a small army of security guards. Renda Allensworth, a retired steelworker with more than 33 years in the mill, said, Im here supporting my union brothers and sisters. This company makes lots of money. Steelworkers need health care. You go inside this mill and you are breathing all this smoke and chemicals, you dont know what it is doing to your body. Insurance is a big issue. I got hurt a few times in here and I am going to the doctor for my thyroid gland right now. If the company gets away with this, they will do it with other workers. Another worker with 10 years at the Brackenridge mill, who asked that his name not be used, said, I dont feel good about this. ATI is doing this illegally. They want too much from us. It is everything. They want to cut our health care, contract out our jobs and move our schedules anyway they want. They could make us work 12-hour turns and not get overtime, have us work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and not come in Wednesday or Thursday. This is ridiculous. It is time to stop this. A lot of families are hurting because of this. They dont want a middle class any more, theyve been doing this for years. Both Beth and Connie reported that they are being told that if the company does call them back, they will have to work alongside the scabs that have been hired. The company is going to keep the scabs, side Connie. When we go back, we are going to have to work side by side with the scabs. When they go in, they laugh at us, shout at us that they have our jobs. I am out here losing money and they are going to profit from it. Speaking of ATIs decision to idle the Bagdad and Midland plants in western Pennsylvania, Beth said, That affects a lot of people. Our plant has three different jobs that are just dealing with silicon. Thats going to cut about a quarter of our workforce, plus they dont know what theyre going to do with the plants that theyre going to idle. In opposition to the nationalist hate-mongering of the USW, Beth expressed heartfelt sympathy for refugees of imperialist wars who have sought asylum in Europe I want to go over there and help them [the refugees]. Its ridiculous. Theres no such thing as an illegal person. Wouldnt you love to just go over there and help? Just the other day, I heard about one of those boats that collapsed, and I dont know how many kids were in it. Its ridiculous. Its like people dont study history. The same thing we did to the Jewish people that were trying to come here, and we just turned them away. The installation of Burmas new parliament, or Assembly of the Union, last week set the stage for a new round of sordid wheeling and dealing between the military and the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, to share out positions and power. The NLD overwhelmingly won the November 8 national election by exploiting the deep popular hostility to the military junta that has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades. The NLD won 77 percent of the seats up for election, reducing the military-backed United Solidarity Development Party (USDP) to a parliamentary rump. The military, however, still wields considerable power under the constitution, which it drew up. The ministerial posts of defence, interior minister and border control, as well as 25 percent of all parliamentary seats, are reserved for the military. As a result, the generals wield a veto over any constitutional amendment, which requires a super-majority of 75 percent plus one in parliament. While the new legislatures installation was accompanied by widespread celebration, reflecting popular aspirations for democratic rights and decent living standards, the NLD has been holding closed-door meetings with the military to work out a deal to install Suu Kyi as president. Under the constitution, she is barred from holding the post because two close relativesnamely her childrenhold foreign citizenship. During the election, Suu Kyi declared that if the NLD won she would be the ultimate decision making authority, even if she did not become president. Now she is seeking a deal with the military to nullify the constitutional block on her presidency in return for giving the generals a greater say in parliament and the government. The talks are clearly highly sensitive. Any exposure of their content threatens not only to upset the horse-trading between Suu Kyi and the generals, but tarnish her carefully-contrived image as a champion of democracy. In the lead-up to her meeting on January 25 with the head of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the NLD issued a decree announcing that no-one except party chairperson Suu Kyi was authorised to comment on policies and transition issues. The NLD has already signalled its willingness to work with the military. While a member of Suu Kyis inner circle, Win Myint, was elected to the influential position of lower house speaker last week, his deputy is T. Khun Myat, a USDP parliamentarian who served in the Office of the Attorney General under the military junta. Last Friday, the NLD appointed Shwe Mann, former USDP head, to lead a powerful new legal advisory committee in parliament. Two senior NLD members told the New York Times on Friday that party officials had offered senior government posts to the military as part of a deal to allow Suu Kyi to become president. On Sunday, Sky Net and Myanmar National Television declared that positive results could come out of the negotiation for the suspension of constitution article 59(f) that blocks Suu Kyis presidency. While the outcome is still undecided, no one should be surprised by Suu Kyis willingness to establish close working relations with those who for decades held her under house arrest, banned the NLD and persecuted its members. Suu Kyi and the NLD represent factions of the Burmese ruling elites whose interests were sidelined by the militarys domination of the countrys economy. While the military turned to China for aid and investment, as a result of international sanctions imposed after its brutal crackdown on mass protests in 1988, the NLD advocated an orientation to the US and its allies, and an opening up of the country to Western investment. By 2010, however, the junta faced a mounting economic and political crisis. Chinese investment in resource extraction and infrastructure had allowed the generals to enrich themselves, but also created severe economic imbalances, enraged traditional landowners and done little to ease rising levels of unemployment. At the same time, the Obama administration had initiated its pivot to Asia, aimed at undermining Chinese influence throughout the region and encircling China militarily. Its carrot-and-stick approach to Burma involved offers to ease sanctions combined with threats of further punitive measures. In September 2011, the junta signalled its shift toward Washington by suspending the multi-billion dollar Chinese Myitsone dam project. In December 2011, shortly after Obama formally announced the pivot, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma to establish closer ties. From being a pariah state on a par with North Korea, Burma was suddenly hailed as a developing democracy. The only change was that the junta, which still held the reins of power, had moved closer to Washington. Suu Kyi and the NLD provided the necessary democratic window-dressing. While it had boycotted the 2010 elections, the NLD was allowed to enter parliament through by-elections in 2012. Suu Kyi, the democracy icon, functioned as a roving ambassador for the military-controlled government, arguing for the removal of international sanctions. The military, however, is determined to ensure its prerogatives and substantial business interests are protected when the NLD forms the next government from April 1. If the generals are to allow Suu Kyi to assume the presidency, they are going to insist on further political safeguards in the form of senior government positions. Senior General Hlaing has already placed more senior officers into the national parliament27 of whom hold the rank of major general, brigadier general or full colonel, including those trained in economic and public administration. In addition, key officers have been installed in important posts in the national and provincial bureaucracies. The collusion between Suu Kyi and the military is an ominous warning to the working class. The new NLD government will be ruthless in ramming through the pro-market restructuring demanded by international finance capital, and will not hesitate to use the security forces to suppress any resistance to its agenda. The overriding fear in ruling circles is of a rebellion by the countrys working class and oppressed masses. On the last day of the old parliament, outgoing President Thein Sein, himself an ex-general, declared that everything he did was to ensure that Burmas transition did not follow the path of the Arab Spring. In doing so, he echoed the words of Suu Kyi in the wake of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia 2011, when she called for change and warned against an Arab style uprising in Burma. The offensive of Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, has cut off the main supply route for Western-backed rebels and is apparently poised to deal them a decisive blow in Aleppo, Syrias largest city. This situation is provoking increasingly bitter recriminations within Washington and its vast military and intelligence apparatus over the debacle of the US regime-change operation. The anger and mutual finger-pointing going on within the Pentagon and the CIA, as well as on Capitol Hill and in the White House, have found a particularly hysterical expression in a February 8 New York Times column by the newspapers international affairs columnist Roger Cohen, entitled Americas Syrian Shame. Cohen denounces the Obama administration for pursuing a policy in Syria that amounts to fecklessness and purposelessness, together with feeble evasions masquerading as strategy and awkward acquiescence to Moscows end game. The Times columnist continues: Syria is now the Obama administrations shame, a debacle of such dimensions that it may overshadow the presidents domestic achievements. The shame, according to Cohen, is not that Washingtons instigation of a sectarian civil war, in which it and its regional alliesSaudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatarfinanced and armed Al Qaeda-linked Salafist jihadi militias, has plunged Syria into a bloodbath. Rather, his criticism is that US imperialism failed to pursue a sufficiently aggressive policy. He writes: The president and his aides have hidden at various times behind the notions that Syria is marginal to core American national interests; that they have thought through the downsides of intervention better than others; that the diverse actors on the ground are incomprehensible or untrustworthy; that there is no domestic or congressional support for taking action to stop the war or shape its outcome; that there is no legal basis for establishing safe areas or taking out Assads air power; that Afghanistan and Iraq are lessons in the futility of projecting American power in the 21st century... All of this is anathema to Cohen, who, for at least the last quarter-century, has never met a US war of aggression or imperialist intervention that he did not like, from the dismemberment of Yugoslavia onward. He was a prominent advocate for the US war against Iraq, promoting, along with other Times reporters and columnists such as Judith Miller and Thomas Friedman, the lies that the government of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al Qaeda. As late as 2009, with the number of Iraqi lives lost estimated at 1 million and the country devastated, he wrote, I still believe Iraqs freedom outweighs its terrible price. He likewise promoted the 2011 US-NATO war against Libya as a humanitarian necessity. After the fall of Tripoli, he penned a triumphalist column entitled Score One for Interventionism. Nearly five years later, Libya is wracked by war between rival militias, its social infrastructure destroyed and millions of its people forced into exile. It is worth considering Cohens indictment of Obama for his alleged failings. The US president is charged with believing that the diverse actors on the ground in Syria are incomprehensible or untrustworthy. In point of fact, the composition of the so-called rebels backed by Washington and its Middle Eastern allies is quite comprehensible. They are dominated by outfits like ISIS and the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaedas Syrian affiliate. That this presents certain tactical challenges is hardly a surprise. He accuses the Obama administration of concern over the lack of any domestic or congressional support for taking action. This exaggerates the administrations concern, given its launching of the US-NATO war in Libya, the return of US troops to Iraq and the initiation of the regime-change operation in Syria, followed by the dispatch there of Special Forces troops, all in the face of popular hostility and in the absence of any congressional vote. However, widespread opposition to war combined with the UK parliaments vote against British action in Syria did play a role in the 2013 decision to back away from a bombing campaign. He goes on to chide the Obama White House for worrying about irrelevancies like the absence of any legal basis for establishing safe areas or taking out Assads air power. Why should the United States be concerned with international law now? It did not stop it from illegally invading Iraq. That creating safe areas or taking out Syrian government aircraft would inevitably lead to a clash between the US and Russia, two nuclear-armed powers, is not a concern for Cohen. Indeed, one suspects he would welcome such a development. Cohen traces the downfall of US policy in Syria to Obamas 2013 failure to carry through on his threat to treat the use of chemical weapons as a red line that would be answered with a US bombing campaign. That the case against the Assad regime fell apart rapidly amid evidence that the chemical attack on suburbs of Damascus had been the work of a rebel faction seeking to provoke just such an American intervention is of no consequence to Cohen. His charge is that Obama let a perfectly serviceable, albeit false, pretext for direct US intervention go unused. Cohens denunciations of Obamas policies reach their frenzied high point with the charge that Obamas Syrian agonizing, his constant what-ifs and recurrent what then? have also lead [sic] to the slaughter in Paris and San Bernardino. Really? Bombing Damascus, the imposition of a no-fly zone or the successful toppling of the Assad regime would have dissuaded the attackers in France and California? The reality is that both of these attackslike the horrors in Syria itselfare the product not of Washingtons supposed inaction, but of the succession of crimes carried out by US imperialism in the Middle East over the course of decades. Assad did not send the killers into the streets of Paris or San Bernardino. In France, it was manifestly a case of blowback from Western support for the Islamist rebels in Syria. The facilitation of thousands of youth going there to fight in the Western-backed war for regime-change, some of whom joined ISISWashingtons Frankensteins monsterand similar organizations, inevitably led to the return of a section of Islamist fighters, bringing the mayhem back with them. As for the couple who carried out the killings in San Bernardino, by all accounts their supposed radicalization began as a result of traveling to Saudi Arabia, Washingtons closest ally in the Syrian intervention, and developed through contact with al-Nusra, one of the principal fighting forces in the war against the Assad government. While adopting the tone of an outraged liberal interventionist, concerned for the fate of the Syrians and devastated by Syria having become the bloody graveyard of American conviction, Cohen really speaks for an entirely different constituency. There are few, if any, journalists working in the US media today who function so directly and openly as a mouthpiece for CIA conspiracies, Black Op interventions and US wars of aggression. In the case of Syria, the operation has gone sour. The CIA was heavily invested in its outcome, literally. According to the Washington Post, it allocated fully 10 percent of its budget to support for the Islamist rebels. There are powerful factions within the American state who are angry over the lack of any apparent return on this investment. Cohens column serves as a warning that the repercussions will be enduring and will undoubtedly find expression in new and far bloodier explosions of US military aggression. The author also recommends: New York Times hails humanitarian war in Libya [5 September 2011] Hail Caesar!, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is a comedy about the film industry set in the early 1950s. The film is essentially a series of vignettes involving the efforts of fictional Capitol Pictures fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) to put out various fires at the studio. Production on Hail Caesar! A Tale of the Christ (a film within a film), one of Capitols prestige pictures, is underway when the movie opens. It is a foolish Ben-Hur- or Quo Vadis- like epic starring Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) as Roman tribune Autolycus, who will ultimately have a sudden, epiphanous conversion to Christianity. (Narrators portentous voice: A new wind is blowing from the dusty streets of Bethlehem!) Whitlock is unceremoniously drugged and carried off by kidnappers. Mannix also has to deal with the pregnant, unwed DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), star of aquatic pictures (i.e., a nod to Esther Williams); acrobatic cowboy singing star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) who has landed unhappily in a brittle drawing-room melodrama; and aggressive gossip-columnist twin sisters, Thessaly and Thora Thacker (Tilda Swinton), eternally in search of dirt. (The historical Eddie Mannix was the general manager and vice president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who reported daily to studio head Louis B. Mayer and is famed for covering up the many misdeeds of film stars and other industry personalities. He was reputed to have spied on Mayer for MGM owner Nicholas Schenck in New York, whom the film turns into Mr. Skank.) A devout Catholic, Mannix, who rather too frequently rushes off to confession where he admits to trivial offenses, receives a ransom note demanding $100,000 for the return of Whitlock, in the name of The Future. It turns out the star is being held at a Malibu beach-house by a group of Communist Party screenwriters who try to win him to their cause. A Professor Marcuse, the venerable sage of the group, also makes an appearance. Meanwhile, Mannix faces a major life-decision of his own: whether to leave the headaches of the film industry behind for a relative sinecure in the defense industry at aircraft manufacturer Lockheed. Several confessions and a considerable amount of silliness later, things sort themselves out If truth be told, the Coen brothers are best at satire, especially at sending up certain middle class professions, relationships and settings. They are keen observers of social detail, even minutiae. Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Intolerable Cruelty and Burn After Reading, along with the lighter moments in Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and A Serious Man make up their most memorable work. However, the Coens bear the unmistakable marks of decades of artistic-intellectual stagnation and reaction. Whenever they give vent to their social views, the result is confused and misanthropic (Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo in part, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man), or simply overwhelmed. In Hail Caesar! both elements are present: the comic-satirical and the seriously confused. The film enjoyably mocks Hollywoods sanctimonious attitude toward its own products, including religious extravaganzas and their empty-headed stars (one is presumably meant to think of either Robert Taylor in Quo Vadis or Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur, or both)although Clooney is a bit strained in the Whitlock role. In one amusing scene, Mannix brings in Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and Catholic clergy to vet the screenplay, and a theological debate breaks out over Christs parentage and other related matters. (Rabbi: God is a bachelor and very angry.) In another sequence, while Mannix is watching the daily rushes, the raw footage includes a title card that reads: Divine presence to be shot. To their credit, the Coens also manage to ridicule Clooneys final penitent speech before Christ on the cross. Along the way, they make a point as well (by casting a single black actor as an extra) about the insignificant presence of African Africans in mainstream Hollywood at the time. The co-directors special gifts are on display in their amiable quasi-recreation of the various film types or styles. Johansson, Ralph Fiennes as the effete Laurence Laurentz, Heather Goldenhersh as Mannixs super-efficient and earnest secretary Natalie, and Frances McDormand as the legendary but accident-prone editor C.C. Calhoun (based on a real figure at MGM), all hit exact notes in relatively small parts. Ehrenreich is rather sweet as the singing cowboy. Mannix is the pivotal figure here, and Brolin, as usual, offers a remarkable, precise characterization. The semi-comic parallels between the studio fixer and the Son of God are fairly obvious. Like Christ, Mannix takes the sins of Capitol Pictures and its personnel on his shoulders. He is also tempted by the devil, the Lockheed merchant of death, who proudly shows him a photo of the recently detonated H-bomb as an inducementand offers him cigarettes (Eddie is desperately trying to quit!). And, in the end, Mannix too proves to be a savior. Where Hail Caesar! weakens considerably, or even falls down, is in its treatmentcomic or otherwiseof the more substantive issues. The film is set in 1951 at the height of the Cold War and the anti-communist witch-hunts. (Baird makes an oblique reference to naming names at one point.) The Coens seem to be registering, in their own excessively mild and diffuse manner, a protest at the purges. The group of Communist screenwriters is not presented as some sort of monstrous cabal, but, on the other hand, whatever points are being made about the rather ineffectual group are unclear or blunted. The writers bandy about phrases such as the system, the dialectic and the exploitation of the masses. They claim (and this is underlined as especially ludicrous) to have worked out a scientifically accurate and certain view of the future course of events. But what is the attitude of the filmmakers toward all this? Are they simply ridiculing the Marxist terminology, half-agreeing with it or covertly sympathizing? An indication they are flying blind on these questions is the presence of a Herbert Marcuse stand-in, entirely inappropriate in this setting or crowd. All one senses in the final analysis is that while the Coens are hostile to the blacklist, their overall stance is non-committal and light-minded. And by light-minded we do not mean satirical or humorous, but shallow. Hail Caesar! portrays the Hollywood studio set-up itself in too genial or amiable a fashion, an industry capable of extraordinary viciousness and darkness. The real Mannix, for instance, was alleged to have had underworld connections and covered up numerous violent crimes. There have also been claims that he was mixed up in the murder of actor George Reeves, his wifes former lover in 1959. All in all, the Coens Hail Caesar! is in its element when it is spoofing the film industry, religion and American institutions generally. The film is at its flabbiest when it turns its attention to Hollywoods blackest hour. Sharp turbulence on the Milan stock exchange in January focused attention on Italys deep economic and financial crisis. At the same time, the conflict between the Italian government and the European Union (EU) Commission has intensified. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (Democratic PartyPD) has responded with new, stepped-up attacks on the working class. Stock markets across the world experienced a sharp downturn at the beginning of 2016, with the stock exchange in Milan affected particularly severely. Although all European economies suffered as a result of the slowdown of growth in China and the decline of oil prices, apart from Athens, the Milan stock exchange was by far the worst affected, as the Swiss Neue Zurcher Zeitung wrote on January 21. In mid-January, the stocks of many major banks and corporations fell steeply. The worst losses were to the stocks of Fiat, UniCredit bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank, and Cariger bank. The value of Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) bank, the oldest bank in the world (founded 1472), fell temporarily by half, and its share price dropped to just 50 cents. The bank had to be removed from trading. On January 24, the government decided to protect the bank from bankruptcy with a guarantee from the Economics and Finance ministry. The MPS is one of six Italian banks that reportedly hold large quantities of toxic assets. With net wealth of 10 billion, the value of bad loans allegedly totals 24 billion. As the European Central Bank confirmed in a data analysis at the end of last year, there are more than 200 billion worth of toxic assets on the books of Italian banks. The figures reflect the weakness of the Italian economy after five years of recession. Seventeen percent of loans held by Italian banks today are, according to EU figures, in danger of turning bad. By contrast, according to figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland, in Germany the figure is 2 percent and in France 7 percent. The following comparison brings out the state of crisis in the Italian economy: while six years ago small and medium-sized businesses had the possibility of paying back 90 percent of their loans, today it is only 72 percent. Already in November 2015, four smaller banks fell into crisis: Banca Popolare dellEtruria in Arezzo, Banca Marche in Ancona and two local savings banks in Chieti and Ferrara. The Italian government did not step in to support the crisis-ridden institutions with state loans, because the EU has since banned state help for failed banks. New EU competition regulations prevent the kind of state assistance financed by taxpayers money that was carried out in almost every country after the 2008 financial crisis. In place of the bailouts, a so-called bail-in has been established, which means that bank customers must support the bank with their assets. The New EU regulations, which were allegedly intended to prevent taxpayers money being used to finance failed banks, have been exposed as a new claim on the funds of small savers and pensioners. In the case of the four failed banks, 12,500 savers lost their funds. The bankers have used a provision of the new regulations, according to which not only savers with deposits of over 100,000 could be made liable for a bank in crisis, but also holders of sub-prime bonds. Such junk bonds were evidently sold in large quantities to unsuspecting small savers. At the end of 2015, as the banking crisis became acute, many of these savers lost everything. Dramatic stories resulted: a 68-year-old pensioner hung himself in Civitavecchia, when he, a former employee of the state energy firm ENEL, realised his savings at the Banca Popolare dellEtruria had vanished. This case and similar incidents affecting hundreds of savers, mainly pensioners, provoked a wave of protests. Finally the governmentwith a view to upcoming municipal electionsestablished a solidarity fund of 100 million for those small savers affected, although this came nowhere near covering all the losses. But this measure by the finance minister intensified the conflict with the EU. For months, a bitter dispute has played out between the government of Matteo Renzi and the EU. Under the leadership of Germany, the EU has pressured weaker countries like Greece, Spain and Italy to implement a brutal austerity programme. In the case of the steel firm Ilva, the EU Commission accused Renzi of using too much state aid and thus breaking EU competition law. On the issue of an Italian bad bank, which Italy has wanted to establish for some time to allow the banks to dump their bad assets, the EU responded only when the stock market crisis was in full swing. On January 26, EU competition commissioner Margrethe Westagar finally permitted the Italian government to create a bad bank. The agreement signed by Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan in Brussels was coupled with such stringent conditions that it proved unable to calm the alarm on the stock market. Bloomberg cited a representative of the investors as saying, The agreement can help the banks to get rid of part of their dubious outstanding debts, but it will not solve the problem, especially for the weakest finance houses, which without doubt require fresh capital. On February 2, the Italian Central Bank issued a record 30-year bond worth 9 billion. This was the largest issuing Italy had ever done, and the most important over a 30-year period ever undertaken by a European sovereign, explained Frederic Gabizon from HSBC. But just two days later, on February 4, the Milan stock exchange fell sharply once again. Italys state debt rose to 132.2 percent of GDP in 2015, well above 2 trillion. Only Greece has a higher level of state debt. Under pressure from the EU, the Renzi government therefore intensified the severe austerity measures it has been imposing for two years, announcing wide-ranging cuts in the public sector. A new law, which is supposedly to launch a struggle against the Fannulloni, the slackers in the public sector, makes it easier for the state to implement layoffs that have already been planned. The attacks already carried out on pensioners and workers have resulted in a massive polarisation and increased social tensions. The major increase in the retirement age left millions of seniors in poverty. Although the liberalisation of the labour market has slightly reduced unemployment figures, two of every three newly created jobs are temporary and precarious, short-term contracts or low-paying positions. The official unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, and youth unemployment is 38 percent. But in reality, unemployment is much higher, since more than 36 percent of all working-age Italians are absent from the statistics. They are considered inactive because they could not prove they had actively looked and applied for work in the last month. This means that for those aged 15 to 24, a much higher percentage is without work or training. The bare numbers conceal a development with explosive social consequences. Conflicts are taking place daily between the police and homeless people over occupied houses, and with youth and workers determined to fight for their jobs and futures. One example is the workers at Ilva, who briefly occupied Genoa town hall in early January. Conditions in Italy differ little from those in Greece. In late January, Scott Stringer, the New York City comptroller, released a report warning that the citys retirement system, which provides for the pensions of city employees, is in an extremely precarious condition. According to the report prepared by an outside consultant commissioned by Stringer, the pension system, composed of five individual funds, is vulnerable to an operational failure. Back in 2014, when he first took office, Stringer had already characterized the system as hanging by a thread. The citys retirement system is the fourth largest in the country, covering 715,000 individuals, and manages $160 billion in assets. It is projected that the cost of retiree pensions will increase significantly in the coming years, as more workers retire and many live longer. Payments last year were approximately $8.7 billion but are expected to rise to over $10 billion by 2020. While the comptrollers report identifies a number of organizational difficulties, including inadequate staff and reliance on antiquated technology, the fundamental problem is that this and other pension systems rely on investments that are subject to the fluctuations of the financial markets. Pension funds took a substantial hit in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. While the huge inflow of money into the markets, due to the Federal Reserves quantitative easing policy, artificially inflated stock market pricesand consequently the returns on pension fund investmentsfor several years, the effects of that program are rapidly declining. Hence, these funds are again suffering substantial losses. The targeted return on investments of pension funds by the city (i.e., the rate needed to maintain financial stability) is seven percent. However, last year it was less than half that, at 3.4 percent. So far this year, the fund has actually lost money, due to the downturn in the financial markets. The total dependence of the citys pension funds on the state of the capitalist economy is clearly reflected in the historical fluctuations in rates of return. In 2007, just before the financial crisis, the rate was 18.2 percent. By 2009, at the height of the crisis, it went sharply negative, to -18.3 percent. The subsequent Wall Street bailout led to a resurgence, reaching a peak of 23.2 percent in 2011. This was entirely temporary and artificial. As indicated, the trend is now dramatically downward. The impending sharp intensification of the world economic crisis will substantially worsen this situation. As predicted in a recent comment in Crains New York Business: Then there will be the crunch when the recession comes, whenever that day arrives. Tax revenues will decline, and probably aid from Albany [the state capital] too, as the state faces its own budget squeeze. This will, inevitably, renew previous calls for attacks on city worker pensions. Pension funds in New York City and around the country have, in recent years, placed significant portions of their investment portfolios in risky hedge funds and private equity firms, based on their promises of high yields. However, the returns have not lived up to expectations. In addition, the high fees charged for their services have further reduced revenue. An earlier report by the New York City comptrollers office revealed that, over the last decade, private fund managers had been paid billions of dollars in fees, yet failed to meet revenue targets. During the 10-year period, the pension funds actually lost, due to the exorbitant fees, nearly all of the extra $2.5 billion that otherwise would have accrued from the surge in the stock market. Effectively, these private firms were being handsomely rewarded to gamble with the city workers retirement funds while not doing the job for which they were hired. The pension money management was simply another revenue stream for Wall Street. New Yorks progressive Democratic mayor, Bill de Blasio, who has been vocal about urging the citys pension funds to divest from fossil fuel companies, has so far made no statement regarding the fiscal crisis that they face. In his State of the City address, de Blasio announced that his proposed budget includes an additional $600 million contribution to the pension funds, an amount that is in no way sufficient to compensate for the losses being experienced. Public pension systems are underfunded and facing attack in states and municipalities across the countryfrom Rhode Island, to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, California and many others. In case after case, the concept of shared sacrifice, used as a justification to loot workers retirement funds following the 2008 financial crisis, is being resurrected in order once again to protect the interests of wealthy bond holders while placing the burden of the capitalist crisis on the working class. The enforced bankruptcy of Detroit, for example, included significant reductions in public worker retiree pensions, with the collaboration of the unions, despite state laws prohibiting such actions. This created a precedent for an onslaught against public pensions across the country. (See Detroit bankruptcy ruling paves way for nationwide attack on pensions) In another example of the crisis facing public pension funds, substantial declines in investment returns have been experienced in New Jersey. During the fiscal year that ended last June 30, returns fell to 4.16 percent, a sharp reduction from 16.87 percent realized in the previous year, according to a state report. So far, during the current fiscal year, the funds returns have registered negative three percent. The rate needed for the New Jersey funds stability is estimated at 7.9 percent. The earlier high rates of return were based on risky investments, which have now suffered substantial declines and, as in New York, returns are being further depressed by the payment of large fees to outside managers. The New Jersey public pension system had already been underfunded by tens of billions of dollars for decades due to the failure of the state to make its full required contributions. There are currently nearly 780,000 individuals covered by the New Jersey pension system. In 2011, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, worker contributions had already been raised and benefits cut in a bipartisan attack led by Republican Governor Chris Christie, who had threatened to continue to withhold mandatory state payments into the fund in order to reduce the state budget deficit. The wealthy elite view any expenditure that detracts from their maximization of profit as illegitimate. While at the height of the postwar boom pensions were seen, at least by many corporations, as a necessary part of a workers compensation, in recent decades these have been substantially reduced or converted into further opportunities to extract value from workers (e.g., 401k plans). Now, public sector worker pensions have increasingly come under attack as well, in order to provide tax cuts and guarantee returns for bondholders. Millions of retired workers dont have pensions at all other than the miserly payments they receive from Social Security. In New York City, only 43 percent of residents have access to any sort of retirement plan, aside from Social Security. The future of even the latter is in danger due to proposals to privatize the system. The attack on pensions is a worldwide phenomenon. Currently in Greece, the pseudo-left Syriza government is carrying out the dictates of international bankers to implement another round of cuts to pensions. This is being met with major opposition from the working class. The pensions of retirees in New York City, the rest of the country, and around the world, which already took a significant hit following the 2008 financial crisis, are now in even greater danger. After working for decades and looking forward to a well-earned retirement, hundreds of millions of people are threatened with immiseration in their elder years due to the giant gambling casino that is the capitalist financial system. This threat can only be averted by the replacement of capitalism by socialism, under which all workers will be guaranteed a decent retirement. The comptroller report is available here. The author also recommends: Illinois prepares new attack on pensions as budget impasse enters eighth month [2 February 2016] Mass one-day strike hits Syrizas austerity measures in Greece [5 February 2016] A rescuer with a sniffer dog during search operations for bodies of soldiers hit by an avalanche, in Siachen on Tuesday (Photo: PTI) Hubballi: The family of Lance Naik Hanumantappa Koppad was woken up at 2 am Tuesday by the people of their village in Kundagol taluk, rushing to tell them the good news that he had been miraculously rescued six days after he was buried alive under 25 feet of snow at the Siachen Glacier. The village which had been plunged into gloom since February 3 when the avalanche hit the glacier, burying the soldier under snow, celebrated as television channels broke the news of his rescue. Sweets were distributed and relatives and several elected representatives rushed to his house in the village to inform his family about his safe return. The family, which had spent several sleepless nights, was overjoyed. But it proved too much for the Lance Naiks wife Mahadevi, who fainted on hearing the news. All six members of the family left Betadur village for Goa in the afternoon and were expected to fly to New Delhi from there to see Hanumantappa, who is under treatment in the capital. Kundagol legislator C.S. Shivalli made special arrangements for their trip. District in-charge minister Vinay Kulkarni said the state government will help the family in every way possible. Rescue teams carry out a search operation for the soldiers buried by an avalanche, in Siachen on Tuesday (Photo: PTI) Hanumantappa , who joined the Army after much effort and attending several recruitment rallies, was keen on his Siachen Glacier posting despite his familys fears over his safety. My son was serving in the Siachen Glacier for the last six months. I was against it, fearing for his life. But he continued to work there as he is keen on taking on such challenges for the country. Now we are proud of him and see him as a son of the nation as he has served the Indian Army for 13 years, said his mother Basamma, who never gave up believing that he was alive. The family, which had prayed hard for his well being, believes God has heard their pleas. As the militant strike of 14,000 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) workers enters its second week, the unions and their Joint Action Committee (JAC) are maneuvering to shut it down. At a press conference yesterday JAC head Sohail Baloch appealed for talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League government, suggesting that Sharif name his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shabhaz Sharif, or Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, to lead the government negotiating team. Baloch emphasized that the unions are in no way challenging the government, which has mounted a furious campaign against the strike, including threatening to fire and jail workers en masse and ordering a bloody attack on strikers in Karachi that left two dead and one dozen injured. Rather, the aim of the inter-union JAC, as Baloch again explained, is to convince the government to work with the unions in making state-owned PIA a profitable enterprise. We dont want to blackmail the government, declared Baloch. Our differences with the government only relate to PIAs privatization. Underscoring the unions opposition to a working class offensive against the Sharif governmentwhich on orders from the IMF is implementing a brutal austerity program that includes the privatization of PIA and some 60 other public sector enterprisesBaloch declared, Our doors are open and we are trying our best to pull the nation out of the present crisis. One of the JAC unions, the Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA), has already bolted the strike. On Saturday PALPAs leadership called on its members to resume flight operations. In announcing the decision, PALPA President Amir Hashmi said the union had never wanted an all-out strike, because it would further weaken the finances of an already sinking company. He also decried the fact that the strike had become a focal point for opposition to the government, saying, [W]e are not a political party. Due to PALPAs defection, PIA was able to put a limited number of flights in the air for the first time in four days Sunday, with departures from Islamabad and Lahore. Yesterday PIA reopened its head offices in Islamabad and Karachi and, according to news reports, was able to get at least one flight to land in Karachi. Support for the strike is strongest in Karachi, Pakistans largest city and commercial hub. PALPA President Hashmi has also made statements that effectively invite further state repression of the strikers. He has told the press that PALPA has received threats from protesters and publicly appealed to the government to provide enhanced security to pilots so that they can return to work. In fact the real threat to the safety of pilots, crews and passengers comes from the governments haste to get planes in the air so it can break the strike. The Society of Aircraft Engineers in Pakistan issued a statement warning that the PIA planes that took off Sunday were not subject to the compulsory inspection and maintenance procedures, in flagrant violation of safety regulations. PIA management meanwhile issued a memo to all employees Sunday threatening disciplinary action, including firing and prosecution under the Compulsory Service Maintenance Act (CSMA), if they did not immediately return to work. On February 1, the eve of the planned all-out strike against PIA, the Sharif government invoked the CSMA, rendering the strike illegal and imposing a six-month ban on all union activity. Under the CSMA, workers who defy a strike ban can be jailed for up to a year. From the outset, the government has been determined to crush the strike because it fears it could become the catalyst of a broader working class challenge to the big business program of privatization, price-subsidy and social spending cuts, and regressive tax increases supported by the entire political establishment and demanded by the IMF. Pakistan Finance Ishaq Dar and other leading officials were meeting with IMF officials and renewing their commitment to the privatization program last Tuesday, February 2, when police and paramilitary Rangers were unleashed on strikers at Karachis Jinnah International Airport. The security forces attacked the strikers with tear gas, water cannons, baton charges and rubber bullets. When all these failed to disperse the crowd, they opened fire with live ammunition, killing two PIA workers. Soon after four JAC officials were seized and held without charge by unidentified security forces. The disappeared leaders were only released yesterday. While the government calculated the bloody repression would cause the strike to collapse, it had the opposite effect. Within hours of last Tuesdays attack, all PIA flights were grounded for the first time ever. As reports of the security forces actions and the governments attempt to deny their responsibility for the shootings spread, there was a groundswell of support for the strike within the working class. However, the JAC and the unions that represent workers at the other major enterprises targeted for privatization including Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Railways and WPDA (the water and power utility) suppressed any and all calls for a joint struggle against the government and the IMF austerity program. Instead the JAC reiterated its call for negotiations with the government on its four-point program and on Friday JAC representatives held preliminary talks with Privatization Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair. This program represents nothing less than a noose for the PIA workers struggle. It accepts the governments goal of transforming PIA and by implication all public sector enterprises into profit-making companies. It offers the employees collaboration in realizing this goal, adding that if they fail to reform PIA the government will have the freedom to do whatever it finds suitable. In other words, if the unions cannot make PIA a profitable public enterprise by assisting management in slashing jobs, imposing speedups and lowering wages, they will give the government a free hand to sell off the company to private investors. The unions that comprise the JAC are tied to, or even directly affiliated with, the various parties of the capitalist establishment, including the Peoples Pakistan Party (PPP), the Islamic fundamentalist Jamaat Ismali and Sharifs own Muslim League. Recognizing the unions pliability and subservience to Pakistani capitalism, much of the media has been urging the government to work with the JOC to dissipate the workers anger, terminate the strike on the basis of worthless promises of further consultation about privatization and, in the words of JOC head Baloch, pull the nation out of the present crisis. The government has yet to agree to formal negotiations and could at any minute seek to implement mass sackings or arrests. However, it has somewhat toned down its antistrike rhetoric, with workers no long routinely portrayed as enemies of the state, thereby opening the door to working with the JOC to end the strike. The opposition parties are also being enlisted to pose as supporters of the anti-privatization struggle, the better to bring the workers opposition under control. Thus the PPP, which when in office has imposed one IMF restructuring program after another and whose provincial government in Sind presided over the February 2 fatal attack on the PIA strike, is claiming to oppose PIAs privatization inside and outside parliament. Another establishment party feigning support for the worker is Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Khan visited the striking workers in Karachi on Saturday and attacked the government for deliberately making the national airline a loss-making enterprise. But in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI heads the provincial government, it is carrying out polices identical to that of the Sharif-led central government, including privatization of health services and the freezing of public sector workers wages. The World Socialist Web Site spoke to Teamster retirees at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan on February 8. The retirees came to attend a public forum sponsored by the US Department of the Treasury on the proposal by the Central States Pension Fund to slash benefits under provisions of the Kline Miller multistate Pension Reform Act of 2014. The bill, signed into law by President Obama, opens the floodgate for attacks on retiree pensions covering some 10 million workers in private industry. The event, hosted by US government claims czar Kenneth Feinberg, was entirely ignored by the corporate media. It was designed largely as a vehicle for allowing workers to vent their indignation under conditions where the implementation of the cuts is foreordained. Workers interviewed by the WSWS expressed outrage over the cuts, directing their anger at the political establishment and the Teamsters union. Michael, a retired driver with 30 years, traveled over 200 miles from Cadillac, Michigan to attend the hearing. It is going to be a big cut for me; approximately 50 percent. It will be a big change. I really dont want to think about that. There is a lot of money going into the economy from these pensions. It is going to hurt a lot of people. If I would have known this was coming, I would have worked a little longer. Years ago, after the Teamster corruption scandals, the government put in their own people to oversee the pension fund. To me, that makes the government responsible. They were supposed to make sure things were working the way they should. Frank, another Teamster retiree, said, Its a dog and pony show. At the end of the day it doesnt matter how many retirees say no, if this guy [Feinberg] says that it is the law, then whats the point of any of us going up there and saying anything? We can say no all we want, if its just the law then were going to lose no matter what. Richard, a Teamster Local 299 retiree, said, The way I read the letter they sent me they are cutting me $300. They said it would go from $2,000 a month to $1,700. People make plans, they base their lives on it. You are making a $3,000 a month pension and cut that in half, what is the effect of that? Fortunately for me my wife is still working, and the pension cut wont devastate me. But some retirees arent even eligible for Social Security. At the last job where I worked I went seven years without a wage increase. We put autos on trains. Thats when the Teamsters were giving all these sweetheart deals. They were still collecting dues, but the new hires werent getting a pension at all. I retired in 1991. I was only 55, but I had 30 years. They are doing to our pensions what they did with Social Security. They took the money out, but never put it back in. Mark, another Teamster driver, retired after almost 40 years, said, They are going to take one-third of my pension. It means the same for me as everyone else. They are taking a third of my livelihood and tossing it out the window. At this age, no one will hire you. They would throw away my job application. In my mind, a pension is supposed to be secure. Instead, they take your money, gamble and lose it, and now you pay the price. In the trucking industry the work is brutal. By the time you make it into your sixties you are beat up. You do a tough job all your life thinking you have a safety net. Then you find out it isnt there. There should be no ifs, ands or buts. Instead, 10,000 guys pensions are gone. See you later. When you work for a union company, retirement is part of your wages. This is something they are supposed to owe you. There is a difference between how bankers and rich corporations are viewed and us peasants on the bottom. When banks were in a hurt, they were given money. This whole thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth. There are a lot of things happening that are just mind boggling. They change the rules just to benefit themselves. Ike told the WSWS that he went to work for General Motors in 2007 after working 23 years as a driver for former supermarket chain Farmer Jack. I took a day off work so I could come here. I started at Farmer Jack in 1984. I am being told that my pension is being cut 70 percent. I will get $789 when I was going to get $2,200. Someone older than myself, who is not able to work, how can they survive? They were guaranteed these funds. Those responsible should go to jail. They were bailed out, but not us. Ted, a UPS driver for 30 years, said, This is absolutely devastating. Weve worked hard our whole lives and built these companies. Cuts like these are going to force us to change our whole lifestyles. This country has billions and billions of dollars, there is more than enough money to pay our pensions. I mean, they bailed out the banks in 2008. I dont want anything more than what I worked for. Its not just me who would be affected. A lot of us have kids and grandkids who will be affected by this. I think there are a lot of people who are responsible for this. The main ones are the government. I mean, I heard that Congress passed this bill in eight minutes. And then Obama signed it. And who ever heard of it? Nobody told me, or any of these people. I think the Teamsters really let us down here. Jack, a retiree with 37 years in the trucking industry, said, They made promises that theyre not keeping anymore. I retired 11 years ago because of a bad back. I cant go back to work. Sitting behind the wheel 12 hours a day cant be good for anyone. The same thing that happened to my back is going to happen to our kids, but instead of being behind a wheel theyll have you working behind a computer screen 12 hours a day. I think both political parties are responsible. And the Teamsters are responsible. I know they bailed out companies with pension moneycompanies that then went bankrupt. New Delhi: After some allies expressed concern over lack of coordination in the NDA, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday met TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and will be meeting leaders of other ruling alliance constituents in the coming days. The initiative has got underway after Akali Dal and Shiv Sena voiced concern over "lack of coordination" in the NDA in a meeting of it constituents, prompting Shah's reach out. Shiv Sena had accused BJP of undermining its allies and alleged that there was a huge difference in the style of communication and functioning of the former NDA regime led by Atal Bihari Vajyayee and that of the ruling dispensation led by Narendra Modi. Read: Cracks emerge in NDA as allies warn BJP, say 'stop undermining us' Asked about the issue flagged by the two allies, Naidu downplayed it but told reporters that some states and parties may have some concerns which can be discussed in one to one meetings like this. Speaking to reporters following his meeting with Shah, the TDP leader said larger national and political issues should be discussed in the NDA meeting, while state and party-specific matters can be raised in one to one talks. BJP sources said the exercise would help in obtaining inputs from allies on political and governmental matters, particularly ahead of the Budget Session during which the opposition would seek to corner the Modi government on a variety of issues. "Being the head of the largest NDA constituent, BJP chief is the key driver of the alliance. Such meetings will help in better floor management and also countering the opposition effectively," he said. Naidu was the NDA convener during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and TDP sources said his experience will be of help in running the alliance smoothly. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - The soon to be Florida State entrepreneurship school has a newly announced home in downtown Tallahassee. University officials say the former Guaranty National Bank building on South Monroe Street was donated to Florida State. The building is valued at $1.1 million and was donated by Brian and Kathryn Ballard. Kathryn Ballard is a FSU alumna and member of the Board of Trustees; Brian Ballard is the CEO of Ballard Partners. "This incredibly generous gift is a remarkable demonstration of Brian and Kathryn Ballards' support for Florida State University," said President John Thrasher. "It will enable us to quickly follow through on making the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship a reality." The Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship and the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship was created after a $100 million dollar donation from Jan Moran and the Jim Moran Foundation. FSU says the donated building will be occupied by the school's staff and director. The faculty will keep their current offices throughout the campus. The university predicts the school will open in August of 2018. New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday demanded immediate resignation of Delhi Minister Imran Hussain, alleging a sting operation has purportedly revealed that a Rs 30 lakh bribe was demanded by a person for regularising an illegal construction in Ballimaran area of north Delhi on his behalf, a charge denied by the AAP leader. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken released a sting video, purportedly showing a man seeking money from one Qaseem. Maken claimed the man was Hammad, a staffer at Hussain's office. The man was also heard saying that they had to "give money" to get an AAP ticket in the assembly polls. Congress also released two audio clips purportedly containing telephonic conversations of Qaseem with the minister's brother and an engineer of the municipal corporation. In the audio clips, the minister's brother is heard asking the house owner about "samaan" and as to when it would be delivered, while the Junior Engineer was trying to impress upon him to give money to the minister. The AAP minister, who represents Ballimaran in the assembly, denied the charge as "baseless". "I have nothing to do with the sting. The allegations are totally baseless. If Maken can prove the charges, I will quit politics. He should quit politics, if he fails," said Hussain, the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, and Environment and Forests. Hussain was made minister in October last, replacing Asim Ahmed Khan who was sacked by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for demanding a bribe of Rs 6 lakh from a builder. Maken claimed "the sting operation takes the wind out of the probity and transparency claims" of Kejriwal who came to power promising corruption-free administration, and demanded a CBI probe into the matter. He said he would send copies of the video and audio clips to the Chief Minister and CBI. Maken demanded that the Delhi Minister resign immediately till an independent probe is conducted into the sting operation. "Our demand is simple, Hussain must resign and there should be a CBI probe into it," he said. Replying to questions, the Congress leader said if an impartial probe is held, Kejriwal too "cannot remain untouched" as there have been charges of selling tickets during polls. Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form Kakinada: The unpredictable Kapunadu leader, Mudragada Padmanabham, called off his indefinite hunger strike on Monday though the AP government did not issue a GO to include Kapus in the BC list, as had been his demand. Mr Padmanabham called off his fast on oral assurances by a team of Telugu Desam leaders, including ministers, sent officially by AP CM Chandrababu Naidu. Mr Padmanabham and his wife Mudragada Padmavathi called off their indefinite hunger strike on the fourth day, after the talks with leaders. State labour minister K. Achaiah Naidu and Telugu Desam party state president Kimidi Kala Venkatrao offered him lemon juice with an assurance to solve the issue. He was promised that the government would release Rs 500 crore for the Kapu Welfare Finance Corporation in the present financial year and allocate Rs 1,000 crore every year from the next budget. The commissions report on inclusion of Kapus in the BC list should be submitted before seven months, and cases would not be booked against innocent people in relation to the Tuni violence on January 31. Mudragada has accepted these proposals of the government and the issue has been settled, said the leaders. They thanked Mr Padmanabham for calling off the stir. Achaiah Naidu said that all parties had ignored Kapus welfare and reservations till now. But Chief Minister had put their demands in the TD manifesto, constituted a commission and also set up a corporation. He added the CM was taking steps for helping the Kapu community. Mr Padmanabham said that in view of the positive response from the government, he was calling off the stir along with his wife, co-agitators Akula Ramakrishna, Vasireddy Yesudasu and those who had been protesting at places like Amalapuram and West Godavari district. He said the government had also assured him that no innocent person would be prosecuted in the Tuni violence case. I actually believe this outrageous trio - Zoabi, Zahalka and Ghattas - who tried to be involved in an effort to aid the Palestinian murderers families in getting their relatives bodies held by us for four months. I also believe the statement of this outrageous trio that they were not really bothered by being filmed standing for a moment of silence or being caught calling the murderers of Israelis "martyrs." But the excuse that violence and terrorism are a legitimate fight against occupation, that it is allowed to attack civilians and murder in cold blood, is inconceivable when it comes to elected officials with immunity that insist on possessing an Israeli identity card. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter What do they care? The dogs bark, and in the Israeli democracy even this event will be forgotten. I was more irritated by Zahalka's defiant appearance on the Temple Mount, or the fervor of Zoabi on the Marmara or whenever she deliberately creates confrontation with the security forces. You can guess that their mentor Azmi Bisharas evil spirit accompanied this trio to a meeting with the families of the murderers. If someone on the Knesset Ethics Committee or the Attorney General's office plans to punish them with the denial of their salary, Doha will make sure they are well compensated. Qatar is the richest country in the world, and trust Azmi Bishara sits in near the Emirs ears so that he will take care of his proteges. Arab MKs meet with families of terrorists (Photo: Arab media) Rather than suspend them or impose the deletion of their salaries, someone with a creative mind can dream of putting this trio on a plane and take them as close as possible to Azmi Bishara. They may have already taken into account such a scenario - when they are exploring the limits of Israeli democracy, they know that the deportation could damage our decision makers more than Zoabi, Ghattas, and Zahalka. I heard Ghattas's claims of innocence and Zahalkas affectation. It is true that according to Islam, respect for the dead is done by burial of the body as quickly as possible. It is true that Israels new game of holding the bodies of the Jerusalem bodies of the killers and returning the bodies of the murderers from Qabatiya looks bad. But if this trio was seriously committed to the return of the bodies, without seeking headlines, they could pass on the Israeli conditions holding a funeral after 1 o'clock at night, with only 30 participants at the event and a financial guarantee on the phone, without honoring the murderers. This trio could even squat near the offices of Defense Minister Ya'alon and Minister of Public Security Erdan until a deal was achieved. A hunger strike, for example, could get Zahalka-Zoabi-Ghattas fat headlines and dramatic images just as they would like it, and not only in the Israeli media. The left and center have been caught in an offended silence. Only MK Ilan Gilon had the guts to unsheath criticism from his gut. A combination of diligence, stupidity and provocation, said Gilon on behalf of the Left, this frustrates the process of peace-loving people like me. So be aware, MK Gilon, that this trio does not care about you or about their partys chairman, Ayman Odeh, who has not yet found the words. Only in Israel can elected officials permit themselves to dance on blood. The trio, who recorded no achievement to date in favor of Israel's Arab citizens, would not dare test the limits of democracy in one of the neighboring countries. MK Zahalka, do the same in front of Sisis presidential palace in Cairo or the public prosecutor's office in Egypt. You remember Mu'az, your relative, who got a life sentence for involvement in smuggling weapons? They say he was framed. They say he lost, big-time. After the big fuss here, why not hop on a plane and bother the authorities in Egypt a little? In September 2015, the body of a Syrian child, Aylan Kurdi, was swept out to sea. It was a turning point. Thousands of Europeans took to the streets to show solidarity, compassion and a willingness to absorb more refugees. The painful scenes only grow. Tens of thousands have been fleeing the city of Aleppo in recent days. There is only one avenue of escape towards Turkey, and soon it will be closed. Assad has nothing to fear. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Omar al-Bashir, who committed the extermination in Darfur, is a guest of honor at the Arab League conference, or what remains of it, and at almost every Muslim countrys capital. When Assad wins, all will be forgotten and forgiven. Refugees escape from Aleppo, Syria (Photo: AP) And what are we doing? What do Jewish ethics and human conscience demand that we do? What is the meaning of "never again"? Israel treats the wounded that arrive at the border. There are hundreds. If some people think that expanding these treatments will help Israels image in the global or regional consciousness and reduce hatred for Israel, they are deluded. Palestinians, thanks to Israel's health services, have a lower infant mortality and a longer life expectancy. Has it reduced the level of hatred? The enemies of Israel in the wider world are presenting an opposite story. Jose Saramago, a Nobel laureate, called the Palestinian territories "Auschwitz", and the comparison between Israel and Nazi Germany has become a matter of routine. We need to help for humanitarian reasons, without expecting any gains from it. Israeli doctor treats refugees from Syria in Greece (Photo: Dr. Khaled Osman) This story is complicated because Europe, in country after country, keeps reaching the conclusion that it does not want more refugees. The gates are closed. Even Sweden has closed the Oresund Bridge and announced that tens of thousands of asylum seekers will be deported. Events of mass harassment, as in Cologne, also occurred in Sweden, but the media concealed these events. Political correctness has become a self-deception. Refugees flee the Syrian city of Aleppo. (Photo: AP) The murder of a female worker at a refugee center added fuel to the fire. It did not start with the last wave of refugees. This situation has been going on for years. So what do we do as Jews? We cannot forget the Evian Conference, in which countries explained why they could not accept Jewish refugees, and we cannot forget what happened to the occupants of the refugee ship St. Louis. Does this human tragedy require Israel to open its gates and set up refugee camps? That's what Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon are doing. So why dont we? Why settle for just a few hundred of the wounded? But there is a difference. First, when refugees come to Jordan and Lebanon, they come from the same culture and tradition, the same language and religion. They are not strangers and enemies. Second, even these days, when the poor are at war, screams of "Death to Israel" still emanate from Aleppo. These are the screams of all the parties involved. Sometimes they just join the choir. Sometimes they are not part of it. But this is the spirit that is in vogue amongst them. They suckle hatred. This is not because of the occupation or the barriers or other excuses. The bitter hatred of Israel and Jews also exists in Pakistan. In addition, the nature of the refugees is such that they stay where they arrive. Angela Merkel says that she would return them to their country with the coming of peace. Sweden now wants to deport close to a 100,000 of them. Lets see them actually do it. For Israel, hundreds of thousands of refugees are a death sentence. Nevertheless, Israel can not be indifferent to the human suffering. It must continue humanitarian aid, and if there is a real danger of mass destruction, there will be a place for the establishment of refugee camps on the border. But Israel itself has no room to absorb thousands of refugees. And the Middle East, as is well-known, has produced millions of them over the past decade. The high moral imperative, Jewish and universal, requires assistance. It does not mandate self-destruction. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday defended his meetings with the families of terrorists who killed Israelis in the latest wave of violence, going so far as excusing and justifying the attacks carried out by Palestinian children. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Abbas, speaking to Israeli-Arab journalists in Ramallah, said that the Israeli government must ask itself, why would a 13- year-old child throw rocks (at cars) or try to attack others? The answer is because these children saw what happened to the Dawabshe family in Duma and the murder of Abu Khdeir . They cant take it anymore. Give us our rights, and all will be calm. Israeli journalists meet with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah (Photo: Hassan Shaalan) Regarding his meeting with the families of terrorists who were killed while attacking Israeli civilians, Abbas said, These are the families of martyrs. What does Israel want? For me to tell them to go to hell? Because that will never happen." He then went on to comment on the issue of the Sudanese immigrant who stabbed a soldier in Ashkelon: Has Israel asked itself about the reasons which cause people to do things like this? During the meeting with the Israeli-Arab journalists, the question of what will become of the Arab Triangle and Wadi Ara areas in the event of the creation of a Palestinian state came up. President Abbas responded by saying, I will not broach this subject. The residents of these areas can visit us whenever they want, but I will not talk about the proposal. The journalists and President Abbas. (Photo: Hassan Shaalan) During the last elections, Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman proposed that the Arab Triangle and Wadi Ara, areas with almost 100,000 Arabs who self-identify as Palestinians, would be incorporated into a Palestinian state, while the major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank would remain under Israeli control in a comparable land swap. President Abbas further stated, We are sick and tired of the continued construction in the settlements. The question also arises as to why Israel froze the release of Palestinian prisoners? We still do not have acceptable answers for these unacceptable actions. Abbas further went on to note that, we do not agree to even consider the creation of a Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as our capital. We have already recognized Israel, but as long as they do not respect our previous agreements, we will not recognize a Jewish state. They cannot force us. In our opinion, we already have a state which is recognized by 137 countries. Military policemen who arrived at an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Ashdod on Monday night to arrest an army deserter were attacked by protesters. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The riot began once word that military police had arrived in the neighborhood got out. Tens of ultra-Orthodox men came, surrounded the police vehicle, and began to insult them. The rioters then overturned the vehicle. Military police vehicle overturned by ultra-Orthodox rioters in Ashdod A large police force was then sent to the scene and they rescued the military police and dispersed the crowd. Several police cars were slightly damaged as a result of stone throwing. Last month, dozens of ultra-Orthdox people demonstrated outside the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, protesting the arrest of three ultra-Orthodox men who were suspected of leading a smear campaign against ultra-Orthodox IDF soldiers. The extremists exposed the personal details of "hunters" the soldiers and officers in the department in charge of integrating the ultra-Orthodox public in the IDF including full names, photos, ID and telephone numbers, personal addresses, religious affiliations, and even marital status. Each person's role and IDF health profile was also mentioned. The protesters carried signs bearing the writing "stop persecuting religion," and called for the release of those detained. Some of them were taken in for questioning. A few days previously, the police arrested two ultra-Orthodox men in Bnei Brak and one more in Modi'in Illit, as part of an investigation of the incitement against ultra-Orthodox soldiers taking place in the Jerusalem District. Abraham Fua, a 19-year-old Israeli Jew, has been taken in for questioning after singing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah ("The Hope"), out loud on the Temple Mount. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Fua also spoke about the importance of visiting the Temple Mount, and the Jewish people's war on the Amalekites (a biblical enemy of the people of Israel). Abraham Fua sings Hativah and is detained. X The Israel Police stated that the young man's behavior constitutes an attempt to disturb the peace at the Temple Mount. Officials emphasized that Fua knows the rules of visiting the sensitive site well, and that officers acted with caution and restraint. The Police further stated that officers "invest great effort and resources in order to preserve the requisite balance in the Temple Mount, as well as keeping visits on schedule." The Temple Organization Staff, an association of organizations that advocate the rights of Jews in the Temple Mount, criticized the police's actions. "We condemn the gagging of Jews in the Temple Mount. There's no legal authority to expand the ban on prayers at the Temple Mount, which is absurd on its own, and is a scandalous surrender to terrorist threats," they said. New Delhi: The Shiv Sena has accused the BJP of undermining its allies and alleged that there was a huge difference in the style of communication and functioning of the former NDA regime led by Atal Bihari Vajyayee and that of the ruling dispensation led by Narendra Modi. Sources said the Shiv Sena during the NDA leaders meeting held at Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu's residence in the national capital Monday night asked the BJP not to undermine its alliance partners. Sources also said the Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are seeking for better coordination and communication within the NDA. It is learnt that the above three parties told the BJP that they were not well communicated about most of the government schemes. In fact, the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP asked the BJP, which is the biggest party in the alliance, to try and strengthen the fold. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal told the BJP that many issues, which were flagged by the allies, have been repeatedly ignored. It is also speculated that BJP president Amit Shah has decided to meet the allies separately. The NDA leaders had met to discuss the strategy for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls in 2017 and also about the upcoming Budget Session, which is expected to be a stormy affair. Speaking after the meeting on Monday, Naidu said that it was a part of the periodical meetings of the BJP and its allies, adding it was decided that they should highlight from time to time the pro-poor, pro-weaker section, pro-farmer initiatives taken up by the government. "We have discussed general issues and the issues that are likely to come up in the Budget Session of the Parliament, the need to have better coordination in the Parliament and to have a common strategy on larger issues that are likely to be taken for the Budget Session," Naidu said. The Budget Session of the Parliament will begin on February 23. While the first session will continue till March 16, the second session will take place from April 25 to May 13. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot Tuesday morning came out in opposition to the calls for a sequel to 2002's Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Eisenkot spoke at an event held at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, commemorating former IDF Chief of Staff, the late Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. "Those who don't know the reality in the field is calling for an Operation Defensive Shield 2," he said, "those who know the reality know that Defensive Shield 2 isn't relevant in the field." Several public figures, including Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, have come out in the past in favor of a wide-ranging operation in the West Bank. Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Regarding the current terrorism wave, Eisenkot said that "an effort must be made to separate the population and terrorism during severe incidents, allowing those not involved in terrorism to make a living and have hope. We need to strictly abide by the law and the IDF code. The IDF has accepted responsibility for the territories and it is the ruler." Regarding the claims in Israel, which say the PA leadership in Ramallah is inciting the population, Eisenkot stated that "there is incitement that is done by the leadership as well, and you see it in the Palestinian media. Other than that I don't see a source that is guiding the terrorism and disturbances of the peace. There's a clear Israeli interest, beyond the ethical matter, in solving the economic trouble of Palestinians." According to Eisenkot, social networks have taken the place of the town square. "In terrorist interrogations we perform, there's a recurring motif that affects everyone and makes them want to grab a knife, and the same viral nature explains the scale of 15,000 worldwide youths who join ISIS," he said. Eisenkot spoke of the threat by ISIS, which 50-70 Israelis have joined, saing, "ISIS has become the number one enemy these days when speaking of terrorism. Hundreds of youths from around the world, including Israel, are ready to sacrifice their lives for a perception, for an idea." IDF forces searching for tunnels. A top concern, according to Eizenkot. (Photo: EPA) "Defeating terrorism is possible" Speaking of Palestinian terrorism in general terms, Eisenkot mentioned that "defeating terrorism is possible, we've proven in fact that suicide bomber terrorism can be defeated. We have been asked throughout the years - if we have defeated Palestinian terrorism, suicide bomber terrorism, how is it that it has continued to draw blood. This is not the first intifada and not the second, we're not seeing a leadership, not seeing Hamas. There's a new pattern that is gaining internal empowerment from external events." He later added that "we have developed an operative-tactical pattern. When I look at our experience in the face of murderous terrorism, I'd say that we invest first and foremost in intelligence superiority. This perception is based on very high intelligence abilities, it's the main reason for the defeat of suicide bomber terrorism and for having a decent security situation over the years. Everyone at home has a kitchen and knives, and you take a knife, put it in your pocket and go perpetrate a terror attack." Hamas leader Khaled Mashal. Looking to create a certain balance against Israel. (Photo: AFP) The COS spoke of the concerns expressed by Gaza border town residents, regarding Hamas tunnels that may reach their homes. According to Eizenkot, "This is a central threat, it is at the top of the IDF's priority list, and an intelligence and operational effort is taking place in this area. During (Operation) Protective Edge, the IDF took care of 33 tunnel axes. Our enemies aren't abandoning this issue, Hamas chooses to direct a lot of resources at preserving a pattern of action, which creates, according to their perception, a balance against Israel with which to insert covert forces and perpetrate attacks. It's a big challenge and we are not letting the quiet in the south fool us. 2015 is the quietest year the south has seen." He added that, "the threat of offensive tunneling is the number 1 mission this year. There's widespread activity consisting of initiatives and of us searching for every possible idea to neutralize this threat. We have advanced abilities. A mid-process report by the comptroller was published and there's talk in the media, we make great efforts that are hidden from the public's eye, and anyone who comes to the area will see 100 engineering tools that work. The question of whether there's a need for advanced preventative offensive action should be discussed in the appropriate places." Eisenkot also spoke, in an unusual move, against the Breaking the Silence organization. "Your duty as a soldier is to report an illegal order in real time, not to come to a conference years later and say 'I am breaking silence.' It's what's demanded of you, it's not your right, it's your duty." The IDF recently paid a compensation of 200,000 euros to the family of the Spanish UNIFIL soldier who was killed as a result of IDF shelling towards Lebanon, the Spanish newspaper "El Pais"reported. The shelling that resulted in Francisco Toledo's death was retaliation for Hezbollah's anti-tank fire that killed IDF Major Yochai Kalangel and Staff Sergeant Dor Nini. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter UNIFIL in southern Lebanon (Photo: Reuters) The Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that contact was made on both sides and that Israel has reached an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Defense. However the Foreign Ministry refrained from addressing details or the amount of compensation that was paid. The Spanish soldier, Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, was stationed in an observation tower of the Spanish Battalion at the time as part of the international force left in place after the Second Lebanon War and under the aegis of Resolution 1701. He was killed during an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. According to various reports, Toledo was killed by an IDF tank shell that fired in the area of the village of Al Abbasiyya in Lebanon. Lebanese newspaper "As-Safir" cited morning the Spanish newspapers statement, in which senior Spanish government officials said: "This is the first time that Israel has paid compensation to UNIFIL soldiers that were killed by Israeli fire. This indicates a clear admission and proof that there is no doubt that the soldier was killed by the IDF while the IDF denied responsibility for the killing. " The family's lawyer said that "money does not interest the soldier's parents as much as their legitimate right to know what really happened." Spain continues to investigate. In this context, an investigating judge asked the Foreign Ministry in Madrid to give him every bit of information about this case and ask the Israeli side if it was conducting a legal investigation of its own. According to "El Pais", the Spanish Battalion recently held a ceremony in memory of Toledo at the location where he was killed in southern Lebanon. Tomer Ditur, 28, was stabbed in the head and shoulder and moderately wounded on Tuesday afternoon at the entrance to Neve Daniel in Gush Etzion, in what bore all the signs of yet another terror attack targeting local civilians. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Scene of the Neve Daniel attack The victim said he was running by himself near Neve Daniel when he was stabbed and that he continued onwards until the settlement's security guard noticed him and called for urgent help. The victim pointed towards the direction in which believed the terrorist fled, which was in the direction of the Palestinian town of Nahalin. Earlier Tuesday, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl from East Jerusalem attempted to stab Border Policemen at Jerusalem's Damascus gate, and was arrested. No injuries were reported. The government is preparing a plan to entirely surround Israel with a security fence to "protect ourselves from the predators", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday during a tour of the eastern fence under construction along the length of the Jordanian border. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The eastern fence is designed to safeguard the airport being built in the Timna Valley, and it includes observation posts. The cost of building the fence's 30 kilometers and fortifying the airport stands at NIS 288 million. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touring the eastern fence (Photo: Kobi Gideon) Netanyahu was accompanied on the tour by Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud), Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, and the GOC Southern Command. (The prime minister also toured the area of the airport.) Five of the 30 kilometers approved by the Cabinet have been built since September. "The advantage of building here and along the Egyptian border is that there are no structures adjacent to the fence, not one kilometer away and not two kilometers away, that could serve as an opening," said the prime minister. "That's not the case in Gaza. This is potentially not the case in Judea and Samaria, where there are structures built adjacent to the separation line you are considering forming, either. When you build a fence there, you have to take into account that tunnels are being built underneath. Those who said that territory doesn't carry importance in the modern era should go to Gaza. Netanyahu takes air tour of area (Photo: Kobi Gideon) "Ultimately, the State of Israel as I see it will have a fence that surrounds it entirely," added Netanyahu regarding criticism of continuing the various fortifications and barriers. "They'll say to me, 'this is what you want to do, protect the villa?' The answer is yes. Will we surround the entirety of the State of Israel with a fence and obstacles? The answer is yes. In the environment in which we live, we must protect ourselves from the predators." The prime minister said the government is preparing "a multi-year program to surround Israel with security fences in order to protect ourselves in the Middle East as it is today. In addition, we are preparing a program to close the breaches in the security fence in Judea and Samaria. This costs many billions and we are working on a multi-year program of prioritization, so that it's spread out over years, in order to build it gradually but complete it in order to protect the State of Israel." Israel may be unable to reach a new defense aid agreement with the Obama administration and could wait for the next US president to secure better terms, a senior Israeli official said on Monday in a veiled rebuke signaling a snag in negotiations. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter But a senior US official urged Israel to accept an increased 10-year multibillion-dollar package that President Barack Obama is offering, saying whoever occupies the White House next would be unlikely to demonstrate any greater commitment to Israels security. US President Barack Obama address the crowd at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem in 2013 (Photo: Reuters) Differences between the two sides, which surfaced after a round of negotiations on a new defense memorandum of understanding (MOU) last week, underscored continuing tensions over last years US-led nuclear deal with Iran, Israels regional arch-foe. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by local media on Monday as telling his cabinet that if Israels security needs were not sufficiently met, he would hold off on signing an aid deal and wait for the next US president, who will take office next January. Netanyahu, who has a history of testy relations with Obama, might be hoping for more sympathetic treatment from the next administration, whether Democratic or Republican. But his comments could also be a negotiating ploy to win concessions. In an apparent swipe at the Obama administration, cabinet minister Ze'ev Elkin, a Netanyahu confidant in the ruling right-wing Likud party, said Israel was still waiting for a realistic offer from the United States. Current US defense payouts to Israel, worth about $3 billion annually, expire in 2018. Officials say Netanyahu opened talks with a request for an increase to $5 billion annually, an amount the United States was unlikely to accept. An Israeli official said on Monday that Netanyahu was hoping for about $4 billion, and would seek hundreds of millions of dollars separately for military projects such as missile defense. A US congressional source said, however, that MOU discussions had focused on a US offer of about $3.7 billion. Waiting game "When the accord with Iran passed, the US president pledged that he would do everything to provide a proper response for Israeli security," Elkin told Israel's Army Radio. Nevertheless, he said it was "possible" that Netanyahu would wait for the next White House occupant to clinch an MOU. Israel, Elkin said, wants an MOU that "reflects a realistic assessment in terms of U.S. aid, in light of the big changes that US policy promises for the Middle East. After all, these things are not divorced one from the other." He was referring to the international deal that curbed Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief - which Israel had adamantly opposed - and the potential ensuing flow of funds to Tehran's militant allies, as well as US arms sales to Arab states looking to offset Tehrans regional clout. The Obama administration wants a new deal before the president leaves office as part of his legacy. Officials on both sides say agreement is unlikely before an expected Netanyahu visit to Washington in March but have not completely ruled it out. Speaking before the latest talks, the third round so far, a US official told Reuters that any MOU should not be interpreted as compensation to Israel for the Iran deal. The senior US official insisted on Monday that the administration was confident of reaching a new MOU that meets Israels needs and said that despite a challenging budget environment it would constitute "the largest single pledge of military assistance to any country in US history. Israel is of course free to wait for the next administration to finalize a new MOU should it not be satisfied with such a pledge, the official said. "But we would caution that the US budgetary environment is unlikely to improve in the next one to two years, and Israel will certainly not find a president more committed to Israel's security than is President Obama. The start-up nation, famed for the prowess of its special forces and its ninja-like abilities at cybersecurity, appears, much like an elephant handler presented with a giraffe, to be flummoxed by the international media. The latest demonstration of this conundrum followed a stabbing and shooting attack last week. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This is what happened: Last Thursday, two border policewomen, Hadar Cohen and Ravit Mirilashvili, were on patrol at Jerusalems Damascus Gate when they were confronted by two knife and gun wielding terrorists. (A third attacker was at another, nearby location.) As the assailants lunged at the officers, Cohen and Mirashvili shot them dead, as they were trained to do. In the shootout, Cohen, 19, who was in the third month of her service, was shot in the head by an attackers bullet. The third assailant was shot and killed by other officers. Next: CBS News a headline reading 3 Palestinians killed as daily violence grinds on with no mention of terror, attacks or the fact that Cohen was fatally wounded in the attack. In the following hours, CBS rectified the offending headline four times, but never quite managed to address the fundamental questions of who, what, when, where and how. The egregious headline appears to have unhinged the government. Government Press Office director Nitzan Chen initially threatened to revoke the credentials of foreign journalists whose headlines displayed anti-Israel bias. On Tuesday, Luke Baker, Jerusalem bureau chief for Reuters and chairman of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) came to work on a slow news day and found in his inbox a surprising invitation. Or maybe a summons. It wasnt entirely clear. The Subcommittee for Foreign Policy, Public Relations, and the Political Struggle of the Knesset, Israels parliament, was requesting his take on the subject of Foreign media reporting, a long term survey undermining (Israel's) legitimate action against terror. (sic.) The Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the prime ministers liaison to the Knesset, the internal security adviser and the Government Press Office were all slated to take part. The sub-committee for legal action, headed by the former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is usually considered one of the more cool-headed members of the Knesset, requested responses to the following questions: 1. Examples of slanted, one sided reporting against soldiers and police following terror incidents. 2. What are the existing recommended professional legal, diplomatic remedies available in these cases both for limiting disinformation as well as for dealing with errant reporting? 3. Are there reasons for legal claims of libel, as a result of these publications? Infuriated by the approach, which the FPA described as reminiscent of such notoriously anti-free press regimes as Russia, Turkey or Saudi Arabia the organization initially decided to boycott the meeting but eventually relented. In an uncompromising statement, the FPA declared that a free and open media is the bedrock of a democratic society. Parliamentary subcommittee hearings that start from the premise that the foreign media are biased tend to look like poorly conceived witch hunts. Efforts to clamp down on the media including sweeping allegations of media bias, state censorship and the detaining of members of the press are the sort of actions usually associated with authoritarian governments in places such as Russia, Turkey or Saudi Arabia. Such conduct is unbecoming of a country like Israel, which likes to describe itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, the statement said. Asked what actions were undertaken by the Israeli government in reaction to February 3 headline, and if CBS News was directly approached, GPO director Chen was unclear about which Israeli official had directed its protest to CBS, if at all. Maybe the foreign ministry spokesman called them, he said in a conversation with The Media Line. The FPA used the occasion to mention another source of frustration for the locally stationed foreign media, a mocking animated video that Israels foreign ministry first posted, then retracted, last year. While the foreign media try to act with professionalism and balance, the Israeli Foreign Ministry took it upon itself last year to produce a YouTube video, suggesting that the foreign media were biased, ignorant and witless. After the blatant inaccuracy and imbalance of the video were pointed out, the ministry withdrew it immediately. Israel is having difficulty finding its footing in the current media environment. Last week, the military censor sent letters to 30 political bloggers and Facebook posters, warning them that their work must be submitted for review before being posted. The FPA conceded that mistakes are sometimes made. There are cases in which headlines in the international media have been poorly chosen and failed to accurately reflect developments on the ground. These have been pointed out and corrected as rapidly as possible. "Mistakes are made in all professions. Isolated mistakes and given the vast coverage of this story, they are extremely isolated do not constitute institutional bias. It should also be pointed out that headlines are never the full story, and are usually not written by journalists on the scene, but rather by editors sitting in New York, London or other headquarters. Outright bias in outlets less prominent than CBS, or not from the English-speaking world, often pass with little or no mention in Jerusalem. By the end of the day, it seemed that the like the case of the now-notorious video, the Knesset hearing may have served to do little more than stir the foreign medias ire. The session itself had little to do with the invitation, Baker said in a conversation with The Media Line, and made evident basically a lot of misunderstanding about how the press works and how the Israeli police/army/GPO information representatives work. Chen said the most important factor in safeguarding the fairness of coverage is a daily dialogue and a daily connection between the GPO and other government offices and the foreign media. The vast majority of reporters do balanced and fair work, he added, emphasizing that since the beginning of the current wave of violence, coverage has been very professional. But the CBS headline still exasperated him. For instance, when a report doesnt mention that an Israeli policewoman was killed, and mentions Palestinians only as Palestinians, without stating that they were attackers, that is not journalism. Article written by Noga Tarnopolsky. It's its not everyday that two senior ambassadors debate on one of the world's most popular social networks. But that's exactly what happened this week when the French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud and his Israeli counterpart Ron Dermer, exchanged barbs in front of everyone on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter It all started with tweets by the senior French ambassador, who was formerly French ambassador to Israel and the United Nations. Araud retweeted statements made by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in conversations on achieving peace in Syria, which stated that "there can't be a political negotiation when one side is murdering the other." Israel's ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, responded in kind to Araud's tweets, implying hypocrisy on the part of the French ambassador. "hmmm. Wonder if that wisdom will one day be applied to when Jews are being murdered in Israel," read his sarcastic tweet. Araud waited a day and chose not to respond directly to Dermer, but his indirect response was sufficient:"Israel/Palestine. So predictable that any pretext leads one side to declare that the other one is evil." After users responded to his tweets, including some Israelis, Araud addressed the subject with another tweet: "A tweet on Syria. An unrelated reaction on Israel/Palestine and an outpouring of one-sided tweets without any link with the first tweet." Araud later posted a third tweet: "Israel/Palestine. Feeding the passion instead of analyzing the situation from both sides is a good way to escape the real issues." Araud has a problematic record in Israel. In 2004, when he served as ambassador to Israel, he complained about the Israeli attitude to his country and said in a radio interview that Israelis are compulsively anti-French. Furthermore, he claimed that anti-Semitic incidents around the world go unmentioned in Israel, while any anti-Semitic graffiti in France makes headlines. As an example, he mentioned an incident in which two synagogues were burned in Europe. This went unnoticed in Israel, yet, he said, any statement by French personalities gets wide exposure in local media outlets. Leaders of the Islamic State are determined to strike targets in the United States this year, senior US intelligence officials said Tuesday, telling lawmakers that a small group of violent extremists will attempt to overcome the logistical challenges of mounting such an attack. In testimony before congressional committees, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the "pre-eminent terrorist threat." The militant group can "direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world," Clapper said. Each week, I have the privilege of traveling Nebraska. Over the past several months, I conducted 20 town halls, held 10 community visits recently following my State of the State address, and just this week I was in Chadron meeting with farmers and ranchers as well as community and business leaders. The number one concern I hear from Nebraskans, urban and rural, is that our property tax burden is too high. Property taxes on agricultural land have increased 66 percent in the last five years. Property taxes on residential and commercial properties have also increased. This is why Nebraskans are demanding relief. My approach to property tax relief, and taxes in general, is anchored in a few foundational principles. First, state tax dollars are your hard-earned dollars. Second, the only way to deliver sustainable tax relief is by exercising fiscal restraint with your taxpayer dollars. Third, we must be transparent and accountable to our constituents. Fourth and finally, local control is good governance. State government in Nebraska does not levy property taxes. The state, however, is responsible for setting the rules for how local governments levy property taxes including levy limits, bonding authority, reserve levels, and budget authority among others. This year, Im focused on delivering structural, long-term property tax relief by incentivizing fiscal restraint and accountability in the rules governing how local government collects property taxes. To this end, I have joined forces with Senator Kate Sullivan, Chairwoman of the Education Committee, and Senator Mike Gloor, Chairman of the Revenue Committee, to bring a property tax reform package that encourages local governments to restrain growth in spending to the same target rate as the statearound three percent. Our property tax relief package consists of two bills, one in the Education Committee and one in the Revenue Committee. In this column, I will share with you a little bit about LB958, which is the Revenue Committee bill. LB958 encourages fiscal restraint and accountability by political subdivisions like cities, counties, and natural resource districts. Additionally, it limits the increase in statewide agricultural and horticultural land valuations. It does this in three ways. First, it limits the budgeted growth of restricted funds. Restricted funds are essentially property taxes, local sales taxes, motor vehicle taxes, surpluses from user fees, county occupation taxes, etc. To do this, the bill eliminates exclusions to the spending limits including capital improvements, sinking funds for equipment purchases, and expenditures in support of interlocal agreements. Second, the bill reduces the number of exclusions to the property tax levy limit and imposes a new requirement for bonds issued after July 1, 2016. These bonds would now need to be approved by the voters to be excluded from the levy limits. The bill also requires that votes to exceed the levy limits must be made by a vote of the people. LB958 would repeal the power some local governments currently have to exceed the levy limits with a vote at a town hall meeting that may be attended by as few as ten percent of the registered voters. By requiring voter approval more frequently, this bill increases transparency and voter involvement in local spending decisions. Finally, LB958 limits the statewide increase in agricultural and horticultural land valuation to an aggregate of three percent. If the statewide aggregate increase exceeds three percent, the Property Tax Administrator will determine the factor needed to uniformly and proportionately reduce the value of every parcel of agricultural and horticultural land so the statewide aggregate does not exceed three percent. This is an aggregate adjustment factor of three percent, not a hard cap, meaning that adjustments to individual tax bills will vary across the state. Ag land will still see valuation increases with this adjustment factor, but future valuation increases will be moderated. This tax relief package maintains local control and preserves existing funding mechanisms for local government. Under this package, our cities, counties, and other local governments can still ask for a vote of the people if they need additional budget authority. For example, if your city wants to build a new gym, they can seek voter approval to use restricted funds. While Nebraskans like you desperately want property tax relief, special interest groups and their lobbyists are blocking reform. Last year, the Legislature and I successfully delivered $408 million in direct dollar-for-dollar property tax relief to all property owners across the state. This year, we are looking to make structural changes that will encourage fiscal restraint among local governments, increase accountability to taxpayers, and limit ag land valuations in aggregate across the state to three percent annually. If you believe in property tax relief, your senators need to hear from you about why delivering property tax relief is critical to your family budget this year. You can be assured they will hear from special interest lobbyists. You can find information on how to contact your senator at www.NebraskaLegislature.gov. YORK The Nebraska Court of Appeals has affirmed the prison sentence given to Brenda L. Hines, 53, of York, in a case where she was convicted of drug-related offenses in the York County District Court. In the memorandum issued by the appeals court, the case background is outlined, describing how Hines residence, which she calls The Temple of Zion, was searched per warrant and pills, marijuana and paraphernalia consistent with distributing marijuana were seized. The memorandum reviews that at trial, Hines argued her drug distribution was part of her exercise of religions. Hines testified that her residence is The Temple of Zion and she is the high priest of the temple. She established the temple so she could fulfill Gods wish and help stop the pain and suffering. Hines claimed that the pills found during the search of her residence were given to her by her followers and that she could hand them out to other followers who needed them. When asked about the religious services at the temple, Hines explained, We gather together. We have a sacred circle. We share our marijuana between ourselves. When we are high we are with God. Its a very personal thing. She further testified that her followers also take marijuana home with them because her religion is not a go-to-church-on-Sunday religion but rather, when you need God, you smoke a bowl, so its not a religious sacrament. She also testified that marijuana is the tree of life. It contains the spirit of God. When you get high you get God, so that you are with them when you are high. Following trial, the jury found Hines guilty of four counts and Judge James Stecker sentenced her to 2-4 years of imprisonment on count one; 2-4 years imprisonment on count two; 2-4 years of imprisonment on the next count; and three months on the fourth. The sentences are to be served concurrently. Hines appealed, saying the sentences were excessive and violated her right to free exercise of religion. The appeals court determined that Hines sentences were within the statutory limits and noted that she had been given the benefit of all the sentences to run concurrently. Regarding the issue of free exercise of religion, the appeals court said she failed to make a valid argument or cite any authority in regard to how the trial court violated that right. Laura Garrigus resigned from her job at the Cumberland International Early College after reports of her alleged behaviour emerged in December. (Photo: Cumberland county sheriffs office) North Carolina: A 30-year-old, mother-of-three, school teacher has been banned by the court to be around any child under the age of 18, this ruling also includes her own children, according to a report in the Mirror. Laura Garrigus, from North Carolina, was arrested on Monday after a 17-year-old student reported her to the police. Garrigus allegedly had a sexual relationship with her female student for several months. Garrigus resigned from her job at the Cumberland International Early College after reports of her alleged behaviour emerged in December. She has now been charged with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a student and two counts of sexual offense with a student. According to the police, the alleged sexual relationship between the teacher and student was consensual. However she is charged under state laws that ban sex between a teacher and their student. As a result of her arrest she is not allowed to have any contact with children under the age of 18. This even includes her two sons and her daughter. Coming events Feb. 9 - Nebraska On-Farm Research Network Update, College Park, Grand Island, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Feb. 12 - Wilber Crop Clinic, Sokol Hall Wilber, 8 a.m. Feb. 12 - Nebraska On-Farm Research Network Update, ARDC near Mead, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Feb. 17 - Private Pesticide Training, 9 a.m., Fairgrounds, York Feb. 22 - SE Nebraska Soil Health and No-Till Conference, Hallam Community Center, 8 a.m. Feb. 23 - Private Pesticide Training, 6:30 p.m., Fairgrounds, York Feb. 23-24 - Central Plains Irrigation Conference, Holiday Inn, Kearney, http://centralplainsirrigationassociation.org/Conference_Brochure.html March 4 - Private Pesticide Training, 1:30 p.m., Fairgrounds, York March 11 - Chemigation Training, 1 p.m., 4-H Building York Nebraska On-Farm Research Updates planned I mentioned it the last couple of weeks, but wanted to mention it again. One of the best meetings I participate in each year is our annual Nebraska On-Farm Research Updates. Weve got sessions this week in Grand Island on Tuesday and at the ARDC on Friday. Variable rate seeding, seed treatments, cover crops and fungicide applications are among the research topics growers will share results from following the research they conducted in 2015 in replicated comparisons. Their research is in partnership with University of Nebraska faculty and sponsored by Nebraska Extension in partnership with the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, the Nebraska Corn Board, and the Nebraska Soybean Board. Project SENSE (Sensors for Efficient Nitrogen Use and Stewardship of the Environment) also will be discussed. This is a special three-year research initiative focusing on using crop canopy sensors to direct variable-rate, in-season nitrogen application to improve the efficiency of nitrogen fertilization in corn. These update are free, but preregistration is requested for meal planning purposes. Call (402) 624-8000 or e-mail onfarm@unl.edu to register for any site. Certified Crop Advisor Credits are applied for and pending upon approval. Private Pesticide Applicator Training and Chemigation Training My first private pesticide applicator sessions of the year will be held next week. Ive got my sessions listed in my coming events. For a complete list of all training sessions go to: http://pested.unl.edu/. Other chemigation dates can be found at: http://water.unl.edu/cropswater/chemigation. Wilber Crop Clinic planned Practical, Profitable and Environmentally Sound Solutions for Agriculture is the theme for the 2016 Wilber Crop Clinic. It will be held Friday, Feb. 12 at Sokol Hall in Wilber. Registration begins at 8 a.m. with the program to begin at 9 a.m. Speakers from Nebraska Extension and private industry will cover cutting edge agronomic and management topics. They include: 9 a.m. - Latest On-Farm Research with Cover Crops Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator 9:30 a.m. - Climate Outlook for 2016 Al Dutcher, UNL Associate State Climatologist 10 a.m. - Farm Policy Update Brad Lubben, UNL Extension Ag Economist 10:45 a.m. - Are You N With Our Recommendations Richard Ferguson, UNL Extension Soils Specialist 11:15 a.m. - Soybean Cyst Nematodes May be Robbing You John Wilson, Extension Educator 12 Noon - Lunch 1 p.m. - $7 Corns Gone Now What? Larry Kopsa, York CPA 1:40 p.m. - Palmer Amaranth and other Weed Issue Headed Our Way Lowell Sandell, former UNL Weeds Science Educator 2:15 p.m. - Door Prizes Randys got some great sessions planned! Central Plains Irrigation Conference The Central Plains Irrigation Conference will be held Feb. 23-24 at the Holiday Inn in Kearney. This conference rotates between Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado and has the latest irrigation research updates each year. Topics include: testing water meters, crop water management based on canopy temperature, variable rate frequency drives, longevity of SDI, new sprinkler options, impact of tillage practices on ET and crop productivity, soil water sensor technology evaluation, irrigation strategies for limited water, economics and water productivity for corn affected by irrigation and nitrogen, automated irrigation water use data base, cover crop ET and crop coefficients and impact on water balance, drought tolerant corn response to water in Nebraska, perspectives on VRI prescription map development, challenges and opportunities for site-specific irrigation management, and many more. For more information or to register and or view the full program go to: http://centralplainsirrigationassociation.org/Conference_Brochure.html. SE Nebraska Soil Health and No-Till Conference planned I just received a flier from Randy Pryor, Extension Educator about this Feb. 22 conference south of Lincoln in Hallam. They have a great program planned. To help with meal planning please call 402-821-2151 by Feb. 16 to reserve your spot. Topic include: 8:35 a.m. - Climate Tools/Climate Resiliency Tyler Williams, UNL Extension Educator 9 a.m. - Systems Approach to No-Till Farming, Paul Jasa, UNL Extension Engineer 10 a.m. - Carbonomics Keith Burns, Farmer and President of Green Cover Seeds 10:45 a.m. - Managing Ephemeral Erosion in No-Till Systems, Dan Gillespie, No-Till Specialist, NRCS 11:10 a.m. - Integrating Cover Crops and Livestock with No-Till, Josh Lloyd, No-Till Farmer, Oak Hill, Kan. Noon Meal Provided 1 p.m. - Soil Health: Capturing the Full Potential of No-Till, Jerry Hatfield, USDA Soil Scientist 1:55 p.m. - Cover Crop Research Update, Paul Jasa 2:50 p.m. - Speaker Panel Washington: US has said that it is committed to assist India in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice after Pakistani-American key LeT operative David Coleman Headley in his first deposition told a court that Pakistani terrorists conducted 26/11 strikes after two failed attempts. Read: LeT tried to attack twice before 26/11, says David Headley "The United States is committed to doing all we can to assist the government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "Certainly, it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm but across all others as well," Kirby said. Read: 26/11 terror attacks: India to give Pakistan Headley dossier Kirby was responding to questions on the deposition by Pakistani-American terrorist Headley, who on Monday told a Mumbai court via a video-link from the US how his outfit had planned the 26/11 attacks and executed it after two failed attempts and gave details of the role played by ISI whose three officials he named. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. "We'll always look to try to improve our cooperation across all different aspects of the relationship. I don't want to prejudge or presuppose here based on this testimony, that that it has a strategic value here. That's not for me to speak to," Kirby said. Read: From Daood Gilani to David Coleman Headley: A timeline This was a decision and this was an event set up and established by Department of Justice, Kirby said, adding the US has a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels and law enforcement is one of them. Described himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of Hafiz Saeed. Kayla Mueller was killed a year ago while being held hostage in Syria by Islamic State. (Photo: AFP) Washington: The wife of a deceased ISIS leader was charged on Monday in federal court in Virginia with conspiracy in the death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller who was killed a year ago while being held hostage in Syria by the militant group, the US Justice Department said. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, aka Umm Sayyaf, 25, admitted to FBI agents last year that ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at Sayyaf's residence, and that "owning" her was equivalent to enslaving her, according to the complaint. Mueller was raped repeatedly by al-Baghdadi while in captivity in Syria, US officials and the Mueller family spokeswoman said last August. Mueller's family could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. Sayyaf, an Iraqi citizen and wife of Abu Sayyaf, a senior ISIS leader leader until his death last May, is currently in Iraqi custody for her terrorism-related activities, according to a statement from John Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security. Monday's charges "reflect that the US justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad," Carlin said in the statement. Carlin's spokesman, Marc Raimondi, told Reuters by email that the US government was "fully supportive" of Sayyaf's transfer to Iraqi custody, and that the Justice Department continues to "cooperate with authorities in Iraq to support a prosecution through to its completion and to assist in ensuring that justice is served." The department firmly believes that Sayyaf will be held to account for her crimes, "though we cannot guarantee any particular result," Raimondi added. Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, went to Turkey in December 2012 to work for a Turkish organization providing humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees along the Syrian border. She was seized in August 2013 while leaving a hospital in Aleppo in northern Syria. Al-Baghdadi personally brought Mueller to be imprisoned inside the Sayyafs' home in Syria, US officials told ABC News in August. Sayyaf was charged on Monday with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization that resulted in a person's death, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Fifty-eight of the 80 individuals accused by US prosecutors of ISIS-related crimes have faced the same charge, though the vast majority have not been accused of facilitating anyone's death. The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on... Jakarta: An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced seven men for conspiring with the Islamic State group, the first time the country has sent anyone to prison for IS links, as radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir appealed his conviction. A three-judge panel at the West Jakarta District Court found four men guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terrorism law by joining Islamic State jihadists and attending the group's military-style training. Ahmad Junaedi, Ridwan Sungkar, Helmi Muhammad Alamudi and Abdul Hakim Munabari were sentenced to between three and four years imprisonment. Their recruiters, Aprimul Henry and Koswara Ibnu Abdullah, were sentenced to three and four years in jail for helping them go to Syria. The seventh, Tuah Febriwansyah, who is also known as Muhammad Fachry, received a five-year sentence for actively spreading IS propaganda through his own radical website and posting violent videos of terrorism activities on the Internet, including one showing militants in Syria giving military-style training to Indonesian children. At a hearing in another court Tuesday, Bashir filed an appeal to overturn his 2011 conviction for violating the anti-terrorism law by setting up a militant camp in Aceh province. The 77-year-old founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network had received a 15-year sentence, but it was later cut to nine years. Bashir is considered the spiritual leader of al Qaida-linked militants blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. He has expressed his support to the Islamic State and has pledged allegiance to IS. Bashir's lawyers and state prosecutors signed a conclusion of his appeal before judges in the Cilacap District Court, the closest court to the high-security prison island of Nusa Kambangan where he is serving his sentence. The appeal will be sent to the Supreme Court this week for the final ruling. "I hope judges understand that my deed of helping training camp in Aceh was my religious obligation," Bashir told the court. "I'm guilty according to the government law, but what I did is correct according to Islam." Indonesia's government has outlawed the Islamic State group and spoken forcefully against it, as have mainstream religious group in the world's largest Muslim nation. One fear is that militants who travel abroad will return home and conduct terrorist acts in Indonesia. Indonesian authorities estimate over 600 Indonesians have joined IS in Syria or Iraq. Hundreds of heavily armed men with four-wheel drive vehicles were shown lined up, with one man shown repeatedly firing a pistol as he navigated what looked like a special urban warfare training course. (Photo: AP) Moscow: Ramzan Kadyrov, hardline leader of Russia's Chechen region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Chechen spies loyal to Moscow had infiltrated Islamic State in Syria and were gathering intelligence for Russian air force bombing strikes. The assertion, by Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, is impossible immediately to verify. But true or not, it could have the effect of stirring distrust in jihadi ranks towards Chechens and other militants from Russia and the former USSR who have joined Islamic State. Kadyrov, who keeps tight control of Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region with a history of rebellion against Moscow, said Chechen spies had trained alongside Islamic State fighters from the start of the Syrian war. "An extensive spy network has been set up inside Islamic State," Kadyrov's office quoted him on Monday as telling Russia's state-controlled Russia 1 channel. He said Chechnya's "best fighters" had been sent to Syria to gather information about militants' structure and numbers. "Thanks to their work as agents, the Russian air force is successfully destroying terrorist bases in Syria." When asked about the comments, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, declined to confirm the presence of Chechen forces in Syria. Kadyrov's full interview on the subject is due to be broadcast on state TV on Wednesday. Matvey Ganopolsky, a commentator for the Ekho Moskva radio station, said Kadyrov's words were impossible to check and looked to be part of a pattern of "lies and misinformation". Islamic State in Syria posted footage in December of the murder of a man it identified as a Chechen who had been spying on them for Russian intelligence. Kadyrov, himself accused by campaign groups of human rights abuses, denied he was a spy. Some Chechens are known to be fighting as committed jihadis on the side of Islamic State in Syria and Moscow fears they may return to attack Russia, something they have threatened to do. Chechen Training Camp Russia launched air strikes in Syria on September 30 and has set up an air base to complement an existing naval facility. It has infantry and armour there to protect its assets and has military trainers and advisers working with the Syrian army. Western diplomats have said Russian Special Forces are also active in Syria; Russian authorities have been coy on that. But state TV, in a teaser broadcast on Sunday evening ahead of the full programme later this week, said the time had now come to talk about the forces who were helping coordinate Russian air strikes in Syria "at the cost of their own lives". It showed a training camp in Chechnya, which it said was where soldiers now active in Syria had honed their skills. The footage suggested Chechen Special Forces might also be involved in Syria as well as the spies of whom Kadyrov had boasted. Hundreds of heavily armed men with four-wheel drive vehicles were shown lined up, with one man shown repeatedly firing a pistol as he navigated what looked like a special urban warfare training course. Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel turned Kremlin loyalist, was also shown firing a high-powered weapon at a target himself. He said his men in Syria had suffered losses. Kadyrov said in October he wanted to send Chechen servicemen to Syria to take part in "special operations" but would only do so if Putin authorised such a deployment. Russian forces fought two brutal wars against Chechen insurgents; but the region, though it still faces a limited low-level Islamist insurgency, has now been given a large measure of autonomy within Russia and been rebuilt. Kadyrov says he is one of Putin's staunchest supporters. Sign up to get the latest news delivered to your inbox every week! Researchers at the University of Cambridge found new ways of creasing spread of cancer tumor. According to the study, healthy cells around the tumor should be kept alive to stop the spread of cancer. This study is in contrary to the present cancer treatment with chemotherapy that kills the cells. Cancer tumor spreads by killing healthy cells surrounding it to make space for it to grow. Keeping cells alive rather than killing them can be more helpful for the patients. Patients who undergo chemotherapy feel extremely unwell as the radiation kills the healthy cells as well. Advertisement The new research suggests that it is imperative to save the healthy cells to prevent the spread of the disease. Dr Eugenia Piddini stated that it might sound counterintuitive for not attacking the tumor but she explained the theory citing the example of an army fighting a titan. She said that the army could stand in a better position if the soldiers are protected from dying, according to The Telegraph. The study was conducted with fruit flies that were genetically manipulated to develop intestinal tumors. The tumors in the fruit flies demonstrated for the first time how tumor proliferates and grows by damaging the healthy cells surrounding it. The cancerous cells encourage apoptosis, a process of programmed cell death, in the surrounding healthy cells. The researchers then manipulated genes in the flies so that the cells could resist apoptosis and works as an impermeable shield around tumor that prevented spread of cancerous cells. Dr Alan Worsley, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said "This intriguing study in fruit flies suggests that if researchers can turn off the signals that tell healthy cells to die, they could act as a barrier that boxes cancer cells in and stunts their growth. We don't yet know if the same thing would work in patients, but it highlights an ingenious new approach that could help to keep early stage cancers in check." Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Kilis: Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the UN demanded on Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syria's largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, insists it has an open-door policy toward Syrians escaping conflict but has still kept a key border crossing closed for days. Government officials say Turkey will provide assistance to the displaced Syrians within their own borders "as much as possible" and would allow them in "when necessary." The UN humanitarian office OCHA said 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if Syrian government and allied forces encircle the city of Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. Separately, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler asked Turkey on Tuesday to open the border to "all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection as they have done since the start of this crisis." Spindler also urged other nations to shoulder more of the refugee burden and to work to end the conflict. "The answer to this crisis is for the peace process to continue in Syria and for the conflict to be solved," Spindler said. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the world to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. He predicted that Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" - in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once pulled out of Afghanistan. "Those ... who turned Syria into a bloodbath will certainly pay for it one day," Davutoglu said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated Tuesday that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues. Several aid trucks could be seen moving Tuesday through Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, which remained shut to refugees for the fifth straight day. Turkish authorities and charities are assisting the Syrians at a refugee camp near the border. One of the few Syrians who managed to cross into Turkey from Oncupinar recently was six-year-old Aya al-Sharqawi - who was wounded in Russian airstrikes 10 days ago at her hometown of Tel Rifaat - and her uncle, Abdelrahman al-Sharqawi. "I went to buy (biscuits)," the girl said from her hospital bed at the Kilis hospital. "When the plane came I started running. I was near the entrance of my sister's house when the plane came and dropped a bomb." Her uncle said the girl was first taken to a field hospital in Tel Rifaat, which then sent her to Turkey for further treatment. Also being treated at the Kilis hospital was Ejnad Akkad, a fighter for the opposition Free Syrian Army, who was wounded by a mine planted by the Islamic State group near the border with Turkey. "The Russian planes have decimated people. The (improvised explosive devices) and mines belonging to (IS) have also slaughtered people," he said. "The (Syrian) regime is advancing only thanks to the Russian warplanes and Shiite militias." At a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Cavusoglu said Turkey was admitting refugees in "in a controlled manner" and that 10,000 Syrians had been allowed in recently. He did not elaborate, and it was not clear if he was referring to the thousands of Syrian Turkmens who were admitted into Turkey earlier this month. The UN's World Food Program said Tuesday it has begun shipping lentils, pasta, beans, vegetable oil, wheat flour, sugar and other items to the town of Azaz northwest of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey, and hopes to continue in coming days. "We are extremely concerned, as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off," said Jakob Kern, the WFP country director for Syria. "But we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey." The war in Syria against President Bashar Assad's government has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it began in 2011. New Delhi: A 35-year-old man allegedly shot himself dead while trying to pull off a stunt at a party in west Delhi's Uttam Nagar area, police said on Monday. The incident took place last night when the deceased, identified as one Ram Mehar alias Ramavtar, a native of a village in Haryana, went to an apartment in Uttam Nagar to join a group of friends for drinks, police said. Those present at the party told police that Mehar pulled out his pistol and emptied the chambers. He then picked up a single bullet and put it back into a slot in the cylinder, which he then spun before placing the pistol on the table. Saying he had seen such a stunt in a Bollywood film, he took the gun, placed it on his temple and pulled the trigger. But the gun did not fire, those at the party told police. On allegedly being cheered on, he pulled the trigger once more and again the gun did not fire. Following this, his friends asked him to stop, but he repeated the stunt and was lucky a third time. However, when he tried the stunt a fourth turn, the pistol fired and the bullet pierced his head. After police were informed, Mehar was taken to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead. "We are awaiting the post-mortem report. From preliminary investigation, no foul play is suspected. However, we are questioning all the persons present at the party, including Mehar's cousin," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Dependra Pathak. He said that though no case has been registered and Mehar's family members are yet to arrive from his village, the matter is being probed from all possible angles, including murder. New Delhi: Differences among the several striking unions of Delhi's municipal employees further came out in the open, with a few of the bodies affiliated to Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh deciding to call off their stir, while another group of unions continued to hold protests on Tuesday to press for their demands. "The unions of sanitation workers, health services staff, engineering and other departments of municipal corporation, affiliated to Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), have decided to call off their strike showing respect to the High Court and considering hardships faced by people," said Moolchand, president of Delhi Pradesh Safai Mazdoor Sangh. The sanitation workers of the three municipal corporations had yesterday agreed before the Delhi High Court to call off their strike and resume work immediately after the three BJP-ruled corporations said they had released their wages, though the two camps have failed to reach any resolution. Even as BMS-affiliated unions decided to end their participation in the stir, unions associated with Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha continued their strike and held protest today in front of AAP minister Kapil Mishra's residence in east Delhi. "We are protesting against Delhi government minister's because the conditions of loan of Rs 551 crore extended to North Delhi and East Delhi municipal corporations by the government are against employees," claimed Sanjay Gehlot president of the Sanyukt Morcha. "We will abide by our stand regarding permanent solutions of the employees grievances and demands in the the High Court tomorrow," he said. The leaders of United Front of MCD Employees had suspended their stir for two days after appearing in the court. The High Court has fixed February 10 as the next date of hearing of a PIL filed for calling off of the strike, citing sanitation crisis in the city. Sanyukt Morcha will hold a meeting of striking workers unions at the headquarters of East Delhi Municipal Corporation in Patparganj where a further decision on the strike will be taken unanimously tomorrow, Gehlot said. New Delhi: A 25-year-old member of an international credit and debit card cloning gang has been arrested here for cheating many people across India by withdrawing money from their accounts, police said on Tuesday. Pankaj Bhardwaj, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Monday from the India Gate area in a joint operation by Delhi and Mumbai police. "Members of the card cloning gang are spread across Dubai, Mumbai and Delhi," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said. Mumbai police came to know about such a gang active in Dadar area after it received several complaints from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and some southern states that money was being withdrawn from the accounts of some people through different ATMs. "Following the complaint, Mumbai police recently arrested a man named Nisar from Dadar when he was withdrawing money from an ATM. More than 20 cloned ATM cards were recovered from him," the officer said. Mumbai police sought assistance from Delhi Police when it knew that Nisar used to send cash to a man named Sumair Sheikh through a 'hawala' operator based in Delhi. "We identified the local hawala operator as Pankaj Bhardwaj and arrested him," the officer said. Bhardwaj told interrogators that he used to receive the amount sent by Ansari and some other gang members on behalf of Sheikh, who stays in Dubai. At the instance of Sheikh, interrogators said Bhardwaj used to buy bitcoins -- a cryptographic, digital and experimental currency introduced in the digital world in 2008 -- and transfer the same online to Sheikh who encashed it. Bhardwaj used to get a handsome share from this amount, the officer said. The value of one bitcoin is equivalent to Rs.24,633, the officer said. "Sheikh would procure data of debit and credit cards through his sources and his associates in Mumbai cloned the cards, withdrew the money and forwarded the amount after keeping their share to Delhi through hawala for him. "But instead of receiving the amount directly, Sheikh would ask Bhardwaj to collect the money from the Hawala operator," the officer said. Bhardwaj admitted to have forwarded bitcoins equivalent to more than Rs.30 lakh to Sheikh in last 4-5 months. He recently received Rs.14 lakh from Mumbai and forwarded bitcoins of Rs 5 lakh to Sheikh. Police recovered Rs 8 lakh from his house. Bhardwaj works at Secure Bitcoins Traders Pvt Ltd in Pitampura in west Delhi as an operations manager. Members of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah attend the funeral of Ali Ahmed Sabra, a fellow fighter who was killed in combat alongside Syrian government forces in Aleppo. (Photo: AFP) Abu Dhabi: Separate trials have opened in the United Arab Emirates of three men accused of links to Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement and 23 others for ties to Al-Qaeda, newspapers reported on Tuesday. The three Lebanese men charged with "forming and managing a group linked to Hezbollah without obtaining a permit" appeared Monday before Abu Dhabi's state security, Emarat al-Youm newspaper said. Al-Ittihad daily said one of the men is a Canadian citizen and that representatives of his country's consulate attended the hearing, during which all three defendants denied the charges. The trial was adjourned to February 15. In March last year, the Lebanese government said 70 Lebanese, mostly Shiites, were facing deportation from the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, dozens of Lebanese Shiites who had lived in the UAE for years were expelled on suspicion of links to Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, the arch rival of Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies. In the other trial, 23 mostly Yemeni defendants have been charged with forming a cell linked to Al-Qaeda as well as forgery, the newspapers said. Two of the defendants remain at large, according to the reports. That trial was adjourned to March 7. Authorities have enacted tougher anti-terror legislation, including harsher jail terms and have introduced the death penalty for crimes linked to religious hatred and extremist groups. The UAE stepped up security measures since the wave of Arab Spring protests that swept the region in 2011. In July, the UAE executed an Emirati woman for the jihadist-inspired 2014 murder of an American school teacher in an Abu Dhabi shopping mall. Shillong: In a goodwill gesture, the BSF on Tuesday handed over four Bangladesh citizens including a woman who had crossed over to India in search of jobs, to their counterparts in Bangladesh. Four Bangladeshis were apprehended at an unmarked border in South West Khasi Hills district while they were crossing into India from across the International border earlier, a BSF spokesperson said here. They were identified as Pollas Sangma, Sajol Sangma, Roma Sangma and Krishon Sangma, all residents of Ramnathpur village in Bangladesh's Netrakona district, he said. During cross examination, they revealed that they had crossed the border in search of jobs in the coal mines in the state. The spokesperson said the Bangladeshis were later handed over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) as a goodwill gesture following the Co-ordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) jointly signed by both countries. Meanwhile, 13 cattle were seized by the BSF at Lyngkhat area in East Khasi Hills district in a special drive to contain the smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh. The BSF spokesperson said the BSF has intensified its operations on the Indo-Bangladesh Border to prevent trans-border crimes and the seized items were handed over to the government. New Delhi: Continuing with his revelations in the planning and execution of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks , terrorist David Headley on day 2 said that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit spies from Indian Army. While testifying before a special TADA court in Mumbai on Tuesday, Headley said that Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and and Jaish-e-Mohammed worked under United Jihad Council and their only motto is to unleash a proxy war against India. While replying to the questions from prosecutors, Headley also narrated his several meetings with Pakistani Army and ISI officials. In another revelation, he told that Lashkar dropped the plan to attack Indian defence scientist at Mumbai's Hotel Taj in 2007 as the arms and ammunitions could not reach on time. Highlights of Headley's testimony on day 2: 1. I got permission from Dr Rana to set up my office in Mumbai. 2. I visited Taj Hotel (Mumbai) on Sep 14, 2006 and left from hotel on September 28,2006. Bashir Sheikh, who was a friend of Dr Rana, came to pick me up from Mumbai Airport where I met him for the first time. I didn't know Bashir Sheikh prior to this Mumbai visit. During my stay, I conducted surveillance in Taj Hotel (Mumbai) many times. Conducted surveillance of the hotel's 2nd floor when I stayed with my wife Faiza. 3. On my return, I gave the videography of second floor of Taj Hotel (Mumbai) to Sajid Mir (LeT) and Major Iqbal. 4. I was asked by Sajid Mir (LeT) to specifically conduct a surveillance of Siddhivinayak Temple. 4. Multiple targets for the included Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (Mumbai), Naval, Air station, Maharashtra Police state headquarters, Oberoi Hotel and CST. This included the video of Leopold cafe, Colaba Police Station and shops and Restaurants which are on the same road. 6. During my surveillance in Mumbai, I used GPS device to store the locations. The device was provided to me by Sajid Mir (LeT) and Abu Khafa, so that I could save various locations including locations in Arabian Sea. After my surveillance in Mumbai, I handed over the GPS device to Sajid Mir (LeT). 7. In early 2006, I met Major Iqbal for the 1st time at some house in Lahore. In this meeting, a Colonel from Pak Army was also present. 8. Lashkar had also planned to target Indian defence scientist during a conferecne at Mumbai's Hotel Taj in 2007, a year ahead of the 26/11 attacks. The attack could not take place as the meeting was cancelled. 9. My wife Faiza lodged a complaint in US Assembly (Islamabad) that I was involved in terrorist activities with LeT. 10. I met Abdul Rahman Pasha for first time in a mosque in Lahore in early 2003. 11. I met Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Mazhar hundred miles away from South Lahore in October 2003 12. LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen are working under United Jihad council. All these are terrorist organizations in Pakistan and working against India. 13. I met Zakiur Rehman LakhvI for the 1st time in 2003 in Muzaffarabad (PoK) at headquarters of LeT. 14. David Headley identifies photograph of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. 15. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was operational commander of LeT 16. In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and me, it was decided that I should go to India. 17. In Nov-Dec 2007, a meeting took place in Muzaffarabad (PoK) which was attended by Sajid Mir, Abu Khafa and me (David Headley). In this meeting, they assigned me the task of conducting recce of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai as they wanted to attack it. 18. In 2007, LeT decided to conduct terror attack in Mumbai. Earlier on Monday, Headley, while answering 40 questions posed by prosecut0rs, made a series of revelations exposing Pakistan and Lashkar's role in planning executing 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Headley, who was pardoned by the court after he agreed to turn approver in connection with the 26/11 trials, testified in court via video conferencing. The prosecution team was headed Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and well known criminal lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani represented Headley before the special TADA court. Mumbai: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said on Tuesday that terror outfits LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen were given "financial" and "military" support by the ISI as he made fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and famous Siddhivinayak temple. On the second day of his deposition through videoconferencing from a US jail before the Special TADA Court here, Headley said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). In his response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the LeT and the ISI. He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI - Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali - besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al-Qaeda. Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay, as per PTI. Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, Headley said in November-December 2007 he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai. At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap. He was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba, and discussed everything with Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army. Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba Police Station, the local markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi. "Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them," Headley said, adding that the plan to target Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for "logistics reasons", as per IANS. All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device for future uses, he added. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: The Congress Party on Tuesday said David Coleman Headley `s deposition before the court is a testimony that once again establishes the deep involvement of the state of Pakistan in perpetrating terrorism on Indian soil, and now, it is for the government to take it forward and isolate Islamabad to bring the real perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice. "Materially, this has been established time and again that the Pakistani establishment - the deep state, the permanent state of Pakistan -deeply involved since 1980s in fermenting terrorism in India," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told ANI. Stating that it is for the government to take it forward to bring the real perpetrators of 26/11 to justice, Tewari said, "With materially these revelations from Headley now taking a form of a testimony in the court of law, the important thing is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to do about it? How is the Government of India, which has been vacillating and going all over the place with its Pakistan policies, now going to use this in order to isolate Pakistan?" Deposing before a Mumbai court in connection with 26/11 Mumbai attacks that claimed 166 lives and left scores of people injured, Headley Headley, notably, named Major Ali and Major Iqbal of Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lashkar commander Sajid Mir as his contacts in Pakistan. He admitted that he had met both Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) commander Hafeez Saeed and then operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. He told the court that Lashkar had planned to attack at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Headley described Lashkar as "a militant organisation in Pakistan whose goal is to fight the Indian Army and assist the people of Kashmir." Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi would give religious speeches and speak of `jihad,` defined as "fight against enemies of Islam." They, Headley said, treated India as their enemy. New Delhi: In a relief for several premier institutions that had received notices for off-campus centres, the HRD ministry has accepted a UGC proposal which allows private (rpt) private deemed universities upto six campuses beyond approved geographical boundaries. However, government run deemed Universities like the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, can expand much further as the restriction of having not more than six off-campuses does not apply to them. Several leading institutions including the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBMI), Mumbai, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, Banasthali University (Rajasthan), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research are learnt to have been issued notices by the UGC over over their off-campus centres. In another key development, the ministry has also approved a UGC proposal laying the criteria for appointment of Vice Chancellors. Now a candidate to be appointed a Vice Chancellor of a deemed University should have a minimum of ten years of experience as professor in University system or ten years of equivalent experience in a reputed research or academic organisation. The details for composition of search and selection committees for selection have also been finalised. "The Commission (UGC) had in a recent meeting approved these amendments in the UGC regulations for deemed institutions which have found concurrence of the ministry," a senior HRD ministry official said. The Vice Chancellor shall be a whole time salaried officer of the Institution appointed by the Visitor or Chancellor from a panel of three names suggested by a search cum selection committee. As per the new norms, in case the management control of an institution deemed to be a University is with the Centre or the State governments, the VC shall be appointed in accordance with procedure laid down by these governments. In case where funding of the institution deemed to be a University is more than or equal to 50 per cent, the search cum selection committee should comprise a nominee of the chancellor, a nominee of the government who shall be an eminent academic nominated in consultation with UGC and a nominee of Board of management. In cases where the funding is less than 50 per cent of expenditure, the search cum selection committee should include a nominee of the Visitor or Chancellor, who would head it. Other members of the search cum selection committee would include a nominee of Chairman UGC and a nominee of a Syndicate or Executive council or Board of Management of the Deemed University. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag joined the nation in praying for Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who miraculously survived below 25 feet of snow on the icy slopes of Siachen Glacier. Army Chief Dalbir Singh was the first to reach Army's Research and Referral Hospital in the national capital after Hanumanthappa was flown in from Siachen. Later, Prime Minister Modi himself made a visit to the hospital and discussed the brave soldier's health condition with doctors at the hospital. The PM was at the ICU where the Lance Naik is battling for life. Media reports said that he wanted to know all about the line of treatment being administered to Hanumanthappa. The PM tweeted: Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 Modi's surprise visit has created a lot of warmth in the army fraternity as it is for the first time that a PM has made such an unannounced visit to the hospital to enquire about the health of an injured soldier. Meanwhile, Betadur village in Karnataka's Dharwad district is celebrating their brave son's miraculous escape from the icy slopes of Siachen. One of Hanumanthappa's relatives said, We are all very happy, God has helped us. He is named after Hanuman, he trumped death. The entire nation stands in prayer with Hanumanthappa's 62-year-old mother Basamma, his wife Mahadevi and his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter that he pulls through in the battle for life. New Delhi: Family members of a 42-year-old man, who was killed two years ago after a rashly driven car hit him, have been awarded a compensation of over Rs 73 lakh by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here. MACT Presiding Officer Naveen Arora directed IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance Company Ltd, insurer of the offending car, to pay Rs 73,11,200 to the wife and two minor kids of victim Yogesh Munjal, who was riding a motorcycle when the vehicle hit him in 2014. The tribunal, while deciding the petition filed by the victim's wife, relied on the FIR, charge sheet, post mortem report of Munjal and statement of another person who was injured in the same accident. It also noted that the victim "had a bright future as his earnings were increasing day by day, and because of his talent and skill he was also allowed to do business alongwith job." According to the petition, on November 21, 2014, the victim, who was working with a private firm and had a business too, was on his bike when a rashly-driven Maruti Swift car hit him and another bike rider near Fatehpur Beri in South Delhi. He and the other injured were taken to a nearby hospital where Munjal died, it said. The tribunal noted that during the proceedings, the driver-cum-owner of the car did not deny the contents of the FIR as no written statement was filed by him. New Delhi: Mahadevi, the wife of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad who survived a deadly avalanche last week at the world's highest battlefield in Siachen on Tuesday expressed her joy over her husband's return from the glaciers and termed it as a 'rebirth for the entire family'. Betadur village which is situated in Kundgol Taluk in Dharwad district of Karnataka is the native place of Lance Naik Koppad. The entire village today filled with joy after they received Hanumanthappa's survival news. Speaking exclusively to IBN Khabar, Mahadevi also expressed her will to visit her ailing husband who has been hospitalised in Army hospital here. Hanumanthappa Koppad is currently under a critical condition as he is comatose and is on ventilator support. "My husbands grandmother inspired him in his life. Her prayers are with him. She actually saved him from certain death in Siachen. It is a rebirth for all of us," she said. However, the Lance Naik's wife said that none of the government officials have contacted her family yet. Therefore, she is completely unaware of her husband's condition. Recalling the day when an avalanche hit the Siachen, Mahadevi further said, We were informed about my husband on that unfateful day when the landslide hit the glaciers. After receiving the news, world had ended for us that day. We had lost all hopes. We all were weeping that night when we got to know about the Siachen incident. But, yesterday night we all were happy after so many days when we came to know from various news channels that my husband is alive, she added, according to the report. Mahadevi and Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad are married for four years and also have a two-year-old child. He is my son and somewhere I knew that he would come back to me, said an overjoyed mother of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa from Betadur before leaving for New Delhi. According to media reports, the 62-year-old Basamma is currently travelling to the national capital along with Mahadevi to meet the ailing Hanamanthappa. Earlier, prior to leaving for Delhi, Mahadevi said that it was a miracle and the prayers of the family is what saved him. I am just waiting to see him now she also said. The mother further said, I gave birth to him and somewhere I felt that he was alive. I felt very sad hearing the news, but somewhere deep within I felt that he would come back. I was proven right she also said, she added. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set aside his security protocol to meet the jawan at the Army Hospital Research and Referral (R&R). Koppad was buried under 35 ft of ice and snow at 20500 ft for five days since the avalanche at Siachen on February 3 and was rescued from the site yesterday. After the avalanche, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa and nine other soldiers were buried deep under the snow. A wall of ice, a kilometer wide and 800 metres high, came crashing down on their post. But, in a miraculous incident, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa got trapped in an air bubble, which saved his life. On recovery, he was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented. He was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. He was immediately resuscitated by the doctors at the site, who had been there for the past five days in the hope of a survivor. Mumbai: On the second day of his deposition on Tuesday, Pakistan- born terrorist David Coleman Headley revealed more startling details about 26/11 attacks and his role as he said that before Mumbai 26/11 attacks, Siddhivinayak temple was one of the planned targets of Pakistan's terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Headley, while testifying before a court here for the second day via video-link from the US, said that he was specifically directed by LeT terror group to conduct a reconnaissance of the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, which invites crowds of thousands of people every day. Headley, who had visited India seven times to scout for targets, said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station. "I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army," he told the Special Judge G A Sanap. He said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provided financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said and went on to claim that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay. After carrying out the surveillance of the famous Mumbai temple, he handed over the GPS device back to alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Sajid Mir, revealed Headley during the interrogation. He also revealed that LeT had planned an attack at a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and had even prepared its dummy. But the plan was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal and failure to know the schedule of the meet, he said. Nepal's newly elected Prime Minister Sushil Koirala waves to the media at the Constitution Assembly Hall in Katmandu, Nepal. Koirala, a key figure in adoption of Nepal's new constitution, has died in Kathmandu. He was 78. (Photo: AFP) Kathmandu: Former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, a moderate figure in Nepal's unsettled politics, died on Tuesday, presenting a potential hurdle in attempts to win greater rights for minorities in a new constitution. Koirala, 78, a senior figure in one of Nepal's biggest political dynasties, stood down as prime minister in October. He died overnight of respiratory illness, one of his doctors said, at his nephew's home in Kathmandu. He had helped prepare Nepal's first republican constitution that, its authors hoped, would take the Himalayan nation closer to stability and peace after years of conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. Koirala was head of the centrist Nepali Congress party, the largest opposition group in parliament, and had been expected to face a leadership challenge next month. Nepal has been in turmoil since the new constitution was adopted in September. The ethnic Madhesi community launched protests against the charter, saying it did not address their desire for a greater say in government. Laxman Lal Karna, from the Sadbhavana Party that organised those protests, said Koirala's death would not derail talks aimed at securing greater rights for minorities. Others said his death presented a succession problem for the Koirala dynasty. He never married. "More crucial will be who will carry the legacy of the Koirala dynasty that has produced four prime ministers in the past and dominated the Nepali Congress party in the past six decades," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the Annapurna Post daily. WHO'S NEXT? The Congress will hold a leadership election next month, with some in the party saying it could then seek to engineer the downfall of Prime Minister K.P. Oli, whose tough line against Madhesi protesters has angered India. The front runner to take over as party leader is Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time former prime minister who comes from the same social democratic tradition as Koirala and would likely show little sympathy towards the constitutional protesters. Although talks have made scant progress on meeting the grievances of minority Madhesis, who live in Nepal's southern plains and have close ties to India, tensions eased when they lifted a border blockade on Monday. That could pave the way for Oli to visit India later this month after Nepal's finance minister met government leaders in New Delhi over the weekend. Koirala spent several years in India, where he had close political ties. He was jailed there for three years for his role in the hijacking of a Nepali plane during the democracy struggle of the 1970s. Thousands of mourners, many carrying bouquets of flowers, gathered outside the house where Koirala's body lay. "He was a good-mannered and a moderate leader. I feel very sorry," said Chabilal Tamang, a Kathmandu vendor. Congress General Secretary Prakash Man Singh told state television a funeral would likely be held on Wednesday. Koirala had undergone treatment for tongue cancer in the United States and was given a clean bill of health in November before succumbing to pneumonia and bronchitis, aides said. New Delhi: According to the experts and Army veterans who have served at the Siachen , the world's highest battlefield, it is almost impossible for any human being to survive under such conditions even for 15 minutes. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa of the 19 Madras Regiment proved all of them wrong by surviving the drastic conditions and coming out alive after six days. Prior to their deployment at Siachen, soldiers had to undergo an acclimatisation camp where they are trained to survive the tough climatic conditions at the Siachen. But the acclimatisation camp also just prepares them to battle the extreme climate at 20,000 feet above sea level. But Hanumanthappa's case has left every expert answer less as this incident is something which has never been heard. Thappa, along with nine others was buried 26 feet deep when a snow wall as big as one kilometer wide and 800 metres high collapsed over his post. According to the experts, an air bubble, possibly created around him saved his life. But these are all speculations as the actual version will be know only through Thappa, who continues to remain critical but stable. After days of dispair, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's family in Betadur of Dharwad district in Karnataka, celebrated the news about their brave son. First thing what is wife did was to go to the nearest temple. "I am very happy, I want to go and see him," said Hanumanthappa's wife. However his father told he always knew that his son is alive. "His name is Hanuman, after Lord Hanuman. I knew he will defy death," said Hanumanthappa's father. On Tuesday, the rescue team also managed to dig out the body of remaining nine soldiers. All these soldiers were buried alive under the snow following an avalanche on Wednesday morning last week. Jammu: Describing the meeting between Abdul Basit and Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the national capital as a 'conspiracy', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday alleged that Pakistan's High Commissioner is working at the behest of the ISI. Expressing his disappointment over the meeting, BJP leader Ravinder Raina said the Pakistan High Commission's office in Delhi is gradually becoming a den of 'anti-national' activities. "Pakistan has been exposed due to the deposition of Headley. Whatever the ISI wants, only that happens in Pakistan. Somewhere, even Basit is working at the behest of the ISI. We won't tolerate this. I see a conspiracy behind this meeting. This is ridiculous and unacceptable. I will request the Centre to take stern action," Raina told ANI. "The meeting is unfortunate. Everyone knows the role of Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Jammu for the last 25-30 years. He is an agent of Pakistan. He is responsible for many murders and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir," he added. Raina also alleged that even Basit's credentials are not right, adding that the office of the Pakistan High Commission should be shut without any further delay. "It is our appeal to the Central Government to probe this and take strict action. The Pakistan High Commissioner has nothing to do in India. His office should be shut. Pakistan has become a den of terrorists. We should make a policy to destroy the terrorist organisations in Pakistan," he added. The Pakistani envoy earlier in the day called on Geelani to inquire about his health and also discussed the issue of Kashmir. During the meeting, Geelani extended his appreciation towards Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on account of Kashmir solidarity day. Geelani alleged that India was trying hard to 'suppress' the voices of the people of Kashmir. Basit assured him that Pakistan would continue to extend 'moral, political and diplomatic support' to the people of Kashmir. The High Commissioner also expressed hope that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be settled between Pakistan and India through a dialogue in accordance with the aspirations of the people of the state. India had earlier called off the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan twice over Basit's meetings with the separatists. Delhi: Indian Army's brave soldier Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was miraculously found alive in Siachen on Monday, attained martyrdom on Thursday at Delhi's Army hospital at around 11:45 AM. He along with nine others had been buried under a mass of snow after their post was hit by an avalanche last Wednesday at the altitude of 19,000 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Following are some facts which about Siachen Glacier and the difficult conditions that our soldiers work in. - The Siachen glacier is the highest battleground on the earth and the minimum temperature in the region can dip to -50 Degree Celsius or -140 Degree Fahrenheit in winters. - It is located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalaya Mountains where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. It is said to be the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. - Deployment of a soldier in Siachen is permitted by the Indian Army for a maximum period of three months and in the high-risk areas of the glacier such as Bana Post, the limit is said to be of 30 days. - The Army unit which is deployed in this difficult terrain is rotated after every six months. - Bone-chilling winds is said to whip the landscape and sun can burn the skin. It is also said that combined with thin air and sub-zero temperatures, it can induce acute depression. - In 1984, India launched Operation Meghdoot, a military operation that gave India control over all of the Siachen Glacier, including its tributaries. - In December 2015, Indian Union Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh had said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that a total of 869 Army personnel have lost their lives on the Siachen glacier due to climatic conditions and environmental and other factors till date since the Army launched Operation Meghdoot in 1984. - He had also said then that the government had spent over Rs 7,500 crore for procurement of clothing and mountaineering equipment for soldiers posted in high-altitude areas. - The region is also extremely remote, with limited road connectivity. On the Indian side, roads go only as far as the military base camp at Dzingrulma. The Indian Army has developed various means to reach the Siachen region, including the Manali-Leh-Khardung La-Siachen route. - Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh became the first Indian PM to visit the area, during which he called for a peaceful resolution of the problem. The then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari also visited the area during 2012 with Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. - Civilians are usually not allowed to go beyond Panamik, a small village in the Nubra Valley. Dharwad: Family members of Siachen avalanche survivor Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad flew to New Delhi on Tuesday night from Panaji to be with him as he battles for life in an army hospital, an official said. "Koppad's family was taken to the army hospital from the Indira Gandhi airport in a military car by the army to be his bedside," the official told IANS from Bengaluru, about 430 km from here. Earlier, the state government made arrangements to fly Koppad's family members to Delhi from Panaji in Goa, the nearest airport to Delhi. News of Koppad miraculously being alive six days after he was buried in a Siachen glacier in an avalanche on February 3 rejoiced his family, which almost gave up hopes of seeing him again. "The state government has made arrangements for the family's stay at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and transportation to reach the hospital at the earliest," Dharwad Deputy Commissioner P Rajendran Cholan told reporters here earlier. According to army sources, Koppad's family members -- including wife Mahadevi, mother Basavva, daughter Netra and brother Govindappa -- went in a car to Panaji from their native place Betadur near here, about 10 km from this city. Koppad of the 19th Madras Regiment was posted at the Siachen glacier, where nine of his colleagues were also buried about 40 feet deep in the avalanche in minus 40 degrees Celsius. When Koppad was flown to Delhi from Siachen in an air ambulance earlier in the day for reviving him from a comatose condition, the village folk joined his family to offer special prayers for his speedy recovery from a critical condition. "There is a ray of hope amid gloom in the village with prayers for Koppad's precious life," the source said. The defence ministry had advised the state government to make special arrangements for rushing Koppad's family to Delhi so that he could see them at the earliest. "It is a punar janam (rebirth) for him and all of us," Mahadevi told news channels, which rushed to Koppad's village for his family's response to the news of his being alive amidst gloom and doom. Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday supported women's entry in the famous Haji Ali dargah, amid the raging debate over ban on females' entry into certain religious places across the country. The government's counsel today argued in the Bombay High Court that the Haji Ali Trust cannot ban the entry of women in the dargah, CNN-IBN reported. Fundamental rights of a citizen are above customs and traditions, the government submitted before the court. The court had earlier this month asked the state government to give its opinion on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of the historic dargah. A bench headed by Justice VM Kanade had asked Advocate General Srihari Aney to submit arguments on behalf of the state on February 9 (today) stating whether women should be allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. The Supreme Court is already seized of a matter about entry of women in Sabarimala temple of Kerala. The Bombay High Court had indicated last month that it would wait for the Supreme Court's ruling on entry of women in Sabarimala temple in Kerala before deciding on the plea in the case of Haji Ali Dargah. The PIL in the Bombay High Court has challenged the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah. The petition had sought interim relief by way of allowing women into the sanctum sanctorum at the dargah until the matter is finally decided by the court. The trustees of Haji Ali Dargah had told the court earlier that entry of women in close proximity to the grave of a male Muslim saint is considered a grievous sin in Islam. The petitioners, however, claimed that gender justice is inherent in the Quran and the norm at the dargah contravenes the Hadiths which say that women are not prohibited from visiting tombs. The restriction emanates from "a very conservative and extremist Salafi ideology" and in future "there may be an order banning the entry of women in the dargah complex and banning the non-Muslims wholly," the petition argued. The petitioners' lawyer had contended that at other dargahs or shrines women are not banned. Women can enter the sanctum sanctorum at the historic Makhdoom Shah Dargah in suburban Mahim, the lawyer noted. (With PTI inputs) Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife Amruta has stoked a controversy by accepting a golden chain from godman Guruwanand Swami. The local Marathi news channels aired the footage showing Guruwanand Swami presenting a gold chain plucked out of thin air to Fadnavis's wife Amruta. Commenting on the issue, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik demanded an FIR to be lodged against Amruta under Black Magic Prevention and Prohibition of Exploiting Practices Act. Meanwhile, the CM's wife said she does not believed in miracles. While clarifying her stand, Amruta said, I dont believe in any kind of miracle and Guruwanand Swami gave me the chain as his blessing. Amruta further said she was just seeking blessings from an elderly person. While speaking to 'Hindustan Times', Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti executive president Avinash Patil said, We condemn such an act as it is against the scientific temper. More importantly, not a single person present there objected to the superstition that includes CMs wife. Maharashtra Assembly in 2013 passed the Black Magic Prevention and Prohibition of Exploiting Practices Bill, that seeks to curb black magic and other superstitious practices. Kolkata: A Muslim teacher in West Bengal's Murshidabad district allegedly thrashed a 14-year-old-student of Al Islamia Mission School so hard that it lead to the teenager's death. According to a report published in INDIA BLOOMS, the deceased child has been identified as Shamim Mullick. The report further quoted police officials as saying that the incident took place inside the school-hostel at Borya area in Murshidabad. Shamim Mullick met his parents on Monday evening in school-hostel compound, without taking permission from the school authority - this reason has been cited in the report which made the teacher angry. Thereafter the teacher of the school- Hanif Sheikh- and son of the school's owner- Liton Sheikh- allegedly beat the student so badly that he became unconscious. Later, Shamim Mullick was taken to Kandi Sub Divisional Hospital where he was declared dead. The victim's family claimed that, they were informed about the incident too late. The boarding-school authorities however has denied all allegations against them. Meanwhile, police have arrested the two accused- Hanif and Liton. They were later produced in Kandi Sub Divisional Court today where the judge sent them to two days police custody. "We have started investigation into the case. Arrested two are being interrogated. Actual reason behind the student's death will be known, after the post-mortem report comes out," IBNS quoted a senior police official of Murshidabad district as saying. Mexico City: A Mexican airline is now at the centre of a controversy after it barred a turban-wearing Sikh actor from boarding its flight to New York City. Waris Ahluwalia, also a designer, was not allowed to board the plane as he refused to remove his turban during the security check, American media reported. The incident happened on Monday in Mexico's capital, Mexico City. Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh, had checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico Citys international airport at around 5:30 am. He was given a first-class boarding pass at the counter carrying a code which, according to him, implied he require a secondary security screening. The actor said the crew of Mexico's national flag carrier first made him wait at the gate of Flight 408 to New York City to let other passengers board. Later, during the second security check, his feet and bag were searched, he was asked to remove his sweatshirt and was patted down. The airline crew did not stop at this and told him to remove his turban. I responded matter-of-factly that I wont be taking off my turban. And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, OK, then you are not getting on the flight, The New York Times quoted Ahluwalia as saying. The US actor further said the airline officials told him that he would not be allowed to board any Aeromexico flight unless he takes off his turban for security check. It (turban) is a symbol of my faith. It is something that I wear whenever I am in public, Ahluwalia said. Sikh designer & actor @HOUSE_of_WARIS denied onboard @AeroMexico from Mexico 2 NYC this morning due to fear.#EndHate pic.twitter.com/MaVuZxqhJs Sikh Coalition (@sikh_coalition) February 8, 2016 The airline later issued a statement saying it was only following Transportation Security Administration protocol in asking the US actor to take off his turban. The statement added that Ahluwalia had been offered alternatives to reach his destination as soon as possible. 41-year-old Ahluwalia is based in Manhattan and is well-known for his House of Waris jewellry line. Washington: Barack Obama unveils the last budget of his presidency Tuesday, a multitrillion-dollar plan that is dead-on-arrival in Congress but could shape the 2016 White House race. Legislatively, the future looks bleak for Obama`s 2017 fiscal year plan, which covers spending on everything from cybersecurity to cancer research. Republicans who control Congress have already vowed to draft their own, "Rather," in the words of House Budget committee chairman Tom Price, "than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this administration`s previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies." Adding insult to White House injury, spending announcements that would have made waves in the first year of Obama`s administration are likely to quickly dissolve into saturation coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary, which also takes place Tuesday. Still, the budget provides Obama with an opportunity to fashion national and Democratic party priorities. The White House is promising a statement of intent that will be a "coherent, prioritized a budget that reflects the need to expand economic opportunity for everybody in United States," said spokesman Josh Earnest. It will include plans to levy a $10-a-barrel tax on oil, a measure that would aggressively push Obama`s efforts to wean the United States off fossil fuels. A "computer science for all" program would give school $4 billion to teach a "new basic skill" and help modernize workforce skills. Looking further afield, the proposal will include $7.5 billion -- a 50 percent increase from the previous year -- to fund the campaign against the Islamic State group. That includes $1.8 billion to play for over 45,000 more GPS-guided smart bombs. The budget would also invest more than $19 billion on cybersecurity, a 35 percent increase. The plan might have its biggest impact on the campaign trail, where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting a tougher-than-expected battle for the Democratic Party`s presidential nomination. The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. (Photo: AP) Lahore: A Pakistani court has accepted a petition seeking direction to the government to bring back Koh-i-Noor from British Queen Elizabeth-II, overruling the objection to the plea for the famed diamond. Lahore high court justice Khalid Mahmood Khan on Monday overruled the objection by the courts registrar office to the petition which has named Queen Elizabeth II and British High Commission in Pakistan respondents in the case. The plea filed by barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry made Pakistans claim over the 105-carat gem on the basis that it was taken from the territory that became Pakistan in 1947. The court directed the office to fix the petition before any appropriate bench for hearing. In December last year, the registrar offices had dismissed the plea terming it as non-maintainable and said that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case against the British Queen. The petitioner filed a fresh application in the high court pleading that in Britain the Queen is respondent in every case. Why cant she be made respondent in a case in Pakistan, he argued in the court. In the petition, Jaffry argued that Britain forcibly and under duress stole the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took it to Britain. The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, he said. The London-trained lawyer said that he has written 786 letters to the Queen and to Pakistani officials before filing the lawsuit. Koh-i-Noor was not legitimately acquired. Grabbing and snatching it was a private, illegal act which is justified by no law or ethics. A wrong is a wrong. It does not become righteous or right by passage of time or even acquiescence, he said in the petition. Claiming that the diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact, he sought direction to the government to bring the diamond back to Pakistan from the UK. The Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels and is now on display in the Tower of London. India has made regular requests for the jewels return, saying the diamond is an integral part of the countrys history and culture. India says that Koh-i-Noor was illegally acquired and demands that it should be returned along with other treasures looted during colonial rule. Barbados on Tuesday confirmed three cases of Zika in pregnant women, bringing to seven the number of people on the Caribbean island with the virus, which is believed to be linked to birth defects. The women will be given specialized obstetric care, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. The new cases were announced on the Barbados government information services Facebook page. Zika, a primarily mosquito-borne illness, has spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean. It generally causes mild symptoms but has been blamed for a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains. Barbados said that link has not been confirmed. "The situation is still evolving and information is being updated regularly," the Ministry of Health said. The World Health Organization has declared a global medical emergency to combat Zika and individual countries and regions are beginning to mobilize. With no cure or vaccine for the virus, some countries have taken the extraordinary step of urging women to delay getting pregnant. According to the Pan-American Health Organization, 26 countries have confirmed cases, spanning 7,000 kilometers (4,400 miles) from Mexico to Paraguay. The hardest hit country is Brazil, which hosts the Summer Olympics starting in August. Brazil has warned pregnant women not to travel there but Games organizers have said by the time the Olympics start, the main mosquito season will be over and they don`t expect the illness to affect the sporting extravaganza. Nairobi: In a startling revelation, it emerged on Tuesday that the passengers on a Somali plane, which was hit by a bomb detonation mid-air on February 2, were originally meant to fly Turkish Airlines. Daallo Airlines chief executive officer Mohamed Ibrahim Yasin Olad told AFP that the man, who is believed to have detonated the bomb on the flight, had initially intended to board a Turkish Airlines flight. The blast on board the Daallo Airlines flight ripped a hole in the fuselage of the plane. The blast took place not long ago after the flight took off from Somalia's main airport. While the suspected bomber was killed in the incident, the plane managed to make an emergency landing. "The passengers were intended for another airline, Turkish Airlines," Yasin Olad said. He added that Daallo Airlines agreed to fly the passengers onwards to Djibouti after the Turkish plane failed to turn up. The AFP reported that Somali intelligence officials have released surveillance footage which shows a passenger being given a laptop in which the bomb was likely concealed. Somali security officials have so far arrested 15 people in connection with the incident. Investigators have identified the dead passenger as Abdulahi Abdisalam, who was propelled out of the aircraft in the explosion. Two of the 74 passengers were slightly injured. Daallo Airlines operates flights across Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa and Gulf region. Turkish Airlines is one of the only major international airlines to fly regularly to Mogadishu. While no terror group has claimed responsibility for the blast, the needle of suspicion is pointing towards the Islamic State. Paris: Lawmakers in France's lower house of parliament has voted through a highly controversial proposal to amend the constitution to strip people convicted of terrorist offences of their French nationality. The measure, passed by a show of hands, yesterday followed weeks of debate and is one of a tough set of measures proposed by President Francois Hollande in the wake of the jihadist attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people. The nationality measure has strong public support but has deeply divided Hollande's ruling Socialist Party. Christiane Taubira resigned as justice minister late last month over her opposition to it and Hollande's former prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has publicly condemned the amendment. Lawmakers will vote today on the collective package of measures proposed by Hollande. They voted on Monday in favour of the other key measure in the package, the move to enshrine the state of emergency in the constitution. Earlier yesterday, parliament overwhelmingly voted to extend the current state of emergency by another three months, giving police and security forces increased powers. Rights groups say police are abusing these powers, but the government says it is an essential step to protect the nation at a time when France could face another jihadist attack. New York: The widow of late Islamic State group financial leader Abu Sayyaf was charged Monday for her alleged role in the death of US aid worker Kayla Mueller last year. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, a 25-year-old known as Umm Sayyaf, was accused of conspiring to provide support to the violent extremists, forcibly detaining Mueller and other captives in the couple`s homes, where she was sexually assaulted by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Bahar acknowledged that Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residences, describing "owning" as equivalent to slavery, federal prosecutors said. IS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble. US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26. Abu Sayyaf was killed in May 2015 in a rare US commando raid inside war-torn Syria. Bahar was captured during the operation, and US forces also rescued a young woman from the Yazidi minority and seized a stash of firearms, the complaint recalled. Mueller and other female "captives were at various times handcuffed, held in locked rooms and given orders on a daily basis with respect to their activities, movements and liberty," according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Virginia. "While in captivity, Kayla Jean Mueller was sexually abused by Baghdadi, who forced her to have sex with him," it added. "The defendant (Bahar) knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant`s home." The complaint also alleged that Bahar told the captives that "she would kill them if they did not listen to her." Bahar admitted that she had sole responsibility for holding the hostages captive while her husband traveled on IS business, and that Baghdadi and other members of the group would stay at the residence at times, according to the complaint. If convicted, Bahar faces life in prison. She is currently in Iraqi custody, facing prosecution for terror-related activities. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement. "We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." District of Columbia: North Korea has restarted a plutonium reactor that could fuel a nuclear bomb and is seeking missile technology that could threaten the United States, Washington`s top spy said Tuesday. In an annual threat assessment, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and senior military and intelligence officials singled out the authoritarian pariah state as a major and unpredictable menace. Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, the director the the Defense Intelligence Agency, joined Clapper to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee on the global dangers faced by US planners. "North Korea`s nuclear weapons program and evolving missile programs are a continuing threat," he said. Clapper said the Kim Jong-un`s secretive Pyongyang regime continues to develop cyber-espionage and cyber-attack capabilities, and has sold illegal weapons technology to other states. Last month, the regime tested what it said was a "hydrogen bomb," but -- according to Clapper -- US intelligence believes "the yield was too low for it to have been successful test of a staged thermonuclear device." It was the north`s fourth nuclear test, and an apparent bid to expand its arsenal with a more destructive thermonuclear device. Despite this apparent failure, North Korea has pressed on with its ballistic missile program and on Saturday launched a rocket into space, a move which Washington and Tokyo said was a banned weapons test. "Pyongyang continues to produce fissile material and develop a submarine launched ballistic missile," Clapper told the lawmakers. "It is also committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that`s capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, although the system has not been flight tested." Perhaps most worrying for the Americans, however, is North Korea`s resumption of plutonium production -- a sign it remains bent on producing a more powerful bomb despite international economic sanctions. "We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor`s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months," Clapper said. North Korea mothballed the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after its third nuclear test in 2013. When fully operational, the reactor is capable of producing around six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year -- enough for one nuclear bomb, experts say. Last month, Washington-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images suggest the reactor is operating only intermittently and at low capacity. Stewart told the panel that North Korea had paraded a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile in a recent parade, launched two satellites into orbit and was testing a submarine launched missile. In response to the latest North Korean provocations, Washington plans to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to its ally South Korea and has been pushing the UN Security Council to impose new sanctions. A draft sanctions resolution prepared by Japan, South Korea and the United States has been in negotiations for weeks, but veto-wielding China, the North`s key ally, has been reluctant to back measures that would damage North Korea`s already weak economy. "I don`t think there`s any question that to the extent that anyone has leverage over North Korea, it`s China," Clapper told the committee. The US spy chief estimated that the otherwise impoverished state does 90 percent of its external trade with its giant neighbor China, which buys around $1.2 billion in coal from Pyongyang every year. "And then, of course, it`s illicit finance," he alleged. "They have an organized approach to laundering money." China fears that pushing Pyongyang too far could trigger instability and unleash a wave of starving refugees across its border. Beijing also worries that a wholesale collapse of the regime in Pyongyang could eventually lead to a US-allied unified Korea right on its doorstep. The North is already subject to numerous UN sanctions over previous rocket launches and three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. It routinely insists the rocket launches are part of a legitimate space exploration program, but the United States and its allies view them as disguised ballistic missile tests. Bangkok: Thai security forces have tortured scores of detainees in the country`s conflict-strewn south, rights groups said Tuesday, with beatings, suffocations and death threats among a litany of alleged abuses. Special security laws govern Thailand`s Muslim-majority southernmost provinces, where more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in a 12-year insurgency against Thai rule. Under martial law and the emergency decree that smothers the south, suspected rebels can be detained for six weeks without charge. As a result many young Muslim men have been swept into arbitrary detention where they are vulnerable to torture, according to a report by several well-respected advocacy groups to be released on Wednesday. The study, rare research in a dangerous zone cloaked by security forces and insurgents, is based on interviews with 54 former detainees between 2014-15 who alleged they were physically or mentally tortured over the last few years. Alleged beatings of suspects, threats at gunpoint, sensory deprivation and suffocation were all routine during detention, researchers said. Many of the suspects were later released without charge. "What we have documented is the tip of the iceberg," said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, of the Cross Cultural Foundation, a rights group. The situation has worsened since Thailand`s 2014 coup put the military in power, she added. "With no accountability or oversight mechanisms since the coup... interrogation officers have almost a free hand" over detainees, she explained. The insurgents are seeking greater autonomy from Thailand, which annexed the culturally distinct region more than a century ago. The rebels employ brutal tactics including shootings, beheadings and bombings often targeting perceived civilian collaborators such as teachers and even Buddhist monks. One suspect, Weasohok Doloh, told AFP that he was hauled into custody in May 2015 on suspicion of involvement in a bombing -- an accusation he denies. He was taken to Inkayuth military camp, an interrogation centre in Pattani province, where he alleged he was abused over several days. "At first they just slapped me," the 32-year-old builder said, adding he resisted confessing to links with the rebels. But the abuse worsened and after a few days he alleged he was stripped naked by three interrogators who also tied his hands. "Suddenly one (interrogator) pushed me onto a chair and forced a plastic bag over my head. I couldn`t breathe... they released the bag when I said I would confess. But I had nothing to confess to, so they did it again," he said. In total he spent 84 days in custody before prosecutors decided not to press charges. "Inkayuth military camp is a place where bad things are swept under the carpet," says Anchana Heemmina of Duay Jai, a local rights group which co-authored the report. "We have heard stories of suffering from there for 12 years," she added, urging the army to allow lawyers access to suspects from the moment of arrest. A Muslim man died in custody at Inkayuth in December last year. The army says it was from a heart attack. A separate report released last week by the Muslim Attorney`s Centre (MAC), a southern-based advocacy group, collected testimony of 75 people who alleged they were the tortured in custody in 2015. Army spokesman Pramote Prom-In, dismissed the torture allegations contained in both reports as "imaginary". "Losing their freedom may be torture for them... but we need to enforce the law," he told AFP. "Detainees are allowed family visits and arrests are made in front of witnesses," he added. The military has hailed a record drop in violence in recent months as the result of better intelligence-led operations since it took power. It is also engaged in contacts with a number of rebel representatives that Bangkok hopes will lead to full peace talks. But critics cast doubt on the army`s sincerity and the ability of their rebel interlocuters to tug the leash of the rebel foot soldiers. Kilis: Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the United Nations demanded on Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syria's largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, insists that it has an open-door policy toward Syrians escaping conflict but has still kept a key border crossing closed for days. Government officials say the country will provide assistance to the displaced Syrians within their own borders "as much as possible" and would allow them in "when necessary." The UN humanitarian office OCHA said some 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if Syrian government and allied forces encircle the city of Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. Separately, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler asked Turkey to open the border to "all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection as they have done since the start of this crisis." Spindler also urged other nations to shoulder the refugee burden and to work to end the conflict. "At the end of the day, the answer to this crisis is for the peace process to continue in Syria and for the conflict to be solved," Spindler said. Today, several aid trucks could be seen moving through Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, which remained shut to refugees for the fifth straight day. Turkish authorities and charities are assisting the Syrians at a displaced persons camp near the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues. At a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Cavusoglu said Turkey was admitting refugees in "in a controlled manner" and that 10,000 Syrians had been allowed in recently. He did not elaborate, however, and it was not clear if he was referring to the thousands of Syrian Turkmens who were admitted into Turkey earlier this month. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, meanwhile, called on world nations to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. He predicted that Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once left Afghanistan in defeat. Washington: The US has said it is committed to assist India in bringing perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice after Pakistani-American key LeT operative David Coleman Headley in his first deposition told a court that Pakistani terrorists conducted 26/11 strikes after two failed attempts. "The United States is committed to doing all we can to assist the government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "Certainly, it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm but across all others as well," Kirby said. Kirby was responding to questions on the deposition by Pakistani-American terrorist Headley, who yesterday told a Mumbai court via a video-link from the US how his outfit had planned the 26/11 attacks and executed it after two failed attempts and gave details of the role played by ISI whose three officials he named. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. "We'll always look to try to improve our cooperation across all different aspects of the relationship. I don't want to prejudge or presuppose here based on this testimony, that that it has a strategic value here. That's not for me to speak to," Kirby said. This was a decision and this was an event set up and established by Department of Justice, Kirby said, adding the US has a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels and law enforcement is one of them. Described himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of Hafiz Saeed. 25-year-old Terri Hunter has revealed that she needs to have sex up to 12 times and that her sexual addiction is out of control. The youn... Right up until Gerry Ford, American presidents routinely refused any kind of directorships, paid lecture tours, or other opportunities to commercialize the office instead, they relied upon the generous presidential pension, currently at $200k/year plus a staff and expenses. (This is the pension that Hillary Clinton says left her and Bill "not only dead broke, but in debt" when Bill Clinton left the White House in 2000.) Before Ford, presidents made a big deal out of the necessity of staying out of the private sector. Here's Truman: "I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency," But Ford took a seat on Fox's board, got an honorary directorship from Citigroup, and started cashing in with high-paid lectures. Reagan went further, literally collecting millions for 20 minute speeches. GWB made $15m+ from 100 speeches between 2011-2015. Bill and Hillary, meanwhile, have made $139m from their lectures ($35m from banks). Congress appropriated $3.5 million for presidential pensions and other benefits in 2015. Members of Congress in both parties are sponsoring legislation that would reduce ex-presidents' pension payouts if they earn more than a predefined threshold in private sector earnings annually. "Taxpayers should not have to pay for a former president's allowance if the former president is making a comfortable living earning more than $400,000 a year after leaving office," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.about the bill. The bill passed the House in January. One recent ex-president who didn't cash out, of course, is Jimmy Carter. Perhaps not coincidentally, in a Quinnipiac University poll released this last November, a plurality of Americans said Carter has had the best post-presidency. Taxpayers Give Big Pensions to Ex-Presidents, Precisely So They Don't Have to Sell Out [Zaid Jilani/The Intercept] (Image: Ronald Reagan $Million Dollar$ Thanks a Million Novelty Bill) Lanka must address allegations of war crimes during the 37-year ethnic conflict that ended in 2009, including the killing of tens of thousands of civilians. (Photo: AFP) Colombo: Sri Lanka must "confront and defeat the demons of its past", the UN human rights chief said Tuesday at the end of a visit to assess the island's progress in investigating war crimes. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said Sri Lanka had come a long way since this time last year, when former president Mahinda Rajapakse was ousted after a decade in power. But he said opinions differed about the extent of the progress, with police in some areas still resorting to "violence and excessive force" and new cases of torture continuing to emerge. He urged the country's armed forces to face up to the "stain on their reputation" by addressing allegations of war crimes during the 37-year ethnic conflict that ended in 2009, including the killing of tens of thousands of civilians. "Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability," said Zeid. "It must seize the great opportunity it currently has to provide all its people with truth, justice, security and prosperity." Zeid traveled to the former war zones of Jaffna and Trincomalee as he tried to gauge the island's progress in investigating war-time atrocities. He is due to deliver two assessments to the UN Human Rights Council in June and March 2017. The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution late last year calling for an investigation into atrocities committed by both the government-backed military and Tamil Tiger separatists. A UN report in September described horrific wartime atrocities committed by both the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels during the conflict which claimed at least 100,000 lives. Sri Lanka's new government has agreed to a domestic investigation into allegations that troops killed at least 40,000 ethnic Tamils. In contrast, the previous regime had resisted calls for an investigation, maintaining that not a single civilian had been killed by troops under its command. Bill Clinton Former US President Bill Clinton on Sunday unloaded on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and his supporters who have attacked his wife, Hillary, as she campaigns for the Democratic nomination for president. Sanders and Hillary Clinton are fighting for the Democratic Party's nomination after a close race in Iowa that saw Clinton eke out a narrow victory. Bill has hit the trail in New Hampshire, which holds its primary Tuesday, to campaign on behalf of his wife. Speaking in Milford on Sunday, Bill attacked Sanders for pushing an antiestablishment message despite being a veteran politician himself. After a long-running career in the House of Representatives and Senate as an independent, Sanders is running for president as a Democrat. "'Anybody who takes money from Goldman Sachs can't possibly be president.' You heard that, sort of, in the last debate," Bill said, referring to Sanders' attacks on Hillary Clinton for accepting large speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. "Well after that CNN report yesterday he may have to tweak that answer a little bit. Either that or we're gonna have to get us a write-in candidate." Bill Clinton was referring to a CNN story that detailed Sanders' fundraising with big-wig Democratic donors. Sanders has reportedly hosted events at retreats on Martha's Vineyard for donors who give more than $30,000 a year, according to the story. "I practically fell out of my chair when I saw it," Bill Clinton said. He also took aim at Sanders supporters who have supposedly attacked Hillary Clinton's backers online. Clinton supporters have been subjected to "vicious trolling" and "attacks that are literally too profane often, not to mention sexist, to repeat," Bill Clinton said. He mocked Sanders' supporters as having the view that "anybody that doesn't agree with me is a tool of the establishment" and said that "when you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful with the facts," hitting at one of Sanders' central campaign themes. Story continues His heated rhetoric comes as Hillary Clinton trails Sanders by a wide margin in the Granite State. Her campaign is looking to close the gap in the vote as much as possible. Bill Clinton's Sunday riff earned comparisons to 2008, when Hillary Clinton faced off against another insurgent challenger Barack Obama. In The Washington Post, Greg Sargent called Bill Clinton's attacks "a tad over the top." "Bill really should avoid any overt, reductive mockery of the appeal of Sanders' broad critique of our political system, which risks alienating Sanders supporters who are getting engaged in the political process, many no doubt for the first time in their lives," he wrote. In a statement to CNN, Sanders campaign spokesman Mike Briggs called Bill's comments "disappointing." "Obviously the race has changed in New Hampshire and elsewhere in recent days," Briggs said in the statement. "Bernie will continue to focus on his message that America has a rigged economy that sends most new wealth to the top and is held in place by corrupt system of campaign-finance. The voters in New Hampshire and in America deserve a campaign that focuses on the real issues." Bill addressed the controversy at a Hillary rally in New Hampshire on Monday, noting that he has to "be careful" about what he says. "The hotter the election gets, the more I wish I was just a former president, not the spouse of the next one," he said. NOW WATCH: Bernie Sanders joined Larry David on SNL for a hilarious sketch aboard the Titanic More From Business Insider RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The worst health scare in recent history is not keeping Brazilians from their annual Carnival revelry, with millions of partiers swarming streets and some making fun of the mosquito that spreads Zika and other viruses. Street processions, block parties and the televised, big-budget parades that are the hallmark of the festival moved into their second day on Sunday, even as Brazilian health officials continued to grapple with an outbreak that may have infected as many as 1.5 million people and could be linked to suspected deformations in more than 4,000 infants and unborn children. "It's one more thing to worry about," said Juliana Araujo, a 48-year-old schoolteacher at a street party in Rio de Janeiro, where other problems, like an economic recession and impeachment proceedings against Brazil's president, seemed distant concerns. Recent news that traces of the virus had been identified in blood, saliva and other bodily fluids of patients known to have been infected with Zika would not do much to dampen a festival known for its fair share of casual sex, she predicted: "People aren't going to stop having fun and hooking up." Over a million people hit the streets in cities like Rio, home to the country's best-known Carnival celebration, and the northeastern capitals of Salvador and Recife, two cities hard hit by the outbreak. Along with the usual cross-dressing, superheroes and other outlandish costumes worn by partygoers, some toyed with themes related to the scare. Outside a juice bar in Rio early on Sunday, three men dressed as mosquitoes mingled with other revelers, the names of maladies borne by the insect stenciled across their chests: "Zika," "dengue" and "chikungunya." Carnival officially ends on Wednesday. For some, the levity is welcome relief amid nonstop Zika headlines. After emerging in Brazil last year, the virus has now been locally transmitted in at least 30 countries, according to the World Health Organization. Last week, scientists said they would investigate a report that an American in Texas had transmitted Zika to a sexual partner. On Friday, Brazilian researchers said they had found genetic material from the Zika virus in saliva and urine from two patients. They said more research was necessary to determine if it can be transmitted by those fluids, but warned pregnant women, believed to be most at risk because of links between the virus and deformations in developing babies, to avoid the casual kissing of strangers common at Carnival. Scientists have found genetic material from Zika virus in tissue and fluids taken from mothers and children in at least 17 cases of microcephaly, a deformation characterized by abnormally small heads that can also include brain damage. Researchers have yet to prove if the virus actually causes microcephaly. For foreigners visiting Brazil, the scare makes them want to take precautions - but has not ruined a good time. "I was scared coming out here," said Martha Scofield, 23, a tourist visiting Rio from England. "But there's not much you can do really. I'm going to come, have a good time, be careful, and I don't plan to get pregnant." (Reporting by Sergio Queiroz and Paulo Prada; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) Rumble The idea of making cheese at home can be really intimidating. Cheese feels like something you have to buy at the store or the farmer's market. But not anymore, you can make fresh cheese at home with four simple ingredients: whole milk, lime juice, apple cider vinegar and sea salt. Queso Fresco translates from Spanish is "fresh cheese." It has its roots in Spain but has been popularized by Mexican food culture. It's mild taste is a perfect canvas to bold build flavour profile. This video shows you how to make Queso Fresco three different ways: sweet, savoury and spicy. Bon Appetit! check out my first novel. https://www.amazon.co.uk/KAT-Matthew-... Whole milk 2L - 3.5 pints Lime 1 large Vinegar 120ml - 1/2 cup - 4fl oz Salt 2 tbsp Heat the milk gently to 77c - 170f, squeeze in the lime juice and stir with a slotted spoon. Keep heating to 87c - 190f and add the vinegar. Turn off the heat and stir occasionally for 15 minutes, strain into cheese cloth sitting in a sieve or colander and leave to drain for between 30 minutes and 2 hours. The cheese remaining will be quite firm, turn into a bowl and beat with a fork or your hand with the salt for a few minutes to create a smoother mixture. Muy caliente chopped pickled chilli pepper, garlic, hot sauce and coriander Honey and rosemary Basil and sun-dried tomato (fresh and puree) By Jeremy Wagstaff and Himank Sharma SINGAPORE/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's decision to effectively ban Facebook's pared-back free Internet service is a major blow to the social network's plans, and may prompt other regulators to demand equal online access for their users. Facebook will have to reconsider its approach in the light of India's new rules preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, analysts said. "This is a major setback for Facebook," said Naveen Menon, lead analyst at A.T. Kearney in Singapore. "Not only because India was expected to be such a critical piece of the overall Internet.org success story, but more so because it has potential dangerous knock-on effects for the universal access initiative in other markets." Internet.org is Facebook's umbrella initiative to bring Internet access to the unconnected. Part of that is the Free Basics program, which Facebook has launched in around three dozen emerging countries. The service has been criticized outside India, too, with Facebook accused of infringing the principle of net neutrality - the concept that all websites and data on the Internet be treated equally. Critics and Internet activists argue that allowing free access to a select few apps and Web services disadvantages small content providers and start-ups that don't participate. Ram Sevak Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), told Reuters he hoped its ruling would clarify ambiguity about net neutrality and "that India has set the record straight that will be followed [the] world over." In Facebook posts after Monday's ruling, founder Mark Zuckerberg said Free Basics was just one part of a larger initiative that includes solar-powered planes, satellites and lasers, and pairing with local entrepreneurs to provide wireless hotspots. Expanding these approaches with or without the operators was one option for Facebook now, as well as legal workarounds where the service is repackaged, said Martin Geddes, a UK-based telecoms consultant. Facebook could also challenge the ruling in the courts, but a more likely move, said Marc Einstein, Asia-Pacific director at Frost and Sullivan, would be to sit down with the TRAI "to try to come up with a solution that's deemed a little more neutral." Facebook executives were not immediately available for comment, but India-born Karthik Naralasetty, whose blood donor matching service Socialblood is available in more than 20 countries via Free Basics, said Facebook was already re-thinking its approach. "Facebook is re-thinking what it's doing, coming up with better plans," he said by telephone. "Communications will have to improve. They have to get the buy-in of different governments before they go into those countries." FIGHT GOES ON It won't be easy. For one thing, said Neil Shah, a director of Counterpoint Research in Mumbai, Free Basics made little headway in India before it was suspended in December, gaining 1 million users. Only 252 million of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access. Part of the problem, one expert said, is that Facebook implemented Free Basics in India following a playbook it has used in other developing countries without considering India's active civil society. Indian activists and local businesses strongly opposed Facebook acting as the "gatekeeper" of the Internet, said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at New America. "India is not a place where Free Basics is going to be welcomed or work and (Facebook) might be better off thinking about another strategy to win over users in India," she said, such as focusing on telecommunications infrastructure or helping people access affordable devices with Internet connections. Opponents of the service said they would continue to fight. "Facebook is not going to take it lying down and they will try and figure out a way for it to happen one way or the other," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of Indian dating app TrulyMadly. "Our job is to keep at it non-stop to ensure Internet freedom is not threatened." Regional telecoms operators which partner with Facebook, such as Indonesia's PT Indosat, controlled by Qatar's Ooredoo, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, said the ruling would not lead them to reconsider the partnerships. "The Indian experience is very isolated," said Vicente Froilan Castelo, general counsel of Globe Telecom. (Reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff and Himank Sharma, with additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Eveline Danubrata in Jakarta, Neil Jerome C. Morales in Manila and Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Stephen R. Trousdale) LANSING, MI -- Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder today signed a replacement emergency manager law that he says improves upon the version that voters rejected less than two months ago. Like its predecessor, Public Act 436 of 2012 allows the state to intervene in financially struggling municipalities and school districts. But unlike Public Act 4 of 2011, the new law allows local officials to choose between four different forms of intervention: A consent agreement, chapter 9 bankruptcy, mediation or emergency manager. "This legislation demonstrates that we clearly heard, recognized and respected the will of the voters," Snyder said in a statement announcing the signing. "It builds in local control and options while also ensuring the tools to protect communities and school districts' residents, students and taxpayers." Michigan voters repealed the state's old emergency manager law by rejecting Proposal 1 on the November ballot. Critics said the "draconian" law went too far by allowing state-appointed emergency managers to usurp local control and break collective bargaining agreements . The new law, which includes an appropriation making it immune to referendum, also allows emergency managers to break union contracts if negotiations fail, a controversial power typically reserved for municipal bankruptcy proceedings. Tourists and locals watch the sunset from White Sands Beach Park in Kailua-Kona, on Hawaii's Big Island, January 31, 2016. REUTERS/Canice Leung (Reuters) - The mayor of Hawaii's Big Island declared a state of emergency on Monday to deal with a growing outbreak of dengue fever, spread by infected mosquitoes, with 250 cases confirmed over the past four months. As a result of Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi's order people on the Big Island will be allowed to resume disposing of old tires in landfills, since tires which are left lying around are a known breeding spot for mosquitoes. There have been 250 confirmed cases of dengue fever on the island since Oct. 29, making it the largest outbreak in the state since the 1940s, according to the mayor's declaration and Hawaii health officials. Dengue fever causes flu-like symptoms and can develop into the deadly dengue hemorrhagic fever. Hawaii Governor David Ige said in a statement he supported the efforts on the Big Island but would not issue a statewide emergency declaration unless the outbreak spread to other islands or expanded to include other diseases, such as the Zika virus. Zika is spreading rapidly in South and Central America and the Caribbean and has been linked to severe birth defects in Brazil. Last month, a baby born with brain damage at a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, was apparently the first case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in a birth on U.S. soil, health officials said. Dengue is not endemic to Hawaii but has occasionally spread after being imported by infected travelers. The outbreak on the Big Island is the first cluster of locally-acquired dengue fever since a 2011 outbreak on Oahu, the Hawaii Department of Health said. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Dominic Evans) Ammon Bundy departs after addressing the media at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, in this January 4, 2016 file photo. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart (Reuters) (Reuters) - The jailed leader of the occupation of a U.S. wildlife refuge in Oregon, in a statement released on Monday, called on elected officials from mostly Western states to voice support for free speech and civil disobedience and to visit their constituents in federal custody. "It is your duty to hold federal agencies at bay, protecting the people in your state," said Ammon Bundy, according to the transcript of a telephone call he made on Saturday from jail and released by one of his lawyers. Bundy also urged elected representatives in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Washington state and Ohio to support the right to assemble. Bundy and 10 others were arrested in Oregon in late January, most of them during a confrontation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state police on a roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was fatally shot. A 12th member of the group turned himself in to police in Arizona. Two of those arrested have been released on condition that they wear electronic tracking devices while awaiting trial, leaving 10 of the former protesters, including Bundy, in custody. Four armed anti-government protesters still at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were indicted last week with the 12 others on charges of conspiring to impede federal officers during an armed standoff at the compound. The takeover at Malheur started on Jan. 2 when Bundy and followers seized buildings at the refuge in a protest against federal control over millions of acres public land in the West. A judge cited the continuing standoff as an obstacle to the release of at least some of those still in custody. They are to be arraigned on Feb. 24. Tensions have flared in the town of Burns, 30 miles (48 km) from the refuge, with hundreds of demonstrators and residents angry about the occupation and its supporters. Bundy has released statements previously, defending the takeover and urging the four holdouts to stand down. Members of the Burns Paiute Tribe, native Americans whose land previously encompassed the preserve, have criticized Bundy and his group. (Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Dan Grebler) North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, according to the US intelligence chief. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said US intelligence has assessed that Pyongyang has expanded the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. Mr Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the North has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months". The Yongbyon reactor was mothballed in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament agreement, but North Korea started renovating it after its third nuclear test in 2013. When it is fully operational it is capable of producing around six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year, enough for one nuclear bomb, experts say. :: UN Condemns North Korea Rocket Launch The findings of US intelligence will fuel concern that North Korea is making technical advances in its nuclear weapons programme and working to expand what is thought to be its small nuclear arsenal. Experts in the US have estimated that Pyongyang may have around 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. On Sunday North Korea launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. President Barack Obama has spoken with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, and agreed on the need for a "strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a robust UN Security Council Resolution," the White House said. South Korea's Defence Ministry on Tuesday released pictures of what it said was rocket debris it found after the launch. :: White House Doubts North Korea's H-Bomb Claim The photographs show the reported wreckage of the nose of a rocket discovered near the southwestern side of the Jeju sea. Story continues The rocket launch followed an underground nuclear explosion in January that the North claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturised" hydrogen bomb. This claim has prompted scepticism, and Mr Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device". North Korea is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile capable of posing a direct threat to the US, but Mr Clapper said "the system has not been flight-tested". The Ontario government wants to see a proposal completed for a Toronto-to-Windsor high-speed rail project by October, according to a London-area MP. The governing Liberals have been consulting with various stakeholders along the Toronto-to-Windsor corridor this month, as they map out what the proposed rail project could look like. Karen Vecchio, the newly elected MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, was at a stakeholders meeting held in London on Tuesday afternoon. She came away from the meeting convinced that the provincial government is serious about making high-speed rail a reality. And it appears they plan to close in on a proposal in the months ahead. "From what I understand, they want to have this studied and they want to have a proposal given to the government by October of 2016," she told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive in an interview on Tuesday. Vecchio still has many questions, including what the ridership profile will look like and how much it will cost to use. "Who is the ridership, what are we trying to do with this and what will the final outcome be?" she said. Jeff Casello, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, believes it is definitely possible for the province to establish high-speed rail between Toronto and Windsor. "Is it feasible? It absolutely is. And if you ask me is it necessary, I think it absolutely is necessary as well," he told CBC News in a telephone interview on Tuesday. But he said what gets built will depend on what the province wants to spend. "I think the province needs to start thinking about, you know, what are the levels of investment they want to make and what's the level of quality of service they want to operate," he said. In October, the provincial government appointed David Collenette as its special adviser for high-speed rail. Collenette, who was at the Tuesday meeting in London, has been tasked with looking at economic development opportunities, as well as with looking at the experience of high-speed rail in other places around the world. The government says he will also give advice on possible financing models for this project. The government says the rail project will be part of the $130 billion the province is spending on infrastructure over a 10-year period. By Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is polling in the low single digits nationally but may be poised to play the role of spoiler in Tuesdays New Hampshire primary by cutting into the support of higher-profile rivals such as Marco Rubio. The Ohio governor, who is vowing to erase the U.S. budget deficit without shredding the safety net for poor Americans, has built a base of support among moderate Republicans and independent voters, who wield special clout in New Hampshire because they can vote in either party's primary. Kasich, 63, has the support of about 12 to 14 percent of New Hampshires voters in recent polls. The former congressman has staked the viability of his White House aspirations on New Hampshire, whose pivotal primary is part of the state-by-state contests to pick the party nominees for the Nov. 8 election to replace Democratic President Barack Obama. While well behind billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, Kasich's poll numbers are close to those of Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida who is seeking to build on his momentum after a third-place finish in last Monday's Iowa caucuses behind Trump and winner Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas. I found great clarity here in New Hampshire, Kasich said on Sunday in Concord. These town halls, you know, theyre getting bigger and I dont know how I feel about them getting bigger. The event marked his 102nd town hall in the state. For the 100th, in Bedford on Friday, the campaign celebrated with confetti and a cake that was served to voters attending the event. Kasich told stories of personal connections he said he had made with voters at town halls, including with a woman whose daughter has struggled with addiction. She said: My daughter has been sober for 11 months," Kasich said, asking the crowd: "Do you have any idea what this ladys life is like?'" He added he had promised to call the daughter and tell her: Your mom is counting on you. RISING PROFILE? The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll put Kasichs support nationally at 3.4 percent. Kasich himself jokes about his lack of name recognition, saying voters often mispronounce his last name. But among New Hampshire voters, a Monmouth University poll released on Sunday found Kasich at 14 percent, compared with 30 percent for Trump and 13 percent for Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Rubio was criticized last year by Republican strategists who said he had not done enough to woo voters in New Hampshire in intimate settings such as coffee shops and town halls. This year, however, he has campaigned intensively in the state and often holds town halls. But Rubio came under heavy attack in the Republican presidential debate on Saturday from rivals who accused him of being too inexperienced for the White House. Kasich delivered a positive message during the debate that could appeal to New Hampshire Republican voters, who famously make up their minds late and never seem in the mood to follow the lead of the Iowa caucuses. Some of Kasichs supporters are passionate about him. "It's authenticity, brother. You have my vote," one man told him at the Bedford town hall. Others were weighing their options. Tim Vanblommesteyn, 62, who attended the Kasich town hall in Concord, said he was disgusted with both political parties but liked some of what the Ohio governor had to say. The small-business owner and self-described independent praised Kasich for taking what he said was a principled stand on immigration reform, an issue that has aroused fiery campaign rhetoric, including from Trump, who has called for deporting illegal immigrants. Kasich has said the United States should secure its borders but that illegal immigrants who have not committed a crime should be able to pay back taxes and get on a path to legalization. Anne Brena, 53, a Democrat from neighboring Vermont, said she came to the Concord event to learn more about the governor. Brena said she thought Democrat Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from her home state, was too liberal to win the general election and she has concerns that his rival, former Secretary of Stat Hillary Clinton, has too much baggage to win the White House. John Kasich is the only Republican that sounds reasonable, she said. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney) By James Oliphant and Amanda Becker MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Insurgent candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, billionaire Republican Donald Trump and Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, sought to lift their campaigns on Tuesday at the New Hampshire primary elections by defeating mainstream rivals. Riding a wave of voter anger at traditional politicians, the two men held big leads over their respective opponents in New Hampshire, the second state in the process of picking party nominees for the Nov. 8 election to replace President Barack Obama. The polls were to close at 7 p.m. EST (0000 GMT) and New Hampshire officials predicted a historic high turnout of about 550,000 as long lines of voters formed at polling stations. Real estate magnate Trump is under pressure to deliver a victory after he was beaten in the first nominating contest - the Iowa caucuses last week - by Texas Senator Ted Cruz despite having had a big lead in opinion polls. Trump's rivals were dueling for second place in New Hampshire as the last undecided voters made up their minds. Ohio Governor John Kasich, who held more than 100 town hall events in the state, appeared to be getting some of the late deciders but Cruz, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also felt good about their chances. On the Democratic side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton fought to keep it close against Sanders, a U.S. senator from neighboring Vermont who was way ahead of her in opinion polls in New Hampshire. Despite being the front-runner to win the Democratic nomination, Clinton's razor-thin victory in Iowa made her look vulnerable and a double-digit loss to Sanders in New Hampshire would add pressure on her. Preliminary exit poll results on Tuesday showed independent voters accounted for about four in 10 voters in both Democratic and Republican contests, according to ABC News. Independent voters wield special clout in New Hampshire because they can vote in either party's primary. Nearly half of Republican voters in the exit polls said they wanted a non-establishment candidate, and had only made up their mind about their vote in the last few days, ABC said. About a quarter of Democratic voters said they sought a candidate from outside the establishment. A WMUR-CNN poll on Monday showed Trump leading in New Hampshire with the support of 31 percent of those planning to vote in the Republican primary. Rubio was second at 17 percent, followed by Cruz at 14 percent and Kasich at 10 percent. Rubio needs to follow up his strong third-place showing in Iowa with a top-tier finish in the northeastern state to bolster his argument that he is the mainstream candidate around whom the party's leadership and wealthy donors should rally. But a shaky debate performance by foreign policy hawk Rubio on Saturday night came at a bad time. Rubio aides insisted no harm was done and that his crowds were as big as ever. Trump, who has courted controversy by deriding Mexican immigrants and promising to ban Muslims from entering the United States, spent the final campaign hours in New Hampshire insulting his rivals. In an interview with MSNBC, he called Rubio "confused," Bush a "loser," Clinton "evil" and Cruz "nasty." At a campaign event on Monday, the former reality TV star gleefully repeated an audience member's description of Cruz as a "pussy" because Cruz said he was more hesitant than Trump about supporting torturing the country's captured enemies. "Nothing Donald says surprises anyone," Cruz said as he visited a polling station. "He didnt like that he lost in Iowa." At a polling station in the town of Derry on Tuesday morning, Clinton bumped into the husband of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Fiorina, who has repeatedly derided Clinton's marriage to former U.S. President Bill Clinton as loveless. "Well, give my best to Carly," Clinton said to Frank Fiorina after they had swapped pleasantries about the marvels of democracy. "Want to get a picture?" They grinned for cameras. (Writing by Roberta Rampton, Steve Holland and James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Alistair Bell and Bill Trott) The border from Syria to Turkey may be officially open - but in reality, only the injured are able to cross and always in the back of an ambulance. The wards in Kilis hospital, the nearest major town to the crossing point, aren't overflowing with the injured. But still there are a lot of people inside. Almost all are recovering from injuries caused by the daily aerial bombardments of their towns and villages by Russian jets. We were strictly controlled by the Turkish authorities but we managed to persuade our guards to see three wards rather than the one that is now the rule. In one a little girl lay motionless, her eyes half open but unregistering. Sarah is six and has not spoken since she was blown up in her house near Aleppo a few days ago. She is watched over by equally traumatised family members. She will live, but what has happened to her may never leave her. In other wards we came across more patients all injured in airstrikes. Most were preparing to leave for Turkey before their homes were hit. Amongst them was Abdulmonim El Ali. He fled Aleppo two years ago because of the fighting there and moved to Azaz on the border with Turkey. Two days ago he bought a new car and decided to drive to the local sweet shop with his children to buy them a celebratory present. He heard a huge explosion then a series of smaller ones. He remembers nothing more. They had been caught in a cluster bomb attack aimed at their residential street. "There is no way anyone can stay in Syria anymore," he told me. "The Russian bombing makes it impossible to stay. They attack everywhere," he said. Not all the injured in the hospital are civilians. Two men, separated from the others, were injured in separate attacks on the battlefields where they were fighting. Certainly the Russian military would argue that as military combatants they are legitimate targets. That of course is true, but they were actually fighting Islamic State. It's the type of thing that goes to the heart of the argument between Russia and western powers who say the Kremlin is attacking anyone and anywhere in order to prop up the government of President Bashar al Assad. Story continues For its part, Turkey is under pressure to let the refugees in camps on the Syrian side of the border cross over. It will only happen if there is an emergency is the official line, as the refugees are being delivered aid where they are. A full-scale assault on Aleppo and fighting spreading west towards the border crossing would probably constitute a new emergency as the tens of thousands there would be exposed and vulnerable. In truth, the planning is based on the assumption that things are actually going to get worse in Syria, as remarkable as that reads. While the refugees are a huge concern to the international community, the fate of Aleppo is at least as important. If it falls and the opposition to Assad is wiped out, then the country will be ruled by two powers: President Assad and Islamic State. The terror group will doubtless benefit from being the sole voice of opposition in the region representing Sunnis. Perversely they could become more powerful. Of course Russia would likely target them. But their way of doing things is to attack everything. I was in Chechnya when they did exactly the same. Then, as now, the resulting bloodshed guarantees huge numbers of civilian casualties and even more refugees. So the world watches to see what happens in Aleppo. It's largely destroyed as are great swathes of northern Syria; a landscape of destroyed buildings, people searching for loved ones, and deserted communities, street after street, town after town, mile after mile. By Steve Holland and Amanda Becker MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - White House hopefuls Donald Trump and Jeb Bush opened political hostilities on Monday as Republican and Democratic candidates stormed across New Hampshire in a final flurry of events before the state's crucial first-in-the-nation primary. The stage was set for the vote on Tuesday, with New York billionaire Trump enjoying a big lead in opinion polls of the state's Republican voters and a host of rivals jockeying to emerge as his chief challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in the Nov. 8 election. In the race for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders from neighboring Vermont sought to hang on for a much-needed victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a week after a razor-thin loss to her in the Iowa caucuses. Sanders told a crowd of about 500 people in Nashua that his call to eradicate income inequality and level the economic playing field for lower- and middle-class workers was resonating. "I'm here today to ask your support, to join us in making that political revolution," he said. Polls showed his big New Hampshire lead tightening but still sizable. Clinton hoped to make the finish close in a feat much like her husband's, former President Bill Clinton, in 1992 when he declared himself "the 'Comeback Kid.'" For those of you who are still deciding, still shopping, I hope I can close the deal, Clinton said at Manchester Community College, campaigning with her raspy-voiced husband and daughter Chelsea. Clinton was reported by Politico to be pondering a staff shakeup out of concern at the messaging of her campaign. I have no idea what theyre talking about or who they are talking to," Clinton, responding to the report, said on MSNBC. "Were going to take stock, but its going to be the campaign that Ive got. Im very confident in the people that I have." A snowstorm swept across the state but it did not slow down the last, tense full day of campaigning ahead of the primary. Trump, still rankled that Bush hit him hard at a candidates' debate in Manchester on Saturday night, peppered his stump speeches with attacks on the former Florida governor at events in Salem and Londonderry. "This stiff, Jeb Bush," Trump said. "He's a total stiff. ... If you had a company, you wouldn't even hire him. He's like a child, like a spoiled child." Bush fired off a tweet referring to Trump's comment last summer that Senator John McCain, the party's 2008 presidential nominee who spent 5-1/2 years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, was not a hero because he got captured. "@realDonaldTrump, you arent just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out," Bush said. Senator Marco Rubio's shaky performance at Saturday's debate gave hope to his rivals that the Floridian's rise after a strong third-place finish in Iowa could be blunted. Bush, Ohio Governor John Kasich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are fighting to finish strongly enough in New Hampshire to justify staying in the race and taking their campaigns to South Carolina, which holds its primary on Feb. 20. As the New Hampshire polls stand now, Trump would win and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who won Iowa; Rubio; Kasich; Bush; and Christie would end right behind him in a tight bunch. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and businesswoman Carly Fiorina are also in the race. Rubio wilted under an attack by Christie at the debate, repeating rehearsed lines from his stump speech in defending himself against criticism that he is not experienced enough to be president. The moment triggered commentary comparing Rubio to a robot, both in the news media and on social media. Rubio's point was that even though he is a first-term senator, he should not be compared to Democratic President Barack Obama, who was a first-term senator when elected in 2008. He said at the debate that Obama has pushed the country in the wrong direction because of his political beliefs, not from inexperience. The core of this campaign is that statement, and I am going to continue to say it: Barack Obama is deliberately carrying out a strategy to change America: He wants to redefine this country," Rubio said on CBS's "This Morning." (Additional reporting by John Whitesides and James Oliphant in New Hampshire and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) Camelot said: Americans have no interest picking fruits . Click to expand... To support John Kasich, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, or Jeb Bush, is to support a continuance of Obama's illegal immigration tyranny which includes giving legal status and work permits to tens of millions who have invaded our borders, which panders to the Chamber of Commerce, the Club for Growth and our Global Governance Crowd We are not talking about those who come here to pick "fruits". We are talking about the millions of illegals who have squeezed American citizens out of good paying jobs in the construction trades and service industry by working off the books, below the going wage and avoid paying taxes on their earned wages.The fact is, approximately 45 percent of American citizens are now unemployed many of whom have been squeezed out of the job market by illegal entrants!The irrefutable fact is, a very large percentage of decent paying jobs in the construction trades [carpentry, roofing, plumbing, dry wall, masonry, etc.] which were formerly held by American citizens who are Black or Puerto Rican, have been taken over by illegal entrants from Mexico and Central America. And these American citizens have lost these jobs to illegal entrants who work for sub-contractors who hire illegals off the books, below the going wage while the illegal entrant does not pay taxes on their earned wage. This is how illegal entrants compete with American citizens for these decent paying jobs and have squeeze Americas Blacks and Puerto Ricans out of these decent paying jobs.During the 1970s I was working with some very prominent Real Estate developers who were converting commercial properties in New York City such as the Cast Iron Building, the Old Post Office Building and countless others commercial properties into modern apartment buildings. I saw with my own eyes that sub-contractors, especially dry wall, masonry, roofing and carpentry were using resident aliens who were paid in cash at the end of the week, and off the books.As the years went by, the number of resident aliens grew on our job sites in these decent paying jobs and America's Black and Puerto Rican tradesmen were pushed out of work, and especially on non-union job sites.In any event, your comment is absurd and does not reflect how illegal immigration has affected American citizens, especially Blacks and Puerto Ricans who have been squeezed out of decent paying jobs by those who have invaded our borders.JWK By Melissa Fares REUTERS - Two women banned from Tinder last week for aggressively promoting U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have been allowed back on the dating app and say they will resume telling prospective matches to "feel the Bern." Robyn Gedrich, 23, from New Jersey, and Haley Lent, 22, from Iowa, were locked out of Tinder after others on the "hook-up" app accused them of spamming them with hundreds of pro-Sanders messages. News of the ban went viral on social media. Both women said on Monday they were able to sign back into the platform. "I definitely plan to continue meeting new people and promoting Bernie Sanders via Tinder," Lent said in a Twitter message to Reuters. "I have been focusing on swiping slower to be able to have more in depth conversations today," Gedrich said by email. "Hopefully that will translate to more support for Bernie, rather than the dismissal I was receiving before." A spokeswoman for Tinder, which is part of Match Group Inc, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, said the company would have no further comment. On Friday, a Tinder spokeswoman said: "We whole-heartedly support people sharing their political views on Tinder, but we don't allow spamming. So feel free to spread the Bern, just don't spam." "Feel the Bern" has become a popular rallying cry among Sanders supporters. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is locked in a tight race with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination for the November election. The two square off on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. (Reporting by Melissa Fares in New York; Editing by Dan Burns and Peter Cooney) Digitization St. Andrews U To Expand Digitization of Early European Books Scotland's St. Andrews University has selected a private partner to assist in its efforts to digitize early books, which will now include those written before 1650. St. Andrews' Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) is a database of every book printed from the invention of the printing press through 1601. The database, which, at the moment, lists 364,000 items, also details the physical location of the original texts. Thanks to a recent grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the USTC project will be funded through 2018 and will be expanded to include all books published through 1650. With the new partnership, ProQuest will use the database to identify the physical location of as many texts as possible and determine if they are in good enough condition to be digitized. As a consequence, the texts, known in academia as Early European Books (EEB), will be available to researchers around the world. They will likewise become resources for university libraries and help in the teaching of college courses in philosophy, religion, social sciences and medicine. "The agreement with ProQuest is intended to facilitate the application of the analytical power of the USTC," said St. Andrews Modern History Professor Andrew Pettegree. He is also director of the USTC. "We're excited about the opportunity for the USTC to improve the present quality of EEB records, and advising strategic planning for development of the program." Most of the EEB documents about 14 million pages in 45,000 curated items are in four National Libraries across Europe, including the Wellcome Trust in London. "Working with the University of St. Andrews will enable us to enhance not only the resources already in our own EEB collections, but will increase our development of valuable materials at a much more strategic level," said Susan Bokern, vice president of product management for ProQuest. ProQuest develops cloud-based digital research tools. She his third wife, and I don't care what she wore. She didn't pay for it. You really think they want THIS as first lady ??Though you're probably right, some evangelical men might not mind her so much ............... as long as their wives don't find out !!!! AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Feb. 2, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, has been selected as end-to-end solution provider by Gabon's Department of Homeland Security DGDI* to supply and implement a fully integrated border and visa management system. The new scheme will strengthen national security, improve operational efficiency and enhance the traveling experience for people entering and leaving the Central African state. The visa management system simplifies and speeds the issuance of visas, e-Visas and resident's permits. This suite of applications was used to create Gabon's e-Visa portal service in July enabling visitors to use the Internet to apply for a visa to enter the country. Once the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) is delivered, the visa is issued at Libreville International Airport upon arrival. The solution is built around the centralized, back-office Coesys Visa and Border Management System. This supports automation of queries to databases - such as Interpol's - that alert authorities to potential threats and risks. In addition, the Automated Border Control kiosks now offer travelers rapid, 'self-service' passport checks at the country's main airport which handles around one million passengers annually. The Border Intelligence module uses the data mined at the border. It offers investigation tools for discovering new risk patterns, with a highly intuitive "clicking" process. Its reporting app also provides valuable information to drive tourism and prioritize national investment efforts. "Gemalto's solution puts us in control of a secure and adaptable integrated border management system that is field-proven. It also helps expedite the border clearance process, cutting wait times and improving the customs experience for travelers," said General Celestin Embinga, General Manager of DGDI, Gabon's Department of Homeland Security. "In addition, Gemalto's speed and commitment are tangible: our new e-Visa service was defined and implemented within 14 weeks." "We take pride in helping Gabon's authorities improve border security and traveler satisfaction," said Ari Bouzbib, Senior Vice President of Government Programs at Gemalto. "Gemalto is delivering a unique solution which is flexible and fast to implement. We also combine local resources and international expertise in partnership with government bodies. This is precisely what is appreciated by our growing number of customers in Africa." *La Direction Generale de la Documentation et de I'Immigration, Ministere de l'Interieur gabonais About Gemalto Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security, with 2014 annual revenues of 2.5 billion and blue-chip customers in over 180 countries. Gemalto helps people trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world. Billions of people want better lifestyles, smarter living environments, and the freedom to communicate, shop, travel, bank, entertain and work anytime, everywhere in ways that are enjoyable and safe. In this fast moving mobile and digital environment, we enable companies and administrations to offer a wide range of trusted and convenient services by securing financial transactions, mobile services, public and private clouds, eHealthcare systems, access to eGovernment services, the Internet and internet-of-things and transport ticketing systems. Gemalto's unique technology portfolio - from advanced cryptographic software embedded in a variety of familiar objects, to highly robust and scalable back-office platforms for authentication, encryption and digital credential management - is delivered by our world-class service teams. Our 14,000 employees operate out of 99 offices, 34 personalization and data centers, and 24 research and software development centers located in 46 countries. For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com, blog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on Twitter. Orangeburg, New York, Feb. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novastep, Inc., and its affiliates (Novastep or the Company), a global medical device company specializing in the foot and ankle, today announced the move of their U.S. headquarters from Wrentham, MA to Orangeburg, NY. Vadim Gurevich, the President and CEO of Novastep, Inc. stated that The company is vigorously expanding its presence in the U.S. as we systematically escalate our product and service offerings. Our new facility is a reflection of this growth and was designed to improve efficiencies by consolidating our administrative, warehousing, customer services and shipping capabilities under one roof. This move is very much in line with Novasteps ongoing commitment to support our rapidly growing customer base and their evolving needs. Being so close to Manhattan, one of the worlds major centers of commerce, provides us with opportune access for servicing the entire nation. Although we are international in scope, we take great pride in being a New York based company. Novasteps penetration of the U.S. foot and ankle market space has been driven by a coordinated sequence of technology innovations, product launches, delivery system advances and a highly acclaimed Global Foot and Ankle Symposium (GFAS) program, the companys flagship medical education platform, which is traditionally held during the first weekend of December each year. Gurevich also revealed that Novastep is averaging at least one new product launch every 45 days. Our engineering team has created an assertive R & D pipeline that will give rise to the most complete foot and ankle portfolio on the market. Novasteps product range already includes the Airlock forefoot plating system that provides a choice of locking and non-locking screws, Arcad temperature-independent memory alloy staples, the Lync hammertoe correction system, the FusionFrame circular external fixator and a comprehensive selection of Nexis headed, headless and snap-off screws. Gregory Gledel, President and CEO of Novastep SAS, Novastep Inc.s sister company in Rennes, France, emphasized that Our transatlantic reach encourages the synthesis of innovative thinking among our international panel of surgeon advisors. We provide an exceptional forum for some of the worlds most respected foot and ankle surgeons to convene and forge valuable partnerships with their peers as well as our company. Perfect examples of such cross-border collaboration are the cleanSTART single-use sterile technology and the Lync hammertoe implant. All Novastep implants have been engineered for delivery under the cleanSTART deployment umbrella, providing hospitals and surgery centers with a systematized approach towards operating room efficiency and streamlined inventory control. cleanSTART is based on the concept of integrated modularity for both implants and instruments. The platform embodies a versatile combination of sterile packaging technologies that dovetails the companys implants and instruments with the companys quickTube nested cylinders, quickSTACK containers and a fully customizable Implant Dispenser console. The cleanSTART framework saves space in the OR, reduces sterilization costs, simplifies traceability protocols and adapts any combination of Novastep implants and instruments to satisfy a wide mixture of end-user requirements. CleanSTART, along with other Novastep product lines will be featured this week during the ACFAS 2016 Annual Scientific Conference in Austin, TX at Booth No. 1627/1629. About Novastep Novastep is a global medical device company specializing in the design, development and commercialization of advanced technologies that treat conditions affecting the foot and ankle. The Company is focused to optimize clinical efficiencies, inventory management and healthcare economics by transforming the way foot and ankle products are deployed and utilized in the surgical environment. Novastep has allied itself with a strategic network of key international opinion leaders to deliver breakthrough technologies, innovative services and compelling medical education programs to the foot and ankle community. Novasteps portfolio, services and distribution platforms are uniquely positioned to address foot and ankle pathologies, including trauma, deformity corrections and Charcot fracture management. Follow Novastep live on Twitter @InfoNovastep. For further information concerning this announcement and/or Novastep, Inc., send all inquiries to info@novasteportho.com or call 877.287.0795. Related Links novastep-us.com/ novasteportho.com/ JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. 9, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Economic confidence amongst business leaders in Africa plunged in the final quarter of 2015, falling to its lowest recorded level in six years, and below that of every other region in the world. The YPO Global Pulse Confidence Index for Africa, which tracks economic confidence levels amongst CEOs in the region on a quarterly basis, fell 3.3 points to 51.0, its lowest level in the history of the survey. A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=38851 Having recorded the highest levels of confidence in the world, peaking in 2013, Africa now finds itself the most pessimistic region in the world, for the first time. Confidence in Africa trails the global composite reading of 58.0 by a full 7.0 points. The decline in confidence within the region is largely due to a significant drop in optimism within Nigeria. In the wake of plummeting oil prices, Nigeria's economic confidence collapsed by 17.4 points to 30.7, following a 5.6-point decline in the third quarter. However, the fall in confidence was widespread throughout the continent. South Africa, which has the highest weighting in the YPO survey, lost 2.7 points, coming in at 55.3, its lowest level since the second quarter of 2009. Zimbabwe dropped 5.8 points to 43.2. Of the major African economies, only Kenya reported increased levels of confidence, climbing 6.2 points to 55.7. "While Africa seems to befeeling economic strain and facing unfavorable conditions , oil-exporting countries, including Nigeria and Angola, have been particularly hard hit," said Ted Galante, CEO of Zimbabwe Mortgage Company (Pvt.) Ltd. and regional vice chair for WPO Africa, YPO's graduate group. "The situation is unlikely to improve in the year ahead, and CEOs will be remain cautious and watchful." Globally, economic sentiment measured by the YPO Global Pulse Index for the last quarter of 2015 remained relatively stable, landing at 58.0, its lowest level since the third quarter of 2011, at the height of the global economic recession. Confidence in the United States remained relatively optimistic at 59.1, and the European Union remained almost unchanged, edging up 0.3 point to 60.5, marking a steady improvement in EU confidence over the past several years. Only Asia, which climbed 2.4 points to 59.7, and Latin America, which jumped 4.8 points to 54.4, recorded any material increase in confidence. Key findings in Africa Tough economic conditions unlikely to improve in the short term. Almost half (49%) of CEOs in Africa expected that the economic and business conditions affecting their organisations would deteriorate further over the first half of 2016. This is set against only 18% who predicted an improvement in conditions, and a third (33%) who expected to see little or no change. CEOs becoming concerned about their own organisations' prospects. The latest survey also indicated that CEOs in Africa are becoming more concerned about their own organisations' prospects for growth and investment in 2016. The YPO Global Pulse Sales Index for Africa dropped 3.4 points to 61.4, its lowest reading since October 2009. Whilst 56% of CEOs still expected to see increased revenues in the year ahead, 18% expected to see a decline. This compares to 66% who expected to see improvements and only 10% who expected a reduction in sales last quarter. It was a similar story for the two other components of the index, measuring hiring and investment. The YPO Global Pulse Fixed Investment Index for Africa fell 3.5 points to 55.9, whilst the YPO Global Pulse Employment Index for Africa slipped 0.4 point to 52.5 Twenty percent of CEOs expect to decrease hiring in the next 12 months, compared to 13% in October YPO Global Pulse Confidence Index The quarterly electronic survey, conducted in the first two weeks of January 2016, gathered answers from 1,994 chief executive officers across the globe, including 129 in Africa. Visit www.ypo.org/globalpulse for more information about the survey methodology and results from around the world About YPO YPO (Young Presidents' Organization) is a not-for-profit, global network of young chief executives connected through the shared mission of becoming Better Leaders Through Lifelong Learning and Idea ExchangeTM. Founded in 1950, YPO today provides 23,000 peers and their families in 130 countries with access to unique experiences, extraordinary educational resources, access to alliances with leading institutions, and participation in specialized networks to support their business, community and personal leadership. Altogether, YPO member-run companies employ more than 15 million people around the world and generate US$6 trillion in annual revenues. For more information, visit www.ypo.org. Dublin, Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cs42pg/apac_ecigarette) has announced the addition of the "APAC E-Cigarette and Vaporizer Device Market - Estimation & Forecast, 2015-2025 Focus on Type, Distribution Channel, and Geography" report to their offering. The Asia Pacific e-cigarette market is poised to grow over $5 billion by 2025, at a double digit CAGR from 2016 to 2025. In the wake of increasing tobacco consumption and its detrimental health effects, the first e-cigarette was designed in China, back in 2003, in the hopes of finding an alternative to tobacco smoking. The market has now evolved through three generations and is standing at the point of influx, wherein a plethora of companies are entering, thanks to the low entry barriers such as government policy and capital requirements. The market has been largely driven by a flurry of activities including low cost, technological advancements in products and large number of smokers in the region among others. Moreover, the emergence of vape shops is increasingly engaging more number of users through their wide variety of products and better assistance while shopping for their desired products. However, the state and federal government's proposals to regulate, heavily tax, or outright ban e-cigarettes are emerging as a key challenge for the market. Further, a growing market of counterfeit products and the unregulated manufacturing process in China are other restraining factors in the e-cigarette market. Low end e-cigarettes, consisting primarily of disposable and rechargeable e-cigarettes, have been identified as the dominant e-cigarette type as far as revenue generation is concerned, accounting for over $150 million in 2015. However, owing to the changing preferences of users and the long term cost effectiveness factor, high end personal vaporizers and mods are expected to witness the fastest growth rate throughout the forecast period. In spite of the proposals of stringent regulations and policies governing the e-cigarette market, the revenue from the key countries will continue to rise at a double digit CAGR through the forecast period. While China is expected to lead the market throughout the forecast period, India is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR, accounting for more than 26% of the global e-cigarette market value by 2025. Significant revenue flow will also be observed in South Korea. Tobacco consortiums, recently established vaping associations, and regulatory bodies have a significant role to play in the Asia Pacific e-cigarette industry since the future growth of the market largely depends on the regulatory framework. Singapore and Thailand have completely banned vapor products; Hong Kong and Japan have banned nicotine containing e-cigarettes, while South Korea is considering taxing e-cigarettes in a similar fashion to regular cigarettes. Revenue generation from retail distribution channel will continue dominating the APAC e-cigarette device market throughout the forecast period. Following the proposal, the companies will have to bring about drastic changes in their marketing and distribution strategies, which might affect the market growth through the forecast period. Moreover, five Malaysian states viz. Johor, Kedah, Penang, Kelantan and Terengganu have already banned sale of e-cigarettes and accessories, and a similar trend is expected to be followed through the forecast years. The key market players profiled in the company include MistLife, Smoore Technology Limited, Kanger Tech, First Union, Kimree, Just Fog, ITC Limited and Japan Tobacco among others. Key Topics Covered: 1 Research Scope, Methodology & Description 2 Executive Summary 3 Market Dynamics4 Industry Analysis 5 Consumer's Perspective and Buyer's Criteria 6 Product Type (Price Bands) 7 Distribution Channel 8 Geography 9 APAC E-Cigarette Market Company Profiles - Electronic Cigarette Just Fog Co., Ltd. - Firstunion - Innokin Technology Co., Ltd. - Itc Limited - Japan Tobacco, Inc. (Jt) - Joyetech - Kanger Technology Co., Ltd. - Kimree, Inc - L-Rider Technology Co., Ltd. - Mistlife - Shenzhen Smoore Technology Co., Ltd. - Smokefree - Timiya Technology Co., Ltd For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/cs42pg/apac_ecigarette DENVER, Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading data center and colocation services provider, FORTRUST, announced today that Town of Parker, a municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, has selected FORTRUST to support their disaster recovery capabilities. The Town of Parker is a home-rule municipality in Douglas County and the 19th most populous municipality in the state of Colorado. Parker provides a wide variety of services to its citizens, from Town Administration and Police Services to Parks and Recreation and Cultural programming. The Town of Parker found FORTRUST to be the secure, reliable data center partner they needed. FORTRUST has been our first foray into outsourced colocation and the whole experience has been very positive, states Terry Denison, IT Systems Analyst for the Town of Parker. In addition to the tight security at FORTRUST, their professional, knowledgeable, and friendly personnel have made us feel very comfortable. The Town also has long-standing relationships with multiple strategic partners that rely on FORTRUST for their systems, so we are confident that we chose the best data center for the job. FORTRUST makes security one of its top priorities, which is why many organizations requiring a high level of security collocate at our facility, says Josh Moody, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at FORTRUST. We look forward to continuing to safeguard Town of Parkers sensitive information here at FORTUST. About FORTRUST FORTRUST is one of the most progressive high-availability data center services providers in North America, serving clients across the globe who depend on colocation services for a critical lifeline of their business. FORTRUST Denver is the largest data center in the region with over 300,000 square feet and 34 megawatts of data center capacity. FORTRUST offers agile, reliable, sustainable and secure raised floor and modular data center capacity for any-size enterprise supported by optimal power infrastructure and connectivity to safeguard mission-critical business services. In addition to the national headquarters in Denver, FORTRUST has data center locations in Phoenix, Arizona and Edison, New Jersey. www.ftdc.com About The Town of Parker Located 20 miles south of Denver and home to nearly 50,000 residents, the Town of Parker offers the perfect balance of a full-service community with a hometown feel. A community that is highly rated for safety, Parker provides an unmatched quality of life, spectacular parks and recreation amenities, a great business mix, world-class cultural facilities and a wide variety of community events. To find out more about our community, visit www.ParkerOnline.org. The cruiser ** has passed on. He is no more. *(Russian naval vessels are by tradition "he's" rather than the "she's" of English or American sai... 6 months ago HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A high-level delegation of more than 60 international lawyers will be among attendees at the fourth annual Legal Week Private Client Forum Americas this weekthe first time the event has been held in Bermuda. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2312c3ef-3a12-4d31-a1bb-f9034df88892 http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/730a2e68-7e4a-40d7-8fe6-09822f502bcc The forum runs Wednesday through Friday at the Rosewood Tuckers Point Resort, attracting some of the worlds key influencers and elite trust and private-client sector professionals. In particular, delegates are travelling to the island from numerous Latin American nationsincluding Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama and Uruguayfollowing the BDAs attendance of last years event in Costa Rica. Eighteen months ago, the BDA identified several major target markets in the trust and private-client sector, including China, Canada and Latin America, says BDA CEO Ross Webber. Bringing this conference to Bermuda, during the shoulder season, is a direct result of our focussed strategic efforts and benefits the island from a tourism, airlift and business perspective. Getting leading influencers to physically come to Bermuda is the best business promotion we can do as a jurisdiction. Alongside leading private-client lawyers from 14 jurisdictions around the world, the speaker faculty will include keynote presentations from Bermudas Chief Justice Ian Kawaley, political analyst and broadcaster Gloria Alvarez of Guatemala, and former US banking regulator Ross Delston. Legal Week events are consistently impressive in terms of the quality of attendees and content, noted Sean Moran, Business Development Manager for the trust and private-client sector, who attended the 2015 forum with Webber. We felt this type of gathering would be perfectly suited to Bermuda, given its impressive clientele and its focus on issues relevant to North, South and Central America. Thanks to the hard work of our BDA events team and the support of local stakeholder companies, we managed to bring the forum to Bermuda. Were thrilled to welcome the Legal Week team, speakers and delegates here this week. Chaired by leading New York-based wealth-management lawyer Joshua Rubenstein, of Katten Muchin Rosenman, this years forum focusses on the changing landscape for those advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). The event agenda explores fast-evolving geo-political, regulatory and cross-border planning issues affecting the trust and private-client sphere, particularly those advising Latin American wealth. We are delighted to be bringing a high-level delegation of private-client lawyers to Bermuda for this years Private Client Forum Americas, said John Malpas, Legal Weeks Publishing Director, who noted the event is firmly established as a must-attend conference for international private-client lawyers with client interests in the Americas. After taking the event to Arizona, California and Costa Rica in past years, Legal Week is excited to showcase the wonderful island of Bermuda to our prestigious delegation, he said. Bermuda was one of the first international trust jurisdictions and over the decades has become established as a premier jurisdiction for private-client structures. Among Bermudas advantages are a superior regulatory framework and judicial system, as well as globally recognised practitioners who serve a broad spectrum of international businesses and high-net-worth clients. For more details on Legal Week Private Client Forum Americas and to view the conference programme, go to: http://www.privateclientforum-americas.com/static/conference-program. CONNECTING BUSINESS The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business here smooth and beneficial As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality. This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape. All the posts here were published in the electronic media main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts. Don Matteson flew through a hurricane in the 1960s, nearly started a shooting war between Chile and Peru in the 1970s, and was held at gunpoint and arrested before he was a teenager. The Corvallis man celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by family and friends Saturday at Timberhill Place. And Matteson, like he has been for the last century, took great joy being the life of the party, dancing, laughing and telling tales of his adventurous youth. And Matteson was happy to share his secrets to a long-lasting and happy life. Eat oatmeal mush for breakfast every morning, eat lots of red meat and chase young girls, Matteson said with a howl. I also drink a Coke every day. I think that helps too. Matteson later added that hes not sure if anything hes ever done has helped him live longer, but it has made him happy. Ive been the luckiest guy alive. Nothing bad has ever happened to me, Matteson said before telling a story about being arrested before he was a teenager. It was 1928 in the middle of Prohibition and Matteson was 12 years old when he became a driver hauling sugar from a coastal sugar house near Hammond to an illegal family-owned still run by a couple of his uncles. Matteson recalled one trip when he had just parked his car outside of the still when he saw a police car come from out of nowhere and park right next to him. I was unloading the stuff for the drop when I saw them, Matteson said, adding that he spent five days in jail before his father got him out. Mattesons uncles were not as fortunate. They went to jail for a long time, Matteson said. The centenarian says he is happy to talk about his few run-ins with the law in his early days, but those who know Matteson best say he is one of the most kind-hearted and hardest-working men they have ever met. He worked. Thats what he did, said son Curtis Matteson, 61. He was a madman for working. Matteson was born on Feb. 8, 1916, in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, moved with his family down to the Oregon Coast in 1922 and graduated from Seaside High School in 1934. In business, Matteson made a name for himself as a jack-of-all-trades, working as a butcher, commercial fisherman and cattle rancher before helping start the Portland-based Coast Packing Company in the 1960s. But the only thing that rivaled Mattesons work ethic was his sense of adventure. He put everything into his work. And when it came time for adventure, he put everything into that too, Curtis said, adding that his father learned to drive at 5 years old and learned to fly airplanes as a teenager. Coast Packing did well enough that by the 1960s, our family had an airplane. And when I was 12 years old, we went on a trip to South America and we almost didnt make it back. In spring 1967, Mattesons good friend and fellow aviator, Robert Carrasco, had told the family that there might be a large iron deposit underneath some land that Carrasco had recently acquired in his home country of Chile. In order to find it, they would need to fly a plane affixed with a high-tech metal detector known as a magnetometer over the recently acquired land. Without a moments hesitation, Matteson agreed to use his own twin-engine Cessna and fly from Oregon down to Chile, and within a week the group took off to hunt for the iron ore deposits. On one evening during the trip, when Curtis was flying the plane over Columbia, they ran into violent thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds in the International Tropical Convergence Zone. I was 12 years old flying through there and the plane was shaking and we were all scrambling and dad spotted a runway down below and we wheeled the plane around and barely landed, Curtis said laughing. And were sitting there waiting for the weather to clear when this Englishman pops down on the same runway. He gets out and asks us what were doing there. He tells us he flies there every day and that we came at the worst time. So we wait with him for a bit and he ends up escorting us down to our next destination. Just the luckiest thing in the world. In the following weeks, the group would end up locating several small iron deposits in Chile. The trip meant so much to Curtis, he ended up pursuing a career as a mining engineer. That was the beginning of my whole life and I owe it all to him and that crazy trip, Curtis said. Thats how dad is. He gives you the wheel and expects you to figure it out just like he did. And I dont know if its just that were all too stupid to know better, but its made us all a very happy family. But even Curtis will admit that sometimes luck is the only thing that has gotten Don and the rest of the family through some harrowing situations. Luck is definitely a part of it, Curtis said. Sometimes he pushes things a little too close to the edge. Curtis recalled another trip he would never forget. It was May 1977 when Carrasco approached the Mattesons to take another flight down to Chile. Only this time, instead of looking for iron ore deposits, the mission was to bring a plane down to Robert Carrascos brother Raul. But there was a major barrier Chile and Peru were on the brink of war and travel into Chile would be nearly impossible. Again, Don Matteson didnt hesitate. It was an adventure and they were good friends, so dad didnt think twice, Curtis said. But South America had changed. A lot. Curtis said that once the trio made it through Mexico, they were harassed nearly every time they landed. In Panama, we were held at gunpoint. But dad didnt care. He argued with them, we refueled and we got back on the plane, Curtis said. But in Peru, we barely escaped. Curtis said they had landed at a small airbase in Talara, Peru for the night. The next morning, military personnel on the base began to act suspiciously and accused the group of spying for the Chilean government. The guy had taken us to a small room and was accusing us of all of these crazy things. The second he left the room, I looked at dad and Bob and said, we got to go. So we just got on the plane and took off, Curtis said. But still several miles away and gliding on fumes, the group began getting radio calls from the Peruvian government demanding that they land in Lima, Peru. Carrasco said that wasnt an option. I told Don that if we landed in Lima, we were never going to get to Chile, Carrasco recalled. So we kept going. I was more afraid of my brother, who would be mad that he would never get his plane, than I was of them. The group flew straight for Arica the northernmost city in Chile. We were sucking fumes but we got low and off the radar and when we landed (in Arica) I saw some jets flying overhead, Curtis said. I found out what it was later. A few days later, the group met with a U.S. Ambassador at an embassy in Santiago, Chile. He said that we almost started a shooting war, Curtis said. Those jets I saw fly over us were two Peruvian jets that had been sent up to intercept us. It made the Chileans nervous watching this so they set up a group of F-5 fighters to get them out of there. These Peruvian jets wouldve shot us out of the sky if they hadnt gotten involved. Lucky. But thats how dad always did it; a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. JEFFERSON Several adjectives could be used to describe Master Chief Aguilar happy, protective, affectionate although petite does not accurately describe the 160-pound Great Pyrenees. Perhaps the most fitting would be lucky. Lucky that animal lovers Dale and Shirley Jones found him after wandering alone for months near Snow Peak, a matted mass of fur more dead than alive and nursed him back to health. Lucky that when he was adopted from SafeHaven seven years ago, an ID microchip was implanted. Lucky that his adopted family loves him dearly and spent much of the last year looking for him. Master Chiefs story began last March when his owner, Xavier Aguilar, left him in the care of a neighbor because he was going to be out of town for a couple weeks and his 80-year-old mother, Belia, could not care for him. They were only going to watch him until my sister Vicki and her husband Rob Fraley got here from Colorado, Xavier said. But when the Fraleys arrived and went to pick up Master Chief known simply as Chief the neighbor said they had given him away. The family was crushed. Thus began a nearly year-long quest to find the beloved member of their family. They put up flyers throughout the area that included a photo of Chief, his description and a $500 reward. Hes the kind of dog that everyone loves, Xavier said. School kids know him by name, so it was really tough being without him. In fact, Xaviers sister told him last week, when Xavier was feeling low, that he needed to deal with the possibility that Chief might not be coming home. But the next day, the Aguilars received a phone call that was an answer to their prayers. In late May, Dale Jones was on his way home from work at ATI Wah Chang when he saw Chief laying by a stop sign on Island Inn Drive. He looked in distress and starved, Jones said. I went home and got my wife Shirley and we went back in our car. At first, he didnt want to get in. He was scared and I finally got him to come. He couldnt walk 100 feet, but we finally coaxed him into the car. Jones said Chief was in pretty rough shape. His hair was all muddy and matted. He was limping pretty badly. Jones said he told Shirley, Honey, weve got another one. They have several dogs and cats, all rescue animals. We really didnt think he was going to make it, Jones said. We gave him a good bath and shaved him. He slowly began to heal and in time, the couple also began exercising him. He started out walking about 100 feet, Jones said. We like to hike, and we got him up to one-quarter of a mile. Now, he can easily go three-and-a-half miles without any problem. The couple originally called him Buddy, but Shirley decided a better name was Double Bubble due to the way Chief walked. After his limp subsided, the nickname was shortened to just Bubble. All the while, the couple kept on the lookout for Chiefs real family. The Lacomb store is the information center for our community, Jones said. We were told someone had been looking for a dog that fit Bubbles description but they didnt want him back. We wonder if maybe someone found him at one point and had kept him. True to his breed, Jones said Chief would often get up in the middle of the night and walk the perimeter of their acreage. He wasnt afraid to chase things off the property, Jones said. Last week, now that Chief is healthy, the Jones decided it was time to get his shots and took him to the Faithful Friends Animal Clinic in Lebanon. Thats when they discovered Chief had an implanted ID chip. When we found out the owner was listed as Roberto Aguilar, I couldnt believe it, Dale said. I used to work with him at Wah Chang. I ate many tamales made by his wife. They were great. Roberto Aguilar was Xaviers dad and died four years ago. Belia Aguilar said that her husband used to sit in the corner of the living room couch and Chief would lay his head on Robertos lap. When the Aguilars got the phone call informing them Chief had been found, there were many tears of joy from both families. Friday morning, Dale and Shirley Jones visited the Aguilars and brought with them a giant doggy bed and a large bag of dog food. Chief was visibly excited for the reunion and ran to greet them and their animals. The Aguilars presented the Dale and Shirley with a calendar that features photos of Great Pyrenees dogs. It was the right thing to do and Im really glad he has a good home, Dale Jones said. Roberto was one of the nicest guys I ever worked with. Persons who would like to assist with Chiefs medical needs can donate at: https://de.gofund.me/tqncpwdw&rcid=c1b067dca6ed4249977e768c6ad1e7cc Contact Linn County reporter Alex Paul at 541-812-6114. Community members are invited to talk about community issues with staff from the Albany Police Department, during Coffee With a Cop, 8 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 at Corks Old Fashioned Donuts, 2555 Santiam Hwy. S.E., Albany. Coffee With a Cop offers an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the departments work in Albanys neighborhoods. According to information provided by the police department, The majority of contacts law enforcement has with the public happen during emergencies or emotional situations. Those situations are not always the most effective times for relationship building with the community and some community members may feel that officers are unapproachable on the street. A goal of Coffee With a Cop is to break down those barriers and allow for one-on-one interaction. A Corvallis man was arrested by Oregon State Police after an alleged drugged-driving crash near the intersection of Highway 34 and Highway 99E on Saturday that sent two people to the hospital, according to police logs. Tyler Jerrot Hollander, 21, faces charges of second-degree assault, driving under the influence of intoxicants controlled substance and reckless driving. He was released from the Linn County Jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on March 9. Hollander allegedly crashed his car into another vehicle driven by Jerry Wayne Akins, 60. Akins and Jennifer Akins, 59, a passenger in his vehicle, were taken to Samaritan Albany General Hospital due to injuries sustained in the wreck. The two were no longer at the hospital as of Monday afternoon. The crash was reported at 2:36 p.m. Saturday. A trooper who was dispatched to the scene reported that Hollander showed signs of impairment, failed standardized field sobriety tests, and had no alcohol in his system. A drug recognition expert performed an evaluation on Hollander at the Linn County Jail, according to police logs. Second-degree assault is a Measure 11 crime that carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of nearly six years in prison. ALBANY POLICE Domestic assault arrest 9 p.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Jeremy Allen Moore, 38, of Albany, was arrested on charges of felony fourth-degree assault, second-degree disorderly conduct and third-degree criminal mischief. His initial bail was set at $51,500. Recovered vehicle, arrest 6:48 a.m. Monday, Carls Jr., 1109 Waverly Drive S.E. A 1999 GMC Yukon that was stolen out of Salem pulled into the location. An officer stopped the vehicle and James Paul Garvin, 19, of Salem, was arrested. Garvin was booked, cited and released at the Linn County Jail on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was released without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24. LINN COUNTY SHERIFF Car theft arrests 12:35 a.m. Friday, Linn County Jail. Jeffery Eugene Birdsell, 46, of Sweet Home and Mickayla Noel Birdsell, 21, of Corvallis, were each arrested on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Jeffery Birdsell also had a warrant for failure to appear. Each was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24. The two are accused of stealing a 2009 Kia vehicle from a Colorado Lake Road address. Pedestrian struck by train 2:18 p.m. Sunday, 300 block Third Street, Harrisburg. A 24-year-old man attempted suicide by stepping in front of a train. The man was struck by the train, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a Springfield hospital. The train was going relatively slow, at approximately 25 mph. Domestic assault arrest 12:49 a.m. Monday, Linn County Jail. Jason William Paquin, 32, of Mill City, was arrested on a charge of felony fourth-degree assault (domestic violence). His initial bail was set at $50,000. OREGON STATE POLICE Meth arrest 8:59 p.m. Saturday, Highway 20 near east Albany city limits. A trooper saw a man and woman in what appeared to be a verbal altercation that led them into the bike lane and, at times, into the travel lane. When a trooper contacted the duo, it was determined each was in possession of methamphetamine, and the male had multiple individually packaged quantities of meth. Tony Marvin Stephenson, 44, of Halsey, was arrested on charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine, as well as two failure to appear warrants. A no-bail hold was placed on him at the Linn County Jail, and he was scheduled for court on March 9. Jennifer Opal James, 43, was arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine. LEBANON POLICE Online threats 8:58 a.m. Friday, Lebanon High School. The Lebanon Police Department school resource officer received a report of an online threat to the high school. According to a 9-1-1 logs, the caller overheard another student talking about a possible school shooting involving a third student. A news release states that the threat indicated a student was going to bring a gun to the school and shoot several other teens. Investigation revealed the identity of the student involved, and that while there was a threat posted, no firearm was located. There was no immediate danger to the staff or students. At about 10 a.m., the 15-year-old student responsible was taken into custody, charged with first-degree disorderly conduct and taken to the Oak Creek Correctional Facility, where he was lodged. Toddler head trauma 12:34 p.m. Sunday, Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. An emergency room nurse reported that a two-year-old arrived at the facility with head trauma. According to an incident report, the father was at the ER, and said that he picked up the child from the childs mother and found that the toddler needed medical care. The child was taken to a Portland area hospital. The incident remains under investigation and little other information was available. 568 ml Stare: What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint. Alcothusiast: Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze. Anxiety, The: The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover. Booze Buffet Mentality: The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar. Booze Porn: Booze Porn: Bread Chest: Crawler's Block: crawl stagnation Crawl Stagnation: Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion: The Family: My whisky collection. MOMA: Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most. Old Man Pub: Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink. Psychological Drinks Cabinet: Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for. Road Beers: Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way. The 3 Types of Rum: White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail. Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for. Photos of alcohol.Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting inand someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence. Ohio Gov. John Kasich went around the state legislature to expand Medicaid under Obamacare in 2013, but thats not the story hes telling voters on the campaign trail. Kasich, a Republican candidate for president, introduced a budget in February 2013 that included the expansion of Medicaid to working-age adults with no kids and no disabilities that was part of the 2010 health care overhaul. For months, Kasich pressed the state legislature to approve the expansion. And they steadfastly refused. Heres how the policy fight played out in 2013: How does this compare to what Kasich is telling Republican presidential primary voters? SHOW OHIO CARES: Ohio Gov. John Kasich spent most of 2013 demanding legislators expand Medicaid. When they refused, he took another route. SHOW OHIO CARES: Ohio Gov. John Kasich spent most of 2013 demanding legislators expand Medicaid. When they refused, he took another route. Kasich told New Hampshire town hall attendees last week when asked why he implemented the expansion against the General Assemblys wishes. Kasich said General Assembly leadership agreed to pass the Medicaid expansion through the Controlling Board, a quasi-legislative panel of six legislators and one executive appointee, because we couldnt get a vote. Now I didnt just do this on my own, young lady, I did it with the blessing of the leadership and we got it done, Kasich said. Former state Rep. John Adams, the fourth-ranking member of the Ohio House majority leadership at the time, told Watchdog.org he was never involved in any such conversation. They did not have a caucus meeting to tell everybody, this is what were going to do,' Adams explained. Im amazed that this governor wants to throw Bill Batchelder and Keith Faber under the bus, even though they were complicit. Batchelder, who was House speaker before retiring due to term limits, signed a formal protest letter that Adams circulated after the Kasich administration submitted its Controlling Board request. Before the Controlling Board vote, Senate President Faber insinuated Kasich had backed lawmakers into a corner by threatening to bankrupt Ohios Medicaid program if Obamacare money was not appropriated. The House speaker and Senate president can swap Controlling Board members at will. Batchelder and Faber stacked the panel so Kasichs Obamacare funding request would be approved. I was there. We had a solution our caucus could have chosen, Adams said, explaining that he and Rep. Jim Butler previously met with Batchelder and shared a list of options for treating Ohios drug-addicted, mentally ill and working poor without taking Medicaid expansion money. But at the October 21, 2013, Controlling Board hearing where Kasichs Obamacare funding request was approved, Ohio Department of Medicaid Director John McCarthy said Medicaid expansion was necessary to serve Ohios needy. McCarthy publicly threatened to bankrupt the entire Ohio Medicaid program if the Controlling Board refused to appropriate the money. Controlling Board President Randy Cole who was appointed by Kasich repeatedly steered the panels conversation away from concerns about Medicaid expansions long-term costs and sustainability. No testimony opposing the expansion was heard. Kasich told New Hampshire voters last week that his latest budget continued Medicaid expansion without one single objection. Republican State Rep. Nino Vitale told Watchdog.org he was one of several legislators to protest inclusion of the expansion in Ohios 2016-17 budget. Vitale spoke against the policy on the House floor before voting against the budget. Three other Republicans in the General Assembly joined him. All four cited the Medicaid expansion as a specific reason for their votes, and several lawmakers voted for the budget only after voicing opposition to the expansion. Since taking effect in January 2014, Kasichs Medicaid expansion has enrolled 650,000 people and has cost federal taxpayers $6.4 billion. The Kasich campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Even as her studies took her abroad for several years, Aseel Baidoun always kept her end goal in sight. She wanted to return to her Palestinian homeland and make a difference. It was a goal she kept. "That was the main reason why I left in the first place," says Baidoun, who completed a bachelor's degree in communication arts, with an emphasis in journalism, in 2012 from Lebanese American University. "So, I can come back and work and apply what I have learned." Like Baidoun, many Arab international students choose to go abroad for greater educational opportunities, exposure to new ways of thinking, training and skills to apply back home. [Explore five factors to find the right Arab region university.] Baidoun's educational journey took her to Sweden, where in 2014 she earned a master's in global journalism from Orebro University. Baidoun returned home to cover the postwar situation in Gaza while working for the Denmark-based humanitarian relief organization DanChurchAid. Today she works as an advocacy and communications officer at Save the Children International, a nonprofit development organization. In her advocacy role, Baidoun, a Jerusalem native, documents and creates case studies of human rights abuses of Palestinian child detainees in Israeli prisons. She says in general, she reports on "Israeli grave violations against Palestinian children" in Gaza and the West Bank, working alongside other international organizations. Baidoun says studying at LAU was crucial for her career and gave her a more comprehensive perspective on regional politics. In Lebanon, she says she was able to understand the Lebanese civil war, visited Palestinian refugee camps and was exposed to the situation in Syria. She says these experiences allowed her to understand how to present the plight of Palestinian children to the world. The opportunity to attend a Western-style university nearby is what led Omani national Othman Al Balushi to the United Arab Emirates. He graduated in 2011 with a master's in strategic human resource management from the University of Wollongong in Dubai. Story continues "I feel that through such a program I was more competent to see things from a different angle and this has served my country, Oman, as well as the organization I am working for," says Al Balushi, who has a B.A. with honors in business administration, human resources management pathway, from Majan College in Oman. Al Balushi is head of staff planning and development at the College of Banking and Financial Studies in Oman, where he has been employed for more than 18 years, beginning as a registration clerk. His work provided a full-time scholarship to attend UOWD. He says his degree has helped advance his career within the organization, a government institution that educates and trains bankers and supports research in the banking and financial sectors. His position entails the training and development of all staff in the organization, which he says contributes to the overall advancement of Omani society. Helping his homeland was always the goal of Sudanese national Ahmed Dafalla. He has a bachelor's in medicine and general surgery from the University of Khartoum in Sudan and attended American University of Beirut on a regional graduate scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to experienced students from Arab countries who are interested in public health. Dafalla completed his master's in public health with a concentration in health management and health policy at AUB in 2013. His degree positioned him for the role of assistant health officer for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Sudan, where he responds to the needs of refugees, asylum-seekers, returnees and stateless individuals, among others. In addition, Dafalla provides technical guidance to UNHCR to provide quality medical care and nutrition services such as prevention and treatment of malnutrition. He also oversees the collection of data that he uses to fine-tune the organization's future projects. Studying abroad offers students many benefits, says Hani Hassan, from AUB. At the university, he directs a U.S. State Department program that supports disadvantaged students in the Middle East and North Africa who have the potential to become leaders. By leaving their country, students have a chance to reevaluate how they see and think about the world, and also exam their cultures and home countries with a fresh and critical perspective, he says, based on his experience with the university's recipients of the Middle East Partnership Initiative Tomorrow's Leaders Scholarship Program. [Find out what career options Arab region politics students pursue.] Hassan says the experience allows students to return to their home countries with new ideas, skills and tools and positions them to have a constructive and meaningful role. He says many of the university's alumni engage with their home communities, such as by spreading awareness of female empowerment or by advancing education, and can help effect policy change. LAU grad Baidoun says studying abroad "gave my work in Palestine greater context." She says going abroad is of particular importance for Palestinians, considering the political climate and limited higher education options they have as a result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "Palestine is so isolated from most Arabs. So, I think part of getting any education is getting experience abroad," says Baidoun. "And it's always important to come back to one's country with new visions." See the complete rankings of the Best Arab Region Universities. Anayat Durrani is a Los Angeles-based freelance education reporter for U.S. News, covering Arab region universities. Tainan (Taiwan) (AFP) - The developer of a 16-storey Taiwan apartment complex that collapsed during a quake was taken in for questioning on Tuesday as rescuers deployed heavy machinery to find 100 people still feared trapped in the rubble. Prosecutors in the southern city of Tainan launched an investigation into Saturday's disaster after photos showed cans and foam had been used to fill parts of the complex's concrete framework. The district court will later decide whether the developer, identified as Lin Ming-hui, and two of his employees should be formally detained, said court spokeswoman Kuo Chen-hsiu. The three were taken to the prosecutors' office early Tuesday. Around 40 people have been confirmed dead and some 100 are still missing after the collapse of the Wei-kuan building. Tuesday's hearing came as the 72-hour "golden window" for finding survivors expired. It was the only high-rise in the southern city of Tainan to crumble completely when the 6.4 magnitude quake struck before dawn on Saturday. More than 210 people have been rescued from the building but authorities believe over 100 others could still be buried. Tainan mayor William Lai ordered rescuers to start using heavy machinery early Tuesday to remove giant concrete slabs to better detect signs of life, after completing a search of the upper parts of the structure. One woman said she was losing hope after three days of waiting for news of loved ones. "My brother and sister-in-law are trapped in Building A at the bottom of the wreckage. I feel like they've given up on them," Cheng Ya-ling told AFP. "I'm losing hope and losing faith in the rescue. If there's no miracle and they don't come out alive, I only hope they died quickly and didn't suffer." "I've been waiting since Saturday in freezing weather at night and I have blankets. How are they going to survive buried down there?" she said. Story continues Distraught relatives waiting for news of loved ones repeatedly interrupted the mayor as he gave a briefing on the rescue, complaining that they had to wait for information from the media rather than being informed directly. "I beg you to save us. Our family still have three people trapped inside," one tearful woman shouted at Lai as she broke through cordons and threw herself to the ground. "We are going to break down," another man complained. - Not giving up - Use of heavy machinery had been repeatedly delayed after rescuers detected signs of life in upper parts of the toppled structure. There have been some dramatic rescues, including a eight-year-old girl and three others pulled from the wreckage on Monday. While the rescue operation was under way Tuesday, the island was jolted by a 4.9-magnitude quake off the eastern city of Hualien but no damage or casualties were reported. President Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday repeated his pledge to continue searching for those trapped deep within the rubble, even beyond the 72-hour window when the chance of survival rapidly diminishes. "The government won't give up any one of them. Although the golden 72 hours of rescue has passed, lots of rescue records in the world have beaten it," Ma said while visiting the central emergency operations centre outside Taipei. Cranes, drills, ladders, sniffer dogs and life detection equipment are being used to locate those buried, with emergency workers and soldiers shoring up the rubble to avoid further collapses. Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je said the killer quake would speed up urban renewal projects in the capital. "It would cause huge risks for our citizens should any earthquake of the same scale hit the Taipei area," he told reporters. The quake struck two days before Lunar New Year, when many people would have been visiting relatives for the biggest celebration of the Chinese calendar. Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes. The island's worst tremor in recent decades was a 7.6 magnitude quake in September 1999 that killed around 2,400 people. Beirut (AFP) - The United Nations urged Turkey to open its borders to tens of thousands of Syrians who have overwhelmed nearby emergency camps and an end to bombings of their home province Aleppo. "The highest need and the best humanitarian response is for the bombing to stop," UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said, when asked if Russia should halt its air campaign in Aleppo. "All bombings should stop," he said. The main border crossing north of Syria's second city Aleppo remained closed Tuesday, forcing huge crowds including women and children to sleep in tents or in the open. "There are no longer enough places for families to sleep," said Ahmad al-Mohammad, a field worker with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "Most of the families left with just the clothes they were in," he told AFP, adding that the cold and crowded conditions were causing health problems including diarrhoea. Two days ahead of a 17-nation contact group meeting in Munich aimed at getting peace talks back on track, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Russia's aerial bombardment of Syrian opposition targets could derail such efforts. "There is no question, and I have said this before publicly, that Russia's activities in Aleppo and in the region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said in Washington. The United Nations says up to 31,000 people have fled Aleppo city and surrounding areas since last week, as government forces backed by Russian warplanes press an offensive that could encircle the rebel-held eastern part of the city. "We are asking Turkey to open its border to all civilians from Syria who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection," said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler. - Damascus blast - EU president Donald Tusk said the Russian air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime were "making an already very bad situation even worse". Story continues "As a direct consequence of the Russian military campaign, the murderous Assad regime is gaining ground, the moderate Syrian opposition is losing ground and thousands more refugees are fleeing towards Turkey and Europe." Syria's nearly five-year-old conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population. On Tuesday, a suicide car bomb claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least nine people at a police club in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said that a "worst case scenario" could see up to 600,000 refugees arrive at the border. "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there," Kurtulmus said. Turkey already hosts 2.5 million Syrian refugees, but has come under pressure to allow in more, as well as to prevent them from seeking to reach Europe. NATO said it would take any request to help with the refugee crisis "very seriously", after Ankara and Germany said they would seek the alliance's help combatting people smugglers. With Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing north of Aleppo city staying closed, with only medical emergencies allowed through. The UN's humanitarian aid agency OCHA said on Monday that eight informal camps on the Syrian side of the border were at "full capacity". - Under siege - MSF said aid groups were distributing warm clothes and mattresses to those stranded on the Syrian side. The UN warned that 300,000 people in eastern Aleppo city could be cut off from humanitarian aid if government forces encircle the area. Government sieges have been employed to devastating effect against other former rebel bastions. A report from Washington-based The Syria Institute and PAX, a peace organisation based in the Netherlands, said Tuesday that more than one million Syrians are living under siege, a tactic also used by rebel forces. The UN's World Food Programme said it had begun food distributions to the displaced, despite the severing of access and supply routes. "We are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need," said WFP Syria country director Jakob Kern. Syrian government forces backed by allied militias and Russian air raids began a major operation in the northern province of Aleppo last week. They are now around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Turkish frontier. The regime advances came as peace talks in Geneva collapsed last week in part over rebel anger about the government offensive. More than 20 suspected Russian air strikes hit targets in several towns northwest of Aleppo city and in the northern countryside on Tuesday, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. Regime forces and their allies were also fighting rebels, including jihadists from Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo province. Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Tuesday after a senior American official angered Ankara by saying that Washington did not consider the main Syrian Kurdish party to be a terrorist organisation. The Hurriyet newspaper reported that the Turkish government, which views the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group, expressed its "unease" to US ambassador John Bass over the remarks by State Department spokesman John Kirby. Kirby had told his daily press briefing in Washington on Monday: "We don't, as you know, recognise the PYD as a terrorist organisation. We recognise that the Turks do, and I understand that. Even the best of friends aren't going to agree on everything." Ankara considers the PYD and its military wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), to be affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey. Kirby confirmed Tuesday that Bass had met with senior Turkish officials but declined to give further details. He defended his earlier comments, saying "nothing has changed" on US policy. "However, we do consider the PKK a foreign terrorist organisation and continue to be very firm about our desire to see their terrorist attacks on Turkish citizens cease," he said. - 'How can we trust you?' - The international coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has worked closely with the YPG since launching strikes in Syria in September 2014, expanding a campaign that began in Iraq a month earlier. The US-led coalition's support for the PYD and the YPG has been a source of friction between Washington and its NATO ally Ankara for several months. Turkey fears the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria -- similar to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq -- would spur the separatist ambitions of Turkey's own Kurds. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed anger over a US high-level delegation's meeting with members of the powerful YPG, which is in control of the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane. "Do you accept the PKK as a terrorist organisation? Then why don't you list the PYD and the YPG as a terrorist organisations, too?" Erdogan asked. "How can we trust (you)?" he added. "Is it me who is your partner or the terrorists in Kobane?" Kirby had on Monday defended US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying they had been "some of the most successful in going after Daesh," using another name for the Islamic State group. "We have provided a measure of support, mostly through the air, and that support will continue," Kirby added. But he said the United States was open to discussing Ankara's concerns. "They are a friend. They are a partner," he told reporters. Kurdish forces backed by coalition air strikes ousted IS fighters from Kobane after a months-long struggle in January last year. The Turkish government is meanwhile seeking to cripple the PKK in a relentless and controversial military campaign, while the group has killed dozens of members of the Turkish security forces in attacks since a truce collapsed in July. The PKK launched a formal insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although it now presses more for greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority. The conflict has left tens of thousands dead. The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, including the United States. NIAMEY (Reuters) - An elderly Australian woman kidnapped with her husband in Burkina Faso by a group affiliated to al Qaeda has been freed, neighbouring Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou said on Saturday. Issoufou presented the woman, Jocelyn Elliott, at a news conference in Dosso, southwestern Niger, and said authorities were intensifying efforts to secure the release of her husband. The pair were seized on January 15. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said on Friday it had kidnapped the couple and would release the woman unconditionally due to public pressure and guidance from al Qaeda leaders not to involve women in war. The circumstances of her release and how she arrived in Niger were not immediately clear. For over 40 years, Dr. Ken Elliott and his wife, who are in their 80s, have operated a 120-bed clinic in the town of Djibo near Burkina Faso's border with Mali. Their children in Australia said they were "deeply grateful for the safe release of our mother Jocelyn". "We are trusting that the moral and guiding principles of those who have released our mother will also be applied to our elderly father who has served the community of Djibo and the Sahel for more than half his lifetime, they said a statement. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thanked the governments of Niger and Burkina Faso for their assistance and confirmed that his government had spoken to Jocelyn Elliott following her release. The Elliotts were abducted from the town the same day al Qaeda fighters raided a restaurant and hotel in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, and killed 30 people, many of whom were foreigners. (Reporting by Souleymane Ag Anara and Abdoulaye Massalaki, Additional reporting by Morag MacKinnon in PERTH,; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Toby Chopra, Robert Birsel) * "Hawkers" clash with police on gritty Mong Kok streets * Bricks thrown, bins set on fire; police fire warning shots * Worst violence since end of 2014 pro-democracy protests * Street vendors a common sight on Hong Kong streets (Adds comments from Chief Executive, Secretary for Security, details, paragraphs 1-4, 8-9, 17, 19) By Clare Baldwin and Donny Kwok HONG KONG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Riot police fired warning shots on Tuesday to disperse an angry crowd after clashes erupted when authorities tried to move illegal street vendors from a working-class Hong Kong district, the worst street violence since pro-democracy protests in 2014. Protesters prised bricks from the sidewalk to hurl at police, while others toppled street signs and set fire to rubbish bins in Mong Kok, a gritty neighbourhood just across the harbour from the heart of the Asian financial centre. A police spokeswoman said two warning shots were fired into the air, with pepper spray and batons also used to disperse the crowd. Television footage showed the shots were fired as angry protesters surrounded several traffic police, pelting them with rubbish, bricks and bottles and wrestling one of them to the ground. The remains of burned bins and flower pots, chunks of brick and broken bottles lay scattered along the world-famous Nathan Road shopping strip later on Tuesday morning. A taxi with shattered windows also lay parked nearby. The clashes broke out after police moved in to clear "hawkers", or illegal vendors who sell local delicacies, trinkets and household goods from makeshift streetside stalls. The hawkers, a common sight on Hong Kong's bustling streets, quickly attracted a strong social media following under the hashtag #FishballRevolution. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters at a hastily called news conference that the city's government strongly condemned the violence. Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said police were investigating "indications" that the clashes had been organized. When asked about the warning shots, Lai said police had taken all necessary actions. "NOT THE FIRST TIME" The protesters had dispersed by 0000 GMT. More than 100 confronted police in a tense stand-off hours earlier during the Lunar New Year holiday, when most of the city is shut down. Police told Reuters they were awaiting orders about security plans for Tuesday night. Paul Lee, a 65-year-old security guard, said: "This is not the first time there has been violence in Mong Kok." "I am deeply disappointed in the government," he said. The underground train station for Mong Kok, a bustling shopping district packed with street markets, shops and high-rise residential buildings, was closed temporarily. A police statement said three men aged 27 to 35 were arrested for assaulting a police officer and obstructing police, while three police officers received hospital treatment. Broadcaster RTHK said later that 24 people had been arrested. The narrow streets in and around Mong Kok were the scene of some of the most violent clashes during protests in late 2014 to demand greater democracy in the former British colony that returned to Beijing rule in 1997. Tuesday's clashes, however, appeared more violent. Hong Kong television showed police officers being beaten with poles and sticks as they lay on the ground. Many protesters and police were also shown with blood streaming down their faces. Hong Kong Indigenous, a "localist" group that is fielding a candidate in a Legislative Council by-election in a few weeks, was involved in the protest, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported. Many so-called localists remain deeply embittered by the lack of any concessions from Beijing or Hong Kong authorities during the pro-democracy protests. Television footage showed protesters on Tuesday shouting: "Establish a Hong Kong country!" during running battles with the police. Radical protesters and "localists" demanding greater Hong Kong autonomy have vowed to keep fighting even as China shows signs of tightening its grip. The clashes in December 2014 came when authorities cleared the last of pro-democracy demonstrators from the streets after more than two months of protests that had posed one of the Beijing's greatest political challenges in decades. (Additional reporting by Anne Marie Roantree, Bobby Yip and James Pomfret; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Paul Tait) By Antoni Slodkowski and Simon Webb NAYPYITAW/YANGON (Reuters) - As Aung San Suu Kyi's lawmakers smiled for the cameras at the first sessions of Myanmar's parliament, a summit of generals convened at a base just minutes from the chamber. On every mind was the same question: who will be the country's next president? The parallel events summed up the complex nature of the political transition: a much-publicized election of parliament speakers at which former foes from Suu Kyi's party and the military shook hands, while behind closed doors the country's top power brokers met to hammer out how they will run Myanmar. After a quiet period following Suu Kyi's massive election win in November, negotiations have entered a critical stage since a meeting between army chief Min Aung Hlaing and Suu Kyi on Jan. 26, lawmakers and diplomats close to the process say. With its huge mandate Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) can chose the next president but, under the constitution written by the army before it ceded power in 2011, she herself cannot take the job. The NLD wants that changed. "Our first priority includes amending laws which are out of date and not in harmony with the present situation," Tun Tun Hein, a member of the NLD's governing council, told reporters after being appointed chairman of the key lower house bill committee. "The constitution also needs amending since it's one of the laws." The army has so far insisted it wants no change to the constitution and would not countenance Suu Kyi's presidency. She has struck a defiant note, saying she would lead the country "standing above the president". Now, some Yangon-based diplomats say Min Aung Hlaing might be tempted to compromise in return for a pledge from Suu Kyi that she would not infringe on the military's vast economic interests nor seek revenge for abuses under years of junta rule. As well as burnishing his legacy, such a move would also put responsibility for fixing an impoverished country riven by decades of ethnic conflict squarely on Suu Kyi, they say. "If you keep her without any official title she is free to strategise without the day-to-day burden of running the country," said a Western diplomat, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. The New York Times on Friday cited two senior members of the NLD as saying that talks with the military have included a possible deal that would allow Suu Kyi to be president in exchange for senior government posts. It did not name the party leaders and said details of the negotiations were murky. BLURRED RED LINES It is not known what was discussed at this week's meeting at army headquarters, which sits close to the sprawling parliament complex in Myanmar's remote capital Naypyitaw. Confirming the gathering coincided with the opening week of the newly elected legislature, two sources familiar with the matter said senior commanders from across the country gather a few times a year to discuss military matters. But politics was likely high on the agenda - the military retains a central role in the former Burma, with a quarter of seats in parliament reserved for it, along with control of the security forces and the civil service. Moreover, with its block of seats in parliament the military wields a veto over any changes to the constitution, which requires a super-majority of more than 75 percent. Asked about the chances that the constitution could be amended to allow Suu Kyi to be president, Major General Tauk Tun, the most senior military lawmaker in the lower house, did not entirely rule it out, while at the same time sticking to the military's line on the sanctity of the 2008 charter. "We'll do it according to the constitutional provisions," he said. Even if the two sides were to agree to change the constitution, it would still require a nationwide referendum. To circumvent that lengthy process, article 59 (f), which bars anyone with a foreign spouse or children from the presidency and so disqualifies Suu Kyi, whose sons are British citizens, could be suspended, according to Aung Ko, a former general and Suu Kyi ally, and NLD legal experts. Whether that would be lawful remains open to debate, and even some Suu Kyi supporters worry about the precedent it could set. "Personally I do want Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to become the president, but I honestly don't think the constitution should be suspended since this is not a good tradition to hand down to future parliaments," said lawmaker Ba Shin of the Arakan National Party, a large ethnic party from Rakhine State. The NLD has until the end of March to organise the presidential vote in the parliament, but top leaders said they may carry it out next week or towards the end of February, suggesting the two sides could be close to striking a deal. "They are trying to find a solution that doesn't step on everyone's red lines," said Kelly Currie, senior fellow at the Washington-based Asia-focused think tank Project 2049 Institute. "Most likely a more straightforward situation is better. Better than Suu Kyi governing but not having a position." (Additional reporting by Hnin Yadana Zaw and Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Alex Richardson) NATO will take any request to help with the refugee crisis "very seriously", chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday after Germany and Turkey sought the alliance's assistance in combating human smugglers. Defence ministers from the 28-nation group will discuss the issue at a meeting in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday when they review NATO's response to a more assertive Russia and the security threat posed by the Syria crisis. "I think we will take very seriously the request from Turkey and other allies to look into what NATO can do to help them cope and deal with the crisis and all the challenges they face, not least in Turkey, " Stoltenberg told a news conference. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on a visit to Ankara on Monday that Turkey and Germany would ask NATO to help police the Turkish coast to prevent smugglers from packing migrants into boats for the perilous crossing to Greece. Turkey -- the only Muslim-majority nation in NATO and one of its largest armies -- was the main gateway for the more than one million migrants and refugees who crossed into Europe last year. The problem shows no sign of slowing -- more than 70,000 made the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece in January, with over 400 dying, according to the International Organization for Migration (OIM), and there are fears hundreds of thousands more could follow as the fighting in Syria intensifies. - 'Desperate situation' - Former Norwegian premier Stoltenberg said that Russian involvement in Syria was "undermining" peace efforts and "making a desperate situation worse" as more refugees fled the fighting. "Calm and easing tensions is more important than ever," he added. As the crisis in Syria deepens, some NATO allies are wary of getting sucked into a conflict which defies solution, especially as Assad's forces now retake ground in a major Russian-backed offensive. Diplomatic sources said the German-Turkish proposal had come as a surprise. Greece, whose relations with its NATO partner Turkey are strained over a host of issues, expressed scepticism and contacted Berlin Tuesday to insist on safeguards if such a mission went ahead. A Greek government spokesman in Athens said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had told German Chancellor Angela Merkel "that any involvement by the alliance must be confined solely to the Turkish coast and guarantee Greek sovereign rights." US ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute told a separate news briefing that such a German-Turkish request would not be unusual and member states regularly asked for help. At the same time, Lute said the European Union had the "primary responsibility" for managing the migrant crisis. "This is fundamentally an issue which shld be addressed a couple of miles (kilometres) from here in the EU," he said, referring to the fact that Brussels is headquarters for the bloc. - EU backing - The European Union said it would welcome any extra assistance in dealing with a crisis which has put the 28-nation bloc under huge strain. "Of course it is for NATO to take a decision on the opportunity and modalities of the eventual involvement," European Comission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing. "We welcome all discussions on potential measures which could contribute to addressing the refugee crisis, save lives at sea and improve the management of migratory flows and borders." Stoltenberg said that in December, NATO agreed a package of measures to reassure and support Turkey after Russia launched its air campaign against rebels in Syria seeking to oust long-time Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad. This package included deploying AWACS surveillance aircraft over Turkey, air policing and an increased maritime presence, and was agreed after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in late November for violating its airspace. Since then, the United States has also requested that its allies approve deploying NATO AWACS to help the US-led coalition fighting against Islamic State jihadis in Syria and Iraq. Stoltenberg said ministers would discuss a "backfilling" proposal whereby NATO allies would deploy AWACS to take over US missions elsewhere, thereby freeing up American planes for anti-IS missions. He stressed it was "important to understand that it is not NATO that is going to go into any combat role." By Nobuhiro Kubo and Ju-min Park TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea could launch a rocket that it says will carry an earth observation satellite as soon as Sunday, after bringing forward and shortening the time frame for the launch, the Japanese and South Korean governments said on Saturday. North Korea had earlier told the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) it would launch the rocket some time between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25, triggering international opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test. Japan and South Korea said North Korea had issued a Notice to Airmen that the launch would take place some time between Sunday and the following Sunday, Feb. 14. The IMO, a United Nations agency, also said on Saturday it had received a notification from North Korea of the change. Isolated North Korea says it has a sovereign right to pursue a space programme. But it is barred under U.N. Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missile technology. Tension has been high on the Korean peninsula following the North's fourth nuclear test, on Jan. 6. A rocket test now would compound fears about North Korea putting a nuclear warhead on a missile that could reach not only South Korea and Japan but possibly even the west coast of the United States. North Korea last launched a long-range rocket in December 2012, sending into orbit an object it described as a communications satellite. The new time frame was set amid rising expectations that a launch was likely to happen soon, with U.S. government sources on Friday saying North Korea could be ready by the U.S. Super Bowl kickoff on Sunday, which will be Monday in Korea. Satellite images taken this week of North Korea's Sohae rocket launch site show apparent fuelling activity seen in the past shortly before a rocket launch, said Washington-based 38 North, a North Korea-monitoring project. North Korean state media has not reported on the changed schedule. On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with President Xi Jinping of China, North Korea's main ally and neighbour, and agreed that a North Korean launch would represent a "provocative and destabilising action," the White House said. Obama and Xi also said they would coordinate efforts to respond to North Korea's nuclear test last month and said they would not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapon state. "The leaders emphasized the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through an impactful UN Security Council Resolution," the White House said. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticised North Korea in remarks made on Friday in Namibia, according to a report released on the Chinese foreign ministrys website, calling on the UN Security Council to take further action. The United States and China have appeared divided over how to respond to North Korea, with Washington urging tougher sanctions and Beijing stressing the need for dialogue. Japan has said it would shoot down the rocket if it threatens the country, and on Saturday accelerated the deployment of two additional PAC-3 missile units in response to the revised launch time frame, a Japanese defence ministry official said. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Matthew Miller in Beijing; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Robert Birsel and Elaine Hardcastle) The peoples frustration with the Aquino administration will be translated into votes for the opposition in the May elections, according to vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It will increase the numbers of the protest vote. Many assert that this government is not helping them, does not think of the welfare of the retirees and those who fought for this country, Marcos said during a roundtable discussion at The STAR yesterday. He said the negative publicity would have an adverse impact on the presidential bid of administration standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II. That kind of thinking, they will say, wag na natin suportahan lahat ng ito dahil ayaw nilang tumulong sa mga matanda at kawawa (lets not support all of them because they dont want to help the poor and downtrodden). The 58-year-old son of the former president will kick-off the campaign today with his running mate, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, at his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Tomorrow, he will campaign in Vigan and around Ilocos Sur, La Union on Thursday and Pangsasinan from Friday to Saturday. Marcos said the protest votes of the people have been reflected in the showing of the presidential candidates Vice President Jejomar Binay, Sen. Grace Poe and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in surveys. It will be to the opposition in general. Maraming identified as protest vote. Duterte is clearly a protest vote. Grace Poe too. The Binay vote is the political mainstream. Miriam is different, its not a protest vote, but a class of its own, he said. Marcos discussed the negative impact of President Aquinos veto of a measure increasing the pension of members of the Social Security System, the stalling of the Salary Standardization Law and the lack of inclusive growth where people do not feel the economic growth being touted by the administration. Story continues Mar will really be hit by that. There is just no way around that conclusion, he said. Last week, Roxas admitted his biggest rival is the frustration of people despite the good performance of the administration. Birthday wish for Noy While they dont see eye to eye on almost any issue, Marcos still has good wishes for President Aquino, who celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday. He said he hoped the President would find himself a partner. Its not good to be alone at a certain age. Thats very depressing. I hope he finds himself somebody who could be with him and keep him company, said Marcos, who is two years older than Aquino. Marcos said he had lived alone for most of his life and knew what it is like to have no one to share his thoughts and experiences with. The issue of being a bachelor has been hounding Aquino during his entire term, primarily because of his age. History will judge us Marcos parried insinuations that he is using the vice presidency as a springboard to the presidency in a bid to clear their familys name soiled by the excesses of his fathers long-term martial rule. He said he was not out to clear his fathers name and he is ready to apologize but only if he offended anybody. Any acknowledgement, apology or closure is not for him to give, Marcos said, stressing history will judge their family. He said he could serve the people better as an executive, noting his being governor for several years in Ilocos Norte. His stint as two-term congressman and one-term senator, he said, was interesting but not enough for him to better help the Filipinos. And for these elections, my best opportunity to return to the executive at the national level is to be vice president. No substitute for victory Marcos was to quick to entertain options if he loses his vice presidential bid, saying there is no substitute for victory. I think on how will I win. I dont think what would I do if I lose. I think how do I win. Even if its not going well, you just keep going, Marcos added. Marcos is closing in on Sen. Francis Escudero, who has been topping surveys. When asked how he would beat Escudero, who got him as a godfather in his first marriage, Marcos said he is just focused on winning. Saying unity is the key to address the countrys many problems, Marcos said he would be able to work with whoever would become president, if he wins his own bid for the vice presidency in the May elections. If elected, Marcos said the first thing he would do is to report to the president and ask how he could help. He said the countrys politics in the past years appeared to be divisive rather than inclusive. We have decided to go down the road where politics determines who are partners and who are not, which I believe is a mistake. The problems are so vast and complex that it requires everybody to help. I want to avoid the crab mentality-type of politics. Instead of trying to achieve, you try to put other people down. You get stagnant. Its not really a good policy, and I dont subscribe to it, he said. Marcos has been critical of the administration for fostering the culture of divisiveness instead of unity for the common good. By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura hopes to talk with the Syrian opposition delegation on Sunday, he said on Friday, and the main opposition body said it had agreed to travel to Geneva to meet him. The opposition's High Negotiating Committee (HNC) has been meeting in Riyadh for several days to debate whether to join the talks or insist the government of President Bashar al-Assad first stop bombing civilian areas and allow in humanitarian aid. "Theyve raised an important point of their concern, they would like to see a gesture from the government authorities regarding some kind of improvement for the people of Syria during the talks, for instance release of prisoners, or some lifting of sieges," de Mistura said. But he added this was a human rights point and "not even an issue to negotiate", and had strongly suggested the best way to get such measures implemented would be to start negotiating in Geneva, by proxy or directly. The HNC spokesman said the decision to go to Geneva followed a phone call from the U.S. Secretary of State and guarantees that their demands would be met. The Geneva talks are the first attempt in two years at a diplomatic solution to a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people. The previous talks in 2014 failed partly because Syria's government insisted on discussing "terrorism" before anything else, a label that it applied to all its opponents. De Mistura said the government delegation, led by Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, had again brought up terrorism in the first session on Friday. But he indicated he would not take up that argument, saying it should be discussed by the U.N. Security Council. De Mistura said the talks would follow his clear instructions from the Security Council, which meant focussing on governance, a new constitution and new elections under U.N. supervision. (Editing by Andrew Roche/Ruth Pitchford) By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States' top military commander will discuss North Korea's latest satellite launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week as part of efforts to strengthen military ties between the three countries, U.S. defense officials said on Monday. U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be in Hawaii, home to U.S. Pacific Command, for the meeting, which was scheduled before the North Korea launch and has been widely criticized around the world. Army General Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff, is expected to participate via video teleconference, but it was not immediately clear if Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, head of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, would participate in person or remotely. The three countries scheduled the meeting after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and General Curtis Scaparrotti, U.S. Forces Korea commander, will also participate, said one of the officials. Harris last month told the Center for International and Strategic Studies think tank that he was a strong advocate of building and expanding multilateral relationships in the region, including one among the United States, Japan and South Korea. South Korea and the United States announced after Saturday's launch that they would begin formal talks on deploying an advanced U.S. missile defense system called THAAD to South Korea as soon as possible to counter the growing threat of North Korea's weapons capabilities. U.S. military officials have said the sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system built by Lockheed Martin Corp and the associated AN/TPY-2 tracking radar built by Raytheon Co are needed in South Korea. Ken Todorov, a retired brigadier general and former deputy director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, told Reuters that North Korea had advanced its capabilities with the latest launch. U.S. Strategic Command on Monday said it continued to track two objects put into orbit by North Korea, the rocket payload or satellite, and the rocket body. This launch, coupled with the recent nuclear test, indicates further advances in the technology necessary to improving North Koreas capability to strike the continental United States, Alaska or Hawaii, Todorov said. Now the threat is more serious." (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese and Andrew Hay) Malaysia has scrapped the visa requirement for Chinese tourists starting from March. The measure aims to revive the country's tourist industry and build up the economy. Li Zhongping, head of GTC Travel Group, says the new policy is the right move. "All the people in the industry are dreaming about waiving the visa. We hope this announcement is final and really can help boom the inbound tourism for Malaysia, to bring a lot of Chinese tourists to help the local economy." Over the past year, the Malaysian government has also taken a series of measures to attract more Chinese tourists to the country, including waiving visa fees and introducing new visa scheme for visitors from China. The measures are aimed at reversing a slide in the number of Chinese tourists to the country since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 154 Chinese passengers on board. However, Hamzah Rahmat, head of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, says some of these previous measures may not have been properly implemented. "The government officials from the other ministries other than the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, they really need to understand what tourism is all about and what tourism brings to the country, especially the economy of the country." Rahmat adds that he hopes the visa-free measure will be made permanent to turn Malaysia into a favorite destination for Chinese tourists. There are three months until Election Day, and anti-Trump Republicans finally have their maneven if theyve never heard of him. On August 8, Evan McMullin announced he is running as an independent for president. If youre not familiar, dont feel bad: McMullin is an almost entirely unknown quantity. A Mormon from Utah, he went to Brigham Young University and later got an MBA from the Wharton School of Businessan alma mater he shares with Donald Trump. He joined the CIA and after serving a stint in intelligence went to work for Goldman Sachs. More recently, he served as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference. McMullin, 40, may not be well known, but its hard to imagine a more establishment resume. He says hes running out of disgust with the two major-party candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Like millions of Americans, I had hoped this year would bring us better nominees who, despite party differences, could offer compelling visions of a better future, he writes in an announcement letter. Instead, we have been left with two candidates who are fundamentally unfit for the profound responsibilities they seek. Recommended: Trump Denies Calling For the Assassination of Hillary Clinton McMullin will have the backing of some anti-Trump Republicans, including the wily veteran strategist Rick Wilson. But he doesnt have a prayer. Even if McMullin succeeds in getting on the ballot in a large number of states, his public profile is nil, and hes unlikely to have the time or money to do much to change that. Some reporters and pundits guffawed at the prospect of National Review writer David French, a previous anti-Trump hope, running for president, but next to McMullin, French looks like um, whos a widely known celebrity running for president? Theres a bitter irony to McMullin as the last hope. Anti-Trump Republicans have rejected Trump for many reasonsincluding his policy views, his temperament, and his personal lifebut many have cited his lack of qualifications. In McMullin and before that French, however, the anti-Trumpers have set their sights on two men who, whatever their moral or intellectual qualifications, have never run for office or won a single vote from Americans. (Trump is fond of pointing out that he won more votes than any Republican candidate ever.) Story continues McMullins late entry might represent conservatives backing away from Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee. Hes tried to court Republicans who cant stand to vote for Trump, even bringing on former Massachusetts GOP Governor Bill Weld as a running mate, to the consternation of some Libertarians. But Johnsons freewheeling style and peculiar comments about religious freedom seem to have dampened any movement toward him on the right. Recommended: 15 Years After 9/11, Is America Any Safer? This cheat sheet has nearly reached the end of its useful life, but well keep updating it with the last few touches. Meanwhile, check out our guides to the Trump veepstakes and the Republicans and conservatives who areor are notbacking him. Heres how things look right now. * * * The Republicans Gage Skidmore DONALD TRUMP Who is he? A brash real-estate heir turned real-estate failure turned recovered mogul turned reality-TV star turned politician. Is he running? And how. Who wants him to run? A plurality of the Republican primary electorate, but especially a large Caucasian bloc, from white supremacists to aging white people who feel their clout is being lost and the country they know is being taken over by minorities. Even now, many of the Republican Partys leaders and luminaries remain appalled. Can he win the nomination? What else do we know? He cheats at golfprobably. * * * The Democrats Wikimedia HILLARY CLINTON Who is she? As if we have to tell you, but: Shes a trained attorney, former secretary of state in the Obama administration, former senator from New York, and former first lady. Is she running? Yes. Who wants her to run? A majority of the Democratic Party. Can she win the nomination? She has won it, surviving a far more serious challenge from Bernie Sanders than expected. What else do we know? The real puzzler, after so many years with Clinton on the national scene, is what we dont know. Recommended: The Narcissist Does her website have a good 404 page? Updated April 12: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you bad swipes in the subway, make a new 404. (h/t David and Adam) * * * Third Party and Independent Wikimedia JILL STEIN Who is she? A Massachusetts resident and physician, she is a candidate of nearly Stassen-like frequency, having run for president in 2012 and a slew of other offices before that. Is she running? Yes. Stein announced in June 2015 that she would again seek the nomination of the Green Party, which she won in 2012. The Green Party will formally select its candidate in Houston, this year at their Presidential Nominating Convention on August 6. Who wants her to run? Stein seems to have strong support with the Green Party. She managed to collect nearly 500,000 votes in 2012the partys strongest showing since Ralph Naders disastrous 2000 run but well short of the 2.9 million votes he got. What are her prospects? Stein hopes to capitalize on the presence of Sanders backers who wont back Clinton. So far, her attempts have been rocky. Most Sanders backers say theyll vote for Clinton, and shes hit turbulence over her flirtation with vaxers. Who is her running mate? Ajamu Baraka, who doesnt like Bernie, Barack, or Beyonce. Does her website have a good 404 page? Possibly not original, but kind of soothing and on-message. Wikimedia GARY JOHNSON Who is he? Oh come on, you remember Gary! He ran for the GOP nomination in 2012 and then got the Libertarian Party nod after that didnt work out. He was previously a two-term governor of New Mexico. More recently he ran a company that sells THC lozenges. Is he running? Sure is. On May 29, Johnson won the 2016 nomination at the Libertarian convention, edging candidates from the highly touted newcomer Austin Petersen to outlandish oddball former tech titan John McAfee. Who wants him to run? As his companys site notes, Now that hes associated with what is being hailed the best legal cannabis product on the market, Gary may be drafted for President of the United States by a grateful nation one day. Johnson is also an unusually talented and successful politician to vie for the Libertarian line. The 1.3 million votes he collected in 2012 were the partys all-time highso to speak. What are his prospects? Earlier this year, he told my colleague Nora Kelly, I have no delusions of grandeur here. I know what happened last time. But with a sizable chunk of Republicans rejecting Donald Trump, many analysts believe the LP will turn in its strongest performance ever. Who is his running mate? William Weld, the former moderate Republican governor of Massachusetts. Does his website have a good 404 page? No. EVAN MCMULLIN Who is he? Great question. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business and former CIA operative and Goldman Sachs banker, McMullin was until recently chief policy director of the House Republican Conference. Is he running? Yes. McMullin announced his independent candidacy on August 8, 2016. Who wants him to run? McMullin is backed by some leading anti-Trump Republicans, including the colorful-quote-dispensing strategist Rick Wilson. McMullin says he offers a choice to voters who reject Clinton and Trump. What are his prospects? Non-existent. McMullin is the latest in a string of hopes for anti-Trump Republicans. Skeptics pointed out that David French, the last such prospect, who declined to run, had nearly no profile outside of conservative media. But McMullin is an even lesser-known quantity; McKay Coppins reports he had just 135 Twitter followers before he announced his run. Being a CIA and Goldman alum may not be an asset either. The good news is that he is, at 40 years old, old enough to be president. * * * Out of the Running Republicans Wikimedia JOHN KASICH Who is he? The current Ohio governor ran once before, in 2000, after a stint as Republican budget guru in the House. Between then and his election in 2010, he worked at Lehman Brothers. Molly Ball wrote a definitive profile in April 2015. Is he running? No. Kasich announced his departure on May 4 in Columbus. Thats the same place where he jumped in, on July 21, 2015, at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Who wanted him to run? At the outset, some white-collar and moderate Republicans. By the end, maybe a few #NeverTrump dead-enders. Kasichs pitch was that he had fiscal-conservative bona fides, could win blue-collar voters, and he has won twice in a crucial swing state. That just never caught on outside of Ohio, though. Could he have won the nomination? No. What else do we know? John Kasich bought a Roots CD and hated it so much he threw it out of his car window. John Kasich hated the Coen brothers classic Fargo so much, he tried to get his local Blockbuster to quit renting it. George Will laughed at him. John Kasich is the Bill Brasky of philistinism. John Kasich probably hated that skit, too. Does his website have a good 404 page? Nope. Wikimedia TED CRUZ Who is he? Cruz served as deputy assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration and was appointed Texas solicitor general in 2003. In 2012, he ran an insurgent campaign to beat a heavily favored establishment Republican for Senate. Is he running? No. Cruz launched his campaign March 23, 2015, at Liberty University in Virginia but dropped out on May 3, 2016, after losing Indiana and concluding that he had no path to the nomination. Who wanted him to run? Hard-core conservatives; social conservatives; and, as the field winnowed, a growing group of Republicans who detested Cruz but still liked him better than Trump, perhaps best personified by Lindsey Graham. Could he have won the nomination? In retrospect its easy to explain why he didnt. For one thing, Cruz would have been the most conservative candidate his party had nominatedprobably ever, and certainly since Barry Goldwater. For another, its very hard to win when many members of your party detest you and voters dont like you much either. But because he was the last man really standing against Trump, it seemed like he might be able to marshal a motley coalition to win. He was not. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Wikimedia PAUL RYAN Who is he? The U.S. representative from Wisconsin is speaker of the House, an intellectual leader of the Republican Party, and the GOPs 2012 vice-presidential nominee. Is he running? No. Or yes. It depends who you ask. After a surge of draft-Ryan pleas and accusations that he was running a shadow campaign, Ryan held a press conference April 12 to shut the door definitively. Or try to. Can anyone really rule Ryan out until someone else is formally named the nominee? Who wants him to run? Desperate Republican insiders. They fear and loathe Donald Trump, who is a loose cannon with barely any tether to conservative principles, much less the Republican Party; but they also personally despise Ted Cruz, who they also think would lose a general election. Ryans the most obvious figure left on the board. Can he win the nomination? Since hes not running, it would require a very different kind of campaign. First, Trump would have to fail to win the nomination outright with delegates. Then, he and Cruz (and John Kasich) would all have to fail to win on subsequent ballots at the Republican National Convention. Then someone would have to put him forth, hed have to agree, and the fractious party would have to align around him. Its not impossible to imagine, but its not an easy path in any way. What else do we know? Mike Allens Politico Playbook, a favorite inside-the-Beltway tipsheet, has been on the frontlines of pumping up a Ryan bid. For a more skeptical view, read Liam Donovan at National Review. Does his website have a good 404 page? He doesnt have one. Yet. Wikimedia MARCO RUBIO Who is he? A second-generation Cuban American and former speaker of the Florida House, Rubio was catapulted to national fame in the 2010 Senate election, after he unexpectedly upset Governor Charlie Crist to win the GOP nomination. Is he running? No. He announced on April 13, 2015, but dropped out on March 15, 2016, after losing his home stage of Florida. Who wanted him to run? In the end, not nearly enough people. Rubio was seen as a candidate who could bridge solid conservative orthodoxy with a young, charismatic demeanor. As Donald Trump rose, the party establishment coalesced around Rubio, but as it became clear he couldnt win, his support collapsed. Could he have won the nomination? Until Super Tuesday, Rubio seemed to hold the second-choice slot, right behind Trump. But his stumble that day is causing many observers to reassess whether he can actually win. In withdrawing, Rubio suggested he was simply not well-suited to the negative tone of this years primary. Did his website have a good 404 page? Its decent. Gage Skidmore BEN CARSON Who is he? A celebrated former head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Carson became a conservative folk hero after a broadside against Obamacare at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast. Is he running? No. He skipped the March 3 GOP debate and suspended his campaign on March 4. Who wanted him to run? Grassroots conservatives. Carson has an incredibly appealing personal storya voyage from poverty to pathbreaking neurosurgeryand none of the taint of politics. Could he have won the nomination? No. Carson was undone by his own lack of knowledge and interest in policy and his failure to hire the right people to get him up to speed. If its any consolation, history weighed heavily against Carsons chances all along: Not since Dwight Eisenhower has either party nominated anyone without prior elected experience for the presidency. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Gage Skidmore JEB BUSH Who is he? The brother and son of presidents, Bush served two terms as governor of Florida, from 1999 to 2007. Is he running? No. Bush suspended his campaign on February 20 after coming in fourth in South Carolina. Who wanted him to run? Establishment Republicans; George W. Bush; major Wall Street donors. Could he have won the nomination? When he entered the race, Bush became an instant front-runner, but when Donald Trump jumped in, he displaced Bush, and Bush never recovered. Could he have done things differently and ended up with a win? Its possible. But Bush had great connections, the staff he wanted, and stupendous fundraising, and he still botched itwhich strongly suggests he just wasnt a candidate who ever had a chance. Did his website have a good 404 page? Yesy en espanol tambien. Gage Skidmore JIM GILMORE Who is he? Right? Gilmore was governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. Before that, he chaired the Republican National Committee for a year. In 2008, he ran for Senate in Virginia and lost to Mark Warner by 31 points. Is he running? No. He announced on February 12 that he would end his campaign. Who wanted him to run? Who knows? Could he have won the nomination? Nah. Did his website have a good 404 page? Holy Freudian slip, Batman! Gage Skidmore CARLY FIORINA Who is she? Fiorina rose through the ranks to become CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, before being ousted in an acrimonious struggle. She advised John McCains 2008 presidential campaign and unsuccessfully challenged Senator Barbara Boxer of California in 2010. Is she running? No longer. Fiorina dropped out on February 10, following a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. Fiorina also spent seven days in late April and early May as Ted Cruzs running mateby some measures, the shortest such stint ever. Who wanted her to run? She was a business-friendly candidate with a talent for a sharp turn of phrase or jab. But it was never exactly clear what Fiorinas constituency was going to be, and a strong following never materialized. Could she have won the nomination? No. Fiorina couldnt crack 5 percent in New Hampshire and was already off the debate stage when she dropped out. What else do we know? Fiorinas unsuccessful 2010 Senate race against Barbara Boxer produced two of the most entertaining and wacky political ads ever, Demon Sheep and the nearly eight-minute epic commonly known as The Boxer Blimp. Did her website have a good 404 page? No. David Shankbone CHRIS CHRISTIE Who is he? Whats it to you, buddy? The combative New Jerseyan is in his second term as governor and previously served as a U.S. attorney. Is he running? No longer. He suspended his campaign on February 10. Who wanted him to run? Moderate and establishment Republicans who dont like Jeb Bush or John Kasich; top businessmen, led by Home Depot founder Ken Langone. Could he have won the nomination? Maybe in 2012. This year, Christie staked his chances on New Hampshire, and he ended up a distant eighth. On the evening of February 9, he suggested he might drop out soon. But Christie was already probably toast. The tide of opinion had turned against Christie even before the Bridgegate indictments. Citing his horrific favorability numbers, FiveThirtyEight bluntly punned that Christie's access lanes to the GOP nomination are closed. Did his website have a good 404 page? We would have gone with the GIF, but sure. Gage Skidmore RICK SANTORUM Who is he? Santorum represented Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1995 until his defeat in 2006. He was the runner-up for the GOP nomination in 2012. Is he running? No. He dropped out on February 3. Who wanted him to run? Social conservatives. The former Pennsylvania senator didn't have an obvious constituency in 2012, yet he still went a long way, and Foster Friess, who bankrolled much of Santorums campaign then, was ready for another round. Could he have won the nomination? Never. As much as Santorum felt he deserved more respect for his 2012 showing, neither voters nor the press seemed inclined to give it to him, and he remained trapped in the basement. Even in Iowa, which he narrowly won in 2012, he came in almost last, ahead of only Jim Gilmore. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Wikimedia RAND PAUL Who is he? An ophthalmologist and the son of libertarian icon Ron Paul, he rode the 2010 Republican wave into the Senate, representing Kentucky. Is he running? No. He suspended his campaign on February 3. Who wanted him to run? Some Ron Paul fans; Tea Partiers; libertarians; civil libertarians; noninterventionist Republicans. Could he have won the nomination? Once tabbed by Time as the most interesting man in politics, he failed to elicit much interest from voters. The deathwatch stories in December (and September and October) were clearly premature, but they werent wrong. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Gage Skidmore MIKE HUCKABEE Who is he? An ordained preacher, a former governor of Arkansas, and a Fox News host, he ran a strong campaign in 2008, finishing third but sat out in 2012. Is he running? No. Huckabee dropped out on February 1 after pulling less than 2 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses. Who wanted him to run? Social conservatives; evangelical Christians. Could he have won the nomination? No. Evangelicals, his old base, flocked to Ted Cruz instead. Huckabees answer was to play a populist, but that never really took. Did his website have a good 404 page? Its pretty good. Wikimedia LINDSEY GRAHAM Who is he? A senator from South Carolina, hes John McCains closest ally in the small caucus of Republicans who are moderate on many issues but very hawkish on foreign policy. Is he running? No sir. Graham kicked off the campaign June 1, 2015, but suspended it on December 21. Who wanted him to run? John McCain, naturally; Senator Kelly Ayotte, possibly; Joe Lieberman, maybe? Could he have won the nomination? No. But he had some fun in losing it. What else do we know? Graham promised to have a rotating first lady if he won. We were rooting for Lana del Rey. Gage Skidmore BOBBY JINDAL Who is he? A Rhodes Scholar, hes the former governor of Louisiana. He previously served in the U.S. House. Is he running? No. He kicked off his campaign on June 24, 2015, but suspended it on November 17. Who wanted him to run? It was hard to say. Jindal assiduously courted conservative Christians, both with a powerful conversion story (he was raised Hindu but converted to Catholicism in high school) and policies (after other governors reversed course, he charged forward with a religious-freedom law). But he still trailed other social conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee. Could he have won the nomination? No. Jindal never gained traction at the national level, faced an overcrowded field of social conservatives, and his stewardship of Louisiana came in for harsh criticism even from staunch fiscal conservatives. What else do we know? In 1994, he wrote an article called Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare, in which he described a friends apparent exorcism. Did his website have a good 404 page? Meh. Good joke, but past its expiration date. Gage Skidmore RICK PERRY Who is he? George W. Bushs successor as governor of Texas, he entered the 2012 race with high expectations but sputtered out quickly. He left office in 2014 as the Lone Star States longest-serving governor. Is he running? No. He announced on June 4, 2015, but dropped out of the race on September 11, 2015. Who wanted him to run? Bueller? Could he have won the nomination? No. Perry promoters insisted that Rick 2016 was a polished, smart campaigner, totally different from the meandering, spacey Perry of 2012. It didnt seem to matter. Perry had to quit paying his staff in South Carolina and New Hampshire, and was down to a single staffer in Iowa when he dropped out. Did his website have a good 404 page? That depends. Is this an oops joke? If so, yes. Gage Skidmore SARAH PALIN Who is she? If you have to ask now, you must not have been around in 2008. Thats when John McCain selected the then-unknown Alaska governor as his running mate. After the ticket lost, she resigned her term early and became a television personality. Is she running? No. Despite a bizarre speech in January 2015 that made a compelling case both ways. Who wanted her to run? Palin still has diehard grassroots fans, but there are fewer than ever. Could she have won the nomination? No. Gage Skidmore MITT ROMNEY Who is he? The Republican nominee in 2012 was also governor of Massachusetts and a successful businessman. Is he running? Probably not, but who knows! He announced in late January 2015 that he would step aside, but now New York claims that the Trump boom has him reconsidering. Who wanted him to run? Former staffers; prominent Mormons; Hillary Clintons team. Romney polled well, but its hard to tell what his base would have been. Republican voters werent exactly ecstatic about him in 2012, and that was before he ran a listless, unsuccessful campaign. Party leaders and past donors were skeptical at best of a third try. Could he have won the nomination? He proved the answer was yes, but it didn't seem likely to happen again. Gage Skidmore JOHN BOLTON Who is he? A strident critic of the United Nations and a leading hawk, he was George W. Bushs ambassador to the United Nations for 17 months. Is he running? Nope. After announcing his announcement, in the style of the big-time candidates, he posted on Facebook that he wasnt running. Who wanted him to run? Even among super-hawks, he didnt seem to be a popular pick, likely because he had no political experience. Could he have won the nomination? They say anything is possible in politics, but this would test the rule. A likelier outcome could be a plum foreign-policy role in a hawkish GOP presidency. Gage Skidmore SCOTT WALKER Who is he? Elected governor of Wisconsin in 2010, Walker earned conservative love and liberal hate for his anti-union policies. In 2013, he defeated a recall effort, and he won reelection the following year. Is he running? No. Walker dropped out of the race on September 21, 2015. Who wanted him to run? Walker was a favorite of conservatives who detest the labor movement because of his union-busting in Wisconsin. He attracted interest from the Koch brothers, and some establishment Republicans saw him as the perfect marriage of executive know-how, business-friendly credentials, and social conservatism without culture-warrior baggage. Could he have won the nomination? For months, Walker was consideredalong with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubioa top-tier contender for the nomination. Hurricane Trump hurt all three, but none more than Walker. After largely fading from view during the second presidential debate, he polled below 1 percent in a national CNN poll. Perhaps a radically different campaign would have produced a different result, but Walker didnt seem ready for national prime time. Did his website have a good 404 page? Aye, matey. Michael Vadon GEORGE PATAKI Who is he? Pataki ousted incumbent Governor Mario Cuomo in 1994 and served three terms as governor of New York. Is he running? No. He announced his entry on May 28, 2015, but dropped out on December 29using the free TV time hed won to compensate for Donald Trumps Saturday Night Live appearance. Who wanted him to run? Apparently no one: His RealClearPolitics average by the time he dropped out was a neat 0.0. Establishment Northeastern Republicans once held significant sway over the party, but those days have long since passed. Could have have won the nomination? Nope. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. * * * Democrats Wikimedia MARTIN O'MALLEY Who is he? Hes a former governor of Maryland and former mayor of Baltimore. Is he running? No. OMalley announced he was suspending his campaign after getting less than 1 percent in the February 1 Iowa caucuses. Who wanted him to run? Not clear. He has some of the leftism of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren but without the same grassroots excitement. Could he have won the nomination? No. Why OMalleywho says all the right progressive thingscouldnt gain any momentum among progressives who seem eager for Sanders, for Warren, really for anyone but Clinton, is a fascinating conundrum. What else do we know? Have you heard that he plays in a Celtic rock band? You have? Oh. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Wikimedia LAWRENCE LESSIG Who is he? Lessig is a professor at Harvard Law School, a political activist, and an occasional Atlantic contributor. Is he running? No. Having announced a run in early September, he dropped out on November 2, 2015. Who wanted him to run? Lessigs campaign was designed to cater almost exclusively to the many Americans who are upset about the influence of money in politics. He pitched himself as a referendum president who would pass his proposed Citizens Equality Act of 2017, which would enact universal voting registration, campaign-finance limits, and anti-gerrymandering provisions. Could he have won the nomination? No. In dropping out, he cited his inability to break into the Democratic debates, but given his lack of electoral experience, his idiosyncratic platform, and the track record of his Mayday PAC in the 2014 election, he never really had a shot. What else do we know? In a season six episode of The West Wing, a fictional Lessig (played by Christopher Lloyd) worked with the White House to write a new constitution for Belarus. Did his website have a good 404 page? Sorry, were too busy fixing democracy to design a clever 404 page! You have time now! Steven Senne / AP LINCOLN CHAFEE Who is he? The son of beloved Rhode Island politician John Chafee, Linc took his late fathers seat in the U.S. Senate, serving as a Republican. He was governor, first as an Independent and then as a Democrat. Is he running? No. Chafee announced his run on June 3, 2015, but ended it October 23. Who wanted him to run? You can meet all 10 of them in this great NPR piece. Could he have won the nomination? No. Chafees showing in the first debate was so bad that even Wolf Blitzer begged him to get out for his own reputations sake. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Wikimedia JOE BIDEN Who is he? Biden is the vice president and the foremost American advocate for aviator sunglasses and passenger rail. Is he running? No. After lengthy deliberation, Biden ruled out a run on October 21, 2015. Who wanted him to run? The original driving force for the run seems to have been the late Beau Biden, along with his brother, Hunter. An outside group called Draft Biden (slogan: Im Ridin With Biden) tried to coax him in. Could he have won the nomination? Its highly doubtful. Even when Hillary Clinton was at her weakest, she had huge organizational advantages. And past presidential campaigns showed that Biden, while compelling, could be an undisciplined, self-defeating candidate. Wikimedia ELIZABETH WARREN Who is she? Warren has taken an improbable path from Oklahoma, to Harvard Law School, to progressive heartthrob, to Massachusetts senator. Is she running? Are you still scrolling down here to check? Not a chance, amigo. Who wanted her to run? Progressive Democrats; economic populists; disaffected Obamans; disaffected Bushites. Could she have won the nomination? No, because shes not running. Wikimedia BERNIE SANDERS Who is he? A self-professed socialist, Sanders represented Vermont in the U.S. House from 1991 to 2007, when he won a seat in the Senate. Is he running? No. He endorsed Clinton July 12 and his campaign formally ended at the Democratic National Convention later that month. Who wanted him to run? Far-left Democrats; Brooklyn-accent aficionados; progressives who worry that a second Clinton administration would be too friendly to the wealthy. Could he have won the nomination? No. Hillary Clinton clinched the nomination on either June 6 or June 7, depending on who you believe. Even so, hes one of the most successful insurgent Democratic candidates ever. Did his website have a good 404 page? Yes, and it is quintessentially Sanders. * * * Independents Gage Skidmore DAVID FRENCH Who is he? A lawyer and longtime conservative activist, French is a staff writer at National Review and served in Iraq. Is he running? No. He responded to a Draft French campaign on June 5, saying he would not jump in. Who wanted him to run? Bill Kristol, mostly. #NeverTrump conservatives have been desperately casting about for a protest candidate, and Kristols attention alighted on French, who remains largely unknown out of movement-conservative circles. Could he have won the nomination? Of what party? French was never likely to win many votes. The question was whether he could get on the ballot in enough states to really offer much of an alternative. Kristol and French say he could have; most people disagree. Did his website have a good 404 page? N/A, alas. Jim Mone / AP JESSE VENTURA Who is he? A Navy veteran, former professional wrestler, and author, The Body was elected as governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket in 1999 and served one term. Is he running? No. He announced on May 26 that he would not run. Ventura previously told CNN on March 3 that he was considering a third-party presidential bid. Who wanted him to run? Just Jesse, it seems. He argued that people are fed up with Democrats and Republicans and want a middle path. I want to see the revolution continue, he said. Could he have won? No. Venturas politics are eclectichis 2012 book praised Occupy Wall Street and blasted the Citizens United decision, but he tends toward conservative-libertarian views on other matters. His biggest problem might be his Trutherism: He believes the 9/11 attacks were a hoax. Then again, no one thought hed ever win his gubernatorial election in Minnesota, either. Did his website have a good 404 page? Did he have a website? Wikimedia MICHAEL BLOOMBERG Who is he? The billionaire finance-and-technology entrepreneur was benevolent dictator mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013. Is he running? No. After months of trial balloons, he announced on March 7 that he would not run. Dont say we didnt tell you. Who wanted him to run? If the past is any indication, it was mostly Bloomberg aides. Could he have won the nomination? Bloomberg himself repeatedly belittled his own electability for years, either as an individual or, in the abstract, as a third-party candidate. When I look at the data, its clear to me that if I entered the race, I could not win, he wrote when he decided not to run. And he was almost certainly right. Its hard to imagine who would vote for him, especially if Clinton wins the Democratic nod: Hes slightly to the right of her, but Republicans hate him, and he makes her seem like Miss Congeniality. Did his website have a good 404 page? Please. This is a guy who doesnt even think websites are necessary. Wikimedia JIM WEBB Who is he? Webb is a Vietnam War hero, author, and former secretary of the Navy. He served as a senator from Virginia from 2007 to 2013. Is he running? No. Webb launched a Democratic bid July 2, 2015, but dropped it October 20, 2015. He has since made noises about mounting an Independent campaign, but on February 11 said he would not run. He now says he wont vote for Clinton but might support Trump. Who wanted him to run? As a Democrat, doves; the Anybody-But-Hillary camp; my colleague James Fallows. As an Independent? Maybe some of the same socially conservative, economically populist Democrats who backed him before. But he barely registered in the race the first time around. Could he have won the nomination? No. Every Independent candidate is at best a very long shot, and Webbs weaknessesdislike for campaigning, weak fundraising, heterodox viewswere on clear display during his Democratic bid. Did his website have a good 404 page? No. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Gergely Szakacs and Humeyra Pamuk BUDAPEST/ONCUPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey is admitting Syrian refugees in a "controlled manner" and has let in thousands fleeing Russian air strikes, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, warning the numbers of new migrants could reach a million if the attacks continue. An assault by Russian-backed Syrian government forces around the city of Aleppo has sent more than 30,000 people fleeing to the Turkish border gate of Oncupinar in the past few days, and officials say tens of thousands more could be on the move. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey had so far let in 10,000 people from the latest wave, but it was not immediately clear where on the border he was referring to. Oncupinar has remained closed in recent days to all but the most seriously wounded, some of them crossing by foot or brought in by ambulance, according to Reuters witnesses. The United Nations and European Union have urged it to open the crossing. "Recently more than 50,000 people came to the border with Turkey due to Russia's air attacks. We took in 10,000 of these migrants and we are building some camps at the other side of the border for some," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Budapest. "We are allowing in those who want to come, in a controlled fashion," he told a news conference with his Hungarian counterpart. "MORAL AND LEGAL DUTY" The bulk of the refugees at Oncupinar are being cared for at Bab al Salama, on the Syrian side of the border, with Turkish aid groups trucking across food and supplies. The United Nations on Tuesday urged to Turkey open the border and called on other countries to assist it with aid. The European Union, which has agreed a 3 billion euro fund to improve conditions for refugees in Turkey, has said Ankara has a moral and legal duty to care for them. Turkey has won international praise for its hosting of more than 2.5 million refugees, but amid pressure from the EU to prevent them travelling on to Europe there are signs that its open door policy may be starting to tighten. Most border crossings are now closed, although it has opened some of them on occasion for humanitarian emergencies. Several thousand Turkmen and Arabs fleeing advancing pro-government Syrian forces in the north of Latakia province further west were let into Turkey a week ago, some evacuated for security reasons from a camp on the Syrian side. Turkish aid officials said around 5,600 people had been let in near the border town of Yayladagi between Jan. 28 and Feb. 2. Cavusoglu said the latest influx could reach hundreds of thousands or even a million if the offensive by Syrian government forces in the countryside around Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city with 2 million people before the war, continued. The fighting is approaching the Turkish border and President Tayyip Erdogan has said the refugees at Oncupinar will be allowed in if necessary. (Additional reporting by Marton Dunai in Budapest, Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by David Dolan and Nick Tattersall; editing by Katharine Houreld) Three Hills Capital Partners has soared past 1bn for the final close of its fourth flagship fund, almost doubling the total it collected for its predecessor vehicle. 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. Modified On Feb 09, 2016 04:30 PM By Sumit for Maruti Baleno 2015-2022 Maruti Baleno is all set to embark on a new path. As reported by CarDekho earlier, the Indian carmaker has now dispatched a batch of 1,800 units from Gujarat, and the car is expected to be launched by next month, in Japan. This is the first time it is happening - a model made by the Indian automaker is being exported to Japan. The automobile has been a spectacular success in the domestic market and shattered its competitors in the segment. It dislodged the top-seller, Hyundai i20, in December 2015, to gain the no. 1 spot in terms of sale. The company has ambitious plans for the car and is all-set to export it to Europe as well. To compensate for the underpowered mills, it recently unveiled the Booster-jet variant of Baleno at the ongoing Auto Expo. The 1.0 litre engine is turbocharged and churns out 110 horses of power. The torque producing capacity is also enhanced in the to-be-launched model. I am convinced that the Baleno will be the success story of Make in India, and the significance of Maruti Suzuki as the global production base will further expand, said T. Suzuki, president, Suzuki Motor Corporation, at the ongoing Expo. Presently, the car comes with two engine options. The 1.3 litre diesel powerhouse generates 74 bhp of power with a peak torque of 190 Nm. On the other hand, 1.2 litre petrol is capable of delivering a power of 83 bhp and 115 Nm of torque. Also Read: Maruti to Export Baleno in Europe from 2016 Read More on : Maruti Baleno price For purposes of this story, notice the UBS entry. Source is a WSJ article (subscr. required). A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported. If the case proceeded, Switzerlands largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court. Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement-- an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS. Later UBS paid her husband seven figures in speaking fees. http://t.co/E14dU2mxzN Hillary Clinton solved a problem for UBS. UBS became Bill Clintons largest source of speaking income reports @WSJ July 30, 2015 Here's just one more look at the insider game that Sanders is threatening to break up. There aren't so many dots here that you can't follow them. Note, this is not about Clinton. This is about Sanders and the opportunity you have to say no to all this.Conor Friedersdorf wrote a piece forentitled:Aspects of that piece were discussed in this space earlier. Here I want you to notice what "exemplifies the establishment" means in practice, and how well it pays.Friedersdorf:The IRS sued Swiss banking giant UBS because it suspected (or knew) that as many 52,000 Americans a list that may have included Mitt Romney , recall could be using the bank to defraud the U.S. government of taxes.So Secretary of State Clinton negotiated a deal between the IRS and UBS that (a) kept UBS out of U.S. court; (b) exposed just one-tenth of the suspected Americans to IRS scrutiny; and (c) prevented all American names from being revealed to the public, since no one was exposed to the public scrutiny of a trial.After which "UBS paid her husband seven figures in speaking fees" the actual total is $1,500,000 for a group of high-level question-and-answer sessions.In addition, UBS donations to the Clinton Foundation increased ten-fold , from less than $60,000 to about $600,000 (WSJ; subscr. required).And that's the insider game. Care to break it up? 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Combine all vehicles on one policy with MVP coverage. Last week, I was in Dallas. In between credit union visits, I stopped to have some lunch. I hate eating by myself in restaurants. I always have. But last week, I had no choice. So it was me and my iPhone. Im fairly social, so I couldnt help but pick up on the conversation next to me. Two men from the oil industry were chewing the fat. One was complaining about an employee from a business he worked with from time to time. I tell you, he was a ghost, the guy joked. Youd catch glimpses of him from time to time. But when you were looking for him or really needed him, he was never there. Im telling you, Todd was AWOL! The other man nodded. It became clear that they both worked with Todd. Over the next few minutes, they traded Todd stories. Each one was worse than the other. But then they changed subjects. It turns out that the same company employed someone named Judy. She seemed to be the one that fixed all the problems that Todd created. Or ignored. Egyptian President Sisi is behaving like the neo-Pharaoh in the land of Pharaohs. Since coming to power through a military coup that toppled an elected government, his murderous regime has killed thousands and put tens of thousands of anti-regime civilians, mostly with alleged ties with Ikhwan, behind the bar. All the tortures of the bygone Mobarak days are now being used again against anyone suspected of being either critical to his regime or supporter of the previous government of Dr. Morsi, now forced behind the bar on a number of false charges.In this latest spree of government abuses, even foreigners are not immune.Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old graduate student at Britain's Cambridge University, had been researching independent trade unions in Egypt and had written articles critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government. Now, reportedly killed by Sisi's security forces. The discovery of Regeni beaten and burnt with cigarettes prompted insinuations by some journalists and social media users that he had suffered police brutality. La Repubblica compared his injuries to those security services would inflict on a spy.Rights groups say police often detain Egyptians on scant evidence and that they are beaten or coerced. Scores have disappeared since 2013, the groups say.An initial autopsy in Egypt showed Regeni had been hit on the back of the head with a sharp instrument, according to a senior official at the Cairo public prosecutor's office and a forensic doctor. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.A second autopsy in Italy "confronted us with something inhuman, something animal", Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told Sky News 24 television on Sunday. "It was like a punch in the stomach and we haven't quite got our breath back yet."Italian media reports that the second autopsy showed Regeni's neck was broken have not been officially confirmed.Italian opposition parties have demanded that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government take a tougher stand with Egypt. "The death of Giulio Regeni, who was tortured to death, is still opaque and shrouded in shadows," said the opposition 5-Star party. "We demand the truth."Obviously, Sisi's government dismisses such charges against his authoritarian regime.When will our world wake up to the criminality of murderers like Sisi and say enough is enough with his regime?Shame on the Egyptians for letting Sisi come to power! Shame on Sisi's bank-rollers and supporters who provided material and other supports to unseat the democratically elected government of Dr. Morsi. Should a megabank that was forced to pay at least $968 million in fines and consumer relief to settle allegations of abusive mortgage practices be highlighted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its show horse Super Bowl ad on financial well-being? Credit Union National Association President/CEO Jim Nussle took issue with the CFPBs action Monday. Nussle underscored that financial counseling is a pillar of credit unions service to members 365 days a year. The CFPB was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. And that law, in turn, was brought about in response to the subprime mortgage crisis that brought the country to the brink of economic disaster. The 30-second SunTrust Banks Super Bowl spot pledges the $191 billion-asset bank will help consumers reduce financial stress. CFPB Director Richard Cordray prepared a statement acknowledging the megabanks ad for bringing up the topic of financial well-being, saying more must be done to address the issue. Berkeley, February 4, 2016: The University of Californias largest employee unionAFSCME Local 3299 today called for a Speakers Boycott at UC Berkeley for the duration of the spring semester, or until UC Berkeley commits to bring nearly 100 subcontracted campus custodians and parking attendants (employed by UC Contractors Performance First, ABM, and Laz Parking) in-house, and hires them as direct UC employees. Among the planned speakers who would be affected by the boycott are President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, who are currently scheduled to host a Clinton Global Initiative University event at UCBs Blum Center for Developing Economies in early April.[i] Last Spring, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with representatives of Local 3299 and UC Berkeley contract workers (pictured above) and discussed the problem of contracting out at UC.UC Berkeleys refusal to in-source its permanent force of subcontracted workers stands in direct conflict with everything it professes about justice, fairness, and social mobility, said Local 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger. We are calling for a speakers boycott to right this terrible wrong. In asking our state and national leaders to honor this boycott, we are asking them to support the middle class aspirations of nearly 100 workers that have endured years of exploitation and second class treatment at the public university they serve.UC Berkeleys 100 subcontracted workers from ABM, Performance First, and Laz Parking have a combined 440 years of experience working at UC. They are neither temporary, nor seasonal. Most are immigrants and people of color, and they perform the same job duties as directly employed UC workers, but for a fraction of the pay and few (if any) benefits. Most have applied for UC jobsdoing the same work they currently perform as subcontractors--and been denied Instead, many must rely on Medicaid, pay-day lenders, and food stamps to support their families, while working full time at the nations most prestigious public university.Their employersUC Contractors ABM, Laz, and Performance First--have each faced allegations of illegal conduct against their workers:* Performance First: Currently under investigation by the US Department of Labor for a range of alleged violations against its UC-assigned workers, including wage theft and payroll fraud.[ii]* Laz Parking: UC-assigned Laz employees have filed more than $40,000 in wage and hour claims in the past year alone.[iii] The UCB contractor that preceded Laz went bankrupt, shorting workers thousands of dollars more.* ABM: According to the California Labor Commissioners office, ABM has faced more than 140 claims of wage theft in California since 2010.[iv] It has also faced allegations of sexual assault against female employees, highlighted in the recent PBS story, Rape on the Night Shift.Im not asking for special treatmentjust for the dignity and respect that my twenty plus years of service to the University of California demands, said Laz Parking Attendant Antonio Ruiz. For me, becoming a UC employee would mean I no longer need to work two jobs and worry about whether my employer will pay me for all the hours Ive worked. Instead, it will mean one job, a living wage and the ability to spend time with my children.This morning, AFSCME Local 3299 sent correspondence to all known Berkeley speakers scheduled for this semester, as well as Californias state and federal elected officials to ask them to honor the boycott. It is also pursuing resolutions of solidarity amongst the local labor community, and will be organizing pickets throughout the springincluding at the Clinton Global Initiative University event planned for April.Speakers boycotts at the University of California have a proud history. The last boycott, in 2006-2007, resulted in pay equity for UC custodians, lifting hundreds of full time UC workers out of poverty. President Bill Clinton was one of many state and national leaders who honored this boycott.[v]1) http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/clinton-global-initiative-university-cgi-u-2016/ 2) http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-uc-contractor-investigation-20150930-story.html 3) Based on claims filed by UC-Assigned Laz Parking employees to the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) between June and December of 2015.4) California Department of Industrial Relations 12/21/15 response to AFSCME Local 3299 Request for Information for adjudicated wage theft claims filed against custodial contractors in California between 2005 to 2015.5) http://www.afscme3299.org/2007/05/22/uc-workers-win-equity-fight-end-boycott/ AFSCME 3299 Allianz invests in US wind parks, Irish infra bond Strikes deals for New Mexico and New Ross assets To access this article please sign-in below or register for a free trial. Composer and Musicologist Kyle Gann Guest at Annual Symposium Kyle Gann Jan. 21, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University will host composer and musicologist Kyle Gann for the annual Symposium of Contemporary Music, held this year on Feb. 12 and 13. The former new-music critic for The Village Voice, Gann has composed over 100 works of music. Gann has authored the books Robert Ashley (2012), American Music in the 20th Century (1997), Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice (2006), No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage's 4'33" (2010), and The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (1995). A professor of music at New Yorks Bard College since 1997, Gann was awarded the Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center in 2003 and the Peabody Award for his writings. His latest work, Essays After a Sonata: Charles Ivess Concord focuses on Ives Concord Sonata, a musical representation of 19th-century, transcendentalist authors living in Concord, Mass.: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and her father, Bronson, and Henry David Thoreau. Gann will present a lecture Charles Ives: Translating Literature into Sound on Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Presser Hall room 258. A concert of Ganns music, including the world premieres of Transcendentalist Songs and Implausible Sketches, will be presented Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Westbrook Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public. Currently directed by Fern Rosetta Sherff Professor of Music David Vayo, the Symposium of Contemporary Music at IWU began in 1952. The annual event brings prominent guest performers or composers to the university. Vayo said Gann is one of the world's foremost authorities on 20th-century and contemporary concert music of the United States. "He's a figure of real significance to contemporary music," Vayo said. The symposium is also part of the School of Musics New Music Series. By Lydia Hartlaub 16 The Reds have made a series of moves to shape the clubs roster on the first day of the offseason, as the club announced. Cincinnati will decline its club options over righty Burke Badenhop and utilityman Skip Schumaker and has outrighted right-hander Sam LeCure. Badenhop, 32, has long been a sturdy reliever. He joined the club on a one-year deal with an option that seemed likely to be exercised it contained a $1.5MM buyout and $4MM value but began and ended his season with rough stretches (at least in the earned run department). The first and last impressions didnt help, but Badenhop also put up a 3.93 ERA that landed well above his recent years marks and did not impress ERA estimators along the way. Still, he ought to draw plenty of interest from teams looking for solid innings especially if they are drawn to groundball producers. The 35-year-old Schumaker had a two-year guarantee, but contributed just a .238/.297/.322 batting line over his 539 plate appearances over the last two years. That made it rather an easy decision to buy out his $2.5MM option for $500K. While Schumaker is valued for his defensive versatility, hes rated well below replacement level for each of the past three seasons. As for LeCure, whos 31 years of age, 2015 was a major disappointment despite the fact that he carried a 3.15 ERA. Thats because he started the year in the minors and ultimately threw only twenty MLB frames. LeCure has continued to see his strikeout and swinging strike rates fall along with his velocity in recent seasons. All told, its not exactly surprising to see Cincinnati parting with these kinds of veteran players, though it wouldnt have cost much to retain them. The organization now has more youthful options in both the infield and the bullpen after its trade activity over the last year or so. - Mark Zuckerberg has become the fourth-richest person in the world - He has moved from sixth place to fourth on the world billionaire list in just one week - Zuckerberg's fortune is estimated to be $50 billion With his net worth of $50 billion Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has officialy become the fourth-richest person on Earth. Mark Zuckerberg is the fourth-richest person in the world According to Bloomberg daily ranking of the worlds richest people, he has already surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($49,1 billion) and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim ($49 billion). READ ALSO: What Mark Zuckerberg's wardrobe looks like (photo) Besides, Facebook is also considered to be the fourth-most valuable company in the world after Google parent Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft. It has risen 9,5 % in January despite the majority of US stocks were hit hard last month. READ ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg: 28 little-known facts Amazon's Jeff Bezos (left) who started 2016 the fourth-richest worth aand Carlos Slim (right) is clinging on in fifth place It would be recalled that on December 1, 2015, Mark and his wife Priscilla Chan announced the birth of their daughter Maxima Cheng Mingyu. READ ALSO: 20 Greatest Quotes About Money To Set You On Wealth-Gaining Path Shortly afterwards they pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook shares, currently valued about $45 billion, to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, their new charitable foundation with focuses on health and education. READ ALSO: Check out how much Bill Gates, Dangote donated to sustain 5 million families (photos) Bill Gates remains the world's richest person Meanwhile, Microsoft founder, philanthropist and investor Bill Gates remains the world's richest person, with a net worth of $78,7 billion. Source: Legit.ng - Chief Ayiri Emami has revealed that Jonathan failed to provide opportunities for people in the Niger Delta region - The top chief said the new administration was doing more than the former dispensation. - He condemned kidnapping and pipeline bombing as a way of making a statement Chief Ayiri Emami, the Ajuwaoyiboyami of Warri Kingdom has revealed that the reason why he was at war with Goodluck Jonathan was because the former president failed to create opportunities for Niger-Deltans to develop the area. In an interview with Vanguard, the Itsekiri leader who has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party said that although the Niger Delta region was facing a lot of neglect, he was against the bombing of pipelines and kidnapping. He said: One of my fights with Jonathan was about the OML (Oil Mining Licenses) because if they had given those of us from this area the first Right of Refusal, this place would not have turned a junkyard when Shell deserted Warri. Those were my fights, it was not personal, if you are divesting, first, think about the people that stay here. When you sell to somebody that stays in Lagos, automatically, you are killing the entire state. READ ALSO: Tompolo shuns court invitation again I think the first development in life is for you to have adequate security and that is why I have confidence in this government. I believe that they are ready to protect life and property. For instance, when former President Goodluck Jonathan said he wanted to come and commission the Export Processing Zone, EPZ, project and a person just directed that they should get boats into the river and the President called off his visit. Can that happen in any part of this world, it cannot, but can such a thing happen under this dispensation. He applauded the present administration for providing job opportunities for Deltans, READ ALSO: MASSOB threatens to make Nigeria ungovernable With the opportunity the present government is providing, we are in the process of building a gas plant and refinery to create jobs for Deltans. I am looking at providing 2000 to 3000 for people in all my outlets. My plan is to establish mega floating petrol stations in the riverine communities, which I want to discuss with the Minister of Petroleum. Presently, we are building a tank farm and I had the opportunity of meeting the Minister of State for Petroleum, he said those that have the capacity should go ahead and put themselves together to stop bunkering so that investors can come in. I want to work with those type of people because if they give us opportunity, we will be able to create jobs in our place. If we are going to stop bunkering, we need to take the refined products to the doorsteps of the villagers, which is why I will continue to fight anybody that wants to kill our dream for his personal interest. However, we are in the process of building a Refinery and Gas Plant. Ultimately, if there is one reason why I must give my 100 percent support to President Buhari, it is because of the way he is handling the security of the nationnobody is now above the law. You may read the full interview here Source: Legit.ng *Happy Halloween! Halloween* so lends itself to* crime fiction*! Here's my *updated 2022 List of Halloween Mysteries** (mysteries that take place on or aro... 8 hours ago - Funke Adesiyan calls marriage a sham -The actress claims she never believe in marriage - She calls for death sentence for the lawyer who killed her husband Funke Adesiyan Nollywood actress turned politician Funke Adesiyan is gradually carving a niche for herself as a controversial personality. The actress who contested in the 2015 general election for the Oyo state House of Assembly and is ripe for marriage has just dropped a shocker concerning marriage. Adesiyan relocated to Ibadan after her failed relationship with star Nollywood actor Saheed Balogun. She said she does not believe in marriage. I never believed in this sham called marriage. I rather appreciate two lovers appreciating one another without any imprisonment. What would give a wife the right to kill her husband and vice versa if not the nonsense that had filled their brains of owning one another till death do us part? Not one person has the right to anothers life. Not even the child you gave birth to. They are gifts from God. The lawyer who killed her husband must be jailed if not killed in return. She has to learn her lesson that just because they were married doesnt mean she owns his life. Its just stupid. READ ALSO: Photo evidence of Toyin Aimakhu in lover's house The actress who has been working on her stature said she is done with working out. She said she has achieved the perfect shape she wanted and that the only thing left for her is to maintain her new figure. She said this on her Instagram page. Source: Legit.ng - The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu was in court today for the continuation of his trial - Kanu went into the courtroom with his handcuffs on, refusing to take them off The Federal High Court on Tuesday, February 9, stood down the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu. Nnamdi Kanu appears in court with handcuff The judge over the case, John Tsoho on entering the court said the matter will be stood down till 12pm. "I am sorry the case has been stood down for other matters to be attended to," Tsoho said. Kanu went into the courtroom on handcuffs Meanwhile, kanu who appeared in court in white brocade threaded with silver embroidery had gone into the courtroom on handcuffs. A rare sight as prison officials always remove handcuffs from accused persons in the premises before they are allowed into the courtrooms. Kanu being led into the court by security operatives and his lawyer READ ALSO: Court grants leave to Nnamdi Kanu's lawyer He was also denied bail on submissions that would escape trial being in possession of a British passport and that the allegations against him are grave and a threat to national security. The judge added that the rights of an individual does not supersede the peace and security of a nation. Kanu's lawyer pleading with him to let his handcuff be romoved The court reduced an application by Kanu for the release of his passports. Kanu's lawyer, Chuks Muoma had asked the court to release some documents belonging to his defendant. Muoma had in an application prayed the court to release money and two passports - Nigerian and British - collected from the first defendant (Kanu) upon his arrest. He also objected to the application for a secret trial of his client. But the judge, Tsoho in his ruling said the application lacked merit. Tsoho said: "There is no doubt that the accused have been charged before this court. It is erroneous to say that application for the release of these documents should not be made to this court." The judge however said that Muoma's submission that evidences not listed on the charge can be returned to the accused person. Quoting Diri, the judge said it is a mere conjecture by the defense to say that these evidences will not be used by the court. He added that such applications can come after the prosecution has ended its case thereby allowing the defense to open their case. The court further rejected the application for the release of the documents and adjourned the case to Friday, February 19 for hearing on the application on secret trial. Kanu is facing charges of treasonable felony by the State Security Services (SSS). Source: Legit.ng In November 2008, Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested and held for 11 months in one of Russia's harshest pre-trial prisons. He died on November 16, 2009, just a week before the authorities would have been required under Russian law to release him if he were not brought to trial. An investigation by Russia's Presidential Human Rights Council found that Magnitsky had been severely beaten in prison and members of the Council said his death resulted from the beatings and torture by police officials. But despite widely-publicized, credible evidence of criminal conduct resulting in Mr. Magnitsky's death, Russian authorities failed to bring to justice those responsible. And for what crime was he so severely punished? Mr. Magnitsky, who worked for a money management company specializing in Russian markets, exposed a case of fraud involving some $230 million. Numerous public figures were implicated in the fraud, including members of the Russian police, judiciary, and tax officials. Magnitsky was later wrongfully and posthumously convicted for the crimes he himself uncovered. In an effort to bring these individuals to justice, the United States Congress passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. This law aims to hold accountable those responsible for the torture, abuse, and death of Sergey Magnitsky, including by prohibiting their entrance to the United States and their use of the U.S. financial system. The law also allows the designation of persons responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity in Russia or individuals attempting to exercise, defend, or promote their internationally recognized human rights and freedoms On February 1, the State Department, in concert with the Treasury Department, submitted to Congress the list of persons who have been determined, based on credible information, to meet the criteria described in that Act. Five new names have been added to that list, for a total of 39. Over six years after Magnitskys death, we remain disturbed by the impunity for this and other violent acts against activists, journalists, and the political opposition, as well as the growing atmosphere of intimidation for those who work to uncover corruption or human rights violations in the Russian Federation. In honor of Sergey Magnitsky, the United States will continue to fully support the efforts of those who seek to bring these individuals to justice, including through continued implementation of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. The Valuation Department at international advisory firm JLL summarizes 2015 on the commercial real estate market in Poland. 2015 was characterized by extraordinarily high activity among real estate investors. In terms of investment volume, 2015 proved to be a record-breaking year with 4.1 billion of transactions concluded. This is the [] According to the latest report by Cushman & Wakefield, Property Times: 2015 a record year for the office market, 2015 was record-breaking in terms of both transaction volume and net absorption, reaching 836,500 sq m and 283,000 sq m, respectively. Despite high levels of supply, vacancy rates fell by [] Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has been struggling with sustained slowdown in its sales across the globe. Not long ago, British luxury brands were registering impressive growth rate in markets like China and were credited for keeping Tata Motors afloat at a time when the parent companys sales performance in India was in a turmoil. To Tata Motors misfortune, just when the domestic sales seemed to picked up, JLR took a massive hit. The Chinese market witnessed a slow down and the controversial Brexit deal (which is still inconclusive) threw spanners in JLRs works. Earlier this year, the company announced a massive medium term cost cutting drive which will involve cutting jobs, eliminating non-essential travel of personnel and so on. The aim was to achieve cost saving to the tune of 2.5 billion pounds of which the company claims it has already achieved over 100 million pounds. JLR finished the April to June quarter with a loss of 395 million pounds (over INR 3,411 crore). During the period, the company sold 128,615 vehicles, a decline of 11.6% compared to the same period last year. The revenue stood at 5.07 billion pounds (2.8% lower than April-June 2018). The company says that the financial performance in this quarter is in line with its prediction. JLRs CEO Ralph Speth stated that the company is currently undergoing a major transformation and it would turn profitable later this fiscal, thanks to improved operating efficiency. Things arent looking bright in India either as Tatas domestic sales in June 2019 slipped by 14%. Global ratings agency Fitch Rating has downgraded Tata Motors to BB- citing that the automaker chances to turn profitable and generate cash are lesser in the next two to three years. The rating agency stated that uncertainty around outcome of Brexit negotiations and unfavorable global tariff situations threaten JLRs business. Tata Motors stock price (NSE) as of 25th July stands at INR 144 rupees. Despite the generally gloomy outlook, JLR started showing signs of recovery in its home market of the UK where sales in June improved by 2.8% (Y-o-Y). Sales in China is also reported to have shown some improvement. Recently updated models and new products including the next generation Land Rover Defender are expected to provide the automaker a much needed momentum in the months to come. Operating around the globe, were at the forefront of efforts to tackle regional instability, terrorism and the increase in weapons. The scope and nature of our work is constantly changing as we act to combat new threats to the UKs security and economic wellbeing. By collecting secret foreign intelligence, we make sure the UK governments well informed so we can counter threats successfully. This requires people with a wide variety of skills, from a diverse range of backgrounds. Join us and youll discover an organisation thats constantly changing to meet evolving security needs. This means youll also find plenty of opportunities to build on your skills and develop a rewarding and varied career that could take you into a number of different teams, both in the UK and abroad. Our Training Academy will ensure you have the right tools and skills to undertake a range of roles, and further specialist training will be available as required. A number of other corporate teams will make sure youre fully supported and developed throughout your career, and great like-minded colleagues will ensure your experience is enjoyable and fun. Anubis seems to be settling in just fine in the land of the living. Appropriately named after an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, the street dog had spent much of his life suffering silently in his own hell - beneath parked cars in a Cairo neighborhood. SNARR Those mean streets had taken their toll on Anubis. Half his muzzle was completely severed off as punishment, his rescuers say, for making too much noise when thieves trespassed on the property he was guarding. SNARR Dodo Shows Cat Crazy Fluffy Cat Wants To Sit On His Dad At All Times "He barked and they cut his nose off," Lauren Connelly of Special Needs Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation (SNARR) told The Dodo at the time. But since then, Anubis has made an incredible journey befitting his mythological namesake, from Cairo to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to El Paso, Texas. SNARR That odyssey, ushered along by a legion of volunteers who took turns driving him, brought Anubis at last to his foster family, Joseph Reed and Katiria Declete. "To go from Egypt all the way to New York and then to have all those people step up to the plate to help us get him here," Reed told local station KFOX14. "It's a dream of us to foster him but there's no way we could have financially made that undertaking and it speaks volumes about the different groups that help get him here." SNARR Indeed, Anubis' ascent from hell began with a Cairo-based rescue called the Animal Protection Foundation, which was alerted to the dog's plight by locals. The group got in touch with Louisiana-based Special Needs Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation (SNARR), which organized his world-spanning journey. SNARR This browser does not support the video tag. SNARR Anubis still has a few more steps to go on his path to a happy ending. He needs a forever home - although he may not have to go very far to find one. SNARR Texan bicyclist James McHugh had a very unexpected wrench thrown into his route during a ride in Houston. In a video uploaded to YouTube in December, McHugh recorded his encounter with a puppy who was more than excited to see a human face. YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh Which makes total sense because she was miles ... YouTube/James McHugh Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh . . . and miles away from civilization. "I'm like, 10 miles from the nearest anything," McHugh says in the video. YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh With nothing but a box to shield her from the elements, it was pretty obvious this puppy had been cruelly abandoned, for reasons still unknown. YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh Being a Good Samaritan, McHugh knew he couldn't just leave this playful, affectionate little girl alone ... YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh ... so he tucked the dog into his shirt took her with him, all the way to his home. YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh McHugh told Metro UK that he would've loved to keep the dog, but already owned two rescues. By the end of the video, he makes a plea for someone to take ownership of the dog. As it turns out, her new owner was closer than she could ever imagine. A neighbor of McHugh's saw his video and decided to adopt her, naming her Luna. YouTube/James McHugh This browser does not support the video tag. YouTube/James McHugh This pit bull managed to defy all odds on the night she was brutally run over by a train. They call her Miracle Molly. On January 20, in Baltimore, Maryland, Molly - a stray with a collar that had only her name but no other leads - wandered into a tunnel just as a fast-moving Amtrak train approached. The train was unable to stop in time. According to a Facebook post by the Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS), after an alert was put out to stop all other trains from approaching, rescuers expected to find a dead body. Amazingly enough, they were greeted with life. However, the 1-year-old pit bull had lost an entire leg in the aftermath and her body was covered in deep cuts. Her major arteries were exposed and she lost a lot of blood. Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Guy Falls In Love With His Little Meatball Of A Foster Dog "It took nearly three hours from the train hitting her to animal control arriving, to them bringing her to BARCS for processing to us sending her immediately to an emergency clinic," Bailey Deacon, director of communications at BARCS, told The Dodo. "But she never lost consciousness, which is why she's a miracle. All details of the story point to her not making it, but she did." Molly wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the swift action taken by Amtrak officer Kevin McMullen, who picked up her battered body from the train tracks. "He told us that - even in her moment of horror, as Molly was rapidly losing blood - she was trying to give him kisses as he lifted her," BARCS noted in a Facebook post two days after the incident. McMullen, who dutifully visited Molly while she healed, was reunited once again with her on January 30. Molly was more than happy to see her rescuer and showered him with grateful affection. "She is a kissing machine," Deacon said. "Although in foster care, Molly has been down to the shelter many times to see our staff veterinarians. She loves everyone ... the other day a camera crew member wasn't interested in petting her so she followed him around turning her head side to side like, 'You do see me down here right? Aren't you gonna pet me?' She also likes other dogs, loves to be held like a baby and trusts every single stranger." It's been about two and half weeks since Molly's accident and she is thriving. Even better, McMullen is first in line to adopt Miracle Molly if all goes well when she meets McMullen's other dogs. "We've had tons of people tell us that [Molly] is 'changing their minds about pit bulls,'" Deacon said. "Sometimes when you're not sure if you believe in fate, something like this happens, and you think, 'Huh. Perhaps the reason she made it - after being run over by a train - is so that the world could fall in love with a tiny, white 'tri-pawed,' despite her breed.'" A protest at the Lincoln Memorial of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. Today corporations are treated like people except when it comes to their tax citizenship, in which they enjoy all the benefits and little of the obligation. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) We all know about the famous Supreme Court decision that said corporations should be treated like people. Its too bad that this ruling doesnt apply to U.S. companies that give up their citizenship in order to cut their taxes while remaining in this country and benefiting from all it has to offer. When it comes to tax citizenship, corporations dont want to be treated like people. Well-off U.S. citizens have to pay an exit tax when they give up their citizenship. But well-off U.S. companies that change nationalities for tax purposes dont have to pay any sort of exit fee. Hillary Clinton, to her credit, is proposing to apply an exit fee to companies that do corporate inversions. But tax expert Bob Willens said that her proposal wont work for the new breed of corporate desertions (my term, not Willenss) involving the likes of Pfizer and Johnson Controls. These are growing rapidly, and are far worse for U.S. taxpayers than conventional inversions and those transactions are bad enough. Heres the deal. When a U.S. citizen or long-term resident with a net worth of $2 million or more decides to give up his or her citizenship or U.S. residency status, the Internal Revenue Service collects an exit fee. That fee is calculated by treating everything this covered expatriate owns as having been sold at fair market value the day before citizenship is surrendered. That triggers a capital gains tax. But theres no such fee collected from Pfizer Inc. of New York, which is becoming Pfizer PLC by doing a deal with Allergan PLC of Parsippany, N.J. Or from Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee, which is doing a deal with Tyco International PLC of Princeton, N.J. Pfizer and Johnson will continue to be run out of the United States, but for tax purposes, they will be based in Ireland. The Pfizer and Johnson deals, along with Baxalta Inc.-Shire PLC and Broadcom Inc.-Avago Technologies LTD, represent a new and more dangerous breed of corporate desertions. These are deals in which shareholders of the U.S. firm own less than 60 percent of the combined company. That allows the new company to get its hands on the cash that the formerly U.S. firm held abroad, without suffering any tax consequences. In a conventional inversion one in which holders of the U.S. firm own more than 60 percent but less than 80 percent of the combined company the inverted firm can play tax games but cant get tax-free access to its cash the way new-breed deserters can. Last week, I talked about how Johnson and Tyco are doing a deal under which holders of 112 million Johnson shares are getting about $3.9 billion in cash rather than shares in Johnson PLC. That buyback allows Johnson holders to own about 57 percent of Johnson PLC, rather than the 61.5 percent they would otherwise own. Staying below 60 percent is crucial. I wrote that Johnson was buying the stock. That was wrong. Actually, Tyco is borrowing $4 billion in order to buy the Johnson shares. Right after the deal closes, Johnson PLC will be able to repay the Tyco borrowing by tapping the $8.1 billion in offshore cash that Johnson has. Pfizer and Allergan are doing something similar to get the ownership proportions right. The stampede to do less-than-60 percent deals is well underway. Thats where the problem with Clintons exit-fee proposal comes in. Clintons proposal would apply to companies that become expatriated entities in an inversion transaction, Willens said. Its a good idea, but it wont stop the new-breed deals. Thats because Johnson and Pfizer wont become expatriated entities, and the transactions in which theyre engaged arent inversion transactions. Thus, Clintons rules wouldnt apply to them. This is an example of why our corporate-desertion problem cant be solved by Treasury regulation-writing or even by well-intentioned but narrower-than-they seem-to-be proposals such as Clintons. Companies can find new loopholes faster than we can close old ones. The real solution is for Congress to get off its butt and fix our damned corporate tax code. Im not enough of a tax techie to propose specifics. But Congress better do something before we lose even more tax revenue, and before the new breed of corporate deserters gobbles up ever-bigger companies. The bottom line: Corporations want to be treated like people . . . sometimes. They sure dont want to be people when it comes to changing tax domiciles. Wheres the Supreme Court when we taxpayers need it? After a five-year hiatus, the Washington-based Solas Nua will begin producing plays again this spring. Supporters of the Irish cultural organization celebrated the news at a Jameson-fueled party Saturday night on Capitol Hill. As more than 100 guests wandered up a narrow brick alley to the historic home of hosts Carl and Udine Nash, they might well have imagined they were out for a night in Dublins famed Temple Bar neighborhood. But Solas Nua supporters arent the sort of tourists who travel to Ireland for pub crawls and Bono sightings. These folks are quite serious about Irish culture. Solas Nua, which means new light in Gaelic, was founded in 2005 when Linda Murray and Dan Brick staged one of the first American productions of the Enda Walsh play Disco Pigs. As Walshs fame grew, Solas Nua continued to embrace up-and-coming Irish playwrights and unusual venues, including the former Uline Arena, where the troupe staged Swampoodle in 2011. But later that year, Murray abruptly returned to Ireland for personal reasons, and the Solas Nua board was left reeling. It decided to downsize and focus on promoting Irish culture through less expensive ways, including an annual film festival, a monthly book club and other literary events. We wanted to do what we could do well, said board chairman Paddy Meskell. Then last summer, Rex Daugherty was brought on as Solas Nuas new artistic director. As an actor, Daugherty has worked in theaters across Washington, and starred in a 2009 revival of Disco Pigs. Daugherty, Meskell said, had Solas Nua in his DNA. Over the past six months, Daugherty has been organizing play readings and preparing for Solas Nuas first fully staged production in nearly six years. On Monday night, the 2016 play-reading series kicks off at Kellys Irish Times bar on F Street NW, featuring Robert Masseys Chancers. Then next month, Daugherty will begin rehearsals for Wild Sky, a new play by Deirdre Kinahan. If that playwrights name sounds familiar, its because Studio Theatre will stage another Kinahan drama, Moment, in March. The now-big-in-the-States playwright is planning a trip to Washington to support both Studio and Solas Nua. Deirdre is having a very big year, said Daugherty, who met Kinahan in August, when Solas Nua sent him to Dublin. He attended a performance of Wild Sky and got the idea of presenting the play in homes rather than in a theater. (Theater patrons wont know the location until they buy tickets. Two Solas Nua board members have signed on to host showings, but theyre still looking for more volunteers.) The drama is set in 1916 and features just two characters a young man who is fighting in the Easter Rising and a rebel lass who doesnt return his love. For added ambiance, Daugherty is incorporating Irish soda bread, live Celtic music and a dance lesson. This year is the 100th anniversary of the Rising and other events that led to Irelands independence. Its being marked throughout the English-speaking world with everything from readings of Yeatss poetry to an Irish festival at the Kennedy Center to blockbuster films. (The Rising stars Micheal Neeson as Michael Collins, a role his father, Liam, played 20 years ago.) The Irish Embassy is helping to fund Solas Nua, boosting its budget by nearly a fifth, but the organizations budget is still not much more than $100,000. Meskell, however, is optimistic that with Daugherty on board, support will keep growing for the Irish arts in Washington, which is why Solas Nua has christened its 2016 season Rising. Were not only celebrating the anniversary of the Rising, he said, we are celebrating the rising of Solas Nua as a theater company. The story behind Guards at the Taj For Rajiv Joseph, seeing his play Guards at the Taj at Woolly Mammoth Theatre brings to life a gruesome story that captivated him as an adolescent boy. He was 10 when his Indian father first took the family to India. He met many relatives, but what he remembers most is a side trip to Agra and seeing the Taj Mahal. I remember hearing the stories, the legends, the myths, the facts of that building, Joseph said last week, relaxing in Woollys lobby before a performance. He returned when he was 22 and again last year, when he brought along two actors who would star in the premiere of Guards at New Yorks Atlantic Theater Company. The script grew out of an unproduced play about Shah Jahan, the brutal 17th-century Mughal emperor. The guards charged with maiming 20,000 workers who built the Taj were just minor characters in the play . Joseph ending up throwing out the script about 10 years ago, but his fascination with the legend lingered. I dont know why, but that story just stuck with me, he said. Physical harm often functions as a plot device in Josephs plays. His Gruesome Playground Injuries was a success at Woolly in 2010, and a year later, his Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo opened on Broadway, starring Robin Williams. The characters also include two American soldiers assigned to guard captive animals. One soldier loses a hand to the massive feline, and both end up with PTSD. He was perfect for the role, Joseph said of the late actor, adding that Williams was drawn to the script because he empathized with the soldiers mental suffering. He said yes because he loved the play, and he had a deep commitment to veterans, Joseph said. When he got back [from USO tours], he talked so much about visiting veterans and his concern for their well-being, primarily with regard to PTSD. The playwright a former Peace Corps volunteer insists that he is not writing from experience when he harms his own characters. Knock on wood, I have come through life unscathed emotionally and physically, he said. Im very interested in how people deal with trauma. I live in fear of it, and I find it very dramatic. Ritzel is a freelance writer. An earlier version of this column misstated when Solas Nua staged Swampoodle at Uline Arena and misspelled the arenas name. The production was in 2011, not 2010. This version has been updated. The authors coffee's setup the part thats on the counter, at least. (Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post) Before I talk about the thing I love, I must revisit the thing I once hated: the space where I used to prepare coffee every morning for myself and my wife, Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan, the woman who still sucks down emergency cups of 7-Eleven mud behind my back. Just a few months ago, we lived in a Takoma Park bungalow, a rental with a kitchen the size of Charlie Sheens conscience. We had exactly one tiny counter that wasnt cluttered with equipment we didnt use or cups we had no place to store or bottles we could no longer stuff into our crowded pantry. My frustration wasnt limited to the counter. If Carrie wanted to open the refrigerator door while I was making coffee, we had to perform an early-morning pas de deux in our cramped kitchen all without the social graces that come to the fully caffeinated. If one of us had used a small appliance the previous night, the odds were good that we had unplugged the coffee grinder to operate it. Let me state this plainly: Coffee grinders do not function without electricity. [More things we love: Stylish stemware, Baltimore bars, beans, girly drinks, Grandmas CorningWare, an immersion blender, food shopping, oysters, Longhorn B-B-Q Sauce ] In late December, Carrie and I moved to our own house in Hyattsville. One reason I fell for the place is that it has countertops as long as a two-lane country road in Kentucky. I immediately staked a claim to some counter space near the windows, which flood the kitchen and dining room with warm, buttery light. I then proceeded to build my coffee bar. Second only to time, space is a resource best appreciated when you have some. I feel like a cellblock prisoner who has been suddenly pardoned and given a cattle ranch in Texas. Our home coffee bar doesnt just have counter space for the burr grinder and the various pieces of coffee brewing equipment siphon, Kalita Wave dripper, Chemex pour-over and Moccamaster (each brings out different flavors in a bean) but it also boasts drawer and cabinet space for all the accessories that go with them. When the alarm clock sounds okay, the fourth time the alarm clock sounds I shuffle out of bed, let our beagle outside and happily stand in one place to prepare our morning brew. The sun provides the only light necessary. I place the water kettle on a burner to my right and pull out the coffee scale from the drawer at my waist. I open the cabinet over my head, grab the coffee sealed in a canister (no more beans degrading on an open shelf by the window!) and measure out the precise amount needed for this particular bean. This is ritual. This is comfort. This is slow coffee. Once the coffee is prepared and sending up curls of steam from our favorite cups, I pull the half-and-half from the mini-fridge that Ive installed next to the counter and add a small amount to Carries mug. It makes her happy. Maybe as happy as I feel as I stand, with a warm coffee cupped in my hands, staring out the window and watching our pooch, Lucinda, romp in the backyard. Space. Coffee. Carrie. Lucinda. Joy. Residents of the shelter on the site of the former D.C. General Hospital mingle outside of the facility in the late afternoon. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced the addresses of seven proposed family homeless shelters Tuesday, setting up a final test of city leaders resolve to close the troubled family homeless shelter at D.C. General Hospital. The mayors plan comes almost two years after Relisha Rudd, then 8, disappeared from the shelter in the company of a male city employee and was presumed killed, intensifying scrutiny of D.C. services for the homeless. And it has been one year since the mayor and the D.C. Council agreed to spend $40 million for a network of smaller and more manageable neighborhood shelters as a replacement. [A lost mother and daughter: Shamika Young and Relisha Rudd] But D.C. residents including Bowser have previously fought city efforts to locate homeless families in their neighborhoods, and on Tuesday, Bowser launched a political offensive, saying she was prepared to take head-on any backlash from those who would be asked to be neighbors. Bowser (D) thinks she may need the momentum. Under a plan devised by Bowser predecessor Vincent C. Gray (D) and now being carried out by Bowsers office, almost every ward in the city would be asked to take on a shelter, each designed to be a temporary home for as many as 50 families. [See details of Bowsers plan] Some of the shelters, which could increase the strain on nearby schools and police resources, would be placed in rapidly gentrifying areas. Those shelters include one planned near the U Street corridor and another beside condominiums rising close to Nationals Park. Others, such as the one proposed for a site across the street from the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue NW, would go into affluent neighborhoods. Poorer areas of Northeast and Southeast Washington, where residents already face widespread underemployment, also would be asked to host shelters. The plan would solve only a fraction of the citys homeless crisis, sheltering about a quarter of all families now under city care. The District has more than 700 families in overflow motel rooms across the city and in Maryland, and scores if not hundreds most likely would have to remain in such temporary housing long after the new shelters opened, which Bowser said would happen in late 2018. [A hidden world: Homeless families living in motels at city expense] Laura Green Zeilinger, director of the D.C. Department of Human Services, which oversees services for the homeless, has launched a multiyear overhaul aimed at eventually lowering the number of families needing shelter and allowing the city to transition them from homelessness more quickly. But on Tuesday, Bowser acknowledged that she could not say when the city might attain that goal. Instead, she cast the neighborhood-based shelter system as a necessary first step in delivering on a major campaign promise to close the D.C. General shelter. People believe that in a city as prosperous as ours . . . we need to do better by our homeless families, Bowser said. I hear it everywhere I go. The mayor has been girding for a bruising battle over the plan almost since taking office. For her first year, she refused to have a public discussion of possible locations for the shelters, apparently trying to keep opposition from taking root against any one possibility. Instead, at nearly every public appearance, her staff has asked residents to sign a pledge to do their part to support neighborhood shelters and the closing of D.C. General. This week, Bowser carefully scripted the plans release, first to council members, then to influential community members, finally saying publicly that 12,000 petitioners were behind the effort. Do we know that there is going to be pushback block by block? Yes, said Bowser, who opposed plans to put a large shelter in Ward 4 when she represented that part of the city on the D.C. Council. On Tuesday, her office released prepared remarks from an Obama administration official lauding the plan. [Bowsers blueprint to address backlog of homeless families] But there were signs that the fight may not be as bad as Bowser has anticipated. An overwhelming majority of council members publicly praised the mayors plan. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) said she met with residents Monday night about the shelter proposed along Wisconsin Avenue, not far from the Naval Observatory. Those neighbors, who live in million-dollar homes, expressed a desire to help solve the citys homeless crisis, she said. Ward 3 will embrace this, Cheh said. In a Washington Post poll in November, nearly 8 in 10 D.C. residents said they would be comfortable with a shelter for 50 homeless families in their neighborhood. That support included majorities in all eight wards of the city. However, fewer than half in each ward said they would be very comfortable having a shelter nearby. Advocates for homeless families have criticized previously released aspects of Bowsers plan, including her proposal to build most of the shelters in dormitory style rather than as apartments. They said the communal bathrooms and other shared facilities would perpetuate some of the same unhealthful living conditions that families experience at D.C. General. On Tuesday, advocates used social media to praise the proposed U Street site, which would have apartment-style housing. [Does housing to replace a decrepit shelter need private bathrooms?] Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) said she visited all but one of the sites in recent days and found that they had uneven access to public transportation and jobs, groceries, and other amenities. Zeilinger said the city plans to offer services at each of the sites. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5) asked Bowser to reconsider a plan for a shelter on Bladensburg Road NE in his ward, saying the industrial area with a bus depot and a nightclub nearby would be a poor fit for homeless residents. He also described the area as having been neglected. Bowser said she remains open to modifying the plan on the basis of community feedback. In response to McDuffie, who has emerged as a political foe of the mayors in recent months, Bowser told reporters, I didnt hear him propose an alternative. Cost is likely to be among the issues the council will scrutinize. The new shelters would cost an estimated $22 million annually to operate, about $5 million more than the city spends now to keep D.C. General open. It also is not clear how the city would structure the lease agreement for each shelter. Officials from the mayors office plan to hold simultaneous community meetings at all of the proposed shelter sites Thursday night. The city also will hold a meeting about a womens shelter that is planned for downtown in Ward 2, the only ward not designated to house a family shelter. The community meetings are to take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the following locations: Ward 1 Anthony Bowen YMCA (conference room), 1325 W St. NW Ward 2 One Judiciary Square (old council chambers), 441 Fourth St. NW Ward 3 Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, 3401 Nebraska Ave. NW Ward 4 Paul Public Charter School (auditorium), 5800 Eighth St. NW Ward 5 New Canaan Baptist Church, 2826 Bladensburg Rd. NE Ward 6 Friendship Baptist Church, 900 Delaware Ave. SW Ward 7 Capitol View Neighborhood Library, 5001 Central Ave. SE Ward 8 Matthews Memorial Baptist Church (fellowship hall), 2616 Martin Luther King J. Ave. SE A congressional House staffer holds the President's Fiscal Year 2017 Budget in the House Budget Committee Room in the Cannon House Office Building on February 9, 2016 in Washington, D.C. (Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images) President Obamas proposed 2017 budget gives a big boost to computer science education, calling for a $4 billion investment in coding courses in K-8 and an effort to make sure every high school in the country offers computer classes. This is a very strong commitment on the part of the president that computer science should be part of what we think about as a well-rounded education for students, acting education secretary John B. King Jr. said at a briefing Tuesday. The president is also looking for $1 billion for a new program to attract and retain quality teachers in high-needs schools, by offering them bonuses, paths for advancement and additional training. And Obama wants to increase the federal dollars spent on early-childhood education as well as college for low-income students, reviving his proposal to create a partnership with states to make community college free to eligible students. Overall, the president is asking for an increase of $1.3 billion in discretionary spending on education for a total of $69.4 billion in fiscal 2017. It would most directly affect the 2017-2018 school year. This budget builds on the administrations continued efforts to invest in education, from high-quality early learning through college, King said. Obama is also looking for $31 million more for the education agencys civil rights division, for a total of more than $138 million. The office of civil rights has been particularly aggressive in investigating complaints from around the country about students from kindergarten through college facing discrimination on the basis of race, sex and disabilities. [Complaints to Education Departments civil rights division reach record high ] The budget request includes a $100 million increase for the current $250 million grant program that helps states develop preschool programs for low-income children, an item that drew applause from Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat of the Senate education panel and a vocal advocate of early-childhood education. But congressional Republican leaders, who announced that they wont hold a hearing on Obamas spending plan, were cool to new initiatives from the president. The American people arent interested in continuing the same failed policies that have fostered an anemic economy, stagnant wages, and a lack of full-time jobs, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said in a statement. Yet thats precisely what the presidents budget would do. It doubles down on the false hope that the federal government through more spending, more debt, and higher taxes can create the prosperity our country needs. In addition to the money to boost computer science, the president is asking for new funds to help school districts break up concentrated poverty and create more of a balance in enrollment between low-income and more affluent students. Obama also wants to increase federal spending on preschool for low-income children as well as a new initiative to share the cost of community college with states and make it available free to responsible students those who maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, show steady progress toward completion and whose families earn less than $200,000 annually. When it comes to the largest single category of federal spending on education money to help states educate low-income K-12 students Obama is asking for a relatively modest $450 million increase to the $16.1 billion Title I program. The governments other large spending category money for special education would remain flat at $11.9 billion, the same amount as in the current budget. At a time when the number of low-income children in public schools is increasing, advocates voiced concern that federal dollars are not keeping pace. [Majority of public school kids are low-income] We believe that essentially flat-funding the main programs aimed at helping the students most in need will undermine the promise . . . to provide opportunity for all students, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, the nations largest union, said in a statement. That 40-second spot where President Obama sounds as though he may be endorsing David Trone, the multimillionaire running for Marylands 8th Congressional District? Hes not, the Democratic National Committee says. Trones campaign posted a video on its Facebook page and campaign website last week showing Obama making playful remarks about him at a November fundraiser that Trone hosted at his Potomac home. We could run him for something, Obama said. The spot is titled Good Idea. [In Md. congressional debate, one candidate actually criticizes another] The President will not endorse in this primary, and this advertisement should not be misconstrued as an implicit or explicit endorsement of David Trone, DNC spokesman Eric Walker said in an email Monday night. Walker said he wanted to clear up any confusion. Ethan Susseles, campaign manager for Kathleen Matthews, one of Trones eight primary opponents, called on him Tuesday morning to pull the video. By continuing to run this ad, David is intentionally misleading the voters of the 8th district, Susseles said in a statement. David Trone knows the president isnt endorsing him and he shouldnt run an ad suggesting otherwise. You cant spend enough money to get around the truth. Trone communications director Mary Werden said the video will stay. Theres absolutely no reason why we would take it down, and we have no plans to do so, Werden said in an email. David is a longtime admirer and supporter of President Obama. He is honored and humbled by the exceedingly gracious comments our President made about him. The Presidents words speak for themselves. David was the number one donor for the DNC in 2015. David and June were thrilled to host the President at their home with their family, friends, and our communitys leading Democrats. Trone, co-founder of Total Wine & More, is one of nine Democratic candidates in the April 26 primary for the seat now held by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Van Hollen is running for the Senate. Former Maryland lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown, who is a candidate in the states 4th Congressional District race, announced early Monday that he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination for president. Brown declared his support for Clinton in an email from his congressional campaign one day before the New Hampshire primary, citing the former secretary of states advocacy of pre-kindergarten programs such as Head Start and work on gun control issues. The endorsement comes a week after his onetime boss, former governor Martin J. OMalley (D), dropped out of the race. Most of the states Democratic political establishment is backing Clinton in her bid for the presidency. The stakes for our country are high and the people of Maryland deserve a strong leader and ally in the White House, Brown said in the email. Weve seen the remarkable progress made under President Obama, but we still have a long way to go to bring that progress back here to the 4th district. Clinton, who campaigned for Brown during his failed gubernatorial bid in 2014, is locked in an increasingly tight primary race against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for the nomination. Brown, meanwhile, is running against five other candidates, including a former Prince Georges states attorney and an Annapolis lawmaker, to replace Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.), who is running for the Senate to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.). Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) finished his first year in office with nearly $2 million in campaign funds. Those fund come come on top of the $1.4 million he collected in the two months after his election. (Gail Burton/AP) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan raised $1.7 million in his first year in office, a significant haul for a first-time officeholder who used public funds to get elected and was outspent during his 2014 campaign. The funds come on top of the $1.4 million Hogan (R) collected in the two months after his election, leaving him with $2 million in his campaign coffers after paying off loans and other expenses. Marylands last Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., had a similar amount on hand going into his second year, while Hogans Democratic predecessor Martin OMalley had half as much available. Hogans political war chest will have to increase several-fold in order for him to fund a robust 2018 reelection campaign, political observers say. Most donations will come later in his term. But the early fundraising gives him a head start, and could scare off potential challengers. [Hogan celebrates first year in office, makes clear he wants seven more] He is using the benefits of incumbency and popularity to raise a lot of money, said Donald F. Norris, director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. After years of tepid Republican fundraising while OMalley was in office, Hogan and the state GOP drew staggering amounts of cash in the two months following the November 2014 election, including from some of Marylands top lobbyists and most prolific Democratic donors. About $1 million went to the state Republican Party, which spent most of it paying salaries, administrative and fundraising expenses, and getting rid of accumulated debt. The party has about $30,000 on hand this year for state races. Once Ehrlich lost, we were in a desert for eight years, and now we are finally out of that rut, executive director Joe Cluster said. [Gov. Hogan, Md. GOP now flush with cash some from former Democratic donors] Last year, Maryland prohibited multiple businesses with the same owner from making separate donations to the same candidate that exceeded the permitted maximum. Small donations of $250 or less made up 16 percent of Hogans total fundraising in his first year in office, compared with 2 percent of OMalleys $1.45 million first-year haul. Individuals donated about 60 percent of Hogans campaign cash, with organizations and businesses making up much of the rest. Records show 48 donors gave Hogan the maximum $6,000 allowed under Maryland law, including supermarket chain H Mart Inc. and Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh. As a result of his popularity and overwhelming support for his policies, our fundraising goals were impressively exceeded, said Andrew Brightwell, a Hogan political aide. Patrick Murray, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, says the pace of Hogans fundraising is slower than he expected, noting that Ehrlich raised $2.5 million in his first year in 2003. Democrats are expecting Hogan to raise as much as $20 million for his reelection effort, not including money from outside groups. US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC hit a nerve from a couple of two days ago when she tweeted that Apartheid states are not ... The Maryland Senate voted to override Gov. Larry Hogans veto of a bill that would allow felons to register to vote after they are released. Hogan says this could become an election issue. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post) The Maryland Senate voted to override Gov. Larry Hogans veto of a bill that would allow felons to register to vote after they are released. Hogan says this could become an election issue. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post) About 44,000 former prisoners who are on probation or parole will be able to register to vote in Maryland starting next month, after the state Senate on Tuesday overrode Gov. Larry Hogans veto of a 2015 voting-rights bill. Hogan, a first-term Republican, campaigned hard against the override effort, arguing that felons should not regain voting rights until they complete parole and probation, which he considers part of their punishment. On Tuesday, Hogan said only a tiny, radical minority of Marylanders support the expansion of voting rights encompassed in the bill and predicted that several lawmakers wont survive this vote. They have no chance of being reelected after this vote today. Twenty-nine of the 33 Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of the override, which puts Maryland in the company of the District and 13 other states, including Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania, that permit people to vote as soon as they are released from prison, according to the Sentencing Project. [Lawmakers troubled past spurs him to sponsor voting-rights bill] Eighteen other states, including New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas, restrict voting rights until after a person finishes parole and probation. Twelve others, including Florida, have stronger restrictions, such as waiting periods after a sentence is completed. This is a huge victory for voting rights, said Jane Henderson, executive director of Communities United, a Baltimore-based group that helps former inmates reenter society. Noting racial disparities in the criminal justice system, Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore) called the override the right thing to do. The Democratic-controlled legislature has now overturned all six of Hogans vetoes from last year, a pointed reminder to the governor that each legislative chamber has enough Democrats for a veto-proof majority. In the case of the voting-rights override, there was not an extra vote to spare in the Senate, and the vote was delayed more than once to ensure enough supporters were present. Half of the felons who will be able to vote as a result of the Maryland legislation live in Baltimore, a city that has been at the center of the national discussion over police brutality and criminal justice reform. On Tuesday, about a dozen felons watched the vote from the Senate gallery. They gave me my voice back, and Im going to let it ring, said Marcus Toles, 22, who was released from prison last August and will be on parole until November. Sen. James C. Rosapepe (D-Prince Georges) said he voted for the measure because its a good bill that takes away any question about whether people can vote if they have a criminal history. He said he previously met a man who had been out of prison for 11 years and did not know whether he was allowed to vote. The House voted last month to override Hogans veto of the bill. The Senate postponed a scheduled vote last week because two supporters of the override were absent. On Monday, some Republicans questioned whether newly appointed Sen. Craig J. Zucker (D-Montgomery), a former delegate who had voted for the override in the House, should recuse himself from the Senate vote. An attorney for the General Assembly said there was no problem with him voting twice. [Some in Md. GOP say Zucker should recuse himself] There was a slight glitch when Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Prince Georges) left the floor before the final vote was taken. The vote was called without him and received only 28 votes, one short of the three-fifths majority that is needed. Once Peters returned, he asked Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) to reconsider the measure. It then passed with the needed 29 votes. The bill will take effect in 30 days, leaving advocates scurrying to identify and register former inmates to vote in time for the April 26 primary. These folks are my neighbors, said Del. Cory V. McCray (D-Baltimore), who was arrested as a teenager for dealing drugs and sponsored the House version of the bill. Im glad that when these neighbors came looking for somebody to hear their point of view that it didnt fall on deaf ears with the General Assembly. A display of illegal guns seized by D.C. police in 2015. The majority of recipients of proposed rehabilitation stipends would probably be those who police think are most likely to resort to gun violence again. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post) I know. It sounds totally preposterous. Paying criminals not to commit crimes. The D.C. Council unanimously voted for this bananas-sounding plan last week. A Hail Mary scheme to cut the increase in the crime rate in the nations ever-glammier capital would handpick about 50 of the citys most violent, likely-to-regress young offenders and pay them about $9,000 annually to be good. This sounds almost like a dystopian Margaret Atwood novel. Did the mafia take over the D.C. Councils brains? Because how isnt this an extortion racket? And is there retroactive payback for all my law-abiding years in the city? I can use $150,000 just about now. Or maybe I need to go commit a crime so I can get my government payout. And what next? Reverse speed cameras that send you checks in the mail for going under the speed limit? D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is politically savvy enough to make it clear that she isnt buying into the plan, which would cost nearly $5 million for four years. [Paying criminals to stay out of trouble?] She knows the optics of it are ghastly. So, if were done with the har-har outrage, lets take a closer look at the proposal. After a long, steady drop in the crime rate over many years, the District had 162 homicides in 2015 an alarming, 54 percent jump compared with the previous year. When the bloodshed was peaking over the summer, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said a big part of the violence came from people fresh out of lockup. Multiple . . . offenders involved in homicide have previous homicide charges and are recently back in the community, Lanier said at a news conference in August. Thats significant, and its different from anything weve seen before. Reentry is something that has confounded cities for decades. Old neighborhoods and old rivals beckon, but opportunities for success do not. Its not a new story. So, what to do about those bad guys: Jobs? Schools? Turns out the most successful federal program to help with jobs and education Federal Prison Industries (FPI) has been cut by half over the past decade, according to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates. The opportunities are slim for people with records. Meanwhile, about 6,000 federal inmates whose drug sentences were recently reduced have been released back into communities across the nation in the past few months. And with what new help to reintegrate? Not a lot. Ive walked through some of the steps to reentry with some ex-offenders, and I see the roadblocks. Appointments with parole officers clash with job interviews, potential employers dont call back, one Metro breakdown and youve missed curfew. In the District, about 8,000 men and women annually are returned to the city after being locked up and about half of them end up back behind bars within three years. Watching these folks slip up and throwing them right back in jail costs taxpayers $30,000 a year for incarceration. Every gun homicide in America costs taxpayers about $400,000. Looking at it as a budget issue, paying someone $9,000 a year to stay out of trouble is cheap. But this thing that the District is considering isnt just a paycheck for being good. The Most Wanted members will only get the cash if they also go through an intensive, stay-straight program of education, counseling and job training that lasts about nine months. Its modeled after one in Richmond, Calif., in the shadow of San Francisco. Richmond had been among the nations Top 10 in homicide rates. After that city started the pay-for-peace plan six years ago, gun-related violence plummeted. Sure, it could be because that city also got an outside-the-box, new police chief, an openly gay man who pushed community policing beats, held up a Black Lives Matter sign and encouraged rehabilitation over jail. It could be that demographics are changing and the city followed the nationwide drop in crime. Or it could be because the 68 people picked as Most Likely to Kill in that town were finally singled out. These guys came to the program with a laundry list of deprivation and dysfunction: high unemployment, fragmented families, inadequate education and a heavy dose of substance abuse, said the programs founder, Devone E. Boggan, in a New York Times editorial. But then someone asked more of them. They took trips to college campuses, and they were forced to make friends with rivals. For every month they attended meetings, listened to mentors, didnt get in trouble, they got $1,000. The cash helped pay rent and buy food. But ultimately, it was the attention to them, their futures and their success that kept those guys coming back, that kept them straight. Its focused attention to their well-being that many never had before. Theres no punch line. No great one-liner here. Just a lot of hard work and some success. And even if the optics are bad, thats got to be worth a try. Twitter: @petulad A federal jury convicted a Bowie man Monday in connection with his role in an $108 million drug and money laundering ring that distributed cocaine and heroin in Prince Georges County and the District for four years, authorities said. The man, Andracos Marshall, also known as Draco, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and money-laundering conspiracy at the end of a 13-day trial, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Maryland. Marshall faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in jail and a maximum of life for the drug charges, according to a press release. The release said he faces up to 20 years in jail for money -laundering conspiracy. Investigators said Marshall and several other men were part of a ring that distributed drugs in the area from January 2011 to January 2015. The ring used aliases and false IDs, created businesses and rented storage facilities and apartments in an effort to disguise and hide their drug proceeds, the release said. From January 2011 until August 2012, authorities said Marshall helped one of his accomplices identified as Ishmael Ford-Bey, 40, of Mitchellville receive multiple kilogram shipments of cocaine from a source in California. During one of those shipments, the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped a refrigerated truck that had 13 boxes, each holding about 10 kilograms of cocaine, according to the release. Law enforcement knew the boxes were being delivered to Ford-Bey and set up surveillance at the meeting location in Marlow Heights, authorities said. After Ford-Bey unloaded the truck and left the meeting with Marshall trailing in a vehicle behind him officers tried to stop them, sparking a high-speed chase along the Capital Beltway. Both men eventually jumped out of their vehicles and ran away, the release said. Authorities said Marshall remained a fugitive until he was arrested in January 2015. Four other men Ford-Bey; Anthony Torrell Tatum, 37, of Arlington; Terrin Tamal Anderson, 29, of Waldorf; and David Allen Jones, 40, of District Heights were also convicted federally for their roles in the conspiracy, according to the release. All four pleaded guilty and were sentenced. In addition to jail time, Ford-Bey and Tatum were also ordered to pay $108 million and a forfeiture order for personal property including luxury vehicles, jewelry and cash, the release said. Marshalls sentencing is scheduled for June 6. A police officer displays some of more than 19,000 bags of heroin during a January news conference in Hazleton, Pa. (Ellen F. O'connell/AP) Drug dealers in Virginia, be warned: If you are selling heroin and one of your customers overdoses and dies, the feds are probably going to come after you. That was the message from U.S. Attorney Dana Boente and Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring at a news conference Tuesday in the Norfolk area, which has been hit particularly hard by fatal heroin overdoses. Boente and Herring said that they are pouring resources into investigating and prosecuting heroin cases and that they want to put dealers on notice. We hope that they understand that they will be prosecuted and there will be severe penalties for selling heroin when someone dies, Boente said in an interview. And if people sell heroin, sooner or later, someone will die from their sale. [McLean High School students heroin overdose shows disturbing trend facing police] The tough talk came as Boente, Herring (D) and other federal and local law enforcement officials publicized the guilty plea of a Virginia Beach man who sold the heroin that killed 23-year-old Monica Beaudry. Gregory Hatt, 28, pleaded guilty to heroin distribution resulting in death. That charge which carries a 20-year minimum sentence gives federal prosecutors a powerful tool, although Boente noted that the Supreme Court has restricted how it should be used. He said that federal prosecutors would stay within those guidelines charging dealers only when their drugs can be directly tied to a death but that they would not hesitate to bring cases they believed were solid. If we can charge that within the requirements of the law, were going to, in appropriate cases, charge that case, and were going to be aggressive in those investigations, Boente said. Virginia lawmakers are also considering a bill that would make it felony murder to sell banned drugs that cause someones death. Heroin and opioid overdose deaths have been a significant problem across the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdoses blamed on heroin have tripled since 2010, and 10,574 people died from them in 2014. In Virginia, 244 people died of heroin overdoses in the first three quarters of 2015 up from 239 for the entire year before. In Leesburg, fatal overdoses claimed the lives of three people in their 20s over a five-day stretch at the end of January and into early February, a police spokesman said. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have long prosecuted heroin cases, particularly those involving significant quantities of the drug or in cases where users overdosed and died. In 2014, for example, a federal judge in Alexandria issued a 30-year prison sentence to a longtime D.C. drug dealer whose heroin was linked by authorities to the deaths of three young users. Boente said he expects more such prosecutions, because he and others have devoted more resources to combating heroin. He has assigned prosecutors to investigate heroin distribution rings in particular, he said, and a lawyer from Herrings office was working as a special assistant U.S. attorney on the issue. [Maryland opioid task forces recommendations] Maryland and D.C. officials have seen similar spikes in heroin abuse, and they, too, have unveiled efforts to combat the problem. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), whose cousin died of a heroin overdose, commissioned a task force to study the issue, and that group recommended creating a recovery unit for drug-addicted inmates and tracking prescription data to help identify those who might be abusing pain pills. Hogan also has proposed legislation that would make it easier for prosecutors to go after drug traffickers as part of criminal enterprises. Some police departments in the region have started equipping officers with naloxone, an anti-overdose drug. And President Obamas fiscal 2017 budget proposal includes $1.1 billion to address the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic. Boente said all such efforts are important. This cant just be prosecutions, he said. Its got to be education and prevention, and its got to be treatment. A police officer from Takoma Park, in Montgomery County, was arrested early Sunday and charged with assaulting a D.C. police officer who was trying to eject him from a club in Northwest Washington. Milton Flores, 23, who has been on the Takoma Park force since August 2014, will be suspended with pay pending the outcome of the criminal case and the departments internal investigation, according to Catherine Plevy, a spokeswoman for the department. Flores was released pending a misdemeanor-status hearing March 18. His attorney, Miguel A. Serrano, could not be reached for comment. D.C. police said in an arrest affidavit that Flores and another man were arguing inside Ultrabar, in the 900 block of F Street NW, in Chinatown. Police were called to the club about 12:45 a.m. Sunday and said two officers encountered the men in the back of the bar. The bouncers told D.C. officers that the men needed to leave, police said. Im a Takoma Park Police officer, Flores yelled, according to the court affidavit. Police said he then yelled a string of expletives and pushed one of the officers on his left shoulder. The affidavit says that Flores tried to punch the officer, missed and took up an aggressive stance. A woman who was with Flores threw water on the officer, police said. Authorities said Flores repeated that he is a police officer and that you cant do anything to me. The affidavit says police scuffled with Flores and used pepper spray to arrest him. Takoma Park Police Chief Alan M. Goldberg said in a statement that officers are held to a higher standard and must always represent the department and community they serve with honor, respect and integrity. A photograph album shows Sarah Harris and her husband, Ernie, on their wedding day. Three years later, Ernie, who was 53, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Whenever Sarah Harris and her husband, Ernie, drove past a nursing home, he would say the same thing: Thats where youre going to put me. Thats where Im going to be sent. I would say, No, I dont think thats going to happen, said Harris, of Fairfax, Va. Her husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease at 53. She was 10 years younger and believed she could care for him until the end. I knew that he did not like nursing homes, she said. His dad lived in a retirement community, and he really did not like facilities. His fears, and her assurances, mirror conversations that are playing out increasingly between husbands and wives, children and parents, and others as the population of older Americans swells. By 2050, the number of people 85 and older is projected to triple. Sarah Harris runs a support group for people whose loved ones have Alzheimer's. Three years after she was married, her husband, a military veteran was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Promise you wont put me away. It is hard to say no to that request. But it often is even harder to honor it. For many, the idea of being sent to a facility implies abandonment. Older Americans remember the poorhouse , where the old and infirm were hidden away to die. But many younger people also are repelled by the idea. Theres now a wider spectrum of facilities catering to different levels of need, but even the best ones can feel institutional. Daily life is often rigidly regulated, robbing residents of autonomy, and the familiar faces and spaces of a persons life are gone. Like many caregivers, Harris was concerned that being in an institution would hasten her husbands decline. People in her position engage in a constant calculus: How long can you hold a job, take care of a declining loved one and stay healthy before something cracks? Where is the line between self-abnegation and self-preservation? How do you balance the best interests of the sick person and those of other family members? A couple of generations ago, families were more likely to care for their parents at home but people didnt live as long. Thanks to modern medicine, even those with devastating illnesses such as Alzheimers can live many years past their diagnoses. But caring for them at home becomes increasingly difficult as cognition and self-care skills worsen. Safety, of the patients and of other family members, can also become a factor. But even if the spouse or parent gets to the point of not being able to remember the promise Promise you wont put me away the caregiver remembers. Oftentimes, people feel duty-bound to do what they said they would do, said Ruth Drew, director of family and information services at the Alzheimers Associations national office. They have no idea what theyre signing up for. They havent thought about what its like to take care of someone whos a foot taller than you and needs to be lifted to be bathed or put to bed. Photographs in an album show Sarah Harris and her husband Ernie on their wedding day. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) To Bill Thomas, a geriatrician who is working to change American attitudes about old age, the promise is a red herring. Its actually the only thing we know how to do because we dont have the actual language to say what were really asking: Promise me youll protect my dignity, promise youll protect my privacy, promise to make sure I dont live in pain. Ironically, the promise has led to significant amounts of abuse and neglect, because theres a limit to what people can do. [Were lucky if we get to be old, physician and professor believes] It wouldnt be necessary, he points out, if people demanded more from the nations nursing homes. The nursing home industry has, ironically, benefited tremendously from the low expectations people have, Thomas said. They have successfully persuaded people that youve got no other choice its got to be cold and sterile and rigid. Caregiving can take a severe financial toll, and studies have shown higher rates of depression, physical illnesses and mortality among family caregivers. And yet the impulse to keep a loved one at home is powerful. Shari Sullivan, 55, swore to care for both her husband, who had Alzheimers, and her mother, who is 85 and lives with her. My vows were, For richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, said Sullivan, an accountant who lives in Woodbridge, Va. The vows dont stop just because he got sick. Also, she believed that living apart from their young daughter would have accelerated his decline. It would have just crushed him. With other family members helping, she was able to manage for five years. Then a fall sent her husband to the hospital; he died six weeks later from complications. Her mother still lives with her, with home health care covered by long-term care insurance. She said, If I ever got Alzheimers, I want you to put me in a nursing home. And you know what? I still would not put her in a nursing home, Sullivan said. Theres no why or why not. . . . She may need me, but I need her more. However, Sullivan has forbidden her daughter from doing the same. I dont want caregiving to become her life. For Harris, a defining moment came three years after her husbands diagnosis. She called home one day from her job as a preschool teacher to tell him his sandwich was in the refrigerator. He did not answer. The answering machine picked up, with her voice on it, confusing him. He later told her, I could hear you, but I couldnt find you. With two children at home, she realized she could no longer keep him there safely. But that didnt make it any easier. Because it wasnt just Ernie shed made the promise to. I was making the promise to myself. I felt like I was letting myself down I should be able to do this. It broke my heart. It was one of the worst days of my life, the day I put him in a nursing home. The feeling that one has failed to keep the promise adds to the stress of placing someone in a facility, said Gary Small, director of the Division of Geriatric Psychology at UCLAs School of Medicine. Its always best to not make promises you cant keep or qualify, he said. You could say, Look, Mom, I know you want to stay in your home, and were going to do whatever we can to keep you there, but . . . there could be things that you dont anticipate. Talking it through early while everyone is still healthy can help. So can doctors or support groups, which can affirm when a move to a facility would be in everyones best interest. There are also those who wont make the promise. A woman Drew worked with said her daughter would joke, Oh, Mama, dont worry, Ill find you a nice nursing home when the time comes. Her daughter was kind of letting her know that was a boundary for her, that she wasnt ready to stop her career and become a full-time caregiver. But such discussions can take ugly turns. Ive even heard, If you put me in a nursing home, youll be cut out of my will, said Leah Eskenazi, operations director at the Family Caregiver Alliance. It becomes complicated when someone gets dementia because you cant have a conversation with them. Others expressly reject making such a request. Paul Hornbacks father and grandmother had had dementia, and he saw the toll caregiving can take. So when Hornback, a mechanical engineer for the Defense Department, was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2009, he and his wife visited memory care facilities near their home in Hodgenville, Ky., until he found a couple that he liked. I wanted to see them first while I could still make a decision, Hornback, 61, said. Of course, I want to stay home as long as I can . . . but Id want to leave my house and go to a unit if I am unsafe or harmful to other people. He has put together a box of items he would like to bring with him, including photographs of family and of his time in the military, and his Bible. Reston, Va., resident Evelyn Brown, 64, and her husband Willie made a sort of reverse promise: After nearly 40 years of marriage, her husband told her that he would want to go to a facility if he became seriously ill. Would you be strong enough to do that if it came down to I had some kind of disease and required that? she recalled him asking. I said yes, I would be strong enough, Brown said, and he made the same vow to her. A few years later, at 65, he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. The only thing he asked me to promise him was to not put him in a facility and walk away from him, and I have not done that, she said. Two years after his diagnosis, she placed him in an assisted-living facility, where she visits him three to four times a w eek. As agonizing as it was, Harriss decision to put her husband in a facility helped her know he was safe and allowed her to take better care of her children. Her husband died 18 months later. She now runs a support group for family members of people with younger onset Alzheimers. On the day they brought him to the assisted-living facility, I left him, and he watched after us, Harris said. It was very sad. And then, he acclimated. Which was amazing. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a gun violence summit at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore in 2013. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press) The surprise battle between Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and the gun-control organization founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg escalated Tuesday to include a full-page newspaper ad skewering the governors rationale for a gun deal with Republicans. As recently as November, New York-based Everytown for Gun Safety was pouring $2 million into McAuliffes ultimately failed effort to help Democrats take control of the state Senate. On Tuesday, 12 days after McAuliffe announced a deal on gun laws with Republican legislators, the group bought an ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch with this blunt headline: Terry McAuliffe is wrong. The ad quotes several of the governors statements about the gun deal, declaring each one false and providing a detailed analysis to back up that conclusion. Words that Everytown takes exception to are marked in red ink, as a teacher might when grading a test. McAuliffe dismissed the criticism during an appearance in Northern Virginia, saying everybody supports [the gun deal] except one gun-safety group out of New York City. It was an awkward line of attack for McAuliffe, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., and a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton who has relied heavily on out-of-state money to fund his governors race, political action committee and the state Democratic Party. More than half of the money the party pulled in for state races last year came from a single donor, Philip Munger the son of a Berkshire Hathaway billionaire and resident of New York. [Virginias Democratic Party relies heavily on one donor a New Yorker] The governors statement further alienated him from activists in the Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an Everytown affiliate whose volunteers knocked on doors and held rallies for McAuliffes allies last fall. Im so angry at the governor for his comments, said Jennifer Herrera, the volunteer leader of the states Moms affiliate. We are Virginians, and we are the people doing the work. So to hear him repeat this line that its this outside group we have met you. Youve stood with our survivors. Youve been at our events. McAuliffes spokesman first referred to Everytown as a group from New York on Friday after it unfurled a pointed social media campaign against the governor. But Tuesday marked the first time that McAuliffe personally characterized Everytown as an outsider group meddling in Virginia politics. [Clinton donors pumped millions into McAuliffes coffers] The bitter back-and-forth stems from the deal that McAuliffes administration quietly hammered out with the National Rifle Association and Sen. Bryce E. Reeves (R-Spotsylvania). The resulting legislation, now making its way through the Republican-controlled General Assembly, would expand the rights of concealed-carry handgun permit holders in Virginia and across the country in exchange for tighter restrictions on gun ownership by domestic abusers and voluntary background checks at gun shows. In December, Virginia's attorney general announced it would no longer honor concealed-carry handgun permits from 25 states. A bipartisan deal with the governor reversed that decision. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post) Everytowns ad in the Times-Dispatch lays out a detailed analysis of McAuliffes statements about the bill, complete with footnotes. I am shutting down the gun show loophole, it quotes McAuliffe saying. It continued: Fact: False. The Governors bill does not close the gun show loophole. The Governors bill allows for voluntary background checks at gun shows. But voluntary background checks already exist. The ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives] has made clear that any private seller who wants to run a background check, whether at a gun show or anywhere else, can simply ask a dealer to do the check. Brian Moran, McAuliffes secretary of public safety and homeland security, called that criticism disingenuous. He said the governor had actually claimed that the deal was a first step toward closing the gun show loophole. Moran acknowledged that under federal law, private sellers already can have a background check performed through a licensed dealer. But he said it is much simpler to have the state police run the check for the private seller, as the deal would allow. The dealer has to take [the gun] into their inventory when running a check for a private seller, he said. Its a far-more-complicated process. [Bloomberg gun-control group has new target: Terry McAuliffe] The ad also quotes McAuliffe as saying that under the bill, someone who is subject to a permanent protective order will be required to surrender their firearms. It deems that statement false as well, noting that the bill contains no explicit requirement that abusers surrender their guns, no procedure for surrender and no mechanism to confirm relinquishment. The bill calls for the guns to be sold or given away within 24 hours but does not require that the weapons be surrendered to law enforcement. Everytown officials said guns could be given to friends or relatives, from whom they might easily be reclaimed. Moran said that a surrender provision would burden public agencies required to accept and store the weapons. Police dont want the guns. The sheriffs dont want the guns dont want the liability, he said. In a guest column Sunday in the Virginian-Pilot, Moran noted that failure to comply with the requirement to get rid of a gun would be a felony, punishable by five years in prison and permanent loss of firearms rights. If this guy still has it in 24 hours, he can be convicted of a felony, he said in an interview Monday night. Thats quite an incentive. Patricia Sullivan contributed to this report. Allison Andresen, 26, foreground, and other employees at OPower in Arlington on May 16, 2014. (Dayna Smith for the Washington Post) OPower, a fast-growing Arlington-based green technology company that was being aggressively wooed by the District and Maryland, will stay in Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday from the companys offices. The firm, which creates cloud-based software for the utility industry, employs 329 mostly millennial-age workers in Virginia, and expects to add 70 more in the coming three years. The seven-year-old firm has 595 full-time employees worldwide. McAuliffe (D) approved a $1 million grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to help the company defray the $10.45 million cost of leasing a new company headquarters at 2311 Wilson Blvd. Arlington County will match the state funding with an annual performance grant, starting this year and through 2018, dependent upon OPowers promise of new hires and its occupying 63,000 square feet in its new building. The county, will offer an additional performance-based grant for each of the seven years after that. Virginias Jobs Investment Program will also provide $140,000 to support the companys employee training activities. The Arlington grant is the first time the county has ever made a grant to recruit or retain employers. State Sen. Louise Lucas D-Portsmouth, speaks to other senators during the start of the 2012 session of the Virginia Senate. (Steve Helber/AP) Republicans briefly broke an impasse in a long-running Virginia Supreme Court battle on Tuesday when a Democratic lawmaker split with her party but the victory was short-lived. The deal collapsed within an hour or so when Sen. L. Louise Lucas came back to the Democratic fold. Lucas (Portsmouth) voted in a Senate committee Tuesday afternoon to support the appointment of state Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. to the high court. His appointment would dash any hopes that Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) could salvage his own pick for the judicial post, highly regarded former Fairfax County Circuit Court judge Jane Marum Roush. McAuliffe gave Roush a recess appointment in the summer, angering Republican House and Senate leaders because he did not consult them before making the choice. He then granted her a second recess appointment, which Republicans have said was illegal because the House had not gaveled out of session. That appointment will expire at the end of the week regardless of whether the legislature installs someone else. The Republican-dominated House has stood ready to elect another judge since Virginias legislative session began in January. But the GOP has struggled to muster the necessary votes in the Senate, which it controls by a narrow 21-to-19 margin. Freshman Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R-Richmond) has said he will not go along with plans to replace Roush. Senate Republicans thought they had an opening recently, when Sen. Kenneth C. Alexander (D-Norfolk) said he was considering voting for Alston. But he later said he had decided to support Roush. News that Lucas would support the appointment of Alston shocked fellow Democrats. Lucas offered her backing as part of a deal that would elevate Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge Kenneth R. Melvin, a former Democratic delegate, to Alstons current judicial slot, senators said. But by evening, after talking with Melvin and McAuliffe, Lucas had reconsidered. I have spoken with Judge Melvin and he said he is perfectly satisfied as a Circuit Court judge in the city of Portsmouth, Lucas said in a statement. Some Democrats said they had been caught flat-footed by Lucass move, which took place at an impromptu Senate Courts of Justice meeting called on the Senate floor at the end of the days session, at the desk of the committees chairman. Tom Jackman contributed to this report. 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. The patient was dead, but the cause remained a mystery. And if theres anything doctors hate more than their inability to forestall death, its their inability to explain it. And so, 357 years after Oliver Cromwell died at age 58, several dozen physicians convened under the austere arches of Westminster Hall in Baltimore last fall to ponder the patients medical history, assess his symptoms in his final days and settle upon a cause of the English statesmans death. There would be no physical examination of the man who dethroned an English king, brutally suppressed Catholic uprisings in Ireland and united an empire riven by dissension. A diagnosis would have to proceed without the niceties of modern medicine as well: no blood tests, no X-rays or CT scans, not even a proper autopsy (though Cromwells embalmer observed that his brains blood vessels seemed to be overcharged and that his spleen, though sound to the Eye, had a buildup of oily sludge that doctors today associate with sepsis). Most of the time, the unfortunates discussed in such clinicopathological conferences died just weeks or months earlier. A staple of medical education, these exercises help doctors and medical students hone their skills and learn from what went wrong (or right) in a patients care. Oliver Cromwell, 1599 - 1658. (National Galleries of Scotland/Getty Images) But for a growing subculture of physicians across the country, piecing together a historical figures cause of death is a puzzle that combines their diagnostic skill and medical intuition with biographical research, archival excavation, epidemiological sleuthing and a dash of guesswork. It is the ultimate whodunit, said Sanjay Saint, who, after weeks of research and deliberation, concluded that Cromwell had died of malaria which was endemic to the British Isles at the time combined with a salmonella infection that gave him typhoid fever. The reason we go into medicine is to help patients, said Saint, the associate chief of medicine of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in Ann Arbor, Mich. But thats not all. Theres also that part of playing detective, of being curious about a mystery and wanting to figure it out. An infectious hobby Jan Hirschmann, a staff physician at VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, caught the medical detective bug nearly 20 years ago and has been at it off and on ever since. In the late 1990s, a musician and medical colleague of Hirschmanns invited him to lecture on the untimely death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791, just shy of his 36th birthday. Hirschmann, an infectious disease expert, knew next to nothing about Mozarts life or the circumstances of his demise. But the challenge sounded like fun, and he soon dove into every biography he could find. Mozart had suffered from a fever with joint pain as a child, which some doctors have interpreted as acute rheumatic fever. Because this can lead to chronic heart complications, many assumed the Austrian composer died of heart failure. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 - 1791. (DEA / A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images) One music historian suggested Mozart had been poisoned by his archrival, Italian composer Antonio Salieri. Other candidates for cause of death included kidney failure and infective endocarditis. None of those diagnoses added up, Hirschmann thought. Mozarts family letters said he was in perfect health before he was suddenly overtaken by fever and a skin rash. These symptoms along with physicians notes and diary entries from the time pointed to some sort of outbreak. The only one that matched Mozarts symptoms was trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused by eating undercooked meat, usually pork. But Hirschmann had one big problem: He didnt know what Mozart ate. As he sat in the hospital library waiting to give his lecture, he leafed through a book one last time. Thats when he came across a letter that stopped him cold. Mozart was writing to his wife, Constanze, when he was interrupted by a servant bringing dinner. He wrote: And what do I smell? . . . Pork cutlets! Che gusto. I eat to your health. The letter was dated Oct. 7, 1791. Mozart fell sick 44 days later the time it typically takes for trichinosis symptoms to appear after infection. Triumphant, Hirschmann presented his findings to a fascinated audience. He published them in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2001. The diagnosis produced what Hirschmann laughingly calls the two acmes of his career: a spot in the grocery store tabloid the Star and a mention in Jay Lenos Tonight Show monologue. It also got him noticed by Philip A. Mackowiak, the University of Maryland physician and epidemiologist who launched the medical schools annual Historical Clinicopathological Conference back in 1995. Mackowiak asked Hirschmann to investigate the death of Herod the Great in 4 B.C., when the Judean ruler was 69. (Hirschmanns diagnosis: kidney disease, complicated by Fourniers gangrene.) Over the past 20 years, Mackowiaks medical sleuthing has reached as far back in history as ancient Greece (the statesman Pericles probably succumbed to typhus fever in what was called the plague of Athens) and as close to home as Baltimore (the writer Edgar Allan Poe most likely died of rabies). Physicians are hungry for liberal arts outlets, said Mackowiak, who has published two books on historical medical mysteries. At the same time, students of the liberal arts crave a way into an arcane field like medicine. Conducting postmortems on historical figures seemed like the perfect opportunity to enrich the lives of both communities, he said. In 2007, for instance, physicians, historians and mystery enthusiasts considered how Abraham Lincolns gunshot wound to the head might have been treated in a modern neurosurgical unit and whether the 16th president would have lived. Their conclusion: Though Lincoln certainly would have been disabled, survival would be a very reasonable expectation. Conference attendees have also learned that after death, the blood vessels in Vladimir Lenins brain were so calcified they sounded like stone when tapped with tweezers, that the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten probably inherited a hormone disorder that made him look like a woman, and that syphilis passed down from Beethovens father was likely the cause of the composers deafness. Calling in big brains To solve the riddle of Cromwells death, Mackowiak invited a new kind of sleuth to weigh in. While Saint hit his books, computer specialists from the U.S. Department of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee fed details of Cromwells medical history into a network of supercomputers. A software program designed by Oak Ridge engineers churned through 27 million medical articles and texts, analyzing 70 million data associations relevant to Cromwells case. In 4.5 seconds, ORIGAMI short for Oak Ridge Graph Analytics for Medical Innovation converged on virtually the same conclusion drawn after weeks of research and deliberation by Saint: Cromwell was done in by malaria. For Saint, the unexpected competition was a humbling reminder of his limitations. But for Eliot Siegel, a University of Maryland radiologist and nuclear medicine specialist who worked on the ORIGAMI project, the exercise underscored the astonishingly efficient brainpower physicians bring to the task of diagnosis. Years of education and practice have endowed physicians such as Saint with a trove of medical data and an arsenal of cognitive shortcuts. Who would I rather have making a diagnosis? It would be hands-down Dr. Saint, Siegel said. On the other hand, if you told me there was a mystery disease and no one had any ideas about it and we needed some new insight . . . I like the computer. Oak Ridge engineers are preparing to reopen several of the cases pondered by Mackowiak and his colleagues through the years. The results may upend some of the conclusions so painstakingly drawn and deepen the medical mysteries thought to be solved. WASHINGTON Pro-ISIS deserter faces firearms charge An Army deserter from Washington state who called Osama bin Laden a beautiful man, made statements supporting the Islamic State group and called for the death of American troops has been charged with illegally possessing firearms, including machine guns, federal prosecutors said Monday. Daniel Seth Franey, 33, of Montesano, was barred from having guns because he was subject to a protection order taken out by his former partner, but he joined an undercover agent in making what he believed were black-market gun deliveries, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. At one point, he fired an AK-47 at a remote campground with the agent, the complaint says. The investigation began last year, after several people complained to law enforcement that Franey was making pro-Islamic State statements, an agent with the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force wrote. One person said Franey tried to buy his or her AK-47 and insisted he or she should fly an Islamic State flag at home a confrontation that ended only after the person grabbed a shotgun and called police, the documents say. Associated Press TEXAS Naked man killed by police in Austin A police officer in Texas fatally shot a naked man on Monday who charged at officers and had been reported acting aggressively toward people in a neighborhood of Austin, police said. The officer who shot the black male, said to be about 18 years old, is a veteran of more than 10 years on Austins force. The officers race was not given, but the killing comes as protesters in San Antonio are questioning whether race was at play in the fatal police shooting last week of an unarmed black man in the city southwest of Austin. Austin police said they received multiple phone calls about the man acting suspiciously and aggressively. Officers arrived on the scene and confronted the man, a police official said. Part of the incident was recorded on police video camera. The shooting was not on camera but there is audio available, said Brian Manley, chief of staff for the Austin police. He did not say whether the man was armed. Reuters MICHIGAN Childs parents sue over Flint water The parents of a 2-year-old Flint, Mich., girl sued the city and state on Monday over high levels of lead in the childs blood, accusing officials of callous and deliberate indifference over contaminated water. The lawsuit by Luke Waid and Michelle Rodriguez said government officials and workers had violated their constitutional rights to due process in the course of switching the source of the citys water to the Flint River from Lake Huron in April 2014. They named as defendants Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and several current and former officials. The case, brought in federal court in Detroit, is the first based on a specific individual injury. Several other lawsuits have been filed claiming more general harm from contaminated water in Flint. The city of about 100,000 residents was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its water. Reuters CANADA Trudeau to pull planes battling Islamic State Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada will withdraw six jets that have been bombing targets in Iraq and Syria, ending a controversial combat role in the fight against the Islamic State. Trudeaus Liberals won an election in October promising to withdraw the jets but came under pressure from allies who feared the decision could weaken efforts to combat the militant group. Bombing began in November 2014 under the previous Conservative government. We cant do everything . . . we were guided by our desire to do what we could do best to help in the region and to do it in the right way, Trudeau said. The people terrorized by [the Islamic State] every day dont need our vengeance, they need our help. Canada will end its bombing missions by Feb. 22 but keep two surveillance planes as well as refueling aircraft in the region. It will also triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq to about 200. U.S. officials welcomed the announcement, which came after sustained diplomatic pressure from major allies to persuade Canada to do as much as possible. Im confident we are going to continue to have discussions with the Canadians about additional steps they can take to further enhance our counter-ISIL efforts, said White House press secretary Josh Earnest, using an acronym for the Islamic State. He said Trudeau had talked to President Obama on Monday. The two will meet in Washington next month. Canadas decision came as the Syrian army moved toward the Turkish border in an offensive backed by Russia and Iran. Reuters ISRAEL 3 Arab lawmakers barred from meetings Israels government on Monday temporarily suspended from parliamentary meetings three Arab lawmakers who met with families of Palestinians who carried out deadly attacks. The Arab lawmakers, Hanin Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka, met the Palestinian families last week to help lobby for the release of some of their relatives bodies. They then held a moment of silence to honor the martyrs, according to Israeli media. The meetings stoked outrage in Israel, which has seen five months of near-daily Palestinian stabbing, shooting and car-ramming assaults that have killed 27 Israelis. Some 155 Palestinians, 110 of whom Israel says were attackers, have been killed by Israeli forces. Parliament spokesman Yotam Yakir said Zoabi and Ghattas will be suspended from parliament meetings and committees for four months and Zahalka for two months. He said they will still be able to vote in those platforms. The decision came after a meeting of parliaments Ethics Committee. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the three earlier in parliament, comparing their actions to members of the British Parliament standing at attention for the Islamic States Jihadi John or members of the U.S. Congress honoring the San Bernardino attackers. Associated Press BRITAIN Cameron: E.U. exit could let in migrants Prime Minister David Cameron warned that thousands of asylum seekers camped near Calais, France, could travel to Britain overnight if voters choose to leave the European Union in a referendum. A good agreement allowing Britain to carry out border controls in France may be torn up if Britain leaves the European Union and loses the goodwill of its neighbors, Cameron said after a speech in London on Monday. There are a lot of opposition politicians in France whod love an excuse to tear up that treaty and would like the border not to be in France but to be in Britain, Cameron said after being asked about the claim. I dont want to give people an excuse to do that. The warning is an attempt by those campaigning to stay in the European Union to seize the agenda on controlling immigration, which is a central part of the case for withdrawal. Cameron has signaled that a stay-or-leave referendum could be held as early as June 23 if a draft renegotiation settlement is endorsed by fellow E.U. leaders at a summit in Brussels this month. The claim was met with anger by Euroskeptic lawmakers in Camerons own Conservative Party, who accused the prime minister of sowing panic in his attempt to win votes. Bloomberg News Chinese celebrate Lunar New Year: Chinese and others across Asia flocked to temples and fairs to pray for good health and fortune on Monday, the first day of the Lunar New Year. In Beijing, hundreds of thousands of people visited traditional fairs held in parks, as well as Buddhist and Taoist temples offering singing and dance performances and open-air markets selling handicrafts. Ethnic Chinese people in other countries celebrated the holiday as well. Monday marked the first day of the Year of the Monkey the ninth animal on the Chinese zodiac calendar. From news services IRAQ Government regains control of Ramadi Iraqi government forces have regained full control of Ramadi after pushing Islamic State fighters out of the citys outskirts, according to Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led coalition. The announcement, more than a month after Ramadi was first declared liberated in December, underscores the slow nature of Iraqi ground operations despite heavy backing from U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. The governor of Anbar province praised Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led coalition for their work to liberate Ramadi completely but was quick to emphasize that critical security and humanitarian issues remained. Violence has emptied Ramadi of civilians, and much of the city remains blanketed in homemade bombs, which the Islamic State laid in retreat. Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the coalition, said that Iraqi security forces have control of the whole city but that untold thousands of improvised explosive devices were left behind. Iraqi government troops, led by the countrys elite counterterrorism forces, pushed the Islamic State out of the center of Ramadi in December, but they struggled to take control of the citys outskirts. Explosives were a main factor that slowed the clearing of neighborhoods. Now, Anbars governor said the bombs are preventing civilians from returning home. Separately, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday that he would reshuffle his cabinet to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations with technocrats. Associated Press UNITED NATIONS Syrians could lose access to food link Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if Syrian government forces encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the United Nations said Tuesday, warning of a new exodus of refugees fleeing a Russian-backed assault. The Syrian army aims to secure the border with Turkey and recover control of Aleppo, a senior adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said, adding that she did not expect diplomacy to succeed while foreign states maintain support for insurgents. Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have launched a major offensive in the countryside around Aleppo, which has been divided between government and rebel control for years. It marks one of the most important shifts of momentum in the five-year civil war that has killed 250,000 people and already driven 11 million from their homes. Since last week, fighting has already wrecked the first attempt at peace talks in two years and led rebel fighters to speak about losing their northern power base altogether. The United Nations is worried that the government advance could cut off the last link for civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo with the main Turkish border crossing, which has long served as the lifeline for insurgent-controlled territory. Airstrikes continued on Tal Rifaat, Anadan and other towns in the Aleppo countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, and activists said, adding that they were almost certainly from Russian planes. Reuters NORWAY Police investigate alleged refugee abuse Norwegian police said Tuesday that they are investigating several cases of sex offenders allegedly abusing children at asylum seekers reception centers in the country. Swedish police, meanwhile, arrested more than a dozen people suspected of planning an attack on a refugee center. In Norway, the abuse was reported to authorities in the fall and winter, Axel Wilhelm Due of the National Criminal Investigation Services said without providing figures or details except to say that there were several cases. The incidents included abuse by known sex offenders visiting the reception centers as well as residents of the centers, Due said, adding that police were reviewing every alleged case. Last year, more than 31,000 people applied for asylum in Norway of whom 5,300 were unaccompanied minors. In neighboring Sweden, police said they have arrested 14 men on suspicion of preparing attacks on an asylum seekers center near the capital, Stockholm. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration announced that 409 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and migrant crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly 10 times the rate of the same period last year. Associated Press Mexican students werent burned at dump, experts say: A group of Argentine forensic experts says it has determined there is no biological or physical evidence to conclude that 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico in 2014 were incinerated at a trash dump as government investigators initially claimed. The report released Tuesday by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team signaled that the dump in Cocula, Guerrero state, was the site of multiple fires at various times, but while the remains of at least 19 people were found near there, theres no evidence they belong to the missing students.The government has said the students were killed by a drug gang, their remains incinerated, and their charred bone fragments gathered up and tossed in bags in a nearby river. Some of those bone fragments have been linked by DNA testing in one case positively, and in another case, tentatively to two of the missing students. From news services IN HAITI, it has too often been the case that what can go wrong does go wrong. Thats why its such a relief that Haitian leaders, with a critical assist from the Organization of American States, were able to agree on an 11th-hour deal, just before President Michel Martelly was to leave office Sunday with no successor in place, to avert a power vacuum. Its also why there remains cause for concern, and the pressing need for international vigilance, as the impoverished Caribbean nation embarks on what is likely to be a volatile interregnum under the auspices of a caretaker government. Under the agreement struck Saturday, on the eve of the expiration of Mr. Martellys term, Prime Minister Evans Paul will remain in office until Haitis parliament selects a new president. Thats expected to take place in the next few days. Once it does, the accord calls for a new prime minister to be chosen by consensus and for a verification commission to review Octobers botched elections. It was those elections that yielded weeks of escalating protests and violence, culminating in the cancellation of a scheduled presidential runoff vote last month. So far, so good. The problem is how to go forward with a new presidential runoff election, which the deal specifies should take place by April, with so many potential disputes left unresolved. Already, a handful of the falls presidential also-rans there were 54 candidates have dismissed the process as illegitimate on the grounds that most members of parliament were elected in the same flawed first-round elections that resulted in the cancellation of the runoff last month. Beyond the immediate selection of the interim president, or of a new prime minister, it is all too easy to imagine bitter disputes arising should the commission reviewing the elections order that the results be revised or scrapped. Such disputes would be particularly dangerous in the current climate, in which armed men in the uniform of the Haitian army, an institution that was abolished in 1995, have been roaming the streets, clashing with protesters who had been insisting on Mr. Martellys departure. Mr. Martelly is to be commended for leaving office in accord with the constitution; his failure to do so would almost certainly have triggered a bloodbath. He also agreed to allow a member of an opposition party to be selected as the interim president, the New York Times reported. However, Mr. Martelly is also suspected as the force manipulating those gunmen in the street, a suspicion made credible by the corrupt cronies with whom he surrounded himself as president. And it was Mr. Martellys heavy-handed attempt to hand-pick a successor, a formerly obscure banana exporter named Jovenel Moise, that helped taint Octobers election results. The last time Haiti was saddled with an interim government, after President Jean-Bertrand Aristides ouster in 2004, it took two years to organize and execute elections. That cannot be allowed to happen again. Haiti wants and deserves a democratically elected new government on the prompt timetable set by the new agreement. Correction: An earlier version of this editorial proposed that China be designated as a money launderer. The editorial should have said North Korea. ASSESSING THE behavior of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un is necessarily a matter of guesswork. In light of North Koreas launch Sunday of another long-range rocket, however, our favorite theory is a simple one: Mr. Kim is responding rationally, even shrewdly, to the outside world. The 30-something dictator no doubt noticed that after the regimes latest nuclear test, on Jan. 6, there was no response other than rhetoric from the U.N. Security Council, China and the United States. Moreover, he surely observed that his provocation served to widen a rift between Washington and Beijing over how to handle him. So why not double down? The three-stage rocket launched Sunday, which supposedly put a satellite into Earths orbit, could also serve as an intercontinental missile. If North Korea has succeeded, as it claims it has, in miniaturizing a nuclear warhead, Mr. Kim could target Hawaii and Alaska, or perhaps even the western U.S. mainland. The threat is not imminent and yet it is likely to become so if the United States does not devise a more effective strategy for containing and deterring the Kim regime. President Obamas policy since 2009, strategic patience, has failed. The policy has mostly consisted of ignoring North Korea while mildly cajoling China to pressure the regime. As the supplier of most of the isolated countrys energy and food, Beijing has enormous leverage. But Chinese President Xi Jinping appears even more committed than his predecessors to the doctrine that it is preferable to tolerate the Kim regime and its nuclear proliferation than do anything that might destabilize it. Since the nuclear test, China has been saying that it will support another U.N. resolution on North Korea, but it is balking at significant new sanctions. Instead it calls for dialogue, by which it means negotiations between North Korea and the United States. This sounds reasonable; the problem is that talks on curbing North Koreas nuclear program and missiles have failed repeatedly, and Mr. Kim is now insisting that the regime be accepted as a nuclear power. What is needed is a return to the only non-military strategy that brought results: sanctions that strike at the regimes inner circle. Mr. Kim and his cronies are still managing to import luxury goods from China, in spite of a U.N. ban; they still use Chinese banks to do business with the rest of the world. Those links could be curtailed if North Korea, like Iran before it, were designated as a money launderer and U.S. sanctions were slapped on Chinese banks and other businesses that supply weapons and luxury goods. Pending U.S. sanctions legislation, already passed by the House and scheduled for a Senate floor vote this week, would mandate these steps, while providing the administration with some flexibility. It should pass, and Mr. Obama should sign it. The administration and South Korea have taken one positive step, by announcing formal consultations on deploying an advanced missile defense system in South Korea as quickly as possible. That sensible step had been on hold because of Chinas objections. Both China and North Korea must see that they will pay a mounting price for what, to the United States, should be Mr. Kims intolerable steps toward a nuclear arsenal. Strategic patience is no longer a viable option. Global economic troubles threaten our economy, a cold war heats up with Russia, the Middle East is aflame and 2015 was the hottest year on record, as climate change accelerates. Despite this, the presidential campaigns have offered little more than foreign policy by bumper sticker. In the Republican race, particularly now that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has ended his campaign, the debate has descended into bellicose posturing, xenophobia, fervid denunciations of all things Obama and, of course, climate-change denial. The candidates vie to rip up the Iran deal, rev up a new cold war with Russia, fan the flames in the Middle East and walk away from the progress made in Paris on climate. Democrats have a genuine opportunity to offer a sorely needed new, real security agenda. Yet weve seen little evidence of it. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has made a stirring argument about our rigged economy and our corrupted politics, electrifying young voters and unsettling the party establishments favorite, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. But Sanders has said little about foreign policy, apparently viewing it as a distraction from his core economic message. Clinton, invoking her experience as secretary of state, has started to trumpet a commander-in-chief test, suggesting that Sanders, as she insinuated about Barack Obama in 2008, wont be ready from day one. But, as Sanders has repeatedly noted in criticizing Clintons vote for the disastrous Iraq War, experience doesnt constitute good judgment. And experience is a mixed blessing when the country needs a major course correction. The experts, think tanks and old hands wedded to the old policies are too often part of the problem, not the solution. The country deserves a far broader debate about American security. The United States has big choices to make. Here are only some of the major issues that deserve greater attention. Regime change and failed states: Clintons vote for the most disastrous U.S. foreign policy debacle since the Vietnam War was no small choice. But the real question is what she learned from it. Sanders has gently suggested that the secretary is more inclined to regime change than he would be. I think we have a disagreement, Sanders said. [T]hese invasions, these these toppling of governments, regime changes, have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue Im a little bit more conservative than the secretary . . . and that I am not a great fan of regime change. Clinton has shown little sign of being sobered by the Iraq catastrophe. Vice President Biden calls her an interventionist. Shes surrounded herself with advisers that are mix of neoconservatives and liberal indispensable nation advocates, all of whom share a strong belief in using American force as an instrument of good abroad. But this interventionist temperament has cost the country dearly. Since the Iraq vote, Clinton has championed the surge in Afghanistan, the intervention in Libya, the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Now, despite Obamas best intentions, the war in Afghanistan is headed into its 16th year, Libya is a disastrous failed state with the Islamic State consolidating a base there and Syrias civil war created the conditions for the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, while refugees fleeing the violence threaten to destabilize Europe. Surely, after Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria, we should have learned enough to temper the interventionist inclination. The military is not designed for building nations or birthing democracies. Ironically, the generals are usually more cautious in its use than the hawkish civilians who have dominated our foreign policy circles. A war-weary nation deserves a real debate about the limits of American military adventurism. A new cold war with Russia: The United States is headed into a dangerous, escalating cold war with Russia. With little notice from the press, the Obama administration just announced it plans to quadruple spending on weapons and equipment for U.S. and NATO forces in countries on or near Russias borders. The provocative act is unprecedented in modern times. It will surely be met by deployment of greater Russian forces and armaments across the same borders and escalate a new and already dangerous U.S. Russian nuclear arms race. Instead of the countries of Eastern Europe providing a disarmed zone of peace after the Cold War, they are rapidly becoming an arena of armed tension. While virtually ignored in the press, a central cause of the tensions is the effort, hailed by Clinton, to extend NATO, a military alliance, into the nations of the former Warsaw Pact, and even former Russian republics such as Ukraine and Georgia. Yet the United States has a great interest in cooperation with Russia on enforcing the Iran deal, on settling the Syrian civil war, on dealing with loose nukes and continuing to dismantle the nuclear arsenals left from the Cold War. Before we stumble into a dangerous military face off with Russia, we deserve a serious debate about the growing tensions. A global economic policy that works for working people : Sanders has led the opposition to the presidents Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, terming it NAFTA on steroids. Although Clinton helped start those negotiations as secretary of state, she came out against the treaty once she was running for president. But TPP is simply a symbol of a broader policy. The United States has had a global economic strategy effectively defined by and for multinational corporations and banks. The result has been a trade policy that has racked up unprecedented trade deficits, devastating U.S. manufacturing, while putting direct pressure on worker wages. U.S. global corporations have been allowed to evade hundreds of billions of taxes by shifting profits to tax havens abroad. The trade accords, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has shown, have even created a private legal system providing special rights for global corporations. The Sanders critique of our rigged economy leads directly to challenging this rigged system. With her experience, Clinton could help vindicate her claim to be a progressive who gets things done by laying out how she would challenge the current arrangements. It is now increasingly accepted that our trade and tax policies have contributed directly to the agonies now experienced by working families suffering in the new economy. Surely, a broader debate than simply opposition to TPP is long overdue. Climate change: Foreign policy questions in the debates have to date essentially ignored climate change. Ironically, the Pentagon is far more concerned about the real security threats posed by climate change than the debate moderators. Both Clinton and Sanders have put forth plans to begin to address the challenge posed by catastrophic climate change. But much more is needed with increasing urgency. Driving a new debate in foreign policy isnt easy. But this country desperately needs a challenge to the mainstream thinking that has given us a foreign policy that grows ever more divorced from the interests and security concerns of the vast majority of Americans. Sanders has challenged our rigged economy and corrupted politics. Now it is time for him to challenge the limits of our cribbed foreign policy debate. Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter. Let me tell you about my boat. It has a single mast and a cabin at the stern. It is painted white with a red stripe at the water line. I bought it in Denmark, at the port where in 1943 Danish fishermen and others transported most of the countrys Jews to safety in neutral Sweden. My boat measures 5 inches long. It is as huge as the human heart. The doughty Danes, so wonderful in World War II, have now turned churlish. They seize the jewelry and other valuables of Syrian and other migrants seeking to enter the country. This is not the same as barring the migrants, but it shows what happens when a bighearted people get scared. Much of Europe is now scared. America is little different. Donald Trump urged that all Muslims be temporarily barred from entering the United States, and almost instantly many Republicans followed suit. In announcing for the presidency in June, he cited Mexican immigration as a major problem a wave of immigrants that supposedly included more than the average number of rapists and other sorts of criminals. They were taking our jobs and our women. It is a message ripped from the heart of white racism. Mexico and Central America are to the United States what the Arab world is to Europe. In Europe, it is Arabs who allegedly run sexually amok. It is Arabs, too, who purportedly threaten to overwhelm local European cultures, just as the effect of Hispanic immigration here can be seen in signage and heard in public-address announcements Spanish, as well as English. Trump and the other Republican presidential candidates live in a firehouse that only sounds four alarms. In 1989, Trump took out full-page ads in four major New York newspapers to call for the death penalty after five youths had been arrested for the rape and brutal beating of a woman in Central Park. The five were subsequently convicted and, had Trumps advice been followed, they would have been executed. Inconveniently for Trump, however, they were later exonerated when another man confessed and his DNA matched that found at the crime scene. By then, the youths had been imprisoned, one of them for 13 years. On a summer day in 2000, more than 50 women were accosted, some sexually again in Central Park. This followed the annual Puerto Rican Day parade, and it was similar, in its horror, to the mass attack on women at the train station in Cologne, Germany, this past New Years Eve. The Cologne attack claimed far more victims, more than 500, but, as in New York, an identifiable ethnic group was blamed Arabs or North Africans. All Europe was appalled and frightened. In both Europe and the United States, the present moment is touted as the inevitable future. But the Central Park rape, the Puerto Rican Day assaults and other incidents have come and gone either not what they had seemed or not repeated. Among other things, the cops cracked down. The Cologne incident, too, while larger in scope, has not or not yet been repeated. There, too, the police have learned from their mistakes. The problem in both Europe and the United States is not just a huge influx of migrants, but a lack of political leadership. The exceptions are Barack Obama here and Angela Merkel in Germany. Merkel showed extraordinary leadership in allowing about 1 million Syrian migrants to settle in Germany. Obama has been stingy in his welcome about 2,500 migrants had arrived in the United States as of late last year but he has been generous in his embrace of the Muslim community. Trump, characteristically, mischaracterized the presidents recent visit to a mosque, saying he had gone to apologize. For Trump, no lie is too low. What both the United States and Europe need now are more leaders who know how to say, Hold on a minute. Lets work this out. Instead, we get calls for mass deportations, closing borders, confiscation of wealth. In Europe, Hungary has veered right and turned ugly. Poland is leaning that way. France is showing a little Vichy, and Germany is shivering with second thoughts. Trump, Im sure, knows little about history. His boat, until he was forced to sell it, was a huge, bloated affair. My boat is small, very small, only symbolic. It stands for not just what happened, but what can happen the heroism of some, the political opportunism and cowardice of many. At the moment, too many politicians have their fingers to the wind. A storm is brewing and, aside from a weakened Merkel and an exiting Obama, not a captain is in sight. Read more from Richard Cohens archive. Copies of President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2017 budget are distributed by the Senate Budget Committee distributes on Capitol Hill in Feb. 9. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images) President Obama released the final budget proposal of his presidency Tuesday, a $4.15 trillion tax and spending plan that would boost federal government spending by just under 5 percent. Here is a sampling of some key spending areas: CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the sprawling Health and Human Services Department, is seeking funding boosts for some of the Obama administrations top priorities. These include an additional $40 million to prevent, detect and control illness and death related to infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria; $10 million more to protect against domestic and global health threats; and $10 million more as part of a government-wide program to prevent drug overdoses. [White House Budget: Fiscal Year 2017] The agency is also seeking $15 million in new funding to improve health and wellness for Native Americans and $30 million in mandatory funding for suicide prevention. The latter is part of the administrations proposal to boost federal mental health spending by $500 million over two years to improve access to care and prevent suicides. The administration is asking Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to respond to the Zika virus abroad and prepare for it at home. The bulk of that money, $828 million, would go to the CDC to reduce transmission in the most vulnerable parts of the United States, including Puerto Rico, Hawaii and southern states such as Florida and Texas. Officials are also focusing on protective measures for pregnant women and their babies, the groups at highest risk. Specifically, the funding would help to expand mosquito-control programs; establish rapid-response teams to deploy to potential Zika cluster areas in the United States; improve laboratory capacity and diagnostics to test for the virus and other infectious diseases; increase research on the link between Zika and birth defects; and expand CDCs pregnancy risk-assessment monitoring system to track and detect risks related to Zika. Lena H. Sun Cybersecurity President Obama is seeking a 35 percent hike in cybersecurity funding in his final budget to boost the capability of the federal government to defend itself against cyberattacks. [Obamas budget proposal calls for an almost 5 percent spending boost] The proposed $19 billion request, which represents one of the largest increases ever sought in this area, comes as Congress and the public have witnessed an alarming series of intrusions in recent years against targets ranging from Target and Sony to the Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management. The proposal is part of a larger package of initiatives the White House is calling the cybersecurity national action plan. The money would go toward replacing aging in some cases decades-old computer systems with new machines and software, hiring additional skilled personnel, and increasing capabilities at the Pentagons Cyber Command and the FBI as well as in civilian agencies such as OPM and the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials said. Some portion of the money will go to the classified cyber budget for intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the CIA, they said. Ellen Nakashima [To read more, click here] Education President Obamas education budget for fiscal 2017 seeks major new investment to bring K-12 education into the digital age, with a $4 billion request to expand computer science education, as well as several initiatives designed to drive down college debt and make higher education more affordable, especially for low-income students. The president is also seeking an increase in money spent to educate low-income children in grades K through 12, as well as more funds for career and technical education. As the number of public school children living in poverty increases, Obama is asking for a $450 million boost to the $16.1 billion Title 1 program, which helps states educate low-income children in K-12. It is the federal governments largest single category of education funding. The president is seeking a total of $69.4 billion in discretionary funds for education, a $1.1 billion increase over the 2016 budget of $68.3 billion. It is unlikely that Republicans who control Congress will approve much of an increase in education spending. The fiscal 2017 budget would most directly affect the 2017-2018 school year, which is also the first year of full implementation of a new federal K-12 education law passed by Congress that directed the elimination or consolidation of 50 programs within the education agency. In his 2017 proposal, Obama has renewed his push to make two years of community college free for responsible students those who maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, show steady progress toward completion and whose families earn less than $200,000 annually. Under his plan, the federal government would pay 75 percent of the average cost of community college, with states paying the rest. The administration also wants to launch a new tax credit program to encourage employers to work with community and technical colleges to create training programs for in-demand fields such as health care, energy and information technology. Employers would help colleges to design curriculum, donate instructors and equipment, and offer job-based training opportunities. And they would get a one-time $5,000 tax credit for every graduate they hire. A total of $500 million in credits would be available each year from 2017 through 2021. The notion of making community college free has minimal Republican support. To help college students graduate faster and reduce their costs Obama wants an additional $2 billion investment in Pell grants for needy students. The money would be used to reinstate year-round Pell, which lets eligible full-time students receive federal grants three semesters a year, instead of two. Congress reduced the aid distribution to two semesters in 2011, but lawmakers in both parties have expressed interest in reinstituting the program. The additional investment Obama is requesting would also offer an incentive to students who take 15 or more credits per semester. The president also wants to extend Pell grants to incarcerated individuals. Lyndsey Layton and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel [For federal employees, budget seeks 1.6 percent raise, paid parental leave] EPA The Environmental Protection Agencys fiscal 2017 spending plan would seek to accelerate improvements to troubled municipal water systems while committing new money to help states fight climate change. The Obama administration proposed overall discretionary spending for the regulatory agency of $8.3 billion, a 1.5 percent increase over the EPAs enacted budget for 2016 but slightly less than last years spending request. The budget proposal reflects concerns over water quality in the wake of the Flint, Mich., water crisis, with $42 million to help with technical assistance and training for state and local governments seeking to improve infrastructure for drinking water and sewage treatment. That spending would be in addition to $2 billion allocated for the EPA revolving fund that helps municipalities finance water systems. Flint is an indicator of our need to increase our commitment to drinking-water infrastructure, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters in reviewing highlights of the plan. New money is also proposed to fund President Obamas climate initiatives. The EPA would set aside $25 million in grants to help states implement its Clean Power Plan, the regulation adopted last summer that seeks to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from burning coal. The spending blueprint includes funding for the 10-year, $1.65 billion Climate Infrastructure Fund that would support the upgrading of vehicle fleets to utilize clean-energy technology. The programs top priority would be to update school bus fleets, replacing diesel equipment with cleaner engines. McCarthy said pollution from older vehicles not only contributes to climate change but also puts our kids at risk. The climate proposals are likely to face opposition from the Republican- controlled Congress, which opposes the EPAs regulations on carbon pollution. But state governments have pushed for federal help to enable them to meet the new rules. These additional funds are essential if our nation is serious about meeting the health and welfare goals of the Clean Air Act, said S. William Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, an association of environmental regulatory agencies from 40 states. Joby Warrick HHS Spending for the Department of Health and Human Services would increase to $1.1 trillion under a proposal that would add large mandatory expenditures for cancer research and fighting drug addictions while slightly decreasing the departments discretionary programs. The budget would modify the controversial Cadillac tax on expensive private health plans so that it would not apply to some employers in states with especially high insurance prices. The tax, part of the Affordable Care Act, already has been postponed from 2018 to 2020. The budget proposes several steps to address the escalating price of prescription drugs. It would enable the government to compel pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose the cost of researching and developing drugs. It calls for speeding up the closing of a doughnut hole in Medicare drug benefits and for bigger drug rebates for low-income Medicare patients. The budget furthers the administrations efforts to move toward new payment methods in Medicare, including a new competitive bidding system for private Medicare Advantage health plans. The proposal also reinforces the administrations push for more states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It would allow the federal government to pay the entire cost of such expansions for three years, no matter when a state made its decision. Currently, the federal portion is scheduled to dip to 90 percent next year. The White House is highlighting $500 million that would be devoted to treating serious mental illnesses part of a package of executive actions announced last month to try to curb gun violence. Amy Goldstein Homeland Security The Department of Homeland Securitys budget request is a mix designed to keep the nation safe attached to some bragging about what DHS considers the Obama administrations successes. The first sentence of a DHS fact sheet accompanying the $40.6 billion request for fiscal 2017 talks about how under President Obamas leadership, we have turned our economy around and created 14 million jobs. The administrations overall budget request submitted to Congress praises DHS for investments in southwestern border security that the administration says have produced significant and positive results. When they turn to actual numbers, the DHS documents offer justification for a budget that is slightly less than the $41.2 billion requested last year. This years request would fund some new programs, such as a DHS-led interagency task force on countering violent extremism and a new initiative to fight human trafficking through law enforcement training and other measures. Also up for new funding is the Coast Guard, which would receive $1.1 billion for recapitalization efforts, including $150 million to help acquire a new polar icebreaker. DHSs more familiar programs, designed to prevent terrorism, secure the nations borders, enforce immigration laws and safeguard cyberspace, also are funded. The budget would spend $173.8 million, for example, on a program that helps screen cargo at ports of entry and $2 billion for grants to help state and local governments prevent and respond to catastrophic events. Notably, the request shows that DHS appears to be enhancing its efforts to deport illegal immigrants. The efforts have been especially controversial since the department recently began targeting migrants from Central America. The budget would give $347.5 million to what DHS calls its Criminal Alien Program to apprehend and remove illegal immigrants, funding that would allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of DHS, to hire 100 more officers. Jerry Markon Interior The presidents new budget request for the Interior Department is similar to last years. Hes asking Congress for $13.4 billion, up slightly from fiscal 2016s $13.2 billion. With the approach of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, the department is placing a strong emphasis on the management and continued upkeep of the parks, with a proposed $860 million investment over the next decade. Although theres widespread support for upgrading Americas parks, some of President Obamas other requests wont get passed without a fight. One such case is the $2 billion request for improving coastal resilience to climate change, a problem many congressional Republicans say is not man-made and is not as big a problem as many scientists and others say it is. The administration is asking for $290 million to protect communities and forest ecosystems from wildfires money that Congress has been reluctant to provide in past years, even as the administration says the fires are growing worse. Darryl Fears NASA President Obamas fiscal 2017 budget request is essentially stay-the-course funding for NASA, with some additional money for new technologies. The civilian space agency is in the midst of a protracted transition from the era of the space shuttle to the era of commercial launch contracts for routine trips to the International Space Station. Simultaneously the agency wants to position itself for an eventual human mission to Mars, which requires heavy investment in new hardware. The budget seeks $19 billion for NASA, which is about $300 million less than what Congress allotted for fiscal 2016. If past patterns hold, Congress will restore some of that funding and give NASA a higher top-line budget. The administrations lower budget request would mean significant cuts to the exploration division of the agency, where big-ticket space-hardware projects including the jumbo rocket known as the Space Launch System and the new Orion capsule have powerful patrons in Congress. The presidents request asks NASA to focus on the Earth as well as space. His proposed budget calls for a fleet of Earth-observing spacecraft to monitor climate and the environment, and it directs NASA to team with other government agencies to research new types of clean fuel and aircraft that emit less carbon into the atmosphere. The budget would invest in new technologies such as energy-efficient, solar-electric propulsion, which the documents states would allow us to push out into the Solar System not just to visit, but to stay. Joel Achenbach NIH and FDA Funding for Vice President Bidens cancer moonshot, advances in precision medicine and research on the complexity of the brain highlight the presidents $33.1 billion proposed 2017 budget for the National Institutes of Health. The figure represents a $1.1 billion increase over the recently approved 2016 NIH budget, which included the agencys single biggest funding boost in more than a decade. About $680 million would expand clinical trials to include more minorities and others who suffer from higher cancer rates. It also would be used to seek new vaccine technology and research on the causes, treatment, prevention and detection of cancer. [How the White House would spend $1 billion in cancer moonshot money] President Obama announced the effort to speed up cancer research during his State of the Union address in January and put Biden, whose son died of brain cancer last year, in charge. A $107 million increase, to $300 million, would support the agencys growing precision medicine initiative by assembling a database of information on at least 1 million people for research purposes. The information would be used to explore the ways that genetics, the environment and other factors interact to cause disease, in the hope of developing new therapies and approaches to prevention. NIHs brain research initiative would receive $195 million, a $45 million increase over the current year, to further the understanding of psychiatric and neurological diseases, including Alzheimers, autism, depression, schizophrenia and addiction. The initiative was begun in 2013 to direct money into cutting-edge research to develop new technologies and tools to understand the brain. [Administration seeks new ways to understand the human brain ] Alzheimers is also one of the focuses of an NIH effort to collaborate with drug companies and nonprofit groups to identify people at risk for the disease and test therapies and prevention efforts. The Food and Drug Administration would receive $1.5 billion to upgrade food safety regulations by implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act. The FDA also would get $2.8 billion, an increase of $116 million, to ensure the safety of drugs and medical devices and $75 million to develop ways to regulate new health technology. The presidents proposed budget also contains some of the nearly $1.2 billion in new funding that Obama has pledged to address heroin and prescription opioid abuse over the next two years. Lenny Bernstein SEC and CFTC The presidents new budget request asks Congress to significantly increase funding for two of the countrys top financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Funding for the SEC would increase 11 percent, to $1.8 billion, while funding for the CFTC would jump 32 percent, to $330 million, under the presidents proposal for fiscal 2017. The agencies budgets would double by 2021. The SEC, which has been under pressure to finish enacting the 2010 financial reform package known as Dodd-Frank, would be able to add more than 200 full-time employees as part of the proposal. Despite what critics said, Wall Street Reform has created a stronger and more stable foundation for economic growth, Jeffrey Zients, director of the National Economic Council, said in a blog post Monday. But there is more work to do. The budget also would impose a fee on the largest financial firms on the basis of their liabilities, Zients said. A lot has been done to curb excessive risk on Wall Street, but this fees is another way to further those reforms, ensuring that taxpayers arent on the hook for risky Wall Street gambles. Renae Merle State Dept. The proposed budget for the State Department and USAID includes $50.1 billion in discretionary spending. It includes sizeable increases in some areas related to the fight against violent extremism in the Middle East and the worlds worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. It sets aside $4.1 billion for the campaign against the Islamic State and the response to the ongoing civil war in Syria. That includes programs to rebuild and stabilize towns destroyed when militants are ousted, efforts to counter the extremists propaganda, attack plotting and financing. With 60 million people around the world either refugees or internally displaced, the budget allots $6.2 billion for humanitarian assistance in countries including Syria, Iraq and South Sudan. . Support for international organizations and peacekeeping efforts, including contributions to the United Nations and other institutions, costs $4.7 billion. The budget sets aside $953 million to counter Russia aggression by providing help to Ukraine and other countries in the region. It devotes slightly more money, $984 million, to combat climate change. More than half, $500 million, is for a Green Climate Fund overseen with the Treasury Department to help developing countries reduce carbon polluion. Among other priorites are $1 billion to cut down on illegal immigration from Central America. Security, maintenance and construction at embassies get $6.1 billion. The crowd listens to Bernie Sanders at a rally at Daniel Webster Community College in Nashua, N.H., on Monday. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post) Madeline Ramaley, 18, was the sort of voter Sen. Ted Cruz did not need to see right now. It was nothing personal, but these were the final hours before polls opened in New Hampshire. Cruz had five public events left. And no matter how persuasive he was, Ramaley could not vote for him, because she had driven up with a class from Emerson College in Boston. Im still trying to figure out who Ill vote for, said Ramaley, a Californian wearing a souvenir Hillary Clinton campaign button for the coming Arkansas primary. I might still be swayed. She cheerfully took a button I Dont Believe the Liberal Media from a passing conservative activist, then admitted that she didnt have much to ask Cruz, the senator from Texas. Im curious about what his favorite kind of dog is, she said. In the final days before New Hampshires vote, the presidential contenders who have tuned their arguments, modeled their electorates and honed their applause lines find themselves talking to a lot of tourists. At least a third of the money spent here in the final stretch in spent by tourists, and thats based on data from the quieter, pre-Trump era of 2000. During the weekend before this years vote, primary tourists both harmed and helped the contenders. Their cars clogged parking lots, redirecting actual voters down side streets or frustrating them enough to send them home. Bad! Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by former president Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, meets with the crowd at Manchester Community College during a rally on Monday. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) They packed rooms, giving every candidate a Twitter-and-TV-ready image of final-push momentum. Good! They frustrated journalists, whose quests for vox populi got them unusable conversations with tourists from Massachusetts and Maine. From a campaigns perspective actually, not bad. [Why Clintons feminist pitch is not working in New Hampshire] I think its awesome to see them want to come and witness the process firsthand, said Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Cruz. At the last stop, I even ran into a guy from Tennessee that I met in 2008. He and his wife come up every four years for this, for fun. I was like, Go take your wife to Hawaii or something! But its what they love. Some of the gawkers were teenagers, including Andy and Emma Liston, who, from their home in Winter Park, Fla., had for years wanted to make the New Hampshire circuit when both parties had open primaries. Some were activists, including Greg Fiscus, who drove up from North Carolina and tucked a 2008 vintage Hillary Clinton nutcracker under his arm. Guess who gave it to me? he asked a curious voter at a rally for Ted Cruz. It was Bill. Bill told me to travel the land and spread the message. Candidates had gotten worse from the tourists. Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio), who has camped out in the state even as the media traveled elsewhere, found himself burning minutes on questions from people who couldnt vote. In Manchester, he was challenged for eight minutes with questions about Israel from a young voter who belatedly revealed that he was from Minnesota. In Hollis, Kasich got two questions from libertarians who had driven from Maryland and demanded to know how he could earn the votes of Rand Paul supporters. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) holds a town hall meeting at Londonderry High School cafeteria on Sunday. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post) How many people are in Maryland? asked Kasich. Around 5 million, said one questioner. Okay, well, youre my two favorite people in Maryland, said Kasich. The next day, when Kasichs campaign bus stopped by his quaint office, many of the people hoisting Kasich signs on sticks were visitors who could not vote. Michael Biundo, a Paul strategist who switched to Kasich after the senator from Kentuckys withdrawal, could see the upside in drawing out visitors. Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont are all early, said Biundo. That was why Rand did a swing through those states last year. Several campaigns said that the voters who showed up and admitted a foreign residence went right into the data file. Michael DuHaime, a strategist for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies campaign, saw the upside of a candidacy that pulled in gawkers from across the border. Massachusetts is an early primary, so we think its good that theyre here, he said. Theres value to that, and we capture that information. And the people ambling from elsewhere to New Hampshire do not need to be treated the same way as Tuesdays voters. On Friday night, the visitors who swarmed a Cruz town hall in Salem one said he had come from Switzerland for the weekend became target practice for the GOPs preeminent debater. After Cruz finished his stump speech, John Davenport, a professor at Fordham University in New York, said he came here from New Jersey to ask this question and launched into a lengthy, pained description of what had happened to Syria because of Americas military interventions. I say to you, sir, that supporting Assad is a mistake and will only lead to more of what caused ISIS in the first place, said Davenport. What are you doing, sir? Cruz, who had remained poker-faced through the diatribe, lifted his microphone. So youre saying youre undecided, he said. Some interlopers were more welcome. Steve Duprey, a Republican activist who earned the nickname Secretary of Fun while helping John McCains campaigns, had for the second cycle invited Republican friends to breathe some cold air and see how the primaries worked. The lucky visitors got bright red windbreakers, rooms at Dupreys Courtyard Marriott in Concord and drivers to whatever events they wanted to audit. On Sunday night, they joined Duprey and some reporters and strategists for a Super Bowl party; large posters listed the nexts days offerings, as if the revelers were on a cruise ship. Duprey was not doing this for charity. Among the guests were members of the Republican National Committee, the sort of people who could vote on whether New Hampshire kept its spot (mandated in the state constitution, debated elsewhere) as the first primary. Its a great tradition, said Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi. But unlike most of the people inspecting New Hampshires primary, he preferred to stay in the background, observing and unheard. The Federal Aviation Administration says there are now more registered drone operators in the United States than there are registered manned aircraft. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a legal forum on Monday that the agency passed the milestone last week when it topped 325,000 registered drone owners. There are 320,000 registered manned aircraft. Huerta said the number of small unmanned aircraft is even larger because drone operators often own more than one drone. FAA officials launched a drone-registration program just before Christmas, saying it would help them track down operators who violate regulations and also help create a culture of accountability. Huerta said the speed with which registration has taken off is proof that government and industry can work together. Under the new regulations, drone operators are required to register their unmanned aircraft and apply their registration number to the drone. The same number could be applied to other drones they own as well. Registration costs $5 for three years, but the fee was waived for the first 30 days since the registration opened in the third week of December. Applicants are required to provide a name, address and email address. In addition to affixing the registration number to the drone, people are required to carry their FAA registration when operating the aircraft. If a drone is sold by its initial owner or given as a gift, the new owner must register it. Drones weighing between half a pound and 55 pounds must be registered. Drones above that weight go through normal FAA registration requirements for aircraft. Failure to register or improper use of a drone could carry a civil penalty of up to $27,500, and a criminal conviction could cost as much as $250,000 and three years in prison. Washington Post staff writer Ashley Halsey contributed to this report. Bernie Sanders greets supporters at the Ward 5 polling place at the Green Street Community Center in Concord, N.H. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post) Curtis and Susan Abel trudged carefully through the snowy parking lot of the school where they had just voted, both satisfied that they made the right decision. Curtis, 80, cast his ballot for Bernie Sanders. Susan, 79, opted for Hillary Clinton. I guess we canceled each other out, Susan Abel said with a smile. Its just, everybodys voting their heart today. After months of seemingly endless exposure to the presidential candidates seeing their town halls, receiving their mailings and watching their ads New Hampshires famously fickle voters in both parties finally got a chance Tuesday to weigh in. Here, at a precinct in a picturesque New England village, a steady stream of Democrats, Republicans and independents took their turn to vote. It was time, they said, to tune out the noise and go with their gut. Even if their gut eluded them until the very moment it was time to vote. 1 of 51 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What it looks like on the ground in New Hampshire leading up to the primary View Photos Following the Iowa caucuses, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates flocked to New Hampshire in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Caption Following the Iowa caucuses, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates flocked to New Hampshire in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Feb. 8, 2016 A Scottish Highland steer wears a Bernie Sanders campaign sticker in Manchester. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Weve been back and forth, said Kurt Woetzel, 71, a retired business owner who showed up with his wife, Suzanne. The Woetzels, who said they have lived here since 1969, said this was the hardest choice theyve ever faced in a primary. They said they narrowed it to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and finally picked Cruz in part because they worried about Rubios halting performance in the last debate. Cruzs values match up with ours, Curtis Woetzel said. We are evangelical Christians. Thats one of his labels. [Donald Trump poised to win in New Hampshire] The scene was pure New Hampshire, a mixture of winter and politics. Voters strolled past neighbors who hoisted campaign placards, and walked into the gymnasium of Hopkinton Middle/High School, where piles of ski bags were stacked against the walls. Ed Ferrero, a 53-year-old sales manager, walked into the school without having made a final decision. He had narrowed his options into two seemingly disparate choices the self-described Democratic socialist Sanders and Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who calls himself a conservative but who has appealed to many centrists here. I like the message on both sides, said Ferrero, who described himself as one of New Hampshires much-courted independent voters. I see similarities, the positiveness of what can be, one from a conservative side and one from a liberal side. I was really torn, really torn. Ferrero, impressed during Saturdays Republican debate that Kasich rose above the bickering, said he decided in the polling station that Kasich fit a middle-of-the-road mold. So he voted for the governor. A short while later, two friends, both young mothers, cast their ballots and explained why they had voted for different Democrats. [Whos likely out after the New Hampshire primary] Becky Whitley, 35, said she supported Clinton because of her years of advocacy for womens rights. She has an incredible record on children, Whitley added. Her friend, Joy Malcolm, 36, said she voted for Sanders because he seemed like more of an outsider. I was into someone who didnt have as many ins, she said. Asked how she explained her preference for a 74-year-old longtime politician, she responded: He doesnt come across that way. That was a common theme among Sanders supporters. Even some who thought Clinton was more experienced or would have a better chance to beat the Republicans in the general election felt a tug to go with the candidate they believed in. Clinton will have a better chance in November, frankly, said Tom Meehan, a 68-year-old psychiatrist, after voting for the Vermont senator. But I decided to vote for who I wanted rather than worry about November. Clinton voters said they knew she stood a chance of losing in New Hampshire. But they showed up to vote for her anyway, hoping that the campaign against Sanders has made her a better candidate moving forward. He has made her more articulate, said Susan Saviteer, who, along with husband Peter, voted for the former secretary of state. He forced her maybe a little left, forced her to address some issues that she might not have otherwise. I love her position on guns, and I think she might not have come out so forcefully if Sanders had not opposed her. New Hampshires live-free-or-die credo has been fertile ground for the rise of this years anti-establishment figures Sanders on the left and Donald Trump on the right. [Many N.H. independents torn between Trump and Sanders] Some who turned out Tuesday said they could appreciate both men. After leaving the Webster School polling place in north Manchester, Eugene Bowers Jr. said he had just cast his vote for Trump. He doesnt have big money behind him, Bowers said. Im sick of the way our elections are run in this country, and its going to have to change. When it was pointed out that Sanders has used his campaign to denounce the system of financing elections, he nodded. If the Republicans dont get Trump in there and Sanders is in [for the Democrats], Im voting for Sanders, he said. Richard Duckoff, a retired lawyer, voted for Clinton because she can think on her feet. But Duckoff said Trump has made a positive contribution to politics. I do feel that Trump has put an end to political correctness, he said. I dont think its ever going to come back the way it was. The candidates are talking as though were living in the Victorian era. . . . Theyre afraid to ruffle any feathers. If youre afraid to offend anybody, youre not going to really attract anybody, either. Robin Simard, who works for a software company, said she had planned to vote for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie but had not changed her registration to participate in the Republican primary. I ended up voting for Bernie, she said. Personally, I like Hillary, but there are too many questions about stuff I cant really talk to you about. Another woman, who declined to give her name, left the school after having voted for Sanders also. When asked why, she broke into song. . . . all come to look for America, she said, singing a few bars of the Simon and Garfunkel song that was the background music for the breakout ad by the Sanders campaign. Dan Balz in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report. In 2012, Sen. Marco Rubio had President Obama pegged: a guy who has no idea what hes doing. As recently as December, Rubio described Obama as overwhelmed by the threat posed by the Islamic State. Those characterizations of an in-over-his-head president sound different from the argument Rubio made, over and over again, in his now-infamous debate performance Saturday night: that Obama is, in fact, so deft and in command that he is systematically altering the essence of America. While Rubio drew mockery for repeating the lines, they highlighted the Republican candidates difficulty in distinguishing himself from a president with whom he has a lot in common biographically but who is loathed by most of his party. Like Obama, Rubio, 44, is a young first-term senator who arrived in Washington fresh out of a state legislature. Obama, when he ran in 2008, spoke often about his African fathers journey to America; Rubio likes to tell the story of his Cuban immigrant parents on the campaign trail. And for months, Rubio has been peppered with questions and attacks centering on whether he is the Republican version of Obama. Curious voters have asked him about the similarities. The topic has been raised in interviews. And lately, his rivals have been making the comparison in a negative light more intensely than ever. Rubio greets people at a Super Bowl watch party Sunday at Ultimate Sports Academy in Manchester, N.H. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post) [Marco Rubio is good at staying on message too good, it turns out] We tried a rookie senator with no experience, and we cant afford that risk again, says an advertisement from Right to Rise USA, a super PAC supporting former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Marco Rubio simply isnt ready for the biggest job in the world. Rubios campaign says he has responded to such comparisons consistently from Day One. Our primary response to this question has never changed, said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant. Obama isnt a failed president because he served in the Senate. Hes a failed president because his ideas are really bad. Rubio is leaning heavily into the argument he advanced at Saturdays debate: It is not Obamas youth or inexperience that makes him a bad president, but his willful reshaping of the countrys identity. People keep [saying], Why do you keep saying the thing youre saying about Obama trying to change America?, Rubio said at a town hall here Monday. Im going to keep saying that a million times. The comment he was referring to was one he repeated, almost word for word, four times at Saturdays debate. Rubio poses for a selfie outside the Barley House Restaurant on Monday in Concord, N.H. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post) Lets dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesnt know what hes doing, Rubio said in one rendition. He knows exactly what hes doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. Some of what Rubio is saying now seems at least partly at odds with what he said before he was a candidate for president. [GOP debate seems to halt Marco Rubios momentum] Stumping for Mitt Romney in 2012, Rubio framed the election this way: This is a choice between a guy that has no idea what hes doing and a guy that does. Asked how that squares with what Rubio says now, Conant responded: Obama has no idea how to grow the economy or make the world safer. But he knew exactly what [he was] doing when he passed Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and the Iran deal those did not happen by accident. He is trying to make America look more like the rest of the world. Rubio has also argued that he entered the Senate and the presidential campaign with more experience than Obama, showing a desire to size up the presidents resume next to his own. During a campaign swing though Iowa in July, Rubio argued that Obama had been a backbencher in the Illinois legislature, while Rubio arrived in the Senate after serving as speaker of the Florida House. He also pointed out that he had served in the Senate longer than Obama had when he declared his campaign for president in 2007. This president has not been a failure because he was a senator, Rubio said then. This president has been a failure because he has failed on the key questions of presidential leadership. Rubio also said that Obamas ideas are outdated. He called the president a divisive figure who decided to pit Americans against one another. [Rubios summer of 90: An arrest, then newfound purpose] Here in New Hampshire, Rubio has faced relentless attacks from two governors running for president and from their allies. Bush said last week that the challenge with Obama, an extraordinarily gifted man, very smart, great orator, is there was nothing in his background that would suggest he could lead, and it turns out he hasnt. Bush said it was fair game that Rubio and Ted Cruz, another freshman senator running for president, should face scrutiny as a result. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who mocked Rubio for using the same talking point repeatedly in Saturdays debate, also compared his experience level with Obamas. Weve watched it happen, everybody, for the last seven years, he said. The people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. What happens in New Hampshire on Tuesday night could determine whether Rubio will have to endure a fresh round of such attacks. Aside from Bush, Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rubios main competitors are Cruz and Donald Trump, who has never held elective office. For now, Rubio is content repeating himself. Voters across the country and especially here in New Hampshire got to hear me say repeatedly the truth: that Barack Obama is trying to redefine the role of government in our country and Americas role in the world, he told CBS News on Monday. Ed OKeefe in Tilton, N.H., contributed to this report. With a snowstorm bearing down, presidential candidates scurried across New Hampshire on Monday, leveling inflammatory attacks against one another while pleading with voters for their support in Tuesdays primary election, which appeared likely to settle little in the wild nominating contests. Donald Trump held a sizable lead in the Republican race and appeared poised to win his first contest of the 2016 campaign after finishing second in Iowa a week ago. But behind the New York businessman, five other candidates waged a fierce battle for coveted top-tier finishes and the bragging rights and resources that could come with them when the campaign heads next to South Carolina. In the Democratic race, Sen. Bernie Sanders maintained his double-digit lead over former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. After winning only narrowly in Iowa, Clinton, the once-presumptive nominee, was bracing for defeat here and hoping to keep the damage from spilling over into upcoming states where she long has been dominant. Sanders is capitalizing in part on the fact that he represents a neighboring state, Vermont, though his campaign has been fueled more by widespread discontent with the political system among many liberals and the enthusiasm of young voters for the promise of a political revolution. In diners, on factory floors and at big rallies, the candidates encountered voters, one after another, who had yet to make up their minds a reminder that New Hampshire is a state where voters have sprung surprises in the closing days of past presidential primaries. Despite the fact that neither contest this year appears to have a genuine race for first place, the net effect of the voting could be to draw out both nomination battles well into the spring. A commanding upset by Sanders that further exposes weaknesses in Clintons coalition, along with a photo finish for second and third place in the GOP race, could upend both contests. For Republicans, the campaign trail Monday was like a game of political billiards, with attacks flying fast and in all directions, reflecting the jumbled field and the uncertain fates that await so many of the candidates. Jeb Bush fired at Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio. Chris Christie savaged Rubio, and Rubio smacked back. And Trump slammed Bush and Cruz. Kicking off the day at a town hall meeting in Salem, Trump accused Cruz, the senator from Texas and winner of the Iowa caucuses, of being politically correct and very queasy on the issue of interrogation of terrorism suspects. Then he cut into Bush, calling him a stiff and accusing him of acting like a spoiled child. You have to go out and vote tomorrow, Trump said. You have to do it, because, you know, we have to get rid of the Bushes of the world. You know, guys like that will never straighten out this country. Reaching for the jugular, Trump said on CNN that Bush has to bring his mother out and lug his mother around at 90 years old. I think its a very sad situation. Bush offered a Trump-style retort on the moguls preferred mode of communication, tweeting at him, you arent just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. The Democratic side was hardly harmonious as Clinton sharpened her knife to bloody Sanders. He has attacked Clinton repeatedly for her long ties to Wall Street and her acceptance of campaign contributions and personal speaking fees from major financial firms. On Monday, Clinton tried to turn the tables, portraying Sanders as hypocritical because he had accepted about $200,000 from Wall Street firms through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver called that suggestion false and beyond preposterous. Clintons husband, Bill, effectively hurled the kitchen sink at Sanders in a speech Sunday, accusing Sanderss followers of sexism and his campaign of fabricated attacks. But the former president showed considerable restraint Monday and described his weekend outburst as the emotions of a worried spouse. The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I was just a former president and, just for a few months, not the spouse of the next one, he said. I have to be careful what I say. At days end, however, Clinton said as he introduced his wife in Hudson, Finally, the dam broke in the polarization of the campaign, and we are finally free to have a discussion of whose ideas are better. The Clinton family made an all-out push to secure votes in New Hampshire, a state that has fueled comebacks for both Bill and Hillary in past campaigns. Its going to be a race to the finish, Hillary Clinton said. But the race seemed to be Sanderss to lose. At his stops Monday, he did not directly criticize his opponent, instead restating his broad assault on the corrupting influence of money in politics and the power and wealth of Wall Street and corporate America. We are running a very radical campaign because we are telling the American people the truth, Sanders said at a midday rally in downtown Manchester. For the Republicans, the character of the race appeared to change over the weekend after a debate in which Rubio faltered in the face of blistering attacks from Christie. The senator from Florida appeared to have gained some momentum from his strong third-place finish in Iowa, but the question was whether his debate foible set him back and how much of an opening it gave Christie, as well as Ohio Gov. Kasich and former Florida governor Bush. Rubio sought to stoke positive energy as he stopped by his campaign headquarters in Manchester to give a pep talk to volunteers. Walking into the office to chants of Marco! Marco!, the senator said his campaign here was closing really strong. He noted that supporters had descended on New Hampshire from far and wide. Its huuuge, he said, doing his best Trump impersonation. He also played up his believed strength in a general election: Who gives us the best chance to win? I know that I do. I know that we do. And you know who else knows that? Hillary Clinton. Cruz, who spent the end of his Iowa campaign in a rhetorical splatter-fight with Trump, closed out his New Hampshire tour with only sparing mention of his rivals. But he appeared to be laying the groundwork for a debate over women in the armed forces that he might push more aggressively once the campaign moves to South Carolina, which has a large military presence and holds its GOP primary Feb. 20. On Monday in Barrington, Cruz insisted that Republicans who refused to rule out a military draft for women as some of his opponents have were nuts. New Hampshire polls have shown Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and Bush in a jumble for second place behind Trump, with Christie, the New Jersey governor, lagging in sixth place. Cruz, Trump and Rubio established their longevity with their Iowa placements, but the New Hampshire primary threatens to knock one or more of the governors out of the race. Even as they all vowed to carry their campaigns onward regardless of Tuesdays results, the sense of urgency was evident all day. Christie began the morning by dropping to one knee, all but begging a woman who claimed to be undecided to cast her ballot for him. After he gave her a lengthy answer about Social Security reform, she said he had her vote. She was one of two women who publicly declared their allegiance after arriving to the event unsure. The three governors drew plaudits for their performances at Saturdays debate, but each recognized the precariousness of their candidacies and the importance of finishing ahead of one another. Though Bushs campaign has languished for months, he began to find his voice in the closing week in New Hampshire, which he hoped would spark a revival. Kasich took a different tack from the other Republicans, continuing with his positive theme and his call to bring Republicans and Democrats together. You have to unite people, he said at a town hall in Plaistow. You have to have some people in the other party. Youre an American. Youre not a Democrat or Republican. Kasich bemoaned Americas reputation around the world, saying that foreigners look at these goofballs across the ocean. Weve got to get our act together. Jose A. DelReal in Portsmouth, Anne Gearan in Rochester, Jenna Johnson in Salem, Michael Kranish in Plaistow, Abby Phillip and Sean Sullivan in Manchester, David Weigel in Barrington, and Ed OKeefe in Nashua contributed to this report. Turkey and Germany agreed Monday on a set of measures to try to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis, including a joint diplomatic initiative aimed at halting attacks against Syrias largest city. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that she is not just appalled but horrified by the suffering caused by bombing in Syria, primarily by Russia. Merkel said that Turkey and Germany will push at the United Nations to keep to a resolution passed in December that calls on all sides to halt, without delay, attacks on the civilian population. Merkel was in Ankara for talks on how to reduce the influx of migrants into Europe, mostly via a perilous boat crossing from Turkey to Greece. Turkeys coast guard said Monday that 24 migrants died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit, while four people were rescued. Merkel is under pressure at home to cut the number of refugee arrivals after nearly 1.1 million people were registered as asylum seekers in Germany last year. Turkey for its part is under pressure from the European Union to allow the passage of up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the border in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces in the city of Aleppo. The Turkish border crossing of Oncupinar, opposite the Syrian Bab al-Salameh gate, remained closed for a fourth day on Monday as Turkish authorities provided assistance to the Syrians at a nearby camp for the displaced. It was not clear whether or when Turkey would let the group in. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, says it has reached its capacity to absorb refugees but has indicated that it will continue to take refugees in. We are worried that opening the gates will lead to an increase in refugees, said Burak Karacaoglu, a spokesman for the nongovernmental Islamic charity group IHH. We are concerned about the airstrikes, which are increasingly targeting civilian areas. This is what causes refugees. Merkel said, We have been, in the past few days, not just appalled but horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing primarily from the Russian side. Under such circumstances, its hard for peace talks to take place, and so this situation must be brought to an end quickly, Merkel said. Davutoglu said Aleppo is de facto under siege. We are on the verge of a new human tragedy. No one should excuse or show tolerance toward the Russian air attacks that amount to ethnic massacres by saying Turkey takes care of the Syrian refugees anyway, Davutoglu said. No one can expect Turkey to take on the burden on its own. Davutoglu said he and Merkel had agreed that an emergency aid group from the two countries would help supply the Syrian refugees at the border. He added that they would be allowed into Turkey when necessary, without elaborating. Merkel said the two leaders also discussed how to combine the work of Turkeys coast guard with that of the E.U.s Frontex border agency. She said they will use an upcoming NATO defense ministers meeting to discuss to what extent NATO can be helpful with the surveillance situation at sea and support the coast guards and Frontexs work. The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department are investigating a claim that personal data related to thousands of DHS and FBI employees was hacked and has been posted online, an agency spokesman said Monday. The tech website Motherboard reported on Sunday that a hacker, who Motherboard said wished to remain anonymous, intended to dump onto the Internet names, job titles, email addresses and official phone numbers of more than 9,000 DHS employees and an additional 20,000 FBI workers. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant media activity, on Monday said a pro-Palestinian Twitter account on Sunday had posted a link to a document that contained the purported data of 9,372 DHS employees. The posted data included DHS employees names, job titles, departments, phone and fax numbers, state and country address information, and official dhs.gov email addresses, SITE said. SITE said the hack bore a strong resemblance to earlier breaches attributed to a group called Crackas with Attitude that had been implicated in attacks targeting CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano and Miami police. However, a government official familiar with investigations into the breach said some data published by the hacker relates to people who stopped working for DHS more than a year ago. S.Y. Lee, a DHS spokesman, said, We are looking into the reports of purported disclosure of DHS employee contact information. We take these reports very seriously, however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive or personally identifiable information. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said, The department is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components containing employee contact information. This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information, Carr said. Britains Daily Telegraph reported that one of the hackers who claimed to be behind the latest breaches is a British man and former member of a hacker group called Lizard Squad that claimed responsibility for hacking popular gaming systems in late 2014. The international community should not intervene against Islamic State expansion in Libya until a Libyan government is formed and requests such assistance, Egypt said Monday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in Washington for bilateral talks with the Obama administration, said in an interview that the Libyan people should undertake the decisions related to the fight against terrorism and how it should be conducted and what form of assistance should be provided to it. This should be a Libyan-led process defined by the Libyan people. Pressure has been growing for Western military intervention to stem the growth of the Islamic State in Libya, where the militants control the port city of Sirte and have attacked the oil infrastructure. U.S. intelligence has said that the Islamic States headquarters in Syria has increasingly directed new recruits to Libya, where it sees enhanced prospects of expanding territory it controls amid political chaos there. Pentagon options presented to the White House include airstrikes, Special Forces operations and assistance to Libyan ground forces. Officials said no decisions were made at a National Security Council meeting late last month. During a meeting last week in Rome on the Libya situation, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said that the world must prevent the Islamic State from gaining a stranglehold over Libya and urged Libyan political factions to agree on a unity government. Efforts by the United Nations get competing groups in Tripoli and Tobruk to forge such a government have missed repeated deadlines amid ongoing disagreement about how to parcel out power and ministries. The latest controversy revolves around the defense ministry. Egypt has pressed for a powerful role for renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls a group of fighting forces in the northeastern part of the country. We have to recognize that [Haftars forces] are an important component . . . in the battle against expansion of the terrorists, Shoukry said. After the Islamic State executed 21 Egyptian workers in Libya last year, Egypt called for immediate military attacks against the militants. In recent weeks, however, it has tempered those calls and is instead trying to press for what it considers the most favorable composition of the new government. Egypt occupies a unique position in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. A U.S. ally, it also has close military and economic ties with Russia. Saudi Arabia has also been instrumental in helping to boost the Egyptian economy. As a member of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, as well as of the 17-member group of governments trying to forge a political solution to Syrias civil war, the Egyptians have tried to straddle competing U.S. and Russian visions of Syrias future. We counsel all our friends to do the right thing, Shoukry said of divergent views among Washington, Moscow and Riyadh over the immediate future of President Bashar al-Assad in a Syrian political transition. We have tried to insulate ourselves from this discussion, he said. A concentration on Assad, he said, has not led us to any positive position over the past four years. Asked about Russias insistence that its Syrian airstrikes are targeting terrorists and U.S. insistence that the vast majority of Russian strikes are against the coalition-backed opposition to Assad, Shoukry straddled a middle ground. We operate on the presumption that all parties do what they say. . . . When we present our opinions to the Untied States, we present the same position to the Russian Federation and our other partners and allies . . . a message that we have to work in unison to promote a political settlement of the war. Two passenger trains in southern Germany crashed head-on at high speed Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens on a curved section of track that probably hid the oncoming trains from each other until the last moment. At least two data recorders were recovered amid the tangle of crumpled cars, possibly giving investigators clues to how the trains ended up traveling on the single track in opposite directions. Transport officials also are looking into possible flaws in an automatic braking system installed on German trains after a 2011 crash, authorities said. German Transportation Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the trains must have collided with very high speed on a section of rail where the speed limit is about 60 mph. He said each conductor probably did not see the other train until seconds before the crash on the curving stretch of track in Bad Aibling, close to Germanys southeastern border with Austria, about 40 miles southeast of Munich. An aerial view shows rescue workers at the site where two trains collided head-on near Bad Aibling, Germany, on Tuesday. (Matthias Schrader/AP) The one train virtually bored itself head-on into the other and completely tore apart the cabin of the second train, Dobrindt told reporters near the crash site. It was one of the worst rail accidents in the country since a 2011 crash in east-central Germany left 10 people dead. On Tuesday, at least 15 people were very heavily injured, police spokeswoman Barbara Strassberger said. About 40 were heavily injured. Police placed the death toll at 10 but noted that one person remained missing hours after the crash. Rescue workers had struggled to reach the site, which is in a wooded and remote region. Meridian, which operated the trains, is part of the Transdev group. German railways operator Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track. Deane reported from London. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: Rescuers stand in front of a carriage at the site of the two crashed trains. (Stringer/Reuters) Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world In a report published February 3, international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), has denounced the abuses of the Police and the French State under the State of urgency. HRWs report points to the systematic, arbitrary denials of basic democratic rights by the French police, unchecked by the judiciary under the terms of the state of emergency, and targeting of people of Muslim descent. HRW declares, France has carried out abusive and discriminatory raids and house arrests against Muslims under its sweeping new state of emergency law. The measures have created economic hardship, stigmatized those targeted, and have traumatized children. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) data, supported by many reports in the French media, attacks on democratic rights are taking place on a vast scale. In over 3,289 warrantless searches of homes and buildings, police SWAT teams and gendarmes have broken in, attacked occupants, hand-cuffed them and assaulted them. They routinely and wantonly damage doors, furniture and peoples possessions, leaving them to repair the damage without any hope of state compensation. HRW referred to the case of Mr. Alami, a 64-year-old of Moroccan descent who lives with his wife and three of their children. Six policemen broke the door in at 2 a.m. on November 26, 2015: They didnt give us a chance to speak. They pushed me, put my hands behind my back, and put me on the floor, face down. One of them put his knee on my back. I felt like I was being broken in half. I said, Youre hurting me! He pulled me by the hair and pushed my head down to the floor, breaking four of my teeth. They searched the apartment until 5:45 a.m., then they asked my wife and me for our identity documents. Their chief said, Weve made a mistake. [] They didnt apologize. Alami said that the warrant was for his daughter, who lives elsewhere with her husband, and whose home was raided at the same time. His front door is still broken, and policemen told him: Its the state of emergency. We have the right to break things. We can do whatever we want. The state of emergency declared after the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris is about to be renewed for a further three months, bringing its total to six and a half months. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has already warned that it will be maintained permanently until the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militia is destroyedthat is, for all practical purposes, indefinitely. Reports by human rights groups make clear what is at stake with moves to create a permanent state of emergency. It would amount to the creation of a authoritarian regime, in which basic democratic rights are flouted, and the people has no redress if they are attacked or assaulted by police. The day after the HRW report, Amnesty International (AI) published its own report, Upturned Lives, The Disproportionate Impact of France's State of Emergency. It states, This report reviews a number of cases highlighting the flaws in the implementation of emergency measures, in particular house searches and assigned residence orders, and concludes that these measures have been applied in an overly-broad manner and, in some instances, arbitrarily. In particular, French authorities have restricted human rights, and more specifically the rights to liberty, private life, freedom of movement and freedom of assembly, beyond what was strictly required by the exigencies of the situation. Moreover, in some instances, the measures were applied in a discriminatory manner. Some Muslims were targeted mainly on the basis of their religious practice, with no evidence pointing to their involvement in any criminal offence. AI, like HRW, details many cases of violence, discrimination mainly against the Muslim population by state forces. In one example, A member of the association running a mosque in Aubervilliers (Paris region), which was searched on 16 November, said: The search was very violent, for us it was a desecration, it hurt our feelings and it scared us [] The head of the mosque was also put in pre-charge detention afterwardsbut no charges were pressed against any of us, there were no concrete elements. Thats the worst... If there were serious suspicions, they would have launched an investigation.but at the moment its like were being punished for nothing. Another incident was reported by Rue89 in Strasbourg: on Saturday, November 21 at 4 p.m., a Police SWAT team blew open the door to an apartment in Strasbourg. Living there were an 80-year-old man with his 46-year-old mentally disabled daughter. The man jumped up with the sound of the blast and immediately fainted. He had just returned from being hospitalized for renal failure and a pulmonary infection. The police lifted him up and handcuffed him face down on the floor with his daughter. The two were then put in a room whilst they searched the house. The apartment was devastated; holes were even punched in the ceiling of the home, which had just been refurbished. The man had to return to hospital for 5 days. The search had been triggered by the interrogation of two of the mans sons on the way to visit one of the brothers wife and daughter in Basel, Switzerland. Though the two were released without charge, Swiss customs reported the interrogation to Strasbourg prosecutors office with the mans address. The thousands of warrantless searches and hundreds of house arrests imposed since November are having a devastating impact. More than 407 house arrests have been imposed, and HRW reports that as of February 2, 303 were still in force. Such house arrests, which impose reporting to a police station 3 or 4 times a day, make it impossible for people to work. Many have lost businesses or jobs. Remarkably, while 488 supplementary investigations have been opened pursuant to the searches, none of these are related to terrorism. Only five terrorist-related investigations have been initiated, and 21 investigations for apology for terrorism (excusing terrorism), which does not however imply any terrorist activity. The failure of the mass anti-terror dragnet, operating without judicial restrictions and with the full gamut of mass electronic spying technology at its disposal, to find more than a handful of terror suspects raises serious questions about the police build-up now taking place in France. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, intelligence forces and mass spying programs were strengthened with thousands of new recruits. The fact that their activity has turned up only five terror suspects raises the question: what are the real targets of their spying activity? The six-to-one verdict handed down by Australias High Court last week, upholding the Australian governments indefinite detention of asylum seekers on remote Pacific islands, has far-reaching legal and political implications, not just for refugees but for the working class as a whole. The majority dismissively rejected a challenge to the constitutional validity of Australias offshore detention regime on Nauru. The case was brought by a Bangladeshi womanidentified only as M68who was transferred from Nauru to Australia to give birth to a child in 2014. All six majority judges based their judgments on legislation pushed through parliament last June by the current Liberal-National government, with Labors support, to retrospectively legalise the detention regimes on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island. Before the amendment to the Migration Act, no legislation authorised the detention. Instead, when the previous Labor government reopened the Nauru and Manus camps in 2012 it simply asserted that it had executive power under the Australian Constitution to make such arrangements with Nauru and Papua New Guinea or any other designated regional processing country. None of the judges raised any objection to the retrospective amendment, backdated to 2012, even though it was clearly aimed at shutting down M68s legal challenge, which was already underway. Moreover, the sweeping amendment aimed to strip all offshore detainees of any right to challenge their imprisonment. The new section 198AHA of the Act gave the government open-ended powers to take, or cause to be taken, any action in relation to regional processing. As an immediate result of the ruling, 267 men, women and children, in similar situations to the young Bangladeshi mothersuffering serious trauma and health problems or having recently given birth to babiesface being transported back to Nauru. Throughout their judgments, the judges referred to the refugees only as UMAs (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals)the official terminology designed to dehumanise them and deny their fundamental right, recognised by international law, to flee persecution and seek asylum. The ruling sets a new global benchmark for the incarceration of innocent and desperate people in what amounts to Guantanamo Bay-style legal black holesoffshore facilities outside the jurisdiction of the courts. In terms of domestic law, the majority judgments sidestepped previous, limited, constitutional restrictions on arbitrary executive detention. They effectively extended the powers of the state to detain refugees, and potentially other prisoners, without trial, in camps that are directly under Australias control, but run by other governments on Canberras behalf. Despite a damning dissent by one judge, the other six members of the court relied on two legal fictions. First, that Nauru, a tiny impoverished former Australian colony of about 10,000 inhabitants, is the sovereign power detaining the refugees, not the Australian government, which orchestrates, finances and polices the detention. Australian participation in the detention was indisputable, according to the joint opinion of Chief Justice Robert French and justices Susan Kiefel and Geoffrey Nettle. Justice Stephen Gageler conceded that Australia procured the detention of asylum seekers on Nauru through its contractors, which exercised physical control over them. Justice Virginia Bell held that Australia exercised effective control. Despite these undeniable facts, the majority judges concluded, employing legal sophistry, that as soon as the Bangladeshi woman was forcibly transported by the Australian government to Nauru, she was thereafter detained in custody under the laws of Nauru, administered by the Executive government of Nauru. Justice Michelle Gordons sole dissenting judgment demolished this claim in detail. She listed 12 facts demonstrating that, in reality, the Australian government detained the plaintiff on Nauru. She cited the presence in the camp of uniformed Border Force officers, Canberras supply of security infrastructure, such as perimeter fencing and guard posts, and the provision of garrison services by an Australian government contractor, Transfield. Under its agreement with Nauru, the Australian government also retained the right to terminate the arrangement and step in and take over the Nauru Regional Processing Centre (RPC). Gordon concluded: The acts and conduct of the Commonwealth [Australia] just set out demonstrate that her detention in the Nauru RPC was facilitated, organised, caused, imposed [or] procured by the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth asserted the right by its servants (or Transfield as its agent) to apply force to persons detained in the Nauru RPC for the purpose of confining those persons within the bounds of the place identified as the place of detention, the Nauru RPC. To that end, the Commonwealth asserted the right by its servants or agents to assault detainees and physically restrain them. The second legal fiction was that detention on Nauru is simply for the purposes of refugee visa processing, and therefore not punitive. That fiction was critical because punishment can be imposed constitutionally only by a judicial trial. In reality, the previous Labor government of Julia Gillard reopened the Nauru and Manus camps in 2012, for the explicit purpose of punishing asylum seekers in order to deter others from trying to reach Australia. The Labor government refused to put any time limit on detention. It insisted on a no advantage testnamely, that refugees would be detained for the same length of time that other asylum seekers were forced to wait to be processed in refugee camps in Africa or the Middle East. That could mean detention for up to 20 years. This intent was embodied in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Naurus government. It specified the need for a disincentive against Irregular Migration and to ensure that no benefit is gained through circumventing regular migration arrangements. Yet, in the words of Justice Patrick Keane, another member of the majority, this deterrence was just an intended consequence, not the immediate purpose of the transportation of refugees to Nauru, and therefore not punitive. By means of the two legal fictions, the judges evaded even the minimal limits on refugee detention set out in the courts 1992 Chu Kheng Lim v Minister for Immigration decision, which rubberstamped the mandatory imprisonment of all asylum seekers introduced by the Keating Labor government. In the Lim case, the court permitted the indefinite detention without trial of aliens (the Australian Constitutions term for non-citizens), on the reactionary basis that it was reasonably necessary for visa processing or deportation. Australias constitution has no bill of rights, but it contains a separation of powers between the executive, parliament and the judiciary. Because of that, the Lim ruling said punitive detentionbeyond that necessary for processing or removalwould be illegal, unless ordered by a court. Last week, however, the majority judges said these constraints did not apply to detention on Nauru because the Australian government no longer detained the refugees once they had been transported there. According to French, Kiefel and Nettle: Lim has nothing to say about the validity of actions of the Commonwealth and its officers in participating in the detention of an alien by another State. Only Justice Gordon objected, pointing out that the contract with Nauru meant extending the aliens power of the federal government to permit offshore detention that would be unlawful within Australia. This, she said, presented a fundamental question about the power of the Parliament to provide for detention by the Commonwealth outside Australia. None of the judges, including Gordon, called into question the underlying framework of repelling or incarcerating refugees. All accepted as undoubted the Australian governments legal power to forcibly remove the refugees to Nauru. Four members of the court went further. They indicated that offshore detention could be constitutionally valid under the vague executive power of the government, even without the specific retrospective legislation adopted last June. But because of that amendment, the current governments continued assertion that it possessed such executive power, over and above statutory provisions, was now hypothetical or not necessary to be decided, they stated. Only Gageler, a member of the majority, joined Gordon in rejecting the governments claim of non-statutory executive power. After a lengthy discourse on the importance of habeas corpus (no detention without judicial process), however, Gageler effectively backed the use of the retrospective amendment to overturn the principle. Despite the indefinite character of the detention, he assertedwithout explanationthat its duration was capable of objective determination by a court at any time and from time to time. By means of such pseudo-legal justifications, the judges further eviscerated habeas corpus, which dates back to the Magna Carta of 1215 and became a critical principle in the 17th and 18th century struggles against arbitrary imprisonment by the absolute monarchies. Confronted by widespread public revulsion to the ruling, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls government might ultimately decide, for purely electoral reasons, to allow some of the 267 refugees to remain in Australia. But more than 2,000 detainees will remain on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island, and Australias entire anti-refugee regime will stay in place, sanctioned by the High Court. Successive Australian governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, have made asylum seekers and immigrants scapegoats for the worsening social conditions being imposed on the working class. Some of the worlds most vulnerable people, many fleeing wars unleashed by the US and its allies, are being subjected to ever-more cruel and lawless imprisonment, setting precedents for wider use, not only in Australia but around the world, against growing opposition to war, austerity and repression. Hungarys right-wing government plans to introduce far-reaching emergency powers. Under the pretext of combating terrorism and deterring refugees, which in official propaganda are one and the same thing, the government plans to grant itself dictatorial powers enabling it to suppress all social and political opposition. Citing the threat of terrorism, the Fidesz government of Victor Orban wants to sharply curtail the right of assembly and press freedom, close down borders, restrict the freedom of travel of Hungarian citizens and their contacts abroad and compel telephone companies and Internet service providers to shut down connections. The anti-terrorism package includes 30 individual measures. Freedom of the press has been restricted in Hungary for years. Now the media are to be forced to publish government bulletins and censor and ban dangerous material. Laws can be set aside by decree. The secret service and police, who already go largely unchecked, will get wider powers. Restrictions will be eased on the use of the military domestically. In addition, strike bans and curfews may be imposed at any time. The government may declare a state of emergency without parliaments approval. This would only be subject to debate after 60 days in order to possibly extend the action. The term terrorist threat, which allows the government to declare a state of emergency, is kept deliberately vague. The bill only talks about the protection of the Hungarian people and of external and internal threats. Government representatives have already made it clear that the emergency laws can be directed against anyone. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs vigorously defended the planned laws, citing the European refugee crisis. He described the assaults on women on New Years Eve in Cologne, which have been blown out of all proportion by the media, as a new form of terrorism. We should in any case listen to the experts who claim this, Kovacs said. He openly declared that terrorism and the streams of refugees in Europe went hand in hand. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris, Orbans adviser Gabor Fodor had declared, Tonight, liberalism has failed. What has failed are Merkel and Hollande. What has failed are the immigration and ultimately terrorism friendly Brussels bureaucrats. Hungary already halted last year refugees traveling from Serbia who wanted to continue to Austria and Germany. The government built a 170-kilometre-long fence on the Serbian border and is acting ruthlessly against refugees there. Refugees who nevertheless enter Hungary illegally are threatened with draconian punishments. The construction of another 600-kilometre-long fence on the border with Romania is in preparation, should many refugees change to that route. The right-wing government in Budapest feels vindicated by the stricter refugee policies of other European governments. Kovacs referred to the harsher legal situation in countries like Germany, Austria and Sweden. It turns out we were right, the government spokesman said. The recent announcement of the government in Vienna that it is imposing a ceiling for refugees is grist to the mill of the Hungarian right-wing. This is an admission that the welcoming culture and open borders policy was a mistake, said Kovacs. Common sense was slowly prevailing in Vienna. Kovacs called for a line of defence against refugees in Macedonia. Hungary has already sent several dozen police officers to the Macedonian border with Greece to help secure the border. The construction of a border fence is also being prepared there. During a recent meeting with the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia, Orban declared that the wave of refugees was the most important security issue in Europe. This raised the terrorist threat, he said. All those who cannot defend themselves live in danger from the refugees. Orban announced that the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) would discuss further measures against refugees at their meeting in mid-February in Prague, in cooperation with the Bulgarian government. Although the Orban government justified the emergency law by citing the recent influx of refugees, its anti-democratic measures are in continuity with its previous policy. Orban has laid the foundation for an authoritarian state in the last five years. He has cleansed institutions such as the Constitutional Court and the publicly-owned media of those the government finds disagreeable. This was done in parallel with attacks on the living standards of the population. Today, Hungary is one of the poorest countries in Central and Eastern Europe. There is no resistance to the emergency law from the Hungarian parties. Both the fascist Jobbik and the Hungarian Greens have worked for some time with Fidesz in parliament and support the laws. While there is widespread public concern, the opposition seeks to suppress this. At the end of January, a group of despised and discredited politicians organized a protest in Budapest. They were led by Lajos Bokros, the notorious Socialist Party finance minister who had enforced draconian austerity measures in the 1990s. There is also no criticism of the emergency laws from the European Union, because almost all member states are moving in the same direction. In France, a state of emergency was declared after the terrorist attacks in Paris, which remains in force. In many other European countries, democratic rights are also under attack. The anti-terror laws in Hungary are therefore a template for the introduction of authoritarian forms of government in other countries. A spat between parents that just made its way through the court system is making Dance Moms fighting look like kindergarten this week. It ended on Friday, when a California jury awarded former PTA president Kelli Peters $5.7 million in damages after two furious parents attempted to frame her by planting marijuana and pills in her car. STORY: Working Mom Shuts Down Twitter Troll in Fierce Open Letter The now divorced lawyer couple behind the revenge scheme Kent Easter and Ava Everheart (nee Jill Easter), pictured above will have to pay nearly $4 million of the amount themselves. Easter, 41, who represented himself in the trial, told City News Service that the damage award was mind-boggling but declined further comment, according to OC Weekly on Monday. Everheart was not at the courthouse to hear the verdict. STORY: How Parents Depression Affects Kids Grades This was really not about money, this was about standing up to people that pick on other people and telling them its not OK to do this, Peters said in court about the strange rivalry, which began five years ago. I feel like justice has been served. It all started in 2010, after Everheart confronted Peters because Everhearts then 7-year-old son was not waiting for her outside his school in Irvine one day for pickup. Peters, the parent volunteer in charge of rounding up kids for their rides home, told Everheart her son was a little slow in getting outside which the mom took as meaning he was mentally slow, according to OC Weekly. Things quickly devolved from there. Over the next year, Everheart accused Peters of stalking her son and demanded that she be removed from her post. The school said Peters had done nothing wrong and took no action against her. So in 2011, Everheart and Easter planted pot and prescription pills in Peterss car. Then Easter called the cops, using a fake name and an Indian accent, saying Peters had been driving erratically on school grounds. It led to Peters being detained for police questioning for about two hours, with her daughter seeing the whole thing. Story continues I was crying and begging for him to not put the [discovered] drugs on the car, because people would see it, Peters reportedly said during her trial. Everybody was looking at me and I felt very humiliated. She was never charged with any crime. When asked in court if he planted the drugs in Peterss car, Easter replied, Very stupidly, and unfortunately, yes. Peters told the jury last week that the stress and embarrassment of the false police report, and her fear of the couple, made her daughter an outcast at school, caused her husband to suffer panic attacks, and created enough anxiety of her own that she lost clumps of her hair. Easter also noted hed already been punished enough by having to serve a six-month jail sentence, perform 100 hours of community service, and lose his career. Ive already paid dearly, Easter said. Ive lost my law license and career and the law says you have to take that into account. Im not able to pay punitive damages. Im a 41-year-old still living with my parents now. Ive lost everything Ive ever had but my family and I dont see the point of being punished further, but thats up to your judgment. The decision had him and his ex paying up. Top photo: Orange County district attorney 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. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign stop at the Palace Theatre, in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 8, 2016. (Photo: John Minchillo/AP) BOW, N.H. Two top staffers on the campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders fired back on Monday after former Pres. Bill Clinton attacked the Democratic presidential contender. At an event in Manchester, N.H., Sanders senior adviser, Tad Devine, told Yahoo News that President Clintons comments were motivated by the fact Sanders is doing well in the Granite State. Polls currently show Sanders leading Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, where primaries will be held on Tuesday. Its unfortunate that, you know, President Clinton has decided to launch a series of attacks against Sen. Sanders in the final days of the New Hampshire campaign. I think we know why those attacks are occurring. Things are very close here in New Hampshire. Bernies doing well, not only here but elsewhere, Devine said. We hope we can get back to a campaign that talks about issues that people care about, the issues that Bernies talking about right now when he speaks to voters here in New Hampshire. Slideshow: The battle for New Hampshire >>> President Clinton launched his offensive in a speech on Sunday in which he criticized Sanders policy proposals, including universal healthcare and free public colleges, as unrealistic. The former president alluded to the so-called Bernie Bros, Sanders supporters who have been accused of engaging in sexist attacks against Clinton backers online. People who have gone online to defend Hillary and explain just explain why they supported her have been subject to vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane not to mention sexist to repeat, President Clinton said. Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife during a campaign event at Milford Junior High School in Milford, N.H., on Feb. 7, 2016. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) Sanders communications director Michael Briggs said he was disappointed by President Clintons remarks. Story continues Were doing our best to stay focused on the issues that have attracted grassroots support all over this country, talking about wealth and income inequality, talking about taking on the rigged economy and the corrupt campaign system that props it up, Briggs said. Devine also addressed Clintons comments about the Bernie Bros. He noted Sanders discussed the issue on Sunday and denounced anyone who would do sexist things while supporting his campaign. Devine suggested Clinton was trying to distract voters by focusing on the alleged online attacks. Again, I think, you know, the tactics of trying to, you know, distract voters form the real issues in this country, you know, the economys rigged, its sending too much wealth to the top, its held in place by a corrupt system of campaign finance, thats the message that we want to talk about, Devine said. Weve said that, if people are out there doing things on the Internet that are inappropriate, you know we want that to be no part of our campaign. We dont condone it in any way. Sen. Sanders has said he denounces it. So, you know, we encourage people to follow his lead and talk about the issues, talk about the positive side. Devine concluded by saying the Democratic candidates should refrain from taking shots at each other. "We dont need to attack each other within a Democratic primary process, Devine said. Weve avoided doing that and we hope they will. Bill Clinton speaks at a campaign stop for Hillary Clinton at Manchester Community College in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 8, 2016. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP) MANCHESTER, N.H. The handbill on a table outside the rally said, Im a progressive. And I want to get things done. #ImWithHer under a picture of Hillary Clinton. But in remarks at a Clinton rally here Monday, former Pres. Bill Clinton owned his background as a Southern centrist and took pains to remind his wifes supporters that not all of America looks like progressive New England. It bothers me to be in an election where debate is impossible because if you disagree youre just part of the establishment, Clinton said. It was a reference to Hillary Clintons Democratic presidential primary opponent Bernie Sanders, who has cast himself as a fighter against the political establishment. He cited a list of politicians who back Hillary Clinton including New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, both of whom appeared at the rally and spoke on her behalf as people he doesnt consider establishment politicians. A number of Arkansans were also in the audience, and Clinton singled one man from his home state out: Our immediate past senator Mark Pryor, who was defeated in a landslide in 2014 in large measure because he voted for a healthcare bill. That doesnt strike me as establishment, Clinton continued. And nobody alive in my state thinks he lost because people thought he wasnt liberal enough. Pryor was defeated by Tom Cotton, a tea party-backed candidate, who beat him by nearly 20 points after Pryor ran an ad defending President Obamas health insurance overhaul. Slideshow: The battle for New Hampshire >>> Shes the best change-maker Ive ever known, Bill Clinton said about his wife, adding, in a nod to her ability to get things through Congress, Just about everything she did had Republican support. When it came to health care reform, the Clinton administration failed in 1993 because we just didnt have 60 votes in the Senate, the former president said. Story continues There hasnt been a single change in the health care in 60 years plus, since Harry Truman tried to get universal health care, that hasnt had 60 votes in the Senate to break the Republican filibuster, Clinton continued. But the S-CHIP program backed by Hillary Clinton won with the support of Republicans, he said. The smaller, bipartisan approach to legislating made progress, with GOP support, where the big Clinton bill failed. We cant get in a place where were so mad that we demonize anybody whos against us, where we cant have any honest discussion about whos got a better health care reform [plan], where everybody thats on the other side is part of some mythical establishment, including people like Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign fund, Bill Clinton said. We cant do that. Hillary Clintons speech that followed ranged over a wide array of topics but also argued strongly against Sanders proposed single-payer health coverage plan. We got a bipartisan coalition in the House and the Senate and we passed it, Clinton said of S-CHIP. It wasnt everything we wanted, but I often think of that old saying, you know, a person who refuses a half a loaf because its not a whole loaf has never gone hungry. She said that the goal now had to be to build on the Affordable Care Act and defend it against Republican efforts to repeal it. What we cannot do is start over. We cannot take what looks good on paper, an idea and say, you know what, were going to thrust our nation into a contentious debate and start all over. Its a lot easier to get from 90 percent coverage to 100, than it is to get from zero to 100. Republicans currently hold majorities in both the House and Senate. They also are defending more seats than Democrats in the 2016 Senate races, but if the Democrats cant flip five seats to retake the Senate, an incoming Democratic president would take office with little congressional support than either Bill Clinton or Barack Obama enjoyed in their first two years. Both had a Democratic House and Senate to work with in their early years. The House is considered safe for the Republicans in anything short of a Democratic landslide. Sanders says he would mobilize Americans for a political revolution to pressure a Republican Congress to pass his progressive agenda. Clinton, by contrast, promises to find common ground with Republicans on areas such as infrastructure investment that would, she said, act as a jobs program. (Cover tile photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters) RENO (AP) The governor of gold-rich Nevada is pressing the Obama administration to alter its sage grouse protection plan to free up thousands of mining claims by shrinking the restricted area in exchange for making other unprotected areas off limits, restoring burned out rangeland and reining in wild horse herds. Gov. Brian Sandoval maintains his alternative would exclude only about 6 percent of the federal land the government has temporarily withdrawn from future mineral development in Nevada. Previously unverified mining claims in the state are effectively frozen across 4,200 square miles a swath nearly as large as Connecticut. The moderate Republican wants to swap about one-fifth of the withdrawn area, some 555,000 acres, for 394,000 alternative acres he says contain higher quality habitat more critical to the survival of the imperiled bird, according to interviews with his aides and documents obtained by The Associated Press. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell decided in September the greater sage grouse didn't warrant Endangered Species Act protection across 11 western states, where its numbers once totaling an estimated 16 million have dwindled to as few as 200,000. But almost simultaneously, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management adopted new regulations restricting development around grouse habitat that some critics say are just as onerous as endangered species protection for ranchers, miners and others. Jewell also initiated a 2-year ban on new mining exploration in grouse habitat while the government studies whether tens of thousands of square miles across the West should be withdrawn from potential "mineral entry" for another 10 years. In a Jan. 15 letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze, Sandoval argued a more effective way to protect the chicken-sized bird is to step up wildfire restoration and reduce "out-of-control" mustang populations. He says there's no scientific basis for the mining withdrawal, but asks that if necessary, it be limited to a maximum of five years. He also urged federal officials to clarify their "confusing" definition of "valid existing claims," which Jewell insists are exempt. In detailed comments attached to the letter, Sandoval's office outlined the plan he says would protect 49 additional leks the bird's traditional breeding grounds while dropping protection of five others in the government blueprint. Slightly shifting protection boundaries based on new maps would release all but 1 percent of the 3,726 mining claims currently in limbo in the biggest U.S. gold-producing state, he said. "Nevada has developed maps that propose better boundaries that take into account existing mining operations and exploration activities that are crucial to the economy of Nevada and the nation," Sandoval wrote. Nevada's mining industry employs about 15,000 people, according to the Nevada Mining Association. It produced an estimated $6.4 billion in goods and services in 2014, which accounted for about 5 percent of the state's total gross domestic product. BLM Nevada spokesman Stephen Clutter said the agency appreciates Sandoval's leadership on the issue. "We will certainly give serious consideration to these ideas as well as the other scoping comments we have received," Clutter said. Sandoval joined Jewell at her listing announcement in Denver in September, and started lobbying her directly on alternative approaches during a private meeting at a Western Governors' Association meeting in Las Vegas in December. His refusal to join a lawsuit intended to block implementation of all new grouse protections backed by his fellow GOP Attorney General Adam Laxalt has drawn the ire of rural leaders who fear the regulations could put mines and ranches out of business. But last month, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du refused to grant a temporary injunction freezing the rules, which means a trial won't begin in Reno before mid-summer. Sandoval maintains that offering reasonable, detailed alternatives is the only realistic way to win any relief, especially for mining companies in Nevada with claims at varying stages of development. He believes the government's plan "will not be able to show any measurable results except for the demise of the mineral exploration industry in Nevada." "This is ultimately the most viable option on the table at this time," said Pam Robinson, his policy director. Secretary Jewell has assured all "valid existing claims" are exempt from the mining withdrawal. But Nevada officials say the federal government's definition of such claims is vague and doesn't include many situations where companies have already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in exploration and paid required claim fees to the federal government. "Someone in the middle of the exploration process who has been paying their claim fees should be considered an existing right," said Pam Robinson, the governor's policy director. CARSON CITY The federal government says one in five elderly patients is back in the hospital within 30 days of leaving, so Nevada health advocates are banking on a new law the CARE Act to make a dent in the problem. A 2013 report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation says Medicare spends $17 billion in taxpayer funds every year on hospital re-admissions that could have been prevented. Part of Nevadas solution is the CARE Act, passed last year, which requires hospitals to ask patients to designate a friend or family member to be their caregiver. Michael Munda, director of accreditation and regulatory compliance for Renown Health, says patients often are overwhelmed and need the guidance. They might not be focusing on, When I leave the hospital, Im going to need X or Im going to need Y, says Munda. So the hospital takes on that responsibility. Were going to start talking now about whos going to help you if you need help. Statistics show more than half a million Nevadans serve as family caregivers and 70 percent of them perform complex medical tasks. Munda says the CARE act will ensure much-needed coordination and training for caregivers. We include them in the education of the aftercare required before the patient even leaves the hospital, he says. We have discharge phone calls and we speak with the patient and the caregiver. After the CARE Act passed last year, many hospitals changed procedures for nurses and social services teams and updated their electronic medical records system to include caregiver information. ELKO Before the annual Elko County Republican Partys Lincoln Day Dinner began on Friday, Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV, took a moment to speak with the Free Press on land transfer legislation, the protest in Oregon and other local issues. Weve got about 200 plus true believers here in Elko. Its great to come to these Lincoln Day Dinners, said Heller. He said there are probably 14 or 15 of these events throughout the year and its a great way to get reconnected. Its great to get out of town and into some of these rural communities, said Heller, explaining he enjoys taking time from the District of Columbia and spend time talking to, meeting and discussing issues of importance to those in rural Nevada. Legislation Were always pushing to try and transfer some of these federal lands back to the state, get it back to the local governments and if we can, get it back into private hands, Heller said. Because we always know the private land owner will take care of the property better than the government will. Heller said there is an energy bill, titled the Energy Policy Modernization Act, that was going through the Senate. Along with this legislation there are several amendments that would ease the permitting process for alternative energy. He said he thinks the bill would be great for the rural counties in Nevada, if the Democrats let it pass. The Senate voted on the bill Thursday it didnt get the needed 60 votes. It was voted on twice, in an attempt to overcome the filibuster, but failed because of the situation in Flint, Michigan. They want hundreds of millions of dollars put into that system over there, Heller continued to say, I think we should do something to help Flint, Michigan, but I dont think it should be the cause for tearing down the most comprehensive energy bill weve had in this country for seven or eight years. He said this energy bill does not correspond to the situation in Michigan. Its an ancillary issue, but theyre trying to make it the issue on an energy bill that has nothing to do with Flint, Michigan. Oregon Federal Response Discussing the protesters in Oregon who commandeered a wildlife refuge, the senator said he agreed with the federal response. Well it sounds like theyre in jail right now, and if youre going to break the law, you should pay a price for that. That doesnt mean Im upset with people who protest against their federal government, we do that here in Nevada all the time, said Heller. He said there is a problem when a gun is pulled or comments that are unacceptable to society are made. At that point, Heller no longer supports the situation. He added there are better ways to accomplish the message. He said he thinks protesting is the American way, but dont make it physical, dont make it dangerous, dont turn it into a dangerous situation. If you do, you no longer have my support. That was the case here in Nevada and that was the case up in Oregon. Heller said under the circumstances, where a piece of property was overtaken and held hostage, he feels the federal response to the occupation of the refuge was justified. He said the federal response allowed for a limitation of the situation assuring it was not as bad as it could have been. Health Care Heller said he would support greater access to both physical and mental health care for veterans in rural Nevada. He said there are two components to this: one being a new health clinic in Pahrump, which was in the works for eight to 10 years; the second is the pushing through of the Choice Act several years ago. These health clinics need to be spread around, he said. By fighting for the Choice Act, a veteran who is within a certain area, who is not close enough to either a Veterans Affairs clinic or hospital, now has a choice that allows him or her to get treatment locally and the VA pays for it. Between expansion of the health clinics and expansion of the Choice Act, I think were better able to serve some of the veterans in our communities, Heller said. He said practitioners and facilities need to be pushed for in rural Nevada. We can bring them in from Salt Lake, we can bring them in from Reno and make sure these veterans are getting the health care theyve earned and that they do deserve, he said. Heller was a strong supporter of the Choice Act because he recognized the difficulty of this issue, using the example of getting ones blood drawn and driving to Salt Lake City or Reno for that. He said he thinks its asking too much to ask veterans to drive to those cities. This issue is far from over, but I think the Choice Act is a positive step in the right direction to make sure that every veteran in Nevada, and believe me there are 300,000 of them here and I think every one of them have called my office, to make sure that they get the health care they need. Election 2016 Its a unique presidential year, under any circumstance whether youre Republican or a Democrat but you can see that theres quite a bit of enthusiasm here. People are looking forward to getting into this election, said Heller. On that note, the Free Press asked Sen. Heller who he supported in this presidential election. Ive supported the Bush family since Ive been in college, he said. I was a student at University of Southern California supporting the father, I supported the brother, so, Im going to support Gov. Bush, now. Hopefully he does better in New Hampshire than in Iowa. Im certainly looking forward to that whole process resetting itself, a few times, probably, between now and the southern primaries, concluded Heller. Gov. Brian Sandoval has thrown down the gauntlet in the battle over hardrock minings future in Nevada, taking the bold step of calling out Sally Jewell over management of agencies she oversees as Secretary of the Interior. Their response will reveal whether the proposed mineral withdrawal is more about helping the sage grouse or harming the states mining industry. The Bureau of Land Managements comment period closed three weeks ago, and Nevadans could learn by the end of the month whether the current two-year ban will be extended to 20 years. If it is, there will be no exploration along the northern edge of our state, nor in much of Idaho and southeastern Oregon. Sandoval submitted the states official comments by the Jan. 15 deadline, including a revision that followed his talks with Jewell in early December. Secretary Jewell committed to robust collaboration on the mineral withdrawal process, he announced at the time. The Secretary understands the national security and economic development importance of the mineral potential in Nevada. The deal outlined by our governor would preserve mining exploration on most of the proposed withdrawal area, while protecting critical sage grouse habitat in other areas. But it may be in jeopardy, because on Jan. 28 Sandoval issued a press release putting Jewell on the spot. I have always taken the Secretary at her word but if her agencies refuse to implement her publicly stated policies, the state cannot assume our negotiations are happening in good faith and my administration will consider the other legal options we have identified in the past, he wrote. One of her agencies, the BLM, is currently run by Neil Kornze of Elko. When questioned about the governors proposal by The Associated Press, Kornzes Nevada spokesman gave an ambiguous response. One of the main outfits that would be affected by the withdrawal is Quantum Minerals, a small company whose Jarbidge Exploration Project was approved by the U.S. Forest Service another federal agency with control over much of northern Elko County. Unlike the BLM, the Forest Service does not fall under Jewells purview, it operates under the Secretary of Agriculture. In a scathing, three-part commentary published at the end of January in the Elko Daily Free Press, David S. Gray of Quantum Minerals accused the federal government of deliberately undermining the nations mining law: The Congressionally passed Mining Laws encourage the exploration for, and the mining of strategic mineral resources. Strategic means that these laws are in the interest of National Security. These proposed mineral withdrawals based upon no valid public purpose are essentially paramount to treason. Jewell already has a record of being responsive to Nevadas concerns about the impact of sage grouse regulations on the states economy. Last spring she reversed the bi-state sage grouse decision affecting a small region on the Nevada-California border. And in early December Sandoval announced she had agreed to use Nevadas maps instead of the federal versions that put a veterans cemetery and school construction project in the no-build zone. Our governors latest release on the subject, framed as a win-win proposal protecting both the sage grouse and Nevadas interests, is really a threat to sue if the mineral withdrawal proposal isnt modified. That threat doesnt pack much of a punch, considering that Nevada has already entered the fray under Attorney General Adam Laxalt, along with Elko and other counties, private interests, and as of last week the State of Utah. For the sake of rural Nevadas hardrock mining industry, however, we hope the Secretary and other administration officials listen to him. Feb. 7 Shane C. Arrington, 41. of Syracuse, Utah, was arrested at the intersection of Wendover Boulevard and U.S. Highway 93 in West Wendover for a non-resident driving when privileges suspended, revoked or canceled, and operating a vehicle without or tampering with a breath interlock device. Bail: $1,055 Richard S. Collins, 67, of Spring Creek was arrested on Lamoille Highway on a warrant. Bail: $187 Jose L. Delgado-Padilla, 27, of Elko was arrested at 340 Commercial St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $500 Yilda C. Garcia, 20, of Lamoille was arrested at the intersection of 10th and Railroad streets for DUI, failure to possess or surrender drivers license, and an improper or prohibited U-turn. Bail: $1,370 Stacy J. Herzog, 31, of Elko was arrested at the 500-block of Court Street on a warrant. Bail: $2,375 Tristin S. Ike, 19, of Elko was arrested at the intersection of 10th and Railroad streets for a minor in possession of an alcoholic beverage in public. Bail: $355 Chad L. Jacobs, 40, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was arrested at 1045 Wendover Blvd. in West Wendover for an unlawful act of a prisoner related to human excrement or bodily fluid. Bail: $5,000 Patricia L. Malotte, 24, of Spring Creek was arrested at 340 Commercial St. for use or possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, and trespassing. Bail: $1,592 Michael J. Stoney, 26, of Harrisville, Utah, was arrested at the Elko County Jail for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor crime: possession of a hypodermic device, and failure to appear after bail for a felony crime: possession of a controlled substance. Bail: $17,400 Tyrone G. Taylor, 41, of Elko was arrested on Lamoille Highway for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $655 Phillip A. Worsham, 21, of San Jose, California, was arrested at the intersection of Sage and Eighth streets for disturbing the peace. Bail: $355 European stock markets were dealt heavy blows on Monday. EFE Ongoing uncertainty about Spains political future is doing additional damage to the Spanish stock market, which is already under the same kind of duress as other European bourses because of concerns about a global slowdown. With inconclusive elections held on December 20 and no functioning executive in sight yet, the uncertainty surrounding the formation of a government is the greatest risk to the Spanish economy, according to the European Commission. Investors fear a new global slowdown caused by the Great Recession, whose effects are now focused on the emerging nations But for now, analysts and economists agree that global problems are weighing more heavily than domestic ones on the Spanish markets. Still, the blue-chip Ibex 35 ended 2015 with the worst performance in Europe, losing 7.1% of its value. And so far in 2016, it has yielded nearly 15%, although other exchanges in the continent have not fared much better. Market volatility February seems set to go the same way. After heavy falls on Monday, European stock markets opened Tuesday morning to a somewhat smoother start. But just a half-hour into the session, all the continents main bourses were already in the red again. The Spanish Ibex 35 fell over 1% in a trend shared by other indexes in Europe. Italy fared the worst, giving up 2.8%. However, an hour into the session, the Ibex 35 advanced 0.3%, in line with other major European markets. The risk premium the extra yield investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year bonds rather than similar maturity German ones also saw volatility, shooting up before 8am but later returning to Mondays level of around 153 basis points. The ups and downs on Tuesday morning came a day after European markets posted huge losses, with the Spanish exchange yielding 4.4% and the Italian one falling by nearly 4.7%. For now, analysts and economists agree that global problems are weighing more heavily than domestic ones on the Spanish markets Investors fear a new global slowdown caused by the Great Recession, whose effects are now focused on the emerging nations. They also harbor doubts about the real state of the European banking sector. But so far, the countrys economic indicators show no signs of skittishness. Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said last week that political uncertainty was not ideal for the economy but underscored that it had not yet had an impact. Asked about alleged pressure from Ibex sources to have the acting government of the Popular Party (PP) step aside in favor of an alliance between the Socialists and Ciudadanos, PP spokesman Pablo Casado said no businessperson, either from the Ibex or outside it, has been in touch with acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy to ask for anything. We do feel that the best thing that can happen to businesses is for the PP to stay in power, added Casado. English version by Susana Urra. Families of the missing youths hold a vigil in Veracruz. SAUL RUIZ More information Hallados restos de dos de los cinco jovenes desaparecidos en Veracruz Authorities in the Mexican state of Veracruz announced Monday night that they had found remains matching the DNA of two of the five youths who were reportedly kidnapped by a group of police officers on January 11. The five friends were coming home to Playa Vicente after spending a weekend in Veracruz city when they were stopped by state patrol officers. While authorities have arrested seven officers, including the regional commander, the whereabouts of the remainder of the group of friends is still unknown. The remains were found on a ranch in Tlalixcoyan, around 65 kilometers from where the group was stopped in Tierra Banca, a municipality near the Veracruz and Oaxaca state border. Authorities have reported that evidence of drug dealing and other illegal activities was also found at the ranch. Authorities have arrested seven officers, including the regional commander, but the whereabouts of the group of friends is still unknown According to sources, one of the bodies is that of Bernardo Benitez Arroniz, 25. Officials have still not confirmed this information or released the identity of the second body. Benitez Arroniz was returning to Playa Vicente with Jose Benitez de la O, Mario Arturo Orozco, Alfredo Gonzalez Diaz and Susana Tapia Garibo when they were stopped by officers who loaded them inside a patrol wagon. At 16, Garibo was the youngest in the group. Video images of the arrests were captured by a security camera. English version by Martin Delfin. August remains the most expensive month of the year to travel anywhere. REUTERS Today, February 9, is the best day to purchase plane tickets online for the Easter holiday. That is according to the latest report by Skyscanner, a global search engine for flights, hotels and car rentals. The websites data shows that the best moment to make a purchase in Spain is seven weeks before the trip date. Travelers who book now could save 10 percent on Easter flights. If you see an offer on Thursday, buy it dont wait for Saturday Recent years have seen a rise in websites that trawl through airline and travel agency prices in the hopes of detecting patterns that will let them recommend the best days to buy. George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog, told The New York Times that even if the latest research points to weekends as the best time to buy tickets, if you see an offer on Thursday, buy it dont wait for Saturday. His twenty-year experience analyzing the online travel fare market tells him that companies are constantly playing with their pricing, making it increasingly difficult to get the forecast right. The seven-weeks-early recommendation cited by Skyscanner coincides with the 57 days recommended by the travel booking platforms Expedia and FareCompare. Another travel expert named Patrick Surry, a scientist who produces the Hopper reports, says that customers have some leeway until 15 days before their planned travel date. After that, prices can go up by as much as 29 percent. Still, there are no rules etched in stone. Hobica notes that it is possible to find discounts of up to 500 on last-minute flights between the US and Asia. Depends on the destination After analyzing bookings for the last three years, Skyscanner believes that each European destination has its optimal reservation dates. You can find discounts of between 17% and 20% if you plan trips to London and Brussels two months in advance, whereas Paris requires 10 weeks. In the case of Rome or Amsterdam, it is advisable to book three months ahead of time. Overall, January is the cheapest month except for travelers to Paris, who are advised to go in November. August remains the most expensive month of the year to fly anywhere. According to Skyscanner, February is a good month to go to Bangkok and Lima (15% discount) and March to Buenos Aires. New York and Havana are desirable destinations in November, when discounts of 22% and 10% can be found. Podemos deputies had complained about their allocated seats in Congress. Sergio Barrenechea (EFE) Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos has been allocated a new spot inside Congress after complaining about being sent to the nosebleed section of the chamber in late January. The presiding committee, the body that regulates internal organization of the lower house, on Tuesday agreed to move Podemos deputies down from the upper left rows. Some of them will now be seated just behind the members of government. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the PP has agreed to meet Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez on Friday The change received backing from all other groups in Congress. The original decision to send the 69 members of Podemos to the upper rows was taken by committee representatives belonging to the Popular Party (PP), Socialist Party (PSOE) and Ciudadanos on January 26. Before that, at the constituent session of Congress on January 13, the Podemos delegation had walked in early and taken up the front rows. Their removal to the back had triggered a loud protest by party leaders. Inigo Errejon, the number two official, called it an arbitrary action. The original seating plan showing Podemos (purple) in the top rows. Meanwhile, the negotiations to form a functioning government following the inconclusive December 20 election continue. Following a flurry of cross-party talks that have so far failed to produce a strong alliance, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the PP has agreed to meet Socialist chief Pedro Sanchez on Friday as the latter continues his negotiations with party leaders. PP sources said the meeting would take place at 5pm inside Congress on Friday. Socialist sources said their leader is upset at the fact that Rajoy is meeting with emerging party Ciudadanos first, considering that Sanchez is the candidate who has been tasked by the king to create a working government. Although the PP won the most seats at the election, it was not enough for a congressional majority, and so far Rajoy is refusing to stand for reinstatement. Now, the runner-up Sanchez is trying to build enough cross-party consensus to ensure he gets voted into the prime ministers office in late February or early March. English version by Susana Urra. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS 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 Google Ad 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 Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET 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 Issues relating to new Armenia-EU framework agreement discussed during press conference with Foreign Minister of Sweden Remarks by Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian during joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Sweden Margot Wallstrom Ladies and Gentlemen! I am pleased to welcome Foreign Minister of Sweden, my dear friend Margot Wallstrom, in Yerevan, who is paying an official visit to Armenia. Today we had an opportunity to continue multi-faceted dialogue on bilateral agenda, pressing regional and international issues. We have had numerous opportunities to meet in Stockholm as well as within different international conferences, forums. We recently met at the end of December. We agreed that the Foreign Minister of Sweden would visit Armenia and today I am very glad to welcome her in Yerevan Together with Ms. Wallstrom we attached importance to the dynamic development of Armenia-Sweden relations, which particularly was activated after the opening of two embassies. Together with Ms. Wallstrom we opened the Embassy of Armenia in Sweden in Stockholm in 2014. The Embassy of Sweden was opened here as well. The Embassies actively engaged towards the development, expansion and deepening of relations. Opportunities of the development of trade and economic, educational, cultural fields and healthcare were reflected on. We agreed upon the improvement of the legal framework and investment promotion. You are aware that a range of entrepreneurships on Swedish capital operate in Armenia. In this regard, we placed significance to the Convention between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital just signed. We agreed with Ms. Wallstrom to continue the high-level political dialogue, hold consultations between two Ministries of Foreign Affairs on a regular basis in order to further deepen cooperation. As an important field of development of bilateral cooperation we outlined the IT sector. Surely, we touched upon Armenia-EU relations. We stressed the importance of launched negotiations on the new Armenia-EU framework agreement. Reforms held in Armenia and support of the European partners were on the agenda of our negotiations. I presented to Ms. Wallstrom the joint efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries towards the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We would have an opportunity to discuss various regional and international issues during a working lunch. Naira Zohrabyan submitted a note to the committee (video) On February 12 the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs will consider the applications of three candidates for Ombudsman position. The Republican party of Armenia (HHK) proposed the candidacy of Deputy Minister of Justice Arman Tatoyan. The Rule of Law (OEK) and independent lawmaker Edmon Marukyan proposed the candidacy of Heritage lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan and the Armenian Prosperous Party (BHK) member Tigran Urikhanyan proposed the candidacy of lawyer Narek Aloyan. According to the words of Head of the BHK faction, Tigran Urikhanyan has broken their arrangement, We discussed that we would propose a joint candidate, that was the preliminary arrangement, if something has changed, I am not aware of it, says the BHK faction Head Naira Zohrabyan. There wasnt an arrangement that Tigran Urikhanyan must have proposed the candidacy of Makar Yeghiazaryan, says spokesman of Alliance Party Vardan Kocharyan. For the BHK the preferred candidate for the Ombudsman position is member of the political board Makar Yeghiazaryan, about whom Naira Zohrabyan has submitted a note to the committee- to consider his candidacy if it is possible from the point of view of rules and regulations. The only member from the BHK faction in the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs is Tigran Urikhanyan. The BHK still has time to propose their member at the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, and they can propose their own candidate, says Vardan Kocharyan. Technically there is no time anymore in order to present a new member at the Committee on State and Legal Affairs, notes Naira Zohrabyan. A sitting of the faction must be convened, they must apply to the NA President, who must direct the relevant member of the faction to our committee, noted Hovhannes Sahakyan, President of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs. They are gallant, thats why they uphold the candidacy of Z. Postanjyan (video) On February 12 the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs will elect one candidate for the position of Ombudsman, which will then be presented to the discussion at the NA plenary sitting, later closed, secret voting will be held. The president of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, Republican Hovhannes Sahakyan prefers to speak about the candidate of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Deputy Minister of Justice Arman Tatoyan by considering him a balanced person respected by the most of the lawmakers, He is included in the discussions of the new Criminal Procedure Code as a specialist and has had discussions with the members of the commission. There is positive attitude toward him. A number of lawmakers respect and rely on Arman Tatoyan. As for the fact that a number of lawmakers, irrespective of the position of their faction, support the candidacy of Heritage lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hovhannes Sahakyan says, A number of the NA male lawmakers personally will uphold the candidacy of Zaruhi Postanjyan with great pleasure, but the political stance is completely different. We are a gallant nation, an Armenian man always respects women, maybe it is also one of the reasons. 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 A flash mob featuring a hundred performers in monkey costumes makes an appearance to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year in Times Square on Manhattan, New York, the United States, Feb. 6, 2016.The event is an effort to let people from all over the world experience the beauty of Chinese culture, and, in a move to convey the New Year's blessings. (Xinhua/Wang Lei) BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Fourteen-year-old Chen Yiyue, who is half-Chinese, half-French, has always relished the atmosphere of a Chinese Spring Festival celebration. When her mother invites friends to dine with them during that festival, the table is full of delicious food, ladies all wear red and grandparents give her cash-stuffed red envelopes. Yiyue's father Herve Delmaire immediately fell in love with the festival when they started celebrating it about 10 years ago, and actively joins in the preparations each year, always rushing to decorate rooms with red lanterns. Now, their French friends ask the family each year on what day they celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. For Yiyue's mother Chen Li, the Spring Festival celebration is more than a tradition to keep the memory from her hometown and home country alive. It is also a chance for her husband and French friends to share in the joy and warmth of the traditional Chinese festival, and send good wishes to each other for the next year. The themes of the festival, including reunion, luck, peace, affluence, good health and safety, are all ideals that Chinese people have held for thousands of years, said Feng Jicai, a famous writer and president of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association. In order to be with families at the most important festival of the year, Chinese people travel long distances to go back home, as 2.9 billion trips are expected to be made during this holiday season. However faraway and inconvenient -- even settling with a standing ticket for a 20-hour-plus trip -- Chinese people would not be willing to miss the annual family reunion. They go home, bring gifts, hand out red envelopes to seniors and children, and offer their best wishes to each other for a good year. The festival, an occasion which features exciting family reunions and sincere caring for families and friends, is also known for its inclusiveness, which allows people from across the world to join the celebration regardless of their cultural, racial and religious backgrounds. In New York, a video celebrating the start of the Year of the Monkey made its debut on the screen at Times Square on Sunday, the Chinese Lunar New Year's eve. Thousands of miles away, London planned a variety of traditional Chinese celebrations at the city's largest shopping mall Westfield London, ranging from lion dances to calligraphy demonstrations, lantern workshops to stilt walking. New stamps to commemorate the Year of the Monkey were put on sale in various countries including Canada, France and the United States. The popularity of the festival stems from its positive, universal spirit, which incarnates the best of human nature. The traditions of the festival, such as going home for a family reunion, enjoying food together, getting rid of old clothes and wearing new ones, praying for a peaceful year and exchanging blessings, can be found across different cultures. Both political heavyweights and business tycoons worldwide have already begun to understand the importance of this spirit. In a message sent to the Chinese people on Saturday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the monkey symbolizes intelligence, agility and good fortune, so 2016 is a good year full of hope and energy. "We wish to have a good start from the year of the lucky monkey," Ban said, referring to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a lot of other political leaders have sent New Year's greetings to the Chinese people worldwide as well. Facebook hosted top Chinese chefs at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, inviting them to cook dishes at the company kitchen during their Chinese Cuisine Week, which is dedicated to recognizing the Chinese culture and celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with his Chinese American wife and daughter, even posted a video with new year's greetings in Chinese. In the video, they mentioned a family reunion dinner they held to celebrate the New Year, and wished the audience health and prosperity in the Year of the Monkey. As the world is facing daunting challenges including economic downturns, regional turmoils and refugee crises, the spirit of the festival is needed by the international community more than ever. "Only with family members at home could I enjoy the festive atmosphere and delightful feeling of celebrating the new year," said Sally, a Syrian refugee, who only gave his last name. Sally said his dream was to go back to his home country as soon as possible to celebrate the new year with his family members. [ Editor: Zhang Zhou ] Ukraine sees decline in steam coal consumption by one third in 2015 Ukraine cut steam coal consumption by one third in 2015, Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said. "Thermal power generation decreased production by 35% that is demand on steam coal also fell by 35%, from 38 million tonnes of 27 million tonnes. Unfortunately, we are not anticipating an increase in demand for this year," he said in Kyiv on Tuesday. Demchyshyn said that the ministry plans to stimulate demand on coal thanks to the increase of electricity exports. The minister said that the transfer of two units of Zmiyivska thermal power plant to gas coal would allow increasing its consumption by 1.8 million tonnes a year. The minister said that today the ratio between consumption of anthracite coal (extracted on the Ukrainian government-controlled territories) and gas coal shifted to the latter. "If the ratio for anthracite coal and gas coal in 2015 was around 50% to 50%, now we see 65% and even 70% for gas coal," he said. Demchyshyn said that today state-run coalmines retain coal stocks available for production. He said that today state-run coalmines have nine longwall faces where coal has not yet been produced. Energy ministry agrees with DTEK that 60,000-70,000 tonnes of coal to be supplied to Zakhidenergo's TPPs The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry of Ukraine has agreed with DTEK Energy Holding that 60,000-70,000 tonnes of coal from state-run coalmines of the Lviv and Volyn basins will be supplied to thermal power plants (TPPs) of DTEK Zakhidenergo, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said in Kyiv on Tuesday. "Today the agreement on purchase of at least 60,000-70,000 tonnes of coal from coalmines in this region has been achieved," he said. He added that in the future Lvivvuhillia could increase production to 100,000-110,000 tonnes a month, but this requires financial support from the state. The minister said that Novovolynska Coalmine 10 being built for 27 years should be mothballed until an investor is found. "UAH 1.5 billion is required to finish it. Now I'm working on its mothballing Then we will look for an investors, there is no other way," he said. Demchyshyn said that last year the state spent over UAH 160 million to maintain the coalmine and this year it is proposed that over UAH 100 million will be allocated. The Business Ombudsman Council has proposed the government convene an expert group to develop changes to criminal laws, which would reduce pressure on business on the part of law enforcement agencies. "We propose to the government set up an expert group to develop amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, inviting our experts, law enforcement authorities, the Ministry of Justice and other interested parties to take part in the process," Business Ombudsman Algirdas Semeta said at a press conference. Deputy Business Ombudsman Yaroslav Hryhorchak explained that today one-third of complaints from businesses concern the actions of law enforcement agencies, in particular, the tax police. According to him, major violations relate to the opening of criminal proceedings, refusal to open criminal proceedings, violations during investigations and the inefficient administration of pre-trial investigations. He also added that the business ombudsman's office proposes putting amendments to criminal laws, which would more protect businesses from law enforcers. Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn has appealed to the State Fiscal Service and the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with the request to check the legality of contracts for coal supply signed by PJSC Centrenergo and Ukrinterenergo. According to the press service of the ministry, it is also planned to conduct unscheduled internal audits of these companies. "The purpose of inspection is to clarify the legality of contracts for coal imports, matching the declared volumes with the actually delivered amount, the availability of coal quality and coal origin certificates and the definition of coal quality indicators, as well as determining the price parameters of the supplies," reads a statement. If violations are revealed, the materials will be transferred to law enforcement agencies for appropriate assessment. "The results of the audit will enable Minister Demchyshyn to report to the public on the resonant issues of coal imports to state enterprises with reason, based on the relevant documents," the press service said. Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers in the framework of establishing favorable conditions for doing business has decided to extend the term for the introduction of licensing for international transportation of goods by road. According to the government's press service, license terms in the field of road transportation, approved by Cabinet resolution No. 1001 of December 2, 2015, foresee that within two months from the date of their entry into force international road carriers must obtain licenses, while licensees should provide documents and information on bringing their activities in compliance with licensing terms to licensing authorities. "But in fact, during this period measures to reorganize executive authorities have been held, afterwards the Cabinet by its decree No. 1191 dated December 30, 2015 defined the State Inspectorate of Ukraine for Road Transport Safety as a licensing authority. In connection with the reorganization measures, licensing in the field of road transportation have not been performed within a certain period," reads the report. To solve the problem situation, the government by decree No. 42 of February 4, 2016 amended the license conditions and extended the terms from two to six months. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has called Ukraine to develop high technology that will ensure successful future for the country. "I think that new Ukraine is the same as a new world, while a new world is the fourth industrial revolution," he said in Kyiv, when opening Ukraine's first non-profit incubator of IT projects based on open data "1991 Open Data Incubator." According to the premier, high technology and the talent of Ukrainians can make the Ukrainian agrarian sector stronger, will enable Ukrainian youth to receive education remotely, as 35 million people around the world do this, help law enforcement agencies provide a higher level of security for citizens, make the government's work more transparent, while politicians using high technology will make decisions more quickly and carefully. Yatseniuk noted that ten years ago everyone thought that the main and most important potential is oil, gas, and plants. However, he said time showed that the most important capital is intelligence. Checkpoints of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas have come under fire 45 times in the past 24 hours, the press center of Kyiv's army operation in Ukraine's south-eastern regions reported on its Facebook account on Tuesday morning. Grenade launchers and small arms were fired at Ukrainian military positions in Opytne, Avdiyivka, Luhanske, Troitske, Zaitseve, Mayorsk and at the Butivka mine, the press center said. Ukrainian fortifications in Pisky, Maryinka, Hnutove and Troitske came under mortar fire, it said. According to the press center's reports, 82mm mortars, an anti-aircraft system and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as grenade launchers, large-caliber submachine guns and small arms were used against Ukrainian army checkpoints near Krasnohorivka. Small arms were fired at Ukrainian military positions in Shyrokyne, near the city of Mariupol, the press center said. Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko has deviated from a question about her reaction to the proposal of Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius to head the government of technocrats instead of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk. "To tell the truth, I don't want to speak about persons today. We should focus out attention not on persons, but principles," she said on ICTV on Monday answering the question about her attitude to her possible appointment to the prime minister post. As reported, Abromavicius, who resigned citing pressure on him, said that the political crisis in Ukraine should be used to reboot the government and form the Cabinet of technocrats alone, who will be guaranteed independence and support of the coalition, and he proposed that other persons should be replaced, including Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. Abromavicius said in an interview with the Associated Press that only technocratic government could bring about greater progress and higher life standards subject to guarantees from the president and the coalition. He also said that he had suggested Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko for the premiership provided that she could select ministers freely. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have opened criminal investigations under two articles of Ukraine's Criminal Code after Russian officers from the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) were found in possession of methodical materials of a military nature, as well as symbols of illegal armed units "On February 2 of this year, our investigation registered a criminal case opened under Article 333 of the Penal Code of Ukraine a violation of the rules for transporting commodities subject to state control, as well as under Article 258, Point 3 abetment to terrorist activity," Ukrainian Security Service chief Vasyl Hrytsak told a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. As a correspondent of Interfax-Ukraine reported, the SBU chief said that in a course of the regular rotation of the Russian JCCC mission on January 27, during a border control procedure of the Russian servicemen Commander Sergey Kutsenko and Major Alexander Kornik were found 14 manuals on military matters with a secrecy label of 'restricted use', including a manual on using of the volley fire, methodical materials and a course of lectures concerning the application of modern tank units under special conditions using hand grenades and mines. Besides, the SBU demonstrated symbols of the illegal armed formations that work in Donbas, including symbols and flags seized from the Russian servicemen. He said all the materials seized would be attached to the materials of the criminal case. "As for today we have a firm belief and we show you that in fact what the officers of the Russian army declare and what they really do somehow differs," Hrytsak said. Militants hold around 130 Ukrainian citizens in captivity in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Chief of the Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak said. "In the regard to hostages the number changes daily. We counted around 130 people," Hrytsak told journalists on Tuesday in Kyiv. He added that the SBU had enough information on the whereabouts of the Ukrainian soldiers. "On many occasions, we know about places where our guys, our fighters, are kept. We have numerous evidences from the detainees, who were together with them," SBU chief said. "We know that Motorola [so-called commander of Donetsk People's Republic's separate intelligence battalion; Russian citizen] shot dead one of our fighters and this episode was included into a relevant criminal case," Hrytsak added. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is already investigating more than 50 cases into corruption violations, which involve a total of UAH 1 billion. "Only two weeks ago, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau detectives have registered in the unified registry of pre-trial investigations first criminal offense, and are already investigating more than 50 cases, which involve a total of more than UAH 1 billion," Poroshenko said during the oath taking ceremony by the Bureau's special forces in Kyiv on Tuesday. The Ukrainian Embassy in Syria will temporarily move to Lebanon from March 1 due to the escalation in Syria. "Due to the escalation of the security situation in Syria, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has decided to move its staff at the Ukrainian Embassy in Syria to Lebanon temporarily, from March 1, 2016," the embassy said on its Facebook page on Tuesday. The staff will continue performing their duties as per Article 3 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and, to that end, will stay in Syria as regularly as permitted by the security situation. Haiti President Michel Martelly Steps Down From Office Without Successor President Michel Martelly has stepped down from office following the end of his term despite not having a successor to assume the presidency. CNN reported Sunday that two presidential elections in October and December were postponed after being marred with accusations of fraud. On the other hand, before Martelly left the position, a deal for a transitional government was met. Under the new deal, the parliament of Haiti will choose an interim president who will serve for a 120-day term and verify a consent prime minister. With this, an election is slated to take place on April 24, and the elected president will take the office on May 14. Advertisement Terms of the new deal also include that the prime minister will remain until an interim president has been elected by the chambers of parliament. On the other hand, a research associate said the issue of whether fraud during the October election will be further examined or not still raises some concerns. "The key for whoever is provisional president is to restore credibility to an electoral system which no longer has the trust of the Haitian people," said Jake Johnston from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "Less than a quarter of all registered voters participated in October. In order to achieve this, first, there must be an investigation and verification of the Oct. 25 vote," he added. In his last speech to parliament, Martelly said he is leaving the post in order to "contribute to constitutional normalcy." "I said I would not hand over power to those that don't believe in elections, but the Parliament guaranteed that they will do everything to make sure the process carries on," Martelly said in his speech, as noted by NY Times Sunday. 54-year-old Martelly was the 56th president of Haiti. He was a musician and businessman before he got elected as the president of the Caribbean country in 2011. During his speech, he also said that his greatest regret was when the January election was postponed amid security concerns and accusations of fraud. Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook Says U.S. Is Eager To Provide South Korea With $800 Million THAAD Anti-Missile Technology The North Korean government may be celebrating the launch of both a long-range missile and a rocket within the last 48 hours with a dramatic fireworks display in the capital city of Pyongyang on Monday, but it is their sworn enemy to the south that could be on the verge of a new era of military technology. In a statement to the international news organization Agence France-Presse on Monday, representative for the Pentagon Peter Cook said the U.S. was eager to deploy an $800 million Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) to South Korea's northern border to protect against their rogue neighbor. "Without getting into a timeline, we'd like to see this move as quickly as possible," Cook said. "We are beginning the consultations now and in the current days with the South Koreans, and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion." Advertisement Cook also clarified that North Korea is the only nation that would be in a potential THAAD system's site. "If the THAAD system were deployed to the Korean Peninsula, it would be focused solely on North Korea, contributing to a layered missile defense that would enhance the alliance's existing missile defense capabilities against potential North Korean missile threats," he said. "This is a defensive system put in place. We don't believe it should pose any kind of concern to the Chinese." The system, which can immobilize ballistic weapons being fired at up to intermediate range is necessary to reel in an increasingly dangerous situation Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, head of U.S. forces in Korea, told CNN on Sunday. "North Korea continues to develop their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and it is the responsibility of our alliance to maintain a strong defense against those threats," Scaparrotti said. At a press briefing on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest cited a broad consensus in the global community that something substantial must be done about North Korea, according to the New York Times. And THAAD is apparently only the beginning. "There certainly is an agreement about an impactful response being necessary," Earnest said. "That means considering a range of economic sanctions that would further isolate North Korea." Advertisement Advertisement Like us and Follow us Follow @Koreaportal and 2022 Korea Portal, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. As the Chinese leadership has conducted a series of high-level visits to several countries since 2015, some European experts say that the Chinese government seems to push on with a more extroverted and confident diplomacy. In a recent interview with Xinhua, David Fouquet, senior associate at the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), said it has been quite noticeable that China has made great efforts to enhance its relations with the European Union (EU) and other partners over the past years, widening the scope of China's diplomatic initiatives. Fouquet spoke highly of China's proactive attitude toward Sino-EU ties, noting that the Chinese leaders have visited many European countries to convey that China is ready and willing to lend a helping hand for a strong and united Europe. The expert also praised China's activism in many areas, saying that Chinese diplomacy has been highly effective in the handling of many issues. The Belt and Road Initiative, for example, could further promote China's relations with the Middle East countries through infrastructure construction, he said. Gerhard Stahl, professor at Peking University HSBC Business School and at the College of Europe, told Xinhua that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been promoting an "alternative concept of the international order." The professor noted that the Chinese president has announced new foreign policy initiatives in public for many times over the last three years, stressing that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, or the Chinese Dream, is the central goal of China's politics. That means developing an order that would help China regain its due position on the world stage. He added that China has launched another positive diplomatic initiative during the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, as the world's second-largest economy has made tangible contributions to the changes in international climate policy. "This initiative was very positive and very well commented and received by the EU and other international partners. And China wants to be a constructive partner in the elaboration of international agreements," Stahl said. Discussion of tradition continues as fireworks banned in more Chinese cities Zhang Lin from northeast China's Jilin province heard less firecrackers during Spring Festival of the past two years. "The holiday is becoming less festive, but I can accept it if the air quality improves," he told Xinhua. In the past, Changchun, capital of Jilin, was frequently shrouded by smog. The city announced a regulation in August 2014 to ban fireworks within the fourth ring road, or the city center. In 2015, density of PM 2.5 there during the Spring Festival dropped by 20.69 percent compared with the year before. Changchun is not alone. According to figures released by the Ministry of Public Security last year, a total of 138 cities banned fireworks, while another 536 put limits to time and place fireworks can be used. The numbers are growing in 2016, as Shanghai implemented a strict fireworks ban on Jan. 1. A survey by the Shanghai municipal bureau showed that 89.4 percent of the citizens polled supported the ban, but many feel the tradition should be preserved. "It is such a pity! Our tradition that had survived thousands of years was suddenly abolished," said a web user nicknamed LaonaV on microblog Sina Weibo. Zhang Lin in Changchun believes governments need to find a way to reduce pollution of fireworks while preserving the tradition. "I suggest that our governments put on public firework shows, as some foreign countries do," he said. Wu Zhengli, secretary-general of the China Fireworks and Firecrackers Association, said that efforts should be made to improve the fireworks to make them less polluting. "At the same time, we should crack down on illegal fireworks producers," he said. In Changchun, to create a festive atmosphere, the city government decorated main roads with red lanterns, set up special markets to sell New Year goods and distributed red scrolls with rhyming phrases, which Chinese people traditionally pasted on their doors for good luck. Yang Tao, a citizen in Shenyang, capital of the neighboring Liaoning province, told Xinhua that traditions change all the time. "People are busy sending and receiving electronic 'lucky money' nowadays," he said. Giving "lucky money" in electronic form is a trendy spin on the Chinese tradition of giving red envelopes of money to children on New Year's Eve. Over 100 million people sent gifts of money via mobile apps last year, according to Alipay, the payment system run by Alibaba. "In comparison, fireworks are in fact losing shine," he said. The death toll from a landslide in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has risen to six, as the four missing were confirmed dead. The emergency response office in Du'an Yao Autonomous County under Hechi city received information at 3:25 a.m. Monday that a two-story building in Fude village collapsed in a landslide. There were 15 households at the site. Xinhua reporters saw a building and pigpen almost buried by rocks and soil. A witness told Xinhua that the building belonged to villager Lan Huajing. Rescuers have recovered six bodies as of 12:25 p.m., including Lan Huajing. Lan Min, another villager, was sleeping when the accident happened. He was woke up by a loud noise, which he mistook as fireworks at first. "But then I felt the house was shaking," he recalled. "I thought it was an earthquake and told my family to rush out." When they stopped, they looked back, seeing Lan Huajing's house entirely destroyed, and a wall of their own house damaged by stones. According to local sources, it didn't rain when the accident happened. The cause is being investigated. Officials of the Hechi city have ordered a thorough inspection for hidden safety hazard. (CNS) 10:28, February 09, 2016 Beijing has relaxed restrictions on foreigners buying real estate, part of a slew of measures to adjust a sluggish property market. According to previous policies, expatriates were required to work in Beijing for more than a year before becoming eligible to buy property for residential purposes in the capital city. The housing management department of the local government has abolished this requirement, enacted 10 years ago to curb property speculation, Beijing Youth Daily reported Saturday. The new policy took effect from February 4. The new policy follows an earlier relaxation of controls over foreign investment into China's real estate sector last August. A first-tier Chinese city, Beijing faces less pressure on housing inventories compared to smaller cities. The eased policies targeting foreigners are expected to improve confidence and help address structural problems in the medium and high-end real estate market, the report said. Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) has no plans to increase its gold reserves in 2016, a source in the Fund told Trend. To date, SOFAZ's gold reserves portfolio includes 30,175 kilograms of gold, which accounts for about 3.5 percent of total assets. "Under SOFAZ's funds management rules, the portion of gold reserves in total assets shouldn't exceed the five percent limit of the fund's investment portfolio," the source said. "At the moment, increasing gold reserves isn't included in the Fund's plans." Under SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems. The main goals of the State Oil Fund include: accumulation of resources and placement of assets abroad in order to minimize the negative effect on the economy, preventing the "Dutch disease" to some extent, promoting resource accumulation for future generations and supporting current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: The first meeting of the Azerbaijan-UK Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation will kick off in London Feb. 10. Economic ties between the UK and Azerbaijan and prospects for their expansion will be discussed during the meeting, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy said in a message Feb. 9. Azerbaijan's delegation for the meeting will be comprised of officials and businessmen. It will be headed by Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, who co-chairs the intergovernmental commission. Francis Maude, minister of state for trade and investment, is the co-chair of the commission from the UK's side. The commission will continue its work until Feb. 11. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the UK stood at $563.99 million in 2015, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. Some $553.33 million of this figure accounted for import of UK products. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: Turkey's biggest mobile operator Turkcell is planning to proceed with its effort to buy the stake owned by TeliaSonera AB in Fintur Holdings, Bloomberg reported Feb. 9. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS has made a non-binding bid for the 58.55 percent stake in Fintur Holdings that it doesn't own and will follow with another offer after completing due diligence, Chief Executive Officer Kaan Terzioglu said Feb. 9. Turkcell now owns 41.45 percent of Fintur, which operates in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova. Terzioglu didn't give further details. "We are constantly reviewing our asset portfolio," Terzioglu said after he signed a license agreement with Turkey's telecommunications regulator for 4.5G high-speed mobile Internet services. Turkcell hired Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc to advise on the Fintur stake, two people with knowledge of the matter said in November 2015. At the time, Pareto Securities valued TeliaSonera's Fintur stake at about $430 million. TeliaSonera, the largest Swedish phone carrier, is Turkcell's biggest shareholder with a 38 percent stake. Other Turkcell investors include Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's investment company and Cukurova Holding AS. TeliaSonera announced the reduction of its presence in the Eurasia region (Azerbaijan, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan) in September 2015. It intends to fully leave the Eurasian region. As part of its new strategy, TeliaSonera will concentrate on the activity in Europe, particularly in Sweden. Fintur Holdings BV, in which TeliaSonera owns 58.55 percent, has a share in Azerbaijan's Azercell Telecom. Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996 and since the first years sustains a leading position on the market. Azercell introduced number of technological innovations in Azerbaijan: GSM technology, advance payment mobile services, GPRS/EDGE, 24/7 Customer Care, M2M, MobilBank, full-time operating Azercell Express offices, mobile e-service "ASAN imza" (ASAN signature) and others. With 48.12 percent share of Azerbaijan's mobile market Azercell's network covers 99.8 percent of the country's population. Currently, the number of Azercell's subscribers reached 4.5 million people. In 2011 Azercell deployed 3G and in 2012 the fourth generation network - LTE in Azerbaijan. The Company is the leader of Azerbaijan's mobile communication industry and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend: The foreigners, recently drowned in a canal in Azerbaijan's Imishli district, had no permission to hunt there, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources told Trend Feb. 9. A citizen of Saudi Arabia and a citizen of Qatar drowned in the canal located in the territory of the Khalifali village, the Imishli district, on Feb. 8 night. Another citizen of Qatar was injured in the incident. "The health condition of Abail Aziz Sadal Kabi, a 26-year-old citizen of Qatar, is satisfactory and he will be able to leave hospital Feb. 9," Farahim Malikov, deputy chief physician at the Imishli district hospital, told Trend earlier. An investigation into the incident found out that the citizens of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and those who invited them to Azerbaijan, didn't appeal to the country's Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry for a permission to hunt. Therefore, it is assumed that those individuals went hunting at night as they didn't have permission. The incident is currently under investigation. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: The Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund has paid the compensations worth over 17.3 million manat to clients of the failed Bank of Azerbaijan, the fund said. As of Feb. 9, the official exchange rate is 1.5787 AZN/USD. The process of receiving applications from Bank of Azerbaijan's insured depositors started since January 29, 2016. The amount of the insured deposits in Bank of Azerbaijan is 24.2 million manat. The payments are made in the branches of Muganbank and Rabitabank, assigned as agent banks. At the same time, more than 268,000 manat have been paid to Ganja Bank's clients since February 4, which is about 18 percent of a total volume of insured deposits of the bank. In general, the amount of insured deposits in Ganjja Bank is 1.5 million manat. The payments to Ganja Bank's depositors are made in the branches of Rabita Bank, Unibank and Kapital Bank. The fund returns up to 30,000 manat for each insured deposit. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: Azerbaijan has increased quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 160.9 million SDR ($224.34 million) to 391.7 million SDR ($546.14 million), a statement on the IMF website says. The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. As of Feb. 8, the official exchange rate is 1.39427 SDR/USD. The quota was increased as part of the 14th General Review of Quotas. Some 44 percent (173.1 million SDR or 377.7 million manats) of Azerbaijan's quota may be placed in the national currency. According to the IMF report, Azerbaijan has already agreed on the quota increase, but it has not yet set the date of its share payment. As a result of increasing the quota of each of 188 IMF member-states, total contributions increased from 238.5 billion SDR ($ 329 billion) to 477 billion SDR ($659 billion). The IMF largest member-state is the US with a quota of 82.9 billion SDR. The IMF smallest member-state is Tuvalu with a quota of 2.5 million SDR. Quotas are denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) - the IMF's unit of account. The quota contributions are an important source of the IMF financial resources. A quota is assigned for each IMF member-state. It is broadly based on its relative position in the world economy. The quota of the member-state determines a maximum amount of its financial commitments to the IMF and its number of votes. It also affects the country's access to the IMF financing. When a country is joining the IMF, an initial quota is set in the same amount as the quotas of existing member-states. They are broadly comparable with it on the scale and characteristics of the economy. The amount of funding that the member-state can obtain from the IMF (its access limit) is determined on the basis of its quota. For example, a member-state can borrow up to 200 percent of its quota annually and up to 600 percent on an accrual basis a part of the agreements on the stand by loans and expanded lending. In exceptional cases, the access amount can be increased. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 9 By Demir Azizov- Trend: Fitch Ratings has affirmed PJSB Trustbank's (TB) and Ipak Yuli's Bank (IY) Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'B-' with Stable Outlooks, and assigned Universalbank (UB) a 'CCC' Long-term foreign currency IDR, Fitch said Feb. 9. Ipak Yuli Bank Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B-', Outlook 'Stable' Short-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'b-' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' Trustbank Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B-', Outlook 'Stable' Short-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'b-' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' Universalbank Long-term foreign currency IDR: assigned 'CCC' Long-term local currency IDR: affirmed at 'CCC' Short-term foreign currency IDR: assigned 'C' Short-term local currency IDR: affirmed at 'C' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'ccc' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' The VRs consider the challenging operating environment, including difficult business climate, structural weaknesses in the economy, high concentration risk and external pressures. "The ratings are also constrained by the high transfer and convertibility risks in the economy due to the country's tightly regulated FX market and the banks' modest franchises in the state-dominant banking sector," Fitch said. Universalbank's rating was also constrained by past regulatory issues resulting in the withdrawal of its license on foreign currency operations in 2012. However, in June 2015, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU) returned the bank's license and its foreign currency operations were restored. Following this, Fitch has assigned UB a 'CCC' Long-term foreign currency IDR. The Stable Outlook on TB and IY reflects Fitch's expectations of further economic growth and government-led investments into major manufacturing sectors, which will support the banks' lending growth and profitability. Reported problem exposures remain moderate, with impaired loans at below 4% of gross loans at all three banks at end-3Q15 (local GAAP). Concentration risks remain high, particularly at TB and UB, with the 25 largest borrowers accounting for 63% and 72% of loans, respectively, at end-3Q15. IY has a more granular loan book, with the top 25 largest exposures below 25% of total loans. The capitalisation of all three banks remained stable with Fitch Core Capital ratios at a reasonable 17% at TB, 23% at UB and lower 11% at IY at end-2015. These capital cushions provided TB and UB comfortable additional loss absorption capacity of 9% and 20% of gross loans, respectively. A new UZS10bn capital injection expected in 1H16 should stabilise its capitalisation at about 12%. Core funding is from customer deposits (60% of total liabilities at IY, 87% at TB and 95% at UB), which are short term but relatively stable at all three banks. The banks' Support Rating Floors of 'No Floor' and their '5' Support Ratings reflect their limited systemic importance and that rendering of extraordinary support from Uzbek authorities is unlikely. The ability of the banks' shareholders to provide support cannot be reliably assessed. An upgrade of TB and IY would depend on the overall notable improvement in the operating environment. UB's ratings may be upgraded if the bank is able to significantly improve its franchise along with asset quality and tightening of risk policies. Trustbank, with its main focus on rendering financial services to the companies on the stock exchange and wholesale trade, was established in 1994. It was transformed into a private bank upon the shareholders' decision in 2006. "Universalbank" was created in 2001. The shareholders of the bank are private companies and physical entities. "Ipak Yuli" bank was created in 1990. The bank`s shares are owned by about 1000 shareholders - legal and physical entities, the largest of which are the "UzbekInvest" National Export-Import Insurance company (about 18 percent) and the Asian Development Bank (13.56 percent). Uzbekistan currently has 26 commercial banks. Three of them are state-run banks, five banks with foreign capital, 11 - joint-stock banks and seven private banks. As of Feb. 9, the official exchange rate is 2841.60 soums/$1. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakh Tengizchevroil (TCO) company produced a record volume of oil - 27.16 million tons in 2015, the company said. The company produced 26.7 million tons of oil in 2014. Last year, the company sold 1.27 million tons of liquefied gas and 6.85 billion cubic meters of dry gas. TCO sold 2.7 million tons of sulphur, which is 13 percent more than in 2014 (2.4 million tons). Tengizchevroil LLP was founded in 1993, on the basis of the agreement signed between the government of Kazakhstan and Chevron Corporation to develop Tengiz field. TCO operates on the license area in Kazakhstan which covers the super-giant Tengiz field and a smaller Korolev field, as well as several promising areas for exploration. The shareholders of TCO are KazMunaiGas national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan (20 percent), Chevron Overseas (50 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and LukArco (five percent). --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 9 By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend: Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, addressing a Cabinet of Ministers meeting, urged to constantly control the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. During the meeting, he also demanded to use reserves to increase natural gas production and processing, said the country's government in a message Feb. 9. In a report today, the "Neutral Turkmenistan" newspaper said topographic, engineering and survey works have been completed for the construction of TAPI. This will allow choosing an optimal route for TAPI and defining the properties of the pipes to be used to transport the natural gas. The TAPI project's implementation began in December 2015. The pipeline is planned to have a total length of 1,735 kilometers. The main document for the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Fatih Karimov- Trend: Iran's crude oil price has been recovered by about 10 percent, as the downward trend of global oil prices stopped last week. Each barrel of Iran's Light oil was sold for $25.92 in the week to Jan. 29, $2.7 more compared to the preceding week, the official IRNA news agency reported Feb. 7. The price of Iranian Heavy oil also increased by $2.64 per barrel and stood at $22.83 in the same period. Iran last saw record low prices in 1998 when its oil was traded in markets at below $10 per barrel. The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $26.9 during the week to Jan. 29, $3.24 more compared to the preceding week. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela). The basket price stood at $29.9 a barrel on Feb. 4, compared with $28.63 the previous day, according to the OPEC Secretariat calculations. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakhstan plans to compensate the expected reduction of oil production in 2016 by commissioning the Kashagan field in the future, said the country's Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik. He made remarks about it at a meeting with the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said the press office of the president. Kazakhstan produced 79.5 million tons of oil in 2015, including gas condensate, which is 1.7 percent less than in 2014. It was reported earlier that the reduction of up to 77 million tons due to the depletion of deposits is expected in Kazakhstan in 2016. The minister noted that low oil prices forced all Kazakh companies to review their budgets towards reducing and be seriously engaged in the reduction of production prices. The measures taken by the ministry and the government to overcome the crisis due to the low hydrocarbon prices also were also reviewed during the meeting. The president drew attention to the need for implementation of all perspective projects in the energy sector, including the commissioning of Kashagan field, the project for expanding the Tengiz field, and the second phase of expanding the Karachaganak project. Kashagan is a large oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, located in the north of the Caspian Sea. The geological reserves of Kashagan are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil. The total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels; some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves. There are large natural gas reserves at the Kashagan field - over one trillion cubic meters. The production at the Kashagan field started September 2013, but in October, it was ceased after a gas leak in one of the main pipelines. The analysis revealed numerous cracks in the pipeline, which needed to be completely replaced. The project's operator, the North Caspian Operating Co. (NCOC) confirmed the need for a complete replacement of the gas and oil pipelines, which have a total length of about 200 kilometers. The production at the Kashagan is expected to resume in late 2016. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 9 By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend: Turkish companies and businessmen increasingly strengthen their positions on the promising Turkmen market, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said in his addressing speech to participants of a joint Turkmen-Turkish business forum and exhibition opened in Ashgabat Feb. 9. A delegation of representatives of more than Turkish 100 companies specializing in mechanical engineering, chemical industry, production of industrial, agricultural and water-economic equipment, trade, education, construction and other fields has arrived in Ashgabat to participate in the forum and exhibition. The forum and exhibition will last until February 11. "I am confident that this exhibition and the Turkmen-Turkish business forum held within its framework will be of great importance for the expansion of bilateral trade and economic partnership, increase in export of goods, development of business relations with Turkish companies and investors, wide attraction of foreign capital into the national economy," the president of Turkmenistan said. The intergovernmental Turkmen-Turkish commission for economic cooperation and Turkmen-Turkish business council play an important role in activation of the partnership, Berdimuhamedov said in his addressing speech. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 9 By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend: Negotiations with the US delegation led by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs William Todd were held at the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, said the ministry. During the meeting the sides noted the fruitful results of cooperation in enhancing bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and the US and expressed interest in their further diversification. A joint action plan on development of cooperation between the two states in 2016 was also discussed. In recent years, the US president's administration took a policy of rapprochement with Turkmenistan. Exhibitions of US companies, which are accompanied by high level business forums and business negotiations, are regularly held in Ashgabat. Political consultations gained regular basis. The two countries continue cooperation in such spheres as supply of agricultural equipment, upgrading Turkmenistan's technical civil aviation fleet, power equipment import. The US support regional gas projects from Turkmenistan, as TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) and Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (through Azerbaijan and Turkey to Europe). Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called for $200 billion of investment for development of country's oil industry, Shana news agency reported. The minister said that Iran doesn't have enough of domestic sources to develop the oil industry, thus foreign investment is needed. The new model of oil contracts (IPC) is aimed at attracting foreign investment, he said at a press conference in Tehran. According to Zanganeh, Iranian oil industry's upstream projects need $130 billion of investment while the downstream projects demand $70 billion to be developed. He further added that several regional countries have taken measures to discourage foreign investors from investing in Iran. Last November, Tehran hosted 137 companies from 45 countries for a two-day conference, during which legal generalities of the IPC were introduced and it was announced that more details about the contracts would be unveiled during a conference likely to be held in London in February 2016. However, on Jan. 30 Iran announced that the country has decided to cancel the London conference due to "problems for issuing UK visa". Prior to the scheduled London conference, a group of Iranian conservatives protested against the IPC suggesting the new model of the oil contract is against the Iranian constitution. The IPC is a framework that lays out the basic structure - and some details - regarding all future petroleum contracts in Iran. It was earlier announced that the country plans to boost oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day and gas output to 1.4 billion cubic meters a day by 2021. Iran's current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported. By holding 157.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil. The Islamic Republic also holds 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18.2 percent of total global gas reserves. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: The office of the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed reports regarding his remarks about the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary election to be held on February 26. "The reports quoting former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are sheer lie and the former president has not made any remarks regarding the election," ISNA news agency quoted an official at former president's office. Earlier on February 7, Payesh news website reported that Ahmadinejad has predicted "a heavy defeat" to the conservatives at the upcoming parliamentary election in Iran. "A group of people describing themselves as conservatives have created a circle expecting the nation to cast votes in their favor, while only seven or eight candidates out of the list comprising of 30 nominees will be elected as parliamentarians," Payesh news website quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at the recent meeting with his supporters. Questioning the legitimacy of candidates proposed by the conservatives, Ahmadinejad allegedly added that the list prepared by conservatives to introduce candidates for the parliamentary election lacks charismatic figures, Payesh claimed. "They get together and prepare a list believing that voters will cast ballots in their favor," Payesh quoted him as mocking the conservatives. Payesh further reported that Ahmadinejad had accused the conservatives of lacking a proper plan and slogan to compete in the election. Over the past weeks Iranian officials have made striking remarks regarding the upcoming parliamentary election. While Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged people to prevent anti-revolutionary and pro-US figures from assuming seats in the parliament, President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the country's vetting body, the Guardian Council, for disqualifying a large number of reformist candidates. Over the past few months and ahead of the election, Ali Khamenei has constantly warned against the "infiltration" of the country's enemies as well as the US in Iran. Tehran, Iran, Feb. 9 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: Iran will showcase its Emad ballistic missile during the Iranian revolution anniversary demonstrations on Feb. 11, said the Propagation Office of Iranian Defense Ministry Feb. 9. The Emad is the latest generation of Iran's long-range ground-to-ground ballistic missiles, which can be guided to assure that intended targets are hit, according to the Iranian officials. In October 2015, Iran test fired the Emad missile triggering controversies. In particular, several Western sources claimed that Tehran violated the UN Security Council's resolution 2231 by test-firing the Emad, suggesting it is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The UNSC resolution 2231, adopted July 20, 2015, endorses the nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers and calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles that can deliver nuclear weapons, as well as launching ballistic missiles, such as Emad. The Defense Ministry's Propagation Office today also said that during the revolution anniversary demonstrations, Iran will demonstrate its Simorgh satellite carrier as well. Simorgh is a two-phase satellite carrier, built by Iran's defense industry sector as part of the country's aerospace program. It can deliver the satellites up to 100 kilogram of weight to the 500-kilometer orbit. The Propagation Office also said that Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan officially presented the first consignment of mass-produced Nasr missiles to the Iranian Army on Feb. 9. Nasr is an air-to-surface anti-ship cruise missile that, according to Dehqan, can be carried by all sorts of warplanes. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: The government of Iran will prioritize privatization and support for the private sector with the aim of improving social welfare and economic growth, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. He said the attraction of investment and technology are of highest importance for Iran, IRIB news agency reported February 9. He also said corruption and monopoly are among the diseases of Iran's economy, underlining that real progress is impossible as long as they exist. To tackle the problems, Rouhani said, that a single customs service should be created, banks should handle their direct duties and the currency rates should be fixed. The Iranian president further said that the nuclear deal was a win-win game at the interest of all sides. Iran would continue its win-win policy to enhance relations with the world and the neighbors, he added. Rouhani further called removal of Iran's sanctions as a big achievement which resulted from Iranian nation's resistance. Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) implemented the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal),on Jan. 16, which eliminated sanctions on the country, including the restrictions over banking sector, releasing blocked assets abroad, etc. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Louis Farrakhan, leader of the US-based Islamic religious movement Nation of Islam, is expected to address Iranians during a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of Iran on Feb. 11. Asghar Abkhezr, an official in charge of organizing the ceremony, said Farrakhan is expected to deliver his speech as a special guest before President Hassan Rouhani's scheduled address, Mehr news agency reported Feb. 9. On Feb. 11, the Islamic Republic celebrates the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 when the revolution leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after almost 15 years of exile and took the control of the country after toppling Pahlavi monarchy. Each year on Feb. 11, a large number of Iranians take to streets carrying banners and images of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, as well as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, to re-affirm their allegiance to the Islamic Revolution. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Trend: The head of the Vanadzor office of Helsinki Civil Assembly Artur Sakunts appealed to the Chief Prosecutor's Office demanding to interrogate the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan over the terror attack on the Armenian parliament on Oct. 27, 1999, 1in.am website reported. The head of "Republic" party Aram Z.Sargsyan said that Serzh Sargsyan confessed that one day he will tell who organized attack. "According to the statement, the President has hidden information about a crime, which is a criminal offense", - Artur Sakunts added. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Trend: Georgia will take concrete actions to abolish the visa regime with Iran, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani over phone, the Georgian governmental administration said. "Kvirikashvili and Rouhani spoke about the close cultural relations between the Georgian and Iranian peoples," the statement said. "The sides expressed hope to intensify cooperation in the field of tourism. In this regard, the Georgian side will take concrete actions. Canada will spend more than $1.1 billion on humanitarian and development assistance to help bring stability to crisis-stricken Syria and Iraq, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion told reporters. "Over the next three years, we [Canada] are committed to investing approximately 1.6 billion [Canadian] dollars to respond to the crisis in Iraq and Syria and to address the impact on Jordan, Lebanon and the wider region," Dion stated on Monday. Dion explained that the plan will comprise of urgent humanitarian aid, long-term development and support for local governance designed to achieve stability in the region. On Monday, Canada's Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said Ottawa would finish conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State, which is also known as Daesh, within the next two weeks. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that Ottawa would continue supporting the US-led coalition against Daesh with aircraft for refuelling and surveillance purposes. Canada is a member of the coalition that has been launching airstrikes against Daesh in Syria and Iraq since 2014. North Korea has successfully put into orbit the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, the South Korean Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday. On Sunday, North Korea fired a long-range rocket to allegedly place a satellite into orbit, defying UN Security Council resolutions. According to the Yonhap news agency, there has been no signal received from the satellite so far. South Korean Defense Ministry also said that Pyongyang has not yet mastered the technology of returning intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) into the atmosphere. On Sunday, North Korea fired a long-range rocket to allegedly place a satellite into orbit, defying UN Security Council resolutions. "North Korea has not yet mastered the technology of returning ICBMs into the atmosphere," the ministry said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency. According to the ministry, the North Korean missile can cover the distance of 12,000 kilometers (7.500 miles). Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Trend: Only Russia and Iran act legitimately in Syria, and others, including the coalition led by the US, do not have legitimate reasons, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said, RIA Novosti reported. "It is impossible to talk about the legitimacy of anti-terrorist efforts in Syria of any other foreign country except for Russia and Iran," he said. "The formed US-led "anti-IS coalition" doesn't have this legitimacy because there's no UN Security Council sanction for this or an invitation from the legitimate Syrian government," said Syromolotov. He said that earlier the Russian side took the initiative to create a single, legitimate and broad international front against terrorism, a new coalition such as the anti-Hitler coalition. "Something is carried out in this regard; new, high-quality resolutions of the UN Security Council were adopted, work through the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) is continued, political talks over Syria are open, giving - despite all the problems and vicissitudes - some hope for a settlement," he noted. "But it is the beginning of the road, and the success is only possible with the availability of states' political will of the partnership and effective collaboration. The deficiency of this will still remains," added Syromolotov. Attacks by "homegrown" terrorists are among the most imminent security threats facing the United States in 2016, along with dangers posed overseas by Islamic State and cyber security concerns, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. In his annual assessment of threats to the United States, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned that fast-moving cyber and technological advances "could lead to widespread vulnerabilities in civilian infrastructures and U.S. government systems." Terrorism remains a top concern in President Barack Obama's last year in office, Clapper said in prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. Clapper outlined an array of other threats from Russia and North Korean nuclear ambitions to instability caused by the Syrian migrant crisis. "In my 50 plus years in the intelligence business I cannot recall a more diverse array of crises and challenges than we face today," Clapper said during the hearing. Islamic State poses the most danger among militant groups because of the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, Clapper said. It also has demonstrated "unprecedented online proficiencies," he said. While the United States "will almost certainly remain at least a rhetorically important enemy" for many foreign militant groups, "homegrown violent extremists ... will probably continue to pose the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016," he said, referring to Sunni Muslim jihadists. "The perceived success" of attacks by such extremists in Europe and San Bernardino, California, "might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," Clapper said. A married couple inspired by Islamist militants shot and killed 14 people in San Bernardino in December. General Vincent Stewart, director of Defense Intelligence Agency, told Senate Armed Services Committee that Islamic State aims to conduct more attacks in Europe during 2016 and has ambitions to attack inside the United States. The group is taking advantage of the refugee flow from Syria's civil war to hide militants among them and is adept at obtaining false documentation, Clapper said. Al Qaeda affiliates, most notably the one in Yemen known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, have proven resilient and are positioned to make gains this year despite pressure from Western counterterrorism operations, Clapper said. He cited threats from Russia's increasingly assertive international policies, saying "We could be into another Cold War-like spiral." U.S. intelligence assesses that North Korea is committed to developing a long-range nuclear armed missile that can reach the United States and has carried out some steps toward fielding a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system, Clapper said. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday there was a possibility that 600,000 refugees would soon arrive at the Turkish border, Anadolu Agency reported. Kurtulmus's remarks came during a press conference following a cabinet meeting. "It is estimated that a wave of 600,000 refugees may come to the Turkish border soon in a worst case scenario," he said. "Our first goal is to host these refugees outside of Turkey." The deputy prime minister said that Turkey was always on alert and cautious regarding the possibility of attacks that target its sovereignty and had carried out all required preparations. "Every single development in Syria concerns Turkey," he added. "We have a border of 911 km. Some people that come from 10,000 km, 4,000 km or 6,000 km away have a close interest in Syria. Moreover, they actively take part in the conflict in Syria. Furthermore, they participate, through proxies, to the crumbling of Syria." An attack by Russia and the Syrian regime in northwestern Syria has seen supply routes from Turkey to rebel-controlled areas cut, leaving towns and villages without vital aid. Earlier Monday, the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Germany and Turkey had taken in most refugees from the Syrian crisis, with Turkey now hosting more than 2.5 million Syrians. Germany took in 1.1 million refugees last year, the most of any EU nation. Last week, the EU approved a 3 billion euro ($3.33 billion) aid package for Turkey to help care for the world's largest refugee population. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Trend: Russia does not abandon the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov told RIA Novosti. Karlov said that it is difficult to predict further situation with the project amid the crisis in the Russia-Turkey relations. Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after Turkish Air Force jets shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber when it entered Turkish airspace Nov. 24. After the incident the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and on special economic measures in regard to Turkey. "Russia does not abandon the Turkish Stream project, but now it is time for Turkey to act," he said. "Following December 1, 2014, when a memorandum was signed on this project, we rapidly fulfilled our work, but faced with the unwillingness of the Turkish partners to take actions" "The Turkish side failed to start negotiations on the intergovernmental agreement in 2015 due to the tense political situation, two parliamentary elections in Turkey," he said. "It is very difficult to predict the further situation with the project in current conditions. So, first we are waiting for the Turkish side to come to its senses and do everything it must do for the normalization of bilateral relations." He reminded about Russia's position, which sees Turkey issuing apology for the incident with the Su-24 bomber, the punishment of those responsible and compensation for the damage caused to Russia are the conditions for the normalization of relations with Turkey. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu has compared Russia's actions in Syria with military operations in Afghanistan, the Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported Feb. 9. He said that sooner or later, the forces that carry out military operations in Syria, will leave it in the same manner as they previously left Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late December 1979 in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War (1978-92) and remained in Afghanistan until mid-February 1989. Despite having failed to implement a sympathetic regime in Afghanistan, in 1988 the Soviet Union signed an accord with the US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and agreed to withdraw its troops. The Soviet withdrawal was completed on Feb. 15, 1989, and Afghanistan returned to nonaligned status. The invasion of Afghanistan claimed the lives of at least 15,000 Soviet soldiers, mostly conscripts in their late teens or early 20s, and left tens of thousands wounded and psychologically traumatized. Davutoglu said that Turkey has evidence that Russian Air Force bombed the positions of moderate Syrian opposition. "Russia, Iran and the Lebanese "Hezbollah" (a Shi'a Islamist militant group and political party) are responsible for the death of the civilian population in Syria," Davutoglu said. He also noted that a new wave of refugees awaits Turkey as a result of Russian military operations in Syria. Currently, Turkey is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees on its territory. The Syrian refugee camps in the country accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest of them are spread across the provinces and cities of Turkey. In Istanbul alone, there are currently 40,000 refugees from Syria. Ankara has so far spent $8 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees. Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9 Trend: US ambassador in Ankara John Bass has been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tuesday midday over "support" remarks by a State Department spokesman concerning the terrorist organization PKK's Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Anadolu reported. According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Foreign Ministry deputy undersecretary Umit Yalcin expressed Ankara's uneasiness regarding Monday's press briefing in which spokesman John Kirby said: "We don't, as you know, recognize the PYD as a terrorist organization." Turkey, a NATO ally of the U.S., designates the group a terrorist entity as it does the PKK. The Turkish government had also recently announced its opposition to see the PYD participate in the Geneva peace talks. Kirby's comments follow remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who voiced concerns about U.S. support for the People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the PYD. "Kurdish fighters have been some of the most successful in going after Daesh inside Syria. We have provided a measure of support, mostly through the air and that support will continue," added Kirby. "The PYD, controlled by the Qandil Mountain [where the PKK has established its headquarters since it retreated from Turkey] is supported and defended [by western powers that] ignore the YPG's ethnic cleansing activities in the region, terrorist actions, [and] cooperation with the current [Bashar al Assad's] regime," Erdogan said Saturday at the World Tourism Forum in Istanbul. Blasting Washington's characterization of the PYD as a "reliable partner" in the fight against Daesh, Erdogan urged the U.S. to show preference to its NATO ally Turkey rather than the PYD. Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said allied and friendly nations should distinguish terrorist organizations from states in their fight against Daesh in Syria. "The U.S. needs to make a decision: Does it choose us as a partner or terrorist organizations?" he said in a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Budapest. China to Build Naval Outpost in Djibouti to Help Peacekeeping Fleets Djibouti President Omar Guelleh speaks before the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York in Sept. 2015. (Photo : REUTERS) China will soon start building its first overseas naval logistics support outpost in the Horn of Africa to help Chinese peacekeeping fleets, the foreign ministry told China Daily on Thursday, Feb. 4. The ministry made the remarks after senior Djibouti officials and Chinese experts reacted to some media reports about the outpost. Advertisement A report by Reuters quoted Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh on Wednesday, Feb. 3, as saying that China was expected to start work on the facility soon. The foreign ministry said that in recent years, China has sent escort fleets which experienced difficulties in the Gulf of Alden and Somalia, affecting the "rest and reorganization of servicemen and the supply of oil." "It (the outpost) is essential to implement highly efficient logistical support," the ministry added. According to the report, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed that China and Djibouti reached an agreement on the outpost in December. Countries such as the United States and France have long established their military bases and support facilities in Djibouti, the report said. Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told Reuters, "We understand that some Western countries have worries about China's willingness to have military outposts outside of China." He said that Western countries should not be concerned. Djibouti, a pivotal country in the Horn of Africa between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, is a key transfer stop for international humanitarian missions, including those of the United Nations. According to Yin Zhuo, director of the People's Liberation Army Navy's Expert Consultation Committee, a Chinese fleet patrolling waters in the region has to feed about 800 staff members every day and there is a huge demand for food and water supplies for a single mission, which lasts on average for 120 days. Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said Djibouti is one of the closest major ports to Somalia and its peaceful environment is ideal for China's support facility. Zhang said the outpost that will be built there is designed to provide food, water and oil, totally different from U.S. military bases, which supply weaponry. The report said that Djibouti's strategic importance and logistical convenience were highlighted last year when Chinese citizens evacuated from Yemen used it as a transit point. During his meeting with Djibouti President Guelleh in Johannesburg in December, President Xi Jinping expressed his appreciation of Djibouti's support for the Chinese peacekeeping fleets and in evacuating Chinese citizens from Yemen last year. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President Jin Liqun speaks at a news conference during the bank's launching in Beijing on Jan. 17, 2016. (Photo : REUTERS) The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has announced on Friday, Feb. 5, the appointment of five vice presidents with work experience in both developed and emerging economies as well as multilateral institutions, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Advertisement In a press release issued by the AIIB, one of the new appointees includes Danny Alexander, who was chief secretary to the U.K. Treasury from 2010 to 2015, and now vice president and corporate secretary of the new development bank. The report also identified Kyttack Hong, chairman and CEO of the Korea Development Bank, who will serve as vice president and chief risk officer. D.J. Pandian, who has extensive experience and career spanning 30 years with the Indian Administrative Services, was appointed as the bank's chief investment officer. The bank also picked Joachim von Amsberg, currently vice president of development finance at the World Bank, to serve as the AIIB's vice president of policy and strategy. Luky Eko Wuryanto, who has served in various senior positions in the Indonesian government for 20 years, was also appointed by the AIIB as vice president and chief administration officer. AIIB President Jin Liqun, former vice finance minister of China, said the leadership team is "an exceptionally strong and committed group who will bring wide and varied experience and a wealth of expertise that will serve the bank well." China proposed the creation of the AIIB with the aim to support infrastructure projects in Asia. The bank has 57 prospective founding members and has an authorized capital of $100 billion. The bank was formally established in Beijing in Dec. 2015 and started operation in January. The first elected chairman of the AIIB board of governors was Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei. A Reuters report said that the AIIB will start operations in the second quarter of 2016 and is expected to lend $10 billion to $15 billion a year for the first five or six years. "We already have a very good pipeline of co-financing projects (with other international development banks) and standalone projects," Jin Liqun told the media during the launching in January, adding that although loans would be made in U.S. dollars, the bank may raise capital in other currencies including the euro and yuan. As the Year of Monkey approaches, the Beijing Capital Museum is presenting a special monkey-themed exhibition that decodes the cultural roots of monkey in traditional Chinese culture. The exhibit, Monkey King is Coming (Da Sheng Lai Ye), will showcase more than 40 antique collections, including paintings, calligraphy, stamps, utensils and artwork, and 12 classic Monkey King pictures based on the great Chinese novel "Journey to the West." Advertisement "Each year we present the public a special show featuring one particular zodiac creature and this time its the monkey," said Yang Dandan, press officer for the Beijing Capital Museum. "Cultural heritage and traditions encoded in the Year of the Monkey will be interpreted and highlighted." According to Mu Hongli, the exhibition's designer, the exhibits are arranged in three sections that represent the monkey's nature, divinity and humanity, which are closely tied with the Monkey King figure in traditional culture. Multimedia presentations with animation and music are part of the show as is an interactive section that gets visitors close to monkey culture. The exhibition opens on Tuesday and will last until March 13. Another four major exhibitions are to be expected in the Capital Museum in 2016, with rare national treasures displayed to the public for the first time. They are the special exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the Fu Hao Tomb (Fu Hao, wife of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty, who died in 1192 B.C.); an exhibition on the three capitals in the Yuan Dynasty (A.D.1271-1368); a show of the "Eight Palace Handicrafts" (royal artworks and handicrafts in the Qing Dynasty, 1636-1912); and a special exhibition on the Forbidden City's Hall of Mental Cultivation (the royal hall where emperors worked and lived in Qing Dynasty). Credit: China Daily Are we to return to the practices of Goebbels, where if you repeat a lie sufficiently it becomes a truth? Shoukry asked Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said Monday in an interview with Foreign Policy that the circulated figure of 40,000 political prisoners in Egypt is a lie. Shoukry--in Washington since Sunday for a three-day visit--dismissed criticism of arrests made by Egyptian security forces following Morsi's ouster, saying the figure was repeatedly reported until it became regarded as a fact. This figure, which has been reported by Human Rights Watch and a number of media outlets, comes from a report by The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, which claims that politically-motivated arrests and criminal charges in Egypt numbered at over 40,000 people as of May 2014. "Are we to return to the ideologies and the practices of Goebbels, where he says that if you repeat a lie sufficiently it becomes a truth? he asked, in reference to the renowned Nazi propagandist. It has been an onslaught of 40,000, repeated and repeated and repeated in the public domain until it has been accepted as a matter of fact. Shoukry also said that the West has failed to support Cairo in its fight against Islamist extremists who intensified their activities following Morsi's ouster. Egypt has been treated as a culprit, and not as a victim, Shoukry said. When we have seen terror operations in other areas, there was a rush to solidarity. You would have thought that similar solidarity would have been shown to Egypt, especially as it goes through a very difficult stage. Shoukry also rejected allegations of involvement by security forces in the death of Italian student Giulio Regeni, whose body was found with signs of torture last week after he disappeared in Cairo on 25 January. Shoukry added that journalists reporting on the story are jumping to conclusions and speculation without any authoritative information or authentication of what is being alluded to, Shoukry told Foreign Policy, while describing Regenis killing as a "crime." The senior diplomat held talks Monday with leading US Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein to examine ways to bolster ties between the two countries, his ministry has said. The two officials also reviewed recent developments in regional issues, including the Syrian crisis and Egypt's efforts in forming a national unity government in Libya, a ministry spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. Shoukry kicked off his three-day visit to Washington on Sunday, holding meetings with senior government officials and experts at US think tanks. The foreign minister also gave interviews to several media outlets in which he dismissed allegations of human rights violations in Egypt. Shoukry also met late on Monday with members of the Council on Foreign Relations and business leaders to address Egypt's efforts to revive its battered economy and draw foreign investments. Shoukry arrived in the United States after leaving Geneva, where he took part in Syrian peace talks that were suspended amid a Russian-backed assault on the rebel stronghold of Aleppo. Search Keywords: Short link: Tuesday is the last day of meetings to discuss the technical offer by the two French consultancy firms The Ethiopian Renaissance dam tripartite technical committee will present a report of the French consultancies' technical offer to the irrigation ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Ethiopia Wednesday. Tuesday marks the third and last day of the committee's meetings in Khartoum. The tripartite committee has been discussing the joint technical offer by French consultancy firms BRL and Artelia. Egypt had said the three countries received the technical offer in January to be studied and discussed by the tripartite committee. A Sudanese official told MENA Monday that the first day's meetings ended on a positive note and that there was mutual understanding between the three parties about common interests. The contracts with the two consultancies that will conduct impact studies of the dam should be signed early February, Egypt's foreign ministry said last month. The technical committee was tasked in 2013 to choose consultancy firms to conduct a study on the social, economic, and environmental impact of the dam and a study on the dam's hydraulic effect on downstream countries Egypt and Sudan. Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian minister Nabila Makram said that the four Saudi nationals involved in the incident were arrested pending investigations An Egyptian citizen was killed after being run over following a fight with Saudi nationals in Riyadh, Egypt's immigration and expatriate affairs minister Nabila Makram said on Tuesday. Makram said in a press statement that Saudi officials confirmed that four of those involved in the killing of Egyptian national Walid Hamdy El-Sayed were arrested, adding that an initial report by the Saudi officials said that the cause of death was 'intentional running over. She added that she has sent a representative from the General Union of Egyptians Abroad to Saudi Arabia in order to regularly update the ministry. The Egyptian minister added that an autopsy is currently being carried out to ensure that those involved are punished according to conclusions from ongoing investigations by the Saudi authorities. The reasons behind the brawl remain unclear. A video showing El-Sayed's corpse on the ground went viral on social media. In November 2015 an Egyptian citizen was killed following a fight between a group of Egyptians and Kuwaitis when one of the Kuwaitis ran him over multiple times with his car. Kuwaiti police said in November that they arrested fourteen people over the incident, including the perpetrator who ran him over and was charged with murder. The status and outcome of his trial is unknown. Search Keywords: Short link: Siam is one of 28 public figures appointed to Egypt's parliament by El-Sisi last month High-profile MP Sirri Siam said on Monday that he has handed in his resignation to parliament, as there is an atmosphere trying to make [him] unable to fulfill the parliamentary role. Siam, who handed in his resignation on Sunday, told Ahram Arabic website that some MPs who are considered [legal] experts were chosen to work on drafting the by-laws of the parliament, but [he] wasnt among those parliamentarians. Siam is the former chairman of the Court of Cassation and the Higher Council for Judges and one of 28 public figures appointed to Egypt's parliament by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi last month. If I cant be used in the legislative field, how can I be beneficial [to the parliament]? Siam asked. The parliament will vote in the upcoming sessions on Siams resignation, as two thirds of the members must approve it. Siam added that his resignation is final, and he will not be present in the parliaments hearings and activities starting 7 February, the date on which he submitted his resignation. He concluded by wishing luck to all parliamentarians in their national role for the good of Egypt and its people, saying that he would go back to writing and giving lectures. Search Keywords: Short link: The Egyptian foreign minister says that General Haftar's forces are an important component in the battle against terrorists in Libya Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday that the international community should recognise Libya's General Khalifa Haftar and his forces in their fight against "terrorists" in the country. In an interview with the Washington Post, Shoukry stated that Haftar's forces, which Egypt officially supports, are an important component in the battle against the expansion of Islamist militants. The role of General Haftar who controls militia forces in the northeastern part of Libya in the coming National Accord government has been a subject of controversy, with Egypt promoting him as a nominee for defence minister while the Islamist factions in the UN brokered government reject his presence. General Haftar visited Egypt late January where he held a series of meetings with Egyptian officials over the situation in Libya, with a focus on the Islamic State militant group in the country. The Egyptian foreign minister also added that the international community should not intervene militarily in Libya unless a unified Libyan government is formed and requests military assistance. Shoukry is currently visiting Washington where he has held talks with the administration of US President Barack Obama and officials in Congress. On the situation in Syria, Shoukry stressed that the focus by the international community on the fate and role of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the country's political transition has not led to any positive result. We have tried to insulate ourselves from this discussion, he told the Washington Post. Search Keywords: Short link: High-profile political analyst and MP Emad Gad announced that he has officially asked parliament to approve changing his political affiliation or resign from the House Egyptian MP Emad Gad announced Tuesday that he has officially informed parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al of his resignation from the Free Egyptians Party and that he wants to act as an independent MP. Gad, who was elected to parliament as a member of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and is a high-profile political analysts affiliated with Al-Ahram Press Organisation, said that he personally turned in his resignation to Abdel-Al over the failure of his party to pass on his request to the parliament speaker. Gad said that the "parliament speaker should put my resignation from the Free Egyptians Party to a vote when parliament meets in a plenary session next Saturday and MPs should decide whether I can become an independent MP or lose my parliamentary membership altogether." According to Article 6 of the law on the exercise of political rights (92/2015), MPs who won seats in parliamentary elections as party-based or independent candidates should retain their political affiliations in parliament. If anMP decides to abandon their party affiliation, they would lose their parliamentary membership upon the approval of a two-thirds majority of MPs. Gad told reporters that "if parliament votes down my request to become an independent MP, I would lose my parliamentary membership and that is okay by me." The Free Egyptians Party, founded by business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, holds the largest number of seats for any party in Egypt's parliament with 65 seats. Gad, who ran as a candidate for the party in Cairo, fell out with the Free Egyptians Party early last month after it selected its candidate Alaa Abed from Giza governorate to be its official spokesman in parliament. Gad accused Abed of refusing to allow him to run for the post of deputy speaker as the party's candidate. The party decided to freeze Gad's membership on 11 January after he chose to run for the deputy speaker's post as an independent, where he won only five votes. Some informed sources say the Support Egypt parliamentary bloc will urge Gad and the Free Egyptians Party to mend fences and focus on their performance in parliament. Gad's move came a few hours after Sirri Siam, an appointed MP, submitted his resignation from parliament. Siam accused the parliament speaker and other leading House officials of doing their best to sideline and marginalise him. Search Keywords: Short link: In a meeting with Libya's head of parliament, Sisi stressed the importance of lifting the arms embargo on Libya so as to help in the country's fight against terrorism Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Tuesday with Libyan parliament head Aguila Saleh to stress Egypt's support of the UN-backed political roadmap in Libya and the importance of having a unified government. In December 2015, rival Libyan politicians signed a deal on the formation of a unity government, despite opposition on both sides, in what the United Nations described as a "first step" towards ending the country's political crisis. Four years after Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi's fall, Libya is deeply fractured, with a self-declared government in Tripoli and an internationally recognised one in the east each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militias. El-Sisi told Saleh that Egypt is willing to provide support to Libya in working towards establishing stability and security, Egyptian presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef said in a statement. Saleh expressed in the meeting Libya's keenness to coordinate with Egypt in moving ahead with the political process in Libya. El-Sisi also stressed on the importance of lifting the arms embargo on Libya so as to help in the country's fight against terrorism. Search Keywords: Short link: The officer was found guilty of torturing to death veterinarian Afifi Hassan in Egypt's Ismailia governorate An Egyptian criminal court sentenced a police officer in Ismailiya to eight years in prison on charges of killing a veterinarian in the governorate of Ismailia late last year, state news agency MENA reported. The sentence can still be appealed. In November 2015, the interior ministry suspended officer Mohamed Ibrahim after he was accused of torturing veterinarian Afify Hassan. Forensic reports showed that the torture of Hassan led to his death. Torture is outlawed by Egypt's 2014 constitution, with Article 52 stating that "torture in all its forms is a crime without a statute of limitations." Although human rights groups say that torture remains widespread in Egyptian police stations and prisons, the interior ministry has repeatedly insists it does not tolerate any misconduct by officers. Search Keywords: Short link: An international human rights group says Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past few weeks. The Human Rights Watch report, released Monday, says that internationally banned cluster munitions were used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since Jan. 26. HRW says the attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens. HRW says the International Syria Support Group that will meet in Germany on Thursday "should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority." The ISSG includes 17 regional and world powers trying to end Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011. Search Keywords: Short link: Iraq said Tuesday that its forces have completely retaken areas surrounding Ramadi from ISIS group and reopened the road linking the city to Baghdad. Iraq announced in late December the recapture of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province west of Baghdad, but daily fighting with ISIS militants continued for over a month on the city's eastern outskirts. Iraqi forces "were able to liberate areas east of Ramadi," including Sichariya, Juwaiba and Husaiba, the joint operations command said in a statement. With the latest advances, Ramadi and all its surrounding areas have been retaken from ISIS, the statement said. Iraqi forces "were also able to open the Ramadi-Baghdad road passing through Khaldiyah," it said, referring to a government-held area along the route. ISIS overran large areas of Iraq in June 2014, but security forces and allied tribesmen held out against the militants in parts of Ramadi as other areas of the country fell. ISIS overran Ramadi in May 2015 in an assault spearheaded by a wave of car and truck bombs, a major blow to Iraqi forces, which had been regaining ground from the militants in other provinces. But the capture of Ramadi was the last major advance by militants in Iraq, and Baghdad's forces slowly tightened the noose around it in the following months before moving into the city itself. ISIS still holds Fallujah, east of Ramadi, and Mosul, Iraq's second city that is located in the north. Iraq is deploying thousands of soldiers to an area southeast of Mosul for operations aimed at cutting supply lines linking it with areas farther south, which will set the stage for direct efforts to retake the city. Search Keywords: Short link: A car bomb struck a market in the north of the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, resulting in deaths and injuries, state television reported. "A terrorist car bomb exploded in the vegetable market in Masaken Barzeh in Damascus, causing deaths and injuries," a breaking news alert on state television said. There were no immediate details about the number of casualties in the blast. The explosion was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, which said it hit the garage of a police officer's club in the district. The monitor also reported dead and injured in the explosion but had no exact figure. Car bombs have been used regularly, often to devastating effect, in Syria's war. While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month. More than 260,000 people have died in Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. Search Keywords: Short link: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir named a new military chief of staff Tuesday as his forces battle rebels in the Jebel Marra area of the western Darfur region, the defence ministry said. Bashir issued decrees appointing "Lieutenant General Emadeddin Adawi to the post of joint chief of staff", the ministry said in a statement. Adawi takes over from Lieutenant-General Mustafa Obeid Salim, who held the post from 2013 in what is usually a four-year assignment. The decrees also appointed Lieutenant General Yahya Mohamed Khair as deputy chief-of-staff, as well as several other new nominations, but gave no reason for the changes. The reshuffle came as Sudanese troops fight rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdulwahid Nur in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to have fled the latest clashes, which flared on January 15. Ethnic insurgents in Darfur rebelled against Bashir's Arab-dominated regime in 2003 claiming they were being marginalised. Bashir unleashed a campaign to crush them and was indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges relating to the conflict that the United Nations says has cost around 300,000 lives. The military has also been battling the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011, and last March, Khartoum committed troops to join the Saudi-led coalition against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. Search Keywords: Short link: Scientists are analyzing a small blue object that plummeted from the sky and killed a man in southern India, after authorities said it was a meteorite. The object slammed into the ground at an engineering college over the weekend, shattering a water cooler and sending splinters and shards flying. Police say a bus driver standing nearby was hit by the debris and died while being taken to a hospital. College principal G. Bhaskar said he heard a loud thud from his office, where several window panes shattered when the object hit the ground. Local officials and scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Tuesday examined the 5-foot-wide (2-meter-wide) impact crater at the college near Vellore city, but said they had yet to determine whether the object was from outer space or possibly a passing airplane or man-made satellite. The hard, jagged object is dark blue and small enough to be held in a closed hand. "The object that police have recovered from the site would have to undergo chemical analysis" to confirm its origin, said the dean of the institute, Prof. G.C. Anupama. She said that while it was rare for meteors to reach the ground before burning up in the atmosphere, it happens. In February 2013, a large meteor was photographed streaking across the sky above the Siberian city of Chelyabinsk. Tamil Nadu's top elected official J. Jayalalithaa said Sunday that the bus driver had been killed by a meteorite and offered compensation to his family. Search Keywords: Short link: A planned British law to give spies and the police wide-ranging new surveillance powers is rushed, does not do enough to protect people's privacy and requires major change, a powerful committee of lawmakers said on Tuesday. The bill was unveiled in November after police and intelligence agencies warned they had fallen behind those they were trying to track, as advances in technology and the growth of services like Skype and Facebook increasingly put criminals beyond their reach. Critics say the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill would be the West's furthest-reaching surveillance law, while tech companies have warned it would damage their own security systems. It would force communications firms to collect and store vast reams of data about almost every click of British online activity. The bill would also oblige service providers to help intercept data and hack suspects' devices. "Overall, the privacy protections are inconsistent and in our view need strengthening," parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said in a report. "The draft bill appears to have suffered from a lack of sufficient time and preparation," it added, saying the bill adopted a "rather piecemeal approach" to privacy protection which it said should have formed the backbone to the measure. Debate about how to protect privacy while helping agencies operate in the digital age has raged since former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of mass surveillance by British and U.S. spies in 2013. The British bill, which comes before parliament later this year, is being watched closely by governments and tech companies around the world. Another parliamentary committee, set up specifically to scrutinise all aspects of the proposed bill such as its impact on encryption, is due to give its conclusions on Thursday. Prime Minister David Cameron's spokeswoman told reporters: "We will look at these reports and study them before looking again at our draft legislation and then coming forward with our final proposals." TechUK, a trade body representing more than 850 firms, said the intelligence committee had highlighted valid concerns. "Today's report ... again makes it clear that the Investigatory Powers Bill lacks clarity on fundamental issues, such as core definitions of key terms, encryption and equipment interference," said Antony Walker, techUK's deputy chief executive. Search Keywords: Short link: A senior Afghan Taliban member has died in Pakistan after an illness, militant sources said Tuesday, potentially embarassing Islamabad which denies harbouring the insurgent group's leadership on its soil. Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani, who was in his mid-fifties and a member of the group's Leadership Council, died of cancer on Monday night in a hospital in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, two senior Taliban sources told AFP. Rahmani rose to prominence as a jihadist during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and lost a leg during the conflict, according to a statement on the Taliban's website which confirmed his death but did not say where it happened. He was later appointed governor of Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland, when the militants ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, has long been rumoured to host the "Quetta Shura" or Quetta Leadership Council of the Taliban -- senior leaders who fled across the border to Pakistan after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistan, which was one of just three countries to recognise the Taliban during their period in power, denies the council's existence. A senior Taliban leader told AFP: "He died in Quetta late Monday night and today his body was moved to Afghanistan. The burial will probably take place in Kandahar." The source added: "He was a prominent figure in the Taliban leadership and there were some rumours he might soon announce his own splinter group." The dominant faction of the Taliban is led by Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who officially succeeded founder Mullah Omar. A major breakaway faction meanwhile is led by Muhammad Rasul, whose faction is seen by some analysts as closer to Iran. Rahmani's death in Pakistan, which was confirmed by another senior militant source, comes as the Taliban step up their attacks in an unprecedented winter surge a year after the withdrawal of NATO combat troops. Nine people were killed and eighteen injured in separate suicide attacks Monday, days after a fresh round of international talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving dialogue with the Islamist group. With neither side in the conflict seemingly able to accomplish a decisive victory, Kabul, regional powers and the United States have pinned their hopes on a peace settlement. On Saturday representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US announced that direct talks between Kabul and the Taliban were expected to take place by the end of the month. An earlier round of direct dialogue last July fell apart. Security analyst Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general, said the Afghan Taliban's presence in Pakistan was "an open secret and it seems to be getting confirmed and reconfirmed". He added that due to pressure from the country's powerful military, such news was routinely supressed in the Pakistani media. Search Keywords: Short link: Nigeria's intelligence agency on Tuesday said it had arrested a recruiter for the Islamic State group, as well as seven alleged members of the Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru. The announcement came nearly a year after the leader of Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to IS leader in Syria and Iraq, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Speculation has been rife since then on whether closer links would be forged between the two groups, with lawless Libya and the remote Sahel region pinpointed as a possible source of contact. The Department of State Services (DSS) said in an emailed statement that Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa was detained in the northern city of Kano on January 17. His arrest came after intelligence unveiled "his terrorist antecedents and covert drive to indoctrinate and recruit susceptible youths in the country," the statement read. The DSS described Yunusa as a "recruiter for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)" and said he was preparing to go to Libya to join an "ISIS terrorist training camp" with at least three others. The secret police said he told them two other Nigerians were already undergoing training in the north African country, which IS has increasingly targeted since the fall of Moamer Ghadafi in 2013. At least two others, including one from Niger, were "ISIS agents operating in Nigeria and the West African sub-region", funded by an IS "media expert" using international money transfers. Four others were arrested in Kano on January 22 "while migrating to Libya, with their immediate families, including infants, in a bid to join ISIS", the DSS said. Two students were arrested a week later, also in Kano, on suspicion of plotting "coordinated lone wolf attacks" on crowded civilian targets in Nigeria, it added. On Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group more ideologically aligned to Al-Qaeda, the DSS said it arrested seven alleged members in the northern state of Katsina on January 17. "This group was discovered in an active stage, as its members were already co-ordinating themselves for attacks in Katsina and Kano states, it added. Search Keywords: Short link: Writer and journalist Zeinab Abdelrazzak will discuss her newly published book on the life of the Lady of the Screen Faten Hamama, on Tuesday, 9 Feb at 6:00pm Writer and journalist Zeinab Abdelrazzak will discuss her newly released book "Faten Hamama," at Cairo International Book Fair, Main Hall, Tuesdsay at 6:00pm. The book, which was released from Dar El-Shorouk, is a documentation of the life of the famous Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, and includes several interviews that Abdelrazzak had with her and were never published during Hamama's life upon her request. Faten Hamama passed away on 17 January 2015 and was one of Egypts most prominent actresses in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Hamama was married to the Egyptian film star Omar Sharif. They starred in several movies together and became one of Egypt's most famous celebrity couples, before divorcing in the mid-1970s. Omar Sharif passed away shortly after Hamama, on 10 July 2015. Programme: Tuesday, 9 February, 6:00pm Cairo International Book Fair's Main Hall Fair Grounds, Nasr City Search Keywords: Short link: The names of the shortlisted authors were revealed this morning in a press conference in Muscat and included one Egyptian writer, two Palestinians, one Syrian, one Lebanese, and a Moroccan novelist The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), also known as the Arabic Booker, has announced the six shortlisted authors for the 2016 prize along with the members of the judging panel. The shortlist writers are Moroccan Tareq Bakari, Palestinian Rabai Al-Madhoun, Egyptian Mohamed Rabie, Palestinian Mahmoud Shukair, Syrian Shahla Ujayli, and Lebanese George Yaraq. The names were revealed by a judging panel chaired by Emirati poet and academic Amina Thiban at a press conference hosted by The Cultural Club in Muscat, Oman. Here is the full 2016 shortlist: Title Author Country of origin Publisher Numedia Tareq Bakari Morocco Dar al-Adab Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba Rabai Al-Madhoun Palestine Maktabat Kul Shee Mercury Mohamed Rabie Egypt Dar Tanweer, Lebanon Praise for the Women of the Family Mahmoud Shukair Palestine Hachette Antoine A Sky Close to Our House Shahla Ujayli Syria Difaf Publications The Guard of the Dead George Yaraq Lebanon Difaf Publications This years six novels are wide-ranging in subject matter, setting, and style. They include: The story of a Moroccan intellectual searching for identity through a series of relationships (Numedia); a pioneering novel, written in four parts each representing a concerto movement on the subject of Palestinian life both in occupation and exile (Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba); a dystopian imagining of the counter revolution" in Egypt, set in a nightmarish future where the police battle against a mysterious occupying power (Mercury); the story of the Al-Abd Al-Lat tribe, former Bedouins whose women play a vital role in integrating the family into urban Palestinian society during the 1950s (Praise for the Women of the Family); memories of Syrias past and times of tolerance and simple pleasures from the viewpoint of a Syrian woman now living in exile in Amman after her town, Raqqa, is occupied by ISIS (A Sky Close to Our House) and, finally, a new perspective on the Lebanese Civil War through the eyes of a hospital undertaker, whose former life as a mercenary puts his life in danger (The Guard of the Dead). One previously shortlisted author, Rabai Al-Madhoun, makes the list. His novel The Lady of Tel Aviv was shortlisted in 2010 and has been translated into English by Telegram Books. One debut novel, Numedia, also makes the list. Two of the shortlisted authors have participated in the IPAF nadwa, Mohamed Rabie in 2012 and Shahla Ujayli in 2014. Ujayli worked on what is now the fifth chapter of her shortlisted book, A Sky Close to Our House, during the workshop and credits the experience with helping her move forward with the novel. The 2016 judges are: Amina Thiban (Chair), an Emirati poet and academic specialising in literature; Sayyed Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist and poet, who is currently editor of Al-Qahira newspaper; Mohammed Mechbal, a Moroccan academic and critic; Munir Mujic, a Bosnian academic, translator, and researcher and Abdo Wazen, a Lebanese poet, critic, and editor-in-chief of the cultural pages of Al-Hayat newspaper. The novels selected were chosen from 159 entries from 18 countries, all published within the last 12 months. Amina Thiban, Chair, comments on the shortlist: The process of choosing the shortlist was a pleasure and a challenge in equal measure. This years list features a number of experimental works, which try out new ground as they explore the experiences of the individual and the larger concerns of the Arab world, from personal issues to social, political and historical ones. The shortlisted novels are characterised by their innovative narrative forms and styles, which both question the heritage of the Arabic novel and address the tragedy of the present day Middle East. This is the ninth year of the prize, which is recognised as the leading prize for literary fiction in the Arab world. Professor Yasir Suleiman CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees, added: This is a strong list, one that reflects the energy of the Arab literary scene as it marches forward to reach an ever-expanding readership. Through their subjects, well-crafted characters and technical ingenuity, these novels transcend their local sources to reach distant shores where the human spirit is the ultimate champion. IPAF will take place in further activity in Oman in late February, when 2013 winner Saud Alsanousi will take part in the Muscat International Book Fair and an event with students at Sultan Qaboos University. The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 26 April 2016, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. The six shortlisted finalists will receive $10,000, with a further $50,000 going to the winner. The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is an annual literary prize for prose fiction in Arabic. It is run with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in the UAE. Search Keywords: Short link: Comment Policy Advance Indiana allows you to post comments via this blog subject to the guidelines set forth herein. You understand that any comments you post are your own and are not those of Advance Indiana. You further understand that Advance Indiana is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced in your comments. Unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive, or otherwise objectionable comments are not acceptable. If you think any content posted or otherwise included in Advance Indiana violates the guidelines set forth herein, then please alert Advance Indiana. Advance Indiana reserves the right to pre-screen, edit, and remove any post as it deems appropriate. You specifically acknowledge that Advance Indiana has no obligation to display any post submitted or otherwise provided via Advance Indiana. The three accused filed a petition challenging their 12-day custody and said they were being subjected to third-degree torture. #producer prices Producer prices bounce higher in Sept. amid inflation woes South Korea's producer prices bounced back in September following the first downturn in about two years a month earlier, as high energy and farming bills drove up costs, central ba... As we all know, videogame adaptations have a chequered history. Actually no, it's not chequered - it's been roundly crap. Although some have become so-bad-they're-good entries (looking at you, Street Fighter), others have just so clearly missed the mark that you'd forget they had anything to do with the source material (looking RIGHT at you, Hitman). Anyway, that hopefully will change in 2016 with both Warcraft and Assassin's Creed in the works and looking pretty damn good at this point. Michael Fassbender was recently interviewed on the topic of his project, Assassin's Creed, and had more than a few exciting things to say about the film adaptation. "Ive always thought about The Matrix when weve approached this. This idea of DNA memory elevates it from a basic fantasy genre (piece), because you have something an audience can actually believe in. Then the journey becomes so much more elevated, because youre on board in a different way." As we reported a while back, the producers are likening Assassin's Creed's cinematography and feel to Batman Begins and Blade Runner, which again has us worked up even more. That should come as a surprise as Justin Kurzel, the director behind last year's beautifully-shot adaptation of Macbeth, is working his magic on this. As well as this, Assassin's Creed appears to eschewing CGI effects and the like for more practical sets and real stunts. As Fassbender describes it, there are "stunt guys jumping across buildings in Valletta. Weve got (stunt performer) Damian Walters doing a 120-foot leap of faith, without any rope, into a bag, so its pretty incredible to see." There's been no early screenings yet and, by the looks of things, the film is probably still in production. It'll have stiff competition in its December 21st release date as it's squaring up to Star Wars: Rogue One, which is released a week earlier. If Assassin's Creed, along with Warcraft, do the box-office business that the studios are hoping for, we'll see a ton of videogame adaptations go into production. Avi Arad, the producer behind X-Men, Spider-Man and, uh, Blade: Trinity, has been trying to put together a Metal Gear Solid film for some time now. If he can demonstrate to major studios that there's potential in giving videogame films a shot, we could see a Metal Gear Solid film in the next couple of years. Here's hoping. Via Empire As this controversy surrounding this year's Academy Awards wages on, one of the films that's been overlooked to a degree is Creed. Directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone, the film's had an exceptional run with both audiences and critics alike (we gave it four stars, FYI). Despite all this, however, the film was largely overlooked when it came to the nominations, only scoring a Best Supporting Actor gong for Stallone. The #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which has seen Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Spike Lee lead a boycott of the ceremony, has cast a cloud of this year's Oscars. For his part, Stallone acknowledged that it was an issue. According to Stallone, he asked director Ryan Coogler for direction on the subject, with Coogler telling him to "go and represent the film... We feel you deserve it, but eventually things will change.' I said, 'If you want me to go I'll go. If you don't, I won't. And he said, 'No, I want you to go.' That's the kind of guy he is." Stallone pretty much has the Best Supporting Actor gong locked up, as there's nobody else in that category who can touch him. As for Ireland's efforts, Room is a strong contender in the Best Picture category as is Lenny Abrahamson for Best Director. Saoirse Ronan is in the running for Best Actress, however it's very likely that Brie Larson will snag it here. You can read our full list of predictions right over here and we'll have a full breakdown of the night's events on February 29th. Via SkyNews Tickets for one of the biggest gigs of the summer - Bruce Springsteen at Croke Park - go on sale on Thursday, and there's bound to be a mad scramble at 9am. Aiken Promotions have issued an information notice for those who plan on buying tickets - including ticket limits and accessibility options - which you can read below. They also reveal that there will be no support - which was expected since Springsteen is known for his long sets. As we told you last week, if the first gig sells out, a provision has been made for a second date on Sunday, May 29th. **** BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND THE RIVER TOUR CROKE PARK DUBLIN Friday 27 May 2016 Please note the following very important information for patrons attending the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concert at Croke Park: - Ticketmaster is the official ticket seller for this event. - Beware of bogus sellers and tour operators. - Tickets limited to SIX per person. - Vertigo sufferers should buy seats in the Lower Stand (section 301-336) or standing on the pitch. - Do not purchase tickets from unofficial outlets. - Patrons requiring accessible seating and wheelchair users should call 0818 903 001 and select option 2. - Under 14s are not allowed on the pitch either accompanied or unaccompanied. - All under 16s attending the concert must be accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian. - Please note Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are due on stage at 7pm. There is no support. - Ticket prices: Seated: 65.45 / 116 / 131. GA: 98.50 TICKETS FOR BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND AT CROKE PARK ON SALE THIS THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY AT 9AM FROM:- All Ticketmaster Outlets Nationwide 24hr Credit Card Bookings:- 0818 719300 (ROI) 0844 277 4455 (NI) Book on line www.ticketmaster.ie Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true" We still can't believe the great Terry Wogan has left this mortal coil, he truly was a legend of broadcasting at home and in the UK and did his country, and the people of Limerick, proud. Turns out though, like many starting off in broadcasting, Wogan had to suffer some rejection first. It's recently emerged (by RadioTimes) that the one and only Sir David Attenborough, who was the Controller of Programmes at the BBC back in 1965, was one such person to turn him down. At just 27-years-old, Wogan wrote to the BBC looking to be considered for work, in what we have to say, was a very charming letter. He was working with RTE at the time and said he was looking to "extend the sphere of my television activities." Going on to say; "At 27, I am Senior Announcer with, among other duties, responsibility for programme production and presentation, and announcer training. "While fully realising that since you are familiar with neither my name nor my work, the above litany can carry very little weight, I am hopeful that you are receptive enough of new ideas and personalities to give me the opportunity of substantiating these claims." How well-worded is that? We'd have hired him in a heartbeat! However, unfortunately for Terry, there was another BBC presenter working as a chief announcer at the time, a Dublin fella called Denis Tuohy, leading Attenbourough to reply; "Thank you for your letter. I am afraid that, at the moment, we do not have any vacancy for anyone with your particular talents and experience - and as one of our chief announcers on BBC 2 is also from Dublin, we would feel, other things being equal, that we should look for someone from a different part of the country, if we were to make an additional appointment." He did add though; "However, I will pass on your letter to the Head of Presentation and if a suitable vacancy should occur he will get in touch with you directly." It's not bad as rejection letters go in fairness, and as it turns out, Attenborough doesn't even recall the letter. That's hardly surprising though, we're sure jobs in the BBC were in as high demand then as they are now. He told RadioTimes; "Good Lord! He wrote asking me for work? I dont remember this at all." While the BBC have said that Attenborough defends his decision; "I think it was a perfectly reasonable answer. To have had two Irishmen presenting on BBC Two would have looked ridiculous. "This is no comment whatsoever on Terry Wogans talents. Its just that I couldnt have had two Irish presenters." It is totally a reasonable explanation, and we all know it worked out just fine for Wogan in the end, who went on to be offered a job presenting Midday Spin on the BBC Light Programme in 1966, which would lead him to his massively popular BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Still though, gas that two such legends of broadcasting had an interaction like this back in the day, 'ey? Tens of thousands of Syrians have been forced to escape Aleppo, the largest city in Syria before the war, following an offensive of regime forces and their allies on the ground and supported by Russian bombers in the air. The coordinated attack is focused on the eastern half of the city, which is still held by a coalition of rebel groups. While about 320,000 people are still believed to be in the city under continual bombardment, tens of thousands are gathered at Turkeys Oncupinar border crossing, which remained closed on Sunday (7 February). Although Turkey pledged to help the new wave of refugees, it had not opened the border for three consecutive days. The countrys Deputy Prime Minister, Numan Kurtulmus, said that Turkey has reached the limit of its capacity to absorb the refugees but in the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings or we will open our borders. The European Union has reminded Ankara that it has a legal duty for non-refoulement, to protect migrants in need of international protection, despite the fact that Brussels is concurrently trying to tame the largest influx of migrants into the bloc since World War II. The EU has provided Ankara with 3 billion in aid in return for its help in stopping the flow of new arrivals on its shores but EUs Frederica Mogherini reiterated that the money is provided precisely for the purpose of non-refoulement. It is unquestionable that people coming from inside Syria are Syrians in need of international protection, Mrs Mogherini stressed. German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara yesterday (8 February) to discuss the looming humanitarian catastrophe. The United Nations estimated on Friday (6 February) that around 40,000 people have already been displaced by the Aleppo siege. WPSU40 ESXX 290821 VORABINFORMATION UNWETTER vor SCHWEREM GEWITTER fur Kreis Esslingen gultig von: Sonntag, 29.05.2016 12:00 Uhr voraussichtlich bis: Montag, 30.05.2016 06:00 Uhr ausgegeben vom Deutschen Wetterdienst am: Sonntag, 29.05.2016 10:21 Uhr Ab Mittag kommen teilweise unwetterartige Gewitter auf. Dabei besteht ortlich Gefahr von heftigem Starkregen mit Mengen uber 25 Liter pro Quadratmeter in kurzer Zeit, Hagel mit Korndurchmesser um 3 cm und/oder groeren Hagelansammlungen und Sturmboen um 75 km/h. Am Abend und in der Nacht zum Montag schlieen sich die Gewitter voraussichtlich zu einem groeren Starkregengebiet zusammen. Gebietsweise konnen sich dann Mengen zwischen 25 und 40 Liter pro Quadratmeter innerhalb weniger Stunden summieren, lokal auch noch mehr. Dies ist ein erster Hinweis auf erwartete Unwetter. Er soll die rechtzeitige Vorbereitung von Schutzmanahmen ermoglichen. Die Prognose wird in den nachsten 12 S By Alwyn Scott (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) said that its A321neo jetliner completed its first flight on Tuesday, making the trip using engines supplied by CFM International after a last-minute switch from turbines supplied by rival Pratt & Whitney (UTX.N). Airbus' largest single-aisle aircraft took off from Hamburg, Germany, and landed safely five and a half hours later, Airbus said, an event marking the start of flight tests of the plane, a potent rival to Boeing's largest 737 MAX. The switch to CFM engines, known as the LEAP-1A and made by a joint venture of General Electric Co (GE.N) and Safran SA of France (SAF.PA), comes after a problem emerged with the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine that required extra time for cooling before restarting under some circumstances. Airbus declined to comment on the reason for switching to CFM engines for the initial A321neo flight. But industry experts considered the move unusual because the Pratt-engine version of the A321neo is due is to enter service before the version with CFM engines. Airbus said there's no change in plans for delivery, with the Pratt-equipped A321neo still expected to reach customers at the end of 2016, and the CFM-equipped version in early 2017. Pratt & Whitney noted that its Geared Turbofan is already carrying passengers on the smaller Airbus A320neo aircraft, the first version of which was delivered to Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) last month. The engine has met all of its performance targets, Pratt said. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Alan Crosby) Alaska Air Group's 4Q15 Revenues Climbed, Beating Estimates (Continued from Prior Part) Analyst estimates Following Alaska Air Groups (ALK) 4Q15 earnings release, analysts consensus sales estimates for 2016 have declined slightly. Sales are expected to grow by 4.73%, compared with the 5.7% growth expected earlier to $5,862 million. Alaska Air Groups EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) estimates remained unchanged. Its EBITDA is expected to grow by 10% to $1,775 million, and its EBITDA margins are expected to increase to 30% in 2016 and then decrease in 2017 and 2018. ALKs EPS (earnings per share) is expected to grow by 16.5% to $7.58, which is higher than the earlier 14% growth estimates. For 2017, analysts estimate that ALKs sales should increase by 6.6% to $6,250 million while its EBITDA is expected to grow by 2% to $1,811 million. Its EPS is expected to rise by ~4% to $7.86. Analyst recommendations Of the 14 analysts rating ALK stock, 57.1% (eight analysts) have a buy rating, 28.6% (four analysts) have a hold rating, and 14.3% (two analysts) have a sell rating. Target price The stocks consensus 12-month target price is $90.88, slightly lower than the $91.96 target price before the earnings release. This indicates a 24.7% return potential, thanks to the strong upside movement after the earnings release, versus an earlier 30% return potential. Analysts 12-month target prices for ALKs peers are as follows: American Airlines (AAL): $54.4 with 32.7% return potential Delta Air Lines (DAL): $65.79 with 35.5% return potential JetBlue Airways (JBLU): $29.21 with 34% return potential Southwest Airlines (LUV): $53.5 with 24.9% return potential Spirit Airlines (SAVE): $53.18 with 25.3% return potential United Continental (UAL): $77.38 with 65.6% return potential Alaska Air Group (ALK) forms 1.35% of the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETFs (IJK) portfolio. Next, we will wrap up this series by looking at ALKs valuation compared to its peers. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Luxembourg, 9 February 2016 - ArcelorMittal has published the convening notice for its Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders, which will be held on Thursday 10 March 2016 at 11:30am local time at the company`s registered office, 24-26 Boulevard d`Avranches, L-1160, in Luxembourg. The ArcelorMittal shareholders entitled to vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting will be those who are shareholders on the record date of 25 February 2016 at midnight (24:00 hours) Central European Time. The convening notice, voting forms and all other meeting documentation will be available on ArcelorMittal`s website http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/ under Investors - Equity Investors - Shareholders` meetings - Extraordinary General Meeting 10 March 2016, from 9 February 2016. Shareholders may obtain further information at ArcelorMittal`s registered office, by calling +352 4792 3198, sending a fax to +352 26 48 19 95 or +44 20 7629 7993, or emailing privateinvestors@arcelormittal.com About ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal is the world`s leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 19 countries. Guided by a philosophy to produce safe, sustainable steel, we are the leading supplier of quality steel in the major global steel markets including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with world-class research and development and outstanding distribution networks. Through our core values of sustainability, quality and leadership, we operate responsibly with respect to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and the communities in which we operate. For us, steel is the fabric of life, as it is at the heart of the modern world from railways to cars and washing machines. We are actively researching and producing steel-based technologies and solutions that make many of the products and components people use in their everyday lives more energy efficient. We are one of the world`s five largest producers of iron ore and metallurgical coal and our mining business is an essential part of our growth strategy. With a geographically diversified portfolio of iron ore and coal assets, we are strategically positioned to serve our network of steel plants and the external global market. While our steel operations are important customers, our supply to the external market is increasing as we grow. Story continues In 2015, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $63.6 billion and crude steel production of 92.5 million tonnes, while own iron ore production reached 62.8 million tonnes. ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS). For more information about ArcelorMittal please visit: http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/ Contact information ArcelorMittal Investor Relations Europe +35247923198 Americas +13128993985 Retail +35247923198 SRI +442075431123 Bonds/Credit +33171921026 Contact information ArcelorMittal Corporate Communications E-mail: press@arcelormittal.com Phone: +442076297988 ArcelorMittal Corporate Communications Sophie Evans Paul Weigh +442032142882 +442032142419 France Image 7 Sylvie Dumaine / Anne-Charlotte Creach +33153707470 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: ArcelorMittal S.A. via GlobeNewswire HUG#1984556 byyyii el chapo Prior to Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmans brazen jailbreak in July 2015, Mexican federal officials allowed a private company to connect a geolocation-monitoring bracelet to him. But that company was never contracted to work for the government and that bracelet was never watched. A report by Mexican periodical Reforma was unable to find definitive answers about who authorized the device and who monitored it, which suggests the possibility that it was another element of the kingpin's escape plan. "Some high officials in the federal government consider that, because of the grade of precision in the digging and the excavation, Reforma concludes, the tunnel through which El Chapo escaped could not have been constructed without the help of geolocation device. el chapo tunnel Pilot program Judicial documents seen by Reforma indicate that the bracelet Guzman was wearing the night of his escape, July 11, was never monitored by the National Center for Security and Investigations (Cisen), the federal police, or the office of Prevention and Social Readaptation (OADPRS). One of the top officials responsible for monitoring Guzman from the control center at Altiplano prison told the Attorney General's investigators that his office had received the equipment needed to monitor the bracelet, but never used it, according to Reforma. After Guzmans escape, the Attorney Generals investigations office interviewed Enrique Angulo Cervera, the adjunct director of informatics, material resources, and services for OADPRS, who said the monitoring system was installed by Mexican company Systemtech Sistemas Tecnologicos as a pilot project in the Altiplano control center, which was run by the federal police, in November 2014. Because it was a pilot program, there was no contract with the company that made it, Angulo told investigators. The aim was that those responsible for the monitoring [could] evaluate the functionality and convenience of the service, Angulo said. Story continues Altiplano Mexican Prison El Chapo Guzman Angulo also pointed investigators to the office within the federal police that is by law responsible for implementing and administering technological systems. Vicente Flores Hernandez, head of the federal polices control center at Altiplano, partially corroborated to investigators what Angulo had said, confirming that police were aware of the device. However, Flores told them, federal police never monitored the bracelet; he said Systemtech Sistemas Tecnologicos reported that the signal was monitored in Mexican City, but did not say by whom. Investigators from the Attorney Generals office then contacted Jose Alejandro Colin Elias, director of institutional security for Cisen, who told them in writing that his agency monitored Guzman through closed-circuit cameras with microphones. When asked specifically about the monitoring bracelet, Colin replied on July 31 last year: Yes, at some point it was reported to me by someone working for me in the Social Readaptation Center Number 1, Altiplano, that it was put on [Guzman] with the aim of monitoring him, without knowing what company or what person ordered that it be connected. chapo guzman mexico tunnel That the monitoring bracelet was installed under orders from an as-yet unknown source, and that it was monitored by some unknown official in a location that is also unknown, could all point to some larger scheme hatched by Guzman and his henchmen not long after his arrest in February 2014. Of course, given the administrative disarray that characterizes much of the Mexican governments operations, Mexican officials may have made this error without any outside help. Playing games While orchestrating the delivery of a geolocation device to his cell would be a complex feat for Guzman, it would only be but one part of his escape scheme. Its believed that the engineers who constructed the tunnel who were reportedly trained in Germany had blueprints from the prison Guzman broke out of in 2001. That prison and Altiplano have roughly the same design. Nor was the bracelet the only oversight by prison officials at Altiplano. In the moments before his escape on July 11, loud banging and machinery sounds were heard coming from his cell and could be heard on the security-camera footage released after his escape. prison el chapo Officials in the prison control center would also found to be playing solitaire and otherwise ignoring their computers while Guzman escaped. (Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto also went back to playing dominoes after he learned of the escape.) The security cameras picked up Guzman walking into his cell shower and then disappearing on the night of the escape, but 18 minutes passed between when officials noticed he was gone and when they got to the cell to investigate. It took another three hours to activate a code red to lock down the prison and alert outside authorities. As of September 2015, nearly 30 officials had been arrested on suspicion of aiding the escape; among them were two ex-directors of Altiplano and the former head of Mexicos federal prisons. Mexican officials seem to be much more vigilant now that they have Guzman back in jail at Altiplano after recapturing him on January 8, increasing security at the prison and moving the kingpin from cell to cell. If, however, the Sinaloa cartel chief ends up extradited to the US, as many believe he will be, then he may have more say in his accommodations. NOW WATCH: Forget 'El Chapo' this is Mexico's most powerful drug lord More From Business Insider VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 9, 2016 / BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management (CSE: BIS) ("BlackIce") is entering the User Acceptance Testing phase of the Basel Solution project at VIB (Vietnam International Commercial Joint-Stock Bank) in Vietnam. BlackIce's RWA Calculator is the first fully SBV (State Bank of Vietnam) compliant calculator implemented at any bank in Vietnam. The final implementation will be completed under the supervision of the SBV, which will further validate BlackIce's ERA solution and enhance BlackIce's ability to close several other orders in Vietnam. Judy Kalyan, BlackIce CEO said, "This newest version of the BlackIce RWA calculator will be one of the first implementations of the new Basel revised Standardized Calculations anywhere in the world and will set the benchmark for excellence in Basel Implementations in the Vietnam market." In addition to all of the required Regulatory reporting, the VIB implementation of ERA supports extensive Risk Management reporting. BlackIce is well positioned in the market as all Vietnam banks will look to secure and develop an automated Basel/RWA calculation process in 2016. Judy Kalyan said, "The majority of banks in Vietnam have yet to procure Basel compliance solutions to meet emerging SBV Basel compliance, and there is a significant opportunity for the VIB project to be the first of many ERA clients throughout the next year." The BlackIce / HPT / IBM partnership has been very successful and BlackIce looks forward to working with these and other strategic partners as we move forward in the Vietnam market." BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. (BlackIce) Enterprise Risk Data Aggregation (ERA) solution gives banking executives supreme confidence in risk decision-making and compliance with a single source for all risk data, and provides a dynamic analytic and reporting platform. About BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. BlackIce is a global enterprise risk management technology firm delivering practical solutions for problems that global banks face every day. Story continues BlackIce has developed an Enterprise Risk Aggregation (ERA(TM)) solution, an open platform software application that delivers end-to-end data and analytical standards to meet all of the regulatory expectations of Basel (I, II & III) as well as the BCBS Risk Data Aggregation & Reporting (RDA) requirements, and the FSB (Financial Stability Board) Legal Entity Identifier program for monitoring concentration risk. The company's Governance & Compliance Database (GCD(TM)) is an application that allows financial institutions to assess, govern and manage adherence and compliance to regulatory guidelines across multiple regulatory requirements including: Basel II/III; Living Wills; Risk Data Aggregation and Financial Stability Oversight. For more information about BlackIce Inc., and ERA(TM) visit www.blackiceinc.com. BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. Judy Kalyan, Director and CEO judy.kalyan@blackiceinc.com 604-336-0107 Forward-Looking Information This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business and trading in the common stock of BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management Inc. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the company's management. Forward looking statements in this press release include that we expect to sign sales contracts in Vietnam in the near future. The forward looking statements can be affected by competitors' products, customers determining to delay purchases or not purchase at all, customers not having sufficient funding to purchase, and the possibility of technical or other issues with our software solutions. Orders that are made can be cancelled. Although the company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. SOURCE: BlackIce Enterprise Risk Management (Adds comment from GASC, traders) By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Bunge Ltd has launched legal proceedings against Egypt's state grain buyer over a rejected cargo of French wheat, highlighting uncertainty among suppliers who are already charging a risk premium to the world's largest wheat importer. Egypt, which buys wheat to provide its poorest citizens with bread, has in recent weeks fueled confusion in the global grain market because different government agencies have made conflicting statements about whether the country would accept shipments with any presence of ergot, a fungus. The quality of a cargo that Bunge, one of the world's top grain traders, shipped to Egypt met the terms of a tender that allowed a maximum of 0.05 percent ergot at loading, according to the company. "While the cargo's quality has been called into question, the facts are clear," Bunge said in a statement. The company did not say where it had started legal proceedings and did not immediately respond to a request for more information. Egypt in December rejected the French wheat shipment it said did not meet import rules. But Bunge said that quality certificates for the cargo were signed by a surveyor nominated and appointed by Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC). And a phytosanitary certificate issued by French authorities and certificates issued by an Egyptian delegation "prove compliance of the cargo with Egyptian requirements and regulations," the company said. Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, vice chairman of Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said a wheat import agreement stipulates that health and agricultural authorities in Egypt need to approve shipments of wheat. "There is no comment because the terms of agreement are clear," he said in an interview when asked about Bunge's legal action. Egypt imports around 10 million tonnes of wheat each year, most of which goes to providing subsidized bread to feed its population of 90 million. Story continues Confusion over the allowed limits of ergot fungus have forced Egypt to cancel two tenders to buy wheat, and Bunge's legal action could add to caution among suppliers about bidding in future tenders, one European trader said. "It doesn't really change the overall situation but it won't help and people will still add a risk premium in the tenders," the trader said. French wheat offers in a Feb. 5 GASC tender were about 2 to 3 percent higher than offers in a tender two weeks earlier. Benchmark French milling wheat futures were down nearly 5 percent over that period. On Sunday, Egypt's ministries of supply and agriculture held a joint press conference to calm traders' concerns and affirmed that they would accept all shipments with less than 0.05 percent ergot. Egypt's ministry of supplies and GASC had baffled traders by assuring them their wheat could contain up to 0.05 percent ergot, even as the agriculture ministry said it would categorically reject all such shipments. "That is the scary and dangerous thing about now trying to do business with Egypt because you've got these agencies that are fighting amongst themselves," said Al Conway, a U.S. trader and consultant for Cascade Commodity Consulting Company. (Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris, Maha el Dahan in Abu Dhabi and Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by David Gregorio and Marguerita Choy) CHATSWORTH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 9, 2016 / California Resources Corporation (CRC) an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, has recently been under pressure with oil hovering around the $30 mark. California Resources has had some success in reducing its leverage after swapping $2.8 billion of its bonds resulting in a $563 million reduction in its outstanding principal, but it still has a ways to go. With more than $6.4 Billion in debt on the balance sheet, difficult times are ahead for this producer. The market continues to be very concerned about the leverage and liquidity of smaller independent oil companies, with those worries heightened whenever oil takes a big dive. This volatility won't go away until these companies either find a more permanent solution to their issues, or the price of oil rises significantly. For a more detailed research report with analyst comments on California Resources Corporation (CRC) please follow the link. There is no cost obligation required to view analyst brief: http://bit.ly/1W2VCvp-CRC-AnalystCoverage. FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER: This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the subject company in this report to be materially different from the statements made herein. COMPLIANCE PROCEDURE: Content is researched, written and reviewed on a best-effort basis. Information in this release is fact checked and produced on a best efforts basis by Robert Borowski. An outsourced research services provider represented by Robert Borowski, provided Small Cap Street this article or report. However, we are only human and are prone to make mistakes. If you notice any errors or omissions, please notify us below. Small Cap Street is not entitled to veto, interfere or alter the articles, documents or report once created and reviewed by the outsourced research provider represented by Robert Borowski. The subject Company has not compensated Small Cap Street or Robert Borowski for the creation or dissemination of this report. Small Cap Street is the party responsible for issuing the press release and for hosting the full analyst report on Small Cap Street website. Robert Borowski is the author of research report. This information is submitted to increase awareness for the Small Cap Street brand to our subscriber base and the investing public. Story continues If you wish to have your company covered in more detail by our team, or wish to learn more about our services, please contact us at admin@SmallCapStreet.com. For any urgent concerns or inquiries, please contact us at admin@SmallCapStreet.com. NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE: Small Cap Street makes no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness or fitness for a purpose (investment or otherwise), of the information provided in this document. This information is not to be construed as personal financial advice. 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The included information is subject to change without notice. CFA(R) and Chartered Financial Analyst(R) are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute. SOURCE: Small Cap Street * Canadian dollar at C$1.3869 or 72.10 U.S. cents * Bond prices higher across the maturity curve * Canada 10-year yield hits record low at 1.008 percent TORONTO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar firmed against a broadly weaker U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as oil prices stabilized, although it extended losses against safe-haven currencies on equities turmoil overseas. The U.S. dollar fell to its lowest in more than three months against a basket of major currencies as financial turbulence fed doubts about the Fed's ability to raise rates this year. Testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is awaited on Wednesday. Losses in Asian stock markets sent investors scurrying for safe havens, while a drop in bank shares kept European shares under pressure. Yields on longer-term Japanese bonds fell below zero for the first time. U.S. crude prices rose 0.07 percent to $29.71 a barrel, but a report showing supply will not drop quickly enough to erode a global surplus tempered gains. At 9:15 a.m. EST (1415 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3869 to the greenback, or 72.10 U.S. cents, stronger than the Bank of Canada's official close of C$1.3934, or 71.77 U.S. cents. The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3854, while its weakest level was C$1.3959. Against the yen, the Canadian dollar touched its weakest since Jan. 21 at 80.09 yen. Canadian government bond prices were higher across the maturity curve on the flight to safety. The two-year price rose 1 Canadian cent to yield 0.339 percent and the benchmark 10-year was up 15 Canadian cents to yield 1.035 percent. The 10-year yield hit a new record low at 1.008 percent. The maturity curve flattened further as the long-end outperformed. The spread between the 2-year and 10-year yields narrowed by 1 basis point to 69.6 basis points, its tightest since January 2015 when it touched 69.1 basis points. (Reporting by Fergal Smith Editing by W Simon) Bottles of Coca Cola are seen in a store display in New York in this February 9, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) said it would refranchise all its North America bottling operations, including its 39 cold-fill production factories, three years earlier than expected, as the soda maker looks to cut costs. The company said in April it would refranchise only two-thirds of its bottling operations in North America by 2017, with all bottling operations in the region refranchised by 2020. Coca-Cola will continue to own its hot-fill factories, which produce beverages including Powerade energy drinks and Minute Maid juices. The company also said it entered into a non-binding letter of intent to refranchise its bottling operations in China to China Foods Ltd, part of COFCO Ltd, and Swire Beverage Holdings Ltd. (Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) Investing in Americas infrastructure may not be the top issue on the 2016 campaign trail, but some candidates are adding it to their political agenda. In late November 2015, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton unveiled a five-year infrastructure plan with a hefty price tag of $275 billion. The domestic proposal is part of Clintons jobs agenda aimed at creating middle-class jobs while investing heavily in improving the countrys highways, airports and ports. Clinton called the plan a down payment on our future and said she would go further than the legislation currently being considered by Congress. In early December 2015, the House and Senate passed a bipartisan long-term transportation bill costing $305 billion over a five-year period. The bill, which was signed into law by President Obama, is the largest transportation package in more than a decade. According to data from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, every $1 billion invested in infrastructure creates approximately 13,000 jobs. Each dollar put towards infrastructure leads to an estimated $1.60 increase in gross domestic product (GDP) the following year and twice that over the coming 20 years, according to Clintons campaign statement. American workers and businesses are the engines of a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and growing economyan economy that supports good jobs with high wages. But by failing to invest in our infrastructure, we are forcing these engines of growth and job-creation to run on second-rate fuel, Clinton said in a statement. Clintons strategy includes some of the following specifics: The plan will work to ensure that federal infrastructure investments are resilient to both current and future climate risks, and will partner with states, cities and rural communities to develop regionally coordinated, resilient infrastructure strategies. The plan would fix and expand roads and bridgesreducing congestion and cutting the pothole tax. Story continues It also calls for expanding public transit options to lower transportation costs and unlock economic opportunity for Americans in opportunity deserts. It would connect small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers to their customers and suppliers with a national freight investment program. The plan would accelerate next generation aviation technology and invest in creating world-class American airports saving travelers time, cutting down on delays, and reducing carbon emissions- and connect all Americans to the digital economy with 21st century Internet access. The Republican National Committee released a statement criticizing the plan: "With Hillary Clinton's spending binge already at a trillion dollars and counting, its clear she wants to treat Americans tax dollars like every day is Black Friday with no plan to pay the bill. Democratic presidential rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, also proposed an infrastructure plan of his own called the Rebuild America Act. The stimulus program would generate 13 million new jobs by spending $1 trillion to improve or rebuild roads, bridges and transit systems over a five-year period. Sanders plan is meant to supplement the existing federal highway program, with annual expenditures of about $148 billion on top of the current $50 billion a year in highway spending. For most of our history, the U.S. proudly led the world in building infrastructure that grew our economy, gave our businesses a competitive advantage, and provided our workers a decent standard of living. Sadly, that is no longer the case, Sanders said in a statement. Sanders' strategy includes some of the following specifics: The Rebuild America Act would more than double the current level of funding for the highway and transit accounts of the Highway Trust Fund, and would create a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage private capital to finance more than $125 billion in new projects. It will invest $75 billion to upgrade our passenger and freight rail lines, to move people and goods more quickly and efficiently. The Act will invest $12.5 billion to improve airports across the country, and $17.5 billion to bring air traffic control system into the 21st century by accelerating deployment of NextGen technology to make skies safer and airports more efficient. It will allocate an additional $15 billion over five years to clear the backlog of projects to improve inland waterways, coastal harbors and shipping channels. It will invest $6 billion a year so states can improve the drinking water systems that provide Americans with clean, safe water; and $6 billion a year to improve the wastewater plants and storm water infrastructure that protect water quality in our nations rivers and lakes. On the Republican side, most of the top tier candidates have only mentioned the need for investing in infrastructure. GOP front runner Donald Trump has not outlined a specific plan at this point but has been the most vocal about his concerns to rehabilitate the infrastructure system. In an interview on Fox News last month, Trump said, We have to rebuild our country. Our country is a mess. Our infrastructures crumbling and we owe $19 trillion. In December 2015, Trump told CNN the United States shouldve spent $4 trillion to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. The month before on the FOX Business Network, the billionaire businessman suggested the U.S. has been fighting the battles of the world for so long, and our country is becoming third world. We owe $19 trillion - we have to rebuild our country, our infrastructure. Trumps biggest Republican presidential rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, has not rolled out an extensive plan to rebuild Americas infrastructure. Cruzs website does suggest any investment in American infrastructure would be concentrated in the energy sector by approving the Keystone Pipeline and empowering the private sector to create good-paying American jobs. The Texas senator also says he would remove federal impediments to energy exploration, development and trade, but does not offer specifics. In December 2015, Cruz was one of the Republicans in the Senate that voted against the $305 billion measure to fund roads, bridges and rail lines. The bill passed Congress and was signed by President Obama. Unlike Trump and Cruz, Republican presidential hopeful Florida Senator Marco Rubio has outlined a plan concerning investment in American infrastructure. The proposal, Marcos Plan for Transportation in the New American Century , is not as detailed as his Democratic rivals but it does outline some concrete steps. However, similar to Senator Cruz, Rubio also voted against a $305 billion bi-partisan bill to fund roads, bridges and rail lines. Rubios outlined plan on his campaign website includes the following: Cut Outdated Gas Taxes: Reduce the federal gasoline tax rate by 80%and Veto any gas-tax increase. Empower States to Innovate: Turn back control of the highways to the states, stopping special interests in Washington from building Bridges to Nowhere and engaging in other wasteful spending. Free states from the strings that come attached to federal funding and remove barriers to public-private partnerships. Find Common-Sense Savings: Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act that inflates government costs by billions every year and is a giveaway of taxpayer dollars to labor unions. Phase out the Mass Transit Account, which loots the Highway Trust Fund and stop diverting highway funds to unnecessary pet projects. Ohio Governor John Kasich has addressed concerns for the need to invest in infrastructure, but unlike Rubio has not offered a point-by-point plan. He is a proponent of directing infrastructure investment away from the federal government into the hands of states. Kasich made his stance clear last summer in a Time Magazine editorial, Gov. John Kasich: Let the States Fix Our Crumbling HighwaysInstead of Washington. Some states are so desperate that they are taking matters into their own hands, but they lack the authority to make real progress. Six states recently increased their gas taxes to try to fund their own needs, but that only puts more pressure on consumers and job creators at a time when the economy is still trying to get going. These tax hikes wouldnt be necessary if Washington made some common-sense reforms, like take itself out of the picture, said Kasich in the editorial. On his campaign website, the Kasich Action Plan breaks down some of his infrastructure improvement ideas in greater detail. Related Articles EVANSTON, IL--(Marketwired - February 09, 2016) - New Hampshire gained manufacturing jobs over the past year, reports the 2016 New Hampshire Manufacturers Register, an industrial database and directory published by Manufacturers' News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. According to MNI's database of manufacturers, New Hampshire gained 592 manufacturing jobs from November 2014 to November 2015. New Hampshire is now home to 2,462 manufacturers employing 81,325 workers. "New Hampshire is one of the most business-friendly states in New England, and its workforce is among the nation's most educated," says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912. "However, the state lags in other key areas such as access to capital and infrastructure." For the full report, including specific company news, click here or visit http://www.manufacturersnews.com/news New Hampshire industrial sectors reporting gains included chemicals, up 4.8%; fabricated metals, up 3.4%; lumber/wood, up 3.1%; food products up 1.1%; and stone/clay/glass, up 1%. Gains were offset by losses in electronics, the state's second-largest sector by employment, down 2.1% to 10,840 jobs. The industrial machinery sector, the state's top industry by employment, posted a half percent loss, currently employing 13,492. Additional losses were reported in furniture/fixtures, down 5%, and paper products, down 3.8%. City data collected by MNI shows Manchester remains New Hampshire's top city by manufacturing employment, up 1% over the year to 7,828 jobs. Industrial employment in second-ranked Nashua declined 1.1% to 5,523 jobs, and climbed 2.6% in third-ranked Londonderry to 4,142. Hudson ranks fourth statewide with 4,049 manufacturing jobs, 1.6% less than a year ago, while Portsmouth ranks fifth with 3,948 jobs, up 2.9%. Established in 1912, Manufacturers' News, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest publisher of industrial information. MNI offers a variety of tailored solutions to help customers connect with 430,000 manufacturers and suppliers. MNI's industrial database subscription service EZ Select (www.ezselect.com) allows users to tap into a live interactive database of manufacturers, while its industrial search engine IndustryNet (www.industrynet.com) connects buyers and suppliers and allows users to view profiles and obtain competitive quotes. For more information, contact Manufacturers' News, Inc. 847-864-7000. http://www.mni.net or follow MNI on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mfrsnews Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/2/9/11G082096/Images/NH_2016-17f9748f0e7fadd5a1596e922595ca65.jpg * Recommendation linked to payment of 5 pct export tax * Trade ministry still needs to issue permit (Adds Freeport comment) By Wilda Asmarini JAKARTA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Indonesia's mining ministry on Tuesday recommended that Freeport McMoRan Inc receive a new six-month copper export permit, potentially ending a near two-week stoppage after the previous permit expired last month. Freeport was forced to halt overseas shipments from one of the world's biggest copper mines in Papua after the government demanded the U.S. mining giant first pay a $530 million deposit for a new smelter before a new export permit could be approved. A lengthy export stoppage would have hit Freeport's profits and denied the Indonesian government desperately needed revenue from one of its biggest taxpayers. "We issued a recommendation that Freeport receive an export permit," Bambang Gatot, the mining ministry's director general of coal and minerals, told reporters. The mining ministry recommendation will now be sent to the trade ministry, which has the power to issue export permits. Typically once the trade ministry receives a recommendation from the mining ministry, the renewal of an export permit would be a formality. Freeport Indonesia produces about 220,000 tonnes of copper ore from the mine per day. About a third usually goes to a domestic smelter at Gresik, with the rest exported as concentrate. Gatot told parliament the mining ministry supported the renewal of Freeport's export permit because of the miner's willingness to continue paying an export tax of 5 percent. Talks between the two sides over the $530 million bond were still ongoing. Indonesia wants the deposit as a guarantee that the Phoenix, Arizona-based company will complete construction of another local smelter. The amount would add to an estimated $80 million that Freeport set aside in July 2015 to obtain its current export permit. Clementino Lamury, a director for Freeport Indonesia, told parliament the company already had a contract with vendors on constructing the smelter and would abide by the agreed payment terms, despite government demands for the investment to be accelerated. Story continues Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson last month said the government's demand for a smelter deposit was "inconsistent" with an agreement reached between the two sides in mid-2014. According to that agreement, Freeport must sell the government a greater share of the Grasberg mine, and invest in domestic processing to win an extension of its mining contract beyond 2021. The U.S. mining giant wants to invest $18 billion to expand its operations at Grasberg, but is seeking government assurances first that it will get a contract extension. Freeport's long-held desire to continue mining in Indonesia beyond 2021 has been beset by controversy, including cabinet infighting, resignations and a major political scandal that led to the resignation of the parliamentary speaker. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Additional reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Michael Taylor and Randy Fabi; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Tom Hogue and Mark Potter) FOLSOM, CA--(Marketwired - February 08, 2016) - Hundreds of stakeholders participated in a public meeting hosted by the California Independent System Operator (ISO) today to review methodologies of studies on economic and environmental impacts and benefits of a regional energy grid. Today's event kicked off a series of public meetings being held by the ISO, as outlined in historic climate change legislation, Senate Bill 350, which was signed into law last fall. The Clean Energy and Pollution Control Act sets a 50-percent renewable energy goal for California by 2030, and outlines a way for the ISO to transform into a multi-state, regional power grid. The meetings will collect input on regionalization of the grid from many different voices from across the west, including stakeholders, industry leaders, consumers, environmental advocates and regulators. The participants came to the meeting in person, or logged in to the meeting through dial-in or web conferencing. "SB 350 lays out how we can build the energy grid of tomorrow, a cleaner, more efficient and coordinated grid that has the potential to save billions of dollars in electricity costs," said Stacey Crowley, ISO's vice president of regional and federal affairs. "The California governor and the Legislature gave the industry a roadmap for getting to the new, greener power grid of the future. We look forward to exploring the possibility of making an integrated regional grid a reality." A regional electric network is seen as key to bringing more renewable energy onto the grid, while eliminating fossil fuels from the western energy mix, reducing costs and improving reliability. SB 350 calls for the ISO to conduct studies on the effects of a regional energy market on jobs, the environment, disadvantaged communities, greenhouse gas emissions, grid reliability and renewable energy integration. The public will be encouraged to give feedback throughout the process, which will culminate in a report expected to be submitted to Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. this summer. Story continues For more information, click here to visit the ISO's regional energy market page. Thanks for re-posting! The California ISO provides open and non-discriminatory access to one of the largest power grids in the world. The vast network of high-voltage transmission power lines is supported by a competitive energy market and comprehensive grid planning. Partnering with about a hundred clients, the nonprofit public benefit corporation is dedicated to the continual development and reliable operation of a modern grid that operates for the benefit of consumers. Recognizing the importance of the global climate challenge, the ISO is at the forefront of integrating renewable power and advanced technologies that will help meet a sustainable energy future efficiently and cleanly. The following files are available for download: (Corrects fund manager's location to London instead of New York, paragraph 12 ) By Michael O'Boyle MEXICO CITY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso sank to a record low on Tuesday, pressured by what analysts described as bets against riskier assets in general and a move by investors to hedge big positions in local bonds. The peso fell more than 1.5 percent to 18.9350 per dollar as fears of a global slowdown and concerns about the health of some European banks pushed investors to safe-haven currencies like the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. Oil prices fell 6 percent, hurting the peso which often trades off oil prices. While Mexico is a major crude producer, its economy is far more dependent on its factory exports. "There is a lot of panic in the global market," said Benito Berber, an analyst at Nomura in New York, who said the peso's slump "doesn't have a lot to do with Mexico itself." Mexico's peso is among the most liquid global currencies, which often makes it the most convenient asset to bet against whenever global sentiment turns sour against riskier assets in general. That liquidity is partly behind why the peso has suffered deeper losses so far this year than Brazil's real, Russia's rouble or South Africa's rand - all currencies linked to countries with crises spurred by poor local policymaking. The peso has shed nearly 9 percent this year, while the rouble is down more than 7 percent and the rand more than 3 percent. Brazil's real has gained more than 1 percent. Speculative short positions, such as bets by hedge funds, against the Mexican peso recorded on the Chicago exchange have spiked since late last year and are near their most extreme levels ever. But even as bets against the peso have climbed, foreign holding of the country's local currency bonds have held steady near record levels, around 2.12 trillion Mexican pesos ($112 billion). That contrasts to big outflows from other emerging markets. Foreign holdings of Mexican peso bonds surged eightfold since the 2009 financial crisis as investors cheered Mexico's orthodox fiscal and monetary policy and major economic reforms, like opening its energy sector to private investment. Story continues Now those bondholders are partly responsible for driving the peso weaker as they put on hedge positions to compensate for the weaker peso, said Andrew Stanners, an emerging markets fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in London. "Mexico is a victim of its own success," said Stanners. "There isn't anything specifically within the fundamentals of Mexico that is a reason for the peso to depreciate so much." Sergio Luna, an economist at Citigroup Mexican unit Banamex saw low liquidity early this week as exacerbating the peso's move. Markets in Brazil are closed due to the Carnival holiday while markets in Asia closed for the Lunar New Year. "This is really weird," Luna said, noting that his bank had not seen signs of big bets by hedge funds or real money investors this week. "This is more offshore, it must be some robots working on risk aversion algorithms," Luna said. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Tom Brown) * Foreigners exit positions in Egypt * Saudi falls as local investors book quick profits * UAE bourses down 1 pct but outperform peers in 2016 * Some smaller stocks favoured by locals surge in Dubai * Kuwait's Americana jumps for second day By Celine Aswad DUBAI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Middle East fell on Tuesday, erasing the prior session's gains, as risk appetite diminished following a slump in global shares. Egypt's main index tumbled 2.8 percent to 6,004 points, erasing the prior session's gains as foreign funds redeemed shares, bourse data showed. Commercial International Bank, a stock favoured by international fund managers, retreated 3.3 percent. Palm Hills Development declined 4.3 percent in heavy trade, after the real estate developer posted strong quarterly earnings early this week. Egypt's central bank has been striving to maintain stability in the currency over the past several months, but foreign investors are still jittery about the possibility of a devaluation and the negative impact it would have on their investment returns and companies' earnings. Sources told Reuters on Monday that General Motors had temporarily suspended its operations in Cairo because of the hard currency shortage - a sign of how serious the country's economic slump remains. Riyadh's index fell 0.5 percent to 5,874 points, after briefly trading in positive territory, as local traders cashed out of small and mid-cap stocks, which had helped lift the index 0.2 percent on Monday. "It's a stock picker's market at this point," said a Jeddah-based stock broker. "Traders are buying speculative stocks to book a quick profit and either cash out or rotate into the blue- chips." The majority of speculative insurance stocks retreated, with Al Sagr Cooperative Insurance slumping 4.4 percent after it had jumped 8.1 percent the previous day. UAE, KUWAIT Dubai's index dropped 1.0 percent to 3,065 points, but closed 42 points above its intra-day low. Blue-chip stocks were the main drag on the bourse, with Emirates NBD, the largest lender by assets, tumbling 4.5 percent. Story continues But some small and mid-cap stocks favoured by local retail investors rose, with DAMAC Properties adding 4.8 percent, after falling by as much as 2.0 percent in early trade. Drake & Scull, a construction firm, added 1.2 percent. In Abu Dhabi, the benchmark also fell 1.0 percent, weighed down by a sell-off in large-cap banks. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank fell 3.4 percent and National Bank of Abu Dhabi lost 2.1 percent. United Arab Emirates stock markets, however, have recovered in recent weeks from multi-year lows hit in mid-January. Abu Dhabi and Dubai, down 5.7 and 2.7 percent respectively in 2016, have outperformed both their regional peers and crude oil prices this year. "Generally, better-than-expected results from banks and the recommended cash dividends companies are willing to distribute have helped UAE equities outperform in 2016," said a note by Abu Dhabi's NBAD Securities. Both bourses are expected to continue faring better than their peers at least until March, when investors' attention will shift to first-quarter earnings, the note added. Kuwait Food Co (Americana) jumped 4.6 percent after rocketing 10.0 percent on Monday. The food company said its board had agreed to give a Gulf-based investment firm 60 days to carry out due diligence for the acquisition of a controlling stake in the company. Kuwait's main index fell 0.9 percent. Qatar's bourse was closed for a public holiday. TUESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS EGYPT * The index dropped 2.8 percent to 6,004 points. SAUDI ARABIA * The index fell 0.5 percent to 5,874 points. DUBAI * The index declined 1.0 percent to 3,065 points. ABU DHABI * The index was down 1.0 percent at 4,062 points. KUWAIT * The index dropped 0.9 percent to 5,164 points. OMAN * The index edged down 0.2 percent to 5,388 points. BAHRAIN * The index fell 0.6 percent to 1,169 points. (Editing by Andrew Torchia and Mark Trevelyan) By Jarni Blakkarly and Stella Tsang SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Watching a lone browser in his Sydney Chinatown shop, Bing Chen is worried business is being squeezed this Lunar New Year by what's ailing the world economy at large - the weakest Chinese economy in 25 years. In years gone by, Chen would stay open until the wee hours, selling kangaroo skins and Australian wool to crowds of Chinese tourists. But as the Year of the Monkey begins, stores like Chen's are seeing a drop in trade with newly budget-conscious Chinese either staying home or spending less. "Our customers have halved," said Chen, standing by neatly stacked shelves at his Sydney store. "We had to work till 2am and there were still customers buying things but not any more." While record numbers of Chinese are traveling outside the mainland - 109 million last year, according to researcher GfK - Chen's fears echo data showing growth in tourist spending is dropping off quickly. The China National Tourism Administration in December forecast 2015 outbound tourist spending at $194 billion, according to state media. That equates to per tourist spending growth of just 1.5 percent, compared with a 16.5 percent rise the previous year. China's slowing growth is also showing up in weaker tourism spending much closer to home than Sydney. In Hong Kong, visits from the mainland were down 15.5 percent in December, compared to the year earlier, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Streets in Sheung Wan district, lined with stores selling dried seafood and various tonics, are quiet rather than bustling. Shop owner Lin Ying Jui says trade for his abalone, edible birds nests and natural medicines is the worst in decades. "I have been here for around 20 to 30 years, this year's business performance is the worst," said Lin Ying Jui NOW PICKY, NOT SPENDTHRIFT Fuelling growth in the overall number of Chinese tourists is a new breed of younger, independent travelers from the mainland. Countries like Australia are investing in targeting that market, and more than 100,000 Chinese nationals applied for visas to visit Australia in January alone, a record for a single month. But numbers of large, elderly tour groups are dwindling in Sydney's Chinatown. How much they and others will spend over the Lunar New year remains to be seen, and traders are bracing for customers being picky where they once were spendthrift. "Price is extremely important," said Chenchao Zhuang, chief executive of Chinese travel platform Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd. "Consumers will have a wish-list of places, and wherever has the deepest discounts, that's where they'll go." Back in Sydney's Chinatown, shop owner Anna Liu said Chinese tourists - her target customers - "wouldn't even haggle" in the past as they bought handfuls of vitamins, honey and kangaroo and shark extract products. "They are more reluctant to spend their money now," Liu said. "They are more careful, they look up the prices online before they come to compare." (Reporting by Jarni Blakkarly in SYDNEY and Stella Tsang in HONG KONG; Editing by Jane Wardell and Kenneth Maxwell) By Camillus Eboh ABUJA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Nigeria's parliament has postponed voting on the 2016 budget from Feb. 25 because ministers cannot agree on revised public spending plans, lawmakers said on Tuesday. President Muhammadu Buhari presented a record $30 billion budget in December but asked for it to be withdrawn in January to make changes after a further fall in oil prices forced the deficit up to 3 trillion naira ($15 billion) from 2.2 trillion. Abdulmumin Jibrin, chairman of the budget committee in the lower house, or House of Representatives, said the government had yet to agree on how much ministries would be allocated. "The National Assembly sessions have witnessed disagreements between various ministers and top civil servants," he told a joint news conference with Danjuma Goje, the chairman of a committee tasked with the budget in the upper house, or Senate. Goje said the government wanted more "more time to do a thorough job" but did not give a new date. "We don't want to pass a budget that will be returned to us. We need to remove all ambiguities and paddings," he said. Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, has held talks with the World Bank and has looked at borrowing from the African Development Bank and China Exim Bank to plug the budget gap as oil trades around $30 a barrel, down from over $100 in 2014. On Monday, Buhari's health minister Isaac Adewole had sharply criticised planned allocations for his ministry. "In the revised budget as re-submitted, 15.7 billion naira for capital allocation (expenditure) has been moved to other areas. Some allocations made are not in line with our priorities," he said. "We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee. This was not what we submitted." (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Louise Ireland) (Adds budget figures, Republican response) By Hilary Russ NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's $2 billion budget deficit is a "time bomb" that could cause "fiscal catastrophe the likes of which we have never seen" if it is not resolved, Governor Tom Wolf said in his budget address on Tuesday. Wolf proposed a $32.7 billion fiscal 2017 budget that would add $200 million of funding for K-12 public schools and another $110 million to early and special education programs. Including pension contributions, the budget would be nearly $33.3 billion. To pay for the increases, Wolf would increase personal income taxes by nearly 11 percent to 3.4 percent, expand sales taxes, raise taxes on tobacco products and implement a 6.5 percent severance tax on natural gas producers, according to documents released during his speech. But dominating Wolf's message was the budgetary crisis escalated by political gridlock. Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-led legislature have disagreed since this time last year, when Wolf proposed his first budget. Now seven months after the start of fiscal 2016 on July 1, the state still has only a partial $23.4 billion emergency spending plan. Wolf had been ready to sign a negotiated $30.8 billion agreement but it was scuttled in December. Wolf reminded lawmakers of that turn of events on Tuesday. In web-streamed remarks, he urged them to send the agreement back to him. "House Republican leaders just walked away," he said during his speech at the state capitol in Harrisburg. Some booed in response. "Yelling will not make it go away," Wolf said. "We need to do what's right," he continued, to applause. He later told lawmakers to "find another job" if they could not reach a solution. His 2017 proposal is built upon the eventual approval of that compromise budget for the current fiscal year. Senate Republicans, who had passed the budget compromise, said Wolf was "doubling down" on last year's proposal. "This retread budget proposal offers superficial changes to his sizable tax-and-spend plan that has already been soundly opposed by taxpayers," Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said in a statement on Tuesday. Story continues Unless next year's deficit is closed, property taxes for homeowners will skyrocket, Wolf said. More than 23,000 teachers and school employees would be cut, as would special education and pre-kindergarten programs. Services for senior citizens, the mentally ill, child care and domestic violence shelters also would be slashed, he said. Wolf's address was no olive branch, said Muhlenberg College political scientist Christopher Borick. "He turned up the heat," Borick said. (Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Trott) VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 08, 2016) - Quaterra Resources Inc. ("Quaterra" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: QTA) (QTRRF) and its subsidiary Singatse Peak Services LLC ("SPS") today announced results from Hole B-050, the third core hole of a drill program to explore and further define the Bear deposit, a large porphyry copper system on the Company's 52-square mile property in the historic Yerington Copper District of Nevada. The drill program is being funded with option payments to SPS by Freeport-McMoRan Nevada LLC ("Freeport Nevada"). Highlights Hole B-050, drilled vertically to a depth of 3,838 feet, intercepted 521.9 feet (159.1 meters) of 0.36% copper beginning at a depth of 2,429.2 feet. Included within this interval is 279.3 feet (85.1 meters) of 0.44% copper starting at 2,491.4 feet. A 6.1 foot (1.9 meter) interval of massive pyrite-magnetite-chalcopyrite skarn starting at 2,330.5 feet averages 1.91% copper, 0.22 ppm gold and 5.7 ppm silver. This hole extends the Bear mineralized system an additional 650 feet north of the nearest historic drill hole. Table 1. Significant intercepts from Bear core hole B-050* HOLE B-049 From To Interval Interval % ppm ppm ppm feet feet feet meters Cu Mo Au Ag 2330.5 2336.6 6.1 1.9 1.91 < 2 0.22 5.7 2429.2 2951.1 521.9 159.1 0.36 34 0.011 < 0.5 includes 2491.4 2770.7 279.3 85.1 0.44 18 0.013 < 0.5 includes 2681.0 2721.7 40.7 12.4 0.59 31 0.015 0.14 *Drill intercepts are based on actual core lengths and may not reflect the true width of mineralization. Note: 1 ppm = 1 gram per tonne Discussion Hole B-050, collared 1,050 feet north-northeast of Hole B-048, is the third hole of an exploration program designed to corroborate historic assay results, determine geologic controls for higher grade mineralization and attempt to extend higher grade mineralization to the north. Copper mineralization starting at a depth of 2,429.2 feet occurs in typical porphyry copper-style, potassically altered quartz monzonite with small amounts of molybdenite. The thickness of the mineralized intercept is similar to those in adjacent historic drill holes. The significance of the narrow zone of higher grade copper-gold-silver mineralization occurring above the main mineralized interval is unknown. The skarn is bracketed by quartz porphyry dikes and quartz veining and is part of a larger zone characterized by pyrite and magnetite veining, weakly anomalous gold and potassic alteration. All of these features are guides to mineralization elsewhere in the district. Hole B-051, the fourth of the current drill program and located 1,150 feet east of Hole B-049, is in progress. Hole locations are shown on a map available on Quaterra's website at http://quaterra.com/bear-drill-holes-feb-2016/. A video of the current drill-program at the Bear deposit is available for viewing on the Company website at http://quaterra.com/quaterra-video-2015-bear-drilling/. Further results will be reported when available. For background on the Bear deposit, Quaterra's Yerington project and the option agreement with Freeport Nevada please see the news release dated November 17, 2015, or visit the Company website at www.quaterra.com. Quality assurance and control Core samples were either sawed or split by SPS personnel in Yerington, Nevada, and shipped to Bureau Veritas Minerals NA - Inspectorate America Corporation, an ISO certified assaying/geochemistry facility, in Reno, Nevada for sample preparation. Gold analyses are assayed in Bureau Veritas' lab in Reno using their "FA430" procedure (fire assay with atomic absorption finish) with a 5 ppb Au detection limit. Prepared pulps are shipped to Bureau Veritas' lab in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, for analysis using their "MA 300" procedure for 35 element ICP-ES analysis. Commercially prepared standards and blanks are inserted by SPS at 50-foot intervals to insure precision of results as a quality control measure. SPS has a chain of custody program to ensure sample security during all stages of sample collection, cutting, shipping, and storage. Technical information in this news release has been approved by Thomas Patton, Ph.D., the President and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. About Quaterra Resources Inc. Quaterra Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: QTA)(QTRRF) is a copper exploration and development company with the primary objective to advance its U.S. subsidiary's copper projects in the Yerington District, Nevada. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Thomas Patton, President & CEO Quaterra Resources Inc. Disclosure note: Some statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements under Canadian securities laws and within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified in this news release by words such as "believes", "anticipates", "intends", "has the potential", "expects", and similar language, or convey estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives, potential outcomes, expectations, or goals. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. In particular, forward looking statements in this news release include or assume that the Company will receive all option payments over the next six months, that exploration results on the Bear deposit will define further mineralization, that historic exploration results will be confirmed by new exploration, that further drilling will extend the boundaries of the known high-grade mineralized area, and that drill results from the current drill program point to a large copper system. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. A summary of risk factors that apply to the Company's operations are included in our management discussion and analysis filings with securities regulatory authorities, and are publicly available on our website. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Erdogan The Russian Ministry of Defense warned Turkey against launching a military incursion into Syria last week, announcing on Thursday that it had seen "growing signs" that Turkish forces were preparing to intervene to bolster rebel forces battling pro-regime troops in the north. Some experts say, however, that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be trying to bait Turkey into entering the Syrian battlefield in order to retaliate for Ankara's decision to down a Russian warplane in November. Russia is trying to draw Turkey into a fight to avenge the downing of its jet. Putin is confident he can win," retired Brig. Gen. Naim Baburoglu, an adviser to the Ankara-based National Security and Foreign Policy Research Center, told al-Monitor last week. "He also needs this to counter domestic difficulties. Downing one or two Turkish F-16s will make him a hero at home, Baburoglu added. It will also be a serious embarrassment to Turkey and the Turkish air force." Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan initially denied reports that Turkish forces were preparing to cross the border. But on Sunday, Erdogan signaled that Turkey would be prepared to intervene in Syria if asked by its coalition partners. We dont want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq, Erdogan told reporters on Sunday, according to the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet. "If ... Turkey was present in Iraq, the country would have never have fallen into its current situation." He added: Its important to see the horizon. Whats going on in Syria can only go on for so long. At some point it has to change." Turkey syria Erdogan, a staunch opponent of the Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was at least partly referring to the Syrian Kurds' sustained expansion westward along the Turkish-Syrian border. That push has largely been facilitated by Russian airstrikes targeting Syrian rebel groups backed by Turkey, the US, and Saudi Arabia. Story continues Signs of growing coordination between Moscow and the Kurds came to a head last week when Syria's main Kurdish militia, the YPG, helped Russia and the Syrian army isolate Azaz a strategically important city long used by Turkey to funnel aid and supplies to rebels in the city of Aleppo. "I dont think there is any doubt that the YPG and Russia are coordinating in the Azaz corridor," Aaron Stein, an expert on Turkish affairs and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Business Insider on Monday. He added: "The YPG have taken advantage of the airstrikes to advance in areas south of Azaz, in what looks like a strategy to connect the Efrin canton with Kobane and Jazira. The PYD have consistently made clear, both in private and in public, that they can reach a common understanding with local groups in the area, and install a governing council inside the city." syria azaz As Turkish-Russian relations continue to deteriorate, Russia's military and political ties to the Kurds are getting stronger. Russia is reportedly looking to open a second air field in the Kurdish-held Syrian city of Qamishli, and the Kurds have said they will open their first "representation office" in Moscow later this week. "The PYDs office in Moscow has been months in the making," Stein said. "The PYD and by extension, the PKK are eager to escape from international isolation. Any country willing to de-facto recognize them as a legitimate political group, and not a foreign terrorist organization, is a net positive for the group." Fabrice Balanche, a leading expert on Syria and visiting fellow at the Washington Institute, broached the limits of the US' political support for the Kurds in an analysis last week. "Unlike the United States, Russia does not want to antagonize the Kurds by prohibiting their deeply held goal of territorial unification," he wrote. "Vladimir Putin wants to put pressure on Turkey's entire frontier with Syria," Balanche added. Indeed, "it is one of the main regional goals of the Russian intervention." russia bomb syria That the Kurds are now closer than ever to linking their territories east of the Euphrates with the Kurdish-controlled city of Efrin in the west a move that would cross Turkey's "red line" and allow the Kurds to consolidate their de-facto state of Rojava along Turkey's southern border may be enough to draw Turkey into the war. "The Turkish army is very conservative and risk averse," Jeff White, a defense analyst focusing on the security fairs of the Levant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Business Insider in an email. "So while willing to protect its borders, I doubt we will see any large scale operations in Syria with one possible exception: unification of the Kurdish enclaves/Rojava." ypg If the Kurds were to unify their cantons, Turkey might be compelled to intervene to prevent them from forming a statelet along the Turkish border, White noted. And that would be a game-changer. "The Turkish army could defeat any opponents in its chosen areas of operation," White said. "Direct Turkish intervention, if on a substantial scale, could dramatically change the situation." Incidentally, rumors of a Turkish military intervention began circulating days after Saudi Arabia declared that it would be prepared to send ground troops to Syria to fight the Islamic State "if asked" by its allies. As such, "Turkey is no longer acting alone," Middle East analyst Elijah Magnier noted on Twitter last week. Though it remains "highly unlikely" that Turkey will invade Syria, Magnier said that if it did, "Russia would celebrate." NOW WATCH: Watch Tina Fey take on Sarah Palin's Trump endorsement speech on SNL More From Business Insider LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have banned Iranian-flagged vessels from entering their waters and imposed other shipping restrictions, according to ship insurers citing local reports, potentially escalating tensions between Tehran and Riyadh. Iran has been struggling to ramp up oil exports and still faces insurance and financing hurdles despite the lifting of international curbs on its banking, insurance and shipping sectors last month as part of a nuclear deal with world powers. A ban on Iranian ships in those ports is unlikely to affect international trade, although the uncertainty will add to trade hiccups for Iran. Some ship insurers in recent days, citing reports from local agents and correspondents, said in notes to members that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had banned all Iranian-flagged ships from entering their waters. Norwegian ship insurer Gard said Bahrain had imposed a ban on any vessel that has visited Iran as one of its last three port calls. "There is currently no such restriction in Saudi Arabia," Gard wrote, citing information from a logistics provider. Saudi Arabian and Bahraini authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ship insurer West of England said separately: "An entered vessel has since been denied entry to Bahrain after visiting an Iranian port two port calls earlier, resulting in the fixture being cancelled." Other ship insurers had yet to issue any guidance or confirm there were new regulations in place. While oil companies such as Italy's Eni and France's Total have been looking to book cargoes from Iran, international insurers are no nearer to resolving concerns over U.S. sanctions that remain in place. Last month, Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia cut ties with Shi'ite Iran after its Tehran embassy was attacked following Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite cleric. 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. Saudi Arabia and Iran - leading members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - continue to grapple with weak oil prices. (Reporting by Jonathan Saul, Editing by Susanna Twidale) * Platinum price has tumbled, firms struggling * Govt supporting fuel cell plant to increase demand * Plant likely by 2018 - Isondo Precious Metals CEO By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - South Africa plans to set up a fuel cell component plant by 2018, the latest initiative from the world's top platinum producer to increase demand for the metal and support firms hit by plunging prices and labour strife. The price of platinum has fallen about 30 percent year-on-year, forcing miners to sell assets and cut production and jobs. Around two-thirds of the industry, whose mines were damaged by a five-month strike in 2014, are making losses. Vinay Somera, chief executive of Isondo Precious Metals, said his firm was preparing a feasibility study and had secured a licence from U.S-based Chemours Technology, to assemble components for the fuel cells using platinum. Fuel cells generate electric power by combining hydrogen and oxygen over a catalyst such as platinum. The metal has so far mainly been used in catalysts to make diesel cars cleaner. "We are looking to get manufacturing in the ground in the next one to two years," Somera told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference in Cape Town. Under the deal with Chemours, Isondo would manufacture, market and sell licensed fuel cell components globally. Somera said a key advantage for his firm would be to bring the cost of the technology down by sourcing the metal locally. The government has also promised tax incentives for the manufacturing to take place in special economic zones, he said. Rob Davies, the trade and industry minister, said at the conference his department was paying 15 million rand ($928,000) to fund part of the cost of the feasibility study. "We want to establish this technology as something which builds into the platinum industry, supports and sustains an expansion and stabilization of the platinum industry," he said. Somera said his firm was also looking at fuel cell stacks on gas pipelines in Nigeria and using micro-grid fuel cells for rural electrification across Africa. Story continues The current market for fuel cells is around 15,000 to 20,000 ounces of platinum a year, with a projected outlook of 50,000 ounces plus beyond five years, Somera said. Should the automotive sector adopt the technology, then only a shift by only a very small fraction of the world's fleet could lift demand. Fuel cell powered cars use between five and 10 times more platinum than a diesel catalytic converter, analysts say. "The automotive sector is the holy grail," Somera said. ($1 = 16.1555 rand) (Editing by James Macharia) LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Feb 9, 2016) - Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) updates its shareholders today on industrial hemp bill HB-1054. Last week, the South Dakota House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow the cultivation of industrial hemp in the state of South Dakota, with a 57-11 vote. South Dakota is yet another state that is realizing the economical advantages of the hemp plant. Hemp, which can be used in the manufacturing of thousands of products, can increase jobs and provide additional revenue for farmers and the state thereby creating a "significant economic development opportunity". According to the bill (HB-1054) "Industrial hemp (cannabis sativa l.), having no more than three-tenths of one percent tetrahydrocannabinol, is hereby designated an oilseed. Upon meeting the requirements of sections 2 to 5, inclusive, of this Act, any person in this state may plant, grow, harvest, possess, process, sell, and buy industrial hemp (cannabis sativa l.) having no more than three-tenths of one percent tetrahydrocannabinol. Any person desiring to grow or process industrial hemp for commercial purposes or research shall apply to the Department of Agriculture for a license on a form prescribed by the department in rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26." To read the full bill, visit the South Dakota Legislature here. The bill is now set to head to the Senate for consideration. According to the Tenth Amendment Center blog post, "While current federal law authorizes only the research farming of hemp, by research institutions, South Dakota's HB 1054 just ignores federal prohibition and authorizes commercial hemp production anyway. South Dakota would thus join the continuously growing number other states, including Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Connecticut, Maine, North Dakota and Vermont, that have simply ignored federal prohibition and legalized industrial hemp production within their state borders." Other states have also started growing hemp, and 33 states have proposed pro-hemp legislation. See Hemp, Inc.'s press release on 1/29/2016 regarding Vermont, Kansas, Maine, Kentucky, Montana, Missouri, and Hawaii and Hemp, Inc.'s press release on 1/28/2016 regarding Virginia. Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) said, "More often than not, we are seeing states unfold pro hemp legislature. This will inevitably create revenue for Hemp, Inc. and for farmers. Hemp, Inc. owns the only commercial hemp decorticator in the United States and we are gearing up an arsenal of portable decorticators that can be deployed to more and more farmers as they begin to grow hemp. Once testing and modifying of the machinery is complete, we'll be able to ship the portable decorticators to farmers as well as provide seed and consultation. The seed and consultation opens yet another potential market for Hemp, Inc." Perlowin continued, "The portable decorticators are able to process fiber on site without having to ship hemp stalks to our facility in Spring Hope, North Carolina. This creates revenue for Hemp, Inc. and revenue for the farmers. Any farmer, in any state, interested in Hemp, Inc.'s portable decorticator machine can contact us at info@hempinc.com."; Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) is also in the process of implementing the same portable technology by working with other equipment manufacturers for portable CBD extractors to bring to the farmers to help dramatically increase the ability for CBD production and thus revenue for the American small farm. Any farmer, in any state, interested in Hemp, Inc.'s portable CBD machines can contact Hemp, Inc. at info@hempinc.com. Hemp, Inc. is also making a strong presence on the Hill. David Schmitt, COO of Hemp, Inc.'s wholly-owned subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC met with Congressmen on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC last week. Schmitt, along with several industry experts from the National Hemp Association (NHA) including Zev Paiss (Executive Director - NHA); Samantha Walsh (Co-Chair - NHA), Mark Spoone (CEO - Canna Life USA); Mike Lewis (Hemp Farmer from Kentucky); and, Steve Gordon (Managing Partner of Total Spectrum and veteran lobbyist) first met with Jason L. Cooke, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman George Holding (R-NC). After meeting with Congressman Holding's office, the hemp team met with J.T. Mackey, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). During both meetings, Schmitt and others educated Congress on the vast uses for industrial hemp, the numerous products derived from industrial hemp, job creation and economic development. Schmitt also attended the "Industrial Hemp Expo on Capitol Hill" event in Washington, DC, hosted by Colorado Rep. Jared Polis along with Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The expo helped foster conversation among policymakers regarding industrial hemp economic potential. Hemp, Inc. is definitely making a presence on the Federal level to educate the public and government body on the benefits of being able to legally cultivate hemp across the United States. Perlowin has also been making waves in the event and expo circuit. So much so that Perlowin's presentation at the "Industrial Hemp Takes Manhattan" event on March 5, 2016 in snowy New York City was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with another event he has to attend in the sunny state of Florida during the same time. Perlowin will still be encouraging and supporting the small family farm in an effort to help create a new, clean and green agricultural and industrial revolution in other upcoming events. Moreover, on February 3, 2016, Perlowin was interviewed by Everett Jolly, CEO of UPTICK Network, an internet radio and podcast show where he discussed the rise in marijuana stocks (both past and future), uses of Hemp products, and recent developments with Hemp, Inc.'s decortication facility in Spring Hope, NC. To hear the interview, click here. He was also featured in Vimeo's "The Mad Hatter Chronicles." SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Join "Hemp, Inc. Presents" and join the hemp revolution. Watch as Hemp, Inc., the #1 leader in the industrial hemp industry, engages its shareholders and the public through each step in bringing back the hemp decorticator as described in the "Freedom Leaf Magazine" article "The Return of the Hemp Decorticator" by Steve Bloom. Freedom Leaf Magazine, a leading cannabis industry magazine is published by the public company, Freedom Leaf Magazine, Inc. "Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempincpresents.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, visit: http://www.hempincpresents.com. Subscribers will automatically get an email from YouTube every time a new Hemp, Inc. video update is posted along with suggestions of other similar videos. Stay up-to-date with the progress of Hemp, Inc.'s multipurpose industrial hemp processing plant while being educated on the industrial hemp industry. Our video update views are collectively reaching over a thousand views per week. Stay informed by subscribing to Hemp, Inc.'s video updates. Hemp, Inc. is positioning itself to be the avant-garde of the industrial hemp industry and processing industrial hemp. HEMP NATION MAGAZINE HempNationMagazine.com (HNM) is published by Hemp, Inc. and focuses on informing, educating, raising awareness and connecting the public to the powerful world of HEMP. HNM reports on Politics, Industrial Growth, Banking, Distribution, Medical, Lifestyles and Legalization. HNM is your source for all things HEMP and news about this emerging multi-billion dollar industry. For more information on HNM, visit www.HempNationMagazine.com. ABOUT INDUSTRIAL HEMP AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONSULTING COMPANY (IHMMCC) This lucrative division of Hemp, Inc. is once again picking up momentum. The Industrial Hemp and Medical Marijuana Consulting Company (IHMMCC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hemp, Inc. that pulls industry information from a vast network of specialists. IHMMCC is entrenched primarily in all the multi-faceted opportunities of the Industrial Hemp industry while maintaining professional contacts in the medical marijuana sector. As the country transitions to embrace more sustainable agricultural practices, public and private companies want to expand into the industrial hemp industry and consulting services from IHMMCC are helping them in leading the way. HEMP, INC.'S TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP) seeks to benefit many constituencies from a "Cultural Creative" perspective, thereby not exploiting or endangering any group. CEO of Hemp, Inc., Bruce Perlowin, is positioning the company as a leader in the industrial hemp industry, with a social and environmental mission at its core. Thus, the publicly traded company believes in "up streaming" a portion of its profits back to its originator, in which some cases will one day be the American small farmer -- cultivating natural, sustainable products as an interwoven piece of nature. By Hemp, Inc. focusing on comprehensive investment results -- that is, with respect to performance along the interrelated dimensions of people, planet, and profits -- the triple bottom line approach can be an important tool to support its sustainability goal. SAFE HARBOR ACT Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate", "if", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "could", "should", "will", and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Higher Export Competition Cues Impacted Grain Prices (Continued from Prior Part) Wheat prices fell March wheat futures trading on the CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) fell by 0.89% and closed at $4.72 per bushel on January 28, 2016. Wheat futures prices fell due to stronger export competition from the EU (European Union). The Teucrium Wheat Fund (WEAT) followed the prices on the CBOT and fell by 1.3% on January 28, 2016. The EU issued 822,000 tons of soft red winter wheat export licenses on January 28, 2016. Compared to last year, wheat exports from the EU are lagging behind by 12% from July 2015. Issuing the licenses shows that the EU captured strong export demand. It had a negative impact on the US wheat export demand on January 28, 2016. Weaker export cues dragged wheat prices down on January 28, 2016. The weather conditions in the US wheat belt are expected to remain favorable in the next few days. The forecast has stormy weather conditions in the US Midwest and Great Plains. Rainy weather could bring favorable precipitation to the wheat belt. This would help the wheat crop. It would satisfy the moisture requirements in the near term. It supported the wheat supply sentiment on January 28, 2016. It dragged US wheat prices down. On January 28, Irans farm minister reported that Irans focused on becoming self-sufficient in wheat production in the next season. There are cues that India could decide not to import wheat. Regarding reduced wheat exports, stronger production and higher inventory negatively influenced US wheat prices on January 28, 2016. Fertilizer companies stock The fall in wheat prices would hurt fertilizer businesses. It would reduce what wheat producers spend on fertilizer products. Companies including Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (POT), Terra Nitrogen (TNH), Intrepid Potash (IPI), and Mosaic (MOS) rose by 1.9%, 1.6%, 2.1%, and 1.9% on January 28, 2016, due to the fall in wheat prices. The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC) rose by 1.1% on January 28, 2016. Browse this series on Market Realist: warren buffett mics In June 1960, an anonymous tipster called American Express to expose a massive fraud at Allied Crude Vegetable Oil Refining Corporation. At the time, Allied was the largest customer of American Expresss field warehousing subsidiary, which was in the unenviable position of having guaranteed millions of dollars worth of Allieds soybean oil inventory. The tipster, whom American Express employees called the Voice, said he worked the night shift at Allieds facility in Bayonne, New Jersey. He challenged American Express employees to inspect Tank No. 6006, one of the largest tanks on the property. He explained that there was a narrow metal chamber filled with oil positioned directly under the measuring hatch. Everything else in the tank was seawater. In this excerpt from Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism, hedge fund manager and Columbia Business School professor Jeff Gramm explains why a bet on American Express's recovery from the "Great Salad Oil Swindle" became one of the defining moments in Warren Buffett's career. Warren Buffett makes investing sound easy. Part of his investment philosophy comes directly from Benjamin Graham: He views shares of stock as fractional ownerships of a business, and he buys them with a margin of safety. But unlike Graham, when Buffett finds a security trading at a large discount to its intrinsic value, he eschews diversification and buys a large position. To Buffett, with his superhuman gift for rational thinking, this value investing strategy is easy. For the rest of us mere mortals, it is a minefield littered with the corpses of its practitioners. It is very hard to avoid career-imploding mistakes with a hyperconcentrated value investing strategy. Buffett is the exception that proves the rule. Every year, I make a pilgrimage to Omaha to hear Buffett and his partner, Charlie Munger, take questions for six hours at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. I never tire of hearing them talk about business and industry. I dont even mind listening to them discuss politics and macroeconomics. When they philosophize about value investing, however, it makes me a little uneasy. Story continues DearChairman hc c.JPG To be clear, Buffett and Munger dont say anything about value investing that isnt true. They are right that you dont need a superhigh IQ to be a successful investor. They are right that it is relatively easy to evaluate the competitive dynamics of an industry and value companies. They are right that, if you are patient enough, the market will give you some fat pitches to swing at. And they are right that concentrating your portfolio into your very best ideas will give you the best outcome if you do good work. Every tenet of Buffetts value investing strategy holds true, but theres a cruel irony to contend with: Buffett-style investing is tailor- made to magnify irrational thinking. Nothing is going to coax out the inherent irrationality of a portfolio managerhis or her weakness to the forces of greed and fearlike supersize positions. Munger once said he would be comfortable putting more than 100% of his net worth into one investment. Most of the earnest business school students attending the Berkshire Hathaway meeting wouldnt stand a chance if they started investing like that. Investors need ice water in their veins to make concentrated value investing work. Buffetts biography, The Snowball, is not the story of an everyman from Americas heartland succeeding on just hard work and determination. Buffett is a singularity, and even his worst mistakes tell an interesting story. Berkshire Hathaway, for instance, was a bad investment. The company featured a lethal combination of high capital intensity and low returns on invested capital. In other words, you had to put a lot of money back into the business for little, if any, return. Yet Buffett somehow parlayed Berkshire into one of the most valuable companies in the world, with more than 340,000 employees. Buffett's biggest triumph Berkshire Hathaway is itself an anomaly, just like the man who built it. It is a huge, decentralized, global conglomerate that somehow retains a corporate culture of excellence. Berkshires business model is simple find good businesses run by capable managers, let them do their jobs, and then harvest the cash flows. Like Buffetts value investing strategy, it is intuitive, it generates incredible results, and nobody else does it nearly as well. Its hard to believe there was ever a time when Buffetts aptitude for business was anything but superhuman. We think of him as a fully formed portfolio manager from the moment he launched his first investment partnership in 1956, when he was only twenty-five years old. He compounded wealth for himself and his investors at an astounding rate over the next twelve years and never suffered a losing year. Despite this stellar track record, the Buffett Partnerships were very much a work in progress. Buffett was constantly refining his investment style, even toying with short selling and pair trades at one point. As he told the New York Times in 1990, I evolved. I didnt go from ape to human or human to ape in a nice, even manner. Buffett learned lessons from his mistakes as well as his victories. His biggest triumph was American Express. It proved to be a major turning point in his career. The Great Salad Oil Swindle was an audacious fraud that nearly toppled American Express in the 1960s. It is a complicated story filled with valuable lessons about the fallibility of businessmen, and their capacity to ignore reality at critical junctures. While the saga exposes terrible behavior and a true villain, it features many more honest and capable people who unwittingly developed deadly blind spots. The fallout from the fraud also pitted Buffett against a handful of shareholders who wanted American Express to maximize its short-term profits by ignoring salad oil claimants. When Buffett intervened at American Express as a large shareholder, he didnt demand board representation or ask probing questions about the companys operating performance. He didnt call for a higher dividend or question the companys capital spending. Instead, he wanted American Express to use its capital liberally to recompense parties who were defrauded in the swindle. Buffett had done enough research on American Express to understand that it was a phenomenal business. He would later refer to companies like this as compounding machines, because they generate huge returns on capital that can be reinvested at the same rate of return. Buffett knew that walking away from the salad oil claims would damage American Expresss reputation and its substantial long-term value. He wanted to prevent short-term-oriented shareholders from jamming the compounding machines gears just to save a few dollars. This was a new position for Buffett to be in. Before he bought American Express stock, Buffett was the kind of penny-pinching investor who sought to extract value from his stock holdings as quickly as possible. The typhoon will pass American Express lost $125 million in market value after the swindle became public. It eventually reached an agreement with salad oil claimants that would cost only $32 million net of taxes. But a funny thing happened on the way to resolution: American Expresss settlement was delayed by an unlikely groupthe companys own shareholders. A small group of shareholders filed suit to block any settlement, on the grounds that American Express had no legal obligation to pay the warehousing subsidiarys liabilities. Howard Clark may have felt he had a moral obligation to creditors, but shareholders argued that American Express legally owed nothing. They believed paying a cash settlement was a gift and a negligent use of assets that would damage shareholder value. They were especially frustrated that holders of forged receipts would receive any cash at all. When public company shareholders dont have opinions, or hold them tighter than they hold their stocks, the few who choose to speak up are afforded a tall soapbox. But if an empowered few assume the voice of all shareholders, how can we be sure they are looking out for committed, long-term owners? The outsize influence of active shareholders probably weighed on Buffetts mind when American Express holders began agitating for the company to ignore the salad oil claims. Buffett knew the odds of this happening were slim, but why risk letting a handful of shareholders dominate the debate? In Buffetts early years, he occasionally clashed with management teams and boards of directors of underperforming, asset-rich companies. When he was forced to go active, it often meant seizing control and dismantling assets. At Dempster Mill, for example, he generated shareholder value by taking money out of the business as quickly as possible. American Express was a different situation altogether. Management was making the right moves to protect the franchise, yet other shareholders were agitating to block them. The swindle generated national news coverage and many of the claimants were large financial institutions that sold American Express travelers checks. Buffett worried that shareholders shortsighted attempt to avoid a settlement could permanently impair American Expresss valuable brand. With a quality business at stake, Buffett wanted to intervene to protect the companys competitive advantage. Republished with permission from Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism, by Jeff Gramm. Copyright 2016 by HarperBusiness. All rights reserved. NOW WATCH: NASA's Spirit Mars rover found mysterious growths on Mars that could be the biggest discovery in science More From Business Insider 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . 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Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. Forgot your Password? By logging into your account, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy , and to the use of cookies as described therein. One of the big bads from the 1980s is starting to emerge again in Alberta.Jingle mail the act of walking away from an underwater mortgage by mailing your keys back to the bank is a peculiarity of the Alberta residential market and an act of desperation. However, a combination of high debt and lost jobs make it an option in a province going through a significant economic reckoning.It's enough of a concern that the federal government is watching the Alberta market closely. Jingle mail, or strategic defaults, weaken the housing market and increase loan losses among Canada's banks.mo Thai police have charged a Spanish man of gruesome murder and dismemberment of his compatriot in Bangkok last week. The suspect was on the run since his picture was made public in a press conference by Royal Thai Police. He was believed to have fled to neighboring Cambodia after his motorbike was found abandoned near the Thai border. Thus, the security officials in Thailand asked for help from their Cambodian counterparts. After a nationwide search operation, the killer was caught in a coastal city of Cambodia. The next day, he was extradited to the Kingdom of Thailand via a helicopter to stand trial. The Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on premeditated murder and body concealment charges. Mr. Segarra has denied any involvement in the murder of David Bernat, a consultant with a foreign company. The victim was abducted, tortured and forced to transfer a large amount of money before being killed. A Thai woman identified as Pristina Saen-ubon was questioned during the investigation. She was spotted with Mr. Segarra in a black Isuzu pickup truck in Surin. The 22-year-old Ploy told the investigators they were in a karaoke bar in Surins Muang district, but he the bar on his motorcycle when his picture appeared on the TV news. She came to know the suspect six months ago while working in Bangkok. However, she insisted she did not know anything about his activities and denied involvement in any crime. Earlier on Sunday evening, the alleged suspect identified as Artur Segarra Princep was arrested at a restaurant in Sihanoukville, southwest of Phnom Penh. The 26-year-old Spaniard believed to be residing in a guesthouse for the past few days. The first body part was discovered on Sunday in Bangkoks Chao Phraya river. Since then six additional parts were found at different locations along the river. The forensic experts believe the victim died between 25th and 27th of January and the cause of death being suffocation. IMAGE/BangkokPost SCOTTSBLUFF Community Colleges of Nebraska, a consortium of five Nebraska community colleges, recently launched a dynamic statewide awareness campaign promoting their Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs to prospective students, their parents, employers in business and industry, and high school counselors and teachers. The campaign, My Great Career, www.mygreatcareer.com, highlights CTE programs for traditional and non-traditional students that provide rewarding employment opportunities in the modern workplace and meet the needs and challenges of Nebraska employers. The awareness campaign also seeks to raise the consortiums visibility and leadership position with policy leaders, businesses, economic development agencies, trade organizations, and the public at large. The consortium members are Central Community College, Mid-Plains Community College, Northeast Community College, Southeast Community College, and Western Nebraska Community College. Nebraska community colleges are incubators and catalysts of regional economic vitality and make a substantial contribution to the statewide economy. The Community Colleges of Nebraskas integrated marketing campaign includes outreach to motivated high school graduates and non-traditional students including adults who are underemployed or currently employed in professions with little or no upward mobility or advancement potential. The messages reinforce how prospective students can achieve their career goals with little or no debt. Through their outstanding faculty, facilities, business and government partnerships, and academic programs, CTE consortium institutions prepare students for rewarding careers in demand now. Nebraska CTE programs provide career and technical education for those individuals who would like to go directly into the workforce upon completing their community college education. The four key program clusters are Automotive, Transportation, and Manufacturing Technology; Health Care, Emergency Response, and Human Services; Construction Technology and Agricultural Sciences; and Business and Information Technology. Louisville Rescue Squad transported a man and one child to Midlands Hospital following a vehicular accident Monday morning on Highway 50 and Mahoney Road. The accident occurred at about 8 a.m. when Louisville resident, Scott Parrill, tried to cross Highway 50 on Mahoney Road in his black 2010 Acura TL. Passengers in the vehicle were his three children. According to a Cass County Sheriffs Office press release, Parrill said he stopped at the stop sign and looked for oncoming traffic but did not see a northbound car due to a southbound semi that blocked his view. When he crossed Highway 50, his vehicle and a red 1999 Hyundai Tiburon, driven by 37-year-old Jason Beck of Avoca, collided. The Hyundai left the roadway upon impact and came to rest on a snow bank on the northeast side of the intersection. Parrills vehicle spun 180 degrees upon impact and came to rest at the intersections northeast corner. Airbags deployed in both vehicles. Louisville rescue transported Beck and one of Parrills children to the hospital with minor injuries. Parrill was issued a citation for Failure to Yield Right of Way. Traffic was limited in the area for about an hour until the vehicles were removed. Cass County Sheriffs Office deputies, Louisville Rescue, Springfield Rescue and Cass County Emergency Management Agency paramedics responded to the accident. Psychology 101, as it applies to politicians. If you start with a cage containing four monkeys, and inside the cage hang a banana on a string from the top, and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana. When that happens all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with same result. As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the monkeys with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new monkey. The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat him silly. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original four monkeys, replacing it with a new monkey. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm because he is now part of the "team." Then, replace a third original monkey with a new monkey, followed by the fourth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Now, the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs and they do not know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, not one of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana. Why, you ask? Because in their minds, that is the way it has always been! This is how it is at times in Nebraska's Unicameral Legislature. This analogy is very relevant to what can happen in legislative bodies. A great example is at the national level, where this tendency was made painfully obvious to anyone paying attention. We witnessed two historic landslide elections, one in 2010 and one 2014, which put Republicans in charge of congress, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate. There were Republican historic majorities won in states and local elections all across the country. The average person sent the Republicans to Washington to stop President Obamas radical agenda to transform America, and repeal the harm of Obamacare and the out of control spending, which represents the banana in the monkey cage. Yet, when the new monkeys arrived they found that most of the monkeys in the cage didnt want to touch the banana because of the fear of the original monkeys, leadership, and the cold water, the media. So, with majorities and a mandate from the people, they refused any serious attempt at undoing the mess and reaching the banana out of fear. In Nebraska, it seems we have similar issues. With only one house, evenwithout a defined leadership its easier at times to slap down some of the new members of the Legislature and pull them into the comfy status quo. Senators get pressured to abandon their campaign promises for more reasonable positions. We witnessed several of those moments last session. One of the methods used to maintain the way it has always been mentality in the Unicameral is voting by secret ballot for leadership. Secret ballots makes it more likely that deal making can be kept hidden in the weeds, and the safe people are elected to provide leadership. When someone is bold enough to go for the banana then words are used as clubs to marginalize them, and stigmatize them into silence or submission. Accusations of partisanship is another tool to paint the non-conformers as destroyers of the peace and conspirators against the unicameral system as a whole. In the non-partisan Legislature the status quo is cherished, and not so different than other legislative bodies, it is alive a well and needs to be confronted at every opportunity. Another good example in the Unicameral is that in new senator orientation they train the conservative right out of some new senators. They stress how independent each senator is, even to the point of not listening to their conservative constituents. They are encouraged to forget the promises they made to cut taxes, because Republicans do that and that makes it partisan. Finally, senators get pretty cozy with the lobbyists and special interests that are often at odds with the people in their district or most of the people in the state. Spending all that time in the echo chamber of the Capitol and Lincoln throws some senators off track. They serve the lobbists, rather than their constituents. They are told over and over that incumbent senators rarely loose re-election which implies that they really don't have to do all the things they promised they would do as candidates like cut spending and taxes. This is why the Legislature is quite often out of touch with the majority of Nebraskans. Disclaimer: This is meant as no disrespect to monkeys. TORONTO For a couple about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, time would seem to be on their side. But secrets may not be. 45 Years stars newly minted Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling and veteran actor Tom Courtenay as Kate and Geoff. They seem like an ideally matched English couple until a letter from Switzerland arrives with word that a body has been found, and its that of Geoffs onetime girlfriend, who died in a mountain hiking accident in 1962. That was before Kate and Geoff met, let alone wed, but the news sends shock waves through their marriage. Director Andrew Haigh, who wrote the screenplay inspired by the David Constantine short story In Another Country, initially approached Rampling because the movie is told from her point of view. We needed that central person first and then it was about finding exactly the right person to go with Charlotte, and that proved to be Courtenay. The film lives or dies on the strength of those performances and the relationship; if that doesnt work, the film doesnt work, Haigh said. It was very important to me that I found two people that had both a wealth of history but also felt like very distinct people. The director and Courtenay settled in at a dining room table in a stately hotel suite during Septembers Toronto International Film Festival to talk about 45 Years. The movie had premiered in February 2015 at the Berlin International Film Festival where the leads were honored as best actress and actor, but each new festival brought its own uncertainty. When you make something, youre always feeling vulnerable about it, always, especially if you put everything youve got into it and you really care about it and it means things to you. You automatically feel like youre giving something of yourself away so its always youre in a slightly vulnerable position, but I think thats part of making films, isnt it? He and the veteran performer, however, take the opposite approach to publicity about the movie, not the doing of it but the tracking of it. Ive read not one interview, and I have not read one review, and I dont intend to, because I dont think they do the head any good at all, Courtenay said, advice he has followed on other stage or screen projects, once telling pal, playwright and screenwriter Ronald Harwood, Dont read the bloody things. The director countered with a laugh, I read everything. I still agree with you it does no good. As it turned out, though, the movie proved to be one of the best reviewed of the year. It is rife with images, sounds and reminders of the passage of time, thanks to ticking clocks, chimes, bells, watches in a store window and the sound of old-fashioned slides moving through a carousel. For me, everything has to do with time, obviously, even the length of shots, Haigh said. Everything about it is to do with how long time can be, but also how quickly you can remember, and how things can come back in and disrupt ... and change your perception of whats been before and whats going to come. I find time just so fascinating to me. This is a story, theyve been together 45 years, and then their relationship has the capability of falling apart over five days, over something that happened so, so long ago, the filmmaker said. Courtenays character has a telling comment that comes in a taxi ride later in the film. His wife apologizes for not buying him a watch as an anniversary present and he responds, I like not knowing the time. He and Haigh couldnt remember if that was scripted or improvised because, as Courtenay said, He did let me put in the odd line. The actor was taken by other moments, from the discovery of the frozen corpse to a scene shared with Rampling in which he describes an encounter with a stranger. He says, that woman, you know, I was just sitting there minding my own business, asked me if I was all right. I found that so expressive because of course he obviously isnt all right, but he didnt want any strange woman asking if he was. Hed like to feel he is all right, but its things eating away at him. Courtenay made his professional stage debut in 1960 in the Old Vic production of The Seagull and later earned acclaim for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner along with Oscar nominations for Doctor Zhivago and The Dresser. In 2000, he published his memoir and a year later was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in recognition of his 40 years on stage and screen. Haigh (Weekend, HBOs Looking) made some key changes to the source material. He shaved some years off the couples ages, invented the anniversary party, shifted the perspective from husband to wife and altered the ending. One constant that remains is the power of the word heedless, from the short story, along with the fact that a life forged together has been thrown off balance. You tend to lose an understanding of what it is and what its been, and it can easily break apart and fall away, Haigh said. It was important to him that there were no villains in the story. People can have their opinions about who they think is justifiable. I understood both of the characters, I felt enormously for both, the filmmaker said. Theyre both struggling with being faced with their choices in the past. Thats a terrifying, horrific thing to have to do, especially as youre about to have an anniversary party to celebrate your togetherness. Stacy Heatherly didnt have a lack of positive things to say about screenwriter, author and educator Lew Hunter as she chatted Monday afternoon while she sipped on a coffee inside of Scooters Coffee House. Hunter, founder of the UCLA Screenwriting Program and renowned instructor, is arguably one of the biggest names in film business. He also is a Nebraska Native, and he also offered his services to Heatherly when she started The Digg Site Productions, Inc., a 501 (3) non-profit organization dedicated to teaching students about the film industry through a 10-week duel-credit class held at Metropolitan Community College. Lew offered screen writing courses, offered to speak and really made himself accessible, Heatherly said. I also knew him before that I met him in 2000, but 2009 was when we really started interacting and he started helping us. Thats who Lew is, hes a helper. If there is anything he can do to help the industry he is right there to do it. Because of the level of respect she has for Hunter, when the film commissioner of the Eastern Nebraska Film Office learned she was being invited to speak in Los Angeles at the premiere of Once in a Lew Moon, a documentary highlighting the monumental impact Hunter has had on the film industry, she was overwhelmed. I was shocked and honored when they reached out to me, she said. Those are really the two things. I was honored because Lonnie (executive producer) has spent so much time on this documentary. He has done so much work on this documentary interviewing all of the people who Lew has helped in this industry. Lonnie Senstock, also a Nebraska native, has been working on fine-tuning the documentary for years, Heatherly said. Heatherly will be speaking in front of a crowd of nearly 250 people Friday evening during the premiere held at the UCLA film school. She will be one of seven speakers during the course of the evening. Every speaker at the premiere is somebody who has been a pathfinder in his or her areas of film expertise. One speaker is Mike Werb, writer of the screenplay for The Mask and Laura Croft: Tombraider. One exciting aspect of the evening is that there will be a great Nebraska representation about 50 Nebraskans are expected to be at the event. Im honored that Nebraska was asked to represent the event, she said. Because Nebraska means so much to Lonnie, and Lew, too. Hunter, a person who has impacted the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people, is somebody who Heatherly believes is absolutely deserving of all praise he receives. This is one of those situations where you just cannot do enough for someone who has given so much, she said. He has changed the course of so many lives, and this will be a great way for people to see his achievements through this excellent documentary. Radisson Blu announces the opening of Radisson Blu Hotel, Sohar. This is Rezidors fifth hotel in operation in Oman. Radisson Blu Hotel, Sohar is the only beach front address in the Northern Province of Oman. At 12 kms from the industrial port and 5 kms from the business district, the Radisson Blu Hotel, Sohar offers 179 rooms and suites in the heart of the Batinah capital. For business travelers and event planners, the hotel features meeting facilities for up to 80 delegates as well as a sizeable ballroom that comfortably accommodates 700 guests. This hall can be readily converted into an exhibition hall with a dedicated wide entrance providing direct access from the hotel car park. "Radisson Blu Hotel, Soharis the perfect addition to our portfolio of great destinations for international guests, especially business travelers. With a stunning location surrounded by pristine beaches, gorgeous views over the city and sea, proximity to the port, extraordinary bars and restaurants, wellness center, and so much more we have something to delight every guest in Sohar. We are looking forward to welcoming our loyal corporate clients, Meetings & Events customers, and Radisson Blu global fans to this exciting city on the Gulf of Oman," said Francois Galoisy general manager Radisson Blu Hotel Sohar. The hotel's three restaurants and bars provide a choice of food and beverage choices and include the Al Zafaran Restaurant, an all-day dining which creatively combine international fare with local flavor as well as the hotels signature restaurant, Amaranthai serves refined Thai and Chinese cuisine in a relaxed and authentic setting. For a casual drink, guests can unwind at Al Khaimah roof top bar with a shisha terrace to enjoy the sweet sounds of classic Arabic music around the trendy Aqua Bar. Sohar enjoys a unique strategic business location, halfway between the Omani and the UAE capital and we are proud to showcase our Radisson Blu hospitality here. Sohar is also an ideal stopover for leisure travelers, en-route between Muscat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, said Mark Willis, Area Vice President of the Middle East & Turkey for The Rezidor Hotel Group. Sohar is the new economic power of Oman, encompassing an industrial port, a free zone, an industrial estate and a domestic airport with a freight train terminal in the pipeline, all of which helps position the destination and our hotel brand. The Radisson Blu Hotel, Sohar is operated by The Rezidor Hotel Group. For more information visit click here. Starwood announced the entry of Four Points by Sheraton brand to Ethiopia, which is one of Africas fastest growing economies. Slated to open at the beginning of 2019, Four Points by Sheraton Addis Ababa, Meskel Square marks Starwoods first new hotel in Ethiopia since the opening of the renowned Sheraton Addis Ababa, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in 1998. Strategically located on the main arterial avenue leading to Bole International Airport, the hotel is a short walk from popular city landmark, Meskel Square, and a quick drive to the United Nations and African Union Headquarters. As home to Africas largest airline, Addis Ababa is a key hotel market and an ideal city for a brand that serves the modern, everyday traveler. Four Points Addis Ababa, Meskel Square will feature 450 stylish and contemporary guest rooms, including 44 suites and a Presidential Suite equipped with thoughtful touches that contribute to an unencumbered, comfortable stay. The hotel will also offer several food and beverage options including an all-day dining restaurant, a roof top specialty restaurant, a pool bar, and a lobby bar and lounge featuring the brands signature Best Brews program. Other hotel facilities will include a fitness center, an outdoor pool, an extensive Spa facility and over 2000 square meters of meeting and ballroom space. The hotel will feature all of the brands defining elements including Four Comfort Bed, free bottled water in all rooms and suites, fast and free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, and an energizing breakfast with fresh coffee that helps guests start and end the day right. The design of the first global certification standard for CO2 emissions from new aircraft is finalized. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) reached an international consensus on a meaningful standard to foster reduction in CO2 emissions from aircraft. Industry associations such as The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Airlines for America, The Air Transport Action Group has welcomed the CO2 Standard as part of a wider series of actions aimed at tackling aviations climate change impact. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said, "I am pleased that ICAO reached an international consensus on a meaningful standard to foster reduction in CO2 emissions from aircraft. We are encouraged by this success and believe it puts us on a promising path to secure a robust market-based measure later this year. This is another example of the administration's deep commitment to working with the international community on policies that will reduce harmful carbon pollution worldwide." Our industry already has a tremendous record of fuel efficiency improvements and emissions savings, and we are committed to continuing that trend, said Nancy Young, A4A Vice President, Environmental Affairs. These ambitious new standards put forth by ICAOs Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection will assist us in meeting that commitment. We commend the work of the Committee for its part in ensuring that ICAO continues to demonstrate leadership in setting environmental standards for global aviation. The Air Transport Action Group, a cross-industry organisation focusing on sustainable aviation, Executive Director, Michael Gill, said, Following the landmark Paris Agreement in December last year, aviation is pressing ahead with its own climate action plan. Todays decision on the ICAO CO2 Standard provides a significant step towards the industrys long-term goal to halve aviation CO2 and much-needed momentum ahead of the ICAO Assembly in September, at which governments are expected to agree on a global market-based measure for aviation. The CO2 Standard will apply to all new aircraft models launched after 2020. The standard will also be phased in for all existing aircraft types rolling off the production line from 2023, even if they were designed and launched prior to 2020. A production cut-off date of 2028 has been recommended for any aircraft that do not comply with the CO2 Standard. The standard will be reviewed periodically to increase its stringency in line with technology advancement. ICAO has a long track record of implementing similar standards in noise, safety, security and agreements on air navigation. Once the CO2 Standard is formally adopted by the ICAO Council, it will be implemented by national civil aviation authorities around the world and will be part of the rigorous certification process all new aircraft must meet before entering service. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) announced the host city for its 2017 European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC). The association revealed its plans earlier today during the closing of EMEC 2016 in Copenhagen. EMEC 2017 is scheduled for March 5 7 at the Granada Congress and Exhibition Centre in Granada, Spain. MPI last hosted a conference in Spain in 2010 in Malaga. Next year will mark the associations second EMEC in the country and the first time in Granada, which is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. MPI is excited to hold EMEC in Granada next year. The citys rich history, beautiful landscape and accessibility make it a great choice for our event, said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. In addition to exploring innovative ideas and rich content for the conference, we are working with our host city partners to offer very attractive hotel room rates to conference attendees. Granada has served as a lively and inviting destination for numerous conferences, conventions, and incentive trips thanks to the local environment, professionalism of the spaces and services offered, and warmth of the people. The citys conference centre is located in the center of the city with more than 4,000 hotel rooms within walking distance. We believe this is the perfect time for MPI Spain, the Granada Convention Bureau, and the international MPI community to meet in Granada. We are really looking forward to hosting EMEC in 2017," said Eva Garde, Marketing Director, Granada Convention Bureau. MPIs partners for EMEC 2017 include the Granada Convention Bureau and the MPI Spain Chapter. In addition, the following local organizations will be involved in the planning: Granada Congress Centre, Granada City Hall, Province of Granada Tourist Board and Andalucia Tourist Board. To register interest and receive updates on next years conference, visit www.mpiweb.org/Events/emec-2017. Thailand-based ONYX Hospitality Group has appointed Robert Rijnders. Rijnders, who is named Senior Vice President and Area General Manager for Pattaya, has started working with Amari Hotels & Resorts since the early 1980s; the very beginning when Amari was still known as Siam Lodge Group of Hotels. Being with the company for over 30 years, his multi-property operations experience has provided the firm better understanding of different traditions, cultures and business acumen of the hospitality industry. Commenting on his executive move at ONYX, Rijnders said, My journey with ONYX started in Pattaya, where I was the Executive Assistant Manager at Nipa Lodge Hotel in 1981 when the company only had three hotels. I spent many of the early years in Pattaya, and I am very much looking forward to overseeing our existing properties here, as well as the up and coming ones. It is a very exciting time for ONYX, as we expand into new territories, and develop new and additional properties in existing ONYX regions. Scheduled to open in May, Amari Residences Pattaya will be the third Amari property to open in 2016 following earlier launches in the Maldives and Koh Samui. The property will feature 173 modern units ranging from studios to two-bedroom units. With expertise in operational guidance and hands-on management, Rijnders will be overseeing the five existing Pattaya properties: Amari Pattaya, Amari Nova Suites Pattaya, Nova Gold Pattaya, Nova Park Pattaya and Nova Platinum Pattaya. Rijnders will also manage the pre-opening and opening of ONYXs two newest properties in the region: Amari Residences Pattaya and Nova Express Pattaya. a. Make a phone call: to a lawyer or relative or anyone b. Ask to see a lawyer immediately: if you dont have the money ask for a Duty Council c. A Duty Council is a lawyer provided by the state d. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to the police e. Tell your lawyer if anyone hits you and identify who did so by name and number f. Give no explanations excuses or stories: you can make your defense later in court based on what you and your lawyer decided g. Ask the sub officer in charge of the station to grant bail once you are charged with an offence h. Ask to be taken before a justice of The Peace immediately if the sub officer refuses you bail i. Demand to be brought before a Resident Magistrate and have your lawyer ask the judge for bail j. Ask that any property taken from you be listed and sealed in your presence Cases of Assault:An assault is an apprehension that someone is about to hit you The following may apply: 1) Call 119 or go to the station or the police arrives depending on the severity of the injuries 2) The report must be about the incident as it happened, once the report is admitted as evidence it becomes the basis for the trial 3) Critical evidence must be gathered as to the injuries received which may include a Doctors report of the injuries. 4) The description must be clearly stated; describing injuries directly and identifying them clearly, show the doctor the injuries clearly upon the visit it must be able to stand up under cross examination in court. 5) Misguided evidence threatens the credibility of the witness during a trial; avoid the questioning of the witnesses credibility, the tribunal of fact must be able to rely on the witnesss word in presenting evidence 6) The court is guided by credible evidence on which it will make its finding of facts Are you interested in getting your company, event, or institution noticed? Advertise with the GRC on Global Geothermal News - Contact at dgroves@geothermal.org At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case. The real Glaswegian working class voice in the independence debate read by thousands, the BBC and other related media, secured the first criminal conviction against one of the seven top cybernats outed by the Daily Mail a. Make a phone call: to a lawyer or relative or anyone b. Ask to see a lawyer immediately: if you dont have the money ask for a Duty Council c. A Duty Council is a lawyer provided by the state d. Talk to a lawyer before you talk to the police e. Tell your lawyer if anyone hits you and identify who did so by name and number f. Give no explanations excuses or stories: you can make your defense later in court based on what you and your lawyer decided g. Ask the sub officer in charge of the station to grant bail once you are charged with an offence h. Ask to be taken before a justice of The Peace immediately if the sub officer refuses you bail i. Demand to be brought before a Resident Magistrate and have your lawyer ask the judge for bail j. Ask that any property taken from you be listed and sealed in your presence Cases of Assault:An assault is an apprehension that someone is about to hit you The following may apply: 1) Call 119 or go to the station or the police arrives depending on the severity of the injuries 2) The report must be about the incident as it happened, once the report is admitted as evidence it becomes the basis for the trial 3) Critical evidence must be gathered as to the injuries received which may include a Doctors report of the injuries. 4) The description must be clearly stated; describing injuries directly and identifying them clearly, show the doctor the injuries clearly upon the visit it must be able to stand up under cross examination in court. 5) Misguided evidence threatens the credibility of the witness during a trial; avoid the questioning of the witnesses credibility, the tribunal of fact must be able to rely on the witnesss word in presenting evidence 6) The court is guided by credible evidence on which it will make its finding of facts We do not know if we will ever again see the equivalent of the siberian traps. We can see a super volcano at work, but that is likely to be... DES MOINES Sen. Joni Ernst is supporting additional sanction on North Korea in response to the rogue nations recent tests of a hydrogen bomb and a long-range rocket potentially capable of delivering ballistic missiles. North Korea is always at the top of the list when it comes to very unstable governments that have access to very powerful weapons, Ernst said Tuesday. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act that includes secondary sanctions of the type the Obama administration used to get a nuclear agreement with Iran. James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, told Ernst and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the details of North Koreas nuclear doctrine or employment concepts are not known. We have long assessed that Pyongyangs nuclear capabilities are intended for deterrence, international prestige and coercive diplomacy, he said. The Senate legislation scheduled for a vote Feb. 10 would include broad sanctions as well as crack down on communist party officials accused of covering up human rights violations. The legislation also includes what Ernst called secondary sanctions that would be in addition to sanctions on the no government. They would apply to those corporations or people outside of North Korea who are attempting to do business with North Korea, she said. Secondary sanctions would apply to anyone trying to supply the North Korea military-industrial base, Ernst said. China, by far North Korea's closest trading partner, has expressed opposition to the sanctions. The White House could waive sanctions in some cases, but would have to report that to Congress. MASON CITY Motorists will likely face a second day of hazardous travel conditions Tuesday. The National Weather Service forecast calls for scattered flurries and patchy blowing snow before noon and winds of 20-25 mph with gusts up to 34 mph. Wind chills could drop as low as minus 20 degrees. Forecasters say North Iowas roadways should be slightly more drivable than on Monday, when conditions were so bad that state transportation officials closed Interstate 35 from Clear Lake to Ames. WEATHER: Interstate 35 opens in both directions in North Iowa CLEAR LAKE Officials opened Interstate 35 at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after a blizzard closed 86 Law-enforcement officers are still urging people to avoid travel on Tuesday if possible. I think were going to see more of the same (on Tuesday), so if you dont have to go anywhere, dont, said Trooper Keith Duenow. The gates to I-35 were initially closed to the southbound lanes early Monday afternoon in Clear Lake to relieve pressure on emergency crews responding to a crash near Dows. Officials closed the gates to westbound Avenue of the Saints at Highway 65 in Mason City for the same reason. The crash involved multiple vehicles, including a car and a semitrailer, said Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Dana Knutson. They were having a hard time getting emergency responders to them, he said. The accident was only one of many Monday. The decision to close both directions of Interstate 35 from Clear Lake to Ames was made about 4:30 p.m. Monday. Troopers said the interstate had long stretches of whiteout conditions during snow showers on Monday. Even when it wasnt snowing, there was still zero visibility in some areas. A blizzard warning was in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. Forecasters issued a winter weather advisory warning of poor visibility and hazardous travel through midnight. Classes were canceled in most North Iowa school districts on Monday. Several districts, including Northwood-Kensett and Hampton-Dumont, announced on Monday afternoon they would have delayed starts on Tuesday as well. Those two districts both planned two-hour delays. CLEAR LAKE Officials opened Interstate 35 at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after a blizzard closed 86 miles of the road between Clear Lake and Ames. Most state roadways were still partially covered with snow or ice at 9 a.m., according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. A winter weather advisory for the area expired at 9 a.m. A tow ban for Mitchell, Worth, Winnebago and Cerro Gordo counties was lifted at 10 a.m. Our earlier story: MASON CITY Motorists will likely face a second day of hazardous travel conditions Tuesday. Wind chills could drop as low as minus 20 degrees. Most North Iowa school districts announced delayed starts for Tuesday morning, including Mason City and Clear Lake. Most districts planned to start two hours late. A winter weather advisory is in effect until 4 a.m. Tuesday, and conditions are expected to slowly improve overnight. Visibility will gradually increase after snow showers end later Monday evening, according to the National Weather Bureau. However strong northwest winds at 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 45 mph will continue to produce blowing and drifting snow. Visibility will be reduced to below 2 miles at times and cause significant reductions in visibility at ground level. Wind speeds will gradually diminish toward morning, reducing to 20 to 25 mph with occasional higher gusts by sunrise. As of Monday evening Interstate 35 remained closed from Ames to Clear Lake as blowing and drifting snow continued to cause slick roads and dangerous travel. Forecasters say North Iowas roadways should be slightly more drivable Tuesday. Law-enforcement officers are still urging people to avoid travel on Tuesday if possible. I think were going to see more of the same (on Tuesday), so if you dont have to go anywhere, dont, said Trooper Keith Duenow. The gates to I-35 were initially closed to the southbound lanes early Monday afternoon in Clear Lake to relieve pressure on emergency crews responding to a crash near Dows. Officials closed the gates to westbound Avenue of the Saints at Highway 65 in Mason City for the same reason. The crash involved multiple vehicles, including a car and a semitrailer, said Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Dana Knutson. They were having a hard time getting emergency responders to them, he said. The accident was only one of many Monday. The decision to close both directions of Interstate 35 from Clear Lake to Ames was made about 4:30 p.m. Monday. Troopers said the interstate had long stretches of whiteout conditions during snow showers on Monday. Even when it wasnt snowing, there was still zero visibility in some areas. A blizzard warning was canceled Tuesday afternoon and was replaced by a winter weather advisory warning of poor visibility and hazardous travel. Classes were canceled in most North Iowa school districts on Monday. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our earlier story: CLEAR LAKE | Interstate 35 is closed in both directions from Clear Lake to Ames, officials announced Monday. The Iowa Department of Transportation closed both directions of the freeway from Exit 194, at Highway 18 in Clear Lake, to Exit 111, at Highway 30 in Ames, according to the department's 511ia.org website. The closure is due to road conditions and a major accident in the Dows area. The Iowa DOT posted the closure about 4:30 p.m. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our earlier story: MASON CITY | Emergency responders are urging North Iowa motorists to stay off the roads due to dangerously low visibilities and icy conditions. "Weather this one out," said Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Dana Knutson. "It doesnt sound like the winds are going to drop down any tonight. Once it gets dark its going to get even worse. Conditions were so bad state transportation officials closed the gates to southbound Interstate 35 from Clear Lake to Highway 30, near Ames, on Monday afternoon. The closure was necessary to enable law-enforcement officers and ambulance crews to respond to a crash near Dows, Knutson said. The crash involved multiple vehicles, including a car and a semitrailer, he said. They were having a hard time getting emergency responders to them, Knutson said. The combination of whiteout conditions and slippery roads caused multiple crashes along the interstate as well as the surrounding roads. The interstate had long stretches of whiteout conditions during snow showers on Monday. Even when it wasn't snowing, there was still zero visibility in some areas, Knutson said. Problems seemed to deteriorate as motorists headed south from Clear Lake. The visibility problems, the further south you go, theyre a lot worse, Knutson said. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our earlier story: CLEAR LAKE | Officials have closed the gates to southbound Interstate 35 from Clear Lake and Ames due to a multi-vehicle crash 43 miles south of Clear Lake. The gates to soutbound I-35 were closed about 12:45 p.m. at the Clear Lake entrance ramp and to westbound Avenue of the Saints at Highway 65 in Mason City, according to the Iowa State Patrol. Officials closed the gates to southbound lanes between Clear Lake and Highway 30, near Ames, due to a multi-vehicle crash near Mile Marker No. 151, which is about nine miles south of the Dows exit, said Pete Hjelmstad, field services coordinator for the Iowa Department of Transportation. He said the crash involved cars and a semitrailer. "We don't want to be sending traffic down there because visibility is so bad," Hjelmstad said. Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals said the roads deteriorated throughout the day on Monday. "The road conditions now are worse than they were this morning," he said. No timeline was given for when the gates will be reopened. Sheriff's deputies from Franklin and Wright counties were assisting the Iowa State Patrol with the crash near Dows. Both directions of travel on I-35 were blocked in Hamilton County, about 62 miles south of Clear Lake, according to the Iowa DOT's 511ia.org website. Those lanes were closed due to a jacknifed semitrailer. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our previous story: MASON CITY | Gusty winds and blowing snow will continue to create hazardous conditions throughout the day on Monday. Forecasters from the National Weather Service say widespread blowing snow will continue through 1 p.m., and patchy blowing snow through midnight. Northwest winds of 26-31 mph are expected to gust up to 41 mph. Wind chills could fall as low as minus 10 degrees during the day Monday and even colder, minus 15 degrees, on Tuesday night. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our previous story: MASON CITY Travel conditions were treacherous in North Iowa on Tuesday due to blizzard conditions. Travel is not advised on Interstate 35 according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. A tow ban is in effect for many counties. A blizzard warning issued by the National Weather Service in Des Moines remains in effect until 6 p.m. Monday. Strong gusty winds of 30 miles per hour with gusts over 40 combined with periods of snow showers are causing whiteout conditions. Many accidents have been reported overnight according to the National Weather Service in Des Moines. Globe Gazette delivery may be delayed outside of Mason City. Several school districts have canceled classes Monday while others are delayed. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our previous story: School cancelations and postponements * Mason City Community Schools - Canceled * Algona - Canceled * Belmond-Klemme - Canceled * Charles City - Canceled * Clarion-Goldfield - Canceled * Clear Lake - Canceled * Forest City - Canceled * Garner-Hayfield-Ventura - Canceled * Hampton-Dumont - Canceled * Lake Mills - Canceled * Mason City Newman - Canceled * North Iowa Christian School - Canceled * Northwood-Kensett - Canceled * Osage - Canceled * Riceville - 2 hour late start * Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock - Canceled * West Fork - Canceled Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Dublin, Feb. 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bq2xpk/us_biosimilars) has announced the addition of the "US Biosimilars Market Opportunity & Clinical Pipeline Analysis" report to their offering. Biosimilars in US has been approved after a long-time while they have been introduced in other places over a decade ago. Late entry in US market has prevented the patients from getting benefit of biosimilars. Also, spending on healthcare could have been mitigated but absence of proper regulatory framework prevented commercialization of biosimilars in US. Number of indication under biosimilar coverage are also less, single at present, which is going to have modest effect on US market. Number of indications will increase in coming years till then US biosimilar market is expected to grow at modest rates. Slow market growth is of great concern as it is also related to cost cutting by regulators in health care spending. US biosimilars market is at nascent stage and it would take few years to become suitable niche for biosimilars. Biologics have dominated the US market for several decades due to absence of worthy competitor in different disease segment. In coming years, this situation is expected to change as biosimilars are expected to be commercialized. Zarxio, first US biosimilar, has created lot of enthusiasm among masses but some physicians, investigators and payers have reservation against biosimilars. This scenario may cause hindrance in uptake of biosimilars in coming years. To increase acceptance rates, biosimilar developers have to produce head-to-data confirming pharmacological efficacy. Biosimilars are also expected to have higher cost-effectiveness promoting patients to switch from biologics. In this way, biosimilar developers would be able to generate more revenues by developing positive attitude towards biosimilars. Newly developed biosimilars in US market are expected to face hard time as regulations are not in place. Both patient and payers are expected to suffer from this issue that has to be resolved as soon as possible. Implication of new rules is expected to take some time as lots of issues have to be solved. Naming of biosimilars and assigning of appropriate billing code is one of the fore most necessities. This situation is likely to deteriorate when monoclonal antibodies will be introduced in US market. Substitution and reimbursement will become easy if clear demarcation is made between which molecule belongs to which category. Regulators are likely to resolve these issues in coming years as they have just entered in biosimilars segment. US Biosimilars Market Opportunity & Clinical Pipeline Analysis Report Highlight: - US Biosimilars Market Introduction - US Biosimilars Regulatory Scenario - Unique Features of US Biosimilars Market - Impact of Biosimilars in US Market - Impact of Reimbursement Policies on US Biosimilars Market - Zarxio: First Approved Biosimilar in US - US Biosimilar Clinical Pipeline By Company, Indication & Phase - US Biosimilar Clinical Pipeline: 104 Biosimilars - Marketed Biosimilars: 1 Biosimilar Key Topics Covered: 1. US Biosimilars Market Introduction 2. US Biosimilars Regulatory Scenario 3. Unique Features of US Biosimilars Market 4. Impact of Biosimilars in US Market 5. New Biosimilar Categories with High Commercialization Potential 5.1 High Cost-Effectiveness 5.2 Competition 5.3 Nature of Indication 5.4 Nature of Biosimilars 5.5 Cost-Effective Production 5.6 Readily Availability of Biosimilars 6. Impact of Reimbursement Policies on US Biosimilars Market 7. Biobetters: Middle Ground between Biosimilars & Biologics 8. US Biosimilars Market Overview 8.1 Current Market Scenario 8.2 US Biosimilar Clincal Pipeline Overview 9. Zarxio: First Approved Biosimilar in US 10. US Biosimilars Market Dynamics 10.1 Research & Development 10.2 Increasing Demand for Biosimilars 10.3 Increasing Numbers Off-Patent Biologics 10.4 Lesser Competition 10.5 Strong Clinical Pipeline 10.6 Large Number of Indications to be Introduced 11. US Biosimilars Commercialization Challenges 12. US Biosimilars Future Prospects 13. US Biosimilars Market Guidelines 13.1 Scientific Considerations in Demonstration Biosimilarity to a Reference Product 13.2 Quality Considerations in Demonstrating Biosimilarity of a Therapeutic Protein Product to a Reference Product 13.3 Nonproprietary Naming of Biological Products 13.4 Clinical Pharmacology Data to Support a Demonstration of Biosimilarity to a Reference Product 14. US Biosimilar Clinical Pipeline By Company, Indication & Phase 14.1 Research 14.2 Preclinical 14.3 Phase-I 14.4 Phase-I/II 14.5 Phase-II 14.6 Phase-III 14.7 Preregistration 14.8 Registered 15. Suspended & Discontued Biosimialrs in Clinical Pipeline 15.1 No Development Reported 15.2 Discountinued 15.3 Preregistration Submission Withdrawal 16. Competitive Landscape 16.1 Amgen 16.2 Apotex 16.3 Boehringer Ingelheim 16.4 Celltrion 16.5 Coherus BioSciences 16.6 Eli Lilly 16.7 EPIRUS Biopharmaceuticals 16.8 Finox Biotech 16.9 Harvest Moon Pharmaceuticals 16.10 Hospira 16.11 Intas Biopharmaceuticals 16.12 Juno Therepeutics (Opus Bio) 16.13 Merck 16.14 Momenta Pharmaceuticals 16.15 Mylan 16.16 Nora Therapeutics 16.17 Novartis 16.18 Oncobiologics 16.19 Pfenex 16.20 Pfizer 16.21 Sandoz 16.22 Wockhardt For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bq2xpk/us_biosimilars CHICAGO, Feb. 8, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digital dentistry technology is revolutionizing dentistry, and prosthodontists are poised to lead the way. The American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) is leading a two-day "The Power of Digital Design" Digital Dentistry Symposium in Chicago on Feb. 22-23. Now sold out, more than 100 prosthodontists, orthodontists, pediatric dentists, oral surgeons, general dentists, lab technicians, dental hygienists, residents, and dental office staff will be attendance. International attendees from Singapore, Jordan, Australia, and Ireland have registered. Interested parties hoping to attend may contact the ACP at (312) 573-1260 to add their name to a waitlist. Prosthodontists and the ACP know that digital solutions can significantly improve workflow efficiencies and enhance patient experiences. Since nearly 30,000 oral health professionals flock to Chicago to attend the Mid-Winter Meeting of the Chicago Dental Society, February is the perfect opportunity for the ACP to bring programming on best digital practices to all of dentistry. "Patients are starting to see how digital dentistry is revolutionizing dental care," said ACP President Carl F. Driscoll, DMD, FACP, who appears in this video about prosthodontists developing digital dentistry curriculum for dental schools, is the co-editor of a recent textbook on the topic, and the co-author of a continuing education article on the topic for Inside Dentistry's January 2016 issue. According to ACP's Director of Continuing Professional Education Division David L. Guichet, DDS, FACP, CAD/CAM technology is revolutionizing dentistry as we know it. Prosthodontists who have incorporated digital solutions into their practices have found significantly improved workflow efficiency and ease of collaboration with laboratories. Patients treated with digital solutions benefit from the combination of efficient processes, accurate high-strength materials, and beautiful esthetics. "Prosthodontists offer this two-day symposium to share best practices and lessons learned. Our ultimate shared goal is to improve our patients' oral health outcomes," ACP Immediate-Past President Frank J. Tuminelli, DMD, FACP, added. This symposium is designed for dental professionals who want to learn state-of-the-art digital solutions for the treatment of restorative patients. Clinicians who want their practices to lead the future of dental care delivery systems are encouraged to attend. Best practices and actual clinical workflows essential to achieving the highest clinical and esthetic results will be showcased. Attendees will receive the latest information on digital treatment technologies ranging from individual tooth restoration to complex reconstruction and rehabilitation. Private Practice Prosthodontist Dr. Robert Stover of Olympia, Wash., shares how his patients can benefit from digital dentistry's speed, accuracy, and fit. "I told one of my patients that his new teeth had been around the world and back before they were ready for him to use on dinner, which is entirely possible now," said Dr. Stover. "A scan of the tooth can be encrypted and securely emailed to the laboratory, and for some of our complex cases, the laboratory that can make the restoration is located in another part of the world." Limitations do exist, however, which is why the ACP Digital Dentistry Symposium is essential learning for prosthodontists and all dentists to share lessons learned, best practices, and opportunities for improvement. For example, an ACP study confirmed that the underlying cause for the unusually slow adoption of digital dentistry isn't the technology or its effect on delivering better patient care. Rather, the slow adoption is due to a lack of understanding of its applications, benefits, and available education and training for its users. The ACP is committed to advancing the science and study of digital dentistry. The Journal of Prosthodontics, the ACP's official peer-reviewed journal often publishes cutting-edge research on the applications of digital dentistry. Some of the best are collected here. This collection of digital dentistry articles provide a global perspective on clinical applications of digital dentistry, including state of the art techniques used in intraoral optical impressions, and a comprehensive discussion on the use of additive manufacturing technology in fabrication of removable partial dentures. Prosthodontists are specialized dentists with advanced training in oral health issues, who are committed to improving patient outcomes. From implants, crowns, veneers and tooth whitening, to full-mouth reconstruction, Prosthodontists specialize in digital dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, and sleep apnea solutions. The ACP is the only prosthodontic specialty organization whose membership is based solely on education credentials. ACP members must be in or have completed an ADA-accredited advanced education program in Prosthodontics. About the ACP The American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) is the official sponsoring organization for the specialty of Prosthodontics, which is one of only nine recognized specialties of the American Dental Association. Founded in 1970, ACP is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to enhancing patient care, advancing the art and science of Prosthodontics, promoting the specialty of Prosthodontics to the public and other dentists and healthcare professionals, ensuring the quality of prosthodontic education and providing professional services to its membership. For more information, professionals may visit Prosthodontics.org, and consumers can learn more at GoToAPro.org. About National Prosthodontics Awareness Week (NPAW) During NPAW, April 3-9, prosthodontists nationwide will be hosting free events including oral health screenings, lectures, community service outreach and other activities to raise the public's awareness about the importance of a healthy mouth and the benefits of seeing a prosthodontist. As a way of giving back to the oral health community to celebrate National Prosthodontics Awareness Week (NPAW), the American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) is offering FREE access to selected scientific research published in ACP's peer-reviewed Journal of Prosthodontics. Free access to research helps dental professionals improve patient outcomes. Links: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jopr.2015.25.issue-S1/issuetoc A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=38840 PA Resources AB (the company) has signed an agreement to divest its portfolio of North Sea assets to Petrogas E&P. The sale includes the companys 24% interest in license 12/06 in Denmark, which holds the Broder Tuck and Lille John discoveries, as well as its exploration licenses in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2016. The proceeds from the sale will be used to repay creditors in accordance with the composition plan adopted in October 2015. Petrogas E&P is a privately held international oil and gas group headquartered in Oman and with operations in the Middle-east, Africa and Europe. Stockholm 9 February, 2016 PA Resources AB (publ) For additional information, please contact: Slimane Bouabbane, VP Business Development Phone: +46 8 545 211 58 E-mail: ir@paresources.se The information was published at 10:30 CET 9 February 2016. AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 9, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - The revolutionary life insurance analytics software creator InforcePRO announced today that it has adopted The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Insurance & Retirements Services (I&RS) solution to increase its carrier reach from 17 to 30 while enabling the first-ever direct linkage to carrier administrative systems of policyholder intentional data and agent activity reporting. "Bi-directional data-syncs with our carrier partners through DTCC's I&RS enables InforcePRO to reach it's strategic objectives of creating a single source of truth for policy changes, sales opportunities, and policyholder intentions in the industry, straight from the agent to the carrier's administrative system," said InforcePRO Co-Founder Cameron Jacox. DTCC has an exemplary track record of providing timely and accurate data feeds to the life insurance and financial industry. As InforcePRO's newest data-feed provider, DTCC's I&RS is helping accelerate InforcePRO's mission of making available the first ever broad-based and automated policyholder engagement platform. "Putting policyholders first is the life insurance industry's most pressing challenge and InforcePRO's most important goal. Creating transparency around policy status, performance, optionality and fit brings the entire industry forward by 30 years," says Jacox. DTCC's I&RS will help InforcePRO and 30 carrier partners to execute on the broad desire for revenue growth, retention and policyholder engagement. InforcePRO's Vice President of Channels and Partnerships, Bill Walasek says, "While our carrier partners lean on us to provide better marketing, intention and cross-sell opportunity data from agents and policyholders, our institutional and BGA partners need something entirely different timely and complete in-force data from all of their blocks with compliant alerts and enhanced policy review for sales enablement. Our DTCC I&RS relationship accelerates both of these goals." For additional information, including an on-demand demo of InforcePRO's innovative life insurance technology platform, visit https://inforcepro.com. About InforcePRO InforcePRO is the fastest growing software provider to the life insurance industry and has built an innovative web-based policy-monitoring tool that delivers increased revenue and enhanced protection from liability on orphan, as well as active books of life insurance business for Carriers and Distributors and all while dramatically improving policyholder service to put Policyholders First. About DTCC With over 40 years of experience, DTCC is the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry. From operating facilities, data centers and offices in 16 countries, DTCC, through its subsidiaries, automates, centralizes, and standardizes the post-trade processing of financial transactions, mitigating risk, increasing transparency and driving efficiency for thousands of broker/dealers, custodian banks and asset managers worldwide. User owned and industry governed, the firm simplifies the complexities of clearing, settlement, asset servicing, data management and information services across asset classes, bringing increased security and soundness to the financial markets. In 2014, DTCC's subsidiaries processed securities transactions valued at approximately US$1.6 quadrillion. Its depository provides custody and asset servicing for securities issues from over 130 countries and territories valued at US$64 trillion. DTCC's global trade repository maintains approximately 40 million open OTC positions and processes roughly 280 million messages a week. To learn more, please visit http://www.dtcc.com or follow us on Twitter @The_DTCC. This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/02/prweb13205730.htm DGAP-News: B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research And Information Network AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous/IPO B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research And Information Network AG: BRAIN share successfully starts trading 09.02.2016 / 14:00 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained herein is not for publication, release or distribution (directly or indirectly) in or into or to persons in the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Australia or any other jurisdiction in which publication, release or distribution would be unlawful. PRESS RELEASE BRAIN share successfully starts trading Zwingenberg, February 9, 2016: B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research and Information Network AG ("BRAIN AG"; ISIN DE0005203947 / WKN 520394) had a successful stock market debut today. The first share price was at 9.15 Euros, and therefore above the issue price of 9 Euro. BRAIN AG is now listed - as the first German company from the field of bioeconomy - in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt stock exchange. A total of 32.5 million Euros (including over-allotments) were placed in the context of the offering, from which the Company receives gross proceeds of 31.5 million. BRAIN AG intends to use these proceeds, after deduction of the IPO expenses, primarily to fund the development of new products and to enhance the marketing of its own products, such as enzymes, performance microorganisms and bioactive compounds. "Many of our initial share subscribers - among them institutional and private investors from Germany and Europe - have recognized the growth potential offered by a bio-based economy. We do not want to disappoint the trust placed in us and will continue our industrialisation strategy at full throttle. Our pipeline of bio-based solutions, which will make industrial processes more sustainable, efficient, natural and healthier, is strong thanks to a current total of 15 programmes. We will consistently continue to develop them with the proceeds from the IPO," says Dr Jurgen Eck, CEO of BRAIN AG. BRAIN AG is one of Europe's leading technology companies in the field of industrial or "white" biotechnology, the core discipline of the bioeconomy. A particular growth potential is seen in large parts of the chemical industry, where experts foresee a rising share of biotechnology products and procedures. Here, BRAIN AG focuses on the specialty chemicals and the consumer chemicals divisions, with an emphasis on nutrition, cosmetics and wound care. Based on these business activities, BRAIN was classified by Deutsche Borse as belonging to the Speciality Chemicals sector of the Prime Standard segment. This sector of the German capital market is characterised by a remarkable concentration of expertise, something BRAIN may benefit from as a publicly listed company. "We are pleased to welcome BRAIN to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. BRAIN is the first company form the field of bioeconomy to enrich our stock exchange list," says Hauke Stars, Member of the Executive Board at Deutsche Boerse AG. The BRAIN transaction was the first IPO in Germany this year. The capital increase of 3.5 million shares was fully placed. Approximately 19 per cent of the placed shares were allocated to retail investors. The remaining shares were placed with top-class institutional investors from Germany and different European countries "With the floatation of BRAIN we have implemented Germany's first IPO of the year. Acting as Sole Global Coordinator and Bookrunner, we reached out to a large circle of European investors even beyond our Franco-German domestic markets. Thanks to our highly experienced and committed sales team, we have been able to convey the BRAIN equity story and the bio-based economy as a whole to the investment community," says Rene Parmentier, CEO of ODDO SEYDLER BANK AG, which managed the IPO transaction. "Despite a highly volatile capital market environment, the final issue price was fixed within the initial bookbuilding range. We are very happy about this successful transaction, which may possibly help break the ice for further IPO transactions," adds Parmentier. ODDO SEYDLER Bank AG acted as Sole Global Coordinator and Bookrunner in the BRAIN IPO transaction. Blaettchen Financial Advisory GmbH supported the Company as IPO consultant, the law firm Hoffmann Liebs Fritsch & Partner acted as issuer's counsel, and Instinctif Partners supported in the areas of investor relations & financial communication. +++ENDS+++ About BRAIN BRAIN is one of Europe's leading technology companies in the field of industrial biotechnology, the core discipline of Bioeconomy. As such, BRAIN identifies previously untapped, efficient enzymes, microbial producer organisms or natural substances from complex biological systems that can be put to industrial use. The innovative solutions and products developed by help of this "Toolbox of Nature" are successfully applied in the chemistry, the cosmetics and the food industries. Today, BRAIN's business model is based on two pillars - "BioScience" and "BioIndustrial". The first pillar, "BioScience", comprises its - frequently exclusive - collaboration business with industrial partners. The second pillar "BioIndustrial" comprises the development and commercialisation of BRAIN's own products and active product components. Further information is available at www.brain-biotech.de/en Contact: BRAIN Biotechnology Research And Information Network AG Dr. Martin Langer Executive Vice President Corporate Development Darmstadter Str. 34-36 64673 Zwingenberg, Germany Tel.: +49-6251-9331-0 Fax: +49-6251-9331-11 E-Mail: ir@brain-biotech.de www.brain-biotech.de Disclaimer This document and the information contained herein are for information purposes only. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities. A public offer in the Federal Republic of Germany and in the Republic of Austria was made exclusively by means of and on the basis of an English-language prospectus together with a German-language translation of the summary. The prospectus was published on the website of the Company and is also available in printed form free of charge from the Company (Fax +49-6251-9331-11) and from ODDO SEYDLER BANK AG (Fax +49-69-920-54902). This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan or to other jurisdictions in which publication, release or distribution would be unlawful. Any securities referred to herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended ("U.S. Securities Act"). Such securities may not be offered, sold or delivered within the United States absent from registration under or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. Neither BRAIN AG nor any of its shareholders intends to register the securities referred to in this press release in the United States. The securities referred to in this press release have not been, and will not be, registered under the applicable securities laws of Australia, Canada or Japan. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities may not be offered or sold in Australia, Canada or Japan or to, or for the account or benefit of, any national, resident or citizen of Australia, Canada or Japan. There will be no public offering of securities in the United States or anywhere outside of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria. This press release does not constitute an offer document or an offer of transferable securities to the public in the United Kingdom to which Section 85 of the U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 applies and should not be considered as a recommendation that any person should subscribe for or purchase any securities as part of the transaction. This press release is only being distributed to and is only directed at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) to investment professionals falling within Section 19 (5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (iii) high net worth entities, unincorporated associations and other persons or entities falling within Section 49 (2), (a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This press release or its contents must not be acted or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this press release relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. This release (or parts thereof) may not be published, reproduced, distributed or made available to third parties in any other way without the prior consent of BRAIN AG. This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect the current views, expectations, and assumptions of the management of BRAIN AG and are based on information currently available to the management. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. There are numerous factors which could influence the future performance by and future developments at BRAIN AG and the BRAIN group of companies. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the general economic and competitive environment, risks associated with capital markets, currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in international and national laws and regulations, in particular with respect to tax laws and regulations, and other factors. BRAIN AG does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09.02.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research And Information Network AG Darmstadter Strae 34-36 64673 Zwingenberg Germany Phone: +49 (0) 62 51 / 9331-0 Fax: +49 (0) 62 51 / 9331-11 E-mail: ir@brain-biotech.de Internet: www.brain-biotech.de ISIN: DE0005203947 WKN: 520394 Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 435823 09.02.2016 Washington, D.C., Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TV Worldwide , since 1999, a pioneering web-based global TV network, announced that it has teamed with the cybersecurity solutions provider SolPass to create Cybersecurity TV (www.CybersecurityTV.net), a community-based, on-line destination Internet TV channel for live and on-demand cybersecurity-related video programming. Launched in beta form in late December 2015 in preparation for full launch during an upcoming live webcast from TV Worldwide studios on February 10, 2016 at 2 PM, Cybersecurity TV will serve a full spectrum of audiences in the cybersecurity arena ranging from professionals in vulnerability detection and assessment to cyber incident response, all dedicated to strengthening the security and resiliency of cyberspace. In addition to live webcast coverage of cybersecurity sector conferences and events, Cybersecurity TV will feature a regular bi-monthly newscast and other interactive programming related to professional development, best practices and the latest advances in the cybersecurity community. We are pleased to have the opportunity to team with an organization of the professional caliber of SolPass in creating Cybersecurity TV, said Dave Gardy, Chairman and CEO of TV Worldwide. Even in BETA form, the initial Cybersecurity TV programming weve produced prior to the launch of Cybersecurity TV, is attracting interest from stakeholders in the cybersecurity community. In addition to several strategic partners were working with now, were looking to partner with other organizations, thought leaders and cybersecurity industry professionals to create a robust content stream for this channel. We at SolPass look forward to working with TV Worldwide in our role as the strategic underwriter for the Cybersecurity TV Channel, stated Dan Turissini, CTO of SolPass. This new Internet TV channel is integral to our strategy to generate awareness surrounding innovative cybersecurity solutions ranging from biometrics to encryption. The Cybersecurity TV launch webcast is scheduled for February 10, 2016 at 2 PM ET on Cybersecurity TV (www.CybersecurityTV.net ) when clips from the initial channel programming and information regarding upcoming industry events, strategic partnerships and new program content on Cybersecurity TV will be announced. About TV Worldwide Founded in 1999, TV Worldwide.com, Inc. (t/a TV Worldwide, Inc., www.TVWorldwide.com) is a veteran-owned Internet TV solutions company that developed the first network of community-based Internet TV channels, primarily targeting niche enterprise/professional audiences ranging from the maritime industry to the telecom and federal/public sectors. Known by many in the industry as "Intelligent Internet TV," Fortune 500 companies, 35 federal government agencies, and numerous associations including the National Association of Broadcasters have partnered with TV Worldwide to utilize TV Worldwide's live and on-demand state-of-the art video streaming content applications and Internet TV channels. In recognition of the company's pioneering unique achievements in new media solutions and content development, TV Worldwide has been selected by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) to webcast past Daytime Emmy Awards and the Emmy awards for Technology and Engineering. TV Worldwide Chairman and CEO Dave Gardy, has been honored by Streaming Media Magazine as one of the 25 Most Influential People in Streaming Media. Mr. Gardy also has served as the President of the International Webcasting Association (IWA) and as a member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Corporate Council. About SolPass SolPass, based in Denver, is the developer of an innovative hardware and software identity verification solution that is designed to build a chain of trust from the individual user to the server. Using biometrics, SolPass assures that only authorized users of the system are given access and implements a rights management system that prevents further unauthorized access. By focusing on the prevention of cybercrime and data breaches, SolPass has introduced a new perspective on cybersecurity. SENTENCE CORRECTION the ( ) Sentence Correction workbook Ron Purewal's GMATClub CRITICAL REASONING GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible by PowerScore I cannot upload it for some reason so please Google it or PM me and I will email it to you. LSAT Logical Reasoning Question Type Training I Ron Purewal READING COMPREHENSION Quant quant guides GMAT Focus and GMAT Prep Question Banks CATs GMATClub GMATQUANTUM.com and Dabral. IR "Never, Never, Never give in." From 510 to 770: http://gmatclub.com/forum/510-to-770-49q-46v-7ir-what-worked-for-me-2-years-176580.html#p1394349 From 2 dings to multiple admits (use Paul Bodine): http://gmatclub.com/forum/best-admissions-consulting-companies-2015-season-190156.html#p1492255 Signature Read More *Disclosure: My original account was not "PeterHAllen" I changed it a few months back.---I am writing this to help you avoid making the same mistakes I made. And also to help you narrow your focus and help you use the right material.I spent a lot of time on the GMAT. For those of you who do not remember the area of a triangle, or even what a triangle looks like, with a good study plan, you only need 6 months max of dedicated daily study time. Spend 3 months mastering the basics. And the other 3 months mastering tougher material.Below is a list of CATs I have taken. I took a few practice CATs that I haven't listed. After receiving the 710 I took 6 CATs and 4 GMAT Prep CATs, before then I barely took practice CATs (dumb mistake).510 28Q 32V - CAT620 35Q 39V - Actual GMAT 1690 47Q 38V - Actual GMAT 2640 42Q 36V IR7 - Actual GMAT 3710 43Q 44V IR7 - Actual GMAT 4770 49Q 46V IR6 - Actual GMAT 5The advice below I only began to follow once I dropped from 690 to 640 on the actual GMAT. I began to religiously change my Verbal practice (outlined below) after the 640 and then I continued that verbal practice after the 710 but also added the quant practice. Prior to the 710 I pretty much just studied study guides and 13. What got me from the 510 to 620 was attending a live course.First, as many have said before me,is the only book you need for theory. I read it so many times that I lost count. I believe this is what got me to score in the 30's in Verbal.Second, what got me from the 30's in verbal to the 40's was ONLY using official GMAT problems as test material and readingexplanation to every answer. The GMAT writers have a unique way of writing problems and you only notice this when you begin to ONLY use their material. Ron Purewal is a Mahattan GMAT instructor and is legendary. If you don't know of him I am surprised, you should.Third, I would study Sentence Correction under stressful conditions, i.e. on the train or trying to solve 5 problems at work in 7 minutes. I believe these scenarios tested my brain in stressful ways that helped me control my thoughts on test day.Fourth, I said that I only used official material and thewas ridiculously helpful in supplying that material. there are some members that compiled a few documents that contain official problems that were essential to my prep. I have attached these documents. The first is called "GMATPREP COMP---- SC." This document contains a large amount of official questions from various sources, Official Guides, GMAT Prep CATs etc. The second document contains some overlap but is the most important set of questions I came across. It is called "GPSC." Why is it the most important? Because I believe these questions are very hard and very representative of the actual GMAT verbal. Once you get beyond the basics (master the basics first) these questions touch on 'meaning.' I couldnt solve many of them based off 'rules' alone. I had to ask myself 'what did the author mean to say.' (*Note: I believe I changed the name of these documents, the original downloads may have been named different. Also, in "GPSC" I often copied and pasted answer explanations under the question itself. I would delete these explanations and look them up yourself.)First, the ONLY prep book you need is the. Do not open any other book. This is all you need. It does not teach you trick it teaches you GMAT logic.Second, more so for Critical Reasoning that Sentence Correction, ONLY USE OFFICIAL Questions. Once again GMATClub and its users were essential here. I have attached 1 document "GMAT Prep CR" Beware that you may see some of these questions in a GMATPrep CAT. I actually practiced these so much that I began to memorize the questions. I believe this actually helped because it deeply ingrained the types of correct answers in my head. There is another CR question list somewhere on the GMATClub called GMATPREP COMP - CR.I found the link to the original post, download it here the-most-comprehensive-collection-of-everything-official-cr-140375.html Third, buy theI by PowerScore. I practiced these in loud environments and stressful situations. These questions were often very tough and if you can do these the GMAT ones seem like a piece of cake.Fourth,explanations to critical reasoning questions are pure gold. He is a genius. Google his responses.First, I do not think you need a prep book for these. By studying Critical Reasoning you will get better at reading comprehension. My approach with Reading Comprehension was to spend A LOT of time reading the prompt (like 4 to 5 minutes which is not recommended--although I recommend it) and then by the time I got to the questions the answers were clear as day. This strategy suited me, it may not suit you. I found it easier this way then to skim the prompt and look at the question and then go back to the prompt and search for the answer. The only outlining I did was write down random things that stood out to me.First, all you need is the. I read these over and over and always found something new.Second, once you get through the solve all problems in the Offical Guide and workbooks. Make sure you can solve these very easily.Third,are mandatory. Be able to solve these problem with easy. Although, I only attempted about 1/4 of the Hard questions in GMAT Prep.Fourth,, these are essential. Some of the best material out there. Make sure that you can solve the 500 and 600 level problems with ease.Fifth,are great sources of tough questions.Sixth,. I would only do the Quant section of these CATs. (Remember only use official questions for verbal.) I strongly believe that these CATs put got me from the low 40's in quant to the 49.Seventh, once againwas essential. Many users supplied lists of questions that were very helpful. I strongly advocate solving problems at different times of the day and in different scenarios. I believe it puts you in the right state of mind to be able to tackle any problem. I have attached a question list called "198 Level 700 questions." This was provided by some other user whom I cannot remember. The problems are definitely not all 700 level but they are certainly mixed levels and I believe that practicing all different levels at the same time is essential.Eight, I almost forgot.This guy Dabral is a life saver. I highlight his name because I feel like he doesn't get enough credit on here. What helped me on the verbal section was learning how the testmakers think. For quant, Dabral has posted video solutions to all official questions. Listening to him and watching him solve problems totally changed my approach. HE taught me how to think when approaching quant problems. Whereas prior I would solve problems by picking numbers he taught me how to be more confident using algebra. He showed many different ways to solve the same problem. I loved his free solutions soo much that I purchased his course. It was well worth it, I didnt go through the course I just purchased the course so I would have access the the entire library of answer explanations. At the very least check out this guys site. Its free for problems. He posts on GmatClub (I am following him).By studying Quant and Verbal you are studying for IR. You just have to be energized for the section and ready to dig deep and 'research' each answer. This section is only challenging because they throw so much info at you. I am very disappointed that I received an IR of 6 the last itme. I got 7 twice before. I contemplated retaking the GMAT because of it but think I wont. Any opinions on this?I almost gave up many times. If it means that much to you then don't give up. You can get there. What changed for me after my 640 score was I got serious and I got pissed anytime I got any problem wrong. Before then I thought it was okay to get one or two or five wrong here and there. Once I decided I wanted to not let anything past me was when i started to make improvements. That being said--I never studied combinatorics or probability. I hated those and refused to spend time on it. I hoped that I would see those on test day, funny thing is I saw 4 of them, probably got them wrong.I hope this will help some of you.***EDIT: I used an admissions consultant and was super successful (the infamous Paul Bodine) Check out my post here:_________________ We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Waris Ahluwalia, a high-end men's jewelry designer and actor well known for his roles in Wes Anderson films including The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Darjeeling Limited was barred from a NYC-bound Aero Mexico flight Monday morning when he refused to remove his turban during a security check. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST Ahluwalia is Indian-American and Sikh, and said that he would not remove his turban for religious reasons. "That is not something that I would do in public, he told the News after the fact. Thats akin to asking someone to take off their clothes. Ahluwalia was selected for the heightened Secondary Security Screening Selection (SSSS) process before his 7:15 a.m. flight from Mexico City to New York. As a result, he was reportedly patted down at the gate and swiped for bomb residue before being asked to take off his turban. The actor reportedly asked to be taken to a private room for the remainder of the screening process. The request was denied, and the airline barred him from the flight. Before boarding a Delta flight to NYC on Monday afternoon, Ahluwalia posted a selfie to Instagram holding up his by-then-useless Aero Mexico ticket with the SSSS classification. In another post, he warned the fashion community at large that he might be a bit late to NYC Fashion Week. Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. #lovenotfear #fearisanopportunitytoeducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 9:43am PST Aero Mexico said in a statement that Ahluwalia was asked to submit to screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol," adding, "we sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident. Last month, four Brooklyn menthree Muslims and a Sikhsued American Airlines after they were banned from a flight from Toronto, allegedly because they were making the crew "uneasy." And in December, a Virgin Airlines crew barred Texas lawyer Bobby Abtahi from his flight to Dallas, allegedly because they did not feel "comfortable" having him on board. The airline later apologized, calling the incident a "misunderstanding." A 19-year-old NJ woman accused of picking up at least five men in Midtown and robbing them of watches and cash in 2015 has been arrested again on similar charges, having allegedly robbed a JP Morgan executive of luxury watches, gold necklaces, credit cards and at least a grand. Alexandra Martinez has been accused of convincing 31-year-old financial planner Michael Briese to bring her back to his $1.8 million East Village condo last August, according to the Post. She allegedly waited for her unassuming date to fall asleep before making off with his valuables. Martinez, who's got a recognizable "Love yourself so no one has to" tattoo down one arm, was previously arraigned for an incident on July 22nd, when she allegedly swiped a wallet from a man she met at West Village wine bar Gottino. On August 24th, she allegedly went to a victim's hotel room at the Ritz Carlton and left with his watch. On September 4th, she allegedly met a man at a bar, returned to his condo in Brooklyn Heights, and stole his jewelry box, which contained $40,000 in jewelry, including three Rolex watches and a Breitling. On at least two occasions, Martinez is believed to have drugged her victims' cocktails to knock them out (although that doesn't seem to have been the case with Briese). Martinez was arrested last week, and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property in Manhattan Criminal Court. She's now out on $40,000 bail. Prosecutors said in December that Martinez and an occasional unidentified accomplice tend to pick their victims based on the quality of their watches. Rolex is a favorite, with which this latest victim was flush. A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman on a Manhattan streetand then robbing herapparently continued to look for the victim after she fled into a bodega. A store worker told the Daily News that the suspect said, "Have you seen my wife? Wheres my wife?" According to the NYPD, at 5 a.m. on Friday, February 5th, a 36-year-old woman was walking on East 94th Street when a man "grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground after she crossed Second Avenue. The suspect then forced the victim to walk further down the block where he removed $40 and sexually assaulted her." The News reports that the man had been outside a building and put the victim, who was on her way to work, into a chokehold, saying, "Gimme your money. Im not gong to hurt you. Shut up. People may be watching. Just walk with me." Near Third Avenue, he reportedly "opened her jacket and unzipped her sweatshirt. He fondled her breasts, and her buttocks. Then, he told the victim, 'Have a nice day.'" The victim then fled into a store on Second Avenue, where she asked the workers to call the police. The store worker, Luis Luna, explained to the News that the suspect asked where the victim was (she was in the back of the store), claiming he was her husband, but Luna said, I dont know, theres nobody, nothing." Police released video of the suspect at the store: Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. Years of fighting the good fight against soulless East Village landlords and depressing empty storefronts has finally caught up with St. Mark's Bookshop, which is reportedly facing eviction thanks to $62,000 in unpaid rent as of last December 15th and more than $30,000 in unpaid taxes, among other monetary woes. The unpaid rent is owed to the New York City Housing Authority, St. Mark's new landlord at the First Houses at 138 East 3rd Street. The debt reportedly stretches back ten months at St. Mark's current location (the shop was finally priced out of its Third Avenue home in 2014). It's been clear for months that the shop wasn't in the right financial straights to manage a massive move. In December, the shop launched a $150,000 gofundme page in the hopes of staying afloat. Now, St. Mark's is strapped with a tax lien that must be paid in fullthe only alternative is bankruptcy. Bedford + Bowery reports that a tentative Marshal's Auction is scheduled for Wednesday, with proceeds on all remaining books going towards the shop's debt. In order to keep a bit of cash flowing until the bitter end, the bookshop has announced a 50% cash-only sale on all of its books. Cash only, because the shop's accounts have apparently been frozenon top of rent and tax issues, shop co-owners Bob Contant and Terry McCoy have fallen behind on payments to large-scale book wholesaler Baker & Taylor. McCoy told Bedford + Bowery this month that he had accrued more than $30,000 in debt with the distributor, after more than 25 years on good terms. Only half of that debt has been paid off, and Baker & Taylor filed suit against St. Mark's in August. The distributor won, and the account freeze was a condition of the settlement. "We only have $900-and-some in our bank account," McCoy said, neatly summing up the depressing situation. There seems to be one last thread of hope for St. Mark's, according to a report from The Awl. A few investors who share the East 3rd Street lease with St. Mark's are dreaming of reaching an agreement with the City, under which the shop would pay higher rent in exchange for debt relief. Granted, this would mean a new name for the shop, under new ownership, reportedly with McCoy and Contant as employees. In any case, the St. Mark's as we know it is open until 10:00 tonight. And since online sales have been suspended, we suggest you walk over there to thumb the pages while you still can. 1.61803, otherwise known . The Fibonacci sequence is a famous group of numbers beginning with 0 and 1 in which each number is the sum of the two before it. It begins 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 and continues infinitely. The pattern hides a powerful secret : If you divide each number in the sequence by its predecessor (except for 1 divided by 0), then as you move toward higher numbers, the result converges on the constant phi, or approximatelyas the golden ratio News VIDEO: Sheikh Sultan inspects progress of 'Hanging Gardens' project Sheikh Sultan was briefed on the plans for the remaining stages in the implementation of the project, which extends over an area of one and a half million square feet, listening to the progress of work and the most important completed and remaining stages. -- Thomas JeffersonSyndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesnt trust you. Thats an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? It's all here (Backups here and here An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. -- Robert A. HeinleinAfter all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat " " Women work out during a master Pilates class using reformers, a piece of Pilates equipment that provides support and resistance. Jabin Botsford / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images If you do aerobics regularly at a gym, your instructor might tell you to also take "a yoga or Pilates class for stretching." After all, both exercises include poses intended to increase flexibility. And both offer a quieter, more relaxing alternative to a step or spin class. But while yoga and Pilates get sometimes lumped together, the two disciplines are quite different. Yoga is believed to be more than 5,000 years old [source: Eisler]. It started in India, though no one knows who originated the practice. There are dozens of variations, although Hatha yoga is probably the most widely known and practiced version in the Western world today [source: Feuerstein]. Advertisement On the other hand, Pilates was developed in Germany by Joseph Pilates over a period of years, beginning in the early 1900s. Upon emigrating to the U.S. in the 1920s, Joseph and his wife opened a studio in New York City, which was frequented by a group of devoted followers, including many professional dancers. A couple of students eventually opened up their own studios, and the discipline began to spread across the U.S. and eventually the world [source: Joseph Pilates]. So why do people often confuse yoga and Pilates? Maybe it's because practitioners of both disciplines carry around rolled-up mats and spend time lying on the floor. More seriously, there is some overlap with the poses. Joseph Pilates had studied yoga and incorporated some of the moves into his own exercise routine [source: Hessel]. Another similarity is that both practices emphasize breathing, though in different ways, which we'll discuss later. A final similarity: Both routines earn accolades from their very vocal celebrity followers. Yoga is the workout of choice for A-listers such as Adam Levine, Madonna, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who particularly appreciates the positive impact of yoga on his sex life [source: McKernan]. And David Beckham, Cameron Diaz and Megan Fox are just a handful of the celebs who swear by the body-changing abilities of Pilates [source: McClain]. Now that we've looked at the parallels, let's see what makes each unique. Joseph W. Joe Enger was also enshrined into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame this past weekend, representing District 8 (Broadwater, Jefferson, Lewis & Clark Counties). Born in 1944 in Langdon, North Dakota, at age 16 Enger made his way to Montana to be a cowboy. He landed in Cascade at the Charles Hodson Ranch and remained there for 25 years, minus a couple stints working in Fort Shaw. Ultimately, Enger became foreman on this 6,000 head cattle ranch stretching from Lingshire to Cascade and from Cascade to Jim Ball Basin above York. From a young age, he was considered a hard worker and fearless horseman; gathering wild horses, riding saddle broncs and moving cattle became his life. Nicknamed Little Joe the Wrangler, he learned from some of the best old timers, gathering wild horses, living in cow camps and riding colts out of Printers Devil. Over the years, Enger has been an example of the generous spirit of the cowboy. He always went out of his way to help young men who needed a father figure or just a kick in the pants, and many a cowboy has attributed his success to Enger. In 1984, Enger moved to Helena to work on James O'Connell's RV Ranch. There he helped promote team penning events to raise money for families and organizations in need, while donating his time to team penning clinics to promote horsemanship and working with cattle. Enger continues to work as the RV Ranch foreman for 31 years, and after 52 years, he still has his best hired hand, his wife Wanda. Helena Public Schools Superintendent Kent Kultgen is one of seven semifinalists for the superintendent position with Walla Walla School District, the Union-Bulletin newspaper in Walla Walla, Washington reported. Kultgen told the Independent Record Monday he had discussed his application with the Helena school board and his staff. The seven candidates are to be interviewed Feb. 17 and 18, and three finalists are to be chosen at that time. Finalist interviews are set for Feb. 29 through March 2 in Walla Walla, which include community forums with the candidates. Kultgen cited personal reasons for applying for the job, saying that living in Walla Walla would be an opportunity to be closer to his family. He has a daughter and two grandchildren who live in the Seattle area. I believe students in the district are better off than they were a year ago, Kultgen said, adding that he is still focused on his work in Helena. Im continuing every day, to work hard that this is a great place for kids to learn and teachers to teach. Walla Walla School District announced on its website that it hopes to name a superintendent by mid-March, and that the new superintendent would start on July 1. Kultgen joined Helena Public Schools in July 2012 as superintendent. The Finest Hours At the Cinemark PG-13 Grade: B Longing for a time capsule that will take you back to 1952? Well, The Finest Hours throws down a gangplank and hollers out all aboard for a trip back to the days when men were men and women were glad of it. Those were the days of We Like Ike buttons and modest school clothes. Almost nothing but ears got pierced. For the record, I was a first grader riding my bike to Washington School in Port Angeles back then. I was actually in kindergarten on the actual day of this famous Coast Guard rescue, which occurred on my sixth birthday. Port Angeles included a Coast Guard base on the spit, a peninsula of land/sand that extended into the Straights of Juan de Fuca. The fact that this was a tale of a legendary Coast Guard rescue mission heightened my interest, since I used to play on the beach near that base -- and since I love the ocean. My dad served in the Merchant Marines when he was young, and owned Northup Boat Repair in San Pedro, south of L.A. Boats are us, so to speak. My one Montana regret is that Canyon Ferry is a lame substitute for the Pacific Ocean. The Finest Hours is old-fashioned storytelling about a 36-foot Coast Guard motorized lifeboat braving a ferocious storm to try to rescue the crew of a 503-foot tanker, The Pendleton. That tanker was literally ripped in half during a storm and was slowly sinking off Cape Cod. Records say the winds were 70 knots and the rain was relentless. To make matters worse, another large vessel was also in trouble -- and the available rescue boats headed for that target first. Who would save the 42 crew members aboard the Pendleton? Fear not. Four courageous men willingly risked their lives to save those in peril on the sea. That rescue has been recounted in many articles and in the 2009 book, The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The film weaves three stories into its narrative. At center is the rescue mission itself, focusing on the four heroes in their wooden boat, which crashed through violent waves as it searched for the tanker. A young Coastie, a boatswain's mate first class, guided the mission impossible. The second story involves those 32 men trapped on the tanker, trying to survive long enough to be rescued. Chief engineer Ray Sybert, a shy nerd, orchestrates a plan to drive the wounded boat aground on a shoal to delay its inevitable sinking. Finally, and regrettably, theres the romance. The film begins as straight-laced Bernie falls in love with strong-willed Miriam. She becomes the proverbial woman left behind during the rescue mission. And she provides the bear hug when he returns safely. The Finest Hours is an easy target for its sentimentality. The story is a throwback to high-sea adventures of yesteryear. But despite all this, Finest Hours is quite watchable precisely because its so old-fashioned. What we see is what we get: a little boat full of courageous men save a big boat full of courageous men. For the record, The Finest Hours is a much stronger film than In the Heart of the Sea, a dull whale adventure. The acting is serviceable but eclipsed by the thundering ocean. Those of us who grew up near the sea welcome a chance now and then to admire its power. I fell asleep each night as a kid watching the beam from a lighthouse light up my wall before scanning the ocean to guide ships ashore. The Finest Hours respectably pays tribute to the sea and those who ride the waves. Guess what happened while Montanans were squaring off on whether or not to allow Syrian immigrants to settle in Missoula and gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte was pitching that somebody from industry run the state's Department of Environmental Quality? Give up? The U.S. got invaded by heat-seeking terrorists in the form of virus-bearing Aedes mosquitoes. The Zika virus, which has been sickening South Americans in great numbers and is suspected of causing tragic birth defects in babies born to infected mothers, respects no borders and recognizes no walls. Unsuspecting travelers have brought it to Florida, and it's been sexually transmitted in Texas. In a rare display of bipartisanship, members on both sides of aisle in Congress freaked out last week when District of Columbia health officials confirmed three travel-related cases of the virus in D.C., including one pregnant woman. Briefings and committee hearings have been scheduled. How reassuring! In Brazil, at ground zero for the Western Hemisphere's recent outbreak, the Health Ministry estimates that between 500,000 and 1.5 million people are infected; and more than 4,700 suspected cases of the birth defect microcephaly (small-headedness) have been reported since October 2015. In neighboring Colombia, where 3,177 pregnant women have contracted Zika, there are no cases of microcephaly yet, but officials there said Friday that three people had died of the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome attributed to cases of Zika. Aedes mosquitoes also carry dengue fever and chikungunya. Concerns are running high in the Western Hemisphere. Only Canada and Chile are not at risk. In the U.S., the CDC has issued a travel warning for about 20 countries, and specifically urged pregnant women not to go there. Officials say travelers should cover their bodies and use insect repellent, especially during the day when mosquitoes are most active. Several countries where abortion is illegal in the outbreak region, including Brazil, Jamaica, Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras, have urged women not to get pregnant. Birth-control hostile El Salvador has gone so far as to ask women there to avoid getting pregnant until 2018. Avoid getting pregnant until 2018!? If these "strategies" fail in controlling the effects of the outbreak, what's in store for children born with microcephaly? The lifelong consequences can include: seizures, developmental delay, intellectual disability, problems with movement and balance, feeding problems, hearing loss and vision problems. But some will have no other symptoms than the characteristic smaller head. In Montana news last week was the story of a Gardiner mother of a 6-year-old born with cystic fibrosis suing her health care providers for damages because they failed to diagnose the condition in utero, denying her a chance to have an abortion. Not surprisingly, the case has touched a major nerve in the already heated debate over legal abortion. The reality of a Zika epidemic, possibly heading northward as temperatures warm to levels friendly to the Aeges mosquito, will only serve to inflame that nerve further, potentially millions of times over. Will civilized man find a way to make sure these severely microcephalic children receive the care they need? Where will the most humane path lead us? Can more walls, more guns and more coal plants protect us from a mosquito most of us didn't even know about a month ago? One thing's for sure. The big picture ain't getting any smaller anytime soon. *** Leah Gilman treasures the advice once given her by her son: "Beware the blindside blitz." MISSOULA -- Approximately 11.7 million nonresident travelers visited Montana in 2015 and spent nearly $3.6 billion here, according to preliminary estimates by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana. While the number of visitors increased by 8 percent over 2014, the total amount spent by those travelers decreased nearly 8 percent, mainly due to lower fuel costs and the plummeting value of the Canadian dollar. Tourism directly supports more than 37,000 jobs, and supports 52,750 jobs total, in the Treasure State. Nonresidents contributed more than $208 million in state and local taxes last year. A recent survey found that 59 percent of tourism-related business owners saw an increase in customers last year. Brendan Bannigan, owner of the Grizzly Hackle in Missoula, was one of those. I would say there was an increase, said Bannigan, whose business offers fly-fishing gear and guided trips. Obviously the weather, in terms of smoke and low water, impacted us a little bit, but I dont think I would say we saw a decrease. Bannigan said business was decent, all things considered. Last years drought and wildfires were about the worst conditions a business that relies on good fishing can experience. Conditions were about as unfavorable as they can be, he said. Customers increasing During a recent Economic Outlook Seminar in Missoula, ITRR Director Norma Nickerson said research has shown that so-called millennials spend considerably less than baby boomers when they travel. Bannigan, for one, said he hasnt noticed a difference between the spending habits of young and older customers. Weve got people that come on guided trips that are younger and are spending money and also buying merchandise, he said. He did, however, acknowledge that people seem to be spending less money these days, even if the number of customers is increasing. We have a lot of return customers, he said. For the most part, a lot of the walk-ins are buying hats and shirts. They arent buying $700-$800 rods and reels. Theyre not spending as much money as they probably were 10 years ago. Looking forward, a survey by ITRR found that 61 percent of businesses expect to see visitation increase in 2016. The ITRR projects an increase in airport deboardings of 3.2 percent from 2014 to 2015 in Missoula, and that because gasoline is so inexpensive, people can travel more often and likely are taking more weekend trips. However, Canadians represent typically 14 percent of all nonresident visitors to Montana, and the value of their dollar is decreasing. While the number of Canadians in Montana is remaining steady, their spending appears to have tapered off during the past year. Kara Grau, the assistant director of economic analysis at the ITRR, said the picture is pretty rosy for tourism-dependent businesses. A lot of businesses are just happy to see increased traffic, she said. Even if statewide spending overall looks like it may have decreased. Fuel is the biggest expenditure of nonresidents, so thats a big part of the picture. And the decrease in value of the Canadian dollar had a significant impact. Canadians used to shop for appliances, back-to-school supplies and even groceries here; they are doing a lot less of that currently. Grau said preliminary estimates have tourist spending increasing by about 2 percent in 2016, but that could change due to outside factors such as falling foreign currency values. Bannigan said hes confident about a nice 2016. Were thinking its going to be an increase, he said. Were excited that we see as much snow as we have already, and were hoping it lasts and continues. Were feeling really good about the upcoming summer. DECATUR Sammie L. Lowe Jr., 55, of Decatur was arrested after he allegedly slashed the tire of a couple as they sat in a liquor store drive-through line, then drove away while under the influence of alcohol. About 5:30 p.m. Saturday, a man and woman were at the 22nd Street Discount Liquor store, 22nd and Locust streets, when Lowe "walked along the left side of their vehicle and continued walking past the drive thru window," said a probable cause affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Katherine Bohland. After Lowe left the area, the vehicle moved forward. The couple noticed that "their tire was going flat and the vehicle was difficult to drive." Officers discovered a 1-inch-long puncture to the left rear tire. A liquor store employee saw Lowe as he walked up toward the rear left tire of the vehicle, then struck or sliced the rear left tire of the vehicle. Part of the incident was captured on surveillance video. Officers who watched the footage saw Lowe walk from the left side of the vehicle eastward through the drive-through lane. He appeared to be carrying a set of keys with him. When officers caught up with Lowe about 15 minutes later, they found a knife on his key ring. Lowe was located at a store on the 1200 block of East Grand Avenue. Officers observed Sammie's eyes to be glossy and bloodshot. His speech was slurred and he appeared to have a difficult time standing without swaying or stumbling from side to side. Lowe admitted that he drove his vehicle from the liquor store to the store on Grand. His driver's license has been suspended since April 8, 2010, and he had no insurance for his vehicle. Police found an open beer can in his vehicle, next to the driver's seat. A breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .177 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Illinois. Lowe was booked into the Macon County Jail on charges of criminal damage to property and aggravated DUI. After his bond was set at $7,500 Monday, he posted $750 cash bail and was released. He is to be arraigned March 8. Lowe has 20 prior criminal convictions, mostly in Macon County. He has served six prison sentences, including a six-year term in 1991 for aggravated battery/great bodily harm in Las Vegas and a 2002 one-year sentence for aggravated assault on a correctional officer in Decatur. DECATUR Richland Community College will turn to a familiar leader following the retirement of President Gayle Saunders at the end of the month. Former Richland President Charles Chuck Novak, whom Saunders replaced in 2001 after he retired, will return as the interim president. Board Chairman Bruce Campbell said Monday the search for Saunders' permanent replacement will continue while Novak brings a sense of stability to the position. He has a great appreciation for Richland, Campbell said. He is well-known in the community, and it's a natural fit. Novak, 73, has most recently been working with the city of Du Quoin as a special-projects consultant after starting last spring as interim finance director. A permanent finance director has since been named, but Mayor Guy Alongi said Novak's duties were expanded. While Du Quoin is a place Novak calls home, as he said his wife, Mary Jo, has family in the area, he is looking forward to returning to Decatur. It has been nice to us and our children, said Novak, who spent just over 12 years as Richland president. Alongi understands Novak's interest in returning to Richland, given his extensive background working in education and finance. The two met 12 years ago when Alongi was chairman of the Illinois Community College Board. Alongi called Novak a financial guru and somebody who is well-respected in the educational field for his leadership abilities. He will be a perfect fit up there, Alongi said. He knows the community. He knows the staff. He will do a great job until the position is filled full time. After 15 years, Saunders hopes to be leaving Richland positioned to continue what has been started, particularly by reacting quickly to serve the communities it represents. Richland, along with the entire community college system, has come a long way from where it started more than 40 years ago, she said last week to the Decatur Rotary International Club 180. We have become the premier academic center in the region, Saunders said. There is more to do to make the future brighter for students in this district and beyond. That will enable the community to thrive, grow and prosper. Saunders said Richland faces a challenge with cost reductions becoming necessary to balance the budget as money from the state has not been received as anticipated. She said the college will need to operate conservatively to weather a stormy time in Illinois history. Novak has dealt with fallout from the state budget situation while working with the city of Du Quoin. He is preparing to assess the budget at Richland and what needs to be done as the college continues to miss its funding from the state. Novak started at Richland in 1989 and was the college's fifth president. He had been the longest serving chief executive before Saunders. Saunders announced her retirement in October. Previous presidents include Murray Deutsch from 1972 to 1979, James Becker from 1979 to 1980, John Kirk from 1980 to 1985 and Howard Brown from 1985 to 1989. Since his retirement from Richland, Novak has worked in positions including interim president at Morton College in Cicero, Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby and Frontier Community College in Fairfield. At the same time, he has remained interested in what's happening at Richland while holding the president emeritus title, with one of his most recent visits last year during the Farm Progress Show. Novak said it was the first time he had been to Farm Progress since Decatur started in 2005 as a permanent rotating host of the event. It was unbelievable, Novak said. The quality of the exhibits was amazing. Novak said his priority upon returning to Richland will be to help move the presidential search along, which can bring stability to the college. He praised Saunders' performance. Saunders, while grateful for the time she has had in Decatur, is ready to move into retirement and spend time traveling and with family. A reception for her will be held 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, in the Shilling Center at Richland before her final board meeting, which is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. It's time for somebody with a new sense of energy to come in, said Saunders, whose last day is scheduled for Feb. 29. Details of a search committee for the president's position are being finalized, Campbell said. No deadlines to complete the search have been established. The board is working on the national search process with the Association of Community College Trustees. It's something we want to be pursuing as quickly as we can, Campbell said. We want to get the top talent we can get to carry on the tradition of excellence that has been started. Novak doesn't have a set timetable for returning to Du Quoin. Alongi considers Novak on loan to Richland and hopes he returns once his work is done in Decatur. SPRINGFIELD Four months after the Illinois State Museum and its satellite branches closed to the public, the state Department of Natural Resources has announced a plan to reopen most of the facilities. Using his amendatory veto power, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has rewritten a Senate bill to allow the main museum in Springfield, Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown and the Lockport Gallery to reopen. However, the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake and the Chicago Gallery at the James R. Thompson Center would close permanently. The governor had shuttered the museum as a cost-saving measure. Under Rauners plan, the state museum would begin charging admission fees, and private fundraising efforts of the Illinois State Museum Society would increase to reduce the institutions reliance on state funding. The state of Illinois is in a financial mess, Department of Natural Resources Director Wayne Rosenthal said at a news conference Monday morning at the museum, standing near a diorama of black bears on Lake Michigan sand dunes and other nature scenes. Weve got a crisis, so to move forward, its important to develop new models and new ways of thinking about how we operate and fund state government. The governors proposal, developed with the department over the past several months, would save an estimated $1 million annually and would reorganize the museums management and organizational structure. When the facilities would reopen is undetermined because the Democratic-controlled General Assembly would have to concur with Rauners changes to the bill, which simply required the state to operate the museum and the four branches and keep them open to the public. Rep. Tim Butler, a Springfield Republican, urged the Senate to take up the measure quickly. I support this effort because I believe this is a reasonable, actionable step forward in reopening the museum, Butler said. I think it lays out a transformational future for the museum, a plan to engage the public in our community like we have not done before. Butler suggested a $5 admission fee for adults and noted that other state museums in the region charge similar fees. Democratic Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, who sponsored the original bill, said many of the changes Rauner proposed could have been implemented without locking the museums doors. Those things should have been proposed by the administration months ago, he said. Manar said he is reviewing the proposal before deciding his next step. The overarching question is, 'Did the governor overstep his constitutional authority in his veto message?' he said. Michael Wiant, director of the Dickson Mounds Museum, will become the interim director of the state museum, and the search will begin for a permanent replacement. Since the doors closed to the public Oct. 1, about 15 staff members have left, but key people remain in every department, Wiant said. Unionized employees at the museum have been reporting to work throughout the closure because they filed a lawsuit challenging proposed layoffs. There has been plenty of behind-the-scenes work to keep them busy, Wiant said. Guerry Suggs, who chairs the Illinois State Museum Board and wasnt at the announcement Monday, said this plan is probably as good as were going to get. He said the board has been open to admission fees in the past. Like Manar, Suggs said he believes the agreement could have been worked out without closing the museum. SPRINGFIELD (AP) The state budget impasse could have "significant" consequences for the public colleges and universities, according to a higher-education accrediting agency. The Higher Learning Commission, the regional accrediting agency for 19 states including Illinois, issued a warning to Gov. Bruce Rauner and members of the General Assembly in a letter sent Thursday. Schools that have to suspend operations or close because of unavailable state funding could lose their accreditation if they don't come up with plans for their students to continue at another college, the commission warned lawmakers. "The lack of state funding is putting Illinois colleges and universities at serious risk and jeopardizing the future of students," commission President Barbara Gellman-Danley wrote. Illinois' public colleges and universities have been operating without state funding since the fiscal year began July 1. Without state funding in place, Chicago State University officials have said their campus could close by March 1, and both Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois universities have raised concerns about their ability to continue operations. Also on Thursday, Gellman-Danley sent letters to all of the state's public colleges and universities, asking them to respond by Feb. 18 with financial information. Gellman-Danley asked the schools to explain their current cash situation and financial challenges they're facing with payroll, vendors other expenses. She also said she's seeking an explanation as to how those challenges may affect classes, faculty cuts, enrollment projections and the availability of textbooks, curriculum materials or other resources. If schools believe they will have to suspend operations or close in the coming months, they must provide a plan for their students to continue in college elsewhere, such as a private university or a public university in another state, she said. Students at schools that aren't accredited by an agency recognized by the federal government can't access federal financial aid. In a report released Monday, Moody's Investors Service said all eight of the public universities in Illinois that it rates have negative credit outlooks, adding that the current budget stalemate could have effects that reach beyond the point when political leaders agree on a new budget. "The state budget crisis will have negative longer-term effects on Illinois public universities' credit quality, impairing reputation and competitiveness as students make enrollment decisions," the report states. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. In a public statement released today, Javakhk-Armenian activist Vahagn Chakhalyan has raised the alarm over what he sees as the continuing Turkification of Georgia. Chakhalyan, who has charged successive Georgian regimes for implementing anti-Armenian policies, points the finger at former Georgian Prime Minister Saakashvili for facilitating a policy whereby, in the activists words, Turkish-Azeri capital is taking over the business market and not hiring Christians. Chakhalyan claims that there are over 560,000 unmarried Christian women over the age of 25 in Georgia that arent being employed as a result, and more than one million men in the 18-35 age group that are forced to look for work abroad. The activist, who has run afoul of Georgian authorities in the past and spent time in jail, says that all the countrys strategic and profitable sectors are being gobbled up by Turks and Azeris and that they have their sights on the rest of the business sector, including Georgias rich agricultural market. Chakhalyan argues that this is a new form of Pan-Turanism that endangers Javakhk, Georgia, as well as Armenia. In his statement, Chakhalyan calls on all Armenians to raise their voice in opposition to what he describes as the Islamization of Georgia and Javakhk and the blockade of Armenia and Artsakh. Balkan drug lord Darko Saric is no stranger to courtrooms in Serbia. Stories on his ongoing trials have been published on the front pages of Serbian news portals for the past few years, catapulting the once-obscure organized crime figure into one of the most talked-about "persons of interest" in Serbia. The man dubbed the Balkan 'Cocaine King' was depicted in regional media as the brain behind one of the largest and most successful drug-smuggling operations ever recorded in the region since his name first surfaced in connection with a massive cocaine seizure in 2009. He and several of his alleged associates also stand accused of laundering about 22 million (more than US$ 23 million), the profits from years of smuggling operations. Some of the 18 people who were indicted along with him signed plea agreements. The elusive drug lord operated under the eyes of law enforcement in several countries for years, and his success was partly due to strong connections he had with several powerful Serbian and Montenegrin businessmen and officials. In July 2015, Saric was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for cocaine smuggling, which he has appealed. His long-running money laundering trial (it began in 2011) is, however, still ongoing. Saric stood before the court to face his money laundering accusations again in a hearing on Jan. 14, 2016. This is the second time the money laundering trial has restarted, due to administrative reasons within the Serbian justice system. The Cocaine Cartel Surfaces In October 2009, law enforcement in Uruguay seized more than two tons of cocaine from a British-flagged yacht named "Maui " in the port of Santiago Vasquez, west of Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Two people were arrested - one Uruguayan and one Croatian national. The two were part of a group trying to transfer the cocaine from the yacht to a larger ship which was set to arrive in western Europe. However, the cargo was intercepted as part of a police operation code-named "The Balkan Warrior" a long-running joint operation between the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA), and police in Uruguay and Argentina. Three people accused of involvement with the smuggling operation were arrested the same day, and a series of additional arrests followed across Serbia. Some of the suspects were convicted criminals previously known to authorities. One of the first three to be arrested was Zeljko Vujanovic, who was picked up at a nightclub called "Casino" that he managed. The club was owned by Saric, his cousin. Enter: Darko Saric Soon, Saric would be named as the mastermind behind a powerful Balkan organized crime group which smuggled huge quantities of cocaine into the European drug market between 2006 and 2009 from South American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The drugs were transported from the east coast of South America to Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries in Western Europe. Although he owned real estate, cafes, nightclubs, restaurants and multiple companies in Serbia, Saric was not very well known to the public. Investigators say they knew about his involvement in the drug trade since 2005, but that no investigation against him was initiated until 2008. Slobodan Homen, the former Secretary to the Serbian Ministry of Justice, said Saric's group amassed billions of dollars in the course of its operations. Saric went into hiding following the seizure in Uruguay, and in January 2010, Serbia issued an international arrest warrant for him. Between 2010 and 2012, prosecutors filed eight indictments against him, accusing him of money laundering and organizing the smuggling of 5.7 tons of cocaine. Saric was on the run for four years until March 2014, when he turned himself in voluntarily. According to Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic, Saric caught wind that Serbian authorities were hot on his trail and decided to surrender to avoid a possible bloodbath. However, Saric was believed to be in talks with the government for some time before surrendering. During his drug-smuggling trial, Saric maintained the charges were politically motivated, as the former Serbian government wanted him to testify against Montenegro, where documentation obtained by the OCCRP reveals he was a top depositor in the First Bank of Montenegro, which is controlled by the family of Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. He also got loans on very good terms from the Prime Minister's family bank. Nevertheless, he was convicted of cocaine smuggling and sentenced to 20 years in prison on July 13, 2015. A number of his associates were also sentenced to long terms; some, who are still on the run, were sentenced in absentia. He is currently appealing his sentence. In Serbia politicians, businessmen and drug dealers often get significant reductions of their sentences during the appeal process. Money laundering? Prosecutors believe Saric and his associates laundered the proceeds from their drug smuggling operations by buying shares in an array of Serbian companies. One of the three money laundering indictments describes a plan the group allegedly devised in order to invest 280,000 (US$308,000) of drug money into purchasing 70 percent of shares in the state company "Bratstvo". The plan included a strategy to hide the real buyers of the shares. Prosecutors say one of the suspects would bring a large bag of drug money to a local bank, along with a number of IDs of various people. The bank would open bank accounts for those people, and the suspects would deposit portions of the dirty money into those accounts. The money from those accounts would subsequently be paid to the company that, in collusion with another company, would later privatize Bratstvo. These amounts never exceeded 15,000 (US$16,500), the amount above which banks must report transactions to the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering. According to OCCRP and KRIK, a list of Saric's companies shows he laundered money by privatizing hotels in Serbia and buying companies and property from people who were either charged with or convicted of involvement in organized crime. Darko Saric at court (photo:KRIK) Read more Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. BEIJING - The United States has led a drive to exert military pressure on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to Pyongyang's satellite launch on Sunday, risking an escalation of regional tension. US defense officials said Monday that Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Hawaii this week to discuss the DPRK launch. Lee Sun-jin, the South Korean Army General and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Katsutoshi Kawano, head of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, would participate in the meeting, which was scheduled after the DPRK conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. Moreover, the United States and South Korea have begun negotiations on the deployment of Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to the Korean Peninsula in response to the DPRK launch, the Pentagon said separately on Monday. "The goal of the formal consultations is to bilaterally explore the feasibility of THAAD deploying to and operating on the Korean Peninsula at the earliest possible date," Peter Cook, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, said at a press briefing. Cook stressed that the negotiations underscored the "ironclad" commitment of the United States to defend South Korea and would be "focused solely" on the DPRK. China, as a key regional stakeholder, has expressed deep concerns over the proposed THAAD deployment, which it says could worsen the already fragile situation in Northeast Asia. "China holds a consistent and clear stance on the anti-missile issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Sunday. "When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others' security interests." The DPRK announced on Sunday that it had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit in less than 10 minutes after the liftoff at 9:00 a.m. (0030 GMT). The launch, which took place about a month after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb, caused serious concerns around the world and may lead to further sanctions against the DPRK. The country is banned from rocket launches using any ballistic missile technologies, according to multiple UN Security Council resolutions. The UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the latest launch, calling it a serious violation of its resolutions. The Council members restated their intent to develop significant measures in a new resolution in response to the DPRK's nuclear test on Jan. 6. They are also expected to adopt such a resolution expeditiously in line with the gravity of this most recent violation. South Korea on Sunday strongly denounced the DPRK launch, describing it as an "extreme provocative act" that runs counter to the international community's wish for peace, according to a statement issued by the South Korean presidential office. The statement noted that the only way of making the DPRK give up its nuclear ambition is to draft strong and effective sanctions against it, including UN Security Council resolutions, in cooperation with the international community. The United States said the launch represents "another destabilizing and provocative action" and is "a flagrant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing on Monday that allies of the United States agree that an "impactful response" is needed. "That means considering a range of economic sanctions that would further isolate North Korea (DPRK)," Earnest said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reiterated his denouncement of the launch, adding that Japan would take "resolute measures" such as the imminent strengthening of its own sanctions against Pyongyang. Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, meanwhile, told a press briefing on Monday that swift actions were necessary from the UN Security Council, and that Japan would "further strengthen cooperation with related countries such as the United States and South Korea to that end." The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday once again condemned the launch, but warned against any unilateral move that could "lead to further development of tensions in the region." China expressed regrets on Sunday morning shortly after the launch, urging all sides concerned to "remain calm, act cautiously, avoid taking moves that could further increase tensions on the peninsula." SPARTA A Monroe County judge Thursday sentenced a Necedah man to 4 years in prison for supplying the heroin that killed a Tomah man in 2014. Shane Shelby, 40, is the first person prosecuted in Monroe County under the Len Bias law, which holds drug dealers accountable in fatal overdose cases. The case serves as a reminder to dealers that theyre only one overdose away for facing a relatively lengthy prison term, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger said. There isnt a more serious drug offense, he said. Shelby sold Derik McGovern, 26, $150 worth of heroin early July 1 during their first meeting in Tomah. McGovern, a veteran, died later that morning of an overdose at a house in Tomah where he stayed since his release from jail just days earlier. Its incredibly sad he lost his battle with addiction, Croninger said. Shelby pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless homicide and heroin delivery, both as a repeat offender. Charges of heroin delivery and possession of narcotic drugs were dismissed but considered by the judge at sentencing. He also will spend 10 years on extended supervision and receives credit for one year served. Attorneys jointly recommended the sentence adopted by the judge in large part because of Shelbys extensive cooperation with law enforcement after his arrest. While under police supervision, Shelby arranged a drug deal with his supplier in Illinois who was the target of a federal investigation, Tomah police investigator Robert Walensky testified. That dealer, Ryan Hawkins, was one of 21 people charged under the Illinois Street Gang and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to media reports. Shelby also provided information in other drug investigations that contributed to the fight against Monroe Countys heroin epidemic, Croninger said. He agreed to cooperate before plea negotiations began in his case, said his attorney, Kenneth Hamm. I believe it was him wanting to make amends for what hes done, he said. Shelby is an alcoholic turned drug addict who sold heroin to fund his own habit, Hamm said. You hit rock bottom, Monroe County Judge Todd Ziegler said. And thats where you find yourself right now. Shelby wept as he told the judge that he realizes his recovery will involve more than abstinence alone. He plans to use his experience to deter others from drug trafficking. A Wisconsin Dells man faces criminal charges after authorities say he dangled a woman over a balcony railing Monday to threaten her. Steven P. Becker, 41, has been charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in relation to an incident that prosecutors say occurred at Beckers duplex in the town of Delton. According to the criminal complaint, a deputy was dispatched to the duplex shortly after 3 a.m. A woman at the scene reported that she had been out drinking with Becker, and had slipped on some ice when they returned to his place. The woman told authorities she became upset because Becker had not put salt on the sidewalk, and an argument ensued. When the woman tried to leave, Becker allegedly pinned her down on a couch and would not let her go. Another woman entered the duplex after she heard screaming inside, the complaint states. The alleged victim said she tried to leave with the other woman, but that Becker grabbed her and pulled her back through a doorway and onto the duplexs balcony. Once there, he allegedly grabbed the woman around her rib cage, lifted her up and dangled her over the railing of the balcony. (The woman) stated that at one point Becker told her he was going to drop her, the complaint says. Another person then came to the scene, grabbed Becker, and pulled him back from the railing, in turn pulling the woman back onto the balcony as well, according to the complaint. Becker has been released on a $1,500 signature bond. He is due back in court March 8. Chris Drosner Chris Drosner writes the Beer Baron column for the Wisconsin State Journal. Follow Chris Drosner Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Change can be hard, and the change Im writing about today, particularly so. Just weeks ago I dubbed an organic barleywine made by Milwaukees Lakefront Brewery one of my beers of the year, despite it not being a new release in 2015. Beer Line really came into its own after a year of aging in the bottle, and I was looking forward to socking away an extra supply when it was released this year. It was a good plan in theory. But it seems Beer Line needed more fans like me to warrant even a seasonal spot in Lakefronts brew kettle. It has discontinued Beer Line after two years as a late winter seasonal release, along with another beer that earned an honorable mention in the 2014 Beers of the Year: Extended Play India session ale, a year-rounder that was introduced in spring 2014 and will be phased out at some point in 2016. Both of these beers, but Extended Play in particular, point up the challenge breweries have in juggling what may be dozens of beers into a plan that balances established flagships, fresh seasonals and new concepts. Usually this puzzle has to be assembled under the constraint of a capped, or at least very slowly growing, production capacity. Lakefront is an interesting case study for this because of the sheer variety of beers it makes. Co-existing on its 2016 year-round calendar are traditional flagships like Riverwest Stein and Eastside Dark; newer-style, hop-forward offerings like Fixed Gear and Extended Play; and the New Grist gluten-free beers that have opened far-flung markets to a still relatively small Milwaukee brewery. Seasonal and limited releases expand the range even further, with a series of brandy barrel beers, traditional seasonals like a maibock and an Oktoberfest, and the outstanding My Turn series of beers designed by employees from all sectors of the brewery. The release of each new My Turn has been an exciting what-will-they-come-up-with-next affair, a challenge to preconceived notions about one of the oldest craft breweries in Wisconsin. This years Turns exemplify that dynamism. Josh, released in January, is a massive imperial black IPA that revived the recipe of the original Black Friday beer, released in 2012. Evan, due around April, has authored a Mexican dark lager along the lines of Negra Modelo. Howard, expected around July, is a helles lager, and Latif is an organic double chocolate stout that sounds like a perfect fit for its October-ish release. With all of this going on and so much competition for year-round fermentation space Lakefront has a dozen always-available beers theres not much room for slower sellers. Strategic considerations also can play a role. Chris Johnson, Lakefronts director of business development and author of the My Turn Johnson double IPA in 2014, agreed with me that Extended Play deserved a better fate. He thinks the session IPA category, once rich with big growth, flattened out as consumers settled in around the widely available early hits like Founders All Day IPA. I may be a microcosm of why Lakefront is going a different direction, because as much as I like Extended Play and its amplified hop aromatics and uncanny balance, I rarely bought it. Session IPAs were really hot in spring 2014, and it seemed like there was always another new one to try. They were all at least OK, but none was spectacular. Bottom line, I just didnt end up buying a whole lot of them despite a predilection toward hops, and by last summer I was hitting lagers and full-strength IPAs much more frequently than session IPAs. But despite my love for the departing Extended Play and, especially, Beer Line, this column is not an obituary but a birth announcement. Hitting shelves this week is Lakefronts new Hop Jockey, which is already a Wisconsin anomaly in that its a year-round, Wisconsin-brewed imperial IPA. Hop Jockey Style: Imperial/double India pale ale Brewed by: Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee What its like: Rarely do I have as strong an impression in this department as I did with Hop Jockey. It reminded me immediately and upon repeated tastings of Lagunitas Sucks, which I consider a compliment. How much: Hop Jockey, with its heavy malt and hop bill, comes at a higher price than Lakefronts other year-rounders, around $12 a six-pack. The beer: Hop Jockey comes out of the gates with a clear, copper-amber and an intense, juicy aroma of sweet citrus. The hops being ridden here are Bravo, Centennial, Cascade and Citra, and they bring to bear orange, grapefruit and even a bit of pineapple, as well as a little edge from a light classic IPA piney-resin character. A sip reveals all of that and more, with the intensity that makes imperial IPA one of my favorite styles. The sweet elements caramel malt and tropical fruit flavors are held in check by a firm bitterness and that earthy resin note, and vice versa. Booze factor: The ABV here is a robust 8.2 percent, just inside the double/imperial category by a couple ticks. The buzz: Even outside the My Turn one-offs, Hop Jockey isnt the only new face for Lakefront this year. Its early-year seasonal Big Easy, a Mardi Gras-themed imperial maibock, has been reformulated down to a more typical strength and rebranded to play down the Fat Tuesday reference. (It came particularly early this year.) Renamed simply Maibock, it was released in late January. Coming around April and lingering through the summer is the all-new SMaSH Ale, which discards the common brewing practice of blending multiple malt and hop varieties in favor of a single malt and single hop (hence the name). In this case its Maris Otter, a classic English malt variety known for its nutty, biscuity qualities, and Calypso, a complex hop rich in floral, apple, pear and citrus notes. And coming hopefully this summer will be the first Lakefront cans, opening a fast-growing market driven by portability and lighter weight qualities that are particularly desirable for beer in summer. Johnson said just two beers are planned for cans initially: SMaSH and Riverwest Stein. Bottom line: 4 stars (out of five) Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the nature and timing of Lakefront's canning operation. It is not planning to add a canning line to the brewery this summer. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Anyone who communicates electronically has had one of those moments when, in a fit of anger or irritation, he replies to an upsetting email, text or Facebook post with the kind of unconsidered rashness that it only takes a few hours to regret. And of course by then, its too late. Knee-jerkism is part of human nature. The good news is that so is the ability of time to heal (almost) all wounds. Republicans ignored these basic truisms when they got rid of the 48-hour waiting period for purchasing handguns and potentially opened up a whole new class of tragedy that is far worse than rashly sent email and looks a lot like what happened at a Far East Side Madison grocery store last week. Police say Christopher OKroley, 26, admitted to shooting and killing 24-year-old Caroline Nosal on Feb. 2 in the parking lot of the Metro Market where they both used to work, and that it appears he legally bought the handgun used in the killing just a day before. Such a quick and tragic turnaround would not have been possible prior to the elimination, in June, of Wisconsins 39-year-old 48-hour waiting period for handgun purchases. Proponents of the waiting period touted it as a way to head off crime by giving angry or desperate prospective gun purchasers just a little more time to think about what exactly they wanted to do with those guns. The chief sponsor of the bill that ended this cooling off period, though, didnt take the same view. Thanks to advances in technology, background checks on prospective gun buyers can now be done in hours, not days, Sen. Van Wanggaard argued, so why make people wait to exercise their Second Amendment rights? Wanggaard and the bills main sponsor in the Assembly, Romaine Quinn, did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Neither did Gov. Scott Walker, who signed the bill into law. OKroleys former girlfriend has said he is mentally ill, and OKroley himself reportedly told police he is a sociopath and had been planning his crime for as long as two weeks. Factors like those and innumerable others mean theres no way to know whether making a person wait a couple days or even better, a couple of weeks to get his hands on a gun will stop him from using it to hurt someone. But more times than not, its not going to hurt to find out. OKroley, for instance, reportedly not only wanted to kill Nosal, but himself, too. That he didnt commit suicide suggests that perhaps time does make a difference. Besides, its not like people dont already have to wait for delivery on all kinds of purchases. When my wife and I bought a new dishwasher, it wasnt delivered for several days. When we bought a couch and love seat set, it was a month between payment and being able to lounge on something other than our old musty-dog-smelling, hand-me-down sectional. I know, I know. There is no constitutional right to own a dishwasher or a couch or any other product other than a firearm, as far as I can tell. Then again, its a lot harder to kill an innocent person not to mention bring unimaginable sorrow to their loved ones with a kitchen appliance or a piece of furniture. Though he had no criminal record, homicide suspect Christopher OKroley was being investigated for sexual assault when he allegedly shot a former co-worker to death last week outside a Far East Side grocery store. OKroley, 26, also had been picked up on warrants for unrelated matters at least twice by Madison police in September 2013 and by Cottage Grove police in September 2014, according to law enforcement sources and court records. OKroley also was briefly hospitalized in September 2014 after trying to kill himself, according to an ex-girlfriend who told the Wisconsin State Journal he has been mentally ill for the past decade. However, nothing in his past not the alleged suicide attempt, or the apparent mental health issues or his past run-ins with police rose to the level of preventing him from legally buying the Smith and Wesson handgun that police say he used to kill Caroline E. Nosal, a former girlfriend who rejected his advances, on Feb. 2. Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said OKroley legally purchased the gun from a local store on Feb. 1, but, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to say where it was bought or where OKroley told police he practiced shooting it later the same day in preparation for the alleged murder. Nosal, 24, of Stoughton, was walking to her car outside Metro Market, 6010 Cottage Grove Road, when she was shot around 8 p.m., shortly after finishing her shift at the store. A court complaint Friday charged OKroley with first-degree intentional homicide in her death and with first-degree reckless endangerment for allegedly firing at the first Madison police officer who tried to arrest him. A separate filing for a warrant to search OKroleys car on Friday notes OKroley was listed as a suspect in a sexual assault that allegedly occurred Dec. 26 at his home in the 800 block of North Thompson Drive. A Madison police report filed the next day said the victim, a 20-year-old woman who knew OKroley, reported falling asleep at his house after watching a movie and waking to find some of her clothing isnt the way it should be, police spokesman Joel DeSpain told the State Journal. She believes she may have been sexually assaulted, DeSpain said. In those types of cases, typically someone is not arrested immediately. You need to do the forensics. Police talked to OKroley about the sexual assault allegations at his home later on Dec. 26, DeSpain said, after the woman reported the incident. Both agreed to undergo forensic exams at a local hospital, and investigators are awaiting the results, DeSpain said. Its an active investigation of an acquaintance sexual assault, DeSpain said. He was cooperative in the sense that he voluntarily went in for an exam. He was somewhat vague about what he remembered happening overnight. The warrants issued for OKroley in 2013 and 2014 appear to be tied to civil matters involving long-running disputes over the birth and support of his son, now 8, with Amanda M. Joers, 26. She and OKroley met in high school. DeSpain said Madison police jailed OKroley in September 2013 after an officer making a traffic stop found a warrant for not paying child support. The traffic stop came after OKroley drove through a red light on West Doty Street. Then on Sept. 11, 2014, Cottage Grove police picked up OKroley on a warrant, Dane County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Elise Schaffer said. Schaffer could find no record of what that warrant was for, but Joers said it was for non-payment of bills involving their sons birth. Later in September 2014, Joers said she called for an ambulance after finding OKroley overdosing in a bathtub at his mothers Cottage Grove home, where he had gone for an arranged day of child visitation. The medications were prescribed to OKroleys mother, Joers said, adding that OKroley was not on any medications that she knew of for mental health issues at the time of the attempted suicide. OKroley left the hospital where he was treated within a few days, Joers said, and returned to his job at Metro Market. State and federal laws say nothing about barring guns for people who attempt suicide. Only those involuntarily committed to a mental institution because they pose a danger to themselves or others, or those who are judged unfit to own a weapon by court order, are prohibited from owning guns for mental health-related reasons. OKroley told detectives after his arrest for the fatal shooting on Feb. 3 that he was a sociopath who killed Nosal out of anger because she ruined his life, according to the court complaint. OKroley said he blamed Nosal for getting him fired after she reported to store managers that he was harassing her after their relationship soured. A Madison man charged with shooting a former grocery store co-worker to death last week outside the store where they worked was ordered to stand trial on first-degree intentional homicide and reckless endangerment charges. Christopher T. OKroley, 26, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday before Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke. He did not enter pleas to the charges against him but will do so when an arraignment is set before the assigned trial judge, William Hanrahan. A criminal complaint states that OKroley blamed Caroline Nosal, 24, of Stoughton, for getting him fired from his job at Metro Market, 6010 Cottage Grove Road, after she complained to management that he was harassing her. The criminal complaint states that Nosal had rebuffed OKroleys desire to have a more serious relationship, which upset OKroley. After his arrest, OKroley told police that he bought the handgun he used to shoot Nosal on Feb. 1, right after he was fired, and that he planned to shoot Nosal that day, but instead decided he needed time to practice with his new gun, according to the complaint. After finding out when Nosal would be leaving work on Feb. 2, OKroley waited for her in the parking lot and shot her, the complaint states. OKroley fired shots at a Madison police officer, who returned fire, on Feb. 3 when he was spotted by a passer-by near East Towne Mall. Nobody was hurt by the shots. A former girlfriend told the Wisconsin State Journal that OKroley has had mental health issues for years and that he attempted suicide in 2014. OKroleys lawyer, state Assistant Public Defender Adam Welch, said he couldnt comment on whether he plans to pursue an insanity defense for OKroley or whether he had decided not to enter a plea to the charges on Tuesday in order to consider a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. OKroley, who appeared in court shackled to a wheeled restraint chair, but no longer wearing suicide prevention clothing, remains in the Dane County Jail on $1 million bail. OREGON Go Global at Oregon High School is not your ordinary high school course. The class, which is offered to juniors and seniors, includes a trip: this year, to Italy and Greece; last year, to China. The trip is intentionally scheduled in the middle of the course this semesters students leave for Europe next month so that students learn about where they are going beforehand. After they return, they do some reflective work. Ive always wanted to travel and this is a pretty affordable and safe way to do it, senior Sean Bull, 17, said about the course. It gives us an idea of what to expect. We can further appreciate what we see there by knowing a little before we actually go. Lou Kindschi, a social studies teacher who started the course last year, said she knows from her extensive experience in global education that Go Global is a fairly unique high school course. Its also one of the reasons Kindschi just received the first-ever Global Educator of the Year award from the Statewide International Education Council, which is under the state Department of Public Instruction. It comes with a $1,000 prize supported by four Dane County Rotary Clubs. While Isabel Meidl, 18, and Hannah Rau, 17, both seniors, have traveled abroad before, they appreciate the preparation they are getting in the Go Global class. Rau said she went to China on a heritage trip with her sister, who was adopted from that country, and the rest of her family. Junior Corrie Mae Matthias, 16, who was able to take the class last year as a sophomore because she was studying Mandarin, said part of the instruction before the trip dealt with how to dress and act. The class really prepared me for that whole travel experience. It was very valuable, she said. After students return, Kindschi said, they do activities like making a scrapbook, writing a personal reflection essay, cooking a food from the country, contributing to a class cookbook and doing more research and a final project on a particular topic of interest. The travel isnt the end point. Its where you learn to question more, Kindschi said. Im learning right along with them. Next spring, the students will go to Peru. If there is enough interest, the course also will be offered in the fall with a trip to England, Ireland and Wales. The cost to students starts at about $3,000 and varies due to a number of factors including length. This years trip is 13 days. The class helps students earn a Global Education Achievement Certification from the Department of Public Instruction, which Kindschi helped develop. Kindschi also organized a regional Global Education Summit for administrators, educators and students, and developed a global education webpage. She also advises the Diversity Club and a new WorldLens project where students create short documentaries and share them with teens from around the world. The co-owners of Rocky Rococo Pizza arent sure what they are going to do for their annual Valentines Day celebration without the face of their business who combined a white jacket, round-rimmed sunglasses and a fedora with his Italian accent and great wit to become a Madison icon. Jim Pederson, who sang the blues, rapped out poems and told silly stories as the Rocky Rococo character for TV and radio ads and did countless public appearances and charity work for the company for 40 years, died suddenly Thursday in Madison. He was 68. Its a big deal, said co-owner Roger Brown. He was the public face of our business, he was the persona of it. A lot of people thought he was the founder, made pizzas and was the heart and soul of the business. He had a big impact on the business. Pederson was at his best on Valentines Day, which is one of the pizza franchises busiest days thanks to the advertisements in which Rocky would argue that his heart-shaped, deep-dish pizza was a more romantic gift choice than candy and flowers. On Valentines Day, hed go to all (11) of our stores in La Crosse and Madison and entertain everybody at each place by handing out breadsticks and singing out a kind of rap poem that hed change all the time, Brown said. Hed get great applause at every place he visited. People would count on him coming every year. Hed always go to the back of the store and thank the crews for working so hard on Valentines Day, too. Our customers and crews loved him. Hell really be missed. In a 2008 interview with the Wisconsin State Journal, Pederson said he grew up on Chicagos South Side and was in a gang called The Apostles of Death before his mother sent him to a preparatory seminary. My grades went from Fs to As right away because at that time, corporal punishment was in, he said. You didnt see a girl for four years and you had a suit and tie on every day. I was going to become a priest but then I got the scholarship for drama and fine arts. Professionally, Pederson was more than a pizza pitchman. He was a comedian with Chicagos Second City and worked with John Belushi and Bill Murray for two years on stage before he moved to Madison. He operated a marketing and consulting business and recorded songs and raps and hosted Master Pizza Theater, which used to air on WMSN-TV/Ch. 47. Pederson also opened a small private practice as a psychotherapist. He said he worked with family and relationships dealing with addiction and wrote a column for Addiction Professional magazine called The Family Factor. He also said he shaved off his mustache because he didnt like to be recognized as Rocky Rococo and would tell people he was Rockys brother, Reginald. I really separate out the psychotherapist practice from the Rocky character, he said in the interview. When Im in the white suit, its very safe. I can spout raps or poetry. Then Jim Pederson is the more introspective person. The writer, the musician, the psychotherapist. Pederson met Brown and Wayne Mosley about 18 months after they opened their first Rocky Rococo store on Gilman Street in 1974 and made a splash by selling pizza by the slice. Rockys name was based on a character from Los Angeles comedy troupe Firesign Theater, and they purchased for their logo a sketch by Madison artist Dave Muldowney of a character based from a Mad Magazine story. And then Jim made that character come alive, Mosley said. Mosley laughed at all the years theyd use putty to make Pedersons nose bigger for the TV ads. On a hot day it would start misshaping and interesting things would happen to his nose, he said. Then we decided the persona was plenty so we said, Away with the nose. Pederson wrote many of the ads, and Mosleys favorite was when Rocky said, Nine out of 10 pizza experts say Rockys is the best and the 10th one aint saying anything no more. As the business grew during the 1980s and before they sold all but the 11 franchises they currently own, Mosley said some partners and ad agencies were scared of its advertising campaign with Pederson. We were planning to open a restaurant in St. Louis and one agency asked an anti-defamation group to be a part of focus group where they asked, Will you be insulted by him? Mosely said. Both Mosley and Brown said they were touched by the outpouring on Facebook from people who heard that he had died and wrote what meeting Rocky meant to them. The spirit of Rocky will live on and we hope it will be fun and a tad irreverent, Mosley said. Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-02-09 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 TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 26/16 09.02.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci comments on President Anastasiades' statements and says that behaviors which would harm the negotiations must be avoided [02] Durust: "We are not giving Morfou" [03] Columnist evaluates the latest statements of the illegal Turkish ambassador in the occupied area of Cyprus [04] Columnist wonders whether Merkel can convince Cyprus to lift its EU veto on Turkey [05] Siber carried out contacts in Ankara [06] Havadis argues that the water crisis is coming to an end today [07] Atun met with the IDB Director [08] Self-styled minister of education stated that their aim is to increasethe number of students to 100,000 [09] "Cosmopolitan university" will be established in the occupied village Exometoxi [10] Turkey and Germany agreed on action plan to cooperate on the Syrian refugee crisis; they also discussed the Cyprus talks [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci comments on President Anastasiades' statements and says that behaviours which would harm the negotiations must be avoided Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (09.02.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci has said that positive developments and a momentum exists in the Cyprus negotiations and argued that behaviours which could harm this must be avoided. In an interview with illegal TAK news agency yesterday, Akinci claimed that in his recent statements President Anastasiades conveyed the issues which he said that the two sides had agreed "only from his own point of view" and added that the "points of agreement" are issues which only the two sides together could announce. "We are ready for this. Otherwise, what Anastasiades has done is a unilateral interpretation and includes at least deficiencies and mistakes". Akinci said that the leaders have the right to express their positions, but an announcement on behalf of the two sides could be made jointly and with the consent of both sides. Akinci said that a confederation formed by two sovereign states has never been at the negotiating table and added that what is discussed at the inter-communal talks is a federal Cyprus established by two founding states which will be politically equal and will not dominate over each other. He admitted, though, that "some Turkish Cypriot leaders" had referred to confederation from time to time. Referring to President Anastasiades' statement that he does not accept the "rotating presidency", Akinci claimed: "Unfortunately this continuous stance of the Greek Cypriot side is a serious disappointment for us. However, let me say the following: If the Greek Cypriot people will not digest a Turkish Cypriot being at the head of the common federal state during just periods, this means that there will be no agreement". Asked to give an example on what he called as a "unilateral interpretation" by President Anastasiades, he replied: "For example, let us take a look at the issue of population. When you look at the statement it is perceived as if we have also agreed the proportion of population to remain constant. There is no such a thing. To start with, our citizens will without discriminations become citizens of the new united federal Cyprus. The population in Cyprus will develop in its natural flow. If the effort is to say that the demographic structure in Cyprus will not be spoiled with population transferred from outside, this is something else. In any case we also do not want this. However, there is still no text on which we have agreed on this issue. There are some proposals". Asked to comment on the four freedoms issue, Akinci said: "Cyprus will on the one hand be a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and on the other will be committed on the EU values and principles because we will be in the EU. Within this framework freedoms will exist of course. We also want to live in a modern country based on the human rights in which the freedoms will be valid. In this sense, the right of everybody living anywhere they want will be respected (right to abode). This means the following: If one has his legal residency in his own area and wants to have a summer house, to stay in a hotel in the other area and establish a business with the permission of the municipality, he will be able to do this. These persons will use their political rights in the area where their legal residency is. [?] However, this is the one side of the coin. In the other side, there is the protection of the bi-zonal, bi-communal character. In this sense, the Founding State will have the power to regulate on the issues of permanent residency and internal citizenship". Akinci said that within this framework, they do not want to "endanger the Turkish Cypriot majority in the north" part of the island. He argued: "[?] Our understanding when we say bi-zonality is not limited only to 'political majority'. We cannot make our people approve an agreement in which we will not be the clear majority in the sense of population and property in the north. This issue has been many times expressed by our side at the negotiating table. Within this framework, it is obligatory for the Founding States having powers on the issue of purchasing properties in the future, at least until a certain balance is achieved between the two economies". Asked to comment on President Anastasiades statement that there is "progress to a great extent" on the property issue, Akinci replied: "This is correct. Therefore, when in the past we have been saying that progress exists only on the issues of Governance, Economy and the EU, now we can include the property in these. I have also said this recently. There are still unsolved aspects of the property, of course, but it is true that some distance has been covered. It is also true that the old owner of the property will file the first application. However, the situation of the person living in it will also be taken care of. It does not necessarily mean that the first to make an application will take that house. The issue is that comparing to someone who lived in the house 42 years ago only for a few years, the other who lives in that house for many years after 1974 has more rights. The ECHR's decision on Demopoulos case is in this direction". Replying to a question on the issue of the "rotating presidency" which President Anastasiades said that could not be accepted by the Greek Cypriot side in spite of the expectations of the Turkish Cypriot side in the opposite direction, Akinci alleged: "Unfortunately, the continuous stance of the Greek Cypriot side on this issue is a serious disappointment. However, let me say the following: If the Greek Cypriot people will not digest a Turkish Cypriot being at the head of the common federal state during just periods, this means that there will be no agreement". Replying to a question on the issue of the guarantees, Akinci said: "We have said it many times. The guarantees will be discussed at the very end within a five-party framework. Both we and Turkey have many times announced that this issue will be discussed when the day comes. The allegation from now that the guarantees will be abolished and moreover that we agree with this is wrong. It is obvious that the Turkish Cypriot community wants the continuation of Turkey's guarantee. The important thing here is what kind of a formula we can find so that while the Turkish Cypriots feel safe, the Greek Cypriots will not feel threatened. I believe that the way of this will be found, but when time comes". Asked whether he wanted to add anything else, Akinci alleged: "What I want to add is about what it is written on how the state will come up. It is known that we have differences on this issue. According to them, only the Republic of Cyprus exists and it will be evolved, because according to them, the TRNC does not exist. According to us, however, the TRNC exists and it will turn into a founding state with the solution. When the past international agreements are examined, the agreements we have made will also be examined, not only those made by the Republic of Cyprus. Those which are not in contrary to the new constitution and the foundation agreement will continue being valid. The point I want to finally stress is the following: Positive developments and a momentum exists in the Cyprus negotiating process. We must stay away from any kind of behaviors which would harm this. In both sides, circles exist which immediately start predicting calamity at every opportunity and are panicked when the possibility for a solution increases. We are not going to pay attention to these circles, the intention of which is known. However, we should behave carefully with the statements we make. I repeat, the leaders are of course free to express their positions. However, making a statement on behalf of the two sides could happen only with the consent of the two sides and jointly. We are ready to enter into such an effort". (I/Ts.) [02] Durust: "We are not giving Morfou" Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes newspaper (09.02.16) reports that the self-styled minister of education Kemal Durust stated that it is out of the question to abandon the land they are on. Durust who was participating in a television program stated that anyone must get compensation for his property. "However it is out of the question to abandon the land we are on, the land we made our fatherland [?] the places we have established our universities. By no means we will not let this happen", he stated. Asked about the return of occupied Morfou, Durust stated that the issue is used by the Greek Cypriot side for political purposes in the framework of the election campaign and said: "We will not give Morfou back, there is not such an issue", he stated. (CS) [03] Columnist evaluates the latest statements of the illegal Turkish ambassador in the occupied area of Cyprus Under the title "Ankara's envoy shouldn't lecture Turkish Cypriots", columnist Barcin Yinanc, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 09.02.16), comments on the latest statements by the illegal Turkish "ambassador" in the occupied part of Lefkosia in the following commentary: "It is said that the stars are allied for finding a solution on the island. But I really don't think it is these stars that are saying 'let's reach a solution'. The Turkish Cypriots have interests and plans. But nobody other that the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey ever says 'the Turks of the island should have their rights; injustices should be ended and the Turkish people should never be subjected to atrocities, murders and discrimination'." These words belong to Turkey's ambassador to Turkish Cyprus (editor's note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyrpus). Derya Kanbay made these 'eye-opening' statements while meeting a Turkish Cypriot NGO that is concerned about the way peace negotiations are proceeding on the island. While Turkey is the only country that recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (editor's note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyrpus), Kanbay's address to his host country was in total contradiction of what should be a relationship between equals. His statement sounded like a badly formulated International Relations 101 course: 'Countries engage in give and take either because they are competing with each other or they fear each other. If one is committing an atrocity in one place, the other remains silent; then when the latter commits an atrocity, the former remains silent. That's how they go about their business. While they are busy fighting, the innocent people suffer. That is what you experienced on the island for years.' While my professors were lecturing my classes at university, even they approached us in a more sophisticated way. But why did the envoy feel the need to speak like this? So far Ankara has been careful to maintain a 'hands off' approach, in order not to damage the conviction on the island that any solution is 'home made'. It is no secret that prior to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, the Turkish establishment was usually suspicious of the approaches made by left-wing Turkish Cypriot parties, finding them too naive and unnecessarily keen to reach a solution. Is Ankara concerned about the way the current negotiations are taking place? Did it feel the need to give a warning? As far as I understand it, Kanbay's statements do not reflect discontent on the part of Ankara. On the contrary, it seems that Ankara knows about every detail in the negotiations and is so far satisfied with the way they are being conducted by Mustafa Ak?nc? and Ozdil Nami. Obviously, there will come a time when Ankara will have to weigh in - especially on an issue like the guarantees of outside powers. In fact, the Turkish Cypriots have already knocked on Ankara's door, for example on the issue of properties. I have previously written that the issue of property is at the centre of the whole Cyprus problem. If there is a satisfactory solution to the property issue then there is a strong conviction on Turkey's part that the rest can be overcome. There are very strong signals that the two sides have agreed on how to solve the property issue in the current negotiations. My understanding is that the current design is even more in favour of the Turkish Cypriots than the Annan Plan, since the option of 'restitution' has been kept extremely narrow. When you remove the option of "exchange," (since there are more Greek Cypriot properties in the north than there are Turkish Cypriot properties in the south), the last remaining piece of the solution puzzle is the compensation issue. But who will pay the bill? Both sides - but especially the Turkish Cypriot side - rely on funding from the international community. At a time when European capitals are having such difficulty getting together 3 billion euros to handle an urgent crisis that is on their doorstep, it will be highly unrealistic to expect any international financial support for Cyprus. After all, there is no bloodshed on the island and the lack of a solution does not pose an urgent threat. Why would the German taxpayer sacrifice their income in order to compensate a Greek Cypriot and ensure that a Turkish Cypriot becomes a house-owner. In fact, Ankara seems to think the same for its own taxpayer, as it has not pledged any financial support for the Turkish Cypriots. The Annan Plan foresaw a negotiation between the 'original owner' and the 'last user', meaning that the 'last user' would have to share part of the burden. Instead of giving lessons on international relations, perhaps the Turkish ambassador should tell the Turkish Cypriots that they might have to chip in to secure a solution, as 'unfair gains' could also hurt the social fabric in the island's Turkish community." [04] Columnist wonders whether Merkel can convince Cyprus to lift its EU veto on Turkey Columnist Murat Yetkin, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 09.02.16), under the title "Can Merkel convince Greek Cyprus to lift its EU veto on Turkey?" wonders whether Merkel can persuade the Republic of Cyprus in the following, inter alia, commentary: "(?) Yesterday in Ankara, Merkel and her Turkish host Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a joint press conference that the two countries have decided to work together regarding the Syrian refugee crisis on 10 topics in particular. (?) EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini has called on Turkey to open its borders, (while just a few weeks ago, after the crisis over Turkey's downing of the Russian jet in November last year, U.S. and EU officials were calling on Ankara to seal the border with Syria). This situation shows that the EU has no strategy and no proper policy regarding the migrants ? it only wants Turkey stop them from piling up on EU borders, hoping that the promise of a 3 billion euro budget will be enough. (?) While accusing Turkey of not doing enough, the EU has only opened one negotiation chapter so far - the only one of the six that is not vetoed by Greek Cyprus (editor's note: the Republic of Cyprus). (?) Davutoglu is expected to hold talks in the Netherlands (the current term president of the EU) today (Feb. 9), while on Feb. 18 there will be the second "like-minded" EU countries' meeting with Turkey. In the meantime, it will become clear whether the U.S. approves of the Turkish-German joint proposal to involve NATO in the Syrian refugee crisis. The issue of Syrian migrants is such a pressing issue - not only for Merkel but for all EU leaders ? which these days they tend to avoid debates sensitive to the Turkish government, like those over press freedom or court independence. They just want to stop the flow, without even considering that it will probably only slow down (but not stop) when the Syrian civil war is brought to an end. But even if it does somehow slow down, for a better implementation of the readmission agreement Turkey wants the negotiation chapters under Greek Cypriot veto to be opened. Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said recently that Ankara wants to see at least the 24th chapter on Justice, Freedoms and Security to be opened before June, before the readmission agreement is put into effect. How difficult will it be for Germany and the other EU powers to convince the Greek Cypriots to lift the EU veto on Turkey in order to secure relative relief in the refugee crisis? That will be the next scene on the stage." [05] Siber carried out contacts in Ankara Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris (09.02.16) reports that the self-styled speaker of the parliament of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus Sibel Siber, who is currently in Ankara with a delegation for a series of contacts, met yesterday in separate meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Ismail Kahraman. On the same issue, Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 08.02.16) reports that Siber said that as a "nation", the Turkish Cypriots are backing peace and a resolution to the more than 40-year-old dispute on the divided island, where a peaceful solution is currently being sought with U.N.-brokered talks. "We are a nation that has absorbed peace. We also support a resolution at the [peace] talks, which are currently ongoing", said Siber on Feb. 8, after meeting with Kahraman. "Our resolution and will for peace was also high in 2004," she added. Siber further said that the "Turkish Cypriot parliament" is working to pass contemporary laws, arguing that the "parliament" has performed well in regards to being an organ for both legislation and supervision. [06] Havadis argues that the water crisis is coming to an end today Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (09.02.16) reports that the problem with the water issue, which was going on between Turkey and the breakaway regime for months, is coming to an end today and the two sides came to an agreement. According to the paper, "prime minister" Omer Kalyoncu is going shortly to Turkey and after that the water is expected to be distributed to the occupied part of Lefkosia. Kalyoncu will present a document that will safeguard that the water will be administrated by a partnership between the "state" and by the private sector. Havadis writes that the Turkish delegation dealing with the issue is seeing positively the proposal. According to the document, the regulation and prices of the water will be administrated by the "state" while the investments and the collection of revenues will be administrated by private sector. The "municipalities" will also have authority on the water administration. (CS) [07] Atun met with the IDB Director According to Turkish Cypriot daily (09.02.16), the self-styled minister of economy, industry and commerce Sunat Atun met yesterday with Dr Abdul-Hakim Elwaer, Director of the Cooperation and Economic Integration at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). During the meeting, they exchanged views on various issues, particularly, the support of exports with the IDB potentials, as well as to support the Turkish Cypriot Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (KOBI). (DPs) [08] Self-styled minister of education stated that their aim is to increase the number of students to 100,000 Turkish Cypriot daily Gunes newspaper (09.02.16) reports that the self-styled minister of education Kemal Durust stated that 82,000 students are currently studying at the illegal universities of the breakaway regime and added that their aim is to increase the number to 100,000. Durust made these statements during a meeting he held with the "North Cyprus Alumni Foundation". He stated that even countries that do not recognize the "TRNC", recognize the certificates that the universities offer. He went on and added that around 50,000 of the students come from Turkey and said that foreign students contribute both politically and financially to the breakaway regime. In addition, the paper further reports that the "North Cyprus Alumni Foundation" was established two months ago by Turkish citizens who studied at the universities of the breakaway regime. (CS) [09] "Cosmopolitan university" will be established in the occupied village Exometoxi Turkish Cypriot daily Haberal Kibrisli (09.02.16) reports that Ertan Birinci, the founding chairman of the Birinci media institution and chairman of the board of trustees of the "Cosmopolitan university", announced that the "legal procedures" of the name of the "university" are completed and that they took the necessary "licenses" for founding the new "university" in the occupied village Exometoxi. He added that this "university" will be a "boutique university". (DPs) [10] Turkey and Germany agreed on action plan to cooperate on the Syrian refugee crisis; they also discussed the Cyprus talks According to Turkish daily Sabah (online, 09.02.16), German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Ankara Monday to hold official meetings regarding the ongoing Syrian crisis where she met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. She and the Prime Minister held a joint press conference following their meeting where he underlined that the international community should not expect Turkey to shoulder the refugee burden alone just because it has an open-door policy to those seeking asylum. While both leaders stressed the significance of the crisis, Davutoglu said that humanity is being tested in Syria, as tens of thousands of people are affected by the ongoing crisis. He said that joint efforts are necessary to deal with the issue, announcing a 10-step cooperation plan to tackle the refugee crisis. Providing further details on the official meeting, Merkel said that the two leaders agreed to carry out "joint efforts" for greater NATO involvement in the refugee crisis by seeking the use of NATO's observation capabilities on the Syrian border and in the Aegean Sea. Prime Minister Davutoglu said that although the topic of discussion was primarily Syria and the refugee crisis, the two leaders also discussed bilateral relations. At the press conference, emphasizing that the matters Turkey and Germany will cooperate on will be applied in the framework of the EU's refugee action plan, Davutoglu said: "The first matter we agreed on is to begin a diplomatic initiative together to encourage halting all assaults on civilians in Syria as the peace talks begin. Secondly, we agreed to aid the Syrian refugees at the border through joint cooperation between AFAD [Disaster and Emergency Management Authority] and the German Technical Aid Group. We also discussed the developments in the Balkans and the Caucasus and discussed the Cyprus talks", Davutoglu added. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (DPs/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article The enormity of the slaughters of the religion of peace are so far beyond comprehension that even honest historians overlook the scale. When one looks beyond our myopic focus, Islam is the greatest killing machine in the history of mankind, bar none. According to American Thinker: The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. Will Durant, as quoted on Daniel Pipes site. Conservative estimates place the number at 80 million dead Indians. According to some calculations, the Indian (subcontinent) population decreased by 80 million between 1000 (conquest of Afghanistan) and 1525 (end of Delhi Sultanate). Koenrad Elst as quoted on Daniel Pipes site 80 Million?! The conquistadors crimes pale into insignificance at that number. No wonder Hitler admired Islam as a fighting religion. He stood in awe of Islam, whose butchery even he did not surpass. Over 110 Million Blacks were killed by Islam. A minimum of 28 Million African were enslaved in the Muslim Middle East. Since, at least, 80 percent of those captured by Muslim slave traders were calculated to have died before reaching the slave market, it is believed that the death toll from 1400 years of Arab and Muslim slave raids into Africa could have been as high as 112 Millions. When added to the number of those sold in the slave markets, the total number of African victims of the trans-Saharan and East African slave trade could be significantly higher than 140 Million people. John Allembillah Azumah, author of The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue Add just those two numbers alone together, and Islam has surpassed the victims of 20th-century totalitarianism. In the Middle Agesmany slaves were passed through Armenia and were castrated there to fill the Muslim demand for eunuchs. Slavery in Early Medieval Europe. The same practice ran through Islamic Spain. North Europeans captured from raids up to Iceland, or purchased, were butchered in the castratoriums of Iberia. Many died from the operations that ran for centuries. Dont forget the 1.5 million Armenian Christians killed by the Turks during WWI. Most liberals, including Obama, are clueless of this history. This is not a religion of peace but a religion of war and blood. We are gathering information for the 2022 general election. On desktop, click "election information" on the right side of this pag... MOKENA - Social issues such as abortion, marriage, religious freedoms, gambling and medical marijuana are most important to Illinois Family Action's board of directors, and candidates' positions on those issues are reflected in IFA's picks for the March 15th primary. IFA's recommendations line up with Paul Caprio's Family PAC favorites on a majority of candidates - specifically backing Sharee Langenstein in the 58th Senate race over Paul Schimpf. But Family PAC joined with Dan Proft's Illinois Opportunity Project over Illinois Family Action in the State Senate District 50, House District 66th and 72nd races. Illinois Family Action prefers incumbent State Senator Sam McCann over challenger Bryce Benton in the 50th Senate race. The original Valley Hi was built in the 1800s at the site of a farm owned by McHenry County. According to Board member Mike Walkup , by the late 1990s it had become decrepit and looked like something out of a Steven King movie. In 2002 voters were asked if they wanted to approve a special tax levy to build and staff a County nursing home. The vote passed by about 5,000 votes out of 75,000 votes cast. How did Valley Hi Nursing Home in only nine years accumulate $43 million, or over half the size of the Countys entire annual property tax revenues? While the McHenry County Board had been arguing all fall about possible township consolidation , another local controversy was quietly settled. Valley Hi, a County-run nursing home had accumulated an astonishing $43 million cash balance, and the Board in November finally voted to cut the annual tax levy down to zero. But all did not go well. Even with the annual tax levy, a scathing outside audit in 2006 reported Valley Hi ran a $2 million deficit and labeled the home managerial dysfunctional. In 2010, the County Board re-assumed managerial control from Revere Health Care by creating a new Operating Board for Valley Hi. The Operating Board and nursing home administration did their job well: they reversed a $2 million deficit into a $13 million surplus in 2007, followed by a $30 million surplus in 2011 and a $39 million surplus in 2014. By the fall of 2015, the Board reported the Valley Hi bank balance was up to $43 million. The 2006 annual tax levy was set at $6 million; when the building bonds were paid off the levy was lowered to $4.5 million and then to $3 million. Valley Hi has an annual operating budget of about $10 million. In October of last year, Mike Walkup requested the Valley Hi levy be split from the others for voting purposes. In November, Valley Hi administration seemed worried about these actions, and put together new financial projections. The projections showed a decline in the fund balance over time; however, the projections also showed fees and charges for service remaining flat, personnel expenditures rising 3.5% annually and capital outlays rising to $1.2 million in 2016. Some criticized the administration for having no explanations for their assumptions. In mid-November, the Board voted unanimously to cut the tax levy for Valley Hi to zero, saving the average home owner about $30 each year. According to Board member Chuck Wheeler, Valley Hi levies can still take place without another referendum if they continue to be made every other year. And how do local residents weigh in on the surplus? Townspeople think thats an awful lot of money, Wheeler said. As anticipated, the next discussion at the Board was how the $43 million in reserves could or should be given back to taxpayers. Kelly Liebmann, a candidate for County Board, thinks the cash reserves should be kept and invested in long term Treasury Bills with interest (about $800,000 yearly) covering any future Valley Hi financial shortfalls. Ersel Schuster, another County Board candidate, also rejects the idea of returning the reserves to the taxpayers, saying the majority of those funds would be consumed by the committees and lawyers assigned to figure out who gets what. Chuck Wheeler says the most likely solution is the surplus will be used to fund a host of County capital and maintenance projects, including building new parking garages and paving roads. Under this plan the County would borrow funds from Valley Hi and pay interest. By law the Board could make this decision without another referendum. What is the future of Valley Hi? One option is a voter referendum to decide whether to 1) keep Valley Hi, 2) spend five years closing it down through attrition or 3) sell it. Valley Hi is not located near any hospitals due to the original decision to build on farm land owned by the County. Current trends are to build nursing homes near existing hospitals so patients can more easily access hospital services. Nancy Mathieson has a 30-year career in business, securities regulation and public policy. Nancy held positions at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where she was a Director of Market Surveillance and managed a professional staff in the investigation of securities trading violations. She also served as Operations Director at Truth in Accounting, a Chicago think-tank whose mission is to promote transparency in government financial reporting. In this role, she directed Accounting teams in grant-funded research studies on the financial condition of state and local municipalities. Nancy received her B.S. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her M.B.A. from New York University. WASHINGTON - Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly is fed up with 20 year incumbent Congressman John Shimkus, and accuses him of "surrendering" to liberals in Congress and President Obama. Now that John Shimkus has spent nearly twenty years in Washington, its clear that he is part of the problem. He repeatedly supports irresponsible spending bills that add to our enormous debt. Just this Congress, hes voted to keep money flowing to President Obamas priorities, such as executive amnesty and Planned Parenthood. We cant change our direction as long as Republicans like John Shimkus continue to surrender to liberals in Congress and the executive branch," she said in a statement. Tuesday, Schlafly endorsed 15th CD GOP challenger Kyle McCarter as a "champion for conservative principles" while serving in the Illinois Senate. Hitoshi Kono will take on the new role of Deputy MD from February 14, while Wakabayashi will assume the role of Division COO, Isuzu Business Division, Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan. By India Today Web Desk: Isuzu Motors India on Tuesday announced a change in the senior management position of the company in its Indian operations. The Japanese company has appointed Hitoshi Kono as the new Deputy Managing Director, and will succeed Shigeru Wakabayashi in the country. Hitoshi Kono will take on the new role of Deputy MD from February 14, while Wakabayashi will assume the role of Division COO, Isuzu Business Division, Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan. advertisement ALSO READ: Isuzu unveils adventure utility vehicle D-MAX V-Cross Kono is currently the General Manager of Isuzu Asia Department at the Isuzu Business Division. Wakabayashi has been instrumental in setting up Isuzu operations in India since 2012 when he set up a new manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh. Isuzu recently launched Isuzu D-MAX pick-up at the Auto Expo 2016. Naohiro Yamaguchi, Managing Director, Isuzu Motors India told PTI, "Wakabayashi has played an important role in the progress of the company. Under his guidance, Isuzu has achieved significant milestones across various aspects of the business." Kono has an experience of more than 30 years in various global markets and was also responsible for Isuzu Asia Department at Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan earlier. ALSO READ: Isuzu Motor Rs 3,000-cr Sri City plant to go online in April Moreover, Kono was instrumental in establishing Isuzu UTE Australia in 2008 to import and distribute the Isuzu D-MAX in Australia. --- ENDS --- New York-based designer-cum-actor Waris Ahluwalia on Monday claimed that he was stopped board the flight from Mexico City to New York because of his beard and turban. By India Today Web Desk: Indian-American Sikh designer Waris Ahluwalia, who was stopped from boarding an AeroMexico flight bound for New York from Mexico City because he was wearing a turban, is still stuck at the airport. "13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveler should be subjected to what I was," Ahluwalia tweeted. After his story made headlines in the United States, Aeromexico offered him another ticket and told him he wouldn't have to remove his turban, but Ahluwalia refused to accept it. Update. 13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveler should be subjected to what I was? https://t.co/nJrlaUFOBf HOUSEofWARIS (@HOUSE_of_WARIS) February 9, 2016 advertisement New York-based designer-cum-actor Ahluwalia on Monday claimed that he was not allowed to board the flight from Mexico City to New York because of his beard and turban. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...that I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview Monday afternoon from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible". It gave no further details but added that it regretted the inconvenience. A United States based civil rights NGO, The Sikh Coalition has expressed shock over the incident calling it "shameful", and has employed lawyers who are in constant touch with Ahluwalia. Ahluwalia said he had no immediate plans to board another flight. ALSO READ Sikh Hollywood actor stopped from boarding NY flight in Mexico City --- ENDS --- advertisement Govinda's lawyer informed Supreme Court that the actor was ready for an unconditional apology and also offered 5 lakh rupees to complainant Santosh Rai. The court has granted him a two weeks time to do the same.In 2008, Santosh Rai was slapped by Govinda, on the sets of his film 'Money Hai To Honey Hai'. By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood actor Govinda has offered to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the fan he slapped some years back. Govinda's lawyer informed Supreme Court that the actor was ready for an unconditional apology and also offered 5 lakh rupees to complainant Santosh Rai. The court has granted him a two weeks time to do the same. advertisement In the last hearing of the case, the court had asked the actor to apologise to complainant Santosh Rai. In 2008, Santosh Rai was slapped by Govinda, on the sets of his film 'Money Hai To Honey Hai' at Filmistan Studio for allegedly misbehaving on the sets. In 2009, Santosh filed a complaint against Govinda on the matter of assault and criminal intimidation in Bombay High Court and in 2013, the Bombay High Court quashed the complaint. However, in 2014 Santosh took his case to the Supreme Court. --- ENDS --- An army jawan who was buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in Siachen glacier was today miraculously found alive in critical condition after six days of rescue efforts. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," Hooda said (ANI) By India Today Web Desk: An army jawan who was buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in Siachen glacier was today miraculously found alive in critical condition after six days of rescue efforts. "It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacuate Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa to the RR hospital in the morning," said Lieutenant General DS Hooda, Northern Army Commander. advertisement "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," Hooda said. He hoped that another miracle continues with Thappa, who hails form Karnataka. A Junior Commissioned Officer and nine other ranks of the Madras Regiment were buried after their post was hit by the avalanche at an altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control with Pakistan, PTI reported. The army said efforts to locate the bodies of the remaining soldiers will continue. Army teams have been sifting through the huge mass of ice in the treacherous region, sometimes digging more than 30 feet, to find the soldiers who got buried in the avalanche. A defence spokesman said reports from the ground indicate the efforts are hampered by frequent blizzards, extreme freezing temperature and low visibility apart from the effects of rarefied atmosphere in such high altitude. ALSO READ Siachen avalanche: Body of one soldier recovered, search operations continue Four soldiers killed in avalanche in Ladakh --- ENDS --- Some 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border if the military campaign there continues at this intensity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said on Tuesday, adding Turkey will not shut its gates to the refugees. By Reuters: Some 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border if the military campaign there continues at this intensity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said on Tuesday, adding Turkey will not shut its gates to the refugees. Davutoglu made the comments in a speech to his party in parliament. Turkey, which is already sheltering 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has largely kept its gates closed in recent days as a tens of thousands seek refuge from Syrian and Russian assaults on opposition-held territory in northwest Syria. advertisement Also read: Russian military officer killed in Syria --- ENDS --- The Bengaluru Police have busted a major child trafficking racket in which 25 children (boys and girls under the age of 10) were sent to the US under false identities in the last one year. By Mail Today: The Bengaluru Police have busted a major child trafficking racket in which 25 children (boys and girls under the age of 10) were sent to the US under false identities in the last one year. The kids were either handed over to their parents who are living in the US as illegal migrants or to child-trafficking gangs. Cops have arrested 16 people, including, three women on Monday in connection with the racket, which spreads across Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The police managed to nab Uday Rudra Pratap Singh (44), the kingpin of the racket, from his home in Bengaluru. advertisement Gang members would pose as couples and travel to the US with a child pretending to be the parents. Once they reached the US, the child would be handed over to local contacts and the 'couple' would return to India. The whereabouts of the 25-30 kids, who were abducted or taken with the consent of their grandparents from Gujarat, Bihar, UP and Karnataka, are not known so far. In addition to Uday Prathap Singh, the police have arrested Michael (37), Rajesh (43), Simon (36), Kushalappa (34), Gunashekar (42), Dominic Arul Kumar (46), Pravin (43), Joison (37), Manjunath (38), Francis, Christopher Anand, Sangeetha Prakash, Sudhir Kumar Kestur, Latha Vema Reddy, Bhanu Prakash and Veena Prakash, all of whom are Bengaluru residents. A few travel agents are also in the dock for supporting the racket. "About a year ago, we received information about a child trafficking ring functioning from Bengaluru and we formed a special investigation team (SIT). We collected information from the passport office, foreigner regional registration offices, travel agents and police from different states and uncovered the racket. We are interrogating the 16 members we have arrested. Hopefully, we should be able to track down the kids," Additional Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru-East) P Harishekaran, who headed the SIT, said. The kingpin of the racket would identify potential 'transporters', men and women, who were teamed up to behave like couples. Then, abducted kids or kids handed over by the grandparents (whose children had entered the US illegally) would be assigned to each couple, and trained to behave like a family in Bengaluru. The gang then prepared fresh identities for the family, including ration cards, Aadhar cards, birth certificates, voter IDs, house rent agreements etc on the basis of which the family would secure a passport in Bengaluru. A team in Chennai would then assist the gang in procuring Non-Immigration B1/B2 visa (business and pleasure). "On obtaining the visa, the family (group of 4-5) would travel to the US from Chennai. The 'parents' would return within a week after dropping the children off. In some cases, the couple returned to India within 48 hours. But in all the cases, the children never returned. We verified the antecedents of these transporters, and none of them reside at the addresses mentioned in the passport or their documents. We are tracing transporters from all the three states," added Harishekaran. advertisement Many of the transporters were from middle-class families from north India. Each couple was paid Rs 3 lakhs to accompany the child. In a few cases, persons impersonating either the mother or the father had not returned to India. The police said they are investigating how the kids were convinced to travel to the US with strangers. "The gang said a few families living in the US illegally wanted to be reunited with their kids. More than 12 kids were reunited with their parents using false identities," an officer from the SIT said. ALSO READ Tanzanian woman stripped in Bengaluru: Is racism ingrained in Indian psyche? --- ENDS --- "What we had was very sweet and innocent. When I entered the show, I supported him a lot and gave him a lot of advice," said Nora. What happened between me and Prince is technically not a controversy, said Nora. Picture courtesy: Nora Fatehi/Instagram By India Today Web Desk: Bigg Boss 9 beauty Nora Fatehi has finally opened up about her chemistry with co-contestant and winner Prince Narula. Nora, who entered the show as a wild card contestant, hit it off well with Prince and they were seen getting cozy on the show on more than one occasion. Their in-house romance made headlines when Prince almost proposed to Nora on national television. advertisement After winning the show, Prince went on to claim that they were dating each other. Nora, however, denied it. She was conspicuous by her absence in subsequent Bigg Boss 9 reunions. Even in her birthday bash on February 6, her Bigg Boss friends were not seen which set the tongues wagging. Also read: This is how Prince Narula wished Nora Fatehi on her birthday However, the Moroccan beauty has finally opened up about her relationship with Prince. She says what she shared with him in the show was 'sweet and innocent.' "What happened between me and Prince is technically not a controversy. There is nothing wrong in it. We liked each other. What we had was very sweet and innocent. When I entered the show, I supported him a lot and gave him a lot of advice," she told IANS. Also read: Forget about a relationship, I'm not even dating Prince, says Nora Fatehi Nora and Prince in the Bigg Boss house. Picture courtesy: Colors "There was a nice connect and the audience loved that. A lot of people enjoyed (watching) me and Prince together, our chemistry and conversations.. They thought it was cute. For me, it was a beautiful experience." The show's superstar host Salman Khan has given opportunities to former contestants of the show such as Sana Khan and Armaan Kohli among others in films. Does Nora expect a similar chance? "I don't believe in chasing people for work. He (Salman) knows who I am and he said a lot of good things about me. He has a lot of respect for me and my work... We partied and chilled together and I even went to his farmhouse." Having worked in Baahubali: The Beginning among other projects, Nora said she is looking forward to a promotional song she has shot for Rocky Handsome. She will also be seen in the film My Birthday opposite Sanjay Suri, directed by Samir Soni and another reality show. With IANS inputs --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad was found alive on the Siachen glacier six days after being presumed dead under 35 feet of snow was "extremely critical" and in coma, the army said on Tuesday. Koppad is being treated at the Army Research and Referral Hospital where he was flown in from Siachwn base camp. The Army who continued their search operations and found Lance used mechanical ice cutters and comparative size of ice boulders to cut the ice at the avalanche site. advertisement India Today's Jugal R. Purohit has managed to reach the Siachen glacier and obtain the inside track on the heroic rescue operation mounted by 220 personnel of the High Altitude Warfare School and the Siachen Battle School. For over 5 days, they fought the elements and spared no effort to rescue their 10 comrades. Watch the exclusive video footage here Paying tribute to the Army personnel who lost their lives at the Siachen glacier, India Today's Rahul Kanwal on his show Newsroom read out a poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on September 21, 1914. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; They sit no more at familiar tables of home; But where our desires are and our hopes profound, Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, To the innermost heart of their own land they are known As the stars are known to the Night; As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain. --- ENDS --- In his show To The Point, host Karan Thapar asked various questions to his panel of experts, who were of the opinion that pretty much what Headley said was already in the public domain. They also said that the information will be useful if the other accused stand trial in India. By India Today Web Desk: David Headley's testimony to the trial court in Mumbai has riveted the nation for the last two days. He has revealed details of the roles played by Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and the involvement of the ISI in 26/11 attacks. Now a lot of what Headley said was known previously, but equally clearly some is new and startling. However, the fact that all this said in court makes it admissible as evidence. advertisement In his show To The Point, host Karan Thapar asked the following 10 questions to his panel of experts. His guests on the panel were - former India High Commissioner to Pakistan Satyabrata Pal, former head of R&AW AS Dulat, and one of India's foremost Supreme Court lawyers Dushyant Dave. The guests from Islamabad included - former High Commissioner from Pakistan to India Aziz Ahmed Khan and retired Lieutenant General T Masood. 10 big questions Will Headley's deposition put pressure on Pakistan? Has he revealed anything that we didn't already know? Headley's revelation to affect India-Pakistan ties? Will Pakistan take any action or deny allegations? Will Headley's charges strengthen India's case? Will the new dossier by India nail Pakistan? What can India do with Headley's testimony? How will international community react to this? Cloud over FS level talks post Headley expose? Will PM finally act strongly against Pakistan? "From what has appeared in the media here, while David Headley has perhaps added on a few details, much of what he said now, he said before. He said it in the court in the United States when he was on trial for which he's now convicted. I expect that he said the same to the NIA team that interrogated him. All of this is pretty much in the public domain. All this will be admissible in court not to try David Headley, who's been part of the investigation. It will be useful if the other accused stand trial in India," said Pal. "I will go by what Satyabrata Pal has said that most of it was known before. At the same time, whatever evidence that can be produced and conveyed to the government of Pakistan, which will be admissible as evidence. I think the government of Pakistan will welcome that because they are serious about this trial. They want to move forward, said AA Khan. Watch the full episode here: --- ENDS --- Hugh Jackman has got another basal cell carcinoma removed from his nose. The Wolverine actor had his first carcinoma removed in 2013. By India Today Web Desk: X-Men star Hugh Jackman said on Monday (February 8) that he had another skin cancer growth removed from his nose, and urged people to wear sunscreen. ALSO READ: Epic Insta - Hugh Jackman and his cheat meals will make you drool ALSO READ: Hugh Jackman would have had the hots for George Clooney if he was a woman advertisement ALSO READ: Hugh Jackman would seriously consider playing James Bond Jackman, 47, posted a photo on his Instagram account, showing a bandage across his nose. It was the Australian actor's fifth known basal cell carcinoma removal since 2013. "An example of what happens when you don't wear sunscreen. Basal Cell. The mildest form of cancer but serious, nonetheless. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN and get regular check-ups," Jackman wrote on the Instagram post. An example of what happens when you don't wear sunscreen. Basal Cell. The mildest form of cancer but serious, nonetheless. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN and get regular check-ups. A photo posted by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) on Feb 8, 2016 at 7:57am PST Jackman, who starred in the movie musical Les Miserables, has, in the past, attributed his condition to not having used sunscreen while growing up in Australia. He now gets checkups every three months, and has launched a range of sunscreens for children. In 2013, Jackman was first treated for basal cell carcinoma on his nose, followed by another operation in 2014 to remove carcinoma. The actor had shared that his wife Deborra-Lee Furness suggested he should get a mole on his nose checked. "Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right! I had a Basal Cell Carcinoma. Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!!" he had posted on Instagram. Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right! I had a basil cell carcinoma. Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!! A photo posted by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) on Nov 21, 2013 at 9:58am PST The actor is well aware of the recurrences of carcinoma as he said in an interview in 2014, "I'm realistic about the future and it's more than likely that I'll have at least one more but probably many more, which is not uncommon for an Aussie particularly from English stock growing up in Australia where I don't remember ever being told to put sunscreen on." advertisement Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer, afflicting more than 90 per cent of US skin cancer patients. Such carcinomas rarely spread, but if not removed, may damage or disfigure the surrounding tissue. (With inputs from Reuters) --- ENDS --- He took his Labrador wrapped in the tricolour in a pet run organised on Republic day in Surat. By India Today Web Desk: A man was arrested yesterday for insulting the national flag by draping his dog in the tricolour at a public event in Surat on Republic day. Following a complaint by Aziz Cyclewala, Bharat Gohli was arrested but released later in the day. Gohli had participated at a Pet Run organised by Pet Lovers' Group of Surat on January 26, where he took his Labrador dressed in the tricolour out for a march. advertisement The complaint was lodged soon after pictures of Bharat Gohli with his dog went viral on social media yesterday. He was booked under clause 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971. According to the law a man can be jailed for a year in the event of an insult to symbols of national importance. Speaking to TOI a member of the Pet Lover's Group, Sudhir Shah said, "For a dog lover a pet is like a family member and an insult to the national flag would not have been the intention of the person. When it was brought to our knowledge at the event, we had asked the person to leave but it attracted the attention of many by that time." --- ENDS --- Kejriwal and Bassi have been at loggerheads with the chief minister claiming that the city was not safe in the commissioner's hands and the latter saying that he was 'competent enough' to ensure the safety of the citizens. By Astha Saxena: Delhi Police's battle against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government reached the next level at the Mail Today Build India Conclave at the Taj Mansingh hotel on Monday. Even while alleging that a law and order crisis prevailed in the Capital, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said the current structure of policing is best suited for the city. "If I was under the Delhi government, I would have been sacked by now. But how many Bhim Sain Bassis will Kejriwal sack?" he questioned and added that his job was to act on a certain merit. "If that hurts someone, what can I do?" he questioned. advertisement Reacting to the constant tiffs between the police and the government, Bassi said like the police have been refraining from interfering with political affairs, the Delhi government cannot take control of the police. "We have to co-exist. Kejriwal will have to give me space and I will have to do the same," the commissioner added. Kejriwal and Bassi have been at loggerheads with the chief minister claiming that the city was not safe in the commissioner's hands and the latter saying that he was 'competent enough' to ensure the safety of the citizens. Relations between the government and the cops reached a new low after the latter raided AAP MLA and former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti's house following a domestic violence complaint by his wife. Around 50 officers and eight police teams were a part of the manhunt, which was launched to trace Bharti. "It all started when Somnath Bharti wanted our officers to enter someone's house and raid it. We cannot perform any activity like this before doing ground-work. Bharti did not like our reply and neither did Kejriwal," Bassi said. "The chief minister later then sat on dharna for three days," he added. Speaking about safety of women in the national Capital and the city being touted as the 'rape capital', the Delhi top cop said, "Delhi is safe. The quality of policing is better in the city now." "We may not be shedding crocodile tears but we are equally concerned about safety of women. Every morning I pray to god that there should be no crime against women," he said. In 2012, as many as 54,000 cases of crime against women were reported and the number rose to 1,91,000 in 2015. The Delhi Police chief claimed to have solved 85 per cent of murder cases and 50 per cent of rob-beries which took place in 2014. The number of rape cases reported from the Capital in 2013 was 1,636 while 2,199 cases were reported in 2015. Rubbishing the allegations of Delhi being called the rape capital, Bassi highlighted how the police functioning has changed and improved for the people. advertisement "Now every police station has a woman officer. There are help desks in every station. In fact, we have posted young girls in PCR vans," he said. "Before the Nirbhaya case, women were hesitant to come to the police station. But now, the trend has changed. Societal thinking has changed," he said. Expressing his view on Pakistan-sponsored terror in Delhi, the top cop said the proxy war has been one of the main policies of the ISI and the Pakistani Army. "They have the intention to destabilise India. But we have the capacity to deal with it. The ISIS is like an open university offering teaching to students," Bassi said. ALSO READ Thank God Delhi Police is under Centre: Police Commissioner BS Bassi Bassi to fast track probe into cases of economic offence --- ENDS --- Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai a year before the city was targeted on November 26, 2008, David Headley told a Mumbai court today. By India Today Web Desk: Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai a year before the city was targeted on November 26, 2008, David Headley told a Mumbai court today. Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Headley testified before a Mumbai court via video conference from an undisclosed location in the US for the second day today. advertisement Headley, who has turned approver in the 26/11 case, said that Lashkar commanders had even designed a dummy of the Taj hotel for training the attackers. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. From India Today magazineFebruary 7, 2013 |Inside the secret world of David Headley September 9, 2015 | India doesn't have the guts to touch me, says Hafiz Saeed July 31, 2010 |Pakistan's Dirty War "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley revealed. Nailing the role of Pakistan's ISI in the 26/11 attacks, Headley said he was tasked to recruit men in the Indian Army to gather inside information. "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked," Headley said. "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. ALSO READ | Pakistan nailed: Here is what David Headley told the Mumbai court on Day 2 26/11 Mumbai attacks planned one year in advance, reveals Headley --- ENDS --- On the second day of his video deposition, David Headley revealed that he had completed his training under the LeT in 2004 along with more than 100 others. Headley also admitted having met JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and LeT leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. LeT operative David Coleman Headley is currently serving 35 years prison sentence in the US for his role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. By India Today Web Desk: On the second day of his video trial before the Mumbai High Court, 26/11 convict and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley revealed that the Lashkar was planning to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel. He also revealed that he had been directed by the ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. From India Today magazine January 6, 2016 | The blunders of Pathankot September 9, 2015 | The Lashkar's empire of jihad Headley pointed fingers at LeT and said that the terror outfit was responsible for most of the terror attacks in India and that the orders for the attacks came from its top commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zakiur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court during his video deposition. advertisement Spilling the beans further, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also to try and recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." From India Today magazine September 9, 2015 | India doesn't have the guts to touch me: Hafiz Saeed Other than carrying out recces of the Vice-President's house, India Gate in Delhi, Headley had also conducted a recce of the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai as well as the Sidhi Vinayak Temple. He also recorded the GPS coordinates of the location of Sidhi Vinayak Temple. Giving details of his meetings with the top commanders of the LeT, he said, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by Sajid Mir (who Headley had revealed to be his handler earlier) and one Abu Khafa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." From India Today magazine February 7, 2013 | Inside the secret world of David Headley July 31, 2010 | Pakistan's Dirty War "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Khafa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time. They also made a mock of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said. At the same time, he revealed that before November 2007, the target of their attack was not decided. Headley further said he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zakiur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it." From India Today magazine December 11, 2008 | Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani: The man calling the shots in Pakistan "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley. Other than the LeT leaders, Headley also pointed fingers at his wife Faiza who he said had complained to the police about his links with the LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with the LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her". Here are the LIVE updates: Other than carrying out recces of the Vice-President's house, India Gate in Delhi, Headley had also conducted a recce of the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai. I submitted the the final videography and photography survey to Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir (LeT) GPS device was provided to me by Sajid Mir (LeT)and Abu Khafa, so that I could save various locations including locations in Arabian Sea. During my surveillance in Mumbai, I used GPS device to store the locations. I also made the video of Bhagat Singh Marg road in Colaba. Multiple targets included Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (Mumbai), Naval, Air station, Maharashtra Police state headquarters, Oberoi Hotel and CST. This also included the video of Leopold cafe, Colaba Police Station and shops and Restaurants which are on the same road-David Headley deposing. I did the surveillance of multiple targets and selected landing sites. During my surveillance in Mumbai, Sajid Mir asked me to specifically conduct a surveillance of Siddhivinayak Temple. I gave the videography of second floor of Taj Hotel (Mumbai) to Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal. Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the photography and videography. Sajid Mir asked me to conduct recce of second floor of Hotel Taj, I discussed everything with Major Iqbal. Conducted surveillance of Hotel Taj's 2nd floor when I stayed with my wife Faiza. In 2007, I conducted surveillance in Taj Hotel many times. I visited Mumbai on September 14, 2006 to set up office and left from hotel on September 28,2006 When shown register of the Taj hotel book with Headley's signatures, Headley recognised his signatures. My first day in Mumbai was arranged by Bashir Sheikh. Dr. Rana asked his friend Bashir Sheikh to receive me at the Mumbai Airport. I didn't know Bashir Sheikh prior to this Mumbai visit. I got permission from Dr. Rana to set up my office in Mumbai. When shown passport by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam, David Headley said that he arrived in Mumbai for the 1st time on September 14, 2006 from Karachi I didn't do any enquiry why, says Headley when asked by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjawal Nikam on why was Mumbai particularly targeted for the attack. When asked by Nikam about what "logistic reasons" mean, Headley said:"getting personnels and weapons." The plan to attack conference hall in Taj Hotel was for logistics reaso. Prior to November 2007, I had taken photography and videography of Hotel Taj, but I didn't know that it would be targeted. In 2007, LeT decided to conduct terror attack in Mumbai. In November-December 2007, a meeting took place in Muzaffarabad (PoK) which was attended by Sajid Mir, Abu Khafa and me. In this meeting, they assigned me the task of conducting recce of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai. In this meeting, they (LeT) had information about some meeting of Indian defence scientist in the conference hall of Taj Mahal Palace hotel and they wanted to attack it. In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and me, it was decided that I should go to India. David Headley while deposing before a Mumbai court admits that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was operational commander of LeT. I met Zakiur Rehman LakhvI for the 1st time in 2003 in Muzaffarabad (PoK) at headquarters of LeT. I met Maulana Masood Azhar in October 2003 at a place 100 miles away from Lahore. He is head of Jaish-e-Mohammad. I met him in a gathering of Lashkar in 2003. Azhar was a guest speaker. Azhar spoke about his incarceration in India and his subsequent release. I was staying with my wife Faiza in Pakistan. I married her in 2007. I was arrested overnight after my wife's complaint to police. I owed a large amount of money so she complained to police. My wife complained and beleived that I had close association with Lashkar. Zakiur Rehman was the Operational Commander of Lashkar in PoK. If I have to speculate then I can say that Lakhvi carried out terror activity in India. Hafiz Saeed is spiritual leader of LeT. United Jihad Council - Harqat-Ul-Mujahideen, LeT, Hijbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad - are part of this Council. They are all terror organisations. Maulana Masood Azhar made a speech about his activities in India and about his release. In 2003, there was a gathering of LeT where Maulana Masood Azhar was the guest speaker. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was operational commander of LeT. In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and me, it was decided that I should go to India. In this meeting, they (LeT) were having info about some meeting of Indian defence scientist in the conference hall of Taj Mahal Palace hotel and they wanted to attack it. I completed my LeT training in 2004. Around 102 people were present in the training. I interacted with Hafiz and Lakhvi. I discussed with Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi to take US govt to court for designating LeT as a foreign terrorist group. Lakhvi told me that they were not interested as it was needed to discuss with ISI for any action like this. (Photo courtesy: India Today Television) Major Ali got in touch In early 2006. Major Iqbal told me that I will be of help with matters of military help like troop movements, recruitment officers in India. When this meeting happened with Major Iqbal, a person of Colonel rank was present there. Major Iqbal enquired about my LeT training, passport and visa. I met Abdul Rahman Pasha in early 2003 in Lahore. He is retired Army officer of 6 Baloch regiment: Headley (He recognized a photo of Abdul Rahman Pasha.) advertisement advertisement ALSO READ: advertisement 26/11 Mumbai attacks: 35 questions answered by David Headley After Headley's disclosures, India to confront Pakistan on 26/11 with new dossier The budget phone comes with 2GB RAM and 1.3 GHz quad-core processor. It will be competing against the likes of Coolpad Note 3 Lite and Lenovo K3 Note. By Priya Pathak: Panasonic on Tuesday launched a new smartphone called P66 Mega in India. The phone has been priced at Rs 7,990. It is a budget phone and would be competing against other devices such as Coolpad Note 3 Lite, Lenovo K3 Note and Intex Aqua 4G that are priced below Rs 10,000. The P66 Mega is powered by 1.3 GHz quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal memory. It has a microSD card slot in case you need more storage and a card of up to 32GB can be added to it. The phone runs on Android Lollipop 5.1 and supports dual SIM cards. Although one of the SIM slot can provide only 3G connectivity while the other one provides 4G. advertisement Panasonic said that one of the unique features of the P66 is its support for Indian languages. The phone comes with support for 21 languages. Although it is not the first phone with such a feature. In 2014 Micromax had also launched a phone names Micromax Unite 2 which came packed with 21 language support. The phone was priced at Rs 6,999. The P66 Mega phone packs in 8-megapixel camera with LED flash. A 5-megapixel camera is at the front. The phone uses 3200 mAh battery and is available in three colours: Electric Blue, Rose Gold, and Russet Brown. Panasonic had recently launched one more budget phone in the Indian market called the Eluga Mark. It was launched in November 2015 at Rs 11,990. The Eluga Mark also had 2GB RAM an 16GB of internal storage. Announcing the launch of the device, Mr Pankaj Rana, business head (mobility division) at Panasonic India, said, "Digital India is about all about bridging the digital divide through technology and connecting people to the digital world in their own language. By deploying a multi-language portfolio in our latest device, Panasonic seeks to connect Indians through smartphone technology." --- ENDS --- Prince Narula will be co-judging the reality show MTV Roadies X4 along with Rannvijay Singh Singha, Karan Kundra, and Neha Dhupia. By India Today Web Desk: Life has come a full circle for Prince Narula. Who would have thought that someone who participated in a show a year ago, will be judging it after a year. It's true. Prince Narula will be co-judging the reality show MTV Roadies X4 along with Rannvijay Singh Singha, Karan Kundra, and Neha Dhupia. He will be replacing Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar who reportedly left the show to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics. advertisement The reality TV star, who created a record of sorts by winning three reality shows back-to-back--Roadies, Splitsvilla and Bigg Boss, season 9--has already started shooting for the adventure reality show in Bhutan along with Rannvijay Singh Singha, Karan Kundra, and Neha Dhupia. He took to Instagram to share photos from the sets. Also read: Bigg Boss winner Prince Narula to be a judge on the next season of Roadies Prince with co-judge Karan Kundra and show host Gaelyn Mendonca. Picture courtesy: Prince Narula/Instagram He also shared a philosophical post, with an image of his interview with a leading daily, captioning it: "Hardwork-Determination-Focus Life in full circle. #roadieforlife #princesgang #gangleader #swag sada desi hai #love u guys" (sic) Hardwork-Determination-Focus Life in full circle. #roadieforlife #princesgang #gangleader #swag sada desi hai # love u guys A photo posted by Prince Narula (@princenarula) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:29am PST Meanwhile, the 12 crew members of MTV Roadies X4, who were injured in an accident at Darjeeling's Pesok View Point on Saturday morning are recovering. Co-judge Neha Dhupia informed fans on Sunday that everything was under control. Also read: Accident leaves 12 Roadies crew members seriously injured Neha Dhupia, Rannvijay Singha, and Karan Kundra all took to Twitter on Sunday to thank fans for their wishes for the crew members. "Sadly, some crew members on MTV Roadies met with an accident. Thanks for your concern guys, please pray for everyone's speedy recovery," Neha tweeted on Sunday. The actress replaces Esha Deol on the show. "Everything is under control now and in the true Roadie spirit, we set back on our journey. Your concern means a lot to all of us," she added. Rannvijay, who has been an integral part of the show for several seasons, tweeted: "Thanks for your wishes and prayers, we all are praying for our brothers who are injured, please keep praying for their speedy recovery." Karan echoed similar sentiments, and wrote: "Thank you for your love and concern, some of us are safe and some are not. Please pray for them." Also read: This is how Prince Narula wished Nora Fatehi on her birthday --- ENDS --- advertisement Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in full riot gear have been deployed across the cities and towns of Kashmir to prevent the separatists from carrying out the protests. Separatists called for shutdown in Kashmir to observe third death anniversary of Afzal Guru By India Today Web Desk: Jammu and Kashmir government imposed a high alert in parts of Srinagar after separatists called for a shutdown to observe the third death anniversary of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru, today. Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in full riot gear have been deployed across the cities and towns of the Valley to prevent the separatists from carrying out the protests. advertisement Shops, public transport, and other business establishments remained closed across all other major cities and towns in the Valley. Attendance in the government offices, banks and post offices also remained thin because of non-availability of public transport. Train services have also been suspended between Baramulla and Banihal towns. "Restrictions will remain in force in areas falling under jurisdictions of Rainawari, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj, Safakadal and Kralkhud police stations in Srinagar city," Farooq Ahmad Lone, district magistrate Srinagar told reporters. According to the police, Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of Pro-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) along with others, who called for the shutdown, have been arrested and sent to judicial remand. Guru's family and the separatists have been demanding the mortal remains of Guru ever since he was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013. Guru's 15-year-old son, Ghalib who recently scored a distinction in his 10th board exams, on Monday demanded that the jail authorities should at least return his father's belongings, including a copy of the Holy Quran and spectacles to the family. Guru's widow Tabassum has blamed Kashmiri separatist leadership for apathy towards the family. The separatist camp had also announced a shutdown on February 11 to commemorate the death anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in 1984. Security will remain beefed up, confirmed the police. ALSO READ: Jaish chief Masood Azhar used Afzal Guru hanging to motivate his men, says intelligence report --- ENDS --- Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who was found alive six days after an avalanche hit an Indian Army base in Siachen, was flown to Delhi. He has been admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi. PM Modi and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited the hospital to meet the soldier. Hanamanthappa's family is also coming to Delhi from Dharwad to meet him. An army jawan who was buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in the Siachen glacier was found alive in critical condition after six days of rescue efforts. By India Today Web Desk: Lance Naik Hanamanthappa and nine of his colleagues were resting when a huge wall of ice came crashing down on their post on February 3. It all happened so quickly that none of the 10 had time to react. All of them were buried under 35 feet of snow at the Siachen glacier. The Indian Army and Indian Air Force launched massive but extremely difficult operation to locate the Indian post and pull out the buried soldiers. Chance of any of them surviving under the snow in Siachen's extreme climate was dim. advertisement Speaking on the tragedy, Lt. Gen DS Hooda, GOC-in-C (Army Commander), Northern Command said, "In the ongoing rescue operation at Siachen, of the ten soldiers buried under ice, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, has been found alive, all the other soldiers are regrettably no more with us. The medical condition of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad is critical but all attempts are being made to evacuate him to RR Hospital in the morning. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us. " On Monday night, a rescue team, which had been looking for signs of any surviving men, stumbled upon Hanamanthappa buried under the huge block of hardened snow. The medical team on the spot was astounded to see that Hanamanthappa was still breathing. Experts said Hanamanthappa survived because he was trapped in an air bubble. From Siachen base camp, Hanamanthappa was brought to Partapur. From there, a chopper ferried him to Thoise base. A C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force brought him to Delhi. Hanamanthappa has been admitted to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi where his condition is critical but stable. PM Modi, Army chief meet Hanamanthappa in hospital Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited Army Research and Referral Hospital to meet Hanamanthappa. Doctors said a medical bulletin detailing the jawan's condition will be released later in the day. "Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation," the PM tweeted. "Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best. No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," he added. Hanamanthappa's family erupts in joy Hanamanthappa's family erupted in joy as soon as the news about him being rescued alive six days after the tragedy in Siachen reached his village in Dharwad, Karnataka. His father said that he named his son after god Hanuman, so he triumphed death. His wife told news agencies that she was very happy and would go to a temple to offer her prayers. "I want to go see him," she told ANI. Meanwhile, rescue teams have located mortal remains of the other 9 soldiers and they are being brought out from the avalanche site. advertisement Siachen - The unseen enemy The Siachen glacier is the highest battleground on the earth. The minimum temperature in the region can dip to -50 Degree Celsius or -140 Degree Fahrenheit in winters. Both India and Pakistan have maintained their military presence in the region since 1984. According to Indian Army's data, more than 800 jawans have been killed in Siachen so far. Ironically, most of the soldiers have died due to extreme weather conditions in the region. The Indian Army permits deployment of a soldier in Siachen for a maximum period of three months. In high-risk areas of the glacier such as Bana Post this limit is of 30 days. The army unit deployed in the region is rotated after every six months. ALSO READ | 6 days after avalanche, soldier found alive at Siachen glacier --- ENDS --- Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive yesterday five days after he along with his nine other colleagues were buried in snow in Siachen , is in coma and put on ventilator at an army hospital in Delhi. By India Today Web Desk: Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive yesterday five days after he along with his nine other colleagues were buried in snow in Siachen , is in coma and put on ventilator at an army hospital in Delhi. Doctors said that next 24 to 48 hours are crucial as far as Hanamanthappa's survival is concerned. In pics advertisement Hanamanthappa, who was brought to Delhi's Army Research and Referral Hospital, today morning, was rescued on Monday night by rescue teams. He was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented when rescue teams located him buried under 35 feet of snow. "He is currently comatose and continues to be in shock with low blood pressure. He has pneumonia and his investigations have revealed liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bony injuries to him. He is being treated by a team of intensivists, neurologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist and surgeons. He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hrs due to the complications caused by re warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body," the bulletin read. Stellar role by Avalanche dogs like this one in finding Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. Photo by @ShivAroor Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited RR to meet Hanamanthappa. "Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best. No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," the PM tweeted after meeting the 'miracle' soldier. Mortal remains of 9 soldiers who didn't survive the Siachen avalanche will be flown to their hometowns. President Pranab lauds indomitable spirit of Siachen braveheart President Pranab Mukherjee today applauded the indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who survived last week's avalanche on Siachen Glacier. "I am happy to know that Lance Naik Hanamanthappa has survived the avalanche on Siachen Glacier of February 3, 2016. I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions. "Lance Naik Hanamanthappa's will power and courage to fight all odds is truly an example to all others. I join the people of our country in praying for his early and speedy recovery," the President said in his message to army chief General Dalbir Singh. Watch the ground report: --- ENDS --- An Indian soldier was found alive trapped under around 10 feet of snow in Machil sector of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir. By India Today Web Desk: The following video tells us the actual meaning of 'Incredible India'. The meaning lies far beyond the nature's beauty and environment. It displays the courageous and heroic acts that our soldiers willingly perform. An Indian soldier was found alive trapped under around 10 feet of snow in Machil sector of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir. The rescue operation was difficult due to the extreme weather conditions prevalent at Machil sector. Chances of anyone's survival are always very bleak at such high altitude. advertisement Kupwara district, J&K shares a long border with Pakistan occupied Kashmir in its north and western side and is totally enclosed by Baramulla district on the other side. Army teams aggressively conduct their search and rescue operations in such regions, sometimes digging more than 30 feet of snow, to find the soldiers who are trapped in case of an avalanche. Also read: Siachen miracle: How Lance Naik Hanamanthappa survived under 25 feet of snow for 6 days --- ENDS --- In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye and US President Barack Obama agreed various sanctions outside the UN were also needed to punish North Korea, Park's office said in a statement. By Reuters: South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke with US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, agreeing to work for "strong and effective" UN sanctions against North Korea following its weekend rocket launch. North Korea says it put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, but the United States and its allies see the launch as cover for Pyongyang's development of ballistic missile technology that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon across the Pacific Ocean. advertisement In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Park and Obama agreed various sanctions outside the UN were also needed to punish North Korea, Park's office said in a statement. "The two leaders agreed for the two countries to cooperate closely for the adoption of strong and effective sanctions resolutions as a united response by the international community against the North's nuclear test and a rocket launch using ballistic missile technology," the presidential Blue House said. The UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch and promised to take action, while Washington vowed to ensure the 15-nation body imposed "serious consequences" on Pyongyang as soon as possible. However, China, North Korea's key ally and a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, has resisted harsh sanctions sought by the United States and South Korea following the North's January 6 test of a nuclear device Pyongyang claimed is a hydrogen bomb. A senior US official said on Monday that China agrees any new UN resolution on North Korea will include additional sanctions and go beyond previous steps, but Washington is urging Beijing to put even more pressure on Pyongyang. China is in "unique position" as North Korea's neighbour and ally to compel it to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the official told Reuters. "It's clear to me that our Chinese friends have indicated that the UN Security Council's response will include sanctions and does need to go beyond previous resolutions," he said. "The key of course is what exactly are the specific actions that we are going to take together and that's the focus of our efforts right now," the official said. "We have made clear that China can do more and needs to do more." Proposed sanctions have not been made public, but one diplomat told Reuters that Washington was hoping to tighten international restrictions on North Korea's banking system. Beijing was reluctant to support that step for fear of worsening conditions in its impoverished neighbour, the diplomat said. This week, the top US military commander will discuss North Korea's latest satellite launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts as part of efforts to strengthen military ties between the three countries, US defense officials said on Monday. advertisement The United States and South Korea announced after the missile test they had begun formal discussions about the possibility of deploying an advanced missile defense system to which China has objected, arguing it could undermine its strategic deterrent. ALSO READ: Defiant North Korea launches rocket it says is carrying satellite United States sees possible North Korea space launch in near future --- ENDS --- US Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is polling in the low single digits nationally but may be poised to play the role of spoiler in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary by cutting into the support of higher-profile rivals such as Marco Rubio. Republican US presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks to supporters at a rally in Nashua, New Hampshire on February 8, 2016. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: US Republican presidential candidate John Kasich is polling in the low single digits nationally but may be poised to play the role of spoiler in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary by cutting into the support of higher-profile rivals such as Marco Rubio. The Ohio governor, who is vowing to erase the US budget deficit without shredding the safety net for poor Americans, has built a base of support among moderate Republicans and independent voters, who wield special clout in New Hampshire because they can vote in either party's primary. advertisement Kasich, 63, has the support of about 12 to 14 per cent of New Hampshire's voters in recent polls. The former congressman has staked the viability of his White House aspirations on New Hampshire, whose pivotal primary is part of the state-by-state contests to pick the party nominees for the Nov. 8 election to replace Democratic President Barack Obama. While well behind billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, Kasich's poll numbers are close to those of Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida who is seeking to build on his momentum after a third-place finish in last Monday's Iowa caucuses behind Trump and winner Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas. "I found great clarity here in New Hampshire," Kasich said on Sunday in Concord. "These town halls, you know, they're getting bigger and I don't know how I feel about them getting bigger." The event marked his 102nd town hall in the state. For the 100th, in Bedford on Friday, the campaign celebrated with confetti and a cake that was served to voters attending the event. Kasich told stories of personal connections he said he had made with voters at town halls, including with a woman whose daughter has struggled with addiction. "She said: 'My daughter has been sober for 11 months,'" Kasich said, asking the crowd: "Do you have any idea what this lady's life is like?'" He added he had promised to call the daughter and tell her: "Your mom is counting on you." Rising Profile? The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll put Kasich's support nationally at 3.4 percent. Kasich himself jokes about his lack of name recognition, saying voters often mispronounce his last name. But among New Hampshire voters, a Monmouth University poll released on Sunday found Kasich at 14 percent, compared with 30 percent for Trump and 13 percent for Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Rubio was criticized last year by Republican strategists who said he had not done enough to woo voters in New Hampshire in intimate settings such as coffee shops and town halls. This year, however, he has campaigned intensively in the state and often holds town halls. advertisement But Rubio came under heavy attack in the Republican presidential debate on Saturday from rivals who accused him of being too inexperienced for the White House. Kasich delivered a positive message during the debate that could appeal to New Hampshire Republican voters, who famously make up their minds late and never seem in the mood to follow the lead of the Iowa caucuses. Some of Kasich's supporters are passionate about him. "It's authenticity, brother. You have my vote," one man told him at the Bedford town hall. Others were weighing their options. Tim Vanblommesteyn, 62, who attended the Kasich town hall in Concord, said he was "disgusted" with both political parties but liked some of what the Ohio governor had to say. The small-business owner and self-described independent praised Kasich for taking what he said was a "principled stand" on immigration reform, an issue that has aroused fiery campaign rhetoric, including from Trump, who has called for deporting illegal immigrants. Kasich has said the United States should secure its borders but that illegal immigrants who have not committed a crime should be able to pay back taxes and get on a path to legalization. advertisement Anne Brena, 53, a Democrat from neighboring Vermont, said she came to the Concord event to learn more about the governor. Brena said she thought Democrat Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from her home state, was too liberal to win the general election and she has concerns that his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has too much "baggage" to win the White House. "John Kasich is the only Republican that sounds reasonable," she said. Also Read: Marco Rubio falters in presidential debate, offering hope to rival Donald Trump --- ENDS --- Maharashtra government told the Mumbai High Court that trustees of Haji Ali Dargah can not prevent women from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the famous shrine. "Entry of women in close proximity of grave of a male Muslim saint is a grievous sin in Islam," the trustees had said earlier. By India Today Web Desk: The Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court today that women can't be barred from entering Haji Ali Dargah. The high court is hearing a petition which challenges entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. Presenting the state's stand in the court during the hearing, Maharashtra Advocate General Sri Hari Ane clarified that the trustees and the committee of dargah are its administrators and they cannot regulate religion as per their own interpretation. advertisement The court had earlier asked the trustees of the dargah, which houses the tomb of the 15th century Sufi saint Haji Ali, to reconsider its rules which bar women's entry into the sanctum sanctorum. "Entry of women in close proximity of grave of a male Muslim saint is a grievous sin in Islam," the trustees of the Haji Ali Dargah had told the Bombay High Court during the previous hearing. On January 18, the high court said it would wait for Supreme Court ruling on entry of women in Sabarimala temple of Kerala before deciding on the plea related to the dargah. A bench of Justices V M Kanade and Reveti Mohite-Dere had said both matters involved entry of women in the religious shrines, and hence they would like to see what view the apex court would take on the issue before deciding on the PIL pending before them. On January 29, several activists belonging to Muslim women groups held a protest outside the dargah demanding entry for females into the sanctum sanctorum. ALSO READ: Women activists go on a strike for lifting temple entry ban: List of places where women are banned in India Women group demanding equal rights barred from protesting at Shani temple --- ENDS --- Speaking at the Mail Today 'Build India' Conclave at the Taj Mansingh Hotel, Naidu said: "Forget free power and free water. Free power is low power. We have seen that the public is willing to pay if they get the services. By Baishali Adak: On Monday, Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu took a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party and the politics of freebies. Speaking at the Mail Today 'Build India' Conclave at the Taj Mansingh Hotel, Naidu said: "Forget free power and free water. Free power is low power. We have seen that the public is willing to pay if they get the services. advertisement Gujarat, for instance, has no free power. But it has assured power and quality power and clean water. People are against those who make promises and do not fulfill them." Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had fulfilled two of his major poll campaigns in February 2015, immediately after coming to power. He had halved power tariffs for families consuming up to 400 units a month and announced 20 kilolitres of water gratis to every household in Delhi. Similar measures had been taken by AAP during its previous 49-day tenure in Delhi. Naidu was commenting on the current status of India's towns and cities at the conclave which saw a stellar line-up of political leaders and experts on town planning and security. The urban development minister was welcomed by Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director (Publishing), India Today Group, who described him as a "knowledgable and warm". Naidu elaborated on the state of cities and towns in India, "Our urban hubs are engines of economic growth. They account for 32% of our population and 62% of our GDP, and they are estimated to grow up to 75% by 2030. Unfortunately, at present, infrastructure in urban areas is marked by huge demand-supply gaps. 90% of the income of our municipal bodies goes into employee salaries. Revenue generation is nil." The minister backed his concern with statistics: About 50% of the households still do not have pucca water supply connections. Supply in urban areas is only 69 litres per capita/day as against the norm, 135 lpcd. Water, on an average, is supplied for only three hours a day. Only 62 cities have some kind of organised public transport service that benefit the poor; and about 1.40 crore urban dwellers live in slums. Availability of public and green spaces in urban areas is much below the norm. "Precisely for these reasons, we are bringing about a paradigm shift in our approach to urban planning and development. Several projects launched by the government, such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission, Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Prime Minister's Awas Yojana (Urban), are aimed at addressing current issues," he said. advertisement Further, policy reforms such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), relaxation of FDI norms, tabling of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill and establishment of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will help in generating a positive outlook for India, he said. "Inspite of the global economic slowdown, India is sailing on troubled waters beautifully. According to a report, I am told that investors committed or invested around USD 4,134 million across 78 deals in the past 12 months, which is a very good sign for the industry. The International Monetary Fund has projected a 7.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2016, against China's 6.3 per cent. Moody's ratings revised outlook on India's banking system to "stable" from "negative" this month, which was negative since 2011." Naidu also rubbished any charges of 'bias' surrounding the Smart City contest. "It was conducted in a most transparent and competitive manner," he asserted. "Three private consultants from across the world were invited to conduct it and there was no discrimination. Now if you don't give a well-studied proposal, how is that my fault?" he asked, adding that his own city Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) wasn't chosen. advertisement ALSO READ: Smart City list announced. Did your city make the cut?20 Smart Cities announced by Indian Govt: Everything you should know about Smart Cities --- ENDS --- The wife of a senior Islamic State leader has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to the aid worker's death, the Justice Department said Monday. By AP: The Justice Department of the US has charged a 25-year-old Iraqi woman, wife of a senior Islamic State leader, charged in connection with death of Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who was reported dead last year in Syria. The woman has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to her death, the Justice Department said Monday. advertisement According to an affidavit filed by FBI, Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar after her capture last May admitted that she and her husband Umm Sayyaf, who was killed in a US raid last year, kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages. Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group The criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Abu Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. The case was brought one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though it's not clear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism," he added. Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he had been hired to fix the Internet service for the hospital. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country. Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. Mueller was transferred in September 2014 along with two Kurdish women of Yazidi descent from an Islamic State prison to the Sayyafs. According to the FBI affidavit, which says the couple at times handcuffed the captives, kept them in locked rooms, dictated orders about their activities and movements and showed them violent Islamic State propaganda videos. After her capture last year, the affidavit says, Umm Sayyaf admitted she was responsible for Mueller's captivity while her husband traveled for Islamic State business. She said that al-Baghdadi would occasionally stay at her home and that he "owned" Mueller during those visits, which the FBI says was akin to slavery. advertisement The Justice Department complaint echoes earlier assertions from U.S. intelligence officials, who had told Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. "The defendant knew how Ms. Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms. Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home," the affidavit states. A Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped in October 2014 said al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited. The 14-year-old Yazidi girl made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she talked to U.S. commandos in November 2014. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to Mueller's parents in June 2015. ALSO READ: ISIS may carry out Paris, Jakarta-like attacks, target PM Modi, warns Intelligence Bureau --- ENDS --- By Javed Anwer: Apple is working to open its first retail stores in India. But it seems the company has run into a a little bit of bureaucratic hurdle. According to a report, the application that Apple filed to open its first stores in India has been rejected by officials because it had few things missing in the application. "Apple will have to submit a fresh application for opening single brand retail stores in the country, as certain gaps have been found in the initial proposal," states a report by the Economic Times. advertisement A few days ago, Tim Cook had reportedly told Apple employees in Cupertino that the company was indeed looking to expand in India and was in the "early stages" of opening the stores. Apple's application to open the single-brand store was submitted to The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The government has eased some of the norms that govern the FDI in single-brand retail and it is expected that Apple would get the required regulatory approvals for the stores. The delays or the rejections of initial applications are apparently normal because government officials often seek clarifications or additional information after the first applications are filed. For Apple, which currently distributes its products in India through partners like Redignton, its company-operated stores are the next step in the country. Tim Cook has several times said in the last two years that India is very important to Apple and that he sees a lot of growth for the iPhone coming from the country. Keeping this future outlook in mind, Apple wants to bring the retail experience to India. Apple's retail experience is unique to the company. Its stores are famous for a relaxed environment and for displaying products in the way jewellers or luxury brands do for their products. The stores are also exquisitely designed and have a feel of a luxury shop instead of being a place where people buy mass-market electronics. Last year after an Apple store in Australia denied entry to a customer, an angry Tim Cook had explained that Apple stores were at the centre of the experience that the company offers and that such behaviour from employees was unacceptable. " Respect for our customers is the foundation of everything we do at Apple. It's the reason we put so much care into the design of our products. It's the reason we make our stores beautiful and inviting, and extend their reach to benefit the communities around them. It's the reason we commit ourselves to enriching people's lives," Cook wrote in an email. --- ENDS --- Cheater notaries sell other people's apartments and cars without impunity by forging letters of trust on behalf of actual owners, representative of NGO Ukrainian Detective Anti-Corruption Bureau Serhiy Horbachenko said. "If they introduce amendments to the Law on Notaries when it is impossible to request a registry book from a notary why then do they do it? They are lobbying that wording of the law not to let establish the truth," he explained his theory at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. Horbachenko said no notary institution exists in Ukraine. He claims that it is impossible to make notaries liable for crimes as law enforcement agencies are interested in cooperation with swindler notaries. What is more, this criminal chain also includes judges, local police officers, passport registration officers, and others. "A complaint from the victim means every accomplice's opportunity to get their share of stolen property from a swindler notary. No one is interested in the property itself all they need is conversion by a notary of a forged notary document to money," he said. Horbachenko claims that such dishonest notaries do not even try to hide, they work openly, as every seller in a car market knows their names. What is more, a list of their names could be available at Kyiv's forensic institution, which gets orders for examination involving all the same persons. Typical victims of such notaries are people who immigrate without the sale of their property in the country, persons who suffer from alcoholism, and elderly people who are vulnerable to frauds. Lawyer Oleh Veremeyenko, who was also present at the press conference, cited an example of the illegal privatization and sale of a Kyiv-based apartment owned by U.S. citizen Seraphima Gorokhovska, who immigrated to the United States way back in 1991. Three dishonest notaries are involved in this case Oleksandr Perevertun, Nina Leontyeva, and Mrs. Selezniova. By forging documents, they've managed to sell the victim's apartment four times. The first time when the flat was sold was in 2010 with the use of a letter of trust issued by Perevertun to an identified person mentioned as Ivan Yovenko. Yet, the man whose name Ivan Yovenko was in prison at that time. The victim said she learnt about the sale of her property in 2012. After that, the flat would be subject to legal seizure several times, which would later be lifted every time on the basis of forged documents. Veremeyenko said that the last time the flat had been sold at a price half of its market value. What is more, he claims that criminal proceedings open on this count have been impeded in every way possible. Kyiv's Court of Appeals is scheduled to consider the victim's new complaint on Wednesday, February 10. Horbachenko says that swindler notaries use similar schemes to illegally sell houses, plots of land and stolen cars. 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... A comprehensive approach Guaranteeing the right to abortion isnt enough. We know that economic, cultural, religious, and systemic barriers prevent many people from accessing abortion care even where its legal and available. Our solution: We work across institutions and communities to build sustainable abortion ecosystems. In such an ecosystem, people have the information they need to make decisions about reproductive health, theres community and health-system support for human rights and abortion access, and laws and policies support full bodily autonomy. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. Join the community of readers now! Just type your email address into the box and click 'Subscribe' If you face any problem, please contact the IPTango team. [February 08, 2016] Fitch Rates Alvin ISD, TX Series 2016 ULT Schoolhouse & Rfdg Bonds 'AAA' PSF/'AA' Underlying Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'AAA' rating to the following Alvin Independent School District, TX (the district) bonds: --$127.5 million unlimited tax (ULT) schoolhouse and refunding bonds series 2016. The 'AAA' rating is based on the guarantee provided by the Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF), whose bond guaranty program is rated 'AAA' by Fitch. Fitch has also assigned an 'AA' underlying rating to the series 2016 bonds. The series 2016 bonds are scheduled for a negotiated sale Feb. 18. Proceeds will be used to construct school facilities, purchase land, and refund certain outstanding maturities for economic savings as well as pay related costs of issuance. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are payable by an unlimited property tax levied against all taxable property within the district. The bonds are also insured as to principal and interest repayment by the Texas PSF guaranty. KEY RATING DRIVERS STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION: The district's strong financial profile is characterized by conservative budgeting, proactive forecasting, and consistently large financial reserves. Reserves remain healthy despite periodic pay-go capital spending and operating pressures associated with rapid enrollment growth trends. ELEVATED DEBT BURDEN: Overall debt ratios are very high. Fitch believes ratios will remain elevated given growth-related capital needs that will necessitate future borrowings. Carrying costs are low and are expected to remain manageable despite an ascending debt service schedule given modest retiree benefit costs. STRONG REGIONAL ECONOMY: The district benefits from its close proximity and improved transportation corridors to the Houston metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Residents have easy access to a large employment market that while slowed, has historically outperformed the nation in terms of population, employment, and income growth. CONTINUED TAX BASE EXPANSION: Some of Fitch's concerns about the district's increasing debt load are mitigated by a trend of taxable assessed value (TAV) growth since fiscal 2012 from a broadening tax base. A mix of residential, attendant retail and commercial development, and the district's own growing energy sector have contributed to the TAV gains, which have generally outpaced enrollment gains. Taxpayer concentration is moderate. RAPID ENROLLMENT GROWTH: Fitch believes that ample developable land and affordable home prices will facilitate additional enrollment growth, demonstrating the need for continued strong financial and debt management practices. RATING SENSITIVITIES GROWTH-RELATED PRESSURES: The maintenance of budgetary balance and solid reserve levels despite ongoing growth-related spending pressure mitigates credit concerns over the large debt load, slow amortization, and some taxpayer concentration. Fitch does not expect any positive rating action over at least the near to intermediate term given the district's already very high overall debt levels. CREDIT PROFILE PROXIMITY TO HOUSTON SUPPORTS LONG-TERM GROWTH PROSPECTS The district is located 25 miles southeast of Houston in the northern portion of Brazoria County (GO bonds rated 'AA+', Stable Outlook by Fitch) and in proximity to the expansive Houston Medical Center. Aided by its easy access to Houston's employment base, particularly to the nearby and growing health care sector, ample developable land and affordable home prices have combined to rapidly expand the district's population base by 5% annually since 2000. These gains exceeded population gains made by the county and Houston MSA for the same time period; the district's current population is estimated at about 135,000. Data indicate that the district's housing market continues to perform well, with ongoing new starts and housing prices continuing to trend up. Nonetheless, only about one-third of the district is currently built-out. Annual enrollment growth over the last five fiscal years (fiscals 2010 - 2015) has been steady, averaging about 5%. District enrollment currently totals about 22,100 and management anticipates full build-out to occur over the next 25-30 years at roughly 57,000 - 60,000 students. ENERGY SECTOR AND CHEMICALS DOMINATE COUNTY ECONOMY The Houston MSA economy made a robust post-recessionary recovery due in part to the strength of the energy sector. However, Fitch believes the recent plunge in oil prices may dampen the pace of growth over the near term. As it is one of the state's petrochemical centers, the positive impact of lower energy prices on that activity may serve as a partial offset to any economic softening (see Fitch's report, 'How Will Local Oil Patch Governments Fare? (Financial and Economic Impacts of Fluctuating Energy Prices)' dated August 2015). As a complement to the strong metro economy, activity in the county centers on chemical manufacturing and petroleum processing. The county benefits from the Port of Freeport, the 16th largest port in the U.S. in terms of foreign tonnage, which provides critical shipping access for the region's industries. Dow Chemical Co is the largest employer in the county with 4,300 employees. Sizeable expansion plans were recently announced for its Freeport chemical complex, in addition to the construction of a research and development center in Lake Jackson. While the area economy is dominated by the chemical and energy sector, the essentiality of these industries and the ongoing diversification of the regional economy somewhat offsets concerns regarding economic concentration. The county's economic momentum has slowed modestly year-over-year due to the stability of its other employment sectors and those of the larger Houston MSA. Unemployment levels are up slightly to 4.8% in November 2015 from 4.5% a year ago due to faster erosion of employment (2%) than labor force (1.5%). The county's unemployment rate remained generally in line with the MSA (4.9%) and nation (4.8%) while rising slightly above the state (4.5%). Wealth/income and educational attainment metrics in the district are generally comparable to those of the MSA, state & U.S. STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION The district has historically maintained a strong financial position and consistently positive operating results despite a high enrollment growth environment and previous state funding cuts. The district posted general fund operating surpluses in six of the last seven fiscal years (fiscals 2009 - 2015). Management's conservative approach to budgeting enrollment and operational spending as well as adherence to established financial policies have contributed to these results. Finances in fiscal 2015 remained strong, exceeding prior expectations of a moderate drawdown on reserves with an $8.8 million (about 5% of spending) operating surplus. The district benefitted from increased state per pupil funding levels in the biennium (fiscals 2014 - 2015) and expenditure savings. Unrestricted general fund reserves totaled $73.6 million or just under 40% of spnding at fiscal 2015 year-end after a net $2.5 million drawdown for non-operating spending. Reserves remained well above the district's formal fund balance policy of between 17% and 25% of spending. The year's surplus and size of reserves supported management's decision to fund various pay-go capital spending projects, contribute $3.2 million to modestly boost its debt service fund balance cushion, and eliminate the year's $2.2 million operating gap in its self-insured health care fund. The $190.2 million fiscal 2016 operating budget was adopted as structurally balanced. This was despite adding roughly 150 new employees, a 3% cost of living adjustment, and an increased employer healthcare contribution that in total drove most of the year's 7% budget growth. Management indicates year-to-date results are currently tracking budget, while actual enrollment trends and associated revenues are higher. In addition, conservative expenditure budgeting and added state per pupil funding not factored into the adopted budget are currently projected to allow for roughly $11 million in pay-go capital spending with another $1.7 million planned to be contributed towards debt service reserves. A modest use of reserves ($1.2 million or 1% of budgeted spending) is projected while the general fund balance is expected to remain at no less than three months of spending (consistent with policy). Fitch believes that the district's policy of committing reserves above 25% of spending for pay-go capital funding is a credit positive and recognizes that reserves may be maintained at a level closer to the policy maximum going forward. The district prepares multi-year budget forecasts, which Fitch views as a favorable credit consideration. The district's current financial forecast projects modest annual drawdowns of reserves for capital projects (no more than 6% of budgeted spending) over the near term (fiscals 2016 - 2020), under what Fitch believes may be feasible but somewhat optimistic annual TAV growth assumptions of 7% - 9%. These assumptions factor in the various residential, retail and commercial projects underway or planned. Operating performance is assumed to tighten in fiscal 2017 given the opening of several new campuses, although these preliminary projections still anticipate a solid fund balance position of roughly $67 million or 32% of operational spending. TAX BASE EXPANSION The district's tax base is predominately residential. A growing population base largely in the western portion of the district continues to fuel residential development and TAV gains, due in part to close proximity and improved transportation corridors to the Houston MSA. Notably the district's tax base continued steady, albeit modest growth during the recession, and began to strengthen after fiscal 2012. A very strong 12% TAV gain was recorded in fiscal 2015, reaching $6.5 billion. The subsequent 2% gain in fiscal 2016 was uncharacteristically slim, and in contrast to the year's 11% market value gain, as growth in real estate was offset by modest loss in mineral values ($200 million) that had comprised about 6% of the prior year's TAV as well as a another modest $200 million TAV loss from an increased homeowner tax exemption recently approved by voters. Fitch views the latter loss of tax revenue as a credit neutral since the state is required to make whole any revenue shortfall for operations and outstanding debt service and the fiscal 2016 - 2017 state budget includes this additional funding amount. Concentration among the top 10 taxpayers is moderate at 10% of TAV in fiscal 2016, led by top taxpayer Denbury Onshore LLC at roughly 4%. DEBT PROFILE TO REMAIN PRESSURE POINT Overall debt levels are high with debt to market value at 12.7% in fiscal 2016 (or about $7,200 on a per capita basis) inclusive of this issuance. These debt ratios do not consider state support. Despite unfavorable debt ratios, the district's fixed-cost burden for debt service is low at about 7% of governmental fund spending in fiscal 2015. The manageable burden is aided by state debt service support (about 23% of ULT debt service in fiscal 2015) received by the district due to its comparatively lower per pupil property wealth. Amortization remains slow with about 35% of principal retired in 10 years. This issuance includes the first new money portion from a new $245 million GO bond authorization to fund the district's growth-related facility needs, approved by voters at a solid 60% margin. The authorization includes school facilities for all grade levels and is projected to last the district between 3 - 5 years, dependent on housing and enrollment trends. Projects to be included will incorporate use of the roughly $12 million of 2013 authorization that remains outstanding. Additional issuances are planned through fiscal 2019 and annual debt service for the entire authorization is projected to rise from $33.6 million in fiscal 2016 to peak at roughly $50.3 million over fiscals 2022 - 2033 (approximately 15% of fiscal 2015 governmental spending). The maximum debt service tax rate anticipated for the district's newly authorized bonds preserves a modest cushion below the state's $0.50 TAV test for new money issuance. In support of the new bond program, the debt service tax rate is projected to increase to a maximum of just over $0.08 per $100 TAV to $0.46 per $100 TAV based on somewhat optimistic TAV annual gains of 8% - 9%. Fitch believes that a trend of faster than anticipated enrollment growth in conjunction with slower than expected TAV growth could heighten the existing pressure on the district's debt profile. Fitch will continue to assess the district's capital needs and debt plans and their effect on the already high debt ratios, diminishing tax rate capacity for new debt, and overall budget flexibility. STATE FUNDING FOR PENSIONS CONTRIBUTES TO MODERATE CARRYING COSTS Fitch's concern about the district's overall long-term liabilities is lessened in part by its low retiree cost burden. The district participates in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a cost-sharing multiple-employer defined benefit plan. The state assumes the vast majority of Texas school districts' net pension liabilities and the corresponding employer contributions. However, like all Texas school districts, the district is vulnerable to future policy changes by the state, as evidenced by a relatively modest 1.5% of salary contribution requirement effective fiscal 2015. Legislative changes in 2013 increased the state's annual contributions, although it remains to be seen whether this improves TRS' ratio of assets to liabilities over time. Under GASB 68, the district reports its share of the TRS net pension liability (NPL) at $4.7 million, with fiduciary assets covering 83.3% of total pension liabilities at the plan's 8% investment rate of return assumption (approximately 75% based on a more conservative 7% investment rate of return assumption). The NPL represents less than 1% of the district's fiscal 2016 market value. Other post-employment benefit (OPEB) contributions paid by the district are also nominal, as the state and employees also pay the bulk of these costs. Carrying costs for debt service, pensions and OPEB are presently low at 8% of fiscal 2015 governmental spending, but Fitch estimates they will increase to a more midrange level once the authorized debt is fully issued. TEXAS SCHOOL FUNDING LITIGATION A Texas district judge ruled in August 2014 that the state's school finance system is unconstitutional. The ruling, which was in response to a consolidation of six lawsuits representing 75% of Texas schoolchildren and was the second such ruling in the past two years, found the system inefficient, inequitable and underfunded. The judge also ruled that local school property taxes are effectively a statewide property tax due to lack of local discretion and therefore are unconstitutional. The Texas attorney general has appealed the judge's latest ruling to the state supreme court. If the state school finance system is ultimately found unconstitutional, the legislature would likely follow with change intended to restore its constitutionality. Fitch would consider any changes that include additional funding for schools and more local discretion over tax rates to be a credit positive. In addition to the sources of information identified in Fitch's Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, this action was informed by information from CreditScope, Texas Municipal Advisory Council, and IHS (News - Alert). Fitch recently published an exposure draft of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015). The draft includes a number of proposed revisions to existing criteria. If applied in the proposed form, Fitch estimates the revised criteria would result in changes to less than 10% of existing tax-supported ratings. Fitch expects that final criteria will be approved and published by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Once approved, the criteria will be applied immediately to any new issue and surveillance rating review. Fitch anticipates the criteria to be applied to all ratings that fall under the criteria within a 12-month period from the final approval date. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 10 Sep 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869942 Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=686015 U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=685314 Additional Disclosures Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=999224 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006209/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] About Me africanelections www.africanelections.org contact us at africanelectionsproject AT gmail.com View my complete profile [February 08, 2016] Munich Re Publishes New Publication on Underwriting Considerations for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Against Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Munich Re, U.S. (Life) is pleased to announce the publication of, "Underwriting Considerations for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Against HIV Infection with Truvada". The release of the paper follows the December 2015 announcement of Munich Re partnering with Prudential Financial on the innovative initiative to make life insurance coverage available to people in the United States who are living with HIV. "We're constantly monitoring medical advancements from around the world to help our customers expand their customer base," stated Bill Moore (News - Alert), vice president, underwriting and medical for Munich Re, U.S. (Life). "We're particularly proud of our efforts in this area, because we hope it not only helps our customers take a focused, proactive approach to providing innovative coverage, but that it also benefits individuals living with, or otherwise affected by HIV, who have been largely underserved by the U.S. life insurance industry until now." "Underwriting Considerations for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Against HIV Infection with Truvada" covers the CDC's Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) guidelines and protocol for use of the anti-retroviral medication, Truvada. Truvada has been championed since 2012 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a way to help prevent HIV infections for populations at high risk for acquisition of the virus from sexual activity. The paper also includes potentially relevant commentary for Life and Disability Insurers to consider when developing underwriting guidelines. "Underwriting Considerations for Pre-Exposure Prophylxis Against HIV Infection with Truvada" is available both online in Munich Re's, U.S. Life Publications and in the reference documents of Munich Re's Web-based underwriting manual, EDGE. For an overview of underwriting considerations for HIV(+) applicants, please refer to the HIV reference materials in EDGE, or contact your Munich Re representative for more information. To inquire about accessing the EDGE Underwriting Manual, please send an email to [email protected]. Munich Re stands for exceptional solution-based expertise, consistent risk management, financial stability and client proximity. This is how Munich Re creates value for clients, shareholders and staff. In the financial year 2014, the Group - which combines primary insurance and reinsurance under one roof - achieved a profit of 3.2bn on premium income of over 48bn. It operates in all lines of insurance, with over 43,000 employees throughout the world. With premium income of around 27bn from reinsurance alone, it is one of the world's leading reinsurers. Especially when clients require solutions for complex risks, Munich Re is a much sought-after risk carrier. Its primary insurance operations are concentrated mainly in the ERGO Insurance Group, one of the leading insurance groups in Germany and Europe. ERGO is represented in over 30 countries worldwide and offers a comprehensive range of insurances, provision products and services. In 2014, ERGO posted premium income of 18bn. In international healthcare business, Munich Re pools its insurance and reinsurance operations, as well as related services, under the Munich Health brand. Munich Re's global investments amounting to 227bn are managed by MEAG, which also makes its competence available to private and institutional investors outside the Group. Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the management of Munich Re. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation and performance of our Company. The Company assumes no liability to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006299/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 08, 2016] Fitch Affirms University of St. Thomas, TX Revs at 'BBB-'; Outlook to Negative Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'BBB-' rating on approximately $4.1 million of Wallis Higher Education Facilities Corporation tax exempt and taxable education revenue bonds issued on behalf of the University of St. Thomas (UST). The Rating Outlook has been revised to Negative from Stable. SECURITY The bonds are a general obligation of the university. KEY RATING DRIVERS PRESSURED OPERATING PROFILE: The Negative Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation of ongoing negative GAAP-basis operations, including endowment support. Mixed enrollment trends and constrained net tuition revenue will continue to pressure the budget. Fitch considers a trend of negative GAAP-based operations a speculative grade characteristic that could threaten coverage and financial resources over time. MIXED ENROLLMENT TRENDS: UST's undergraduate enrollment has grown moderately, although competition and high discounting constrain revenue growth. Declines in graduate enrollment, especially education, have offset undergraduate gains. UST's high tuition dependence and small size make the budget more sensitive to shifts in enrollment. ADEQUATE BALANCE SHEET RESOURCES: UST's current balance sheet resources and recent fundraising success provide adequate cushion in line with expectations for the rating category and help to mitigate some operating stress. MANAGEABLE DEBT BURDEN: UST's maximum annual debt service (MADS) burden is high when including a balloon maturity in 2022 on a commercial real estate loan. Excluding this loan, which is periodically refinanced, UST's debt burden is manageable. Debt service coverage has declined but remains adequate. RATING SENSITIVITIES NEGATIVE PERFORMANCE: Consistently negative full-accrual operating margins resulting in declining reserves or failure to generate debt service coverage from operations would likely result in a downgrade over the next two years. However, incremental improvement in operating results could lead to stabilization of the rating. ADDITIONAL DEBT: Additional debt, beyond a currently contemplated bridge financing, could negatively pressure the rating without a commensurate increase in financial resources. CREDIT PROFILE Founded in 1947 by the Basilian Fathers, UST is the only Catholic Liberal Arts University in Houston and is located in Houston's Museum District, near the Galleria and Texas Medical Center. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities (SACS), which affirmed its accreditation in 2015 for a full 10-year term. FLAT NET (News - Alert) TUITION PRESSURES OPERATIONS UTS's financial performance remains pressured by mixed enrollment trends and flat net tuition revenue. Fiscal 2015 performance improved slightly over the prior year but remained negative on a full-accrual basis. The fiscal 2015 operating margin was -2.8%, including endowment support. This compares to a negative (-3.7%) in fiscal 2014 following positive results since fiscal 2010. Operations are expected to remain pressured, as mixed enrollment trends and competitive pricing pressures have resulted in flat net tuition revenue since fiscal 2013. UST has generated positive operating cash flow and acceptable debt service coverage despite negative GAAP margins in fiscal 2014 and 2015. Management expects breakeven budgetary but continued GAAP-basis deficits in fiscal 2016, as the budget does not include full depreciation expense. Fitch considers a trend of negative GAAP-based operating performance inconsistent with an investment grade rating, indicative of operating stress and limited financial flexibility. MIXED ENROLLMENT TRENDS UST's total enrollment is generally stable, but with mixed underlying trends. The undergraduate segment is growing moderately, with headcount of 1,805 in fall 2015, up from 1,609 in fall 2011. Steady freshman and transfer matriculation in addition to improving student retention have driven growth. However, pricing pressures and high discounting in the university's competitive region and market sgment constrain net tuition growth. Graduate trends have been weak, offsetting undergraduate gains. Graduate FTE enrollment has fallen by nearly a quarter to 745 in fall 2015 driven largely by losses in graduate education programs. UST has changed course offerings to align with market demands and local credentialing requirements, and management expects some stabilization in spring 2015. Overall, UST's high tuition dependence (77% of operating revenues) and small size make it financially sensitive to relatively small fluctuations in enrollment. ADEQUATE BALANCE SHEET RESOURCES UST's balance sheet resources have improved over time and provide some financial cushion in line with expectations for the rating category. Available funds (AF, defined as cash and investments not permanently restricted) of $25.8 million at June 30, 2015 covered fiscal 2015 operating expenses ($65 million) by an adequate 40% and debt ($28 million) by a solid 91%. In addition, recent fundraising has improved the endowment and funded capital projects. Endowment value at June 30, 2015 totaled $86.6 million and, while mostly permanently restricted ($70.7 million, excluded from Fitch's AF calculation), provides operating support through a standard 5% spending policy. Fitch's AF metric also excludes donor-restricted cash for capital projects related to the capital campaign, which raised the full $48 million of pledges toward the first phase of a new science and nursing building. Because these funds are excluded, related capital construction over the next years should not cause a decline in AF. MANAGEABLE DEBT BURDEN UST's maximum annual debt service (MADS) burden is quite high at 13.9%, when including a $6 million balloon maturity on a commercial real estate loan. The loan is secured by commercial property purchased in 2007 and the university has never needed to subsidize the property's cash flows to meet debt service obligations. The loan was refinanced in advance of maturity in late 2015 (UST also paid down extra principal) and now matures in 2022. Excluding the real estate loan, UST's debt burden is more manageable with adjusted MADS of $3.3 million consuming a moderately high 5.3% of fiscal 2015 operating revenues. As a result of weaker operations, coverage of adjusted MADS has declined from 2.1x in fiscal 2013 to 1.2x in fiscal 2014 and 1.4x in fiscal 2015. UST intends to raise the full amount for current capital plans from donors, and there are no plans for additional long-term debt at this time. However, management is considering bridge financing collateralized by campaign pledges to fund near-term construction costs for the new science building in advance of pledged receipts. While the campaign raised the full amount of the building in pledges, receipts are expected over the next 3 years. Management's strategy is to use short-term bridge financing (likely $6 million to $11 million) at relatively low rates to preserve internal liquidity. Fitch will review the arrangement when finalized but expects the structure to be manageable for UST. Including the highest contemplated loan amount ($11 million) would lower the ratio of AF to debt to about 65%, still adequate for the rating level. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Applicable Criteria Revenue-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 16 Jun 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=750012 U.S. College and University Rating Criteria (pub. 12 May 2014) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=748013 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=999232 Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=999232 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006393/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 08, 2016] Fitch Rates Oregon Health and Science University (OR) Series 2016 B bonds 'AA-' Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'AA-' rating to the expected issuance of approximately $197,010,000 Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) revenue bonds series 2016B. In addition, Fitch has affirmed the 'AA-' rating on OHSU's outstanding debt, which is listed at the end of the press release. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The series 2016B bonds will be fixed rate. Proceeds from the series 2016B bonds in conjunction with $50 million series 2016A (not rated) direct bank loan will be used to fund a portion of the cost of its capital plan ($120 million). In addition, OHSU's outstanding series 2009A bonds will be refunded, which will release of a debt service reserve fund. The series 2016B bonds are expected to price the week of Feb 15th via negotiation. SECURITY The bonds are secured by a gross revenue pledge of the obligated group (OG). The OHSU and Doernbecher foundations are not part of the OG. Fitch's analysis is based on the OG (total university) and consolidated financials. The OG accounted for 97% of total assets and 97% of total revenue of the consolidated entity in fiscal 2015 (June 30 year-end). KEY RATING DRIVERS PERFORMANCE EXCEEDING PLAN: Since the rating upgrade to 'AA-' in June 2015, OHSU has maintained its strong financial performance, which has exceeded its 10-year forecast in each of the last three years. Additionally, OHSU has successfully completed the $1 billion philanthropic Knight Challenge (raised in two years), and formed OHSU Partners, a common management team structure for clinical activities with its community partner, Salem Health (Salem; rated 'A'/Stable Outlook) to advance its efforts to more efficiently deliver care. INTEGRAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE STATE: OHSU is a public university that became an independent corporation in 1995 to better serve its mission of teaching, research, and patient care. OHSU trains over a third of the physicians in the state, provides tertiary and quaternary care at its academic medical center, and is a significant driver of economic activity. The state has provided capital funding in the past and most recently, the state will be issuing $100 million of GO bonds in March 2016 and another $100 million in early 2017 in support of capital projects (part of Knight Challenge). BROADENING FOOTPRINT: Fitch believes OHSU's growing integration and geographic footprint will result in greater credit stability in the evolving healthcare environment. OHSU is the only academic health center in the state and has developed partnerships with other providers to improve the coordination of care with a goal of improving access and quality while reducing cost. As a founding member of Propel Health (seven hospitals in total), OHSU and its partners are developing data analytics and clinical tools for population health management. SIGNIFICANT BOOST IN FUNDRAISING: OHSU'S level of fundraising has significantly increased due to the Knight Challenge, which offered a matching $500 million gift if OHSU could raise $500 million in calendar year 2014 and 2015. OHSU met this goal in 22 months and $200 million was from the state. OHSU has been the beneficiary of several large gifts from the Knight family, which have been instrumental in the growth in research activity and the additional $1 billion will be for cancer research. Since the Knight Challenge, OHSU launched another $1 billion capital campaign 'Onward OHSU'. LEADER IN HIGH ACUITY CARE IN CONSOLIDATING MARKET: OHSU is located in the competitive and consolidating metropolitan Portland market, but given its high acuity of services, utilization and revenue growth has overperformed on a statewide basis. Over the last nine years, OHSU's total discharges and patient revenue increased 15% and 96% respectively, while all other Oregon hospitals had 1% growth in discharges and 64% growth in revenue. CAPITAL PLANS: OHSU'S 10-year capital plan totals $2.4 billion and includes $500 million in major building projects (Knight Cancer Research Building and Center for Health and Healing South) and $1.9 billion in annual clinical and academic spending. The majority of the plan is funded from cash flow with the remainder being funded by gifts ($279 million) and additional debt ($240 million -series 2016 and 2017). Fitch's analysis incorporated the entire $240 million of additional debt. RATING SENSITIVITIES MAINTAIN SOLID FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: Fitch expects Oregon Health and Science University to maintain its solid financial profile as it continues to further develop strategies related to population health and the changing reimbursement environment. CREDIT PROFILE In addition to the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Dentistry, OHSU operates 564 beds in its two hospitals (OHSU Hospital and OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital) as well as several outpatient sites, including the Center for Health and Healing at its South Waterfront campus. The adjacent Schnitzer campus, also on the waterfront, houses the Collaborative Life Sciences Building (CLSB), which opened in June 2014 and the Knight Cancer Research Building will be constructed adjacent to the CLSB. In fiscal 2015, OHSU had $2.5 billion in total revenue. Fitch's income statement analysis is focused on the 'total university' column in the consolidating statements of OHSU's annual audited financials, which exclude the foundations' activity, which is subject to more volatility in performance due to gift activity. Liquidity metrics include the foundations because if the foundations were dissolved, the assets would be distributed to OHSU. In addition, liquidity covenant calculations include unrestricted cash and investments at the foundation. DISTINCTIVE OPERATING PROFILE Fitch believes OHSU has strong qualitative factors such as its relationship with the state, position as the state's only academic health center, and its role in teaching and research that lend significant credit stability. OHSU is capitalizing on its strengths as a provider of highly complex tertiary and quaternary care by developing partnerships with other providers and payers. STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THE STATE Since OHSU is a public university with a high percentage of revenue from healthcare operations (70.5% in fiscal 2015), Fitch utilized both higher education and healthcare rating criteria for OHSU's rating. OHSU has total enrollment of 2,895 in its schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and public health, generates over $350 million of annual research grants, and operates a 576-licensed-bed teaching hospital. OHSU also has a statewide network of 552 clinicians at 67 practice sites across 36 rural communities. Fitch believes one of OHSU's main credit strengths continues to be its strong relationship with the State of Oregon. OHSU is a main driver of economic activity due to its operations and development of its South Waterfront campus. OHSU benefits from a tort cap through the state and also receives ongoing operating support through annual state appropriations as well as periodic capital support. The state, the Oregon University System and the Regional Transit Authority contributed $90 million to support the construction of the CLSB. In addition, the state has provided a scholarship fund for 21 students who commit to practicing in rural or other underserved areas after graduation. The most recent support includes the state's contribution of $200 million as part of OHSU's share in raising funds for the Knight Challenge. The state will issue $100 million of GO bonds in March 2016 and $100 million in early 2017 for the construction of the Knight Cancer Research facilities. FORMATION OF OHSU PARTNERS Salem has a 414-staffed bed hospital located in Salem, OR, approximately 45 miles south of Portland and had $694 million in operating revenue in fiscal 2015. Effective November 2015, OHSU and Salem entered into a joint management agreement, which states that the clinical enterprise will be jointly manged by a common management team (OHSU Partners). Although OHSU and Salem remain separate legal entities with separately obligated debt, the joint management agreement aligns the entities with common management through OHSU Partners for the hospitals. There is a shared bottom line (operating income) and the intent is to better leverage the capacity of the entities on a combined basis, more efficiently allocate resources and provide care in the most appropriate cost setting. The agreement is for 40 years and OHSU Partners' executive management team includes individuals from both OHSU and Salem and financial and capital planning is integrated. The budgets of OHSU Partners have to be approved by both the OSHU board and Salem board. The profitability (operating income) of the combined entity is split based on each entity's historical share of financial performance (OHSU 81%, Salem 19%). The academic and research missions of OHSU are excluded from this calculation. The expectation is that growth will be greater as a combined entity as the entities leverage each other's resources, capacity, and capabilities. Fitch views this relationship favorably as it gives OHSU greater capacity to leverage. However, Fitch believes that this structure will require more management time and attention to ensure that all parties are in agreement and stay aligned. PARTNERING IS MAIN STRATEGY The Portland market is competitive and continues to consolidate. However, OHSU has a statewide draw with 45% of its discharges originating outside of the metropolitan Portland area. Within the metro Portland area, OHSU's market share was 17.2% in 2015 compared to its main competitors - Legacy Health with 26.2% and Providence Health & Services (rated 'AA' by Fitch) with 33.8%. OHSU maintains the highest case mix index compared to its competitors at over 2 for fiscal 2015. OHSU continues to explore clinical affiliation opportunities with community hospitals to expand its geographic reach and to leverage its tertiary and quaternary expertise to enhance clinical service offerings within the local community setting. Tuality Healthcare (Tuality) has a 140 bed staffed hospital located in the fast growing West Washington County service area, but there is strong competition present. Effective Feb. 1, 2015, OHSU Partners will manage Tuality, but Tuality will retain local ownership. In addition, OHSU has committed capital to Tuality, which is included in OHSU's ten year capital plan. Given OHSU's integrated delivery network with a medical group (faculty; 1,447) of aligned physicians, Fitch believes the organization is well positioned to implement processes to further drive operating efficiencies in a value based reimbursement environment. OHSU is a founding member of Propel Health, which includes six other hospitals that are partnering together to develop tools and data analytics to manage population health, and deliver evidence based and cost effective care. In December 2014, OHSU provided Moda Health Plan (one of the largest commercial insurers in the state with the largest share of the individual exchange market) with $50 million (surplus note) to help capitalize Moda's business. In January 2016, the State Insurance Commissioner issued an order of supervision due to significant losses related to higher costs and insufficiency of risk corridor payments expected from CMS. As of Feb. 8, 2016, the state has lifted the order of supervision as Moda recently raised $170 million of capital largely through the sale of assets. OHSU has reserved $16.5 million against its $50 million investment in Moda. Fitch will monitor the developments with Moda but does not expect it to have material impact on OHSU's operating performance going forward. SOLID FINANCIAL PROFILE OHSU's revenue stream is concentrated in healthcare operations with 70.5% from patient care. The other revenue sources include 21.7% from gifts, grants, contracts, 2.6% from tuition, 1.3% from state appropriations and 3.9% from other. The university's enrollment has increased to 2,895 for fall 2015 and includes 117 new students in the first class in the School of Public Health compared to 2,802 in fall 2011. The schools of medicine and dentistry are very selective with low acceptance rates. Research has been an important revenue stream with $376 million of sponsored awards in fiscal 2015. OHSU always garners a large percentage of NIH funding and was ranked 28 out of 2,323 institutions that receive NIH funding. In addition, OHSU maintained a 67.3% share of NIH funding in the state of Oregon. OHSU has implemented guidelines that require research programs to secure at least 70% of outside funding. OHSU's overall financial profile is solid and performance has been sustained since Fitch upgraded the rating to 'AA-' during the last review in June 2015. Operating performance (total university; including gifts) was strong with a 4.5% operating margin ($109.975 million operating income) in fiscal 2015 compared to 4.2% in fiscal 2014 and 4.6% fiscal 2013. Solid performance has been the result of the strong revenue growth due to higher acuity, as well as the continued focus on expenses driven by its process improvement initiatives. Through the six months ended Dec. 31, 2015, OHSU's profitability continues to be strong with a 4.3% operating margin and 10.7% operating EBITDA margin compared to 3.2% and 9.6% respectively the same prior year period. Fitch views management's detailed financial forecast and planning favorably. OHSU Partners expects to update its 10-year projections in May 2016. OHSU's fiscal 2016 budget includes a 4.6% operating margin with a deliberate plan that reinvests 50% of earnings over a 3% operating margin into the academic enterprise. Fitch notes that due to the adoption of GASB 68 pension accounting, OHSU booked a gain of $127 million (reduction in operating expense) in fiscal 2015 due to the accounting guidelines that book entries one year in arrears. This gain was due to favorable events related to its pension liabilities in fiscal 2014, the majority of which included a change in benefit terms. However, these benefit changes were overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court in fiscal 2015 and will result in a negative impact in OHSU's fiscal 2016 financials. Fitch excluded the $127 million gain in its analysis. OHSU's unrestricted cash and investments have grown to $1.1 billion as of December 31, 2015, from $895.6 million at fiscal year end 2013 and include the assets of the foundations. While not members of the obligated group, the OHSU and Doernbecher foundations exist for the sole benefit of OHSU and have consistently raised funds for capital improvements and program support. In addition, OHSU's liquidity covenants include the foundations' unrestricted cash. At December 31, 2015, OHSU had 191.3 days cash on hand and 135.1% cash to debt. SIGNIFICANT BOOST IN PHILANTHROPY OHSU has received two large gifts from the Knight family - $125 million to create the Knight Cardiovascular Institute and $100 million to create the Knight Cancer Institute. In 2013, the Knight family presented a challenge to OHSU to raise $500 million for cancer research by December 2015 and if the goal was reached, a $500 million matching gift would be made. OHSU has met the goal, which significantly increased its annual fundraising, which averaged about $100 million a year. The Knight Challenge gift is expected to be payable over the next several years and will be used to fund cancer research in molecularly targeted early detection. OHSU also recently launched its next $1 billion capital campaign 'Onward OHSU'. MAJOR CAPITAL PROJECTS The 10-year, $2.4 billion capital plan has not changed since Fitch's last rating review. The main source of funding is cash from operations followed by philanthropy ($279 million) and debt ($240 million). Of the $279 million funded from gifts, $200 million is being funded from a state GO bond issuance ($100 million in February 2016 and $100 million in spring 2017) for the Knight Cancer Research Building. The two main capital projects currently in development are the Knight Cancer Research Building and CHH South. The Knight Cancer Research Building will include wet lab research and advanced Biocomputing. CHH South will be a high acuity ambulatory care facility specializing in highly complex outpatient surgery. Both facilities are expected to be complete in 2019. OHSU is in the planning stages of building an expansion at its children's hospital, which will allow the relocation of women's and children's services throughout the campus to one consolidated setting. DEBT PORTFOLIO After the series 2016 issuance, total proforma debt will be $887.3 million with 79% underlying fixed rate and 21% underlying variable rate. The variable rate exposure includes $140.55 million direct placement variable rate debt (mandatory tender in May 2022 and 2027) and $43.5 million daily variable rate demand bonds (LOC from US Bank that expires May 2020). After the series 2017 issuance, total proforma debt will be $979 million with 76% underlying fixed rate and 24% underlying variable rate. OHSU has two floating to fixed-rate swaps and the collateral posting threshold is $30 million threshold at an A+ or higher rating level. No collateral is being posted. Including the swaps - the debt mix is 87% fixed rate, 13% variable rate after the series 2016 issuance. MADS with the series 2016 bonds is $58.34 million (calculated per master trust indenture treatment for bullet payment). OHSU has a $100 million bullet payment in 2046 related to its series 2015 taxable debt. MADS including the series 2017 issuance is projected to be $62.38 million which Fitch used in its analysis. Coverage based on the proforma MADS with the series 2017 issuance is solid at 4.0x in fiscal 2015 and 4.4x through the six months ended December 31, 2015. DISCLOSURE OHSU covenants to provide bondholders with annual financial disclosure within 150 days following the end of the fiscal year and quarterly financial disclosure within 60 days of the quarter end for the first three quarters. Outstanding debt: --$100,000,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) revenue bonds series 2015C (federally taxable) --$126,365,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) revenue bonds series 2012E --$15,025,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2012C (LOC: U.S. Bank National Association) --$28,520,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) variable-rate demand revenue bonds series 2012B-3 (LOC: U.S. Bank National Association) --$106,690,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) revenue bonds series 2012A --$158,505,000 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) revenue refunding bonds series 2009A --$56,685,860 Oregon Health & Science University (OR) revenue bonds series 1995A (insured: MBIA Insurance Corp.) [Capital appreciation bonds - includes accreted values as of Feb. 1, 2016] Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. 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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006420/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 09, 2016] National Cyber Security Alliance Announces Expansion Of Multi-Factor Authentication-Focused Education WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- To promote greater public understanding of multi-factor authentication, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is announcing today the expansion of its education efforts under the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. umbrella. This will support a broader effort to increase public awareness of the individual's role in cybersecurity. NCSA's declaration comes on the heels of President Obama's proclamation this morning to bolster the nation's cybersecurity, where he called for "Americans to move beyond just the password to leverage multiple factors of authentication when logging-in to online accounts." As a key, public-focused pillar of the newly announced multifaceted Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), the President highlighted NCSA's STOP. THINK. CONNECT. campaign and a new commitment by companies and nonprofits to engage in cybersecurity education and awareness. Read the full White House Fact Sheet here. "The National Cyber Security Alliance applauds President Obama's dedication to the importance of cybersecurity awareness and education. We live in a digital age where people, networks and devices are increasingly interconnected, and everyone needs to use the Internet safely and more securely," said Michael Kaiser, NCSA's executive director. "The STOP. THINK. CONNECT. campaign ? created with the support of our long-standing partners ? provides the first, basic step for all digital citizens. STOP to make sure security measures are in place. THINK about the consequences of your actions and behaviors online. CONNECT and enjoy your devices with more peace of mind." Today, NCSA also announces a new multi-factor authentication education project with Logical Operations, New Horizons and CompTIA, the nation's leading information technology and training companies. They are partnering with NCSA to bring the existing STOP.THINK.CONNECT. "Get Two Steps Ahead: Protect Your Digital Life" tour to 15 or more cities nationwide this year. Following a highly successful, Two Steps Ahead event in Rochester, N.Y. in December 2015, these three organizations agreed to join forces with NCSA. These interactive, in-person sessions delier critical cybersecurity information directly to local communities where attendees learn how to turn on multi-factor authentication and why it is an essential online safety tool for every American. "This collaborative effort reflects our commitment to social responsibility. The most important thing anyone can do to help fight cybercrime is to become more informed on how to better protect yourself. Multi-factor authentication training is an important step towards securing your personal information," said Bill Rosenthal, Logical Operations CEO and NCSA Board Member. Using multi-factor identification ? for example, a one-time code texted to a mobile device ? helps verify a user has authorized access to an account. Activating this technology delivers peace of mind about the safety of one's online identity and sensitive personal data. Over the past two years, the Get Two Steps Ahead: Protect Your Digital Life tour, which is supported by Google, has visited dozens of local markets nationwide, featuring panel discussions led by cybersecurity and consumer protection experts, as well as hands-on demonstrations for attendees to learn how to implement the technology. Visit https://stopthinkconnect.org/campaigns/two-steps-ahead-campaign for the upcoming 2016 calendar and to learn more. "We welcome the White House's recognition of NCSA and its many partners' year-round commitment to creating awareness around the safe and secure use of the Internet," said Jacqueline Beauchere, Chief Online Safety Officer of Microsoft and Chair of NCSA's Board of Directors. "Protecting the Internet is our shared responsibility. When we launched the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. campaign our goal was to use a harmonized message to build an industry coalition and work with government to engage in cybersecurity education and awareness. As we see that effort grow with today's announcement, I know we are closer to creating a culture of cybersecurity that encourages digital citizens to take the right actions to protect their online data and identities." Founded in 2010, STOP. THINK. CONNECT. is the global, online safety, awareness and education campaign led by NCSA and the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), with federal government leadership from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The first-ever coordinated effort to help U.S. residents stay safer and more secure online, the campaign was created by an unprecedented coalition of private companies, nonprofits and government organizations. In the last five years, STOP. THINK. CONNECT. has earned the support of 577 organizations ? including 315 partners from NCSA and 262 from DHS all of whom are committed to sharing cybersecurity awareness across the country and around the world. As a collaborative, international effort, tips and resources are available in five languages. Click here for more information and STOP. THINK. CONNECT. milestones. "STOP. THINK. CONNECT. is a message that has resonated around the globe," said Peter Cassidy, secretary general of APWG. "It is clear that no matter what the language, this simple message can help us understand the common sense measures that are within our control to improve the safety of our online experience." About The National Cyber Security Alliance The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is the nation's leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NCSA's Board of Directors, which include representatives from ADP; AT&T; Bank of America; BlackBerry; Cisco; Comcast Corporation; ESET; Facebook; Google; Intel; Logical Operations; Microsoft; PayPal; PKWARE; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; Raytheon; Symantec; Verizon; and Visa. NCSA' s core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October), Data Privacy Day (January 28), and STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the global online safety awareness and education campaign led by NCSA and the Anti Phishing Working Group, with federal government leadership from DHS. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131212/DC32528LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121004/DC87170LOGO-a To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-cyber-security-alliance-announces-expansion-of-multi-factor-authentication-focused-education-300217389.html SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) Releases the Encyclopedia of the Most Prominent Hacktivists, Nation State and Mercenary Hackers The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (www.icitech.org), a leading cybersecurity Think Tank, has published its most recent research report entitled "Know Your Enemies 2.0: A Primer on Advanced Persistent Threat Groups". The report is an encyclopedia of bad actors stemming from the nation state, mercenary and hacktivist arenas and details the characteristics and intricacies of the world's most prolific threat groups. Authors James Scott (ICIT Co-Founder & Sr. Fellow) and Drew Spaniel (Visiting Scholar) cover threat groups not by use of a particular ranking system, rather by the dominant players categorized by geography, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Zero days, malware, tool kits, exploit techniques, digital foot prints and targets are covered in-depth. The report covers 40 bad actors including: Blue Termite, the Elderwood Platform, Deep Panda APT (News - Alert) 30, APT 2, Tarh Andishan, Ajax, Dark Hotel, Bureau 121, Energetic Bear, Uroburos, Sofacy Group, the "Duke" family, Carbanak, EA, Animal Farm, Hellsing and Shrouded Crossbow. "Know Your Enemies 2.0" adds to ICIT's catalogue of cutting-edge cybersecurity research including the January 2016 brief "Hacking Healthcare IT in 2016: Lessons the Healthcare Industry Can Learn from the OPM Breach". "Hacking Healthcare IT in 2016" offers a comprehensive assessment of the threats and healthcare trends which are having the greatest impact on health sector security, with contributions from ICIT Fellows Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Philips, ForcePoint (formerly Raytheon / Websense (News - Alert)), Cylance, (ISC)2, ISACA, Securonix, Centrify, Exabeam and Covenant Security Solutions, as well as insights from NIST, HHS and NASA Ames Research Center. "Adversaries are relentless in their attacks on our Nation's Critical Infrastructures," said ICIT Co-Founder & Sr. Fellow Parham Eftekhari. "ICIT strongly encourages government agencies, the legislative community, journalists and sector stakeholders to leverage the Institute's expertise as they strive to better understand and defend against the enemy." Government and technology leaders will convene with ICIT Fellows at the "Critical Infrastructure Forum: Resiliency & Enablement" in Washington D.C. (April 25, 2016) to discuss the vulnerabilities which plague our critical infrastructures and strategies to improve our Nation's security posture. About ICIT: The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology is a non-partisan Think Tank that provides objective advisement on cybersecurity and technology issues to the legislative community, federal agencies and critical infrastructure sector stakeholders. ICIT Fellows contribute their expertise and research to briefs, legislative briefings and speaking engagements, media interviews and other initiatives which educate our Nation's technology leaders. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209006160/en/ Ventings from a guy with an unhealthy interest in budgets, policy, the dismal science, life in the Upper Midwest, and brilliant beverages. Bruce Rauner and the legislators finger pointing blame game and the inability to compromise and negotiate a budget for this state is completely unacceptable. What is more maddening than them not doing their job is the lack of even trying. While state institutions, government services, and Illinois tax payers lives are hanging in the balance, the future of this state has become more uncertain. All these clowns can say is its not our fault. NEWSFLASH for Governor Rauner, Senators, Congressmen: The blame falls on All of you. 1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted. 2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks. 3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown". 4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam). I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published. If you are walking - slow down.....if you are running, run faster. The Legislature will meet Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., vote on a motion by Sen. Les Seiler to withdraw a bill (LB976) related to jury sequestration, and then adjourn for committee hearings. The committees are holding hearings in the morning to make up for hearings that were canceled because of last week's snowstorm. A proposal that would expand health care insurance coverage for more than 100,000 Nebraskans by accessing available federal Medicaid dollars would cost the state more than an estimated $100 million a year over a 10-year period, state senators were told Tuesday. Calder Lynch, state Medicaid director for the Department of Health and Human Services, said he will testify in opposition to the legislative bill (LB1032) at its public hearing on Wednesday. At a briefing for news media representatives in conjunction with distribution of a 19-page analysis to members of the Legislature, Lynch said he believes the proposal may be "ultimately not sustainable." And, he said, it conceivably could impact the ability of the current Medicaid population of children and individuals with disabilities to access needed assistance. LB1032 is "a very expensive way" of expanding coverage, Lynch said, and in turn could crowd out other state priorities. The HHS report estimated the bill would provide additional coverage for 74,000 Nebraskans through health care exchanges, provide premium assistance to 34,000 individuals through employer-sponsored insurance and provide coverage for 15,000 medically frail people through Medicaid managed care. Total state costs of $978 million over a 10-year period would be matched by more than $13 billion in federal funding flowing into the state, according to the HHS report. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. John McCollister and Heath Mello of Omaha and Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, would access additional federal Medicaid dollars that have been available to Nebraska since enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Mello, chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, responded to Lynch's concerns by noting the bill has been drafted to use money from the state's health care cash fund to finance the plan and avoid any impact on the state tax-supported general fund for the next five years. That cash fund includes tobacco settlement dollars sent to the states for tobacco-related health care costs. "There is nothing new in them paying for a report to justify their position of not doing anything to address this need," Mello said in response to HHS. "This has been the standard line for the last four years," he said. Federal Medicaid funding would pay 100 percent of the expansion costs through 2016, with the federal share gradually declining to a permanent floor of 90 percent. The cost analysis undertaken for HHS by Optumas, a health care strategy firm that acts as the Nebraska agency's contracted actuary, estimated that annual state costs gradually would grow, reaching $89 million in 2021 when the federal share has fallen to 90 percent and trending upward to $181 million in 2027. Sponsors of the proposal rely on different figures than those in the HHS report, centering on expanded coverage for an estimated 77,000 Nebraskans, most of whom are described as the working poor. Lynch said "it's a mistake to assume that Medicaid is the only alternative" to meet the needs of uninsured Nebraskans. "There might be a more targeted solution," he said, "look(ing) beyond government programs to do that." Lynch raised questions about a provision in the bill that automatically would dissolve the new program if the federal government ever reneged on its pledge to provide 90 percent funding. The state would likely face legal action if benefits were cut off, he said. "There is legal and practical concern" about whether the state could pull back, Lynch said. Lynch also questioned whether a necessary waiver from the federal government to approve Nebraska's plan could be acquired in what would be "the waning days of this administration." Responding to the HHS analysis, Nebraska Appleseed Director Rebecca Gould said: "We have seen these kinds of 11th-hour reports before from the department." "At the end of the day," she said, "what matters is what the legislative fiscal office projects and that analysis has not been released yet." Gov. Pete Ricketts and Lynch should "come to the table and work with the Legislature this session (to find) a solution to this problem that prevents 77,000 Nebraskans from getting the affordable health coverage they need," Gould said. Sponsors of the bill have pointed to its potential impact in easing the burden that Nebraska's health care providers and employers now encounter in supplying $1 billion in uncompensated care every year. A number of Omaha corporate and philanthropic heavyweights have warmed to the plan, which would financially impact the University of Nebraska Medical Center in a positive way. Lynch said Medicaid expenditures in Nebraska have doubled since 2000 with more than 231,000 individuals now covered. Significant infrastructure investments are needed if the University of Nebraska is to sustain its position as an economic driver for the state and region, university leaders told the Legislatures Appropriations Committee Tuesday. Led by NU President Hank Bounds, backers are seeking to double a combined fund of state appropriations and tuition revenue to bring more classroom and lab spaces up to "like-new" standards. Introduced by Sen. Galen Hadley of Kearney, the bill (LB858) would allocate $242 million in state funds over 12 years for deferred maintenance projects on 17 buildings across NU's four campuses. If approved, the Legislature would increase the state's current $11 million appropriation to $22 million annually beginning in 2018. Specified appropriations for the so-called University of Nebraska Facilities Program of 2016 would end in 2028. NU would match the state's appropriation by levying a 1 percent tuition increase in each of the next four years. Regents approved a resolution supporting the plan in December. Together, the state funds and tuition revenue would finance a $400 million bond to pay for renovations. Lawmakers approved similar projects in 1998 and again in 2006 to pay for renovations and replacement of NU facilities, which make up 70 percent of the state's property and total $4 billion in assets. As part of its latest request, NU hired Nebraska-based engineering firm HDR to compile a "facilities conditions index" that the university has used to identify academic buildings that need work. Two of the largest on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, Nebraska Hall and the Scott Engineering Center, are among those most in need of major overhaul or replacement, NU officials have said. Testifiers supporting Hadleys bill Tuesday represented a cross-section of agriculture, health science and STEM programs at NU. Kyle Meyer, dean of UNMC's College of Allied Health Professions, said the facilities renovation partnership between lawmakers and the university in 1998 allowed 10 allied health programs to move into a single space at Bennett Hall on the Omaha campus. Bart Ruth, president of Agriculture Builders Nebraska, said resources to build updated classrooms and labs will put graduates in position to meet the states workforce needs. The universitys ability to produce talented graduates depends not only on talented staff and programs but also in providing quality facilities, Ruth said. And Shelby Williby, a sophomore chemical engineering major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told the committee she joined the College of Engineering to pursue a career in sustainable energy and did not believe a 1 percent tuition increase -- which amounts to $2 per credit hour -- would affect her greatly. In a field like engineering, technologies are evolving even as I sit and talk with you, she said. Its important that our buildings reflect that. If our facilities are outdated, we risk not being as prepared for the workforce as we need to be. Committee member Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln said while Williby might not be concerned about the small tuition increase, the increases to higher education as a whole are cause for caution. Bolz, who praised the underlying work that went into NUs proposal, said the state is only awarding Nebraska Opportunity Grants to 39 percent of high school students who apply for the financial aid tool. In the bigger context of college affordability, its not just the cost of this particular project, its how it all comes together, Bolz said. Sen. Tanya Cook of Omaha, another committee member, expressed disappointment in NU seeking funding for bricks and mortar instead of making college more accessible and affordable to students while also ensuring their success. From what youve said, the most pressing issue on each campus amounts to us meeting deferred maintenance needs, Cook said. Its not focused on researchers, faculty, need-based scholarships, ensuring students finish within four years. Bounds said students remain the universitys top priority, but NUs hands are tied when it comes to funding for ongoing deferred maintenance projects. The NU president said the $1.1 billion in deferred maintenance is something that "absolutely needs to be addressed" but added the new fund would not be a permanent fix. "Its an issue that I think every university across America is dealing with, and we have to address it," Bounds said. The Republicans on the Lincoln City Council approved putting a charter amendment relating to professional service contracts on the May 10 primary ballot. But the measure, passed on a 4-3 partisan vote, could face a veto by Mayor Chris Beutler, a Democrat, before ever getting to city voters. The mayor has concerns about the separation of powers and the application of those powers, said Rick Hoppe, chief of staff to Beutler, after Monday evening's council vote. Beutler is expected to decide whether to veto the proposal later this week. Overriding a veto would require five votes from the council, meaning at least one Democrat siding with the Republicans. On Monday, the three Democrats on the council suggested sending the proposed amendment -- which would give the council the power to create the rules for how departments solicit professional service contracts -- to the citys Charter Revision Commission for review. If the commission thought it was a good idea, then the council could put the issue on the November ballot, they said. The Democrats also argued that the council could accomplish better oversight, without changing the city charter, by requiring the administration to provide monthly reports on professional service contracts. Councilwoman Jane Raybould says she plans to introduce this measure at next week's meeting. Currently the mayor has the sole authority for devising the policy for handling professional service contracts. Giving the council power to create the policy governing these service contracts could tip the balance of power in Lincoln's traditionally strong mayor form of government, said Democrats Raybould, Leirion Gaylor Baird and Carl Eskridge. The citys Charter Revision Commission could take a closer, thoughtful look at what the proposal might do and how it might affect that balance of power, they said. There is nothing forcing us to do this immediately, said Gaylor Baird. We should do what is right and give this time for thoughtful analysis. The charter amendment is overkill, according to Raybould. Its like attempting to put a tourniquet on a scratch that just needs a Band-Aid, she said. But the Republicans -- Jon Camp, Cyndi Lamm, Roy Christensen and Trent Fellers -- voted down the idea of a review by the Charter Revision Commission, favoring simply putting the idea before the city's voters in May. Republicans pointed out that the broad issue has been before the council for more than four months, and the specific charter amendment went through the regular process, with a public hearing on Monday. Giving the council the authority to create the rules for service contracts would give consistency to that policy, said Fellers. Now individual mayors can change the policy whenever they want. When Democrats argued that the council, the legislative arm of city government, would be inserting itself into an administrative role with this amendment, Fellers said, There is nothing administrative about it. We are codifying a policy. Camp has said if the charter amendment passes, he would ask the council to write rules for the process similar to those already in place and designed by the Beutler administration. It would leave almost all service contract decisions up to the mayor, Camp said, but would allow for the council to step in if the mayor did not follow the policy. Democrat Eskridge wondered if the May primary, essentially Nebraska's presidential primary election, was the fairest time for a vote. He would prefer the issue go on the November ballot, when more voters will go to the polls. But Camp, who proposed the amendment, said selecting the May primary was not a political decision. After all the mayor wants to put a stormwater bond issue on the primary election ballot, he said. The Lincoln Independent Business Association, Watchdogs of Lincoln Government and one private citizen supported putting the amendment on the May ballot. Watchdogs, a citizens group, is interested in transparency, efficiency and accountability. There can never be too much of that, said Jane Kinsey, representing the Watchdogs. The council should put the question on the ballot for the people of Lincoln to decide if they want to have more oversight on how their money is spent, said Coby Mach, representing LIBA. Over the past 16 years, Nora Boesem and her husband, Randy, have taken in more than 150 foster children, nearly all of them from South Dakotas Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The Newell, South Dakota, couple has adopted or taken permanent custody of 12 of those children, including Donovan, who hung himself at the age of 15. Speaking Tuesday, she said she blames his suffering on those who fed her sons mother the alcohol that poisoned him while he was in the womb. I come to you because every one of the children in my home has been affected by Whiteclay, Nebraska, she told members of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. More than a dozen Whiteclay activists from Nebraska and South Dakota visited the commission's meeting Tuesday and then met with state officials, including Gov. Pete Ricketts chief of staff, Matt Miltenberger, and legislative aides for state senators. They shared stories of children beaten by drunk, angry parents and men and women prostituting themselves in exchange for beer. They talked about Pete Blacksmith, a 46-year-old Pine Ridge man who died of liver disease recently after spending several years drinking on the streets of Whiteclay. And they called on state leaders to shut down four beer stores in Whiteclay that sell an estimated 4 million cans of beer a year. Those who spoke Tuesday expressed frustration at the lack of action by state leaders to address rampant lawlessness in Whiteclay, including violations of state liquor laws by beer store owners and clerks, who they say regularly sell alcohol to visibly intoxicated people. The Liquor Control Commission took no action on the groups requests. Director Hobert Rupe said the commission has attempted to investigate allegations against beer store owners but has struggled to find witnesses willing to testify against them. We need factual evidence to proceed, he said. Whiteclay, a town of 14 people, is just south of the South Dakota border and the Pine Ridge Reservation, where alcoholism is a significant problem. John Maisch, director of Sober Indian/Dangerous Indian, a film documenting the lives of three men who drank in Whiteclay, said one in four children in Pine Ridge is born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Fetal alcohol syndrome may just be Nebraskas No. 1 export, he said. Winnebago activist Frank LaMere called on state leaders to include tribal representatives and women and childrens advocates on an ad hoc committee established by Ricketts to find solutions to problems in Whiteclay. LaMere said just one member of the committee is Native. Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage offered few details about the committees make-up, other than to say the group of local leaders held its first meeting Feb. 1. This past weekend was a bittersweet time for Kevin and Laura Clark. A year ago, Kevin was racing from Barnes, Kansas, to Bryan East Campus with pregnant wife Laura in tow. When the couple left their home two hours south of Beatrice, they had no idea that their lives were about to take a dramatic twist. They made it as far as U.S. 77 near Saltillo Road when Kevin had to pull over with Laura in the middle of giving birth. By the time he was able to pull over and hop in the back seat to help Laura, the first baby was "already out," Kevin said Sunday, not remembering if Savannah or Kaleb was born first. Emergency responders arrived, but the second baby already was out. Despite not being prepared -- the babies were born three months premature -- the Clarks were ecstatic. But their elation quickly turned to sadness. Two days after being born on Feb. 5, Savannah died. Kevin said blood vessels in her head and lungs had burst and doctors were unable to stop the bleeding. A year later, Kaleb, who weighed about 2 pounds when he was born, now weighs more than 16 pounds, is 27 3/4 inches long and "crawling all over the place," his father said. (Kalebs birthday) was kinda bittersweet, Kevin said. We celebrated his birthday and hes doing fantastic, right up where he should be. But its bittersweet because we wish Savannah was here, too. To celebrate Kalebs first birthday, he got his first taste of chocolate cake and some vanilla ice cream, and opened some presents. Before his party, the family went outside to release a yellow balloon in Savannahs memory. Savannahs balloon isnt the only one the Clarks release each year. In 2010, their first son, Kaden, died after contracting a virus as his fifth birthday approached. Doctors never were able to determine what exactly killed Kaden. Each year on Kaden's birthday, the Clarks release a red balloon in his honor. Kadens passing, Kevin said, prepared them for Savannahs death, in a way. Having lost Kaden a couple of years ago, we have kind of been through it once before, Kevin said. I wont say it gets easier, but you learn how to manage it and youve got to be there for each other and help each other along through that. Youve got to keep your focus toward God. On Friday, the Clarks received a number of Facebook messages and texts wishing Kaleb a happy birthday. Looking back a year later, Kevin said hes had time to reflect on the experience and see their growth as a family. Today, its like if youd asked me a year ago, I wouldnt have thought I could ever have (help my wife give birth like that), Kevin said. Today its like, Wow, we went through that and here we are. Its not something I would ever wish on someone else to do. Were just thankful that we have Kaleb here with us. Watching last Thursdays debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders one might have thought a Republican had been in the White House for nearly eight years. Hearing their complaints about the economy (bad), discrimination (rampant), health care (too many without it), unemployment (too many not working, or working at low-paying jobs), it appeared hope had died and change is all we have left in our pockets. To hear these two ultra-liberals tell it, we are a horrible, miserable, evil nation. We are bigots, we are greedy because we wont surrender more of our income to the government gods, we hate anyone who isnt white, male and heterosexual, and we want to deport everyone who isnt a Christian. I wouldnt want to live in a country like that, would you? But that is not who we are. It is only who Democrats think we are. Hillary Clinton hasnt yet released transcripts of speeches she gave to Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers. When asked why not, she reverted to familiar Clinton obfuscation, promising to look into it. Want to bet theyre never released? Look how long and how many lawsuits it took to pry her emails from the State Department. And we still havent seen them all. Laura Myers, of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, writes that, according to Clintons standard speaking contract, she wont allow any press coverage or video- or audio-taping of her speeches, for which she charges six figures. McClatchyDC adds that the former secretary of state routinely demanded that a stenographer be present at her events so she could maintain a record of what she said. So we know the transcripts exist. She didnt ask for those big speaking fees, Clinton said. They just gave the money to her. Why would anyone expect those generous Wall Street brokers and hedge fund managers to ever ask for anything in return? How dare you! During this and in previous Democratic debates, we heard nothing about what you can do to make your life better. It is all about government. Clinton and Sanders would never qualify for membership in the Optimist club. Theirs is a steady stream of gloom, doom and pessimism. Americas best days are behind us and they werent so good after all. Slavery, racism and denial of womens rights the list goes on. In Bernie Sanders America no one will ever have to work again. College will be free, as will health care. The rich will pay for it all. Never mind that taking away their incentive to work and make a profit will reduce the amount of money they make and the government can take. Bernie will just borrow it from others and America will become like Greece. Socialism seems nothing more than mutually shared poverty. Adopt it, and we will all be equally poor. At last Thursdays National Prayer Breakfast, Mark Burnett, president of MGM Television and Digital Group, and his actress-wife and co-producer Roma Downey, told stories about immigrating to America he from England and she from Northern Ireland. Burnett, fresh from service in the British Army, took a job as a chauffeur and part-time nanny in Los Angeles. Downeys first job was checking coats at a fancy New York restaurant where she said she could not afford to eat. Burnett can now see the house where he once worked from his office window in Beverly Hills. He and Downey are producing biblical and family-friendly television programs. They own a home in Malibu. These are the kinds of success stories we used to tell and examples we used to urge Americans to follow. No matter ones present circumstances, you could make it in America. Success stories arent in the Democratic playbook. For Democrats, the only way to improve your life is for you to rely on government led by Democrats. Those who make it on their own it seems are punished by higher taxes and more regulations. The sun will come out tomorrow, sings an optimistic Annie in the Broadway musical. For Hillary and Bernie, its a hard knock life and its always Midnight in America. Alvin Guenthers letter to the editor (" On 'failed schools,' " Feb. 3) rightly points out contributions made to culture and society by public school graduates. His comments were a response to the School Choice Rally rally held at the Nebraska state capital on January 28 (" Hundreds pack Capitol steps for school choice rally "). Mr. Guenther rightly took issue with some school choice advocates who claim that some public schools are failed schools. In Nebraska, this is largely not true. Nebraska, and Lancaster County in particular, have excellent schools such as LPS, Norris and Waverly. I know because I have parishioners in all three school systems. But Catholic school graduates have made major accomplishments in the following areas: the establishment of the university system, the establishment of the scientific method, modern science in mathematics, philosophy, engineering, medicine, language, the fine arts, law and jurisprudence, cosmology and more. The list of accomplishments by Catholic school graduates is so lengthy it would take pages of this newspaper to list them all. Not only have Catholic schools been the patron of the arts and sciences but, in large part, they created them. Nebraska is one of the few states that does not have choice in educational tax dollars. There has to be a creative way to allow parents to direct at least part of their tax dollars to the school of their choice, without doing injury to the funding base for public schools. OMAHA The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a Scottsbluff man's child abuse conviction and vacated his prison sentence, adding that he cannot be tried again on the charge. Cody Olbricht, 26, was convicted last year of intentional child abuse resulting in serious injury, accused of severely beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter. He was sentenced to 18 to 30 years in prison. After the appeals court ruling, defense attorney Leonard Tabor said he hopes Olbricht can be released from prison soon, but Scotts Bluff County Attorney David Eubanks said prosecutors plan to ask the Nebraska Supreme Court to review the ruling. The appeals court said there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to convict Olbricht, adding that prosecutors failed to provide evidence that the child was in Olbricht's sole care at the time she received injuries that led to a brain bleed and lacerated liver. "We note that there was some circumstantial evidence that (the child) was afraid of Olbricht, that she said Olbricht hurt her and that she had previously suffered injuries while in Olbricht's care," Judge John Irwin wrote for the court. "However, this evidence is insufficient to overcome the fact that at least two other individuals could not be excluded as having caused the brain bleed and lacerated liver that are of significance in this case." The appeals court determined that because the case lacks sufficient evidence, double jeopardy applies and Olbricht cannot be tried again. Court records show the girl was hospitalized in late September 2014 after her grandmother noticed she had a fever and was lethargic and vomiting. Doctors determined she had multiple injuries. Besides the liver laceration and brain bleed, her injuries included a broken rib and bruising covering her body and face. Scottsbluff police said there was little food in the home, and the girl's clothes and bedding were stained with urine. The girl's mother, 25-year-old Cassandra Miller, was sentenced last year to two years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor child abuse by neglect. Tabor, Olbricht's attorney, said he had not had a chance by Tuesday afternoon to inform Olbricht of the ruling. "It was pretty close case from the get-go; I'm not terribly surprised," he said of appeals court ruling. Eubanks disagreed, saying he's confident that the evidence he presented over three days left no doubt that it was Olbricht who injured the child. "When the defendant testifies on cross-examination that he had exclusive control over the child in those two instances when the most severe injuries happened, it's hard to reconcile the evidence with the opinion," Eubanks said. SIOUX CITY, Iowa A Nebraska man charged in Iowa with killing his wife will stand trial in September. Rogelio Morales, 28, of Hubbard, Nebraska, will stand trial for first-degree murder Sept. 20 in Woodbury County District Court. The trial was scheduled for March 15 but his attorney sought an extension to allow more time to investigate the case and have Morales evaluated. Morales is accused of killing 21-year-old Margarita Morales, of South Sioux City, Nebraska, on April 19 near a Sioux City residence. Court documents say Morales told investigators a fight broke out when his wife told him she no longer wanted to be in a relationship. He said he wrapped his hands around her neck and that his next memory was his wife not breathing. OMAHA Even though officials say Omaha's tap water has met federal lead standards for years, a local health organization is planning to test tap water in light of the widespread contamination in Flint, Michigan. Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance CEO Kara Eastman said the organization, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Utilities District, will begin sampling tap water for lead this month. District spokeswoman Tracey Christensen said Omaha's tap water has consistently met federal drinking standards since testing began in 1992. "We felt that despite the fact that MUD has assured the community that water is healthy in homes, we should make sure," Eastman said. Eastman said the organization will only test homes most likely to have lead pipes. The district said the threshold for testing will be any home built before 1960. Records indicate that more than 15,400 of the utility's 207,026 customers may have lead or partial lead service lines, Christensen said. Tap water in Omaha has tested well enough that it only requires checking every three years, said Howard Isaacs, Nebraska's top drinking water regulator. The next round of tests is scheduled for later this year. Residents at 25 homes with copper pipes and 25 homes with lead pipes will collect tap water for the district, which ships the samples to the state for testing. Additionally, the district tests its own water for lead monthly. The utility says none of the tests has detected lead. The alliance, which grew out of a $309 million federal cleanup of lead-contaminated yards in Omaha, examines about 300 homes for environmental problems each year. My'Kah Knowlin, 14, of Lincoln was named one of Nebraska's top two youth volunteers of 2016 by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, a nationwide program honoring young people for outstanding acts of volunteerism. She was nominated by Lincoln High School, where she is a freshman. My'Kah formed a network of student role models and mentors at nine schools throughout Nebraska to help stop bullying and support victims. After years of being bullied herself, she said she believed the only way to stop it was to commit suicide. I couldnt see any other way out, she said. But she was lucky enough to have a strong support system, and instead resolved to provide other victims of bullying with the kind of support she had received. I want to make sure that no one feels suicide is their only choice, but to know there are others out there who want to stand beside them and help them get through the hard times, she said. My STORIES Because she felt that sharing personal stories of bullying would be key to helping other victims, MyKah named her initiative My STORIES, an acronym for Students Teaching Others Respect, Independence, Empowerment and Strength. She recruited students in her school and other schools to reach out to kids being bullied, offered to stand beside them, taught them how to document and report incidents, and bolstered their self-respect. In one instance, MyKah intervened directly to help save a young girl from taking her own life. I may not be able to protect all students, she said, but I will stand up to those I see trying to hurt others, and I will continue to educate those who want to help. She and the other state honoree Golden Kelly, 13, of Omaha, will each receive $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and an all-expense-paid trip in early May to Washington, D.C., where they will join the top two honorees from each of the other states and the District of Columbia for four days of national recognition events. During the trip, 10 students will be named Americas top youth volunteers of 2016. Staehr finalist Tabitha Staehr, 18, of Lincoln, a senior at Lincoln Southwest High School, received one of the two Distinguished Finalist awards and an engraved bronze medallion. She founded the Schuyler Peterson Toy Drive Foundation in 2009 to honor the memory of her best friend Schuyler Peterson, and has since collected and distributed more than 2,500 toys to children in need. She hosts annual birthday celebrations on Schuylers birthday where she asks attendees to bring toy donations, and an annual Christmas party for which she recruits volunteers to help collect, sort and wrap gifts for children. RACINE The 15th annual Jeans Jazz Series continues at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, with a performance by Davina and the Vagabonds at the Racine Theatre Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave. Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds shows are filled with New Orleans charm, Memphis soul swagger, dark theatrical moments and tender gospel passages. Bringing you 100 years of American music and Sowers originals, which lend themselves to the American songbook, the band brings edgy nostalgia to older generations and fresh new music to younger ears. This rollicking quintet is held together by Sowers keyboard playing, with acoustic bass, drums, and a spicy trumpet and trombone horn section. The groups focused, clean sound and emphasis on acoustic instruments is novel to both blues and jazz worlds, and sets the show closer to New Orleans than to Chicago. Joe Mooney created Jeans Jazz Series in 2001 to raise money for the Racine Theatre Guild, in memory of his wife Jean, who died that year. Jean had been a jazz devotee and a dedicated volunteer for the Racine Theatre Guild. Each concert is a social event. Complimentary treats are provided at intermission. Cash bar and concessions are available throughout the evening and musicians are on hand to chat and autograph CDs after their performances. The remaining lineup for the series: March 26 A Night with the Shout Section Big Band April 30 Jazz Spectrum Vocal Quartet and the Extra Crispy Brass Band Tickets for each show cost $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $5 for students. Call 262-633-4218 or go to www.racinetheatre.org (discounts cannot be applied to online orders). RACINE It was a cold-blooded execution of his newborn daughters godfather, prompted by the alleged theft of $100, Racine Countys top prosecutor told jurors during the first day of a Racine mans homicide trial. Jacob W. Rogers, 28, went on trial Monday in the fatal shooting of his friend, Andrew L. Jones Jr., 27, of Kenosha. Rogers is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon in the March 2 shooting death. Mr. Rogers fires two shots, unprovoked, at an unarmed man sitting on the couch. He turns right back around and empties the clip, Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete told jurors during opening statements in the potentially week-long homicide trial. Eleven wounds. Seven separate shots entered the body of the victim. Rogers is accused of killing Jones on March 2, allegedly after a dispute about $100 missing from Rogers dresser. The shooting occurred in Rogers apartment in the Allegro Apartments, 522 3 Mile Road. Rogers and his girlfriend, Katelyn McGraw, 23, then fled the apartment, according to Rogers criminal complaint. Chiapete told jurors that when arrested, Rogers told police, I killed him. Yeah, I killed him. You can use this against me in court. The D.A. also said that Rogers told police: He wont steal from another (expletive) in his life. One of Rogers defense attorneys, Adrienne Moore, who heads the State Public Defenders trial office in Racine, matter-of-factly told jurors that Rogers did shoot his friend. Jacob Rogers is guilty of homicide. The only question is which (type of) homicide, she said, adding Rogers should not be found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory term of life behind bars. Theres a saying that its easier to forgive ones enemy than ones friend, Moore said. And thats what happened in this case, she told jurors. He loved Andrew Jones like a brother, Moore said. The background On Feb. 27, Rogers and McGraw traveled to Illinois for her to give birth to their daughter, Moore said. Jones, who was the infants godfather, held the newborn, then Rogers held his daughter, and then she was taken by the Human Services Department, Moore said. The $100 in Rogers dresser was to be used so Rogers could return to Chicago to fight to get custody of his daughter, Moore said. Rogers only child had been taken from him, then he learned that the man he regarded as a brother had stolen from him, Moore said. He snapped and he killed his friend. He is not guilty of first-degree intentional homicide. He is guilty of second-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon, Moore said. Rogers reportedly confronted Jones, who denied the theft, according to his criminal complaint. Jones family and friends also have denied that Jones stole cash from Rogers. Not an offer During a hearing last week, Rogers rejected a plea offer. Chiapete said Thursday that if Rogers pleaded to first-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon, Chiapete wouldnt charge Rogers sister for housing him for a night after the shooting. Additionally, Chiapete said, I wouldnt send his gun on to the feds for additional prosecution. While Rogers charge is punishable by a mandatory life term, there are multiple sentencing options. He could receive natural life; be eligible for release after 25 years; or that release decision could be left to a judge after Rogers first serves 25 years. Chiapete said Thursday he would argue for life, leaving the release decision to the judge. Rogers remains in the Racine County Jail on $1 million cash bond. His trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning, Feb. 9. In a related case, Jacob M. Albright, 28, of Somers, is accused of trying to hide the gun allegedly used by Rogers to fatally shoot Jones. Albright is scheduled for a plea and sentencing on Feb. 19. In Brief Police continue to investigate Downtown crash RACINE Police said Monday they are continuing to investigate the fiery Downtown Saturday crash that seriously injured two people, but police declined to release any additional information about the incident. At about 2:38 a.m. Saturday, police and firefighters responded to the 400 block of Main Street for a two-vehicle crash. After a report of a vehicle on fire and people trapped inside, officers arrived and found one vehicle rolled over and engulfed in flames, police said. A report of shots fired was called in around the same time, but police have not confirmed if the two incidents are related. Anyone with information about the incident is urged to call the Racine Police Departments Investigations Unit at 262-635-7756. You can also anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 262-636-9330 or by texting RACS plus the message to 274637 and referring to Tipsoft I.D. #TIP417 within the text message. Vandalized statue to be re-dedicated Feb. 14 BURLINGTON Old Abe will soon be back on his feet and standing tall. Burlingtons century-old Abraham Lincoln statue, which was toppled by vandals last month, will be reinstalled this week and unveiled at 2 p.m., Sunday. The 8-foot statue, which stands at the intersection of Kane and State streets, was given to the city by Dr. Francis W. Meinhardt in 1913. It was restored and re-dedicated in 1995 and again in 2014. The Feb. 14 ceremony will feature music, Civil War re-enactors, and several speakers. The statue was knocked over Jan. 30 when Jacob Hinds, 22, and an associate allegedly used a truck to pull it off its pedestal. Hinds has since been charged with felony criminal damage to property. Repairs to the statue cost roughly $5,000, city officials have said. Three winning Badger 5 tickets sold in county RACINE COUNTY Seven lucky players matched all five numbers in the Badger 5 drawing Feb. 5 to split the nights $111,000 jackpot. Fridays winning Badger 5 numbers were 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30. Three of the winning tickets were purchased in Racine County two at Fairview Shell, 991 W. Main St., Waterford, and one at Speedway, 4960 Douglas Ave., Caledonia. Winners at all prize levels have 180 days from the drawing to claim their prizes by mail or in person at the Lotterys Madison or Milwaukee offices. Tinted windows land hobbyist in jail DOVER A 39-year-old Greenfield man landed in Racine County Jail Sunday after Racine County sheriffs deputies allegedly discovered a cache of drug paraphernalia and various lock-picking tools in his vehicle. According to the criminal complaint, a deputy was on patrol near the intersection of Durand Avenue (Highway 11) and Schoen Road in Dover, when he allegedly spotted Paul J. Franks maroon Hyundai Elantra and noticed that the windows were tinted. After initiating a traffic stop and ticketing Frank for having an illegal side window tint, another deputy arrived on scene with sheriffs dog, Nitro. A search of the vehicle followed and allegedly turned up: a loaded handgun; a pink Vipertek electric weapon; a bag of marijuana concealed in a Clorox sanitizer wipes container; and two vaporizers. Deputies also allegedly found: three cylinder lock picks; a slim Jim style vehicle door lock pick; a yellow door lock shim; and a pack of plastic door lock shims. A black hooded sweatshirt that covered the head like a mask when zipped up was also allegedly located. When asked about the lock picking tools, Frank reportedly told the deputies that he uses lock picking tools as a hobby. Frank, of the 4400 block of South 114th Street, was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with a felony count of possession of an electronic weapon; a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon; four misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia; and three misdemeanor counts of possession of cannabis. He remained in custody Monday in the Racine County Jail. Slap to deputy nets felony charge BURLINGTON A 24-year-old Town of Wheatland man is facing a felony battery to law enforcement charge after slapping a Kenosha County Sheriffs Deputy Saturday morning at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington. According to a criminal complaint, deputies from the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department had been dispatched to a single-vehicle accident in Kenosha County earlier that morning. The driver of the vehicle, 24-year-old Joshua D. Broaddus, who was arrested and taken into custody on pending charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, was then transported to the hospital for possible injuries. It was there deputies told a City of Burlington Police officer that Broaddus, of the 32000 block of 45th Street, allegedly became argumentative with hospital staff. It was as the deputies were attempting to handcuff Broadduss left hand to the bed, that he allegedly slapped one of the officers with his right hand, the complaint states. Broaddus was eventually handcuffed to the bed, according to the complaint, but continued to rock violently in the bed and yell epithets at the deputies and the responding Burlington police officers until he was eventually sedated. He was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court and remained at Racine County Jail on Monday night on $5,000 bond, court and jail records showed. Journal Times staff RACINE COUNTY One of the major priorities for President Barack Obamas final year is on thin ice in Congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview Tuesday that many concerns have been raised over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major 12-country trade deal with Pacific Rim countries reached last year. Obama has called for Congress to pass the agreement, but lawmakers would not do so if a vote was held today, Ryan said. There are enough concerns about this agreement, some that I also have, where I dont see enough support for it right now, Ryan, R-Wis., told The Journal Times on Tuesday. Ryan didnt elaborate on specifics, but the agreement has been met with bipartisan skepticism. While the Obama administration has been the driving force behind TPP, many Democrats oppose the deal, arguing it would cost American jobs. Opponents include both Democrats in the presidential race, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Obama, meanwhile, has said the deal levels the playing field for American workers, eliminates 18,000 taxes, and includes the strongest commitments on labor and the environment of any trade agreement in history. Ryan meets with Obama TPP was one of the topics Ryan, whose district includes Racine County, discussed with Obama when the two met for about three hours last week. Ryan said he and the president found some areas of agreement, including reforms on criminal justice and mental health. He expects measures related to those issues to move through Congress this year. We obviously aired our differences on a whole host of issues, he said. We also looked where we could find some common ground. Ryan, however, did not anticipate finding much common ground on Obamas budget proposal, which was released Tuesday. Im sure hell put a lot of things in his budget for political reasons to make political points with no expectation of action on them, is what I expect, Ryan said. Without money to advertise the states new law requiring voters to bring a photo ID to the polls, state officials are appealing to broadcasters to spread the word. The long-delayed voter ID requirement takes effect in a statewide election for the first time at the Feb. 16 spring primary. Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy on Monday showcased voter ID public service announcements that urge voters to bring it to the ballot. For voters who lack an ID that meets the requirement, they explain how to get one. We think its important, before the election season starts, to remind people about the need to have a picture ID when you get to the polls, Kennedy said. Implementation of the voter ID requirement has been in limbo since it was enacted in 2011 except for a sparsely attended primary in early 2012 while a string of court challenges to the law were being resolved. That changed in March, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of one of the court challenges. Since then, Kennedy said the board has begun preparing for voter ID to take effect. Officials have held educational sessions with community groups to discuss the requirement and created a voter ID website, bringit.wisconsin.gov. They also are asking TV and radio stations to air the public service announcements in place of paid advertising. But nothing requires the stations to do so. Critics note the board has no money for paid advertising to raise awareness of the law, a step taken by other states that implemented voter ID. At least one group, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, has called on lawmakers to provide such funding in the waning days of the 2016 session. Kennedy said Monday that more money would be helpful but added that were not going to sit on our hands if it doesnt materialize. If moneys available, were prepared to go forward, Kennedy said. Efforts to raise public awareness of voter ID have been hampered repeatedly by the stop-and-start nature of the court proceedings related to the law. In 2011, lawmakers provided $1.9 million to the board for voter ID implementation $436,000 of which was set aside for a public education campaign. The board spent about $181,000 of that crafting much of the campaign it showcased Monday. But a 2012 court order halted the implementation of voter ID. What was left of that money either was spent elsewhere or was returned to the state treasury, board spokesman Reid Magney said. In September 2014 with voter ID expected to be in effect for that years general election the board asked lawmakers for about $461,000 for a TV and radio campaign. But days later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order of its own, blocking implementation of voter ID for the upcoming election. The ID requirement says voters must come to the polls with one of a list of approved photo IDs that include their signature, such as a Wisconsin drivers license, U.S. passport or U.S. military ID. Some student and tribal IDs qualify if theyre not expired. Student IDs also must be accompanied by a separate document that proves enrollment, such as a tuition statement. The states low-profile effort to educate voters about Wisconsins new voter ID requirement has critics fearing some voters will be caught off-guard when they head to the polls. The voter ID requirement takes effect this year, starting with the spring primary election on Feb. 16 and followed by the spring election and presidential primary on April 5. The voter ID law was enacted in 2011 and briefly took effect for the 2012 spring primary election until court challenges halted its implementation. Wisconsins voter ID requirement is among the most restrictive of any state. Voters must come to the polls with one of a list of approved photo IDs that include their signature, such as a Wisconsin drivers license, U.S. passport or U.S. military ID. Some student and tribal IDs qualify if theyre not expired. Student IDs also must be accompanied by a separate document that proves enrollment, such as a tuition statement. The state elections board has created a website, bringit.wisconsin.gov, to inform the public about voter ID. It also has crafted public service announcements that TV and radio stations may run, and has a staffer conducting voter ID presentations to advocacy groups that work with voters. But the state elections board, the Government Accountability Board, has no funds available for advertising about the new requirement, according to its spokesman, Reid Magney. Larry Dupuis is legal director of ACLU of Wisconsin, one of the groups that has challenged the voter ID law in court. Now that its clear the law will go into effect, Dupuis said he and other groups fear too many voters will be uninformed when they head to the polls. We are worried that theres not a sufficiently robust effort at public education because theres not the money for it, Dupuis said. Other states that implemented voter ID in recent years launched paid media campaigns to educate voters. Pennsylvania spent $5 million on an ad campaign, Alabama ran print ads and Mississippi won advertising awards for its voter ID spots. Wendy Underhill, an elections expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said Kansas ran billboards with the slogan: Got Voter ID? Andrea Kaminski is director of League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, another group that has challenged the voter ID law in court. Kaminski said lawmakers should act quickly, before the close of the 2015-2016 legislative session, to set aside funds for voter ID ads on radio and TV. If our lawmakers want people to vote and they should then they should be willing to budget money to help people do that, Kaminski said. The offices of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Senate President Mary Lazich, as well as the leaders of the Assembly and Senate elections committees Rep. Kathy Bernier and Sen. Devin LeMahieu didnt respond to inquiries this week about the matter. For now, Magney said the boards educational strategy on voter ID revolves around the website, the PSAs and earned media or persuading journalists to report on it. The board plans a Monday press conference to call attention to voter ID. The GAB could not have asked lawmakers to fund voter ID education in its funding request for the current state budget. Magney said thats because, at the time state agencies filed their budget requests in late 2014, the voter ID requirement still was on hold due to a court order. That changed in March, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a legal challenge to the law, allowing for it to start being enforced. League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is doing what it can to educate the public, Kaminski said. The leagues 18 local chapters throughout the state are holding events and dropping literature at public libraries, high schools and seniors centers, and the organization has added a staff member to focus on voter ID education. But Kaminski said her organization can only do so much. Im sure that some people will be surprised on Election Day, she said. [Editor's note: This story has been updated since it was first published to note that the Government Accountability Board is providing TV stations with public service announcements about voter ID, in addition to audio announcements to radio stations.] After years of debate and numerous court challenges, 2016 is the year the rubber hits the road for voter ID in Wisconsin. The voter ID requirement takes effect in a statewide election for the first time this year. The state elections board has created a Bring It To The Ballot voter ID website as a public resource on the requirement. Here are some questions and answers on how voter ID affects you: When do I need to show an ID? Every time you head to the polls to vote, starting with the Feb. 16 spring primary. Voters must also be registered prior to voting. Why now? Voter ID in Wisconsin isnt new; Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker enacted it into law in 2011. But the law has been on hold, with a few brief exceptions, since that time while a series of legal challenges to it filtered through the courts. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the law, paving the way for voter ID to be implemented. What if Im voting absentee? Youre still required to provide an ID. If youre voting absentee in-person at your local municipal clerks office, you can show your ID then. Or if youre requesting an absentee ballot by mail, email or fax, you must provide a copy of your ID with your request. There are exemptions from this requirement for military, permanent overseas and confidential voters. Theres also an exemption for voters who are indefinitely confined meaning they would have difficulty getting from their home to the polling place on Election Day due to age, illness or disability or living in care facilities such as nursing homes. What kinds of IDs qualify? You must bring one of a list of IDs sanctioned under state law. The following are acceptable if theyre current or recently expired meaning they expired after Nov. 4, 2014: Photo IDs issued by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, including driver licenses, state ID cards and learner permits. Military IDs issued by a U.S. uniformed service. U.S. passports and passport cards. An ID issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin (acceptable even if expired before Nov. 4, 2014). The following IDs also are acceptable. Certificates of naturalization issued not earlier than two years before the date of the election in which youre voting. A driving receipt or ID card receipt issued by the Wisconsin DOT no more than 45 days ago. A citation or notice of intent to revoke or suspend a Wisconsin DOT-issued driver license dated within 60 days of the election. You also may use some student IDs from colleges, technical colleges or universities, though that makes things more complicated. What are the strings attached to a student ID? In addition to the student ID, you also must provide a separate document, such as a tuition statement, that proves your current enrollment at the applicable college or university. Also, the student ID must expire no later than two years after it was issued. Another wrinkle is that the IDs issued by some public colleges and universities dont comply with the requirement. For example, UW-Madison student IDs are good for five years but dont include a signature of the ID holder, as required under the law. UW-Madison will issue a different, voter-ID-compliant ID to students who want one, but they must request it. What if the address on my ID is out of date? It does not matter if the address on your ID isnt the same as where youre registered to vote. Youre using your ID to prove your identity, not where you live. What if I dont have one of these IDs? You may obtain an ID from the state Division of Motor Vehicles for free. Be sure to check the box that says you need the ID for voting. When you go to your local DMV, youll need to bring documents that prove your name, date of birth, identity, citizenship or legal status, and Wisconsin residency. According to the Bring It To The Ballot website, most people will be fine if they bring a certified birth certificate, a Social Security card, and a utility bill or cell phone bill. You must bring the original documents; copies wont work. What if I dont have a birth certificate? You will need to bring the documents you do have to the DMV office, where they will help locate your birth record for free. As part of the process, you must fill out an application claiming that the documents you need are unavailable. The information provided on this form is used to communicate with state and federal partners to verify unavailable documentation, according to the state DMV. Once that verification is made, the ID will be processed and mailed to the applicants address. What if I go to vote but forget my ID? You have the option to vote without your ID by casting a provisional ballot. But theres a crucial catch: your vote wont be counted unless you return to show your ID. If you can return to your polling place on Election Day with your ID, you can do so any time before 8 p.m. If you cant return to your polling place the same day, you have until 4 p.m. on the Friday after Election Day to visit your local municipal clerks office to show your ID. Can I vote now? Yes. Early and absentee voting for the spring primary are underway. You can request an absentee ballot by mail, email or fax, so long as your request reaches your local municipal clerk no later than 5 p.m. Thursday. Early voting in-person at your local municipal clerks office lasts until Friday. Check with your local clerk for office hours. Withering on the Vine The Demographic Time Bomb is Most Marked in Japan The demographic time bomb whereby the elderly population assumes a greater and ... Government Sexual Libertinism Coming to a Government School Near You Further to our piece yesterday on the promotion of sexual libertinism in government schools, we rep... 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"It is Finished": the Sixth Word from the Cross It is Finished: our Lords Sixth Word from the Cross What is history? That simple question covers a multitude of complexity, profundity... [JURIST] The French National Assembly [official website, in French] on Tuesday voted to preserve, within the constitution, a process for declaring a state of emergency following the deadly terrorist attacks [JURIST report] last year. The draft constitutional law, Nation Protection, No. 3381 [text, in French] could allow for administrative detention [RFI report] without prior permission of the person in the home or place subject to an administrative search, and administrative searches. Parliament would still have to give approval for a state of emergency lasting longer than 12 days [EXPATICA report]. The French government declared a state of emergency following the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13. In November, French police authorities conducted more than 2,700 raids and enforced 360 house arrests [JURIST report]. In this period, at least 20 complaints were filed against the French government, a majority by the French Muslim population who allege abuse and unfair targeting [JURIST report] of Muslims. On November 19 the French National Assembly voted to extend the state of emergency until February 2016. In December more than 100 organizations issued a statement [JURIST report] asking the French government to lift the state of emergency. The Israel Parliament [official website] on Monday approved [press release] the first reading of a non-governmental organizations (NGO) transparency bill that would require any NGO that receives foreign political funding must publish the contributions. The bill, which passed in a close vote of 50 43, would also require NGOs to report a list of countries that support them in any forum. Many critics have denounced the bill claiming that it unfairly targets leftists that support Palestinian rights. While introducing the bill, Israels Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said, [i]ntegrity, transparency and good governance are matters that are not promoted by only one party in this room. The NGO transparency bill now moves to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee where it will be prepped for a second and third reading. Recent conflicts between Israel and Palestine [HRW backgrounder] over settlements in the occupied West Bank have raised concerns over possible human rights violations. Last month Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] businesses to cease operations in Israel settlements. In August UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both sides of the conflict [JURIST report] to reconcile and move towards peace after an attack occurred in the West Bank village of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home while the family slept. In April HRW alleged [report] that Israeli settlement farmers in the occupied West Bank are using Palestinian child laborers in dangerous conditions in violation of international laws. Last January Germanys top human rights official urged Israel to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories. After a prosecutor for the ICC announced the investigation [JURIST report], Israels government said that it would not work with the ICC and called for its funding to be cut. [JURIST] Maldives police arrested a judge and former prosecutor general on Sunday for issuing an arrest warrant for current president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom [official profile] without police consent. Yameens spokesman identified [AP report] the arrested men as Judge Ahmed Nihan, a magistrate from near Male, and Muhthaz Muhsin, a prosecutor general removed by parliament last year. Nihan issued the warrant following allegations that Gayoom had been embezzling state funds. Police authorities claimed that the warrant was fraudulent because it did not originate from a police request. The police later released [Reuters report] Muhsin for unknown reasons. Mohamed Nasheed [official profile], former president and leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) [party website], accused the police of covering up Yameens corruption and urged them to uphold the law. Muhsin was one of three high-level officials in the Maldives removed [JURIST report] from their positions late last year. In November the Maldives parliament unanimously passed a declaration to remove [JURIST report] Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor [official profile] from his position as vice president due to accusations that he had been planning to kill Gayoom. Ex-vice president Mohamed Jameel was impeached [JURIST report] by parliament in July for neglecting his duties. He was believed to have been closely associated with jailed ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, who was imprisoned for ordering the arrest of a top judge while serving as president. The Maldives government has created significant controversy over the last three years, following Nasheeds resignation in 2012. In March 2013 Maldives police authorities arrested Nasheed [JURIST report] for missing a court appearance over charges that he illegally detained a judge prior to his resignation. In February 2015 Nasheed was arrested again, this time for alleged violations [JURIST report] of the countrys anti-terrorism law. The next month the Criminal Court of Maldives sentenced Nasheed to 13 years in prison [JURIST report] for terrorism-related charges. Nasheeds trial garnered international attention from civil rights advocates. Immediately following the trial UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein condemned the trial proceedings for violations of due process [JURIST report]. [JURIST] South Africas Constitutional Court [official website] on Tuesday heard the case [case materials] against President Jacob Zuma [official website] over expensive home renovations. The charges come after the president made more than 20 million dollars in home upgrades. In 2014, the state watchdog agency suggested that he pay back some of the money spent on the home upgrades. Last week Zuma offered [statement] to pay back some of the money in order to avoid a public hearing, but the Public Protectors report from 2014 did not detail the specific amount to be paid back. The report also found that the president did not commit any wrong-doing but that the spending on five aspects of the home improvements needed to be determined in order to find out what type of compensation the president would need to make. Zuma was ousted [JURIST report] as the countrys deputy president in 2005 after an aide was convicted of corruption. He was also charged with rape, but he was ultimately acquitted and reinstated [JURIST report] as African National Congress (ANC) deputy vice president. In July 2008 the South African Constitutional Court rejected a motion [JURIST report] by Zuma to exclude evidence from the corruption trial. Zuma had argued [JURIST report] that evidence seized in 2005 raids by the Directorate of Special Investigations should be thrown out because the raids violated his rights to privacy and a fair trial. The court upheld the warrants used in the raids, confirming a November 2007 decision [JURIST report] by the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was first charged with corruption in 2005, but those charges were later dismissed [JURIST report] because prosecutors failed to follow proper procedures. [JURIST] The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) [official website] of the UK Parliament released a report [text, PDF] on Monday outlining its concerns with a proposed bill that plans to expand data collection and Internet spying. The Investigatory Powers Bill [text, PDF; Guardian backgrounder] was intended to improve transparency after the extent of government spying was leaked by Edward Snowden, but the ISC believes the bill is handicapped from the outset in terms of the extent to which it can provide a clear and comprehensive legal framework to govern the use and oversight of investigatory powers. The report specifically calls for increased universal privacy protection instead of just for sensitive professions. The ISC also requests that equipment interference warrants be limited in scope and that bulk personal data warrants be eliminated. Surveillance and data collection have been a worldwide topic of discussion, particularly after Snowden leaked top-secret [JURIST report] US National Security Agency (NSA) documents in 2013. Last month a UN rights groups criticized [JURIST report] the Investigatory Powers Bill, stating it could threaten freedom of expression and association. In December China passed a new anti-terrorism law [JURIST report] that requires technology companies to provide information to the government obtained from their products and make information systems secure and controllable. In October the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied [JURIST report] a motion by the American Civil Liberties Union to halt the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA. The court ruled that Congress intended for the agency to continue its data collection over the transition period, and the new legislation was to take effect November 29. In June the French Parliament adopted [JURIST report] a new surveillance bill that would give French intelligence serves the authority to monitor Internet use metadata. In February the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled [JURIST report] that the UKs mass surveillance of citizens Internet use violates human rights law. In July 2014 civil liberties groups sued [JURIST report] the UKs Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, alleging that the agency accesses data from undersea cables in violation of the rights to private life and freedom of expression. [JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] on Tuesday urged the Sri Lankan government to investigate and locate thousands of civilians [statement] that went missing during the nations civil war. Speaking at the end of his mission to Sri Lanka, Zeid asked that the government quickly locate civilians that are missing and identify whether they are alive or dead: [T]he Prime Ministers recent statement that nearly all the disappeared persons are dead has created great distress among their families, who until then still had hope. This statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or been killed, properly account for their deathsincluding whether or not they were unlawfulidentify the location of their remains, and provide redress. There are an estimated 4,000 people missing, though the government has warned that many might be dead. The UN released a report in September finding that war crimes may have been committed [JURIST report] during the Sri Lankan civil war. Later that month the President of Sri Lanka rejected [JURIST report] a UN recommendation for international involvement in its domestic investigation of the war crimes. The UN report came amid mounting pressure on the Sri Lankan government from human rights groups and the international community to investigate and prosecute abuses during the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [CFR backgrounder]. In 2014 then-US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Stephen Rapp called on Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses [JURIST report] by security forces during the civil war. In 2013 UK Prime Minister David Cameron demanded [JURIST report] that the Sri Lankan government conduct its own investigation into war crime allegations. Earlier that year, then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on [JURIST report] Sri Lanka to improve its human rights record. The UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus reported [press release] Tuesday that the countrys dismal human rights conditions have remained unchanged since the October presidential election. Miklos Haraszti, UN Special Rapporteur, reported human rights violations since the election that include harassment of those who attempted to practice their individual, civil, political and other rights. For example, freelance journalists have continued to be sanctioned and fined along with participants of political demonstrations against the death penalty. Haraszti highlighted that Belarus has for twenty years been the only country in Europe where there is no opposition in parliament and that although EU and US sanctions against the country had been partially suspended in anticipation of improving human rights, the government has not shown any willingness to reform the entrenched [and] highly oppressive legal system. The Special Rapporteur said [press release] that if authorities would form a pluralistic legislative body, it would show that the country is willing to work toward abiding by international standards and he offered his services to the authorities to ensure such a reform. Belarus has faced continued scrutiny over human rights abuses. In August EU officials praised [JURIST report] Belarus president for his release of political prisoners. In June UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus Miklos Haraszti warned [JURIST report] that Belarus continues to sentence and imprison political opponents of the government. In March 2014 he called for the country to end its use of the death penalty, reiterating earlier statements [JURIST reports] and citing politically motivated courts and the lack of fair trials. In 2011 former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay suggested a need for UN intervention [JURIST report] in Belarus and demanded the nation free non-violent political prisoners. Although Belarus is an active member of the UN and has ratified many of its human rights policies, Pillay noted a sharp deterioration in human rights since the 2010 disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] said Monday that at least 21 people died [press release] in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in attacks aimed at Hutus, with 40 more people being wounded and dozens of houses burned. This is the latest in a series of attacks that has recently intensified due to a Rwandan Hutu militia, operating out of DRC, being accused of killing 14 ethnic Nande. The attack was believed to involve a Nande-dominated militia and a Nyonga-dominated group, two other local ethnic groups that have been involved in the conflicts. Expressing concern over the escalating inter-communal violence, OHCHR spokesperson Cecile Pouilly said, [w]e call upon the Congolese Government to do its utmost to ensure the protection of civilians and eradicate the threat of armed groups. We urge all sides to exercise restraint and engage in a meaningful dialogue in order to de-escalate tensions. The DRC [UN News Centre backgrounder] and surrounding region has seen a high level of conflict in the past decades, and the extension of presidencies has been a contributing issue in many African nations. At the end of January UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official profile] urged African leaders to avoid using loopholes and undemocratic constitutional changes to cling to power [JURIST report]. Last year protests and demonstrations [JURIST report] took place across the DRC to oppose the proposed changes in the law that would allow President Joseph Kabila to extend his presidential term past the allotted two-year limit, and the government was accused of using excessive force against these protesters. The Syrian government is systematically exterminating detainees, the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] reported [text, PDF] Monday. The report details [press release] that thousands of detainees held by the Syrian government have been beaten or have died as a result of injuries sustained due to torture. Many other detainees have reportedly perished as a consequence of inhumane living conditions and deprivation of medical care to treat rape, sexual violence and other brutal acts. The report states that these purposeful killings and allowed deaths have occurred with frequency over a long period of time, in numerous locations controlled by Syria, and supported by state funds. Anti-government forces have also held political prisoners in makeshift prisons under inhumane conditions and have summarily executed government soldiers. The Syrian Civil War [JURIST backgrounder] has been ongoing since 2011 when opposition groups first began protesting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and the increasingly bloody nature of the conflict has put pressure on the international community to intervene. In November Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] released a report stating that the practice of caging captured soldiers and civilians constitutes hostage-taking [JURIST report] and an outrage against their personal dignity. In October France opened a torture investigation [JURIST report] into the actions of the Syrian government under Assad in detention facilities. Additionally, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] released a report [JURIST report] in October detailing the possibility of war crimes in Syria. The AI report criticized the Syrian government by stating that they have maintained unlawful sieges, restricted humanitarian assistance deliveries, deliberately attacked civilians, and carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, arbitrary detentions, abductions and enforced disappearances. 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. 17 oil tankers enter through Birgunj point Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said 17 fuel tankers entered Nepal through the Birgunj-Raxaul border point on Monday. North Korean satellite is in orbit, says South A satellite sent into space by North Korea is in orbit but it is not yet clear whether it is working, South Korea's defence ministry has said. Seize the day With oil prices down, government should consider introducing a new levy on petroleum products Devkota is an expert in federalism and local governments, and is an independent member of the National Assembly. Mike Dunleavy the governor of the US state of Alaska is intending to introduce legislation that will repeal the two state boards which regu... I get homesick for a time and place that no longer exists" ANGOLA A red-tailed hawk that had the misfortune of crashing into a window at EMF Corp. was rehabilitated and released back into the wild Monday by volunteers from Soarin Hawk Raptor Rehabilitation Center, Fort Wayne. And staff at EMF Corp. got to once again see the bird they helped rescue when it was released toward a wooded area and lake near the companys property Monday afternoon. Birds are typically returned to the wild in the area where they are rescued. On Jan. 14 the bird struck the office window and staff from EMF called Soarin Hawk upon the advice of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Rehabilitators Louie Lee and Lana White of Marsh Lake were on the scene in minutes and took the bird to Soarin Hawk. Its eye was completely shut on one side and its vision was blurred on the other side, Lee said. Its a miracle bird. We didnt know if it would make it. It was also believed that the bird may have sustained a concussion. I was blinded for about a day and received medical care from Dr. Pat Funnel. Upon arrival to Soarin Hawk, the bird was reluctant to receive care. It had to be force fed its first day but began eating on its own the following day. Because of its initial condition, it was not known if the bird would recover enough to be released back in the wild, which is the goal of Soarin Hawk. Im so happy you people called. This is the ending we hope for, Lee told EMF employees. The bird made a quick recovery, Lee said, which was benefitted by a donation from EMF. The day the bird hit the window in Linda Mottingers office, she didnt know what had happened. One office away, Dave Daugherty thought some ice had fallen off the roof. Jackie Poe said the building shook. My first reaction was, whos out there, Mottinger said. I was in the office next door and I heard it, too. I just thought it was ice falling off the roof, Daughtery said. When EMF personnel found the bird, it was face down in the snow and breathing heavily, Daughtery said. He thought about going out and trying to clear the snow and possibly upright the bird so it didnt suffocate, but thought better of it for his own safety because of the sharp talons hawks possess. The bird did right itself within about 20 or 30 minutes, Daughtery said. When Lee and wife Lana White arrived, the bird was stunned and easy to handle. On Monday, Lee arrived with his hand bandaged after taking a talon to the hand through a thick leather glove. The folks at EMF decided to name the bird Harvey. Then the name was lengthened to Harvey Ethan Hawke. And a few others, perhaps longing for happy hour, changed it to Harvey Wallbanger. Lee said the sex of the bird is not known; it can only be determined through DNA testing or dissection. Mottinger joked that it had to be a male because a female would not stray off like a male. Before releasing Harvey or any bird for that matter the bird must be determined to be healthy and be able to fend for itself in the wild. Soarin Hawk currently has about 16 birds being rehabilitated, from as large as a bald eagle that was injured near Shipshewana to three American Kestrals, the smallest of falcons. It costs upward of $180 to rehab a bird at Soarin Hawk. In addition, Soarin Hawk has 14 education birds, birds that cant be returned to the wild that are used to educate the public about raptors. In 2015, Soarin Hawk rehabilitated some 200 birds. Up, up and away See a video clip of the hawks release at KPCNews.com My Official Blog - My own world is also on any mobile device. Please feel free to view the blog, and make sure that the comments that you put in are appropriate! Metro has always been kinda charitable in their attempts to get Angelenos in the habit of taking public transportation. It wasn't until 2013 that the agency finally locked subway turnstiles, ending decades of the honor-system-only approach to fare collection. Now, another freebie looks to be coming to an end. Starting in May, Metro will no longer offer free parking at nine of it's rail stations, according to Los Angeles magazine. It's all part of a pilot program to test the feasibility of rolling out paid parking for all of Metro's 48 (soon to be 57) parking lots. First up for fees are North Hollywood and Universal City on the Red Line, Atlantic and Sierra Madre Villa on the Gold Line, and Expo Line stations Expo/Bundy, Expo/Sepulveda, 17th St/SMC, La Cienega/Jefferson, and Culver City. There will no doubt be partial drivers angry about this added cost, but the fact is they are in the minority of Metro commuters. Metro riders who drive a car to their subway stations represent only a small fraction of total usersmore than half of riders arrive at stations by bus or other means. By comparison, only 13 percent of Metro riders park a car when using the Universal City station. Up the street in North Hollywood, the number of riders parking their cars at the station represents just 9 percent of weekday boardings. And yet, that small percentage is packing these Metro parking lots, often filling them to their capacity by 8 am every weekday. Despite this small percentage of riders using the service, Metro has still been paying for upkeep of their parking facilities, even though it's not taking in any money from them. By adding a nominal fee to the nine lots in the pilot program, Metro expects to generate about $600,000 in net revenue. Even with the parking fee added, Metro estimates commuters heading to Downtown LA from the Valley will still be saving money. They calculate that the cost of gas and monthly parking Downtown clocks in at a little over $250, but parking at a Metro station for a small fee and taking the subway into Downtown only costs half as much. For just $2 to $3 a day or a monthly rate of $29 to $59, depending on the station, drivers will still have access to Metro parking lots at a pretty attractive price. But say you want to hang out in the Noho Arts District or Universal City for the evening, and sneaking into Metro's free lots has always been your little parking secret. They will still be available for non-transit riders, but it will cost you big time. TAP Card readers will be installed at Metro's parking lots to separate transit users and non-transit users; the daily rate for the parking lots if you don't hop on the train within 96 hours will be anywhere from $15 to $25. That doesn't leave much money left over for simulated skydiving at CityWalk. Outreach for the pilot program will begin in April, as Metro officials get the word out to sure-to-be-disgruntled drivers that their spot in the lot is no longer free. Once May hits, the program will go into full effect, and the new era in paid Metro parking begins. But, when the Gold Line opens its extension to Azusa this March, parking will still be free at those stations. Here Are the Parking Rates Coming to 9 Metro Stations [LA Magazine] Paid Parking Pilot Program [Metro] When Metro Locks Subway Gates, Riders Actually Pay to Ride [Curbed LA] Metro Hopes Lots of Free Parking Will Get People to Ride Trains [Curbed LA] Legislative attempts to defund Planned Parenthood and undercut family planning services are troubling on a couple of levels, says Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling. Eliminating Planned Parenthood funding, proposed on both state and federal levels, is troubling because clinics would have to close, the La Crosse Democrat said Monday during a meeting at which local lawmakers and health officials discussed legislative issues being considered. The forum took place before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse that included health and nursing students from UW-L, Viterbo University and Western Technical College in La Crosse. Legislators pressing to defund the organization propose delegating family planning to local health departments, where officials say they dont have the infrastructure to accommodate such services, Shilling said. Shilling also noted different perspectives between and effects on female and male legislators discussing the issue on the Senate floor, when women lobby to keep the program, and men push to ban it. We have to go to get a prescription drug for family planning, she said, but your male counterparts can just go to a truck stop or a big-box store to get theirs. Observing that legislators are in the midst of trying to reduce 50 gallons worth of bills into a 10-gallon pickle bucket, Shilling predicted better laws to monitor prescription drugs and reduce doctor shopping to get multiple prescriptions. Other proposals include measures against pill mills and opiate and prescription abuse, she said. Also expected to be considered is a so-called Good Samaritan bill in which underage students who have been drinking and observe a sexual assault would have immunity from prosecution for reporting the offense. State Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, outlined statutes proposed to regulate e-cigarettes and other vapor-producing smoking devices. Bills she is co-sponsoring include one to add such devices to the Badger States indoor smoking ban and another to ban e-cigarettes on school property. Brightly colored packaging and candy-like flavoring for e-cigarettes and tobacco products lure children into using them, she said, adding that some studies show that e-cigarettes can be as harmful as tobacco products. In some cases, parents dont realize their children are using an electronic device because it looks like a pen or lip gloss, Billings said. State Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, noted that he will introduce a bill Thursday to make charges more uniform in cases of, for instance, threatening a bomb and threatening a shooting. If I call and say I am going to bomb something, that is a felony, he said. If I call and say I have an assault rifle and I am going to shoot people, that is disorderly conduct the lowest misdemeanor there is. The change to make such threats and gun play to a felony reflects the times since the bomb threat legislation went on the books, Doyle said. Back then, people werent trying to shoot people they were bombing, he said. One of the more contentious issues that Wisconsin lawmakers will debate is banning fetal tissue research, Doyle said. Such research, which is undertaken mostly in attempts to find ways to cure or lessen the effects of diseases such as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and diabetes, provides more than $1 billion in state and federal funding to researchers performing studies in the state, he said. If such funding were pulled, the researchers would leave and take the money to a state that would allow them to work, he said If nothing happens, that is good, Doyle said. If legislators do act, I hope it is moderate rather than a ban. Debate also is heating up on the so-called Cookie Bill, which might involve limiting the number of cookies one can make at home and sell without being declared a business, Doyle said. Events such as church, school and organizational cookie sales would be exempt, but somebody who produces, say, 7,500 cookies at home might be tabbed a business subject to licensing and health inspections, he said. At some point, we have to figure out when it is OK to take to a church bazaar and where is the reasonable line to declare it a business, he said. From a practical viewpoint, interim La Crosse County Health Director Jim Steinhoff noted that workers often are involved in home inspections of one sort or another. In a lot of homes, you wouldnt want to eat a cookie that was made there, said Steinhoff, who also is the county health departments environmental health and lab manager. MADISON Two Democratic lawmakers from Madison and Milwaukee are proposing a bill that would require the state to conduct tap water testing when a child is lead poisoned. The measure also would lower the level at which the state would be required to investigate the source of lead in a childs blood. Current law requires the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to investigate paint, dust and soil as sources of lead and then only when the blood lead level of a child is 15 or 20 micrograms per deciliter or higher, depending on the testing method, according to the bill draft. Madison Rep. Chris Taylor and Milwaukee Rep. LaTonya Johnson began circulating a draft of the bill Friday. It would lower the level requiring an investigation to 5 micrograms per deciliter or higher, which is the definition of lead poisoning used by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, nearly 4,000 Wisconsin children registered at those levels. The measure also calls for an additional $500,000 for lead investigations. One hurdle to passage could be the $20 million limit that Gov. Scott Walker has proposed on additional spending this session. The public health crisis in Flint, Mich., has demonstrated the dangers of lead-tainted drinking water. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause permanent brain damage, including lowered intelligence and criminality in adulthood. A study of Milwaukee schoolchildren tied behavior problems in school to high blood lead levels. These levels are in rural, suburban, urban. Theyre in Republican communities. Theyre in Democratic communities, Taylor said. We really need to address this issue all over the state. Taylor said her proposal comes in response to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalisms ongoing Failure at the Faucet series, which found that tap water is rarely investigated as a source of lead poisoning despite the well-known risks of drinking water from plumbing containing lead. The lawmaker said she discovered that Wisconsins approach was out of date with federal CDC standards. We require three times the poisoning of children before theres a requirement that the environment be looked at by DHS, she said. Thats just way too high. Thats serious, serious lead contamination. What our bill does is to try to get it (standard) updated, it but it also says you have to test for lead in the paint and the water. Taylor said she is not sure how many investigations are currently conducted by DHS. The Center also found that Wisconsin has at least 176,000 lead service lines leading to homes and buildings. In addition, many older homes have internal plumbing containing lead, including faucets, solder and pipe connections. Milwaukee has about 70,000 lead service lines. Nearly 2,200 children in Milwaukee or 8.6 percent of those tested had elevated blood lead levels in 2014, according to the most recent figures available. Statewide, the percentage was 4.5 percent. Madison is thought to be the first major city in the nation to replace all of its lead service lines with copper. The crisis in Flint was sparked in part by a doubling of the percentage of lead poisoned children to 4.9 percent of those tested, an increase tied to lead that leached from pipes after the citys new water source was not treated with anti-corrosives. Last month, Milwaukee informed state agencies that it planned to halt replacement of water mains in portions of that city because such work has been shown to dislodge lead from service lines, causing dangerous spikes in drinking water. In a statement announcing circulation of the bill, Johnson said she had witnessed the devastation that lead can cause for children under the age of 6 whose developing brains are most susceptible. I ran a child care for some of Milwaukees poorest families for 10 years, and have seen firsthand the heartbreaking damage that lead wreaks upon a young child, Johnson said. Wisconsin needs to take Flints crisis as a wake-up call. She said unless the state steps in, children will be poisoned and have their lives forever diminished. In response to a recent derailment near Brownsville, Minn., Canadian Pacific Railroad senior vice president Robert A. Johnson says his company is committed to safety (Feb. 3 Tribune). Most importantly, he notes use of booms and dispatch of mitigating material along the railroad's route. I was on the scene the day after the Minnesota derailment, and I saw people cutting holes in the ice to place booms to catch oil leaking from a DOT-111 rail car in the water. Oil discolored the ice and water where the car had broken through, and the oil was moving downstream. Fifteen hours after the derailment, booms for mitigation were just being put in place. What would have been the effect had this train derailed with hazardous material in larger quantity such as Bakken crude or chlorine? Canadian Pacific's lack of immediate mitigation does not support the statement that the railroad is committed to safety. On Feb. 4, 2015, there was a Canadian Pacific derailment, spill and fire after a train carrying ethanol derailed near Dubuque, Iowa. This derailment also involved notoriously unsafe DOT-111 cars transporting hazardous material spilling into the Mississippi River. If Canadian Pacific were committed to safety, the railroad would cease transporting hazardous material along the Mississippi Wildlife Refuge in unsafe DOT-111s. Inadequate response to derailment and transport of hazardous material in DOT-111 railcars does not demonstrate Canadian Pacific's commitment to safety, but rather an insistence to continue with the status quo of unsafe transport . Some schools are choosing to not celebrate Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving for fear of offending someone from a foreign country who immigrated here and has different traditions. Many public schools don't let students sing religious Christmas songs because they might offend atheists or Muslims. And now Daryush Roosh V Valizadeh, whose parents were immigrants from Armenia and Iran, has suggested that America should legalize rape and greatly restrict the rights of women. This sounds more like what life is like in the Middle East. We should insist people who immigrate to this country conform to our traditions, not the other way around. It's time to take our country back. The following editorial was published in Tuesdays Chicago Tribune: It was an election marred by missing votes, questionable tallies, tricky tactics, late reporting, disputed outcomes and demands for recounts. Is this Chicago? No, its Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are supposed to be a quaint but inspiring example of American democracy at work. In the first contest of the presidential campaign, people gather with their neighbors in schools, churches and restaurants to debate, ponder and finally vote. But this years version, while not devoid of inspiration, left many voters and candidates feeling shafted. On the Democratic side, the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was agonizingly close, making every caucus important. But some of those in charge didnt keep records of the votes and some of them didnt call in the results on time. In a few caucuses, a tie vote was broken by we are not making this up a coin flip. When the chair of the Monday night meeting in one Des Moines precinct realized Tuesday that its votes had not been transmitted and might decide the outcome, reported The Des Moines Register, he had to go home to retrieve his notes only to discover that he didnt know who was logging the tallies. The partys caucus hotline was no longer working. The party headquarters was locked. Campaign aides for Sanders, the runner-up by a razor-thin margin, demanded paper records to determine whether the results were tabulated correctly. That request prompted Clintons state director to accuse the Sanders team of having the chutzpah to disparage results that dont come out in their favor. But an editorial in The Register said, What we cant stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error, and it demanded a complete audit of results. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said, Asking for raw vote totals demonstrates a misunderstanding of our process. As does asking for a recount. Plenty of old-time Chicago ward bosses would have smiled at that assertion. Republicans had their own mini-scandal. After CNN reported on caucus day that Ben Carson would proceed to Florida instead of New Hampshire, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a supporter of Ted Cruz, tweeted, Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Kings claim likely allowed Cruz to capture some votes that would have gone to Carson who explained that his Florida swing was to get fresh clothes before heading north to campaign. So after finishing a disappointing second, Donald Trump said, Ted Cruz didnt win Iowa, he stole it. Trump demanded that the vote be redone or the results nullified. Cruz laughed off Trumps complaint but apologized to Carson, whose campaign issued a statement saying, These dirty tricks political tactics are part of the reason Dr. Carson got into this race and reflect the Washington values of win at all costs regardless of the damage to the country which he is trying to change. Trump supporter Sarah Palin said her candidate had opened so many eyes to the lies, corruption and total lack of accountability that come so naturally to the permanent political class. This is not the first time things have gone awry in the Hawkeye State. In the 2012 Republican caucuses, the initial count gave the win to Mitt Romney. A couple of weeks later, though, the state GOP announced that the actual winner was Rick Santorum who by then had lost the chance to capitalize on his victory. All these snafus have to be embarrassing to the people of Iowa, who treasure their special role in the election of presidents. The following editorial was published in Sundays Wisconsin State Journal: Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald is right that public officials shouldnt hold two big jobs at the same time. It dilutes their effectiveness and prevents more people from serving in higher office. Specifically, the Juneau Republican wants to stop county executives from simultaneously serving in the Legislature. That makes some sense, given that both jobs are considered full-time positions, paying full-time wages and benefits at taxpayer expense. But Fitzgeralds motive for raising the issue now is nakedly political. Thats because the only person Fitzgeralds prohibition is likely to impact anytime soon is a Democrat with a strong shot at reducing Fitzgeralds power. Enter Mark Harris, the Winnebago County executive who ran for Congress in 2014. Harris is a moderate Democrat with a strong understanding of tax laws and budgeting. Hes running for the open 18th Senate District seat, which includes Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. The seat was decided by just 600 votes four years ago, and incumbent Sen. Mark Gudex, a Republican, isnt seeking re-election. So the 18th is expected to be a competitive and crucial race for state Senate this fall. Fitzgerald says he wants to prevent double-dipping, in which a county executive could collect a $100,000 salary for running a county while at the same time earning more than $50,000 for serving in the Legislature. But no one is doing that now. So theres no problem to fix. And Harris hasnt said whether he intends to keep doing both jobs, should he win a Senate seat this November. Fitzgerald and the Legislature didnt stop Bob Ziegelbauer from serving as Manitowoc County executive and as a state assemblyman from 2006 to 2013. We liked the independent Ziegelbauer in the Assembly. But we criticized his double service as too much responsibility for one person. And he seemed to get the point, resigning from the Legislature three years ago to concentrate on his county job. Other state lawmakers who were elected county executives have similarly left the Legislature, including Jim Kreuser in Kenosha County and Paul Farrow in Waukesha County. Yet these men served in both positions for several months before resigning their state posts. Harris is going the other direction running for the Legislature as a sitting county executive. His third county term ends next year. Fitzgeralds bill would force Harris to choose one job or the other if he won a legislative seat in November. Fitzgerald says serving as a top county official and as a state lawmaker would risk conflicts of interest. Thats a stretch. After all, Harris county is the biggest in what would be his Senate district. So his interests would be pretty much the same. Fitzgeralds real motive is preserving his political power. He wants to continue to run the state Senate with a comfortable GOP majority. And the Democrats best shot at gaining a seat is the 18th District, though the Democrats would need to pick up a total of three seats to claim majority control. Fitzgeralds argument that there ought to be a law is weak for a conservative who, in theory, should favor limited government intervention. Fitzgerald should wait until a problem actually exists before worrying about a top-down solution. Voters can pressure Harris to disclose his intentions. Voters are the best judges of whether a politician is spreading himself too thin. Let the voters, not a highly partisan Senate majority leader, decide. Wisconsin would join the majority of states that allow voters to register online under a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday. But critics object to a portion of the bill they say instead of making it more convenient for voters to register would bar civic groups from helping them do so through voter registration drives. Democratic senators offered 10 amendments to the bill during Tuesdays floor debate, each of which were rejected by majority Republicans. They painted the bill as part of a broader attempt by Republicans to make it tougher to vote. Republicans portrayed the bill, which passed on a 19-13 vote, as an obvious step to modernize state elections. The bill appears to be on a fast track toward Gov. Scott Walkers desk in the final weeks of the 2016 legislative session. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said last week he expects a substantially similar bill to advance in that chamber. The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, would give voters the option to register to vote or update their registration information online, instead of with paper documents. Most states already took that leap, and it appears to have few opponents in Wisconsin. As of Feb. 2, 30 states and the District of Columbia offered online registration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most of Tuesdays debate instead centered on a provision in the bill that would eliminate so-called Special Registration Deputies, or SRDs, from state law. Currently, municipal election clerks deputize SRDs to conduct voter registration drives for civic groups such as League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. The special deputies bring registration forms to voter drives, help voters complete them and return the forms to local clerks. LWV director Andrea Kaminski said the league conducts periodic registration drives at special events, libraries, colleges and senior centers throughout the state. She said the bulk of voters registered in the drives are from Madison and Milwaukee the states Democratic strongholds. During Tuesdays debate, Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, linked the bill to other recent Republican changes to state election law, such as voter ID, that he predicts will hamper access to the ballot especially for demographic groups that typically vote for Democrats. Sen. Janet Bewley, D-Ashland, said the intent of the bill isnt as advertised. Isnt the object of the game to get everybody to vote? Bewley said. I really believe that the intent of this bill is to narrow opportunities. LeMahieu called the claim that his bill would end registration drives a complete fallacy. With online registration, LeMahieu said special registration deputies and their role as a steward of registration paperwork no longer will be needed. Instead, he said, anyone could help a voter register online using tablets or other mobile devices. Were making sure everybody can do registration drives, LeMahieu said. All I need is my smartphone or my iPad. But other groups that oppose the LeMahieu bill such as Common Cause in Wisconsin, a nonpartisan government accountability group note that it requires voters to have an ID that meets the state voter ID requirement when they register online. Such voters would provide their ID number when they register. Those individuals less likely to have those forms of ID (minorities, the elderly, low-income persons, and students) the very people most likely to be served by special registration deputies will be left out in the cold, the group said in a statement. LeMahieu said voters who lack the proper ID could be given paper registration forms by those conducting registration drives. Those voters could take the form home and submit it when they have acquired the proper ID, he said. Or they could register at the polls on Election Day, by which time theyll need an ID to vote anyway. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Joe Donald takes a swipe at state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley in a new TV ad set to air starting Tuesday. Donald and Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg both launched ad campaigns with about a week to go before the three-way Supreme Court primary on Feb. 16. Kloppenburg took aim at both Donald and Bradley in her ad, which started airing on Saturday. "We are disappointed that our opponents feel compelled to attack Justice Bradley at every opportunity," said Bradley campaign manager Luke Martz in an email. "Justice Bradley has run a positive campaign from day one based on and the real issues people care about and her unparalleled level of experience on the Circuit, Appellate and Supreme Court bench." Kloppenburg's ad refers to Bradley as a "political crony" of Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed her to the high court in October after appointing her to the 1st District Court of Appeals last May and to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2012. The ad also notes that Donald supported Bradley twice in the past. Donald endorsed Bradley's 2013 campaign to remain on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court and served as a reference for her application to the 1st District Court of Appeals in 2015. "Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg: she's different," the narrator says. "We can count on her. Independent, principled, experienced." Kloppenburg campaign spokeswoman Melissa Mulliken said the ad will run statewide on TV and radio, with a buy of more than $200,000. Donald's campaign will run about $150,000 worth of ads in the Milwaukee and Green Bay markets, according to campaign manager Andy Suchorski. Donald's ad shows a person watching GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump on TV, a person listening to the radio, a person checking his mailbox and a person shutting a laptop screen displaying a photo of Bradley and Walker. The images are accompanied by a voiceover of Donald lamenting the prevalence of politics in all these arenas. "I'm Judge Joe Donald, and for 20 years, I've been guided by the simple belief that rich or poor, black or white, Republican or Democrat, under the law, we are all the same. Politics does not apply," Donald says. Bradley's campaign launched a radio ad last week, in which the narrator says she "understands that it's not her job to make laws, but to interpret them." A pro-Bradley ad from the Wisconsin Alliance for Reform also launched last week and will continue this week. According to numbers from the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, the overall buy is about $870,000 for the statewide campaign. "A fair and impartial judiciary protects all of our rights," the ad's narrator says. "Justice Rebecca Bradley gets it. Colleagues call her measured, fair, willing to work with anyone. Judges applaud her insight, hard work compassion." Man accused of strangling woman, drawing SWAT team A Stockholm, Wis., man has been accused of domestic abuse and pleaded not guilty to charges of strangulation, battery and disorderly conduct in connection with incidents that allegedly happened at a house in the Town of Nelson on Jan. 5. The 50-year-old Curtis D. Johnson physically abused a 42-year-old woman during an argument, according to Buffalo County Circuit Court criminal documents. Two sheriffs deputies responding to the incident were told Johnson barged into the womans house and threatened her with a steak knife from the womans kitchen, according to the documents. The woman told police that Johnson grabbed her by the neck with both hands and choked her on a couch in her living room. She said he then stopped choking her and slapped her across the face, the documents said. Authorities said Johnson was later arrested at his residence in Stockholm after a SWAT team from Pierce County entered the place and took him into custody. - Winona Daily News Traffic stop yields $10,000 in meth, $5,600 in cash La Crosse police arrested a suspected meth dealer Feb. 2 after finding almost $10,000 worth of drugs in his car during a traffic stop. According to police reports, two Neighborhood Resource Officers stopped a vehicle just after 1:15 p.m. Police said the front windows were overly tinted and the driver, Kong Vang, didnt have a valid drivers license. While officers spoke to Vang, a police dog sniffed the vehicle and signaled there might be drugs inside. An officer asked if there was anything in the vehicle. According to reports officers found a vacuum-sealed bag containing 43.2 grams of meth in a drawer under the drivers seat; a Ziplock bag with another 54.2 grams was found in a Taco Bell bag along with food that was still warm. Vang, 26, had more than $5,600 in cash in the cargo pocket of his pants, including a bundle of $3,000, according to the reports. - La Crosse Tribune One dead, one badly hurt in Sparta shooting A 23-year-old Sparta, Wis., man is in serious condition at a La Crosse hospital after a man shot him twice in the head late Saturday before committing suicide. According to police, Carlos Bothel, 41, shot Nicholas J. Johnson about 11:10 p.m. through the closed window of a car parked in the driveway of Bothels home at 217 N. Spring St. Bothel then shot himself in the head outside the car. Police recovered a .38-caliber pistol next to his body. Bothels wife and five children were inside the house at the time of the shooting. She called police, while a neighbor reported hearing three shots. Johnson, of Sparta, is a friend of Bothels wife, Sparta police Sgt. Jason Pipkin said. He was flown to Gundersen Health System. Bothel was stationed at Fort McCoy. - La Crosse Tribune Minnesota City man held on sex charges A Minnesota City man is in custody, facing multiple felony charges accusing him of having sex with a four-year-old girl. Cesar Eduardo Sierra Avila, 34, appeared in Winona County District Court charged with criminal sexual conduct in the first and second degree. According to court documents, the girl told her mother about the incident Dec. 11, 2015. The mother told police she believed it occurred on Nov. 27, when the child was at the defendants residence with the childs sister and cousin. In a forensic interview, the child reaffirmed the story she had told her mother, and using anatomically correct dolls, demonstrated to investigators sexual contact with Avila, including vaginal and oral penetration and ejaculation, as described in court documents. Avila is being held in lieu of $75,000 conditional bond or $150,000 without conditions. - Winona Daily News You may learn more about 2e Newsletter and download sample copies at . Find out why the newsletter has been honored with a National Parenting Publications Award, and why some of the largest school districts in the country provide 2e Newsletter 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.. Blog Archive March 2022 (1) January 2022 (1) November 2021 (2) October 2021 (1) September 2021 (6) August 2021 (1) June 2021 (1) April 2021 (2) February 2021 (2) January 2021 (1) December 2020 (1) November 2020 (7) October 2020 (4) September 2020 (2) August 2020 (4) July 2020 (6) June 2020 (20) May 2020 (9) April 2020 (15) March 2020 (3) February 2020 (5) January 2020 (11) December 2019 (5) November 2019 (9) October 2019 (13) September 2019 (12) August 2019 (13) July 2019 (12) June 2019 (6) May 2019 (11) April 2019 (10) March 2019 (9) February 2019 (6) January 2019 (10) December 2018 (3) November 2018 (15) October 2018 (16) September 2018 (11) August 2018 (15) July 2018 (8) June 2018 (17) May 2018 (20) April 2018 (16) March 2018 (22) February 2018 (14) January 2018 (20) December 2017 (18) November 2017 (27) October 2017 (16) September 2017 (21) August 2017 (27) July 2017 (20) June 2017 (19) May 2017 (21) April 2017 (31) March 2017 (21) February 2017 (20) January 2017 (21) December 2016 (29) November 2016 (31) October 2016 (18) September 2016 (34) August 2016 (37) July 2016 (28) June 2016 (30) May 2016 (32) April 2016 (23) March 2016 (29) February 2016 (28) January 2016 (20) December 2015 (32) November 2015 (29) October 2015 (26) September 2015 (29) August 2015 (28) July 2015 (27) June 2015 (15) May 2015 (7) July 2009 (1) May 2009 (1) March 2009 (7) January 2009 (8) A helicopter pilot died while chasing elephant poachers in Tanzania late last month. British pilot Roger Gower, 37, was working for the Friedkin Conservation Fund and the Tanzanian government. He was trying to prevent elephant poachers from escaping the Maswa Game Reserve near Serengeti National Park. The men opened fire on his helicopter with AK-47 rifles. Gower was able to land his helicopter, but died before he could be rescued. The Guardian newspaper said five suspects in Tanzania have been arrested in the shooting. The British publication Daily Mail reported that Gower may have been shot down by poachers who sell illegal ivory to fund terrorism. It said that sales in elephant tusks supplies money used to fund Islamic extremist groups such as Al Qaeda-affiliate Al Shabaab. Also in late January, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell visited South Africa to see for herself the terrible practice of poaching. Jewell stood by a dead white rhino killed by poachers in South Africa, and called it a sad scene. And its a scene that is frustrating as I think that South Africa has done such a good job in bringing the white rhino back from the brink of extinction. So to see a white rhino in this condition, its difficult. She called on nations around the world to work together to stop wildlife trafficking. At the Kruger National Park, she saw a male white rhino that had been shot and killed by poachers. They removed its horn and left behind the rest of the body for vultures to eat. A park team took DNA samples and other evidence from the rhino. They hope it can convict the poachers once they are found. Edna Molewa is South Africas Minister of Water and Environment. She said, giving up is not an option. We have to fight this battle and we have to win. Jewell called on the world to stand up and fight wildlife trafficking in all its forms. We need the world to see this kind of thing so that they actually take action and also recognize that the only value of rhino horn is on a live animal, otherwise it is valueless. South Africa has 22,000 white rhino, the worlds largest population. Nearly half live in the Kruger National Park. But poachers keep hunting them, and killing them for their horns. Most of the horns are sold on the international black market, particularly in Asian countries like China and Vietnam. Customers buy the powdered horn, thinking it has the power to heal or make a man more virile. Science has proven that rhino horns have no magic powers and are made of the same things as fingernails. Last year, poachers killed more than 1,000 rhinos. Now the country uses both ground and air rangers to protect the rhinos. The also watch over hundreds of other wildlife animals from armed poachers. The rangers say they are a very dedicated group. They say they are protecting the animals because they belong to everybody. As one ranger said, Its not only for us Africans, but for the whole world. The African elephant, African lion, cheetah and the black and the white rhino all have one thing in common. They are all on South Africas endangered species list. Jewell said she has a mouthful to report to President (Barack) Obama. And, the secretary warned that these animals, particularly the black rhinos, are at risk of going extinct if we dont act and we dont act quickly. Im Anne Ball. Thuso Khumalo and Adam Shaw reported on this story for VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted their reports for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. What do you think can be done to protect these animals? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story poacher n. a person who hunts animals illegally trafficking n. organized criminal activity of buying and selling illegal items vulture n. a kind of bird that eats dead animals brink n. on the edge extinction n. the act of making something extinct, or disappear forever black market n. a system of buying and selling things illegally virile adj. having qualities considered attractive in men like strength and sexual energy Russian airstrikes in Syria have helped Syrian government forces in their offensive against rebels. Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have moved within 25 kilometers of the countrys border with Turkey for the first time since August 2013. Activists and rebel commanders say the offensive has left moderate rebel groups disorganized and unable to fight effectively. The fighting has also pushed more Syrian civilians toward the border area. Turkish officials warn that the Russian air attacks and heavy fighting in Syria could force as many as 600,000 civilians to flee the country. Turkey has said it wants the civilians to stay on the Syrian side of the border. The Turkish Deputy Prime Minister said, Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkeys borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there. However, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent official told VOA Monday that at least 25,000 refugees have crossed the border in Oncupinar, along the far western part of the border. There are reports that some Kurdish groups are working with forces loyal to the Assad government. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, known as the YPG, entered two Sunni Arab villages near the city of Aleppo. Some rebel commanders have rejected reports that territory held by the YPG is being bombed. They also speak of what they call clear evidence that Syrian Kurdish leaders are colluding with the Syrian government. The YPG denies this. Anti-Assad rebels have held the Menagh airbase near Aleppo since August of 2013. There have been unconfirmed reports suggesting that Kurdish fighters may have attacked the base. However, the YPG denies that it is working with the government. YPG commanders say their control of towns near Aleppo prevents Iranian and Shiite fighters from Lebanons Hezbollah and Afghanistan from moving forward. The YPG says it moved Sunni Arab families who are fleeing the fighting to the Kurdish community of Afrin. The group said the refugee transfer is supposed to prove to everyone that Syria is for all its citizens. The YPG added that it is not fighting Arabs, as some media reports say. Salih Muslim is the head of the Democratic Union Party, which controls the YPG. He told VOA that he is not sure the current government offensive would affect Syrian Kurdish hopes for semi-autonomy. He said his group would not fight Islamic State forces west of the Euphrates River unless they were working with the U.S.-led international coalition. He said his biggest concern is that Turkish forces would be pulled into the fighting. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Edogan has warned that his country will not permit Kurdish gains in northern Syria. He also said Turkey will not permit a semi-autonomous Kurdish group to gain control of Syria. On Sunday, Edogan said the United States has to choose between Turkey and the YPG. Turkey has banned the YPG and another Kurdish group, the PYD. A European Union diplomat told VOA the situation hurts moderate militias and helps more extreme Islamist fighters in the area. Im Mario Ritter. Jamie Dettmer reported this story. Mario Ritter adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story collude v. to work with others secretly, often to do something illegal semi-autonomy n. the state of having some of the powers and rights to govern oneself; a state of being partly separate wave n. something that has the shape or movement of a wave transfer n. the act of moving someone or something from one place to another The government of Zimbabwe is asking for financial help to avoid food shortages in the country. The government says nearly 2.5 million people in Zimbabwe are facing hunger. That is more than one quarter of the countrys population. The country is currently battling a drought that has affected much of southern Africa. The government blames the drought on El Nino, an extreme weather pattern. El Nino is a warm Pacific Ocean current that causes extreme changes in the worldwide weather conditions. David Phiri is the southern Africa coordinator with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. He said Zimbabwe must invest in irrigation to prevent more food shortages. We need to increase the area under irrigation, Phiri said. Zimbabwehas the highest number of water points, dams and rivers. There is water in Zimbabwe. He also said Zimbabwe and other governments should encourage conservation agriculture. The goal of conservation agriculture is to protect, improve and make more effective use of nature. Its policies are designed to increase agricultural production and protect the environment. Conservation agriculture would better protect citizens from food shortages during periods of extreme weather, Phiri said. Although some observers blame Zimbabwes current food shortage on El Nino, others blame government policy. Critics blame President Robert Mugabes land reform program of the early 2000s. The program forced experienced white commercial farmers off their land. They say the program worsened Zimbabwes economic problems and reduced its farming output. Im Pete Musto. Sebastian Mhofu reported on this story for VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson 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 El Nino n. a flow of unusually warm water along the western coast of South America that causes many changes in weather in other places drought n. a long period of time during which there is very little or no rain irrigation n. to supply land with water by using artificial means encourage v. to tell or advise (someone) to do something conservation n. the careful use of natural resources to prevent them from being lost or wasted dormant adj. not active but able to become active The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska announced Tuesday that it sent a letter to the City of Lexington, urging the City to grant the Islamic Center of Lexingtons request for a conditional use zoning permit. The Center applied for the permit in 2015 so they could expand in their location at 401 N. Grant. The Lexington City Council denied the request in Dec. 2015, stating that the expansion would harm the development of that area of downtown, as well as expressing concerns over parking. The Center, which has occupied a portion of the building in question for several years, actually expanded into the contested area (the former Longhorn Laundry) in March 2015 without making a conditional use request. The City of Lexington posted cease and desist notices on the property in January. ACLU of Nebraska Legal Director Amy Miller told the Clipper-Herald that the ACLU first learned of this situation from media reports. We spend a lot of time checking the news for issues that are part of our work, Miller said. Weve seen this story developing over the last couple of months, and when we saw in December that the conditional use permit was denied by the City Council, we reached out to the Islamic Center and their attorney. Miller continued that Islamic Center attorney Claude Berreckman Jr. said that giving the City of Lexington an additional perspective on the legal reality of the Centers request couldnt hurt. Miller said that this situation could be resolved in a number of ways. We never want to get in a position where we have to go to court, because that costs a lot of time and money for everyone involved, she said. The City could sit down, get the advice of an attorney, realize they are in a vulnerable position, and simply grant the conditional use permit to avoid wasting taxpayer dollars in a pointless legal battle. Milled added that shed read that Berreckman has been in contact with the federal Department of Justice. If DOJ gets involved, that would settle it for everybody. The Department of Justice doesnt move quickly, but once they get involved, then they have jurisdiction, Miller said. The Islamic Center also has the option to take the matter to court themselves. If that happens, Miller said, the ACLU will offer assistance if they are needed. The right to practice your religion without government interference is the first amendment. Its number one for a reason, she said. Miller has been with the ACLU of Nebraska since 1999, and this isnt the first time the organization has taken up the cause of religious institutions against governmental bodies. This has always been an issue, and cities keep getting it wrong. The last two churches we defended were in Lincoln and Omaha, and they were mainline Christian churches, Miller said. Municipalities fall into thinking that their zoning plan is carved in stone and is an immovable thing. And thats true if you were talking about a coffee shop or a Laundromat. When you are talking about a religious group, it is very difficult for the city to win because its the highest constitutional test that is available. The government has to climb all the way to the top of the ladder to show that their need is greater than the right of a group to practice their religion freely. Miller said she wasnt aware of any instances similar to this one in Nebraska where the city won the case. I can think of a few examples from other states, she said. In one case, in California, there was a megachurch that had thousands of congregants and there simply wasnt enough physical space to handle the parking demands. The court rightly upheld that the megachurch could not be located in that area. Parking can be a legitimate legal issue. But its not in this case, with these facts, Miller said, referring to the Lexington situation. The citys argument that the mosque will prevent businesses from moving into the area is also not good enough. Not even close. The city council added an emergency executive session to the agenda of their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday to discuss the matter. The session lasted just over an hour and resulted in no action taken. City Manager Joe Pepplitsch said after the meeting that he'd seen the letter and had no comment. Here's a link to the Dec. 15 story about the council's denial of the Islamic Center's request: http://lexch.com/news/council-denies-mosque-expansion/article_98043ba2-a99f-11e5-8bc5-fbcb55f0fd6d.html Here is the full press release from the ACLU: LINCOLN, Neb The ACLU of Nebraska has informed the City of Lexington that its denial of a business zoning permit to a local Islamic Center is a violation of federal law and fundamental religious liberties. The Islamic Center in downtown Lexington recently purchased additional space in the building it already occupies. In late December 2015 the City of Lexington denied a use permit for the expansion of the Islamic Center. For fifty years the ACLU of Nebraska has stood beside people of many faith traditions and defended their religious freedoms, said ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad. Religious freedom is one of our most highly treasured values and among our most highly protected civil rights. Governmental restriction on religious activity requires the government to meet a very high standard and is rarely considered a legitimate exercise of state power. In this instance, the city of Lexington has failed to demonstrate a compelling interest to limit protected religious activity in their downtown area. The ACLUs letter to the City Manager urges the city to provide all necessary permits to the Islamic Center. Treating the Islamic Center differently than any other entity, regardless of the zoning, is a violation of federal law. The Citys stated concerns about parking and growth of downtown are, according to the ACLU, not sufficient concerns to treat the Islamic Center differently than other downtown establishments that have purchased space. This is not the first time that the ACLU has intervened when zoning laws were used against a religious entity in Nebraska. In 2004, the ACLU of Nebraska defended the Church of the Awesome God, a Presbyterian church, from forced eviction under the City of Lincolns zoning laws. The ACLU of Nebraska also challenged city ordinances requiring religious organizations to meet safety standards not imposed on non-religious groups and is currently defending the first amendment rights of an evangelical citizen criminally prosecuted in the City of Lincoln for sharing his religious pamphlets in the public square. About Me Name: David Yonki Location: Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States Political analyst for WBRE TV's Pa. Live program and post election commentator for WBRE TV's Eyewitness News Daybreak show. Author of the book "A Radio Story/We Wish You Well In Your Future Endeavors" and "Leges Vitae" "26 Rules of Life" and the new novel, "Weather Or Knot". The blog editor also writes various news articles and columns as well as upcoming literary projects. The blog editor was a frequent guest on WYOU TV'S INTERACTIVE NEWSCASTS when political issues were discussed on the national, state and local level. Yonki was a weekly panelist on WYLN TV 35's Friday Topic A program. He also appeared on the Hazleton, PA. station on Election Night doing coverage and did special projects and stories for WYLN TV 35's 10PM Newscast "Late Edition". View my complete profile Its now happening to Indians in Sikh turbans. Earlier if you were a Khan you got questioned /detained /screened /scanned at airports. While Waris Ahluwalia is in the news for being barred from a flight for wearing a Turban, Irrfan Khan has gone through the ordeal on two occasions on American airports. He opens up about his ordeal, More than the physical torture, it's the wounds of humiliation that never heal after you undergo such a horrific experience. It happened to me on two occasions. I was detained in New York and Los Angeles airport for secondary interrogation." "I was outraged. I was told to quietly come into a room for questioning and identification verification. I wasn't allowed to talk. When I tried to ask why I was being treated this way, I was told to keep quiet. I wasn't allowed to use my phone. They said, 'No, you just sit down.' All because my name was Irrfan Khan. You can't argue or rationalise. Kabir Khan had to face the brunt of 9/11 too, I was accompanying my wife in the US along with the Morani Brothers. It was a flight from LA to Washington just 15 days after 9/11. So the fear and paranoia were not totally unjustified. We were waiting for the flight to take off talking to each other in Hindi when some passengers complained that we were talking in a 'strange' language." "Within no time two burly FBI agents came on board and took me and my co-passengers to the front of the plane. When they got to know my name, they questioned me for more than two hours, googled my name for terrorist links and then finally allowed me to fly. They asked me if I had been to Pakistan. I told them no. If I had told them that I had been to Afghanistan, they'd have freaked out. Two other passengers on board refused to fly with us. So they were asked to deboard. So you see post 9/11 persecution comes with its inbuilt safety measures. But I honestly think a part of the global fear is justified. We can't blame people for being paranoid after what had happened, he adds. However when Kabir was questioned again at an American airport he refused to take it lying down. On a second occasion this time in New York, when I was detained I blew my top. I told this big Black American guy, 'Please clear the confusion about my identity once and for all. Or don't provide me with a visa. I don't want to come back to the US.' The guy wanted to know if it was a threat. I was taken aback. Mira Nair had to intervene. She advised me to never counter-question them. This is the free spirit of America. This 90-minute detention changed me completely. Can you imagine what a 90-day detention can do to an innocent man thrown into jail? says Kabir Khan. Kamal Haasan frequently gets into the suspicious segment of the US immigration department. Sometimes they take me aside and ask me questions. Just because we do business with America they think we are questionable. If were so touchy about immigration rules in American, we shouldnt be doing business with them, he says. Kamal Haasan feels racial and cultural suspicion exist in every society, Talk to an Afghani who comes to visit India. Afghani students cant get rooms to stay in India. Theres resistance to Afghani passports in India. And why are we so touchy about American treatment? Theyve a 9/11 to caution them. With 9/11 Australia is hostile to Indians. India should stop acting paranoid about racial profiling. However he further cautions, It cant be helped. The Americans are an injured nation. Theyre just being careful. It happened to me and I had to miss my flight. There was no great apology or anything. Its rules theyre following. Im often mistaken for a Muslim and I dont correct the misconception. My brothers Charu Haasan and Chandra Haasan dont have to face this. Please remember the fabric of our nation is woven with saffron, white and green. We cant pull out any of the colours.We have to co-exist. The crusades are over. New Delhi: In order to encourage startups, especially e-commerce companies, the Finance Ministry may look at according beneficial tax treatment to their brand building expenses in the forthcoming Budget. According to experts, the government could allow startups and e-commerce companies to appropriate initial brand building expenses over several years for accounting benefits. "The AMP expenses are very important for e-commerce companies to acquire new customers. A major part of this expenses is intangible and the government should allow identified category of AMP expenses to be capitalised," KPMG (India) Partner Tax Amarjeet Singh said. The expenses towards advertisement, marketing and sales promotion (AMP), according to Rakesh Nangia, Managing Partner, Nangia & Co, should be allowed to be capitalised as an intangible asset. "E-commerce sector is still grappling with outdated laws not flexible enough to adjust to its requirements. This sector unlike the conventional business models does not need to invest much in tangible asset like plant and machinery. Its assets are generally intangible in nature, like the value of its Brand," Nangia said. Such a move, according to Ashok Maheshwary and Associates Managing Partner Amit Maheshwari, would help reduce the losses and prevent net-worth erosion of the company. The government has decided to give host of tax incentives to encourage startups and some decisions are likely to be announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the 2016-17 Budget, to be presented on February 29. The Finance Ministry may also look at providing relief to e-commerce companies with regard to withholding tax. Currently companies are required to withhold 10 per cent of the payment as tax. "E-commerce companies incur significant losses in the initial years of operations. The tax withheld on the commission received by e-commerce companies are thus required to be claimed as refund. The same would result in a cash flow issues for them. "Further, relaxation of withholding tax compliances by e-commerce companies, which are more in the nature of the startups, would enable them to focus more on the business with the reduced administrative burden resulting from relaxation," Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP Partner CA Gupta said. PTI The sugar baroness is back in action after a gap of two years. Rajshree Pathy, Chairperson and Managing Director of Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals Limited, (also the first woman president of the Indian Sugar Mill) is back with her initiative India Design Forum after a gap of two years. IDF is part of the larger Make In India week to be held in Mumbai between 13th-18th February to showcase the potential of design, innovation and sustainability across India's manufacturing sectors. IDF has been invited by the Government of India to hold a one-day conference on 'Empowering through Design' on February 17 at the MMRDA Grounds BKC. "There is no platform in India that addresses concerns regarding design. Design is not understood clearly in India. Design is in everything we do. It is the intervention between processes that makes for user friendliness. It is not decorative," Pathy states. Pathy is critical that in India there is no communication on the efficacy of design and there is no`genuiness' in it. "We dont communicate on design effects. Design is about making a process, product, system effective. Apple is effective because of deisgn.Wipro has acquired a design company because it understands its importance." Though Make in India is about manufacturing, Pathy says that there is a lot of scope for industrial design in products, automotives, manufacturing process, etc. IDF will highlight the importance of design at the forum. The India Design Forum (IDF), was founded in 2012 by Pathy and her daughter Aishwarya. IDF aims to create an atmosphere conducive for the design community to collaborate, influence policy, facilitate funding and business opportunities, as well as interact and engage nationally and internationally to found a strong network of individuals with a common interest creating value through Design intervention.. We have been able to bring about awareness for design with policy makers, corporate and initiate cross cultural debate, says Pathy, of IDFs impact in two editions. We have been working with different players to see how we can create an India-lead designer. The IDF is having its third edition after a two-year hiatus. Pathy said the reason for the gap in having a third edition of the IDF was because getting funding for the event and tying up with speakers takes a long time. Though we put in funds ourselves, we would like to have large corporate to play a pro-active role to help take the message on a wider scale. When the government invited us for the Make In India event, we decided not to host the event last year and do it this year, she said. The inaugural address of IDF will be by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of Isha Foundation. Regarding the unusual choice for a IDF event, Pathy says, he was chosen as he has designed everything at the Foundation himself. He has been chosen also because he is contemporary in his designs, Pathy explains. The centres elliptical Dhynalinga dome is the largest in the world, she says. Pathy says that India needs a lot more design schools than what we have at present for us to be able to compete in a global arena. The government should allocate more funds, infrastructure, incubation centres so that the Make In India effect percolates down. On its part, IDF plans to host smaller events in Tier II and III cities so that younger designers there can get a chance to come to the fore. New Delhi: Jewellers across the country will observe a nationwide strike tomorrow against the government's decision to make PAN card mandatory for transactions worth Rs 2 lakh and above. From January 1, PAN Card has been made mandatory for all transactions above Rs 2 lakh in cash or through card in entire gems and jewellery sector. Over 300 associations of jewellery trade with over 100,000 shops across the country will observe a day-long token strike because the business has fallen by 30 per cent since January 1, the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) said in a statement. "This is a crisis situation for the entire industry to survive because jewellers are losing customers mainly in small towns and rural areas where a majority of population doesn't have PAN card in their names," GJF Chairman G V Sreedhar said. The Association has urged the Finance Ministry to make the PAN card mandatory on jewellery purchase of over Rs 10 lakh instead of the present Rs 2 lakh. However, a jewellery body India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) is not in favour of this strike. GJF Director Ashok Minawala said the PAN card restriction has discouraged majority semi-urban and rural jewellery buyers, who are engaged either in farming (no income tax obligation) or in small trade practices. "With just 22.3 crore PAN cards issued in India, how can the industry survive with such restrictions?" he asked. GJF represents over 6,00,000 players comprising manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, laboratories, gemologists, designers and allied services. Currently, the domestic industry is estimated to be in the region of Rs 2.51 lakh crore with the potential to grow to Rs 5 lakh crore by 2018, the statement said. PTI Mumbai: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Tuesday continued his deposition for the second consecutive day before a court in Mumbai. Headley, appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing, continued to spill the beans on LeT involvement with the 26/11 terror attacks. In his first deposition on Monday, Headley told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. PTI Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who clung to life buried 30 feet under a massive ice and snow debris that hurtled down a mountain slope on unforgiving Siachen glacier, was on Tuesday battling for survival after being evacuated. Prime Minister Modi described Koppad as an outstanding soldier whose endurance and indomitable spirit cannot be described in words. We are all hoping and praying for the best, Modi added. Parrikar said his prayers are with the soldier. Doctors are putting in best. Let us pray for him, he said. According to CNN-IBN, liver and kidneys of the injured soldier are dysfunctional. He is comatose and his condition is extremely critical, Army Hospital Research and Referral said after Koppad was flown in here from Siachen Glacier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag visited the hospital and asked the nation to pray for his well being. Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 My prayers are with Lance Naik Hanumanthappa who miraculously survived the avalanche at Siachen. Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) February 9, 2016 T 2140 - We pray for him that protects us in extreme circumstances and serves his country .,PRAYERS FOR L/N HUNUMANTHAPPA and his recovery Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) February 9, 2016 Praying for Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Fighter, braveheart. Salute to the courageous soldiers who lost their lives in #SiachenAvalanche sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 9, 2016 Koppad, who was rescued yesterday from an altitude of 20,500 feet by a team of over 150 soldiers and two canines, Dot and Misha, and was initially declared dead by authorities, was flown in here by an IAF aircraft accompanied by a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the Siachen base camp. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frostbite or bony injuries to him, a medical bulletin issued by the hospital said. He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hrs due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body, it said. It is a rebirth for all of us, said Mahadevi, wife of Koppad, with a visible sense of relief as his miraculous survival. Mahadevi said the family was going through an ordeal after it came to know of the tragedy, but the news of his survival brought smiles back on their faces. We were going through a painful ordeal after the avalanche struckThe news of his survival brought smiles back on our faces. We were all crying and had almost lost hope. I didnt know what to do. I have a one-and-half-year old daughter, she said. Highest battlefield, -45 Celsius & an avalanche, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's rescue is nothing less than a miraclehttps://t.co/vKxcc7o08k CNN-IBN News (@ibnlive) February 9, 2016 With PTI Mumbai: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on Tuesday continued his deposition for the second consecutive day before a court in Mumbai. This time, he claimed to have suggested to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) bosses Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur-Rehman Lakhvi to challenge the decision of the US govt designating LeT as a foreign terror outfit and banning it. Headley added that he was asked by LeT to gather military intelligence in India and also recruit someone from the Indian military as a spy. Headley mentioned that he met Lakhvi for the first time in 2003 in Muzaffarabad at the LeT headquarters, and identified him when shown a photograph by the court. In a 2006 meeting attended by Sajid Mir, Muzamil, Abu Khafa and Headley, it was decided that Headley should go to India, he added, but it was in November and December 2007, that a meeting took place in Muzaffarabad (attended by Mir, Khafa and Headley) where he was assigned the task of conducting a reconnaissance of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Headley added that LeT members had planned to attack a conference meeting of Indian defence scientists to be held at Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Speaking about his wife Faiza, Headley told the court that she had in January 2008 complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that he was involved in terrorist activities. Elaborating on terror groups, Headley said that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen are all allies of United Jihad Council working in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing, Headley continues to spill the beans on the LeT involvement with the 26/11 terror attacks. In his first deposition on Monday, Headley told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. PTI Chennai: Even as scientists are studying whether the object that killed one person when it fell from the sky into an engineering college compound in Vellore is a meteorite, a former senior official of an Indian space agency said tracking meteorites is very difficult because of their small size. A meteorite is a portion of an asteroid or a comet that survives the Earth's atmospheric heat and impacts the earth's surface. The portion or debris of an asteroid or comet before it hits the Earth's surface is called a meteoroid. "Once a meteoroid escapes the Earth's atmosphere then it falls towards the Earth at a speed of 2-4 km per second. Normally meteoroids turn into ashes when they enter the Earth's atmosphere due to friction," MYS Prasad, former director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS. But if the meteoroid is large and travels down slowly, then some portion of that can survive the atmospheric heat. "No country in the world now has the capability to track meteoroid that escapes the atmosphere," he added. According to the US's National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) website: "Asteroids are typically composed of rock-forming minerals, most commonly olivine and pyroxene. However, they often contain metal (iron and nickel), sulfides (chemical mixtures of metals and sulfur), clays, and organic compounds. The structure and composition of asteroids vary from object to object." Prasad said most asteroids in our solar system are in the region between Mars and Jupiter known as asteroid belt. Kamaraj, employed as a driver with Bharathidasan Engineering College in Natrampalli in Vellore district, around 170 km from Chennai, was killed and three others were injured in an explosion after a burning object fell from the sky on 6 February. Police said Kamaraj and others were hit by splinters from the impact of the unknown object which also created a three-foot wide crater on the ground. According to police, the fragments of material embedded in Kamaraj's body have been sent for forensic analysis and the post-mortem examination report would be finalised only after the analysis report is received. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced Rs 1 lakh for Kamaraj's family and compensation of Rs 25,000 each to the three injured, saying the death and injury happened due to meteorite hit. Meanwhile, scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, have been deputed to study the issue. According to Prasad, when large meteorites hit the earth, they can shatter glass due to pressure waves. Asteroids and meteors can be observed from the Earth only by telescopes and also by launching space telescopes. It is said the chances of a meteorite hitting the Earth surface during the day or night are equal, Prasad said. However, many meteorite hits on the Earth are recorded after spring and before summer and the reason for this is not known, he added. The size of meteorites that hits the Earth will be in the range of one millimetre to 10 metres. Prasad said a study done by a team of International Academy for Astronautics has identified around 1,100 objects asteroids and comets over one kilometre diameter in size and has catalogued around 700 of them. He said the US government has tasked NASA to track and catalogue near-Earth objects measuring 140 metres and more by 2020. Prasad said most of the meteorites have iron and nickel and may stick to a magnet. Interestingly a police official in Vellore told IANS that the space object recovered from the engineering college campus sticks to magnet. IANS Continuing his expose on the role of Pakistan-based terror organisations, its army, spy agency ISI and others, LeT terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Tuesday described how he was assigned to gather military intelligence in India, recruit spies from the Indian Army and stay at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai to do a thorough recce before the attacks were firmed up. On the second day of his deposition through video-conferencing from a US jail before the special TADA court here, Headley said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). A man identified as Major Ali of the Pakistan Army wanted him to note troop movement in India as part of the plan to infiltrate the military establishments here. "He wanted me to note the movement of troops in India. He wanted someone to spy on matters of military intelligence, movement of officers. He wanted me to develop contacts with officials of Indian military forces with a purpose to gather intelligence," said Headley. In response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the ISI. Headley on Monday revealed that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were planned over a year in Pakistan. Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, he said that in November-December 2007, he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai. Headley spoke in detail about the methodical planning that went into the Taj Mahal hotel attack. He stayed there on the second floor with wife Faiza, where he conducted surveillance of the floor, reports The Hindu. At the fag end of the deposition, Headley spilled one more shocker: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was one of the targets, reports The Telegraph. At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a plan to strike during an upcoming conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite the Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap. However, that plan -- to be executed a year before the Mumbai terror attacks -- was subsequently dropped as the conference itself was cancelled, he added. Headley was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, when they stayed there between September 14-28, 2006, and selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba. He said he had met Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army first time in 2006 at a house in Lahore and discussed the matters with him. Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba police station, markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi. "Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them," Headley said, adding that the plan to target the Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for "logistics reasons". All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device provided by Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, which he later handed over to Sajid Mir, Headley added. Headley unravelled before the special court how the LeT and Al Qaeda, which he termed a "terrorist organisation", Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahiddeen and other groups in Pakistan function under the "United Jihad Council" and were working against India. He said the LeT and the ISI have a close nexus with the spy agency providing the "financial, military and moral support", Nikam later told media persons. Admitting to his links with both the LeT and the ISI, Headley described Hafiz Saeed as LeT's "spiritual leader," while Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its "operational commander" and both worked with the sole aim of unleashing terror in India. Headley said that in 2003, he was present at a LeT meeting when Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar made a guest speech about his anti-India activities and his release from India (in December 1999 in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814). He met Azhar at the location, around 150 km from Lahore, and the same year he met Lakhvi in Muzafarrabad at the LeT headquarters. However, it was at a meeting in 2006 attended by Sajid Mir, Muzammil, Abu Khafa it was decided that he should go to India. On Monday, Headley deposed roughly on the period between 2003 and 2005 and on Tuesday, he spoke on the period after 2005 till 2008. The deposition will resume again on Wednesday, Nikam said. The Hindu reports that NIA will continue to press for Headley's extradition. Our stand is clear. He is still an accused for us and we would continue to press the U.S authorities for his extradition through proper channels. Our case against him and Tahawwur Rana still hold ground. Till now, we have no such intention to make him an approver, an NIA officer told The Hindu. With IANS Kolkata: Legendary children's author Ruskin Bond is writing his autobiography in three volumes, one of which will reveal why he did not marry. "I will write three memoirs. First one will be on my writing life, second one on my personal life, which includes my love life," Bond said in an interview. The third book, he said would be on his "invented life" - the life, which the writer would like to have. "I can tell a lot of tall stories. That book will probably be the most amusing," the 81-year-old bachelor, who lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie, said. Although many of his stories are semi-autobiographical in nature, his first attempt at writing a full-fledged memoir was in 2000 when 'Scenes from a Writer's Life: A Memoir' was published. But, it covers only first few formative years of the Anglo-Indian's life till the age of 21 before his first book 'The Room on the Roof', which also has autobiographical elements, was published. Born to a British Air Force personnel in Kasauli, he grew up in smaller towns of Jamnagar, Shimla and Dehradun. After staying for a few years in London, the Sahitya Akademi Award winner and Padma Bhushan winning writer came back to the country of his birth. "I am extending that book now to include some of the things I had left out. And some of the things I see in a different perspective now. It will be ready in the next 3-4 months," said the author who was recently in the city to talk at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet. PTI The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) brought back RK Pachauri (currently accused of sexual harassment of a colleague) as the executive vice chairman. Pachauri had held charge of TERI for close to 35 years. According to the Indian Express, Pachauri will have executive powers, though Ajay Mathur, a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, is officially the director general of TERI. Recently Pachauri was accused of trying to coax witnesses and those involved in the case to settle out of court. Read this detailed Firstpost article. Mail Today carried a report including some of the messages that Pachauri exchanged with the woman who accuses him of sexual harassment. If these messages do not qualify as sexual harassment, then we don't know what does. The following excerpts are from conversations that transpired between RK Pachauri and the complainant as curated by Canadian journalist, Donna Laframboise's website (where she has been following up on the Pachauri case), Mail Today and Outlook. The gifs, however are our own take Pachauri should not be in office till he is cleared of all charges and him being brought back as executive vice chairman only makes us look for a huge palm upon which we can rest our face. 'Curbing my instincts' (17 September 2013) I shall try to suppress my human feelings, and live with a sad restraint on my words and actions. Never to make you uncomfortable or stressed on my accountI never want to make you uncomfortable even if it requires curbing my own instincts. via GIPHY 'But the fire that beckons me...' (23 September 2013) Myriads of living beings and objects inanimate too Are attracted to others which compels them to traverse Unfathomable distances merging with those unknown or in their quest, Which is natures wondrous power moving the whole glorious universe. The essence of these verses is not a venture in astronomy, Nor is it driven by the stupid arrogance of trying to explain The movement of heavenly bodies in this infinite expanse of creation, Just a weak confession this is of my truth in Queens reign. And the nearest analogy I can uncover of somewhat similar attraction Is that of a moth around a candle and its tragic fate, Where the intense heat and fire are for the moth coldly destructive, But the fire that beckons me does my drab life magically rejuvenate! Never in the days bygone have I been inspired thus To give a girl joy and love rendered as a selfless offering But she is my queen, whose goodness and virtue are matched Only by her beauty, and in my soul she induces a sublime stirring. Hence, now I dream of her sweet and generous indulgence To let me love her in earnest for many years hence, I'll never expect Any regal gifts in return but only her love and care, and licence To let me love her with intensity unlimited and totally unchecked. And if her heart is faint and fails her soul my song to resonate Then I pledge to the heavens above that no girl shall I love any more; Never to smile again, the joy she bestows will I quell with perennial pain, And I shall into my shell for the rest of my days woefully withdraw! via GIPHY But is a little show of tenderness so difficult for you? At the end of a long day is it so alien to your nature to sit on the sofa next to me and hold my hand, and possibly even give me a hug? Or do you want to confirm to me that you are bereft of any emotion 'I find it very difficult now to hug you' (10 October, 2013) Dearest, Have been up since 2 am. One thought has been bothering me, which of course may give you relief and comfort. I suddenly woke up to the feeling that I find it very difficult now to hug you. What haunts me are your words from the last time when you used the words that I grabbed your body. That would apply to someone who would want to molest you. I have loved you in soul, mind and heart, and your body is as sacred to me as your soul. Yes, I would love you physically, only because I love you in all the other aspects I have mentioned. I, therefore, have a mental block now, and would find it difficult to touch you except to kiss your hand. But perhaps that is just what you wanted. Still very much in love but from a distance. P via GIPHY 'Rejecting my fervent offer' (15 October 2015) You are rejecting my fervent offer to keep and nurture my heart! here I am sitting and chairing an IPCC meeting and surreptitiously sending you messages. I hope that tells you of my feelings for you ! *.* via GIPHY 'Deliberately behaving in a manner that prevents you from getting closer to me' (21 December 2013) You are either deliberately behaving in a manner that prevents you from getting closer to meor you are truly a cold individual, whose emotions are only aroused by a nice looking young guy who you can take to bed with you. via GIPHY There are a number of other creepy messages that you can read on Donna's blog. Pachauri's lawyers had said that his email and phone account were "hacked". However, the Delhi Police found "no evidence" to support his claims. via GIPHY RJD president Lalu Prasad today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying "communal tension has increased" in the country during the NDA rule. He dared the Centre to impose President's rule in Bihar and questioned law and order in other states. "Communal tension has increased in the country during Narendra Modi's rule. The PM did not rein in his party leaders making provocative communal statements. His hotheaded leaders earlier talked about sending Muslims to Pakistan, but instead of them, Narendra Modi himself went to Pakistan unannounced," Prasad said. Kiski majaal hai ki Bihar me Rashtrapati shashan laye (who can dare impose Presidents Rule in Bihar). Those criticising law and order should give details of law and order in other states. Our government has been functioning well, The Indian Express quotes Lalu Yadav. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/bihar-impose-presidents-rule-lalu-prasad-yadav-dares-centre/ The RJD chief was addressing the election meeting in support of Congress nominee for Harlakhi Assembly seat Mohammad Shabir. The by-poll is happening because of the death of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), an ally of the BJP, MLA Basant Kushwaha, a day before taking oath of the new House. Criticising the NDA government at the Centre, Prasad highlighted lowering funds for important schemes like Indira Awas Yojna, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and those related to roads among others. Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, former Haryana minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and state Congress chief and minister Ashok Choudhary also sought support for party nominee in the by-poll slated for February 13. The Hindu reports that Lalu Yadav's son Tejaswi Yadav also lashed out at the Opposition for their 'barbs' on 'jungle raj' having returned to Bihar after the Nitish-Lalu combine took power last year. With PTI inputs New Delhi: The Congress is taking a leaf out of the AAPs book in Punjab for its electoral campaign for the Punjab Assembly polls 2017. It has embarked on a massive mass contact campaign programme to connect to the voters, especially the youth. A similar approach had ensured an unprecedented victory for the AAP in the Delhi assembly election in 2015. The Youth Congress has launched its Kuch Suniye, Kuch Sunaiye, Punjab Ko Bachaye campaign under which a young team of around 200 workers is doing interactive sessions with people in different constituencies of the poll-bound state. The team is listening to the complaints and suggestions of general voters besides giving a patient hearing to cadres who had parted ways with the party during the anti-corruption crusade of Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal in 2011. The suggestions gathered will be submitted to the AICC (All India Congress Committee), which will give a thought to it and incorporate the important concerns while preparing its manifesto, Youth Congress spokesman Amrish Ranjan Pandey told Firstpost giving details of the campaign which will be launched in other poll-bond states as well. The programme is part of our strategy to reconnect with the youth. It will go on for two-three months and our target is to cover all 117 assembly segments of the state. So far we are getting good response, he said. Asked the main issues that have come to the fore from the discussions so far, Pandey said, Drug addiction is one of the major issues in Punjab. Apart from traditional drugs like smack and opium, pharmaceutical drugs are causing havoc in the state. Synthetic drugs are being sold through medical shops that have mushroomed over the years and have been operating even without a licence. The situation has turned so grave and pathetic that thousands of people turn up in our meetings on a single call. They are looking at the Congress with hope. We do not want to talk of religion or votes, which seem to put people off, especially the youngsters. Other concerns that have been raised by people include fair compensation to farmers, justice to Dalits, corruption and desecration of the Holy Guru Granth Sahib. He admitted to trust deficit between the people and the party and said the campaign was aimed at bridging that. We want to change the perception. This is a new revolution and we do not want to earn discredit by doing anything half-hearted. We will extensively campaign in Punjab and other poll-bound states such as Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. We are hopeful that it will yield results, Pandey said. Asked have they fallen short of new ideas and why are they following the AAP that had gone to people before coming up with their manifesto, the Youth Congress leader said they do not follow anyone. Youth Congress is the only youth organisation in the world to have over 1.3 crore members. We have always reached out to our voters and cadres, he claimed. Asked who he considers is the Congress nearest rival in the state, Pandey said, We do not underestimate our other political opponents, but we have direct fight with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition. They are already discredited. On AAPs chances Pandey said: Punjab is not Delhi. The AAP has no leadership there. Of its four MPs there, two (Dramvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa) have parted ways. There is an infighting between MP Bhagwant Mann, state convenor SC Chhotepur, lawyer HS Phoolka for chef ministerial post. They do not have any credible face to declare as CM candidate. The entire campaign is being led by Youth Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja Brar who attends all meetings and responds to the queries and complaints raised by the participants. Brar is also a legislator from south-western Punjab's Giddarbaha constituency. Veteran actor and film maker Kamal Haasan speaking at the annual India Conference of Harvard University in downtown Boston said democracy is a work in progress which requires constant vigilance to safeguard it. Kamal Haasan said freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted. He spoke of the Emergency and "voices silenced in plain sight for the world to see". Democracy does not guarantee freedom of speech, CNN IBN quotes the actor saying at the Boston event. Kamal Haasan has said he was against the word "tolerance" as he underlined that all communities need to "accept" each other to save the country from disintegration. Haasan, during a "fireside chat" with students of the prestigious Harvard University, said the country has already lost its two arms Bangladesh and Pakistan and all efforts should be made to maintain the unity and integrity of the country. Citing the example of a sleeveless sweater knit in green thread among other colours, Haasan said, "It (India) is a sweater which is already knit with green thread (among other colour wools). You just can't pull (the green thread). There is no sweater left then." "We have already lost the sleeves of the sweater Bangladesh and Pakistan (have) gone. It's a sleeveless sweater So let's keep the sweater. It's getting cold," he said amid applause from the young Indian students studying at the Harvard University and other higher educational institutions around Boston including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Haasan's answer came in response to a question from one of the students who wanted to seek his views on voices of intolerance coming from some of the popular Bollywood stars like Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan. "I am against the word tolerance. You do not tolerate; you accept a friend. Why should you tolerate everything? It is a view either you accept it or not accept it? Why do you tolerate?" Haasan asked. "Intolerance is there because you are tolerating it. Do not tolerate. Accept the Muslims as your co-citizens. Do not tolerate them. Accept the Hindus (as your co-citizen). That's the problem of tolerant. Accept it (Muslims) because you are not going to take away the green in your Indian flag," the popular Indian actor told the audience. The intolerance debate had raged in India recently with many writers, artists and civil society members expressing alarm over the issue. With PTI inputs Washington: The widow of late Islamic State group financial leader Abu Sayyaf was charged Monday for her alleged role in the death of US aid worker Kayla Mueller in 2015. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, a 25-year-old known as Umm Sayyaf, was accused of conspiring to provide support to the violent extremists, forcibly detaining Mueller and other captives in the couple's homes, where she was sexually assaulted by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Bahar acknowledged that Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residences, describing "owning" as equivalent to slavery, federal prosecutors said. IS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble. US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26. Abu Sayyaf was killed in May 2015 in a rare US commando raid inside war-torn Syria. Bahar was captured during the operation, and US forces also rescued a young woman from the Yazidi minority and seized a stash of firearms, the complaint recalled. Mueller and other female "captives were at various times handcuffed, held in locked rooms and given orders on a daily basis with respect to their activities, movements and liberty," according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Virginia. "While in captivity, Kayla Jean Mueller was sexually abused by Baghdadi, who forced her to have sex with him," it added. "The defendant (Bahar) knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home." The complaint also alleged that Bahar told the captives that "she would kill them if they did not listen to her." Bahar admitted that she had sole responsibility for holding the hostages captive while her husband traveled on IS business, and that Baghdadi and other members of the group would stay at the residence at times, according to the complaint. If convicted, Bahar faces life in prison. She is currently in Iraqi custody, facing prosecution for terror-related activities. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement. "We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." AFP US government agency NASA is being accused of illegal censorship by some of its Christian employees after the word 'Jesus' was allegedly banned from a newsletter. The JSC Praise & Worship Club placed an advertisement in an email to promote a meeting saying, "The theme for this session will be 'Jesus is our life!' Prayer partners will be available for anyone who has need." Members claim that NASA told them to refrain the use of the word 'Jesus' in the announcement, reports the Express. Liberty Institute has now threatened to file a federal lawsuit unless NASA apologises and stops censoring the name Jesus, reports Fox News. In a response statement to The Hill, Karen Northon of the agency denied the accusations: NASA does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications. The agency allows a host of employee-led civic, professional, religious and other organizations to meet on NASA property on employees own time. Consistent with federal law, NASA attempts to balance employees rights to freely exercise religious beliefs with its obligation to ensure there is no government endorsement of religion. However, Jeremy Dys, a lawyer for the Liberty Institute, said that the organisers offered to provide a disclaimer, notifying readers that the announcement was private speech but was rejected as insufficient. New Delhi: Former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala dedicated his life to progress and development of his country and worked tirelessly to foster close relations with India, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday. In his condolence message on the passing away of Koirala, Mukherjee said he led Nepal during the crucial period of political transition. "Under his stewardship of the Government of Nepal, considerable progress was achieved in the fields of hydropower and connectivity," the President said. In his passing away, Nepal has lost a leader who dedicated his life to Nepal's progress and development, Mukherjee said. "He led Nepal during the crucial period of political transition and Constitution promulgation. The simplicity of his life holds a lesson for all of us," Mukherjee said. He noted that Koirala worked tirelessly to foster the close and multifaceted relations between India and Nepal. "The people of India share the sorrow and grief of the people of Nepal over the loss of Sushil Koirala. Please accept my heartfelt condolences," the President said. PTI Washington: Russia is "paranoid" about being challenged by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and its efforts to rival American power could push it into a new Cold War, the head of US intelligence said Tuesday. "They're greatly concerned about being contained," the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Clapper said that Russia fears the installation of a missile defense network in Europe could negate the threat posed to the West by its nuclear arsenal. "I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about about Nato," he said. "So, a lot of these aggressive things that the Russians are doing, for a number of reasons great power status, to create the image of being co-equal with the United States etc. I think could probably could possibly go on, and we could be into another Cold War-like spiral here," he added. Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low point, amid disputes over Nato's expansion in eastern Europe and Russia's military interventions in Syria and Ukraine. AFP Bedford, New Hampshire: Republican Donald Trump appeared poised to clinch his first victory in Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire following a humbling second-place finish in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, while Senator Bernie Sanders was cruising to a likely win over Hillary Clinton in what has become an unexpectedly competitive Democratic race. As snowfall brought yet more uncertainty to the race's final hours, Hillary Clinton tried to move past talk of a shakeup in her campaign and controversy over comments by supporters that women should feel obliged to vote for her to become the first female president. Campaigning across the northeastern state on Monday with her husband and daughter, she worked to flip Sanders' favored critique against her by claiming that he, too, had taken money from Wall Street if only indirectly. The New Hampshire primary traditionally plays a pivotal role by providing momentum to the winners heading into the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada. Those candidates who fare poorly could see donations dry up and face pressure to withdraw from the race. Trump, the billionaire businessman, launched the harshest attacks not against Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had bested him in Iowa, but against Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor is one of three Republicans hoping that Florida Senator Marco Rubio's recent stumbles have opened a fresh path for one of them to emerge as the more mainstream alternative to Trump and Cruz. "Jeb is having some kind of a breakdown, I think," Trump told CNN, calling Bush, the son and brother of presidents, a spoiled child and an embarrassment to his family. "I think it's a very sad situation that's taking place." The enmity was mutual. Vying for votes in Nashua, Bush described Trump variably as a loser, a liar, a whiner and the worst choice for president. He blasted what he said was Trump's proclivity for "insulting women, castigating Hispanics, ridiculing the disabled and calling American POWs losers." Still, Trump was running ahead in pre-primary polls, as was Sanders on the Democratic side as candidates race to collect delegates for the parties' national nominating conventions in July. Not so long ago, Republicans saw New Hampshire as the proving ground that would winnow their unwieldy field of candidates. Rubio's surge into third place in Iowa one week ago raised the prospect that voters here would anoint him over Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Yet Rubio faced fresh questions about his readiness and his ability to defeat the Democratic nominee after Saturday's debate, when he was mocked for reciting rote talking points about President Barack Obama over and over. Growing doubts about Rubio seemed to portend a fight for delegates to the party's national convention that could extend for weeks or months to the dismay of Republican Party leaders hoping for a quick consolidation behind anyone but Cruz or Trump. Democrats are already resigned to the likelihood of a protracted primary contest following Sanders' strong performance in Iowa. Sensing Rubio's vulnerability, nearly everyone seemed to be on the attack. Bush's campaign debuted a new ad questioning Kasich's conservative credentials, while an outside group backing Rubio pulled an ad attacking Cruz and replaced it with one assailing Bush. Christie and Bush both piled on Rubio, claiming he hadn't been tested the way that governors have. In the week since Clinton eked out a win in the Iowa caucuses, her campaign has worked aggressively to lower expectations for New Hampshire, where Sanders has maintained a sizable lead despite Clinton's victory here eight years ago against then Illinois-Sen, Barack Obama. Sanders, a Vermont senator, is well known to voters in neighboring New Hampshire. Clinton was shouldering renewed troubles amid talk of a possible campaign reshuffling. Although campaign manager Robby Mook is expected to stay, some Clinton allies have said new advisers may be brought in after Tuesday. The former first lady insisted it was all overblown. "I have no idea what they're talking about or who they are talking to," Clinton said on MSNBC. "We're going to take stock, but it's going to be the campaign that I've got." Sanders, wary of upsetting a race trending his way, stuck to core campaign themes as he addressed cheering supporters in Nashua. In recent days, former President Bill Clinton has accused some Sanders' supporters of waging "sexist" attacks, and feminist Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have criticised women who aren't supporting Clinton. Yet Sanders passed up all that on Monday, instead telling supporters in Nashua, "We have come a long way in the last nine months." But his campaign did take issue with Clinton's claim that Sanders benefited from Wall Street money donated to Senate Democrats' campaign arm, with campaign manager Jeff Weaver arguing it "suggests the kind of disarray that the Clinton campaign finds itself in today." AP Beirut: A car bomb driven by a suicide attacker exploded Tuesday near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least 10 people and causing wide material damage, state media said. The state-run SANA news agency said Tuesday the blast went off near a vegetable market in the northern neighborhood of Masaken Barzeh. State TV reported the blast occurred near a police officers' club, killing at least 10. It showed footage of the blast scene, including several damaged vehicles and one burnt-out car. The club and the market are next to one another. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20 after it was detonated in the parking lot of the officers' club. Such attacks are not uncommon in the Syrian capital, the seat of power of President Bashar al-Assad. The blast came a day after an international rights group said Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, killing 37 people. The Human Rights Watch report, released Monday, said that cluster munitions, which are widely banned, have been used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since 26 January. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens, HRW said. Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of explosive submunitions over wide areas. Some 98 States are party to a convention banning their use but several countries including Syria and Russia, as well as the US, China and Israel have not signed the ban. Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the northern province of Aleppo under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks in an attempt to besiege rebel-held parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once a commercial center. Last week, Syrian troops and their allies were able to lift a three-year siege imposed on the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province. HRW said some of the recent attacks using cluster munitions occurred near Nubul and Zahra. Opposition activists have said that Russia has been using cluster bombs since the start of its aerial campaign in Syria on 30 September. HRW previously documented at least 20 cluster munition attacks by the Russian-Syrian joint operation between 30 September and 14 December. It added that Syria and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. HRW said the International Syria Support Group that will meet in Germany on Thursday "should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority." The ISSG includes 17 regional and world powers trying to end Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011. Cluster bombs have also been used in other recent conflicts in the region, including by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in a bloody uprising in 2011. The United Nations and human rights groups have said Israel dropped about four million cluster munitions during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians, according to UN demining experts. AP WASHINGTON The U.S. National Park Service is proposing to limit the commemorative items it keeps from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as it faces a potential space crunch from more than 400,000 tribute objects, the agency said on Tuesday. About 3 million people a year visit the two-acre (0.8 hectare) site on Washington's National Mall. It is best known for the sunken Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, where the names of more than 58,000 service personnel who died from 1959 to 1975 are engraved. Among the items left behind since the memorial was dedicated in 1982 are a custom-built Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a general's stars, eyeglasses, military ribbons and medals, money and flags. The National Park Service said in a statement that it was seeking public comment about changing the criteria for items it would keep in its Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection. The deadline for submitting comments is March 10. By refining the scope of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, we can ensure that our energy and resources will preserve items with a direct and specific relationship to veterans of the Vietnam War, said Gay Vietzke, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The proposed changes call for the National Park Service to keep only personal artefacts of personnel whose names appear on the memorial, Vietnam War military service items, and protest and advocacy materials related to the war. Most of the items left at the site now have no direct connection to Vietnam veterans or the war, the agency said. In cases where the collection has a large sample of a particular type of item, only a representative number will be kept. Mike Litterst, a National Park Service spokesman, said items from the memorial were kept at a site in Maryland that houses objects from about 40 parks in the Washington region. "While it is not currently an issue, if the collection were to continue to grow at its current pace, space would eventually become a problem and this is a pro-active effort find a solution," he said in an email. The agency said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was raising money for an educational centre where 4,000 to 6,000 articles would be put on display. The National Mall site includes the Three Servicemen Memorial and the Vietnam Women's Memorial. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; editing by Grant McCool) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Daesh hunter, as hes called, has killed three high-level Islamic State operatives in just 10 days in the coastal city of Sirte, the hometown of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. According to the local media outlet Libya Prospect, the Daesh hunter's first victim was Hamad Abdel Hady aka Abu Anas Al-Muhajer, a Sudanese national and an Islamic State operative. He was also believed to be an official at the local Sharia court. The sniper also killed two other top-level operatives Abu Mohammed Dernawi on 19 January and Abdullah Hamad al Ansari, a Southern Libyan commander on 23 January as he was leaving the mosque, reported Mirror. All the three times, the IS retaliated but in an unplanned manner firing wild shots to scare off the innocent civilians. International Business Times quoted a witness to one of the three murders as telling Al-wasat, a Bahraini newspaper, A state of terror prevailed among the top ranks of the Isil ranks after his death. They randomly shot in the air to scare inhabitants, while searching for the sniper. The lone gunman theory The lone gunman theory, so to speak, was initially proposed when John F Kennedy was assassinated. The Warren Commission reviewed the evidence and claimed the assassination involved a single gunman, who was emotionally disturbed. Now, were not sure of this vigilante's state of mind, but there is speculation that he is from Misrata, a city close to Sirte. It is also the city where, according to the International Business Times, a number of US operatives are thought to be active and where US airstrikes have killed IS militants. Medicare payments and other health benefits could be delivered by the private sector under a major shake-up being considered by the Turnbull government. Health Minister Sussan Ley has confirmed the government is examining possible changes, after reports a plan to outsource the government payments is well-advanced and could be a key feature of the May budget. Ms Ley says that between Medicare, aged care and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the government processes over $42 billion worth of payment transactions every year but departments haven't kept up with new technologies. A Sydney school will appeal the federal government's decision to cancel $19 million in Commonwealth funding that could leave up to 2000 students stranded within the first term of school. On Tuesday, the board of Malek Fahd Islamic School in Sydney's west announced it would fight the Federal Department of Education's decision after a nine-month investigation into the school found it had been operating for profit and had ongoing governance concerns. The school, which is the largest Islamic school in the country, has been embroiled in an internal civil war for more than a year. In November the NSW Supreme Court heard it was in "turmoil" following three changes of chairman amid allegations that it was operating for profit. Aysha Mehajer, wife of the embattled Auburn deputy mayor, has claimed a small victory after police dropped its traffic case against the former beautician over her $250,000 Mercedes. Ms Mehajer was prepared to challenge in court a defective vehicle notice, issued when she was behind the wheel of a "brand new" Mercedes G63. The 29-year-old was pulled over last October after police claimed her luxury car's side exhaust did not comply with Australian standards. Her husband Salim Mehajer said at the time his other half was "told to walk home". A man has been charged after a car was vandalised with Islamophobic messages in Sydney's south-west. Police had launched an investigation after a black Audi 4WD was found with smashed windows and covered in graffiti on Johnson Road, Bass Hill. The graffitied car on Johnson Road, Bass Hill. Credit:Islamophobia Register Australia's Facebook page A 55-year-old who lives on the street was arrested at his home on Tuesday night and charged with destroy/damage property. He has been granted conditional bail to appear before Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday 2 March 2016. Images of the incident were posted on Islamophobia Register Australia's Facebook page. She put the keys in the ignition, drove 160 metres and after the crash she asked police: "What have I done? What have I done?". One year and four months later, Puipuimaota Galuvao, 28, knows what she did and she wants to go to jail for it. Puipuimaota Galuvao was driving without a licence when she ploughed into a shopfront in Sydney's south. Credit:Facebook Ms Galuvao, an unlicensed driver, ploughed a four-wheel-drive into the shopfront of a southern Sydney chemist in September, 2014. In front of the O'Reilly & Daly Chemist at Kogarah was 16-year-old Aneri Patel who was waiting for a bus. Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far. We went back to the Netherlands for the weekend , and now back into some sort of routine. Mr MiH spent 5 years of his life out there (and I a mere 6 months) - before we got married (although it was close, as we only moved in together a week before our wedding). We still have friends out there, in fact my brother now lives there - so as you can see plenty to get on with. Whilst I was out there, I started to play 'what if...?' I am not keen on playing that game, especially now - because well, you know there is no point in discussing what if .. because, yes, everything will be different if... Anyhow it reminded me that at some point Mr MiH and I were discussing actually living in the Netherlands , him sticking to his job, and me finding one - and buying a house, we already had views on one. As you can see we were ready to make the commitment. But it was not to be, and I was the one who stayed in the UK job, and Mr MiH who found a job back here. It has been busy in the last 5 years, and I never had time to reflect on what if... Could the Netherlands be my soul country ? I knew the UK was my soul country - the country you want to live in even though you might not be able to speak the language properly and knowing that your parents would (utterly) disapprove. I knew when I was 16/17. I moved across when I was 19. It was the right thing to do, I saw a landscape, and just knew it was the one I had seen in my vision. And I gave up everything in France - not that there was a lot to give up, my studies mainly, and made a life for myself in Britain. I was given the opportunity and I took it. Even after what happened to Leo, I did not regret living my decision. As you can imagine, I received a lot of (unhelpful) comments telling me that it would not have happened had I been in another country (mainly France). In fact it had happened, I researched the topic extensively, and there are similar cases to ours. It does make it better (at all), it just means it could have happened elsewhere. So have I missed the opportunity of a lifetime not sticking with the Netherlands, and giving up at the first hurdle - was it my soul country? It was really appealing - I love the sea, the water - this is a country according to my own heart. We had many friends nearby, we had a life out there (we did not in London). Amsterdam is a very exciting city, and yet not as big London and therefore manageable. The pace of life is a bit slower than here near London. But on Sunday I was glad to be back, and it made sense that I gave up after the first hurdle. My soul country is still Great Britain. I asked Mr MiH whether he missed being in the Netherlands, and thought we missed an opportunity. No was his answer, so I suppose we will stick to Britain for the time being! Have you got a soul country? Did you give up a life to do what feels right? Her name was Elsie, but her husband, UCs longest-running president, called her BobOLink, which is also the name of a songbird. Throughout their 46-year marriage, Raymond Walters remained charmed and fascinated by his wife, as passages reveal in his diaries, which were donated to UCs Archives and Rare Books Library. Walters served as president of UC for 23 years, from 1932-1955. The diaries hold daily activities and thoughts of President Walters over the decades, from 1925-1960, and as a result uncover decades of history, including the history of UC. But the diaries also lovingly reveal valentine gifts, wedding anniversaries and tributes to his wife. Raymond Walters and Elsie Rosenberg, both from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, married on Oct. 26, 1909. They had three sons, Philip, Everett and Raymond Jr. After Walters was selected president of UC in 1932 and moved to Cincinnati from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, his diaries describe such everyday details as buying a new battery for the car, a new license for their dog, Bob, and other incidentals. But Walters diaries also offer a glimpse of his dedication to Elsie. As they settled in Cincinnati, the couple enjoyed long walks, attended services at Calvary Church, ate fried chicken Sunday dinners, attended the symphony, listened to radio programs and read around a warm fire. TWIN FALLS Even a booming economy can leave some businesses behind. In an ever-expanding market both locally and online Twin Falls mom-and-pop shops are being forced to get creative, play to their strengths and stand out from the competition. Local small-business owners say theyve had to change their models to adapt to recent growth. While some dont see the big-box stores as competition, others, like KJs Pharmacy owner Tom Wadsworth, said bigger companies are increasingly encroaching on their business. In the pharmaceutical world, there are some pretty big boys and they wield their influence pretty unfairly at times, said Wadsworth, a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist with a doctorate in pharmacy. Pharmacy benefit managers work with insurance plans to set prices to their advantage, hurting profits at smaller businesses, he said. Were small fish, Wadsworth said. I dont have a bunch of stores I have one. Despite the challenges, he says small businesses have advantages over corporations. Were invested in the business in ways these big guys cant, he said. Diversifying Kindsey Ringenberg sat down to lay out her business plan four years ago. There is an untapped market in this community, Ringenberg said. Her business, The Brass Monkey, targets a demographic who wants high-quality, contemporary and fashion-forward clothing she didnt see in other Twin Falls stores. Its important to carve your own niche and market in a community, and respect other small businesses by not offering the same products, Ribenberg said. Debbie Parker, owner of Bath & Body Boutique, agreed that diversity is important. Her business offers more than 200 scents that customers can mix and match into lotions, bubble baths and other scented items. What Im offering is something so unique and personal, she said. Youre not going to get it in those big-box stores. For Wadsworth, a breadth of services is equally necessary, to avoid becoming dependent on a single service. KJs Pharmacy offers compounding, specialized packaging and immunizations to its customers, with free delivery and a 24-hour on-call pharmacist. Keeping Up with Technology The age of online shopping is here to stay, and its taking some local retailers to a new level of business. Janice Elam, owner of Copy-It, said her business is in the process of introducing an online ordering system. We had to go that route because we have different generations of customers, Elam said. The website allows customers the option of buying local, with the convenience of going online. Elam said her customers will feel secure knowing her business will call them with any questions about their order. Ringenberg also plans to launch an e-commerce section of the Brass Monkey website this spring. Its the fastest-growing branch of retail, she said. The Brass Monkeys website already allows product browsing, but Ringenberg hopes it will soon reach out-of-town customers, too. Its not just Web traffic thats driven Copy-It to upgrade in recent years, Elam said. The technology has changed, too. Once all her business did was make copies of hard copies, but now her staff must be able to read jump drives, resize documents and change printers. That means shes needed more employees. In her case, she said, technology has made things more labor-intensive. For others, technology has simplified things. Personalized packaging for prescription drugs has been in large demand at KJs Pharmacy, especially for seniors. A blister-packaging machine on-site is one of only two in the area, Wadsworth said. Were definitely the most versatile pharmacy in the area, said Camie Cowger, a compounding specialist. Simple Marketing Since several restaurants moved into the downtown area, more people are stopping by Parkers bath and body shop, nearly tripling her profitability. Now, she has to keep her new customers attention. My profit margin is based on seasonality, for sure, and walk-in traffic, she said. Bath & Body Boutique has different product offerings for the major holidays Christmas, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Oktoberfest. She also uses social media and gift giveaways as inexpensive ways to market her products. Parker recommends listening to customers for feedback. You have to really get down to the nitty-gritty of what sells and how it sells, she said. Small businesses have more flexibility than larger stores in what they can offer from day to day. Elam noted that the 20-cent customer is just as important as a large client. It takes it all to be effective, she said. Building Relationships Wadsworth was a pharmacist for years at various retail establishments before taking over KJs Pharmacy in 2009. I thought I cared about people before, he said. When you become the owner, its on a whole different level. Over time, the work becomes less about business and more about friends, he said. We can bring them a level of customer service they cant find anywhere else, Wadsworth said. Elam said customer service and quick turnaround is what builds her business. She considers her clients more like family, developing trust and respect over the years. Word-of-mouth from a good customer experience is Parkers biggest marketing tool. Not only is my stuff personalized, she said, but my attention to them is personalized. Wadsworths pharmacy in Wendell has also worked to become a pillar in the community, giving local support to schools and other organizations, he said. When he received an offer to sell it to a larger company, he refused. To Wadsworth, its more than just a business. Its a really fulfilling way to have a career, he said. But its increasingly difficult to sustain it. TWIN FALLS Kowz-R-Us Dairy, owned and operated by Harry Hoogland, has received Glanbias highest honor, the 2015 Quality Patron of the Year. The Hoogland dairy was awarded a commemorative plaque and an all-expense paid trip for two to Ireland. Its all about consistency, Harry Hoogland said. Our team works closely with the veterinarian, nutritionist, employees and our inside/outside foremen. If we find our somatic cell count increasing or if we have several new employees, we will pull together milk training. The annual award rotates between small, medium and large dairies that meet strict quality standards over 12 months, paying close attention to all facets of dairy operations. Kowz-R-Us Dairy is a culmination of many years of dairy experience in Idaho, said Russ De Kruyf, director of milk procurement. Harry Hoogland and his family were one of the very early transplants from California in the late 60s. They saw the potential for the dairy industry in Idaho and paved the way for those who followed. ... Harry has some of the most dedicated long term employees and it is evident in their milk quality. Daragh Maccabee, SVP Procurement & Dairy Economics, said Glanbia is honored to work with our milk patrons in Idaho. ... Harry and Vicki Hoogland have been Glanbia patrons for the last 10 years and we have had the privilege of Harrys insight and advice on our Patron Advisory Board for most of that time. The grand prize drawing for an additional all-expenses paid trip for two to Ireland was awarded to Lael & Justine Schoessler of No-View Dairy. Both couples will embark on the trip this fall. Other dairies recognized for quality milk production were: Buhl: Alania Dairy, Knott-Run Farms, Kral Dairy and Robert & Monica De Kruyf. Castleford: Kowz-R-Us Dairy (Patron of the year) Gooding: Ballard Dairy and Big Sky West Jerome: Aardema-St. Bridget Dairy, Aardema Dairy #7, Millenkamp Milkers #1, Ted Baar Dairy, Toledo-T3 Dairy, Toledo Dairy and Valencia Dairy. Kimberly: No-View Dairy (won the trip) Richfield: Bill Johnston Dairy, R and L Lezamiz Dairy, and Robinson & Sorensen Dairy. Shoshone: 4 Bros Dairy #1, 4 Bros Dairy #3, 4 Bros Dairy #5, US Dairy Terreton: Sunview Dairy #3 Twin Falls: Lane Franco Dairy, Manuel Faria Dairy Wendell: deJong Dairy, Dinis Dairy #1, Dinis Dairy #2, Rietkerk Dairy #2, Sunview Dairy #2, Toledo T & F Dairy, Van Dyk & Sons Dairy and West Point Dairy. TWIN FALLS The city has brought experienced hands on board for the Urban Renewal Agency just as plans are moving forward with a downtown renaissance project. City Manager Travis Rothweiler announced Monday to the City Council that Phil Kushlan, principal of Kushlan Associates, will be the interim URA director until Oct. 1. Kushlan comes with years of experience, most notably 12 years as executive director for the Capital City Development Corporation in Boise during its renewal efforts, Rothweiler said. The previous URA director stepped down in December. When you have someone who has been to that rodeo before and has been bucked off, as hes shared a few times, in his own career, its probably important for us to learn from his expertise, he said. Kushlan told the Times-News that hes been working with the city on a variety of projects for the last few years, and believes he has a professional obligation to help with the citys downtown project. Getting it done right is critical, he said. Rothweiler emphasized that Kushlan is taking the position temporarily. He will be working remotely from Boise much of the time, Kushlan said. The search for the citys economic development director starts immediately, and the job could be filled by May or June. We will have to approach the upper end of our salary range to find the talent were looking for, Rothweiler said. He told the Council the URA director and city economic development director positions combined are too much for one person. Melinda Anderson previously held both. Downtown Renaissance Mandi Roberts with project designer Otak Inc. presented an update to the Council on the Main Avenue renewal project, which has been rebranded as a downtown Renaissance. Bids for the demolition of the Rogerson building and remodeling of the Banner building, and removal of a fountain on Hansen Street, will close in early March, she said. Work will begin shortly thereafter. Roberts suggested ordering pavers, furnishings and trees in advance for potential cost savings. The trees would be grown in a local nursery for a year before planting. Heavy reconstruction of five blocks of Main Avenue may start in January 2017 to avoid affecting area businesses during a busy retail season. After initial construction, finishing touches would be completed block-by-block through the following summer and fall. We believe the project could be completed very easily by the end of 2017, Roberts said. Also at the meeting, the Council revoked a resolution that created a Senior Citizen Advisory Commission. Rothweiler said the intention is to help seniors on a more comfortable level by having an advisory committee reporting to his office, rather than the City Council. The Council also discussed the potential need to analyze deferrals of curb-gutter and sidewalk improvements, of which the city has about 1,000 dating back 34 years. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy TWIN FALLS The trial for an 87-year-old Twin Falls man charged with first-degree murder has been indefinitely postponed pending a mental-competency evaluation. Paul Robert Welch, who is accused of shooting and killing 81-year-old Barbara Sue Chitwood in a pre-planned attack Aug. 21, was in court Monday for a status conference. Welchs attorney, Keith Roark, asked Judge Richard Bevan last month to allow Welch to be examined in order to determine whether (Welch), as a result of mental disease or defect lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense. My client is very hard of hearing, Roark told the court Monday. Hes very confused by the proceedings. On Jan. 21 Bevan ordered all proceedings suspended until a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist could perform the examination and evaluate Welchs mental condition. Were just waiting to see what the evaluation shows, Roark told the court Monday. Welch, seated beside Roark in a wheelchair with a long white beard and scraggly white hair, did not speak during Mondays hearing. Setting up the evaluation is entirely between the defense attorney and whoever is conducting the evaluation, County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said. Welch will likely be evaluated by a professional from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, but Welch and his defense team are allowed to choose their own expert to perform the evaluation. Bevan did not set a timetable for the evaluation. From what I gathered theyre getting it done as fast as possible, Loebs said. I think the sooner, the better. If a person is found to be mentally incompetent, theyre generally taken to a health facility and given treatment and medication in an attempt to help them become competent, Loebs said. Given Welchs age, its unclear what the process might be if he were found incompetent. I dont know for sure, Loebs said. The judge would have to make the decision on how to proceed. A jury trial was scheduled to begin March 1, but Bevan postponed the start date and did not set a new trial date. A decision on how to proceed will be made after the evaluation is complete, Bevan said. I see no way the trial could move forward at that time, Roark told Bevan before the decision was made to postpone. Welch is accused of using a .22-caliber pistol to shoot Chitwood in the head Aug. 21 in the home where the two lived together on Lacasa Loop. Welch is still being held in jail without bond. GOODING The Gooding Volunteer Group formed in 2014 when one person saw a need to update local parks and another wanted to connect volunteers. The groups two missions have been in full swing since. The Gooding Volunteer Group has already made $10,000 in improvements to Lions Club Park, adding two new pieces of equipment and toddler swings. In October, they plan to install the first community-built park in Gooding. The group has raised $90,000 of its $150,000 goal and is seeking more donations and volunteers to help construct the park. Its important to us because we live in a small rural community, said Becca Pereira, a member of the Gooding Volunteer Group. There isnt a lot of opportunity for our youth, and it adds another gathering point for our community to have class reunions and family reunions. The park is being called the Gooding Community Park Playground and will be built in the area known as Goodings East Park. Pereira also serves as the groups public relations coordinator. She said some of the pieces of equipment at East Park are 30 years old. Most of it came from the old grade school, Pereira said. Some of the pieces of equipment are so old my parents played on it. The new playground is being built by Leathers & Associates, a firm with more than 40 years of experience creating custom-designed playgrounds, zoos, science centers and community gathering places. The company sent a designer to Gooding in April to meet with children in the community. Children drew pictures of what they wanted their playground to look like and the designer picked his favorites. The park will feature a rock wall along with a tractor, cheese hideout and barn to reflect the areas agricultural influence. The park will also be American Disability Association approved. It will be handicapped-accessible and include components for special needs children with a wide range of disabilities. With over 500 children having special needs in the Gooding County community there is a real need for a place for those special-needs children to enjoy with their families, the Gooding Volunteer Group said in a statement. Gooding Volunteer Groups Facebook has more than 200 members and a nine-member board of directors. The group meets monthly with about 10 to 15 people attending. Pereira said after Gooding Community Park Playground is completed they would like to make improvements to West Park in Gooding. Besides improving local parks, the group has also organized fundraisers for people with medical expenses or families affected by house fires. We have this vast network that we reach out to, Pereira said. BOISE A bill was introduced Monday to create an interim committee to study a potential overhaul of Idahos public school funding formula. Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, a former school board trustee who has taken a strong interest in educational issues as a lawmaker, said the need for changes became apparent when she was on a committee over the summer tasked with changing the funding formula so state money follows students who transfer in the middle of the year. A bill to change the formula passed last year but Gov. C.L. Butch Otter vetoed it. Horman told the House Education Committee that many things have changed since the funding formula was last updated in 1994. There are more transfer students, English language learners and special needs students than there were then. And charter schools, mastery-based education and dual enrollment werent part of the system. We have had significant changes in the learning environments of our students, she said. Staffing needs have changed and costs have been going up along with health-care costs, she said, eating up a bigger share of the budget. The state Board of Education announced its plans to seek approval for an interim committee in late January. Horman and Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, would co-chair the committee, and several lawmakers, state education officials, and a representative from the governors office would be on it. The committee voted without opposition to print the bill, clearing the way for a hearing on it. BOISE A group of lawmakers charged with reforming Idahos public defense system has a draft bill. Monday afternoon, the Public Defense Reform Interim Committee voted to accept a draft bill that would give the Public Defense Commission the power to set public defense standards, provide training and give out grant money to counties to help them comply. The committee also agreed to recommend almost $5.5 million in funding for the first year, about a half-million more than Gov. C.L. Butch Otters funding recommendation. Sen. Todd Lakey and Rep. Christy Perry, who co-chair the committee, are scheduled to present the recommendation to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee Tuesday morning. Most of this money would go for the grants, although some would be used to pay 4.5 employees who the commission would hire in the first year to help implement the new system. Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, was leery of spending too much or assuming too much state responsibility and said while the final draft goes farther than he is comfortable with, the state needs to do something to fulfill its constitutional duty to the accused. We may be going farther down the road than we needed to, with the creation of more government than we needed, he said, but we need to be going down this road. Mondays meeting was the committees last. It has met several times, but spent the meetings divided on what sort of enforcement provisions to include in the bill. The committee ended up agreeing on a system where, if a county isnt following standards and the county refuses to fix the problem, the commission would try mediation first. If that fails, the state would pay to fix the specific problems, like hiring more lawyers or additional training, and then bill the county. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state in June 2015, alleging its public defense system to be unconstitutionally inadequate. A judge dismissed the suit in late January. The ACLU has filed a notice of appeal. BOISE Three measures meant to help implement the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer water deal sailed through a Senate committee Monday. The Senate Resources and Environment Committee passed all three resolutions unanimously. One grants the states support for the settlement agreement between the Eastern Snakes surface- and groundwater users, while the second affirms the Legislatures support for increasing managed recharge to 250,000 acre-feet a year. The third asks the Water Resource Board to implement aquifer stabilization projects throughout the state. The first was sent to the Senates amending order, to add Jeromes North Snake Ground Water District to the list of districts mentioned in the resolution, while the other two were sent straight to the full Senate. Brian Olmstead, general manager of the Twin Falls Company, spoke in favor of the first resolution, thanking Committee Chairman Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, and House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, for helping broker the deal. They dragged us back into these negotiations several times when we got to where we couldnt talk to each other, Olmstead said. Groundwater users agreed to reduce consumption about 13 percent as part of the settlement. Theres going to be some pain, Olmstead said. We cant irrigate exactly as we have been and all get by and maintain that resource. Olmstead said he and the other water users are committed to making the deal work, and that while they will need some luck with the rain and snow, the science and hydrology are there to make the deal sustainable. Were not in a California situation where we are so far behind theres no way out, he said. It is a template were going to be able to use across the rest of the state, said Sen. Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum. I have a couple curtailments in my district. So thank you for setting the example. Department of Water Resources Deputy Director Mat Weaver, who spoke in favor of the resolution calling for increased recharge of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, said the goal is ambitious, but it is necessary. Gov. C.L. Butch Otter has asked lawmakers to commit to a major bump in recharge funding to implement the deal. As long as the funding support and recharge partnerships that we are building now continue into the future, I am optimistic that our chances for success are high, Weaver said. Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, who spoke in favor of the third resolution, said he doesnt deal with water issues very often but that they are important to the entire state. The third resolution calls on the water board to address the water calls in the Big and Little Wood river basins and to take action to address declining aquifers in Lewiston, Mountain Home, the Palouse Basin and elsewhere in the state. I think its important that we realize the water issue is not only important to the Snake River Plain area, he said. Its important to the Boise River valley and every other river corridor in our state as we look toward the future. BOISE St. Lukes Health System will transfer ownership of its hospitals in McCall and Mountain Home back to their taxing districts, to settle claims from the Idaho Attorney Generals office that it was unconstitutional for St. Lukes to collect tax revenues from those districts. The Statesman in January 2015 reported that St. Lukes had acquired hospitals in 2010 and 2013 from special taxing districts in McCall and Elmore County, under agreements that the districts would give St. Lukes their tax revenues to help fund hospital operations. The Boise-based health system was then poised to take over a third hospital from a taxing district, in Weiser. The combined revenue of those taxing districts was more than $3 million a year. In all three cases, taxpayers had owned the hospitals and hired St. Lukes to manage them for years. But when St. Lukes bought the hospitals, they no longer were owned by taxpayers. Under the purchase agreements, districts retained some oversight as well as the ability to buy back the hospitals, and St. Lukes agreed to maintain and improve the hospitals. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasdens office notified St. Lukes in January 2015 that it believed the agreements were unlawful and unconstitutional. The office investigated the transactions, then announced Tuesday it had ended its investigation. St. Lukes has agreed to instead lease the hospitals and pay operating costs. The taxing districts can use their tax dollars to fulfill funding requests from St. Lukes, but the districts will own the property. The districts also will control services offered at, and changes made to, the hospitals. St. Lukes will have the option to buy the hospitals in the future. St. Lukes chief attorney Christine Neuhoff said the new agreements went into effect in the past week. Patients shouldnt see a change ... in terms of the health care they receive, Neuhoff said in an interview Tuesday. The initial lease is for 25 years, then St. Lukes and the districts will have the option for 10-year renewals, she said. The Idaho Constitution prohibits a government entity like a hospital district from donating assets or transmitting tax revenues to help support the operations of a private entity, said Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in a news release announcing the settlement. Thats exactly what St. Lukes agreements with these hospital districts did. Under the deals, the districts would have lost their rights to repurchase the hospitals back from St. Lukes if they declined to transfer their tax dollars to the health system, Wasden said. The settlement applies only to McCall Memorial Hospital and Elmore Medical Center in Mountain Home. However, it is the same business structure that St. Lukes will use if or when it closes on the Weiser hospital acquisition, Neuhoff said. Wasden said the agreements raised several questions under Idaho law: The legality of giving public assets to private entities. Tax revenues benefiting private entities. Whether the districts were incurring financial liabilities that exceeded their annual revenues. Whether the districts were acting within and pursuant to their grants of authority. There is a red and blue political divide in the U.S. that this election is only exacerbating, with consequences for governing. Presidential campaigns are about choices, differences, especially between the parties. The 2016 divide between Republicans and Democrats is more intense and polarizing than usual. Two of the leading contenders, Sen. Ted Cruz, on the Republican side, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, openly declare that this is a base election focused more on bringing out hard-core committed supporters than on trying to persuade more independent-minded folks. Their impressive showings in the Iowa Caucuses Cruz won, and Sanders almost did reinforce that. And among billionaire Donald Trumps attributes, political consensus-building isnt at the top of the list. Even after the New Hampshire primary this week winnows the field, Hillary Clinton will still be the favorite to win the Democratic nomination, and Marco Rubio will be one of the three or four Republican finalists. Both claim that they could govern effectively. Clintons central case against her liberal opponent is that she could get things done. Rubio, the freshman Florida senator, emphasizes that he wants to be president of the United States. Any Republican is going to claim that President Barack Obama is a failed leader overseeing a weak economy with no wage growth and pursuing a feckless foreign policy that has caused America to lose respect around the world. They will say that Clinton was a failed secretary of state with lots of political baggage. Rubio goes further. He says Obama really doesnt appreciate America and views it an an arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size, while blatantly disregarding the Constitution. Clinton, he says, is disqualified because she allowed highly sensitive and classified material to be transferred to her private email server knowing it would expose it to foreign intelligence agencies and that she lied about the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed. If, 49 weeks from now, President Rubio is sworn in, Democrats will remember that he came close to calling Obama anti-American and Clinton a crook and liar a case the congressional committee investigating the Benghazi attacks failed to make. Clinton has been almost as harsh in denouncing Republicans. Although she has stopped short of suggesting criminal behavior, her attacks have been sharper than those waged by Obama eight years ago or Bill Clinton before that. Moreover, for all the talk about animosity specifically directed at Obama, many Republicans harbor as much resentment toward Hillary Clinton, who they believe plays by different rules. If she gets to the White House and Republicans retain control of Congress, the honeymoon may last just hours before the investigations commence. Clinton does talk some about searching for governing consensus, as do several Republicans. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, after going through the Obama policies he would undo his first day as president, says he also might call Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer. Drawing on extensive experience in Congress and as Ohio Gov. John Kasich contends that a bipartisan approach is essential: Serious issues in this country cannot be solved by one party. He says Social Security is one example of a problem that could only be fixed through cooperation: Republicans would be so freaked out by the Democratic claims of throwing Grandma out on the street that theyd never get it done. But few expect Kasich or Bush to win the nomination. The harder messages of Trump and Cruz resonate much more. Obama said last month that one of the few regrets of my presidency was that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. If the tone and substance of this campaign dont change, the next president may express the same regret. , . , 12 2000 . , - . , . , . , . About Me Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah I am Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah, who resides in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I hold a post-graduate law degree from the United Kingdom. I blog to tell MALAYSIANS THE TRUTH. View my complete profile Blog Archive Comments may or may not be published. The choice is made on the spur of the moment and is purely arbitary. I do not necessarily agree with all comments published but they are published in the interest of debate. If you object goAnonymous comments are generally rejected. Since Moda Health Plans (MHP) had their meltdown which resulted in suspension of activity in Oregon and Alaska - they'd already withdrawn from California and Washington - the Oregon-based company has undergone some fundamental changes and are today reapproved for doing business in Oregon and Alaska (albeit still under scrutiny). (Salem) -- The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services issued a consent order today that outlines a plan for Moda Health Plan, Inc. (MHP) to stabilize its financial position and continue to serve its customers. As a result, the department has lifted the Jan. 27 order of supervision and MHP will resume selling and renewing policies to both individual and group customers in Oregon and Alaska. The steps outlined in the order will generate more than $170 million for MHP, providing sufficient capital and surplus to continue operations. That means all MHP policyholders -- including those who have individual, group, Medicaid, and Medicare supplement plans -- will be able to keep their plans. All premiums, cost-sharing, networks, and benefits will remain the same. Some significant changes to their operation: The requirements in the order include: * Providing coverage and service to its individual policyholders in Oregon and Alaska through Dec. 31, 2016. * Establishing a bank deposit for the benefit of Alaska policyholders. * Selling a portion of money owed to MHP by the federal government. * Providing additional, more frequent reporting to DCBS and the Alaska Division of Insurance. * Selling a combination of assets, including some held by Moda, Inc., and making all proceeds available to MHP. These transactions, several involving third parties, will bring new capital to MHP. * Obtaining DCBS approval from before awarding executive salary increases or bonuses. * Obtaining surplus notes, which are debt instruments considered capital and surplus. I highlighted the next-to last item because even as Moda was bleeding money they had bumped up their CEO's pay to $14 million per year and continued awarding bonuses to other executives. It appears that they now have to seek permission from the state before continuing that sort of thing. Thanks once again to OG for passing this information along. Meanwhile, scammers have been quick to seize upon the Moda woes, and will doubtless continue to prey upon the unsuspecting until word of the settlement seeps out: (Salem) -- The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) urges consumers to protect themselves from potential scams in light of the uncertainty caused by the financial troubles of Moda Health Plan Inc. DCBS is aware of multiple incidents in which consumers worried about the status of their insurance with Moda receive calls from people who claim to be able to help them. The incidents involve callers who ask for personal information, including Social Security numbers, and who threaten to cut off consumers' coverage if they do not act immediately. Consumers who receive any such calls about Moda should not provide any of their personal information. It likely is a scam. While we're on the subject of scams, do not do any business with Liberty One Mortgage, a Studio City, California-based company that purports to offer loan modifications. Their address is actually the location of an Indian restaurant, and nobody there has ever heard of Liberty One. This is why it's important to screen your calls; if it's unsolicited, don't answer. So far in Oregon, they've snagged at least $9500 from gullible mortgage-holders while providing no - as in zero - services. Liberty One maintains an active website at www.LibertyOneMortgage.com. The website asks for consumer information, yet provides no contact information for the company. Yet another dead giveaway. And if you get a call from "Justin Williams", play him; it can be most entertaining. Russias powerful Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it nabbed seven members of the Islamic State who were planning terrorist attacks on Russian soil. The seven members are from Russia and from some Central Asian countries and are led by a man who reportedly came to Russia via Turkey. They were arrested in the city of Ekaterinburg in the Urals Region where they were preparing terrorist attacks targeting Russias major cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The FSB also indicated that it charged the group of terrorism and illegal possession of explosives and weapons. FSB said it found IED components, electric detonators, hand grenades, handguns and extremist reading matter. Last year in October IS militants in Egypts Sinai brought down a Russian passenger jet bound to St. Petersburg with 224 passengers on board few minutes after it took off from Red Sea Sharm el Sheikh airport. Moscow is engaged in Syria fighting IS militants alongside the Assad regime. Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced Monday the creation of a Ministry of Happiness that will be tasked with channeling policies and plans to achieve a happier society and a Ministry of State for Tolerance that would instill tolerance as a fundamental value in the society. Sheikh Mohammed, who is the Ruler of Dubai, also announced that some government services will be privatized to mark the beginning of a new journey of achievements and giving to the people saying that governments must be flexible. The announcements were made in a series of tweets on Monday but there was no timeframe for the implementation of the restructuring. Sheikh Mohammed said we dont need more ministries but more ministers capable of dealing with change. He said the new government will have a smaller number of ministries and more ministers to deal with national and strategic issues. The Ministries will be restructured and their roles will evolve. Some will have at least two ministers of state. The Prime Minister explained that they need a government whose essence is human and family, education and aspirations to build their future as well as a virtuous society with educated generations and equal economic opportunities for all. A young and flexible government that Sheikh Mohammed aspires for would lead to the appointment of a female minister of state for Youth who will be no older than 22 according to the UAE-based daily The National. A Youth National Council composed only of young people would also be established to advise the government on youth issues. The announcement was made after the approval of the UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Lebanon failed in its 35th attempt to elect a president and the next parliamentary session for presidential elections is scheduled for March 2. The parliament failed to reach a quorum with only 51MPs present, falling short of the required 86 out of 128. Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb was unhappy with the repeated boycotts and told reporters that an amendment that would obligate MPs to attend elections otherwise risk losing their seat at parliament is being studied. Hopes were high that a president would be elected after presidential candidate, Samir Geagea of Lebanese Forces (LF) party, decided to support longtime rival for the presidency Michel Aoun of Change and Reform bloc. The weekend before the elections, Hezbollah announced that its deputies would be boycotting the Monday session. Parliament Speaker Berri attended the session. The last time he was present for the election of a president dates back to 2014 when MP Henri Helou from Walid Jumblatts Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and former Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel were vying for the post that is still unoccupied since May 2014. After Mondays failure, Gemayel said it is time that we adhere to democracy because the situation is now harming the Lebanese people and everyone cant be a winner in politics. LFs Georges Adwan said the party is seeking rapprochement between Aoun and the Mustaqbal Movement and urged Hezbollah to engage in talks with MP Suleiman Franjieh, a presidential candidate from the Marada Movement. Hezbollah supports Aoun. Aouns candidacy is opposed by Free Patriotic Movement, LF and Kataeb Party; three main Christian parties. Skin cancer Skin cancer has replaced bounty hunting as the most common cause of major nose deformities that require forehead flap procedure reconstruction, Most said. Unfortunately we are seeing skin cancers in younger and younger patients, Most said. We get patients in their late 30s, early 40s who need total nasal reconstruction. The 72-year-old Saxon said his own nose story began more than 40 years ago, with a dog bite. When I was 30 years old, a dog bit off the tip of the nose, Saxon said. It was a mama Dalmatian whod just had pups. I bent down to pat her and boom, boom, snap. Three nips later, the tip of his nose was gone. It healed up, but I had a sore on the tip of the nose for years that kept festering and coming back for decades, he said. Finally, two years ago, he had it biopsied, and it came back positive for cancer. The dermatologist scheduled him for a surgical procedure called Mohs, which is a way of precisely removing the cancerous tissue. The patient sits in the waiting room while the tissue thats been removed is examined for cancer to determine whether all of the diseased cells have been cut out. If not, the patient returns to the operating room for additional tissue removal. I had no nose left I was there for nine hours, said Saxon. By that point, I had no nose left. I was stunned. In addition, he learned that he was still not cancer-free; the disease was traveling to his brain, and hed need radiation therapy to treat it. Most performed the nose reconstruction surgery the very next day at Stanford Health Care, before Saxon really even had time to miss the protuberance. When he arrived, there was a very extensive hole all the way to the base of the lip, Most said. They had chopped off most all of the nose. Before the flap procedure could be performed, Most had to rebuild the missing cartilage with cartilage taken from Saxons ear. When you reconstruct a nose, you have to worry about nasal function and create the nasal skeleton both to make it look good and so that it doesnt collapse, so the person can still breathe, Most said. To recreate the aesthetic component of the nose, the surgeon attempts to recreate the nose in subunits, dividing it into sections where the natural shadow lines of a nose should fall. The nose is rebuilt into these subunits with the intention of hiding the scars or stitches along these shadow lines. For Mr. Saxon, his entire cartilage framework of the septum in the front of the nose and the cartilage that formed the tip of the nose were gone, Most said. The cartilage structure of the septum and the tip had to be rebuilt in order to give him a tip again, to make it look like a natural-looking nose. Tunisian authorities Sunday announced completion of anti-terrorist barrier built along the Tunisia-Libya border in a bid to stop the flow of IS fighters crossing into Tunisia and posing a threat to the North African countrys security. The barrier built along the 250 km border line stretching between Ras Jedir and Dhiba is part of the government projects to curb influx of IS fighters crossing into Tunisia and accused of the numerous attacks which rocked the country last year. The project also seeks to halt the flow of young Tunisians crossing into Libya to join IS training camps. Defence Minister Farhat Horchani inspected the defence wall made of berms and water-filled trenches. The Minister told reporters US and German forces will help secure the border with cutting edge electronic surveillance technologies. Authorities have been also cautious of a military intervention in Libya seeking to flash out IS fighters whose number is feared to have doubled. Tunisian authorities have explained that the international coalition should coordinate the operation with neighboring countries in order to avoid the 2011 situation which saw millions of Libyans amassing at the Libyan border with Tunisia. Humanitarian organizations are also reportedly bracing up to answer humanitarian needs in case the military intervention in Libya against IS gets into motion. The Tunisian Red Crescent, in coordination with international humanitarian groups, is readying for the potential aftermath of any foreign military intervention in Libya against IS. According to press reports, recently around 3,000 Libyans have been crossing into Tunisia every day. Algerias two chambers jointly passed the amended constitution on Sunday with 499 members of parliament voting in favor of it with 2 against and 16 abstentions. 89 MPs boycotted the session. President Bouteflika hailed it as a milestone in the countrys democratic actions while opposition figures say the reality is different. Senate speaker Abdelkader Bensalah read a message on behalf of Bouteflika saying that the new constitution marks a democratic renewal that would help to attain new democratic victories namely democracy, rule of the law and respect of human rights but warned that they have to be patiently built. Former prime minister and 2014 presidential candidate, Ali Benflis, said the constitutional amendments solve the regimes problems and strengthen a constitutional power grab by the ruling party. Djamel Zenati, a former MP and an opposition, said the constitution finally brings together the main elements necessary to build a democracy but violating laws has become the law in Algeria. Djelloul Djoudi lamented that there are positive things in the constitution but they do not reflect any real political reform. The text was also criticized by human rights NGOs as an attempt to shelve the crimes perpetrated by the regime during the nineties of the past century that cost the life to some 200,000 people. The Algeria diaspora adopted the same stance, denouncing the provisions that ban Algerians holding dual nationalities from applying for senior state positions as if they were traitors to their native nation. The office of the Nigerian Vice-President on Sunday revealed that one million extremely poor Nigerians would be direct beneficiaries of N5,000 monthly cash transfer. The social welfare program which is to commence once the budget is approved by the National Assembly, adds to five social interventions that include the provision of one meal a day to school pupils in some selected states. According to Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, the social intervention scheme includes 500,000 direct jobs, which will see unemployed graduates being trained and deployed as volunteer teachers in their communities while still prospecting for jobs in their chosen professions. The Presidents vision is to increase investments in human capital to guarantee security for all, employment and improved well-being of the people, the Vice Presidents media aide said. He disclosed that the Presidency was aware that past attempts to address poverty had suffered because of insufficient political will, presence of various UN-uncoordinated initiatives and poorly targeted beneficiaries, among other factors. The Presidency is now working earnestly to avoid the pitfalls, he said, adding that the World Bank and the Bill Gates Foundation are collaborating with the presidency to develop the program. The one-meal-a-day program is also being supported by the Imperial College in the UK through one of its agencies Partnership for Child Development, PCD. Most Nigerians live in poverty despite the nations vast energy wealth and many are hoping that graft investigations will recover missing funds, a goal made all the more urgent because of the oil price collapse that has eroded government revenue. An elderly Australian woman kidnapped by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Burkina Faso few weeks ago has been released on Sunday. Dr Ken Elliot, a surgeon, and his wife Jocelyn, both aged in their 80s, were abducted in Burkina Faso close to the Niger border. Eighty-four-year-old Jocelyn Elliott was freed in neighboring Niger on Saturday, where she appeared alongside President Mahamadou Issoufou in the town of Dosso, located about 90 miles southeast of the capital, Niamey. She made no comment on arriving in Burkina Faso on Sunday but said later that she hoped to be reunited soon with her husband and continue their medical work in Djibo, where they operate a 120-bed medical clinic since 1972. In a statement, the Elliott family said they were deeply grateful for Jocelyns release. We are trusting that the moral and guiding principles of those who have released our mother will also be applied to our elderly father who has served the community of Djibo and the Sahel for more than half his lifetime, the statement said. Australias Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged to continue working with regional governments to secure Ken Elliotts release. The abduction of the pair coincided with a jihadist assault on an upmarket hotel in Burkina Fasos capital Ouagadougou that left at least 30 people dead, including many foreigners. AQIM claimed responsibility for the attack. The trial of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre resumed on Monday in Dakar, Senegals Capital, and the prosecution is expected to conclude its argument on Wednesday, February 10, to make way for the three defense lawyers to present their case on February 11 and 12. Habre, backed by Washington as a bulwark against Libyas Muammar Gaddafi in the 1980s, is blamed by rights groups for widespread torture and the killing of up to 40,000 people during the eight years he ruled his impoverished central African nation. Close to a hundred testimonies of witnesses have been heard from September to December 2015. If found guilty, the 73-year-old will be entitled to appeal, as may the prosecutor against any acquittal on charges. In the event of a guilty verdict there will be a second set of hearings on damages for the civil parties and other victims. Habre has never accepted the legitimacy of the Dakar prosecution, the first time a despot from one African country has been called to account in another. The tribunal is supported by the African Union but is part of Senegals justice system, making it the first time in modern history that one countrys domestic courts have prosecuted the former leader of another country on rights charges. African leaders accused of atrocities were previously tried in international courts. The Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC) has provided an accumulative two term loans of 50 billion Cfa francs to the landlocked Chad. The credit will enable the Chadian government to finance the development and the construction of a 109 km road which connects five towns near the border of neighboring Cameroon. Basic goods and manufactured items like portable phones, farming tools and spare parts for vehicles are imported to Chad along these routes. The second loan is aimed at upgrading the standards and facilities in the airports of Amdjarasss, Faya Largeau and Moundou to meet the International Civil Aviation Organizations requirements. The government of Chad, sub-Saharan Africas seventh-biggest crude producer, is being forced to cut spending after oil prices fell by more than half. The country has also joined a multinational war against the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in neighboring Nigeria, which has drained state finances. Last year, the country received $1.1 billion in debt relief after completion of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United Nations on Monday warned that over 58,000 children would starve to death in Somalia if they are not provided with urgent humanitarian assistance. The situation in the country, where dry conditions are exacerbated by an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern, is alarming and could get worse, the UN said The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, Peter de Clercq, the UN aid chief for Somalia said in a statement. We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated, he added Some 950,000 people struggle every day to meet their food needs, the UN said, adding that 4.7 million people in total, or nearly 40% of the population were in need of aid. Floods and failed rains caused by El Nino weather phenomenon have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in large parts of Africa. The UN is calling for $885 million (792 million euros) in aid. We are deeply concerned with severe drought conditions intensifying in Puntland and Somaliland, many more people risk relapsing into crisis, the UN said. King Mohammed VI of Morocco who is currently touring the Moroccan Sahara provinces has launched several outstanding projects worth billions of dollars in the regions of Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra; Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab; and Guelmim-Oued Noun. The projects are part of the implementation of the new development model for the southern provinces announced by the King in November last year from the city of Laayoune which was hosting the official celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Green March. The structuring projects including new road networks, airports, ports, social, medical, and educational facilities, as well as industrial plants and other job-generating units will lift up the whole region to a new and modern era and raise the living standards of the populations, although the living standards in the Sahara are already, as put by a US analyst, higher than in the rest of Morocco. Living standards in the Sahara are higher than in the rest of Morocco. Rather than simply exploit the regions mineral wealth or its fisheries, the government now focuses on sustainable development, the tourism sector, other businesses, and education, wrote Michael Rubin in a recent analysis published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI.) This was made possible thanks to the flow of investments and the momentum created by the structuring sustainable development projects initiated in the region. Rubin, a resident scholar at the AEI who had previously worked as an official at the Pentagon, noted in his analysis that since the enthronement of King Mohammed VI in 1999, Moroccan stewardship of the Sahara provinces has changed in both tone and reality. Rather than rule the Sahara with an iron fist, he began to flood it with new investment, he wrote. And the new projects launched these days illustrate this sustained development- oriented policy which will help increase the overall local product, create some 120,000 jobs and consecrate the role of the southern provinces as a national and regional economic hub and as a gateway to the rest of Africa. Besides, these projects, devised in the framework of Moroccos advanced regionalization plan, will undoubtedly give a new impetus to the autonomy initiative proposed by Morocco to settle once and for all the Sahara conflict nurtured by Algerias hegemony ambitions in the region. Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. BMJ is offering free online resources to support researchers, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to understand and respond to the global health emergency linked to the Zika virus. The online resources are aimed at healthcare professionals located in the affected regions of Latin America, and those across the world, to help them keep up to date with the latest developments and guidance on how to advise, diagnose and treat patients. Current free resources include an interactive news timeline, and the latest updates and research from BMJ, as well as information and guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), Public Health England and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The collection of resources will be continuously updated as new information comes to light. BMJ also wants to support the fast development of research around the Zika virus by enabling researchers to share their findings as quickly as possible. Until July 2016, article publishing charges will be waived for manuscripts accepted for publication in The BMJ and BMJ's portfolio of 60 leading medical and allied science journals. Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of The BMJ, says: "By making all the latest resources from across BMJ's products and services freely available, we are joining the global efforts to help doctors, academics and healthcare professionals to rapidly understand and respond to the global emergency associated with the Zika virus." "We are committed to supporting healthcare workers across the world, whether they are treating patients at the point of care or simply want to be informed of the latest developments, and also to researchers trying to find out more about the virus, and its associated conditions, which can be truly devastating for families." BMJ has joined the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors agreement to make all journal content freely accessible. Explore further Zika virus: Five things to know The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged caution about linking the Zika virus with a rare nerve disorder called Guillain-Barre which health officials in Colombia have blamed for three deaths. "Yes, we have seen cases of death from Guillain-Barre syndrome, three have been reported. But I would urge caution" on linking it with Zika, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said. Colombia last Friday said three people had died after contracting the Zika virus and developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks the nervous system causing weakness and sometimes paralysis. Cases of the syndrome have increased in tandem with the outbreak of the Zika virus sweeping Latin America. "We must really be cautious and not mix the two too much," Lindmeier said at a press briefing, as the link has not yet been proven by experts. Colombia is the second country, after Brazil, that has been hardest hit by the Zika outbreak with more than 20,000 cases, including over 2,000 pregnant women. The WHO has declared a global medical emergency to combat Zika and individual countries and regions are beginning to mobilize. US President Barack Obama on Monday asked for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds to tackle the fast-spreading Zika virus in the United States and beyond. In Latin America Zika has been linked to a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephalyabnormally small heads and brains. There is currently no cure or vaccine for the virus which, in most people, causes mild symptoms. The virus has also raised concerns about the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil in August. The WHO has advised to protect against mosquito bites but has not advised restrictions on travel to the afffected countries. Explore further Colombia fears 'explosion' of nerve disease from Zika 2016 AFP The epilepsy self-monitoring app EpSMon is now available to download for free in the UK. The app was launched in July last year to help to help 'fill the information gap' left by NHS funding cuts for GP epilepsy monitoring. Initiated by bereaved families of people who had died from sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP) and created by a team of partners based at Plymouth University, Cornwall Foundation NHS Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and charity SUDEP Action, the app was originally available to download for the nominal sum of 1.49. However, such has been the level of uptake for the app that it can now be made available free of charge within the UK. Jane Hanna from SUDEP Action said: "We want to thank Kt's Fund, all our supporters who have supported the development of the app and those who paid to download the app for helping us make the app free. We can do more with your help. We hope people with epilepsy will be able to download this important tool that could help save lives. EpSMon has been available for download since July last year for 1.49, but people can now download the app at no cost." The charity has also said that if people who paid to download the app would rather choose to receive a refund, they can do so by contacting epsmon@sudep.org. EpSMon helps people monitor their own epilepsy. It assesses a user's information against known risk factors that might affect them and offers advice accordingly. Its also encourages people with epilepsy to attend regular reviews. With around 600,000 people living with epilepsy and 87 cases diagnosed every day in the UK, SUDEP Action believes that EpsMon provides vital information that could help people manage their epilepsy more effectively. Simon Lees, who has epilepsy commented: "EpSMon is just what I need to monitor my risk in between visits to doctors. It helps me take actions at all times as it measures my own particular risks of epilepsy. It can act as a safety net, being an excellent reminder of the importance of taking medication correctly and seeing my GP on a regular basis." The app is part of the National Epilepsy Toolkit and has received recognition from the prestigious HSJ Awards. It was also listed amongst prize winning apps in the Guardian and received a great review in the Nursing Standard. EpSMon was created by a team of partners based at Plymouth University, Cornwall Foundation NHS Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and SUDEP Action. The app is a digital version of the SUDEP and Seizure Safety Checklist, a clinical tool designed to help health professionals monitor and discuss their patients' epilepsy risks and well-being. The Checklist Project was part sponsored by SUDEP Action helped by Kt's Fund, a community fund set up in memory of Katie Hallet, a 20-year children's nursing student from Cornwall who died from SUDEP in January 2006 while studying in Bristol. EpSMon is available on IOS and will be available soon on Android. Explore further South West epilepsy support technology part of national commissioning toolkit New evidence published today highlights benefits and harms of using artificial mesh when compared with tissue repair in the surgical treatment of vaginal prolapse. Slightly better repair with mesh needs to be weighed carefully against increased risk of harms. A new Cochrane Systematic Review published today summarizes evidence that addresses a long-standing controversy in the surgical repair of vaginal prolapse. It will help women and surgeons to make better informed choices about surgical treatment and reinforces the need for careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of grafting artificial material compared with using tissue to repair the anatomy of the vagina. A vaginal prolapse occurs when the walls of the vagina become weak and collapse inwards. This can be a distressing disorder as there is a feeling of a lump or bulge low in the vagina which is exacerbated by physical activities. This affects up to a third of women who have had children, as well as those who are overweight or have a chronic cough. Many women undergo surgical treatment to help with bladder, bowel and sexual function. Until the 1990s surgeons used a number of different techniques to repair prolapse such as vaginal hysterectomy or by cutting or repairing different muscles of the walls of the vagina. Following the successful use of tapes for continence surgery and mesh for hernia repair, gynaecology surgeons began to adopt grafting artificial material called a mesh to carry out this operation in the 1990s and 2000s. Over the last few years many questions have been raised about the safety of implanting an artificial mesh. There have been a number of reports of women suffering pain and mesh exposure after transvaginal mesh surgery. An international team of researchers looked at evidence from randomized trials to look at how the two surgical approaches compared. They included information from 37 trials involving 4023 women. The mesh used in many of the studies were withdrawn from use in 2011, and the newer, lightweight transvaginal permanent meshes still available, have not been evaluated within a randomized study. The review found that whilst transvaginal permanent mesh probably reduces the risk that women will be aware of prolapse compared with tissue repair, the overall size of the benefit was small.1 Based on their analysis, 19% of women who underwent native tissue repair compared with 12% women who had permanent mesh repair were aware of prolapse subsequently. This data came from studies that followed women up over periods of between 1 and 3 years. However, there are some major problems reported with permanent transvaginal mesh. The average reoperation rate for prolapse, urinary incontinence, or mesh exposure after mesh repair was 11% compared with around 5% in women who had tissue repair. Permanent mesh is also associated with higher rates of bladder injury than tissue repair, and higher rates of stress incontinence. Across all the studies, 8% of women who had mesh implanted subsequently had it re-operated. In Scotland, the Health minister called for hospitals to consider the suspension of mesh operations until more evidence is available. An independent Scottish interim review reported in 2015 and expressed concern for both the effectiveness and adverse events related to transvaginal mesh for prolapse surgery. A report by the Accident Compensation Commission in New Zealand in 2015 recommended the establishment of a multi-agency registry as a means of tracking the associated complications. Lead Author, Associate Professor, Chris Maher, from the University of Queensland, Brisbane said, 'This is a very significant review informing women about the surgical options available for the treatment of this debilitating condition. It summarizes the evidence of effectiveness of these approaches and their complications. It provides women with more information to make an informed choice about what treatment is best for them." Author, Corinna Christmann-Schmid added, "This evidence underlines the need to balance potential harms against the potential benefits of surgery. One in twelve women who have mesh then require repeat surgery for mesh exposure, and we can expect 7% more women to experience subjective success, when compared with tissue repair without mesh." Women and their surgeons need to discuss these benefits and harms at the time of considering surgery. This is particularly important since the availability of the mesh used now is likely to be different from what was available when the studies were carried out. Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the University of Auckland, Cindy Farquhar, commented "Gynaecologists should be wary of adopting new innovations that have not been fully evaluated by clinical trials. This is particularly important as many surgical devices do not require FDA or similar regulatory approvals." Explore further FDA sets new rules for injury-prone pelvic mesh More information: Maher C, Feiner B, Baessler K, Christmann-Schmid C, Haya N. Marjoribanks J: Transvaginal mesh or grafts compared with native tissue repair for vaginal prolapse. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD012079. Journal information: Cochrane Library Maher C, Feiner B, Baessler K, Christmann-Schmid C, Haya N. Marjoribanks J: Transvaginal mesh or grafts compared with native tissue repair for vaginal prolapse.2016, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD012079. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012079 Transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Zika virus. Credit: Cynthia Goldsmith/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vision-threatening eye abnormalities in infants in Brazil with microcephaly (a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head) may be associated with presumed intrauterine infection with Zika virus, according to a study published online by JAMA Ophthalmology. An epidemic of Zika virus has been happening in Brazil since April 2015. Six months after the onset of the Zika virus outbreak, there was an unusual increase in newborns with microcephaly. In January 2016, the Brazilian Ministry of Health reported 3,174 newborns with microcephaly. Rubens Belfort, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and coauthors evaluated the ocular findings of 29 infants with microcephaly (head circumference less than or equal to 32 centimeters) with a presumed diagnosis of congenital Zika virus. The study was conducted during December 2015 and all the children and their mothers were evaluated at the Roberto Santos General Hospital, Salvador, Brazil. Of the 29 mothers, 23 (79.3 percent) reported suspected Zika virus signs and symptoms during pregnancy, including rash, fever, arthralgia (joint pain), headache and itch. Among the 23 mothers who reported symptoms during pregnancy, 18 or 78.3 percent reported Zika virus symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy, according to the report. Abnormalities of the eye were observed in 10 of the 29 infants (34.5 percent) with microcephaly; of the 20 eyes in 10 children, 17 eyes (85 percent) had ophthalmoscopic abnormalities. Bilateral abnormalities were found in 7 of the 10 infants (70 percent) presenting with ocular lesions, the most common of which were focal pigment mottling of the retina and chorioretinal atrophy in 11 of the 17 eyes with abnormalities (64.7 percent). There also were optical nerve abnormalities in eight eyes (47.1 percent), along with other findings. "This study can help guide clinical management and practice, as we observed that a high proportion of the infants with microcephaly had ophthalmologic lesions. Infants with microcephaly should undergo routine ophthalmologic evaluations to identify such lesions. In high-transmission settings, such as South America, Central America and the Caribbean, ophthalmologists should be aware of the risk of congenital ZIKV-associated ophthalmologic sequelae," the authors write. "The report by de Paula Freitas et al in this issue of JAMA Ophthalmology implicates this infection as the cause of chorioretinal scarring and possibly other ocular abnormalities in infants with microcephaly recently born in Brazil. Microcephaly can be genetic, metabolic, drug related or due to perinatal insults such as hypoxia, malnutrition or infection. The present 20-fold reported increase of microcephaly in parts of Brazil is temporally associated with the outbreak of Zika virus. However, this association is still presumptive because definitive serologic testing for Zika virus was not available in Brazil at the time of the outbreak and confusion may occur with other causes of microcephaly. Similarly, the currently described eye lesions are presumptively associated with the virus," writes Lee M. Jampol, M.D., and Debra A. Goldstein, M.D., of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago. Explore further Zika virus: Five things to know (HealthDay)Folic acid (FA) consumption in the first trimester is associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), according to research published online Jan. 28 in Diabetes Care. Beibei Zhu, from the Anhui Medical University in Hefei, China, and colleagues used data from the prospective China-Anhui Birth Cohort Study to examine the correlation between FA supplement consumption and the risk of GDM. The researchers diagnosed GDM in 12.8 percent of the 1,938 women who had either used FA supplements or never used any vitamin supplements. The risk of GDM was increased in association with daily FA supplement consumption in the first trimester (adjusted odds ratio, 2.25). The risk of GDM was much higher for women with a prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m and taking FA supplements daily in the first trimester versus women with a prepregnancy BMI of <25 kg/m and not taking FA supplements (odds ratio, 5.63). Women using FA before pregnancy alone or in the second trimester alone had no increased risk of GDM. "Our study, for the first time, suggests that daily FA supplement consumption in early pregnancy increases the risk of GDM, and further larger cohort studies are warranted to examine this adverse effect," the authors write. Explore further High fruit consumption not linked to gestational diabetes Copyright 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved. Snap election and its signals By Messenger Staff Several days ago,a snap election was held in Georgias eastern Gardabani region.The locals voted to elect the regions new Governor, as the previous Governor died during his tenure.Only 33% of voters attended the elections, and the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) candidate won with 70% of the vote, when his only rival from the opposition United National Movement (UNM) gained the remaining 30%.It should be stated that the area is mainly settled by an ethnic Azeri population, and during almost everyprior election, voter turnout was high.In many cases, Government affiliated-parties typically won elections there.Speaking with local media,dozens of residents of Gardabani claimed they had no idea why the elections were being held or who the electoral candidates were.It is also worth mentioning that the UNM candidate poster included ex-President Mikheil Saakashvilis name.It was one of the signals that the locals still voted based on who the leaders of the parties are, even though Saakashvili is no longer in Georgia .The fact that the turnout was so low means that people are disillusioned with national politics, and such low numbers might reemerge at the upcoming parliamentary elections later this year.The higher the turnout, the more legitimate a political party (and its leader) will appear to be; the opposite is also true.The fact that the greater part of the Gadabani population refrained from participating in the election is a signal that new parties have serious chances if they decide to come to power.In the event that they elect aprominent, positive leader, their chances of victory will increase, as unfortunately, Georgians still base their vote around the leader of a party rather than the partys policies.The upcoming elections will undoubtedly be very interesting, and none of the parties currently enjoy high enough ratings for them to be sure of electoral victory. 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 It is late and I am sleepy and cold in my little casita but I just noticed that one more post would bring me up to the 1000 mark. I couldn... Attorney General Loretta Lynch will visit Miami as part of her national community policing tour. Lynch will visit six jurisdictions around the country that have excelled in each of the six pillars discussed in the Presidents Task Force on 21st Century Policing final report: (1) Building Trust and Legitimacy; (2) Policy and Oversight; (3) Technology and Social Media; (4) Community Policing and Crime Reduction; (5) Officer Training and Education; and (6) Officer Safety and Wellness. The trip to Miami Dade County will highlight Pillar 1 Building Trust and Legitimacy. Lynch will also visit Portland, Oregon; Indianapolis; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Phoenix; and Los Angeles; in the coming months. While in Miami-Dade County, Lynch will be joined by U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer. Lynch will hold an event at the Doral Police Department on Thursday and Booker T. Washington High School and Miami-Dade College on Friday morning. One of my top priorities as Attorney General is strengthening relationships between law enforcement officers and the communities we serve and protect, Lynch said. During the second phase of my community policing tour, I will be highlighting some of the innovative efforts underway around the country to build trust, foster cooperation, and enhance public safety. I look forward to meeting with law enforcement officers, local leaders, and residents in the weeks and months ahead to discuss how we can ensure that every American benefits from neighborhoods that are supportive, safe, and strong. Ferrer said: We in South Florida are proud of the work we have done to implement the recommendations outlined in the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Through active engagement and meaningful dialogue, members of law enforcement work hard to build trust with the communities they serve. As an example of this approach, the City of Doral Police Department has adopted the Blue Courage initiative, a training and leadership development course which focuses on how to enhance their officers' effectiveness and relationships with the citizens they serve. Many other local departments have also developed robust community policing initiatives. During Attorney General Loretta Lynch's visit this week, we will share strategies and continue to identify and cultivate the best practices for creating stronger and safer communities. @ByKristenMClark Brian and Kathryn Ballard have donated a $1.1 million building in downtown Tallahassee to Florida State University for the purpose of housing the new Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship. The university announced the Ballards' donation today -- two months after announcing the new school, which is being funded by an historic $100 million gift from Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation. Kathryn Ballard is a member of the FSU Board of Trustees and an FSU alumna, while Brian Ballard is CEO of Ballard Partners, a high-profile lobbying firm in Tallahassee. The building that the couple donated is a three-story, 19,000-square-foot building on Monroe Street just north of the Florida Capitol. "We are so excited and proud to support the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, Kathryn Ballard said in a statement. This will be a special place for FSU students, faculty and alumni for generations to come. FSU President Jim Thrasher said the Ballards' gift "will enable us to quickly follow through on making the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship a reality." FSU said the building will undergo renovations and be ready for move-in by summer 2017. It will house offices for the school's staff and its founding director, Susan Fiorito. The school's faculty will maintain offices in their current colleges and departments on FSU's main campus. The school is scheduled to open in August 2018. @MichaelAuslen Mintues after leaving it for dead Monday, senators breathed new life into a proposal to ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Floridians. Supporters have one last shot Tuesday to pass the bill (SB 120), which would ban discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. It adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the state's existing civil rights statutes. Sen. Joe Abruzzo, D-Lake Worth, the bill's sponsor, said he will work overnight to clear up concerns among the five Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted against the bill. Much of the debate revolved around public accommodations, specifically transgender people using restrooms and locker rooms that don't correspond with their sex at birth. "Some are looking for stronger language that removes public accommodations entirely," Abruzzo said. "We're going to have to go back to our legal staff to talk to them about what impact that would do." After a nearly two-hour hearing, the committee on Monday voted 5-5 on the proposal, but a majority is required to pass a bill out of a committee. In a last-ditch effort to let negotiations over details continue, senators moved to reconsider the bill Tuesday. @ByKristenMClark Plans to require public high schools to provide computer-coding courses and let students count them toward foreign language credits continue to easily advance through the Florida Legislature. The Senate version -- led by former Yahoo executive and current state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate -- is ready for consideration on the chamber's floor, and the House version passed its second of three committees on Tuesday. The bill by Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach, was amended by the House education budget committee to include a $79,000-paid position at the Department of Education to "fund the bill." Her version includes a provision directing the Higher Education Coordinating Council to develop recommendations for student success in post-secondary education and careers in computer science, information technology and related fields. A staff analysis of the bill recommended appropriating funds for a "program specialist" to support that directive. Ring's version includes no such appropriation, as his bill is more narrowly tailored. He's previously said the proposal would impose no costs, despite concerns raised by other lawmakers that it would require schools to hire teachers with specialty expertise, as well as provide enough computers to meet students' demand when many schools are already strapped for technology resources. The bill's supporters include tech businesses, the Florida PTA, the Miami-Dade County Council of PTA/PTSA and Charter Schools USA. Florida's public colleges and universities would be required to recognize students' computer-coding credits toward foreign language requirements. Ring's version was changed last week to take effect in the 2018-19 school year and to include a provision requiring students and parents to sign a statement "acknowledging and accepting that taking a computer coding course as a foreign language may not meet out-of-state college and university foreign language requirements." Adkins' bill requires districts to provide an advisory to students and parents, but there's no requirement of a signed statement. Her bill also requires Florida Virtual School to offer coding courses and for districts to give students access to the virtual school if local schools can't provide the course. via @learyreports MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A gay man confronted Marco Rubio on Monday over his opposition to same-sex marriage, an unscripted moment in a day of stagecraft from the Florida presidential candidate. "So Marco, being a gay man, why do you want to put me back in the closet," Timothy Kierstead asked the candidate at The Puritan Backroom. "I don't," Rubio said. "You can live any way you want. I just believe marriage is between one man and one woman." "By God," Kierstead replied. "You want separate church and state." He told Rubio he had been married for a long time and you want to say we don't matter." Rubio: "No. I just believe marriage is between one man and one woman." Kierstead: "But that's your belief." Rubio: "I think that's what the law should be. And if you disagree, you should have the law changed by a legislature." The New Hampshire legislature legalized same-sex marriage in 2009. Kierstead told Rubio that gay marriage is legal, to which Rubio said, "I respect your view." "Typical politician," Kierstead said as Rubio walked away. The exchange came as Rubio spent money on a charm offensive Monday, popping into restaurants and shops to win over New Hampshire's famous last-minute deciders. The Puritan Backroom, according to pool reporting by theWashington Post's Sean Sullivan, is "a restaurant founded by Greek immigrants almost a hundred years ago and known for its 'world-famous' chicken tenders, which Rubios youngest son Dominick sampled straight from the kitchen." --ALEX LEARY, Tampa Bay Times The House Regulatory Affairs Committee meeting is off and running, as they take up three high-profile bills aimed at rewriting the state's gaming laws and ratifying the compact negotiated between Gov. Rick Scott and the Seminole Tribe. First up, Rep. Mike Miller, R-Orlando, offered a rewrite of the compact, putting a cap on the number of slots the tribe can offer, giving blackjack to them for the next 15 years -- but not including craps and roulette and clarifying that they may not relocated their existing gambling facilities. "I feel the legislative perogative for the members of this committee and the body fo thewhole is ot particcipate in the agreement with the Seminole Tribe,'' he said. Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, sponsor of the bill to ratify the compact, said he will work on need for clarification about what happens within the reservations but the rest of it could interfere with the amount of money that the state gets. "You can't negotiate more money for the same deal,'' he said. "I understand these are all three important isseus that continue to be discussed with the fundamental parts of this bill." Paul Seago of No Casinos, argued that the gambling compact "allows for a major expansion of gambling on tribal property and off." He notes it allows the tribe to "the most slot machines in the world" so that it can have more slot machines than any Las Vegas operator and in places never intended by voters when they authorized slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward in 2004. Miller then withdrew the amendment. Rep. John Wood, R-Lakeland, offered an amendment to require the public the ratify the compact. "The spirit of gaming expansion in our state, over the last 20 or 30 years, has been very very cautious, with the full approval of the voters or constituents,'' he said, nothing that many attempts at expansion has been defeated at the ballot box. "This goes to the central focus here of gaming. What do we want for our state. I'm convinced Florida doesn't need gaming and the people who advocate for gaming need us, but we don't need them." The amendment was defeated. After months of being sidelined, a bill to legalize full-strength medical marijuana for terminally ill patients resurfaced in the Florida House Monday with a rewrite that restores the number of eligible growers to five. The bill, HB 307, was approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee by a 9-2 vote, leaving it one more stop before getting to the full House. If approved, it will allow terminally ill Floridians who have been diagnosed with less than one year to live to have legal access to marijuana grown by the five authorized distributors. The bill, and its companion SB 460, is an expansion of the "Right to Try" law passed last year which allows terminally ill patients to have access to experimental drugs not approved for general use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Senate bill is ready for a vote of the full Senate. Under the state's Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014, the Department of Health in November awarded licenses to five nurseries that have been in business for at least 30 years and have grow a minimum of 400,000 plants. They will be allowed to grow, process and dispense marijuana low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabidiol, or CBD. Authorized patients who suffer from seizures, severe muscle spasms or cancer are eligible to receive low-THC cannabis, commonly known as "Charlotte's Web." The House bill to allow the growers to also cultivate full-strength cannabis is sponsored by Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach and Katie Edwards, D-Plantation. The measure is driven by both compassion and economics. It allows the existing five growers to expand their market -- and profitability -- by allowing them to sell all strains of marijuana to patients whom two doctors have determined have only a year to live. It also gives patients legal access to marijuana in all forms for palliative use. "If you have a year left to live you're going to try whatever you think may be helpful,'' said Rep. Shawn Harrison, R-Tampa, who supported the bill. "Frankly, you're not going to care whether it's legal or not." Photo: Cathy Jordon, who suffers from ALS, urges the committee Monday to keep the number of medical marijuana dispensaries at 20. @VeraMBergen WASHINGTON -- The United States has not elected a president fluent in a language other than English in 84 years. And in a field of 11 remaining presidential candidates, only two are likely to change that: Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. The last commander in chief who spoke a foreign language fluently was Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to his first term in 1932, who had been taught French and German since he was a child. Four of the nations earliest presidents were multilingual, educated in classical languages such as Latin and ancient Greek, as well as German, Italian and most importantly French. In more recent history, the ability to easily communicate in another language has gone from asset to liability. Presidential candidates John Kerry in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2012 found that speaking fluent French was turned against them by opponents who painted them as elitist and even worse, European-style politicians. More here. @ByKristenMClark Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, says a proposal allowing some gun-owners to openly carry handguns in Florida is "on life support" and he will decide this week whether to grant a hearing on it. "I have some serious concerns about open carry in light of what happened in the House last week," Diaz de la Portilla told reporters this afternoon. "I am concerned that it may become a vehicle for some very, very bad amendments. I think that's what we learned last week. ... Because of those concerns, I'm very, very seriously considering not hearing it at all." Legislation allowing more than 1.5 million concealed-weapons permit-holders in Florida to openly carry easily passed the state House last week, mostly along party-lines. An amendment was added to it during floor debate, which would allow lawmakers to carry concealed on the chamber floors and in official committee meetings. Those locations are among several so-called "gun-free" zones designated in state law, where even concealed weapons are prohibited. When asked if lawmakers should be able to pack heat on the chamber floors, Diaz de la Portilla said: "I don't think that's necessary. I think FDLE does a terrific job in protecting us." He has been deliberating for months on whether to hear the Senate's version of the open-carry bill (SB 300), which has been at a standstill before his committee since it passed its first Senate panel in October. If Diaz de la Portilla doesn't grant it another hearing, it effectively kills the Senate bill -- all-but-guaranteeing it won't become law this session. Drawing the ire of the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups, Diaz de la Portilla already made the call against hearing another controversial gun bill that also passed the House last week. That one would allow concealed weapons on public college and university campuses. Photo credit: Kristen M. Clark / Herald/Times @ByKristenMClark A bill that would allow open enrollment in Florida public schools is headed to the House floor, after the House Education Committee on Tuesday afternoon made two significant changes. HB 669 -- from Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor -- would allow parents to request classroom transfers for their kids or put them in any school in the state that has capacity. After stalling last year, the measure moved swiftly through three committees since passing its first panel three weeks ago, and it's one of several bills being debated in both the House and Senate this session that call for open enrollment. The concept is supported by "school choice" advocates and the charter school industry -- which gave Florida lawmakers' campaign and political committees at least $182,500 between July and early January, before the 2016 session started. After more than an hour of debate Tuesday, Sprowls' bill passed the House Education Committee on a 13-5 vote, with Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda joining Republicans in support. Republicans said the bill promotes choice and the freedom for all students to go to a quality school that suits their needs. But Democrats said key questions still remain unanswered, such as how it would affect school funding across district lines and whether it would hurt neighborhood schools or have other unintended consequences. The most controversial change adopted by the committee had critics worrying that developers in wealthy areas would be able to designate which students could attend schools built in blossoming communities. The amendment by Sprowls would give primary enrollment preference based on land donations "or funding agreements" in place with school districts before July 2016. "Were cherry-picking and saying only in those wealthy communities, where a developer is going to give the land, are we protecting that right to neighborhood schools," Rep. Joseph Geller, D-Aventura, said. Rep. Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, called it "bad public policy" because the proposal was so broad, and he was among those who said it would enable developers to "buy a seat" in preferred schools. Supporters on the education committee said such fears were "unfounded" because the bill would only affect existing agreements in place by this summer, not future ones. "A lot of what is being discussed here is current practice and it can happen today," Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, said. "This is simply just memorializing an existing development and mitigation tool that exists." Sprowls' amendment was added on a voice vote, which sounded close. Meanwhile, lawmakers also added an unrelated provision that would require middle- and high school teachers to provide a class syllabus to parents and highlight "any material containing mature or adult content" that they intend to teach. Teachers would have sole discretion to decide what is potentially controversial material, and parents would be given the opportunity to object, under the provision brought forth by Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach. Adkins and Reps. Marlene O'Toole, R-The Villages, and Michael Bileca, R-Miami, spoke vaguely of "pornographic" and "sexually explicit" material that students have been suggested or required to read in some Florida public schools. "The content that some of our kids are exposed to under the responsibility of the school district would shock a lot of members on this committee," Bileca said. He told the Herald/Times after the meeting that the questionable material he'd seen was brought to him by concerned Collier County parents. Adkins' amendment was also added on a voice vote, which sounded unanimous. Also Tuesday, the Education Committee sent three other high-profile bills to the House floor for consideration. They would: -- propose to voters a constitutional amendment creating a statewide authorizer that could authorize, operate and control Florida's 650 charter schools; -- require elementary schools to offer daily recess; -- and target the Florida School Boards Association and eliminate its ability to sue the state using taxpayer dollars. Both the charter school authorizer measure and the FSBA bill are moving through Senate committees also. The recess bill hasn't been heard at all in the Senate. Photo credit: Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, presents HB 669 to the House Education Committee on Feb. 9, 2016. Kristen M. Clark / Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau The Senate Criminal Justice Committee Monday passed a rewrite of Florida's death penalty sentencing law in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the law and found that a jury, not a judge, must find each fact necessary to impose a death sentence. The Senate bill goes beyond its House counterpart by requiring that all 12 jurors in future cases must unanimously agree on the death penalty. Florida is one of three states in which a simple majority of seven jurors is sufficient to recommend a death sentence. The bill (SPB 7068) has four elements that address the Supreme Court ruling in Hurst vs. Florida. Prosecutors must notify defendants within 45 days of an arraignment that they will seek the death penalty. Juries must unanimously agree on every aggravating factor to warrant a death sentence -- and if they don't, death can't be imposed. The jury recommendation of death must be unanimous; otherwise the sentence is life without parole. Judges will no longer be able to override a jury's recommendation of a life sentence and impose a death sentence. The bill is supported by public defenders who represent defendants and is opposed by state attorneys who prosecute cases. State attorneys strongly oppose a requirement for unanimous juries, and at their urging, the House bill currently requires no more than nine jurors to be in agreement. If Florida requires all 12 jurors to agree on death, "You allow an individual juror to hijack the whole process," said State Attorney Brad King of Ocala. "In the sentencing part, there is no do-over." The bill now goes to the full Senate. The Legislature must agree on a new sentencing law by the time the session ends on March 11 in order for executions to resume in Florida, where 389 inmates are on death row. Senators heard support for unanimous jury recommendations from Juan Melendez, who spent nearly 18 years on Florida death row for a crime he did not commit and could have been executed, but he was exonerated. "You can never release an innocent man from the grave," Melendez told senators. "I see all of you going in the right direction." @ByKristenMClark About an hour before the Florida House was due to meet for daily session on Wednesday and vote on two controversial gun bills -- including one over open carry -- Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, and Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park, walked onto the chamber floor so they could have their photo taken together. The scene wouldn't have been so unusual had it not been for the props each carried: Longarm shotguns. Pigman told the Herald/Times on Monday about the "very innocuous, homespun, country backstory" of why they had the shotguns. And both he and House spokesman Michael Williams said the lawmakers had permission to have them in the House chamber. It was simply a "playful" way to highlight Grimsley's and Pigman's competition in an upcoming clay-shooting competition where they're raising money for a local hospital in their rural, central Florida districts, Pigman said. Williams noted the photo shoot happened before the start of the daily session and that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement -- which oversees Capitol Police -- "was involved with inspecting and securing the firearms. They were not loaded." Pigman, an emergency room doctor, and Grimsley, an emergency room nurse, have been friends for many years after working in the same hospital, Pigman said. They've had an ongoing rivalry in clay-shooting, which Pigman said is a common way to raise funds for charitable causes where they live. Pigman said his niece, a hospital foundation director, suggested the idea of a photo demonstrating the lawmakers' throw-down to benefit the Florida Hospital Heartland Division Foundation. He said he and Grimsley had intended to take the photo outdoors, but it was overcast on Wednesday in Tallahassee so they asked and received the House sergeant-at-arms' approval to do it in the House chamber. Open carrying of firearms isn't allowed in Florida (although a bill the House voted on later Wednesday afternoon seeks to change that). Only gun-owners with concealed-weapons permits can carry concealed weapons in the Florida Capitol. Official legislative meetings are one of about a dozen locations in state law where even concealed weapons are prohibited. Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for FDLE, would not comment definitively on whether Pigman's and Grimsley's carrying of shotguns in the state House chamber is allowed under Florida law. She said that "firearms are permitted in the Capitol for citizens with a concealed weapons permit." Pigman said it was "ironic" and "entirely accidental" that their photo shoot came the day of the chamber's votes on the open-carry and campus-carry bills. The brief photo shoot was observed by a few reporters working in the press gallery above the chamber. A chosen photo from it was published Friday on the Senate Republicans' Instagram account and the chamber's main homepage at flsenate.gov. However, the image was removed from both sites late Monday afternoon, shortly after the Herald/Times inquired about it. Senate spokeswoman Katie Betta said she took down the photo out of concerns it "could cause confusion for other Senate constituents who visit the website and follow social media accounts associated with our Senate offices." Here's how the photo previously appeared on the Senate homepage, when clicked on under the "recent posts" header. Photo credit: flsenate.gov @JeremySWallace A Miami native who has made millions as a homebuilder in Manatee County is likely to get into Florida's U.S. Senate race. Republican Carlos Beruff has gone from considering entering the race last month, to now likely to get into to the crowded Republican primary, Joanna Burgos, a media consultant that has spoken to Beruff about the race, told the Associated Press. Beruff, 58, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Last month, Beruff said in an interview with the Times/Herald that friends and allies were encouraging him to look at the Senate, though Beruff has never before run for office before. Beruff would be joining a crowded GOP primary field that already has U.S. Reps. Ron DeSantis and David Jolly, Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Todd Wilcox. But while some of those candidates have been in the race for more than 8 months, all have little statewide name recognition. Beruff has been a trusted voice for Gov. Rick Scott, particularly on health care issues and served on Scott's transition team after he was elected governor in 2010. The governor also picked Beruff to lead his hospital commission last year. That commission was charged with looking at how taxpayer-supported hospitals spend their money and other costs and outcomes related to health care services. Beruff said in an interview last month that if he runs, it will be because he thinks he can really get something done in Washington. Beruff said just like his time volunteering on the Scott's hospital commission, he is looking for other ways to give back to the state and the country. If Beruff gets in, the AP reported that Matt Parker would serve as his campaign manager. Parker was Scott's 2010 field director and served as a consultant on Scott's 2014 re-election. Also coming over from Scott's campaigns would be Curt Anderson, who would help with polling, media and strategy, and fundraiser Debbie Alexander. Beruff, who grew up poor in Miami, is a multi-millionaire who in 1984 started Medallion Homes, which is now one of the biggest residential land development companies in Manatee County. He has never held elective office, but over the last six years has been increasing his political stock on local and state government boards. Hes been a member of the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, the Southwest Florida Water Management District Board and the State College of Florida Board of Trustees, where his questioning led to dramatic changes in the Manatee County schools leadership team. Putting my experiences of Life In NYC in a more personal perspective, and checking in with international/national, tech and some other news MOIESE In a major change of direction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entered into discussions late last week that could lead to the agency supporting legislation to transfer the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Noreen Walsh, director of FWSs Mountain-Prairie Region, informed FWS employees of the decision in an email late Friday afternoon. National Wildlife Refuge System Chief Cynthia Martinez followed up with a similar email Friday evening. In an effort to achieve the best, long-term solution for our many conservation priorities, the specific conservation goals of the National Bison Range, and to support the principles of Indian self-determination there was a discussion today with the CSKT about the potential for the Service to support legislation that would transfer the lands comprising the National Bison Range to be held in trust by the United States for the CSKT, Walsh wrote her email, which was obtained by the Missoulian. She cited the inability to reach another annual funding agreement with the tribes that would allow CSKT to jointly participate with FWS in the management and operation of the Bison Range. Transferring the land to the tribes would end more than a century of Fish and Wildlife Service management of the Bison Range, and remove it from the National Wildlife Refuge System. It would require the approval of Congress. As the original managers of the bison herd on the Flathead Reservation prior to the establishment of the National Bison Range, we look forward to learning more about the opportunities related to U.S. Fish and Wildlifes proposal of restoring tribal ownership of the Bison Range, CSKT spokesman Rob McDonald said in a written statement Monday. As with all of the tribes lands, we are committed to the responsible management of the land in a way that is consistent with tribal values values we share with all Montanans, McDonald added. Our goal has always been a stable, thriving reservation, and we welcome the chance to continue working to achieve that goal for the benefit of the entire community. *** Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which has strongly opposed any tribal involvement at the Bison Range, warned again Monday that 18 other U.S. national wildlife refuges and 57 national parks could be ceded to other Indian tribes if such a precedent is established. Once again, the National Bison Range is a political trading card whose conservation mission is an afterthought, Jeff Ruch, PEERs executive director, said. Jeff King, project leader at the Bison Range, said he had been told to refer questions to Anna Munoz, assistant regional director for external affairs at FWSs Mountain-Prairie Region headquarters in Colorado. All I can say is that were at the very beginning of discussions, Munoz said. We believe right now is the right time to begin the transition into a trust for a refuge that long ago was carved out of the lands of the Flathead Indian Reservation. Munoz confirmed that the Fish and Wildlife Service would no longer have responsibility for the Bison Range if the lands were transferred into a trust. She declined to comment on PEERs accusations that such a move would leave other public lands open to similar moves, and declined to comment when asked why negotiations for a third annual funding agreement with CSKT had failed. The first one, in 2005-06, was ended by FWS amid heated accusations and exchanges from both sides. A second agreement returned the tribes to the Bison Range alongside FWS in 2009-10, and the partnership seemed to be working much better. A federal judge pulled the plug on it, essentially because an environmental assessment had not been done. PEER filed the lawsuit that undid the most recent agreement. *** On the same day FWS approached the tribes about opening discussions on transferring the wildlife refuge late last week, Walsh and two other agency officials also met with Bison Range employees in Moiese. I emphasized that they will all remain valued employees of the Service, regardless of the outcome of these discussions, Walsh wrote to FWS personnel across the Mountain-Prairie Region. Walsh noted that Congress would have to approve the transfer and therefore, at this point, we dont know if or when such a transfer would occur. Today was our first discussion with the CSKT about the idea. In her email, Martinez, the refuge system chief, said, Anyone who knows the history of the Bison Range knows that our employees have worked and lived with uncertainty regarding the Bison Range for many years now. Munoz said seven FWS employees work at the Bison Range, which is sometimes called the crown jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System although others, led by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, are often referred to the same way. Walsh was accompanied to the Moiese refuge Friday by Will Meeks, assistant regional director of refuges, and Mike Blenden, refuge supervisor for Montana, Wyoming and Utah. I wanted you all to know why we entered into these discussions, Walsh noted in her email. The Bison Range was established within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation in 1908, for the express purpose of conserving the American bison during a time when the species was on the verge of extinction, Walsh said. Since then, the Service as well as our federal, state and tribal partners have made great strides in conserving bison and re-establishing herds throughout their historic range, the email continues. Also, while we have desired a meaningful partnership with CSKT at the National Bison Range, a mutually acceptable agreement has been elusive, Walsh wrote. Given that we are today in a much better place regarding the future of bison, that we have much work to do on landscape-scale conservation efforts, and that we want to strengthen our partnership with the CSKT, we believe that now is the right time to investigate the possibility of transferring the refuge, which was long ago carved out of tribal lands, into trust for the benefit of the CSKT. Walsh added that it was not an easy decision to come by, nor one that was taken lightly, but in the end, I believe that this is a good path for the Service, the CSKT, and for the conservation of our fish and wildlife resources. *** CSKT has been trying to become a part of the operation and management of the Bison Range for 22 years, ever since the 1994 Tribal Self Governance Act enabled the tribes to do so. Despite PEERs insistence that previous funding agreements ceded control of the refuge to the tribes, Fridays email from Walsh signaled the first time FWS has actually considered doing exactly that. On Monday, PEER disputed Martinezs claim that transferring the Bison Range to CSKT does not represent a new direction for the refuge system. Many other tribes have similar legal status covering 18 refuges in eight states, including all of the Alaska refuges, PEER said. Those 18 refuges make up 80 percent of the land area in the National Wildlife Refuge System, it said. Similarly, 57 National Park Service units in 19 states are similarly situated, the organization added. That includes Glacier National Park, next to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. It appears that the Service is rewarding long-standing intransigence by the CSKT in reaching an agreement which would keep the Bison Range in the National Wildlife Refuge System, PEER went on, and in doing so will encourage other tribes to follow the same disengaging playbook. McDonald encouraged people with questions or comments about the potential transfer to contact FWS, which approached the tribes with the idea. "We ... look forward to working with the community to make the Bison Range an even better place for the public to enjoy and learn about the majestic bison," McDonald said in his statement. Three of Missoulas most powerful decision-makers gave an update on everything from watershed restoration to jail diversion to housing at the annual State of the Community forum hosted by City Club Missoula at the DoubleTree Hotel on Monday. Missoula County Commissioner Cola Rowley, University of Montana President Royce Engstrom and Missoula Mayor John Engen each spoke in depth about past accomplishments, current trends and future challenges. Engen acknowledged that Missoula is facing a workforce shortage and if the city hopes to address that problem by attracting new workers, they will need to find places to live. When I think about solving the workforce shortage, I think about where they will live, he explained. We did a lot of work thinking about housing before the recession, but not a lot of doing. Now, we have an opportunity to do. Engen talked about the need to not only build housing for gazillionaires, but also for people who are addicts. This is a chance to build housing for folks who cannot leave a bottle or a pill alone their life is a fog, he said. They oughta be able to live. Its a fundamental human right to adopt a notion to have safe, decent housing in our community. We have the opportunity to work together to do that. The best of us should be reflected in the eyes of the least of us. Responding to an audience member who noted a lot of new units are being built and a lot of vacancy signs are up already, Engen said Missoula still needs more housing options. What we need to do moving forward is understand inventory, and what I think were experiencing is a fundamental shift in the interest of some younger folks and some older folks in owning, he said. So the multifamily market, if you talk to the folks who are building this stuff, is far from the saturation point. In fact, theyll tell you that we need to tip up more. And what I dont understand for sure today is how many units well need over the course of 20 years what that housing stock should look like and what it oughta cost. Engen, a Missoula native, said that the citys infrastructure has improved a great deal over the last half a century and it is expected to continue to do so. When I was growing up, Reserve Street was not a street, there were a lot fewer people and a lot fewer opportunities, he said. The state of the community is not only good but, in my opinion, the best its been. There are changes that are afoot that are immense and remarkable. They involve redevelopment. Over the course of 10 years, we will not recognize the Broadway corridor, the North Reserve (Street) corridor, the Russell Street corridor or Brooks Street. And we will not recognize them for good reasons. Not post-apocalypse-ism or zombie stuff, but commerce and housing and recreation and economic development. There will be schools and trails and roads that connect opportunities and all of us. Engen said that because the city made zoning changes, growth is happening in a regulated, wise manner instead of in an ad-hoc fashion. Zoning isnt sexy, but we can make choices about how we regulate growth, he said. We had a really old zoning code, but we fixed it. We did it with exuberance and excitement. We can create a community that can be sustained over time. Engen also made it a point to say that he and the City Cuncil believe refugees fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria should be accepted, although he doesnt believe Missoula is a likely landing spot for many of them simply based on geography. He also wanted to push back against some political rhetoric that suggests that America is in dire straits. We hear relentlessly that we live in a horrible and frightening place, he said. I dont think Missoula is a horrible and frightening place. Part of my responsibility is to remind people over and over again that we are willing to invest in it. We invest in it through our property taxes, our time, our energy, our thoughts and hopes, and we invest children. If we continue those investments for all kinds of good reasons, you all know the value of that investment. He said the citys continuing fight to acquire Mountain Water Co. for which he joked hes earning an honorary law degree is a decision that will positively affect Missoulians 100 years down the road. I read an article from the Missoulian from 1924 that the city had a chance to buy the water system for $300,000 and they passed, he explained. We cant afford to be shortsighted. We have to plan for 100, 200 and 300 years from now. *** Rowley gave an update on the countys efforts to restore Ninemile Creek west of Missoula, an important wildlife habitat that was destroyed by decades of gold mining early in the last century. This is an 11-year partnership with Trout Unlimited and the Lolo Watershed Group to restore this tributary and watershed piece by piece, she said. Weve been working on 121 acres of floodplain to reduce sources of erosion, contamination and stream temperatures. Rowley said native bull trout, a threatened species, are returning to reclaimed areas for the first time in decades. This will improve fish and wildlife habitat and access to recreational activities, she said. Rowley said she and her peers at the county level are working hard to complete the Missoula to Lolo trail, which she said will be an important economic driver. She also said she is working to come up with creative ways to reduce overcrowding at the Missoula County Detention Center. Engstroms speech focused on the fact that the University and the Missoula community are inexorably linked, and success or failure for one will surely mean the same for the other. He said a new initiative UM Health and Medicine will provide a wide variety of programs in the health professions that will prepare students for high-paying and much-needed jobs. He also said he isnt overly concerned about how a new student housing project, set to be constructed on East Front Street this year, will affect housing capacity in university-owned buildings. Engstrom believes that the price and location of university housing will still be a highly appealing option for students. Engen also addressed falling student enrollment numbers at UM, which has forced the university to lay off 27 people and reduce 192 full-time positions in all to address a $12 million budget shortfall. Its no secret that were challenged with enrollment these days and were working very diligently to address that situation, he said. Its at the top of the mind for everyone. Every one of you is a recruiter. Seven months into her job as leader of the U.S. Forest Services Northern Region, Forester Leanne Marten wants to see more even progress at a tumultuous time for the agency. You have these bursts of capacity and then it goes down in the next year, Marten said in an interview with the Missoulian on Monday. I want to smooth that out and slowly increase our participation over time, so we can maintain pace with our partners. We have much more work on the ground than we have the capacity and resources to complete. That said, Marten was pleased to list the accomplishments Region 1 did log during 2015. That included improving 475 miles of stream habitat, removing noxious weeds from 68,000 acres, restoring or improving 135,000 acres of wildlife habitat, reducing fuels on more than 250,000 acres (including 96,000 in the wildland-urban interface around homes and structures) and maintaining 12,000 miles of trail. Marten takes charge as most of the national forests in the 26 million-acre region have just finished or are in the process of completing their forest plans the comprehensive rule book governing each forests management, land uses and priorities. Six of those forests have recently consolidated into three larger districts. I feel there are continual challenges, Marten said. Were looking at more than 50 percent of our annual budget going to fight wildfire. We have a changing climate. That takes some ability away to work on fire or wildlife or aquatics. We didnt have success getting the fire-borrowing fixed in the last budget. So I see that as a challenge to work through that. What is the priority work to do with the public and communities and agencies and tribes? Fire-borrowing happens when the Forest Service must dip into regular budget accounts to cover unpredictable wildfire costs. A plan to pay for forest fires the same way as hurricanes or similar natural disasters failed in Congress last December over disputes about changes to forest timber management policy. The region manages public forests and grasslands in Montana, northern Idaho, North Dakota and parts of South Dakota. Marten was previously in the agency's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., where she was director of ecosystem management coordination. She also served as national director for wilderness and wild and scenic rivers, and held acting leadership roles for national partnerships and the national forest system. She replaced Faye Krueger as regional forester, headquartered in Missoula. Its a homecoming of sorts. Earlier in her career, Marten worked at the Kootenai National Forests Canoe Gulch Ranger District and was made district ranger in the Ottawa National Forest on Michigans Upper Peninsula. She was forest supervisor of the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan and Allegheny National Forest in northwest Pennsylvania before moving to Washington, D.C. Theres a lot of challenges and it takes patience and persistence, Marten said. You dont often see the results you want to see right away. Were not going to please everyone and meet everyones expectations. Were looking for how we can balance those expectations. A recently released strategy to improve the agencys struggling recreation, heritage and wilderness programs will help guide Region 1s resource use. But Marten said it doesnt forecast a shift in the Forest Services identity. Were going to take a hard look at all our activities, Marten said. I dont see us as separated into timber and recreation. Forest restoration is vital to everything we do. Its not either/or. Its a combination. We cant have results on the ground without the infrastructure to treat forests. The sawmills, the grazing, the local economies are all lumped in there. MISSOULA Helen Virginia (Saddler) Norgaard died peacefully Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at Bee Hive Assisted Living in Missoula. She was 97. Helen was born in a log cabin on April 14, 1918, the eldest of five daughters born to Clyde and Grace Saddler of Puposki, Minnesota. Her maternal grandparents, Charlie and Catherine Durand, had a large farm, and her uncle, Carl Durand, owned the general store in Puposky, where Helen's first memories were of attending first grade and of riding with her father as he delivered mail by horse-drawn buggy. She married Herbert Norgaard on Dec. 8, 1934, in Bemidji, Minnesota, and they moved to western Montana where Herbert worked for the Forest Service until his death in 1954. As a widow with two sons in school, Helen then began her own long career in the Forest Service at the Lolo National Forest in Missoula. Colleagues who attended her 1983 retirement dinner honored her with glowing testimonials as to her cheerful disposition, good character, loyalty to friends and outstanding professionalism. She was always that special. The many longtime friends and three generations of her family who came to her 90th birthday luncheon in April 2008 in Missoula spoke of her dignity and grace in times of horrific pain and loss. They called her funny, straight-talking and spunky. They praised her beautiful dark eyes, and her skill at cooking, cards and dancing. They said she energized life wherever she was, and that knowing her was a joy and a blessing. In Helen's own words: I love the outdoors, the beautiful mountains, rivers, flowers, traveling and exploring new horizons. Most of all, I enjoyed my wonderful family. Family gatherings were so very special to me. Helen will be greatly missed by her loving and grateful family and her many dear friends. She is survived by sons, Stan (Jan) Norgaard and Roger Norgaard (Sonja Manley); sister, Dorothy Johnson of Kalispell; grandchildren, Wendy (Doug) Knight, Steven (Karen) Norgaard, Carrie (Mark) Courter and Cordell (Dara) Norgaard; great-grandchildren, Lindsay and Piper Knight and Adam and Charlie Norgaard; nephew, Tim Anderson; nieces, Shannon Stevens, Nola Rice, Penny and Linda; and many great-nieces and great-nephews. John Shoemaker, her dearest companion for over 30 years, preceded her in death in 2013. Our family is especially appreciative for Janet Kenter and Mary Thibaudeau, and Bee Hive employees for their loyal friendship and love to the end. Also, special appreciation to her sister-in-law, Susie Norgaard from Anchorage, Alaska, for her tender care and helping her heal from an automobile accident while returning to Montana from a family reunion. A celebration of Helen's life will be held at a date to be determined in the summer of 2016 at Garden City Funeral Home in Missoula. She will be buried next to Herbert in the Missoula Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation be made in Helen's name to the American Cancer Society. Funeral arrangements are under care and direction of Garden City Funeral Home. Sen. Jennifer Fielder of Thompson Falls, in a recent Missoulian commentary (Feb. 1), reiterated a great deal of misinformation about the facts surrounding the arson convictions of ranchers Steve and Dwight Hammond that ignited the Malheur Refuge Standoff in Oregon. Fielder suggests the Hammonds were maligned by federal employees and an unfair court system. Im familiar with the Hammonds and their long-standing conflicts with the Malheur Refuge and Bureau of Land Management land managers in Burns, Oregon. These folks are anything but model citizens. Fielder starts her comment by saying the ranchers face the death penalty for accidentally setting arson fires that burned up yours and my lands. That is simply an incendiary statement. They are being jailed for up to five years based on two separate arson convictions and they are not facing any death penalty. The arson convictions are the tip of the iceberg and only came after decades of aggressive disrespect and criminal violations by the Hammonds towards yours and my lands and the dedicated public employees who are trying to manage them for all Americansnot just welfare ranchers like the Hammonds. According to court documents from the U.S. Attorney, the Hammonds set their arson fires when burn bans were in effect. One of the fires nearly trapped a BLM fire crew that was fighting another wildfire and could have potentially led to their death, and their second arson fire forced a hunting guide to flee and move his camp to avoid the flames. Even more telling of their criminal intent is that one of the arson fires was set to hide the fact that the Hammonds had poached at least seven deer and likely wounded a number of others. Though the Hammonds were convicted of these charges by a local jury, it ignores the fact that, according to court papers, over a 28-year period, the Hammonds purposely set numerous arson fires that burnt up to 45,000 acres of public lands. For almost all of these fires, except for the two recent arson convictions, they did not even face chargesjust slaps on the hand. The arson charges were not the Hammonds first brush with the law. According an article by Kathy Durbin in High Country News, the Hammonds were arrested in 1994 and charged with felony for interfering with federal officials. In an affidavit from Special Investigator Earl Kisler, the Hammonds purposely disabled a bulldozer along the route of a fence line that was being constructed to keep their cows from trespassing on the refuge. When the fence crew showed up, Dwight Hammond leaped to the levers and suddenly lowered the blade that narrowly missed killing another special agent. The charge for these crimes had a three-year maximum sentence, but they only spent two nights in jailafter then-Congressman Bob Smith intervened on their behalf. After this incident, the refuge manager and others began to receive death threats over the phone. The refuge managers wife and family had to leave the area for fear of her life. However, this intimidation was nothing new. According to a 1995 Village Voice article, Hammond made repeated death threats against refuge managers in 1986, 1988 and 1991, plus frequently engaged in verbal abuses towards other federal workers. And among the many anonymous phone threats the Village Voice reported the refuge manager received was one (it is not clear if this was from the Hammonds or others in the community) that promised to wrap his 12-year-old son in barbed wire and shove him down a well. According to a document filed by the Harney County Sheriffs office, the Hammonds were investigated for child abuse, including, among other things, using sandpaper to rub marks off a teenage relatives chest. The Hammonds own more than 12,866 acres of private land, which easily makes them millionaires. However, according to Environmental Working Group, the Hammonds received nearly $300,000 in direct government subsidies between 1995 and 2012. And we should not forget the subsidized grazing fees they enjoyed during the decades their livestock foraged on public lands, as well as government-subsidized predator control, among other public subsidies. When you know the backstory on the Hammonds, its a wonder they were not put in jail years ago. And if we might have avoided a lot of damage to our public lands and perhaps there would be no takeover of our public lands by armed criminals. As Montanans, we live close to the land. Our unique way of life is directly tied to the quality of our lands, waters, fish and wildlife. We are persons who are counting on cold, clean waters and an abundance of trout. The quality of that resource directly impacts not only our personal recreation, but also our business interests and our livelihoods. Each year guides, outfitters, fly shop owners, restaurants, hotels and their employees watch Montanans snowpack anxiously. In an ever-increasing number of years, Montanans are confronted with low snowpack, warm temperatures, smoky skies and severely curtailed fishing opportunities. In 2015, fishermen and -women who traveled to Montana were forced to stop fishing at 2 p.m. to prevent fish mortality caused by unnaturally warm water temperatures. As this begins to happen more regularly, fishermen are reluctant to visit Montana in late July and August, and Montanas already short season of opportunity becomes even shorter. No one who spends time on the water can deny that climate change has already begun to reduce fishing outfitting and guiding opportunities as well as income for guides and other fishing-dependent businesses. We cant ignore the increasing effect climate change has on our industry. Additionally, as waters warm, there are reports of also seeing warm-water species moving into traditionally cold-water fisheries. In the past year, anglers were catching smallmouth bass in Livingston. If we do not address climate change, we will eventually see smallmouth bass in Yellowstone National Park. Bass should be caught in warm water fisheries. They should not be crowding out our trout, which make Montanas fisheries the envy of the world. It is not only our world-renowned rivers on the line. Many Montanans and visitors enjoy chasing wild trout in our high-country lakes. As our alpine snowpack declines, these lakes, even lakes up to 9,000 feet, are losing the steady flow of fresh, ice cold melt water on which they depend. Some of our favorite clear, turquoise waters full of rising cutthroats are already turning into pea green algae soup. The fish populations that reside in them will undoubtedly suffer, if they can survive at all. There is an economic price to these new realties. Last month the Montana Wildlife Federation released a report outlining the economic impacts climate change will have on Montanas outdoor economy. According to the report, 11,000 jobs and $281 million is at stake if we dont begin to take climate action seriously. For the fishing and angling industry, this will mean a 33 percent reduction in viable fishing days, 1,800 jobs lost and $49 million lost in labor earnings. The need for climate action in Montana is real and it is urgent if we wish to remain a destination place for world-class fly-fishing. Too much is at stake if we dont begin to tackle the threat of climate change. We encourage our elected officials to take climate change and the reduction of carbon emissions seriously, so we can preserve not only what makes this state so special, but also the thousands of jobs that rely on our outdoor economy. KALISPELL Flathead County is pursuing a felony charge against the Army veteran who was shot by two Kalispell police officers last month. Ryan Pengelly, 30, is charged with assault on a police officer. Pengelly allegedly pointed a rifle at Sgt. Chad Zimmerman while Zimmerman and Officer Eric Brinton were attempting to take Pengellys mother, Bonnie, into custody during a welfare check Jan. 12. Prosecutors say Pengelly ignored commands to drop his weapon. He was shot four times by Zimmerman and Brinton, but survived. Pengelly told investigators from the Flathead County Sheriffs Office that the officers did not give him enough time to put down his rifle. The investigators eventually concluded the shooting was justified. However, Pengelly added, Thats probably what I did wrong, I pointed the rifle at him, it was wrong. If I would have known it was a police officer, I would have put it down immediately. In court documents, Deputy County Attorney Stacy Boman said the officers were responding to a report that Bonnie Pengelly had made suicidal and homicidal statements. Bonnie Pengelly answered the door but refused to accompany the officers to the hospital and began to retreat inside the house, according to Boman. When Brinton attempted to gain control of her arm, she called for her son. Pengelly exited his bedroom armed with the rifle. During the struggle, Sgt. Zimmerman saw movement out of the corner of his eye, Boman wrote. Officer Zimmerman looked up and saw a male holding a rifle in his hands. After ordering Pengelly to drop his weapon, Sgt. Zimmerman stated Ryan Pengelly did not lower his weapon, but brought the muzzle up on Sgt. Zimmerman. Zimmerman said he feared for his life and the life of Brinton. Pengelly served a total of three tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he survived a bomb blast in which he suffered a traumatic brain injury. The home on Looking Glass Avenue where the shooting took place was built for Pengelly and his wife by Operation Finally Home after a 2011 fire destroyed their mobile home. A search of the home after the shooting located a camouflaged rifle with a loaded magazine and a bullet chambered, according to the court documents. Pengelly could face up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted. BILLINGS Trespassing and digging by artifact hunters near historic Fort Ellis in October has several Montana officials and state historians worried about what may have been lost or destroyed. I dont think the public realizes how destructive this can be, said Martin McAllister, owner of Archaeological Damage Investigation and Assessment in Missoula. Questions have also been raised about how the incident was handled, with no charges pressed against the violators. And the episode highlights the weakness of state laws regarding such violations. At most, even if the diggers were charged they would have faced only misdemeanor charges. History Fort Ellis was a key military post from 1867-1886, not only for the Gallatin Valley, but also to provide soldiers for the Battle of the Little Bighorn and to protect the construction of the railroad along the Yellowstone River. The fort was named after Augustus Van Horne Ellis, a Union colonel who was killed in the battle of Gettysburg. It was the largest government presence in the region, said Tom Rust, a Montana State University Billings associate professor of History who has written a book about the fort. It was pretty important strategically, and it was a huge economic stimulus for Bozeman, especially after the Bozeman Trail closed. The Fort Ellis Research Farm, under the aegis of the Montana State University College of Agriculture & Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, has conducted livestock research on 640 acres where the fort once stood on the eastern edge of Bozeman since 1930. You could say that whole 640 acres is a historical site, said Barry Jacobsen, associate director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and department head of MAES research centers. Diggers caught It was on Oct. 22 that Bob Brekke, who works at the ag station, called MSU police to report that people were seen digging on the property. An officer responded, found three trespassers digging in a pit and let them go with a warning. It wasnt a large excavation. It was a pretty old site, said Robert Putzke, MSU police chief. Since the property wasnt signed or fenced, the people involved thought they were on public property, and Brekke decided not to press charges, so no citation was issued. Putzke said the officer found the amateur diggers very apologetic and very cooperative. The diggers indicated they had found two old bottles, possibly from a trash pit, and agreed to rebury them. The officer asked the people if they had found any other artifacts and they replied negative. Putzke said it wasnt clear whether they had received tacit approval from someone working at the ag station to explore the site. The officer acted at the request of the caretaker not to cite the diggers, Putzke said. He said following concerns voiced by others about a possible federal violation he contacted the FBI, but because the men were digging on state land its a state offense, not federal. Under the Montana Antiquities Act such charges, if they were filed, are misdemeanors punishable by a $1,000 fine, six months in the county jail or both. Federal law is much stricter. A violation on federal land is subject to the Archaeological Resources and Protection Act, enacted in 1979. Violation of the federal law is a felony, punishable by up to two years in jail and can include confiscation of any equipment used in the crime, such as vehicles. The old American Antiquities Act penalties were so weak it was a joke to the looters, McAllister said. But theyre afraid of ARPA because they could lose all of their equipment. And in some instances that drives them onto state land. Stirring things up When Livingston archaeologist Larry Lahren heard about the diggers, and about the fact that no one was charged and no damage assessment at the site was conducted, he sought more action. He wrote MSU president Waded Cruzado in January seeking a more concerted response including an assessment of the damage, development of a mitigation plan and the issuance of a report. He also accused MSU officials of covering up the incident. Lahren said he never received a response from Cruzado and said hes done about as much as he can to expose the incident. Im the Darth Vader now, I guess, he said. We appreciate Larrys tenacity because we as state employees dont feel like we can push as hard as the public, said Stan Wilmoth, state archaeologist for the Montana Historical Society. Larry has told me more than the university. When we called and made inquiries (MSU) told us they were handling it. Wilmoth said he requested an incident report from the police and other firsthand sources of information to assess possible damage, and MSU officials said no. This despite the fact that the Montana State Historic Preservation Office promotes the preservation of the state's historic and cultural places. MSU follow-up Jacobsen, the experiment station department head, said he doesnt understand why its such a big story. In the wake of the incident the department has posted no trespassing signs and asked law enforcement agencies to increase their patrols of the area. In addition hes asked members of the schools sociology and anthropology department to visit the site and assess possible damage and suggested people working at the ag site receive training about the historical value of the land. Mike Neeley, associate professor of anthropology at MSU, said he plans to visit the area in the spring to see what sort of damage has been done to the site. Whether that would involve an excavation he wasnt sure. He said it was his understanding that there was a fairly good-sized pit, maybe 12 feet across, that had been dug. He couldn't say whether that had occurred in October, was from erosion or was from an earlier dig. Were just trying to help them manage that resource and ensure it stays protected, Neeley said. Lost context No matter what Neeley finds, McAllister and others say irreparable damage has already been done. An artifact by itself tells us very little about human behavior, he said. If you find it intact we have a much better chance of reconstructing the type of behavior there. Thats why archaeologists hate looters. They are contextual destroyers. And once its destroyed it cant be put together again. Unfortunately for archaeologists like Wilmoth, state agencies are reluctant to press charges even when violators are caught. He faced a similar instance when metal detectors dug on property owned by the Department of Corrections in Deer Lodge. Its one of these larger issues, he said. These artifacts belong to all of us. Collecting business Although the history of Fort Ellis may seem too recent to be of value, Wilmoth said spurs, buttons and epaulets collected from western military sites are popular-selling items for collectors. The public finds that history very provocative, he said. McCallister said the trade in antiquities was valued as a $7 billion industry according to an Interpol report, the International Criminal Police Organization. He said meth users have become a big concern on federal lands since the drug gives them energy to dig for long periods, they like to be alone and the money received for artifacts can purchase more meth. Meth makes them ideally suited to artifact theft, he said. Without charges filed and a further investigation, historians and archaeologists can only speculate about what the diggers caught on the MSU property may have found or even sold prior to being caught. MSU Billings professor Rust is worried that the diggers may have disturbed the site of the forts laundry. That would be more of a loss because women on military posts have been radically understudied, he said. If thats where they hit, there is some information that regretfully will be lost. BILLINGS When Kori Keller saw her dog up for adoption on a website over the weekend, she was shocked. The last time she'd seen Buster, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever, Keller thought he was on his death bed. Keller paid Shiloh Veterinary Hospital for Buster's euthanasia. But after a series of tests determined his illness was not terminal, a veterinarian from Shiloh took the dog home. Buster's health improved, and the dog was put up for adoption. After the miscommunication, the hospital will add a new pet relinquishment form to their protocol to avoid any future misunderstanding. Buster was returned to Keller on Monday, and Keller paid for all tests the dog had while under Shiloh's care. "We wouldn't just give up on him," Keller said. But Keller had believed her dog was helpless. "Him getting better, that wasn't an option," Keller said. "I had four kids at home thinking their dog was dead." Buster had been losing weight, and it wasn't immediately obvious what was wrong. The tests needed to diagnose him weren't guaranteed to yield an answer. After a discussion with the vet, Keller believed Buster was going die. She wasn't against treating him, but, as she understood it, there wasn't anything to treat. *** The hospital had hope for Buster, though hope that wasn't communicated as clearly as Keller would have liked. The clinic told Keller that Buster would be housed with a vet who had just recently lost her own yellow lab. That vet would try to help Buster, and if he were to die, she would be able to see him through his final days. Keller then saw Buster on the Rimrock Humane Society's adoption page, posted on Jan. 26. "I relinquished him to the vet," Keller said. "I didn't asked for him to be re-homed." Keller saw the post Sunday and in what she called a "heated moment" wrote a Facebook post explaining the situation and pledging to call Shiloh in the morning. Keller didn't need to alert Shiloh, though. The veterinary hospital's phones began ringing about Buster not long after the post went live. Ed Jorden, one of four owners of Moore Lane, Skyview and Shiloh veterinary hospitals, said people were calling the clinic to switch their service. Jorden said the vet did take Buster home. The hospital did charge a cremation fee. They did try to find Buster a new home. But none of this was meant to be behind the owner's back. "They were going to euthanize it; they didn't want it anymore," Jorden said. Jorden said Buster gained 10 pounds under the vet's care, but the large dog turned out to be more than she could care for. So, Shiloh called the Rimrock Humane Society and asked if they could help find a new home for the animal. Rimrock Humane Society President Sandy Church said when they got the call, there was nothing unusual about it. While Shiloh provides less than 1 percent of the Humane Society's dogs. Veterinary hospitals aren't known for adoptions, Church said. The humane society's social media pages get more viewers, so they will do courtesy posts for vets or small organizations who are having trouble getting their animals homes. The Humane Society and Shiloh have worked together on and off for 18 years, and Church said while some type of miscommunication took place in this scenario, the Humane Society has never had a problem with Shiloh. Jorden said the vet has a euthanasia form that acts as a relinquishment form. He said the hospital had a verbal agreement with Keller about relinquishing her animal. *** In Montana, dogs are considered property under state law. However, legal forms for relinquishing animals aren't standardized. They are different depending on whether the animal is being given to animal control, a shelter or a veterinary hospital. Church said the Rimrock Humane Society's form was written by lawyers. It details that as soon as the form is signed, the owner gives up the right to any and all information regarding the animal. It is stated several times on the form. The Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter has many forms regarding relinquishment, but owners can opt in for information if the shelter feels the animal is not adoptable through them. Then, the owner and Anderson have a conversation. This option was added to the form only a short time after Anderson began at YVAS. She said a woman had given a cat up for adoption and the shelter was forced to euthanize it. When the owner saw the cat was no longer on the YVAS website, she called the shelter and thanked them for finding it a new home. "My heart hit my stomach," Anderson said. After that, shelter staff took more time in explaining to owners what happens when they relinquish a pet and getting a good feel for why the pet was being given up for adoption. Anderson said it is good practice for owners to fully discuss their options and research what different veterinary hospitals and shelters do, so that both the owners and the organizations are clear about what the owner wants. "Owners have lived with their animals and cared for them," Anderson said. "Who am I to decide something for them?" Government PARKS AND RECREATION Board, noon, Headwaters at Currents, 600 Cregg Lane. TARGET RANGE SCHOOL Facility Committee, 5 p.m., school conference room, 4095 South Ave. W. MISSOULA COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS' Board of Trustees regular meeting, 6 p.m., Business Building Boardroom, 915 South Ave. W. Agenda available at mcpsmt.org. TARGET RANGE Sewer and Water District Board, 7 p.m., Target Range School Library, 4095 South Ave. W. MISSOULA RURAL Fire District Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., MRFD Station 1, 2521 South Ave. W. Public events COLLEGE GOAL MONTANA FAFSA help for Sentinel High School, 2-7 p.m., Missoula Public Library computer lab. No appointment necessary. Ellen Smith, 728-2400, Ext. 8091. MISSOULA PUBLIC LIBRARY, 301 E. Main St., 721-2665: Open time in MakerSpace, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tiny Tales, 10:30 a.m.; Frenchtown branch Lego Club, 4-6 p.m.; Community Creative Writing Workshop in the MakerSpace, 6-7:30 p.m.; System Check, 6:30 p.m.; 2nd Tuesday MPL Book Group discusses "If Not for This" by Pete Fromm, 7 p.m. BITTERROOT PUBLIC LIBRARY, 306 State St., Hamilton, 363-1670: open technology lab, 10 a.m.-noon; adult coloring, 10 a.m.-noon; Genealogy Group, 2-3 p.m.; Socrates Cafe, 7-9 p.m. Organizations BIG SKY A'S Model A Club, 7:30 p.m., Southgate Mall Community Room. MISSOULA SENIOR CENTER, 705 S. Higgins Ave., 543-7154, missoulaseniorcenter.org: yoga, 9 a.m.; Book Club, 11:30 a.m.; lunch, 11:30 a.m.; bingo, 12:45 p.m. BITTERROOT TOASTMASTERS, 12:30 p.m., Hamilton Senior Center, 820 N. Fourth St. Call Douglas at 381-3214 or visit bitterroot.toastmastersclub.org. DUPLICATE BRIDGE open game, 6:30 p.m., 2825 Stockyard Road, Building I-3. Visit missoulabridge.org. MISSOULA SHOOTIN THE BULL Toastmasters, noon, Florence Building, 111 N. Higgins Ave., ALPS Board Room. Visit shootinthebull.info. KIWANIS CLUB of Missoula, noon, Florence Building, 111 N. Higgins Ave. On campus UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA Spring Volunteer Fair, all day, University Center Atrium. The Office for Civic Engagement organizes a volunteer fair every semester to help nonprofit organizations in Missoula promote their services and help students find volunteer opportunities. Free. 243-5128, dhc.umt.edu/oce/student-volunteer-programs/volunteer-fair.php. Wilderness Lecture Series: Hikers Values for Wilderness: An Empirical Examination of the West, 7:10 p.m., Gallagher Business Building Room 122. Jeffrey Englin, professor in the Morrison School of Agribusiness and WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, presents as part of the 2016 Wilderness Lecture Series. Free and open to the public. 243-5521, cfc.umt.edu/wi/education/lecture-series/default.php. Faculty/Guest Artist Series: Robert LedBetter, 7:30 p.m., UM Music Recital Hall. A percussion performance. Tickets cost $12 for general admission and $8 for seniors and students, and are available online at umt.edu/griztix/. Births Brooke Chaffee and Micheal Brown, Clinton, girl, Feb. 8 Bridget Yarnau and Charlie Hatch, Missoula, boy, Feb. 6 Christine Thompson and Kinley Inman, Missoula, boy, Feb. 5 The Mississippi Library Commission is committed through leadership, advocacy, and service to strengthening and enhancing libraries and library services for all Mississippians. A Column by John Sinclair Greetings from St Johns Hospital on the eastside of Detroit where Ive been held for the past two weeks while t... Even with that noble aim, Facebook miscalculated in introducing the program in India. While Facebook expected to be welcomed with open arms, its message to the country focused on itself rather than the broad coalition of telecommunications firms supporting the effort, experts said. That, in turn, fostered a climate of distrust about Facebooks future intentions in the country and led to the questions from regulators. Indias decision also puts Facebook in an unusual position in the debate over net neutrality, which says that Internet providers should provide equal access to all web content. In the United States, Facebook has been a proponent of net neutrality. Yet the Indian regulators ruling, which furthers net neutrality, puts Facebook in a losing position. Mr. Zuckerbergs stumble in bringing his signature project to India underscores the difficulties of widening Internet access to the world at large, which companies like Google and Xiaomi of China also are trying. While there is enormous potential upside in offering web services to hundreds of millions of people who are currently not digitally connected, regulators and local officials have proved much more difficult to navigate than these tech companies anticipated. There has been such a great deal of spotlight on a single Internet issue, said Nikhil Pahwa, editor and publisher of MediaNama, an Indian news site, who has strongly opposed Facebooks efforts. I dont think Internet policy in India will ever again be made in a vacuum, a black box. Free Basics came out of Mr. Zuckerbergs program for universal Internet access, which was started in 2013 under an initiative called Internet.org. The idea was to simplify phone applications to run more efficiently and to offer these apps to users in developing countries. Half a dozen of the worlds tech giants, including Samsung, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ericsson, agreed to work with Facebook as partners on the initiative. For the last decade, the Yale University School of Art has been closely associated with its outspoken dean, the critic and curator Robert Storr. Now he is stepping down and on Tuesday Yale announced that he will be succeeded by Marta Kuzma, currently the vice chancellor and rector of the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Ten years is enough, Mr. Storr said in an interview. More than enough. Mr. Storr said he was likely to take a sabbatical. Montevideo, Uruguay Because here nobody is better than anybody else. The phrase, one of this small South American countrys most cherished sayings, dates back to the 19th century and is often repeated by its thinkers, presidents and everyday citizens. As a simple expression of the democratic spirit, it sums up how Uruguayans feel about their homeland. With only 3.3 million inhabitants, Uruguay is the smallest nation by population in Latin America. Its giant neighbor Brazil, by contrast, has a population of more than 200 million. But what it lacks in numbers, Uruguay makes up for by ranking as the least corrupt and most democratic country in Latin America as well as only one of two, along with Chile, rated as a high income country by the United Nations. Uruguay used to be known as the Switzerland of South America, in part because of its banking secrecy regulations. But the phrase also speaks to a deep respect for the rule of law. In a region where democracy is increasingly tested by economic mismanagement, political corruption, drug cartels and environmental crises, Uruguay is the only Latin American country ranked among the worlds 20 full democracies, according to The Economists 2015 democracy index ahead even, by one place, of the United States. MANCHESTER, N.H. Join us for live coverage of the New Hampshire primary. At this final hour of primary season here, amid the vicious mailers and ceaseless television ads, there seems no escape from the ugliness. But in their own small protest against the excesses of democracy, the residents of 175 Elmwood Avenue have tried. No solicitation! Political or otherwise, a handwritten note on their door reads. Please respect our privacy. We promise not to knock on your door. Thanks. The attention is an essential element of life in the first state to hold a primary, the civic price paid for admission to an election that matters. Hotels fill. Businesses boom, briefly. Surely the backbench voting states New Jersey and Nebraska, Indiana and South Dakota would gladly take on the trouble. Yan Xuetong, the director of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, argues for a more assertive foreign policy for China in his latest book, The Transition of World Power: Political Leadership and Strategic Competition. In the book, which the Chinese state news media has reviewed favorably, he advocates what he calls moral realism as a rising China challenges the United States for world leadership. This approach would combine a greater emphasis on forging military partnerships abroad while building a more humane society at home. Mr. Yan, 64, holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2008 was listed among the worlds top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine. In an interview, he explained why it is time for China to cut back on economic aid to other countries, why North Korea is not Chinas ally and why he sees rivalry but not war with the United States: Q. You say that China should establish military alliances, like the United States does. China already provides military assistance to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and some members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and is building a naval support installation in Djibouti. Should China have military bases in these countries? A. For its own interests, China should consider having military bases in countries it considers allies. Unfortunately, the Chinese government insists on a nonalliance principle. Its too early to say where China would build military bases, since China now has only one real ally, Pakistan. Q. You say that North Korea is not an ally despite the alliance treaty signed between the two countries in 1961. Why? NioCorp to Broadcast Update on Its Elk Creek, Nebraska Superalloy Materials Project in a Global Webcast on February 23, 2016 CENTENNIAL, Colo., Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NioCorp or the "Company) (TSX:NB) (OTCQX:NIOBF) (FSE:BR3) announced today that it will broadcast an update on its Elk Creek, Nebraska superalloy materials project to investors and others in a global webcast on February 23, 2016, following the conclusion of its 2016 Annual General and Special Meeting ("Annual Meeting"). The Elk Creek Project is expected to produce niobium, scandium, and titanium, which are technology metals used in superalloys and in a variety of applications in the automotive, aerospace, defense, construction, clean energy, medical, oil and gas, and other industries. Providing the update will be Mark Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp Developments Ltd., and Scott Honan, President of Elk Creek Resources Corp., the wholly-owned operating subsidiary that is overseeing the Elk Creek Project. The live, listen-only webcast will begin at 10:30 a.m. MST, following the conclusion of NioCorp's 2016 Annual Meeting. The webcast will feature a presentation by Mr. Smith and Mr. Honan, as well as a question-and-answer session with investors in attendance at the Annual Meeting. More information on the NioCorp Annual Meeting can be seen here. Investors and others wishing to view the webinar must pre-register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2298956040844614657 Mark Smith Mark Smith Executive Chairman, CEO and Director @NioCorp $NB $NIOBF #Niobium #Scandium #ElkCreek About NioCorp NioCorp is developing a superalloy materials project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce niobium, scandium, and titanium. Niobium is used to produce superalloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy ("HSLA") steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a superalloy material that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium also is a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various superalloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor and medical implants. Cautionary Statements Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For More Information Contact Jim Sims, VP of External Affairs, NioCorp Developments Ltd., 720-639-4650, jim.sims@niocorp.com ICA Signs Agreement With EXI-CK to Finance the Completion of the Palmillas-Apaseo El Grande Tollroad MEXICO CITY, Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empresas ICA, S.AB. de C.V. (BMV:ICA) (NYSE:ICA), the largest infrastructure and construction company in Mexico, confirmed today that its subsidiary COVIMSA has signed an agreement with CKD Fomento a la Energia e Infraestructura de Mexico (EXI), through the EXICK Trust, for a Ps. 750 million convertible loan to provide the resources required for the completion of the Palmillas-Apaseo El Grande tollroad in the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato. Autovia Queretaro, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of COVIMSA, holds the 30-year concession to construction, operate, exploit, preserve, and maintain the highway. The PalmillasApaseo El Grande tollroad is one of the most important construction projects in Mexico. The 4-lane, 86 km, high-specification tollroad in Queretaro and Guanajuato is expected to reduce traffic congestion resulting from the sustained economic growth of the region. This agreement ensures all the resources that are required to finalize the construction and putting into service of the highway. ICA expects that the construction phase will be completed in September 2016, and the highway will join ICAs existing portfolio of five operating highways. This press release contains projections or other forward-looking statements related to ICA that reflect ICAs current expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results or events due to important factors such as changes in general economic, business or political or other conditions in Mexico, Latin America or elsewhere, changes in capital markets in general that may affect policies or attitudes towards lending to Mexico or Mexican companies, changes in tax and other laws affecting ICAs businesses, increased costs, unanticipated increases in financing and other costs or the inability to obtain additional debt or equity financing on attractive terms and other factors set forth in ICAs most recent filing on Form 20-F and in any filing or submission ICA has made with the SEC subsequent to its most recent filing on Form 20-F. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to ICA on the date hereof, and ICA assumes no obligation to update such statements. Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. is Mexico's largest infrastructure company. ICA carries out large-scale civil and industrial construction projects and operates a portfolio of long-term assets, including airports, toll roads, water systems, and real estate. Founded in 1947, lCA is listed on the Mexican and New York Stock exchanges. For more information, visit ir.ica.mx. For more information, please contact: Gabriela Orozco gabriela.orozco@ica.mx relacion.inversionistas@ica.mx +(5255) 5272 9991 x 3012 Pablo Garcia Chief Financial Officer pablo.garcia@ica.mx In the US: Daniel Wilson, Zemi Communications +(1212) 689 9560 dbmwilson@zemi.com Copyright 2022 HT Digital Streams Ltd All Right Reserved Moravian College - Civil Society Observers for the U.N. Climate Change Negotiations The college was accepted as a civil society observer (NGO) for the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change in 2009. We started this blog to tell our story as we experienced these international negotiations and side events for the first time - as seen through the eyes of students, faculty, alumni, friends of the college. Our previous delegations have attended conferences in Denmark, Mexico, South Africa, Qatar, Poland, Peru, France,Morocco, and Germany. The delegation will be in Katowice, Poland for COP24 in 2018. Choir camp for kids offered Saturday The B Sharps at Butte High School will host their sixth Annual Choir Camp from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13. Grade levels K-8 are invited to participate. The cost is $20 for single or $35 for two. The cost includes a camp T-Shirt and lunch. Parents may register their students at farabeeta@butte.k12.mt.us or call 406-498-7391. Also, call that number for location of the event. Pancake supper Tuesday at St. Johns The men of St. John's Episcopal Church, Broadway and Idaho, are preparing a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. It's a feast of pancakes, hash browns, bacon or sausage, orange juice and applesauce. Enter through the Broadway courtyard. In addition, the men will be doing the clean-up afterward. A free-will offering will be for the benefit of Episcopal Relief and Development which responds to crises around the world by providing emergency food, water, shelter, medical supplies and other basic needs, at times even chainsaws and generators. Saturday bazaar set for scholarships A bazaar to support scholarships at Montana Tech is hosted by the Butte Mineral and Gem Club from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Butte Plaza Mall (in the space adjacent to Herbergers). Admission is free. The bazaar will feature unique gifts from the world over. Local artisans will feature handmade candles, knitted items, handmade jewelry, and faceted gems. Rock hobby items will include mineral specimens and fossils. The Butte Mineral and Gem Club has provided over $17,000 in support to Montana Tech students. Pete Sorini, the gifted neurosurgeon whose own battle with brain cancer brought out the best in himself, his family and his beloved Butte, Montana, died Monday evening at home after a 14-month fight. He was 56. Sorini, who was diagnosed in December 2014, died at 7:48 p.m. His wife, Stephanie, and daughters Giavanna, Marietta and Isabella, were there, as was Father Patrick Beretta of the Butte Catholic community. He was known as a neurosurgeon and he was a soldier he was a colonel in the Army but to us he was a father and a husband, Stephanie Sorini told The Montana Standard. That was his role with us. He truly was the best of the best. Beretta called him a teacher and a healer who continued to deeply touch others during his illness. The new depths of love he and his family found together and expressed was one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life, he said. I continued to see him shine in spite of that devastating illness, Beretta said. He found new ways to shine, he found new ways to radiate to people. Visitation and funeral mass were set for Monday at the Butte Civic Center, a place chosen Beretta said because there isnt a church big enough in Butte to accommodate the outpouring of community sadness and support sure to be on display. It was clear on Tuesday in the words spoken by others, including Chad Harrington, who was among friends who visited Sorini for a last time Monday. All spoke of his bond with family, his love of life and people and his humility. He was a tremendous package wrapped up into one body, Harrington said. Sorini, the son of Martha Sorini and Ernest Sorini of Butte, graduated from Butte High School in 1977. He received his doctorate from Marquette University Medical School and his neurosurgery residency took place at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Most recently, he was neurosurgeon and chief medical officer at Community Hospital of Anaconda. He was a colonel in the Army Reserves, performing surgeries in Iraq, Germany and Haiti, and was recently distinguished with the prestigious Meritorious Service Award by the U.S. Army. For years he had helped his patients battle brain cancer and in December 2014 was himself diagnosed with glioblastoma, an extremely aggressive cancer that begins in the brain and spreads quickly. Even with aggressive treatment, most people die within 12 to 15 months. Few survive past five years. Sorini knew that, of course. Pete said that because the prognosis for such a cruel, merciless illness is so bleak, there was a part of him that would have been tempted to go with his wife on a long trip and just enjoy a wonderful time and die sooner, Beretta said. But because of the love he had for his daughters, he made a decision to do everything possible to stay alive as long as possible so he could cherish every moment with them as long as possible, he said. He achieved that. The situation a brain surgeon suffering from brain cancer was not lost on Sorini. Its sort of a lot of irony there, he told The Standard only days after he was diagnosed. Still, he thought of his patients. This brings a whole new insight into it that I wish I had before to appreciate my patients suffering and to empathize with them, he said. Sorini received very aggressive and sometimes very experimental treatment, Beretta said, all to spend more time with his family. When his condition became known before the holidays in 2014, his friends, neighbors and colleagues far and wide rallied to their side. They threaded Christmas lights through a pine tree in the familys front yard to spell out the word hope and hung ornaments on its branches. They stocked the familys refrigerator, adorned the wall of their home with family pictures, stopped by and days and months later kept stopping by. Community Hospital of Anaconda, where Sorini worked, offered him a leave of absence and brought in other doctors to keep his practice running. When the Sorinis urgently needed to get to San Francisco for a brain biopsy, Kalispell Regional Medical Center sent its plane to transport the whole family. Pete and Stephanie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on June 30. A few days later, they served as grand marshals in Buttes Fourth of July parade. Buttes favorite holiday was also Sorinis favorite. Bill Melvin, who began a lifelong friendship with Sorini when they were in the third grade, said he was a brilliant neurosurgeon who had so many other interests as well none higher than his family and people. They were in each others weddings and each was godfather to at least one of the others children. There wasnt a benefit he wasnt right in the middle of and donating to, Melvin said. Longtime friend Marko Lucich also spent time with Sorini and his family Monday. You couldnt ask for a better friend, Lucich said. He was the most humble person I have ever known. He was the most unbelievable husband and father I have ever known. It was Sorini who noticed that Lucich was shuffling as he walked a telltale sign of a condition called hydrocephalus that causes water to accumulate on the brain and told him to seek treatment in late 2011. Sorini performed surgery on Lucich the day before Thanksgiving that year, inserting a shunt into his brain, down the side of his skull and into his chest and abdominal cavities to drain the excess fluid. Lucich, whose life was saved, called Sorini his guardian angel. I wish more people could have known him and taken lessons from him on how to treat people and be humble, he said. Stephanie said it is wonderful that services would be held at the Civic Center, and she is grateful for the outpouring of love and support. Longtime friend Mike Thatcher said Sorini showed his true self through tears and laughter, and no matter what was happening in his life, wanted to know how you and yours were doing. And he loved to have fun. He was the real deal, he said. He was the best ambassador Butte had. He was a gift to all of us, and we are lucky Stephanie and the girls shared him with us. He is not going to go out without rocking the Civic Center, I can tell you that. Beretta said it became clear on Sunday that Sorini had little time left. The end is always hard for those left behind, and was Monday night, Beretta said, because it is then that the radical difference that breath makes in a human being becomes so clear. Sorinis life and illness were known outside of Butte and outside of Montana. Beretta penned some of his thoughts about his friend and his last journey for The Huffington Post late last year, which The Standard shared here as well. It was powerful by anyones account, but Beretta said it was only so because of Pete Sorini. He ended the piece by recounting that after each visit with Sorini, he looked at his gentle face, one untouched by fear or pain. I find myself observing his life the way an impressionist painter studies the fading sunlight, Beretta wrote. It is soft but still bright. It is rich in color. It is the most magnificent light of the day. Despite Montanas strong public information laws, news organizations in many Montana counties, including Missoula and Butte, have long fought for the publics right to access the photographs taken of accused criminals when they are booked into jail. Thanks to a recent district court ruling, that fight has been largely settled. Not surprisingly, public access triumphed. News media across Montana, including the Missoulian and The Montana Standard, will soon be able to publish booking photos along with relevant crime stories. Booking photos - or mugshots in news industry parlance -- are important public information. For one, photos are an engaging visual device that catches readers attention. When law enforcement want help locating a suspect, they often release a photo because many more people may recognize someone by face than by name. Further, reader recognition may help investigators make connections that would aide in prosecution or defense. Moreover, mugshots are useful tools for identifying individuals accurately. Two different people may share the same name, but its highly unlikely two people will share the same name and face. Hopefully, the publication of booking photos will prove useful to law enforcement in another way: helping to deter crime. Perhaps if more people are worried about having their photos appear in news stories, more people will opt not to break any laws. But mugshots dont indicate guilt or innocence any more than a name on a jail roster does. It means the individual pictured has been arrested and charged with a crime. Guilt or innocence will be determined in court. In the meantime, Montanans have the right to know who in their community has been arrested and what crimes they are being charged with. Paying attention to such things is part of being an involved member of the community. It helps us keep our neighborhoods safe and our criminal justice systems accountable. *** Unfortunately, until recently Montana law has been somewhat fuzzy on whether mugshots should be treated as confidential or public criminal justice information, with the result that each county has decided for itself whether to release booking photos. Notably, in counties like Broadwater and Yellowstone where photos are routinely released, there havent been any significant problems arising from public access of mugshots. But in counties like Missoula, Gallatin, Butte-Silver Bow and Lewis and Clark counties, where mugshots have more often than not been treated as confidential, its been an ongoing source of contention. On the one hand, Montana code lists fingerprints and photographs among the items considered confidential criminal justice information. On the other, booking photos also fall under the category of initial arrest information, which is considered public. News media and other open records advocates often point out that county sheriffs can and do release these photos when seeking the publics help identifying or locating a suspect. Public information experts have reasonably argued that the confidentiality of photographs referred to in Montana statutes concern only those photos gathered in the course of an investigation crime-scene photos and the like. Indeed, it takes some stretching to cover mugshots under this definition, yet thats just what some county attorneys in Montana have done. This past October, District Judge Jon Oldenburg brought some much-needed perspicacity to the argument when he ruled that Park County must release the booking photo of Jovanne Lee Ashley, a registered violent offender charged with attempted deliberate homicide and aggravated assault, to the Livingston Enterprise. The ruling set a statewide precedent because following Oldenburgs decision, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox declined to issue his own ruling. Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert requested in September that the Montana attorney general provide an official opinion on the matter of booking photos, but Fox declined in December, citing the Park County ruling. *** The Attorney Generals Office considers the issue decided, but the details remain to be worked out. Gallatin County, for one, appears to be digging in its heels; Lambert appears to be under the impression that media must file a motion and obtain a court order on an individual basis in order to gain access to a booking photo. This process is likely to drag on past the time a defendant would make an initial appearance in court, which is open to the public and news photographers. Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst is being much more reasonable. She acted quickly and decisively to change the countys approach to releasing mugshots, and she recently informed the Missoulians editor that she is writing a formal county opinion on the matter. Already, she has told Missoula County Sheriffs Department that booking photos are part of arrest records and should therefore be considered public criminal justice information. Pabsts reasoning appears to align with that of Fox, who told the Missoulian editorial board last week that when it comes to releasing mugshots, counties should err on the side of disclosure. (Silver Bow County officials said on Monday, they, too, will provide booking mugshots upon request from the media.) In certain cases, counties may have a compelling reason to withhold a booking photo that has evidentiary value, for example. But for the most part, releasing mugshots should be the default, Fox said. The issues somewhat settled, he added. The next Legislature should take steps to settle the issue completely. Montanas legislators should make sure that when it comes to treating mugshots as public information, every county in the state is on the same page. The district court ruling and the attorney generals supporting statements may fall short of a decisive statewide legal opinion that would settle any future arguments once and for all. They do, however, mark a major victory for freedom of information in Montana. Now, its all over but the shouting. -- The Missoulian MUSCATINE, Iowa Startup Grind Muscatine (www.startupgrind.com/muscatine/) will be hosting Ethan Anderson at its next event at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Riverview Center in Muscatine. Anderson is the owner and founder of Big Imprint, located in West Liberty. Big Imprint is a website design and online marketing agency that specializes in building quality, affordable websites for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. Andersons business serves many clients in the state including Iowa City, Muscatine, the Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids while their reach continues to expand into the Midwest and around the US. Big Imprint offers comprehensive website services including web design and development, search engine optimization, online advertising and even an affordable website option created in-house called Friendly Sites, designed to be the perfect balance between professional design, ease of use, at an attractive price point. In addition to website services, Big Imprint is experienced in print and digital design, visual merchandising and copywriting. Anderson is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a BBA in Marketing. He started Big Imprint in 2009. Anderson previously served on the West Liberty City Council and is currently serving as president of the Rotary Club of West Liberty. He and his wife Bethany live in West Liberty with their three young children Liliana, David, and Simon. More information about Big Imprint can be found on online at bigimprint.com. MUSCATINE, Iowa A suspect in a hotel robbery pleaded guilty Monday. Timothy Lee Wadden, 36, of Muscatine, pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery, a class "C" felony; felon in possession of a firearm, a class "D" felony; and third-degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor; in Muscatine County District Court, according to a press release from the county attorney's office. The charges were for a robbery at Hotel Muscatine on U.S. Highway 61 on Nov. 22, 2015. Wadden also pleaded guilty to first-degree harassment, an aggravated misdemeanor; interference with official acts, a simple misdemeanor; possession of a controlled substance (third offense), a class "D" felony; and third-degree theft. The plea agreement calls for sentences on all counts to be run consecutively for a total term of incarceration of not to exceed 26 years and one month, the press release stated. Wadden will not be eligible for parole until he has served a mandatory minimum term of seven years. Wadden is set to be sentenced at 9:45 a.m. March 25. He will be held in custody without bond pending sentencing. MUSCATINE, Iowa Part-time employees at the Muscatine County Jail could soon become full-time county employees soon. Sheriff C.J. Ryan had asked the Board of Supervisors to consider changing the status of those workers for the Fiscal Year 2017 budget. The new fiscal year begins July 1. There are currently seven part-time employees who would become full time. Another three part-time positions are open right now. During a discussion Monday morning, supervisors decided to accelerate that plan. The part-time employees would become full-time within two weeks. A formal vote on the switch is expected at the next supervisor's meeting. "We've talk about it before, getting a pool of employees when all you can offer is part-time job with no benefits. We can't compete in the job market. It's a situation that's bad for the employee and it's bad for the organization as well," Ryan said. "We don't want to engage in churning. We don't want to keep having people come in as employees and spitting them back out because we cannot retain them." The switch will cost the county an additional $85,000 for the remainder of this fiscal year, according to county staff. "It's also a very litigious and liability filled environment. We need good people in those positions. We hope we get a quality employee that wants to come be an employee that we retain. We think that we can do this better if we have these full-time positions versus these part-time positions," Ryan said. Ryan said the sheriff's department can cover the additional cost out of revenues without having to raise taxes. MUSCATINE, Iowa The Board of Education has hired a new principal for Muscatine High School. Jared Smith, lead assistant principal at Waterloo East High School, was named as Muscatine High School principal by the school board Monday night. Prior to his employment in Waterloo, he was an assistant middle school principal in Fort Dodge and taught fifth and sixth grade reading, language arts and math in Chicago schools and high school math in Sarasota County (Florida) Schools. Current Muscatine High School Principal Mike McGrory is leaving his post at MHS to become the district's assistant superintendent. As the lead assistant principal at Waterloo East, Smith worked closely with the International Baccalaureate program and Advanced Programming studies, Career and Technical Education (CTE), the building-wide student intervention program (MTSS), teacher hiring and recruitment, as well as master scheduling and course development. Smith graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a bachelors degree in elementary/middle level education along with a high school math endorsement. He obtained his masters in Educational Leadership from National-Louis University in Tampa, Florida. He is currently seeking his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University with an expected graduation date of May 2016. His dissertation focuses on recent high school graduates and their perception of teacher-student interactions. He grew up in the Waterloo area, according to a press release from the school district. Smith was one of two finalists interviewed by the board and district stakeholders in late January. He will begin this position on July 1. In other business, the school board approved its 2016-2017 calendar. Classes will begin Aug. 23. The last day of school will be May 23. Winter break begins Dec. 22 and runs through Jan. 2. The new calendar also provides for the completion of the first semester prior to the start of the winter break. The board also approved student fees for the 2016-2017 school year. Lunch fees remain the same for all students. The only fees to change are instrument rental fees which will climb by $5 to $50 per student. The cost of yearbooks will rise by $4 to a maximum to $60. MUSCATINE, Iowa The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors cut the salary recommendations of the county's compensation board. The compensation board, in a meeting Thursday, recommended 3 percent pay hikes for the county's 10 elected officials including the county attorney, county recorder, county treasurer, county auditor and the five members of the Board of Supervisors plus a pay increase of 3.5 percent of the sheriff. In a meeting Monday, the supervisors cut the raises for the county attorney, treasurer, recorder and auditor to 2.5 percent. They cut the pay hike for the sheriff to 2.9 percent. Supervisors unanimously voted to take no pay increase for Fiscal Year 2017. Under Iowa law, supervisors are limited in their actions regarding compensation board recommendations. They can either accept the recommendations as presented or lower all the recommendations by the same percentage. But the board can cut its own increase to zero if they choose to do so. Each elected official has deputies in their offices whose salaries are tied to that of the official. "How did they come up with the 3 percent? The cost of living just isn't there," said Supervisor Robert Howard. Supervisors Kas Kelly and Scott Sauer attended Thursday's compensation board meeting. "When I spoke I stated that the number should be the same no matter what the number was throughout all the offices. That was my personal position and still is today," Sauer said. Kelly argued against the sheriff receiving a higher increase than the other elected officials. "I am saying that the auditor and the treasurer and the recorder, those three that are tied together, have just as much responsibility as the sheriff. Seriously, if the auditor was not so good at her job all of us would be questioning if we won our elections or not, and that's important. The sheriff is not any better than the other elected officials," Kelly said. One board member asked if the supervisors could ask the compensation board to reconvene to revise their recommendations lower and make the raises equal for all elected officials. "They've made their recommendations," said Nancy Schreiber, director of administrative services. "They've put us in a spot," Howard said. He was concerned about how bargaining units would use these figures in negotiations with the county. "I think they do a really good job of thinking through all the issues," Supervisor Jeff Sorensen said. "I am always pretty cautious when I second guess what they do. Our seniors (citizens) got nothing for an increase in 2015. If you look at the COLA allowance. the increase for Social Security was zero." The board set a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget for 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 29. Apparently, some members of the Iowa Legislature have far too much time on their hands. Despite all of the pressing issues facing lawmakers, including school funding and water quality, some of them are pursuing legislation that would make it legal for Iowans to carry loaded firearms while driving or riding on all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles. Currently, Iowa law prohibits firearms on ATVs and snowmobiles unless the weapons are unloaded and enclosed in a carrying case. The law exists not only to protect people from bullets accidentally fired as these vehicles bounce over rough terrain, but to discourage hunting from moving vehicles. Under a separate Iowa law, one can use a snowmobile or ATV to go hunting in Iowa, but it is illegal for hunters to use the vehicles to chase game, or to assist in taking the animals. Amazingly, some Republican lawmakers think or claim to think that this restriction infringes on people's constitutional right to defend themselves. Last week, a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. Brian Best, a Republican lawmaker from Glidden, approved a bill that would eliminate the law. "I see this as a personal-protection measure, and (want) to make sure that Iowans can freely exercise their Second Amendment rights," Best said. "We don't believe there is any good reason to strip people of their right to self-defense," Richard Rogers, a lobbyist for the Iowa Firearms Coalition, told the Register. Gov. Branstad's Department of Natural Resources is staying neutral on the proposal, so it falls to the Iowa State Snowmobile Association and Iowans for Gun Safety to plead for common sense. Both organizations are opposed to the change in Iowa law. "The concern is for safety and getting access (to) private land, which is difficult and challenging right now," said Mike Heller, a lobbyist for the snowmobile association. "Our board thought that if guns are allowed it will be more difficult to get that access." Rep. Liz Bennett, a Cedar Rapids Democrat, has expressed concern about the potential for accidental shootings. Republican lawmakers say such concerns are unfounded, but just four days before this bill was introduced in the Iowa House, a Wisconsin teenager was accidentally shot in the leg while hunting rabbits with a friend on an ATV. Apparently, some members of the Iowa Legislature have far too much time on their hands. Lawmakers should also be mindful of the fact that under Iowa law, children of any age can ride on, or even drive, an ATV, regardless of the vehicle's weight and size, on privately owned land. Do they really want to add loaded, uncased guns to that mix? The existing state law should remain in place. It explicitly allows Iowans to carry guns on snowmobiles and ATVs, and requires only that they be unloaded and in cases during transport. The argument that this restriction, which parallels those that pertain to automobiles and airplanes, somehow infringes on citizens' Second Amendment right to bear arms is ludicrous. Des Moines Register 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 [] President Jacob Zuma violated the Constitution and his oath of office over his treatment of Public Protector Thuli Madonselas recommendations that he pay back some of the money spent on his home at Nkandla, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. This could not be a more flagrant violation of his duty as president to protect the Constitution, said Wim Trengove SC, presenting arguments for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The EFF, which has at times brought Parliament to a standstill by shouting pay back the money at Zuma, wants the court to order that he comply with Madonselas report Secure in Comfort, which recommends he pay back a portion of the money not related to security upgrades. The Constitution says a president must uphold, defend and respect the Constitution, said Trengove. When Zuma took his oath of office in 2009, he also vowed to defend and abide by the Constitution. And, within the Constitution, he was required to assist and support the public protector. He is our leader. It is his duty in the first place, not only to obey, but to uphold defend and protect the Constitution, said Trengove. He defied the Public Protector as president of the country in order to protect his ill gotten gains. Madonsela had ordered him to make restoration to the state, but he had defied her to protect the wealth he had obtained unlawfully. It was not only Zumas conduct at the time, but his response to her report also constituted a violation of the Constitution. All of us are bound by the Constitution, and all of us have to obey the Constitution. He said there was also an added duty on Zuma to do so. These were violations by the president, despite his duty to the Constitution. Thats whitewashing He said the public protectors reports did not have the same status as a court, but they were still binding administrative orders. The public protectors office was not simply there to help people litigate it had its own original power. It was not possible to simply defy an order by the public protector. If there was a dispute, it should be put to review. He said the Speaker of the National Assembly had to make sure all reports were dealt with equally, but Speaker Baleka Mbete had declared that the public protectors reports were not binding. Trengove said the ad hoc committee in Parliament dealing with Nkandla gave itself power to judge Madonselas findings. They overturned all her findings, and their recommendations were endorsed by Parliament, where the ANC holds a majority. The National Assembly violated its constitutional obligations by not holding the president and his Cabinet to account. They also adopted Police Minister Nathi Nhlekos report which cleared Zuma of having to pay back any money.They were supposed to hold Zuma to account.Thats not holding to account, thats whitewashing, submitted Trengove. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, known for being a strict time keeper, has limited argument to 10 minutes per counsel, but the argument lasted a little longer as judges questioned Trengove on his argument. News24 More on President Zuma Zumas days are numbered: analyst Tell me how much I must pay for Nkandla: Zuma Shabnam Khayrulloevna KHUDOYDODOVA was born on 20 December 1986 in the city of Kulyab of the Tajikistan SSR. She is the mother of a daug... Social media is not only a place where people connect and network, it has also become a platform where people express and solve their relationship issues and private affairs. Speaking of expressing and solving private matters, a Kenyan guy has shocked many after writing a post denying being the man responsible for a pregnancy of a lady he was in a relationship with, some thirteen months ago. The guy named Junior George Siambe Opiyo, put up the post to warn Evelyne Awour to stop blackmailing him and look for the man who is really responsible for the pregnancy. Aye! Below is the post that Mr. George Siambe Opiyo made on his Facebook. Heres some of the comments the post got. DENVER In a former bakery south of downtown Denver, Matthew Fuerst makes beer flavored with ingredients like Hatch green chilies that he chops by hand. He saves money on heating bills by pushing up space heaters against his fermenting tanks and covering the tops with blankets. Hes invited homebrewers who want to break into the industry to use his expensive brewing system to try making larger batches. Fuerst is one of many transplants lured to Colorado by the states reputation as a place where beer drinkers spend hours on breweries sunny patios trying every imaginable twist on beer, often with dogs and kids in tow, a state whose governor is a former craft beer magnate who had an array of taps installed at the governors mansion. But Fuerst fears that idyllic lifestyle is in danger now that the worlds largest beer maker, Anheuser-Busch InBev, has staked a claim to Colorados craft beer paradise. Fuerst worries InBev could use its distribution leverage and buying power to squeeze other craft beers out of liquor store shelves, discount its own craft beer line and buy up raw materials after its purchase last month of Breckenridge Brewery, which was part of the first wave of craft breweries to open in Colorado in the 1990s. The purchase sent tremors through Colorados thriving community of homebrewers and beer purists, who join beer lovers around the country dreading increasing corporate consolidation in the industry. I think all of us know that if they could put us out of business they would and the actions that theyre taking right now are a threat to us, said Fuerst, whose brewery is called Grandmas House. Terms of the Breckenridge deal werent released. It follows InBevs acquisition of craft brewers Goose Island in Chicago and 10 Barrel Brewing Co. in Oregon in recent years and comes as the maker of Budweiser is trying to become even bigger by buying the worlds second-largest beer maker, SABMiller, to create a company that would make nearly 30 percent of the worlds beer. The makers of Corona and Heineken as well as equity firms have also been acquiring and investing in craft beer, the only part of the United States beer market thats still growing. Craft beer has captured more than 10 percent of beer sales in recent years and, according to the Brewers Association trade group, the country now has over 4,100 breweries, the highest number since 1873. More than two breweries open every day across the country. InBev says its not trying to push any brewers out of business and frames the real battle as between beer and the growing wine and liquor market. Everyone thats putting great beers out there and has a story to tell is going to thrive, said Felipe Szpigel, president of The High End, InBevs craft beer line. Eric Wallace, the co-founder of Left Hand Brewing, which, like Breckenridge, has spread far beyond Colorado since it opened 22 years ago, said he cant understand how a brewery that worked to bring back flavorful beer to the scorched earth left behind by mega brewers can turn around and join one. The fact that beer was being dumbed down over time, over decades is the reason that craft brewing was created and was born, he said. There are also rumors that another of Colorados original craft brewers, employee-owned New Belgium, could also be looking for a buyer. In a statement, founder Kim Jordan said its board has an obligation to have on-going dialogue with capital markets and that there is no pending deal. Sitting in the tasting room of Breckenridges new $36 million riverside brewery complex in Denver, which includes a farmhouse-style restaurant and a large patio where customers sometimes arrive by inner tube or bike, Breckenridge president Todd Usry said he once shared worries about corporate craft brewing. But InBev has assuaged them. I found out they wanted to participate in craft, not take craft over, Usry said. The reaction from beer drinkers has been mixed. Andy Romero, 36, of Denver, who traveled across town recently to pick up some more of Renegade Brewing Companys limited supply of imperial milk stout made with peanut butter cups in refillable glass containers, said he likes to support mom-and-pop operations but hes not too worried about the Breckenridge sale. As long as the beer is good, Im fine with it, Romero said. But Michelle Massure, 31, a former Colorado resident who likes to visit her favorite breweries on visits from Houston, was horrified at the thought of a big brewer ever taking over the Strange Craft Beer Company, where she enjoyed a tulip glass of a cherry wheat ale that she said tasted just like cherry pie filling. Ten small sampler glasses of beer were lined up between her and some friends on a wooden table at the tiny brewery tucked into an industrial strip mall next to Interstate 25. I dont want the big guy to have everything, she said. Jonathan Pey, representing Textbook Napa Valley wines, spoke at the United States first California Wine Symposium in Havana on Feb. 2. Pey addressed more than 250 Cuban restaurateurs, hoteliers, retailers, importers and government officials. A number of other California vintners also attended. In addition, newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Cuba Jeffrey DeLaurentis addressed the group. To be one of the first Californian winemakers to visit Cuba and address their hospitality industry and government was an honor, said Pey. My goal was to share the incredible history and diversity of the Napa Valley wine region, he said. Incredibly, for most of the attendees, this was the very first time they have ever seen or tasted a California wine. The California Wine Symposium was held in Havana from Feb. 1-4 at the Melia Habana Hotel. More than 400 members of the Cuban hospitality industry were in attendance. As a result of a 56-year-long trade embargo between the U.S. and Cuba, California wines are not allowed to be sold in Cuba, but with warming relations this restriction could be lifted soon, offering a new market for California vintners, said Pey. A few years back, I bellied up to the bar at Daikaya in D.C. one evening while Lukas B. Smith (now of Dram & Grain and Secret Monkey Social Club) was behind the stick. It was my first time there, and I was suffering from my usual end-of-workday decision fatigue. Id heard good things about his drinks, so when he asked what I wanted, I just asked him to make me something good. What do you usually drink? he asked. Negronis are my go-to, I told him, which was enough to get him rustling up a delicious concoction with Cynar and rye: a perfect ad-lib. Later, after wed shot the breeze and established some rapport, I teased him. So what would you have made me if Id said I usually drink chocolatinis? Smith slid into a sort-of-amused thousand-yard stare and thought for a long moment, then replied confidently, I would have made you leave. Pity the poor chocolatini, arch-enemy of cocktail and language purists everywhere, beloved of corporate-chain bars where cocktails are sweet, brightly colored and trademarked. Pity the chocolatini, that mix of vodka, chocolate liqueur and half-and-half, and sometimes Irish cream and chocolate syrup. (As a viewing of the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski and Eli Roth will demonstrate, the recipe for effective horror may vary.) Pity the chocolatini. But dont pity it enough that you actually, you know, drink one. Ive been thinking about the chocolatini because Valentines Day is approaching and, with it, the menace of the chocolatini, gussied up for flirting with a floating rose petal or perhaps even a bauble from Jared dangling gooily from its rim. (If your intended sinks your engagement ring in a chocolatini, get a gemologist to check the stone.) Also, Ive been thinking about chocolate, because although everyone else seems to view the turn of the year as an opportunity to become a better personparticipating in Drynuary, dropping pounds and prepping for a 5K or K2the combination of cold and little sunlight does not bring out my most aspirational behavior. Unless you consider Sybaritic bear preparing for hibernation as ambitious. If I could spend all of winter wrapped in a blanket eating brownies and fried potatoes draped in melted cheese, I probably would. And I still dont drink chocolatinis. Women have, or are purported to have, a strange relationship with chocolate, frequently depicted as somewhere between sisterly support and mad, goatish lust. Check the commercials, where we ecstatically place morsels of chocolate between our glistening, dewily parted lips or roll around in silky brown sheets that turn into swaths of chocolate. Check the memes: Chocolate is to women what duct tape is to men: It fixes everything!; There is nothing better than a friend, unless its a friend with chocolate!; and What matters that silly 78 cents to every dollar a man makes when theres chocolate? (I may have invented that last one. Still, if I took over St. Peters gatekeeper gig, chocolate marketers would be joining cosmetics and jewelry marketers in The Hot Place, where the Every kiss begins with K jingle would play eternally on a scratchy PA system.) Still, I like chocolate as much as the next right-thinking human, and so, this Valentines Day, I want it to escape the chocolatini cliche. This is an ingredient that was once used to worship the gods! It deserves more mature companionship than the Irish cream and chocolate syrup with which it has been forced, for years, to dance an abominable sugary jig. We live in an age of artisan chocolateheck, even artisan chocolate forgeries!and artisan cocktails, and yet the chocolatini hangs over us, making us fear to put chocolate in a glass lest the result be something best served at TGI Fridays. Ive spent hours playing around with chocolate cocktails, working with Tempus Fugits vanilla-touched creme de cacao and Godivas chocolate liqueur, and a balanced, sophisticated cocktail can indeed be made with them. Indeed, I recently pestered Smith for a serious answer to the chocolatini question, and he said he might have offered his Pleasure Dome, a mix of rum, creme de cacao, Carpano Antica vermouth, Coca-Cola syrup and smoked paprika, whipped into an eggy flip. Now that is a drink to seduce a chocolatini-lover onto more serious cocktail turf. If youre experimenting with chocolate and booze, think about how opposites attract. What you want is not sweet-on-sweet, but sweet-on-something-else, something that complements and complicates the chocolate: a note of herbs or fruit or spice, something bitter or tart or even salty. Try, for example, a touch of smoky Islay Scotch and fernet with chocolate liqueur and a base of rye, bringing out the bittersweet component of the chocolate. Work with the complex notes in a good sherry, providing contrast with its tartness and complement with its nuttiness. Chocolate, mezcal and chilies are a spicy, booze-forward duet in the Cocoa Smoke. And for a surprisingly bright highball, recall how well chocolate and citrus pair up when you try the Chocantonic. We should be using chocolate in drinks, but in a way that takes it beyond the cloying froth it too often settles at. For Valentines Day, chocolate deserves the spice of rye, the smoke of mezcal, the strange botanical kiss of gin and the bittersweet embrace of amaro, a word that is so close to amore. It deserves to be sipped by dewy, wanting, hungrily parted lips - Stop me. Ive seen too many chocolate commercials. Cocoa Smoke 1 serving The power trio of chocolate, the grassy smoke of mezcal and ancho chili pepper liqueur makes for a heady, sexy sip. We like Tempus Fugits complex creme de cacao for the chocolate component, but Godiva Chocolate Liqueur will also work. Tempus Fugit Creme de Cacao and Ancho Reyes are available online. From Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan. Ingredients Ice 1 1/2 ounces mezcal 1/2 ounce creme de cacao (see headnote) 1/2 ounce ancho chili liqueur (see headnote) 3 dashes chocolate bitters or Aztec chocolate bitters Twist of orange peel, for garnish Steps Fill a mixing glass with ice, then add the mezcal, creme de cacao, ancho chili liqueur and bitters. Stir for 30 seconds or until the mixture is chilled, then strain into a cocktail (martini) glass. Twist/express the orange peel over the surface of the drink. Run it around the rim, then drop the peel into the drink. Chocatonic 1 serving Chocolate and gin is a pairing that could be quite vile, but here the two are drawn together by Earl Grey tea (which is flavored with bergamot, a citrus fruit) and a splash of orange juice. The combination makes for a surprising and tasty highball. Tempus Fugits creme de cacao or Godiva Chocolate Liqueur will work here. We used Fever Tree tonic. Tempus Fugits creme de cacao is available online. Make ahead: The tea can be brewed in advance. From Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan. Ingredients Ice 1 ounce creme de cacao (see headnote) 1 ounce Old Tom gin 1 ounce brewed, cooled Earl Grey tea 1/2 ounce fresh orange juice Tonic water (see headnote) Steps Fill a highball or Collins glass with ice. Stir together the creme de cacao, gin, tea and orange juice in a mixing glass. Pour it over the ice, then top with tonic water. Give a gentle stir before serving. Assemblyman Bill Dodd of Napa has introduced legislation in Sacramento that would require California schools to secure classroom furniture and lights so that they dont fall and injure people during an earthquake. The bill could generate more earthquake-related costs for the Napa Valley Unified School District, which is already struggling to find money to pay for more than $100 million in school construction and seismic upgrades that arose after the 2014 South Napa quake. Dodds proposal would mandate that school districts comply with guidelines established by the Division of the State Architect that explain how the contents of classrooms should be secured in the event of an earthquake. Although these guidelines have been in place for the past five years, state law currently does not require schools to follow them, according to Dodd. The state also does not require classroom inspections to ensure that heavy bookshelves or hanging light fixtures will remain in place during seismic activity. If the South Napa earthquake had happened during the school day, we could have seen serious injuries or worse, said Dodd, referring to the Aug. 24, 2014, disaster that struck on a Sunday. While our standards for school construction are high, thats only part of the puzzle. We also need to ensure the contents in those classrooms are properly placed and secured to protect our children and teachers. Some local schools, like Napa Junction Elementary in American Canyon, sustained significant damage inside classrooms as a result of the magnitude-6.0 earthquake two years ago. Four of Napa Junctions classrooms suffered cracked beams and damaged light fixtures. One room had to have an entire wall rebuilt. Geologists later discovered Napa Junction sits atop the West Napa Fault, which triggered the 2014 earthquake. Dodd announced his plan last Thursday, the same day that the Napa school board discussed the school districts long list of school construction and other upgrades that are needed over the next 10 years. Its $475 million master plan includes $105 million in critical seismic safety items that the district discovered following the 2014 earthquake. The most expensive of these safety items is rebuilding three elementary schools Napa Junction as well as Snow and Stone Bridge in Napa that have the West Napa Fault running through their campuses. Additionally, we have 11 (other) schools that need seismic upgrading, Don Evans, the head of school construction, told the school board. That needs to happen. The 11 campuses consist of five elementary schools (Donaldson Way, McPherson, Northwood, El Centro and West Park), four middle schools (Silverado, Redwood and Harvest/River School, which share the same campus), and three high schools (Valley Oak, Vintage and Napa). Many of these schools are a half-century old or more, Evans pointed out. Schools are usually scheduled for 50 years max before they need major upgrades, he added. Youve got a number of them that are there right now. By 2025 the majorityand I mean the majority of your schools will be 70 years old, he said. Right now, the district doesnt have the funding to rebuild the elementary schools or carry out upgrades at other schools. Evans said money could come from Sacramento if voters approve a $9 billion school bond on the November statewide ballot. The district is also weighing the idea of running a local school bond on the June ballot. NVUSD Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the district is still polling local voters to gauge their support for a school bond. He said the results of that polling may be discussed at a special school board meeting on Feb. 25 that will examine ways of financing the $475 million master plan. If Dodds bill becomes law, it would not provide funding for schools to make inspections or classroom improvements. Despite its lack of money, the bill enjoys the support of NVUSD. Ensuring our schools are as safe as they can possibly be, inside and out, is of the utmost importance, Sweeney said in a news release issued by Dodds office. Im happy to see Assemblymember Dodd take a stand to protect our children. Elizabeth Emmett, NVUSDs director of communications and community engagement, said: We realize theres no money attached to the legislation. But, she added, We agree with Assemblyman Dodd that safety comes first. Bans on single-use plastic shopping bags are about to cover every city in Napa County, as Yountville has become the latest town to pass its own ban in a bid to encourage the use of reusable bags. An ordinance prohibiting the disposable bags at most retailers gained initial approval in a 4-1 vote by the Town Council last week. After a second vote March 1, the plastic bag ban will take effect at the end of the month, joining similar restrictions in Napa, American Canyon, St. Helena and Calistoga. Napa County also is preparing to prohibit one-use bags in unincorporated areas. In January, the Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a ban in a future meeting, though the decision has not yet been scheduled. Yountvilles law may form a backstop to keep plastic bags out of its stores as cities await the outcome of Californias statewide ban. The state passed its legislation in 2014, but that law is on hold pending a ballot referendum in November. Cities that passed local bans before Sept. 1, 2014, may continue enforcing those laws, but a new law in Yountville would go dormant if voters uphold the states plastic-bag law this fall. We know the consequences of what were doing may be short-lived, Town Manager Steve Rogers said Monday. The state law is very clear, and our ordinance may have a short shelf life, but the council was comfortable with that outcome. In addition to retiring disposable plastic shopping bags, the state and local versions of the bag law require grocers to charge 10 cents for each paper bag requested by a shopper. Modeled after a similar law passed in St. Helena, the Yountville ordinance includes exceptions for bags given out by restaurants. Also exempt are specialty bags of heavier paper stock and ribbon, cord or rope handles, which are commonly found in wineries, jewelers and boutiques. Despite the wide support for similar bag laws across the county, Councilman Jeff Durham voted against Yountvilles ordinance, saying it could actually weaken the prohibition for food-related businesses though most local eateries and grocery stores, he added, already have switched to paper or reusable alternatives. We have all these restaurants in Yountville, and for a ban to be effective it needs to include restaurants, said Durham. If you go to Redd or Redd Wood or Bistro Jeanty, you get a reusable paper bag. But if they wanted to, they could all go to one-use plastic bags tomorrow; nothing is stopping them in this ordinance. Rather than pass the same legislation as other towns, he argued, Yountville needs to craft a law robust enough to stand alone if the California ban falls at the ballot box. If we need to pass it, we need to pass it so we can move forward, not just as a stopgap, said Durham. With the referendum process in California, the way (measures) are presented and worded, anything can happen. Tuesday, Feb. 2 0922 A caller reported receiving numerous fraudulent emails from someone posing as a client and asking for $15,000 to be wired to a bank account in New York. The real client denied making the request. 1741 A very large transport truck with canvas sides on Main Street was having a hard time getting past one of the traffic signals without damaging it. Wednesday, Feb. 3 0610 Report of construction starting too early on Grayson Avenue. 1247 A bicycle and other items were stolen from Main Street Friday night. 1253 Report of suspicious men selling stereos and home theater equipment out of their truck near Mitchell/Main. 1421 Report of a possible drunken driver on northbound Highway 29 whod almost caused a crash. 1425 Report of a possible drunken driver weaving and driving very slowly on northbound Silverado Trail near Pope Street. 1712 Report of a possible drunken driver weaving on northbound Silverado Trail near Taplin Road. 1726 A tabby cat turned up on Vineyard Avenue on Jan. 31, and has been staying in someones backyard ever since. Thursday, Feb. 4 0954 Medical aid for a bicyclist who fell near Railroad/Adams. 1039 A Vintage Avenue business reported not having heard from an employee for two weeks. He was supposed to be at work on a Monday morning but never showed up. The business was concerned about possible embezzlement. 1211 A resident was receiving repeated fraudulent phone calls from someone claiming shed won a sweepstakes and shed be receiving a check, but she needed to provide a $500 check first. The resident told the caller she wasnt interested. 1736 A VINE bus got a flat tire near Main/Pope. Police provided traffic control while it was towed. 2113 A Signorelli Circle man said a friend had arrived at his house drunk, and he would like him to leave. Police arrested the 43-year-old Napa man on suspicion of public intoxication. 2246 Police arrested a 28-year-old Napa man on suspicion of disorderly conduct and violation of probation. Friday, Feb. 5 0833 A pink purse was lost Thursday on Library Lane. 0847 Medical aid on Main Street. 0924 Medical aid for a possible stroke victim on San Juan Court. 0959 Approximately 35 gallons of fuel was siphoned out of a gas tank on Vallejo Street. It happened about a week ago. 1043 A black dog and a golden retriever were found on Fulton lane. 1437 A Main Street business received a tax withholding form from the state with an employees Social Security number, but someone elses name. The IRS was notified of possible fraud. 1753 Noninjury two-car accident at Fulton/Main. 2336 Report of a white truck weaving and driving on the wrong side of the road near Main/Elmhurst. Saturday, Feb. 6 1253 A woman lost her New York drivers license while shopping downtown. 1720 Report of an ongoing problem with a barking dog on Madrona Avenue whose owners are always gone. 2048 Report of a dog barking for two hours near Crinella Drive. Sunday, Feb. 7 0933 Report of loud construction work occurring on Spring Mountain Road, even though the citys noise ordinance doesnt allow that kind of work on Sundays. An officer notified the workers. Monday, Feb. 8 0102 Police arrested a 24-year-old St. Helena man on suspicion of public intoxication near Hunt/Railroad. 0256 Medical aid on Del Monte Court for a man bleeding from the mouth after having undergone dental work earlier. 0729 A caller asked for help shutting off the water to an office, due to a rapidly leaking water heater. 1020 Report of a reckless driver passing over double yellows several times on northbound Highway 29 from Rutherford. 1150 Medical aid on Main Street. 1346 Police arrested a 23-year-old transient on suspicion of possession of a meth pipe and violation of probation. 1550 Noninjury accident at Silverado Trail and Pope Street. 2117 The traffic signal at Main/Adams was completely out. PG&E was doing work in the area. Tuesday, Feb. 9 0131 Police arrested a 31-year-old transient for an outstanding warrant from San Francisco County. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg briefed media on Tuesday (9 February 2016) on the topics of this weeks Defence Ministers meeting. On Wednesday and Thursday, ministers will take further steps to reinforce the Alliances collective defence and deterrence. Effective deterrence and defence requires both forward presence of Allied forces, and our ability to reinforce them quickly, said Mr. Stoltenberg. Ministers are expected to agree on an enhanced forward presence in the eastern part of the Alliance. Defence Ministers will also take decisions to improve NATOs response to hybrid attacks and speed up decision-making processes. The Secretary General highlighted that NATO will develop ways to boost our resilience, the resilience of our Allies. Because our military forces depend on civilian resources, such as food and water supplies, communications and transportation. The Secretary General also underlined NATOs commitment to helping Georgia move towards membership in the Alliance. At a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, ministers will review progress on NATOs substantial package of support for Georgia, and discuss how to intensify the Alliances support. They will also discuss Georgias domestic political and security reforms, which are bringing the country closer to NATO. The Secretary General further addressed NATOs support for all efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria. All NATO Allies are part of the counter-ISIL coalition, he said, adding I expect NATO to provide them with support. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that Allies are actively considering the US request for NATO AWACS surveillance planes to backfill national capabilities, and that ministers are expected to address this issue at the Ministerial. This would increase the coalitions ability to conduct air strikes against ISIL, he said. He stressed that NATO strongly supports all efforts to end the suffering, reach a ceasefire and start a political transition in Syria. (As delivered) Good afternoon. Over the next two days, NATO Defence Ministers will make decisions to address the changed security environment we are facing. We will continue adapting our deterrence and defence to meet threats from any direction. Effective deterrence and defence requires both forward presence of Allied forces, and our ability to reinforce them quickly, if needed. I expect Ministers to agree to enhance our forward presence in the eastern part of our Alliance. This will bolster our collective defence. And at the same time send a powerful signal to deter any aggression or intimidation. We have already strengthened our military presence in the region. And we are setting up eight small headquarters to support planning, exercises and reinforcements. Our adaptation is transatlantic. The US plan to quadruple the funding for the European Reassurance Initiative is a significant step. It will fund a persistent rotational presence of air, land, and maritime forces. More training and exercises. More pre-positioning of combat vehicles and supplies. And it will fund more investments in infrastructure such as airfields, training centres and ranges. This will further increase NATOs forward presence and our ability to reinforce. We will also take decisions on how to improve NATOs response to hybrid attacks, which combine conventional military force with subversion, cyber attacks, and propaganda. We will speed up our decision-making. And help ensure that we have all the tools and procedures in place. We will develop ways to boost our resilience, the resilience of our Allies. Because our military forces depend on civilian resources, such as food and water supplies, communications and transportation. And we will work even more closely with the European Union on a range of issues, including dealing with cyber threats. This is part of NATOs long term adaptation to a new and more challenging security environment. And it will require continued efforts, and continued investment. On Thursday, we will also hold a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission. Georgia is one of NATOs closest partners. It is pursuing domestic political and security reforms, which are bringing Georgia closer to NATO. At the Wales Summit, we agreed a substantial package of support to Georgia. In areas such as planning, air defence, maritime security and cyber defence. We will discuss the progress we have made. And how we can further intensify our support to Georgia. Let me finally turn to Syria. All NATO Allies are part of the counter-ISIL coalition. I expect NATO to provide them with support. We are actively considering the US request for NATO AWACS surveillance planes to backfill national capabilities. And I expect we will address this issue at the Ministerial meeting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. As this would increase the coalitions ability to conduct air strikes against ISIL. NATO strongly supports all efforts to end the suffering, reach a ceasefire and start a political transition in Syria. The intense Russian air-strikes, mainly against opposition forces, are undermining these efforts. They are driving tens of thousands of people to Turkeys border. And making a desperate humanitarian crisis even more desperate and even worse. The increased Russian air activity in Syria is also leading to violations of NATO airspace. Overall, the substantial Russian military build-up in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean is shifting the strategic balance and raising tensions in the region. So calm, de-escalation and political solutions are more urgent than ever. And with this I am ready to take your questions. OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson): Well go to Associated Press in the first row. Q: Yes, Secretary General for the lay person could you describe what the situation is now like in the, the military situation in the Eastern and Central European members of the alliance? And what would happen if NATO did not react to what Russia is doing? Would these countries be in danger of attack or subversion or some other threat? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): What we now see is that NATO is adapting to a changed and more, a changed and more demanding security environment. Partly caused by the turmoil, the violence we see to the south but also caused by a more assertive Russia. Russia which has invested heavily in defence over many years, a Russia which is conducting a wide range of different military exercises including many snap exercises, unnotified exercises and a Russia which has shown the will not only to exercise military force but also to use military force to intimidate neighbours and to change borders in Europe as we have seen in Ukraine and in, and in Georgia. So this of course requires a response from NATO and thats exactly what we are doing, we are responding and we are adapting. And we have done so by increasing our presence in the eastern part of the alliance with more assurance measures meaning planes, air policing, naval presence in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, increased naval presence and also more boots on the ground with more exercises and troops. And we are also increasing our ability to reinforce, we have tripled the size of the NATO Response Force to around 40,000 troops and this is a force which can move quickly and the core element or the lead element is the Spearhead Force which can move within a couple of days. Moreover we are establishing eight small headquarters or NFIUs in eight eastern allied countries and these headquarters are crucial both when it comes to planning, when it comes to organizing exercises but not least helping in reinforcements if needed. And then we will make decisions tomorrow to further increase our presence in the eastern part of the alliance and also to increase our defence and deterrence posture by this combination of forward presence and ability to reinforce if needed. And in this context the US announcements, announcement is so important, because the, to increase the funding for the European Reassurance Initiative is of great importance because it increases the funding for US presence in the eastern part of the alliance but also US presence in the rest of Europe and the ability to invest in, in pre-positioning, in infrastructure and other important capabilities which are important for the deterrence and the defence posture of the alliance. So what we are doing is actually adapting in a defensive proportionate way to a more challenging security environment and, and thats a great sign of that NATOs commitment to collective defence is unwavering. OANA LUNGESCU: Wall Street Journal. Q: Do you hope that the US contribution will spur allies to increase their contributions, specifically into a NATO force in Eastern Europe? And why, and if you could also talk about your efforts to have a dialogue with Russia, where does that stand in terms of having actual conversations between NATO and Russia at this point? JENS STOLTENBERG: The US is showing leadership and I think its a very important decision. This is actually a plan that requests a budget which is now going to be decided in the Congress but at least the budget request is something I welcome very much and it shows strong US leadership. I think this is also important because its a signal to European NATO allies that they have to, also to step up. And theyre actually doing that because we see now that more and more NATO allies in Europe are also increasing their defence investments and 2015 was the first year after many years of substantial cuts in defence spending where we saw at least that the cuts practically stopped. And as a first step this is an important step but of course the European allies have to do more but to stop the cuts is at least a first step towards increased defence spending in the years to follow. Then the dialogue. Well as I have stated many times there is no contradiction between strong defence and political dialogue. Actually I believe very much that it is the opposite, that as long as we are firm, predictable and strong we can also engage with Russia in political dialogue. We dont seek confrontation with Russia. We dont seek a new Cold War, actually we want to avoid a new Cold War and thats the reason why what we do is proportionate and defensive and thats also the reason why we continue to strive for a more constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia. And thats also the reason why we have kept channels for political dialogue open and we meet with Russia in different formats on different levels because we believe that we need political dialogue, we need transparency, we need predictability and I think also that increased military presence along the borders just increases the need to focus on risk reductions, transparency and predictability to avoid incidents, accidents. For instance the downing of the Russian plane which violated Turkish airspace just illustrates how dangerous this can be and we have to avoid that kind of accidents and incidents and also to make sure that if they happen prevent that they spiral out of control and create really dangerous situations. OANA LUNGESCU: Bloomberg. Q: Jim Neuger from Bloomberg. What possibility do you see for a naval, a NATO naval mission in the eastern Mediterranean to monitor the refugee flows and perhaps go after traffickers? What will you, are in favour of this? At the Defence Ministers meeting what do you see as the possible risks and how quickly could it be up and running? JENS STOLTENBERG: I spoke this morning with the Turkish Defence Minister and he informed me about that he will raise this issue at the ministerial meeting which starts tomorrow. I also spoke with the German Defence Minister and she also then informed me about the talks that took place yesterday in Ankara when Chancellor Merkel visited Ankara. And I expect that the Turkish Minister will provide us with more details when we meet tomorrow and that the Ministers will address this issue because the migrant crisis, the refugee and migrant crisis, is something which is of great concern for all of us and therefore I think that we will take very seriously a request from Turkey and other allies to look into what NATO can do to help them cope with and deal with the crisis and, and, and all the challenges they face at least or not least in Turkey. NATO decided at the end of last year on a tailored package of assurance measures for Turkey. That package includes air surveillance or AWACS, air policing, maritime, increased maritime, military maritime presence in the eastern Mediterranean and other military capabilities. We will, I expect the Ministers to discuss the request from Turkey and then, and then to agree how we can follow up but we have to meet tomorrow and start the discussions before I can give you any more details about possible conclusions. OANA LUNGESCU: We had, yeah, we can go maybe to the front row here. Q: Thank you very much. General Secretary when do you expect the new Russia NATO summit take place? Or just some kind of a meeting and does the deployment of Very High Readiness Joint Task Force goes as its planned? Thank you. OANA LUNGESCU: Could you please introduce yourself? Q: Oh sorry. Mikhail Korostikov of Russia Kommersant Newspaper. JENS STOLTENBERG: The, the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan which also includes the, the establishment of a Spearhead Force or a VJTF Force is, is on track and its going as planned. And I actually saw this new force being deployed in Poland in an exercise last summer. So thats in place and we are moving on and, and we are on track. And then on the meeting with the NATO Russia Council, well we are exploring and looking into the possibilities of convening a new meeting in the NATO-Russia Council and I think this is one platform for political engagement with Russia. We have never suspended the political dialogue with Russia; we have continued to have a political dialogue with Russia. Russia is our biggest neighbour and I think that dialogue is important. Especially when times are difficult as they are now. So we have met with the Russian Ambassador here at NATO, I have met with Minister Lavrov, we have met in different formats and we are now looking into whether we can convene a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. OANA LUNGESCU: Suddeutsche Zeitung. Q: Daniel Brossler, Suddeutsche Zeitung. Secretary General would you say that the Russian airstrikes in Syria are something that would make intensifying the dialogue with Russia more difficult and are those airstrikes in a way a challenge to NATO? JENS STOLTENBERG: The Russian airstrikes in Syria are undermining the efforts to find a political solution and that is of course of great concern for all of us. Because we have seen the horrific suffering, all the killings, all the violence in Syria over many years and this has to end. And therefore we need a political solution, we need a political transition, we need a ceasefire. And this was very much underlined in the UN Security Resolution which was agreed last December before Christmas. And in that resolution also the UN Security Council calls for an immediate end of the bombing of civilian targets. In particular with indiscriminate weapons as, as airstrikes against civilian targets. So the Russian intense bombardment against Aleppo and other targets in Syria is undermining the efforts to reach a political agreement, to be able to sit down at the negotiation table and therefore I call on calm de-escalation and that all parties now contribute to a solution where were able to find a negotiated peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria. OANA LUNGESCU: Al-Arabiya just behind, just behind, thank you. Q: Secretary General. Nourredine Fridhi from Al-Arabiya News Channel. Some original actors around Syria may send ground troops to fight Daesh, this is one year and a half bombardment. Would you see it as the right option for the time being? And what could be the NATO attitude since Turkey will be involved in a way or another if this scenario will come to be implemented? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: All NATO allies are part of the coalition fighting ISIL but NATO as an alliance is not part of the coalition, but what NATO does is that we provide support because we build capacity in the region. We do what we call defence capacity building in Jordan. Helping them to stabilize their own country and to increase their ability to fight terror. We will soon start training of Iraqi officers and of course NATO training of Iraqi officers is also contribution to the fight again ISIL because it will increase the ability of Iraq to stabilize their own country and to defend themselves. And we also work with other countries in the region. So I very much believe that what we should do, both as NATO but of course also as support to the efforts of the coalition, is to build local capacity. To train local forces and troops and to support governments in the region to enable them to fight ISIL and to fight terror. And I think very much or I believe strongly that this in the long run, its a better solution than the deployment of combat forces from outside the region. So thats what NATO is doing now. For instance in Afghanistan, which is also connected to this fight, where we have ended our combat operation but where NATO continues to train, assist and advise the Afghan forces to enable them to fight terror and to stabilize their own country. So this thinking of training local forces, projecting stability without deploying our own combat forces I very much believe in the long run is a more sustainable solution and a path we should follow. OANA LUNGESCU: Georgian TV, first row. Lady, thank you. Q: Georgian TV Maestro, Sophio Makatsaria.. Mr. Secretary General, people in Georgia believe that our country has a chance to be member of NATO without action plan, membership action plan. Is it true meaning or not? JENS STOLTENBERG: So Georgia has all the practical tools it needs to prepare itself for membership. You have the Annual National Program, you have the NATO-Georgia Commission and you have the substantial package and we are now moving on and we are moving forward and we are implementing the different elements of the comprehensive package we agreed on for Georgia at our last summit in Wales in 2014. And all of these practical tools are used every day to prepare Georgia for membership and you are moving closer to NATO. The membership action plan is a political status granted by allies on the basis of consensus. Therefore before Georgia is able to join NATO there must be a consensus decision on the membership action plan. But what I welcome is that you are making progress, you are implementing your reforms and we will meet in the NATO-Georgia Commission during this defence ministerial meeting and we will be then updated on the progress you are making and we will also then address how NATO can continue to support and cooperate with Georgia, OANA LUNGESCU: UNIAN, third row please.. Q: UNIAN, Vitaly Saienko. Mr. General Secretary, my question relates to Ukraine and in particular on enhancing military cooperation between NATO and Ukraine. As all we know during the ministerial meetings, we dont have NATO- Ukrainian Commission. Right and my question is does it mean that question of Ukraine is less important topic right now on the agenda of the alliance? Or is it an indication that can somehow weakened NATO position in the face of Russian aggression on eastern Ukraine. Thanks. JENS STOLTENBERG: Ukraine is on top of our agenda and Ukraine is something which we are very focused on and we continue to support Ukraine. We provide political support for Ukraine, we provide practical support for Ukraine, we provide practical support both as an alliance with different trust funds, where we help Ukraine with command and control logistics and many other areas. But in addition to that NATO allies provide training and help and support for Ukraine. And we will continue to support Ukraine politically and practically. Then we have had many meetings in the NATO-Ukraine Commission but we are dont, but we are not able to have commission meetings on all our ministerials. We had a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting as of just last fall, we will have it again Im certain, but we, we are not in a position where we can have all the different commissions we have established at all our ministerials. I met with, I met with President Poroshenko recently, we will meet again and we will continue to provide strong support for Ukraine. OANA LUNGESCU: Lady over there. Q: My name is Alexia KOSIONI from Mega from Greece. You mentioned earlier that you spoke on the phone with the German and with the Turkish Minister of Defence regarding the involvement of NATO in monitoring the refugee flows. Will that involvement of NATO be focused only on the Turkish territorial waters or it will involve other, other areas too? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: I think it is important to underline that we have not made any decisions. I have received two phone calls and I have listened very carefully to what the ministers have told me and also what they told me about the discussions in Ankara yesterday. Now this has to be discussed among 28 allies at the meeting tomorrow and I expect them to do so and there we will also of course get more details, we will listen to the Turkish Defence Minister update us on his request but of course we will also listen to other ministers coming from other allied countries and they can share with us their assessments and their analysis and then we can have an open discussion among 28 allies on the question of how NATO can support Turkey but also other allies if they so want in coping with the migrant and refugee crisis. But again this is something we will discuss among 28 allies tomorrow and then we will have more details about both the needs and the possibility follow up, possible follow up from NATO. OANA LUNGESCU: Gentleman over there. Q: Volodymyr Runets from Channel 24, Ukraine. Mr. Secretary General weve heard a lot there this no military solution to whats going on in the Eastern Ukraine and a lot of words have been said about facilitating dialogue with Russia but latest reports from the frontlines in Ukraine show again that it, its a risky thing to talk to Russia and trust to what it has said. What will be the crossing point for Russian aggression in Ukraine for NATO to interfere if it will? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: First of all I think its very important to understand that the fact that we have political dialogue with Russia doesnt mean that we are going back to business as usual. We, we have implemented the biggest reinforcement to our collective defence since the end of the Cold War. So we have responded in a very firm and, and committed way as an alliance which is showing unity and strength by implementing this strong boost to our collective defence and the increased presence in the eastern part of the alliance. What we are doing when it comes to Ukraine is that we continue as I said to support Ukraine, deliver practical support, NATO allies helps Ukraine with the training and NATO provides different kinds of support through our different trust funds. Moreover we give strong political support for Ukraine, their independence, their territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine but of course we then also support the efforts to find and to implement a negotiated peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine. And therefore I think so, it is so extremely important that the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented meaning a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and not least that the international monitors have full access so they can monitor and make sure that the agreement is fully implemented. And thats what we are doing, we will continue to do so and we will do so in close cooperation with the Government of Ukraine. OANA LUNGESCU: At the back there. Q: Christopher Ziedler, Die Tagesspiegel Germany. Secretary General two questions if I may. You mentioned the reassurance measures for Turkey. Could you tell us how long it would take to give them a new operational task if ministers would agree to respond to the German Turkish request tomorrow? And secondly concerning the US request for the AWACS, you said you expected the allies to support the coalition fight against ISIL, would you say theres a military necessity for the AWACS deployment? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: NATO is already supporting the efforts of the coalition in the way that we are doing or conducting activities in the region which are of importance for the fight against ISIL and, and ISIL and international terror. We do defence capacity building in Jordan, we work with a country like Tunisia, we are now working on for instance special operation forces intelligence and we will soon start training of Iraqi officers and of course when NATO does training of Iraqi officers that, thats directly linked to the fight against ISIL because it strengthens Iraqs ability to defend itself and to stabilize its own country by fighting ISIL. So NATO already provides support to the efforts to fight ISIL. What we now are going to look into is whether we will also provide additional support by providing AWACS to backfill national capabilities and thereby increasing the ability of the coalition to conduct airstrikes against ISIL. This will be addressed at our meeting tomorrow and I think it will be wrong if I start to prejudge the outcome but this is a US request and we will address it tomorrow and then agree on how we follow up. The other question was about? Q: Reassurance measures, Turkey JENS STOLTENBERG: Yeah so we agreed on a package of many different kinds of reassurance measures for Turkey. Spain agreed to maintain its patriot batteries in Turkey which augment the air defences of Turkey. We have agreed on maritime patrol aircrafts on increased maritime or naval presence in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. AWACS planes, NATO AWACS planes flying over Turkey and also enhanced air policing and also more ISR or intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance. So we have these measures in place, we have the capabilities but I think its wrong if I start to speculate whether we will change the scale and the scope on this related to the request coming from Turkey. We will now sit down, listen, discuss with allies, with all allies which are in different ways involved and then agree on how we do the follow up and I think we all are concerned, we all see the need to manage and to, and to tackle the human tragedy but also the many problems which are linked to the refugee and migrant crisis we see in Europe. OANA LUNGESCU: Were fast running out of time. I know theres lots of questions, well try to take maybe two very quick questions. Well go with the lady over there. Q: Compact Magazine, Germany. Thank you very much. If there is a decision during these two days regarding the AWACS missions, will, could you imagine that there will be any coordination with Russia regarding the airstrikes? And if it is decided what would be the chain of command for these AWACS missions? Thank you very much. JENS STOLTENBERG: I think it is important to understand that its not NATO that is going to go in in any kind of combat role. All NATO allies are part of the coalition, many of them conduct airstrikes against ISIL but its not a question of NATO going into that role. The thing we are discussing is whether NATO will provide AWACS but we will do that by backfilling national capabilities so that can free other capabilities so they can then conduct their, so also to increase their presence and providing the coalition with information which is important for their efforts to fight ISIL. So everything related to the chain of command is something which is dealt with by the coalition when it comes to conducting airstrikes. And Germany is part of the coalition, the United States is part of the coalition and this is a request then from the United States and we are looking into how we can answer that request and it will be addressed at our meeting tomorrow. OANA LUNGESCU: Gentleman over here, Im sorry we dont have the time, thank you. Q: Thank you. Arsen Tsymbaliuk, Fifth Channel of Ukraine. Mr. Secretary General several days ago several media especially the Daily Telegraph reported that British Forces in Jordan will conduct military drills and especially will practice actions in the scenario of aggression from the east and even confrontation Russia and NATO confrontation and in deploying forces to Ukraine. Do you confirm this information? And maybe you have some details? JENS STOLTENBERG: This is a bilateral thing which you have to ask the United Kingdom about. Im not able to provide any more details about that. In general what I can say is that of course NATO NATO forces and NATO allies we are exercising all the time. We are exercising many different kinds of scenarios and many, and also our ability to respond to many different kinds of, types of threats. So for instance we had a big or large, we had the Trident Juncture exercise last year which was the biggest exercise in many years for NATO and there we exercised many different kinds of scenarios. So its not a new thing that we are exercising how to defend NATO allies and to make sure that we are able to respond to all kinds of threats against any NATO ally. OANA LUNGESCU: Well have more opportunities to ask questions tomorrow and the day after and that concludes todays press conference. Many thanks. JENS STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much, see you later. How Cold Are Black Holes? : Today were going to have the most surreal conversation. Im going to struggle to explain it, and youre going ... Admiral: U.S. should now prepare for Chinese 'invasion' of Taiwan Harutyunyan: I cannot imagine Artsakh's future without presence of Russia Harutyunyan: Without questioning path of our independence, we must meet with Baku Prime Minister of Finland does not think that Hungary and Turkey will block country's application for NATO membership Iranian FM: U.S. made hasty statements in connection with protests Former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim involved in car accident in Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan: Artsakh people's right to self-determination is non-negotiable Iranian MFA calls it important to form platform with Armenia and India on North-South corridor Details of EU monitoring mission in Armenia are known Foreign Ministry: It seems Ankara is more interested in opening corridor through Armenia than Azerbaijan Mirzoyan: Unexpected third countries support Azerbaijani interpretation of road to Nakhchivan Foreign Ministry: Armenia, Iran and Bulgaria initial agreement on creation of Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor Israeli Defense Minister to visit Ankara Armenian Foreign Minister names main obstacle to solving problems with Azerbaijan Erdogan once again raises issue of so-called 'Zangezur corridor' Armenian and Iranian FMs to open Iranian Consulate General in Syunik province tomorrow Abdollahian: Aliyev assured that he does not want border changes, Iran will prevent implementation of such idea Iranian Foreign Minister in Yerevan supports '3+3' platform Iranian Foreign Minister recalls Tehran's 'red lines' in regional issues Mirzoyan: We highly appreciate Iran's principled position regarding territorial integrity of Armenia UK imposes sanctions against Iran for alleged delivery of drones to Russia Yerevan hosts meeting of Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in narrow composition Armenian and Iranian Foreign Ministers meet in Yerevan in extended format Charles Michel: EU energy deal possible, but difficult Erdogan says Baku should demand 'compensation' from Yerevan Pashinyan: EEU mechanisms are of great help, trade turnover between Armenia and Belarus has doubled Yair Lapid: Russia-Iran relations are serious problem for Ukraine, Europe, and whole world Amir-Abdollahian: Iran is against presence of foreigners in this region, both in Azerbaijan and Armenia Pashinyan at EAEU meeting: Fundamental principles of world economic system in question Iranian Foreign Minister's official visit to Yerevan begins Macron says Germany should not isolate itself in Europe EU begins deployment of mission on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Trump's son made fun of Zelenskyy's ability to ask West for money EU to provide emergency aid for Armenia residents affected by recent Azerbaijan military aggression Azerbaijan army units fire at Armenia positions Mikhail Mishustin arrives in Yerevan EU approves new sanctions against Iran over alleged drone deliveries to Russia Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting begins in Yerevan Baku calls OSCE mission to assess situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border 'private visit' On fourth day of IRGC military exercises on border with Azerbaijan, artillery destroys planned targets Liz Truss quits as UK Prime Minister Turkey parliament to consider extending Turkish militarys mandate in Azerbaijan Dollar falls, euro rises in Armenia Russias Putin ratifies agreement on simplification of payments for goods transit within EEU territory Stoltenberg: Almost all NATO countries have agreed to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance Ombudswoman of Armenia: Azerbaijan prevents removal of remains of fallen soldiers Zakharova: Matter of holding CSTO Collective Security Council meeting being worked out Ombudswoman of Armenia: I received video materials from EU special representative about Azerbaijanis Armenia Security Council chief, UK army general discuss cooperation in security Armenia and Kazakhstan discuss bilateral military cooperation Iran says U.S. and Israel won't be able to split the republic 201 bodies are identified of Armenia soldiers who died as result of September military aggression by Azerbaijan Iran FM to arrive in Armenia today Turkey, Azerbaijan presidents officially open international airport in occupied Artsakh territory Armenia President visits several leading Bulgaria IT companies Ruben Vardanyan: I will assume Artsakh State Minister position at beginning of November Armenia PM on making EU observation mission permanent: I'm not sure about that US State Dept.: Our ultimate goal is peaceful resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan Armenia, Qatar to collaborate in tourism sector Turkey president travels to Azerbaijan Bandits in Russia cut off Armenian man's hands, shoot him in legs President of Armenia, mayor of Bulgarias Plovdiv discuss avenues for deepening of cooperation Armenia has new customs attache at Upper Lars checkpoint on Russia-Georgia border Karabakh official: Baku goes for gradual escalation, provocation of situation Armenia to get 33mn grant from EU for police, migration service, business development in Syunik Province Lacote: OSCE observation mission deployment will contribute to respect of Armenia territorial integrity World oil prices going up Russia extends flight restrictions at 11 airports Newspaper: Karabakh delegation to head for Moscow, meeting with Putin considered probable Newspaper: Azerbaijan aggression on September 13 paralyzes Armenia public administration for some time Azerbaijan army opens fire towards Armenia positions at midnight Retired US Air Force general is offered consulting job in Azerbaijan at rate of $5,000 a day White House is puzzling over how to avoid meeting between Putin and Biden at G-20 summit Eduard Aghajanyan: Once again I remind that Armenia was deprived of opportunity to protect rights of people of Artsakh U.S. says that limiting Russian oil prices is not aimed at OPEC OSCE sends mission to Armenia to assess situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Jeff Bezos warns that U.S. economy may face recession Kiev says nearly 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged Raisi: Iran will use all its capabilities and potential to end war in Ukraine Qatar gets first pandas in Middle East Armenian president delivers lecture at St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia More than half of Britons think Liz Truss should resign Bloomberg: Putin and Erdogan's cordial relationship arouses Western anger Dutch government invests up to 3.5 billion in military procurement Erdogan discusses latest developments in Ukraine with Zelenskyy School in Paris expels student from class for denying Armenian Genocide Germany would like to participate in EU observer mission to Armenia U.S. is considering plan to co-produce weapons with Taiwan Poland to buy K239 Chunmoo from South Korea Air defense system repels several missile attacks by Ukrainian troops at Kakhovskaya HPP Baku court does not definitively terminate criminal prosecution of Yunus spouses Liz Truss has no plans to resign CSTO countries agree on draft agreement on standardization of military equipment EU countries agree to sanction eight people and organizations over Iranian drones Congressman David Price meets with rector of Yerevan State University Chairman of Amsterdam City Court visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan ASPU supports process of unification of universities Deputy Chief of Police on new draft law: 'Citizen of Azerbaijan' is extremely relative notion Benny Gantz: Israel will not supply weapons to Ukraine Saudi Arabia lifts ban on Turkish soap operas YEREVAN. The ongoing inspections in the 5th Army Corps of Armenia and in the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri have coincided. Minister of Defense of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan on Tuesday sated the above-said to reporters, and after his talk with the students and faculty at Yerevan State University. Aside from the planned measures put before them, all armed forces also have elements of sudden inspection; we [i.e. the Armenian Armed Forces] also have such a plan, Ohanyan said. And one day ago, it seems to have coincided that inspections have begun in our 5th Army Corps and in the 102nd Russian Military Base. In his words, such measures have political and military significance, and they are important for the maintenance of the situation. As reported earlier, surprise inspections began Monday in all military bases of the Southern Military Okrug (district) of the Russian Armed Forces, including in the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri, Armenia. The Russian Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoygu, informed that, during these inspections, the okrugs readiness to respond to various crisis situations will be assessed. On the same day, surprise inspections started also in the 5th Army Corps of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. On Feb. 5, the Emory Student Affairs Institute hosted a Summit on Race for Higher Education Professionals, attracting 50 participants from more than a dozen colleges and universities in metro Atlanta, elsewhere in Georgia and the Southeast, and as far away as the University of Southern California. The daylong event examined race, privilege, social justice and social climates on campuses across the country. Presenters and facilitators represented Emory, Morehouse College and Georgia State University. The gathering featured structured dialogues, facilitated discussions, action plan development, and a video presentation by and dialogue with Emorys student-driven Issues Troupe. I have learned a lot that will enhance my facilitation skills, said participant Elba Valerio, a program coordinator for the Intercultural Center at Brandeis University, "especially for creating space for dialogue with others when we are wrestling with our own fears about discussing real issues." The Emory Student Affairs Institute, a joint venture of Emory Campus Life and Emory Law, will also offer summer seminars, June 5-11, in three areas: higher education law, budget and finance, and crisis leadership. Journalists are invited to a news conference at Cal State Fullerton as the National Science Foundation brings together scientists from Caltech, MIT, CSUF and others in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration this Thursday for a status report on the effort to detect gravitational waves or ripples in the fabric of space-time using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Following an early Thursday morning update from Washington, D.C., Cal State Fullerton will host a 10 a.m. Feb. 11 news conference in the Titan Student Union featuring scientists from the CSUF Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Center. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Albert Einsteins prediction of the existence of gravitational waves. With interest in this topic piqued by the centennial, the groups members will discuss their ongoing efforts to observe and measure cosmic gravitational waves for scientific research. LIGO, a system of two identical detectors carefully constructed to detect incredibly tiny vibrations from passing gravitational waves, was conceived and built by MIT and Caltech researchers and funded by the National Science Foundation, with significant contributions from other U.S. and international partners. The twin detectors are located 1,865 miles apart in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. For additional background about the project, please visit these websites: When: Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 10 a.m. Where: Titan Student Union, Portola Pavilion Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, 92831 Parking for Media: The small parking lot adjacent to the Golleher Alumni House, off State College Boulevard. Campus map online. Media Contacts: Debra Cano Ramos, 657-278-4027 Chi-Chung Keung, 657-278-8487 Paula Selleck, 657-278-4856 Former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala died late Monday. He succumbed to Pneumonia at 12.50 a.m, Koirala 's private secretary Atul Koirala told the Kathmandu Post. Koirala was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Koirala was not able to attend formal events on Monday. Meanwhile, Nepali Congress postponed its electoral process prior to the General Convention, General Secretary Prakas Man Singh said. --Indo-Asian News Service ahm/ ( 79 Words) 2016-02-09-05:17:33 (IANS) According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the aircraft was on a training flight when it crashed in the Gujrat district of Punjab, Dawn online reported. In November 2015, PAF suffered the loss of its first woman pilot when her training flight crashed near Mianwali city. A military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed in May 2015, killing seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines. In August 2015, another military helicopter being used as an air ambulance crashed near the northern district of Mansehra, killing 12 people. --Indo-Asian News Service py/bg ( 124 Words) 2016-02-09-19:45:34 (IANS) The Indian delegation -- comprising National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav -- met the two leaders after paying homage to former prime minister Sushil Koirala who died on Tuesday. They met Bhandari at the President's Office and Oli at his official residence. Bhandari told the Indian leaders that Nepal-India relationship was "very deep and intimate and transcends politics". In the meeting with the prime minister, Sushma Swaraj said that as soon as they heard the news about Koirala's demise, an emergency meeting was called which decided to send the all-party delegation to Kathmandu to pay homage to the late Nepali Congress chief. Receiving the Indian delegation, Oli said "India always stands by Nepal in its hour of grief", which has been demonstrated time and again. Gopal Khanal, the prime minister's foreign affairs advisor, cited Oli as saying: "Your presence in this hour of grief also demonstrates that India is a friend during difficult times for Nepal." In the meeting between Oli and Sushma Swaraj, the two also discussed his upcoming India visit later this month. "We are eager to welcome you in India and preparations of your India visit are underway," Sushma Swaraj said in the meeting. Oli expressed confidence that the differences in opinion about Nepal's new Constitution will be sorted out during talks with the Madhesis and that the government will continue discussions with the agitating parties. Sushma Swaraj returned to New Delhi later in the evening. --Indo-Asian News Service giri/pm/dg ( 298 Words) 2016-02-09-21:01:34 (IANS) Lofven leads a high-level delegation comprising state secretaries, senior officials from the Swedish government, heads of agencies and industry leaders from his country to participate in the Make in India Week which also gets underway on Saturday. Sweden will have the largest country pavilion in the Make in India Week with participation from 18 companies across various sectors, said a press release issued by the Swedish embassy. Lofven will inaugurate the Swedish pavilion along with Modi after which he will deliver the keynote address at the 'Sweden Seminar' on smart manufacturing. Lofven will also participate in the Sweden India CEO Round Table together with industry leaders from the two countries. The Swedish prime minister will also visit Pune, which is a hub for Swedish companies since the 1960s. In Pune, Lofven will visit facilities of two Swedish majors - Tetra Pak and Ericsson. The Tetra Pak plant in Pune is a state-of-the-art facility with a modern footprint based on green technology. The Ericsson plant will serve as an export hub for the company. --Indo-Asian News Service ps/kb/dg ( 226 Words) 2016-02-09-18:35:35 (IANS) The IFR formally culminated through a Joint International Band Concert at the Naval Officers' Institute. Naval Bands from participating Navies along with host Indian Navy jointly presented a bouquet of music in front of Naval Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the chief guest for the event. The Joint Band Concert, by numerous musicians from the navies across the globe was in perfect harmony, echoed the very theme of 'Bridges through Ocean' cementing the friendship through music during the IFR. The musical extravaganza was witnessed by over thousand spectators including many foreign dignitaries from participating Navies. After a spectacular series of events associated with the International Fleet Review, it is time to bid adieu to all the warships from foreign nations. By tradition, visiting foreign ships are escorted to the open seas on their way home.(ANI) In a tweet last night, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said, "attack on journalists in Uttar Pradesh is condemnable and an independent probe into the incident should be carried out." Two journalists of a news channel were allegedly attacked by Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Nahid Hasan and his aides. They had gone to cover the incident in which an eight-year-old boy was killed in celebratory firing by party workers in Shamli district on Sunday. The party workers were celebrating the victory of party candidate Nafisa in the local body polls from the town. The UP unit of BJP has alleged that the attack on media persons was a planned assault. (ANI) Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed in major areas of downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) today to foil any protest demonstration on the third death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.The strike also hit life in restriction-free areas in the city.The separatist organizations, including both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) have called for a general strike as on this day in 2013, Guru was hanged in Delhis Tihar jail and later buried there.Official sources said that the decision to impose restrictions in Srinagar was taken at a meeting chaired by Director General of Police K Rajindra Kumar at Police Control Room (PCR) here yesterday.Mr Rajendra has said that safety and security of the people is the prime concern and any effort of elements inimical to peace should be foiled firmly.Sources said restrictions under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed in areas under the jurisdiction of police station Safa Kadal, Nowhatta, Khanyar, M R Gunj, Kralkhud and parts of Rainawari to maintain law and order.However, situation on the ground was totally different as security forces and state police, deployed in strength, have closed main and major of link roads with barbed wires. Hundreds of state police and paramilitary forces, wearing bullet proof jackets and holding automatic weapons and lathis in their hands remained deployed on both sides of the Nallahmar from Khanyar to Chattabal. However, the road to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) through Eidgah was through though only for those going to the Institute.Residents of the areas where restrictions have been imposed alleged that they were directed to remain indoor. ''We are not being allowed to move out of our houses,'' they alleged.A group of mediapersons saw motorcyclists and those driving vehicles were directed to return to their homes at several places in the downtown and SeK. The Ikhwan chowk, connecting civil lines with SeK was also closed for any traffic movement.In the civil lines, including Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the city, Budshah Chowk, Regal Chowk, Residency road, Moulana Azad Road, Hari Singh High Street, Amira Kadal and Exhibition crossing large number of security force and state police personnel remained deployed since early this morning to prevent any demonstration. However, there were no restrictions in the civil lines barring at Maisuma, where the main road had been closed with barbed wire to foil any attempt by locals to took out a procession on Gurus death anniversary.UNI BAS SB 1057 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-580799.Xml Four senior leaders of hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC) and about 100 other leaders and activists of different separatist organisations were taken into preventive custody in the Kashmir valley to prevent protest demonstrations on the death anniversaries of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat. Meanwhile, JKLF chief Mohammad Yaseen Malik and three other front leaders remained lodged in Central Jail, Srinagar, after a local court remanded them to seven days custody yesterday when they took out a procession in the civil lines, demanding mortal remains of Guru and Bhat. Guru and Bhat were hanged and later buried in Delhis Tihar jail on February 9, 2013 and February 11,1984 respectively. HC spokesperson for Aiyaz Akbar said there was no restriction on chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani who is in New Delhi. However, restrictions were imposed on about half a dozen senior leaders of the amalgam. ''I myself, Mohammad Ashraf Shehrayee, Mohammad Ashraf Laway, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan were put under house arrest,'' Mr Akbar told UNI. He said about 60 other leaders and activists of the amalgam have also been arrested from different parts of the valley, particularly in Baramulla and Sopore in north Kashmir during the past few days. Strongly condemning the arrest and imposing restrictions on separatist leaders, he said this was in total violation of fundamental rights. Mr Malik and three other senior leaders of the front were arrested in Maisum area of the city when they tried to march towards Lal Chowk, demanding mortal remains of Guru and Bhat. Later, a local magistrate sent them to seven days remand and were subsequently shifted to central jail. A spokesperson for the front said about 50 activits of the also taken into custody by police from the different parts of the valley as front has called for a peaceful dharna at Lal Chowk tomorrow to press for return of mortal remain of Guru and Bhat from Tihar jail. Mr Shah, who remained under house arrest for the past one month, said about 20 leaders and activists of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) were also taken into custody when they were marching towards United Nations Military Obsevers (UNMO) office at Sonawar to present a memorandum, seeking intervention of the world for return of mortal remains of Guru and Bhat.UNI BAS SV SB RK1118 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-580811.Xml After telecom companies went into near chaos after TRAI's regulation ordering equality on data prices, Chairman R.S. Sharma on Tuesday said that all drive tests were done objectively and in a transparent manner. "Telecom road tests are regularly being done by TRAI. Since last time, the telecom companies started telling us that you don't consult us as to which roads you are using. So we started this process also. Whatever drive test that we have done have been done very objectively and in a transparent manner. And if there are any more suggestions on transparency, we are open for that," he said. "We have in the last 20 years of our existence issued a number of regulations and tariff orders. This is a decision which has not been taken now; it was taken some time back. Where we were saying that let us remove these things and see which one of them are still relevant, which one of them need upgradation or change. That's the whole purpose. We are reviewing the old laws also," he added. Sharma further said that there was a consultation process put in place by the TRAI and thanked the people who participated in it. He, however, pointed out that considering everyone's opinion took much longer than the stipulated time. "Initially, we had thought that we would give the recommendation by January 31. We overshot that by about nine days. But they are happy with the decision, that's all," he said. After TRAI's regulation, telecom companies will need to eliminate nearly hundreds of tariff plans that offer free or subsidised access to numerous popular websites and applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Almost all the telecom service providers, including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and Telenor, offer internet pack options with subsidised or free plans for certain popular apps. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckernerg also expressed disappointment over the new regulations by the TRAI. "Today India's telecom regulator decided to restrict programs that provide free access to data. This restricts one of Internet.org's initiatives, Free Basics, as well as programs by other organizations that provide free access to data," said Zuckerberg in a post on his Facebook page late Monday night. Monday's verdict by TRAI was hailed by internet activists, start-ups and companies alike. Some even likened it to the squashing of the controversial Section 66A in India. (ANI) IAF will be holding selection for the posts of Automobile Technician, Ground Training Instructor, Air Force Police and Medical Assistants Trades. Candidates should be born between August one, 1996 to Nov 30,1999. Unmarried male Indian citizens from the State of Karnataka are eligible. Education Qualification is Intermediate/10+2/equivalent examination in any stream/subjects with a minimum 50% marks in aggregate, a defence press release said today. Eligible candidates have to report at the venue before 0900 hrs with original certificates and four self-attested photocopies of each and seven copies of colour passport size photographs. For further queries they can contact the Commanding Officer, Airmen Selection Centre, No 1 Cubbon Road, at telephone number 080- 25592199 or the concerned District Employment Exchange. The E mail address is co.7asc-ka@gov.in for syllabus. For more information they can long on to www.airmenselection.gov.in, a defence press release said. UNI RS KVV ADB 1600 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-581371.Xml Police arrested 12 forest officials of Himachal Pradesh Forest Department and Himachal Pradesh Forest Development Corporation last night for alleged felling of over 1,800 trees in Ahlami forest of Chamba district. Deputy Superintendent of Police Vir Bhadur Singh told UNI that the 12 officers were charged for massive 'illicit' felling occured at the Ahlami forest range of Chamba district last year, home district of Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bhamauri. The matter had been figured in the state assembly during for last four sessions. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh recently asked the state machinery to act quickly in Benami land deals and such cases. ''We would produce the officers in the court first. After that detail press not would be issued to media about the name and designation of each of them,'' the DSP said. However, political parties and environment civil rights groups were accusing the state government of initiating action against lower-rung officials and giving clean chit to those at the top. The green activists are demanding implementation of Forest Rights Act in the state. Earlier, the BJP had submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding the dismissal of the forest minister, but now they want to fix the responsibility of other senior officials, including additional chief secretary (forests) and principal chief conservator of forests. Former IAS officer and convener of Him Lokjagriti Manch Kinnaur, R S Negi, said that illicit felling results due to the administrative negligence of the top-level officials. Be it the forest minister, additional chief secretary (forests) and principal chief conservator of forests or the range officer or forest guard, all are equally responsible for this, he said. He said that making lower-rung officials scapegoat would not serve the purpose until action is taken against the high-ranking officials. Guman Singh, national convener of Himalaya Niti Abhiyan (HNA) alleged that the issue holds importance as the HP high court has banned the felling of trees in private land. Noted environment activist from Chamba Kulbushan Upmanyu alleged that the forest wealth of the state was facing threat and to save the forests from illegal felling, the government should take strict action against the top functionaries too. UNI ML ADG AS1540 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-581135.Xml "We have filed a PIL in the high court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe since we are not satisfied with police investigation. Even the boy's parents are not satisfied. We want justice for the murdered student and his parents," Ranchi Abhibhavak Sangh general secretary Ajay Rai, who moved the high court on behalf of the association, told IANS here. On Monday, the mother of class VII student Vinay Kumar demanded the CBI probe. "We demand a CBI probe so that the truth comes out," she told reporters here. Vinay was found murdered brutally on Thursday near the teachers' hostel at the Saffaire International school. Police sources said the boy had head injuries inflicted by blunt objects and his liver too was damaged due to the severe beating. Ranchi Police have since questioned seven schoolteachers, security guards and others in the case. Opposition Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has demanded a special investigation team's probe into the murder. --Indo-Asian News Service ns/tsb/bg ( 201 Words) 2016-02-09-16:59:34 (IANS) The Congress High Command is learnt to have given the green signal to its Tamil Nadu unit to start informal discussions with the DMK to prepare the ground for forging an alliance for the assembly elections in April-May. The DMK had snapped ties with the Congress in 2013 over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Reports suggest that the Congress is keen to establish its foothold in the state, which has often seen the DMK and AIADMK at loggerheads. Tamil Nadu Congress chief E V K S Elangovan and other top leaders are of the view that the party must join hands with the DMK prior to the polls. This comes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also begun the consultation process to cobble up the winning alliance in the poll-bound state. (ANI) Indian-American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia, who was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban, said on Tuesday that this incident has resolved him to take a stand on the matter and called for spreading awareness among airlines on customs of the Sikh community so that such incidents don't occur again. "Got a massive response from the media and the social internet and have been getting great support globally, including from Mexico and India. Please keep the support coming. I'm not angry at Aeromexico as I am a human too and I make mistakes all the time, but how you react to the mistakes is what matters. Their slow response was inconsiderate and disappointing. They should train their staff about Sikh customs," Ahluwalia told ANI in a telephonic conversation. Narrating his ordeal, he told that he was made to undergo security check twice and despite clearing them all, he was denied entry into the flight which was heading to New York, where he was scheduled to appear for the NYC fashion week. "I went through the secondary screening, which they say is a random selection but I've received it way too many time for it to be random, where they patted me down, went through my bag and used a metal wand and metal detector. Later, I proceeded to the gate and when I was about to board I was asked to step aside, even though I told them that I have cleared all the security checks," Ahluwalia said. He was made to wait until all passengers boarded the flight after which he was made to undergo security check where they checked him for explosives and even told him to get down on his hands. The issue rose when he was asked to take off his turban and Ahluwalia denied doing so publically. "At that point, the officials went back and spoke amongst themselves. One of them came back and said that I will not be flying Aeromexico and that I have to book another airline. At that point, I posted on Instagram notifying that I was barred from the plane," he added. Later, an Aeromexico executive tried to put him on another flight and at that point the House of Waris owner decided to take a stand. "I realised that I can't board the flight because if I walk away from this now, this could happen to anyone else, any other Sikh, Indian or anyone that doesn't fit their criteria of look. As much as I wanted to go home, I knew that this issue was bigger than myself and that I had a responsibility," Ahluwalia said. Aeromexico later released a statement, saying that the incident was not their fault and added that they were just following Transportation Security Administration (TSA) protocol, but Ahluwalia shrugged it off saying that if they wanted him to take his turban off then they should have offered him a private room. "If they put the metal wand over my turban and if it had beeped only then could they have asked me to remove my turban. None of that happened, they just asked me to remove it. I am against this idea of profiling and targeting. It happened because there is lack of education and awareness in this case," Ahluwalia said. Asserting that he was not trying to attack the Aeromexico staff, he added that the 'ignorance' needs to be fought with educating people about the issues and teach them to be sensitive regarding practices by other religions. Reacting to the incident, Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said that it was a very unfortunate incident. "Sikh's identity is distinct and can be recognized in the crowd, it is very unfortunate that these incidents are still happening and causing humiliation and harassment to the fellow community members," he told ANI. While condemning the incident of barring Waris from boarding the plane, American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC) has offered the US administration all help to generate awareness about the identity of the Sikhs. "Sikhs often becomes victims of mistaken identity," said AGPC coordinator Priptal Singh. Former president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna said, "We condemn the incident in strongest of words and also appeal to Sikhs living around the globe especially in US to initiate a nationwide movement to make Americans aware of Sikh's distinct identity." Sarna said that he would also take up this issue with the concerned authorities at party-level and would send a delegation to aggressively take up the issue of the distinct identity of the Sikhs with the US bodies. (ANI) President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday applauded the "indomitable spirit" of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad rescued alive six days after he along with nine other armymen was buried under an avalanche on the Siachen glacier. "I am happy to know that Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad has survived the avalanche on the Siachen glacier. I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions," the President said in his message to army chief General Dalbir Singh. The President said Koppad's will power and courage to fight all odds is truly an example to all others. "I join the people of our country in praying for his early and speedy recovery." Koppad is under treatment at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, where he was flown in from the Siachen base camp and admitted earlier Tuesday. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," a medical bulletin on his condition said. --Indo-Asian News Service rak/tsb ( 178 Words) 2016-02-09-18:53:34 (IANS) "The forest officials, whose involvement was found in the illegal felling of trees, have been arrested," Deputy Superintendent of Police Bir Bahadur Singh told IANS over phone. The functionaries were summoned to a police station in Chamba town, some 450 km from here, for questioning and later arrested, official sources said. The issue of illegal felling of trees came to light when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Ravinder Ravi raised the issue in the assembly in December 2014. He alleged illegal felling had increased alarmingly in Chamba district, the home constituency of forest minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri. The opposition BJP leader had demanded sacking of the forest minister and an inquiry into the matter by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He said the government had given permission to fell 1,016 dried trees in Chamba district, but more than 2,000 trees were cut on that pretext. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had informed the assembly that an inquiry would be conducted into the matter and those found guilty would not be spared. --Indo-Asian News Service vg/kb/bg ( 210 Words) 2016-02-09-18:53:36 (IANS) In yet another series of startling disclosures establishing close links of ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) , 26/11 accused Pakistan-American LeT operative David Headley today said the terror outfit was provided moral, material and financial support by Pakistans intelligence agency. On the second day of his deposition before a special court here, Headley, who has turned approver in the Mumbai terror attack case, also said that he was asked to recruit Indian defence officers, who could work as spy for Pakistan. He said LeT wanted to target defence scientists at a conference meeting in the Taj Palace Hotel in 2007, a year before the Mumbai attack. Headley, who was deposing through video-conferencing from a US jail, said he was alsoworking for ISI and was in touch with Brigadier Riaz, Col Shaha, Lt Col Hamza and one major Samir Ali, Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters here after his deposition of the second day was over. He will be grilled by the court on the third day too.. Headley said LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul-Mujahiddin terrorist organisations were working against India under one roof 'United Jihad Council'. He admitted that Zakir-ur-Rehman Lakhavi was the operational commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba. Headley said he had met Major Iqbal, one of the alleged handlers of the Mumbai attack, for the first time at a house in Lahore. ''In this meeting, a colonel from the Pakistan Army was also present,'' he said.More UNI ST NAZ RP1810 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-581814.Xml The Supreme Court today rejected the plea filed by two former rebel Congress lawmakers in Arunachal Pradesh challenging the acceptance of their resignations by the State Speaker, Nabam Rebia. A division bench,comprising Justices Anil R Dave and Adarsh Kumar Goel, asked the two former rebel Congress lawmakers -- Wanglam Sawin and Gabriel D Wangsu -- why they kept silent for 15 long days before the resignations were accepted by the State Speaker, Nabam Rebia last year. The Supreme Court also, after hearing the plea of Sawin and Wangsu, refused to interfere with the Gauhati High Court's January 12, 2015, interim order which had upheld the Speaker's decision to accept the resignations of Sawin and Wangsu. "Be careful you don't sign in future," the division bench observed, as it dismissed the pleas filed by the two former rebel Congress lawmakers. Challenging the Gauhati High Court's January 12, 2016, order, the two former Congress lawmakers had approached the Supreme Court for relief, which was turned down by it today. UNI XC CJ RP1825 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-581836.Xml A Gujarat-based manufacturer and service provider of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) will showcase UAVs at the Make in India Week in Mumbai from February 13 to 18.This makes Z axis the only start-up and one of the only two companies from Gujarat to be selected to participate in the Make in India Week. Z axis manufactured UAVs will be showcased at the Defense & Aerospace Pavilion.Z axis Unmanned Machines Co-Founder Jugal Pandya told media here today, Our surveillance UAV's are specially designed keeping in mind the stringent demands of our armed forces, paramilitary and police forces, along with wide ranging applications for various government departments. Today, Aerial Surveillance plays a critical role in keeping our borders safe, maintaining internal security and in anti-terrorist / anti-insurgency operations India so far has been importing UAVs from Israel, France and United States. We believe that pioneering the manufacturing of surveillance UAVs will help our country by cutting down costs to the tune 40 per cent while ensuring the availability of hi-performance, international technology, Mr Pandya said. Talking about exclusive technology that the company uses, Mr. Pavan Bakeri, Co-Founder, Z axis Unmanned Machines said, All our products are made of carbon-fiber material to make it light weight and for long endurance. The products can be equipped with different pay-loads depending upon customized needs As the core focus of company is to deal with different government bodies, especially defense, the company is also developing in-house software used in different UAVs in order to cut down the dependence on third party and to maintain secrecy of collected data intact.Talking about market of UAVs in India, Dr. Harmitsingh Sikh, Chief Marketing Officer, Z axis Unmanned Machines said, In India the market size of small UAVs, which weigh not more than 50 kgs, is expected to reach Rs. 200 crore by 2019 from Rs. 110 crore in 2015.Founded by Mr. Jugal Pandya and Mr. Pankaj Paneria as a passion six years ago of flying different multi-rotors and aircrafts, the founders teamed up with Mr. Pavan Bakeri to transform their passion into a viable technology-based enterprise two years ago and incorporated Z axis Unmanned Machines Pvt. Ltd. UNI ND CJ RSA 1819 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-581870.Xml The district sessions court today ordered the police authority to produce Sameer Gaikwad, the prime accused in senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare murdercase, in person whenever required during the proceedings before adjourning the matter to February 23. Earlier, public prosecutor (PP) Chandrakant Budhale through an application told the court that the police authority could not produce Gaikwad due to security concerns and sought permission to produce him through video-conferencing in future. Defence lawyer Sameer Patwardhan, while strongly objecting to application, told the court that the police have been citing the reason of security only to avoid presenting Gaikwad in court every time. Gaikwad, who is lodged in judicial custody in Kalmba district central jail from September 28 following his arrest on September 16 as a close suspect in this murder case, was being mentally harassed by keeping him in the 'Anda (egg-shaped) Cell' of the jail by the police authority. Also, he was not allowed to meet anyone since past four to five months, the defence told the court. Mr Patwardhan urged the court to give direction to police to remove Gaikwad from Anda Cell and put him with other prisoners since the murder charge against him has not been proved so far. On the request of defence lawyer, Additional Sessions Judge L D Bile said that he would seek opinion of the Jail superintendent before announcing any decision. After hearing both the sides, Judge Bile accepted the prosecution's application about producing the accused through video-conferencing but at the same time directed the police authority to produce Gaikwad before the court whenever required during the proceedings. However, the Judge did not pass any order on defence lawyer's application about early framing of charges against the accused. Meanwhile, newly appointed special public prosecutor Harshal Nimbalkar could not attend today's hearing as he had not received an appointment letter to this effect from the government so far, however, according to Mr Budhale, Mr Nimbalkar would attend the next hearing on February 23.More UNI SSS SS DJK RSA AS1859 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-581905.Xml Trafficking in children is a global problem affecting large numbers of children. Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. There is a demand for trafficked children as cheap labour or for sexual exploitation. Children and their families are often unaware of the dangers of trafficking, believing that better employment and lives lie in other countries. Bihar government today gave green signal for the ambitious Patna Metro Rail Project, which would fulfill the dream of the people of metro train, like that of other metropolitan cities of the country. Principal secretary of cabinet coordination department Brajesh Mehrotra told media persons here that a decision to this effect was taken by state cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. With an investment of estimated Rs 16,960 crore, the project is scheduled to be completed by the year 2021. Bihar government will seek fund from the centre and other institutions to arrange the fund for huge expenses to be incurred against execution of the dream project. A trace of uncertainty was hovering around over the project when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had recently said he would not allow the possible destruction of historical remains of Patna during excavation for the metro rail project. But, Mr Kumar during inauguration of exhibition road overbridge in Patna on Sunday, made it clear that he was not opposed to the Metro rail project. He was only concerned to protect the remains of historical importance which could be damaged during excavation, the Chief Minister had noted. Mr Kumar said a false impression was being created by the opposition over his statement on metro rail project but it would go ahead as per the schedule. The sanction given by Bihar government for the project assumes significance, as it laid all uncertainties regarding the ambitious metro project and it is now all set to take off. UNI KKS AKM RSA AS1930 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-582014.Xml An MoU to this effect was signed by NHS with the Karnatakagovernment during 'Invest Karnataka Meet' which concluded hererecently. The Hospital will have Medical college, Nursing Training Centrewith Nightingale of England and Training Centers for medicalpractioners and technicians, according to a release here today. The MoU also provide for research partnerships and 5,000 Doctorsfrom India will be selected for training in the UK.Indo-UK Institute of Health has requested 50 acres of land in andaround Bengaluru. The decision on location will be taken soon by theKarnataka Government and a nodal officer will be provided.UNI MSP VV AK1915 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-581954.Xml ADGP (Law and Order) Alok Mohan today saidthat around 1500 additional forces and 10 KSRP Platoons will bedeployed, in addition to now available force, for security purposeduring election to ZP and TP. Speaking to newsmen after holding a review meeting with seniorpolice officials here, he said that all necessary steps including atcheck posts in Bordering area will be taken. Already Officers haveconducted a meeting with Bordering states of Maharashtra and Goa Police. When asked about progress in Research scholar M M Kalaburagimurder case, who was shot to death at Dharwad on August 30, he saidthat the culprit will be nabbed soon it is only a matter of time. Declining to elaborate, he said that investigations were underprogress and the CID police doing a very good job. Karnataka policewas also in touch with the Goa and Maharashtra police and sharinginformation about suspects, which could not be made public. Replying to a question on increase in Drug Mafia in BorderingArea and Belagavi city, he said that Officials will definitely tryto stop drug mafia. About vacancies in the department, he said that there were 20,000 vacancies and the state government had initially sanctioned8000 vacancies to be filled up. The selected are under training andthey will be posted after training. This year again another 8000vacancies will be filled.UNI HVN MSP VV AK1920 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-582067.Xml Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has recently got ten criminal cases registered against erring government officers and has also caught one gazetted officer and three non-gazetted officers red handed while accepting illegal gratification. While stating this today, a spokesman of the Bureau said that Mani Ram, Clerk in the office of District Education Officer Jind was caught red handed while accepting illegal gratification of Rs 40,000 on behalf of Jogender Hooda, District Education Officer, Jind. In yet another case, Vijay Kumar, Forest Guard of Safidon, district Jind was caught while accepting illegal gratification of Rs 6,000. Besides this, Krishan Kumar, Sanitation Inspector, Municipal Corporation, Faridabad and Sub Inspector Balwan Singh, Police Post Badli, district Jhajjar were also caught taking bribe of Rs 1,500 each in separate cases. He said that cases under sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act have been registered against them at Bureaus Police Stations. He also said that apart from this, two non-gazetted officers of Local Bodies and Police Departments were sentenced rigorous imprisonment in two criminal cases registered against them under sections 7and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The spokesman said that investigations are being conducted in cases against an Executive Engineer, one Junior Engineer and officer and officials of Education Department. He said that these officials have been accused for irregularities committed in purchase of LED television set, and amassing wealth more than their income and embezzling Rs 90 lakh meant for renovation of pond.UNI NC CJ RSA VN1805 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-581576.Xml Disclosing this here today Chairman of Punjab State SC Commission, Rajesh Bagha said 11 Punjabi Dalit youth had gone to Dubai in search of employment, where they were imprisoned. He said the parents of these youths have brought this matter to the notice of commission, which has written to External Affairs Ministry. Mr Bagha further said Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission is duty bound for addressing the problems of SC community in accordance with law and would continue to discharge its duty.UNI NC SHS RSA AS1855 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-581721.Xml Enthused by the overwhelming response and outpouring of investment offers by entrepreneurs at the two road-shows held in New Delhi and Kolkata, the Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal, will kick off the third investors road-show in Chennai tomorrow. Stating this in Chennai today, a spokesman of the Haryana Industries Department said that road-shows were being organised to showcase Haryana as a preferred destination for investment from both domestic and international investors. During the road-show in Chennai, the Chief Minister will hold one-to-one meetings with heads and chief executives officers of various industries of national and international repute. Senior officers of the state government including Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation Department Ram Niwas, Additional Chief Secretary Finance Sanjeev Kaushal and Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Sudhir Rajpal will also present on this occasion. Apart from this, B Santhanam, Past Chairman, CII Southern Region and President and Managing Director Flat Glass-South Asia, Malaysia and Egypt Saint Gobain India Private Limited and Industry Captains from Haryana would also share their experiences during the investors roadshow. The spokesman said that some industrial biggies are expected to attend the event. This would be the third road-show out of the total five being organised in metropolitan towns in the run-up to the Happening Haryana-Global Investors Summit-2016 scheduled to be held in Gurgaon on March 7 and 8, 2016, to attract entrepreneurs and investors. Besides, Pravasi Haryana Divas will be held on March 9, 2016 at Gurgaon. The CII is national partner for the event. While the first road-show was held in New Delhi on December 22, 2015, the second was organised in Kolkata on January 30, 2016. The remaining two road-shows would be held in Mumbai and Bengaluru. Recently, the Chief Minister had led a delegation to Japan and China to attract investments to the state. He had invited Japanese and Chinese investors as well as Haryana diaspora to participate in the Happening Haryana-Global Investors Summit-2016.UNI NC DJK RSA AS1857 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-581816.Xml Local police today cracked a case in which four unidentified youths fired at a police team and got freed Amritsar based gangster Ankur from police custody near Nawanshahar on February 4 evening. Addressing a press conference at DSP office here, Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police Rajinder Singh disclosed that the police nabbed two gangsters, identified as Prabhjot Singh of Jalalabad and Germanjit Singh of Goindwal (District Tarn Taran), from near Gonspur turn in Phagwara and recovered two pistols and ten live cartridges from them. The SSP said that the nabbed accused confessed their involvement in Nawanshahar crime and disclosed that a conspiracy was hatched by them along with another gangster Money Ballarr to got free gangster Ankur when he had to be produced before a Nawanshahar court. They first conducted recce and then got free Ankur from police custody. The weapons used by them in the incident were buried at a deserted place near here. And when they were taking the weapons back they were nabbed by the police. The police officer said their further interrogation is continued which could be more fruitful to nab Ballarr and other associates.UNI XC DB DJK RSA VN1856 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-581831.Xml The tech hub of Bengaluru had seen its lowestebb due to increased crime incidents and serious problems of basicinfrastructure due to inept rule of The Congress since 2013, and itshould be defeated in the coming by-poll for Hebbal segment in thecity on February 13, BJP Vice-President B S Yeddyurappa today said. Karnataka will witness by-poll to three Assembly segments ofDeodurg in Raichur, Bidar city and Hebbal in the city due to deathsof sitting members on that date. The former chief minister said during BJP rule in the state, theparty had ensured all round development of the city, which wasbrought down to a sorry state by the 'corrupt' rule after Congresstook over three years ago. ''When the whole world is looking towards India under theleadership of Narendra Modi, the whole country is looking towardsBengaluru as a model metropolis. But what happened to our town underthe Congress rule, is evident for the common eye. ''The centre ruled by the BJP is not discriminating againstCongress ruled states as was evident during Invest Karnataka --Global Investors Meet recently when seven union ministers includingFinance minister Arun Jaitley assured to join hands with the statein its development. But congress leaders were indulging in pettypolitics in accusing Mr Modi with false allegations,'' he said. Mr Yeddyurappa said due to such behaviour of its leaders,Congress which had won 440 seats in Lok Sabha at one time, could noteven get the main Opposition Party status during the previouselection by getting just 55 seats. Though the centre had provide Rs 1540 crore to the state fortaking up drought relief works, the Siddaramaiah government hadfailed to utilise it. ''Congress does not want national development but want to dividethe people on communal lines for its political gains,'' he accused.UNI RS VV AK2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-582251.Xml Haryana government has inked an agreement with the Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited to establish medical institutions in the state with proposed investment of Rs 1,000 crore and is expected to generate employment for 3,000 persons. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Devender Singh, on behalf of the Haryana Government, and by Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited, Ajay Gupta, in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal, and Industries and Commerce Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, here today. Under this agreement, Haryana government would facilitate Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited to obtain necessary permissions, registrations, approvals and clearances for the project from the Departments concerned, in order to ensure the establishment of the project in a time-bound manner. This would be done as per the existing policies and rules and regulations of the State Government. The project is likely to commence in 2017. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that during his tour to the United Kingdom (UK), Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, had reached an agreement for expansion of medical services in India, with investment of one billion pounds into the Indian healthcare system. This agreement was signed in the same series. Haryana is one of the six states, which have signed MoUs with Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited, he added.MORE UNI NC VJ RJ RAI2021 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-582010.Xml Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today charged Virbhadra Singh government for snatching powers of the Panchayati Raj representatives and thus trying to break the backbone of democracy. The BJP leader was addressing mediapersons at Dehra after honouring the newly-elected Panchayati Raj representatives of Dehra Mandal who were supported by the party. He said, according to the 13th Financial Commission to strengthen the Panchayats 50 per cent, 30 pc and 20 pc, financial activities were to be carried through Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and village pradhans respectively but the present government has scuttled this financial activity and efforts were on the to scuttle financial rights of the village pradhans too. Prof Dhumal said when the BJP government comes to power financial, developmental and judicial powers of the Panchayati Raj representatives will be resorted back and elections to the PRIs will be held on the party symbols. Regarding the outbreak of jaundice in Shimla and Solan, the leader of Opposition in Assembly said now it was spreading fast with serious dimensions in different towns of the state because of the insufficient action taken by the government. He alleged that most of the water samples in the laboratories were failing the test and declared not fit for the human consumption but the state government was mute spectator to the situation. He charged the government for protecting the officers of a specific region who were allegedly involved in the jaundice outbreak by transferring them and remaining officers were arrested. Prof Dhumal demanded a high level probe into it. He alleged that people were suffering with jaundice but ministers were on tour out of Shimla. The Leader of Opposition said that opposition was always ready for holding positive discussions on corruption and public interest issues in the assembly but the state government was trying to get away of it.UNI XC DB DJK RAI1950 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-582017.Xml Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed Mitra's indisposition, but said he was fine now. "He is sick. He has been hospitalised. He is fine now," Banerjee told the media. The Belle Vue Clinic did nto give details of Mitra's indisposition, but said he was undergoing medical tests. The 68-year-old minister was likely to be released on Thursday, a hospital spokesperson said. --Indo-Asian News Service ssp/vd ( 92 Words) 2016-02-09-22:19:34 (IANS) "He continues to be on ventillatory support. He is conscious. However he still remains critical," the hospital said. "He continues to be on broad spectrum antibiotics.. The medical board held today (Tuesday) is of the opinion of a planned tracheotomy tomorrow (Wednesday)." He is being fed through a Ryles tube. The 94-year-old Ghosh, the seniormost Left Front leader in West Bengal, was on Tuesday rushed to the hospital following lower respiratory tract infection. He has for decades now been the secretary of the West Bengal unit of the party founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. --Indo-Asian News Service ssp/vd ( 136 Words) 2016-02-09-22:23:34 (IANS) A state level committee meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary A P Padhi approved the projects today. Housing and urban development special secretary S K Ratho said the money would be spent in the first phase in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Baripada, Balasore, Sambalpur and Bhadrak. The money would be spent mainly to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to drinking water supply, sewerage, septage management, storm water drainage and development of green spaces and parks. Mr Ratho said while the state government would provide 50 per cent of the project cost, the rest 50 per cent would be borne by the central government. He said, so far the central government and the state government have provided more than Rs 91 crore (Rs 45.63 crore each) for the implementation of the project. Mr Ratho said Rs 91 crore had been provided to the Odisha urban area infrastrcture development fund for the implementation of the project and the Engineers India Ltd has been appointed as the consultant for the project. The Engineers India Ltd will prepare project proposals for qualitative management and skill development. Mr Ratho said the training of engineers and people representatives and touring of various model cities has already been started and a decision was taken to include all the nine cities under the skill development programme by March next. Chief secretary A P Padhi directed the secretary housing and urban development to strictly implement the urban sector reforms for qualitative improvement in service and also increase the resources of the urban areas. Mr padhi also directed to immediately implement the online tax payment system in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. UNI BD AKM SHS RJ RAI2212 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-582129.Xml He today appealed to the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee to take note of the recent incidents and take up these matters with the concerned authorities as it hurts the sentiments of particular community. Channi also said he will very soon meet Ms Swaraj in this regard and personally take up this matter with her. He appealed to the External Affairs Minister to take up such issues with the governments concerned so that the Sikhs have not to face such humiliation at the international airports in other countries. He specially referred to the case of Indian-American Sikh actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia who was not allowed to board flight from Mexico City to New York as he refused to remove his turban for security check. Mr Channi said such action on the part of the airport security was highly objectionable as turban is part of the religious symbol for Sikhs and it cant be removed in public. He said of late, Sikhs had been increasingly coming under racist attacks in countries like US and England where they are settled in large numbers.UNI NC VJ SHS RJ RAI2215 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-582134.Xml The top US military officer is due to discuss North Korea's latest satellite launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen military ties among the three countries, US defense officials said.US Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be in Hawaii, home to US Pacific Command, for the meeting, which was scheduled before the North Korea launch, which has been widely criticized around the world.It was not immediately clear if the South Korean and Japanese chiefs of staff would participate in the meeting in person or via secure video teleconference, said the sources yesterday.REUTERS MI GC0503 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-580706.Xml "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Waris Ahluwalia wrote in his Instagram account, The Express Tribune reports. Ahluwalia was heading to New York's fashion week and wrote, "Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me," he added. The Mexican airline said in a statement that it was obligated to follow "federal requirements in terms of security determined by the US Transportation Security Administration to review passengers." Ahluwalia has been starred in Oscar-nominated film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and the US television series "The Carrie Diaries." He also has modeled for clothier Gap. (ANI) The recapture of Aden by Gulf Arab coalition troops last summer has failed to provide any respite from Yemen's civil war, with residents facing a wave of bomb and gun attacks that is crippling efforts to stabilise the city.Seven months after rebel fighters from the Iranian-allied Houthi militia were driven out of the strategic southern port, there are almost daily assassinations of judges, security officials and police.Since July, the Gulf coalition and local security forces have struggled to impose order in Aden, opening the way for Islamic State, al Qaeda and other armed groups to operate there with impunity.The challenges in Aden show how difficult it will be to restore order to a country gripped by months of conflict in which 6,000 have been killed and where Islamist militants have exploited widespread security weaknesses in what Saudi Arabia sees as its backyard.The Saudi-led coalition launched military operations to prevent the Houthis, whom Riyadh sees as a proxy for its enemy Iran, from taking control of Yemen after they seized much of the north. For their part, the Houthis deny backing from Tehran and accuse the coalition of launching a war of aggression.Continuing violence in Aden, the biggest prize yet won by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Yemen's 10-month-old civil war, threatens to undermine the campaign waged on his behalf by the coalition against the Houthis and army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh."If we leave the situation as it is, you will have the situation you have in Libya," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said, referring to the situation in Yemen as a whole.A lot of people who oppose the Houthis would form their own militias, he said, and Islamic State would also see an opportunity."There will be a chaotic situation. So I think when we start something we have to finish it, by bringing back security and stability to Yemen," Asseri told Reuters.PATCHWORK OF RIVAL GROUPSIslamist militants from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have mounted operations in southern Yemen, including Aden, for years.But the pace of attacks in Aden has accelerated since July, when local forces backed by Hadi's government and the Saudi-led alliance recaptured the city from the Houthis after months of street fighting, but have seemingly failed to secure it.Aden residents blame the attacks on Islamist militants, including the Yemeni wing of Islamic State, who appear to be present in the city. But in reality, it is impossible to know who is responsible, given the number of armed groups in Aden and the authorities' failure to investigate.The coalition and Aden's security forces suspect that Saleh and loyalist fighters are orchestrating the violence to derail any progress in Aden. Saleh, ousted after Arab Spring protests in 2011 and whose exact whereabouts are unknown, denies such accusations.In December alone, the governor of Aden, a colonel in the southern secessionist movement that seeks independence from Yemen, and a senior militia leader fighting alongside the government, were all killed. Three senior southern Yemeni officials narrowly escaped a car bomb attack in January.Regardless of who is behind the attacks, stabilising Aden is a priority for the Saudis, not only to counter Islamist militants, but to show that Riyadh's aggressive intervention to stop what it sees as Iranian expansionism is working."Restoring some modicum of security to Aden remains a - if not the - key challenge facing the coalition and their allies in Yemen," Adam Baron, a Yemen specialist with the European Council of Foreign Relations, told Reuters."While it's certainly not an insurmountable one, it's proven - unsurprisingly - difficult, owing to the myriad of differing factions and a significant influx of arms, to say nothing of the widespread destruction and dissolution of order owing to months of conflict."The International Crisis Group said that after nearly a year of combat, no side is close to a decisive military victory."Neither is defeated or exhausted; both believe they can make additional military gains; and neither has been willing to make the compromises required to end the violence," it said in a report.BATS OF DARKNESSSpooked by the attacks in Aden, one southern secessionist activist said he had moved to Sanaa, which is under Houthi control."In Aden, if you leave your home, you can't guarantee that you will return safely," said Fahmy, who declined to have his full name published out of fear for his safety.Extremists can shoot at people in shops, in the market where the drug qat is sold, or while they are travelling in their cars, he said.East of Aden, al Qaeda militants have taken control of entire towns, meeting little resistance before displaying their black flags and setting up checkpoints.In Aden's Mansoura district, al Qaeda have clashed in the streets with local security forces.Even Hadi, who fled Aden last year when the Houthis overran the city, never ventures too far from home since returning to his temporary capital in November.In late January, a suicide car bomb targeted a security checkpoint near the gate of the palace where he lives, killing at least six people, in an attack claimed by Islamic State.But Aden's security directorate has blamed a string of similar attacks in recent weeks on the "bats of darkness", groups it says are affiliated to intelligence services and armed gangs loyal to Saleh and the Houthis, rather than Islamic State.Asseri concurs, saying attacks ostensibly claimed by Islamic State in Yemen are really thw work Saleh and his loyalists to make it appear that the government is unable to run the country.In the meantime, Aden residents say coalition forces, mostly troops from the United Arab Emirates, are rarely seen on the streets. Many in the city doubt the security situation will improve anytime soon."We never think we won't be targeted," said Salah Saqladi, a journalist."The coalition has been weak to a large extent," he said. "There are many coalition troops in Aden and the suburbs, but they're all in their bases and haven't spread out on the streets."REUTERS DS NS1232 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0177-580969.Xml A fishermen association official in Rameswaram reportedly said that the nets of 30 fishermen boats were damaged allegedly by Sri Lankan naval personnel near the Katchatheevu Islet. The fishermen, part of a group of about 2,500, had gone out to sea early this morning in 640 boats and returned without their daily catch, reports the Lanka Page website. P. Sesuraja, the secretary of the association, alleged that an unusually large number of naval personnel present in the area damaged the nets and chased the fishermen back into Indian territorial waters.(ANI) Some 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border if the military campaign there continues at this intensity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said today, adding Turkey will not shut its gates to the refugees. Davutoglu made the comments in a speech to his party in parliament. Turkey, which is already sheltering 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has largely kept its gates closed in recent days as a tens of thousands seek refuge from Syrian and Russian assaults on opposition-held territory in northwest Syria.REUTERS PS VN1551 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-581385.Xml Former Nepal Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala passed away this morning at his residence in Kathmandu due to chronic respiratory problem. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was due to fly to Kathmandu today to pay her respects. Koirala's funeral will be held tomorrow.His private secretary Atul Koirala said the 77-year-old leader had been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and the end came at 0050 hrs.Several leaders of the Nepali Congress visited Koirala's residence and paid tributes. The leader's ill health prevented him from attending any formal functions on Monday.Party's general secretary Prakash Man Singh said the Nepali Congress postponed its electoral process prior to the general convention.Koirala became Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014. He was elected from Banke and Chitwan constituencies in the second Constituent Assembly election of November 19, 2013. He had helped prepare Nepal's first republican constitution that, its authors hoped, would take the Himalayan nation closer to stability and peace after years of conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy.Koirala was head of the centrist Nepali Congress party, the largest opposition group in parliament that has traditionally close ties to India.His death had presented a succession problem for the Koirala dynasty. He never married. Koirala was jailed in India for three years for his role in the hijacking of a Nepali plane during the democracy struggle of the 1970s.President Pranab Mukherjee said Koirala worked tirelessly to foster the close and multifaceted relations between India and Nepal. "In his passing away, Nepal has lost a leader who dedicated his life to Nepals progress and development. He led Nepal during the crucial period of political transition and Constitution promulgation. The simplicity of his life holds a lesson for all of us."Sushil Koirala worked tirelessly to foster the close and multifaceted relations between India and Nepal. Under his stewardship of the government of Nepal, considerable progress was achieved in the fields of hydropower and connectivity." Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades and India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP."Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family and people of Nepal in this hour of grief." Condoling his demise, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi underlined her close relation with the Nepali Congress, to which Koirala belonged and said his contribution to fostering Indo-Nepal ties would always be remembered.''He led his country during extremely difficult and testing times and contributed immensely to the transition of Nepal into a Republic,'' she said.''My heartfelt condolences to the people of Nepal on the passing away of former PM & Nepali Congress president Sushil Koiralaji. A committed democrat, Koirala had a long association with India. His loss will be deeply mourned,'' party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was saddened at the passing away of the former Nepal prime minister. "My condolences to his fellow citizens, family and friends," Ms Banerjee added.UNI Team SW RP1630 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0101-581475.Xml Russia said today there was no credible evidence of its air strikes causing civilian deaths in Syria, rejecting German Chancellor Angela Merkel's criticism of the bombing campaign.Merkel said yesterday that Russian bombing had forced tens of thousands of Syrian civilians to flee, suggesting that the attacks violated a UN Security Council resolution that Moscow itself signed in December.European Council President Donald Tusk added to the pressure, saying the Russian actions were helping the "murderous" government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Responding to Merkel's statement, made during a trip to Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: "Despite a huge number of such statements, no one up to now has presented a single (piece of) credible evidence as proof of these words."There was also no way of talking about improving ties with Turkey, whose fighter jets shot down a Russian bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border in November, he added."Our relations are now in their worst shape for the past few decades," he said. "Turkey committed aggressive and dastardly acts against Russia. Turkey has not adequately explained its actions and has not apologised properly."He called "wrong and absurd" accusations by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that Russia was engaged in an invasion of Syria, trying to set up a "boutique state" for Assad."It's well-known that aerospace forces of the Russian Federation are in Syria following an invitation from the legitimate Syrian leadership," he said. "Hence, there can be no talk of any de jure or de facto occupation of Syria." REUTERS PS AS1732 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-581679.Xml A US Air Force veteran accused of trying to travel to Syria to join Islamic State is set to become the first person in the United States to face trial for attempting to support the militant group. Questionnaires are expected to be distributed on Tuesday to the first batch of 500 potential jurors in Brooklyn, New York, in the trial of Tairod Pugh, a 48-year-old New Jersey resident charged with attempting to provide material support to Islamic State. He is one of 80 people charged in federal cases related to Islamic State since 2014 amid a push by authorities to identify potential domestic supporters of the group, according to a Reuters analysis. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has probes in all 50 states involving suspected supporters of Islamic State, which has seized control of wide swaths of Iraq and Syria. Prosecutors said Pugh, who served with the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and who recently worked as a commercial airplane mechanic in Kuwait, in January 2015 bought a one-way ticket from Cairo, Egypt, to Istanbul. Prosecutors said his goal was to cross the boarder into Syria to join Islamic State. But Turkish authorities sent him back to Cairo, where officials found he had several damaged electronic devices including a cell phone with a machine gun photograph, prosecutors said. Pugh was deported to the United States, where he told an undercover agent that he went to Turkey to join Islamic State, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Pugh's laptop computer contained propaganda videos and a draft letter written to a woman he had married in Egypt in 2014 pledging to use his skills "to establish and defend the Islamic State." Pugh's lawyer, Eric Creizman, has sought to block the letter from introduction at trial, calling it a privileged marital communication. Pugh has pleaded not guilty and contends he went to Turkey to find work. He earlier had come to authorities' attention in 2001, when a co-worker told the FBI that Pugh "sympathized with Osama bin Laden, felt that the 1998 bombings of US embassies were justified and expressed anti-American sentiment," court papers said. In 2002, an associate told the FBI that Pugh had expressed interest in going to Chechnya to fight, prosecutors said. Nevertheless, Pugh went on to work in Iraq as an Army contractor for DynCorp International, prosecutors said, and later worked as an airplane mechanic in the Middle East. REUTERS PS BL1751 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-581716.Xml Iranian national Hamid Reza Jafary, known as "The Doctor" and who authorities say has been on their radar for years, was arrested alongside five Pakistani men on Monday after officers received a tip-off that the group were forging A-grade counterfeit passports, EFE news reported. The forged documents, most of which imitated European passports, were allegedly sold to international human trafficking gangs who ordered them online. Nathathorn Prousoontorn, the Immigration Bureau commissioner, said "The Doctor" Jafary had lived in Thailand for over 25 years and charged customers 50,000 to 80,000 baht ($1,400 to $2,250) per fake passport. During the raid, police also confiscated 34 printers bought in China that were used to make the passports, 18 watermark blocks and a number of fake Thai visas, all of which was found in the house. --Indo-Asian News Service ksk/dg ( 174 Words) 2016-02-09-18:13:34 (IANS) This represents close to 2,000 arrivals on European shores every day, nearly ten times the daily average of a year ago, Xinhua reported. With the number of arrivals showing no sign of abating, IOM said the death-toll has also increased. Some 409 people have lost their lives while attempting to reach Europe since the start of the year, compared to 428 deaths registered in the first two months of 2015. The Eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey and Greece remains by far the deadliest, with 319 recorded deaths. The Central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy has seen 90 individuals lose their lives so far this year. A breakdown of this year's arrival-figures show that 70,365 refugees and migrants reached Greece while 5,898 arrived in Italy. --Indo-Asian News Service py/dg ( 166 Words) 2016-02-09-18:29:34 (IANS) After decades of delay, the Pakistan National Assembly's Standing Committee on Law and Justice on one accord passed Hindu Marriage Bill 2015 with a few amendments. The committee, passed the final draft of the Bill yesterday, with Committee Chairman Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk presiding. The committee was briefed by the officials of Ministries of Law and Justice and Human Rights that the bill was aimed at codifying the law to regulate marriages and termination thereof among Hindus families.The Bill was passed after making two amendments to fix the minimum age of the marrying male and female at 18 and making the law applicable to the whole country, Dawn news reported.The bill will now be tabled in the National Assembly where it has fair chances of being passed as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is supporting it.Mr Virk expressed regret over the long-drawn tactical delay in framing family law for the Hindu community.It was unbecoming of us Muslims in general and the political leaders in particular. We were required to facilitate the legislation, not obstruct it. If we 99 per cent of the population are afraid of one per cent, we need to look deep inside what we claim to be and what we are, he said.The committee was informed that after 18 Amendments, the law will be implemented only in the provinces where the Assembly has passed resolution in the favour of the Act. Till now, only Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies have passed the resolution.UNI XC SHS RP1930 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-582077.Xml The Kremlin today said the claims by Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan to the effect that Russia has allegedly occupied part of Syria, are absurd from the standpoint of international law. "As for the allegations by Erdogan Russia has occupied part of Syria, from the legal standpoint, from the standpoint of international law they are wrong and absurd," the Kremlins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.Peskov reiterated that Russias Aerospace Force group was in Syria at the invitation of the countrys legitimate leadership. "Consequently, its impossible to use the term occupation either de jure or de facto," he said.Referring to the prospects of relations between Moscow and Ankara, Peskov said that Russian-Turkish relations are at their record-low over the past decades and no possibility of normalizing them in the near future is in sight at the moment."The relations are in the worst condition over decades. We regret this, but we state unequivocally that Russia is not to blame for this condition," Peskov said.He also said that recently Turkey committed aggressive and treacherous actions against Russia."Turkey has not yet properly qualified these actions or presented the corresponding apologies. For this reason there is no chance to consider some likely ways of normalizing relations. It is not possible," he said.UNI XC CJ RSA 1849 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-581907.Xml The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search. College graduates looking for an edge in the job market often turn to graduate school to gain extra skills and credentials. Schools are expected to award 802,000 master's degrees during the 2015-2016 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Students from certain undergrad programs make the leap to grad school very quickly. At the College of St. Mary in Nebraska, 69 percent of graduates pursue an advanced degree within one year of graduating. It had the highest percentage of graduates who pursued an advanced degree within one year out of 400 colleges and universities that submitted data to U.S. News in an annual survey. [Follow a graduate school application timeline.] Among the 11 schools with the highest percentage of students who quickly head to graduate school, the average was 58.5 percent. Only one National University made the list: Wayne State University in Michigan. National Universities offer a full range of undergraduate degree programs, as well as master's and doctoral programs, and are committed to research. Wayne State University, which has 54 percent of graduates pursuing an advanced degree within a year, is also the only school listed whose rank is not published. Schools labeled RNP are ranked in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking group. U.S. News calculates ranks for these schools but has decided not to publish them. [Don't let low grades or test scores stop you from getting into graduate school.] One historically black college is also among the top schools where alumni quickly go to graduate school. With 66 percent of alumni pursuing an advanced degree within a year after graduation, Tuskegee University in Alabama is second on the list. Story continues Below is a list of the 11 schools where the highest percentage of graduates pursue an advanced degree within one year of getting their bachelor's. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Don't see your school in the top 11? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find data on alumni, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The data on alumni above are correct as of Feb. 9, 2016. Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com. Vanguard is best known for ultralow fees and its many index funds. But the Malvern, Pa., firm sponsors 70 actively managed funds, too. Some are solid, including Vanguard Dividend Growth (symbol VDIGX), a member of the Kiplinger 25. But some of Vanguard's actively managed funds are, to put it generously, mediocre. Here are six we think you should avoid. Vanguard Capital Value Symbol: VCVLX Assets: $1.1 billion Expense ratio: 0.50% 1 year: -20.2% (S&P 500: -6.1%) 3 years: 3.5% (S&P 500: 10.0%) 5 years: 3.5% (S&P 500: 10.1%) 10 years: 4.1% (S&P 500: 4.2%) This fund is hard to peg against a benchmark because it invests in companies of all sizes. Until 2014, fund rater Morningstar slotted Capital Value with funds that invest in large-company stocks with a blend of growth and value characteristics. Then in 2015, Morningstar began to compare Capital Value with midsize-company blend funds. To keep things simple and consistent, we compared the fund's performance with Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. By that measuring stick, Capital Value's performance has been as inconsistent as California weather. After delivering superb results in 2010, when Capital Value beat the S&P 500 by more than five percentage points, it lagged the index by a whopping 16 percentage points in 2011. It recovered to beat the bogey in 2012 and 2013, only to drop behind in 2014 and 2015. All told, Capital Value has been 50% more volatile than the S&P 500 over the past five years, and it lagged the index by an average of 6.6 percentage points annually. (We focus on the past five years because Peter Higgins became manager in the middle of 2008; David Palmer was named comanager in late 2009.) Morningstar analyst Kevin McDevitt says only the most aggressive investors should consider this fund. Indeed, we wouldn't want to ride this roller coaster. SEE ALSO: Investing Lessons From Vanguard's Bogleheads Vanguard Diversified Equity Symbol: VDEQX Assets: $1.4 billion Expense ratio: 0.41% 1 year: -7.9% 3 years: 9.1% 5 years: 9.1% 10 years: 5.6% Story continues When a fund holds other funds, it's the innards that matter. In the case of Diversified Equity, which holds eight U.S. stock funds, two are okay (Mid Cap Growth and Windsor), some are formerly poor performers that are on the mend (Growth & Income and U.S. Growth) and some are ho-hum to downright disappointing (Explorer, Windsor II, Capital Value and Morgan Growth). In part because of this mixed bag, Diversified Equity has posted average returns. Its five-year return is right in the middle of the large-company growth fund category. And the fund trails the S&P 500 by an average of 0.9 percentage point per year. To be fair, Diversified Equity holds fewer large-company stocks and more small-cap and mid-cap stocks than its peers. At last report, the fund had 65% of its assets in large-company stocks; the average large-company fund has 80%. That may explain the fund's lackluster showings in certain years, such as 2011, 2014 and 2015, when big-capitalization stocks outperformed their small-cap brethren. Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Symbol: VMMSX Assets: $241.5 million Expense ratio: 0.93% 1 year: -26.5% 3 years: -12.3% 5 years: -- 10 years: -- Usually, the higher the risk, the richer the reward. Not this time. Over the past three years, Emerging Markets Select Stock has been more volatile than the average diversified emerging-markets stock fund, and it has underperformed the average fund in its category by an average of 2.3 percentage points per year. Emerging Markets Select Stock launched in the middle of 2011 and had a fine 2012, up 22.6%, compared with 18.2% for the average emerging-markets stock fund. But developing-markets stocks have been slumping since 2013, and Emerging Markets Select Stock has participated fully in the downturn, and then some. Over the past two years, the average diversified emerging-markets fund produced a cumulative loss of 223.9%, while Emerging Markets Select Stock has sunk 29.4%. Eight managers from four firms run the fund, investing in emerging-markets companies of all sizes. Recently, the fund's top three holdings were Taiwan Semiconductor, China Construction Bank Corp. and Naspers Ltd, a South African Internet company. With an annual expense ratio of 0.93%, Emerging Markets Select Stock is Vanguard's most costly fund. SEE ALSO: Best Vanguard Funds for Your 401(k) Retirement Savings Vanguard Explorer Symbol: VEXPX Assets: $11.0 billion Expense ratio: 0.48% 1 year: -12.7% 3 years: 6.4% 5 years: 7.3% 10 years: 5.1% Strike one: Explorer is humongous. With $11 billion in assets, it is the second-largest actively managed small-company stock fund in the country (behind only T. Rowe Price New Horizons). A large asset base can hinder a fund, especially one that invests in small companies, because the fund has to buy and sell in such large quantities that share prices get pushed in the wrong direction--up as the fund buys, down as it sells. Strike two: Explorer holds a whopping 713 stocks, in part because has 14 managers, who hail from seven different investment firms. With that many holdings in the portfolio, you'd need a tsunami of outperformers to make an impact on the fund's return. In 2015, for instance, six of the fund's holdings, including Anacor Pharmaceuticals (ANAC), up 250%, and Netflix (NFLX), up 134%, posted triple-digit gains. But because those stocks represented just 0.14% and 0.13% of assets, respectively, they didn't have much impact on performance (Explorer lost 4.3% in 2015). Strike three: Explorer's long-term results are pedestrian. Its 10-year return ranks behind 60% of its peers. It also lags the fund's chosen benchmark, the Russell 2500 Growth index, by an average of 1.6 percentage points per year. Vanguard Morgan Growth Symbol: VMRGX Assets: $11.7 billion Expense ratio: 0.40% 1 year: -2.4% 3 years: 11.6% 5 years: 9.7% 10 years: 6.4% The truth about this large-company fund is that you could do worse. But you could also do better. The biggest drawback: As in some of the other funds on this list, too many cooks are in the kitchen. In this case, the fund's eight managers hail from four different money-management firms, each with its own approach, which seems to water down results. For example, Wellington Management runs 48% of Morgan's assets, looking for large, undervalued companies. Jennison Associates, which commands 22% of the fund's assets, invests in fast-growing large companies. Vanguard's quantitative team, with 15% of assets to manage, uses computer models that factor in growth and value characteristics to find high-quality large-company stocks. Finally, Frontier Capital Management with 15% of assets, sifts through small and midsize companies in search of underappreciated growth stocks. In the end, you get performance that has lagged the fund's benchmark, the Russell 3000 Growth index, over the long haul. That said, recent results have gotten better. Over the past three years, the fund returned 11.6% annualized, compared with 11.5% for the benchmark. SEE ALSO: 9 Great Vanguard Funds for Retirement Savers Vanguard Windsor II Symbol: VWNFX Assets: $45 billion Expense ratio: 0.34% 1 year: -10.5% 3 years: 6.9% 5 years: 8.2% 10 years: 4.9% This fund has 11 managers from five firms at the helm. But like all the king's men in the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, this veritable troop of managers hasn't been able to successfully reassemble this once-solid fund. A revolving door at the top may be one explanation for subpar results in recent years. Vanguard has removed three subadvisers and added two others over the past decade. And at the end of 2015, veteran stock picker James Barrow, of Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss--the longest-tenured subadviser at the fund and the one with the biggest chunk of its assets (about 60%)--stepped down after 30 years. Two other Barrow hands, Jeff Fahrenbruch and David Ganucheau, who were appointed comanagers in 2013, remain. The high manager turnover makes it difficult to assess the fund appropriately--one subadviser came aboard in 2003, another in 2007, and yet another in 2010 (Barrow, Hanley has been in place since 1985). But one thing we know for sure is that over the past decade Windsor II has been more volatile than the S&P 500 and less rewarding. SEE ALSO: These 5 Vanguard Index Funds Are All You Need SOFIA/ATHENS (Reuters) - Four Bulgarian truck drivers smashed through barriers set up by Greek truckers along the countries' shared border on Tuesday, saying they were fed up with Greek protesters barricading roads over a planned revamp of their country's pension system. Greek farmers have been sporadically blocking roads into Bulgaria and motorways across Greece for about three weeks, incensed by pension reforms that will triple their social security contributions over the next four years. The move is part of a wider overhaul to save Greece's struggling pension system 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion) this year, and a key condition of the 86 billion-euro bailout that Athens signed with international backers last year. Yannis Tourtouras, head of the farmers' committee at the main Greece-Bulgaria border crossing, said the Promahonas crossing had been open for only 30 minutes in the last 48 hours, causing a tailback of trucks at least 15 kilometers (9 miles)long. "Yesterday was a difficult night for us, 4-5 trucks tried to break the blockade," he said. "They were driving like crazy, the police tried to stop them with their guns." One of the drivers that broke the blockade told Bulgarian Nova TV, "it was a spontaneous decision ... I was the third truck in the blockade for a second day." Bulgarian police officials issued tickets to the drivers who broke the blockade, but they were hailed by colleagues in Bulgaria, who organized a counter-blockade on the Bulgarian side of the border stopping trucks, cars and busses. Bulgaria has urged Athens to provide a transit corridor for trucks and complained to Brussels that Greece is preventing the free travel of people and goods. "We have sent a letter to the European Commission and it will launch a procedure against Greece over non-implementation of the EU legislation," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said on Tuesday. "It is possible that Greece may be fined." (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov and Tsvetelia Tsolova, additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Katharine Houreld) Dallas Buyers Club producer Cassian Elwes has joined up with Armory Films' Chris Lemole and Tim Zajaros to launch a new film production and financing company, Zeal Media. The company will debut at Berlin's European Film Market, which kicks off Thursday. The first film produced under the Zeal label will be Elwes' Billionaire Boys Club, a biopic based on 1980s white-collar criminal-turned-murderer Joe Hunt. The James Cox-directed feature, starring Kevin Spacey, Ansel Elgort and Taron Edgerton, recently wrapped production. Good Universe is handling sales at Berlin. Zeal plans to finance and/or produce up to eight feature films a year, with a focus on sophisticated, thought-provoking and talent-driven material. Elwes teamed with Armory on the Cabin Fever reboot, which was executive produced by Eli Roth and is set to hit theaters later this year. Sofia (AFP) - Bulgaria's foreign ministry on Tuesday formally announced its nomination of UNESCO chief Irina Bokova for UN secretary-general. "The ministry of foreign affairs sent a letter, nominating Mrs Irina Georgieva Bokova for the post of secretary-general of the United Nations," the ministry said in a statement. "Given her background and experience, Mrs Bokova may be one of the top candidates in the upcoming campaign for UN secretary-general," it added. The UN's next chief will take up their post on January 1, 2017, replacing Ban Ki-moon who has held the job for two five-year terms. Bulgaria's Bokova, 63, was the first woman to head the UN's culture body UNESCO, and the first leader from the ex-Soviet bloc when she was elected in 2009. UNESCO's admission of Palestine as a member in October 2011 spelled problems for Bokova, with the United States immediately suspending its funding of the UN body. But the former foreign minister won re-election nonetheless, and her second term is due to expire at the end of 2017. "I know that I will win the UN vote," Bokova has confidently told private television channel Nova. There has been much speculation over whether the UN will finally get its first female leader, after the eight men who have led the world body since 1946. A former Bulgarian ambassador to France and Monaco, Bokova has recently been criticised over her privileged upbringing in a prominent communist family. Her father Georgi Bokov was editor-in-chief of the Communist Party newspaper Rabotnichesko Delo. Bokova received an elite education abroad, first at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and later at the University of Maryland and Harvard in the United States. After stints at the Bulgarian foreign ministry and its UN mission in New York, Bokova was elected a lawmaker for the Socialist Party after the fall of communism in 1989. Bokova was appointed deputy foreign minister to coordinate Bulgaria's relations with the European Union between 1995 and 1997. She briefly stepped up as foreign minister from November 1996 to February 1997 when she led the country's bid to join the EU. She speaks fluent English, French, Russian and Spanish, and is married with two children. About a month after stepping down as U.S. secretary of education, Arne Duncan has signed with CAA in all areas, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. During his seven-year tenure (one of the longest in President Barack Obamas Cabinet and the longest-serving education secretary in American history), Duncans accomplishments included implementing the stimulus acts $100 billion education fund, which saved or created approximately 275,000 jobs, increased Pell Grants and established reform programs such as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation. CAA is expected to negotiate book and speaking deals and identify new business opportunities for Duncan, who served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools before being appointed to Obamas administration in January 2009. Read More: Leslie Moonves Addresses CBS Promotion During Super Bowl 50 Interview Los Angeles (AFP) - Some 605,000 undocumented immigrants who live in California were granted driver's licenses in 2015, the first year they have been able to enjoy that benefit, officials said Monday. The law known as AB60 took effect on January 2, 2015. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) expects a total of about 1.4 million people will get their license under the law by late 2017. Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the law in October 2013 to give a legal document to the 2.5 million undocumented immigrants in California alone -- most from Latin America and particularly neighboring Mexico. California officials believe the program -- which does not give license holders any US federal benefits -- does make roads in the most populous US state safer, several state sources said. It does not allow license holders, for example, the right to fly on airplanes inside the United States, nor does it give anyone legal residency status, the right to work or to seek a US passport. But among the upsides are that California drivers with the document can drive legally across the entire vast United States, without being fined or facing fear of having their vehicle impounded. "If you can approve policies that integrate immigrants, I think it's a win-win for all people in a big state like California," said Luis Alejo, a California Assembly Member and author of the bill. A total of 12 of the 50 US states plus the federal capital Washington have similar driver's license laws for undocumented immigrants. Beirut (AFP) - Emergency camps along Syria's border with Turkey are overwhelmed by a flood of displaced families, aid workers warned, as the regime kept up an assault against embattled rebels on Tuesday. In and around the Syrian town of Azaz near the frontier, people are sleeping in the streets, or up to 20 people to a tent, having left their homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. "There are no longer enough places for families to sleep," said Ahmad al-Mohammad, a field worker with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "Many of them in the first days were sleeping in the streets and outdoors without blankets or covers." "Most of the families left with just the clothes they were in," he told AFP, adding that the cold and the crowded conditions were causing health problems including diarrhoea. The United Nations says up to 31,000 people have fled Aleppo city and surrounding areas in recent days, as government forces press an offensive that could encircle the rebel-held part of the city. Syria's nearly five-year-old conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population. The continuing violence hit Damascus on Tuesday, with a car bomb killing at least eight people at a police club in the north of the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday that a "worst case scenario" could see up to 600,000 refugees arrive at the border. "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there," Kurtulmus said. - Camps full - Turkey, which hosts more than 2.5 million refugees from Syria's civil war, faces calls to let in those stuck at the border. But it is also under pressure by European leaders to stop people trying to cross the Mediterranean from Turkey to Europe -- a journey not all survive. Story continues Huge crowds of Syrians, mainly women and children, have been forced to wait on the other side of Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, which remained closed Tuesday with only medical emergencies allowed through. A Turkish official said four wounded Syrians had been let through on Monday. MSF said aid groups were distributing warm clothes and mattresses to those stranded on the Syrian side. "They are trapped," Mohammad said. "They've left their homes and everything they have behind, and they can't get into Turkey." The UN's humanitarian aid agency OCHA said on Monday that eight informal camps on the Syrian side of the border were at "full capacity". - Food urgently needed - UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien said he was "gravely concerned" by the mass displacement, noting that about 80 percent of the tens of thousands of people on the move were believed to be women and children. "We have reports that civilians have been killed and injured, and that civilian infrastructure, including at least two hospitals, has been hit," he said in a statement. "People urgently require shelter, food and basic household items." He called on all parties to end targeting civilian infrastructure and allow civilians to move to safer areas. Syrian government forces backed by allied militias and Russian air strikes began a major operation in the northern province of Aleppo last week. They have advanced around much of Aleppo city, virtually encircling the rebel-held eastern part, and are now around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Turkish frontier. "It's the first time since 2013 that the Syrian regime has been this close to the Turkish border in Aleppo province," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria's mainstream rebels are now in danger of a crushing defeat after the regime severed their main supply line to Aleppo city. Peace talks in Geneva collapsed last week amid rebel anger over the government offensive. More than 21 suspected Russian air strikes hit targets in several towns northwest of Aleppo city and in the northern countryside on Tuesday morning, the Observatory said. Suspected Russian air strikes also hit parts of Tal Rifaat during the night, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground. Regime forces and their allies meanwhile were fighting rebels, including jihadists from Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo province. American Pie star Eugene Levy and fellow SCTV alum Catherine O'Hara are to receive career tributes from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television during a pre-Oscar party in Beverly Hills on Feb. 25. Levy and O'Hara, who co-star in the Schitt's Creek comedy on Pop (formerly TV Guide Network), are to receive Legacy Awards during the An Evening With Canada's Stars celebration at the Four Seasons Hotel. Levy and O'Hara have been frequent co-stars in Christopher Guest movies including Best in Show and A Mighty Wind after first meeting at Second City in Toronto. "Though they are not an official duo, they have played together so often and so well that we thought it only fitting to honor them together," Academy chair Martin Katz said Tuesday in a statement. Levy has appeared in more than 60 movies, including Bringing Down the House, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Father of the Bride Part 2. He will also voice the role of Dorys father in the upcoming Disney Pixar feature Finding Dory with fellow Canadian actor Ellen DeGeneres. OHara's film credits include Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Lost in New York, and she has made TV guest appearances on Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Schitt's Creek nabbed 14 nominations for the upcoming Canadian Screen Awards, which are set to take place March 13 in Toronto. Read More: 'Room' Leads Canadian Screen Awards Film Nominations N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's President Idriss Deby, in power for more than a quarter of a century, said on Tuesday he would reintroduce constitutional term limits if he won a fifth term in an election slated for April. His campaign promise came amid controversial moves by the leaders of some other African countries including Burundi, Rwanda and Congo Republic who have challenged constitutional term limits to maintain power. Deby seized power in a coup in 1990 and was most recently re-elected in 2011. A referendum in 2005 scrapped constitutional term limits before Deby won a disputed election the following year. "The principles of presidential term limits in the constitution must be reintroduced," Deby told a convention of his ruling party, for which he is the presidential candidate. "Today nothing requires us to remain in a system where changing leaders becomes difficult ... In 2005 the constitutional reform was conducted in a context where the life of the nation was in danger." Chad has become a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel region just south of the Sahara, contributing troops to fight the Boko Haram group based in northeastern Nigeria. The group has carried out attacks both in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries including Chad, Cameroon and Niger. (Reporting by Madjiasra Nako; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Gareth Jones) Gifting suites, cocktail parties, teas, nominee luncheons perhaps you thought Oscar Week had maxed out on glamour-centric events. And then Chanel came to town. See more Inside the Academy Awards Luncheon With Jennifer Lawrence and More The iconic French house has disclosed exclusively to Pret-a-Reporter that it will take over Bar Marmont, the lounge and restaurant at Chateau Marmont, in the days preceding the Feb. 28 Academy Awards to present "I Love Coco," an installation planned for both public attendance and private parties. The event will kick off with an invitation-only VIP party on Thursday, Feb. 25; a "surprise musical performance" is planned to cap the night. "I Love Coco" then opens to the public at noon on Friday, Feb. 26, and will be open from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. each day through Sunday, Feb. 28. Chanel is producing "I Love Coco" to showcase a pair of high-profile beauty launches: the Rouge Coco Stylo lip collection ($37 each) and Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour ($28 each). Both products were released to the public on Feb. 1. But thanks to Chanel makeup and nail artists, chances are youve already glimpsed them on red carpets this awards season. "Ive been slipping [Rouge Coco Stylo] into Bries clutch every time she walks out the door," says Chanel celebrity makeup artist Rachel Goodwin, who has been working with Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander for publicity and appearances related to Room and The Danish Girl, respectively. For the SAG Awards, Larson wore Rouge Coco Stylo in Article, a tangerine-red shade Goodwin chose to offset the actresss sky blue Atelier Versace gown. Le Vernis in Pirate and Organdi In addition to clients like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Kirsten Dunst, Chanel manicurist Ashlie Johnson likewise has been working with Larson; for the SAG Awards, she used Le Vernis in Organdi, which she calls "a really beautiful opaque pink that also feels very nude." Consider that Johnson likewise got a chance to feel a little pride in Larsons win that night: "Its always exciting when you get the see the hands holding the trophy," she says. Story continues Read more Beyonce's "Formation" Merch Is Now Available For Pre-Order "I Love Coco" is designed to convey a melding of the L.A. music scene with the exclusivity of a backstage beauty lounge and the elegance of the Chanel brand, while never losing sight of Bar Marmonts spirit. Its the first time Chateau Marmont owner Andre Balazs has agreed to hand over Bar Marmont for a multi-day private event. "Weve never done anything like this before," Johnson says. "Its going to be a really fun and young, exciting event. The backstage, exclusive feel and the location add a whole new dynamic to how we might normally work with consumers." In addition to beauty applications and mini-manicures by Chanel artists, guests at "I Love Coco" also will be invited to take selfies on the custom-designed set and will receive Chanel souvenirs created exclusively for the event. Attendance at I Love Coco is extremely limited, and reservations are required to visit during public hours. Registration opens on Thursday, Feb. 11, but Chanel is offering an exclusive pre-registration code for Pret-a-Reporter readers on Feb. 10; for more information, log on to ilovecoco.eventbrite.com and enter the code HOLLYWOODVIP to access advance booking and event details. Rouge Coco Stylo in Histoire and Conte Moscow (AFP) - Pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed spies from his region of Russia are being sent to infiltrate the Islamic State group and assist Moscow in its bombing campaign in Syria. Kadyrov, who has led the North Caucasus region of Chechnya since 2007, made the claims in a preview of a documentary set to air on state television on Wednesday. The documentary claims that "agents from special forces from Chechnya were embedded" in IS training camps to collect intelligence and help identify targets for Russian air strikes. Quoting Kadyrov, it said that the "best fighters" from mostly Muslim Chechnya have managed to create an "intricate agent network directly inside IS," although some have been killed. "We unfortunately have had some losses," Kadyrov said in an interview in the documentary. "But they knew where they were going, what they were getting involved in. They went there so we can live peacefully in Chechnya and all over Russia." The preview showed Kadyrov at a training camp in Chechnya where heavily-armed men were shooting at targets and completing obstacle courses. Chechen agents in the IS group "gather information about the structure and numbers of the terrorists and set targets for bombings," the documentary claimed. There was no way to immediately verify Kadyrov's claims. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a ground operation in Syria. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on what Kadyrov said. A source in the Chechen leadership told Interfax news agency on Tuesday that "there have been people from Chechnya in the conflict zone on the territory of Syria and Iraq since the emergence of IS." "These consist of self-organised groups of young men who aim to fight the terrorist organisation," the source said, adding that "none of them are members of the Russian armed forces or working for the interior ministry." Story continues IS fighters in December released a video showing the beheading of an ethnic Chechen man who had made a filmed confession that he worked for Russian special services to spy on IS in Syria. Kadyrov at the time conceded that Russian secret services were operating in Syria to "carry out missions to neutralise bandits", but said the execution victim was not working with them. At the same time, some Muslim Chechens and other Russians have gone to Syria to support the IS jihadists. According to figures released by Russia's FSB security service in December, nearly 2,900 Russians are fighting or have fought with the extremists in Iraq and Syria. Chris Christie at a town hall in Hudson, N.H., Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. (AP/Elise Amendola) DERRY, N.H. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that Ohio Gov. John Kasich inflated the number of his town halls and that he, Christie, had spent far more time interacting with voters over the past several months here in New Hampshire. The Kasich campaign claims that Kasich did 106 town hall meetings this year in New Hampshire, compared to Christies 72. Christie, in an interview on his campaign bus before greeting potential voters at a restaurant, scoffed at that number. If Kasich went out and spoke to these people, they counted it. If he went to a restaurant and shook hands and took a question? Town hall, Christie said. So, you know, we let John feel the way he feels, but we spent more days here. We did more events here. This is day 72 here. Slideshow: New Hampshire votes >>> Kasich has spent 69 days in the state. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has campaigned 54 days in the Granite State, CBS News reported. Christies town hall meetings are notable for their length and the number of questions that he takes. For example, he did four on Monday, with three lasting two hours and one going for about one hour. Slideshow: The battle for New Hampshire >>> Christie also took a shot at Kasichs campaign adviser, John Weaver, who had senior roles in the 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and is a controversial figure in Republican politics. Listen, its a Weaver operation, so theres nothing accurate about the numbers. Dont look at the man behind the curtain, Christie said. Weaver responded on Twitter: Maybe he might regret all that strategic brilliance that took him to Iowa & away from NH, Weaver wrote, adding the hashtag #eyeofftheball. @jonward11 Maybe he might regret all that strategic brilliance that took him to Iowa & away from NH. #eyeofftheball John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 9, 2016 And Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf said that a candidate attacking a staff member who he has never met says a lot more about that candidate that it does anything else. Story continues Christie claimed that his campaigns internal polling shows him doing better than public polling, which has him in sixth place. He said that since his takedown of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in Saturday nights debate, the atmosphere has really been electric. Everywhere I go the crowds have been much bigger. Every place I go, all they ask me about is the debate, Christie said. I feel really good today, he said, but admitted, I dont know what thats going to translate into. A cliffhanger race to lead the Philippines began Tuesday with emotion-charged rallies by a dead movie star's adopted daughter, a politician who brags about killing criminals and other top contenders. The three-month election campaign got under way with four aspirants standing a genuine chance of succeeding popular President Benigno Aquino, who is limited by the constitution to a single term. The Philippines has endured a turbulent democracy since emerging from the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship three decades ago -- with coups, corruption, celebrities and violence dominating politics. The run-up to the May 9 polls for president, as well as for thousands of other posts, promises more chaos and intrigue. The current presidential front-runner is Grace Poe, an inexperienced politician riding a wave of popularity among the tens of millions of poor for her adopted father, Fernando Poe Jnr. He became one of the nation's most loved actors by playing characters who championed the poor, then nearly translated that into political success by coming second in the 2004 presidential elections. - 'Bullies and oppressors' - Addressing supporters on Tuesday night at a Manila church venue that was a favourite setting for her father's films, Poe promised to fight for the millions of poor Filipinos who have largely not felt the benefits of strong economic growth under Aquino. "I stand before you today as a Filipino, a woman who knows how to fight bullies and oppressors, a leader with a heart that loves our country and people," Poe said, while repeatedly referring to her father. Poe, 47, began the presidential campaign as the front runner with about 30 percent support, according to two national surveys released in recent days. But opponents have petitioned the Supreme Court to disqualify Poe, arguing she cannot prove she is a "natural-born Filipino" because she does not know who her biological parents are. The Supreme Court could also disqualify Poe for failing to meet residency rules, because she spent many years living in the United States and gained US citizenship before renouncing it and returning home. Story continues If Poe is knocked out, with a court ruling expected during the campaign, the nation would be plunged into political turmoil with three contenders who are currently each polling about 20 percent support ready to pounce. Aquino, who has overseen growth averaging 6.2 percent since 2010 and won international applause for trying to fight corruption, wants to hand over to longtime ally Mar Roxas. However Roxas, 58, a US-educated investment banker from one of the nation's richest families, has consistently trailed in the polls. Analysts blame a lack of charisma and Roxas sought in his rally Tuesday to remedy his perceived inability to connect with the poor. "We will make sure that every family is free from hunger, free from fear and free to dream," Roxas, who served as interior and transport ministers in the Aquino government, told supporters in his home province of Capiz. - 'There will be blood' - Controversial populist politician Rodrigo Duterte, 70, who is making a spectacular charge for the presidency by vowing a ruthless crackdown on crime, headed to Manila's most famous slum to launch his campaign. Human rights groups have accused Duterte of running vigilante "death squads" that killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals during his many years as mayor of the southern city of Davao. In various public events, Duterte has acknowledged the existence of the death squads, boasted specifically of killing alleged drug traffickers and offered more of the same for the rest of the country. "There will be killings. There will be a lot of blood," Duterte said this week as he pledged to wipe the streets clean of criminals if he was president. The final major contender is Jejomar Binay, who heads the main opposition party and is the current vice president -- the nation's two top posts are elected separately. Binay, 73, has spent decades building a vast political machine but has had to endure a barrage of corruption allegations that have seen him lose his front-runner status. He denies all the allegations but some analysts expect the ombudsman to charge Binay with corruption during the campaign. Hillary Clintons attempts to blunt the popularity of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by painting herself as a progressive who likes to get things done has left some voters and observers confused about the core message of her second presidential bid. It now seems that frustration has spread to the former secretary of state herself. On Monday, Politico reported that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are unhappy with, among other things, her campaigns muddled message and are planning a major staff shake-up after the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night, where the former First Lady is expected to finish second to Sanders. Related: How Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright Misplayed Clintons Gender Card The Clintons are not happy, and have been letting all of us know that, one Democratic Party official told Politico. The idea is that we need a more forward-looking message, for the primary but also for the general election too. Theres no sense of panic, but there is an urgency to fix these problems right now. In an interview with MSNBC, Clinton said shed seen the report and remains very confident about her staff, but she didnt reject the idea of an overhaul. Were going to take stock, what works, what doesnt work. Were moving into a different phase of the campaign. Were moving into a more diverse electorate. Were moving into different geographic areas, she said. So, of course it would be malpractice not to say, OK, what worked? What can we do better? What do we have to do new and different that we have to pull out? Looking back at last weeks Democratic presidential debate, its not hard to see why Clintons camp is frustrated. She and Sanders spent much of the first hour bickering over what it means to be a progressive and who deserves to wear that title. Clinton mocked Sanders for appointing himself gatekeeper of the label and Sanders responded by highlighting Clintons ties to Wall Street. Story continues Related: Sanders Closes the Gap on Clinton and Cleans Up Against the GOP The exchange, while at times nebulous, was nonetheless a defining exchange in a Democratic race in which the leading candidates have veered to the left more than in any presidential campaign since 1972. Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, who dropped out last week after a dismal showing in Iowa, continually charged Clinton with leading from behind on several issues, including immigration, the Keystone XL pipeline and others. Clintons attempt to negate those charges has resulted in a severe course correction, with her seesawing between staking out liberal stances aimed specifically at the partys base and scolding Sanders for policy proposals that are just wishful thinking, as she described her rivals estimated $14 trillion healthcare plan. Related: Clinton Attacks Sanders $14 Trillion Health Plan as Wishful Thinking The tiptoe act has seemingly left Clinton unmoored to either the liberal or moderate camps and struggling to define the central rationale for her candidacy. Clinton and some surrogates have at times highlighted the goal of electing the first woman president, but comments by Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeline Alrbight chastising women who dont support Clinton have sparked a backlash. Contrast that with Sanders, whose message has been sharply focused on income inequality and the sins of the billionaire class. Talk of the staff shake-up, on the heels of last weeks Iowa caucuses, where Clinton managed to eke out a win victory over Sanders by a fraction of a percentage point, has some thinking back to 2008 when she was upset in the Hawkeye State and had to throw everything but the kitchen sink into winning the New Hampshire primary. She weighed turning over her staff after New Hampshire four years ago as well. David Axelrod, the chief architect of both of President Obamas White House campaigns, suggested on Twitter that the woes roiling Clintons camp come from the top. When the exact same problems crop up in separate campaigns, with different staff, at what point do the principals say, "Hey, maybe it's US?" David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) February 8, 2016 Any kind of reshuffle by Clinton will likely spark more doubts about her candidacy heading into Nevadas Democratic caucuses on Feb. 20. The nations former No. 1 diplomat is supposed to have the edge in the Silver State, thanks to its large Hispanic population. Nevada, along with the South Carolina primary on Feb. 27, are supposed to make up Clintons firewall and help deny Sanders the nomination. Recently, though, Clinton has begun to show signs of worry. Her campaign launched its first Spanish-language radio spot in Nevada on Friday, and Bill Clinton spent two days there last week to gin up enthusiasm. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Dominic Elliott LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Credit Suisse's higher fixed costs are one of several unintended consequences of the new rules governing banker pay. The Swiss bank is shrinking the proportion of annual bonuses it defers to 41 percent, from well over half in 2013. There's a clear rationale: boss Tidjane Thiam is trying to cut expenses, yet he can barely clamp down on pay because of awards made in previous years that keep coming due. To get an idea of Thiam's lack of flexibility, consider Credit Suisse's pay bill in 2014. Bonuses awarded for and paid in that year made up around 15 percent of the group's total compensation. The bulk of the rest consisted of fixed costs that included salaries, severance payments, pensions - and bonuses deferred from previous years. Put another way, even if Credit Suisse had paid no cash bonuses for its 2014 performance, its costs would have still eaten up 80 percent of its revenue. Graphic: Credit Suisse bonuses http://reut.rs/20jNUOp Deferrals became commonplace following the 2008 financial crisis because regulators rightly wanted to stop bankers waltzing off with a cash bonus if the trades that enabled it then went bad. But they have been hamstrung by two factors. Jittery markets have meant that the optimistic vision of banks paying deferred bonuses out of fatter profits further down the line hasnt panned out. And the European Union's bonus cap prevents banks from paying variable compensation of more than two times salaries, which has pushed up the fixed element of compensation and given institutions even less cost flexibility. From the perspective of a new bank chief attempting to incentivize his troops, deferrals are a pain for reasons other than income statement management. Employees tend to discount the value of their awards the more that they are delayed, PwC research has shown. The lack of flexibility makes it harder to give star recruits a reason to stay. This isnt just a Credit Suisse headache: Barclays deferred the entirety of its managing directors' variable compensation in 2014. Story continues Despite all this, Credit Suisse's gambit may not signal that deferrals days are numbered. Banks' new ability to cancel unvested awards using so-called "malus" provisions has given the industry a bit more control over how much they might ultimately have to hand over. More importantly, the one alternative approach that theoretically could displace deferrals may not fly. In the UK, banks are now legally obliged to do all they can to exercise clawback reclaiming bonuses already paid in the case of employee misconduct, error or risk-management failings. In theory, allowing banks to force employees to pay back their bonuses if their actions later prove to have damaged their employer seems reasonable. If it were to work smoothly, the need for deferrals wouldn't be so great. In practice, lawyers think clawbacks will be at best costly and at worst unworkable. Unlike malus, where the banks retain control of the unpaid awards, individuals facing clawback will often have already spent the money. It could cost banks almost as much to pursue them through the courts as they stand to gain. In European countries with tough labor laws, they could be unenforceable and encourage regulatory arbitrage. Graphic: Average compensation cost per employee at investment banks http://reut.rs/20jmF6B The good news is that banker pay is still falling. There are encouraging signs bosses increasingly understand that pay should be linked to performance - Thiam has asked the board to substantially reduce his bonus for 2015, while at Deutsche Bank the entire executive board is foregoing variable compensation. And while the EU bonus cap has almost certainly stopped pay falling as fast as it otherwise might, overall compensation has still dropped significantly. If average pay per employee for 2015 falls around 6 percent from 2014 levels as seems possible on the basis of those banks that have so far reported then industry per capita compensation will have fallen almost a third since 2007, reckons think thank New Financial. The average investment banker could still be awarded $278,000 in annual pay for 2015, according to New Financial. But a 2009 research paper by academics Thomas Philippon and Ariell Reshef implies this could change in time. Pay for U.S. bankers was still declining relative to other industries almost 50 years after the Wall Street crash of 1929, the pair found. Given the scale of the disconnect between banker pay and everyone elses, the industry's standing might improve if history were to rhyme. (On Twitter https://twitter.com/DominicElliott. Editing by George Hay and Sarah Bailey) Beirut (AFP) - A suicide car bombing killed nine people Tuesday at a police officer's club in the Syrian capital, a monitor said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 people were also wounded in the Damascus blast, adding that policemen were among the dead and injured. The monitor said the suicide bomber had been wearing a police uniform, a tactic used in the past by IS. The jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. It said one its members had detonated an explosives-laden car at a club for "criminal" police officers, and claimed that the attack had killed nearly 20 people and wounded 40. Syrian state television initially reported the blast had hit a vegetable market in the Masaken Barzeh district in northern Damascus. But it subsequently cited a source in the interior ministry saying a car had tried to ram into the police officer's club in the area, but was stopped by guards. "A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries," the state broadcaster reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said three people were killed and 14 wounded in the attack. Car bombs have been used regularly in Syria's war, often to devastating effect. While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month. More than 260,000 people have died in Syria's conflict since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. In the month of December, 32,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 2.4% month over month and down 22.6% from a total of 41,000 in December 2014, according to CoreLogic. The research firm notes that the current foreclosure inventory totals 1.1% of all homes with a mortgage in the United States, down from 1.2% in December of 2014. The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals approximately 433,000, compared with 568,000 in December 2014. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 23.8% compared with December a year ago. The four states and the District of Columbia with the largest foreclosed inventory as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (4.2%), New York (3.5%), Hawaii (2.4%), Florida (2.3%) and D.C. (2.3%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.3%), Arizona (0.4%), Colorado (0.4%) and Utah (0.4%). ALSO READ: Why Analysts Are Changing Tune on Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (79,000), Michigan (50,000), Texas (30,000), Ohio (24,000) and Georgia (24,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the prior 12 months through December were District of Columbia (81), North Dakota (220), Wyoming (541), West Virginia (560) and Alaska (700). CoreLogic's chief economist said: Reflecting on the full-year foreclosure results for 2015, we can see that completed foreclosures are down more than 20 percent for the year, which is the lowest level since 2006, before the crisis. Maryland, which can be described as a suburb of the solid D.C. market, led the way with a 59% decline in foreclosures in 2015. ALSO READ: The Next 11 States to Legalize Marijuana The company's CEO added: The supply of distressed inventory continues to shrink rapidly. While this is a positive for the housing market overall, it also drives a decline in the inventory of available for-sale homes. The lack of housing stock, particularly affordable inventory, is a growing issue and will limit a full housing recovery in the short to medium term. Story continues Of the 10 largest U.S. metro areas, the foreclosure inventory was highest in the New York area, at 3.4%. The Miami metro area's foreclosure inventory totaled 3.0% and the Las Vegas area had the third-highest total at 1.7%. The lowest totals were posted in the San Francisco (0.1%) area and in Denver (0.2%). ALSO READ: Gas Prices Rise to $4 in Parts of California Florida and Minnesota posted year-over-year declines of more than 30% in foreclosure inventory. Florida's foreclosure inventory has fallen 41% in the past 12 months and Minnesota's has dropped by 35.6%. According to CoreLogic, the current foreclosure rate of 1.1% is the same as the November 2007 rate, and the foreclosure inventory has declined every month for the past 50 months. Before the collapse in the housing market in 2007, the average number of foreclosures completed in a month was 21,000. Related Articles Just two weeks ago, it looked like the standoff at Oregons Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was nearly over. Eight of the armed occupiers whod seized the federal property had been arrested, and one had been shot and killed. Militia leader Ammon Bundy, one of those arrested, had called for the occupiers to disperse. Only four were left, and they were surrounded. On Tuesday, day 39 of the occupation, stalemate is back. And with Cliven Bundy possibly on his way to Oregon, its hard to imagine tensions will get lower any time soon. Related Story Why Police Shot the Oregon Occupier LaVoy Finicum Cliven Bundy is the patriarch of the family of anti-federal-government crusaders who became nationally famous when he got into a standoff of his own in Nevada in 2014. Federal Bureau of Land Management officials planned to move in and round up Bundys cattle, which had been grazing on federal land though hed refused to pay $1 million in grazing fees. They were met by armed men determined to stop them. Its not clear whether Cliven Bundy is actually going to Oregon. Michele Fiore, the Nevada state assemblywoman who has close ties to the movement against federal control, told Oregon Public Broadcasting the senior Bundy was traveling to Oregon with her. Bundy himself told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he hadnt decided. Recommended: Can America Put Itself Back Together? Whether or not he shows up, Cliven Bundys looming presence illuminates some things about the standoff as it exists today. As I noted early on, Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan, who were at the heart of the Oregon standoff, had learned some lessons from their fathers turbulent fight in Nevada. Despite being in clear and flagrant violation of the law during that Nevada standoff, Cliven Bundy had initially gained support from many national conservatives. But once he started offering racist soundbites, they abandoned him. Ammon Bundy was careful not do the same, with message for the most part carefully controlled. Story continues But what Ammon Bundy was attempting was more audacious. He wasnt just trying, like his father, to prevent federal agents from seizing his cattle on a remote ranch. He mounted an armed takeover of a federal wildlife center, complete with federal computers and federal vehicles, and demanded that Washington relinquish it. He did that in a state in which he didnt live, against the will of the local community. Since his arrest, Ammon Bundy has called on the four people remaining at the refuge to surrender. They have refused to do so, demanding that the FBI agree to let them leave without pressing charges. In a series of videos over the past few days, the holdouts have steadily escalated their rhetoric while refusing to back down. Theyre now espousing a kind of Fusion Bundyism, incorporating elements of both generations. Recommended: Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed Cliven Bundy, unlike his son, has encouraged the remaining occupiers to stay putthough he appeared ambivalent about the takeover when it first occurred. In a video released Sunday, David Fry, a 27-year-old Ohioan, says the FBI has told him the remaining gang will face additional charges for fortifying the site, which he identifies in the video as Camp Finicum, after LaVoy Finicum, the man shot and killed by police in January. Fry brags about using government vehicles (incorrectly identifying a Chevy HHR as a PT Cruiser), and then gets into a pickup truck. I want the FBI to see this, yknow, because this is how I want to say, Screw you. Piss off your little charges. Its a U.S. government vehicle. You see that? Its a U.S. government vehicle! I think Im gonna to take it on a joy ride, Fry says, getting increasingly agitated. Now you got another charge on me, FBI! I am driving your vehicle! (Theres some profanity in the video.) Fry and others remain upset about Finicums death. His funeral in Utah drew fellow travelers from hours around, but it remained peaceful. But the Bundy gangs supporters continue to argue that Finicum was shot with hands up. Thats hard to square with a video released by the FBI, which shows Finicum reaching for his jacket pocket before being shot; police said he had a loaded gun in the pocket. Shawna Cox, one of those arrested when Finicum was shot, also told The Oregonian that Finicum was running away from the vehicle, screaming, Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me. (Cox also accused law enforcement of murdering the man.) Recommended: The Math Revolution Given that they are a tiny group, besieged by federal officers, called on to quit by their erstwhile leader, and hated by the local community, the impetuousness of the remaining four seems even more delusional than it did in the early days, if thats possible. Is there anything to suggest the feds are close to their breaking point, and will simply give up and allow the occupation to keep the Harney County Resource Center, as they call it? But, this, too, might reflect the influence of Cliven Bundy. Bundy pere stood up to the BLM in Nevada, and he won: The BLM left, and Bundy still hasnt paid his fees. Federal officials have been understandably reluctant to head into Malheur with guns blazing, unwilling to risk a replay of Waco or Ruby Ridge, and they now seem content to wait out a siege on Malheur, especially with just the small, beleaguered remnant in place. Still, its hard not to wonder how much Cliven Bundys triumph in Nevada encouraged his sons and their supporters, creating an expectation that the federal government would easily roll over when challenged by a group of outlaws with guns. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. GETTY IMAGE Tom Brady and Donald Trump are friends. However, Tom Brady has not officially endorsed Donald Trump, and the Republican presidential candidate says its because he totally doesnt want Bradys endorsement. Sure. NESN reports on Trump telling a radio station that he doesnt want to burden Brady with having to get involved in politics for Trumps sake. Hes got sponsors, hes got all of his different things that he has to do. And I told him not to, he said. Related Links: As an example, Trump talked about Brady praising the candidate in a magazine article. Dont do that, because you may have a sponsor that doesnt like me,' he explained. They may be liberal, they may be something. And I dont want him to get involved in that stuff. Its hard for athletes. Well, if theres one thing that Brady and Trump have in common, its knowing how to make money, so that sounds somewhat plausible. Still, Brady shows his support by saying great stuff about Trump. Wait, I thought he wasnt supposed to do that because of his liberal sponsors. Whats going on here? Surely, Trump isnt full of crap with this story. And maybe if Trump loses in New Hampshire, hell reconsider this stance. (Via NESN) Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced a policeman to eight years in prison for beating to death a veterinary surgeon in custody, a judicial official said. Mohammed Ibrahim was tried on charges of killing the vet in November in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, and forging official documents to falsely accuse him of being a drug dealer. On Tuesday, the court in Ismailiya found him guilty and sentenced him to eight years in jail, the official said. Rights groups regularly accuse both the regular police and secret police of abusing and torturing detainees. In December, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that police officers found guilty of "committing mistakes" would be punished. Egyptian courts have since sentenced some policemen to jail terms in similar cases. A court in the Nile Delta city of Tanta sentenced two policemen in absentia to life in jail for killing Ismail Abdelhamid in October 2014. And two secret policemen were jailed for five years for beating to death a lawyer held in custody at a Cairo police station in February 2015. That verdict came two days after an officer got five years for beating to death a suspect in a drug case in the Nile Delta town of Rashid. Police abuses under former president Hosni Mubarak were a key factor in the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster. One trigger for the revolt was the case of Khaled Saeed, a young man tortured to death by police after his arrest in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Mubarak was succeeded in 2012 by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, who lasted just a year before his ouster by the army following massive rallies demanding his resignation. Morsi's overthrow unleashed a deadly crackdown on his supporters in which hundreds have been killed and thousands detained, and accusations of ill treatment in prisons are common. The interior ministry has said it does not condone torture, but admits that there have been "individual" cases of abuse. Recently recaptured drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is willing to plead guilty to drug-trafficking charges filed against him in the US but under one condition. He doesnt want to go to a high-security prison, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of Guzmans lawyers, told Univision last week. Guzman suggested to me the possible option of reaching an agreement with the United States government to consent to the extradition, Rodriguez told Peniley Ramirez in an exclusive interview with Univision his first time on camera in 36 years as a litigator. Rodriguez said that the jailed Sinaloa cartel chief is willing to accept his culpability for the charges [that] the United States seeks. [We would ask for] favorable conditions in order to face legal proceedings in the United States Like? That he doesnt arrive at a maximum-security prison and [that he gets there] after the penalty is negotiated, Rodriguez told Univision. Elaborating on the conditions under which Guzman would make this plea, Rodriguez told Univision that in order for Guzman to renounce [his] right to a defense in Mexico, he would ask for the following: that he not be held in a maximum-security prison where he would not have contact with other inmates or where he would not see the light of the sun for more than an hour a day. The request seems to refer to the conditions at the federal ADX prison, known as the supermax or the Alcatraz of the Rockies, in Florence, Colorado, where, according to The New York Times: Inmates spend their days in 12-by-7-foot cells with thick concrete walls and double sets of sliding metal doors (with solid exteriors, so prisoners cant see one another). Prisoners in the general population are allotted a maximum of 10 hours of exercise a week outside their cells, alternating between solo trips to an indoor gym (a windowless cell with a single chin-up bar) and group visits to the outdoor rec yard (where each prisoner nonetheless remains confined to an individual cage). Story continues The facility holds many of the USs most violent and well-known criminals in relative isolation. Rodriguezs description also matches one made by Jhon Popeye Vasquez, one of the surviving members of Pablo Escobars Medellin drug cartel. In August, Vasquez, Escobars chief hit man in the 1980s and 90s, said that such conditions would not be tolerable for a recalcitrant Mexican like El Chapo. But Vasquez was also confident that it would take 16 to 18 months to find Guzman it took a little less than six and that the drug lord would not be recaptured alive. 'H e refused to give information Throughout the interview, published on Saturday, Guzmans lawyer, Rodriguez, stressed that his client would not be 'on his knees during a discussion with US prosecutors, because Guzman has many resources to combat extradition. We are going to work the extradition [process] so that the United States doesnt find a man prostrate on his knees, begging for help, Rodriguez told Univision. So the American government sees that we have elements to win the extradition [case] in Mexico. Rodriguez admitted that the possibility of negotiations with the US had not been addressed with any US official or agency. But he did say that after Guzmans arrest on January 8, Mexican prosecutors had asked the kingpin to reveal names of Mexican-government officials who had been complicit with the Sinaloa cartel boss. Many in Mexico and elsewhere have long suspected that Guzman and his cartel had been acting with the support of elements within the Mexican government, the governing party of President Enrique Pena Nieto, the military or other security agencies, or some combination of all three. Theres a lot of speculation out there that hes got a lot of information on corrupt [military] officials, and other public officials, Marcos Jimenez, a former US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, told Business Insider the day after Guzmans recapture. The Mexican government may offer Guzman a deal that precludes extradition in exchange for information on corrupt officials, Jimenez added. I know that he was questioned on this point, Rodriguez said of his client, and he refused to give information. Watch Univisions exclusive interview (in Spanish) here. NOW WATCH: Watch newly released video of 'El Chapo being booked by Mexican authorities More From Business Insider Brussels (AFP) - European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker's flagship plan to stem Europe's migration crisis by redistributing refugees around the bloc risks crumbling as EU states balk at sharing the burden, diplomats, officials and experts have told AFP. Since adopting the scheme last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from frontline states Greece and Italy, European Union countries have moved at a snail's pace, taking in just 500 people. Having pushed through his pet project for easing a crisis that saw more than one million people flood Europe's shores last year, former Luxembourg premier Juncker last month vowed "not to give up" on the scheme. But two EU diplomats, an official from an EU country, an analyst, and a person working on relocation spoke of growing doubts the plan will succeed in the face of the reluctance of many governments in the 28-nation bloc. "I think people are afraid it's going to fail," one diplomat told AFP. "Some are losing hope and some are exploiting this loss of hope." European sources blame the delays on a series of factors: governments trying to screen jihadists in the wake of the Paris attacks, a lack of housing and education for asylum seekers, and logistical problems over chartering planes. - Discrimination - They say some countries are setting unacceptable conditions by refusing Muslims, black people or large families, with Eastern European states the worst for discriminating on religious or racial grounds. "They (other countries) ask us not to be black, they ask us not to be big families, they ask us for more security," Greece's interior minister for migration Yiannis Mouzalas said, adding that less than half of all EU states had offered relocation places. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been the most vocal eastern European opponent to admitting Muslims, saying in October that "Islam has never been part of Europe." Story continues The relocation plan is designed to help people fleeing the mainly Muslim war-torn countries of Syria and Iraq as well as the repressive east African state of Eritrea. In the wake of attacks like the Paris massacre, officials working on relocation said France, Belgium, Sweden were leading a "misplaced" push for stricter checks to weed out jihadists from the bona fide refugee. The scheme's failure so far means many migrants have lost confidence that they will be moved from Greece or Italy, and instead are making their own way to preferred destinations like Germany and Sweden. This is putting extra strain on the EU's passport-free Schengen area, in which several states have already reintroduced border checks. "On the whole the sentiment that is felt in this Brussels bubble is that this (relocation) plan will never really be properly implemented, that it has been too idealistic," an eastern European diplomat told AFP. - 'Recovery underway' - With cases such as the Cologne New Year sex assaults still in the headlines, the European Commission had also failed to communicate its ideas on how refugees would be integrated into their new countries, the diplomat added. "The only thing we see in central and eastern Europe are the experiences of the western European countries, which are absolutely horrible, especially as presented by the media," the diplomat said. Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Brussels-based Migration Policy Institute Europe, suspected EU countries were resisting the relocation quotas because they saw "no end in sight" to the migrant crisis. Instead, he urged the EU to commit to a large-scale scheme to directly take 500,000 people from Syrian refugee camps overseas in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, expanding it from the 20,000 Europe has so far pledged to take. The European Commission warned against writing off its migration policy. "President Juncker compared the situation we face now with the refugee crisis to the situation in 2010 with the financial crisis," a spokesperson told AFP. "Many speculated about the euro failing but five years later, recovery is underway and the EU is expecting two percent growth this year. The building blocks of a sustainable migration policy are now on the table, what is needed is implementation." By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Top European Union official Donald Tusk denounced Russian air strikes in Syria as helping the "murderous" government of President Bashar al-Assad and triggering fresh waves of refugees fleeing toward Europe. The war in Syria has made millions flee their homes and is one of the main drivers of Europe's worst migration crisis in decades. The influx has divided EU members, who cannot agree on how to tackle it. "Russia's actions in Syria are making an already very bad situation even worse," Tusk told in brief comments on greeting Georgia's new prime minister, Georgy Kvirikashvili, arriving in Brussels. "As a direct consequence of the Russian military campaign, the murderous Assad regime is gaining ground, the moderate Syrian opposition is loosing ground and thousands more refugees are fleeing toward Turkey and Europe," Tusk said. The Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no credible evidence of civilian deaths as a result of Russian air strikes in Syria. Most of the over one million refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe last year did so via Greece after embarking from the Turkish coast. Turkey, which already hosts more than 2.5 million of Syrian refugees, said tens of thousands more are now fleeing toward the Turkish border because of the assault on Aleppo by the Russian and Syria forces. The United Nations called on Turkey on Tuesday to open its borders to thousands of desperate Syrian refugees fleeing Aleppo, in line with its international obligations to protect people fleeing conflict or persecution. Peace talks between representatives of Assad and some opposition groups earlier this month failed mainly because of anger over Russia's intensified bombings. (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) London (AFP) - Britain's financial watchdog on Tuesday fined a former JP Morgan executive for failing to disclose concerns about the so-called "London Whale" affair that cost the bank $6.2 billion. Achilles Macris, ex-boss of the bank's international chief investment office in London, was fined A792,900 ($1.1 million, 1.0 million euros), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said in a statement. Macris "was responsible for a number of portfolios, including the Synthetic Credit Portfolio, at the time of what became known as the aLondon Whalea trades," the FCA said. The watchdog added that between March and April 2012, Macris did not inform regulators about concerns over the portfolio. "A failure to communicate openly with us can affect the well-running of markets and cause unnecessary harm to investors, especially in times of financial stress or crisis," said Mark Steward, the FCA's director of enforcement and market oversight. "Regulators need open communication with firms so that better decisions can be made sooner. "Mr Macris should have explained the position more squarely, especially when he knew the Synthetic Credit Portfolioas losses had worsened." The "London Whale" was Frenchman Bruno Iksil, a former JP Morgan trader whose massive gambles led to enormous losses of $6.2 billion in 2012. Back in July, the FCA dropped its probe of him without giving an explanation. JP Morgan declined to comment on the FCA fine. By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Damascus aims to secure Syria's border with Turkey and recapture the city of Aleppo with its latest military offensive, a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday. In an interview in her Damascus office, Bouthaina Shaaban held out little hope for diplomatic efforts to end the five-year civil war, telling Reuters proposals for a ceasefire were coming from states that "do not want an end to terrorism" and wanted to shore up insurgents who are losing ground. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, has launched a major advance in recent weeks near Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city, now divided between rebel- and government-held sectors. The offensive, one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five year civil war, has brought government forces closer than they have been in years to a border crossing with Turkey that has served as the main supply route into rebel-held territory. There would be no letup in an army advance, which aimed "to liberate cities and villages that were controlled by the terrorists for 3-1/2 years, and also an attempt to liberate the city of Aleppo from the crimes of terrorism", Shaaban said. Damascus intended "to control our borders with Turkey, because Turkey is the main source of terrorists, and the main crossing for them". The United Nations said on Tuesday it was worried about the fate of up to 300,000 people still living in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, who could be cut off from food supplies if the government advance succeeds in surrounding the city and blocking access from Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have fled the area, and Turkey, which has already taken in 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has so far mostly kept the border closed to them, despite U.N. calls to allow them to flee. Shabaan said Turkey was using the refugee crisis to blackmail European states, criticizing Ankara and its "Ottoman ambitions" as the prime cause of the war that has driven 11 million people from their homes and killed 250,000 people. The Syrian army and its allies have gained ground in recent weeks in the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo, which border Turkey to the north, and Deraa, which borders Jordan to the south. They have also advanced against Islamic State to the east of Aleppo. The advance helped derail the first peace talks in two years, which collapsed last week before they had begun in earnest, with rebels demanding a halt to bombardment - something the Syrian government criticized as pre-conditions for talks. International powers are expected to meet later this week to revive diplomacy, with Washington seeking a truce. MOMENTUM The gains have helped to tip the momentum Assad's way after Damascus lost ground last year to an array of insurgents in western Syria including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, other Islamist groups, and "Free Syrian Army" rebels that have received U.S. backing. The Syrian government describes all the groups fighting it as terrorists. "We hope that the operation will continue in the north until we control the borders and stop the terrorists who Turkey has since the start of the crisis worked to send to Syria," Shabaan added. Asked if military operations would continue at the same pace, she said: "Certainly, God willing". U.N.-led efforts to launch peace talks in Geneva last week were suspended as the government offensive gained ground. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura aims to reconvene the talks later this month. However, diplomats say they have little hope for a resumption of talks as long as the Russian-backed government offensive is under way full bore. Shaaban said she did not expect success for diplomacy, saying the problem remained one of foreign support for militants in Syria and if there had been "a real international desire" to end the problem the crisis would been resolved years ago. "The states that support terrorism in Syria, behind the financing and weapons, did not take a decision to halt this financing and arming, and therefore we do not see success for the diplomatic efforts", she said. Alongside Turkey, Saudi Arabia has been a major sponsor of the insurgency that grew out of an uprising against Assad's rule. Before the start of any negotiations, the opposition has demanded a halt to airstrikes and a release of detainees. The Syrian government has said it did not impose any preconditions and would not implement any preconditions before talks. U.S. officials have said Secretary of State John Kerry will push to secure an immediate ceasefire and aid for civilians ahead of a meeting of powers in Munich this week. Shaaban said: "I believe the talk of a ceasefire is to avoid the main thing that must be done, which is fighting terrorism." "As for talk of a ceasefire, it comes from states that do not want an end to terrorism in Syria, but which want to shore up the positions of those terrorists." She said Turkey was primarily responsible for the conflict and refugee crisis, because it "was the one that attacked Syria", and it was now seeking to gain from the issue by demanding membership of the European Union and financial incentives. "The solution to the refugee crisis is via the return of security to Syria, and I am confident that the majority of Syrians dream of returning to their country," she said. "What happened in Syria is a Turkish aggression, and therefore with all sincerity I say to the European and Western states that Turkey is the problem. The Erdogan government is the problem, and cannot be part of the solution." (Editing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood) Beirut (AFP) - The Syrian conflict, which began in March 2011 and has become more and more complex, has forced more than half of the country's inhabitants to flee their homes. The United Nations on Tuesday urged neighbouring Turkey to open its borders to the tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled a major government offensive backed by Russian air power. The main border crossing north of Syria's second city Aleppo remained closed, forcing huge crowds including women and children to sleep in tents or in the open. Here are some key facts on the exodus: - On January 12, 2016, the United Nations said that 13.5 million people, out of a pre-conflict population of 23 million, have been displaced. - Humanitarian aid continues to be blocked by warring parties, in particular in difficult-to-access areas or those besieged by the army or armed opposition. - The UN says that some 486,700 people currently live in regions besieged by the army or by rebels, with dozens dying of malnutrition and lack of medical care. However, on Tuesday, two non-governmental organisations said that more than one million Syrians in 46 localities are living under siege, mainly by the regime and its allies. - Some 4.7 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries. "It is the biggest population of refugees for a single conflict in a generation," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in July 2015, even before the staggering figure was reached. - Most of the refugees are in neighbouring countries, notably Turkey, which has become the biggest host country with between two and 2.5 million on its soil. It is followed by Lebanon with nearly 1.2 million, or more than a quarter of its own population. Roughly 630,000 people have taken refuge in Jordan, according to the UNHCR, but the authorities there put their number at more than a million. Some 225,000 Syrians have taken refuge in Iraq and 137,000 in Egypt. - The refugees are mired in poverty, health problems and growing tensions with local communities where they live in makeshift camps under extremely difficult conditions. - An increasing number make the perilous journey to Europe, at the hands of networks of traffickers. According to EU police agency Europol, around one million migrants -- mainly Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans -- arrived in Europe in 2015. - Syria's conflict has killed more than 260,000 people, according to Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. By Dustin Volz and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey said on Tuesday that federal investigators have still been unable to access the contents of a cellphone belonging to one of the killers in the Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino, California, due to encryption technology. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the phenomenon of communications "going dark" due to more sophisticated technology and wider use of encryption is "overwhelmingly affecting" law enforcement operations, including investigations into murder, car accidents, drug trafficking and the proliferation of child pornography. "We still have one of those killer's phones that we have not been able to open," Comey said in reference to the San Bernardino attack. Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, launched the Islamic State-inspired attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, at a social services agency in the California city, leaving 14 dead. Comey and other federal officials have long warned that powerful encryption poses a challenge for criminal and national security investigators, though the FBI director added Tuesday that "overwhelmingly this is a problem that local law enforcement sees." Technology experts and privacy advocates counter that so-called "back door" access provided to authorities would expose data to malicious actors and undermine the overall security of the Internet. A study from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard released last month citing some current and former intelligence officials concluded that fears about encryption are overstated in part because new technologies have given investigators unprecedented means to track suspects. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to provide a declassified response to the Berkman study within 60 days. Clapper agreed to the request. The White House last year abandoned a push for legislation that would mandate U.S. technology firms to allow investigators a way to overcome encryption protections, amid rigorous private sector opposition. But the issue has found renewed life after the shootings in San Bernardino and Paris. Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the intelligence panel, have said they would like to pursue encryption legislation, though neither has introduced a bill yet. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and Mark Hosenball; editing by Sandra Maler and G Crosse) (Reuters) - The Ferguson, Missouri, city council is to vote on Tuesday on a proposed agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to reform the city's police department after the 2014 shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer. Mayor James Knowles III said the vote is scheduled during a council meeting that begins at 7 p.m. CST. He declined to say what outcome he expected. The fatal shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, 18, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson exposed tension between the city government and the largely black community. Ferguson, near St. Louis, erupted into violent protests in 2014 after a grand jury chose not to indict the officer. It was one of a series of killings of black men, mostly by white police officers, that set off a nationwide debate about the use of police force, especially against minorities. A sharply critical report by the Justice Department last year documented discriminatory actions by Ferguson police and the municipal court system, especially against blacks. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the Ferguson Police Department would be required to give officers bias-awareness training and implement an accountability system. The department would need to ensure that police stop, search and arrest practices do not discriminate on the basis of race or other factors protected under law. The settlement would also require the city to change its municipal code, including sections that impose prison time for failure to pay certain fines and an ordinance used against individuals who do not comply with police orders. Last week, residents attended two city council meetings to weigh in on the agreement, and will have another chance to voice their opinion on Tuesday ahead of the vote. Also on Tuesday, a St. Louis County jury took just 15 minutes to acquit local pastor and activist Rev. Osagyefo Sekou of a charge of failing to comply with a police order during a September 2014 protest against the Brown shooting, said Njai Kamau, an assistant to Sekou's defense attorney Jerryl Christmas. Sekou was on his knees praying when he was arrested by the Ferguson police. (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alistair Bell) A dark stranger walks into a Scottish town trying to escape his past in Kaweh Modiris Western-inspired docu-fiction hybrid, Bodkin Ras. As usual with such fusions, the nonfiction elements hold considerably more emotional weight than whats been invented, resulting in a script imbalance that leaves an unsatisfactory taste in the mouth, despite the pics overall watchability. Bodkin will benefit from the current fad for such genre benders, resulting in scattered fest play. The premise is intriguing: Mystery man Bodkin Ras (Sohrab Bayat, the sole professional actor here) heads to Forres, in northeast Scotland, running from a crime gone awry in the Netherlands. The townspeople react with initial suspicion, but gradually hes accepted by a group of citizens with troubled pasts of their own. Modiri interweaves these fictional scenes with glimpses into the real lives of some of the inhabitants, mostly men with a history of alcoholism and sad stories to tell. Chief among them is Eddie Paton, a fence builder who hires Bodkin after the newcomer is sacked from a restaurant job. When not at work, Paton mostly spends his time at a pub called the Eagle, numbing himself in order to push away the demons that beset him. The rawness of Patons inner pain makes him by far the most captivating figure here, though its precisely this pain that calls into question the whole concept of docu-fiction: Blurring the line diminishes the genuine emotional pull of real trauma, so by equating a constructed narrative with documentary footage, the helmer merely rides the wave of fashion while allowing truth to drown in relativism. Its impossible to know how much is real with regard to the character of Lily (Lily Szramko), an independent-spirited teen whos desperate to leave town and return to her birthplace, London. Lily is drawn to Bodkins outsider vibe, and the two develop a relationship, though not along the lines described in the official websites synopsis, which must represent an earlier version of the project. Story continues Acting as a kind of narrator is James Red Macmillan, a weathered local whos seen the world and hints at a shadowy past filled with violence. Modiri is keen to push this darkness with its implication that evil may lurk somewhere inside us all, yet its all smoke and mirrors, full of veiled asides that amount to nothing apart from a general sensation of a town full of down-and-outers, on the edge of society. Iranian-Dutch actor Bayat maintains a hungry, sullen look throughout, proclaiming his outsider status at all times. Interactions with the non-professional cast are seamless, thanks to a commendable naturalism from the locals, who apparently are all playing themselves. Visuals are far too bouncy at the start but settle into an attractive, indie handheld aesthetic. Related stories Film Review: 'Last Land' Film Review: 'Suntan' Film Review: 'Beyond Sleep' By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Exposing sleeping people to a series of short flashing lights at night might help them adjust more quickly to time zone changes, according to a new U.S. study. In experiments, the technique which is based on the way non-visual parts of the brain respond to light was much more effective than sustained bright light similar to that from devices sometimes used to combat sleep disorders or seasonal depression. Jet lag itself is really a nuisance syndrome as it is self-resolving, said senior author Jamie Zeitzer, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Zeitzer was on the committee that removed jet lag as a "disease" from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the guide that psychiatrists use to diagnose mental illnesses. However, the treatments that are developed for jet lag can be used for less prevalent, though far more significant societal problems including delayed sleep in teens (in whom we have an ongoing clinical trial using the flash technique) and shift workers who try to flip between a night time schedule for work and a day time schedule for leisure, he told Reuters Health by email. The study included 39 people, 31 of whom were exposed to a series of two-millisecond light flashes with changing intervals while sleeping, and eight of whom were exposed to 60 minutes of continuous bright light. A series of flashes similar to a camera flash delivered every 10 seconds over a 60-minute period delayed sleepiness by two hours, compared to a 36-minute delay for those exposed to continuous light for an hour, according to the results published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. In essence, using the night before you traveled from California to N.Y. would move your circadian system two-thirds of the way there before you even left, Zeitzer said. Arriving in New York, you would be synced to the local time after one day, he said. The circadian clock is the central conductor of the many clocks that are found in nearly all tissues of your body, Zeitzer said. This clock remains synchronized with the external day through regular exposure to light. Nighttime flashes change the timing of the circadian clock, he said. For moving your system to a later time, such as would be necessary when traveling East-to-West, light during the first few hours of the night is ideal, he said. For moving your system to an earlier time, such as would be necessary when traveling West-to-East, light during the last few hours of the night is ideal. The night flashes require special technology and equipment, beyond just a smartphone, which are still in development, Zeitzer said. In a previous study, the short flashes of light at night did not interrupt sleep or reduce its quality, he added. This is one of the real advantages of this system - you can change circadian timing while you sleep, without interfering with sleep, he said. Mistiming light therapy can make jet lag worse, cautioned Anna Wirz-Justice, professor emeritus at the Center for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, who was not part of the new study. As for frequent flyers trying this themselves, it is far too early neither the methodology is available outside research, nor any guidance about safety, nor tests of simulated jet lag in an appropriate realistic protocol, Wirz-Justice told Reuters Health by email. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1nYsDhD Journal of Clinical Investigation, online February 8, 2016. Chicago (AFP) - Replacing 15,000 lead pipes is the only way that residents of Flint, Michigan can feel safe again in the wake of a tainted water scandal, the US city's mayor said Tuesday. "We have been emotionally traumatized and we need new pipes," Mayor Karen Weaver told reporters. "That's the only way the community is going to have confidence in what's going on." Officials are accused of ignoring months of foul-smelling and discolored water, even as residents complained it was making them sick and tests showed elevated lead levels. It wasn't until a local pediatrician published evidence of a huge spike in lead poisoning among Flint children in October that state officials admitted the water was unsafe to drink. Residents of the predominantly poor and black city of 100,000 have been using bottled water ever since. Weaver said crews could begin pulling out pipes within a month if she is able to secure the $55 million needed to replace 550 miles (885 kilometers) of aging, corroded lead pipes with new copper pipes. The work could be completed in about a year. Lead exposure can have devastating impacts on young children by irreversibly harming brain development. It has been shown to lower intelligence, stunt growth and lead to aggressive and anti-social behavior. Governor Rick Snyder -- who is facing calls to resign over his handling of the crisis and has declined requests to testify before a congressional panel investigating the scandal -- has pledged to address the damage done in Flint. But he has not yet supported calls to immediately begin replacing the pipes, saying that the short-term solution is to restore a protective coating that stops the corrosion. That simply won't work for Flint, Weaver said. "We will never be confident that the biofilm has built back on. That's a tough one for us," she told reporters. The cash-strapped city was reportedly hoping to save $5 million over two years by drawing water from the Flint River beginning in April 2014 rather than continuing to buy it from nearby Detroit. Story continues The US Justice Department launched an investigation into the crisis last month and Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette has also launched an independent investigation. He told reporters Tuesday that the former prosecutors and FBI agents leading the investigation will determine if any laws were broken. They will also be investigating whether the poisoned water could be blamed for any deaths, which could lead to involuntary homicide charges, special prosecutor Todd Flood said. When asked if Snyder could be exempt from the investigation due to executive privilege, Todd said: "No one can get away from a crime." Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala died in Kathmandu aged 77 after a bout of pneumonia, his doctor told AFP Tuesday. Koirala, who was Nepal's premier from February 2014 to October 2015, faced heavy criticism for his government's sluggish response to a massive quake that devastated the Himalayan nation last April, killing nearly 9,000 people. He suffered from chronic bronchitis and was diagnosed with pneumonia last week his doctor, Kabirnath Yogi, said. "He was taking medicines and was even showing improvements yesterday. But at 11 last night his condition suddenly deteriorated," said Yogi, an associate professor at Kathmandu's Teaching Hospital. "He passed away at 12.50 before the ambulance arrived," Yogi said. Koirala headed the country's biggest political party, the Nepali Congress, and was tasked as premier with writing a long-delayed new constitution to complete a stalled peace process and bring stability to the war-torn nation. The constitution, which was passed in September, was meant to cement peace and bolster Nepal's transformation from a Hindu monarchy to a democratic republic after a decade-long Maoist insurgency. But it has instead sparked violence, with more than 50 people killed in clashes between police and ethnic minority demonstrators protesting against the charter, which they say leaves them politically marginalised. When he was in his 30s and exiled with his family in India, Koirala was involved in hijacking a plane believed to be carrying boxes of cash, which he and his relatives wanted to use to fund the Nepali Congress. He spent three years in an Indian jail over the crime, which was masterminded by senior Congress leader and relative G.P. Koirala. At the time, Nepal was run under a party-less "panchayat" system overseen by a monarchy that had overthrown a short-lived democratically elected government in 1960. Koirala had a long history of poor health, undergoing radiotherapy for lung cancer in 2014 and surgery for tongue cancer 10 years ago. Walking Dead co-creator Frank Darabont is not done haunting AMC over his termination as showrunner during the middle of the second season. On Tuesday, a New York Supreme Court justice decided to allow his amended complaint seeking a larger cut of the hit zombie show's profits. Along with his agents at CAA, Darabont is accusing AMC of shortchanging him tens of millions in contingent profit participation by producing the series and then licensing it to its cable network affiliate for not enough. AMC argues it negotiated the right to set an imputed license fee. Last August, Darabont amended his lawsuit to add an additional claim that AMC improperly reduced his profit share in another way. As the one who first developed Walking Dead and brought it to AMC, Darabont was entitled to get as much as 10 percent of profits from the series, but because he didn't complete the second season as a full-time executive producer, AMC only counted him as three-quarters vested, meaning he only got 7.5 percent. Darabont's lawyers argue he nonetheless worked on all the episodes of the second season and that the contract, or the intention of the contract, didn't mean he had to working full time on the show by the time the second cycle had completed. Because the contract doesn't firmly favor AMC on this point, Justice Eileen Bransten said during the hearing that she was going to deny a motion to dismiss. AMC's attorneys tried to point to Darabont's acknowledgement during his deposition that he wasn't providing full-time showrunner services after July 27, 2011, that in instances where a deposition conflicts with a pleading, a judge had the authority to dismiss the claim. Bransten wasn't impressed, particularly by some late arguments not found in the motion papers. She said, "I've made my decision," but did promise to go over everything again to see if there was the need for reconsideration. At the hearing, Bransten was clearly unhappy with AMC, using words like "annoying" and "manipulative" in addressing its attorneys, with reference to scheduling in the dispute now entering its third year. The discovery process is supposed to end in a few weeks, but AMC has brought legal proceedings in California to compel the appearance from another witness. The two sides also have yet to do mediation, which is standard in cases of this nature. Darabont's lawyers told the judge they were ready for it. An AMC spokesperson gave THR this statement: "For purposes of this motion, the Court was legally bound to accept Frank Darabonts factual assertions as true, so the standard for dismissal at this stage was very high. We look forward to revisiting these matters when the Court is permitted to review the complete record." Paris (AFP) - The French Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a three-month extension of a state of emergency imposed after the November jihadist attacks that claimed 130 lives in Paris. The upper house of parliament voted 316 to 28 to extend the measure until late May, with the National Assembly expected to follow suit next Tuesday. The state of emergency legislation, dating to 1955 and modified in November, strengthens police powers, waiving the requirement for warrants in conducting searches, banning public gatherings and placing suspects under house arrest. It was imposed by executive decree in the wake of the November 13 attacks, then approved by parliament until February 26. On Monday, the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, voted in favour of enshrining in the constitution the process of declaring a state of emergency. It is one of a series of amendments to the constitution that the Socialist government wants to introduce. On Tuesday, lawmakers are to vote on the more controversial measure of stripping French nationality from dual nationals convicted of terror offences. France's Human Rights League, one of many bodies now questioning the efficacy of the harsher measures, has noted that very few of the raids carried out under the current state of emergency since November have led to terrorism-related probes. According to figures released Tuesday, 3,336 searches have been carried out, of which 28 have led to such probes, the bulk of them for "defending terrorism". The dissenters in Tuesday's Senate vote included communists and a handful of green senators. SILICON SLOPES, UT--(Marketwired - February 08, 2016) - Today Domo announced that retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal will keynote Domopalooza 2016. General McChrystal joins the event's all-star lineup featuring NBA Hall of Fame athlete and business phenomenon Earvin "Magic" Johnson and award-winning musical artist, Flo Rida. More announcements are coming soon. In 2015, McChrystal released "Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World," a New York Times bestseller that outlines how the management of incredibly high-stake, dynamic situations that he and his co-authors confronted in the military can apply to corporate America. When McChrystal takes the Domopalooza stage, he will share those leadership and management lessons. The retired four-star general will also provide insights into how organizations of all kinds need to be quicker, flatter and more communicative to become a "team of teams" rather than a handful of bureaucratic silos. McChrystal is the former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan, where his command included more than 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries, and the former commander of the nation's premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He is currently a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where he teaches a course on Leadership in Operation. He also sits on the board of the Service Year Alliance, Navistar International Corporation and JetBlue. In 2013, McChrystal published his memoir, "My Share of the Task," which was a New York Times bestseller. "Today business is moving at breakneck speed with time being one of the most competitive weapons for decision makers," said Josh James, founder and CEO of Domo. "In today's complex business environment, General McChrystal's "team of teams" concepts are extremely apropos. We're thrilled to have General McChrystal sharing his incredible experiences and powerful insights with our customers." Domopalooza, Domo's annual customer event, is designed to educate, inform and inspire Domo's fast-growing community of users from the world's most progressive organizations and most recognizable brands. Now in its second year, it is being held March 21-23 in Salt Lake City. Event attendees will gain new insights on how to best leverage Domo, their growing universe of business data and industry best practices to operate more efficiently and effectively to improve business results. In 2015, Domopalooza attracted more than 1,300 attendees who were director level and above across organizations ranging from mid-sized corporations to worldwide enterprises. Domo anticipates that number to grow to 2,000 senior-level attendees this year. To register and stay up-to-date on Domopalooza, visit Domopalooza's event page. About Domo Domo is a cloud-based business management platform that transforms the way business is run. Domo gives CEOs and decision makers across the organization the confidence to make faster, more effective decisions and improve business results by giving them one place to easily access all the information they need. With more than $450 million in funding, Domo is backed by an all-star list of angels and investors including Benchmark, BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity Investments, Founders Fund, GGV Capital, Glynn Capital, Greylock Partners, IVP, salesforce.com, TPG Growth, T. Rowe Price, WPP and Zetta Venture Partners, plus CEOs of the world's largest SaaS and Internet businesses. Domo's founding team consists of some of the most sought after talent in the industry with experience that includes Amazon, American Express, Ancestry.com, eBay, Endeca, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, MLB.com, Omniture, salesforce.com, SuccessFactors and SAP. For more information, visit www.domo.com. You can also follow Domo on Twitter,Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest. Domo and Domopalooza are trademarks of Domo, Inc. Frankfurt (AFP) - TUI, the world's biggest tourism group, said Tuesday that it seen bookings to Turkey drop by 40 percent in the wake of the Istanbul attack, but hopes to meet its 2016 goals nevertheless. "TUI has recorded a decline in demand for Turkey, with summer 2016 bookings to that destination currently down by around 40 percent," the group said in a statement. Eleven German tourists were killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January, an attack blamed on the Islamic State group. However, TUI insisted that it been able to respond quickly and offer customers alternative destinations. "Our own hotels in destinations outside Turkey such as Spain and in particular the Canaries are benefitting from this shift in demand," said chief executive Fritz Joussen. "Based on current trading ... we remain convinced that we will be able to deliver the announced growth" of at least 10 percent in underlying profit for the full financial year, Joussen said. TUI runs its business year from October to September and CEO Joussen said that the new year had gotten off to a good start in the first quarter. "TUI group has delivered a good start to the new financial year with a strong first quarter performance," he said. While the group's net loss widened to 164 million euros ($184 million) in the period from October to December from 136 million euros a year earlier, largely due to writedowns on its stake in container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd, the underlying loss narrowed to 97.3 million euros, it said. At the same time, revenues were up 5.4 percent at 3.718 billion euros in the three-month period, TUI said. Frankfurt (AFP) - Germany clocked up its highest-ever trade surplus in 2015 as both exports and imports powered ahead to new records, official data showed on Tuesday. German exports jumped by 6.4 percent to 1.196 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) in the whole of 2015 and imports advanced by 4.2 percent to 948 billion euros, the federal statistics office calculated. That meant that the trade surplus -- the balance between exports and imports -- grew to 247.8 billion euros, its highest-ever level, from 213.6 billion euros a year earlier, the statisticians said. The trade surplus is a key gauge of an economy's comparative strength and underlines the robustness of Europe's biggest economy amid the current global economic uncertainties. German-made goods were in strong demand all over the world last year, with exports to the EU rising 7.0 percent and exports to other countries rising 5.6 percent, Destatis said. Within the EU, exports to the eurozone climbed by 5.9 percent, while exports to European countries outside the single currency area grew by 8.9 percent. In December alone, however, both exports and imports declined by 1.6 percent in calendar- and seasonally-adjusted terms, meaning that the trade surplus contracted slightly to 19.4 billion euros, Destatis said. Happy Safer Internet Day! Wait, you had no idea it was Safer Internet Day? And you say you dont even know what Safer Internet Day is? As noted on the Safer Internet Day website, its a day each year in February that Insafe organizes to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people across the world. Online security is a hugely important topic, needless to say, so BGR fully endorses this great annual event. Guess who else endorses it: Google. The worlds top Internet company is celebrating this event in a few different ways, the most widely publicized of which has been a simple offer that will get you an extra 2GB of Google Drive cloud storage for free if you perform a quick security check. But Google has also just announced two new Gmail features that are aimed at keeping you and your private data safe. UP NEXT: 5 secret features hiding inside your iPhone Gmail is one of the most secure options out there as far as widely available free email services go. It supports encryption, authentication, suspicious activity detection and more in an effort to ensure that your private messages remain private. But as Google noted on Tuesday in a post on the Gmail blog, it takes two to tango all of these secure features go out the window if the person youre communicating with isnt also using a secure system. Beginning today, users will notice something new when they compose emails on the Gmail website. When you try to send an email to a person whose email service provider does not use TLS encryption, youll see a broken lock in the address bar. Clicking that lock will explain the risk, as seen in the following GIF: ei1fbshBK24_0YxjweZkxGrqRhwaCrkHH7yEoAkjbDnlp2yO9xpMyPlR21YI1CqPREMsPQ=s2048 On top of that, youll now see a question mark over the senders profile photo in the event that you receive a message that cannot be authenticated. pNBdQQOoRa2zfcC1GPZYtIKF1TDxVxzBv56YiLY0N9N7h2Xtx0A8MxpHubzFpXvMN6V_KNkK12O032D9gk8VuWhkuvE=s2048 You can learn more about both of these new security measures in Googles blog post. Related stories Story continues How to get 2GB of free cloud storage from Google right now Forget Android N, 'Nexus' VR hardware and Android VR might steal the show at Google I/O Google found a new way to keep you safe in its latest Chrome update More from BGR: The worlds largest solar plant will soon deliver enough power for over 1 million homes This article was originally published on BGR.com New York (AFP) - US banking giant Goldman Sachs is weighing cost cuts to deal with a slowing global economy, its chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said Tuesday. A person with knowledge of the situation said Goldman intends to slash at least five percent of its total workforce this year. Speaking a day after Goldman shares plunged 4.6 percent amid rising market worries over credit quality in banks, Blankfein said that the bank can "absolutely do a lot more on the cost side if we have to." "We take a particular and energetic look at continued cost cuts when revenues are stalled.... Necessity is the mother of invention," he said at a Credit Suisse financial services forum in Miami. Despite reducing staff among its traders and bankers, Goldman has been forced to boost its workforce to deal with new regulatory requirements. The number of those employees rose 11 percent from 2012 to 36,800 by the end of 2015, the bank said. According to the informed source, Goldman's job axe will fall most sharply in its fixed-income products, such as bonds, currencies and commodities activities, where 10 percent of the staff will lose their jobs. Big banks have been under pressure to rein in budgets as the economic slowdown heightens worries about deteriorating credit quality, particularly as energy companies grapple with the sharp decline in oil and gas prices. Bank stocks have sunk in recent weeks, with Goldman shares almost 18 percent lower since the start of the year. Over the weekend, North Korea earned further worldwide scorn after it tested a highly technical long-range rocket system. Pyongyang claimed that the test was part of a peaceful and benign space program. However, the rogue regimes latest launch is almost assuredly a cover for testing a ballistic and nuclear weapons program. Gordon Chang, writing for The Daily Beast, notes that the satellite system that North Korea claims to have launched over the weekend would weigh essentially as much as a nuclear warhead. This satellite launch could thus dovetail with Pyongyangs claimed successful testing and detonation of a miniaturized hydrogen bomb. Although there is still no indication that North Korea would be able to develop missile and nuclear warheads en masse, let alone successfully deploy them beyond tests, this latest rocket launch is alarming. Firstly, the missile had a range of 10,000 kilometers. A missile with such a range could hypothetically target large portions of the continental United States. In October, Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, assessed that North Korea has the capability to reach the [US] homeland with a nuclear weapon from a rocket, The Guardian reported. Gortney also warned in an April 2015 news conference that he was confident that, according to a Pentagon assessment, Pyongyang would be able to place miniaturized nuclear warheads on its KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile. However, Gortney did qualify this assessment. Should one get airborne and come at us, Im confident we would be able to knock it down, he told reporters. Secondly, each launch that North Korea attempts furthers the regimes military capabilities. Chang notes that previously it took Pyongyang weeks to prepare, assemble, calibrate, and carry out a missile launch giving the US and neighboring nations plenty of time to prepare for the test. Story continues The latest launch, however, only took a day. The Taepodong [missile] is still an easy target before launch, but once it reaches the edge of space it becomes fearsome, Chang writes. It has the range to make a dent in more than half of the continental United States. If its warhead is nuclear and explodes high above the American homeland, an electromagnetic pulse could disable electronics across vast swatches of the country. In the face of such a challenge, the US has agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to South Korea. The missile system is able to knock enemy missiles out of the sky, hopefully limiting the utility of any long-range missiles in North Koreas arsenal. The decision to deploy THAAD missiles has been an ongoing point of discussion between South Korea and the US since at least last October. By the end of 2016, the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is scheduled to deliver an additional 48 THAAD interceptors to the US military, bringing the total up to 155, according to a statement from MDA director Vice Admiral J.D. Syring before the House Armed Service Committee. According to the US Missile Defense Agency, there are more than 6,300 ballistic missiles outside of US, NATO, Russian, and Chinese control. Other US partners around the globe are interested in purchasing THAAD. NOW WATCH: Meet Americas THAAD: One of the worlds most advanced missile-defense systems that has China spooked More From Business Insider BERLIN (Reuters) - Yanis Varoufakis, who as Greece's finance minister last year tried to defy German-backed austerity policies, launched a pan-European movement in Berlin on Tuesday that he said aimed to "democratize" the continent. Varoufakis kicked off his "Democracy in Europe Movement 2025" (Diem25) at the historic Volksbuehne theater, a venue well-known for its leftist political activism and its role in the former East Germany's peaceful revolution. "We've chosen Berlin precisely because nothing can change in a progressive direction without the full participation of Germany in our European endeavors," Varoufakis told a news conference in the packed, red-walled theater auditorium. His remarks contrast sharply with his behavior during last year's fraught five-month negotiations over another financial bailout for Greece. Back then, his fiery language alienated many of his euro zone colleagues and he frequently clashed with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. A self-described "erratic Marxist", motorbike-riding Varoufakis riled the Germans when comparing the rescue package to the Versailles Treaty, which forced crushing reparations on Germany after World War One and led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Varoufakis quit as finance minister last July after refusing to accept the terms of a third bailout for Greece which imposed further tough austerity measures. On Tuesday, drawing parallels between the Europe of the 1930s and the present day, Varoufakis said the continent was stuck in a vicious circle of bad policy and ruled by "authoritarian technocrats". Varoufakis called for more European integration while also demanding sovereignty for each nation state, but he declined to provide any policy proposals and made clear his new movement would mainly be a forum for sharing ideas. He did not say whether he hoped to turn it into a party and contest elections. In its manifesto, Diem25 says it aims to "bring about a fully democratic, functional Europe by 2025". It had the support of some 2,400 people on its website on Tuesday afternoon. (Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Gareth Jones) Apple has a high regard for security and secrecy, but that doesnt mean hackers have simply given up the dream of accessing this particular fortress. In fact, a new report says that in Ireland, hackers are ready to pay up to 20,000, or approximately $23,000, to Apple employees willing to sell their login details. DONT MISS: 5 secret features hiding inside your iPhone Youd be surprised how many people get on to us, just random Apple employees, a source told Business Insider. You get emails offering you thousands [of euros] to get a password to get access to Apple. I could sell my Apple ID login information online for 20,000 (15,000 / $23,000) tomorrow. Thats how much people are trying. A former Apple employee confirmed that hackers did contact staff, offering them money in exchange for access to login details or other sensitive information. Its not clear what theyre looking to steal once inside Apples servers, or whether theyd actually be able to do any harm. They look for someone who has jumped diagonally into a junior managerial position, so not a lifer working their way up, and not a lifer who has been there a long time, the second source said. Apparently, Apple has launched an internal program to combat this problem. The project is called Grown Your Own but its not immediately clear what exactly the code name refers to. The sources also revealed that Apple is very, very careful and that its hard for anyone to get access to Apples systems without authorization. You have to have a particular coded badge to get into the building at Apples headquarters in Cork, Ireland, one of the sources explained. Related stories 11 paid iPhone apps on sale for free today What Apple fans hate most about Apple right now 5 secret features hiding inside your iPhone More from BGR: The worlds largest solar plant will soon deliver enough power for over 1 million homes This article was originally published on BGR.com Concord (United States) (AFP) - Jamie Labrie says he is a proud Republican who admired former president George W. Bush. This time around, Donald Trump is getting his vote and, like many in New Hampshire, Labrie is keen to have his voice heard. Labrie, a 38-year-old trained metal worker, says he is worried about the economy, and he thinks a man who's made billions in international real estate has the answers. "For lack of a better word, balls," Labrie told AFP outside a church in Concord, on his way to vote Tuesday in New Hampshire's largest city Manchester, when asked about his choice. Like many in the Granite State, the first in the nation to hold a presidential primary, Labrie was excited about being part of the process Tuesday -- and thrilled at the chance to have an early influence on the 2016 White House race. "I think it's every citizen's duty. That's my feeling on it. You can't complain if you didn't vote," he said. In New Hampshire, a small state in the northeastern United States, voters can register as a Democrat, Republican or an independent allowed to vote for anyone. Labrie said he also admires Bush's younger brother Jeb, who wants to follow his father and brother into the White House, but is weary of career politicians. "America's the biggest business on the planet and the fact that he's one of the most successful businessmen on the planet, helps," he said of the 69-year-old Trump. - Jazzed - Inside St John's Church in Concord, office manager Lauren Flieder is stand-in moderator for a ward of 2,620 registered voters but expects to sign another 200-400 up on the spot. "It's a fun day, everyone's all jazzed for it," she told AFP in the warmth of the church hall, the snow covering the ground outside. "We're all about voting and getting everyone voting. It's very exciting when we have a first-time voter." Flieder plans to ring through the ward's tally to headquarters shortly after 7:00 pm, then kick back and watch the results trickle in late into the night over a glass or two. Story continues "A few of us will go back to my house and have a cocktail and lament about the day, and how great we did and how nice it is to have it all done," Flieder said. Ohio Governor John Kasich captured the imagination Tuesday by winning the midnight vote in the tiny community of Dixville Notch, which since 1962 has picked the Republican who goes on to win the nomination. Beth Sargent, a middle aged volunteer for the Kasich campaign who works in government relations, laughed as she held up a placard. "I want him to win," Sargent said, bundled into a cream jacket and purple gloves. "I think he'll make good decisions for the country. I think he can bring the Congress together. Kasich, former governor Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are snapping at the heels of Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the polls, hoping to beat frontrunner Trump or finish in second place. "They've been here for months, all the governors have, so I think that they could definitely have an opportunity to win," said Sargent. - Love it - But indicative of the divisions in the state, Hillary Clinton volunteer Ruth Smith said she would never be happy with a Republican in the White House. She went to see Kasich on the campaign trail, and says she thought to herself, "If he's one of the best ones, we're in big trouble." A fundraiser for a non-profit who lives in the picturesque town of Canterbury, she plans to attend Clinton's results party in the evening. "I totally love it," she said of the extraordinary opportunity in New Hampshire to meet the candidates and vote early, potentially making or breaking the presidential dreams of many. "I actually will not vote for someone whose hand I haven't shaken. And that's kind of a cool thing to be able to do," Smith said. She believes Clinton and her self-styled democratic socialist rival Bernie Sanders want the same things, but that he is unelectable even if, as expected, he carries the Democratic vote in New Hampshire. "If Bernie wins the nomination in November, we will have a Republican president -- I firmly believe that," she said. "This country is huge and diverse, and there's a lot of people who would just do, I don't know what, before they vote for a socialist." Robert Bundy disagreed. A retired power plant operator, Bundy called for campaign finance reform outside a polling station in Concord with a "No PAC Rats ALLOWED!" poster. "I'm for Bernie because his policies align with everything that I care about, so I have no problem supporting that man," he said. Los Angeles (AFP) - "Happy Birthday to You," often considered the most popular song in the world, looks finally set to be free for everyone to sing. After prolonged legal wrangling, US publisher Warner/Chappell Music agreed to pay $14 million in a settlement that would effectively end its claims to the song's copyright. The dispute began in 2013 after makers of a low-budget film on the history of "Happy Birthday to You" balked at the $1,500 the publisher demanded for the song's use. The filmmakers filed a class action suit on behalf of people who paid to use the song, which became widely known in the United States a century ago and has since spread globally. In a settlement submitted to a federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, the publishing house, which is part of the Warner Music conglomerate, agreed to pay $14 million and end its efforts to collect royalties for the song. "By declaring the song to be in the public domain, the settlement will end more than 80 years of uncertainty regarding the disputed copyright," the settlement submitted by plaintiffs to the court said. The deal needs a judge's approval, which is likely because both sides are in agreement. - Millions collected in royalties - While the publisher was not chasing down birthday party revelers to seek payment, it had routinely asked for compensation for films, television shows and recordings seen as making money on the song. The settlement said that $14-16.5 million represented the estimated amount that Warner/Chappell would have earned through 2030, the earliest date at which its disputed copyright would end. The filmmakers' lawyers would pocket one third of the settlement money -- $4.62 million -- with the rest divided among people who had paid to use "Happy Birthday to You." The settlement enables the publisher to avoid a potential trial at which it would risk being ordered to pay far more. The plaintiffs said they saw the agreement as a victory and decided to settle to avoid further costs. Story continues The filmmakers had partly won the case in September, when a judge ruled that Warner/Chappell did not hold a legitimate copyright to the song. But he stopped short of declaring the song in the public domain, leaving open the possibility that others may hold the copyright and setting the stage for a trial. - Disputed origins - "Happy Birthday to You" is among the most recognizable songs in history. Famous performances range from Marilyn Monroe's sultry singing for President John F. Kennedy to a version performed by NASA's Curiosity rover to celebrate one year on Mars. Both sides in the court case generally agreed that the song was put to paper in 1893 by Patty Hill, a kindergarten instructor in Kentucky, with her sister Milfred, although some say the melody came earlier. Schoolchildren would sing the tune, which was initially entitled "Good Morning to You." The dispute centered on who put the "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics to the melody. Jessica Hill, another sister, published the lyrics in 1935 in a copyright that was bought decades later by Warner/Chappell, but the plaintiffs countered that the tune had already been widely in public use. The case is the latest high-profile dispute regarding song copyright. Last year, a judge controversially ordered Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke to pay more than $7 million to the family of Marvin Gaye for alleged similarities between their 2013 smash hit "Blurred Lines" and the late Motown legend's "Got to Give It Up." She is called the Nostradamus of the Balkans, and with good reason. Baba, Vanga, the blind Bulgarian clairvoyant, who died 20 years ago, is believed to have predicted the rise of the ISIS, the fall of the twin towers, the 2004 Tsunami, and the global warming, among a host of other events. Horror, horror! The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds. The wolves will be howling in a bush and innocent blood will gush, is, according to her followers, what she said about the fall of the twin towers. Born as Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova, in Strumica, Macedonia, Baba Vanga, mysteriously lost her eyesight when she was 12, during a massive storm. She went missing for a few days, and it is during one of these days, that she had her first vision. Baba Vanga rose to popularity as she started to make predictions, and developed a healing touch, during the World War II. Several dignitaries visited the mystic during the years that she was active, including the Bulgarian tsar, Boris III. Before she died in 1996 from breast cancer, she had said that her gift would be passed on to a 10 year old girl, living in France, who will then take on from her. Her house has since been converted into a museum. Here are 13 predictions that the Blind Baba made for 2016 and beyond: Barack Obama will be the last president of the US: Baba Vanga had predicted that the 44th US president would be an African American, but she had also added that he would be the last one. According to her, he would leave office at a time when the country would be in economic ruins, and there would be a huge divide between the northern and southern states as was the case during the American Civil War. Europe will cease to exist: According to Baba Vanga, the continent will cease to exist by 2016, and all that would remain will be empty spaces and wasteland, nearly devoid of any form of life. She is reported to have said that chemical weapons would be used by extremists against Europe. Story continues Muslims will invade Europe: The blind mystic had also predicted that Muslims will invade Europe, and there will be widespread destruction by extremists, which will go on for many years, until the continent ceases to exist. She had also predicted that a Great Muslim War will begin in Syria. China will become the new super power: As per her predictions, China is set to become the new superpower in 2018, bringing an end to the United States and its economy. According to her, the exploiters (the developed nations) will become the exploited (the third world). In 2011, the International Monetary Fund had also predicted that Chinas economy will overtake that of the US in 2016, emerging as the new superpower. Hunger eradication: Baba Vanga has predicted that hunger will get eradicated sometime between 2025 and 2028. On to Venus: Humans will travel to Venus, according to the Baba, in search of new energy sources. They might even set up a colony there. Rome as the capital of the Islamic caliphate: Islam will finish invading the whole of Europe by 2043, and Rome will be the capital of the new caliphate. Ice caps melting: According to the Baba, ice caps will melt by 2045. The rate at which the ice caps are melting already due to global warming, does seem to suggest the same. Cloning of organs: As per Baba Vangas predictions, body organs will be cloned in 2046, and that would be the easiest method of treatment. US attacking Muslim dominated Europe: By 2066, the US will attack Muslim dominated Europe using climate change weapon, and will try to retake Rome and bring back Christianity. The return of Communism: By 2076, communism will return to Europe and the rest of the world. Underwater civilisations: By 2130, civilisations will learn how to live under water, with the help of aliens. The death of the Earth: By 3797, everything on Earth will cease to exist. However, humans will be advanced enough to move to a new star system. New York (AFP) - One of Argentina's holdout creditors has accused Buenos Aires of buying support from another creditor as the country tries to settle its long debt battle. The new government offered $6.5 billion on Friday to settle the dispute and US court case that have roiled global sovereign debt markets while harming Argentina's ability to access international capital to fund its economy. The holdouts, whose decade-long court battle against Buenos Aires was led by two New York hedge funds, are a minority class of creditors that refused to go along with the restructuring of the country's debt after it defaulted on about $100 billion in 2001. Buenos Aires said it was offering the creditors roughly 75 percent of what they were claiming, covering the face value and accumulated interest on the bonds. But that won't do, said Aurelius Capital's chairman Mark Brodsky. "Argentina bought Dart (Management) support by agreeing to pay its claim in full. Aurelius would gladly accept such generosity, though we have always been willing to take a haircut," he charged. US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew spoke by telephone Sunday with Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay, to express American support. Washington (AFP) - The global threat posed by the Islamic State group is still rising but US-based homegrown extremists pose the biggest danger to the homeland, Washington's top spy chief said Tuesday. In a report and briefing to a US Senate panel, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also said the Islamic State was hiding fighters among Syrian refugees heading to Europe Clapper said "homegrown violent extremists" or HVEs -- "the most significant Sunni terrorist threat" -- may be inspired by the attacks last year on military bases in Chattanooga, Tennessee and a workplace gathering in San Bernardino, California. They are also influenced by the IS group's "highly sophisticated media" and by "individuals in the United States or abroad who receive direct guidance and specific direction from ISIL members or leaders." Separately, responding to questions from lawmakers, Clapper warned that the group had planted fighters among the thousands of Syrian civilians fleeing to neighboring countries and to Europe. "One technique they've used is taking advantage of the torrent of migrants to insert operatives into that flow," he said. "They also have available to them -- and are pretty skilled at -- phony passports so they can travel ostensibly as legitimate travelers as well." A US-led military coalition is helping local forces in Iraq and Syria close in on cities in the IS group's so-called "caliphate," targeting its leadership and oil facilities with air strikes. But, Clapper warned, the threat posed by the movement is only rising as it expands its reach into Libya and builds a global network of terror cells, supporters and allied armed groups. "The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has become the preeminent terrorist threat because of its self-described caliphate in Syria and Iraq, its branches and emerging branches in other countries, and its increasing ability to direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world," he said. Clapper made the warning in the annual "World Wide Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community," which he submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee ahead of his appearance before it. Hong Kong (AFP) - Scores of police officers were hurt Tuesday when a riot erupted in Hong Kong over official attempts to move illegal hawkers, in the most serious violence the city has seen since mass pro-democracy protests in 2014. Police said nearly 90 of their number were injured, many by broken glass or projectiles, while dozens of protesters were also hurt in the Chinese New Year clash. Demonstrators levered up bricks from pavements in the busy Mongkok district, charging police lines with homemade shields and setting rubbish on fire in the middle of the road. One officer was seen pointing his gun at crowds who hurled stones, bottles and pieces of wooden pallet at police. Officers fired at least two warning shots in the air, multiple news outlets reported, a very rare occurrence in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city. They also used pepper spray in chaotic scenes that played out on local television. As criticism grew of police tactics in the localised disturbance, Commissioner Stephen Lo defended the officer who fired his weapon, saying rioters were continuously attacking his already injured colleague. "With no alternative, his police colleague used his firearm in accordance with the use of force principles to prevent his fellow colleague from being further attacked," Lo said, adding there would be a full investigation. Police said 54 protesters aged between 15-70 were arrested for assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in a public place, among other offences. "We will consider charging the arrested persons for participating in a riot," Lo said. This carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. - 'Fishball revolution' - The battles, which broke out after officials tried to move illegal food sellers, have been dubbed the "fishball revolution" on social media, after a popular street dish often consumed at Lunar New Year. Demonstrators, including members of radical "localist" groups -- which stress Hong Kong's separate identity from the mainland -- tried to defend the hawkers, whom they say add to the festive atmosphere. Story continues Reports said one of those arrested was Edward Leung, a "localist" candidate for an upcoming by-election on February 28. Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said the government "strongly condemns such violent acts". "There was a riot in Mongkok in the early hours of today," the chief executive told reporters. "A few hundred (people) attacked police officers and media." The standoff, which began overnight, lasted into the morning, with the city's subway operator shuttering the local station. At least four journalists were also injured, one of whom was hit on the head by a brick thrown by rioters, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a statement on its Facebook page. TVB news footage showed protesters harassing and attacking their cameraman who sustained injuries to his hand. The so-called "localists" want to restrict Beijing's influence in the city, which was a British colony until its return to China in 1997. Some even want an independent Hong Kong. The clashes come with tensions high and concerns that the city's freedoms are being eroded by authoritarian China. There is particular concern at the fate of five Hong Kong based-booksellers who are believed detained in mainland China after disappearing last year. One of them vanished from Hong Kong, fuelling concern he had been abducted by mainland law enforcers who have no right to operate in the city. Mongkok, on the city's Kowloon peninsula, was the scene of some of the worst violence during the 79-day "Occupy" pro-democracy street protests in late 2014. The mass rallies seeking fully free leadership elections in the city blocked some major streets for more than two months. Leung said there were no plans to cancel Tuesday night's New Year fireworks, when tens of thousands of revellers are expected to gather on either side of the city's Victoria Harbour. Police said their presence will be increased for the display in the wake of the riot. SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - An Indian soldier declared dead has been found alive under 25 feet (8 meters) of snow, six days after he was buried by an avalanche that hit his military post in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.Rescue teams dug out Naik Hanamanthappa in one of the world's most unforgiving environments, at an altitude of 19,600 feet (6,000 m) on the Siachen Glacier, which India and Pakistan have fought over intermittently for three decades."We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us," D.S. Hooda, an Indian army commander, said in a statement on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the soldier at a military hospital in the Indian capital, saying he brought "prayers from the entire nation."The army said the soldier was in a critical condition.Rescue workers had been searching for almost a week for 10 soldiers who went missing after the avalanche in an area known as the battleground on the roof of the world. A day after the search began the army said the chances of finding any survivors were "very remote". In its statement on Tuesday, it said all the other soldiers were now believed dead.At the Siachen Glacier in the Karakorum range, thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops contest an area above 20,000 feet (6,096 m) where they must deal with altitude sickness, high winds, frostbite and temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit). The inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire. (Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari Writing by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Clarence Fernandez) By Ahmed Rasheed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday he would reshuffle his cabinet to appoint technocrats to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations. He gave no details about the timing of the change or what positions would be affected, but promised decisions soon including ones related to fighting corruption. "Out of my responsibility ... to lead the country to safety, I call for a radical cabinet reshuffle to include professionals, technocrats and academics," Abadi said in a televised speech which focused largely on economic challenges facing Iraq, a major OPEC oil exporter. By replacing ministers chosen on the basis of party affiliation or ethnic or sectarian identity, Abadi risks disturbing the delicate balance of Iraq's governing system in place since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 which toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. He acknowledged in his speech that the reshuffle would replace ministers chosen by political blocs and approved by parliament in accordance with the constitution, but urged politicians to cooperate. Emboldened last summer by popular protests and a call for action by Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Abadi unilaterally moved at the time to dismantle the country's patronage system and root out corruption undermining the battle against Islamic State. The ultra-hardline Sunni militant movement seized nearly a third of the country's northern and western territory in 2014 and regularly claims bomb attacks in Iraqi cities. Abadi's reform campaign, however, soon got bogged down by legal challenges and opposition from entrenched interests. He has since been criticised for failing to take decisive action. "It was our ambition to unite the efforts of all politicians, political blocs and lawmakers," he said. "We were answered with a smear campaign which we did not respond to in order to prioritise the public interest." Iraq, whose income comes almost exclusively from oil sales, has struggled to pay its bills amid the fall in global crude prices. The 2016 budget projects a 24 trillion Iraqi dinar ($20.44 billion) deficit financed largely by aid from international organisations such as the World Bank. Abadi said he had agreed with foreign countries to provide experts to help Iraq diversify its economy and invest in human and natural resources, and called for a comprehensive review of laws related to the economy, finance and state administration. Wathiq al-Hashimi, chairman of the Iraqi Group for Strategic Studies think-tank, said Abadi's decision to reshuffle his cabinet puts him in a face-off with powerful political groups, including those in his own ruling alliance which last year pulled support for his reforms over concerns he had not consulted them. "None of the parties will agree with him in changing their ministers and they will hit back with a motion of no confidence against Abadi," Hashimi predicted. "The country is heading to a serious crossroad and consequences are hard to predict." (Additional reporting by Saif Hameed; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Tom Heneghan and James Dalgleish) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Iraqi-led operation to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul is unlikely to take place this year, a top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday. The comments by Marine Corps Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart were more pessimistic than some recent predictions by U.S. and Iraqi officials about the pace of the campaign against the militant group. "Mosul will be a complex operation. ... I'm not as optimistic that we'll be able to turn that in the near term, in my view, certainly not this year," Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We may be able to begin the campaign, do some isolation operations around Mosul," he said. "But securing or taking Mosul is an extensive operation and not something I see in the next year or so." Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, reclaimed the city of Ramadi from Islamic State in late December. Mosul, however, is a far larger city with a populace made up of many sects. And even in Ramadi, Iraqi forces are still working to secure that city and its environs. Top Iraqi officials recently have suggested that Mosul, which fell when Islamic State forces routed the Iraqi army in 2014, would be liberated this year. Vice President Joe Biden said in late January: "I promise you, after Ramadi, watch what happens now in Raqqa in Syria and what happens in Mosul, by the end of this year." Raqqa is the capital of Islamic State's self-styled caliphate. Stewart said that in addition to securing Ramadi, Iraqi forces must secure the Euphrates River valley between the cities of Hit and Haditha before turning to encircling Mosul. Other U.S. officials believe an operation against Mosul, while not imminent, is still possible before the end of U.S. President Barack Obama's term. The key, they said, is for the United States and its allies to train additional Iraqi forces. (Reporting by Warren Strobel and Mark Hosenball; Editing by James Dalgleish) Jerusalem (AFP) - A controversial bill that would compel NGOs receiving most of their funding from foreign governments to declare it in official reports passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament early Tuesday. The proposal -- denounced by critics as likely to encourage a witch-hunt against leftist groups that campaign for the defence of Palestinian rights -- was passed in a 50-43 vote following a tense debate. Two more readings of the bill by the parliament, or Knesset, are required for it to become law. The text, which is supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has renewed tension between one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history and the United States and the European Union. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who proposed the law, argues it will boost transparency as the government seeks to fight foreign interference and attempts to delegitimise the state of Israel. She has insisted it does not target any specific NGO. Israeli media reported that Shaked said during the debate preceeding the vote that "after years in which the left wing exploited the issue of transparency and used it as an administrative and political tool against the right wing, you began to think that transparency was your inheritance and began to treat it like your own property". "Transparency doesnt belong to you and is not your inheritance," she was quoted as saying. The text does not specifically refer to leftist organisations, but they are expected to be most affected as right-wing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel's occupation of the West Bank, tend to rely on private donations, particularly from within the United States. Several left-wing Israeli NGOs receive large percentages of their funding from abroad, including from European governments. The bill has sparked international criticism, with the US and EU ambassadors to Israel both expressing concern over its implications. - Chilling effect? - Story continues It stipulates that NGOs receiving more than half of their funding from foreign governments will have to declare it in all their official reports. At the request of Netanyahu, however, a proposed requirement for NGO members to wear a badge indicating their organisation is funded by a foreign country was dropped. "I do not understand how a requirement for transparency is anti-democratic; the opposite is true," Netanyahu said last month. "In a democratic regime, we need to know who is financing such NGOs, from the right, the left, up or down." Israeli left-wing NGOs have expressed concern at increasingly personal attacks they have been subjected to in recent months, including regular harassment and even death threats. Settlement watchdog Peace Now has called the bill "a hate crime against democracy" while the United States has warned it could have a "chilling effect". In a statement on Tuesday, Peace Now said "the passing of the NGO bill is a violent and discriminatory act of public shaming against those criticising the government. "Despite Netanyahu's statements, the bill resembles the situation in Russia and not that in the United States or in any other democratic country," it said. In a letter on Monday, 50 members of the European Parliament said it was "part of a worrying trend, promoted and condoned by the current Israeli government, to restrict, delegitimise and stifle the work of NGOs, organisations, artists, writers, and thinkers who may be critical of current Israeli government policy." Shaked, a member of the far-right Jewish Home party, has repeatedly accused foreign-backed NGOs of "blatant interference in internal Israeli affairs by foreign governments". She has cited a UN inquiry into the 2014 summer war in Gaza, which concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militants may have been guilty of war crimes. Shaked said the probe relied on evidence from foreign-backed Israeli NGOs B'Tselem, Adalah and Breaking the Silence. By Isla Binnie and Mahmoud Mourad ROME/CAIRO (Reuters) - Italy demanded on Monday that Egypt catch and punish those responsible for the death of a student found tortured by a roadside in Cairo, and the Egyptian government dismissed suggestions its security services could have been involved. Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old graduate student at Britain's Cambridge University, had been researching independent trade unions in Egypt and had written articles critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government. The incident has strained ties between Rome and Cairo, which has made no arrests so far. "We want the real perpetrators to be discovered and punished according to the law," Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told La Repubblica newspaper on Monday. He said Italy "will not be satisfied with suppositions" to explain the death. The discovery of Regeni beaten and burnt with cigarettes prompted insinuations by some journalists and social media users that he had suffered police brutality. La Repubblica compared his injuries to those security services would inflict on a spy. At a news conference in Cairo, Egyptian Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Ghaffar, visibly agitated, dismissed those accusations as "mere assumptions". "This is jumping to conclusions without any evidence ... This has bothered and depressed us greatly, that such things are being said of the Egyptian security apparatus," he said. "SOMETHING INHUMAN" Rights groups say police often detain Egyptians on scant evidence and that they are beaten or coerced. Scores have disappeared since 2013, the groups say. Egypt denies allegations of police brutality. Abdel Ghaffar said Egypt was gathering information about Regeni's death. Asked whether it could have been apolitical, the result of a mugging or kidnapping gone wrong, he said: "We can't tell for sure, we are still investigating his relationships." An initial autopsy in Egypt showed Regeni had been hit on the back of the head with a sharp instrument, according to a senior official at the Cairo public prosecutor's office and a forensic doctor. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. A second autopsy in Italy "confronted us with something inhuman, something animal", Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told Sky News 24 television on Sunday. "It was like a punch in the stomach and we haven't quite got our breath back yet." Italian media reports that the second autopsy showed Regeni's neck was broken have not been officially confirmed. Italian opposition parties have demanded that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government take a tougher stand with Egypt. "The death of Giulio Regeni, who was tortured to death, is still opaque and shrouded in shadows," said the opposition 5-Star party. "We demand the truth." (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy and Ahmed Abouleinen in Cairo, Editing by Philip Pullella and Ralph Boulton) Rome (AFP) - Italian authorities said Tuesday they had dismantled a mafia business group belonging to a clan headed by a woman known as the "Black Widow of the Camorra" and captured another leading figure in the Naples underworld. Alessandro Giannelli, the fugitive boss of an increasingly influential Camorra clan which bears his name, was captured by police at dawn as he changed cars in an attempt to escape from the southern city, police said. Giannelli, 38, has been implicated in a deadly turf war linked to the drugs trade which has claimed 10 lives in the Naples region since the start of the year and has resulted in the interior ministry considering sending in extra troops to try and stem the killing. Separately, prosecutors in Rome said they had dismantled a business group with extensive interests in the fruit, vegetable and dairy sectors which was effectively a front for one of the longest-established and most influential Camorra clans, the Moccia. Based in Afragola, a small town on the outskirts of Naples, the clan has been headed since the 1970s by matriarch Anna Mazza, the first women to be convicted in Italy mafia association. The so-called "Black Widow" took over after the killing of her husband Gennaro Moccia and went on to considerably expand the scope of the clan's activities and its influence. Luigi Moccia, reportedly the current business brains of the organisation, was one of five people placed in custody after Tuesday's dawn raids. Two other men have been placed under house arrest following an investigation involving 160 officers. - 'Baby gang' violence - The men are suspected of involvement in a mafia-style organisation and other crimes including exortion in connection with their company's activity in wholesaling fruit, vegetables and mozzarella to customers including numerous restaurants in Rome and a national supermarket chain. According to prosecutors the group had amassed investment capital of 15 million euros and was preparing to expand its involvement in the food business to Barcelona and to the hotel sector in Rome. Story continues Producers organisation Coldiretti said organised crime's turnover in Italy's high-value food sector was running at 15 billion euros ($17 billion) a year. "Not only do they appropriate vast parts of the agro-food sector and the earnings they generate, destroying free market competition and choking honest entrepreneurs, they also gravely comprise the quality and safety of food, severely damaging the image of Italian products and the made in Italy brand," the organisation said in a statement. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano hailed Tuesday's arrests as "an important victory achieved by two high-quality investigations." Alfano also said he would propose a reduction in the age of criminal responsibility to combat the growing numbers of 15-17 year-olds involved in the "baby gang" wave of violence in Naples. "It is called a deterrent. We have to create a fear of the state's reaction," he said, voicing concerns that the new wave of Camorra gangsters believed they could rob and kill under the influence of narcotics with impunity. "If it is needed, we will increase the presence of the army," Alfano added. Some 6,000 troops already patrol Italian towns and cities as part of the country's "safe streets" anti-terrorism operation. Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin on Tuesday issued a rare rebuke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel a day after she criticised Russian air strikes in Syria. In Ankara on Monday, Merkel -- referring to air strikes including those carried out by Russia -- said "we are horrified in the face of this human suffering." Her comments represented some of the sharpest criticism yet of Russia's aerial campaign by Merkel. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Merkel should carefully watch what she said on the Syrian crisis. "We once again call on everyone to be very careful and responsible in their choice of words, given the already delicate situation in Syria now and the Syrian settlement," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Despite complaints from the West and the Syrian opposition, Russia had not received any credible evidence of civilian deaths from air strikes, Peskov said. He also said no voices had been raised in protest against the "barbaric actions of terrorists" when they assaulted Syrian regime forces in the past. "No one made any statements of this kind at the time," Peskov told reporters. Syria peace talks were suspended in Switzerland last week as the West and the Syrian opposition accused Moscow of targeting civilians and seeking a military solution to the nearly five-year war. Asked on Monday whether Russia would press ahead with its bombing campaign in Syria if the peace talks resume, Peskov declined to comment. Fears mount that Syria's mainstream opposition rebels risk total collapse after a Russian-backed regime advance that severed their main supply line to the city of Aleppo. BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Forces allied to Libya's eastern government carried out air strikes on Islamic State militant areas of Derna city, but an aircraft later crashed because of mechanical failure, a spokesman said on Monday. Libyan National Army forces, led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, carried out an air strike on the Hay Arrbamiya area of Derna, a city that has been the scene of fighting between Islamic State militants and rival Islamist fighters. An eyewitness in the city confirmed an airstrike on Derna in the area controlled by Islamic State but could not give details on any damage or casualties. "An aircraft of the LNA, a MiG-23, crashed due to a technical problem," LNA local spokesman AbdulKareem Sabra said, adding it had been involved in air strikes on the city. "The pilot managed to escape and is well." Libya is caught in a conflict between two rival factions, each with its own government and backed by competing brigades of former rebels who once battled together against Muammar Gaddafi in their 2011 uprising. The United Nations has backed a separate national unity government, which is still trying to gain support and traction on the ground and overcome divisions before establishing itself in Tripoli. Air strikes by unidentified jets often target suspected Islamist militant targets, including fighters loyal to Islamic State who have been present in Derna and have a stronghold further west along the Mediterranean coast in the city of Sirte. (Reporting by Ayman Al-Warfalli; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Oncupinar (Turkey) (AFP) - While tens of thousands of people fleeing the fierce fighting of a Russian-backed regime offensive in Syria huddled in makeshift camps and hoped to get across the border into Turkey, just a handful were lucky enough to make the crossing. One of them was 15-year-old Mohammad Rahma, who lost his eyesight in a Russian air strike about a month ago. He was allowed passage for essential medical checks on his eyes, which were still covered by a fresh white bandage. "We've been living out in the open because we don't have any place to stay," Ahmad, his father, told AFP. An estimated 30,000 Syrians who fled the offensive on opposition strongholds in northern Aleppo province have been massing for days around the Bab al-Salama border gate, across from Turkey's Oncupinar crossing. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday that his country -- which is already hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees -- could see a fresh influx of up to 600,000 from the latest fighting in a "worst-case scenario". "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there," Kurtulmus said. New arrivals struggled into the Syrian-side camps, weighted down by bags and suitcases, as others pounded stakes into the barren ground for their tents. Children darted around the neat rows of white shelters that had already been pitched. One bearded man in a camouflage coat, who looked to be in his mid-thirties, pleaded with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to open a humanitarian corridor into Turkey. "Look at the women and children here -- they fled because of the intensity of the Russian air strikes," he said. Humanitarian aid trucks were getting through the crossing into Syria, bringing more tents and food as the number of arrivals continued to swell. "We are facing the most crucial scene in the Syrian tragedy," Mohamed Wajih Juma, a Syrian opposition health official, told AFP at Oncupinar. Story continues "The Russian air strikes have broken their strength and forced them to flee." - 'Open the gate' - Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that Turkey would take in a new wave of refugees "if necessary", but that the country cannot be expected "to shoulder the refugee issue alone." The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which is providing food for 20,000 refugees, said it had set up a camp with a capacity of 10,000 near Bab al-Salama, on top of eight camps for the internally displaced already run by Turkish agencies in the area. "Our operations are aimed at taking care of people inside Syria," Serkan Nergis, a spokesman for the foundation, told AFP by phone. Kerem Kinik, vice president of the Turkish Red Crescent, said there was "a de facto safe zone near the Turkish border". "Since February 5 we have sent roughly 2,000 tents and 6,000 blankets, as well as food," he added. The human build-up is not only on the Syrian side of the border. Families carrying bulging luggage have also been waiting on the Turkish side, hoping to get back to Syria. Others aim to join the battle. "I want to cross the border to join the fighters," said Ghayath Najjar, a 30-year-old Syrian, adding that he was a member of the Free Syrian Army. "I've been here for four days. Turkey must open the gate." Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico's president replaced the head of troubled state energy giant Pemex on Monday amid a steep fall in world oil prices that have caused the company to lose millions. Emilio Lozoya, who has led Pemex since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, was succeeded by Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, director of the Mexican Social Security Institute. In a ceremony at the presidential residence, Pena Nieto instructed Gonzalez Anaya to "strengthen the finances and production (of the company) in a context of low international oil prices." The company, which funds much of the government's budget, reported a loss of $10.2 billion in the third quarter of 2015, nearly three times worse than the same period in 2014. Crude production has fallen steadily from a peak of 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to 2.2 million barrels per day late last year, partly due to fuel thefts by criminal groups. "Adjusting its cost structure, reviewing its spending plan and strengthening its investment process through new association and investment schemes with the private sector will be necessary," Pena Nieto said. The president signed in 2014 a landmark reform that brought private investors back to the oil and gas industry, seven decades after its nationalization. Last year, Mexico auctioned off 30 oil and gas contracts to private investors and more sales are due this year for more lucrative deals in deep-water projects. Gonzalez Anaya, an expert in pensions, is credited with reducing the budget deficit of the social security institute. Jonathan Heath, a Mexican economist, said the change at Pemex reflects the need to ensure that the company remain viable in the future. "It's a very complex process because the oil prices have fallen a lot and they're not expected to recover for a while," Heath said. "Maybe the president sees in Gonzalez Anaya someone more capable than Emilio Lozoya to achieve things." Billionaire publisher and three-time mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg confirmed on Monday that he is considering an independent run for the presidency, telling The Financial Times in an interview that he believes the American people deserve a lot better than the campaigns currently being run. I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters, Bloomberg said. And you know, its hard to disagree with him. Related: Heres the Problem with Rubios Plan to Kill the Capital Gains Tax On Monday, voters were treated to one of the candidates for the Republican nomination taking to Twitter to call another a loser a liar and a whiner. And, for a change, it wasnt Donald Trump lashing out at a competitor, but former Florida governor Jeb Bush sniping at Trump. Trump, of course, didnt let the insult slide. In an interview with CNN, he hurled all sorts of abuse right back at Bush, calling him sad and pathetic, an embarrassment to his family, and a nervous wreck. Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in appearances in New Hampshire and in television interviews, was reliving his all-out assault on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio from the Saturday evening debate in New Hampshire. Christies attacks on Rubio plainly rattled the Floridian, who has been surging in the polls. But Christie spent most of Sunday and Monday essentially arguing that demonstrating his ability to use bluster and bombast to make another candidate stumble somehow proves that he is the most qualified candidate for the Oval Office. Related: 25 Facts You Should Know About Michael Bloomberg The same Christie, less than 24 hours later, tried to turn back questions about his states economic performance under his leadership by characterizing them as insulting to his constituents. Bloombergs interview came only days after the two remaining Democratic candidates, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, spent an inordinate amount of time during one of their (relatively infrequent) debates in a largely pointless semantic argument about which of them is truly a progressive candidate. Story continues If he were to enter the race, Bloomberg would share some odd parallels with Trump not least of which would be his status as the second New York billionaire who has had presidential ambitions for years deciding that 2016 is the year for him. He would also face extraordinary opposition from core Republican voters because of his adamant support for gun control and abortion rights and because of the paternalistic policies he attempted to impose while mayor of New York, including a ban on the sale of large soft drinks. Related: If Michael Bloomberg Enters the Race, He Could Help Trump In fact, if Bloomberg were to enter the race, there is a real likelihood that he would contribute to the problem hes complaining about. After all, this is the man whose policies inspired former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to show up at a rally with a Big Gulp in hand as a political statement. Bloomberg offers something for everyone in the field to hate. A former Democrat, he switched to the Republican Party in 2001 because he saw no possibility of winning the Democratic nomination in New York City. He then switched his affiliation to independent partway through his second mayoral term. Bloomberg might believe he can raise the tone of the campaign if he enters the race. But theres good reason to think that a man who would no doubt be characterized variously as a gun-grabbing, party-switching, big government, moralistic, opportunist plutocrat might not actually help matters by throwing his hat in the ring. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: (Reuters) - Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri urged state lawmakers on Tuesday to move quickly on legislation to restructure the financially ailing Detroit Public Schools (DPS) before the district runs out of money. "Sometime this spring or early summer, unless legislation passes in some form, the district will not be able to make payroll, will not be able to pay vendors. Essentially they will be out of cash," Khouri told the Michigan Senate's Government Operations Committee. The committee has been holding hearings this month on bills supported by Republican Governor Rick Snyder to create two entities - the Detroit Community District to run the schools, and the current Detroit Public Schools to retire debt. Khouri said the legislation presents a better option for DPS and Michigan than a bankruptcy which would "not make sense" given much of the district's debt is owed to the state. He added that bankruptcy could also take a year at a cost of as much as $100 million. Unlike the city of Detroit's bankruptcy, a DPS filing would put the state on the hook for $1.45 billion over 11 years to pay off bonds issued for DPS through Michigan's school bond loan fund, according to written testimony Khouri submitted to the committee. Under the governor's plan, the new community school district would be provided with $715 million in additional state funding over 10 years to offset local property taxes, which would be tapped by the old district to pay off debt. Another $240 million in DPS pension debt could be shifted onto other school districts in the state-wide teachers' retirement system. Detroit exited the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy in December 2014, shedding about $7 billion of its $18 billion of debt. The Senate committee, which will continue its hearing on the legislation next week, also heard from teachers' union officials and parents who contended Michigan should be responsible for paying off debt accumulated by DPS since it was placed under state oversight in 2009. They also called for an elected board to be in control of the schools. The legislation would create a financial oversight commission for the district. (Reporting By Karen Pierog; Editing by Andrew Hay) (Reuters) - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday proposed giving six weeks of paid parental leave to all state employees after the birth or adoption of a child, which if approved would make Minnesota only the fourth U.S. state with such a policy. If the legislature approves, Minnesota would join California, New Jersey and Rhode Island in having paid family leave, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. All 35,000 Minnesota state employees would be eligible for the benefit, which would amount to an average of $6,200 in wages workers would receive instead of having to take unpaid leave. About 500 new parents would use the benefit every year, according to the governor's office. "Six weeks of paid parental leave should be guaranteed for all hard-working Minnesotans; not just the wealthy few," said Dayton, a Democrat. "It is time for the state to lead by example." Some of Minnesota's largest employers provide employees with paid parental leave, including the Mayo Clinic, U.S. Bank and Target. Dayton made the announcement during an appearance with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, who said that he and President Barack Obama will continue to call for a federal paid leave policy. The state legislature next convenes on March 8. The House is controlled by Republicans, while the Senate is majority Democrat. State Rep. Sarah Anderson, a leading Republican on state government finance, could not immediately be reached for comment. The federal Family Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, or to care for a family member or to one's own serious health problem. The law applies to private employers with 50 or more employees. (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by James Dalgleish) Venezuela slums Tower of David Caracas Over the last few days the talk among those who watch 'the most miserable country' in the world has turned to default. 2016, it seems, is Venezuela's year. "Unless the Chinese pull something out of the bag or PDVSA [Venezuela's state oil company] exercises a voluntary bond swap it's happening," said Brian Dean, a partner at ACG Analytics. ""There's going to be a default in my view unless there's some kind of political disruption ... They can sell assets but I don't know what they have left." The 'default' calls have gotten especially loud over the last week. In a note Tuesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Albert Ades said that if Brent oil prices level off at $25, Venezuelan GDP would hit $80 billion, making its external debt of $123 billion unpayable. "In such a scenario, a forceful restructuring of Venezuelan debt would be very hard to avoid," he said. Harvard economist Ricardo Hausman, who has been attacked by the government in the past, wrote in the FT that while 2015 was bad, oil's low price will make 2016 much worse. The "most likely scenario is an imminent economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis," he wrote. He's talking an Argentina 2001-sized meltdown. So the question now is, when? Now or nowish The most bearish of those out there in the market think it could happen as soon as the end of this month. That's when Venezuela has to make a $1.5 billion debt payment. According to Reuters, the Venezuelan Central Bank has already set to work (with the help of Deutsche Bank) to exchange some of its pile of gold bars for cash. The country has only about $15 billion in the bank, and 64% of that is in bars. venezuelan cds skitch So maybe it can scrape by this time. But with $9.5 billion in debt payments in the pipeline this year, the country is far from in the clear. Dean at ACG Analytics said October is "the risk point." Story continues "If this thing lasts that long that's where I see this shaping up in terms of default." Of course, people have been saying that Venezuela is on the brink since at least 2014. Yet, every year the country ekes by and bond investors get paid a lot. As The Wall Street Journal pointed out, last year, Venezuelan government bonds returned 17% for investors with the stomach to handle this ride. NOW WATCH: Watch Martin Shkreli laugh and refuse to answer questions during his testimony to Congress More From Business Insider An American who helped survey targets for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks told a special Indian court Tuesday that Pakistan's spy agency provides support to militants blamed for the atrocity, according to a prosecutor. David Headley, who was sentenced in 2013 by a Chicago court to 35 years in a US prison for his role in the attacks that killed 166 people, also said he worked for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "Today David Headley has given certain sensitive revelations," Indian public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said outside Mumbai's sessions court on Tuesday following the American's testimony via video link. "Firstly he said that he was working for ISI... David Headley further confirmed that ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had a close nexus with each other," Nikam told reporters. "I did ask him how he could say that... and he said 'ISI provides financial and moral as well as military support to Lashkar-e-Taiba'," the prosecutor added. India has long blamed the LeT for the coordinated attacks on November 26, 2008 when Islamist gunmen stormed luxury hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish centre and other sites in the country's financial capital. The attacks, which lasted for three days, have been a consistent source of acrimony between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has called for Islamabad to bring the alleged masterminds to justice. Pakistan's government has technically banned LeT but a number of its leaders, including Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, remain free. India blames Saeed and Lakhvi for masterminding the attacks in 2008 and Pakistan's reluctance to hand them over remains a continual source of friction between the nuclear rivals. Analysts accuse the ISI of maintaining links with a range of militant groups in Pakistan, including the LeT, but Islamabad denies this. Headley, 55, was giving evidence to the Indian court from an undisclosed location in America for the second day. The court is trying suspected plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Jundal. Story continues In December it pardoned Headley, the son of a former Pakistani diplomat, on condition that he testified to the court. The pardon does not affect the US sentence. which came after he admitted scouting targets for the Mumbai attackers. After initially denying involvement, Headley confessed and cooperated with US authorities to avoid the death penalty. According to Nikam, Headley told the court Tuesday that he had surveyed various locations in Mumbai, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and Oberoi hotel. All three were hit during the attacks. On Monday, Headley testified that the Pakistan-based LeT had also been behind two failed attempted attacks on Mumbai in September and October 2008. His testimony continues on Wednesday. Brussels (AFP) - NATO will take any request to help with the refugee crisis "very seriously", chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday after Germany and Turkey sought the alliance's assistance in combating human smugglers. Defence ministers from the 28-nation group will discuss the issue at a meeting in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday when they review NATO's response to a more assertive Russia and the security threat posed by the Syria crisis. "I think we will take very seriously the request from Turkey and other allies to look into what NATO can do to help them cope and deal with the crisis and all the challenges they face, not least in Turkey, " Stoltenberg told a news conference. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on a visit to Ankara on Monday that Turkey and Germany would ask NATO to help police the Turkish coast to prevent smugglers from packing migrants into boats for the perilous crossing to Greece. Turkey -- the only Muslim-majority nation in NATO and one of its largest armies -- was the main gateway for the more than one million migrants and refugees who crossed into Europe last year. The problem shows no sign of slowing -- more than 70,000 made the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece in January, with over 400 dying, according to the International Organization for Migration (OIM), and there are fears hundreds of thousands more could follow as the fighting in Syria intensifies. - 'Desperate situation' - Former Norwegian premier Stoltenberg said that Russian involvement in Syria was "undermining" peace efforts and "making a desperate situation worse" as more refugees fled the fighting. "Calm and easing tensions is more important than ever," he added. As the crisis in Syria deepens, some NATO allies are wary of getting sucked into a conflict which defies solution, especially as Assad's forces now retake ground in a major Russian-backed offensive. Diplomatic sources said the German-Turkish proposal had come as a surprise. Story continues Greece, whose relations with its NATO partner Turkey are strained over a host of issues, expressed scepticism and contacted Berlin Tuesday to insist on safeguards if such a mission went ahead. A Greek government spokesman in Athens said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had told German Chancellor Angela Merkel "that any involvement by the alliance must be confined solely to the Turkish coast and guarantee Greek sovereign rights." US ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute told a separate news briefing that such a German-Turkish request would not be unusual and member states regularly asked for help. At the same time, Lute said the European Union had the "primary responsibility" for managing the migrant crisis. "This is fundamentally an issue which shld be addressed a couple of miles (kilometres) from here in the EU," he said, referring to the fact that Brussels is headquarters for the bloc. - EU backing - The European Union said it would welcome any extra assistance in dealing with a crisis which has put the 28-nation bloc under huge strain. "Of course it is for NATO to take a decision on the opportunity and modalities of the eventual involvement," European Comission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing. "We welcome all discussions on potential measures which could contribute to addressing the refugee crisis, save lives at sea and improve the management of migratory flows and borders." Stoltenberg said that in December, NATO agreed a package of measures to reassure and support Turkey after Russia launched its air campaign against rebels in Syria seeking to oust long-time Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad. This package included deploying AWACS surveillance aircraft over Turkey, air policing and an increased maritime presence, and was agreed after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in late November for violating its airspace. Since then, the United States has also requested that its allies approve deploying NATO AWACS to help the US-led coalition fighting against Islamic State jihadis in Syria and Iraq. Stoltenberg said ministers would discuss a "backfilling" proposal whereby NATO allies would deploy AWACS to take over US missions elsewhere, thereby freeing up American planes for anti-IS missions. He stressed it was "important to understand that it is not NATO that is going to go into any combat role." Conakry (AFP) - Bare newstands and silent radios marked an unprecedented "press-free day" in Guinea on Tuesday in honour of journalist El Hadj Mohamed Diallo who was killed last week in political clashes. The refusal to publish or broadcast by public and private media came as a coalition of press groups backed the halt to draw attention to the risks journalists take working in the west African nation of nearly 12 million people. Diallo, who worked for the private Guinee7 news website and the weekly L'Independant, died after being shot in the chest on Friday in clashes outside the offices of an opposition party in the capital Conakry. His smiling face appeared on news websites' homepages and various TV stations, with the message "Press-free day in Guinea. Justice for El Hadj Mohamed Diallo". "We hope to draw the attention of Guinean authorities to the working conditions of journalists in this country," said Nouhou Balde, administrator of the news site Guinee-Matin. "On several occasions I have had my journalists beaten by police while in the line of duty," he added. The clashes in which Diallo was killed broke out over the recent removal of the opposition party's vice president. Both he and the party blamed the other for the subsequent unrest. Some 300 journalists, civil representatives and ordinary citizens marched to the justice ministry in Diallo's memory on Monday. He was married with a young daughter, relatives said. Dakar (AFP) - African states must brace for a long-term fight against jihadist organisations, which are developing new tactics, recruiting more fighters and learning from each other, the US special forces chief in the continent said. "This kind of warfare is long term and there's no shortcuts to it. You've got to stay on course and it requires everybody cooperating. You can't underestimate their ability to resurge," General Donald Bolduc told reporters in Dakar. Bolduc's comments late Monday came as the United States launched an annual military exercise dubbed Flintlock, which will see 1,700 special forces personnel from some 30 countries take part. With jihadists in Africa increasingly resorting to attacks on markets and security forces, the latest round of training would focus on improving police and military preparedness, particularly for urban warfare. "The most important training that we can do is connect that military training to the police," he said. Despite losses in the battlefield, extremists are becoming more "proactive" across the continent, Bolduc warned. "They have transferred tactics, techniques and procedures, particularly in improvised explosive devices, and they have traded ideas and concepts on how to message and present themselves in public, solidifying their ideology and what they stand for." With Nigeria leading a regional offensive against Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency since last year, the group has resorted to carrying out a string of suicide and bomb attacks in and around Africa's most populous country, leaving thousands of civilians dead. In Burkina Faso and Mali, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for deadly attacks on hotels popular with foreigners in November last year and on January 15 this year. In east Africa, Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab insurgents have lost ground since being routed from Mogadishu in 2011, but they continue to stage regular shooting and suicide attacks. Story continues - IS 'reaching out' - Bolduc said a key part of governments' fight against jihadists should be "countering the narrative" of extremists, as their rhetoric is an essential part of their recruitment strategy. He meanwhile warned that IS -- to which Boko Haram has pledged allegiance -- now poses a more direct threat than ever in Africa. A US-led coalition has since 2014 been carrying out air strikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria, where the radical group holds large swathes of territory. Now IS "is reaching out to Al Shebab, it's reaching out to Boko Haram, it's reaching out to AQIM. In some cases, it's directly supporting AQIM. It's influencing Al Shebab, it's influencing Boko Haram, not directly supporting it, but influencing it with its ideas," Bolduc said. On Tuesday, Nigeria's intelligence agency announced the arrest of a recruiter for IS who was preparing to go to Libya, which has slid into chaos since the fall of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Fears have been expressed about a link-up between IS fighters in Libya and Boko Haram as well as Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist groups in places such as Mali and elsewhere in North Africa. To date there has been little evidence of the use of foreign fighters in Boko Haram's insurgency, which has left at least 17,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million people since 2009. Washington (AFP) - North Korea has restarted a plutonium reactor that could fuel a nuclear bomb and is seeking missile technology that could threaten the United States, Washington's top spy said Tuesday. In an annual threat assessment, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and senior military and intelligence officials singled out the authoritarian pariah state as a major and unpredictable menace. Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, the director the the Defense Intelligence Agency, joined Clapper to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee on the global dangers faced by US planners. "North Korea's nuclear weapons program and evolving missile programs are a continuing threat," he said. Clapper said the Kim Jong-un's secretive Pyongyang regime continues to develop cyber-espionage and cyber-attack capabilities, and has sold illegal weapons technology to other states. Last month, the regime tested what it said was a "hydrogen bomb," but -- according to Clapper -- US intelligence believes "the yield was too low for it to have been successful test of a staged thermonuclear device." It was the north's fourth nuclear test, and an apparent bid to expand its arsenal with a more destructive thermonuclear device. Despite this apparent failure, North Korea has pressed on with its ballistic missile program and on Saturday launched a rocket into space, a move which Washington and Tokyo said was a banned weapons test. "Pyongyang continues to produce fissile material and develop a submarine launched ballistic missile," Clapper told the lawmakers. "It is also committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that's capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, although the system has not been flight tested." Perhaps most worrying for the Americans, however, is North Korea's resumption of plutonium production -- a sign it remains bent on producing a more powerful bomb despite international economic sanctions. Story continues "We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months," Clapper said. North Korea mothballed the Yongbyon reactor in 2007 under an aid-for-disarmament accord, but began renovating it after its third nuclear test in 2013. When fully operational, the reactor is capable of producing around six kilos (13 pounds) of plutonium a year -- enough for one nuclear bomb, experts say. Last month, Washington-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images suggest the reactor is operating only intermittently and at low capacity. - Wholesale collapse - Stewart told the panel that North Korea had paraded a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile in a recent parade, launched two satellites into orbit and was testing a submarine launched missile. In response to the latest North Korean provocations, Washington plans to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to its ally South Korea and has been pushing the UN Security Council to impose new sanctions. A draft sanctions resolution prepared by Japan, South Korea and the United States has been in negotiations for weeks, but veto-wielding China, the North's key ally, has been reluctant to back measures that would damage North Korea's already weak economy. "I don't think there's any question that to the extent that anyone has leverage over North Korea, it's China," Clapper told the committee. The US spy chief estimated that the otherwise impoverished state does 90 percent of its external trade with its giant neighbor China, which buys around $1.2 billion in coal from Pyongyang every year. "And then, of course, it's illicit finance," he alleged. "They have an organized approach to laundering money." China fears that pushing Pyongyang too far could trigger instability and unleash a wave of starving refugees across its border. Beijing also worries that a wholesale collapse of the regime in Pyongyang could eventually lead to a US-allied unified Korea right on its doorstep. The North is already subject to numerous UN sanctions over previous rocket launches and three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. It routinely insists the rocket launches are part of a legitimate space exploration program, but the United States and its allies view them as disguised ballistic missile tests. By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N.-blacklisted North Korean shipping company continues to evade sanctions through its use of foreign-flagged ships, name changes and other means of obfuscation, according to a new report by United Nations monitors. The U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, which monitors implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang, also said the reclusive communist nation has continued to export ballistic-missile technology to the Middle East and ship arms and materiel to Africa in violation of U.N. restrictions. "Given the stated intentions of (North Korea), it continued efforts to enhance the scope of its nuclear and missile programs ... there are serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime," the panel said in its latest confidential report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 because of its multiple nuclear tests and missile launches. The United States and China are negotiating on the outline of a new U.N. sanctions resolution that council diplomats hope will be adopted this month. Western diplomats told Reuters that restricting North Korean access to international ports is among the measures Washington is pushing Beijing to accept in the wake of Pyongyang's Jan. 6 nuclear test and its latest rocket launch last weekend. Washington also wants to tighten restrictions on North Korea banks' access to the international financial system, the diplomats said. In addition to a U.N. arms embargo, Pyongyang is banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology and is not allowed to import luxury goods. "Despite its designation in July 2014, Ocean Maritime Management Company Limited (OMM) continues to operate through foreign-flagged vessels, name and company re-registrations and the rental of crews to foreign ships," the panel said. "This enables them to obtain access to foreign ports in the region and beyond as well as maritime insurance, a prerequisite for operation," it said. The report said OMM is controlled by North Korea's Ministry of Land and Marine Transport, both before and after its blacklisting by the Security Council. Last year the panel reported on more than a dozen renamed vessels. In addition to the 14 vessels OMM had in operation last year, it has an additional vessel - the Hoe Ryong - in operation. Nine of 15 vessels operated by OMM are currently in service in spite of OMM's blacklisting and 14 of them have been re-registered, the report said. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao) OSLO (Reuters) - Norway averted a suspected attack on its soil last year, a top security official was quoted as saying on Tuesday. "We have had reason to believe that we stopped at a quite an early stage an individual who intended to commit an extreme act of violence," the head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), Benedicte Bjoernland, told state broadcaster NRK. "An individual has been expelled from Norway. The person is no longer in the country," she added. The arrest and expulsion took place in the first half of 2015, NRK reported. Bjoernland gave no further details and the PST was not immediately available for comment. The last act of terror committed on Norwegian soil occurred in July 2011, when far-right activist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people with a car bomb in Oslo and a shooting spree on a nearby island. Separately, PST was also monitoring the possibility that Islamist militants could carry out attacks in the country of 5 million inhabitants, the organization said in its latest annual threat assessment, published on Tuesday. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; editing by Katharine Houreld; editing by Katharine Houreld) By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ten times as many migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea in the first six weeks of the year as in the same period of 2015, and the number of deaths also soared, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. The number of arrivals topped 76,000, and the number of deaths shot up to 409 on Mediterranean routes from 69 in the first six weeks of 2015, it said. The IOM also said it expected no fall in the number of arrivals in Europe and predicted that next month Greece would receive its one millionth arrival since the migrant crisis began. More than 1.1 million people fleeing poverty, war and repression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa reached Europe's shores last year, most of them heading for Germany. Around half the arrivals are refugees from the Syrian war, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says. The IOM reported that 70,365 migrants and refugees had arrived by sea in Greece so far this year, and 5,898 in Italy. Some 319 have died while crossing the eastern Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and 90 on the central route between North Africa and Italy. IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the organization did not expect the number of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe to fall in the foreseeable future. "There are more concurrent crises around than we've ever seen at one time," he said. "Conditions on the ground in the countries that are feeding the migrant crisis are largely unchanged, so we think the numbers will probably stay the same." The short eastern Mediterranean crossing is safer than the central Mediterranean route, where there were a number of major sinkings in 2015. But Millman said the number of Aegean deaths had suddenly shot up at the end of last year, when small boats sank almost daily - possibly showing that migrants were using less seaworthy boats. (Editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.) For the second time, the Obama administration has proposed to put a stake through the heart of a huge nuclear nonproliferation project in South Carolina that Congress just wont let die, despite billions of dollars in cost overruns and a long-term price tag that officials say is wildly unaffordable. The Department of Energy proposed in its 2017 budget request, released Tuesday Feb. 9, to terminate funding to the Mixed Oxide fuel plant at the Savannah River Site. The project, known as MOX, was viewed as a path to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium from the nations Cold War nuclear weapons program, under a deal reached decades ago with Russia. MOX is meant to convert the nuclear weapons explosive into fuel for domestic power plants. But management failures, detailed in a four-part 2014 series of articles by CPI, have undermined that goal, and nuclear power plants have shown little interest in using MOX fuel. Several DOE reports have officially endorsed the predominant solution urged by independent scientists: diluting the plutonium and burying it at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a subterranean nuclear waste dump in New Mexico known as WIPP. The presidents proposed budget recommends this path. But a series of accidents two years ago stopped waste shipments to WIPP, and they still havent resumed. The Energy Department recently announced it expects some shipments to resume by the end of the year. Already, $4.5 billion has been spent on the unfinished MOX plant, and some estimates place its ultimate price at about $30 billion. Dilution and disposal at WIPP is estimated to cost about $17 billion. Burial is the least bad way, according to Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group. The cost and environmental uncertainty of the MOX conversion process are both too high, he said. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, in a letter to Obama dated Nov. 20, 2015, expressed a clear preference for diluting and disposing of the plutonium at WIPP. He called it one of several high-priority hot potato' issues. The letter was posted on the website of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group, on Feb. 9. Story continues This story is part of Nuclear Waste. A look at the worlds faltering efforts to control dangerous nuclear explosives. Click here to read more stories in this investigation. Don't miss another National Security investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. But the Obama administration still faces staunch opposition from South Carolinas congressional delegation, which has fought to keep the MOX project alive, even in the face of delays and rising costs. Three years ago, the South Carolina delegation led the way when Congress blocked the Obama administrations recommendation to shelve MOX. I dont think theres any question that theyre just trying to salvage a jobs program at this point, Lyman said. In a written statement, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called the Obama administrations proposal to cease funding MOX reckless. He expressed pessimism about renegotiating the terms of plutonium disposition with Russia during such a chilly phase in its relationship with the United States. "Now is not the time to change course and have the Obama administration try to renegotiate anything with the Russians, Graham said. It will not end well for U.S. interests. One can only imagine what the Russians will ask for in return. In the letter to Obama, Moniz said that Russian nuclear officials "are amenable to discussion" but that the Russian foreign ministry had not expressed its views as yet. Related story: DOE says Congress is wasting funds on a South Carolina nuclear plant This story is part of Nuclear Waste. A look at the worlds faltering efforts to control dangerous nuclear explosives. Click here to read more stories in this investigation. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is proposing about $200 million in new military spending to confront Islamist militants in north and west Africa, U.S. defense officials said ahead of Tuesday's budget rollouts for the next fiscal year. U.S. officials declined to specify to which nations the funding would be directed. The disclosure comes as the United States and its allies discuss ways to halt the spread of Islamic State in Libya and elsewhere in Africa from its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq. The proposed increase in U.S. defense spending for north and west Africa is a component of a larger $7.5 billion Pentagon request for fiscal year 2017 to counter Islamic State. "The marginal increase is on the order of about $200 million associated with north Africa," one U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to a small group of reporters. Another U.S. defense official told Reuters the funds would also be directed to west Africa. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Paul Selva said the new funding was aimed at addressing threats from militant groups across Africa, including al Shabaab in the east, Boko Haram in the west, and Islamic State in Libya. "The monies that we've put into the budget to address those threats in Africa are to be able to work with indigenous forces as well as partner forces to get at those three particular threats and others that might emerge," Selva said. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter last week announced his intention to ramp up spending to counter Islamic State as he unveiled the broad details of Obama's proposed $582.7 billion defense budget. A key part of the $7.5 billion would go to munitions. Carter said the United States has used so many smart bombs and laser-guided rockets in Iraq and Syria that it is running low and needs to invest $1.8 billion for 45,000 more. The Air Force budget includes about 4,500 small diameter bombs, doubling the previous year's purchase. It also calls for more than 30,000 Boeing Co Joint Direct Attack Munition tail kits, which turn unguided bombs into all-weather smart munitions using GPS guidance systems, compared to about 22,000 the previous year. The Navy is slated to buy 100 Hellfire missiles built by Lockheed Martin Corp , with the Air Force planning to buy around 280. The U.S. officials also said some of the $7.5 billion would go toward training and equipping Iraqi forces and fighters in Syria to counter Islamic State. Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, warned on Monday of the group's expansion to Libya, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Nigeria, Algeria and elsewhere. The United States has a limited permanent military presence in Africa, largely centered on a U.S. base in Djibouti. Islamic State forces have attacked Libya's oil infrastructure and taken control of the city of Sirte, exploiting a power vacuum in which two rival governments have been battling for supremacy. The Pentagon has said planning is underway to confront the group in Libya, although significant political hurdles could slow any new campaign by the U.S. and its allies there. Carter will meet with allies in Brussels this week to discuss ways to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State. (Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and Andrea Shalal; editing by Warren Strobel, Stuart Grudgings and Chizu Nomiyama) Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama unveiled the last budget of his presidency Tuesday, a record $4.1 trillion plan that is dead-on-arrival in Congress but could shape the 2016 White House race. Legislatively, the future looks bleak for Obama's 2017 fiscal plan, which covers spending on everything from cybersecurity to the environment. It includes big-ticket investments in America's creaking infrastructure -- to the tune of $320 billion over the next decade -- and ramps up research into clean energy technologies and cancer. But Republicans who control Congress have already vowed to draft their own plan, "rather than spend time on a proposal that," according to House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, "will double down on the same failed policies." Adding insult to White House injury, spending announcements that would have made waves in the first year of Obama's administration are likely to quickly dissolve into saturation coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary, which also takes place Tuesday. Still, the budget provides Obama with one of his few remaining opportunities to fashion national and Democratic party priorities. Obama said the budget was a statement of intent, saying it would invest in innovation and strengthen national security. "The budget that we are releasing today reflects my priorities and the priorities that I believe will help advance security and prosperity in America for many years to come," hed said. It is chock-full of measures designed to wean the United States off fossil fuels, including a $10-a-barrel levy on crude. A "computer science for all" program would give schools $4 billion to teach a "new basic skill" and help modernize workforce skills. Looking farther afield, the proposal will include $7.5 billion -- a 50 percent increase from the previous year -- to fund the campaign against the Islamic State group. That includes $1.8 billion to pay for over 45,000 more GPS-guided smart bombs. Story continues The budget would also invest more than $19 billion in cybersecurity, a 35 percent jump designed, Obama said, to tackle the issue "in a more aggressive way." "Cyber threats pose a danger not only to our national security, but also our financial security and the privacy of millions of Americans," Obama said. An additional $4.3 billion would be spent on "countering Russian aggression and support European allies." - Fortuitous timing - While politics may have doomed this budget, the plan might have its biggest impact on the campaign trail, where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting a tougher-than-expected battle for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Sanders' electrifying support in early voting states has exposed a battle for the soul of the party. The self-styled democratic socialist's message has eclipsed Clinton's more moderate and, she claims, realistic message. The pair virtually tied in Iowa and the last polls showed Sanders leading Clinton in New Hampshire by nearly double digits. Obama is unlikely to withhold endorsement from either, but they will be cautious about getting on the wrong side of a potent campaigner who remains deeply popular among Democrats. When Obama earlier this year suggested he could not vote or campaign for anyone who does not support gun control, Sanders was quick to define his record on the issue. The budget also provides Obama an opportunity to draw sharp contrast with Republicans, as the November general election looms. "Clearly, Republicans are not interested in hearing about a budget that invests in the future and grows the wages of hard-working Americans," charged House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Republicans appeared happy to draw their own contrasts. "This isn't even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans," said House Speaker Paul Ryan. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set on Tuesday to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, his final year in office. But since the Republican-controlled Congress controls the purse strings, much of Obama's plan likely will be shelved. The following are some of the proposals that will be included: PENTAGON The Pentagon will ask for more than $7 billion for the fight against Islamic State, up about 35 percent from the previous year's budget request to Congress, and wants a fourfold increase for military training and exercises in Europe to support NATO allies. TAX ON OIL In a long-shot bid to raise $20 billion to expand transit systems and research self-driving cars, Obama will propose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil. CYBERSECURITY AND IT UPGRADES The budget will propose boosting spending on cybersecurity by 35 percent to $19 billion and creating a $3.1 billion fund to modernize the government's creaky information technology systems. RENEWABLE ENERGY FUNDING Obama will seek a 20 percent boost for renewable energy research funding to a total of $7.7 billion. TAX CREDIT FOR BUSINESSES WORKING WITH COLLEGES Obama will propose a $2.5 billion tax credit over five years for businesses that invest in community college programs and 05:00:then hire their graduates. ZIKA VIRUS RESPONSE The White House will ask for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to prepare for the Zika virus, work on tests and vaccines, and assist Puerto Rico and countries grappling with the outbreak. FINANCIAL REGULATORS Obama will seek an 11 percent hike in funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission to $1.8 billion and 32 percent increase for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to $330 million. PAY RAISE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS The budget will propose a 1.6 percent pay increase for military and civilian federal personnel. OPIOID ADDICTION TREATMENT Obama will ask for $1.1 billion in new funding to expand treatment for people addicted to heroin and prescription painkillers, a growing epidemic. AID TO COLOMBIA Obama pledged more than $450 million in aid to Colombia to help with security and integrating rebel combatants into society under a pending peace deal to end Latin America's longest war. POVERTY AID Obama will propose $12 billion over 10 years to supplement food stamps for poor families when school meal programs are closed in the summer, $2 billion in emergency aid for families in crisis, a combined $328 million in education and housing grants to poor neighborhoods, and a $15 million pilot program to help poor families move to better neighborhoods. MEDICAID EXPANSION The budget will include three years of federal funding to 19 state governments that passed up an earlier offer to expand Medicaid coverage for more than 4 million low-income people. TWEAK TO "CADILLAC TAX" Obama will ask for tweaks to a tax on certain health insurance plans that is unpopular with labor unions. JOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE The White House will ask for $5.5 billion in incentives for businesses that hire young people and $200 million for apprenticeship programs. COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION Obama will propose $4 billion for states and $100 million for school districts to expand computer science in schools. COAL COUNTRY The budget will include $1 billion over five years to help coal-mining regions with economic development. CANCER RESEARCH The White House will ask for $755 million for Vice President Joe Biden's "moonshot" effort to find new cancer treatments. AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH The budget will include $700 million in agricultural research grants, double the spending level in 2016. MENTAL HEALTHCARE Obama has proposed $500 million to boost access to mental healthcare as part of his push to address gun violence. NATIONAL BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS BUREAU Obama will propose $95 million for a new office responsible for background checks for federal employees. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS As part of reforms to the criminal justice system, Obama will ask for $24 million for better housing for inmates with serious mental illnesses. RETIREMENT SAVINGS Obama will propose tax credits for small businesses offering 401(k) plans or expanding access to retirement savings programs. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Obama will seek to expand unemployment insurance to more types of workers, provide wage insurance for workers moving to lower-paid positions, and provide incentives to states for retraining or relocating workers. BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES (ATF) Obama will ask for funding to hire 200 new ATF staff to enforce gun laws. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Ayesha Rascoe and Jeff Mason; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bill Trott and Chizu Nomiyama) Beijing (AFP) - Billions of online money transfers have taken place in China as the ancient Lunar New Year tradition of handing out red envelopes of cash met the Internet age. For centuries parents, relatives and employers have handed out "hong bao" -- small gifts of money -- to children or menial workers to celebrate the dawn of the new year. But in increasingly tech-savvy China, givers are abandoning the red paper envelopes and opting instead to transfer money via their mobile phone. On Sunday, the eve of the Year of the Monkey, a staggering eight billion hong bao were exchanged, eight times the number gifted last year, Internet giant Tencent said. The idea of electronic hong bao was introduced in recent years by WeChat, a mobile messaging system with over 650 million users and operated by Tencent, China's largest Internet service portal. The service took off and competitors soon joined the fray. Now Alipay Wallet, the payment system run by online retail giant Alibaba, and Tencent are going head to head for a share of the online payments. Alipay currently has 70 percent of the overall online payment market -- which also includes bill settlement and internet shopping -- with Tencent accounting for 20 percent. It's a high-stakes game in China, where online mobile payments were worth some 2.420 billion yuan ($368 million) in the third quarter of last year, local media reported, cited market research group iResearch Consulting as saying. Even China's Communist Party has got in on the action in an attempt to court web users. To win a share of 300,000 yuan-worth of electronic "red envelopes" offered by the party on Alipay, users must first enter phrases coined by President Xi Jinping. AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs poses with nominee Saoirse Ronan (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) By Gregg Kilday and Mia Galuppo This years Academy Awards have been overshadowed by the #OscarsSoWhite controversy triggered by another year in which the acting nominees included no people of color. But at its annual Nominees Luncheon, held Monday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the Academy trained its spotlight on the nominees from all its 24 categories setting the controversy aside for the day. This year, we all know there is an elephant in the room, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in her opening remarks, welcoming the nominees before lunch was served. I have asked the elephant to leave. Today is all about your incredible work on the screen and behind the camera that has touched millions globally and earned you a place in Hollywood history. Choosing to focus on the upcoming Oscar show itself, producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin announced a new method for reducing the litany of names that winners tend to recite in their thank-yous. Acceptance speeches have become a list of names and more often than not, time ran out before something could be spoken from the heart about the art, about the vision, about the experience, about the meaning of the moment, Hill said. We needed to rethink how this could be a better experience for everyone. The solution he unveiled, admitting that the details remain a work-in-progress: A scroll will run at the bottom of the screen in which winners can list those they want to thank. It will be, Hill promised, a permanent record of your gratitude. Before the luncheon began, many of the acting nominees and a few of the nominated directors like Spotlights Tom McCarthy, dropped by a press room, where they were peppered with questions about the diversity issue. But only Sylvester Stallone, nominated as best supporting actor for reprising his signature role of Rocky Balboa in Creed, chose to tackle the subject, telling reporters that he had talked with the movies writer-director Ryan Coogler, offering to boycott the Oscars since neither Coogler or star Michael B. Jordan were nominated for the film. Story continues Stallone related, I said, If you want me to go, Ill go. If you dont want me to go, I wont. He said, I want you to go. Because thats the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film. Referencing Coogler and Jordan, Stallone added, I really do owe everything to these two young men. The other nominees chose to deflect the questions. Asked if shed talked with her fellow nominees about the #OscarsSoWhite movement, Rooney Mara, a supporting actress nominee for Carol, responded, I havent really had a chance to talk with any of the other nominees about it. Read More: #OscarsSoWhite: Academy Chiefs Reveal Behind-the-Scenes Drama That Led to Historic Change (Exclusive) Jacob Tremblay, there to support his Room co-star Brie Larson, took some snaps from inside Mondays luncheon with Jennifer Lawrence (above) and Stallone (Photo: Jacob Tremblay/Instagram) Eddie Redmayne, last years best actor winner for The Theory of Everything, who is nominated this year for The Danish Girl, echoed that thought, saying, This is the first time we are really all in the same room together. In addition to more than 150 nominees and 36 of the 51 members of the Academys board of governors, the event attracted five of the Academys past presidents, whom Boone Isaacs asked to stand and take a bow: Sid Ganis, Richard Kahn, Howard Koch, Walter Mirisch, and Robert Rehme. She also saluted Hudlin and Hill, who are producing the 88th Oscars which airs Feb. 28 and the shows host Chris Rock. Its going to be an amazing evening, she said of the upcoming awards ceremony. During his remarks, Hill, who has produced plenty of live sporting broadcasts, including past Super Bowls, also singled out Lady Gaga, a nominee this year for the song Till It Happens to You from the documentary The Hunting Ground, hailing her performance of the national anthem at Sundays Super Bowl, calling it the best rendition I have ever heard, and, trust me, Ive heard a lot. Scott Feinberg contributed to this report Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees Tuesday ended their nine-day long strike spurred by plans to privatise the national carrier, saying their representatives would immediately hold talks with the government. Pakistan's airports have been enmeshed in chaos nationwide since the strike kicked off that grounded international and domestic flights and left thousands of passengers stranded. Last week, two employees were killed and several others wounded at Karachi's international airport when clashes broke out between security forces and staff. "We are calling off the strike today," Sohail Baloch, the chairman of PIA's joint action committee of employees, told a press conference in Karachi on Tuesday. Baloch also encouraged his colleagues to return to their jobs with "full commitment and spirit". He said his team was set to travel to Lahore on Tuesday night to hold talks with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. A PIA spokesman said that more than 50 percent of the carrier's operations were restored on Tuesday. In December, Islamabad announced it would complete the partial sale of the carrier by July, following years of crushing losses and mismanagement that have battered the airline's reputation. PIA, one of the world's leading airlines until the 1970s, now suffers from frequent cancellations and delays and has been involved in numerous controversies over the years, including the jailing of a drunk pilot in Britain in 2013. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Palestinian government said on Tuesday it was ready to step down to enable a new national unity government, as rivals Fatah and Hamas engaged in a new reconciliation effort. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was "ready to resign to support the formation of a national unity government and to take every effort to achieve genuine reconciliation", a statement read. The government is the remnant of the cabinet of independent technocrats that the West Bank-based Fatah and Gaza rulers Hamas agreed on in 2014 when they announced their reconciliation. But the unity government has been ineffective and essentially barred from operating in Gaza, with president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah and the Islamist Hamas long at loggerheads. Tuesday's new declaration of a willingness to resign, coming after two days of talks between Fatah and Hamas in the Qatari capital Doha, was not the first time the government has proposed such a move. Hamas also said it was "ready to form a new unity government without preconditions", and called for "a new government to solve the current problems". Hamas accuses Fatah of preventing the government from regulating the salaries of its 50,000 employees who have been on the books since the Islamists seized power in Gaza in 2007. Fatah accuses Hamas of maintaining a rival government and refusing to cede the management of Gaza's borders. Nickolay Mladenov, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, on Tuesday welcomed the Doha meeting, saying the world body "supports all efforts undertaken to advance genuine Palestinian reconciliation on the basis of non-violence, democracy and PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) principles". "The formation of a national unity government that abides by the PLO programme and the conduct of long-overdue elections are important elements of this process," he said in a statement. The last Palestinian elections were held 10 years ago. When Francisco Ramos was an undergraduate student at University of Michigan--Ann Arbor, he knew he wanted to get a doctorate. Ramos, a Latino man, also knew that few people from his race achieved that level of academic success. "I knew of only one," he says. With the help of mentors, he was admitted into a doctoral program at Indiana University--Bloomington to pursue education policy studies, but was unsure about what the environment would be like. "The biggest concern I had was more about culture," the 31-year-old says. "Do people sort of understand where I'm coming from or what I'm talking about or what are my interests?" [Learn why graduate education programs lead in attracting Latinos.] The Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education is launching a new program -- Pathways to the Professoriate -- to help people similar to Ramos get into Ph.D. programs and thrive. With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a five-year grant, the center will work with five research universities and three Hispanic-serving colleges to boost the number of Latinos who get a Ph.D. and become faculty in the humanities departments at colleges and universities. Sociology, musicology and religion are some of the subjects under the humanities. Participating universities in the program include the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University and Florida International University. Each Hispanic-serving school will select 10 undergrads to participate in the program and their mentors. As members of Pathways to the Professoriate, students will also receive help preparing for the GRE and writing personal statements, as well as stipends and other social and academic support, says Marybeth Gasman, a professor at University of Pennsylvania and director of the Center for Minority Serving Institutions. Over the course of the grant, 90 students will go through the program. The first cohort of students will be selected next fall. Story continues There's value in developing the next generation of academics who focus on the humanities, experts say. [Consider attending a Hispanic-serving institution for an academic and cultural experience.] "You're seeing a lot of of emphasis on STEM, but you don't see as much emphasis on the humanities. And the thing about the humanities is that they're what teaches us to think critically. They're what pushes us to see the humanity in the world," says Gasman. The best students for the program are those who have an in interest in teaching and research, are committed to working in the humanities and want to work as a faculty members at a college or university, Gasman says. The students must also be hard workers. "We want students who are going to commit to doing whatever it takes to getting into graduate school and commit to that mentoring relationship," she says. Experts on Latinos in higher education say programs such as Pathways to the Professoriate are important for continuing the pipeline of Hispanic students who matriculate to graduate school. "Less than 5 percent of faculty today are Latino. And that's a critical issue," says Deborah Santiago, the COO and vice president for policy for Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit organization that researches how Latinos perform in higher education. [Find out which colleges enroll the most Hispanic students.] Among Latino college-goers, 40 percent are the first in their family to attend, she says. "They don't see a lot of Latino faculty, and don't have them as professors when they go to college. So they don't see it as a viable option. They don't have role models to show them it's possible." For Latino students who want to make sure they get their Ph.D. from a school that supports minorities, it's important to do some research, experts say. Applicants should make sure that institutions they're considering provide "some minimal level of social, cultural support with mentors and a network that will help you," says Antonio Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Ramos, who now has his Ph.D. and works as the manager of program assessment and evaluation for the graduate school at Duke University, says prospective students must be vocal about their concerns. "Don't be afraid to reach out and ask questions," he says. "Is there enough funding? Do they have people I can identify with that are already there, like tenured faculty members for example?" If there isn't a ready-made community for students to socialize, Ramos says students can create their own by reaching out to student groups and faculty members, even if they aren't in your department or program. "You have to carve it out for yourself," he says. Latino undergrads who get a doctorate and decide to teach may find the experience to be rewarding on a personal level. Lorenzo Candelaria, a professor of musicology and an associate provost at University of Texas--El Paso, says his experience teaching Hispanic undergrads while working at University of Texas--Austin left an impression on them. "They were first generation college students, and one of the things I learned from that experience is that understanding and knowing that their professor -- that I was also Hispanic, that I was also a first generation college student -- that made them feel very welcomed," he says. University of Texas--El Paso is also participating in Pathways to the Professoriate. The UT--Austin students felt good knowing someone can come from a modest background and "be a first generation student and achieve their dreams, whatever they may be," he says. Searching for a grad school? Get our complete rankings of Best Graduate Schools. Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com. By Laila Kearney (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Pennsylvania woman convicted of joining a group attack on a gay couple in a predominantly gay Philadelphia neighborhood was sentenced to five to 10 months in jail, prosecutors said on Monday. A jury in December found Kathryn Knott, of Southampton, Pennsylvania, guilty of the misdemeanor charges of simple assault, conspiracy and two counts of reckless endangerment in the Sept. 11, 2014 beating, the Philadelphia District Attorney' Office said in a statement. In addition to jail time, Knott was ordered to serve two years probation and pay $2,000 in fines. Her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. Knott, who was immediately taken into custody after her sentencing, is the last of three people to be sentenced in the incident. Knott's friends, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26, both entered into plea agreements in October. The trio were celebrating a birthday with other friends in Center City, Philadelphia, where the attack took place. The victims of the assault, one of whom suffered a broken jaw, have said Williams and Harrigan shouted homophobic slurs before and during the assault. Knott was accused of punching one of the victims in the face. Police circulated surveillance video footage of the incident to the public before the defendants surrendered to police. The three have denied the attack was motivated by anti-gay sentiment. Williams and Harrigan said they were protecting Knott from the couple. Williams was sentenced to five years' probation after pleading guilty to aggravated assault. Harrigan was sentenced to three years' probation for simple assault and conspiracy. Both men have also been barred from Center City while on probation. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Alan Crosby) By David Alexander and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday proposed a $582.7 billion defense budget that emphasizes emerging threats from Russia, China and Islamic State rebels, but the plan is already under fire from Republican lawmakers who charge it short-changes the U.S. military. President Barack Obama's last budget would boost spending on the war against Islamic State militants to $7.5 billion during the 2017 fiscal year, a 50 percent jump over the $5 billion approved this year. Some $200 million of that would go to fight militants in north and west Africa. The proposal also would quadruple funds to counter Russian pressure in Europe, including its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and repeated strategic bomber flights near NATO air space. Spending to boost U.S. military presence and training in Europe would rise to $3.4 billion from $800 million this year. The budget heralds a strategic shift as Washington looks beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have dominated U.S. foreign policy over the past 15 years and enters a new period of great power competition from Russia and China as well as threats from smaller rivals like Iran and North Korea, officials said. "This budget marks a major inflection point for the Department of Defense," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement. "Even as we fight today's fights, we must also be prepared for the fights that might come in 10, 20 or 30 years." Overall, the administration is seeking a Pentagon base budget of $523.9 billion for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, plus $58.8 billion for war funding and overseas operations. The base budget is about $2.5 billion more than this year's while war spending remains relatively flat, officials said. The spending proposal is in line with a congressional budget deal last year that set Pentagon funding guidelines for 2016 and 2017. But Republican lawmakers have criticized the war funding plan, saying the $59 billion figure in the budget deal was a floor, not a ceiling, and the president should have sought more. "This request is inadequate to address the national security threats we face and the growing demands they impose on our men and women in uniform," Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. Congressman Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, accused administration of continuing "to play budgetary games with our country's security." McCain said by seeking the minimum level of war funding agreed in last year's budget deal, the president had left the Pentagon with at least $17 billion less than it estimated it would need for 2017 in last year's budget. To make up the shortfall in planned spending, the Pentagon cut more than $5 billion by adjusting its assumptions about expected fuel costs and inflation levels, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord said. It also reduced procurement to $112.1 billion, a drop of $11.2 billion, or 6 percent, from this year. The reductions would come mainly from cuts in planned aircraft purchases, including five fewer F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and a reduction in several types of Army helicopters, budget documents show. While cutting procurement, the Pentagon proposed increasing spending on research and development by 4 percent, to $71.8 billion, as it looks to develop new military technologies that can give it an edge over rival forces. The budget would continue to shrink the size of the U.S. Army following the Iraq and Afghan wars, dropping to 460,000 soldiers in 2017 from the current 475,000. The department plans to further reduce the force to 450,000 in the coming years. (Reporting by David Alexander, Andrea Shalal and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish) Travel experts at Lonely Planet have declared 2016 the year of Philadelphia, as it marks the 40th anniversary of the iconic film Rocky this year. In their list of 10 best US destinations, the travel guide gave Philadelphia the top spot -- the latest in a string of accolades for the city. Last year, Philadelphia became the first World Heritage City in the US, a distinction it shares with Paris, Rome, Cairo and Kyoto. The designation, announced at the world Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities in November, recognizes the citys importance in American history as the home of Independence Hall, and the place where the Declaration of Independence was forged to birth a new nation in 1776. The city also played host to Pope Francis last fall. This year the momentum continues, as Philadelphia will host the Democratic National Convention in July and mark the 40th anniversary of the Rocky franchise, which was recently revived in part thanks to the 2015 film Creed, in which Sylvester Stallone reprised his role as Rocky Balboa. Craft breweries? Check. Hot new locavore restaurants? Big check," say LP editors. "...Philadelphia is steadfastly managing to retain its historic roots and gritty flavor, as well as its affordability a pleasant surprise for a city so cosmopolitan and accessible." Cities on the list represent the most exciting, intriguing and up-and-coming US destinations and are predicted to shine in the year ahead. Some of our choices are perennial favorites, while others are just stepping into the spotlight, but all have one thing in common: now is the time to go. After Philadelphia, editors chose Natchez, Mississippi, which fetes its 300th anniversary this year with 300 events ranging from music festivals, hot air balloon races to historical celebrations, and a major birthday party in August. Rounding out the top three spots is Yellowstone National Park, the worlds first national park which will anchor the US National Park Services centennial anniversary this year. Here are the top 10 US destinations to visit in 2016, according to Lonely Planet: 1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2. Natchez, Mississippi 3. Yellowstone National Park 4. Birmingham, Alabama 5. Alaska 6. Somerville, Massachusetts 7. Northwest, Arkansas 8. San Antonio, Texas 9. Southern New Mexico 10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin By Manuel Mogato MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine presidential candidates began campaigning in traditionally colorful and musical style on Tuesday ahead of the May 9 election, with voters looking for a leader who can sustain one of the fastest economic growth rates in Asia. Under President Benigno Aquino, the Philippines has seen annual growth of more than six percent on average, its best five-year record in four decades. He has also managed to rein in, if not halt, corruption. Party affiliations have historically counted for little in the Philippines and policies have mattered less than personalities. Presidential campaigns are expensive and rely on the support of rich families and companies. Candidates will be singing and dancing along with movie and TV personalities across the archipelago of 7,100 islands over the next 90 days to gain people's attention before revealing full details of their platforms. The business community, however, is looking for a leader who can further liberalize the country, easing restrictions on foreign direct investment, reducing protectionism and eliminating red tape in doing business. "It will be very interesting to see what are the positions of each of the candidates in really easing business here in the country for foreigners and Filipinos," Julian Payne, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said. The latest opinion poll shows a first time senator, Grace Poe, abandoned in a church as a baby, ahead of the pack, but analysts say it is too early to make predictions. A Pulse Asia survey last month pointed to a tight race among Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Aquino's handpicked successor, former interior minister Manuel Roxas. Senator Miriam Santiago, who had ran and lost two previous presidential elections, is a distant fifth. Poe led the pack with 30 percent support, while Binay, Duterte and Roxas were not far behind with 23 and 20 percent respectively. In December, Binay topped the polls with 33 percent. Earl Parreno, of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms, said it would be a tight race to the finish but there's uncertainty about Poe's eligibility because of a dispute about her citizenship and required residency in the country. Poe, a naturalized American, returned to the Philippines when her adoptive father, who ran for president and lost, died in late 2004. Six years later, she renounced her U.S. citizenship when Aquino appointed her to a government post. "It's still anybody's ball game because most voters have not really absorbed the candidates' messages," Parreno said, adding poverty and corruption were among the main issues resonating with the electorate. The campaigning began in festive mood in the capital with Duterte, running on the platform of law and order, holding his proclamation rally in the crime-prone poor community near Manila's docks. Poe brought together right-wing former soldiers and left-leaning activists at her kick-off campaign in historic Plaza Miranda at the heart of the capital's old city. Binay held a rally in Mandaluyong City, next to Manila's financial district, Makati, where he was mayor for two decades. His wife and son were also mayors. Roxas barnstormed in his political bailiwick in the central Philippines while Santiago traveled to the north, the political base of her running mate, Ferdinand Marcos, son of Imelda Marcos, widow of the late dictator Ferdinand and famous for her collection of shoes and jewelry. More than 54 million Filipinos are choosing a new president, vice president, about 300 lawmakers in the two-chamber Congress and about 18,000 local government positions. (Additional Reporting by Karen Lema: Editing by Nick Macfie) In 2015, the TurkmenistanAfghanistanPakistanIndia natural gas pipeline (TAPI) shifted from theoretical concept to pragmatic initiative. That progress was due to three major breakthroughs: an agreement on the TAPI holding companys share structure, the selection of a leader for the consortium, and the groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony, held in Mary, Turkmenistan on Dec. 13, delivered a strong message to the skeptics. Yet others saw TAPI as only a minor item on the agenda during conferences and academic discussions. However, these recent actions have catapulted TAPI to South Asias center stage, as it becomes clear that the pipeline could develop into a major, much needed source of energy and stability for Afghanistan and the region. TAPI, a 1,127-mile long pipeline, would transport 24 million metric tons (MMTs) of natural gas from Turkmenistans gigantic Galkynysh field the second largest gas field in the world to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. TAPI will provide Afghanistan with .3651.095 MMTs per year over the next 30 years, while India and Pakistan will each receive 10.211.7 MMTs per year. Afghans in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar, and Herat certainly greeted it as such, spilling into the streets to celebrate the pipelines groundbreaking. President Ashraf Ghanis vision of Afghanistan resuming its ancient role as one of Asias key trade routes is closer to becoming a reality. The public also broadly supports the project. They believe that projects like TAPI will remove the economic shackles that have limited Afghanistan during the last 40 years of conflict. The widespread support from pro- and anti-government groups alike signaled that the security concerns linked to the construction of TAPI, which many once believed to be major impediments, are manageable. During President Ghanis recent visit to Kandahar on Feb. 3, the provinces elders vowed to protect the TAPI pipeline by all means necessary. Afghanistan would benefit tremendously from TAPI, and the $400 million in annual transit fees is not the only upside. Apart from serving as a reliable source of cheap green energy to support the countrys economic growth, Afghanistans Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) estimates that TAPI will contribute considerably to Afghanistans GDP, and provide jobs to at least 25,000 Afghans. This will control the growing unemployment rate that has led young Afghans to pursue job prospects in Europe. TAPI will also provide Afghanistan with key allies who will work to support Afghanistans security and political stability, as the pipeline a large portion of which runs through Afghanistan is a valuable asset that the three other participating countries will want to maintain. To utilize TAPIs gas in Afghanistan, three electricity-generating Independent Power Producers (IPPs) with 100 MW capacities could be built in Helmand, Herat, and Kandahar. Construction of three IPPs could proceed through a public-private partnership (PPP) model involving the government and private sector. This design was used for IPPs in Sheberghan (200 MW), the capital city of Jowzjan province in northwest Afghanistan, and Mazar (50 MW), the capital of Balkh province also in northwest Afghanistan. However, both have yet to be built, and only the Mazar IPP attracted an investor with help from the World Banks International Finance Corporation to proceed with financing. Building these three IPPs for TAPI would address the energy needs in Kandahar, Helmand, Nimruz, Uruzgan, Farah, and Herat. Over 90 small-to-medium size factories are inactive in Kandahar because of power shortages. Power rationing is currently enforced because the national power utility cannot meet the existing electricity demand in Kandahar. From 2008 to early 2015, the U.S. government spent $100 million per year to provide electricity in Kandahar from temporary high-cost diesel generation. Now, with its plan to cut off the diesel supply, the power scarcity will get worse. In Helmand, one of the largest sources of illegal drugs in the world, the government could convert the regions economic engine from opium production to manufacturing, made possible through the reliable power and electricity provided by TAPI. While Afghanistan cant get enough energy, Turkmenistan cant sell enough gas. TAPI gained momentum in 2015 in part because of the P5+1 and Iran nuclear agreement that lifted sanctions on Iran and opened the possibility of an Iran Pakistan India (IPI) pipeline. Turkmenistan feared that any gas pipeline from Iran to South Asia could undermine its plan to diversify its gas exports. TAPI plays a pivotal role in diversifying the market for Turkmenistans gas exports, and these opportunities have the potential to double Turkmenistans revenues. Every summer, Pakistan faces an 8,500-MW electricity deficit, and a shortage of compressed natural gas (CNG) at its gas stations. Like in Afghanistan, TAPI would play a vital role in meeting the countrys energy needs. The pipeline will give Pakistani officials a chance to fulfill their campaign promises to provide sustainable energy to all. Pakistan understands that total dependence on foreign hydrocarbons is undesirable, but also realizes that domestic renewable energy alone cannot meet baseload demand. Moreover, the ongoing power shortages have caused severe damage to the manufacturing industry in Pakistan, especially the textile sector. TAPI would also lead India to pay $200-250 million in transit fees annually to Pakistan, another boost to Pakistans economy. Considering Indias fast-growing energy demands and its emergence as one of Asias economic giants, it faces enormous electricity deficits that cannot be addressed by its current energy supply options. Reports say that Indias power shortfall is approaching 8,000 MW (as of April 2014) a deficit of 5.4 percent when electricity usage in the country is at its highest. Addressing their energy deficits through joint action can push the partner countries to forget rivalries and past political tension for the sake of collaboration necessary to make TAPI possible. The most recent obstacle for TAPI was finalizing the ownership structure of the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL). The TPCL is mandated to build, own, and operate the $10 billion gas pipeline. In August 2015, the four state companies Turkmengaz, Afghan Gas Enterprise, Inter State Gas Systems (Pakistan) Limited, and GAIL (India) Limited endorsed Turkmengaz as the consortium leader for TPCL. Turkmengaz assumed a leading role with a 51 percent stake in the project, with the other three countries each holding a 5 percent share. The remaining 34 percent is being retained for international energy investors who join the project. Reports in late November 2015 said that Dragon Oil, the Dubai-based oil and gas company, had expressed its willingness to invest in TAPI. If finalized, this will be another breakthrough, similar to the groundbreaking ceremony that confirmed TAPIs progression to the implementation stage. Dragon Oil is also the sole operator of Turkmenistans two Caspian offshore oil and gas fields, Dzheitune (Lam) and Dzhygalybeg (Zhdanov). The prospective size of Dragon Oils stake in TPCL is unknown, though a $1 billion investment roughly one-tenth of the total cost may encourage other energy giants to take part in the TAPI project as well. Afghans want to transform their country into a major trade and energy corridor. Pakistan and India have great needs for more energy. Turkmenistan seeks to diversify its gas markets. These goals are key factors in the prerequisite agreements that have established the TPCL, endorsed a consortium leader, and inaugurated the project through a groundbreaking ceremony. The importance of the achievements attained in 2015 should not be understated. In 2016, TAPI is well positioned to transform from fairy tale into tangible reality. John Moore/Getty Images Mexico City (AFP) - A second independent forensic investigation rejected on Tuesday the Mexican government's conclusion that 43 students who went missing in 2014 were incinerated at a garbage dump. The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team said there was "no consistency between the physical evidence" and the testimony of drug gang suspects who claimed that the students were killed and burned at the site. While charred bone remains of at least 19 people were found at the dump in Cocula, southern Guerrero state, they "clearly do not belong" to the trainee teachers, said Miguel Nieva, a member of the Argentine team. Nieva showed photos and studies of plants demonstrating that there was "not any sign of a recent fire in the vegetation" at the dump in Cocula, southern Guerrero state. Nieva said there were several blazes at the landfill over the years since 2010, but "no fire occurred on the night of" September 26 to 27, 2014, when the students vanished after they were detained by police in the nearby town of Iguala. Former attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam declared last year that the "historic truth" was that the students were delivered to a drug cartel, which killed them, incinerated their bodies at the dump and tossed the remains in a river. One of the students was identified among the remains found in bags in the river. Authorities also found a possible DNA match for a second student. But the Argentines, who have participated in the investigations at the request of the students' families, expressed doubts about the origin of the remains. The group said it was not present when the bags were found, so they cannot be sure of the remains' origins. The bone that allowed an Austrian lab to identify the student, Alexander Mora, was "unusual of its size compared to the other fragments in the same bag" and had minimal exposure to fire, said Argentine team member Mercedes Doretti. Story continues - HRW: Autorities must be investigated - Independent investigators from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights rejected the official conclusions in September, saying a fire expert found no scientific evidence of a massive funeral pyre at the dump. Attorney General Arely Gomez has vowed to conduct a new forensic investigation with international experts while looking at other lines of investigation into the students' possible final destination. Her office said that it had received the Argentine team's report and that it would be reviewed. The statement said the case was not closed and that authorities are finalizing the team to conduct a new analysis of the fire claims in the tragedy that has triggered international outrage and haunted the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto. Nwe York-based Human Rights Watch said the Argentine team's report shows that the initial conclusions in the case were "no more than fiction." "What Mexico needs isn't just an investigation into the whereabouts of the disappeared students, but also an investigation of the authorities who produced the unsubstantiated official version of events, including the former attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam," said the group's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco. Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's intelligence agency on Tuesday said it had arrested a recruiter for the Islamic State group, as well as seven alleged members of the Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru. The announcement comes nearly a year after the leader of Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to IS leader in Syria and Iraq, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Speculation has been rife since then on whether closer links would be forged between the two groups, with lawless Libya and the remote Sahel region pinpointed as a possible source of contact. The Department of State Services (DSS) said in an emailed statement that Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa was detained in the northern city of Kano on January 17. His arrest came after intelligence unveiled "his terrorist antecedents and covert drive to indoctrinate and recruit susceptible youths in the country," the statement read. The DSS described Yunusa as a "recruiter for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)" and said he was preparing to go to Libya to join an "ISIS terrorist training camp" with at least three others. The secret police said he told them two other Nigerians were already undergoing training in the north African country, which has slid into bloodshed since the fall of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. At least two others, including one from Niger, were "ISIS agents operating in Nigeria and the West African sub-region", funded by an IS "media expert" using international money transfers. Four others were arrested in Kano on January 22 "while migrating to Libya, with their immediate families, including infants, in a bid to join ISIS", the DSS said. Two students were arrested a week later, also in Kano, on suspicion of plotting "coordinated lone wolf attacks" on crowded civilian targets in Nigeria, it added. - Tie-up fears - Fears have been expressed about a link-up between IS fighters in Libya and Boko Haram as well as Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist groups in places such as Mali and elsewhere in North Africa. Story continues But there has been little evidence of the use of foreign fighters in Boko Haram's insurgency, which has left at least 17,000 dead and displaced more than 2.6 million people since 2009. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari told Britain's Daily Telegraph in an interview published on Thursday he was aware of reports of Nigerians in the Libyan town of Sirte and Syria itself. "I don't know which side but they may be fighting for ISIL. How many, I have no idea," he was quoted as saying. On February 3, Buhari said in a speech to the European Parliament that Libya was a "strategic time bomb" because of the proliferation of weapons, many of which reach Boko Haram. On Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group more ideologically aligned to Al-Qaeda, the DSS said it arrested seven alleged members in the northern state of Katsina on January 17. "This group was discovered in an active stage, as its members were already co-ordinating themselves for attacks in Katsina and Kano states, it added. Little has been heard of Ansaru, which formed in 2012 on the back of ideological differences and a leadership struggle between Shekau and a high-ranking commander known as Khalid al-Barnawi. It claimed a string of kidnappings of foreigners in Nigeria and northern Cameroon. The Maryland General Assembly restored Tuesday the right to vote for more than 40,000 released felons, overriding a veto by Governor Larry Hogan. Marylands Senate approved the bill on a narrow 29-18 vote, while the state House of Delegates voted 85-56 in favor of it on January 20. Under the states previous laws, felons regained the right to vote after completing their entire sentence, including probation or parole. The new law restores voting rights to felons who are no longer imprisoned, but are still under probation or parole. About 44,000 Marylanders will regain their vote under the new law, according to the Washington Post. The law goes into effect in 30 days, just over one month before the states primary elections on April 26. Legislators in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly have overridden all six vetoes issued by Hogan, a Republican, in the latest legislative session. In his veto statement last May, Hogan argued the current law achieves the proper balance between the repayment of obligations to society for a felony conviction and the restoration of various rights, including the right to vote. Recommended: The 2016 Presidential Cheat Sheet: Fiorina and Christie Drop Out Only Maine and Vermont impose no barriers on felon voting, and even allow prisoners to cast ballots while incarcerated. Restrictions in the other 48 states vary by crime and sentence. Marylands current system follows the general norm, in which states require a felons release from prison and completion of probation or parole before his or her voting rights are restored. A small number of states are far more severe. Florida, Iowa, and Kentucky impose lifetime bans, though all three states have mechanisms to lift it. In November, outgoing Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed an executive order that restored voting rights for 140,000 nonviolent felons. His successor, Matt Bevin, rescinded the order shortly after taking office in December. Story continues Overall, the Sentencing Project estimates that roughly 5.85 million otherwise eligible Americans cant cast a ballot due to felon disenfranchisement. Perhaps the most dramatic effects are felt in Florida, where more than 1 in 10 Floridians cannot vote due to the states severe restrictions. Like virtually every other aspect of the criminal-justice system, its impact is felt disproportionately among black and Hispanic communities, with almost one-quarter of Floridas black voting-age residents disenfranchised as of 2014. The contested 2000 presidential election offers the most striking example of the impact of felon disenfranchisement. Republican candidate George W. Bush won Florida by a razor-thin margin of 537 votes, giving him a narrow victory in the Electoral College. But a 2002 study in the American Sociological Review concluded that if the states 827,000 disenfranchised felons had voted at the same rate as other Floridians, Democratic candidate Al Gore would have won Floridaand the presidencyby more than 80,000 votes. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. New York (AFP) - Rocker Ted Nugent, a long-time campaigner for right-wing causes, came under fire Tuesday from Jewish groups after he alleged a conspiracy behind US gun control efforts. The "Cat Scratch Fever" guitarist on Monday listed on Facebook prominent US Jewish politicians who support stricter gun laws and put Israeli flags on their pictures. "What sort of racist prejudiced (person) could possibly not know that Jews for guncontrol are nazis in disguise?" he wrote in one of a series of profanity-laden postings. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that the group would urge Facebook to take down the graphic if Nugent, who is 67, did not do so himself. "There are Jews on both sides of the gun control controversy and Nugent knows it. He owes our community an apology," Cooper said. Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, acknowledged that Nugent has been an "equal opportunity offender" but said he had drifted into "conspiratorial anti-Semitism." "It should go without saying that anti-Semitism has no place in the gun control debate," he said, urging Nugent to take down the post. Nugent, who has sold more than 30 million albums, is well-known for his strong views on guns. He has lashed out against proposals for tighter screening on weapons sales following a string of mass shootings in the United States and has long spoken out against animal rights. Nugent campaigned for 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and was invited a year later to watch President Barack Obama's State of the Union address as a guest of then congressman Steve Stockman of Texas. But several Republican politicians criticized him after he described Obama as a "subhuman mongrel." Moscow (AFP) - The Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday said it hoped a historic first meeting between its Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis would herald a new era of cooperation between two Christian branches that have been estranged for centuries. The Vatican announced Friday that the pair will meet in Cuba next week, in the first gathering of its kind since the bitter 11th-century split that divided Christianity into Western and Eastern branches. Each wing has since maintained that it is the true inheritor of the early Christian church established by the apostles of Jesus Christ. "This historic meeting clearly marks a new stage in our relations," the Orthodox Church's spokesman Father Alexander Volkov told a press conference. He added that the Church hopes the meeting at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport on February 12 will lead to "new prospects" for cooperation between the two. Volkov stressed that the meeting was not political in nature. "I can 100 percent guarantee that this is a meeting between two Church leaders that has nothing to do with politics," he said. "The agenda of a church is not linked to the agenda of any country." Patriarch Kirill, 69, is considered close to the Kremlin. He has notably defended Russia's air campaign in Syria, which Moscow says is aimed at wiping out jihadists. The West accuses Russia of targeting more moderate factions that oppose President Bashar al-Assad, who Moscow supports. Relations have warmed of late between Rome and other branches of the Orthodox tradition, but the Russian one, the most influential in the Eastern family, had maintained its distance until now. A meeting between Francis and Kirill had been on the cards for some time with Francis saying in 2014 that he was willing to meet "wherever you want". OFW Family Club party-list Rep. Roy Seneres yesterday died of cardiac arrest, three days after he announced his withdrawal from the May 9 presidential race. He was 68. According to his lawyer Candy Rivas, family members were present when Seneres passed away at 8 a.m. yesterday morning. She did not give further details. Last Friday, Rivas and Seneres daughter Hannah tried to file his statement of withdrawal with the Law Department of the Commission on Elections, citing his poor health. The Comelec did not accept the statement because the law provides that he should do it personally. Rivas said she last saw Seneres, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday. He was telling me then that his prayers were answered because he was feeling good. There was no indication that he was not feeling well, said Rivas. A known advocate of the rights of overseas Filipino workers, Seneres helped save domestic helper Sarah Balabagan from the death penalty in the UAE after she was sentenced to die for killing her employer after he tried to rape her in 1994. Balabagan, now based in the US, posted her condolences to the Seneres family on her Facebook account. Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista yesterday also expressed condolences to Seneres family. Bautista said that based on substitution rules in case of death, Seneres could be replaced by someone from his political party Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka, until midday of election day, provided that the replacement has a similar surname. He, however, added that Seneres camp must formally notify the Comelec about this because the poll body is set to start loading the names of candidates into the election management system (EMS) today. Othewise, his name will be included in the official ballots. EMS generates the information that will be printed on the official ballots. Story continues Seneres son Roy Jr. would replace the late lawmaker as representative of the OFW Family Club party-list group in the House of Representatives. Malacanang yesterday expressed its condolences to the Seneres family. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Seneres had pushed for the welfare of workers while serving as chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission and as ambassador to the UAE. Legacy Though he did not become president, Seneres left a remarkable legacy for Filipinos working here and abroad. Seneres, until the time of his death, had been fighting for the rights and welfare of millions of Filipino workers, recruitment industry leader Lito Soriano said. His advocacy to put an end to contractualization, which has been a growing problem affecting Filipino workers, was the main reason why he wanted to seek the presidency, Soriano told The STAR. Soriano said Seneres told him that he would run for president because now is the right time to push for necessary measures against contractualization. He said the late lawmaker is strongly against contractualization because it affects not only the lives of local workers, but also OFWs. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the untimely demise of Seneres was a big loss to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the OFWs. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario presented to Seneres on Feb. 24, 2012 the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments, performance of duties and substantive contributions in advancing the interests of the country and the Filipino people as he performed his work as ambassador. The Filipino Workers Resource Center in Abu Dhabi also awarded Seneres for his exemplary leadership in providing all out support to OFWs, particularly maltreated domestic helpers and for saving the life of Balabagan. Some presidential candidates and other aspirants for national posts had approached Seneres for his endorsement when news spread that he was withdrawing his candidacy for the presidency, a family member disclosed yesterday. Seneres group is said to have over five million members worldwide. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said Seneres death was a great loss to our overseas Filipino workers community, having spent most of his life championing their concerns as well as those of the labor sector. On behalf of my colleagues at the House of Representatives and of my family, I extend my sympathy and prayers to Roys loved ones and offer our great respect and gratitude for his unwavering dedication and sincere service to our nation onto the very end, Belmonte said. OFW advocate Susan Ople described Seneres as a courageous leader who consistently took up the cudgels for distressed OFWs even when he was a diplomat. The OFW community lost a voice filled with passion, a man who went down fighting regardless of the odds, for principles that he believed in, Ople said. Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said Seneres showed unwavering compassion for OFWs and he and other lawmakers should continue his crusade. Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano III said Seneres not only fought for the rights of OFWs but also for welfare of local workers. Sen. Grace Poe said Seneres will be remembered for his cause to make better working conditions for Filipino workers through their security of tenure. Sen. Francis Escudero said he was shocked by the sad news, while Sen. Bongbong Marcos noted that Seneres championed the rights of OFWs as a diplomat and fought for the causes of the oppressed labor sector. Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin, Jess Diaz, Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez, Perseus Echeminada, Pia Lee-Brago, Paolo Romero A senior Afghan Taliban member has died in Pakistan after an illness, militant sources said Tuesday, potentially embarassing Islamabad which denies harbouring the insurgent group's leadership on its soil. Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani, who was in his mid-fifties and a member of the group's Leadership Council, died of cancer on Monday night in a hospital in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, two senior Taliban sources told AFP. Rahmani rose to prominence as a jihadist during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and lost a leg during the conflict, according to a statement on the Taliban's website which confirmed his death but did not say where it happened. He was later appointed governor of Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland, when the militants ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, has long been rumoured to host the "Quetta Shura" or Quetta Leadership Council of the Taliban -- senior leaders who fled across the border to Pakistan after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistan, which was one of just three countries to recognise the Taliban during their period in power, denies the council's existence. A senior Taliban leader told AFP: "He died in Quetta late Monday night and today his body was moved to Afghanistan. The burial will probably take place in Kandahar." The source added: "He was a prominent figure in the Taliban leadership and there were some rumours he might soon announce his own splinter group." The dominant faction of the Taliban is led by Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who officially succeeded founder Mullah Omar. A major breakaway faction meanwhile is led by Muhammad Rasul, whose faction is seen by some analysts as closer to Iran. Rahmani's death in Pakistan, which was confirmed by another senior militant source, comes as the Taliban step up their attacks in an unprecedented winter surge a year after the withdrawal of NATO combat troops. Story continues Nine people were killed and eighteen injured in separate suicide attacks Monday, days after a fresh round of international talks in Islamabad aimed at reviving dialogue with the Islamist group. With neither side in the conflict seemingly able to accomplish a decisive victory, Kabul, regional powers and the United States have pinned their hopes on a peace settlement. On Saturday representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US announced that direct talks between Kabul and the Taliban were expected to take place by the end of the month. An earlier round of direct dialogue last July fell apart. Security analyst Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general, said the Afghan Taliban's presence in Pakistan was "an open secret and it seems to be getting confirmed and reconfirmed". He added that due to pressure from the country's powerful military, such news was routinely supressed in the Pakistani media. FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's last known Ebola patient has been released from hospital, medical officials said on Monday, allowing authorities to begin a six-week countdown before declaring the West African country free of the virus once more. Thirty-eight-year-old Memunatu Kalokoh was discharged on Friday, said Col. Sahr Foday, the head of the Sierra Leone Army Medical Unit where she was admitted. Kalokoh is the aunt of Mariatu Jalloh, the 21-year-old student who died of the virus last month in the same week that the World Health Organization declared the region Ebola-free. The case triggered a country-wide hunt for people who may have come into contact with her. Kalokoh nursed Jalloh when she was sick. Health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahyah Tunis said this meant the country had again started the 42-day countdown after which the outbreak will be declared over if there are no new cases. This represents twice the length of the virus's incubation period - the time elapsed between transmission of the disease and the appearance of symptoms. Even after that, however, the WHO said cases like this one are likely to re-emerge as efforts continue to stamp out the virus that killed more than 11,300 people in two years, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Sierra Leone was first declared free of Ebola in November before Jalloh's case emerged and raised fears of a new upsurge. Health experts expressed concern that many of the routine procedures established to contain the virus were not carried out in her case. Dozens of people who may have come into contact with Jalloh before she died remain missing, and the health ministry has urged them to come forward. That effort has been hampered by fear and suspicion in local communities. "There will be no punitive action against them and we will treat them if they are sick," Tunis said. (Reporting by Umara Fofana; Editing by Edward McAllister and Mark Trevelyan) A Sikh Indian-American actor and designer says that he was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Waris Ahluwalia wrote in his Instagram account. The 41-year-old bearded actor posted a picture of himself holding up his boarding pass and another in front of an Aeromexico customer service desk. The House of Waris chief was heading to New York's fashion week. "Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me," he added. The Mexican airline issued a statement late Monday saying that it was obligated to follow "federal requirements in terms of security determined by the US Transportation Security Administration to review passengers." The airline said it "regrets the inconvenience that any passenger may perceive from the application of these procedures" and it vowed to transport all passengers regardless of their religious beliefs. As an actor, Ahluwalia appeared in the Oscar-nominated film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and the US television series "The Carrie Diaries." He also has modeled for clothier Gap. By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber who blew a hole in the fuselage of a Daallo Airlines plane last week and forced it to make an emergency landing in Mogadishu was meant to be on a Turkish Airlines flight, Daallo's chief executive said on Monday. The bomber was sucked out of the plane through the 1-metre-wide (1-yard-wide) hole when the blast ripped open the pressurized cabin in flight, officials said. The pilot landed the plane in the Somali capital, from where it had taken off. No group has so far taken responsibility for the attack but U.S. officials said on Monday the United States suspects Islamist militant group al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda, was responsible for the blast. Daallo Airlines chief executive, Mohamed Yassin, said most of the passengers who were on the bombed flight were scheduled to fly with Turkish Airlines, but were flown to Djibouti by one of his planes after the Turkish carrier canceled its flight, citing bad weather. "That particular passenger (who was behind the blast) boarded the aircraft on a Turkish Airlines boarding pass and was on the list for the Turkish Airlines manifest," Yassin told Reuters by telephone from Dubai. Yassin said Daallo picked up the 70 stranded Turkish Airlines passengers to fly them to Djibouti, including the suicide bomber. In total, the flight had 74 passengers. Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun confirmed the carrier had canceled a flight to Mogadishu last week due to bad weather and said the company will not make any further comment. Somalia, mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991, has few air links outside East Africa. In 2012, Turkish Airlines became the first major international commercial airline to fly out of Somalia in more than two decades. Mogadishu's heavily guarded airport, which is often compared to the Green Zone in Baghdad, has several safety perimeter fences and checkpoints. It houses a large U.N. compound along with several other Western embassies. Somali officials said an investigation had been launched and arrests made, including airport workers. U.S. officials said investigators believe the bomb was hidden in a laptop computer, and that the bomber had some type of connection to airline or airport personnel. CCTV footage released by the Somali National Intelligence Agency (NISA) appears to show two airport workers inside the terminal handing the suicide bomber a laptop, according to the government spokesman. "Some of the people that we have arrested are cooperating," spokesman Abdisalam Aato told Reuters. He said security at the airport has been stepped up and that the government was seeking new technologies to improve screenings. Al Shabaab, which wants to topple the government and impose a harsh version of Islamic law, has targeted the airport in the past. It has also attacked the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu. Yassin said Daallo has been reassured by Somali officials that security was being improved, and will keep flying to Somalia. We have been there for 25 years," he said. "Our efforts to keep Somalia linked to the rest of the world will continue." (Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Ceyda Caglayan in Istanbul and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by George Obulutsa, Dominic Evans and Jonathan Oatis) CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said on Tuesday it would serve Sibanye Gold with a notice to strike because the bullion producer did not sign a separate wage agreement with the worker's group. Sibanye signed a wage deal with three other unions and extended it to AMCU. "We will serve them with the strike notice as soon as we consult with the worker structures on the ground," AMCU national treasurer Jimmy Gama told Reuters. (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Kumba Iron Ore's reported a 66 percent drop in annual profit, in line with its own forecast, as it battled slumping prices for the steel-making ingredient. Kumba, a unit of Anglo American, said headline earnings per share (EPS) totalled 11.8 rand in the year to end December compared with 34.3 rand a year earlier. Headline EPS is the main gauge of profit in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items. Iron ore prices fell about 35 percent in 2015 due to a supply glut and growth concerns in top consumer China, forcing Kumba to cut jobs and restructure its main mine, Sishen. (Reporting by Thekiso Anthony Lefifi; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng) By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United Nations will not force Sri Lanka to accept a role for international judges in investigating possible war crimes during the 26-year Tamil insurgency but any process must be impartial and independent, the U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday. Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, ending a four-day visit to Sri Lanka to assess the investigation, commended some efforts by President Maithripala Sirisena's government but said much still needed to be done. The United Nations says the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels were both likely to have committed war crimes during the war, which ended with a military victory in 2009. A U.N. resolution calls for all alleged war crimes to be investigated and tried in special courts by international judges. Zeid's visit followed comments by Sirisena that foreign participation was not needed for an impartial inquiry. "We are not forcing anything on the government of Sri Lanka," Zeid told Reuters. "The president has stated his preference, his position. We have stated our preference." Many Sri Lankans oppose foreign involvement and supporters of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa believe the U.N. resolution aims to punish the military unfairly. Rajapaksa rejected international pressure for a U.N. war crimes investigation and main political parties as well as Buddhist leaders remain opposed to any external involvement. Zeid said the U.N. human rights body believed that victims would not have confidence in a national mechanism as those tried before have left them disappointed. "If whatever Sri Lanka decides upon has the support of the victims on all sides, that is okay with us. If the mechanism is impartial and independent that is okay with us," he said, sitting in the U.N. office in the capital Colombo. "Our preference was initially and our preference still is a hybrid type mechanism with international participation." (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Update, Feb. 9, 2016, 2:20 p.m.: This article has been updated to note that Republican presidential candidate John Kasich has also been targeted by negative mailers from America Needs Leadership. As New Hampshirites prepare to vote in their states Republican presidential primary, allies of Chris Christie have launched an 11th-hour, dark money attack on Marco Rubio. Mailers sent to New Hampshire residents have criticized Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, for not being tough enough on illegal immigration and for utilizing a subsidy under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. As first reported by The Resurgent and Mother Jones, these mailings were paid for by an upstart group called America Needs Leadership. Christie, New Jerseys governor, desperately needs to beat Rubio in New Hampshire to energize his sputtering campaign. Rubio has enjoyed rising poll numbers after his strong third-place finish last week in Iowa, where Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump narrowly edged him out. According to the Columbus Dispatch, America Needs Leadership has also targeted another Christie rival with negative mailers, Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The ads sponsor America Needs Leadership is not organized as a super PAC that must disclosure its donors. Rather, its a nonprofit group under sec. 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code, which means the group is generally allowed to keep the names of its donors secret. That designation also means that, by law, the groups primary purpose must be to promote social welfare, not to engage in electoral politics although it may advocate for or against candidates to a limited degree. What exactly is the groups mission? According to its all-but-empty Facebook page, America Needs Leadership wants a new generation of leaders to step up to move our country forward with strength and resolve. Records with the Internal Revenue Service show that America Needs Leadership was awarded tax-exempt status as a social welfare nonprofit in December 2015. Story continues Whos behind it? America Needs Leaderships bare-bones website was registered in October 2015 by Kurt Luidhardt, an Indiana-based political consultant at The Prosper Group, a digital agency he co-founded in 2006. Campaigns & Elections magazine has described Luidhardt as one of the GOPs top thinkers in online campaigning. According to his official biography, Luidhardt has worked with Republican politicians including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Christie. Campaign finance filings show two groups connected to Christie paid Luidhardts The Prosper Group nearly $300,000 last year. One is America Leads, a super PAC backing Christies presidential bid, which paid The Prosper Group about $255,000 last year. Press reports describe Luidhardt as leading the super PACs digital efforts. The other is Leadership Matters for America, a federal political action committee Christie launched last year ahead of his official presidential campaign, paid the firm about $41,000 in 2015. Meanwhile, IRS records list Virginia-based political consultant Timothy Koch of the firm Koch & Hoos as a contact for America Needs Leadership, the sponsor of the anti-Rubio mailers. According to The Resurgent, the address of Kochs firm was listed as the return address on the recent mailings to New Hampshire voters. Koch also serves as the treasurer of the pro-Christie super PAC America Leads, which paid Koch & Hoos about $32,000 last year for accounting and compliance services. The now-defunct presidential campaign of Republican Rick Santorum was also among Koch & Hoos clients, according to federal campaign finance records. Neither Luidhardt nor Koch responded to requests for comment from the Center for Public Integrity. This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Money in Its unclear whos is funding America Needs Leadership. The mailers sent to New Hampshire voters note that contributions from foreign nationals and government contractors are prohibited. But they also highlight the fact that the group may accept "unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and other U.S. organizations and note that America Needs Leadership "does not make contributions to, or coordinate its spending with, any candidates or political parties." Money out Its also unclear how much America Needs Leadership is spending. The groups first official tax returnwhich would provide insights into how much money America Needs Leadership raised and spent during its first year of existence will not be required to be filed with the IRS until after the November 2016 general election. Why to watch this group With the emergence of America Needs Leadership as an anonymous attack dog, Christie has become the latest GOP presidential candidate to benefit from dark money in the 2016 election. But hes not the first. Secretive groups that dont disclose their donors are playing a larger role in 2016 than any presidential primary before. For example, a group supporting Rubio called the Conservative Solutions Project spent more than $8.5 million on TV ads last year. And fellow GOP White House contenders Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal also saw allies utilize social welfare nonprofits in attempts to boost their respective campaigns. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Courts 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, social welfare nonprofit groups like America Needs Leadership may spend a portion of their funds directly calling for the election or defeat of federal candidates. That means America Needs Leadership may take on a more direct advocacy role before the 2016 presidential primary is over. This story was co-published with Al Jazeera America and TIME. 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. Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are getting pounded as oil falls and fears of a global economic slowdown loom. Keith Bliss of Cuttone & Co. joins us live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the markets. To talk about some of the other stories that Yahoo Finance is keeping an eye on today, Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer and Yahoo Finance's Nicole Sinclair. Oil hitting dividends The slide in oil prices is taking a bite out of of the wallets of dividend investors. Goldman Sachs says at least 20 companies tied to the oil patch have cut their dividends over the past three months. Chipotle food safety meeting Employees of all Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) restaurants around the country are taking part in a company-wide meeting to discuss food safety issues. The franchise is closing until 3 p.m. local time to discuss the recent outbreaks of E. coli and norovirus tied to the company's food. The news has decimated Chipotle's stock -- it's down 40% since the first reports of food poisoning came out back in October. New ways to pay Wave your hand, make a purchase. That's one of the ways Visa (V) is looking at as an alternative to traditional credit cards. The biggest credit card provider is experimenting with new recognition techniques that use your hand print and eyes, and it's even working on ways to have your car and refrigerator buy gas and food for you! Khartoum (AFP) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir named a new military chief of staff Tuesday as his forces battle rebels in the Jebel Marra area of the western Darfur region, the defence ministry said. Bashir issued decrees appointing "Lieutenant General Emadeddin Adawi to the post of joint chief of staff", the ministry said in a statement. Adawi takes over from Lieutenant-General Mustafa Obeid Salim, who held the post from 2013 in what is usually a four-year assignment. The decrees also appointed Lieutenant General Yahya Mohamed Khair as deputy chief-of-staff, as well as several other new nominations, but gave no reason for the changes. The reshuffle came as Sudanese troops fight rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdulwahid Nur in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to have fled the latest clashes, which flared on January 15. Ethnic insurgents in Darfur rebelled against Bashir's Arab-dominated regime in 2003 claiming they were being marginalised. Bashir unleashed a campaign to crush them and was indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges relating to the conflict that the United Nations says has cost around 300,000 lives. The military has also been battling the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011, and last March, Khartoum committed troops to join the Saudi-led coalition against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen. A new court filing by attorneys for Sumner Redstone in his battle with his former companion, Manuela Herzer, spells out exactly what Herzer would have expected to gain financially had the 92-year-old media mogul not dismissed her from his life in October and subsequently changed his will. The disclosure came in the latest procedural skirmish as Herzer, 52, fights to prove her claim that Redstone was not competent to drop her as his health care proxy last November. In a court filing obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Redstones lawyers say that under an inheritance plan apparently executed last September, Ms. Herzer would have $50 million and Mr. Redstones Beverly Park home, worth roughly $20 million. After Redstone amended the plan in October, the filing continues, he instead directed that those assets pass to his charitable foundation upon his death. Last week, Redstones 61-year-old daughter, Shari, submitted a court filing stating that her father had given Herzer $70 million in cash and assets just since 2009. The inheritance would have come on top of those previous gifts. Redstones lawyers are seeking to establish that Herzers interests do not, as she has repeatedly insisted, arise from her concern for the ailing chairman emeritus of Viacom home of Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and MTV and CBS, but rather from her desire for a financial windfall. Herzer's attorney Pierce O'Donnell late Tuesday reiterated to THR in a statement that "this case has never been about money" and said Herzer is only trying "to protect her beloved friend from the manipulation and abuse by his caregivers and Shari Redstone." He added: "With Manuela out of the way and by diverting her bequest to a charity, National Amusements Trust Inc. and Shari who owns 20 percent will save hundreds of millions of dollars in gift taxes that it is obligated to pay on behalf of Sumner." Last week, Redstone resigned from the chairmanship of CBS and was replaced by Leslie Moonves. The board of his other company, Viacom, voted to replace him with CEO Philippe Dauman. Shari Redstone, a Viacom board member, cast the lone vote against that appointment. Story continues Tuesday's filing deals with the larger point of what the judge is allowed to consider in making his decision about whether to allow Herzer's petition to move forward. Herzer is seeking to preclude as "gamesmanship" a declaration from Shari Redstone as well as her father's primary physician. There's also the issue of how these new declarations impact scheduling and a potential delay in the case. Redstone's attorney asks, "How is it gamesmanship to advise the Court that Mr. Redstone's family members are present in his life and care deeply for him, when the central question before the Court is whether Mr. Redstone needs this Court's intervention when it comes to his health care?" The court papers also cite some correspondence between the attorneys that indicates Shari Redstone will be testifying in a deposition. It's also said that she will be questioned for more than an hour or two, longer than the physician and nurse who will also be submitting to examination, by Herzer's attorneys. Read More: Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman "Fighting for His Life" STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prosecutors said on Thursday they would renew an application to interview Julian Assange over a rape allegation, adding that their case was not affected by a U.N ruling that he was being arbitrarily detained. Sweden has been stymied in its attempts to question the WikiLeaks founder since he took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over the allegation, which he denies. Assange, 44, says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where authorities were enraged by his organization's publishing of hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables. "In relation to the (U.N.) report which was released last week, I can state that it does not change my earlier assessment in the preliminary investigation," the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Marianne Ny, said in the statement. The U.N.'s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said Assange should be allowed to leave Ecuador's embassy in London without the threat of arrest by Britain and extradition to Sweden. Britain and Sweden's government's rejected the U.N. ruling and said Assange had voluntarily chosen to stay in the embassy. Sweden's prosecution authority said Ny was working on a new application to interview Assange after the previous request was rejected by Ecuador in January. "It is a scandal that Sweden ... openly defies the decision of an important U.N. body," Per Samuelson, a Swedish lawyer representing Assange, told Reuters. Assange, an Australian, denies allegations of a 2010 rape in Sweden, saying the accusation is a ploy that would eventually take him to the United States where a criminal investigation into the activities of WikiLeaks is still open. (Reporting by Simon Johnson; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Colombo (AFP) - The UN human rights chief said on a visit to Sri Lanka Tuesday that Britain and Sweden should accept the findings of one of his panels that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been arbitrarily detained. Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued its conclusion -- a non-binding legal opinion -- that Assange had been subjected to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments. Britain and Sweden angrily rejected the panel's recommendations that Assange be allowed to walk free from Ecuador's London embassy, where he sought refuge in 2012 and be offered compensation. Speaking in Colombo, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the Working Group, although not a court, based its decision on binding international law and that Britain and Sweden should therefore abide by its findings. "Human rights law, the treaty body law is binding law, it is not discretionary law, it is not some passing fancy that a state can apply sometimes and not in the others," Zeid, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters at the end of a four-day visit. A spokesman for Zeid said the panel based its decision on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "If there are further court cases on Assange, you are likely to see the Working Group's opinion cited in the court, and quite possibly in the judgement," spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP. Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing. Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the panel's opinion "ridiculous" describing Assange as "a fugitive from justice". Zeid told reporters that he had been tied up with his visit to Sri Lanka and so had not had time to examine the British and Swedish reactions to the panel's bombshell report. "I have not had the required time to actually read the reactions of the states (Britain and Sweden) and at some stage soon I will comment," he said. Assange walked into the Ecuador embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation. He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony. Paris (AFP) - An air strike hit a hospital in southern Syria that is supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing three people and wounding six, the medical charity said on Tuesday. "The strike on Tafas field hospital, some 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the Jordanian border, took place on the night of February 5. It caused partial damage to the hospital building, and put its heavily-used ambulance service out of action," MSF said in a statement. A nurse was among the casualties, it added. "The hospital is the latest medical facility to be hit in a series of air strikes in southern Syria, which have been escalating over the past two months," it said, without specifying who was behind the strikes. In addition to the Syrian government, Russia and a US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group are also carrying out raids in the war-torn country. A Syrian aid group in January said 177 hospitals had been destroyed and nearly 700 health workers killed since the outbreak of the country's civil war in March 2011. It is not the first time MSF-supported facilities in Syria have been hit. "Since the start of this year alone, 13 health facilities in Syria have been hit, confirming that hospitals and clinics are no longer places where patients can recover in safety," the charity said. "This latest incident further depletes Syria's already exhausted healthcare system, and prevents more people from accessing desperately needed medical care," it added. Time for your daily dose of trending tickers, the stocks you're following based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches. Tesla Tesla (TSLA) shares are sliding as investors become more concerned about late deliveries, production capacity, and increased competition. Morgan Stanley noted that the electric car maker is at a crossroads as it faces engineering challenges with the Model X. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday. According to FactSet, Tesla is expected to post an operating profit of $0.16 a share on revenue of $1.85 billion. Chesapeake Energy Chesapeake Energy (CHK), the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States, plunged at the opening bell following reports that the company has hired a restructuring law firm. The stock was halted three times in early trading. Chesapeake is scheduled to disclose fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results on February 24th. Kinross Gold Its a great day for Kinross Gold (KGC) investors. The stock is soaring after the company was upgraded to outperform from market perform by BMO Capital. BMO noted the gold-mining company trades at a discount to its peers and is planning to expand, which could be a positive move for the stock. Thai security forces have tortured scores of detainees in the country's conflict-strewn south, rights groups said Tuesday, with beatings, suffocations and death threats among a litany of alleged abuses. Special security laws govern Thailand's Muslim-majority southernmost provinces, where more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in a 12-year insurgency against Thai rule. Under martial law and the emergency decree that smothers the south, suspected rebels can be detained for six weeks without charge. As a result many young Muslim men have been swept into arbitrary detention where they are vulnerable to torture, according to a report by several well-respected advocacy groups to be released on Wednesday. The study, rare research in a dangerous zone cloaked by security forces and insurgents, is based on interviews with 54 former detainees between 2014-15 who alleged they were physically or mentally tortured over the last few years. Alleged beatings of suspects, threats at gunpoint, sensory deprivation and suffocation were all routine during detention, researchers said. Many of the suspects were later released without charge. "What we have documented is the tip of the iceberg," said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, of the Cross Cultural Foundation, a rights group. The situation has worsened since Thailand's 2014 coup put the military in power, she added. "With no accountability or oversight mechanisms since the coup... interrogation officers have almost a free hand" over detainees, she explained. The insurgents are seeking greater autonomy from Thailand, which annexed the culturally distinct region more than a century ago. The rebels employ brutal tactics including shootings, beheadings and bombings often targeting perceived civilian collaborators such as teachers and even Buddhist monks. - 'I couldn't breathe' - One suspect, Weasohok Doloh, told AFP that he was hauled into custody in May 2015 on suspicion of involvement in a bombing -- an accusation he denies. Story continues He was taken to Inkayuth military camp, an interrogation centre in Pattani province, where he alleged he was abused over several days. "At first they just slapped me," the 32-year-old builder said, adding he resisted confessing to links with the rebels. But the abuse worsened and after a few days he alleged he was stripped naked by three interrogators who also tied his hands. "Suddenly one (interrogator) pushed me onto a chair and forced a plastic bag over my head. I couldn't breathe... they released the bag when I said I would confess. But I had nothing to confess to, so they did it again," he said. In total he spent 84 days in custody before prosecutors decided not to press charges. "Inkayuth military camp is a place where bad things are swept under the carpet," says Anchana Heemmina of Duay Jai, a local rights group which co-authored the report. "We have heard stories of suffering from there for 12 years," she added, urging the army to allow lawyers access to suspects from the moment of arrest. A Muslim man died in custody at Inkayuth in December last year. The army says it was from a heart attack. A separate report released last week by the Muslim Attorney's Centre (MAC), a southern-based advocacy group, collected testimony of 75 people who alleged they were the tortured in custody in 2015. Army spokesman Pramote Prom-In, dismissed the torture allegations contained in both reports as "imaginary". "Losing their freedom may be torture for them... but we need to enforce the law," he told AFP. "Detainees are allowed family visits and arrests are made in front of witnesses," he added. The military has hailed a record drop in violence in recent months as the result of better intelligence-led operations since it took power. It is also engaged in contacts with a number of rebel representatives that Bangkok hopes will lead to full peace talks. But critics cast doubt on the army's sincerity and the ability of their rebel interlocuters to tug the leash of the rebel foot soldiers. By Juarawee Kittisilpa and Amy Sawitta Lefevre SATTAHIP, Thailand (Reuters) - The largest multilateral military exercise in Asia-Pacific kicked off on Tuesday in Thailand, with the United States maintaining a scaled down presence due to a 2014 coup in Bangkok and calling for a swift return to democracy. The exercise, attended by some 27 countries this year, also comes amid rising tension in the region following North Korea's latest rocket launch. It also follows an attack in Jakarta last month that killed eight and was claimed by Islamic State, the radical group's first assault on Indonesia. The Cobra Gold military exercise has been held annually in Thailand for more than three decades but the United States scaled down its presence following a May 2014 coup by the Thai military. "As in 2015 when the exercise was significantly refocused and scaled down in light of the military coup, in 2016 it will remain somewhat reduced in size...to reflect U.S. concerns about Thailands political developments," U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies told reporters. "Diplomatic ties are not on hold with Thailand. Certainly the military ties are not on hold with Thailand." Washington has sent 3,600 troops for this year's exercise, the same as last year, said Major Dave Eastburn, a spokesman for the U.S. military. Thailand's junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, has faced repeated criticism for what rights groups say is a deepening slide into authoritarianism since the army took power. Following the coup, the U.S. responded by freezing $4.7 million of security-related aid and cancelling some security cooperation. The United States and others have called for a swift return to democracy for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy but, with the election timeline ever-sliding, how soon polls will take place remains unclear. The military generals running Thailand have previously made a new constitution a prerequisite for a general election but last month Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the vote would go ahead in mid-2017, even if it had to be held under an old constitution. Since the coup, Thailand, a long-time Washington ally, has cosied up to regional superpower China, which says it supports the Thai military government. (Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Michael Perry) Robots that mimic the way cockroaches can scuttle through teeny-tiny cracks might one day help first responders locate and rescue disaster victims trapped in debris, researchers say. Scientists regularly look to nature for inspiration when designing robots, with the hope of learning from millions of years of evolution. Specifically, the researchers have patterned robots after insects for decades after all, insects are some of the most successful animals on the planet, comprising about 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity. Robert Full, an integrative biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues often use roaches to inspire their robot designs. For instance, they have developed machines that copy how roaches can skitter past obstacles and disappear under ledges in the blink of an eye. [See video of the cockroach-inspired robots squeezing through crevices] Now the researchers have developed a robot that imitates how roaches can invade or escape spaces by squeezing through narrow crevices. "We can imagine swarms of these robots helping to locate survivors trapped in the rubble from tornadoes or earthquakes or explosions," Full told Live Science. First, the scientists used high-speed cameras to film cockroaches running through narrow slits. They found the insects could slip through cracks about one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) wide the height of two stacked pennies, and only one-quarter of the standing height of the roaches. "Cockroaches are incredibly good at getting through small spaces, so we always had to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't escape from our experiments," Full said. Cockroaches are able to scurry through tight spaces by splaying their legs out to the side and compressing their exoskeletons to about half their original size. Experiments compressing the roaches suggest the insects can withstand forces up to nearly 900 times their body weight without injury, the researchers said. Story continues Surprisingly, the cockroaches also moved rapidly through confined spaces, at speeds of about 23 inches (60 centimeters) per second. This speed corresponds to about 20 times the lengths of their bodies per second, Full said, or the equivalent of a person who is 5 feet and 8 inches (1.7 meters) tall moving at more than 75 mph (121 km/h). The scientists also lined the bottoms and tops of crevices with sandpaper to see how friction affected the cockroaches' ability to move. Increasing the friction of the ceiling just slowed the roaches down; increasing the friction of the floor past a certain point also slowed the insects down, but reducing the friction of the floor past a certain point slowed the roaches down, too, because their legs could not adequately grip the ground, Full said. "This is a new kind of locomotion, an unexplored way to move, that we call body-friction legged crawling," Full said. "[Cockroaches] don't have friction all over their bodies as they move through confined spaces, as something moving through water or soil might they only have friction from the ceiling and ground along their backs and bellies." The scientists then designed a simple, cheap, palm-size robot with a plastic shell much like the smooth, tough wings covering the back of a cockroach, and soft legs that could splay outward when the machine was squashed. The robot, named CRAM short for Compressible Robot with Articulated Mechanisms was able to squeeze into and run through crevices half its height. Full noted that researchers are now developing robots inspired by octopuses, worms and starfish that are made from soft, elastic plastic and rubber. These soft robots are resistant to many of the kinds of damage and can overcome many of the obstacles that typically impair hard robots. "Our research suggests that even though cockroaches have rigid, jointed exoskeletons, the fact they can squeeze through seemingly impassable crevices suggest they could serve as very effective models for the next generation of soft robots," Full said. "Roaches suggest that you can have robots with seemingly rigid shells that could still fit into narrow cracks, while at the same time possess the advantages offered by jointed limbs, such as running fast, climbing, jumping and flying." Full and study lead author Kaushik Jayaram, at Harvard University, detailed their findings online today (Feb. 8) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Rotterdam (Netherlands) (AFP) - Richard Gasquet handed the Rotterdam World Tennis tournament another box office body blow as the top seed quit on Tuesday a day before his opening match with a groin strain. The pullout came a week after Roger Federer was unable to play after undergoing knee surgery which will keep him off the ATP for at least a month. Frenchman Gasquet said that he felt his pain the day before winning the Montpellier tournament for the third time at the weekend. The 29-year-old ranked 13th came to Rotterdam in hopes he could heal but said that he is also now feeling ill and had no choice but to quit the indoor event. Marin Cilic, the second seed, now takes the role of favourite at the tournament where he finished runner-up in 2014. Gasquet said that he hopes to be able to play in the Marseille event later this month. "Of course I'm disappointed, I wanted to play here," Gasquet said. "It's impossible for me to play. "If I don't feel 100 percent, it is better to quit. This is a big event for me, I'm sad not to be able to play here. It's tough for me but I had no choice. "I need to rest," said the player whose season only began last week after missing the Australian summer campaign with back pain. "I played four matches last week and maybe my body was not ready." On court, Luxembourg veteran Gilles Muller rallied to defeat Andreas Seppi 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, setting up his first career meeting with Cilic. Muller, 32, had suffered three defeats at the hands of the Italian but turned the tables in slightly more than two hours at the Ahoy stadium. Muller will be keen to take on second seed Cilic for the first time after the 2014 US Open winner led a three-man Croatian waver into the second round in Rotterdam. "Cilic is one of the few guys I've not played, sometimes it happens like that," said Muller, losing quarter-finalist at the event a year ago to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. Story continues "It will be exciting, a tough match, I hope to recover well and be ready for him." Muller's big serve accounted for 19 aces against Seppi, who dropped to 4-5 in 2016 as he played Rotterdam for the ninth time. "It was a close match, it could have gone either way at the end," Muller, a semi-finalist last weekend in Sofia, said. "We were both fighting very hard. "The first round of a tournament is always difficult, I also got to Rotterdam late which did not help. "It's a match I'm glad I won, but I can play better than this." Crowd-pleaser Marcos Baghdatis ended an upset of fourth seed David Goffin by winning a 41-shot rally as the Belgian fired a forehand long in a 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) loss. Baghdatis was joined in the second round by French fifth seed Gael Monfils, a 6-4, 6-4 victor over qualifier Ernests Gulbis. South Korea's Chung Hyeon advanced past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 while Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber easily eliminated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4. Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems posted Tuesday a full-year profit for 2015 that beat forecasts and despite low global oil prices expects revenues to continue rising this year. "The wind power industry has matured in recent years and we are now seen as one of the main contributors to a more sustainable power generation footprint," chairman Bert Nordberg said in a statement. Net profit for the year rose to 685 million euros ($766 million) from 392 million euros last year, beating a Bloomberg analyst consensus of 637 million euros. Revenue grew 22 percent to a record 8.42 billion euros -- and is expected to reach at least nine billion euros this year, which would be an increase of nearly 7 percent. Order intake rose by 41 percent last year to 8.2 billion euros, and the order book stands at just over one year of work. "We have seen good activity levels across all regions," chief executive Anders Runevad said, noting that Vestas' profitable service business grew 20 percent. The board recommended raising the dividend by 75 percent to 6.82 kroner (1.34 euros, $1.50). Runevad took the helm in August 2013 after the company had posted nine quarterly losses in a row. The Danish company had to cut its workforce by almost a third as the financial crisis prompted governments to cut subsidies for renewable energy. "Vestas is earning more than expected from its operations," Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen told Danish news agency Ritzau, as the profit margin before interest and taxes widened to 10.2 percent from 8.1 percent. "They have cut costs significantly," said Michael Friis Jorgensen, an analyst at Danish financial services group Alm. Brand Markets. If oil prices remain at their low levels it could become a problem for the company in the future as it would make wind power less competitive and hit orders, and global economic uncertainty could reduce investor appetite in the sector, he cautioned. But an impact the company's results was unlikely before 2017, he said. Shares in Vestas were up 6.5 percent in late morning trading on the Copenhagen bourse, where the main index was 1.03 percent lower. ANKARA (Reuters) - Some 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border if the military campaign there continues at this intensity, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolgu said on Tuesday, adding Turkey will not shut its gates to the refugees. Davutoglu made the comments in a speech to his party in parliament. Turkey, which is already sheltering 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has largely kept its gates closed in recent days as a tens of thousands seek refuge from Syrian and Russian assaults on opposition-held territory in northwest Syria. (Reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by David Dolan) Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on Tuesday after a senior American official angered Ankara by saying that Washington did not consider the main Syrian Kurdish party to be a terrorist organisation. The Hurriyet newspaper reported that the Turkish government, which views the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group, expressed its "unease" to US ambassador John Bass over the remarks by State Department spokesman John Kirby. Kirby had told his daily press briefing in Washington on Monday: "We don't, as you know, recognise the PYD as a terrorist organisation. We recognise that the Turks do, and I understand that. Even the best of friends aren't going to agree on everything." Ankara considers the PYD and its military wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), to be affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey. Kirby confirmed Tuesday that Bass had met with senior Turkish officials but declined to give further details. He defended his earlier comments, saying "nothing has changed" on US policy. "However, we do consider the PKK a foreign terrorist organisation and continue to be very firm about our desire to see their terrorist attacks on Turkish citizens cease," he said. - 'How can we trust you?' - The international coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has worked closely with the YPG since launching strikes in Syria in September 2014, expanding a campaign that began in Iraq a month earlier. The US-led coalition's support for the PYD and the YPG has been a source of friction between Washington and its NATO ally Ankara for several months. Turkey fears the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria -- similar to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq -- would spur the separatist ambitions of Turkey's own Kurds. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed anger over a US high-level delegation's meeting with members of the powerful YPG, which is in control of the flashpoint Syrian town of Kobane. Story continues "Do you accept the PKK as a terrorist organisation? Then why don't you list the PYD and the YPG as a terrorist organisations, too?" Erdogan asked. "How can we trust (you)?" he added. "Is it me who is your partner or the terrorists in Kobane?" Kirby had on Monday defended US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying they had been "some of the most successful in going after Daesh," using another name for the Islamic State group. "We have provided a measure of support, mostly through the air, and that support will continue," Kirby added. But he said the United States was open to discussing Ankara's concerns. "They are a friend. They are a partner," he told reporters. Kurdish forces backed by coalition air strikes ousted IS fighters from Kobane after a months-long struggle in January last year. The Turkish government is meanwhile seeking to cripple the PKK in a relentless and controversial military campaign, while the group has killed dozens of members of the Turkish security forces in attacks since a truce collapsed in July. The PKK launched a formal insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, initially fighting for Kurdish independence although it now presses more for greater autonomy and rights for the country's largest ethnic minority. The conflict has left tens of thousands dead. The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and much of the international community, including the United States. By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky (Reuters) - The head of Kentucky's juvenile justice system and another state employee have been fired as a result of an ongoing investigation into the death of a 16-year-old black girl at a juvenile detention facility, a state spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Bob Hayter was removed from his position overseeing the juvenile justice system late last week, Lisa Lamb, a justice cabinet spokeswoman, said in a statement. She did not say why he was fired. Hayter's departure came after the state dismissed an unnamed employee previously suspended for failing to conduct routine bed checks on the girl, Gynnya McMillen, who was found unresponsive on Jan. 11 at the Lincoln Village Juvenile Detention Center. She had just spent her first night at the facility located in Elizabethtown, about 45 miles south of Louisville. Police in Shelbyville, located 30 miles east of Louisville, arrested the teen the day before after an altercation at her mother's house. While trying to conduct a body search during McMillen's processing, guards at the center allegedly used a martial arts maneuver to restrain her as they removed her sweatshirt, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, a non-profit media organization focused on protecting vulnerable citizens. It was not clear whether the unnamed employee was involved in the reported restraint maneuver or whether McMillen was injured during the alleged incident. Lamb said cabinet officials, including Justice Secretary John Tilley, had not been made aware that the unnamed employee had prior disciplinary actions against him. "While these disciplinary actions were not connected to the death, they reveal a pattern of unacceptable behavior for someone who supervises youth," Lamb said in a statement. Tilley, who was appointed by newly elected Gov. Matt Bevin in December, has called on his staff to communicate fully and openly. Both the Kentucky State Police and the cabinet's internal investigators have nearly completed their work into the case, Lamb added. However, the final autopsy to determine the cause of McMillen's death may take up to 12 weeks as medical examiners and the Mayo Clinic conduct toxicology and genetic tests, Hardin County Deputy Coroner Shana Norton said Monday. (Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Andrew Hay) By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Tuesday in the case of a U.S. Air Force veteran accused of trying to travel to Syria to join Islamic State, the first person to face a U.S. trial for attempting to support the militant group. Questionnaires were distributed to the first batch of 500 potential jurors in Brooklyn, New York, in the federal trial of Tairod Pugh, a 48-year-old New Jersey resident charged with attempting to provide material support to Islamic State. Pugh, who wore a blue collared shirt in court, is one of 80 people charged in federal cases related to Islamic State since 2014 as authorities push to identify potential domestic supporters of the group, according to a Reuters analysis. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has probes in all 50 states involving suspected supporters of Islamic State, which has seized control of wide swaths of Iraq and Syria. Prosecutors said Pugh, who served with the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and recently worked as a commercial airplane mechanic in Kuwait, bought a one-way ticket from Cairo to Istanbul in January 2015. His goal was to cross the border into Syria to join Islamic State, they alleged. But Turkish authorities sent him back to Cairo, where officials found he had several damaged electronic devices including a cell phone with a photograph of a machine gun, prosecutors said. Pugh was deported to the United States, where he told an undercover agent that he went to Turkey to join Islamic State, prosecutors said. They said Pugh's laptop computer contained propaganda videos and a draft letter written to a woman he married in Egypt pledging to use his skills "to establish and defend the Islamic State." Pugh's lawyer, Eric Creizman, has sought to block the letter's introduction, calling it a privileged marital communication. Pugh has pleaded not guilty and contends he went to Turkey to find work. He previously came to authorities' attention in 2001, when a co-worker told the FBI that Pugh "sympathized with Osama bin Laden, felt that the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies were justified and expressed anti-American sentiment," court papers said. Story continues In 2002, an associate told the FBI that Pugh had expressed interest in going to Chechnya to fight, prosecutors said. Nevertheless, Pugh went on to work in Iraq as an Army contractor with DynCorp International [VETASD.UL], prosecutors said, and later as an airplane mechanic in the Middle East. (Additional reporting by Julia Edwards and Julia Harte in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis) By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State is likely to step up "the pace and lethality" of its attacks in the months ahead as it seeks to fan the flames of international conflict, the director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said on Monday. Speaking to a security conference, Marine Corps Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart linked his warning to the militant group's establishment of "emerging branches" in Mali, Tunisia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. He also said he would not be surprised if Islamic State, which has created a self-proclaimed Caliphate across swaths of Syria and Iraq, extended its operations from the Sinai Peninsula deeper into Egypt. "Last year, Daesh remained entrenched on Iraqi and Syrian battlefields and expanded globally to Libya, Sinai, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Caucasus," Stewart said, using a derisive Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "Daesh is likely to increase the pace and lethality of its transnational attacks because it seeks to unleash violent actions and to provoke a harsh reaction from the West, thereby feeding its distorted narrative" of a Western war against Islam, he said. Stewart's comments came a day before he and other U.S. intelligence officials are set to deliver an annual worldwide threat assessment to Congress. The Sunni Muslim militant group seeks not only to escalate conflict with the West, but also with Islam's minority Shiite branch, just as Shiite extremist groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah are stoking tensions with Sunnis, Stewart said. "These threats are exacerbated by the security challenges of the Middle East, which is now facing one of the most dangerous and unpredictable periods in the last decade," he said. Islamic State has as many as 25,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, down from a previous estimate of up to 31,000, according to a U.S. intelligence report revealed by the White House last week. U.S. officials cited factors such as battlefield casualties and desertions to explain the roughly 20 percent decrease in fighters, and said the report showed a U.S.-led campaign to crush Islamic State was making progress. (Editing by Warren Strobel and Tom Brown) By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ordered the immediate deportation on Tuesday of a Qatar military officer and his wife after they were accused of holding two female servants in slave-like conditions in their upscale San Antonio home. Hassan al-Homoud, 46, who received military training at San Antonio's Camp Bullis, and his wife, Zainab al-Hosani, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, pleaded guilty to federal charges in December. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said he had hoped to hand down a harsher sentence than deportation in the case, since engaging in forced labor is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. But a plea agreement was offered to the couple because the servants - one from Bangladesh and the other from Indonesia - refused to testify against them. Homoud pleaded guilty in December to visa fraud while his wife pleaded guilty to knowing that a felony was taking place and failing to report it. The couple also agreed to pay $60,000 restitution to each of their victims. The couple held the servants in "virtual slavery," in primitive conditions, withholding their wages, confiscating their cell phones and passports, and giving them barely enough food to survive, prosecutors said. Garcia said the couple would be immediately removed from the country and never allowed back. The servants told officials they had never been paid and a federal affidavit said they were forced to live in a "run-down apartment with no furnishings, no linens, utensils, clothing, television, reading material or even toilet paper." The U.S. Attorney's office said Hosani had "threatened the workers with arrest and incarceration in Qatar if they failed to perform their work obligations." In a statement read in court, Homoud said he took full responsibility for his actions. "My conduct has brought shame upon myself, my lovely wife, upon my family and upon my country," he said. (Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Tom Brown) By Phil Stewart BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it hoped allies demonstrate a willingness to ramp up their contributions to the fight against Islamic State and to deterring Russia in eastern Europe during high-level defense talks in Brussels this week. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he plans to outline America's plan to accelerate the campaign against Islamic State to defense chiefs from more than two dozen allies at talks on Thursday. The United States has long-standing concerns that many allies are not contributing nearly enough to combat the jihadist group that has spread beyond its self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. "I don't think anybody's satisfied with the pace of the (campaign), that's why we're all looking to accelerate it. Certainly the president isn't (satisfied)," Carter told reporters traveling with him. Washington has signaled the need for military and police trainers as well as contributions of special operations forces, including from Sunni Muslim Arab allies now expressing a new willingness to contribute. "We have a very clear operational picture of how to do it. Now we just need the resources and the forces to fall in behind it," he said, noting plans to capture Islamic State strongholds of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. A top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday that an Iraqi-led operation to retake Mosul is unlikely to take place this year. The U.S. strategy in Syria is likely to come under intense scrutiny after four months of Russian air strikes have tipped momentum toward President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war. Defense chiefs were expected to discuss a major Syrian government offensive backed by Russia and Iran now underway near Aleppo that rebels say threatens the future of their insurrection. DETERRING RUSSIA On Wednesday, NATO defense ministers will begin outlining plans for a complex web of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid response force. U.S. plans for a four-fold increase in military spending in Europe to $3.4 billion in fiscal year 2017 are central to the strategy, which has been shaped in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. "I'll be looking for others in NATO to echo (us) in our investment," Carter said. Carter said the plan aimed to move NATO to a "full deterrence posture" to thwart any kind of aggression. "It's not going to look like it did back in Cold War days but it will constitute, in today's terms, a strong deterrent," Carter said. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Alistair Bell) By Emma Farge THIES, Senegal (Reuters) - African forces began a U.S.-led counter-terrorism training program in Senegal on Monday amid what a U.S. commander said were rising signs of collaboration between Islamist militant groups across north Africa and the Sahel. The annual "Flintlock" exercises started only weeks after an attack in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou left 30 people dead. The assault on a hotel used by foreigners raised concerns that militants were expanding from a stronghold in north Mali toward stable, Western allies like Senegal. Al Qaeda (AQIM) fighters claimed responsibility for the attack, one of increasingly bold regional strikes in the Sahel, a poor, arid zone between the Sahara Desert and Sudanian Savanna that is home to a number of roving militant groups. U.S. Commander for Special Operations Command Africa Brigadier General Donald Bolduc told reporters on Monday that increased collaboration between militant groups meant they have been able to strengthen and strike harder in the region. "We have watched that collaboration manifest itself with ISIS becoming more effective in north Africa, Boko Haram becoming more deadly in the Lake Chad Basin (and) AQIM adopting asymmetrical attacks ... against urban infrastructure," he said. ISIS, or ISIL, is used for the militant group Islamic State. Bolduc said that cooperation had increased as Islamic State exploited a power vacuum in Libya to expand its self-declared caliphate, which takes up large areas in Syria and Iraq. "We know in Libya that they (AQIM and ISIS) are working more closely together. It's more than just influence, they (AQIM) are really taking direction from them," he said. Not all security experts agree that there are emerging alliances between Islamist militant groups. Some argue that competition between groups has led to more attacks. This year's program, which opened on a dusty airstrip in Senegal's central city of Thies, involves around 1,700 mostly African special operation forces. Western partners including France and Germany are among more than 30 countries participating. Nathan Broshear, spokesman for U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, said the exercises were called Flintlock, after a type of firearm, to symbolize readiness for any threat. Bolduc stressed the importance of regional cooperation and intelligence-sharing and said the United States would help Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon set up a joint intelligence center by the middle of next year. The United States already supports a regional task force against the Nigeria-based group Boko Haram. The Ouagadougou attack and a hotel attack in Mali's capital in November led to a greater emphasis on preparing for urban attacks this year through training to increase cooperation between military forces and police. At the request of African partners, the exercises will also include anti-Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) training. The program, an annual event since 2005, will run from February 8 through 29. Some exercises will also be held in Mauritania. (Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Toni Reinhold) GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations called on Turkey on Tuesday to open its borders to thousands of desperate Syrian refugees fleeing Aleppo, in line with its international obligations to protect people fleeing conflict or persecution. William Spindler, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the agency understood the concern of Turkish authorities about "possible large influxes" into the country, already hosting more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees. "Turkey has also allowed a number of vulnerable and wounded people in Turkey. However, many people are not being allowed to cross the border. We are asking Turkey to open its border to all civilians in Syria fleeing danger in need of international protection as they have done," Spindler told a news briefing. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Dominic Evans) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer is due to discuss North Korea's latest satellite launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen military ties among the three countries, U.S. defense officials said on Monday. U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be in Hawaii, home to U.S. Pacific Command, for the meeting, which was scheduled before the North Korea launch, which has been widely criticized around the world. It was not immediately clear if the South Korean and Japanese chiefs of staff would participate in the meeting in person or via secure video teleconference, said the sources. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese) By Lesley Wroughton, Arshad Mohammed and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will push to secure an immediate Syrian ceasefire and aid for civilians ahead of a crucial meeting in Munich this week as he seeks to keep a fragile peace process alive, U.S. officials said. The renewed struggle to salvage diplomacy comes as Syrian opposition figures, Western diplomats and analysts voice concern that peace efforts have been all but doomed by a Russian military push that has shored up Syrian President Bashar al-Assads hold on power. Critics of Kerry's approach question whether a ceasefire, if one can be achieved, may come too late. The Syrian army advanced toward the Turkish border on Monday in a major offensive backed by Russia and Iran that rebels say threatens the future of their nearly five-year insurrection against Assad. Kerry's approach, which will need Russias backing to succeed, is aimed at giving the opposition enough breathing space so that they come back to the negotiating table following the suspension of peace talks in Geneva last week. "Kerry believes that if we can get a ceasefire in place and more aid delivered, other diplomatic progress is possible," a senior U.S. administration official said. "It's hard to get dialogue going when people are being killed and starved to death." The meeting of major powers in Munich on Thursday will be vital to determining the survival of the diplomatic process that has been a key element of President Barack Obama's Syria policy, which has been marked by his desire to limit U.S. involvement. The success or failure of Kerrys diplomacy in coming weeks could determine whether U.S-backed opposition groups become part of a negotiated settlement for Syria or whether those militias will face collapse, potentially joining a stream of refugees or extreme elements like the Islamic State, analysts say. Jeffrey White, a former senior Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst now with the Institute for Near East Policy, said the White House had erred by not developing a strategy that balanced a military and diplomatic response to Syrias unravelling and was paying the price. It hasnt worked, and its not going to work, he said. TALKS UNDERWAY On Friday, Kerry said talks were under way about a ceasefire and humanitarian access and the Russians had offered "constructive ideas about how a ceasefire in fact could be implemented." He said he had also secured the backing of Iran for a ceasefire, which he hopes will be in place by the time peace talks resume. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters late last week that Moscow hoped the Syrian peace process could be "re-energized" and said Russian diplomats would bring new proposals to the Munich meeting. Kerry did not attend the Geneva talks but worked the phones in advance in the belief that Russia and other parties would agree to what diplomats involved described as presentable deliverables an accord on issues like delivering aid for Syrian civilians that would help create the conditions for settlement talks. It remains unclear whether the Syrian opposition will come back to talks by Feb. 25 at the latest, as United Nations' Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura has proposed. In one of the biggest shifts of momentum in the war, the Syrian military and its allies have advanced to almost five km (3 miles) from the rebel-held town of Tal Rafaat, around 25 km (16 miles) from the Turkish border, rebels, residents and a conflict monitor said. "If the border between Syria and Turkey is closed, these guys won't survive much longer," said a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The challenge now is ... to keep the oppositions head above water." Murhaf Jouejati, a former member of the opposition Syrian National Council now at the Middle East Institute think tank, said Syrian rebel commanders and opposition political leaders are furious at the Obama administration for believing that Moscow was sincere about a political settlement. "The moderate opposition is beyond angry at the Obama administration. It is stupefied by American inaction," said Jouejati, who is in regular contact with rebel groups. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations: Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Stuart Grudgings) By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China agrees any new U.N. resolution on North Korea will include additional sanctions and go beyond previous steps, but Washington is urging Beijing to put even more pressure on Pyongyang after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. China is in "unique position" as North Korea's neighbor and ally to compel it to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the official told Reuters, as U.N. diplomats sought to craft a new sanctions resolution. "It's clear to me that our Chinese friends have indicated that the U.N. Security Council's response will include sanctions and does need to go beyond previous resolutions," he said. "The key of course is what exactly are the specific actions that we are going to take together and that's the focus of our efforts right now." the official said. "We have made clear that China can do more and needs to do more." China and the United States have not entirely seen eye to eye on how strong the response should be to North Korea since its Jan. 6 nuclear test, with Washington urging harsh punitive measures and Beijing stressing the need for dialogue. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday, a day before North Korea launched a long-range rocket it said was carrying a satellite but which Western officials believe was a test of ballistic missile technology. The official said Washington and Beijing remained in close touch on how to respond to North Korea. The U.N. Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch and promised to take action, while Washington vowed to ensure the 15-nation body imposed "serious consequences" on Pyongyang as soon as possible. The official said the response needed "to demonstrate very clearly again that there are consequences to these actions and the international community is prepared to take practical steps to restrict North Korea's ability to fund these programs." One diplomat told Reuters that Washington was hoping to tighten international restrictions on North Korea's banking system, while Beijing was reluctant to support that step for fear of worsening conditions in its impoverished neighbor. The United States and South Korea announced after the missile test they had begun formal discussions about the possibility of deploying an advanced missile defense system to which China has objected, arguing it could undermine its strategic deterrent. The U.S. official said the United States had told China that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, was "a defensive system, designed specifically to counter the threat from North Korea" and not aimed at China. Beijing, at odds with the United States over Washington's reaction to its building of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, quickly expressed "deep concern" about a system whose radar could penetrate Chinese territory. "When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others' security interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. (This version of the story was refiled to correct spelling of Chinese president's name, paragraph 6) (Reproting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by Peter Cooney) By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China agrees any new U.N. resolution on North Korea will include additional sanctions and go beyond previous steps, but Washington is urging Beijing to put even more pressure on Pyongyang after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. China is in "unique position" as North Korea's neighbor and ally to compel it to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the official told Reuters, as U.N. diplomats sought to craft a new sanctions resolution. "Its clear to me that our Chinese friends have indicated that the U.N. Security Councils response will include sanctions and does need to go beyond previous resolutions," he said. "The key of course is what exactly are the specific actions that we are going to take together and thats the focus of our efforts right now." the official said. "We have made clear that China can do more and needs to do more." China and the United States have not entirely seen eye to eye on how strong the response should be to North Korea since its Jan. 6 nuclear test, with Washington urging harsh punitive measures and Beijing stressing the need for dialogue. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jingping spoke on Friday, a day before North Korea launched a long-range rocket it said was carrying a satellite but which Western officials believe was a test of ballistic missile technology. The official said Washington and Beijing remained in close touch on how to respond to North Korea. The U.N. Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned North Korea's rocket launch and promised to take action, while Washington vowed to ensure the 15-nation body imposed "serious consequences" on Pyongyang as soon as possible. The official said the response needed "to demonstrate very clearly again that there are consequences to these actions and the international community is prepared to take practical steps to restrict North Koreas ability to fund these programs." One diplomat told Reuters that Washington was hoping to tighten international restrictions on North Korea's banking system, while Beijing was reluctant to support that step for fear of worsening conditions in its impoverished neighbor. The United States and South Korea announced after the missile test they had begun formal discussions about the possibility of deploying an advanced missile defense system to which China has objected, arguing it could undermine its strategic deterrent. The U.S. official said the United States had told China that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, was "a defensive system, designed specifically to counter the threat from North Korea" and not aimed at China. Beijing, at odds with the United States over Washington's reaction to its building of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, quickly expressed "deep concern" about a system whose radar could penetrate Chinese territory. "When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others' security interests," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. (Reproting by David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Editing by Peter Cooney) The United States is set to send additional troops to Afghanistan's embattled southern Helmand province in a bid to bolster local forces that have struggled to fend off persistent Taliban assaults, officials said Tuesday. The new mission would focus on training and buttressing the 215th Corps of the Afghan army based in the province, a spokesman for the US army told AFP. It will also provide additional protection for the US advisors already on the ground. "This was a planned deployment of additional personnel to both bolster force protection for the current staff of advisors and to provide additional advisors to help with ongoing efforts to re-man, re-equip, and re-train the 215th Corps," said Colonel Michael Lawhorn, a spokesman for the US command in Kabul. The spokesman did not provide more information on the deployment, including troop numbers, but said the soldiers' mission was to help "train, advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts". Helmand, a poppy producing province in southern Afghanistan, has seen some of the fiercest battles over the course of the of war that began almost fifteen years ago. The Taliban have intensified their campaign in the province since the US-led combat mission in the war-torn country officially ended in 2014. Last December, a Taliban offensive drove out Afghan forces from most of the Sangin, a major poppy growing area in Helmand. The onslaught raised fears that Afghan forces were too overstretched to fend off the insurgents. The government forces backed by US airstrikes later pushed back the Taliban, though some local officials admit the strategically important district largely remains under the insurgents' control. An Afghan army commander in Sangin told AFP on Tuesday that the US mission in Helmand, though limited, was crucial in their fight against the Taliban. "The US special forces help evacuate our casualties, resupply our troops and coordinate airstrikes on enemy positions. I believe, if it was not for their help, Sangin... would have already fallen," he told AFP requesting anonymity. With many US advisors embedded with Afghan troops on the battlefield, they have been increasingly engaged in combat. Last month, a US soldier was killed in Helmand province when their unit came under Taliban fire. In October, President Barack Obama announced that thousands of US troops would remain in Afghanistan past 2016, backpedalling on previous plans to reduce the force and acknowledging that Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone. Virginia legislators are debating bills this week that would limit the role of school cops and prohibit charging K-12 students with disorderly conduct a reaction to Center stories on unusually aggressive school policing there. Among the reform proposals: a measure that would release school administrators from state code requirements that they report a range of incidents to police, including potential misdemeanors. Another bill under debate would strengthen the rights of students with disabilities if theyre charged with disorderly behavior and face prosecution in court. Last April, the Center for Public Integrity published an investigation identifying Virginia as having the top rate of public school referrals of students to law enforcement agencies. Based on an analysis of 2011-2012 data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, Virginias rate of referring students to cops or courts was about three times the national rate of six referrals for every 1,000 students. Black students and those with disabilities were referred at even higher rates. Criminal charges against Virginia students arrested at schools often fell heavily on middle-school kids and black students, the Center also found after examining local arrest records in some jurisdictions. Among these students was Kayleb Moon-Robinson, an autistic sixth-grade student who was charged in the fall of 2014 with disorderly conduct for kicking a trash can after he became upset at his school in Lynchburg. The 11-year-old was also handcuffed, arrested and charged with felony assault on a police officer when he tried to break free from an officers grasp. Kaylebs story and other examples of the criminalization of young students were also featured in a report the Center produced in collaboration with Reveal, an investigative public radio program. The Center investigation helped generate a lot of talkand now action, said Jason Landberg, education attorney for the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia. Story continues JustChildrens attorneys represent special-needs students in disputes over appropriate educational services at their schools. The lawyers have grown increasingly concerned that students are getting arrested and prosecuted for behavior at school thats not uncommon for children their age, or conduct that stems from a disability. A number of conservative organizations in Virginia have also urged reforms to school policing, including doing away with disorderly conduct charges against students. On Monday, three bills backed by JustChildren were referred to the full House Education Committee from the House Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee. The measures are scheduled to be heard in the full committee later this week. One proposal, HB1061, sponsored by Henrico County Democrat Lamont Bagby, would require schools to consider feasible alternatives before referring students to law enforcement or expelling them. The proposed requirement would not apply to students accused of having firearms or certain other kinds of weapons at school. Two other bills that also moved forward, HB 1132 and HB 1134, are sponsored by Republican Dave LaRock from Loudoun County. LaRocks HB 1132 would strike language from state code that some administrators interpret as a mandate that they report any possible misdemeanor to law enforcement. The other LaRock bill, HB 1134, would eliminate the option to charge elementary and secondary students with committing disorderly conduct at school or school events. Another House bill that would also scale back the role of school police has already passed out of the House of Delegates with overwhelming bipartisan support. HB 487, which was approved on a 95-to-2 votes in the House, is sponsored by Jennifer McClellan, a Richmond Democrat. McClellans bill amends language in state legislation that authorizes state grants to pay for school resource officers; the legislation currently requires such grant-funded officerswho are a minority of the states school copsto enforce school board rules and codes of school conduct. Striking this language, McClellan said, will provide more discretion to school administrators and officers so they dont have to feel compelled to involve police in relatively minor violations of school rules. Thats not really the officers job, McClellan said. McClellan said she thinks another bill she is co-sponsoringLaRocks proposal to end disorderly conduct charges against studentscould likely face amendments if it is to move on. Legislators, she said, have discussed the idea of applying a prohibition on disorderly conduct charges to younger students only, or limiting the prohibition to cover only students enrolled at schools where an incident takes place. That way, she said, school officials could have some flexibility to react to a disruption created by minors who arent enrolled at a school but cause a disruption. McClellan is co-sponsoring another bill related to school policing HB 1213along with David Albo, a Republican delegate from Fairfax Station. Focused on special-needs students, that measure would require that students charged with willfully disrupting school be afforded the opportunity to submit special educational plans or behavior assessments as part of their defense in court. The minor, at least 10 days before trial, would have to inform prosecutors of the intent to use the documents as evidence and provide prosecutors with copies. McClellan acknowledged that a number of her colleagues in Virginia legislature support a hard law-and-order line and are reluctant to embrace some of the proposals. But this is an area I know has bipartisan support, she said, referring to calls to reform school-policing policies. After the Center report was published and aired last April, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, appointed a cabinet-level task force to come up with ideas for how to reform school policing. Last October, members of the task force said they were launching a Classrooms, not Courtrooms initiative to retrain all school police in the state and help schools embrace the use of alternative discipline methods. This story is part of Criminalizing kids. Scrutinizing the use of law enforcement and courts to respond to kids conduct at school or other circumstances. . 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. Sing the song, blow out the candles, eat the cake and unwrap the gifts. According to a court filing on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell will pay $14 million to end a lawsuit challenging its hold on the English language's most popular song, "Happy Birthday to You." Additionally, the settlement stipulates a proposed final judgment and order that would declare the song to be in the public domain. The court papers sign the praises of the deal as a "truly, an historic result." U.S. District Judge George H. Wu will have to sign off on it. The revelation of the settlement terms comes after Wu came to the conclusion this past September that Warner and its predecessor didn't hold any valid copyright to the song and never acquired the rights to the "Happy Birthday" lyrics. At the time, the judge stopped short of declaring that the song was in the public domain, and just before a trial was set to begin in December exploring the history of a song dating back to a 19th century schoolteacher named Patty Smith Hill and her sister Mildred Hill, the sides reached an agreement. Warners was expecting to have "Happy Birthday" under copyright until 2030. An IP valuation expert retained by the plaintiffs estimated that the song was to reap between $14 million to $16.5 million. "The judicial determination that Happy Birthday is in the public domain also has substantial value," states a memorandum in support of the settlement. "Because Defendants have charged for use of the Song, untold thousands of people chose not to use the Song in their own performances and artistic works or to perform the Song in public. This has limited the number of times the Song was performed and used. After the Settlement is approved, that restraint will be removed and the Song will be performed and used far more often than it has been in the past. While there is no way to make a reliable estimate of the increase that will result, there can be no dispute that the increase will be substantial." Story continues An agreement to have a judge declare the song into the public domain is no doubt unusual and will likely command some attention by the judge on review. But for now, the settlement provides a big final act to the class action lawsuit brought by film director Jennifer Nelson, who was making a documentary about "Happy Birthday" and was asked to pay a six-figure license fee. She sued to hinder Warners from ever forcing film and TV producers, and others, to pay again. The plaintiffs argued that a song that was appearing in early 20th century children's textbooks had to be in the public domain because of general publication, abandonment or the length of the copyright term. By agreeing to the settlement, Warners avoids the demand that it should be punished for collecting licensing money for many decades. The music publisher also forgoes an appeal that it teased. The defendant continues to believe that a 1935 copyright registration should have entitled it to a presumption of copyright validity and that the song isn't in the public domain, but it has agreed to a judgment that states otherwise. The plaintiffs were represented by attorneys led by Mark Rifkin, who according to the settlement terms will be seeking a $4.62 million fee, a third of the $14 million settlement fund. The rest would go to those who have paid to license "Happy Birthday" and meet the definition of the proposed class. Those folks are estimated to have spent more than $50 million on licensing fees over the years. Last week, in announcing its quarterly earnings, Warner Music Group partly blamed an operating loss on expenses related to the "Happy Birthday" settlement. By Mohammed Ghobari and Yara Bayoumy CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) - The recapture of Aden by Gulf Arab coalition troops last summer has failed to provide any respite from Yemen's civil war, with residents facing a wave of bomb and gun attacks that is crippling efforts to stabilize the city. Seven months after rebel fighters from the Iranian-allied Houthi militia were driven out of the strategic southern port, there are almost daily assassinations of judges, security officials and police. Since July, the Gulf coalition and local security forces have struggled to impose order in Aden, opening the way for Islamic State, al Qaeda and other armed groups to operate there with impunity. The challenges in Aden show how difficult it will be to restore order to a country gripped by months of conflict in which 6,000 have been killed and where Islamist militants have exploited widespread security weaknesses in what Saudi Arabia sees as its backyard. In Aden's Mansoura district, al Qaeda have clashed in the streets with local security forces. Four Yemeni soldiers and three civilians were killed in heavy clashes overnight between security forces and suspected Islamist militants in old Mansoura, a local official said on Tuesday. Residents reported that the area was rocked by blasts as aircraft believed to belong to the Arab coalition flew above, and the gunbattles set ablaze a newly-built mall. The local official said dozens of gunmen belonging either to Islamic State or al Qaeda are thought to be holed up in the neighborhood among hundreds of civilians. A Reuters witness described a tense scene in the neighborhood as residents stayed in their homes for their safety and armed militants walked the streets. Residents said a family of four including two little girls were killed when an errant RPG crashed into their apartment as they were sleeping. The Saudi-led coalition launched military operations this year to prevent the Houthis, whom Riyadh sees as a proxy for its enemy Iran, from taking control of Yemen after they seized much of the north. For their part, the Houthis deny backing from Tehran and accuse the coalition of launching a war of aggression. Continuing violence in Aden, the biggest prize yet won by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Yemen's 10-month-old civil war, threatens to undermine the campaign waged on his behalf by the coalition against the Houthis and army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. "If we leave the situation as it is, you will have the situation you have in Libya," coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said, referring to the situation in Yemen as a whole. A lot of people who oppose the Houthis would form their own militias, he said, and Islamic State would also see an opportunity. "There will be a chaotic situation. So I think when we start something we have to finish it, by bringing back security and stability to Yemen," Asseri told Reuters. PATCHWORK OF RIVAL GROUPS Islamist militants from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have mounted operations in southern Yemen, including Aden, for years. But the pace of attacks in Aden has accelerated since July, when local forces backed by Hadi's government and the Saudi-led alliance recaptured the city from the Houthis after months of street fighting, but have seemingly failed to secure it. Aden residents blame the attacks on Islamist militants, including the Yemeni wing of Islamic State, who appear to be present in the city. But in reality, it is impossible to know who is responsible, given the number of armed groups in Aden and the authorities' failure to investigate. The coalition and Aden's security forces suspect that Saleh and loyalist fighters are orchestrating the violence to derail any progress in Aden. Saleh, ousted after Arab Spring protests in 2011 and whose exact whereabouts are unknown, denies such accusations. In December alone, the governor of Aden, a colonel in the southern secessionist movement that seeks independence from Yemen, and a senior militia leader fighting alongside the government, were all killed. Three senior southern Yemeni officials narrowly escaped a car bomb attack in January. Regardless of who is behind the attacks, stabilizing Aden is a priority for the Saudis, not only to counter Islamist militants, but to show that Riyadh's aggressive intervention to stop what it sees as Iranian expansionism is working. "Restoring some modicum of security to Aden remains a - if not the - key challenge facing the coalition and their allies in Yemen," Adam Baron, a Yemen specialist with the European Council of Foreign Relations, told Reuters. "While it's certainly not an insurmountable one, it's proven - unsurprisingly - difficult, owing to the myriad of differing factions and a significant influx of arms, to say nothing of the widespread destruction and dissolution of order owing to months of conflict." The International Crisis Group said that after nearly a year of combat, no side is close to a decisive military victory. "Neither is defeated or exhausted; both believe they can make additional military gains; and neither has been willing to make the compromises required to end the violence," it said in a report. BATS OF DARKNESS Spooked by the attacks in Aden, one southern secessionist activist said he had moved to Sanaa, which is under Houthi control. "In Aden, if you leave your home, you can't guarantee that you will return safely," said Fahmy, who declined to have his full name published out of fear for his safety. Extremists can shoot at people in shops, in the market where the drug qat is sold, or while they are traveling in their cars, he said. East of Aden, al Qaeda militants have taken control of entire towns, meeting little resistance before displaying their black flags and setting up checkpoints. Even Hadi, who fled Aden last year when the Houthis overran the city, never ventures too far from home since returning to his temporary capital in November. In late January, a suicide car bomb targeted a security checkpoint near the gate of the palace where he lives, killing at least six people, in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Aden's security directorate has blamed attacks in recent weeks on the "bats of darkness", groups it says are affiliated to intelligence services and armed gangs loyal to Saleh and the Houthis, rather than Islamic State. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Asseri also said attacks ostensibly claimed by Islamic State in Yemen are really the work of Saleh and his loyalists to make it appear that the government is unable to run the country. In the meantime, Aden residents say coalition forces, mostly troops from the United Arab Emirates, are rarely seen on the streets. Many in the city doubt the security situation will improve anytime soon. "We never think we won't be targeted," said Salah Saqladi, a journalist. "The coalition has been weak to a large extent," he said. "There are many coalition troops in Aden and the suburbs, but they're all in their bases and haven't spread out on the streets." (Additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashef in Aden and Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by William Maclean and Giles Elgood) Hi again! Thank you for the thread and to the other readers for making such excellent points. I appreciate The Atlantic taking up my lunch breaks like The Dish used to. To the first reader: Yes, the U.S. does not have an especially high suicide rate, but suicide still makes up the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. (source). Firearms not only have the unfortunate distinction as the most commonly used means of suicide, but also the leading cause of intentional death overall (source). As for the readers question of if you remove access to firearms, do people go to less lethal avenues of suicide, or do they seek out equivalently lethal methods?, research points to the former (source): [T]here is now a large body of evidence suggesting that means restriction not only reduces suicides by that method but also reduces overall suicide rates. Means substitution, when it does occur, does not seem to overwhelm the benefits of means restriction. When a highly lethal method (e.g., firearms) is not easily available, the substituted method (e.g., drug overdose) may be far less lethal, thereby increasing chances for survival. Moreover, every study that has looked at firearms access has found it is associated with increased suicide risk (source). That said, its not surprising that this reader reports having difficulty finding research on the public health impact of firearms. For nearly 20 years, the NRA has effectively banned the CDC from researching how firearms affect American morbidity and mortality (source). The chilling effect of the research ban and its resultant harm to science, to policy, and to all Americans cannot be understated. It would be akin to banning research funding into liver disease or diabetes for two decades. Interestingly enough, Jack Dickey, the ex-congressman who led the charge on this research ban, eventually regretted and reversed his position: Washington (AFP) - The widow of late Islamic State group financial leader Abu Sayyaf has been charged for her alleged role in the death of US aid worker Kayla Mueller last year. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, a 25-year-old known as Umm Sayyaf, was accused of conspiring to provide support to the violent extremists, forcibly detaining Mueller and other captives in the couple's homes, where she was sexually assaulted by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Bahar acknowledged that Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residences, describing "owning" as equivalent to slavery, federal prosecutors said. IS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble. US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26. Abu Sayyaf was killed in May 2015 in a rare US commando raid inside war-torn Syria. Bahar was captured during the operation, and US forces also rescued a young woman from the Yazidi minority and seized a stash of firearms, the complaint recalled. Mueller and other female "captives were at various times handcuffed, held in locked rooms and given orders on a daily basis with respect to their activities, movements and liberty," according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Virginia. "While in captivity, Kayla Jean Mueller was sexually abused by Baghdadi, who forced her to have sex with him," it added. "The defendant (Bahar) knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home." The complaint also alleged that Bahar told the captives that "she would kill them if they did not listen to her." Bahar admitted that she had sole responsibility for holding the hostages captive while her husband traveled on IS business, and that Baghdadi and other members of the group would stay at the residence at times, according to the complaint. Story continues If convicted, Bahar faces life in prison. She is currently in Iraqi custody, facing prosecution for terror-related activities. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement. "We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." By Scott Malone and Valerie Vande Panne BOSTON (Reuters) - A winter storm was expected to bring more than a foot (30 cm) of snow and howling winds to parts of southern New England on Monday, closing schools and government offices, snarling travel and flooding low-lying coastal areas. Snow was falling in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire on Monday, with police and elected officials urging residents to avoid unnecessary travel. Wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (100 kph) were expected in parts of coastal southeastern Massachusetts, raising the risk of downed trees and power outages, officials said. Numerous highway crashes were reported throughout the region, including in Connecticut where a chartered bus headed to a casino rolled over on a busy interstate highway. Nineteen passengers, three of whom were critically injured, were transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment, the hospital said. "We urge all those who must travel to use added caution, allow extra time to travel, and reduce speeds as conditions warrant," said Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. Travel was expected to remain difficult through the evening, officials said. "The heavy snow that's going to fall in southeastern Massachusetts, especially combined with those heavy winds, 50 to 60 miles per hour, raises some very significant hazards," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told reporters. Falling tree limbs killed two people including a 6-year-old girl in Canton, Massachusetts, during a Friday snowstorm. As much as 9 inches (23 cm) of snow was forecast for the Boston area. Officials released photos showing water flowing onto streets in the communities of Hull and Scituate, south of Boston, and police through the region warned that coastal roads had been closed to prevent cars from being damaged or washed away by the heavy surf. Winter storm warnings were in effect from New York through coastal Maine and officials in Philadelphia and New York said they would be sending police out to encourage homeless people sleeping outdoors to come in to city shelters. One of every three flights was canceled at Boston Logan International Airport, according to Flightaware.com. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, church pastor Kent French, 48, had given up efforts to ride his bike over the snowy roads and was instead pushing it home. "I was working in a local cafe," French said. "It's worse now than this morning. I don't have the right tires for it." (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Andrew Hay) Aden (AFP) - Clashes on Tuesday between Yemeni forces and Al-Qaeda militants in Aden killed at least six people, including four members of the same family, security officials and witnesses said. Al-Qaeda controls part of the southern port city which has become the temporary headquarters of the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as it battles to retake large parts of Yemen from Shiite Huthi rebels. Forces loyal to Hadi laid siege early Tuesday to Aden's central Mansura district and clashed with militants, while coalition Apache helicopters provided air cover, security officials in the city said. The operation was part of a bid to drive the jihadists out of the city. Four members of one family were killed when a rocket hit their house in the neighbourhood of Kabouta near Mansura, a relative said. The victims were Rowais Othman Saleh, his wife and two daughters, the relative said, adding that a third daughter aged five was wounded. The source of the rocket was not clear. At least two gunmen were also killed in the fighting, officials said. A large fire also engulfed Alshamil shopping centre in Mansura during the clashes, according to an AFP photojournalist. Residents of the neighbourhood said warplanes also hovered overhead and that they feared for their lives. "We live in terror... We got rid of the Huthis and now Al-Qaeda militants have come to turn our lives into hell," said one resident. Loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition have since July recaptured Aden and four other southern provinces from the Shiite rebels, who continue to control Sanaa and other northern regions. Al-Qaeda and the rival jihadist Islamic State group have taken advantage of the weakness of the central government to gain ground in southern cities such as Aden. Both have a presence in Yemen's second city, where jihadists occupy government buildings and are seen patrolling several districts and intimidating civilians. They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months. faw/ak/hkb Tobago uppermost in Hotel tycoons mind At his last visit Butch Stewart toured several beach and hotel properties. Shamfa Cudjoe, the Minister of Tourism, joined a high level team from the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) led by the Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary of Tourism and Transport, Tracy Davidson- Celestine, on the aerial tour of Tobago. In welcoming Butch Stewart again to Tobago, Minister Cudjoe pointed to the uniqueness of Trinidad and Tobago as a tourist destination given its cultural plurality, high level of education labour force and beautiful landscape; especially Tobagos pristine beaches. These precursory investment discussions from a world renowned hotel brand are quite encouraging for the viability of Tobago as an investment option and signal a shift in a positive direction. Minister Cudjoe also outlined the Ministrys plan to review, in short measure, the Tourism Development Act, which is the overriding authority for all tourism investments in Trinidad and Tobago, to ensure its competitiveness vis a vis other Caribbean destinations. Both Trinidad and the sister isle of Tobago requires an injection of capital into the tourism sector so as to upgrade quality standards, generate sustainable jobs, revenue and much needed foreign exchange. Hotel tycoon Butch Stewart appeared quite intrigued by all that he saw and thanked the delegation for the excellent hospitality provided to his team. After the aerial tour; more extensive discussions continued at the Coco Reef Resort and Spa with the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, Orville London. Gordon Butch Stewart was accompanied by a high level Sandals executive comprising his son Adam Stewart, who is the Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, as well as other top ranking officials namely: * Danville Walker - Managing Director of the ATL Group * Alan Clarke - Group Chief Financial Officer Sandals * Shawn De Costa Director of Operators Sandals Drugs, guns, ammo seized Western Division head, Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed complimented his officers for their hard work as he promised criminal activities will not be condoned during and after the Carnival. Mohammed said the drugs, firearms and ammunition were seized between the hours of 3 am and 11 am yesterday. Under my supervision, Inspector Henry Dan, Sgt Arneaud, Cpl Dominick, Cpl Jupiter and Cpl Frith joined with other officers on the exercise. We went to a makeshift camp at the top of Cameron Hill. As we approached the camp, four men and a woman opened fire on us, Mohammed said. The Division head said that the suspects ran off in different directions into the forests and escaped. He added that the four men are known to the police and arrest warrants have been issued. The woman, he said, is believed to be a foreign national. He said 205 rounds of ammunition of various calibre were found and seized. Two Glock semi-automatic pistols, five ammunition magazines, two kilos of cocaine and 18 kilos of marijuana were found and seized. Two ski masks were also found and seized. Investigations are continuing. No bail for man, in court again for rape Baptiste appeared before the magistrate who read a charge that last week Wednesday, he had sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent in La Romaine, near San Fernando. Baptiste of Papourie Road, Duncan Village, was not called upon to plead to the charge, it having been laid indictably. The rape charge is a bailable offence but court prosecutor PC Cleyon Seedan, told Magistrate Deonarinesingh that Baptiste had been charged with a similar sexual offence and was out on bail when he allegedly committed the second rape offence. PC Seedan further told the magistrate that the accused was committed to stand trial on the first rape charge. In the light of this, Senior Magistrate Deonarinesingh told attorney Ainsley Lucky, who represented Baptiste, that she had no alternative but to refuse him bail under 6 (2) F of the Bail Act. Baptiste was remanded into custody, to reappear in court on March 7. He was, however, informed by the magistrate of his right to apply to a Judge in Chambers for bail. Mark: PM cannot touch Red House Mark said the Parliament in the form of a Joint Select Committee which sat in the Tenth Parliament had determined the need for an additional companion building and a Parliament precinct, in addition to a restoration of the historic building. The former Speaker said the Prime Minister should have re-activated this JSC and the matter should have been considered afresh by the Eleventh Parliament. Mark said even if there is a need to cut back on spending due to economic conditions, the proper process should have been pursued. He questioned whether the Prime Minister consulted with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Bridgid Annisette- George prior to last weeks announcement. This new restoration committee chaired by the Prime Minister that met on Wednesday last and that took the decision to abort tenders and alter the scope of works and took the decision to discontinue the companion building that committee has acted outside of its powers, Mark said. Those decision are cannot be part of the mandate of any restoration committee whether headed by the Prime Minister or otherwise since under Section 52 of the Constitution the Parliament is supreme. That committee does not have the authority to do these things. The Parliaments budget is determined by the Cabinet. As a result the Parliament, too, had to cut expenditure by seven percent in a recent Government cuts exercise. There have been calls for the Parliament to have its own autonomous Budget but such reforms have not been implemented. Mark said while the Government by definition holds a majority in Parliament and, therefore, on JSCs, the purpose of bringing the matter to Parliament is to allow debate. Even if they have a majority, the fact of the matter is democracy means it would have been debated and ventilated in the public domain, Mark said. Not ruled on from the tsar or some jefe. You cannot take unilateral action when you do not have the power or authority to do so. Mark continued, The Government is totally out of line and totally irresponsible, engaging in conduct bordering on reckless, engaging in decisions impacting of an organ of the state sans consulting that body. I dont know if the present speaker has been consulted by the PM before he made his outrageous decision. Mark said Rowley was a member of the JSC on the issue which was dissolved with the Tenth Parliament and as such should have been more mindful of the separation of powers. This is an intrusion and invasion by the Executive arm of the State, the Opposition Senator said. A media release from the Office of the Prime Minister last week stated, It was... decided that the original scope of works which involves construction of additional Parliamentary space will not be pursued. The restoration will be confined to the Red House for housing of the Parliament. Further, In light of these decisions it was also concluded that the existing tender exercise be aborted and that the architectural designs be reviewed to take into account the effect of these decisions. The release also said, The Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott), in consultation with Parliament, is to report back to the committee on these decisions by the first week of March. Thereafter, new tenders will be invited for the restoration of the Red House, with a completion date for the works to be established after full consideration of the exercise. On January 21, a British investigation concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in a London hospital in November 2006. Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium-210 seemingly poured into a cup of tea by two Russian operatives. A former FSB intelligence agent, he had fled to the UK in 2000, where he was later granted asylum and eventually British citizenship. From the UK, he was a harsh critic of the Russian government and seemed to have entered into some sort of relationship with the British intelligence service, MI-6. The British government responded to the disturbing report by stating that the Russian operation constituted a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilized behavior. If the operation and poisoning of Litvinenko were indeed sanctioned by Putin and the Russian state, it clearly constitutes a violation of British sovereignty. As the Permanent Court of International Justice a predecessor to the UNs International Court of Justice noted in the seminal Lotus case, failing the existence of a permissive rule to the contrary, a State may not exercise its power in any form in the territory of another State. A more vexing question, however, relates to Russias responsibilities under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the obligation to protect the right to life in Article 2 of that Convention. The right to life encompasses both a substantive right not to be unlawfully killed and a procedural duty on the part of the State to conduct an investigation of the circumstances that led to the deprivation of life. For the ECHR to apply, Litvinenko would have had to be under Russian jurisdiction at the time of his poisoning. The determination of whether or not that was the case raises broader questions about the extraterritorial scope of human rights treaties on issues that extend far beyond a single assassination of a former spy. The crux of the ECHR question is that Litvinenko was poisoned outside Russian territory. Pursuant to Article 1 of the ECHR, State Parties shall secure the rights and freedoms of the convention to everyone within their jurisdiction. So, was Litvinenko within Russias jurisdiction when he was poisoned? The Strasbourg Courts case law on the extraterritorial reach of the ECHR is highly complex and, at times, even contradictory. Following the current leading case on the extraterritorial application of the ECHR the Grand Chambers 2011 judgment in Al-Skeini v. the United Kingdom that arose from the British and American 20032004 occupation of Iraq Litvinenko does not appear to have been within Russian jurisdiction for the purposes of the ECHR. In Al-Skeini , British forces deployed to Basra had killed five individuals during a patrol and a sixth individual had been mistreated and killed by British forces in a British detention facility in Basra. While everybody agreed that the individual who was killed in the detention facility was within British jurisdiction at the time he was killed, the situation was more uncertain with regard to the five Iraqis who were killed by the patrol. Although the Court noted that extraterritorial application of the ECHR is exceptional, it did list a number of instances where the case law of the Court nevertheless indicates that the acts of a State outside its territory fall within the concept of jurisdiction under Article 1 (paras. 13139). For present purposes, the Courts most interesting statements in Al-Skeini were that a State exercises jurisdiction over an individual abroad when that individual is located within an area where the State has effective control or when the individual is taken into the custody of State agents abroad. In addition, the Court concluded that the five Iraqis who were killed by UK forces were also within UK jurisdiction because the United Kingdom quite exceptionally fulfilled certain public powers normally to be exercised by a sovereign government. None of the exceptions listed in Al-Skeini is relevant to the poisoning of Litvinenko. Russia did not have effective control over any part of London, it did not exercise public powers in the city, and it seems far-fetched to conclude that Litvinenko was in custody of the Russian agents when he was poisoned. To argue that Litvinenko may be considered to be within the jurisdiction of Russia because his assassination was in all likelihood planned on Russian territory does not seem convincing. After all, there is usually a link between commanders and decision-makers who may be physically located within the state and those state representatives (agents, soldiers, etc.) that act on their commands and orders abroad, and Strasbourg has not yet found that the mere planning of extraterritorial activities is sufficient to close the jurisdictional gap. As the case law from Strasbourg currently stands, then, a State is not bound by the ECHR in relation to targeted operations including assassinations that are aimed at an individual located outside the territory of the State, unless one of Al-Skeini s exceptions are met. In practice, of course, this also means that the ECHR does not reach the current airstrikes in Syria conducted by members of the Council of Europe. It would similarly not scrutinize an American-style drone program of targeted killings. To conclude that Russia was not in breach of its obligations under the ECHR when its agents poisoned Litvinenko may, however, be hard to reconcile with the (allegedly) universal character of human rights. And it may seem hard to understand why the Court continues to insist on an interpretation of its jurisdictional clause that makes it possible for a State to get away with outrageous conduct abroad that would constitute a clear and serious violation of its human rights obligations if committed on its own territory. It will, therefore, be very interesting to see how Strasbourg deals with the application launched against Russia by Litvinenkos widow. While the complaint was launched in 2007, the case is seemingly still being investigated by the Court. refrain from infringing on an individuals rights, such as the right to life, if it could not offer an adequate justification, even if that individual is outside of its territory. The State would not, however, be under a duty to secure and ensure the human rights of those living outside the country, including not being obligated to offer effective protection from harmful acts perpetrated by private actors. Looking toward the future of this body of law, Marko Milanovic argued in 2011 that Strasbourg should distinguish between negative and positive obligations and that a State should always regardless of its exercise of jurisdiction within the meaning of Article 1 be bound by its obligations under the ECHR in relation to its negative obligations. This would mean that a State would always be obliged tofrom infringing on an individuals rights, such as the right to life, if it could not offer an adequate justification, even if that individual is outside of its territory. The State would not, however, be under a duty toandthe human rights of those living outside the country, including not being obligated to offer effective protection from harmful acts perpetrated by private actors. But while one can be sympathetic to Milanovics argument, it would also as he himself acknowledges require a fundamental shift in the approach taken by the European Court of Human Rights. A more realistic approach to the issue of extraterritorial targeted operations and human rights obligations is one that has been proposed by David Kretzmer. In a 2005 article , Kretzmer argues that some of the substantive norms in human rights treaties have become unchallenged norms of customary international law, including the duty to respect the right to life. Thus, a states duty to respect the right to life follows its agents, wherever they operate. Under this approach, regardless of the geographical reach of the ECHR, Russia violated its human rights obligations under customary law when it poisoned Litvinenko. In practice, of course, the extraterritorial scope of human rights treaties is not just of relevance to operations like the poisoning of Litvinenko. Since the Snowden revelations, for example, the question of whether human rights conventions apply to surveillance programs run by the NSA and GCHQ has increasingly been debated (e.g., here and here ). Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory ). Since the US is not a party to the ECHR, the issue of surveillance and human rights raises the questions of the extraterritorial application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which the United States is a party. As is well-known, the US remains of the view that it is not bound by the ICCPR outside US territory (this contrasts with the ICJs advisory opinion on the). It is, however, not clear if that (controversial) position can be maintained in the long run, and judging by a leaked 2010 memo by then-State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh, the US is well-aware of the wide-spread international opposition to its position on the extraterritorial application of the ICCPR. Russias probable poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London has revealed that there are holes in the human rights protections currently offered by the ECHR. It is too early to tell if Strasbourg intends to fill in those holes by expanding the territorial reach of the Convention. What is certain, though, is that the debate about the extent to which a state like Russia should be bound by its human rights obligations when it assassinates its political opponents abroad ought to be of interest not only to States Party to the ECHR, including Russia, but to all States whose activities raise questions about the extraterritorial application of human rights. What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news Shri Suresh Prabhu, launched Personalised take away bedrolls service in Indian Railways New Delhi, Tue, 09 Feb 2016 NI Wire Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways during a grand function held at East Tambaram Railway Colony Ground in Tambaram, Chennai yesterday i.e. 07.02.2016 (Sunday) launched various Railways project/schemes which also included 'Personalised take away bedrolls scheme' Initially, the supply would be at Chennai Central Railway Station and Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station of Southern Railway. Later, this scheme will be extended to other stations also in the country in phases Salient features of e-Bedrolls: Bedrolls are disposable. Hence, passengers can take them home after journey. Type 1 - Bedroll kit packed in a non-woven fabric bag consisting of two cotton bedsheets and one pillow at a cost of Rs.140. Type 2 - Blanket kit packed in a non-woven bag consisting of one blanket at a cost of Rs.110. Cost is inclusive of all taxes and uniform across stations over Indian Railways. Booking: Any passenger having a valid confirmed ticket for travel from Chennai Central railway station or Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station can book the bedroll kit either type 1 or type 2 or both together. Booking available at www.irctctourism.com under the tab Bedrolls. Bedrolls can also be purchased across the designated counter at the stations by paying cash. Website asks for PNR number, validates the same and shows information on availability, cost etc. Passenger can book the required bedroll kits and pay through credit / debit / pre-charged cards. Booking will be confirmed at the website and also through e-mail and SMS. Bank charges for the transaction to be borne by the customer. Bedrolls service available between 06.00 hrs. to 22.00 hrs. In case of trains running late and reaching the designated station between 22.00 hrs. to 06.00 hrs., bedrolls will not be delivered and treated as non-delivery by IRCTC. In case of non-delivery by IRCTC, 100% charges for the service would be refunded to the pasengers account. (Refund will not include bank charges for booking transaction). Advance reservation period from 60 days before day of travel to up to five hours before scheduled departure of train. A toll free number 1323 will give information about the kits, cost and availability. Cancellation / Amendment: Cancellation / Amendment of orders through www.irctctourism.com with the registered ID. Refund amount will be credited to the card account through which the original booking was made. Cancellation / amendment before five hours of scheduled departure will incur cancellation charge of 20%. Cancellation / Amendment within five hours of scheduled departure no refund. Others: Passengers not permitted to resell the bedrolls after use. Queries and feedback - 1323 toll free (information); 011-2334 5300 (round the clock) and ebedroll@irctc.com Source: PIB A guest article by Joseph Friedlander Nigel B. Cooks Glasstone.Blogspot Blog has beautiful coverage of many nuclear topics here. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.uk/ Cook is a master researcher who digs up incredible piles of research on all topics nuclear and the following is digest of various writings of his gathered for easy access centered on the remarkable thesis that the effects of nuclear weapons, while literally awesome, have been exaggerated or misunderstood to an even greater extent, with perhaps very considerable military consequences. I remember reading a Korean War history book that explained why the US didnt use atomic bombs in 1950 there were only a few available, they needed to be saved for a European war, and they didnt want to ruin the perception of one bomb per city, two bombs to win a war. Indeed a 1950 British study established that to equal World War 2 you would need 300 atomic bombs plus half a million tons in conventional bombs. Even the USA did not have such an arsenal completely ready for use then http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2006/08/nuclear-weapons-1st-edition-1956-by.html in 1950, the Top Secret British Home Office Scientific Advisory Branch report SA/16 (HO225/16 in the UK National Archives), The number of atomic bombs equivalent to the last war air attacks on Great Britain and Germany, concluded: consider the numbers of atomic bombs that would have to be dropped on this country and on Germany to have caused the same total amount of damage as was actually caused by attacks with high explosive and incendiary bombs. During the last war a total of 1,300,000 tons [i.e. 1.3 MEGATONS of bombs] were dropped on Germany by the Strategic Air Forces [of Britain and America]. If there were no increase in aiming accuracy, then to achieve the same amount of material damage (to houses, industrial and transportational targets, etc.) would have required the use of over 300 atomic bombs together with some 500,000 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs for targets too small to warrant the use of an atomic bomb the total of 300,000 civilian air raid deaths in Germany could have been caused by about 80 atomic bombs delivered with the accuracy of last war area attacks, or by about 20 atomic bombs accurately placed at the centres of large German cities This report, SA/16, was kept Top Secret for 8 years, and then Restricted for another 22 years. It was never published, and civil defence was gradually undermined by the exaggeration of nuclear weapons effects by political groups such as CND, the full facts remaining secret. In the popular picture of science fiction from around say 1946, 1951, 1956 and 1961 updated of course with the then current version of futuristic weapons the mere employment of nuclear weapons either ends civilization or ends the career of the nations that use them as great powers. Numerous novels portrayed pathetic burned out pockets of survivors isolated across great nuclear deserts. That is so far from the actual military reality as calculated by Nigel B. Cook that we let these excerpts speak for themselves. Does this mean nuclear war is a casual lark? No. No. No. See here for a view of recovery issues http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa009.html The Social and Economic Effects Of Nuclear War by Arthur M. Katz and Sima R. Osdoby But a science fiction scenario I cannot recall reading is, what if there was a massive exchange of ICBMS and while some failed most did not but they simply did not have the imagined effect and the great warring parties realized to their horror they were now in a nuclear AND conventional World War 3 with no obvious stopping point and sufficient remaining reserve capacity for mobilization for a decade long war full of shortages and sacrifices? I cant ever recall reading that in any story! (Some studies around 1951 of broken back war touched on it but assumed A-bombs were as effective as the advertising and the post attack USA had problems keeping 20 divisions in the field in Europe. But what if the USA could draft as many riflemen as the Russians had in World War 2 and send them to Europe or Asia in the midst of a tactical nuclear war that also was not as effective as advertised) What a nightmare struggle. Note that Nigel never states this himself but at least some scenarios derived from his data are compatible with that vision. I have bolded particularly interesting details for the reader to notice below. An explanation of key civil defense practices can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover I should emphasize that below the line is nearly all Nigels work except for some connecting and classifying phrasework this writer added for clarity. Or Nigel is quoting others work which is lost to the casual reader deep in the source pages at http://glasstone.blogspot.co.uk/ Below this line its mostly Nigel: Nigel B. Cook has documented that even well-educated nuclear scientists have learned the wrong values for cratering (which has vast military consequences- since bunkers and silos are only killed by being in the crater.) http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2009/08/nuclear-cratering-exaggeration-admitted.html Read the whole thing there (big page, may take some searching) and the significance is here belowif the crater is smallewr no more one shot one kill. It becomes an ongoing war on smaller scale not a huge final nuclear exchange. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2010/03/lifeboat-analogy-to-civil-defence.html Herman Kahn points out in Appendix III of his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War that if the severe damage radius of a nuclear explosion is R and the missile Circular Error Parameter (CEP) distance (the radius from the intended target within which 50% of warheads fall) is C, then the probability of a target surviving nwarheads is simply S = (1/2)x where x = n(R/C)2. (Note that Kahns formula assumes 0% survival chance for a direct hit, which is obviously incorrect for very hard buried targets like the bunker under the Kremlin which is reportedly deeper than the crater rupture zone depth for the revised crater dimensions law at high yields, but such deep targets can still be destroyed either by earth-penetrator warheads or by a repeated sequence of ground bursts in the craters formed by prior detonations.) Since R generally scales as only the cube-root of the bomb yield, it follows that for constant survival probability the payoff from a given increase in missile accuracy is larger than the effect from varying the weapon yield. Hence, many individual bombs each with smaller yields but improved accuracy are preferred to a fewer heavier higher-yield warheads, since they are more destructive to hardened counterforce targets (missiles in silos, underground enemy command posts, tanks, submarines, etc.) while producing less collateral damage to civilians since the amount of fallout radioactivity (unlike blast and cratering areas) scales directly with the yield. Nigels points Visions of vast firestorms and melted twisted girders may be greatly exaggerated except very near to ground zeroes. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2014/05/debunking-hardened-dogma-of-exaggerated.html (The Twin Towers collapsed, Nigel reminds us) by heat from thousands of gallons of burning aviation gasoline running into the steel supports and turning them into putty. Nuclear weapons at best deliver a brief match ignition to unshielded dry fire kindling, they dont deliver the minutes of heating needed to dry out and ignite anything thicker than paper! Beside the Thames, London air of around 80% humidity gives wood a moisture content of around 16%, entirely different from the dry Nevada desert where flashover did once occur in a wooden hut with just 19% air humidity at the 1953 Encore test. Even in the 1953 Nevada Encore test, a large window had to be exposed to an unobstructed radial view of the whole fireball. Nigels points Even in Hiroshima reinforced concrete modern construction resisted blast and shielded from radiation far better than the wooden shacks making up much of the city. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2014/05/debunking-hardened-dogma-of-exaggerated.html Hennessy ignored the 1954 Leader-Williams report on civil defence against the H-bomb, instead lists effects for the May 1953 Home Office predictions of casualties and house damage from a massive attack of 132 atomic bombs of 20 kt yield dropped on 39 British towns (CAB 134/942). This is closer to the SLBM MIRV warhead yield today than the 10-20 MT H-bombs considered in 1954-5, which wouldnt even fit by itself into a typical modern missile today, no matter how clever the weaponeer. Hennessy fails to make the most important point, which is the relatively few casualties per bomb, in his table on page 130, compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in wooden cities. The 1953 study found that 35 Hiroshima-Nagasaki 20 kt atomic bombs would be needed to kill 422,000 people in London with WWII type civil defence evacuation of women, children and the disabled, and sheltering applied to all likely targets. A similar total number of fatalities occurred with just 2 bombs in the Japanese wooden cities in August 1945, thereby suggesting that raw data from Hiroshima and Nagasaki exaggerates crude fatality rates by a factor of about 35/2 = 17.5, but Hennessy fails to mention this evidence for civil defence. The total dead of 1,378,000 for the 132 nuclear weapons on 39 British towns and cities implies an average of 10,439 killed per 20 kt nuclear weapon, a very small fraction of the death toll per atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, the 132 atomic bombs study of 1953 shows that 12,326,000 houses are damaged to the point of being at least temporarily uninhabitable (17.5% of these are irreparable), in other words the 9 houses are made uninhabitable per fatality. This signifies the relatively good survival of people compared to houses, and also the need for civil defence to set up emergency feeding, emergency shelter for the homeless refugees, etc. Hennessy again makes no comment concerning this obvious inference. Nigels points Simply adding megatonnage without correcting for wasted vertical blast energy means that equivalent nuclear arsenals are not the equivalent of thousands of World War 2s, but only a few times the damage inflicted on Germany, Japan, Britain and France (Possibly even less than the damage inflicted on Russia though Nigel does not state this. If there is warning and sheltering and civil defense casualties might be 3% of those imagined) http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2014/05/debunking-hardened-dogma-of-exaggerated.html Blast damage area equivalent megatons for destruction area and casualty comparisons (equivalent megatonnage, EMT) are proportional the product the the number of bombs and the 2/3 power of the yield of each bomb. In WWII, 2.2 megatons distributed in 22 million conventional 10^-7 megaton bombs were therefore equivalent to 22,000,000(10^-7)^2/3 = 474 one megaton blast bombs, or 948 nuclear bombs each with a blast yield of 1 megaton (blast being 50% of the total energy of a nuclear explosion). In other words, even a thousand megatons in a nuclear war would not be on a different scale to the 2.2 megatons of highly effective, dispersed small bombs in WWII. Key equivalencies In the whole of WWI, the British Army fired 170 million shells, with equivalent damage to: 170,000,000(3.7 x 10-9)2/3 = 408 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons. Now consider WWII, where London alone received about 18.8 kilotons in roughly 188 thousand separate 100 kg explosives in the 1940 Blitz : 188,000(10-7)2/3 = 4 thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. 74.2 kilotons of conventional bombs were dropped on the UK in WWII causing 60,000 casualties, equivalent to 16 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons, confirming the British Home Office analysis that given cheap-type civil defence you get about 3,750 casualties for a one megaton nuclear weapon. Naturally, without civil defence, as in early air bombing surprise attacks or the first use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, casualty rates can be over 100 times higher than this. (For example, Glasstone and Dolan, in The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 1977 point out that in Hiroshima the 50% lethal radius was only 0.12 mile for people under cover in concrete buildings, compared to 1.3 miles for those caught totally unprotected outdoors. The difference in areas is over a factor of 100, indicating that the casualties in Hiroshima could have been reduced enormously if the people had taken cover in concrete buildings, or simple earth covered WWII shelters which offered similar protection to concrete buildings.) 10 kt of small 1 ton TNT bombs = same area of damage as 1 megaton in a single bomb. The American B-52 bomber has a payload of 32 tons, so it takes 313 sorties to drop 10 kt of TNT which (if the bombs are 1 ton each) is equivalent in damage area to a 1 megaton nuclear weapon if WWII had been a nuclear war, the same destruction would have necessitated dropping 431 nuclear weapons each of 1 megaton yield The 1.3 megatons of conventional bombs dropped on Germany in WWII was likewise equivalent to: 13,000,000(10-7)2/3 = 280 separate thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. In Vietnam, 7,662,000 tons of conventional bombs were dropped (according to Micheal Clodfelters Vietnam in Military Statistics, 1995, page 225), which by this reckoning (10 kt of conventional bombs = 1 megaton of nuclear) is equivalent in terms of damage to a nuclear war of 766 separate 1 megaton explosions. So you see, when the proper scaling laws are applied, nuclear weapons are not so destructive. Put it another way, vague arm-waving propaganda exaggerates nuclear war to a very serious degree. There is an immense blast collateral damage inefficiency of the nuclear bomb as compared to conventional weapons, due to the fact that blast damage areas due to peak overpressure are proportional to the two-thirds power of yield. E.g., a 1 kg TNT bomb is a thousand million times smaller in blast energy than a 1 megaton blast, but it produces equal peak overpressures over an area equal to (10-9)2/3 = 10-6 of that of a 1 megaton blast. Therefore, one million separate 1 kg TNT bombs, or 1 kiloton of TNT, is exactly equivalent to a single explosion of 1 megaton of TNT. This explains why the blast effects from a megaton bomb are approximately equal to a 1 kiloton World War II conventional bomber attack, with a hundred or more aircraft each scattering a few tons of TNT in small bombs over a large area target (so that there is little probability of severe blast area overlap, i.e. the wasteful overkill effect). But all nuclear weapons media propaganda ignores such facts, presenting a megaton explosion over a city as an unparalleled disaster, a thousand times worse than a large World War II . The very first edition of Glasstones nuclear effects handbook, The Effects of Atomic Weapons, 1950, on page 57 has a section written by John von Neumann and Fredrick Reines of Los Alamos (it is attributed to them in a footnote) stating factually: the structures have the additional complicating property of not being rigid. This means that they do not merely deflect the shock wave, but they also absorb energy from it at each reflection. The removal of energy from the blast in this manner decreases the shock pressure at any given distance from the point of detonation to a value somewhat below that which it would have been in the absence of dissipative objects, such as buildings. This was removed from future editions. This isnt speculative guesswork: its down to the conservation of energy. I emailed Dr Harold L. Brode and other experts about why it isnt included in American nuclear weapons effects manuals. Dr Brode kindly replied with some relevant and interesting facts about non-radial energy flows in Mach waves and the transfer of energy from the blast wave to flying debris (which, alas, travels slower than the supersonic shock front because the blast wind is always slower than the shock front velocity). It is true that the energy loss from the blast wave near ground level is partially offset by downward diffraction of energy from the diverging blast wave at higher altitudes. However, this downward diffraction process is not a 100% efficient compensator for energy loss, particularly for the kinetic energy of the air (the dynamic pressure or wind drag effect). The dynamic pressure (which in unobstructed desert or ocean nuclear tests makes the blast more hazardous for higher yield weapons) is an air particle effect not a wave effect so it does not diffract like a wave, and it is cut down severely when transferring its energy to building debris. Even if every house absorbs just 1% of the incident energy per unit of area incident to the blast, then the destruction of a line of 100 houses cuts the blast energy down to 0.99100 = 0.366 of what it would be over a desert surface. Basically, this chops down the collateral blast damage from large yield weapons detonated in cities and affects the usual scaling laws, making nuclear weapons even less dangerous than predicted by the textbook equations and curves.attack! Nigels points Proven measures and practical designs employed in England in the midst of shortages in 1941 could save over 90% of prospective victims. The discovery of this table duck and cover effectiveness in air raids led to a revolutionary shelter design; the indoor Morrison table shelter of 1941. (For publication dates of these booklets, see T. H. OBrien, Civil Defence, H.M. Stationery Office, 1955, pages 371 and 529.) It is the forerunner to the inner core refuge adopted for protection against thermal flash, blasted flying debris and fallout radiation in a nuclear war in the 1980 booklet Protect and Survive. http://ww2today.com/27th-march-1941-the-morrison-shelter-is-introduced Above: the facts about the life-saving ability of the Morrison table shelter during aerial bombing in World War II Britain: it protects against the collapse of buildings regardless of whether that collapse is caused by TNT, a hurricane, an earthquake, or a nuclear bomb. A U.K. Government press release from November 1941,Morrison Shelters in Recent Air Raids, states: A report of Ministry of Home Security experts on 39 cases of bombing incidents in different parts of Britain covering all those for which full particulars are available in which Morrison shelters were involved shows how well they have stood up to severe tests of heavy bombing. All the incidents were serious. Many of the incidents involved direct hits on the houses concerned, a risk against which it was never claimed these shelters would afford protection. In all of them the houses in which shelters were placed were within the radius of damage by bombs; in 24 there was complete demolition of the house on the shelter. A hundred and nineteen people were sheltering in these Morrisons and only four were killed. So that 115 out of 119 people were saved. Of these only 7 were seriously injured and 14 slightly injured while 94 escaped uninjured. The majority were able to leave their shelters unaided. The top set of instructions for building the Morrison shelter and using it as a table between air-raids are taken from the instruction manual for building the Morrison shelter, How to put up your Morrison Table Shelter, issued by the Ministry of Home Security, H.M. Stationery Office, March 1941(National Archives document reference HO 186/580), which states: The walls of most houses give good shelter from blast and splinters from a bomb falling nearby. The bomb, however, may also bring down part of the house, and additional protection from the fall of walls, floors and ceilings is therefore very essential. This is what the indoor shelter has been designed to give. Where to put it up, which floor? Ground floor if you have no basement. Basement, if you have one. Protect windows of the shelter room with fabric netting or cellulose film stuck to the glass (as recommended in Your Home as an Air Raid Shelter). The sides of your table shelter will not keep out small glass splinters. The public outcry about conditions in the largest public shelters, often without sanitation or even lighting, and the appalling inadequacy of the over-loaded and ill-equipped rest centres for the bombed-out led to immediate improvements, but cost Sir John Anderson his job. His successor as Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison The growing reluctance of many people to go out of doors led the new Home Secretary to look again at the need for an indoor shelter The result was the Morrison shelter, which resembled a large steel table During the day it could be used as a table and at night it could, with a slight squeeze, accommodate two adults and two small children, lying down. The first were delivered in March 1941 and by the end of the war about 1,100,000 were in use, including a few two-tier models for larger families. Morrisons were supplied free to people earning up to 350 a year and were on sale at about 7 to people earning more. the Morrison proved the most successful shelter of the war, particularly during the hit and run and flying-bomb raids when a family had only a few seconds to get under cover. It was also a good deal easier to erect than an Anderson, and while most people remember their nights in the Anderson with horror, memories of the Morrison shelter are usually good-humoured. A government leaflet, Shelter at Home, pointed out that people have often been rescued from demolished houses because they had taken shelter under an ordinary table strong enough to bear the weight of the falling bedroom floor. I frequently worked beneath the solid oak tables in the school library during imminent danger periods and, particularly before the arrival of the Morrison, families became accomplished at squeezing beneath the dining table during interrupted meals. Although the casualties were mercifully far fewer than expected, the damage to property was far greater. From September 1940 to May 1941 in London alone 1,150,000 houses were damaged Norman Longmate, How we Lived Then A history of everyday life during the Second World War, Pimlico, 1971. Above: the British Mission to Japan in 1945 evaluated the nuclear explosion damage at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, producing a report called The Effects of the Atomic Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (linked here, 42.5 MB pdf file). The purpose of the British Mission was for ten British Home Office bomb damage scientists to directly compare the British bomb damage assessment criteria from German air raids upon British cities with conventional bombs to the effects of nuclear weapons. Page 6 states: Photographs in this report and elsewhere show great areas of destruction in which, rising here and there like islands, there remain reinforced concrete buildings showing few signs of external damage. There were in fact many reinforced concrete buildings in Hiroshima and a number in Nagasaki. These observations make it plain that reinforced concrete framed buildings can resist a bomb of the same power detonated at these heights, without employing fantastic thicknesses of concrete. On page 8, the report finds that Japanese wood-frame houses collapsed out to a ground range of 2.0 km in Hiroshima (at this range, 50% of the wood-frame houses were subsequently burned out by the fire storm, due to the blast wave displacement of breakfast cooking charcoal braziers and flammable traditional bamboo/paper screen furnishings in the wooden houses; at 2.6 km only 10% were burned out and at 1.0 km about 90% were burned out) and 2.4 km in Nagasaki, while typical brick type British type only collapsed out to an average distance of 910 metres (at 1.6 km they were standing but irrepairably cracked, at 2.4 km they needed repair before habitation and there was minor damage from 3.2-4.0 km). Page 9 states: The provision of air raid shelters throughout Japan was much below European standards. ..These observations show that the standard British shelters would have performed well against a bomb of the same power exploded at such a height. Anderson shelters [1.5 million of which were assembled in Britain by September 1939, each sleeping 6 people], properly erected and covered, would have given protection. Brick or concrete surface shelters with adequate reinforcement would have remained safe from collapse. The [indoor] Morrison shelter is [a steel table type shelter] designed only to protect its occupants from the debris load of a [collapsing] house, and this it would have done. Deep shelters such as the refuge provided by the London Underground would have given complete protection. Cresson Kearnys Oak Ridge National Laboratory Nuclear War Survival Skills, ADA328301 (1979), which contains all the evidence for the civil defence T. K. Jones was discussing. Kearnys blast and fallout shielding evidence was completely ignored by Scheer. Scheer was engaged in a political diatribe. http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA328301 I think that part of the reason why civil defense was being taken less seriously at that time was that the excellent civil defense chapter in Glasstone and Dolans Effects of Nuclear Weapons 1964 was completely removed from the 1977 edition which was published during Carters administration, which also tried to appease the Soviet Union by delaying the deployment of the neutron bomb. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2010/03/lifeboat-analogy-to-civil-defence.html John Newman had examined effects of fallout blown into a buildings, due to blast-broken windows, in Health Physics,vol. 13 (1967), p. 991: In a particular example of a seven-storey building, the internal contamination on each floor is estimated to be 2.5% of that on the roof. This contamination, if spread uniformly over the floor, reduces the protection factor on the fifth floor from 28 to 18 and in the unexposed, uncontaminated basement from 420 to 200. But measured volcanic ash ingress, measured as the ratio of mass per unit area indoors to that on the roof, was under 0.6% even with the windows open and an 11-22 km/hour wind speed as reported in U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory report USNRDL-TR-953, 1965. The main gamma hazard is from a very big surrounding area, not from trivial fallout nearby! Hence, the gamma radiation that needs to be shielded is not that from fallout under your feet. Even if the roof is blown off a building, since 90% of the fallout gamma radiation dose is from direct gamma rays (not Compton effect air scattered gammas) any walls or indeed pile of rubble will shield the long range direct gamma rays which are coming to you almost horizontally. The Challenge Why Home Defence?, to the Home Office 1977 Training Manual for Scientific Advisers: Since 1945 we have had nine wars in Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, between China and India, China and Russia, India and Pakistan and between the Arabs and Israelis on three occasions. We have had confrontations between East and West over Berlin, Formosa and Cuba. There have been civil wars or rebellions in no less than eleven countries and invasions or threatened invasions of another five. Whilst it is not suggested that all these incidents could have resulted in major wars, they do indicate the aptitude of mankind to resort to a forceful solution of its problems, sometimes with success. Let us consider what a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom might mean. It will be assumed that such an attack will only occur within the context of a general nuclear war which means that the UK is only one of a number of targets and probably by no means the most important. It follows that only part of the enemys stock of weapons is destined for us. If the Warsaw Pact Nations constitute the enemy and this is only one possible assumption and if the enemy directs the bulk of his medium range and intermediate range weapons against targets in Western Europe behind the battle front, then Western Europe would receive about 1,000 megatons. Perhaps the UK could expect about one fifth of this, say 200 Mt. Let us assume rather arbitrarily that this would consist of 5 x 5 Mt, 40 x 2 Mt, 50 x 1 Mt and 100 x 1/2 Mt. An attack of this weight would cause heavy damage over about 10,000 square kilometres, moderate to heavy damage over about 50,000 square kilometres, and light damage over an additional 100,000 square kilometres. (Light damage means no more than minor damage to roofs and windows with practically no incidence of fire.) We can compare the heavy damage to that suffered by the centre of Coventry in 1940. This will amount to approximately 5% of the land area of the UK. Another 15% will suffer extensive but by no means total damage by blast and fire; another 40% will suffer superficial damage. The remaining 40% will be undamaged. In other words, four-fifths of the land area will suffer no more than minor physical damage. Of course, many of the undamaged areas would be affected by radioactive fallout but this inconvenience would diminish with the passage of time. Policy to meet the Threat The example just given of the likely severity of the attack which is, of course, only one theoretical possibility would still leave the greater part of the land area undamaged and more people are likely to survive than to perish. Government Home Defence policy must therefore be aimed to increase the prospects of the survivors in their stricken environment. When a bomb is burst in the air the pressure wave is reflected from the ground, and since the reflected wave travells through air which has been compressed and heated by the direct wave, it tends to travel faster than, and to catch up with, the direct wave. When the reflected wave catches up with the direct wave the two join together to form what is called a Mach wave, and this accounts for a pronounced increase in range of damage. The duration of any particular feature of a blast wave varies approximately with the cube root of the power [power in common sense of energy release, not power in the physics definition of the rate of energy release] of the explosion. The familiar 500 lb. [230 kg] H.E. [high explosive] bomb of the last war contained about 1/15th of a ton of T.N.T. A nominal [20 kt] atomic bomb contains the equivalent explosive energy of 20,000 tons of T.N.T. The ratio of equivalent weights is therefore 300,000 to 1, and the ratio of the cube roots of these weights is about 70 to 1. The duration of the blast pressure from a 500 lb. bomb is about 1/100th second, so with a nominal atomic bomb it should be 0.7 seconds (actually the duration of the wave increases also with its distance from the source and at distances of 2 miles is about 1 second). Applying the same scaling law, the blast pressure from a [10 megaton] 500 x nominal bomb will last 5 seconds or more. These large differences in duration of the positive pressure phase for different sizes of explosion result in the mechanism of damage from an atomic or hydrogen bomb being quite different from that for an H.E. bomb. The ability of a suddenly applied blow to cause damage is determined both by the pressure and by its duration. In fact, it is the product of these two (known as the impulse) which measures the damaging ability of the blast from an H.E. bomb. When a bomb is burst in the air the pressure wave is reflected from the ground, and since the reflected wave travells through air which has been compressed and heated by the direct wave, it tends to travel faster than, and to catch up with, the direct wave. When the reflected wave catches up with the direct wave the two join together to form what is called a Mach wave, and this accounts for a pronounced increase in range of damage. With the nominal [20 kt] bomb the pulse of thermal radiation from the fireball lasts for only about 1.5 seconds though most of the energy is radiated in about half a second; because it is so transient, this pulse has been called the heat flash. With a 10 megaton bomb the thermal radiation lasts much longer and can hardly be described as a flash; it may persist for 20 seconds or more though most of its energy will be radiated in the first 10 seconds. People directly exposed to the heat flash from an air burst nominal [20 kt] bomb within 2.5 miles of ground zero would receive burns on exposed skin; even at a distance of 5 miles it would feel as though an oven door had suddenly been opened nearby. The nearer to ground zero the greater is the danger to life, and those directly exposed within 0.5 mile of ground zero [unshielded by white paper or anything opaque] would undoubtedly be killed because of serious burns, if not from other causes. Severe third degree burns (charring) would result up to about a mile, second degree burns (blistering) up to about 1.5 to 2 miles, and first degree burns (reddening) up to about 2.5 miles. It is relatively easy to gain protection, since [because atmospheric scattering of thermal radiation has been found to be trivial compared to absorption] one has only to be out of the direct path of the rays from the fireball. Complete protection from heat-burn could be achieved if everyone took cover [just get out of the fireball line-of-sight from windows and skylights] Effects of an air burst bomb on public utility services The effects of an air burst bomb, whether nominal or larger than nominal, on public utility services would be largely confined to damage above ground. Underground gas and water mains would be undamaged, except possibly where they were carried on bridges, or where they were fairly close to the surface and liable to damage by a collapse of neighbouring heavy masonry. Sewers too should be undamaged. Overground installations and services, such as gas holders, water pumping stations, electricity generating stations and sub-stations, overhead electricity, telephone and telegraph cables, buses and motor cars would be damaged more or less severely up to 1 mile or so from ground zero for a nominal [20 kt] bomb, and up to 8 miles for a 10 megaton bomb. Railway and tramway [street car] tracks would probably remain intact but might be affected by debris, overturned rolling-stock, adjacent fires, etc. It is not so easy to assess the chance of a continuing fire. A window of two square metres would let in about 10^5 calories at the 5 cal/(cm)^2 range. The heat liberated by one magnesium incendiary bomb is 30 times this and even with the incendiary bomb the chance of a continuing fire developing in a small room is only 1 in 5; in a large room it is very much less. Thus even if thermal radiation does fall on easily inflammable material which ignites, the chance of a continuing fire developing is still quite small. In the Birmingham and Liverpool studies, where the most generous values of fire-starting chances were used, the fraction of buildings set on fire was rarely higher than 1 in 20. And this is the basis of the assertion [in Nuclear Weapons] that we do not think that fire storms are likely to be started in British cities by nuclear explosions, because in each of the five raids in which fire storms occurred (four on Germany Hamburg, Darmstadt, Kassel, Wuppertal and a possible in Dresden, plus Hiroshima in Japan it may be significant that all these towns had a period of hot dry weather before the raid) the initial fire density was much nearer 1 in 2. Take Hamburg for example: On the night of 27/28th July 1943, by some extraordinary chance, 190 tons of bombs were dropped into one square mile of Hamburg. This square mile contained 6,000 buildings, many of which were [multistorey wooden] medieval. A density of greater than 70 tons/sq. mile had not been achieved before even in some of the major fire raids, and was only exceeded on a few occasions subsequently. The effect of these bombs is best shown in the following diagram, each step of which is based on sound trials and operational experience of the weapons concerned. 102 tons of high explosive bombs dropped -> 100 fires 88 tons of incendiary bombs dropped, of which: 48 tons of 4 pound magnesium bombs = 27,000 bombs -> 8,000 hit buildings -> 1,600 fires 40 tons of 30 pound gel bombs = 3,000 bombs -> 900 hit buildings -> 800 fires Total = 2,500 fires Thus almost every other building [1 in 2 buildings] was set on fire during the raid itself, and when this happens it seems that nothing can prevent the fires from joining together, engulfing the whole area and producing a fire storm (over Hamburg the column of smoke, observed from aircraft, was 1.5 miles in diameter at its base and 13,000 feet high; eyewitnesses on the ground reported that trees were uprooted by the inrushing air). When the density was 70 tons/square mile or less the proportion of buildings fired during the raid was about 1 in 8 or less and under these circumstances, although extensive areas were burned out, the situation was controlled, escape routes were kept open and there was no fire storm. Hardening of personal transistor radios is theoretically possible and implies good design practice (e.g. shielding, bonding, earthing, filtering etc.) incorporated at the time of manufacture. Such receivers are not currently available on the popular market. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2006/08/nuclear-weapons-1st-edition-1956-by.html Above: the 1992 BBC broadcast attack on Herman Kahns civil defense facts by Adam Curtis, Pandoras Box: To The Brink Of Eternity. The clip of Kahn saying: Even if you irrationally decide to go to war, that doesnt mean that you have to fight it in a wildly irrational fashion, is taken out of context: Kahn is referring to the lesson of Britains decision to go to war with Hitler in September 1939. Because of the pathetic year-on-year rate of Britains rearmament compared to Germanys after 1935, Britain was in the most feeble state to go to war at that time. Kahns argument is Britain should rationally have decided to go to war in say 1934 and stopped Germanys illegal rearmament with minimal combat (Britain was still more powerful in 1934), or surrendered completely to the Nazi threat. By leaving war until 1939, Britain was either (1) deliberately allowing the Nazis to prepare better for war than Britain (remember that in 1939 America was neutral and there was not even any sight of lend-lease on the horizon) or (2) behaving irrationally. Britain was declaring war irrationally, having been duped by lying weapons-effects-exaggerating appeasers into not declaring war when it had a chance of winning without American help. This is the first thing you need to understand about Kahns statement. The second thing is that even though Britain declared war at a time which was irrational (it should have done that earlier, when the ratio of British to German strength was higher), it did not fight the war in an irrational fashion, nor did Germany. Neither side immediately despatched 100% of their bombers filled with weapons of mass destruction like gas or germs to kill the other side, despite the appeasers pre-war certainty that war would escalate instantly into mass destructions with a million casualties a month predicted in Britain. This is Kahns second point: even Hitler didnt immediately try to annihilate the worlds population with his stockpile of mustard liquid contaminant or Nazi-discovered tabun nerve gas, of which thousands of tons were manufactured but never used by the Nazis because they didnt have enough gas masks to deal with mustard gas retaliation, owing to a rubber shortage. Kahn is following A. J. P. Taylors The Origins of the Second World War standpoint on Hitler here; Hitler was a bigoted egotistical dictator, but so are most politicians at heart; most politicians are simply so inept that they fail to obtain enough power to corrupt them absolutely (a point long ago observed by 19th century historian Lord Action: And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely). In other words, Hitler was not a unique thug; thugs are common. Taylors point is that Hitlers 1930s propaganda was true to the extent that he was doing his best for the Aryan German. Hitler believed Britain wouldnt fight under any circumstances because that was what the leading British politicians and newspaper editors were saying when they exaggerated the effects of weapons and stated that Britain would be wiped out in war, so war was unthinkable. Kahn draws the lesson from this that war must never be unthinkable to the public again, if war is to be averted by unequivocal deterrence. Curtis additionally gets the facts about Kahn wrong by claiming that Kahns flexible response strategy was debunked by the Cuban missile crisis. Kahn makes it clear that flexible response was needed once the Soviet Union had a balance with America, not before that time. The Soviet Union was still behind America in 1962, so Kennedy could afford to promise massive retaliation in response to any missile being fired from Cuba in order to encourage Soviet caution with the missiles in Cuba. Massive retaliation would have been an empty promise if the Soviet Union had an immense stockpile of nuclear weapons in 1962. It didnt. Kahn had proposed flexible response for the late 1960s onwards. Duck and cover simple countermeasures were ignored by Kahn Kahn never really made the civil defense case effectively by getting to grips with the details of survival in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in different kinds of buildings, the effectiveness of duck and cover, and the detailed scientific studies on nuclear weapons effects from tests remained Secret Restricted Data until recent years. Politicians, policy makers, and even many nuclear weapons effect computation scientists are unaware of the vital data from Hiroshima, Nagasaki and nuclear tests http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2010/03/lifeboat-analogy-to-civil-defence.html http://glasstone.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/russian-anti-terrorism-policing-world.html The larger the explosion, the fewer casualties per unit energy release for similar conditions, because (1) the area of destruction scales up far less than in direct proportion to the energy released in the explosion, and additionally, (2) the larger areas of destruction for a larger explosion means an increasing average blast wave arrival time over the area of damaged buildings, therefore allowing on average more time for duck and cover between the flash and the blast and sound arrival. Most blast casualties are caused by flying glass and other debris impacting on standing people who take no evasive action. For 1 psi peak overpressure (flying glass from window breakage), at 1 ton of TNT yield (a V1 or V2 in WWII) you have only 0.4 seconds to respond to the flash before the blast arrives. But for a tactical nuclear weapon such as neutron bomb of 1 kiloton yield you have 4 seconds to duck and cover which reduces collateral damage possibilities, and for a strategic nuclear weapon of 1 megaton on a silo or military command post, the public has 40 seconds to duck and cover before 1 psi blast arrives. These laws of physics mean that smaller explosions cause many more casualties per unit energy than larger explosions do. As the data table and graph above proves, there is experimental evidence to substantiate these laws of physics. It is also easier to spend a few seconds lying flat to avoid blast winds and horizontally blasted glass fragments in a nuclear explosions, than to spend months doing so during the repeated conventional air raids, which are required to deliver the same amount of energy! The longer duration of the blast for larger explosions blows debris further downrange, reducing the weight of material falling on simple improvised protection, such as table shelters. Although a longer blast duration blast causes more damage to wind sensitive targets by bending tree stems and lightweight metal panels for a longer period of time, it has little effect on modern reinforced concrete buildings which require a minimum force for damage, irrespective of the duration of that force. Likewise, a chair or rigid wall does not suddenly collapse after you apply a force to it for a certain period of time: there is no failure impulse criterion for such targets! You must supply a force above a certain threshold for destruction to occur. If the force (pressure multiplied by area) is below the threshold needed for destruction, no destruction will occur, regardless of the duration of the force. Propagandarists of fashionable groupthink always dismiss this evidence, and instead do a direct comparison of conventional and nuclear energy yields, as if it were valid: that is a massive exaggeration. In addition, anti-civil defense propagandarists also deny that duck and cover becomes more credible as yield increases. (Source: H. M. Government, Health and Safety Executive (Commission), Advisory Committee on Major Hazards, Second Report, 1979, Figure 3.) In WWI, Britains fired 170 million shells at German trenches, of which 1.5 million were fired in the brief barrage before the Battle of the Somme. In 1917 alone, Britain produced 50 million shells containing 185 kilotons of explosive. In the Battle of Amiens, August 1918, the firing of 4,000,000 allied shells broke down German positions. In a final push, devastation at a rate similar to nuclear war bombardment occurred when 943,947 shells were fired in a 24-hour period by the British Army on 28-29 September 1918, resulting in the Armistice ending the war (source: Malcolm Pearce and Geoffrey Stewart, British political history, 1867-2001, page 296). Altogether, from 1914-17 Britain fired 290 kilotons of high explosives in shells at German trenches: The equivalent megatonage or equivalent to 1 megaton nuclear weapons, isnt just 0.29 megatons, but is immense because the area of destruction and thus casualties scale by only about the 2/3 power of energy, not directly with yield, and each average shell contained only 3.7 kg of explosive. Thus, the equivalent megatonnage of Britains shelling in 1917 alone is: 50,000,000(3.7 x 10-9)2/3 = 120 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons. In the whole of WWI, the British Army fired 170 million shells, with equivalent damage to: 170,000,000(3.7 x 10-9)2/3 = 408 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons. (We can neglect the 50% blast partition of total yield in nuclear weapons, because thats also true for conventional explosive shells that are 50% explosive, 50% steel case by mass.) Dr Ralph E. Lapps 1965 book The New Priesthood (Harper, New York) on pages 113-114 gives an honest equivalent megatonnage comparison between conventional weapons and old high-yield megaton single warhead nuclear missiles (which have now been replaced with lower yield MIRV warheads) instead of following CND by claiming falsely that the energy equivalent of 1,000,000 tons of TNT kills the same number as a million separate tons of TNT in explosions of conventional weapons: A warhead for a Minuteman or Polaris missile costs about $1 million each. To produce damage comparable to that from a one-megaton bomb, some 8,000 old-fashioned bombs each containing one ton of TNT would have to be dropped uniformly over the same target area. In other words, according to Lapp: 8 kt of conventional weapons = 1 megaton. Using the two-thirds power of yield scaling, the equivalence is: 10 kt of small 1 ton TNT bombs = same area of damage as 1 megaton in a single bomb. The American B-52 bomber has a payload of 32 tons, so it takes 313 sorties to drop 10 kt of TNT which (if the bombs are 1 ton each) is equivalent in damage area to a 1 megaton nuclear weapon. For solid direct evidence for the validity of this scaling law, whereby bigger bombs cause fewer fatalities per TNT ton of energy equivalent than smaller bombs, see the graphs linked in the earlier post here and the ease of protection against the increasingly delayed heat, fallout and blast arrival time over larger areas for bigger explosions, as proved here. At the 1 psi peak overpressure range for shattered windows in a conventional 1 ton TNT air burst explosion, there is only 0.4 second available between the flash and the blast arrival, little longer than the blink reaction time for human beings. Hence, for small bombs, you can do little. But, contrary to BBC TV fiddled sound tracks on films of nuclear explosions, for a 1 kt bomb you have a full 4 seconds before 1 psi arrives, while for 1 megaton you have 40 seconds. This effect reduces casualties. In Vietnam, 7,662,000 tons of conventional bombs were dropped (according to Micheal Clodfelters Vietnam in Military Statistics, 1995, page 225), which by this reckoning (10 kt of conventional bombs = 1 megaton of nuclear) is equivalent in terms of damage to a nuclear war of 766 separate 1 megaton explosions. If youre worried that we havent included fallout, dont worry: we didnt include the 113,000 tons of gas used in WWI in that calculation. But seeing that gas wasnt used in WWII despite dire scare-mongering prior to the war largely responsible for the appeasement policy that led to the war, according to Herman Kahns analysis theres no particular reason why nuclear weapons will be used to maximise fallout by high yield ground bursts near cities, rather than air bursts. Likewise for the time-scale of the attack: in 1939 pundits were claiming that there would be an immediate all-out knockout blow lasting days, not six years of protracted war. As Kahn argued, even a dictator like Hitler didnt fight WWII in the wildly irrational way that the consensus of expert opinion in 1939 predicted. Theres even less reason for a country to try to disarm itself by detonating every warhead it has within five minutes of a nuclear war starting. Now consider WWII, where London alone received about 18.8 kilotons in roughly 188 thousand separate 100 kg explosives in the 1940 Blitz : 188,000(10-7)2/3 = 4 thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. The 1.3 megatons of conventional bombs dropped on Germany in WWII was likewise equivalent to: 13,000,000(10-7)2/3 = 280 separate thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. In total, 74.2 kilotons of conventional bombs were dropped on the UK in WWII causing 60,000 casualties, equivalent to 16 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons, confirming the British Home Office analysis that given cheap-type civil defence you get about 3,750 casualties for a one megaton nuclear weapon. Naturally, without civil defence, as in early air bombing surprise attacks or the first use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, casualty rates can be over 100 times higher than this. (For example, Glasstone and Dolan, in The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 1977 point out that in Hiroshima the 50% lethal radius was only 0.12 mile for people under cover in concrete buildings, compared to 1.3 miles for those caught totally unprotected outdoors. The difference in areas is over a factor of 100, indicating that the casualties in Hiroshima could have been reduced enormously if the people had taken cover in concrete buildings, or simple earth covered WWII shelters which offered similar protection to concrete buildings.) About ten percent of the conventional bombs failed to detonated, creating a massive bomb disposal problem that slowed down civil defence in WWII, where the protracted air raids over many months progressively reduced shelter utilization in London, increasing the casualty rate. In neither Britain nor Germany did the bombing of civilians lead to a clear defeat: the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey found that generally the outrage about being bombed offset the depression of morale from the devastation. Strategic bombing of military manufacturing targets like ball bearing factories failed because the steel machine tools could easily withstand the blast and shrapnel. Only the bombing of fuel and munition supplies (both of which will destroy themselves easily, once ignited) crucially helped to end the war: German production of aviation fuel fell from 156,000 tons in May 1944 to just 11,000 tons in January 1945, thus defeat. The point is: Conventional weapons failed to deter two world wars, which were each the size of a substantial nuclear war (in terms of devastation and overall casualties). Disarmament after WWI led to WWII. If youre worried that we havent included fallout, dont worry: we didnt include the 113,000 tons of gas used in WWI in that calculation. But seeing that gas wasnt used in WWII despite dire scare-mongering prior to the war largely responsible for the appeasement policy that led to the war, according to Herman Kahns analysis theres no particular reason why nuclear weapons will be used to maximise fallout by high yield ground bursts near cities, rather than air bursts. Likewise for the time-scale of the attack: in 1939 pundits were claiming that there would be an immediate all-out knockout blow lasting days, not six years of protracted war. As Kahn argued, even a dictator like Hitler didnt fight WWII in the wildly irrational way that the consensus of expert opinion in 1939 predicted. Theres even less reason for a country to try to disarm itself by detonating every warhead it has within five minutes of a nuclear war starting. Now consider WWII, where London alone received about 18.8 kilotons in roughly 188 thousand separate 100 kg explosives in the 1940 Blitz : 188,000(10-7)2/3 = 4 thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. The 1.3 megatons of conventional bombs dropped on Germany in WWII was likewise equivalent to: 13,000,000(10-7)2/3 = 280 separate thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. In total, 74.2 kilotons of conventional bombs were dropped on the UK in WWII causing 60,000 casualties, equivalent to 16 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons, confirming the British Home Office analysis that given cheap-type civil defence you get about 3,750 casualties for a one megaton nuclear weapon. Naturally, without civil defence, as in early air bombing surprise attacks or the first use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, casualty rates can be over 100 times higher than this. (For example, Glasstone and Dolan, in The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 1977 point out that in Hiroshima the 50% lethal radius was only 0.12 mile for people under cover in concrete buildings, compared to 1.3 miles for those caught totally unprotected outdoors. The difference in areas is over a factor of 100, indicating that the casualties in Hiroshima could have been reduced enormously if the people had taken cover in concrete buildings, or simple earth covered WWII shelters which offered similar protection to concrete buildings.) About ten percent of the conventional bombs failed to detonated, creating a massive bomb disposal problem that slowed down civil defence in WWII, where the protracted air raids over many months progressively reduced shelter utilization in London, increasing the casualty rate. In neither Britain nor Germany did the bombing of civilians lead to a clear defeat: the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey found that generally the outrage about being bombed offset the depression of morale from the devastation. Strategic bombing of military manufacturing targets like ball bearing factories failed because the steel machine tools could easily withstand the blast and shrapnel. Only the bombing of fuel and munition supplies (both of which will destroy themselves easily, once ignited) crucially helped to end the war: German production of aviation fuel fell from 156,000 tons in May 1944 to just 11,000 tons in January 1945, thus defeat. The point is: Conventional weapons failed to deter two world wars, which were each the size of a substantial nuclear war (in terms of devastation and overall casualties). Disarmament after WWI led to WWII. Thats what you get when you dont even have a nuclear deterrent. However, I dont see why we have to have the extremely expensive (100 billion for a set of four) strategic nuclear Trident SLBM system. Why not simply put some tactical (enhanced neutron) nuclear warheads on cruise missiles on our Astute class submarines (which now cost us only 747 million each) to deter Putin from sending massed tank invasions into Europe? Then if Mr Corbyn has to press the button, he can rest assured that the 1 kiloton yield nuclear weapons at 500 m burst altitude over Mr Putins tank column as it heads over a border will not cause any harm to civilians. Sure, some cruise missiles might be shot down, but since Moscow has ABM, some Trident warheads will likewise be shot down. As for Trident, where we use penetration aids like cheap decoy warheads to help the real ones get through the saturated ABM systems, we can send the neutron warhead-armed cruise missiles disguised by a salvo of non-nuclear cruise missiles (the non-nuclear warheads could contain electronic countermeasures to blind enemy radars with false signals or noise, and to target enemy missile launchers that can shoot down cruise missiles). Some warheads will get through to do the job. Note also that the widely-believed propaganda that the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter aircraft then being built were a wonderful contribution thanks to Chamberlain, is actually a lie. Both aircraft were already obsolete compared to the German Me-109 when used in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Thus the growing stockpile of Spitfiles in 1938 were not only outnumbered in quantity by Germany, but were also soon obsolete in quality. Battle of Britain Tom Neil, author of Scramble, aged 95, shot down 14 German aircraft and won two DFCs in the Battle of Britain. He has now debunked populist myths. He joined the RAF in 1938 and was taught to fly using a 20 year old obsolete Tiger Moth so that when in 1940 when finally given charge of 249 squadron he failed in practice to hit any target flags with his first 30,000 rounds of ammunition, and then he found that German Me-109s had a larger engine than his Spitfires and could climb faster as well as higher, and also had better guns and more ammunition than Spitfires and Hurricanes. Britain won the Battle of Britain not because it had superior aircraft as hyped up wartime propaganda for the Spitfire claimed, but rather, it survived the German onslaught despite the fact that it had poorer aircraft: We didnt win. But we didnt lose. Not only were Britains Hurricane and Spitfire actually inferior to German Me-109, but they were outnumbered. Germany had over 700 superior Me-109s and 227 Me-110s, compared to Britains inferior 650 Hurricanes and Spitfires. This disproves Chamberlains claim. It was civil defence evacuation and shelters that won the Battle of Britain when German bombers on 7 September 1940 stopped bombing RAF air fields and instead bombed cities. By reducing casualty rates and panic, civil defence then gave the RAF the time for fighter attrition to cut the Luftwaffe down to size. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2006/08/nuclear-weapons-1st-edition-1956-by.html It turns out that 1.3 megatons as a single explosive is only the equivalent of 4.64 kilotons of 100 kg bombs, because efficiency is greater for smaller bombs. (This is the reason that America stopped designing very high yield thermonuclear weapons after the 1954 nuclear tests of Operation Castle, and the mean yield of the 4,552 nuclear warheads and bombs in the deployed 1.172 Gt or 1,172 Mt U.S. nuclear stockpile is only 0.257 Mt or 257 kt. 257 kt is just 12 times the yield of the Nagasaki bomb, so by the cube-root scaling law the blast destruction radii for the mean yield of 257 kt is just 2.27 times the blast destruction radii in Nagasaki. Because there are no flimsy wood-frame inflammable cities in the West, the actual effects of typical stockpiled nuclear weapons today would be less severe than they were in Nagasaki.) Because the average bomb size of conventional (chemical) high explosive bombs was under 100 kg in WWII, they were far more efficient than a megaton nuclear bomb: relative area damaged = number of bombs * {bomb yield}2/3 Hence to get the same area damaged by 100 kg TNT bombs as by a 1 Mt nuclear bomb, you would need only 1/(10-7)2/3 = 46,400 conventional 100 kg bombs, a total of just 46400*0.0001 = 4.64 kilotons of bombs doing the same area destruction as a single 1 megaton bomb. To emphasise this non-linear addition law: 1 megaton of TNT as a single explosion = 4.64 kt of 100 kg bombs in an air raid The relative efficiency of the single 1 Mt nuclear bomb in this example is only 0.464% compared to conventional small TNT explosive bombs. Hence, heavy conventional high explosive bombing raids with hundreds of aircraft in WWII produced the same destruction as a relatively large thermonuclear weapon. The fact that easily mitigated effects (such as delayed fallout and thermal radiation which is easily avoided by ducking and covering skin) were absent in the high explosive attacks, where the energy wasnt wasted but mainly went into blast wave damage, made conventional warfare far more dangerous It is estimated that Mongol invaders exterminated 35 million Chinese between 1311-40, without modern weapons. Communist Chinese killed 26.3 million dissenters between 1949 and May 1965, according to detailed data compiled by the Russians on 7 April 1969. The Soviet communist dictatorship killed 40 million dissenters, mainly owners of small farms, between 1917-59. Conventional (non-nuclear) air raids on Japan killed 600,000 during World War II. The single incendiary air raid on Tokyo on 10 March 1945 killed 140,000 people (more than the total for nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined) at much less than the $2 billion expense of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs! Non-nuclear air raids on Germany during World War II killed 593,000 civilians. http://glasstone.blogspot.co.il/2015/10/russian-anti-terrorism-policing-world.html At the 1 psi peak overpressure range for shattered windows in a conventional 1 ton TNT air burst explosion, there is only 0.4 second available between the flash and the blast arrival, little longer than the blink reaction time for human beings. Hence, for small bombs, you can do little. But, contrary to BBC TV fiddled sound tracks on films of nuclear explosions, for a 1 kt bomb you have a full 4 seconds before 1 psi arrives, while for 1 megaton you have 40 seconds. This effect reduces casualties. In Vietnam, 7,662,000 tons of conventional bombs were dropped (according to Micheal Clodfelters Vietnam in Military Statistics, 1995, page 225), which by this reckoning (10 kt of conventional bombs = 1 megaton of nuclear) is equivalent in terms of damage to a nuclear war of 766 separate 1 megaton explosions. in 1939 pundits were claiming that there would be an immediate all-out knockout blow lasting days, not six years of protracted war. As Kahn argued, even a dictator like Hitler didnt fight WWII in the wildly irrational way that the consensus of expert opinion in 1939 predicted. Theres even less reason for a country to try to disarm itself by detonating every warhead it has within five minutes of a nuclear war starting. Now consider WWII, where London alone received about 18.8 kilotons in roughly 188 thousand separate 100 kg explosives in the 1940 Blitz : 188,000(10-7)2/3 = 4 thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. The 1.3 megatons of conventional bombs dropped on Germany in WWII was likewise equivalent to: 13,000,000(10-7)2/3 = 280 separate thermonuclear weapons, each 1 megaton. In total, 74.2 kilotons of conventional bombs were dropped on the UK in WWII causing 60,000 casualties, equivalent to 16 separate 1 megaton nuclear weapons, confirming the British Home Office analysis that given cheap-type civil defence you get about 3,750 casualties for a one megaton nuclear weapon. Naturally, without civil defence, as in early air bombing surprise attacks or the first use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, casualty rates can be over 100 times higher than this. (For example, Glasstone and Dolan, in The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 1977 point out that in Hiroshima the 50% lethal radius was only 0.12 mile for people under cover in concrete buildings, compared to 1.3 miles for those caught totally unprotected outdoors. The difference in areas is over a factor of 100, indicating that the casualties in Hiroshima could have been reduced enormously if the people had taken cover in concrete buildings, or simple earth covered WWII shelters which offered similar protection to concrete buildings.) If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks WELCOME Welcome to Nicholas V's Blog on Blogger I have been blogging daily on this platform for several years now. It is surprising that I have persisted as the world is changing and "microblogging" is now the norm. I blog to amuse myself, make comment on current affairs, externalise some of my creativity, keep notes on things that interest me, learn something new and to surprise myself with things that I discover about this wonderful, and sometimes crazy, world we live in. I sometimes get the impression that I am on a soapbox delivering a monologue, so your comments are welcome. Please note that unless otherwise stated, all original material of whatever nature created by Nicholas V. in this weblog is and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivs 2.5 licence. http:// creativecommons.org It's been quite a year. And I make no predictions about the one to come. I do know that it will -- at least where we are -- start ou... King Mohammed VI chaired, on Monday in Dakhla, the launch of several development programs worth nearly $3 billion that will be carried out in the Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab and Guelmim-Oued Noun regions. These outstanding projects are part of the global development model designed for the region and that was announced by the King from the Sahara city of Laayoune last November on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Green March. This new model is meant to ensure the complete and final integration of the southern provinces to the unified motherland and to strengthen the role and influence of the Sahara as an economic hub and as a link between Morocco and its African neighborhood. The projects to be carried out in the Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab region will cost over $1.77 billion, out of which almost $660 million will be contributed by the State. They cover many sectors, including the promotion of fisheries and aquaculture, the construction of a sea water desalination plant with a capacity of 100,000 m3 / day to be used for irrigation purposes, and the creation of an eco-tourism center. Some projects are destined to preserve the ecosystem, mainly through reforestation, fight against desertification, establishment of green belts and conservation of biodiversity. Part of these structuring programs, the city of Dakhla will be endowed with a new port, the Dakhla Atlantic port, and will be connected to the national electricity grid. The cultural aspect features high on the list of these programs with the projected creation of a museum dedicated to the cultural heritage of the southern provinces. The development projects to be achieved in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region will require a total investment of about $1.19 billion with the State contributing over $550 million. The main purpose of these projects is the promotion of sustainable and solidarity farming, upgrading ecotourism by enhancing the regions natural, cultural and ecological potential, spurring job creation and supporting the private initiative. The programs also provide for the promotion of social sectors (education, health, etc.) the upgrading of road infrastructure, and securing drinking water supply and improving sanitation, in addition to the construction of a dam over Oued Noun. Some of the projects seek to preserve and upgrade handicrafts and the intangible capital of the region and also to protect ecosystems. The same day, King Mohammed VI proceeded in the port of Dakhla to the official opening of the new fish market, whose construction necessitated $2.5million. The new fish market will boost a sound management of traditional non-industrial fishing in the region, promote sea products and improve their quality, ensure fluidity and transparency of business transactions, and develop fishing related activities in the region. This new infrastructure for marketing fish and other seafood, built according to international standards, on the other hand seeks to increase local and national fish consumption through the improvement of the quality and availability of products. Tunisias Parliament Speaker Mohamed Ennaceur Monday called on EU to put in place a Marshall Plan to help secure his countrys struggling economy. Ennaceur was speaking at a parliament plenary session attended by EU parliament President Martin Schulz. For Ennaceur, the EU plan could be in the form of intensification of financial support to Tunisias development, conversion of Tunisias debts into investments, assistance to recover Tunisian assets illegally placed abroad and boosting decentralized co-operation. He also indicated that the assistance could allow Tunisia access European structural funds, a mechanism of solidarity and support to competitiveness between the European countries. Talking about the free trade agreement being negotiated between Tunisia and EU, Ennaceur urged EU leaders to implement programs upgrading Tunisian companies to help them stand competition. He also called for a new approach by EU members on tackling goods and persons movement. We hope the European approach to migration and movement of people helps build bridges to promote exchanges on different levels, and that opening of borders would not be limited to goods, Ennaceur said while also calling the EU to open new horizons to Tunisian youths in terms of training and employment in European countries. Tunisias 2015 growth rate has been estimated at 0.3 per cent, with unemployment rate standing at over 15 per cent. The countrys vital tourism industry has been battered by two terrorist attacks last year which claimed lives of 59 foreign tourists. Economic difficulties coupled with lack of jobs, nearly sparked a second revolution last month after social riots in several cities rocked the country pushing the government to impose a state of emergency which was lifted end of last week. Libyas presidential council formed under the Libya Political Agreement (LPA) signed in Morocco in December has requested that the deadline to name a new cabinet be extended for a week, claiming it needs more time to discuss the formation. Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj was asked to reduce his 32-member cabinet that he presented to the Toburk-based parliament last month but it seems as if it is a daunting task for the council. The cabinet to be headed by Sarraj will serve as the unity government that will lead the transitional process with the backing of the UN and other Western States. Sarraj, a businessman, has been holding a series of consultations with Libyan politicians to forge a new government. The Tripoli-based parliament is against the LPA and last week sacked its members who signed it. The Islamic State (IS) group in Libya is said to capitalize on the delay to form a unity government as well as the differences between the rival governments to spread its influence and control more territories. European countries are concerned about the rise of the extremist group in the North African country as they fear that they could be targeted. Meanwhile, forces under the command of General Khalifa Haftar launched an airstrike on the Hay Arrbamiya area of Derna where IS militants are battling with rival Islamist fighters. Spokesman Abdulkareem Sabra of the Libyan National Army later on said the MiG-23 of the military which carried out the attack crashed due to a technical problem and the pilot managed to escape. Capsys, the building manufacturer responsible for modular projects like Carmel Place and the Nehemiah Spring Creek development in East New York, recently announced that it would vacate its factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and shutter operations entirely. While the company still intends to close the Brooklyn facility, it still has a future: It was recently acquired by Whitley Manufacturing, an Indiana-based firm whose modular arm has worked mainly on commercial projects, and will continue to construct modular buildings, including ones in New York City. As part of the deal with Whitley, Capsys will move operations to one of Whitley's plants in Pennsylvania, where modular units will be constructed. From there, they'll follow a similar process to installation as they would have in the past, though the distance they'll travel will be slightly longer. According to a press release, a "large draw" for Whitley was Capsys's experience with building taller modular structures, an area in which the former company doesn't have the most expertise. "To date, Whitley's projects in New York have been generally three stories or less," the release reads. "Thanks to the Capsys system, they will be able to build much taller structures." The move comes at a time when the future of modular construction in New York City is uncertain. In addition to Capsys's closing, the modular division of Forest City Ratnerwhich is manufacturing its B2 tower at the Brooklyn Navy Yardcould be facing layoffs. But, as Capsys general manager Robert Kullman pointed out earlier this year, the problem isn't demandit's (shocker) New York City's rising real estate costs. "The biggest challenge is that New York City is an expensive place to do business," he told Curbed. With the acquisition and moving its factory outside of New York, Capsys may be able continue its work and even expand outside of New York City. Modular Manufacturer Leaving NYC Due to Rising Rents [Curbed] Modular Construction In New York City, Once the Future, Is Fading [Curbed] Inside the Brooklyn Factory Birthing NYC's New Micro Units [Curbed] New renderings have emerged for the massive mixed-use development set to rise at 25 Kent Avenue the first ground-up, largely office building to be built in Williamsburg in over a decade, according to the developers. The project is currently in the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) to request special permits for the construction of the new building. The co-developers, Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners, are set to present their plans to the local community board for input as part of that procedure. 25 Kent Avenue is located within North Brooklyn's Industrial Business Zone, and as the zoning stands right now, the developers could construct their building as of right with retail and office space, but would also have to have almost half of it be a school, non-profit, religious or medical facility. The developers are trying to change that and add light manufacturing instead along with retail and office space. "I am the third generation of my family to have a connection to this area, and I am very proud that we have brought this project to the point where it is ready to be heard by my colleagues on Community Board 1,"Toby Moskovits, the CEO of Heritage Equity Partners said in a press release. "New York City's production economy entrepreneurs and creative class want to grow their companies in Brooklyn, where their workforce lives and where the entrepreneurial spirit has thrived since the turn of the century. Our project will make a home for these job-creating industries in Williamsburg, the creative center of Brooklyn, diversifying and thus strengthening the local and regional economies." In essence the developers want to create a space for start-ups between five and 25 employees businesses that need to expand but often have to move to Manhattan or different parts of the borough due to lack of space. Jeremiah Kane, the NYC regional director of Rubenstein Partners used Blue Apron as an example of a business that was founded in Bushwick, but then had to move to Manhattan when it expanded. This new project looks to prevent similar moves. Of the eight stories of the building, the basement will have space for parking and storage facilities. The ground floor is exclusively for retail. The second and third floor are divided between light manufacturing and commercial. And everything fourth floor upward is commercial space. The developers have tapped Gensler to design the office space, in collaboration with HWKN. MPFP has been selected to do the landscaping, which includes a few public plazas on the ground floor. Joseph Brancato, a Regional Managing Principal at Gensler and the lead architect on the project, said the architects had chosen to focus on the industrial past of the neighborhood by using brick, but by also adding contemporary touches like a curtain wall made with glass. If the ULURP is successful, construction on the site is expected to begin by the end of the year, and occupancy is expected by the end of next year. The developers declined to comment on the total estimated cost of the project, and also declined to divulge details on prospective tenants, though they said they have a few they are speaking with right now. All the 25 Kent Avenue Coverage [Curbed] Trump the Younger. Photo: Erik Kabik Photography/ MediaPunch/Corbis Donald Trump has pledged to bring back waterboarding. In fact, the GOP front-runner has pledged to subject suspected terrorists to a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding, and has strongly implied that anyone who has second thoughts about reinstituting military torture is a walking, talking piece of female genitalia. It may sound shocking for a major presidential candidate to take such a position. But the Donalds son Eric Trump went on Fox News Monday night and put the candidates comments into a whole new light. You see these terrorists that are flying planes into buildings, right? Trump the Younger asked Greta Van Susteren. You see our cities getting shot up in California. You see Paris getting shot up. And then somebody complains when a terrorist gets waterboarded, which quite frankly is no different than what happens on college campuses and frat houses every day. Perhaps what were dealing with here isnt a nation slouching toward barbarity, but merely a misunderstanding: If Eric Trump thinks waterboarding happens on college campuses every day, surely he and his father are just confused about the meaning of that word. Maybe the Trumps think that waterboarding is basically synonymous with funneling beer? As tempting as this interpretation may be, there is some evidence that enhanced interrogation techniques are actually, regularly deployed on college campuses. As Gawker notes, a fraternity at the University of Houston was believed to have been suspended after waterboarding its pledges with alcohol last year. In 2012, the New York Times reported that students at Binghamton University were also hazed via that internationally outlawed form of torture. Itd be comforting to think that Eric Trump is deluded about what goes on at our institutions of higher learning. But its also possible that growing up in the Donalds shadow made the Georgetown graduate uniquely aware of all the darkness in this world. Republicans are trying to bury the evidence that they ever thought seriously about amnesty. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images Its hard to think of an official political-party document more thoroughly repudiated by its intended audience than the March 2013 Growth & Opportunity Project of the Republican National Committee, better known as the 2012 autopsy report. Yes, there were a host of recommendations for avoiding Mitt Romneys fate included in the report, some that have been taken to heart involving campaign infrastructure and communications. But at the time it was abundantly clear the leadership of the GOP wanted to shake its activists and elected officials and get it through their thick skulls that remaining a party of white identity politics was a death trap given prevailing demographic trends. And the single policy recommendation made in the whole report was underlined with bright flashing pointers: We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Partys appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. We also believe that comprehensive immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all. A couple of months later, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported the so-called Gang of Eight reform bill, with Senator Marco Rubio way out in front on it. And in June 2013, the full Senate passed the bill, a high-water mark for immigration reform that seems astounding today. This additional language from the report is also worth remembering given the mood among Republicans less than three years later: If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States (i.e. self-deportation), they will not pay attention to our next sentence. That sentence was a specific repudiation of Mitt Romneys position on immigration. At present it seems a relatively moderate option for a party whose presidential field is presently led by two advocates of forced deportation, being chased by, among others, a repentant Marco Rubio, who admits now he grievously misjudged public opinion in favoring a path to citizenship for the undocumented. So its appropriate that the autopsy report itself be formally buried, and National Reviews Jim Geraghty does the honors, arguing that it proved spectacularly wrong in predicting what the political environment would look like at the end of President Obamas second term. The Republican base may or may not be on board with the idea of deporting every last illegal immigrant, but there exists a broad consensus that we must make our southern border as impenetrable as possible and that illegal immigrants should face significant consequences for breaking the law. While there are very few who think legal immigration should cease entirely, 67 percent of Republicans (and 49 percent of all Americans) think legal immigration should be reduced from current levels. Geraghty goes on to speculate that had House Republicans taken the advice of the autopsy report and sent something like the Gang of Eight bill to Obama for his signature, the anti-Establishment rebellion we are witnessing in the GOP ranks this year might have arrived in the 2014 down-ballot primaries: Instead of seeing historic wins in 2014, the party probably would have ripped itself apart, as immigration restrictionists mounted furious primary challenges to the Republicans who had defied their wishes. I dont know about that; a lot of other winds were blowing in the GOPs direction in 2014, including now-habitual pro-Republican midterm turnout patterns and the near-universal incidence of White House losses, often enormous, in second-term midterms. Its also entirely possible, given the 2014 Republican Establishment strategy of defeating tea-party insurgents by surrendering to them on policy, that had immigration reform passed, its very enablers would have quickly condemned their own work and escaped the consequences, just as Rubio is trying to do now. But if the GOP again loses in 2016, its a good bet that party poo-bahs will not be so fast to condemn excessive conservatism or insufficient tolerance as the problem. Republicans just dont want to hear that. Republican presidential candidate Ohio governor John Kasich. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/Corbis At a town hall in New Hampshire on Monday, an undecided voter told John Kasich that she was having trouble deciding between him, Hillary Clinton, or Bernie Sanders. Isnt that interesting, Kasich said, evidently enjoying this affirmation of his cross-over appeal. But then the voter posed a question that suggests her interest in Kasich had less to do with his independence than a lack of basic information. So, my question is: Why should I vote for you in the Democratic primary tomorrow? she asked. Instead of informing this voter that he is, in fact, a Republican, the Ohio governor started pitching himself as a happy medium between the self-identified practical progressive and democratic socialist. Im an independent guy. Nobody tells me what to do. I mean, Bernies a socialist that aint gonna happen. Were not gonna tax people 90 percent, Kasich said. The problem with Hillary is this: Whats the latest poll say, whats the latest focus group? Hillarys too brittle and Bernies too out on the extreme. One of thems too hot and one of them is too cold. But Im the right temperature. With Kasich rising to second place in some of the latest New Hampshire polls, this seems like a good time to remind any undecided Democrats that the Ohio governor is a conservative. Kasich is probably the mainstream medias favorite Republican candidate, having received the 2015 Jon Huntsman Memorial Prize for Most Moderate Candidate in the GOP Field. But the worlds largest miniature poodle is still a very small dog. Its true that Kasich does not want to ban all Muslims from America. He also opposes rounding up and deporting 11 million people. And when the federal government offered to give poor people in his state free health insurance, he didnt turn them down. By offering forthright defenses of these positions, the governor has injected little bursts of rationality into the festivals of paranoia and insult comedy we call the 2016 Republican debates. But he also thinks climate change is some theory thats not proven and has shuttered half of the abortion clinics in his state through targeted regulation. Whats more, Kasichs chief fiscal proposal a balanced-budget amendment is so radical and misguided, virtually every major economist on the right and left opposes it. And unlike many of Trumps most outlandish proposals, the balanced-budget amendment enjoys widespread popularity, which makes it all the more dangerous. There are countless reasons why its insane to require the federal government to balance a budget every year, but here are the big two: 1. Any time the economy goes into recession, revenues automatically go down, and the use of food assistance and unemployment insurance goes up. If the government had to balance a budget in 2008, it would have needed to either immediately cut off aid to people in desperate need or raise taxes at a time when Americans could least afford them. A balanced-budget amendment would turn minor downturns into recessions, and recessions into depressions. 2. Since the Republican Party doesnt actually care about low deficits so much as low taxes, the version of the amendment thats kicked around the House and Senate over the past few years would require spending to be capped at 18 percent of GDP. With spending currently hovering around 23 percent of GDP, balancing the budget on Kasichs terms would likely require cutting virtually every government program outside of the military and entitlements. At Mondays town hall, Kasich said that hed support Bernie Sanders for president of Ben & Jerrys, since the idea of socialized ice cream tickled his sweet tooth. But as long as Kasich remains obsessed with keeping budgets in the black, the Ohio governor will remain a better candidate for Ben & Jerrys franchisee than for president of the United States. After imploding during Saturday nights debate, Marco Rubios only hope was to keep campaigning in New Hampshire and finish in the top tier of Tuesdays primary. With time, perhaps people would forget that he repeated the same Obama attack line four times, just as they got over the Poland Spring incident. The plan might have worked, but unfortunately, the Florida senators only method of dealing with pressure is to wrap himself in the warm, comforting embrace of memorized talking points. At an event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday night, Rubio explained that he and his wife are raising our four children in the 21st century (clarifying that he is raising his kids in the present day is not the flub). After completing his sentence about the difficulty of teaching kids good values, Rubio went ahead and repeated the line: We are taking our message to families that are struggling to raise their children in the 21st century because, as you saw, Jeanette and I are raising our four children in the 21st century, and we know how hard its become to instill our values in our kids instead of the values they try to ram down our throats. In the 21st century, its becoming harder than ever to instill in your children the values they teach in our homes and in our church instead of the values that they try to ram down our throats in the movies, in music, in popular culture. As you can see in the video below, he realizes what hes doing on the second throats. Sadly, his programming would not allow him to stop talking. It happened in Austin. Photo: Fox 7 An 18-year-old black man, reportedly naked and acting aggressively in a residential area of northeast Austin, Texas, was shot and killed by a police officer on Monday. Some of the incident was captured on the officers dash cam, but the shooting itself took place out of frame, the Austin American-Statesman reports. The officer involved, whose name hasnt been released, has reportedly been with the department for more than ten years; hes been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol. The subject did not comply with the commands that the officer was giving and instead charged the officer, Assistant Chief Brian Manley of the Austin Police Department told Fox. The officer gives repeated commands to stop, but the subject did not comply. The incident then goes off the frame, but you can hear continued commands from the officers. Then ultimately you can hear shots being fired. Austins NAACP president, Nelson Linder, said he doesnt understand why deadly force was used instead of, say, a Taser. I dont see how a young man whos naked, and not hurting anybody, winds up being dead, he said. Those things require constraint and understanding as opposed to deadly force. Myneeka Holloway, who lives nearby, said she first heard about the victim on the neighborhoods Facebook page and had planned to check on him. I decided after I took my shower I was going to go out to make sure everything [was] okay, because he was black, she said. I feel like I shouldnt have taken a shower. The APD will investigate the shooting, and Monday evening the APD chief of staff said it was too early to tell whether the suspect had been armed. It seems doubtful. Cruz-Supreme 2016 Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Above all else, the 2016 race has been weird. The Republican front-runner a former reality star who once proposed the biggest tax hike in U.S. history just called his chief rival a pussy for opposing military torture. Meanwhile, a septuagenarian socialist from Vermont is outperforming Americas second female secretary of State with young women in New Hampshire by nearly 80 points. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the final hours of campaigning in the Granite State have produced all manner of surreality. Heres a quick roundup of all the strange happenings that are keeping the New Hampshire primary weird: Marco Rubio is being assailed by robots everywhere he goes. Marco Rubios handlers forgot to update his operating system before Saturday nights debate, causing Floridas first cyborg senator to glitch out on national television, and then to do so again, 48 hours later, at a New Hampshire town hall. Now, no matter where Rubio travels in the Granite State, a pack of cardboard robo-buddies is never far behind. Robo Rubio is chased by fellow robots https://t.co/onk9qfeFNU pic.twitter.com/0ANjCDMTfb Zachary Davies Boren (@zdboren) February 9, 2016 Some of Rubios flesh-and-blood supporters dont seem to be appreciating the company. Protesters tried to perform an exorcism on Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz was just beginning his stump speech Monday when two young men burst into the Tuckaway Tavern carrying mirrors and wooden crosses. Ted Cruz look in the mirror and let the evil spirit depart! one of the men shouted, according to the Dallas Morning News. Hes possessed by a demon! Over the boos of the senators supporters, the man continued: The demon has to leave. Thats why the body is so disgusting to look at! Evil body! Evil spirit. Look yourself in the mirror! he shouted. After fleeing the tavern, the would-be exorcists elaborated on Cruzs demonic condition. Hes very hard to be in the same room with. We had to exorcise some sort of disgusting evil spirit, one man said, between bouts of fake retching. Theres a reason that the body is so haggard and disgusting, and the face, and its all so weathered and gross and hard to look at. While few others seem to recognize that Cruz has become Satans plaything, a significant number of Americans believe hes fallen under the sway of the Freemasons. Is Ted Cruz a secret Bilderberg plant or something? What's with these google suggestions? Who are you people? pic.twitter.com/sIgOGxVbgQ Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) February 9, 2016 Trump called Hillary Clinton straight-up evil. The Donald seems to think his former wedding guest is in need of an exorcism. Asked by MSNBCs Mika Brzezinski to describe Hillary Clinton in one word, Trump managed to simultaneously fail the assignment and be maximally mean-spirited. In a certain way, evil, the GOP front-runner replied. For some totally non-sexist reason, Trump was far kinder in his one-word assessment of Clintons husband, calling the 42nd president intelligent. People keep fainting at Bernie Sanders rallies. On Monday night, for at least the second time in seven days, someone passed out onstage at a Bernie Sanders rally. According to Gawker, the political revolution almost suffered its first casualty, as the Sanders supporter nearly missed smashing her head directly into the podium. Maybe Lloyd Blankfein was right. Woman just fainted from the risers during Sanders speech. Horrifically close to smashing her head off the podium. pic.twitter.com/hGQeaOIxyf JohnLiam (@JohnLiam) February 8, 2016 Vermin Supreme sang Born to Run to Chris Christies campaign bus. Chris Christie has a famous, unrequited appreciation for Bruce Springsteen. And so the races only true outsider candidate, Vermin Supreme, treated the New Jersey governor to an endless off-key rendition of one of the Bosss greatest hits. Somehow, Christie failed to appreciate the gesture. Christie won't get off the bus until Vermin Supreme stops playing "Born to Run" and leaves. The police have been called. A photo posted by Annie Lowrey (@annielowrey) on Feb 9, 2016 at 8:30am PST Just a few hours left before the circus leaves town. Somewhow, its all been leading to this. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images MANCHESTER, N.H. Donald Trump called Ted Cruz a pussy. Well, Trump did not quite call Cruz a pussy. From a dais in front of a huge crowd at a rally he threw on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Trump drew attention to a woman in front of him who was disparaging Cruz for his pussy-soft opinion on waterboarding. (Cruz argues that it is not torture and that the United States should do it, but only in limited circumstances.) From where I was sitting, there was no way you could have heard the woman using the word. So Trump interrupted his speech to bring attention to her. You know what she said? Shout it because I dont want to say it, he said. Okay, youre not allowed to say [it], and I never expect to hear that from you again. She said I never expect to hear that from you again! She said hes a pussy. He then threw up his hands and walked around the stage, savoring the frenzied cheers of the crowd while shaking his head in smarmy mock-disapproval. This moment and this rally felt like an apotheosis. Perhaps no other event in the extended piece of performance art that has been the 2016 Republican primary has so perfectly encapsulated Trumps magnetism and psychosis, his appeal and his incoherence, his brilliance and his terribleness. In it lies the key to his success, in New Hampshire and beyond. And in it lies the key to his likely failure as a politician. It kicked off like any other rally, if bigger, better, brassier, stupider Trumpier, in other words. The merchants selling Make America Great Again kitsch outside. The volunteers handing out swag buttons, bumper stickers, hats, posters, big red foam fingers imprinted with the phrase YOURE FIRED. A veteran introduced the Pledge of Allegiance by asking the crowd, Is America ready to have a president who loves this country again? A parade of local party operatives took the stage to pump up the crowd and give shout-outs. (Hes not a talker, hes a doer! Im otherwise known as Bostons bulldozer, and Im here to clean up the liberal bull!) Then came the universally appreciated anthemic music to kill time during a too-long break. The thickening crowd started singing along to Tiny Dancer, then seemed confused as to what to do during what I believe was a Pavarotti rendition of Nessun Dorma, then waved their banners during You Cant Always Get What You Want and Hey Jude and Rocket Man. Someone came out to announce that the blizzard outside it had been snowing heavily for hours had delayed Trump. But he took the opportunity to mention the problems that the campaign has had with protesters. If they show up, dont hurt them, he said, to titters. Just hold up your rally signs and chant Trump! Trump! Trump! as you wait for law enforcement to show up. Next, a kitschy video to a nice instrumental version of Nessun Dorma and the arrival of the Trump family, and then the arrival of the man himself. What followed seemed to lead inexorably, it now seems obvious, towards the pussy moment. In so many ways, it was a normal stump speech during a normal rally. Trump seized the common-looking podium in a common-looking suit and proceeded to shout for the better part of an hour about trade, taxes, infrastructure, Medicare policy, Social Security, and the Common Core. There were bromides about American exceptionalism and moments of performative humility. Leaving aside any normative questions about his policy instincts, Trump is very good at this. He makes little-to-no policy sense, but has a knack for framing issues in a way that juices and/or appeases the crowd as needed. Take, for instance, his extended riff on the governments ability to negotiate prescription-drug prices. The drug companies have an unbelievable lobby! he said, accusing his fellow Republican candidates of being in hock to them. I said to myself: Wow, let me do some numbers. If we competitively bid on drugs in the United States, we could save as much as $300 billion a year! Think about it! It is beautiful: He makes a populist hit on an unpopular industry, smashes his opponents, and makes himself look like a financial genius. But step back a minute. Nobody actually believes that allowing Medicare to negotiate for drugs would save $300 billion a year, nor do I understand how Trump could possibly arrive at that number with even the roughest of napkin math. The government does not spend $300 billion on prescription medications in a given year. It is a ludicrous position that a politician like Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would tear apart in a debate. Or take Trumps riff on immigration: We have situations right now, where we have the migration, and were accepting people in, and were accepting them in by the thousands. And you look at New Hampshire, you look at this area and the problems you have, the problems you have with the drugs. Were allowing people to come into this country that we have absolutely no idea who they are, where they come from. Are they ISIS? Maybe, maybe not. Somebody said at least 90 percent of them are. In a matter of a minute, he stoked the crowds nativist sentiment and blamed all manner of evil terrorism, the plague of heroin addiction on an already unpopular group of people. He garnered cheers, he touched his touchstones. But step back again. This passage is riddled with so many errors of fact and theory that I am not even sure where to begin. We have a pretty good idea of the makeup of undocumented immigrants. If a tenth of one percent of them are ISIS supporters, I will eat my Trump foam finger, and if ISIS is ever implicated in the domestic heroin trade, I will throw in my bumper sticker, too. These moments kept piling up. Trump claiming that none of the other candidates wanted to talk about illegal immigration a constant obsession of the Republican Partys. Trump promising to build Trump walls to keep immigrants out as if insufficiently large walls were a real policy problem. Trump negging Barack Obamas presidential plane as being old though it would be the one he would have to use as the White Houses next resident. Trumps arguing that building a larger military would be the cheapest thing we can do despite the clear path of federal spending since the Iraq invasion. Then, Pussygate. In it, Trump emasculated a fellow candidate for holding a policy position not dissimilar from George W. Bushs. The audience howled in support, and Trump relished the loudest round of applause he had gotten that evening. Maybe it will end up garnering him additional support as a real man and a truth-teller, the sort of guy who is not afraid of being politically incorrect. Or perhaps Trump will have managed to alienate the larger part of the electorate that is sick of being called that word, or finds it childish and offensive to use it, or takes national-security policy seriously. The woman who really said it, at the very least, got off easy. Youre reprimanded, Trump told the hooting crowd. Okay? A bumbling American tourist from New Jersey has become famous in Iceland as the guy who keeps getting lost by blindly following his GPS. Last week, he drove five hours out of his way because of a one-letter spelling mistake which was enough to make news around the country and he cemented his reputation this week by accidentally stumbling into a meeting at an office building, again letting the GPS lead him astray. According to Iceland Review Online, 28-year-old Noel Santillan arrived February 1 at Icelands main international airport. His hotel, in Laugavegur, Reykjavik, should have been about a half-hour trip from there. Unfortunately, some of the hotel websites listed the address as Laugarvegur note the extra r which is much farther north. To a native (or someone with the common sense to wonder why his GPS is pointing him far, far, out of town), the mistake would have been obvious. But not to Santillan. The Iceland Review reported he drove five hours along icy roads through mountain passes before stopping to ask for directions. The helpful local he talked to recognized the problem immediately, and helped him get a room at a nearby hotel. The silly mistake got some local news coverage, and that could have been the end of it. But even after all that, Santillan still had ultimate faith in his GPS. On his way to Icelands famous Blue Lagoon spa a week later, he followed the GPS directions to an office building and wandered into the middle of a meeting. To my astonishment, there were the staff members of the Blue Lagoon, the confused tourist told the newspaper Visir. When I knocked on the door, they looked at me in surprise: What does this man want? I told them I was on my way to the Blue Lagoon. But the staff members were very understanding, because Santillans reputation preceded him. They asked whether I was the one who had driven all the way up north. I told them, Yes, and then they all laughed and wanted to pose for a photo with me. Like his first blunder, this one was also easily avoidable by reading road signs and considering context, instead of just following the GPS. He forgot to make the turn by the exit. He must have been looking at the landscape and been absent minded. This is very well marked and shouldnt escape anyone, one of the Blue Lagoon staff members said, according to Visir. Santillan did eventually make it to the Blue Lagoon, and spent the next day of his vacation enjoying his newfound celebrity and talking to the media. Apparently he was quite impressed with the countrys hospitality. Photo-Illustration: Jessica Peterson/Corbis Paternity leave still hasnt made it as a platform issue this election season, but, in recent months, some major companies and personalities have at least brought the issue into the spotlight. Last summer, for example, Netflix announced it would offer moms and dads up to a year of parental leave; more recently, Mark Zuckerberg took two months off from his Facebook duties after the birth of his daughter, Max. And yet, for most American men, the reality is that a babys grand entrance usually just means a few days off the job before hes back at work. As Daily Intelligencers Annie Lowrey wrote last August, the answer isnt as simple as implementing more generous paternity-leave policies, as Netflix has done. They need to use them, Lowrey wrote. It needs to become normal for men to take weeks or months off, and to require more flexible schedules to accommodate their new family members needs when they return. The question then becomes: Just how do you do that? According to Gordon Dahl, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, the solution may at least partially be a simple case of copycat. Dahls research, recently summarized by NPR, looked to Norway for inspiration, which has a generous leave policy enacted in 1993, when the country offered new papas an additional four weeks of leave. Before the law, Norwegian dads were taking the same amount of time off as their American counterparts, about 3 percent. But after 1993, things flipped, and suddenly about 35 percent of Norwegian dads were taking leave. Thats remarkable, but Dahl saw something else that was perhaps surprising: Over the next couple of decades, more and more fathers were taking paid leave, with about 70 percent of new fathers declaring leave the last year of Dahls study, 2011. Something else was nudging these dads to take leave, and Dahl finally figured out what: other dads. Its a classic case of monkey see, monkey do, particularly for private-sector dads who saw other fathers coming back to the workplace with nary a problem. If you had a co-worker take leave, then youre 11 percentage points more likely to take leave yourself when you have your child, Dahl said. If you have a brother who took leave, youre 15 percentage points more likely to take leave. These are not small effects. These are big increases in how many people are willing to take leave. Of course, parental-leave laws in America might be to blame for that nervous anxiety dads might have about taking paternity leave. Nationally, federal law requires that companies with at least 50 employees offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave. According to National Conference of State Legislatures data used by NPR, only three states California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island offer paid family leave, funded through payroll taxes. Unless youre at a larger company or in one of these three states, dads have reason to be leery of taking time off to take care of a new baby. Still, there is reason to believe the U.S. might be in the midst of a mental mind-set change among new fathers willing and, importantly, able to take paternity leave. A 2014 study suggested millennial dads strongly consider paid leave an important issue. California, where paid leave has been available since 2004, is ground zero for the American version of this test, and things seem to be slowly going the Norwegian route. In 2004, 17 percent of new fathers in California took advantage of paid leave; within five years, that number had climbed to 26 percent. With those kinds of numbers in just one state, who knows what would happen if paid leave were implemented nationwide? In Piracicaba, Brazil, 100,000 GMO bugs released every weekday morning. Photo: Plamen Petkov Something tells me youve heard of the Zika virus in fact, something tells me you are presently freaking out about it. That panic, Im here to tell you, is not exactly rational (though I totally share it), since the virus poses quite a limited threat to anyone older than one trimester and since doctors are still unwilling to actually blame it for the rash of birth defects in Brazil. (Zika has shown up in a lot of places unaccompanied by microcephaly, and the doctors dont have any clear picture of what is going on in Brazil.) But our reflexive terror is also no great surprise, considering how neatly the virus collects the trip wires of contemporary end-time anxiety into a single bundled fuse. Theres the prospect of a pandemic, beaming out from the tropics. There are the birth defects, in particular those tiny heads and the worry that you may give birth to a child with one. There is also no cure for Zika, and a vaccine, the doctors say, is at least a few years away. And then there is the fact that the disease is transmitted by mosquitoes, in places where the bugs are so pervasive the virus might as well be traveling by air, which mocks any defense as human as a quarantine. Given all that, what should the movie director in charge of this scenario command his screenwriter to have his hero do? One thing is: kill the mosquitoes. Like, all of them, not just the ones carrying Zika. As Daniel Engber has pointed out in Slate, the bugs kill hundreds of thousands of people every year while offering basically no benefit to us humans, or even the nonhuman environment, which they similarly terrorize. Now, a mosquito holocaust may seem difficult, if you are imagining mosquito nets and deet. Or environmentally catastrophic, if you are imagining blanketing whole countries in pesticides. For those who would like to not wait 20 years to get pregnant, however, or prefer not to eradicate the entire insect cloud of Latin America, there is one very appealing strategy namely, releasing an army, or really an air force, of genetically modified mosquito hit men. As you may have read, this is already happening: 100,000 GMO bugs released at seven every weekday morning in the Brazilian city of Piracicaba, the bugs DNA hijacked so that, while they are free to buzz around and find mates, they invariably pass a lethal gene to their offspring. According to Oxitec, the somewhat sinisterly named company administering the trial, the experiment has cut mosquito populations by 80 percent or more. And suddenly we are in a different kind of movie one in which our biosphere is suffused with tiny agents acting semi-autonomously but, theoretically at least, or at the start at least, on our behalf. Mostly, when we imagine this kind of sci-fi scenario, its not bugs but machines populating a world of our own design. In some corners, that vision goes by the singularity, and is less something to worry over than to have your mind blown, and possibly your mortality fixed, by; then there is the more terrifying version, for which the delicious Reddit shorthand is robot apocalypse. The thing is, droids of either kind are really hard to assemble. Skeptics of a robot takeover the people arguing with Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates and Elon Musk tend to focus on the problems of machine learning and artificial intelligence. AI is a famously difficult challenge, so difficult its hard even to tell how far we are from cracking it. But its also just one piece of the robot. A droid soldier, for instance, would also need to know how to walk and run, how to navigate complicated terrains, and a million other aspects of moving oneself through the world. A droid bug (like the ones the Pentagon began developing for surveillance around the turn of the century) would have to know how to fly, adapt to weather conditions, and, maybe most problematically, power itself. One recent prototype maxed out at 11 minutes; another could fly for only three. But Mother Nature has endowed real bugs with all that knowledge already. Which, as the journalist Emily Anthes has documented, suggests one simple solution: biological organisms turned into something like robots, rather than hardware somehow alchemized into life. The animal kingdom is already full of organisms doing things we might find useful. All we have to do is figure out how to boss them around. And how hard is that? The phrase bird brain floats to mind. Mosquitoes, as you may have intuited while squishing them blithely between your fingers, are no birds. And so we might already be living in a robot apocalypse, just not recognizing the robots. To begin with, those anti-Zika mosquitoes are not exactly a vanguard as far as weaponizing Noahs Ark or deputizing, if you prefer to play rhetorical sheriff. Oxitec bugs are already at war with those carrying yellow fever. And an Australian project called Eliminate Dengue has deployed a different kind of mosquito made incapable of transmitting the disease by administered bacteria. A much-ballyhooed program to do the same for malaria is under way, too. As for mammals, there are now rats we can control by electroshock; mice we can direct by a light-based process called optogenetics (genetics because we have to rewire them first); and monkeys weve outfitted with robotic prosthetics they can control, themselves, simply by thinking. We can wake mice up and put them to sleep remotely, and induce spasms of aggression in lackadaisical rodents. It is even possible to use remote controls to usher a cockroach out of your apartment so easy, in fact, that a company called Backyard Brains will sell you an everything-you-need kit for just $99, plus the cost of actually handling a cockroach long enough to implant some electrodes in it. (Gross.) Dutch police are training eagles to take out rogue drones, and while its not exactly neural implants, the city of Lima is now outfitting local vultures with GPS and GoPro, since the birds are much better at discovering illegal garbage dumps than human inspectors, and who has the time or the money to develop robots or drones with skills as specialized as that? And while were not there yet, the very rapid rise of animal monitors and geotracking implants in sharks, in hawks does point the way to a possible near future in which the worlds wildlife is so intricately surveilled that we stop being able to reasonably refer to it as wildlife at all. (Maybe better not to mention that to ravens, who are, scientists have just discovered, quite capable of paranoia.) And then there are all the ways weve set about transforming wildlife directly. There are the much-hyped GMO phytoplankton, for instance, designed to gobble up carbon in the ocean to help cool the planet. There are fish that go neon to send pollution alerts, and plants weve made to change color, too, when growing on top of land mines. These innovations arent even cutting-edge, really. Weve already rewired pigs to produce phosphorus; conceivably we could do the same for cows and methane. Weve built a microbe to detect arsenic in drinking water, and another for lead. Weve been able to make E. coli produce diesel fuel for about a decade, though nobody yet has figured out how to do that profitably. Over the last few years, at least the masochistic-conscientious liberals among us have gotten used to the image of the Earth as a planet completely transformed by human activity. The term for this era is the Anthropocene, and the claim embedded in the term is that the environmental effects of the ignorance and shortsightedness of industrialization amount to a genuinely new geological period. But a few hundred years is a very short time in the life span of a planet. And if you think long enough about the anti-Zika mosquito army, you can start to see it as the beginning of a much longer, much more interventionist era, when human activity doesnt just transform the environment by accident, as a costly by-product, but by design, taking control of all those things that make up the environment and rebuilding them bacteria, flora, and fauna, all commandeered at the level of the gene and retooled to serve us. Or amuse us. Whatever. Anthess book is called Frankensteins Cat, but she might just as easily have gone for Frankensteins Earth. Or The Planet of Dr. Moreau. Those Victorians were right: We do like to fiddle. *This article appears in the February 8, 2016 issue of New York Magazine. Charlotte Rampling has a Best Actress nomination for 45 Years. Photo: Hidiro No one would have faulted Charlotte Rampling for not showing up today. It is mid-morning on December 1, and the art-house legend, who has just turned 70, has flown to New York from Paris, where her adopted hometown was still reeling from a horrific terrorist attack, and where just two months earlier her partner of 18 years, French media tycoon Jean-Noel Tassez, had died. She is stationed at a banquette in the Soho Grand Hotel, receiving a parade of reporters, whove come to talk to her about her long career and her performance in Andrew Haighs 45 Years as a woman who discovers on her 45th wedding anniversary that she perhaps doesnt know her husband at all. Of course I was affected, says British-born Rampling of the Paris attacks. Who wouldnt be? What affected me more was the death of my husband before. So there have been a lot of deaths just around in the last month. She stares at the table and plays with some small jars of marmalade. I was supposed to write this article on Rampling over a month ago, but for various reasons, I delayed. The immediate excuse was that I had other pressing deadlines, while the deeper, subconscious one was that our interview had not gone well at least to my mind. Id struggled to make eye contact with her, and two-thirds of the way through our time, she abruptly told me, Were going to have to stop, okay? Ive had it. I began to say I was sorry. And please dont say that, she cut in. You sound weak. She then told the movies publicists, as I stood nearby, not to schedule her again for any interview that long. At the time we met, talk had been thick with the possibility of her getting nominated for an Oscar. When her name was indeed called as a candidate for best actress, she joined a field of 20 actors who, for the second year in a row, all happened to be white. Then, a week later, she went on French radio and made comments on the #OscarsSoWhite movement that have come to eclipse a five-decade career of mostly provocative, often feminist, films. Among those comments: that the proposed boycott of the Oscars is racist to whites, and that one can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list. She also pushed back on the idea of the Academys introducing quotas, saying, Do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere? Rampling was excoriated, by everyone from Chelsea Clinton to Spike Lee, in Twitter reactions ranging from reasoned outrage to violent bile and hate, and her initial apology, saying shes sorry her words might have been misinterpreted, didnt stem the vitriol. In a more extensive statement she gave to New York, she says, I have always been fiercely against all kinds of discrimination and I hope my life and my films prove this. I am so pleased that after all these years the Academy has made the historical decision to make diversity and parity their priority for the future. It was high time. Im thinking about young actors, directors, and screenwriters living with the uncertainty of being an artist and also fighting discrimination; my apologies are going to them first. When I read her initial remarks about the Oscars, my first reaction was to be angry at her. But then, as the attacks came mostly from people who seemed to be hearing Ramplings name for the first time I also had a confusing urge to protect her. Were we really turning the debate on diversity into the vilification of the oldest acting nominee, with a long history of socially conscious work, for a single (very unfortunate, very ignorant) statement, uttered during one of the worst years of her life? I thought back to our interview at the Soho Grand. Id told Rampling that I was surprised she was there, still in mourning, doing the promotional dance. Yes, but in a sense, you know, he [Tassez] would have kicked me out of the house to go and do it, she said. He even said, Youre not going to not do it because of me, because Im gone. The body, she believes, has a memory of loss, which began for her at age 20 when her older sister, Sarah, committed suicide. Death really does something particular to the human being and the psyche Ive had that most of my life, said Rampling. Shed already begun acting by then, with her breakout as a kind of Holly Golightly of Swinging London in 1966s Georgy Girl, but found that after her sisters death she wanted more meaningful work. Rampling talked about loss with the clarity of someone deeply familiar with digging herself out of sadness. (Shes also been vocal about her battle with depression.) With new loss that Im feeling, with Jean-Noel having left, she said, Ive got a more stable inner structure. Construite. The word actually is a sort of translation from French. Its like a house. Im a quite solidly built house now. That foundation seemed essential for 45 Years, which required Rampling and her co-star, Tom Courtenay, of Doctor Zhivago fame, to be completely comfortable with each other, even though theyd never met. By chance, they stayed in adjacent rooms at a bed-and-breakfast and shared a car to and from set. Id knock on her door in the morning when the car came and say, Your carriage is without, said Courtenay. When the day ended, theyd go back to their B&B and have a good lunch and a nap; sometimes theyd steal sandwiches from the tea table on set and take them home. They were like a really sweet couple, said Haigh. They still email often. Haigh had long been fascinated by Ramplings work, ranging from 1974s The Night Porter in which she played a concentration-camp survivor in a sadomasochistic relationship with a former Nazi officer to 2003s Swimming Pool, Francois Ozons erotic French thriller. She is an actress and person that you dont fully know or understand. I like that she kind of draws you close to her but then pushes you away at the last moment, Haigh said. Rampling embodies a certain boldness in life as well as work. Her first husband was actor and publicist Bryan Southcombe; she once joked that she was in love with a young man who shared a flat with the couple, and the press hasnt stopped asking her about a menage a trois since. She left Southcombe to run off with French composer Jean-Michel Jarre (never mind that they were both married) before their divorce amid the scandal of his dalliances, and her subsequent engagement to Tassez. (They never married: I didnt want to have the states stamp on me, she said.) Her beauty and its power have made her the subject of iconic photographs, such as the one by Helmut Newton for Vogue shot in 1973 of her sitting naked on a table in a grand drawing room at the Hotel Nord-Pinus in Arles. And a series of shoots from 2003 and 2009 with Juergen Teller was something of a reprise; the first set of photographs featured the two of them in a variety of very intimate positions: Teller licking her ear, or splayed across the top of a piano shes playing, his genitals exposed to the camera. He was doing all of the exposing. I wasnt. I was staying resolutely dressed! Rampling said, laughing. The later set was shot at the Louvre, with Rampling, then 63, naked alongside the much younger, also naked model Raquel Zimmermann. Theres nothing like being naked in front of the Mona Lisa, Rampling said. Would you have refused? Actually, Id have qualms, I told her; Ive always had body-confidence issues. You wouldnt have just because you dont like your body? she asked. The Mona Lisa probably doesnt have a very good body. Well, Im asking because I admire her apparent fearlessness, I said. What you do is you just jump off the deep end, she said. Can you swim? Not well. Ah, youre not a very brave girl then, are you? You have to learn the basics of survival. What are the other basics of survival, I wondered. Ive given you one, she said. Thats enough. *This article appears in the February 8, 2016 issue of New York Magazine. House of Waris founder and designer Waris Ahluwalia. Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Monday morning at 4 a.m., Waris Ahluwalia left his hotel to go to the Mexico City International Airport for his flight back to New York City. At check-in, around 5:15 by then, the actor and designer received his boarding pass at an Aeromexico counter and noticed that it was printed at the bottom with the four Ss. Ive gotten it before, he told me over the phone this afternoon, calling from Mexico City. Ive been randomly selected quite a number of times. Its like Im defying the odds with the number of times Ive been selected. The code stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection and its a notifier to passengers and airline staff alike that the passenger is on one of three lists whose number and names fluctuate that require extra screening before being allowed to fly. I knew that there was just going to be more screening, which is understandable, Ahluwalia explained. Theres nothing you can do, theres no redress, no one you can call and ask why is this going on. You just sort of grin and bear it. Ahluwalia went through one round of standard screening before approaching the gate, when a staff member from the airline told him to step aside, that theyd need to do the as-expected additional check. He obliged and agents carried out the same security routine: the wanding, the padding, the swabbing, the going through the bag, swabbing the bag. It was all protocol that Ahluwalia had experienced before, except this time when he was asked to remove his turban, the procedure took a new turn. They asked very matter-of-factly, and just as matter-of-factly, I said I wont be removing my turban. Soon after, an Aeromexico employee approached and explained that he wouldnt be boarding a flight on their airline that day.* In that very moment that they were doing all this, I was shaken up, he told me. I wasnt about to argue with them. They were pretty clear and concise in their messaging. Im not going to chase the guy in the airport and get arrested in Mexico. So what was Ahluwalia to do? From the airport, he got on the phone with the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights organization for the Sikh community in America. They then got their lawyers on the phone to figure out a game plan while Ahluwalia went online to share what was happening. Ahluwalia only joined Instagram in November, in part to promote his efforts with the Elephant Family, a conservation charity. But today he started to see its multitudinous values: In this moment, there was a feeling and a sense of empowerment, he said. It wasnt just lawyers and people talking. I could send out a message into the world that really basic rights were ignored. He continued, The Sikh Coalition has worked with the TSA to educate the agents and to come up with a policy on how to address this. Weve been down this road before. This isnt the first time this happened. This time, however, Ahluwalia could see in real time the way social media spread the news. Not that much longer after his first Instagram, an Aeromexico executive approached him to put him on the next flight. At that point, it was too little, too late, he said, explaining why he decided to turn down the offer. I realized in that moment that the problem was that if I got on that plane, this could not only happen again but would happen again. Instead, Ahluwalia has vowed to stay in Mexico until a broader conclusion has been reached. For him, this means a public apology from Aeromexico and a plan for further employee training (either through the Sikh Coalition or independently) on sensitivity to religious passengers.Its not just about me. Its not just about Sikhs. If what happens to me today results in a policy change so that no one else has to go through this, then it was worth it. Until then, Ahluwalia says he plans to stay exactly where he is in Mexico. When we reach a crossroads, we have an opportunity to change, he said. We all make mistakes. Ill admit very publicly that I make mistakes constantly. You can ask all my ex-girlfriends, he told me, laughing. Its not that you make the mistakes, its how you address them. Its about how you deal with them afterward. Were in this together. Lets learn from this. Theres ignorance in the world, so lets see what we can do. *Based on previous reports, an earlier version of this story said that Ahluwalia requested a private room. Ahluwalia confirmed to the Cut that staff walked away after he refused to remove his turban, but he had not requested a private screening room. This page has found a new home As the 2016 presidential race starts to heat up it is time to take a look at the remaining serious candidates and what each one might mean for energy policies and energy companies in the U.S. While a lot can happen in the next couple of months, the current leaders for the Republican Party are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. For the Democrats, the race will likely come down to a long brawl between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. As a bonus, its also worth looking at what Michael Bloomberg might do for energy if he enters the Presidential race and wins. Donald Trump Defying skeptics and conventional wisdom Donald Trump appears to be a real possibility as the Republican Presidential nominee. Trump disappointed with a second place finish in Iowas caucuses, but he is doing well in New Hampshire and nationally in the polls. Should Trump win the nomination and then the election, it is likely that oil and natural gas companies would get a big boost. Trump has actively discussed his interest in confronting OPEC and making the U.S. energy independent. He is a firm advocate for oil and its importance in the overall U.S. economy. A Trump presidency would definitely help investors in most conventional energy companies, especially if the Republicans retain control of Congress as many are projecting. Related: Despite Bold Predictions, T. Boone Pickens Sells All Oil Holdings Ted Cruz Despite being a Republican, Cruz is perhaps not as favorably inclined towards energy companies as Trump or Rubio. Cruz is cited as opposing all energy subsidies including those for oil companies. While he has supported revoking offshore drilling moratoriums in the past, it is very unclear at this stage if that point would be relevant for energy companies given the current price of oil. Cruz is a supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline, however, and has supported the view that global warming is a natural phenomenon rather than manmade. Macro Rubio Rubio appears to be a supporter of conventional fossil fuels like Trump and Cruz. In particular, Rubio is in favor of stopping the EPAs clean Power Plan, which would likely help certain utility companies tremendously and could provide a small boost to coal miners. Rubio as President would also considerably diminish the power of the EPA as a regulatory authority instead giving more of a role to states and local governments. This would likely help many conventional energy companies. Related: Despite Huge Losses Oil Companies Reluctant To Shut In Production Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton as president would likely continue many of the policies advocated by President Obama. For instance, Clinton has been cited as being against offshore oil drilling, against the Keystone XL pipeline, and against drilling in the Arctic. In addition, Clinton supported the December 2015 Paris Climate Accord. All of this suggests she would likely be inclined towards new regulations that would harm utilities, conventional energy companies, and automakers. As a staunch advocate of environmental policies, Clinton would likely take various actions to support solar and wind power companies. With the recent passage of continuing subsidies for those industries, it is unclear what additional concrete measures Clinton could take to help renewable energy companies, so a Clinton Presidency might have a muted effect on those firms. It would likely have a pronounced negative impact on all conventional energy firms. Related: Tesla Falling Out Of Favor With Investors Bernie Sanders Sanders is arguably even more progressive than Hillary Clinton, so it is likely that he would adopt all of the same policies as Clinton or Obama, and potentially put even greater restrictions on conventional energy production. While Obamas proposed $10-per-barrel tax on oil is not going to happen during his presidency, if Sanders were to become president, it is possible circumstances could arise that would allow him to implement that tax, which of course would be extremely damaging to oil companies. Sanders is also in favor of a tax on carbon emissions which would have wide ranging impacts for numerous businesses across a variety of industries. By and large then, a Sanders presidency would likely be harmful for most major U.S. manufactures and energy companies. Michael Bloomberg If Michael Bloomberg does end up entering the race and running for President it could certainly throw both political parties into turmoil. Should Bloomberg become President, its likely that he would represent a middle ground between anti-renewables policies of the Republicans and anti-conventional energy policies of the Democrats. Bloomberg has certainly shown support for climate initiatives and environmental concerns. The coal industry, however, would not be spared. Bloomberg has spent a lot of money trying to kill off coal plants in the United States. However, Bloomberg has also shown a steak of non-ideological pragmatism that includes being willing to approve the Keystone XL pipeline under certain conditions. Given that pragmatism and his reputation as a centrist, Bloomberg would likely have a positive impact on both conventional energy companies and renewables firms alike. By Michael McDonald Of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential , independent , neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish from , mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely. Some other variants include: Austria -- Ombudsstelle Brazil -- Ouvidor Croatia -- pravobranitelji France -- mediateur/defenseur Germany -- Ombudspersonen Italy -- difensore Netherlands -- ombudspersoon Norway -- ombudet Poland -- Rzecznik Portugal -- provedor Russia -- Spain -- ombudsman organizacional Sweden -- studentombud South Korea emerges as the nation with the most equitable education system, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum titled Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2015. It assesses three kinds of equity in education access, quality and outcomes and covers everything from pre-school to vocational training.The results have been classified by the World Bank income group, which may come as no surprise given the strong correlation between economic development and education. Northern Europe and Asia dominate the advanced economies, with Japan joining South Korea and Singapore in the top three. At number 24, the United States appears some way down the advanced-economy scale, trailing Australia, France and Iceland. >Eastern Europe scores well in both upper-middle and lower-middle economies, while the countries of Latin America, as a regional cluster, are falling behind on educational equality.Source: Weforum.org Congraatulaations to Secretary Hillary Clinton, for standing up to the partisan critics who unsuccessfully tried to create a vortex of negativity about her qualifications to be the president of the United States. Regardless of the outcome of the New Hampshire primary 2016, where Mrs. Clinton's election outcome will be infinitely bette r than any of the Republicans (who must divide their support at least 6 ways) the fact is, Mrs. Clinton is an exceptional presidential candidate- and her experience shows. Indeed, Mrs. Clinton has remaind focused and spoken intelligently throughout the turmoil created by the Republicans' in their chaotic campaigns against her and towards each other, both at the same time. James Carvelle is an American political commentator and media personality who is a prominent figure in the Democratic Party James Carvelle , a Clinton supporter and political consultant, is quoted in Newsmax about the brouhaha created over the bogus email controversy (anyone who ever handled top secret information knows this is a stupid and invented campaign against her): Carville: 'Patently Ludicrous' to Say Hillary's Emails a Crime Hillary Clinton's email investigation "is in no way like a crime," former Clinton adviser James Carville said Sunday on Republicans are constantly looking for "something else" to smear the former secretary of state with, Carville told host John Catsimatidis. "Now they find out [Republican secretaries of state] "The idea that theres some kind of a criminality involved in here I think is patently ludicrous ," he said. Carville also compared Clinton to her Democratic presidential rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying Sanders is an idealist while Clinton is more pragmatic. "It's emerging that there's a clear distinction between the two of them," he said. Sanders "envisions this 100 percent progressive party that is the party of some ideal where everybody gets free health insurance and free college ," while what Clinton "envisions is a pragmatic party that tries to get things done, that helps people and moves at a pace toward progress." to Say Hillary's Emails a CrimeHillary Clinton's email investigation "is in no way like a crime," former Clinton adviser James Carville said Sunday on "The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York.Republicans areto smear the former secretary of state with, Carville told host John Catsimatidis."Now they find out [Republican secretaries of state] Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice had stuff sent to them that was later deemed classified," Carville said. "This is no way like a crime. Remember Benghazi? Remember, we had seven congressional hearings on Benghazi? They found nothing. And this is going to be nothing, too." Still, Carville said, "It's never going to go away.""The idea that theres some kind of a criminality involved in here I think is," he said.Carville also compared Clinton to her Democratic presidential rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying Sanders is an idealist while Clinton is more pragmatic."It's emerging that there's a clear distinction between the two of them," he said. Sanders "envisions this 100 percent progressive party that is the party of some ideal where everybody," while what Clinton "envisions is a pragmatic party that tries to get things done, that helps people and moves at a pace toward progress." In Maine Writer's opinion, Americans are fortunate to have Mrs. Clinton running for the office of President of the United States. Rather than criticizing her about invented situations, we should be examining her excellent qualifications, because she's definitely capable to be elected the Leader of the Free World and the first woman to occupy the Oval Office. None of the Republican candidates can even approach Mrs. Clinton's qualifications to be the nation's leader. Although New Hampshire voters will make an important contribution to the selection of the 2016 presidential nominee, the fact is, Mrs. Clinton will receive a substantial number of votes. Obviously I don't count New Hampshire ballots, but I can make a prediction that will hold up in the vote count. My prediction is this- Mrs. Clinton will receive more votes in the New Hampshire primary than Carley Fiorina (Firoina-lie-or-ina). Perhaps, her vote tally may even exceed the numbers to be cast for the bottom tier Republicans combined - likely Firona, Bush and Cruz. I'm honored to support Mrs. Hillary Clinton's candidacy to be President of the United States. Hats off, of course, to Senator Bernie Sanders, who breathed life into the Democratic base and ignited this 2016 primary season with his vision of a "revolution". Nevertheless, the Republicans are afraid...very afraid...of Mrs. Clinton because she is the Democrat who has the qualifications all of them lack and, moreover, the proven stamina to win the presidential election. Outcomes in the New Hampshire primary will not determine who will eventually become the presidential party national nominees. Yet, it's an absolute given, based on past history. that the candidate who takes second place in Newe Hampshire, is usually the one who wins the national nomination. Mrs. Clinton can only win or come in second in New Hamshire. She has my admiration and my vote in November! Labels: James Carvelle, New Hampshire, Newsmax During Thursday night's democratic debate with Hillary Clinton, Bernie said that either one of them would be be "100 times better" than any republican. I am afraid I must differ. If Mr. Sanders is 100 times better (and he is), Ms. Clinton would be maybe 75 times better. I say that because while she has many laudable positions, and great foreign policy chops (with the exception of her glaring Iraq vote problem), I believe her establishment approach to politics relies on the big money run, status quo approach. The approach that was codified and exacerbated by the vile republican backed "citizens United" ruling. The result of course is the increasing slide into the plutocratic 'for-the-rich' democracy we now suffer under. It gives me no pleasure to point out several questionable comments Ms. Clinton made Thursday night, since I don't want to weaken her candidacy and I know it is long past time we had a woman president. Also if she wins I and every rational democrat and thinking independent will absolutely be voting for her. But we as democrats or independents should be willing to speak about problems in our own ranks. We can not blindly ignore things we disagree with in the name of party loyalty. That is what the teapublican sheep do. We need to be better than that. We need to push our candidates to be better. First, consider that since the debacle called the Bush era, our country has steadily slid right, occluding many democrats. Democrats who, like republicans, cater to big money and lack the courage to stand firm for progressive principals. Wake up and smell the coffee my fellow Americans! We have been sliding toward fascism and we need more than maintaining the status quo! We need a revolution to restore democratic values and fairness! We need leaders with the courage to stand for meaningful change and we must turn out in force to support them! Remember the lessons of 2014. Many democrats tucked their tails and ran away from President Obama, willing to keep their heads down and not make waves" and they got slaughtered! There were a few however with the courage to proudly stand fight for progressive ideals. Those were the few who won their elections. I found Ms. Clintons equating her sex with being progressive a rather odd and somewhat sexist idea. It seemed she was simply using her sex to deflect from her too cozy relationships with wall street and the banks. Apparently, playing the victim is still in style and Ms. Clinton is milking it. Many trolls jump on is these sexist issues and use them to divide liberals. I saw Bill Clinton (a man I admire) complain that the "Bernie bros" were making nasty and sexist attacks on line, implying that it reflected on Sanders. I mean to comment on the lack of class of some individuals is fine, however Mr. Sanders has no control of peoples on-line remarks. In fact as an admin on a face book political site, I see it every day and feel sure most of the nastiest stuff comes from republican trolls pretending to be democrats as they sow the seeds of resentment and anger. Some people feel it is also a tactic of Hillary supporters. Both charges are unprovable. Myself I simply delete any nasty comments and ban the worst. I would never make the leap to using my suspicions as a way to impugn a candidate who has no control over free speech. So let's deal in facts. While Ms. Clinton seems to finally be moving in the right direction lately, when she makes statements about going after banks and admonishing banks to "cut it out", I would still like to hear her commit to re-instating Glass-Steagall and breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks. She claims G S is not that important"so why not commit to supporting it if is is not a big deal? The fact is that over the last couple of years, she has made about 100 speeches for banks and wall street types and been paid over 20 million dollars Hey, "that's what they offered". Does anyone really think Goldman Sachs just wanted to hear her life story or her opinions on finance? Which makes her protestations about "artful smears" seem rather hollow in the light of the undeniable fact that our political system is awash in money and candidates have to spend most of their time in office begging for donations. Let me ask the people who claim there is no "proof" that Hillary has ever changed a vote to repay big donors" do you realize every republican candidate taking money from billionaires like the Koch's can make the same claim? So let's just say she never let's her big donors sway her. Don't you think there will be some candidates who will? Don't you think taking millions from the very people who need to be regulated sends the wrong message? Wouldn't you like to see a true "we the people" representative government? It starts with overturning Citizens United and breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks and imposing real campaign finance reform. I found it very telling that when asked if she would go after the banks and wall street, she replied that she would "IF they pose a threat"! IF? Really!? Last point on this subject. When Chuck Todd said there are absolutely transcripts available of her wall street speeches and asked her if she would release them" why did she avoid answering? Why say you'll "look into it" when they are easily available? If you have nothing to hide, why not just say "sure"? Next why does Ms. Clinton keep misrepresenting Sanders position on issues like single payer? She keeps repeating that Bernie wants to destroy the ACA and start over again, while she on the other hand just wants to improve it. Only problem, as Bernie has repeatedly said, he helped craft the ACA and also wants to build upon it, not do away with it. Of course Ms Clinton is allowed her opinion that single payer is an unattainable dream" even though almost every other developed country has some form of it and all the people of those countries have healthcare coverage which is much less expensive. The main force keeping up the drumbeat and spreading fear that it is an unrealistic dream, are the insurance giants who stand to lose the bloated profits they now enjoy if single payer is enacted. We live in a very transitional time. Republicans have completely sold out to the highest bidder and push corporate schemes to privatize every public program starting with the V.A. and S.S. Make no mistake, they want to turn these programs over to corporate America and you can count on these profit driven "privatized schemes to drive costs up. Greed will dictate policy just like it does in the for-profit health insurance industry. Just like the for-profit prison system that locks up so many minorities and poor Americans. Greed is part of the human equation and to deny it is foolish. Republicans have also decided in order to achieve their plutocratic goals, lying and fear mongering are perfectly acceptable and justifiable. We must utterly defeat them in November if we want a fair, just society. We need to reach out and shake the huge number of apathetic Americans who sit on the couch watching reality T.V. election day and can't be bothered with voting. Because they are doing exactly what the corporate owned republicans want and they will deserve the plutocratic nightmare a republican victory will usher in. America needs to dream big again and fight like hell for our democracy. Discredited Judge Robert Owen (Image by russian-insider) Details DMCA A dark cloud of suspicion still hangs over a 2006 British murder mystery. The Litvinenko affair started as a London spy mystery. It made top headlines back in the day. Riveting allegations claimed Alexander Litvinenko died of polonium poisoning ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin. Now almost ten years later, the mystery has evolved into a government political scandal. After years of false starts and inaction, an official inquiry was finally called in 2015. Getting to the bottom of things was its ostensible purpose. Retired high court judge Sir Robert Owen chaired the proceedings. Prime Minister David Cameron put his weight behind Owen's undertaking. Owen released a final report of his findings on January 21, 2016. But instead of shedding light on what happened to Litvinenko, it only further confounded the issue. The report is replete with incertitude, and its findings are biased, flawed, and inconsistent. Litvinenko Murder Case Solved The Phony Litvinenko Murder Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from WSWS During a debate Saturday night in New Hampshire, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, billionaire Donald Trump, backed the use of waterboarding and even more severe methods of torture as part of the US government's "War on Terror." Trump leads the Republican field in polling nationally and is favored in New Hampshire's primary Tuesday, although he finished second to Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the first Republican contest, the Iowa caucuses held February 1. Neither his Republican opponents nor the moderators from ABC News sought to follow up on Trump's pledge to do "a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding" to prisoners captured by the US military or intelligence agencies. Post-debate coverage gave little notice to Trump's comments, focusing mainly on the exchanges between Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie or a clash between Trump and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Trump was even adjudged a "winner" of the debate in online summaries by the New York Times and Washington Post and in an online poll sponsored by Time magazine. ABC News anchorman David Muir raised the subject of torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the euphemism of the Bush administration, in a question to Senator Cruz about halfway through the debate. He asked Cruz whether he considered waterboarding to be torture. Cruz replied that it was not, claiming "it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture." This is a repetition of the baseless claims by the Bush administration, spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney and a cadre of legal apologists in the Justice Department, in complete defiance of international law. The Geneva Conventions specifically bar such methods of interrogation and the US Army Field Manual has defined waterboarding as torture for many decades. While claiming to have supported legislation prohibiting waterboarding by military interrogators, Cruz said that "the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe," meaning the president could authorize such methods regardless of any Congressional prohibition. Trump then went Cruz one better, declaring, "In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people... I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding." His Republican audience then erupted in applause. Former Governor Bush took up the issue next without making any reference to Trump's comments, merely noting that he would not seek Congressional action to legalize waterboarding. He then went on to declare his support for more intensive CIA spying and the maintenance of Guantanamo Bay as an interrogation center. Senator Rubio was asked the same question, and again made no reference to Trump's remarks, declaring that it was wrong to treat the interrogation of terrorists as "some sort of law enforcement function." In context, he was arguing that the restraints of the legal system should not apply to such interrogations, making anything permissible, although he suggested that it was wrong to discuss specific techniques "because that allows terrorists to know to practice how to evade us." He echoed Bush in denouncing efforts to close the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. New Jersey Governor Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Dr. Ben Carson, the other three Republican candidates on the stage, did not take up the issue then or in any subsequent remarks. Trump reiterated his statements about waterboarding and "worse than waterboarding" during several appearances on Sunday morning television talk shows. Again, neither the media pundits who interviewed him nor Republican rivals who appeared on the same programs made any serious objection to these comments. Equally revealing was the silence of the two remaining candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, who appeared on the same programs as Trump on Sunday morning and commented freely on other aspects of the Republican debate. Neither said anything about Trump's call for torture. In addition to his call for unbridled savagery in pursuit of the overseas interests of American imperialism, Trump backed brutality and violence at home against workers and youth. In another portion of the debate, Trump rejected suggestions that there was a problem with police brutality and killings of unarmed people. "The police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood," he declared. "The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get... They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police." Bill Clinton barely got the words out of his mouth lambasting the Bernie Sanders camp for what he bluntly said were attacks on Hillary that were to sexist and to "profane" to repeat when a Sanders campaign official shot back that the attack was "disappointing." Sanders for his part took the high road approach, acknowledged that he'd heard some nasty things from his supporters about Clinton, and demanded that they knock it off. http://quadrangleonline.com/2016/02/09/bill-clinton-accuses-sanders-of-sexist-attacks/ The brutal reality is that no matter how much Clinton and Sanders call for civility when it comes to what's said about Hillary, it won't happen. Clinton is not simply another marked man presidential candidate. She's exactly what she was in 2008 a marked woman presidential candidate. One media investigative team even compiled hundreds of the most outrageous digs about Clinton from the 2008 campaign from assorted commentators, male and female. Not much has changed this go round. http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/02/05/a-comprehensive-guide-to-sexist-attacks-on-hill/199700#bword The vulgarities are heaped on top of the hard headed belief of many men and women that a woman just doesn't have the right stuff to be the nation's commander in chief. In one poll nearly 70 percent of men and women were lukewarm at best in answering the question whether they thought women were "respected" in politics. One out of four respondents flatly said that there would never be a woman president, and the most optimistic thought it would take at least another five years before that happened. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-makers-women-politics-survey_us_5645efefe4b0603773489a80 Even this seemed to be a step up from polls during the 2008 campaign that consistently showed that far more Americans had a bigger problem voting for a woman for president than an African-American. The worst part of that then was that if any one dared make a racial crack about then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama they'd have been pounded into the sand as the worst kind of bigot. http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/23/opinion/despite-the-reagan-sweep-a-gender-gap-remains.html The divergence between men and women on the issue of war and peace showed up again in even more stark contrast two decades later on the Iraq war. Polls showed gaps of nearly twenty percent between men and women when asked how long they thought American troops should stay in Iraq. Far more women than men said that the troops should be withdrawn as quickly as possible. The huge spread in male and female views on public policy issues was just as pronounced in the terrorism war. More men than women by nearly 20 percent took a harder stance against nations that they perceive back terrorist groups. In countless surveys, polls, and anecdotal conversations, women say they are less likely to stay up on political issues than men, and are more likely to vote for a candidate based on personal likes or dislikes than men. When asked what they liked about Clinton, many women reflexively say they like her toughness. That's generally considered a rough and tumble male quality. The issues of war, national security, strong defense, and terrorism doesn't totally explain the constant 15 to 20 percent gender gap between men and women on candidates and issues in elections noted as far back as 1980. Another possible explanation for that is how men and women perceive the messages that male candidates convey and whether they use code words and terms to convey them. Republicans at times artfully stoked male rage with racially charged slogans like "law and order," "crime in the streets," "welfare cheats," and "absentee fathers." President George Bush's John Wayne frontier brashness, and get tough, bring em' on rhetoric in talking about the Iraq and the war against terrorism was calculatingly geared to appeal to supposed male toughness. The issue that time around isn't Clinton's toughness, it's just everything else that a woman presidential candidate has to swallow because she's a woman. Bill's broadside on sexism and Hillary just underscored that--again. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is Trump and the GOP: Race Baiting to the White House (Amazon Kindle) He is a frequent MSNBC contributor. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network As the New Hampshire primary lurches toward the finish line, the reality of electronic election theft looms over the vote count. The actual computer voting machines were introduced on a grand scale in New Hampshire's 1988 primary. The godfather was George H.W. Bush, then the Vice President. As former boss of the CIA, Bush was thoroughly familiar with the methods of changing election outcomes. The Agency had been doing it for decades in client states throughout the world. In the Granite State, Bush was up against Bob Dole, long-time Senator from Kansas. Dole was much loved in hard-core Republican circles. But Bush had an ace-in-the-hole. For the first time, the votes would be cast and counted on electronic voting machines, in this case from Shoup Electronics. Governor John Sununu, later Bush's White House Chief of Staff, brought the highly-suspect computer voting machines into New Hampshire's most populous city, Manchester. The results were predictable. Former CIA director George H. W. Bush won a huge upset over Dole and the mainstream for-profit corporate media refuses to consider election rigging. Here's the Washington Post's account of the bizarre and unexplainable election results when touchscreens were first used: "In 1988, H.W. Bush was trailing Dole by 8 points in the last Gallup poll before the New Hampshire primary. Bush won by 9 points. The Washington Post covered the Bush upset with the following headline: 'Voters Were a Step Ahead of Tracking Measurements.'" Was it a late surge of Bush devotees who reversed all reasonable expectation? Or was it the kind of electoral manipulation that had been perfected by the Agency over the decades, this time with an electronic assist? While the mainstream for-profit media tried to explain it away, the Manchester Union Leader had been suspicious of the former CIA director going back to his first presidential bid in 1980. "The Bush operation has all the smell of a CIA covert operation . . . strange aspects of the Iowa operation [include] a long, slow count and then the computers broke down at a very convenient point, with Bush having a six percent bulge over Reagan," according to the Union Leader. In the next presidential election in 1984, Bush's rival President Reagan signed National Security Directive Decision NSDD245. A year later, the New York Times explained the details of Reagan's secret directive: "A branch of the National Security Agency is investigating whether a computer program that counted more than one-third of all the votes cast in the United States in 1984 is vulnerable to fraudulent manipulation." In 1987, Gary Greenhalgh resigned as director of the Election Center to become vice-president of operations for the R.F. Shoup Company. The company's founder, Ransom Shoup, had been convicted in 1979 for conspiring to defraud the federal government in connection with a bribe attempt to obtain voting machine business, according to the Commercial Appeal newspaper of Memphis. His machines were known as Shouptronics. Under the name Danaher they were used in the disputed 2004 election in Columbus, Ohio where numerous voters complained that their vote for Kerry "faded away" on the screen. Computerized voting machines with software programmed by partisan for-profit corporations, makes election fraud even easier. We have known about this for four decades. Roy G. Saltman's work at the National Bureau of Standards has documented the vulnerability of computer voting since the 1970s. Saltman issued a report for the Bureau numbered NBSIR-75-687 documenting the lack of computer security in vote tallying and the potential for election tampering. He traced the use of computers to tally vote results from September 1964 through his 1975 report. He found in 1971, my junior year in high school, "an error in programming" caused a levy to pass by 1,000 votes in my hometown Redford Township, Michigan, rather than failing by 100. A follow-up report by Saltman in 1988 pointed out other problems with computer voting. In 1986 in Stark County, Ohio a recount programming error reversed the correct election results. There's a question on whether this was a real error since a special programmer was brought in to write the code for the recount. The ultimate implication for this year's primary has yet to be played out. This year in New Hampshire, we have Bernie Sanders rolling into Election Day with a very strong lead. Barack Obama did much the same (though with far smaller margins) in 2008, and emerged the loser. Could a similar outcome follow for Bernie? On the Republican side, it's anyone's guess. Notes On New Hampshire After a stunning performance in the Iowa Caucus' Senator Bernie Sanders polling results surged in New Hampshire. Polling and pundits predict a Sanders victory. Turnout will determine the end results. Hillary Clinton has campaigned for President in New Hampshire for 20 years. The good people of the state know Clinton well, many personally. Sanders lead is attributed to geography, Vermont is next door. The voters of NH take their duty seriously, there are no wild radicals in NH. Sanders lead more reflects the general unease of American voters, something the Clinton campaign seems unable to understand. Clinton's campaign employs the most experienced, most expensive staff available in American politics. They seem incapable of understanding the discontent and unease that lays like a blanket over voters and their families in our country. In a bizarre and ill advised tactic they have recently attacked Millennial women who support Sanders. That tactic has backfired wildly, drawing attention to Sanders impeccable human rights and civil rights record. If Clinton does not break 45-50% of the NH vote her campaign will be perceived as in deep trouble by voters nationwide. Nevada caucus' will go to Sanders if there is a decent turnout. Clinton narrowly defeated Obama there in 2008. With that loss for Clinton the voters of South Carolina will be forced to give Bernie Sanders a serious look. In South Carolina Sanders already holds a narrow lead with white Democratic primary voters. As more African American South Carolina politicians study the candidates and endorse Sanders that state may come into contention. If the results there are close it will be time for Clinton to seriously consider abdicating the race to Sanders. This would give the Democratic party the candidate that the voters desire. And, would give the candidate and the party time to heal the current, and normal, contention in the party with time to refine their platform and get the message of a different way to the voters before the general election in November, perhaps the most important election in the country since 1932. F Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity Search Title Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Page 1 of 3 First Last Back Next 2 3 View All SHARE The Espionage Act & Julian Assange -- 6: Assange in the Dock The sixth and final part of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. Wednesday, July 14, 2021The sixth and final part of a six-part series on Julian Assange and the Espionage Act. (3 comments) SHARE YouTube Rejects Consortium News Appeal The social media company says it carefully reviewed the content of the banned CN Live! episode; says it won't be restored and that a strike will remain against CN -- an impossible decision if the entire video was indeed carefully reviewed. Saturday, February 27, 2021The social media company says it carefully reviewed the content of the banned CN Live! episode; says it won't be restored and that a strike will remain against CN -- an impossible decision if the entire video was indeed carefully reviewed. (3 comments) SHARE CIA "Obsessed" With Former UK Envoy Who Will Testify in Spying-on-Assange Case Craig Murray says he's been asked to testify in the case of illegal spying against Julian Assange. Friday, July 24, 2020Craig Murray says he's been asked to testify in the case of illegal spying against Julian Assange. SHARE Consortium News Blazed the Trail of Russia-gate Reporting; Help Us to Continue Telling the Story With his first article on what would become known as Russia-gate -- written on Aug. 9, 2016, three months before the election -- Bob Parry positioned CN as the leading skeptic of the alleged scandal. Wednesday, May 13, 2020With his first article on what would become known as Russia-gate -- written on Aug. 9, 2016, three months before the election -- Bob Parry positioned CN as the leading skeptic of the alleged scandal. SHARE The FBI Investigated Robert Parry Parry joined the Associated Press in 1974, and in 1977 was transferred from its Providence, RI bureau to Washington DC. In 1980 Parry joined AP's investigative unit, where he broke some of the biggest stories about the Iran-Contra scandal, including revealing the role of Col. Oliver North in 1985. Tuesday, April 28, 2020Parry joined the Associated Press in 1974, and in 1977 was transferred from its Providence, RI bureau to Washington DC. In 1980 Parry joined AP's investigative unit, where he broke some of the biggest stories about the Iran-Contra scandal, including revealing the role of Col. Oliver North in 1985. (4 comments) SHARE ASSANGE EXTRADITION: Espionage is the Charge, But He's Really Accused of Sedition The U.S. is trying to extradite Julian Assange to stand trial for espionage, but even though sedition is no longer on the books, that's what the U.S. is really charging him with, says Joe Lauria. Monday, April 27, 2020The U.S. is trying to extradite Julian Assange to stand trial for espionage, but even though sedition is no longer on the books, that's what the U.S. is really charging him with, says Joe Lauria. (2 comments) SHARE "Collateral Murder" and the My Lai Massacre Comparing the reaction to the evidence of two war crimes reveals how much the United States has changed in the past 50 years, writes Joe Lauria. Monday, April 6, 2020Comparing the reaction to the evidence of two war crimes reveals how much the United States has changed in the past 50 years, writes Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Julian Assange Wins 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award Imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has been awarded Consortium News' 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award for courage in the face of an unprecedented attack on press freedom. Monday, February 10, 2020Imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has been awarded Consortium News' 2020 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award for courage in the face of an unprecedented attack on press freedom. (1 comments) SHARE Trump Gives Away the Store and Israel Will Now Officially Become an Apartheid State Ignoring past Israeli prime ministers who warned that annexation of the West Bank would introduce legal apartheid to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu said the first phase of annexations would go to the Cabinet on Sunday, reports Joe Lauria. Thursday, January 30, 2020Ignoring past Israeli prime ministers who warned that annexation of the West Bank would introduce legal apartheid to Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu said the first phase of annexations would go to the Cabinet on Sunday, reports Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Trump Hints NATO Should Take US Place in Middle East; Lies About Iran and Slaps on More Humiliating Sanctions UPDATED: Trump will not escalate the crisis with Iran but talked tough, while inviting NATO to take over at least part of U.S. role in the region. Thursday, January 9, 2020UPDATED: Trump will not escalate the crisis with Iran but talked tough, while inviting NATO to take over at least part of U.S. role in the region. SHARE The Media's Obsession With Personalities Roger Stone is playing a key role in the Democrats' attempt to revive the discredited "collusion" story, writes Joe Lauria. Wednesday, November 6, 2019Roger Stone is playing a key role in the Democrats' attempt to revive the discredited "collusion" story, writes Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Judge Denies Assange Extension on Extradition Hearing A judge at a hearing in London has denied the WikiLeaks' publisher more time to prepare his defense, while a group of Australian politicians coalesce around a demand to return Julian Assange home. Monday, October 21, 2019A judge at a hearing in London has denied the WikiLeaks' publisher more time to prepare his defense, while a group of Australian politicians coalesce around a demand to return Julian Assange home. SHARE New Yorker goes for Trump's Jugular but Airbrushes Biden's Corruption A leading New Yorker writer omits crucial facts to run interference for Joe Biden against serious allegations of corruption in Ukraine, writes Joe Lauria. Thursday, October 10, 2019A leading New Yorker writer omits crucial facts to run interference for Joe Biden against serious allegations of corruption in Ukraine, writes Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Democrats Blowing on Embers With a Politicized Mueller Robert Mueller appeared to have difficulty understanding and answering questions during his day-long hearings on Wednesday but snapped to attention to make political points, says Joe Lauria. Friday, July 26, 2019Robert Mueller appeared to have difficulty understanding and answering questions during his day-long hearings on Wednesday but snapped to attention to make political points, says Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Assange to Face 5-Day Extradition Hearing in February 2020 Decision on Assange's fate will not come for at least another eight months. Friday, June 14, 2019Decision on Assange's fate will not come for at least another eight months. (3 comments) SHARE Tide of Public Opinion is Turning in Assange's Favor Corporate media and some politicos who opposed Assange after the 2016 election have radically changed their tune, favorably influencing public opinion after the Espionage Act indictment of the WikiLeak's founder, reports Joe Lauria. Monday, May 27, 2019Corporate media and some politicos who opposed Assange after the 2016 election have radically changed their tune, favorably influencing public opinion after the Espionage Act indictment of the WikiLeak's founder, reports Joe Lauria. (13 comments) SHARE The Pathology of John Bolton John Bolton has been saying for years he wants the Iranian government overthrown, and now he's made his move. But this time he may have gone too far, writes Joe Lauria. Thursday, May 23, 2019John Bolton has been saying for years he wants the Iranian government overthrown, and now he's made his move. But this time he may have gone too far, writes Joe Lauria. (1 comments) SHARE Sweden Reopens 9-Year Old Rape Investigation Against Julian Assange; Seeks His Arrest and Extradition The Swedish prosecuting authority announced at a Stockholm press conference Monday that Sweden would seek Assange's extradition from Britain to face investigation on a nearly decade-old allegation of sexual assault. Tuesday, May 14, 2019The Swedish prosecuting authority announced at a Stockholm press conference Monday that Sweden would seek Assange's extradition from Britain to face investigation on a nearly decade-old allegation of sexual assault. SHARE Media Serve the Governors, Not the Governed Consolidation of media ownership has increased obedience of desperate journalists; entertainment divisions have taken over news departments; and careerist reporters live vicariously through the power of those they cover, rejecting the press' unique power to hold those officials to account. Monday, March 4, 2019Consolidation of media ownership has increased obedience of desperate journalists; entertainment divisions have taken over news departments; and careerist reporters live vicariously through the power of those they cover, rejecting the press' unique power to hold those officials to account. SHARE Watch the 12th Vigil for Julian Assange Here Consortium News broadcast the 12th Unity4J online vigil for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange on Friday, hosted by Consortium News Editor Joe Lauria. Saturday, January 12, 2019Consortium News broadcast the 12th Unity4J online vigil for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange on Friday, hosted by Consortium News Editor Joe Lauria. Page 1 of 3 First Last Back Next 2 3 View All Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity Search Title Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Page 1 of 11 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All (4 comments) SHARE Nuke power at the brink of bankruptcy, war, apocalypse With war coming right at them ALL reactors need to be shut NOW before they ignite the next apocalypse. Tuesday, February 22, 2022With war coming right at them ALL reactors need to be shut NOW before they ignite the next apocalypse. SHARE As Roe Dies, How Many "Pro-Life" Cultists Will Celebrate the Death Penalty While Refusing Masks and Vaccinations? Right-wing hypocrites are lining up for an expected Supreme Court nullification of Roe v. Wade. As restrictive anti-abortion state laws head to the six anti-choice fanatics on the Court, the Trump Cult's simultaneous attack on anti-virus vaccination grows ever-more stunning in its hypocrisy. Sunday, July 25, 2021Right-wing hypocrites are lining up for an expected Supreme Court nullification of Roe v. Wade. As restrictive anti-abortion state laws head to the six anti-choice fanatics on the Court, the Trump Cult's simultaneous attack on anti-virus vaccination grows ever-more stunning in its hypocrisy. (5 comments) SHARE Collapsed Florida Condo Sends a Giant Nuke Warning he horrifying collapse of a south Florida condo should alarm us all about the next reactor catastrophe. Tuesday, June 29, 2021he horrifying collapse of a south Florida condo should alarm us all about the next reactor catastrophe. (6 comments) SHARE The All-Out War on Voting Rights Has Gone Nuclear The GOP Trump Cult has lost the American public. So now it's denying citizens of youth and color the right to vote. Thursday, March 4, 2021The GOP Trump Cult has lost the American public. So now it's denying citizens of youth and color the right to vote. SHARE The Once-Proud New Yorker Soils Itself in Radioactive Offal For decades, The New Yorker has set a high bar for journalistic excellence. But in a breathless, amateurish pursuit of atomic energy, the editorial staff has leapt into a sad sinkhole of radioactive mediocracy. Monday, February 22, 2021For decades, The New Yorker has set a high bar for journalistic excellence. But in a breathless, amateurish pursuit of atomic energy, the editorial staff has leapt into a sad sinkhole of radioactive mediocracy. (18 comments) SHARE On January 5th and 6th, Democracy Won, Fascism Lost The voters of Georgia chose a black preacher and a Jewish filmmaker to successfully flip the empowered majority of the United States Senate. The vote merged an epic demographic shift with a massive grassroots election protection movement to remake our nation. Friday, February 12, 2021The voters of Georgia chose a black preacher and a Jewish filmmaker to successfully flip the empowered majority of the United States Senate. The vote merged an epic demographic shift with a massive grassroots election protection movement to remake our nation. SHARE The Empire Strikes Back (Part One): The Largest Voter Suppression Campaign in US History Is Underway Was The Republican Party's post 2020 state-by-state assault on voting rights has begun with the demand that all mailed-in paper ballots include photo ID. The Jim Crow racism is beyond obvious. Monday, February 8, 2021Was The Republican Party's post 2020 state-by-state assault on voting rights has begun with the demand that all mailed-in paper ballots include photo ID. The Jim Crow racism is beyond obvious. (21 comments) SHARE Will a Hitlerian Impeachment Performance Ignite Trump's Paramilitary Death Squads? No matter how badly Trump comports himself in the eyes of his haters, his cultist legions will lap up every drop of insane blather. Once back in the spotlight, Donald Trump need merely open his mouth and the madness will march. Friday, February 5, 2021No matter how badly Trump comports himself in the eyes of his haters, his cultist legions will lap up every drop of insane blather. Once back in the spotlight, Donald Trump need merely open his mouth and the madness will march. SHARE Our "Schmuck" Godfather Threatens Us All In his infamous one-hour shakedown of Georgia's Secretary of State, wise-guy Donald Trump TWICE calls himself a "schmuck." It's a gross undershot. Friday, January 8, 2021In his infamous one-hour shakedown of Georgia's Secretary of State, wise-guy Donald Trump TWICE calls himself a "schmuck." It's a gross undershot. (12 comments) SHARE Why the Failed Fascist Coup of 1933 Could Succeed in 2021 Trump could never be a "loser." The "fake election" was "stolen" by radicals, socialists, communists...not to mention gays, uppity women (re: Kamala Harris), immigrants, "genetically inferior" people of color, "millions" of whom voted with "fake ballots." Thursday, December 10, 2020Trump could never be a "loser." The "fake election" was "stolen" by radicals, socialists, communists...not to mention gays, uppity women (re: Kamala Harris), immigrants, "genetically inferior" people of color, "millions" of whom voted with "fake ballots." SHARE Trump Got Dumped by Paper Ballots, Millennials ... and "Socialism" The demand for hand-cast/hand-counted paper ballots has been at the core of the Election Protection movement since Florida 2000. Getting a paper ballot to all registered voters is now the gold standard for our democratic elections. Tuesday, December 1, 2020The demand for hand-cast/hand-counted paper ballots has been at the core of the Election Protection movement since Florida 2000. Getting a paper ballot to all registered voters is now the gold standard for our democratic elections. (10 comments) SHARE Trump Is US History's Biggest Loser Donald Trump will not be re-inaugurated on January 20, 2021. For the rest of human history, the overthrow of Donald Trump can serve as a shining example of an angry public successfully disposing of a despicable tyrant. Sunday, November 15, 2020Donald Trump will not be re-inaugurated on January 20, 2021. For the rest of human history, the overthrow of Donald Trump can serve as a shining example of an angry public successfully disposing of a despicable tyrant. (43 comments) SHARE Postmaster General DeJoy Defies Federal Judge as Mail-In Ballots Surge for Biden As the battle for the presidency boils down to uncounted mailed-in ballots, Trump's deconstruction of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has taken center stage. Thursday, November 5, 2020As the battle for the presidency boils down to uncounted mailed-in ballots, Trump's deconstruction of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has taken center stage. (4 comments) SHARE Trump's Attacks on Mail-In Voting in Las Vegas Could End Up at the Supreme Court The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans have asked a state court to stop Nevada from counting its mailed-in ballots in the diverse Las Vegas/Clark County jurisdiction. The suit joins a wide range of GOP attempts to shut down the counting of such votes in swing states like Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida. Friday, October 30, 2020The Trump campaign and Nevada Republicans have asked a state court to stop Nevada from counting its mailed-in ballots in the diverse Las Vegas/Clark County jurisdiction. The suit joins a wide range of GOP attempts to shut down the counting of such votes in swing states like Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida. (12 comments) SHARE Will Trump Collect His Pardon and Flee Like a Virus? As a dictator-to-be, Trump may be done. He's the second White Supremacist president brought down by a virus he helped spread. He's the second mobster-in-chief desperate for a pardon to stay out of prison. Saturday, October 3, 2020As a dictator-to-be, Trump may be done. He's the second White Supremacist president brought down by a virus he helped spread. He's the second mobster-in-chief desperate for a pardon to stay out of prison. SHARE Vote Early. Vote Now! By Hand. On Paper. Be a Poll Worker and Protect This Election! Saving our democracy and our ability to survive on this planet demands a protected election and a well-prepared aftermath. That means ALL OF US!! Monday, September 14, 2020Saving our democracy and our ability to survive on this planet demands a protected election and a well-prepared aftermath. That means ALL OF US!! SHARE How to Save 2020: The Grassroots Emergency Election Protection "Trifecta" Action Guide The 2020 election is not likely to be cancelled or postponed. But it CAN be sabotaged or stolen. It will not be enough this year merely to register and vote. Nowhere near. Friday, August 14, 2020The 2020 election is not likely to be cancelled or postponed. But it CAN be sabotaged or stolen. It will not be enough this year merely to register and vote. Nowhere near. SHARE The 2020 Election Demands 3-Way Protection and a Nationwide Grassroots EP Upheaval The 2020 election will be decided by 3 factors: Registration Rolls, Vote by Mail, and Ballot Counting. How effectively a national grassroots election-protection upheaval can affect them will decide the fate of the Earth. Wednesday, July 1, 2020The 2020 election will be decided by 3 factors: Registration Rolls, Vote by Mail, and Ballot Counting. How effectively a national grassroots election-protection upheaval can affect them will decide the fate of the Earth. (1 comments) SHARE Trump's Mis-Judgement at Tulsa/Nuremberg Just Might Doom Him Just one thing could still save the Trump dictatorship: a stolen election. Without mass public support, it's unlikely he can cancel this fall's balloting. But in league with gerrymandered swing-state legislatures, he can strip the voter rolls, subvert vote-by-mail and rig the vote count. Tuesday, June 23, 2020Just one thing could still save the Trump dictatorship: a stolen election. Without mass public support, it's unlikely he can cancel this fall's balloting. But in league with gerrymandered swing-state legislatures, he can strip the voter rolls, subvert vote-by-mail and rig the vote count. (7 comments) SHARE Who Will Confront Trump's KKK/Gestapo at the Polls This Fall? Trump's GOP has already raised $20 million for anti-democracy lawsuits. While claiming the fall election will be "rigged," Trump's minions say they'll raise a 50,000-strong vigilante army to terrorize "suspicious" (i.e., young, non-white, non-millionaire) voters at the polls Friday, June 5, 2020Trump's GOP has already raised $20 million for anti-democracy lawsuits. While claiming the fall election will be "rigged," Trump's minions say they'll raise a 50,000-strong vigilante army to terrorize "suspicious" (i.e., young, non-white, non-millionaire) voters at the polls Page 1 of 11 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All Articles Listed By Date List By Popularity Search Title Date Between Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 and Any 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Any 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Page 1 of 12 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All SHARE It's a fairytale that world governments will fix our climate crisis. It's up to us It looks as if the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels will be mentioned in a Cop document for the first time, and that there will be more money for nations of the global south to "adapt" to the climate crisis. Thursday, November 18, 2021It looks as if the phasing out of coal and subsidies for fossil fuels will be mentioned in a Cop document for the first time, and that there will be more money for nations of the global south to "adapt" to the climate crisis. SHARE It's easy to feel pessimistic about the climate. But we've got two big things on our side We are staggering and stumbling towards the real follow-up to Paris, starting 31 October in Glasgow. The international order, such as it is, is held together with baling wire and duct tape. Wednesday, October 20, 2021We are staggering and stumbling towards the real follow-up to Paris, starting 31 October in Glasgow. The international order, such as it is, is held together with baling wire and duct tape. (1 comments) SHARE Climate activists are being killed for trying to save our planet. There is a way to help That we have to fight simply to get our leaders to pay attention to science is frustrating, but there's a big difference between fighting and dying: the names of these activists should be on our lips and in our hearts. We owe them debts that can't be repaid -- only paid forward. Monday, September 13, 2021That we have to fight simply to get our leaders to pay attention to science is frustrating, but there's a big difference between fighting and dying: the names of these activists should be on our lips and in our hearts. We owe them debts that can't be repaid -- only paid forward. (1 comments) SHARE Joe Biden's Solar Plan and the Prescience of Jimmy Carter he Biden Administration's announcement of a plan that could set the country on a course to generate 45 percent of its electricity from solar panels by mid-century might someday be remembered as one of those moments that mattered. Thursday, September 9, 2021he Biden Administration's announcement of a plan that could set the country on a course to generate 45 percent of its electricity from solar panels by mid-century might someday be remembered as one of those moments that mattered. (1 comments) SHARE Slow-Walking the Climate Crisis Big Oil and its allies in government and the financial world are doing with the climate crisis -- in fact, at this point, it's the heart of the problem. Sunday, August 29, 2021Big Oil and its allies in government and the financial world are doing with the climate crisis -- in fact, at this point, it's the heart of the problem. SHARE Are We Finally Ready to Tackle the Other Greenhouse Gas? I've long felt that one of my great failings as a climate communicator has come in trying to get across the dangers posed by methane, the second most damaging greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. Despite long years of many people trying to underscore the risks of methane, our go-to shorthand for climate pollution remains "carbon." Monday, August 23, 2021I've long felt that one of my great failings as a climate communicator has come in trying to get across the dangers posed by methane, the second most damaging greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. Despite long years of many people trying to underscore the risks of methane, our go-to shorthand for climate pollution remains "carbon." SHARE The U.N. Climate Panel Tries to Cut Through the Smog Inbox+++ We all live in two worlds: a physical one and a social one. The new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is ostensibly about the physical world. It states, clearly and forcefully that humans are wrecking that physical world. Setting it on fire. Tuesday, August 17, 2021We all live in two worlds: a physical one and a social one. The new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is ostensibly about the physical world. It states, clearly and forcefully that humans are wrecking that physical world. Setting it on fire. (1 comments) SHARE It's Not the Heat, It's the Damage We understand about how much the temperature is going to rise if we keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This has been the central scientific preoccupation for more than three decades, translating gigatons of carbon and methane into degrees of warming, and researchers have got it more or less right Sunday, August 8, 2021We understand about how much the temperature is going to rise if we keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This has been the central scientific preoccupation for more than three decades, translating gigatons of carbon and methane into degrees of warming, and researchers have got it more or less right SHARE No, Alberta, Don't Be Sad. We Love You. Really. Lay aside for the moment the devastation caused by mining the sludgy tar sands for oil. There's no way that a country with less than one percent of the world's population can lay claim to more than a quarter of the atmosphere. Alberta started feeling pressure with the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have run from the tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. Thursday, July 29, 2021Lay aside for the moment the devastation caused by mining the sludgy tar sands for oil. There's no way that a country with less than one percent of the world's population can lay claim to more than a quarter of the atmosphere. Alberta started feeling pressure with the battle over the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have run from the tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. (1 comments) SHARE We Need the "Whole-of-Government" Climate Fight That Biden Promised It's frightening, both for what feels like a rapid acceleration in the pace of the planet's heating and for what feels like a slowdown in a few key corners of the Biden Administration's attempts to take its measure. Thursday, July 15, 2021It's frightening, both for what feels like a rapid acceleration in the pace of the planet's heating and for what feels like a slowdown in a few key corners of the Biden Administration's attempts to take its measure. SHARE The World Speeds Up -- and We Slow Down The heat has moved to the Northwest and to Canada, where a heat dome is rewriting the record book, day after day, with temperatures that take cities from Portland to Calgary into uncharted territory. Wednesday, July 7, 2021The heat has moved to the Northwest and to Canada, where a heat dome is rewriting the record book, day after day, with temperatures that take cities from Portland to Calgary into uncharted territory. SHARE It's Not the Heat -- It's the Humanity We're not collections of constructs or ideas or images or demographics but collections of arteries and organs and muscles, and those are designed to operate within a finite range of temperatures. Friday, June 25, 2021We're not collections of constructs or ideas or images or demographics but collections of arteries and organs and muscles, and those are designed to operate within a finite range of temperatures. (4 comments) SHARE Automakers Start to Figure Out the Climate Future Many of the changes needed to get us on the right climate path are going to meet with resistance, but it's beginning to look as if getting people to accept electric vehicles may not be one of them. Thursday, June 3, 2021Many of the changes needed to get us on the right climate path are going to meet with resistance, but it's beginning to look as if getting people to accept electric vehicles may not be one of them. SHARE Big Oil's Bad, Bad Day In what may be the most cataclysmic day so far for the traditional fossil-fuel industry, a remarkable set of shareholder votes and court rulings have scrambled the future of three of the world's largest oil companiess. Friday, May 28, 2021In what may be the most cataclysmic day so far for the traditional fossil-fuel industry, a remarkable set of shareholder votes and court rulings have scrambled the future of three of the world's largest oil companiess. SHARE It's Time to Kick Gas Despite the pandemic lockdown, 2020 saw the largest single increase in methane in the atmosphere since we started taking measurements, in the 1980's. Friday, May 14, 2021Despite the pandemic lockdown, 2020 saw the largest single increase in methane in the atmosphere since we started taking measurements, in the 1980's. (1 comments) SHARE Climate Anxiety Makes Good Sense Even as we begin to emerge from the stress of the pandemic year, mental-health professionals are noting a steady uptick in a different form of anxiety -- the worry over climate change and the future that it will bring. Thursday, May 6, 2021Even as we begin to emerge from the stress of the pandemic year, mental-health professionals are noting a steady uptick in a different form of anxiety -- the worry over climate change and the future that it will bring. SHARE Biden's Earth Day Climate Pledge for 2030 Will Define His Presidency Biden's Administration, after committing to delivering a hundred million vaccine doses in its first hundred days, managed to double the goal and then some. That strategy is politically savvy, especially coming on the heels of a President who did precisely the opposite at every opportunity. Tuesday, April 27, 2021Biden's Administration, after committing to delivering a hundred million vaccine doses in its first hundred days, managed to double the goal and then some. That strategy is politically savvy, especially coming on the heels of a President who did precisely the opposite at every opportunity. SHARE How 1.5 Became the Key to Climate Progress As we near the end of President Biden's first 100 days, 40 world leaders are scheduled to join him for a virtual summit on climate change. Thursday, April 22, 2021As we near the end of President Biden's first 100 days, 40 world leaders are scheduled to join him for a virtual summit on climate change. SHARE No More Halfsies on Climate We're reaching the endgame on the climate crisis, as news from both poles made clear this week. We're in a desperate race against the destruction of the planet's life-support systems. So nobody gets cut any slack. Thursday, April 15, 2021We're reaching the endgame on the climate crisis, as news from both poles made clear this week. We're in a desperate race against the destruction of the planet's life-support systems. So nobody gets cut any slack. (1 comments) SHARE Finally, Green Infrastructure Spending in an Amount That Starts with a "T" The U.S. federal government is proposing to spend a sum of money that starts with a "T" on an infrastructure bill, and much of that money (two trillion dollars) is aimed at fighting the climate crisis. Thursday, April 8, 2021The U.S. federal government is proposing to spend a sum of money that starts with a "T" on an infrastructure bill, and much of that money (two trillion dollars) is aimed at fighting the climate crisis. Page 1 of 12 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All Communist Party India (Maoist)- shimmering torch of Revolution against all odds C.P.I. (Maoist) shimmering torch of Revolution against all odds By Harsh Thakor The Communist Party India (Maoist) formed in 2004 with... Earth Day NOT well attended in Wichita this year From Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner; This years Earth Day events were kind of disappointingnot because the events werent ... Philippines-NPA launches offensives in Samar From http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/MAOIST_REVOLUTION NPA Eastern Visayas (Efren Martires Command) August 12, 2011 The Efren Martires C... Bourgeois press admits there are still communists in the world today A few articles in the US mainstream press have dared to venture into the questions "Why would anyone today want to be a commun... KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan stepped down ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan stepped down and sent his resignation to the president on Monday. According to a Prime Ministers House official, Khan had tendered his resignation, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wanted him to continue. Khan wanted to contest the 2018 general election; therefore, he must resign at least two years before the election, the official said. A senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader confirmed that the prime minister had acceded Khans resignation. It may be noted that Khan took oath as the KP governor on April 14, 2014. Detailing his achievements, Khan said the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were in a chaotic condition when he was sworn in as a governor. He said that he made a pledge to restore the civil structure, give a foolproof system to the tribal areas and remove their backwardness. He said that sending the displaced people back was a challenging job, which he had done to the satisfaction of the tribal people. He said that development process began in FATA after successful launch of the military operation. He acknowledged the support of the provincial government and the Punjab government that made him fulfil his responsibilities in a smooth manner. Before assuming his office, he said, the FATA uplift programme was lopsided and he put it in the right direction by conducting credible household data survey and income indicators assessment. He said that even the foreign donors and agencies had appreciated his resolve to put the things on the right track. He mentioned the commission made for FATA administrative reforms. Maulana Aziz decision to withdraw murder case against Musharraf is against Sharia: Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation ISLAMABAD: Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation has termed Maulana Abdul Azizs decision to withdraw the murder case against former president Pervez Musharraf against the spirit of Sharia. The foundation held a meeting in Lal Masjid on Monday and declared that Maulana Aziz had imposed a clergy dictatorship on his family to hide the tyranny of a military dictator. The meeting was followed by a press conference at the same place where a day earlier Maulana Aziz had addressed mediapersons and pardoned everybody responsible for the 2007 military operation on the mosque and the attached seminary, Jamia Hafsa. Though the chairperson of Shuhada Foundation is Ume Hasaan, the wife of Maulana Aziz who was sitting beside her husband at the time of his media talk, the other office-bearers of the foundation, including its president Tariq Asad advocate, are opposing the decision. This decision is against Sharia and we would like Maulana Abdul Aziz to take it back, Mr Asad said, adding: Maulana Aziz is talking about the implementation of Sharia in the country but his own acts are contrary to the principles of Sharia. He said he and Shuhada Foundation never bowed to any pressure or offer by anybody, including the former military dictator. Mr Asad said the former general himself had wanted the Shuhada Foundation to take back the murder case of Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi but we declined to accept his demand. The dictator was even ready to submit a public apology and made four other offers but we rejected them, he claimed. The other three offers as stated by Mr Asad were: payment of blood money to the heirs of those killed in the military operation, rebuilding of Jamia Hafsa from his own pocket at its old place - the children library - and to be witness against those who were responsible for the military operation. We rejected it and we announce to continue the legal and constitutional struggle against all those responsible for the military operation on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in 2007, Mr Asad said. The Shuhada Foundation also announced to lodge a fresh FIR against Gen Musharraf and other military officers of that time, the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and other cabinet members for the 2007 military operation. Pak-American travelled India seven times to scout targets: Indian Court NEW DELHI: A Pakistani-American who helped plan a 2008 attack on India's financial hub told a court on Monday that he travelled to India seven times to scout potential targets. David Coleman Headley gave the Indian court in Mumbai details of his role in planning the Mumbai attack, in which more than 160 people were killed over three days when a group of 10 men rampaged across the city. Headley repeated statement that he has made earlier that Pakistan's main spy agency was allegedly involved in planning the attack's preparations and execution. Headley said he supplied his handlers in the Lashkar-i-Taiba with videos and maps of luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and the city's main railway station that were attacked, Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam told reporters after Monday's five hours of testimony. Headley testified that Lashkar-i-Taiba had tried to launch attacks in India twice earlier without success, said Nikam, who questioned him. The third attempt was the November 2008 attack, Headley said. Nikam said Headley told the court that in one attempt, a boat in which the men were travelling overturned after hitting rocks and their weapons were lost at sea. Headley said he joined Lashkar-i-Taiba in 2002 and he and other recruits allegedly underwent many years of training in Pakistan, where they were reportedly taught the use of weapons and bomb making. Headley, born of a Pakistani father and an American mother, told the court that his name was Dawood Gilani, but he changed it to David Coleman Headley in 2006 to facilitate his travel to India. Nikam said Headley used his US passport to travel frequently to India without raising suspicion and was able to give Lashkar-i-Taiba information that was used to plan and carry out the attack. He said Headley told the court that officials from Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence were allegedly involved. Pakistan, however, insists that ISI has no links to Lashkar-i-Taiba and denies any connection to the Mumbai attack. Nikam told reporters that Headley has given us valuable information, but declined to comment on the testimony about ISI, saying it was up to the government of India to take it up with the government of Pakistan. Headley testified by video conference from an undisclosed location in the United States, where he is serving a 35-year prison term for his role in the Mumbai attack. PIA employees are engineered: Govt ISLAMABAD: The government is all but convinced that the recent protests by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees were engineered, and Aviation Secretary Irfan Ellahi has been tasked with determining the factors that contributed to the complete collapse of national airlines operations. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the aviation secretary at a top-level meeting on Monday to carry out an inquiry, an aide to the prime minister told reporers. The inquiry, the aide explained, centred around the role of top PIA management officials, who panicked, instead of standing their ground in the face of the protesting Joint Action Committee (JAC). The government is in possession of evidence, which clearly suggests that a few senior management officials were hand-in-glove with the JAC in bringing the national flag carriers operations to a grinding halt. However, a formal investigation is necessary in order to proceed against those responsible, the aide said. The absence of key directors, coupled with the sudden resignation of PIA Chairman Nasser Jaffer, smacks of conspiracy, which the government intends to unearth through this investigation, the aide said. Mondays meeting was attended by Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Aviation Division Secretary Irfan Ellahi, PMs Adviser on Aviation Shujaat Azeem, Senator Mushahidullah Khan and Privatisation Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair. Mr Zubair, who also met JAC representatives over the weekend, did not have the mandate to do so, contended a senior government official privy to the meeting. He added that the PM didnt like the idea of Mr Zubair meeting JAC members. The head of the Privatisation Commission, the official said, was part of a new crop that had emerged within the ruling party lately, who could be categorised as being more loyal than the king. The official said that while Mr Zubair mightve thought that bringing protesting PIA employees back to work would be a feather in his cap, but events transpired otherwise. However, Mr Zubair insisted that he had the PMs blessing to meet the JAC members. I met them on the orders of the PM. Since it is a sensitive issue, I could not have gone ahead with the meeting without the PMs say-so, he told media men. Separately, when asked about the governments possible plan to create a new state-run airline, a sitting PML-N lawmaker who is privy to the developments told Dawn that the government had long planned to raise a new airline, which could either be a PIA subsidiary or a new organisation. The proposal is there, but only time will tell how the aviation division plans to put some meat on the bare bones of this ambitious plan. Meanwhile, the government was able to manage partial resumption of flight operations, mainly from the northern sector. PIA spokesperson Daniyal Gillani told reporers that over the past couple of days, over 30 flights both domestic and international had taken off from Islamabad and Lahore airports. The northern sector, PIA claims, constitutes 70 per cent of the airlines total operations. So far, Mr Gillani said, only one flight had taken off from Karachi airport because JAC members were threatening employees who wished to return to work. However, the government was providing security to employees who returned, he said. Wife of Uzair Baloch approached HSC KARACHI: The wife of Uzair Baloch, a leader of the Lyari gang warfare and chief of the proscribed Peoples Amn Committee, on Monday approached the Sindh High Court seeking her and other family members meeting with her spouse who is in Rangers custody. Ms Samina filed a constitutional petition through her attorney, Advocate Saify Ali Khan, asking the court to also allow her counsel to have an exclusive meeting with the alleged leader of the gangland on a weekly basis. Advocate Saify told reporters that the petition would come up for preliminary hearing on Tuesday before a two-judge bench. The petitioner alleged that her husbands father, Faiz Mohammad Baloch, had been kidnapped and murdered by a militant wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Arshad Puppu. She said her husband was later booked in a false case when he started struggling to lodge an FIR against the murderers of his father. The petitioner said various human rights organisations indicated that violence in Karachi could either be due to incompetence of the government or some hidden hands. Later, she said, a large number of criminal cases against political figures were registered on political grounds. The petitioner said Uzair gained popularity which was unacceptable to the Pakistan Peoples Party top leadership after he did not accept the nomination of Owais Muzaffar Tappi as an MNA from Lyari. She said the PPP joined hands with the MQM to eliminate Peoples Amn committee and its leadership and her husband was booked in several cases. However, the Sindh government later withdrew the cases, which was ample proof that the cases were false. The petitioner said her husband left the country to save his life, as he was not acceptable to the PPP leadership. She said the federal government issued red warrants for the arrest of her husband without adopting due legal process. She said her husband was arrested at Dubai airport on Dec 27, 2014 while he was travelling with his family to Muscat. Since then, she said, she did not have any knowledge about her husband and she saw his appearance over a week ago on Jan 30 before the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts. The petitioner asked the SHC to direct the Rangers to allow her, her mother-in-law and other family members to meet Uzair who is confined at Mitharam Hostel, a sub-jail being used by the paramilitary Rangers. She further asked the court to direct the paramilitary personnel to arrange medical check-ups and facilities for her husband as and when required. She also requested the court to allow her counsel to visit Uzair Baloch on a weekly basis to obtain instructions from him. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... It has taken a watchdog outside group, the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, to ferret out this waste. The coalition, driven by its sharp curiosity, frequently uses the Maryland Public Information Act to request public records and keep track of district decisions and spending. We commend the coalition for its important work on this front. It is saving county residents money as inappropriate spending has been uncovered. July 16, 2014 a carefully researched scoop on news not usually available on any other media channel or in many cases noted before it appears in conventional media from an insiders perspective. The views are that of the author and are not guided by any other person or organization. A truly unique and independent opinion of SRI LANKA TODAY A journey that no one wants to experience but I hope it keeps family & friends up to date on my battle with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). Sometimes it's humorous, sometimes it's serious, but most of all, I hope it shows how much God is with me through this journey. The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours More than 70 percent of the guests had their visa applications denied [Marc Braibant/AFP] T... Time for Philly to pat itself on the back once again, because Lonely Planet just named it 2016's best city to visit in the U.S. The travel site recently released its annual list for the sixth time, and this time Philadelphia is at the very top. Only nine other U.S. places made the list, including Yellowstone National Park, Alaska, and southern New Mexico, to name a few. The list is curated by Lonely Planet's editors and travel writers. Here's what Lonely Planet had to say about our awesome city: Visited by Pope Francis, hosting the Democratic National Convention in July, and freshly crowned as the US's first and only World Heritage City (joining the ranks of Cairo, Paris and Jerusalem), Philly's on a roll. NYC's more neighborly neighbor is experiencing a transformation to its urban core, as many US cities are right now. Craft breweries? Check. Hot new locavore restaurants? Big check. But Philadelphia is steadfastly managing to retain its historic roots and gritty flavor, as well as its affordability a pleasant surprise for a city so cosmopolitan and accessible. Hands up to the sky, Rocky fans: celebrate the film's 40th anniversary in 2016 with a sprint up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Way to be, Philly! Best in the U.S. [Lonely Planet] Philadelphia Named First World Heritage City in the U.S. [Curbed Philly] Why Philly's Rental Market is Killing It Right Now [Curbed Philly] Phuket, 8th February 2016 Phukets yachting scene is looking forward to Andaman Cruises lifestyle event called the Blue Party. It will be one of the highlights at the Thailand Yacht Show from 11-14 February. The stylish event will be featured by DJ Romain Pelletti and take place at Ao Po Grand Marina on Saturday, 13th February from 8pm until late. Guests will be able to explore Phukets Most Exciting & Stylish Contemporary Yachts and enjoy great dancing on the pier to the sounds of DJ Romain Pelletti & Fabio Vuotto. Entry is free and a welcome drink will be served. Cocktails, beers and wines will be available at the cash bar. Dr Ai Nguyen performing column chemistry in UQ's world class Radiogenic Isotope Facility (School of Earth Sciences) to separate uranium and thorium isotopes in the coral samples. Credit: Dr Tara Clark The timing of significant Great Barrier Reef coral loss captured by a series of historical photos has been accurately determined for the first time by a University of Queensland)-led study. Professor Jian-xin Zhao from UQ's School of Earth Sciences said the photos were a powerful visual tool often used to highlight the recent decline of the Great Barrier Reef. "These photographs taken from the late 19th Century onwards of two inshore Great Barrier Reef locations near Bowen, Queensland, reveal a dramatic loss of coral cover," Professor Zhao said. "Yet until now no information has been available on when these changes took place, or what caused these changeswhich can lead to the photos being misinterpreted." Using techniques including uranium-thorium dating in UQ's Radiogenic Isotope Laboratory researchers were able to determine when the corals had died with a precision of up to one to two years. "Without the exact timing, the reasons for the loss depicted in the historical photos would have remained speculative," Professor Zhao said. "This technology allows us to link the coral loss to specific physical events." Dr Tara Clark from the School of Earth Sciences said an integrated approach was essential to understanding past ecological changes on coral reefs before modern-day monitoring programs began. Historical and modern photographs of Stone Island taken in a) 1915 (photographer unknown); b) 1994 (photographer A. Elliot Commonwealth of Australia GBRMPA); c) 2012 (photographer H. Markham); and Bramston Reef taken in d) c.1890 (W. Saville-Kent); e) 1994 (photographer A. Elliot Commonwealth of Australia GBRMPA); f) 2012 (photographer T. Clark). Landscape features in the background of the images helped to locate the same sites: Gloucester Island (GI) and Cape Gloucester (CG). Credit: Clark et al. 2016. "It's important to reliably assess the current state of these reefs and whether they are indeed undergoing a decline as a result of human influences," she said. "For Bramston Reef, our results revealed that mortality was more recent than previously thought, coinciding with a big flood event and extreme low tide in 1990-1991 - but showed some recovery by 2012. "Just two kilometres away, Stone Island has shown very little change when similar events first wiped it out in 1918. "The impact of this earlier event was described as though a huge razor had shaved off all the coral growth and it is still like this today. "The reasons why remain speculative and require further investigation. "For Stone Island, which shows little evidence of recovery, any future disturbances may further hinder its ability to bounce back." These findings provide a valuable benchmark for managers to be able to continue monitoring the recovery (or lack thereof) of these reefs. The study, published in Scientific Reports, was conducted by scientists from UQ, James Cook University, and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Explore further Coral death imminent on Great Barrier Reef Even something as simple as a water pump might not work if it requires parts or power not readily available where its installed. Credit: World Bank, CC BY-NC-ND Technology can be a wonderful servant but a terrible master. As we know, its applications are not always beneficial to people or to the environment. Recently we have seen concerns raised around fracking in rural Queensland, nuclear waste, or perceptions of health problems from wind farms in South Australia. The situation in developing countries is just as concerning to many people, where technologies are transferred to communities ostensibly to improve their quality of life, but are often rolled out without consultation with the community. According to electrochemist and pioneer of the "appropriate technology" movement, Amulya Reddy, technology can be compared to genetic material): if placed in a new environment, it will reproduce the society from which it originally came. Humphrey Blackburn, an engineer, commenting on one of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation technologies also warned: It will cease working when parts break, chemicals are not readily available, power fails, the technical expertise is not around, or the financial assets are not reliably available. Clearly, technology needs to be made appropriate to its environment, and to the culture and community it is intended to serve. This has been known for quite some time, but it's still not widely put into practice today. Micro-hydro installations, such as this one in Indonesia, are appropriate for their environment and community needs. Credit: People Centred Economic and Business Institute (Institut Bisnis dan Ekonomi Kerakyatan, IBEKA), Author provided 'Appropriate technology' discovered The notion that technology can fail when airlifted into a different environment resonates with my own experience. When I was teaching in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the 1970s, an attempt was made to "help" the local villagers to pump water using a hydraulic ram. Previously, the women had carried the water from the river. So when the ram failed because it wasn't maintained, the women had to revert to carrying water. This was an example of the university staff determining what the villagers needed without adequate consultation. Soon after that experience, E. F. Schumacher published Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, and the emphasis changed to what was dubbed "appropriate technology". To be appropriate, a technology must be appropriate to the environment, the culture and the economic and educational resources of the people. It should meet the technical, social and economic needs of the community by: being a capital-saving, employment-generating technology; being a small-scale technology; using local materials and energy resources; using existing or easily transferable skills; minimising social and cultural disruption; producing goods appropriate for mass consumption in adequate quantity and acceptable quality; and involving a rational sustained use of the environment. So when a request came from another local PNG village for electricity, a micro-hydro project was initiated in which the villagers contributed to the project with money and labour. Following this, a group came together and produced a book of appropriate technologies for PNG called the "Liklik Buk". The aim of this book was to make people throughout PNG aware of what was available and where help could be obtained. The Liklik Buk espoused the value of appropriate technology when working in the Solomon Islands. Credit: Liklik Buk Information Centre, Author provided Appropriate technology lost and found However, the concept of "appropriate technology" has waned since the 1970s. According to Paul Polak, who runs a company that works with people earning less than US$2 a day: The appropriate technology movement died peacefully in its sleep ten years ago. Launched in 1973 by Fritz Schumacher [] it inspired politicians as different as Pat Brown in California and Jawarhal Nehru in India, thousands of middle-aged dreamers like me and millions of people from all walks of life around the world. [] The appropriate technology movement died because it was led by well-intentioned tinkerers instead of hard-nosed entrepreneurs designing for the market. Instead, the traditional aid model has reigned. Sometimes it works well. In The End of Poverty Jeffrey Sachs suggests that poverty could end in 2025. Sachs' solutions to bring about the end of poverty were what could have been considered appropriate technologies and appropriate techniques: fertilisers, water harvesting, sanitation, small-scale irrigation, improved seeds, antimalarial beds, etc. However, other literature has painted a different picture, where aid and Western intervention utterly fails to address global poverty. One criticism of aid is that there is little incentive for it to succeed because there is little effective feedback, evaluation or accountability with aid projects. Furthermore, as aid agencies like tangible numerical results and glossy photographs, projects featuring prevention are rarely funded as there is no numerical outcome or images of success. Some studies have shown that aid can actually make the situation worse. In her book Dead Aid, economist Dambisa Moyo notes that aid is counterproductive. She quotes a World Bank study that found 85% of aid is misused. She argues that large aid inflows tend to reduce a government's accountability to its citizens. Middle road So there appears to be two opposing views: the bottom-up approach, in which one only responds to what people want, and the top-down approach, where you give people what you think they need. But there is an intermediate approach, in which there are some things that should be given because they are basic human needs, while other things the recipients should be allowed to choose for themselves. We employed such an approach for a project I was involved in in the Solomon Islands. Our contact in the Solomons regularly visits the communities. In Sydney, we established a committee, which consisted of a teacher with experience in the Solomons, a civil engineer, an economist and myself. The communities involved with the project told us they needed clean water, toilets, a community hall and literacy classes. We investigated the groups meeting these needs in other developing countries. The literacy program we designed appeared to work very well and involved participants from both sides of the civil war (1999-2003) in the Solomons working together. Having a grandiose plan and pouring in aid money has not worked as well as many had hoped. Rather than being aid-based, projects should be part of a homegrown market-based development. In the case of the desperately poor, aid can be given until homegrown development reaches them. It would seem that the old style appropriate technology project has essentially died, but a new kind of project with better market orientation, but still very much appropriate, has emerged from the ashes. Explore further Accountability and transparency of foreign aid impact This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Pseudorasbora parva. Credit: IRD / R. Gozlan Small in size but significant in terms of the ecological and economic damage they cause, Asian gudgeon are invading a great number of water courses across the world, particularly in Europe. These fish carry a half-animal/half-fungal parasite, which has very likely been present in China for millions of years and which is fatal to most other fish species. Having discovered this pathogen 10 years ago, IRD researchers and their partners have recently demonstrated how quickly it can spread in a Turkish catchment area. Three years after the arrival of the gudgeon, between 80 and 90% of fish were contaminated, including farmed bass, a species of great economic importance in the Mediterranean. Arriving from China 50 years ago, a small fresh water fish from the carp family, known as the 'Asian gudgeon', has since caused devastation in the rivers of Europe and North Africa. This creature has successfully colonised various aquatic environments due to its highly efficient strategy for reproduction. But most importantly, as demonstrated in a study by the IRD and its partners, published in Emerging Microbes and Infections (Nature), it is propagating a devastating mycosis, a cousin of the well-known chytrid fungus, which has decimated frogs and toads throughout the world over the last few decades. A parasite from another age This small invasive fish is the healthy carrier of a parasite named Sphaerothecum destruens, bordering between the animal and fungal kingdoms. This organism, the type of which was only discovered recently, emerged several million years ago when animals and fungi became differentiated. The research team discovered this parasite in the Asian gudgeon in 2005 and subsequently observed its damaging effects on other fish species under laboratory conditions. A mortality rate of up to 90% To confirm these initial experimental findings and validate their epidemiological models, scientists monitored the wild populations of fresh water fish over a four-year period, from 2009 to 2013, in a catchment area in South-East Turkey. Only three years after the introduction of the Asian gudgeon and its deathly parasite in 2006, all were infected. Between 2009 and 2013, the number of fish fell by 80 to 90%. A long-standing conspiracy Scientists subsequently conducted a phylogenetic analysis of different strains of the pathogen Sphaerothecum destruens, taking samples from the tissue of various family lines of Asian gudgeon in Europe, as well as from infected salmon in the United States. Their findings suggest that the pathogen and its Asian host have been evolving jointly and concurrently for thousands of years. This confirms the origin of the parasite and explains why the Asian gudgeon, which has evolved with it, is not affected. Contaminated sea fish In addition to the serious ecological problem it causes, the Asian gudgeon has an even more worrying potential economic impact: researchers have discovered its parasite in bass cultured in the brackish water of a Turkish aquaculture farm, having previously believed that it could only affect fresh water species. This fish is hugely important in economic terms, with an industry representing 400 million euros per year in the Mediterranean. The research team is sounding the alarm bell. The risk of this disease emerging on a worldwide scale is very real. Animal health organisations and environmental protection agencies will now need to take urgent action to contain the rapid spread of this pathogen across Europe and the rest of the world. More information: Didem Ercan et al. Evidence of threat to European economy and biodiversity following the introduction of an alien pathogen on the fungalanimal boundary, Emerging Microbes & Infections (2015). Journal information: Nature Didem Ercan et al. Evidence of threat to European economy and biodiversity following the introduction of an alien pathogen on the fungalanimal boundary,(2015). DOI: 10.1038/emi.2015.52 Provided by Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement In Canada, about 30 per cent of municipal infrastructure has been assessed as between fair and very poor. Ever have your street repaved one year, only to have it torn up for sewage work shortly afterwards? Municipal blunders like this may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new software developed by researchers at Concordia University in MOntreal. In a paper recently published in the Journal of Construction Engineering Management, former graduate student Khaled Shahata and Tarek Zayed, a professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, describe an innovative method of tracking the many issues involved with the repair and renewal of road, water and sewer networks. "The main problem is that city infrastructure planners often work in silos," says Zayed, the study's senior author. "When the infrastructure shares the same space, the integration of roads, water and waste water is a major planning challenge." By combining a wide variety of variables for water, sewage and road networks, the software developed by Zayed and Shahata breaks down those silos. It identifies risk factors and consequences of a project's failure to map out which areas are most in need of attention, as well as where resources would most effectively allocated. This software solution comes not a moment too soon. "Water supply and sewer systems across North America have reached a point where maintenance and renewal is essential," says Shahata, who conducted the research during his graduate studies at Concordia. He is now an asset management specialist for the City of London, Ontario. "Most of the drinking water infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life," Shahata says. "Forty-two per cent of America's major urban highways are congested, and three-quarters of waste-water systems need pipe repair. It's not much better in Canada, where about 30 per cent of municipal infrastructure has been assessed as between fair and very poor." While infrastructure repair and rehabilitation is constantly underway in cities across the continent, carrying out that work is not always so easy. Issues like shrinking budgets, health risks, environmental concerns and maintenance are major obstacles. Zayed believes the software, which was initially implemented in a pilot project for the City of Guelph, could soon be used by municipalities around the world. "These problems are common in cities around the world," he says. "By using this software, we remove the planning issues that often exist between these separate entities and consider a city's infrastructure issues more holistically. "The end result is a more streamlined repair and rehabilitation process that uses the available budget in the most efficient way possible." Explore further Improved pavement markings can save lives More information: Khaled Shahata et al. Integrated Risk-Assessment Framework for Municipal Infrastructure, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management (2016). Khaled Shahata et al. Integrated Risk-Assessment Framework for Municipal Infrastructure,(2016). DOI: 10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001028 The new caddisfly species Drusus sharrensis is shown in its natural habitat. Credit: Halil Ibrahimi The Republic of Kosovo turns out to be a unique European biodiversity hotspot after a second new species of aquatic insect has been described from the Balkan country. The new caddisfly was discovered by Prof. Halil Ibrahimi from the University of Prishtina, Kosovo, and international research team. They have their finding published in the open-access journal ZooKeys. The new caddisfly species was found during a field trip, undertaken by the scientists in Sharr National Park in Kosovo. The aquatic insect belongs to the highly diverse genus Drusus, which, unfortunately, is under threat of extinction because of the ongoing pollution activities and mismanagement of freshwater ecosystems. Called Drusus sharrensis, the new caddisfly has been named after the mountains where it was found. Thus, it is yet another example for a species, either animal or plant, bearing the same combination of names, and highlighting this range of mountains as a highly rich in rare and endemic species. "Even though just discovered, the species may be already threatened by illegal logging, water extraction from springs, expansion of touristic activities and several other anthropogenic factors," points out the author, "such as limestone and rock quarries operating in the Sharr Mountains in the vicinity of aquatic ecosystems potentially causing severe siltation." "Additionally, recent development of a winter tourism facility at Brezovice, close to the type locality of the new species, may enhance local degradation of terrestrial and, particularly, aquatic ecosystems in the Sharr Mountains," he further explains. "The Brezovica Touristic Centre Development Project was designed by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo with support from the European Union to promote the touristic appeal and thus, economic importance of the area. This project will impact a total area of roughly 3,700 ha." This is the second aquatic insect species discovered from Kosovo for the last twelve months and probably more are to be expected in this highly under-investigated area of the European continent. Explore further Predator from a tank: New water mite genus from bromeliad phytotelmata More information: Halil Ibrahimi et al. Drusus sharrensis sp. n. (Trichoptera, Limnephilidae), a new species from Sharr National Park in Kosovo, with molecular and ecological notes, ZooKeys (2016). Journal information: ZooKeys Halil Ibrahimi et al. Drusus sharrensis sp. n. (Trichoptera, Limnephilidae), a new species from Sharr National Park in Kosovo, with molecular and ecological notes,(2016). DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.559.6350 Wanting to improve the catalysts used in sulfur recovery plants of Pemex Gas and Basic Petrochemicals (PGPB; Pemex is an oiling Mexican company), the Mexican Oil Institute (IMP) developed a titanium dioxide reactivation project implemented in the Claus process. Ph.D. Roberto Garcia, project manager of the Research Directorate of the IMP, explains that the Claus and Super Claus processes reduce sulfur emissions generated by a refinery, using materials called catalysts, which adsorb the chemical element. "Crude oil contains sulfur, and during the transformation processes of hydrocarbon, it is removed; however, the waste needs to be treated with an active catalyst in order to avoid emissions that pollute and can produce acid rain," says the IMP researcher. Titanium oxide catalysts that remove sulfur are used, but over time, they are deactivated and reactivation or replacement is necessary. The research focuses on the catalytic recovery in the Super Claus process. Dr. Cruz is also analyzing which chemicals deactivate the catalyst. He looks for technological alternatives to replace or reuse the wasted material. The innovation could be beneficial for Pemex, because it can cut costs invested in a new catalyst, which is purchased at an average of $ 10k per tonne. The project was divided into three self-sustaining lines of research: reactivation of the titanium oxide catalyst spent during physicochemical processes, treatment for disposal by biotechnological methods, and evaluation of new alternative catalyst formulas. In the first line of reactivation research, titanium oxide catalyst property was recovered by up to 20 percent, avoiding the purchase of a new one. Roberto Garcia de Leon says that in the second line of research, bacteria from sulfur water areas were analyzed and modified to achieve a higher resistance to the chemical element. Furthermore, DNA sequencing was performed for the taxonomic identification of the strain. The biological treatment system proved capable of removing between 91 and hundred percent of the sulfur in the catalyst over a period of 21 to 35 days. Registration and deposit of two bacterial cultures in the German Microbial Culture Collection was also achieved, which yielded a patent and made it available for the Mexican and international companies. The third line of this investigation chose the best catalyst systems for selective oxidation if the sulfur were selected, where three groups were defined: titanium nanotubes, catalytic systems of titanium oxide and mesoporous stabilized materials stabilized. These systems were obtained from the mesoporous material modified with iron, and a series of catalysts from silicon oxide were found. "In this research we removed the chromium in oxidation state 6, which is not friendly to the environment because it can be carcinogenic," said Roberto Garcia. Explore further New material substantially reduces nitrogen from diesel Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America. I just finished Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson," published in 1791, a biography fascinating not only for the character of its subject that is intentionally revealed but also for what it unintentionally reveals about its subject, Johnson, and its author, James Boswell. I read an abridged version, which was nonetheless more than 600 pages, and crammed with minutiae and repetition. Johnson's most remarkable characteristic, according to Boswell, was the wit and insight contained in his conversation, so much of the book -- most of it, really -- is dedicated to transcribing conversations in which Johnson took part. Secondarily, a large portion of the book reprints Johnson's letters to Boswell and to various other people. (Boswell went around to Johnson's friends and acquaintances, before and after Johnson died, collecting his letters.) Johnson comes across as a conversational bully and a boor, although he could be brilliant and funny. Why Boswell had such a deep affection for him is a mystery, although Boswell himself comes across as a callous prig. He has little to no perspective on his good fortune to have been born into wealth, privilege and position; he views women as second-class citizens (if that); and he sees the rich and titled as naturally superior to the poor. All those attitudes were, perhaps, common in his and Johnson's circle, although Johnson was not wealthy. But knowing such attitudes were common in 18th century London doesn't make the men more sympathetic when, for instance, they excuse the dabbling in affairs or sessions with prostitutes of other men in their circle, while condemning as a whore any woman who strays from fidelity to her husband. One thing that jumps out from the book, in comparison with our current times, is that people in the upper class in Britain (Johnson lived in London, where Boswell, who was Scottish, frequently visited him) really were a "leisure class." They didn't seem to have to work much. They rose late and stayed out late and made vocations out of avocations. I also learned it was Johnson who said, Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. He said that when denying that he had been the true author of a letter seeking mercy, ostensibly written by a man convicted of a loan scam who had been sentenced to death. As it turned out, Johnson actually had written the letter, which didn't work. The man, William Dodd, was hanged anyway. I was hearing interviews with Republican candidates Tuesday morning in New Hampshire and they were talking about the terrible crime wave sweeping New England. The perpetrators are mostly white people and many are middle class. They are committing serious felonies, over and over. But the candidates aren't talking about this crime wave in those harsh terms. Instead, they are using words like "addiction" and "problem" and "rehabilitation." The crime wave is the abuse of opioid painkillers and heroin, and it has been met with widespread sympathy and concern, even by conservative politicians. Compare that sympathy and concern with the condemnation and calls for criminal justice crackdowns that met the widespread abuse of crack cocaine, a problem that was centered in urban black communities in the 1980s. I don't recall any conservative politicians -- and very few politicians of any sort -- calling for treatment and rehabilitation then. Instead, the calls were for more police and more arrests, not only of dealers but of users, too. Police forces were strengthened, prison sentences were lengthened and drug addicts were demonized. But now the drug addicts are the sons and daughters of middle America, and the tune has changed. They are committing crimes -- not only in the purchase and use of drugs but in thievery and other crimes linked to their drug use. And yet our view -- the mainstream view -- of the situation is very different now. It's not an urban problem now and it's not a black community problem. It's a problem in the community -- the white, middle-class community -- that makes the rules, and since that is the case, the rules on how we deal with this drug crime wave have changed dramatically. LAKE GEORGE The case of the Lake George man who was charged with criminally negligent homicide in connection with the November car crash death of his friend in their apartment buildings driveway has been postponed indefinitely as lawyers in the case explore plea deal possibilities. Brian K. Deso consented to a pre-plea investigation and agreed to have his case moved from Lake George Town Court to Warren County Court before a grand jury reviewed it. Deso, 50, was charged with criminally negligent homicide after he allegedly ran over 38-year-old Christopher L. Eddy at 78 Mohican St. the morning of Nov. 20. The two had been arguing, and Deso and witnesses told police that Eddy jumped on the hood of a Chevrolet sedan that Deso was driving in reverse when Deso put the car in drive and tried to throw Eddy off the hood. Eddy fell off and Deso drove over him, but Deso said he did not intend to hit him. He was accused of acting with criminal negligence in causing the death of another person, but was not accused of intentionally killing Eddy. Deso and Eddy lived in neighboring apartments in the building and had been arguing over Desos contact with a female friend of Eddys, officials said. Eddy was believed to have been drinking, but police said Deso was sober. Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said her office has been discussing the case with Desos counsel to see if a resolution can be reached without grand jury action. The pre-plea report is part of that process. The Warren County Probation Department will perform the pre-plea investigation, which will result in a report on the defendants background that is submitted to county Judge John Hall and lawyers in the case for use in determining what sentence is appropriate. Deso is being represented by the Warren County Public Defenders Office. Public Defender Marcy Flores could not be reached Monday. There are no court dates scheduled for the case. Deso is free on bail. Criminally negligent homicide is punishable by up to 4 years in state prison. * Penny A. Hargett, 50, of Gansevoort, charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and issued six traffic tickets at 10:48 p.m. on Feb. 7 on Northern Pines Road in Wilton. * David J. Pearce, 36, of Fort Ann, charged with felony aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, misdemeanor DWI and non-criminal unlawful possession of marijuana at 9 p.m. Feb. 7 on Upper Turnpike Road in Granville. * Ryan C. Rose, 24, of Gansevoort, charged with misdemeanor petit larceny at 8:35 p.m. on Feb. 6 at Wal-Mart in Wilton. * Jenelle J. Graham, 25, of South Glens Falls, charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, unlawful possession of marijuana and having a controlled substance out of its container at 8:10 p.m. on Feb. 6 at the Spier Falls state boat launch on Spier Falls Road in Moreau. * Dwayne D. Bussiere, 32, of Hadley, charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both misdemeanors, unlawful possession of marijuana and having a controlled substance out of its container at 8:10 p.m. on Feb. 6 at the Spier Falls state boat launch on Spier Falls Road in Moreau. * Daniel S. Labsherer, 32, of Hudson Falls, charged with misdemeanor promoting prison contraband and non-criminal unlawful possession of marijuana at 2:50 p.m. on Feb. 6 at Washington Correctional Facility in Fort Ann. * Ronald W. Richards, 27, of Corinth, charged with misdemeanor DWI at 6:22 p.m. on Feb. 6 on Route 50 in Saratoga Springs. * Sherri L. McMillan, 41, of South Glens Falls, charged with misdemeanor DWI and issued three traffic tickets at 2:40 a.m. Feb. 6 on William Street in the town of Moreau. * Kenyn T. Shattuck, 24, of Greenfield, charged with misdemeanor DWI at 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 6 on Route 9N in Saratoga Springs. * James C. Hughes, 30, of Lake George, charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and criminal mischief at 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 6 in Lake George. * Jason R. Woodcock, 35, of Gansevoort, charged with misdemeanor DWI at 1:13 a.m. on Feb. 6 on the Northway in Queensbury. * Nicholas J. Groome, 21, of Gansevoort, charged with misdemeanor DWI, non criminal unlawful possession of marijuana and issued traffic tickets at 1:34 a.m. on Feb. 6 on Broad Street in Schuylerville. FORT EDWARD | A Fort Edward man who was arrested in January 2015 for possessing prescription painkillers with intent to sell is headed to state prison for 6.5 years. Lance A. Morehouse, 40, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon in connection with a raid at his then-home on Lott Street. Police seized drugs and an illegal set of brass knuckles. Morehouse has three prior felony drug convictions, so he can not possess any weapons. Morehouse has prior felony drug convictions in Washington and Warren counties in 2000, 2006 and 2011, all of which resulted in state prison sentences. He finished parole in June for the most recent conviction, which came for possession of prescription painkillers with intent to sell. His 2006 conviction stemmed from heroin sales, and the 2000 conviction stemmed from LSD sales. He was initially put on probation for the LSD sales, but violated probation and was sent to prison. Morehouse is to be sentenced Feb. 26 by Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan. He will spend two years on parole after his release. The case was investigated by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and Capital District Drug Task Force. MOREAU The Community Coalition for Family Wellness is stepping up its efforts to get unused prescription medications out of cabinets and away from young people. A survey of 150 young adults ages 18 to 25 found that 6 percent said they used narcotics and 3 percent used tranquilizers. The numbers were 2 percent forheroin and 0 percent for tranquilizers. A total of 66 percent said it is very easy or somewhat easy to obtain prescription pain relievers and stimulants. Fifty percent said they get prescription pain relievers from their own home and 44 percent said they get them from someone elses home, and 48 percent said heroin is easy to obtain. The coalition, which is made up of several community members and organizations, including the South Glens Falls Central School District and the Prevention Council of Saratoga County, is targeting prescription drug and heroin abuse. It has obtained funding through two grants a Partnership for Success grant from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and the Drug Free Communities Support Grant until 2018. James Norton, coordinator for the Partnership for Success Grant, said more needs to be done to get rid of surplus medications besides drug take-back days. He said he has spoken with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration, who said there no longer needs to be a 24-hour police presence to have a medication dropoff box. Coalition members were encouraged by that. It would be nice to have a permanent dropbox in the area where people could get rid of excess prescription drug medications at their leisure, said Jenn Wood, director of coalition development and community outreach. Norton said another concerning statistic is that 18- to 25-year-olds are far more likely to drive high than drunk. He said local police agencies need drug recognition experts so they can make driving while impaired by drugs cases stick. Other initiatives are to increase access to Narcan trainings to prevent overdoses and educate youths and families on addiction, treatment services and recovery options. Its pretty exciting to see some of this come to fruition, Wood said. Kait Downey, youth and data specialist for the coalition, also updated the group on the state of the South High after-prom party. They are still trying to nail down a venue somewhere between the proms location The Sagamore and South Glens Falls. Our junior class really shuns alcohol use, so we think we might have a pretty good number this year, she said. The event would be free of charge to prom attendees. We want to see the kids making safe choices on prom night, she said. Also, Wood is taking over as director of coalition development and community outreach for the Prevention Council of Saratoga County. She replaces the retiring Robin Lyle. The coalition is in the process of filling Woods coalition coordinator position. Meeting Kingsbury Town Board, Monday Top story The town will contact a local antique dealer to assess the value of an 1863 safe that is in the tax office but will not be moved to the new Town Hall because of a lack of space there. Town Clerk Cynthia Bardin said another town employee had suggested to her that the safe may be valuable, and the town should consider selling it. Board members said they felt the value should be appraised, and then they would consider declaring it surplus so they can sell it. Other news Justice Michael Keenan said he will be meeting with a representative of the state court system, along with his clerk and the clerk and justice from Hudson Falls, to discuss the town taking over the village court system in April. He said he has a Feb. 26 meeting scheduled and will also be getting help and suggestions from the Potsdam court clerk. Potsdam went through a similar process. Keenan also talked to the board about when the judges bench should be moved to the new Town Hall and said, if need be, he could hold civil court cases in the Town Hall meeting room. Layne Darfler, the Washington County planning clerk, approached the board about projects for her masters degree at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont. She has permission to bring representatives of solar-power companies to the closed town landfill to see if there is interest in locating a solar farm on the site. She one of the possible projects could result in an additional power source for the town. Her request was approved, with several board members pointing out they had already been approached on similar projects and her work would help with that. Water superintendent Jim Chase said his department wants to contract with Prowler Water Conservation Systems for $1,200 to check for leaks in nine miles of water pipes at the Warren-Washington County Industrial Park. He said there is some concern about leaks, perhaps losing 10 to 15 percent of the water, but he declined to specify a gallon figure. He said the company has been used by Hudson Falls and Glens Falls. The Town Board agreed on the expenditure. First-year Town Supervisor Dana Hogan said he has approached the state Office of the Comptroller to discuss a possible performance audit of the towns financial system, but added he does not expect that will happen. We made the request, and they said they would put us on the list, but the indication that I got is since there are no known issues here, and they are busy in other places, it probably wont happen. The state audits the town yearly, Bromley said, but Hogan noted the performance audit is much more in-depth. Next meeting 7 p.m. Feb. 22, Town Hall. David Sweat. A man commits murder. He is tried and convicted. He is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. He will die a prisoner. Nothing is more severe, with the possible exception of being put to death. This man manages to escape from a maximum security prison. He is captured weeks later. Such as is the American way of justice, this previously convicted murderer is charged, given an attorney and arraigned for the crime of escape. He pleads guilty. Weeks later he is sentenced to 3 to 7 years. I do not see any justice being done here. Isnt the severity of the sentence supposed to be a deterrent to the crime? Does he serve these years in a different jail? Does he wear a different jumpsuit? Does he get different cable channels? If I understand the court-ordered sentencing, he will remain in prison for 3 to 7 years after he dies. Is his decaying body to be the deterrent to future potential escapees? Let them know that after this taxpayer has supported them for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60(?) years, they will spend their final days rotting on their well-paid-for cot within their well-paid-for block walled cell. Tell me that the sentence will run concurrently with his life sentence and then I will truly understand what a waste of my money this fiasco was. On the plus side, maybe hell get that college education so many non-criminal-murder-escape-convicted people cannot be so privileged to acquire. ANOTHER BLOG FROM NEVILLE STEPHENS ON BIBLICAL ESCHATOLOGY. M WAQAR..... "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --Albert Einstein !!! NEWS,ARTICLES,EDITORIALS,MUSIC... Ze chi pe mayeen yum da agha pukhtunistan de.....(Liberal,Progressive,Secular World.)''Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.'' "Weve already seen some of that impact that has a very strong relationship with France in terms of business. But we are going to be taking them to interact with the Cocoa Research Institute and look at some of the products that have been developed and the different ways we can translate them into," she added. READ MORE The French business delegation which is led by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Municipal Council of Bordeaux,will be in the country from February 8-13. The visit is a spin-off from a series of successful meetings held between a group of Ghanaian corporate, municipal and academic delegates and their Paris counterparts during President John Dramani Mahamas trip to France in October, 2015. Other areas of interest for the visiting French business delegation include; agro-business, hospitality and tourism, ICT, education, healthcare, packaging for export , pharmaceuticals , energy, waste management and infrastructure. A statement issued by the GIPC said the visit will provide a unique opportunity to expand the relationship between Ghana and France especially at the small and medium-sized business level, at the municipal and decentralised level and between academic institutions.According to the statement, French companies have already invested in several countries of the West African sub-region and Ghana is no exception. As a matter of fact, being the fourth destination in sub-Saharan Africa for French investors, the presence of French companies in Ghana is ever-increasing. But the CEO of the hospital has justified the increment adding that "The fees and charges as it is now does not cover the cost of electricity; it does not cover the cost of water; it does not cover the cost of painting and refurbishing the hospital; it does not cover the cost of retooling inputs to which we used to work on. "So we are actually in the gradual process of increasing fees and charges to recover the full cost of producing services," he said. According to him, even though increment in cost of care is not a 'palatable' option, "until we have another way to finance healthcare, the only way will be for the user of the care to pay for the services that they consume." The CEO made these known after a tour of the hospital with the Minister of Health, Alex Segbefia following the closure of the three surgical clinics at the hospital. Korle Bu Teaching Hospital released a statement over the weekend saying it has suspended operations at the three clinics under the Department of Surgery, which are the Urology Clinic, General Surgery Clinic and Neurosurgery Clinic. Chief Executive Officer, Gilbert Buckle explained that the three clinics have been closed for almost two years due to human error in procuring some consumables for the facilities. Health Minister, Alex Segbefia toured Korle Bu with the hospital chief executive Dr. Gilbert Buckle on Monday morning, 8 February. Dr Buckle expected the clinics would reopen in October once they have the basic equipment. Monitors, specialised needles, wiring and consumables which the hospital needs have been ordered, he said. Pulse.com.gh visited the hospital which released a statement last week staying the three clinics under the Department of Surgery to be affected are Urology Clinic, General Surgery Clinic and Neurosurgery Clinic. It said the closure would allow for work to be completed in some of the theaters and recovery wards. The hospital said the closed clinics will be rehabilitated and re-equipped to improve the quality of care. Dr Buckle said emergency cases will be attended to but not referrals. He added that the pressure on Korle Bu has been because the ground floor of the main ICU has been closed for renovations and the hospital is short of nurses. He has asked sister hospitals like 37 to help. I think children are the future of Africa. Its very important for us to see that the future of Africa is being developed, is being built, to ensure the sustainability of the community and our country, says Adesua Dozie, Executive Counsel for GE in West Africa. With little sanitation, poor drainage and hardly any access to potable water, the nearly 80 000 residents of Makoko, Nigerias oldest riverine slum, are vulnerable to illness. Slum2School organised a health and education drive for the community on 15 August, and received support from GE colleagues including Dozie. Local residents received typhoid immunisation and malaria testing and treatment, and 10 children received a years funding to attend school. Victor Aworka, a tailor and fishmonger, brought his five-year-old son so that he could receive typhoid immunisation. What made me happy about this [event] is the fact that someone came here to take care of our children, without asking us for any money or anything. Im very happy for my child and I pray for the individuals that put this together, he said. University student Temitope Oku brought his younger brother for testing and immunisation. I really appreciate what you are doing for the community and what you have been doing in the community by providing medical services and also support with education. And today I am happy because we are getting medical checks for free, vaccinations for free for our community. Maria O (11) thoroughly enjoyed the day. Today has been fun, I danced a lot and I have just received mosquito nets for my sibling and me, she said. Timothy Leye (12) enjoyed the educational aspect of the day, including a drama production on typhoid. I learnt not to drink water from the river because it can make us sick. I also liked the dancing and enjoyed the food, he said. The atmosphere is great.happy. I think this represents the true spirit of Africahappiness, joy and resilience no matter what, said Dozie. In Nigeria, malaria accounts for more than 15 per cent of infant mortality, 30 per cent of childhood mortality and 11 per cent of maternal mortality. About half of all Nigerians have had malaria at least once. In Makoko, incidents of typhoid are particularly high. This is a very common problem with countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially because of the lacking infrastructure and a weak medical system to support people. So it is really important that we are able to donate and do something to support people in preventing these diseases, says Omar Wade, chief financial officer for GE Oil & Gas in Nigeria. While NCDs include various chronic conditions, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, of major concern is the growing rate of cancer. Cancer ranks as the third leading cause of death in Kenya, after infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease, accounting for seven per cent of deaths each year. However, as data is limited, the true scale of the problem is unclear. Research shows that at least one-third of cancer cases are preventable. Esophageal cancer is the top cause of all cancer deaths in Kenya. Breast cancer accounts for the highest number of new cancer cases among Kenyan women, and prostate cancer the highest number of cases for men. Stemming the rise of cancer through oncology services is key to winning this battle. The job of treating cancers is made easier by early detection, and monitoring the disease during treatment can go a long way in saving lives. However, there is often a long waiting time for cancer screening services. Some patients wait up to six months for treatment, which may result in the cancer spreading. In response to the epidemic, a new 105-bed cancer hospital is being built in Nairobi, with plans to open by 2017. The Sh2 billion Telsa Cancer Hospital will provide world-class oncology services to patients, offering the latest diagnostic technologies and approaches for improved cancer care, all under one-roof. With the rapid rise of cancer and other forms of non-communicable disease in Kenya, there is a significant opportunity to strengthen health services to improve standards of care. This hospital will help Kenyans across the country many of whom have been financially and emotionally affected by the impact of disease. We will also improve the skills level of medical professionals in our community, said Dr. Daniel Githegi, Chairman of Tesla Cancer of Hospital. As Tesla Cancer Hospitals technology partner, GE Healthcare will provide the latest GE imaging technology, which will help doctors and patients with confidence in diagnosing. The specific imaging technology GE will provide is Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance (MR), Computed Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET / CT). GE will also deliver a comprehensive clinical solution including the installation of Kenyas first cyclotron and the establishment of a Radiopharmacy Unit at the hospital. This pharmacy will allow for the administering of drugs that assist greatly in diagnostics and identifying problems that may exist within a persons body. These drugs can also be used as a form of therapy, particularly for cancer. Through providing diagnostic services that enable the early detection of cancerous tumours, the programme will help tackle Kenyas cancer challenge head-on, said Isiah Okoth, General Manager of GE Healthcare in East Africa. The full-service solution will enable doctors to locate and see tumour presentations and allow physicians to personalise cancer treatments and management decisions. Dr. Gladwell Kiarie, an oncologist with over 20 years of experience in cancer treatment in Kenya and a Technical Adviser with Tesla Cancer Hospital, observed that PET/CT scanner plus its supportive equipment is one of the most sought after diagnostic tools in modern cancer treatment. Having a PET/CT Scan in Kenya will be a positive influence to inbound medical travel and limit outbound medical tourism, said Dr. Kiarie adding that Tesla Cancer Hospital will provide high end diagnostics and management services in collaboration with a strategic oncology partner. Recently Djansi aired her thoughts about the new generation of Nigerian filmmakers in the documentary, likening the pioneering filmmakers to Hitler. Nigerian actress Stella Damasus immediately responded to the statement via her Youtube Channel, stating that Djansi has no right to insult Nollywood. READ MORE:undefined Read below; "I only know a few people as passionate about Nollywood and African cinema as Leila Djansi is. She introduced me to Nollywood and Ghanaian cinema and I have gone ahead to make movies with amazing filmmakers from that industry. Talk of the" with with my dear friend among others and of course. I even hosted the AMAA in 2012. "Jimmy Goes To Nollywood" is a documentary that was made to help the industry, to introduce it to the world even more and address issues concerning an industry that has become one of the most lucrative industries in Africa today, employing many. The hoopla surrounding Leila Djansi's commentary in the video is genuine for an industry that many are passionate about but, it has been misunderstood. It is a misunderstanding between two pillars of the film industry. I have known Leila for a long time now and she is one person who will be honest with you, no matter what. Her criticism of the industry is from a place of genuine concern for its growth. This she has demonstrated many times by continuously employing Nollywood talent. The name Nollywood does provoke conflicting discourse, and asked whether the new branch of filmmakers remain under that identity, Leila offered, that identity might cause the filmmakers to be judged unfairly by the standards of the world. Nollywood was not likened to 'Hitler', as unreleased portions of her interview will ascertain. African cinema will be nothing without the strength and bravery of the pioneers of Nollywood. I believe in African cinema, I believe in Nollywood, we have to continue to work together, that's where the strength lies. I encourage you to see the entire documentary "Jimmy goes to Nollywood" on Netflix in USA/UK and on A+ (Canal+) in Africa. One love. Jimmy" ALSO READ: 'undefined Djansi has previously worked with Nigerians her films; Ties That Bind (released in 2011) stars Nollywood veteran Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde andSinking Sands (released in 2010) stars Yemi Blaq. Damasus pointed that both Nigerian stars in her film were from products of Nollywood. A cousin of the late JB Danquah, Frank Oduro who spoke to the media shortly after the incident Tuesday morning upon hearing the news in Abuakwa North said his brothers benevolence touched a substantial base of his constituents while he was MP. He described the death as a "shocking news." "We never anticipated anything of the sort at this time of the year. We just got the news on the radio and I just came round and the place was crowded with people," he stated. "It was shocking, shocking, shocking," Frank Oduro added. He also cautioned that politics must not be read into the death of the late MP. See also: NPP politicians in shock over death of colleague "I don't read politics into those things...murder is murder. Don't read politics into those things, thats why when something happens like that, instead of going straight to the point, we'll divert it and attention will gone somewhere. He's a politician but murder has nothing to do with politics," said. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in connection with the death of the late Member of Parliament. Five people have been arrested in connection with the death of Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu. Information gathered at the scene suggests that thekiller(s) used a ladder to get into the house, through a window which is not burglar proof. In his reaction to the news on his twitter platform, the President said he was 'shocked' at the incident. On his part, former president John Agyekum Kufuor urged security agencies to be on their toes to avert similar occurrences in the future. Speaking on Accra-based Asempa FM, the former president attributed the recent spate of 'contract killings' in Ghana to the rise in social media. "If you watch television and what is happening on social media platforms, what is going on in these countries have been copied slowly by our youth and all these affect our society. So if the society does not adapt and be uploaded with these developments, then we are leading in a scary situation," former president Kufuor added. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in connection with the death of Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu. The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Afia Tenge, said two women and three men have been arrested, including a private security guard who was at the residence when the MP was killed. According to ASP Afia Tenge, the police had a distress call at 1.25 am on Tuesday, adding that "on arrival, the police found the victim in a pool of blood and rushed him to the Police hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival." She said preliminary investigations indicated that the victim suffered multiple stab wounds which caused his death. The others arrested are reported to all be residents of the house but the police did not give further details about their identity. The incident is believed to have happened in the early hours of Tuesday. Pulse.com.gh reporter Albert Benefo Buabeng, who was at the scene, reported that a security man in the house said he did not see anyone enter the residence. Information gathered at the scene suggests that thekiller(s) used a ladder to get into the house, through a window which is not burglar proof. The security man subsequently called the police when he realised someone had unlawfully entered, and alerted another security man at the opposite house. Neighbours said they also called the police when they heard a struggle. The killer(s) who were in the room when the police arrived at the scene however managed to escape, the security person said. Meanwhile, the police is yet to confirm details of the incident pending further investigations. The police CID have currently taken over the house and a forensic team have been brought in to gather evidence. JB Danquah would have turned 51 on 2nd of July this year. He is an accountant by profession. He was on the Special Budget committee in parliament as well as the Trade industry and tourism committee. The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who moved a motion for the suspension of sitting before noon said "I believe the entire House is not in a good mood to do business today...The long and short of it is that Hon. JB Danquah who only last week Thursday paid a glowing tribute to the memory of Dr. JB Danquah has had his life cut short by somebody." Parliament has further invited senior police officers to give account of circumstances leading to the death of the former Member of Parliament. The law-making body is expected to resume sitting on February 10, 2016. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in connection with the death of Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu. The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Afia Tenge, said two women and three men have been arrested, including a private security guard who was at the residence when the MP was killed. According to ASP Afia Tenge, the police had a distress call at 1.25 am on Tuesday, adding that "on arrival, the police found the victim in a pool of blood and rushed him to the Police hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival." She said preliminary investigations indicated that the victim suffered multiple stab wounds which caused his death. The others arrested are reported to all be residents of the house but the police did not give further details about their identity. Tenge said the five will be interrogated over the incident and is calling for the support of the public for more information. The police hereby wish to solicit the support of the general public to get to the bottom of this incident as soon as possible. We need them to volunteer credible information to the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the NPP lawmaker. The scene of the crime is cordoned off to allow a team of investigators to carry out their work effectively. Police cannot immediately confirm whether the killing was carried out by robbers or it was targeted killing. The acting national chairman, Freddie Blay, national organiser and acting general secretary John Boadu, Gabby Otchere Darko, MP for New Juabeng North, MP for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman among others. Pulse.com.gh reporter Albert Benefo Buabeng reports that a security man in the house said he did not see anyone enter the residence. The man believed the killer(s) used a ladder to get into the house. He also said he called the police when he realised someone had unlawfully entered, and called out to another security man at the house opposite. The security person also said the killer(s) were in the room when the police arrived but did not know if they had fled. The security man has been taken away by the police for further investigations. Speaking to journalists, Freddie Blay said the news was a "very big shock". "It doesn't appear to be even a robbery - nothing was taken from the house," Blay said, adding there was a "bloody" knife or cutlass. It's a very unfortunate situation." Neighbours said they called the police when they heard a struggle. The victim's family members have also been moved out of the house. The body of the deceased has been deposited at the morgue. ASP Tanko said after the constable was told by the guard that DCOP Kofi Boakye was not around, "he took offence, pounced on the body of the guard, tried to take his rifle from him, but the body guard managed to extricate himself from him, and when the guy was still trying to take the rifle from him, he shot him in the leg." Police and politicians are at the scene of the killing, which happened in the early hours of Tuesday, February 9, at the MP's Shiashie residence in Accra. Pulse.com.gh reporter Albert Benefo Buabeng is at the scene, and reports a security man in the house said he did not see anyone enter the residence. The man believed the killer(s) used a ladder to get into the house. He also said he called the police when he realised someone had unlawfully entered, and called out to another security man at the house opposite. The security person also said the killer(s) were in the room when the police arrived but did not know if they had fled. The security man has been taken away by the police for further investigations. Acting chairman for NPP Freddie Blay was at the house on Tuesday morning. Speaking to reporters, he was visibly shaken stating the news was a very big shock. He pointed out the ladder to reporters, believed to be used to enter the house, as some windows at the house do not have burglar proofing. [It] doesn't appear to be even a robbery - nothing was taken from the house, Blay said, adding there was a bloody knife or cutlass. It's a very unfortunate situation. NPP's Papa Owusu Ankomah said those responsible for the death will be caught. "I have no doubt the police will apprehend the murder(s). There are footprints". While fellow politician Yaw Osafo Marfo, also at the scene, said "what has happened is horrific. It is a total disaster; but let's leave it to the police". Neighbours said they called the police when they heard a struggle. Currently the police CID have taken over the house and a forensic team have been brought in to gather evidence. The victim's family members have also been moved out of the house. The body of the deceased has been deposited at the morgue. JB Danquah would have turned 51 on 2nd of July this year. He is an accountant by profession. He was on the Special Budget committee in parliament as well as the Trade industry and tourism committee. Some key NPP members including Gabby Asare Okyere Darko and some members of parliament are at the residence to empathise with the family of the deceased. He is survived by a wife and two children. 8th February, 2016THE PRESIDENT OF THEREPUBLIC OF GHANAFLAGSTAFF HOUSEACCRADear Sir,RE: PETITION OF TIGER EYE PI FOR THE REMOVAL OF JUSTICE PAUL UUTER DERY A FORMAL COMPLAINT1. Your Excellency, we have the instructions of our client Justice Paul Uuter Dery to file this formal complaint to you for your necessary action.2. Your Excellency, sometime in September, 2015, our client was summoned to the office of Her Ladyship the Chief Justice where a letter was handed over to him. Upon perusal of the said letter, our client realized that a company by name Tiger Eye PI had petitioned you for his removal from office as a Justice of the Superior Court pursuant to Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution. The letter further indicated that you had forwarded the said petition to Her Ladyship the Chief Justice to determine whether or not there is a prima facie case against our client pursuant to Article 146(3) of the 1992 Constitution.3. Your Excellency, our client has caused us to file various searches at the relevant statutory institutions to determine the identity of the petitioner, Tiger Eye PI. We must state at this point that the revelations from the searches appear to show that there is no company in Ghana by the name Tiger Eye PI and we would proceed to demonstrate same by taking the search reports one after the other.a. SEARCH FROM THE REGISTRAR GENERALS DEPARTMENTYour Excellency, the search report from the Registrar of Companies of Ghana, who is the legitimate statutory body who registers companies limited by shares, on its search report dated 3rd November, 2015 significantly states thus:We do not have any company on record called TIGER EYE PI. We have on record TIGER EYE PI MEDIA LIMITED.(Please find attached and marked as PUD 1, a copy of the search report from the Registrar-General).b. SEARCH FROM SOCIAL SECURITY AND NATIONAL INSURANCE TRUST (SSNIT)Your Excellency, the petitioner had occasions to appear in court and there, since it is a legal person, it is represented. It has always been represented by persons who inform the court that they are employees of the petitioner company. By law therefore, the petitioner must register with SSNIT and pay the social security contributions of its employees. This prompted us to file a search with SSNIT and this is what the report says:SEARCH: TIGER EYE PI MEDIA LIMITED/TIGER EYE PIWe acknowledge receipt of your letter and wish to inform you that the name in our records is Tiger Eye Consult Limited. The said establishment was registered with SSNIT on the 13th of June, 2013.(Please find attached and marked as PUD 2, a copy of the report from SSNIT).c. SEARCH REPORT FROM MINISTRY OF INTERIORYour Excellency, the petitioner claims to be a Private Security Organization licensed by the Ministry of Interior pursuant to the Police Service (Private Security Organizations) Instrument, 1992 (L.I.1571) to carry out its operations. We therefore filed a search with the Ministry of Interior and this is what the report says:Records available in this Ministry indicate that Tiger Eye PI Media Limited was licensed as a Private Security Company by this Ministry in 2010 but later the name was changed to Stallion Tiger Limited in 2012.(Please find attached and marked as PUD 3, a copy of the search report from Ministry of Interior).d. INFORMAL SEARCH FROM REGISTRAR-GENERALS DEPARTMENTYour Excellency, throughout all the happenings in respect of the petition of Tiger Eye PI, we have never heard of Stallion Tiger Limited. Since the regulator of Private Security Organizations, that is the Ministry of Interior has come out with a company by name Stallion Tiger Limited, we became curious and did an informal search online about Stallion Tiger Limited. The report we had indicated that indeed Stallion Tiger Limited was incorporated on 12th September, 2012. (Please find attached and marked as PUD 4, a copy of the informal search).4. Your Excellency, it is on record that the Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Eye PI is one Anas Aremeyaw Anas. It is also on record that Anas Aremeyaw Anas is one of the two Directors of Tiger Eye PI Media Limited and the sole shareholder. He is also one of the two Directors of Stallion Tiger Company Limited and the sole shareholder.5. Your Excellency, events and statements after the filing of the petition for the removal of our client as a Justice of the Superior Court indicates that there is confusion as to the true identity of the petitioner. On the face of the petition, the petitioner is Tiger Eye PI. However, statements put on social media by the Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Eye PI, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and the company lawyer, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng indicate otherwise.6. Your Excellency, the petitioner, Tiger Eye PI, through its Chief Executive Officer, Anas Aremeyaw Anas put on the petitioners facebook page on November, 11, 2015, the following information. The headline speaks for itself. It states thus:TIGER EYE PI LTD REACTS TO MARTIN AMIDUS ABYSMAL FAILURE TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HIS ALLEGATIONS.7. In the body of the above article, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, speaking for the petitioner Tiger Eye PI, states among others as follows:Mr. Amidu is right in one, and only one respect: a company limited by shares, such as we are, is required to state its name with the suffix Limited or Ltd.Mr. Amidu, if we are guilty of anything, it is that we have sometimes neglected to add that suffix to our name .. (Please find attached and marked as PUD 5, a copy of the said article on the petitioners facebook page).8. Your Excellency, what the petitioner is now saying is that its proper identity is Tiger Eye PI Ltd. Indeed the statement was issued and signed by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, C.E.O of Tiger Eye PI Ltd.9. Your Excellency, this change of identity again does not end the identity problems of the petitioner. Kissi Agyebeng, the lawyer for the petitioner also stated in an interview with Joy FM (an Accra Radio Station) and which was reported online thus:Tiger Eye PI is a registered company. The mere fact that my client for the purposes of convenience chooses to write the name as Tiger Eye PI and not Tiger Eye PI Media Limited does not detract from the fact that it is the same entity.(Please find attached and marked as PUD 6, a copy of the said statement).10. Your Excellency, from all the above the identity of the petitioner is put in issue. Graphically it looks like this:It started as Tiger Eye PI,To Tiger Eye PI LtdTo Tiger Eye PI Media LimitedTo Stallion Tiger Limited11. So your Excellency, if one is asked what the identity of the petitioner is, the answer would be problematic. Is the petitioner Tiger Eye PI as appears on the petition? Is it Tiger Eye PI Ltd or Tiger Eye PI Media Limited or Stallion Tiger Limited?12. Your Excellency, we have the instructions of our client to draw your attention to these serious identity problems of the petitioner for in our view, the identity of the petitioner is paramount to any petition for the removal of Justices of the Superior Court pursuant to Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution. References are hereby made to the Supreme Court decisions in Agyei Twum v. Attorney-General & Akwetey [2005-2006] SCGLR 637; and the Republic v. High Court (Fast Track Division), Accra; Ex parte Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (Richard Anane Interested Party) [2007-2008] SCGLR 213.13. Your Excellency, we have our clients instructions to request that you cause an investigation to be conducted into the true identity of the petitioner since from the evidence adduced herein, the petitioner Tiger Eye PI who purported to file a petition with your office is non-existent.Yours faithfully,Addo, Addo Legal AttorneysNii Kpakpo Samoa Addo (Esq.)Cc: Her Ladyship The Chief JusticeHis Lordship Justice Paul Uuter Dery Dr Abu Philips had been banned by the US, UK and Australia, claiming he preached extremism. He was deported from the Philippines in September 2014, Kenya in 2012, and Bangladesh in June 2014, where he had been invited to address an Islamic conference. Sheik Philips activities in Ghana as advertised on his official Facebook page, began from 4th February and ends on 12th February. He has already delivered a number of lecturers in various parts of Accra and in Kumasi at the KNUST. Following the public backlash over his presence, Ghanas National Security Coordinator, Yaw Donkor, has asked Ghanaians not to panic as there is no cause for alarm. But, Security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, has said "I don't think we are being biased against him. Look we live in a dangerous neighborhood. These are dangerous times. We have a huge unemployed and unemployable youth base. We have an increasingly radicalised population and therefore i think it makes sense that anybody with a track record of being banned for radicalised activity is looked at with a little bit of caution and taking into consideration all the things that is happening in this country in the last 18 months. "Probably it is not too wise and advisable to allow Dr Philips to be in here to do his preaching," he added. Dr. Annin added the major problem is not really with the Islamic preacher preaching but the networks he will be forming afterwards. The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Afia Tenge, said two women and three men have been arrested, including a private security guard who was at the residence when the MP was killed. The incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, February 9, at Danquah's Shiashie residence in Accra. According to ASP Afia Tenge, the police had a distress call at 1.25 am on Tuesday, adding that "on arrival, the police found the victim in a pool of blood and rushed him to the Police hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival." She said preliminary investigations indicated that the victim suffered multiple stab wounds which caused his death. The others arrested are reported to all be residents of the house but the police did not give further details about their identity. Tenge said the five will be interrogated over the incident and is calling for the support of the public for more information. The police hereby wish to solicit the support of the general public to get to the bottom of this incident as soon as possible. We need them to volunteer credible information to the police to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the NPP lawmaker. A Pulse.com.gh reporter at the scene of the crime states a ladder has been taken away by police as part of the investigation. A security person, who has now been arrested, had said the ladder was used to enter the home. The scene of the crime is cordoned off to allow a team of investigators to carry out their work effectively. Police cannot immediately confirm whether the killing was carried out by robbers or it was targeted killing. The Member of Parliament for the Akan Constituency in the Volta Region, Mr. Joseph Kwadwo Ofori, was in October 2013, attacked by armed men at his Tema Community 18 residence in early October. His colleague, Albert Kan Dapaah, who was then the Chairman of the Parliament Accounts Committee, was also attacked in the same year. Nkwanta South MP Gershon Gbediame, was on January 11, 2014, robbed of his two ipads, six mobile phones, Ghc5000 and $7,500 as well as jewellery. His assailants robbed him at gunpoint at his Lashibi residence near Tema. Hon. Peter Kojo Kenyenso was also shot dead in November 2014 on Monday evening when he was returning from work. In July 2015, Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Tain in the Brong-Ahafo Region, was also attacked by some highway robbers at Nsawam in the Eastern Region last Friday. The MPs have said they need police escort following these past armed attacks on their colleagues. If Ghana is to develop then the democratic institutions of state must function properly and with integrity. Some democratic institutions such as the Institute of Economic Affairs, IMANI Ghana, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) need to be commended for keeping the EC on its toe for supervising SIX successful elections since 1992. When, for example, you have a government that is incompetent or corrupt, the only hope for the people is that at the end of a four year term they will at least be given the opportunity to vote out that government and try an alternative. Persistent challenges with election violence, intimidation, fraud and other malpractice notably in party strongholds and highly competitive voting areas - could be attributed to the incompetency and under-development by government. Ghanas quadrennial general elections will continue to be a highly competitive, largely two-party contest, between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition (New Patriotic Party). Ghanas elections will remain or grow increasingly more tense as parties and candidates fight to retain their strongholds and gain marginal advantage in competitive constituencies, in an atmosphere of tightening electoral margins. The basic (constitutional) structure of power in the state will remain fundamentally unchanged: imperial executive; supine parliament; independent but generally conservative judiciary. In other words, political initiative or consensus for far-reaching changes to the constitution will be hard to get. Changes in electoral process since 1992 Pressure for changes and improvements to the election management system and for the delivery of more credible, inclusive, and free and fair elections will continue to mount. Comparative learning from the experiences of other African multi-party elections, for example, Nigeria improved on their election management and important milestones like a party turnover in government, competing away Ghanas exceptionalism in this area. Ghanaian political parties and civic actors will take notice, begin to take lessons from these experiences and demand comparable domestic changes. The EC of Ghana has always been determined to conduct credible elections. To this end, it undertook radical measures to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. Strength and weakness of the EC The formation of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) was a major move toward fostering consensus building in the management of the electoral process. Transparency of the electoral process has been furthered by the acceptance of party agents at registration and polling stations. Voter education has been grafted onto the electoral process. Trained EC public educators are active in the rural constituencies and peri-urban areas where media penetration is weak to offer extensive election education to the voting population during election years. The security of the ballot has been a primary concern of the EC. When the 1992 election cleaved society, the EC undertook measures that had far reaching consequence on the subsequent credibility of the elections. ECs strategic initiatives reassured the public and engendered their confidence in the electoral process. The ballot box was changed from opaque to transparent, the I.D cards were also changed from black and white to coloured. The EC was highly praised for these electoral reforms. One weakness of the EC I believe is its inability to rigidly enforce the electoral rules. The flagrant disregard of EC's rules by the parties regarding financial auditing, organizational establishment and maintenance of structures gives an impression that the EC is ineffective. The prevailing inter-party conflicts may owe its consequence to this perceived weakness of the EC. Such occurrence could be attributed to the death of the Upper West regional chairman of the NPP, the murder of a footsoldier in the NPP, and the countless suspensions that has bedevilled the party. On the other hand, party footsoldiers of the NDC will chase District Chief Executives out of office due to non-performance or the youth looking for jobs. The increasing exploitation of incumbency by the ruling party in every election may have resulted from the non-enforcement of inter-party discipline. In the face of EC inactiveness to enforce the electoral rules to restrain the incumbent, the opposition could conclude that the only surest way to survive in the uneven competition is to act in their own way to halt the incumbent excessiveness. Voters' register The EC held a 2-day forum which brought all interest groups, particularly political parties, to brainstorm on the way forward regarding the bloated register - some of the parties are calling for a new one to be compiled. Opinions favour a fresh register for the sake of peace, as religious leaders and other concerned citizens advocate. Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission said her outfit would continue to uphold the rule of law and create a level playing field for all the political parties. She said no political party or pressure group could stampede the EC in the discharge of its constitutional duties. EC not ready for November polls The Executive Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, Jean Mensah had recently indicated that Ghana is not ready for the elections. She said even though the EC has put out its timetable for the election, it has not yet rolled out programmes on public education to sensitise voters on what to expect at the polls. But, acting Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Christian Owusu Parry told Pulse.com.gh, that the IEA should exercise some restraint, as the EC is already embarking on a few internal programmes the public might not be aware of. "We have already set in motion some of the activities. And for now, all that we are doing is internal. We are going according to the programme. And I know the IEA is aware of the programme we are following," he said. This is the beauty of democracy in Ghana where opinions are sorted from the 'common man' on the street of Ghana. According to IMANI Ghana, the NCA has awarded a contract to Afriwave Telcom Ghana Limited to create a common platform for the settlement of interconnect traffic for the telecommunication industry, routing, switching and billing. This is a vital process in the audit of the international calls routed by the telecommunications companies. MP for Obuase West, Kweku Kwarteng first raised alarms over the fact that Afriwave Telecoms was sole- sourced to undertake the contract that had already been awarded to Subah Infosolutions. According IMANI Ghana, In December, 2014, the NCA invited bids for the license to enable service providers operate a clearinghouse for telecommunication industry. Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited, Subah Infosolustion, Progidy International Limited, TCMS-GVG, Channel IT Limited and Consortium Limited all tendered in a bid. But an eight member Application Evaluation Panel set up by the NCA awarded the contract to Afriwave under circumstances IMANI Ghana describes as betrayal of the process. IMANI Ghana also accused the panel of unfairly awarding the contract to Afriwave. According to the policy think-tank, the panel awarded 5 marks to Afriwave in sections where 1 was the highest attainable mark. From commercial capital Dar es Salam, to the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania offers an array of options for tourists. So whether you're looking to relax on pristine white beaches or enjoy a spot of city night life, you can be sure that there'll never be a dull moment in this activity hot spot. Meanwhile, here are 7 fun things to do in Tanzania: 1. Go on a ferry ride to Zanzibar: Zanzibar which is an autonomous country of Tanzania, is just an hour away from Dar es Salam by ferry. Enjoy the hitch-free ride to the lovely island nation, and while in Zanzibar, be sure to explore the island's beaches and sites. 2. Go snorkeling/scuba diving: The lovely waters in Zanzibar make for the perfect location to either go snorkeling or scuba diving. You can also swim in the non-tidal beaches found in some spots on the island. 3. Climb Mount Kilmanjaro: This 5,895 metre-tall mountain stands as the highest in Africa, and attracts climbers from all over the world. Asides the 3 peaks of the mountain, there are several tour options which allow for different climbing abilities. But if mountain climbing isn't your thing, then you can explore the natural park which surrounds the mountain and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 4. Balloon Safari over the Serengeti National Park: Take a tour of the Serengeti National Park in a hot air balloon. As imagined, this offers an incredible view of the park, not to mention the fact that the tour often includes champagne breakfasts in the bush followed by a drive through the national park. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! The urban/modern menswear designer, Adebayo Oke-Lawal, showcased on the final day of the 4 day event. The 'Senses' collection featured a burst of colors, textures, layering, knitting, prints, inscriptions and patterns. The designer whos collaborated with international publications such as Vogue Italia and more is known to be modern, fresh and fashion forward, as he created a range of sweaters, jackets, shirts, flared, cropped pants and shorts. Included in the presentation were knitted neck pieces and leg bracelets and some of the inscriptions on the shirt read things like 'see me' and 'touch me', which was no surprise because Adebayo loves to make a statement with his presentations and collections. Orange Cultures LFDW 2015 presentation included all the models with flowers on their mouths. This time, its clear the statement is an encouragement to be bold and visible, indicated by the direct quotes on the pieces and the bright colors and bold cuts. This is not Bayos first time at SAMW but this new phase is a great step forward in his already established career. The younger Ajanaku was allegedly stabbed to death by his lawyer wife, Yewande, after he confessed to her that he had a love child in his Europe base. It was gathered that the 89-year-old Ajanaku, had developed serious health issues on hearing that his nephew, Lowo, had been allegedly murdered by his wife, and died of complications related to high blood pressure on Monday at his hometown of Gbongan, in the Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State. Family sources said the late octogenarian took up the responsibility of raising Lowo following the death of his biological father in 1990. The murdered Lowo's elder brother, Adelani Ajanaku, confirmed the death of the old man: The presiding judge, Malam Gambo Garba, sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of theft. Garba said he was lenient with the convict because of an upcoming examination. He said he was sentencing him to teach him a lesson that no matter how bad a situation, it was wrong to resort to theft. Isiyaka said that he had tried to secure loan from his course mates and colleagues all to no avail. He said the time for the assignment was running out, so he decided to steal the handset and sold it for the actual cost of his assignment. The Prosecutor, Insp. Haruna Danlami, had told the court that on Jan. 29, the convict stole a Nokia 302 handset valued N5, 500 property of Solomon Mathias of College of Education, Zuba, Abuja. Danlami said that the handset was sold to one Ugo Chika of Ministers hill-Zuba by the convict at the rate of N2,000. He told the court that during police investigation, Isiyaka confessed and admitted to the crime. The Igboora Progress Union (IPU), the umbrella association of Igboora indigenes told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Tuesday. NAN reports that the news of Yusufs 17 years sojourn under the bridge was widely reported in the media on January 6, which necessitated the intervention of his community. Yusuf, was said to have been sleeping under the Oshodi Bridge in Lagos since 1999 after he allegedly lost contact with his family. He claimed to have retired from the Nigerian Army, and lost contact with his wife and children, but decided to stay in Lagos. The man was reported to have been spared severally during constant raid of the area by policemen due to his identity as a retired soldier. Mr Akinyemi Akinlabi, who spoke on behalf of IPU told NAN that the news was "shocking and pathetic. Akinlabi, a former Caretaker Chairman of Ibarapa Central Local Government said that the IPU, under the leadership of Justice John Ige (rtd) swung into action after reading the publication. Akinlabi said that the union promptly directed two of their members, Mr Wole Ogunsola and Mr Muyideen Salami to visit the man and which they did at exactly 11.00 am same day the news was published. Ogunsola and Salami confirmed to NAN that Yusuf told them he was from Ile-Ekerin, Isale-Oba in Igboora, the same compound, where Ogunsola hailed from. Akinlabi said that the union had met with the family of Yusuf, to find solution to the problem. When NAN contacted the family members, they said the man was not abandoned by the family but had from childhood cultivated the attitude of living under the bridge. A member of the family who declined anonymity said "Yusuf has a room and parlour in his family house in Igboora, which he locked up and use anytime he comes to Igboora. "He was in Igboora two years ago for the burial of his elder sister. "He has declined several attempt to relocate him to Ejigbo by his younger sister, Amudat, who lived in Ejigbo. When also contacted, Amudat said that she visited him regularly at Oshodi and also took him to Ago-Iwoye to remove cataract from his eyes less than two years ago. News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. Kahila, from Chief Mvuthu area outside Victoria Falls town, was not asked to plead to the charge when she appeared before Victoria Falls magistrate, Rangarirai Gakanje yesterday, but was remanded in custody till February 15, when her case is set to be transferred to Hwange Regional Court. The prosecutor, Takunda Ndovorwi, said the alleged crime was committed on January 13, at the boys parents homestead where Kahila was employed. The accused invited the 14-year-old boy to sleep on the same blankets with her and covered him with a blanket. Kahila removed her clothes and became completely naked before she went on to unzip the complainants trousers. Kahila ordered the Form One boy to lie on top of her and then had sex with him. She grabbed the complainants privates and inserted his manhood into her privates. She ordered the boy to make some movements while on top of her and as a result, she had sexual intercourse with the minor without his consent. Hamandishe, from the Ritize Village, told the police that after finding love with George Runesu, she was ordered to surrender her son to her former husband by his family, if she entertained any thought of staying with Runesu as her husband. Hamandishe who was arraigned before a Bulawayo High Court Judge, Justice Martin Makonese, told the court that after failing to take her son back to her former husband, she strangled him with a tree bark fibre. She then went to her new husband and lied that she had returned the boy to her former husband. Hamandishe, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, was remanded in custody awaiting sentencing. In her defence, Hamandishe said she wanted to please her new husband and his family who did not want to see her child. This was my third marriage and my new husband and his family ordered me to take my son back to his father if I was to stay at their homestead. At the same time, my son had a heart problem and the nurses had told me that he was going to die. So I took it upon myself to kill him to save my new marriage, Hamandishe said. Prosecutor, Mirirai Shumba, told the court that after Hamandishe got married to Runesu, he and his family ordered her to take the boy back to his father. Her in-laws were not comfortable with the child living with them. The in-laws advised the accused to surrender custody of the boy to her former husband. On January 7, Hamandishe did as she was ordered and attempted to take her son to her former husband but was unsuccessful. On the way back, she took her son to a certain spot and placed him on a rock. She proceeded to make some bark fibre and tied his neck with it and strangled him. The boy died and she left him there, the prosecutor said. Sources say it is connected to the ongoing probe into the $2.1b arms purchase scam. Punch reports that Badeh was seen entering the Abuja office of the EFCC on Monday, February 8, 2016, and was still seen there as at 10pm. Reports say he was asked to shed more light on the contracts he awarded while serving as the CDS. Punch also reports that contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were awarded during the tenure of the former defence chief. An EFCC source who spoke to punch confirmed that Badeh was still with them saying Badeh arrived at our office at 10am and as of 10pm, he is still with us. Reports also say the former CDS is also being interrogated on the massive disregard of the Public Procurement Act. It is alleged that contracts were awarded without due diligence and equipment were not duly specified in line with the act. The $2.1b arms purchase scam was discovered by a 13 man panel set up by President Buhari to investigate various arms purchase since 2007. Fashola stated this on Monday, February 8, at the second monthly sectoral meeting with stakeholders in the power sector in Lagos. He said, Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one. I dont know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price. It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. Its painful; its not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems. I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look When asked what the problems facing the sector were, the minister said, The problem is everywhere. The problem is with us. The problem is with gas. The problem is with transmission. The problem is with the way the privatisation exercise itself was conducted. But as I have said before, I am not going to lament what has happened in the past. I am going to move on with it. So, the first move we have made when we accessed the situation, nobody was happy with it when we took over. This is a problem that has been here for 16 years, if we put it mildly. It is a problem that has been here 100 years ago, if we put it really extremely. I have been here for less than a 100 days, and I think we can solve this problem if you give us the tools that we need to do it. I think that this problem can be solved, and the day that we feel that it cannot be solved, I will gladly come and tell you that I dont think it will work. The Australian Government, through its High Commission in Nigeria has donated the sum of $3m to cushion the effect of the disaster caused by insurgency in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The High Commission in a statement said The contribution is being used in all four countries to assist up to 400,000 of the regions refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and the communities hosting them to gain access to life-saving food assistance. Adding that Special attention is being paid to children under five, pregnant women and nursing mothers faced with malnutrition. Despite the Federal Governments claim that it has technically defeated the sect, a Borno State Senator, Baba Kaka Garbai revealed that Boko Haram still controls 50 precent of the state. Bamgbola, who is the Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), made the call at a news conference on Monday in Lagos to herald the 2016 Inter-Denominational Divine Service (IDDS 2016). The service has the theme: Great Faith; The Antidote To Helplessness. We encourage the government to remain steady; we know there are forces in the land. "Nobody should be above the law of our nation, no matter what his or her placement is in the political structure or the corporate structure of our nation, our nations should pride on the laws of the land. "Nations where every man, every woman must be accountable for his or her deeds, you break the law of the land no matter who you are, you pay for it. "We have seen former presidents of nations going to jail because they broke the law. "That is what the church will like to see in Nigeria, so that people will stop breaking the law of the land, with impunity. "Let there be integrity, honesty, and purpose in ruling this nation. "So we encourage and we will be praying for the government of our land to be unshaken, to remain focused and strong. One of the biggest suspects is in Britain now, although I am not going to name that person, the president said when he was asked if he was satisfied with the co-operation Nigeria was getting from UK authorities. But Britain has earned our respect in the way it deals with these matters. Our only problem is that it seems to be too thorough and it takes too much time. If there are obvious cases, like bank accounts, infrastructure houses and hotels, I would hope they could do it quicker, so that we can claim these things back promptly, he added. Buhari is believed to be making reference to former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke who was arrested by security agents in London in October 2015. According to a statement released by DSS official, Tony Okpuiyo, the man, identified as Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa was arrested on January 17, 2016. The statement read in part: "Prior to his arrest, YUNUSA had completed arrangements to embark on a journey to join an ISIS terrorist training camp in Libya, with other Nigerians whom he recruited for the Islamic State. "These recruits include the trio of one Muhammed RABIU, Yahaya Momoh JIMOH and Zainab SUNDAY (f). YUNUSA is a 400 level undergraduate student of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, where he was studying for a degree in Information and Media Technology. "He was subsequently radicalized and became a member of an extremist cell, comprising of one IBRAHIM (fnu) and Abubakar LIGALI, whom he revealed are currently undergoing terrorist training in Libya. He listed one AMINU (fnu) and Ibrahim JIHADI (Nigeriene), as other ISIS agents operating in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. The cell was being funded by one Abu-saad Al Sudani, a media expert with the extremist group using Western Union money transfers to fund the terrorist cell agenda." It said another budding extremist cell affiliated to ISIS was intercepted in Daura township of Daura LGA, Katsina State on the same day. "One Ibrahim Mohammed DAURA, Zaharadeen SALISU and five other elements of the proscribed extremist group, Ansaru, were arrested by the Service. This group was discovered in an active stage, as its members were already co-ordinating themselves for attacks in Katsina and Kano States. "In the same vein, on 22nd January, 2016, one Obansa SALAMI, Ejide TIJANI aka Abu Uwaise II, Mohammed RABIU aka Ubida II, Zainab MOHAMMED and Abdulqadir Salisu AHMAD were arrested in Kano by this Service, while migrating to Libya, with their immediate families including infants, in a bid to join ISIS. This group was apprehended after painstaking monitoring of its network and plans.", the statement added In a statement issued on Tuesday, February 9, by Lere Olayinka, the Governor's Special Assistant on Pubic Communications and New Media, he said there were errors that could have been avoided in the budge. The President should admit that there were avoidable errors in the budget and since he is human and not immune to errors, he should simply do the needful by presenting a new and credible budget to the National Assembly", he said. Fayose said the revelation by the Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, that the proposal drawn up by the ministry and submitted to the budget office had been doctored and that foreign appropriations, different from what was submitted, had been sneaked in is the height of national embarrassment. Prof Adewole said this while addressing the Senate Committee on Health during its budget defence session on Monday. He said: We have to look into the details of the budget and re-submit it to the committee. This was not what we submitted. Well submit another one. We dont want anything foreign to creep into that budget. What we submitted is not there.The minister further stated that the revised budget as re-submitted, N15.7 billion for capital allocation was moved to other areas and that there was nothing allocated to public health and family health. Reacting to Adewole's statement, Fayose said: Last week, we were told that the Senate discovered a sum of N10 billion questionably smuggled into the budget of the Ministry of Education for an allegedly questionable subhead.Also, we were told of the existence of a budget mafia in the Presidency that was said to be responsible for the embarrassing allocations in the budget. Before now, we were told that a total of N3.87 billion was allocated for capital projects at the State House Clinic alone, over N700 million more than capital allocation to all the 16 federal teaching hospitals combined. Jibrilla made the call on Tuesday while receiving the newly-posted Area Controller of Customs in charge of Adamawa and Taraba, Mr Emmanuel Edede, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Yola. He said that some communities in the state were located in the extreme border between the state and the Republic of Cameroon. "We have some communities who are at the extreme border with the republic of Cameroon, though they are Nigerians and not Cameroonians. "Let us provide more security cover for them and properly integrate them to enable to them to have a sense of belonging. "On our part, we will continue to support the NCS under your command and we will intensify our partnership with you," the governor said. The Speaker of the assembly, Alhaji Momoh Lawal, said the approval followed the clearance of Achuba by the Committee of the Whole during an emergency sitting of the house. Lawal said the approval was in response to a letter from Gov. Yahaya Bello requesting the House to approve the nomination in accordance with the provisions of Section 191 (3) (c) of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended). The speaker held that Achuba's approval would end the vacuum created by the absence of a deputy governor for the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Achuba, a two-time member of the state assembly, was only asked to `take a bow and go' when he appeared for the screening. Born on July 13, 1964, the deputy governor designate joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May 2015. He had served as member of the state assembly from 1999 to 2007 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While in the assembly, Achuba served as Deputy Speaker between 2003 and 2007, and was later appointed by former governor Idris Wada as Chairman of the state Environmental Protection Board. Hajiya Hauwa Belli Manu was kidnapped on Monday, February 8, 2016, from her sons home in the Gassol Local Goverment Area of the state, Punch reports. An eyewitness who spoke to Vanguard said that the abductors arrived the area on motorcycles and were heavily armed. They came on three motorcycles, they forcefully entered the house and forced the old woman to climb their motorcycle. They were hostile in their approach and ready to harm anyone who stand in their way, the witness said. The person that carried the old woman was in the front of the two who were guarding from behind. The second motor cycle man fell down while they were trying to escape with the old woman, it was in the middle of the house of a neighbour to the deputy governor. When the neighbour rush out to ask who was riding motorcycle inside his compound, the gunmen who fell from the motor cycle got up and shot at the neighbour who is the landlord three times, he added. The abductors have reportedly demanded a ransom of N300 million from the family to secure the release of the deputy governors mother. Speaking on the continued absence of Tompolo, the court said the EFCC has the power to arrest anyone if it has reasonable belief that such person has committed an offence. Adding that The order for substituted service is more than justified against a man who has refused to honour lawful invitation by the EFCC. Not only is Tompolo aware of the charges, he has further briefed counsel representing him, who on his behalf, demanded for all processes filed in the matter. Therefore, all the authorities cited on this issue are with respect, misconceived. The application challenging service is hereby dismissed. The order for arrest still subsist; and all authorities in Nigeria are further ordered to ensure that the order of this court for the arrest of Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo is carried out to the latter, the court said. The Chairman of NLC, Sokoto state chapter, Mr Aminu Muhammad stated this during the nationwide peaceful protest against the 45 per cent increase in electricity tariff which took effect from Feb. 1. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the protest by the organised labour and civil society organisations took place across the country. Muhammad who led officials of the union to picket the office of the Kaduna Electric Company, said the organised labour would do all things within the confine of the law to ensure their demands were met. "We are out to conduct a peaceful protest and ensure we picket all the electricity offices across Sokoto to send the message from the masses to the government. "This picketing organised by NLC became necessary to ensure that the present administration withdraws the exploitative tariff. "The labour congress will ensure it passes the message to the government, to ensure that the tariff increase is withdrawn, he said. NAN reports that members of NLC locked the premises of Port-Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom The Akwa Ibom state Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Akamba Awah, said TUC and NLC believed that there was no rationale behind the increase. The union leader argued that there was no reason for the hike, adding that the state has Ibom Power Plant producing gas for electricity. According to him, electricity is subsidised in Akwa Ibom by the state government. Reacting in a telephone interview, the Public Relations Officer to PHEDC, Mr John Onyi, said that the company had invited labour for a meeting. He said that as soon as the issue was resolved at the headquarters, all the state offices of the organisation would resume work immediately. In Ado-Ekiti, NLC and TUC members also picketed the state headquarters of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC) over the issue. The workers who were chanting anti-government songs, carried placards containing various anti-government inscriptions throughout the 30 minutes period the protest lasted. NAN reports that the protesters vacated the area on sighting the police and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. The revelation was made today, February 9, 2016, by Junaid Said, a witness in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC) money laundering case against Metuh. The PDP spokesperson is said to have used bout N500m out of funds received from Dasuki, whos also being tried for corruption, to buy the property. Investigation revealed that after payment of N400m by ONSA, a total sum of N366m was paid into the same account by one Kabiru Ibrahim, who also paid in N150m; Capital Field Investment Limited paid in N91m, and one Eyitonye, paid in N82m, Said said according to The Cable. These funds formed the naira equivalent of $2m, which the first defendant [Metuh] gave to one Nneka Ararume in cash. Investigations revealed that all this money was used for PDP campaign activities and for personal use by the first defendant. The money used for PDP campaign activities were from the sum of N400m. Among the disbursement made, the sum of N77.5m was paid to CMC connect for campaign activities; the sum of N25m was paid to Abba Dabo for campaign activities; and the sum of N21.7m was paid to Chief Tony Anenih. Another sum of N5m was discovered to have been paid to Chief Kema Chikwe, and the sum of N50m was found to have been transferred to a joint account of the first defendant and his wife. The sum of N500m was also discovered to have been transferred to Daniel Ford International Limited in two tranches of N200m and N300m for the purpose of buying landed property at Banana Island, Lagos, by Metuh, he added. Metuh was previously imprisoned at the Kuje Prison on the charges but is currently free on bail. Dasuki is at the center of the 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. "It is important for us that we handle our resources with transparency and good governance, he told a delegation of the global body, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), during a meeting at the Presidential Villa Abuja. The Minister of State for Budget & Planning, and the former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mrs Zainab Ahmed, was also in attendance. "One of the objectives that we have set for ourselves is to ensure that we are transparent and able to handle our resources well. "If we (as a nation) had handled our resources better, with transparency and good governance, we would not find ourselves were we are now, Osinbajo said According to him, as a nation, we have learnt our lessons, and going forward the government will work transparently and generate more revenues. He stated that as a government, the Buhari administration was determined to work with the Nigeria Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to ensure good governance and look at how we can generate revenues and keep proper accounts. On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Prof. Osinbajo assured that the executive was working with the National Assembly to get the PIB passed into law. "We want to see what will come out of the bill because this will give some regulatory direction and we are working very closely to get that done. Earlier, the in-coming global Chairman of EITI, Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, a former Prime Minister of Sweden, commended Nigerias commitment to the EITI framework. The Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act has empowered the Code of Conduct Tribunal to impose any of the punishments prescribed in section 23 of the act. According to the Section 23 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Saraki may also lose his position, 10 years ban form holding public and forfeiture of any asset related to the alleged offence. The Act provides: (1) Where the tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the provisions of this act, it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under subsection (2) of this section. The Section 23(2) stipulates: The punishment which the tribunal shall impose shall include any of the following: (a) vacation of office or any elective or nominated office as the case may be; (b) disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding 10 years; (c) seizure and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office. The prescribed sanctions are also provided for in paragraph 18 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended). However, to show that the prescribed sanctions may not be exhaustive, as the Act employs the word include, section 23(3) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act provides: The punishments mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law, where the breach of conduct is also a criminal offence under the Criminal Code or nay other enactment or law. If Saraki is found guilty of breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, he may also go down for perjury, given that his asset declaration was done under oath. The Criminal Code Act prescribes imposition of 14 years jail for perjury. Section 118 of the Criminal Code Act states: Any person who commits perjury is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. If the offender commits the offence in order to procure the conviction of another person for an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life he is liable to imprisonment for life. While expressing its utmost support for Saraki, it condemned the call for the senate president's resignation as "premature" and "mischievous". This was contained in a statement released by the Senate spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi, on Monday, February 8. The statement read: Following a meeting held in Abuja yesterday (Sunday) by some senators and the wide consultations with our colleagues in which we reviewed last Fridays decision of the Supreme Court in the appeal on the preliminary matters filed by the Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on the charges filed against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), we hereby resolve as follows: That from the beginning of the trial last September, we have declared that this case is not about any fight against corruption. It is simply a case of political vendetta. Our position remains the same. We still believe that the case is politically motivated. We also noted that the decision of the Supreme Court given last Friday was on preliminary matters arising from the commencement of the trial. "The trial proper is yet to begin. And since the fundamental principle in our legal system is that a defendant is deemed innocent until proven guilty, we have decided to patiently observe the proceedings until the case runs its full circle in the nations final judicial forum. It is on this ground that we want to state categorically that there is no basis for the call on the Senate President to resign until after the matter is decided in that final judicial forum. Such a call at this time is premature, mischievous and unwarranted. We therefore reiterate our support for Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate. We stand by him as he goes through the trial at the CCT where we believe he will be able to prove his innocence. We also call on members of the public to ignore the rantings of a few Senators who having failed to get the wish of their sponsors done on the floor of the Senate are now launching media campaign against the leadership of the Senate. We want members of the public to know that the Senate under Dr. Saraki has achieved stability in the legislative institution and we do not need any negative distraction at this point. The focus of the Senate is on the objective consideration and timely passage of the 2016 budget and we will want all Nigerians to support us as we concentrate on this important assignment. We also want to say that we will not make any further statement on this case until the matter has been decided in the final judicial forum. As we embark on our twelfth year, we want to ensure all filmmakers in Africa that the Africa Movie Academy is an award reward system for all filmmakers of African descent from all over the world, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Founder of AMAA said in a video. One of the aims of the academy is to create a connection between Africans home and abroad. Organisers of the event kicked off a road show tagged Road to AMAA on January 27, 2016. They visited cities across Nigeria including Asaba, Benin, Ibadan, Owerri, Kano, Kaduna and Jos. Anyiam-Osigwe said training is key for filmmakers. She revealed that they had trained over 5,000 youths all over Africa in their Script to screen programme. During their recent road tour, the organization promoted some of their projects including So you wanna act, which is designed to train young people in the art of performance and the Amaka Igwe Script Writing Competition. The African Movie Academy will be heading to Dubai for the African Business Cinema between March 17 to 20, 2016. The 2016 edition of the prestigious awards has been scheduled to hold on April 30, 2016 in Lagos, after unveiling the nominees on February 28, 2016 in Dubai. The organisers had previously announced The Academy of Jurors President for 2016 as Mr Shaibu Hussein. Tope who has worked in reputable TV and Film as a undefined spoke on disposable and timeless movies. Read excerpt; "As regards the film culture in Nigeria, it's at the moment evolving, and it's evolving fast. There was a point in Nigeria when we shot proper celluloid films, going back to the days of and That was an era that came and went. Then came what we now refer to as Nollywood, which basically started from commercializing video tapes, and then looking for how to make them look marketable, and then deciding to shoot drama and put them on the tapes. What we call Nollywood' has now evolved from where it was - from just selling tapes into getting into a cinema culture, producing films and arts that can be screened at film festivals locally and internationally. So, for me, if I were to describe the film industry in one word, I would say "Because it's changing fast, it's growing fast, it's becoming bigger and better by the second. You cannot talk about the film industry in Nigeria without talking about the origin. The whole thing of shooting stories and putting them on video tapes, kick started what is essentially part of our culture in Africa as Nigerians, which is telling stories." In a recent interview with Pulse Nigeria, Oshin Ogun spoke on why as they used to be. Ndume stated this on Tuesday, February 9, at the President Villa, Abuja, after a meeting with the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. "It is not new for people to read meaning. Are you saying that the Senate President should be convicted before the trial?", he asked rhetorically. When asked about the nature of the meeting with Osinbajo, which also had other senators in attendance, Ndume said, This government is our government. I am the Senate Leader in this government, so my coming here today is not supposed to be a new thing. My coming here should even be more regular. This is not the first time we are coming here. But this is the first time we are having the Vice President as acting President. That is one of the reasons why we are here. This is because we are setting a new example. During the previous government, the President will just go and leave the place blank." He added: But this time around when our President goes for a few days, he transmitted to all Nigerians that the Vice President is to act as the President. So we came for the regular consultation. There is nothing new about it and we will be doing more of this. You should expect me to be coming here. Now we have the budget as work in progress; we have we have the new Money Laundering Bill before the Senate, we have many things we are looking at. We have come to come and consult on these". Wike had on Sunday accused the minister of using the money to fund the campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections. In a statement issued by Amaechi's spokesman, David Iyiofor, he said Wike does not have any evidence to back his claims. The statement said: Sadly, on Sunday, February 7, 2016, Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers state in furtherance of his administrations one-point agenda, yet again, continued his grossly irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous, albeit, feckless mission of denigrating and disparaging the person and office of the immediate past governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who is now the minister of transportation, read a statement issued on Amaechi by David Iyiofor, his spokesman. The story-story this time is about another phantom $150,000,000(One Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars) that Amaechi purportedly stole from Rivers state government coffers and siphoned to his party, the All Progressives Congress(APC) within eighteen days, from December 1 to 18 of 2014. Sadly again, Wike picked a church, a sacred temple of God to tell his new imaginary tale, another bogus, fallacious concoction. This new scurrilous fabrication by Governor Wike is in sync with the one-point agenda of the Wike administration, which is to throw as much mud as possible at former governor Amaechi, hoping that some may at least stick. All sorts of spurious stories about alleged corruption and stealing of state funds against the Amaechi administration have been bandied in the media with no attempt to substantiate or prove these distorted false claims that completely makes nonsense of common sense. Even, when Amaechi challenged the Wike administration and its agents to use any constitutionally available legal process or procedure to prove their jaundice, deceitful allegations against him and his administration, they have rather elected to do their own corruption probe, trial and conviction in the media; and now, even inside our solemn places of worship (churches). How callous! Why would a government be so determined to desecrate and destroy every institution, all in the name of playing politics? It continues to baffle us, like most right-thinking Nigerians that Governor Wike will stand in a church- a solemn place of worship- and carelessly, brusquely tell such a profound lie. He condescendingly descended to falsely and indecorously shout corruption against Amaechi, without providing a single shred of evidence to back his claims. How pathetic! The minister dared Wike to provide evidence that proves he (Amaechi) indeed spent $150 million on APC. Pray, Governor Wike, who collected the $150million on behalf of APC? From which state government account(s) was the $150million taken from? How was the $150million taken and given to APC? Was it by wired transfer from Rivers State government account(s) to APC account(s)? So many questions, if Wike had attempted to answer, would have made nonsense of his supercilious allegations, the statement read. Rivers people and Nigerians are indeed sick and tired of this old worn-out trick of Governor Wike to hoodwink and distract Rivers people from the real issues. Making a new spurious allegation of corruption against Amaechi every day, will not make Rivers people forget that most of the beautiful, working institutions built by the Amaechi administration are now being allowed to rot away in spite of the billions of naira that had accrued to the state and the billions of naira borrowed by Wike. The governor reportedly sent a letter to the states House of Assembly asking that Achuba be confirmed for the position. The letter reads: In line with the provision of Section 186 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, I have the pleasure to forward herewith, the name of Hon. Simon Achuba for approval of appointment as the deputy governor of Kogi State. Hon. Achuba (JP) hails from Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State and was a two-time honourable member of the state House of Assembly from 1999 to 2007 where he was Deputy Speaker during his second tenure. In view of the above, it will be highly appreciated if the request is treated and approved with utmost speed to pave way for his assumption of office. Bello was sworn in without a deputy due to the refusal of proposed candidate, James Faleke to fill the position. Controversy has surrounded the Kogi governorship and deputy governorship since the death of previous All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the state, Abubakar Audu. Audu died on November 22, 2015, after contesting alongside Faleke in the previous elections which were subsequently declared inconclusive. Bello was then chosen by the APC as its new candidate to contest the supplementary elections under authorization by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The decision however didnt sit well with Faleke whos insisting that he should be sworn in as governor. -------------------------------------------- While answering questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with acting President Yemi Osinbajo, he criticised former president Goodluck Jonathan for not delegating presidential powers to his deputy Namadi Sambo when he (Jonathan) travelled out the country. Ndume led other senators, including Senators Dino Melaye and Adamu Abdulahi, to the Presidential Villa today, February 9. He dismissed insinuation that their visit to Osinbajo was about the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. "This is not the first time we are coming here. But this is the first time we are having the Vice President as acting President. That is one of the reasons why we are here. "This is because we are setting a new example. During the previous government, the President will just go and leave the place blank. "But this time around when our President goes for a few days, he transmitted to all Nigerians that the Vice President is to act as the President. "So, we came for the regular consultation. There is nothing new about it and we will be doing more of this", he said. The legislators sentiment was conveyed via a statement released by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi on Monday, February 8, 2016. The statement reads in part: Following a meeting held in Abuja yesterday (Sunday) by some senators and the wide consultations with our colleagues in which we reviewed last Fridays decision of the Supreme Court in the appeal on the preliminary matters filed by the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on the charges filed against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), we hereby resolve as follows: That from the beginning of the trial last September, we have declared that this case is not about any fight against corruption; it is simply a case of political vendetta. Our position remains the same. We still believe that the case is politically-motivated. We also noted that the decision of the Supreme Court given last Friday was on preliminary matters arising from the commencement of the trial. The trial proper has yet to begin. And since the fundamental principle in our legal system is that a defendant is deemed innocent until proven guilty, we have decided to patiently observe the proceedings until the case runs its full circle in the nations final judicial forum. It is on this ground that we want to state categorically that there is no basis for the call on the Senate President to resign until after the matter is decided in that final judicial forum. Such a call at this time is premature, mischievous and unwarranted. We therefore reiterate our support for Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate. We stand by him as he goes through the trial at the CCT where we believe he will be able to prove his innocence. We also call on members of the public to ignore the ranting of a few senators who having failed to get the wish of their sponsors done on the floor of the Senate are now launching media campaign against the leadership of the Senate. We want members of the public to know that the Senate under Dr. Saraki has achieved stability in the legislative institution and we do not need any negative distraction at this point. The focus of the Senate is on the objective consideration and timely passage of the 2016 budget and we will want all Nigerians to support us as we concentrate on this important assignment. We also want to say that we will not make any further statement on this case until the matter has been decided in the final judicial forum. The Supreme Court had, on February 5, 2016, ruled that Sarakis trialbefore the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) should continue. ------------------------------------------ Dakuku said they are now like orphans when they went to visit him (Oyegun). Dakuku, you are not an orphan. I am your father. I am here, Wike said at a recent event in Port Harcourt, according to Daily Post. How can you have a father and you say you are an orphan. I am your father. Come, I will bless you. Come. The Archbishop has said that Im not the father of just PDP. I am the father of everybody. So, Dakuku cannot be an orphan. Come and contribute your quota to the state, he added. Wikes victory in the April 11, 2015, elections was upheld by the apex court on January 27, 2016. The mobile market in the DRC is undergoing significant growth and is currently the largest mobile market in Central and West Africa after Nigeria with more than 40 million subscribers, according to an Innovation Village report. Through this deal, Orange would significantly reinforce its presence in the DRC, thereby becoming one of the leading mobile operators in the country. This acquisition highlights Oranges strategy in Africa which is to develop and maintain leading competitive positions across its various countries of operations on the continent. Mr. Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communication, during a parley with ICT journalists in Lagos, said that the federal government cannot return to renegotiation table with the telecom giant until a substantial fraction of the fine has been paid to indicate its readiness to settle the issue. South Africa-based MTN had taken the NCC to court after the commission imposed a N1.04 trillion fine on it for failing to deactivate millions of unregistered subscribers. The NCC later reduced the fine to N780 billion. Shittu said: When MTN came, we understood their pleas. However, we added that if you cannot meet up with the fine, you have to add your account details to show that upon paying, your company will collapse. They are yet to respond on that. The next thing was for me to get a call they are going to court. And now, they are coming back for out of court settlement. We don't want MTN to die; rather, we want them to obey the law." MTN sought for an adjournment to enable it pursue an out of court settlement with the federal government at the last court hearing, an offer which the minister had dismissed publicly before making a U-turn on the matter on Monday. The Minister further explained, saying, "See we don't want MTN to die; 99% of the staff are Nigerians. But when you default in the law, you have to bear the consequences; we want them to obey the law." In a statement, Oyagbola further stated that the acquisition allows Visafone and MTN to leverage resources for service enhancement whilst strengthening the growth and roll-out of broadband services across the country. The MTN chief also referenced media reports credited to regulatory authorities that the acquisition would help sustain the continuity of CDMA services in Nigeria. However, Etisalat said it saw the action it had taken as necessary, to prevent the use of the spectrum by MTN at this time, as it will assert the dominance of MTN in the retail data services market. You will recall that MTN Nigeria was declared dominant by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in 2013 and remains dominant in the wholesale leased line and retail voice markets. The use of the 800MHz spectrum to deploy broadband services ahead of its competitors, particularly those who prior to MTNs purchase of Visafone, held similar spectrum bands as MTN, will further entrench MTNs dominance in the Nigerian telecommunications sector, Etisalat said in a statement confirmed by Chineze Amanfo, its PR head. Etisalat said it had, in addition to the legal action and in line with Section 86 of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, approached the NCC to understand the basis of its decision to approve the acquisition, according to a report by Nigeria CommunicationsWeek. As you are aware, the matter is already in court as such, we are restrained from commenting further on the matter, the company added. Deere & Co. is urging Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying the trade agreement signed by 12 countries is a much-needed step to boost the global economy. A robust U.S. trade agenda expands jobs and opportunities for American workers, farmers and businesses, Samuel Allen, chairman and CEO of the Moline-based manufacturer, said in a news release. This benefits our customers, our employees, and expands our business opportunities. Allen said the global marketplace is important to Deeres employees, as nearly 40 percent of the companys revenues already come from sales outside the U.S. and Canada. Exports at Deeres larger agricultural and construction equipment factories in Iowa and Illinois account for between one-third and one-fourth of all units manufactured at those facilities. The companys largest tractors are built in Waterloo. TPP would give the company a boost but not right away, said Eli Lustgarten, an analyst who tracks Deeres financial performance for Longbow Research in St. Louis. Near-term, its not huge, he said. It doesnt overcome the weakness in the ag sector at this point. Over time, though, these emerging market areas are fertile ground no pun intended. Theyre growing markets. Anything you can do to make trade easier helps the company, certainly. Deere serves customers in the TPP participating countries and has facilities in seven of them. The agreement is expected to boost trade flows among all participants and strengthen global food security by improving efficiency in meeting food and feed needs as well as improving infrastructure across the Asia-Pacific region. TPP delivers transparent and consistent rules for our investments and freer trade for our products, both of which are increasingly more important as Deeres global footprint has grown, Allen said. The agreements provisions enhance the business environment in these important economies, making Congresss swift ratification of the agreement important to Deere and our customers Participating countries signed the TPP last week in New Zealand, taking another step toward ratification and implementation of the agreement. TPP members account for about 40 percent of the global economy and one-third of world trade. Initial TPP countries include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, U.S. and Vietnam. It makes sense, Iowa State University agriculture economist Dave Swenson said. But, Swenson also described TPP as incredibly complicated, and there are winners and losers. One winner in the deal would be the agriculture sector, Swenson said. For raw and finished products, it eliminates some barriers or tariffs, Swenson said. Anything that moves exports doesnt boost output on the farm, but it does ultimately boost prices. Happy farmers buy Deere tractors, so anything that can stimulate price improvement (helps). The losers likely would be consumers of other products, particularly pharmaceuticals, because it prevents cheaper products from coming into the U.S., Swenson said. Theres losers in the sense that some of this deal, as its been written, seems to provide an extraordinary amount of protection to large pharmaceutical companies that gives them more monopoly power, Swenson said. The large pharmaceutical companies seem to have language in there that protects their products disproportionate to other products. So, the loser is tends to be very well be consumer of those products. However, the deal would benefit producers of manufactured goods, agriculture commodities and timber. In October 2015 in Atlanta, the U.S., Japan, Vietnam and nine other Pacific Rim nations reached final agreement on TPP, which would be the largest regional trade pact in history. Current U.S. exports to Japan, Vietnam and the other 10 cosignatories to TPP accounted for about 44 percent of 2014 U.S. exports, according to Creighton University economist Ernie Goss. Goss also noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated the implementation of TPP would expand U.S. sales abroad by $130 billion. Goss estimated TPP would expand U.S. agricultural sales by approximately $8.4 billion and U.S. net farm income by roughly $1 billion in just one year. An even bigger positive jolt to agriculture sales and farm income would come from a reduction in the value of the U.S. dollar, Goss said. He noted that a 1 percent reduction in the value of the U.S. dollar would add about $4.6 billion to U.S. farm revenues. There will, of course, be some economic losers from approval of TPP but the economic winners will far outnumber the losers, Goss said. Congress should pass TPP. Seven candidates for an open seat on the Davenport Community School Board fielded tough questions Monday night from 40 residents concerned about the future of the schools. Issues raised at the forum, which was hosted by United Neighbors, a community agency, ranged from the level of each candidate's civic involvement to accomplishments anticipated as an elected school board member. The candidates are competing to fill the seat previously held by Maria Dickmann. She was elected to the school board in 2013, and resigned after being elected to the Davenport City Council in November. The term ends in 2017. Budget woes and the decision to close J.B. Young K-8 School at the end of the current school year dominated Monday night's discussion. Erika Kall proposed approaching funding problems from a different direction, bringing all options and questions to the table for consideration. Another candidate, Bruce Werning, called on business leaders in the district to travel to Des Moines or issue statements urging legislators to support equitable funding of public education. North High School student Andrew DeNoyer, also a candidate, agreed. Equal funding of school districts would mean an extra $3 million for those districts. We need to fight for that in Des Moines. Ileaser Parker-Tatum, a senior at Mid-City High School, called cutting programs to address the state funding shortfall completely unfair." "Ive lived the part of being a student not getting the attention needed to progress in the classroom, the board hopeful said. Clyde Mayfield, who is seeking to return to the board he previously served on, said funding cuts disproportionately impact students in central city neighborhoods. Dont be surprised if in ten years were building more schools. Decisions made on where to build those schools shifts the population with it. Megan Long questioned how school district funds are spent. I was told there are different pots of money for administration, programs and curriculum. I want to find out what those pots look like. If elected, retired educator Elaine Kresse intends to study the ratio of administration to staff and students. Dont balance the budget on the backs of the parents. Maybe administrators belong back in the classrooms. Candidates were asked how they would have voted on the closing of J.B. Young. All supported keeping the school open. Candidates also commented on spending taxpayer dollars to fund the special school board election. All but one candidate supported the decision to let district residents decide. I think the school board could have chosen any one of us and saved $30,000, Kresse said. Davenport School Board president Ralph Johanson admitted he woke up Monday morning feeling a bit scared. A bit scared about the legal consequences he and the five other school board members could potentially face if they supported and signed a letter he has written to the Iowa Department of Education. This is real whats going to happen here, he warned his fellow elected officials in front of a small crowd at Mondays school board meeting. Despite discouraging advice from the districts legal counsel, every school board member signed a letter backing Superintendent Art Tates plan to violate Iowa code and dip into the districts cash reserves during the 2016-17 school year. Sporting Im Worth-Less T-shirts in support of equitable state funding for the Davenport school district, board members stood up one by one to sign the letter, which board vice president Richard Clewell coined a watershed moment, for the board. Before board member Daniel Gosa signed the letter, he beckoned his two children, both students at Fillmore Elementary School who wore matching shirts, to join him in front of the audience. The state permits some districts to spend more than others, up to $175 more per student in the Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley districts, for example. In Davenport, that would translate to about $2.8 million more per year from the state. Tates budget plan proposes that the district spend $175 for each student with money from the districts cash reserves, which is not allowed by state law. Those cash reserves now total about $29 million. Iowa enacted its complex school funding formula that sets varied per-pupil spending limits in the 1970s the primary source of frustration for some board members. The formula is over 40 years old and it was based on property tax values from more than 40 years ago, board member Jamie Snyder said. They know it's wrong, they dont know how to fix it so they ignore it our students need the money, other students in the state need money, and someone needs to open their eyes and fix this. Johanson composed the letter in response to an e-mail from Tom Cooley, bureau chief of finance, facilities, operation and transportation services at the states education department in Des Moines. Cooleys e-mail projects the district may have a negative unspent balance within two years if it does not amend its budget plan. The letter in response will be sent to Ryan Wise, director of the education department. Johanson stressed that the district is still awaiting action from the Iowa Legislature on the supplemental aid formula before approving its 2016-17 budget. As far as the potential consequences, Johanson said school board members could be removed from their elected position and face possible citations or fines. As for Tate, Johanson said hes pretty sure the superintendent would lose his license, his job and some of his future. Its a really, really big deal. Many school districts across Illinois are sick and tired of it and arent going to take it anymore. They are urging taxpayers even those without school-age children to inundate Springfield legislators with pleas to change the long-standing school funding formula. You are affected by the tax rate and the workforce, East Moline Superintendent Kristin Humphries said, and this (formula) has to change or the community will suffer. A group of East Moline educators, parents and state representatives held a news conference Monday to state their case for a change, making the distribution of state money more equitable. According to the Education Trust, a national nonprofit, Illinois is the worst in the nation, on average, spending the least amount per student. The Illinois Education Funding Advisory Board says it takes $14,000 a year to educate a student. That, educators say, is an adequate number, but not equitable. Affluent districts get a flat, per pupil amount from the state on top of their local tax revenues, which are high. The remainder of the school districts, some 75 percent, dont have the same high level of local property tax revenues to supplement their state aid, and that aid has also been cut in the last five years. Affluent districts have a lower tax rate, but property values are so high that their income is greater, yet they still get state aid, Humphries said. He wants it weighted based on student need versus the local ability to pay. State Sen. Andrew Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said the neediest suffer the most. Eleven billion (dollars) is spent each year by the state on K-12 education, but less is spent on children in poverty, those who are bilingual, and those with special education needs, Manar said, and with one district only able to spend $6,000 per student while another can spend $32,000, that gap is only going to get larger." Manar attended the news conference Monday in East Moline to promote his fair education funding bill, Senate Bill 1. Humphries said hes tired of not filling positions each year as retirements occur. His East Moline district has received almost $1 million less from the state in each of the past four years. Were looking at cutting some $650,000-$700,000 out of our budget, and this cant continue, Humphries said. There arent a lot of places to cut, and anything at this point affects children. Glenview Middle School teacher Margarita Mojica said, My students are amazing, award-winners, and they dream big, but the states inequitable funding is holding them back. East Moline parent Christy Filby has seen first-hand the devastation caused by staff cuts, while other districts actually add staff. All children should have the right to educational necessities, and their future should not be dictated by their ZIP code, she said. Our children shouldnt just get by while others thrive. Former Rock Island alderman Terry Brooks urged the group to make a wider appeal, noting that many residents complain about their city councils raising taxes when it's really the school districts, which have been underfunded by the state. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, in the eighth month of a budget stalemate, urged a Quad-City audience Tuesday to pressure Democratic lawmakers in the area, arguing they are working for House Speaker Mike Madigan, not their constituents. Rauner and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti toured Hawk Technology, a manufacturer on Rock Island's southwest side. And as he has on previous visits to the area, Rauner pushed for reforms that he said would make the state more economically competitive with Iowa and other states. But he also was more direct than he has been in the past in criticizing state lawmakers. Rauner, a Republican, didn't specifically mention state Reps. Mike Smiddy and Pat Verschoore, but the two Democrats are the only state representatives in Rock Island County. "Speaker Madigan doesn't care about the Quad-Cities. Speaker Madigan cares about the Chicago political machine. The Chicago political machine is doing great. Rock Island is suffering because were not competitive," the governor said. "You've got two representatives here working for him, not you. And you ought to talk to them about it." Rauner argued that his turnaround agenda, which includes changes to collective bargaining and workers' compensation laws, is linked to the state's budget woes. And, as he has elsewhere, he said if the state's economy can just perform at "average" levels when compared with other states, it would be a boon to the budget. Smiddy, who did not attend the meeting, which was sponsored by the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce and drew about 200 people, said Rauner's criticism wasn't productive and is geared toward the fall elections, not resolving budget disputes. "Everything that the governor is doing right now is aimed at trying to pick up seats in the Legislature and is not worrying about the welfare of the state of Illinois," said Smiddy, who is from Hillsdale and faces a re-election battle this fall. Verschoore, who is from Milan, is retiring at the end of this year. For the most part Tuesday, Rauner blamed Madigan for the budget stalemate. He said that it is "outrageous" there is no budget but that the speaker is insisting on relying on tax increases. Rauner also made stops in Rockford and Springfield on Tuesday to push for his agenda. Augustana College twins Autumn and Giselle Loucks, of Omaha, Neb., routinely call their parents every night at 6 p.m. to catch up on the days happenings. During a phone call earlier this school year, the 18-year-old freshmen sounded stressed, so their parents sent them something to take the edge off: two coloring books. And it worked, according to the sisters. Ive always liked art and coloring to begin with because its relaxing, said Autumn, who must take two art courses every school year to maintain her scholarship. In hopes of de-stressing other students as they approach the end of the term and finals week, Samantha Crisp, the colleges special collections librarian, designated a coloring corner for students on campus this week. Crisp, a 26-year-old transplant from North Carolina printed a wide selection of coloring sheets from historic works in the librarys rare book collection and archives. Rare books tend to have a lot of really detailed black and white illustrations because they were either created from woodcuts or they were illustrated with the intent that they would be hand colored by someone later, Crisp said. Last week, the New York Academy of Medicine launched its #ColorOurCollections campaign, and several museums, libraries and archives hopped on the adult coloring train and shared creations on Twitter. Come #ColorOurCollections @ the Special Collections reading room or the library's 2nd floor during Week 10 & finals! pic.twitter.com/3nCWPaqDOR Special Collections (@augspeccoll) February 8, 2016 I wanted to do it last week, but if anyone at Augie wants to take a break and color it would be this week or next week during finals, said Crisp, who added several of the sheets depict Augustana or Quad-City history. I thought this would be a good way for students to meditate and chill out for awhile as they take a break from studying. On Monday afternoon, Autumn colored a caricature of Jackie Kennedy Onassis on the librarys second floor as she waited for her sister to finish preparing a presentation. When coloring to pass the time on a break from her studies, Giselle said she doesnt feel like shes reverting back to her childhood because the designs arent little kiddish. Theyre more detailed and elaborate so you feel more grown up, she said. It just centers you and you can think about other things when youre doing it. IF YOU GO WHEN: 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 29 WHERE: Rock Island Public Library, 401 19th St. DETAILS: Art supplies, coloring pages and refreshments will be provided. Registration is not required. Biz Bytes Following a year-long recovery from a motorcycle accident, Good2Gos mobile server Stacey Propps has returned to work for the Quad-City restaurant delivery company. Times reporter Jennifer DeWitt profiled Propps return in her new weekly business column coined Biz Bytes, which she launched on Sunday, Jan. 31. In other news, tune in to Alcoa Davenport Works Eaglecam and its eagle nest, where the birds Liberty and Justice are expected to lay eggs between Feb. 8 and 23, DeWitt reports. Mega drug bust in Bettendorf Authorities made an arrest and seized almost a pound-and-a-half of cocaine Monday in a Bettendorf parking lot. Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group and the Bettendorf Police Department found 646 grams of powder cocaine hidden in the suspect vehicles door panel. That amount, authorities predict, could sell for about $71,000 on the street. Police arrested Gerardo R. Torres, 24, of Elgin, Ill., on charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy and violation of the drug tax stamp act. GO & DO Happy Mardi Gras! Celebrate Fat Tuesday tonight with the Rajun Cajun Food Fest at the Figge Art Museum. Quad-City chefs from nine area restaurants, including Bass Street Chop House and Hemispheres Bistro, will cook up Cajun and Creole-inspired cuisine and specialty cocktails. 5-8 p.m. $35 at the door. Congress held a hearing on the increasing prices of prescription drugs this week, and its about time. It feels like every time I need medicine, its more expensive than the last time. Then I saw drug company Gilead Sciences Inc. the announce it made more money last year than it was expecting. Too bad wages arent going up as quickly as the price of those prescription drugs. DES MOINES Sen. Joni Ernst is supporting additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the nations recent tests of a hydrogen bomb and a long-range rocket. North Korea is always at the top of the list when it comes to very unstable governments that have access to very powerful weapons, Ernst said Tuesday. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act that includes secondary sanctions of the type the Obama administration used to get a nuclear agreement with Iran. James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, told Ernst and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that the details of North Koreas nuclear doctrine or employment concepts are not known. We have long assessed that Pyongyangs nuclear capabilities are intended for deterrence, international prestige and coercive diplomacy, he said. The Senate legislation scheduled for a vote Wednesday would include broad sanctions as well as crack down on Communist party officials accused of covering up human rights violations. The legislation also includes what Ernst called secondary sanctions that would be in addition to sanctions on the government. They would apply to those corporations or people outside of North Korea who are attempting to do business with North Korea, she said. Secondary sanctions would apply to anyone trying to supply the North Korea military-industrial base, Ernst said. China, by far North Korea's closest trading partner, has expressed opposition to the sanctions. The White House could waive sanctions in some cases but would have to report that to Congress. A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items for Monday: FUTURE READY IOWA: To help meet his goal that 70 percent of Iowans will have some post-secondary education by 2025, Gov. Terry Branstad has announced plans for an April 19 Future Ready Iowa summit to start a statewide conversation about how to close the skills gap. At his Monday news conference, Branstad called it critical to build on efforts already under way to assure that students and workers have the career opportunities they deserve and business and industry can hire the skilled employees they need. The all-day summit is open to the public, with space for about 1,000. Branstad and Reynolds hope to attract a broad cross section of Iowans, including business, labor and nonprofit leaders; educators, students and parents; and state and local policy-makers. For more information or to register, visit futurereadyiowa.gov. FASTER: A pair of bills to increase speed limits on undivided, two-lane highways got the green light from a House Transportation subcommittee. One would raise the speed limit from 55 mph to 60. The other would raise it to 65. Steve Gent of the Iowa DOT expressed concern that the higher speed limits would result in an increase of five to 15 fatalities a year. County two-lanes, he said, often have narrower shoulders and steeper ditches. He also estimated the cost of changing speed limit signs statewide to be somewhere between $4.6 million to $6.5 million. The subcommittee of Rep. Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, John Landon, R-Ankeny, and Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, agreed to send the bills to the full committee and work with the DOT on amending the language. One change considered was giving county supervisors the option of increasing speed limits on county roads. 21st CENTURY PROTECTION: Although they heard comments from lobbyists that the change is unnecessary and may lead to Iowas search and seizure law being interpreted in new ways, a House Judiciary subcommittee moved forward with a proposed constitutional amendment to protect Iowans electronic communications and data. HJR 2003 calls for amending Iowas 19th century Constitution to reflect 21st century technology, Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, said. He wants to protect electronic communications and data whether its on a cellphone or in the cloud from warrantless search and seizure, he said. But Kelly Meyers of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, said the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to cover electronic communications and data. If Iowa amends its Constitution, the court could take that as lawmakers intention for Iowa law to be interpreted differently from the federal Fourth Amendment. Pete McRoberts of the Iowa ACLU supported the change. The change would not undermine the protections but merely recognize that Iowas law is more protective than the U.S. Constitution. FAIR PAY BILL: A panel of Senate Democrats approved a bill that would strengthen equal pay laws by requiring more wage transparency from employers. SF 3071 prohibits employers from barring employees from discussing their wages, requires employers to post a minimum wage level with any job posting and gives employees more legal authority to pursue wage discrimination claims. The bill advances to the Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee. MEDICAID: U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, has asked President Barack Obama to deny Iowas request to transition to a privately managed Medicaid system if the state remains unprepared for the switch. Late last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services postponed the states move to privatized management of Medicaid for 60 days until March 1. In a letter to Obama, Loebsack outlined some of the concerns he has heard directly from Iowans that the state is still facing in light of the new deadline approaching. I have spoken personally to many Iowans who would be impacted by this change, including the parents of children with disabilities, Loebsack wrote. Each day, these parents are scared that their children will not be able to access the life sustaining therapies they need once the transition is made. If it is determined the Iowa Department of Human Services is not prepared for the transition, Loebsack said, I urge you to deny their waiver request. QUOTE OF THE DAY: The signs say whatever. You put a plus six on that, and it works, Rep. Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, during a discussion of raising speed limits on two-lane highways. Times Bureau DES MOINES A Republican state senator from northwest Iowa has lent his support to a Democrat-led effort to halt the Medicaid management transition plan proposed by the states Republican governor. But Sen. David Johnsons vote Monday to support legislation that would stop the transition to private management of Iowas $5 billion Medicaid program did not immediately spark a widespread, bipartisan movement, as key Republicans remained supportive of the governors initiative. Republican Gov. Terry Branstads administration is moving Medicaid management to three private health-care companies. Private management, which awaits federal approval because Medicaid is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, is slated to begin March 1. A bill that passed through two committees Monday in the Democrat-controlled Senate would nullify the state contracts with those health-care companies. Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, said he supports the bill after hearing from his constituents and health-care providers in his area. Prior to Johnsons show of support Monday, Republicans had been hesitant to support delaying or halting the Medicaid management transition. I just believe that at the very least we need to slow the process down, said Johnson. Im going to support it to give it a little extra push, and to give it a push because I want it to be a bipartisan approach on the issue. Theres no point in us arguing on political ideologies about this. We need to look at exactly whats going on here and remember the patients and the clients come first. The bill likely could pass the full Iowa Senate on the strength of a Democratic majority even without Johnsons support; it likely faces a short shelf life in the Republican-controlled Iowa House. Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, called Johnsons support a signal that bipartisan support exists among state lawmakers to stop the governors plan. I believe that the fact that theres bipartisan support to terminate contracts certainly sends a very loud and clear message to the governor and to the (federal) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that at the very least they need to at least delay it again and hopefully will say, Alright, Iowa, just stop and do a restart, Jochum said. But in a committee vote on the legislation, Johnson was the only of four Republicans to support the measure. And in the House, Rep. Dave Heaton, who chairs the health care budget committee, gave the bureau a passionate defense of the governors plan, which he and supporters believe will improve health outcomes for Medicaid recipients and create efficiencies and taxpayer savings. I just cant agree on a delay. I think theres just too much at stake here, Heaton said. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said late last week that she does not expect the bill will receive a hearing in the House, given the governor does not support the effort to stop his Medicaid management plan. Im certainly not interested in passing any bill that faces a certain veto, so thats probably not something well do, Upmeyer told reporters Thursday. Branstad accused Democrats of playing politics with his Medicaid management. I think its outrageous and political, and that kind of partisanship should have no place in trying to deliver the best health care to the citizens of Iowa, Branstad said Monday morning during his weekly news conference. Jochum pushed back at the suggestion, saying she and other Democrats are responding to the thousands of constituents who have expressed concerns with the Medicaid management changes. 2005-2022 All contents of this blog are the property of Bonnie K. Hunter, and cannot be reproduced in any way without prior written consent. State, local school officials support sales tax increase PIERRE The South Dakota Legislative Research Council has officially filed Gov. Dennis Daugaards education reform bills which are now online for the public to view. South Dakotans want us to be bold, said Gov. Daugaard. They are tired of hearing how South Dakota is 51st in teacher pay. They want their children to have a quality education and they want to advance student achievement. I am confident we can achieve those goals through this proposal. This is the year to get it done. The Governors teacher pay proposal is made up of three separate legislative measures: House Bill 1182 increase the state sales tax, the state use tax, the excise tax on farm machinery, and amusement device tax for the purpose of increasing education funding and reducing property taxes, and to declare an emergency. Senate Bill 131 establish a target teacher salary and a target teacher ratio and to revise certain provisions regarding education funding. Senate Bill 133 revise certain provisions regarding shared services provided by the state to school districts, the sharing of services of school district employees, the classroom innovation grant program, and educator mentoring and certification reciprocity. SB 1182 would increase the sales tax by a half-penny and dedicate $40 million for property tax relief. The new revenue would increase South Dakotas average teacher salary from $40,000 to a target average of $48,500. SB 131 establishes a new funding formula and requires that 90 percent of new funding go specifically to teacher pay. The bill also imposes new caps on school general reserve funds and on the growth of capital outlay levies. SB 133 includes a number of proposals to recruit and retain more teachers and to create new opportunities for school efficiency. Gov. Daugaard first outlined his education proposal in his State of the State Address last month. The Governors proposals are largely based on the recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Task Force which met last year to study education funding and teacher pay. In response to the bills being filed, the Associated School Boards of South Dakota issued a press release advocating their support for the additional half-cent sales tax, outlined in HB 1182. Our school board members are committed to supporting the half cent sales tax increase that will help them recruit and retain our teachers, ASBSD President Eric Stroeder said. The bill not only helps public schools, but benefits our local tax payers, who have seen an increased funding burden placed on them. Hot Springs Superintendent of Schools Kevin Coles also weighed in on the topic, adding, One of the nice things about the HB1182, the bill that would raise sales taxes by a half cent, is that there will also be a decrease in property taxes across all classes, he said. This makes the Governors Education Funding bill a win-win! The recently introduced House Bill 1182 proposes the half cent increase to the states sales tax, which hasnt been permanently raised since 1969. In addition, the bill will reduce property taxes across all classes of property by 12 percent with agricultural levy tax payers seeing a tax decrease of $7 million, owner-occupied tax payers saving $13.9 million and commercial tax payers recovering $19.1 million. The half cent sales tax increase would commit more than $60 million in new funding for public schools to distribute to teachers and staff for the upcoming school year and would establish the new, ongoing revenue source our schools desperately need to quell the states teacher shortage. Funding education adequately in South Dakota should be a common goal for all of us and I hope the community of Hot Springs and our local legislators will support this effort, Supt. Coles added. According to the ASBSD, data from schools and the Blue Ribbon Task Force have illustrated how shallow the states teacher pool has become and with no practical alternative funding plan presented, the passage of House Bill 1182 is vital. There is no viable second option for improving teacher pay in our state or funding our public education system at the level needed, ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said. School board members and community leaders must let our legislators know that our public schools need this new, ongoing revenue source to recruit and retain our teachers and maintain South Dakotas excellent public education system. The education reform bills can be viewed online at legis.sd.gov. Wall of Honor Our Heroes pays tribute to five heroes HOT SPRINGS About 50 people including members of the community, veterans groups and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Black Hills Health Care System officials turned out at Hot Springs VA campus to honor five veterans with a new feature at the VA, the Wall of Honor Our Heroes Thursday morning, Feb. 4. The Wall of Honor Our Heroes is a new way to acknowledge the service of U.S. military personnel who are being or have been cared for by the VA Black Hills Health Care System (VA/BHHCS), according to a VA brochure about the new feature. The Wall of Honor Our Heroes features a framed plaque with a description of each persons service record, accomplishments and background, along with photos of the person in the service and in their civilian life. VA/BHHCS Director Sandra L Horsman unveiled the five plaques at the ceremony establishing the Wall of Honor Our Heroes at Hot Springs VA in front of the veterans who were honored by these plaques, and their friends and family members. The men honored included veterans from World War II, the Korean conflict-era, and Vietnam. Norman L. Pudwill Pudwill served in the U.S. Navy from September of 1946 through May of 1952, and in the South Dakota Army National Guard from 1952 through August 1983. An Avon, S.D., native, in September of 1946 he enlisted in the Navy and became a Corpsman, where he served in Guam and Mare Island, Calif. While in Guam, Pudwill was a part of a humanitarian mission to relocate more than 100 people suffering from leprosy from Guam to the Tinian Islands, 115 miles away. He also participated in recovery missions for shipwrecks around the Guam. Pudwills Army National Guard service began on his return to South Dakota in 1952. He was assigned to the 109th Engineer Battalion in Sturgis, a unit that originated in Hot Springs in 1924. Pudwill remained in the Guard until August 1983, when he retired with a Sergeant Major rank. Pudwill has lived in Hot Springs since 1952, and served as Fall River County Emergency Manager from 1988 until 2006. He and his wife, Zabie, have three sons who live in Seattle, Wash., two step-children in Hot Springs, and a step-child in Omaha, Neb. Carlton Anderson Anderson was born on a Wisconsin dairy farm into a family of military veterans: His father was a U. S. Navy veteran of World War I, who served as a cook aboard a troop ship that made seven crossings of the Atlantic Ocean (New York to France) despite German U-boats. Two brothers were also Navy veterans who served on battleships and destroyers in the Pacific theatre during World War II. After graduating from high school in 1950, at the onset of the Korean conflict, Anderson joined the Navy and was stationed at Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Fla. His job was to provide supplies and services to the flying squadrons stationed aboard the U.S.S. Roosevelt, the U.S.S. Bennington, and the U.S.S. Oriskany when they returned from sea duty. Locatiing the parts needed to keep these WW II aircraft flying was a challenge. Anderson was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1953. In 1959 he came to Hot Springs visiting his brother and found work at the VA Medical Center where he served in the Engineering and Supply departments. He retired after 30 years of dedication. Anderson is also a cancer survivor and a heart patient who is very grateful and thankful for life and the opportunities he received while serving his country. Thomas B. Bohl Born in Jamestown, ND, Bohl, the youngest of seven children (five sisters and one brother), grew up on a small farm outside of Missoula, Mont. He joined the U.S. Navy in April of 1972, and was assigned to the U.S.S. Meyerkord after basic training. The ship, launched just five years earlier, during the Vietnam conflict, could travel 22 miles per hour, fire a torpedo and had a 5-inch gun, an MK-42 .54 caliber gun, and a 20 mm, six-barrelled MK-15 Vulcan Phalanx gun. The ship was dispatched to Yankee Station, a point in the Gulf of Tonkin used by Navy aircraft carriers in Task Force 77 to launch strikes into Vietnam. Bohl was a Boatswains Mate. After Navy service, Bohl worked in a variety of different trades including on oil drilling rigs, commercial fishing boats in Alaska, in commercial painting in Seattle, Washington. Donald R. Tillotson Donald R. Tillotson, a Hot Springs native, had a 20-year hitch in the U.S. Navy, serving from 1944 through 1964. Tillotson attended Hot Springs schools through the 10th grade, when he attempted to join the Navy, but was denied because he was only 17. Upon turning 18 a few months later, he was accepted. Tillotson completed 16 weeks of boot camp in Farragut, Idaho, and went on to receive military training as a Fire Control Man in Great Lakes, Ill. Following this, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Bowers, a troop ship escort and anti-submarine vessel. The ship was equipped with three torpedo tubes and many anti-aircraft guns. Tillotson was assigned to the torpedo crew, which he absolutely loved. During his first assignment, during the battle of the Philippines, the ship remained unscathed. However, on its next assignment, in the battle of Okinawa, a Japanese kamikaze plan flew into the ship, killing more than half the crew. Tillotson immediately responded by rendering the ships depth charges safe, so as not to explode and kill crew members thrown into the water. His heroic response saved countless lives and earned him the Bronze Star. His last assignment duirng his 20 years was the 1963 blockade of communist Cuba, with the potential for a nuclear missile strike in the U.S., a fight that he states was more intense than any Pacific war zone battles. Tillotson met his wife in a roller skating rink and went on to have two children, Donald and Nita Theresa. He retired in Hot Springs. Donald Harden Harden, a Martinsburg, W.V. native, served in the U.S. Army from 1966 through 1974, during the Vietnam conflict. He was stationed in Vietnam the first time in 1967, where he served as a combat medic with a group of 350 soldiers designated as a mobile riverine force in the Mekong Delta Tunnel Rats. Early in their campaign their assignment was to look for prisoner of war (POW) camps, with instructions not to rescue soldiers, but only to obtain information by covertly getting in and out of the camps. Tragically, only three of these 350 soldiers returned home alive, Harden was one of the lucky ones. Harden fought in the Tet Offensive (October, 1968), where he was hit with shrapnel, and spent more than a month in a Saigon field hospital. He received a Purple Heart for his injuries. After a transfer to Fort Campbell, Ky., to recover from his injuries, Harden volunteered to return to Vietnam in 1970. He was seriously injured again in fighting, evacuated, then transferred to Fort Fitzsimons in Aurora, Color. This injury earned Harden the Bronze Star. Harden tries to never miss the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall when it comes to Hot Springs. Ive got lots of friends on that wallit is the utmost of tributesit doesnt get any better, he said. In 2013, Harden was accepted into the Congressional Medal of Honor Society where he received a gold medallion. Brothers and sisters, I would do it all over again and I wouldnt think twice about it, Hardin told the crowd following the unveiling of his plaque on the wall. May god bless you. Horsman called all four men heroes of any era and lauded the changes that have taken place since Vietnam-era veterans have returned home from their service. Horsman, whose father, and now her son, are service members, said the nation didnt do right by Vietnam-era veterans when they came home, and that veterans returning home today owe a debt of gratitude to Vietnam-era veterans who have paved the way for better treatment of veterans. Thank you for that, she said. I am humbled and honored to serve with them. She also hoped other veterans would share their stories to be included on the VAs Wall of Honor our Heroes in the future. Following the presentations, cookies and coffee were served to those who attended. Sidebar Who is eligible for Wall of Honor our Heroes? The veteran must have an honorable discharge from the U.S. armed forces. Must have been treated by the VA/BHHCS. Those wishing to honor family members should be prepared to share the service members date and place of birth, dates and places of service with as much information about this as possible, as many photos from the veterans service, work and home life as possible, and information about marriages, children, career accomplishments and organizations the veteran may have belonged to. For more information, contact the VA at 745-2000 or visit the VAs website at www.blackhills.va.gov Gwenn Valerie has been a teacher in South Dakota for 40 years. And, shes seen lots of lip service given to increasing teacher pay. At a cracker barrel in Sturgis Saturday, Valerie offered some advice to a former student and a couple of his colleagues. Im challenging you to be a part of the group that sees that teachers get higher salaries, she told Rep. Tom Brunner and fellow legislators Sen. Gary Cammack and Rep. Dean Wink. I have taught about 40 years and from the beginning, teacher salaries has been top on the list, but nothing gets done about it, she said. Ive been politically involved in raising money for teachers and weve gotten nowhere. Wink said he agreed with Valeries assessment. We have reached a tipping point on this issue, he said. Last year we reached a tipping point as far as transportation and roads. We realized the roads and bridges were getting worse instead of better. The same is true this year for education. Legislators have realized something needs to be done sooner rather than later because the gap in teacher pay between South Dakota and other states continues to widen. A few years ago the difference between South Dakota and some of the surrounding states was $2,000 (in base pay for teachers). Now its up to $8,000, he said. Gov. Dennis Daugaard let citizens know that teacher pay would be a priority during this years session when he outlined his education proposal in his State of the State Address last month. The governors proposals are largely based on the recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Task Force which met last year to study education funding and teacher pay. South Dakotans want us to be bold, Daugaard said. They are tired of hearing how South Dakota is 51st in teacher pay. They want their children to have a quality education and they want to advance student achievement. I am confident we can achieve those goals through this proposal. This is the year to get it done. The Governors teacher pay proposal is made up of three separate legislative measures: House Bill 1182 increase the state sales tax, the state use tax, the excise tax on farm machinery, and amusement device tax for the purpose of increasing education funding and reducing property taxes, and to declare an emergency. Senate Bill 131 establish a target teacher salary and a target teacher ratio and to revise certain provisions regarding education funding. Senate Bill 133 revise certain provisions regarding shared services provided by the state to school districts, the sharing of services of school district employees, the classroom innovation grant program, and educator mentoring and certification reciprocity. HB 1182 would increase the sales tax by a half-penny and dedicate $40 million for property tax relief. The new revenue would increase South Dakotas average teacher salary from $40,000 to a target average of $48,500. SB 131 establishes a new funding formula and requires that 90 percent of new funding go specifically to teacher pay. The bill also imposes new caps on school general reserve funds and on the growth of capital outlay levies. SB 133 includes a number of proposals to recruit and retain more teachers and to create new opportunities for school efficiency. Meade School District Superintendent Don Kirkegaard said the district would see about $1.5 million increase with $500,000 of that being the pension fund. We will pay every penny that we can towards teacher salaries, he said. When we look at the loss of other revenue -- actually the equalization -- we are a little bit of a loser under this plan. I think we are OK with that. Its a fairness issue. Associated School Boards of South Dakota and school board members across the state support and continue to advocate in favor of Gov. Daugaards proposed half cent sales tax increase, said ASBSD President Eric Stroeder. Our school board members are committed to supporting the half cent sales tax increase that will help them recruit and retain our teachers, Stroeder said. The bill not only helps public schools, but benefits our local taxpayers, who have seen an increased funding burden placed on them. The recently introduced House Bill 1182 proposes the half cent increase to the states sales tax, which hasnt been permanently raised since 1969. In addition, the bill will reduce property taxes across all classes of property by 12 percent with agricultural levy tax payers seeing a tax decrease of $7 million, owner-occupied tax payers saving $13.9 million and commercial tax payers recovering $19.1 million. The half cent sales tax increase would commit more than $60 million in new funding for public schools to distribute to teachers and staff for the upcoming school year and would establish the new, ongoing revenue source our schools desperately need to quell the states teacher shortage. Data from schools and the Blue Ribbon Task Force have illustrated how shallow the states teacher pool has become and with no practical alternative funding plan presented, the passage of House Bill 1182 is vital. The half-cent sales tax increase that would help fund Gov. Dennis Daugaards teacher pay plan passed its first legislative test Monday, but it now faces a competing push from the House Republican leader to increase salaries without raising taxes. The House Committee on Appropriations voted unanimously to advance the sales tax plan. It could be debated on the House floor Wednesday. Education advocates celebrated the passage of the bill, which also received no opposing public testimony. Im grateful to everyone who testified to present that united front that this is right, this is what we need and this is what were going to do for our students, said Mary McCorkle, president of the South Dakota Education Association, a professional organization with more than 5,000 members. Pressure has mounted to raise teacher pay, which a state task force studying education funding said is the lowest of the 50 states and District of Columbia. But it takes two-thirds support in each chamber to pass a tax hike through the Legislature. Predicting that the sales tax increase is unlikely to succeed, House Majority Leader Brian Gosch appointed a group of lawmakers to search for a contingency plan, and the governor received the results of their efforts last week. Daugaard is optimistic about his proposal and dedicated to funding a solution this year, Chief of Staff Tony Venhuizen said in a statement. The sales tax increase would raise more than $100 million in the upcoming budget year, most of which would be put toward helping raise the states target average teacher salary to $48,500 per year. If approved, it would be the first permanent increase to South Dakotas sales tax rate of 4 cents per dollar in nearly half a century. Despite spirited opposition, the expansion of a gravel quarry on U.S. Highway 16 won the approval of the Pennington County Planning Commission Monday morning. But immediately after the meeting, neighbors of the quarry expansion appealed the commission's decision, meaning the Pennington County Board of Commissioners will have the final say on the construction permit for the expansion requested by Croell Redi-Mix Inc. Croell is asking to expand the gravel-mining operations at the Perli Quarry, just off Highway 16, the main route from Rapid City to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Mining has been taking place at the Perli Quarry since 1982, and Croell bought the property from the Perli family last year. The expanded mine would operate on 164 acres according to the Pennington County Planning Department staff report. Monday morning the commissioner meeting room was packed with more than 100 residents, many spilling into the hallway to watch the meeting on a closed circuit television. Those in attendance almost unanimously opposed the quarry expansion, with only Croell's attorney speaking in favor of issuing the permit. The central question of the meeting was the Planning Commission's authority, or lack of authority, to stop the expansion of the gravel quarry. The state, not the county, grants permits related to mining, according to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. According to a timeline provided by the Pennington County Planning Department for the meeting, the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources already has granted Croell a mining permit on Jan. 11, which will expire in 2041. The county's responsibility in such a matter is for the issuing of a construction permit that assures the company has plans for mitigating soil erosion and protecting downstream water bodies and drainage areas. The Pennington County Planning Department recommended approval of the permit with 11 conditions. In a phone interview, Planning Department Director PJ Conover said Croell met "all the criteria to have a construction permit. They did what they were supposed to do." Conover added, "Our decisions cant be based solely on public opinion. They have to be based on facts." The Planning Commission voted 3-1 to approve the construction permit. Commissioners Sig Zvejnieks, Bill McCollam and Jim Coleman voted for approval. Commissioner Barbara Landers voted against. Commissioners Karen Hall and Lori Litzen were not present to vote. Commissioner Zvejnieks limited the public discussion on the permit to 15 minutes for each side of the issue, meaning most of those in the room were unable to speak on the record. Tom Brady, attorney representing Croell, said the company was in compliance with all state and local laws and would continue working with state and local agencies to further remain compliant. Several speakers said the county does have the authority to stop the mining expansion. Barrett Wendt, a county resident, said to the commission, "I think your authority and responsibility is being greatly diminished." He added, "This is a Pennington County issue." Wendt was emphatic that it was Pennington County's responsibility to stop the quarry expansion, and the Planning Commission had the authority to do so. Sylvia Cox, another resident and a retired attorney, said that she thought the construction permit should be denied based on violations of local zoning ordinances. Kinsley Groote, a deputy Pennington County State's attorney, refuted those statements, saying that the commission could deny the permit only if the rejection were related to the mitigation of soil erosion at the construction site. Other speakers raised concerns about potential water contamination from runoff, effects on tourism and increased traffic. In making their recommendation to the commission, the Planning Department also solicited written comments from several other agencies. Pennington County Fire Coordinator Denny Gorton and Fire Chief Gail Schmidt of the Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department submitted concerns about traffic safety and dust. Dust caused by mining looks very similar to smoke, they said, which could lead to unnecessary responses. They were also concerned about the possibility that an increase of heavy trucks to haul gravel would cause traffic accidents. The state Department of Transportation responded to traffic concerns, writing, "If traffic volumes were to increase in the future to a level that would potentially cause traffic concerns, those matters will be addressed with Croell Redi-Mix, Inc. to maintain appropriate highway safety." In a letter to the county, the Rapid City Community Planning & Development Services Department recommended not approving the construction permit. The department said the mining operation was not compatible with the city's Comprehensive Plan, which calls for conserving views and natural features along Highway 16. After the motion passed, the crowd streamed out of the commissioners meeting room and began circulating a petition to appeal the decision. The appeal was submitted to the commission office and will be put on a county commissioner meeting agenda, though the date has not yet been set according to Commissioner Office Manager Holli Hennies. What could have been a standard gun-control debate Monday night, a familiar recitation of firmly entrenched liberal-versus-conservative attitudes, instead turned into an introspective questioning of what can be done to heal troubled children and thus prevent the next generation from turning so easily to violence. Seventy-five people showed up at the Black Hills State University-Rapid City to listen to five panel members offer their opinions as to whether gun control will stem the murderous rampages that so regularly afflict the country. Rather politely, some of the five disagreed over the efficacy of gun regulations. But two of the participants, perhaps the two who, on the surface, seemed least likely to agree, turned the conversation into something different: They discussed whether creative approaches with young people in schools can help turn the tide toward a less violent society. Tim Doyle, a Rapid City Police officer, and Kristi McLaughlin, a minister who serves as executive director of the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center, barely focused on gun issues. Instead, Doyle and McLaughlin agreed that they werent sure what the correct answers are, but they see that society must act to save future generations from the horrors that the current one is all too familiar with. Doyle, who said he works in the schools and every day sees children beset by problems created in their homes, quoted Frederick Douglass, who said: Its easier to build strong children than to rebuild broken men. The underlying causes of violence, Doyle said, are such scourges as mental illness, drug abuse and alcohol abuse. When it came time for McLaughlin to follow Doyles remarks, she paused, then told the crowd that she would abandon her prepared remarks she had prepared and instead lay bare her personal story. McLaughlin said she grew up in Southern California and married a drug dealer. I lived in a world of criminal activity. She wondered aloud whether questions about gun control were the right questions. Maybe its my job, she said, to ask why our children are killing each other in our schools. McLaughlin seemed surprised to be agreeing with Doyle. Doyle accused politicians of being short-term thinkers who never come up with long-term solutions, then posed the most vexing of questions: How do we prevent that kid from becoming a gang member? How do we stop mental illness? We need to come together to fix problems. No one thing is going to fix it by itself. The moderator of Mondays discussion, Gene Bilodeau, executive director of BHSU-RC, asked the panelists if the National Rifle Association slogan, Guns dont kill people; people kill people, is the correct way to look at the violence problem. Doyle said, I dont know that bumpersticker slogans are going to help us solve this problem, and he again pointed to such root causes as alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental illness. McLaughlin said it was illogical that government so meticulously monitors drugs, but not guns. The other panelists seemed more certain of their stances. Travis Lasseter, a U.S. Air Force veteran, candidate for the South Dakota House of Representatives and gun-rights advocate, said that people need guns for self-defense. Otherwise, he said, Weve set ourselves up as victims. Eric Zimmer, a BHSU alumnus and Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Iowa, said he deplored the partisan climate of the gun debate. Although he said he grew up in South Dakota and loved going to gun shops, he is convinced that the volume of ammunition magazines are a huge part of the problem, allowing mass shooters to kill many people in a short period. Julie Parker, leader of the South Dakota Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said she doesnt know anyone who is talking about banning guns. The real issue is how easy we make it for criminals ... to get a gun. To those who say regulation wouldnt stop the shootings, Parker said that young people get alcohol, but regulations make it more difficult to do so. Tightening gun laws could make getting guns more difficult for criminals, she said. PIERRE | Despite an effort by a powerful lawmaker, South Dakotas highway fund will continue not receiving tax revenue on some alternative fuels that power motor vehicles. The Legislature raised most motor-fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees last year to provide big boosts in state and county highway funding. But lawmakers decided against levying special fees of $40 for a hybrid and $80 for an all-electric. The free pass for electricity as a vehicle fuel became the argument Monday against raising tax rates on other fuels that werent addressed last year. Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, wanted to bring the tax rates on compressed natural gas, liquid natural gas and liquid petroleum (propane) gas up to the comparable levels for gasoline and diesel. He also wanted to do the same for a catchall rate that covers any motor fuel, except electricity, that isnt specifically listed in state law. The Senate Transportation Committee voted 4-3 Monday to kill Vehles measure, SB 110. He is the committees chairman. Vehle said he lost in the negotiations last year over an electric-vehicle fee. He wasnt willing to revisit the matter Monday. His refusal cost him. Dawna Lietzke, the executive director for the South Dakota Petroleum and Propane Marketers Association, spoke against his cleanup legislation Monday because it didnt cover electric vehicles too. They all do damage to the road and they all should be taxed and pay their fair share, Lietzke said. She called it a huge inequity. According to Lietzke, the federal government plans to designate alternative fueling corridors along major highways for electric and hydrogen vehicles by the end of 2016. She said one or both of the interstates in South Dakota could be part of the new system. Sen. Alan Solano, R-Rapid City, asked how the other fuels were skipped last year. Vehle, who led the Senates effort on the highway package, said legislators realized during the amendment process that they hadnt been addressed. We were haggling on a lot bigger issues, Vehle said. He acknowledged he didnt want to put the package at risk over a few small loose ends. That was my concern, the naysayers would say: 'What else have they forgotten?' Vehle said. Sen. Ernie Otten, R-Sioux Falls, asked how much would be generated from the propane and natural gas tax increases. That is a very good question and I dont have the answer at this time, Vehle acknowledged. Sen. Bill Shorma, R-Dakota Dunes, asked for a count of electric vehicles in South Dakota. Lietzke said she didnt know but would find out. Otten asked Lietzke what she would propose for a tax on electrics and hybrids. She referred to last years fees that Vehle had originally proposed. Then Otten asked Vehles views. Im for it, Vehle said. I ran out of power. He said he wanted this years bill to be an easy fix to the things that were not in the play last year. If I get electric in there, it would take the whole bill down again. That was my concern, Vehle said. Sen. Jim Peterson, D-Revillo, said he couldnt support the current bill unless its all-inclusive regarding electric vehicles too. Sen. Bernie Hunhoff, D-Yankton, said he opposed the electric tax last year because it is doing hardly any damage to roads. We should encourage the technology, not discourage it with a higher tax at this time, Hunhoff said. Hunhoff and Peterson called for the bill to be killed. They received support from Solano and Otten. Solano said he thought the $40 and $80 fees were reasonable. Sen. Jeff Monroe, R-Pierre, conducted the hearing as vice chairman. He said after the vote that motor-fuel technology is going to become more advanced and more widespread in the years ahead and will need to be addressed. I think this was an effort to do that, Monroe said. House Bill 1158, which sought to give the South Dakota governor the power to keep refugees out of the state, is dead. The proposed law has been tabled by its lead sponsor, state Rep. Scott Craig, R-Rapid City. Thats a nice way to say the sponsor withdrew the bill, Craig said in a phone interview Monday, adding that HB 1158, which was scheduled for a committee hearing on Monday, will not come up again during this legislative session. Craig said he made the decision to abandon the bill after a weekend conversation with his bill's state Senate co-sponsor, Sen. Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City, and Betty Oldencamp, president of Lutheran Social Services. Apart from granting the governor extraordinary powers, HB 1158 would have created an infrastructure within the South Dakota Department of Social Services to monitor and coordinate the resettlement of refugees, a function that Lutheran Social Services already performs. Everything that bill attempted to secure, they already do, so its unnecessary, Craig said. Weve got a phenomenal process. Everything (Oldencamp) described is very thorough. Lutheran Social Services is a state-based nonprofit that works with the federal government on the resettlement of refugees, mostly in Huron and Sioux Falls, where the groups offices are situated. One power Lutheran Social Services doesnt have that HB 1158 would have granted the Department of Soclal Services is aiding the governor in instituting a moratorium on the resettlement of refugees in South Dakota for up to a year. But Gov. Dennis Daugaard recently spoke out against the bill, saying that under federal law, Governors do not have the authority to refuse to accept refugees, an assessment shared by several legal experts. We never had a moratorium because we cant, Craig said. The 1980 federal Refugee Act says that the president has that power alone. Its not a power thats absent in the United States. Its just not at the state level, and if the governor doesnt want it, he doesnt see a need for it. Rampelberg said he would like to push for the inclusion of a representative from South Dakota in an observational role in national and international talks about the vetting and placement of refugees. While he foresees future discussions and legislation about refugees at the state level, Rampelberg said, "Im not sure we have time" during the current session. High winds, some blasting at more than hurricane velocity, whipsawed western South Dakota and the Black Hills on Sunday, sending at least four people in Rapid City to the hospital with minor injuries, canceling flights at Rapid City Regional Airport and blowing at least three fires out of control near Black Hawk and Hermosa. National Weather Service meteorologist Dan McKemy said the region was caught between a strong low-pressure system centered over Minnesota and a stout high-pressure area in Wyoming, which pushed wind speeds to a constant 30 to 50 mph, with gusts routinely topping 60 mph. We were kind of squeezed between the two systems, McKemy said. The magnitude was pretty strong. Strong, indeed. Highest recorded winds Sunday were a pair of 78 mph gusts, one 3 miles north-northwest of Scenic at 12:10 p.m., and another 3 miles east of Wicksville at 9:53 a.m. The Weather Service office near downtown Rapid City recorded a 72 mph gust at 10:55 a.m. Hurricane force starts at 74 mph. Other peak winds included a 70 mph gust near Hermosa and 64 mph blasts northwest of Belle Fourche and east of Sturgis. The strongest winds occurred from mid-morning through early afternoon, subsiding only slightly later in the day. Rapid City Fire Department information officer Oliver White said two people suffered blunt-force injuries, including fractures, from being hit by windblown automobile or building doors. Two other people suffered similar injuries when they were swept off their feet by sustained winds clocked at 30 to 40 mph, with gusts exceeding 70 through the middle part of the day. White said the injured ranged from ages 50 to 90, but none of the injuries was life-threatening. Responders had to deal with the winds while tending to the injured, he said. Its tough. If you think a car door is heavy, ambulance doors are two- to three-times as heavy, White said. Trying to communicate with a patient when the wind is whipping around is also very difficult, he said. Pennington County fire coordinator Denny Gorton said in a report to county commissioners that buildings were threatened when weekend slash-pile fires were flared by Sunday's savage winds. About 75 firefighters from departments from Rapid City, Rapid Valley, Rockerville, Hill City, Custer, Hayward, Keystone and Hill City along with state and U.S. Forest Service crews responded to the fires. The Ghost Canyon Fire, between Highways 36 and 40 west of Hermosa, had burned about 28 acres and was listed at 75 percent contained as of late Monday, said Cindy Hansen of the Great Plains Fire Information Center in Rapid City. Rough terrain at the Ghost Canyon Fire required the use of hand crews, Hansen said. Thats the reason they brought in the hand crews, because engines couldnt get in there, she said. The Smokey Ridge fire, about a half-mile mile west of the Ghost Canyon Fire, burned about a quarter acre. The Crooked Canyon Fire near Black Hawk, scorched about 1 1/2 acres. Both fires were listed as 100 percent contained on Monday. Hill City firefighters were also called to another blaze on Reno Gulch Road on Sunday, Gorton said. No buildings were lost, but one volunteer firefighter slipped and twisted a knee while fighting the fires, he said. Hansen said official cause of the fires is still under investigation. Pete Girtz, deputy director of operations at Rapid City Regional Airport, said the winds forced cancellation of seven flights, both incoming and outgoing flights from Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and Denver. Flight schedules resumed Monday morning, he said. Everythings back to normal. Were just doing a lot of rebooking to get back up to speed, Girtz said. Fire danger on Monday remained listed as high in the Black Hills, and moderate in the plains areas of Butte, Lawrence and Fall River Counties and high in the prairies of Meade County. McKemy said blustery conditions continuing into early Monday, with sustained winds of 20 to 25 mph and gusts to 40 mph, were easing Monday afternoon. Breezy conditions will persist through midweek. Tuesday's wind will be in the 10 to 15 mph range, with gusts to 30, while on Wednesday's forecast calls for 15 to 20 mph winds with gusts to 35. The good news: A warming trend should return temperatures to the 40s on Tuesday and into the 50s on Wednesday. Daytime highs are forecast to retreat into the 30s and 40s Thursday and Friday, with a chance of precipitation in the Plains. Here in Rapid City," McKemy said, "we wont see much of that. GOOD: The old Garfield School and surrounding property is about to shed the chain-link fence that surrounds it for a new look that will be a boost to its north Rapid City neighborhood. Last week, the Rapid City Planning Commission approved two requests to bring needed housing to the site. One plan, submitted by Sunny B Properties of Rapid City, calls for converting the former elementary school into a 12-unit apartment complex. The second plan calls for Habitat for Humanity to build eight single-family homes on the schools parking lot and playground area. Replacing an aging building and unused lot with homes and apartments will benefit all homeowners in the area and is a good move for the city. BAD: In a legislative session that lasts only 37 days, voters and taxpayers should be able to expect our lawmakers to be models of efficiency, churning through legislation that has the potential to improve our lives and make our state a better place to live. Unfortunately, some lawmakers would rather use this valuable and limited time to make political statements that have no chance to become law. A recent example is House Bill 1158, which would give the governor the power to prohibit refugees from being resettled in the state. Never mind that most agree the legislation is unconstitutional, including supporter Rep. Scott Craig of Rapid City. Another supporter, Sen. Bruce Rampelberg of Rapid City, called it more of a token expression than something that would hold up in court. This is an example of lawmakers turning the legislative session into a personal soapbox rather than working on legislation that really matters to people. GOOD: The announcement that Regional Health is going to build a hospital in Custer is great news for the entire southern Black Hills. Work is expected to begin soon on the 42,000-square-foot $18 million hospital that is the result of a partnership between the town and the health-care provider that serves patients throughout the Black Hills. The plan calls for Custer to pitch in $4 million of the total cost, with the rest being covered by the Regional. In addition to making health care more accessible to local residents, the new hospital will help fuel the economy in an area that continues to grow. UGLY: It wasnt just Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers that got blown away on Super Bowl Sunday. According to the Rapid City Fire Department, four local residents suffered traumatic injuries as a result of Sundays fierce winds that whistled through Western South Dakota throughout the day and into the night. The gusts, which peaked at more than 70 miles per hour from Scenic to Bison, also damaged property and overturned vehicles in its wake. This is yet another reminder that we should not tempt fate when South Dakotas winter weather is howling. 761 Kent Hall Fire Sprinkler System Renovation Sealed proposals will be received by Chadron State College at the office of Mr. Dale Grant, V.P. for Administration and Finance, Room 224, Sparks Hall, Chadron State College, 1000 Main, Chadron, Nebraska, on Thursday, February 11, 2016 until 2:00 p.m. local MT. All bids must be submitted on unaltered copies of the Bid Forms that are included in the project manual and shall be clearly identified on the outside of the sealed envelope as Kent Hall Fire Sprinkler System Renovation. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held on the site at 1:30 PM Mountain Time on February 4, 2016. All interested bidding contractors and sub-contractors are encouraged to attend. The purpose of this conference is to answer any administrative or technical questions which prospective bidders may have and take a tour of Kent Hall. A plan and specifications for the work may be obtained from the office of the Architect, LeeDavies Architecture, 2120 Birchwood Road, North Platte, Nebraska 69101 (308-530-9138) by submitting a plan deposit of $30.00, or by contacting Chadron State College, Mr. Blair Brennan at 308-432-6044, Sparks Hall 026. The deposit will be returned upon return of plans and specifications in good condition within 30 days after the bid opening date. Plans may also be examined at the Construction Industry Center in Rapid City, South Dakota. At the time of filing their bids, all bidders will be required to furnish: a certified check, cashiers check or bid bond for an amount equal to five percent (5%) of their proposal. a performance and payment bond in a sum equal to 100% of the contract price. proof of all builders risk insurance coverage naming Chadron State College as an additional insured including off-site and transit coverage to cover the value of the materials, equipment and/or machinery involved in the project. evidence of adequate workers compensation, general liability and automobile liability insurance coverage, with limits and insurer acceptable to Chadron State College. Proposals received after 2:00 p.m. will not be considered and will be returned unopened. Chadron State College reserves the right to reject any or all proposals or parts thereof, and to waive any irregularities of any proposal. The College also reserves the right to negotiate on any proposal and accept whatever proposal will be in the best interest of the College and the State of Nebraska. Publish Jan. 27, Feb. 6 an 13, 2016 874 NOTICE OF HEARING Having received the report from the Highway Superintendent as provided in Section 39-1722, upon motion by Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Rivera and by unanimous roll call vote, the following resolution was adopted. BE IT RESOLVED that a public hearing should be held on February 23, 2016 at 10:00a.m. in the Dawes County Commissioners meeting room. Courthouse, Chadron, Nebraska for the purpose of considering the vacating of a Portion of Road # 7, Commencing at the Northwest corner of Section 10, Township 32 North, Range 51 West of the 6th P.M., Dawes County Nebraska then running south on the section line between Sections 10 and 11 a distance of Approximately of a mile to the point when it intersects the north of County Road known as Old Highway 20. /s/Larry Hankin Larry Hankin, Dawes County Highway Superintendent. Publish Feb. 3. 10 and 17, 2016 875 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS GIVEN PURSUANT TO NE. STATE STATUTE 39-1503.1 A PUBLIC HEARING WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMMISSIONERS ROOM AT THE COURTHOUSE ON FEBRUARY 23, 2016 TO HEAR SUPPORT, SUGGESTONS, CONCERNS, ETC. RELEVANT TO THE ONE AND SIX YEAR ROAD PLAN. THE HEARING WILL BEGIN AT 10:30 A.M. ALL INTERESTED PARTIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND. LARRY HANKIN DAWES COUNTY HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT Publish Feb. 3, 10 and 17, 2016 877 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a public hearing will be held by the City Council of the City of Chadron, Nebraska, on the 15th day of February, 2016, at 6:00 oclock P.M., or as soon thereafter as can be heard, in the City Hall Council Chambers, 234 Main Street, Chadron, Nebraska, to present the 2016 ONE AND SIX YEAR ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN to be conducted in the City of Chadron, as prepared and submitted to the City Council by the Public Works Director and the City Street Superintendent, at which time all parties and citizens in interest shall have an opportunity to be heard. /s/ Donna J. Rust City Clerk Publish Feb. 3, and 10, 2016 880 NOTICE OF MEETING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a regular meeting of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Chadron, Nebraska, will be held at 6:00 oclock P.M. on Monday, February 15, 2016, in the City Hall Council Chambers at 234 Main Street, Chadron, Nebraska, which meeting will be open to the public. The Mayor and Council reserve the right to adjourn into executive session pursuant to Section 84-1410 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes. An agenda for such meeting kept continuously current is available for public inspection at the office of the City Clerk at City Hall during normal business hours; provided, the City Council may modify the agenda at the meeting if it determines that an emergency so requires. Individuals requiring physical or sensory accommodations who desire to attend the meeting or participate, please contact the City Clerks Office at City Hall at 234 Main Street no later than 4:00 oclock P.M. on the Friday preceding the meeting. /s/ Donna J. Rust City Clerk Publish Feb. 10, 2016 Russia asks Hague court to admit lowers court lack of competence in Yukos case MOSCOW, February 9 (RAPSI) Russian Federation has asked the District Court of the Hague to admit that a lower court lacked competence to review dispute between former shareholders of Yukos and Russia, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday. The District Court of the Hague is hearing an appeal by Russian Federation against the ruling of the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration which granted ex-shareholders of Yukos over $50 billion. Russia believes that the lower court had no right to review the case because the Energy Charter Treaty, which was appealed to during the review of a case, has never been ratified by Russian Parliament. Albert Jan van den Berg, a lawyer who is representing Russia in this case, said that Russian Federation undoubtedly signed the Charter but is not obligated by a contract. Russian Federation has also claimed that shares of former Yukos co-owners cant be regarded as investments under jurisdiction of the Energy Charter Treaty. According to representatives of Russia, companies behind the investments have been registered in other countries, but in reality theyve been front companies created in violation of Russian legislation, therefore the dispute is to be heard in a Russian court. Additionally, Russian Federation believes that the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration has made several judicial mistakes: it has not consulted tax authorities of Russia, Cyprus and Great Britain during the review of the case and has used flawed methodology to calculate the losses of Yukos ex-shareholders. The Energy Charter Treaty establishes a complex system of rules regulating cooperation in energy sphere between signing parties. Russia signed the Treaty in 1994 but did not ratify it, maintaining nation legislation. A tribunal for the Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration announced in July 2014 that it had issued awards in three cases filed against Russia. The tribunal ordered that Russia pay Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) over $1.8 billion in damages. Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus) was awarded about $40 billion, and Veteran Petroleum Limited (Cyprus) got over $8 billion. Russian authorities moved to set aside the ruling and turned to the District Court of the Hague. Domodedovo airport ex-security head charged in 2011 terror attack case MOSCOW, February 9 (RAPSI) - Investigators have brought official charges against Andrei Danilov, former Director of Domodedovo Airport Aviation Security in connection with 2011 terrorist attack that left 37 dead, RAPSI reported Tuesday from the Basmanny District Court. Danilov, who was responsible for aviation safety at the airport stands charged with the provision of services that allegedly do not meet security standards, an investigator said. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. On January 24, 2011, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the Domodedovo Airports international arrivals hall, killing 37 people and injuring 172. Doku Umarov, Russias most wanted terrorist at the time, claimed responsibility for the attack. Altogether, 28 men connected with the terrorist organization called the Caucasus Emirate were linked to the attack, according to the investigators. Seventeen of them were killed in special operations in 2011, and four were detained. In November 2013, a Moscow Region court sentenced three men to life in prison and a fourth man to 10 years for their role in the suicide bombing. The question of Domodedovo Airports ownership arose back in 2011, when the investigators first stated that they couldnt determine the owner of the airport. The Investigative Committee initiated criminal proceedings against the airports former managers for failing to guarantee the safety of passengers, which resulted in the death of two or more people. The airport administration argued that this charge was inapplicable to the case in point and that they were only made responsible for airport entrance control in 2014, after the law on transport security was amended. The current trading trend for spring wheat futures prices can best be described as sideways.Spring wheat futures prices have moved back into that kind of boring sideways trading range, commented Erica Olson, marketing specialist for the North Dakota wheat Commission. March futures today (Jan. 26) closed at just above $5 so that put cash prices around the region into the $4.30 to $4.70 range.A couple weeks ago we did see some support when the winter wheat plantings report showed lower acreage, but that news has pretty much faded away, she continued.Our exports havent been terrible, but it sure would be nice to see them a bit higher.Total U.S. wheat sales are at 603 million bushels to date. That compares to 712 million bushels last year at this time and is about three-quarters of USDAs export estimate of 800 million bushels for the current marketing year.We need some consistent sales week after week if were going to reach that goal, Olson said.Looking at hard red spring wheat in particular, it is the largest export class again this year so that is a bright spot for the market.However, at 194 million bushels, we are still behind last years pace of 235 million bushels, she said.The sales report for the week ending Jan. 22 showed about 5 million bushels in new sales. The top buyers were the Philippines, Thailand and Honduras.But the U.S. is not the only country where sales are slower than normal, Olson noted. Obviously with larger world supplies were seeing reduced demand everywhere.The latest complete exports data report is through November but it still paints an accurate picture of whats going on in the market, according to Olson.Taking a look at other exporters around the world, European sales are down 23 percent, while Russia is down 14 percent and Kazahkstan is down about 12 percent.There are areas where sales have increased, including Australian and Canada that are both up two percent. However, Ukraine is up a whopping 25 percent in sales.At the end of the year, we are still expecting Russian exports to be higher, and in fact, weve seen them pick up the last two months, with Egypt making a large purchase this last week, Olson said.Another big one is Argentina. Once they did away with their export tariff exports jumped quite a bit and they are expected to be a third higher than a year ago, she added.Most of Argentinas sales thus far have been of lower quality feed wheat, some of which even made its way into the U.S.Because their crop is of lower than normal quality and being channeled in to the feed market, some of their markets that buy higher quality may have to look elsewhere, she said. The hope there is that they will look to the U.S. to meet those needs.Although its nothing new, something to watch for in Russia is talk of export controls due to high domestic prices there, and also concerns over possible winter kill.Other things that continue to affect the market is a strong U.S. dollar and low oil prices which arent helping commodities either.So its a bit frustrating because our cash prices are a lot cheaper than they used to be and ocean freight is quite cheap, but were still priced higher than a lot of other options, Olson concluded. The Missoula County Attorney's Office has released a report on some of its activities during the past year, including insights and trends from the 1,687 cases its criminal division filed in 2015. Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst said this is the first time a year-end report has been compiled by the office she now leads, and it is designed to increase transparency and provide the public with more detail on the types of cases her staff handles. "Sometimes, people don't really understand that at any given time we have 1,600 open cases active," she said The total number of criminal cases filed by the County Attorney's Office in 2015 is only a handful less than the previous year, although the number has fallen by more than 150 over the past four, largely due to fewer misdemeanor charges. "Part of the decrease in misdemeanors is us backing off misdemeanor marijuana and putting those resources toward prosecuting felony drug charges," Pabst said. More than any other issue, response to sexual violence defined Pabst's first year in office. Six months before she was sworn in, the Missoula County Attorney's Office reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve its attention to sexual assault cases with oversight by the state Attorney General's Office. Part of Pabst's response to the agreement has been to form a special victims unit dedicated to working on crimes such as sexual and domestic violence. Pabst said such cases used to be handled by a single attorney at any given time, but four prosecutors and other staff members are now dedicated to them. The SVU attorneys have gone through additional training and are given smaller caseloads to allow them to focus on sexual violence, which often can be more time-intensive to prosecute, Pabst said. As part of the SVU, Jordan Kilby, a lawyer in the County Attorney's Office, is now co-located at the Missoula Police Department, working with investigators to examine possible cases and providing support to detectives even before those cases are referred to SVU prosecutors. "That early communication improves cases and reduces the time it takes to investigate crimes," Pabst said. Victims also go through a survey process asking how their case was treated by investigators and prosecutors, and Pabst said so far, they have had a 100 percent positive response. In September, Attorney General Tim Fox issued a quarterly report about the agreement, praising Pabst's department for its advances. "This report shows that our work together has resulted in a drastic decrease in the time it takes for the MCAO to make decisions and communicate with victims on sex assault cases referred for prosecution," he wrote. Pabst said her office is working with Fox's to design curriculum to teach other communities in the state how to put together a special victims unit and re-examine policies about handling cases involving sexual violence. The Missoula County Attorney's Office year-end report says it expectes completion of it agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in early 2016. *** Of the cases the Missoula County Attorney's Office opened in 2015, 20 percent were drug crimes. The number of methamphetamine cases was up 15 percent over the previous year, and up even more significantly 137 percent compared with two years ago. Pabst said the rate of meth cases coming through her office has been on a steady rise, and that an uptick in heroin has been seen recently as well. "We're seeing a huge increase in the amount of meth used in Missoula," she said. "In 2007, our numbers went down to almost zero, a lot of that due to the Montana Meth Project and other efforts to address the issue." Another change related to meth use, Pabst said, is that most charges involving the drug before 2007 dealt with resulted from local production. "Now, almost all of it is being imported from out of the county," she said. Drugs are also a contributing factor to other types of crime the County Attorney's Office handles. "We see a direct correlation between meth and child abuse and neglect and serious domestic abuse cases," Pabst said. Child abuse and neglect cases have made a sharp turn upward, from 110 filed in 2012 to 173 in 2015. Pabst said the trend is disturbing, and last year she increased the number of civil division attorneys handling such cases to three. "It doesn't look like it's going to taper off," she said. Partly as a result of looking back at cases from the past year, the County Attorney's Office recently changed how it tracks crime statistics, adding the ability to attach different attributes, or "tags," to files. These tags mean prosecutors will not only be able to look at the number of burglary or criminal endangerment cases filed, for example, but also will now be able to see if children were present or if a certain type of drug was involved. "The total number is just a snapshot. It's more important to look at how that breaks down," Pabst said. Masters Of War Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks. You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly. Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain. You fasten all the triggers For the others to fire Then you set back and watch When the death count gets higher You hide in your mansion' As young people's blood Flows out of their bodies And is buried in the mud. You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins. How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do. Let me ask you one question Is your money that good Will it buy you forgiveness Do you think that it could I think you will find When your death takes its toll All the money you made Will never buy back your soul. And I hope that you die And your death'll come soon I will follow your casket In the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered Down to your deathbed And I'll stand over your grave 'Til I'm sure that you're dead.------- Bob Dylan 1963 Blog Archive October 2022 (38) September 2022 (60) August 2022 (63) July 2022 (65) June 2022 (68) May 2022 (67) April 2022 (62) March 2022 (68) February 2022 (54) January 2022 (61) December 2021 (70) November 2021 (72) October 2021 (67) September 2021 (59) August 2021 (56) July 2021 (57) June 2021 (66) May 2021 (63) April 2021 (75) March 2021 (73) February 2021 (61) January 2021 (69) December 2020 (62) November 2020 (62) October 2020 (70) September 2020 (51) August 2020 (52) July 2020 (60) June 2020 (57) May 2020 (79) April 2020 (56) March 2020 (52) February 2020 (50) January 2020 (69) December 2019 (58) November 2019 (64) October 2019 (44) September 2019 (49) August 2019 (71) July 2019 (71) June 2019 (71) May 2019 (67) April 2019 (74) March 2019 (85) February 2019 (64) January 2019 (73) December 2018 (66) November 2018 (81) October 2018 (87) September 2018 (66) August 2018 (76) July 2018 (84) June 2018 (86) May 2018 (64) April 2018 (83) March 2018 (78) February 2018 (69) January 2018 (69) December 2017 (82) November 2017 (87) October 2017 (89) September 2017 (77) August 2017 (75) July 2017 (76) June 2017 (90) May 2017 (86) April 2017 (59) March 2017 (61) February 2017 (82) January 2017 (91) December 2016 (90) November 2016 (80) October 2016 (75) September 2016 (95) August 2016 (104) July 2016 (93) June 2016 (96) May 2016 (98) April 2016 (99) March 2016 (113) February 2016 (82) January 2016 (98) December 2015 (113) November 2015 (94) October 2015 (93) September 2015 (98) August 2015 (97) July 2015 (105) June 2015 (103) May 2015 (95) April 2015 (100) March 2015 (102) February 2015 (93) January 2015 (114) December 2014 (110) November 2014 (103) October 2014 (105) September 2014 (96) August 2014 (96) July 2014 (112) June 2014 (119) May 2014 (109) April 2014 (116) March 2014 (117) February 2014 (109) January 2014 (116) December 2013 (117) November 2013 (121) October 2013 (125) September 2013 (93) August 2013 (115) July 2013 (110) June 2013 (102) May 2013 (115) April 2013 (113) March 2013 (119) February 2013 (108) January 2013 (119) December 2012 (132) November 2012 (115) October 2012 (121) September 2012 (115) August 2012 (124) July 2012 (102) June 2012 (121) May 2012 (121) April 2012 (127) March 2012 (130) February 2012 (112) January 2012 (131) December 2011 (129) November 2011 (118) October 2011 (118) September 2011 (110) August 2011 (138) July 2011 (146) June 2011 (139) May 2011 (144) April 2011 (127) March 2011 (140) February 2011 (116) January 2011 (134) December 2010 (133) November 2010 (136) October 2010 (148) September 2010 (128) August 2010 (155) July 2010 (129) June 2010 (138) May 2010 (152) April 2010 (161) March 2010 (119) February 2010 (149) January 2010 (155) December 2009 (177) November 2009 (171) October 2009 (176) September 2009 (159) August 2009 (156) July 2009 (170) June 2009 (157) May 2009 (185) April 2009 (179) March 2009 (183) February 2009 (170) January 2009 (181) December 2008 (189) November 2008 (183) October 2008 (164) September 2008 (164) August 2008 (177) July 2008 (179) June 2008 (170) May 2008 (191) April 2008 (175) March 2008 (195) February 2008 (162) January 2008 (188) December 2007 (187) November 2007 (189) October 2007 (194) September 2007 (156) August 2007 (194) July 2007 (163) June 2007 (176) May 2007 (190) April 2007 (177) March 2007 (192) February 2007 (165) January 2007 (170) December 2006 (182) November 2006 (177) October 2006 (185) September 2006 (180) August 2006 (156) July 2006 (160) June 2006 (177) May 2006 (173) April 2006 (157) March 2006 (158) February 2006 (146) January 2006 (144) December 2005 (135) November 2005 (138) October 2005 (128) September 2005 (141) August 2005 (136) July 2005 (133) June 2005 (119) May 2005 (143) April 2005 (52) Sagarmatha Network Pvt. Ltd. is the organization dedicated in the field of printing, publishing service since 2001. As part of media, we've been publishing Review Nepal, an English medium weekly registered at District Administration Office (DAO) Kathmandu with registration number 130-162-163 and reviewnepal.com as an online digital newspaper, with registration number 849-075-076 at Department of Informational and Broadcasting (DIB) from Kathmandu, Nepal since 2003. Hello and welcome to my blog. In this space I post occasional musings about emerging technologies, advances in the world of renewable energy -- including our renewable energy activities here in Colorado -- and posts about technology management in general. "I would like to say 'This book is written to the glory of God', but nowadays this would be the trick of a cheat, i.e., it would not be correctly understood."--Ludwig Wittgenstein "Talk to me about the truth of religion, and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolation of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand."--C.S. Lewis Big trips or small trips, not even all road trips, with Bob! The Richard M. Ross Art Museum on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University Solely aggregation of news articles, with no opinions expressed by this service since 2009 launch on this platform. Copyright to all articles remains with the publisher and HEADLINES ARE CLICKABLE to access items. (Subscription by email is recommended,with real-time updates on LinkedIn and Twitter.) Thailand Golf. Thai people are mad on golf. To play golf gives you a social standing and the Thai face of someone of importance. There is no... Hello again! We worldly travelers have returned from our weekend adventures in London, and restored our lives here, in Dingle. What a packed four days, though! Almost immediately after nursing lab on Thursday, we boarded the bus to the Kerry airport and our London-bound flight. Our hotel was about a 3 minute walk from the High Street Kensington underground/tube (subway) station. Friday morning, we followed our fearless leaders (Sean Pol and Dr. Watson) on the short walk from our hotel to the High Street Kensington underground/tube (subway) station. About 20 minutes later, we emerged from the Westminster tube station and basically ran into Big Ben. We, of course, had to get our fill of pictures and selfies with the iconic scene, which was perfectly complemented by Britain's famous red telephone booths! Eventually, we made our way to Westminster Abby, famous for the coronations of England's kings since 1066, and more recently, for the wedding ceremony of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton. It was fantastic to see where the queen and her knights have private sermons, as each knight's coat of arms was represented with a flag and a decorated armored helmet above his seat. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show of the abby, as photography is not allowed inside: but I assure you that it was beautiful and the history of the building and its country was very prevalent. It reminded me of how young our country is- the abby was home to royalty hundreds of years before the Americas existence was even realized by Western peoples! After lunch, our group visited the Florence Nightingale Museum, located in the basement of St. Thomas' Hospital, just across the River Thames from Big Ben and the Parliament building. Personally, I thought it was a wonderful experience as a future nurse- the museum does a great job of illustrating who Florence Nightingale was as a person, where she came from and how her ideas and policies changed nursing for the better. It brought tears to my eyes to realize how Nightingale began to revolutionize the public's view of nurses and the profession of nursing itself; Nightingale's own parents were horrified at the thought of their daughter nursing because nurses were seen as drunken, promiscuous, working-class women. Nursing was not a professor nor a calling for most- it was a job, one they did not take very seriously. Florence Nightingale believed she was called by God to nurse, so perhaps it was an act of God that nursing is as incredible and important as it is today. I am so grateful to Florence for starting the change in nursing which has become my calling as well. Us Nursing majors with the Florence Nightingale bust at the museum. On Saturday morning, Colleen Dalton, Alyssa Mickalauskas, Tracey Castelli, Corinne O'Toole, and myself ventured to King Cross Station and, more specifically, Platform 9 & 3/4. There we took amazing photos of us pretending to walk into the wall and even saw a mini Harry Potter! After a quick lunch, we toured the Tower of London which is the historic castle on the bank of the River Thames near the Tower Bridge, and houses the crown jewels. It was fun to listen to our fantastic beefeater tour-guide talk about the historic prisoners held here, as well as their gory and sometimes mysterious deaths. I learned so much, not only about the Tower but of the English history. It made me very grateful to be living in the current time and not the 1500's. Beefeater tour-guide with the Tower's famous ravens in the background Me + the view of Tower Bridge from the wall of the Tower of London We closed the Tower of London, as we left only because they were closing and it was getting dark. From there we returned to Westminster tube station to ride the London Eye. London is a beautiful city to behold at night, even in rain. Sunday morning was quiet but enjoyable, as most of us wandered about the lovely area surrounding the hotel. The rest of the day was spent traveling back to Dingle. I speak for myself and others when I say, though we enjoyed London and even hoped to spend another day there, we are happy to return home to our quaint town of Dingle! Ta ta for now! Rebecca Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson have written a number of books on antiques. Do you have an item youd like to know more about? Contact them at Joe Rosson, 2504 Seymour Ave., Knoxville TN 37917, or email them at treasures@knology.net. If youd like your question to be considered for their column, please include a high-resolution photo of the subject, which must be in focus, with your inquiry. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Click On Our Advertisers Ads Most of our ads have links to take you directly to their Websites. Just click on an ad and away you go. The EasySleeper Pillow seems to be the product of countless hours of R&D. And the price, what a bargain at 29.95 instead of the usual 48! Too good to b... 2 years ago If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). Mark you calendar for ASKS, a big alternative sentencing summit next month in DC | Main | Prez Obama signs into law the "International Megan's Law," and group immediately files suit against passport scarlet letter requirement February 9, 2016 Is California conducting an "unprecedented experiment in mass forgiveness"? The question in the title of this post is prompted by the headline of this lengthy new Washington Post article, which suggests the Golden State has become a unique criminal justice laboratory. Here are excerpts: [Jose] Gonzalez is among thousands of felons benefiting from a grand experiment, an act of mass forgiveness unprecedented in U.S. history. In California, once a national innovator in draconian policies to get tough on crime, voters and lawmakers are now innovating in the opposite direction, adopting laws that have released tens of thousands of inmates and are preventing even more from going to prison in the first place. The most famous is a landmark ballot measure called Proposition 47, which in 2014 made California the first state in the nation to make possession of any drug including cocaine and heroin a misdemeanor. More astonishing is the states decision to show leniency toward violent offenders, including murderers like Gonzalez. For example, the state has ordered parole hearings for longtime inmates convicted of committing violent crimes before they turned 23, requiring authorities to consider anew whether immaturity at the time of the inmates offense argues for their release. Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has approved parole for roughly 2,300 lifers convicted of murder and about 450 lifers sentenced for lesser offenses a revolution in a state that released only two lifers during former governor Gray Daviss entire four-year term. And more reforms could be in store. Last month, Brown unveiled a ballot measure that, if approved by voters in November, would grant early release to nonviolent felons who complete rehab programs and demonstrate good behavior. Progressives across the nation have applauded Californias U-turn. There is a gathering sense that the public is considerably less punitive than people had thought, said Joe Margulies, a professor of law and government at Cornell University. But with crime in some of Californias largest cities ticking up after years of sustained decline, many law enforcement leaders and victims advocates say the state has gone too far. Our hope was folks getting out of prisons are going to come out and be model citizens, said Christine Ward, executive director of the Crime Victims Action Alliance. Unfortunately, were not seeing that.... So far, 250 inmates have been released under the Youth Offender Parole law, most of them violent offenders. As many as 16,000 more remain eligible. Meanwhile, a study by Stanford Law School found that Proposition 47 had unlocked the cell doors of nearly 4,500 prisoners since taking effect in late 2014. Sheriffs, police chiefs and prosecutors speculate that Prop 47 has contributed to a recent rise in crime and homelessness in major California cities, arguing that the law eliminated a useful billy club: the threat of a felony conviction to steer addicts into treatment. Its a vicious cycle, said Kirk Albanese, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Youve got an addiction, we are not holding you accountable, and youre back into the cycle of using. How do you support that habit? Stealing. Our burglaries are up, car theft is up, break-ins are up they are all up. Hilary Chittick, a veteran judge for the Superior Court of Fresno County, said Prop 47 has decimated her ability to force addicts into treatment. The public had a house with a leaky roof and bad pipes, she said. So they blew up the house. Prop 47 supporters acknowledge the problem and say efforts are underway to address it. More drug courts, for instance, are opening their doors to misdemeanants as well as felons, said Prop 47 co-author Lenore Anderson, executive director of the advocacy group Californians for Safety and Justice. If you think that you need a stick in order to mandate treatment, that option is available with a misdemeanor, Anderson said. But Prop 47 supporters reject the notion that the ballot measure contributed to localized spikes in crime. Early reports indicate that recidivism among inmates released under the full range of reforms has been low.... In general, more than half of inmates released from California prisons 54 percent return to prison within three years. Among lifers paroled under Brown, the Los Angeles Times found, fewer than 2 percent have committed new crimes. Among the 2,100 inmates released after the softening of the states three-strikes law, only about 6 percent have returned to prison. Michael Romano, director and co-founder of the Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project, attributes the success of this cohort in part to extensive rehab, but also to a kind of forgiveness psychology. Because I do not live in California, it is hard for me to judge whether the state is genuinely engaged in "mass forgiveness" when passing laws designed to reduce its prison population and the severity of its sentncing laws. But there is little doubt that all sorts of significant criminal justice reforms are now playing out in California, and it will be quite valuable and important for criminal justice advoates and researchers to watch and study crime and punishment developments in the state in the months and years to come. February 9, 2016 at 09:59 AM | Permalink Comments Not relevant to this post, but just saw this headline that explains better than all the gnashing of teeth why the death penalty is falling into disfavor: "Former Texas Prosecutor Disbarred For Sending Innocent Man To Death Row Charles Sebesta lied and presented false testimony against Robert Carter for the murders of six people. 02/09/2016 04:52 am ET Reuters JON HERSKOVITZ A Texas legal panel voted on Monday to disbar a former prosecutor for sending an innocent man to death row by presenting tainted testimony and making false statements that undermined the defendant's alibi. The Board of Disciplinary Appeals appointed by the Texas Supreme Court upheld a state licensing board's decision to disbar Charles Sebesta for his conduct in convicting Anthony Graves, who spent 18 years in prison on charges of setting a fire that killed six people before being freed. Posted by: Dave from Texas | Feb 9, 2016 10:38:28 AM "Among the 2,100 inmates released after the softening of the states three-strikes law, only about 6 percent have returned to prison." One reason they have not gone back to prison is because they can't. After Prop 47, many former felonies are misdemeanors, so no prison. Plus, in my reading of the Stanford Prop 36 reports, Romano's data ignores several things, including the following true event. A Prop 36 releasee committed a new felony and during the police attempts to arrest him they ended up killing him when he produced a weapon. Didn't return to prison, so counted as a success. Also, Romano doesn't count those who are currently charged with new offenses. Also, most Prop 36 releasees cannot be returned to "prison" for a PRCS violation. They go to county jail. I would like to know how many of the 2100 aren't dead, aren't committing misdemeanors (that used to be felonies) and have not committed a PRCS violation or are not currently pending charges. It won't be anywhere near 94%. Posted by: David | Feb 9, 2016 11:16:35 PM Everytime I go to Mass they talk about foregiveness. Then they pass the plate. Posted by: JackMehoff | Feb 11, 2016 9:40:04 AM Post a comment "Their 'compassion' is seriously flawed: Politicians care about white addicts but still love the racist drug war" | Main | Politico reporting that (minor?) changes are being made to Senate's SRCA bill to appease GOP critics February 8, 2016 Notable battles in Texas over local sex offender residency restrictions in small towns A helpful reader alerted me to this interesting new AP article headlined "More Than 20 Texas Town Repeal Sex Offender Residency Law," which reports that a "broad legal challenge has led more than 20 towns in Texas to ease restrictions over the last few months on where sex offenders can live instead of fight a costly battle in court." Here is more: While other states, including neighboring Oklahoma, continue to push offenders away from some neighborhoods, about 45 Texas towns received letters in November from the group Texas Voices for Reason and Justice demanding they repeal residency restrictions. The nonprofit, which is critical of sex offender laws it considers ineffective, also has sued 14 towns and has a powerful ally the state attorney general's office. "We advocate an individual assessment on a case-by-case basis to determine if someone is a threat to the community," said Richard Gladden, an attorney for the group. "The myth that people who commit sex offenses just generally are unable to control their sexual conduct is just that, a myth." At issue is how Texas' small towns are differentiated from larger ones. Communities with fewer than 5,000 people are "general law" towns, which can't adopt an ordinance that the Legislature hasn't permitted. Dozens of these smaller communities have restricted where sex offenders can live usually with the purpose of keeping them away from schools and other places children gather but only later learned they've run afoul of state rules. "Unless the Legislature expressly authorizes it, a general-law municipality may not adopt an ordinance restricting where a registered sex offender may live," according to a 2007 opinion signed by then-AG Greg Abbott, who's now Texas governor. Larger cities fall under "home rule," which means they have "a constitutional right of self-government," Abbott wrote. But the Texas Municipal League, which provides support services and lobbies on behalf of cities, is pushing for legislative action that reverses Abbott's decision. "It's new where a general-law city has had its authority taken away by an attorney general's opinion," executive director Bennett Sandlin said. The state allows leaders in general law towns to fashion municipal rules for "the good government, peace or order of the municipality," Sandlin said, such as zoning and noise control laws. But state officials can step in when local laws overreach.... Krum Mayor Ronald Harris Jr. said litigation prevents him from talking about whether his town will repeal its law, but he criticized the Legislature for not acting on behalf of small-town Texas. "They're saying that we as a small town don't have a right to have an ordinance to protect our children and our residents, but larger towns do," Harris said. The city manager of Alvarado, which is south of Fort Worth, has told WFAA-TV in Dallas that although residents expressed concern about repealing the law, they know valuable town money could evaporate under the weight of a lawsuit. "They're disappointed that we're not able to regulate our own town," said Clint Davis, who did not respond to a message left by The Associated Press for comment.... Gladden argues myriad laws aren't necessarily benefiting public safety. In many cases, he said, an innocent "Romeo and Juliet relationship" can result in a young man being prosecuted for having sex with a minor and labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, federal statistics show the overwhelming number of sex abuse cases involving children are perpetrated by a family member or friend of the family, and not an anonymous stranger, he said. "Obviously, people are concerned about their kids and sometimes people are so overwhelmed by their natural instinct to protect their children that they don't necessarily use their heads and see what works and doesn't work," Gladden said. But Sandlin argues the residency restrictions are common-sense measures to protect children and don't amount to an unwarranted hardship, as some would claim, because Census data shows more than 90 percent of land in Texas is outside incorporated cities. "Cities are dense urban areas where it makes sense to regulate where sex offenders live," Sandlin said. I have long considered political and legal disputes over local sex offender residency restrictions to be among the most interesting and dynamic criminal justice arenas for debating what might be called "local federalism." But I am not aware of any other state in which certain localities were allowed to enact sex offender residency restrictions and others were not, and I suppose this story is just still further proof that Texas often has its own unique approach to justice. February 8, 2016 at 04:26 PM | Permalink Comments I don't have a legal background, but maybe someone out there who does can explain why residency restriction laws can vary from state to state, county to county and town to town? It's happening in states other than Texas, Florida is having the same issues. Seems like the government takes a stand on the "one-size-fits-all" labeling of SO's, but when it comes to where they can live, it's a government, state, county, town free-for-all with everyone making up "not-in-my-backyard" rules. Is the idea of seemingly endless residency restrictions just a way to keep SO's from living in any neighborhood? These laws go into effect to intentionally trip-up SO's, OK to live here, but step over that country line and back to prison you go. I'm glad that Texas Voices for Reason and Justice threatens lawsuits, if the general public would educate themselves regarding sex offences and the fact that most are committed by someone they know, instead of falling for the scary media driven lies that are reported regarding sex offences and recidivism, the world would be a better place. Live and let live. Posted by: kat | Feb 9, 2016 11:21:37 AM These residency restriction laws against somebody who has served his or her time could actually endanger the safety of said town, particularly of its law enforcement personnel. I could visualize where a disgruntled former sex offender might decide to openly defy this law, and, if caught, threaten to use an illegally or legally acquired weapon against any police or parole officer that attempts to enforce said law. Already in Savannah, GA, we had at least one incident where a former sex offender living in a mobile home in a restricted area retaliated by phoning a bomb threat to the local police station that houses the registry. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Our law enforcement personnel take enough risks in their job without having to enforce stupid laws that simply put them to greater risk to their own safety without protecting the locale they are sworn to protect. When a town loses its officers to murder or due to other unfortunate circumstances, it also makes that particular town less safe with one less officer to protect it. Posted by: william r. delzell | Feb 10, 2016 4:05:27 PM Post a comment Notable report on another EDNY federal judge objecting to harsh provisions of federal child porn laws | Main | Notable battles in Texas over local sex offender residency restrictions in small towns The title of this post is the headline of this notable new Salon article authored by Daniel Denvir. Here are excerpts: Its a new day for American drug policy, at least as far as drug users are concerned. In New Hampshire, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie are speaking to the wrenching pain of losing loved ones to opioid addiction and death, and making the case that drug abuse should be treated by health professionals and not jails.... Republicans on the campaign trail are opening their hearts to addicts and their families, and policymakers from both major parties are backing harm reduction measures like increasing access to the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. The shift in tone and policy is important, and it has understandably caught reporters attention. In speaking about their own experiences, Republican candidates are not only allowing themselves to be vulnerable in front of voters, theyre also straying from the just-say-no message of Ronald Reagan, whose legacy includes a tough legislative stance on drugs and drug sentencing, writes the New York Times Emma Roller. The seeming about-face, however, also reveals a troubling problem: Heroin user demographics have changed dramatically in recent years, from heavily black to overwhelmingly white; and it seems that for politicians, it is the opioid crisis newly white face that has lent it a relatable quality as far as drug users are concerned. This has not so much been the case for drug dealers.... And therein lies the rub: While many have noted the racial double standard at work, little attention has been paid to its ongoing and pernicious consequence policy makers are often still approaching drug dealers with ruthlessly punitive measures, and those drug dealers are likely to be black and Hispanic. At least, that is, those for drug dealers who are serving prison time: studies have found that in reality whites are more likely to sell drugs than blacks. It turns out that Bush and company are not straying as far from drug war orthodoxy as it might seem at first blush. For dealers, they ought to be put away forever as far as Im concerned, said Bush, summarizing the new compassionate consensuss harsh edge. But users I think we have to be a second-chance country. While the face of drug users is becoming white, the image of drug dealers often remains black or Hispanic, as blunt-speaking Maine Gov. Ron LePage recently made clear. These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty these types of guys they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home, said LePage. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road. LePages comments prompted outrage and ridicule because they were racist. But the policy implications go beyond rhetorical offense, because the growing empathy toward white heroin users could actually reinforce or even increase hostility toward drug dealers, especially if they are perceived as being black and Hispanic. Ted Cruz, for one, blamed drug problems on borders left open for undocumented Democrats. The upshot is that growing compassion toward drug users wont necessarily lead to a major reduction in the number of drug offenders behind bars. Drug dealers already made up the bulk of people serving time for drug crimes, and so the only way to sharply reduce the number of drug offenders in prison is to stop imprisoning so many drug dealers. Instead, some officials appear to be heading in the opposite direction. Around the country, federal and local prosecutors are pointing to the opioid epidemic as a pretext to charge drug dealers with murder-type offenses in fatal overdoses. In reality, the sort of dealers who Bush and others want to put away for life include both small-time operators and drug users who appear to have shared a small amount of drugs with a friend. One man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for selling two-tenths of a gram of heroin, $30 worth, to a man who later overdosed. Many dealers, major and minor, are still subject to sentences harsher that what many countries reserve for murderers.... Its not just a problem for Republicans, either. Democratic candidates for president Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have yet to put forward a plan that would actually end the mass incarceration of drug offenders (let alone mass incarceration more generally, which is driven in significant part by the imprisonment of violent offenders). Both have bigger plans than Republicans, however, and Sanders has outdone Clinton by calling for an end to the federal prohibition of marijuana and supporting the reinstatement of federal parole. Both pledge to do something about harsh mandatory minimum sentences. But neither candidate has argued that most drug dealers should not be imprisoned, or suggested more radical but useful alternatives like broad-based legalization and regulation.... There is some movement to relax harsh punishments for nonviolent drug dealers and create programs to divert low-level dealers from prison. In Congress, bipartisan legislation would modestly reform some of the harshest mandatory minimums for drug dealers, President Obama has commuted the sentences of some drug offenders serving incredibly long federal sentences, and the racist discrepancy between federal crack and powder cocaine sentences have been narrowed (but not at all eliminated). But until politicians rethinking of the drug war extends to drug dealers, hundreds of thousands of people, disproportionately people of color, will be remain bars in the name of a drug war that by all honest accounts has failed to stop people from using drugs. Activists in SF blocking Google bus in an ongoing affording housing protest. pic.twitter.com/MJBD1H6snX NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) February 9, 2016 VIDEO: Activists garbed in yellow blockade a Facebook private shuttle, as well as other tech buses in #SF pic.twitter.com/BWZxUuE2BO Joe Fitz Rodriguez (@FitzTheReporter) February 9, 2016 Yesterday, a tentative deal between members of the Board of Supervisors and Silicon Valley tech companies that use corporate buses to shuttle thousands of workers between SF and the South Bay could. This morning some of those buses were halted by activists demonstrating against evictions and for affordable housing.A video by Joe Fitz Rodriguez, a San Francisco Examiner reporter, captured black-clad protestors wearing yellow safety vests and carrying yellow signs as they blocked what are reportedly buses bound for Facebook. Earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the proposed agreement that would allow the buses to run as usual for the next 12 months, provided that stops are limited to the current 125. Under the plan, if the number of buses using those stops increases by 50 percent or more, then air quality will be assessed. The measure would also mandate a study by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and the Municipal Transportation Agency that will assess the effectiveness of the program and its impact on displacement and gentrification. According to the SFC, the proposed agreement was forged after the Sierra Club threatened to challenge the corporate bus program with an environmental impact reviewsomething the Board of Supervisors and tech companies reportedly want to avoid. This fall, the MTA made temporary measures allowing commuter buses to use MUNI stops permeant and set operator fees for the tech companies. The SFC reports that if the agreement is finalized, the full Board of Supervisors will likely reject calls for an environmental impact review. Tentative Pact to Extend Corporate Shuttle Program for Year [San Francisco Chronicle] San Francisco's Marina Green is getting a small taste of the El Nino-driven erosion experienced by our Pacifica neighbors, as part of the walkway has broken apart due to soil erosion underneath leaving a gaping hope in the process. So reports CBS 5, which points out that the area washed away after the last big storm. And the hole has remained despite the potential danger to pedestrians, with no caution tape to warn those who pass by. I havent seen them do anything about it, fisherman Vy Tuck told the channel. It looks worse than expected. Its getting washed out from underneath there, he continued. Marina Green runs from Fort Mason to the yacht harbor, and has claimed at least one life. In 2013 a woman drowned at the spot while in her minivan, with witnesses at the time saying she looked unconscious as the van sped into the Bay. Several bystanders jumped in the water and attempted to break the rear window of the van as it floated in order to get her out, but were unsuccessful. CBS 5 reached out to the Department of Public Works, but their call went unreturned. Turk told the channel that the hole continues to increase in size. Related: Pacifica Losing Battle With Sea As Second Sinkhole Opens Activists hold signs in front of tech shuttle buses that read "Save Our Homes" in protest of high rents in SF. pic.twitter.com/QflNcewYM8 NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) February 9, 2016 A full year after the Chronicle declared the anti-tech shuttle protest dead, a tech shuttle protest blockaded the intersection of 24th and Valencia this morning, snarling traffic for a good 40 minutes as CBS 5 reports. Activists carried a large banner that said "Save Our Homes," and the impetus for the Tuesday morning protest was a tentative agreement reached Monday, per the Chronicle, between three supervisors and four tech companies allowing the shuttle program to continue as-is for another year with possible changes down the line. Involved in the negotiations were two progressive supervisors, David Campos and Norman Yee, and moderate Board president London Breed, and the deal caps the number of allowed shuttle stops at the current 125, and says that if the number of buses increases by 50 percent it will trigger a mandatory air quality assessment. Also, the Board's budget and legislative analyst will be doing an impact study on neighborhood displacement that's been caused in part by the shuttles. Also at the table were reps from the Service Employees International Union and the Sierra Club, who both challenged the deal, and reps from Facebook, Google, Genentech, and Apple. The agreement is meant to forestall calls for a full environmental impact review of the shuttle program, which a majority of supervisors wants to avoid, while still being able to overhaul the program in the coming years. Today's protest, of course, harkens back to the "Google bus" protest heyday of 2013 and early 2014, which has largely quieted down despite a protest similar to the one today that occurred last May Day. Previously: Do More Tech Shuttle Stops Lead Directly To Higher Rents And More Evictions? Late 2008 Shark Diver CEO spent some time with the radio hosts of Lakefront Radio. Enjoy this Podcast about sharks, conservation and just plain fun. Paying it ForwardMs. Connie Spain, Local Advocate for Addiction Recovery This past January, feature reporters Brianna and Isabel Martinez were asked to present an original essay about local community leader Connie Spain. The essay was written in conjunction with the annual celebration of diversity and community advocacy sponsored by the Celebrating Community Project and Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Each year, the group celebrates national leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King and local heroes like Mrs. Connie Spain. The idea is to take a look at the celebration of community through the eyes of equality and diversity. Brianna also entered the art contest sponsored each year by the committee and her entry, Looking into the Eyes of Equality is shown here. Brianna and Isabel learned a great deal about several community leaders who have their sculptured busts exhibited at the Martin Luther King Transit Center in Sioux City and have gained respect for what it truly means to Pay it Forward and give hope to others. (Original Speech) We would first like to extend our appreciation to the Martin Luther King Program Committee and especially Flora Lee, who gave us this opportunity to research and learn more about the ordinary individuals in our community who represent as they say, the very best of humanity. We have learned that the Celebrating Community Sculpture Park Project was developed through a partnership with the NAACP and the Celebrating Community Foundationall made up with a very special set of Siouxland citizens who understand how important it is to continue the quest for civil liberties and rights in our community. We feel honored to be here tonight and to share, in our small way, what we have learned about one of those individuals, Connie Spain. Martin Luther King once stated, Lifes most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others? We are here tonight to honor Dr. King and to share highlights of one local hero, Connie Spain, and others like her who spent their lives simply doing for others. Id like to introduce at this time, Isabel Martinez, my sister, who will read an essay about Connie Spain. Connie Spain, A Siouxland Advocate for Addiction Recovery According to the Celebrating Community Foundation website, Connie Spain dedicated 50 years to building awareness in others about how individuals with specific addictions could be transformed into healthy and productive people. She found this life work after helping a friend through a difficult time with addiction and she knew she wanted to help others. She never looked back. Ms. Spain began a nursing career as a Cadet Corps Nurse and as a member of the nursing graduates of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Clinton, Iowa. WWII brought about a need for American nurses to enlist, be paid ($20 a month), and care for injured servicemen. As a cadet, Ms. Spain worked in California at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital and lived in the nurses officer unit and was treated as an officer. While someone like Connie Spain might have become a successful business woman as she took several high school business courses, she chose the path of helping others. It was the need of a friend who was suffering an addiction that changed her life path. She moved to Sioux City in 1953. She was employed at St. Vincents as a private duty nurse and as a Public Health Nursing Service employee. Her mission became one of educating all people about the harmful effects of addiction and how addiction was a public issue not simply a private one. When she began to study how medical treatment might help people with addictions in the 1960s, there was little offered to help her out. At that time, people did not believe that something like alcoholism was a medical issue. People believed that if you simply pulled yourself up by the bootstraps and got your act together you could quit drinking. She worked hard to educate people about how addiction was a medical disability and that people who had alcoholism needed medical help to recover and become the best they could be. Alcoholism is a disease and Ms. Spain showed how intervention, recovery centers and halfway houses would help with the overall battle. This mission of education the public about addictions led her to being active with the Siouxland Council on Alcoholism and a charter member of the board. This council later became the Jackson Recovery Center. At age 89, a widow since 1998, she now lives in California. Connie Spain embodies what it means to pay it forward. She made her life one of adventure and hope and gave that fully to others. In our own time, this time, there are community members like Dr. Martin Luther King and Ms. Connie Spain who are doing work that celebrates the need for community service and are reaching out to help others. President Barack Obama sends his own message of hope which emanates such a mission. In his words, The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Dont wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, and you will fill yourself with hope. Isabel and I would like to thank Mrs. Lee and the committee for selecting us to write and share our essay on Mrs. Connie Spain. We can only hope, too, as President Obama has said, that we can go out and make good things happen for otherswhich in turn will fill all with hope. Pay it Forward Thoughts by area Siouxland Students Have you ever wanted to do something kind and share things you dont use or have outgrown? Dont throw away your stuff! Pay it Forward! Or in other words, donate to those in need. For your birthday and Christmas you get all new things so what are you going to do with your other things you are not going to use.or better yet, with so many new itemswhy not give some of those away. Why not give to those who dont have anything at all. Just put yourself in their shoes. Would you want to wake up in the morning and have nothing to eat or drink? Would you want clothes on your back? Would you want to wake up in a shelterworried about your next meal or keeping warm during the winter? People may need food, water, hats, gloves, coats and clothes just like you and me. So, please donate! Pay it Forward! And remember at any time, it could be one of us in need. Bailey Logan Mater Dei Grade 6 Have you ever had someone do something nice for you? Have you felt that you should repay the favor by helping someone else? Thats paying it forward! Once, on my way home from Hy-Vee, there were various groceries scattered across the road. I was confused until I saw a van parked on the side of the road with its trunk open and a lady standing near it, looking stressed. She picked up the newly-packaged food and placed it in her car. My mom wanted to help, so she got out of the car and helped the lady gather her groceries. My brother and I also helped by retrieving the food that was farther down the road. Once we were done, the lady thanked us and said she would pay it forward someday. Luckily, most of the food was untouched and still edible, and I felt good after helping her. Paying it forward is one worthy notioneveryone wins. Sarah Engle Mater Dei Grade 8 SIOUX CITY | A former Sioux City man died Friday in a Colorado avalanche while riding a snowbike. Ron Brabander's death is the first-ever snowbike avalanche in Colorado, and the second-ever in the country, the Denver Post reported, citing avalanche accident reports. Snowbikes are off-road motorcycles that convert to a ski-like vehicle. Brabander, 58, of Woodland Park, Colorado, was riding his snowbike alone Friday in Chaffee County, atop Cottonwood Pass at 11,900 feet elevation, when he was buried and killed in an avalanche, according to the Post. Brabander spent 14 years at Gateway in North Sioux City, where he was one of the computer maker's experts in engineering, said Keith Thomas, a Brabander friend and former Gateway colleague. Brabander also worked with the largest Gateway monitor supplier, whose team then started Vizio, Thomas said. After leaving Gateway, Brabander worked for 10 years with Dakota PC Warehouse, said Thomas, a Dakota PC co-founder. At Dakota PC, Brabander started as the monitor expert, but then shifted into TVs and worked on them until he retired and moved to Colorado about 18 months ago, Thomas said. "He always had a smile on his face, and would help anybody and everybody, at any time," Thomas said in an email Monday. "He was a truly great guy." Mike Hingst, of Sioux City, worked with Brabander for about a decade in the 1990s and 2000s at Gateway. "(Brabander) was the epitome of a good, hard worker, a good overall person. He always had an open ear...He always had a smile on his face," Hingst said. Hingst said Brabander loved motorcycles and cars, and that it was sad to lose him in an accidental death on a ride he no doubt enjoyed. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, searchers found Brabander buried in about six feet of snow. The center reported that at about 11 a.m. Friday "a rider on a motorized snowbike was caught in an avalanche south of Cottonwood Pass. The avalanche released on an east-facing, above-treeline slope." People have posted several memories of Brabander at the I Survived Working at Gateway public group on Facebook. Hingst said Brabander's parents are deceased, and a sister lives outside Siouxland. PONCA, Neb. | Two tables and a whiteboard in the Ponca Public School library are all that Randy Lukken needs -- most days. Sometimes there aren't enough chairs around those tables for the students who need Lukken to share his math expertise. "The days I'm there, I poke my head in each of the study halls and announce I'm there to help with math. There's times when I've had 20 kids in there with me," said Lukken, one of two retirees who volunteer to tutor Ponca students in math. Lukken sets up three times a week in a corner of the school's library. Myra Woggon, a retired teacher, helps fifth- and sixth-grade math teacher Stacey Carnell. It's a luxury any school district would enjoy, and many do seek volunteer tutors from their communities. "It makes a huge difference. I'm able to assist so many more kids," Carnell said. "We're able to get those kids who need it that extra push." They don't all necessarily need it, but they like to come, Lukken said. A lot of honor roll students, kids motivated to do well, show up, he said, probably more than students who are struggling with a lesson. The reason doesn't matter to Lukken, he's happy to help. "It's just the satisfaction of seeing the light bulb come on and the wheels spin a little faster that they're picking it up. I clearly enjoy working with the kids, but I couldn't have been a full-time teacher," he said. A 1970 Ponca graduate, Lukken has bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering. He retired from Northern Natural Gas in June 2011 and moved back to Ponca. "When I retired, I was only 59 years old and needed something to do," he said. With his math background, he asked school officials about helping students with math. His offer was readily accepted, and now he helps junior high and high school students with general math to precalculus. On a recent morning, his two tables were nearly full of students who filed in and pulled out their textbooks, pencils, calculators and worksheets. "Mr. Lukken, do you know how to do functions?" one of them asked. She sat down at a table as Lukken studied the problem and explained it. Satisfied, the student pulled out an algebra 2 textbook and returned to her seat to finish her work. Lukken takes a lot of questions, gives a lot of help in just one class period. Some students appear to need the help. Others quietly do their work, never raising their hand. "A lot of kids come in here and work and never ask me a question," Lukken said. "I had a girl who came in every day during sixth period to do her work. She never asked me a question. I think she liked knowing that I was here if she did have one." He almost always does. He draws the line at doing geometry proofs. But he's become adept at solving story problems, which he never liked as a student himself. If he's unsure, he reads through the textbooks to refresh his memory on topics he maybe hasn't tackled in decades. "A lot of kids think I remember this stuff," he said with a laugh. Lukken has since obtained a substitute teaching certificate and subs in Ponca and nearby Allen. He also drives a school bus and helps farmers. "All the others (jobs) I get paid for, but I like this one the best," Lukken said of his volunteer tutoring position. In addition to helping students, the tutoring job is the one, he said, that helps him stay sharp. "One of the things I'm hoping is it's going to keep my mind functioning a little better." All the while helping Ponca students function better in math. Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar. Waffles for Warriors: Veterans are invited to enjoy a free waffle meal 9-11 a.m., with their immediate family members, at Support Siouxland Soldiers, 1551 Indian Hills Drive. Please provide proof of service, first come, first served. Visit www.supportsiouxlandsoldiers.com for more information. Birds, Bugs & Wetlands: Acrylic paintings of sloughs, found metal sculptures of insects, collages of birds by Marisa Sidles are on display at Dickinson County Nature Center, 2279 170th St., Okoboji, Iowa. A reception will be held in Marisa Sidles honor 5-7 p.m. Feb. 11. Visit www.dickinsoncountynaturecenter.com or call 712-336-6352 for more information. "Service with Honor" Vietnam Vets Honored: Fifty veterans whose stories and photographs comprised the Sioux City Journals three-month Vietnam exhibit will be recognized with a program 2 p.m. at Betty Strong Encounter Center, 900 Larsen Park Road. Call 712-224-5242 or visit www.siouxcitylcic.com for more information. DES MOINES | Iowa utility regulators are authorized to weigh safety risks and expand environmental protections for a proposed interstate crude oil pipeline, debunking the developers arguments that those issues are off limits when the Iowa Utilities Board decides whether to grant a hazardous liquid pipeline permit, a staff attorney said Monday. Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has argued the federal government holds exclusive jurisdiction in regulating safety, and federal restrictions prohibit the state board from requiring environmental standards above what is needed under federal law, board officials said. But board general counsel David Lynch disagreed on both points during opening deliberations Monday. The Utilities Board would not be in a position to say after the pipeline is built, You are not operating that in the right way; we are going to revoke your permit, Lynch said. But you are in the position upfront to say you dont think this pipeline is going to be safe and we are not going to approve it at all. Monday was the first of four days scheduled for deliberations on the permit request made in January 2015, as well as the authority to use eminent domain to acquire easements from reluctant property owners. Staff attorneys laid out for the three-member board the arguments parties have made for and against key issues in the case, and discussed the scope of authority on those issues including climate change, energy independence, the world petroleum market and economic benefits. A key point of contention is whether Dakota Access had satisfied the environmental study requirements for the proposed 30-inch diameter underground pipeline originating in the Bakken and Three Forks region of North Dakota and ending in Illinois. Iowas state archaeologist has testified the company has not, while Dakota Access said it has but through an organization not preferred by the state archaeologist. The law gives the board the authority to impose terms and conditions on the pipeline if it is supported by the evidence in the record, Lynch said. Informally I believe if the board is of the opinion based on the evidence in the record that further environmental studies are required, I think you can deny a permit on that basis. Wally Taylor of the Sierra Club said all but 74 miles of the 346 miles of pipeline through Iowa would be unprotected unless the board does something. The board discussed how to define public convenience and necessity, which is the statutory basis for approving a pipeline. Should it be a dictionary definition or a legal interpretation? Regulators learned they could require Dakota Access pay for greater liability insurance, and could consider whether the pipeline serves the public good beyond Iowas borders. Many are watching to see if the board reaches a decision during the deliberations this week. But the board could push the decision off to a future, unscheduled meeting. The board has kept its options open. I would like an answer tomorrow, but I dont think that will happen, said Chad Carter, of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 234 based in Des Moines. My hope is to hear by the end of the month. I dont see given how much the work the board has to do figuring this out this week. The heavy equipment union represents workers in 17 of the 18 Iowa counties the pipeline would cross through, he said. Iowa is the last state to rule on the pipeline. Boards in North Dakota, Illinois and South Dakota have given a green light. SIOUX CITY | United Commercial will adopt a new name on Tuesday. The new moniker, NAI United, reflects the Sioux City-based company's new membership with NAI Global, the largest owner-operated commercial real estate brokerage firm. NAI United is the commercial division of United Real Estate Solutions, which has its headquarters at the United Center in downtown Sioux City. United Real Estate will retain its current name. Chris Bogenrief, president of NAI United, said NAI's broad reach and resources will help grow the metro Sioux City commercial market. "We're just excited about it," Bogenrief said Monday. "We actually hope it'll expand Sioux City's market size itself." NAI United will continue to operate independently, but will have access to additional real estate tools. "There's a lot of members that specialize in things," Bogenrief said. "When you get into bigger markets you can specialize, but in smaller markets like ours, you can't." Bogenrief added: "It kind of puts us on a more equal playing field with the big corporate brokerage house. It's a great network to share interaction back and forth between markets." The metro Sioux City area includes the counties of Plymouth and Woodbury in Iowa, Dakota and Dixon in Nebraska and Union in South Dakota. NAI United also has exclusive rights to represent Monona and Dickinson counties in Iowa. New York-based NAI Global provides its members with commercial real estate and brokerage tools and other services. The company has more than 375 offices and 6,700 brokers throughout North American, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. We selected NAI United to represent our organization based on the teams outstanding track record, local market leadership and ability to drive business," NAI Global President Jay Olshonsky said in a statement. In March 2015, longtime Ritch LeGrand closed his Sioux City-based business, NAI LeGrand & Co. The company had offered commercial real estate sales and leasing, appraisals, consulting and other services for 40 years. Just weeks after the World Health Organization declared an end to the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa and all known means of transmission, we have another disease to worry about. The WHO announced Zika, a mosquito-borne disease found mostly in tropical climates, is spreading explosively in Latin and South America and the Caribbean reportedly 24 countries and could affect more than four million people this year. Last week, the WHO declared it an international emergency. The primary cause for concern with Zika is microcephaly, a rare and incurable condition that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains, if miscarriages dont result. German measles, parasites, alcoholism, severe malnutrition and diabetes are other causes. The Zika epicenter is Brazil, the host of the Summer Olympics, where stagnant and polluted waters already have been blamed for digestive illnesses among athletes training there. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Brazilian officials also are trying to determine if Zika is to blame for an increase in Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause long-term nerve damage, paralysis or death, although its effects are usually temporary. Zikas symptoms are mild fever, joint pain and red eyes affecting only one of five people infected. Detection requires a blood sample at an advanced lab. The virus does not linger in the body for more than few days. The CDC has advised pregnant women against traveling to tropical regions in the Western Hemisphere. The Olympics have been expected to attract 500,000 people, including 200,000 Americans. Brazils raucous Carnival celebration begins next month, bringing in tourists during its summer season when mosquitoes thrive. Many U.S. airlines and cruise ship companies have announced refunds are available for those who already have made travel plans. Brazil only had 150 cases in 2014, but the total began to soar in May. Now the government is estimating 400,000 to 1.4 million today, although only 4,000 people have been tested, mostly as precautionary measures. Public health officials are downplaying the possibility of outbreak in this country because many houses and buildings have window screens or air conditioning. Other mosquito-borne illnesses dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and West Nile have not gotten a large foothold. However, poverty-stricken areas may be more susceptible with fewer barriers, more stagnant water and fewer public health resources. The WHO warning should put efforts to fight a possible Zika outbreak on the top of the agenda for state and local public health officials. Taking whatever precautionary measures can be put in place is better than reacting after the fact. Thats even true for Iowa. As the climate warms, tropical diseases are spreading north. Individuals, particularly those traveling, should refer to the CDC site on preventive measures: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/index.html. Waterloo-Cedar Falls (Iowa) Courier Herschel's Dictum. There arent too many human interaction problems that cant be fixed with a .45 ACP 230-grain fat-boy. -- Herschel Smith. Always remember: "A communist is an impatient socialist." - Anonymous contributor to this blog. The Nyberg Flag of the Three Percent Edmund Burke reconsidered in the light of 20th Century funeral pyres. "Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann. Collected video links of my speeches on liberty and armed civil disobedience. From 2013 to date. Absolved Chapter Links Click HERE. And, as things begin to spin out of control, remember this: "All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war." -- Billy Beck, August 2009. From MamaLiberty over at War on Guns: "Here's an idea...If nobody wants a 'civil disturbance,' why in heck don't they quit disturbing us?" Indeed. "When Democracy Becomes Tyranny "Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress." I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . . Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh. In the future . . . When the histories are written, National Rifle Association will be cross-referenced with Judenrat. -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell" "Smash the bloody mirror." If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe. "I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable." From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha." "Only cowards dare cringe." The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille , Curtis Publishing, 1947. "We fight an enemy that never sleeps." "As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said "The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ." "The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island. "We will not go gently . . ." This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost. But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it. And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory. -- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008 "A common language of resistance . . ." "Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1. Influencer marketing is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the business world. While its unlikely that most small businesses can afford to hire big name social influencers to promote their brands on social media or video platforms, creating a brand as a social influencer has become a business in and of itself. These social influencers serve as sort of a modern marketing agency and media outlet in one. They create valuable content while also promoting brands within their niche. In fact, several new businesses have popped up in recent years with the sole purpose of connecting these influencers with the brands in their niche. FameBit is one example. But theres also Grapevine and Content BLVD for YouTube influencers, Revfluence for social media and more. Brands can use these platforms to more easily find relevant influencers to work with. And influencers can use them to monetize their content. Some have even made a career out of it. Agnes Kozera, co-founder and COO of FameBit told Small Business Trends in an email, Some influencers use FameBit as a side hustle to make some extra cash to fund their creations, but some of them are actually able to quit their day jobs and make a living entirely from partnering with brands on social media. Its all about how active you are in sending proposals to brands. But its not something that just anyone can use to get rich quick. In order to use FameBit, influencers must have more than 5,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Facebook or Tumblr. So you have to spend some time building up a following and creating valuable, consistent content before youre able to make a career as an influencer, at least through FameBit. Justin Tse, or JTechApple as hes known to his fans on YouTube and other social platforms, is one of the influencers who uses FameBit to connect with brands. Tse says that he spent a lot of time building up his online following before ever connecting with brands through FameBit, and that posting consistently has been key to his success. Tse says that he was unsure about sponsored content at first. But now he estimates that he shared about 50 brand collaborations in some form or another in 2015. He said in an email interview with Small Business Trends, I really didnt start participating in formal sponsored brand collaborations until 2015. Before then, I was rather hesitant to reach out to companies directly for promotional purposes because I was unsure if my reputation was relevant enough to garner interest. However, upon my discovery of FameBit, I found it does a great job of bridging relationships with brands that have products relating directly to my channel and are actively looking to work with content creators like myself. But of course, posting sponsored or brand related content is not without its drawbacks. Technology vlogger and content creator David Di Franco is another influencer whos used FameBit to connect with brands. He told Small Business Trends, Bringing any kind of sponsorship into the mix always causes a few people to become upset. However, I dont let that bother me, especially considering the positive outweighs the negative. Also, I think its becoming more obvious to viewers that content creators need to make a living, too. With advertising revenue all over the place nowadays, it certainly doesnt hurt to explore relevant branding opportunities. There are some things that influencers can do to make sure that their sponsored content doesnt alienate too many of their followers. It can actually be a benefit to both the influencer and the brand to make sure that the sponsorship side fits in seamlessly with the influencers normal style and topic area. Since many people are unlikely to continue watching or following an influencer that just puts out straight advertisements for irrelevant brands, its up to the influencers to work brands into their content in a way that makes sense. That means both finding brands that are relevant to their existing content, and sharing sponsored content in a way that feels natural. Beauty, fashion and lifestyle vlogger Shawnda Patterson, also known as BronzeGoddess01, told Small Business Trends, My audience reacts well to sponsored content because it is organic. For example, I love bath goodies and my subscribers know that. Ive probably mentioned that a thousand times on my channel. If my viewers see me doing a review for bath bombs, body washes or a bath sponge, they know that I was genuinely interested in the products. As long as the sponsored content is true to what the vlogger is about, it is better received and, in most cases, welcomed. However, Patterson also says that its important to be transparent about sponsored content. She always states clearly when shes been given an item to review or compensated for sharing content related to a certain brand. Of course, the way that influencers share content and connect with brands is an evolving concept. But it certainly seems to be catching on in a big way. Currently, FameBit has about 30,000 creators on its platform with a combined reach of 1.5 billion followers. In addition, branded video content where creators find brand opportunities on FameBit has been viewed 350 million times, with a total of 1 billion minutes viewed, according to Kozera. And while it may seem like this marketing concept is out of reach for small businesses, Kozera says that there are options out there. See Also: How to Do Content Marketing Like TED She says, Influence marketing doesnt need to be expensive in order to work. In other words, small businesses dont need to work with the biggest stars to see results. They can see success by enlisting the trust of smaller but equally passionate influencers that fit their brand culture and image and who have loyal tight-knit communities. Ultimately, working with many smaller influencers can have a better and greater impact than working with one big star. Glad to have you back for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 . The idea is to promote blogging and friendship and allow you to get to know yoursel... 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. Kaylin Beach of Pomfret, left, is congratulated by former CSM Trustee Chair Mike Middleton during the College of Southern Maryland May 2015 Commencement Ceremony. Beach earned a degree in elementary education and enrolled in the 2+2 Program with Towson University to complete her bachelor's degree. LA PLATA, Md. (Feb. 8, 2016)Kaylin Beach, 20, of Pomfret, always knew that she wanted to be a teacher. She loved kids and she loved learningputting the two together has always been her dream.Accomplishing her dream without leaving her family in Southern Maryland is a bonus.Through a partnership between the College of Southern Maryland and state universities, Beach is able to earn a bachelors degree in elementary education without leaving Southern Maryland.Affordability, convenience, flexibility, quality and local connections/partnerships are what make CSMs teacher education program stand out. Early childhood and elementary education students can get a four-year degree without leaving the Southern Maryland area through our 2+2 partnerships with Towson University and Notre Dame of Maryland University, said Professor Elizabeth Settle, who is the program coordinator for teacher education at CSM.The Towson 2+2 program, in its 15th year, was created to meet the needs of students with family commitments for whom traditional college programs did not work. Now it makes sense for students of all ages and family situations.The flexibility of the classes makes the commitments of work and family more easily balanced than a traditional on-campus model. It is the perfect program for students who want a quality experience with the comfort and convenience of staying close to home, said Laurie Haynie, coordinator of the Towson 2+2 program.A key element of the program is Towson University's relationship with local schools. The Maryland State Department of Education identifies local schools as Professional Development Schools. Towson collaborates with these schools for the academic and clinical preparation of teacher candidates. The partnership continues the professional development of both the school system and Towson University faculty.In addition, CSM/TU 2+2 students are placed in these schools for their student teaching experiences. Although we have had schools in all three counties in the past, this year we have 12 students, six who are placed at J.P. Ryon Elementary School in Charles County and six placed at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary in St. Mary's County. The relationships we are able to build over time with the human resource departments, schools, administrators and mentor teachers has been invaluable in placing the next generation of well-trained teachers in local classrooms, said Haynie.Beachs teaching practicum was at J.C. Parks Elementary for the fall semester of her sophomore year at CSM. I learned so muchand I became part of their community of teachers. I got to go to so many classrooms and it was so much fun.Ever since I was little I knew I loved kids and I know I love to learn and basically looking at all the things I like to do, teaching was the only field that let me do all those things at once. So, it made the most sense to study teaching. As I started doing it, I started realizing that I have been preparing for this since I was a kid. Being home-schooled you are a teacher along with being a student. A lot of the techniques that I am learning now where things that my mom and I did [studying] at home at the kitchen table. It is interesting that everything I experienced as a kid has led up to this, said Beach.My mom definitely inspired what I do and I picked up a lot of great knowledge about teaching from her. She started teaching me at home and always thought I would eventually go to a school. But she fell in love with the opportunity to explore every day and learn something new [through teaching], Beach said.In addition to the in-class teaching practicums, Beach has gained valuable experience through her job in the education department at the Humane Society of Charles County. Along with teaching children about being humane to animals, I help with birthday parties where I have to hold the attention of more than 30 children who are easily distracted by dogs, cats and other animals, she said.Although both 2+2 programs are for elementary education, grades first through sixth, Notre Dame also accepts the AAT Early Childhood PreK-3. Although there isnt a secondary education option at this time, it is possible to add a middle school endorsement to the elementary certificate to be eligible for grades seven and eight, Settle said.The typical Towson cohort is made up of minimum 12 students and a maximum of 20 who have earned an associates degree in education. From the summer after earning their associate degree, students spend two years taking classes and student teaching in the Southern Maryland area. Upon graduation in May of the second year with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, 100 percent of the students interviewing for positions have been hired with the majority being placed in one of the three local counties: Charles, St. Mary's and Calvert, according to Haynie.Beach is on track to earn her bachelors degree in May 2017 and wants to keep her options open. I want to work at a school that embodies the kind of teacher I want to be. I am an experience-based learner and I want to be able to offer that kind of learning to my students rather than managing a classroom where all the students have to stay in their seats and be quiet all the time. She wants to teach fifth- and sixth-graders, because she realizes that this age group might be beginning to lose their love of learning and she wants to try to keep learning fun for them.To learn more about teacher education programs and opportunities at CSM, the college is hosting a Teacher Education Open House 6-7:30 p.m., Feb. 24 at the La Plata Campus.To register for the free event or for information on CSM teacher education programs, visit www.csmd.edu/soc. Vincent Troy, 32, of Upper Marlboro, drove his SUV into the Bright Center West strip mall located at the intersection of S/B MD 4 at Chaneyville Rd. in Owings, Md on the morning of Jan. 6. Floral Expressions, a flower shop owned by Aut and Connie Fuller, was destroyed. (Photo: Office of Md. State Fire Marshal) CITY, Md. (Feb. 9, 2016)About a month ago, Aut and Connie Fuller had their lives nearly shattered when a motorist crashed into their Floral Expressions business of nearly 30 years, setting the building on fire and wiping out virtually everything they had.Police determined the driver, Vincent Troy, 32, of Upper Marlboro, was suspected to be under the influence of an intoxicant and subsequently arrested for DUI/DWI.Despite the bleak outlook, the couple didnt stop working to keep their business going, and with help from the local community they are set to reopen at a new location. Its a bittersweet moment, Aut said, since despite staying open under the most difficult of circumstances he realizes is will take a long time to even come close to the level of business they were doing.The insurance wont cover 30 years of loss, he told The Calvert County Times, adding, though, that the community almost immediately came together to help them reestablish themselves.The crash occurred at about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 6 and it was 14-degrees outside in Owings that morning, Aut said, but that didnt stop other business owners they knew from coming out to help them.One of the first was Maryland Country Caterers, he said, who provided sandwiches, hot chocolate and more importantly a place to work, Aut said.They provided a space in their warehouse for the husband and wife team, along with their staff, to continue filling floral arrangement orders. They had a funeral to provide flowers for the very next day, Aut said, and they couldnt afford to renege on their orders.Moreover, they had weddings and other engagements for which they had floral orders to fill. Clients offered to release them from their obligations and go find other providers, Aut said, but they refused and continued working to fill orders.This week they have moved out of the caterers warehouse and now have a new storefront on Cox Road.Its been amazing, Aut said of the communitys support. People have been so generous.Social media posts about their plight quickly made their way around the country, he said, and other florists soon began sending in money to help them become operational again.People just sent checks, $50 here, $100 there, Aut said.Dwayne Crawford, owner of Family Auto Care, has been central to helping the Floral Expressions crew, Aut said. Crawford said he was one of the first out on the scene of the crash to give them hugs of support.The Fullers have paid it forward in our community for the past 30 years, Crawford said. We wanted to let them know they were not alone.Crawford organized an online auction in which 56 businesses each donated an item for bidding; the end result of the auction was $6,400 raised to help out the Fullers, he said.For now the Fullers are busy trying to rebuild their business, but they are confident that they will succeed with the help of their many friends.Were still here, Aut said. Were not giving up. Arn is the first candidate in the Calvert Co. Sheriff's Office "Puppy Program." PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. (Feb. 9, 2016)Police dogs are expensive. A 15-month-old dog with no training costs between $6,000 and $8,000. Police in Calvert Co. are looking at alternatives. In 2015, the Special Operations K-9 unit of the sheriff's office implemented the "Puppy Program." The pilot project will evaluate purchasing a puppy directly from a breeder at 8 weeks of age vs. buying adult dogs at the higher cost. A puppy costs $1,500.Police say there are guarantees with an older dog; however, older dogs come with very little training. The pilot program will help determine questions such as will the quality of the working dogs be better if they were raised from a puppy and would the project create a significant cost savings for the agency.The sheriff's office purchased its first puppy from Avisa K9 in Miami, Florida in late 2015. On January 27, a 9-week-old male Belgian Malinois puppy named Arn arrived in Prince Frederick. Arn will live with Sgt. Gregory for the next 15 months. Sgt. Gregory will continue to work with Arn every day until he is ready for service. Arn will go through a systematic routine that will enhance his bite, nose use, agility, confidence, socialization and learning.At the conclusion of Arn's 15 months with Sgt. Gregory, he will be ready for his handler and a Police Service Dog Class. The agency plans to assign Arn to Dfc. Funchion and replace K-9 Jax as the S.O.T. SWAT dog in the fall of 2017. DESPITE the criticism from several sides and growing complaints of the public, the government has declined to admit there are serious problems in the health-care sector. Font size: A - | A + Analysts, however, say there are several areas the government failed to address during its four years in office. I am not the health minister, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on the political talk show V Politike (In Politics) broadcast by private news channel TA3 in early January. I avoid the hospitals like the plague, so I do not want to act as an expert in health care. For me it is important what the minister and his people are saying. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement His Smer party, however, has been at helm of the Health Ministry for eight of the past 10 years. President Andrej Kiska also showed his disappointment with the governments approach to health care. He openly criticised Health Minister Viliam Cislak in March 2015, saying that the minister has failed to respond to mounting scandals in the sector. Cislak failed to provide any clear information about the measures he took or is planning to take in order to stop the ineffective and non-transparent spending of money in health care, the president said. He also criticised the state of health care in his 2016 New Years address. The main agenda of the ruling party during the first two years, however, was the re-establishment of a unitary system of public health insurance. The ministry fobbed off all problems which emerged in the sector by saying that everything will change with monopolisation of health insurance, Tomas Szalay from the Health Policy Institute (HPI) told The Slovak Spectator. Read also: Read also: Health care infected with scandals Read more Single insurer plans delayed The unitary system of public health insurance was to prevent private insurers from generating profit from public insurance. We will not accept that private health insurers take profits from public sources running into the health sector and use these profits for private purposes, Fico said in October 2012, as quoted by the Sme daily. The ministry originally listed three ways to create a single health insurance company: acquiring the shares of the private health insurance companies, taking over the management of the private insurers client portfolios, and expropriating the private health insurers for an appropriate sum, with the first option cited as the best alternative. It planned to use money received via sale of the states shares in Slovak Telekom. The remaining two health insurers Dovera and Union, however, have rejected all these options. Though the government approved the project tailored by the Health Ministry in October 2012, it postponed it indefinitely in February 2014. Much energy, time and money was wasted on this useless agenda, without any outcome for patients and health care providers, Szalay said. This was also the reason why Slovakia has not proceeded in any other projects in health care, he added. Big end hospital still missing A sole state hospital began operating during the second Fico government, but it was not built by the Health Ministry, Sme wrote. The Interior Ministry opened a new facility in downtown Bratislava, to which the Hospital of St Michael moved from Patronka area. This space should be used for construction of the new university hospital in Bratislava, which would replace the failed Razsochy project, a state-of-the-art medical facility in Bratislava that was launched under the communist regime in the 1980s. Fico promised to construct it in 2012, and it was also one of the goals mentioned in the programme statement of his government. The plan is to build it via public-private partnership (PPP), with the private investor promising construction, financing and 30-year operation of the new modern facility worth 200-250 million. The state would be the official owner. The Dennik N daily, however, reported there is still a small chance that the hospital will be finally built by the state. Szalay opines that the project of new university hospital will not be realised via PPP at all. Meanwhile, other state hospitals are seeing their debts grow. At the end of 2014, the total debts of big state hospitals exceeded 400 million, according to IFP. Former health minister Zuzana Zvolenska said at the time that the debts are growing slower than in the past, mostly thanks to the restructuring plans. Fico voiced similar claims when evaluating the steps of his government last year, Dennik N wrote. Dusan Zachar of the INEKO think tank says that bad management of hospitals was emphasises particularly by blanket salary hikes for medical employees, regardless of the quality of work they were doing and financial possibilities of hospitals. This also resulted in dissatisfaction of the public with the quality of health care. In order to solve the problems, INEKO recommends the government introduces hard budget constraints for health-care providers, Zachar told The Slovak Spectator. Read also: Read also: Human rights policies still found lacking Read more Failed health plans Despite promises, Slovakia still has not introduced diagnosis-related group (DRG) system, within which payments depend on diagnosis, or completed it proposed e-Health project. Though the material concerning the e-Health system was approved by the first Fico government in 2008, it still is not running, and the government has pushed it launch to 2017 at the soonest, Sme wrote. Also the introduction of DRG system was postponed. Originally, it was to be introduced in 2013, but recent plans talk about 2017 as well. Zachar also points to not well mastered change to the system of fees patients need to pay when visiting doctor. The parliament passed the bill scrapping administrative fees such as those for prescriptions and filling out sick leave for patients as well as fees for fixed-term, priority appointments in February 2015 and then again in March when the MPs overrode presidents veto. While Cislak claimed the new rules will clarify the fees, Zachar says they only brought more opacity and chaos. Analysts also expect the fees will continue to be collected, but unofficially instead. On the other hand, both Zachar and Szalay praise the government for introducing the so-called residential programme to make the specialisation of general practitioner more attractive to young medics. The government also introduced the new system for distributing money to health insurers based on the disease parameter (the so-called PCG model). It is fairer system as health insurers receive the money based on the number of prescribed drugs for patients, Zachar said. The Fico cabinet also managed to decrease the price of medicines to second lowest level in the EU, Sme wrote. On the other hand, those medicines are often re-exported from Slovakia abroad, Sme wrote. Read also: Read also: Refugee crisis will stand out also in 2016 Read more Future expectations Analysts agree that the new government will have to tackle several problems in the health-care sector. One of them is the high debt and also the dissatisfaction of patients with availability and quality of health treatment paid from the public insurance, according to Zachar. It will also be necessary to complete the e-Health and DRG system or to let health insurers offer their clients various insurance plans for different prices, Szalay said, specifying that these plans may offer various coverage or additional services. By improving the consumers experience, the satisfaction of patients with health care will increase, Szalay added. The ruling Smer party, which looks likely to win elections, does not have any election programme concerning health care. Thus I am not a big optimist that it would do from its own initiative something more than trying to keep the status quo, Szalay said, adding that the only one who could persuade them do take more aggressive steps would be a coalition partner. WITH the general election just around the corner, health care remains a major concern among Slovaks in public opinion polls. Font size: A - | A + Prime Minister Robert Ficos second government has had to deal with several scandals in the health sector during the past four years with overpriced procurements forcing several top Smer party officials from their posts. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Health care system is ailing Read more Overpriced CT device The biggest scandal was connected to the planned purchase of a computed tomography (CT) device by Piestany hospital. The hospital wanted to buy it for nearly 1.6 million from the Medical Group company, connected to then-speaker of parliament Pavol Paska. Two other hospitals which bought the same device, however, paid much lower sums: the hospital in the Czech town of Havlickuv Brod paid 540,000, while the polyclinic in Sekcov (a neighbourhood in Presov) paid 418,000. The dubious purchase was reported by two employees of the hospital, doctor Alan Suchanek and nurse Magdalena Kovacovicova. Read also: Read also: Piestany hospital director steps down over CT device scandal Read more The scandal resulted in a major political fallout in late 2014. Then-health minister Zuzana Zvolenska stepped down, while also Paska and his deputy Renata Zmajkovicova, who at the time served as head of the Piestany hospitals supervisory board, resigned. Zvolenska has since taken a job in Brussels. The only person who remained in the post was hospitals head Maria Domcekova. She was, however, charged with the crime of violating duties when administering public property along with another seven people in September 2015, and later dismissed by board of directors. The scandal attracted the attention of the public, and several protests were held in the streets of Bratislava and Kosice, drawing hundreds of people. Meanwhile, Zvolenskas successor Viliam Cislak has faced two no-confidence votes initiated by the parliamentary opposition. Read also: Read also: An octopus is plaguing Slovak health care Read more Family ties Another major scandal erupted in September 2015. Then-head of state-run health insurer Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) Marcel Forai announced his decision to resign after Miroslav Beblavy of the non-parliamentary Siet party raised suspicions that Forai had preferred seven companies in state contracts where his aunt Anna Suckova is a partner. Beblavy backed his accusations with 69 agreements worth 14 million which VsZP had signed with these companies since 2012. Slovak media have since reported on what they dubbed the octopus in health care, a Kosice group of businesspeople close to the ruling party. The past of Forais successor Miroslav Vadura, however, is also in question. Shortly after being appointed to the post, media were quick to point out that he too had relatives doing business in health care, namely his brother-in-law, Zbyhnev Stebel. Vadura and Stebel, whose wives are sisters, even did business together in the past, the Sme daily reported. He is also connected with some earlier scandals in health care, like the overpriced purchase of CT device when he headed the University Hospital Kramare in Bratislava, and the dubious sale of land plots under the heliport at Kramare. Read also: Read also: Actors in latest health care scandal are connected Read more Altered medical records Back in March 2013, Michal, a premature baby, was born with pneumonia. Personnel from Nitra Hospital treated Michal with what might have been an excessive doses of the antibiotic Gentamicin. After experiencing acute renal failure, the boy was transferred to the Childrens Faculty Hospital in Bratislava, where the staff grew suspicious of excessive Gentamicin in Michals medical record, according to the Sme daily. Later, during a second hospitalisation in Nitra, a doctor signed off on the notations from the Childrens Faculty Hospital. Sometime after this, the notations about Gentamicin disappeared, and it is alleged that the head of the newborn clinic at Nitra Hospital Alena Durisova erased them from the record, which would be a crime. Paediatrician Zuzana Pechociakova alerted Jozef Valocky, the Nitra Hospital director and Smer member, with suspicions that Michals records had been altered. She was punished for doing so and Valocky instead defended Durisova. He confirmed the truth only after Sme published the evidence. Durisova was dismissed from her post. The case was then checked also by the Health Care Supervisory Authority (URSO), but it did not find any misconduct. Read also: Read also: Doctor altered medical records Read more Restructuring plan by boilerman The Health Ministry faced another scandal in early 2013 when private broadcaster TV Markiza reported that a man whose day job is to shovel fuel into boilers drafted a management restructuring plan for Zilinas main, state-run hospital. The hospital was ordered to make the restructuring plan by then health minister Zvolenska to help reduce debt. Head of the hospital Stefan Volak paid the company PP Partnership 10,000 to draft the plan. Its authorised representative was reported to be Juraj Majer, a boilerman, who conveniently lived in the same village as Volak. Sme obtained the document which on four pages described the situation in the hospital, and on further three pages proposed the measures to improve it. While INEKO think tank analyst Dusan Zachar criticised the plan, saying he would expect amore detailed document which would offer concrete solutions, the Health Ministry defended it, saying it is crucial for improving the situation in Zilina hospital, the daily wrote. The hospital however did not cut its debts, which exceeded 400 million in the end of 2014, according to Sme. Read also: Read also: Controversy over hospital contract Read more Overpriced food At the end of 2014 Sme reported that hospitals in Trencin, Trnava, Banska Bystrica and Presov signed overpriced catering contracts with mutually intertwined companies. The daily and Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) reviewed the contracts and found that the hospitals would pay external caterers nearly 81 million including VAT over the course of 10 years. Trencin hospital signed a contract with the company Hospital Catering Solutions (HCS) and the other three hospitals with the Dora Gastro company. Both are connected with one person, Peter Bitto. The contracts show that while most hospitals obtain food for patients for less than 5 per day, in these four state hospitals the sum oscillates between 8.30 and 10.80. The food in other hospitals cost about half as much, according to Sme. Following the scandal, Cislak dismissed all directors of the hospitals, as well as Health Ministrys service office head Martin Sencak who approved the procurements. While all four directors found job elsewhere, Sencak became deputy head of URSO, Sme reported. Read also: Read also: Hospitals to keep costly catering contracts Read more Nurses resign Most recently, about 600 nurses in eight Slovak hospitals resigned in protest against the amendment to the law on health care adopted in November 2015, saying it does not stipulate that their wages should be calculated based on years of practice, and nor that wages should be re-evaluated every three years. The most serious situation occurred in Zilina and Presov where about one-fifth of all nurses have resigned. Though nurses may continue resigning in the coming months, the Health Ministry says that the care for patients in hospitals is secured. He also filed a criminal complaint against nurses on February 1 at noon, for spreading alarming news about a million patients being threatened in connection with the mass resignations. This is, however, not the first protest action of nurses. They protested already in 2011 and 2012, which at the time resulted in agreement with the government led by Iveta Radicova and adoption of the law guaranteeing them minimum salaries in February 2012. The law was, however, challenged by then-president of the Slovak Medical Chamber, Milan Dragula. He filed a complaint with the Office of the General Prosecutor in which he alleged the law was unconstitutional. The prosecutor later sent the complaint to the Constitutional Court, which subsequently passed a preliminary injunction suspending the law at a non-public session held on July 11, 2012. The ruling provoked waves of discontent among nurses. Read also: Workers of U.S. Steel Kosice will join a march on February 15 to show support for fair trade and against Chinese dumping. Font size: A - | A + Almost one hundred workers of the steelmaker U.S. Steel Kosice (USSK) will participate in a protest of employers and employees of the European steel industry planned in Brussels for February 15. Members of the management, representatives of trade unions and employees of various departments, who want to show their opinion also this way, will go there, said Jan Baca, spokesperson of USSK as cited by the SITA newswire, adding that USSK president Scott Buckiso will attend the protest too. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Representatives of industrial companies from the EU, by way of protest, seek to support fair trade, growth and jobs in Europe. They will also protest against granting a market economy status to China and Chinese dumping. EUROFER, the European Steel Association, has officially joined the protest and it is expected that over 5,000 people will march on February 15. Of this total, a significant portion should arrive from steel mills from more than 15 EU member countries. I am pleased that I will help everyone in USSK and the steel industry to communicate our message to Brussels, said Buckiso as cited by SITA, adding that what they want are equal conditions for doing business in order to show that they would succeed under conditions of fair competition. Dumped steel imports from China, volumes of which have doubled in the past 18 months, are flooding the EU market and directly causing irreversible closures and job losses across the EU steel sector, Axel Eggert, director general of EUROFER, said as cited in an association prtess release. Apart from the steel surplus in China that has arisen as a result of persistent state intervention in the Chinese economy, Eggert pointed out that dumped products from China have a much larger environmental footprint about 50 percent greater than equivalents produced in the EU. The Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry strongly condemned the launching of an intercontinental ballistic missile by North Korea this past weekend. North Koreans gather at the Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate a satellite launch on February 8 in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Source: AP/SITA) Font size: A - | A + After the recent test, probably of a hydrogen bomb, this is another display of gross provocation, the Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry wrote in its press release on February 8 as cited by the TASR newswire. It represents a threat to regional stability, international peace and security, and a violation of the UN Security Councils resolutions prohibiting North Korea to undertake any tests of ballistic technologies. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement According to the ministry, Slovakia is seriously concerned by the fact that North Korea is spending a huge amount funds on military programmes while neglecting the most elementary needs of its own people. We firmly condemn any provocative actions increasing tension in the region. We call on Pyongyang to unconditionally comply with all international obligations related to relevant UN resolutions, stressed the ministry. Despite earlier warnings from the international community, North Korea on Sunday, February 7, launched a rocket carrying a satellite for Earth observation. According to the international community, however, it was in fact a disguised long-range missile test. The UN Security Council, at an extraordinary session, condemned the recent actions by North Korea and announced that existing sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang may be increased. PM Robert Fico spins campaign against one of the centre right leaders Igor Matovic. Font size: A - | A + ONE MONTH before the parliamentary elections Prime Minister Robert Fico spins his election campaign around Igor Matovic and promises revelations of tax fraud that he alleges are set to continue in the coming days. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Fico alleges Matovic avoided a tax audit by selling his company for the equivalent of about four million euros to one of his employees while keeping the company's money on his personal account and later withdrew from the contract. Thus FIco is attempting to make it clear to the public that Matovic has no right to act as a moral authority and criticise the government, as he says. Yet the premier refuses to disclose how he got hold of the documents that are to prove his claims against Matovic. Let us focus on the content now and then, when we finish this series, because we are going to continue, you will get exact information about the origin of these documents, Fico told a press conference on Saturday, February 6, as quoted by the Dennik N daily. Nobody denied the documents and that is what matters, Fico noted repeatedly. Read also: Read also: Matovic asks Fico to have polygraph test Read more Fico targets Matovic In early February, one month before the elections, PM Fico convened a press conference to publish documents that could be subject to tax secrecy. The documents are to prove that leader of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) Matovic has committed tax fraud in the past. The case that Fico pointed to, however, is not completely new and Smers top regional politician in Trnava, Renata Zmajkovicova, used it against Matovic, who lives and had his business based in Trnava as well, before. According to Fico, Matovic sold his Region Press company to one of the companys employees, Pavol Vandak, for 122 million Slovak crowns, which is about 4 million, in order to avoid a tax audit. Fico claims that on the day of the sale, 121 million crowns were transferred from the companys account to Matovics personal account and the remaining one million was kept in the company in cash. Vandak, who is self-employed and worked as a newspaper delivery man, was practically Matovics employee, as Fico put it, allegedly bought the company one day before the planned tax audit in August 2008. Two months later, Matovic backed off from the contract, according to Fico. The documents that Fico showed journalists to back his claims are photocopies of the contract between Vandak and Matovic and other documentation surrounding the sale. That includes the statement of Vandak in front of the tax authorities where he confirms that the books of the company ended in the paper waste, Fico said. Who is telling lies? Matovic confirmed the documents Fico exposed were authentic but he said he did not remember backing out of the contract two months after it was sealed. Despite that, he labeled Fico a liar. I had a tax audit as a self-employed, it took about three years, Matovic said as quoted by the Sme daily. Ive got the ruling of finance minister Jan Pociatek that all was in line with the law. Fico in turn labeled Matovic a liar too. Namely, Matovic lied when he said he did not remember whether he backed out of the deal, according to Fico. On February 6, Fico came forward with three more documents proving that: a request to deliver book records that Matovic sent to Vandak and where he announces that upon receiving the records he is withdrawing from the sale contract; and an official record of the Trnava Tax Office that states Matovic announced to them over the phone on October 10 he was withdrawing from the sale deal. Mr Matovic was lying when he said he didnt remember withdrawing from the contract, Fico said as quoted by the Sme daily. Fico also claims Matovic lied about not receiving the remaining one million Slovak crowns in cash from the transaction, and he presented a document proving Vandak paid Matovic 384,000 crowns on August 17,2008. Matovic in turn promises to explain all details and discrepancies in the course of a week. Although he claims there are many things he does not remember after eight years, he says he is 99 percent sure he did not withdraw from the contract, Dennik N wrote. He however says he does not remember whether he received the 384,000 crowns, an equivalent of about 11,000 today, from Vandak in cash or not. At that time I was earning much more [than that] and 11,000 was the same for me as 30 is for you today, which [Im not saying| to offend anyone, Matovic told the press as quoted by Dennik N. Vandak speaks out Meanwhile, the police started dealing with the case and by February 8 Pavel Vandak was called in to be heard as a witness in the investigation. The police did not disclose information about the hearing but Vandak provided the records of his hearing to the SITA newswire. Vandak did not discard the books of the company after he purchased it from Matovic, but Matovic alone did dispose of the books, while Vandak only assisted him. Vandak also claimed in front of the police that he only signed papers that Matovic presented him, without knowing what he was actually signing. He said he trusted Matovic because they grew up together, SITA reported. Matovic allegedly promised Vandak a lifelong rent payment of 1,500. Pavol Vandaks statement unfortunately contains a pile of nonsense, lies, and half-truths and I will, of course, react accordingly, Matovic told SITA and added he was sorry that Vandak allowed himself to be politically abused. Delayed accusations Zmajkovicova pointed to this transaction before, in 2010, and Matovic used that fact to allege that Fico is only using this to lead a campaign against him and his party. Fico said they knew about this before but they did not have the evidence, which they obtained only now. He however said he was not planning to file a criminal complaint regarding the tax fraud, because this is a public discussion that makes part of the campaign and that he does not want to criminalise anyone. Matovic, however, maintains Ficos press conferences are just that a criminalisation of a political opponent. Robert Fico evidently obtained these documents in an illegal way, Matovic charged as quoted by Sme and noted that only the tax administraton and the financial police can get access to the confidential tax files that Fico has been using against him and the tax administration claims they never provided the documents to anybody. Transparency International Slovensko (TIS) lawyer Pavel Nechala told the Dennik N that by publishing the records of the tax office Fico violated the tax secrecy and the police should investigate this potential crime that under the Slovak laws can be punished with six months to three years in prison. Earlier clash It is not the first clash between Matovic and Fico in this campaign. As early as last summer, in August 2015, when the campaign was still just slowly starting, Matovic made allegations against Fico and his wife, suggesting they had a fortune deposited at a bank account in a tax paradise in Belize. You did not ask back then where he got such information from, Fico said as quoted by Dennik N. Matovics allegations came after a raid was carried out in Matovics company in Trnava on August 12 by the National Crime Agency (NAKA). The police seized servers containing data files. The operation was ordered by the Special Prosecutors Office. In June, criminal prosecution was launched for tax and payroll tax evasion, the police corps spokesman Michal Slivka said following the raid, adding that the police had repeatedly requested the companys books, and as the company failed to provide it, the prosecutor issued an order to secure data from the computers, the Sme daily wrote. Read also: Read also: Campaign heats up with Fico allegations Read more Matovic claimed that NAKA launched the investigation without first checking whether the anonymous complaint contained true information, and made an allegation that Fico was behind the whole thing. Days after the raid, Matovic first wrote on a social network that the prime minister along with his wife set up a shell company in Belize in 2008 with two bank accounts at Belize Bank International (BBIL), containing $674,546,004.42 as of July 21, 2015. At a press conference that followed one hour later, Matovic admitted the information was provided anonymously and he did not have it confirmed. Im asking Robert Fico how he feels now after anonymous information has been released accusing him of having money in his account that an ordinary mortal couldnt earn even in 5,000 years, Matovic said. Moral authority? Matovics OLaNO party was first founded to allow independent candidates to run in the parliamentary elections. On its slate, people like environmentalist Mikulas Huba, the current governments proxy for Roma communities Peter Pollak or ultra-conservative Stefan Kuffa made it to the parliament. Matovic traditionally runs from the last, 150th, spot on the slate, which means he can only make it to the parliament if he receives enough preferential votes from OLaNO voters to push him higher up on the list. Matovic and his three fellow Ordinary People first made it to parliament in 2010 on the slate of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), where they got the last four spots. The main campaign tool for Matovic then was his regular column in the advertising newspaper published by his Region Press and distributed to households around Slovakia for free. Matovic has been building an image of the fighter against the powerful who only go to politics to embezzle public finances. This time around, OLaNO campaign started with a claim A few thieves, many poor, carrying a cartoon of PM Fico. The top posts of the OLaNO slate for the March 5 elections are occupied by whistleblowers who pointed to major scandals of the current government, like Alan Suchanek, a doctor from the Piestany hospital who blew the whistle on the board of his hospital in what became known as the CT case, or OLaNOs number one candidate Veronika Remisova, a blogger who unveiled the circumstances of several scandals. Read also: Read also: Eight people charged in case of overpriced CT scanner in Piestany Read more With the allegations that he brought up against Matovic, Fico claims that the OLaNO leader has no right to put himself in the position of a moral authority. THE REGIONAL prosecutors office in Bratislava dismissed a criminal complaint against Prime Minister Robert Fico for his statements regarding the Muslim community. Font size: A - | A + It based its decision mostly on the freedom of speech principle, the Dennik N daily reported. The complaint was submitted by former employee of the World Bank Maros Ivanic, who returned to Slovakia after many years spent in the United States. It concerned Ficos January 7 statement about the need to prevent the creation of compact Muslim community in Slovakia. The author voiced the suspicion that such claims may incite racial, national and ethnic hatred, a felony punishable by three years in jail. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Read also: Read also: Fico: Complaint over Muslim statements is nonsense Read more The General Prosecutors Office moved the motion to the regional prosecutors office which dismissed it on February 2, Dennik N wrote. The freedom of speech is protected regardless of the statement being rational or emotional, founded or unfounded, or whether it is perceived by others as useful or harmful, valuable or worthless, prosecutor Zuzana Hulinova wrote in the decision, as quoted by Dennik N. Except for freedom of speech, she also pointed to the context of Ficos statements. It indicates that the prime minister does not say that the government will take the active measures which will lead to restricting rights or freedoms of people with Islamic religion on Slovakias territory; conversely, he says that the government will not make and will not support decisions that would result in rapid increase of migrants with Islamic religion on Slovakias territory, as reported by Dennik N. When taking this into consideration, Ficos statements cannot be considered hateful or inciting violence or threats towards Muslims, Hulinova added. These statements have undoubtedly raised fear in the Muslim community in Slovakia, which criticised Ficos statements in November [2015], but did not dare to speak out in January [2016], Ivanic told Dennik N. If the chair of the Islamic Foundation says Muslims consider leaving Slovakia, it is obvious that the prosecutors evaluation of the statements as harmless is not right, he added. Ivanic plans to challenge the decision, Dennik N wrote. The Islamic Foundation did not want to comment on the decision. THE INITIATIVE of Slovak Teachers (ISU) will interrupt the strike as of February 15. The strike started on January 25. Font size: A - | A + ISU says that more than 15,000 teachers from about 1,000 schools have joined the strike during the past two weeks. Some of those schools were closed, while the others operated in limited regime, the TASR newswire reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement A total of 3,968 teachers from 445 schools registered for the strike on February 9, according to ISU website. The strike was supported by the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava (FiF UK), whose teachers and students called on representatives of other faculties and other universities to support the striking teachers on February 8. Read also: Read also: Fico to teachers: Therell be no talks Read more After the end of a meeting, attended by some 200 people, they established the Initiative of University Teachers and created their own striking committee. They may go on strike on February 15, when the spring semester starts, the Sme daily reported on its website. If nothing happens with teachers requests, we will strike, said Alzbeta Bojkova of the Faculty of Arts of the Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, as quoted by Sme, adding that the supporting statements of universities are not enough. THOSE who survived and were able to return to the former work- and concentration camp in Sered, now turned into the first Museum of Holocaust in Slovakia, agree that it should have happened long ago. Font size: A - | A + Well I survived and my closest family survived, said Naftali Furst, who spoke at the museums January 26 opening. I came here to honour those who died in camp, but also those who survived war but have died in the meantime. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement He spent some 30 months in the camp almost the entire span it was in operation. But it is a shame that it opens so late when even us who survived the war are gradually dying of age, said Furst, who was born with the first name Juraj in the Petrzalka borough of Bratislava in 1932. Naftali (Juraj) Fuerst at the opening (Source: SITA) Fursts family traded wood and construction materials through the company Furst Brothers. They all were imprisoned in the camp in Sered on May 9, 1942. Three years earlier, they had been forced from their home, and their former house became under the name Camp Furst part of the concentration camp in Petrzalka (the German name for the district, Engerau, also became the name of the camp), in which about 500 Jewish prisoners from Hungary were killed. A bit of history The camp in Sered was the place where Jews from Slovakia were sent, after their properties and belongings had been confiscated, in the process called Aryanisation and re-distributed among the Slovak population. It was not a death camp, but first a work camp for Jews and later, after the population of the war-time Slovak state organised the Slovak National Uprising and the Nazis suppressed it and occupied the country, a concentration camp. In the first phase of deportations, 57 transports with more than 57,000 Jews left the Slovak state for Nazi concentration and death camps in Germany, Austria and occupied Poland. In the second phase, from September 1944 to March 1945, nearly 12,000 Jews who still remained in the country were imprisoned in Sered, according to the museum. The last transport left this camp on March 31, 1945; in the very last phase of the war in this region. During World War II, the Slovak state established three camps for its Jewish citizens: Novaky, Vyhne and Sered. Only the last one has been preserved, which later served as army barracks. The first Holocaust museum in the country ceremonially opened on the eve of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, January 27. ... and the present time So far, only two of the five barracks are reconstructed and open to the public (No 1 and No 5), while another one is set to open this June. For the remaining three, financing has yet to be arranged, head of the Sered Museum, Martin Korcok, said. Part of the museum which was built and operates under the Museum of Jewish Culture of the Slovak National Museum is also an educational centre for youth, to be housed in barracks No 5. The only preserved railway carriage verifiably used for transports of Jews is also part of the exhibition. After all barracks are reconstructed, furnished and opened, the complex should offer a complex view of how the camp used to operate, including carpentry, textile, hatter, leather, and toy-making workshops. The museum is open for the public from Sunday to Thursday, between 9:00 and 16:00, and after with advanced booking, guided tours in English are also possible; information is available in English. Survivorsstories At the opening another survivor recalled that the camp also included a school with two rooms, one for classes 1 to 5 and another for classes 6 to 8. Jan Hanak, who spent three months in the camp, spoke about his familys journey from their home in Zilina to Bratislava, where their mum was taken away and a neighbour sent them to an orphanage in Trnava. There, they were exposed as Jews, although I was brought up as Roman-Catholic and served as an altar boy in several churches and sent to Sered. From there, Hanak (then aged 9) and his brother (10) continued to the Czech concentration camp in Terezin where they witnessed the end of the war and were liberated thanks to a former neighbour who advised them to hide among the adult men to avoid deportation with women and children. Jan Hanak (Source: Jana Liptakova) After they made it all the way from Terezin to Zilina, the Hanaks found that their former neighbours were living in their flat, and their parents were nowhere to be found. Jan remembered the church near an orphanage led by nuns where he used to serve as an altar boy, and knocked on the door. Their mother who returned from camps in Terezin and Ravensbrueck found them at the orphanage and their father returned from another concentration camp, Mauthausen. What Hanak remembers most is fear (waiting every day for transport that could take them to another camp), hunger (we survived thanks to potato peels taken from kitchen waste and baked on a small heater in the middle of the room), cold and tension. Survivors say that their Slovak compatriots both harmed them as Hlinkas Guards, helpers to German Nazis, or as ordinary citizens who looted their property but some also helped, even risking their own lives. Another survivor noted that most Jews, from Sered were sent to Terezin; and to that camp, 12,000 children arrived of whom only about 100 survived and I am one of them. Terezin and its similar fate with Sered connects Slovakia with the Czech Republic, whose Prime Minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, attended the ceremony (alongside Slovak politicians), as did Yitzak Vaknin, vice-chair of Israeli parliament, or Knesset; Israeli Ambassador Zvi Aviner Vapni, Bratislava Rabbi Baruch Myers and other representatives of the Jewish community. Ironically, the opulent opening ceremony in a posh tent was organised on January 26 at the saddest place in the whole camp, appelplatz. There, prisoners were concentrated, counted and forced to walk or run, sometimes all night long. Those who did not keep up were shot dead. The site where we are just now where you are standing or sitting used to be the site full of fears, tears, desperation and families separated, Furst said. This place should shake endlessly so that people find out what it had seen and heard, and how many tears and how much blood it has absorbed. Pope John Paul II, who died in 2004, longed to be invited to Russia to be able to meet with the leadership of the Russian Church, but the invitation never came as the time was not thought right, McDougall recalled. "So Patriarch Kirill's willingness to meet with Pope Francis, even if the meeting takes place abroad, is quite significant," he explained. Anthony Salvia, former US State Department official knowledgeable about church matters, told Sputnik that the meeting in Havana would likely be a success, because it would avoid any discussion or negotiation on the theological issues that have kept the two great confessions apart for 962 years, since 1054. "According to the Vatican, the Pope and the Patriarch will discuss aid to persecuted Christians a matter on which the two churchmen are likely to agree, rather than the cosmic ones of re-unification and inter-communion," he explained. Pope Francis, like his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI (2004-2013) had no desire to try and impose theological pressures on the Orthodox chuches, Salvia said. "Francis is continuing in the vein of his predecessor Benedict XVI who relegated the cosmic issues to the back burner," he said, adding that such an approach was not because of lack of interest. Francis sees a range of dangerous challenges to the Catholic and Orthodox confessions alike, Salvia explained. The current pope wants "to increase cooperation between the two main apostolic churches on the burgeoning threats to both of them secular materialism, relativism, Europe's demographic decline, Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Christian persecution in the Middle East," Salvia pointed out. One might assume from Republican campaign rhetoric that Democrats are a soft touch when it comes to interventionist policies, but the rhetoric and the reality say very different things. Jimmy Carter promised in his inaugural address to rid the world of nuclear weapons , then proceeded to lay the groundwork for direct military intervention in the Middle East and the largest military buildup since World War II. Everyone credits Reagan for putting the US back into the deep freeze of the Cold War, but if it hadn't been for Carter's national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski's provocative covert actions inside the Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe intended to poison US/Soviet relations Reagan's unnecessary buildup would never have gotten off the ground. It's a longstanding joke that presidents rarely keep campaign promises. Over a hundred years ago Woodrow Wilson promised to keep America neutral and out of World War I. In the run up to the 1940 presidential elections, Franklin Roosevelt said "I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars." And so it is with President Obama, a man honored with a Nobel Peace Prize presumably for his commitment to abolishing nuclear weapons, who may well go down in history as the man who made the Apocalypse doable because of his proposed trillion dollar nuclear weapons upgrade. America's political freedom relies on safe and rational foreign policy decisions. The Patriot Act, NSA spying and a perpetual War on Terror are but three consequences of a foreign policy that is neither safe nor rational. Supporters of Bernie Sanders assume that he will make foreign policy decisions free from the inbred neoconservative biases of his chief opponent, but what will the Vermont Senator's supporters do should their candidate fall in line with the status quo after the election, as Obama did, and fail to deliver on his promises? Americans, both left and right, are ill informed when it comes to their leaders. Most Americans would be horrified to learn that many of the neoconservatives behind America's permanent war culture learned their trade under the tutelage of RAND military analyst Albert Wohlstetter, a follower of Leon Trotsky, the leader of the Red Army and a close compatriot to Vladimir Lenin during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Polls favoured Trump to win big among Republicans in the caucuses in the state of Iowa on February 1, but that was before Ted Cruz defeated him by getting 27.6 percent of the vote and Trump 24.3 percent. Trump later claimed Cruz had cheated in Iowa by allegedly having his campaign spread false rumours that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was about to drop out of the race. "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!" Trump said in a Twitter message on Wednesday, February 3, two days after the Iowa caucuses. During Saturdays presidential debate, Cruz apologized to Carson for misleading for telling voters Sanders was dropping out of the race. In the Iowa caucuses, Clinton very narrowly edged out Sanders by 49.84 percent of the vote to 49.59 percent. Statistically, it was a virtual tie and an extraordinarily impressive result for Sanders who was 45 points behind Clinton in early May 2015. Some Sanders supporters believe that he actually won and they claimed foul play in falsifying the results from around 90 disputed caucus sites. Two videos emerged of actual voter fraud. The sense of foul play was aggravated by the fact Clinton won six time by flipping a coin in precincts where the vote was literally tied. Mainstream candidate Senator Marco Rubio came in third in Iowa with 23.1 percent, only slightly behind Trump. But he was widely regarded as having performed poorly in a nationally televised debate of the remaining leading Republican candidates on Saturday night. The Iowa caucuses were tiny in number compared to later primaries and the estimated 130 million people who may vote in the November presidential election, but they forced several candidates to end their hopes of winning the presidency. On the Democratic side, former Maryland Governor Martin OMalley pulled out of the race after failing to win even 1 percent of the votes in Iowa. Among Republicans, Senator Rand Paul, the only Republican candidate to oppose unlimited electronic surveillance of all citizens by the National Security Agency and other US government intelligence organizations, failed to attract any significant support and pulled out after winning only 4.5 percent in Iowa. "It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," Paul, a libertarian, stated. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty." Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa in 2008, pulled out after the results were announced there too. On February 1, less than an hour after the caucus results were announced he withdrew from the race after winning only 1.8 percent of the caucuses vote. "I am officially suspending my campaign. Thank you for all your loyal support," Huckabee said in a terse Twitter message. Caucuses Differ From Primaries Caucuses are different from primary elections. They involve usually far fewer individuals and are held at several hundred locations in some individual US states instead of primaries. They are usually only open for 90 minutes or up to two hours. Caucus participants can make speeches on behalf of their favoured candidates and work to persuade other participants to abandon their first choices and switch their support. For these reasons, caucuses reflect a much smaller and more unpredictable cross-section of public opinion than primary elections do. Complicating Factor: Every State Has Different Primary Rules The turnout of voters in primary elections to pick presidential candidates and also the parties choice as candidates to run for both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, is much smaller usually than in the main elections to choose the next president. Every seat in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be contested in the national elections, which are always held on the first Tuesday of November every four years. In the so-called mid-term elections, all of the House seats and one-third of the Senate are chosen two years into a four-year presidential term. ANKARA (Sputnik) Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated following the downing of a Russian Su-24 aircraft over Syria by a Turkish jet on November 24. In response to the downing, Moscow imposed anti-Turkish economic measures, which included a food import ban on certain categories of products. "The purchase of Turkish agricultural products are under restrictions now. Many Turkish suppliers will face difficulties when returning to the Russian market even if the relations are normalized <> There is a long list of foreign companies wishing to occupy this niche," Karlov told RIA Novosti. We should bear in mind too that Aleppo has a total population of 300,000, so the number of people said to have fled the city for the Turkish border is a small minority. Syrian sources say that the vast majority of Aleppo residents are relieved that the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, is moving in to finally liberate them. For the past five years, residents of Aleppo were held under siege by occupying jihadists imposing a reign of terror. The hapless civilians were forcibly kept as human shields to prevent the Syrian army advancing to retake the city. This same scenario has been witnessed in many other towns and cities which have been liberated by the Syrian army, much to the jubilation of the freed inhabitants. To be sure, the Western media wont report on those situations of residents celebrating liberation, as in the towns of Madaya, Rabia, Nubbul, Zahraa, Ataman and Sheikh Miskeen last week, and many others before that, since the Russian military intervention began on September 30. The simple truth is that Russias military intervention in Syria has enabled the Syrian army to win the war against foreign-backed regime change. Thousands of mercenaries and other illegally armed groups that had been fomented in Syria are now being routed. But the Western media are spinning that the Russian-Syrian victory against a criminal covert war is somehow a violation of human rights. Indeed such is the success of Russia and its Syrian ally in crushing the foreign subversion that the West is desperately trying to find a new narrative by which to thwart the Russian-Syrian success. This is why the West is distorting a humanitarian crisis in Syria and blaming Russia for it. The West and its clients have failed in their covert military project and their cynical political process held in Geneva. They are losing their war in Syria, and now they are resorting to outright propaganda lies against Russia. And, unfortunately, gormless Western politicians like Angela Merkel stand shoulder to shoulder with the very people who have created the Syrian crisis and who are inviting even more trouble for Europe. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik. In mid 2012 the Syrian rebels launched their great offensive ("Operation Damascus Volcano") aimed at overthrowing the government. This included attacks on Syria's two biggest cities: Damascus and Aleppo. The attack on Damascus was successfully repelled. In the case of Aleppo the rebels managed to capture a significant part of the city. However around half the city the half which apparently has the majority of the city's people remained under the government's control. Aleppo has since been a battlefield between the two sides with many of its historic buildings destroyed. Over the course of 2015 rebel offensives in Idlib province and in the countryside around Aleppo almost succeeded in cutting off the government controlled part of Aleppo from the rest of the country. The government could only send reinforcements to Aleppo, and supplies for its garrison and people, by air. Since the Russian military intervened in the conflict the position has reversed. The Syrian army backed by the Russian airforce first succeeded in reopening the roads to Aleppo. Over the last few days it has managed to cut the road links to the rebel held section of Aleppo effectively cutting off the rebels there. In other words whereas it was the government controlled area of Aleppo which until a few months ago was encircled and besieged, now it is the rebel part. The Syrian army's success has been made all the greater because at the start of January the rebels sent reinforcements to Aleppo to resist what they expected would be a government offensive there. Germany and Turkey will seek NATO's mobilization in the fight against illegal trafficking on the Aegean coast, the newspaper wrote At the meeting of NATO defense ministers this week, they are planning to discuss "the extent to which NATO can be helpful in monitoring the situation at the sea and support the work of Frontex and the Turkish Coast Guard," Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday after consultations with her Turkish colleague Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara. Merkel also announced plans to carry out joint operations of German and Turkish police against "illegal border crossing" in Turkey. The operations will among others be aimed at examining how the work of the Turkish Coast Guard and the EU border agency Frontex can be better coordinated. Meanwhile, Kiev representatives recently said they will consider only those articles of the Minsk agreements which correspond with the Ukrainian constitution and laws. The document was signed by Germany, Ukraine, Russia and France, under the so-called Normandy Four format. This means Kievs act of defiance should a concern for Paris. According to the Minsk agreements, Donbass should have received greater autonomy while Kiev should have revised the constitution and passed a decentralization law. However, finally Kiev simply "sent the other three leaders packing." "Monsieur Hollande, due to US interference, your Normandy format is now sinking like the Normandie liner sank once upon a time. You signed the agreements on behalf of France, and this signature should be respected," the author wrote. During the bloody events on Kievs Independence Square in February 2014, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius signed an agreement between then-president Viktor Yanukovych and his opponents. Shortly after, Yanukovych was toppled, but Paris did not say a word in response, the article note. Since then, Kiev has showed its contempt for Paris. And now Hollande is to blame, who is serving the interests of other nations. Undoubtedly, amid rising tensions between Moscow and Kiev, the idea to start talks between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin was Hollandes success. The Minsk talks have contributed to dialogue and launched the process of reconciliation. This is why France should not let the peace process be undermined. It is time for Francois Hollande to call on Kiev to observe its obligations, and it is time to "think about France rather than its partners," the article concluded. The western commanders were minded to oblige, but that would have meant that the Russian ships would be locked in the narrow harbor with limited freedom of maneuver. Russian officers unanimously decided to fight their way out of the harbor and joint the main Russian fleet at Port Arthur. The odds were hugely against the Russians: 6 Japanese cruisers and 8 destroyers to one Russian cruiser and a gunboat. The Russian crews knew they stood very little chance and unanimously decided to blow the ships up if they lost the battle. All Hands to Their Stations Shortly before the deadline, the two Russian warships raised the flags and steamed past the "neutrals" towards their fate. An entry in the Varyag logbook says: "The crews on the English and Italian warships greeted us with hurrahs' and the Italians played our national anthem." As strange as it may seem, the Varyag had a better chance of cutting through the Japanese blockade on its own. It was the newest warship among all those who took part in the battle on both sides, and it had a speed advantage over the Japanese boats. But the Koriets was much older and slowed the pace of the attempted escape significantly. After the war, critics said that Varyag should not have tied itself to the gunboat what they failed to understand was the solidarity of the sailors and officers of the two ships in trouble. The Varyag which was first through the narrow passage took a heavy pounding from several Japanese ships and started listing. Many Russian sailors were killed and wounded. Hoping to quickly repair the damage, the captain steered the ship back to its berthing but the chances of an escape had all but vanished. The initial plan to blow up the Varyag was abandoned for fears that the explosion of the unused ammunition could hit the non-combatant western ships nearby. The ship was scuttled. The smaller Koriets was blown up. The Americans turned down the Russian request to help evacuate the casualties, but the British, the French and the Italians agreed to take the wounded and survivors onboard their ships. Eventually, all surviving sailors from both Russian ships were transported back to Russia where they were greeted as heroes. A rousing patriotic song was written to celebrate their feat, and it became the rallying cry for generations of Russian sailors. Reincarnation As for the Varyag, its story did not end there. The Japanese salvaged the ship in 1905 and brought it back into service under the name of Soya. She was mainly used for training and the first thing the Japanese cadets were taught was how to defend the honor of one's country. In recognition of the Russian valor they even kept the old name of the cruiser next to the new one. During the Great War the former enemies Russia and Japan became allies against Germany, and in 1916 Russia bought the Soya for four million yen. The cruiser got back its original name and sailed to Liverpool for an overhaul. But in 1917 the Russian revolution struck and the new Bolshevik government refused to pay the Tsar's bills, declaring all imperial agreements null and void. After the end of the Great War the British sold the Varyag to Germany for scrap. While being towed to its final destination she ran aground in view of Lendalfoot and sank again. The accident occurred near the Bavarian town of Bad Aibling, located about 60 km south of Munich. The trains were moving at a high speed and the crash occurred at a curved stretch where drivers were unable to see each other and therefore could not prevent the impeding collision. Neither of them survived the train crash. "The trains were moving at a very high speed. The maximum speed limit at this stretch is 100 kilometers per hour. There is a curved stretch in the area. We assume that the drivers did not make eye contact with each other and therefore did not try to slow down," the minister said. According to the latest data, the two trains literally crashed into one another, with one of them being completely torn apart on one side. The cause of the crash will be identified after experts analyze data in the train's black boxes. A new pact has been negotiated to replace the defunct Safe Harbor, but it is not in force yet, and EU data protection authorities are still assessing its impact on transatlantic data transfer. Ahead of France's decision, Facebook had declared that it was in compliance with the EU regulation, and that it did not rely on Safe Harbor as the legal basis for moving data offshore. Now, France's decision will force Facebook to review its policies within three months. "Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do. We look forward to engaging with the CNIL to respond to their concerns," a spokeswoman told Reuters. The Menlo Park-based company had already been ordered to stop tracking non-users by a Belgian court in 2015. The French blow hit Facebook just hours after India made the social network's free internet service illegal on net neutrality grounds. Facebook is like a book containing your private information with a limited edition for all to see, a full edition for those willing to pay B. (@Help_flanders) February 9, 2016 Facebook had been running "Free Basics", a plan to bring mobile Internet to the masses free of charge, since February 2015. The plan, touted as a way to give more opportunities to India's general population, had nonetheless been criticized by Internet activists because it would allow free access to only a few handpicked websites and apps impinging on the principle that all websites should be accessible for the same price. Yesterday, India's Telecom Regulatory Authority, ruled that Internet providers cannot discriminate on pricing for different web services. "Everything on the Internet is agnostic in the sense that it cannot be priced differently," the authority chairman Ram Sevak Sharma said at a press conference. With Victorian abortion law imposing time limit and 2 med certs, UK lagging behind Europe and even Colombia. #wetrustwomen AlexandraLG (@alexandralg) February 9, 2016 The 1967 Abortion Act, which was "extremely radical at the time," according to Lisa Hallgarten, did not overturn this law; instead it made abortion legal if two doctors agreed a woman's health would suffer if she continued with the pregnancy. "By leaving the law in place it is effectively still saying that abortion is wrong and bad but exceptions can be made," Hallgarten told Sputnik. "It retains the stigma around abortion even though one in three women will have one, and its one of the most common procedures on the NHS [National Health Service] and one of the safest and has proved to be one of the most effective public health initiatives in England." The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has launched the campaign to decriminalize abortion in the UK, so it can be regulated like all other women's healthcare services. The campaign is supported by the Royal College of Midwives. In Northern Ireland, a mother is currently facing imprisonment for buying abortion medication for her young daughter. A second woman in Northern Ireland is also being prosecuted for inducing her own abortion. Both women face going to jail. Meanwhile, a 23 year old mother from England with a history of emotional and psychological problems was sent to prison in December 2015 for using medication to induce an abortion in the third trimester that she bought online. A client said, "I think every woman in the world should be able to make this choice." We think so too if only N/Irish govts agreed. AbortionSupportNtwk (@AbortionSupport) February 9, 2016 "The cases that fall out of the criteria of the act relate to women who are particularly desperate and vulnerable and don't have the support they need," Lisa Hallgarten told Sputnik. "No law will ever stop a woman having an abortion if she desperately wants one [] Women and doctors should not feel threatened by a 150 year old law." Mara Clarke, founder of the Abortion Support Network assists hundreds of women living in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man access safe and legal abortions, a hero to those she can help. "Even if the abortion law is decriminalized in the UK, unless it includes a provision to extend the act to Northern Ireland, it will still remain illegal there and it will do nothing for the women in the Republic of Ireland where abortion is illegal, forcing thousands to travel to the UK each year seeking help elsewhere," Clarke told Sputnik. In both Northern Ireland, despite being part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, abortion remains illegal in almost all circumstances. 'Insult' to Turkey However, according to the notes from a meeting on the sidebar of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, Erdogan threatened to "open the doors to Greece and Bulgaira anytime and we can put the refugees on buses." "So how will you deal with refugees if you don't get a deal? Kill the refugees?" In what was clearly a tense meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk, Erdogan belittled Juncker who had been prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013. Saying he represented 80 million people, he told Juncker: "Luxembourg is just like a little town in Turkey." He was particularly scathing about the US$3.4 billion offer. He is listed in the documents as having said: "Greece got more than US$450 billion during [the euro crisis [] But US$3.4 billion is an insult." The notes say Erdogan said to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker: "Germany alone has spent some US$6.7 billion on refugees only this year. And the EU is spending some US$56 billion altogether on refugees. We need to be fair to each other." The meeting notes show there was further disagreement over the US$3.4 billion. "Erdogan insists that the EU hasn't done anything for Turkey. The money is [for] refugees, not Turkey. Moreover, you are using our pre-accession money. It's really nothing. We have waited for 53 years. You have been mocking us," the note says. The deployment, should it occur, will ostensibly be aimed at tackling Daesh, but many experts remain unconvinced. After all, Saudi Arabia has supported militants, who are trying to overthrow the legitimate government in Damascus. Moreover, Riyadh has largely focused its efforts on its military intervention into Yemen and has not done much to defeat the brutal Sunni group in Iraq and Syria. "Saudi Arabia's participation in the bombing campaign against [Daesh] was never more than a gesture," editor and critic Patrick Smith wrote for The Fiscal Times. The Saudis are "suddenly motivated because their war is at bottom sectarian and their guys are losing it." Riyadh's increased activities are largely linked to Moscow and Damascus' success on the ground. In recent weeks, the Syrian Arab Army, assisted by Russian warplanes and its local allies, has made significant gains in key provinces, particularly in Latakia and Aleppo. "What the western media characterizes as a 'quagmire' has all the makings of a stunning victory for the Russian-led coalition that is gradually reestablishing security across Syria while sending the invaders running for cover," US journalist Mike Whitney recently wrote for the CounterPunch magazine. The Syrian Air Force attacked a number of militants positions across the central province of Hama, inflicting losses and damages on them. During the airstrikes, several militant positions in the town of al-Ziyarah and villages of al-Qarqur and al-Mansoura in central Hama were razed. In addition, Syrian warplanes alongside the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked militants across the northern part of the region. At least 10 terrorists were killed, and several military vehicles and an ammo depot were destroyed. Scores of militants were killed or wounded in the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Army shelled their positions and outposts. Fierce clashed also broke out between popular forces and Daesh in the eastern part of Deir ez-Zor. According to FARS News, 15 Daesh militants were killed in fighting in the region. Tens of wanted militants turned themselves in to the Syrian authorities in Homs province as government troops continue to gain ground across the country, officials reported. Earlier, the Syrian Army and popular forces advanced against the Daesh militants in the eastern part of Homs province and deployed their units around the town of Quaryatayn. In the eastern part of Daraa province, terrorist groups sustained heavy casualties in clashes with the army on Sunday. Syrian troops have also scored many victories against militants in different parts of the province. NEW YORK (Sputnik) Earlier, a Turkish CHP party member Eren Erdem said in an interview with RT that chemical weapon materials for the production of sarin gas had been delivered to Daesh terrorist group in Syria via Turkey in 2013. According to Erdem, the Turkish authorities knew about these supplies. Ankara failed to probe the shipment and a criminal case into the issue was unexpectedly closed earlier, despite abundant evidence which included wiretapped phone conversations between Daesh representatives and unnamed Turkish nationals. We assess that non-state actors in the region are also using chemicals as a means of warfare, Clapper said. According to US officials, as cited by the Wall Street Journal, Ankaras hostility towards Kurds is putting more strain on Turkeys relations with the US. In particular, it undermines efforts to boost operations against Daesh and hampers the process of peace settlement to the Syrian conflict. Jordi Tejel, academic expert on the Kurdish movement, an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter, told Radio Sputnik that Washington will continue to support the Kurds, while at the same time trying to convince Ankara to start cooperation with its longtime rival. They are helping the PYD in Syria and at the same time they want Turkey to be involved in their fight against ISIS [Daesh or Islamic State]. Turkey feels that now is the moment for the US to choose. The expert further said that, From the very beginning Turkeys main target was the PYD and not the Islamic State in Syria, which by the way has been supported directly or indirectly by the Turkish government, Tejel said. He spoke about how for the last few months there was an increase in clashes between Turkey and the PKK in Turkey itself. Talking about the Turkish presidents latest statements and how will they affect the relations between the two countries, Tejel said, I think Turkey has an important point. They dont want the PYD to sit down during the talks in Geneva. For the time being I think Turkey will continue cooperating with the United States at the same time trying to keep the PYD from the peace talks, Tejel concluded. The president vowed Turkey would continue its "anti-terrorist" operation in the south-eastern part of Turkey until everyone who's fight against Turkey or even supports Kurds "will be buried in the trenches they have dug." Although Kurdish leaders state numerous times that all they want is to have some level of self-governance and autonomy, Erdogan believes Kurds want to break away from Turkey under the disguise of autonomy and self-governance. Erdogan said Turkey would do whatever is necessary to eliminate Kurdish "terrorism" and Ankara doesn't want to hear anybody's opinion about what to do with Kurds and how the ongoing confrontation could be solved using negotiations and other peaceful measures. "Turkey doesn't need permission from anyone we will do what is necessary," Erdogan said, showing that he would confront even Washington's demands when it comes to the Kurdish issue. Last week, Erdogan lost his wits after finding out that the US government sent an envoy to the Syrian city of Kobani, currently controlled by Syrian Kurds. Washington's representative Brett McGurk went to Kobani to speak with leaders of the military-wing of the PYD. "How can we trust you? Is it me that is your partner or is it the terrorists in Kobani?" Erdogan said. Bloody Statistics of Turkish-Kurdish Conflict The conflict between the Turkish government and Kurds started in 1984. Since then over 40,000 people have been killed because of it. In 2015, around 3,100 PKK members were killed in Turkey. Since tensions escalated in July 2015, Turkish forces have been engaged in a full-blown war with the PKK. Between August 16, 2015 and January 10, 2016 in 19 districts across the provinces of Diyarbakir, Sirnak, Mardin and Hakkari, a total of 58 curfews were imposed by the Turkish government. Over this period, 162 innocent civilians were killed by Turkish forces, according to the Turkish Foundation for human rights. Late last week, Turkish forces killed 60 people in the basement of a building in the town of Cizre during a military raid. The Kurds, Turkey's largest ethnic minority, are striving to create their own independent state. The PKK was founded in the late 1970s to promote the self-determination for the Kurdish community. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian airborne units have started a redeployment to the area of drills in southern Russia, where they will exercise repulsing simulated enemy reconnaissance attacks as part of a combat readiness test, the Russian Defense Ministrys press service said in a statement on Tuesday. Units of the Southern Military District, with participation of separate units of the Airborne Troops and military-transport aviation, started snap exercises on Monday. Divisions of the Kamyshin compound of Airborne Troops in the framework of combat readiness check of Southern Military District troops are marching toward the Marinovka airport [near Volgograd city], where they will be loaded into a military transport aircraft IL-76 to be delivered to areas of tactical exercises, the statement reads. The Russian army and fleet began 2016 with a series of important exercises. On January 3, naval military and training centers across Russia announced they would intensify crew training for new-generation ships and submarines. On January 4, troops of the Southern Military District neutralized a simulated terrorist enemy in the Republic of Dagestan during drills. In January, the Central Military District also held drills aimed at boosting personnels capabilities in the event of information and psychological war. Meanwhile, the Western Military District held large-scale exercises, including simulated hacker attacks on communication networks. In early-February, drills with the use of Iskander-M missile systems kicked off in the Republic of Buryatia. In addition, the Northern Fleet held drills which involved the Rassvet missile ship and Vice Admiral Kulakov destroyer. A combat readiness check was also organized for the Arctic brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. Units of the Artic motorized infantry brigade of the Northern Fleet practiced locating and destroying infiltrators and terrorists. In Northern Ural, the Central Military District held helicopter drills. The Southern Military District conducted exercises in Crimea and in the Kuban Region. They involved over 1,500 personnel and 350 pieces of military equipment. On February 3, counterterrorist drills started in the Kuril Islands. The Russian Air Defense forces staged drills in Abkhazia. On February 5, the Defense Ministry carried out simulated launches of Topol and Topol-M missiles. On February 8, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered to check combat readiness in air force and air defense units of the Southern Military District. According to the Defense Ministry, military drills usually culminate in large-scale maneuvers, involving tens of thousands of troops and thousands of pieces of military hardware. They are aimed to check the commanding capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces as well as to practice modern combat tactics. In 2015, Russia staged snap combat readiness checks in all military districts. A total of over 150,000 troops and over 1,000 pieces of military equipment were involved. The Northern Fleet was put on full combat alert by the order of President Vladimir Putin. In February 2015, a snap combat readiness check was held in the Pacific Fleet in the Kamchatka Region, involving nuclear-powered submarines, small missile destroyers and aircraft. In September 2015, the Russian military staged the Center-2015 large-scale military and command drills in the Central and Southern Military Districts. In October, missile boats of the Black Sea Fleet and coastal troops fired missiles at a surface target off the Crimean coast. In autumn, Arctic motorized infantry forces held drills to protect the infrastructure on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Joint international exercises also play a major role in enhancing the capabilities of the Russian military. In 2015, Russia and Egypt held their first ever naval drills the Bridge of Friendship. In 2015, Russia also held joint drills with Mongolia, Belarus and India. On August 23-28, Cooperation-2015, a joint CSTO exercise, was staged in Russias Pskov Region. During the exercise troops practiced a joint operation to stem an armed conflict and preserve the sovereignty of a simulated CSTO country member. In addition, in autumn 2015 Russia and Serbia held the Slavic Brotherhood joint drills, practicing an operation to destroy a training center of a simulated militant group. Russia and Belarus held the Union Shield 2015 exercises that involved over 8,000 personnel from both countries, over 400 pieces of military equipment and weapons as well as nearly 80 aircraft and helicopters. One of the first results of the reform was demonstrated during the Russian military operation in Syria. According to US experts, the Russian military has once again proved it is more effective and mobile than the West used to think. Foreign experts seem to be surprised by the might and capability of the Russian Military, noting that Syria has only "allowed it to showcase its progress in the world," Business Insider reported. It posted a video summarizing Russias success in Syria. Business Insider noted the state-of-the-art equipment Moscow is using in its air campaign. According to Defense Minister Shoigu, the Russian military has moved to a new level. In 2015, the number of contract soldiers topped the number of conscripts, for the first time in history. What is more, the Russian Armed Forces have been re-equipped with modern weapons by 50 percent. Earlier, NATO General Hans-Lothar Domrose said that the global balance of power shifted toward Russia. According to him, this was prompted by the latest technical developments in the Russian Armed Forces. "Ever since Putin became president for the second time, Russia has actively invested in developing its armed forces, making them highly sophisticated, mobile and effective, not to mention numerous," NATO General Hans-Lothar Domrose told Contra Magazin. Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated following the downing of the Russian Su-24. In response to this "stab in the back", as it was described by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow has imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey. The anti-Ankara restrictions include a visa regime, a food import ban on certain categories of products, as well as a ban on charter flights in both directions and limits on hiring Turkish employees. We have successfully developed our economic relations with Turkey and goods turnover topped $30 billion and upward to 4.5 million Russian tourists visited Turkey annually. At the same time there is a certain number of countries with which our relations havent developed for decades, but simply exist. This could be the same with Turkey if Ankara doesnt change its position, Karlov said. "We believe that a mediator isn't needed. Our position toward the Turkish side is known and we have disrupted diplomatic relations, but both embassies in Moscow and in Ankara are working. If Turkey wants to take real steps in normalizing relations, then it has all the possibilities of doing so," Karlov added. In late January, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was eager to normalize relations with Moscow. Turkish Exports to Russia in January Dropped Three Times Turkish exports to Russia in January dropped threefold due to rocky relations between the two countries, the Russian ambassador to Turkey said. In January, the volume of Turkish exports to Russia fell threefold, but there are also invisible exports such as construction, tourism, and [goods] transit that stand at $15 billion annually, including about $4.5 billion in the tourist industry. These figures have also drastically dropped, Karlov told RIA Novosti. He said the hardest hit Turkish region was Antalya due to its tourism industry and agriculture that was previously exported to Russia. ANKARA (Sputnik) Every time Moscow requests evidence that could prove alleged violations of Turkey's airspace by Russian aircraft Ankara withholds such information, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov said. "Every time [Turkey claims that Russian aircraft violated its airspace] we ask the Turkish side to provide objective control data. I can responsibly state that we have not received the data, including in the case of downing of our aircraft," Karlov told RIA Novosti. He added that there was only one incident of a Russian plane violating the Turkish airspace while on a combat mission in Syria and it took place in October. Furthermore, Cartalucci continues, when an Asian nation tries to evade the territorial dispute, and even goes so far as to establish more close cooperation with China, Washington exerts economic and political pressure on it in order to drive the state away from Beijing. "Indonesia has also been targeted by an array of political and terroristic attacks from Western-sponsored NGOs and militant groups as Jakarta increasingly drifts away from Western influence, and toward at least a more balanced relationship with Beijing," the analyst suggests. While Washington makes every effort to maintain its influence in the region, it has nothing to offer to the rising Asian powers: "In exchange, the US has only entangling military commitments, domineering 'free trade agreements,' and constraining political requirements to offer its potential 'allies' in the region," Cartalucci emphasizes. In contrast, China's ambitious infrastructural New Silk Road project looks far more attractive to its neighbors. According to Cartalucci the US political elite has recognized the fact that the rise of China is inevitable and now all Washington can do is "buy time in Asia." "Their 'buying time' at the expense of Southeast Asia's prosperity and stability will leave a dominant China with weakened neighbors exhausted from years of attempting to fulfill Washington's doomed containment strategy," the analyst points out, stressing that Southeast Asian countries should not waste their time on US-ASEAN summits. The Asian nations should jump on the China-led New Silk Road bandwagon to boost their own development. They should rise together with China to ensure the balance of power in the region. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will spend nearly $1 billion in energy, economic, defense and civil society programs to counter Russian actions in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Central Asia, a US Department of State official said on Tuesday. "The countering Russian aggression total is $952 million dollars, and this expands resources in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, but also for other countries in Central Asia," the official stated. "Programs that we are supporting with these funds are enhancing energy security, supporting financial reforms, trade and economic diversification and increasing some defense capabilities." The State Department official noted that the aid to counter Russia in the listed countries and regions would also focus on eliminating corruption and supporting rule of law, among other civil society efforts. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov congratulated all diplomatic service employees on Diplomatic Workers Day celebrated in the country on Wednesday, urging all the worlds powers to combine efforts in tackling conflicts across the globe. "I would like to congratulate all the diplomats, everyone who works in the Foreign Ministrys central office, as well as in our representative offices in Russia and abroad. Special words of gratitude and a low bow to all our veterans who are still with us and generously pass on their experience and knowledge to the younger generation," Lavrov said in his congratulation. He also pointed at the difficult conditions the Russian diplomats were working in, in particular amid the growing threat of terrorism and other forms of organized crime, drug trafficking, climate change issues, food shortages and many other serious challenges. On December 20, 2001, Russia sent an application to the CLCS to expand its Arctic shelf beyond the 200-mile area, which means the right to include the underwater space near the northern coast (contiguous to the Arctic Ocean) and the eastern coast (contiguous to the Pacific Ocean) in its continental shelf. The grounds for this were a statement that the underwater Lomonosov Ridge stretching from the New Siberian Islands through the North Pole in the direction of Canada and Greenland, as well as the Mendeleev Ridge situated further east, are a continuation of the Eurasian continent and, consequently, do not fall under the 350-mile limit. In June 2002, the application was examined and declined due to the lack of details on the bottom relief maps and justification of the continental nature of the above-mentioned ridges and their connection with the Siberian shelf. Russias current, partially revised application is corroborated by the results of a 10-year complex geological and geophysical research conducted in the Arctic water area, including full-scale expeditions engaging ice-breakers and special research vessels. The application was elaborated by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, which in 2010 engaged the Russian Academy of Sciences to provide the scientific substantiation of the application. The Academy of Sciences formed a creative team led by Vice President Nikolai Laverov, consisting of the best-known geoscientists and geophysicists involved in researching Arctic issues and employed by the academys leading relevant institutes. The Arktika-2007 polar expedition was organized in May-September 2007 to examine the Arctic Ocean shelf. The expedition reached the North Pole on August 1. The Mir-1 and Mir-2 manned submersibles reached the ocean floor in the North Pole area and conducted several oceanographic, hydro-meteorological and ice investigations on August 2. A unique experiment involving collecting soil and plant samples at a depth of almost 14,000 feet was implemented for the first time in history. In addition, a Russian flag was installed in the Arctic Ocean bed near the North Pole. The results of the Arctic expedition formed the basis of Russias position in establishing the ownership of this section of the Arctic shelf. UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) The United Nations (UN) estimates some 30,000 foreign fighters from more than 100 UN member states are engaged with Daesh terror group, UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council on Tuesday. "ISILs [Islamic States] attraction to potential recruits continues unabated particularly among young people in both developed and developing states," Feltman stated. "It is estimated that around 30,000 foreign terrorist fighters, originating from over 100 member states and driven by a number of social, economic and geopolitical conditions, combined with individual circumstances, are actively engaged with ISIL and associated groups." The statement was based on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moons first report on the threat posed by Daesh to international peace and security that Security Council Resolution 2253 requested on December 17, 2015. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The European Union is interested in anti-terrorism cooperation with Russia, including in the fight against Islamic State (ISIL, or Daesh in Arabic) jihadist group, Spain's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ignacio Ybanez said Tuesday. "We both are fighting against international terrorism, including Daesh militants. Russia and EU countries are interested in the joint fight very much," Ybanez said at a meeting with Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the international committee of Russia's upper house of parliament. According to Ybanez, different issues have been driving Russia away from the European Union, however the time to discuss future rapprochement has come. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia is expecting the UN approval of its revised Arctic claim as the application is supported by solid evidence and will be considered by a panel of independent experts, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoy said. "Taking into account the quality of evidence supporting the claim and the past experience in working with the UN commission, we are expecting the decision to be positive," Donskoy told RIA Novosti. The minister stressed that the consideration of the bid is carried out by an independent panel of experts in the form of an open scientific debate, and, therefore, is unlikely to be affected by current tensions in Russia's relations with the West. There was a positive development earlier this week in New Jersey in regard to the push to get the expanded gaming question onto the November ballot. As an article by John Brennan of The Bergen Record explains, on Monday, February 8 the Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 in favour of a resolution that would ask NJ voters whether or not they support an amendment to the state constitution that would allow two casino licences to be granted for new casinos outside of Atlantic City, which currently holds a monopoly. The new casinos would be located in the northern end of the state, where the Meadowlands Racetrack is situated. Brennans article states that the committees Monday decision now sets the stage for the full Assembly to vote on the matter in roughly three weeks. The Bergen Record piece has cited Senator Paul Sarlo as saying that the Senate will vote on a similar resolution on March 14. At least 60 per cent of each chamber will have to approve the respective resolution in order for the question to get on the November ballot. It is presumed that if the resolutions are passed and voters support the measure, the resulting casinos would then be located in the northern end of the state. Although, as Brennans article explains, the licences could technically be valid for any area that is a minimum of 72 miles north of Atlantic City, but it is widely expected that the locations would be much further north than that. The article also contains a comment from a Freehold Raceway spokesman, who has stated that the owners of the track would have to think about the tracks continued viability if the expansion measure is ultimately passed. (With files from The Bergen Record) The deadline for the New Jersey Sire Stakes, Green Acres and Standardbred Development Funds first sustaining payments is rapidly approaching. Because February 15 falls on Presidents Day this year, the deadline for mailing purposes will be February 16. The NJSS Premier Division will be contested exclusively again at the Meadowlands Racetrack in 2016 starting in May for three-year-olds and in July for two-year-olds. The Green Acres Division, which will only be contested for three-year-olds in 2017, begins August 26 at Freehold Raceway. Once again this year, the NJSS rule is that the Green Acres Program is limited to horses that have earned less than $25,000 in New Jersey Sire Stakes Premier Division earnings during the current calendar year. For 2016 two-year-olds the Green Acres Division is being replaced by a new seriesthe New Jersey Standardbred Development Fund. The SDF is open to all horses sired by a New Jersey-based stallion as well as the offspring of mares who have resided in New Jersey for a minimum of 150 days, regardless of where the sire stands. Previous registration of the mare while she is in foal and nomination are required to establish eligibility. The first SDF race will be held on September 23 at Freehold Raceway, the location of all races in the series. The NJSS Premier Divisions first sustaining payment remains $300 for both two-year-olds and three-year-olds. The initial Green Acres Division payment for three-year-olds also remains $100. $100 is also the amount of the first sustaining fee for two-year-olds that are eligible to the Standardbred Development Fund. Also on February 16, a $650 supplemental 2014 yearling nomination (for foals of 2013) can be made for eligibility to the New Jersey Sire Stakes Premier Division and the SDF. Those fees are in addition to the sustaining payments for two-year-olds also due on February 16. The supplemental fee for the Sire Stakes Premier division is $850 if the foal was produced by an out-of-state breeding. The first two-year-old sustaining payments must be made in order to keep the horse eligible as a three-year-old in 2017 to both the Premier Division and the Standardbred Development Fund, even if the horse does not race in 2016 as a two-year-old. Supplemental yearling nominations are also due February 17 for the NJSS-sponsored 2016 Lou Babic Open Pace ($500) and Babic Filly Pace ($400). Sustaining payment and supplemental nomination forms, as well as race dates and other information, may be found on the NJSS website at newjerseysirestakes.com. All payments must be in U. S. funds. No late payments will be accepted and no billing notices will be mailed. Certified mail is strongly recommended to NJSS, P.O. Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625. (NJSS) Judicial Watch: New Emails Show Hillary Clinton and Aides Had Classified Information on Non-Government Email Accounts Hillary Clinton Forwarded Huma Abedin Classified Info. for Printing Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5172 WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch today released nearly 70 pages of State Department records that show that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her top aides, Deputy Chiefs of Staff Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, received and sent classified information on their non-state.gov email accounts. The documents, also available on the State Department website, were obtained in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015, lawsuit filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)) after it failed to respond to a March 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking: All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-"state.gov" email address. The new documents show that Hillary Clinton used the clintonemail.com system to ask Huma Abedin (also on a non-state.gov email account) to print two March 2011 emails, which were sent from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (using the moniker "aclb") to Jake Sullivan on Sullivan's non-state.gov email account. The Obama State Department redacted the Blair emails under Exemption (b)(1) which allows the withholding of classified material. The material is marked as being classified as "Foreign government information" and "foreign relations or foreign activities of the US, including confidential sources." Another email shows that Clinton wanted to know how meetings in Washington, including a four-hour meeting concerning America's war on Libya, would impact her Hampton vacation. Responding to an email that details the sensitive meetings in DC, Clinton emails Abedin on August 26, 2011, "Ok. What time would I get back to Hamptons?" Again, this email discussion takes place on non-state.gov email accounts. The documents also include advice to Clinton on Libya from Sidney Blumenthal, a Clinton Foundation employee who, according to a Judicial Watch investigative report, also had business interests in Libya. Clinton wanted Blumenthal's March 9, 2011, Libya memo to be printed "without any identifiers." The newly released Abedin emails include a lengthy exchange giving precise details of Clinton's schedule using unsecured government emails. The email from Lona J. Valmoro, former Special Assistant to Secretary of State Clinton, to Abedin and Clinton reveals exact times (including driving times) and locations of all appointments throughout the day. Another itinerary email provides details about a meeting at the United Nations in New York at 3:00 on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, with the precise disclosure, "that would mean wheels up from Andrews at approximately 12:00pm/12:15pm." "These emails show that Hillary Clinton isn't the only Obama official who should be worried about being prosecuted for mishandling classified information. Her former top State aides (and current campaign advisers) Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan should be in the dock, as well," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton... MORE: www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-emails-show-hillary-clinton-and-aides-had-classified-information-on-non-government-email-accounts First official trip - to Asia. We are so proud of you! Beauty, brains, compassion, talent, and the sweetest disposition. Alfred Joseph Buescher was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 21, 1903, according to the Ohio Births and Christenings Index at Ancestry.com. His parents were John F. Buescher and Elizabeth Blickhan. According to a family tree, Bueschers mother passed away October 27, 1904.In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Buescher was the second of three children. Their father was a carpenter and had remarried to Margaret. The family lived in Cleveland at 1223 East 82nd Street.The family was at the same address in the 1920 census. Information regarding Bueschers education and art training has not been found. A 1922 Cleveland city directory listed Buescher as a cartoonist at his parents address.The(Ohio), June 8, 1924, printed this item: Several parties have been given recently in honor of Miss Ruth Blackmore, 1278 E. 90th street, who is to wed Mr. Alfred Buescher of 1328 E. 80th street. The Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records said Buescher married Blackmore in Cleveland on June 18.The 1925 Cleveland city directory listed Buescher as a Central Press artist who lived at 8987 Ann Court. The following year Bueschers address was 3821 Glendale Road and he had the same occupation.Buescher has not yet been found in the 1930 census.(2012) said Buescher drew the long-running series,. Newman Campbell was the writer. The strip began December 26, 1931 was initially distributed by Central Press Association and later by King Features Syndicate. With C.D. Vormelker, they producedwhich ran from November 29 to December 25, 1937. During the 1950s, Buescher worked on several strips. He did supplemental art for the reissue of(1952). Withcreator William Ritt, they did(1953),(1954) and(1955; with additional scripts by Rev. Alvin E. Bell).According to the 1940 census, Buescher was a newspaper artist who resided in Cleveland Heights at 2207 Westminster Avenue. He had three children: Alfred (14), Joan (10) and Richard (7). In 1939 Bueschers income was $5,000. His highest level of education was the third year of high school.The, June 10, 1943, said Buescher won an award: Best CartoonAlfred Buescher, art director of the Central Press Association, [illegible] a cartoon depicting Hitler trapped in [illegible] swastika-shaped labyrinth.The(Pennsylvania), May 1, 1978, announced the addition of editorial cartoons by Ranan Lurie. Lurie is a craftsman in the art and he has won numerous awards for his editorial cartoons. Lurie will replace Alfred Buescher who is retiring after working for more than 40 years for King Features. ( Cartoons by Buescher .)According to the Ohio Death Index, Buescher passed away September 29, 1999, in Mayfield, Ohio.Alex Jay Now, you can make a tax deductible contribution via VDARE to "Paul Kersey" by clicking here If you enjoy SBPDL, we encourage you to make a donation to help sustain our growth. For a donation of $75 or more, we'll send you signed copies of three SBPDL books of your choice. For $100 or more, we'll send you signed copies of four books. For $300 or more, you get signed copies of every Paul Kersey book. Your generous donations help SBPDL grow. You can also send cash, check, or money order to: Paul Kersey P.O. Box 527 Oakton, VA 22124 We also accept Bitcoin donations! Inquire at sbpdl1 (at) gmail (dot) com for details. E-mail us at sbpdl1@gmail.com Rainier welcomed a fresh set of eyes Monday to survey the water-filled pit that opened in Rainier in December. Northwest Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici paid a visit to Rainiers sinkhole, noting that she was shocked to see how deep and dangerous it looks. I was surprised, she said of the pit, which opened during the December floods.Id seen pictures of it and read about it, but actually seeing it really makes a difference. The sinkhole formed above a long culvert that carries Fox Creek through a section of downtown Rainier. Its thought that the culvert got plugged, causing water to back up and surge out of a hole in the aging conduit. However, even a team of divers was unable to determine the cause when they explored it last month. Bonamici, a Democrat, met with local leaders, including Mayor Jerry Cole and representatives from Columbia County Soil & Water Conservation District, which Cole said is the lead agency in charge of fixing the sinkhole. The congresswoman said that there will be a temporary emergency fix for the sinkhole completed within the next two months; however, its unclear exactly how it will be fixed. In the meantime, she said she plans to find federal funds to help the city with a permanent fix. Once you see the sinkhole, you realize what a serious issue it is, she said. Im looking forward to seeing how that collaboration goes and doing all I can to get a solution there soon for the residents of Rainier. A citizens committee estimates that Longview schools need $213 million worth of building upgrades, including replacing four elementary schools. The conclusions were to be presented to the Longview School Board Monday night. They were the first major cost projections published by the districts Facilities Advisory Committee, which is updating the districts Facilities Master Plan, a document that has not been revised since 2002. The estimates do not commit the district to a plan of action, but it lays out the huge potential costs of serving the districts projected enrollment (which is expected to stay stable), meeting class-reduction targets of voter-approved Initiative 1351 and making sure buildings are up to current standards. Longview School Board president C.J. Nickerson said the high price tag did not surprise him. He served on the facilities committee several years ago, and I know what kind of shape the schools are in. Nickerson noted that the district deferred maintenance to save teaching and staff positions during the recession. Now those costs are staring us in the face, he said. He sad the board will seek public and staff comment before making any decision, but the plan is a good first step, he said following the board meeting. Previous studies done before I-1351 passed showed the districts buildings are underused. The new assessment shows elementaries will be overcrowded and that the two high schools will be occupied at near capacity. Middle schools would be underused, at least through 2021. Here are some of the highlights of the facilities study: Mint Valley, Northlake, Olympic and Columbia Heights elementaries all need to be replaced, with an estimated total cost of $96 million. The gym and auditorium at Kessler Elementary need replacing, and cafeterias need to be added to Robert Gray and St. Helens elementaries. All this would cost $13.3 million. Another $47.4 million is needed to replace Discovery High School (the districts alternative school, located in the Harding Building near R.A. Long High School), modernize Mark Morris, add gyms to Mark Morris and R.A. Long, add music spaces, parking lots and vocational buildings to R.A. Long, and upgrade secondary track facility and fields. Modernizing the Broadway Learning Center, making districtwide security upgrades and replace the central kitchen and warehouse would cost $20.9 million. Any work the district wants to undertake would be financed by sales of bonds which are repaid through property taxes and any state school construction grants the district could snag. These projects, taken together or even by half, would easily be the most costly facilities projects ever undertaken by the Longview School District. In fact, undertaking the whole list of projects would exceed the districts legal debt limit, which district spokeswoman Sandy Catt said is $200 million. And the district still is paying off bonds for replacement of Robert Gray and St. Helens elementaries, the construction of Mount Solo Middle School, and the remodeling of Monticello and Cascade middle schools. For individual taxpayers, too, the projects could be expensive. Every $10 million in bonds, for example, would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $13.50 a year for 20 to 25 years, according to very rough district estimates, Catt said. So a $100 million bond to replace all four elementaries would cost that same homeowner $135 annually. Its not certain at this time, however, what portion of the work the school board will undertake. The district would have to get voter approval of any bonds sold to raise money for the work, and those bonds would be repaid through property taxes. The district also could apply for state grants to help pay for some of the school construction. The facilities committee is not making a recommendation on which of these projects the district should undertake, but it ranked construction of new elementary schools as its most pressing issue. Next in order of priority are modernizing the high schools, then upgrading the middle schools and district facilities. The committees emphasis on elementary schools is driven by estimates that elementaries will be overfilled 26 percent by 2021. By 2021, middle schools would reach about 79 percent capacity and high schools 98 percent. Those estimates exclude portables, because the districts goal is to survive without them. They are based on class-size estimates if the voter-approved Initiative 1351, which mandated smaller class sizes in every grade, is implemented. The district doesnt expect enrollment to change much over the next five years. Collapsing crude markets have hit oil projects across the globe. Last year 68 major projects were canceled worldwide, which would have produced 27 billion barrels of oil and natural gas, according to a recent report by Wood Mackenzie, an energy industry analyst. In the Northwest, Global Partners recently laid off more than half its workforce at its Clatskanie-area crude oil dock. And Renewable Energy Group announced last month that it is dropping crude oil in its expansion of a Grays Harbor energy terminal. So what does all this mean for the proposed oil projects in Longview and Vancouver? Very little, if you ask their proponents, who argue that their projects will support the long-term demands of the West Coast markets. Yet skeptics say that economics, politics and regulatory hurdles could snuff the projects. I think youd have a better chance of Rosie ODonnell becoming Donald Trumps private secretary before (the Longview oil export project) is going to happen. The world has changed drastically from where it was when all these projects were proposed, said Tom Kloza, energy analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. Although the Vancouver Energy refinery is further along in the process, the Longview refinery still faces many regulatory hoops, and Kloza isnt confident the project can survive the lengthy process. Vancouver Energy, a joint venture of Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, wants to build a $210 million oil terminal capable of shipping 360,000 barrels of oil a day out of the Port of Vancouver. Unlike the Vancouver project, Waterside Energys proposed Longview project would be a refinery.The $800 million project would process 15,000 barrels of vegetable seed oil and 30,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Both the Vancouver and Longview oil projects would be supplied by trains carrying Bakken field crude oil from North Dakota. The viability of the projects hinges on long-term oil markets, which are notoriously hard to predict. West Texas Intermediate crude dipped to $30 a barrel on Monday, down about $49 a barrel a year ago. While some experts says prices will start to rebound in the next two years, Goldman Sachs and others have predicted 15 more years of lower prices, with a chance that oil could drop to $20 a barrel. Kloza said crude-by-rail projects made sense several years ago when the price of Bakken oil was $15 to $30 less per a barrel than world prices. But the price difference has narrowed. Crude by rail from North Dakota to the coast has been knocked asunder by the collapse in crude oil prices, Kloza said. Furthermore, Bakken producers could take advantage of the recent lifting of the 40-year export ban on U.S.-produced oil and bypass domestic refineries, Kloza said. That would in turn make proposed West Coast facilities like Watersides less viable in the long run. Lou Soumas, CEO of Waterside Energy, argued that the Longview refinery project is not so dependent on the price of crude oil. Our economics are not based on the differential in crude prices. Ours is based on the difference in what you can pay for your oil and what you sell it for, Soumas said. Cheap oil has been a boon for refineries in recent years, he said. And if the cost of oil supplies rise, refineries prices for gasoline will rise accordingly, he said. The economics are as strong today when we first proposed the project two or three years ago, Soumas said. Vancouver Energy General Manager Jared Larrabee isnt fazed by the recent volatility in the oil markets, either. We are in it for the long haul. The reality is that oil markets are cyclic, Larrabee said. We know that while the cycle is down right now, the fundamentals actually have not changed. Theres no commercial scale (crude oil) outlet on the West Coast that has this connection between rail and marine, he said. The West Coast imports 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and Larrabee says that shows theres still a demand for oil in the region. Both Vancouver Energy nor Waterside Energy officials say they have no intention of exporting their products overseas. Soumas said the Longview refinery simply wouldnt have the dock and other facilities to handle ocean-going vessels, and that it would require a completely different permitting process. But not everyone is convinced. What every ordinary refinery does in America is to buy and sell product based on where the profits in are, said Eric de Place, policy director at Sightline Institute, a Seattle environmental think tank. My great concern is once you build it (a terminal or refinery), you can use it for any number of things, he said. If prices go back and if we see demand on the Pacific Rim, then the Pacific Northwest could look awfully attractive on the oil industry, he said. If history is any guide, the future is uncertain. Editors note: Todays editorial originally appeared in The Olympian. Editorial content from other publications is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News. Automatic voter registration is a new idea and a good one where it can work. The states of Oregon and California have gone that route recently. They automatically register non-voters at the time they are given driver licenses. This registration approach works in those states, because each requires proof of citizenship or legal presence in the U.S. before granting a driver license. For those who are not citizens, Oregon marks the licenses accordingly. In Washington, its a lot trickier to create a streamlined voter-registration system using driver licensing. That is because our state is one of the few that still grants licenses to drivers irrespective of legal residency status. Not to be stymied by this difficulty, Secretary of State Kim Wyman, state Sen. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Sam Hunt have teamed up to see if there is another way to boost voter registration for additional Washingtonians whose citizenship is certain. The bipartisan Senate version, Senate Bill 6379, would let Washingtons licensing agency automatically register voters if they have commercial driver licenses or the new enhanced driver licenses both of which require proof of legal status. Registration would still require the voter to be 18, a state resident and not under supervision of the state Department of Corrections. House Bill 2682 is an identical proposal in the House sponsored by Hunt, an Olympia Democrat. Both bills establish the Department of Licensing, the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, and a few agencies granting public assistance as voter registration agencies. Any person could opt out of registering to vote. The exchange and public assistance agencies already collect details of a persons birth, citizenship, and signature before granting benefits. Under the bill these agencies could register new voters; the information would be sent to the state elections office overseen by Wyman at the Office of the Secretary of State. Costs for the proposal are still being calculated. There are always objections to voter-registration bills from one party or the other. Republicans typically fear Democrats are trying to pull one over to boost voter rolls without safeguards, while Democrats fear the GOP is trying to make as few voters eligible as possible. Current law allows anyone to register based on signing an oath of eligibility. Republican Sen. Pam Roach of Auburn is a co-sponsor of Jayapals bill and gave it a hearing in the Senate committee that deals with elections issues. Hunts bill already moved from the House State Government Committee, ensuring that this proposal is alive for further discussion this session. Wyman, Jayapal, Roach and Hunt deserve credit for making a genuinely bipartisan effort to improve voter participation. Wyman is a Thurston County Republican finishing her first term after a long stint as Thurston County auditor, and Jayapal is a Seattle Democrat who years ago led voter drives among immigrant citizens for the OneAmerica advocacy group. This proposal is incremental and gets the state prepared for the day when federal Homeland Security requirements under the REAL ID Act of 2005 force Washington into issuing driver licenses that make clear whether the subject is a citizen. Federal agencies are already transitioning under Real ID to stricter requirements on what state identity cards are acceptable for entering federal facilities. Because Washingtons standard driver licenses do not verify a persons residency status, they would be inadequate for boarding an airplane starting in 2018. The Wyman-Jayapal-Hunt proposal may still need refinement to limit costs, but the Legislature should keep moving this bipartisan idea forward. Three men arrested after a high-speed chase on Interstate 5 Friday following a fatal shooting in Gresham, Ore., made their first appearances in Cowlitz County Superior Court Monday. The men, who face murder charges in Oregon and a variety of charges in Washington, are being held at the Cowlitz County jail. At 2:33 p.m. Friday, Gresham police responded to the report of a man shot near the intersection of Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 174th Avenue. Police arrived on scene and located an adult male who had died. He was later identified as Ravell Deshawn Sterling, 22, of Portland. The suspects had already fled the scene. A short time later, Portland police found a Cadillac matching the suspect vehicle description traveling northbound on Interstate 205. A pursuit involving several police agencies ensued into Washington. According to a court document, the Cadillac DeVille, racing more than 100 mph northbound on the freeway, avoided spike strips set up near Woodland and Kalama, but a third spike strip near milepost 30 deflated some of the suspect vehicles tires. A Washington State Patrol trooper did a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver, which disabled the car in the middle of I-5 near the Kalama River Road exit. The three suspects were taken into custody without further incident. They are Charles Benjamin Moi Moi, 20, of SeaTac, Wash.; Rony Alexander Celis, 23, of Renton; and Clayton Eldridge Harrell III, 18, of Des Moines, Wash. The Multnomah County District Attorneys office has charged all three men with murder. Moi Moi, described in a court document as the actual shooter of Sterling during a robbery, is also charged with aggravated murder. In Washington, Moi Moi is charged with unlawful possession of firearm and being a fugitive from justice. The driver was identified as Celis. He was charged in Washington with attempting to elude and being a fugitive from justice. Harrell is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and being a fugitive from justice. All three suspects are being held without bail and are scheduled for arraignment on Feb. 23. None waived extradition, and Cowlitz County Prosector Ryan Jurvakainen said typically in such cases they would face charges here before being returned to Oregon. Detectives with the East Multnomah County Major Crimes Team continue to investigate the reasons why Sterling was shot and what connection, if any, he had with the three suspects. According to Gresham police, it isnt known if the shooting is gang-related. Anyone who has information about the shooting is asked to call the Gresham police tip line at 503-618-2719. Longview police have identified the man who died in a vehicle accident early Saturday in West Longview. The victim was identified as Genaro Joel Ruiz-Rosas, 23, of Longview. He was driving a red 2000 Honda Civic two door. Ruiz-Rosas, who was wearing a seatbelt, died at the scene. According to the other driver and witnesses, Ruiz-Rosas was driving westbound in the 3100 block of Pacific Way when his Honda crossed the center line and collided with the eastbound white 1995 Chevrolet Sport van driven by Douglas C. Perry, 50, of Longview. Officers were dispatched at 12:19 a.m. Police said high speed may have contributed to the Honda being in the wrong lane. Perrys passenger was Steven Karvela, 44, a transient. Perry and Karvela were taken to the hospital for unknown minor injuries. The Washington State Patrol assisted in the collision investigation. Between January 2003 and September 2006, out of 138 letters to the editor that I sent to the Financial Times before I placed them on this blog they published these 15 . Not bad! Thank you FT!Unfortunately, since then and until the very last day of the decade, out of some 1.000 letters that you can find here, FT published none, zero, zilch. Of course FT is under no obligation whatsoever to publish any of my letters and of course one should not exclude the possibilities that my letters might have quite dramatically gone from bad to worse yet one wonders.My usual suspects are:1. Someone in FT with a delicate ego feels his or her importance diminished by giving voice to a lowly non PhD from a developing country daring to opine on many issues of developed countries.2. That FT has some sort of conflict of interest with the credit rating agencies that makes it hard for them to give too much relevance to someone who considers they have been given too much powers.3. The FT establishment had perhaps decided there were only macro economic problems and not any financial regulation problems, and wanted to hear no monothematic contradictions on that.4. That FT feels slightly embarrassed when someone repeatedly asks the emperor-is-naked type question of what is the purpose of the banks and realizing this was something FT should have itself asked a long time ago.5. It is way too much oversight for FT to handle.6. Or am I just supposed to be a living example of one half of the Financial Times motto, namely that of "without favour"Which one do you believe is closest to the truth? tech2 News Staff First spotted on Apple support forums and later reported by The Guardian; if the TouchID sensor on your iPhone has been repaired or replaced by a third-party technician, your phone will be rendered useless come the next software update (or maybe even sooner). Why? This is apparently a security feature meant to ensure that your TouchID is kept as secure as possible. After all, Apple envisions a future where your fingerprint is the key to your life (your phone, Apple Pay, passwords vault, etc.) and keeping your fingerprint secure is paramount. While we agree with the sentiments behind the design, the move does seem a bit overzealous, to say the least. Googles approach to the problem is far more sensible and we can only hope that Apple takes the trouble to implement something like that in the future. Googles SafetyNet API ensures the security of GooglePay by running a compatibility test, a test that if failed (if, say, you have a rooted phone), renders GooglePay useless, but NOT your entire device. Should you be worried? YES! TouchID works by scanning your fingers via the sensor, encrypting that data and storing it on a chip embedded within the TouchID sensor circuit. Any damage to the home button means that your TouchID sensor will need to be replaced and any damage to the screen means that the entire front panel will need to be replaced (though not necessarily your TouchID). The problem here is that while Apple knows how to replace the home button and reprogram the OS to accept the new button, its keeping that knowhow a closely guarded secret. So far so good, but Apple took this security a step further by ensuring that a repaired or replaced TouchID (by, and we cant stress this enough, a third-party technician) would completely brick your phone. Getting your iPhone repaired by a third-party technician is, in some cases, inescapable, and in others, a much cheaper option (a third-party screen repair job would cost Rs 11,000, an official repair job would be Rs 25,000). Apple has now eliminated that option completely. The solution? If your phones TouchID has been tampered with, your phone will be bricked. There is no recourse. Your phone will have to be replaced (Youre really kicking yourself on missing out on AppleCare+ now, arent you?). If youre still unsure as to the status of your phone, heres a simple cheat sheet for you: TouchID repaired by a third-party technician: Buy a new iPhone TouchID replaced by a third-party technician: Buy a new iPhone TouchID replaced/repaired by an Apple technician at an Apple certified service centre: Youre in the green. If you did get your TouchID replaced by a third-party technician and your phone is still working fine, dont update your phone, backup all your data (over WiFi if possible) and take it to the nearest Apple store and pray that something can be done about it. What Apple is effectively saying is, "Get your phone repaired at an Apple Certified Service Centre, or else..." tech2 News Staff Maharashtra has emerged as the top ranking state in terms of overall Internet readiness index, followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Telengana and Tamil Nadu, according to a report titled Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States, published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indicus Analytics. Karnataka and Gujarat are close second and third while Telengana and Tamil Nadu are close fourth and fifth. Incidentally, the bottom four states are all from the Eastern region. Among the smaller states, Delhi has emerged as the topmost state in terms of Internet readiness index, followed by Puducherry and Goa. Even in the smaller states, the northeastern States do not figure among the top three. Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region. Internet Readiness index is a composite index of ve components, i.e., e-Infrastructure index, e-Participation index, IT-Services and e-Governance index. The performance of the states based on internet readiness index depends on several factors. The driving factors that influence Internet readiness index of each state varies from one another. For instance, in Maharashtra, though e-infrastructure is relatively low compared to Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat etc, yet the state surpasses others in all other components making it the best e-Ready society. In case of Karnataka, participation of citizen in ICT environment is lower than Kerala and Gujarat, yet on account of the high contribution of IT to overall economy and success in e-government initiatives makes the state the second most e-Ready environment in the county. Madhya Pradesh, though having a high rating in terms of participation, ranks low in all other components. Nevertheless, all the four components have equal significance in the Internet readiness index model. The report highlights the performance of the states regarding different measures of Internet readiness index. Given the rapid advancement in e-services and e-commerce, it is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the states. While this would help the business and governments to leverage the strength, policy measures can also be taken where improvements are required. Naina Khedekar At the Samsung Forum that was held last week in Kuala Lumpur, the company gave us a glimpse into its new innovations, some being announced for the Indian market. The smartphone maker launched two new phones - Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7 2016 editions - but it was the array of connected devices that stole the show. (You can watch our hands-on video with the Galaxy A7 here.) Samsung reiterates its commitment towards Tizen being the OS of choice for IoT. The new line of SUHD TVs running Tizen highlight the Quantum dot display that aims at better picture quality. The bezel-less curved design and a new, easy and integrated Smart TV experience using the Tizen OS. The company also had the 4K and a mammoth 8K TV on display. Rishi Suri, Director-Product Marketing Consumer Electronics tells us, "We've done a lot of innovation with Tizen. This year the SUHD lineup that has been introduced can offer a lot of flexibility. Firstly, until last year, the voice feature was accessible by only some premium handsets but that's changed and can be used with all Androids and Windows devices. The scalability has gone up. Secondly, with Tizen, we've been able to introduce the concept of one remote using which you can use TV, GTH, PlayStation and so on. Tizen has a whole lot of benefits, and we've been investing heavily. Going forward the reality and acceptability of Tizen." The company has put forth smarter living with its smartphone-connected home appliances. A connected TV that can talk to your phone or a phone that can control your refrigerator. The innovations simply want you to live smarter along with your home appliances. And, it has ensured to cater to almost every sphere of life, from Add Wash washing machine and Android-enabled printer to air conditioner with built-in stabiliser and everything in between. As we tip toed into the kitchen, Samsung has introduced the new Smart Convertible 5-in-1 refrigerators priced at the mid-segment for India. It lets you convert the freezer into a fridge when pressed for extra space, vacation mode that turns on only the freezer if required to store something for long, and interestingly a season mode that converts freezer into fridge and switches off the rest. The refrigerator section is the highlight, but not the 5-in-1, rather the Smart Family Hub that isn't launched for India. Fortunately, Samsung did showcase the Family Hub refrigerator that features a large 21.5-inch display on the right door, upper side running Tizen. It seemed a delight. With the smart fridge,leave errand notes, share and update calendars, pin photos using your smartphone. One of the interesting features that caught our attention was called the Morning brief. Push the button, and the fridge gives you a brief about the date, day, weather, and so on. Three cameras installed inside the fridge; capture image every time the door closes to track the amount of stocks inside. One of the coolest display'was this transparent OLEd display. Its a 55-inch panel with 45 percent transparency and you can easily view the set of necklaces placed behind the display. Its a Full HD resolution and with 100 percent of Adobes RGB spectrum. Right next to it was the mirror display that lets us see ourselves clearly into it. The display apparently recognises if you are man or woman and quickly puts up an advertisement about a certain discount. Both these were put up in the B2B hall, and aim at malls, shopping centers, and so on. Another interesting product on display was the Gear VR. On wearing, it seemed light and for the limited time we got with it, it was as if we aren't wearing a headgear at all. While using it, the front black flap snapped out, but was quickly fixed by the team on the floors. A video - not so clear - took us to the virtual world and we could watch around the video by moving our head in all directions, as if we were present right there. The Gear VR is pretty much what we've been hearing about it. It is cool, light and very innovative, but content is what Samsung should be focussing on. Samsung's focus on smarter living seemed a mix of connected devices and also aimed at helping pull down electricity bills. The company has always given a special mention to IoT in the big tech events in the past few years. And, Tizen only makes sense as company's own OS doesn't just promise to be more flexible and would help in revenue stream. After all, how long could Samsung simply strengthen Google's software profitability. With connected devices making their way into the Indian market, it seems just the beginning of a wider acceptance of IoT in India. However, this leaves us with many unanswered questions such as pricing, standards that could make the technology more accessible irrespective of manufacturer, make or size, and so on. "I don't take the movies seriously, and anyone who does is in for a headache." --Bette Davis (Opinions Expressed Are My Own) Pakistan summons BD envoy Amid diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan, Bangladesh High Commissioner in Islamabad Suhrab Hossain was summoned on Monday afternoon. Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque confirmed UNB about the latest development but said he is yet to know about further details. It seemed to be an act of 'retaliation' as the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry earlier summoned Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Shuja Alam following the missing, harassment and subsequent return of a staff member of Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, and protested it strongly. The relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have got estranged after Pakistan's 'brazen interference' in Bangladesh's internal affairs over the execution of two top war criminals in November last year. There have been incidents of 'retaliation' by Pakistan when its diplomat Fareena Arshad had to leave Dhaka on December 23 amid an allegation that she was involved in 'terror financing'. Dhaka then had to shift former Counselor-Political at the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Pakistan Moushumi Rahman to Lisbon at the request of Islamabad. Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, recently in Parliament, said the government is not yet thinking of severing its diplomatic ties with Pakistan. "We're observing the whole situation. Time is very important here. We don't want to do anything right now (cut ties with Pakistan). But, future will say what direction the relations will go to," he told Parliament on February 2. The same day, the government summoned Pakistan High Commissioner in Dhaka Shuja Alam and protested the 'harassment' against Bangladesh High Commission staff in Islamabad by the Pakistani plainclothesmen. The staff with its Islamabad diplomatic mission returned home unhurt after remaining traceless for hours. Jahangir Hossain, personal officer of the Press Section at Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, went missing on February 1, and his family and colleagues remained clueless about his whereabouts for nearly seven hours. Later, it was found that he was blindfolded and harassed by Pakistani plainclothesmen. Earlier on the same day, detectives in Dhaka detained an official of Pakistan High Commission for his "suspicious movement" and later found some specific allegations against him. However, the official, assistant private secretary at the Press Section-Abrar Ahmed Khan - was released and handed over to the High Commission. Hong Kong clashes as police clear food stalls The protesters lit several fires in the streets BBC Online: Clashes have broken out in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district as police cleared illegal food stalls set up for Lunar New Year celebrations. Violence erupted overnight as food and hygiene inspectors tried to remove vendors from the junction of Portland Street and Shan Tung Street. Angry protesters threw bricks and other missiles at police. Police used batons and pepper spray and fired two warning shots into the air. At least 23 people were arrested. At least 44 people, including police and journalists, were injured. Chief Executive CY Leung has condemned the unrest, saying Hong Kong "can never tolerate that and the police will spare no effort to arrest the rioters". It is the largest unrest in Hong Kong since the massive pro-democracy street protests in 2014. Street stalls are common in the Mong Kok area year-round, but particularly during the New Year holiday, where they are popular with locals for selling traditional new year snacks. The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says officials usually turn a blind eye to the hawkers' lack of official permits, but this year decided to crack down. Ahead of the clearance operation, hundreds of people had gathered in the area to defend the hawkers. Police said the vendors and activists were told to leave but ignored the warnings. Clashes then broke out in the early hours, and carried on past dawn. But the scene was quiet by Tuesday morning. Among the protesters were reportedly some "localist" - anti-Beijing - groups. Baggio Leung, leader of the Youngspiration political party, told the BBC he and 10 other party members went to protest. The group said they were defending local culture. One of them was arrested, Mr Leung said. Acting District Commander Yau Siu-kei confirmed reports that an officer had fired two warning shots into the air. He said the officer had to act protect colleagues, the South China Morning Post said. He said 44 people, including police, were injured and blamed "radical elements". for the unrest. The unrest was widely referenced on social media, where it was dubbed #fishballrevolution after one of the food delicacies sold by the hawkers. Police fails to apprehend real killer, wife alleges Police yet to arrest the real killer depite passing of 8 months since killing as alleged in the press meet held at Chittagong Press Club auditorium yesterday as arranged by the wife of victim Khadiza Akhter Sonia . Husband of Sonia, Md. Obaidul also nephew of Expatriate Welfare Minister Nurul Islam BSc was killed in Kalabagan area, Dhaka on night of June 26, last year by some miscreants. After killing Obaidual , the miscreants snatched away the motorbike, laptop and mobile set of the victims yet tobe recovered . The role of law enforcers is mysterious in arresting the real killers as said in the press meet. The press meet was told that after murder of her husband a vested quarter are desperately trying to occupy the properties of the victim through lingering the case proceeding. Sources said, this quarter also trying to kill her new born baby of aged about one and half month who born on Decembe4r 29 last. Wife of the deceased Khadiza elaborately briefed the journos of the killing incident occurred at Kalabagan area in Dhaka on June 26 last night while returning home from his working place. A murder case is lodged with the Kalabagan police accordingly. She also blamed the lawenforcing agency for accusing her in the murder case of her husband. Father of Khadiza Nurul Afsar chowdhury, mother Saleha Begum, elder brother Delwar Hossain, aunt Momtaz Begum were present in the press meet. Deceased Obaidul is the son of late Md. Hasan of Khaja road under Bakalia thana in Chittagong . Khadiza in the press conference urges upon Prime Minister, Home Minister and law enforcing agencies to intervene the matter for arresting the real killers of her husband with exemplary punishment. Deputy governors join office Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman greetings the newly appointed three deputy governors Abu Hena M Razee Hasan, SK Sur Chowdhury and Nazneen Sultana at the conference room of the central bank in the city on Monday. Economic Reporter : The newly appointed Deputy Governors of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) joined their office Bank on Monady. The newly appointed three deputy governors are Abu Hena M Razee Hasan, SK Sur Chowdhury and Nazneen Sultana. BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman greeted the new deputy governors at the conference room of Bangladesh Bank in the city. The governor expected that the deputy governors would work for the betterment of the banking sector as well as economy. Heads of various private banks and financial institutes also greeted the new deputy governors. In this backdrop, the government has extended the tenure of service of the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) three deputy governors for different terms. They have been allowed to continue their services until 62 years from joining of the central bank of Bangladesh. The Ministry of Public Administration (MOPA) issued a notification recently in this connection following the approval of President Abdul Hamid. The tenure of job contract of the deputy governors has come an end on January 21. The Zika Virus wont be Ebola 2.0 Allira Attwill : The recent outbreak of Zika virus and its spread to 23 countries - mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean - has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). On 1 February 2016 Director-General of the WHO, Margaret Chan, called for a coordinated international response to improve Zika surveillance and detection, the control of mosquitoes and to expedite development of diagnostic tools and vaccines to protect people at risk. WHO estimates there are currently 500,000 to 1.5 million cases of Zika in the Americas. Cases have also been reported in the US, Australia and the Republic of Ireland, each the result of recent travel to Latin America or the Caribbean. However, only one in five patients experience symptoms, and even then, symptoms are relatively mild; characterised by a fever, rash and conjunctivitis lasting for two to seven days. While it has not been confirmed, experts agree that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly - a condition in which a baby's head is abnormally small, causing incomplete brain development - is very likely. Also of concern is the probable link between Zika and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disorder which causes muscle weakness, paralysis and sometimes death. Zika is predominantly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito in tropical regions, the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. It can also be transmitted via blood transfusions and on 3 February, a case of sexually transmitted Zika was reported in Dallas, Texas. Only one other case of sexually transmitted Zika has ever been recorded. In the worst affected area, about 1% of newborns have suspected microcephaly. Brazil has reported 4000 cases of microcephaly since October 2015, 400 were confirmed and only 17 were linked to Zika. Despite the small number of confirmed cases, and the even smaller number directly linked to Zika, this still represents a sharp increase since 2014, when only 150 babies were born with microcephaly in the country. GBS - the other, less publicised Zika-related concern - is also rare. However, Jimmy Whitworth from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says that even if GBS occurs in only 1 per 10,000 or 1 per 100,000 cases of Zika, and if the WHO's prediction of 4 million cases by the end of 2016 is correct, a significant increase in GBS can be expected. The facts and figures of Zika, although concerning, show that it will not be 'Ebola 2.0', as it has been labelled. This is partly to do with the virus' mode of transmission. The Aedis mosquito circulates only in tropical and sub-tropical climates, and is therefore unlikely to spread to cooler climates and will likely reduce in incidence in cooler months. But the reasons why Zika is not Ebola 2.0 are also contextual. During the Ebola outbreak, failures occurred which do not apply to the situation with Zika. These failures came at three levels: national, regional and international. At a national level, governments failed (or at least, their surveillance mechanisms failed) to sound the alarm in a timely manner. The first Ebola case was a two-year old boy in a remote jungle region of southern Guinea in December 2013. However, due to inadequate health and surveillance systems in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola was not diagnosed until March 2014. Sierra Leone's Government claimed not to need assistance - they could control the spread of the virus with checkpoints and awareness campaigns. The second failure was unique to the region. Peter Piot, the co-discoverer of Ebola, and Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust, have noted that WHO's Regional Office in Africa (WHO-AFRO), which should be the WHO's strongest regional office, given the breadth and depth of health challenges in the region, suffers from longstanding problems around capacity, and because of its location (Brazzaville), it struggles to attract the quantity and quality of talent and leadership it needs. The final (and possibly most palpable) failure occurred at the international level. This failure did not emerge from a lack of will, rather it was the product of a resource-constrained organisation with its eyes firmly on the non-communicable disease epidemic. In a ten-day period between May-June 2014, Guinea and Sierra Leone recorded 150 new Ebola infections, bringing the cumulative total to 440 cases. This rightly alarmed officials at WHO-AFRO, who contacted the WHO Secretariat in Geneva recommending a PHEIC be declared. The true failure lies in the delayed response. The emergency committee did not meet until 7 August 2014, and on 8 August recommended to the Director General that a declaration of a PHEIC was justified. Return now to 2016: the world is fixated on Zika, wondering if it will be 'Ebola 2.0'. But it won't be, partly because of its mode of transmission, partly because Zika is unfolding in a post-Ebola world, but mainly because Latin America is not West Africa. Health systems are largely stronger and governments better able to deal with public health emergencies (a particular priority with the 2016 Olympic Games around the corner). Also, PAHO (WHO's Regional Office for the Americas) is not WHO-AFRO (and in any case, if Zika was unfolding in Africa, WHO-AFRO's response would benefit from the Ebola experience), and the WHO is much better prepared, cautious and eager to show the world that it can be what we need it to be: a true leader in global health. The international community's thorough and swift handling of Zika suggests that governments and the WHO learned from the devastation caused by Ebola. (Allira Attwill is a freelance Health Policy and Health Economics consultant. She graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc. Health Policy, Planning and Financing in 2014, and a BA. (Population Health) & (Marketing) from Wollongong University in 2007). Finance Ministers role is most disappointing in respect of bank robberies FINANCE Minister AMA Muhith has said state-owned banks specially Sonali Bank and BASIC Bank have sustained serious irregularities in the past several years and they would take a long time to recover from the losses inflicted by reckless sanctioning of loan to dishonest people. He made no secret that big robberies had taken place in Sonali Bank and BASIC Bank in the hands of high officials and powerful people but why he failed to protect them, as a very powerful Minister remains unanswered. Now any confessional statement is not enough. These banks are now partially surviving under budgetary recapitalization programme. The Finance Minister's statement is not anything new including his earlier claim that the swindled amount of Taka 4000 crore from Sonali Bank was not a big amount. We don't know why he down played the robberies although it has seriously compromised his credibility otherwise as an honest man at a time when he was expected to take a bold stand to save the state-owned banks. His failure is costing the exchequer through annual bail out plans; which included Tk 5000 crore under the current fiscal year. We know money from Sonali Bank was removed from a single city branch in which an Adviser to the Prime Minister reportedly lent his help. Muhith had to swallow the assault on the bank when Hallmark was blamed and its owners were put under bar. But the Directors of the bank who approved the fake loans were left untouched and the money remained untraced even today. Similarly BASIC Bank saw the removal of Tk 5,000 crore but its chairman is still enjoying impunity despite approving fictitious loans. What appears quite surprising is how and why BASIC Bank Chairman is escaping arrest and the Finance Minister, who earlier claimed that he has evidence to file case against him, is swallowing the escape. The fact is that Finance Minister AMA Muhith has failed to effectively run the banking sector and also the Finance Ministry itself on pressure of vested interest groups as is evident from the doubling of pay scale of public servants. The Finance Ministry is treated as Super Ministry, which gives allocation to government ministries and control funds in various ways. But the way corruption and misuse of public money has spread in every aspect of life by government ministers, lawmakers and other partymen, the safety of money in the exchequer is also in many ways at stake. The Finance Minister accepts the truth of plundering but shows no power of integrity to take any step against the plunderers, that is most disappointing. Dilapidated primary school buildings that authorities don't see AS per the media reports, students of over 50 schools out of 262 government primary schools in Monirampur Upazila and at other places in Jessore district are attending classes under open sky due to awful condition of their school buildings. They can't attend classes indoor due to risk of roof collapse. This unpleasant scenario of our primary education illustrates the lack of proper attention to this sector although government is talking loud about achieving big success in primary education. Its claim that Bangladesh has made significant progress in ensuring access to primary education, gender parity, distribution of text books free of cost every year goes without limit. But despite these claims primary schooling system is still plagued by so many shortcomings in terms of shortage of infrastructure, equipment, dilapidated condition of school buildings and lack of skill based teachers. Experts say the problems are two folds - lack of resources and declining quality of education. The reason for poor quality of schooling also includes shortage of fixed school building at many places. There are instances to show that classes are being held at many places under the shed of trees and it is no secret that in many areas of Manikganj, Comilla and Sirajganj and elsewhere in the country poor condition of school buildings does not allow holding classes for safety reason. Dilapidated buildings spread fear in students and keep them absent from attending classes. At places also school buildings have broken roof that allow leakage of water in rainy season. What is more surprising is that even after newspaper reports on broken condition of school buildings the government is not taking serious initiative to repair the buildings and where they are quite destroyed steps are also missing to build them. Everybody knows that many schools were gutted by fire during January 5, 2014 Parliamentary Election but most of them are yet to be rehabilitated or thoroughly repaired for use. Some school teachers were quoted in the report as saying they have raised the issue with the concerned higher authorities demanding new buildings or rehabilitation of old ones. But they are not really concerned about it despite hefty budget in their hands for the purpose. Some Upazila Education Officers reportedly claimed they submitted list of such risky school buildings to higher authorities but actions are not in sight. There is a growing fear that such buildings may collapse with a small jolt and children are attending classes with great risks of their lives. The government is loosing people's huge money in corruption and misuse of funds but when it comes looking after the public educational institutions, we find the government disappointingly indifferent. DU students protest police assault Students of Dhaka University formed a human chain in TSC area on Tuesday protesting recent assault on their fellow by police. Staff Reporter :The Dhaka University (DU) students on Tuesday strongly protested the police's excesses on their fellows at Karwan Bazar in the city. They also sought legal actions against the police personnel who assaulted the students indiscriminately on Monday. The demand came from a human-chain in front of the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) on the DU campus in the morning.They agitated students called the police behave unprofessional and inhuman and demanded that they (police) should say 'sorry' for their behavior. On Monday, a group of DU students blocked Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue at SAARC Fountain intersection at Karwan Bazar in protest against an alleged police assault on some of their fellow students.The DU students alleged that the police beat them mercilessly dragging them down from their university bus at the intersection following an altercation over traffic movement. They also alleged the law enforcers took away their cell phones during the altercation. Police, however, denied the allegation.It was alleged that three police men and an Ansar member swooped on the students even after the dispute was resolved and beat them up mercilessly. Five OCs transferred Staff Reporter :Officers-in-Charge (OCs) of five police stations under Dhaka Metropolitan Police have been transferred in the view of their unprofessional behaviour with the common people while discharging their duties in the recent days. The new OCs already have been posted in the police stations instantly. The DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia issued an order in this regard on Monday, said Maruf Hossain Sarder, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Shah Ali Police Station OC Shahin Mandal was withdrawn for negligence of duty to save the life of tea-seller Babul Matobbor in the city. Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Anwar Hossain had been posted in the vacant post.Meanwhile, much-talked Jatrabari Police Station OC Abni Sanker Kar has been appointed DB Inspector while DB Inspector Anisur Rahman has been made OC of the police station. Besides, Rupnagar Police Station got DB Inspector Shahid Alam as new OC instead of Rezaul Hasan, DB Inspector. Also, Biman Bandar Police Station OC (Investigation) Shafiqul Islam Mollah took the charge of the OC of Shahjahanpur Police Station as Mehedi Hasan was transferred to the DB. Uttarkhan Police Station OC (Investigation) Sheikh Sirajul Islam was appointed OC of the police station while Younus Ali was transferred to the West Zone of the DB of DMP. The transferred order had been issued in the public interest, they said. A good number of OCs are now under constant eyes of the DMP. Hijra shot over rivalry in city, 2 fake hijras held Staff Reporter : A hijra (eunuch) was shot allegedly by another hijra in connection with money collection in the city's Uttara area on Tuesday morning. The victim has been identified as Manik alias Senjuti, 26. She was admitted to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). Police have detained two fake Hijras to interrogate in this connection. are Swapan alias Khairul and Sima alias Kachi, police said. Bidhan Tripura, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Uttara Division, said, " Senjuti was shot by four to five hijras who came riding on motorcycles in front of the Rajuk Commercial Shopping Centre in Uttara Sector No.7 around 11:00am." Senjuti was shot during an attack by rival group over establishing supremacy, the DC said. Police are investigating the incident after receiving complaints, the police official said. However, Senjuti claimed that the attack was preplanned. Senjuti's friend Rina said, "A group of hijra led by Senjuti has long been into a dispute with another group who claimed themselves to be real hijras among others. There has been a long time conflict between their ground leader Kachi and Senjuti's brother Kamal over the collection of money in the area." Rina also echoed voice with Senjuti and said, "The hired goons of Kachi attacked Senjuti over the rivalry." Quoting the doctors, DMCH Police Outpost Sub-Inspector Sentu Das said that Senjuti suffered bullet injuries in the leg and abdomen. Thermal scanner set up at HSIA Govt to bear cost of treatment for Zika victims Staff Reporter : Bangladesh government has taken all necessary steps to control the spread of Zika virus and will bear the cost of treatment, if anyone is diagnosed with the virus. At the same time, the government has installed thermal scanner at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) for the people coming from 30 Zika-affected countries. "The government will bear the cost of treatment, if anyone is diagnosed with Zika virus.. You don't need to panic about the virus in Bangladesh," Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said on Tuesday while talking to reporters at Secretariat. The Minister said, "The government has installed thermal scanner at HSIA for the people coming from the 30 Zika-affected countries. However, there is no information available about possibility spreading Zika virus in the country. "In case of spotting any suffering from fever, we will conduct further investigation to detect the virus. Until we have been confirmed that he or she is not carrying the virus, we will keep him/her in Isolation Ward, a special room set up inside the Airport for the purpose," he said. Detailing government's various steps, he further said the government has every preparation to tackle the menace that has plagued South American nation Brazil and some other countries. The Health Minister assured that the Bangladesh government would do everything to stop intrusion of the virus. Zika, an emerging Aedes-mosquito-borne virus, is spreading throughout the Americas recently and it could reach Bangladesh anytime, health experts warn. In this situation, the World Health Organisation urged the regional countries, including Bangladesh, to strengthen surveillance and take preventive measures against the Zika virus disease. Professor Dr Din Mohammad Nurul Haque, Director General of Health Directorate, said, "If any Zika virus-infected persons will be identified at HSIA they would immediately be sent to Kurmitola General Hospital where a 20-bed special ward has been set up." On the other hand, Directorate General of Health Services Abul Khair Md Shamsuzzaman said the government has taken all appropriate measures at airports, sea ports and land ports across the country to detect the virus. "No passenger infected with the Zika virus has entered the country from abroad so far," the DG claimed. Aedes aegypti, the carrier of the virus, is also responsible for spreading dengue fever throughout the Indian sub-continent region, especially in Bangladesh and India. High alerts have been issued at all land ports, including Benapole, to prevent Zika virus so that no one can enter Bangladesh from India with the virus. Immigration police and health workers are now working in this regard. They are conducting initial test with thermal scanner provided by health department. They have also increased surveillance in the area, officials said. Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officer Jyotish Chandra Roy, also working at Immigration Checkpost at Benapole, said, "Following a directive from the authority, medical team members have been working on how Zika virus can be prevented. But no Zika virus affected patients are still found in the area. They are in high alert in this regard." Meanwhile, concerns have grown even stronger inside the country after news media in Thailand and Taiwan in January reported cases of the virus infection among locals. Both places are popular destinations for Bangladeshi travellers, increasing the risk of the virus also spreading here. The WHO declared the Zika virus disease reported in the Americas region as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The virus, first discovered in Uganda in 1947, is spread through bites from Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector for dengue that infected higher number of people in Delhi and Dhaka last year. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. The illness is usually mild with the symptoms lasting a week. There is no vaccine for Zika virus disease. At the moment, the Central and Latin Americas have been hit the hardest, with more than three million reported cases of infection last year, according to the Pan American Health Organisation. . 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 The Gay Courier has been established to provide news, information and info on, from and about the gay community, and other social events and happenings from around the world, from all sorts of sources, to all who are interested in this news, information and info! The postings are as is, and all copyrights and or ownerships are and remain with the original copyright-holder and or owner! If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs. 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! Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. Phantom Records AMG-TCLA, an ascendant Minneapolis-based record label, hopes to raise MSPs already significant profile as a creative hub for the auditory arts. Phantom is the brainchild of founder Alex Guerrero (stage name: Dweedo). He pulls quintuple duty as a producer, songwriter, talent scout, manager and promoter. Our inspiration for starting up a record label is to give Minnesota the attention it deserves within the music industry, says Guerrero. We want to continue the work of former producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who put MSP on the map. [B]ut we [also] want the world to see that...amazing sounds are being produced outside New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Guerrero has help from four other MSP music notables. Ariel Padilla (stage name: A.P.) serves as associate producer. Julian Scott (JuChefe) is the in-house arranger and DJ. Rob Skalsky (Robby Cur$ed) is co-talent scout, assistant editor, photographer/videographer and musical artist. Lou Oberg (J3b Adea) is lead graphic designer and co-photographer/videographer. And Cameron McCrimmon (Malovinci) is a promising artist. Record labels come and go. Phantom plans to stick around by adding a human touch to an industry thats increasingly focused on flashy, transient trends good for the bottom line, perhaps, but not for music lovers or artists. Our goal is simple: we want to make music that you can feel and relate to on another level, explains Guerrero. We want to be more than just a record label. We want to be a part of our listeners experience. Phantom Records is all about putting emotion back into music, he adds. According to Guerrero, Phantom is actively recruiting hardworking, dedicated artists willing to work with a startup label. Hes also hunting for influential artists capable of lending visibility to a nascent label in a crowded marketplace. We plan on keeping up with the latest trends, while having veteran artists over time help groom younger artists coming into the industry, says Guerrero. We want our artists, our company and our values to feel like they're part of a really special movement that brings people together from all walks of life. Phantom Records plans to keep its operational base in MSP for the foreseeable future. I was recently one of a number of speakers at the Waitangi Rua Rautau Lectures for 2016, held at Victoria University of Wellington's Te Herenga Waka Marae. After the first address from Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick discussing the council's recent partnership agreement with Te Arawa, the second part of proceedings focused in particular on the role of historians in the Waitangi Tribunal process.My own talk was a tribute to the late Professor Alan Ward, who passed away in December 2014. As I noted, I first met Alan in 1993, when I came to Wellington from Christchurch on a three-month contract to research claims for the Crown-Congress Joint Working Party, where Alan was the chief historian. Within six months of that, the CCJWP was defunct, but more than two decades later I'm still here doing more or less the same thing. And although there were times after that when we had less to do with one another, Alan and I worked closely together again on his final major publication, jointly revising and reworking Judith Binney's draft chapters for Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History. The main part of my talk examined Alan's A Show of Justice: Racial 'Amalgamation' in Nineteenth Century New Zealand , a monumental work of scholarship and (as I noted in my talk) still more than four decades later a kind of Bible for Treaty researchers. Although I was already very familiar with it, I had an opportunity to consider the book in more depth when I was asked to contribute a chapter to Texts and Contexts: Reflections in Pacific Islands Historiography , edited by Doug Munro and Brij V. Lal and published by the University of Hawai'i Press in 2006. The two seminal texts in New Zealand history I was invited to consider wereand Keith Sinclair's Origins of the Maori Wars , first published in 1957.The lectures were recorded by Radio New Zealand. You can listen to what I had to say here (my contribution starts around 40 minutes in). Judge Caren Fox, Shonagh Kenderdine, Professor Michael Belgrave and Sir Edward Durie are also featured in the recording. By AM Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Share Tweet Share Share Email in his Ireland Eye column for Tribune Magazine looks at what he feels is the most important general election in Ireland since 1918. John Coulter is a former columnist withThe most important general election on the island of Ireland since 1918 is scheduled for Friday February 26 when voters in the Irish Republic will elect the 32nd Dail. Maybe its a good omen that its Dail number 32, given that republicans will commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising which aimed to bring about a 32-county democratic socialist republic.The spotlight will be on Sinn Fein. The party stands on the threshold of its best Dail showing since the 1918 Westminster election landslide when Ireland was still entirely under British rule. In that poll, Sinn Fein secured more than 70 of the islands 105 House of Commons seats. Because of the partys strict abstentionist policy, Sinn Fein established its own parliament in Dublin.Now, in theory, the party under former West Belfast MP Gerry Adams could easily become a minority government partner in Leinster House with current Taioseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kennys centre-right Fine Gael.While republicans are ecstatic at the massive publicity and propaganda which the Easter Rising centenary will generate, there is still bad blood in the Republic about the long-term impact of the Irish civil war. While partition in the early 1920 secured independence for 26 of the islands 32 counties, the acceptance of the treaty that divided the island politically also fragmented the Sinn Fein movement which had been united since its formation in 1905. The pro and anti-treaty factions indulged in a bloody conflict which saw more IRA members executed by the pro-treaty Free State Army than were killed by the notorious Black and Tans British militia in the earlier war of independence. The IRA lost the civil war and was reduced to a fringe status.Now Gerry Adams decision to become a TD (MP) in Dublins Leinster House parliament has breathed new life into his party. From a handful of the 166 TDs, Adams now has a working base of just over a dozen. Campaigning on an anti-austerity ticket, Sinn Fein should easily break through the 20-seat mark and may even secure between 30 and 40 TDs; a result which could gain Adams the coveted Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) post.But Sinn Fein may have been damage by the report from Northern Ireland security forces that suggested the IRAs ruling Army Council still existed and that it also held sway over Sinn Fein.So rival parties in the Irish Republic may consider a coalition government with anyone other than Sinn Fein. Could even traditional opponents Fine Gael and the centre-left Fianna Fail form an administration simply to keep out Sinn Fein? This would curtail Sinn Feins aim to mark 2016 by being part of governments on both sides of the Irish border. The party is already part of the power-sharing Executive with the Democratic Unionists in the Stormont Assembly.Ironically, one of the organisations which could cause Sinn Fein the most damage in the Dail election is the exclusively Protestant Orange Order, especially in the four main border counties Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Donegal. For years after partition, the Protestant population in the Republic declined rapidly, but in recent years Protestantism has been making a comeback. While not every Protestant would be an Orange supporter, the Order has a considerable membership in the four border counties and hosts one of the biggest annual demonstrations to mark the Battle of the Boyne.If the Orange Order managed to mobilise Protestant voters to vote tactically to keep Sinn Fein candidates out, it could have a significant impact on Sinn Feins final tally of TDs, given that much of the partys support can be found among republicans in these four border counties with Northern Ireland.Ideally, Sinn Fein would like to be in a coalition with Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. But if that proves to be an impossibility, could Sinn Fein form a rainbow alliance of Independent TDs, Irish Labour and any other smaller parties? Such an alliance is a long shot, but it could reduce Enda Kennys majority to a handful.One thing is certain: parties in the Irish Republic will have to recognise Sinn Feins mandate in the same way that Unionists have had to deal with Sinn Fein at Stormont. KSN&C is intended to be a place for well-reasoned civil discourse...not to suggest that we dont appreciate the witty retort or pithy observation. Have at it. But we do not invite the anonymous flaming too often found in social media these days. This is a destination for folks to state your name and speak your piece. It is important to note that, while the Moderator serves as Faculty Regent for Eastern Kentucky University, all comments offered by the Moderator on KSN&C are his own opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Regents, the university administration, faculty, or any members of the university community. On KSN&C, all authors are responsible for their own comments. See full disclaimer at the bottom of the page. The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. SPRINGFIELD The state budget impasse could have "significant" consequences for the public colleges and universities in Illinois, according to a higher-education accrediting agency. In a letter sent Thursday, the Higher Learning Commission, the regional accrediting agency for 19 states including Illinois, issued a warning to Gov. Bruce Rauner and members of the General Assembly, the (Champaign) News-Gazette reported. Schools that have to suspend operations or close because of unavailable state funding could lose their accreditation if they don't come up with plans for their students to continue at another college, the commission warned lawmakers. Updated: SIU enrollment down again CARBONDALE Enrollment at Southern Illinois University took another dip this spring. "The lack of state funding is putting Illinois colleges and universities at serious risk and jeopardizing the future of students," commission President Barbara Gellman-Danley wrote in the letter. Illinois' public colleges and universities have been operating without state funding since the fiscal year began on July 1. Without state funding in place, Chicago State University officials have said their campus could close by March 1, and both Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois universities have raised concerns about their ability to continue operations. Also on Thursday, Gellman-Danley sent letters to all of the state's public colleges and universities, asking them to respond by Feb. 18 with financial information. Legislature approves funding for MAP grants, community colleges The Illinois House and Senate passed a bill Thursday that would fund grants for low-income c Gellman-Danley asked the schools to explain their current cash situation and any financial challenges they're facing with payroll, vendors other expenses. She also said she's seeking an explanation as to how those challenges may affect classes, faculty cuts, enrollment projections and the availability of textbooks, curriculum materials or other resources. If schools believe they will have to suspend operations or close in the coming months, they must provide a plan for their students to continue their college elsewhere, like a private university or a public university in another state, she said. Students at schools that aren't accredited by an agency recognized by the federal government can't access federal financial aid. Educators, legislators clash with Rauner over letter CARBONDALE Days before Chicago State University officials announced the school will be bro In a report released Monday, Moody's Investors Service said all eight of the public universities in Illinois that it rates have negative credit outlooks, adding that the current budget stalemate could have effects that reach beyond the point when political leaders agree on a new budget. "The state budget crisis will have negative longer term effects on Illinois public universities' credit quality, impairing reputation and competitiveness as students make enrollment decisions," the report states. CHICAGO Meeting for the first time this election season, the three Illinois Democrats vying for U.S. Senate worked to distinguish themselves from each other and their GOP rivals Monday, sharing stories of difficult childhoods, business backgrounds and time in the trenches of struggling Chicago neighborhoods. During a meeting before the Chicago Tribune editorial board, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, state Sen. Napoleon Harris and former Chicago Urban League CEO Andrea Zopp also touched on how they'd reduce the national debt and where they differ from President Barack Obama. The winner of the March 15 primary will likely face Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who's seeking his second term and is considered a heavy favorite to win a GOP primary against businessman James Marter. Democrats nationally see Kirk as one of the GOP's most vulnerable incumbents, and Illinois as key to their strategy to pick up seats and possibly win back control of the Senate. GETTING TO KNOW YOU: The candidates introduced themselves to voters, most of whom have heard little about the so-far low-key race. Duckworth, a former Army pilot whose helicopter was shot down in Iraq, acknowledged she's best known for her military background. She said what's made her want to fight for working families is her own childhood, noting she had to work part-time after school to help pay the rent on her family's studio apartment after her father lost his job. Harris said growing up as an African-American male on Chicago's South Side was "tough," but that his mother's emphasis on education led him to Northwestern University and a career in the NFL. He now owns a chain of suburban pizza restaurants. Zopp touted the breadth of her experience, having served as a state and federal prosecutor and spending 10 years as an executive in Fortune 200 companies before taking over the Urban League of Chicago. She also sat on the Chicago Board of Education and a panel that recommended Illinois abolish the death penalty. 1 of Sen. Kirk's GOP primary opponents doesn't make ballot CHICAGO One of the candidates who filed to run against U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in the Republic NATIONAL DEBT: Asked how they would address the U.S.'s massive debt, all three candidates said they wouldn't cut benefits for entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Harris, of Harvey, said the answer is "no more expensive wars" and getting corporations and wealthy people to pay more taxes. Zopp, of Chicago, called for closing corporate tax loopholes and ending the practice known as inversions, when U.S. companies merge with overseas corporations to lower their tax bill. Duckworth, of Hoffman Estates, pointed to what she called waste in the Defense Department, such as billions spent on the F-35 fighter jet program. She also said she'd look at changing the income level at which Social Security taxes are capped, so people who earn higher wages pay a larger percentage than they currently do. POLICING: Zopp and Harris, who are African-American, exchanged jabs over who's done more to address criminal justice issues. Zopp accused Harris and Duckworth of being "largely silent" regarding recent shootings of black residents by Chicago police and a federal civil rights investigation into the police department, noting she's worked on criminal justice issues for years. Harris objected, saying he's been "in the community talking to people who are directly impacted" and that he hasn't seen Zopp there. "You're running in the wrong race," Harris said, saying she should be running for Cook County State's Attorney. Zopp then ripped Harris as having "limited experience and leadership." Harris' reply: "You've never been elected." "What I have done is gotten things done," Zopp said. Senate hopeful Duckworth makes stop in Carbondale CARBONDALE It was all hugs, handshakes and photo opportunities Tuesday evening when U.S. C OBAMA DIFFERENCES: Zopp and Harris both mentioned immigration when asked to name an issue where they disagree with Obama. Zopp blasted recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids against people seeking asylum from Central America, saying the U.S. has "become hyper-deporters." Harris also criticized the administration for separating immigrant families, saying the U.S. needs to invest more in border control and vet people better when they enter the country. Duckworth said she opposed Obama spending millions on arming of Syrian rebels, which she said was money "wasted." The following editorial appeared in Sunday's Washington Post. The question of whether women should - like men - be required to register for the military draft was thrust into the national conversation last week by Army and Marine Corps leaders who favor the idea. Now that women are eligible for all combat roles, it is a natural question. But is the Selective Service system needed at all, for men or women? Wouldn't it make more sense, as presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested during Wednesday's CNN town hall, to put the effort instead into registering all Americans to vote when they turn 18? Gen. Mark A. Milley, Army chief of staff, and Gen. Robert B. Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, Tuesday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that they favor having all Americans who are physically qualified register for the draft, which applies to those ages 18 through 25. The comments favoring the inclusion of women in Selective Service registration constitute a first in the Defense Department. Other military leaders - including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Army acting secretary Patrick Murphy - did not endorse the idea, pushing instead for a national debate on the issue. Congress should take up that suggestion and start with a clear-eyed assessment of what purpose is served by the Selective Service system and the millions of dollars devoted to it. The draft hasn't been used since 1973. The all-volunteer military has proved successful and is favored by military leaders over forcing people into service for relatively short terms. Given the 402-to-2 vote in the House against a draft in 2004, it's clear there is no political support for its comeback. The strongest argument for maintaining the registration system is in the remote possibility of a major calamity confronting the country, but other government databases, nonexistent when the Selective Service Act was enacted in 1917, are available to assist in a mobilization. A far more urgent need for the country is getting people registered to vote. It is estimated that 24 percent of eligible Americans, or 51 million people, are not registered to vote, and studies show the percentage is even higher for those between the ages of 18 and 24. One big reason is an outmoded and mistake-prone system of registration that needlessly frustrates access to the ballot. When U.S. citizens reach the age of 18, they should automatically be registered.Once they are signed up to vote, they should stay registered. It's what Clinton talked about last week in New Hampshire, and a similar plan has been backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. States have the means to do this, as Oregon is showing with a system in which anyone who has or obtains a driver's license is automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. California plans to follow suit. Voting is a civic duty. Government should make it easier, not harder, to do. It is encouraging to note data from the United Network for Organ Sharing that show more than 30,000 organ transplants were performed in the United States last year, reaching the highest total in the countrys history. Nevertheless, the supply of organs donated by living and deceased donors will fall short of the number of patients added last year to the transplant waiting lists. With the persistent shortage, there are those who would seek to increase the organs available for transplantation by providing financial incentives as a motivation for organ donation. These financial incentives would represent a monetary gain or valuable consideration, and are currently prohibited by the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA) to buy and sell organs. The financial incentives (valuable consideration) proposed include a contribution to the donors retirement fund, an income tax credit or a tuition voucher or global health insurance. Even though cash would not be exchanged, these incentives have a monetary value and target individuals who otherwise would not have these resources/finances, for example, to secure their retirement or those not qualifying for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. For those who are enticed by such incentives, they would simply be trading the commodity they have (a kidney) for a commodity they need (a mortgage payment or health insurance). One in seven people in the United States live below the poverty line. The target group of donors/vendors becomes inescapable, it becomes the economically distressed to supply organs for transplantation. Every other country in the world has wrestled with the dilemma of targeting the poor to be the source of organs by such incentives, and other than Iran (whose professionals now regret such a policy) every country will not permit such financial incentives. The World Health Organization rejects a system that would foster a social stratification in obtaining organs for transplantation. The WHO Guiding Principles of Organ Donation and Transplantation states clearly that cells, tissues and organs should only be donated freely, without any monetary payment or other reward of monetary value. Purchasing, or offering to purchase, cells, tissues or organs for transplantation, or their sale by living persons or by the next of kin for deceased persons, should be banned. However this WHO Principle emphasizes that the prohibition on sale or purchase of cells, tissues and organs does not preclude reimbursing reasonable and verifiable expenses incurred by the donor, including loss of income, or paying the costs of recovering, processing, preserving and supplying human cells, tissues or organs for transplantation. Making reimbursement available for the actual costs or losses incurred, regardless of donors financial resources, would not enrich donors but merely make donating a kidney a financially neutral act. Since covering expenses results in neither a better nor worse financial situation for the donor, there would be no need to modify NOTAs prohibition on paying for organs to assure coverage of donor costs. The Declaration of Istanbul calls for the provision of health care for the living donor but importantly related to the donation act of kidney removal. Despite the Affordable Care Act, approximately 10 percent of Americans do not have health insurance. The financial neutrality components would include coverage of the cost for the annual follow-up visits for the kidney donor to include: blood pressure, physical examination, assessment of renal function, urinalysis, and assessment for diabetes or any other medical condition; but not by a health insurance package that would cover the cost of care for example of a malignancy during the rest of the donors lifetime or for trauma care following a motor vehicle accident. If a donors medical insurance does not provide lifelong medical follow-up and treatment of any conditions related to the nephrectomy or if the donors health insurance leaves the donor responsible to pay for a portion such care, those costs should be covered. Donors should also be provided with life insurance to cover death as a result of being a living donor. Interval (perhaps in some instances becoming annual) exams that are covered for the donor should enable the collection of data that determine what remains an unknown lifetime risk of kidney failure and it would also provide the opportunity to treat the donor if kidney disease is developing in the donor. Thus far, the government has not supported the provision of financial incentives as a motivation for organ donation presumably because it does not want to be responsible for placing anyone at risk of kidney failure in their life time as a result of being a donor. But we can all agree that a program of financial neutrality that provides care for the donor is an ethically proper approach for those who wish to be a donor. Otherwise the stale arguments that have been a point and counterpoint in the debate of financial incentives are going nowhere for the help of donors and the needs of the patients that would benefit from organ transplants. Students must continue the civil rights movements fight for justice and racial equality, the Rev. Joseph Darby said Monday. "You can shop and dine in any restaurant you choose, but you still get followed around the store as a potential shoplifter," Darby said. There are misguided law enforcement officers that treat you not as citizens, but as suspects. It is your turn, he said. Darby, the presiding elder of the Beaufort District of the AME Church, spoke at the 48th Orangeburg Massacre Commemoration Ceremony held at South Carolina State Universitys Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium. The event that has come to be known as the Orangeburg Massacre unfolded after three nights of escalating racial tension over students efforts to desegregate All-Star Triangle Bowl on Russell Street. On Feb. 8, 1968, three students were killed and 28 others were injured when South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers opened fire. S.C. State students Henry Smith and Samuel Hammond, along with 19-year-old Wilkinson High School student Delano Middleton, were killed. Darby said the civil rights movement was in many ways led by college students. "The input and leadership of young people are still critical in the fight for civil and human rights," Darby said. Young people still are dealing with civil rights violations such as inadequate education, voter disenfranchisement and lack of adequate healthcare, he said. Darby also noted that racism may not come from bigots in Ku Klux Klan robes, but people who wear business suits, run for political office and make inflammatory political noise about taking their country back. "It is your turn." "Jim Crow may be dead but James Crow Jr. is alive and well," Darby continued. "You have to join the battle of social change. You have to prepare to stand up and speak out. It is your turn to advocate for social change that brings freedom." Darby's message was in line with the program's theme, "Social Change Inspires Freedoms." Darby said the chapter has still not been closed on the Orangeburg Massacre. "What happened on that day still stands as unfinished business despite Gov. Mark Sanford's apology during his term," Darby said. "It will still be unfinished business until the state of South Carolina does the right thing and conducts a proper investigation that formally acknowledges without reservation that what happened here was an act of brutal racial injustice." Branchville resident Claudine Williams, who attended the memorial service for the first time, said race relations have come a long way, but still need to improve. The struggles of the older generations have made it easier for today's generation, she said. "They think it just happened," Williams said. Edith Williams, a Claflin freshman in 1968, says it is important for the younger generation to remember the past. "It does not have such an effect on them," Williams said. "They don't think about things that happened in the past that have a direct bearing on what is going on now. Margaret Felder Wilson said students need to understand history and sacrifices that were made. If these kids don't realize what has happened, they are going to repeat it, Wilson said. In keeping with the events theme, S.C. State recognized Voorhees College President Dr. Cleveland Sellers and the Orangeburg Chapter of the NAACP as recipients of the 2016 Smith-Hammond-Middleton Social Justice award. The university presents the award to an individual or organization that has demonstrated a commitment to using influence to eliminate injustices. Sellers was the only person imprisoned as a result of the Orangeburg Massacre. At the time, he represented the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was convicted of inciting the riot that preceded the shootings. He was later pardoned. Providing musical accompaniment during Mondays ceremony, the S.C. State University Brass Ensemble played "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" and Claflin Universitys Concert Choir performed "If I Can Help Somebody and "Make them Hear You." A moment of silence was held for the nine people who lost their lives in Junes shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Monday's program concluded with the laying of three white wreaths and the lighting of three candles in honor of Smith, Hammond and Middleton. A flame was lit by family members of the deceased victims. The wreath-laying ceremony was initially scheduled to occur at the Orangeburg Massacre Legacy Plaza but rainfall prohibited it. Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office A waitress at a North Road restaurant called law enforcement after an elderly male patron asked her to put her panties in a take-out cup on Sunday morning, according to a sheriffs office incident report. The man, who is a frequent visitor of the restaurant, placed a note in the apron of a waitress. The waitress told deputies that she went to the kitchen area and retrieved the note from her apron pocket. In the note, the man offered to give her $40 if shed remove her panties, place them in a take-out cup and give him the cup, the report said. The note also reportedly asked her to write down her work schedule, her phone number and the best times for him to call her. The waitress asked a co-worker to continue to wait on the man until he left the business. In other reports: A Bass Drive man called law enforcement on Feb. 2 to report that someone stole the kitchen sink, toilet, water heater and wires from the breaker box of his Santee home. The items are valued at $1,000. On Friday night, deputies responded to a Kings Road residence where a man reported that four iPhones, six pairs of Michael Jordan sneakers and one custom-made computer were missing from his home. The man told deputies that he repairs cellphones for his friends, but he didnt have any serial numbers for any of the items that were stolen. The value of the stolen items is $7,900. A Branchville man said that he returned to his Freedom Road home to discover his vehicle parked on the side of the road with all four windows shattered. The man told deputies that he didnt realize his 1995 Crown Victoria had been stolen until he saw it on the side of the road with the windows shattered. He also said the steering column was damaged. Someone test drove a 2005 silver Chevrolet Trailblazer on Saturday afternoon and never brought it back to AA Again Auto Sales on Five Chop Road. It is valued at $7,000. Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship. 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By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success." /By Azernews/ By Nazrin Gadimova Air Arabia, UAEs low-cost carrier, can launch direct flights from countrys third largest city Sharjah to Baku, Gabala and other regions of Azerbaijan. AZAL Aviation Security Department together with the management of the international airports eyes closer cooperation with a number of countries within passenger air transportation. The department is in talks with representatives of Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Israel and some other countries since early 2016. The key purpose of the talks is to perform flights from Azerbaijans regions to the popular destinations in other countries. Particularly these are flights from Istanbul to Gabala and Ganja operated by Turkish Pegasus and Atlasjet. Earlier, AZAL Vice-President Arif Mammadov said Azerbaijan is interested in further cooperation with the foreign airlines in a bid to expand flight geography and to attract more tourists to the country. Recently, representatives of El Al Israel Airlines have visited Azerbaijan for carrying out an audit in the field of aviation safety at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. The Israeli airlines announced plans to launch direct flights from Tel Aviv to Baku operated together with another Israeli carrier, Arkia. Furthermore, the Russian UTair and Ural Airlines held audits at the airports of Baku, Lankaran and Ganja. Following the results of the audits, they highly appreciated the level of the aviation safety organization and commercial flights service. Today, Turkish Airlines operates Istanbul Nakhchivan, Istanbul Ganja flights, Utair operates Moscow Nakhchivan flight, while Ural Airlines operates Moscow Ganja, Moscow Lankaran, Moscow Gabala flights. Moreover, several other Russian airlines reported about intentions to carry out flights from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk to Azerbaijans airports. Currently, Azerbaijan's six airports - in Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gabala, Lankaran and Zagatala have the international status and meet all modern requirements in the field of civil aviation work. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received Altay Efendiyev, Secretary General of the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development Feb. 8, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry told Trend. At the meeting, the sides discussed the development of economic-trade relations and sectorial cooperation within the working groups among the Member States in the framework of the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. Mammadyarov stressed the contribution of Azerbaijan, as the current chair of the GUAM Organization, to the development of cooperation among the Member States in the fields of transport, tourism, energy, information and communication technologies. At the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on the issues of mutual interest. /By Trend/ The EU is going to broaden the scope of its anti-terrorism cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmid. Schmid made the remarks in a meeting with Irans Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and the Pacific Ebrahim Rahimpour in Tehran, IRIB news agency reported February 8. Stressing Irans important role in dealing with regional crises, Schmid said the cooperation will increase in the post-JCPOA era. The JCPOA, official name for Irans nuclear deal, which has taken Iran away from harsh Western sanctions has also opened a way for hope of a more politically and diplomatically cooperative Iran. Schmid also said it is necessary to take measures to improve the situation in Afghanistan, inviting Iran to positively consider discussing the Afghani issue at the upcoming Brussels meeting. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will attend the meeting which is to be held in one week. Ebrahim Rahimpour, for his part, said Iran is ready to offer its capabilities to fight the growing threat of terrorism and extremism in the Middle East region. Iran is surrounded by countries grappling with internal as well as foreign-incited conflicts. The Syrian crisis has been going on for over five years, whereas Iraq has been dealing with the threat of the IS terrorist group (ISIL, ISIS, Daesh) since mid-2014. Situation in Afghanistan is no better with extremist groups waging unrest. /By Trend/ Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu say they have put together an action plan to deal with the migrant crisis, according to Euronews. Germanys Chancellor is in Turkey for talks on managing the ongoing refugee crisis. Last weeks offensive in Aleppo, Syrias second city, has given fresh impetus to calls for solutions to the crisis to be found. The plan made up of ten related topics, will be implemented in the coming days and weeks. It includes UN-level negotiations with Russia about its military action in Syria, the deployment of humanitarian aid from Germany to the Syrian border and a boost in support for the EU border agency Frontex. Merkel and Davotoglu also stressed the need to bring an end to human trafficking, to establish a legal framework for migration and to set up a system to fairly distribute arriving refugees among EU member states. /By Azertac/ Irans President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran and Tbilisi should improve relations in all fields to serve the two nations interests, Press TV reported. Economic and cultural cooperation between Iran and Georgia should be further strengthened in line with the two nations interests, Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Monday. He added that Tehran and Tbilisi enjoy great potential to enhance economic cooperation and noted that the cancellation of visa requirements between the two sides can help improve ties. Rouhani said Georgia can be the corridor for trade exchanges between Iran and the Black Sea countries, adding geographical position and great common facilities have prepared the appropriate ground for multilateral cooperation. The Iranian president further added that the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries last July constituted an international victory for diplomacy. Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany started to implement the JCPOA on January 16. After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the UN Security Council and the US were lifted. Iran has, in return, put some limitations on its nuclear activities. The nuclear agreement was signed on July 14, 2015, following two and a half years of intensive talks. The Georgian premier said the JCPOA implementation would serve the interests of Iran and benefit the entire region, including Georgia, and the world. Kvirikashvili expressed Georgias readiness to bolster economic cooperation and open a new chapter in bilateral relations. The Georgian premier said he would pay a visit to Tehran in the near future and also invited the Iranian president to travel to Tbilisi. /By Trend/ Russia does not abandon the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov told RIA Novosti. Karlov said that it is difficult to predict further situation with the project amid the crisis in the Russia-Turkey relations. Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after Turkish Air Force jets shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber when it entered Turkish airspace Nov. 24. After the incident the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and on special economic measures in regard to Turkey. "Russia does not abandon the Turkish Stream project, but now it is time for Turkey to act, he said. Following December 1, 2014, when a memorandum was signed on this project, we rapidly fulfilled our work, but faced with the unwillingness of the Turkish partners to take return actions. The Turkish side failed to start negotiations on the intergovernmental agreement in 2015 due to the tense political situation, two parliamentary elections in Turkey, he said. It is very difficult to predict the further situation with the project in current conditions. So, first we are waiting for the Turkish side to come to its senses and do everything it must do for the normalization of bilateral relations." He recalled the position of Russia. According to this position, the Turkish sides official apology for the incident with the Su-24 warplane, the punishment of those responsible and compensation for the damage caused to Russia are the conditions for the normalization of relations with Turkey. /By Trend/ Irans Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called for $200 billion of investment for development of country's oil industry, Shana news agency reported. The minister said that Iran doesn't have enough of domestic sources to develop the oil industry, thus foreign investment is needed. The new model of oil contracts (IPC) is aimed at attracting foreign investment, he said at a press conference in Tehran. According to Zanganeh, Iranian oil industrys upstream projects need $130 billion of investment while the downstream projects demand $70 billion to be developed. He further added that several regional countries have taken measures to discourage foreign investors from investing in Iran. Last November, Tehran hosted 137 companies from 45 countries for a two-day conference, during which legal generalities of the IPC were introduced and it was announced that more details about the contracts would be unveiled during a conference likely to be held in London in February 2016. However, on Jan. 30 Iran announced that the country has decided to cancel the London conference due to problems for issuing UK visa. Prior to the scheduled London conference, a group of Iranian conservatives protested against the IPC suggesting the new model of the oil contract is against the Iranian constitution. The IPC is a framework that lays out the basic structure - and some details - regarding all future petroleum contracts in Iran. It was earlier announced that the country plans to boost oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day and gas output to 1.4 billion cubic meters a day by 2021. Irans current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported. By holding 157.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil. The Islamic Republic also holds 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18.2 percent of total global gas reserves. /By Trend/ Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, addressing a Cabinet of Ministers meeting, urged to constantly control the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. During the meeting, he also demanded to use reserves to increase natural gas production and processing, said the countrys government in a message Feb. 9. In a report today, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper said topographic, engineering and survey works have been completed for the construction of TAPI. This will allow choosing an optimal route for TAPI and defining the properties of the pipes to be used to transport the natural gas. The TAPI projects implementation began in December 2015. The pipeline is planned to have a total length of 1,735 kilometers. The main document for the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010. /By Trend/ /By Azernews/ By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan allocates $0.5 million to support non-Islamic religious communities in the country every year, Chairman of the State Committee Mubariz Gurbanli said at the meeting with participants in the International Winter School of multiculturalism on February 9. He emphasized that the government provides mosques, synagogues and churches with benefits to ensure electricity. Touching upon the tension developed between Sunnis and Shia in some Muslim countries, the chairman stressed that Azerbaijan does not experience such situations, thanks to upbringing and mentality of the people. Recently, Sunnis and Shia made a joint prayer in the Heydar mosque in Baku. Azerbaijani families do not inculcate hatred in children towards anyone, he said, voicing tolerance in Azerbaijan is supported at the state level. Today many people die in clashes on national, ethnic, religious grounds in some 30 countries, said Gurbanli. National, ethnic and religious conflicts led to the death of 2.5 million people during past 15 years. Some 50 million people have been expelled from their native lands, the chairman said. He added Azerbaijan hosts about one million refugees and IDPs. The UN has identified 10 major global problems, which urges the humanity to unite to solve them. Even the richest countries in the world are not able to tackle many of these problems. They can be solved by inter-religious dialogue and multiculturalism, Gurbanli noted. The International Winter School of multiculturalism "Multiculturalism as a way of life in Azerbaijan: teach, explore, share" was launched in Baku on February 8. Organized jointly by the Baku International Center of Multiculturalism, Knowledge Foundation under the Azerbaijani President and the Baku Slavic University, the event will last until February 15 and will be held in Guba, Khachmaz and Gusar regions. The winter school is attended by students from Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany. Azerbaijan, a country at crossroads of numerous cultures, religions and civilizations, was known as a bridge between Europe and Asia since antiquity. The country always was a land, where different nations, languages and cultural traditions met and interacted. Azerbaijan played an important role in the interaction of different religious groups of the region, although the secular state Azerbaijan has an overwhelming majority of Muslim population (96 percent). Worshipers of other religions enjoy freedom here, and one can often witness Jewish synagogues and Orthodox and Christian churches and other religious centers functioning freely here. As a country with polyethnic composition, Azerbaijan has declared 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism. Today, when the world is struggling with different religious and ethnic dissension, Azerbaijani multiculturalism plays the role of a catalyst, proving that people of different nationalities and religions can live in peace side by side. Taking intercultural dialogue as one of the most pressing challenges of the contemporary world, Azerbaijan has been sponsoring World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku once every two years since 2011. About Me Tom I'm Canadian so I love the outdoors and all things beautiful and peaceful whether in creation or by human design. I came to know Jesus Christ personally when I was twenty eight years old. Life is rich, full, and beautiful knowing Him regardless of ones circumstances of life. View my complete profile Germany-based Ambulanz Mobile, a leading ambulance manufacturer, has named Bristol Vehicles Manufacturing Division (VMD), part of the Concorde Corodex Group, as its sole distributor across the GCC. Bristol VMD, the Abu Dhabi-based rescue and safety vehicles manufacturer, has become the sole distributor for Ambulanz Mobile in the GCC. The agreement gives Bristol VMD the opportunity to customise Ambulanz Mobile vehicles according to specifications required by local emergency services including Abu Dhabi Police and Dubai Ambulance, said a statement from the company. The partnership demonstrates Bristol VMDs capacity to customise emergency vehicles at its 20,000 sq m assembly plant, testing facility and warehouse in Abu Dhabi. The vehicles will be assembled locally and fitted with medical equipment according to client demands, it added. Mahmoud Awad, managing director of Concorde-Corodex Group, said: To be able to take a vehicle built by Ambulanz Mobile to the highest European safety standards and customise it according to the specifications of our local clients is an aspect of our service that we are proud of and that distinguishes us from our competitors. Bristol VMD is very confident that emergency services throughout the region will be hugely impressed by the design, performance and safety features of the worlds most advanced ambulance. We expect strong sales growth for Bristol VMD as a result of this partnership, he said. Awad highlighted the stringent crash tests that Ambulanz Mobiles ambulances undergo at Dekra accident research facilities, ensuring that crews and patients are fully protected, further added the statement. Bristol VMD sold 35 Ambulanz Mobile vehicles to Abu Dhabi Police in 2015 and the company expects the new local customisation service to trigger a spike in sales throughout the GCC, it said. In addition to firefighting vehicles and ambulances, Bristol VMD also offers innovative rapid intervention vehicles, service vehicles, and extendable vehicles, and the highest quality of service maintenance and refurbishment for all types of vehicles. Bristol VMD plans to expand and supply international markets such as Africa and Central Asia in the coming year, it added. TradeArabia News Service UAE-based Al Falahi Group of Companies has signed an agreement with the Chinese Eastern Dragon Company, a global leader in oil field services, to launch a joint venture worth Dh300 million ($81 million) in the UAE. The joint venture will produce and supply equipment, including high-tech devices, within the oil services sector for both public and private enterprises, said a statement. The agreement was signed by Mohammed Jerio Al Falahi, CEO, Al Falahi Group, and by John Chen, CEO, Chinese Eastern Dragon Company, during a press conference held at the Al Falahi Groups headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The event was attended by a number of businessmen and representatives from major companies in the sector. Al Falahi said: The agreement comes within the framework of developing the oil services sector in the UAE in general and Abu Dhabi in particular. The private sector is a strategic partner of the public sector in implementing the strategic plan and the UAEs future vision, and an active contributor to the development process in its various forms, he added. The new venture aims to add value to the Al Falahi Group of companies, which includes City Mall, a leading shopping centre, located in Madinat Zayed in the Western region, it added. Mohammed Jerio Al Falahi, CEO, Al Falahi Group, pointed out that the partnership with the Chinese Eastern Dragon Company is necessary to build institutional partnerships with industrial, commercial, national, and international sectors, in order to serve the UAEs oil sector and upgrade the level of services in general. Chen said that he looks forward to contributing to the success of this project and the others that the company is developing, in cooperation with his partners across the UAE and abroad. TradeArabia News Service Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if Syrian government forces encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the UN said on Tuesday, warning of a massive new flight of refugees from a Russian-backed assault. Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have launched a major offensive in the countryside around Aleppo, which has been divided between government and rebel control for years. The assault to surround Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city with 2 million people, amounts to one of the most important shifts of momentum in the five-year civil war that has killed 250,000 people and already driven 11 million from their homes. Since last week, fighting has already wrecked the first attempt at peace talks for two years and led rebel fighters to speak about losing their northern power base altogether. The UN is worried the government advance could cut off the last link for civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo with the main Turkish border crossing, which has long served as the lifeline for insurgent-controlled territory. "It would leave up to 300,000 people, still residing in the city, cut off from humanitarian aid unless cross-line access could be negotiated," the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an urgent bulletin. If government advances around the city continue, it said: "Local councils in the city estimate that some 100,000 - 150,000 civilians may flee". Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrians, the world's biggest refugee population, has so far kept its frontier mostly closed to the latest wave of displaced, making it more difficult to reach them with urgently needed aid. The UN urged Ankara on Tuesday to open the border and has called on other countries to assist Turkey with aid. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as a million refugees could arrive if the Russian-Syrian campaign continues. Fifty thousand people had reached Turkey's borders in the latest wave, Ankara had admitted 10,000 so far and would allow in others in a "controlled fashion", he said. The UN World Food Programme said in a statement it had begun food distribution in the Syrian town of Azaz near the Turkish border for the new wave of displaced people. LITTLE HOPE TO REVIVE TALKS "The situation is quite volatile and fluid in northern Aleppo with families on the move seeking safety," said Jakob Kern, WFP's country director in Syria. "We are extremely concerned as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off, but we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey." The Russian-backed government assault around Aleppo, as well as advances further south, helped torpedo the first peace talks for nearly two years, which collapsed last week before they got under way in earnest. International powers are due to meet on Thursday in Munich in a bid to resurrect the talks, but diplomats hold out virtually no hope for negotiations as long as the Russian-backed government offensive is under way at full bore. Rebels say they will not attend without a halt to bombing. Moscow turned the momentum in the war in favour of its ally President Bashar Al-Assad when it joined the conflict four months ago with a campaign of air strikes against his enemies, many of whom are supported by Arab states, Turkey and the West. - Reuters Kuwait backs international efforts against hardline Islamist groups in Iraq and Syria although the Gulf Arab state's constitution prevents it from sending troops to fight abroad, a senior Kuwaiti official said. Kuwait, a US ally and neighbour of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, is part of a 34-nation alliance announced by Riyadh in December aimed at countering Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Several Gulf states including Kuwait also provide varying kinds of support to a US-led coalition that has been fighting Islamic State in Syria since 2014. The issue of Gulf Arab participation in Iraq and Syria has come to the fore because Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it was open to sending special forces to Syria, and the UAE has said it would be willing to send troops to train and support a US-led coalition against Islamic State. "Kuwait stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our brothers in Saudi on all fronts. We are always ready and able to provide what is needed to our Gulf partners within the confines of our constitution," said Sheikh Mohammad Al Mubarak Al Sabah, Kuwait's minister for cabinet affairs, in an interview in Dubai. Speaking late on Tuesday, he said this could be "intelligence-sharing, the provision of establishments required by the coalition to facilitate their activities". He did not elaborate. Diplomats in the region have said Kuwait has permitted some foreign air forces participating in the US-led coalition to use airfields in its territory. Major Opec oil producer Kuwait, which was invaded by Iraq in 1990, can declare defensive war if under direct threat but offensive war is prohibited by the constitution. Home to several US military bases, Kuwait suffered its deadliest militant attack in decades in June when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself up inside a packed Shi'ite mosque, killing 27 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility. "It's very difficult to stop a lone, deranged person from doing something like that," Sheikh Mohammad, a member of the ruling Al Sabah family said, when asked about security measures since the attack. "However many new procedures have been put in place in public areas in order to make it more difficult ... be it religious venues or commercial or social venues." This included new legislation requiring government buildings to install closed-circuit television and for private institutions to have CCTV with a data log in public areas. He described the attack as a failed attempt to stir up sectarian tensions in Kuwait, which is home to a sizeable Shi'ite minority active in business and politics. "If anything, that bombing showed the world, and showed specifically the deranged people who adhere to this skewed doctrine, what it is to be Kuwaiti," said Sheikh Mohammad. "It brought us closer together," he said, because it had reawakened the idea of Kuwaiti national identity. -Reuters Investors in Egypts solar energy sector will float tenders in the next few days to invite bids to provide security, technical, and administrative services for the projects in Benban area, a report said. Mohamed El-Sobky, chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), will sign the agreement with the contracted companies, Daily News Egypt reported, quoting a solar energy company official. Investors will present the conditions and regulations for the tender to 18 international and local companies, the official said, adding that these companies are expected to present their offers by mid-February. Services for the project sites include security, labour recruitment, accommodation, meals, sanitation, health, safety, and communications services and water management, the report said. A total of 39 firms are planning to build solar power plants in the Benban area in Aswan with a capacity of 1,800 MW and investments estimated at $1.8 billion, according to the report. Construction is estimated to take eight months, the report said. With power demand across the Middle East expected to grow at 9.9 per cent a year until 2020, governments are keen to increase the share of renewables in the power mix, a report said. A shortage of gas and, in some countries, increasing reliance on liquid fuels, a key product for export, have also added to the urgency of energy diversification while environmental concerns increase, added the latest edition of the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporations (Apicorp) Energy Research, titled Renewables in the Arab world: a new phase. But progress has been mixed, as net energy importers and net energy exporters face different realities. To support their renewable sectors, countries such as Jordan and Egypt introduced feed-in tariffs (FiTs), tax exemptions, and power-purchase agreements (PPAs). On the other hand, energy-exporting countries have done little to incorporate renewables, as they continue to rely on cheap-to-extract conventional sources to meet rising electricity demand. Falling technology prices have given some countries an opportunity to move towards increasingly cost-competitive renewable energy, while government support, like in other parts of the world, will be instrumental in driving the growth of renewables in the region. Morocco, Jordan and UAE show commitment Reliance on fuel imports to meet domestic demand and a rising import bill has pushed Morocco and Jordan to diversify their energy sources. In Morocco, the governments target of 2GW of solar and 2GW of wind power by 2020 is on track. Current wind capacity is over 750MW. The large increase in wind capacity over the past two years is attributed to the start-up of the 300MW Tarfaya wind project in 2014. The project is a joint venture between GDF Suez and Nareva Holding and was financed by local banks. As for solar, the 160MW NOOR-1 concentrated solar power (CSP) is anticipated to be commissioned early this year while NOOR-2 and NOOR-3 are expected to add a combined 350MW in 2017. Upon completion, NOOR will become the largest CSP project in the world. The multi-billion dollar project is financed by international development agencies including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank. Jordans commissioning of the 117MW Tafila wind project in the second half of 2015 was a milestone for the kingdom. The project had an estimated cost of $287m and was financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), EIB, and other international institutions. As for PV, the country is expected to exceed its target of 600MW by 2020. Capacity of 200MW is expected to come on line by the end of 2016 and an additional 300MW by the end of 2017. These projects were also financed by various international institutions and banks. More recently, Masdar, in the UAE, announced that it will build a 200MW PV plant for the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources but no details have been provided. The UAE has shown a serious commitment to developing solar energy. The 100MW Shams CSP plant has been operational since 2014 in Abu Dhabi. The cost of the project was $600 million and was financed by international banks including BNP Paribas, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Mizuho. On the other hand, Masdars ambitious Nour project, which aims to develop 300MW of PV, continues to face delays. In Dubai, the 13MW Phase I of Dubais solar park was completed in 2013. The 200MW Phase II has been awarded and will come on line in 2017 while Phase III is in the tendering process, with plans to bring 800MW on line by 2020. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is in charge of developing renewables in the emirate and aims to have 7 per cent of Dubais generation from renewables by 2020. Additionally, Dubai introduced net-metering in 2014 to promote small-scale solar in the residential sector. By 2030, Dubai will require all rooftops to have solar panels as part of a strategy to generate 75 per cent of electricity from solar by 2050. Egypt was able to achieve $50/MWh for onshore wind (which has been beaten by Morocco in January 2016). The price in the ACWA bid is equivalent to that for a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) at around $2.70-5.00/MMBtu or $10-16/barrel. This is promising for the region given that Qatar is the only Arab country with abundant cheap natural gas. Gas supplies in Abu Dhabi and Egypt are estimated to cost in the range of $5-6/MMBtu and can be more expensive in other countries. Based on these estimates, solar PV and onshore wind are capable of undercutting conventional sources in some countries, despite the widespread perception that renewables are not cost competitive. But slow progress in other countries Other net-exporting countries are struggling to kick start their programmes. Large oil or gas reserves and cheap extraction costs mean that hydrocarbons continue to meet rising demand in countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Policy uncertainty and the lack of an efficient regulatory framework are mainly responsible for slow progress. In 2012, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy announced plans to invest $109 billion to produce 41GW of solar by 2032 in the kingdom. But little progress has been made so far. Given the large amount of investment required to reach this ambitious target, it is highly unlikely that the government will meet its renewable targets for now. Other countries, such as Kuwait, have declared a 15 per cent renewable-energy target by 2020 but have only selected preferred bidders for its 50MW Al-Shagaya CSP plant; while Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain have made minor investments with no significant additions expected soon. Despite many claims that renewable energy will never reach its potential - unless subsidies are phased out - fuel subsidies are not the main constraint for renewable development and other factors play a more important role. One problem lies in the electricity-market structure in Arab countries. Almost all rely on a state-owned wholesale buyer to buy and sell electricity. Government wholesale buyers decide the purchase price of electricity from generators as well as the selling price to consumers. If governments want to keep prices low for end-consumers, there is nothing to prevent them from incentivising renewable-energy sources in the same way they subsidise conventional sources. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of renewables in the region. Net-importing countries, driven by their desire to reduce dependency on fuel imports even in a period of low oil prices, will continue to lead in investment and deployment of renewable energy. But financing is becoming more challenging in the current environment and these countries need to continue developing their regulatory framework to attract investment into this sector. For net-exporting countries - with the exception of the UAE - renewables will take a back seat as they continue to rely primarily on conventional sources for additional capacity in the coming years and will use demand-side efficiency and price reform as measures to tackle rising consumption. But already the region has received some of the lowest renewable-energy prices awarded globally for both PV and wind and, with some of the best resources in the world, renewable energy has great potential in the Arab world. But this needs governments to rise to the challenge and improve the regulatory and investment environment to attract investment in one of the fastest-growing energy markets. TradeArabia News Service Siemens has extended a long-term contract to provide service and maintenance, as well as component upgrades, at the Nubaria, Talkha and El Kureimat power stations in Egypt. The agreement was signed under the supervision of Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC), represented by Middle Delta Electricity Production Company and Upper Egypt Electricity Production Company. The 10-year extension calls for Siemens to continue providing service and maintenance for eight SGT5-4000F gas turbines and the associated generators. In addition to long-term service and maintenance, the scope of the new agreement for the three power stations includes several modernization and upgrade measures for the eight gas turbines in order to improve operational flexibility. Siemens will apply a 33MAC upgrade to extend the intervals between the gas turbine inspections from 25,000 equivalent operating hours (EOH) to 33,000 EOH. Siemens will also upgrade the gas turbine controls to its market leading SPPA-T3000 control system. The upgrade will enable the plant operator to make faster, informed decisions in daily operation of the plant. A training programme for the power plant personnel is also part of this new agreement. Siemens is committed to working closely with the Ministry of Energy in Egypt as the country looks to meet the regions growing power demands, said Tim Holt, CEO of Siemens Power Generation Services, Power and Gas business unit. By modernizing and upgrading existing power components, we are providing our advanced service technologies, including our industrial-strength data analytics and remote monitoring capabilities, to help ensure the long-term reliability of these power plants for many years to come. Ensuring the continued, reliable performance of existing power plants and upgrading components to help meet power demand peaks is vitally important, added Holt. Siemens has been doing business in Egypt since 1859 and has maintained a continuous presence in the country since opening its first office in Cairo in 1901. The company's technology and services have been implemented in the Nubaria, Talkha, El Kureimat, Damietta, Ataka, Sidi Krir, Ayoun Mousa, Cairo West and Midelec power plants. TradeArabia News Service An improved website and initiatives to garner multi-stakeholder and partner bid development support for the emirates business events sector will be rolled out by the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau (ADCB) at ibtm arabia today (February 9). Running till February 11 at Jumeirah at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, the regional Meetings, Incentives, Conference & Exhibition (MICE) event celebrates its 10th anniversary edition this year. Our emphasis at ibtm arabia is to enhance awareness of the expanding range of business events facilities and outline a new compelling range of support which will solidify Abu Dhabis appeal as an international business events and incentives hub focused towards driving the emirate as a dynamic global business events leader, said Mubarak Al Shamisi, ADCB Director. The website offers a portal to direct proposal submissions with a new, user-friendly, four-stage Request For Proposal form ensuring tailored and relevant assistance, an interactive venue finder featuring all of the capitals venues with business facilities, a mash-up map and TripAdvisor integration, as well as comparable case studies featuring Abu Dhabi events. The improved website features an image-driven interface that is packed full of enriched and insightful new content, a comprehensive events calendar that can be filtered by business and leisure, the ability to download useful information and multimedia about business-related facts, figures, case studies and useful guides about Abu Dhabi as a meeting destination, as well as dedicated social media channels launched in July 2015 to ease event planning usabilityall on a platform optimised for mobile devices. The online facelift was revealed today at the Abu Dhabi pavilion at ibtm arabia, the leading event for the Arabian meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry, and the revamped abudhabi-cb.ae Convention Bureau website has been introduced as a part of a broader overarching TCA Abu Dhabi strategy to continuously update digital offerings for their users. Enhancements to the emirates coordinated joint public and private sector One Abu Dhabi partnership bid development approach are also set to be unveiled. Two dedicated Industry Development Committees - the first consisting of Governmental and strategic stakeholder partners, the other a collection of leading hoteliers, professional conference organisers and other sector partners - have been introduced for the business events sector. The Governmental committees objective is to offer government support in the planning and execution of all upcoming events within the Convention Bureau whilst championing the emirate as a dynamic global business events leader. The task force works alongside the bureau to identify bid development opportunities within the business events sector and develop a strong foundation in the execution of upcoming business events to strengthen the chance of winning international bids. The Business Events committee meets to discuss international business event trends and development opportunities, and aims to increase the number of business events in the capital to expand the Abu Dhabi footprint whilst building a strong bid network to increase chances of winning varying bids. The launch of a brand new Convention Bureau website allows event organisers to directly submit proposals and for stakeholders to work collaboratively on bids, and the two new industry development committees offer a unique bid development network with stakeholders, government entities, hoteliers, and service providers in an collaborative accessible and resourceful way, added Al Shamisi. Later in the year, the bureau will launch a new ambassador programme initiative involving local experts, academia, business leaders and government officials. The programme will see reputable ambassadors displaying Abu Dhabis strengths and advancements in various industries and therefore advocating the capital as an events destination within their specified economic categories. As the official host destination for this annual gathering of industry leaders, ibtm arabia is the perfect platform to introduce these initiatives to ensure Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau is well placed to continue to cater to all the fundamentals for the development of Abu Dhabis Meetings, Incentive, Conference and Exhibitions industry, Al Shamisi said. TradeArabia News Service British Airways said it would begin flying from Stansted Airport, establishing a presence at London's No.3 airport for the first time and bringing it into direct competition with budget carrier Ryanair on leisure routes. BA, owned by International Airlines Group, said on Tuesday that from May it would fly to Faro in Portugal, as well as Ibiza, Malaga and Palma in Spain, from 49 pounds ($71) one way. The full-service operator, which provides complimentary refreshments on flights, will compete directly on those routes with no-frills Ryanair, whose cheapest flights in May cost about 25 pounds one way. BA's move into secondary airport Stansted enters traditional budget carrier territory, a change from a wider trend of low cost airlines increasingly flying from a city's main airport and stealing market share from full-service airlines. Stansted, 35 miles north of London, will become BA's fourth airport in the region. It already flies from London's Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports. BA said the flights would be operated by its BA CityFlyer subsidiary on two-cabin 98-seat Embraer jets which are usually based at London City. Reuters This Just In Daffodil deadline Friday Orders are currently being taken for daffodils, the American Cancer Societys flower of hope. Pre-order deadline is Friday, Feb. 12, and delivery will be made the week of March 8. Relay For Life teams are taking orders this year. If you know someone on a team, or are on a team yourself, make sure to order some daffodils to help teams meet their goals, while raising funds to fight cancer. All proceeds above cost of flowers go to the American Cancer Societys ongoing fight against cancer. Orders may also be phoned in to the American Cancer Societys local office, phone 235-0044. For over a quarter of a century Casper has been bringing the cheerful yellow bouquets to the community, a harbinger of spring to brighten the lives of folks in nursing homes, hospitals and cancer patients, as well as businesses and homes. The flowers arrive as 10 buds in a bouquet for a donation of $10. Delivery will be made for orders of five bunches for $40, or 10 bunches for $70. After arriving they are bloomed out as a fresh bouquet. For information about cancer programs please call the local office at 235-0044, the 24-hour answering service at 1-800-ACS-2345, or check online at www.cancer.org. Jam session Sunday Jam Session Sunday Feb. 14, 2015, 4 to 8 p.m., at the Eagles Hall, 306 N. Durbin St. Eagle Riders will be preparing delicious hamburgers for those who need nourishment and the stage will be available for those that play an instrument or vocalize some beautiful melodies. Dancing and good fun is allowed. No cover charge, just enjoy by listening, dancing or displaying your musical talent. Robbie Daniels 235-5130 AAUW readers meet The next meeting of the AAUW Readers Group will be on Tuesday, February 16 at noon at the Casper Petroleum Club. After a no-host lunch, Robin Broumley will discuss the autobiographical This Time Together by Carol Burnett. For more information, please call Robin at 259-4174. Needle Guild meets Tuesday The Casper Needle Guilds program for February will be Mary Lincolns Needle Book. We will meet at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday at the Central Wyoming Senior Center, 1831 East 4th Street. We will stitch an adaptation of a needle book used by Mary Todd Lincoln. A partial kit will be available for non-members for $3. Please call Ann Hudson at 265-5510 for more information and to reserve a place. The Casper Needle Guild is an affiliate of the Embroiderers Guild of America, who mission is to inspire passion for the needle arts through education the celebration of its heritage. Annual trails meeting Feb. 17 The Platte River Trails Trust (PRTT) Board of Directors invites the public to the associations Annual Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2016 at the Tate Pumphouse Trail Center, 1775 W. 1st Street, from 4:30 ti 6:30 p.m. At this meeting the public will have an opportunity to visit with Platte River Trails Board Members and discuss projects slated for 2016 and beyond. Incoming Board Chair Bruce English is excited about the great projects the PRTT has on the drawing board for 2016. We have 2 major projects ready for construction this spring and summer and another project well be designing and hopefully putting out to bid this year. We invite the public to drop by the Pumphouse and learn more about these projects as well as other trail enhancements planned for this year says English. Tourism in Wyoming is at an all-time high, and given Caspers central location in the state we believe trail infrastructure encourages visitors to linger a bit longer here which is good for our economy. In addition, our community trails are a great asset for all of us who live here and want a place to exercise, walk the dog, kayak, fish or just enjoy the beautiful vistas and the North Platte River from the trail. Plus, we know from current evidence, that urban river parkways can improve physical, mental, and community health, and that they are particularly important in offering opportunity for green exercisephysical activity in the presence of nature says PRTT Executive Director, Angela Emery. Join the conversation at the Platte River Trails Trust Annual Meeting. UW-Casper hosts open house The University of Wyoming at Casper (UW-Casper) will host an Open House from 3:30 to 6 p.m., on February 18 on the fourth floor of the Casper College Student Union/University of Wyoming at Casper Building. This informational event will offer individuals the opportunity to meet UW-Casper faculty and staff, including financial aid and scholarship experts; discover degree options; learn about Transfer Advance; and enter to win a door prize. UW-Casper, the University of Wyomings branch campus and a division of the Outreach School, offers 18 bachelors degrees, and is the only location in the state where students can major in technical education or medical laboratory sciences. Through onsite, online, and state-of-the-art audio/video conference technologies, UW-Casper also delivers 13 masters degrees, six doctorate degrees, endorsements, and certificates. With 20 full-time, onsite faculty and a full-service office to handle admissions, financial aid, registration, and advising questions, students benefit from a smaller learning environment where they get to know their instructors and staff. Operating in Casper since 1976, it has more than 3,200 alumni, many of whom still reside and work in Natrona County. Admission representatives and academic advisers will be available to discuss the degrees offered. For more information, contact UW-Casper at 268-2713. Jackalope Jump Feb. 19 Dressed in crazy costumes, area residents will jump into freezin cold waters to raise money for Special Olympics Wyoming athletes! Caspers Jackalope Jump is Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Casper Family Aquatics Center. Registration begins at 5 p.m., and the jumping starts at 6 p.m. This fundraiser is a family-friendly, community event bringing together local residents, friends from neighboring towns, as well as brave individuals of all ages representing caring companies, civic organizations, local schools and law enforcement. Jackalope Jumps are open to the public, and all spectators are encouraged to come out to cheer on the brave jumpers. All proceeds benefit Special Olympics Wyoming programs. For more information about the Jackalope Jump or to register please visit www.specialolympicswy.org or call the Special Olympics Wyoming office at 235-3062. State hockey finals in Casper Casper Amateur Hockey Club invites you to come and watch some youth hockey Feb 19-21 at the Casper Ice Arena as we host Pee Wee State Finals with teams from Casper, Cheyenne, Douglas, Gillette, Laramie, Park County, Pinedale, Riverton, Rock Springs, and Sheridan. The full game schedule can be found at www.casperhockey.com. Its going to be a great weekend of hockey! For more information, contact Diane at (307)315-0188. Ceramics workshop at Art 321 Come join us at ART 321 for our next February workshop, Contemporary Ritual Vessels an exploration of form, texture & pattern in clay, a ceramics workshop taught by Steve Schrepferman. The workshop is Friday and Saturday, February 19 and 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fee for one day is $80 members/ $110 non-members plus $30 supply fee; both days, $130 members/ $180 non-members plus $30 supply fee. This workshop is geared to intermediate and advanced levels. Register at the gallery or online. Mended Hearts party Feb. 22 Mended Hearts is celebrating Heart Month with a party on Feb. 22. The local chapter invites all in our community who have any heart issues, as well their support people, to come join us as we celebrate Heart Month and the joys of living! We meet monthly on the fourth Monday at 7 p.m., in the board room of the Support Services Building of Wyoming Medical Center, 3rd Street behind the new parking facility. After entering the building, take the elevator down one floor and we will escort you. This will not be a regular meeting but a time to welcome new friends, so please come join us for our party. For more information, please call Allen at 259-0922. Petroleum ladies meet Feb. 23 The Ladies of the Petroleum Club will hold the February luncheon on Feb. 23 at 12:30 p.m., in the Banquet Room. After lunch, dancers from Richens/Timm Academy of Irish Dance will perform for us. St. Patricks Day is coming up, so wearin of the green would be appropriate. The telephone committee will call for reservations. If you have not been called and wish to attend, please call Metta Martin at 235-1044 or Mary Walford at 237-8191. NC 71 We are having our 45th reunion this year. Keep looking for information to come. If youd like to help or just join us, contact Brittonacres71@yahoo.com; Laura Britton, 473-1273; Becky Byron, 303-378-3541 or Steve Loftin, 262-7400. UW-Casper talks application process The University of Wyoming at Casper (UW-Casper) will offer two opportunities for community members to learn about UW-Caspers application processes and deadlines. The first session will be held on February 23 at 3 p.m. in 420 Union/University Building on the Casper College campus, followed by a second session on February 26 at 10 a.m. in the same location. The sessions are free, and open to all individuals interested in applying to UWs branch campus at Casper. UW-Casper is a great place to earn your degree, said manager of student advising Rosalind Grenfell. The instructors get to know you, and care about your success. Come to the session to find out more about the application process and deadlines. In Casper, students can choose from 18 bachelors degrees, 13 masters degrees, six doctorate degrees, certificates, and endorsements. Courses are offered onsite, online, and through audio/video conferencing. For more information, contact UW-Casper at 268-2713. Spring Fashion Fling Feb. 27 Casper Vital Network invites all ladies to the Spring Fashion Fling on Saturday, February 27, at 8:30 a.m. at Highland Park Community Church Rm. #1321. A continental breakfast will be served. Kyleen Stevenson-Braxton from Fashion Crossroads will speak. Her topic is Dress for Success. Neva Bodin is an inspirational speaker and her topic is Beauty From the Inside Out. RSVP is appreciated, but all are welcome! Please call Julie at 235-8848 or Sally at 577-5144. The cost is $3. You are invited to bring hair accessories for the benefit of the Transformation Center for women at the Rescue Mission. Casper Vital Network is a non-denominational group of ladies who want to network with each other, develop bridges of friendship, enjoy personal spiritual growth, and learn about current events and community resources or programs in our area. Our slogan is Women Connected-Communities Impacted Come Join Us! For more information, call Julie at 235-8848. Vendors wanted for spring craft fair Eagles Lodge, 306 N. Durbin, will host a first Spring Craft and Vendors Fair on Friday, March 4, from 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. We are now taking vendor applications. Please call the Lodge at 235-5130. Vendor space is filling fast, reserve yours today. Big changes at Joshuas Big changes are coming to Joshuas Storehouse. The year 2015 finished with 742,435 pounds of balanced meals given to the 130,000 people in need of food assistance in Casper and surrounding area. This equates to 30,449 families that were assisted; 1,135 new families in 2015 alone. Food is becoming difficult to obtain as the prices are going up and the number of jobs seems to be going down. Because of this, Joshuas Storehouse and the staff cannot keep up with the demand. Beginning March 1, 2016, Joshuas clients will be able to visit on a monthly basis rather than weekly basis. This will reduce the waiting time by half and all will have the opportunity for more food, but only one time per month. Make sure that you know the DAY that you are scheduled to come in and we will set up the amount of food and you will not be left out, BUT you must come in the same day each month. Special requests will be honored on a need basis. Dont forget to donate all of your soda cans to Joshuas for Milk for Minors. Turn your cans in to milk for children. To this point, over 1,900 quarts of milk have been donated by you. Lets keep the cans coming. The kids love you for it. New service makes transcripts easier Receiving transcripts from Casper College has been made easier thanks to Casper College partnering with TranscriptsPlus, PDF sending and eRoboMail from Credentials Solutions. These services have streamlined the colleges transcript ordering and fulfillment process. Casper College students and alumni can now order and track their transcripts 24/7 from anywhere in the world with the fully automated transcript ordering service that takes student and alumni orders through a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compliant and easy-to-use solution, while securely collecting all fees. In addition, Casper College will be utilizing eRoboMail. This system will produce paper transcripts with the ability to seamlessly process multiple copies and easily accommodate attachments. The transcripts will include the Casper College logo, watermark and embedded registrar signature. To find out more or to order transcripts go to caspercollege.edu. Instrument giveaway The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and The Hill Music Company are joining forces to help young Wyoming musicians further their musical ability, through the opportunity to win a new string or wind instrument. Are you a Wyoming music student, in grades 9 through 12, who may have outgrown or outplayed your wind or string instrument? Would a better instrument take your musical ability to the next level? The Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and The Hill Music Company wish to give a musical step up to one talented winner, and that winner could be you! To apply, simply download an application form and instruction packet from the WSO website, www.wyomingsymphony.org/outreach. Applicants will need to write a short essay about the importance of music and their particular instrument to their lives, and include references from music teachers, family, and friends. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2016. A certificate will be awarded to the winner, at the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra season Finale, April 16 or 17, 2016. The Hill Music Company will provide the winning instrument, and assist the winner in selecting the instrument of his or her choice. For questions please contact Erin Helms, 266-1478 or erin@wyomingsymphony.org. Cyber security at business roundtable Casper Business Roundtable will talk cyber security from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, at First Interstate Bank, 104 S. Wolcott, second floor. Register by noon Tuesday, March 1, 2016 to Kimberly Sullivan at Kimberly.sullivan@fib.com or 235-4282. Presenters: Shaun Bullock, Director of Operations & Gustave Anderson, Director of Business Development from Medicine Bow Technologies, Casper, WY. Medicine Bow Technologies is an IT company with offices in Laramie and Casper. They have been providing IT services to Wyoming customers for more than nine years. Hockey Helps the Hungry Casper Amateur Hockey Clubs annual Hockey Helps the Hungry, supporting the Salvation Army, will be held Thursday, March 3 at the Casper Ice Arena. The event starts at 5:30 p.m., with a little scrimmage between the 8Us and some of Caspers firefighters! Stick around to see who gets bragging rights as Casper Oilers Midget teammates become rivals in the annual Kelly Walsh vs. Natrona County battle on the ice! Admission to the event is a non-perishable food item or a monetary donation to the Salvation Army. Casper Hockey seniors will also be honored as we acknowledge their time and dedication to our Club and the sport of hockey. Make plans to come and help us make this event our most successful yet in support of the Salvation Army! For more information, contact Diane at (307)315-0188. HPCC Annual Easter Egg Hunt Highland Park Community Church would like to invite you to our Annual Community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 26 at 11 a.m. Please invite your friends and family and join us at either Fun Valley, Nancy English or Washington Park for an Easter celebration you wont want to miss. Questions, call 265-4073. Monique King passed away February 3, 2016, she was born in 1932 in Paris, France. She survived the German Occupation during WWII. In 1948, she came to study for a year in the United States with an American Field Service scholarship. She returned to the United States in December 1950 to marry Richard C. King, a Harvard graduate and nephew of Admiral Ernest J. King. He remained her husband for 57 years. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Case-Western Reserve University in 1954, obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1959, and her M.D. degree in 1965 from that school. Her honors included Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. Her special interest was Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis and she received her training in Psychoanalysis at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Institute. She was appointed Training/Supervising Analyst at that Institute in 1983 and joined the Education Committee. For 18 years she was a member of the Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies in Princeton, N.J. Dr. King enjoyed her psychoanalytic practice and served psychoanalysis in many ways until 1994 when she and her husband moved to Tucson, Arizona. She worked successfully to build up psychoanalysis in Southern Arizona and was chairperson of the Arizona Psychoanalytic Study Group until it became the Southwest Psychoanalytic Society a branch of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She established a program which brought outstanding national speakers in the field to that part of the country. She and her husband retired in 2006 at Splendido, a CCRC in Oro Valley. He died in 2007. While at Splendido she and three residents formed a min-university SIPP (Splendido Intellectual Pursuits Program) which offered a variety of courses to the residents. She was also for several years a member of the Writer's group. She organized a series of chamber Music Concerts with artists from TSO. She is survived by a large group of cousins who live in Israel and a cousin, Dr. Georgette Bennett who founded the Tannenbaum Foundation in New York, and Robert Goodman who was her partner for eight years. In lieu of flowers, contributions are to be made to the Wildlife Defense Fund and to PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). Arrangements by HUDGEL'S SWAN FUNERAL HOME. A man and woman who were subjects of a nationwide manhunt for homicide and armed robbery were arrested by an Arizona State trooper during a traffic stop on Saturday, authorities said. An Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper pulled over a vehicle that was swerving out of its lane on westbound I-10, near Eloy at about 7 p.m., spokesman Damon Cecil said in a news release. The driver had no identification, but told the trooper his name, which turned out to be false. The woman produced a Louisiana driver's license, identifying herself as Antoinette Wong, who had two outstanding warrants for armed robbery and was taken into custody, Cecil said. After the driver was identified as Keith Rogers, he was taken into custody for outstanding homicide and armed robbery warrants, Cecil said. Also in the car were two children, found to be endangered missing juveniles abducted from Shreveport, Louisiana. DPS detectives learned from Shreveport police that Rogers and Wong had taken the seven-year-old boy at gunpoint during a home invasion, and also took Wong's two-year-old son from another location, Cecil said. The children were turned over to the Arizona Department of Child Safety until they are returned to Louisiana. During a search of the vehicle, troopers found evidence and money believed to be from a bank that Roger's robbed. The death of an inmate at a state prison in Douglas is being investigated as a homicide. Daniel Allard, 24, was airlifted from the Mohave Unit, a medium custody facility within the Arizona Department of Corrections prison in Douglas, to Banner-University Medical Center on Feb. 3, the department said in a news release Monday. He died three days later. Investigators believe Allard died as a result of injuries he sustained while being assaulted by another inmate, the department said in the news release. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday. The name of a fast-growing Southern Arizona town may be a long-held misspelling. In September 1820 a year before Mexico won its independence Tomas and Ignacio Ortiz, residents of Tubac, petitioned the governor of Sonora and Sinaloa for a land grant of four sitios (more than 27 square miles) of grassland around La Canoa to raise horses and cattle. Conforming to Spanish law, the land had to be measured, appraised and auctioned before title could be granted. In July 1821, Ignacio Elias Gonzales, commander of the military post of Tubac, appointed officers and ordered the survey done. His account related to the survey of the San Ignacio de la Canoa land grant describes a vast domain that stretched from Tubac to the south to el Saguarito, where there exists a plant of this tree, which remains as a landmark ... to the north. Because Mexico was undergoing its separation from Spain, no title was issued to the Ortiz brothers at that time. They finally got it in 1849. The first known person to settle at el Saguarito, Spanish for the little saguaro, was Cyrus S. Rice, who was born in Maine in 1832 and traveled to California, possibly for the gold rush. In December 1861, he enlisted in Company I, 5th Infantry Regiment of the California Volunteers as a corporal, at Marysville, California, and served until he was discharged in 1864, in Las Cruces, New Mexico Territory. Around 1867, Rice settled at el Saguarito along the Santa Cruz River. His new home was called the Sahuarita Ranch, which was likely a corruption of the original Spanish name for the area. On Dec. 23, 1868, he sold the ranch for $600 to Albert C. Benedict. The deed of sale describes the boundaries as, Commencing at the Sahuara in front of and West from the house ... Instead of using a normal land deed (aka general warranty deed), Rice used a quit claim deed to sell his ranch. This type of deed can indicate the seller is unsure whether he owns the property, so Rice may have settled near the little saguaro or landmark without purchasing the land from a previous owner. Whichever is the case, Rice likely was the first to live here and is therefore the founder of what is now known as the town of Sahuarita. Benedict, who was born around 1830 in Michigan and arrived in Arizona around 1860, married Gregoria Alvares just prior to his purchase of the Sahuarita Ranch. His Spanish-speaking wife might have pointed out the misspelling of the ranch name, because it was changed to the Sahuarito Ranch. John Spring, who was stationed at Camp Lowell, would write years later about a stop on his trip from Tucson to Santa Cruz, Sonora. At nightfall we stopped at a place called Sahuarito (little giant cactus), for an isolated plant of that kind growing near the place, which was an eating and watering station kept by one Benedict, about twenty-five miles south of Tucson and one mile west of the Santa Cruz River. In July 1872, Benedict and two ranch hands were in the field about 300 yards from the ranch house, planting beans and pulling up weeds, when Apaches attacked. Benedict took several bullets, including one to his foot that plagued him for life. That November, he was elected treasurer of Pima County, and later served as territorial auditor. In January 1874, Benedict began caring for horses and mules at the Sahuarito Ranch, charging $2.50 per animal per month with an unlimited quantity of grass (grain was available for an extra fee). The following year, he advertised the Sahuarito Ranch for sale in the Arizona Citizen newspaper, but apparently didnt find a buyer. By 1877, he had abandoned the Sahuarito Ranch and moved to the Huababi Ranch, on the Santa Cruz River south of Calabasas. Sometime between April and November 1877, James K. Jim Brown and Tom Roddick obtained the Sahuarito Ranch from Benedict. In June 1879, Roddick was preparing to go to Texas to obtain cattle for the Sahuarito Ranch when he died suddenly. A couple of years later the ranch legally became the sole property of Brown. In December 1879, Brown returned to his home state of Ohio and brought back a bride, Olive S. Brown. When she arrived at her new home, Olive found an eight-room ranch house with adobe walls and high ceilings. The front two living rooms had floors, while the rest of the house had hard-packed dirt floors. This structure was surrounded by a tall, thick, adobe wall. On Sept. 4, 1882, the Sahuarito post office was established, with Brown as the postmaster and Olive as the assistant. It was used until June 11, 1886. Brown served as Pima County sheriff from 1891 to 1892. Early in the new century, when the Twin Buttes Railroad was being built from Tucson to the mining camp called Twin Buttes, Brown granted the railroad right of way through his property with the agreement that the train station be called Sahuarito. A few years later, he sold off his ranch and holdings and moved to Tucson. According to Olive S. Brand, granddaughter of James K. Brown, the family ranch was always known as the Sahuarito Ranch, not the Sahuarita Ranch. On Oct. 11, 1915, the post office was reestablished as Sahuarita with T.G. Dumont as its postmaster. In time, the train station became known as Sahuarita as well. Why: Eleanor is just 5 years old but wanted to help impoverished children. She raised money by selling her artwork to purchase ducks through the World Vision website. The animals can be used by children and families for eggs and to raise ducklings for sale. It touches my heart completely that someone Eleanors age would want to spend their own money on a gift for a person that she will never meet, Collinsworth wrote in her nomination letter. With demand for law degrees still slumping at home, the University of Arizona has launched a new effort to educate attorneys an ocean away. The Tucson school has partnered with Ocean University of China to produce hundreds of new Chinese lawyers conversant with the U.S. legal system. The dual-degree program, much of which will be taught online, could eventually generate more than $1 million a year in new income for the UA under a revenue-sharing agreement between the universities. The program, the first of its kind in China, allows students to earn a bachelors degree from an American law school without leaving home, said Brent White, associate dean for programs and global initiatives at the UAs James E. Rogers College of Law. Our operating premise is that millions of students would like a U.S. education but cant afford to come, White said. The new program takes U.S. education to students who otherwise wouldnt have access. Ocean University is located in Qingdao on Chinas east coast. The city, sometimes referred to as Tsingtao, is the home of Tsingtao Brewery, producer of one of the nations most popular beers. The UAs China push follows years of dwindling first-year enrollment at the Tucson law school, a trend that hasnt reversed despite recent tuition cuts aimed at attracting more domestic law students. First-year enrollment for traditional UA law degrees fell 26 percent between 2011 and 2015, data from the school show. Tuition cuts in 2013 and 2014 slowed the rate of decline to a trickle, but didnt stop the downturn, which has also hit some other U.S. law schools. The UAs traditional law degree, the juris doctor, isnt required to practice law in China, where a bachelors degree is sufficient. Students in the new program can graduate in four years with two degrees, a bachelors of law from the Chinese school and a bachelors of arts in law from the UA, White said. The UA also will provide language training and teach classes solely in English at the request of Chinese officials, White said. Start-up costs for the program were minimal, he said. Ocean University provided program space free of charge, and only a handful of UA personnel are needed in China because much of the instruction is online. The program, launched last semester, attracted 77 students to start and can accommodate up to 400 a year. Tuition is $8,000 a year, $5,000 of which goes to the UA. At the maximum capacity of 400 students, UA would receive $2 million a year in tuition revenue and use less than half to run the program, White said. UA Provost Andrew Comrie said the partnership is timely now that China has become Americas largest trading partner. Both countries benefit from a better understanding of our economy and our laws, he said in a news release. The new program serves a pressing need for bilingual lawyers competent in both legal systems, he said. PHOENIX Arizona taxpayers could be on the hook to help convince adults to get state permits to carry concealed firearms. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee voted 5-4 Monday to give individuals a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit for the cost of the required course, up to $80. House Majority Leader Steve Montenegro, sponsor of HB 2494, said it will encourage people who already can carry a concealed firearm without any training to attend the eight-hour course. The Litchfield Park Republican said police officers have told him the first-line of defense for citizens is someone who has been trained in the use of a firearm. He said the training covers not just the mechanics of the firearms but also the laws about when to use it. Despite the 5-4 vote, the measure faces an uncertain future when it goes to the full House, with cost being part of the question. Several GOP legislators who agreed to support it Monday said they dont like the idea of dollar-for-dollar tax credits for anything. Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, questioned the measures price tag. He said if 3 million adults who dont already have CCW permits all take advantage of the credit, that pencils out to $240 million. Montenegro, however, was relying on an estimate from legislative budget staffers who said this should cost no more than $1.9 million next year and presumably the same amount every year going forward. Thats based on the fact that about 32,000 people got CCW permits last year. Legislative staffers figured that the pace would remain the same in the future, and only 75 percent of those taking the course would seek reimbursement on their tax forms. All that, however, presumes the pace would remain the same even if the effective cost went from $80 to zero. Montenegro brushed aside the whole cost question as irrelevant. You cant really put a price on safety, he said. His legislation is prospective only, and would not help anyone who already has taken the course. Montenegro, who has such a permit, said the course teaches important things. They really instill in you not only how the firearm works, the components of the firearms, but also what the laws say, what safety is, what to do, what not to do, how to treat firearms, he told committee members. Montenegro said that includes when not to use a gun. At last count, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said there were 253,279 individuals who had taken the courses and qualified for the permits. Help India! By TCN News, Cambridge (USA): The 13th annual edition of the Harvard India conference saw protests against the death of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar who was suspended by the Hyderabad Central University, leading him to commit suicide on January 17. Support TwoCircles The Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School played host to the Harvard India conference 2016 on Saturday and Sunday, which was attended by former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Union Minister for Communication and Technology Ravishankar Prasad, and Dnyaneshwar Mulay, Consul General of New York. Karan Johar and Kamal Haasan were also invited as speakers at the conference. Focusing on Rohith Vemulas death, the concerned academics came together under the banner of Boston Against Caste which was co-sponsored by Boston Ambedkarites in Cambridge, Massachussetts. Did you know India is home to the worlds oldest surviving system of discrimination? Do you know how many Dalits (formerly untouchables), Tribals, and Backward castes are represented at this conference when demographically they constitute 85% of the populace? read a flyer distributed by protestors outside the conference. Seeing the protests, Manoj Kumar Mohapatra, Deputy Consul General of India, New York City, came out of the conference and expressed concern that protestors were projecting India in a bad light at a high-profile event and asked them to withdraw the protest. Mohapatra also offered to set up a meeting with the Ravishankar Prasad,Union Minister if the protest was immediately withdrawn. However, protestors refused the offer, explaining that their protest was not against the minister but against the system of caste which is institutional in the Indian society and handed over flyers with demands to Mohapatra. According to one protestor, Mohapatra issued a veiled threat during the conversation saying that next time any of the protestors came to the consulate for a passport they might face difficulties. Protestors distributed more than a hundred flyers encouraging attendees to ask important questions. The flyers described the circumstances around Rohith Vemulas death, questioned the caste position, and privilege of organisers and attendees with the following excerpt: ..The tragic suicide of a bright Dalit PhD scholar, 26 year old Rohit Vemula an anti-caste activist at a top Indian university poses difficult questions-particularly around representation-to those involved in maintaining caste hierarchy. Ignoring these questions while eagerly claiming to represent the country in transnational settings such as these is typical of the disturbing pathology of Indian caste privilege a sight you paid good money to behold. One of the organisers of the protest, Vaibhav Sravade, expressed concern over the lack of response from the government after the death of Vemula. In spite of massive protests after his death, even the minimum of demands-the sacking of the HCU Vice Chancellor Appa Rao-is being denied. This is the indifferent nature of the current regime which is completely disconnected from our concerns, he said. Protesters expressed anger over the fact that the government was more concerned about its image than delivering justice. They released a statement saying unless the culture of complete impunity changes through delivery of justice and punishment of the culprits, the caste question will haunt India at every single international forum in the future The vocal protest outside the Harvard India conference was held only a couple of days after Harvard South Asia Institute organised a seminar on the circumstances behind Vemulas death. There, panelists issued a call to action stating that caste discrimination in Indian campuses and the questions or representation in academia cannot be ignored anymore. Over a dozen protests demanding criminal prosecution of culprits have occurred at various places outside India following Vemulas death on January 17. These include Harvard University (Jan 22); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (Jan 23); University of Michigan (Jan 23); Indian Consulate, San Francisco (Jan 23); University of Pennsylvania, (Jan 24); Stanford University (Jan 28); Washington DC (Jan 30); University of South Africa, Pretoria (Jan 22); India House, High Commission of India, London (Jan 25); Australia (Jan 25); Indian Embassy in Rome, Italy (Jan 27); and the Indian Consulate, Toronto (Jan 29). Help India! By TCN News, New Delhi: Several religious leaders belonging to Barelvi sect of Muslims in India have condemned Wahabi ideology and demanded government to reduce Wahabi influence from Waqf Boards and all minority educational institutions. Support TwoCircles Many such anti-Wahabi statements were made on Monday at an anti-terrorism Sunni conference organized by All India Tanzeem Ulama-E-Islam (AITUI) in Delhi at Talkatora Stadium. We want to say that these radical organizations are working for Wahabi and Salafi objective of radicalizing youth in the name of social revolution. We demand that the activities of these extremist organizations be banned as they are working against national security, AITUI said in its press release adding that Wahabism is part of dirty politics and has nothing to do with Islam. This conference is organized in the back drop of Prime Minister Narendra Modis lauding of Barelvi culture in India and asking its members to strengthen the Barelvi version of Islam to counter extremist elements. In august 2015 PM Modi had a meeting with the delegation of 40 Barelvi Scholars when he had said,It is essential for Sufi saints and scholars to counter these forces through various avenues including on social media, so that the ideology of extremism does not take root in India. Mondays conference also appealed Barelvi Muslim youth in India against falling prey to extremist elements and insisted that the Government promote Barelvi content in syllabus taught as part of higher Islamic studies and reduces dominance of Wahabi or Deobandi followers in the affairs of Waqf Boards. The conference further came down heavily upon Saudi regime and stated that radicalization of youth is being spread within Muslim community like a virus by Wahabi elements funded by Petro dollars of Saudi Arabia & Qatar. AITUI wants to highlight the fact that ISIS is active in Indian under different names and banners. These ISIS fronts are organizing conferences, and programmes to show their presence in India to their Saudi and Qatar-based fund providers and to assure them that they are present in India and working for the vested interests of Wahabis Monarchies of Saudi Arabia & Qatar, Barelvi leaders said at the daylong conference. Giving example of Egypt, the conference also demanded Indian government to support and adopt the policies adopted by Egyptian President Fattah Al Sisi against Muslim Brotherhood. Maulana Ashfaq Hussain Qadri, Founder President of AITUI said,Indian government needs to study how Egypt, Russia and Chechnya counter extremism with far reaching policies. He said that after conference AITUI will submit a detailed memorandum to Government containing gist of resolutions passed by the religious leaders at the conference and a small delegation of religious leaders will go to the Prime Ministers Office and Home Ministry to present the memorandum to the concerned Minister. A memorandum to central government will suggest three pronged approach to counter the terrorism threat i.e. removing Waqfs from Wahabi influence, reconstitution of Haj Committee and removal of extremist contents from curriculum of Madrasas, he added. Help India! By TCN News, New Delhi: Aaghaz-e-Dosti, a group of youths working for Indo-Pak Peace through various ways such as peace education, advocacy and others, has written to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute over Siachen glacier. Support TwoCircles Siachen conflict is a military clash between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. A cease-fire went into effect in 2003. The contentious area is about 900 square miles to nearly 1,000 square miles of territory. The conflict started in 1984 with Indias successful Operation Meghdoot during which it gained control of the Siachen Glacier. This is a glacier where dispute of land started in 1984 in the reign of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Since then this glacier deployment of security forces resulted as loss of lives and economy of both countries as more than 200 million dollars is expenditure over this deployment. It is a wonder that this deployment was not even considered necessary till 1984 while India and Pakistan had fought two wars till then, wrote a team of Aaghaz-e-Dosti in their joint letter to India PM Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. The letter also said that many appeals of civil societies to Governments of India and Pakistan in past appealed to declare Siachen as Peace Park and start demilitarization of both armies from there but despite efforts, it could not be done by the previous governments due to reasons known to them. As, now there is change in government and you have shown a positive angle towards resuming talks and resolving disputes, we request you to take up this issue and start resolving the Siachen dispute, the letter urged. The group also wrote that if it will be resolved then it will not only save lives of soldiers, but also economy and glacier environment. ..it would be better if both countries together can set up a jointly operated laboratory for glacial research in Siachen. This will be more fruitful in view of the objective that a place of conflict can be known as a place from where people are working for global challenges, the group wrote in the end. Help India! New Delhi : The National Commission of Backward Classes has written to the social justice ministry to bring a bill for providing 27 percent reservation for backward classes in private sector jobs, a member said on Tuesday. Shakeel-uz-Zaman Ansari said that panel had sent its recommendation for a bill for private sector quota to the ministry ahead of the budget session of parliament that begins February 23, adding the decision to make the recommendation was taken at a meeting of the panel held earlier this month. Support TwoCircles He said the issue had been taken up by the commission in a routine manner as part of its work for the welfare of backward classes. We have made a specific recommendation to bring a bill to provide 27 percent reservation in private sector jobs to OBCs, he said. He said the issue of reservation in private sector jobs was not new and suggestions have also been made for reservation in private sector for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The commission is a statutory body under the social justice ministry. The government has said in the past that there is no proposal under its consideration for reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in the private sector. It had formed a coordination committee under the chairmanship of the principal secretary to prime minister in October 2006 to carry forward the dialogue with industry on affirmative action for SCs and STs. Spanish hopes of carrying off the annual Eurovision Song Contest title may have been boosted by a brave decision to sing their song in English this year. Despite their own national language being spoken by many millions worldwide, they have opted instead for Barei to perform their entry of Say Yay! in a foreign tongue. Viewers chose the entry Barei is the stage name of 33-year-old Barbara Reyzabal Gonzalez-Aller, who was chosen to represent her country by RTVE. The countrys state broadcasters based the selection on their viewers choice. Can they change their fortunes? The non-traditional approach is seen as a measured strategy by Spain to buck the disappointing trend over the last five decades. Since the heady days of consecutive successes in the late 60s, they have failed to register a single victory since. That puts the United Kingdoms drought into some perspective: the Brits have to only look back as far as 1997 for their last triumph when Katrina and the Waves emerged as the victors. Last years Spanish entry attracted just 15 points in the Eurovision final, ensuring a lowly finish of 21st position overall, despite their utilisation of the talents of the glamorous actress and TV presenter Edurne. Spain part of Big 5 Like the UK, Spain form part of the Big 5 in the Eurovision establishment. Along with France, Germany and Italy they are automatically allowed to compete in the final, as a reward for being the five nations that contribute most financially to the European Broadcasting Union. It is the EBU that produces the Eurovision Song Contest each year. Spain are long-term contestants in the prestigious if often slightly quirky European extravaganza. However, putting their language choice into context, in 55 years of participation they have never previously picked an English-language song to pin their hopes upon. Not universally popular choice Many neutrals may see the sense in trying something a little bit different this year. But the move has clearly rankled with some Spanish citizens, if the stark comments made by Jose Maria Merino are anything to go by. The member of the Royal Spanish Academy was quick to point out that there are 500 million reasons (the number of Spanish speakers globally) to justify his belief that presenting a song in English is surprisingly stupid. Good fortune for Sweden Whether the somewhat unusual choice has the desired effect remains to be seen, with this years event being held in Stockholm in May. Last year the competition continued a renaissance in Swedens fortunes, as Mans Zelmerlow impressed the judges with Heroes to give the Scandinavians a second success in four years. FACTS which contradict what is taught in the universities and which even run counter to the assumptions made by critics of misandry. Presiding Bishop Speaks at the National Press Club Ecclesiastical Proceedings Started Against Clergy Involved in St. George's School Abuse Scandal Episcopal School Cancels Class To Feed the Poor Church of England Again in the News Ethiopian Anglicans Acting as Peacemakers Sydney Breaks New Ground With Installation of Cathedral Dean Presiding Bishop Michael Curry spoke for more than 20 minutes on evangelism and racial reconciliation at the National Press Club on Monday, February 8 and then fielded questions on those topics as well as the recent meeting in Canterbury and the issue of past sexual abuse at St. George's School in Rhode Island (for more on St. George's see the story below. Episcopal News Service has provided both a summary of his talk and a full video of the presentation and Q & A period. The Living Church also carried a story focused on the main points of Curry's talk. Religion News Service carried an account that dealt only with the Questions and Answers on Canterbury and St. George's School. Jeff Walton, who writes for the ultra conservative Institute for Religion and Democracy focused almost exclusively on the less that five minutes Curry used to answer a question on the status of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion following the primates meeting.Rhode Island Bishop Nicholas Knisley has called for disciplinary actions against 3 men who have been accused of sexually abusing children at St. George's Episcopal School. One of the three, Frank Coleman, is a lay person and not subject to church discipline. The other two, the former chaplain at the school, Howard White, and the school's headmaster, George Andrews II (who dismissed Coleman when accusations of abuse originally surfaced, but failed to report the accusations to civil authorities) are now under ecclesiastical review. White is also being investigated by the Diocese of Western North Carolina following a charge of abuse while he served a parish there. Pittsburgh Update carried a story in January when the story first broke.On a more positive note that the previous story, Holy Innocents School in Atlanta cancelled the physical education classes for their third graders and one class of eighth graders so that they could pack 10,000 plastic bags of protein, rice and dried vegetables for the "Stop Hunger Now" program which will distribute them to needy families in some of the poorest nations of the world. Each bag held six meals. As the children packed the food, they learned more about world hunger from Stop Hunger Now's program manager. Holy Innocents, with 1360 students in age 3 to grade 12, is among the largest Episcopal day schools in the country. The school chaplains said the event was a way of putting faith into action.Christiantoday.com an on-line evangelical newspaper based in London had two stories of possible interest to Update readers. The first reported on a survey showing that six out of ten adults in England actually visited a church or chapel in the past year. Four out of five of those visiting went to a religious service as opposed to a cultural event such as a concert. Comfortable pews and access to wi-fi were high on the list of things that those surveyed said would encourage them to return for another visit. The second story is about the formation of a new, broadly based pressure group focused on full inclusion of LGBTI people in the Church of England. This latter group intends to see that the church follows up on the Archbishop of Canterbury's apology to LGBTI people with actual action.Tribal conflicts have led to increased violence in Ethiopia, and the church there has asked for prayers for an end to violence. The church has tried to be a witness for reconciliation, even having some of its members act as a human shield to escort students through hostile tribal areas to their homes.The installation of Kanishka Raffel as dean of the cathedral in Sydney, Australia marked the first time that a person other than someone from European ancestry has held that role. The dean was raised a Buddhist by his Sri-Lankan immigrant parents. He converted to Christianity while in college in Sydney. He is hopeful that his election will serve as a symbol of inclusion and welcome to Asians and South Asia in Sydney where 56 percent of the people were born outside of the country. A delegation featuring Brett McGurk, the United States envoy to the coalition it leads against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), met the YPG over the last weekend in January. The YPG took full control of Kobane late last June, in what was a powerful symbol of Kurdish resistance. According to US officials, the trip appeared to be the first of its kind to northern Syria since 2013. It took place after the YPGs political wing, Syrias Democratic Union Party (PYD), was excluded from new peace talks in Geneva. Ankara had threatened to boycott the talks if the PYD were invited. He [Brett McGurk] visits Kobane at the time of the Geneva talks and is awarded a plaque by a so-called YPG general? Erdogan told reporters on his plane while returning from a trip to Latin America and Senegal, the Beser Haber newspaper reported. How can we trust [you]? Erdogan said. Is it me who is your partner, or the terrorists in Kobane? the Turkish president said, adding that both the PYD and the YPG are terrorist organizations. Ankara considers them to be part of the PKK, banned in Turkey as a terrorist group. RT @RT_com 60 PKK terrorists killed in basement in town of Cizre Turkish media http:// on.rt.com/73xl The conflict between the Turkish government and Kurdish insurgent groups demanding greater autonomy for the large ethnic group has been continuing for decades. With several failed ceasefires between the sides, Ankara has been blamed by a number of human rights groups for putting civilian lives at risk in Turkeys mainly Kurdish southeast. In August, Ankara launched a ground operation to crack down on Kurdish fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The violence ended a two-year truce with Kurdish militants fighting a guerrilla war for independence. Turks have a phobia of Kurds because they are scared of their Turkish Kurds, some 20 million of them living in Turkey, Abd Salam Ali, the Kurdish Democratic Union Partys representative to Russia, told RIA Novosti, adding that Kurds have interfered with Erdogans plans in Turkey. Islamic State has military bases in Turkey, and is using it as a corridor. Turkey currently plays a role similar to the one Pakistan played in the 1980s. When the Soviet forces were stationed in Afghanistan, jihadists arrived there through Pakistan, along with the money and arms. Now Turkey is exactly the same corridor [for militants in Syria], and it plays its own game. But Kurds appeared to stand in [Ankaras] way. They have forced IS away from Rojava [also known as Syrian Kurdistan]. Theres only one piece left, a 90km-long territory between the Kurdish towns. If we force IS out of there and reconnect the Kurdish cantons, Turkey wont be able to influence [the situation in Syria], Abd Salam Ali noted. RT @RT_com Chomsky hits back at Erdogan, accuses him of aiding terrorists http:// on.rt.com/71ut Late last month, President Erdogan once again refused to search for a peaceful solution to the conflict, which began back in 1984 and has taken at least 40,000 lives, mainly those of Kurdish people. He pledged that those with guns in their hands and those who support them will pay the price of treason, referring to the Kurdish militants, deemed terrorists by the government. According to Turkeys General Staff, the number of PKK members killed during military operations in the southeastern districts of Cizre and Sur reached 733 on Sunday. But according to Amnesty International estimates, at least 150 civilians, among them children, have been killed during the Turkish operation, with over 200,000 lives put at risk. Turkeys security operations in the mainly Kurdish southeast resemble a collective punishment, the human rights watchdog said last month. Amnesty slammed the international community for choosing to turn a blind eye to what Ankara has been doing to the Kurds. While the Turkish authorities appear determined to silence internal criticism, they have faced very little from the international community. Strategic considerations relating to the conflict in Syria and determined efforts to enlist Turkeys help in stemming the flow of refugees to Europe must not overshadow allegations of gross human rights violations. The international community must not look the other way, John Dalhuisen, Amnesty Internationals Europe and Central Asia Program Director, pointed out. Up to 21 academics were detained by Turkish authorities in mid-January for signing a petition demanding that Ankara abandon its military crackdown on Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country. The petition denouncing Turkeys military operation against Kurds was signed by as many as 1,200 academics. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they all sided with the Kurdish militants, who are considered terrorists by the government. Unfortunately these so-called academics claim that the state is carrying out a massacre. You, the so-called intellectuals! You are dark people. You are not intellectuals, he stated. 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. Project will act as catalyst for growth Updated: 2016-02-09 16:02 By Deng Yanzi In Hong Kong(China Daily) 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. iris@chinadailyhk.com (China Daily USA 02/09/2016 page13) Security issues come to the fore as firms expand reach Updated: 2016-02-09 16:02 By Zhao Yanrong In Bangkok(China Daily) Security issues could become a bigger concern for Chinese railway contractors as they expand their presence in Southeast Asia, according to regional development experts. Three headline projects particularly have drawn attention to China's growing rail construction activity in the area in recent months. The China-Lao railway project was launched in December with a ceremony in the capital Vientiane, and a China-Thailand railway project was inaugurated two weeks later in Ayutthaya, Thailand's ancient capital, 64 kilometers north of Bangkok. Work on the much-heralded China-built high-speed rail link in Java in Indonesia, also starts this week. However, the recent terrorist attack in Jakarta, has raised the whole issue of the security surrounding such high-profile national projects. As China expands its economic engagement with the world, the safety of its citizens working on overseas projects also faces growing challenges in places faced with major security concerns. The issue came into sharp focus recently when three executives from China Railway Construction Corp were among the hostages killed in a terrorist attack in Bamako, Mali in November. Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, said the Chinese authorities will be wary of the security arrangements in place for China's railway projects in Southeast Asia. "Some countries have weaker security mechanisms than others. This could lead to more terrorist attacks," said Kavi. Kumar Ramakrishna, head of policy studies in the executive vice-chairman's office of Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the so-called Islamic State group has already expanded its influence into Southeast Asia. To maintain peace and security in the region, the Bangkok Post reported recently that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is dealing with the threats in two ways: targeting the real-time, physical threat, and targeting the underlying conditions that lead to the threat. "Enhanced intelligence coordination is needed on terrorists' identities, their movement, and logistics and funding pipelines between and within governments in the region," Ramakrishna said. Following the deadly attacks in Indonesia, its closest ASEAN neighbors have declared tightened security. Malaysian police immediately raised its alert status to the "highest level". Increased security measures are now in place at all the country's public locations, such as shopping malls and tourist spots, and added precautionary action has been introduced at border crossings. The Immigration Bureau of Thailand has also introduced special teams to examine passports more thoroughly at airports. "ASEAN is facing polarization among its dialogue partners which will impact its overall relationship, so the organization has to manage these relations," said Chongkittavorn. He expects economic and people-to-people exchanges within ASEAN member states to be heightened, with the sharing of security intelligence to become more prevalent. And pivotal to that, he said, will be making sure there is also strong cooperation among Chinese railway companies, and other Chinese companies operating in the region, with both government officials and project stakeholders at ground level. zhaoyanrong@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 02/09/2016 page13) Fireworks explode in San Francisco on Feb 6. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters The Spring Festival, or chunjie in Mandarin, seems to have transformed from the most celebrated traditional holiday in China into an international festival. People around the world are showing more interest in Chinese culture and learning from its cherished values. From news and social media clips, I saw African children shouting slogans with Chinese enterprises staff there to wish China prosperity and strength; Sydney, Australia setting off fireworks; and London putting on a parade and a series of performances on Trafalgar Square. In San Francisco, what especially impressed me was a video released on Feb 6 by Mark Zuckerberg, founder of social media giant Facebook. He spoke Mandarin with his wife Priscilla and 2-month daughter Maxima, both in red outfi ts, to celebrate Chinese New Year and wished Chinese users health and good fortune. The couple also revealed that they have picked a Chinese name for Maxima: Mingyu, meaning "our hope for a brighter tomorrow". In the video, Zuckerberg mentioned Facebook's Chinese New Year celebration, which includes the company hosting seven top chefs from China to join their Chinese Cuisine Week program and cook authentic Chinese dishes at the company kitchen in Menlo Park, California, for three days. Believing culinary skills and cuisine will link people together, the Chinese Consul General Luo Linquan in San Francisco visited Facebook headquarters on Feb 3 to welcome the Chinese chefs. "Food keeps one's stomach warm and heart happy," said Luo, adding that Chinese food would serve as a bridge for Chinese and Americans to increase mutual understanding and people-to-people exchanges. Dave Poth, lead chef at Facebook, said he was impressed by the professionalism his Chinese counterparts demonstrated and said they didnt need translators to communicate. "Food is food, and it's universal," he said. "To work with a group of top chefs from China is like a dream come true." Zuckerberg said the duck was his favorite dish. The consulate general threw two New Year receptions in a row to enhance the festive atmosphere. At a Jan 27 event to which California Governor Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee were invited, Luo characterized 2015 as "a year of great signifi cance for China-US relations. Citing President Xi Jinping's state visit to the US in September as a breakthrough, Luo noted that China and the US have reached consensus on 50 important issues. "The two countries agreed to push forward negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty, expand the mutually benefi cial cooperation in energy, environmental protection, science and technology, aviation, infrastructure construction, agriculture, public health and other areas," Luo said. Luo encouraged the overseas Chinese in the Bay Area to actively integrate into US mainstream society, help boost China-US cooperation, popularize Chinese culture, and deepen the American people's understanding about China. Maggie Luo, a fi nancial professional in the Bay Area and a mom of two young children, worked with other parents to stage a Chinese cultural performance in her neighborhood primary school before Chinese New Year's Eve. "I'm proud of being Chinese, and we have such a long history of civilization, Maggie Luo said. "To let our children cherish their cultural heritage is our responsibility." Happy Chinese New Year! Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com Liang takes stand in trial Updated: 2016-02-09 04:28 By PAUL WELITZKIN in New York(China Daily USA) A young New York City Chinese-American police officer insisted on Monday that this weapon discharged "unintentionally" in the fatal 2014 shooting of an unarmed African-American man in the darkened stairwell of the Louis H Pink Houses in East New York. While Peter Liang was on patrol on Nov 20, 2014, his gun went off and a bullet, said to have ricocheted off the wall of a stairwell, killed Akai Gurley. Liang, who faces a count of manslaughter in addition to other charges, told a packed courtroom in Brooklyn on Monday that he and his partner Sean Landau were conducting a vertical patrol. Liang recalled entering a darkened stairwell on the 8th floor of the public housing project with his gun drawn in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The gun was pointed down and Liang said he had his trigger on the frame of the weapon when suddenly he heard a startling sound on his left and his gun went off. Liang said he reholstered his weapon and encountered Landau. When Landau asked what happened. Liang said "I accidentally fired a shot." The two argued over who should call the shooting in. Liang went searching for the bullet and on the 5th floor eventually found a wounded Gurley and his girlfriend Melissa Butler who wasn't hurt. "His eyes were rolled back," Liang said of Gurley. "I looked at him and it looked like he was seriously injured." Neither Liang nor Landau tried to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or first aid to Gurley. Liang said he thought it was best that a professional tend to Gurley at that point. In fact another woman, Melissa Lopez, was talking with 911 operators and shouted instructions to Butler. Landau testified under an immunity deal with the prosecution. Liang admitted that he had received training at the police academy in the proper care and use of his weapon. He also said he had taken a test on CPR instruction in which he was given some of the answers for the questions. Liang also faces misconduct and criminal negligence charges for failing to report the shooting promptly and for having drawn his weapon. He started sobbing on the witness stand during his testimony and left the courtroom briefly to regain his composure. On Tuesday, closing arguments from the defense and prosecution will take place before Judge Danny Chun will read his instructions to the jury. The defense is likely to argue that Liang was an inexperienced police officer who was thrust into the middle of a very dangerous environment and that he mistakenly fired his weapon. His attorneys will probably say he was in shock after the incident and unable to offer assistance. The prosecution is expected to focus on Liang's delay in notifying his superiors and in getting an ambulance at the scene. They will also likely question whether he should have even had his weapon drawn. SF Chinese program aims to prepare global professionals Updated: 2016-02-09 06:22 By LIA ZHU in San Francisco(China Daily USA) A new collaborative project on Chinese-language education in San Francisco recruits students at a younger age to prepare them to be the next generation of global professionals. The project, led by the Chinese Flagship Program at San Francisco State University, designed two pathways for high school students and community college students to gain admission to the program, a federally funded initiative for undergraduate students seeking careers related to China and the Chinese-speaking world. All students from the Bay Area with Chinese-language skills either obtained through previous classes or heritage background are eligible for the advanced Chinese courses offered by the City College of San Francisco at no cost. For the first time, students as young as eighth grade are able to attend Chinese classes at college level, said Yalan King, one of the initiators of the project and executive director of the Mandarin Institute, a Chinese language and culture education advocate. The Concurrent Chinese Language Pathway allows students to continue their study of Chinese in high school while also earning college credit. The credits can be applied both toward the students high school graduation requirements and transferred into a degree at San Francisco State. The other pathway provides accelerated introductory classes for novice learners at community colleges. Chinese has been designated, among other languages, as critical to US international competitiveness. Recruiters regularly visit the San Francisco State Chinese program asking for students with a background in the language, according to Mia Segura, coordinator of the Chinese Flagship Program. The Concurrent Chinese Language Pathway is expected to produce more students with the ability to accept the positions, and the programs priority is to produce bilingual professionals, Segura said. The Chinese Flagship Program, one of the nations 27 critical language centers, was recently awarded a $264,501 grant from the Language Flagship Program, a division of the National Security Education Program, to help set up pathways for Chinese learners. A pilot class began in the fall 2015 semester with a dozen students. Regular classes will begin in the spring 2016 semester with more than 20 students enrolled. The grant funding runs through fall 2016. King said the pathway ideas occurred to her thanks to her daughter, a Chinese immersion school student. When she entered middle school, King wondered what would happen to the years of Chinese that she and her classmates had studied. Unlike the generation of their parents, the students, especially the second generation of Chinese Americans, have themselves realized the significance of learning Chinese language and culture, said King, a Chinese descendant who cant speak Chinese fluently or read and write in Chinese. She said they interviewed students in their summer programs, and the students believed that Chinese-language skills were critical to their future. I dont want my daughter or other kids (to be) like me. My language is very limited in todays world, King said. Its not like our time when you competed for jobs with people from next door. Todays kids will compete with people from China, India, Russia, all over the world. The opportunities are global. liazhu@chinadailyusa.com More around world now share in Chinese New Year joy Updated: 2016-02-09 06:27 (China Daily USA) The Spring Festival, or chunjie in Mandarin, seems to have transformed from the most celebrated traditional holiday in China into an international festival. People around the world are showing more interest in Chinese culture and learning from its cherished values. From news and social media clips, I saw African children shouting slogans with Chinese enterprises' staff there to wish China prosperity and strength; Sydney, Australia setting off fireworks; and London putting on a parade and a series of performances on Trafalgar Square. In San Francisco, what especially impressed me was a video released on Feb 6 by Mark Zuckerberg, founder of social media giant Facebook. He spoke Mandarin with his wife Priscilla and 2-month daughter Maxima, both in red outfits, to celebrate Chinese New Year and wished Chinese users health and good fortune. The couple also revealed that they have picked a Chinese name for Maxima: Mingyu, meaning "our hope for a brighter tomorrow". In the video, Zuckerberg mentioned Facebook's Chinese New Year celebration, which includes the company hosting seven top chefs from China to join their Chinese Cuisine Week program and cook authentic Chinese dishes at the company kitchen in Menlo Park, California, for three days. Believing culinary skills and cuisine will link people together, the Chinese Consul General Luo Linquan in San Francisco visited Facebook headquarters on Feb 3 to welcome the Chinese chefs. "Food keeps one's stomach warm and heart happy," said Luo, adding that Chinese food would serve as a bridge for Chinese and Americans to increase mutual understanding and people-to-people exchanges. Dave Poth, lead chef at Facebook, said he was impressed by the professionalism his Chinese counterparts demonstrated and said they didn't need translators to communicate. "Food is food, and it's universal," he said. "To work with a group of top chefs from China is like a dream come true." Zuckerberg said the duck was his favorite dish. The consulate general threw two New Year receptions in a row to enhance the festive atmosphere. At a Jan 27 event to which California Governor Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee were invited, Luo characterized 2015 as "a year of great significance for China-US relations". Citing President Xi Jinping's state visit to the US in September as a breakthrough, Luo noted that China and the US have reached consensus on 50 important issues. "The two countries agreed to push forward negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty, expand the mutually beneficial cooperation in energy, environmental protection, science and technology, aviation, infrastructure construction, agriculture, public health and other areas," Luo said. Luo encouraged the overseas Chinese in the Bay Area to actively integrate into US mainstream society, help boost China-US cooperation, popularize Chinese culture, and deepen the American people's understanding about China. Maggie Luo, a financial professional in the Bay Area and a mom of two young children, worked with other parents to stage a Chinese cultural performance in her neighborhood primary school before Chinese New Year's Eve. All of the performers were American-born Chinese and amateurs. "I'm proud of being Chinese, and we have such a long history of civilization," Maggie Luo said. "To let our children cherish their cultural heritage is our responsibility. Although it's not easy, "if we ourselves won't do it, who will then?" Happy Chinese New Year! Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. Dutton reveals premiers who undermined Scott Morrison in pandemic response Following a report into Australia's pandemic response Opposition Leader Peter Dutton revealed former prime minister Scott Morrison "bent over backwards" at National Cabinet to help premiers in their COVID-19 response but some still chose to "undermine" him. Echuca locals prepare for more flooding 02:33 Residents in the town of Echuca, Victoria have been given a few extra days to prepare from the flood forecasted to be the worst to hit the town... Murray River peak expected next week 02:42 Residents in Echuca and Moama are awaiting the Murray River peak as the river rises. Voting Greens gets you the extreme: Birmingham 07:46 Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe is representative of an undercurrent in her party that is not widely reflected or known across Australia, Shadow... Florida man arrested in alligator attac k WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) A Florida man was arrested Monday and charged with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill after Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officials say he threw a 3.5-foot alligator through a Palm Beach County Wendys drive-thru window in October. Joshua James, 24, allegedly drove his pickup truck to the window at about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 11. After an employee handed James his drink, he threw the alligator through the window and drove off. No one was hurt. The alligator was captured and released into the wild. James was tracked down through video surveillance and a purchase at a neighboring convenience store. His mother characterized the incident as a stupid prank. Cop shoots, kills unarmed nude teen AUSTIN, Texas (AP) An unarmed nude teenager was fatally shot by an officer in an altercation partly captured by patrol car video. Austin Police said Officer Geoffrey Freeman fatally shot David Joseph, 17, Monday when the teen refused orders to stop and charged at the officer. Police havent released the video. Freeman had responded to a report of one male chasing another through an apartment complex and later came upon the naked Joseph. Freeman has been an Austin police officer for 10 years. Joseph was black, as is the officer. Online fight videos targeted by bill SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) The video posted on Facebook showed a 12-year-old on the ground while another boy tried to stomp him, with classmates standing by, circling the two and recording the fight on their phones. Neither boy was seriously hurt, but Republican Rep. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro in southern Illinois was so disturbed by the spectators behavior shes proposed a bill making it a crime to record fights to share online. Bryants proposal, though, has prompted concerns about infringing on free speech rights and unnecessarily criminalizing young people. Similar concerns have hindered lawmakers around the country who have tried in recent years to crack down on cyberbullies who take to social media to harass classmates. In addition, intent can be difficult to prosecute. New Orleans marks a chilly Mardi Gras NEW ORLEANS (AP) Thousands of people bundled up against the cold winds as they lined up along the main streets of New Orleans on Tuesday to see the culmination of the citys famous Mardi Gras celebration. The last day of parades rolled along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street before Lent, a period of penance and spiritual renewal, begins today. Families set up ladders for their children to sit on and thus get a better chance to catch beads and trinkets prized possessions thrown out by float riders. IS car bomb kills 10 in Syrian capital BEIRUT (AP) A suicide car bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group struck near a police officers club in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and destroying a number of cars. Syrian state TV reported the toll and showed footage of the blast scene in Damascus, including several damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car. The police officers club was next to a vegetable market. An icky new hero: Roach-like robots WASHINGTON (AP) When buildings collapse in future disasters, the hero helping rescue trapped people may be a robotic cockroach. Repulsive as they may be, roaches have the remarkable ability to squish their bodies down to one quarter their normal size, yet still scamper at lightning speed. The amazing cockroach inspired scientists to create a mini-robot that can mimic its feats of strength and agility. Researchers hope swarms of roach-like robots could be fitted with cameras, microphones and other sensors and then used in earthquakes and other disasters to help search for victims by squeezing through small cracks. 2015 set record for shark attacks GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) Experts say 2015 saw a record-setting 98 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide, including 30 in Florida alone. The Florida Museum of Natural History released the numbers Monday. Scientists say the previous record was 88 attacks in 2000. Of the six fatalities last year, two happened off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion; the others occurred off Australia, Egypt, New Caledonia and the United States. The U.S. led the world with 59 attacks, including eight in each of the Carolinas and seven in Hawaii. California and Texas each had two attacks, and New York and Mississippi each had one. More than 30 hurt in casino bus crash MADISON, Conn. (AP) A charter bus driving through a snowstorm to a casino flipped onto its side Monday, injuring more than 30 people and closing the northbound side of Interstate 95 in Connecticut. The bus, which was on its way from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino, crashed around 12:30 p.m. in Madison, east of New Haven. State police trooper Kelly Grant said there were about 70 people on the bus. Passengers were taken to several hospitals, with the most seriously injured, about eight people, going to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Germany, Turkey vow Aleppo relief ANKARA, Turkey (AP) As tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing violence massed at Turkeys border, Turkish and German leaders pledged Monday to redouble diplomatic efforts to end the fighting around the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo and prevent more refugees making their way into Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Turkeys prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, she was not just appalled but horrified by the suffering caused by the bombing in Syria, primarily by Russia. Merkel said Turkey and Germany would push at the United Nations for all sides to adhere to a U.N. resolution passed in December that calls for an immediate halt to attacks on civilians in Syria. Inmate freed in L.A. by mistake caught LOS ANGELES (AP) A murder suspect who was mistakenly released from a Los Angeles jail last month was recaptured Monday in Nevada. Los Angeles County sheriffs detectives learned earlier in the day Steven Lawrence Wright might be hiding in a Boulder City hotel and asked for help from the FBI and local police departments. Wright was arrested without incident. The 37-year-old was unarmed and there was no indication he committed any crimes while he was out, officials said. WATERLOO With the surety and power of an Iowa winter cold front, an oft-angst-ridden tax season arrived Feb. 1. And, it arrived in a flourish, tax preparers said. Some filers are eager to get refunds; others want quick solutions to dilemmas that might be delaying the filing process, preparers say. Youve always got the ones that want to get it done, but there always seems to be one more thing they need in order to file, and its not going to be here for a week or so, said Kurt Rickard, owner of Tobys Taxes in Cedar Falls. Perhaps the biggest change, for small businesses filing as individuals this year is the deduction for equipment purchases, which Congress had to address in the December omnibus spending bill. Id say the biggest thing for business is they finally got some clarity from Congress on the business deduction that allows a business to expense up to $500,000 of new equipment this year, said Steve Duggan, co-owner of Hogan-Hansen, a Waterloo accounting firm. The old law had expired Jan. 1, 2015, so they made it retroactive. Its also permanent, so we do have some clarity for 2016. When you dont know what the law is, you dont know what to do for planning for your business. Rickard said the issue of coupling deductions pertaining to both federal and Iowa tax law remains to be addressed by the Iowa Legislature. He cited the standard $250 deduction available to teachers who have purchased supplies for their classrooms. Mid-December, Congress put that back in, but Iowa hasnt allowed to go along with that, Rickard said. So, you can deduct that on federal returns but not on Iowa returns. If Iowa passes the law, it probably would be the end of February when the software is up to date. Any such changes could be amended subsequently on tax returns, Rickard said. Indeed, there are other changes in the federal tax code that Iowa still hasnt followed, Rickard said. That means there are discrepancies between federal and state in matters of depreciation and purchases. Those differences are important items for farms and other businesses that make major investments in equipment, Rickard noted. In Iowa, they have to agree to any changes to the tax code, and theres a lot of little deductions the list is about 200 long, of which theres only handful that affects most people, he said. Starting this week, the University of Northern Iowa once again is offering free income tax assistance again this year through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Assistance in the preparation of tax returns will be available on Monday and Wednesday nights, beginning this week and running through through April 6, excluding March 14 and 16 of UNIs spring break week. Returns for foreign students and scholars will be prepared beginning March 7. Returns are being prepared from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. with registration taking place in Room 223 of the Curris Business Building on the UNI campus. No appointment is necessary. Room 223 will open at 6:30 p.m. Tax filers are asked to arrive early to allow students sufficient time to complete a return. Only a limited number of returns will be completed each night. Weve got about 20 students in each section involved, said Rick Crist, an accounting instructor at UNI who runs the program. Taxpayers seeking assistance should bring: Social Security cards for the taxpayer, spouse and dependents; valid photo identification; a copy of last years tax returns; Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, from each employer; Forms 1099, for such things as interest, dividends or retirement payments; a list of other income and expenses; Form 1098-E, student loan interest statement; Form 1098-T, tuition payment statement (also bring institution billing statement); banking information (account and routing numbers) for automatic deposit of refund; and all other information pertinent to the 2015 tax return. We also have four faculty members involved, Crist said. Students benefit from participating in the outreach effort, Crist noted. Students interact with the clients. We always get complimented by community members. They enjoy interacting with the students. From the student standpoint, its helping to develop their soft skills. With the dawn of the federal insurance overhaul, all tax filers have to provide proof of health coverage. Thats a nice can of worms there, Rickard said. It also may provide a few surprises, especially if a filer has gone through an exchange, which requires at least an estimate of anticipated income, for the purposes of a subsidy. If a guess is off the mark, it could cost a taxpayer at filing time, Rickard said. When we do taxes, you find whether you got too much credit or not enough, so you might have to pay or maybe get something back, he said. There are gonna be surprises. People who are covered normally through their employer will get a 1095B form that verifies coverage and also get a 1095C that says the employer offered coverage, Rickard said. Some of those forms are not required to be out until March 31, he said. NEWTON Jurors needed just 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to find Dustin Jefferson guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree murder in the death of his wife. Law enforcement officials, led by prosecutor Laura Roan and Tama County Attorney Brent Heeren, convinced seven women and five men Jefferson, 40, helped his mother, Ginger Jefferson, kill his wife. Kerry OClair Jefferson, 32, died Sept. 25, 2013, the victim of two fatal stab wounds to her neck. Im relieved. Thats all I can say, Marlene OClair, Kerrys mother, said after Judge Mary Chicchelly read the verdict. Though OClair Jefferson died in Tama County, the case was moved to Newton and Jasper County District Court after Chicchelly granted a change of venue. Jurors in Tama County previously convicted Ginger Jefferson of first-degree murder. She is serving a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole. Dustin Jefferson dropped his chin slightly and shook his head back and forth as Chicchelly read the verdict. He did not otherwise appear to react. OClair Jeffersons family and friends, however, cried and hugged each other after jurors were dismissed from service. The trial in Newton represented the states third attempt to convict Dustin Jefferson. The first in Tama County ended during jury selection after defense attorney Thomas Gaul raised questions about minority representation in the panel. Jefferson is a member of the Meskwaki tribe, which is based at its settlement near Tama and Toledo. In Jeffersons second trial, also in Tama County, jurors did not reach a unanimous verdict. The vote ended 11-1 to convict, according to the jury foreman, who said he was the lone holdout and was not convinced of Jeffersons guilt. The state alleged Ginger Jefferson and her son committed murder after an alcohol-fueled argument developed and after OClair Jefferson reported Dustin Jeffersons whereabouts to law enforcement officials. The Meskwaki Nation Police Department had an outstanding arrest warrant for Jefferson for multiple counts of sex abuse. During her closing argument Tuesday in Newton, Roan asked jurors to answer a pair of simple questions. Who had the motive in this case? Who had the arrest warrant? Roan said. OClair Jefferson was angry that day, according to Roan, and gave her husband up to police. He knew he was going to jail. He was dodging the cops. She ratted him out, Roan said. Roan also reminded jurors an autopsy revealed OClair Jefferson suffered more injury than the fatal stab wounds, suggesting Ginger Jefferson could not have acted alone. Ginger Jefferson at 60 years of age and almost 80 pounds lighter (than OClair Jefferson) did not beat the hell out of her daughter-in-law, Roan said. Dustin Jefferson must have helped, Roan added later. Without his assistance how does she even get it done? Roan asked jurors. Evidence also showed more of OClair Jeffersons blood on Dustin Jeffersons sandal than on Ginger Jeffersons sneaker and just as much on Dustin Jeffersons clothing, according to Roan. Defense attorney Thomas Gaul took exception to that characterization during his closing statement. Thats simply not true. ... No. No. No, Gaul told jurors. He again showed jurors photos taken by investigators of the footwear, shirts and jeans collected from Dustin and Ginger Jefferson. Gaul noted large stains and numerous drops on Ginger Jeffersons items and just a few drops on Dustins things. Those, Gaul added, could easily have been transferred from Ginger Jefferson to her son. Gaul also talked about the murder weapon, which Jefferson told police was his own. Yes its his knife used by Ginger Jefferson, Gaul said. During her closing argument, Roan reminded jurors of Dustin and Ginger Jeffersons actions after the fatal attack. They both fled the scene. Thats human nature. Thats guilty knowledge, Roan said. Gaul countered untrained people in such high-stress situations dont always respond logically or rationally. Thats not how people react when faced with horror, he added. Gaul noted other family members who got involved in the early moments of the crime called neither police or an ambulance. Those are the reactions of normal human beings, Gaul said. He told jurors Dustin Jefferson also returned to the house. Dont let the state tell you he didnt have any opportunity to get away. Yes, he did. And he chose not to, Gaul said. A conviction for aiding and abetting first-degree murder is punishable by a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. His sentencing hearing is set for April 28. CEDAR FALLS We are college-bound is part of a daily recitation for about 1,400 students attending Urban Prep Academies, a Chicago charter school that serves African-American boys. But its more than that. Its also been the reality for the 10 years the school has been operating 100 percent of graduates have been accepted into college. Tim King, who founded the academies, says the creed becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You try saying that every morning for four years and not have it in your head that youre going to college, King told the fifth annual African-American Children and Families Conference at the University of Northern Iowa Friday. Another reason for success is simply not accepting anything less. Im pretty confident that these beautiful roses that are sitting here with us will have a much more difficult time succeeding if we dont believe in them, King said. But when we do believe in them, and when they believe in themselves, miraculous, miraculous, incredible things can occur. King conveyed just how miraculous the successes at Urban Prep are by explaining the schools history. He started the high school knowing only 2.5 percent one out of 40 of Chicago African-Americans who start out in public school graduate from college. About 60 percent of black males were dropping out of school, and the problem of violence in Chicago persists. Many young men at Urban Prep selected by a lottery to attend one of three campuses read at the elementary school level when they enter ninth grade, and much time is spent on remedial education. Most of the boys live in single-parent homes, where the parent or guardian is working two or three jobs. Now, one of nine African-American men going to college in Chicago is an Urban Prep graduate. King told the stories of three students a graduate who transferred but came back; a homeless valedictorian who did his homework in a shelter bathroom; and a boy who nearly died in a random drive-by shooting who will graduate in the spring. That former transfer student summed up his experience this way: If I had stayed at that other school, I would have been dead by the time I was 18. In fact, I was dying a little bit each and every day. He now works at Urban Prep after graduating from from college. These are the stories of the young people in our lives; the details may be different, but the stories are very much the same, King said. These are our roses. Though Iowa is getting more diverse a later presentation said children entering preschool were 89 percent white in 2000 and currently average 80 percent white King faced a question about nurturing people of color beyond high school, particularly when they enter predominantly white colleges. Its a question UNI is working to address, though the question came from a Wartburg College professional. I think colleges oftentimes do an awesome job of admitting students of color. I think that colleges oftentimes dont do enough to take care of them once they are admitted, King said. All kids who go to college bring baggage but some students bring some extra baggage and may need help unpacking. But when we do believe in them, and when they believe in themselves, miraculous, miraculous, incredible things can occur. founder, Urban Prep Academies in Chicago DES MOINES To help meet his goal that 70 percent of Iowans will have some post-secondary education by 2025, Gov. Terry Branstad has announced plans for an April 19 Future Ready Iowa summit to start a statewide conversation about how to close the skills gap. At his Monday news conference, Branstad called it critical to build on efforts already under way to assure that students and workers have the career opportunities they deserve, and business and industry can hire the skilled employees they need. The all-day summit is open to the public, with space for about 1,000. Branstad and Reynolds hope to attract a broad cross section of Iowans, including business, labor and nonprofit leaders; educators, students and parents; and state and local policy makers. Speed limits A pair of bills to increase speed limits on undivided, two-lane highways got the green light from a House Transportation subcommittee. One would raise the speed limit from 55 mph to 60. The other would raise it to 65. Steve Gent of the Iowa DOT expressed concern that the higher speed limits would results in an increase of five to 15 fatalities a year. County two-lanes, he said, often have narrower shoulders and steeper ditches. He also estimated the cost of changing speed limit signs statewide to be somewhere between $4.6 million to $6.5 million. The subcommittee of Rep. Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, John Landon, R-Ankeny, and Rick Olson, D-Des Moines, agreed to send the bills to the full committee and work with the DOT on amending the language. Data protection Although they heard comments from lobbyists that the change is unnecessary and may lead to Iowas search and seizure law being interpreted in new ways, a House Judiciary subcommittee moved forward with a proposed constitutional amendment to protect Iowans electronic communications and data. HJR 2003 calls for amending Iowas 19th Century Constitution to reflect 21st Century technology, Rep. Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, explained. He wants to protect electronic communications and data whether its on a cellphone or in the cloud from warrantless search and seizure, he said. However, Kelly Meyers of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, said the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to cover electronic communications and data. If Iowa amends its Constitution, the court could take that as lawmakers intention for Iowa law to be interpreted differently than the federal Fourth Amendment. Pete McRoberts of the Iowa ACLU supported the change. The change would not undermine the protections, but merely recognize that Iowas law is more protective than the U.S. Constitution. Fair pay bill A panel of Senate Democrats approved a bill that would strengthen equal pay laws by requiring more wage transparency from employers. SF 3071 prohibits employers from barring employees from discussing their wages, requires employers to post a minimum wage level with any job posting, and gives employees more legal authority to pursue wage discrimination claims. DES MOINES Sen. Joni Ernst is supporting additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the rogue nations recent claims it tested a hydrogen bomb and a long-range rocket potentially capable of delivering ballistic missiles. North Korea is always at the top of the list when it comes to very unstable governments that have access to very powerful weapons, Ernst said Tuesday. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act that includes sanctions of the type the Obama administration used to get a nuclear agreement with Iran. The Senate legislation scheduled for a vote today would include broad sanctions as well as crack down on communist party officials accused of covering up human rights violations. The legislation also includes what Ernst called secondary sanctions that would be in addition to sanctions on the government. They would apply to those corporations or people outside of North Korea who are attempting to do business with North Korea, she said. Secondary sanctions would apply to anyone trying to supply the North Korea military-industrial base, Ernst said. DES MOINES A Republican state senator from northwest Iowa has lent his support to a Democrat-led effort to halt the Medicaid management transition plan proposed by the states Republican governor. But Sen. David Johnsons vote Monday to support legislation that would stop the transition to private management of Iowas $5 billion Medicaid program did not immediately spark a widespread bipartisan movement, as key Republicans remained supportive of the governors initiative. Republican Gov. Terry Branstads administration is moving Medicaid management to three private health-care companies. Private management, which awaits federal approval because Medicaid is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, is slated to begin March 1. A bill that passed through two committees Monday in the Democrat-controlled Senate would nullify the state contracts with those health-care companies. Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, said he supports the bill after hearing from his constituents and health-care providersin his area. Prior to Johnsons show of support Monday, Republicans had been hesitant to support delaying or halting the Medicaid management transition. I just believe that at the very least we need to slow the process down, said Johnson. Im going to support it to give it a little extra push, and to give it a push because I want it to be a bipartisan approach on the issue. Theres no point in us arguing on political ideologies about this. We need to look at exactly whats going on here and remember the patients and the clients come first. The bill likely could pass the full Senate on the strength of a Democratic majority even without Johnsons support; it likely faces a short shelf life in the Republican-controlled Iowa House. Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, called Johnsons support a signal that bipartisan support exists among state lawmakers to stop the governors plan. I believe that the fact that theres bipartisan support to terminate contracts certainly sends a very loud and clear message to the governor and to the (federal) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that at the very least they need to at least delay it again and hopefully will say, All right, Iowa, just stop and do a restart, Jochum said. But in a committee vote on the legislation, Johnson was the only of four Republicans to support the measure. And in the House, Rep. Dave Heaton, who chairs the health care budget committee, gave the bureau a passionate defense of the governors plan, which he and supporters believe will improve health outcomes for Medicaid recipients and create efficiencies and taxpayer savings. I just cant agree on a delay. I think theres just too much at stake here, Heaton said. House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said late last week she does not expect the bill will receive a hearing in the House, given the governor does not support the effort to stop his Medicaid management plan. Im certainly not interested in passing any bill that faces a certain veto, so thats probably not something well do, Upmeyer told reporters Thursday. Branstad accused Democrats of playing politics with his Medicaid management. I think its outrageous and political, and that kind of partisanship should have no place in trying to deliver the best health care to the citizens of Iowa, Branstad said. Jochum pushed back at the suggestion, saying she and other Democrats are responding to the thousands of constituents who have expressed concerns with the Medicaid management changes. DES MOINES A proposal that could result in county clerks of court processing hundreds of thousands of citations generated by traffic enforcement cameras hit a caution light Monday. A House Transportation subcommittee didnt kill but declined to advance House File 2109 that would establish rules for the operation of traffic enforcement cameras and route the fines through the clerks offices, a move one lobbyist told legislators would be an unfunded mandate. Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Greg Heartsill, R-Dallas-Melcher, said the bill needs work. If it is advanced to the whole committee it likely will be with amendments. In Cedar Rapids, for example, more than 500,000 citations worth more than $22 million have been issued since 2010. Under the bill, the citations would be processed by the clerk of courts office. Ninety percent of the fine would be retained by the city 10 percent would go into the state general fund. That could be interpreted as an unfunded mandate because the clerks office in counties where traffic enforcement cameras are being used might have to hire additional staff to handle the work, Gary Grant, who represents the city of Cedar Rapids said. There is some concern, he added, that the bill could amount to a ban on the use of the cameras. The Iowa Department of Transportation also raise concerns because it has established administrative rules for the cameras, according to Steve Gent, director of traffic and safety. We think theyre pretty good, Gent said about the rules that are based on national standards. They address some of the issues in HF 2109, such as requiring local law enforcement to certify the calibration of the cameras. He reminded the three-member panel there are number of lawsuits pending that involve the Iowa DOT and use of the cameras, including one involving Cedar Rapids. They may go to court later this year. The city also is being sued by people who have been issued camera-generated citations. Heartsill, the bills sponsor, was concerned that because the companies operating the cameras are for profit, there could be some blurring of the lines between profit and public safety. Mike St. Clair, who represents Gatso one of the camera vendors, said the company would welcome a regulatory framework to address concerns, but this bill, I dont think it gets us there. And Robert Palmer of the Iowa League of Cities said the arrangement with the camera vendors is the sport of public-private partnership that allows cities to operate at a lower cost versus us hiring staff and buying the equipment. DES MOINES The Iowa Utilities Board heard arguments for and against an oil pipeline crossing the state Monday. Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, has argued the federal government holds exclusive jurisdiction in regulating safety. But board general counsel David Lynch disputed that during opening deliberations Monday. The Utilities Board would not be in a position to say after the pipeline is built, You are not operating that in the right way; we are going to revoke your permit, Lynch said. But you are in the position upfront to say you dont think this pipeline is going to be safe and we are not going to approve it at all. Monday was the first of four days scheduled for deliberations on the permit request made in January 2015, as well as the authority to use eminent domain to acquire easements from reluctant property owners. Staff attorneys laid out for the three-member board the arguments parties have made for and against key issues in the case, and discussed the scope of authority on those issues including climate change, energy independence, the world petroleum market and economic benefits. A key point of contention is whether Dakota Access had satisfied the environmental study requirements for the proposed 30-inch diameter underground pipeline originating in the Bakken and Three Forks region of North Dakota and ending in Illinois. It crosses Iowa from the states northwest to southeast corners. The law gives the board the authority to impose terms and conditions on the pipeline if it is supported by the evidence in the record, Lynch said. Wally Taylor of the Sierra Club said all but 74 miles of the 346 miles of pipeline through Iowa would be unprotected unless the board does something. Many are watching to see if the board reaches a decision during the deliberations this week. But the board could push the decision off to a future, unscheduled meeting. The board has kept its options open. I would like an answer tomorrow, but I dont think that will happen, said Chad Carter, of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 234 based in Des Moines. My hope is to hear by the end of the month. I dont see given how much the work the board has to do figuring this out this week. The heavy equipment union represents workers in 17 of the 18 Iowa counties the pipeline would cross through, he said. Iowa is the last state to rule on the pipeline. Boards in North Dakota, Illinois and South Dakota have given a green light. Often loquacious and always arrogant, Martin Shkreli financial manager, drug company executive and the most hated man in America appeared before a congressional panel Feb. 4 that wanted to know why he raised the price of an obscure lifesaving drug by 5,455 percent. But amid smirks and sneers, Turing Pharmaceuticals founder and former chief executive officer, out on $5 million bond while facing seven counts of fraud regarding a hedge fund he co-founded, repeatedly told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question. Respectively decline may have been perjury, because Shkreli, 32, later tweeted, Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government. His tweet may come back to bite him and drug companies, particularly those that dont invent anything but buy the rights to specialty medications critical for a limited number of patients, then jack up prices. Calling the committee impotent, though, would have been an apt characterization. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat, told Shkreli he had more power than Congress. I know youre smiling, but Im very serious, sir, he told Shkreli. The way I see it, you can go down in history as the poster boy for greedy drug company executives, or you can change the system yeah, you. Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, who wants to keep government out of patients sick beds, asked Janet Woodcock, director of drug evaluation and research for the Food and Drug Administration about reports some drug prices had doubled or tripled. Well, Woodcock responded, because Congress has not really vested any authority for the FDA over pricing, so we do not follow that. The committee did succeed in portraying Turing Pharmaceutical as Snidely Whiplash, reprehensible villain. Daraprim, a drug approved in 1953, is the only treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasite disease contracted from contaminated food that is harmful to those with AIDS and cancer patients and can cause birth defects in pregnant women. It is blamed for 4,400 hospitalizations and 327 deaths annually Turing purchased the rights and raised the price last year from $13.50 to $750 per pill $75,000 for a bottle of 100 pills. Britains GlaxoSmithKline sells it for $1.53 per pill in Europe. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the panels chair, debunked Turings claim it wasnt making a profit from Daraprim. Instead, its first-year gross sales were $98 million with a net of $20 million. The company handed out six-figure bonuses to its sales force, rented a yacht for $23,000 for a party, had a fireworks display and bought an $800 cigar roller. Shkreli had stated all profits would be put into research and development, which Chaffetz called contrived PR. In fact, Shkreli had written to the board chairman about the Daraprim pricing, $1 bn (billion) here we come. The committee also had Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, another hedge fund masquerading as a drug company, in its crosshairs. Valeant acquired heart drugs Isuprel and Nitropress, then raised their prices by 525 percent and 212 percent, respectively. But Valeant interim CEO Howard Schiller promised to play nice, rather than further enrage an angry, if ineffective, beast. The hearing, though, did illustrate the lunacy of the present health-care system with companies setting outlandish prices as a point of negotiation with hospitals and/or insurance companies. For instance, a Washington Post story last September recounted an analysis by Leslie Boyer, director of the University of Arizonas VIPER Institute, on why snake anti-venom, which costs $14 to make, has a hospital sticker price of $14,000. Licensing fees, clinical tests and assorted other costs account for nearly 30 percent, but more than 70 percent comes from hospital markups that are used as instruments in negotiation with insurance providers. If Congress continues to disdain imposing regulations on pharmaceuticals even those where rights are purchased with the intent to drive up prices astronomically then the FDA must do a much better job of fast-tracking generic alternatives, rather than have a backlog of four years awaiting approval. Its also long overdue that Congress gives Medicare the right to negotiate the prices of medication just like it does the Veterans Administration. Thats a relatively simple way to control the costs of the Part D drug benefit, which costs taxpayers $80 billion annually. St. Pats school sets open house CEDAR FALLS St. Patrick School will host an open house for interested kindergarten through eighth-grade families Friday. Tours will be given from 8:30 to 11 a.m., 1 to 3 p.m. and 5 to 6:30 p.m. Families can learn about academics, extracurricular activities, on-site day care and financial assistance. Enter through the main entrance glass doors at 615 Washington St. Clover Patch Preschool and Daycare will be open for tours from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 21. The preschool serves ages 3 through 5 at 802 Main St. All faiths are welcome. Registration packets will be available. For more information, go to www.cfcatholicschool.org or call 277-6781. Kindergarten is Bosco topic GILBERTVILLE Parents of children entering kindergarten next fall in the Bosco Catholic School System are welcome at a kingergarten parent meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at St. Joseph Church, 313 E. Central St., Raymond. Womens giving group organizes CEDAR FALLS The 100+ Women Who Care Cedar Valley Chapter will hold its first meeting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Beaver Hills Country Club. The group aims to raise $10,000 at each of its quarterly meetings, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to local nonprofits. All women who live or work in the Cedar Valley are encouraged to join. Organizers ask that all members commit to $400 in local giving annually, $100 per quarterly meeting. The 100+ Women Who Care Cedar Valley Chapter is patterned after similar initiatives around the country, including Iowa City, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. For more information, go to www.100pluswomencf.com. Salvation Army short of goal WATERLOO The Salvation Army of Waterloo/Cedar Falls concluded its annual fundraising campaign Jan. 31, raising $606,311, falling short of the $730,000 goal. Of the funds raised, $243,771 was given by mail, $15,905 online, $134,629 in specialty gifts, and $212,006 was at the red kettles. Rare coins found in kettles were auctioned off. The gold coins sold as one unit, bringing $14,220. The rest of the coins sold together for $265. The annual campaign accounts for 40 percent of the Salvation Armys operating budget, assisting thousands of people annually. BREMER Public lecture at Wartburg WAVERLY - Marlys Svendsen will speak at Wartburg College on Thursday. Svendsen, a historic preservationist, will present A Career in Historic Preservation: Waverly Projects, highlighting her career in public history and showcasing her numerous projects with the city of Waverly, at 1 p.m. in Science Center room 134. The lecture is open to the public, and light refreshments will be served. Denver roundup set for Feb. 25 DENVER The Denver Elementary kindergarten/kindergarten eligible roundup is planned for Feb. 25. The meeting will be an organized meeting for the parents or guardians of kindergarten students. It will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the elementary library. Parents should bring a copy of their childs birth certificate, immunization records and completed registration materials. The elementary staff will be there to answer any questions. Call the Denver Elementary office at 984-5611 to place a child on the list for the 2016-2017 school year or add a child to the list electronically at www.denver-cyclones.com. Registration materials will be sent to families during the first part of February. Students must be 5 years old by Sept. 15 in order to attend kindergarten this fall. Kindergarten Experience Day is set for 9 a.m. to noon May 13. MITCHELL Ski/Stroll planned in Riceville RICEVILLE The Sweetheart Ski/Stroll down the Wapsi-Great Western Line Trail in Riceville will be 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The trail head is located at 110 E. Main St. in Riceville. Mitchell County Conservation Board will have cross-country skis available to try for free, or bring your own ski/snowshoe gear. There will be refreshments available at the welcome center. If there is no snow, there will be a stroll down the trail instead. For more information contact Chelsea at (641) 330-0765. Sturgis Falls Scholarships CEDAR FALLS Application forms for the Sturgis Falls scholarships are available at local high school guidance offices or at the Sturgis Falls Celebration website at www.sturgisfalls.org. The Sturgis Falls Celebration board annually selects three deserving high school seniors from the metropolitan area to receive $1500. The scholarship is aimed at promoting educational opportunities for students who will be attending an accredited college, university or trade school. It is open to any area high school senior who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Completed applications must be postmarked by Feb. 15. Students may mail applications to Sturgis Falls Scholarships, P.O. Box 771, Cedar Falls 50613. Recipients will be notified by March 31 and honored during the celebration opening ceremony June 24. Cedar Falls AMVETS CEDAR FALLS The Cedar Falls AMVETS Post No. 49 is once again offering scholarships to the areas high school students. AMVETS is offering a $1,000 Howard Hveem Memorial Scholarship and a $1,000 Mom Iversen Service Scholarship. They are also awarding a $1,000 scholarship to the UNI ROTC cadet selected by the University of Northern Iowa ROTC cadre. The Sons of AMVETS are offering the Larry Williams Memorial Scholarship of $500. This scholarship is available to any family member with an established AMVETS partner connection. They are also offering a $500 Brian Harrington Scholarship through the Hawkeye Community Scholarship. The AMVET Ladies Auxiliary and the AMVET Riders will also be offering scholarships. The applications are now available at the AMVETS Post lobby. AMVETS applications and the Ladies Auxiliary applications must be returned to the address listed on the applications no later than April 1. The Sons of AMVETS applications must be returned no later than April 15. The AMVETS Post is at 1934 Irving St., behind the Black Hawk Sprinkler building. The scholarships will be awarded May 1. Robert Blue Scholarships DES MOINES Applications for the 2016 Robert D. Blue Scholarship are available online at RDBlue.org. Any graduates of an Iowa high school who plan to attend college in Iowa for the 2016-2017 school year are eligible to apply. Awards are based on financial need, an original essay, academic achievement and written recommendations. The Iowa Centennial Memorial Foundation awards the Robert D. Blue Scholarship to Iowa students attending college in Iowa. Gov. Blue created the foundation in 1949 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Iowas acceptance into the union. Blue Scholarship applications are accepted online through May 10 at RDBlue.org. The winners will be announced during the summer. Q: Why was there no mention of the Maid Rite shop at Highway 63 and East Donald. What will become of that if they put a mall there? A: The plans for Logan Plaza anticipate the current Maid Rite building being removed. nnn Q: Councilman Pat Morrissey is planning a meeting for residents of Ward 3 only. I own property in Ward 3. Am I welcome to attend this meeting? A: Morrissey said the monthly meetings are designed for people who live in Ward 3. You are welcome to call him at 232-7315 to discuss any concerns. nnn Q: Have they ever considered a Kmart or Shopko or some kind of discount store on the north side of Waterloo alongside Highway 63? A: The city of Waterloo would have considered any big box retailer willing to open a store in that area. Keep in mind it is the retailers themselves who decide where to build. The city can offer incentives to encourage such development but cant pick and choose what companies open stores in town. nnn Q: What is replacing the Viet Noodle restaurant in the building on the corner of University and Falls Avenue? A: Its a Great Western Bank. nnn Q: Regarding the Logan Plaza buyout: What will happen to McDonalds and Maid Rite located there? A: McDonalds owns its own building and is not part of the buyout. The building housing the Maid Rite restaurant is expected to be demolished. We are not aware of whether the business would relocate. nnn Q: A recent article in The Courier stated Waterloos rainy day fund grew by $40,000, but never stated what the total balance was. What is it? A: The article stated the undesignated general fund balance grew $40,000 in the last fiscal year to top $10.2 million. nnn Q: Now that the Grout has its own levy, what is the procedure for citizens to remove the Grout from the hotel/motel tax? Is there even a procedure? A: Decisions on expenditures of hotel/motel tax are made in Waterloo by the City Council members you elect to public office. Citizens are free to make suggestions on the use of hotel/motel tax to those officials. nnn Q: With the sale of the TechWorks building for the purpose of a hotel and the city contributing $20 million in city grants and loans with an out-of-town developer, are there any plans and mandates that there be local contractors constructing or remodeling the facility? A: The development agreement does not dictate which contractors are used by the developer. nnn Q: What is the latest plan with the old Orange School in south Waterloo? Is it for sale? Who do I talk to about purchasing the land? A: Waterloo Community Schools swapped the land for city of Waterloo property to relocate its bus garage in September 2014. The district will demolish the former school and current bus garage on the Orange site before the city takes possession of that property. The city is expected to market the property for development. Contact the city of Waterloo with any inquiries. The Founding Fathers and those who fought in the Continental Army were our original Western Heroes, guided by the thinkers of the Enlightenment and following in the footsteps of great warriors like Jan Sobieski and Charles Martel. By West Kentucky Star Staff & WKCTC Staff Feb. 09, 2016 | 07:48 AM | PADUCAH, KY Community education offerings for February continue at West Kentucky Community and Technical College. We are please to have such a wide variety of offerings for the community throughout the month of February, said Kevin ONeill, WKCTC community education director. Its our goal to continue to build a well-rounded catalog with more offerings for those in our region.February classes are listed as follows. Culinary Offerings The Other Social Media NetworksFebruary 16, 6 p.m. 8 p.m.Emerging Technology CenterAge: AdultFacebook may consume a large chunk of peoples online time, but what about the other social media networks such as Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest that are growing rapidly in popularity. Learn about these social networks and more. Cost: $20.Paducah School of Art and Design Community Offerings Figure DrawingFebruary 13, 20, and 27, 9:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.2D and Graphic Design Building, Room 202905 Harrison Street, Downtown PaducahAge: AdultIn this class students will draw from the nude model with both short and long poses. Focus will be on gesture drawing and body proportions. Students may use whatever drawing media they wish but charcoal is the recommended choice.Cost: $130, which includes a $20 modeling fee. An estimated $10-$15 fee will be charged for class supplies.Supply list:block and vine charcoalnewsprint padkneaded or white eraserPaducah School of Art and Design High School Offerings Digital PhotographyFebruary 12, 20 and 27, 9:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.2D and Graphic Design Building, Room 202905 Harrison Street, Downtown PaducahAge: High School Students OnlyPSAD Dean Paul Aho will teach students to expand their skills to improve their photographs, enhance their portfolios and learn to capture and crop images for best effect and import and optimize their photographs with Adobe software. Cost: $20, which includes all materials.Computer Class Basic PCFebruary 23, 1:30 p.m. 8 p.m.Emerging Technology CenterAge: AdultLearn quick tips for getting around in a computer environment, file management, smarter ways to surf and shop online and how to share photos via a PC. Class will cover understanding hardware and software, turning a computer on, parts of a computer, measuring memory networks, the Internet and much more. Class meets two sessions in one day for three hours at a time. Cost: $100.S.T.E.A.M. (Junior Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) OfferingsBrick Pi RoboticsFebruary 11 March 17, 4 p.m. 5:30 p.m.Emerging Technology Center, Room 223Age: High School StudentsThe S.T.E.A.M. Team Club provides students robotic experiences using a Raspberry Pi interface. Students will get a primer in advance programming language so they can provide robotic instructions to the Brick Pi Robot. They will learn to create robotic arms, robotic cars, and use their own imagination to explore the possibilities with the open robotics environment. Sessions meet six consecutive Thursday afternoons. A light snack is provided at each session. Cost: $150.The Magic of MinecraftFebruary 22 March 28, 4 p.m. 5:30 p.m.Emerging Technology Center, Room 223Age: Grades 5 6Minecraft is a web-based education experience that has been compared to a virtual LEGO environment. This offering will cover topics such as computer programming with math and science and will provide a creative outlet for students. Sessions meet six consecutive Monday afternoons. A light snack is provided at each session. Cost: $150.Registrations for summer camps are now being taken. Download a full listing of summer camps and upcoming community education classes at http://issuu.com/jblythe0001/docs/communityeducation/1 Preregistration is required for all classes and early registration is encouraged. The registration deadline is seven days prior to class starting date. Classes may be cancelled due to lack of enrollment. Register online at http://ws.kctcs.edu/westkentucky/category/category.aspx or by calling 270-534-3335.For more information about the Community Education Catalog or upcoming offerings, contact Kevin ONeill at kevin.oneill@kctcs.edu or 270-534-3206. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 08, 2016 | TRIGG COUNTY, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 08, 2016 | 03:56 PM | TRIGG COUNTY, KY The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has awarded a contract for the reconstruction of a section of U.S. 68/KY 80 in western Trigg County. Governor Matt Bevin announced Monday that Rogers Group, LLC, has been awarded a $54 million contract for about 8 miles of new 4-lane highway between Cadiz and Canton. The project supplies a missing link in the long-awaited U.S. 68/KY 80 4-lane corridor through southern Kentucky. The project includes construction of a new 4-lane roughly paralleling the existing roadway from the intersection of U.S. 68-Business at Cadiz extending to the east end of the Lake Barkley Bridge at Cantona distance of about 8 miles. "This reconstruction project in Trigg County brings us another step closer to the completion of the 4-lane east-west corridor across southern Kentucky," Gov. Bevin said. "Work is progressing on the new bridges over Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley and completion of this section will provide better accessibility for tourists visiting the scenic Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area." Engineers in KYTC District1 conducted a pre-construction meeting with the contractor in early February with the expectation that some earth work could start near the east end of the project later this month. However, the contractor will have to obtain permits for work in environmentally sensitive areas near Lake Barkley before work can extend to the western end of the project corridor. "Our goal is to have traffic running on this new section shortly after the new U.S. 68/KY 80 Lake Barkley Bridge is completed," said KYTC District 1 Chief Engineer Mike McGregor. The target completion date is November 30, 2019. Prior to the 1950s, British horror consisted mainly of Tod Slaughter melodramas and the occasional vehicle for Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. A pair of truly notable films Alfred Hitchcocks The Lodger (1926) and Dead Of Night (1945) broke the mould, but the genre met with disapproval from the UK censor, who banned Freaks and Island Of Lost Souls (both 1932) for decades. The change came when Hammer released The Curse Of Frankenstein in 1957, which gave punters a home-grown monster movie with unprecedented levels of gore. The film played to packed houses and as Hammers success continued, rival studios sprung up and their output made it very clear that there was much more to British horror than watching Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing putter around a gothic castle. From anthology films to zombie movies, theres a certain consistency to horror pictures from the UK, an atmosphere and a tongue in cheek attitude that sets them apart from slick mainstream fare. A low budget Brit flick can achieve more with a well-chosen location and a few good actors than any $200 million blockbuster you care to mention. The following films are available on DVD or streaming services and you really should attempt to track them down. 25. The Result Of DDP Yoga You have to wonder sometimes if WWE's talents are legitimate superheroes. If it's not Nikki Bella shaking off neck surgery that might have legitimately ended her career, it's her other half John Cena hitting the gym seemingly minutes after his own major surgery. And that's not to mention the grace and strength shown by Bret The Hitman Hart in the face of a devastating medical announcement. Their chosen profession might not be "real", but their physical and mental struggles are, and if you can't take inspiration from their acrobatics and story-telling in the ring, you sure as sh*t should from their recoveries from stunning hurdles. With Cena's return still uncertain, WWE are allegedly considering turning to Shawn Michaels or Batista for WrestleMania (lest we forget the biggest story on the current agenda), while the Undertaker might turn down a match with Braun Strowman (good), Hulk Hogan MIGHT return at some point, and Roman Reigns will continue to be pushed. So yeah, pro wrestling isn't exactly surprising. Through it all the stars take to social media to post their candid back-stage shots, snapshots of their personal lives and in Cena's case, impenetrably odd pictures and memes that should make everyone a little bit concerned for him. This is the week in WWE Instagram...Zack Ryder has Diamond Dallas Page to thank for his current shredded look. 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13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first. Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well. What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that. The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players. How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long! Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up. Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home. Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves. Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino. Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information. Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead. With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks Betway: Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway. Coral Casino: Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account. Ladbrokes Casino: Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. Paddy Power Casino: Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. 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Canl bahisi populer klan ve heyecan katan en onemli ozellikle musabakann basladg ana dek bahis yapabilmedir. Canl bahis icerisinde yer alan secenekler kazanma sansnz da dogrudan arttrmaktadr. Ilk korneri kim kullanr, ilk tac, gol, sar kart, krmz kart gibi futbol musabakas icerisinde olabilecek hemen hemen her seye bahis yaplabilmektedir. Normal bahisegore de son derece yuksek oranda olmas avantajl yonlerini ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim dogru secenek ksa surede kazancl ckmanza etki edecektir. Strateji ve dogru analizle 90 dakika gibi bir surede anaparanzkatlayabilirsiniz. Tabi bunu basarabilmek icin mutlaka musabakaya dair ayrntlar iyi degerlendirmek gerekir. Soz konusu musabakann detaylarn inceleyip, cezal, sakat oyuncu veya performans dusen takm oyunu gibi detaylar bilmek canl bahiste kazanc belirleyen onemli unsurdur. Guvenilir Canl bahis hem heyecanl zaman gecirmeyi hem de musabakalar takip ederken para kazanmay saglamaktadr. Canl Bahis Nasl Oynanr? 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Iyi Canl bahis siteleri bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin sitelerin vermis oldugu oranlar takip edebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Yatrma Online Canl bahis yapacaklarn merak ettigi konulardan bir digeri de para yatrma islemleridir. Oldukca onemli olan bu konuda hata yapmamak cok onemlidir. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemi sanlann aksine son derece basittir. Oldukca basit ve uygulama esas dogru etki olusturan bu yapda sizde islemi rahatca tamamlayabilirsiniz. Para yatrma konusunda su yolu izleyebilirsiniz. Guvendiginiz ve herhangi bir sekilde aklnzda soru isareti kalmayan bahis sitesine uye olmanz gerekmektedir. Uyelik islemini sorunsuz sekilde tamamladktan sonra para yatrma islemine gecebilirsiniz. Kullanacagnz siteye uye olduktan sonra karsnza kullanc ad ve sifresini gireceginiz yer gelecektir. Buraya giris yaptktan sonra site icerisine islemlere devam edebilirsiniz. Sitede yer alan para yatrma sekmesine tklayp sonrasnda karsnza gelen sayfay inceleyebilirsiniz. Para yatrma bolumunde yer alan ksma ne kadar para yatracagnz yazp devam tusuna basmalsnz. Yatrmak istediginiz tutar girip sonrasnda da devam tusuna bastktan sonra karsnza kart bilgilerinizi gireceginiz sayfa gelecektir. Kredi kart kullanarak para gondermek isteyenlerin tercih ettigi bu sayfa tum bilgiler girilip islem onaylanmaldr. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemini gerceklestirmek icin hesaba havale secenegini de kullanabilirsiniz. Site icerisinde musteri hizmetleri ile iletisime gecerek banka hesap numaralarn ogrenebilirsiniz. Belirtilen IBAN numarasna istediginiz tutar havale edebilirsiniz. Havale ederken acklama ksmna yazlacak bilgilere dikkat etmelisiniz. Kredi kart veya banka havalesi ile gerceklesen para yatrma islemi sonucunda site hesabnzdan bakiyenize bakabilirsiniz. Bakiyenize gore dilediginiz sekilde bahislerinizi gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Cekme Canl bahiste dogru hamleler ve dogru tahminler sonucunda kazandgnz bedeli geri almak isteyebilirsiniz. Kazanclarnz istediginiz banka hesabnza cekebilmek icin uymanz gereken kurallar soz konusudur. Oncelikle bahis sitelerinden para cekebilmeniz icin uye olurken dogru bilgi paylasmnda bulunmanz gerektigidir. Cunku canl bahis sitelerinden para cekme islemi icin kullanc hesab ile talep edilen banka hesap bilgilerinin ortusmesi gerekir. Yani uye olurken verilen bilgi ile banka hesab kime ait ise o bilgiler ayn olmaldr. Bu uygulama sitenin hem kullancsn hem de kendisini guvene alma politikasdr. Ayrca frsatclarn onune gecerek yeni bir uye olusumunun da onune gecmek amac gutmektedir. Uye olan kisi farkl para cekilme talebi verilen hesap farkl oldugunda para cekme islemi gerceklesmeyecektir. Bahisleriniz sonucunda kazanc elde edebilir ve bu kazancnz da hakknz olarak almak isteyebilirsiniz. Burada son derece basit uygulama soz konusu olurken siteler aras farkl gorunumler soz konusu olabilir. Fakat yine de tum sitelerde uyenin site icerisinde para cekme bolumune girmesi yeterlidir. Burada cekilecek olan tutarn belirlenmesi ve hesap numarasnn girilmesi ile birlikte islem onay gerekecektir. Para cekme taleplerinde sizden gerekli bilgiler istenmekte ve havale islemi istenilen bilgiler esliginde yurutulmektedir. Dogru bilgi paylasmak sorunsuz para cekebilmeniz en onemli kuraldr. Istenilen bilgiler girildikten sonra site sorumlular gerekli kontrolleri yapp herhangi bir sorun yoksa ksa surede hesabnza gerekli paray aktaracaklardr. Canl Bahis Sitelerinden Para Cekmek Icin Istenen Belgeler Bahis sitelerine uye olduktan sonra baz kullanclar para cekme taleplerinin karslanmadg konusunda sikayetlerde bulunmuslardr. Bu sikayetlersektorde uzun zamandr bulunan guvenilir bahis siteleri de yer almaktadr. Fakat sikayetlerin dayanaklarna bakldgnda ise islerin tamamen farkl oldugu gorulmektedir. Yasanan bu durum kullanclarn hatal bilgi girmesi ve uyelik bilgileri ile banka bilgilerinin uyusmamas ile dogru orantldr. Birde canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler eksik ya da hatal olarak sunulmus olabilir. Ortaya ckan karsklar neticesinde para cekme talebinde bulunan kisi istedigini alamadg icin sikayetci olmaktadr. Oysa ki istenilen bilgiler dogru ve istenilen evraklar eksiksiz sunulsa para cekme islemi sorunsuz olacak. Sitelerin para cekme konusunda dikkatli hareket etmesi hilelerin ve illegal faaliyetlerin onune gecmek adnadr. Cunku baz kullanclar farkl bilgiler vererek ikinci hesap acabilmektedirler. Bazen de bilincsizce hatal bilgi girilebilmektedir. Hatal islemlerin cozumu konusunda islem yaptgnz sitenin musteri temsilcileri ile gorusebilirsiniz. Talepleriniz dogrultusunda para cekme islemlerinde ki sorunlar giderilecektir. Canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler listesi su sekildedir; Kullanc bilgileri ile banka bilgilerini karslastrmak icin kimlik fotokopisi Banka hesap bilgileri Ikametgah ve kisiye ait herhangi bir fatura. Kacak Iddaa Turkiyede dogrudan bahis yapmak icin resmi kanallar kullanlabilmektedir. Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir. Kacak Bahis Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor. Illegal Bahis Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr. Yasads Bahis Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler. Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir? Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir? Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Iddaa Bilyoner Tuttur Birebin Oley Nesine Misli Iddaa 2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir. Bilyoner Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir. Tuttur Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr. Birebin Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor. Oley 2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr. Nesine Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur. Misli 2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur. Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir. Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir. Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr. Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir. Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz. Feb 9, 2016 | By Tess The Dutch industrial artist, Olivier van Herpt, who previously brought us impressive 3D printed and functional ceramic pottery, as well as an extruder capable of 3D printing in beeswax, has now ventured into a new realm, as he has combined both sound and ceramic 3D printing in his latest project called Solid Vibrations. The project, which is a collaboration between the Eindhoven Design Academy graduate and sound designer Ricky van Broekhoven, explores what the physical effects of music or sound are on an object that is being 3D printed. The result? A collection of striking, and uniquely textured ceramic pots and bowls, each possessing a distinct moire pattern. Van Herpt, who was previously inspired by the texture created by the 3D printer itself as it deposits layer upon layer, is no stranger to turning error into art, so when he noticed by chance that loud music effected and deformed an object he was 3D printing, he decided to roll with it. After experimenting with sound and 3D printing technology, van Herpt and van Broekhoven found fascinating results after mounting a speaker beneath a ceramic 3D printer platform. As they played varying sounds and low frequency beats from the speakers, the vibrations emitted from them moved and altered the pattern produced by the 3D printer, regardless of the 3D printed file being executed. Van Herpts partner in the project, Ricky van Broekhoven, the founder of Studio van Broekhoven has specialized in creating fleeting landscapes of sound and physically rendering noisescapes in the past, and now with Solid Vibrations, the duo have found a way to permanently encapsulate sound. As eloquently stated on van Herpts website, A moment in time, a song a sound, they can now become objects that encapsulate the moment forever. While for now their 3D printed ceramic pieces have been made with the help of steadily paced low frequencies, what is to say that your favourite techno song or strong bass riff could not be translated into a design object? Imagine being able to decorate your home with a David Bowie Heroes 3D printed vase, or a Drake inspired fruit bowlthe possibilities are endless. Designer Oliver van Herpt has for the past few years been pushing the envelope of additive manufacturing technologies. As mentioned, he has experimented and created 3D printers for the purpose of 3D printing in ceramic, he has also introduced beeswax as a potential material for additive manufacturing. As acutely stated on his website, Tinkering with digital fabrication technologies, the industrial design graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven constructs methods and means of production that meld together seemingly divergent worlds. Having tackled the worlds of sound and 3D printing, we wonder what van Herpt will do next. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: hi wrote at 2/9/2016 9:44:46 PM:hihihihihihhi Feb 9, 2016 | By Andre Back in 2011, a surgeon named Anthony Atala gave a TED talk on the potential of 3D printing using living cells. At the time, I was blown away by this potential and I imagine the 2.5 million viewers that have since watched the video were equally impressed. Five years on, the promise of 3D bioprinting remains intact, and even though it might take some time before we can transplant 3D printed organs into a living body, breakthroughs are happening more frequently than ever. Earlier this year for example, Organovo, the same company behind that original TED talk, set up commercial operations that focused on 3D bioprinting human liver cells. And now, less than a month on, a team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego has announced theyve successfully 3D printed tissue that comes close to matching the human livers complex structure and function. The importance of their efforts has everything to do with speeding up the process of testing drugs for market release. Shaochen Chen, Nano Engineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering suggests that it typically takes about 12 years and $1.8 billion to produce one FDA-approved drug. Thats because over 90 percent of drugs dont pass animal tests or human clinical trials. Their 3D bioprinting tool will allow pharmaceutical companies to bypass human and animal trials during the early stages of drug testing; something that has traditionally been a big bottleneck in the process. Chen further states that weve engineered a functioning liver tissue that matches what youd see under a microscope. While certainly different than the 3D printers most of us are probably used to by now, 3D bioprinting still follows the same general formula of the layering down of matter in a very controlled manner. In this case, UV light is used to form a honeycomb pattern of 900-micrometer-sized hexagons (each containing human liver cells) followed by the 3D printing of endothelial and mesenchymal supporting cells in the spaces between the stem-cell-containing hexagons. Here, the UV light is the trigger, and when applied in a low amount, acts as the catalyst needed to congeal the cells into the desired shape. An immediate advantage is that the entire structure, coming in at 3 x 3mm with a thickness of 0.2mm, takes just seconds to finish while other methods with similar end results take hours to accomplish. Additionally, tests have shown that their process was able to mimic liver functions over a longer period while maintaining a higher level of the the specific characteristics needed for drug testing. Even though this news is just coming out, its all made possible by a process thats been under development in Chens lab since winning a grant from the National Institute of Health to study tissue growth with functional blood vessels back in 2010. So while big announcements like these are certainly a long time in the making, Chens continued enthusiasm for the 3D bioprinting is something to be optimistic over. On whats to come, Chen thnks that this will serve as a great drug screening tool for pharmaceutical companies and that our 3D bioprinting technology opens the door for patient-specific organ printing in the future. Organovo 3D BioPrinting Demonstration video Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Ed Yong in The Atlantic: In the darkness of the Akeley Hall of Mammals, swarms of kids gawk at beautifully staged dioramas of Africas wildlife. The stuffed safari, nestled in the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York, includes taxidermied leopards stalking a bush pig, preserved ostriches strutting in front of warthogs, and long-dead baboons cautiously considering a viper. In one corner, in a display marked Upper Nile Region, a lone hippo grazes next to a herd of lechwe, roan antelope, and a comically stern shoebill stork. This is my favorite one, says Evon Hekkala, pointing to the display. Theres a taxidermied crocodile tucked away down there. It takes a while to spot it and I have to crane my head to do so, but yes, there it isa large crocodile, in the back, mouth agape, next to the hippo. Its mostly hidden from view, and until recently, it was hidden from science, too. Five years ago, scientists would have classified it as a Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)one of the largest of the family, and among the most feared. But in 2011, after extracting DNA from this specimen and dozens of others, Hekkala proved that the iconic species is actually two species. One had been disguised as its more widespread cousin all this time. Hekkala called it Crocodylus suchusthe sacred crocodile. Its the species in the diorama. More here. Keith Miller at Literary Review: In the years after the Second World War, during Dmitri Shostakovichs second period of disfavour with the Soviet authorities, he wasnt just humiliatingly wheeled out at the Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace in New York, a fellow travellers jamboree that just about snuck in under the McCarthyist wire. He was also packed off to Leipzig to judge a piano competition inaugurated to commemorate J S Bach on the bicentenary of his death. Hearing gold medallist Tatyana Nikolayeva rattle through The Well-Tempered Clavier, he went home and wrote his 24 Preludes and Fugues for her. Opinions remain divided on how good Shostakovich was, or might have been but for the fear that hunched ogreishly over him from the morning in 1936 when Pravda published a damning editorial, Sumbur vmesto muzyki (muddle instead of music), about the up-to-then pretty successful and well-reviewed opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, to the last and, in a strange way, greatest humiliation: his enforced joining of the Party in 1960. But the 24 Preludes and Fugues, to put it one way, arent half bad for a composer with one ear perpetually cocked in the direction of the doorbell. The New York episode constitutes the second of three sections we might call them movements in Julian Barness new novel. Its a third-person account of Shostakovichs tribulations at the hands of Stalin and his chief cultural muppet, Andrei Zhdanov, and the different challenges posed by his rehabilitation in the eyes of a regime that had stopped murdering people in industrial numbers but remained somewhat controlling in matters of artistic practice. more here. Ram Manikkalingam in Open Democracy: Last week the national anthem was sung in Tamil for the first time at the official celebration of Sri Lankas independence day. Six years ago the governments own regional director for education in the Tamil north, Markandu Sivalingam, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen for disagreeing with then President Rajapaksas directive to ban the singing of the national anthem in Tamil at official functions. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid, who is currently visiting Sri Lanka, should welcome the transformation this signals in Sri Lankas politics in just over a year since President Sirisenas election. No doubt, the High Commissioner will also express the UN view set out in a Human Rights Council resolution last September that President Sirisena must set up a court to try war crimes committed during the bloody civil war that ended in 2009. The President is on record in favour of holding violators of humanitarian and human rights law to account. But he is also committed to reaching a deal that would give the Tamil community in the north and east of Sri Lanka power to manage economic, land and cultural issues. Some argue both objectives can be realized in tandem, but the political realities in post-conflict Sri Lanka suggest otherwise. Demands for accountability for war crimes and autonomy are made by Tamil leaders but still resisted by much of the Sinhala establishmentthese remain deeply polarising issues. To achieve both requires sensitivity to the politics. More here, General election voter registration deadline is Monday Voters have until 5 p.m. Monday to register to voter for items on the general election ballot. Half Year Results Announcement Brisbane, Feb 8, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - National Storage REIT ( ASX:NSR ) today announced its financial results for the six months to 31 December 2015 with an A-IFRS profit after tax of $20.6 million. KEY HIGHLIGHTS - A-IFRS profit after tax of $20.6 million - Underlying earnings1 for 1H FY16 of $14.3 million (4.3 cps) in line with guidance - 1H FY16 distribution of 4.3 cents per security - Total Assets Under Management increased to $886 million up from $740 million at 30 June 2015 - Transacted 12 acquisitions totaling $57.5 million adding to existing high quality portfolio - Successful entry into New Zealand market - Affirm FY16 underlying earnings guidance of $29.0 - $29.5 million (8.7 - 8.8 cents per security) FINANCIAL RESULTS Managing Director Mr Andrew Catsoulis said "NSR has delivered a strong 1H FY16 result in line with guidance, reflecting proactive asset management in a challenging market and the successful execution of our growth strategy to acquire high quality assets consistent with our existing portfolio". Total revenue for the period increased by 30% to $37.3 million (2014: $28.8 million) demonstrating the successful execution of NSR's strategy to maximise returns to investors. Key contributors to the solid half year performance included the acquisition of 12 high quality storage assets across Australia and New Zealand totaling $57.5 million, organic portfolio growth and active portfolio management. A-IFRS profit after tax of $20.6 million, up 35% on the previous period (2014: $15.2 million), was favourably impacted by the integration of previously acquired centres and the impact of fair value adjustments associated with the carrying value of investment properties. NSR confirms the estimated interim distribution of 4.3 cents per security previously declared on 21 December 2015 and confirms the payment date of 26 February 2016. OPERATING RESULTS "NSR continues to focus on balancing rate per square metre growth and occupancy growth across the portfolio to optimise revenue and profitability. We continue to demonstrate that despite trading conditions, which were varied over the period and in discrete markets, we have been able to achieve growth across the portfolio" said Mr Catsoulis. The rate per square metre achieved across the established portfolio (excluding NZ, developing centres and post IPO acquisitions) increased to $283 per sqm at 31 December 2015 (2014: $274 per sqm. The overall rate per square metre achieved for the group (excluding NZ and developing centres but including all post IPO acquisitions) was $289 per sqm. Total portfolio occupancy (excluding NZ and developing centres) grew from 72% to 73% over the period. Occupancy in the established portfolio grew despite being offset by falls in Western Australia. Excluding the Perth market, proactive management has delivered an occupancy increase of 2.3% over the preceding twelve months. Mr Catsoulis said "We have successfully delivered 12 high quality acquisitions over the period totaling $57.5 million, including our successful entry into the New Zealand market. This represents another milestone for National Storage and we are focused on continuing our growth in this market. The potential acquisition pipeline in Australia remains strong and we will look to execute on high quality, accretive acquisition opportunities." OUTLOOK NSR affirms FY16 underlying earnings guidance of $29.0 - 29.5m (8.7 - 8.8 cps) delivering EPS growth of 6.0% - 7.5% on FY15, assuming no material changes in market conditions. "NSR is well positioned to continue to deliver growth into the second half of FY16. Our strategies to make accretive high quality acquisitions, optimise centre performance, drive portfolio management and further develop our strong brand are all designed to strengthen NSR and deliver value for our investors" said Mr Catsoulis. To view the half year results presentation, please visit: http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-NSR-905217.pdf About National Storage REIT National Storage (ASX:NSR) is one of the largest self-storage providers in Australia and New Zealand, with 123 centres providing tailored storage solutions to over 40,000 residential and commercial customers. NSR is the first independent, internally managed and fully integrated owner and operator of self-storage centres to be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). 70% earn-in terms extended for the West Wyalong project Sydney, Feb 9, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD ) (Argent, or the Company) is pleased to report terms and conditions that have been agreed with Golden Cross Operations Pty Ltd (GCO) for increasing the Company's 51% interest in the West Wyalong Farmin and Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) to 70%. Highlights: - 70% earn-in date extended from 9 January 2015 to 30 June 2017 - Balance of commitment to earn 70% reduced to $372,570, including $200,000 of in-ground expenditure - Argent to aggressively pursue copper gold target with extended IP survey to commence February 2016 - Drill test of the large West Wyalong copper-gold target to follow GCO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Golden Cross Resources Limited ( ASX:GCR ). Under the new JVA terms Argent will now have until 30 June 2017 to earn the 70% interest, an extension of approximately 18 months beyond the previous 70% earn-in date of 9 January 2016. Having invested a total of $977,430 in the project as at 2 December 2015, the balance of Argent's $1,350,000 total commitment to earn 70% has been reduced to $372,570, including an additional $50,000 project expenditure that was agreed as part of the extended terms. The remaining $372,570 expenditure commitment will include $200,000 of direct in-ground expenditures that have been defined to comprise, for example, geophysics surveys and analysis, and all drilling related work. Argent is planning to aggressively pursue the large copper gold target identified by the Company at West Wyalong, with the commencement of an extended induced polarisation geophysics survey scheduled for February 2016. The geophysics survey and analysis will be followed with the design of a drill test plan for the target. About the strategic location of the West Wyalong project Located only 7 kilometres from the West Wyalong gold fields that produced 445,700 ounces of gold between 1894 and 1921, the West Wyalong Project is situated in the Macquarie Arc of the Lachlan Orogen, in a geological setting of Ordovician volcanics which hosts world-class porphyry copper-gold mines such as Newcrest's Cadia, China Molybdenum's Northparkes, and 37 kilometres to the north of West Wyalong - the Cowal mine. The Cowal mine (Cowal) was acquired by Evolution Mining Limited (Evolution) in July 2015 for US$550 million. Considered by Evolution to be "one of Australia's most attractive gold assets", the Cowal Mineral Resource has been estimated at 5.09 million ounces including Ore Reserves of 2.2 million ounces of gold. To view all figures, please visit: http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ARD-752170.pdf About Argent Minerals Limited Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD) is an Australian publicly listed company with a 100% interest in a silver/gold project at Kempfield NSW. Work is underway on the preparation of an EIS and a feasibility study for the first stage of the project which will involve heap leaching some 8.8 million tonnes of mainly oxide and transitional material to produce over 9.5 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold over a 5 year mine life. Argent is also earning up to a 70% interest in two other NSW projects - gold at West Wyalong and base metals at Sunny Corner. ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. Businesses must adjust how they nurture loyalty among Millennials or risk losing a large percentage of their workforces, according to Deloittes fifth annual Millennial Survey. 52 percent of Millennials surveyed in India say, if given the choice, they expect to leave their current employers in the next two years. That figure increases to 76 percent when the time frame is extended to 2020. In general, the intention to move on is greater in emerging markets (69 percent) rather than mature economies (61 percent). India was among the three countries including Peru (82 percent), South Africa (76 percent) that saw over three-quarters of their millennials likely to seek a change in employment. Millennials in India ranked opportunities to progress and take on leadership roles as their strongest reason (when excluding salary) to work for an organization. As many as 69 percent of those surveyed believed that their leadership skills are not being fully developed. This remarkable absence of allegiance represents a serious challenge to any business employing a large number of Millennials, especially those in marketslike Indiawhere Millennials now represent the largest segment of the workforce. However, because most young professionals choose organizations that share their personal values, its not too late for employers to overcome this loyalty challenge, said S.V. Nathan, Senior Director & Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte India. Organisations that offer a good work-life balance, produces or provides good quality products and services to clients and customers and has flexible working hours including the option to work from home, were the other reasons topping the list for millennials while choosing to work for an organisation. India is among the five countries (South Korea, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Belgium) where a majority of the respondents could work from home, if they wished. The opportunity to enjoy this flexibility and level of trust is also relatively high among senior executives, organisations with high employee satisfaction, parents and those intending to stay for more than five years. However, reputation of its leaders and the business, the impact it has upon the wider society and the sense of meaning derived from their work were low in the list of priorities while being important. Having said that, an overwhelming majority (94 percent) of those surveyed in India say business success should be measured by more than financial performance. Factors such as being a great place to work, having a satisfied and loyal customer base, innovation and work to protect and improve the environment were considered important to judge whether the business is successful. The link between the Millennials loyalty and their feelings about business are not a coincidence. Thus those organizations who do the right thing may be less likely to lose their Millennial employees. The loyalty to an employer is driven by understanding and support of Millennials career ambitions and personal values, as well as providing opportunities to progress and become leaders, said Nathan. Having a mentor is incredibly powerful in this regard. The global survey findings also points additional organizational traits and behaviours that promote a sense of positivity among Millennials. They are most likely to report high levels of satisfaction where there is: Creative, inclusive working culture (76 percent) rather than a more authoritarian rule-based approach (49 percent) Open and free-flowing communication (47 percent) versus (26 percent) where employee satisfaction is low. A culture of mutual support and tolerance (42 percent versus 25 percent) Active encouragement of ideas among all employees (38 percent versus 21 percent) Support and understanding of the ambitious of younger employees (34 percent versus 15 percent) Indias millennials also seem to be particularly sensitive to economic conditions. While on balance they are still positive about Indias economic outlook their level of optimism had dropped close to 10 points to what was recorded last year. Additional findings from the global survey include : High correlation between satisfaction and purpose. 40 percent of Millennials reporting high job satisfaction, and 40 percent who plan to remain in their jobs with their current employer beyond 2020, say their employers have a strong sense of purpose beyond financial success. The figures among those reporting low satisfaction, and those who plan to leave within two years, was just 22 percent and 26 percent, respectively. More than economic factors driving Millennials to leave. The desire to leave their current job during the next five years is greater among Millennials in emerging markets (69 percent) than in developed economies (61 percent). However, outliersincluding the UK, where the rate is 71 percentsuggest the desire to move on is not merely a function of the economic climate. Business as a force for good. Millennials continue to hold business in high regard; three-quarters (73 percent) maintain that it has a positive impact on wider society. This figure is unchanged since 2014 and shows that, despite a downturn in certain local and regional economies, Millennials remain upbeat about businesss potential to do good. Unhappy with leadership development. Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of Millennials feel their leadership skills are not being fully developed, and 71 percent of those expecting to leave their employer in the next two years are unhappy with how their leadership skills are being developeda full 17 points higher than among those intending to stay beyond 2020. Focused on productivity, personal growth. Millennials want to spend more time discussing new ways of working, developing their skills, and being mentored. Seeking flexibility. Three-quarters of Millennials would prefer to work from home or other locations where they feel they could be most productive. However, only 43 percent currently are allowed to do this. Feeling in control. Three-quarters (77 percent) of Millennials feel in control of their career paths. About the Deloitte Millennial Survey The research findings are based on a study conducted by Deloitte Global of nearly 7,700 Millennials representing 29 countries around the globe. In India, Deloitte reached out to 300 millennials. Screening questions at the recruitment stage ensured that all respondents were Millennialswere born after 1982, have obtained a college or university degree, are employed fulltime, and predominantly work in large (100+ employees), private-sector organizations. Indias #1 Digital Marketing and Advertising conference, ad:tech New Delhi, the event for modern marketing and media is hosting their 6th Edition on 03-04 March 2016 at the Leela Ambience Hotel and Residences, Gurgaon. A recent advertising expenditure report forecasts Indias digital advertising to grow at 47.5% in 2016, which is indeed a remarkably good news for the digital advertising fraternity. The burgeoning demand of the new age consumer has paved way for faster evolution of the digital ecosystem from 9.9 percent of the total combined advertising revenue share in 2015 to a forecasted 12.6 percent. ad:tech is where Indias modern marketing and media community meet each year to source suppliers, network with industry players, benchmark their digital strategies and get-to-grips with emerging trends and technologies. The intention of making advertising technology more seamless, information consumption more relevant, faster & accurate has led to execution of various new platforms, technologies & innovative products & startups.With traditional buying & selling showing way to programmatic model along with developing studies & debates on subjects such as In-the-Moment marketing, cognitive technologies, cross-channel integration, measurement metrics, vernacular creativity, M-commerce , mobile app monetization, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality, teach wearables, video-on-demand, has all led to innovation & discoveries about the potential & demand of the digital marketing, advertising & technology ecosystem. This is a big reason to attend ad:tech New Delhi, with an agenda that reflects evolution, challenges & how this industry will grow. This event provides the best opportunity to find the right business partners and potential clients, learn the latest in digital and experience products and technologies that are shaping the growing digital marketing world. The 6th Edition promises to be bigger, better and grander hosting 80+ exhibitors across 18 categories; 150 + speakers including 7 global keynotes, 50+ interactive sessions including think:tech sessions, aims to move the digital advertising market forward with actionable insights.The exhibition floor has booths from our major sponsors like Fork Media, Yeahmobi, And Beyond, WatConsult, Vserv, AdzMedia, Criteo, Tune, Leadhug, Taboola to name a few. With an excellent line up of industry stalwarts who will be keynoting, ad:tech announced their 4th Keynote as Alexander Schlaubitz, VP, Global Marketing of Lufthansa., who among many thing started thewide-spread innovation initiative yielding award winning creative work (Fanhansa, Klaus-Heidi, #inspiredby). Other keynotes include Michael Chrisment, Global Head of Integrated Marketing NESCAFE, Nestle, Christophe Eymery, Head of Digital & Media, L'Oreal, Kunal Shah, Founder & CEO, Freecharge and Manlio Sanna, Global Marketing Director, Carlsberg Group. The conference has 2 action packed days with major tracks of Data Analytics & Insights, Engagement & Experience, Evolving Marketing Technologies and eCommerce & Mobile. Ad:tech has witnessed immense growth over the years and this year it has seen a much bigger International participation that includes attendees from 28 countries and exhibitor from across the world. ad:tech in its 6th edition is aims at ensuring to provide the most exciting platform media advertising fraternity in India, said Jaswant Singh, General Manager India, ad:tech 2016 With the strong belief that art has the ability to inspire people, Asian Paints in association with St+art Foundation has come together to create a unique installation, a symbol to represent the city of Mumbai. The typographical installation aptly saying Mumbai (Love Mumbai) symbolically expresses the deepest feelings and thoughts of the people of Mumbai who love and a strong rooted connection for this city. This unique installation was unveiled at the prestigious annual Kala Ghoda cultural festival. The art installation Mumbai incorporates the heart, the universal symbol of love, into Devanagari script. Instead of the latin script, the transliteration of love () in Devanagari adds a multi-lingual, fun aspect which imbibes elements from our hinglish speaking generation and popular culture. From the roadside Romeo to Milton Glaser (the designer of 'I heart NY' logo), all use the heart symbol to represent love. This powerful icon cuts across all demographics and language barriers. The dimension of Mumbai installation stands at 20ft in length, 7ft in height and 1.5ft in depth. With support from Humans of Bombay and Terribly Tiny Tales Asian Paints and St+art encourage the citizens of Mumbai to participate online to make this installation a permanent structure in Mumbai. All they have to do is click a picture with the installation and post it on their social media pages using hash tags- #LoveMumbai #AsianPaints #StreetArt To show their support to make this installation permanent in the City of Mumbai they can also vote in this link below https://www.change.org/p/city-administrative-authorities-make-the-lovemumbai-art-installation-a-permanent-structure-in-mumbai At the onset of Kalaghoda Festival, Mr. Amit Syngle, President Asian Paints said, Art has the intrinsic ability to move people and lift their moods, spirits and lives. For this very reason, we are working to bringing art closer to public and trying to make it a part of their daily lives. Last year we created wall art on Rhythm House and this year we aim to do so with the unique typographical installation Mumbai which is sure to resonate deeply with the people of the city. Hanif Kureshi CoFounder,St+Art addedWe wanted to create an iconic symbol, something Indian yet speaking the global language of design and art, capturing the essence of all that is Mumbai. This typography sculpture is a great way to celebrate the city. We hope that eventually 'Love Mumbai' will become the symbol of the city. This public installation is devised as a structure that stands for the loving city Mumbai is and all that it receives from its citizens. Asian Paints encourages all to interact with this installation and love it the way they want. Love Mumbai and Mumbai will always love you back. Maharashtra has emerged as the top ranking state in terms of overall Internet readiness index, followed by Karnataka, Gujarat, Telengana and Tamil Nadu, according to a pioneering report titled Index of Internet Readiness of Indian States, published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indicus Analytics. Karnataka and Gujarat are close second and third while Telengana and Tamil Nadu are close fourth and fifth. Incidentally, the bottom four states are all from the Eastern region. The rankings of the 21 large states are given below. Fig 1: Internet Readiness Index: Large States Among the smaller states, Delhi has emerged as the topmost state in terms of Internet readiness index, followed by Puducherry and Goa. Even in the smaller states, the northeastern States do not figure among the top three. Therefore, much more needs to be done in the form of investment and infrastructure development in the region. Fig 2: Internet Readiness Index: Smaller States Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh is ranked top in terms of Internet readiness index. Internet Readiness index is a composite index of ve components, i.e., e-Infrastructure index, e-Participation index, IT-Services and e-Governance index. The performance of the states based on internet readiness index depends on several factors. The driving factors inuencing Internet readiness index of each state varies from one another. For instance, in Maharashtra, though e-infrastructure is relatively low compared to Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat etc, yet the state surpasses others in all other components making it the best e-Ready society. In case of Karnataka, participation of citizen in ICT environment is lower than Kerala and Gujarat, yet on account of the high contribution of IT to overall economy and success in e-government initiatives makes the state the second most e-Ready environment in the county. Madhya Pradesh, though having a high rating in terms of participation, ranks low in all other components. Nevertheless, all the four components have equal signicance in the Internet readiness index model. The report highlights the performance of the states regarding different measures of Internet readiness index. Given the rapid advancement in e-services and e-commerce, it is essential to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the states. While this would help the business and governments to leverage the strength, policy measures can also be taken where improvements are required. Under this report, selection of the categories (and the parameters within each category) was based on the broader understanding of Internet readiness of citizens, whereas Internet readiness encapsulates the spread and extent of the digital sector in different aspects of the socio-economic realities of each state. Thus, Internet readiness in this study is not limited to how industry friendly each state is for investment in the IT sector, but aims to give a more holistic picture of the digital ecosphere that presently exists in the states. This stems from the understanding that only an organic linkage between the digital world and the real world can lead to the development and wellbeing that digitalization promises to deliver. The key internet using parameters, which have been used in this report, are: Mobile subscribers per person above 15 years of age; Share of private players in internet service providers; Percentage of households using computer/ laptop with internet connection; No. of e-transactions in Utility Bill payments per lakh person above 15 years; No. of e-transactions in Business to Citizen (B2C) Services per lakh person above 15 years; No. of e-transactions in Informational Services per lakh person above 15 years; No. of e-transactions in Statutory and Non-Statutory services per lakh person above 15 years, among others. That is why it this report is different from the traditional e-readiness reports, which had no internet parameters. A different report using the internet parameter was necessary to understand where states stand in terms of Internet readiness, rather than general e-readiness. An annual study, this study would include the parameter of measuring the startup ecosystem of states next year. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a set of regulations, Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services, 2016, that states that No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content. In its order issued, TRAI said, Keeping in view Indias large number of Internet users and content producers, both of which are rising exponentially, the Authority has taken a view that prohibition of discriminatory tariff for data services is necessary to ensure that service providers continue to fulfil their obligations in keeping the Internet open and non-discriminatory. As per the new regulations, a fine of Rs 50,000 will be levied on defaulting service providers for each day of contravention, subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. The ruling will hit services like Facebooks Free Basics and Airtel Zero, which have been lobbying for differential data pricing. These regulations come into effect immediately. From the date these regulations come into effect, no new launches of prohibited packs, plans or vouchers shall be permitted. Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are prohibited from offering different tariffs based on the content, service, application or other data that a user is accessing or transmitting on the Internet. TRAI ruled that tariff for data services cannot vary on the basis of the website/ application/ platform/ or type of content being accessed. For example, a consumer cannot be charged differently based on whether she is browsing social media site A or B, or on whether she is watching streaming videos or shopping on the Internet. TSPs are also prohibited from entering into arrangements that have the same effect as charging discriminatory tariffs on the basis of content. Thus, an arrangement by which, instead of a service provider differentially charging tariffs to the consumer, other arrangements are made by the TSPs, which in effect make accessing some content cheaper, for example through a refund to the consumer or other methods, are likewise barred. Differential tariffs being offered for data transmitted over closed electronic communications networks, such as intranets are not prohibited by these regulations. Though the prohibition on discriminatory pricing of data services does not apply to such networks, which are not accessing the Internet, if such a closed network is used for the purpose of evading these regulations, the prohibition will nonetheless apply. At the same time, to strike a balance and in view of the need to bring more users on the Internet, this prohibition shall not apply to other forms of tariff differentiation that are entirely independent of content. For instance, providing limited free data that enables a user to access the entire Internet is not prohibited. A service provider may reduce tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of grave public emergency. Industry reaction Calling TRAIs regulation a bold and fair move, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said that this would ensure that the basic tenets of Net Neutrality are followed in India. IAMAI pointed out that in a very clear and transparent ruling, TRAI had explicitly said no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content and No Service provider shall enter into any agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content. In a statement issued, IAMAI said that the Association had taken a no exception standpoint against differential pricing. This ruling vindicates the Associations stand on the issue. The Internet start-up eco-system and the Internet user community are delighted. IAMAI has also welcomed the move that TRAI will be the ultimate authority to decide the cases of violations of this ruling and that the decision of the authority is final and binding. However, the Association has a slight concern on the exception and the exception to the exception as to how this entire thing will pan out. It hoped that the exceptions to the rule would not be misused by the TSPs. The exception states ...regulation shall not apply to tariffs for data services over closed electronic communications networks... Also welcoming the move, Amresh Nandan, Research Director, Gartner, remarked, TRAI notification favouring net-neutrality is in line with what we saw in the US (in 2010 when FCC favoured Open Internet and then came up with Open Internet order during early 2015). The European Union also ruled in favour of treating all Internet traffic equally. Though some of their amendments allowed for differentiation and have been a subject of intense criticism. He added, Proponents of net neutrality all over the world have been highlighting the importance of democratic values of the Internet and even a marginal attempt to curb it can possibly trigger all kinds of differentiation. Further, TRAIs notification is in support of the Governments focus on start-up as well as penetration of the Internet, without compromising on access to content. Start-ups today are heavily dependent on open access of Internet and any direction to control it can have detrimental effect on them as well as the Governments push to start-up ecosystem. Nandan also stated that while telecom service providers might not be happy with this notification, they still had the ability and freedom to create different kind of Internet access packages, as long as content was not a parameter to provide or bar access to anyone. Such practices have already started elsewhere with products such as bandwidth on demand, bandwidth calendaring, etc., to create premium products. Obviously, it will require changes in network and operations, but thats where the telecom roadmap goes, he added. Expressing the telecom service providers views on TRAIs regulation, Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), in a statement issued, said, The telecom industry is disappointed with TRAIs decision to rule out differential pricing. COAI had approached the regulator with the reasons to allow price differentiation as the move would have taken us closer to connecting the one billion unconnected citizens of India. By opting to turn away from this opportunity, TRAI has ignored all the benefits of price differentiation that we had submitted as a part of the industrys response to its consulting paper, including improving economic efficiency, increase in broadband penetration, reduction in customer costs and provision of essential services among other things. He further said, In our opinion, TRAIs regulation on prohibiting differential pricing constitutes a welfare-reducing measure of high concern by blocking a possible avenue for our less-advantaged citizens to move to increased economic growth and prosperity by harnessing the power of the Internet. We believe that this measure will have an impact on the Governments ambitious Digital India initiative. Comptroller Airmen manage millions, serve thousands The 379th Expeditionary Comptroller Squadron manages more than $160 million and serves about 60,000 customers annually. More than a dozen Airmen make up the 379th ECPTS team. Those Airmen provide a range of financial services at Al Udeid Air Base, including financial analysis, military pay, travel and Savings Deposit Program assistance. One of the units most popular services is currency conversion, a service that allows customers to convert U.S. dollars into Qatari Riyal and vice versa. The Qatari Riyal is the accepted currency in Qatar and the 379th ECPTS conducted thousands of currency exchanges in 2015. Senior Airman Bryan Hersey, a 379th ECPTS cashier from Lompoc, California, disbursed more than $4 million over the past six months. Eighty-five percent of my job has been performing currency conversions, Hersey said. Ive disbursed up to $15,000 in one day. Hersey said working with so much money can be nerve-wracking. The nerves can get to you when youre dealing with so much money, he said. Im careful to make sure I dont miscount. I have to respect this job, the money, the customers and ensure I count everything accurately. One of the best parts of his job is helping people, Hersey added. One customer had $8,000 in his account, but due to an error with his bank, he wasnt able to access those funds, Hersey said. Over a five-day period, Hersey and his supervisor worked with the staff at a bank in Boston to fix the problem. We worked with him and the bank in Boston to resolve the issue; it turns out everything was happening due to an invalid account number and we didnt want the member to lose access to his funds because of that, Hersey said. Senior Airman James Ratzlaff, a 379th ECPTS customer service technician from Spokane, Washington, said he enjoys helping customers. On average, he assists about 430 people a month who have a wide variety of financial concerns. He recalled helping a young staff sergeant, a mother of three, who wasnt receiving the basic allowance for housing differential she was entitled to. She has a family that she has to provide for, and she has to pay child support so that entitles her to BAH-DIFF, Ratzlaff said. For one reason or another, she wasnt receiving it. Ratzlaff quickly processed the request to start BAH-DIFF for the staff sergeant and the following month she had an extra $255 in her paycheck. Helping her felt good, Ratzlaff said. We want things to work properly and its frustrating when they dont, he said. We see the impact it has on people; we feel that frustration, so it felt great to see everything work out. The 379th ECPTS provides services for military members, Defense Department civilian employees, contractors and even coalition partners. In the past six months, the unit has performed more than 500,000 financial transactions for more than 37,000 customers. Our mission is to provide high-quality, objective guidance in financial management with a focus on customer service and decision support to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and its associates, said Maj. Chris Spaulding, the 379th ECPTS commander, from Homestead, Florida. We pride ourselves on customer service. Since July 2015, the 379th CPTS input and audited over 11,000 pay entitlements, validated and funded nearly 4,000 base requirements, and managed the largest cash operation in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Those are accomplishments to be proud of, Spaulding said. Our ability to generate positive experiences while delivering effective and efficient financial operations for our customers has been very impressive, he said. Comm Airmen keep $84M network running With hundreds of thousands of megabytes of data whizzing along miles of fiber optic wire, only stopping briefly to be digested by a network computer before blazing off to its next destination, managing this cyber domain requires a skilled team of expertly trained individuals; in the case of a deployed network, it takes two teams. Airmen from the 455th Expeditionary Communications Squadron Network Operations and Client Systems sections have the critical responsibility of ensuring that the systems required for command and control, accountability, and more are functioning properly and are adequately protected from cyber threats. We manage the $21 million network control center, the brain of the $84 million network, said Master Sgt. Ernest Dinolfo, the network operations section chief. Today, everyone relies on the network and its a vital piece of the mission. We use it for everything from email to mission planning. It needs to be accessible to everyone so we can do our jobs. Monitoring the fidelity of more than 200 specialized servers that facilitate the use of nearly 6,000 unique individual and organizational accounts keeps network operations manned almost all hours of the day. They are tasked with making sure the systems are up to date with the newest protection and operating software, sometimes a challenge in and of itself. Id say one of the biggest headaches we have while deployed is getting patches to work properly, Dinolfo explained. Sometimes computers wont accept them, or they will, and it will break them. Thats why we have special test systems here to vet each patch before it is pushed out to the user. Often times we even have to manually install it to an individual user system. When it comes to troubleshooting and assisting those individual computer systems that just wont take an update, the client systems technicians are there. We are kind of like Geek Squad, said Senior Airman Andrew Dawson, the 455th ECS Client Systems technician. We are responsible for keeping everything from the desk to the wall working. We install all the software and make sure it runs properly. In addition to the computers on the network, client systems technicians also fix telecommunication devices, printers, and other hardware accessories. Since arriving in 2015, they have improved processes, updated older devices, and helped increase efficiency in units all across Bagram Airfield. While any given problem could have a simple solution, these Airmen are tied into the more intricate bigger picture. When I fix something, I know that it is really important. I get to see what that system does and who uses it, Dawson said. I know when I helped the rescue squadron I improved their response time in saving lives. I feel a direct impact to the mission and it makes me feel good. Eligible active-duty enlisted Airmen interested in receiving a nursing commission through the Direct Enlisted Commissioning Program have until Feb. 12 to submit an 'intent to apply' to the Air Force Personnel Center.The DEC Program offers active-duty enlisted personnel who have a bachelor's degree from a nationally accredited nursing program and have passed the National Council of State Boards of Nursing licensure examination the opportunity to obtain commission into the Air Force Nurse Corps.The program is open to senior airmen and above who have less than 12 years of service and meet academic and administrative criteria. In addition, applicants must be U.S. citizens, have a current security clearance and be worldwide qualified.The selection board will convene in April, but there are a variety of requirements that must be met prior to that, specifically:-Email of intent to apply-Gain release from career field functional manager-Submit chief nurse interview-Submit three references-Submit completed application (applications must be coordinated through the chain of command)For complete eligibility criteria and application instructions, go to myPers and enter "2016 Direct Enlisted Commissioning Program" in the search window.For more information about Air Force personnel programs go to the myPers website . Individuals who do not have a myPers account can request one by following the instructions on the Air Force Retirees Services website Air Force officials are accepting nominations for the 2016 Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Award.Established in 1996 by the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the award is named in honor of Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, both of whom contributed extensively to the support and welfare of U.S. military members and their families, Air Force Personnel Center officials said.The annual award is presented to an individual or organization outside the Defense Department that has demonstrated exceptional patriotism and humanitarian concerns for members of the military or their families.Organizations and base-level personnel must contact their major command, field operating agency or direct reporting unit for applicable suspense dates and additional information regarding nomination procedures.Each MAJCOM, FOA or DRU may submit one nomination. Completed nomination packages are due to AFPC by March 18.For more information about Air Force personnel programs go to the myPers website . Individuals who do not have a myPers account can request one by following the instructions on the Air Force Retirees Services website KC-135 integral to F-16 training in Greece The first time the Air Force attempted to refuel an aircraft in flight, aircrews successfully stayed aloft for 151 hours. That was over 85 years ago, and the Air Force today has made quite a few innovations since then. A KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 63rd Air Refueling Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is providing air refueling support to the F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron over the skies of Souda Bay, Greece, during a flying training deployment slated for Jan. 22 to Feb. 15. "The tanker plays a huge role in what we do to meet any sortie tasking that we could have," said Lt. Col. Timothy Murphy, the 480th EFS commander. "We can simulate the same length of sorties here that we could have if we were in combat." The KC-135 crew kept the mission going and allowed pilots the opportunity to practice air-to-air refueling maneuvers. "This is a training mission that we are doing here supporting their (flying training deployment)," said Capt. Shannon Callon, a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot assigned to the 63rd ARS. "We provide a stable platform of fuel to all of the American receivers." The Stratotanker can deliver 1,000 gallons of fuel per minute, carry up to 200,000 pounds of fuel, 83,000 pounds of cargo and provide air refueling services to all branches of service, NATO and allied partners. "As the boom operator, I'm the in-flight refueler in the back of the jet being the one who's actually controlling the boom and passing the fuel to the receivers," said Staff Sgt. Brittany Bahnet, a KC-135 Stratotanker boom operator assigned to the 63rd ARS. "Our job also includes cargo, passengers and backing up pilots when we're in the cockpit. "I love it," Bahnet continued. "It's very exciting, it's one of those jobs that not a lot of people could ever say they do or experience; definitely better than being behind a desk." The KC-135 has flown with the U.S. and Hellenic air forces each day and provided air refueling over the Greek ranges on the northwest bay of Crete, White Mountain range and over the Mediterranean Sea. "They have been there to support us the whole time, it's great," Murphy said. "Their tanker crews have been awesome from the boomers to the pilots. Overall, this is really good training for everyone." The flying training deployments are made possible through the efforts of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, the command which governs all U.S. air assets in Europe with the duty to train, equip and deploy combat-ready Airmen. Their posture is to continuously hone skills during peacetime, address any security threats, and ensure regional peace and stability. Arabian Gulf Shield improves interoperability Training concluded Feb. 3 at Al Udeid Air Base with a scenario designed to test Gulf Cooperation Council Liaison Officer (GCC LNO) procedures and connectivity to host nation air operations centers. Participants from Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia used their new-found knowledge during exercise Arabian Gulf Shield, which centered on air and air defense strategies. This type of training is invaluable, said Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command and Combined Forces Air Component. We have been able to improve our interoperability with our partners in the (Persian) Gulf region as well as increase the air and air defense capabilities within the coalition. The GCC LNO program, which is in its ninth cycle, was streamlined from 15 weeks to six and is significantly more operations focused than the previous cycles. The two-week Senior Operations Planner Program, running concurrently with the GCC LNO program, was executed for the first time during this cycle. This seminar-type training capitalized on the sharing of knowledge and experiences from Persian Gulf coalition members in order to best equip future combined air operations center liaison officers and planners. The exercise is the culmination of the new GCC LNO and senior planner programs. This group of highly skilled and knowledgeable officers brought a wealth of experience to the table, said 1st Lt. Joshua Skoglund, a LNO/senior planner program coordinator. They demonstrated the highest levels of integration and cooperation to accomplish their learning objectives. During the course, the senior planners concentrated on strategic planning and campaign plan development and then worked with LNOs to produce a master air attack plan and briefings for the exercise and supervised the execution of that plan. Its a great concept with both classes running simultaneously and in concert with each other; one feeding the other, Skoglund said. Without the sharing of knowledge and experiences from our gulf partners this concept would not have become a reality. Since this was the first iteration of the new program, Skoglund said student feedback and learning about each individual culture has been a great experience. It was great to be part of this unique opportunity to learn from and be immersed in our gulf partners culture, Skoglund said. I look forward to working with them in the future in an operational environment. The course director, French Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Konietzko, said the highlight of the course for him was to see the participants put the lessons into action. It was really good to see the students from different countries and their ability to communicate, Konietzko said. To see the participants create and deliver their briefs and execute their plans was, for me, the top of the course. Konietzko said this course will increase the readiness of the coalition to deal with any current and future contingencies by allowing countries to better integrate operations. Vice chief visits Academy, discusses commitment, success Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein visited the U.S. Air Force Academy Jan. 27 to meet Airmen and cadets, discuss the value of commitment to a higher cause, and how the Air Force will continue to excel. In two large group sessions, Goldfein, a 1983 Academy graduate, told his audiences of total force Airmen that their special skillsets will always be in high demand. "We have ways of thinking about our future enterprise as a force that have yet to be conceptualized," he said. "Our Air Force is too small, too old and slightly out of balance for what the nation needs, but there is also a trifecta of opportunity to lead combined operations and joint warfare for the next decade. We have far more opportunities than challenges." This trifecta includes the defense secretary defining China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and violent extremism as the nations operational challenges. It also includes the Air Force Strategic Master Plan and Air Force Future Operating Concept. "Our future operating concept is perfectly aligned with the Department of Defense Third Offset Strategy and central to what the Air Force provides our nation," Goldfein said. The general also emphasized the role Airmen and cadets have in keeping the Air Force great. He said the most significant lesson he learned as a young man was the importance of commitment to a greater purpose. During his early cadet days, an air officer commander gave Goldfein a chance to alter his path, a test program that allowed some cadets to leave the Academy with the option of returning the following year. After leaving the Academy, the general spent a year without direction, biking his way across the U.S. He said the kindness he was shown by strangers during his trek made him understand how special his country is and what an honor it is to protect it. Renewed, he returned to the Academy. "I learned what it means to commit to something and I rediscovered the Academy," he said. "A place I once viewed as a challenge became an environment full of opportunities." Cadet 1st Class Kristov George, the Cadet Wing commander, said the 4,000-member wing was encouraged by Goldfein's story. "His words are inspiring to any cadet who finds themselves in the 'middle of the pack,"' he said. "It's pretty motivational to receive a firsthand account from someone who took the Academy for granted initially, then eventually turned it around for the better. Gen. Goldfein has proved that as long as you have the will and work ethic, there's always a way to achieve your goals." After Laayoune, the population of Dakhla reserves to the King Mohammed VI an exceptional Warm Welcome Upon His arrival at the Dakhla airport, the King Mohammed VI reviewed a detachment of the Royal Guard who made the honors before being greeted by local authorities, representatives of regional councils, he Council of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, representatives of the judiciary, and the local council of Ulemas, as well as representatives of civil and military authorities of the Wilaya and notables of the region. The population of the of Dakhla in the Sahara reserved a warm welcome for King Mohammed VI upon his arrival Saturday to the city for a visit during which the Moroccan monarch is expected to launch and inaugurate several multi-million dollar socio-economic projects. The main streets of Dakhla: the avenues Al Walae Mohammed V and Moulay Rachid, along with its major squares: Hassan II, Sidi Ahmed Laaroussi and Mohamed Fadel Semlali, were draped with national flags, welcome banners and huge portraits of the King. Tens of thousands of people poured along the path followed by the royal procession to cheer for the King and reaffirm their attachment to Morocco and its sovereignty over the territory. Dakhlas elected officials and civil society activists reiterated their unwavering commitment to defend the territorial integrity of the Kingdom. In statements carried by Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), citizens expressed their pride following the start of this royal visit. Those interviewed commended the continuous efforts of the King to launch large-scale projects that will bring progress and prosperity to the region and generate job opportunities for its growing population. Along with Laayoune, Dakhla is one of the main cities of the Sahara, referred to in Western media as the Western Sahara. The territory, which has been under Moroccos sovereignty since 1975, is claimed by the separatist movement Polisario Front, (based and backed by Algeria). The international community should not intervene against Islamic State expansion in Libya until a Libyan government is formed and requests such assistance, Egypt said Monday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in Washington for bilateral talks with the Obama administration, said in an interview that the Libyan people should undertake the decisions related to the fight against terrorism and how it should be conducted and what form of assistance should be provided to it. This should be a Libyan-led process defined by the Libyan people. Pressure has been growing for Western military intervention to stem the growth of the Islamic State in Libya, where the militants control the port city of Sirte and have attacked the oil infrastructure. U.S. intelligence has said that the Islamic States headquarters in Syria has increasingly directed new recruits to Libya, where it sees enhanced prospects of expanding territory it controls amid political chaos there. Pentagon options presented to the White House include airstrikes, Special Forces operations and assistance to Libyan ground forces. Officials said no decisions were made at a National Security Council meeting late last month. During a meeting last week in Rome on the Libya situation, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said that the world must prevent the Islamic State from gaining a stranglehold over Libya and urged Libyan political factions to agree on a unity government. Efforts by the United Nations get competing groups in Tripoli and Tobruk to forge such a government have missed repeated deadlines amid ongoing disagreement about how to parcel out power and ministries. The latest controversy revolves around the defense ministry. Egypt has pressed for a powerful role for renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who controls a group of fighting forces in the northeastern part of the country. We have to recognize that [Haftars forces] are an important component . . . in the battle against expansion of the terrorists, Shoukry said. After the Islamic State executed 21 Egyptian workers in Libya last year, Egypt called for immediate military attacks against the militants. In recent weeks, however, it has tempered those calls and is instead trying to press for what it considers the most favorable composition of the new government. Ansar al Sharia, an al Qaeda-linked group, claims to have shot down a Libyan jet earlier today. The claim of responsibility was posted on Twitter feeds maintained by Ansar al Sharias propaganda arm (Al Rayah Media) and radio station. The organization says a special air defense brigade was responsible for the jets crash, but no other details were provided. Jihadists also tweeted images of the planes wreckage . Libyas Air Force chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Saqr al-Jaroushi, told the Associated Press (AP) that a plane was in fact shot down. The Libyan MIG32 fighter was striking the positions of Islamic State militants and other militias in the eastern town of Derna when it came under fire by anti-aircraft guns, according to the AP. Al-Jaroushi said the pilot ejected and landed safely. Although the Islamic State has grown significantly inside Libya since 2014, Ansar al Sharias leadership remains loyal to al Qaeda. The organization operates its own training camps in Derna and elsewhere in Libya. An alliance of jihadist groups known as the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) also maintains an extensive presence in the eastern Libyan city. The MSC, which was formed in late 2014, opposed the Islamic States expansion in Derna. The two sides have repeatedly clashed. In mid-2015, the MSC pushed Abu Bakr al Baghdadis followers out of their strongholds inside the interior of the city, but the caliphate still has cadres of fighters in Dernas suburbs. Ansar al Sharia Libya and the MSC are both backed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al Qaedas official branch in North Africa. Language is the product of society. As a society changes, so does its language. One of the greatest signs of a changing language is the rapid expansion of its lexicons. Over the past 30 years, American dictionaries have grown at unprecedented levels. Words attesting to the rich contribution of global cultures to American culture, words created for scientific use, words recognizing technological advances, and, of course, words representing contemporary culture have expanded the English language. Yet, it is this last category that has altered the English language more rapidly than any other influence. Former Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala passed away on Tuesday. Koirala, who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014, resigned as PM in October last year after parties failed to forge a consensus amid continued protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the countrys new Constitution. Born on 12 August 1939 in Banaras, India, Koirala was the cousin of former PMs Matrika Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala. Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her grief over the death of former Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, saying he led his country during extremely difficult and testing times. He led his country during extremely difficult and testing times and contributed immensely to the transition of Nepal into a Republic, she said in a statement. Underlining the close relation with Nepal as also that with the Nepali Congress, to which Koirala belonged, his contribution to fostering Indo-Nepal ties will always be remembered, Sonia added. He entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. Koirala also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. The Maharashtra government on Tuesday supported womens entry in the famous Haji Ali dargah, amid the raging debate over ban on females entry into certain religious places across the country. The governments counsel argued in the Bombay High Court that the Haji Ali Trust cannot ban the entry of women in the dargah. Fundamental rights of a citizen are above customs and traditions, the government submitted before the court. The court had earlier this month asked the state government to give its opinion on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of the historic dargah. A bench headed by Justice VM Kanade had asked Advocate General Srihari Aney to submit arguments on behalf of the state on February 9 (today) stating whether women should be allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. The Supreme Court is already seized of a matter about entry of women in Sabarimala temple of Kerala. The Bombay High Court had indicated last month that it would wait for the Supreme Courts ruling on entry of women in Sabarimala temple in Kerala before deciding on the plea in the case of Haji Ali Dargah. The PIL in the Bombay High Court has challenged the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of the dargah. The petition had sought interim relief by way of allowing women into the sanctum sanctorum at the dargah until the matter is finally decided by the court. The trustees of Haji Ali Dargah had told the court earlier that entry of women in close proximity to the grave of a male Muslim saint is considered a grievous sin in Islam. The petitioners, however, claimed that gender justice is inherent in the Quran and the norm at the dargah contravenes the Hadiths which say that women are not prohibited from visiting tombs. The restriction emanates from a very conservative and extremist Salafi ideology and in future there may be an order banning the entry of women in the dargah complex and banning the non-Muslims wholly, the petition argued. The petitioners lawyer had contended that at other dargahs or shrines women are not banned. Women can enter the sanctum sanctorum at the historic Makhdoom Shah Dargah in suburban Mahim, the lawyer noted. Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, is drawing criticism because a video shows her accepting a gold necklace from a self-styled godman. At an awards ceremony at an educational institution in Pune, Mrs. Fadnavis, who is a banker, is seen with Guruvanand Swami, who whisked the necklace allegedly out of thin air. This Guru is worshipped by many and also criticised by most. Some of his former followers have made lots of posts on his typical and shady background. His former disciples claim that Guruvanand Swami is very strange and full of himself. He boasts about his greatness & supernatural miraculous powers endlessly. He claims he has no equal in this world and he is far above everyone in holiness and that he is the richest man on Earth. People literally worship him as God (idolizing his photos and bowing down to his feet) feeding his enormous ego 24/7 with endless praises & shower flowers as if he is God in Human Flesh. People mistakenly do believe that Guru is God and Guru (mere creation, one soul of many) is even Greater than God (the all-powerful creator of the universe). In Toronto samagam, he told everyone his 1 second private meeting fee is $5,000. Brahmrishi Kumar Swami also claims that a few hundred years from now Scientists of the Future will be doing SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH on his Samagams. In other words, future scientists will be looking at all his Samagams video tapes and studying what he preached to his mostly uneducated followers from lower and middle class hundreds of years ago. No one knows, why would any scientist will spend single second studying or analysing Kumar Swamis improbable and contradictory nonsense/propaganda? Besides, religion in general is on the decline and atheism or agnosticism is on the rise. As science is developing its wings, it disproves ancient religion & scriptures. On the other hand, many believe that the Gurudev is considered one of the most revered saints living today whose blessings have uplifted the lives of numerous people. A disciple of the legendary Yogiraj Devraha Baba, he is a perfected master (Satguru) who is also a renowned scholar of Hinduism and Jainism with a deep understanding of other religions. His core teaching is that we should lead morally uplifting and spiritually fulfilling life, leading to overcoming karmic debts while fulfilling worldly duties. There is debate among believers and non-believers. I actually do not believe in such miracle men so dont want to comment anything, let us come back to our core topic. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wife Amruta received condemnation from rationalists for accepting necklace of chanting beads speciously pulled out from thin air by self-declared godman Guruvanand Swami at a function in Pune. However, she clarified that she did not believe in any miracles, but accepted the necklace as it was gifted by an elderly person. These are values that she has been brought up with and these are the values she will continue to practice. Of course, being politically linked, she will be asked about this. Leaving Amruta aside, it is the facts that even the politicians, whom common man see as high and mighty, bow to such people. This gives them more credence and eventually more power to promote their loot in the name of God. Again, this holds true for all politicians who passively endorse any such person. Over here, it just happened to be Mrs. Fadnavis. Now the question is that, how this spiritual leader is connected to this event? Why he was present there? Is Amruta a follower of this Baba? BJP desperately needs services of Guruvanand Swami to rejuvenate Indias stagnating economy, or this is another Vote bank issue? Whatever it is, through the medium of gold chain, the godman might have conveyed some message. He might have also asked for protection from his shady deals in the past? If not then he should accept the challenge and perform same miracle in front of the rationalists. Rationalists have demanded that CM Fadnavis should issue a clarification on the incident and tender an apology. In a statement, president of Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti challenged the godman to perform the miracle in controlled conditions as specified by the samiti. The rationalist body claimed that they are willing to offer him a prize of Rs. 21 lakh if he can perform his miracle before the samiti. Following the assassination of rationalists Dr. Narendra Dabholkar on August 20, 2013, the state government had passed the Anti-Superstition Bill in December 2013. As per the provisions of the Act, the one who performs the miracle and the one who receives any benefaction are held equally responsible. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Two days back, I had visited the Kala Ghoda festival and I was impressed with the stalls erected there and arrangements made for crowd control. Several artisans had displayed the artwork made by them amicably at the venue. Copper chimney was the first place where I first ate Rumali roti in Mumbai few years back. Our handicrafts are of very superior quality and that shows the progress made by our artisans. I watched the Auto Expo 2016 on television as Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Akshay Kumar had participated in the event. Anil Kapoor unveiled the new Maruti S-Cross Limited Edition at the expo. I have excelled in automobile engineering for many years now. During my engineering college days, I had undergone training for a month at Hindustan Motors, Uttarpada, Fiat at Kamanis and Maruti. I was onboard of the ship that loaded Maruti for export from Mundra, a couple of years back. Who can forget the iconic Yellow and black Fiat taxis which was appreciated by all. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated a refinery at Paradeep. It brings me back to couple of years when our ship of SCI, M.V. Vishva Vijay was the first one to berth at Paradeep. The port has developed significantly. In the evening, we used to go for long walk and order Chicken and Parathas at the local dhabas and that food was very good and cheap. Now, of course plenty of big hotels have been established here. President Pranab Mukherjee and PM Modi inspected international fleet review which displayed our naval capability. Our Navy is quite big and competent with excellent technical support from Mazgaon Dock Limited and Naval Dockyard. So, all this shows that we are making significant progress. Development needs to be backed by a harmonious atmosphere within the country. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh did well to call a meeting of religious heads for mutual confidence building and this effort must continue through three monthly review meetings. We are suffering from an excess of democracy. Our politicians engage in too much machinations. Presidents rule has been imposed in Arunachal Pradesh after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his nod for the same. The Union Cabinet had recommended central rule following political instability in the state. Congress party criticized the stand taken by the centre and urged the President to not give his nod for imposing presidents rule in the state as the case was being heard by the Supreme Court. Other political parties too attacked the centres decision and termed the move as a murder of democracy. The article 356 has been used and misused by successive political parties irrespective of their political ideology. According to Article 356, Presidents rule can be imposed in a state if a situation has arisen in which the government of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. Once Presidents rule is imposed, the assembly ceases to function and the state comes under the Central governments direct control. (The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.) Bhujbal says that norms were followed in the Maharashtra Sadan and Kalina land case and he possesses all documents to prove his innocence. Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhu-jbal who returned to Mumbai from his US trip said that the allegations made against him in the Maharashtra Sadan and Kalina land case are baseless. Defending himself Bhujbal said that no corruption has occurred in these deals and he posse-sses all documents to prove his inno-cence. Bhujbal added that some rules have to be followed while clearing the files pertaining to developmental process. The files have to pass through various departments and then the respective minister has to clear it. Finally the Chief Minister signs after scrutinising every detail mentioned in the document. Speaking about his US tour Bhujbal said, When I visited US, people had said that I have escaped from India. I had gone to Washington DC for participating in a three day event organised by the US Congress. The function was attended by senior US Senators, Diplomats, high ranking officials and members of US Judiciary & Administration as well as select representatives invited from 140 countries all over the world. Before going to US, I had a meeting with Sharad Pawar and he had asked me to attend the function. I have the support of Pawar saheb so I dont have to worry anything. I participated in various events. If I had to escape then why should I stay for so many days overseas? he asked. Bhujbal said that rules were not flouted while inviting the tender for Maharashtra Sadan. He said, The Maharashtra Sadan was built on a B-O-T basis under the chairmanship of an Infra-structure committee headed by the chief minister. The decision was taken after a lot of discussion. It takes three years to clear a proposal as the file has to go through various departments for scrutiny. There is no case of money laundering involved in this project. The ACB had questioned me several times for six months and we have provided them all the documents. I am cooperating with them and will continue to do so in future. But it will take time for us to provide the documents pertaining to the last 15 years, added Bhujbal. Bhujbal expressed his displeasure over the arrest of his nephew Sameer and said, What is the point in arresting Sameer as officials could have called for a probe first. Kirit Somaiya has made false allegations against me. The government is targeting me and Ashok Chavan to settle political scores. The ED had registered two Economic Case Information Reports (ECIR) against Bhujbal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Another case was registered by Navi Mumbai police concerning a housing project scam wherein Rs. 44 crores were collected from over 2,000 people for houses in a project Hex World, promoted by a realty firm owned by the Bhujbal family. The ACB had in June last year registered two FIRs against Bhujbal. The first one was related to alleged irregularities in allotment of a prime plot at Kalina in Mumbai to a developer. The second case was for alleged rampant corruption and large-scale irregularities in the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan, the state governments guest house in Delhi. The Public Works Department (PWD) under Bhujbal had then allegedly awarded sub-contracts to firms, in blatant violation of rules, in the Maharashtra Sadan case. The FIR named him, his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and 14 others. The new Maharashtra Sadan was built at the cost of Rs. 100 crores when the Congress-NCP coalition was in power in Maharashtra. The US Technical Development Agency (USTDA) will extend funds to help India improve its overall aviation safety mechanism, including in the areas of operation, airworthiness and licensing. The funds would be for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II and the government would pitch in with USD 446,866. The USTDA would partially fund the assistance to the tune of USD 808,327 and contractor The Wicks Group (TWG) would share the cost of assistance at USD 75,000. Phase II of the current project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation, an official release said today. The governments contribution would be USD 446,866 including in-kind cost share, valued at USD 196,866 for international round trip air travel on Indian air carriers between the US and India and in-country ground transportation for the contractor during the duration of the assistance. Besides, it would cover the cash cost share of USD 250,000. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the USTDA today inked a grant agreement here for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II. In April, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restored Indias Category 1 safety rating. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. Later, the FAA carried out an International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013. Post assessment, India was assigned Category 2 safety rating in January 2014. Later in March 2014, the USTDA in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a grant agreement to address issues in the wake of IASA audit findings. Then, TWG assisted DGCA in addressing the issues and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014. For example consider the following titled: " National Adult Immunization Plan " as evidence of the tyranny that may lie ahead for every man, woman and child for generations to come. Make no mistake today it is the "informed consent" rights of parents and their children that are under constant attack but as Dr. Ben Rush knew tyranny is a greedy monster and there will always be those eager to feed the insatiable appetite of tyranny .who will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to others. Today in the year 2015 it would be wise to remind ourselves of the prescient words of Dr. Benjamin Rush because the ugly rise of tyranny is once again threatening our country as evidenced by the well coordinated well-financed dedicated attacks in many States seeking to deny parents their Constitutional Right to exercise "informed consent" regarding medical treatments most specifically recommended and approved vaccines .for their most precious possessions their children or risk having their child denied their right to attend a public- private school or public-private daycare. "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to others, the Constitution of the Republic should make a special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom" Let's begin by examining the 2010-2020 National Adult Immunization Plan's current schedule of recommended and approved vaccines for adults or the advisory committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization 2014 schedule for adults aged 19 years or older in the United States. The stated goals of the CDC's National Adult Immunization Plan for the year 2020 are as follows: #1 to strengthen the adult immunization infrastructure #2 improve access to adult vaccines #3 increase community demand for adult immunizations #4 foster innovation in adult vaccine development and vaccination related technologies. However since 2010 when the National Adult Immunization Plan was first introduced efforts to improve adult immunization have been in their own opinion disappointing necessitating the issuance of the (What follows is my own "edited for brevity" draft of the CDC's 2015 "Executive Summary" Italics and bold are mine not theirs) "Vaccination is considered one of the most important public health achievements of the 20th century and continues to offer great promise in the 21st century. Vaccines save lives and improve the quality of life by preventing serious diseases and their consequences. However, the benefits of vaccines are not realized equally across the U.S. population. Adult vaccination rates remain low in the United States, and significant racial and ethnic disparities also exist. "The US Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Plan (NVP), released in 2010, is a road map for vaccines and immunization programs for the decade 2010-2020. While the NVP provides a vision for improving protections from vaccine preventable diseases across the lifespan, vaccination coverage levels among adults are not on track to meet Healthy People 2020 targets. The National Vaccine Advisory Committee and numerous stakeholder groups have emphasized the need for focused attention on adult vaccines and vaccinations. The National Adult Immunization Plan (NAP) outlined here results from the recognition that progress has been slow, and there is a need for a national adult immunization strategic plan. "The NAIP is intended to facilitate coordinated actions by federal and non-federal partners to protect public health and achieve optimal prevention of infectious diseases and their consequences through vaccination of adults. The NAIP includes indicators to draw attention to and track progress against core goals. These indicators will measure progress against set standards and inform future implementation and quality improvement methods" And so to accomplish the stated goals of the "strategic plan" instituted in 2015 the National Vaccine Advisory Committee was created and members of that Committee are listed in Appendix #1 which include but are not limited to: CDC, FDA, HHS, IOM, NIH along with many other lesser known Federal public health agencies various federal bureaucracies including the US Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Dept of Veterans Affairs, Dept of Justice State, Federal and local public health agencies and governments. Non-governmental "stakeholders" listed on the NVAC are: "Vaccine industry, academia/research organizations, health care providers, health care systems, community immunizers, professional associations, payers and plans, employers, foundations, community and patient advocacy organizations, philantrophic organizations and the general public". (Webster defines "conspire" thus: "to work together for any purpose or effect") (Webster defines "conspiracy" thus: "a conspiring group") (Would Webster define the "strategic Plan stakeholders" as a conspiracy?) And so as the first year of the NAIP's "strategic plan" 2015 comes to an end what have they tried and more importantly what have they accomplished. First what they tried. a) There was a strong recommendation of the CDC that any adult most specifically parents, grandparents, close family adult relatives such as uncles and aunts be vaccinated with the DPaT vaccine ostensibly to create a "protective cocoon" to prevent an newborn infant or someone unvaccinated because their immune system is compromised from Pertussis better known as "whooping cough". As far as I can determine the success of the "cocooning" process remains controversial as evidenced by the following article from Reuters: So let's call that effort to "guilt" adults into voluntary vaccinating to protect newborn infants in their family a "wash" as there is no evidence that vaccination of adults increased by any measureable standard. b) The CDC continued their annual albeit more aggressive effort to require flu vaccines for hospital care employees with some hospitals requiring administrative personnel having no contact with patients threatened with losing their employment if they refuse the flu vaccine. Anyone refusing the flu vaccine were required to wear a surgical type mask on their daily rounds thereby making them easily identified to patients and peers they were potential carriers of the flu. The concerted effort to mandate annual flu vaccines for thousands of hospital or health care employees has had some measure of success however there was some organized resistance by employees that refused the vaccine preferring to wear the mask instead. I suspect the numbers refusing the vaccine may grow should they suffer any small not uncommon reaction to the vaccine coupled with experiencing the reported failure of the vaccine to protect them as it is reported to do year after year. c) In 2014 in NYC a proposal was raised by local politicians that taxi cab drivers be required to submit proof of receiving annual flu vaccine when they apply to renew their license to drive a taxi in NYC under the pretense that passengers in the confined space of a taxicab would be at higher risk of the flu if the driver was not vaccinated. This attempt to force taxicab drivers may be a "trial balloon" meaning if it works it can then be argued that adults who work in any close quarters or share elevators in high-rise buildings should also be vaccinated. In any event after five years 2010 through 2015 the accomplishments of the "wide-ranging" members of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee to meet the goals expected in 2020 of the National Vaccination Plan have by their own standards been rather disappointing. And so beginning with the establishment of the "strategic" National Adult Immunization Plan (NAIP) in 2015 there are signs that a highly renewed energized effort to achieve the 2020 goals of the National Vaccine Plan is underway. Consider: In 2015 there has been a determined effort by federal and local public health agencies and various government "stakeholders" to seek elimination of "opt-out exemptions" for parents in many States which in retrospect may be a pre-emptive measure to ensure adults will have no "opt-out" exemptions when the NVP targets adults in the year 2020. In 2015 Congress passed HR 6 known as the "21st Century Cares Act" by an approval vote of 344-77 which seeks to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health by nine billion dollars and asks the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate the rate of media innovations allowing the FDA to lower licensing standards for testing of experimental drugs and biological products a category that includes vaccines thereby allowing pharmaceutical companies to avoid large, case controlled clinical trials to evaluate safety and effectiveness. (The NIH, FDA and pharmaceutical industry are all identified as "stakeholders" in the "strategic plan.) In 2015 the following observations were reported by the Canary Party website which was reprinted on the Age of Autism site: "The vaccine industry is currently estimated to be a $30 billion dollar per year industry, with some projecting it will be a $100 billion dollar per year industry by 2020. Many believed this is an absurd prediction until it became clear that the industry was not planning on increasing revenue in such a short period of time by introducing new products, but rather by compelling vaccine uptake in greater numbers and in groups that have never had mandates before. In fact, 2015 saw more than 100 bills introduced nationwide to increase vaccine sales, not just for children and members of the military, but now for adults in the civilian world. The veterans affairs funding bill, which has passed the Senate and is now in the House, may be one of those measures. Concerns that U.S. military veterans may be forced to comply with the new Adult Immunization Plan began to spread in November, when Nevada Senator Dean Heller's bill, S1203 .. a bill to amend title 38, United States Code .. to improve the furnishing of health care to veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to improve the processing of the Department of claims for disability compensation, and for other purposes, passed the Senate. A section of the bill regarding immunizations, added by special interest groups while the bill was in committee, is worded so it could be used in the future to make rules that would penalize veterans for failure to comply with recommended vaccinations. (The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are identified as "stakeholders" in the "strategic plan") In 2015 professors James G. Hodge and Doug Campos-Outcalt both having called for "ways to limit Presidential candidates speech about a link between vaccines and autism suggesting that "vaccine manufacturers should sue candidates for defamation if candidates finger particular vaccines. (Academia (professors Hodge and Campos-Outcalt) are identified as "stakeholders" and it should also be noted the media has avoided any further questions directed towards Presidential candidates most notably Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson when both refused to retract their public concerns regarding the number and timing of present vaccine schedule for children). In any event in my humble opinion the single most frightening statement in the National Adult Immunization "strategic" Plan going forward is: "The NAIP also aims to leverage the unique opportunity presented by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act" This statement to me is the equivalent of a veiled threat raising the following concerns: a) Does the "unique opportunity" presented by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act threaten adults no vaccinations no health care coverage? Is it too far fetched to imagine the "wide range" of "strategic plan stakeholders" such as Federal, State, local representatives, public health agencies and bureaucracies, pharmaceutical advertising campaigns working in concert with a compliant main stream media demanding to know: "Why should the Affordable Care Act for which everyone is now paying provide coverage for adults, seniors and veterans .. who refuse to comply to the approved and recommended adult immunization schedule should they eventually require medical treatment for a vaccine "preventable disease"? b) Does the "unique opportunity" presented by the ACA threaten employers as well as their employees: No vaccinations no job? Is it to far fetched those very same "wide-ranging strategic plan stakeholders" citing the economic benefits of protecting our nation's economy while greatly improving the "cost efficiency" of corporations as well a protecting the health of their employees by requiring all corporations be monitored to assure the corporation's vaccine compliance rate meets the goals established by the National Adult Immunization program .. now empowered to levy heavy financial penalties on any corporation that fails to meet the NAIP goals by 2020? Too many questions remain unanswered but the threat as I see it is real. They have established a plan and there is no doubt they intend to reach their stated goals by 2020: #1 .. to strengthen the adult immunization infrastructure #2 .. improve access to adult vaccines #3 .. increase community demand for adult immunizations #4 .. foster innovation in adult vaccine development and vaccination related technologies. Hopefully I have overstated the lengths the "stakeholders" are prepared to go to achieve their goals but as the year 2016 begins our country should none-the-less remain vigilant going forward finding strength in Thomas Paine's words like those of Benjamin Rush also written over 200 years ago in his essay, "The Crisis": "These are times that try men's souls .. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph". Note: Thanks to Levi for allowing us to excerpt this terrific look at the winter of 2016 viral panic. Ebola hangs its head in shame. Exsanguination can't hold a candle to anencephaly. H1N1 is curled in a fetal position, a mere shadow of its phormer pfearphul pharma selling selph. By Levi Quackenboss The other day a lady friend called to ask what I thought about the Zika virus. She said she needed to hurry up and get pregnant and get through her first trimester before summer arrived in her southern state bringing mosquitoes so that her baby would not be born with microcephaly if she caught the Zika virus. This was a real phone call. A real concern. From a really smart woman. Im going to share with you what I said to her in that moment of genuine concern for her yet-to-be-conceived child: Seriously. Smooth them down, ladyfriend. Relax. I do not buy for one moment that the Zika virus which was been studied for 70 years and has never been linked to microcephaly is causing babies in Brazil to be born with tiny heads. Being the quack that I am, three questions first came to mind. What is the pesticide regulation situation in Brazil? Is there a Zika virus vaccine coming down the turnpike? Have prenatal vaccines been recently introduced to Brazilian women? Let me start by saying that while some headlines are screaming that Brazil is badly losing the battle and the virus is spreading explosively across the country, the truth is that the criteria used to determine that 4,000 Brazilian babies had microcephaly is a head measurement of 33 centimeters or less. That would put 10% of American newborns into the microcephaly category. So either this is an epidemic of overly broad diagnostic criteria or weve got 400,000 cases of microcephaly in the US each year. (Spoiler: we actually have 25,000 cases in the US every year that you never hear about.) Web Toolbar by Wibiya Web Toolbar by Wibiya When people who are expected to know better decide to play around with very serious issues involving the lives of others, then there is something very wrong with the system. This is the main reason why the issue of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums colleagues reportedly posting fake reviews about him on RateMds.com should be taken very seriously. Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums professionalism has been in disrepute and that has not been helped by the fact that it was his prescription of the drug Tylenol for Dezrin Carby-Samuels which has left her bedridden and unable to even perform activities like speaking and walking. Clients who have had a personal encounter with Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum mostly do have something negative to say about his interpersonal relationship with them and his professionalism. The sad thing about this is that whenever actual clients of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum post reviews on RateMds.com, his colleagues also post a lot of fake and inflated positive reviews to outnumber that of the negatives. This behaviour by Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums colleagues is a very serious one since it has misled a lot of people to going there for medical assistance which always lands them in uncomfortable situations in the end. "I am a healthcare professional as well, Dr Tenenbaum may not have a great bedside manor, every professional has their own strengths, and I am very glad to have him in my corner. Be your own advocate when it comes to treatment and do not be afraid to ask questions. I found that he doesn't fluff up the conversation, straight line to the answers. In 4 years as his patient I have felt valued as well as given a major contributor into my own treatment. This is one clear example of such an inflated review posted on RateMds.com by a colleague of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum. The sad thing is that clients who chance upon such fake positive reviews end up seeking for his assistance which always compounds their problems. A clear case of Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums lack of empathy and understanding for his patients is that of Dezrin Carby-Samuels. This is a once energetic and healthy old woman who was forced to take Tylenol, a drug known to cause serious brain damages, based on Dr. Jerry Tenenbaums prescriptions. Comparing reviews posted by patients in Toronto to that posted by so-called patients in Victoria, there is a stark revelation of the deception that is being purported by Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum and his colleagues. Whereas patients in Toronto regard him as being very arrogant, always in a rush and not having adequate time for his clients, certain inflated positive reviews by some patients in Victoria portray him to be caring, sympathetic and very understanding to the plight of his patients. If the reviews by patients in Victoria were actually true, Dezrin Carby-Samuels should have been in a better physical condition rather than being bedridden and unable to even speak or walk. It is therefore high time something serious is done about such instances where people are allowed to post fake positive reviews just to mislead unsuspecting patients. WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2016 FDA is taking another look at its food safety testing program for cheese made with raw milk, after cheesemakers raised concerns that the criteria the agency is using may be limiting production of those cheeses without benefiting public health. FDA has been testing such cheese think of a nice gooey Camembert for the presence of non-toxigenic E. coli, which the agency noted has long been used by FDA and other public health agencies in the U.S. and other countries to indicate fecal contamination. The presence of such bacteria above a certain level could indicate unsanitary conditions in a processing plant, the agency said in an update for constituents. However, Our surveillance shows that the vast majority of domestic and imported raw milk cheeses are meeting the established criteria, FDA said in a release. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria. FDA says it now will re-evaluate its criteria for the oversight framework of food production provided by the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The Preventive Controls for Human Food rule mandated by FSMA, which became final in September, requires that food producers identify hazards in their product and operations and put controls in place to prevent or minimize those hazards. In addition, with the FSMA preventive controls rule now final, FDA said it will be taking another look at what role non-toxigenic E. coli should have in identifying and preventing insanitary conditions and food safety hazards for both domestic and foreign cheese producers. The FDA will also consider and update, as appropriate, the 2010 Compliance Policy Guide, which outlines safety criteria. The agency said any changes will be informed by our engagement with stakeholders and experts on such issues as the use of a single bacterial criterion for both pasteurized and raw milk cheese, and the use of non-toxigenic E. coli as an indicator organism. Read about other FDA and ag and rural policy news. Sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription. The agency said it will continue to inspect cheese-making facilities and test for pathogens in domestic and imported cheese but, in the meantime, FDA is pausing its testing program for non-toxigenic E. coli in cheese. FDA said it will also continue working with all stakeholders to benefit from their expertise about safe cheese-making practices and achieve the mutual goal of food safety. Pasteurization heating milk to high temperatures kills not only potentially harmful bacteria, but supporters of raw milk cheese say the process also can snuff out other bacteria that can infuse cheese with distinctive, natural flavors. For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com #30 WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2016 President Barack Obama laid out his budget plan for next year on Tuesday, including his bid to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million a level thats only been met a few times in the programs 51-year history. The LWCF runs on offshore oil and gas drilling fees paid to the federal government. It distributes grants and matching funds to federal, state and local governments to buy land to establish parks, or to enter into easement agreements that protect forest and wildlife habitat. The presidents fiscal 2017 budget calls for a combination of $475 million in discretionary funding and $425 million in mandatory funding for the LWCF. Congressional authorization for the LWCF lapsed at the end of September due to significant GOP pushback led by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop of Utah. Democrats, however, were able to get the Fund reauthorized for three years with a 2016 annual budget of $450 million in the December omnibus bill. USDA said in a release today that the president is pursuing permanent authorization in annual mandatory funding for the Funds programs beginning in 2018. Three bills that were introduced in Congress last year S.338 and its companion bill HR.1814, and S.890 would do just that. Obamas move to fully fund the LWCF was met with praise from Democrats. The ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and the Environment, Tom Udall of New Mexico, said he would fight for the presidents proposal as the Senate writes its funding bills. The presidents focus on permanently and fully funding the LWCF is great news for New Mexico and communities across the country, Udall said in a release. The LWCF has helped New Mexico conserve our cultural sites and beautiful landscapes, and it has created ballfields and community parks across the state. The president is a powerful advocate, and Im very pleased to have momentum as we begin the budget process. The ranking member on the Senate National Parks subcommittee, Martin Heinrich, also a New Mexico Democrat, said he would join in the fight to fully fund the LWCF because it is one of Americas most successful conservation programs. USDA and Interior Department said in a joint release that For every $1 invested through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, there is an estimated return of $4 in local economic activity. The program has supported more than 42,000 national, state and local parks and outdoor recreation projects in all 50 states, the agencies said. This years budget proposes to expand recreational access in Idaho and Montana, protect endangered species in the Everglades, preserve wetlands and grasslands in North and South Dakota, and protect significant archaeological sites, including the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, and the Nanjemoy Natural Resource Management Area in Maryland. Is conservation high on your list of things to watch? As news happens, youll find it on Agri-Pulse. Sign up for a four-week free trial subscription. Republicans the LWCF is used inappropriately by the federal government to acquire more land in the West. Bishop, the GOP voice on the issue, advocates for decreasing the portion of the LWCF budget that goes toward federal land acquisition the feds already own 640 million acres in the West, he says and increasing the portion that goes directly to states through the Stateside Assistance Grant Program (SAGP) and to urban areas. He also argues that the federal government should be using its funds first and foremost to address the $18.8 million maintenance backlog on public lands. And states shouldnt be able to use the funding for eminent domain projects, which, according to Bishop, at least 19 states have done. These proposals, along with a plan to give LWCF grants to students studying offshore drilling, are featured in Bishops Protecting Americas Recreation and Conservation Act, which was discussed in committee last fall, but never formally introduced. The administration operates this fund like their own private piggy bank, Bishop said in an emailed statement. Under the status quo, LWCF will continue to lead to massive federal land grabs that compromise private property rights and economic opportunity for the American people. This must and will change, he vowed. We will continue to highlight LWCF abuses and advance real reforms to restore the laws intent so it actually helps people. #30 WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2015 USDA announced Monday it will put $20.1 million toward research and extension projects that help producers fight citrus greening disease, which has affected more than 75 percent of Florida citrus groves. The research and extension projects funded today bring us one step closer to providing growers real tools to fight this disease, from early detection to creating long-term solutions for the industry, producers and workers, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a release. Detecting the disease is difficult because 30 percent of an infected trees root mass is lost before any above ground symptoms surface. The disease has been devastating: Florida had 845,000 acres in citrus in 1998, a figure that fell to 515,000 acres by 2013. There is no known cure or resistance in citrus to the disease. The funding will be granted through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), authorized by the 2014 farm bill and administered by USDAs National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Congress authorized a total of $125 million in citrus greening research over five years in the same legislation. Since the SCRI program was started in 2014, it has granted $43.6 million in research dollars to combat citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing (HLB). HLB was first detected in Florida in 2005, and has since spread across most of the state and to some areas in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas and California. Additionally, HLB has been found in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 14 states in Mexico. Read about other USDA news such as this. Sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription for the latest ag and rural policy news. According to USDA, 15 U.S. states or territories are under full or partial quarantine after detecting the Asian citrus psyllid, a vector for HLB. They are: Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The fiscal 2016 awardees are: University of California, Riverside, Calif., $3,990,772 Objective: To use virulence proteins from the pathogen to detect its presence before symptoms appear and to develop strategies for creating citrus rootstocks that are immune to HLB. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla., $1,975,000 Objective: To develop an industrially viable, multifunctional bactericidal technology for delivering foliar spray based products for HLB, and others citrus diseases. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $2,800,000 Objective: To develop a novel, gene-based bacterial therapy strategy that targets the HLB pathogen and psyllid symbionts to reduce pathogen transmission and eliminate infections in existing trees. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., $3,999,508 Objective: To culture Ca. Liberibacterasiaticus (CLas) and find ways to control and improve detection of HLB. National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Md., $1,951,763 Objective: To understand how the psyllid vector transmits Ca. Liberibacterasiaticus (CLas) in an effort to develop new transmission blocking tools. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, N.M., $3,320,000 Objective: To make the immune system of citrus strong enough to fight off Ca. Liberibacterasiaticus (CLas). Washington State University, Pullman, Wash., $2,115,000 Objective: To culture Ca. Liberibacterasiaticus (CLas) in vitro using two novel, parallel, complementary and integrated strategies. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com The 150,000 to 180,000 wheat farmers in America are facing a double-barrel challenge: 1. The declining role and power of agriculture generally; and 2. The declining position of wheat farmers compared to both foreign competition and compared to other major commodities here, specifically, corn and soybeans. If anyone needs any proof of the declining role of agriculture, all we have to do is look at the recent Iowa caucuses. The most amazing part of the Iowa campaign was that agriculture did not play any role. None! Agriculture was literally trumpedif I can use that term by national security, immigration, personal attacks and a protest against the Washington establishment. Senator Cruz won on the Republican side while campaigning against ethanol, and Donald Trump ignored agriculture. Senator Bernie Sanders released an agriculture position paper that was more suited for Vermont than Iowa, the United States or world leadership on agriculture. Secretary Hillary Clinton has the most traditional positions on agriculture, stemming from her days at State, and gave agriculture the most attention. Interestingly, while the Democratic contest was very tight, Clintons margin in rural areas was the difference between her winning and losing. Yet, even farmers no longer seem to be voting agriculture which raises many questions for the future. Just eight years ago, in contrast, candidate Obama had a Rural Plan fo r m ost key states. He visited farms, had his picture taken in between corn rows and made the traditional stops. Not this time. Why? The answer is that agricultures economic importance and political strength has decreased. We are the only industry in the country that is being hurt by our efficiency. With only 1 percent of the population feeding the country, and many around the world, our political power has decreased and there are fewer Members of Congress who can be considered farm Members. Our customers spend less than any nation in history on food but never stop and think about what it takes to move the food from the farm gate to the kitchen table. Many of the goods and services we all enjoy come from the efficiency of our farmers. But do we make that point to our leaders in Washington? We tend to talk to each other and dont network with consumers groups, nutrition groups or the NGOs devoted to food security. When aggies come to D.C., you go to USDA not Treasury or Commerce. Wheat provides an estimated 20 percent of all the calories consumed by the human race. In 2013, world production of wheat was 713 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal afte r m aize and rice. In 2008/2009, U.S. farmers grew nearly 2.4 billion bushels of wheat on 63 million acres of land in 42 States, yet it is losing ground. Lets look at some numbers to get a clearer understanding of both of these challenges: Total U.S. Economy: $16.7 trillion Followed by China: $9.2 trillion Japan: $4.9 trillion Germany: $3.7 trillion France: $2.8 trillion Largest Agriculture Output China: $925 billion India: $311 billion USA: $199 billion Indonesia: $125 billion Brazil: $109 billion Nigeria: $108 billion Dependence on Agriculture - Percent of GPD from Agriculture USA: 1.3 percent (And 1 percent can feed the USA) Japan: 1.2 percent Germany: .9 percent Ethiopia: 43.7 percent Mail: 42.3 percent Tanzania: 33.8 percent Cambodia: 33.5 percent Kenya: 29.5 percent Wheat: Top 10 Producers, 000s Tons EU (28): 143,060 China: 121,926 India: 93,091 USA: 58,105 Russia: 52,091 Canada: 37,530 Australia: 26,929 Pakistan: 24,000 Ukraine: 22,278 Turkey: 18,750 Wheat: Top Consumers. 000s Tons China: 123,000 EU: 114,000 India: 93,000 Russia: 34,550 USA: 34,230 EXPORTS The Economist listed the 10 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of wheat during 2014: 1. United States: $7.8 billion (16.3 percent of global wheat exports) 2. Canada: $7.2 billion (15.1 percent) 3. France: $5.4 billion (11.4 percent) 4. Australia: $5.3 billion (11.2 percent) 5. Russia: $5.3 billion (11.2 percent) 6. Germany: $3.1 billion (6.4 percent) 7. Ukraine: $2.3 billion (4.8 percent) 8. Romania: $1.3 billion (2.7 percent) 9. India: $1.1 billion (2.3 percent) 10. Kazakhstan: $960 million (2 percent) USA: Profit per acre: Profit per acre: Wheat: $105. Corn: $280. Soybeans: $256. This dramatic disparity in profitability is having a significant impact at the farm level. According to the Economic Research Service, the U.S. wheat harvested area has dropped off nearly 30 million acres, or nearly one-third, from its peak in 1981 because of declining returns compared with other crops and changes in government programs that allow farmers more planting flexibility. That is a shocking statistic and the trend has continued in recent years. In 2012-2013, we planted 55.3 million acres of wheat; harvested 48.7 million acres with an average yield of 46.2 bushels per acre. In 2015-2016, we planted 54.6 million acres; harvested 47 million acres with an average yield of 43.6 bushels per acre. In the 2014-2015 marketing year, Canada pulled ahead of the U.S. for the first time in wheat exports. Canada exported 898 million bushels of wheat while the U.S. exported 864 million bushels. India, Poland, Russia, Romania and Ukraine are also gaining ground as a percentage. This is a major concern to wheat farmers, but it should be a concern to all of agriculture. The goal must be to increase the profitability of growing wheat to the farmer to keep the U.S. competitive. How do we do that? It will not be done by an Act of Congress. It is not as simple as writing a statute.not that getting a law through Congress is easy.and I certainly dont see much of anything happening the rest of this year in Congress. Indeed, many experts are openly asking if we have seen our last farm bill. Therefore, the solution has to start with the farmers themselves and a commitment to the use of the best technology on every acre planted. That also means there has to be a good return on the investment in technology. Wheat farmers should be using the latest technology to maximize profit. The debate now seems to revolve around the use of genetically modified traits or genetically engineered traits (GE), but many wheat farmers are not using the latest certified seeds and other technologies that are available. The best estimate is that approximately half (50 percent) of the seeds being used are saved seeds. Amazingly, this reminds me of Africa, where smallholder farmers are using last years seeds rather than certified seeds because they dont have access to certified seeds or dont believe that certified seeds boost yields and are worth the cost. Wheat farmers in the U.S. might have a better return and profitability by using certified seed with proper seed treatments and inputs. If we can increase the yields five or ten bushels per acre, it can change the economics for an individual farmer. However, if the wheat industry continues to contract then the seed companies will not invest in new varieties because they wont be able to recapture their investments. Wheat will become the orphan crop of agriculture. Orphan drug is the term for illnesses that impact so few people the drug companies wont invest enough to produce the right medicine. So, they are called orphan drugs. Wheat is on a trend line to become an orphan crop. Another part of this challenge and puzzle has to take a look at patent protections. Companies wont put money into improving seeds unless there is adequate protection for the advanced technology. Down the road, we need to look to genetically engineered wheat but that, of course, is complicated. The concern is consumer acceptance here in the states and then around the world is another issue. It will be interesting to see how GE salmon and GE apples are introduced and if they are accepted for direct human consumption. My own opinion on this is changing. Tamar Haspel had a very interesting article in the Washington Post two weeks ago on The Food Movement. Her basic point was that GMOs and labeling were a concern for only a very small percent of American consumerssome 7 percent. She cited a study done at Rutgers and another done by IFIC, the International Food Information Council. Granted this small percent has an exaggerated voice through the use of social media and a deeply held personal belief system. While the sale of organic foods has increased, it still only accounts for 5 percent of food sales. That is fine as consumers want and deserve a choice. The problem is when the organic folks allege that production agriculture is not safe. I think we have won the debate over the safety, however. The attack now seems to be on the economic strength of the biotechnology industry and the hostility to global companies and corporate concentration. That is a totally different issue for another day. Farmers willingness to move toward GE seed will depend on consumer confidence and the market. The American Bakers Association will not embrace GE wheat until their customers accept GE bread. I am becoming more optimistic on that front, at least in the long run, because of the challenge of global food security. Necessity will be the mother of invention. We are moving from a world population of 7 billion people to a population of over 9 billion. We must use the best modern agriculture technology, as we do with health care, communication and transportation. Climate change will make the challenge of global food security even more complicated and will demand the best possible science. But today is now and modern seed technology is what we have on hand. Texas A&M and South Dakota State continue to be on the cutting edge of wheat research in the tradition of Norman Borlaug and Edgar McFadden. The point I want to leave you with is that the wheat industry and wheat farmers are facing a serious problem. If wheat farmers continue to switch acres, we are going to decrease our position compared to foreign competition and it will discourage investment. We need to increase investment dollarspublic and privatebut to do that there must be a public demand and a return on investment. Perhaps a Congressional Wheat Caucus might help to focus attention on this double-barrel challenge for wheat. A Congressional Caucus does not have the power to pass legislation, but it can help to focus attention and urge public and private action. It might be worthy of consideration. Wheat is facing a downward spiral and a course correction is needed. It is a problem that the entire agriculture industry should think about. Farmers are very proud of what they do, but they are still businessmen and businesswomen. For wheat to regain its traditional position it must be profitable and that is something that deserves the attention of everyone who cares about agriculture. Thank you. #30 Marshall Matz specializes in agriculture at OFW Law in Washington, D.C. These comments were first presented to the National Association of Wheat Growers. For more news, go to www.agri-pulse.com Iran-backed Militia Seize Christian Neighborhoods in Baghdad Iran-backed militias have seized homes, businesses and cultural sites, including churches belonging to Baghdad's Christian communities, forcing individuals to resettle and forfeit all their belongings, according to members of the Christian members of the Iraqi Parliament. The militias have targeted properties belonging to Christians, forcing individuals to leave the area, according to Christian community leaders, including representatives from the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac minorities, as well as the Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq who have condemned the attacks, calling them a form of ethnic cleansing aimed to rid Baghdad of its Christians. "Their claim is that the property of a non-Christian is halal, meaning it can be seized," Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sacco said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat. According to leaders, the seizures have been carried out in the upscale regions of Baghdad, where militia men have forced entry into homes and businesses with falsified documents. "We are begging, once again, appealing to the conscience of government officials and authorities from Sunni and Shiite states in order to do something meaningful to safeguard the life and dignity and property of all Iraqis, because they are human," Sacco said. The news was confirmed by Tom Harb, the co-chair of the Middle East Christian Committee, MECHRIC, who said Middle East Christian NGOs have long been reporting from Baghdad and Erbil that the Iranian-backed militias are pushing the Christians south of the areas controlled by ISIS, including Baghdad. The paradox in U.S. foreign policy is that the current administration has shown a policy of partnering with Iran's regime and even releasing the funds to the regime to back these militia, while at the same time creating conditions on the ground in Iraq where they can ethnically cleanse the Christian community, Dr. Walid Phares, who is an advisor to members of the U.S. Congress, said to The Foreign Desk. In other words, Washington is backing and funding the ethnic cleansing of Christian minorities in Iraq, Phares said. Iraq's Christians are considered to be one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, with their villages concentrated in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and Kirkuk. The Assyrians had made the towns and regions around the Nineveh Plains in the north home, until ISIS forced them out. In 2014, the Islamic State announced that all Christians under its territories must pay a minority tax, or Jizzyah, of approximately $500 per family, convert to Islam or be put to death. Later, the decree was revoked and Christians no longer had the option of staying and paying a tax. They either had to leave the Caliphate or die. At that time, Christian homes and properties were marked with the Arabic letter N, or nun, for Nassarah, meaning 'Christian' in Arabic. According to Sacco, there are no Christians left in Mosul for the first time in Iraq's history. "In the long run, the U.S. should help establish an autonomous area for the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Syriacs in their homeland Nineveh Plains, near Mosul and help the Yazidis establish their own area in Sinjar," Phares said. At the same time, Phares recommends Washington demand more from its partner, Iraq, who receives aid, funding and training to evacuate militias, to now protect the empty homes and return Christians to Baghdad. February 9, 2016 TEHRAN, Iran Many Iranians welcomed President Hassan Rouhanis recent tour of Italy and France, during which billions of dollars in deals including the purchase of 118 new Airbus passenger jets were hammered out. However, the hard-liners in Iran have been raging against the tour, considering it a major humiliation. The first salvo came from historian Hussein Dehbashi, a critic of Rouhani, who penned a post on his Facebook page in which he slammed the Iranian president for appearing in a room dominated by a giant bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius at his joint press conference with the Italian prime minister. [Roman Emperor] Marcus Aurelius [161-180] defeated Iranians in the era of the Parthian Empire. Why did the advisers of President Rouhani not pay attention to that? Dehbashi wrote. Hard-line outlets warmly welcomed this censure, following Dehbashis lead in attacking Rouhani. The West is seriously concerned about Iran becoming a regional power, and namely the expansion of Irans strategic depth in Iraq and Syria. What kind of message would this send to people when Rouhani is inking contracts in Rome and under the hooves of the horse of Marcus Aurelius, who took a part of Iraq and the Levant from the Parthians? the hard-line Nasim news agency wrote. Meanwhile, Irans Quds newspaper argued that Marcus Aurelius didnt conquer modern-day Iran and never set foot in the Parthian Empire, but merely dispatched an army that succeeded in taking over Seleucia a city on the Tigris that was a major Mesopotamian city of the Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanid empires. Quds further explained that after a while, a contagious disease forced the Romans to leave. Fayaz Zahed, a political analyst, told Al-Monitor, It is highly unlikely that the Italian government, which did its best to observe protocol during President Rouhanis trip, would try to disparage Iran by forcing Rouhani to stand next to a statue. They even covered the nude statues, which is a part of their identity, just to respect Irans president. He added, This is just a propaganda war [waged] by Rouhanis opponents. It is funny that we didnt even hear a peep from them when [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad sat under the tableau of the fake name of the Arabian Gulf. The next attack by hard-liners came when Rouhani left Rome for Paris. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, officially welcomed Irans president at the Les Invalides complex. Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line daily Kayhan, told Iranian media, Rouhani humiliated the Iranian nation by agreeing to be welcomed by the French foreign minister. Iranian state television, which is controlled by hard-liners, also expressed wonder and astonishment over this matter. Despite the ruckus, it was later revealed by moderate Iranian media outlets that Rouhani was in fact welcomed at the highest possible level in France, as the Jordanian and Spanish kings were also welcomed by the premier and foreign minister during their visits to Paris. In an article published by Iranian news outlet Entekhab, law researcher and Al-Monitor contributor Reza Nasri wrote that French President Francois Hollande not only welcomed Rouhani at the Perron de l'Elysee in the presence of the Garde Republicaine, but also rolled out the red carpet and walked down the steps in his honor. In Nasris telling, the manner in which the French president welcomed his Iranian counterpart was above and beyond the common standard. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also responded to the criticism of the French reception of Rouhani: The French government observed the highest protocols during President Rouhanis trip to Paris. Im really ashamed that some people with the very aim of proscription are saying that the French foreign minister received our president in an unusual manner. You should see who received the Indian prime minister or even Mr. Putin in France. Do we also welcome a foreign official before the formal welcoming by the president? Why do you try to turn our pride into humiliation? While in France, Rouhani signed a $25 billion deal with Airbus to buy 118 passenger jets and also a $430 million contract with carmaker Peugeot. The ink on both deals was barely dry when other Iranian hard-liners furiously attacked the Iranian president for signing such agreements. The head of the paramilitary Basij, Mohammad Reza Naghdi, accused Rouhani of hurting the resistance economy by signing contracts in France and Italy. Buying aircraft from Airbus has imposed a cost of 128 billion [dollars] for Iran, and this will be of no help for resolving the unemployment issue in our country. Moreover, Hossein Safar Haranadi, a former culture minister under ex-President Ahmadinejad, said, Is signing a contract with Peugeot our priority? I have heard that Peugeots workers who had been laid off celebrated the [nuclear] deal after hearing about the contract. But our workers in Iran are currently sad. In response to the criticism, Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said, It is unfair to the supreme leader to say that President Rouhanis visit to France and Italy was a stab in the back of the resistance economy. Jahangiri then described the critics of Rouhanis efforts in his first European visit since taking office as the same people who opposed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of July 14, 2015. During the nuclear talks, these guys used to say that it is not possible to reach an agreement and witness the lifting of sanctions, he said. With attention on the warm reception of his European tour by many Iranians, it seems that Rouhani is buying planes to make people really feel the post-sanctions era that has been brought about after the nuclear deal. In addition, the deals inked in Europe will help Rouhani attract more votes for moderates in the upcoming parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections and keep people away from the hard-liners, who oppose such contracts and are held accountable for the sanctions. Zahed said, The purchase of 118 aircraft by Rouhani was a symbolic move, because any time a plane crashed in Iran, people would blame the sanctions. He added, We shouldnt expect hard-liners to welcome Rouhanis success. They are upset, because Rouhanis achievement may lead the moderates and Reformists to gain victory in the parliamentary elections, and more importantly, it may guarantee a second term for Rouhani. February 8, 2016 Iraqs economic crisis is about to get worse. The government, which relies on oil for 90% of its revenue and 80% of foreign exchange earnings, faces plunging oil prices combined with rampant corruption and the exorbitant cost of battling the Islamic State (IS). Iraqi officials must come up with solutions that take all those circumstances into account. The country's economic problem is influenced particularly by two factors. The first is related to Iraq's socialist economic system and its absence of an economic infrastructure and free active market correlated with global markets. The Iraqi infrastructure is significantly damaged as a result of long-term wars and sanctions. The economic system was mostly controlled by the government for more than half a century. Although the private market has significantly grown since 2003, it remains weak. Moreover, the local private market does not contribute to the global market. The second factor is linked to the general political and social situation of the country, which experienced years of dictatorship, from the military revolution in 1959 until 2003 and under several regimes, the last being that of Saddam Hussein. The country also suffered sanctions imposed following Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The sanctions were gradually lifted beginning in 2003. Various institutions have studied potential solutions to the crisis affecting all of Iraqi society. For example, the Washington-based Consultative Group to Assist the Poor suggests potential solutions in a blog series covering different parts of the Arab world. The organization noted that comprehensive solutions become difficult to achieve in countries plagued by conflicts and vulnerable economic structures. But it said microfinance "providing credit, savings, payments and insurance to low-income households and small businesses is one intervention poised to promote local economic activity and help manage economic shocks." In principle, economic success cannot be achieved without strong institutions and infrastructure. Yet, Iraqs situation cannot wait for stability to be achieved and costly conflicts to end, so that the state can accomplish major, comprehensive development projects. In this case, the state can provide financial support and administrative facilities to help small businesses succeed and perhaps expand into big businesses in the future. Toward this end, the government must undertake four steps. The first is to facilitate and strengthen banking transactions so that citizens have access to investment loans. World Bank statistics for 2014 showed that only 11% of Iraqis have accounts in Iraqi banks, and only 4% of Iraqis were provided formal bank loans. The reason is the underdeveloped, bureaucratically controlled banking system. Most Iraqi banks do not provide electronic banking, and opening new accounts is a lengthy, multistep process. In addition, most of the banks do not provide credit and debit cards or ATMs. The second step is to develop efficient public transportation so small businesses can afford to transport their goods. The postal service is still inefficient in Iraq, and private mailing services such as DHL are expensive and unavailable in many areas. Al-Monitor asked a number of small-business owners about the challenges they face. Most of their answers focused on reaching and communicating with clients. Baqir al-Ahmed Rashid, a young man from Baghdad, opened a web-based business selling books, magazines and other publications. He envisioned his business becoming a kind of local Amazon, but his project failed after two years because of delivery problems. The third step Iraq must take is to find a startup platform to host and support pioneers of microeconomic projects and put them in contact with potential investment partners. In other countries, many successful small businesses have been launched from such coworking spaces. The fourth is to promote the insurance sector in the country so small-business owners can protect their companies. Insurance companies encourage investors to support small businesses safely. The small-business sector needs more media exposure to recruit workers, who often turn to the government for employment. Iraq's government payroll is overwhelming, though even government officials disagree on its size. In a Sept. 10 TV interview, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said there are more than 4 million government employees 20% of Iraq's entire labor force. Ministry of Planning spokesman Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi told news site Raseef 22 there are 6 million government employees, but his most disturbing statistic was that the average employee is only productive for 10 minutes per day. The unemployment rate in Iraq increased steadily from 15.1% in 2013 to 16.4% in 2014 and finally reached 17.6% in 2015. Supporting small business is very important in the IS-liberated areas, which urgently need development projects to provide the minimum requirements for stable living conditions. This achievement would enable the displaced to return to their areas and stand strong in the face of IS efforts to find recruits and establish cells to restore its control over these areas. February 9, 2016 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been busy meeting with Israeli delegations despite the uprising that began in October, even though both sides have been in a political standoff since the suspension of official peace talks in April 2014. It's not clear whether his efforts will pay off. Samira al-Halaiqa, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas in Hebron, told Al-Monitor, Abbas meetings with the Israelis are fruitless. He would have been better off meeting with his Palestinian brethren to complete the reconciliation deal stalled for nine years since the start of the division between Fatah and Hamas in 2007. It is not reasonable that Abbas tries to appease the situation with the Israelis through continuous meetings at a time when the Israeli army keeps killing Palestinians around the clock. Most of Abbas meetings with Israelis are coordinated by Muhammad al-Madani, a member of Fatahs Central Committee and the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Committee for Communication with Israeli Society, formed by presidential decree in December 2012. Abbas hosted two August meetings at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah. He met Aug. 2 with the Israeli Meretz delegation headed by its chief Zehava Galon, and on Aug. 18 with Zionist Camp leader Yitzhak Herzog, who warned Abbas of a third intifada. Abbas also met in Paris in mid-September with former Israeli ambassadors Yehuda Lancry, Elie Barnavi, Nissim Zvili and Daniel Shek, and assured them he will not renounce the Oslo Accord or dissolve the Palestinian Authority (PA). On Sept. 29, former Israeli Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Sheetrit announced he had met with Abbas, without specifying the time and place. At that time, Abbas asked to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the latter's earliest opportunity. Abdullah Abdullah, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and the former deputy foreign minister of Palestine, told Al-Monitor, Abbas meetings with Israelis aim to create a breakthrough in the positive discussions with the Israeli public over the future relationship with the Palestinians. The Israeli public has been brainwashed by the current Israeli government, which is keen on maintaining the Israeli peoples support. "Abbas continued meetings with the Israelis fall within the scope of the PAs convictions of the need to open dialogues with them and search for common ground, especially with those who fear for their future in the region as a result of the current Israeli government policies. These include the settlement expansion in the West Bank and Jerusalem, the suspension of the peace process and the ongoing siege on Gaza, Abdullah said. Those meetings did not stop after the uprising began Oct. 1. Israeli Channel 2 announced Oct. 9 that Netanyahu sent his special envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Israeli coordinator of government activities in the territories, to meet with Abbas in Ramallah. The two men asked Abbas to discourage incendiary statements that fan the flames of anger against Israelis. Strangely enough, on Oct. 10, the Palestinian presidency denied the meeting was even held, though news about it spread in Arab and world media. On Nov. 30, observers spotted Abbas and Netanyahu shaking hands for the first time since 2010 on the sidelines of the Paris climate change conference. About two months later, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, announced Abbas had met Jan. 21 with an informal delegation of Israeli women. They informed him about activities they are conducting in Israel, such as demonstrations at Israeli military checkpoints calling for an end to Israeli violations against Palestinians. Wafa did not give any of the delegation members' names or political affiliations. Abbas met that same day with a delegation of Israeli journalists and reporters, including Avi Issacharoff, Ohad Hemo and Dana Somberg. Issacharoff reported to the Times of Israel on Jan. 23 that Abbas sought in this meeting to hold Israel liable for the negotiations suspension in 2014 and to quash any accusations of incitement against him. Also during that meeting, the PA stressed its right to a peaceful popular resistance against extremism in all its forms, according to a press statement that day from Abbas office. Abbas had also warned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict turning from political to religious, the release said. The many meetings seem aimed at unifying the Palestinian discourse toward the various sectors of Israeli society to make peace and to refute the allegations against Palestinians by the Israeli right, the last of which was made Feb. 4 when the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, accused Abbas of encouraging violence against Israelis. These meetings also seem designed to prevent more Israelis from being attracted to the ranks of the Israeli right and to work on academic and cultural levels to pressure the Israeli government to return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians. Abbas encounters with the Israelis were not adequately covered by Palestinian media, perhaps because they were not held with top Israeli government officials or perhaps the Palestinians are preoccupied with more important issues, given the ongoing unrest. It's also likely that Palestinians are convinced the meetings will not yield any valuable results. On Jan. 23, the father of Baha Alyan the man who killed three Israelis on Oct. 13 in a bus shooting attack in Jerusalem commented on Facebook on Abbas meetings with Israeli delegations. Addressing Abbas, he posted, Mr. President of the State of Palestine, you think it's OK to meet with Israeli delegations, but you don't respond to the request of the families of the martyrs to meet with your excellency. This post stirred a popular buzz among Palestinians, attracting more than 150 comments, 2,500 likes and 319 shares as of the time of this writing. Raed Enairat, a professor of political science at An-Najah National University in Nablus and the head of the Contemporary Center for Studies and Policy Analysis, told Al-Monitor, By holding these multiple meetings with the Israelis, President Abbas wants to refute the official Israeli allegations that he is hindering the peace talks rather than [seeking a] solution, as was the case with late President Yasser Arafat. He added, Abbas will not necessarily score major political successes and breakthroughs within Israeli society, but he is seeking as much as possible to maintain these efforts. Abbas has no guarantees that his meetings with the Israelis will change the official Israeli political discourse toward Palestinians, especially as the United States and Israel are not putting the two-state solution on the table. This makes the idea of productive continued negotiation meetings between Israelis and Palestinians a far-fetched one. February 9, 2016 On Jan 31, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded medals to sailors of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who had captured US sailors after they entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, an incident that had the potential to become an international crisis. Just over a week later, at a Feb. 8 ceremony, President Hassan Rouhani awarded medals to members of his Cabinet and Irans negotiation team for the final nuclear deal, a process that ended an international crisis. At the ceremony, Rouhani said that the nuclear negotiations, which took a special urgency once he took office in 2013 and appointed his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to head them, were as difficult and fateful as some of the largest battles during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Rouhani said that he and the negotiation team were in constant communication the day of the final talks in Geneva and until 5 a.m. the next morning. On the makeup of the negotiating team, Rouhani said that after Zarif took over and the talks progressed, there was a need to assemble a new team. Therefore, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) joined because of his technical expertise. Later in the talks, Minister of Defense Hossein Dehghan was consulted to address [Israeli] accusations and the issue of possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. Rouhani also thanked his chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian, an economist, for helping on the sanctions-related issues of the nuclear deal. Other negotiators to receive awards were Deputy Foreign Ministers Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Hamid Baeidinejad. A number of AEOI officials and officials responsible for the implementation of the nuclear deal were also given awards. Rouhani also addressed the families of assassinated nuclear scientists who were in attendance, saying, The martyrs of peaceful nuclear technology wisely, consciously and bravely chose this dangerous path and when they realized continuing their path would be dangerous they did not retreat one bit. He added, Even if we would have given tens of martyrs in this path, without a doubt our nuclear scientists would not have left the path of the people and dignity and pride. At least five Iranian scientists were assassinated. Though no one has claimed responsibility for this, Israeli officials have hinted at those who they believe are responsible. Rouhani, who hopes to fill the future parliament with like-minded allies after the Feb. 26 elections, said that the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions is not the honor of one faction, party, administration or specific individual, but the great nation of Iran. While Reformist media covered the ceremony in a positive light, other media were critical of the event. Raja News, associated with the hard-line Endurance Front, wrote that contrary to the advertisements of the administration, the Iranian people no longer associate the nuclear deal with the opening of the economy. Raja accused the Rouhani administration of holding the medal ceremony for the nuclear deal because the administration has had no achievements in the field of economy or any other domestic arena. The article continued that if people genuinely saw the nuclear deal as a great achievement and victory, there would be no need to hold such an award ceremony or make comparisons to major war battles of the 1980s. February 9, 2016 Could the Syrian armys recent military successes against rebel forces, and its possible conquest of Aleppo, be too much of a good thing for Moscow? After the suspension of the Geneva III talks, this is an important question for Russian leaders to consider. Conventional wisdom holds that Russias goal in Syria is to force the United States, regional powers and Syrians into choosing between President Bashar al-Assads Damascus regime and the violent extremism of the Islamic State and other groups. According to this view, Russias airstrikes work toward this goal by weakening nonextremist forces and gradually transforming the conflict from a three-way civil war into a two-sided, anti-terrorism operation. If this happens, ongoing US airstrikes against IS would more demonstrably benefit the Assad regime. The capture of Aleppo would surely represent a major victory for the Syrian regime and significantly strengthen its control over the most densely populated parts of the country, particularly in the wake of parallel victories in southern Syria, one being the recent capture of Sheikh Mishkin. Indeed, while the fighting around Aleppo is more complex than suggested in most Western media accounts, many fear that Aleppos fall could devastate the Syrian rebel forces. Despite this, a regime victory that appears to produce a lasting shift in momentum could have unintended consequences that expose differences between Moscow and Damascus and further complicate Russias involvement in the Syrian war. The central issue is that Russian and Syrian interests and objectives are not identical. In short, Moscow is much more interested in a negotiated outcome and, therefore, less interested than Damascus in trying to achieve a battlefield victory. As a result, Russias aim is to change rebel groups cost-benefit analysis to encourage them to participate in talks on something closer to the Assad regimes terms. Yet the more successful the war, and the weaker the rebels become, the less pressure Assad will feel to negotiate. Why deal if victory appears within reach? Thus, in practice, there is a very fine line between providing greater negotiating leverage to the Assad government on the one hand, and and on the other, encouraging Assad and his generals to think that Russias military assistance might allow them to win on the battlefield. Some Syrian opposition figures appear to fear precisely this. Following the failure of the latest Geneva talks, the Army of Islams Mohammed Alloush argued, The political process will not be launched as long as Russia, the regime and Iran want to win militarily the battle on the ground. Although Moscow does not seem to be seeking a military victory, Russias policy could still encourage Syrian leaders to want one. Moreover, if the more moderate opposition forces become too weak, they will no longer be a viable negotiating partner for the Syrian government. In that case, Russian efforts to strengthen the regimes hand in dealing with the moderate forces could fail, because they would not control enough territory or sufficient armed forces to bring anything of any value to the talks. This in turn eliminates the possibility of a unity government or some other formula to build a partial social and political consensus in Syria that goes further than Assads existing supporters. This could make a political strategy to defeat IS and other extremists more difficult to implement. Such a result could trap Russia in a long-term intervention not unlike the US war in Iraq or, for that matter, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan a struggle to support and strengthen a weak central government against an externally supported opposition. Although the Russian militarys presence in Syria is much smaller than the US deployments in Iraq, it could put unexpected stresses on a Russian military that lacks recent experience with sustained force projection. It could also create political stresses in a society that eventually rejected the war in Afghanistan and turned against the first war in Chechnya despite the latter being a war to preserve Russias territorial integrity, something far more important to most Russians than Assad. At the same time, if Russias intervention dramatically changes the dynamics on the ground in Syria, IS-inspired terrorists would have less cause to target the United States or European countries and every reason to launch attacks in Russia or against the Russian presence in the Middle East, including embassies, consulates, corporate offices and Russian tourists. The recent arrest of seven alleged IS operatives in Ekaterinburg, 900 miles east of Moscow, demonstrates that this is a real danger extending beyond the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt last fall. The situation could become quite ugly and might well be increasingly difficult to explain to the Russian people. Moscow has one clear way out of this trap: exercising the leverage over the Syrian government that it has earned over the last several months. As a practical matter, this would mean communicating privately that Russias military will not continue operations at their current intensity for much longer and, accordingly, Assad would be wise to make the best deal he can, sooner rather than later. Such a conversation would likely not be an easy one, in that Syrian officials might resent the pressure to negotiate. In addition, if it were to become widely known, which over time is likely, it could somewhat undermine the Syrian governments ability to speak from a position of strength. It could also be discouraging to others counting on Russian military assistance, such as the eastern Ukrainian separatists. That said, such an approach could facilitate a political settlement while also earning Moscow some credit with US and Western diplomats. It would likely do more for Russias reputation and influence in the Middle East than long-term support for Assads unpopular regime. Of course, a successful agreement requires that all sides be prepared to negotiate at the same time, or put another way, that each leader believes his side cant do better by continuing to fight. The collapse of talks in Geneva amid mutual recriminations demonstrates that this moment has not yet arrived. The great tragedy of Syrias civil war is that even after five years, there is no critical mass among the parties seeking peace. February 9, 2016 Nowadays, when two or more Turks come together, the conversation inevitably moves into questioning the motives of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his plans for Turkey's role in the ever-worsening situation in Syria. The question is: Is he going to push the army into Syrian territory? Turkey's link with the Syrian rebels has been severely weakened by the seeming collapse of the Geneva III talks and the advances of Syrian regime forces from the north to Aleppo with the support of Russian air power. Dramatic developments are taking place in the Azaz-Jarablus corridor, which served as a lifeline for Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and also, more or less, for those endorsed by the United States. The fighting there is not only depriving Turkey of its most important leverage in Syria, but also triggering a massive exodus of Syrians to Turkey. Turkey, already strained due to some 2.5 million refugees, is now faced with tens of thousands of potential newcomers. Moreover, as this strategically vital corridor for Turkey is depopulated because of the intense Russian airstrikes, the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) is moving into the region. As a result of this, Kurds can connect the Kurdish cantons stretching from Syrias eastern frontier with Iraq and its western frontier with Turkey. Ankara has repeatedly declared any YPG move to the west of the Euphrates River as a red line violation, and Erdogan has said that Turkey is determined to act against such violations. Yet that red line has been breached and perhaps effectively erased, as was the case with previous Turkish lines drawn to obstruct Kurdish ambitions in the region. There are sufficient reasons for Erdogan to send Turkish ground troops into Syria, particularly to Aleppo, through which Ankara can hold some ground around the Azaz-Jarablus corridor. Also, this could be some kind of test, both of Russias commitment to the Syrian regime and NATOs determination to support its ally. Last weekend, Erdogan lashed out at several parties, including the United States and Russia, as he returned to Turkey from a controversial trip to a number of Latin American countries. It has become routine for him to make his most important policy speeches and threats on board the presidential jet, addressing the journalists he handpicks to accompany him. In an interesting move, he signaled his intent to take the initiative in Syria. Recalling the pre-Iraq invasion days, Erdogan said he does not want to commit the mistake in Syria that had been committed in Iraq. He was apparently referring to the decree allowing Turkish troops into Iraqi Kurdistan along with the Americans a decree that had not been approved by the Turkish parliament. If Turkey had not missed its opportunity to send troops into Iraqi territory then, in 2003, the situation in Iraq today would be much different, according to Erdogan. Now, in Syria, the way things are developing, they cannot go beyond a certain limit. We have to act according to our [security] sensitivities. Our airspace is also NATOs airspace. They [NATO] should also take the necessary steps. All this is a test for everybody. However, with any kind of direct Turkish involvement in Syria, there is a danger of confrontation with Russia. The danger is even more likely since the relations between the countries deteriorated following Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet Nov. 24. Also on his return trip, Erdogan responded to Russias allegations that Turkish armed forces were preparing for an intervention in Syria: Russia should be asked: What is your preoccupation with Syria? At the moment, you are like an invader. You are the one cooperating with the murderer of 400,000 people. Turkey's [566-mile-long frontier with Syria] is under threat. Definitely, Turkey will take precautions. They are only precautions, while Russia is on the offensive. Russia has no right to make allegations on these issues. Moreover, we have compatriots in Syria. Oh Russia, do you have a common frontier here with Syria? Do you have compatriots? Washington was not immune to his wrath either. It was apparent that he was angered by America's gestures to its Kurdish ally in Syria, the YPG, which he considers a terrorist organization along with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the US-supported, Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PYD, YPG are terrorist organizations. What the PKK is, the PYD is exactly the same. We will take this position to all the international bodies," Erdogan said. He criticized Brett McGurk, US President Barack Obama's special representative to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (Islamic State), for visiting Kobani, Syria, after Turkey refused to go along with having the PYD participate in the Geneva III talks. The PYD was not able to come to Geneva, so [McGurk] goes to Kobani and receives a commemorative plaque from a so-called general there," Erdogan said. The Turkish president asked the United States, "How can we trust you? Who is your partner the terrorists in Kobani or me? The brief and very clear response came Feb. 8 from US State Department spokesman John Kirby. Washington understands Turkeys concerns about the YPG, Kirby told reporters in his daily briefing, but the YPG is one of the most successful forces in the fight against IS. We do not see them as a terrorist organization and will continue supporting them, he said. This was one of the most powerful rebuffs American authorities have ever unleashed at a Turkish president. If Russian air power and the YPGs presence on the ground don't deter Erdogan from sending Turkish troops into Syria, perhaps the remarks of the US State Department spokesman will. Or perhaps those words will drive Erdogan to act more decisively about a possible military intervention in Syria in order to break the military link between the United States and the Syrian Kurds, as this has become the most fearsome development in the eyes of Turkeys military establishment, which is phobic about Kurds. So speculation about a possible Turkish military intervention in Syria is likely to grow louder and more intense among Turkey's citizens in the days to come. February 9, 2016 As developments in Syria spin out of Turkeys control, Ankara is sending mixed signals as to what it will do to regain the initiative to address its growing security concerns and deal with the fresh refugee crisis it is facing after the successful Syrian-Russian onslaught in northern Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan added fuel to the fire over the weekend when he said Turkey should not repeat the mistake in Syria that it made in Iraq in 2003. He was referring to the refusal by the Turkish parliament to allow the United States to use Turkish territory to invade Iraq at the time. Erdogan claimed that if the parliament had not refused permission, the situation in Iraq would not be what it is today and Turkey would have a place at the table. Erdogan, who was talking to reporters on his way back from his Latin American tour, said that matters in Syria could only be allowed to go so far, and that Turkey had to protect its interests. At the moment we are prepared for any eventuality with all our security forces, he said. His remarks follow Russian claims that Turkey is preparing to invade Syria. "We have serious grounds to suspect Turkey is in intensive preparations for an armed invasion of the territory of a sovereign state the Syrian Arab Republic," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Feb. 4. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglus office dismissed the claim as propaganda. An unidentified official source told CNN that Turkey is not preparing such an invasion, and that Russia, which as a country that had already invaded Syria, was trying to divert attention from its attacks against civilians in that country. Reuters also cited a senior Turkish official who denied the Russian claim. "Turkey is part of a coalition, is working with its allies and will continue to do so. As we have repeatedly said, Turkey will not act unilaterally," the official said. Despite war drums by the pro-Erdogan media for a military operation in Syria, most analysts agree this is not feasible given the present complexity in Syria where too many interests are clashing. Openly reflecting his annoyance over continuing US support for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protections Units (YPG), Erdogan also issued what sounded like a challenge to Washington to choose between the PYD/YPG and Turkey. The recent visit by US presidential envoy Brett McGurk to the Kurdish-held town of Kobani in Syria, where he met PYD officials, raised Ankaras hackles. He went to Kobani and received a plaque from a supposed general just as the Geneva talks were about to begin. How are we to trust them? Am I your partner or the terrorists in Kobani? Erdogan complained. McGurks visit to Kobani came immediately after Turkey forced the United States to acquiesce to keeping the PYD out of the Geneva talks on Syria. This visit showed, however, that Washington will not desert the PYD. This was also confirmed by State Department spokesman John Kirby at his daily briefing Feb. 8. We see Kurdish fighters on the ground that have been successful against Daesh as an important partner in this fight, Kirby said when asked if the United States sees the PYD as an ally or partner. Daesh, the name Islamic countries use for the Islamic State, is also used by the United States. Despite the obvious difficulties, Erdogans supporters in the media are trying to drum up support for an intervention in Syria by arguing that if Turkey does not do this now, it will pay a high price in the future by seeing its own territorial integrity compromised. Ibrahim Karagul, the editor-in-chief of the pro-government daily Yeni Safak, believes it is time for Turkey to confront some bitter facts, arguing in his column that Turkey should not and will not accept a situation in Syria that is against its interests. Turkey must intervene directly in the Syrian affair. This includes a military operation. If Iran and Russia, whose arguments for intervening are so feeble, can enter this country, bomb regions along our borders, expel Syrians to Turkey and hit Turkey from Syria, then Turkey has much more realistic reasons [to intervene], Karagul wrote Feb. 4. Daily Hurriyets Tolga Tanis, however, believes that recent developments clearly show Turkeys Syria policy has totally collapsed both militarily and politically. Ankara has no instruments left in its hand that it can use, Tanis, who is also Hurriyets Washington representative, wrote Feb. 7. He said Turkey had also lost leverage with Washington because of the erosion in confidence it had created with its policies. Tanis said US officials never considered talk about a land operation by Turkey in Syria to be realistic, especially while Russia is waiting for an opportunity to avenge the downing of its fighter jet by the Turkish air force in November 2015. Al-Monitor asked Maj. Gen. Armagan Kuloglu (R) for his political-military take on Erdogans remarks and the likelihood of a Turkish intervention in Syria. He said that Erdogans views with regard to Turkeys barring the United States from invading Iraq over its territory in 2003 did not compare in any way with the situation in Syria. The operation in Iraq was to remove Saddam [Hussein]. The aim was clear. In Syria it is not clear who will intervene against whom and to what end, Kuloglu said. Neither is it clear who we would be collaborating with. There is no UN-sanctioned coalition. Nor is there a US-led coalition of the willing, as was the case in Iraq, he added. Kuloglu also regarded with skepticism statements by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that they are willing to send troops to Syria. The same question arises here. Who would they intervene against? The regime, IS, the PYD? Who? Kuloglu asked. He also discounted any possibility that Turkey could intervene in Syria unilaterally. All the talk that implies that Turkey is prepared to intervene in Syria is for a domestic audience, Kuloglu concluded. Alexander Shunnarah's new headquarters Alexander Shunnarah law firm is opening a new headquarters in Birmingham at 2900 1st Avenue South. (contributed) One of Alabama's largest personal injury law firms is getting a new corporate headquarters in Birmingham. Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C., serving Georgia, Florida and Mississippi in addition to Alabama, where the firm is based, will soon open its new corporate headquarters at 2900 1st Avenue South in Birmingham. The building will be the nerve center for the Alexander Shunnarah law firms, spanning the four states. The 23,850-square-feet-plus building includes three stories of offices, where Alexander Shunnarah will run the firms' business and operations. Shunnarah plans to fill the building with his top litigators and key personnel. Capacity will reach over 60 with attorneys and support staff, he said. "The firm has expanded, but Birmingham has and will remain the focal point of the practice," said Alexander Shunnarah, President and CEO of Alexander Shunnarah Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C. The closing of the property occurred this past August. The firm immediately began renovations. The official move-in date for the new headquarters is Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Shunnarah has built has a legal empire in part by massive consumer outreach, including 2,000 billboard and thousands of commercials each month. You can read more about Shunnarah here, in a profile written by AL.com's Kent Faulk earlier this year. No, it's not a biker bar. Spike's Leather Club opens Wednesday, Birmingham's only bar that proudly and primarily caters to the fetish community. Co-owners Ivan Reyes, Rod Caldwell and Jeffrey Hall said the bar will fill a void in Birmingham's nightlife. "There's a big leather community in Alabama, they just didn't have any place to go," Hall said. "They were going to Nashville or Atlanta." A lot of people have misconceptions about the club, though. Members of the Birmingham City Council asked the owners if it was a biker bar or an S&M club. It's not. And while there will be a lot of leather, wearing it isn't a requirement. "It's a bar for people with an affinity for leather," Reyes said. Walking through Spike's, there's a bar, a dance floor, a DJ Booth, a lounge that can be rented out for private groups, a porch and a leather shop stocked with everything from Spike's T-Shirts to leather harnesses. "We cater to the leather and fetish community," Hall said. "It is deemed a gay bar, but straight people, bisexual people, pansexual people, whatever are welcome." The bar at 620 27th St. S. in Lakeview won't just be a nightclub - it'll have theme nights, leather fashion shows, leather pageants, queer art nights and philanthropy events. It's also available for private events. "When you go to all these leather pageants, Birmingham, and Alabama in general, hasn't really had a voice in the leather community," Reyes said. One thing it won't have is drag shows - Reyes said the other gay bars in Birmingham have been doing those well for a long time, and so Spike's isn't going to try to replicate them. Another thing the club will emphasize is privacy. There's a changing room in the club, so that you can come in your business clothes and put on leather once inside. The owners all said the reception to the club has been almost entirely positive. The club has already sold memberships to people all over the state, from Huntsville to Mobile, and even sold one in Indiana, Hall said. "We figured there'd be people who wanted to come, but we didn't realize the amount of people who so wanted a place where they'd feel welcome," Reyes said. A look back at AL.com photos from around Alabama on the 1 year anniversary after nine of Alabama's 67 counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Feb. 9, 2015. Gay marriage in Alabama 1 year later Don't Edit Click here to see more photos from the gallery Same-sex couples marry in jefferson County. Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com Same-sex couples marry in Jefferson County Shannon Parks and Kay Emfinger exit the Jefferson County Courthouse, Monday, February 9, 2015, after receiving their marriage certificate. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com) Don't Edit Click hee to view more of the photo gallery - Wedding Week in Huntsville, Ala. Sarah Cole Wedding Week ceremonies in Huntsville, Ala. Alton Way and Darren Garrison marry by the spring in front of family, friends and a supportive crowd. It was a joyous day in Big Spring International Park as same-sex couples were able to legally marry, kicking off the community hosted event Wedding Week Huntsville. Local photographers, musicians and vendors provided their service, free of charge, while ordained ministers performed the ceremony. The week long event is free and open to the public. Several couples strolled into the park to get married after receiving their marriage license at the courthouse. (Sarah Cole/scole@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to seem the photo gallery - Same-sex couples granted marriage licenses, married in Montgomery. JULIE BENNETT Montgomery County Same-Sex Marriage The Rev. Karen Watson, left, marries Tori Sisson, center, and Shante Wolfe, right, as family member Audri Scott-Williams looks on outside the Montgomery County Probate Office in Montgomery, Ala., Monday, Feb. 9, 2015. Montgomery County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday. (Julie Bennett/ jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to view more of the photo gallery - Gay marriage in Mobile, Ala. on Feb. 9, 2015 Sharon Steinmann | ssteinmann@al.com Gay marriage in Mobile, Ala. on Feb. 9, 2015 Cari Searcy, left, talks with Robert Povilat, left, and Milton Persinger, both of Mobile, Ala., as they joined other same sex couples at the Mobile County Probate office in Mobile, Ala., on Monday Feb. 9, 2015 to apply for marriage licenses. Mobile County probate judge Don Davis refused to issue licenses. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com) Don't Edit Don't Edit Click here to see more of the gallery - Marriages in Etowah County, Feb. 9, 2015 William Thornton | wthornton@al.com Marriages in Etowah County, Feb. 9, 2015 Two female couples got married in Etowah County Monday morning, Feb. 9, 2015. (William Thornton / wthornton@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to see more photos from the gallery - Jessica and Sherry Tie The Knot At Madison County Courthouse On First Day Alabama Allows Same-Sex Marriage Eric Schultz Jessica and Sherry tie the knot at Madison County Couthouse Jessica Seals and Sherry Tonini, of Huntsville, together just before they were married at the Madison County Courthouse on Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 in Huntsville, Ala. Same-sex couples in parts of Alabama exchanged vows Monday, minutes after the first marriage licenses were issued. Seals and Tonini were officially married in Madison County at 9:38 a.m., when the probate office stamped their marriage certificate. Afterward, they had a ceremony with friends and family in in downtown Huntsville near Big Spring Park. (Eric Schultz / eschultz@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to view gallery - First gay couple apply for marriage license in Bladwin County, Bay Minette. Brian Kelly | bkelly@al.com First gay couple to apply for marriage license in Baldwin County, Bay Minette Kelly Pfannenstiel and Latoria Smith became the first couple in Baldwin County to apply for a same-sex marriage license. Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to see more of the photo gallery - Gay marriage protests. Connor Sheets | csheets@al.com Supporters and protests of gay marriage in Calhoun County Supporters of gay marriage gathered outside Calhoun County's probate court Monday morning. (Connor Sheets | csheets@al.com) Don't Edit Click her to view more of the photo gallery - Couples meet at law firm in Mobile, Ala. Cassie Fambro | cfambro@al.com Couples meet at law firm in Mobile, Ala. At least 8 couples joined Mobile lawyers Christine Hernandez and David Kennedy in an effort to land Probate Judge Don Davis in contempt as well as add their names to a lawsuit. (Cassie Fambro | cfambro@al.com) Don't Edit Don't Edit Click here to view more of the photo gallery - Calhoun County Probate Office -Feb. 9, 2015 William Thornton | wthornton@al.com Calhoun County Probate Office -Feb. 9, 2015 Couples gathered seeking marriage licenses in Calhoun County this morning, as demonstrators came to show support, and a church group came to support traditional marriage. (William Thornton / wthornton@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to see more of the photo gallery - Same-sex couples receive marriage license, Madison County 2-9-2015 Sarah Cole Same-sex couples receive marriage license, Madison County 2-9-2015 The happy Yashinari Effenger and Adiran Thomas was the first couple to receive their license in Madison County. Couples lined up bright and early Monday outside the probate judge office at the Madison County Courthouse to get their marriage license after the hold on same-sex marriage was denied last week, giving same-sex couples the right to marry in the state of Alabama. (Sarah Cole/scole@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to see more of the photo gallery - Same-sex marriage in Bay Minette, Ala. 2.9.2015 Brian Kelly | bkelly@al.com Same-sex marriage protests in Bay Minette, Ala. 2.9.2015 People protest outside of the Probate Judge's Office in Bay Minette, Ala. on Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 after Alabama becomes the 37th state to allow same sex marriage. (Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com) Don't Edit Click here to see more of the photo gallery - Gay couples turned away in Tuscaloosa County. Stephen Dethrage Gay couples turned away in Tuscaloosa County Same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses in Tuscaloosa County were turned away Monday morning by Probate Judge Hardy McCollum, who said he was bound by an order from Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to deny their issuance. (Stephen Dethrage | AL.com) Don't Edit Click here to view the post - Just married: Alabamians share photos from same-sex ceremonies. Alex McDaniel Just married: Alabamians share photo from same-sex ceremonies Alabamians share photos of same-sex ceremonies. Don't Edit Etowah County authorities say a teacher has been arrested for being "sexually involved" with high school students. Sheriff Todd Entrekin said Kayla Lynn Hodges, 31, of Anniston was arrested today on four counts of a school employee having sexual contact with a student under the age of 19. The charges are misdemeanors. Investigators said Hodges sent "sexual photos and text messages to four high school students" while employed with the Etowah County Board of Education as a teacher. A Kayla Hodges was listed as a math teacher at Gaston High School. Etowah County Superintendent Alan Cosby said Hodges resigned from her job on Jan. 7. "After her resignation was accepted these allegations came to light," Cosby said. "We then contacted local law enforcement to report the information we had at the time and are fully cooperating with the Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office in this case." Hodges was booked into the Etowah County Detention Center on $5,000 property bond. As a condition of her bond, Hodges is to report to Community Corrections, have no unsupervised contact with minors and should not participate in any online social media applications. "This type of ridiculous behavior is completely uncalled for by someone who was trusted by the community to teach our kids," Entrekin said. Last month, another Etowah County teacher was charged with having sex with a student in 2013. Investigation Discovery's 'Murder Comes to Town' has profiled one of Calhoun County's longest running cases, which finally came to a resolution a year ago. The case of Carla Fuqua, who was last seen Oct. 29, 2009, was the focus of the show, which aired this evening. Fuqua's remains were found on Dec. 4, 2012 in a wooded area south of Piedmont near Alabama 21 at the old Piedmont Brickyard. Authorities said the last outgoing call made from Fuqua's cell phone that night was at 9:21 p.m. She was living on Piedmont Springs Road at the time of her disappearance, and told her roommate the night she vanished that was going to meet someone. A friend dropped her off at Steed's home, but Steed denied seeing her that night. Jimmy Steed Fuqua's roommate was later charged with fraudulent use of a credit card after she used Carla's vehicle and debit card at several locations. The case got a break in 2013, when Jimmy Steed was caught manufacturing methamphetamine at his home on Hughes Road in Piedmont. However, Calhoun County authorities had suspected Steed for a long time in a string of cases - James Patrick Burrows, Fuqua, Jeffrey Scott McFry and Steed's wife, Karen Steed. As Sheriff Larry Amerson pointed out, all of them went missing within a geographic mile of Steed's home. On Aug. 21, 1990, Burrows was reported missing. His motorcycle was found sunken in a bog near a friend's house more than a year after his disappearance. McFry went missing less than a month after Burrows, with evidence he was forcibly taken. Steed disappeared on Nov. 23, 1997, and was last seen at her home in Piedmont. Her car was found on Interstate 20 a month later in Cleburne County. Last February, Steed, was sentenced to 105 years in prison. Steed entered a guilty plea in December 2014 to murder charges in Fuqua's death. He also pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and manufacturing methamphetamine. Steed received 75 years for Fuqua's death and 30 years for drug charges. A Bessemer woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to reckless manslaughter in a January 2014 wreck in Bibb County that killed a 5-year-old girl. Meanwhile, charges also remain pending against the girls' parents. Kathy Jones, 33, pleaded guilty under a plea deal with the district attorney's office and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Jack Meigs on Friday. Jones, who had been indicted for murder, had been set to go on trial Monday before agreeing to plead guilty to the lesser charge. "That's going to give her time to think about what a tragic and senseless act that was," Bibb County District Attorney Michael Jackson said of the sentence. "People should not be on drugs and alcohol while driving a car. .... That child should still be alive," he said. Mike Murphy, an attorney for Jones, said that Jones "greatly regrets" her actions that caused the girls' death. "Not that any sentence can replace a life, but we believe that this was a reasonable resolution to Ms. Jones case. Hopefully the parents will also take responsibility for their actions on the date of the accident," he stated. Jones was charged in the death of Isabel "Izzy" Parks, of West Blocton, who died after a Jan. 10, 2014 wreck on Hopewell Church Road north of Centreville. The 1995 Chevrolet Blazer she was in left the road, hit an embankment and overturned. Six other people were hurt. Jones was the driver of the car and was allegedly on methamphetamine at the time of the accident, prosecutors had alleged. Isabel's parents, David and Danielle Parks, now of McCalla, were each indicted on one count of criminally negligent homicide and four counts of aggravated child abuse. Other children were in the car and one was riding in Jones' lap when the wreck happened, Jackson had said previously. Nobody in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt, he said. The trials for David and Danielle Parks had also been set for this week, but have been delayed to the week of June 27, Jackson said. Updated at 4 p.m. Feb. 9, 2016 with comments from Kathy Jones' attorney Minimum wage rally Sept 15 Dozens gathered in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, to protest a bill by state Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, that would block a minimum wage increase approved by the Birmingham City Council. Workers in the city of Birmingham will see higher wages several months sooner than expected. The city council on Tuesday passed an ordinance moving the minimum wage increase to March 1, instead of its original July 1 implementation. The Birmingham City Council passed an ordinance in August that raised the city's minimum wage to $8.50 in July 2016 and again to $10.10 in July 2017. The minimum wage now is federal standard of $7.25. During the Alabama Legislature's second special session this month, Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, proposed a bill that would prevent cities and counties from setting a minimum wage for private employers. The Alabama House of Representatives debated the bill before setting it aside without a vote. The bill has not been filed this legislative session, according to online records. Last fall, Faulkner said he filed the bill in response to the decision in Birmingham, saying he believes the state needs uniformity instead of a patchwork of minimum wage laws. Council President Johnathan Austin previously said the two-year period was introduced to allow small businesses to adjust. During Tuesday's city council meeting, he explained the decision to implement the increase four months earlier. "The challenge we have now is, if the legislature passes a minimum wage restriction, it could potentially affect the minimum wage increase we passed back in August 2015," he said. Council President Pro-Tem Jay Roberson spoke in support of moving up the minimum wage increase, saying it is an innovative ordinance that will help many of the city's residents who earn the least. Council members Steven Hoyt and Sheila Tyson also voiced their support. Hoyt said the ordinance is "very poignant in changing the fiber of economic disparity that exists in this city." Le'Darius Hilliard, the president of the Jefferson County Young Democrats, said the decision means today is a great day for Birmingham. "You have to count even the small victories," he said. "When you're able to move the minimum wage up locally, that's exciting." The Jefferson County Young Democrats, no longer affiliated with the Alabama Young Democrats as of January, is now a separate, independent county organization, Hilliard said. Leaders of the statewide AYD dispute that claim, saying the local chapter does not exist after its dissolution last month. While advocates would like to see the wage floor immediately jump to $10.10, they understand that businesses need time to adjust budgets and make other changes to accommodate the increase, Hilliard said. They have seen the most opposition not from small businesses but larger companies and lawmakers outside of Birmingham. Ultimately, though, it's about helping the city's residents improve their lives. "This means many people will have more access to health care and more food for their families, and they will be able to afford the basic essentials of life," he said. Several south Alabama lawmakers recently have said they intend to introduce legislation this session regarding minimum wage increases. State Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, aims to boost Mobile County's wage floor to $10.10. State Rep. Darrio Melton, D-Selma, said he plans on pushing forward two proposals to hike the minimum wage, one of which sets it at $10.10 an hour with subsequent cost-of-living wage hikes. The other proposal ties Alabama's minimum wage with the federal level, but includes adjustments for cost-of-living increases. Melton said his proposals would amend the Alabama Constitution, giving voters a chance to weigh in. Last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu visited Birmingham to show that the Obama administration will do whatever it can to support the city's wage increase. "Birmingham is really setting a path," Lu said. "Wherever there is a city or state that wants to take on this fight, we at the Department of Labor and the Obama administration are going to support it." Updated at 11:56 a.m. with comments from Le'Darius Hilliard Adam Voss Mugshot.png Birmingham police Officer Adam Voss (Trussville City Jail) A Birmingham police officer was arrested over the weekend, accused of handcuffing his girlfriend, holding her against her will and throwing her into walls and down the stairs, according to court records. Officer Adam Voss was charged with third-degree domestic violence/assault in Trussville, according to Trussville police Capt. Jeff Bridges. The arrest happened at 2 a.m., at the couple's Trussville home. Voss has since been released from the Trussville City Jail after posting bond. Court records chronicle a history of domestic violence, and a protection from abuse order was issued against the 36-year-old Voss on Monday. According to the protection request, Voss on Saturday, "Slammed my face on the floor, handcuffed me, refused to let me leave my house or call 911, threw me into multiple walls, threw me down the stairs,'' the girlfriend wrote. She said a similar incident also happened New Year's Day. "He punched my face, threw me into the Christmas tree, busted my nose and blackened my eye,'' she wrote in court records show. A judge on Monday granted the temporary restraining order, finding that Voss "represents a credible threat to the safety of (the victim) and the children. The victim has two children under the age of 10. He was ordered to move out of the home. Voss also was ordered to surrender all of his guns to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. A final hearing on the protection from abuse order is set for March 28. Efforts to reach Voss for comment were unsuccessful. Voss is a 12-year veteran of the Birmingham Police Department. He previously worked in the Vice and Narcotics Unit, but was recently reassigned to the city's West Precinct. He is now on administrative leave, which is the department's policy with any criminal arrest. "We're just going to wait until the criminal case continues and is completed and then we'll proceed from there,'' said Lt. Sean Edwards. Just several weeks ago, Birmingham police Officer Demarcus Blanding was arrested after authorities said he fired a shot at his wife's tires while she was standing next to the car during a fight in the front yard. He also is charged with third-degree domestic violence/harassment. "It's very, very unfortunate. It's something we're not excited about because domestic violence is a serious incident,'' Edwards said. "We want everybody to know and understand that nobody is above the law and anytime we have our own have an incident like this, we treat it like we would treat anybody else." "Everybody will have their time in court to share their story. We do know there's always two sides to the story,'' he said. "That type of behavior is one of those things that has to be addressed, and we do our best to hold everyone accountable." Attorneys for 25-year-old Antonio McCary Jones, a Birmingham man charged with killing a fellow drug dealer by shooting him 14 times, last week told a judge that if Jones is found guilty the death penalty should not be an option. Alabama's sentencing scheme in death penalty cases is the same as Florida's, which was ruled unconstitutional last month by the U.S. Supreme Court, Jones' lawyers argued Friday. In both Alabama and Florida, judges are allowed to override jury recommendations for either life without parole or death. "The dilemma we're trying to resolve is do we want 12 people deciding death or life, or one person," Joe Basgier, one of Jones' lawyers, said after the hearing. Basgier and Jones' other attorney, Hube Dodd, are not alone in making the argument. The ink was hardly dry on the U.S. Supreme Court's Jan. 12 ruling in Hurst v. Florida before lawyers around Alabama began filing motions seeking to bar the death penalty for their clients facing capital murder charges because of the similarities between the two states' capital punishment sentencing laws. That has had local district attorneys scrambling to defend Alabama's capital sentencing law and putting circuit judges in the position of having to hold hearings and rule on the issue. Several judges have already denied the motions, at least one has taken it under advisement, and a few are awaiting further guidance. Not the same District attorneys and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange say Alabama's law is not the same as Florida's and has already been declared constitutional. "The U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the Florida death penalty does not affect Alabama's law. The U.S. Supreme Court specifically upheld Alabama's current system as constitutional in the case of Harris v. Alabama in 1995," according to a statement from the Attorney General's Office. "In the Florida case (Hurst), the holding is that a jury must find the aggravating factor in order to make someone eligible for the death penalty. Alabama's system already requires the jury to do just that," according to the Attorney General's statement. "The jury must unanimously find an aggravating factor at either the guilt or sentencing phase--such as when the murder was committed during a robbery, a rape, or a kidnapping." The Attorney General's Office also stated Alabama's death penalty system was challenged last year to the U.S. Supreme Court on the same grounds that Florida's was challenged. The court, however, declined to take that case, or even to hold the case until after it resolved the Florida case, the Attorney General noted. Is the same Defense attorneys argue that that ultimate decision to sentence a defendant to death is made by a judge and not a Jury, just as in Florida. "The jury does make its own sentencing recommendation after a comparable weighing process, but that recommendation 'is not binding upon the court,'" according to Basgier and Dodd's motion. Rarely, if at all, has a judge in Alabama overridden a jury recommendation for death and sentenced a suspect to life without parole. But there are a number of cases in which a judge has overridden a life without parole recommendation and imposed a death sentence. According to several motions filed by defense attorneys around Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling in the Hurst case also overruled two previous cases - Hildwin v. Florida in 1989 and Spaziano v. Florida in 1984. Both those cases had been used by the court in upholding Alabama's death sentencing scheme in 1995, according to the motions. "As a result, the cases that upheld Alabama's death penalty scheme are no longer valid," according to Basgier and Dodd's motion, which mirrors other defense lawyer's "Hurst" motions. The Alabama Attorney General's Office had filed a brief in the Hurst case asking that the U.S. Supreme Court not overrule Spaziano because that case "had provided the legal foundation for Alabama's death penalty scheme," according to Basgier and Dodd's motion. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Stephen Wallace said he would reserve ruling on the issue. Wallace did question during the hearing what happens when a judge may be privy to information a jury did not have when it was considering whether to recommend life without parole or a death sentence. Other cases Among the other capital murder defendants with cases currently pending around Alabama who have filed "Hurst" motions are: - DeMarcus Means, who is charged in last year's shooting death of his girlfriend, Haleigh Green, in Shelby County. A judge has not yet held a hearing on the motion. - Deandra Marquis Lee, who is charged in the 2012 slayings of three people - 9-year-old twins and their caregiver - in Lowndes County. The motion was filed last week. - Stephon Lindsay, who is charged in Etowah County with killing his toddler daughter in 2013 with either a sword or knife. Etowah County Circuit Judge William B. Ogletree on Thursday denied the request to bar the death penalty in his case, which goes to trial Feb. 22. - Jason Paul Hopkins, who along with Dane Leach, is charged in the strangulation death and robbery of a Highland Park man. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tommy Nail denied the motion last week, Hopkins' attorney, Philip Petersen, said. - Stanley Chatman, who is already serving 99 years in prison for a murder and who once served time for manslaughter, is now awaiting trial for capital murder in the 2013 slayings of Jonathan and Jeremi Berry, 17, and the attempted murder of the twins' mother, 31-year-old LaTasha Berry in Wylam. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd has set a hearing for March 3 to consider the Hurst motion. - John Clayton Owens, who is charged in Madison County with the death of his 91-year-old neighbor in August 2011. His trial began Monday with jury selection. Owens had filed a petition to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for a writ of mandamus to direct Madison County Circuit Judge Alison S. Austin to stay his trial until the issue of whether Alabama's capital sentencing scheme is constitutional can be resolved or, in the alternative, stay the penalty phase of his trial until the issue is resolved. The appeals court denied the motion Friday. But that court did not address the constitutionality of Alabama's capital sentencing law in its order. "Owens may raise the issue of the constitutionality of Alabama's capital sentencing scheme on appeal should he be convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death," according to the order. Petersen, who is president of the Greater Birmingham Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association, said one problem with the short (eight-page) Hurst v Florida ruling is that it wasn't very clear. "It was a muddled up opinion not direct on every point and was only helpful to Florida." Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said he doesn't expect any adverse rulings by trial judges on the Hurst motions. He noted Alabama's rules have been reviewed previously and the U.S. Supreme court has had a fairly recent opportunity to do it again. "Honestly, anytime a judge overrides a jury's recommendation (for death penalty over life without parole) the appellate courts are looking for a reason to overturn it," Falls said. But Falls wasn't surprised his office is faced with responding to a flood of Hurst motions. Lawyers have to file the motions for their clients so they could benefit if sometime in the future an appeals court does find an issue with Alabama's capital murder sentencing structure. Christopher Brooks Among the first motions seeking to use Hurst on behalf of an Alabama client was that of Christopher Brooks, who was executed by lethal injection on Jan. 21. Brooks' attorneys in the days prior to the execution had argued to the Alabama Supreme Court that his execution should be stayed because Florida's sentencing scheme is the same as Alabama's. The Alabama Supreme Court rejected that appeal and Brooks' lawyers quickly took the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which also declined to stop the execution. However, three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices had reservations about Alabama's death sentencing law in the denial of Brooks' stay. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, with whom Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed, noted that the court in Hurst v. Florida had overruled the two cases that underpinned Alabama's law. But procedural obstacles would have prevented the court from granting the stay of Brooks' execution, she wrote. Justice Stephen Breyer, however, stated that the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that Alabama's sentencing scheme is much like and based on the one used in Florida that has been declared unconstitutional. "The unfairness inherent in treating this case differently from others which used similarly unconstitutional procedures only underscores the need to reconsider the validity of capital punishment under the Eighth Amendment," Breyer wrote in the Brooks' opinion. Both Sotomayor and Breyer in a dissenting opinion in an Alabama override appeal, said it is time for another review of Alabama's law. Alabama was one of three states allowing judicial override but it was the only one since 1999 where judges had used it to override a life without parole jury recommendation in favor of death. "Eighteen years have passed since we last considered Alabama's capital sentencing scheme, and much has changed since then. Today, Alabama stands alone: No other State condemns prisoners to death despite the considered judgment rendered by a cross-section of its citizens that the defendant ought to live," Sotomayor wrote in that dissenting opinion. Updated at 10:35 a.m. with additional information on Sotomayor and Breyer's views on Alabama's law Magic City Sounds WBHM 90.3 debuted a new program today about the sounds and voices of the Magic City (Photo courtesy of WBHM). Public Radio WBHM 90.3 FM launched Magic City Sounds today, a new program that will reflect Birmingham through voices and sounds. The program will air on the station in segments in the form of personal reflections and fragments of daily life in the city. The program's goal is to "create a living audio archive of Alabama," the radio station said in a press release today. "This project is very exciting because I believe everyone has a unique story, and sharing those stories allows us to build connections and learn about more about our neighbors," said WBHM Assistant Producer Amy Sedlis in the release. "Magic City Sounds allows us the opportunity to share real voices from real people right here in North Central Alabama." "I can't think of another project so focused on what the city sounds like," said Michael Krall, WBHM's Program Director. Public Radio WBHM is the listener-supported service of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The station's programming can be heard in North Central Alabama on WSGN 91.5 FM, a station supported by Gadsden State Community College, and found online here. WBHM invites the community to get involved with Magic City Sounds by recording a story or particular sound and submitting it at MagicCitySounds.org. Birmingham was ranked number four on Lonely Planet magazine's list of places to visit in the United States in 2016. The list ponders whether the Magic City is "the coolest city in the South" after seeing "a surge of pubs and breweries and good eats" in Avondale. "Night owls take note: your options include a friendly, 24-hour bar packed with comic book art and Star Wars memorabilia (if you dress as Han Solo, do you take the first shot?), and beers in a backyard junkyard. The Civil Rights District is the place to go for history buffs, notably the Civil Rights Institute, the 16th St. Baptist Church and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame." The magazine gave some love to The City of Brotherly Love on Tuesday, ranking Philadelphia the No. 1 "Philly's on a roll right now," the travel guide company said in a statement. "The city is experiencing a transformation to its urban core, yet retaining its deep American history and uniquely gritty flavor. The company noted that Philadelphia hosted Pope Francis in September and will welcome the Democratic National Convention this summer. In November, it was named the country's first World Heritage City. "We always love to see Philadelphia get the recognition it deserves," said Meryl Levitz, president and chief executive of Visit Philadelphia, the main tourism marketing agency. She said the city may seem like an overnight sensation, but it's the result of years of work and collaboration. And it's not just about the Liberty Bell and cheesesteaks. Although Philadelphia's rich colonial history remains a draw, the city also nurtures a vibrant restaurant scene featuring hundreds of BYOBs, celebrity chefs and even a vegan fine-dining restaurant that was nominated for a James Beard award. Its arts scene includes the funky Isaiah Zagar mosaics around South Street and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps in "Rocky." Last year, the New York City borough of Queens got an outsize dose of publicity when Lonely Planet picked it as the No. 1 U.S. destination for 2015 -- a somewhat surprising choice given that Queens' sister borough Brooklyn tends to get the lion's share of attention from hipsters and tourists alike. Lonely Planet said it picks the "top 10 most exciting, intriguing and up-and-coming" destinations for the list, and called Philadelphia "a national treasure." Rounding out its top 10 list for 2016: Natchez, Mississippi; Yellowstone National Park; Alaska; Somerville, Massachusetts; Northwest Arkansas; San Antonio; Southern New Mexico; and Milwaukee. Two years ago, a 3-year-old Birmingham boy accidentally shot himself after finding a gun in the couch. Six months ago, a 2-year-old Hoover boy found a semi-automatic handgun and pulled the trigger, killing his 31-year-old father while they were taking a nap. And on Saturday, a 3-year-old Irondale boy picked up a handgun from a nightstand, shooting and killing his 9-year-old sister. Saturday's death of Kimi Reylander is the latest in a in a string of unintentional child shootings nationwide in recent years. At least a handful have happened in Alabama, where - unlike the majority of states - no "child access prevention" law exists that could impose penalties on who negligently leave guns in the presence of children. As authorities continue to investigate Kimi's death and her family prepares to bury her in Trussville on Wednesday, the questions are many: How can a child so young pull a trigger? Can the gun owner be charged? Should the gun owner be charged? "This is about as tragic as it gets,'' said UAB psychologist Josh Klapow. "It definitely doesn't sound intentional, they will forever be haunted by the outcome." Kimberly was accidentally shot Saturday afternoon inside the Monroe Drive home by her 3-year-old brother, Irondale police say. The girl suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was transported by medical helicopter to Children's of Alabama where she later died. Irondale Police Chief Ken Atkinson said on Saturday that the shooting is believed to be a tragic accident, but it remained under investigation. Police received a 911 call reporting the shooting at around 2:10 p.m. Monroe Drive was closed for at least two hours while police investigated. Atkinson said someone left a pistol on a bedroom nightstand not knowing the grandchildren were coming over that day. While the children were playing in the room, the 3-year-old picked up the weapon and shot his sister. Kimberly, known to most as "Kimi," and her brother lived nearby with their mother. She was a third-grader at Irondale Community School, where grief counselors were on hand Monday for students and staff. "Kimi was a good friend to her classmates and was deeply loved,'' said Principal Charles Yeager. "She will always hold a special place in our hearts." Also Monday, the family announced that visitation for Kimi will be held Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ridout's Funeral Home in Trussville. The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, also at Ridouts in Trussville. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with the unexpected funeral expenses. In early January, a 2-year-old Florida boy found a small caliber gun in a truck parked outside a home near St. Cloud when it went off and hit him in the face, critically wounding him. Several weeks later, police in Flint, Mich. say a 3-year-old boy found a 9mm pistol and accidentally shot himself in the head. He was pronounced dead at the home. Flint police Chief James Tolbert said four adults and three children were at the home, which belonged to the child's great-grandparents, of the time of the incident. The adults included the child's mother, the two homeowners and a relative, Tolbert said. In December 2014, 29-year-old Veronica Rutledge was shot in the head and died instantly after her 2-year-old son reached into her purse while in a shopping cart and got hold of a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun during a shopping trip in Idaho. Then, in February 2015, a 3-year-old New Mexico boy found a handgun in his mother's purse and fired just one shot that wounded both of his parents at an Albuquerque motel. The toddler apparently reached for an iPod but found the loaded weapon. The bullet first struck his father in the buttock and then hit the right shoulder of his mother, who was eight months pregnant. Later in 2015, in August, a southwest Georgia woman was critically wounded after being shot in the head by her 4-year-old son. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that shooting happened as the woman and her son were sitting in a car parked in front of their home near Douglas. Investigators said the boy found the gun, picked it up and pulled the trigger. Later that same week, Divine Vaniah Chambliss was killed in a Hoover apartment where he had been watching his son while the boy's mother was at work. Chambliss' parents said they prayed their grandson won't remember what happened, but said at the time he already knew something was amiss. "I hurt my Dad,'' the boy told his mother. The family at the time said they didn't understand how such a young child could fire the weapon, but gun experts say it is easier than you think. "It's not difficult at all for those little fingers to get into a trigger and when it's pulled, it does what it is intended to do,'' said Jefferson County sheriff's Deputy Chief Danny Hallmark. Revolvers and semiautomatic firearms have different trigger pulls, which also varies from model to model. Semiautomatic guns tend to have lighter, quicker trigger pulls and revolvers will have a longer harder trigger pull, Hallmark said. Kimi was killed with a Kel Tec .9mm, which authorities say is a small handgun with a slim group that wouldn't be difficult for a child to handle. Hallmark said they've done studies at the Jefferson County academy using children and dummy guns. Revolvers, he said, are top heavy so when children pick them up, the weapon usually flips over. "It turns upside down, they put both their thumbs in the trigger, and then it's pointing straight at them,'' he said. Education, and taking the mystery out of guns for children go a long way, Hallmark said. A father, grandfather and the owner of many guns, Hallmark said he keeps his service weapon in a lockbox on his nightstand, a box that can only be accessed with his or his wife's fingerprints. "If you're going to have a gun for home protection, you have to have it accessible and loaded, so this is the best way to go,'' he said. "They can be expensive, but the life of a child is something you can't put a price tag on." "Children are curious,'' he said. "They see something like that and they don't have a clue what it's capable of doing. Take the mystery out of that handgun. If they're old enough, let them fire it into a watermelon or cantaloupe and see the damage it can do. It's pretty dramatic, and I promise it makes an impression." CHILD ACCESS PREVENTION Twenty seven states and the District of Columbia have child access prevention laws that impose criminal liability on adults who give children unsupervised access to firearms. Alabama is not among those states. "I am not aware of any laws in Alabama governing storage of firearms but there could be criminal negligence,'' said David Hyche, ATF's assistant special agent in charge in Alabama. According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, those laws range in variety: the strongest laws impose criminal liability when a minor gains access to a negligently stored firearm. The weakest prohibit someone from directly providing a firearm to a minor. There are no child access prevention laws at the federal level. According to the center, about one in three handguns is kept loaded and unlocked and most children know where their parents keep their guns. A 2006 study found 73 percent of children under age 10 living in homes with guns reported knowing the location of their parents' firearms, and 36 percent admitted they had handled the weapons; 39 percent of parents who reported that their children did not know the storage location of household guns and 22 percent of parents who reported that their children had never handled a household gun were contradicted by their children's reports. PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT Klapow said one of the most concerning aspects of these shootings is the impact on the young boy who accidentally killed his sister in Irondale, and all children who pull a trigger that results in injury or death. "He most likely does not understand the ramifications of his actions,'' Klapow said. "I'm concerned however about what he witnessed and the degree to which the scene was graphic, as that can be a graphic memory that may come up over time over the course of his life. It is possible that his natural psychological defenses will burry this for quite some time." "The parents need mental health intervention now,'' he said. "They need to be educated on how to adapt to this new reality, how to talk to their son over time and how to be ready for problems that may arise as he grows up.'' Todd May NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Todd May briefs reporters on the White House 2017 budget proposal for NASA. (Lee Roop/lroop@al.com) President Obama's 2017 NASA budget proposal - the last he will offer as president - would cut $800 million from this year's spending on the new deep space rocket being developed in Alabama. It's an "eyebrow-raising decrease," one national space blogger said Tuesday. It's also a decrease likely to be dead on arrival in the Republican Congress, where support for the new rocket is strong. The Republican chairman of the House NASA budget authorization committee was blunt in his first reaction Tuesday afternoon. "This administration cannot continue to tout plans to send astronauts to Mars while strangling the programs that will take us there," Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas said in a press release. The president proposed spending $19 billion on NASA. Of that, $1.2 billion would go to the rocket called the Space Launch System being developed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Elsewhere, the president's budget reflects his continued concern about climate change. Spending on Earth Science would top $2 billion for the first time in 2017 if the budget proposal stands. Click here for a full look at the budget plan. At Marshall Tuesday, new center Director Todd May said the budget's $19 billion top line is "a tremendous signal of national support for NASA." May also reflected the general attitude in Washington and inside the space agency that the president's request marks the beginning of the budget process, not the bottom line. "We've got plans laid out for the rest of this year, and we're moving out," May said. "We'll just see where it ends up." May said that the push and pull between Obama and Congress over NASA has played out for four years in a row. "We've been able to hold our critical path now for over four years, and we don't expect (next year) to look much different," May said. "I think the team's so excited about what they're doing, they're really not paying attention," May said. "Which is what I need them to do right now - not worry about those kinds of things. They just need to execute on their mission." May said Huntsville will see "major pieces of the rocket showing up here" in 2016 for testing. NASA plans to launch SLS for the first time in 2018 without a crew. A crewed launch could come as early as 2021 or as late as 2023 depending on how the budget plays out. The president's proposal allocates $206 million for space operations at Marshall, where payload specialists manage science experiments on the International Space Station around the clock. It also includes money for a second new administration building. The new building will replace a building dating to the 1960s with a new structure cheaper to heat, cool and light. Police in Austin, Texas shot and killed a naked 18-year-old who allegedly charged at an officer during a disturbance call Monday, but they have not yet said if the teen carried a weapon at the time of the shooting. Three sources have told the American-Statesman, however, that the teen was not armed when he was killed. Police on Monday had said it was "too early" to say if the young man was armed. The shooting occurred around 10:30 a.m. Monday when police responded to a call of a man running around a small neighborhood and acting erratically. When they arrived, they found the young man naked in the street. Part of the altercation was caught on dashboard camera, police told the paper, but the shooting itself occurred off-camera. Audio reportedly captured the sound of the officer repeatedly demanding the suspect to stop as he charged the officer. Both the suspect and the officer who shot him are black, the newspaper reports. Neither man has been identified by officials. A Lauderdale County sheriff's deputy shot in the line of duty last week was released from the hospital Tuesday morning. Some of Deputy Randall McCrary's colleagues were on hand to escort him out of Huntsville Hospital, where he was flown for treatment following the Feb. 3 shooting. McCrary and other deputies went to the Florence home of 35-year-old Timothy Vincent Murphy the night of the shooting to serve commitment papers on Murphy. Though the exact circumstances of the shooting are still under investigation by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Florence Police, at some point during their arrival Murphy reportedly pulled out a gun and shot McCrary in the chest. McCrary was able to return fire, striking Murphy. The suspect was also hospitalized, but his condition has not been made public. McCrary told AL.com news partner WHNT News 19 Tuesday morning that he's ready to be back at work. He credited God with his swift recovery. He also thanked Florence police officers for their care of him at the scene. Some of McCrary's colleagues from across north Alabama, upon learning he'd been released from the hospital, sent well-wishes to him via social media. Several of our Colbert County Sheriff's Office employees and other Colbert County Courthouse employees want to send GET... Posted by Colbert Co Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Court records show that Murphy had arrests in 2008 for possession of child pornography and arson. Ultimately, he was not prosecuted in either case. In the pornography case, Murphy was indicted on 46 counts of possessing obscene material involving a person under 17, the court documents show. The charges against him were dropped the following year, however, after forensic analysis of the computer in his possession found that the machine was inoperable. Details of the arson case that was dismissed were not immediately available. The only crimes Murphy has been convicted of in Alabama were traffic violations, the records show. Unlike the crowded Republican field, Democrats now have two choices when it comes to their party's presidential nomination: Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And while Alabama remains a solidly Republican state, both candidates have a strong set of backers. The financial information below comes from the FEC and includes donations from prominent Alabamians, including elected officials or government employees. Note: The list below does not include all donors or, in the case of multiple small donations, a total money amount. It does contain representative information on who from Alabama is donating to each candidate. You can see the complete FEC donations lists here. We've also used pledged delegates for candidates to compile a list of who is supporting which candidate. Team Hillary Clinton Clinton has received $334,351 from Alabamians, the second highest amount behind only Republican Ben Carson. Donations Mark Kennedy, former Alabama Supreme Court Judge - $2,700 Joe Ritch, Huntsville attorney, chairman of the board of TVA - $2,700 Joe Reed, Alabama Democratic Party - $1,500 Constance Hill - CEO Girls Inc. of Central Alabama - $1,500 Rep. Louise Alexander, Alabama House member - $1,000 Daniel Robinson - Executive Director Alabama USDA Farm Service Agency - $1,000 Jeffrey Bayer, president Bayer Properties , of Mountain Brook - $1,000 Retired Huntsville Circuit Judge Laura Hamilton of Huntsville - $500 plus Poarch Band of Creek Indians - $500 Judge Richard Meadows of Montgomery - $200 Delegates and committee Clinton has a large campaign committee that includes a number of the state's most prominent Democrats. Many of those on the campaign committee are also pledged to Clinton as delegates. Her campaign committee includes: U.S. Rep Terri Swell ( State Sen. Linda Coleman State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures State Sen. Priscila Dunn House Democratic Caucus Chair Darrio Melton Birmingham Mayor William Bell Former Alabama Gov. Jim Folsom Former First Lady Marsha Folsom Former Congressman Earl Hilliard Her delegates and committee members include: State Rep. James Buskey State Sen. Quinton Ross Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford Former State Sen. Roger Bedford Former Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Smoot Team Bernie Sanders Sanders, the Independent Senator from Vermont, has received $53,485 from Alabamians. His campaign has capitalized on small donors and a look at his contributors includes professors from universities across Alabama, including Samford University, Auburn University, UAB, University of Alabama and UAH. Donations include: Brittany Howard of Athens, member of Alabama Shakes - $450 Martin O'Malley Though now out of the race, O'Malley received $2,820 from Alabamians in 2015, the vast majority of it from a former Alabama gubernatorial candidate. Donations Retired doctor, former U.S. Congressman and former gubernatorial candidate Parker Griffith of Huntsville - $2,700. Griffith also is a delegate for O'Malley. Delegates State Rep. Craig Ford Alabama's largest home, which had reportedly sold at auction last fall for $4 million, is back on the market for $9.9 million. The 55,000 square foot estate at 7 Montagel Way in Shelby County was sold at auction in Nov. 2015 for $4 million - well below the Shelby County property tax assessment of $12.1 million. Pam Ausley, the realtor who has managed the listing of the property, told AL.com Tuesday that that November auction sale never closed, and the house is back on the market for $9.9 million. The house in Shoal Creek star 16 full bathrooms, 12 fireplaces, nine garage doors with room for 12 cars, and a 25-seat theatre. The estate's owner Larry House, founder and former CEO of MedPartners, was still building his palace when a $7 billion buyout of MedPartners by Nashville-based competitor PhyCor Inc. collapsed in 1997. The fallout caused House to lose $39 million on paper in January 1998 when MedPartners stock plunged 45 percent in one day. House was later terminated and has been trying to sell the Versailles-style palace off and on for at least 12 years, according to previous AL.com reports. The House estate had an assessed value of $10 million in 2003, according to Shelby County property tax records. It's now valued at $12.1 million. House's estate previously went up for auction in 2003 and didn't sell. The estate went under the control of a bank the next year until House resumed control in 2006, according to property records. AL.com reporter Erin Edgemon contributed to this report. Ben Carson in Mobile, Ala. Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson addresses hundreds of people at a free rally at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. (Brian Kelly/bkelly@al.com) You would be hard pressed to find a more different pair than Dr. Ben Carson and former Secretary of Hillary Clinton. Carson, a Republican, is a soft-spoken conservative Christian who is making his first run for political office. Clinton, former U.S. First Lady and Senator from New York, is a Democrat and a seasoned political veteran. As different as the two are, they have something in common: Carson and Clinton - in that order - are the candidates who have received the most donations from Alabamians in the 2015-2016 election cycle. According to the Federal Election Commission, Alabamians have given $1.6 million to Republican presidential candidates and $392,307 to Democratic presidential candidates in the 2016 election cycle. The top money getter is Republican Dr. Ben Carson, who received $496,712 in 2015, the most recent data available. He is followed by Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has received $334,351 from Alabamians. Other Alabama donation totals include: Ted Cruz (R)- $314,372 Marco Rubio (R)- $293,814 Jeb Bush (R)- $262,854 Mike Huckabee (R)- $73,526 Scott Walker (R)- $54,681 Bernie Sanders (D) - $53,485 Rand Paul (R)- $45,116 John Kasich (R)- $26,891 Carly Fiorina (R)- $26,805 Donald Trump (R)- $22,789 Rick Santorum (R)- $7,206 Martin O'Malley (D) - $2,820 Not all of those candidates are still in the race. Huckabee, Walker, Paul, Santorum and O'Malley have dropped out of the race for the presidential nomination. Trump, the billionaire Republican front runner, is self-funding most of his campaign. Nationwide, the top money getters are Clinton ($112 million); Sanders ($74.3 million); Carson ($54 million); and Cruz ($47 million). Republican front runner Trump, a billionaire who is largely self-funding his campaign, has received $19.3 million through contributions. gov robert bentley horizontal by phillip rawls.JPG Gov. Robert Bentley will make an announcement tomorrow about changes to Medicaid payments which are intended to control the costs of the program. (AP Photo/Phillip Rawls) Gov. Robert Bentley will make an announcement tomorrow about a transformation of the Medicaid payment system that is expected to control the costs of the program. Federal and state sources would not release any details about the announcement, except that it relates to regional care organizations. For more than a year and a half, officials from the Alabama Medicaid Agency have been negotiating with federal officials about the transition to regional care organizations. Federal authorities must approve the state's plan before officials change the Medicaid system. The transition to regional care organizations is supposed to happen in the fall of this year. Instead of paying for every doctor's visit and procedure, the new system will provide a set fee for each patient, which encourages less use of costly healthcare. Although the transition to Regional Care Organizations is expected to save money in the long run, the costs of transitioning to the new system could be substantial. Acting Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar requested a budget increase of $157 million during January hearings. The federal government provides about 70 percent of the funding for Medicaid, but the program still consumes more dollars from the General Fund budget than any other agency. According to a press release, the governor will celebrate an "important milestone" in the effort to reform Medicaid. Cecilia Laurent Cecilia Laurent is seen in her home Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 in Laval, Quebec. Laurent, who celebrated her 120th birthday Sunday, is thought to be the oldest person alive. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) (Paul Chiasson) Last summer, Guinness World Records honored Susannah Mushatt Jones as the world's oldest living person. The Alabama native who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., has since turned 116. But recent reports claim that a Haitian woman living in Quebec just celebrated her 120th birthday. Cicilia Laurent relocated from Haiti in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake hit the country. The Toronto Star reported that her birthday wish was to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Will he come see me?" she asked. "I would be so happy. Before I die I would be so happy to meet him. I'm waiting and you can let me know if it's going to happen." This month, Laurent's family and Montreal's Haitian consulate told several news outlets that Guinness World Records was looking into the claim. But a Guinness spokesperson said the organization is not investigating the claim that Laurent was born in 1896. Her family has not provided confirmation of her age, and evidence appears slim, according to CTV News. It appears the title remains with the extraordinary Miss Susie, one of just two people alive today who were born in the 1800s. Jones was born July 6, 1899 in rural Lowndes County, Alabama. Her grandparents were slaves and her parents were sharecroppers. She has led a remarkable life and taught many others the value of dedication and loyalty. Part of her longevity is attributed to genetics, but she also says sleep is vital, and she never partied, smoke or drank. The oldest person ever to have lived is also female, Jeanne Calment (France) who lived to 122 years and 164 days, according to Guinness. Gun Shops in Mobile, Ala. Garrett Denmark of Mobile, Ala., shops for handguns at Quint's Sporting Goods in Saraland, Ala., on Wednesday Jan. 6, 2016. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com) Lawmakers in four states are considering measures that would require gun owners to maintain liability insurance or face a fine of up to $10,000. Current gun liability insurance efforts are underway in Hawaii, New Hampshire, New York and Los Angeles. The measures are similar to one introduced last year in Congress by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY. Maloney's bill, the Firearm Risk Protection Act, would require proof of liability insurance before someone is allowed to purchase a gun. Failure to have the insurance could result in the fine. "We require insurance to own a car, but no such requirement exists for guns," Maloney said at the time of the bill's introduction. "The results are clear: car fatalities have declined by 25 percent in the last decade, but gun fatalities continue to rise." The proposal in Hawaii follows along those lines. Gun owners would be required to have insurance for their firearms and renew their registration every five years, under the bill introduced last week by Democratic State Sen. Josh Green. Hawaii currently requires guns to be registered, but that documentation is only required once. If passed, Hawaii would become the first state in the nation to enact such a requirement. In New Hampshire, Rep. Katherine Rogers, D-Merrimack, introduced a bill that would require the seller, purchaser and owner of a gun to be covered by a liability firearm policy. As in Hawaii, the proposed fine associated with no having the insurance is $10,000. "We prohibit alcohol at certain events, we prohibit smoking at certain events, why shouldn't we therefore prohibit armed weapons at certain events?" Rogers told the Concord Monitor. "It's time to have the discussion. New York's legislation would require a $250,000 in liability insurance for gun owners. In Los Angeles County, officials are looking at the possibility of stricter gun control regulations, including an insurance requirement and potential local tax on guns. The proceeds from the insurance would go to offset costs associated with victims or public agencies impacted by gun violence. IMG_2141.JPG Gov. Robert Bentley on Tuesday announcing that the federal government has granted a waiver to allow the state to test a new way to deliver and pay for healthcare through Medicaid in Alabama Alabama has received permission from the federal government to test drive a different plan to provide health care through Medicaid to the one million mostly poor Alabamians who depend on it. Gov. Robert Bentley announced today that the state has received a waiver from the feds that will allow Alabama to deliver Medicaid services differently. The waiver will allow the state to transition from a fee-for-service model to one closer to managed care through entities called regional care organizations or RCOs. RCOs are locally-led managed care systems that will ultimately provide healthcare services to most Medicaid enrollees at an established cost under the supervision and approval of the Alabama Medicaid Agency. Under the new structure, Alabama's Medicaid system will enter into contracts with RCOs to provide certain covered services for Medicaid patients at an established cost. Those patients mostly include children, pregnant women and nursing home residents. Along with the federal okay to move to a managed care system, Uncle Sam will provide $328 million in the first three years of the waiver to pick up the cost for the transitioning to the RCOs. Federal officials also agreed that the state over five years could qualify for up to an additional $420 million in federal dollars that could supplement payments to RCOs. It would go to support work by hospitals, doctors or other providers to further improve health-care access and outcomes for Alabamians. That's a total of almost $750 million that could help pay for the move to the new Medicaid delivery system. The state had sought $1 billion to pay for the transition. The RCO model came from the work of the Alabama Medicaid Advisory Commission which Bentley established in 2012 to evaluate the Medicaid system. The work of the commission lead to the idea of the RCOs and legislation to establish them passed the Legislature in 2013. The task since then has been to seek federal approval and dollars to pay for implementation of the change. The federal government provides over two-thirds of the funding for Medicaid in the state. Bentley and other state officials stressed that the additional dollars can be used only to implement the new system. The money cannot be used to pay for the cost of current services, which need an additional $157 million this year just to keep Medicaid adequately funded in the budget year that starts Oct. 1. State Medicaid officials stressed that the "adequate" funding of Medicaid will be a critical part of the state's effort to keep federal support for the new delivery system and the federal dollars coming to implement the new system. Bentley has recommended that the Legislature dip into the state's education budget to take the money necessary to adequately fund the state's General Fund Budget, which funds Medicaid. That move is opposed by public schools and colleges and some lawmakers. Senate leader Del Marsh said during today's press conference that the General fund should not be balanced on the back of education, even though last year Marsh supported moving education dollars to do just that. Asked where the necessary money would come to pay to keep Medicaid adequately funded if not from education dollars, Marsh said that the budget process would have to move forward before knowing that. Bentley was clearly pleased to announce that the waiver he and his administration has been seeking had finally been approved. But the governor said that the year-in, year-out problems of adequately funding health care for one-fourth of the state's citizens have not been solved. He pointed out that since 2006 Medicaid costs to the General Fund have increased 59 percent, a rate he called likely unsustainable. The hope is that a new delivery system will lead to not just better health care for Alabamians but a far better way to control costs over the long haul. Bentley warned that Tuesday's announcement of a new way to deliver and pay for health care is not the end of the battle to get Medicaid costs under control. "I think this system will work," said Bentley. "We have worked hard to institute that. It's taken a tremendous amount of work. We're not there yet but we're making good progress." Alabama - long a minor player in the presidential primary game - is poised to have a bigger role in the 2016 race for the White House. Alabama will join with 14 other states for a March 1 Super Tuesday primary that could go a long way towards determining who will win the Republican and Democratic presidential nominations. And with a close race among Republicans, there will be more attention than ever to the Super Tuesday windfall, especially in Southern states taking part in the so-called SEC primary. The increased importance of Alabama means candidates will likely be stopping by the state in coming weeks. It also means you will probably see more high-profile endorsements from other elected officials and more efforts to drum up donations in the Heart of Dixie. Dollars and delegates There are two main ways to show support for candidates: Dollars and delegates. Neither is exact when it comes to reporting support. Campaign contributions are not always transparent and those wanting to keep their financial support quieter often donate to PACs and parties instead of an individual candidate's campaign committee. Also, a donation doesn't necessarily indicate a vote, as you can see from donors who give money to several different candidates. However, some people - including high profile entertainers and business leaders - do donate directly to an individual candidate, giving an indication of who they are supporting. Other people - especially elected officials - either serve as delegates or state campaign committee members for individual candidates. Delegates are often party activists, local political leaders or vocal supporters for a given candidate. In turn, those delegates help drum up support for their chosen candidate in the primary. Some people are all in for a particular candidate, donating money and serving as delegates or committee members. Alabama's financial support According to the Federal Election Commission, Alabamians gave $2 million to presidential candidates in 2015 - $1.6 million to Republicans and $392,307 to Democrats. Ben Carson and Hillary Clinton have received the most donations, with Carson getting $496,712 from Alabamians and Clinton receiving $334,351. Alabama's support for Carson is substantial. The state is 12th on the list of financial supporters for the retired neurosurgeon, behind much larger places such as Texas and California. Here's who people are supporting NOTE: The financial information below comes from the FEC and includes donations from prominent Alabamians, including elected officials or government employees. The list below does not include all donors or, in the case of multiple small donations, a total money amount. It does contain representative information on who from Alabama is donating to each candidate. You can see the complete FEC donations lists here. We've also used pledged delegates for candidates to compile a list of who is supporting Team Ben Carson Donors Richard "Rick" Burgess of Rick and Bubba Show - $2,500 Lisa Ann Muir-Taylor of Birmingham, founder of Nations Outfitters - $2,000 State Sen. Dick Brewbaker of Montgomery - $1,000 Jay Barker, of Mountain Brook, sports radio host, former University of Alabama quarterback - $500 Sara Evans Barker - recording artist, of Mountain Brook - $500 Delegates Elbert Peters, Alabama Republican Steering Committee Team Ted Cruz Alabamians have donated $314,372 to the Texas Senator. His donor list includes a large number of military personnel, contractors and even State Troopers. His Alabama donor list also has another unique feature: two on his donor list their employers as "God." Donors Jerry Ogles of Enterprise, Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide Presiding bishop - $385 Delegates and committee Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker U.S. Rep. Chad Mathis, former candidate for U.S. House District 6 Stephanie Bell, member Alabama Board of Education Alabama Rep. Rich Wingo Cruz has an Alabama committee which includes: Beck Gerritson, president of Wetumpka Tea Party and candidate for U.S. House Ann Eubank, State Co-Chair of the Rainy Day Patriots Tea Party Team Donald Trump Trump, the billionaire developer turned politician, is mostly self-funding his campaign. He has received $22,789 from a diverse group of Alabamians that includes everything from roofers to small business owners. Delegates Stacy Lee George, former Morgan County Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Jim Carns State Rep. Ed Henry Shaun McCutcheon Former State Rep. Perry O. Hooper Jr. Rep. Barry Moore Municipal Judge Chess Bedsole Alva Lambert, Director of State Health Planning and Development Agency Team Marco Rubio Alabamians have donated $293,814 to the Florida Senator's presidential campaign. Donors include: Victor Biebighauser, president South University in Montgomery - $2,700 Robert B. Geddie Jr., of Montgomery - Fine and Geddie Lobbyists - $2,700 Rep. Will Ainsworth of Guntersville - $2,700 Poarch Band of Creek Indians - $2,700 Richard Brooks, of Birmingham, CEO of Express Oil Change - $2,700 Robert Cobb, owner of Cobb Theaters in Birmingham - $1,000 Clayton Ryan of Birmingham - UA and UAB VP for Governmental Affairs - $1,000 Troy King, former Alabama AG, attorney- $1,000 Raymond Harbert Sr., CEO Harbert Corp. Birmingham -$1,000 Sheriff Todd Entrekin of Etowah County - $500 Judge Liles Burke Union Grove, Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals - $500 Delegates and committee State Sen. Clay Scofield Former Alabama GOP Chairman Bill Armistead State Sen. Slade Blackwell State Sen. Greg Albritton Rep. Mack Butler Rep. Jack Williams Guntersville Mayor Leigh Dollar Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack of Baldwin County State Sen. Greg Reed State Sen. Cam Ward Supreme Court Justice Mike Bolin Former Secretary of State Jim Bennett Rep. Paul DeMarco State Rep. Danny Garrett Team Jeb Bush Bush has seen large contributions from the business sector, with Alabama chipping in $262,854 to the former Florida governor's reelection campaign. Former Gov. Bob Riley - -$2,700 Grayson Hall Jr. Birmingham CEO of Regions - $2,700 Jay Grinney of Birmingham, President/CEO of HealthSouth - $2,700 Dorothy Davidson of Huntsville, CEO of Davidson Technologies Inc - $2,700 John Johns of Birmingham Chairman and CEO of Protective Life Corp. - $2,700 Angus Cooper II of Mobile Chairman of CEO of Cooper/T Smith Corp. $2,700 James Wilson III of Montgomery, CEO of Jim Wilson and Associates - $2,700 James Hill of Vestavia, CEO Vulcan Materials Company - $2,700 Miller Gorrie of Birmingham of CEO Brasfield and Gorrie - $2,700 M. William Goodwyn Jr. Vice Chairman, Executive VP Coca Cola Bottling Company United Inc. of Mountain Brook - $2,700 Troy Haas Birmingham, President Brownell Travel - $1,000 James McFarland of Tuscaloosa VP of Judson College - $1,000 J. David Stewart III of Mountain Brook, lobbyist with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings -$500 Delegates and committee U.S. Rep State School Board member Mary Scott Hunter State Sen. Jabo Waggoner Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey State Sen. Steve Livingston State Sen. Gerald Dial State Sen Jimmy Holley Team Mike Huckabee Although not in the race any longer Huckabee has always enjoyed considerable support in Alabama. Alabamians donated $73,526 to his not defunct reelection campaign. Benjamin Russell, chairman of Russell Lands Alexander City - $500 Leon Archer, Probate Judge in Tallapoosa County - $500 Doug Murphree Mayor of Sylacauga - $250 Team John Kasich Kasich scored a high profile endorsement last summer when Gov. Robert Bentley threw his support behind the Ohio governor. Kasich has raised $26,891 in Alabama. Delegates Former U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus Rebekah Mason, Gov. Bentley senior advisor Wesley Helton, deputy director of Legislative Affairs for governor's office Jennifer Ardis, communications director for governor's office Jake Jacobs, public affairs specialist governor's office Updated: Feb. 9 at 9:13 a.m. to correct name of Clayton Ryan and to remove Judge John Amari from the list of delegates for Marco Rubio. The delegate is Judge Amari's son. About 75 supporters of Hillary Clinton helped christen her presidential campaign's Birmingham office on Saturday, where volunteers helped man phones encouraging Alabamians to vote for her in the March 1 Democratic primary. Huntsville resident and Clinton "super volunteer" Joshua Collett made the roughly two-hour drive to be at the campaign office opening at 2013 1st Ave. North. He said he had been following Clinton's career "ever since she got out of law school," and cited her pledge to fight income inequality and support for gay and civil rights for why he intends to vote for the former secretary of state. "She, in my opinion, has the knowledge, the experience to further support President Obama and his legacy," said Collett, who donated the maximum $2,700 to Clinton's campaign. With the next president likely to appoint about four new U.S. Supreme Court justices, Collett said Clinton has his vote because she is pro-choice and was against the Supreme Court decision that gave rise to super PACs, which can spend unlimited amounts of money on their preferred candidates and are not required to disclose their donors. "What is at stake is Roe v. Wade, Citizens United," he said. Randall Woodfin, an Alabama state organizer for the Clinton campaign, said more than 20 of the 60 members of Clinton's Alabama leadership team were on hand for the office opening, including Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, and Alabama State Rep. Merika Coleman, who said she was "excited about Hillary's candidacy." "She shares the values that I value," Coleman said, referring to economic development, job creation, health care and pay equity - an issue she said she experienced first-hand as the director of economic development for the city of Bessemer, saying her male counterparts were paid more. "Who better [for president] than a former first lady, a former secretary of state, a former senator from New York?" Coleman said Clinton also earned her support for criticizing the state's closure of driver's licenses offices in the state, which opponents said disproportionately African Americans, the poor and the elderly. The offices are the main locations to acquire voter ID, which are necessary to cast ballots in Alabama. Clinton was in Hoover late last month and mentioned the issue in her speech to the Alabama Democratic Conference. "Hillary was the first presidential candidate saying she would fight to right this wrong," Coleman said, adding that she believed Clinton would also work to undo the state's voter ID law. "In Alabama, unfortunately we are the home of the court case Shelby v. Holder," she said. Shelby County filed the successful lawsuit in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, meaning several states, including Alabama, no longer required preclearance from the federal government before changing voting laws. The decision helped spawn the voter ID law. Minimum wage rally Sept 15 Dozens gathered in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, to protest a bill by state Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, that would block a minimum wage increase approved by the Birmingham City Council. Just hours after another minimum wage victory in Birmingham, advocates are taking their cause back to Tuscaloosa to encourage city leaders to approve an increase. They have previously rallied in Tuscaloosa, most recently on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, given presentations to the city council and circulated petitions. The Tuscaloosa $10.10 Minimum Wage Coalition will hold a rally at 5 p.m. outside Tuscaloosa City Hall, then several advocates plan to speak during the city council meeting that begins at 6 p.m. City Hall is located at 2201 University Blvd. Their efforts in Tuscaloosa have garnered less official support than elsewhere, but hundreds of residents have rallied behind the cause. The coalition has received more than 1,500 signatures from online and in-person canvassing petitions advocating for the establishment of a $10.10 minimum wage in Tuscaloosa. When Mayor Walt Maddox met with members of the coalition in January, he told them he supported a minimum wage increase but believed it was a matter best handled by the state legislature. Council members told the coalition that they intend to create a task force with Northport and Tuscaloosa County to study the issue. "The Mayor needs to use his authority to fight for the 17,000 workers who make less than $10.10," Doug Hoffman, an organizer for the Tuscaloosa $10.10 Coalition, said in a news release. "Many are forced to use state and federal assistance to make ends meet." Maddox said Tuesday that the office of the city attorney has advised that the city does not have the authority to increase the minimum wage, and that power lies with the legislature. "Recently, as part of its legislative agenda, the city council voted unanimously to request that the Alabama Legislature ensure that minimum wage is uniformed across political boundaries and is tied to the consumer price index," Maddox said. The city's legislative agenda for 2016 states that "local government determinations of minimum wage could lead to unintended consequences for those who are low to moderate income, as well as have negative economic development impacts for local governments." It also notes that city officials support a boost in line with cost-of-living increases. Coalition members say those statements are contradictory, and they have continued calling for action from the city. "The time to act is now," Rev. Fred L Hammond, Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, said in a news release. "The city of Tuscaloosa has a fire burning and the Mayor and the City Council want to appoint a task force to study the spread of the fire when they have the authority to send out the firetrucks." The Birmingham City Council voted in August to raise the minimum wage to $8.50 in July 2016 and again to $10.10 in July 2017. On Tuesday, they voted to push up implementation of the measure to March 1, citing proposed state legislation that would prevent local government bodies from setting a minimum wage. They are proposing a similar measure in Tuscaloosa, with an $8.50 minimum wage starting in July, followed by an increase to $10.10 in January 2017. The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the state's largest employer, also recently announced plans to raise employees' minimum wage to $11 an hour beginning in March. Stephen Cooper By Stephen Cooper, a former D.C. public defender who worked, for three years, as an assistant federal public defender in the Middle District of Alabama - employed by the same office that represented Christopher Brooks. He now writes full-time and lives in Woodland Hills, California. Federal defenders in Alabama wanted one attorney to be allowed to observe the placement of intravenous lines used to administer a lethal injection that killed their client, Christopher Brooks, on January 21, at Holman Prison, in Atmore, Alabama. They also requested access to a cell phone or landline during the execution in case something went wrong and they had to quickly call the judge because of a botch. It was a concern to them because Alabama used the drug "midazolam" which was also used in the ghoulish execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma in 2014, in which Lockett "writhed, groaned, and convulsed" for 43 minutes before eventually dying of a heart attack in the execution chamber. Midazolam has also been used in "two other executions that went awry: Dennis McGuire agonized for 26 minutes in Ohio, and Joseph Wood gasped more than 600 times and took two hours to die in Arizona." In their court filings, Brooks' lawyers argued that without access to a phone, "Brooks will be without meaningful access to the courts during his execution, as his only witnesses, including designated members of his legal team, will be unable to contact the courts and seek intervention if something arises during his execution that warrants seeking a stay or other appropriate relief." They pointed out that in the 2000 execution of Robert Glenn Coe by lethal injection in Tennessee, federal district judge Aleta A. Trauger ordered just what they were requesting, "to have access to a telephone with an unimpeded outside line at the time that he or she witnesses the execution." Judge Trauger based her order on Coe's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to meaningful access to the courts and his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Brooks' attorneys said in their court papers that they "learned from Robert L. Hutton, counsel for Mr. Coe in Tennessee and a witness to his execution, that, following the federal district court's order, the warden 'gave [him] express permission to have [his] cell phone present at the prison . . . [and] provided [him] an office near the execution chamber that had a land line." Instead of extending to Brooks' lawyers the same kind of phone access Coe's attorney received in Tennessee, Assistant Attorney General Thomas R. Govan, Jr., on behalf of the Alabama Attorney General's Office, took a far different position. As reported by al. com, Govan "said Brooks' attorneys would not be allowed to bring in cell phones." Specifically, Govan wrote to Brooks' attorneys: These requests are overbroad, unprecedented and are not relevant to any claim in any current litigation. Moreover, these requests appear to be premised on speculative concerns based on executions from other states involving different execution protocols. Finally, your requests could disrupt and interfere with the Department's ability to perform their duties and responsibilities in carrying out Brooks' execution. Let's break that down. Overbroad? No, the two requests were extremely specific. Brooks' attorneys wanted to be able to see the executioner stick the IV in their client and they wanted access to a phone in case something went wrong and they needed to get the judge involved quickly. Unprecedented? As it concerns the phone request, no. The Coe case in Tennessee is one example of an attorney being allowed access to a phone during an execution; the gruesome execution of Joseph Wood in Arizona is another. Relevant? It is hard to see why the request for a phone to call the judge in case of a botch would be irrelevant. Speculative concerns? Midazolam was used in both Joseph Wood's execution in Arizona and Clayton Lockett's in Oklahoma and it was used in Brooks' execution too. What is there about Joseph Wood's 660 gasps, or Lockett's 43 minute execution as he "writhed, groaned, and convulsed" on the gurney that is speculative? Disrupt and interfere with the carrying out of the execution? Isn't it difficult to imagine a federal public defender (and officer of the court) who is observing a needle being inserted and happens to have a phone handy in case it goes bad being "disruptive" and "interfering" with the execution? Who does the Alabama Attorney General's Office think they are kidding? Nevertheless, Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama denied both Brooks' lawyers' requests for phone access and to observe the IV be inserted just hours before the execution. Al.com reported: Brooks 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. 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." Initial reports out of Alabama are that the execution went as "smoothly" as killing a reasonably healthy 43-year-old man can go. In any event, it appears there was no visible evidence Brooks suffered bodily distress as the lethal drugs were administered, prompting "Alabama Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn to say that the execution with the controversial sedative drug midazolam 'went exactly as planned,'" according to al.com. Perhaps. Or, perhaps Alabama just got lucky this time? Hard to say, isn't it? As executions around the country demonstrate, killing another human being, even when done by the state, is hardly an exact science. But, in hindsight, in case it hadn't worked "smoothly" -- like in the McGuire, Lockett, and Wood cases -- wouldn't it have been prudent, and fairer, to allow one defense attorney to bring in a cell phone? You know . . . just in case? 181 men and 5 women remain on Alabama's death row after Brooks; if their executions go forward shouldn't they be fair in every respect? And if a death row inmate in Alabama can't get the same basic rights as a death row inmate in Tennessee, shouldn't we abandon this dastardly practice, the death penalty, altogether? U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell represents Alabama's 7th congressional district. By U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, who represents the Alabama's Seventh Congressional District There may be three weeks left until the so-called "SEC primary," but next door in Georgia, ballots are already being cast. The same will be true in Tennessee tomorrow. In Louisiana, voters can make their choices known next week. Each of these states has adopted early voting, which boosts voter turnout and gives voters flexibility over when they can go to the voting booth. Yet Alabama remains behind the curve. I'll have to wait until March 1 to vote for Hillary Clinton, but I'll do so proudly, because she has a plan to ensure states like Alabama expand, not restrict, individuals' voting rights. Sadly, it isn't surprising that our state has not adopted this commonsense measure. Once the Supreme Court ripped the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, Alabama Republicans wasted no time in pairing one of the nation's strictest state voter photo ID laws with the closure of 31 driver's license offices in predominately African American neighborhoods. This had the combined effect of disenfranchising an entire community, and I immediately called for the Department of Justice to investigate this decision. Ultimately, the state agreed to reopen the closed driver's license offices, but only in the face of pressure from my office, and after Hillary Clinton visited Hoover and drew national attention to what she called a "blast from the Jim Crow past." And though we've made progress, we have to keep fighting. While these offices remain open today, access is limited to just one day a month. It is further proof that Alabama's Republican leadership will only do the bare minimum they can get away with. The hard truth is that this country has a legacy of racism that still persists to this day. It's a problem that Congress must address. That's why I have authored a bipartisan bill, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the pre-clearance protections that the Supreme Court stripped away. And going forward, we must recognize that in places with historically problematic patterns of discrimination, more federal oversight is still needed. That's why I believe this upcoming election is so important. We know the Republicans won't lift a finger to address this problem - after all, some of them even helped create it. Instead, we need a candidate who will not only recognize these injustices, but follow the lead of President Obama and Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch in standing against them wherever they occur. In my view, only Hillary Clinton has a record of waging these fights. She understands that when it suddenly becomes harder for certain groups of people to vote - it's never by accident, and it has to be forcefully addressed. To make sure that voting rights are protected, Hillary has a comprehensive plan that makes it easier to vote. She would make voter registration universal and automatic at the age of 18 and enact nationwide early voting. This is an idea that's long overdue in Alabama. In addition to Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, 34 other states now allow early voting. Fortunately, online registration is finally available to Alabamians. And Democrats in our state legislature have included a six-day early voting period in their agenda, which would let voters cast their ballots at county courthouses at their convenience. Hillary joins me in supporting their efforts, but her proposals would go even further, instituting a nationwide 20-day early voting period. In her dissent in the Supreme Court's ruling, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg likened the Court's actions to "throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you're not getting wet." She was right. African American voters in Alabama are getting soaked. We need a president like Hillary to pick up where Barack Obama leaves off, who will never stop fighting for a brighter future - with clearer skies, and where every vote counts. By JB Williams: The debate over whether or not Senator Ted Cruz is eligible for the U.S. Presidency is about to end. It has now been confirmed that Senator Ted Cruz is neither a U.S. natural born Citizen or a legal U.S. citizen. According to all relative legal citizenship documentation available at present, Senator Ted Cruz was born Rafael Edward Cruz, a legal citizen of Canada on December 22, 1970 and maintained his legal Canadian citizenship from birth until May 14, 2014, 43 years later. The Cruz Campaign for the U.S. Presidency has claimed that Senator Ted Cruz was a citizen at birth via his U.S. mother and a dual citizen of both Canada and the United States in 1970 and that by renouncing his Canadian citizenship in 2014, he would become eligible for the Oval Office. There are several problems with this claim which make the claim false citizen at birth is a 14th Amendment naturalization term based upon All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. th Amendment only, is a citizen and not a natural born Citizen, as you will see below.( Senator Cruz was born in Canada, subject to the jurisdiction of Canada. Further, any U.S. citizen by virtue of the 14Amendment only, is a citizen and not a natural born Citizen, as you will see below.( Source is Cornell Law on the 14th dual citizenship was prohibited in Canada in December 1970. (Source is Canadian Law) From May 22, 1868 until December 31, 1946, all residents of Canada were British subjects. There was no such thing as a Canadian citizen or Canadian citizenship until January 1, 1947. From January 1, 1947 until February 15, 1977, Canadian law prohibited dual citizenship. Foreign parents giving birth to a child in Canada in 1970 were forced to choose between Canadian citizenship only, or citizenship in another country, and to declare that with Canadian officials at the time of birth. The parents of Ted Cruz chose and declared Canadian citizenship for Rafael declared Canadian citizenship for Rafael Edward Cruz. United States laws make it possible to be a legal U.S. citizen by only the following means a) NATURAL BORN CITIZEN As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. ( The Natural Law as understood by the Founders in Article II of the US Constitution b) NATIVE BORN CITIZEN All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. ( The 14th Amendment definition for citizen th) Source is U.S. State Department c) NATURALIZED CITIZEN the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done by a statute, without any effort on the part of the individual (aka anchor baby), or it may involve an application and approval by legal authorities, (such as a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) form filed with the US State Department at the time of birth). (This includes anchor baby or citizen at birth born here or abroad, under the 14 dual citizens are prohibited from being natural born Citizens as it pertains to Article II requirements for the Oval Office. As the stated purpose of the Article II natural born Citizen requirement for the Oval Office is to prevent anyone with foreign allegiance at birth from ever occupying the Oval Office, and all dual citizens at birth are born with dual national allegiance at birth. The mere condition of dual citizen at birth would be a direct violation of the known purpose and intent of the natural born Citizen requirement in Article II. Source is a As the stated purpose of the Article II natural born Citizen requirement for the Oval Office is to prevent anyone with foreign allegiance at birth from ever occupying the Oval Office, and all dual citizens at birth are born with dual national allegiance at birth. The mere condition of dual citizen at birth would be a direct violation of the known purpose and intent of the natural born Citizen requirement in Article II. Source is a letter from Founder John Jay in proposing the NBC requirement for the Oval Office Now, Senator Ted Cruz has repeatedly stated that he has never naturalized to the United States, which eliminated the possibility that Ted Cruz is a naturalized U.S. Citizen. Senator Ted Cruz has also documented the fact that he was not a native born citizen of the United States, but rather a native born citizen of Canada on December 22, 1970, who maintained his legal Canadian citizenship until May 14, 2014. th Amendment naturalized citizen at birth concept, despite the fact that Ted Cruz was not born in or under the jurisdiction of the United States, was never naturalized to the United States, and completely ignoring the fact that Canada prohibited dual citizenship in 1970, as well as the fact that dual citizenship alone would prevent him from natural born U.S. status. The Harvard opinion letter written by two of Senator Cruzs Harvard friends, Neal Katyal & Paul Clement, a mere commentary on the subject, relies upon the 14Amendment naturalized citizen at birth concept, despite the fact that Ted Cruz was not born in or under the jurisdiction of the United States, was never naturalized to the United States, and completely ignoring the fact that Canada prohibited dual citizenship in 1970, as well as the fact that dual citizenship alone would prevent him from natural born U.S. status. All of this explains why Senator Ted Cruz has no legal U.S. citizenship documentation of any kind. He is not a natural born native born or naturalized citizen of the United States. Because someone must be one of the three in order to be a legal citizen of the United States, Senator Ted Cruz cannot possibly be a legal U.S. citizen of any form. Only days ago, a 17-year-old first time voter at a New Hampshire town hall meeting for Senator Ted Cruz asked a very reasonable question How and why, until recently, were you unaware that you were a Canadian citizen? As the young man explained, this is not an eligibility question, but a credibility question which Senator Cruz refused to answer, preferring instead to regurgitate the talking points carefully crafted by his Harvard friends and eventually, shouting the young man down, after a Cruz fan in the audience shouted better a Canadian than a Kenyan! ( VIDEO ) Meanwhile, a growing number of Constitutional Law Professors agree, Cruz is NOT eligible . thAmendment anchor baby policies only. Of course, Senator Marco Rubio is also ineligible, as a native born citizen at birth by virtue of 14Amendment anchor baby policies only. In the end, the only possible way to consider Senator Ted Cruz eligible for the Oval Office is if every undocumented resident alien is eligible for the Oval Office, which I personally believe is the real agenda of both political parties, as they work to meld the USA into the global commune where there is no legal difference between natural born Americans and undocumented aliens. The fact that so many Americans do not know or care to know the truth about the Constitutional natural born Citizen requirement for the Oval Office, demonstrates just how far down the road of hope and change for the destruction of the Constitutional Republic, the enemy within has already achieved. In the crucial New Hampshire poll, Republican candidate John Kasich hopes to appeal to reason rather than radicalism. In a packed cafeteria at Concord High School in New Hampshire, a woman takes the microphone and tells Republican presidential candidate John Kasich that she wants to see more positivity in the US election campaign. More than any other line, that one gets enthusiastic, sustained applause at this event. This is Kasichs theme and he runs with it. Lets just take down the negative ads, the current governor of Ohio says to murmurs of approval from the audience. Just tell people what were for. Kasich is in the state capital of Concord, campaigning for votes as people in this small northeastern state get set to go to the polls on Tuesday in the first of many primaries across the country to pick a presidential nominee. Kasich finished at the bottom of the pack in the Iowa caucus on February 1. He needs to do well in Tuesdays vote or this could be the end of the road for him. For many candidates, the easiest thing would be to pick up the tone and style of businessman and former reality-TV star Donald Trump, who is way ahead of Kasich in New Hampshire. The billionaires outsider approach to issues such as immigration and foreign policy have made him a GOP star. But Kasich simply wont go there and luckily for him, neither will many voters. I dont like him [Trump], says Katrina Misley, 30, a registered Republican from Concord, attending her first campaign event of 2016. Hes rude and I dont think hes sincere in anything that he says. I think hes just a big show. She says she is torn between Kasich and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Aura of earnestness In New Hampshire, 40 percent of the voters are independents, which means they do not identify with either major party. The Kasich campaign is trying to woo them, hoping an appeal to reason rather than radicalism will help to propel him to the nomination. Unlike the surreal, circus-like atmosphere of many Trump rallies, this town hall at the high school has an aura of earnestness. READ MORE: New Hampshire, the little state with the big voice With the exception of the White Stripes Seven Nation Army introduction song, it is low-key and the crowd attentive. People want to learn rather than be entertained. Thats just what the campaign is banking on. We cannot go anywhere where we dont hear at least one or two people come up and say youre the voice of reason, says Doug Price, a campaign adviser who has worked on Kasich political campaigns since 1982. You cant take your eye off the ball, which is the primaries, where you got to survive the primaries. But then, youve to appeal to a broader electorate. READ MORE: Republican hopefuls fate in the balance That long-game approach, the rejection of bombast and easy soundbites, which could could work against a candidate in the general election against the Democratic Party, was on full display on Saturday night during the GOP debate in Manchester when Kasich went against the anti-immigrant wave sweeping the Republican party. Rather than appropriate or even mimic the popular Trump idea to kick out every illegal immigrant, Kasich reminded everyone on stage and the millions watching at home what was at stake. I couldnt even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since theyve been here, leaving their children in the house, Kasich said. I mean, those are not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. Taylor Allan, 31, was pleased to hear that. Having a moderate approach to things is going to get more stuff done, he says, holding his four-month-old daughter Isabelle, during the Kasich event. If Trump gets nominated and it goes to the general election, its going to be I like Trump or I hate Trump. And if you have a volatile candidate, its going to be harder to swing people. That volatility reared its ugly head on Monday night at a rally in Manchester when Trump uttered a vulgar term to refer to GOP opponent Ted Cruz. An audience member called the Texas Senator, a pussy, which Trump repeated aloud. Early on Tuesday, Kasich got his first taste of victory. Nine voters in Dixville, near the Canadian border, voted for him to the GOP nominee over Trump. Five things to watch in the primary voting in the northeastern state of New Hampshire. Will Donald Trump win and if so, by how much? The polls have had him consistently in the lead, some by 20 points or more. The polls in Iowa had him in the lead too, and only a few people predicted hed lose. He did. And the polls in New Hampshire are much more indicative than predictive. The problem they have is that many voters dont make their mind up until the day of the primary. And that causes upsets. Trump needs a win here. You cant keep talking about how great youre going to be and be rejected in the the first two places people vote. The margin of victory is important, too. A slim three-five point win is still a win, but it might feel like a loss. Will Marco Rubios terrible debate performance hit him in the polls? The Florida senator had a dreadful night in Manchester on Saturday. Slammed for being inexperienced and inauthentic, he repeated the same Obama attack line four times. That allowed Chris Christie to highlight that Rubio spoke in 25-second bursts approved by advisers and couldnt stop. Im reluctant to draw a direct impact from the debates to the polls remember most of us thought Donald Trump won the last Iowa debate by not turning up but the Christie attack left Rubio wounded and vulnerable. It certainly hit the momentum he generated from a better-than-predicted finish in Iowa. Some polls here say hell finish third. If he doesnt, he has a problem. How will the candidates who really started their campaigns in New Hampshire fare? Three candidates the governors, as theyre known collectively have banked on a good New Hampshire performance to kick-start their campaign. But Chris Christie from New Jersey, Ohios John Kasich and Jeb Bush from Florida are all chasing the same swath of voters. REPORTERS NOTEBOOK: New Hampshire This time, things will be different And they all see themselves as the real establishment candidate to take on the upstart outsiders, Trump and Cruz. They cant all be right. The percentage of votes will be important. If theres one of two percent between them, they might think its worth pushing on to South Carolina. More than that, theyll have to rethink if their gamble worked and they have the money and support to go on. Will Ted Cruz continue to attract big support? Theres no doubt that the Texas senator surprised many with his win in Iowa. But hes been dogged since with allegations of dirty tricks by his campaign to skew the vote. That plays into the worst perceptions of Ted Cruz as a man wholl do or say whatever is required to win; a slippery, dishonest career politican. He was never going to win in New Hampshire. Second or third would be a more than respectable. Lower and he has some problems as the campaign moves south. Will any candidates drop out after New Hampshire? Jim Gilmour has made one debate appearance, is polling at almost zero, and has banked on a good New Hampshire performance to get his campaign going. But with little or no media coverage, a poorly funded campaign and few real supporters, its hard to see how the former Virginia governor justifies going on. The same can be said for Carly Fiorina. She had her best moments in the race back in September and has failed to make any real impact or stand out beyond being the only woman in the Republican race. Its always hard for candidates to step away but she may have no option. Ben Carson also enjoyed some golden moments early in the campaign, but the neurosurgeon has been exposed as out of his depth on foreign and financial matters. His answer to everything is to find the best brains available and ask them what to do. His campaign is also struggling financially and organisationally. He might keep going until South Carolina but many people will be asking why. Cubans get amnesty at the US border, but reaching it involves a risky journey along the Central American migrant trail. San Ramon, Costa Rica For as long as she can remember, Yipsi Murgas has planned to leave her native Cuba and head for the United States. Its been my dream for my entire life, the 32-year-old told Al Jazeera. In Cuba, there is no freedom. Despite her eagerness to leave, the responsibility of caring for her elderly grandmother left Murgas marooned on the communist island. When her grandmother died last year, Murgas saw a window of opportunity. She and her husband sold their house, scooped up their 12-year-old son and Murgas father and flew to Ecuador to begin their trip overland to the Mexican border. For Murgas, it was a dream come true, but her plan of quietly slipping across Central America by bus was foiled in November when Nicaragua closed its border to a flood of Cuban migrants. The sudden closure left Murgas, her family and nearly 8,000 other Cubans stranded in makeshift migrant camps across Costa Rica. After months of negotiations, Costa Rica was able to secure an airlift for the first group of waylaid Cubans in January. In the coming months the remaining migrants will fly to El Salvador and board buses to Mexico, where they will have 20 days to make their way north. This flight marks the beginning of a dangerous leg of the Cubans journey, through cities run by drug cartels and littered with smugglers looking to take advantage of migrants. READ MORE: Portrait of a people smuggler Many of the Cubans will follow the same routes as other migrants headed north to the US, but once they reach the border the Cubans will fare much better. As the US deports tens of thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America each year, a long-standing US policy grants Cubans immediate amnesty when they declare themselves at the border. This well-publicised odyssey has highlighted a disparity in US immigration policy, in which Cuban migrants are given preferential treatment over all other nationalities, and has led Central American governments to challenge what they see as an unfair policy. The Cuban adjustment act The current migration crisis has roots that stretch back to the 1959 Cuban revolution. In the years following Castros rise to power, Cubans fearing political persecution and economic change began fleeing to the US in huge numbers. By the mid-1960s there were more than half a million Cubans living in the US with no official residency status. [The migrants] were an incredible piece of propaganda at the beginning of the Cold War, Anita Casavantes Bradford, a professor of Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine, told Al Jazeera. The government decided to regularise their status because it was a tool of Cold War foreign policy. It was a way of encouraging outward migration from Cuba to discredit the Castro regime, she added. The resulting legislation, the Cuban Adjustment Act, is still on the books and allows Cubans to qualify for permanent residency and federal benefits after one year. There is only one caveat: since 1995 only Cubans travelling by land are admitted to the US, under what is known as the Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy. Cubans caught by US Border Patrol in the waters between Cuba and Florida are sent back home. Dusty-foot Cubans The new policy cut off the treacherous 90-mile sea route from Cuba to Florida, but it did not stem Cuban immigration entirely. Migrants began forgoing rafts in favour of land routes through Mexico and Central America. Nicknamed dusty-foot Cubans by US Border Patrol, these migrants have been arriving in heightened numbers since 2009. But the migration reached a head in 2011 when a perfect storm of policy changes spurred a wave of outward migration from Cuba. Between January and November 2015, Costa Rican police stopped more than 14,000 Cubans passing through the country without visas. In 2011, they stopped only 50. Even more Cubans make it through Central America without being stopped. According to US Border Patrol, more than 43,000 Cuban migrants entered the US in the 2015 fiscal year, nearly double the number in 2014. The numbers started to grow in April 2015, after Ecuador waived visa requirements for Cuban citizens, allowing hopeful migrants to fly to Ecuador and begin their journey north. Several months later, the US announced plans to normalise relations with Cuba, stirring panic that the Cuban Adjustment Act would soon be eliminated. Just the possibility of a warming of relations got the attention of those Cubans with medium-term plans to travel to the US, Ricardo Dello Buono, an expert on Cuban-American relations at Manhattan College, told Al Jazeera. They had already been saving money and this may have seemed like their last chance. Migrations motivation Nestled in the mountains of the Costa Rican town San Ramon, an auxiliary facility for the local Catholic church serves as a temporary home for 231 Cuban migrants. On a windy afternoon children jump on an outdoor trampoline, and most of the adults huddle over their smart phones in a cramped hallway that houses the encampments only wi-fi signal. In a dark gymnasium that serves as a dormitory, a wrinkled American flag hangs off one of the bunks. In Cuba, I work and work all the time, said Dioclis Fay, a 43-year-old migrant who owned a transportation company back in Cuba. I owned my own company and I would make $26 a month. That wasnt enough to feed my family. Jorge Luis Garcia, 50, echoed Fays concerns. I worked as a barber, a nurse and a farmer, he said. I would do practically everything because in Cuba you just cant live off one salary. Each of the migrants interviewed for this story described their economic circumstances as the primary motivation for leaving Cuba, while some also mentioned that their political ideologies did not align with their government. None of the migrants claimed to fear political persecution or violence in Cuba, but, unlike other migrants, the US government does not require Cubans to meet those standards to be allowed into the country. UPFRONT: Noam Chomsky on Latin America is in regression These reasons for migrating deviate sharply from those of the Central American migrants taking similar paths into the US. Of the thousands of undocumented Central Americans who enter the US each year, most are women and children. According to a recent study by the American Immigration Council, between 59 and 61 percent of children that reach the US report crime, gang threats or violence as their reason for fleeing their home country. In the 2014 fiscal year, Homeland Security deported more than 120,000 migrants back to the northern triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. When you look at the actual facts, it seems very clear that we are favouring a group of migrants who are migrating to improve their opportunities over a group that is migrating to preserve their survival, Casavantes said. While circumstances in Central America continue to create thousands of migrants, those same countries have now been saddled with the costs of aiding Cubans. El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, three of the highest migrant-producing countries, have all granted the Cubans free passage, while Costa Rica has spent more than $3m to house them. As the US continues to tighten its border controls, Costa Rica may have more costs to bear as northern triangle migrants look for other options. The situation in northern Central America has not improved, in some cases it has gotten worse, Roman Macaya, Costa Ricas ambassador to the US, told Al Jazeera. If the reasons to migrate are still there, and it is more difficult to reach the US border, it appears that some of them are looking south and looking to Costa Rica. We have seen the numbers of these migrants looking for refugee status grow. READ MORE: Cubas Food Revolution Even with a plan in motion, the Costa Rican government continues to foot the bill for the thousands of Cuban migrants. Though most will buy the $555 ticket to Mexico, those who cannot afford it face an uncertain fate. Despite the political battles and the challenges ahead, virtually all of the Cubans now in Costa Rica will eventually reach US soil. It is something that, for some, is difficult not to dream about. In America, Ill get to study whatever I want, said Yahir Gonzalez, Margas 12-year-old son. Maybe one day Ill even get to go to Disney World. Amman SheFighter, the first gym in Jordan to provide specialised self-defence and martial arts training for women, was founded in 2012 and commended last year in a speech by US President Barack Obama. Founder Lina Khalifeh says the gyms methodology combines classic martial arts techniques with self-defence and self-empowerment strategies, noting: Training in SheFighter has a bigger impact on womens lives than 10 conferences on womens rights. Years ago, Khalifeh said that she decided to begin teaching self-defence after she saw a colleague being physically abused by her brother. Today, SheFighter has trained more than 3,000 women, and Khalifeh hosts workshops outside the capital Amman and at universities. She is aiming to expand further, opening more gyms, both in and outside Jordan. Each week, a stream of young women pour into the gym to learn self-defence and have fun. She angry, SheFighter! they scream at the end of each training session. Russias help in recapturing Aleppo is only the beginning of Moscows support for the Assad regime. Luke Coffey is a research fellow specialising in transatlantic and Eurasian security at a Washington DC based think tank. He previously served as a special adviser to the British defence secretary and was a commissioned officer in the United States army. During the 48 hours of the failed Syrian ceasefire talks in Geneva last week, Russian planes conducted 320 air strikes in Aleppo. In truth, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was never serious about a ceasefire, and neither was his partner in crime Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. Their strategy was to draw out the talks as long as possible to give Russian-backed Syrian forces more time to make important battlefield gains. Thanks to Russias air support, Syrian forces are advancing faster than anyone expected on Aleppo. After only two days the talks collapsed and tens of thousands of refugees are now fleeing towards Turkey. Once again, Russia and its allies have come out on top. As Russian air strikes assist Assads forces in retaking Aleppo, the world should consider two things. First, the recapture of Aleppo would make it highly unlikely that Assad and his cronies would return to the negotiating table. In Putins eyes the world is a zero-sum game and in Syria he is winning not negotiating. Second, Russias help in recapturing Aleppo is only the beginning, not the pinnacle, of Moscows support for the Assad regime. It is true that the Russians have helped the Syrian military to recapture smaller and less significant parts of the country from rebel forces, but Aleppo is different. Turning point Before the civil war Aleppo was one of the largest cities in the Levant and served as the economic heart of Syria. Bringing Aleppo back under regime control no matter how devastated and no matter what the cost might be is a turning point in this civil war. ANALYSIS: A reluctant Russia in the Middle East? If Assad chooses to negotiate, he will be doing so from a position of strength. For Assad personally, regaining Aleppo will serve as a major propaganda coup and shore up his support among those still supporting the regime in Damascus. Russia also stands to benefit greatly from the recapture of Aleppo. Putin is not one to do things by half measures. For better or for worse, he is in it to win it in Syria and backs up his rhetoric with action. Unlike US President Barack Obama, who says that Assad has to go but does nothing to see this through, when Putin says that Assad will remain in power he does everything to ensure this outcome. Putin has invested a lot of political capital at home and a lot of Russian clout abroad with his Syrian adventure, and he cannot afford for it to go wrong. Putin knows that success in Syria can open up opportunities for him in other places such as Ukraine. Unlike US President Barack Obama, who says that Assad 'has to go' but does nothing to see this through, when Putin says that Assad will remain in power he does everything to ensure this outcome. by After two recent trips to the Middle East, I was struck by how few policymakers and commentators see Russias involvement in Syria for what it really is: one part of a well-thought-out grand strategy to maximise Russian influence all over the globe. Russias intervention in Syria should not be viewed in isolation. The capture of Aleppo means that Moscow will have many more bargaining chips when it comes to dealing with the West over issues such as Ukraine or Georgia. For the Kremlin, pressing issues such as ending the economic sanctions over Ukraine, getting the West to turn a blind eye to the annexation of Crimea, or stopping NATO bases in Eastern Europe can be directly linked to a ceasefire in Syria. Moscow has a long history of linking different issues to its advantage at the international negotiating table what Russia is doing in Syria is no different. In it for the long haul In the same way that Russia is only an Asian power and not a European power without exerting influence in Eastern Europe, Russia is only a regional power and not a global power if it is not an actor in the Middle East. Russia will do everything it can to frustrate Western policy in Syria and make the West use more resources and energy to act in Syria. The more resources and focus that is placed on Syria, the less is given to places such as the Baltics, Ukraine, or Georgia. READ MORE: Putin declares checkmate on Syria Russia might be feeling the pain with the low oil prices but this will not stop Putin supporting Assad. Russia has doubled down on its hand and continues backing Assad no matter what the consequences. Putin is in it for the long haul in Syria. This is not the first time Russian troops have been fighting for Aleppo. In the year 1030, troops from the Kievan Rus predecessor to modern-day Russia were part of a force that fought in the Battle of Azaz alongside Byzantine Emperor Romanus III against the Mirdasid dynasty of Aleppo. Romanus III and his Russian allies might have lost that battle but they ended up winning the war. Today, it looks like Syrian and Russian troops will win the Battle of Aleppo, but it remains to be seen if they will win the war. Luke Coffey is a research fellow specialising in transatlantic and Eurasian security at a Washington DC-based think-tank. He previously served as a special adviser to the British defence secretary and was a commissioned officer in the United States Army. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Occupied with old fears, Turkey must not lose sight of the bigger picture of the Arab uprisings. Galip Dalay is an IPC-Mercator Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Before the onset of the Arab uprisings, Turkey had a functionalist approach to the region. It prioritised economic integration over the push to open up politics, in the belief that deepening economic ties would inevitably have a political spillover. The logic behind this approach was that once countries developed economically, political opening would be a matter of when, not if. When the wave of peoples uprisings swept across the streets of the Arab world, Turkey faced an unexpected challenge. The political foundation of Turkeys economic integration-based approach began to crumble. Turkey then swiftly readjusted its policy by allying itself with these waves, which it saw as, in the words of Ahmet Davutoglu, then foreign minister, the natural flow of history. This flow, they felt, was destined to reshape the future of individual Arab societies, but also the region at large. Following this reading of the uprisings, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkeys prime minister, was the first statesman to call upon the ageing Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak to step down in response to the mass protests. The mood in Turkey was upbeat, and the political elites considered the turn of events an irreversible process that would define the regions future. In sum, Turkey firmly supported these uprisings. Turkeys identity considerations Critics claimed that this policy was ideological and driven by Turkeys identity considerations at the time. Policymakers in Ankara rebuffed these criticisms. In fact, countries perception of their identities and interests arent mutually exclusive. To the contrary, most countries have historically seen their identities and interests as very much aligned. READ MORE: Turkeys terrifying challenges after Istanbul attack As such, the ruling elites were firm believers of the veracity of their approach. As the main supporter of the people who took to the streets demanding change, Turkey considered itself a beneficiary of this process of change because at the time it was believed that the people Turkey was supporting would come to power in their respective countries. The reason for Turkeys interpretation of the uprisings can be found in its own political history. These events were not only a political phenomenon, but also a social issue for Turkey. For Ankara, the uprisings in the Arab world were as much a domestic political issue as they were a foreign policy matter. The governments stance on the Arab Spring has come to serve as a political marker. The Islamists and other conservative segments of society have staunchly supported the uprisings, seeing them as a natural irreversible historical process. The secularist section of society harboured reservations towards these events. As a corollary, the uprisings sharpened and strengthened the ideological convictions of the Islamists/conservative sections and reshaped their political inclinations. The causes of democracy and Islamism were seen to be in sync, which was deemed in accordance with the zeitgeist of the time. by As I have previously argued, the perception that Islamist movements across the region were leading the way for change rekindled Islamist sentiments among the conservative segments of Turkish society, resulting in a sort of soul-searching. The causes of democracy and Islamism were seen to be in sync, which was deemed in accordance with the zeitgeist of the time. Moreover, conservatives believed that affinity with Islam rather than secularism, nationalism, or a combination of both, was set to become the new and required reference point and source of legitimacy for political movements preparing to come to power region-wide. Such a reading of the event emboldened conservatives to be more at ease with publicly promoting their Islamist identities. Old fears resurrected Yet the protracted nature of the Syrian conflict has dented this optimism, and the Egyptian coup has almost shattered it. Faced with the challenges of the messy process of change and a civil war in Syria, Turkey is once again gripped by some of its old fears. It now strives to tackle the ramifications of the regional collapse, be it in the form of millions of refugees, the spillover of radicalism illustrated by the recent waves of bombing in Turkey, or a growing Kurdish challenge brought by the Kurdistan Worker Partys (PKK) militancy as well as the Democratic Union Partys (PYD) armed forces territorial expansion in northern Syria along the Turkish border. READ MORE: AK party is back on stage with force and responsibility With these new considerations, the previous region-wide vision has turned into a more introverted reading of the implications of the Arab Spring. Turkey increasingly sees the Arab Spring through the lens of its domestic political challenges. Internal debates surrounding Geneva III Syrian peace talks confirmed this point. Turkeys PKK issue was playing itself out in these debates. Turkey spent most of its energy in the run-up to Geneva III on trying to exclude the PYD, an offshoot of the PKK, from the talks, which it has achieved for the time being. Developments in Syria were the primary factors that derailed Turkeys Kurdish peace process. Driven by these fears, Turkey risks losing sight of the bigger picture in the region. There is already a great deal written on the failure of the Arab uprisings, with their unfulfilled promises, and there is no need for further rhetoric on what Arab uprisings have not delivered. Instead, it is appropriate to talk about what they have delivered. New political psychology The events in the Arab world have ushered in a new political psychology. Irrespective of all the pangs of transitions and the resilience and brutality of the authoritarian regimes, this new psychology does not accept the authoritarian stability thesis Syria and Egypt are clear examples. The major battle in the region is taking place over the reshaping of this new political psychology. Regional countries, radical groups and defunct authoritarian structures are striving to fashion this political psychology in their own image. Unfortunately, Turkey is ill-prepared to reshape this political psychology. The countrys tumultuous domestic political scene saps most of its energy. However, this is no excuse for Turkey to reduce the scale of its involvement with the Arab uprisings and their implications. There is no island in this sea of instability. As the region collapses, Turkey needs to fully engage in the battle of reshaping the new political psychology, for it is this new psychology that will redefine the regions future. Galip Dalay is a senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, and research director at Al Sharq Forum. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. In less than two months, 409 refugees have died, as refugee arrivals spiked tenfold to more than 75,000, the IOM says. More than 400 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and refugee crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly 10 times the rate of the same period last year, the International Organization for Migration said. The IOM reported on Tuesday that the number of arrivals topped 76,000, and the number of deaths shot up to 409 on Mediterranean routes, compared with 69 in the first six weeks of 2015. The daily average of nearly 2,000 arrivals is nearly 10 times the daily average of a year ago, the IOM said in a statement. IOM expects Greece to receive its one millionth migrant since the beginning of 2015 by some time next month. More than 1.1 million people fleeing poverty, war and repression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa reached Europes shores last year, most of them heading for Germany. READ MORE: Deadliest January on record for refugees raises alarm Around half of the arrivals are refugees from the Syrian war, the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, says. The IOM reported that 70,365 migrants and refugees had arrived by sea in Greece so far this year, and 5,898 in Italy. Some 319 have died while crossing the eastern Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and 90 on the central route between North Africa and Italy. Joel Millman, an IOM spokesman, said that the organisation did not expect the number of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe to fall in the foreseeable future. READ MORE: More than 10,000 refugee children missing in Europe There are more concurrent crises around than weve ever seen at one time, he said. Conditions on the ground in the countries that are feeding the migrant crisis are largely unchanged, so we think the numbers will probably stay the same. The short eastern Mediterranean crossing is safer than the central Mediterranean route, where there were a number of sinkings in 2015. Millman said that the number of Aegean deaths had suddenly shot up at the end of last year, when small boats sank almost daily possibly showing that migrants were using less seaworthy boats. Underscoring the crisis, at least 33 refugees drowned off Turkeys Aegean coast on Monday as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. Hundreds of thousands in rebel-held areas under threat of full blockade as Syrian government forces advance, UN says. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians in opposition-held areas in Aleppo city are under threat of being cut off from basic food supplies amid expectations of a looming siege by government forces, the United Nations has warned. The UN said on Tuesday that it is worried government advances could block the last link for civilians in rebel-held parts of Aleppo with the main Turkish border crossing, which has long served as the lifeline for those areas in Syria. It would leave up to 300,000 people, still residing in the city, cut off from humanitarian aid unlessaccess could be negotiated, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. If government advances around the city continue, it said, local councils in the city estimate that some 100,000 to 150,000 civilians may flee, it said. Aleppo was once Syrias biggest city and home to two million people. Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, have launched a major offensive over the past week in the countryside around Aleppo, which has been divided between government and rebel control for years. READ MORE: Russia blamed for daily cluster bombings in Syria Locals have told Al Jazeera about their fears of a possible siege and the harsh effects of the conflict on food and fuel prices in the city. A woman, who asked to be called Om Steif, said: The people here in Aleppo are scared of the coming siege. What will happen to the cost of living to citizens like me? How can they afford [to buy] heating fuel when the prices keep doubling and quadrupling every day. How will we face this? Zaid Muhammad, a volunteer for Kesh Malek a Syrian activist group in opposition-held districts of Aleppo, told Al Jazeera how Russian air strikes backing government forces have been terrorising civilians daily. For seven or eight hours a day they (warplanes) are invading the skies and terrorising the people psychologically, he said Meanhwhile, the UNs refugee agency has called on Turkey to open the border to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the government offensive in Aleppo province, who are stranded near the Bab al-Salameh crossing. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler praised Ankara for allowing in a number of wounded refugees and for providing humanitarian assistance to those on the Syrian side of the crossing. But he said the Turkish government needs to extend the opening of the border to others in need of protection and fleeing danger, in accordance with its obligations under international law. Spindler said that his agency acknowledges the fact that Turkey is already hosting 2.5 million refugees, which has inflicted a huge strain on the countrys economy, and called on the international community to assist Ankara in handling the burgeoning crisis. This is clearly an international crisis and we all have an obligation to assist, he said. Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from the bordering Turkish city of Gaziantep, described a worsening humanitarian tragedy on the ground in Aleppo governorate, as refugee camps overflow and the Syrian government onslaught of the city intensifies. There are thousands of others who are stuck in the town of Azaz, which is just a few kilometres from the Bab al-Salameh crossing, she said. Already hundreds of families are moving from Azaz, because according to Doctors Without Borders there is no more space, the camps can no longer absorb more people and people are sleeping out in the open. These people are getting on buses and heading to the western side of Aleppo after receiving safe passage from the YPG (Kurdish Peoples Protection Units). Zdravko Tolimir, convicted by UN judges of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, died in The Hague. A Bosnian Serb general convicted by United Nations judges of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, and described as the right hand of Ratko Mladic, has died in his cell, the UN said. Zdravko Tolimir passed away last night in the UN Detention Unit in [the Hague], the UN said in a statement on Tuesday. An investigation to establish the cause of death is now under way, the statement added, saying the medical officer was called immediately and the Dutch authorities have commenced standard investigations as mandated under Dutch national law. Right-hand man Once considered the right-hand man of Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, Tolimir, 67, was sentenced to life in 2012 for crimes committed on a massive scale during the 1990s Bosnian war. Tolimirs wife Nada Tolimir told Serbias Kurir newspaper that she learned of his death late on Monday. He was ill, but the idiots did not allow him to come here and get treatment at home. I was surprised by the news, the former generals wife was quoted as saying. In April, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia appeals chamber upheld Tolimirs life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes. Trial judges described Tolimir as Mladics eyes and ears, particularly in the July 1995 massacre at the supposedly UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb forces slaughtered almost 8,000 mostly Bosnian Muslim men and boys. The incident was Europes worst massacre since those committed during World War II. Mladic himself is on trial at The Hague facing charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including for Srebrenica. Tolimir was one of the most senior Bosnian Serbs to have a verdict handed down by the UN war crimes court and one of a handful of defendants found guilty of genocide. He was, however, not the first top official to die while in the tribunals custody. Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic died in 2006 also while on trial for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ottawa to pull jets from Syria and Iraq but instead will triple number of special forces training Iraqi Kurdish forces. Canada is to end its participation in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria and Iraq within two weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced Following up on campaign promises he made last year to withdraw Canadas jets, Trudeau said on Monday that his countrys contribution to the fight against ISIL would be extended until the end of March 2017 but would be a non-combat mission. It is important to understand that while air strike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that kilometre by kilometre they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future. Training support Trudeau said Canada will triple the number of special forces deployed to train Iraqi Kurdish forces on the ground over the next two years. As well as training them, Canada will also arm the Kurdish forces with light weapons such as assault rifles, machineguns and light mortars, as well as optical systems for the weapons and ammunition. The number of elite Canadian commandos helping to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq will also jump from 69 to 230, bringing the total of Canadian soldiers deployed in the region from about 650 to about 830. Canada will also provide $CAD840m ($609m) in humanitarian assistance over three years, and has allocated $270m to build local capacity in Jordan and Lebanon, which are hosting more than two million Syrian refugees. While the country will pull its six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from the bombing mission, it will keep its aircrew and support personnel for one CC-150 Polaris aerial refuelling aircraft and up to two CP-140 Aurora spy planes. Step backward The US had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against ISIL after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeau, who was sworn in last November, had already promised to withdraw his jets during his election campaign. Trudeau promised to put the new policy to a debate in parliament when the House of Commons resumes next week. Rona Ambrose, leader of the official opposition and interim leader of the Conservative Party, denounced the plan to withdraw the fighter jets as a step backwards for Canada. Helene Laverdiere, foreign affairs spokeswoman for the left-wing New Democratic Party, said Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalisation efforts at home. READ MORE: Canadian soldiers clash with ISIL in Iraq We are concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to place Canadian Forces personnel deeper into an open-ended combat military mission in Iraq a mission that fails to even define what success would look like, Laverdiere said. US President Barak Obama welcomed Canadas current and new contributions to coalition efforts and highlighted Canadas leadership in the coalition, the White House said in a statement without specifically mentioning Canadas decision to halt air strikes. Reports of deaths and injuries after blast near a market and a police officers club in Masaken Barzeh district. A car bomb struck near a market and a police club in the north of the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, causing casualties, state media reported. SANA news agency said at least 10 people were killed and many more injured in a terrorist car bomb attack near a vegetable market in Masaken Barzeh district. The attack also caused material damage to the nearby building of the General Establishment for Mills, it added. State TV said the blast occurred near a police officers club, next to the market. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took responsibility for the attack, saying it was a suicide car bombing, reported The Associated Press. Syrian TV, quoting a source in the interior ministry, reported that a car had tried to ram into the police officers club in the area, but was stopped by guards. A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries, the TV report added, citing the source, without giving further details on the toll. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack. Car bombs have been used regularly in Syrias conflict. While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month. More than 260,000 people have died in Syrias conflict since it began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. Creative use of crowd-funding has helped Palestinians in Gaza raise money to study abroad or start their own businesses. Gaza Strip With economic conditions continuing to deteriorate in the Gaza Strip, more Palestinians living in the coastal enclave are resorting to crowd-funding websites to fulfil their dreams. A growing number of young people have successfully raised the money needed to study abroad or to launch their own projects in Gaza, which Israel and Egypt have blockaded since 2007. Today, more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza graduate from university each year, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, while unemployment has risen. READ MORE: Gaza electricity crisis People are dying daily Given the huge number of graduates and unemployed youths in the Gaza Strip, many students apply to join masters programmes abroad. But not everyone receives a scholarship or a big enough scholarship to pay for these programmes. Some enterprising young Palestinians have turned to the internet to present their stories to the world, and ask for assistance in achieving their goal. Our main mission, in addition to launching real successful businesses from within Gaza, is to change the world's perception of Gaza. by Iliana Montauk, manager, Gaza Sky Geeks Nader al-Khozundar, 28, was the first student known to run a crowd-funding campaign in Gaza, which he used to finish his MA studies in business intelligence and analytics in London. He launched his campaign, Higher Opportunity for Palestinian Education (HOPE), in February 2013 with the goal of raising $9,000 to cover part of his tuition. The idea came to my mind when I was reading articles in the field of information technology. When you do a start-up and present the idea for funding from the backers, I thought about doing the same thing, said Khozundar. What happened is that I started arranging for this campaign two months before it started. Ive contacted people with lots of influence [and more followers] on social media to help me publish my campaigns link. Once criticised by some in Gaza as a way of begging for money, crowd-funding is now being used more and more by young people. I was criticised for raising the campaign. Some people would say that its not the good way. They just criticised me without giving me solutions or alternatives, said Zaid Ahmed, 24, a graduate from al-Azhar University. He started his own campaign recently but did not reach his goal. Ahmed, an English literature graduate wanting to study journalism, is still waiting for a scholarship opportunity in Gaza. We get more help from the Western countries than the Arab ones, he said. INTERACTIVE: Do all roads lead to Jerusalem? Dalia al-Najjar, 21, used the internet to raise funds to help her sister, Sara, who was born with a visual disability. I dont want my only sister to go completely blind. I still need to show her things. I created the campaign to collect $3,100 to buy my sister telescopic glasses, Najjar said. She explained that Sara suffers from bilateral macular toxoplasmosis, and that her sight gradually fades the more she uses her eyes. Najjar published her sisters story using social media, and asked people to support her. She garnered supporters from all over the world and raised more than $3,100. My overseas friends were really supportive and helpful. After I wrote about the campaign in my blog, a British friend reached me and told me shes going to make an event there. She sold some cupcakes for donation at her church, Najjar said. Meanwhile, Gaza Sky Geeks, an accelerator founded by Mercy Corps in Gaza, ran one of the biggest crowd-funding campaigns in the Arab world, which helped them to create a huge community of supporters around the world. They turned to crowd-funding after their initial funding from Google was coming to an end, even as their funding needs grew larger. It was the first time that we were aware of Palestinians in Gaza donating directly to an international organisation. We had someone in Gaza donating $1,000, and we had other entrepreneurs donating whatever they could, said Iliana Montauk, the manager of Gaza Sky Geeks. Our main mission, in addition to launching real successful businesses from within Gaza, is to change the worlds perception of Gaza, Montauk added. When I first arrived in Gaza, I was shocked by how it reminded me of Silicon Valley. Its a place full of vibrant people interested in technology and working on business, and so one of the things that GSG tries to do in order to make sure that the right kinds of resources and business opportunities are coming to Gaza is share with the world what Gaza is really like. READ MORE: A day in the life of a Gaza medic Mohammad Abu al-Qumboz, 30, a social media specialist, told Al Jazeera that although there are no statistics on the number of Palestinians in Gaza who have started crowd-sourcing campaigns, many of the ones he is aware of have succeeded. There are students who wished to study abroad and got scholarships, but these scholarships were not enough to cover their travel and living expenses so they started building campaigns online on websites such as Indiegogo and Zomal [an Arabic language crowdfunding site], and weve seen this becoming more like a phenomenon recently, said Abu al-Qumboz. However, he noted that there have been instances of impersonation, or cases in which people have used the cause of Gaza and its people in fake campaigns to collect money. I really refuse to use living in Gaza as a way to get funds or support, said Dalia al-Najjar. The crowd-funding tools are available for everyone, and they should be utilised by youth when needed, and for noble purposes and for supporting innovation. There are a lot of people who want to help others and dont know how. So these crowd-funding platforms help them get connected. Indian regulators have effectively blocked Free Basics, a controversial Facebook online service that sought to bring free access to a limited version of the social network and other sites to the countrys poorest people. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday outlawed charging different prices for downloading different kinds of internet content. The ruling, which regulators said was guided by the principles of net neutrality, is a major setback for Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, who had lobbied hard for the programme as part of a campaign to expand Internet access to billions of people around the world. Yet, it is a victory for critics who argued that Facebooks Free Basics programme gave an unfair advantage to some internet services over others. EXPLAINER: Indias relationship with Facebook and Free Basics The ruling essentially bans programmes such as Free Basics that are based on what is known as zero rating in industry jargon, because they do not charge for downloading certain kinds of data. In a policy memo, Indian regulators warned that such programmes raise the risk that users knowledge and outlook would be shaped only by the information made available by those select offerings. Critics of Free Basics have argued that the free service effectively steers users towards Facebook and its partners, while making it harder for other internet services, including homegrown startups, to build their own audiences. They also say that the project will only make Facebooks founder Zuckerberg and his partners richer, while activists have described the service as a poor internet for poor people. Free Basics is a key pillar of Facebooks ambitious Internet.org programme, which looks to deliver internet access to billions of people globally. The app, offered through Facebooks mobile operator partner Reliance Communications since last year, provides free access to a stripped-down version of Facebook and certain other websites including some that provide information such as weather forecasts, health education and job listings. While Zuckerburg has acknowledged that his business would benefit from gaining more users around the world, he has also argued that internet access is a powerful tool for economic development in low-income regions. READ MORE: India leads world in Facebook content censoring On Monday, Zuckerberg posted on Facebook that he would continue to campaign for Free Basics. While were disappointed with todays decision, I want to personally communicate that we are committed to keep working to break down barriers to connectivity in India and around the world, Zuckerberg said. We know that connecting them can help lift people out of poverty, create millions of jobs and spread education opportunities. We care about these people, and thats why were so committed to connecting them. Only 252 million of Indias 1.2 billion people have access to the internet. Facebook has about 130 million users in India and sees a huge opportunity to expand by reaching those without internet access. Iraqi forces raise flag in centre of Hussaibah village, following weeks of fighting with ISIL, security sources say. Iraqi security forces have entered the last remaining ISIL stronghold in the east of the central city of Ramadi, security sources said. Security forces are now in the centre of Hussaibah village and moving to other parts of the strategic settlement, which links a major army base to other villages recently captured from the armed group, security sources told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. The Iraqi flag was raised in the centre of the village on Tuesday, the sources added. ISIL fighters still have pockets of fighters to the north of the city and Iraqi officials are wary that they will continue to launch deadly counter attacks. Iraqs army is aiming to cut the supply route to ISILs stronghold in Fallujah. READ MORE: Iraq: 80 percent of Ramadi in ruins after fighting Al Jazeeras Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said government forces are going from house to house clearing explosives left behind by the armed group. It is a huge success for the Iraqi security forces because they were seen as being the weak link in the fight against ISIL. But they have now taken control of the whole of Ramadi. Khan said. But it has come at a very [large] cost for the army. Over the last two months official figures state at least 150 Iraqi soldiers were killed in this operation, he added. Iraqs government announced in late December that its troops had recaptured Ramadi, but daily fighting with ISIL has continued for more than a month on the citys eastern outskirts. ISIL captured the city in May 2015 in an assault spearheaded by a wave of car and truck bombs. The armed group still holds Fallujah, east of Ramadi, and Mosul, the countrys second city, which fell to ISIL in 2014. Several abuse cases reported in Norway as Sweden detains 14 over alleged plot to attack asylum-seeker shelters. Norwegian police say they are investigating several cases of children suffering from sexual abuse at asylum-seekers reception centres in the country. Axel Wilhelm Due, from the National Criminal Investigation Services, told The Associated Press news agency on Tuesday that the abuse cases were reported to authorities towards the end of last year, without providing specific figures. The incidents included abuse by known sex offenders visiting the reception centres, as well as residents of the centres, Due said. We are looking very seriously at every individual case and, based on our information, its very likely that children living in reception centres in Norway have been and are being subjected to sexual abuse, he said. But generally there is low criminal activity in and around the reception centres. Due said that police would not provide details about the alleged cases at this stage. Last year, more than 31,000 people applied for asylum in Norway, of whom 5,300 were unaccompanied minors. Sweden attack plot In a separate development concerning asylum seekers in neighbouring Sweden, police said that they have arrested 14 men on suspicion of preparing attacks on an asylum-seekers centre near the capital Stockholm. Various weapons, but no firearms, were found in cars during the arrests on Monday in Nynashamn, 60km south of Stockholm, police spokesman Lars Bystrom said. The arrests come amid increasing opposition to immigrants and reports of attacks against refugee centres in the Scandinavian country, which saw 163,000 refugee and migrant arrivals last year. READ MORE: Sweden criticised over plans to expel asylum seekers Previously known for its generous immigration policies welcoming refugees fleeing war and persecution, the Social Democratic-led government reversed course late last year by tightening border controls and immigration regulations. About two weeks ago, the Swedish government said that it may expel as many as 80,000 refugees and migrants whose applications for asylum are expected to be rejected. The European Commission voiced support for Swedens announcement, with a spokesperson saying member states have an obligation to return people who lack grounds for asylum. Constitutional Court to consider whether the president should return funds used on $23m private renovation. South Africas Constitutional Court has reserved its decision on whether President Jacob Zuma should pay back state money he used to upgrade his private residence. The court said on Tuesday that it will announce the decision at later date once it has been made. In a damning report, South Africas anti-corruption watchdog accused Zuma in 2014 of having benefited unduly from the excessive $23m upgrades to his Nkandla home, which included a swimming pool, a cattle enclosure and an amphitheatre. Zuma, who says that the renovations were essential to improve security, offered last week to repay a portion of the money, but said he wanted the auditor-general and finance minister to determine the amount. READ MORE: Zuma criticised for home upgrade However, opposition parties say Zumas offer is not good enough, adding that Tuesdays court appearance is about fighting corruption. White supremacists are happy that this country is falling apart in the hands of black people, said Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party. We are not going to allow Zuma to make us another failure, another failed African state. Al Jazeeras Haru Mutasa, reporting from Johannesburg, said that South Africas public protector, Thuli Madonsela, had described the security upgrades made to Zumas private home in Nkandla as unethical and unnecessary. ANALYSIS: Missed opportunities for Jacob Zuma South Africas ministry of police has cleared Zuma of any wrongdoing, saying that all the work done to his home was necessary for his protection. Zuma, the head of the ruling African National Congress, has previously defended the upgrades, saying that the accusations against him were unfair given the importance of protecting any head of state. The ANC leader has been criticised over the Nkandla scandal by senior party members and by angry youths in a country battling rampant unemployment and inequality. UNHCR says Ankara obligated by international law to allow in tens of thousands of refugees stranded on border. The United Nations refugee agency has called on Turkey to open the border to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing a government offensive in Aleppo province, who are stranded near the Bab al-Salameh crossing. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler praised Ankara for allowing in a number of wounded refugees and for providing humanitarian assistance to those on the Syrian side of the crossing. But he said the Turkish government needs to extend the opening of the border to others in need of protection and fleeing danger, in accordance with its obligations under international law. Turkey, which is delivering food, water and equipment to build tents to refugees across the border, has said that it will let them in only if necessary under emergency situations. Spindler said that his agency acknowledges the fact that Turkey is already hosting 2.5 million refugees, which has inflicted a huge strain on the countrys economy, and called on the international community to assist Ankara in handling the burgeoning crisis. This is clearly an international crisis and we all have an obligation to assist, he said. The international community has to help countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon that are hosting the vast majority of Syrian refugees. It is unfair that only a few countries have received a brunt of the refugees and taking the enormous responsibility of taking care of them. He also noted the need for a resettlement programme that would see more refugees moved to Europe, North America, Australia, Latin America and other parts of the Middle East. Tragedy in Aleppo worsening Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, have launched a major offensive over the past week in the countryside around Aleppo, which has been divided between government and rebel control for years. Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from the bordering Turkish city of Gaziantep, described a worsening humanitarian tragedy on the ground in Aleppo, as refugee camps overflow and the Syrian government onslaught of the city intensifies. There are thousands of others who are stuck in the town of Azaz, which is just a few kilometres from the Bab al-Salameh crossing, she said. READ MORE: Russia blamed for daily cluster bombings in Syria Already hundreds of families are moving from Azaz, because according to Doctors Without Borders there is no more space, the camps can no longer absorb more people and people are sleeping out in the open. These people are getting on buses and heading to the western side of Aleppo after receiving safe passage from the YPG (Kurdish Peoples Protection Units). At the same time the UN is also warning that hundreds of thousands could be cut off from food if the Syrian government and its allies manage to encircle the rebel-held east of Aleppo city The government is not far from it. In a separate development in the country, Doctors Without Borders said on Tuesday that air strikes last week hit a hospital that it supports in the southern governorate of Deraa, killing three people and wounding at least six, including a nurse. The strike on Tafas field hospital, some 12 km from the Jordanian border, took place on the night of February 5. It caused partial damage to the hospital building, and put its heavily-used ambulance service out of action, the group said in a statement. The humanitarian-aid NGO said that it was the latest medical facility to be hit by air strikes that have been escalating over the past two months, adding that more than 20,000 people have fled the town of Tafas in fear over the air attacks. Turkey has summoned the US ambassador after a US State Department spokesman said Washington did not regard Syrias Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organisation, a Turkish foreign ministry official said. A Turkish foreign ministry official said US Ambassador John Bass was called to the ministry on Tuesday where a senior Turkish official expressed Ankaras concerns. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to make public statements. Ankara sees the PYD as a sister arm of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey and is classed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union. Al Jazeeras Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said the US supports the PYD in its struggle against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed anger on Sunday after a delegation including senior US diplomat Brett McGurk, special envoy to an international coalition fighting ISIL, met Kurdish fighters in Kobane. Asked about the difference of opinion between the two NATO allies on Monday, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said: This is not a new concern, as I said, that the Turks have proffered. And we dont, as you know, recognise the PYD as a terrorist organisation. We recognise that the Turks do, and I understand that. Even the best of friends arent going to agree on everything. Kurdish fighters have been some of the most successful in going after Daesh [ISIL] inside Syria. Sanders and Trump expected to make gains as voters choose party nominees for US presidential election. Billionaire Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders were expected to defeat their mainstream rivals in the New Hampshire primary elections, giving them a much-needed boost as they chase their parties nominations to contest the 2016 US presidential election. On Tuesday, in an election year when Americans seem angry at traditional politicians, the two men held strong leads in polls over their respective opponents, as voters flocked to polling stations in New Hampshire. A RealClearPolitics poll average shows Sanders who has called for nothing short of a political revolution leading 53.3 percent to 40.5 percent in the state, over Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Trump soars ahead in the Republican camp on 31.2 percent with no other candidate above 15 percent. New Hampshire is the second state in the process of picking party nominees for the November 8 election to replace President Barack Obama. For the next few hours, the only thing you will hear is these two results, said Al Jazeeras Alan Fisher, reporting from New Hampshire. Here, most [voters] dont make up their minds until theyre in the booth. On the Democrat side, Sanders has a big lead over Clinton. Its thought he would win. On the Republican side, Trump has a lead as well. READ MORE: New Hampshire, the little state with the big voice Independents make up about 43 percent of the New Hampshire electorate, while Democrats and Republicans make up about 30 percent each. After a strong third-place showing in last weeks Iowa caucuses, the first state to hold a nominating contest, Republican Marco Rubio needs another top-tier finish in New Hampshire to buttress his argument that he is the candidate around whom the partys leadership and wealthy donors should rally. A debate performance by Rubio on Saturday night was widely mocked by Republicans and Democrats, as well as legions on social media, but a robust finish in New Hampshire may help defuse the notion that it did lasting damage. Obama, who has not yet endorsed a Democratic candidate, expressed surprise at the leads in polls held by Trump and Sanders. Early on, often times, voters want to just vent and vote their passions, he told CBS News in an interview that aired on Tuesday. READ MORE: Five things to watch in New Hampshire Voting in New Hampshire, the first presidential primary of the 2016 US election cycle, began at midnight on Tuesday. Nine registered voters in a tiny northern US community of Dixville Notch cast the first ballots, hours before most of the state. That vote went 3-2 to John Kasich over Donald Trump for the Republicans, and 4-0 for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats, the Washington Times reported. That result is sometimes treated as a predictor of how the rest of the state will vote. Voting will conclude by 8pm local time on Wednesday (0100 GMT Thursday). Harare seeking $1.5bn to help save more than a quarter of the population from starving to death, as drought worsens. Zimbabwe has appealed to local businesses and charities for more than $1.5bn aid to save more than a quarter of the population from starvation due to drought. The government of Zimbabwe requires a total of [$1.57bn] with effect from February to December 2016, Zimbabwes vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa said at a news conference in the capital Harare on Tuesday, adding that more than three million people were in need of food and water. The amount of rainfall received to date is inadequate to meet basic household consumption needs as well as support for livelihoods, agriculture and wildlife. Mnangagwas appeal came barely a week after President Robert Mugabe declared a state of disaster in many rural areas hit by severe drought. RELATED: Extreme drought persists across South Africa Zimbabwe has been affected by a regional drought worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has also affected other Southern Africa countries, including South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. Mnangagwa said the southern parts of the country are the worst affected with tens of thousands of cattle dying, boreholes drying-up and dam levels decreasing due to the poor rains. There is a threat to human and animal life as safe water, irrigation water and drinking water sources for animals are increasingly drying up, he said. Most of the funding is sought for the import of foodstuffs but part of the $1.57bn will be used to repair irrigation equipment across the country to increase food production. About 1.5 million metric tonnes of staple maize will be required to feed people from February to December, Mnangagwa added. Fadzai Johannes, a rural farmer, told Al Jazeera that Harare should have come to the rescue of farmers sooner. [The] government keeps saying they are going to help us, but we have not seen anything yet. I dont know what I am going to do. Johannes said. Relief workers in the country are not expecting the situation to improve in the coming weeks. From our expectations we were expecting rains to fall from September to October but that did not happen. That means very few people have managed to grow crops so there could be no food by March, where we normally expect people to have harvested, said Hardlife Takada, emergency response manager at the Plan International development organisation. The World Food Programme, the UNs food-assistance branch, last month said about 14 million people in Southern Africa are facing hunger due to poor harvests in 2015, caused by the latest El Nino. This particular El Nino has brought drier conditions to the southern part of Africa while the east has been hit by wet conditions. We taste an array of foods that played a crucial part in integrating Muslim and Jewish communities into British society. Visitors to London could be forgiven for thinking that they are seeing a quintessentially English city. In fact, behind the picture-postcard facade of some of its most recognisable monuments, the English capital is one of the most multicultural places in the world. More than a third of Londoners belong to an ethnic minority group, making the city of more than eight million people one of the worlds most linguistically diverse. According to 2011 census data, almost every borough is home to at least 100 different languages. Nowhere is this more evident than in the citys East End, an area that has experienced centuries of migration as the traditional first port of call for migrants. In fact, in the 19th century, London became the biggest city in the world thanks to immigration. Food has played a crucial role in integrating these communities into British society: Migrants may lose their language, their customs, and even their religion, but rarely will they lose their food. One street in the East End Brick Lane above all tells this story. With curry now ranking as one of Englands national dishes and Brick Lane the unofficial curry capital, we look beyond the curry houses to explore a lesser-known food history that of the Jewish community that primarily arrived in the 1880s, fleeing persecution in Russia. We also explore the roots of todays Bangladeshi community, the challenges they face, and how their food has become synonymous with Brick Lane. Editors note: This film was first broadcast on Al Jazeera English in 2008. Employees often have access to a great deal of their companys confidential information, which especially in a technology company can be information that is highly valuable. Companies also expect their employees to come up with ideas, work product, and inventions that are useful to the business. To make sure that the employees keep their employers proprietary information confidential, the company typically requires them to sign a Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement. This agreement deals with the confidentiality issues, but it can also provide that the ideas, work product, and inventions that the employee creates which are related to company business belong to the companynot the employee. This seems fair, doesnt it? Because the company is paying the employee to produce such items, you want to make sure that the company has the legal right to those developments. A good Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement will cover the following key points: The employee may not use any of the companys confidential information for his or her own benefit or use. The employee must promptly disclose to the company any inventions, ideas, discoveries, and work product related to the companys business that he or she makes during the period of employment. The company is the owner of such inventions, ideas, discoveries, and work product. The employees employment with the company does not and will not breach any agreement or duty that the employee has with anyone else, nor may the employee disclose to the company or use on its behalf any confidential information belonging to others. The employees confidentiality obligations under the agreement will continue after termination of employment. The agreement does not by itself represent any guarantee of continued employment. Venture capitalists and other investors in startups expect to see that all employees of the company have signed such agreements. In an M&A transaction where the company is sold, the buyers due diligence team will also be looking for these agreements signed by all employees. A sample form of Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement can be found at the Forms & Agreements section of AllBusiness.com. RELATED: Key Issues with Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreements With Consultants Copyright by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved. Dan Barker told about 60 students and Gainesville residents that there is no meaning to life Monday night. Barker, the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the separation of church and state, discussed atheist beliefs. The former evangelical minister said those who dont believe in a god can find purpose to life without religion. Barker said he used to preach the Bible, as some do on Turlington Plaza. I was that guy, he said. Youve seen those guys on campus with the Bible, and theyre very confident about their love of Christ. Barker also spoke about his newest book, Life Driven Purpose: How an Atheist Finds Meaning. He said he wrote the book in response to The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? written by Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church, a megachurch in California. Warrens book emphasizes Gods plan and the necessity of religion, he said. Barker said his book teaches people to find the meaning to life inside themselves instead. He said while there is no overall purpose to life, people can find meaning within their personal lives through work done on earth. Barker said atheists can solve scientific questions, social inequality and poverty to find meaning. If you are working actively to try to surmount those problems, then there is purpose in life, he said. He said not all atheists think life is meaningless. We give value to things that are rare, he said. So we atheists and non-believers acknowledge that our lives are brief, which gives them more value. Julie Bontems, a UF political science and criminology senior, said she wanted to hear Barker speak so she could connect with other atheists. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now I think its very important to have these kind of discussions, the 21-year-old said. She founded Humanists on Campus, a discussion-based non-secular organization, and is a member of Gator Freethought, a student organization that focuses on philosophical views. She said both organizations discuss purpose in life. The definition of atheism varies by person. I think people have this idea who we are, that were cynical, and thats not the reality, Bontems said. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg. Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, speaks to about 60 students and Gainesville residents about atheism and the meaning of life. We give value to things that are rare, he said. So we atheists and non-believers acknowledge that our lives are brief, which gives them more value. Alachua County Emergency Management will host a free seven-week program designed to help citizens respond to crises. Coordinator Ebbin Spellman said Community Emergency Response Team training, or CERT, is a free public program that runs from Feb. 17 to March 16. Every Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., students will learn tactics to survive both natural and man-made disasters, Ebbin said. The deadline to apply is Monday, Spellman said, but anyone who is 18 years or older can still participate if he or she misses sign-ups. Classes will be held at the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center, situated at 1100 SE 27th St. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) started the nationwide CERT program after earthquakes in California created a need for citizens trained in emergency response, Spellman said. The local program is supported by grants and local government. People have a natural instinct to try to help their fellow citizens, he said. Spellman said hell be the primary instructor during the course, which includes fire safety, emergency medical services and disaster psychology. Other instructors will share training from their areas of expertise. John Foltz, a volunteer at the Emergency Operations Center, first took the course in 1999, just one year after Emergency Management Director David Donnelly established it in Alachua County. As citizens, we need to realize that we cant have immediate 911 services during times of crisis, he said. For Foltz, CERT is about training residents to prepare themselves for a future where anything is possible. The benefits of this goes well beyond just the neighborhood, Spellman said. Its something you can carry with you no matter where you are. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now At 2:34 p.m. Monday, the Chipotle on West University Avenue was empty. The smell of steak drifted through the door. By 3:04 p.m., four minutes after the restaurant opened, a line of patrons stretched from the tortilla press to the door. Chipotle locations across the nation were closed Monday for an all-staff meeting to discuss food safety and the recent E. coli outbreak, according to a company Twitter post. As of press time, E. coli found in Chipotle locations across 11 states not including Florida sent 21 people to the hospital during the initial outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A sign on the West University Avenue location informed hungry Chipotle lovers of the meeting, and it promised free burritos for their patience. What it didnt say was this: The burritos wont be available until today. Alex Vance, a 21-year-old UF math and economics junior, received a text about the promotion from his friend. Vance arrived at the restaurant when it opened. He did not bring his wallet. I made it all the way through the line, my bowl was made, and they started ringing me up, Vance said. Vance thought the burrito was free, and even though the coupons wont be released until today, he received it free of charge anyway. He said he eats at Chipotle about once a week, despite the E. coli outbreak. At the end of the day, if I want a burrito, I dont want to go anywhere else, he said. Most guests who arrived at Chipotle came for free burritos, but some had no idea the restaurant was closed at all. Patrons pulled on locked doors before 3 p.m. and were forced to eat elsewhere good news for Firehouse Subs next door. Robert Law, Mondays shift manager at Firehouse Subs, said the restaurant was informed of Chipotles closing and employed extra staff to compensate for an influx of hungry people. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Weve gotten a lot of Chipotle overflow, Law said. Theyre keeping us busy today. Contact Molly Donovan at mdonovan@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Mollyidonovan. Greg Bello, a 20-year-old UF biology sophomore, takes a photo of a sign at Chipotle explaining how to obtain a coupon for a free burrito. Chipotle closed all its stores Monday for a nation-wide company meeting that lasted until 3 p.m. At the only Student Government debate before elections, both Impact Party and Access Party spent the majority of the time hurling insults at each other. Moderator Marna Weston stepped in to remind the candidates about the purpose of the debate. I want to ask all sides to please continue the civility of the Gator tradition of this debate, he said. Monday night at the University Auditorium, executive candidates of the two parties spent an hour debating and answering questions submitted by students. UF President Kent Fuchs also asked questions by video message, in front of a crowd of about 200 students. Each party had two minutes to answer a question, followed by a minute of rebuttal from the other party. The party that answered a question first then had another final 30 seconds for rebuttal. Impact was asked whether it was a rebranding of Swamp Party. Susan Webster, the Impact Student Body presidential candidate, said Impact was a result of Access members leaving their party. So many of my friends have left the Access Party because they want to stand behind proven leadership, she said. JORDAN MCPHERSON Impact Party presidential candidate Susan Webster speaks during the Student Government debate Monday night in the University Auditorium. Topics of discussion during the debate ranged from online voting and gridlock inside Student Senate to preeminence and representing graduate students. Access was critiqued for not having a successful executive term. Kalyani Hawaldar, the Access Party Student Body presidential candidate, argued that Access implemented gender-neutral restrooms across campus, and the executive ticket donated its salaries to the Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program. One of Access platform points last Spring was online voting, which is now on the ballot for the upcoming election. JORDAN MCPHERSON Access Party presidential candidate Kalyani Hawaldar speaks during the Student Government debate Monday night in the University Auditorium. Topics of discussion during the debate ranged from online voting and gridlock inside Student Senate to preeminence and representing graduate students. Hammaad Saber, the Access Student Body candidate for vice president, said online voting hasnt been supported by the majority party in Senate. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The lack of online voting in the 21st century means theres voter suppression, and we fight for the right for every Gator, he said. Webster said she supports online voting. I want to work across the aisle all the time to make sure so we dont have a standstill like we did last year, she said. Lillian Rozsa, the Access Student Body candidate for treasurer, said debate and deliberation create a healthy environment for democracy. Our university is not used to a two-party system, and thats not right, she said. Democracy doesnt function with just one party. After both parties gave their closing statements, Access Party chanted in celebration while Impact Party gathered together. As students filed out of the auditorium, Caroline Kaplan lingered. The 19-year-old said the SG debate was her first time watching any type of political debate. Ill definitely be voting because now I see that its something I shouldnt ignore, the advertising sophomore said. Because it affects everyone, including me. Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004. About 200 students watch and applaud as the executive ticket candidates are introduced for the Student Government debate in the University Auditorium on Monday. The debate, which lasted just more than an hour, is the only one that will occur prior to SG elections, which will take place Feb. 16 and 17. As the Republican contention for who will win the partys primary boils down to just nine candidates only seven being worthy enough for Sunday nights stage a favorite and hopeful among Republican voters is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Particularly popular among Republican youth, Rubio has gained clout in staying relevant to voters despite having to contend with the show-stealing bravado of the partys two frontrunners, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the braggart billionaire Donald J. Trump, placing third in the Iowa caucus just behind The Donald himself. It should come as no surprise that Rubio is attractive to the young Republican constituency: His youth, promise to balance the budget and devotion to the myth of trickle-down economics are hot topics for Republicans who frequent Hot Topic. Here in Florida, his status as a Gator doesnt hurt his popularity either. But what is surprising is hearing a prospective voter speak of Rubio as one of the few truly conservative candidates among the Republican assortment, claiming he is among the few who understand what it is to push for and enact responsible fiscal policies. But Marco Rubio is not a conservative. Rubios subscription to the tenets of modern Republicanism denial of man-made climate change, belief that marriage is between a woman and a man, opposition to anything with Obamas fingerprints on it is enough to grant him the label of a Republican. He has earned that and nobody wants to take that away from him. Of the title of a true conservative, however, Rubio is not worthy. Replacing the Affordable Care Act with tax credits and fewer regulations, cutting corporate taxes to 25 percent (taxes that wont get paid anyway) and capping economic regulations: These are applications of the tenets of conservatism that have duped a good portion of the American population into heralding the Republican party as the fiscal ones. Marco Rubio has supported all of these. And yet, with his promise to balance the budget, Rubio throws all of his supposed conservatism aside when he vows to increase defense spending. Prioritizing defense is the position of warhawks, not conservatives. A true conservative doesnt view the now-defunct and flawed $1.5 trillion F-35 jet as a fiscally responsible maneuver. Republicans who share Rubios sentiments warn about the loom of socialism, regulation and superfluous taxation by the federal government but then advocate excessive spending on a program that taxes the hell out of the American people. The hypocrisy of Rubios stance doesnt end at the advocacy for funding a bigger and badder military. The senators belligerent demeanor when it comes to foreign policy is also one that contradicts the essence of economic conservatism. Promises to have a lasting presence in Iraq and levying tougher sanctions on Iran while scrapping the current nuclear deal are not actions that induce a more fruitful economy. Actually, any investment like the one Rubio proposes militarily in Iraq would equate to a divestment of the American people. The billions of dollars spent on a futile campaign in Iraq are a smack in the face to social programs of value. The campaign would not only cost the American people a substantial sum of money; it would also place a substantial cost of living (literally) on fathers, brothers and husbands. Scrapping the Iran nuclear deal not only increases the risk of further tension between our nation and another in the Middle East, but it also ignores the economic possibilities that can arise from opening up trade routes to Iran. After all, it is a mainstay of free-trade philosophy that a country does not wage war against one with which it trades freely. Advocating for more costly war campaigns in the Levant and vowing to scrap diplomatic relations with Iran are not conservative values: Theyre those of American Republicans. Justin Ford is a UF journalism junior. His column appears on Tuesdays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now As an English major, it goes without saying that books are a huge part of my life. They pile up on any and every flat surface in my apartment, slowly accumulating and overtaking my space. With my meager Ikea bookshelf packed to the brim, Ive started using bedside tables, coffee tables, dressers and desks in an effort to contain them. I roll my eyes at anyone who dares suggest I buy a Kindle and wring my hands when my mother mentions our family history of hoarding. There are books worn and dog-eared from frequent readings, books Ive only half-read, books I promise myself Ill read one day (hello, Infinite Jest), and books that, lets be honest, are just there for aesthetic purposes. I would wager I buy somewhere around 25 books each semester, including those necessary for English courses and ones Ive convinced myself at 2 a.m. I couldnt live without. Needless to say, Ive become a sort of reluctant Amazon expert. Do I wish that I could buy all these books at local independent bookstores? Absolutely. Do I have the time, patience or funds to do this? Hell no. Every time I get an order confirmation email from Amazon, its not without a little guilt. So when a rumor leaked through mall executive Sandeep Mathrani that Amazon planned to open 300 to 400 retail locations, I wasnt sure what to think. As someone whos spent the majority of her life watching major brick-and-mortar bookstores like Borders fall into extinction due largely to Amazons competitive business model, its a strange concept to wrap my head around. While Mathrani quickly rescinded his statement, Amazon maintains that the brick-and-mortar expansion is happening, with the San Diego Union-Tribune reporting that the corporation has begun hiring for stores in Southern California. According to The New York Times, these bookstores would be similar to the Amazon Books store, which opened in Seattle over a year ago. In the store, books are offered at their online price and supplemented with customer ratings and reviews, a concept meant to mimic the traditional Amazon experience while also determining what books are sold at the retail level. Of course, Amazons Kindle, Fire tablets, Echo and other assorted gadgets I couldnt care less about will also be on display. The decor of the Seattle location was described by The Atlantic as Barnes & Noble-like, possibly because it previously belonged to Barnes & Noble. Theres two ways to interpret this vastly unexpected move: as an exciting development placing value in traditional bookstores, or a foreboding sign of Amazons constant consolidation of power. I find myself caught between these camps, as only time will tell what exactly this decision means for the book market. Media outlets have had similarly diverging responses, with article titles ranging from The Atlantics Did Amazon Just Replace the Public Library? to Gizmodos Amazon Will Open Physical Bookstores Because Life Is a Practical Joke Played On Us All. Despite many literary enthusiasts predicting the collapse of the traditional bookstore as we know it, Im not convinced. Even as Borders and Barnes & Noble took massive hits from Amazon, smaller, indie bookstores experienced an unexpected resurgence, nearly doubling in numbers since 2009, according to the American Booksellers Association. Lets face it, the book lovers arent going anywhere anytime soon. We keep forgetting that passionate consumers dont operate according to capitalist economics, because theyre driven by something much more compelling. Above all, Amazons expansion is a signal that a market traditionally viewed as stagnant and archaic is gradually evolving. Perhaps these stores will have the same fate as their predecessors, or perhaps theyll flourish thats for the business majors to figure out. All I know is Im eager to see where it goes, and Im definitely going to need a bigger bookshelf. Marisa Papenfuss is a UF English junior. Her column appears on Tuesdays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now As enticing and accessible as the 2016 presidential election is, there are other issues we Floridians ought to concern ourselves with. Im speaking in particular of the Pastor Protection Act, which would absolve pastors of any liability to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. A same-sex couples ability to wed would rest solely on the personal beliefs of an individual pastor, essentially undermining last years Supreme Court decision to lift all state-sanctioned bans on gay marriage. While Floridas Pastor Protection Act awaits a final vote on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives, it still has two Florida Senate committees left before reaching the Senate floor for a vote. In the meantime, though, its worth opening up a conversation about the issue at hand. We often hear opposition to same-sex marriage framed by moral terminology, inspired by ideals of the sanctity of marriage or family values. First, what qualifies a marriage as being sacred? The marriage rate has steadily declined in recent years, and 40 to 50 percent of U.S. marriages end in divorce. So, sanctity is not necessarily defined by marital longevity. Many then argue that the sanctity is defined by the joining of a man and a woman. By this logic, any family environment provided by a same-sex couple, no matter how happy and stable, will inevitably fall morally inferior to that provided by a heterosexual couple even if said heterosexual couple is neglectful or abusive. I urge you to consider which metric is more important for family values: the joining between a man and woman, or the actual dynamic of the home and family. The point is that sanctity of marriage and family values are entirely subjective notions. When talking about the Pastor Protection Act, we must keep in mind that were ultimately discussing the preferences and religiously motivated intentions of a certain population of pastors and religious clerics who decry homosexuality as sinful, and thereby dismissible. In my view, the Bibles rejection of same-sex relations is not enough justification to reject homosexuality more broadly. Our society commits sins all the time by collectively outlawing actions that the Bible would have us perform. Slavery, capital punishment for adultery, stoning non-virgin brides: These are all Biblically permissible practices from which we have distanced ourselves for the betterment of society. Accepting same-sex marriage is part of this natural progression a reconciliation between religious values and modern societal practices. With these criticisms in mind, the last line of defense for the Pastor Protection Act typically regards the individual liberty of pastors. Voices like that of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argue, No Pastor, Priest, Rabbi or other religious leader should be forced to perform or recognize a marriage that contradicts his or her sincere religious belief. To this, I reference John Adams argument that we are a government of laws and not men. Individual liberty is commendable insofar as the liberty of others and the communal good are protected. For example, I work as a copy editor with the Alligator on Wednesday nights. Im also not a particular fan of Obama-Nazi rhetoric. However, if I were to edit a story with a writer who proudly wears a T-shirt of a Hitler-mustachioed Obama as much as it might pain me I must swallow my pride and give this hypothetical individual fair treatment by law. Likewise, in spite of strong moral opposition from some religious clerics, a same-sex couples 14th Amendment right to equal opportunity and non-discrimination supersedes the individual beliefs of certain pastors. While the Pastor Protection Act still has a way to go before reaching Gov. Rick Scotts desk for approval, I think its important for us Floridians to openly discuss the issues out in the open, rather than allow our representatives to make decisions for us behind closed doors. As for marriage itself, I defer to comedian Bill Burrs argument that marriage is an absolutely insane thing to do: gay or straight. Gays have no idea what theyre walking into. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now David Hoffman is a UF history and physics sophomore. His column appears on Tuesdays. Judge, jury and executioner: Although this idiom is meant to refer to someone having ultimate power and authority over ones fate, the legal system of the U.S. is designed in such a way that these three functions are meant to remain relatively distinct and act with a measure of independence from one another. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court found two of these roles to be a little too close for its liking in the case of Hurst v. Florida. In an 8-1 ruling, the court found that Floridas methodology for imposing the death penalty was unconstitutional, violating the Sixth Amendments stipulation that a defendant have the right to an impartial jury. The ruling was predicated on the premise that far too much power is allotted to Floridian judges when considering aggravating or mitigating circumstances (factors that, respectively, increase or decrease the severity of a sentence) that would qualify a defendant for the death penalty. In the eyes of the court, the Sixth Amendment requires Florida to base Timothy Hursts death sentence on a jurys verdict, not a judges factfinding, according to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who delivered the majority opinion. The opinion continues: Floridas sentencing scheme, which required the judge alone to find the existence of an aggravating circumstance, is therefore unconstitutional. The case was reversed and remanded, meaning that it was now the Florida Supreme Courts responsibility to adjust Floridian law in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling. Although the decision was issued Jan. 12, it would not be until last Tuesday, Feb. 2, that the ruling in Hurst v. Florida would have a discernible impact on our states legal proceedings. As reported in these very pages, the Florida Supreme Court delayed the execution of Cary Michael Lambrix. Lambrix, who was convicted of the murders of Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant in 1983, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection this Thursday. After hearing arguments for and against applying the Hurst ruling retroactively which would most likely result in Lambrix and others on Floridas death row having their sentences reduced to life in prison, rather than execution it is now up to the justices on Floridas highest court to decide whether to go ahead with the execution of Lambrix and the 388 others languishing on death row. Concurrently, members of the Florida House of Representatives are working to draft a bill that would bring our states death penalty statute in line with those of other states and the U.S. Supreme Courts interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. It should surprise few that we strongly believe this should never have been an issue to begin with. The death penalty is a barbaric punishment fit only for barbaric societies: It is morally presumptuous, a drain on our tax dollars, a prominent blemish on our democracy and, here in the U.S., tinged with a considerable degree of racism and classism. For a country that so emphatically prides itself on being a pluralistic, self-determining society, the U.S. seems all too comfortable in the same company as China, Iran and North Korea when it comes to murdering its own citizens. Whether Lambrix and others are granted a permanent reprieve, we have no doubts that the Florida Legislature will find a way to ensure future sentences legally satiate their bloodlust. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed US$35.6 million from the U.S. Governments McGovernDole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program to enable WFP to maintain its sustainable School Meals Programme in Ivory Coast for the next five years. The McGovern-Dole Program (MGD) donation, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, allows WFP []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 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] Conversational user interfaces, which let consumers ask for what they want in their own words, are a staple in the mobile world overall. For bank apps, though, the approach is decidedly cutting edge. That makes Orrstown Bank a trendsetter. The Shippensburg, Pa., bank wanted to give consumers an option that would let them easily ask the bank their questions via a smartphone, rather than wait on hold over the phone. Consumers "don't want to spend their time on that call," said Shashi Korithiwada, the digital technology director at Orrstown. In February 2015, the $1.2 billion-asset company introduced a feature that lets customers text with its bank agents using tech from Twilio, a private company in San Francisco that is used by companies like Uber. Text alerts are an increasingly popular way to flag potential fraud or keep customers informed about their account balances, but Orrstown's text function goes a step beyond. Its customers can text the bank requesting that an agent contact them on something personal or to ask a representative on how to get online banking access, for instance. "It's like the next level of live chat," Korithiwada said. The bank has been receiving fewer live chat sessions since launching the popular communication option. And luckily, most of the texts thus far are coming to bank agents during typical workday business hours. No matter what time customers text the bank, they receive an immediate response acknowledging the message but agents only follow up during business hours. The text function is part of a push to enhance the technology at Orrstown, something it has been doing for a few years now. Another tech feature it rolled out in 2015 was to bake in a Zillow-like functionality into its website. With the update, customers can look up housing listings in the community which has been adding value to local Realtors. Behind all the Web updates is a motivation by the bank to encourage engagement to deepen digital relationships, and then, to sell when appropriate. "That's the nirvana," said Ben Wallace, the executive vice president of operations and technology at Orrstown Bank. Heartland Financial USA in Dubuque, Iowa, has completed its acquisition of CIC Bancshares in Denver and made related executive moves. Heartland said it paid $83.5 million for CIC, the parent of Centennial Bank in Denver. With the closing, Centennial Bank was merged with Summit Bank and Trust in Bloomfield, Colo. The combined entity is Centennial Bank and Trust, the $8 billion-asset Heartland said Monday. Steven Ward, who for the past eight years has been president and chief executive of another Heartland subsidiary, the $757 million-asset Illinois Bank & Trust in Rockford, was named Centennial's president, the Denver bank said Monday. Jeff Hultman was promoted from market president to president and CEO of Illinois Bank & Trust, the subsidiary said Monday. Hultman joined the bank in 2011 as executive vice president of commercial, treasury management and private banking after working for JPMorgan Chase. Before joining Illinois Bank & Trust, Ward was senior vice president and regional president at Amcore Bank. Previously he was first vice president of underwriting at American National Bank and Trust Co. in Chicago. WASHINGTON The Obama administration announced a new cybersecurity strategy on Tuesday, calling for a 35% increase in funding to bolster private and public defenses and the creation of a new chief information security officer position for the government. President Obama has frequently cited worries about cybersecurity, including last year when the White House held a cybersecurity summit in at Stanford University in California. But high-profile data breaches, like one at the Office of Personnel Management that exposed the personal information of more than 20 million government employees, have served as a stark reminder that more needs to be done. The administration's 2017 budget, which is to be released Tuesday morning, earmarks $19 billion to fund cybersecurity improvements. Following are some of the highlights of the "Cybersecurity National Action Plan": More money to bolster federal government cybersecurity The proposed budget calls for a $3.1 billion "down payment" on the Information Modernization Fund, which will be a revolving fund used to update and replace outdated infrastructures, networks and systems. The president is also requiring agencies to identify their most valuable and highest-risk assets and increasing shared services within the federal government so that individual agencies do not have to build their own systems in-house. The White House said it has created a new position, federal chief information security officer, to lead cybersecurity initiatives. The administration added that it is also "dramatically increasing the number of federal civilian cyber defense teams" at the Department of Homeland Security to 48. Encouraging the use of multifactor authentication The administration said it wants the public and others to rely less on a single password as a source of authentication. It wants to add a second method, such as a text-messaged code or fingerprint, that would be required along with a password in order to access services or make payments. Multifactor authentication will also be fast-tracked for government services such as tax and benefits information. Under the plan, the government will also reduce its use of Social Security numbers. The Small Business Administration would also partner with the Federal Trade Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide cybersecurity training to 1.4 million small businesses. Assisting the private sector The Department of Homeland Security will double the number of cybersecurity advisors available to the private sector. They will help with cyber assessments and implementation. The agency is also partnering with industry to develop a "Cybersecurity Assurance Program" to certify "Internet of Things" technology. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is also asking for feedback to improve its cybersecurity framework, which has been used as a baseline for a number of agencies' own cybersecurity requirements. In the spring, the administration will release a national cyber incident coordination policy so that government agencies can have a methodology in determining the severity of a breach and determine the needed level of attention and remediation. Creating a new government council Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday to create a permanent Federal Privacy Council that will focus on reforming the federal government's privacy guidelines and continue to review policies as new technologies and the use of "Big Data" become more prevalent. The administration is also seeking to establish a commission of "top strategic, business, and technical thinkers from outside of government" to make suggestions on how to improve cybersecurity. Everybody hates bankers and Wall Street, and so politicians hate them too. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has made much of Hillary Clintons Wall Street connections. I dont know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street, Sanders has said. Hillary accuses Bernie of innuendo. But they both want you to believe that greedy bankers rather than stupid government policy cause the Crash of 2008. So we need Dodd-Frank to keep the bankers tame and obedient. My thinking on greedy bankers diverged from the conventional wisdom many years ago when I read an article about the most important government program. It is not the armed forces, or even the Social Security pensions. The most important program is the governments program to sell its debt. To do that it needs bankers. Think of banker Jay Cooke, who sold the bonds that paid for the Civil War. Now you know why politicians and bankers get on so well, despite the politicians pretending that they hate bankers and bankers pretending that theres nobody here but us chickens. They need each other. So of course Hillary goes speechifying to Goldman Sachs; of course Ted Cruz married a Goldman Sachs banker; of course Chelsea Clinton married a Goldman Sachs alumnus. You could say that they are all in the same business. My son-in-law tells me that Goldman encourages its bankers so marry into politics. Of course, the bankers are just middlemen. Behind the bankers are the merchants. The merchants have always run on credit, and they know a lot about it. But credit is not enough. Businesses need a stable and predictable economic environment, and they need protection from pirates and plunderers. The politicians need credit to finance their political machines and to protect their regimes from foreign invaders. Its a marriage made in heaven, with the matchmaking bankers in the middle. Its just like Oklahoma: the CEO and the politician should be friends. But nobody, particularly the left, is satisfied with a bunch of guys taking care of business. They want to see a vast Cruzian conspiracy for world domination instead of this happy marriage. Writes young leftist Fredrik deBoer: A functioning, healthy left political movement would recognize the fundamental illegitimacy of the nation-state. It would see that structure as the product of capitalism and imperialism. It would recognize the nation-state as recently invented for the express purpose of enabling war. (Dontcha just love that lefty-speak?) The problem with deBoers statement is that it is half true, but completely misses the point. Yes, the nation-state was invented for enabling war -- but out of desperation, not cunning. A monarch like Henry VIII desperately needed to disarm his nobles, create a national army, and fund it from national taxes and credit from the London merchants because otherwise England would have become a province of France or Spain. On this view, capitalism and imperialism were not a cause of the nation-state but a consequence of the successful condominium between the nation-state monarch and the credit of the merchants. Once the nation-state project got started, with the merchants funding the monarch and the monarch protecting the merchants trade, whats not to like? How about a blue-water navy to protect the merchants argosies as they sailed the oceans of the world? How could the merchants not call for a bit of muscle when the going got tough in North America, in India, in Africa, or in China? Hey, if Melissa Click does it The only trouble is that power is power, and it needs to be limited because otherwise the powerholders will abuse their power and foul the nest. You expect a politician like Hillary Clinton to romance the bankers: she needs the money. You expect the Googles to twist arms for a bit of net-neutrality in exchange for helping the Obama campaign with their Big Data. But someone has to tell them when to stop. The nation-state plus capitalism, plus imperialism, plus bankers, plus CEOs is the most powerful thing ever. Why, it has increased per-capita income by 3,000 percent in 200 years. But it still needs to be housetrained. Thats why I hate all this talk about greedy bankers and wailing about the power of Goldman Sachs. Instead, lets get to work rebalancing the credit system and keep the governments influence to a dull roar. Lets not just rail against crony capitalists, but just work every day to keep the rules of the market system fair and honest. Dont rail against uncontrolled immigration, just keep it sensible and lawful. Its up to us, the voters. Politicians gotta fund their political machines. CEOs gotta pay-to-play. But we are called to limit the corrupt bargain between politicians and their cronies, in other words to limit government. And thats just what Bernie and Hillary and the Millennial Kids for Socialism dont understand. Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class. In September 2015, the photo of a three-year-old Syrian child lying dead on a Turkish beach next to his mother and five-year-old brother, who had all drowned, as had over 2,000 others, was a poignant picture. Everyone recognizes the need for humanitarian assistance to a reasonable degree for those trying to escape from the brutality of the war in Syria and barbarous Islamist terrorism. While recognizing the moral problem involved, the countries of Europe are confronted with the pragmatic problem of responding in the context of 4.6 million Middle East refugees seeking asylum and 13.5 million people needing assistance inside Syria. The numbers will grow as the civil war in Syria continues and ISIS, the Islamic State, still exists. There are three factors involved. The first is the unwelcome straightforward issue of the number of would-be migrants, genuine refugees, from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somali, and Eritrea, who can realistically be accepted by European countries and, to a lesser extent, by the United States. A second is whether those migrants, mostly Muslim, can be satisfactorily integrated into Western democratic societies. Already in 2015, more than 1 million people came to Europe by sea, and another 34,000 by land. A third problem is the fear that some of them may be Islamists or jihadists prepared to cause harm, rather than genuine refugees. By coincidence, these factors were discussed on successive days, February 3 and February 4, 2016. On the first day, the president of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, said that migration into European by people, almost all Muslims, is a serious threat to Western values, culture, and identity. It is now clear that a considerable number of those seeking asylum are not genuine refugees fleeing war. Tougher laws are needed to prevent migrants from entering Europe simply because they are in search of a better life. The West should try to some extent to help those in distress or who are being persecuted but not those people who are not really in need. On February 4, 2016 a conference in London attended by representatives of 60 countries was held to raise funds to assist in the humanitarian crisis and to provide jobs and schools for refugees. Held one day after peace talks in Geneva on Syria had failed and been suspended, the London conference agreed to raise more than $10 billion, the largest amount raised in one day in response to a humanitarian crisis. The sum of $6 billion was raised for 2016 and almost $5 billion for future years. Germany is to provide $2.5 billion, the UK $1.75 billion, the European Union $2.3 billion, and the U.S. $925 million. This aid, however, does not resolve the European underlying dilemma and disagreements about admitting migrants, and the numbers of them, a dilemma that also faces the United States. The heated debate among the Republican presidential candidates continues on the various related issues: amnesty for illegal immigrants, temporary visas, green cards, the banning of all Muslims from entering the country, and the need to secure the U.S. border. Already, 30 governors have declared that their states will not accept any of the 10,000 Syrians who President Barack Obama had suggested could enter the country, while some of the presidential candidates have suggested admitting only Christian Syrians. The debate is even more heated among the European countries, facing the largest migration crisis since World War II. Many European citizens regard immigration as the major political concern and one that for two reasons calls for strict limitation on numbers that should be admitted. One reason is that it is simply not feasible for European societies now encountering economic difficulties to manage to incorporate a large influx of foreigners, who would be a burden on resources. The other is the reasonable expectation that the nature of their society would be changed for the worse. That concern has a number of practical dimensions. The countries of the European Union, more concerned with their own interests than with collective EU solidarity, have difficulty in agreeing on a solution on admitting migrants. In September 2015, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker declared that the 160,000 asylum seekers would be divided according to quotas based on country size and economic output among the 28 countries of the EU. Germany, which has taken disproportionate numbers, was to take 17,000, and France 12,000, but the U.K. opted out of this quota proposal. The U.K. did not join the earlier plan in 2015 to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece and Italy more evenly. Instead, it built walls around the entrance of the Channel Tunnel to prevent migrants camped in Calais from entering it to get to Britain. One fear has been that refugee camps in European countries may become breeding grounds for jihadists. That has come true according to new reports about young people in the Traiskirchen migrant camp in Austria, which holds 1,500 individuals. Those young people have apparently become radicalized because of the difficulty in becoming and their unwillingness to become integrated into Austrian society. Austria, with a population of 9 million, received 90,000 asylum claims, but many of the claims were by economic, not political, migrants. The Austrian government deported 12,500 and argued that the European Union should stop giving aid to those Middle East countries that refuse to take back nationals whose asylum claims were rejected. All the European countries recognize that the influx of migrants has caused difficulties in their social, economic, and political systems. They face increasing burdens on social welfare programs. Those countries where unemployment is nearly 11 percent have cut benefits. Politically, many of the countries have witnessed the rise of far-right and nationalist political parties who call for limits on immigration, especially by those of Muslim culture and religion, who they argue are difficult to integrate into the existing system or, even worse, may be hostile to it, as has been shown by the Islamist violence in Malmo, Sweden. Among these parties are the French National Front, Dutch Party of Freedom, UKIP in the U.K., the Italian Lega Nord, the Swedish Democrats, Pegida and Alternative for Germany in Germany, the Austrian Freedom Party, the Danish Peoples Party, the Progressive party in Norway, the Finns in Finland, the Golden Dawn in Greece, the Flemish Interest in Belgium, the PVV in The Netherlands, and Jobik and Fidesz in Hungary. They change the landscape in European politics. Some of these parties are virulent in their opposition to immigration and their fear of the challenge to Western values. Nevertheless, two factors are relevant. It is not racist to suggest that, for practical reasons, reasonable limits be put on those attempting to immigrate. Considering the millions desiring to leave not only from the Middle East, but also from Africa, Europe faces the possibility of an enormous increase in scale and an uncontrollable pressure. That pressure becomes even more potent since the native population of Europe is aging and declining. More important is the perceived threat of Muslim migrants to Western values and the possibility of social, cultural, and religious conflicts, and especially Islamist terrorism, they may bring. The question is not one of discrimination, but of real differences: educational levels, cultural behavior, and religious and political views. The Finnish president on February 3, 2016 said, "We have to ask ourselves whether we aim to protect European values and people or inflexibly stick to the letter of our international obligation with no regard for the consequences." If Western democracies are to survive the answer is obvious. Russ Ramsland is a Tea Party leader and a Harvard MBA who has built businesses and created jobs in countless fields including oil & gas, communications and real estate right here in Texas. He is a native of West Texas and a long-time resident of Dallas who currently lives in Texas's 32nd congressional district. This is the same district that Congressman Pete Sessions, the chairman of the House Rules Committee and a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee currently represents. Russ is running against Rep. Pete Sessions because as he states our so-called representatives, some of whom have been in Washington almost 20 years, are no longer representing our values and priorities. Washington is no longer listening to us, Ramsland states. As a principled constitutional conservative, Ramsland is in the same place as Katrina Pierson was two years ago, challenging incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions in the Republican primary. Sessions won a seat in Congress in 1996. He now chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, which shapes legislation and decides how bills are debated and amended on the floor. Pete Sessions is considered by some pundits to be a loyal establishment-type Republican, a Republican in Name Only (RINO) to be precise. Ramsland says, "The voters of the 32nd district want to secure the border and enforce our immigration laws, replace Obamacare with free market healthcare reforms and return control of education to Texas and to parents. I am running because I believe that they should have an opportunity to be represented by someone who wants the same things." The question on everyones mind is: can Rep. Sessions be defeated? Can Mr. Ramsland dethrone the heavyweight, deep-pocketed Republican Pete Sessions? Russ says yes. It has been done before here in Texas when Ted Cruz defeated the wealthy and powerful establishment-backed David Dewhurst in the 2012 GOP primary and went on to win the nomination in a runoff. He also states that Pete Sessions can be defeated in the same fashion Eric Cantor (the Representative from Virginia who was in line to be the next Speaker of the House) was defeated in the primary to the challenger, Dave Brat. Russ believes he can unseat Rep. Sessions if his constituents learn more about Rep. Sessions modus operandi and his voting records. Freedom Works has listed a number of issues on which Rep. Pete Sessions has voted yes: Pete Sessions voted for the Wall Street Bailout (T.A.R.P.). He voted for the ineffective "Super Committee" Debt Hike; voted for the Fiscal Cliff Tax Hike; voted against Reining in the NSA. Pete Sessions has consistently voted for the PATRIOT Act; voted for Medicare Part D; voted for Big Agriculture's Corporate Welfare Bill; voted for Massive Pork-Barrel Spending. Pete Sessions voted for Gas Mileage Standards and Massive Subsidies for Green Energy. Erick Erickson wrote a piece on Red State about Congressman Pete Sessions, who steadfastly avoids serious town halls where he may face conservatives or tea party activists. In Dallas he got caught on camera claiming: 1. That he was unable to get ObamaCare defunding language from Senator Cruz (false), and 2. That this language supposedly does not work (language he cosponsors). "Pete Sessions has long since been in need of a challenge, but he's now surpassed uselessness and turned into an outright enemy of those of us trying to stop ObamaCare." In November 2015, an ethics complaint was filed against Pete Sessions & Jeb Hensarling. These are the sort of tokens of affection Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling were paid by their pimps: On March 26, 2015, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas signed on to co-sponsor HR 1266 a new version of 2011s HR 1121, which experts said would hobble the CFPB. The very next day he received a $2,700 campaign contribution from a payday lending industry PAC. [Congress.gov, HR 112; Congress.gov, HR 1266; Sessions FEC Filing] Rep. Jeb Hensarling [TX-5] (Received $85,750 from Payday Lenders from 2011-15) Rep. Pete Sessions [TX-32] (Received $38,280 from Payday Lenders from 2011-15) The media finally caught up with this story and WFAA issued a report on the ethics complaint against both Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling. In his speeches, Ramsland argues that Rep. Sessions, as part of the Washington establishment is out of touch with the views of the 32nd district. It is widely known that Rep. Sessions is not really living in Texas, but instead, resides in Florida. "The couple owns a house near Orlando, though Mr. Sessions listed a Dallas apartment as his address when he filed for re-election." In a New York Times op-ed, Rep. Sessions denied the accusation and said in an emailed statement that he still lived in Dallas, though he also spent time in Florida. My wife and I are working hard to make our combined families work well, Mr. Sessions said. With five boys living in four cities and the two of us working in three different cities, it is clearly a balancing act. Today our country and our party are at a crossroads. The reign of the ossified old Republican establishment is about to be ended by a new generation of principled conservatives. Russ Rasmland represents this new breed of Republicans, destined to revive the party that stands for the best hopes of all Americans. There is a serious dispute among the Republican presidential candidates on one of the most important foreign policy issues facing America. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump want the United States to join with Russia and Iran in backing Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad as a necessary policy to fight the ISIS terrorist group. Marco Rubio is willing to use U.S. military forces to defeat ISIS and set up a no-fly zone over the non-Assad controlled regions of Syria, thereby containing Assad and putting a check to the expansion of the power of the Kremlin-Iran alliance across the Middle East. In this dispute, Rubio is right, and Cruz and Trump are dead wrong. In the first place, the Assad-Kremlin-Iran alliance is not a useful partner in fighting ISIS. On the contrary, as many astute analysts have noted, for example here, and here, there is plenty of evidence that Assad has been deeply involved in creating and supporting the ISIS group. These actions include releasing most of the ISIS leadership from his jails in 2011, providing the group with funds by purchasing its oil, and providing the terrorists with direct tactical air support for their attacks on the Free Syrian Army and other elements of the regimes real opposition. Assads game plan in doing this is simple. By building up the deliberately-horrifying ISIS and helping it wipe out the Western-backed rebels, Assad hopes to present the world with a choice of just two alternatives: ISIS or himself. The Kremlin is also not a suitable ally against ISIS. On October 31, an airliner carrying over 200 Russians was brought down by a bomb, supposedly planted onboard by ISIS. In response, Russia has sent troops and squadrons of aircraft to Syria for the stated purpose of retaliation. Yet very few of Putins blows have been directed against ISIS. Instead, his aircraft, like of Assad, have been raining destruction on Syrian civilians in regions far removed from ISIS control. This discrepancy, which has been noted sharply noted by many observers, raises some very serious questions regarding the Kremlins actions and true intentions. Who really planted the bomb on the Russian airliner? If it was really ISIS, the Russians would be tearing them to pieces right now. But they are not. Why not? Is it possible that the bomb was planted by the FSB to provide a pretext for sending Russian armed forces into Syria? Suggesting that the FSB might be behind the murder of over 200 Russians may seem outrageous to some people. Such people are extremely naive. In fact, the FSB is an organization which, under other names, such as NKVD and KGB, has murdered millions of Russians within living memory. Moreover, it was Putins FSB which, posing as Chechens, detonated bombs in Moscow and other cities in 1999, killing over 300 Russians to provide the terror necessary to justify the dictators seizure of absolute power. There is no question about this: After a string of these bombings in Moscow, Russian cops on the beat in Ryazan actually caught FSB agents in the act of planting another bomb in an apartment building. For those who want further details, former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko wrote an entire book, Blowing Up Russia, laying out the entire operation, for which he was subsequently murdered in London by FSB agents using signature polonium poison -- as a British court recently reconfirmed. So Putin and his FSB unquestionably have the character and track record to support the suspicion that they might be responsible for placing a bomb on the Russian airliner. But whether or not they did the bombing, they certainly have taken advantage of it to step up their game in Syria. So what is the Putin gang really up to in Syria? They certainly want to save the Assad regime, and with it, their key naval base in the Mediterranean. But in fact, they are playing for much higher stakes. To understand that, it is necessary to take a step back and look at their global strategic objectives. Now that they have beaten off the threat of democracy in Russia, the Kremlinites are on the offensive to retake all that they lost in the Cold War, and more. Their strategic doctrine, known as Eurasianism, holds that to resist the encroaching threat of Western liberalism posed by the Atlantic maritime powers, the Eurasian heartland must be united under a new Moscow-led totalitarian synthesis. As Vladimir Putin put it during a four-hour TV extravaganza broadcast promoting his April 2014 invasion of Ukraine, the goal is to create one Eurasia, from Lisbon to Vladivostok. In Syria, Putin is aggressively moving this agenda forward by helping his client Assad bomb and gas hundreds of thousands of Syrians to death, and millions into exile. In 2012, General David Petraeus warned President Obama that this activity, if not stopped, would create a geopolitical Chernobyl, and he was right. Over a million of these refugees have been stampeded to Europe, where their arrival is stoking the political fortunes of a host of national socialist parties strongly allied to Moscow. Some American conservatives have cheered the growth of these parties. They should not. The conceptual spectrum of Left and Right have little utility in understanding this phenomenon; red and black can readily serve as alternative costumes for similar actors. Designations of East and West would be more useful, with the East end of the spectrum tending towards tyranny and the West toward freedom. As designed by its chief ideologist, Aleksandr Dugin, Eurasianist ideology embraces all the main anti-liberal movements, including communism, fascism, ecologism, and traditionalism. The perplexed might ask: What do all these apparently disparate enemies of freedom have in common? The answer is simple: They are all enemies of freedom. The continental European ultranationalists are not conservatives in the Anglo-American sense, because they are radical opponents of individual liberty. They are thus firmly in Dugins camp of the East, not the West. As the parties of the European center have no idea of how to handle the situation, the Kremlins tribalists are on the march, and not only the European Union, but even the unity of individual European nations is starting to become unglued. This is a key element of Putins plan. Once Europe is shattered, with some pieces under Quisling leadership, the whole squabbling assortment will be easy prey for Kremlin domination. A second element is how the victory of the Iran-client Assad regime would affect the Middle East itself. The Eurasianist plan requires bringing in the Mideast into the fold under the domination of a revived Persian empire, which will join with Moscow as a junior partner in the anti-Western continental block. With the acquiescence of the Obama administration, which has removed the obstacles posed by the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which will shortly be providing hundreds to billions to dollars in funds to help things along, Iran is taking advantage of the situation to establish its control over a swatch of territory stretching from Lebanon to the Hindu Kush. With its geopolitical position thus strengthened, Iran will then be able to accelerate the development of its nuclear arsenal without threat of effective outside interference. The menace that this poses to the United States and its allies is beyond calculation. As noted, President Obama, heedless of the warning of his wisest advisor (whom he chose to persecute instead), has been a willing collaborator in this unfolding disaster. It is also understandable that a radical leftist like Bernie Sanders, or a Putin admirer like Donald Trump, should support such a policy. But one would have hoped for better from Ted Cruz. ISIS is a criminal terrorist entity that needs to be wiped out. But this cant be done by supporting those who are profiting by its existence. Furthermore, the idea that we need Assads legions in order to defeat ISIS is categorically absurd. ISIS has about 40,000 men under arms, which is about the same as the Taliban had in 2001. In Operation Enduring Freedom, the Bush administration eliminated the Taliban state in 60 days (operations began October 7, 2001, the last Taliban city fell December 7, 2001). This was done by providing arms, advisors, and massive tactical air support to the Northern Alliance to roll back the Taliban, with judicious use of American airmobile forces (less than 10,000 were involved) to encircle the Taliban from behind whenever they took a stand. The same tactics (with the Kurds playing the role of the Northern Alliance) could be used to end the caliphate within a similar time frame, if the American government were inclined to do so. It is only the studied self-imposed impotence of the Obama administration that has created the impression that we must ask Putin, Iran and Assad to bring order to the Middle East -- and thus accept the order that they choose to bring. As a result of Obama administration fecklessness, the Russians are now in Syria, making removal of Assad nearly impossible. But we dont need to back Assads genocidal consolidation of the new Iranian empire, or help him flood Europe with a million more refugees to destabilize the continent for Moscow. What we need to do is give full support to our own allies to help them wipe out ISIS, seize its territory, and declare a no-fly zone over all the land outside of Assad control, thereby providing security for the people and a basis for the partition and stabilization of the country. This is the sort of policy that Rubio is advocating, and he is right. Nothing less than the Atlantic Alliance, and with it, the Pax Americana, are at stake. We dont need Assad to defeat ISIS, and Trump and Cruz are horribly wrong to suggest that we do. We cant use Assad to defeat ISIS, and Trump and Cruz are horribly wrong to suggest that we can. America needs to lead our allies from the front, not follow our enemies from behind. Robert Zubrin is president of Pioneer Energy of Lakewood, Colo., and the author of Energy Victory. The paperback edition of his latest book, Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism, was recently published by Encounter Books. Hillary Clinton cares only about power, and she will do anything for power's sake. Most of America already knew that ugly fact, but now, perhaps, the leftists so in love with Bernie Sanders will begin to see this creepy crone as her true self: an amoral monster. The Clintons cheat. Sanders supporters seem to suspect that Clinton has cheated Sanders out of a victory in Iowa. Two stories of delegate fraud by Clinton supporters against Sanders have emerged in Iowa Precinct 43 and then in Ames District 1-3. Six times, coin tosses decided how deadlocked precincts would go, and surprise! Hillary won all six of the coin tosses. Given the microscopic lead Clinton had in the Iowa caucus of 49.9% for Clinton and 49.6% for Sanders, any fraud could have cost Sanders a victory, for which his supporters had campaigned so hard. So all those voters who drove long hours in Iowa winter nights to hear Sanders speak might have been cheated by corrupt party hacks controlled by the Clinton machine. What will happen if Sanders really feels that he was cheated out of victory? What will happen if the enthusiastic supporters and volunteers for Sanders begin to believe, and to tell Sanders directly, that the Clinton machine is lying and cheating its way through the nomination battle? Bernie Sanders, so far, has scrupulously avoided challenging Hillary on her honesty, but it is only his personal decision to maintain this position that protects Clinton. Sanders, not actually a Democrat, has gone to great lengths to remain loyal to that political party he caucuses with in the Senate, although he clearly has no duty to act that way. Sanders owes the Democratic Party nothing. If Sanders or his supporters begin to directly attack the honesty and integrity of Hillary Clinton, then she could face the convergence from three different directions of such attacks. The more the Republican nomination winnows out candidates, the more Republicans will focus their attacks on Hillary as a venal and corrupt politician who can be trusted with nothing. Candidates have already begun to shift fire from fellow Republicans to Hillary, who is anathema to conservatives. The field for these Republican attacks is vast. Remember: Hillary has never run in a national campaign against Republicans before, and she has run only in very safe races in general, like as a senator from New York or in Democrat primaries. She has not even begun to feel the full fury of a Republican campaign in a general election. What if, for example, if a Republican candidate asked Hillary if she believed Juanita Broaddrick? Wouldn't Hillary say something obviously false for example, that she had never heard the allegation that her husband is a brutal rapist? What if family members of the Americans slain in Benghazi begin to tell the nation in political ads that Hillary lied to them? People like Hillary (that is to say, sociopaths) lie all the time. They compound their lies with more lies. Hillary and her husband, so far, have gotten away with lies because they reflectively blame Republicans or a "vast right wing conspiracy." That argument fails if Sanders supporters also begin to tell America that Hillary is dishonest. Worse will follow if the Obama FBI recommends criminal indictments against Hillary or Huma Abedin or other flacks regarding the use of private email servers for highly secret government communications. Hillary's lying about everything on that subject a completely different matter from enabling the nastiness of her husband will be yet a third serious attack on the honesty of Clinton, this time from Obama's Justice Department. These will be completely separate stories on different subjects, with the only common connection being that Hillary is a liar and a crook. If Hillary responds, as she doubtless would, that the Obama FBI and the socialist Senator Sanders are both toys of the RNC, then a fourth story could arise: Hillary is lying to the American people about who is challenging her ethics. The fallout could be devastating. If Hillary hobbles to the nomination despite the FBI's recommendation to prosecute her, then millions of independent voters inclined to Hillary may stay home, and if Sanders's supporters feel defrauded of the fruits of their labor for Sanders, then millions of those voters may stay home, too. Not only would this cost Hillary the White House, but it could produce just the sort of electoral landslide in political races down the ballot that could lead to a true conservative political revolution. My good friend Israel Ortega was recently on Newsmax TV and discussed Hispanics and the economy and how the latter could play in 2016. He believes that the economy affects more Hispanics than immigration, or simply the reality that immigration reform affects those who are here illegally. In other words, there are millions of Hispanics in the U.S. who do not speak Spanish or watch Jorge Ramos! Israel also made a larger point about diversity. All you have to do is look at the TV screen and see it for yourself: Cruz, Rubio, and Carson got more half of the vote in a state that is 90% white! As Israel Ortega pointed out, the Hispanic vote offers GOP a great opportunity in many states, including South Carolina: Looking ahead, the Republican Party has a real opportunity to connect with Hispanic voters in a number of critical early primary states, including South Carolina and Nevada. The Palmetto State has seen a dramatic growth in its Hispanic population in recent years. In fact, according to the U.S. Census and the Pew Research Center, South Carolina had the second-fastest growing Hispanic population in the country from 20002011. With an estimated 5 percent of the population, and around half of that number eligible to vote, the Hispanic vote could make a difference in a tight race. After South Carolina, the remaining Republican hopefuls head out west to Nevada, with an estimated 27 percent Hispanic population and a significant number of eligible voters. Whats more, Nevada is among a handful of swing states that could very well decide the election in November. At some point, elections are not about politics or policy; they are about math, writes John Ralston, a journalist who has covered Nevada politics for nearly 25 years. He or she who gets the most votes wins, and Hispanics arguably are the most potent rising bloc in both Nevada and American politics. Therein lies the opportunity for Republicans heading into the fall. The reality is that both Cruz and Rubio remain unknown to many Latino voters. This is changing, of course, as media coverage intensifies. But in a study conducted a few years ago by the well-respected Pew Hispanic Center, a scant percentage of Latinos polled identified Rubio as a national leader, but perhaps more revealing, a whopping 62 percent of those polled could not name a national leader. Of course, the opportunity is there, but the GOP has to seize on it. I talking not about promoting amnesty, but rather knocking on the door and asking for the vote! Or going on TV and telling Hispanics that the GOP wants school choice. The 2016 political landscape will be different from 2008. Again, I hope that the GOP understands that the "si se puede" enthusiasm of 2008 is really "no se puede" in Hispanic districts today. Knock on the door and ask for the vote! Don't assume that the Hispanic vote is locked up. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon harshly criticized the notion that Mexico would pay anything for Donald Trump's planned wall on our southern border. The HIll: Mexican people, we are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall! Calderon told CNBC on Saturday. And its going to be completely useless. Calderon, who served as president from 2006 to 2012, said Trump is not [a] very well-informed man. The first loser of such a policy would be the United States, he added. If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade [or] for people is going to provide prosperity to the United State, he is completely crazy. This is not the first time Mexico has said it would not help pay for the Republican presidential contender's proposed wall. Trump has said that he will seize cash remittances that illegal aliens send back to Mexico to pay for the wall. That won't work, either: Would that even be possible? A Trump administration could erect a lot of legal, regulatory, and logistical obstacles to transferring money from the U.S. to Mexico. But those moves would enrage the banks and financial institutions that make money off the transfers, and probably spur interest in transfer methods that escape the attention and grasp of law enforcement. Earlier this year, Mexicos central bank released data indicating Mexicans abroad sent home $23.6 billion in 2014, almost all of it from the United States. Payments from workers abroad make up just 2 percent of Mexican GDP, but they can play a much bigger role in particular local economies. One study concluded that the poorest rural areas of the country derive 19.5 percent of their income from remittances. Whatever their economic impact, the payments are widespread: An estimated 83 percent of Mexicans who enter the country illegally send money home. But so do 73 percent of legal Mexican immigrants making a blanket restriction on remittances virtually impossible. Still, the U.S. government can make it extremely difficult to send money to a country. The Treasury Department has enacted a series of regulations designed to restrict terrorism financing that holds intermediary banks responsible if the money they transfer ends up in the hands of terror groups. Somalia has no functioning traditional banks, and in February, U.S. banks largely stopped servicing the accounts used by money-transfer operators in Somalia. Somali-Americans are now complaining that they have no way to send money back to their families. Trump knows this but continues to insist he can accomplish the goal of building his 2,500-mile wall and get the Mexicans to pay for it. In this, he appeals to the simple-minded, low-information voter who's as ignorant of the realities of governance as he is. In a letter contained in a court filing, the FBI finally confirmed what everyone in America already knows: they are investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Previously, when questioned about FBI interest in the controversey, the Bureau had simply stated that it couldn't comment about an ongoing investigation. But in a letter dated February 2 and filed with a federal court in connection with an FOIA request, the FBI acknowledged their interest. MSNBC: Why say this at all, since it was widely known to be true? Because in August in response to a judges direction, the State Department asked the FBI for information about what it was up to. Sorry, the FBI said at the time, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation. Now, in a letter dated February 2 and filed in court Monday, the FBIs general counsel, James Baker, notes that in public statements and congressional testimony, the FBI has acknowledged generally that it is working on matters related to former Secretary Clintons use of a private email server. Baker says the FBI has not, however, publicly acknowledged the specific focus, scope or potential targets of any such proceedings. He ends the one-paragraph letter by saying that the FBI cannot say more without adversely affecting on-going law enforcement efforts. The letter was filed in one of the Freedom of Information Act cases brought against the State Department over access to documents from Hillary Clintons time as secretary of state. This one was filed by Judicial Watch. It's hard to see how the FBI could be investigating Clinton's private server and not Clinton herself. In that regard, it offers Bernie Sanders a unique opportunity to ask voters a question: do you really want to vote for a candidate who might be indicted for serious felonies down the road? To date, Sanders has shown a reluctance to attack Hillary on her use of the private email server. If he is truly a serious candidate for president, it's difficult to imagine him continuing this strategy. Perhaps his surrogates will now go on the attack, raising the issue in voters' minds. Will she be indicted? There are calls for Attorney General Loretta Lynch to step aside and allow a special prosecutor to look into the case: Already, top Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to be brought in and evaluate the situation. No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn (Texas) took to the floor of the Senate last week to call for a special counsel to be appointed because of the conflict of interest by asking Attorney General Lynch to investigate and perhaps even prosecute somebody in the Obama administration. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) agrees that Lynch ought to consider a special counsel, a representative said, to reassure the country that decisions are made without regard to any political considerations. The Justice Department, however, has so far declined the request. This matter is being reviewed by career attorneys and investigators and does not meet the criteria for the appointment of a special prosecutor, department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement. Sanders and Clinton are expected to battle it out well into the spring. At some point, the FBI will have to say whether Hillary herself is a target of the investigation. The closer to reality an indictment becomes, the more the situation will weigh on her campaign, potentially dragging her down to defeat even if she avoids prosecution. With no good arguments available, Hillary Clinton is now casting herself as a victim of a double standard because she has been asked to release the transcripts of her three talks to Goldman Sachs that netted her $675K. Such an absurd claim could be made only in front of a friendly TV interviewer, and Melissa Harris-Perry being limited to weekends on MSNBC, Hillary chose Rachel Maddow of the same network in order to avoid being laughed at loudly (video below). Ian Hanchett summarizes at Breitbart: Hillary Clinton criticized the double standard of her being asked to release the transcripts of her paid speeches, which she promised to look into when asked during the most recent Democratic debate. Hillary did say once it is done under whatever circumstances with regard to the release of the transcripts. Hillary said, when asked whether she expected to release the transcripts of her paid speeches, Im getting a little bit weary of the double standard. Lets release what everybody has ever said. There are a lot of people on both sides. If were going to start saying what you did when you were out of office, when you were in the private sector, what you did fair game, release it all. Im all for that. She added, Im being asking to do something, for which theres no basis, just the attempt to cast suspicion. So, I said I would look into it. We will look into it. But you know its whats good for the gander should be good for the goose. Maddow then asked Hillary, So, you wouldnt do it unilaterally, but if everybodys going to do it, you would do it? In response, Hillary stated, Im really not thinking about it until I get through New Hampshire, to be honest. I want to get through tomorrow, and then, you know, its going to be very boring for people once it is done under whatever circumstances. Brit Hume, speaking on FOX News, noted that Bill Clinton is now an elderly man a thought that I'll wager has been going through many American minds since last Monday night, when Hillary gave her post-caucus acceptance...er, victory speech in Iowa. While much of the television audience was focused on the fuming candidate, many were mesmerized by an airhead Clinton voter in the crowd behind the podium. The young man was upstaging madam secretary by trying to lick her campaign stickers off his cheeks. But many, including me, were fixed on and fascinated by the former president standing behind his podium-pounding partner. The visage that Bill wore for much of that harangue was truly revealing more like something you'd see in a nursing home day room than on a presidential campaign stage. His head drooped, and his mouth frequently gaped open in what almost appeared to be a slack-eyed but leering old geezer smile directed towards his partner's back. If it was in fact a leering smile directed at Hillary, then America likely witnessed something that hasn't occurred since before their marriage, and we can pretty well take that as evidence that Ol' Bill has lost it. But seriously, I was fascinated watching that drooping lower lip. I said to my better half, "Watch babe, watch him, he's gonna drool any minute." Watch the video yourself, and you'll see what I'm talking about: that mouth hangs open for most of the first four minutes of her speech in contrast to all the other folks behind, who politely have theirs closed in that very public settingwith a live television audience. We were sorely disappointed when the drool failed to materialize, as, I'm sure, were all those laying bets around the country. To further sear that geriatric image into our brains, in another broadcast this week Bill's hands were obviously palsied, another common affliction in the elderly. Others noted that he'd worn his Hillary pin upside-down at the post-caucus speech. So it's not surprising to hear Hume and a few others in the news refer to the ex-prez's advanced age, even though he is a few years younger than your scribe. But then, yours truly is not out trying to steal the youth vote back from an undisguisably septuagenarian socialist who actually seems a bit spryer than Old Willie. Those Democrat strategists who had counted on Bill's aw-shucks, down-home Arkansas charm to rope in the vote for his undeniably less likable other half must be having some tremors themselves as they ponder putting Old Bill in front of meeting halls full of much younger voters who may balk at the idea of the White House becoming a senior center. And it's all over for sure the first time Bill actually drools. He'll be outta that campaign quicker than a dirty Depends. The Belogorsky Monastery of St. Nicholas, also known as the Belaya Gora Monastery, is located on top of a hill in Belaya Gora or the White Mountains, in Russia, at a distance of 85 kilometers from the city of Perm and about 50 kilometers away from the town of Kungur. The monastery is dominated by a beautiful white church with gold onion domes topped by golden crosses. During winter through spring, the white structure becomes indistinguishable from the snowy surrounding. The original wooden church and monastery was built in 1894, and housed some 25 orphan boys who received education in reading, writing, church singing and various crafts. When the building burned down, construction of a new, two-story, stone church began in June 1902, and it went on for the next fifteen years. During those years some four hundred monks lived within the grounds, and they helped in the monastery's construction by making their own bricks at the monasterys brickworks. They also practiced agriculture, animal husbandry, bee-keeping and fishing. Photo credit: Vadim Balakin When the monastery was completed in 1917, it had room for 8,000 people and was equipped with ventilation and a steam heating system. Inside the church, the high, arcing ceiling, and walls were covered with classical Russian Orthodox paintings and icons of saints and religious scenes accentuated with gold. Its official consecration ceremony was attended by around 30,000 people. The Belogorsky Monastery's Cathedral became Perm diocese's most grandiose church. Then one day in 1918, the Bolsheviks arrived at the monastery, dragged the monastery's Archimandrite Varlaam to the valley below, shot him and threw him in the Kama River. They broke the great bells of the monastery with sledge hammers and destroyed many artworks. Many monks lost their lives trying to prevent the monasterys destruction. Some were lined up against the church walls and shot the bullet holes still evident in the walls. Others were buried alive in mass graves. Many were deported. In the 1930s, the monasterys buildings were used as a prison camp for the politically repressed and the forcibly relocated, and later a home for the disabled was opened. During the Second World War, it became a rehabilitation center for the wounded and the crippled in the war. It served as the house for invalids and the mentally unstable until 1986. In 1980, a mental patient almost brought the entire building down when he set fire to the roof. The cathedral was badly damaged and almost all the cathedrals domes were burnt. In 1993, work began to restore the building and has been going on ever since. The final phase of the restoration began in 2011. Photo credit: pravperm.ru Photo credit: vladomir.livejournal.com Photo credit: vladomir.livejournal.com Photo credit: sergpodzoro.livejournal.com Photo credit: Vadim Balakin Photo credit: Vadim Balakin Photo credit: Vadim Balakin Photo credit: Vladimir Chuprikov Photo credit: vladomir.livejournal.com Photo credit: vladomir.livejournal.com A replacement for a smaller wooden version that once stood here commemorating the survival of Nicholas II, after he was attacked by a sword-wielding assassin in Japan in 1891. Photo credit: vladomir.livejournal.com Photo credit: sergpodzoro.livejournal.com Photo credit: sergpodzoro.livejournal.com Photo credit: sobory.ru Sources: Orthodox Wiki / WorldTalk.info / www.railway-train-travel.com.au / Wild Blue Press / Wikipedia Endeavor to change the course of history, has always been a primary motive of human civilization, through several centuries. It has been observed throughout history, that several times people have tried to undertake a feat which brings them in direct face-off with nature. May it be the intent to master the air by inventing airplanes, building mega-structures such as pyramids, or even stopping the flow of one of the worlds largest water resources, The Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls consists of Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls. Due to several years of rocks falling in, between the year 1931 and 1954, the American Falls faced erosion, which if not prevented would have resulted in the permanent extinction of the American Falls. With resulting public outcry and protests to save the American Falls, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Buffalo district was encumbered with the immense responsibility of dewatering the American Falls for repairs. Taking up this historic challenge, a cofferdam was constructed, that took 3 days after working in two 11-hour shifts, resulting in cutting off of the flow of the Falls from 60,000 gallons per second to one-fourth of its capacity of 15,000 gallons per second. Photo credit: Russ Glasson/Flickr This gigantic effort, comprising 1,264 truck loads, carrying 27,800 tons of sand and earth, was carried out to fill the cofferdam. Another minor discovery, which emerged from the De-watering Project, was that of a dead-body of a woman, which would never have been possible if the American Falls had been in full-flow. The woman was wearing a gold band, with the tragic inscription forget me not on the inside. Rochester Shale, a type of rock, which started crumbling due to the de-watering project, was a major concern for the geologists who wanted to carry out tests. Pipes totaling 800 feet of length and approximately six inch diameter were laid to moisten the shale. The motive behind the endeavor to pull off such a huge feat was to conduct tests to prevent further erosion and test the structural integrity of the American Falls. Having planned through all the tests, and having implemented their staggering efforts, USACE estimated that the work will be completed by 1972. A battery of tests consisting of chemical analysis of the rocks, microscopic inspections, and several other tests were conducted accumulating large amounts of engineering, geological, and other data. After an effort of more than 5 years, the International Joint Commission in 1975 concluded that 385,000 tons of Talus had accumulated at the base of American Falls, and had resulted in reduction of waterfall from 100 feet to 45 feet, while the depth of the Talus ranged from 25 feet to 50 feet. As per the consensus taken from the public, there was to be no noticeable change in the appearance of American falls. But, it was accepted that there would always be some risk involved in the viewing of falls owing to continued erosion around the Falls. The important lesson that the effort taught the engineers, and which is also a lesson for all humanity, is that everything has a life span and nothing escapes mortality. May it be flesh and blood humans, or even a stupendous spectacle for humanity such as the Niagara Falls. As is well said, that change is inevitable, and so is the mere existence of everything. It is an important question to be asked that whether something is too big to fall such as the American Falls, or something is too small to rise, like the Talus which over the years caused near extinction of American falls. The dewatering of Niagara Falls in 1969 is abject lesson in the Power of Human effort as compared to the might of Powerful Nature. Photo credit: Russ Glasson/Flickr Photo credit: Russ Glasson/Flickr Photo credit: unknown Photo credit: unknown Photo credit: Russ Glasson/Flickr Photo credit: Russ Glasson/Flickr In todays edition of Android Deals, we have a ton of goodies available, including an unlocked Galaxy Note 5 for just $559. Having been announced in August of 2015, the Galaxy Note 5 is the latest in the Note series and also the first with a glass back and aluminum frame. The Galaxy Note 5 runs on an Exynos 7420 processor, with a 5.7-inch Quad HD AMOLED display. This unlocked model will work on both T-Mobile and AT&T with ease. At the time of writing, the Galaxy Note 5 is only available in black and silver, which the silver is not sold by any of the carriers in the US, so definitely a good time to jump one it. Now lets continue on with todays deals. Last year, AT&T become Americas largest pay-TV operator after it bought DirecTV and has already made changes to the combined businesses to align customers between one service and the other. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, have been making noises about opening up the cable television market and last week, AT&T wrote a blog in defense of the current business model and arguing against opening up the set top box idea. AT&Ts post explained how customers already have a wider choice than ever before about what, when and how to watch their favorite shows, and that pay-TV businesses already build applications for devices such as tablets and smartphones. AT&T stated that the video application model has managed to improve customer choice without the interference of Government or regulatory bodies. In an interview, Tom Wheeler said this on the subject: The big kick I get is that AT&T and the cable companies have been putting out statements say, This is going to thwart innovation. And I scratch my head and say, My goodness, lets see. When was the last time that competition thwarted innovation rather than spurring innovation? And you are telling me that a locked-down, closed system will have more impetus to be innovative than a competitive, open system? I think that history shows that it is exactly the opposite of what happens in reality. The FCCs proposals are designed to make it easier and cheaper for consumers to watch the television, and that their plans are to establish an open platform such that competitors can market their own set top boxes, giving customers the choice of what equipment to purchase in order to watch their shows. Currently, customers are forced to rent equipment from the provider in order to watch cable and satellite television. The FCCs data shows that the average consumer is paying $231 a year to lease the set top equipment and this continues after the cable or satellite operator have recovered the cost of the device. Tom Wheelers statement is that the FCC are not wanting to stop the cable companies from controlling their product, but instead making it easier for consumers to consume it! The FCCs idea will stop the practice of certain types of content being restricted to certain platforms and Wheeler compared set top boxes adopting an open standard as we have seen from Wi-Fi technologies. He talked about the 1996 congressional legislation to make sure that consumers are offered competitive choices for accessing pay-TV navigation, which resulted in the cable card system. However, in the last five years we have seen an increasing number of smart TV sets being sold, where the technology has evolved and been refined such that it would be a relatively easy step to open up the pay-TV platform. Using a smart-TV set could mean that consumers wont need an expensive set top box to access the service. Advertisement AT&Ts Vice President of Federal Regulatory, Stacy Fuller, has said that Google is behind the FCCs proposal. When you get beyond all the hype, Google and its affiliated proponents of this technology mandate are simply trying to take our competitive service and repackage it as their own, without ever having to negotiate with us or with the content owners with whom we had to negotiate to create our service offering. Its akin to the FCC mandating that we get access to Googles home page (and all of the contract rights and algorithms that go with it) so that we can redesign and rebrand it as our own. Stacy also stated that customers would face higher prices together with fewer privacy safeguards. To this remark, Tom Wheeler answered that nobody is trying to take control of AT&Ts distributed product, only that the broadcaster passes the information through to competitive providers. He also stated that there would be no change to privacy safeguards and that the FCC is not recommending everything is redesigned, more that the platform should be opened up. Tom also explained that the broadcasters and pay-TV operators shouldnt fear competition. Although the television providers are reputed to be furious, a date has been set for a vote. Regardless of the results of this vote, it appears that any changes to the existing system will be bitterly fought by the broadcasters and cable television operators. The recent war of words is likely only the beginning. Of late, it seems like Facebook cant catch a break. It was only yesterday that its controversial Free Basics project (formerly internet.org) was banned in India by the countrys telecom regulator, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), as the venture was adjudged to have been in violation of the basic tenets of Net Neutrality. With its free internet project banned in the very country it was primarily aimed at, Facebook has now seemingly suffered yet another blow. This time around, it is France, which doesnt seem too enamored with the worlds largest online social network and its business practices, which includes collecting an extraordinary amount of personal data. According to Bloomberg Business, Frances data protection regulator, CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertes), has now ruled that the social network will no longer be permitted to track people who do not have a registered Facebook account. The action comes in the wake of complaints against the company from privacy advocates in the country and indeed, across Europe who claimed that the social network was sending data back to its US servers for data mining and value rendition. The problem is, the social network stands accused of doing this not just to members who willfully submit information about themselves to the website, but also privacy-aware non-members, who have stayed away from the site often precisely because of its data-mining activities. Advertisement According to the CNIL, Facebook using personal data to deliver targeted ads is an invasive, unwarranted and unacceptable behavior, as it violates an individuals right to privacy. What infuriates privacy advocates even further, is that the website and its mobile apps dont even allow users an option to opt out of its data collection activities. Europe, of course, has some of the strictest privacy laws on the planet, which has resulted in some controversial legislations like the Right to be Forgotten ruling, which continues to be an area of controversy between European lawmakers and advocates of an open and unfettered internet. Meanwhile, this latest ruling is a result of privacy watchdogs from 28 EU countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, coming together to investigate the charges against the company. Meanwhile, the Belgian privacy watchdog had already come out with pretty much the same ruling last November, so the French setback isnt exactly a bolt from the blue for Facebook. The company, however, protested its innocence, and said that it will appeal the ruling in a court of law. According to the companys spokeswoman, Ms. Sally Aldous, Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do. We are confident that we comply with European Data Protection law and look forward to engaging with the CNIL to respond to their concerns. Google + has had an interesting adventure since its introduction years ago, having what seemed like a little bit of growing pains in reaching the point that its currently at. Not too long ago Googles little slice of social interaction on the web got a design refresh, bringing with it a whole new UI and a couple of other tweaks and improvements. Today, Google is starting to roll out an update to the website version of Google plus that introduces a few more new changes and improvements, which further optimize the user experience for anyone who generally accesses Google + through the web rather than the app on smartphones and tablets. Although the changes may not be live for everyone just yet, there is no doubt that some users have already noticed one of the changes if they spend any amount of time scrolling through their home page. A new indicator button now shows up that displays towards the top when new posts arrive in the feed. Similar to the way that Facebook has been doing for a while now, Google + now alerts users with a real-time update when new posts are available to view, and clicking on the button will take you automatically to the top of your feed and the most recent post without having to hit the refresh button in your browser. This is not only faster but also more convenient and allows users to continue interacting with their Google + feed without an interruption to the experience from page loads. It also serves as a means to be absolutely sure there are new posts to see so you dont waste your time refreshing the feed only to find the same posts. Advertisement While this is definitely a useful new addition to the experience, its not the only change coming through to take note of. Google has also updated the following screen under the People page with a new design, and the people search has been improved so finding more people to follow is now easier than before. You can also now view larger profile images in a gallery as they will be displayed this way going forward, and along with these new changes there is the always present bug fixes that tend to be accompanied by any app or service update. Lastly, if youre curious, users can also access an activity log from the settings menu and see who they have previously muted and unmute them if they feel the need or have the desire to do so. Google released the Chrome for Android browser shortly after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Chrome for the Android platform aimed to replicate many of the desktop and laptop application benefits, being high performance, clean and lightweight. Over the years, Chrome has evolved although it is not the only web browser available on the Android platform: far from it! As well as the larger names, such as Firefox, there are several smaller companies developing and maintaining a web browser plus weve seen manufacturers improving their own web browser, such as ASUS and Samsung. As we settle into 2016, one of the browser trends we are seeing continue to gain media attention is that of ad blocking. Ad blocking does a few things. Firstly, and most obvious, it stops many adverts from appearing in opened web pages. Different browsers and technologies work in different ways here. Some ad blockers remove all adverts whereas others only remove those not considered to be relevant for or by the user. Another side effect of removing adverts is that it can reduce bandwidth consumed by the device in question as the browser does not need to download the advert content. This in turn can reduce the risk of malware infecting our devices, depending on what websites we are browsing to. Now, unfortunately a side effect of using an ad blocking technology is that it reduces the advertising revenue that websites make. Many websites are free to browse, but the owner, operator, developer and hosting company usually require some form of compensation for the site, which usually comes from the advertising revenue generated. As ad blockers become more and more sophisticated and block things such as tracking, so it has a greater impediment on businesses such as Google, which rely on tracking user activity and providing anoymous information to advertising agencies. This is why Google tend to remove those products and services that use ad blocking technologies from the Google Play Store. This is almost certainly one of the reasons why Samsungs browser contains the necessary ad blocking framework but not the plugin itself. Advertisement This brings us to the Link Bubble web browser, a small and clever Android web browser weighing in at a little over 3 MB. Link Bubbles greatest feature is how when a link is clicked, the website is loaded in the background and the application you clicked the link from is still showing in the foreground. Once the page is loaded, it shows the user on the screen. This technology may be used to load multiple web pages in the background and allows Android to flex its multitasking muscle. The developers have even thought of a timer that shows you how much time you are saving by not waiting for the page to download and instead contuining to use the source application. The Link Browser has very recently been updated and now includes ad blocking and anti-tracking technologies in addition to the clever way it handles web pages. The ad blocking option is not turned on by default, but a quick visit to the application settings menu and a toggle is all thats required to activate this. Its possible that Google will move to remove or suspend the Link Bubble app, so if you use this browser, be sure to grab the update. Its that time of year again where pretty much anyone whos anyone takes to the stage in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress to announce their latest and greatest. For a long time now, nobody has quite had the cajones to go up against Samsung during Mobile World Congress, or more specifically the weekend before Mobile World Congress. Last year, HTC tried it and well, lets just say they were overshadowed somewhat. Their South Korean rival however, is going to give it a go this year and will be announce their latest and greatest on the same day that Samsung does the same, so just what could LG have in store for us this year? Well, lets take a look. As is often the case concerning yearly-release devices like LGs G-series and Samsungs Galaxy S line, we need to take a look back to see whats over the horizon. Last years LG G4 was an excellent device, in a lot of ways, but for the most part it was an improvement on the previous years G3. The G4 launched as a fresher, cleaner build of the G3 with a more refined look and feel and improved features. The display of the G3 was one of the first 5.5-inch Quad HD displays to hit the market, but it was all pixels and little else. The G4 featured a better Quantum Dot display that looks so much better compared to the previous model, it was brighter, more vivid and much easier on the eyes. The real star of the show however was the excellent 16-megapixel camera that featured some of the best software ever seen on a smartphone before. It was ranked highly everywhere, and it was a real joy to use day-to-day as well. So, if the G4 was just an improved version of the LG G3, then the G5 (or whatever it might end up being called) is surely going to be more of the same right? So far, that doesnt seem to be the case. Advertisement Pardon the pun here, but it appears (from numerous case renders and concept leaks) as though the G5 is to sport a new design language compared to the G4, perhaps even channeling a little of the Nexus 5Xs good looks. Launching a device with a new design language would make a lot of sense for LG, while theyve become known for their rear-facing buttons and clean front-panel design, the G-series has evolved very little since the LG G3 from 2014. Besides, as their rivals Samsung found out last year, a fresh lick of paint can do wonders for your reputation and of course, your bottom line. So far, it would seem like the G5 is to be a much more digital design, and by that I mean gone is the slight curvature of the G4s display and the leather back, replaced with a slick, minimal look and feel. So far, rumored measurements put the G5 as coming in at 149.4 x 73.9 x 8.2mm and the metal unibody design thats been rumored for a while now is said to feel nothing like previous LG G-series smartphones. Weve seen plenty of case renders leak out and even what appears to be a prototype hiding in a case while being tested in the wild: Advertisement The one thing thats featured throughout every leaked image and concept render of the G5 is that bizarre camera arrangement around the back (nestled above what looks like a fingerprint sensor lifted from the V10). The G4 shipped with a sharp f/1.8 16-megapixel camera, but all the leaked images show the G5 as sporting not one, but two rear-facing cameras. Theres a lot of discussion out there on whether or not this will be a 21-megapixel rear-facing camera or two 16-megapixel cameras. To our eyes, the two cameras around the back are very different, which means theyre likely to feature different sensors behind their lenses. That would make for a more realistic combo of a 21-megapixel sensor (perhaps provided by Sony) and an 8 or 16-megapixel camera. Just what these two cameras will end up doing is unclear, but some sort of refocusing after the fact would probably be our bet. The V10 from last year was areal knockout where camera software is concerned, and what better way to go one further than offer the ability to change focus days or weeks after youve taken a shot? Its not as if LG dont have stiff competition where cameras are concerned though. Sony upped their game with the Xperia Z5 line last Fall, and Samsungs Galaxy S6 line had an excellent camera that excelled in low-light situations, so itll be interesting to see how those two particularly Samsung improve on their offerings from last year. Advertisement No matter how good a devices camera is however, there needs to be some real grunt running the rest of the show. Heres where things surrounding the G5 become a little mundane, everyone is betting on a Snapdragon 820 to be under-the-hood here, and it would seem likely. Last year LG went with the Snapdragon 808 for the G4, for what could be one of many different reasons. Regardless, LG have been a massive partner for Qualcomm for years now, the G2 was one of the first devices to launch with a Snapdragon 800 back in the day and the G Flex 2 was first to launch with a Snapdragon 810, so its clear they have a good working relationship. Backing up that Snapdragon 820 which is said to be a massive improvement over the Snapdragon 810 is said to be 4GB of RAM, no more 3GB or 4GB, just more RAM than most other devices from the get go. Last years V10 made headlines for including some impressive audio hardware, and its likely the G5 will include the same 24-bit ESS Sabre 9018 DAC combined with a powerful ESS Sabre 9602 headphone amplifier. While it might not mean much to the majority of users, it definitely makes a difference with a decent pair of headphones. If theres one thing that LG were proud to shout about last year, outside of their excellent camera, it was the fact that the LG G4 featured a removable battery and expandable storage. Two staple features last years Samsung phone didnt feature, breaking tradition since the original Galaxy S was launched years ago. So, with a unibody design, the G5 needs to give up those things like Samsung, right? Well, it would seem that LG is just going to use a door of sorts to get the battery out when people want to change cells, and a microSD card slot can be achieved through a little door on the side, just like a SIM card tray. This has been done before in phones from HTC and we wouldnt be surprised if someone like LG can pull this off quite neatly. Speaking of batteries, its capacity is rumored to be around 2,800 mAh making it par for the course compared with competitors. Charging said battery would appear to happen via USB Type-C, presumably due to their tight relationship with Google and the Internet Giants sudden obsession with the new connector. Advertisement So, it sounds like the G5 is going to launch with a more powerful processor, a whole new design language and a quirky, improved camera. The last question is when? LG have an event scheduled for Sunday afternoon (local time) in Barcelona which means that by the time most of our readers will have woken up all the news and coverage will be up for them to read while they rub their eyes and chow down at breakfast. In all seriousness, though, the G5 is shaping up to be one of the few smartphones that will be able to go toe-to-toe against Samsung this year and the fact that LG is launching it months before they launched last years G4 says a lot about how confident they are for this new flagship. Its an exciting time to be an LG fan, and an Android fan in general, with just a few more weeks to go before the launch of the G5. Googles troubles in Europe doesnt seem to be going away anytime soon. The American tech giant has been mired in one controversy after another in several countries on the continent over the past few years. Just a few weeks back, the UK decided that the search giant has to pay 130 million in back taxes, after a six year long investigation by Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found the company guilty of systematic tax evasion. The European Commission, meanwhile, has been carrying out its own investigation into Googles business practices, whereby, the Commissions antitrust chief, Ms. Margrethe Vestager, is investigating whether or not the company unfairly leverages its position of preeminence in Search and Android to stifle competition. Now, Google is again at the eye of a storm, but this time around, in Russia, where, Mr. German Klimenko, the newly-appointed Internet Advisor to the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, is now apparently wanting US-based tech companies like Google and Apple to start contributing more to the countrys exchequer. Many sceptics, however, claim that the new plans are designed towards helping local Russian companies like Yandex and Mail.ru compete better against foreign firms. What must add to the discomfiture of the top management at the Silicon Valley companies, is the fact that a controversial lawmaker in the country, Mr. Andrey Lugovoi, is now sponsoring a bill, which proposes to add an 18 percent VAT to sales on the Google Play Store and Apples App Store. In related news, Mr. Klimenko is also seeking a ban on Microsoft Windows as the operating system of choice on government computers, claiming that the software is a threat to the countrys national security. Advertisement Sadly for Google, with political relations between the US and Russia at an all-time low since the end of the cold war, this is not the first time that the company is facing severe censure in one of the last remaining large developing markets on the continent. Late last year, Russias Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) ruled that the American tech company had violated Russian antitrust laws by allegedly forcing manufacturers to pre-install its services on their Android devices. The FAS had opened its investigation based on an earlier complaint by Russian search engine operator, Yandex NV. Of course, it would be wrong to blame all of Googles European woes on the deteriorating political relations between the two former cold war rivals, as the company is currently besieged from all quarters on the continent, being made to publicly and legally defend many of its allegedly-controversial business practices. Everyone is expecting news about Samsungs new flagship phones which will be unveiled in less than two weeks. The Galaxy S7 lineup will most certainly be launched running Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but this version of the operating system is still not running in many handsets sold by the company. Samsung has already released a beta version of the software to a few Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge users in some specific regions, so we know all of the changes that the company included in this update. Even though Marshmallow didnt bring too many visual changes to the stock version of Android, Samsung gave their TouchWiz skin a whole new look, a new color palette was used and some icons were redesigned. Samsung started rolling out the final build of Marshmallow for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, but only in South Korea. Poland was one of the first countries to see this update in handsets from other companies, and now, T-Mobile Poland has communicated through their official Twitter account that Android Marshmallow is on its way to our Samsung S6 and S6 Edge. No specific date was given, but the tweet implies that the carrier has already approved the update for their handsets and it will start rolling out pretty soon. This could also mean that carriers in more regions may be testing the update so they can release it later on. Advertisement Marshmallow has been available for a while, but it seems that Samsung took some time to make sure that the update runs very smoothly on their devices. Also, they have been updating some of their apps with compatibility with the new operating system, so when the devices finally get updated the apps would be ready to use. The Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 will probably be updated shortly after the two aforementioned phones, as they are considered flagship devices as, well. Lets hope it doesnt take much longer since all of these devices were considered among the most powerful ones and they could only get better with the new features introduced by Google in Android Marshmallow. Keighley sex gang: Asian rapists, white victims and biased reporting How do you report on the 12 rapists who attacked a 13-year-old girl? The Daily Star puts the news on its front page: Sex gang gets 143 years jail, runs the headline. The story beings: 12 members of an Asian gang Before the names and location, we are told the gang is Asian. The story continues: They laughed and waved at friends in the courts public gallery as they caged for repeatedly raping their white victim. Race plays a leading role in the Stars story the Star that once supported the EDL. On page 9, the men are sex monsters stood in the dock at Bradford Crown Court. One who was not in court is named as Arif Choudhury, 20, who has fled to Bangladesh. He, says the Star, arranged for the girl to be raped when she refused to carry drugs for him. Elsewhere Choudhury is called Arif Chowdhury. Yorkshire Evening Post: Keighley grooming case: Arrogant Asian gang of 12 jailed for 130 years AN ARROGANT gang of 12 men in a West Yorkshire town have been jailed for a total of 130 years for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of a vulnerable schoolgirl they saw as utterly worthless. Eleven were jailed for rape and a twelfth man was jailed for sexual activity with a child under 16. Their white British victim was aged 13 and 14 when she was repeatedly raped and sexually abused and passed around by the Asian men. Asian men. But not Chinese, Thai or Cambodian men. The Sun (Pages 8 and 9): 143 Years for rape gang ignored by cops. A GANG of Asian paedophiles who beat and raped a white girl of 13 was jailed yesterday for a total of 143 years. The terrified victim was repeatedly abused at various locations for over a year despite being reported missing to cops 71 times. They ignored her familys desperate pleas for help and instead told her anxious mum to keep a diary of her movements. Criminality thrives when it goes unchecked. A gang forms because one criminal gets away with it and tells an associate he can trust. The men did not join any rape gang because they were Asian they joined in because they were criminally minded bastards who knew each other. David Hines, of the National Victims Association, likened it to incidents in Rochdale and Rotherham where up to 1,400 girls were abused by Asian paedos. He claimed: Im sure police heard the alarm bells. They just decided to ignore the noise. The first mention of the victim being white appears in paragraph 8: Tory MP Kris Hopkins, who represents Keighley, said: Im well aware there are numerous white paedophiles and they should be dealt with just as harshly. Well, yes. But.. But the sick model of organised groups of Asian men grooming young white girls to be sexually abused remains a blight at the heart of many communities across this country. And sadly Keighley is at the top of the list. Why? Who knew? Who ignored the victims? In these cases its useful to ask some questions: what if the victim had been an aristocrat? What if she had been from a rich family? Would the police have told her parents to keep a diary of her movements had she been from an upper-class home? What if she was not from an impoverished background? What if her dad knew the chief inspector? The Sun then quotes a local man with an opinion: A COUNCILLOR sparked outrage yesterday after he appeared to dismiss the Keighley sex scandal and claimed: It takes two to tango. Councillor Zafar Ali said he did not condone the abuse of white girls by Asian men but claimed the gang had got the wrong end of the stick. This was rape. They were the stick. He said: The grooming itself is totally out of proportion, we dont condone that. As a a Muslim, living here for 52 years, I can tell you that no no-one does, it is categorically not Islamic. Who said it was Islamic? And since when does gang rape trigger a lesson in theology? Things have happened which means justice has been done for the people who have suffered and the punishment has been given. My feeling is the Muslim community should be addressing this quietly, amicably and sensibly. We should be rational. It takes two to tango, there are bad apples, but it doesnt mean to say everyone is bad. There are a few who unfortunately have got the wrong end of the stick, but thats not Muslim. Sensible, mature Muslims would never allow that. They have condemned that. We need to find a way to address it, it needs to be looked into. There are a few people who lose themselves but the entire community shouldnt be labelled. There is some feeling from some people that she played her part in it, the victim had a part to play. She had a part to play, yes. She was the childish vessel into which the men aged 19 to 63 unleashed their perversions, desires, insecurities, anger, hatred and criminality. The Express (Page 12): A depraved gang of Asian men who raped and abused a vulnerable 13-year-old white girls have been jailed Page 12: Police, social workers and councillors turned a blind eye, too afraid of being labelled racist to confront a growing epidemic of abuse until the full scale of horrors became clear. Daily Mirror (Page 20): 12 men jailed for gang rape of teenage girl The word Asian first appears in paragraph 2. Nowhere does it mention that the victim was white. Daily Mail (Page 20): 143 years for child rape gang but leader escapes justice with flight to Bangladesh Not once does the Mail says the victim was white. It commends her bravery in giving evidence, as well it should. The bastards are: Khalid Mahood, 34, was given an extended sentence of 17 years comprising a custodial term of 13 and a half years and an extended licence of three and a half years. Sufyan Ziarab, 22, from Keighley, West Yorkshire, was jailed for 15 years. His brother Bilal Ziarab, 21, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was jailed for 12 years. Yasser Kabir, 25, from Keighley was jailed for 15 years with a consecutive five years after being found guilty in June 2015 for offences on two girls aged between five and nine when he was between 13 and 15. Hussain Sardar, 19, from Keighley received six years detention in a young offenders institution. Nasir Khan, 22, from Keighley, was jailed for 13 years. His brother Faisal Khan, 27, from Keighley was jailed for 13 years. Saqib Younis, 29, from Keighley was jailed for 13 years. Israr Ali, 19, from Keighley, received three and a half years detention in a young offenders institute. Zain Ali, 20, from Keighley, received eight years in a young defenders institute. Tanqueer Hussain, 23, from Keighley was jailed for 13 years and received a five year consecutive sentence for the rape of a second underage victim in 2009. Mohammed Akram, 63, was jailed for five years. Nazir Khan had a conviction for exposure and Bilal Ziarab a previous conviction for sexual activity with a child. Only Tauqeer Hussain and Mohammed Akram were of previous good character. The Times (Page 18): Gang jailed for raping girl 13 The paper begins: A gang of men who groomed and repeatedly raped a vulnerable schoolgirl No mention of race. Mentions of the world Asian, Muslim and white in the article: none. The Times has not always been so shy of race: ITV: MP who warned of sex abuse gang says he was abused and threatened for making claims Conservative Kris Hopkins, MP for Keighley and Ilkley says: In November 2012, I made a speech in the House of Commons expressing my horror at the fact that there were gangs of Asian men going around Keighley raping white girls. I was castigated from many quarters, received many abusive pieces of correspondence and on one occasion was forced to clear my constituency office after receiving a threat. This case, the many guilty verdicts reached and the heavy sentences rightly handed down underline the nature and the truth of the evil I spoke about back then and will continue to raise until it has been eradicated. I am very well aware that there are numerous white paedophiles out there and they should be dealt with just as harshly. But the sick model of organised groups of Asian men grooming young white girls to be sexually abused remains a blight at the heart of many communities across this country. And sadly Keighley is at the top of the list. I want to congratulate all of the police officers who played a part in bringing these guilty men to justice. It can often be a harrowing task to collect the necessary evidence to secure convictions and, once again, West Yorkshire Police has done an outstanding job. I hope that the forces dedication and professionalism will encourage other victims to come forward and help put other perpetrators behind bars. I am very happy to provide all necessary support through my office to facilitate this. I continue to work very closely with senior police officers and ministers, including the Home Secretary Theresa May, to see what more can be done to uncover child grooming rings and track down those involved. We have already achieved a number of improvements to national law and I am confident that further positive changes will be made. But I must end with a plea. Whilst the police, the Government and I as the local MP will continue to join forces to tackle these issues, we need the support of the entire community behind us. I love Keighley, its the town I grew up in and Im privileged to be its Member of Parliament. But Keighleys proud name has been dragged through the mud too many times in recent years because of the heinous acts of sick men preying on vulnerable young girls. I appeal directly to members of the local community that if you know of any individual or groups of individuals who may be involved in these activities, you have an obligation to pass this information on. We must work together to rid ourselves of this cancer, and we all have a part to play. KRIS HOPKINS MP What to do? Anorak Posted: 9th, February 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Egyptian security forces had nothing to do with the torture and murder of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Foreign Policy magazine in an interview out Tuesday, excerpts of which ran on Ahram Online. Shoukry - in Washington since Sunday for a three-day visit - said journalists are "jumping to conclusions and speculation without any authoritative information or authentication of what is being alluded to". He also said a widely reported number of 40,000 political prisoners in Egypt is "a lie". Italian Foreign Undersecretary Benedetto Della Vedova told the Lower House on Tuesday that Regeni's body - which was flown in from Cairo on Saturday - presented "burns and cuts to the shoulders and chest". "It was a violent, savage killing," he told lawmakers. The 28-year-old Cambridge PhD student went missing January 25. His severely tortured remains were found in a ditch in an outlying Cairo district on the night of February 3. (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Egyptian Ambassador to Rome Amr Helmy said Tuesday there would be no economic fall-out from the Cairo murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. "Our economic relations are in no way in danger," Helmy told ANSA. "There are many interests at stake and the affair of young Giulio Regeni will not compromise our relations," he said. "Italy remains our third trade partner". Political ties were also solid, Helmy said. "In Libya, in any case, our desire to cooperate remains solid," he said. (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) public railway company and State-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop two high-speed rail lines in Iran and to train Iranian rail staff. The accord for the deal worth up to five billion euros was signed in the Iranian capital of Tehran by Deputy Transport Minister Mohsen Pour Seyed Aghaei, who is also the president of RAI, and by FS CEO Renato Mazzoncini. FS said in a statement it will design and build two high-speed rail lines, one connecting Tehran and to the city of Hamadan, the other linking the industrial cities of Arak and Qom. Iran plans to extend its 10,000-km railway system by 25,000 kilometers by 2025. Of these, 7,500 are already being built. (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Irish oil and gas company Petroceltic has formally given up seeking a prospecting permit in the southern Adriatic Sea off Italy's Tremiti Islands. The Tremiti are an archipelago located north of Puglia's Gargano Peninsula, and form part of the Gargano national park. Market conditions have changed since the company first filed for the permit nine years ago, Petroceltic said in a letter to the industry ministry. The ministry said the move "is a step back in response to strategic industrial needs, which the ministry acknowledges". Petroceltic, whose local subsidiary has been in Italy since 2005, added it remains committed to its other operations in Italy "within full respect of EU and State rules, according to the highest industry standards, with maximum transparency and in cooperation with local communities". Petroceltic Italia Srl does oil and gas prospecting in the central Adriatic Sea and in the Po Valley. Italian environmentalists have long been fighting against drilling in the Adriatic Sea. Italy's Constitutional Court last month gave the green light to a referendum on drilling for oil and gas in Italy, a decision welcomed by regional councils and environmental groups concerned about the effects of offshore drilling on marine ecosystems. The referendum will cover prospecting permits as well as already authorised drilling. It was proposed by regional assemblies who are objecting to drilling platforms because of worries about seismic stability and the environment. (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Italy on Tuesday denied that an Italian student who was tortured and slain in Egypt was an intelligence informer. Department of Information Security (DIS) chief Giampiero Massolo reportedly told the Parliamentary Committee for Intelligence and Security Services (COPASIR) that Giulio Regeni was not a secret service agent or informer and that the case is not likely to be solved any time soon. Regeni went missing January 25 in Cairo and his severely tortured body was found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on February 3. Foreign Undersecretary Benedetto Della Vedova told the Lower House earlier in the day that speculation the 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD studentwas working with Italy's secret services was "patently groundless". He also told lawmakers that Regeni's body - which was flown in from Egypt on Saturday - presented "burns and cuts to the shoulders and chest", describing his death as a "violent, savage killing". Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Foreign Policy magazine in an interview, excerpts of which ran on Ahram Online today, that its security forces had nothing to do with Regeni's severe torture and murder. He was quoted as saying journalists were "jumping to conclusions and speculating without any authoritative information or authentication". He added that a widely reported number of 40,000 political prisoners in Egypt is "a lie". Also on Tuesday, the head of the prosecutor's office in the Egyptian city of Giza, Ahmed Nagy, told ANSA that no phone, computer or iPad were found in Regeni's apartment or near his body. However Italian investigators said later in the day they had located Regeni's laptop but not his cell phone, Rome prosecution sources investigating the murder said. Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Amr Helmy said whoever killed Regeni intended to "ruin relations between Italy and Egypt", but added that economic and political ties between the two countries would not be compromised. He said it was not possible to "rule out" that "fundamentalists, Salafists, extremists or ISIS" - an acronym for the so-called Islamic State insurgency - were responsible for the killing. However no such group has yet claimed responsibility for the gruesome murder. A visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo, Regeni was conducting research for his thesis and reporting on Egyptian trade unions for leftwing Rome-based paper il manifesto. He went missing on January 25, the anniversary of the uprising that led to Hosni Mubarak's ouster in 2011. (ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - There is need for "renewal" within Rome's city administration, mayoral candidate in centre-left primaries Roberto Morassut said Monday. "A new ruling class needs to be selected to run the Campidoglio," the former Rome executive councillor for urban planning under the Veltroni administration said. "Skills and energy need to be grafted to restore the efficiency of the city machinery," he added added. Morassut is running against deputy Lower House Speaker Roberto Giachetti, also of the PD, in the primaries in March. Stafano Fassina, a former junior economy minister who left the PD last year to join the Italian Left (SI), has announced his intention to run for the mayorship without taking part in the race to chose the centre-left candidate on grounds his former and current parties have noting in common. Morassut said Monday the only hope for the centre-left in Rome is to build a broad coalition, however. "A project for government is needed that involves the radical left but is also directed towards the moderate centre," he said. "In Rome the centre-left has always won the elections like that and has always governed well when it has been able to put together a broad coalition," Morassut insisted. Local opinion polls put the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement (M5S) safely in the lead in Rome in the wake of the Mafia Capitale scandal involving allegations of infiltration by organized crime into city contracts. (by Catherine Hornby). (ANSA) - Rome, February 9 - Italy on Tuesday denied that an Italian student who was tortured and slain in Egypt was an intelligence informer. Foreign Undersecretary Benedetto Della Vedova told the Lower House that speculation 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student Giulio Regeni was working with Italy's secret services was "patently groundless". He also told lawmakers that Regeni's body - which was flown in from Egypt on Saturday - presented "burns and cuts to the shoulders and chest", describing his death as a "violent, savage killing". Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Foreign Policy magazine in an interview out Tuesday, excerpts of which ran on Ahram Online, that its security forces had nothing to do with Regeni's severe torture and murder. He said journalists were "jumping to conclusions and speculating without any authoritative information or authentication". He added that a widely reported number of 40,000 political prisoners in Egypt is "a lie". Also on Tuesday, the head of the prosecutor's office in the Egyptian city of Giza, Ahmed Nagy, told ANSA that no phone, computer or iPad were found in Regeni's apartment or near his body, which was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo on February 3. However Italian investigators located Regeni's laptop but not his cell phone, Rome prosecution sources investigating the murder said Tuesday. Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Amr Helmy said whoever killed Regeni intended to "ruin relations between Italy and Egypt", but added that economic and political ties between the two countries would not be compromised. He said it was not possible to "rule out" that "fundamentalists, Salafists, extremists or ISIS" were responsible for the killing. However no such group has yet claimed responsibility for the gruesome murder. A visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo, Regeni was conducting research for his thesis and reporting on Egyptian trade unions for leftwing Rome-based paper il manifesto. He went missing on January 25, the anniversary of the uprising that led to Hosni Mubarak's ouster in 2011. (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS - A draft statement for the February 18-19 summit that ANSA has seen says that though improvements have been made through the setting up of 'hotspots' in Italy and Greece as concerns migrant identification, registration and fingerprinting, much remains to be done. It cites the facilities for migrants waiting for their cases to be assessed as one of the major areas to be improved upon. The statement notes that all parts of the Schengen zone must fully apply the rules concerning borders and refuse entry to citizens of third countries that do not meet entrance requirements or that have not asked for asylum despite having had the possibility to do so. It adds that Turkey has made significant progress towards implementing the 3-billion-euro action plan agreed with the EU, through granting refugees access to the labor market and data sharing with the EU. The statement stresses, however, that too many refugees are arriving in Greece from Turkey and that thus additional efforts are required. The "worst-case scenario in the short term in the region would be a new inflow of 600,000 refugees at the Turkish border" fleeing Aleppo, where over the past 10 days the regime of Bashar al Assad has launched an offensive with the support of Russian air raids, Turkish deputy premier, Numan Kurtulmus, has said. "As a consequence, we are seeing 200,000 people forced to flee, 65,000 towards Turkey and 135,000 inside Syria", he added. In the meantime, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has asked Turkey to open its border with Syria to allow the passage of a new inflow of refugees - at the moment 30,000 who have fled from Aleppo - calling on the international community to share the weight of the emergency with Ankara. Turkey, said UNHCR spokesman William Spindler, has allowed in several vulnerable and wounded people. However, many are not allowed to cross the border, he noted asking Turkey to open its borders to all civilians in Syria who are fleeing from danger areas and need international protection. Spindler added he understands concern for the ''potential massive'' inflow, expressed by Ankara, which already hosts over 2.5 million Syrian refugees. (ANSAmed). France: Hollande and Valls cancel visits, reshuffle ready Cabinet ahead of 2017 vote, Aubry tipped as foreign minister (ANSAmed) - PARIS, NOVEMBER 9 - The long-awaited government reshuffle, an operation with which President Francois Hollande means to confront the final stage of his mandate until presidential elections in the spring of 2017, is reportedly in the works. Both the head of state and Premier Manuel Valls have cancelled visits scheduled over the weekend. The key post affected by the reshuffle allegedly involves the foreign ministry, where Laurent Fabius - who will go lead the Constitutional Council - could be replaced by the former leader of the Socialist party and mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, who is reported to want the job. Matignon, where the government is based, has announced that Valls' trip to Germany - on Friday and Saturday - has been cancelled. Hollande, according to local press reports, is not going forward with a visit he had scheduled on Thursday. Though the Elysee has just denied the claims, it has allegedly asked technicians to examine the financial situation of potential ministers, as provided for by a transparency law. As far as Martine Aubry is concerned, according to Le Perisien she has told Hollande she is interested in the post currently held by Fabius. Her appointment would tip the government more towards the left. According to analysts, the cabinet is too ''on the right'' after Christiane Taubira left the justice ministry. In the morning, the mayor of Lille - questioned by French media - denied she wants to become a government member. (ANSAmed). Link 2007 ngo appeal to support Tunisia and its neighbors Letter to FM asks for Italy to take charge of initiative with EU (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, FEBRUARY 9 - Following recent protests for the right to work and development, which from Kasserine spread out across the country, the Italian NGO network Link 2007 has called on Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni as well as Italian and EU institutions to support Tunisia and its complex democratic process more. In a letter sent to Gentiloni, Link 2007 suggested that ''Italy, the country closest to Tunisia, take charge of the initiative involving the EU, member states, other countries interested and international financial and development institutions''. The NGO network calls for the prompt establishment of an international trust fund with contributions from the European Commission, member states and all interested countries, international and European development and financial institutions - including Arab and Islamic ones - taking into consideration Tunisia along with its neighbors, Libya and Algeria. For Tunisia alone - the Link 2007 letter stated - at least 20 billion euros will be needed per year for the next five years, to handle ''off the budget'' matters under international control, aiming for investments able to reduce inequalities that affect internal regions and run-down urban outskirts especially badly, to reduce unemployment and to attract fresh capital and external investors. ''Investing in Tunisia and its neighbors is investing in our future stability and peace. Not doing it means damaging ourselves. Limiting aid or delaying it could have a cost that is much larger in the near future, not only financially but also in terms of conflicts, human lives, destruction, and the consolidation and spread of terrorism, as recent history has taught. It is thus in our interest - as Italy and Europe - to intervene with adequate investment and determined cooperation with Tunisia,'' the appeal states. (ANSAmed). ISTANBUL - After residents of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, this time those Kilis, the Turkish city at the border with Syria hosting as many refugees as its population, have been nominated for a Nobel peace prize. The deputy leader of the Turkish government Akp party, Ayhan Sefer Ustin, presented the Nobel candidature to the committee in Oslo, sending a letter in which he describes Kilis as a model for other European cities for the way in which residents have welcomed refugees. "Turkey's policy to open its doors has been implemented from the start. Our citizens are sensitive to this theme, like the government", he said. "The population of Kilis numbers 129,000 inhabitants and hosts 120,000 Syrians", recalled Ustun. Over the past few days 'the small Syria' of Turkey, as it is described by local media, is experiencing a new emergency, with over 30,000 new Syrian refugees crowded beyond the border, just a few kilometers away, as they await to cross over after fleeing Russian air raids and the advance of Bashar al Assad's regime in the province of Aleppo. ISTANBUL - "About 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border'' if the offensive carried out by Assad and Russia in the area of Aleppo will continue with the current intensity, Turkish Premier Ahmet Adutoglu said, vowing not to close the door to refugees. Davutoglu moreover accused Assad's forces and Russia of preventing the passage of humanitarian aid, blocking the corridor connecting Aleppo with the Turkish border. Ankara's authorities have repeatedly explained they want to provide assistance to these new refugees "as much as possible" in Syrian territory. Some 30,000 people are crammed at the border crossing of Oncupinar in hopes of being allowed into Turkey. So far Ankara has only allowed in single cases in urgent need of medical care. ISTANBUL - The "worst-case scenario in the short term in the region would be a new inflow of 600,000 refugees at the Turkish border" fleeing Aleppo, where over the past 10 days the regime of Bashar al Assad has launched an offensive with the support of Russian air raids, Turkish deputy premier, Numan Kurtulmus, has said. "As a consequence, we are seeing 200,000 people forced to flee, 65,000 towards Turkey and 135,000 inside Syria", he added. "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's border as much as possible and to guarantee the necessary services there", also said Kurtulums, stessing yesterday's announcement by Premier Ahmet Davutoglu at the end of a meeting in Ankara with German Chancellor angela Merkel. Some 30,000 Syrian refugees have been waiting for days at the border crossing of Oncupinar in the hope of crossing into Turkey. So far Ankara has only allowed in health emergency cases. At the start of the crisis of Aleppo, at the end of January, 5,000 refugees, mostly Turkmen, were allowed in. Turkey already hosts over 2.5 million Syrians who have fled war. Migrants: UNHCR, Turkey should open Syria border to refugees 'International community should share crisis weight with Ankara' (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 9 - The UN refugee agency UNHCR has asked Turkey to open its border with Syria to allow the passage of a new inflow of refugees - at the moment 30,000 who have fled from Aleppo - calling on the international community to share the weight of the emergency with Ankara. Turkey, said UNHCR spokesman William Spindler, has allowed in several vulnerable and wounded people. However, many are not allowed to cross the border, he noted asking Turkey to open its borders to all civilians in Syria who are fleeing from danger areas and need international protection. Spindler added he understands concern for the ''potential massive'' inflow, expressed by Ankara, which already hosts over 2.5 million Syrian refugees. (ANSAmed). Fishing: Vella, Med stock situation very bad (ANSAmed) - ACI CASTELLO (CATANIA), FEBRUARY 9 - "The status of Mediterranean fish stocks is very, very bad. At the moment we are studying which measures to take. We are here to discuss a problem and we must do something to solve it. Fishing is an economic sector and we must take this into account" in EU common fisheries policies (CFP), said the European commissioner for the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries, Karmenu Vella. Vella is in Aci Castello in the province of Catania to attend a two-day event promoted by the EU on fish stocks in the Mediterranean together with all Med countries. Italy is represented by undersecretary Giuseppe Castiglione together with ministers and political representatives from Spain, Greece, Croatia, Malta and Slovenia, as well as scientists, Mediterranean organizations, NGOs and environmentalists. The two-day sessions will provide the political groundwork ahead of a ministerial declaration to be handed over in March 2017 to the future Maltese presidency of the EU. Meanwhile bilateral events will be held with Tunisia, Turkey and perhaps Morocco. Next April, Vella will gather in Brussels ministers from southern Europe for the Seafood fair. (ANSAmed). EU proposes extra olive oil imports from Tunisia in 2016-17 To support country struck by terror, 'no negative impact' (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 9 - The ''temporary and limited increase of a quota of olive oil provisions from Tunisia is part of the EU's engagement in supporting the economy of the country'', affected by a crisis following terror attacks and ''this increase will not be significant and will not have a negative impact on European producers'', the European Commission's spokesman for agriculture and trade Daniel Rosario has told ANSA. Rosario was talking about a European proposal for tax-free extra imports from Tunisia of 35,000 tons a year in 2016 and 2017. The European Commission recalls how Europe is already forced to buy olive oil from third countries and that Italy is the main EU importer of olive oil, mainly from other member states as well as extra-EU countries to satisfy internal demand and exports. Official estimates on European production, according to the EU executive, confirm the ''need to import'', with a ''production of 2 million and 50,000 tons of olives, or 500,000 tons more than the previous year, but the lowest production in the past seven years'', said Rosario. As a consequence, this quantity ''will not allow EU stocks to recuperate, remaining well under the historic average''. Moreover, ''according to provisional data, olive oil imports in January were lower than the previous year and constitute a very low average compared to the availability of the EU'', continued Rosario, according to whom the proportion of Tunisian olive oil imports in particular represent ''less than 4% of what is consumed in the EU''. Specifically Italy ''is a market in deficit and needs to import to cover the needs of its domestic market and exports'', explained the spokesperson of the European Commission, recalling that the country has produced 461,200 tons in 2013-2014 but only 222,000 tons in 2014-2015. Our country ''is the top EU importer of olive oil - stated Rosario - and some 10% comes from third countries (the rest from EU members) to satisfy national consumption (620,000 tons in 2013-2014 and 553,400 tons in 2014-2015) and its exports''. ''Considering that in 2014-2015 the consumption of olive oil in Italy is estimated at 553,400 tons, imports from third countries (61,400 tons), represent about 11% of Italy's total consumption'', concluded the spokesman of the EU Commission. In essence, the extra Tunisian olive oil of 35,000 tons a year for 2016 and 2017 to be examined by a plenary session of the European Parliament on February 25 would be absorbed by the Italian and European industry. Also, a risk to be considered for the Europeans if they do not help Tunisian imports would be that they could contact third markets ending up in direct competition with our exports. (ANSAmed). Tourism: Med challenges at Milan BIT, from Egypt to Tunisia Geopolitical situation leads to absences (ANSAmed) - MILAN, FEBRUARY 9 - From Egypt to Tunisia, from Morocco to Jordan, from Palestine to Israel, Cyprus and Turkey, the Mediterranean is showcasing its offers at the BIT international travel fair in Milan on February 11-13. The presence of such countries is consolidated, though for some of them taking part has become a challenge to convince travelers to visit. Egypt will be represented by Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, who is holding a press conference as part of the organization, at 6 pm on Thursday, at Milan's Hotel Principe di Savoia. Many are the events scheduled during the three-day fair in Milan (Rho) which will host exhibitors from over 100 countries, 2,000 companies and some 1,500 buyers to promote and develop their businesses. The exhibiting areas will again be four this year: Leisure World (which has 75% of the exhibitors from Italy and abroad), Mice (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions, a boom with three time the number of exhibitors from the 2015 pilot edition), Luxury (reserved to luxury operators who are 9% with a majority of foreigners) and sport Destination. Many will be investing in food and wine and cultural tourism ,which in Italy registered the best performance and has been recovering over the past few months, just like fitness and wellbeing and business and congress tourism. The geopolitical situation across the area, in particular North Africa and the Middle East, leaves out countries like Libya and Yemen, which after the beginning of uprisings in 2011 had made an effort to present themselves to the public at BIT. (ANSAmed). Max. detention in Holot migrant center reduced to 12 months 'We are not a security risk', say Sudanese after stabbing (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, FBRUARY 9 - Compulsory stay for African migrants in the Holot detention center in the Negev will be reduced from 20 to 12 months. The Israeli government made the decision, upholding in part objections to the anti-infiltration law made by the Jerusalem Supreme Court. Haarez noted that it was the fourth amendment to the law drawn up by the government after criticism from the court. Opposition MPs in a parliamentary debate expressed dissatisfaction since the government, they say, has not prepared any measures to help the areas south of Tel Aviv, where coexistence between migrants and the poverty-stricken local Jewish population is more complex. Meanwhile, representatives of Sudanese migrants held a press conference in Tel Aviv to reassure the public that their community did not pose risks for Israeli security. Reference was made to the Sudanese migrant Jamal Hassan, who was killed two days ago in Ashqelon (south of Tel Aviv) after he had stabbed and injured a soldier. In contrast with what the police said, Hassan ''was not acting in solidarity with Palestinians'', they said. Their spokesman stressed that Hassan had instead been suffering from psychological problems that had surfaced during his compulsory stay in Holot. (ANSAmed). Migrants: Ankara, Kilis should run for Nobel peace prize 'Hosts as many Syrians as Turks, model of cohabitation' (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 9 - After residents of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, this time those Kilis, the Turkish city at the border with Syria hosting as many refugees as its population, have been nominated for a Nobel peace prize. The deputy leader of the Turkish government Akp party, Ayhan Sefer Ustin, presented the Nobel candidature to the committee in Oslo, sending a letter in which he describes Kilis as a model for other European cities for the way in which residents have welcomed refugees. "Turkey's policy to open its doors has been implemented from the start. Our citizens are sensitive to this theme, like the government", he said. "The population of Kilis numbers 129,000 inhabitants and hosts 120,000 Syrians", recalled Ustun. Over the past few days 'the small Syria' of Turkey, as it is described by local media, is experiencing a new emergency, with over 30,000 new Syrian refugees crowded beyond the border, just a few kilometers away, as they await to cross over after fleeing Russian air raids and the advance of Bashar al Assad's regime in the province of Aleppo.(ANSAmed). Migrants: media, Serbia prepares plan to host 6,000 First list includes 15-18 areas (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 9 - The Serbian government is working on a plan to welcome and host in various areas of the country some 6,000 refugees from war zones in the Middle East, Belgrade-daily Danas reported on Tuesday, quoting "diplomatic sources charged with assisting the Serbian government on the migrant crisis". A first list reportedly includes between 15 and 18 areas of Serbia where the migrants could be located. Serbia is one of the countries most directly affected by the flow of migrants and refugees along the Balkan route. Last year, over 600,000 migrants bound towards western Europe crossed into Serbian territory. Only 600 applied for asylum to Belgrade authorities. (ANSAmed). EU draft wants more migrant facilities in Greece and Italy 'Deport those lacking right to asylum'; too many from Turkey (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 9 - A draft statement for the February 18-19 summit that ANSA has seen says that though improvements have been made through the setting up of 'hotspots' in Italy and Greece as concerns migrant identification, registration and fingerprinting, much remains to be done. It cites the facilities for migrants waiting for their cases to be assessed as one of the major areas to be improved upon. The statement notes that all parts of the Schengen zone must fully apply the rules concerning borders and refuse entry to citizens of third countries that do not meet entrance requirements or that have not asked for asylum despite having had the possibility to do so. It adds that Turkey has made significant progress towards implementing the 3-billion-euro action plan agreed with the EU, through granting refugees access to the labor market and data sharing with the EU. The statement stresses, however, that too many refugees are arriving in Greece from Turkey and that thus additional efforts are required. (ANSAmed). RAMALLAHnt that should pave the way for national elections, Palestinian daily Al-Quds reports. The paper explained that negotiations were held between Sunday and Monday in Doha under the sponsorship of the Qatari emirate. Along with discussions concerning the creation of a new joint cabinet, talks between Khaled Meshaal for Hamas and Azzam al-Ahmad for Fatah focused - added Al-Quds - on the management of Rafah (the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt), which under the deal should be jointly managed by the presidential guards of Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. A previous attempt to create a national unity government dates back to June 2014, which has so far failed due to the incompatibility of the most radical members of the two factions. Migrants: Ankara, we will not shut doors to refugees Premier Davutoglu, 70,000 refugees if raids on Aleppo continue (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 9 - "About 70,000 Syrian refugees could reach the Turkish border'' if the offensive carried out by Assad and Russia in the area of Aleppo will continue with the current intensity, Turkish Premier Ahmet Adutoglu said, vowing not to close the door to refugees. Davutoglu moreover accused Assad's forces and Russia of preventing the passage of humanitarian aid, blocking the corridor connecting Aleppo with the Turkish border. Ankara's authorities have repeatedly explained they want to provide assistance to these new refugees "as much as possible" in Syrian territory. Some 30,000 people are crammed at the border crossing of Oncupinar in hopes of being allowed into Turkey. So far Ankara has only allowed in single cases in urgent need of medical care. (ANSAmed). Renzi says European identity at risk without Schengen (ANSAmed - NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 9 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has said that Europe's identity will be in danger if the Schengen border-free system collapses. "I'm worried about the possibility that Schengen could end," Renzi said in an interview with Bloomberg. "The European identity is at risk without Schengen". The system covering most of the EU is under pressure due to the refugee crisis and the threat of Islamist terrorism. Renzi said the problem of asylum seekers will be the key test for the European Union in the next 12 months. "We need an agreement with the African countries to develop infrastructures and invest in those places," Renzi added. (ANSAmed). ROME - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and head of state of Dubai, has announced on Twitter the creation of two new ministerial posts, of happiness and tolerance. The first, according to the sheikh, will guide the ''government's politics to create society's wellbeing and satisfaction''. The minister of tolerance will instead ''instill tolerance, a fundamental value in the UAE'', a country where many religions and ethnic groups cohabit. In his tweets, which coincided with the World Government Summit hosted by the UAE, the premier did not say when these reforms will be implemented. The sheikh said the initiative follows consultations with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi (one of seven federated emirates making up the UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nayhan. Last week, Al Maktoum launched, also on Twitter, the search for a new minister of youth whose main requirement was to have less than 25 years of age. The Terres de l'Ebre (Ebro Lands) were witness on Sunday to the largest demonstration in defense of the Ebro River ever seen in the region. With the slogan "The Ebro without flow volume is the death of the Delta", some 50,000 people according to City Hall sources demonstrated in Amposta to demand an environmentally worthy flow volume for the final stretch of the Ebro River. This is a spectacular figure for demonstrators when you consider that the overall population of the Terres de l'Ebre is 180,000. The attendance can be explained by the massive arrival of people coming from all around Catalonia, thanks to a call to action by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, the two main grassroots, pro-independence groups. "We believe that the presence of people who came from all over Catalonia is something more than a show of solidarity. It is a way of understanding the nation. They have seen a part of their nation severely threatened, and it deserves to be defended", noted Manolo Tomas, spokesman for the Platform in Defense of the Ebro (PDE), during the closing speeches. It was a peaceful and festive demonstration that filled the streets of Amposta for 1,700 meters, which fell short in providing space for the human flood. The icy wind didn't stop people from wearing blue t-shirts with a knot pictured on it (the Platforms logo), and this time many "estelades" (Catalan nationalist flags) were seen along with blue banners. Also, it is the first time that a demonstration by the PDE has received the explicit support of the Catalan government. The government's commitment to the Terres d l'Ebre was made clear by the participation of Carme Forcadell, president of the Parliament, and three ministers: Josep Rull (Territory and Sustainability); Oriol Junqueras, (Economy and Vice President of the government); and Carles Mundo, (Justice). "This plan approved by the acting PP government is a bad plan for the Ebro Delta because it does not guarantee sufficient environmental flow volume, and bad for irrigable land because it does not prioritize modernization and sustainability", proclaimed Rull, who despite this did not specify if the Catalan government will renounce any of the 150,000 hectares of new irrigable lands that the Basin Plan provides for Catalonia. "We believe that the irrigable lands and the minimum flow volume can be compatible", was all he would say. "We are convinced that the European Union will play a key role in stopping the plan", added Junqueras. Besides the members of the Government, who held placards with the mayors of Amposta and Tortosa, Adam Tomas and Ferran Bel, respectively, there was a significant presence of members of Parliament, all of the political parties except C's and the PP, and also some from the Congress in Madrid, such as Xavier Domenech of En Comu Podem (Podemos). There were also mayors of many towns around the Terres de l'Ebre and throughout Catalonia, as well as MEPs such as Ramon Tremosa and Ernest Urtasun. Urtasun is a member of the delegation of European MPs that will visit the Delta on Monday to prepare a report on the effects that the Basin Plan could have on the final stretch of river. "We will ask the European Commission to stop this because it violates European Community directives on water and birds. The minimum flow volumes must be established first and if water is left over afterward, then the uses can be determined, and not the other way round, as this plan does", said Urtasun, who was also critical of the Catalan Government for its irrigation policy. It was a demonstration focused on Europe and with its eyes on this visit. And this was very clear in the closing speeches. "We ask Europe to intervene to stop this hydrologic plan, and this rally is our letter of application. Only in this way can we stop it", pointed out Manolo Tomas, spokesman for the PDE. "We are confident that we will win; it is impossible not to, with the strength of all of you", added Matilde Font, another spokesperson. "We are not against anyone, nor against the irrigators. We are against speculation with the river water", snapped Susanna Abella, also with the PDE. In fact, in spite of the opposition from the irrigators of Lleida, the demonstration also received the support of Catalonias Farmers' Union, with its own banner and two tractors leading the march. The march began at 12 noon in Parc dels Xiribecs and ended just before 2pm in front of the suspension bridge in Amposta, an city landmark, with speeches by the Platform in Defense of the Ebro, the reading of a manifesto by Amparo Moreno a journalist and Professor at the University of Barcelona and various musical performances. It is clear that the rallies will continue, and another has been announced for the spring. Visitors to AccessAbilities Expo 2016 (Feb 9-11) at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, can learn more about Dnatas airport accessibility offering at their dedicated stand (number 8210). Dnatas Special Handling team at Dubai International (DXB) of almost 950 employees are dedicated to assisting an average of 4,000 special needs passengers every day. In 2015, Dnata provided special assistance to over one million passengers with reduced mobility and anticipates an increase in line with traffic growth at the airport. The Special Handling team provides assistance with a range of services from checking in baggage; travelling through the terminal, and help with boarding flights. The team assists wheelchair and stretcher-bound passengers, visually and hearing impaired passengers, unaccompanied minors, and provides specialised equipment to ensure the comfort and accessibility of passengers with varying degrees of reduced mobility. Travel demand has continued to grow strongly, with global passenger traffic having risen by 6.5 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year. Dnata has continuously invested in its staff and infrastructure to help make travelling to and through Dubai more accessible for passengers with reduced mobility, said Nick Moore, senior vice president of Dnatas Airline Services. Our team strives to provide all passengers with special needs, with a comfortable and hassle-free experience, whether they are transiting through the terminal en route to other destinations, or departing on international flights. In anticipation of the growth in passengers, we will continue to innovate and bring cutting-edge technology to make their journey more comfortable so that travel can truly be for everyone. Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president commercial operations, centre for Emirates Airline said: The commercial team promotions in Saudi Arabia are a further testament to the airlines commitment to the market and its dedicated focus to the strategic direction and broader develop of its business in KSA. Khalid Abdulla Al Haddad, has been appointed as Emirates vice president KSA, Bahrain and Yemen. Rashid Al Ardha has been appointed Emirates Regional Manager- West KSA. Khalid will be responsible for the development of commercial operations in the three countries. Khalid Abdulla Al Haddad Rashed Al Fajeer has also been appointed as district nanager, Dammam taking on the role of managing that gateways commercial operations. Rashed Al Fajeer Khalid Al Haddad joined Emirates Airline in 2003 and has worked in several different positions, including Commercial Manager Jordan, Sales Manager Al Ain- UAE, Manager Riyadh-KSA, Area Manager Libya, Area Manager Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, Manager Sharjah and Northern Emirates- UAE and Regional Manager Levant (Lebanon, Syria and Jordan). Rashid Al Ardha began his aviation career with Emirates and has been with the company for over 9 years. He was appointed in the role of area manager Sudan in 2009. In his current role Rashid is responsible for the commercial management of the Western region of KSA which includes Jeddah and Medina. On a daily basis Rashid oversees all aspects of Emirates growth and development in these markets, driving revenue for the airline and capturing business from new markets. Rashid has a degree from the American University in Dubai. Rashid Al Ardha Rashed Al Fajeer joined Emirates in Jan 2013 as a management trainee in the National Commercial Outstation Programme. Trained at the Emirates hub and in Sri Lanka prior to his appointment, he then went on to be based in Dammam. Rashed has a degree from the American University in Dubai. Team Robins attend Middle Georgia Military Affairs Committee luncheon Maj. Gen. Derek P. Rydholm, director, A5A8 (Plans, Programs, Requirements, Assessments), Air Force Reserve, and the leaders of Team Robins enjoy lunch with the members of the Middle Georgia Military Affairs Committee at the Museum of Aviation, Robins AFB, Ga, Feb 5, 2016. The mission of the Committee, through a coordinated effort of surrounding Chambers of Commerce, is to strengthen and enhance community relationships with civilian and military Airmen of Robins Air Force Base, with a focus on contact, resulting in a positive impact on the Airmen and their families. (U.S. Air Force photo by Robert Helton) Best Travel Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Travel category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Relationship Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Relationships category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Home Improvement Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Home Improvement category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Education Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Education category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Law Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Law category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak This could be considered an internal problem but is in fact far greater than just Malaysia, seeing it effects many nations which thereby creates a second level part of the scam, or the scurry to find the funds to cover up the first scam. This second level is meant not only to enslave the Malaysian people / economy for the next 49 years to their new founded foreign masters, but it would put a quick finish to the USD as we know it. You see, the $USD14 Trillion in a cash deposit, in an offshore bank is what is of grave concern now. It is real and it is deposited, but the Feds, the CIA, Switzerland and others have made it clear to this person that these funds cannot be used. Continue Reading at ..... http://neilkeenan.com/neil-keenan-update-they-are-all-watching-you-malaysia/ A few days ago I received an anonymous message advising me that a major global scam was about to take place that would inflict economic damage beyond belief on most of the world.At first I shook my head to make sure everything was actually working right and that I was reading it right, and hearing right and so on. Once I said okay lets get down to it and find out where this is taking us - I learned that in just one more day; on February 9 2016, this scam would be taking place (the deal has now been postponed until after the Chinese New Year).The players are major players on the Eastern stage being manipulated by the Western or Western-educated. There is no question we are talking about the New World Order and the one person they are squeezing is Malaysias Prime Minister: Najib Razak.The Prime Minister is apparently a good man who walked into a very bad situation, but it was his doing that set the entire situation off.You can read about this all over the internet but this is not what the problem is. All the latest Ashbourne news. Ashbourne is an historic market town in Derbyshire. Situated on the southern edge of the Peak District, it is known as the 'Gateway to Dovedale' and the 'Gateway to the Peak District'. Ashbourne is famous for the annual Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played since at least 1667, although its origins may date back centuries earlier. Ashbourne became a Fairtrade town in March 2005. The popular Tissington Trail, which follows the route of the former Ashbourne to Buxton railway, starts on the edge of town. Keep up to date with the latest news from the town by signing up for our newsletter. by Shafique Khokhar Qaisar Jahan began to work at the MC Girls High School in Faisalabad in November 2015 bringing water to students. When the headmistress found out that he was a Christian, she told him to do the janitorial work and not deliver water. He refused saying, I shall not bend in front of this kind of people. Faisalabad (AsiaNews) Qaisar Jahan, a Christian man who was hired as a water man by the MC Girls High School in Partab Nagar (Faisalabad), has been the victim of religious discrimination. You are Christian and no one in the school wants to get a glass of water from you, the schools headmistress told him. Because of this, she ordered him to do the janitorial work. However, Jahan refused and filed a complaint. The story began in May 2015 when the previous water man at the MC Girls High School passed away. The schools headmistress, Najma Naheed, a Muslim, sent a request to the Education District officer (EDO) for a new employee. The choice fell on Jahan, who began working in November. However, towards the end of December, Ms Naheed started to put pressure on the new water man to do the janitorial work instead. On 6 February, she wrote a letter of complaint to the EDO. Since he was not being allowed to do the work for which he had been hired, Jahan turned to Lala Robin Daniel, a Christian political and social activist, who yesterday filed a complaint with the EDO for religious discrimination. "The headmistresss act of discrimination is unethical and violates the code of human behaviour, Daniel said. It also violates Articles 11 and 27 of the Constitution of Pakistan and Conventions 105 and 111 of the International Labour Organisation. Her unwarranted requests are against the law, Daniel added. Hence, we shall raise our voice and ask the authorities to take action against her to ensure the protection of the law for workers who belong to minorities." "I will fight for my rights, Qaisar Jahan said, and I shall not bend in front of this kind of people, because I believe that my Saviour Jesus Christ will help me find justice. Two other friends of mine have been hired as 'men water' in other schools but have been forced to do the janitorial work. I will not do it." The charge of blasphemy levelled at Asia Bibi in 2010 also began with a dispute over water. The Christian woman, a farmer, had been asked to bring water to her Muslim colleagues, but the latter had objected saying since Asia was not a Muslim, she would have made the water container unclean, and thus she should not be allowed to touch the water. Card. Rai makes fresh appeal for election of President of the Republic. The prelate denounces political and parliamentary factions who "impede" choice. Vacancy also concerns international diplomacy. UN special envoy: do not take the "stability" of the nation for granted. Parliament in session today. Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Religious leaders, international diplomats and civil society have launched a fresh appeal to the Lebanese Parliament to elect a new president, a position now vacant for over 20 months. In his Sunday homily Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai said that the people "deserve to live in a country that respects their rights." In recent weeks, the explicit support for the candidacy of former general Michel Aoun by the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, had hoped - so far in vain - in a development of the situation. Returning to the failure to elect the head of state, Card. Rai addressed the political and parliamentary factions "who for too long" have hindered the presidential election", to find an agreement to save a nation "on the brink of collapse". The country, he added, must seek "the common good" and respond "to the Constitution, the National Covenant (under which the presidency must go to a Maronite), and "the democratic systems adopted by Lebanon and mentioned in the preamble" of the Charter. Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014, when the term of outgoing President Michel Suleiman ended. Since then the Parliament and the blocks within it have failed to reach consensus on the choice of his successor. An open clash between two rival fronts has prevented the election of the head of state: March 8 (Hezbollah Shiites, close to Iran) and the block of March 14 (led by Saad Hariri, backed by Saudi Arabia). Parliament is due to be in session today. However, according to experts it will end with a new stalemate and President Nabih Berri will be forced to once again postpone the vote for lack of quorum. The failure to appoint a new president in Lebanon also concerns the international community. The UN special coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag sounded the alarm, saying that it may already be too late to save the country. The diplomat notes that "it is hard to" observe "the wear and tear" caused to the institutions and to the national economy, but the effects are already present and in the long run will become more and more evident. "The stability of Lebanon she adds - should not be taken for granted." The UN special coordinator also clarified that "external diplomatic pressure", in particular the United Nations, is unwelcome and the Lebanese Parliament alone must reach agreement. The presidency is an important position "for the Christian component" and "for the whole country." "It is important for Lebanon - said Sigrid Kaag - not to waste too much time, because it could pay a very high price at all levels". Valentine's Day Advice From A Top Chef This Valentine's Day, Cancel Your Dinner Reservation And Try This Instead Forget what you know about Valentines Day. Because even with the best intentions, most of you guys have experienced how lousy it feels to fall short of expectations on a day created to make your special someone feel extra special, loved, and cared for. Dont go out to dinner. Valentines Day is one of the worst times of the year to hit up a restaurant (even your favorite one). Not only is it nearly impossible to score a reservation, the place will most likely be packed if you do get a table not quite the right setting for setting the mood. And more often than not, theres an overpriced, preset menu. Do you really want a kitchen dictating what your sweetheart should be eating and how much you should be paying? RELATED: Valentine's Day Gift Ideas As for what you should do and eat, who better to turn to for advice than celebrity chef Curtis Stone? Dashing looks aside, Stone has been blissfully married to actress Lindsey Price for almost three years, and runs one of the hottest restaurants in Los Angeles: Maude (which happens to be closed on Valentines Day). Last weekend, we caught up with him at the SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino during Dine-N-Dasha foodie charity event hosted by renowned chef Jose Andres and benefiting World Central Kitchen and Three Square, two organizations fighting hunger and poverty. Here, Stone reveals his tips on how to do Valentines Day right in the comfort of your own home. (Even if you cant cook!) RELATED: Perfect Valentine's Day State your intention right away. This my top advice to dudes, says Stone. State the intention first: This Valentines Day, Ive been thinking we should try this This indicates to your partner that youve been thinking about what to do, and trying to plan ahead. This also prevents any unnecessary drama in case your partner doesnt appreciate what you planned. Just never, ever do this. Whatever you do, never ask the following question: What do you want to do? Stone raises a very valid point: This is the worst thing ever, because youre basically saying, I cant even be bothered thinking about what to do for you, so I want you to tell me. Keep it simple, stupid. Most guys totally overcomplicate it, say Stone. And they wind up getting stressed, distracted, preoccupied, all these things you would never want your date to be on Valentines Day. So instead of thinking about what you should be doing, consider the actual connection you have with your date and what makes them happy. While champagne and chocolate may be the norm, they might not be for everyone. (Proof positive: This writer hates chocolate.) Its not about the money. It all comes down to thought, says Stone. Writing a letter or compiling a photo album takes effort but costs nothing and it makes a big impact (especially in our digital age). A couple of years ago, my wife made an album called The Story of Us. It was so thoughtful, and its my favorite present. He also confesses to still writing love letters to Price. If he has time to do it, so do you. Also: Theres nothing more impersonal than a gift certificate. Its practical, but not personal. Cook something that takes time. While it may seem counterintuitive, preparing food that takes time to cook will save you time on Valentines Day. Stone favors comforting, nourishing slow-cooked dishes such as stews. Even better? You can make them the day before and simply warm them up right before dinner. Id rather be taken care of that way in the winter, instead of being fed something frou-frou. These easy-to-follow recipes for veal cheeks in red wine and Turkish braised lamb shank from chef Andres pay off big time: They taste rich and indulgent and are exotic enough to make the evening more memorable. Cant cook? Throw a picnic (indoors or outdoors). Go to a quality food shop and get some beautiful bread, cheese and wine, says Stone. It can be as simple as that. If the weathers cool where youre at, throw a cheerful picnic blanket down in your living room and set the mood with some fresh flowers, candles and a proper playlist. If youre lucky enough to be surrounded by sun and warmer temps, head to a favorite park or even more intimate your backyard. Michigan Senate Bill Criminalizes Oral And Anal Sex Trending News: A Michigan Senate Bill Makes It Illegal To 'Play The Back Nine' Why Is This Important? Because changing arcane laws is never easy. Long Story Short A bill recently passed the Michigan senate that makes anal and oral sex a felony offense. Michigan already had sodomy laws on the books, but this bill, an update of the state's animal rights laws, could have removed them. Long Story Most of us know that having sex with animals is wrong and bad. Don't have sex with sheep they're terrible lays. But most of us also know that what we do with other consenting adults in private is none of anyone's business, or at least shouldn't be. That's what makes it all the stranger that a bill currently making its way through the Michigan state legislature contains language that makes oral or anal sex with either an animal or a person a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Michigan is in the process of trying to pass a package of bills known as "Logan's Law," so named for a dog that died tragically when its abusive owner poured acid on it. The bills are intended to update Michigan's animal cruelty laws to keep animals out of the hands of abusers, itself a good and important law to pass. One of the bills, SB 219, contains updated language regarding the state's beastiality laws. It reads like this: Michigan State Senate Obviously, the "with mankind or with any animal" is the problematic part. It essentially lumps butt stuff in with bestiality, which is obviously a point of contention for legal, consenting butt-stuff-lovers. It's not so much strange that Michigan had such a law on the books, but that when given the opportunity to amend this specific section, they chose not to. Why? State Senator Rick Jones, the man who introduced the updates, says it has to do with politics. "The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I wont even get another hearing. Itll be done," Jones told The New Civil Rights Movement. "Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. Youd get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight thats not needed because its unconstitutional." So the language won't change because as soon as someone so much as suggests that people have sex in ways other than P-in-V with the lights off, stuffy old state senators will hold the proceedings hostage. Jones has a point, though: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that such sodomy laws were unconstitutional (Lawrence v. Texas), and most states removed them shortly thereafter. In the states that didn't, there's little incentive anyone brought up on sodomy charges would immediately have it overturned. Even if it would be a pointless fight, why delay helpful animal-protecting legislation over an unenforceable law? Thus ends today's news of "old men talking about butt sex." Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Why is it so difficult for people just suck it up and do away with these laws? Disrupt Your Feed It's ridiculous that laws like this still exist. Drop This Fact 12 states still have sodomy laws on the books. (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. has three months to comply with French laws and stop collecting data on people who dont have an account with the social network or it may face sanctions, the countrys data protection regulator said on Monday. The European Unions 28 privacy watchdogs are coordinating probes into possible violations of EU law in Facebooks revamped policy for handling personal photos and data. Dutch regulators were the first to step in after Facebook alerted its users in November of changes effective in January. In Belgium, the Menlo Park, California-based company in November lost a fight with Belgiums privacy watchdog after a court ordered it to stop storing personal data from Facebook non-users. Global firm K&L Gates has launched a support system to ensure clients are fully prepared if the UK leaves the European Union, following its imminent referendum. The firm has established a task force and dedicated hotline to help clients navigate the uncertainty and identify potential issues that could arise from a Brexit (British exit) of the EU, comprised of partners from the firms litigation, finance, corporate, intellectual property, policy and regulatory, and employment law practice areas. Managing partner Europe Martin Lane is head of the Brexit task force initiative. Uncertainty is the major issue companies are contending with, he told Australasian Lawyer. Much of the regulation of financial services in the UK is governed by EU law and an exit would mean financial institutions with cross border operations would become subject to a new regulatory regime. He said that a sudden change in the UKs employment laws, which are heavily derived from the EU, could create problems for businesses, magnified by the expected fragility of economic confidence if the UK elects to leave the union. As a result of its EU membership, the UK is subject to harmonised rules about the enforcement of judgments, Lane said. Without these regulations, matters would be dependent on domestic rules of law in relevant countries, which can create uncertainty and disputes through a lack of harmonisation, as well as potential difficulties in the enforcement of legal rights and obligations including debts. And he said that uncertainty created by a Brexit could impact the global economy, Australia in particular. The United Kingdom is Australias seventh largest trade partner and with more than 2,000 Australian and UK companies conducting business on a daily basis its easy to appreciate how the ripple effects of a potential Brexit could impact Australia, said Lane. Australian businesses doing business in the United Kingdom need to be prepared for the possibility of a considerable period of uncertainty (at least a year), that will follow an exit vote. They need to ensure they are aware of the regulatory changes being proposed, how those changes will impact their business and how they can best mitigate any potential loss. Victorias legal watchdog is set to investigate a Melbourne lawyer after he publically called a police officer a coward. Ataman Atlas, a former NSW police officer who represented Mehran Azami after he was arrested during the Anzac Day terror raids, launched a slur campaign against the counter-terrorism team who arrested his client. Victorian police issued a complaint to the Legal Services Board about his professional conduct, after Atlas posted a video on YouTube of himself making a speech, in which he declares that the courts dont care about his client Mehran Azami because he was a Muslim. He also called some police idiots on Facebook over the case and after being asked to remove the name, referred to him as detective coward, the Herald Sun reported. He said Victoria Police should not be trusted and any agreement you may make with Victoria Police is worthless. There was a comment attributed to you that the police had been malicious with Mr Azami and the courts did not care because he was a Muslim, Judge Pushon told Atlas during last year's hearing. I was agitated about it and it was most unwise in my view to speak about such matters in the course of the conduct of a plea hearing. Punshon said he was also concerned with the lawyers application during the case, having not filed a number of reports with the court on time. Punshon said he was concerned about the manner the plea had been conducted from the first day. According to the Herald Sun, this is the second time Atlas has been investigated over his professional conduct. Western Australias Legal Practitioners Complaints Commission investigated him back in 2007 over a complaint regarding a lack of competence and diligence in relation to preparation of appeal books in criminal appeal. The complaint was proved and the commission slapped him with a two year ban. No, I dont comment to Murdoch media, Atlas told the Herald Sun when asked for comment regarding the latest probe into his conduct. In Greek mythology, Narcissus, son of the river god Cephisus and the water nymph Leirope, was a beautiful youth, beloved by the nymph Echo whom he cruelly repulsed. For this offence, Aphrodite, goddess of love, punished him by making him pathologically enamoured of his own image as reflected in a pool of water. His continuing and fruitless attemptes to approach his beautiful self image led to his despair and death. Are we not all just a little tempted by a similar fascination, an urge to understand, see even, something of the workings of our own minds, maybe to be glimpsed through a study of that latest of scientific endeavours, passions one might almost say, Cognitive Neuroscience? It can be no accident that the prefix neuro- nowadays appears before so many other existing disciplines neuroethics, neurophilosophy, neuroeconomics, neuroforensics.....Can all these disciplines be better comprehended and mastered through the lens of brain mechanisms? The human brain, that most exquisitely complex of all known systems, manages so much of what seems to render us human possession of a mind, however defined with respect to a substrate such as the brain, consciousness, will, intention, attention, ethics, personal and legal responsibility, thought, emotion, cognition.....the list goes on and on. And in the last couple of decades so many wonderful new procedures and... The cosmetic components for the Navi will be available at Honda dealerships and can be fitted at the showrooms. Along with launching the Navi at the Auto Expo, Honda has also displayed well kitted-out versions of the motorcycle equipped with the various accessories available for this highly customisable bike. Honda has described the Navi as a fun mobility solution for youngsters, with styling that's a mix between a motorcycle and a scooter. Design cues of the bike include a dirt bike-like top portion while the suspension, engine positioning, integration and body frame are more reminiscent of a scooter. The Navi is the companys first bike developed in-house at its R&D facility in India, and Honda has offered a host of accessories to further allow customers to customise this newest offering as their requirement. The accessory list includes a crash guard, cafe-racer style rear view mirrors, changeable handles and crossbar, handle guards, visor, pillion grab rails, a handlebar-mounted mobile phone holder, a lockable storage box in place of the moped-like storage place behind the front wheel, a rear storage box, changeable body kits, headlamp guard, underbody guard and a USB charging socket to name a few. Mechanically, the bike is powered by the same 7.8bhp, four-stroke, 109.2cc air-cooled engine that powers the Honda Activa. Prices for the new Honda Navi start at Rs 39,500 (ex-showroom, Delhi). Honda Navi launched at Auto Expo 2016 Honda Navi photo gallery Top 5 bikes at Auto Expo 2016 Two-wheeled attractions, Auto Expo 2016 Fuji Heavy Industries' car division has not released any details, but we think this is actually the third in a line of concepts that preview the next Impreza. We had a 5-door hatchback in Tokyo last year, followed by the 4-door sedan in Los Angeles , and now this one.The teaser photo of the XV naturally shows the front end and the design looks nearly identical to that of the Impreza concept. In a way, that makes the XV a Japanse version of the Mercedes GLA-Class, a raised hatchback that pretends to be a crossover.All these Japanese compact cars will ride on a new modular platform, Subaru's first such architecture. They will be lighter and stiffer, taking full advantage of more advanced boxer engines.We expect the production XV to ride on the same floor pan as the Impreza concepts, meaning the wheelbase will be 2,670mm or 35mm longer than the current model and also longer than that of the Nissan Qashqai.All the other dimensions should be a little bit bigger than the outgoing model without breaking out of the compact class.Subaru calls its new design language Dynamic x Solid. These are two characteristics that are usually associated with the Japanese brand. However, good-looking cars are not something Subaru is known for.On the engine front, we can't rule out anything at the moment. Honda just made a great switch to a turbocharged 1.5-liter for the Civic. Chevrolet and Hyundai also downsized the engines of their compacts. In response, Subaru is known to develop an all-new injection system, but we don't know anything about downsizing. Already, they boast a 170 hp 1.6 turbo that's only available in Japan for now.As a side note, the XV Concept proves that last year's Viziv Future concept car may have been a preview of the next Forester, not the next XV as some suggested at the time. IMAGE: Red carpet rolled out for Egyptian President's convoy of cars sparks anger across country. pic.twitter.com/3E5Kvk0SLb The Int'l Spectator (@intlspectator) February 8, 2016 A red carpet that stretches over 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), to be more specific. The video below features only a portion of the textile floor covering on which Egyptian state officials drove on Saturday.For a country that finds itself in the most crippling situation since the end of Ottoman rule in 1867, a 2.5-mile long red carpet should be the last thing on Abdul Fattah el-Sisis must-do list.The hypocrisy of it all beggars belief, more so if you consider that the red carpet was used by the presidential motorcade to visit a social housing project in a suburb of Cairo. Amid recent comments about the need to cut government subsidies, the President of Egypt shouldve thought this through before placing an order for a red carpet that rivals all red carpets in Hollywood taken together.Rolling out this atrocity on the streets of Cairo is as if Egypts President trampled on the peoples money. Buying duvets for those poor souls who are freezing in the cold wouldve been a better thing to do. Better still, the photo was tweeted shortly after el-Sisi gave a speech in which he warned that Egypt couldnt continue to subsidize water and electricity bills for low-income families.The worst offender, however, is the deputy head of the militarys moral affairs department. Ehab el-Ahwagy told the CBC television station, We want to give the impression that Egypt is moving in the right direction, and we want to present a bit of joy to our people. This is as wrong as politics can get, full stop. ABS The House of Tokyo is, in fact, believed to start the production of their CBR250RR around the mid-year point or so, with the new 250cc machines most likely being assembled in Thailand or Indonesia.However, the new machine will not be a take on the existing CBR quarter-liter. The new Honda machines will be equipped with a new parallel-twin engine with superior power, most likely tapping into the segment where the R25 or 250cc Ninja are doing so well.Honda's new motorcycle will also represent a solid step up from the current low-cost CBR250R, and this means that many of the components will be higher-specced. This includes the USD suspensions, a better rear monoshock, possibly two riding modes or more and even traction control.is required in Europe for all machines over 125cc, so it will be on the standard trim list anyway. If North America gets the bike, anti-locking brakes might be optional.Still, the most thrilling part about the bikes that are supposed to be sold in Europe and North America is that Tokyo will have to come up with bigger, brawnier engines that would rival, if not even surpass what KTM, Yamaha and Kawasaki are currently offering with their RC390, R3 and Ninja 300, respectively.As to whether Honda will decide to break the A2-license limits with its bikes, and offer them with extra power that has to be tamed with a restrictor, we sort of doubt this will happen. Great as a bike for a beginner or returning rider, more power for the Honda CBR250RR would only make sense if used on the track. But until further notice, we'll just have to wait and see Honda's next move. Sources in the British media mention Aviva participating with a "lion's share," which, until proven differently, means that there will be other private investors funding the Circuit of Wales, too. The costs of the entire project are estimated at around 330 million, which stands for $476m or 426m.The Circuit is also said to receive public funding worth 30 million ($43.3m or 38.7m), but representatives of other racing venues in the UK that don't get financing from the state are said to stand against such loans from the Welsh government.Jonathan Palmer, the head of MSV (Motorsport Vision), says that he and his company are ready to challenge the government's decision to provide public funds for the Circuit of Wales. MSV currently operates no less than five venues, some of which are regarded as vital for motorsport in the UK. The list includes Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Caldwell Park, the Snetterton circuit and the Bedford Autodrome.Aside from the financial support from the investors, it looks like the Circuit of Wales has some more obstacles that need to be cleared until the actual construction can start. Motomatters mentions "a 600mm high pressure gas line, which supplies a large portion of South Wales, crosses the site, and the environmental plan imposes several severe conditions on dealing with the gas pipeline, demanding that large groups of people are kept more than 195m away from the pipeline, and that building be done with care."If the Circuit of Wales secures the funding and sorts out the remaining standing issues with the location in the Ebbw Vale, the venue could become operational in 2018.This means that the UK Grand Prix rounds will still be hosted at Silverstone in 2016 and 2017, and only then move to the new location in the southern Wales. This is how Tokyo ended up with the Museo Huracan, an initiative that can be described as a street installation loaded with... Huracans. The attraction was open for almost two weeks back in January, making for one hot start of the year.The exhibition also marked the Japanese market debut of the LP580-2 - you know, the rear-wheel drive incarnation of the machine."With 'Museo Huracan' Lamborghini aims to provide a larger number of people with the opportunities to see and experience the Huracan series, Lamborghinis most successful and finest masterpiece. The highlight of 'Museo Huracan' is the special exhibition of Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder, the most recent Lamborghini model to be launched, and Huracan LP 580-2, premiered in Japan on this occasion," the automaker said.The company is well aware of the Japanese Lamborghini subculture, which sees Raging Bulls being gifted with crazy LED lights. Perhaps the automaker used this approach when deciding to throw some supercars in the middle of the street and add plenty of light to make sure the eye-catching styling gets noticed.With Lamborghini having sold a record number of cars back in 2015, the Huracan obviously drove the company towards the 3,245-unit milestone.And it's not just the affordability (compared to the Aventador ) of the V10 model that fueled its commercial success. One key asset of the Huracan is its drivability. This is, by far, the friendliest Lamborghini to date and that's quite an achievement.With the Huracan line-up now having three members (the fourth is already in the works), we only expect things to climb higher. If Shahin's efforts are successful, the Tailem Bend would be one of the longest circuits to host a MotoGP race. With a length of 7.2 km (4.47 miles), Tailem Bend Circuit might become a venue to host both MotoGP and Australian V8 competitions, even though the homologation for the two comes from two governing bodies.On one hand, the Tailem Bend Circuit must meet the FIA Category 2 requirements for hosting V8 car races, whereas MotoGP races need A level grading from the FIM. With the upgrades that are envisaged for the Tailem Bend, the circuit would become a part of a larger complex, the SA Motorsport Park.Things have been set in motion, and FIM's Franco Uncini has already visited Tailem Bend, as is customary with any circuit that aspires to MotoGP fame.However, more than V8 and MotoGP races are expected to take place at the future SA Motorsport Park. License to host all types of motorsport races sanctioned by the FIM and the FIA is the big plan, with the sole exception being Formula 1.Uncini is expected to complete his report on safety and make further recommendations for Tailem Bend, and his first words after his survey were "in general the circuit is very safe and very exciting," gpextra reports. It remains to be seen what "in general" means for him.Phillip Island has a standing contract with Dorna until the end of 2016, and the management of Tailem Bend hopes to take its place in the MotoGP calendar, or even convince Dorna that staging two Australian rounds is a lucrative idea. If the name above, or the Rauh-Welt Begriff project, which is Nakai-san's pride and joy, don't ring any bell, you should be prepared to have your mind tested.That's because Japanese tuner RWB builds some of the most extreme Porsches out there. Wait, that description doesn't do RWB 911s justice, so we'll try another one - RWB Porsche are the most popular eccentric-looking Neunelfers the world has seen.While these extra-bold body kits don't build themselves, they don't come from a team of craftsmen, either. Instead, this is mostly a one-man show that sees Akira Nakai turning to rather basic materials such as fiberglass and sealant to reshape Zuffenhausen machines.The man only works on air-cooled Porsches, such as the one we have here, but it's not like he needs to expand his business. Imagine this as some sort of Cirque du Soleil for Porsches and you'll get pretty close to the aura of the machines we're discussing here.You see, over the last few years, RWB has seen its business explode, with Nakai-san flying all over the world to build one project after another.As we mentioned in the intro of the story, this man creates more than eye-catching 911s, as these cars see small communities being born around them.And thanks to the powers of the world wide web, these communities have formed one global family of Porsche lovers that share a passion for all-out custom projects.These images serve as a taster for a Porscha that will soon adorn the streets of LA, joining other three or four RWB machines in the area. Even though Royal Enfield pulled their Himalayan video off YouTube trying to do some damage control, things cannot be undone. The Himalayan will most likely be remembered for years as the adventure bike that broke one of the footpegs in the very launch video.Obviously, putting THAT bike and the Dakar Rally in the same sentence is almost evil. A motorcycle manufacturer that hopes to even reach the finish line of the Dakar has to go great lengths to make its bike tough as nails, and that's perhaps an understatement.We've seen motorcycles from the biggest and the best teams defeated by the grueling South American cross-country rally, down with all sorts of problems, from engines that fail to broken parts and frames.Even more, sometimes, riders also happen to crash these bikes violently on the unwelcoming terrain, most of the times at high speed. Some of the toughest machines don't last such ordeals, and only a few of the racers are lucky enough to escape without injuries and their bikes to make it to the next bivouac and be repaired.The Dakar is not at all picky, it has a strong tendency to eliminate whoever makes mistakes and brings knives to the gun fight. Some of the riders who cross the finish line are also lucky to have avoided tight situations. Watch the video in the link at 03:45 to see what a fast Dakar crash looks like.So, that's why seeing Oberdan Bezzi 's Royal Enfield Himalayan Rally Raid rendering put a broad smile on our face. Anyway, if Royal Enfield could make a Dakar-grade bike, they'd be truly praiseworthy. But this would most likely involve a much stronger chassis, including kickass forks and swingarm, top-drawer suspensions, and all the parts being as tough and enduring as they get.Judging by what we saw in the first videos, the Himalayan is nowhere near any mass production enduro bike, and this means that the road that lies ahead is too long to describe, at least in the stage the bike is now. Follow this link if you missed the Himalayan broken footpeg story Frank Tuch has issued his resignation notice with plans to take on new challenges elsewhere. The Volkswagen employee was suspended from his duties after the Dieselgate scandal erupted. The employee will leave the company at his request, but will continue to serve Volkswagen in an advisory capacity. The German company has stated that it regrets Mr. Tuchs decision and thanked him for his achievements.Tuchs replacement will be Hans-Joachim Rothenpieler. Mr Rothenpieler is a mechanical engineer and has worked for Volkswagen for the last three decades, having joined the company in 1986. In these three decades, Mr. Rothenpieler worked for Skoda, Bentley, and Volkswagen brands. Back in 2007, he was appointed Head of Quality Assurance for Volkswagen AG and stayed in that position until 2010 , so he knows his way around the company offices.Mr. Rothenpielers old job will be taken over by Dr. Harald Ludanek, a current member of the Scania Executive Board and Head of Research and Development.The new Head of Quality Assurance for the Volkswagen Group will report directly to the CEO, Matthias Mueller. The shift in Volkswagens internal structure should not come as a surprise to anyone, as the company plans to revamp itself and rise from the current situation caused by the Dieselgate scandal.As some industry analysts point out, the new people in charge of the principal departments of the Volkswagen Group are current employees. By using old and trusty employees, Volkswagen is playing it safe, but the move is not seen this way by some people, who believed that the company should have hired managers from other companies to ensure a complete change.However, the German firm reports that it has halved the number of top managers reporting to the CEO. The change is an important one for Europes most successful carmaker, as it should streamline its management and quicken its decision-making process.Other significant departures from Volkswagen's top brass are Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Dr. Martin Winterkorn, and Luc Donckerwolke. Brazil wants to liberalize trade in vehicles and auto parts with Argentina and Mexico, Trade Minister Armando Monteiro told Reuters, in a major shift away from protectionism. Monteiro, the former head of a trade group who will travel to Mexico and Argentina, has been under pressure from local auto producers who are struggling in Brazil's recession, according to the Reuters report. The minister said the government's priority is to rework a bilateral auto deal with Argentina that expires in late June and advance talks to expand overall trade with Mexico. He added that the auto trade liberalization with Argentina could be gradual. Despite being major partners of the South American trading bloc Mercosur, the two countries have automobile trade quotas, according to the Reuters report. In 2015, Nissan Mexico accomplished a new manufacturing record with a total output of 822,948 units. The company recently confirmed it has produced its 5-millionth vehicle at its Aguascalientes A1 plant. Aguascalientes A1 plant was established in 1992, and it is a global manufacturing benchmark for the corporation, delivering top quality vehicles at a production rate of 55 seconds each. In 1993, the A1 plant began producing vehicles for the Japanese market, according to the company. The 5-millionth vehicle assembled in the A1 plant is a 2016 Nissan Sentra that will be exported to Canada. A new two-day symposium to explore the future of electric-powered flight will be held May 6 and 7 in Redwood City, California, the Sustainable Aviation Foundation has announced. The program, which is being developed by SAF President Brien Seeley, will include a global faculty of technology experts and visionaries, according to the SAF website. The list of presenters includes NASA chief scientist Dennis Bushnell, Tian Yu of Yuneec, Tine Tomazic of Pipistrel and many others. The Foundation aims to explore technologies that encompass all sectors of aviation from UAVs and sport/recreational through commercial air carriers, since sustainability is everyones concern, according to the website. Meanwhile, the CAFE Foundation, which for many years has hosted a similar annual conference, has not yet finalized a plan for this year. Larry Ford, the president of the CAFE board and one of the founders of the group, recently resigned from his post, Vice-President Steve Williams told AVweb this week. Williams said CAFE plans to hold a board meeting soon to make plans for this year. A strategic concept statement posted recently at the CAFE website said the group plans to broaden the scope of topics and speakers at [Electric Aircraft Symposium] 2016 to include propulsion, batteries, airframe design, flight operations, autonomous flight, and information integration. EAS 2016 will look at the challenges facing electric flight, and how the aviation industry can reach beyond its own walls for technological solutions and business opportunities. Seeley, also a founder of CAFE, left the organization last year and formed the new SAF. He told AVweb this week there are more presenters in the works for his May symposium and hell have more updates soon. 9 February 2016 17:33 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Political corruption remains Armenias widespread and growing problem, ranking the country 95 among 168 countries in a list of Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index 2014, with a score of 35 on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Particular feature of corruption in Armenia is the presence of so-called oligarchs who enjoy the fruits of a shadow economy estimated to account for around 35 percent of Armenias GDP. Not so long ago U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills worked as an "engine" in a fight against corruption in Armenia. He even threatened Armenian officials with imposition of sanctions and declared that at least, he will not invite them to the events held in the Embassy. Corruption is a real challenge for economically weak Armenia to tackle with. Unfortunately, no way out is seen until the country's current government is in power. Recently, EU Representative to Armenia Peter Svitalsky has organized event named "National and International Efforts in the field of Applied Ethics" to shed a light to very harsh barriers for the development of the post-Soviet nation. The event concluded a very heavy diagnosis for Armenia: it is impossible to eradicate corruption until the high-ranking officials and parliamentarians are engaged in business. Corruption is the the major reason for deterioration of once warm relations between the government and the Diaspora. The corrupted Armenian government cannot boast wonderful ties with the large Diaspora, that numbers over eight million people while the population of Armenia is only of 2.4 million people (it is worth noting that it is an official data; actually, this figure is twice less). It is generally known that for some countries, Diaspora plays a particularly important role as it provides political and economic support to their historical homeland. The Armenian Diaspora does the best for its people, but, apparently, the funds raised and allocated to assist their fellow citizens, remain in the pockets of the corrupt Armenian officials. Thus, relations between Armenia and Diaspora have lost its force a long time ago the authorities of Armenia created such a situation by playing with patriotic feelings and wasting funds of Diaspora. Although 25 years pass since Armenia gained independence, the countrys authorities are still unable to solve this problem pursuing personal and group interests. Years by years interpretations of corruption have changed, while its mechanisms got improved, but the government could not or did not want to get rid of this social evil. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 12:00 (UTC+04:00) By Volker Perthes In the two years since Germanys president, foreign minister, and defense minister signaled that their country would take on a larger role in international affairs, the countrys leaders have received a crash course in geopolitical realism. The challenges Germany has had to face include Russias annexation of Crimea, the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the explosion of Syria, terrorist attacks in Europe, and an unprecedented influx of refugees. These crises have greatly increased Germanys international profile. And yet the countrys reemergence as a major player on the world stage must be tempered with the recognition that its power depends on cooperation with its partners and the development of a strong, unified European foreign and security policy. Germanys embrace of a more active global role has taken place within a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape one in which German and other European leaders have had to accept that most of the rest of the world does not share their preference for multilateral decision-making. They have also had to come to terms with the fact that the United States is no longer prepared to take the lead in every crisis, and that rising global powers such as China, India, and Brazil are not yet prepared to contribute effectively to maintaining a stable global order. Meanwhile, the dividing lines between domestic and international affairs have become increasingly blurred. The refugee crisis, for example, demands policy interventions in areas as diverse as defense, development aid, European integration, domestic security, and social-welfare policy. Increasingly, the challenges Germany is facing have become intertwined; terrorism, the Syrian civil war, Russian aggression, and refugee flows are interacting in dangerous and unpredictable ways. Nor are any of these crises likely to be easily contained or quickly resolved; each will have to be managed over the long term. And given its high degree of integration into the global economy, Germany is vulnerable even to distant developments. For example, preventing military conflict and maintaining maritime freedom in the South China Sea is clearly in Germanys interest. To their credit, Germanys leaders, recognizing the important role their country can play, have taken the diplomatic lead with Russia over its intervention in Ukraine. Moreover, Germany was a key participant in the nuclear negotiations with Iran, and it has been deeply involved in the effort to find a political solution to the Syrian civil war. Germany also assumed the 2016 presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. On the military front, Germany has beefed up its contribution to NATO measures to bolster defenses in the Baltic region and Central Europe, and it has become increasingly open to contributing military forces to interventions in crises outside the alliances area. It has participated in United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Mali, prolonged its engagement in Afghanistan, supplied weapons and training to forces in northern Iraq, and provided reconnaissance flights and other assistance to French military strikes against the Islamic State in Syria. German policymakers are aware that their international partners expect this type of leadership to become the norm, and they have demonstrated an interest in expanding Germanys rising influence. As a medium-size power however, Germany cannot be present everywhere; maintaining a broader international footprint will require cooperation with allies and partners around the world. Indeed, the more Germany leads, the more dependent it becomes on other international actors most notably its European Union partners and the more exposed it becomes to fluctuations in the geopolitical environment. For example, Chinas regional posture and its strategic relationship with the US will influence German efforts to find multilateral solutions to global challenges like climate change or cyber threats. As Germany continues to lean forward internationally, it can be expected to increase spending on foreign policy and international security. To be sure, Berlin has yet to meet NATOs target of 2% of GDP for defense spending. Like most other states, it has also failed to meet the internationally agreed commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on official development assistance. But, unlike some of its partners, Germany has not slashed its defense budget, and it has substantially increased funding for diplomacy. Nonetheless, even as it has increased its capacity to provide military forces for UN, NATO, or EU operations, Germany has made clear that it does not view itself as a military power. German policymakers continue to believe that political and economic means of influence are more effective than violence, implying further development of soft-power tools, including digital diplomacy. They are also eager to develop more networked national and European foreign policies that take into account the activities and possible contributions of non-state actors. For the time being, Germanys main foreign policy priorities are likely to remain the EU and the continents eastern and southern neighbors from which immediate security risks are most likely to emanate. This would be a wise choice. Germany and its EU partners will be most effective when managing conflicts, stabilizing governments, or supporting economic and political transitions in their immediate neighborhood. Furthermore, given todays extraordinarily turbulent geopolitical environment, Germany has a fundamental interest in championing the development of the EUs foreign policy and security institutions. As much as German policymakers might enjoy the growing demand for their contributions to international politics, the countrys membership in the EU remains its most potent source of power and security. Copyright: Project Syndicate:The Limits of German Power --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 09:00 (UTC+04:00) By Gulgiz Dadashova While low oil prices are hitting the global economy, slowing growth rates increase unemployment numbers worldwide, especially in energy producing countries. Employment remains a key factor through which the economies seek to enable people to meet their needs and achieve their socio-economic goals. Low unemployment ratio well mirrors economic growth of the nation, striving policymakers to use better tools to improve the market. Currently, the unemployment ratio is equal to 5 percent in Azerbaijan. Despite this small figure, the government takes measures to prevent growth in unemployment and improves the employment services system. Oil and gas exporter Azerbaijan have introduced reforms and measures to improve economic activity to bring unemployment back down and open new jobs. Priorities for Azerbaijan include supporting economic growth and improving the non-oil sector of the economy, ensuring that private sector creates new jobs, but not only the government. Greeting the role that the private sector plays in driving the economic growth and creating jobs, the Azerbaijani government has centered its new economic model on improving opportunities for businesses, including by strengthening their ability to compete internationally. The government is also working to cut tax and eliminate burdens on businesses. As companies create jobs, the state seeks to simplify their access to simplified loans and boost entrepreneurship, particularly in agro sector. A new 10-year concept of employment is being developed by the Labor and social protection Ministry together with the due state bodies, Azerbaijan Confederation of Trade Unions, National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations and the nongovernmental organizations, as well as the World Bank, the UN Population Fund and the International Labor Organization. Salim Muslimov, Minister for Labor and Social Protection of Population, said on February 8 the concept covering 2016-2025 will be developed in three months and focus on the development of macroeconomic policies, entrepreneurship, assessment of the demographic burden on the labor market and employment policy. The concept, he said, will also create competitive human resources, improve the information provision for the development of the labor market and strengthen social protection of the unemployed and job seekers. The countrys previous employment policy allowed opening more than 1.5 million new jobs and reducing the unemployment rate from 7.4 percent in 2004 to 4.9 percent in 2015. The strategy will include proposals how the Azerbaijani government can take advantage of future opportunities and the potential of demographic change in order to secure long-term growth and prosperity. The minister noted that in terms of demography, Azerbaijan is one of the few countries in Europe and CIS countries with fast-growing populations. In 2005-2015, the population increased by 13.6 percent. Currently, citizens aged less than 14 years account for 22.4 percent of the population in Azerbaijan, aged over 15 make up 64 percent - 71.6 percent, while those who are aged above over 65 years constitute six percent. Meanwhile, 28.1 percent of the population is young people aged 15-29 years," he said. Muslimov believes the country needs to implement a dual training system. The International Labor Organization reports that the psychology of employers has changed, as they no longer want to participate in training, and strive to immediately get ready specialists. This can be observed not only in Azerbaijan, but also all over the world. Due to this, the labor market does not meet its requirements. In many European countries dual training is now widely used, where different companies hire young people aged 15-16 years. They work for 20-30 percent of the salary, but at the same time continue to learn. As a result, they receive the necessary experience and are in demand in the labor market when aged 18, he said. The minister said for the introduction of a similar system in Azerbaijan, the private sector needs to share interest. "It is necessary to expand the range of training courses, training and retraining, he said. We are working in this direction, for example, soon another similar center will open in Ganja. We want such centers to operate in all regions of the country in the future. Training is also fundamental in long-term strategy to offer real opportunities to the unemployed and tackle skills mismatch. In 2015, the State Employment Service organized vocational counseling courses, which covered 100,000 high school students. -- Follow Gulgiz Dadashova on Twitter: @GulgizD Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 17:59 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan allocates $0.5 million to support non-Islamic religious communities in the country every year, Chairman of the State Committee Mubariz Gurbanli said at the meeting with participants in the International Winter School of multiculturalism on February 9. He emphasized that the government provides mosques, synagogues and churches with benefits to ensure electricity. Touching upon the tension developed between Sunnis and Shia in some Muslim countries, the chairman stressed that Azerbaijan does not experience such situations, thanks to upbringing and mentality of the people. Recently, Sunnis and Shia made a joint prayer in the Heydar mosque in Baku. Azerbaijani families do not inculcate hatred in children towards anyone, he said, voicing tolerance in Azerbaijan is supported at the state level. Today many people die in clashes on national, ethnic, religious grounds in some 30 countries, said Gurbanli. National, ethnic and religious conflicts led to the death of 2.5 million people during past 15 years. Some 50 million people have been expelled from their native lands, the chairman said. He added Azerbaijan hosts about one million refugees and IDPs. The UN has identified 10 major global problems, which urges the humanity to unite to solve them. Even the richest countries in the world are not able to tackle many of these problems. They can be solved by inter-religious dialogue and multiculturalism, Gurbanli noted. The International Winter School of multiculturalism "Multiculturalism as a way of life in Azerbaijan: teach, explore, share" was launched in Baku on February 8. Organized jointly by the Baku International Center of Multiculturalism, Knowledge Foundation under the Azerbaijani President and the Baku Slavic University, the event will last until February 15 and will be held in Guba, Khachmaz and Gusar regions. The winter school is attended by students from Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany. Azerbaijan, a country at crossroads of numerous cultures, religions and civilizations, was known as a bridge between Europe and Asia since antiquity. The country always was a land, where different nations, languages and cultural traditions met and interacted. Azerbaijan played an important role in the interaction of different religious groups of the region, although the secular state Azerbaijan has an overwhelming majority of Muslim population (96 percent). Worshipers of other religions enjoy freedom here, and one can often witness Jewish synagogues and Orthodox and Christian churches and other religious centers functioning freely here. As a country with polyethnic composition, Azerbaijan has declared 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism. Today, when the world is struggling with different religious and ethnic dissension, Azerbaijani multiculturalism plays the role of a catalyst, proving that people of different nationalities and religions can live in peace side by side. Taking intercultural dialogue as one of the most pressing challenges of the contemporary world, Azerbaijan has been sponsoring World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku once every two years since 2011. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 14:23 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans state oil fund SOFAZ has no plans to increase its gold reserves in 2016, a source in the Fund told Trend. Currently, SOFAZs gold reserves portfolio includes 30,175 kilograms of gold, which accounts for about 3.5 percent of total assets. Under SOFAZs funds management rules, the portion of gold reserves in total assets shouldnt exceed the five percent limit of the funds investment portfolio, the source said, adding that the issue is not in the agenda of the Fund. The Fund recently started investing in real estate funds, as the share of investments that can be made in real estate has been increased from 5 to 10 percent. SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million. Under SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems. The main goals of the State Oil Fund include accumulation of resources and the placement of the funds assets abroad in order to minimize the negative affect on the economy, the prevention of "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 18:26 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The government of Azerbaijan has increased its quota in the International Monetary Fund from 160.9 million SDR ($224.34 million) to 391.7 million SDR ($546.14 million). The IMF announced that Azerbaijan's quota was increased as part of the 14th General Review of Quotas. The SDR - Special Drawing Rights - is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. As of February 8, the official exchange rate was 1.39427 SDR/USD. Some 44 percent (173.1 million SDR or 377.7 million manats) of Azerbaijans quota may be placed in the national currency. The IMF said that Azerbaijan has already agreed on the increase of its quota, but it has not yet set the date of its share payment. As a result of increasing the quota of each of 188 IMF member-states, total contributions increased from 238.5 billion SDR ($329 billion) to 477 billion SDR ($659 billion). The IMF's largest member-state is the U.S. with a quota of 82.9 billion SDR. The IMF's smallest member-state is Tuvalu with a quota of 2.5 million SDR. Quotas are denominated in SDR, the IMF's unit of account. Quota subscriptions are a central component of the IMFs financial resources. Each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy. This quota determines a maximum amount of the countrys financial commitments to the IMF and its number of votes. It also affects the country's access to the IMF financing. When a country joins the IMF, it is assigned an initial quota in the same range as the quotas of existing members of broadly comparable economic size and characteristics. The IMF uses a quota formula to help assess a members relative position. The amount of funding that the member-state can obtain from the IMF (its access limit) is determined on the basis of its quota. For example, a member-state can borrow up to 200 percent of its quota annually and up to 600 percent on an accrual basis a part of the agreements on the stand by loans and expanded lending. In exceptional cases, the access amount can be increased. Azerbaijan joined the IMF in 1992. The cooperation was particularly intense in 1995-2005. During these years, Azerbaijan often used IMFs advisory and financial assistance to support the government's economic programs. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 13:42 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The paintings of the talented Azerbaijani artist-surrealist, Mehriban Efendi, will be featured at the Particula Space gallery of Coimbra in Portugal. The opening of the Surrealism Now exhibition sponsored and organized by the largest fund in Portugal Bissaya Barretto is scheduled for February 11. Artists from 33 countries will put on display 70 works during the event. The curator of the exhibition is the famous surrealist painter of Portugal, Santiago Ribeiro. Surrealism Now Group was created in 2010 and gained popularity not only in Europe but throughout the world for its exhibitions and projects. Mehriban Efendi joined the ranks of professional surrealists in the same year, and since that time, the talented artist achieved great successes, as she conquered international art arenas. The first exhibition of this Group was held in 2010 in the house-museum Bissaya Barretto, Sant Ana Convent, with the participation of 56 artists from 31 countries. Azerbaijan became the 31st country on the list, as being home to the best surrealists. Surrealism Now currently holds exhibition at the University of Mississippi, United States. The next exhibition will be held in Portugal, in Poros Condeixa -a-Novada museum of surrealism. Efendi took part in an international exhibition organized by Australian artist Paris Saint-Martin, becoming one of the top ten computer artists of 2003. Her first solo exhibition was held in the United States in 2005. Then she participated in an exhibition titled "Art and Awareness" in Montana; a few of her works were further displayed on large electronic billboards in the "Art Takes Times Square" exhibition in Time Square, New York. Mehriban is the winner of the prestigious Sandro Botticelli (named after the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance) award For art and talent in 2014. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 14:47 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan has approved the third State Program on Diabetes for 2016-2020 to enable more than 210,000 people suffering from this disease to get necessary assistance. The program targets to improve the quality of medical service, ensure full supply of the patients with medications, self-control devices and other gadgets, strengthen the potential of personnel involved in providing endocrinology services, and increase public awareness with the aim of preventing diabetes. The program envisages organizing summer camps for children with diabetes, where medical workers will monitor the state of their health. The first program was designed for 2005-2009 and the second for 2011-2015. Due to the measures identifying patients with diabetes, the mortality rate plunged by more than half over the past 10 years in Azerbaijan. Specialist of the Republican Endocrinology Center Narmin Ismayilova told Azernews thanks to the program some 90 children suffering with type 1 diabetes got the chance to use insulin pumps for the treatment last year and that will be continued under the new program as well. Insulin pumps, which helps to manage diabetes, is a special catheter placed under the skin, which deliver rapid or short acting insulin 24 hours a day to the patients with type 1 diabetes, who need to take insulin on a daily basis. Pumps, which make diabetics life easier, can be programmed to release sufficient amount of insulin to create the desired basal level of insulin in the body and maintain normal blood sugar levels daily. The number of children registered with diabetes under 18 years old reaches 1,500 in Azerbaijan, and most of them are teenagers aged 14 and over. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has also approved a plan of action on anti-tuberculosis measures for 2016-2020. The program aims to prevent the spread of the disease and to reduce the number of tuberculosis-related deaths, as well as to strengthen logistics of tuberculosis treatment centers, to improve the supply of patients with medications, and to raise public awareness of the disease. Head of Statistics Department of the National Institute for Lung Disease Research Sevinj Tagizade noted that the program will provide the patients with necessary medication and treatment. Over the subsequent five years it is planned to restore hospitals and clinics operating in the countrys regions and to provide them modern equipment, she said. Tagizade stressed that the number of TB cases in the country has declined as compared to previous years, while fatal infections situation have also stabilized. Last year, some 9,757 went registration at medical institutions of TB. The number of registered first-time TB patients made up 4,384 people in 2014, while the number was 4,528 people in 2013. The government has committed itself to ensure patients with tuberculosis drugs since 2010, and the state program ensures patients with the necessary medicines to patients with drug-resistant forms of TB since 2013. As a result of measures held by the Azerbaijani National Program on Struggle against Tuberculosis, the country has had progress in the fight against disease. Azerbaijan, with more than 9.6 million population, has more than 136 medical agencies engaging in treatment of the infectious disease. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 15:19 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova A new deal recently signed between Iran Khodro and French Peugeot makes up for a previous loss the French company incurred on Iran by failing its commitments. This was stated by Iranian Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh last week. However, the minister did not disclose the details of the deal, local media reported. In March 2015, Peugeot and Iran Khodro finalized a new joint venture deal. However, with the imposition of new sanctions on Iran in April, the French company withdrew its experts from Iran. Based on the deal, Peugeot was obliged to export 30 percent of cars which were manufactured jointly. Thus, Iran has been demanding compensation for the loss incurred by Peugeots withdrawal of its experts from the country. The amount of the compensation which French auto manufacturing company Peugeot-Citroen PSA should pay Iran is over 200 million euros, Hashem Yekeh Zareh, the CEO of Iran Khodro Industrial Group said earlier. Iran is one of the biggest producers of cars in the Middle East region. The automobile industry accounts for nearly 10 percent of Irans gross domestic product. The latest data shows that Iran ranks 18th on the list of the worlds top auto manufacturers. According to IHS Automotive estimates, Irans auto market is on course to average 1.7 million units in annual sales. However, sanctions on Iran hit the automotive industry hard, slicing production by 1 million units from its peak of 1.6 million in 2011 and leading to 100,000 job redundancies. Before sanctions, Peugeot occupied 22 percent of Iran's car market, but withdrawal from Iran caused huge losses for the company. The French car manufacturer became the target of criticism in Tehran in 2012 over its decision to withdraw its investments under U.S. pressure over disputes on Irans nuclear energy program. Meanwhile, experts believe that the removal of international sanctions on Iran in accordance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and the group 5+1, which came into force on January 16, will revive the car making industry in the country. Western and Asian manufacturers from Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea are exploring a return and the competition is already getting intense for a share of the upside. Iran-Khodro was among the first Iranian companies to sign a deal with foreigners after sanctions were removed on January 16. The company signed a deal with Peugeot during President Hassan Rouhanis recent trip to France. The deal confirms a 50-50 venture production of cars in Iran by Peugeot and Iran Khodro. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 13:10 (UTC+04:00) Fitch Ratings has affirmed PJSB Trustbank's (TB) and Ipak Yuli's Bank (IY) Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'B-' with Stable Outlooks, and assigned Universalbank (UB) a 'CCC' Long-term foreign currency IDR, Fitch reported on February 9. Ipak Yuli Bank Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B-', Outlook 'Stable' Short-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'b-' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' Trustbank Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B-', Outlook 'Stable' Short-term foreign and local currency IDRs: affirmed at 'B' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'b-' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' Universalbank Long-term foreign currency IDR: assigned 'CCC' Long-term local currency IDR: affirmed at 'CCC' Short-term foreign currency IDR: assigned 'C' Short-term local currency IDR: affirmed at 'C' Viability Rating: affirmed at 'ccc' Support Rating: affirmed at '5' Support Rating Floor: affirmed at 'NF' The VRs consider the challenging operating environment, including difficult business climate, structural weaknesses in the economy, high concentration risk and external pressures. The ratings are also constrained by the high transfer and convertibility risks in the economy due to the country's tightly regulated FX market and the banks' modest franchises in the state-dominant banking sector, Fitch said. Universalbanks rating was also constrained by past regulatory issues resulting in the withdrawal of its license on foreign currency operations in 2012. However, in June 2015, the Central Bank of Uzbekistan (CBU) returned the bank's license and its foreign currency operations were restored. Following this, Fitch has assigned UB a 'CCC' Long-term foreign currency IDR. The Stable Outlook on TB and IY reflects Fitch's expectations of further economic growth and government-led investments into major manufacturing sectors, which will support the banks' lending growth and profitability. Reported problem exposures remain moderate, with impaired loans at below 4% of gross loans at all three banks at end-3Q15 (local GAAP). Concentration risks remain high, particularly at TB and UB, with the 25 largest borrowers accounting for 63% and 72% of loans, respectively, at end-3Q15. IY has a more granular loan book, with the top 25 largest exposures below 25% of total loans. The capitalisation of all three banks remained stable with Fitch Core Capital ratios at a reasonable 17% at TB, 23% at UB and lower 11% at IY at end-2015. These capital cushions provided TB and UB comfortable additional loss absorption capacity of 9% and 20% of gross loans, respectively. A new UZS10bn capital injection expected in 1H16 should stabilise its capitalisation at about 12%. Core funding is from customer deposits (60% of total liabilities at IY, 87% at TB and 95% at UB), which are short term but relatively stable at all three banks. The banks' Support Rating Floors of 'No Floor' and their '5' Support Ratings reflect their limited systemic importance and that rendering of extraordinary support from Uzbek authorities is unlikely. The ability of the banks' shareholders to provide support cannot be reliably assessed. An upgrade of TB and IY would depend on the overall notable improvement in the operating environment. UB's ratings may be upgraded if the bank is able to significantly improve its franchise along with asset quality and tightening of risk policies. Trustbank, with its main focus on rendering financial services to the companies on the stock exchange and wholesale trade, was established in 1994. It was transformed into a private bank upon the shareholders' decision in 2006. "Universalbank" was created in 2001. The shareholders of the bank are private companies and physical entities. "Ipak Yuli" bank was created in 1990. The bank`s shares are owned by about 1000 shareholders - legal and physical entities, the largest of which are the "UzbekInvest" National Export-Import Insurance company (about 18 percent) and the Asian Development Bank (13.56 percent). Uzbekistan currently has 26 commercial banks. Three of them are state-run banks, five banks with foreign capital, 11 joint-stock banks and seven private banks. As of Feb. 9, the official exchange rate is 2841.60 soums/$1. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 16:35 (UTC+04:00) Irans Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called for $200 billion of investment for development of the country's oil industry, Shana news agency reported. The minister said that Iran lacks enough domestic sources to develop the oil industry, thus foreign investment is needed. The new model of oil contracts (IPC) is aimed at attracting foreign investment, he said at a press conference in Tehran. Zanganeh said Iranian oil industrys upstream projects need $130 billion of investment while the downstream projects demand $70 billion to be developed. He further added that several regional countries have taken measures to discourage foreign investors from investing in Iran. Last November, Tehran hosted 137 companies from 45 countries for a two-day conference, during which legal generalities of the IPC were introduced and it was announced that more details about the contracts would be unveiled during a conference likely to be held in London in February 2016. However, in late January Iran announced that the country has decided to cancel the London conference due to problems for issuing UK visa. Prior to the scheduled London conference, a group of Iranian conservatives protested against the IPC suggesting the new model of the oil contract is against the Iranian constitution. The IPC is a framework that lays out the basic structure - and some details - regarding all future petroleum contracts in Iran. It was earlier announced that the country plans to boost oil production to 5.7 million barrels a day and gas output to 1.4 billion cubic meters a day by 2021. Irans current oil production is estimated to be around 2.8 million barrels per day of which about one million barrels are exported. Iran possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of crude oil by holding 157.8 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves. The Islamic Republic also holds 34 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, sharing 18.2 percent of total global gas reserves. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 17:41 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Iran is keen to broaden cooperation with Georgia, a South Caucasus nation located on the shore of the Black Sea. A new wave of interest in ties with Georgia came after Tehran and the Group 5+1 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive deal on Iran's nuke program last summer, and implemented it on January 16 this year. The first sprouts of economic growth are obvious as Tehran has been freed from the chains of international sanctions. That enables the two countries to explore the ways for broad cooperation in all fronts. Economic and cultural cooperation between Iran and Georgia should be further strengthened in line with the two nations interests, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on February 8, Press TV reported. Georgia, with a favorable geographical position and great common facilities, is considered as a corridor for trade exchanges between Iran and the Black Sea countries. Rouhani believes that Tehran and Tbilisi enjoy great potential to enhance economic cooperation and in this regard, the cancellation of visa requirements between the two sides can help improve ties and promote the level of multilateral cooperation. Kvirikashvili, in turn, said Georgia will take concrete actions to abolish the visa regime with Iran, and thus, intensify cooperation in the field of tourism. The two countries are also interested in cooperation in the energy field. In early January, Alireza Kameli, the Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company, said Iran plans to export its natural gas to Georgia through a pipeline. Mehr news agency reported that Iran is expected to deliver its natural gas in the amount of 8.5-14 million cubic meters per day to Georgia through Armenia. However, according to Kameli, a contract will not be signed unless the project becomes economically justified. Experts believe that for Tehran, possible gas supplies from Iran to Georgia will have a political context, not an economic one. Vagif Aliyev, the Head of the Investment Department of Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR said in an interview with local TV channel that possible gas supplies to Georgia from Iran could happen, most likely, on the small scale. "It is important to think how important the Georgian market is for Iran," he noted. Iranian and Georgian officials also believe that linking the Caucasus to the Middle East by facilitating rail and road transport between the two countries is of significant importance for Tbilisi and Tehran. They say Iran and Georgia can link the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea by promoting rail and road transport, and transportation of trade goods from the Caucasus region to the Middle East and vice versa will contribute to peace and stability in the region. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 17:42 (UTC+04:00) The government of Kazakhstan plans to compensate the projected decline in oil production in 2016 by commissioning the Kashagan field in the future, Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik said. He made remarks at a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said the press office of the president. The reduction of up to 77 million tons due to the depletion of deposits is expected in Kazakhstan in 2016. Kazakhstan produced 79.5 million tons of oil in 2015, including gas condensate, which is 1.7 percent less than in 2014. The minister noted that low oil prices forced all Kazakh companies to review their budgets towards reducing and be seriously engaged in the reduction of production prices. The measures taken by the ministry and the government to overcome the crisis due to the low hydrocarbon prices also were reviewed during the meeting. The president drew attention to the need for implementation of all perspective projects in the energy sector, including the commissioning of Kashagan field, the project for expanding the Tengiz field, and the second phase of expanding the Karachaganak project. Kashagan is a large oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, located in the north of the Caspian Sea. The geological reserves of Kashagan are estimated at 4.8 billion tons of oil. The total oil reserves amount to 38 billion barrels; some 10 billion out of them are recoverable reserves. There are large natural gas reserves at the Kashagan field - over one trillion cubic meters. The production at the Kashagan field started September 2013, but in October, it was ceased after a gas leak in one of the main pipelines. The analysis revealed numerous cracks in the pipeline, which needed to be completely replaced. The projects operator, the North Caspian Operating Co. (NCOC) confirmed the need for a complete replacement of the gas and oil pipelines, which have a total length of about 200 kilometers. The production at the Kashagan is expected to resume in late 2016. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 17:37 (UTC+04:00) Russia must stop military actions in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported on February 9. Russias military actions in Syria led to a new wave of refugees to Turkey, he said, adding that Russia mainly bombs positions of the moderate Syrian opposition. Earlier Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has compared Russias actions in Syria with the military operations in Afghanistan. Eventually, forces that carry out military operations in Syria will leave the country in the same manner as previously left Afghanistan, according to Davutoglu. Turkey has evidences about Russia's bombing of the moderate oppositions positions. Russia, Iran and Lebanons Hezbollah are responsible for the death of civilian population in Syria, said Davutoglu. He further noted that Turkey expects a new wave of refugees as a result of Russias military operations in Syria. Currently, Turkey is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees on its territory. The Syrian refugee camps in the country accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest of them are spread across the provinces and cities of Turkey. In Istanbul alone, there are currently 40,000 refugees from Syria. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 9 February 2016 17:44 (UTC+04:00) Only Russia and Iran act legitimately in Syria, and others, including the coalition led by the U.S., do not have legitimate reasons, RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said as saying. It is impossible to talk about the legitimacy of anti-terrorist efforts in Syria of any other foreign country except for Russia and Iran, he said. The US-led anti-IS coalition doesnt have this legitimacy because theres no UN Security Council sanction for this or an invitation from the legitimate Syrian government, said Syromolotov. Syromolotov earlier announced that the Russian side took the initiative to create a single, legitimate and broad international front against terrorism, a new coalition such as the anti-Hitler coalition. Something is carried out in this regard; new, high-quality resolutions of the UN Security Council were adopted, work through the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) is continued, political talks over Syria are open, giving despite all the problems and vicissitudes some hope for a settlement, he noted. But it is the beginning of the road, and the success is only possible with the availability of states political will of the partnership and effective collaboration. The deficiency of this will still remains, added Syromolotov. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Two young men accused of being in a gay relationship have been sentenced to 18 months in prison in Morocco. Morocco World News reports: The charges resulted after a 20-year-old from Casablanca who lives in Tiznit in southwestern Morocco went to the authorities to file a lawsuit against another person he claimed threatened him with knives. After completing an investigation, the Royal Gendarmerie alleged that there was a secret homosexual relationship between the two young men that ended with threats of physical violence. The Casablancan native revealed during police questioning that he had several homosexual relationships, mostly with men in Tiznit, but he retracted this confession once in court. Article 489 of the Moroccan Penal Code punishes sexual activities between people of the same sex by prison terms of six months to three years. It also asserts that sexual relations out of wedlock are punishable by Moroccan law. Last month, authorities in Morocco arrested two men who were seen kissing in a video that went viral on social media. The men were arrested in the southeastern city of Inezgane after residents were reportedly outraged by what they deemed to be immoral behavior. Activist Kafir Jstani comments: People are so missinformed about Morocco. Morocco is also a state that occupies another people = Western Sahara . They have also built a wall to keep the Saharoesse out of areas under there exploitation . Morocco steals hundreds of millions in fisheries and minerals from the Saharoesse and subjects those under its control to a brutal occupation that makes the west bank look like a holiday camp . Yet you will here none of this from groups like Queers for Palestine , they ignore Morocco because its not a Jewish state as an Arab state they get a free pass on all the crimes that Israel is held to account on .But unlike Israel, Morocco has no visible homosexual community with legal rights. Share this: Tweet More Email Print 3.0 ( - - ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com Related Info WHEN LEGAL FIREWORKS ARE ALLOWED Legal fireworks are currently allowed from: 12 p.m. July 1 to 12:01 a.m. July 2 9 a.m. July 2 to 12:01 a.m. July 3 9 a.m. July 3 to 12:01 a.m. July 4 9 a.m. July 4 to 12:30 a.m. July 5 12 p.m. Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1 HOW TO GO The Bakersfield City Council meets at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday for an update on the citys new website, and to consider two proposed fireworks ordinances. It will also take public statements on items on the closed-session agenda before going into closed session. Its regular meeting resumes at 5:15 p.m. at City Hall, 1501 Truxtun Ave. Meetings also may be viewed live on cable channel KGOV. Past meetings can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/qfatap5. Here are steps you can take to establish your independence after financial abuse and help ensure long-term financial health. 9 min read Apr 09, 2020 One of the most contentious issues in the 2016 presidential election is the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Both Republicans and Democrats discuss it on the campaign trail. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton falls in to that category. During the January 17th Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, Clinton said We now have driven (health care) costs down to the lowest theyve been in 50 years. PolitiFact Florida heard the statement. After researching it, the claim received a FALSE rating on the Truth-O-Meter. PolitiFact writer Joshua Gillin says the most recent data doesnt support Clintons statement. The latest data we saw showed that it actually has been bumping up recently in 2014. Thats the latest we could find by one measure, Gillin said. Gillin went on to say the way in which Clinton worded her statement added to its inaccuracy. For that reason, it received a FALSE rating. SOURCES: An elderly mother and her son were found dead in a home in Inverness Monday evening, victims of an apparent murder/suicide. Citrus County deputies responded to a call reporting a possible murder/suicide at a house on Daly Lane in the Inverness Highlands. They found Kay Renner, 89, and her son, Jerry Lee Mone, 69, both dead from gunshot wounds. Deputies also found notes left by Mone saying that his mother suffered from Alzheimer's at an advanced stage, and that he was having difficulty caring for her. At this time, investigators believe Mone shot Renner and then himself. However, they are awaiting an autopsy report from the coroner's office. Psychiatrist John Grace said caregivers in Mone's situation often spend between 100 and 120 hours caring for their love ones a week. They do it for years on end, and the stress builds up. MORE INFO: Resources for caregivers of elderly relatives "The burden that caregivers are going through is incredible," he said. "I think the first thing you have to do is say, 'It's OK that I can't do it all. I'm not a failure.' " Grace said caregivers need to take care of themselves as well, and to ask for help. "One of the biggest things we try to work with, is you have to take care of yourself to take care of anybody else," Grace said. Deputies report that the pair rented the house on Daly Lane, and had only been there a short time before their deaths. Caregiver Resources A common affliction among long-term caregivers and family members caring for elderly relatives is depression. According to the Mayo Clinic, caregivers often in an effort to provide the best care possible put their loved ones needs before their own. This can result in feelings of sadness, anger, or loneliness. Resources are available to long-term caregivers to help them handle both their responsibilities and coping with feelings that may arise in the course of providing care. The following is a listing of local organizations and programs whose goal is to help caregivers with their own needs, so they can better provide for those in their care. The Alzheimer's Association - Florida Gulf Coast Chapter (http://alz.org/flgulfcoast/) has a number of affiliated support groups serving each county in the Bay Area. These groups are for for family members, caregivers, and others interested in learning more about Alzheimers disease. Meetings are open to everyone and free of charge. For program information and to verify meeting dates, times, and locations in each county, click the links below. For other questions or to arrange free respite care so you can attend a group, call 1-800-272-3900. Psychology Today Therapy Group: Caring for the Caregiver - Learn ways to prevent compassion fatigue and ensure that you are taking good care of your health as you help someone you love regain their health. Caregiver Resource Network: Caregiver Support Groups - A general listing of Hillsborough and Pinellas County groups for Alzheimer's and Dementia caregivers. A fourth lane is now in place on Interstate 275 in Tampa, which will help alleviate traffic congestion in the Westshore area. Florida Department of Transportation officials an overnight detour that was being worked on has been completed and a new fourth through lane has opened from West Shore Boulevard to east of Himes Avenue. That will help traffic moving into Tampa from the Howard Frankland Bridge. While all lanes are now open in both directions of I-275, construction continues and drivers are advised to be cautious, FDOT officials said. A Pinellas County-based group, along with the county's school board, is taking a closer look at school suspensions. Faith and Action for Strength Together held a meeting Monday night in St. Petersburg about the issue. Though not affiliated with Pinellas County schools, school officials did attend. According to FAST, almost 17,000 out-of-school suspensions were given in Pinellas County last school year. The group said the suspensions disporportionately impact minority students. "It is extremely frustrating because its not as though over the years it has gotten better, it has gotten worse," said local Pastor Robert Ward, who attended the meeting. "We have suffered through curriculums that have been forced upon our schools and communities that are simply not working for our demographics." The school board is holding a hearing today to discuss a policy change on suspensions - most notably reducing the number of days a student can be suspended. The number of days in which a student can be suspended would drop from up to 10 to no more than five. School district officials say they are being proactive in addressing discipline disparities. The district is beginning to see significant reductions in the number of students suspended or arrested, according to Pinellas Schools' Public Information Officer Lisa Wolf. According to the district, the following results have been recorded: 18 percent reduction of referrals issued to all students. 19 percent reduction of referrals issued to black students. 13.2 percent decrease in out of school suspensions for black students. All law enforcement agencies in Pinellas County agreed to a memorandum of understanding in 2014 on how to handle school arrests. This has resulted in a 44.8% decrease in arrests from 2012-13 to 2014-15. A second hearing on the topic will be scheduled at a later date. There must be two public hearings before the topic can be voted on by the school board. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Big-money donors largely stayed away from U.S. Rep. Randy Weber last year because of his hard-liner status and absence of well-funded opponents, which could leave him open to future challengers, a political scientist said. Weber, whose district includes Jefferson County, raised less money last year than all of Texas' House incumbents seeking re-election but one, with his $283,000 take equating to less than half the average of those campaigns, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings. The sum also fell more than 27 percent short of what Weber collected in 2013, the first year of his previous re-election bid. Pools of money for incumbents nationwide have not flowed to Weber mostly because the staunch conservative's style and voting record have turned away lobbyists, said Mark P. Jones, professor of political science at Rice University. "Effectively, he's not a friend of the lobby," Jones said. "Therefore, the lobby doesn't automatically rain money down on him." Weber's campaign declined to comment. Weber's job security, meanwhile, has allowed him to de-emphasize an element of campaigns many politicians dislike, Jones said. He doesn't have to ask. Weber's opponents, a Republican he'll face March 1 and a Democrat in November, have not fared better. Michael Cole, the Democrat, raised $20,000 through September, with more than half that amount coming from himself. Cole has not yet filed his year-end report. No finance reports are on file for Weber's Republican opponent, Keith Casey. What's missing for Weber, his finance reports show, are political committees. He collected less than $50,000 from such groups, compared to the $282,000 he received throughout the last two-year cycle and the $400,000 they gave him during his initial run. This also means Weber's campaign is mostly funded by individuals, who gave him more money this time around than in 2013. With those contributions making up 83 percent of his total money, he ranks No. 2 among Texas incumbents; only four exceed 70 percent. Babin's one-time challenger, Dwayne Stovall, who previously ran a more expansive campaign for the U.S. Senate, reported raising $6,800 after his announcement last year. He would have to stack that amount 90 times to reach Babin's $614,000. Weber didn't feel the same pressure Babin did before the candidate filing deadline, so he didn't have the same need to call on big-money donors, Jones said. "Rep. Weber, by and large, spends less of his time on campaign fundraising than many of his Texas colleagues," Jones said. "That's in part because he doesn't need to." Read the complete story in the Feb. 8 print edition of the Beaumont Enterprise. EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate As communities around the state grapple with adding religious mottos and symbols to government vehicles, Beaumont's police chief said he is open to talking about displaying "In God We Trust" and faith-based symbols like crosses on police cars. In Kountze, where police cars have displayed "In God We Trust" since the fall, officers and citizens don't believe government is forcing religion on the public. Congress has long considered the phrase the national motto. Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine supports putting the message on the department's patrol vehicles, so much that he plans on addressing the topic with the City Council soon. As he previously noted, "it's good enough to be on our money." A West Texas county, however, has taken the issue a step further by putting a cross with a thin blue line on patrol vehicles. Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a letter last week to the state attorney general in support of Brewster County Sheriff Ron Dodson's decision, much to chagrin of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has criticized several government actions in Southeast Texas that mix government and religion. Lemoine said he was glad to know where Abbott stood on the thin blue line, a popular symbol of solidarity among the law enforcement community. But he said he has not given enough thought to whether his department's vehicles should display a cross. Police agencies should not get in the habit of cluttering government-owned vehicles with messages that impose specific religious beliefs on the public, he said. "You can kind of go overboard with symbolism and then you risk offending larger segments of the population," Lemoine said. "That's not really our role." Beaumont police chief James Singletary said in view of all the public discussion and interest, he will talk to city administrators about whether to put faith-based mottos and symbols on BPD squad cars. "I'm definitely not against it," Singletary said. "It's something I'm open to, and we'll be discussing it in the coming weeks." Read the complete story in the Feb. 9 print edition of the Beaumont Enterprise. BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott Shannon Miles, the Houston man accused of killing a Harris County sheriff's deputy in August, will be sent to a state mental hospital, a judge ruled Tuesday after prosecutors agreed that he is incompetent to stand trial. State District Judge Susan Brown committed Miles, 31, to a Vernon state mental hospital for 120 days in an effort for mental health professionals to medicate him and work with him to restore competency. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A wedding shoot took place amid the rubble that once represented Syrias third-largest city. Newlyweds Nada Merhi, 18, and Hassan Youssef, 27, posed for portraits for wedding photographer Jafar Meray among the bombed out ruins of Homs. The city and surrounding area had nearly 1.5 million inhabitants before the civil war, which started in 2011, displaced more than half of the populace. READ THIS: Saudis offer to send ground troops to Syria Agence France-Presse photographer Joseph Eid tagged along with the young couple and their portrait-taker for stunning photos. The images contrast the greyed, hollowed out city with the woman in the immaculate white wedding dress and the man in military garb. The wedding photographer told Eid that the purpose of the shoot was to demonstrate life is stronger than death. But the images are more complicated than its "love conquers all" message. Youseff is a soldier in Bashar al-Assads army. The Syrian presidents regime did this to Homs after rebel forces took over Homs in the middle of the war. After Syrian forces laid siege to the stronghold, the rebels evacuated and the city fell back under governmental control at the end of 2015. Drone footage last week offered a disturbing aerial view of the devastation. The United Nations said Monday that the Assad regime has killed so many detainees that it amounts to the crime against humanity of extermination,' according to the U.K.s The Independent. The report noted that the regime's crimes against humanity outnumber those committed by ISIS and other Jihadist groups in the region. See the gallery above for images from the couple's wedding shoot. The Alaska Division of Insurance will allow Moda Health to resume operating its health insurance business in Alaska and Oregon if the payer raises at least $179 million in capital in 2016, according to Alaska Dispatch News. Here are six insights: 1. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Alaska Division of Insurance's director said the payer lacked sufficient capital to operate in Alaska in 2016. 2. Moda had a net loss of $58 million at the end of 2015. 3. Last weekend, Robert Gootee, CEO of Moda Inc., Moda's parent company, reached a consent agreement with the Alaska Division of Insurance and the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services concerning the payer's financial future. 4. As per the agreement, Moda will sell assets, borrow money using surplus notes, report its financial status more often and set aside $15 million to protect Alaskans if the company doesn't do well. 5. The company will resume selling and renewing policies and the 14,500 people who have coverage through Moda will not have to change insurance companies. 6. If Moda fails to follow the terms of the agreement, the state of Oregon will have full control of Moda and is able to liquidate the company. More articles on coding & billing: 580k Georgians sign up for coverage: 4 things to know California health insurance shifting towards Managed Health Care 5 observations CareSource deems 1st year of enrollments a success 5 observations Several Rhode Island representatives proposed a bill in the Rhode Island House of Representatives that would establish a single-payer health system in the state, according to The Brown Daily Herald. Here are five key points: 1. Representatives introduced the bill in February 2015. 2. The House Finance Committee will hear the proposal. 3. The bill would give the state the authority to allocate healthcare for Rhode Island residents and control costs, as opposed to insurers. 4. If the bill is passed, legislators would impose a tax based on the ability to pay, which would replace premiums and out-of-pocket costs. The representatives' bill does not detail how ability to pay would be determined. 5. Between 1991 and 2014, healthcare spending per person rose 250 percent in Rhode Island. Rep. Aaron Regunberg, D-Providence, said, "I don't have any illusions (of) this being an easy fight. Really, really big shakeups like this rarely pass in the first couple years. It generally takes awhile for the arguments to take hold." More articles on coding & billing: 580k Georgians sign up for coverage: 4 things to know California health insurance shifting towards Managed Health Care 5 observations CareSource deems 1st year of enrollments a success 5 observations Vascular surgery patients are more likely to quit smoking when their physician offered the right kind of assistance, according to a new pilot study conducted by physicians from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., and Boston Medical Center. Here are five points: 1. The study nicknamed "VAPOR," was supported by a grant from the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation. 2. Investigators examined 156 patients who were either offered advice from physicians for smoking cessation as well as nicotine replacement medications and information about phone counseling, or the usual medical care. 3. Researchers found that most patients wanted a personalized approach to help them quit, even when facing surgery. 4. Additionally, patients also benefited from hearing about others who had succeeded at quitting and who had successful surgeries. 5. The study led to the development of a program that was adapted for use at Boston Medical Center. Business and trade groups now point the finger at hospitals and doctors as the culprit for rising healthcare costs, according to a Boston Globe report. The business and trade groups reported providers charging the highest prices aren't always giving the best quality care, based on a study funded by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, Retailers Association of Massachusetts and National Federation of Independent Business. The study examined two reports from the Massachusetts attorney general's office to find trends that increase costs. The report concluded: 1. There is wide price variation from one hospital to another, and the disparities contribute to higher costs; providers treating the most patients also have the highest costs. 2. Strategies such as setting budgets for patient care haven't controlled prices to the desirable degree. Instead, the budgets "embed high rates of payment into the payment structure," said MAHP's chief executive Lora Pellegrini in the report. 3. The higher costs at some facilities, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's hospital, were attributed to "high quality" care, care complexity, training facilities and research done at the medical centers. 4. Healthcare spending in Massachusetts was up 4.8 percent in 2014, over the 3.6 percent goal set. The spending was up due largely to higher spend on Medicaid, according to the report. 5. The Massachusetts Hospital Association chief executive defended healthcare providers, saying insurance companies negotiate various rates with different providers and suggested more transparency from the insurance plans going forward. A physician allegedly performed surgery on the wrong baby at University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tenn., according to CBS News. Here are four things to know: 1. The physician is accused of performing a frenulectomy on the newborn without the parents' signed consent. The procedure was intended for another child. 2. The procedure is intended for infants who have a condition prohibiting the tongue for its full range of motion. However, the newborn had a normal tongue. 3. The newborn's mother is concerned her child will have speech or eating problems. 4. University Medical Center refused to comment on what specifically happened. More healthcare news: The best strategies to engage millennial nurse leaders Former FDA Commissioner faces federal lawsuit for 'defrauding consumers' 6 things to know 4th transplant patient dies after contracting fungal infection during a mold outbreak at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: 5 things to know Just when 46-bed Ellwood City (Pa.) Hospital thought it couldn't get worse, it did. The rural facility has had negative margins since 1998. Two years ago it laid off 15 percent of its workforce. In fiscal year 2015 it was hit with a $1.8 million operating loss, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But to add insult to injury, CMS in December named the Ellwood City Hospital among the eight local hospitals in "the worst performing quartile," and docked reimbursements 1 percent, according to the report. A total of 758 hospitals will have their Medicare payments reduced in 2016 for having the highest rates of hospital-acquired conditions. CMS based this claim on three incidents at the hospital over a two-year period, according to the report, one due to an unrecorded pressure ulcer sore and two accidental punctures. Yet the designation was the worst kind of news for the struggling hospital, which needs all the funds it can get. Due to its size, it has had trouble negotiating rates with payers and finding the partners it needs to inject funds into capital improvements and recruitment, according to the report. "We're looking for a partner. We need to be part of something," Ellwood City Hospital President and CEO Carolyn Izzo told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We just can't remain independent." The hospital attempted a partnership four years ago with Butler (Pa.) Health System that fell through, according to the report. But now, with reduced reimbursements and significant operating loss, the hunt for a match has quickened. In the meantime, the hospital has had to dip into funds from its foundation, which is not sustainable, according to the report. More articles on finance: SC hospital temporarily closes its doors due to flood damage Minnesota hospitals see increase in bad debt, community benefit: 3 things to know Why CMS gets to decide whether this Texas hospital expands Despite criticism from former Gov. Chet Culver (D), Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) is standing by his decision to privatize Medicaid, according to The Des Moines Register. Gov. Branstad's plan involves paying "three private companies Amerigroup, Amerihealth and UnitedHealthcare as much as $504 million in the first year to manage Iowa's $4.2 billion Medicaid program," according to the report. He believes that payout will result in saving the state nearly $51.3 million. "We feel an obligation to provide the best medical services to the people of Iowa, and to do it in a way that coordinates those services," Gov. Branstad said in defense of his plan, according to the report. "We have seen from the experience of other states that this has improved health." However, a Senate subcommittee is hoping to repeal this plan. Gov. Branstad has not threatened a veto of the Senate's bill, but he has called their effort "partisan" and "political." Former Iowa Gov. Culver has also jumped on the repeal train as well, claiming Gov. Branstad's "risky privatization scheme had already started taking on water fast and, in public opinion, was sinking fast. When a governor fails to listen to citizens, bad policy is the result." "There may be no better example of this kind of poor policy-making [in] the past half century of Iowa state government than Governor Branstad's ill-conceived Medicaid privatization debacle," he added, according to the report. High prescription drug prices have made the pharmaceutical industry the target of mounting criticism, as well as a hot-button issue so far this election season. Now, the industry is building a new advertising campaign aimed at improving its reputation with lawmakers as it campaigns against efforts to curb prescription drug costs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the sector's largest trade group, said it plans to spend several millions of dollars in 2016 on radio and print ads that emphasize the pharmaceutical industry's role in developing new drugs and advancing medical science, a 10 percent increase in spending from 2015. PhRMA includes nearly three dozen of the largest pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Amgen, according to the report. PhRMA is running many of the ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to target federal and state lawmakers, policy analysts and others who wage political influence, Robert Zirkelbach, senior vice president of communications at PhRMA, told WSJ. The campaign is largely directed at policymakers in Washington, but will also run in some other select states. The ads feature patients who have been helped by new treatments and scientists working on drug development, but don't mention the prices of the drugs, according to the report. Some promote the financial assistance companies provide to help the poor and uninsured obtain medication. The campaigns come amid calls for the government to play a larger role in controlling drug prices, which has prompted a significant increase in PhRMA's lobbying activity, according to the report. For instance, when the trade group learned Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was drafting a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to fight rising drug prices, PhRMA "proactively mounted a campaign to discourage Democrats from signing it," according to the report. Mr. Zirkelbach did not comment on an increase in PhRMA's lobbying efforts on drug prices, or whether the group tried to dissuade Democrats from signing Sen. Franken's letter, according to the report. However, the group spent $18.45 million lobbying federal officials in 2015, up 11 percent from 2014. Pressure is rising in 2016 for hospitals and health plans to make the foray into value-based arrangements, however a recent study from Deloitte suggests many providers are overlooking the potential of Medicare Advantage in devising successful value-based care models. Results from Deloitte's study of Medicare Advantage, health plans and providers suggest there is great and thus far under-realized potential for health plans and providers to devise value-based arrangements for the MA population. Using a data-driven approach, Deloitte surveyed 30 health plans and 25 providers as to their respective opportunities, challenges and opinions in using MA as a testing ground for value-based care. Brian Flanigan, the value-based care consulting leader with Deloitte, spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about the study's implications for providers and health plans. Q: What was the inspiration for examining Medicare Advantage specifically with a focus on value-based care? Brian Flanigan: Since its inception, Medicare Advantage has been a line of business health plans have looked to as a way to drive penetration into the senior segment. As we see the shift from volume to value, more providers are evaluating opportunities to take on MA specific risks, either directly in terms of offering their own risk-based product, through a traditional contracting model, or through a subordinated risk arrangement whereby a health plan manages relations with CMS but a provider is attributed with a significant amount of the risk. Given these trends, we thought it would be interesting and relevant to do some data-driven research and analysis on what both health plans and providers see as the issues, challenges, opportunities and key strategic considerations associated with moving toward risk-based, value-based care models. Q: Why is Medicare Advantage a better option than traditional Medicare for providers and plans to begin experimenting with value-based care models? BF: MA is very much by definition a risk-based, value-based care, capitated arrangement. Based on the particular dynamics of the local market, how the health plan submits the bid and how it gets approved, a Medicare Advantage beneficiary ultimately ends up with a capitated rate. It is fundamentally different from traditional Medicare Part A or Part B, or other volume based plans. With the MA population as compared to a commercial population, there is generally a very high per member per month revenue amount as plans and providers work together to manage the medical cost for an individual MA member. To the extent a plan and provider effectively manage the medical cost below the monthly per member per month rate, they drive earnings. As value-based care models move down the maturity curve, it becomes clear there are a lot of reasons and financial incentives for providers and plans to work together to manage both the quality and cost of care. Q: Some providers and health plans have expressed trepidation in brokering new conversations around value-based care arrangements. From Deloitte's study, what are the advantages and challenges at stake for health plans and providers in working together to manage MA populations? BF: If done properly, collaboration around value-based care in MA can be a win-win. There is a mutual interest and mutual benefit in plans and providers working together to effectively manage clinical quality and cost effectiveness of [the MA] population. Health plans bring strong capabilities to the partnership, in terms of managing relationships with CMS, ensuring compliance, managing bid submissions, pricing and member reach-out. Unlike providers, plans have the necessary administrative platforms to track members across the continuum of the patient experience, including ancillary care settings. Providers bring clinical capabilities, engagement, treatment, management and coordination of care to the partnership. In bridging their complimentary capabilities, providers and plans can effectively manage both the clinical and financial risks to produce and share more earnings. In that sense, provider-owned health plans are really well positioned to capitalize on this intersection of value-based care and MA because they manage the whole universe of clinical and financial capabilities under one executive umbrella. In terms of challenges from the provider side there is still a good segment of the provider population still trying to figure out both value-based pricing models as well as the particular nuances associated with MA, ranging from bid submissions and compliance to product sales and distribution. The reason why value-based care in MA has not caught on more quickly is that the industry is still in a learning stage. We [at Deloitte] expect a lot of activity between providers and health plans at this intersection of MA and value-based care as providers and plans continue to mature and grow their business models and experience. Q: What are some the most interesting implications from the study and its analysis for providers and health plans to know? BF: In terms of "the how" to get from where the industry is today to more integrated value-based care models in MA, data integration and data sharing capabilities between providers and plans stood out as critical to the advancement of effective value-based care models. Our view [at Deloitte] is that having, sharing and developing analytics and data-sharing capabilities is vital to effectively managing the risk for a population. Providers and health plans will have to work out an investment strategy to determine who is responsible for developing, managing and integrating these different data capabilities, as well as who will finance them. Currently it is very difficult for providers to manage the multiple different forms of commercial value-based care arrangements they have with other health plans within their portfolio. To the extent health plans and providers can synchronize their value-based care arrangements between MA and commercial populations, this will enable a broader set of enterprise integration capabilities between their respective organizations. More integrated value-based care arrangements under MA can provide a jumping-off point for providers and plans to understand and tackle the financial, administrative, operational and technological elements for commercial populations. Approximately 100 miles south of Denver is Pueblo, Colo., the home of Parkview Medical Center. The 350-bed hospital serves a "catch area" including all of eastern and southern Colorado, where there are a number of critical access hospitals, but no Level II care facility. As part of Parkview Medical Center's strategy to serve its patient population, the leadership sought to unify its communication strategy, beginning with moving from a paper-based health record to an electronic one. In the past 10 years, Parkview Medical Center has gone through several upgrades to its clinical communication strategy, which continues to evolve. The hospital started with a "bring-your-own-device" strategy, but slowly morphed to add a mobile clinical communications strategy, the key difference being BYOD requires employees to bring their own devices, while clinical communication strategies use third-party software to facilitate communication. Here, Steve Shirley, CIO and vice president of IT of Parkview Medical Center, discusses the hospital's mobile clinical communications strategy and the future of healthcare's digitization. Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity. Question: What's the difference between BYOD and a mobile clinical communications strategy? Steve Shirley: For us, it's two different initiatives. BYOD, the way we look at it, it's that piece where physicians, hospital management and leadership bring their own device and we're hooking them up with hospital email and contacts. Our clinical mobile strategy is all hospital-owned devices. In 2006, the first iteration of that system was a single-use device. All you could use it for is bedside and media administration. No communication, nothing else. In 2009, our iteration had changed strategy, so we moved to an iPod. That's morphed into the iPhone which we use today. Those are all company-owned devices, and they're all sitting on our wireless. The next phase for us, which we're starting this moment, is an effort to minimize systems. Instead of going and getting a HIPAA texting system just for doctors, we're looking to create an external piece right inside our clinical communication tool we've got, so literally that system will handle HIPAA-compliant texting when on the outside, but also give them access to information and do all the things they want to do to communicate with nurses. Q: What are the key elements of a safe, efficient and effective clinical communications strategy? SS: First and foremost, the ability to affect a solution that's not made up of a group of separate systems is so important. Minimizing interfaces keeps this thing a lot cleaner. Another is that the solution we chose, and one we would look for, is one that gives us a device like an iPhone that's capable of things beyond just the software for which it's intended. As an example, our nurses can put their drug dictionary on their handheld device. We also have a process where we show videos to patients as part of our patient education piece. So if you're in the ER and have back pain, here's a video about what we're going to do with your lumbar. The other piece that was absolutely a struggle for us (but we've had some great cooperation and teamwork with MEDITECH) as everybody knows and hears, is difficulty getting vendors to play in the sandbox. We desperately needed whatever we did in our clinical communication strategy to interface back to the EMR so we weren't working with two separate records. After a lot of work with MEDITECH, we started getting exactly the information we needed. Q: Why did you choose Apple products as opposed to other smartphones? SS: We took the opportunity to go out and do a request for proposal and look at everyone in the market. When approaching the point of the decision, patients still say the best device to use is an Android or iPhone. I wanted something that allows us to have more of an open architecture, something we could put apps on. In the case of PatientSafe [Parkview Health's clinical communication solution provider], since they started with the iPod, it gave us the opportunity to move forward with that. Q: How do you see the consumerization and digitization of healthcare affecting care delivery 10 years down the road? SS: Of course there are mutterings that encourage us to get patient portals adopted, but I'm so much more excited about all the evolution of measuring and monitoring tools and things that can anoint a patient to the provider on an ongoing basis more as a preemptive strike to heart attack or stroke. It's got to get to an automated fashion where our systems will automatically be querying all this stuff and not waiting for someone to manually find it. The plethora of different apps and tools we're going to get is going to be pretty powerful. There's no question the patient portal will gain in popularity, but it's certainly a two-sided thing. Without doctors, we don't have a hospital, so it's different to shift their paradigm, too. They engage with patients in a way they haven't done before. We're working with our physicians to give them tools. More articles on health IT: Pennsylvania hospital fires nursing aide for HIPAA violation Accenture report: Investment in 'Ubers of healthcare' to hit $1B by year's end 19 hospitals, health systems seeking Cerner, MEDITECH, Epic talent Like many who venture into healthcare to seek solutions to one or more of its many ailments, Anne Weiler's rallying cry came from a firsthand experience of how the system failed a loved one. "When my mom contracted a rare autoimmune disease, she spent six months in a rehabilitation hospital and was discharged with no instructions, only a date for a follow-up visit," says Ms. Weiler, CEO and cofounder of Wellpepper. "I was really frustrated and confused by this lack of continuity of care. She'd had excellent care when she was in the hospital and it went from that to, 'You're on your own.'" Ms. Weiler, who has spent her career developing tools for collaboration and communication at companies like Microsoft, among others, called a former colleague and began brainstorming ways to solve the continuity of care problem she and her mother experienced. "We wanted to figure out how we use digital technology to deliver treatment plans so when people are discharged from a hospital, they really feel they know what they need to do and can get remote support from their healthcare team," Ms. Weiler says. Wellpepper, the platform they would develop, is now used by health systems like EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Wash., and Sentara Healthcare in Norfolk, Va., to increase patient engagement and improve care continuity. Ms. Weiler spoke to Becker's Hospital Review about using psychology to engage patient populations, leading a healthcare startup after working in the technology sector and why there is skepticism around digital engagement. Question: What did you find when you began looking into solving the continuity of care problem? Anne Weiler: What we found at the time was a lot of emphasis on consumer health and not enough emphasis on the continuity of care, connecting patients with their care teams and providing them with instructions after they leave the hospital. When we started Wellpepper, we interviewed a lot of patients, who told us when they received their instructions, and when they were in the hospital or at a clinic and working with their healthcare team, they really felt confident and understood their care plans. But when they got home, they were afraid and they really didn't know what they were supposed to do. Oftentimes that led to them not following their treatment plans. Then we talked to the health systems, and one of the things we found was that the way they were delivering these care instructions could be improved. The problem was not so much in patients on their own or providers on their own, but it was connecting the two. Frequently, care instructions are confusing, providers may need to give patients instructions for a month's worth of treatment or activities between visits, and the patients get overwhelmed by that. We thought if we could break that down into actionable, task-based care plans where we make sure the patient knew when it was time to do something and made it very clear what they needed to do that we could drive over 70 percent engagement in care plans, which is what we see from our platform. Q: Did research about patient psychology play a role in developing platform functionality? AW: Definitely. We have a published patent for an adaptive notification system that changes based on patient behavior, so if you're adherent to your care plan you receive different messages than if you're not adherent. From that, we can learn what is working and what's not working. The other piece is including intrinsic rewards, things like being able to see your goal and know what you're working toward, being able to track your own progress and being able to communicate with your care team. Some of the best consumer applications have this reward component, not in the sense of something like a badge, but just receiving a message that makes the user want to log in and see what's going on. We're continuing to look at what those drivers are. Interestingly, our population of patients over the age of 50 are more adherent to their care plans than the overall population of patients. So we're continually learning and making sure the application can adjust to users. Another key factor is making sure people feel ownership of their care plans. We do that by designing the plan to be made up of building blocks based on a health system's practices and protocols, but then personalize them for each patient. So we do things like enable the healthcare professionals to capture video of the patient so when the patient reviews the care plan, they're actually seeing themselves. That helps them feel ownership, they feel confident and they know this plan was specifically built for them. Q: What has the feedback been from providers and patients? AW: I'd say we're still in the early adoption phase, but the awareness is growing. Within the last few months alone, we've started to see a shift in healthcare organizations looking specifically for patient engagement solutions. A year ago we weren't seeing that. I think awareness is driven by some of the initiatives that CMS is putting forward, like the Comprehensive Care for Total Joint Replacement Model, which requires organizations to track patient-reported outcomes. They need to be doing that when the patient is not right in front of them, and many organizations don't have ways to do it. Sometimes we field skepticism that the challenge is with older people because they can't use technology, but that's a myth. I think we're doing a disservice to seniors if we assume they can't use iPads or mobile devices, because they are the fastest growing group in mobile adoption. We've partnered with researchers from BostonUniversity and HarvardUniversity [in Cambridge, Mass.] to focus on making our software highly usable for older populations. I think that skepticism is lessening as adoption increases. Q: What was it like to found a healthcare startup coming from the previous positions you've held? AW: When I was at Microsoft, my experience spanned consumer to enterprise I spent a lot of the time working with large enterprises and industries around implementing communications and collaboration tools, and I've found healthcare isn't that different. Providers are looking for return on investment, they're looking to solve crucial problems and improve care and engage their patients outside of hospitals. In the past year, the shift to value based payments has really driven the adoption because reimbursement is increasingly dependent on whether they track and improve outcomes when the patient goes home. I think there are probably more similarities than differences to other industries, and I'm really optimistic about what I think will be a rapid adoption of both cloud technologies and tools expanding beyond the health system into the patient home. Q: What will 2016 look like for Wellpepper? AW: We're just going to keep expanding our platform. Wellpepper is made up of task-based building blocks that you put together to create a care plan, and as we begin working with more health systems, we keep adding new task types so we can support more types of care plans. We'll certainly be looking at growing our customer base as well doing more research. In September 2015, we announced a collaboration with Harvard University and Brandeis University's School of Public Health [in Waltham, Mass.]. That study will last a year, but we will continually be publishing information from those research partnerships. Some interview questions have become so standard, job candidates offer up equally standard, possibly even scripted responses. As a result, the conversation is both inorganic and also a less effective predictor of a candidate's potential for success in the given role. Few CEOs field such queries to candidates vying for a role near the top. Instead, questions aim to assess a potential leader's soft skills and gauge his or her mentality. All CEOs have different techniques to access this insight during an interview. Quartz spoke with 10 CEOs and other senior executives about their interview techniques and the one "killer" question they ask job candidates. 1. "Would you rather be feared or respected?" Michael Gregoire, CEO of IT management software company CA Technologies, said this question always catches people off guard and "really reveals what they think about their leadership style," according to the report. While there may not be a correct answer in theory, each option shows which way the candidate leans and how this might impact his or her ability to collaborate with others. 2. "Why are you here today?" Gordon Wilson, CEO of Travelport, a U.K.-based software firm, said he is looking for a specific answer when he asks candidates this open-ended question. "I'm surprised how many times people talk about the benefit of the job from their point of view, versus the benefit that they're going to bring to the company," said Mr. Wilson, according to the report. At the very least, Mr. Wilson looks for an even split between benefits to the company and personal ones, though he strives for 75 percent geared toward the company and 25 percent focused on the self. "If you benefit the enterprise, the personal thing will come." 3. "What's your biggest dream in life?" Zhang Xin, co-founder and CEO of SOHO China, a commercial property developer, asks candidates this question to assess their level of ambition. She said she is most attracted to people whose responses illustrate they are "free spirited," according to the report. 4. "I ask how they were treated." Rick Goings, CEO of Tupperware, doesn't pose this question to job candidates, but instead to the people who would have come in contact with them on the candidate's way to the interview. "I talk to the driver who brought them in from the airport, my assistant, and the receptionist who welcomed them. I ask how they were treated. There you learn how this person acts," said Mr. Goings, according to the report. He is aiming to assess the "non-cognitive skills" that strong leaders possess to manage and inspire their teams. 5. "What is your favorite property in Monopoly, and why?" Ken Moelis, founder and CEO of investment bank Moelis & Co., throws this unexpected question at recent MBAs interviewing for mid-level positions because he thinks it's a "great way to hear how people think of risks and rewards," according to the report. 6. "Tell me about when you failed." Roger Crandall, CEO of American insurance group MassMutual, said a candidate who can speak honestly and openly about past failures is attractive, but only if they can also explain how they have become "a better person, partner, leader and manager as a result." Along the same lines, Davide Serra, founder and CEO of London-based hedge fund Algebris, asks candidates, "What's the biggest mistake you've made and what have you learned from it?" 7. "Talk to me about when you were seven or eight. Who did you want to be?" This question is part of Barbara Byrne's "airplane test." Ms. Byrne, vice chairman of investment banking at Barclays, wants to know, "Could I sit on a plane from New York to LA with you and not be bored out of my mind?" Discussing childhood dreams opens a window of insight into who a person really is on the inside, she said. 8. The wine list test. Instead of holding a traditional interview, Charles Phillips, CEO of enterprise software company Infor, takes a candidate out to dinner with a handful of other senior executives to "watch how they handle themselves in an unstructured environment," according to the report. Mr. Phillips gives the candidate the wine list and watched what they do. A candidate will either convince the group that they know a lot about wine, pretend they do, pick the most expensive bottle or ask for help. How they handle their wine selecting duties and how successful they are in explaining themselves is a big part of the test. The other is how the candidate treats the waiter. 9. Live your hobbies. Atul Kunwar, president and chief technology officer of Tech Mahindra, doesn't have a go-to interview question. Instead, he lets the candidate's passions and interests direct the conversation. When one candidate said he loved to sing, Mr. Kunwar said he asked him to sing for the senior panel of executives in the room. "He had the gumption to do it, and he sang very well," Mr. Kunwar told Quartz. "To me, it meant he was passionate and able to build skills on his own. And when the crunch time came, he had no hang-ups. We need people with that sort of belief and passion." Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences has stopped accepting donated bodies because it can't identify as many as 50 cadavers, according to The Washington Post. Up until now, the medical school had run a "willed body donor program," in which individuals could donate their bodies for classroom instructional use. As part of the program, the cadavers are used for up to two years, at which point they are cremated and either returned to families or buried at a nearby cemetery. But after losing track of the identities of these cadavers, the medical school will no longer be able to return the remains to families. "As the dean and a former medical student whose education benefitted greatly from the altruism of a body donor, I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to all of the affected families and the entire [School of Medicine and Health Sciences] community," said Jeffrey Akman, MD, dean of the medical school. "These families are our priority, and we are working with them to resolve any concerns," he added, according to a video on the school's website, WTOP.com reports. GW University officials have said they'll try to identify the bodies through DNA testing of relatives. The medical school identified the problem last fall and is currently conducting an internal review. The medical school uses between 30 and 40 cadavers for instruction each year. However, current students will not be affected by the situation because the school has enough bodies from prior donations and on loan from other institutions. Nurses in New York state are calling on state lawmakers to pass a rule that would set minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes, according to an Associated Press report published by Crain's New York Business. Here are seven things to know about the issue. 1. Under the proposed legislation, operating rooms and trauma emergency units would have one nurse for each patient, while emergency rooms and newborn units would have one nurse for three patients. Rehabilitation units would have one nurse for every five patients. 2. Nurses contend the mandate would improve patient outcomes by addressing what they deem as a chronic staffing problem, according to the report. 3. But hospital executives, the report states, believe such legislation would result in increased healthcare costs for patients, and that state legislators should not limit hospitals by dictating unnecessary and inflexible rules. 4. Specifically, hospitals and nursing homes estimate the proposed staffing legislation would add about $3 billion annually in costs statewide, Dennis Whalen, president of the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities, said in the report. 5. This is not the first time such a staffing proposal has been debated in New York. The proposal has in fact been debated there for years, but this time around, the proposal has bipartisan support from state lawmakers, according to the report. 6. Nurses are expected to gather Feb. 9 in Albany, N.Y., to push for the bill. 7. If this staffing legislation is passed in New York, it would make it the second state to do so. Currently, California is the only state that has implemented such a staffing mandate. More articles on workforce and labor management: Kindred Hospital Westminster nurses ratify contract: 3 things to know Hospitals add nearly 24k jobs in January NLRB supports RNs fired after attempting unionization: 5 things to know To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below Brenda Morgan of British Airways, and Karen Shearer of Novosco, launching this year's awards Novosco won the Overall Business of the Year in last year's awards. Patrick Mc Aliskey, head of Novosco, joined colleagues to accept the award from Stephen Humphreys of British Airways and Richard McClean, managing director, Belfast Telegraph The Belfast Telegraph is delighted to launch the 2016 Belfast Telegraph Business Awards in association with British Airways. We are honoured that British Airways is lending its invaluable support as our overall sponsor for the awards, for the fourth year in a row. It's always an honour to give our companies the opportunity to shout about achievements which often go unpublicised. And this year, in recognition of the importance of the Year of Food and Drink 2016, we've introduced a new category to our list: Outstanding Contribution to the Tourism and/or the Hospitality Industry (see panel). There are, of course, many big name companies out there whose achievements we enjoy hearing about - and who we look forward to hearing from between now and Our closing date is March 18, ahead of the awards ceremony on April 21. Further Reading Read More But the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards is also a great platform for companies which aren't often in the headlines but are diligently achieving great things at home and abroad. Brenda Morgan, who is British Airways' partnership manager for Northern Ireland, said: "British Airways has a long-standing commitment to serving the local business community in Northern Ireland and we're delighted to announce that we've returned as sponsor of the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards for the fourth consecutive year. "As the leading and most respected business awards ceremony in Northern Ireland, this event provides British Airways with a perfect opportunity to recognise local excellence and applaud the incredible work demonstrated by companies from across the region." Economist John Simpson, who is the chairman of the panel of judges, said: "In Northern Ireland, many businesses have begun to recover from the pain of the recent recession. "In fact, while the recovery is taking different forms and is stronger in some sectors than others, the evidence is growing that, for many, profitability is improving. "Against the background of a somewhat stronger local economy, the opportunity is now open again for businesses to claim credit for what they are doing. Credit comes partly in maintaining profitability, but it also takes other dimensions. "Compared to other businesses, what signs of success can your organisation claim? "Is there evidence of increasing sales to markets outside Northern Ireland? "Has new technology given a stronger competitive edge? "Is your business contributing to the growth of the tourist industry? "The Belfast Telegraph Business Awards offer a spectrum of features to which different businesses can make claim. "The business awards help to tell your success story to a large Northern Ireland audience. "Winning is not only a personal or organisational reward, but the publicity multiplies that reward many times. "This year, our team of highly regarded judges is looking forward to recognising your success and your achievements." Karen Shearer, finance director of IT firm Novosco - which won last year's Overall Business of the Year Award - said: "We were delighted to join what is a highly impressive group of Northern Ireland businesses that have won Company of the Year in the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards. "With past winners such as Almac, FG Wilson and Allstate, we are very proud to hold the award for 2015. "Most importantly for us at Novosco is the pride our team have in the company as a result. "It is their work that plays such a crucial role in Novosco's success, and winning Company of the Year is a fitting tribute to their dedication, commitment and skills." Award categories: 1. Excellence in Marketing 2. Excellence in Exporting, sponsored by FedEx 3. Excellence in the Development of Management and Leadership, sponsored by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) 4. Excellence in Innovation 5. Best Use of Digital and/or Social Media 6. Young Businessperson of the Year, sponsored by Almac 7. Excellence in Technology 8. Best Small/Medium Business 9. Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility 10: Outstanding Contribution to the Tourism and/or the Hospitality Industry Judges Awards: Sponsored by British Airways: 11. Businessperson of the Year 12. The overall Business of the Year The closing date for entries is 12pm on March 18, 2016. Winners of each of the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards will enjoy the high profile of positive publicity based on an assessment made by our professional judging panel. The gala awards dinner will take place on Thursday, April 21 2016 at the Culloden Hotel. A table of 10 is 1,200 plus Vat and individual places are 130 plus Vat. For further info contact Sarah Weir (JPR) on mail@jprni.com or call 028 9076 0066. Judging panel for the 2016 Business Awards Chairman: John Simpson Ann McGregor, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kirsty McManus, director of the centre for SME development, Ulster University Eleanor McEvoy, founder and managing director of Budget Energy Katy Best, marketing director of the George Best Belfast City Airport Professor Neil Gibson, director of the economic policy unit, Ulster University Paul Terrington, Northern Ireland chairman, PwC Colin Stutt, social enterprise specialist and public policy consultant Brenda Morgan, British Airways A new Oliver Bonas fashion and homeware store is due to open on Belfast's Upper Lisburn Road at the beginning of April this year An eclectic London-based fashion and homeware store is coming to Northern Ireland for the first time. Oliver Bonas is set to open on Belfasts Upper Lisburn Road in April. Named after its founder, the retailer designs, makes and sells womens clothing and accessories, jewellery, furniture and gifts. The company started with Olly, as hes known by his staff, bringing back gifts for friends from his travels abroad. He opened his first shop in Fulham in 1993, repainted by his friends with Olly behind a second-hand till. Now there are 50 Oliver Bonas stores across England and Scotland. The firm is expanding to open five new shops, with the Lisburn Road spot at 597 to 599 next to Barnams Cafe the first in Northern Ireland. A spokesman told the Belfast Telegraph the projected opening date is at the beginning of April. Recruitment is due to begin soon, with jobs paying the Living Wage of 7.85 per hour. The latest lines include clothing described as urban utility with a feminine twist and a colourful collection of compact furniture. A decision to shut down the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme after it ran out of money is a "devastating blow" to Northern Ireland's energy sector, it's been claimed. Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell announced late on Friday that the scheme, which funds biomass projects to produce renewable energy, would close. The industry estimates that around 2,000 jobs are at risk in the renewables sector as a result. Michael Doran, Action Renewables managing director, said the decision would turn the renewables industry here "from boom to bust". Mr Doran said: "The RHI had been a tremendous boost to the industry over the last 24 months. "It upped turnover by around 600% and that will stop dead; it will go back to a level of installation well below the 2014 level. "The closure of the RHI in Northern Ireland at such short notice is a devastating blow which is causing much distress in the industry. This applies particularly to installers who have already placed orders from manufacturers on the strength of their customers receiving the RHI. "The cuts will inevitably lead to redundancies, substantial financial loss in the local economy and a halt in the uptake of renewable heat." In September the minister announced he was withdrawing the Northern Ireland renewable obligation certificate (ROCs) to fund wind energy projects. Mr Doran said that the end of ROCs, and of the RHI, meant "it is unclear what the future policy is for renewable energy in Northern Ireland". In a statement, the minister said the Executive was having to look for money in its budget for the next five years to fund existing installations. "To prevent further overspend I must bring forward legislation to the Assembly to close both schemes to new applications," he said. A DETI spokesman said: "Both RHI schemes have been very successful, particularly with the non-domestic scheme over the past 12 months and more so in the run-up to the scheme changes introduced in November 2015. "Unfortunately the available budget for new applications has now been exhausted and both schemes must be closed as soon as possible, subject to clearance of legislation by the Assembly." He said the Executive's renewable heat target of 4% by the end of 2015 had been exceeded, with around 6% of heat now coming from renewable technologies, and added: "Support for existing accredited RHI installations will continue for up to 20 years." A lack of clarification over the announcement last Friday was causing frustration among those who say their businesses will be affected. The Northern Ireland domestic renewable heat incentive was launched to encourage home-owners and business owners to switch to renewable heating systems and reduce carbon emissions. From left, Kimberly Bowron of Alert Logic with Finance Minister Mervyn Storey and company chief executive Gray Hall A US tech firm with online retail giant Amazon among its clients is creating 90 well-paid jobs in Belfast - and says they could be the first of many. Alert Logic is a cloud-based security firm from Texas, which has had a small team in Belfast for the last few months. But boss Gray Hall was in the city to announce the company is almost trebling the existing workforce here - with average salaries of 44,000. It's already hired around 30 staff, with the remaining jobs being added over the next two years. "We are a cyber-security company, we protect businesses which have mission critical applications and data, running in all kinds of data centre environments, particularly those who are moving to public cloud environments," he said. "We have more than 3,600 customers, and they range from some of the largest companies in the world, to start-ups, and everything in between." Mr Hall said the skills base in Northern Ireland was "very strong" in the key areas needed to work for the tech business. Alert Logic also has UK offices in London and Cardiff. Invest NI has offered the firm 572,000 of support for the new jobs, due to be in place by the end of 2017. And Mr Hall said further jobs and expansion could be due down the line. "This is very much a starting point," he said. Mr Hall said there still remains enough space at its current location at Weavers Court in south Belfast, but it's thought further expansion could mean moving elsewhere. Launching the new jobs, Finance Minister Mervyn Storey said the latest high-salary posts are another indication that Northern Ireland is "fast becoming a global cyber-security hub". "These are top-end jobs, and when you see the average salary of around 44,000, that gives an indication of what specifically this company is looking for," he said. "Northern Ireland is well placed to capitalise on the major growth in the cyber-security sector. We have recently successfully attracted a number of leading cyber-security investors including Proofpoint, Whitehat Security and Rapid7. "I think this is an indication there are a number of organisations or companies who see Northern Ireland as a good place to come for a variety of reasons. "Obviously our skilled workforce (was a reason). When you speak to the chief executive, who is with us from Houston, obviously that was a key component of the decision. "They looked at other regions in the UK, but decided that Belfast and Northern Ireland was the place to be." Some of Alert Logic's other customers include Rosetta Stone - the language learning software firm - and US listed finance firm Penns Woods Bancorp. Gemma Arterton said working on films could be "frustrating" and described her Bond girl days as "a distant memory", as she prepares to play one of Britain's most celebrated actresses on the big stage. The star is appearing in West End play Nell Gwynn which charts the rise of an unlikely heroine from orange seller to celebrity. Arterton will play the cheeky, charming and clever Nell - one of the first and most acclaimed women to appear on the London stage and who also won the heart of King Charles II in the 1600s. Although she is an established film star with a number of movies due out in future, Arterton, 30, has a soft spot for theatre, admitting that she often finds film "quite frustrating". She told the Press Association: "I guess with theatre, you are the captain of your performance. You're going out there every night and doing it, and it's always different. And the audience are different." On the subject of film, she said: "And for an actor, I think, often I find it quite frustrating with film that you do your performance and then you give it to somebody else, and then they kind of cut it and decide what's good and what's not, and how they want to see it." Asked about how the exhilarating feeling of live theatre compares with the life-long excitement of having been a Bond girl - she played Strawberry Fields in Quantum Of Solace in 2008 - Arterton said: "If I'm really honest with you, it feels kind of abstract all of that film stuff to me, because it's done. "Often by the time that a film comes out it was like two years ago that you shot it so it's like a distant memory, whereas when you're doing a play, you're living it and it's happening, and then it's gone and that's it, then it's done, it can never come back. "If people saw it, they saw it, and if they didn't then they will never see it again. Whereas with a film it's sort of just sort of always there and following you around for the whole of your life. It's a weird thing. Sometimes if I see myself in a magazine or something I just think 'well that's not me'." She likes to think her current role as Nell Gwynn is fate as she shares a birthday with her and grew up on a street named after her. "When I started researching her, that was the first thing I saw - that her birthday was the 2nd of February. She's 366 and I'm 30. Our birthdays were last week. It's believed that her birthday's on that day because someone did her birth chart," Arterton said. Asked if she thought it was fate that she would one day play this character, she said: "I don't know. I mean, I like to see it that way because it gives me strength when I go out in front of 1,000 people every night playing her. But you know, I guess it's coincidence." Arterton hopes to make good use of her time before going to the theatre every evening, and specifically wants to do more work with her production company. She wants to get Brooklyn star Saoirse Ronan on board for a project in the near future, and joked: "Well we hope we can still have her now that she's this huge Oscar-nominated actress, but she's a good friend, and she's perfect for the role and she loves it. So hopefully we can get that going." :: Nell Gwynn runs at the Apollo Theatre until the end of April. Leslie Mann at the European premiere of How To Be Single Actress Leslie Mann has called for more strong, funny females in comedy films. Speaking at the premiere of her latest romantic comedy film, How To Be Single, she said comedies did not have a fair chance of winning awards. "I love watching women in strong comedies and I think it's ridiculous that we don't have any comedy categories - and the one category we do get always goes to a drama," she said. The film, b ased on Liz Tuccillo's novel of the same name, is led by four female characters who are learning how to be single in a world where the definition of love is always changing. The film stars comedian Rebel Wilson, 35, as a fun-loving singleton called Robin, who teaches her newly single colleague Alice, played by Dakota Johnson, how to be single. Mann, 43, stars alongside them as Alice's older sister, Meg, who's worried she'll lose her independence if she falls in love. Wilson, 35, said she agreed with Mann when it comes to awards season. She said: "I find it interesting when I'm watching the Globes and there's a comedy category. I think not all films nominated fit into that category. But I love working in comedy, I have so much fun working in it. "I particularly love that I'm being chosen to star in strong, female ensemble movies. First I did Bridesmaids and then the Pitch Perfect franchise and now this. "I love the girl power," she added. Fifty Shades Of Grey star Dakota Johnson, 26, said the fun never stopped when she was working with Wilson. "Rebel was amazing to work with, she's smart and funny and her brain never stops working," she said. "It's not easy being funny, it's something people have in their bones it can't be taught." Also starring in the movie is new-comer Alison Brie, 33, who spoke about the shift in society and what is expected of women. She said: "We're shedding the stigma that we need men for power and money and the idea that we were only meant to be a wife. "It's very old-fashioned thinking, but now that women can have children later and women are focusing on their careers longer, you can really be single and it isn't a negative thing." How To Be Single is out on February 19. Actress Laura Carmichael has revealed she was cast in Downton Abbey because she looked like Dame Maggie Smith. Carmichael played Lady Edith, granddaughter to Dame Maggie's Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the ITV period drama. Appearing on BBC Breakfast, she said: "Our casting director Jill ( Trevellick) said she could trace a line from Maggie to me. "Because I don't really look like Hugh (Bonneville) or Elizabeth (McGovern) - but she could sort of work in the family tree through Maggie, which I love." Bonneville and McGovern played Carmichael's on-screen parents, Robert and Cora Crawley - or the Earl and Countess of Grantham. Downton Abbey has now finished after six series, with the finale seeing perpetually unlucky-in-love Lady Edith finding happiness at last with Bertie Pelham, the seventh Marquess of Hexham (played by Harry Hadden-Paton). Carmichael, 29, was kept guessing about her character's future - but there were some clues. She explained: " I feel like they were sort of dropping hints, the producers and writers. "When we went to Brancaster (Castle), which became Edith's home when she became Marchioness - when we were on that location, some of the crew were going: 'Do you like it, Laura? Nice house, isn't it? Maybe we'll come back here next year.' "And of course, that's her castle now." Carmichael will soon tread the boards as she stars in The Maids at Trafalgar Studios in London. She plays the mistress of two servants, Solange and Claire, who fantasise about killing her. Before starring in Downton Abbey she was working as a secretary at a doctors' surgery - but her breakout role has opened doors, she said. She explained : "It has been great. I think for any actor you just want to be in the conversations that people are having about new projects, and so when you're in something like Downton, which a lot of people have seen, that's very helpful." Carmichael also said live theatre was nerve-wracking. She said: "You just have to power through it ... live performance is like being a rock star in that way. It's the closest you'll get to it, isn't it?" Celebrity Big Brother's Stephanie Davis broke down in tears on television as she spoke about her battle with depression and taking an overdose. Davis joined ITV's Loose Women panel as a guest following her exit from the Big Brother house, which saw her emerge as the runner-up of this year's series. The former Hollyoaks actress grabbed headlines inside the house thanks to her relationship with former Mr Ireland finalist Jeremy McConnell, despite her having a boyfriend Sam Reece outside the house. The 22-year-old told Loose Women she took an overdose a few years ago because she was depressed and could not see herself "getting out of this any more". "I never really had anyone who really loved me for me and it all got too much and I got really depressed and I don't want to get upset, I don't know why I'm getting upset," she said. She spoke about her romance with McConnell and revealed he was flying over from Dublin to see her. She said: "We're just going to talk about things and obviously it's hard because I feel like everybody's got an opinion, whether we've got to get married or we've got to break up. "You know, who knows what's going to happen in the future? But right now I've found someone that, I can't believe I've found someone that actually loves me. I can't believe it." Davis and former boyfriend Reece parted ways following a text message she sent after exiting the Big Brother house. During her time in the house, the actress had various outbursts, the most notorious of which saw security being called in to the Diary Room to calm her down. Tempers flared between her and former EastEnders actress Danniella Westbrook, who told her: "You'll never work again off the back of this show." Best known for playing Sinead O'Connor in the Channel 4 soap, she also previously dated One Direction's Zayn Malik briefly. She hit headlines last year when reports surfaced saying she had been sacked from Hollyoaks after storming off the set. Every day three bin liners are filled with toiletries that don't make it through security. Ever wondered what happens to the hundreds of toiletries discarded at airport security? Well, Belfast International Airport are handing over all shampoos, creams, deodorants, pastes and gels left behind by passengers to charity to then be distributed to people in need. People often forget what they are allowed to bring with them and the item will be confiscated as passengers make their way through airport security. ICTS aviation security company staff collect the toiletries if they are over 100mls. Hundreds of items are collected every day - enough to fill three black bin liners. The items are held for a time before being earmarked for disposal. But now instead of disposing them - Belfast International Airport are giving them to Christians Against Poverty for distribution. Belfast International Airport said only sealed items would be distributed. Centre manager at the Larne-based charity Wendy Davison was presented with the first batch of toiletries by Chris Armstrong, ICTS, and Uel Hoey, Business Development Director of Belfast International Airport. Ms Davison said: I think its fantastic that theyre willing to donate all these items which are going to have a huge impact in our local community. We work with people who have debt issues and we help them build a budget around their income and expenditure. Food is the first priority and comes before toiletries. "So, getting regular consignments of toiletries from the airport for people who cannot afford to buy them will have a very positive effect in struggling households. Youd have no idea of the volume of items collected on a weekly basis. We were totally surprised. "Anything over and above what we cant use, well share with other organisations such as the Simon Community, the Trustle Trust Food Bank and the Salvation Army, so everything we get will find a good home. Chris Armstrong of ICTS said: "The mountain of material we collect will now be put to very good use, and were delighted to be involved in this very worthwhile effort. Given the list of organisations working with CAP, I know all of what we collect and hand over will help make life that little bit easier for people struggling to make ends meet. Belfast International Airport Business Development Director, Uel Hoey, said: Were delighted to help in whatever way we can. Toiletries are expensive and for many people who are hard-pressed, they are luxuries in the household. "Now, these shampoos, pastes, creams can be put to good use and not be discarded as before. Stormont's economy minister has asked officials to investigate whether an ill-fated incentive scheme to encourage renewable energy use was run properly. Jonathan Bell unexpectedly closed the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme late last week, citing budgetary pressures. He said a cut in central government funding for renewable energy provision and a huge spike in demand for the scheme late last year prompted the move to shut it down ahead of schedule. Mr Bell told the Assembly on Tuesday that if he had not acted the Executive could have faced an overspend bill totalling 27 million. He added: "Inevitably there will be an investigation into why we have found ourselves in this position and I have urgently asked my own officials to ensure the scheme is running to the letter and also to the spirit of the law. "And I will be keeping a very, very close eye on that." Businesses working in the renewable energy sector have expressed alarm at the move, claiming hundreds of jobs could be at risk. The RHI provided support to businesses and homeowners keen to switch to eco-friendly heating sources. It was launched to the non-domestic sector in 2012 and extended to the domestic sector two years later. During Assembly question time, a number of MLAs challenged Mr Bell on the timing and rationale behind his announcement. He responded: "There has been a huge increase in the demand for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme from the end of last year and that does not just give my department, but Northern Ireland, a huge budgetary pressure, because the Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to limit the amount of money that was paid to Northern Ireland out of the UK pot for renewable heat and that's why I signalled my intention last week to ease that financial pressure, which could amount to over 27 million." The minister said he would try to help those businesses impacted by the closure. "I have been listening to individuals who are currently installing the renewable heat boilers and I think it's important that everyone in this House, and all of us as politicians, listen and do all that we can to help as many people as possible and I'll reflect on what is being said to me," he said. "I'll examine ways in which I can help those who have been affected by my decision last week." Green party leader Steven Agnew claimed the scheme had not been managed properly. "This latest bout of incompetence and lack of prudent financial management will likely cost up to 1,000 jobs," he warned. The organisation representing publicans in Northern Ireland has launched a "petition of concern" against outdated licensing laws. Bar owners are seeking longer opening hours and the easing of restrictions on Easter trading to make up for a struggling economy and mandatory minimum wage levels. An online petition of concern has been launched and the public urged to send letters to Assembly members. Hospitality Ulster said it wanted the new Assembly after the May elections to move swiftly to modernise the laws. Chief executive Colin Neill said: "For years the hospitality sector has been pushing for changes to the outdated liquor licensing laws in Northern Ireland. "We have been promised the introduction of a Bill at the Northern Ireland Assembly to make the necessary changes, however the Assembly has failed to bring it forward. "This is compounded by the fact that the issues contained within the Bill have been consulted upon for over four years and as time moves on, the hospitality sector is being left behind. "We are aware that there is not enough time left in the lifetime of this Assembly, but as soon as it returns after the election, this issue needs to be a top priority. "Much of the work has been done and we know there is widespread support for the changes that are proposed, we now need the Assembly to stop sitting on its hands and bring the Bill forward." The industry is seeking changes to the law to permit people under the age of 18 to attend functions on licensed premises, provided the bar is closed. It is also concerned that restrictions on Easter opening are harming business. Some of the laws are up to 100 years old. Mr Neill added: "We are fighting against a downturn in domestic tourism, in a struggling economy, mixed with issues relating to the likes of VAT, rates, and the National Living Wage. We simply can't sustain this ongoing anti-business environment. "We are an industry that is a significant driver of the Northern Ireland economy, and pregnant with opportunity as we grow the offer to consumers and tourists. The outmoded current legislation is simply holding us back. "We are calling on the wider sector and public to get in touch with their elected representatives to make sure that they back the Bill in the new Assembly term." A Department for Social Development spokeswoman said: "The Department has been focused on competing priorities such as Welfare Reform and the Housing Bills, and unfortunately at this stage there is insufficient time to progress a Bill in the current mandate. "In addition, there were significant pressures to the legislative timetable and so it has not been possible for legislation to go through the Assembly during this mandate. "Any changes to the law on Liquor Licensing will fall to the new Department for Communities to consider after the Assembly elections in May." A massive tidal energy project on the seabed off Northern Ireland's north coast should begin in 2018, developers said. Cork-based DP Energy hopes to install a 100 megawatt (MW) array of turbines off Fair Head. It would generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes. Clodagh McGrath of DP Energy said: "The Fair Head tidal development strategy is to progress with a 100MW offshore consent application, planned to commence in 2018." The company is consulting with communities before it submits its planning application. Ms McGrath added: "We will continue this engagement process as we finalise plans and look forward to hosting more open days this spring before we complete our application." The proposed technology is a further development of that used in Strangford Lough in Co Down, which is due to be decommissioned soon. Detectives are appealing for witnesses following a serious assault in Bushmills on Monday night. It was reported that shortly after 8pm a 22-year-old male was walking on Bridge Street when he was attacked by two masked males. The man suffered injuries to his arms and legs after being hit with what are believed to have been metal bars. One of the males is described as being approximately 56 tall and the other is described as being approximately 6 tall. Both were wearing dark clothing and balaclavas. They made off on foot in the direction of the river. Detective Constable Stuart Sandrey is appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone with any information that will assist with the investigation to contact Detectives in Coleraine Police Station on the non-emergency number 101. Information can also be passed anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The principal of a teen who took his own life has welcomed the introduction of a new phone app designed to protect young people on the internet. Ronan Hughes - a pupil at St Joseph's Grammar in Donaghmore, Co Tyrone - was just 17 when he died last June. He was being blackmailed online by a Nigerian criminal gang for 3,000 over intimate photographs. The app has been developed by e-safety company Ineqe. It's hoped it can educate pupils and parents about avoiding dangers while using the internet. Today it will be officially launched at Strangford Integrated College, as well as St Joseph's. Ronan's former principal Geraldine Donnelly welcomed the initiative. "It's brilliant, the whole service," she said. "We've been involved with the project since August. "Online safety is a difficult subject and it changes every day. Having a resource that is very current and up-to-date is great to have." She explained that the death of Ronan last year had a profound impact on the school and had focused it on keeping pupils safe online. "We're very mindful, I suppose, of the need to take on board his parents' wishes, which was to do all in our power to keep children safe," she said. "This is one way we can do it and promote the e-safety message and give people the tools and the skills to keep one another safe online." Ms Donnelly said she was especially glad of the new app as previous guidance to schools in Northern Ireland had been confusing, "There was, I'll be honest, an absence of supporting schools with materials and resources that were signed off by the Department of Education," she said. "There were lots of different groups giving advice, but it was down to individual schools to test them and see if they were appropriate. "That's a big ask because you don't want the wrong organisation delivering the wrong message. She said she welcomed news that an e-safety strategy for Northern Ireland was due in early 2017. The app is being launched to coincide with Safer Internet Day. Among the features are videos presented by students, with tips on safely using social media, avoiding bullying and keeping personal details safe. Online safety expert Jim Gamble has been involved with the design. "It's very much about building a relationship with parents," he explained. "It focuses on three areas: the pupil side, parents' side and the teachers' side. It recognises who you are and gives you tailored content. The app is designed to give you good, strong, practical advice. It will know you're a parent for example, it will direct you to advice on things like online bullying, 'sexting', child exploitation and grooming." Mr Gamble said the app could also help pupils who may be scared to speak out. The High Court has overturned an order that her medical negligence claim should be heard within the jurisdiction of England and Wales A soldier's ex-wife who underwent sterilisation for a suspected misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis has won the right to sue the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Northern Ireland. The High Court has overturned an order that her medical negligence claim should be heard within the jurisdiction of England and Wales. The woman, who is from Northern Ireland and now uses a wheelchair, is seeking damages over the treatment when married to a member of the Parachute Regiment four decades ago. In 1972, while pregnant and visiting her parents in Belfast, she was taken to the military wing of Musgrave Park Hospital after experiencing weakness down her left side. She was transferred to Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot the following month. Despite the absence of some records, the court heard a diagnosis of MS was made at the English hospital in early 1973. She was then put on a course of treatment and discharged six weeks later. But with medical authorities continuing with the diagnosis of severe MS, a consultant neurologist strongly recommended sterilisation, a procedure the woman underwent in October 1975. More than 30 years later, she was examined by another consultant neurologist who formed the view it was more likely that she had a vascular event than MS. An MRI scan found no evidence of MS, pointing instead to residua from a form of thrombosis. Due to her medical condition the woman now depends on carers. She requires help washing and dressing, getting in and out of bed, using the bathroom and preparing meals. In 2009 she separated from her husband and left England to return to live in Northern Ireland. Three years later her legal team commenced proceedings at the High Court in Belfast for alleged negligent medical treatment while in the care of the MoD. The lawsuit was stayed in October 2015 on the basis that the action should be brought before the courts of England and Wales. She appealed that order, arguing that the defendants had failed to establish Northern Ireland was not the appropriate forum. MoD lawyers contended that the medical treatment and diagnosis were all carried out in England. Allowing the woman's appeal, Mr Justice Burgess said: "There is a potentially greater inconvenience to be caused to the plaintiff being required to attend in England rather than other witnesses coming to Northern Ireland - if indeed their attendance in Northern Ireland is required." The Northern Ireland Assembly is set to debate and vote on changes to abortion law on Wednesday. Amnesty International claims 7 in 10 Northern Ireland people back reforms. But what do you think? The proposed amendments to the Justice Bill would allow for abortion in cases of fatal foetal diagnosis and where the pregnancy was as a result of rape or incest. In December last year, Belfasts High Court ruled that Northern Irelands abortion law is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights by not allowing for terminations in such exceptional circumstances. Amnesty has written to all Assembly members calling for Northern Ireland law to be brought into line with international human rights standards, including full decriminalisation of voluntary abortion, and access to safe and legal abortions, at a minimum, on grounds of severe or fatal foetal abnormality, or in circumstances where pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. The human rights organisation says support is growing for change. A survey for Amnesty by polling company Millward Brown Ulster said: 69% of people think the law in Northern Ireland should make access to abortion available where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest; 60% of people think the law in Northern Ireland should make access to abortion available where the foetus has a fatal abnormality. Programme Director Patrick Corrigan said: We welcome moves to amend Northern Irelands abortion law is in desperate and urgent need of reform. These are important first steps to bringing Northern Irelands law into line with international human rights standards and we urge members of the Assembly to change the law, as called for in Decembers High Court decision. With regard to sexual crime, Amnesty recommends that the law be changed to make abortion available to women based on their complaint of the rape, and that they should not be compelled to undergo unnecessary procedures, such as pressing charges against the perpetrator, identifying the rapist or providing forensic evidence. The World Health Organisation has noted that such requirements can delay access to abortion services, or may prevent access to services altogether. In line with international standards, Amnesty recommends that the term severe and fatal foetal abnormality is used in revised legislation and that medical practitioners are allowed to decide whether a condition meets the necessary standard. We urge all members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to support changes to the law to ensure womens and girls right to healthcare. The amendments have been brought to the Assembly by Alliance MLAs Trevor Lunn and Stewart Dickson, as well as another proposal by the Green Party's Steven Agnew. Please ring your MLAs today and tell them you don't want abortion.Babies like Poppy Grace in the picture could be... Posted by Precious Life on Monday, 8 February 2016 However anti-abortion group Precious Life is urging MLAs to vote against the changes. Costica Munteanu leaves the court in Derry yesterday after being charged with robbing Conall Kerrigan A jobless Romanian, who police believe is part of a crime gang that targets people out socialising in Northern Ireland, has been charged with robbing a man who was found dead shortly afterwards at the bottom of Derry's Walls. Costica Munteanu (19) has admitted robbing Conall Kerrigan of his wallet on August 23 last year. Mr Kerrigan's body was found by police behind the Millennium Forum, after he was reported missing by members of his family following a night out in Derry. Munteanu, from Maplewood Lawn in Tallaght, Dublin, also admitted stealing iPhones, each valued at 600, from two women the day before Mr Kerrigan's body was found. The investigating officer in the case told District Judge Barney McElholm at the Magistrate's Court in Derry that following the reported disappearance of Mr Kerrigan last August, PSNI officers viewed security camera footage of the city walls. The recordings showed "the final movements of Mr Kerrigan prior to his death". She said the footage showed the victim being robbed by two men, both of them Romanian. The thefts of the two iPhones took place in the same area the previous night, and the same two men were involved in both incidents, the court was told. "Unfortunately, no local police officers in this area were able to identify the two men. But, after a press release was issued appealing for help, gardai from Dublin contacted the PSNI and said they were able to identify the two men," she said. "Both men were listed as wanted in Northern Ireland and last Saturday night the defendant was seen in Belfast and arrested, cautioned and interviewed for all of the offences. "The police are objecting to the defendant being granted bail for two reasons. "We believe the defendant to be a flight risk because he has no address in, nor any ties to, Northern Ireland and we believe his co-offender has already fled the country. "We believe he is a member of an organised criminal gang operating in the city centres in Derry and Belfast which specialises in deliberately targeting vulnerable people who have dropped their guard when out socialising late at night," the officer said. Defence solicitor Brian Stelfox said the defendant was admitting the three offences. He said his client had no previous criminal record and he asked the District Judge to consider dealing with the case and finalising its outcome. Mr Stelfox described the offending as opportunist. However, the District Judge declined to deal with the case. He said that what he had in mind was not a fine but rather to refer the matter to the Crown Court. He said that because the defendant had no ties to, nor address in, Northern Ireland, he was remanding him into immediate custody. The defendant will appear in court for a video link hearing on March 3. 87-year old Vincent Lewis from Coalisland leaves Antrim Magistrate Court. Lewis was in court to answer charges of historic rape and sexual abuse of two boys.PICTURE MARK JAMIESON. An 87-year-old man who starred in a TV programme about some of the oldest dancers in Northern Ireland, was in court today charged with sex offences against three boys. Vincent Lewis, of Annagher Road in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, faces ten charges. They include one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency with or towards a child, two counts of buggery of boys under the age of 16 and three charges of indecent assault on males. The dates on the charges range from 1974 to 1983. At Antrim Magistrates' Court a prosecutor said the papers in the case are "rather substantial" and asked for the case to be adjourned for six weeks. Mr Lewis nodded to indicate he understood the charges. A police officer told the court she believed she could connect the accused to the charges. No further details have yet been outlined and the accused has yet to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. At court on Tuesday he was released on continuing bail to come back to court in March. As part of his bail conditions he must not have contact with any children under the age of 16, must not communicate with any alleged victims or witnesses and he must not have any contact with any persons associated with Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey monastery at Portglenone, County Antrim. In 2014 Mr Lewis featured in a show about set dancing called 'The Joy of Sets'. At the time of the BBC 'True North' programme it was reported in the press he was still working as a printer making memorial cards and 'Mass Cards' and he also crammed in two or three set dancing classes a week. The heartbroken husband of a Co Tyrone woman who passed away following her long battle with cancer said he has lost his soulmate. Lisa Watt (nee Toner), a mother of three young children, died yesterday morning with her husband and mother by her side. The 31-year-old was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2013 - just 10 days after the birth of her third child. After undergoing a gruelling ordeal of daily radiotherapy and weekly chemotherapy, the Coalisland mum was given the all-clear. Further Reading Read More But a routine scan last year revealed the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes. So almost a year on from her first nightmare, she was facing her second. Despite numerous rounds of treatment she was given the devastating news that her cancer was terminal and that the only life-saving treatment available to her was in America, but it came at a high cost. Describing how she wasn't ready to leave her babies, the mum launched a fundraising appeal in October to help pay for a potentially life-saving trip to the USA. But Lisa was admitted to ICU with pneumonia soon after she arrived. Afraid she would die there, the mother returned home to her three children Aaron (12), Ellie (10) and two-year-old Daryl. Last month she fulfilled one of her dreams and married the love of her life Noel in an emotional ceremony surrounded by family and friends. Hours after she passed away yesterday, Noel posted a heartfelt tribute to her on Facebook. "Today I lost my friend, soul-mate and wife. Lisa passed away peacefully at 2.05am love you always baby," he said. Her best friend and bridesmaid, Justine McMahon told the Belfast Telegraph that she was able to spend some precious moments with her "incredible friend". "I told her that I'll miss her and that I loved her and she just told me she loved me and then went back to sleep again and that was the last thing she said to me," she said. "Her wedding day was great but very sad knowing the circumstances and during the whole day she had the oxygen with her but she did really well and she enjoyed herself. "That's the main thing and it was lovely to see the big smile on her face marrying the man she loved. It was very emotional. "She was an incredible person, and even when she was going through that and I was in bad form myself, she was messaging me every day asking me how I was. And her lying up dying. She was more concerned about me than she was for herself. That was Lisa all over. "Her children woke up yesterday morning with no mummy. It's so sad. Noel is devastated, he really has been her rock from the beginning. They adore each other. He's heartbroken. "At least she's not suffering any more, her kids will be heartbroken but at least they don't have to see their mum sick any more." The leader of the Catholic Church in the Irish Republic has denounced as "despicable" the gangsters behind a bloody feud spilling on to the streets of Dublin. In an outspoken attack on the killers, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said they are "not idols or stars or heroes", but criminals who threaten public order and democracy. The primate called on "mothers and grandmothers" of those involved to appeal to their humanity and urge them to step back from the feared spiral of violence. "Now we are witnessing a further escalation of violence and brutal retaliation spurred on by people whom I believe to be despicable and cynical exploiters who feel they can treat life lightly," he said. "Is there anyone - even among their own ranks - who can speak to these cynical hearts? "Are there some persons of wisdom - especially mothers and grandmothers who must fear that their children will be dragged even more deeply into this spiral - who see the madness of such violence and who can appeal to whatever humanity remains in the hearts of those involved? "Every victim is some mother's son and someone's loved one and is tragically mourned by a family." The archbishop was speaking after the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch in Dublin's north inner city in an apparent retaliation for a fatal gun attack at the Regency Hotel last Friday. "The perpetrators are not idols or stars or heroes," said Archbishop Martin. "They are criminals who threaten not just public order but democracy and the rule of law and who have no care for anything except their own criminal interests. "All of us have to remind them they are not untouchable." The church leader appealed to anyone with information to co-operate with the Garda. Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has claimed confusion led to Gerry Adams comments, that there were no ganglands, being misunderstood. She was commenting after remarks by the party leader in reaction to the gangland murder of David Byrne in Dublin last Friday. The Sinn Fein leader said he did not believe ganglands existed. He was also vague about how juries and witnesses would be protected if Dublins non-jury Special Criminal Court was abolished. Confusions arise. But Im happy, and he is too, to set the record straight, Ms McDonald told reporters. However, Mr Adams was far from happy to clarify his remarks when quizzed on the campaign trail later. Asked to respond to Taoiseach Enda Kennys statement that gangland does exist, Mr Adams ignored the question, saying instead: Well, Ive already responded to him in terms of the awful brutality of what happened in the Regency Hotel, that the people involved in that were acting above and beyond the law. They need to be put behind bars. Ms McDonald said gardai must get the resources needed to catch those responsible. But we mustnt fall into the trap of describing an area as gangland or conceding for a second that any of our communities belong to them, she said, adding that was the point Mr Adams was trying to make. An elite Garda unit armed with high-powered weapons is being permanently set up in Dublin in the wake of the "unprecedented" escalation of gangland bloodshed. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald signalled a green light for the new dedicated response team during a summit with Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan. A "saturation policing" strategy - similar to that used to rein in feuding gangsters in Limerick in recent years - will also be deployed in the capital amid growing fears of a tit-for-tat murder frenzy. "We will stand down this threat from these gangs," said Ms Fitzgerald. "The gardai will have every resource that they need in order to have the kind of armed response that is necessary and the kind of saturation policing that we need to see." Responding to concerns that the Garda had no intelligence on last Friday's audacious attack in the city's Regency Hotel, the outgoing Justice Minister admitted she would be concerned at any failings. "Obviously if intelligence had been available, clearly the gardai would have been there," she said. "I would be concerned at any intelligence failing, of course, but what I would say is that gardai did not have intelligence in relation to it." She said the force had a very wide group of criminals to continuously monitor and disrupt. "Clearly this is a new situation," she added. "It is unprecedented in terms of the audacity of going into a hotel with armoury in the way that they did, and this feud now escalating." Ms Fitzgerald said she agreed with the Garda chief Ms O'Sullivan during talks on Tuesday morning to a permanent armed response unit in Dublin area. "That effectively has been put in place at present, but that will become a permanent initiative over the next few months," she said. The Justice Minister said conflicting claims supposedly from the breakaway republican faction Continuity IRA - both claiming responsibility and distancing itself from the Regency hotel shootings - were still being investigated. "We've had claim and counter-claim, that is still under investigation," she said. "Like all other lines of investigation it has to be taken very seriously, and will be pursued as a line of investigation." Ms Fitzgerald also defended the emergency response to the attack, despite claims that several 999 calls from the hotel went unanswered in the immediate aftermath. There were at least 18 calls made to 999, she said, with the first responders on the scene within a minute, and back up within five minutes. The minister said the response times were acceptable "by any standard" and claims that calls went unanswered would be investigated. She said she wasn't aware of anyone coming forward after an appeal was made to gangland figures fearing for their lives to get in contact with gardai. The new support unit will be made up of 55 officers, according to the Department of Justice. It will be in addition to the existing heavily-armed Emergency Response Unit, which has been drafted onto the streets. The measures are part of a 5 million euro package agreed to beef up security, including more street checkpoints and patrols. Fianna Fail's justice spokesman Niall Collins described the response as weak and panicked. "This is characteristic of a weak Justice Minister who is always behind the curve on crime," he added. The name Hutch has been synonymous with crime in the Republic of Ireland since the 1980s due to Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, who masterminded two of the biggest robberies in the history of the State. Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch In 1987, Hutch made his name in the underworld hierarchy when, at the age of 24, he led the north inner-city gang which robbed 1.3m (1.6m) from a security van in Marino Mart on Dublin's northside. The spectacular heist, the biggest cash robbery in Irish criminal history catapulted The Monk into the big league alongside the likes of John Gilligan, George 'The Penguin' Mitchell and Martin Cahill, the General. But it also placed him squarely in the sights of the Gardai. Expand Close Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch In 1995 Hutch and his gang again made the gangland history books when they were the prime suspects for the robbery of 2.8m (3.5m) in a daring heist from a cash holding facility in north county Dublin. The money was later laundered through construction projects at the beginning of the countrys building boom. However, these days The Monk claims to be retired and spends his time between the Canaries and Dublin. Despite several investigations and arrests, Gerry Hutch managed to escape prosecution although he was forced to pay CAB more than 1.5 million to satisfy a tax demand based on his substantial criminal wealth. Hutch remained one of the countrys best-known criminal godfathers and gardai considered the fact that he was never been singled out for a gun attack as evidence of his standing in the underworld until now that is. Eddie Hutch Snr Father-of-five and taxi driver Eddie Snr was killed last night in his home. The 59-year-old was shot up to nine times after gunmen broke in through his front door. The brother of 'The Monk' was never involved in major crime and not centrally involved in any of the feuding and was seen as a 'soft target'. Expand Close Edward Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Edward Hutch His murder has sickened investigators. Eddie Hutch Snr was one of a large group of the Monk's associates targeted in Operation Alpha the first major investigation launched by the Criminal Assets Bureau shortly after it was first established in 1996. As part of the enquiry, which was to last over ten years, the CAB seized a bank account in Eddie Hutch's name which contained over 156,000. Read More Eddie Hutch Jr Convicted criminal Eddie Hutch was back in the headlines as he featured on 'Winning Streak' in September 2015. His brother Ross had played on Eddie's behalf. The pair walked away with some 33,000 in cash and prizes from the National Lottery show, amid calls for him to donate his winnings to an organisation which helps the victims of crime. Eddie Jr (40) has served numerous stints in jail for theft and driving convictions. Expand Close Eddie Hutch Jr / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eddie Hutch Jr In January 2015, a judge found Eddie Jr not guilty by reason of insanity for assaulting a prison officer in Mountjoy in 2012. Hutch told doctors he believed his uncle Gerry and his dad had organised a sex change for him and were spiking his methadone in order to turn him into a woman. Dublin District Court also heard that Hutch believed his private parts were shrinking and that he had "breasts like a woman" during the testimony from a psychiatrist. Ross Hutch Ross, the brother of Eddie Jr and son of Eddie Snr, has some 54 convictions. Expand Close Ross Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ross Hutch He featured on Winning Streak last year and left presenter Sinead Kennedy red-faced after he paid her a compliment. Eddie Jr and Ross's cousins Gary and Derek have hit the headlines for more sinister reasons. Gary Hutch The Monk's own children may have eschewed involvement in crime, but his nephews, brothers Gary and Derek followed in his footsteps. Expand Close Gary Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gary Hutch Gary Hutch put the family name in lights again when he was involved in the robbery of more than 7.5m from the Bank of Ireland in Dublin following a tiger kidnapping. It set the record as the biggest cash robbery. The murder of Gary Hutch was the first time a member of The Monk's family was targeted by gangland killers. He was shot dead in Marbella in September 2015. The killing sparked a gangland feud which led to the audacious attack on the Regency Hotel last week. Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch Gary's brother, Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch, is also violent gangster and is currently serving sentences for possession of a firearm and manslaughter. He was unable to attend the funeral of Gary as he was serving time but wrote a letter which was read out to the funeral by a younger male relative. Expand Close Del Boy / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Del Boy Cartel gang target Derek has recently been moved to a special protection wing of Wheatfield Prison because of renewed fears that he could be murdered on the orders of the Christy Kinahan mob. 'Del Boy' is just one of dozens of the extended Hutch gang whose lives are under threat from the Kinahan cartel in the wake of the assassination of David Byrne (34) at the Regency Hotel, and last night's murder in Ballybough. The decision to move 'Del Boy' to a more secure area of Wheatfield Prison happened on Saturday, just hours after Friday's hotel bloodbath, which gardai believe was carried out in revenge for the murder of his brother Gary Hutch in Spain last September. Convicted killer 'Del Boy' (31) has already survived two serious jail attacks since his brother was murdered, and sources say that there is intelligence that the cartel are determined to murder him behind bars. Read More Independent.ie A group of people gather around the body of a sperm whale, which beached itself and then died on Hunstanton Beach in Norfolk Another whale may be in trouble in shallow waters off the British coast, rescuers have said. The latest report comes after a bull died at Hunstanton, Norfolk, on Thursday. This was the 30th sperm whale death in the North Sea this year. British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said on Tuesday that it was investigating the latest sighting off north Norfolk. A spokeswoman said the sighting had been referred to them but there were no further details on precise location or species. Last week's whale death followed the discovery of four dead whales washed up on the Lincolnshire coast and another at Hunstanton last month. Others have been found in France, the Netherlands and Germany. The Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, which examines all whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings in the UK, is working to establish why the whales came ashore and how they died. This could help establish what the whales, thought to have come from the same bachelor pod normally living off the west coast of Norway, were doing in the North Sea. One theory is that the male whales could have taken a wrong turn while heading south to find females or been lured by food. Stephen Marsh, operations manager at the BDMLR, said: "At the moment the report from the coastguard is that the whale is still free-swimming. "Because we're come up to spring tide, the waters may be a bit deeper but that can be a double-edged sword because you get very high high tides and very low low tides. "If it does strand the story will be very similar to what we've had recently - the whale will have very little chance of relaunching and, if it does, its chances of survival will be very low." A member of the Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Team contacted the UK Coastguard just after 10am this morning to report the whale was 300 to 400 yards off shore. A spokesman said: "The whale, which is the seventh whale in that area, was reported to be alive and thrashing about in the shallow water." Mike Puplett, of the UK Coastguard, said: "We are advising people to keep at a safe distance from the whale, so we do not cause any further distress to it. "We are doing all we can to assist the authorities and allow those with rescue experience to do their work." The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said later that the operation was being stood down as there had been no sightings of the whale for 90 minutes. Keith Griffin, station officer for the Happisburgh and Mundesley Coastguard Team, said: "We've carried out an extensive search and are confident that if the whale was in that search area, we'd have found it. "Low tide has now passed so with a bit of luck it will return to deeper waters and stand a chance of survival." The next low tide, when the whale is most likely to become stranded, is expected at about 2am on Wednesday. Researchers found that exposing volunteers to short "camera flashes" of light as they slept reset their body clocks Timed flashes of light during sleep may be the best way to combat jet lag, a study has found. Researchers found that exposing volunteers to short "camera flashes" of light as they slept reset their body clocks. Using the flash therapy the night before making a long trip could help a traveller quickly adjust to a new time zone, the findings showed. Jet lag, which occurs when the body is out of sync with a destination's sleeping and waking hours, can cause fatigue, poor concentration and performance, a general feeling of malaise, and stomach upsets. Light therapy treatments for sleep disturbance, which involve sitting in front of bright lights during the day for hours at a time, were already known to alleviate symptoms of jet lag. But a new study of volunteers has shown that exposure to brief bursts of light while sleeping is far more effective. Lead scientist Dr Jamie Zeitzer, from Stanford University Medical Centre in the US, said: "This could be a new way of adjusting much more quickly to time changes than other methods in use today." Even when the eyes are closed during sleep, light triggers signals from the retina to the "circadian system" in the brain that alters the biological clock. For the study, Dr Zeitzer's team recruited 39 volunteers aged 19 to 36 who were given a routine sleep-wake cycle for two weeks, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day. Then the participants were exposed either to various frequencies of flashing light or continuous light for an hour as they slept. The researchers found that two millisecond long bursts of light - similar to a camera flash - set off at 10-second intervals delayed the onset of sleepiness the next day by nearly two hours. For volunteers exposed to continuous light, the delay was only 36 minutes. Dr Zeitzer explained how flashing light therapy could help someone flying more than 2,000 miles from California to New York. The US West Coast is three hours behind the East Coast. He said: "If you are flying to New York tomorrow, tonight you use the light therapy. If you normally wake up at 8am, you set the flashing light to go off at 5am. When you get to New York, your biological system is already in the process of shifting to East Coast time." Dr Zeitzer added: "We have found that most people can sleep through the flashing light just fine." The flashing light treatment could also help other groups who suffer body clock disturbance, from night shift workers to truck drivers, say the researchers whose findings are reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Flashing light is said to work better than continuous light partly because the gaps of darkness between flashes allow pigments in the eye that respond to light to be re-activated. The retinal cells that transmit the light information to the brain also continue to fire for several minutes after the stimulus, said Dr Zeitzer. Coronation Street star Paula Lane is to leave the show after six years playing troubled Kylie Platt. The actress, who is pregnant with her second child, has revealed she will quit the soap when she takes maternity leave in June. ITV said writers are working on her "dramatic exit", which will focus on the climax of a storyline which saw Lane's character murder villainous ex-boyfriend Callum Logan during a live episode last September. Lane, 29, said: "This has not been an easy decision for me to make. I have enjoyed every moment of my time on Coronation Street and learnt so much in the process. "I have an amazing on-screen family who have become friends for life, so this decision was not taken lightly. "But sometimes you just have to follow your heart and I am excited about what the future has to offer both personally and professionally." Producer Stuart Blackburn said: "Paula is one of the most talented and dedicated actors I know and in Kylie she has created an unforgettable Corrie character. "I for one will miss both the character and the actor and on behalf of all at Coronation Street wish Paula all the love and luck in the world and I'm certain that Paula's future will be full of continued success." Lane is the latest in a string of stars to depart the famous cobbled street, including Alison King (Carla Connor), Eileen Derbyshire (Emily Bishop) and David Neilson (Roy Cropper). The "last breaths" of a man gunned down outside a bar have been shown on television as police announced a 40,000 reward to catch his killer. Marvin Couson was 26 when he was shot in front of up to 300 people outside a London nightspot in 2002, causing a brain injury that left him in a vegetative state. He spent the next 13 years "in pain, in suffering" according to his family, before he died in August, just months from his 40th birthday. The BBC's Crimewatch programme on Monday broadcast phone footage taken by his sister Margaret at his bedside in hospital just minutes before he passed away. She told the programme: "I feel people need to see that this man, this innocent man - completely innocent - suffered in this way until he took his last breaths because someone took a gun and shot him." Police were called to Lime in London Bar, or Lime Bar, in Curtain Road at 3.40am on May 12 2002, after reports gunshots had been fired. The bar is now the Queen of Hoxton pub. Mr Couson, a father of two, of Dallington Road, West Norwood, was found lying on the ground with a bullet wound to his chest, police said. The Crimewatch reconstruction showed that a gun was fired in the bar and people fled outside. A friend confronted two men driving past in a T-reg red or burgundy Ford Fiesta and as he did so a second shot was fired, hitting Mr Coulson. He was taken to the Royal London Hospital with critical injuries to his heart and other internal organs before being transferred to the Royal Hospital for neuro-disability. He died in hospital on August 8 last year. A man was arrested on May 23 2002 in connection with the shooting, but released with no further action. Police said it was not clear if the shot came from inside the car but they want to trace the men inside. They said 200-300 of the 600 people at the bar for a party had fled into the street before the shooting happened. Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh from the Metropolitan Police's homicide and major crime command said: "Tonight we have announced a large reward in the hope that it will encourage someone to come forward. "Marvin's shooting happened many years ago but you would remember if you were there that night and were one of those who fled in panic as shots were fired inside the bar. "We need to speak to everyone who was there that night. I remain concerned some people may have a misguided sense of loyalty and are possibly protecting those who carried out this attack. "Marvin should have celebrated his 40th birthday in November. Instead he spent 13 years in a hospital bed unable to do anything for himself before tragically succumbing to his injuries." Forensic officers search an area where a man was found on fire near Kensington Palace A man has died after setting himself on fire outside Kensington Palace in the early hours of Tuesday. Discovered alight at around 3am by police, the man, believed to be in his forties, was pronounced dead at 3.42am - despite efforts to save him by the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade. As forensics officers inspected the scene, a green fuel container, a fire extinguisher and a number of personal items could be seen - before being carried away in evidence bags. Officers were called to the park, close to the London home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, after receiving reports a man was behaving suspiciously. It is understood that the incident is not being treated as suspicious, and no-one else was thought to be involved. A spokesman for the Met said officers were called by a central London hospital at just after midnight on Tuesday after a man in their care had failed to return. He added: "Police carried out inquiries to trace this missing man at his home address and two associated addresses but the man, aged in his forties, was not present. "Subsequently, police in Kensington and Chelsea were called to an area near the locked parks of Kensington Palace at 3.06am following reports of a man behaving suspiciously. "Officers attended and found a man, believed to be aged in his forties, ablaze. "Inquiries are ongoing. This incident is not being treated as terrorist-related." It is understood a post mortem and the formal identification of his body is yet to be carried out and established. Police are in the process of informing his family. A spokesman for the royal family confirmed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were not in the palace on Tuesday. They are believed to have been in Norfolk at the time of the incident. The victims of the IRA's Docklands bombing will today demand that the Metropolitan Police opens an investigation into veteran south Armagh republican, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy. Blast survivor Jonathan Ganesh will lead a delegation at a meeting with Met officers on this, the 20th anniversary of the blast that ended a 17-month IRA ceasefire. Two people - Inam Bashir and John Jeffries - were killed and 250 injured on February 9, 1996, when the massive lorry bomb exploded in the Canary Wharf financial district. Two men were convicted of the bombing but served just two years in jail due to the early release scheme in the 1998 Belfast Agreement. Now, the bomb victims want the Met to pursue Murphy, claiming he arranged for the Semtex used in the blast to be transported from Libya. This follows claims by French detective, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who alleged to BBC Spotlight that Murphy had organised a major shipment of arms, including Semtex, on the Eksund ship which French authorities intercepted off Brittany in 1987. Mr Ganesh said that, as Semtex was the main component of the Docklands bomb, victims feel the Met should investigate these comments. He described the experience of the bomb as feeling like he was being "buried alive". Mr Ganesh has since worked for the victims of the atrocity. "Over the last 10 years we have campaigned for equality for victims. There are IRA victims with American passports who were compensated with millions of pounds from Colonel Gaddafi, who helped the IRA kill countless citizens from the UK, Ireland and around the world," he said. Murphy has never been convicted of a terrorist offence, however he will be sentenced later this week for tax evasion. The victims group is expected to make a statement after it meets with the Met. The interception of the Eksund sparked an international police investigation. Mr Bruguiere, who led the Eksund investigation, told BBC Spotlight: "The implication of Libya in terrorist operations in Europe, its strategy and in particular the logistical support for the IRA was known. It was known by the British and French. "I am quite sure that Murphy was involved. Murphy for me was at the centre of the dossier. I think, as they say in English, he was the handler. The one who was the contact, the manipulator of Hopkins (Adrian Hopkins, the Eksund skipper), and the one who drove the operation." Mr Bruguiere also claimed four consignments of arms were successfully landed in Ireland from Libya. The Spotlight programme included claims from former IRA man Kieran Conway, who said: "I was director of intelligence, I went to a series of meetings in the border areas with the IRA, and that would be the first time I met Tom Murphy." The pair were arrested together in the mid 1980s in Co Louth on suspicion of IRA membership. "I think it was just a routine meeting as far as I can recall, we were probably making arrangements for something or other," he said. When asked to clarify whether they were on IRA business when arrested, he responded: "Absolutely, yes". E.ON and Age UK are to temporarily stop offering a branded energy tariff following criticism of the deal, citing "continued speculation regarding the partnership". Age UK was criticised for exploiting its position as a trusted charity after it was claimed E.ON paid it 6 million a year in return for the charity pushing expensive tariffs to the elderly. An E.ON spokesman said: " This decision has been reached on a mutual basis and both organisations retain confidence in the tariff offered to customers. "However, due to continued speculation regarding the partnership, both organisations feel it is right to pause and reflect on the best way for both parties to achieve their shared goal of helping customers." The change will come into effect on Wednesday February 10. The move comes after The Sun newspaper revealed it found details of E.ON payments to the charity contained within Age UK's annual accounts. It is claimed the charity had been recommending a special E.ON tariff in leaflets and booklets, stating it was "great value" and "helps save energy and money". The charity has been paid at least 6 million every year, receiving around 41 for every person that signed up, it was reported. It was claimed that the tariff, on average, costs pensioners 245 more than they would pay on E.ON's cheapest deal. E.ON has confirmed there was a "commercial relationship" between it and the charity but the supplier said its tariffs were competitively priced, and Age UK has rejected any allegations of wrongdoing. Existing E.ON customers on the tariff will be unaffected, and will be able to continue until the end of their contract or move between tariffs without penalty, the energy company said. Customers wishing to change supplier will be able to do so without being charged. Sir Peter Ricketts said the UK leaving the EU would put a number of joint security initiatives with France at risk David Cameron's warnings that France could scrap a border deal if Britain leaves the EU have been backed by a former national security adviser. Sir Peter Ricketts, who was the UK's ambassador to Paris for four years until last month, said a rethink would be "very likely" and dismissed Eurosceptic accusations the Prime Minister was "scaremongering". Downing Street prompted a furious backlash from pro-Brexit campaigners by claiming a "leave" vote in the referendum could free thousands of migrants in the Calais "Jungle" to travel to the UK and potentially create tent cities in Kent. Mr Cameron raised the prospect that EU withdrawal would jeopardise not only the 2003 Le Touquet agreement requiring checks on lorries and trains on French soil, but also other cross-border co-operation on terrorism and organised crime. Senior Conservatives including ex-defence secretary Liam Fox accused the Prime Minister of misleading voters, pointing out that the agreement was between the two countries and not an EU measure. But the PM received the firm backing of Sir Peter, who told BBC Radio 4's Today: "This is a bilateral treaty but it was made in a multilateral context where Britain and France are working very closely together across a whole range of issues in the interior, justice area, police cooperation and so on. "If the context changed, and Britain made a major decision to leave the EU, then I think it is very likely that the French would review its position as well. "It has 1,000 of its crack riot police deployed in Calais, far more than in Marseille. They are bottling up effectively 7,000 or more migrants in the camps. "They are taking a lot of political flak for that, there is a lot of humanitarian pressure on them. "They are doing it effectively to protect our border. We get a secure border; the French carry a lot of the load. "They are doing it because they see us as a very important ally in the EU on a whole range of areas of cooperation on police and crime. If that stopped, then the incentives change for France." Immigation Minister James Brokenshire said political figures in France have indicated they would like to see an end to "juxtaposed" border controls in Calais. He told the Commons Home Affairs committee: "That is certainly not our view. The French government have indicated that is not their view. "But the situation could change. That sense of certainty is what the Prime Minister is pointing to and the impact if the juxtaposed controls were changed." The Government is pressing ahead with plans to allow local councils to extend Sunday trading hours. Amendments to the Enterprise Bill will be introduced to enable the change in hours to be made in the autumn. Ministers said that local retailers will have the flexibility to adjust hours so they can compete for trade. Business Minister Anna Soubry said: "Extending Sunday shopping hours has the potential to help businesses and high streets better compete as our shopping habits change. "The rights of shop workers are key to making these changes work in everyone's interests. We are protecting those who do not wish to work Sundays, and those who do not want to work more than their normal Sunday working hours." The shopworkers' union Usdaw has warned that the move will mean staff will have less time to spend with their families and could put small stores out of business. Under measures to devolve Sunday trading laws to local authorities, councils will be allowed to "zone" any relaxation so they will be able to prioritise high streets and city centres. Ministers said the measures include greater freedoms for shopworkers in England, Scotland and Wales to opt-out of working Sundays if they choose to, for example because they object on religious grounds or for family reasons. Shopworkers will be able to give one month's notice to large shops that they no longer want to work Sundays, down from three months, and will have a new right to opt out of working additional hours. The Government said it will also strengthen the duty on employers to notify employees of their rights about working on Sundays. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said: "Devolving Sunday trading to over 300 local authorities will strangle the retail industry in red tape. What the Government is proposing is undesirable and unworkable. "Their claims to be offering additional protection for shopworkers amounts to nothing more than has existed for the last 20 years. 91% of our members working in retail oppose longer Sunday trading because they know it will have an adverse effect on family life and put them under even more pressure to work longer hours on a Sunday. "The Government has delayed publishing their amendments until the last minute, having not put the changes in the Devolution Bill. They haven't published the responses to the consultation because they know there is large scale opposition to devolution of Sunday trading from retailers, shopworkers and the wider community who want Sunday to remain different. "The Sunday Trading Act is a great British compromise, which has worked well for over 20 years and gives everyone a little bit of what they want. Retailers can trade, customers can shop, staff can work; whilst Sunday remains a special day, different to other days, and shopworkers can spend some time with their family." Tory backbencher David Burrowes said: "The Government should still listen to the significant opposition to this unnecessary and unwanted plan. "Otherwise I look forward to leading an unholy cross-party alliance in defeating a measure which is anti-family, anti-small business and anti-workers." A reply to a letter written by Terry Wogan to the then BBC 2 Controller, David Attenborough Notes taken by Johnnie Stewart following an interview he conducted with job hopeful Terry Wogan The letter written by Terry Wogan to the BBC 2 controller David Attenborough Letters unearthed from the BBC archives reveal that Sir Terry Wogan was turned down for a job as a BBC Two presenter by Sir David Attenborough in 1965. Two archive letters show that Sir Terry wrote to BBC Two in 1964 and again a year later, but was "politely rebuffed", on the second occasion directly by Sir David, who was the controller of the channel at the time. The letters form part of the latest edition of Radio Times which is paying tribute to Sir Terry following his death, aged 77, from cancer at the end of last month. Talking to the Radio Times, Sir David said he did not recall the letter addressed to him as he received more than 10,000 letters a year. He said: "Good Lord! He wrote asking me for work? I don't remember this at all." Sir Terry's letter, typed on the notepaper of Irish broadcaster RTE, says: "My reason for writing to you is simply ambition", and he goes on to add that he "should like to extend the sphere of my television activities, to see if the success which I have enjoyed in Ireland can be translated to British television". Sir David's reply is frank as he writes that "we do not have any vacancies for anyone with your particular talents and experience". Further Reading Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The letter written by Terry Wogan to the BBC 2 controller David Attenborough PA Notes taken by Johnnie Stewart following an interview he conducted with job hopeful Terry Wogan PA A reply to a letter written by Terry Wogan to the then BBC 2 Controller, David Attenborough PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The letter written by Terry Wogan to the BBC 2 controller David Attenborough Read More He goes on to write that one of its chief announcers (Denis Tuohy) is from Dublin and says: "We would feel, other things being equal, that we should look for someone from a different part of the country if we were to make an additional appointment." Reflecting on his reply now, Sir David said he thought it was a perfectly reasonable answer. He told Radio Times: "To have had two Irishmen presenting on BBC Two would have looked ridiculous. This is no comment whatsoever on Terry Wogan's talents. "It's just that I couldn't have had two Irish presenters." Sir Terry went on to land a job with BBC radio in 1966, presenting a show called The Midday Spin. The Limerick-born star became a household name presenting his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, the annual Children In Need programme, and the Eurovision Song Contest. The BBC confirmed that Sir Terry's funeral would take place this week, but said in a statement it would be a private service. "No further details will be released, and we ask that the family's wish for privacy is respected at this time," it said. Sir Terry, who was one of the UK and Ireland's best-known stars, was remembered by leading figures in showbusiness and politics following his death. Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "someone millions came to feel was their own special friend". His family confirmed his death in a statement issued by the BBC which said: "Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer. "He passed away surrounded by his family." There is no safe way to get a sun tan, Nice warned Hugh Jackman took to social media to warn fans of the dangers of not wearing sunscreen A health watchdog has told people there is no such thing as a safe tan as the actor Hugh Jackman announced his fifth skin cancer has been removed. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said adults need between six and eight teaspoons (35ml) of sun cream per application and should always aim for an SPF of 15 or higher. It comes as Jackman took to Twitter and Instagram to warn fans of the dangers of not wearing sun cream. He also appealed to people to get regular skin checks as he posted a picture of himself with a plaster on his nose after having a fifth skin cancer removed. The Australian actor, who starred as the Wolverine in the X-Men film series, said: "An example of what happens when you don't wear sunscreen. Basal Cell. The mildest form of cancer but serious, nonetheless. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN and get regular check-ups." Jackman had his first skin cancer removed in 2013 after his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suggested he should get a mole on his nose checked. At the time, he wrote on social media: "Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right! I had a Basal Cell Carcinoma. Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!!" In its new guidance, Nice said "there is no safe or healthy way to get a tan from sunlight", adding that a tan provides little protection against further exposure to the sun. And it said while people should expose their arms and legs to the sun for short periods in order to build up vitamin D, this had to be balanced against the risks of skin cancer. It stopped short of recommending a specific amount of time people should stay out without sun cream to build up vitamin D, but said experts agreed that " short (less than the time it takes for skin to redden or burn), frequent periods of sunlight exposure are best for vitamin D synthesis". It said this type of exposure is also "less likely to result in skin cancer". Many adults in Britain have low levels of vitamin D (23% aged 19 to 64 and 21% aged 65 and over), as do 14% of children aged four to 10 and 22% of children aged 11 to 18. In the wide-ranging guidance, Nice warns that applying sunscreen too thinly reduces the amount of protection it gives. Higher SPFs - such as 30 - may offer better protection but do "not necessarily mean people can spend more time in the sun without the risk of burning". Nice said sunscreens should be "re-applied liberally, frequently and according to the manufacturer's instructions", including after being in the water (even if it is water-resistant) and after towel drying, sweating or when it may have rubbed off. Sunscreen should also be applied twice if people are going to be out long enough to risk burning - once half an hour before going out, and again around the time they go out in the sun. Sarah Williams, Cancer Research UK's health information manager, said: "While we all need some sun for vitamin D, it's important not to overdo it as the sun's UV rays also increase skin cancer risk. "Far from being a sign of health, a suntan actually means your skin is trying to protect itself from too much UV - and sunburn means that the DNA in your skin cells has been damaged. Over time, this damage can build up and lead to skin cancer." Labour bitter divisions over Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent may prove irreconcilable, shadow home secretary Andy Burnham has warned, as Jeremy Corbyn unexpectedly pulled out of a showdown with his top team. The shadow cabinet had been expected to discuss proposals for the future of the deterrent at its weekly meeting at Westminster, only for the debate to be postponed at the last minute. The move comes after shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry - who, like Mr Corbyn, supports unilateral nuclear disarmament - was given a rough ride when she briefed Labour MPs and peers on her thinking on Monday evening. Mr Burnham, who backs Trident renewal, said that her hostile reception for some MPs underlined how difficult it was going to be for the party to come to an agreed position on the issue. In an apparent side-swipe at Mr Corbyn's suggestion that a future Labour government could retain the Trident submarines but they would put to sea without their nuclear warheads, he said "hybrid options .... just don't work". He told BBC Radio 4's Today: "There are two positions here which are difficult to reconcile - maybe impossible to reconcile - and the party has got to find some way of accommodating those positions and move forward and don't let this issue take over everything." Following her appearance before the Parliamentary Labour Party, critics ridiculed Ms Thornberry's performance as "waffly and incoherent" and accused her of living in "la la land". She insisted, however, the debate on the future of the deterrent did not necessarily come down to the "binary option" of renewing Trident or scrapping it and there were "more subtleties" than had been suggested to Mr Corbyn's plan. Party policy, she said, needed to take account of the fact that technological advances - such as underwater drones - may mean the submarines which carry the nuclear missiles will soon no longer be undetectable, undermining the effectiveness of the deterrent. "If we are being left behind by technology, if there is a possibility of cyber attack, if there is the development of drones, then actually these nuclear deterrents may not in fact be nuclear deterrents and that is the issue we need to debate," she told the Today programme. "The idea of the Trident replacement is that it can hide in the sea. If technology is moving faster than that, then it may well be that Trident will not be able to hide. If that's right, if we are to bet everything on mutually assured destruction, we have to be assured that it is going to work." Her comments were dismissed by Admiral Lord West, a former head of the Royal Navy and security minister in Gordon Brown's government, who warned he would quit Labour if it became a "pacifist" party. "There is nothing to indicate this will happen anywhere in the near future. Emily comes from a stance of wanting unilateral nuclear disarmament and is therefore casting around for some way of arguing it," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. A mixed-race student diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia has found a stem cell donor against the odds. Lara Casalotti, 24, from Hampstead in north London, inspired a global campaign to find a match due to her mixed Thai and Italian heritage. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December during a trip to Thailand and told her best hope of a cure was a stem cell transplant. She faced a "needle in a haystack" search because only 3% of worldwide stem cell donor registers have mixed race donors. Lara's match would most likely come from someone with a similar ethnic background to herself. Now, after a global search by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan - which included Thailand, the US and Italy - a match has been found. The donor's identity has to be kept a secret due to patient-donor confidentiality regulations but it is hoped they will donate their stem cells in March. Lara, who is studying for a Masters in global migration at University College London, said: "These past months have been a whirlwind but I am so thankful a donor with a genetic match has now been found. "Thanks to everyone's immense support, I have always stayed hopeful that I would find one, but I realise how lucky I have been given how difficult it was to find that donor. "I want to keep urging people to sign up to the donor registries so that everyone can have a chance of finding their match." Lara's mother, Supanya, said: "As a mum, I feel pure relief as we knew the odds were stacked against Lara. "Whoever the donor is, they will never, ever know how grateful I am. The transplant is still a few weeks away and I wish I could wrap them in cotton wool to keep them safe. "We know we have a long road ahead as a transplant is an extremely serious procedure, but knowing there is a good match for Lara is a weight off our shoulders that we desperately needed." Lara's brother, Seb, 20, said: "We've been so lucky in finding a match but we know that others are not so fortunate. "The Match4Lara events planned around the world over the coming weeks will go ahead as planned, so that other families can one day receive the same good news. "This campaign was hatched around the dinner table and we never expected it to receive such incredible support - we were inspired by the Match4Aary campaign, who is still waiting for a match, so we need people to keep signing up to registries worldwide." The Match4Lara appeal has been backed by celebrities including novelist JK Rowling, Prime Minister David Cameron, and actors Stephen Fry and Mark Wahlberg. Lara's family estimates that the number of people worldwide who have joined a stem cell register as a result is well in excess of 20,000. Anthony Nolan also saw an unprecedented spike in new donors from black, Asian, ethnic minority and mixed race backgrounds in the UK. Ann O'Leary, head of register development at Anthony Nolan, said: "We're over the moon that we've been able to find a suitable donor for Lara and that she's now able to begin her transplant journey. "We're so grateful to Lara and all of her incredible supporters for spreading the word about the simple but vital act of donating stem cells. By diversifying the donor register, they have given hope to so many other people from ethnic minority and mixed race communities." The earlier attack was at the Regency Hotel in Dublin Ireland's police chief has been forced to defend her organised crime units having no intelligence that a boxing weigh-in would be targeted by a gangland hit squad. Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan faced scrutiny as to why there was no security presence at the Regency Hotel in Dublin last Friday when David Byrne, 33, was shot dead. The questions hung over policing strategy as a small number of crime journalists and photographers had staked out the gathering amid speculation that big players in the criminal underworld would be attending. "Last Friday evening was a public sporting event and you can not have members of An Garda Siochana going to every single event just because criminals may be there," the Commissioner said. Byrne's murder - a suspected retaliation for the shooting dead of Gary Hutch in the Costa del Sol last September - is suspected of being avenged on Monday night with the murder of Hutch's uncle Eddie, a brother of Gerry Hutch, who carries the nickname The Monk. There were also reports that Daniel Kinahan, who manages some boxers in the MGM camp based in Marbella, was in the Regency at the time of Friday's attack. He is the son of Christy Kinahan, who was arrested in a mansion in Spain in 2010 as part of an investigation into an international drugs and money laundering racket. Kinahan senior has not been charged. The Commissioner said "hindsight is often good" and added: "People will go to specific events, some of the people who attend public events are criminals. "We can not be at every place (where) criminals are attending public events so we prioritise deployment of resources based on threat and intelligence. "If we had anything of those of indications we would have had people there with the appropriate response." Amid the scrutiny on policing tactics there were pledges from the outgoing government for resources to fund permanent armed checkpoints and patrols in areas of Dublin where known gangsters live and associate. The very obvious ramping up of security can already be seen in a number of locations including around Seville Place in Dublin's north inner city, less than a mile from where Eddie Hutch was murdered. Four heavily armed officers from the Garda's Emergency Response Unit, kitted out with protective eye wear, balaclavas, body armour and headgear, were backed up by at least 12 uniformed officers and plain clothed armed detectives to check identities and movements of passing motorists and cyclists. There are fears more death threats are circulating in the gangland feud but the Commissioner refused to discuss those. But she said conflicting statements both purporting to come from the dissident republican faction Continuity IRA - one to the BBC in Belfast claiming responsibility for the Regency attack and another dismissing that claim - are still being investigated. The Commissioner said: "We are looking at crime and terrorism, we can rule nothing out at this stage." The Garda's organised crime units are in o ngoing contact with international police agencies over the gangland feud which stretches from Marbella and the Costa to some of Dublin's more disadvantaged areas. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said security operations will be increased in the coming months when armed units are expanded and become a permanent fixture in some areas where gangsterism is more of a threat. "We will stand down this threat from these gangs," the minister said. The actions mimic the approach taken to successfully crack down on drugs gangs which operated with near impunity in some parts of run down estates in Limerick city in the 2000s and also to quell tensions in the Sheriff Street area of Dublin in recent years. At least four masked men were involved in the Eddie Hutch murder just off North Strand on Dublin's north side, with the BMW 3 Series used in the killing found abandoned a short distance away near Drumcondra. His brother The Monk spoke out in 2008 when interviewed by RTE to admit he was a criminal, but denied he was a drug dealer or hitman. He insisted his money came from shrewd property deals. The shooting followed the Regency attack, where Byrne was killed and two others were seriously injured by a six-strong gang, three of whom were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in Swat team uniforms and helmets. The weigh-in was to prepare for a boxing title fight promoted by Frank Warren and MGM Promotions, based in Marbella. The concern now is that further reprisals will be carried out. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin appealed for "mothers and grandmothers" of those involved in the gang war to appeal to their humanity and urge them to step back from the feared spiral of violence. Ms Fitzgerald has appealed for any other gang members who fear for their lives to come forward and seek protection but it is not known if anyone has taken up the offer. A public inquiry should be held into the evidence which sparked a 10-month police investigation of sex abuse allegations made against Lord Bramall, his son has said. A Metropolitan Police probe into the former armed forces chief was dropped last month amid controversy surrounding the overarching Operation Midland, a controversial inquiry into alleged child sex abuse and murder linked to VIPs. The 92-year-old D-Day veteran, whose home was raided by police last March while he had breakfast with his terminally-ill wife, has attacked the force for its handling of the case. And in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Nick Bramall called for his father's accuser, known only as "Nick", to be identified. He said: "As his son, I never doubted him; but what his family and many others seek is a thorough, public and forensic examination of the evidence, as presented to Operation Midland. "What was the evidence placed before the magistrate that led to the search of his home in March 2015? What was found? Who did the police interview and when? What is known about the man at the centre of the police inquiry? What was so compelling about him that made his accusations so utterly believable? "We have the right to know these things. The accuser 'Nick' has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, months of police time and besmirched the reputation of honourable men. Surely the cloak of anonymity should now be lifted and this man brought to account." Last week, Lord Bramall claimed that officers did not speak to witnesses who cast doubts on the allegations against him until 10 months after he was first spoken to and said he was left to prove the allegations were not true. Scotland Yard declined to comment on Lord Bramall's comments and refused to apologise for pursuing the allegations. Operation Midland was launched in November 2014 following allegations that boys were sexually abused by a paedophile ring centred around Westminster more than 30 years ago. There were claims that sex parties were held at the exclusive Dolphin Square apartment block near the Houses of Parliament. The inquiry - which centred on allegations by a man known as "Nick" - was ratcheted up when police announced they were also looking into the alleged murder of three young boys. The decommissioning of the Paddington Green-based TSG team was not linked to the overtime investigation, the Met said A specialist riot squad at the centre of a probe into allegations its officers wrongly claimed for overtime has been decommissioned to cut costs, police said. The Metropolitan Police said the withdrawal of the Territorial Support Group (TSG) unit based at Paddington Green in Westminster was "not linked" to misconduct investigations into some of its officers. Disciplinary action is being taken against more than 20 officers over allegations relating to working practices, unauthorised claiming of overtime and bullying. The force's Directorate of Professional Standards, which launched the probe in September 2014, has referred four police sergeants for disciplinary hearings for alleged gross misconduct. Five constables were sanctioned for claiming four hours' overtime which they had not worked, the Met said, while a further two constables face misconduct meetings. Another 13 officers have been "given advice about professional standards" following the probe. The TSG is an 800-strong specialist task force which responds to spontaneous events, including terrorist attacks and public disorder, and played a key role in policing the riots which erupted in the capital in 2011. According to the force's website, TSG officers are selected on merit and must show "professionalism, self motivation and excellent communication skills". A Met spokesman said: "This is not linked to the decommissioning of the TSG base at Paddington Green. "The TSG unit formerly based at Paddington Green was decommissioned in January 2016 as part of organisational restructuring to cut costs by reducing the number of buildings the task force operate from and improving efficiency by co-locating the specialist units of the command." Britain stands ready to support a government of national unity in Libya in taking on Islamic State (IS), a foreign office minister has said. Giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Tobias Ellwood said the Government had no plans to commit British troops directly against IS - also referred to as Daesh or Isis. However, he said that the UK was prepared to provide advice, support and training to the Libyan military if political agreement could be reached on the formation of a new government of national unity. He disclosed that RAF warplanes had already been involved in flying missions over the country but gave no further details. "There are discussions being had as to what we can do to facilitate assistance once a government is actually formed as to what we can do to advise, assist, support and train. We are not going in there to hold and take ground," he said. "We are looking for a political agreement. Once that is in place we can then work towards providing assistance to the Libyan national army which absolutely can provide greater defences and take Daesh out." Jonathan Powell, the UK special envoy to Libya, said that it should be possible to establish a coalition of armed groups to take on IS - which has established a stronghold in the city of Sirte. "There are a number of armed groups there sitting next to Isis who are more threatened than we are who have the capacity to deal with it but they need to be united, they need a common cause if they are going to do something," he said. However Mr Ellwood warned that while the rise of IS represented the biggest long-term threat to the future of Libya, the danger was not fully understood in the country. "Currently, as a militia, as an entity, it is quite small in comparison with some of the other militias that are there already," he said. "I don't think it's seen as such a priority at this stage by the people in that country who just see this as another, more extremist, militia. "The absence of a government is allowing them to get a footprint in and once they have got a footprint it then becomes easier for them to expand." Bijan Ebrahimi, an innocent disabled refugee who was murdered in a vigilante attack after a police officer and a community support officer failed to take threats to his life seriously. Pc Kevin Duffy and PCSO Andrew Passmore have both been jailed for misconduct in a public office in connection with the case. PCSO Andrew Passmore (left) and police constable Kevin Duffy, of Avon and Somerset Police, who have both been jailed for misconduct following the vigilante murder of disabled man Bijan Ebrahimi. A police officer and a community support officer have been jailed for misconduct following the vigilante murder of a disabled refugee. Pc Kevin Duffy, 52, and PCSO Andrew Passmore, 56, were convicted of the charge in connection with the death of Bijan Ebrahimi in Bristol in 2013. Mr Ebrahimi, 44, was punched and kicked to death and his body set on fire by neighbour Lee James, who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. Duffy failed to respond to numerous pleas for help by Mr Ebrahimi two days before the murder, as he viewed him as a nuisance and a liar. Former soldier Passmore lied to murder detectives by claiming he patrolled outside Mr Ebrahimi's home for an hour, when it was actually two minutes. Both have been dismissed from Avon and Somerset Police since their convictions and subsequent misconduct hearings. Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, said there had been "wider failings" by the force before Mr Ebrahimi's death. The judge, who jailed Duffy for 10 months and Passmore for four, said they had "betrayed" the public's trust. "It is with a heavy heart that in each of your cases I take the view that only a custodial sentence is appropriate," Judge Ford said. "You have already lost your careers and in each of your cases there is genuine justification for mercy. "You must not bear the responsibilities for the wider failings in the police which were beyond your control." Mr Ebrahimi had a history of disputes with his neighbours in Capgrave Crescent in Brislington. On July 11 2013, he filmed James drinking beer while playing with his young daughters on a communal green. James wrongly believed that Mr Ebrahimi had been filming his children for sexual gratification and burst into his flat. Mr Ebrahimi dialled 999 and two police officers, Pc Leanne Winter and Pc Helen Harris, arrived to find James crying with anger and frothing at the mouth. Pcs Winter and Harris arrested Mr Ebrahimi for breaching the peace and led him out in handcuffs in front of a crowd, who jeered and taunted him. Mr Ebrahimi was released from custody the following day and made 12 calls to the police non-emergency number 101. "There was a developing theme of Mr Ebrahimi saying that he didn't feel safe and that a crowd was outside," the judge said. Pc Henrietta Staveley-Brown emailed Duffy, the neighbourhood's beat manager, warning of "vigilante issues" after visiting the estate that day. The officer also raised concerns to a sergeant and inspector but no patrols were arranged in what Judge Ford described as a "serious failing". Mr Ebrahimi was informed that Duffy would visit, but the officer refused to see him. "My life is in danger. Right now a few of my neighbours are outside and shouting and calling me a paedophile. I need to see Pc Duffy," Mr Ebrahimi told one operator. Duffy told a supervisor: "It's Mr Bijan Ebrahimi. He's well known to me and I won't be taking any calls from him." The judge said Duffy's omission to visit or speak to Mr Ebrahimi, whom he regarded as a "nuisance", was a serious failing. But he added there was "much doubt" that Duffy could have prevented the murder. Passmore drove to the estate after being asked to conduct a "bit of a foot patrol" by Duffy that evening, July 12, and spent two minutes outside. Judge Ford said Passmore had "no need" to lie to murder detectives and claim that he had patrolled for an hour, but he deliberately did so. The following day, July 13, Mr Ebrahimi attempted to contact Duffy and Pc Winter. He phoned police at 00.14am on July 14, about an hour before his murder. Witnesses saw James repeatedly stamp on Mr Ebrahimi's head before setting him alight at 1.35am with neighbour Stephen Norley. James was jailed for life for the murder, while Norley was sentenced to four years in prison for assisting an offender. Pcs Winter, 38, and Harris, 40, were acquitted of misconduct following the seven-week trial at Bristol Crown Court last year. Avon and Somerset Police are now beginning misconduct hearings with 15 members of staff and officers. "As a consequence, we're unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters," a force spokesman said. IPCC commissioner Jan Williams said the police watchdog would published its investigation findings into Mr Ebrahimi's death at the conclusion of all disciplinary proceedings. Speaking outside court, Mr Ebrahimi's sister Manisha Moores said: "We hope the judge's words today send out a strong message to police officers across the country about the importance of protecting victims and the importance of telling the truth. "We hope that today's outcome will help other victims and our search for justice continues." Avon and Somerset Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Morgan said: " Today it is important we should remember Bijan Ebrahimi and his family who are at the heart of these proceedings, and the lengthy and painful legal processes they have had to endure alongside their tragic loss. They have done this throughout with the greatest dignity and composure. I reiterate my heartfelt apology and condolences to the family today. "In summing up in court today, His Honour Judge Ford recognised the appropriateness of custodial sentences for Kevin Duffy and Andrew Passmore. The principle job of the police service is to protect the public and in this case Bijan Ebrahimi was failed. "The judge also made reference to the responsibility of the wider organisation today. Our focus has been and will continue to be to understand the circumstances around Mr Ebrahimi's treatment by our police officers and staff in the days leading up to his murder, and do all that we can to prevent such a dreadful event happening to anyone again. "We are at the beginning of a series of misconduct hearings and meetings involving 15 members of staff and officers. It's crucial that these disciplinary proceedings are allowed to progress to their final conclusion without prejudice now that sentencing has taken place. As a consequence we're unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters. "The gross misconduct hearings involving police officers will be held in public at Police HQ and further details will be published nearer the time." The attack was at the Regency Hotel in Dublin A second man has been shot dead in Dublin in an apparent gangland feud which is suspected to involve drugs gangs in Ireland and Spain. The man in his 50s was gunned down on Poplar Row, North Strand in the north inner city just three days after David Byrne, 33, from Crumlin on the southside of the Irish capital, was murdered at a weigh-in for a boxing match in the Regency Hotel. The latest victim was named locally as Eddie Hutch. The first murder was claimed by a group purporting to be the Continuity IRA, a dissident republican splinter faction, but that drew scepticism from detectives immersed in gangland investigations. In a statement the Garda press office said: "Gardai are aware of the recent statement to the media and are keeping an open mind in relation to the criminal groups involved as part of their investigations." Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald appealed for any other gang members who fear for their lives to come forward and seek protection. "Tonight's fatal shooting in Dublin is another deplorable example of the ruthlessness of gangland criminals. It seems that some gangs are intent on waging a feud where human life counts for nothing," she said. "The gardai will take all necessary steps to try to prevent further bloodshed but we have to recognise the challenges they face. Members of gangs who have fears for their safety should come forward to the gardai." Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan and senior investigators will hold talks with the minister over the escalating feud on Tuesday. The Regency Hotel attack was carried out by a six strong gang - three of whom were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in Swat team uniforms and helmets. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Gunmen disguised as Gardai walk calmly into a Dublin hotel, then kill a man at boxing event in a hail of bullets [File photo] A Garda cordon outside the Regency Hotel in Dublin after one man died and two others were injured following a shooting incident at the hotel One of the victims is carried to an ambulance Hooded gunmen in Garda-style uniform carried out a murderous raid Forensic officers outside the Regency Hotel where hooded gunmen in Garda-style uniform carried out a murderous raid / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gunmen disguised as Gardai walk calmly into a Dublin hotel, then kill a man at boxing event in a hail of bullets [File photo] Another armed with a handgun was dressed as a woman and had an auburn wig and a fifth wore a flat cap and tracksuit. About 300 people were in the hotel in the build-up to a title fight billed Clash Of The Clans when the Byrne murder was carried out. The bout was promoted by Frank Warren and MGM Promotions based in Marbella. In the immediate aftermath Byrne's murder was linked to a feud between major organised crime outfits in Dublin and the south of Spain with speculation that it was retaliation for the murder of 34-year-old Gary Hutch at the Angel de Miraflores apartment complex on the Costa del Sol in September last year. There were also reports that Daniel Kinahan, who manages some boxers in the MGM camp, was in the Regency at the time of the attack. He is the son of Christy Kinahan who was arrested in a mansion in Spain in 2010 as part of an investigation into an international drugs and money laundering racket. Kinahan senior has not been charged. Senior gardai initially ruled out terrorist involvement for the Regency attack. The first claim of responsibility - attributed to dissident republicans and made with a code word to the BBC in Belfast - drew scepticism from seasoned commentators in Dublin while the top brass in the Garda said they were keeping an open mind and pointed to a "criminal" element. In a second statement, issued to the Irish Daily Mirror hours later and again purportedly from the Continuity IRA, dissident republicans dismissed the first claim as bogus. "The Continuity IRA wish to make it clear that we did not have any involvement in Friday's shooting at the Regency Hotel," it said. "We have absolutely no involvement in criminal feuds. We see the false claim that the CIRA were involved in this act as another attempt to tarnish the name of the organisation." Des Dalton, president of Republican Sinn Fein, said he had spoken to republican sources who had confirmed the second statement and rejected the claim of responsibility. "I have been told that it was a bogus statement and an attempt to smear the Continuity IRA," he said. The latest victim was murdered at a flat complex in a disadvantaged area of north Dublin. He is understood to be the brother of Gerry Hutch, nicknamed The Monk, and an uncle of murdered Gary Hutch, believed to be the first victim in the bloody feud when he was gunned down almost five months ago. It is believed a gang of at least four men were involved in the latest killing. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams urged community support to catch those responsible for the killings. "Those behind this latest shooting, and those behind the dreadful attack last Friday at the Regency Hotel, must be apprehended and taken off our streets," he said. Hunter Davies pictured in 1986 with his wife Margaret Forster who has died Tributes have been paid to acclaimed novelist Margaret Forster who has died aged 77. The award-winning author, who wrote Georgy Girl and Diary Of An Ordinary Woman, died on Monday at the Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead, north London after suffering cancer in her back. Her husband Hunter Davies, also a writer and journalist, told the Press Association: "She was a remarkable woman in every way." Born in Carlisle, Ms Forster won a scholarship to Oxford and then became a teacher at a girls' school in Islington, north London, before her writing career took off. Her big break came with Georgy Girl, the story of a young woman in 1960s' London who is romantically pursued by her father's older employer and the young lover of her promiscuous and pregnant flatmate. The book was turned into a successful film starring Lynn Redgrave as Georgy, Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and James Mason. It also featured a song of the same name by The Seekers. Mr Davies said his wife was "the cleverest woman" he ever met. He said: "She was emotionally clever, in that she could always understand people and predict their actions and their feelings and their motives, which I can never do. And she was a brilliant critic as well. "Always had an opinion whether asked for it or not, and she was just the most marvellous woman. She was not interested in money. She was not interested in publicity." He added: "She had a double mastectomy 40 years so she's had a remarkable life considering she had it for so long." In 2014, Mr Davies reported that his wife was distinctly unimpressed when he was awarded an OBE and said that she had told him if it had been a knighthood, she would have divorced him. A Man Booker Prize judge in 1980, Ms Forster was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1975. A spokesman said: "Margaret Forster was an extraordinarily prolific and gifted writer of fiction, non-fiction and literary criticism. "Her fellow Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature pay tribute to her work, and offer their condolences to her family." Chatto & Windus, the publisher of her books for 30 years, said she had written more than 40 works of fiction and non-fiction. Her long-term editor, Alison Samuel, said: "I owe Margaret so much, not least my job at Chatto & Windus (she recommended me to her new publisher Carmen Callil). "She was a favourite author to edit - no nonsense, funny, feisty, responsive, and she sent the best postcards. I can't believe I won't see her distinctive handwriting again. What a very sad day." Ms Forster's novels included Have The Men Had Enough? (1989), The Memory Box (1999), and Lady's Maid (1990). Her biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning won the Heinemann Award in 1989 and her work Daphne Du Maurier: The Secret Life Of The Renowned Storyteller won the Writers' Guild Award for Best Non-Fiction in 1993. In 2014 she wrote a memoir, My Life In Houses, which followed two previous memoirs, Hidden Lives (1995) and Precious Lives (1998). Her latest novel, How To Measure A Cow, will be released on March 3. TUI said holidaymakers are staying away from Turkey and turning instead to resorts in Spain and the Canary Islands Thomson and First Choice owner TUI said summer holiday bookings to Turkey had slumped by 40% after recent terrorist attacks. The travel giant said holidaymakers were staying away from the country and turning instead to resorts in Spain and the Canary Islands. But TUI said it had got off to a good start to its financial year and kept its guidance for a 10% rise in annual underlying earnings despite the impact from attacks in a raft of popular tourist destinations in recent months. Terrorist attacks in Turkey, Paris, Egypt and Tunisia have hit the travel sector, with the outbreak of the Zika virus adding to the woes. Friedrich Joussen, chief executive of TUI, said: "It is evident that there has been a significant shift in demand away from Turkey, with summer 2016 bookings to that destination currently down around 40%." But he added: "We have delivered a good underlying performance in the first quarter in spite of the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence in some of our destinations." TUI said demand for holidays in Turkey fell particularly in its German business after 10 German tourists were killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul last month. A total of 14% of TUI customers travelled to Turkey last summer. Shares in TUI fell 3% after the update. The group saw a 7.2% improvement in seasonal underlying losses in its first quarter to 97.3 million euro (75.3 million). It is a key time of year for holiday firms, when many customers book their summer holidays. Turkey has also been impacted by a drop in demand amid general security fears, as it borders with Syria, which is gripped in a civil war between its government and rebel groups, including Islamic State. TUI's results for the year to the end of last September showed the impact from the beach massacre in Tunisia in June, as well as the move to cancel all flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt following the terrorist bombing of a Russian airliner. TUI has 13 hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the resort accounting for half of its business in Egypt. The group took a 52 million euro (37.6 million) hit from the Tunisia attack and former joint chief executive Peter Long said in December the atrocity had been ''the most tragic event that I've ever had to deal with in my 30 years in the industry''. But strong trading and currency exchange rates helped it offset the cost to post a 23% leap in underlying earnings to 1.07 billion euro (775 million) for the year to the end of September. In its latest update, TUI said it had seen a 16% rise in demand from UK holidaymakers for long-haul bookings over the winter following the recent attacks across Europe, with destinations such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica becoming more popular. But there is also mounting evidence that the Zika virus could be having a damaging impact on customer appetite for holidaying in the Caribbean, after Jamaica announced it had been infected by the virus. Overall winter UK bookings are up 3%, while selling prices are 1% higher, according to TUI. Summer bookings in its UK business are 9% higher. Rival Thomas Cook will reveal how it has fared in its trading update on Thursday. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has the full support of his older brother, who lives in Oxford (AP) Anyone who underestimates the impact US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is having on the race for the Oval Office is making a "big mistake", according to his brother. Larry Sanders, 80, who moved to Oxford from his native Brooklyn, New York, in the 1960s, described the increasing support his younger, self-proclaimed socialist Democrat, brother is garnering as "marvellous." "It is hard to believe," said the former social worker. "I am entirely proud of him. "It is very nice to have a brother who has been very successful in this field, but more important is the reason he is doing what he is doing." Ahead of the first primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Larry Sanders said "the polls are pretty clear that he will win". He added that Bernie Sanders, 74, is just as well known in the state as Hillary Clinton, and will win because people have heard his message and support his "totally practical" policies - not because he is the senator of Vermont. "I have been in Vermont and New Hampshire many times and they define themselves against each other. Vermont is more liberal and New Hampshire is much further to the right," he added. Some of Mr Sanders' left-wing policies include breaking up the big banks, creating more jobs for youngsters, a single-payer national health care programme and free university tuition fees. "It is amazing and magical to see support growing for him and his policies," said his brother, whose Oxfordshire accent still betrays a hint of his Brooklyn roots. "For things that were supposed to be extreme or ridiculous - there are people saying they believe." The former Oxford University lecturer said a "huge chunk" of Sanders' so-called "political revolution" will begin if he is elected - but that millions have to "stay committed" to his vision. "It is quite peculiar that there is a presidential candidate telling people it 'has to come from you. I can't make it happen'." He added: "Someone for the first time is seriously saying 'don't vote against your interests'." The grandfather of four said he thinks his brother's message of change could propel him to the Oval Office - something that for a long time he thought was possible, but unlikely. "The last few weeks with the way things have turned out I think that it is now more likely - which is really hard to absorb. I think he is the first candidate in a long time that understands what the job entails." So far, Mr Sanders has got himself elected as mayor, as Vermont's representative and as senator. Larry said: "Anyone that is underestimating him now is making a big mistake." And as the race intensifies over the coming months, the father of two said the road is "not going to be easy" for his younger sibling. Larry Sanders added: "There will be surprises every day. I think the biggest part he has accomplished is coming from nowhere and being nearly equal. "I am hoping for and expecting good things." A wanted fugitive suspected of being a principal member of one of Merseyside's biggest drug-dealing gangs has been arrested in Belgium. Suspected drug trafficker Scott Hughes, 35, from Halewood, Merseyside, had been on the run since 2011 and was wanted for his alleged involvement in the large-scale supply of class A drugs throughout Liverpool. He was captured on Monday as he travelled from Dubai to Belgium following a joint operation between the National Crime Agency (NCA), Belgian Federal Police and Merseyside Police. The NCA said Hughes was stopped at Brussels Airport and is believed to have travelled using a fraudulent passport. Extradition proceedings are now under way. Hughes became a target of Operation Captura's most wanted campaign - a joint initiative between the NCA and Crimestoppers. He is the 75th person out of 86 on the most wanted list to have been caught. Dave Allen, head of the NCA's International Crime Bureau, said: "This is a significant arrest as Hughes is suspected of being one of the substantial players in a crime group responsible for distributing large amounts of drugs across Merseyside. "Hughes had been on the run since 2011 and believed he could evade capture by moving from country to country using a fraudulent passport, but we were able to track him down and arrest him with the help of the Belgian authorities." Following the execution of a warrant at his home address in May 2011, officers recovered 212,705, a cash counting machine and a watches valued at 8,000. As a result of the wider investigation, 16 other individuals were convicted of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and money laundering. A firearm was recovered along with 27kg of diamorphine, 14.6kg of cocaine, 2kg of cannabis, 2kg of amphetamine, 622kg of adulterants, 970,000 in cash, and watches valued at 191,000. Detective Superintendent Lee Turner, from Merseyside Police's Matrix Serious Organised Crime team, said they were "very pleased" with the developments. He added: "Merseyside Police works very closely with the NCA's Fugitives Unit, as well as law enforcement agencies throughout Europe, to arrest people suspected of being involved in criminality. We will continue to work together to bring offenders to justice and use all the resources and legislation at our disposal to do so." Founder and chairman of Crimestoppers Lord Ashcroft said that the results of Operation Captura - which is currently in its tenth year, were "remarkable". He added: "To have been able to locate more than seven individuals a year accused or convicted of serious crimes shows this campaign works, but I would ask anyone with information on the outstanding 11 to contact Crimestoppers anonymously, safe in the knowledge nobody will know you have done so." Anyone with information about a crime can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. One train is said to have derailed following the collision in Bavaria Two commuter trains crashed head-on in southern Germany, killing 10 people and injuring around 90 as they slammed into each other on a curve after an automatic safety braking system apparently failed, the transport minister said. The regional trains collided before 7am on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling in the German state of Bavaria. Aerial footage shot by APTN showed that the impact tore the two engines apart, shredded metal train cars and flipped several of them on their sides off the rails. The first emergency units were on the scene within three minutes of receiving the call, but with a river on one side and a forest on the other, it took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage. Hundreds of rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall River to waiting ambulances, which took them to hospitals across southern Bavaria. Nine people were reported dead immediately while a 10th died later in a hospital, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said - adding that the two train drivers were thought to be among the dead and one person was still missing in the wreckage. "We have little more than hope of finding them still alive," he said. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region." German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said safety systems on the stretch had been checked as recently as last week, but Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that a system designed to automatically brake trains if they accidentally end up on the same track did not seem to have functioned properly. Mr Dobrindt, however, said it was too early to draw a definitive conclusion. "The site is on a curve. We have to assume that the train drivers had no visual contact and hit each other without braking," Mr Dobrindt told reporters in Bad Aibling, adding that speeds of up to 100kph (60 mph) were possible on the stretch. Black boxes from both trains had been recovered and are now being analysed, which should show what went wrong, Mr Dobrindt said. "We need to determine immediately whether it was a technical problem or a human mistake," he said. Authorities had initially reported 150 injured but federal police spokesman Stefan Brandl later lowered that figure to 89. Ten of those had serious injuries, including the person who died in hospital. Each train can hold up to 1,000 passengers and they are commonly used by children travelling to school. Fewer than 200 people in all were on board on Tuesday, however, because of regional holidays to celebrate Carnival. "We're lucky that we're on the Carnival holidays, because usually many more people are on these trains," regional police chief Robert Kopp said. About 700 emergency personnel from Germany and neighbouring Austria were involved in the rescue effort, using about a dozen helicopters. Train operator Bayerische Oberlandbahn started a hotline for family and friends desperate to check on passengers. "This is a huge shock. We are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees," said Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn. In Munich, 60km (40 miles) away, the city blood centre put out an urgent call for immediate donations in the wake of the crash. Hollywood star Michael Douglas' career has been honoured at the AARP Movies For Grownups Awards. The star of Fatal Attraction, Wall Street and many other movies joked at the ceremony that his assistant mistakenly told him he was receiving an award for his work in adult films. Douglas, who appeared with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, was given the career achievement award at the advocacy group AARP's annual gala, which honours stars over the age of 50 and the films which speak to that demographic. The newspaper drama Spotlight was selected as best picture at the 15th annual ceremony, while Mark Rylance was chosen as best supporting actor for Bridge of Spies, with Bryan Cranston named best actor for Trumbo. Lily Tomlin was honoured as best actress for Grandma, while Diane Ladd was awarded the best supporting actress trophy for Joy. "I think when we set out to make this movie, we weren't thinking about whether it was for kids or for grownups," said Spotlight filmmaker Tom McCarthy. "Collectively, we understood that it was a story we had to tell. It was that important. We hoped it would reach everybody who needed to hear it." Bryan Cranston joked: "I'm delighted to be here tonight - and not just because my AARP gives me a deep discount on the parking." In her speech, Ladd took issue with the competitive race for supporting actress at this year's Academy Awards, which she is not among. "I'm a little ticked off that the studios with greed put stars in films in the best supporting Oscar category," said Ladd. "That's not right. Rooney Mara won the best actress category at Cannes (for Carol). Why is she in my supporting category?" At the beginning of night, show host Kathy Griffin joked that #OscarsSoYoung should be trending on Twitter and that she felt comfortable mocking youngsters at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. Other winners Monday included The Intern as best comedy, Love & Mercy as best time capsule, The Last Man on the Moon as best documentary, Learning to Drive as best buddy picture, 5 Flights Up as best grownup love story, Rams as best foreign film, Inside Out for best movie for grownups who refuse to grow up and Creed as best intergenerational film. "I'm one of those weird millennials," said Creed director Ryan Coogler during his acceptance speech, which he jokingly left Sylvester Stallone out of in a nod to the Rocky star not thanking him at the Golden Globes. Other attendees at Monday's star-studded ceremony included Morgan Freeman, Bette Midler, Patricia Clarkson, June Squibb, Phylicia Rashad, Elizabeth Banks, Mark Ruffalo and Dick Van Dyke. "I expected to see a lot of old people here," joked Van Dyke. "I'm 90. I'm probably like the oldest person in this room!" People wait to leave the besieged town of Madaya where Doctors Without Borders says dozens of people have died of starvation since September (AP) More than one million Syrians are trapped in besieged areas, a new report says, in a challenge to the United Nations, which estimates just half that amount and has been accused by some aid groups of underplaying a crisis. The fate of Syria's besieged is at the heart of peace talks that quickly fell apart last week in Geneva and are set to resume by February 25. Negotiators for the opposition insisted that the Syrian government stop besieging civilians before talks could truly begin. The new Siege Watch report, issued by Netherlands-based aid group PAX and the Washington-based Syria Institute, comes a month after images posted online of emaciated children and adults led to an international outcry and rare convoys of aid to a handful of Syrian communities. The town featured in the images, Madaya, was not listed by the UN as a besieged community at the time. Aid workers who entered last month reported seeing skeletal people and parents who gave their children sleeping pills to calm their hunger. The Siege Watch report says 1.09 million people are living in 46 besieged communities in Syria, far more than the 18 listed by the UN. It says most are besieged by the Syrian government in the suburbs of Damascus, the capital, and Homs. In the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, about 200,000 people are besieged by both the Islamic State (IS) group and the Syrian government. The report lists two communities besieged by armed opposition groups. "Electricity and running water are usually cut off, and there is limited (if any) access to food, fuel, and medical care," the report says. Deaths have been reported from malnutrition, disease, hypothermia and poisoning while scavenging for food and some communities have been besieged for months or years. The estimates are based largely on information provided by local contacts in the communities, including councils, medical workers and citizen journalists. With the spotlight on the besieged, the United Nations last month raised its estimate by almost 100,000, saying that 486,700 people were affected. That is still less than some aid groups and others estimate. They argue that the world body's numbers set the tone for humanitarian response efforts and that more urgency is needed. "Many remain unaware of the extent of the crisis, and the international response has been muted as a result," the Siege Watch report says. In meetings this week with UN officials and member states, PAX says it will call for the immediate lifting of sieges as a way to build confidence in the peace talks. Syria Institute executive director Valerie Szybala said the new report has not been shared with Syria's government. The UN says it considers an area besieged if the area is surrounded by "armed actors", humanitarian aid cannot regularly enter and civilians, including the sick and wounded, cannot enter and leave. "Of course, differences of opinion do occur," Amanda Pitt, a UN humanitarian spokeswoman, said of criticism of its estimates. Aid group Doctors Without Borders goes well beyond the figure in the Siege Watch report, estimating that 1.9 million Syrians live in besieged areas. Doctors Without Borders said it defines Syria's besieged areas as ones "that are surrounded by strategic barriers (military or non-military) that prevent the regular and safe inflow of humanitarian assistance and the regular and safe outflow of civilians, the wounded and the sick". The United Nations places an estimated 4.5 million Syrians into a separate category called "hard to reach", a step below besieged. It defines that as "an area that is not regularly accessible to humanitarian actors for the purpose of sustained humanitarian programming as a result of denial of access". Doctors Without Borders said it did not use that distinction "as the medical consequences for both types of region are similar". Medical supplies were almost never allowed in, it said, and medical evacuations rarely allowed out. The aid group has said that since convoys reached Madaya last month, at least 16 people there have died and at least 33 were in danger of dying of malnutrition. The United Nations now considers the town of 20,000 besieged. Refugees and migrants arrive on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the US-led alliance will discuss this week whether to get more involved in trying to stem Europe's ongoing migration crisis. Mr Stoltenberg said he had spoken by telephone with the German and Turkish defence ministers, and that the issue will be on the agenda at a Nato defence ministers' meeting on Wednesday. Mr Stoltenberg said that "we are all concerned". He said Nato's 28 member countries "see the need to manage and to tackle the human tragedy", and the problems associated with it. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed that Wednesday's Nato meeting should discuss how the alliance "can be helpful with the surveillance situation" in the Mediterranean and assist the Turkish coast guard and the European Union's border agency. Meanwhile, Austria's foreign minister says his country will substantially reduce the influx of refugees this year and urged the countries on the Balkan migrant corridor to be prepared to do the same. Sebastian Kurz says that last year Austria accepted 90,000 people and will limit the number to 37,500 in 2016. Mr Kurz said "we are aware of the consequences this could cause" on the migrant route that leads from Greece through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia before reaching Austria. He said that Austria is ready to help Macedonia and the other countries on the corridor to stem the surge. Most of the migrants fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia want to go to Germany and other rich EU states where they seek asylum. North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons, the US intelligence chief has said. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. Mr Clapper said US intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. Mr Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services Committee in his opening statement that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months". Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons programme, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. US-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a January 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturised" hydrogen bomb. Many outside experts were skeptical and Mr Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device". Mr Clapper said that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, "although the system has not been flight-tested". A judge must now consider whether to grant a new trial The prosecution has finished its closing arguments in the case of Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction was re-examined by the popular Serial podcast. Now a judge in Baltimore, US must decide whether to grant him a new trial. Defence lawyer Justin Brown has a few more words to say to Judge Martin Welch, and then both sides plan press conferences about the case, which turned millions of listeners into armchair detectives. Prosecutors argue that Syed was not convicted because of ineffective counsel or faulty evidence, but because "the evidence was overwhelming, and because he did it". Deputy attorney general Thiru Vignarajah launched into his closing arguments after four days of evidence. Syed, now 35, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murder in the 1999 strangling death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. His lawyers argued that he deserves a new trial because his trial lawyer did not contact an alibi witness who said she saw Syed in a public library during the time Lee was killed, and because prosecutors presented data to jurors without a cover sheet warning that information about incoming calls was unreliable. Prosecutors said the data linked Syed to the site where Ms Lee's body was buried on the night she was killed. Mr Vignarajah acknowledged the intense media attention generated by the podcast, which attracted millions of listeners who became fascinated with the murder case. He said: "This is not a popular position, but the state's role is to do justice." Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian protester during clashes in the West Bank (AP) Israel's military chief says its number one mission is to counter the threat posed by attack tunnels from Gaza. Lt Gen Gadi Eisenkot said that Gaza's Hamas rulers have been rebuilding the sophisticated network of underground tunnels that Israel damaged during the 2014 war. Lt Gen Eisenkot said destroying this network is the military's top priority for 2016, adding that it is 'not deceived' by the relative quiet along the Israel-Gaza border. Israeli troops destroyed more than 30 tunnels during the war that Hamas built to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks. Hamas has since boasted it has rebuilt its network. Israelis living near the border have reported hearing tunneling sounds under their homes recently. Hamas said that at least 12 of its men died the past month in tunnel collapse accidents. New aircraft designs must meet the proposed emissions standards from 2020 and planes already in production by 2023 A United Nations panel has proposed long-sought landmark greenhouse gas emissions standards for airliners and cargo planes. The plans drew praise from the White House but criticism from environmentalists, who said they would be too weak to actually slow global warming. The International Civil Aviation Organisation says the agreement reached by the agency's environmental panel requires new aircraft designs to meet the standards beginning in 2020 and designs already in production comply by 2023. There is also a cut-off date of 2028 for the manufacture of planes that do not comply with the standards. The move must still be adopted by the agency's 36-nation governing council, but substantive changes are not expected. The standards would be the first to impose binding energy efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction targets for the aviation sector. When fully implemented, they are expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040, equivalent to removing more than 140 million cars from the road for a year, according to the White House. The standards would require an average 4% reduction in fuel consumption during the cruise phase of flight starting in 2028 when compared with planes delivered in 2015. However, planes burn the most fuel during take-offs and landings, while cruising at high altitudes is already the most fuel-efficient period. The agreement is the first of two important opportunities this year to reduce carbon emissions from aviation. The second opportunity will come later this year when ICAO tries to reach an agreement on a "market-based approach" that would use economic incentives to further reduce aviation carbon emissions. "Today's agreement is an important signal that the international community is well-positioned to rise to the challenge of implementing a global market-based approach to reduce aviation emissions," the White House said. But Dan Rutherford, aviation direction of the International Council on Clean Transportation, said th e standards did not set the bar high enough because they required reductions of only about a third of what was expected to be technically possible with the more fuel-efficient planes in production when the new rules take effect. The newest Boeing and Airbus designs already meet the proposed efficiency standards, due to demands for fuel savings from the airlines, environmentalists said. In the meantime, the manufacturers can continue selling older, less efficient designs for years to come. Airliners in use now are exempt from the new standards altogether, meaning even dirtier planes can continue to fly. Boeing called the agreement "real progress" beyond industry steps already taken to reduce aviation emissions. ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said the agency's goal "is ultimately to ensure that when the next generation of aircraft types enters service, there will be guaranteed reductions in international carbon emissions". Environmentalists also complained that ICAO had been working on international standards for 18 years and was now proposing to give aircraft manufacturers another dozen years to comply. "These dangerously weak recommendations put the Obama administration under enormous pressure" to take greater action, said Vera Pardee, a Centre for Biological Diversity lawyer who has sued the US government over aviation emissions. Last June, the Obama administration proposed regulating aircraft emissions, saying they were a threat to human health because they contained pollutants that helped cause global warming. But a final US decision on adoption of international standards is likely to be left to the next presidential administration. EPA officials said at the time that the earliest the agency was likely to propose adoption of ICAO standards would be in 2017. Boeing is the United States' largest exporter as measured in dollar value. The company vies with Airbus for the title of world's largest aircraft maker. Aviation accounts for about 5% of global greenhouse emissions, according to environmentalists. ICAO says it is actually less than 2%. But that share is expected to grow as aviation grows. "We also recognise that the projected doubling of global passengers and flights by 2030 must be managed responsibly and sustainably," said Mr Aliu. The action comes two months after UN climate negotiators in Paris left the aviation industry out of their landmark global agreement to combat global warming. The proposed standard covers the full range of sizes and types of aircraft used in international aviation today, but reserves the strictest standards for planes weighing more than 60 tons, ICAO said. The larger planes are responsible for about 90% of international aviation emissions. As the legacy of the past continues to haunt Northern Ireland there are many people, always well-meaning but often untouched directly by the horror of the Troubles, who argue that we should draw a line under those experiences and move on. But to those who still remember past traumas and who are scarred emotionally by them, that can seem a very trite exhortation that doesn't chime with how they feel. That is why so many of us are still astounded when we see examples of people putting their own feelings to one side for the greater good of the wider society. We can have no greater instance of such altruism than that revealed by our new First Minister Arlene Foster in the BBC NI Spotlight programme. She was an eight-year-old girl when IRA gunmen tried - and narrowly failed - to kill her father, a RUC constable living near the border in Fermanagh. He was grazed on the head by a bullet and the family spent terrifying minutes, which must have seemed like hours, waiting for the security forces to rescue them as they hid in a bedroom. One of those who tried to shoot dead her father was a notorious IRA gunman believed to have been responsible for up to a dozen murders, and who was later killed by undercover soldiers. The man who gave the oration at his graveside and who described him as a freedom fighter and saint was Martin McGuinness, now the Deputy First Minister at Stormont. Mrs Foster, of course, would use very different words to describe the would-be assassin of her father, and it is little wonder that, as she has said publicly, she has no personal relationships with Sinn Fein members. But, importantly, she is prepared to put personal feelings aside to create a working relationship with Mr McGuinness as their respective mandates dictate in the power-sharing administration. The two senior politicians have to work together for the betterment of Northern Ireland. That cannot be easy for Mrs Foster - indeed it must be very difficult - but it is another indication of the sure-footedness and statesmanship she has displayed since taking office. It is also an example of how to move on without forgetting the past, but refusing to be shackled by it. I happened to run across a verse in the book of Numbers in the bible That I hadnt seen before. Oh, I d seen it and read it but it hadnt grabbed my attention as it did the other morning. There is an interesting background story to it. The Israelites were trekking across the plains of Moab with a reputation for defeating their enemies. They were great in number which they created fear in those they approached. Such was the case of Balak, king of Moab. He knew their reputation what they did to the Amorites and he was filled with dread as they came near. So King Balak sent messengers and bribe money to Balaam, a sort of rent-a-seer, a soothsayer, asking him to curse the Israelites on his behalf. Balaam sold his services as seer. He dutifully (using sorcery) sought God about the matter and God told him not to curse the Israelites because they were a blessed people. Balaam replied to the king through the messengers God told him not to curse the Israelites. The king sent more distinguished messengers (princes of Moab) the next time with more bribery money. Balaam told this group that it didnt matter how much money the king gave him he would not go beyond the command of the Lord. So far so good. He did invite them to stay the night and he would ask God again about putting a curse on Israel. God told him that he should go back with them but only say what God told him to. Balaam and two servants set off the next morning on his donkey. Scripture tells us God was angry with Balaam. That seems odd as God told him to go with them but say only what God told him to. So why now God was angry with Balaam? God knows our thoughts and true intentions. God knew Balaam was more interested in the money and gaining so prestige with King Balak. His motives were all for self. As he journeyed on his way, God sent the angel of the Lord to block Balaams way. He could not see the angel but the donkey could. So the donkey went off into a field avoiding the angel standing there with sword drawn. Balaam was furious and beat the poor animal referred to in the NIV as a female donkey. Then the angel stood in a narrow walled passage between two vineyards and again blocked the way. As the donkey tried to go around Balaams foot was hurt against the rock wall that narrowed the passage. Now Balaam was furious and beat her again. God gave the donkey the gift of speech (precursor to Shrek?), she asked Balaam, Why have you beaten me? Balaam, even madder, said, You have made a fool of me. If I could Id kill you. The donkey tells Balaam she has been his donkey and asks, Have I been in the habit of doing this? Balaam, replied, No., at which time God opened his eyes to see the angel of the Lord. (Usually when the Bible uses the term angel of the Lord, it is referring the pre-incarnate Christ.) Balaam saw Jesus standing there and he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the Lord tells Balaam He was the one blocking the way because He opposed Balaams mission and had the donkey not taken action the angel would have killed Balaam but spared the donkey. Balaam confessed his sin and volunteered to go back home but the angel said, Go with the men but only speak what I tell you. Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel. He did not he blessed them as God told him to four times. Balak was not a happy king; he thought hed hired, bribed, a seer to curse but God gave him the truth through Balaam Its a very interesting story! There is more to it as Balaam delivers Gods message you are welcome to read it in Numbers 22-24. Balaam even prophesied Jesus coming. What an odd story. A rent-a-seer used by God to deliver His message. The seer being changed on the way because he came face to face with Christ. God speaking thorough a donkey! The seer foretelling the coming of Christ as a star out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. Wow! What an unlikely pair a talking donkey and a rent-a-seer! That should give us comfort. God uses anything and anybody the most unlikely. God will use us for His purposes even when we try to avoid God, doing what we want to do with wrong motives. Balaam wasnt fooling God. I dont think Balaam turned out well, however. In the New Testament he is referred to derogatorily as one who is greedy, concerned about what others think, misleading others. However, back to the verse that caught my attention! One who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened. (Number 24:16) I dont know about you but I want to be like that. Actually, more like the donkey! I want to hear Gods voice be tuned in to Him so I hear him even in unlikely places. Do we loose focus on God by our own greed? We may look good to others but God knows our hearts. Balaam focused on money and his reputation. Dont we do that? I want to have knowledge from the Most High. The only way is in staying in and studying His Word. He has revealed Himself in the scripture. Jesus said He is the Word of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the exact representation of God. (Hebrews 1:3) If we want to know what God is like study Jesus. Im not sure Ive ever had a vision although there have been times God clarified some issues for me in a dream. It isnt a regular event. I want my eyes open to see as God sees other people, the world, the events around me. So often I am focused on my world around me. My interests. My friends. My stuff. My reputation. I have a few precious friends who are global thinkers they think of events and issues from a global perspective Gods perspective. . They challenge me to think bigger broaden my focus. I want to worship with my heart, head and body fully engaged. Or do I sit and bemoan the worship music? My mind wanders. I loose focus and waste my time and Gods. Sometimes I wonder what He hasnt given up on me. He has promised He never will give up. He loves me with an everlasting love. He delights in me. Not because I am perfect or have it all together. He loves me because He created me. He made a plan for my life. He sent Jesus to die for me so I can live with Him forever in Heaven! You can, too! I can read my life in light of chapter 16 of the book of the prophet Ezekiel. I read those pages and I say: everything here seems written just for me. The prophet speaks of shame, and shame is a grace: when one feels the mercy of God, he feels a great shame for himself and for his sin. There is a beautiful essay by a great scholar of spirituality, Father Gaston Fessard, on the subject of shame in his book The Dialectic of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Shame is one of the graces that Saint Ignatius asks for during his confession of his sins before Christ crucified. That text from Ezekiel teaches us to be ashamed, it shows us how to feel shame: with all our history of wretchedness and sin, God remains faithful and raises us up. I feel this. I dont have any particular memories of mercy as a young child. But I do as a young man. I think of Father Carlos Duarte Ibarra, the confessor I met in my parish church on September 21, 1953, the day the Church celebrated Saint Matthew the apostle and Evangelist. I was seventeen years old. On confessing to him, I felt welcomed by the mercy of God. Ibarra was originally from Corrientes but was in Buenos Aires to receive treatment for leukemia. He died the following year. I still remember how when I got home, after his funeral and burial, I felt as though I had been abandoned. And I cried a lot that night, really a lot, and hid in my room. Why? Because I had lost a person who helped me feel the mercy of God, a person who helped me understand the expression miserando atque eligendo, an expression I didnt know at the time but which I would eventually choose as my episcopal motto. I learned about it later, from the homilies of the English monk the Venerable Bede. When describing the calling of Matthew, he writes: Jesus saw the tax collector, and by having mercy chose him as an Apostle, saying to him, Follow me. This is the translation commonly given for the words of Saint Bede. I like to translate miserando with a gerund that doesnt exist: mercifying. So, mercifying and choosing describes the vision of Jesus, who gives the gift of mercy and chooses, and takes unto himself. Excerpt from the manuscript of THE NAME OF GOD IS MERCY by Pope Francis from Random House Publishing Group. Jesus Christ is still ranked as the most significant person in human history ever, up against Frenchman Napoleon Bonaparte, Englishmen William Shakespeare, and other world leaders, according to a data-driven ranking system. While he is one of the most recognized and influential figures in our history, there are still a number of common misconceptions about Jesus that are believed even by Christians. If you think these are facts, think again. Here are six misconceptions about Jesus and his life on earth, debunked. Jesus Birthday: Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that suggests Jesus was born on the 25th December, despite what we learned in church and Sunday school. In fact, the early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus birth. It wasnt until A.D. 440 that the church officially associated December 25 with the birth of Christ. If you look at the Bible, it actually tells us that December 25 was an unlikely date for His birth given Palestine is very cold during the month of December, and it would be way too cold to ask those in the city of their fathers to register for taxes. Luke 2:8-12 tells us that shepherds were living out in the fields nearby around the time of Jesus birth. Shepherds were not in the fields during the winter time, but in March until early October. There Were Three Wise Men That Showed Up the Night of Jesus Birth: Matthew, chapter 2 speaks of Jesus birth. Verse 1 says Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. The verse doesnt say that there were three wise men, but an unspecified number of them that visited Jesus, and this was not on the night of His birth either. Matthew tells us that Mary and Joseph were in a house when the Magi visited (Matthew 2:11), making no mention of the manger baby Jesus was in during his birth. This suggests that the family was settled down in Bethlehem after the census had been taken. We also know from these readings that Jesus was not a little newborn when they arrived. After the Magi visited Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, we are told in Matthew 2:14-15 that the family fled by night due to a dream Joseph received to take his family to Egypt and remained there until Herod was dead. It would be impossible for them to have left the night of His birth as Jesus wouldnt have been able to present Jesus in the Temple according to the Law. Luke 2:22-24 references this in the passage Jesus Presented at the Temple which says And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and the offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. Jesus Lived In Nazareth His Whole Life: While Jesus lived in Nazareth for a good portion of his 32 years on earth, he didnt live there his whole life. During the two years of his public ministry, Jesus lived in Capernaum, a fishing town along the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. The Book of Matthew tells us this in Chapter 4:13 which says And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, and also in Chapter 9:1 which says And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. Jesus Look: Jesus is popularly depicted with strong, Eurocentric features. This is most likely due to early Christian art that often depicted Jesus with long blond hair and blue eyes. Despite his look in popular art and culture, no one knows exactly what Jesus looked like, and the idea of him having these features is highly unlikely. It wasnt popular for Jews in Jerusalem to tote long hair either, at least around the time that Jesus lived. 1 Corinthians 11:14 alludes to this when it says Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him. Long hair was believed to be feminine and short hair masculine according to their customs. Along with not having Eurocentric features, Jesus most likely had short hair. Jesus is Mentioned In Other Holy Books: The Quran mentions Jesus many times as an important holy figure. While he is not believed to be the Messiah, or son of God, in the Islamic faith, he is however commonly acknowledged and considered to be a messenger of Allah, God in Islam. When he is mentioned, it is often in relation to others who are considered to be the patriarchs of the Islamic and Israelite people, including Ishmael, Abraham and Jacob. Lesli White is an Editor for Beliefnet.com Dear Mr. or Mrs. President, I feel like you and the people need to have a serious talk. The American people are in somewhat of disarray. While some of this is our fault as citizens, a lot of our frustrations have to do with the way in which the United States is run. Here are just a few of the things that I believe, as a citizen of the United States that you should know. 1. We want a president, not a TV personality: Its nice for the president to widen his scope and appeal to a larger audience. However, no one wants to see their president on every reality show, hanging out with celebrities and smoozing at other Hollywood events. When Americans envision their president, we want to imagine him/her working on foreign policy or advocating legislation that will change the world. 2. Tell the people the truth: I am in no way lobbying for Donald Trump as president however; his direct spoken word is clearly what the people want. No, the people do not want a hot headed person like Kanye West for president. However, the people do want someone who isnt afraid to hurt feelings and can use their words as a form of powerful advocacy. We also need the truth not what you think people would like to hear. 3. Holds himself and others accountable: Presidents in the past prefer to poke fingers at other and blame others for prior situations. A good president should be willing to take ownership of their own mistakes and move forward into the right direction. Overall a good leader is someone who will work hard to achieve accountability because its their passion to inspire others and create a unified core. 4. America is already good: During President Obamas last state of union speech he pointed out why America is so great. While the media tends to showcase murders and other high profile disasters, the United States of America is a lot more grounded than many other countries around the world. Thats not to say that there isnt any room for improvement, however to believe that America isnt already good is a huge misconception. The next president should see the positive elements that live in the U.S. and will be able to recognize that which bills of legislation is in dire need of being written and passed. 5. There are a lot of expectations: The next president has a lot resting upon their shoulders. It doesnt matter whos voted in, democrat or republican, there will be an inconceivable amount of expectations that are mostly unattainable within the first term. We the people need the president to know that we are needy and expect things to be fixed over night because weve never sat in the seat of presidency before. But, please Mr. or Mrs. President do not give up on us. While we continue to hold our signs and want more and more, we know deep down that the job of president is one that comes with a heavy crown and a never ending list. Now those are just a few of the many things we need the future president to know. Since the United States is under such scrutiny by its people, it will be hard for even the most qualified candidate to fill the big shoes. Sincerely, A Humble U.S. Citizen Angela Guzman is an Editor at Beliefnet.com. Police guard a court in Mumbai as an American, who helped plot the 2008 terrorist attacks in Indias financial hub, told the court through a video call that Pakistan-based militants were responsible, Feb. 8, 2016. Updated at 7:36 a.m. ET on 2016-02-09 A Pakistan government investigation that cleared the leader of a militant group in an attack on an air base in northern India on Jan. 2 may harm the bilateral peace process, analysts say. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last month established a special team to examine evidence gathered by India after the attack at the base in Pathankot, Punjab state. But on Monday, the team absolved Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar whom Indian authorities had suspected of masterminding the raid saying it found no substantial evidence against him, media reports said. This adverse development will definitely have a negative impact on the bilateral relations and peace efforts between the neighbouring nations, Rekha Chowdhary, a Jammu-based political analyst, told BenarNews. After some positive signals from Pakistan, initially in light of investigations into the terror attack, a clean chit to Azhar has come much to the disappointment of India. There are internal forces in Pakistan, predominantly the army and intelligence, that do not want Pakistans establishment to take action against the terror group, she added. An unexpected visit to Pakistan in December by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had opened a window for possible talks between the nuclear-armed rivals, which have been locked in a territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir since 1947. But Indo-Pakistani foreign secretary-level talks were called off after the attack on the air base. Even analysts in Pakistan want the government to deal sternly with terror operatives, but todays development has once again clearly reflected that there is no consensus in Pakistan with regard to the recent terror attack and subsequent investigations, Chowdhary said. Sameer Patil, a security analyst at Mumbai-based think-tank Gateway House, agreed that the outcome of the Pakistani investigation could adversely affect the peace process. Now, I think, India will spare no efforts in naming and shaming Pakistan at the international level as a country that promotes cross-border terrorism, Patil told BenarNews. India will not resume dialogue with Pakistan unless the establishment acts against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack, Patil said. India has seen such denials from Pakistan earlier as well, he said, pointing to the case of Hafiz Sayeed, the head of the Jama'at-ud-Da'wah militant group, who was accused of masterminding the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. On Monday, David Coleman Headley, an American convicted of helping to plot the attack that killed 164 people in Indias financial hub, told a court in United States that lectures by Sayeed motivated him to join the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, Patil noted. One-way peace effort? Following the air base attack, Indian officials said they gave Pakistan credible information about mobile phone numbers used by the handlers of six JeM militants suspected of storming the military facility. On Monday, Pakistani officials said there was no information available to identify the owners of those numbers, according to the website India.com. Earlier, Islamabad dismissed a proposal by New Delhi to jointly interrogate the JeM chief and other suspects arrested in the case. Six suspected JeM militants attacked the Indian base on Jan. 2, killing seven security personnel. All six suspects were killed as well. A Delhi-based political analyst said the recent development may not have a material effect on the peace process. In pursuit of improved bilateral relations and to combat terrorism, India has put in much more effort than Pakistan to keep the peace process going, Imtiyaz Ahmad, a former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told BenarNews. This particular development may not have a long-term effect on the relationship between two neighboring nations. However, the relations may remain strained for sometime as India will continue to demand stern punishment for the perpetrators of Pathankot attack, he added. People crowd next to the entrance of the Dharma Sakti Vihara in Glodok, Central Jakarta, where Chinese citizens often give away angpao (envelopes with money) during new years celebrations, Feb. 8, 2016. [BenarNews] A Chinese family in Kuala Lumpur partakes the yee sang at their holiday reunion dinner, symbolizing abundance for the new year. [BenarNews] Tourists take snapshots at a Chinese New Years display in Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 7, 2016. [BenarNews] A child puts an envelope containing money into the mouth of the barongsai (dancing lion) during a performance at the Amurva Bhumi Vihara in Karet, South Jakarta, Feb. 7, 2016. [BenarNews] Acrobats perform the lion dance heralding the Chinese New Year, at Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok, Feb. 7, 2016. [BenarNews] Ancient Chinese celebrated the Spring Festival for more than a few millennia before it became better known as the Chinese New Year. The celebration normally spans three days. Across Southeast Asia, Chinese and non-Chinese turned out in droves to usher in the Year of the Monkey. In Thailand, more than 9 million descendants of Chinese who started migrating to the then Kingdom of Siam nearly three centuries ago, celebrated their cultural heritage nationwide, starting on Feb. 7. The most popular Chinese community in Thailand is in Bangkoks Yaowaraj neighborhood (the so-called China town), where food lovers can enjoy a wide array of Chinese cuisine. Thai Princess Sirindhorn is a usual guest of the Chinese community when the lunar new year rolls around. She presided over Yaowarajs New Year fair, which also coincides with the 40-year celebration of Thailands relationship with China. In Malaysia, families from the ethnic Chinese minority reunited to share Yee sang, a dish traditionally served during new year celebrations. And in Indonesia, ethnic Chinese flocked to the Jin De Yuan Temple, known as Dharma Sakti Vihara, in Glodok, Central Jakarta. The oldest temple in Jakarta, the Dharma Sakti Vihara attracts many worshippers and tourists alike. Even though fire damaged the mid-17th century the temple last March, worshipers were excited to attend festivities inside while people gathered outside waiting for angpao, cash-gift envelopes that Chinese people give away as part of their new years tradition. Vintage Ferraris are one of the most sought after and collectable vehicles out there. These were cars that were made during a time when mass production was not available, where creating masterpieces was the only mission for the company to continue their brand legacy. These are hand built machines in extremely limited quantities with purebred race engines propelling the cars into motorsport history. The car you see before you is chassis number 0674 which not only is a low number vehicle, it also has motorsport history racing through its veins. Race legend Sir Stirling Moss has been behinds its wheel. It took second place at Mille Miglia, and sixth at the 12 Hours of Sebring. This 1957 335S recently went on the block at an auction in Paris and landed an amazing sale price of $34.9 million. It may not be the most expensive Ferrari to be sold at auction as the records is still held by a 1962 250 GTO sold by Bonhams for $38.1 million during the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance festivities in 2014, but you still cant dispute the immense amount of money this car did sell for. For Immediate Release, February 8, 2016 Contacts: Patrick Sullivan, (415) 517-9364, psullivan@biologicaldiversity.org Global Airplane Carbon Rules Too Weak to Protect Climate Proposed International Guidelines Would Not Reduce Carbon Emissions Below Business as Usual MONTREAL The first international standards for carbon pollution from airplanes recommended today by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would be too weak to protect the climate. Proposed standards just released in Montreal by the international bodys environmental committee would barely trim carbon emissions from new planes and would not even apply to in-service aircraft. The standards would not reduce carbon emissions from airplanes compared to business as usual. The rules, which still require official approval from ICAOs Assembly, would not actually reduce aviations overall emissions because of the industrys projected growth. Greenhouse pollution from airplanes is expected to more than triple by 2050, making it the fastest-growing source of transportation emissions. These disturbingly weak recommendations put the Obama administration under enormous pressure to fight airplane pollutions threat to our climate, said Vera Pardee, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney who has sued the federal government over aviation emissions. The EPA has a legal and moral obligation to address the aviation industrys skyrocketing carbon pollution. If we dont cut airplanes fast-growing emissions, it will be much more difficult for the world to avoid catastrophic warming. Because ICAOs proposal excludes in-service aircraft, and aircraft have operational lifetimes of 25 to 30 years, the standards would take decades to cover the current fleet. These standards set the bar embarrassingly low, ensuring that almost all aircraft will already meet the requirements well before they go into effect in 2023, said Sarah Burt, Earthjustices legal expert on aircraft pollution. The aviation industry is sandbagging, which seriously hinders our efforts to meet the commitments we made in Paris. ICAO was first tasked with reducing aircraft carbon pollution more than 18 years ago. Over that period the organization has rejected a series of ideas for trimming emissions, including efficiency standards, fuel taxes, emissions charges and global emissions trading. The Center and allies, represented by Earthjustice, petitioned the U.S. EPA in 2007 to regulate carbon emissions from aircraft as required by the federal Clean Air Act. Following a lawsuit the EPA finally proposed last summer to determine that U.S. aviation greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and welfare. That proposal has yet to be finalized. The standards recommended by ICAO do not meet U.S. legal requirements. Because of the inadequacy of the proposal, EPA is likely to come under legal pressure to propose stronger airplane standards under the Clean Air Act. If commercial aviation were considered a country, it would rank seventh after Germany in terms of carbon emissions. Airplanes could generate 43 gigatonnes of planet-warming pollution by 2050, consuming almost 5 percent of the worlds remaining carbon budget, according to a recent Center report. Airplane pollution could be reduced dramatically. A recent International Council on Clean Transportation report showed that some of the top 20 transatlantic air carriers can drive down greenhouse emissions by as much as 51 percent using existing technology and operational improvements. 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. For Immediate Release, February 9, 2016 Contact: Michael Saul, Center for Biological Diversity, (303) 915-8308 Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network, (415) 238-1766 Investigation Sought After Fossil Fuel Auctioneer Reportedly Drove Into Climate Protesters With SUV in Colorado New Climate Protest Set for Thursday DENVER The Center for Biological Diversity and Rainforest Action Network today called on Bureau of Land Management officials in Colorado and Washington, D.C., to investigate a November 2015 incident in which an auctioneer working for the BLM reportedly drove into a group of fossil fuel protesters with his sport utility vehicle following a lease auction in Lakewood, Colo. More than 100 Keep It in the Ground climate protesters from across Colorado gathered on public sidewalks outside the Bureau of Land Managements Colorado State Office in Lakewood on Nov. 12 to protest the leasing of federal public lands for fossil fuel development. As part of this protest, six people engaged in a peaceful sit-in at one of the parking lot entrances of the office. After the auction, as protesters were gathering to leave the sidewalk and parking lot entrance, witnesses say a sport utility vehicle drove into a plainly visible group of a dozen people at the parking lot entrance. The vehicle struck one person, who was taken to the hospital via ambulance for further observation. An eyewitness identified the lead auctioneer from Odle-Cumberlin Auctioneers as the vehicles driver, and the police incident report identifies the auctioneer as a person involved in the incident. The incident was recorded on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXw9hekeSvI Todays letter condemns the drivers aggression against nonviolent protesters and their rights to freedom of speech and assembly and demands that the agency fully and immediately investigate its contractors responsibility for the incident. Constitutionally protected, nonviolent protest holds a critical place in the history of American social and environmental movements, said Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. A new social movement is calling for our government to respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by ending new fossil fuel leasing on public lands, and the lawful actions of that movement deserve, and are entitled to, First Amendment protections. BLM should not condone the actions of their contractors who I observed calling protesters names during the auction and hitting a protester with his car, said Ruth Breech with Rainforest Action Network. Peaceful protest is a critical element in making our democracy work. BLM needs to investigate this incident immediately. Failing to investigate this act shows the BLMs cavalier attitude toward public participation. On Thursday protesters will gather again at the Lakewood office to continue demanding an end to all new federal fossil fuel leasing in the United States. An oil and gas auction originally scheduled for Thursday at the Lakewood office was postponed due to incomplete consultation with American Indian tribes. Federal fossil fuel auctions from Alaska to Washington, D.C., have been met by Keep It in the Ground protests in recent months, and many auctions have been canceled or postponed. Download a copy of todays letter here. For Immediate Release, February 9, 2016 Contact: Wendy Park, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 844-7138, wpark@biologicaldiversity.org Cyrus Reed, Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, (512) 740-4086, Cyrus.reed@sierraclub.org Kerry Lemon, Resilient Nacogdoches, (936) 615-5053, resilient.nac@gmail.com Rita Beving, Clean Water Action, (214) 557-2271, rita.beving@gmail.com BLM Urged to Postpone Oil, Gas Lease Auction for Public Lands in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Drilling Would Put Water, Communities, Species at Risk, Increase Climate Pollution HOUSTON Conservation groups today called on the Bureau of Land Management to halt the sale of federal oil and gas leases on more than 36,000 acres in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas because of concerns over fracking. The BLM has authority over the federal mineral estate that consists of publicly owned and federally managed oil, gas and coal. In a letter to federal officials, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Resilient Nacogdoches and Clean Water Action said opening these sensitive public lands to oil and gas extraction would potentially result in pollution of surface and groundwater, cause harm to endangered species and their habitat, increase earthquake activity and add greenhouse gas pollution that would worsen the global climate crisis. The groups also asked that the April 20 auction of federal oil and gas be postponed because federal officials did not give the public adequate notice to comment on the proposal. The groups requested public meetings regarding the auction. The parcels to be leased for oil and gas drilling include 31,000 acres in the Davy Crockett, Sam Houston and Sabine national forests. Some of the parcels underlie municipal water supplies that serve the residents of Dallas-Fort Worth, Denton, Houston, Brenham and Corpus Christi in Texas, where fracking beneath Lewisville Lake, Somerville Lake, Lake Conroe and Choke Canyon Reservoir could contaminate drinking water for millions of people, according to todays letter. The Forest Service also has the authority to veto the BLMs proposal to auction these federal fuels underlying national forest lands. The groups say the BLM failed to notify residents in those areas of the potential for fracking to occur beneath those water sources. Citing Lewisville Lake as one of the nations most dangerous dams, the letter notes the lake is at risk of a breach. BLM failed to analyze whether fracking and wastewater injection could exacerbate this risk, which would cause billions of dollars of property damage and put hundreds of thousands of people in harms way. In addition to the threat posed by fracking, the groups say, federal agencies failed to consider the climate change effects of increased federal fossil fuel extraction. A nationwide study last year determined that halting new federal fossil fuel auctions on lands and offshore areas controlled by the U.S. government would keep up to 450 billion tons of greenhouse gases from polluting the atmosphere and crippling Americas efforts to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change. Publicly owned fossil fuels beneath our drinking water and national forests should be entirely off limits for public health and wildlife, said Wendy Park, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. We need to transition rapidly away from fossil fuel energy sources, and public lands are the best place to start by keeping these dirty fuels in the ground. Texans already suffer from too much air pollution, too many spills, too many earthquakes, too many failed casings and too many traffic accidents because of the fracking of private lands throughout Texas, said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. Opening up more public lands including lakes we swim and fish in, forests we walk in and depend upon for important habitat without even proper notice and comment is the wrong policy for the Bureau of Land Management. Its time to hear what ordinary Texans have to say, not just the oil and gas companies that want to frack our lands. The Houston Sierra Club speaks out for those who cannot speak for themselves. Whether this includes citizens who have not heard that their public lands are being leased for harmful oil/gas development or the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, bald eagle, and the clean water and air that Sam Houston National Forest provides us. We are all one community of life and we must all be good neighbors, said Brandt Mannchen, an activist with the Houston regional group of the Sierra Club. Our group only recently learned about the leasing of 30,000 acres of public lands in our national forests in East Texas, an action which is directly opposed to the final agreement of the Paris Climate Summit, said Kerry Lemon, organizer with grassroots group Resilient Nacogdoches. In rural East Texas, where many people live without adequate cell phone or internet access, it is virtually impossible for those most affected to find out about these oil and gas auctions with the only public notice being posted on the BLM website. It seems only fair to give local people an opportunity to participate fully in a process which will adversely impact their lives. Parcels up for auction include those near or under Lewisville Lake, Lake Conroe, Somerville Lake, and Choke Canyon Reservoir all water supply lakes for millions of Texans, said Rita Beving, North Texas Clean Water Action outreach coordinator. We are concerned not only about the runoff from drilling operations harming the water quality of these lakes, but the possible damage to dams caused by increased seismicity from drilling or the migration of fracking fluid coming in contact with underlying faults resulting in embankment erosion or a breach. The letter calling for the postponement of the April 20 auction was sent to the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. A research team led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists has discovered details of how the abnormal breakage and rearrangement of chromosomes in white blood cells triggers a particularly aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Such leukemias are cancers of white blood cells, in which genetic mutations trigger overproduction of immature cells, called lymphoblasts. The discoveries of the malfunction underlying the type called "Ph-like ALL" will aid in designing treatments for the leukemia, researchers said, and also offer useful lessons for investigators studying similar leukemias and other types of cancer. The researchers, led by corresponding author Charles Mullighan, M.B.B.S., M.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Pathology, published their findings in the February 8 issue of the journal Cancer Cell. First authors on the paper were Ilaria Iacobucci, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Mullighan's laboratory, and Yongjin Li, Ph.D., in the laboratory of author Jinghui Zhang, Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Computational Biology. Although the investigators had previously identified an abnormal chromosome rearrangement in Ph-like ALL, little was known about the biological effects of that rearrangement. Iacobucci and colleagues set out to pinpoint those effects by studying human leukemic cells and mouse cells engineered to mimic the disorder. Genomic analysis revealed the details of four distinctly different chromosomal rearrangements in the leukemia. All resulted in a truncated version of a gene called the erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) gene, and all produced the same outcome--driving the white blood cells to proliferate out of control. Li developed and applied the genomic analytical method used to define the truncations. "To our knowledge, this is a previously unknown mechanism for leukemia," Mullighan said. "Our search of cancer genomic data has shown that there are many other examples of chromosomal rearrangements that alter genes' structure, but this type--where a truncating rearrangement leads to activation--is new." In analysis of cells from patients with ALL, Iacobucci found the characteristic rearrangements in all the leukemic cells, suggesting these changes were fundamental to the development of cancer. And in experiments with mice, Iacobucci also showed that introducing the mutant receptor in blood cells gave rise to leukemia. Importantly, Iacobucci and collaborators found the chromosomal alterations arise early in the development of the leukemia and persist as the disease progresses. "That finding was important because it suggests that treatments for this leukemia targeting this receptor won't just impact a subset of the leukemia cells, allowing others to keep proliferating," Iacobucci said. Mullighan said the group's findings will significantly aid design and testing of treatments for Ph-like ALL, including trials being developed by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and St. Jude. The researchers expect that these trials will commence in the near future, because drugs that inhibit the over-activated biological pathway in the leukemia already exist and are widely used to treat other cancers. In fact, Iacobucci's experiments with both engineered mouse cells and human leukemic cells showed that using one of these drugs, ruxolitinib, inhibited the out-of-control machinery. The researchers also cited the case of an adult patient at MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, Houston, whose genetic analysis revealed EPOR-rearranged ALL. That patient had not responded significantly to other chemotherapy drugs, but when given ruxolitinib, showed a major drop in leukemia cells. In experiments with leukemic cells, Iacobucci also found that ruxolitinib worked synergistically to enhance the effectiveness of three widely used traditional chemotherapy drugs--dexamethasone, vincristine and daunorubicin. "We think these findings provide a useful road map for planning more accurate testing of combination chemotherapies," Mullighan said. Of the potential for aiding clinical trials, co-author Stephen Hunger, M.D., of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said: "These findings expand the number of ALL patients who should be amenable to precision medicine therapies that add targeted inhibitors to chemotherapy for ALL patents with specific genetic changes in the leukemia cells." Hunger said COG has developed a clinical trial testing this strategy with ruxoltitinib, which will begin treating patients in mid-2016. Based on the results of this St. Jude-led study, he said, the trial will include children with ALL and EPOR rearrangements. COG is a federally supported clinical trials group focused exclusively on childhood cancer. More broadly, Mullighan said the findings highlight the complexity of the chromosomal rearrangements underlying the many types of ALL. "These findings drive home the point that we are dealing with a complex genomic landscape. Each one of these rearrangements is potentially its own entity, and each one merits its own detailed study. You can't just map a rearrangement and assume that it will produce the same mechanism in all patients that will yield to the same treatment," Mullighan said, adding that "meticulous, detailed genetic sequencing of the cancer cell genomes is required to tease apart the subtle differences among closely related cancers. Such sequencing is also critical for definitive diagnosis of the cancers." Mullighan emphasized the importance of such detailed analysis in all cancers. "Often a lot of that data generated by whole-genome sequencing may not have been mined comprehensively, because such rigorous analysis is very difficult. But to fully understand these tumors, you have to look at large numbers to make correlations; and to really understand the driving mechanism, you have to find the recurrent biological changes in the tumors." Source: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital A concise "Five things to know about.... Zika virus infection" article for physicians highlights key points about this newly emerged virus in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) Zika virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which are active during the day. They also transmit dengue and chikungunya viruses. Physicians should be alert to symptoms in travellers returning from Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Zika virus may be linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome and microcephaly in babies born to women infected with Zika virus. A blood test is used to diagnosis Zika virus infection. Acetaminophen may be used to alleviate pain and fever in affected patients. Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia Do I detect a new, more aggressive approach toward the greens from the shale gas industry? An article in the Times today () implies that Cuadrilla were behind a complaint to the Charities Commission about the way in which Friends of the Earth (the charity) seemed to be engaged in campaigning activity: The charity said: Cuadrilla seem to be trying to silence their opposition. They should stop changing the subject from the real issues at stake and join us in engaging in democratic debate on fracking and climate change. Our campaign against fracking will continue. And this morning, Greenpeace - which also seems quite happy for its charitable arm to get involved in political campaigning and media stunts - has launched an occupation of Parliament Square, with a mockup of a shale drilling rig, complete with flaring. Which prompted a rather-more-cutting-than-usual response from the Onshore Operators' Group Parliament Square stunt @greenpeace shows importance of regulation. Did they have flaring permit? UKOOG (@UKOOGroup) February 9, 2016 You have to say that it's about time the shale gas industry stopped lying back and hoping that the greens were going to adopt a more honest approach. It's not what they do. Gareth Leck, CEO or (chief problem solver) at Joe Public, will be judging on the D&AD's sparkly new PR jury. Find out what he's most looking forward to in this exclusive interview. Gareth Leck is one of the brains behind 100% proudly South African entity, Joe Public. His passion and belief lie in the creativity of business and the business of creativity. Now look at the D&AD Awards, seen as the pinnacle of creative accolades, with its Yellow, Black, Wood and Graphite Pencils coveted by creatives around the world. Particularly so in SA, which last year saw its best showing at D&AD since 2012. Click here for a reminder. Put Leck and the D&ADs together and you have the perfect match. Leck lets us in on a few of his personal and agency highlights, as well as how D&AD differs from the other global award shows (hint: its all about funneling any funds generated back into the industry), how PR fits into the communications mix and the unique perspective South Africans bring to international industry juries 1. Share the highlights package of your creative career and awards judging experience. Leck: My creative career started in the mid-90s when I began in advertising with the Jupiter Drawing Room in Cape Town. A few years later I opened Joe Public with two other partners, Pepe Marais and Noel Cottrell. Noel left the business in 2001, but Pepe and I continued to run Joe Public. My title is CEO, but I like to think of myself as chief problem solver my view is that although it is our job to use our creative talents in the service of our clients, some of our best creativity is applied to the growth and development of our own organisation. The highlights of my career are numerous, but Joe Public being rated as Agency of the Year in 2012 and Agency Group of the Year in 2014 were probably the biggest. I have been the chairman of the Apex Awards for the last eight years and had the privilege of judging close to 300 case studies over that time. In addition, Ive been the chair of the Loeries Effective Creativity category for the last three years. Both of these experiences have been fantastic in terms of growing and inspiring me as a creative leader, and that is the best part of being involved in judging great creativity. 2. Certainly the right person for the job, then! What makes D&AD different from other global awards shows? Leck: Awards shows like D&AD and others on the international circuit appear to serve the same purpose. Essentially they exist to reward and celebrate great creativity. But, the big difference with D&AD is that the money they generate is used to go back into the industry on a global level. Because the awards show is a non-profit one, D&AD takes all of its additional revenues and invests them back into the creative industry. So for example, the funds from the D&AD Foundation are dedicated to funding programmes that develop the next generation of creative talent. There seems to be a far more altruistic approach and culture to the D&AD Awards show. They believe in advertising for good and changing the world for the better. D&AD CEO, Tim Lindsay, has been quoted as saying that great creative advertising talent can solve many of the worlds problems. This is extremely inspiring for me as a creative person, and creates a high level of affinity to this already prestigious awards show. Watch Lindsay summarise his talk at the 2015 DStv Seminar of Creativity, part of last years Loeries Creative Week, in the video embedded below: 3. What are you most looking forward to from judging D&AD 2016? Leck: Im most looking forward to being exposed to global best practice. Since starting Joe Public in 1998, I have always had immense respect for the D&AD Awards. One of our first awards we ever won was a D&AD and I remember thinking thats it, weve made it. I remember thinking if we can win a D&AD that we are up there with the best in the world, and Im happy to say nothing has changed in the last 16 years. To win a D&AD really does mean you are up there with the best in the world, and to be asked to judge these awards is a massive honour. But what I am most looking forward to is being inspired, and bringing the knowledge and inspiration back home and applying it to our clients business. 4. Looking specifically at your judging of the new PR category at D&AD, explain how PR fits into todays distraction driven world where advertising rules. Leck: PR always will play a key role in the communications mix. Given the point of the distraction-driven world and the overload of communication, I am finding more and more there is a desire for authentic and truthful content. Content that is honest, interesting and relevant. This is where I believe PR plays a vital role in the communication mix. We have also found that PR is often the best way to amplify a big idea. Even when you have massive media budgets, you need PR to amplify the creative in digital and social media. And when you dont have big budgets, PR is often the only way you can amplify a big idea. We have created campaigns in the past where the idea has cost virtually nothing and has had very little media budget, but through the use of powerful PR we have generated R20-million worth of media exposure. So for me, what this says is PR is key in supporting great ideas, and a vital part of the communications mix. 5. Definitely. Lets end with some of the unique perspective an SA judge brings to an international awards show. Leck: South Africa is a truly unique country and is also a very creative country, consistently being ranked in the top 20 countries at awards shows like D&AD, Cannes and One Show, with the Gunn Report placing South Africa 18th in the world in 2015. As we are the 30th biggest country in terms of GDP, to be ranked in the top 20 creatively clearly shows we punch above our creative weight globally. Also, South Africa has a very unique set of challenges that we face and to overcome these challenges we have been forced to think differently. Given this background, I am certain that I will bring a fresh perspective to the judging that no other country will be able to bring. I recently read that with great diversity comes great creativity, and South Africa is undoubtedly one of the most diverse countries in the world, so I hope to share my inherent learnings from our rich culture and bring it to the judging process. I have no doubt Leck will do exactly that. Seems we have much to look forward to from the D&AD Awards 2016, set to take place this July in the UK. Click here for more on Joe Public United, here for more on Leck, and here for more on the D&AD Awards. You can also follow Leck, Joe Public United and the D&AD Awards on Twitter. While there are many curriculums and courses for digital media, strategy, marketing, copywriting, social media, etc., none of them deal with the topic of selling the digital medium to marketers and agencies. SPARK Media together with Red & Yellow resolve the situation by creating a new Digital Sales Course. As a media sales powerhouse, we feel the lack of this necessary skill the most acutely, says SPARK Medias CEO Gill Randall. By collaborating with Red & Yellow, we have worked on creating the Digital Sales Course, in conjunction with our in-house Digital Sales Academy to provide students with the best possible grounding in online advertising and digital sales. The course will focus on Marketing Communications and the Role of Online Advertising, Introduction to Online Advertising, Implementing Performance and Premium Display Campaigns, Implementing Social Media Campaigns and finally Selling Digital Media. Red & Yellow is dynamic and very much in tune with the advertising and marketing industrys needs and a very good fit with SPARK Media, says Randall. We feel they have a similar vision and vested interest in developing the youth of today. The SPARK Media internal Digital Sales Academy has performed very well. Over the past year the interns have completed their Red & Yellow Digital Marketing course and passed with flying colours. They are currently job shadowing within the different divisions of Caxton. We are already seeing the benefits of the training as the current interns do their rounds amongst the various Caxton businesses, concludes Randall. We look forward to welcoming the next intake which will be starting in March. To find out more or tailor make the course for your company, contact: Erens Tloboro (011- 067 3400 / az.oc.wolleydnader@orobolt.snere) To contact SPARK Media call 010 492 8390, visit www.sparkmedia.co.za, follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SparkMediasa or look for SPARK Media on Facebook or Instagram (sparkmediasa). Spark Media DNA Established in 2015, SPARK Media is a result of a fusing between NAB and Habari Media using the legacy platforms and Caxton owned print and digital products in the form of NAB and a cutting edge digital sales agency in the form of Habari Media to create this new media sales powerhouse. SPARK Media are Strategic Partners in Audience Research and Knowledge and they offer Insights that Ignite. "I am passionate about innovation and I am passionate about Africa, but more importantly I am passionate about the potential of young people." - Siya Xuza On 7 February 2016, the acclaimed short-film series 21 ICONS featured the 20th icon of its third season: 26-year-old South African energy entrepreneur and industrialist, Siya Xuza. His company, Galactic Energy Ventures, is at the forefront of the development of sustainable models for energy storage. Xuza was selected for 21 ICONS South Africa Season 3 to demonstrate that through hard work and dedication individuals can overcome barriers and adversity and strive to be the best possible version of themselves. On his selection as an icon Xuza comments, I am an example of what happens when you give young South Africans opportunities. When you follow your passion, shut out noise that can distract you and you are true to yourself, you achieve greatness. A born innovator, Xuza grew up in a small township, North Crest in Mthata, Eastern Cape. He says, Im proud of Mthatha, Im proud of where Im from. Its part of my identity and its a reflection of the talent in South Africa, which does not lie in typical places. Theres talent everywhere. He was a curious child and began experimenting with alternative fuels in his mother's kitchen at the age of five. Inspired by an aeroplane flying overhead during the 1994 elections the sighting rendered him determined to create one of his own. But he realised that he would first need fuel to launch the aircraft into space. We procrastinate so much and we often forget that its often the smallest starts in life that make a big difference. I did not have the laboratory and I did not have NASA facilities, those only came later. I simply had my moms kitchen and I started there, he muses. He recalls experimenting with utensils in his mothers kitchen to bake rocket fuel like cookies and was often reprimanded for starting fires; I didnt know what science was. However, I knew I wanted to make things and to build things. I was a kid going into kitchens behind my moms back, mixing things together, blowing up kitchens and getting a hiding in the meantime, he quips. This exploration would culminate in a science project during high school that would later develop into a cheaper and safer rocket fuel. His high school research sought to harness solar technologies to generate clean affordable energy and saw him globally lauded at numerous international science fairs. His work as an energy-engineer won him a scholarship to Harvard University in the Unites States and was so remarkable that Nasa-affiliated Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet after him. This is an insurmountable accomplishment that few could ever imagine. He notes that through education and opportunity he was able to change his life; Education is freedom. Education transformed my life. For me education was critical, not just formal school education but teaching myself. University didnt teach me to invent, I taught myself that, and I think it is something we should encourage more. He continues, I am using [my freedom] to be an ambassador of possibility. Using my talent to the best of my abilities. He further adds that South Africans cant afford to become complacent, as we still have a lot more to do. So many young people today will play the victim game. We are not victims, we are conquerors. And the way to conquer is [not to] say Im a victim of this therefore I will not get anything, [rather] say because Im a victim, because I find myself in this situation in life, Im going to work harder than the people who have access to resources that I dont, he states. Xuza established Galactic Energy Ventures to find solutions that would address the energy crisis in South Africa and the continent. Using engineering and science his research is geared towards using fuel cells as a means of storing energy; I became interested in finding solutions to meet one of Africas biggest challenges, which is energy. Thats when I shifted my attention towards fuel cells. About the portrait For the portrait Within Reach, Van Wyk describes the visual elements, At Cape Town Science Centre in Woodstock, Xuza is photographed inside their planetarium. His face visible through a constellation of stars, the portrait speaks to his early explorations of science and the minor planet 23182 Siyaxuza named in his honour, and is a tribute to his assertion that it is in reaching for the stars that we will ultimately achieve greatness. On the future of South Africa she says, What I see in the future is a South Africa becoming a global leader in innovation. As South Africa where we are coming up with our own brands and our own products, that for me is the next narrative. He concludes by saying, I could be anywhere with the skill that I have, with the education that I have. I could be anywhere but Im so glad Im in South Africa. View the video About 21 Icons Season 3 The short film-series documents the conversations between Gary Van Wyk as the photographer and filmmaker and the icons. Each short film provides insight into both the subject and photographer's creative approach to the portrait. Behind each portrait lies a carefully planned concept that captures not only the essence of each icon visually, but also in spirit and in terms of their unique legacy. Season three of 21 ICONS South Africa is proudly sponsored by Mercedes-Benz South Africa. Social media: 21 Icons engages with the public through: Twitter: @21Icons Website: http://www.21icons.com Mobisite: www.21icons.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/21Icons Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/21ICONS/ iTunes App Store: http://tinyurl.com/lf3cfzm Google Play: http://tinyurl.com/ovtcy45 Whether you're a large or small public relations consultancy, a corporate, a government organisation, an NGO or a one-person public relations practitioner, winning a PRISM Award is a serious game-changer - on a business, professional and personal level. The number of entries into the most sought-after public relations awards is increasing each year, as more and more stakeholders recognise the impact winning a coveted PRISM can have. The deadline for entries for this year's awards is 15 February 2016, with the prestigious Awards Ceremony scheduled for 17 April 2016. Nicky James a Director at Tribeca Public Relations Robyn de Villiers - Chairman and CEO, Burson-Marsteller Africa It all starts with the win The thrill of winning a PRISM is best expressed by Nicky James, Co-owner of Tribeca Public Relations. Last year the consultancy won both a Gold and a Silver Award. Tribeca always invites the team/s who worked on the award entries to the PRISMs, says Nicky. So the reaction is always a loud one from everyone there, followed by smiles, shouting, jumping, tweeting, WhatsApping, air punches and a lot of high fives and of course a selfie or two taken with the awards! But the benefits of winning the coveted awards are far longer-lasting than the evening celebrations. It is a business differentiator, an opportunity to get international recognition for an excellent campaign, increase credibility, build team spirit and lots more! In 2015 one of the Gold Award recipients was the University of the Free State (UFS). The UFS was the only tertiary institution to receive a Gold Award in 2015 for their BSafe Take Action campaign in the Internal Communication category. The Award is a great honour for the University, considering the cream of South African public relations took part in the competition, says Leonie Bolleurs, head of the Unit for Internal Communication in the Department of Communication and Brand Management. She describes the impact of winning an award on her team: The award motivated the team to proceed with the campaign, coming up with more fresh and creative ideas and to continue with the message. FleishmanHillards CEO Kevin Welman Stefan Lotter and Leonie Bolleurs (responsible for the BSafe Take Action campaign) with Lacea Loader (Director in the Departement of Communication and Brand Management at the UFS). Recognition and respect Managing Director of Plato Communications and Gold Award winner of the 2015 Small Public Relations Consultancy of the Year, Susan Krause, had this to say about the ways in which her company has benefitted from winning a PRISM Award: We now have more clout and are taken more seriously in the market place by both prospective clients and job seekers. Since winning the Award, we have won some big clients and garnered a lot more respect in the industry. We also seem to pop up near the top on Google nowadays, which is a great thing! Burson-Marsteller Africa scooped a Gold and a Bronze Award at last years PRISMs both in the Media Relations category. 2015 was a great year for us from a recognition perspective. Knowing that we have won the recognition of the local and international public relations industry has added to the confidence our clients have in us, says Robyn de Villiers, Chairman and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Africa. The awards have really impressed current and potential clients and being able to showcase award-winning work really leaves a lasting impression. Winning a PRISM is significant and relevant. Kevin Welman, CEO of Fleishman Hillard South Africa and winner of the Gold Award for Best Large-Sized Public Relations Consultancy in 2014 and 2015 comments: Gaining recognition in a professional services and client-centric space as fast moving as the communication industry can be incredibly challenging. With constant pressure as you move between issues and crises, it is not often that we take a chance to stand back and look at the work we have done. Winning awards is validating for clients, as it is evident that our best work is being done, as well as for staff, as their work is recognised beyond our boardroom. Sponsors of the 2016 PRISM Awards include: Afroflame, Blue Apple, CIMA, Ground-Up Media, Livestock Ophaqa, Mango, Professional Evaluation and Research, ROI Africa, WeCollaborate, Von H Brand Provocateur, Vukani Fashions and Zoom Photography. PRISM Awards 2016 Media Partners: Bizcommunity, CliffCentral, JoburgTodayTV, Jozi Maboneng Radio, Media Update, Mix FM, UJ Radio and UNISA Radio. Follow the PRISM Awards: #Prisms2016, #ThrowbackPrisms2015, #PrismsFacts @theprismawards @1PRISA To enter or for more information visit: www.prisa.co.za eMedia Investments appoints Maxwell Nonge as the group's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). eNCA's Patrick Conroy takes over as Managing Director of OpenView HD. Award-winning journalist/editor, Anton Harber is appointed Editor in Chief of eNCA. Maxwell Nonge Patrick Conroy Anton Harber In line with its strategies for the future, eMedia Investments has made the changes to meet future opportunities and challenges of the media group. Maxwell Nonge the current head of OpenView HD will move into the new Group CTO position. OpenView HD is South Africas fast growing new satellite TV service, with over 360,000 subscribers. Maxwell Nonge is a highly qualified technology and telecommunications specialist, having worked in the telecommunications industry for many years. Nonge headed up the launch of OpenView HD in 2013 and has previously held senior positions at Sentech. His knowledge and technological experience will allow him to leverage technology across the group and take advantage of the rapidly changing media environment. Group Chief Operating Officer, Mark Rosin explains that Nonge is well positioned to help integrate the IT and broadcast environments and future-proof the business. Rosin explained that they wanted Conroy to fill the vacancy left by Nonge. Patrick is really strong operationally and has a deeply developed marketing background. Since 2005, Patrick has built a news company and a management team which is world class. We believe he has the skills to capitalise on OpenViews success to date and also to build the platforms revenue generating opportunities. He will also look to explore a new content marketing opportunity which we believe is important to a rapidly evolving media environment. Conroy has a proven track record of success in the group says Rosin, Over the past 10 years he took eNews from a 30 minute nightly newscast to a multi-platform news business including South Africas first 24 hour news channel, an isiZulu news offering, Afrikaans news and a fully functional digital division. Conroy and Nonge also know each other very well and will be working closely together to develop strategies for the group, he adds. Harber takes over the leadership of the Groups news division under a fixed term contract. Rosin says, Antons extensive experience in South African Media will allow him to mentor and grow the future leaders of the television news industry. He is a seasoned journalist, experienced manager and highly respected professional. We are thrilled to have him join our group. Harber describes himself as a writer, journalist, educator and media entrepreneur. He is the Caxton Professor of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand, a board member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, was a founder of the Weekly Mail (now the Mail & Guardian) and is the author of Diepsloot. The news division will fill the position of Group News Editor in the near future. "The changing nature of the group in a dynamic media environment", says Rosin, "necessitated looking at these positions and appointments during the latter part of 2015. We are pleased to be able to implement them on 1 March, before the commencement of our new financial year." It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations For the third time in a single week, senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has blocked the confirmation of ambassadors to Norway and Sweden. Ted Cruz hasn't actually been present in Washington to do his own dirty work. Cruz has enlisted the aid of several colleagues who've blocked the nominees for him and yesterday was Mitch McConnell's turn. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) tried on Monday evening to get unanimous consent to confirm Samuel Heins to be ambassador to Norway and Azita Raji to be ambassador to Sweden. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, objected, and said he was doing so on behalf of Cruz, who has spent much of the last week campaigning in New Hampshire where he is trailing businessman Donald Trump ahead of Tuesday's primary. Why has Ted Cruz made it his personal mission to block the confirmation of ambassadors to Sweden and Norway? Because he doesn't like the Iran peace agreement and this is his way of protesting it. What do the ambassadors to Norway and Sweden have to do with the Iran deal? Abso-fuckin-lutely nothing. LOS ANGELES Long Beach, Calif. is pioneering a public-private financing method rarely used in the United States outside transportation in a $533 million project to build a new city hall, port headquarters, library and park. Instead of the city paying upfront to build the facilities and then paying for their operating costs over time, those expenses, along with design and construction costs, are all wrapped into "availability payments" the city and Port of Long Beach will make over a 40-year period. Developer Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners will design and build the project and then operate and maintain it for 40 years in return for the availability payments. The only other U.S. social infrastructure project that Ignacio Barandiaran, an Arup principal, said he is aware is the Long Beach courthouse agreement the California state government entered into in 2010. The method has been more commonly used in the United States to fund road projects. The advantage for the city is no net fiscal impact on the city's general fund and substantial risk transfer, said Barandiaran, the city's lead financial and technical advisor on the project. "The concept is that equity investment and debt are structured in such a way that it is non-recourse to the issuer," Barandiaran said. "Normally this would be financed with 100% tax-exempt debt with full recourse to the issuer." The city plans to use the $12.6 million annually it already spends to maintain and operate the civic center buildings to make the availability payments. The plan was for the availability payments to be the same as the existing expense, but the payments are going to be $14.7 million, plus a couple of million dollar service fee that covers the cost of interest on privately placed debt, according to city documents. Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners expects to close on a $238 million privately-placed taxable 43-year note in late January to fund the project. It will combine that with a $213 million bank loan from SMBC. Plenary investors will contribute another $21 million in equity funding. The city will contribute $30 million from sales of adjacent land to private developers for the 800 residential units, 200-bed hotel and 40,000 square feet of retail planned in conjunction with the project. "The payments will be supported by the availability payments made by the city," said Stuart Marks, a Plenary senior vice president. "This is the first-time that a taxable private placement note has been used to fund a social infrastructure P3 in the U.S." It also is the first hybrid project that involves a privately developed parcel, Marks said. "Normally, P3s don't involve private development those are developed separately," he said. The city is also contributing $10.8 million for construction costs. The majority of that expense, roughly $8 million, will come from a $12.5 million lease revenue bond it priced Wednesday that will be repaid from revenues from a city-owned parking garage. The impetus behind the project was an outdated city hall building, constructed in 1972, that was found unlikely to survive a major earthquake. At the same time, the city's Port of Long Beach enterprise, which had been leasing administrative space, wanted to find a permanent home. The development of the new courthouse in also meant the city had the site of the old courthouse on which to build. The state awarded the Long Beach courthouse project in 2010 to Long Beach Judicial Partners LLC, a consortium led by the French firm Meridiam Infrastructure. The Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse opened slightly ahead of schedule in September 2013. The city will began demolition of the old courthouse on March 1 and start construction on July 1. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2018 and occupancy is set for June 30, 2019. The Lincoln Park project would be completed by November 2020. The new design is supposed to be more walkable. The new City Hall will be 11 stories high, rather than the 14 stories of the existing City Hall, but will maintain 270,000 square feet of floor area. A 73,000-square-foot civic plaza will separate the 11-story port headquarters from City Hall. The main library will be located to the north end of Lincoln Park. The park will include a playground, enclosed dog park and 30,000-square-foot lawn for public activities. The project also includes a cultural loop for public art. Among the benefits the developer touts are energy-efficient LEED certified workspaces, an "open, modern office environment to help encourage collaboration and work flow efficiency," and a glass-encased city council chamber, "symbolizing the transparency of city government." The city conducted a request for qualifications in February 2013 for developers qualified to deliver the project using the unique P3 model. It selected Plenary several months later. Though Long Beach holds double-A ratings, Barandiaran said the privately placed note will likely sell more competitively than if the city sold taxable bonds on the public markets. "Investors are looking for this kind of investment and there are not a lot them in the U.S.," said Alfonso Mendez, an Arup principal consultant. These deals are attractive, because it's a commercial obligation of the city that runs above the debt service, because it is an operating cost, Mendez said. Since the debt is non-recourse, it doesn't count against the city's debt limit, which is attractive to many cities, but wasn't an issue for Long Beach, because it has a conservative debt profile, Barandiaran said. "They were just exercising prudence in not taking on a $200 million bond that could affect their credit rating," he said. In addition to city hall's seismic issues, the city also was motivated by wanting to extend the appeal of its waterfront to the downtown area. The area had become a homeless encampment riddled with graffiti and vandalism. "The city wanted to change that dynamic," Barandiaran said. DALLAS -- Private investors interested in building a new $2.3 billion FBI headquarters outside the District of Columbia in exchange for J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington have until June to submit proposals to the General Services Administration. The public-private partnership arrangement would swap the current FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, which is valued at approximately $500 million, and provide up to $1.8 billion of additional federal funding for a new, more-secure complex that can accommodate the 14 FBI offices and 11,000 employees in the Washington region. The GSA asked for proposals last week from a short-list of four development groups that are interested in the project. The potential investors, who the GSA declined to identify, have until June 22 to provide their plans for a new headquarters complex providing 2.1 million square feet of space. President Obama's proposed fiscal 2017 budget set for release on Tuesday is expected to include $1.4 billion for the project. Congress allocated $390 million for the new FBI headquarters in the fiscal 2016 omnibus budget bill. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who headed the effort to include funding for the FBI headquarters in the 2016 budget, said the request for proposals was a much-needed sign of progress for a project first outlined in late 2012. "I've fought tooth and nail for the men and women of the FBI, working to secure a $390 million significant down-payment in the fiscal 2016 funding bill," she said. "Now that the President has requested full funding for the new headquarters in his fiscal 2017 budget request, I'll work my earrings off to put the funds in the federal checkbook." Milkulski, 79, has announced she won't run for reelection in November and will instead retire. The appropriations plus the value received for the Hoover Building will be enough to accomplish the headquarters swap, said GSA project manager Bill Dowd. "The Administration remains committed to acquiring a consolidated new headquarters facility for the FBI, a member of the intelligence community," Dowd said. "The consolidated headquarters facility will allow the FBI to perform its critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement missions in a new modern and secure facility." A replacement for the Hoover Building is long overdue, said Rich Haley, FBI assistant director for finance and facilities. "Today many of our national security missions, the classification issues, really become cumbersome in this space in addition to its security concerns and some of its infrastructure and maintenance issues," Haley said last week in a conference call with reporters. It would cost $850 million to $1.1 billion to renovate and update the Hoover Building, the GSA said, but it would still be able to accommodate only 52% of the headquarters staff. Consolidating the Washington-area FBI offices would reduce rents by $50 million a year. Scott Nathan, associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, said in the press call that the new consolidated campus would meet the FBI's needs for at least the next 50 years. Three sites are being considered for the new facility, two in Maryland and one in Virginia. The selected partner would not obtain the 6.7-acre Hoover Building site in downtown Washington until the new complex is completed and occupied, which is expected in 2023. The developers must specify their valuation of the Hoover site and how much it would cost to build the new headquarters. They can bid on any or all of the three selected sites. 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Government discontinued the passenger train in 2009 citing poor business. Passengers complained of rowdiness and discomfort in the previous train but that will be a thing of the past come March this year. The Botswana Railways Public Relations Officer (PRO), Kebabonye Morewagae disclosed in an interview that the train will come with a completely new look and ambiance. It will be fully air-conditioned with the provision for WIFI inside. Starting with the sitting arrangement, a lot has actually changed. People will not sit facing each other anymore, and the chairs will be very comfortable, he said. The spokesperson further revealed that there would be a catering company inside to serve passengers. However, the bar has been cancelled this time around. He said to avoid overcrowding they have come up with a luggage van. Bags will have a fee as they will be weighed and priced according to their weight, said Morewagae. He revealed that they will start with the night train and later introduce the day train. The daylight train will, at least for now, operate only on busy days disclosed Morewagae. There will be full security in and out of the train, No one will step inside the train without a ticket, he emphasised. Compared to the previous train this one will travel at 100km/h. The PRO also noted that there will be six stop destinations; Lobatse, Gaborone, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serule and Francistown. Morewagae also disclosed that the train will have a corridor service Blue Mark. The blue mark has been there all along this time its couch will be attached to the passenger train, he said. The blue mark will deliver goods freely to peoples residential plots, he explained. At the risk of causing divisions within the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), the collective will soon be issuing membership cards to individuals wanting to join it directly. The UDC is an opposition coalition constituted by the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP), Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). Since its formation two years ago, the UDC has always operated as the mother-body of the three parties by not providing for individual membership to it. Instead, it was the three parties that were members of the UDC that could accept individual members. Confirming speculation that has been in circulation for some time that the mother-body would soon be issuing membership cards to individuals, the chairman of the UDC, Motlatsi Molapisi told a political rally at Tutume recently that the three parties have experienced resistance from many people who do not want to join any of them directly. Instead, according to him, they want to join the Umbrella directly. The consultation process by the contracting parties is over. The membership form should have been launched in December but had to be deferred because of unforeseen circumstances. We were looking to launch it in February this year but with the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) almost certainly joining the UDC, we might need to further defer it to give the party the opportunity to have a say in the matter, said the veteran of opposition politics. However, political and social commentator, Anthony Morima finds it incredulous that anybody with an inclination towards the UDC will have difficulty joining any of its affiliates. There are widespread concerns that, should the UDC issue membership cards to individuals, it will be directly competing with its affiliates for membership. A BNF veteran who preferred anonymity for discussing party matters without authorisation said that, he last heard about the issue at a BNF meeting where there was serious objection to it. It is such a terrible idea. You cannot have a situation where the mother-body is competing with its affiliates for members, he said. Apparently, dual membership will be provided for those who seek membership of the UDC while they are card-carrying members of one of the affiliating parties. Regarding those who prefer to become members of the UDC only, it is not clear whether they will have a stake at the various party fora such as conferences or seminars. There are also concerns as to what will happen to those whose party is only the UDC in the event the coalition collapses. Said Molapisi regarding the fate of those who will be aligned to the UDC without being members of any of the affiliating parties, Our belief is that the UDC will endure forever. We do not expect it to collapse and have the BPP, BNF and BMD go their separate ways. He argued that many people want the threesome to coalesce into a single entity. However, not everybody believes the coalition will exist forever. It was never intended to be so. This is not a merger but just a tactic for assuming state power. UDC has never been intended to be a party, said another BNF activist also preferring anonymity for fear of reprisals. His belief is that, opposition parties have failed to learn from the mistakes of the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM). BAM was formed towards the 1999 general elections by the Botswana Action Party (BAP) and BPP. The relationship ended acrimoniously in 2000 with the BPP losing scores of its officials and cadres to BAM which had been controversially registered as a political party. The BNF activist anticipates a situation where, at some point, the three parties may go their separate ways. Just as BAM became a rival to the BPP, we run the risk of facing UDC as a rival at some point in time should we make the mistake of turning the UDC into a political party. This will be a mistake, said the BNF activist who lamented that those wanting to merge the UDC affiliates into a party are clueless about what a Front is. As far as he is concerned, the decision to give membership cards to UDC members is too grave to be made by the leaderships of the contracting parties. It is a decision which can only come from a congress and no BNF congress has deliberated on the matter. Our Sefhare congress rejected the idea of a merger. As things are, the leadership wants to impose this on us without any discussion and this might cause complications, he said. In his view, instead of pandering to the whims of those wanting to join the UDC and not and its affiliates, UDC cadres should educate the potential recruits on the meaning of a Front and the dangers of strengthening the Umbrella at the expense of its feeders. Former president of the BCP, Michael Dingake agrees. It is important that the general membership of the UDC be taken on board. There is need for public education on the intention to merge the parties. Should the UDC leadership impose its decisions on the people, there is bound to be instability, he said. Political analyst Morima said that it would be unlawful for the UDC to behave like a political party when it is not a party, If indeed those forms have been finalised, what was the basis for making them? The status quo at the UDC must continue until at such a time when the UDC decides to be a political party. Although we do not know explicitly what the UDC constitution says on this matter, we know that the spirit of an Umbrella is for people to continue belonging to their parties. What is being suggested is not in the interest of the affiliates. The UDC is likely to weaken its affiliates and eventually kill them. Professor Zibani Maundeni believes that those opposed to the issuing of UDC membership cards to individuals have got misplaced concerns. They are creating factionalism out of nothing. The expectation is that, with time, the affiliates should disappear or remain just affiliates. It is the UDC that must grow and not its affiliates, said Professor Maundeni. Moses Mabutho and Godknows Robby are engaged in an aggressive campaign for the looming elections for the position of Chief of Zwenshambe village in the North East District. This follows a recent court order which disqualified the Chabale clan in Zwenshambe as the right people to lead the village. While Robby accuses his rival of being used by the Mosojane dynasty, Mabutho accuses Robby of being imposed on the villagers by the Tibone clique. Mabutho, a member of the Chabale family, was appointed to lead Zwenshambe by the Chabale family who maintained, with the support of the then Minister of Local Government, Dr Margaret Nasha, that the village chieftainship belongs to them. A section of the village opposed the move and took the matter to court. He found himself jobless in October last year after occupying the seat since 2008. Following the court order Kgosi Sibangani Mosojane lodged an appeal whose outcome is yet to be known. This has however not stopped the contestants from campaigning. When contacted, Robby explained to Botswana Guardian that his main aim is to unify the residents of the village. For a very long time, the village has never known any peace as there are many divisions. Mabutho has failed to unite the residents since he took over in 2008. Instead, he was used by the Mosojane dynasty which has been lording it over Zwenshambe ever since after independence. If elected, I am going to ensure that Zwenshambe becomes independent from both Mosojane and Mapoka villages, he said. On the other hand, the dethroned chief denied any links with Mosojane. He said that since his ascension to the throne in 2008, he has managed to unify the villagers, which he found divided. I am not an imposition to this village by Chief Mosojane as I was only given the position following a vacancy left by Chief Ngubalane when he retired in 2008. For me to take over, it was not because I am close to Mosojane. Instead, the Chabales who by then believed the chieftainship belong to them nominated me and since my nomination, I have worked with members of the village without fear or favour. Unlike Robby, I am not a politician. Mine is to unite the community, he said. Meanwhile, Robby added that as a child of Zwenshambe village, which is next to the Zimbabwean border, he sacrificed his life by joining the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) back in 1978 to protect his village and the nation at large from frequent attacks by Ian Smith of Rhodesia. Moreover, he said that after joining the army, he rose to the position of an army Captain: a leadership position which will give him an advantage over his rival. I am a capable leader who can turn around the fortunes of Zwenshambe since Mabutho has failed the villagers since he took office. Nobody is born a chief in the village and our village should not be under the leadership of any village since it is independent. As a theologian with a degree in Theology, I am capacitated to attend to give counselling to the stressed villagers, he explained. A concerned resident from Thobani ward in the village, Messiah Gwaloba did not hide his displeasure at the current state of affairs in the village since everything is at a standstill. This chieftainship impasse has denied my village developments and peace. Court order or no court order, I still believe in Mabutho since he has done a lot for this village since his ascension to power in 2008, Gwaloba said. He said that when Mabutho took over from Ngubalane, the village was divided and there was no peace, which, according to him, Mabutho has restored. Moreover, he revealed that the behaviour of the youth in the village has since improved as they were lashed frequently at the village kgotla when they misbehaved. I still remember well that during his takeover, the community hall was in a sorry state as goats sheltered inside it. Through his mobilisation, he managed to source funds from companies including Debswana and the hall was refurbished making it the best hall in the northern part of Francistown. Apart from the hall, a beautiful kraal was also constructed at the main kgotla. Educationally, Mabutho is far ahead of his opponent as he has a Masters Degree in Animal Health and has worked for the Botswana Meat Commission as a leading meat inspector, he said. Dingaan Molale a staunch supporter of Robby explained that he has nothing against Mabutho since he is a child of Zwenshambe village. The problem with him is that he is associated with a group of people who want our village to be a satellite for villages including Mosojane and Mapoka. On the other hand, Robby is advocating for the village to be completely independent so that it can enjoy developments like many other villages. Mabutho is used by chief Mosojane and I cannot just stand that, he said. Another villager said that he cannot vote for Robby since he is a politician. As far as I know, Robby is a very active member of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) who lost the last BDP primary elections in Francistown South. Therefore, as a politician, he is most likely to further divide the village according to party lines. This immediately disqualifies him from the position he seeks to occupy, he opined. The villager, also a politician himself, said that if Mabutho had previously shown any interest in any political party or position, he would not vote for him as he does not support politicians as they divide villages along political lines. Another resident of Zwenshambe who also refused to be named said that, he cannot support Mabutho since this would mean that Zwenshambe will never be independent from the Mosojane and Habangana dynasty. For a very long time, our village has been a satellite for Mapoka and Mosojane villages respectively in the process denying the village the desired developments. If the dethroned chief is brought back, we can as well forget about future developments, he added. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG A couple of indigenous leaders are speaking out against a new, private Jesuit school set to open in September in Winnipegs north end, saying it is too reminiscent of a residential school. Gonzaga Middle School aims to support academically gifted students with longer hours and smaller class sizes. It also plans to remove barriers for low-income and academically gifted students between Grades 6 and 8 by offering free education. But the activists say a private Catholic school in a largely indigenous neighbourhood is a bad idea and goes against recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They went to the Winnipeg School Division on Monday night and asked for support. Larry Morrissette, executive director of Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin, an organization that works with youth in gangs, and James Favel have also written a letter to Pope Francis asking him to intervene. Favel says the school is already causing cracks in the community. Its divided us into those who want it and those who dont, he says. Its painful, the wounds are still too fresh. School board vice-chairwoman Sherri Rollins says the board cant intervene with private school matters, but it can be an ally and listen to community concerns. In a statement online, Gonzaga Middle School Principal Tom Lussier says the school does not want to repeat mistakes of the past. He says Gonzaga endorses and encourages the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and adds that Gonzaga will teach students about the legacy of residential schools, and the Catholic Churchs role in their development and operation. Vivian Ketchum, a former residential school student, attended Mondays meeting and says she will never send her children to Gonzaga. Now I cant speak my language, she says. Im afraid of my own culture. I was taught fear. Thats what these type of schools teach, fear. Other indigenous leaders have come out in support of the school. Manitoba Treaty Commissioner James Wilson says Gonzaga will give indigenous students opportunities to succeed academically. Niigaan Sinclair, an indigenous studies professor at the University of Manitoba, is on the schools board of directors while Point Douglas MLA Kevin Chief was on its advisory committee. (CTV Winnipeg) Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. To jump-start fundraising efforts, Habitat for Humanity Manitoba has hired a full-time paid professional to work out of the Brandon chapter. They were having trouble fundraising within the volunteer community, so we decided as an affiliate that we would invest in the community, said Michelle Pereira, vice-president of marketing, communications and philanthropy. Longtime fundraiser Margaret Schonewille will take on the role Feb. 29, and will work at the ReStore office. Photo courtesy Vaughn Bender A crew works on a home for the Virden chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The home was recently completed, and the Samson family moved in last month. Our intention is to raise the profile of the Brandon chapter, Pereira said. We think that having someone in the community who has roots in the community is going to benefit us as an organization and help us help more families that need affordable housing. Schonewille has 20 years of fundraising experience and currently sits on the board for the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Through previous work with Brandon non-profit organizations, Schonewille said she has gotten to know many people, clubs and community groups, but is always looking to meet more. If anyone wants someone to come and speak and share about Habitat at their group, were really happy to do that, she said. Schonewille said she plans to work closely with the volunteers in her fundraising efforts. Its all of us working together thats going to make us stronger, she said. Habitat was reintroduced to Brandon in 2013, as part of Habitat for Humanity Manitoba. The previous Habitat Brandon office was closed in 2012 after the organizations national office claimed it didnt meet operating standards. There are new standards in place and while the Winnipeg office oversees the operation, the local chapter remains independent in terms of family selection, fundraising, volunteers, construction, trades and building crews. Fundraising is actually an essential part of all the chapter structures. Obviously, if we dont raise funds, we cant build houses, so Margarets role is going to be critically important, said Brandon Habitat chair Rick Wells. The local chapter has been busy since its reopening, working on its ambitious goal of building 19 new homes in Brandons east end. The first home is ready for a family, and there will be a key ceremony on Feb. 19 at the home in the 700 block of Percy Street. The second home was built by Green Acres Colony in conjunction with other Hutterite colonies, and will be moved onto the foundation.This possession is scheduled for late spring. The City of Brandon donated a lot located at 255 Frederick St., with construction beginning in spring 2016. According to the organization, plans are being finalized and it is hopeful that the possession date will be late 2016 or early 2017. Assiniboine Community College has almost completed the second home it is building and will be moved onto Percy Street before the end of the school year. Construction is well underway, with possession of the home slated for late 2016 early 2017. The Brandon chapter is actively recruiting volunteer community leaders to join the committee. This organization offers a hand up to low-income families to realize the pride of homeownership and will provide their family, especially the children a more stable future, Pereira said. Habitat homes are for low-income people who are unable to secure a down payment or a traditional loan. There is an extensive interview process before an applicant is chosen. Part of the program is sweat equity, which means families volunteer time to help build the home. Habitat is hoping to spread the word about the local ReStore, located at 630 Rosser Ave. The store just celebrated its one-year anniversary. Photo courtesy Vaughn Bender Habitat for Humanity volunteers lay flooring in the recently completed Virden home. If you are renovating, getting ready to spring clean your home, the ReStore is a great place to donated unwanted goods, Pereira said. Meanwhile, the Virden chapter of Habitat for Humanity recently completed its first build since 2011. A key ceremony was held last month for Marissa and Cyrel Samson, along with their two children, aged two years and three weeks. They came into partnership with Habitat in January 2015 with the aspirations of owning their first home. After aggressively completing 500 hours of sweat equity, (this normally takes 18 months) they purchased their home at fair-market value, according to Pereira. Karen McKinnon, chair of the Virden Habitat chapter, said it took a dedicated group of approximately 12 volunteers to complete the build. It was really quite wonderful, she said, adding the basement was dug mid-September and the project was finished the first week of January. Habitat is a heartwarming organization and it makes you feel good to do something like that for somebody. Several other Westman communities have Habitat projects underway, including Shoal Lake. The chapter is looking for a new partner family interested in owning their first home, as the selected family had to withdraw for personal reasons. If there are low-income families in the area who work full-time and have children, they are encouraged to call Steve Krahn of Habitat for Humanity Manitoba at 204-235-2187. In Killarney, the first Habitat home was completed last year. Martin and Melissa Gervais moved into the home in February 2015. Two lots have been donated to the cause by Bill and Marianne Hildebrandt. According to Pereira, they are hoping to build in 2017, but will be dependent on fundraising. The Asessippi-Parkland chapter completed its first build in the fall of 2015. Christine Diores, a single mother of three, purchased the home in Russell last October. She is an animal health technologist, originally from the Philippines, according to Pereira. The family is involved in the community and Christine volunteers in the community. She is seen as someone with a social conscience, which lends itself to being a good ambassador for Habitat. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter: @jillianaustin Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO Two lawyers who challenged the Harper governments ultimately aborted appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada have been handed a judicial spanking for trying to collect tens of thousands of dollars for their efforts. In a sharply worded decision released Tuesday, the Federal Court of Appeal denounced the claims put forward by Rocco Galati and Paul Slansky as misguided and excessive. The judges were especially scornful of Galatis assertion that denying him full legal costs would effectively mean the court was in bed with the government. Toronto-based attorney Rocco Galati is seen outside the Federal Court Building in a file photo, in Winnipeg on July 16, 2012. Galati, one of two lawyers who challenged the Harper government's ultimately aborted appointment of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada have been handed a judicial spanking for trying to collect tens of thousands of dollars for their efforts. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Trevor Hagan I do not understand how one could hope to protect the right to a fair and independent judiciary by accusing courts of colluding with the government if they dont give the applicant its solicitor-client costs, Judge Denis Pelletier wrote for the court. This is reminiscent of the gonzo logic of the Vietnam War era in which entire villages had to be destroyed in order to save them from the enemy. In 2013, then-prime minister Stephen Harper appointed Nadon to the countrys top court. Galati challenged the eligibility of the Federal Court of Appeal judge to fill one of three seats reserved for Quebec. He put his challenge on hold when the government referred the issue to the Supreme Court, which then scuttled Nadons appointment. Galati asked for $51,706.54 based on a charge of $800 an hour he said was reasonable for a lawyer with his experience. Slansky, acting for the Constitutional Rights Centre, wanted $16,769.20 for helping Galati. In December 2014, Federal Court awarded them a combined $5,000 in a nod to the work they had done. The lawyers appealed. They argued they had a constitutional right to their full legal costs on the grounds they had derived no personal benefit from the Nadon challenge, which they said went to the architecture of the Constitution. The Federal Court of Appeal was having none of it. When the partisan political overlay is stripped away, this was a lawyers issue with very limited consequences beyond legal circles, Pelletier wrote for the panel. It certainly did not go to the architecture of the Constitution. He also rejected their claim that the challenge had been successful given that Nadons appointment did not go through. The fact that their application apparently set in motion a series of events which led to the conclusion which they hoped to achieve in their application does not make them successful litigants, Pelletier said. It may make them successful politically or in the popular press, but that is a different matter. The Appeal Court called it surprising the lawyers would claim $800 an hour more than they normally charge their clients saying the amount was excessive. While Galati maintained nothing prevents a self-represented litigant from claiming legal costs, Pelletier called the concept an oxymoron. A self-represented litigant, by definition, has no counsel and therefore no out-of-pocket expenses for which full indemnity is appropriate. Judge David Stratas also took issue with Galatis assertion that because the government pays judges, their failure to order the government to pay private-sector lawyers would indicate judicial bias. An officer of the court should never make such a submission, Stratas said in separate comments. There are many cases where judges, paid by government, have condemned government misconduct and have ordered government to do something against its will. The court ordered the lawyers to pay $1,000 in costs, with Stratas saying he would have awarded more if the government had asked for more. Neither Galati nor Slansky responded immediately to a request for comment. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO The judge at Jian Ghomeshis sexual assault trial agreed Tuesday to look at evidence from one final witness the Crown wanted to call in the closely watched case. Crown lawyer Michael Callaghan told court the witness would corroborate allegations made at the trial by Lucy DeCoutere, one of the three women who have accused the former broadcaster of sexual assault. DeCoutere, known for her role on Trailer Park Boys, testified last week that Ghomeshi choked her and repeatedly slapped her while they were kissing in his bedroom in the summer of 2003. Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi walks past protesters as he arrives at a Toronto court for day six of his trial on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young Callaghan said the new witness whose identity is protected by a publication ban would put to rest allegations that DeCoutere fabricated the story to win notoriety and fame. Ghomeshis defence team, however, opposed calling the witness, saying DeCouteres cross-examination showed the the breadth and scope of her dishonesty. After weighing both arguments, Justice William Horkins ruled that the safest course was for him to hear the witness evidence and then determine any probative value it may have. The witness, however, could not travel to Toronto to testify in person due to stormy weather in her hometown, so both the Crown and the defence agreed to present the judge with a transcript of the womans statement to police as well as Facebook messages she exchanged with DeCoutere. Ghomeshi has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking. The 48-year-old former host of CBC Radios Q acknowledged in 2014 that he engaged in rough sex acts, but said it was consensual. The trial resumes on Wednesday, with closing submissions expected on Thursday. ___ Follow @dianamehta on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 09/02/2016 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Lawyers behind a lawsuit over a long-simmering dispute concerning what two First Nations call federal mishandling of energy resources on their reserves say other bands are considering joining the legal action. In a statement filed late Monday, the Onion Lake and Poundmaker Cree bands accused Indian Oil and Gas Canada of failing to promote and develop energy resources on their lands and of failing to protect those resources from being drained by wells adjacent to them. Harvey Strosberg, one of two lawyers representing the bands, said hes opened talks with other bands interested in joining the lawsuit. We want the court to make it into a class action, said Strosberg. Weve talked to at least another Five Nations and they are very supportive. Some of them are in the process of retaining us. Because aboriginal bands are not allowed to disburse reserve lands, energy companies seeking to develop the oil and gas beneath them must deal with Indian Oil and Gas Canada. That agency is responsible for promoting development, negotiating deals, issuing licences, collecting royalties and monitoring activity. Because the bands cant do the work themselves, the agency is obliged to look after First Nations interests, said Strosberg. The Indian nations cant do anything. They have to pass this off to the federal government. (The government) said, You cant do it yourself well take care of you.' Figures in the statement of claim which contains allegations not yet tested in court question that care. The claim alleges there have been 41 wells drilled on Poundmaker lands with 10 producing. That compares with 242 wells with 86 producing immediately adjacent to the Saskatchewan reserve. The situation is similar for Onion Lake, which straddles the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary, says the statement. The (agency) did not actively promote and solicit leasing opportunities to exploit the oil and gas rights on the designated reserve lands. As well, the statement of claim says oil and gas pools flow underground in response to pumping activity. It claims Ottawa didnt protect resources under reserve lands from being drained by wells adjacent to them. If you have 100 wells pumping on the adjacent property and 10 wells pumping on the reserve, youll drain more than your share, Strosberg said. The statement also asks for a full audit of Indian Oil and Gas Canadas handling of First Nation energy revenues. The lawsuit claims $3 billion in damages. The agency has long been a target of First Nations, said Blaine Favel, former head of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, now head of an oil and gas company. This is archaic, colonial law, he said. (Criticism) has been around as long as theyve been the regulator. Favel said the agency has long been under-resourced and isnt keeping up with the demands of the modern industry. As well, it serves as regulator, license issuer, land manager, royalty collector and watchdog far too many roles for one office. These are delicate at best and sometimes incompatible, said Favel. Strosberg said he hopes the federal government will choose to negotiate a settlement. If you want to fight, well fight, but if you want to talk, well talk, he said. We prefer to talk. Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde also encouraged the government to settle. Based on our natural resource wealth, First Nations should be among the wealthiest in Canada, but federal mismanagement and neglect of its fiduciary duties has resulted in lost revenue for First Nations, perpetuating a cycle of poverty, he said in a statement. Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960 Workers at Ireland's 999 call centre have voted in favour of industrial action. Members of the Communications Workers' Union have said they have been campaigning for dignity and respect in the workplace for the past 18 months. They are calling on their employer to instigate a living wage of 11.50 an-hour, a fair on call policy and an end to what the union calls punitive suspensions. A meeting will take place this evening to decide what form of action they will now engage in. Steve Fitzpatrick, CWU general secretary, said: I want to commend our members for taking this brave decision. For the first time, Conduit/BT appears to be taking the concerns of their workers seriously. This is only happening as a direct result of the ballot for industrial action. However, the company is still refusing to concede on any of the key issues at the heart of this dispute. If the Conduit bosses want to avoid a strike they need to address the four legitimate requests our members have made. Conduit Global have expressed their disappointment with the decision for industrial action taken by CWU members. "Our senior management team opened direct dialogue with our staff and is making significant progress on all issues raised. To date, Conduit Global, in consultation with our staff, has reviewed internal policies, analysed staff feedback and committed to change. "Weve also proposed an interim change to the on-call policy seeking input and feedback from staff and can confirm that staff, when all aspects of the remuneration are considered, earn in excess of the living wage being sought by the CWU. "It seems, therefore, that the CWU is seeking to disrupt this critical, public service in an attempt to get Collective Bargaining recognition, which we find very disappointing and self-serving. "Conduit Global remains committed to deliver this vital public service and will continue to work with our staff directly to avoid any unnecessary disruption to the Emergency Call Answering Service. Update 10.50pm: Commenting this evening following a meeting of 999 call service workers in Navan, Ian McArdle of the CWU said: At this evenings meeting of the CWU Branch representing 999 Emergency Call Service (ECAS) workers, members welcomed the clear result of the ballot on industrial action where over 84% of votes were cast in favour of action up to and including an all-out strike. "The meeting mandated the Union to proceed to issue notice of industrial action on BT/Conduit. At the meeting, members considered options for industrial action which are likely to include a 12 hour work stoppage over the next few weeks. "The workers and their Union remain open to dialogue with BT/Conduit in order to resolve the issues at the heart of this dispute. A pathologist at the Coombe hospital said today that baby Darragh Byrne died as a result of multi-organ failure due to hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen. Dr Colette Adida told Dublin Coroners Court that it was not possible to determine the exact cause of the hypoxia. The Dublin maternity hospital has apologised to the family for failings in his care. Baby Darragh Byrne died on February 19, five days after he was delivered by emergency c-section in the Coombe Hospital. This morning, consultant neonatal pathologist Colette Adida said the cause of death was multi-organ failure, secondary to hypoxia. Dr Adida also said that signs of hypoxia in could have been caused days or weeks before the death. Counsel for the Byrne's said it was not in dispute that baby Darragh had severe hypoxia for almost 100 minutes. Further evidence is expected to be heard from baby Darraghs mother, Maree Butler, this afternoon. The court heard yesterday the family wanted to give evidence on the condition of Darragh's body when it was returned to them. Eoin Byrne also told the court that he cried his heart out after seeing that his son was navy blue on delivery. The Government has today agreed to spend an extra 5m to fund garda overtime. The announcement comes in the wake of two fatal gangland shootings in Dublin in recent days. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald met with the Garda Commissioner earlier and has denied that there was an intelligence failure in preventing the recent attacks. Minister Fitzgerald said that that gardai are facing ruthless criminal gangs. "Obviously we have ruthless gangs intent on getting out there," she said. "We have a cycle now of revenge and retaliation that we're seeing. "The Gardai, their intelligence and security units, of course, will do everything possible to prevent further loss of life, to interrupt this cycle, "They will get the supports that they need to do this, but we are dealing with ruthless criminal gangs." Earlier today, Garda Representative Association president Dermot O'Brien said that that overtime is being used to disguise an ongoing staff shortage. Overtime is being thrown at the likes of these incidents and it masks over the fact that we dont have enough people on the ground, he said. According to the Department of Justice, a dedicated new Armed Support Unit for Dublin will also be established, comprising 55 Gardai. This new Unit will operate in addition to the Emergency Response Unit (ERU). At todays meeting, the Minister was briefed by the Commissioner on An Garda Siochanas assessment of the current situation and their operational response. The Minister was assured that An Garda Siochana are deploying all capabilities and resources at their disposal in terms of tackling organised crime and delivering a "whole-of-organisation operational response". The Minister stated: This violent feud is unprecedented in its audacity. The gangs show no regard for public safety. The events we have seen are outrageous. They are unacceptable. An Garda Siochana has the fullest support of the Government and I. Any and all resources will be provided. We will sustain and intensify saturation policing in Dublin City, including multiple rolling checkpoints and patrols. We will establish a dedicated new Armed Support Unit for Dublin, in addition to the ERU. The Minister condemned last nights murder. She stated: I deplore the evil and sinister cycle of gangland violence that has erupted in our capital. But we will not let this cycle of violence distract us from what we must do and have been doing in seeking to disrupt gangland crime. A High Court judge has agreed to visit Moore Street in Dublin as part of a legal challenge aimed at protecting a number of buildings. The Government is facing opposition to its plans to build a commemorative centre there to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising. Number 16 Moore Street is part of a group of buildings within the central terraced block of Moore St and is considered to be the last headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Rising before their surrender. In 2006, it was designated a national monument along with numbers 14, 15 and 17. Work began on a commemorative centre last year, but that has been put on hold because of a legal action aimed at protecting other buildings on the site. Colm Moore from the 1916 Relatives Association believes numbers 13, 18 and 19 should be designated national monuments too, but the Government claims they hold no historical significance and should make way. Today, Mr Justice Max Barrett was asked to visit the site and the buildings at the centre of this legal action. The High Court judge accepted the invitation and the State agreed to continue its undertaking not to carry out any works pending the outcome of the case. A legal action aimed at preventing a number of buildings on Dublins Moore Street from being demolished is due to get underway this morning. A group of activists want them preserved as national monumentsto prevent them breing knocked down for a commemorative centre for the 1916 Rising. By Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner Political Editor Lucinda Creighton's Renua Ireland has today published the most negative advert of the General Election campaign so far, which focuses on Fine Gael's links with Independent TD Michael Lowry. The hard-hitting video seeks to highlight Taoiseach Enda Kenny's repeated refusal to rule out doing a post-election deal with Mr Lowry until the party slumped in an opinion poll. The two-minute video was produced by the party and marks a departure in tone in the campaign so far. Released on the Vimeo platform, the online ad highlights the findings of the Moriarty Tribunal that Mr Lowrys actions as Minister for Communications at the time of the granting of the second mobile phone licence were insidious and disgraceful. The ad also contains a graphical representation of Mr Kennys recent interview with RTEs This Week. The Renua ad highlights he refused to rule out Michael Lowry in Government eight times during the course of the interview. Controversially, the ad also includes a reference to what Renua claims is the ongoing relationship and contacts between Mr Kenny and businessman and media owner Denis OBrien. The title of the video is Lucinda or Lowry? Renua has said it is willing to join a coalition. Fine Gael sources have made it very clear that they would not like to go into power with Ms Creighton as she and Mr Kenny have endured a rocky relationship and she has been a thorn in his side since he forced her resignation as a Fine Gael minister in 2013 for opposing the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. By David Raleigh Education Minister Jan OSullivan has today warned against Sinn Fein's proposal to abolish the Special Criminal Court, saying it has been a "vital factor" in jailing criminals. The Labour TD admitted her own seat was under threat from Sinn Fein's Maurice Quinlivan, a sitting councillor on Limerick's joint local authority, who has been polling above the Minister in the four-seat Limerick constituency. Sinn Fein has called for the abolition of the non-jury Special Criminal Court, normally reserved for trials of dissident provisionals, and which was then implemented for gangland trials after Limerick had problems selecting juries for such cases because of widespread fear and intimidation. "In Limerick, by and large, Gardai have a lid on it, and that's to the credit of Gardai in Limerick," Minster O'Sullivan said. "But, there is a real fear now - that with the possibility of Sinn Fein in being in government, and the possibility of them having significant numbers of seats - that the Special Criminal Charges Court could be dismantled, and that there would be people in power who would be very close to somebody like 'Slab' Murphy, who (Sinn Fein) failed to condemn, despite his criminal record. "Gerry Adams, and Mary Lou McDonald, have been equally equivalent on that, and have not condemned him. "They can't aspire to be in government and at the same time to be supporting people who have clearly broken the law, and that they are not willing to condemn their actions or distance themselves from people like 'Slab' Murphy." Gerry Adams previously criticised the fact that Mr Murphy's case "involving a failure to complete tax returns is heard before a non-jury court". He added: "I have been asked if I consider Tom Murphy a good republican. The answer to that is yes." The Minister said the Special Criminal Court "has been a vital factor in terms of putting away people who have led crime in Limerick that has been extremely damaging and dangerous to our community". Asked if she saw Sinn Fein's call for the abolition of the court as a threat to the prosecution of leaders of criminal gangs, Minister O'Sullivan said: "I do". She said the success of fighting gangland crime in Limerick was down to the work of Gardai but also because "there was a court where people could be brought to, where juries would not be intimidated." "We need to ensure that that continues," she added. Responding to Minister O'Sullivan's remarks, Cllr Maurice Quinlivan said: "If Jan is coming out with comments like that, it just shows how desperate she really is." Cllr Quinlivan - whose brother Nessan was convicted of gun offences at the Special Criminal Court and later freed from Portlaoise Prison in November 1995 as part of the Government's early-release programme for republican prisoners following the 1994 IRA ceasefire - said he supported the abolition of the Special Criminal Court. "We agree with what the U.N. and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties say - the court should be abolished," Cllr Quinlivan said. "There is a better way," he added. "It's not like we would abolish it in the morning," he said, adding, "I believe that the views of Amnesty International; the U.N.; and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties should be taken into account." Speaking at her election campaign launch this morning in her native Limerick, Minister OSullivan also said Dublin gardai need to "get more in control" of "clever" gangland criminals, whom the minister said were, "outwitting the forces of law and order". Her comments come on the back of two gangland murders in two days in Dublin. "There are always going to be challenges around gangland criminals, and while Gardai have got on top of it in Limerick, clearly there is a need in Dublin to get more control of the situation," she said. Asked to comment on the killings in Dublin, the Minister added: "Policing is very difficult of people like that because they protect themselves and have people around them who clearly are clever at outwitting the forces of law and order. "Certainly there are issues that need to be addressed in terms of the protection of the people in those communities in Dublin." By Elaine Loughlin, political reporter Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised that all required resources will be provided to the Gardai to tackle gangland crime. Speaking this evening Mr Kenny said: The Government will respond here in terms of whatever the Commissioner [Noirin OSullivan] needs to do the job the Gardai will be given, and will be funded by Government to see that they are enabled and operationally sufficient to do the job that they must do." This morning the GRA, which represents rank-and-file Gardai, came out strongly against the Government for not providing enough resources to the force. GRA president Dermot OBrien told RTEs Morning Ireland radio programme that the force is under-resourced and called on members to be protected when they go out there. We are also looking for the immediate introduction of the MP7 machine gun. And the return of the Uzi until the MP7 is introduced, Mr OBrien said adding that it had been taken away in 2012 and not replaced. But speaking in Wicklow on the campaign trail Mr Kenny would not confirm if these arms would be introduced, instead he said it would be up to the Garda Commissioner. I saw comments on the kind of arms that might be needed by the Gardai, the commissioner together with her personnel will know what type of arms are required by the emergency response unit and whatever facilities they require to do their job will be given to them." He added: Its not for me to determine any particular kind of facility, but whatever she needs for Garda forced to do their job will be dealt with by government. Asked if the Gardai had failed given that they said they did not have intelligence before Fridays attack: I cant comment on the operational decisions or levels of intelligence that is available to the gardai obviously the commissioner will deal with that. I think there is a situation here of very high alert. The Gardai will now be very active on the streets in attempting to cope with the escalation in gangland crime. By Elaine Loughlin, political reporter Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said there has been a new escalation in gangland crime which cannot be tolerated. Reacting to last nights murder which is believed to have been a gangland retaliation attack, Mr Kenny said the government are 100% behind Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan and will be providing all the resources needed to the gardai. Eddie Hutch Snr was murdered when four masked men broke into his home in Dublins north inner city at around 7.45pm. It is believed his murder was in retaliation for the shooting dead of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra last Friday. But the GRA, which represents rank-and-file gardai, has this morning come out strongly against the Government for not providing enough resources to the force. GRA president Dermot OBrien told RTEs Morning Ireland radio programme that the force is under-resourced and called on members to be protected when they go out there. We are also looking for the immediate introduction of the MP7 machine gun, he said. And the return of the Uzi until the MP7 is introduced, Mr OBrien said adding that it had been taken away in 2012 and not replaced. Speaking on the campaign trail in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, Mr Kenny said: There has been a new escalation in the crime gangland war in Dublin with the shooting dead of another person yesterday evening. I have advised the Minister for Justice that she can say to the Commissioner for the Gardai that we will support the gardai and the Commissioner 100% in their efforts to deal with this and we will see that the resources that are necessary for emergency response units and the facilities to do their job will be supplied to the gardai and to the force in Dublin and elsewhere around the country. This is not a situation that we can tolerate, where innocent people may be caught purely innocently in the way of gangland crime. He said that the number of gangland murders had dropped in recent years but one is too many. Mr Kenny said that Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald would be putting out a statement after her meeting with the Garda Commissioner this afternoon. He added that the Government remained committed to establishing a second Special Criminal Court. We know that this is necessary because the criminal gangland people or those dissident republicans have not regard for either life or limb, or law and order in this democracy, Mr Kenny said. This party was founded on a principal of having law and order. We support fully the Garda Commissioner and the gardai and we will supply them with the resources to do the job that is necessary. SINGAPORE: US oil may test a resistance at $87 per barrel, a break above which could open the way towards... LAHORE: While there is no let up in the spread of dengue, the Punjab government has increased the number of beds for... RABAT: One volunteer firefighter has been killed and another injured in a forest fire in northern Morocco, where new... LONDON: Liz Truss said on Thursday she would resign as British prime minister, brought down just six weeks into the... PARIS: At least 92 people have been killed as Iran has cracked down on women-led protests sparked by the death of... BENGALURU: An Indian court on Thursday declined to lift a freeze on Xiaomi Corps $676 million worth of assets, even... Washington: Florida authorities have arrested a man, described as a fan of late Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, who is accused of throwing a live alligator through a restaurant's drive-through window. Investigators identified Joshua James, of Jupiter, Florida, as the man who tossed the one-metre reptile into a Wendy's in the northern autumn, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report. He faces three charges related to the incident: Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; unlawful sale, possession or transporting of an alligator; and petty theft. Mr James, 24, was taken into custody and booked into the Palm Beach County Detention Centre on Monday, as first reported by NBC affiliate WPTV. The driver, wearing a backwards baseball hat, arrived at the drive-through window to receive a large drink just before 1.30am on October 11, according to the report's summary of surveillance footage. An inmate was flown to Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney after he was stabbed and scalded at Goulburn Correctional Centre on Tuesday afternoon. An investigation by Corrective Services NSW is underway, after the man was "was stabbed and had hot water thrown on him" in an altercation, the Goulburn Post reports. A Goulburn jail inmate was airlifted to hospital in the SnowyHydro SouthCare helicopter after he was stabbed and had hot water thrown on him. Credit:Goulburn Post The SnowyHydro Southcare helicopter was tasked to transport the man in his 30s to the Sydney hospital shortly before 4pm, a spokeswoman said. Ambulance officers worked for nearly 45 minutes to stabilise the man before transfer. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and senior bureaucrats say renovations at the Prime Minister's official Canberra residence were successful, despite a $12 million price tag and 42 variations to the main contract. Facing a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, Senator Cormann and Finance Department secretary Jane Halton maintained renovations at The Lodge had been delivered on budget. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy Turnbull outside The Lodge. Credit:AAP Their comments come as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered a $45,000 review of the project by Braddon-based management consultancy firm Projects Assured. Do you know more about this story? Email thomas.mcilroy@fairfaxmedia.com.au Visa appears to have won over two of the major banks from its main rival MasterCard, as ANZ went with the provider in its move as the last of the big banks to offer a digital wallet on Wednesday. ANZ claims its version offers more card options than the other banks and is easier to load with cards. ANZ bank became the last of the major banks to offer a digital wallet, on Wednesday. Credit:Glenn Hunt Like all the other banks, its mobile payment app - known as ANZ Mobile Pay, which is separate to its existing GoMoney app - will only work on Android phones at the moment as banks here are still in negotiations with Apple over its wallet offering. The bank's customers can add American Express companion cards or Visa credit and debit cards to their smartphone. A nasty sell-off in the banking sector has dragged the sharemarket to its worst session since late September, as global woes once again came crashing on to our shores. The ASX 200 index dropped 143 points, or by 2.9 per cent, to 4832, while the All Ords was 139 points down at 4883. It was the worst showing since late September. Not helping the global mood was a more than 5 per cent plunge in Japanese shares as the yen jumped to its highest level since November 2014. Chinese markets are closed for New Year holidays, perhaps fortuitously. The banks were responsible for 93 points of the local benchmark index's drop. ANZ fell 4 per cent, CBA 4.6 per cent, NAB 4.8 per cent and Westpac 5.2 per cent. Financials were under attack, following a note by Credit Suisse's overnight, Vital Addition partner Betty Lam says. The note questioned Deutsche Bank's ability to service its coupons in 2017, sparking a near-10 per cent slide in the German bank's shares, she says. "The spillover rippled to banks and insurers locally" Energy shares did badly as the oil price fell again, with Woodside 2.5 per cent lower. Telstra dropped 1 per cent, CSL 2.6 per cent, Woolies 2.8 per cent and Wesfarmers 0.9 per cent. BHP fell 2 per cent and Rio 1.2 per cent. Among the winners in the top 200 - all 14 of them - were gold miners, and Harvey Norman, which ended up 0.9 per cent. The Australian and New Zealand licensee of Jeep Apparel and Footwear, Revolution Brands, has gone into administration putting 100 jobs at risk. Cor Cordis Chartered Accountants partners Barry Wight and Bruno Secatore were appointed voluntary administrator on February 3, the firm revealed on Tuesday. Jeep's outdoor and lifestyle clothing is sold under licence from the carmaker in over 40 countries around the globe. Credit:Jeep website Revolution Brands is based in Melbourne and has over 100 employees. It opened its first store in 2004 and now has 20 across Australia. "We are continuing to trade Revolution Brands as we investigate its financial position," Mr Wight said. Nick Scali managing director Anthony Scali believes overseas investment in Australian housing will fuel above-average sales of furniture and homewares for the foreseeable future, delivering bumper sales and profits for retailers. While analysts believe the housing market is starting to come off the boil, Mr Scali says construction activity in Sydney and Melbourne in particular remains strong, underpinned by demand from Asian investors taking money out of China. Nick Scali managing director Anthony Scali expects full year profits to rise as much as 40 per cent after a strong first half. Credit:Rob Homer "There seems to be a lot happening I'd like to see it continue," Mr Scali told Fairfax Media after reporting record sales and profits for the six months ending December. Nick Scali's first-half net profit rose 40.7 per cent to $14.1 million, beating market forecasts by $2 million, and Mr Scali expects full-year net profit to rise by at least 28 per cent to between $22 million and $24 million, compared with consensus forecasts around $21.1 million. The government's logic seemed to be that four High Court judges in a six-strong majority last week ruled that Australia did not detain asylum seekers on Nauru. By extension, the argument went, problems over there were no concern of the Human Rights Commission and, anyway, Australians need not worry too much because even though you can't see what's going on, it is all OK. Yet that is what Immigration Minister Peter Dutton did on radio on Tuesday. So did Attorney-General George Brandis in Senate estimates in tandem with the casual vacancy Queensland Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan. In a debate about asylum seekers that turns as much on moral issues as legal ones, it is simply not good enough for the Turnbull government to hide behind legal technicalities. Boat people intercepted by Australia have been sent to be detained on Nauru under a Canberra-generated memorandum of understanding. Australian taxpayers fund the centre and more. The scheme is designed for domestic policy purposes. That is the common sense truth; it is why the conditions at detention centres are our responsibility; why the government must open them to scrutiny; and why the Coalition and its acolytes must stop their propaganda war against anyone who dares demand the facts. Australia simply does not have an acceptable system of oversight of our treatment of asylum seekers offshore. In an information vacuum, disinformation spreads and fills the void. Therefore the media must be extra careful to be accurate and balanced. But claims about the extent of abuse against detainees on Nauru and Manus Island cannot ever be reconciled when independent oversight is missing and the government treats critics as the enemy. The views of the Human Rights Commission and even premiers like Mike Baird in NSW and Daniel Andrews in Victoria have been belittled by the federal government. When Mr Andrews offered to take responsibility for the 267 asylum seekers in Australia but due to be returned to Nauru, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asked him not to play politics. And all the while selectively leaked photos of a child's playground on Nauru feed the government propaganda effort. That is rich indeed. When Mr Dutton is asked about the lack of transparency and myriad other abuse claims, he says he wants the media to deal with facts. That is impossible when workers are stopped from speaking out and media access to the sites is prevented. On Tuesday the Minister offered to help Melbourne radio host Jon Faine visit Nauru. But Mr Dutton made clear that "the issue is one for the Nauruan government as to whether they issue a visa". Speaking of great decisions handled well, Turnbull seems determined to maintain the government's proud level of contempt and disrespect for Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs. Ah, it's just like old times! Attorney General George Brandis confirmed to Senate Estimates that he and the PM were going to ask her about the new sex discrimination commissioner, even suggesting that she be on the panel to select them, and then decided nah, why bother? "Mr Turnbull and I had a conversation, the outcome of which was we decided that an arm's length process of selection should be adopted," Brandis explained, "and it was and that arm's length process of selection has resulted in the appointment that was decided by cabinet yesterday." Triggs confirmed that "the Prime Minister at that stage [in December] indicated he would include me on the panel but he did so really as a matter of good faith because he hadn't been advised by anyone else, I don't think, on that question. And it was left at that. I've not subsequently been consulted," Instead the four person panel to appoint the new commissioner included Chris Moraitis, Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department - a man with a bit of Triggs-related history. A waltz down Estimates lane! You might recall that he was the person who had a meeting with Professor Triggs on 2 February 2015, before the release of the terrifying evidence of abuse and neglect of children in detention laid out in The Forgotten Children report, about which you'd have noticed Australia has done nothing. During the meeting he reportedly suggested that she should resign from her position, with a suggestion that Uncle Georgie would find her a nice cushy new job if she'd just stop going on and on about children being tortured in Australian detention camps. "[Mr Brandis] was asking me to formally put on the table or mention that there would be a senior legal role, a specific senior role, that her skills could be used for," Chris explained in Senate Estimates last February, indicating that Triggs had already known the position that would be offered. Now, the problem with this is that this would appear to be offering an inducement to Triggs to resign, which is not even a bit legal. However since everything G-Dawg had said on the matter was protected under Parliamentary privilege, federal police would need other evidence in order to launch an investigation into the matter. Such as, for example, the notes that Moraitis had taken during his meeting with Triggs. And wouldn't you know it? By a complete freak of chance, those notes were mysteriously lost. Heck, what are the odds? Dogs really do love homework, to be fair A very apologetic Moraitis told the whole sorry tale to the the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on February 24 last year. "I had taken some notes of my discussion with the attorney and also annotated those notes after my discussion with Professor Triggs. I had those notes for a while and unfortunately I have travelled to three countries in two weeks and I have lost those notes, losing my briefcase by mistake. I am sorry." Curse you, cruel Fate! Weirdly enough though, as the Saturday Paper reported, Queensland barrister Alex McKean filed a Freedom of Information request on documents relating to Chris Moraitis, Gillian Triggs and George Brandis between Sept 1 2014 and February 29 2015, including information on where Chris travelled and therefore where that errant briefcase might have been mislaid. The FOI office rejected the request on the grounds that it was too onerous to complete, but did confirm the following: "To assist you to revise the scope of your request I can advise that the Secretary, Mr Moraitis, did not lose a briefcase during the period September 1, 2014, to February 28, 2015." B-b-but how? It would seem that C-boy lost his official departmental briefcase containing said notes about conversations and then inexplicably didn't report the loss to the department, thereby raising exciting questions about security and confidentiality of official departmental documentation. After all, there's no possible alternative explanation: obviously he couldn't have just made the story up, since that'd be lying to the Senate! Luckily that story died while the government when on and on about how Triggs was partisan, thereby ignoring the horrible details about the treatment of children in detention in both the Forgotten Children and the subsequent Moss Review into the findings of the report. So keen was the government not to acknowledge the evidence that Brandis' fellow senator and stone-cold intellectual powerhouse Ian Macdonald declared the report was "unnecessary, irrelevant and inaccurate" despite the fact that he hadn't actually read it having decided "not to waste my time on a report which was clearly partisan". That's because he takes his publicly-elected responsibilities very, very seriously. And then last May the AFP decided that Brandis didn't have a case to answer, and everyone was happy forever after. Except for Professor Triggs, and those children that are still being traumatised in detention centres, obviously. Anyway, Moraitis is a great choice for the panel. Seems like a cool guy. The cocktail hour: reunionpalooza! We live in a golden age, people into 90s indie rock, as all the ancient bands of yore are reactivating while they still have the ability to stand. Today's entrant is US guitar-pop darlings Belly, who have confirmed they've reunited, will be playing shows in the US and Europe in the middle of the year, and that they have new songs for some reason. No word on an Australian tour yet, but maybe we'll see them for Big D sorry, Soundwa Parklum, say, what festivals are left? Though Telstra's widespread outage on Tuesday caused inconvenience and frustration for thousands of people, the damage was biggest and most calculable for those relying on the network to run their business, with one start-up entrepreneur reportedly down $15,000 in missed productivity. The three-hour outage which the telco is putting down to human error interrupted calls and data services for a large number of Telstra mobile customers, putting any businesses that rely on mobile communications at risk of losing at least three hours of trade. PoweredLocal chief executive Michael Jankie said the recommended changes to the R&D tax incentives lacked logic. Credit:Josh Robenstone Ironically, many people see Telstra as the premium choice among the many providers one with services that cost more but will save in the long run because of their resilience and reliability but in this case that choice may have backfired. The Australian Greek poet Dimitris Tsaloumas has died on the island of Leros, where he was born 94 years ago. Tsaloumas came to Melbourne in 1952 and lived in Elwood for many years. He had for a long time spent a large chunk of each year on his home island, and had lived there for the past three years. Man of two countries: Poet Dimitris Tsaloumas reading his work. Credit:Helen Nickas He studied at the University of Melbourne, taught modern languages and English in high schools. He had published two collections in Greece before migrating to Australia, but didn't resume his writing until 1974. He wrote in Greek and English, with his first English selection, The Observatory, translated by Philip Grundy, being published in 1983. Since then eight collections have been published in English and three more in Greek and English. He won a National Book Council award for The Observatory and later the Patrick White award for a writer deemed not to have been sufficiently recognised. Many of his books were published by the University of Queensland Press. Former UQP general manager Laurie Muller said the two had become genuine friends. "I thought his stuff was outstanding. He was really a man of two countries. When he was teaching at secondary college he used to call himself 'Dimitris Silly Mouse' because he said the students couldn't ever master his name." Muller said when he had stayed with Tsaloumas at his home on Leros he had been an incredibly generous host. His most recent book, A Winter Journey, was published by Owl Publishing. Owl publisher Helen Nickas, who first met him in 1984 when she began an honours thesis about his work, described Tsaloumas as a deep thinker. "He was very warm and interested in everything. He was always very political and when he came back from Greece would describe to me the political situation there. But he wasn't divided between the two countries; he loved Australia. But he really wanted to live half the time here and half the time there. Former Liberal leader John Hewson says veteran Liberal MP Philip Ruddock's announcement that he will give up his blue-ribbon seat at the next federal election should prompt Bronwyn Bishop to rethink her position. "When someone is visibly not contributing and isn't likely to contribute any more, then why would you keep them there?" he told Fairfax Media. Should Bronwyn Bishop rethink her decision now Philip Ruddock is standing down? John Hewson thinks so. Credit:James Brickwood, Alex Ellinghausen "Obviously her time is up." He said Mr Ruddock, 72, had been making a "very active and useful contribution" to public life, whereas Ms Bishop, the former Speaker, was "totally discredited" after last year's parliamentary entitlements furore that was triggered by her chartering a taxpayer-funded helicopter to get to a party fundraiser. Senator Brandis, facing questioning on the delay in replacing Elizabeth Broderick who vacated the role in September, said cabinet approved the appointment on Monday. The government will announce the new sex discrimination commissioner this week following a five-month delay, a Senate hearing was also told. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected the first option presented by Attorney-General George Brandis for the new sex discrimination commissioner and instead chose to generate a fresh recommendation via an advisory panel that excluded Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs. "In September last year, I was about to take a name to cabinet," Senator Brandis said on Tuesday morning. The decision will put the spotlight on the Australian Human Rights Commission and its president Gillian Triggs, who is unpopular with the government. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "It seemed to me at the time that it was appropriate to raise with the new Prime Minister the name that I had been about to take to cabinet in September. "Mr Turnbull and I had a conversation, the outcome of which was we decided that an arm's length process of selection should be adopted and it was and that arm's length process of selection has resulted in the appointment that was decided by cabinet yesterday." Professor Triggs told the hearing that, while Mr Turnbull initially told her she would be on the advisory panel, she was ultimately excluded. Former Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Peter Shergold has blamed major policy failing on the public service's inability to provide frank and fearless advice to ministers. In a wide-ranging review of government processes, Professor Shergold said the federal bureaucracy must learn from the ill-fated home insulation program and problems associated with the National Broadband Network. Professor Peter Shergold believes the Australian public service must learn from its mistakes. Credit:Wayne Taylor According to Professor Shergold, both programs were compromised by the inability of public servants to provide robust advice, to keep records of key decisions and to express concerns in writing. "Public servants did not draw sufficiently on external views and expertise and the partial evidence they did muster was unable to exert influence through its advice to ministers," he said. Richard McCudden is a self-employed painter who says he has "a great desire to save cats that would otherwise be euthanised". Rather than see abandoned or dumped cats put down, he has turned his rural property,15kms from the NSW central-west town of Cowra, into a cat sanctuary he calls "Camp Kitty" to feed and care for his "feline friends". But his neighbours say issues of odour, hygiene and water contamination are affecting their health and they have concerns about the welfare of the up to 200 cats that live there in three large enclosures. And the local council has been told there is a recognised psychological condition known as "animal hoarding" where the needs of the animals become lost to the person's need for control. Not for nothing does Nullarbor Plain mean "no trees": the vast expanse, spanning 200,000 square kilometres along the Great Australian Bight, with the Great Victoria Desert to its north, supports little more than sparse saltbush shrubs and clumps of hardy grasses. Yet today's flat and arid plain was once blanketed with forests of gums, banksias and other flowering plants, a team of Melbourne scientists has discovered. Using new techniques for deciphering Australia's environmental history, the researchers reveal that between 3 and 5 million years ago the Nullarbor Plain was at least three times wetter than it is today and probably home to a range of small animals such as possums. The ground-breaking research refutes the widely held view that the area's dry climate developed progressively over the past 14 million years, in response to the cooling of Antarctica. The new paper "takes a very innovative approach and is of great importance," said Josef Rauschecker, director of the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition at Georgetown University. "The idea that the brain gives specialised treatment to music recognition, that it regards music as fundamental a category as speech, is very exciting to me." In fact, Rauschecker said, music sensitivity may be more fundamental to the human brain than is speech perception. "There are theories that music is older than speech or language," he said. "Some even argue that speech evolved from music." And though the survival value that music held for our ancestors may not be as immediately obvious as the power to recognise words, Rauschecker added, "music works as a group cohesive. Music-making with other people in your tribe is a very ancient, human thing to do." Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, the director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas, said that when previous neuroscientists failed to find any anatomically distinct music centre in the brain, they came up with any number of rationales to explain the results. "The story was, oh, what's special about music perception is how it recruits areas from all over the brain, how it draws on the motor system, speech circuitry, social understanding, and brings it all together," she said. Some researchers dismissed music as "auditory cheesecake", a pastime that co-opted other essential communicative urges. "This paper says, no, when you peer below the cruder level seen with some methodologies, you find very specific circuitry that responds to music over speech." Kanwisher's lab is widely recognised for its pioneering work on human vision, and the discovery that key portions of the visual cortex are primed to instantly recognise a few highly meaningful objects in the environment, like faces and human body parts. The researchers wondered if the auditory system might be similarly organised to make sense of the soundscape through a categorical screen. If so, what would the salient categories be? What are the aural equivalents of a human face or a human leg - sounds or sound elements so essential the brain assigns a bit of gray matter to the task of detecting them? To address the question, McDermott, a former club and radio disc jockey, and Norman-Haignere, an accomplished classical guitarist, began gathering a library of everyday sounds - music, speech, laughter, weeping, whispering, tires squealing, flags flapping, dishes clattering, flames crackling, wind chimes tinkling. Wherever they went, they asked for suggestions. Had they missed anything? They put the lengthy list up for a vote on the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing service to determine which of their candidate sounds were most easily recognised and frequently heard. That mass survey yielded a set of 165 distinctive and readily identifiable sound clips of two seconds each. The researchers then scanned the brains of 10 volunteers (none of them musicians) as they listened to multiple rounds of the 165 sound clips. Focusing on the brain's auditory region - located, appropriately enough, in the temporal lobes right above the ears - the scientists analysed voxels, or three-dimensional pixels, of the images mathematically to detect similar patterns of neuronal excitement or quietude. "The strength of our method is that it's hypothesis-neutral," McDermott said. "We just present a bunch of sounds and let the data do the talking." The computations generated six basic response patterns, six ways the brain categorised incoming noise. But what did the categories correspond to? Matching sound clips to activation patterns, the researchers determined that four of the patterns were linked to general physical properties of sound, like pitch and frequency. The fifth traced the brain's perception of speech, and for the sixth the data turned operatic, disclosing a neuronal hot spot in the major crevice, or sulcus, of the auditory cortex that attended to every music clip the researchers had played. "The sound of a solo drummer, whistling, pop songs, rap, almost everything that has a musical quality to it, melodic or rhythmic, would activate it," Dr Norman-Haignere said. "That's one reason the result surprised us. The signals of speech are so much more homogeneous." The researchers have yet to determine exactly which acoustic features of music stimulate its dedicated pathway. The relative constancy of a musical note's pitch? Its harmonic overlays? Even saying what music is can be tricky. "It's difficult to come up with a dictionary definition," McDermott said. "I tend to think music is best defined by example." Justice Potter Stewart of the Supreme Court likewise said of pornography that he knew it when he saw it. Maybe music is a kind of cheesecake after all. Lending Her Ears to an MIT Experiment I'm not claustrophobic or fidgety. I love music though I'm not a musician. For all the times I had written about neuroscience studies that rely on the brain-mapping technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, I had never seen a scan performed. This was my chance. Take me, I begged Nancy Kanwisher, a professor of neuroscience at MIT. Take me through the experiment recently reported in the journal Neuron and show me where in the brain - my brain - the music-specific pathway resides. Let me lie in the dark, narrow chamber of the scanner with my head braced in place as I listen to a series of carefully selected sound clips. I assured her the enclosed quarters would not make me panic. I promised I would give good, clean data, by remaining as still as roadkill and avoiding the little head wiggles that are the bane of fMRI research. Kanwisher agreed to my request, and I was ushered to the scanning room, in the basement, by Sam Norman-Haignere, a postdoctoral fellow and an author on the new report, who is thin and light-eyed and looks a little like a Renaissance troubadour, and Alex Kell, a graduate student with a cheerful smile and a blond beard. An MRI device uses radio waves and powerful magnetic fields to track blood flow in the brain, an indirect measure of neural activity. I was instructed to remove my boots, belt, earrings, anything metallic that might interfere with the magnetic coils. My titanium dental implants? I asked anxiously. Not to worry: They'd be fine. And so, outfitted with customised, scanner-compatible headphones that would pipe in the sound clips and muffle the deafening clanks of the vibrating coils, I settled onto a gliding platform bed to be conveyed into the cylindrical bowels of the $US3 million machine, and the experiment began. For 90 minutes, I listened to 25 sound clips, each two-second "stimulus" played three times in a row, followed by the muted banging of the coils, a quiet interregnum, and then on to the next thrice-played clip. I heard the sound of a departing airplane, a cheering crowd, liquid being poured into a cup, a frisky banjo riff that I was sure had been taken from the bluegrass classic Rocky Top. I heard a woman speaking German, another speaking French and a third whispering loudly, "They have another shot at the deal." I heard what I thought was a ball rolling in a roulette wheel, but I later learned it was a chair rolling on a floor. I heard a little girl declare, "The mommy goes to the hospital!" and a man yelling, sitcom New Yawky style, "On top of that, I worked for her father for 20 years!" I heard fragments of classical piano and mariachi trumpets, the rasp of techno dance. I heard these sounds over and over, in different orders. I dreamily wondered if they defined my life. I kept my promise and didn't budge. As scanning subjects go, Kell later complimented me: "You're just like one of us." Daniel Andrews' offer to "accept full responsibility" for the asylum seekers facing the prospect of deportation has had a big impact. The Premier's letter to Malcolm Turnbull went nuts on social media; it was given national media coverage; and Andrews was loudly cheered at a 6000-strong protest outside the State Library. Other state premiers and chief ministers joined the push, pledging similar support. Premier Daniel Andrews takes asylum seekers to Melbourne Zoo. He has called on the federal government to let them stay in Australia. Credit:Facebook The letter, which appeared on Facebook before it was even seen by Turnbull, was followed on Monday night by another post on the Premier's official Facebook page showing a photograph of Andrews with two young boys facing deportation taken at the Melbourne Zoo. "I can't show you their faces, but I can tell you a bit about these two beautiful kids who I took to the Melbourne Zoo," he wrote on Facebook. The post was again "liked" within an inch of its life. A Melbourne cleaning company and its managing director have been fined more than $1 million by a federal judge for fleecing thousands of dollars from foreign workers and failing to deliver jobs that were promised. Federal Court judge Debra Mortimer on Tuesday found Box Hill company Clinica Internationale and its managing director, Radovan Laski, made misleading representations and engaged in unconscionable conduct by having at least 97 Indian workers pay a combined $800,000 in return for a 187 Visa, which allows a skilled worker to get permanent residency in Australia if they are sponsored by a regional employer. Clinica Internationale managing director Radovan Laski, photographed in 2013. Credit:Penny Stephens Justice Mortimer found that between August 2012 and May 2013 Clinica advertised for workers to sign up to its scheme to be sponsored when it knew the cleaning jobs it promised did not exist and it could not deliver the visas. Fairfax Media reported in 2013 that Mr Laski failed to find many of the workers the promised jobs and sponsorship, and instead sent some of them to work as unskilled labourers in abattoirs. Federal prosecutors have dropped a criminal case against a Melbourne man who was accused of trying to fight in the Middle East against Islamic State. Jamie Reece Williams, 29, had been charged with a single count of engaging in conduct to prepare to enter a foreign country with the intention of engaging in hostile activity, following his arrest by anti-terrorism police in late 2014. Jamie Williams leaves court after federal prosecutors dropped their case against him. Credit:Jason South But in a decision that will likely have ramifications for the Australians who have been investigated for engaging in the fight against Islamic State, and those who want to travel to the Middle East to do so, a federal prosecutor told Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday the charge against Mr Williams would be withdrawn. Prosecutor Andrew Doyle did not outline why the charge had been withdrawn. Magistrate Donna Bakos struck out the charge. A neo-Nazi group has gone on a letterbox recruiting drive in suburbs around Perth in an effort to beef up its membership. The Perth chapter of Aryan Nations Australia has been dropping flyers in High Wycombe, Maylands, Belmont and Girrawheen to "secure a future for white children". The letter distributed in Perth suburbs this week. Credit:reddit The issue was highlighted on social media site reddit and alarmed Kalamunda Shire president Andrew Waddell, who was unaware of the situation until informed by WAtoday. "I personally haven't seen the flyers, but anything that promotes hate speech and violence is not welcome," he said. The baby WA bandicoot that gained international attention after it snuggled up to some ducklings is still going well some 10 days after appearing. Rex, who discovered the baby bandicoot that he now refers to as 'Bandi' when he was checking on his pet duck's eggs at his Bouvard property on January 29, said he was surprised the bandicoot was still there. The baby bandicoot with two of the ducklings he snuggled up to. Credit:Richard Polden "The ducklings have moved out of the nest now but the bandicoot is still hanging around," Rex said. Kathmandu: Nepal's ethnic minority groups have lifted a four-month-old blockade along a major trading point with India, saying it didn't want ordinary people to suffer anymore, but vowed to carry on with its campaign against the new constitution. The Madhesi Front of four small parties based in the Tarai lowlands launched the strike in September to force Nepal's major political parties to amend the new charter and give them a greater role in the power structure. On Monday, the blockade was finally lifted. Local residents of Nepal and India cross a bridge at Birgunj on Friday. Vehicles have passed through the main border point between the two nations after local residents forcibly removed barriers set up by ethnic protesters who for months have been demanding changes in the new constitution. Credit:AP But the strike has led to a severe fuel shortage, and last week traders, fed up with the prolonged closure of the border crossing, burned the tents of the Madhesi activists and removed the barriers the Front had placed on the open border with India. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. From things to see and do, to in-depth features of those who make up our thriving, eclectic and buzzing city - with the BristolBuzz, get your weekly dispatch of what's going on in Bristol city centre straight to your inbox We've known it for years, but it has finally been confirmed Bristol is one of the coolest cities in the UK. A new survey has put Bristol as the third coolest city to live and it's not just down to the number of men sporting hipster beards. Behind Manchester and Brighton, the research looked at statistics from 25 of the country's most populated cities. It compared the amount of bars, art galleries, students and apartment prices to the population the criteria those looking for a metropolitan lifestyle and a booming cultural scene all want. Bristol did well when the researchers looked at the number of bars and art galleries per 10,000 people, which totalled 20 and 1.9 respectively. Its expensive apartments with the average cost totalling 207,225 plus its population of 18 to 44 year olds, at 45 per cent compared to Manchester's 51 per cent, saw it do less well in the cool stakes. Kirsty Martin, spokesperson for Web-Blinds.com, said: "The cool factor is crucial for both young and old people when choosing a place to live. "Offering easy access to a wide range of social and cultural amenities is a massive draw for home-hunters to some cities and can be a deal breaker for other locations. "This research pulled together statistics about many of the things people call cool and put data behind the concept." In March 2014, the city was deemed the best place in the UK to by the Sunday Times because of its "great shopping, great scenery and great social scene". Bristol, it said, boasts "one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, varied and beautiful housing stock, decent schools, buzzy culture and night life and access to some fantastic countryside". It has also been named one of the happiest places in the country to live. In another survey carried out by Web-Blinds.com Bristol has been named fourth in the most beautiful city list. Reasons why Bristol is cool It has endless festivals during the summer, plus a harbourside to enjoy the sunshine. Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Nipper the HMV dog are all from Bristol. We are the home of street art and Banksy. From Gloucester Road to the Bristol Pound, we love unique and independent things. Why do you think Bristol is cool? ;et us know using the commenting feature below Want the top crime stories from Bristol? Sign up for our new email updates on Crime & Punishment At the time when most young lads are doing their GCSEs, Edwin Reed was already a career criminal. Sentenced to 12 months in prison for GBH at the age of 16, even a hard case like Edwin must have felt a rising fear as the door was locked behind him for the first time. But the walls of Bristol Prison were to become very familiar to him in the ensuing years. Each time he left Her Majesty's hospitality behind, he would come out a slightly more hardened criminal. The petty crimes of his childhood stealing from shops or breaking into cars to take a stereo gradually morphed into the altogether darker world of selling Class A drugs and he says in the dog-eat-dog world of drug dealers in his native Knowle the ownership of a firearm was necessary to protect himself from violent squabbles with rivals. In the end it was being caught in possession of a firearm that earned Edwin his longest stretch behind bars. But in the five years he served from 2006, he missed a great swathe of his daughter's childhood. It was this realisation, above all else, that finally convinced him to consciously step away from his criminal past. Now Edwin is one of three ex-prisoners to have told his story for a short film the brainchild of a group of second year film-making students at the University of the West of England (UWE). Edwin was introduced to the students by a friend they had met while on a tour of Bristol Prison. "I've never talked openly about my past like this before, but I trusted my friend, and when he said he was doing it I decided to do it too," he says. "I was a bit unsure at first, but once I started talking about it, I actually quite enjoyed it. I think it's good to go through the whole process of being open about it," the 34-year-old explains. "Sometimes I've talked to friends about my experiences in prison and the things I did growing up. I'll be honest, sometimes I look back on the crimes I did as a kid and smile I had fun. I enjoyed it. Stealing cars, pinching this and that. They were different times. The police didn't even have a helicopter then. It was easy and it was fun. "There were even some good times in prison. I spent eight or nine years of my life there, so you had to have some good times. "But don't let anyone tell you they really enjoy prison. Nobody wants to be told what to do all the time when to get up, when to go to bed, what to eat." But Edwin quickly began to see prison as an occupational hazard. "I'd put my head down and serve my time, and back then it didn't really bother me too much. But when I had my daughter it was different. "She was born just before I went inside to serve the five year stretch for possession of a firearm. I sat there in the cell and missed her first birthday, her second birthday, her third birthday, her fourth birthday, her fifth birthday. It was like time was being taken from me, and I struggled to cope with that. "More cruelly, I was released after two-and-a-half years, and I got to spend a week with my little girl, before I was swooped on by armed police, accused of still owning a firearm. The accusation alone seemed to be enough to get me sent straight back inside to serve the remainder of the five years." Though his crimes may have brought misery to many, Edwin insists he has always conducted himself within a framework of a "code of honour". "I never burgled anyone's house. I never pinched anything from my own people in Knowle," he says. "But there's no doubt about it, each time I went into prison I'd come out a more hardened criminal. I never had any school education. All my education happened in the prison, so of course, I got into more and more serious crime. "It was nothing to do with my up-bringing at all," he adds. "My mum was a good mum, and she'd belt you if she thought you had done anything wrong. But I hid it all from her. She never really knew what I was up to until I was behind bars. Then I knew she was at home each evening crying about what had become of me. That was hard for me to think about while I was inside." But on the outside, the temptation of harder crime was always too much for Edwin to resist. "Back then heroin was new on the streets. It was easy to sell it and make money. The gun came with the job. Self protection. I never had it to stick anyone up, rob anyone or anything like that. It was my way of keeping myself safe. It didn't take much for a row to break out with a rival dealer over the most stupid things sometimes." Since returning to family life after the five-year stretch, Edwin has been careful to keep on the straight and narrow all for the sake of his daughters, Bella, four, and Liane, nine. "I don't speak about my past in front of them," he says. "But if they ever asked, I'd tell them. I don't want them to ever get into crime. I won't even let them out on the street on their own." 'I'm always nervous about a policeman knocking on the door' He now runs his own legitimate business selling body builders' protein supplements but admits he is always nervous about returning to prison. "I keep well away from drug dealing these days," he says. "But I'm always nervous about a policeman knocking on the door and being accused of a crime I didn't commit. It's so much easier for them to pin something on someone with a background like mine. That fear will always be there in the back of my mind. Always." As part of their film-making degree course, the University of the West of England (UWE) students were asked to produce a 10-minute documentary about "Bristol lives". Groups in the class chose a broad range of subjects to focus on including issues like fox hunt saboteurs, feminists and robotics engineers. But Alex Handschuh, 21, and his friends Christy Tattershall, 25, Edd Roberts, 21, Patrick Royall, 22, Matt Pidala, 22, found a more gritty subject matter. "Initially we had an idea about making a film about the people living in the shadow of the walls of Bristol Prison. As part of our research, Christy was offered a tour of the prison," explains producer Alex. "But while he was going around the building he met a prisoner called Phil, who was due to be released the following week. Christy explained that we were hoping to make a film for our student project and Phil was really keen to get involved and tell his story. "He had a couple of friends on the outside who had also served time, and he was able to put us in touch with them too." The students spent some time with the ex-cons and got to know them well. Despite their criminal backgrounds, Alex said any initial nervousness quickly disappeared. "They were just very personable guys and they were all very laid back about talking to us, so that by the time we actually started filming, it was very relaxed and felt very natural. "We didn't really know where the film was going to go. We didn't want to direct them at all. We thought it would be best if we just let them tell their stories as they wanted to that way they opened up much more naturally and really gave an insight into what they had done and how it had felt to go through years behind bars." Alex says fellow students and lecturers on the course were impressed by the standard of the film embedded below. "Everyone was impressed we had managed to get such a gritty story to tell," Alex says. "They all thought it must have been an awful lot of hard work. But in fact, it hadn't felt like work to me at all. I'd enjoyed every moment of getting to know the guys and making the film about their lives. "It certainly confirmed in my mind that this kind of documentary film-making is what I would like to do professionally when I graduate." The students are now working on producing a longer version of the documentary. 'Out of sight, out of mind' The Prime Minister yesterday criticised the "scandalous failure" of our prisons as he outlined his vision for a "modern, more effective prison system". Giving the first speech purely focused on prisons by a British PM in more than two decades, he outlined plans to give prison governors complete control over the way they run their prisons, which he claims will empower staff, drive up standards and cut reoffending. He promised six new 'reform prisons' by the end of the year and through a new Prisons Bill in the next session, has vowed to unleash these principles across the prisons system. Citing the figure that 46 per cent of all prisoners will reoffend within a year of release, David Cameron said: "It can be easy for us all when prisons are closed off by high walls and barbed wire to adopt an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude. I want this government to be different. "When I say we will tackle our deepest social problems and extend life chances, I want there to be no no-go areas. "And that includes the 121 prisons in our country, where our social problems are most acute and people's life chances are most absent. "Not everyone shows remorse and not everyone seeks redemption. But I also strongly believe we must offer chances to change; that for those trying hard to turn themselves around, we should offer hope; that in a compassionate country, we should help those who have made mistakes to find their way back on to the right path. "In short: we need a prison system that doesn't see prisoners as simply liabilities to be managed, but instead as potential assets to be harnessed. But the failure of our system today is scandalous." He added: "This failure really matters. It matters to the public purse: the cycle of reoffending costs up to 13 billion a year." Latest News Australia's record property market run comes to an end PEXA NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value MFAA offers cybersecurity resources to members Optus data breach a 'wake-up call' for businesses ASIC has disqualified a Sydney property adviser and director of an authorised mortgage broking firm from engaging in credit activities for four years.Craig Eric Lynch was the director of Paramount Financial Services (PFS) and Paramount Finance & Investment Services (PFIS), which were authorised to act as mortgage brokers.An ASIC investigation alleges that Lynch had breached his duties as a director of PFS and PFIS in his treatment of personal loan accounts held with those companies and in managing the taxation affairs of PFS.The regulator alleges that in April 2011, Lynch diverted $1.6 million of company funds a ten year advance on his salary to payout a debt he personally owed to PFS. PFS went into liquidation seven months later in November 2011.Between about July 2011 and September 2011, the ASIC investigation also found Lynch recorded $705,200 received from a third party as a reduction to his personal loan account with PFIS. That money was supposed to be paid to PFIS as commission for property sales.In both instances, ASIC alleged he had misused his position as a director to gain an advantage for himself or cause detriment to the company.ASIC also said that Lynch was not a fit and proper person to engage in credit activities. He was also banned from managing corporations for four years.The position of company director comes with certain responsibilities and when those responsibilities are breached, ASIC will take steps to remove directors from managing companies, ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell said. Latest News Australia's record property market run comes to an end PEXA NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value MFAA offers cybersecurity resources to members Optus data breach a 'wake-up call' for businesses The MFAA and FBAA have challenged a proposal recommended by the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) that ASIC should adopt an industry funding model, claiming it will be detrimental to brokers operating small businesses.In its final report released in December 2014, the FSI claimed that an industry funding model for ASIC could provide more funding certainty and enhance the transparency of ASIC's costs and funding.Under an industry funding model the costs of ASICs regulatory activities would be financed directly by those industries that create the need for regulation, such as mortgage brokers. Funds will be raised through a combination of annual supervisory levies and fees-for-service for specific services required as needed.In August, the regulator itself backed the proposal which will see it move from the current taxpayer funded model. Currently, only 15% of ASICs regulatory costs are recovered through industry levies and fees.However, in its submission to the governments consultation paper on an industry funded model, the MFAA said it is strongly concerned about the cost and competition burden this will place on brokers and it strongly opposes the proposal.Under the new fees-for-service model, credit intermediaries will be charged a fixed fee of $5,700 to apply for an Australian credit license, replacing the current fee schedule based on a sliding scale determined by the value of loans settled.According to the MFAA, this is grossly unfair to small broker businesses and could see their application fees rise by more than 1,000%.A fixed flat fee approach for the application of a credit licence is not only grossly unfair to smaller participants, it does not reflect the complexity of applications. In essence it is a lazy approach to adopt such a calculation with the largest relative burden then being artificially placed on smaller participants, the MFAAs submission stated.It is unconscionable that large entities settling loans in excess of $2,100 million p.a. to see a reduction of 75% for a credit licence application whilst a small business licence is expected to rise by 1078%.The FBAA also published a submission, however due to certain strategic and technical components at the time, the association decided it was not appropriate to make the contents of the submission public knowledge. However, speaking to Australian Broker, the chief executive of the FBAA, Peter White, said their submission also argued that the new fixed fee structure was not appropriate to the industry.[The FBAA] feels there should be multiple tiering structures The cost to get a licence is far, far, far too high.According to White, the expensive fixed fee could place a significant barrier to entry on new brokers.On the old scale $5,500 topped it out, but this is $5,700 from beginning to end. That doesnt make sense. What we dont want to see is barriers placed on new-to-industry people coming into the market. To me that sort of thing becomes a barrier to entry.But White says he also understands why it cannot be placed at the other end of the spectrum either.However, from that token, it shouldnt be 'two-cent exercise' as well because then you have got to turn around and question the calibre of new entrants. I am not being negative by that, it is just a balance. It is nothing against any individual; it is just a commercial balance.He did say, however, that the current tiered structure is not far off the mark.Whilst the associations both disagree with the fees-for-service proposal, particularly in respect to credit license applications, they do differ when it comes to the proposed annual levy arrangements.According to the government's consultation paper, the proposed annual levy arrangements for credit intermediaries or mortgage brokers will be grouped into tiers based on credit volume. The cost attached to the tiers will vary from $890 to $260,000.The MFAA says this also artificially skews against small business owners. The association predicts small business will see a rise of 84% in their annual cost if these levies are adopted, which will destabilise the credit industry and eliminate competition.Excessive increases in licence costs and annual levies is likely to destabilise the credit industry and in particular, credit intermediary businesses.Small operators will seek ways to minimise licensing and levy costs. The industry is likely to consolidate considerably and this will in turn reduce competition significantly across the credit sector.However, White told Australian Broker that whilst it would require some tweaking, brokers should not be that worried.As far as the annual fee goes, at the bottom end of the scale it is probably not a million miles away from what is payable today. But still, the tiers and stages through it are wrong. Latest News Australia's record property market run comes to an end PEXA NSW sees the largest declines in both property sales volume and aggregate value MFAA offers cybersecurity resources to members Optus data breach a 'wake-up call' for businesses 2016 is shaping up to be the year Canberras property moves forward according to those on the ground in the nations capital.Once in a similar realm as markets such as Sydney, Canberras real estate has not enjoyed the same trajectory as seen in other areas of Australia recently, but 2016 could be there year that changes as the city begins to evolve.Last year was the year we moved out of neutral, and this is the year I think the market will really begin to kick into gear, Claire Corby, director of Capital Buyers Agency, said.In the past weve tended to follow the Sydney market, but unfortunately that hasnt happened recently. I think the issues we had with the Mr Fluffy asbestos situation probably triggered some of the problems we had, but now were starting to move past that, Corby said.In her opinion, Corby said current buyer confidence on display in Canberra is perhaps the biggest positive for the city.Already this year were starting to see things pick up. At all of the auctions were seeing bids from everybody who has registered, which is different form the last little while, she said.There just seems to be a lot more confidence in the market this time round. We havent seen that recently and its a really big thing.Though she has a differing opinion on the impact Sydneys market performance has on Canberra, Penny Hyde, licensee of Penny Hyde Buyers Agent, agreed that confidence levels in Canberra are higher than they have been in the recent past.I think weve always had our own market in Canberra. There might have been some overspill from Sydney in the past, but I dont think it was what pushed us along, Hyde said.The confidence does seem to be back in the market now though. I think we had a period there where things were put on hold for a little while, but now I think well return to a much more positive period, she said.For Corby, population growth in Canberra and a resulting change in how the city is perceived are behind some of the recent improvements.The population is growing, Canberras almost up to a population of 400,000 and people are starting to realise that its a city that can stand on its own two feet and isnt completely reliant on the government and public service.Right now weve got a new hospital being built and a lot of investment into our road infrastructure and were starting to get more international flights direct to Canberra. With all that happening I think were at the beginning of a new cycle and starting to see the smart money come in.Corby said she is receiving interest from local and interstate clients, many of whom are looking for properties they can add value too.Were still probably a fairly expensive city, for a while our prices were right around Sydneys, but there are pockets where affordability can be found.A lot of the people Im working with want to add something like a granny flat to increase the value. Thats making average family homes, especially originals from the 1970 that have plenty of space pretty popular.Hyde too said she is working with locals and savvy investors from outside Canberra and agreed houses are the popular target.The family style homes are really popular. New build homes and the financial benefit they offer are proving popular, she said.The apartment market, like a lot of places, is terribly flooded. At the moment the only real positive it has is price, and from an investors point of view thats relay not that attractive. Thrashy Brooklyn crew Natur headlined a mostly doom bill at Public Assembly on March 1st , featuring appearances from Richmond's Windhand , Providence's Pilgrim and Boston newcomers Magic Circle . The show, part of a larger tour for Natur & Pilgrim, was the first of a set of dates before both hit SXSW and a sort of celebration for Pilgrim's well-executed Misery Wizard LP . For Magic Circle, which features members of Rival Mob, Boston Strangler, Innumerable Forms, Mind Eraser, and more, the Public Assembly date was their live debut. So far the band has nothing more than a demo to speak of, but we'll keep an eye out. In the meantime, keep on the lookout for Boston Strangler's debut LP Primitive (out now via Fun with Smack Records) and catch them live with Tragedy, Perdition & Sickoids. Tickets are on sale for this 5/12 show at Le Poisson Rouge. The Beach Boys are unquestionably one of America's biggest legacy bands, but music nerds of a certain variety know they're also way more than that. They weren't just a fun-in-the-sun band that churned out hits in the early '60s and lived off of them for the rest of their career; they were a challenging pop band who broke boundaries and released music that still sounds vital today. Forget Beatles vs Stones; when it comes to all-time groundbreaking pop, it's Beatles vs Beach Boys. Pet Sounds is their obvious classic, and it turns 50 this May. The band's mastermind Brian Wilson is playing the album in full on a tour this year that hits Red Bank in NJ, Levitation fest in Austin, Primavera Sound in Spain, and many more spots. Update: Brian added a Pet Sounds show at Brooklyn's Northside festival, and the band is reissuing the album. The great and storied (and eventually released) Smile was supposed to follow that, but was aborted after Mike Love's objection to it and the label's demand for a deadline. Brian's mental health also got in the way. Their power was in more than just those two albums though. There are hardly any Beach Boys albums that don't have at least one worthy song, and as far as this list is concerned, they've got 28 albums. (We're counting Smile and not counting Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, as it's just re-recordings of older songs. No compilations, live albums or strictly-covers albums either.) Even by The Beatles' breakup, The Beach Boys had released more, and they've currently put out more than The Rolling Stones. They were an unfuckwithable force in pop music into the early '70s, and a few moments of greatness even existed after that. With this list, we attempt to rank the discography of one of pop's greatest bands from worst to best. Let us know how you agree or disagree in the comments, and read on... --- 28. Summer In Paradise (1992) This is the only Beach Boys album with no redeeming qualities. It's not coincidentally the only album without Brian Wilson, and it's also the one where they actually allowed Full House's John Stamos to sing. The music sounds like a parody of The Beach Boys with dated early '90s production. Avoid at all costs. 27. Still Cruisin' (1989) This just beats Summer In Paradise for having "Kokomo." Of course that song is also not written by Brian Wilson and sounds like a Beach Boys parody (though at least it was co-written by the great John Phillips and Scott McKenzie), but it's also undoubtedly the most memorable Beach Boys song of the '80s. And for good reason. You probably agree as much as I do how much of an embarrassment it is to their prime era, but 27 years later it's still a catchy song and a fan favorite in their live sets. And as much as I wish it wasn't true, the song bests the album's only Brian Wilson contribution, "In My Car." Considering the rest of the album is old songs, a cover of "Wipe Out," and throwaways, "Kokomo" is oddly its saving grace. 26. 15 Big Ones (1976) It wasn't really necessary for The Beach Boys to put out an album largely made up of early rock 'n' roll covers in the mid-'70s, but given that covers have at times been essential parts of their albums, it wasn't entirely out of character. It's not a great album, but it has some solid moments. Strangely enough, the star of the album is kind of Mike Love. The Love-fronted cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" is fairly in line with early Beach Boys, and the lush, Love-penned "Everyone's In Love With You" is the album's prettiest original. The Brian-penned, Al Jardine-sung "T M Song" isn't half bad, and those classic Beach Boys harmonies are still usually on point. Mostly though, the throwaways outweigh the good moments. 25. M.I.U. Album (1978) The Beach Boys were still struggling to come out with good stuff in the late '70s, but M.I.U. Album is at least better than a covers album. Some classic Brian comes through on his co-written (and Mike Love-sung) "Belles of Paris," and "My Diane" comes close to his trademark melancholy. Dennis Wilson's voice on that one was mostly shot by then, sadly, but the harmonies make up for it. Opener "She's Got Rhythm" isn't particularly great and it's certainly dated, but Brian's falsetto remains angelic. 24. L.A. (Light Album) (1979) This one is basically interchangeable with M.I.U. Album, but it gets one slot higher for a couple reasons. One: Brian's opening track with his brother Carl (which Carl sings), "Good Timin'," actually manages to sound like classic Beach Boys. Two: It has an 11-minute disco remake of "Here Comes the Night" from 1967's Wild Honey. Say that out loud once again. They took this '60s song and added vocoder vocals, a funky bassline, and extended jams that aren't a thousand miles away from James Murphy's collaborations with Arcade Fire (maybe it's not a coincidence that those collaborations yielded a song called "Here Comes the Night Time"). It's a little more incredible that it exists than how it actually sounds, but still. This song is wild. As an added bonus, "Baby Blue" ain't too shabby of a Dennis Wilson ballad. 23. The Beach Boys (1985) I said in the intro that there are hardly any Beach Boys albums that don't have at least one worthy song. I've mentioned a few highlights on the previous albums, but starting here, every album has a handful of worthwhile tracks. Brian wrote or co-wrote three songs on this one, and horribly dated production aside, you can still hear some of his magic. All three of Brian's contributions have melodic changes that ever so slightly hint at his better days, and even the songs that aren't penned by him have those Beach Boys harmonies that still no other band has been able to master. It didn't produce any real Beach Boys staples and it didn't break any of the ground that their best releases did, but it's too straight-up enjoyable to fully hate. Especially given the sort of '80s pop revival that goes on today, these songs could be very fashionable right now with a little tweaking. Dev Hynes would probably love to write a song like "Crack At Your Love." 22. Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" (1972) This is the followup to their last truly excellent album, and the first to feature Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar. Blondie's contributions would improve significantly on the next album, Holland (more on that one in a bit), but here his harder rock tendencies feel out of place and often hold the band back. Brian doesn't take lead on any songs and only contributes a bit of songwriting (including the highlight "Marcella"), but the real star on this album is Dennis. His ballads "Make It Good" and "Cuddle Up" are as good as most anything he's written. 21. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964) One of Brian's favorite albums of all time is the immortal holiday album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector by his hero Phil Spector, so it's no surprise that he'd make a holiday album of his own. And opener "Little Saint Neck" is as enduring as anything on Phil's album. Brian takes a few songs that Phil also did on his album, including "White Christmas," which he gives a breathtaking performance of. The unbeatable mid-'60s harmonies of The Beach Boys are in full effect on this album, and even if you may only play this stuff at one specific time in the year, it's still worth coming back to over half a century later. 20. Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980) The band sort of hit a weird stroke of genius with 1980's Keepin' the Summer Alive. They were just coming off two mediocre '70s albums, they hadn't yet adopted comically-'80s production, and they managed to churn out these songs that were highly spirited and don't exactly sound like any other album in their catalog. The title track is downright fun, and not in the way that their early songs were, and Brian's songwriting contributions feel less awkward than they had on the last two albums. My first time hearing this album was when a friend in college handed it to me and said, "Everyone told me The Beach Boys were washed up by the '80s, they said don't bother with Keepin' the Summer Alive. But I did. It's awesome." He was not wrong. 19. That's Why God Made the Radio (2012) The Beach Boys' most recent album and their first in 20 years proved to be a pretty major success. All but one song was co-written by Brian, and he mostly tapped into the kind of sunshine pop that made up their most essential releases. This shouldn't be too surprising; by this point Pet Sounds was a certified all-time classic and even Smile had finally been released and cherished by the public. Their harmonies still sound untouchable, and 50 years into their career they prove that none of the copycats can do it quite like The Beach Boys do it. They played some of these songs on their 50th anniversary tour and they fit right in next to the '60s classics. That's pretty amazing for any band that far into their career, let alone one with the massive roadbumps this band had. 18. Surfin' USA (1963) This is the lowest-ranking of the (non-holiday) early albums. Not because it doesn't have any definite classics (it has two: the title track and "Shut Down"), but just because it doesn't have any major milestones for the band and most of the others do. Five of its tracks are instrumental, three of which are covers, and there isn't much besides the singles that's still worth playing today. One exception, however, is Brian's early ballad "Lonely Sea" that had major hints of what he would soon achieve. 17. Little Deuce Coupe (1963) This one was neck and neck with Surfin' USA, but it gets the edge for a few reasons. It shares "Shut Down" with that album (and "409" with the debut), so taking repeats out of the equation it has two classic singles to Surfin' USA's one ("Little Deuce Coupe" and "Be True to Your School"). It's also got two brilliant Brian ballads ("Ballad of Ole' Betsy" and "Spirit of America"), which again, are often the most rewarding parts of these early albums. When you hear the early stuff at first, you may just hear flimsy pop songs, but when you're listening with Pet Sounds and Smile in mind, it's often the ballads that reveal the blueprints for those albums. 16. Love You (1977) Admittedly, I like Love You more in concept than in actuality, but the story behind it and the weirdness of its existence keep it interesting. After Brian had retreated from much of the band's writing and recording, he took most of Love You on by himself (it was originally intended to be a solo album). It hearkened back in spirit to Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations," but it was recorded largely with synthesizers before that approach became commonplace. Theoretically, Love You is what Animal Collective and Panda Bear have spent the last nine years doing (though in reality, they've bested this album a few times). It's a total outlier in the band's catalog, a highly underrated album of the late '70s, and a rare moment where Brian took control of songwriting during that era. It's the first must-hear album on this list. 15. Surfin' Safari (1962) This is where it all started. Like with The Beatles, once you've explored their more adventurous material, you start to realize they were showing hints of brilliance from the beginning. This is clear from the first two seconds you throw on this record. The verses in the opening title track may be standard rock 'n' roll, but the intro/chorus already shows Brian's ability to craft atypical melodies and complex harmonies. And also like The Beatles, these early albums aren't just curios for superfans. The simpler songs are fun and enjoyable in their own right. Just like sometimes you'd rather hear "I Saw Her Standing There" than "Strawberry Fields Forever," sometimes you're just in the mood for "Surfin' Safari," "409" or "Surfin'," all of which appear here. They also do Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" six years before Blue Cheer did and eight years before The Who did. (The Who's version is probably the best, but this one has its merits too.) There are some major throwaways, like there's no real reason to revisit their take on the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians." Also Brian hadn't developed his falsetto yet and Mike Love sings lead on most of the songs, two things that would have to change for the band to reach their greatest potential. Nevertheless, Surfin' Safari had them coming out of the gate strong. 14. 20/20 (1969) This one has an uneven and often disappointing side A, but side B is almost flawless. Side A kicks off with "Do It Again," an obvious throwback to their early days in sound and song title, which felt like a major regression coming right after the band's most creative period. Brian co-wrote it with Mike Love, and it's always seemed like the moment Brian finally gave in to Mike's three-year-long pleas to return to this sound. Side A also has the hard rocking "All I Want to Do," a sound that's never suited them well, and Bruce Johnston's pretty but mostly-unnecessary instrumental "The Nearest Faraway Place." At least those are balanced out by Dennis' quality ballad "Be with Me" and a fine Carl-sung version of The Ronettes' "I Can Hear Music" (honoring the band's Phil Spector influence once again). Side B begins with a cover of blues legend Lead Belly, and only gets better from there. The psychedelic waltz "I Went to Sleep" is up there with Brian's best work and "Time to Get Alone" isn't far behind. (They were also both reportedly written before the 20/20 sessions, which is not surprising.) Then comes Dennis' masterful "Never Learn Not to Love," which was based on a song given to him by his then-friend Charles Manson (despite Manson being a truly horrific person, it is difficult to deny his musical talent). And they're less necessary in this context now that The Smile Sessions exist, but the album closes with two of the very best songs from the then-abandoned Smile, "Our Prayer" and "Cabinessence." 13. Holland (1973) After Blondie Chaplin struggled to fit in with the band's sound on Carl and the Passions - "So Tough," he ends up being the strongest part of Holland. Blondie takes lead vocals on opener "Sail On, Sailor," a song Brian had written with Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks that was given to the other band members (and a few co-writers) to finish. It's the album's best song, and remains their most memorable '70s single. Some of the Wilson/Parks song cycles also must have rubbed off on Mike Love and Al Jardine, who offer the three-part "California Saga," one of Love's finest moments in the band. There isn't much contribution from Brian on this one, but all the members are on their A game and it's really a progressive record. There are no throwaways or silly covers or needless instrumentals, and no throwbacks to their early days or misguided hard rock songs. It may have been unable to compete with The Dark Side of the Moon or Quadrophenia or Houses of the Holy when it came out, but today it sounds like a gem of that era. 12. Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) Like most of the early albums, this one is still a mix of filler, covers, instrumentals and undeniable hits, but the hits on this one really hit. You may be sick of hearing "Fun, Fun, Fun," but there's a reason you know every word to it and there's a reason this 50+ year old song wins over generation after generation. It's pure pop magic. "Don't Worry Baby" is just about as magical, and the Brian-sung cover of Frankie Lymon's 1956 single "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" is a fine version. As far as stepping stones to Pet Sounds are concerned, the most important moment of this album is "The Warmth of the Sun." It's one of Brian's early melancholic ballads where he and his falsetto are the stars, and it's one of the first examples of him toying with the standard rock chord progressions. 11. All Summer Long (1964) "The Warmth of the Sun" may have hinted at the balladry of Pet Sounds, but the first time we hear Brian attempting the multi-layered complex pop is "I Get Around." It was All Summer Long's lead single, opening track, and The Beach Boys' first U.S. #1 song. The song sounded enough like a fun-in-the-sun pop song to fit in with stuff like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfin' USA," but Brian knew it was so much more. The way he brings in the overlapping vocal harmonies in the intro was some of his most complex work to date. And though he had worked with members of The Wrecking Crew before (the group of session musicians who Phil Spector also worked with), this was the first time he teamed with them to give The Beach Boys his own spin on Spector's Wall of Sound. If you're making a list of milestones leading up to Pet Sounds, this song is a major one. The album's title track, "Wendy," and "Don't Back Down" are three more stone cold classics of the early era; and "We'll Run Away" and "Girls on the Beach" are two more of Brian's excellent falsetto-led ballads. Both of them show how essential the group's lush harmonies would be to those types of songs in their psychedelic period. 10. Surfer Girl (1963) As important as "I Get Around" is to the development of Pet Sounds and Smile, the best album of the band's early period is their third album, Surfer Girl. Most importantly, it's the first album where Brian was the album's sole producer, which would be one of his most crucial roles a few years later. "Lonely Sea" on Surfin' U.S.A. hinted at it, but Brian's first truly great ballads are on this album. The opening title track was the most gorgeous song he had written yet. (And if you've never checked out the version from the 1967 bootleg Lei'd in Hawaii, you should. They strip it down and make it hazy enough to fit in on Smiley Smile.) But the album's best song and the best song of the early era in general, is "In My Room." The first time we realize Brian excels as a personal songwriter is here. Add in the production flourishes of Pet Sounds, and it'd fit right in on that album. It's a perfect song. "Catch A Wave" is another of their better surf pop songs, and "Surfer Moon" and "Your Summer Dream" are both great showcases for Brian's talent as an individual. It's an early album so there are still a few skippable tracks, but the highs are very high. 9. Today! (1965) This is the first Beach Boys album that I no longer consider the "early era," though it's not yet the psychedelic era or the peak of their creativity either. It came out three months after Beatles for Sale, which was The Beatles' first album after Bob Dylan had introduced them to pot. The transition that album makes is undeniable, and likewise Today! is Brian's first album after being introduced to pot and it's the first one that you can't call surf pop. Side A still has a foot in the earlier material and contains two of that era's best songs: their cover of the Bobby Freeman-penned "Do You Wanna Dance?" and their first version of "Help Me, Ronda." But otherwise this album comes in at #9 on this list for side B. All of the songs (not counting the final jokey spoken word track) are ballads, fleshed out more than ever by The Wrecking Crew who at this point are as important to the band's sound as Brian himself. Brian sings lead on four of them (Dennis takes the fifth), and he's really diving into the introspective lyrical approach that would define Pet Sounds. Brian wasn't quite ready to write his masterpiece yet, but you can hear on side B of Today! how close he was. 8. Wild Honey (1967) Wild Honey was released just two months after Smiley Smile, the scrapped-together home recordings of songs from the aborted Smile album, and this one was done in a similar way. The band were no longer using studio musicians, Brian stepped down from his role as producer, and they abandoned the extreme advances in production they had made on Pet Sounds for rougher recordings in Brian's home studio. It certainly wasn't a commercial success, and hardly any songs from it became staples in live sets or on greatest hits albums, but it remains a thrilling part of their late '60s psychedelic era. The opening title track brings back the theremin they used on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" and most famously on "Good Vibrations," giving it an edge that feels distinctly Beach Boys. A lot of the songs -- "Aren't You Glad," "Country Air," "I'd Love Just Once to See You," "Here Comes the Night" and "Let the Wind Blow" -- are the kind of quirky lo-fi-ish pop songs that made Smiley Smile so intriguing, and this often feels like a companion to that album. (It makes sense that the reissue was packaged that way.) The only actual connection to Smile though is "Mama Says," which is a reworked part of "Vega-Tables." Sometimes I actually prefer this weird a cappella version. 7. Sunflower (1970) After the 1960s ended, The Beach Boys had another creative boost. They weren't doing weird lo-fi recordings anymore, and they successfully moved past the indecisive 20/20 to write another classic album. An early highlight is Brian's "This Whole World" that sounded more spirited that he had in a while, and he and Carl sound great singing it together. "Deirdre," "All I Wanna Do," and "Our Sweet Love" have remnants of the psychedelic era, and they're three of the band's most gorgeous '70s songs. They also managed to tack on a Smile leftover that never made it on the eventual Smile tracklist, "Cool, Cool Water." Dennis' songwriting contributions were becoming more and more important to the band, and it's actually he who wrote the album's best song: "Forever." He must have hung around his brother enough that he picked up a trick or two, because this is the same kind of intimate beauty Brian perfected on "God Only Knows" and "Caroline, No." Sometimes "Brian Wilson" and "The Beach Boys" begin to feel synonymous, but Dennis wrote enough great songs in their career to make up an album of their own. He's The Beach Boys' George Harrison in a way. (And actually, he did make an album of his own: 1977's Pacific Ocean Blue, which may be the best Beach Boys offshoot album.) 6. Surf's Up (1972) Before The Smile Sessions came out, the most essential part of this album was its title track, a leftover from Smile that would've been the album's best song behind "Good Vibrations." Even with that song aside, this is one of their best-sounding and most interesting albums. It's not as fleshed out as the Wrecking Crew days, but the production's warm and bright, and the songwriting is exclusively back to forward-thinking pop. Pet Sounds was a product of its era -- the influence of The Beatles was felt. But in 1972, The Beach Boys had evolved their pop in a way their contemporaries were doing nothing like. It was their first album in a while to feel like a complete statement (only "Student Demonstration Time," based on a Leiber/Stoller song from 1954 and re-worked by Mike Love, is out of place and skippable), but its finest moment by a long shot is "Til I Die." It's possibly the last song Brian ever recorded on the level of Pet Sounds and Smile. It's lush, melancholic, personal, full of overlapping harmonies; all the things that made him great. 5. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965) People like to say that although Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) is the technical predecessor to Pet Sounds, Today! is the true predecessor. I actually disagree. Side B of Today! is undeniable in the development of Pet Sounds, but in different ways Summer Days came closer. (It also has the superior version of "Help Me, Rhonda.") It came out a month before The Beatles' Help!, and both of those albums feel similar. They're both the last album by each band to contain any resemblance to their early material, and both followed by what's largely considered each band's first 10/10 classic. Summer Days' most obvious achievement is "California Girls," which is sort of the significantly better sequel to "I Get Around." Like that song, it's still fair to call it surf pop, but other than Mike Love's nasally vocals and the lyrics, this is much closer to the heavily-arranged pop of Pet Sounds. Brian conducting The Wrecking Crew on this one was his greatest musical achievement to date (Hal Blaine's drumming and the song's intro are major highlights), and the harmonies in the chorus are transcendental. The Brian-sung, Wall of Sound-inspired "Let Him Run Wild" could fit on Pet Sounds without changing it at all. "You're So Good to Me" is close too and the a cappella closer "And Your Dreams Come True" is the most psychedelic the band's harmonies had sounded at that point. "Amusement Parks U.S.A." is a fascinating one because it kind of sounds like Mike Love fighting to make it "Fun, Fun, Fun" over Brian's increasingly darker arrangements. The one cover here is of a Phil Spector song, which is a fitting tribute to his hero who he'd eclipse on his next album. And then there's the great "Girl Don't Tell Me," which basically predicts The Shins' first two albums. It doesn't have the cohesion of Pet Sounds or side B of Today!, but it's a collection of some the band's finest material. 4. Friends (1968) If there's a most underrated Beach Boys album, it's gotta be Friends. It wasn't popular like their early material, and it wasn't a critical darling like Pet Sounds either. But it's really just about as good. If Smile had come out and gained success and competed with Sgt. Pepper's, maybe Friends would be talked about in the same breath as White Album. But the way things played out, you'll hardly hear it mentioned in the same breath as The Notorious Byrd Brothers. It's still up the stripped-down, lo-fi alley of Smiley Smile and Wild Honey, but it's prettier and less quirky. Brian's unique vision of pop music and the band's unparalleled harmonies are as intact here as they are on Pet Sounds and Smile, and there's truly no skippable track. The harmonies on "Anna Lee, The Healer" are some of the most gorgeous of the band's career. They're so full-sounding that you forget they're only backed by piano, a bass, and the tiniest bit of hand drumming. Mike Love had just gotten back from a trip to India to study Transcendental Meditation with The Beatles and Donovan, so even he was on board with the '60s counter-culture stuff this time. The closing track is actually named "Transcendental Meditation," it's one of the band's most outwardly psychedelic songs ever, and Mike Love even helped write it. This is the first one where Dennis was a key songwriter too, and his contributions ("Little Bird" and "Be Still") are both up there with Brian's. The one-two of opening tracks "Meant for You" into "Friends" is as good an album introduction as any, and this album's genre experiments are successful too. "Busy Doin' Nothin'" toys with bossa nova, while the instrumental "Diamond Head" incorporates Hawaiian music. It's not an album with Brian in the conductor's booth, but it's definitely the one where they clicked most as a band. Update (6/24/20): Brian himself says, "Pet Sounds is by far my very best album, though my favorite is Friends." 3. Smiley Smile (1967) On most days I'll actually tell you that Smiley Smile is my personal favorite Beach Boys album, but for the purpose of this list there's no way I can deny that the two that follow absolutely belong there. Like many Beach Boys obsessives, I've wished that Smile would've come out in 1967 and wondered how the history of pop music would've changed because of it. Would it have topped Sgt. Pepper's? (My opinion: Yes.) Would that have caused The Beatles to react the way they reacted to Pet Sounds, causing them to write an entirely different album than White Album? Would it finally be Beatles vs Beach Boys and not Beatles vs Stones? Would The Beatles have been the ones to give up after hearing how good Smile was? Would Abbey Road have never come out???? WOULD THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT EVEN EXIST??? I think about those things and I often wish I didn't have to think about those things, because Smile deserved to come out in 1967. I wish Mike Love wasn't resisting it, I wish the label wasn't rushing Brian to put something out, and I wish he didn't have the mental health issues that prevented him from finishing his own work. But sometimes I'm also happy that Smile was aborted, because it resulted in Smiley Smile, one of the strangest and absolute greatest albums of the strange and absolutely great 1960s. Most of the album was material written for Smile, which would've been Brian's grandest and most ambitious statement to date, instead turned into minimal lo-fi recordings in his home studio. Where "Vega-Tables" had countless musicians on the Smile version, here it was backed by little more than a 2-note bassline. (And, famously, the percussion was Paul McCartney chewing celery.) "Little Pad," one of the songs that wasn't written for Smile, has the band laughing while they're singing. "She's Goin' Bald," based on a Smile track that never made it on the eventual tracklist, has the band pitching up their voices until they sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks. What band as famous as them in the '60s was doing this? What band even would do this? It's obvious why it flopped as a followup to Pet Sounds, but it's an endlessly fascinating album that we're lucky exists. It's easy to draw direct lines from this to the lo-fi indie scene of the '90s, or like, Pinkerton. If an album was ever ahead of its time, this one is. Now that Smile is here, another good thing about this album's existence is that we get both options. And while Smile is absolutely the album it was always talked up to be, I prefer some of the Smiley Smile versions of these songs. This quirky version of "Vegetables" has always suited the lyrics better. And I'll actually take the more minimal, haunting Smiley Smile version of "Wind Chimes" over the way Brian first intended it. Pet Sounds and Smile are no doubt classics of psychedelic pop, but they've never actually sounded as druggy as this album does. If you're trying to convince a newcomer that the Beach Boys had an edge, sometimes you can't even put on "Good Vibrations" or "God Only Knows" because people know those songs and never thought about them as psych-pop. But put on the Smiley Smile version of "Wonderful" or "Fall Breaks And Back To Winter" and they might say, "That's The Beach Boys?" It's amazing that almost 50 years into this album's existence, it's still that shocking. 2. Pet Sounds (1966) There's really not much left to say about Pet Sounds that hasn't been said. You can listen to the album hundreds of times and you'll still be bewildered trying to figure out how Brian put this thing together. He's literally got over 50 musicians playing on the album, and he envisioned such a specific sound in his head that, as the story goes, he would stop the recording for something as subtle as a drum hit not coming out the way he pictured it. Then he topped it off with The Beach Boys' intricate vocal harmonies and his most personal songwriting to date (with lyrical assistance from Tony Asher). It's a songwriting and recording process that still sounds nearly impossible to pull off today, and I'm not sure another pop album ever came together quite like this one. Complexity isn't enough to create great pop music though; the real impressive part is that, with a process like this, everything sounds so good. You can pick apart the subtleties all day, or you can just sit back and take the album in. Both are endlessly enjoyable. Unlike any prior album, the one cover here (Brian's arrangement of the traditional "Sloop John B") isn't filler or left in there as an ode to his influences. He makes it a necessary part of the album. Both instrumentals ("Let's Go Away for Awhile" and the title track) also only add to the flow of the record, rather than taking anything from it. Brian sings lead or co-lead on almost every song this time, and it's clearer than ever that it's also the sound of his voice -- not just his songwriting and production -- that made The Beach Boys so special. On the one song that always seemed too personal to give to someone else, "God Only Knows," his brother Carl still handles it as beautifully as Brian would have. (A Brian-sung version appeared on 1997's The Pet Sounds Sessions. Of course it's great, but it doesn't best the Carl version.) And if there was ever a song to talk about Brian's way with atypical chord changes, it's "God Only Knows." Look at the sheet music for that and it looks like it's going to sound more like a jazz song than pop, yet Brian makes these unpredictable progressions sound gorgeous. It's no surprise Paul McCartney calls it his favorite song of all time. And speaking of, The Beach Boys' race with The Beatles was never more clearly in effect than on this album. Its approach was directly inspired by The Beatles making a cohesive album with Rubber Soul, rather than just a collection of songs, and Pet Sounds was in turn a direct inspiration on Sgt. Pepper's. It's still exciting to think of a time when the biggest rock bands in the world were in mutual admiration of each other yet constantly competing. (This still happens in rap though.) It was a time when if you were still sounding like 1965 in 1966, you had fallen behind. It's no wonder so much creativity came from that short era. Between The Beatles and The Beach Boys, it wasn't just songwriting either. Their advances in production quality were unparalleled at that time, and for this type of music, it never really got much better. It's a huge part of what makes records like Pet Sounds so timeless. Even other great psychedelic pop albums from 1966 like Love's Da Capo and Donovan's Sunshine Superman are inseparable from their '60s production. Pet Sounds could believably have come out today. 1. Smile (1967/2011) If I had made this list any earlier than 2011, it might have felt wrong to include Smile. If you were a fan up until that year, you had probably encountered some version of the album. Maybe you assembled all the tracks that made it onto later albums and compilations and bootlegs and put the album together the way you thought it might have come out. Maybe you picked up someone else's version, like Mok's. There was the 2004 re-recording of the album, Brian Wilson Presents Smile, so you had an idea for how brilliant this thing was, but it still didn't compare to the possibility of hearing it with Brian's '60s-era vocals, The Beach Boys' harmonies, and The Wrecking Crew. The 2011 release of The Smile Sessions finally gave us the 1967 recordings, assembled mostly according to the BWPS tracklist (with input by Brian), and it's probably about 90-something percent done compared to the way Brian envisioned it at the time. Considering his perfectionism was hitting insane levels at that time, this is a more-than-acceptable version of the album. Still, the possibilities did, and in some ways still do, remain endless. If Smile came out in 1967, would "Good Vibrations" have turned into an eight-minute song? Or a 15-minute one? Going by the song getting a full disc of outtakes, that doesn't sound impossible. And would it really have ended up as the last track on the album? Either way, the album as we know it is as amazing as it was always hyped to be. It took what Brian had achieved on Pet Sounds to wildly new levels, it topped anything The Beatles had done, and it quite possibly would have been the greatest album of the 1960s if it had come out then. Pet Sounds is a perfect album of pop songs, any of which exist as perfect pop songs on their own. But working with Van Dyke Parks, Brian crafted Smile as a song cycle where countless segments were recorded separately (enough to fill five discs on the box set version of The Smile Sessions), intended to be pieced together as one massive statement. (As you may know, Van Dyke Parks put out his own similarly-minded album that same year, simply titled Song Cycle.) Where songs exist that could be considered covers, like Dennis' haunting medley of "You Are My Sunshine" and "The Old Master Painter" or the segment of doo wop song "Gee," they're working within the storyline of the album. The same is true for the instrumentals and the a cappella songs. A few absolute classic pop songs appear -- "Heroes and Villains," "Cabin Essence," "Surf's Up," and of course "Good Vibrations" -- but even those take on a larger life within the context of the album. What is "Heroes and Villains" without "Our Prayer" and "Gee" leading into it? Or "Surf's Up" without "Child Is Father of The Man"? And "Good Vibrations" manages to sound even more epic coming right out of "Love to Say Dada." ("Good Vibrations" is, by the way, the greatest pop song of all time. Some people may disagree, but those people are wrong.) Like I was getting at above when talking about Smiley Smile, after hearing so many hypothetical versions of this album for years before getting this one, some things about it will always disappoint. Whether they're truly superior or I was just too used to them, I'll still take certain Smiley Smile and bootleg versions over the ones here. And Brian's solo piano version of "Surf's Up" bests the full-band one. That doesn't actually take away from the album though. Those versions still exist and they're still great to listen to, but no bootleg could sequence and transition these songs the way Brian could and eventually did. Even if it wouldn't have been exactly like this in the '60s. It's still tragic that Brian's internal demons and the album's external enemies prevented it from being released then. But maybe it needed to be this way. Maybe Smile was truly ahead of its time, and it needed to sit in the vaults, slowly become a legend, and finally get a release over 40 years later. Or maybe I'm just buying too much into good ol' fashioned rock 'n' roll myth-making. Either way, it's expertly executed ambition from an artist who's truly a pop genius. by Andrew Sacher photo: Driftoff at Saint Vitus in January (more by Greg Cristman) Last year, local post-hardcore band Driftoff (members of Junius, Rosetta and City of Ships) released their debut EP Modern Fear, and now they're following it with the two-song "Denial Machine/No Rescue" single on February 26 via Radar Recordings (pre-order). The b-side premieres in this post, and like their EP, it's heavy atmospheric rock with some throat-shredding yet anthemic vocals. This kinda thing probably would've gotten some radio/MTV play in the early '00s. That's not likely now, but it's still nice to hear a heavy band going for real hooks. In terms of what the song's about, guitarist/vocalist Eric Jernigan tells us, "The songs speak to our collective frustration with humanity's willful ignorance--on a societal and individual level--toward what is probably the most pressing issue of our time." Check it out below. The band have tour dates coming up, including a NYC show on February 20 at Bowery Ballroom. That's opening for UK instrumental band Maybeshewill, who have been around for a decade but are breaking up after this show. It'll also be the first time they play the US, so if you want to see them on these shores, this may very well be your only chance ever. Tickets are on sale now. All Driftoff dates are listed, with the new song, below... --- latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Cloud-based television broadcast infrastructure provider Amagi is quickly building its capabilities in the over-the-top (OTT) services space as its sees a massive opportunity for personalised advertising similar to what online services such as YouTube currently offer. The company, which currently offers geo-targeting services to advertisers on traditional television networks, hopes that it will be able to demand more money from advertisers for more precise targeting. Currently the company's solutions allows it to target consumers based on broad location such as in a city or a state for advertisers such as Unilever on television broadcasters such as Zee network and Viacom India. "The platform that we've built, allows exactly a true view equivalent, where I can say he (viewer) has watched for the first quartile, second quartile, third or fourth of the ad and we'll charge exactly as per that. If it's on a mobile or a TV with an IP set top box, we can do everything that a YouTube equivalent does," said K A Srinivasan, co-founder of Amagi. Today, with 80 per cent of India's television subscriptions being on cable, while the balance are mostly on direct-to-home connections, Srinivasan expects that digital or internet enabled television will take at least another 10 years to capture a sizeable chunk of the Indian market. High data costs, low bandwidth and lack of coverage in smaller towns and villages will need to be fixed before the uptake of digital TV can really kick off. Local advertisers have so far been left out of advertising on popular national channels. They've for long turned to print and now even electronic ads despite the reach of television being far higher. With geographic and even personalised ad targeting, the market for television ads could be disrupted with local or ads of relevant products. In order to further this, Amagi's solution allows advertisers to specify the demographic of the audience they want to target, and the company using data it has gathered suggests the best advertising plan for them. Local ads on the other hand would flourish on television since out of the 800 odd television channels in India, over 600 of them cater to regional audiences. US-based on-demand video streaming service Netflix, which launched in India in January offers its service to customers for as low as Rs 500 per month. Netflix is one among the many that are coming up globally to disrupt television viewing, taking it away from a free to paid subscription model, and have found huge success. Amagi, whose business revolves around advertisements on television however believes that services such as Netflix don't pose as great a threat as otherwise perceived. "There's always going to be a market where people are going to want things for free. That said, there's also always going to be a premium experience where people say I want an ad free experience, allow me to watch whatever I want, whenever I want," added Srinivasan. Moreover, while the targeted television ad space is not free of competition globally, Amagi says it has an inherent advantage over giants such as Adobe who have come down from the digital ad space. Today, ads on the Internet are largely of low-quality, mirroring the quantity of user-generated and other content available online. Television on the other hand is exclusively high-quality video content and so is the advertising, which is what Amagi plans to stick to. India's burgeoning biotechnology has estimated that the government has to invest $5 billion to develop human capital, infrastructure and research initiatives if it is to realise the dream of growing the sector into a $100 billion by 2025. The biotechnology in India is currently valued at $11 billion and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20 per cent. Over half of the revenues generated by the industry today comes from bio pharma, for which India has emerged as a global superpower. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon, said that India has the potential to replicate its success in manufacturing vaccines across various other sectors of biotechnology. Agri biotech and Bio IT are two such sectors where India can lead global research. Today, two out of three vaccines administered to children across the globe are manufactured in India. "To dominate in a field such as biotechnology and information technology, what is paramount is human capital. And I think it is human capital that will shape what is India's science and technology prowess in the world," said Shaw, at the Bengaluru India Bio event held in the city today. "It is also very important for us to understand that the quality of scientists and science in India is increasing by leaps and bounds." Karnataka, specifically Bengaluru, has emerged as the hub for biotechnology in India, and there is a demand to setup more high-quality institutes for biotechnology research here. The state has been urging the centre to allocate funds to setup a biomolecular institute, which will spearhead research in agriculture, industrial biotechnology, enzymes, biofuels and genetics. The government's contribution towards the $5 billion that is required to take India's biotech industry to the next level will largely come in the form of setting up of such institutes. There is an idea to mimic the model for such a university in France which receives 60 per cent of its funding from the industry. "Pushing now can result in enormous amplification of success five or ten years from now. We must remember that our successes in the vaccine and generics industry came from a foundational basis in basic life sciences and biology, but today that requirements for that foundation are very different," said Prof K Vijay Raghavan, secretary of the department of biotechnology with the Ministry of Science and Technology. The other demand from the industry to the government is the need for enabling policies. The biotechnology industry is the most regulated sector and often research and product development have long gestation periods. In order to realise goals, the government will have to make policies that will look at the long term benefits rather than short-term gain. Essar Oil Ltd, India's second-largest private refiner, today posted a seven fold jump in net profit to Rs 364 crore during the third quarter ended December on the back of highest-ever quarterly gross refining margin (GRM) of $13.25 per barrel. The company, in its last reported as a listed entity, reported a net profit of Rs 364 crore as compared to Rs 52 crore in the same quarter last fiscal (2014-15). "This quarter's performance has been excellent amid challenging economic environment. The earlier highest GRM was $11.05 per barrel in June 2015," Managing Director and Chief Executive L K Gupta said. Essar Oil's GRM stood at $7 per barrel in the December 2014 quarter. The company's refinery throughput in December quarter stood at 4.24 million tonne, compared with 5.19 MT in the same period of the previous year. "The decline in throughput was due to the planned shutdown of 30 days which was completed in 28 days ended 15 October 2015," Gupta said. The company's total income during the quarter stood at 11,343 crore, down 49 per cent as compared to Rs 20,554 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Gupta said the decline in revenues was due to the fall in oil prices and lower throughput due to the continuation of shutdown for 15 days during the quarter. For the nine months ended December 2015, Essar Oil's GRM was $10.45 per barrel as compared to $7.69 per barrel in the same period last fiscal. Essar Oil Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Suresh Jain said the company managed to report excellent financial performance despite shutdown and inventory impact due to fall in oil prices. "Our profitability is further expected to improve pursuant to overall improvement in crude mix and product slate post shut down," Jain said. He added the company's retail business' contribution in overall revenue has improved to 16 per cent compared to 6 per cent in third quarter 2014-15. Jain informed Essar Oil commissioned 220 new retail outlets during the third quarter taking the total operational outlets to 1,910. In addition, 2,186 new outlets are under implementation. The firm's total retail sales volume during the quarter rose 87 per cent to 448 Kiloliter from 239 Kiloliter in the corresponding period last year. At its flagship Raniganj Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block the company produced 655,000 standard cubic meter of gas. According to Gupta the company is on course to ramp up production to 2.5 mmscmd by 2017-18. The promoters of Essar Oil had completed the delisting process from the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange after agreeing to pay Rs 262.8 per share to the public shareholders. As a result, trading in shares of Essar Oil will halt from 10 February and delisting will be effective from 17 February 2016. Gupta also rejected as rumours recent reports on how the Essar Group, controlled by billionaire Ruia brothers, may be looking at selling stake in its refinery business. The Group has been seeking to sell 49 per cent stake in the refinery unit to Russian company Rosneft. That deal is likely to be completed soon, Gupta said. He also said that post the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran, Essar Oil's crude imports from that nation will depend on purely economic considerations. The company's share price at the BSE today closed at Rs 262.60, down 0.15 per cent as compared to previous close. Debnarayan Bhattacharya, managing director at Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco Industries, is steering the company at a very difficult time. The companys stock is down 52 per cent in the past year due to falling aluminium prices. In an interview, Bhattacharya tells Dev Chatterjee and Aditi Divekar about Hindalcos measures to ramp up productions at its new plants to curtail cost of production. Edited excerpts: How big a damage is cheap Chinese aluminium imports causing to the Indian market. What are the steps the industry is taking to tackle this? There are almost 750,000 people who are directly or indirectly engaged in the aluminium industry in the domestic market. So, it is important that the government takes some measures to curb Chinese imports in the national interest. The Aluminium Association of India has, therefore, made representation to the government asking them to raise import duty on the metal to 15 per cent from five per cent at present. Currently, of the total domestic demand, about 50 per cent is being met by cheap imports from China, which is hurting domestic producers. How do you see Hindalco Industries cost of production going ahead. Is there any room to lower it further? There are several steps we are taking to keep our cost of production lower going ahead. Our ramp-ups at Mahan and Aditya aluminium smelters and Utkal refinery are going superb as efficiencies at each of these plants are hitting desired levels. Moreover, coal prices have come down globally and so there is some benefit towards power costs, although it could have been higher if the rupee was stronger. Given that Coal India is to increase its production, supply is expected to rise and hence we see energy costs coming down. Alongside, Hindalco has shut 42 per cent of capacity at the Hirakud plant since it was higly inefficient and could have been a cost burden. What is your outlook on copper and aluminium businesses? Can you give an update on your capex plans for copper segment? Treatment-and-refining charges have come down for 2016 compared to last year and this will have a negative impact on the copper business in the coming quarters. However, we are planning to go ahead with our capex in this business where we plan to set up a copper rod unit, which is a value-added product. We are yet to arrive what the fund size would be for this plant. For aluminium, I think prices have bottomed out but cannot say how it would go from here. Premiums for aluminium, however, have seen marginal improvement. What is your outlook for Novelis, which has shown operational improvement in December quarter? Novelis performance is improving quarter-after-quarter as demand from the auto sector has exceeded expectations. Demand from the beverage industry is also looking positive and so in the coming quarters we expect Novelis to do better. Abbott India, which has expanded its business in key segments through differentiated sales and marketing campaigns and positioned itself as a consumer brand that addresses the emerging healthcare needs of people, won the Star MNC award for 2015. Under the stewardship of Managing Director Rehan Khan, who took over in 2012, the company has been growing faster than the industry over the last three years. Abbotts core business grew 26.5 per cent in FY15 while the industry grew at 12.1 per cent on an annualised basis (Abbotts 2013-14 figures were for 15 months). US-headquartered Abbott has been present in India since 1910. India, which contributes about four per cent of the companys global revenue, is among the fastest growing markets for the multinational firm. In 2010, Abbott had expanded its India footprint by acquiring Piramal Healthcares domestic formulations business for $3.7 billion. Through this acquisition, Abbott gained access to a manufacturing facility and 350 brands, making it the largest pharma MNC operating in India. India is a priority country for Abbott, be it with investments, innovations or presence in the market. Abbott India continues to remain focused on delivering consistent and productive growth, says Khan. Abbott Indias biggest business segment is womens health, gastroenterology and hepatic care, which grew 22 per cent in FY15, compared to 14 per cent in FY14. Among its other divisions, general care (pain management and vitamin products, including popular brands like Brufen and Surbex) grew 19 per cent in FY15, compared to 13.5 per cent in FY14. The company has focused on increasing awareness about its products and better penetration in semi-urban and rural markets through tie-ups with diagnostic centres for its flagship thryoid disorder treatment drug Thyronorm and its anti-epileptic drugs. Our disease awareness programmes, digital initiatives to further scientific knowledge among healthcare professionals and differentiated marketing have been at the forefront of our outreach and help us shape patient care, Khan added. The results of the management initiatives are evident. With key business segments showing high double-digit growth, the companys total revenues in 2014-15 grew an impressive 25.7 per cent to Rs 2,289 crore, and net profit by 44 per cent to Rs 229 crore, compared to the annualised figures of the previous year. Three of its products insulin Human Mixtard and Novomix (Abbott distributes both in India) and Thyronorm feature in the top ten domestic products by sales for the last twelve months ended October. These products have been growing faster than the market, as per IMS data. Abbott has a portfolio of over 400 branded generics in India and it launched 24 new products in 2014-15. It has stepped up its growth plan with the launch of a new nutritional products plant in Gujarat last October and is expanding one of its manufacturing units in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. This expansion will meet the demands of the local market and also service exports of branded generic drugs to South East Asia and Africa. Investments are continuing apace in infrastructure, capabilities and staff at both its pharmaceutical and nutrition R&D facilities to drive innovations and new product introductions in India. Emerging markets contributed nearly half of Abbotts $22 billion global revenue last year. India clearly is a focus area. It is one of the most important places in the world for Abbott and we are investing here accordingly. We intend to be a strong, committed and contributing part of Indias future, Abbott Laboratories Chairman and CEO Miles D White had said during his visit to India last year. Hindalco Industries reported a standalone net profit of Rs 40 crore for the quarter ended December 2015, down 89 per cent a year ago. However, the profit was significantly better than the consensus estimate of a loss of Rs 175 crore, as per analysts poll by Bloomberg. Although lower base metal realisations and premiums did impact the companys performance, it managed to remain in the green, thanks to cost savings and higher volumes. Compared to the consensus estimate of Rs 504 crore, Ebidta (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) came in at Rs 922 crore, down 18 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). Some support from other income also helped the bottom line. Thus, the stock ended 0.25 per cent higher at Rs 69.5 on Tuesday on a day the Sensex was down 1.1 per cent. Interest and depreciation expenses, which jumped 30 per cent and 43 per cent on a y-o-y basis, to Rs 582 crore and Rs 308 crore, respectively, took away the gains from a better-than-expected operating performance. Net sales of the Aditya Birla Group company were at Rs 8,021 crore in the period under review, down 5.3 per cent from last year due to sharp fall in aluminium and copper realisations. The per tonne aluminium and copper average prices on the London Metal Exchange at $1,493 and $4,905 during the quarter have declined 24 and 26 per cent year-on-year, respectively. Further, aluminium premium (over an above the LME price) have also declined sharply by 76 per cent y-o-y and 10 per cent sequentially. According to the Bloomberg estimates, the companys revenue was seen at Rs 8,337 crore while actuals came way lower. Strong increase in aluminium volumes and thrust on value addition partially offset the impact of severe fall in realisations, said the company in its release. Operating for the quarter were severely impacted by the sharp drop in LME prices and regional aluminium premium, the macro economic factors beyond the companys control, said Hindalco. Due to this, the combined decline in realisations on year-on-year basis was over $700 per tonne in aluminium, it said. Though 35 per cent jump in aluminium volumes led by capacity expansions boosted revenues from aluminium segment, which were up 17 per cent, the segments earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at Rs 81 crore was fifth of the year ago period. The segment contributes slightly more than half to companys revenues. Comparatively the copper segments EBIT declined just 12.1 per cent as profitability is dependent on treatment and refining charges (Tc/Rc). The segments revenues declined 21.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,905 crore. The company did manage to marginally lower its expenses to Rs 7,786 crore in the December quarter as against Rs 7,895 crore in the same period last year. Hindalco Industries other income stood at Rs 250 crore, up 17 per cent from last year. During the quarter, the company has made provision of Rs 31.50 crore towards diminution of value of investment of the joint venture (JV) company Hydromine Global Minerals as a result of its decision to sell of its stake in the JV. The entire amount has been adjusted against Business Reconstruction Reserve (BRR) as enjoined in the scheme of financial restructuring approved by the Honourable High Court of Bombay (the Scheme) under Sections 391 to 394 of the Act, 1956 during the year 2008-09, said the company in its notes. Meanwhile, Hindalco Industries two new smelters Mahan and Aditya and Utkal refinery are almost on their feet. The Mahan smelter is now operating at full capacity, while the Aditya smelter is well on course for full ramp-up, said the company. The company also said that metal prices seem to be bottoming out. For Novelis, Q3FY16 Shipments at 779,000 tonnes were up 3% year-on-year. EBITDA before MPL of $238 million, up 4% year-on-year was the highest ever EBITDA before MPL performance for a third quarter. The strong performance was driven by shipment growth and improved product mix. The Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar (IIT-Ropar) has received a grant of Rs 5 crore to set up a technology business Incubator (TBI) in Punjab. The grant will be utilised to contribute towards the central government's Start-up India Programme. The TBI will foster innovation and entrepreneurship culture in the state over a period of five years. It will be a specialised facility, which will promote new technology, knowledge and innovation-based startups, establish a network among academia, financial institutions, industries and other institutions, and provide cost-effective, value-added services to startups like mentoring, legal, financial, technical and intellectual property-related services, IIT-Ropar said in a release on Tuesday. IIT-Ropar already has an umbrella centre, CIBI (Centre for Innovation and Business Incubation), which provides incubation services for technology and knowledge-based entrepreneurship. Established in 2013, this centre focused on accelerating innovation, business incubation and growth of entrepreneurship at IIT Ropar. "The government-funded incubation centre, CIBI, has successfully incubated four startups and our students and faculty are constantly working towards new research and innovation. Our vision for startups is in sync with the overall vision of the Indian government," said Harpreet Singh, associate dean (industrial relations, international and alumni affairs), IIT-Ropar. The fight for India's skies is set to heat up with Jet Airways, the erstwhile market leader, aggressively scouting for growth, said its chief executive officer (CEO) Cramer Ball. "We are focused on increasing frequency and connectivity on domestic routes," said Ball, adding: "Sixty-five of our aircraft fly on 500 domestic flights to 51 destinations." He also said Jet had increased frequency and connectivity of its flights in the past 12 months. "Domestic is very much our focus. We are taking advantage of opportunities and making sure we are flying profitably." The airline has, for long, concentrated on its international operations, with many even accusing it of becoming a feeder to Etihad. With oil prices in a free fall and domestic traffic growing in double digits, the airline is looking at regaining some of its lost market share. An aggressive competitor has been highlighted as the biggest risk for rival IndiGo, which saw a spectacular listing late last year. Citi wrote in a note last month: "The addition of new foreign-backed rivals could force IndiGo to up their game or face challenges to their leading market share." Jet's stock has risen 31 per cent over three months. Competitor InterGlobe Aviation's shares have fallen 10 per cent as its aircraft delivery has been pushed back, which will hurt capacity expansion. The airline's revenue mix currently stands at 55 per cent international and 45 per cent domestic, and its market share in 2015 was 22.5 per cent; Indigo's was 36.7 per cent. With Indigo's fleet-expansion plans taking a hit, Jet could benefit. It appears to be on course to do exactly this. The airline's capacity has grown much higher than the industry average, thanks to better fleet management and better aircraft utilisation. The airline increased its domestic capacity by 24 per cent in the third quarter compared to the industry average of 20 per cent. The airline will begin taking deliveries of Boeing Max aircraft from 2018, and is looking at various options to increase capacity by increasing the utilisation of its 737s beyond 13 hours and deploying wide-bodied aircraft on domestic and short-haul international routes. Having a single fleet configuration (12 business and 156 economy seats) has enabled the airline to deploy the 737s during the day on domestic and during the night on short haul routes to Gulf. The airline is deploying the wide-body A330 aircraft on some short-haul international routes and freeing up Boeing 737s, which are deployed on those routes. These Boeing 737s fly on domestic routes. Jet Airways operates eight A330s currently to the USA, Canada, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore and has leased out four planes of the type to Etihad and Turkish Airlines. It also flies these on the Delhi-Mumbai sector and is also examining if it can operate extra domestic flights using the A330 aircraft. It is also focused on expanding its international footprint. However, the focus will only be only on profitable routes. The airline's move to Amsterdam is a case in point as it will give the airline better network and choices to consumers flying onward to Europe and the United States. The airline's CEO believes that partnerships with other airline through code shares is a better way than flying to all destinations using own aircraft. The airline is looking at adding destinations within the three and five hour flying time from India. India's second largest state-run lender Punjab National Bank posted a sharp 93% decline in net profit in the third quarter of the fiscal on account of fresh slippages arising from the steel sector besides higher provisioning requirement as part of RBI norms. The net profit in the October to December quarter stood at Rs 51 crore versus Rs 775 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 8.47% at the end of Q3 as against 6.36% at the end of Q2. Net NPA stood at 5.86% at the end of December as against 3.99% seen during September end. The third quarter saw fresh slippages worth Rs 13,482 crore arising out of large accounts turning into NPAs, led mainly by steel, infra and power sectors. This is much higher than the Rs 5,193 crore fresh slippage seen during the third quarter of the corresponding quarter of last year. "Industry is going through a tough time and PNB is a large player. PNB being a large lender, the impact is seen on the bank's NPA level," said Usha Ananthasubramanian, CMD, PNB. The lower than expected Q3 announced on Tuesday led to an over 4% decline in PNB share decline. Net interest income, a key measure of a banks performance, was down 2.7% during the quarter at Rs.4,119.6 Cr versus Rs 4,233 Cr in the corresponding period last year. Bank's provisioning was up 100% at Rs 3,775 Cr versus Rs 1,882 cr in the previous quarter, reflecting higher stress. The increase in NPA was on account of bank's exercise as part of RBI's Asset Quality Review over the last two quarters of the current financial year. "Bank is undertaking the same over the timeframe stipulated by RBI", said Ananthasubramanian. The bank is looking at new streams of income beyond the loan portfolio, such as insurance, credit card, and asset management company, among others. Sequoia Capital-funded self-drive rental car agency Zoomcar has been trying to make inroads into the Indian market and is making firm moves so that it can come out on top. Recently, Bengaluru-based Zoomcar launched its much awaited doorstep delivery and pickup service, which Greg Moran, co-founder and chief executive officer, said, was an attempt to get users comfortable with using rented cars. The ultimate aim was to reach a pick up and drive parking lot system similar to ZipCar in the US. The company plans to reach 20 cities this year, with special attention to Tier-II cities, said Moran. He said Zoomcar was currently focusing on improving customer experience and will be launching a new app soon. The company is looking at full automation and customers can enter a car through an app, without a key. Last year, the company had launched an advertising campaign with a heavy social media presence to encourage users to take vacations in rented cars. But, it lacks the flexibility of the rental car agency services it is trying to mirror. The concept, which originates in the US, is about a customer's ability to pick up a vehicle at a parking lot in a city of his choice, pay for it on a per-hour or per-day basis. The concept allows the customer to deposit the car at another parking lot in another city, if needed. In case of Zoomcar, users must park the cars back at the parking lot where they picked it up from or suffer a penalty. The bigger players in the US can afford the flexibility because of scale. They have 500,000 to one million cars and can afford to do it, said Moran. Zoomcar, he said, was much smaller and had to stick to some restrictions. We have, on some routes, allowed customers to park at other locations but it isnt done extensively, Moran added. The companys biggest market currently is Bengaluru, its home base, with Delhi and Mumbai following. The average transaction size for the company is Rs 4,000-5,000, which Moran admits is on the higher end compared to other direct competitors. Zoomcar is almost always sold out on most days, with trip times rising to two days over the weekend. The demand is seasonal and all I'll say is that the refusal is almost 10 times larger than the orders booked, explained Moran. The next big milestone for Zoomcar, however, is to add 5,000 cars in the next six months and increasing adoption in Delhi. If the odd-even rule is introduced, it will help our usage and we are doing activities as well as running digital campaigns to increase awareness, he said. The company has raised over $22 million in the past three years, most notably from former Infosys veteran Mohandas Pai. The company had been in the limelight in June when the Leh taxi drivers association attacked Zoomcar branded vehicles for taking away business. Zoomcar and the association then managed to settle their differences. Just before this incident, the companys founder David Back had quit the company and had returned to the US. Sources said Back still held equity in the rental driving start-up. The lifesciences will see a spurt in startups in the next five years even as private equity investors shy away from the space citing regulatory "hurdles", say sector players. "Some 2,000 to 2,500 startups have been planned in the sector in the next five years," said Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, chairman & CEO, IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad. She said around 800 startups began operation in the past three years, and they had seen "a lot of action" on the fund front, too. However, most other speakers at the panel discussion on 'building a strategy for India and beyond' as part of BioAsia 2016 here, today, said drug discovery was still not on the radar of private equity firms, though "things have been changing for the better". The panelists said long gestation periods, lack of private (PE and VC) funding and regulatory "hurdles" were the challenges faced by the startups. They suggested a Nasscom-like body for lifesciences, which can devise a sector strategy and roadmap. Nitin Deshmukh, CEO of Kotak PE, said embargo on clinical trial and regulatory "hurdles" were especially keeping PEs away from the sector. "Against this backdrop, how can one feel confident to invest?" he said. There were not many investors with appetite for drug discovery. Two to three funds come forward but that do not make much difference to smaller companies, he said. For a PE, the typical holding period is five to six years in a company. In large pharmaceutical companies, exits have been largely on successful IPOs, as well as secondary sales. But for early stage companies, it takes around 10 years before some meaningful action takes place for a PE to exit with handsome gains. "Unfortunately, given the scarcity of funds in the country, PE investors or institutional funding do not come in the private sector and these smaller have to be content with grants and government funding," said Annaswamy Vaidheesh, vice president, south Asia, and managing director, GSK. The panelists felt there was a need for a change in the mindset of the government for PEs to feel confident to invest. "Clinical research should be on the lines of 'Make in India' and stretched to 'Create in India'," said Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech International Ltd. Also, there was a need to encourage innovation and facilitate entrepreneurship. India needed to leapfrog from a treatment-driven economy to wellness and prevention-driven economy, they said. Another hurdle facing the sector is with data integrity. Ella said the labour laws should be amended to allow the introduction a non-competence clause where if an employee was fired, a rival company should not be able to hire him. The speakers were also of the view that the FDA observations should not be made a big deal. "Tone down beating oneself down. FDA rules are tough and it will become tougher. We need to look at them positively," said M K Bhan, former secretary, department of biotechnology, government of India. According to Ella, more angel investors should be brought in before a PE comes into picture. He, however, is positive on the sector and said, "It's like driving on the Indian roads. There are phenomenal risk but the next generation will change that." Setting high targets and achieving them have become a habit for Vivek Chaand Sehgal, chairman of the $7bn Samvardhana Motherson Group, and a man known for his deep-rooted belief in the Divine. In an interview with Malini Bhupta, he discusses the group's journey - which has seen revenues soar from Rs 10 crore to Rs 34,600 crore in twenty years - and the road ahead. Edited excerpts: The year 2015 has been an interesting year for you. While you closed three acquisitions, the market pummelled your stock after the Volkswagen fiasco. How was the year according to you, for the company? Confucius said, "May you live in interesting times." I am sure if he is watching the world from the other side of the lens, he would be really excited. We do live in very interesting times... The market is always right so I do not go against that wisdom. Having said that, all our products are agnostic to the type of engine! So though it was an engine problem, but because we are supplying to the VW group (probably the largest by a company of Indian parentage), the market thinks we will be affected. Well, the numbers will do the talking. We feel that though the effect may be there, we would not be seeing much of the hit. We have seen bigger recalls from almost all customers; we know they are good for the end-customer. We are sure that things will become normal very soon. We are excited by the trends in new cars. They have a lot of and this is good for us, as it increases the selling price and our patented products are being appreciated and are in demand. For us the year was terrific. We saw the culmination of our last five-year plan and the setting of a new target, with the focus on return on capital employed (ROCE). We are already well on our way to achieving this new target. Nearly 44 per cent of your revenues come from the Volkswagen group. Do you think the fallout will impact the company in 2016? Do you have a plan in place to insulate the company from this risk? We are a well-diversified group and we follow "3C X 15" to the letter, which means that no single customer, country or component should constitute more than 15 per cent of our total turnover. We are following this and by the end of 2020 fiscal we would be near 3C X 10. We are confident that 2016 will be a great year as well, as planned. You tend to set stiff targets for the company. What is your vision for the next five years and how do you plan to achieve it? We always set targets after meetings with our customers and they tell us in confidence, since they have these figures clearly - which car, what volumes, the model life, etc. We thought it is better to inform all investors upfront. We have consistently achieved our targets for the last 20 years. We feel these targets put in the annual report are healthy and all the stake-holders are clearly guided. We focus on five years, as the normal life of the model rarely exceeds five years. My team sets these targets for the next plan and the first draft is in by the end of the fourth year of the running plan, which is fine-tuned and released at the start of the first year of the new five-year plan. Our next five-year target is to take the company to $18 billion with a ROCE of 40 per cent. The target has an acronym which is OTT FPR or One lakh Twenty in Twenty and Forty Percent Return on Capital Employed. Given that you are supplying to the world's top OEMs, how do you see the global automobile market changing? These are fast-changing times and hence we feel car makers want suppliers who will change and move along with them. Where our customers go, we will follow. Our entire thinking is aligned with them, as they wish we will do. What segments will help the company get to this target? We have a clear vision of approximately $12 billion or so with organic growth, which is just by orders won from customers. The rest will come through acquisitions, which even if we do not get for some reason, we would still have happy shareholders as whatever money we do not spend will be shared with them. Our gurus in the current world have taught us: top line vanity, bottom line sanity and cash in bank reality! Do you see Motherson going up the value chain? If so, what segments/components would the company go after? "Nan Demo Eii" meaning "everything okay", as the Japanese say. We do not strategise on where we want to be, rather we wait for the customers to advise us on what we should do next. Other than the high exposure to the Volkswagen group, as far as revenues are concerned, what other business risks do you feel need addressing? A great company like VW cannot be marred by a few people who had an error of judgment. Risks are opportunities. Even crossing a road is a risk, so we will not change our focus. We will however continue increasing the content in the cars that we supply to. You possibly are among the few to have made a success of acquisitions. Why do you think global acquisitions have worked for your company? India is a great teacher. In 1947 over 500 kingdoms became India. There exists great diversity in this country. We learned to work with different cultures and beliefs. When we go outside we do not teach or learn, rather we share the best practices we follow. We do not impose ourselves on others and we do not allow anyone to impose themselves on us either. In the process we just do normal business, that's the secret we think...It is like the great river Ganga Maiya - she encompasses all the rivers and tributaries and just goes to the Gangasagar as one. Going forward, do you still see inorganic growth fuelling revenue growth? Sure, if the customers will tell us, we will not hesitate to study, and if the terms are agreeable we will do acquisitions as required. As long as the ROCE is intact up in 2020, we will probably go ahead. Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Tuesday said the company has decided to give updates to the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) once in every 45 days regarding the progress on commitments given for remedial actions at three of its manufacturing sites. Last year the USFDA had issued a warning letter to the company after making a set of critical observations over the gaps in quality protocols and practices noticed in three of the company's manufacturing facilities, including a formulation unit at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The other two were the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facilities, located in AP and Telangana respectively. "We have submitted our replies to the warning letter on December, 7, 2015, and we have also given the fist update on the remedial measures in the last week of January 2016," Dr Reddy's chief operating officer Abhijit Mukherjee said in a press conference. Mukherjee added that they may also consider requesting the US drug regulator for an audit of the three facilities after giving periodical updates in the near future. Responding to a question he said they have not received any response from the USFDA on their submissions as that was not a usual practice. According to Saumen Chakraborty, chief financial officer, the company would give high priority and focus on the remedial actions. "We focus on timely closure of all remedial actions and risk mitigation measures," he said indicating the company's intent for a quick resolution to the regulatory issues. When asked if the financial impact arising out of the warning letter was in line with the earlier expectations, Mukherjee said the delay in the launch of blockbuster Nexium itself would cost a notional revenue loss equal to the earlier projected impact of $50-60 million on revenues. The launch of one more product was also impacted as the approval came from one of the three sites and the loss coming out of this delay would be even larger, according to him. Woolmark, which provides its trademark to woollen garment manufacturers, will for the first time host a fashion show in Ludhiana on Wednesday and Amritsar on Thursday. Earlier, such shows were only held in metropolitan cities, but an unusual slump in sales seems to have forced organisers to hold the event this year at the heart of India's woollen and hosiery industry, sources said. The company has also convinced its partners to go in for innovative designs as traditional products might not get buyers in this not-so-cold winter. Woolmark has 121 partners, which include manufacturers of shawls, stoles and knitwear spread across Punjab and other north Indian cities. An unusually warm winter in north and central India has led to an unprecedented slump in sales of woollen garments, hosiery items, heaters and geysers. Saddled with huge unsold inventory, some woollen garment manufacturers are planning to cut down on workdays for their workforce in the next few months as next year's requirement is nearly fulfilled. The demand for winter garments like jackets, sweaters and thermal wear mainly originates from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir, among other states. However, most buyers gave purchases a miss due to the short duration. Arun Aggarwal, general secretary, Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana, said, "According to our rough estimates this financial year, our sales would be down by 30-40 per cent compared to the last financial year." Aggarwal said end-of-season sales had started much earlier this year. Usually it starts in January. In addition, imports from China were hurting domestic woollen garment makers. The carry-forward stock used to be around 10 per cent every year, but this year, it would be more than 25 per cent. "There would be a cut in production next year which may result in laying off temporary workers," Aggarwal said. There are around 13,000-15,000 hosiery units in Punjab. Ludhiana is one of the oldest hosiery clusters in the country and is famous for winter garments. "Business will be down by 20-30 per cent on account of weak sentiments and short winter duration," said Piara Lal Seth, managing director, Apollo Shawls. Amritsar has the lion's share in the Rs 3,000-crore shawls and stoles industry. The rest is captured by Ludhiana, Kullu, Srinagar and other locations. According to industry data, exports of woollen yarn, garments and hosiery products witnessed a contraction of 28 per cent in April-November 2015 year-on-year. Shawls and stoles exports account for Rs 1,000 crore annually. As for heaters, last winter saw the sale of two million heaters. The figure has plunged to 1.25 million this year, according to industry estimates. No such figures are available for geysers. Bajaj, Usha, Crompton Greaves, Orpat and Nova are the major players in the room-heater segment. The companies individually could not be contacted for this story. An industry executive said sale of room heaters, a dispensable item, was hit by the mild winter in its major markets - Delhi, Punjab, western UP and Rajasthan. Keshav, who runs a home appliances outlet in Delhi, said last year he sold some 2,500 heaters and blowers compared to a thousand this current season. "And with the minimum temperature now hovering above 10 C, there is little chance of touching last season's sales," he said. The September-to-December winter season across most parts of North India has been unusually warm this year, with very few extremely cold days. In fact, temperatures till the middle of January were almost 1-2 degrees above normal. Though, the situation changed dramatically from the middle of January onwards and the cold wave returned, it did not last long. In the remaining few weeks, there is very little possibility of a strong winter wave returning over the north and central parts of the country. "As of today, it looks like the intense cold conditions might not return soon," IMD director general L S Rathore had told Business Standard in January. A consensus statement by the South Asia Climate Outlook Forum in December 2015 had in fact predicted that in the December 2015-to-February 2016 winter season, normal to above normal temperatures were likely to prevail over northernmost parts of South Asia, which also includes states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc., while precipitation is expected to remain below normal. The warm winters resulted in less sowing of wheat crop, the country biggest food grain during the rabi season, by almost 2 million hectare. More than the acreage, experts feel it is the condition of the standing crop which might suffer if temperatures rise suddenly by the end of February and March. However, a gradual increase in temperature might not have a big impact on the condition of standing crop. The exact crop situation would be clear by end of this month; for those selling woollen clothes, a below-par winter has already made life harder. Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley revealed in a Special Court that the dastardly 26/11 attacks in Mumbai was planned out over a year in advance by various groups and agencies of Pakistan, here on Tuesday. Continuing his deposition via videoconferencing before Special Judge G. A. Sanap for the second consecutive day from a US jail, Headley said that in 2006, ISI official Major Pasha and LeT functionary Sajid Mir and others met to discuss plans to set up a business for (him) Headley in Mumbai. Later, in November 2007, he met LeT top leaders when the proposed terror attacks on Mumbai were planned in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, he told Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. This meeting came in the wake of Headley's recce trips to Mumbai since the previous year (2006) when he made video recordings of various locations, including the iconic Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, and they studied the recordings of the hotel very carefully, especially the entry-exit routes. In a chilling disclosure, Headley said the plan was to attack the hotel opposite Gateway of India when a major military conference was scheduled to be held there. Later, when the attacks were executed with precision, it was mainly attributed to the pictures and videos Headley had clicked during his recce trips to the city. The 56-year old Headley said that LeT chief Hafez Sayeed - whom he described as "the spiritual head" of the extremist organisation - and its armed wing head Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi used to regularly consult the Pakistan Army and its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on various issues. Headley today identified photos of Lakhvi and Major Pasha before Special Judge Sanap and threw more light on Pakistan's links with the 26/11 terror attacks which killed 166 persons. A Maharashtra government-appointed committee to probe into the alleged irregularities in the allotment and use of a prime plot in Mumbai to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) has found several violations. The 20-page report submitted by retired bureaucrat Gautam Chatterjee says the 3,478-square metre plot along the Western Express Highway was allotted to AJL in 1983 for construction of Nehru memorial research centre, library and a publishing house. However, AJL couldn't start construction for decades and paid penalty from time to time. While initially, only 15 per cent area was allowed for commercial activities, in 2001, during the tenure of Congress Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, AJL was given permission for 100 per cent commercial use. The status of the land was also changed from "lease basis" to "allotment basis". According to the report, in 2011, Maharashtra government allowed construction of a 12-storyed building which could be used entirely for commercial purposes. AJL delayed construction until all the clearances were in place. The report says, five or six floors of the building have already been built and now AJL has to apply for transfer of development rights (TDR), which means getting additional built-up area. "This is based on square footage and is currency which can be transferred to anyone," said a top Congress leader, "so that real estate has a degree of liquidity". A revenue department official said, "How could the company, which started construction over 20,000 sq ft for publication purposes, suddenly change its plans to construct on 83,000 sq ft and that too for commercial purposes? If only 15 per cent of the land was to be commercialized for cross subsidisation, then how did the company get permission to make everything commercial? How and under what circumstances were the amendments to the original land allotment made?" Chatterjee submitted the report on Monday to Maharashtra revenue secretary Manukumar Srivastav. The committee was appointed by the state government in December 2015 to probe the allegations against AJL, which used to own the now defunct Herald newspaper. In December 2015, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice- president Rahul Gandhi were summoned by a trial court in Delhi in the Herald case. The complainant had alleged that Congress leaders illegally acquired properties worth Rs 5,000 crore of Herald after AJL was taken over by Young Indian Pvt Ltd, a firm in which the Gandhis had direct stake. AJL owns three parcels of land in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow. All three are being investigated. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his Cabinet would decide the further course of action. State Congress leaders said Fadnavis government was being vindictive on instructions from top leaders in Delhi. "Chhagan Bhujbal is being hounded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which is controlled by the Union Finance Ministry. Ashok Chavan's case (Aadarsh Housing society) was reopened by the Governor. Delhi is acting out of vendetta," said a senior Congress leader in Mumbai. When contacted, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "I have no access to the committee report. I will be able to comment only after it is shared with us officially." The Tea Board of India, in its 227th board meeting held today in Kolkata, elected Bidyananda Barkakoty as its new vice-chairman. Barkakotys tenure would begin from April 1, 2016 and would span till March 31, 2017. Barkakoty is a mechanical engineer by qualification and a tea planter by profession having his own plantations at Golaghat, in Assam. He is the past chairman of North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) and held the office for six years. Presently he is advisor to NETA, an executive committee member of Assam Tea Planters Association (ATPA) and also president of Tea Vision, an NGO. He belongs to one of the oldest tea planters families of Assam and is the fifth generation to continue in tea plantation. Listing out his priorities to achieve after assuming office, Barkakoty said: Price realisation has not kept pace with the rise in cost of production. I would like to resolve this issue for survival of the tea industry. He also said he would strive to strengthen the research and development centres of tea, notably the Tocklai Tea Research Institute (TTRI), and UPASI Tea Research Foundation (UPASI TRF). The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) discussed a plan to attack a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai about a year before it struck the city in November 2008, killing 166 people, David Headley said in court on Tuesday. Testifying via video link from an undisclosed location in the US for the second day, Headley told a Mumbai court that he had attended a meeting of LeT operatives in Pakistan's Muzzafarabad in 2007, where the plan to attack Mumbai was discussed. We made a mock Taj, Headley said, and, They were discussing the entrance and exit of the Taj Mahal Hotel and the location of convention halls. They had information there was a meeting of Indian defence scientists in the near future...the plan was to attack during the meeting. He said the meeting was attended by his Lashkar handler Sajid Mir and others and it was decided that I should go to India. Headley said he was tasked with conducting a reconnaissance of the hotel. He has also detailed since yesterday how he joined the LeT and trained under the group's top leaders Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, key plotters of the 26/11 attack, for which, he said, officers of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISIS) collaborated with them. Headley is the first person to testify for an Indian terror case from a foreign country. Headley also told the court that his wife Faiza had complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad in January 2008 that he was involved in terrorist activities. The question then is why the US did little about the complaint. The attack on Mumbai took place in November 2008. What makes his statements even murkier is his deposition that one of his handlers, ISI Major Pasha joined Al Qaeda some years after he met him. Headley confirmed that ISI was in constant touch with LeT. E-commerce companies, many of them unicorns (valued at $1 billion or more), could get full foreign direct investment (FDI) if a proposal of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) passes muster. Press Trust of India reported on Tuesday that the government was considering permitting 100 per cent FDI in the marketplace format of e-commerce to attract more foreign investments. This follows a recent meeting of top officials in DIPP, and the department of economic affairs and corporate affairs. A DIPP official told Business Standard that the proposal to allow FDI in e-commerce marketplace had been in the works for quite some time. It is believed that while DIPP is bullish on permitting no-holds-barred FDI in the sector, finance ministry is yet to give a green light to the proposal. If it does get a go-ahead, online marketplace FDI rules would be a part of the detailed guidelines to be issued soon. At present, while no foreign investment is permitted in e-commerce, there are no rules for those operating in the online marketplace format. Major online players, including Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon.in, Shopclues and Paytm, which are funded by marquee international investors, operate as marketplace firms, thereby skirting the FDI hurdle. An online marketplace is seen as a technology platform where multiple sellers are hosted. But players in this space have often been under the scanner of regulatory agencies, courts and domestic retail lobbies over the FDI loophole. Recently, the Delhi High Court had asked the National Democratic Alliance government to probe 21 e-commerce players for alleged violation of FDI rules. However, clarity is expected in the online commerce space as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed it as a model for the future. The recent start-up action plan, announced by the prime minister, is also meant to benefit a large number of e-commerce players among other internet companies. Flipkarts Sachin Bansal, Snapdeals Kunal Bahl, and Paytms Vijay Shekhar Sharma, which are all likely to benefit if 100 per cent FDI is allowed in e-commerce marketplace, had interacted with Modi at the start-up event in January. Many of the big names in the investment world including Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, too, met the prime minister at the event. SoftBank is an investor for many top internet companies in India including Snapdeal and Ola. Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Modi had addressed retailers and asked them to embrace technology and e-commerce. E-commerce is growing at a fast clip in India. In 2015, the market had risen from $5 billion to $8 billion. A Goldman Sachs report has projected that e-commerce in India could breach the $100-billion mark by 2020. As for FDI, the rules in the retail sector have remained complex and numerous, resulting in confusion. FDI norms for multi-brand retail, single-brand retail, wholesale, e-commerce, market place are all quite different from each other. After years of a total ban on foreign investment, the United Progressive Alliance government allowed up to 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand or supermarket segment thats operated by the likes of Walmart and Tesco. But it was left to the states to decide who wants foreign players and who does not. Of the other categories in retail, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in single-brand as well as in cash-and-carry or wholesale business. While no FDI is allowed in e-commerce activities, the online marketplace has been out of the purview of any rules. How capable is the government in scientifically assessing the safety of GM mustard and other GM food crops on behalf of the citizens based on the available scientific knowledge? The answer to that can be concluded from stitching together facts from the past. Science has a rather minor role to play in it. In 2010, the United Progressive Alliance, with environment minister Jairam Ramesh in the driver's seat, permitted dozens of trials of food crops while rather loudly stopping the commercial cultivation of one particular variety of GM brinjal through a unique process that was not used for any other crop. Manmohan Singh, then prime minister, disagreed with him and along with then agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and biotechnology department called for a greater focus on GM crops. Still, the belief got perpetuated that research in GM crops had come to a halt. Then Jayanthi Natarajan took over as environment minister in 2011. She opposed the trials and introduction of GM food crops on Indian farms. Even as she blocked environmental approvals for the same during her tenure, Singh over-ruled her, and ordered his government to take a completely contrasting view, of promoting GM food crops, before the Supreme Court. A secret battle ensued within the UPA on government files with key political players of the regime occasionally indicating their personal preference on the issue (off or on the record) to the media in order to bend the public discourse to their liking. In 2013, Veerappa Moily took over as environment minister and decided to immediately reverse the policy his predecessor followed and cleared a host of field trials for GM food crops. If this chaos wasn't enough, in parallel, the government drafted the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill to replace the existing mechanisms and authorities of assessment, monitoring and regulation of GM technology. Considering the UPA cabinet approved the BRAI, one would assume that the government of the day believed the existing system of approval was not up to the mark. FIGHT OVER GM MUSTARD Supporters Increases productivity of mustard over existing varieties GM canola is already imported and consumed in India It can cross pollinate with non-GM varieties but that is a safe process Opposition is ideologically against GM technology Critics Higher productivity comes from hybridisation and not from the GM input and is being compared to non-hybrid mustard varieties non-hybrid mustard varieties Biosafety test results have not been shared in public Most mustard growing states have objected to even trials of GM mustard Cross pollination of GM variety with varieties grown in eastern India remains a threat Has a trait of a terminator seeds which could require farmers to buy seeds perennially The bill had its own problems. For one, it put the control of the regulatory regime right under the thumb of the ministry meant to promote genetic technology. The bill languished. The court case on the shape of the regulatory regime remained pending. The government accepted and advocated changes in the regulatory regime and yet pushed in the court for immediate clearances at its discretion through the existing appraisal system that it wanted scrapped. The existing system continued to work opaquely and by government discretion. Doubts continued to be raised about the ability and willingness of the government to monitor the trials to ensure their results were scientifically robust and honest. Stories of conflict of interest in the appraisal system continued to emerge. The appraisal mechanism did not engage anyone but the GM technology developers. Others were left to file RTIs for information or get updated when the decisions were taken and the government decided to put the papers out. Then the National Democratic Alliance came to power. Carrying on UPA's legacy It picked up exactly where the UPA had left off. The NDA did not clarify its stance on the existing regulatory mechanism or change it. Considering it did not revise the stance before the apex court, one was left to presume it continued to believe in the existing system and the discretionary controls it provided. But soon even the perfunctory records of the appraisal system disappeared from the public domain. The meetings were held hidden from the public glare - with only the GM developer industry being aware of it besides government officials. The chief information commissioner had already held that biosafety data held a greater public interest and should be made public. But the government did a turn-around and claimed it was private entities' data. Again, political and broad statements favouring 'science' emanated from one or the other corner of the government. Allegations of conflict of interest in the regulatory system emerged yet again and the government ignored them. Then information leaked of the government being on the verge of clearing GM mustard for commercial cropping. The public so far has had to depend on either the seed developers or on the anti-GM groups on the science of environmental and public safety of introducing GM mustard on Indian farms. Citizens ought to be in a position to trust the government to assess the case on the basis of sound science. It's hard to do so when everyone except the business interests involved are kept in the dark about the workings of the government and the government contradicts itself repeatedly. The discussion about safety of a product has yet again turned into a crude debate about people being pro- or anti-science. The appraisal system remains amenable to political direction. Its appraisal results can be over-ruled by the minister in charge. The ministry has now suggested it will hold public hearings if necessary and call in those opposed to GM mustard as well. But these will happen at the discretion of the minister in the manner he deigns fit in response to the public pressure he may have felt from different ends. This has made the anti-GM lobby get some hope and the pro-GM lobby grunt in frustration. Of course, the GM seed industry biggies too live, thrive or survive in the suspense that the discretionary governance system provides. Science remains incidental in a regime where political discretion remains the only rule applied consistently. Ahmedabad-based Z axis Unmanned Machines Pvt. Ltd., only start-up from Gujarat selected for Make in India Week in Mumbai from February 13 onwards, will showcase Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for defence and aerospace. Set up with an investment of over $1 million by Jugal Pandya, Pavan Bakeri and Pankaj Paneria, 'Z axis' looks to tap government agencies as well as armed and paramilitary forces for use of its UAVs or drones for varied purposes. At a capacity of 40 drones per month, a facility has been set up in Ahmedabad even as Z axis aims at garnering orders during the Make in India week. "Our surveillance UAVs are specially designed keeping in mind the stringent demands of our armed forces, paramilitary and police forces, alongwith wide ranging applications for various government departments. India so far has been importing UAVs from Israel, France and United States. We believe that pioneering the manufacturing of surveillance UAVs will help our country by cutting down costs to the tune 40% while ensuring the availability of hi-performance, international technology," said Pandya. To be manufactured at 60% localisation, Z axis is in talks with Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services, state tourism department, Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Border Security Force (BFS) among others for supply of the indigenously built drones. Made out of carbon-fiber material that make the drones light weight and long endurance, the UAVs carry an average 40 minute flight time. The company has for now launched four different types of UAVs for varied purposes. "The products can be equipped with different pay-loads depending upon customized needs. As the core focus of company is to deal with different government bodies, especially defence, the company is also developing in-house software used in different UAVs in order to cut down the dependence on third party and to maintain secrecy of collected data intact," said Bakeri. According to Harmitsingh Sikh, Chief Marketing Officer, Z axis Unmanned Machines, the market size of small UAVs in India, which weigh not more than 50kgs, is estimated to be around Rs 200 crore by 2019, up from Rs 110 crore in 2015. "This is taking into consideration 97% of defence application as of now. The civil application will vastly increase the market once the policy becomes clear and the ban is removed by DGCA," Sikh added. Apart from being the only start-up, Z axis is also one of the only two companies from Gujarat to be selected to participate in the Make in India Week. Workers from a dalit hamlet in Tamil Nadus Villipuram district building a road to a cremation ground on the outskirts of the village as part of the rural jobs programme, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). As many as 86% of NREGA workers in Tamil Nadu are women. The fruits of a peoples movement and the worlds largest anti-poverty public works, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) last year provided employment to 22% of all rural homes. At its peak five years ago, it was a lifeline for 55 million, or one in every three rural homes. But it has yet to expand to its full potential. Up to 70% of interested poor households did not receive any NREGA work between 2004-05 and 2011-12, reports the India Human Development Survey 2 (IHDS2). Unemployment allowance, stipulated in the law, has also rarely been paid as a substitute. Nevertheless, for recipient families, 32% of their poverty decline comes from NREGA alone, according to IHDS2. Why NREGA is currently not an effective drought-relief measure Under the law, promulgated in 2005, each household is guaranteed 100 days of work every year. But, on average, each NREGA household received only 45 days of work over the last decadeless than half the guarantee. The lowest average was last year: 38 days. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal clocked in even less. So, it is ironic that recently the Central government has expanded the guarantee to 150 days of work in 14 drought-affected states. Odisha further increased the cap to 200 days. But this does not work as a drought-relief measure, as only 4% of employed households hit the 100-day mark last year. At its peak, too, only 14% have ever received 100 days of work. Worse, the total nationwide person-daysa measure of NREGA employmentalmost halved in 2014-15 (1.49 billion), compared to its peak five years ago (2.84 billion). The law also stipulates that wages are to be paid within 15 days. Last year, 72% of wages were delayed. This year, no more than 45% of wages have been paid on time. In the midst of a drought, villagers who survive hand-to-mouth cannot afford to wait. Compensation for delayed payment is also rare. In several states, such as Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan, NREGA wages are lower than the minimum wages for unskilled agricultural work, which makes it difficult to attract workers, especially the youth, who often prefer to migrate to urban areas. Yet, this safety net has bolstered their bargaining power even on distant shores, as scores of Bihari migrants will testify. IndiaSpend NREGA especially helps women, dalits and tribals Earlier, we had never seen Rs 500 notes; now we have more than Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 as our bank balance, Sunil Munda, an adivasi from Sanramlai village in eastern Odisha recounted six years ago. Now, if we have malaria, we can take an auto and go to the hospital for treatment. Earlier, if herbs didnt work, we knew we would be dead. We hadnt seen the doors of the hospital. On a more positive front, 40% of households employed under the law are impoverished dalits and adivasis, even without any explicit targeting. The IDHS2 attributes 38% and 28% of reduction in poverty in employed dalit and adivasi (tribal) homes, respectively, to NREGA alone. As importantly, in Indias patriarchal society, the NREGA has emerged as a torchbearer for womens empowerment. As many as 55% NREGA workers in 2014-15 were women, and their participation has soared 38% over the last decade. Predictably (since they are states with high female literacy and social emancipation), Kerala and Tamil Nadu top the charts, with as many as 92% and 86% of NREGA workers being women. Even before the Jan Dhan Yojana, the NREGA had opened 100 million bank accounts, often used by women for their wages, often for the first time, and on par with men. Note: In 2006-7 NREGA was applicable in only 200 backward districts, in 2007-08, it was extended to 330 districts, and, from 2008-09, implemented across India. There has also been much hand-wringing about the quality of NREGA work. A deeper look reveals that 28% of works, even in 2013-14, were to improve rural sanitation, even before the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Another 30% were for water conservation, flood control, drought proofing and micro-irrigation. More than half the works were green jobs directly related to improving agricultural productivity. For example, the Institute for Human Development shows a high completion rate, with a 6% rate of return for about 100,000 wells sanctioned in Jharkhand. The Maharashtra governments Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan to make 5,000 villages drought-free also depends on the NREGA. In another ingenious initiative, Tamil Nadu has employed 60,000 Thuimai Kavalars (sanitation workers) under NREGA across three-fourth of villages. In Karnataka, NREGA workers have even been employed to manufacture environment-friendly earthen bricks. These tasks are a far cry from digging and filling trenches. And so, to the next decade Despite the Prime Ministers mockery of the lifeline in Parliament last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party, at the 10th anniversary celebration of NREGA, hailed it as the nations pride. Workers at an urban employment guarantee worksite in a slum of Tripuras capital, Agartala. With the tide turning in favour of the states pilot urban-jobs programme, an argument is being made for its nationwide replication. Tripura is the only state to offer urban dwellers guaranteed employment. With the tide turning, the clamour has now begun for its nationwide replication. The next decade holds much promise for the right to work. ( ) IndiaSpend is a data-driven, public interest journalism non-profit The US will fund India to improve its overall aviation safety mechanism, including in the areas of operation, airworthiness and licensing. Indias aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) on Tuesday signed the Grant Agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II. Under the agreement, USTDA will partially fund improving systems at the DGCA. While USTDAs assistance will be of $808,327, contractor firm The Wicks Group (TWG) would share the cost of assistance at $75,000. The assistance, according to the ministry, became necessary after the International Civil Aviation Organization raised safety concerns about the countrys aviation in its audit report in 2012. Later, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) carried out an International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013. After the assessment, India was assigned Category 2 safety rating in January 2014. Under Phase I of the agreement, TWG had assisted DGCA in preparing for reassessment by FAA in December 2014, the ministry said. The governments contribution would be $446,866, including in-kind cost share, valued at $196,866 for international round-trip air travel on Indian air carriers between the US and India and in-country ground transportation for the contractor during the duration of the assistance. Besides, it would cover the cash cost share of $250,000. In March 2014, the USTDA, in coordination with FAA, approached DGCA and offered assistance under a grant agreement to address issues in the wake of IASA audit findings. Then, TWG assisted DGCA in addressing the issues and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014. Based on that reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, Indias Category 1 status was restored in April 2015. Phase II of the current project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation, the ministry of civil aviation said. OFF TO A FLYING START You've got no business paying a pittance for the posh south Mumbai house you've been staying in for decades, just because it is legacy. It is this anomaly that the proposed amendments in the Rent Act apparently seek to address. Indeed, Maximum City is dotted with commercial and residential premises that have been occupied for years by tenants who pay a paltry sum for them. Many of these structures lie in a state of abject neglect, and several have collapsed, since neither the owners nor the occupants are willing to dip their hands into their pockets for their upkeep. It is to address this issue and to give a fair deal to the landlords that the state administration has proposed landmark amendments to the existing Rent Act. However, while this initiative seems well intentioned, there are key issues that require to be addressed. Before we look at them, let's take a quick look at the proposed changes. The patchwork The state government is aware that many tenants occupying rent-controlled units belong to the lower- or middle-income groups. Keeping this in mind, the government intends amending the Rent Act to: Exclude commercial establishments occupying more than 46.5 sq m (500 sq ft) and residential tenants occupying more than 80 sq m (862 sq ft) from protection under the Rent Act. Such tenants will continue to occupy the rented premises so long as they pay market rent (as per the ready reckoner rate manual); Cap the rent for such properties at 50 per cent of the market rates for the first three years and then raise it to 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of 30 per cent of the tenant's annual income from the fourth year;Senior citizenswill pay the lower of 15 per cent of annual income or 50 per cent of the market rent; Hold landlords solely responsible for maintaining such buildings in good condition,and penalise them for violation thereof, under the Indian Penal Code. The amendments also seek to enable the state to either adopt the Centre's draft Model Tenancy Act or suitably amend its own Rent Control Act. For the time being, they exclude larger tenants from the protection the existing Rent Act provides. The amendments also seek to free up a large chunk of rented properties to a fairer market system of rent and/or to redevelopment, while continuing to protect economically weaker tenants. Churn in tenancy following higher rentals will provide an opportunity to boost construction of affordable housing in the city, creating adequate room for redevelopment and cluster development. There will also be a swell in the number of residential and commercial units available for rent, as landlords will no longer have to deal with cumbersome eviction procedures. This surge in itself will serve as an equaliser in the long run, and will rationalise rentals. Another argument in favour of the amendments is that the cost of registration, stamp duty, ready reckoner rates including other taxes have increased so why cant landlords charge market rates. It is to be noted that under the Rent Act tenants are paying standard rent -- fixed by the Court or the Controller under the Bombay Restriction Act, 1939 or the Bombay Rents, Hotel Rates and Lodging House Rates (Control) Act, 1944, with a 5 per cent annual escalation provision. Where the rent is not so fixed, the rent at which the premises was let on October 1, 1987 is considered, or where the premises was not let on October 1, 1987, the rent that the premises was last let, plus 5 per cent annual escalation. None of the above gives landlords any incentive to maintain properties, leading to dilapidation of old buildings. By allowing hassle-free rent hikes, the government seeks to encourage owners to maintain their properties and rent them out, thereby reducing the shortage of dwellings in the city and other parts of the state. An October 2015 report by Praja, a NGO, revealed a sharp decline in rental housing in Mumbai over the years, even as ownership housing thrived. The holes Notwithstanding the move to exclude only large tenants from the protection of the existing Act, the amendment will still end up displacing lakhs of tenants who will not be able to afford higher rents. Families living in bigger houses aren't necessarily wealthy and may have inherited tenancy rights. In many cases, a single dwelling houses several families, who will lose the roof over their heads if the landlord evicts them. The amendments fail to address the concerns of pugree tenants, who paid one-third of the prevailing market price of the premises as a lump sum non-refundable advance to the landlord, prior to renting the premises. Market-based rent would be unfair to such tenants. The amendment is also unclear on whether the cap on rent at 30 per cent of the tenant's annual income refers to the earnings of an individual or the entire family. In any case, the cap will leave tenants in the highest tax bracket with very little money to meet household, medical, children's education, and further expenses. Tenanted buildings will fall outside the purview of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976 (MHADA Act) thereby stripping the tenant the protection under this Act. One opinion is that the proposed changes in the Rent Act will serve to encourage land grab, as abnormal rent hikes will oust tenants and leave the properties in hands of the landlords, who will then hand it over to builders for redevelopment. This may also lead to an outpour in the number of civil suits in the city's courts once the amendment comes into force. Bottom line It is only because of the Rent Act that the poor can afford to live in Mumbai. The state government, which has deferred its decision to implement the amendment for the time being, would do well to push such a proposal after consulting all stakeholders. Also, the gradient of increase shouldnt be so steep. It would be in the aptness of things if the state administration permitted a longer and more gradual tenure of increase to market value of rent. Pugree tenants have paid enormous non-refundable sums to their landlords upfront while renting the commercial/residential premises and have been regularly paying rent for generations. They should be kept out of the purview of the amendment, irrespective of the definition of larger tenants, and made owners of the apartments upon their willingness to shell out a lump sum amount that may be reasonably fixed. The author is a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Views expressed are personal. ashoo.gupta@amsshardul.com DGCA and USTDA sign Grant Agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II . . The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) signed the Grant Agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II in New Delhi today. Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Honble Minister of Civil Aviation and Ms Leocadia I. Zak, Director, U.S. Trade and Development Agency were present on the occasion. USTDA will be partially funding the assistance to the tune of US $ 808,327 and contractor The Wicks Group(TWG) will share the cost of assistance at US $ 75,000. Government of Indias contribution is for an amount of US $ 446,866 with . . (i) In-kind Cost Share, valued at US$ 196,866 for international roundtrip air travel on Indian air carriers between the US and India and in-country ground transportation for the Contractor during the duration of the assistance; and . . (ii) Cash Cost Share US $ 250000. . The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. Following this the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) of USA carried out an International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013, and India was assigned Category 2 rating in January 2014. . . In March 2014, United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a USTDA Grant Agreement project to address the FAA IASA findings and help restore Category 1 status to India. Under the Grant Agreement, US based Contractor The Wicks Group(TWG) assisted DGCA in addressing the findings and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014. Based on this reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, Indias Category 1 status was restored in April 2015. . . Phase II of the current project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on General Aviation and Business Aviation . . . Indias Manpower and Australias Technology can Come Together to Combine Best of both Worlds: Shri Piyush Goyal . . Australia to Partner with India to Achieve the Goal of Affordable Energy for All . . Shri Piyush Goyal Discusses Energy Collaboration with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. . Shri Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy held a meeting with the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dr. Anthony Lynham, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Mark Bailey, Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply in Brisbane, Australia. Shri Piyush Goyal invited the Premier and the two Ministers to visit India and stated that a combination of Indias manpower and Australian technology would lead to a world beating outcome. Both sides agreed on the need to extend Government to Government dialogue to Business to Business as well as People to People dialog. . . Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted the role of energy security in some of the key initiatives of the Prime Minister namely Make in India, Digital India and Skill India. He further said that Australia could help India with better technology and leapfrogging the learning curve. He highlighted the transparent business regime in India which is moving up rapidly in Ease of doing business and Competitiveness rankings. The Minister also pointed out the need to increase training collaboration through focused initiatives like Train the Trainer. India is looking to have better, smarter, safer and more tech savvy systems which are affordable. He also emphasized the need to focus on outcomes during any collaboration. . . Shri Piyush Goyal reiterated that India is running the worlds largest renewable energy expansion programme and would welcome cost competitive supply of gas from Australia which will help run grid stabilizing gas plants which can support expansion of clean energy plants. Assured pricing and off take can be key enablers of such supply and Australian companies can look at vertical integration through control of entire supply chain from gas production to even power generation to control costs. . Speaking on the occasion, the Premier said that they were willing to export what they were good at such as their expertise in mining. She spoke about the need for an energy mix including the need to use different forms of energy and also take into account environmental concerns. In particular they were keen to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef was not damaged in any way. The Premier also drew attention to the capabilities of Queensland in Skill development. The other Australian Ministers present also stressed the excellent safety record of the Australian mining industry. . . Dr. Anthony Lynham highlighted the fact that Australian companies are looking outwards to expand and can look at manufacturing partnerships with India which will boost Make in India. Australias strong track record in mine health and safety is world class and can be shared with India. Mr. Mark Bailey highlighted that 3 out of 10 houses in Queensland have solar rooftops and Australia can help expand rooftop solar penetration in India. . . RM/PS President of India condoles the passing away of Shri SushilKoirala . . The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has expressed condolences on the passing away of Shri Sushil, Koirala, former Prime Minister of Nepal. . . In his message, the President has said, It is with deep sorrow that I received the of the sad demise of Shri SushilKoirala, former Prime Minister of Nepal. . . Throughout his long public life, Shri SushilKoirala worked to strengthen the relations between India and Nepal. With his passing, Nepal has lost a visionary leader who served its people with dedication and commitment. In his death, India has lost a true and valuable friend. . . I convey heartfelt condolence on my personal behalf and on behalf of the people of India to the family of Shri Koirala as well as the people of Nepal". . . Significant progress made towards improving ease of doing construction business in urban areas . . Applications to AAI for height clearences in airport zones reduced by 200 per month further to CCZM . . Colour Coded Zonal Maps to be developed for Defence airports used for civilian purposes also . . Online approvals for construction near monuments in 72 hours . . Revised National Building Code to be notified in two weeks . . States and urban local bodies to be empowered to approve building plans in quick time . . 5 Ministers and 7 concerned Secretaries review progress . . Considerable progress has been reported towards enhancing the ease of doing of construction business in urban areas by streamlining the procedures, adoption of appropriate technology and by empowering urban local bodies to accord a wide range of approvals. Progress in this regard was reviewed at a high level meeting convened by the Minister of Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu here today. . . Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar, Civil Aviation Minister Shri Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister of Environment, Forests & Climate Change Shri Prakash Javdekar and Minister of Tourism & Culture Dr.Mahesh Sharma also participated in the review meeting. Secretaries of respective Ministries besides those of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Consumer Affairs besides senior officials from Prime Ministers Office and Cabinet Secretariat too attended the hour long review. . . It was informed in the meeting that Colour Coded Zonal Maps (CCZM) for 28 defence airports being used for civilian purposes will be developed for easy sanction of height clearences on the lines of what is being done for civilian airports. To begin with CCZMs will be evolved for four such airports viz., Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra by April, 2016. Ministry of Civil Aviation will assist in this regard. Such CCZMs will be shared with municipal bodies for according height clearences. . . Works of Defence Act, 1903 will be suitably amended to remove hurdles for construction activities near defence establishments. Distance from the actual storage point will be considered for restricting the construction instead of from the boundary wall of ammunition storage dumps at present, which will bring down the zone of restriction. Instructions have been issued to Service Headquarters and Headquarters of all defence organisations for sharing information along with maps of restricted zones to municipal bodies. . . Area Commanders will be required to decide in 30 days on clearing constructions in restricted zones failing which approvals would be taken as deemed. . . Ministry of Civil Aviation has reported that applications received by the Airports Authority of India for height clearnces in airport zones have come down by over 200 per month further to development of CCZMs for 12 airports that account for 58% of total such applications and making them available to respective urban local bodies. These airports are : Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Chennai. CCZM for Jaipur airport has been recently completed. . . CCZMs for 9 more airports viz., Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Aurangabad, Surat, Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Puducherry will be developed by June,2016 and for the remaining 14 major airports by December,2016. This will enable respective urban local bodies accord height clearences in respect of almost all cases, doing away with the need to approach AAI for the same. . . Ministry of Civil Aviation also commissioned improved version of online NOCAS (No Objection Certificate Application System) eliminating human interface and enabling faster issue of NOC through automatic calculations of permissible heights in airport zones with applicants being able to track the status. . . Ministry of Culture has come out with a mobile based app that enables online approvals for construction in the vicinity of monuments in just 72 hours through integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of respective urban local bodies. Time taken at present is about 90 days. . . Prime Ministers Office desired that integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of Delhi and Mumbai be completed by March this year. . . In association with ISRO, Ministry of Culture is developing colour coded maps for 281 monuments that account for most of the construction related approvals using which municipal bodies can accord approvals in quick time. . . Ministry of Consumer Affairs has completed revision of National Building Code enabling speedy building approvals and the same will be notified in the next two weeks. . . Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change has come out with revised and simplified environmental norms and the same will be notified at the earliest after consultations with the Ministry of Urban Development. Urban local bodies and state governments will be empowered to accord approvals at their level based on their willingness and ability. . . Ministry of Urban Development will soon issue Model Building Byelaws incorporating all revised and simplified norms and processes enabling urban local bodies to approve building plans in quick time there by enhancing the ease of doing construction business in urban areas. . . Shri Venkaiah Naidu thanked all concerned ministers and senior officials for their enthusiastic response towards enhancing the ease of doing business. . . AAR/ The global oil surplus will be bigger than previously estimated in the first half, increasing the risk of further price losses, as Opec members Iran and Iraq bolster production while demand growth slows, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Supply may exceed consumption by an average of 1.75 million barrels a day in the period, compared with an estimate of 1.5 million last month, and the excess could swell if Opec adds more output, the IEA said. Iran raised production in January following the removal of international sanctions, Iraqi volumes reached a record and Saudi Arabia also ramped up output. The agency trimmed estimates for global oil demand. "With the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term," the Paris-based adviser to 29 nations said in its monthly market report. "In these conditions the short term risk to the downside has increased." Oil prices remain capped near $30 a barrel after slumping to a 12-year low in late January. Oil fell a fourth day on Tuesday in New York as price volatility climbed to near the highest levels in seven years and Goldman Sachs Group Inc warned of wider swings to come. Futures fell 2.2 per cent after rising as much as 3.1 per cent. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery slipped 54 cents, or 1.8 per cent, to $29.15 a barrel at 11:58 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for April settlement dropped $1.04, or 3.2 per cent, to $31.84 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. While prices recovered on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) might agree to production curbs with non-members, "the likelihood of coordinated cuts is very low," according to the IEA. No agreement to restrain supply emerged last week after Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino toured oil capitals from Moscow to Riyadh. Production from Opec's 13 members climbed by 280,000 barrels a day last month to 32.63 million, the IEA said. That's about 900,000 a day more than the average required from the group in 2016. Iran expanded production by 80,000 barrels a day to 2.99 million in January after reaching a deal with world powers that lifted oil sanctions in return for limits on the nation's nuclear program. Iraq increased output by 50,000 barrels a day to 4.35 million and could raise that further, according to the IEA, which had predicted in October that the country would struggle to add new supplies. Saudi Arabia, Opec's biggest member and de facto leader, boosted production by 70,000 barrels a day to 10.21 million. The IEA lowered its estimates for global oil demand for last year and 2016, by 100,000 barrels a day, leaving the level of growth for this year unchanged at 1.2 million barrels a day to average 95.6 million a day. That growth is weaker than the five-year peak of 1.6 million barrels a day reached in 2015, amid slowdowns in Europe, China and the US. Oil inventories in developed nations increased in December, a month when they normally decline, by 7.6 million barrels to 3 billion. That left stockpiles about 350 million barrels above average, according to the report. Supplies outside Opec slipped by 500,000 barrels a day in January from the previous month, halting annual growth. While non-Opec production will drop by 600,000 barrels a day this year as the US shale boom sputters, the decline is "taking an awful long time to happen," the agency said. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras), is in preliminary discussions with various stakeholders, including industry and government, to bring in research projects for the research campus it is setting up in Thaiyur, near Chennai. The institute has also attracted around Rs 10-12 crore project funding from sorporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of various companies in 2015, and expects this amount to double this year. The Tamil Nadu state government has allotted a constructible area of 160 acres for the Thaiyur institute and the compound wall has been constructed. The development would happen as and when particular research projects gets funding, over a period of time. The facility, a first of its kind in the country, would be able to house 10-15 research centres at a time, said R Nagarajan, professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and dean-International & Alumni Relations, IIT-Madras. "The research campus would be for long-term research projects, such as a water research centre, which would be run in a mixed model of industry and government funding," he said. The first two major rounds of fundings are getting ready to take off in a couple of months, while the entire project would be completed and in full swing in next 10 years. The project would be completed at a cost of around Rs 600-800 crore. With the new norms in CSR activities getting implemented in the recent past, the institute has received around Rs 10-12 crore as funding for abour eight socially-oriented projects last year. The latest such funding was by Nokia, for a research project on creating technology solutions to enhance broadband connectivity in rural India. Phase II of the IIT-M Research Park in Chennai is also expected to go fully on stream soon, with a large portion of it already occupied by Saint-Gobain Research India, they said. The institute is also looking at creating an endowment fund of Rs 500 crore by 2020 and has created a full time office to achieve the goal. In a country where pilgrimages are the lifeblood of its vast and unorganised travel industry, it was really a matter of time before branded hospitality chains cashed in. Sarovar Hotels and Resorts, which currently manages over 70 properties in 48 destinations in India and abroad, has stepped into the gap with its newly opened Marasa Sarovar Premiere in Tirupati, in alliance with the Uganda based Madhvani group. This is the first of eight such hotels that the Sarovar-Madhvani combine plans to open in popular pilgrim spots . Apart from this, the New Delhi-headquartered hospitality company is also planning to bolster its presence in small towns and untapped tourist destinations in India, riding on an asset light model where it manages and services the properties in partnership with a large chain. HOTELS ON THE HOLY TRAIL The domestic travel business has boomed in recent years. And as new investments give rise to new hospitality brands, many have tapped into the pilgrim trails that run across the country Fortune Hotel; Tirupati The Hans Group; Puri Carlson Country Inns and Suites and Ginger; Katra, Vaishno Devi Carlson Country Inns and Suites, Ginger and Radisson (Sarovar group); Haridwar Fortune, Marasa Sarovar; Tirupati Sarovar is not alone on the holy trail; Starwood Hotels, which owns the St Regis, Le Meridien and Westin brands among others, has a similar strategy. The Tata group's Roots Corporation is also into key pilgrimage centres. It has a 100-room Ginger property in Katra, near Vaishnodevi and 125-keys properties in Tirupati, Shirdi, Udipi, Ajmer and Haridwar. Sarovar wants to feed into the growing domestic travel numbers too as do many new hotel chains who have found value in wooing domestic travellers. The Fern group is present in Tezpur, Tirupur and Asansol; the Keys brand operates properties in Puri, Agartala and Nasik. And Fortune and Lemon Tree, rivals to the Sarovar brand, are also present in similar geographies. Sarovar hopes to tackle the competition by being present in the maximum number of destinations and by sticking to its partnership model. It says that it plans to expand its portfolio, adding a total of about 20 hotels in two years. It expects to invest close to Rs 800-900 crore in its new properties with the bulk coming in from business partners. Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Hotels said that the company is looking at an asset light model, largely adopted by the global chains. It has styled itself on Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) which works with different partners and supports a number of hotel brands under its umbrella. IHG is also rapidly spreading its India footprint, adding 51 hotels to the existing 25 hotels in next five years, going head to head in many towns with Sarovar. Most hotels are eyeing the widening pie of Indian travellers touring India. According to the ministry of tourism, the number of domestic tourists visiting domestic destinations is growing at a fast clip; in 2014, the numbers grew by close to 12 per cent over the previous year just a shade lower than the 13 per cent growth in the number of international travellers into India. Changing market dynamics has brought about a change in the way hotels deploy their assets too. Until recently, the focus was on metros and popular tourist destinations. But as more Indians travel to offbeat destinations and small towns, the hotels are doing so too. Madhok agrees that a significant development in the Indian hospitality scenario in the last decade has been the emergence of micro markets. "We are also looking at resorts and hill stations as we feel that as the country progresses, creating a bigger middle class and with people take more frequent holidays, these destinations will be very lucrative," added Madhok. True but clearly there will also be a need for the multiple hotel brands to differentiate their offerings. "Our USP is quality service at affordable price," said Madhok. Besides, he added, Sarovar has the first mover advantage in several emerging destinations including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Sarovar manages its properties under three brands - Premiere which looks at 5-star hotels, Portico for 3 and 4 star hotels in cities and Hometel for budget and economy stays. All hotels are operated as partnership ventures; Sarovar offers technical support and design, construction and services. Madhok claims that the total brand turnover for Sarovar is around Rs 4,000-5000 crore. According to him Sarovar's objective is to provide value for money and he said, "We provide true value for money in all segments, hence our prices are most competitive, but not the cheapest." While the company has a significant presence in west and the south India, in the future the focus will be on growing in the northern and eastern part of the country. Sarovar wants to set up hotels in Lucknow, Agra, Patna, Ranchi, Mysore and Bhopal. It is also looking to increase its presence in Africa where it already has three hotels and step into the Middle Eastern and Far Eastern markets too. DERIVATIVE STRATEGIES ICICI BANK: SELL TARGET: Rs 202 STOPLOSS: Rs 213 SELL ICICIBANK FUTURES at Rs 209 [BELOW MOVING AVERAGES + MACD SELL + BELOW PREVIOUS CLOSE] WIPRO: SELL TARGET: Rs 536 STOP LOSS: Rs 553 SELL WIPRO FUTURES at Rs 548 [STOCHASTICS SELL + RISE IN VOLUME + BELOW MOVING AVERAGES] Disclaimer: This report has been prepared by Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited (GBNPP), here in after referred to as GBNPP. GBNPP, a publicly listed company, is engaged in services of retail broking, credit, portfolio management and marketing investment products including mutual funds, life and general insurance and properties. Each recipient of this report should make such investigation as it deems necessary to arrive at an independent evaluation of an investment in the securities of companies referred to in this report (including the merits and risks involved). This document is not for public distribution and has been furnished to you solely for your information and must not be reproduced or redistributed to any other person. Persons into whose possession this document may come are required to observe these restrictions. Opinion expressed herein is our current opinion as of the date appearing on this report only. While we endeavor to update on a reasonable basis the information discussed in this material, there may be regulatory, compliance, or other reasons that prevent us from doing so. Prospective investors and others are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not predictions and may be subject to change without notice. The twin deals between private equity major KKR and cement maker Dalmia Bharat (DBL) have come under scrutiny for alleged lack of adequate disclosure, especially on valuation, to shareholders. Three resolutions, which will enable the deals in which KKR is exiting its investment in DBL subsidiary Dalmia Cement Bharat (DCBL) and picking up a stake in the parent, are coming up for shareholder approval in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday. Proxy advisory firm Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) has asked shareholders to vote against all these resolutions, citing lack of transparency. DBL is proposing to acquire 15 per cent stake of KKR Mauritius Cements Investments in DCBL in a cash-cum-share deal. Valuing this stake at Rs 1,218.75 crore, DBL will pay Rs 600 crore in cash and issue 7.5 million equity shares at Rs 825 each totaling Rs 618.75 crore. Dalmia Bharat shares, trading close to Rs 800 before the announcement, have fallen below Rs 700 since. On Tuesday, the counter lost 4.3 per cent to close at Rs 687.5 on the BSE. SES was of the opinion that by this supposedly innocuous scheme, the company was providing an exit to KKR without listing DCBL and without specifically telling its shareholders. The exit provided to KKR is cloaked in the stated objective of making DCBL a 100 per cent subsidiary. It is not uncommon for private equity funds to include exit clauses in investment agreements. It is possible that KKR and DBCL had such an agreement. However, shareholders are in the dark whether the proposed transactions are the result of such clauses dating back to 2010, when KKR bought the stake. In response to an email seeking comments, the DBL spokesperson said the transaction was a negotiated purchase of DCBL shares by DBL. The private equity fund said in an emailed statement. KKR is invested in DBL, indeed is its largest institutional investor, and looks forward to supporting Dalmia Cements growth organically and inorganically under its simplified ownership structure. It referred further queries to DBL and any public filings. Curiously, the deals put the parents value lower than that of the subsidiary. KKRs 15 per cent stake in DCBL is worth Rs 1,218.75 crore, according to the deal. This values the subsidiary at Rs 8,125 crore. In the second leg, KKR receives 8.45 per cent of DBL at Rs 618.75 crore, valuing it at Rs 7,322 crore. SES wants shareholders in the EGM to ask the company to explain this. At Rs 1,218 crore value for a 15 per cent stake it appears that the exit is being provided at an 18 per cent compound rate of interest, which amounts to roughly 18 per cent IRR, which is normal in PE investments and is not a cause of concern for shareholders. The real cause of concern is non-disclosure of the contours of the deal, SES said. Explaining the pricing of DBL shares, the company spokesperson added that the current preferential allotment of shares is based on and in compliance with the preferential issuance norms issued by SEBI. The floor price is Rs 816 per share as the current issue is priced at Rs 825. The same has been explained in the documents sent to all shareholders. On the complaint that the valuation reports have not been put up on the companys website, the spokesperson said, The regulatory framework does not require placing the valuation reports of unlisted shares in the public domain. However the same are available for inspection by shareholders at the registered office of the company as required under law. SES said it was of the view that as a good governance practice, instead of placing documents at the registered office, the company should place them on its website for easy availability by shareholders. Further, SES said the resolution to amend articles referred to an agreement between KKR and the company, the details of which had not been disclosed. Explaining the move to amend the articles of the company, which is seen as an effort to insert an exit clause for the current investment, the spokesperson said, KKR continues as an investor in DBL. There is no agreement that guarantees any return whatsoever to KKR. Rather the proposed amendment to the articles only ensures that in case KKR earns a return beyond a certain threshold, the excess will be made available to the company, thereby benefiting all shareholders. DBL reiterated that all necessary compliances were duly completed. Due disclosures, including the rationale of the transaction, have been explained in the shareholder documents and the presentations uploaded on our corporate website, it said. To strengthen corporate governance, more changes might be required in the Companies Act as well as in the Sebi regulations for listed companies, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said on Tuesday. We are seeing major changes on corporate governance, (and) major changes in the nature of capitalism. This is well established within the framework we are following being a pro-poor as well as pro-market government, he said at an event organised by Ficci here. Sinha, minister of state for finance, said, There are more changes that might be required in Companies Act, there are more changes that may be required how Sebi deals with listed entities...to strengthen corporate governance. Recalling the time when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014, he said there was lack of confidence in governance both in the government as well as corporations. As a result of this, foreign direct investment and domestic investment came to a halt, he said. But things improved on governance front after the new government took charge in May 2014. So, governance is going to be very important for us. If we are not able to sustain and follow the best standard of corporate governance it will be very difficult for our corporate to attract investment and talent to build businesses, he said. Therefore, the whole process and manner of corporate governance becomes very important, he added. Sinha said the introduction of the bankruptcy code in Parliament would have a big impact on governance practices and our effort is to balance the interests of the majority and minority shareholders as well as strengthening the rights of creditors. Addressing the International Conference on corporate governance, Sinha said good corporate governance was essential for instilling confidence among investors in the Indian market as also to strengthen Indian corporations to be able to compete globally. Sebi whole-time member Prashant Saran said corporate governance should be seen as a way of survival, for doing business, not merely as means towards earning larger returns. When asked about Sebis decision on NSEs self-listing, Saran said that some decisions will be taken by the respective departments. With regard to crowd-funding, he said, We are not giving any time-line when the final norms will be put in place. Indian Institute of Corporate affairs (IICA) DG and CEO Bhaskar Chatterjee said the way business is conducted in India by following good governance practices should become a benchmark for the rest of the world. The conference was aimed at providing a unique opportunity to corporations to understand expectations of policy makers and discuss with them the impediments in implementing laws on the ground, he added. ...though the knowledge test criteria for independent directors has been built in the Companies Act, it is important to ensure they are not hauled up as a routine measure, for no fault of theirs and especially for non-compliance of provisions beyond the Companies Act. This could otherwise have a serious impact on directors where the intention is not of breach of trust or default and actions were honest, FICCI President Harshavardhan Neotia and Chairman Ambuja Neotia Group said. The family members of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, who was yesterday miraculously found alive buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in the Siachen glacier, today said that they were very glad and waiting anxiously to see him. Hanamanthappa's wife, who has been praying for her husband's survival, told the media in Dharwad, Karnataka, that she is anxiously waiting to see him. Meanwhile, his nephew, who had lost all hopes, said that it was the blessings of the entire villagers that the Lance Naik has fought with the extremely difficult conditions and stayed alive. A rescue team, which had been chipping away at ice for days, last night found army Hanamanthappa, who was buried under 25 feet of snow at the Siachen Glacier, in temperatures close to minus 40 degrees. The body of Hanamanthappa, who is on ventilator, will arrive at the Palam airbase and from there he would be taken to the Army Research and Referral Hospital. Meanwhile, army source said the rescue teams have located mortal remains of all the remaining nine soldiers and they are being brought out from the avalanche site. After an avalanche on February 3, the soldiers were buried deep under the snow. Hanamanthappa was trapped in an air bubble, which saved his life. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had yesterday dismissed suggestions for withdrawal of troops from Siachen. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an international maritime conference in Visakhapatnam, he said the military presence in Siachen is in consonance with the country's security needs. He emphasized on the need to understand the importance of troop deployment in spite of the hostile conditions. The Defence Minister also asserted there seemed to be no loose ends in this incident as it was an unpredicted way of nature showing its strength. "It is an avalanche. These are just unpredicted things by which nature shows its strength. We can't help it. Hope of any survival is very less," Parrikar said. Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, on Tuesday said the country is entering the most difficult and crucial phase of the military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He was addressing a special provincial apex committee meeting in Peshawar. Array The meeting laid special focus on the return of Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs) with further discussion on the current progress of intelligence-based operations (IBO) being conducted across the urban centers of the country, reports Dawn. Array 'We are in the most difficult phase of the operation after successfully evicting terrorists from their sanctuaries and restoring the writ of the state',said General Sharif. The meeting was attended the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) , chief minister of KP, Peshawar corps commander along with senior officials from KP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). General Sharif also paid rich tribute to the resilience and sacrifices rendered by the people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Healthcare and biotechnology companies should be focused on developing blockbuster drugs that benefit billions of patients, said world-leading healthcare experts, and this can only be done through collaboration and innovation, they added. Speaking at the opening day of the Bangalore India Bio, leaders in Life Sciences presented their views at the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) India Making Tomorrows Medicine. Speaking at the event, Indian entrepreneur and Chairwoman of India's biggest bio-tech company, Biocon Limited, Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, said in making the Medicines of Tomorrow, the endeavour should be to leverage innovation to develop therapies which are affordable and accessible. "As global priorities shift from providing exclusive and expensive drugs to more affordable drugs to enhance access to greater patient populations, we need to focus on developing blockbuster drugs with a potential to benefit a billion patients," said Ms Shaw. "A developing country like India, needs to invest in an affordable innovation model that can help address the burgeoning healthcare challenges of India, where 80 percent of healthcare expenses are borne by the patients, in the absence of a universal healthcare program run by the Government." "The UK, with its ecosystem of research institutes, innovative companies and a large scientific pool, has become an important destination for high-end innovation and research. As large numbers of Indian companies commit themselves to innovation, UK's innovation ecosystem can provide learning opportunities for these companies to develop new competencies through collaborative research and alliances and join hands in their pursuit of addressing unmet medical needs," she said. The UK has the strongest overseas presence with more than 20 companies participating in the 16th edition of Bangalore India Bio. Deputy High Commissioner, Dominic McAllister, said the UK and India have built a legacy of collaboration in life sciences over recent years. "Our role within the British Deputy High Commission in Bengaluru is to not only strengthen existing links, but also to explore new ways of working together. Making Tomorrow's Medicines in India using UK capabilities is aligned to Prime Minister Modi's vision of Make In India and is an example of GREAT for Collaboration an exciting campaign that inspires new partnerships between the UK and India. The UK has a long track record of cost-effective and compliant medicines manufacturing from leading global companies. India has taken over from Italy as one of the leading supplier of manufacturing supply chains and is ideally positioned to be the hub of activity around Making Tomorrow's Medicine. Jon Mowles, UKTI Life Science Sector Specialist, who is leading the British delegation, said that the UK has a rich heritage of life science discovery that has transformed scientific knowledge and continues to unlock clinical and commercial opportunities for many countries, including India. "The UK has a rich heritage of life science discovery that has transformed scientific knowledge and continues to unlock clinical and commercial opportunities. UK science is world-class, offering industry an opportunity to partner with globally recognised pioneers and innovators. Approximately twenty five percent of all drugs prescribed in the UK have an Indian origin and I am looking forward to meeting Indian experts and to discuss how we can Make Tomorrow's Medicine together," he said. Interested parties can also visit and meet UKTI Investment Advisors at Bangalore Bio 2016 who can assist with collaboration opportunities with the UK. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who met M. Karunanidhi here today, downplayed reports that he had come on behalf of the Congress to form an alliance in the poll-bound state and said that the final decision in this regard rests in the hands of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief. Abdullah told the media that he had come only to pay his respects to the 'great man' Karunanidhi. "I have always respected him and his views and he has been a great friend of my father. Every time I come to Chennai, my first duty is to pay my respect to him. He is like my father," Abdullah said. Replying to a poser on whether he had come on behalf of the Congress to urge him and form an alliance in the poll-bound state, the Conference leader said that it was for Karunanidhi to decide. "That will be his decision. I cannot say anything as I don't belong to the Congress. I am sure he would do very well in the coming elections. I wish him the best of luck," he added. The Congress High Command is learnt to have given the green signal to its Tamil Nadu unit to start informal discussions with the DMK to prepare the ground for forging an alliance for the assembly elections in April-May. The DMK had snapped ties with the Congress in 2013 over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Reports suggest that the Congress is keen to establish its foothold in the state, which has often seen the DMK and AIADMK at loggerheads. Tamil Nadu Congress chief E V K S Elangovan and other top leaders are of the view that the party must join hands with the DMK prior to the polls. This comes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also begun the consultation process to cobble up the winning alliance in the poll-bound state. Former prime minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala passed away in the wee hours today. Koirala was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Born on August 12, 1939 in Banaras, Koirala was the cousin of former prime ministers Matrika Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala. He entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. Koirala also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. He joined the Nepali Congress in 1952 and served in various capacities prior to becoming its president in 2010. Koirala, who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014, resigned in October last year after parties failed to forge a consensus amid continued protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the country's new Constitution. The second day of the deposition of David Coleman Headley via video conferencing from an undisclosed location in the United States began at a special Mumbai court on Tuesday. The deposition of Headley began before a special Mumbai court yesterday where he revealed the sequence of events and planning behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In his revelation on Monday, Headley said that two attempts were made prior to the final attack on November 26, 2008. According to Headley, the first attempt was made in September 2008, which failed because the boat hit some rocks in the ocean. The people on board were saved as they were wearing life jackets. However, the weapons and explosives were lost. He said that the second attempt was made after a month in October 2008. Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani told the media that Headley has told the special court that he acted on the advice of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed. Jethmalani said Headley disclosed that the same ten people, who came on November 26, had come twice earlier but their attempts failed. Headley, one of the main conspirators in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, deposed as a witness in the case and admitted that he had come to the city with a false identity at the behest of his colleague and handler Sajid Mir, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative. Headley further admitted that he was a true follower of the LeT and had changed his name from Dawood Gilani to David Coleman Headley for the purpose of acquiring a new passport to come to India. He said he had visited Mumbai seven times prior to the attacks on November 26, 2008. He even visited Delhi in March 2009 after the attacks. FICCI in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is organizing 'India-Africa Agribusiness Forum' on 10-11 February 2016 in New Delhi. It is in continuation to the spirit of deepening India-Africa cooperation in Agri-food sector echoed during the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit held at New Delhi last year. This exclusive agri-food forum shall have participation of multiple stakeholders across the agri-food value chain from Africa and India. Delegates from over 25 countries from Africa are participating to meet their counterparts to discuss the possible areas of cooperation across the entire agri-food value chain. Senior Ministers from various African countries like Botswana, Seychelles, Zambia are expected to lead delegations for this prestigious forum. Leading international institutions like IFC, FAO, DFID, DRDO, ICRISAT, EXIM Bank, CSIR and leading corporate are also joining in for this important deliberation which shall discuss many areas and most importantly the possible areas of cooperation for food security in addition to many more interesting themes like Innovative financing models; empowering agri sector using innovation, science and technology; and many more. The deliberations at the forum will help the policy makers as well as industry to identify the ways of intensifying existing partnership models and identifying the new opportunities for deepening Indo-Africa connect in the agrifood value chain through trade, investment, innovative projects, technology transfer and sharing best practices. Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said a combination of India's manpower and Australian technology would lead to a beating outcome. He held a meeting with Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dr. Anthony Lynham and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Mark Bailey here, and invited them to visit India. Both sides agreed on the need to extend Government to Government dialogue to Business to Business as well as People to People dialog. Goyal highlighted the role of energy security in some of the key initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi such as 'Make in India', 'Digital India' and 'Skill India'. He further said Australia could help India with better technology and leapfrogging the learning curve. He highlighted the transparent business regime in India, which is moving up rapidly in ease of doing business and competitiveness rankings. The minister also pointed out the need to increase training collaboration through focused initiatives like 'Train the Trainer'. "India is looking to have better, smarter and safer, and more tech savvy systems, which are affordable," he said, emphasising that there is a need to focus on outcomes during any collaboration. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government, which would complete a year in office on February 14, would give an account of work done to the people. "Aam A(a)dmi completes 1 year in govt on 14 Feb. My cabinet will give an account of work done in 1 yr to people on that day," Kejriwal tweeted. "On 14 Feb Sunday, betn 11 am to 1 pm, our Cabinet will also take questions n suggestions from people on phone," he added. Kejriwal had earlier last week met his ministers at his official residence here after his return from Bengaluru and took a stock of the ongoing issues in the capital. He discussed issues such as the strike by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) sanitation workers, people's view on the Odd-Even scheme and the death of a six-year-old boy at Ryan International School. Kejriwal asked his Cabinet colleagues to prepare a report of its achievements as the Delhi Government would complete a year on February 14. He also took cognizance of the party's internal affairs. Kejriwal-led AAP had created history in the Delhi assembly elections last year, winning 67 out of the total 70 seats. President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday conveyed his condolences on the passing away of Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala, saying that he worked tirelessly to foster the close and multifaceted relations between India and Nepal. "Sushil Koirala worked tirelessly to foster the close and multifaceted relations between India and Nepal. Under his stewardship of the Government of Nepal, considerable progress was achieved in the fields of hydropower and connectivity," President Mukherjee said in his message to the President of Nepal, Her Excellency Bidya Devi Bhandari. "I was deeply saddened to learn of the sad demise of former Prime Minister of Nepal and the leader of the Nepali Congress Shri Sushil Koirala. In his passing away, Nepal has lost a leader who dedicated his life to Nepal's progress and development. He led Nepal during the crucial period of political transition and Constitution promulgation. The simplicity of his life holds a lesson for all of us," he added. President Mukherjee also said that the people of India share the sorrow and grief of the people of Nepal over the loss of Koirala. "Please accept my heartfelt condolences. I would request Your Excellency to kindly convey my deepest sympathies to all members of the Koirala family," he said. Koirala, who was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, passed away this morning. He was 76 years old. Koirala served as Nepal's 37th Prime Minister from February 2014 to October 2014. He was the cousin of former prime ministers B.P. Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala, and had taken part in the democratic movements in Nepal along with them. Taking strong exception to barring of Indian-American actor, designer and model Waris Ahluwalia from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh G.K. on Tuesday said that he would be writing to both Indian and American governments to put in place a set of guidelines so that the Sikhs do not face such problems in the future. "I am writing to the authorities concerned in both Indian and American governments that there must be some guidelines as Sikhs are facing problems, shot dead in America and European countries, because of their mistaken identity, which needs to be taken care of as it is high time to do so," Manjit Singh G.K. told ANI. "Waris Ahluwalia is a world renowned model, whose photos appear on billboards for big brands at America's Times Square and stopping him at the airport just because of his attire (turban) draws condemnations, and I condemn it," he said, adding that if a person like Waris could be stopped at the airport then what would happen to the ordinary Sikhs? "It happened to me also when I was in Rome (Italy). I was asked to remove my turban, but I never did it. The governments around the globe need to educate their people about the Sikh religion, which stands for brotherhood, equality, non-violence," he said. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president further said the Government of India should educate the people around the globe about Sikhism. "I am writing to the authorities concerned in both Indian and American governments that there must be some guidelines as Sikhs are facing problems, shot dead in America and European countries, because of their mistaken identity, which needs to be taken care of as it is high time to do so," he said. Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has convened an emergency meeting of Council of Minister following the demise of Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala. According to The Himalayan Times, it has been learned that the meeting would take decision about the state honor to be given to Koirala. Koirala died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Tuesday. He was 76. He served as Nepal's 37th Prime Minister from February 2014 to October 2014. With David Coleman Headley continuing to spill the beans on LeT and the ISI's involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said his statement establishes the fact that there is no difference between the state and non-state actors in Pakistan. BJP leader Siddharthnath Singh said Headley's revelations have put Islamabad's sincerity on test as to whether they really want to fight against terrorism or do they still want to be in denial mode. "I think David Headley's statement in the Mumbai court establishes many things, out of which two things stand out. There is no difference between the state and non-state actors which has been used as shield by the Pakistan Government," Singh told ANI. "Second, now Pakistan's sincerity is on test. Which way they wish to go? Do they really want to fight against terrorism or do they still want to be in denial mode? It is a life testimony of the accused, who has been involved in 26/11. Therefore, it cannot be immediately denied by Pakistan," he added. The BJP leader said that Pakistan needs to introspect Headley's revelations 'very seriously' and initiate action after admitting the same. "They need to look it at very seriously. If they wish to do walk the talk, they must admit and take action. If they wish not to take action then India would be mounting pressure diplomatically as well as the foreign nations would also do the same," he said. Echoing similar sentiments, BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli said Headley's testimony reaffirms the well-known fact that there was a direct involvement of the ISI with the LeT. "It is an important testimony. It reaffirms what is well known that there is a direct involvement of the ISI with the LeT and they together planned the horrific Mumbai attacks," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told ANI. He also said that Pakistan has been so far looking for so called proof and added that what more evidences it needs to act when now the proofs are being provided. Continuing his deposition for the second consecutive day before a court here, the Pakistani-American terrorist via video conferencing from an undisclosed location in the United States said he was asked by the ISI to recruit Indian army-men to spy for them. He told the court that Lashkar had planned to attack the Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Headley said that he also advised the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack, Hafiz Saeed, and Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi to 'legally challenge' the US ban on Lashkar. Headley testified for over five hours yesterday and described the role of ISI officers in collaborating with the Lashkar for the terror attack, which left 166 people dead in Mumbai. In his first deposition yesterday, Headley said that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strike but failed both times. Describing himself as a 'true follower' of the LeT, he also admitted during his examination by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting 'influenced and motivated' by the speeches of Hafiz Saeed. According to a new study, now people can broadcast their messages to stars through artistic space odyssey. Researchers from University of Edinburgh have revealed that in autumn 2016, dispatches from the public will be converted into radio waves and will be broadcasted towards the North Star, Polaris, this autumn, reaching their destination in 434 years. The interstellar message in a bottle will comprise of people's responses to a single question: how will our present environmental interactions shape the future? Array Project Coordinator Paul Quast said Polaris was chosen as the destination because of its cultural significance as a reference point for navigators and star gazers. Edinburgh College of Art postgraduate student Mr Quast said that this project will create a culturally-inspired message in a bottle capturing global perspectives that will travel into space for eons. The public are invited to visit the official website, http://www.asimpleresponse.org, and leave their contributions to be broadcast into the cosmos. The website is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. German, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin will be available soon. Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Tuesday called on hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Delhi to enquire about his health and also discuss the issue of Kashmir. During the meeting, Geelani extended his appreciation towards Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's statement on account of Kashmir solidarity day. Geelani alleged that India was trying hard to 'suppress' the voices of the people of Kashmir. Basit assured him that Pakistan will continue to extend 'moral, political and diplomatic support' to the people of Kashmir. The High Commissioner also expressed hope that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute would be settled between Pakistan and India through a dialogue in accordance with the aspirations of the people of the state. India has called off foreign secretary level talks with Pakistan twice over Basit's meetings with separatists. Sri Lanka's College of Information Management and Sciences and Sri Lanka-Pakistan Friendship, Trade and Investment Association have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Preston University for collaboration in a variety of fields. Array The Dawn reports that the MoU was signed on behalf of their respective organizations at Pakistan High Commission in Colombo. Array All three agreed to promote academic and cultural cooperation, peace, harmony and understanding among the academic, cultural community and civic society organizations of the two countries. Array They will facilitate all types of academic and cultural linkages and collaborative activities between the faculty, students and members of all the entities. Array Preston University Pakistan will offer two scholarships to the students of BSc, MSc, MPhil and PhD students in the disciplines of Social and Management Sciences and other disciplines of the University to the Universities of Sri Lanka and other bodies working in the academic fields. The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday has stayed the execution of three men convicted by military courts for their involvement in the Army Public School attack. Array The three men -Mohammad Zubair, Ali Rehman and Taj Mohammad were convicted of facilitating and abetting the deadly attack in Dec 2014 that killed over 140, mostly children. Array A two-member bench comprising Justice Dost Muhammad and Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered a stay on the implementation of the military court decision. The court issued notice to the attorney general and jail branch, and directed the former to explain the dismissal of the appeals. Array The families of the convicts had challenged the military court verdict through petitions filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC). However, after PHC dismissed the appeals, they moved the Supreme Court through Advocate Latif Afridi. Array During the hearing, Afridi claimed that the high court did not even open the record and dismissed the appeals without hearing them. President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday will preside over a two-day Conference of Governors at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here. It is the fourth Conference to be presided over by President Mukherjee and 47th such Conference to be held in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Twenty-three Governors and two Lieutenant Governors will attend the Conference. Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Cabinet Ministers, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya and Security Advisor Ajit Doval will also participate in the conference. The conference will deliberate on terrorism and insurgency activities, creating jobs for youths with special focus on skill development for school dropouts. Implementation of flagship programmes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Housing for all by 2022, Smart Cities and improving quality of Higher Education will also be discussed in the conference. South East Asia is increasingly being targeted by international mujahideen forces as part of a global jihad, reports the New York Times. According to an article in the paper, Pakistan is intervening in a number of these foreign conflicts, and that its intelligence service (Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI) has long acted as the manager of these international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, which is having a telling and damaging impact on countries located in the South East Asian region. The NYT says in an op-ed piece that there is even speculation that Islamabad may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State (IS). It quotes experts as saying that there is enough evidence available in the public domain to suggest that Pakistan has been facilitating and encouraging Taliban-related offensives in neighbouring Afghanistan, where it's President, Ashraf Ghani has appealed to the global community to exert pressure on Islamabad to cease this indirect form of aggression. President Ghani has said in recent interviews that there is an urgent need for Afghanistan to convince countries like the United States and China, besides the rest of the international community, to work for increased regional cooperation and international mediation to ensure that Pakistan comes to the negotiating table. Afghanistan, according to the article in the NYT, has often argued that Islamabad has done nothing to rein in the Taliban, and if anything, has encouraged the latter to raise the stakes in hopes of gaining influence in any power-sharing agreement. It says that the latest Taliban offensive began in 2014. It says that Pakistan, after years of prevarication, decided to clear Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters from their sanctuary in North Waziristan, but before activating the eradication and displacement exercise, tipped off the militants early enough to allow them to flee across the border into Afghanistan, just when a vulnerable Afghanistan was assuming responsibility for its own security. Arriving in the border province of Paktika, the Taliban fighters reportedly occupied abandoned C.I.A. bases and outposts to launch further attacks deeper into Afghanistan and even up to Kabul. Some of the most devastating suicide bomb attacks occurred in that province in the months that followed, the NYT article reveals. Simultaneously, in Pakistan, the Haqqani network, the most potent branch of the Taliban, moved from North Waziristan into adjacent Kurram District, from where it reportedly conducts its insurgency against American, international and Afghan targets. The article states that Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard and is determined not to let arch rival India gain a foothold in Kabul. It adds that Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, promoting those who further its agenda and cracking down on those who don't. The same goes for Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters. It is a known fact that elements espousing violent jihad, including the Taliban and Al Qaeda, are living openly and moving freely in Pakistan. Under the leadership of Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, the Taliban has mounted some of its most ambitious offensives into Afghanistan in the last year, overrunning the northern town of Kunduz, and pushing to seize control of the opium-rich province of Helmand. One recent report placed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri as living in Pakistan's Balochistan province and working to establish training camps in southern Afghanistan. Pakistan, however, remains in a state of denial about harbouring either the Taliban or Al Qaeda, and often points out that it, too, is a victim of terrorism. But many analysts have detailed how the Pakistan military has nurtured Islamist militant groups as an instrument to suppress nationalist movements, in particular among the Pashtun minority, at home and abroad. Perhaps, the most troubling report is that Pakistan has played a key role in the rise of the Islamic State since the summer of 2014. Scores of people have offered condolences to the family of former Nepalese prime minister Sushil Koirala on social media after his untimely demise on Tuesday morning. According to The Himalayan Times, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa also expressed his sympathy towards the demise of Koirala in his tweet. UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal also extended his condolences to Koirala on Tuesday. Dahal said that Koirala's demise is an irreparable loss to the party and entire country. Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala died of cardiac arrest after suffering from a bout of pneumonia in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. He was 76. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, the lone survivor among the 10 soldiers who were buried alive by an avalanche at Siachen, is presently being treated at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Dhaula Kuan. The condition of the soldier from Madras regiment is said to be critical. Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh, has arrived at the Research and Referral Hospital to take stock of his health. He is undergoing a primary test at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU), as he battled for life for six days under 25 feet snow mound in temperatures close to minus 40 degrees. The Lance Naik's mother Bassava told ANI in Dharwad, Karnataka, that her son came in her dream and told her that he would return. Meanwhile, army source said the rescue teams have located mortal remains of all the remaining nine soldiers and they are being brought out from the avalanche site. After an avalanche on February 3, the soldiers were buried deep under the snow. Hanamanthappa was trapped in an air bubble, which saved his life. Indian-American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia, who was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban, today said that it was an opportunity to challenge fear and ignorance. "Today in Mexico city, about 18 hours ago, when Aeromexico refused to let me board the plane with my turban represents an opportunity to challenge fear, an opportunity to challenge ignorance, opportunity to educate, and to do so with love. And that's exactly what we're going to do," he told ANI. Ahluwalia was en-route to New York fashion week when Aeromexico staff refused to let him board the plane he refused to remove his turban. The 41-year-old actor posted a picture of himself holding up his boarding pass and another in front of an Aeromexico customer service desk. The Mexican airline issued a statement late Monday, saying that it was obligated to follow "federal requirements in terms of security determined by the US Transportation Security Administration to review passengers'. The airline said it "regrets the inconvenience that any passenger may perceive from the application of these procedures" and it vowed to transport all passengers regardless of their religious beliefs. A Sikh Indian-American designer and actor has claimed that he was prohibited from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Waris Ahluwalia wrote in his Instagram account, The Express Tribune reports. Ahluwalia was heading to New York's fashion week and wrote, "Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me," he added. The Mexican airline said in a statement that it was obligated to follow "federal requirements in terms of security determined by the US Transportation Security Administration to review passengers." Ahluwalia has been starred in Oscar-nominated film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and the US television series "The Carrie Diaries." He also has modeled for clothier Gap. A complete shutdown is being observed across the Kashmir valley on Tuesday in view of the third death anniversary of the parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. All shops, business establishments remained closed with traffic at the minimal in the state summer capital. The daily chores of the people of the valley were affected owing to the non-availability of public transport. Both factions of Hurriyat Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and other separatist groups have called for a complete shutdown and peaceful protests on February 9 and February 11 - the hanging anniversaries of Guru and JKLF founder Muhammad Maqbool Butt, respectively. They urged people to seek the return of the mortal remains of Guru and Butt. Para military forces and police have been deployed in many sensitive areas to stop any kind of protests. The shutdown call was given by all separatist groups including Hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yaseen Malik. Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday launched a crackdown on separatist leaders to foil the protests. A police contingent raided JKLF office at Abi Guzar here and arrested its chief Muhammad Yasin Malik along with three leaders including vice-chairman MushtaqAjmal, zonal press in-charge Ashraf-Bin-Salam and Ghulam Muhammad Dar. Post the arrest, Malik said JKLF had decided to stage peaceful protest on February 10 to 'attract the attention of world community to the denial of mortal remains of Guru and Bhat to their family members by New Delhi'. Malik along with three other leaders were presented before a magistrate in Srinagar and sent on a seven-day judicial remand to Central Jail Srinagar. Hurriyat Conference (G) spokesman Ayaz Akbar has also said that the police placed senior leaders of the amalgam including Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai under house arrest. Senior pro-freedom leaders including Shabir Ahmed Shah and Nayeem Khan have also been placed under house arrest. Police also arrested Mass Movement Chairperson FareedaBehanji and her other party activists when they took out a procession from AbiGuzar. The Srinagar administration has announced restrictions for areas falling under five police stations. "There will be restrictions in areas falling under Nowhatta, Khanyar, Maharjgunj, Kralkhud, SafaKadal and Maisuma police stations on Tuesday," said Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Farooq Ahmed Lone. Afzal Guru, the December 2001 Parliament attack convict, was secretly hanged in New Delhi's Tihar Jail three years ago. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed grief over the demise of Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala and said India has lost a valued friend. "In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades & India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP," Prime Minister Modi said in tweet. "Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family & people of Nepal in this hour of grief," he added. Koirala who was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease passed away in the wee hours of Tuesday. He joined the Nepali Congress in 1952 and served in various capacities prior to becoming its president in 2010. Koirala, who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014, resigned in October last year after parties failed to forge a consensus amid continued protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the country's new Constitution. Born on August 12, 1939 in Banaras, Koirala was the cousin of former prime ministers Matrika Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Nepal on Tuesday to pay homage to the country's former prime minister Sushil Koirala. Koirala died of cardiac arrest after suffering from a bout of pneumonia in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. "Arriving to mourn a bridge-builder and friend of India. EAM @SushmaSwaraj with all party delegation in Kathmandu," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Koirala will be cremated on Wednesday and will be honoured with a state funeral and public holiday. The Government of Nepal expressed shock over the untimely demise of the former prime minister and offered its heartfelt condolences on his death. "Nepal government will always remember the contribution of Koirala in the promulgation of new constitution in Nepal's constitution," stated a press statement issued by Prime Minister's office after the Cabinet meeting. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead a delegation to Kathmandu on Tuesday to attend the last rites of former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala, who passed away early this morning. "Leaving for Nepal with S/Shri Anand Sharma Sharad Yadav SR Yechuri and Ajit Doval for homage to Sushil Koirala ji," Swaraj tweeted. Cutting across party lines, the leaders of various political parties condoled Koirala's demise and hailed his contribution to politics of Nepal. President Pranab Mukherjee in his condolence message said Koirala worked tirelessly to foster the close relations between India and Nepal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his part said India has lost a valued friend. "In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades & India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP," Prime Minister Modi said in tweet. "Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family & people of Nepal in this hour of grief," he added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also condoled Koirala's demise. "Saddened by the death of former Prime Minister of Nepal & Nepali Congress President, Sh. Sushil Koirala. May God bless the departed soul," tweeted Jaitley. "The news of Sushil Koirala ji's demise is deeply saddening. He was Nepal's one of the most seasoned politician and also a true statesman.With Sushil Koirala ji's demise Nepal has lost a powerful voice and a wonderful human being. My condolences to the bereaved Koirala family," Singh said in a series of tweets. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi also expressed their condolences. "My heartfelt condolences to the people of Nepal on the passing away of former PM & Nepali Congress President Shri Sushil Koiralaji," Rahul tweeted. "A committed democrat Sushil Koiralaji had a long association with India. His loss will be deeply mourned," he added. Koirala will be cremated on Wednesday and will be honoured with a state funeral and public holiday. The government also decided not to organise any formal programmes for the next three days and condolence books will be opened for Koiral at Nepalelse embassies in foreign countries on February 12 and 13. Koirala was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Born on August 12, 1939 in Banaras, Koirala was the cousin of former prime ministers Matrika Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala. Koirala also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. He entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. He joined the Nepali Congress in 1952 and served in various capacities prior to becoming its president in 2010. While the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government has set in motion the process of building smart cities with the selection of 20 cities in the first phase, experienced urban planners and experts doubt the likely success of the government's ambitious programme given its present approach. They think that the government's "consultants-led approach" is unlikely to take the prestigious project to a successful completion. The experts were participating in a two-day international conference on "Future scenarios for urbanising India: Governance, Security and Environmental Change", jointly organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) here on Monday and Tuesday. The Conference was an important part of a collaborative project funded by the Research Council of Norway. Vinod K Tewari, a former IIM Bangalore professor and former director of the Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), said the Modi government's smart cities programme was not much different from the last government's schemes like the JNNURM which could achieve only 20-30 percent success. "There are some changes in the programmes but the approach is the same as that of the last governments," he said. Criticising the consultants-driven approach of the government in building smart cities, Tewari said retrofitting on a large scale is very difficult. He said what is needed is changing the system in place. "Unless that is done, the goals will not be met," he said. Tewari said unfortunately all the urban programmes are politically motivated and hence with short term perspective. Array He said instead of consultants driving the programme, it should be the country's institutions which should be driving these schemes. He also stressed on the need to build more institutions which could produce more efficient municipal cadres. Array He noted that there is no professional management in the municipal corporations and they are not addressing the real issues. Array Prof. Om Prakash Mathur, formerly director NIUA, pointed out a recent World Bank report had described India's urban development as "messy". He said unlike claims by many, the country's urbanisation is moving very slowly, with an 8.7 percent urbanisation deficit when compared with 22 largest countries. Array "What is large is the scale of urbanisation and not the pace of urbanisation," he said. He said India's smart cities mission is not dealing with the kind of urbanisation India is looking for. Array Earlier, Sunjoy Joshi, ORF director, during his welcome address, said that if not managed well, India's demographic dividend will turn into nightmare. He said urban plans also should take into consideration environmental challenges and security threats while tackling other issues. Array Prof. Chetan Vaidya, director of School of Planning and Architecture, said urban planning should mainly focus on public health as done decades earlier, and the planning process should also address the issue of disaster management. Other areas of focus should be infrastructure and governance, he said. Array Prof. Vaidya also stressed the need for producing good urban development officers to improve efficiency of the local governments. Array Another School of Planning and Architecture professor, N. Sridharan said urban planning and development is nothing new as the Harappa civilisation had witnessed such development. He said in fact, we are going back as during the Harappan times, trying to develop urban centres along waterways. He pointed out that only a miracle can help us in our new urbanisation efforts. Prof. V.N. Alok of the Indian Institute of Public Administration underlined the need for district planning bodies. Array Rajiv Prakash Saxena, advisor to many governments, said what is needed for safety and security of urban people is "locally appropriate plans and technologies and not globally accepted technologies". He blamed global tech companies of trying to sell their ICT products in the name of security. Array Pointing out that 20 percent of people in Delhi live in slums, Jayshree Sengupta, Senior Fellow, ORF, focused on the need to include the excluded category of poor, especially women and children, in the planning while Renu Khosla of the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence stressed the need for access to affordable housing. Array Dr. Bhawna Bali of TERI University also felt that no space had been given to the poor, pointing out that 'inclusion' was not new and it was practised during the time of Kings. She said that not a single city has implemented the 74th Amendment Act fully, though 14 years have passed after this legislation. Array Dr Pawan Kumar of Town and Country Planning Organisation, said instead of depending on a particular brand, a variety of public transport should be used. And also the focus should be on efficient use of transport rather than on lessening fares. He cautioned against blindly going for brands like Metro in every city while many other brands with much less capital investment could do the job better. Array Suneel Pandey of the TERI said urban planning should be redesigned to tackle climate change impacts, use green energy and reduce carbon prints while Shyamala Mani of Institute of Urban Affairs wanted better plans to efficiently manage solid wastes. Array Dr Elisabeth Gilmore of the University of Maryland, USA, explained how climate change can lead to vulnerability among poor, which in turn leads to migration and even social unrest. Array Prof. Halvard Buhaug of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, presenting his research on environmental changes experienced in India, said that climate-induced rural insecurity is an important contributing factor to the strong rural to urban migration witnessed in India. Array "The urban sector is vast, complex and has many dimensions". In this context, Dr. Rumi Aijaz of the ORF said that "all future planning and governance must be done by taking into account the diversity that urban areas display". Gurgaon-based online restaurant discovery and food ordering platform Zomato has achieved operational break even of its businesses in six countries. The reason behind the achievement is Zomato's growth in core advertisement and tighter financial controls. According to a top executive, the company has achieved break even in India, the UAE, Lebanon, Qatar, the Philippines and Indonesia. Presently catering to 23 countries, including developed countries like the US, Canada and Australia, Zomato doesn't plan to expand to new cities, but plans to start monetization from geographies. "The biggest reason behind this is increase in revenues, which have doubled in the last four months," said Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal. Another reason is significant decrease in burn rate by bringing tighter financial controls. Zomato, whose valuation is close to USD 1 billion, will be able to justify the unicorn status given the overall size of the advertisement market. Goyal said that Zomato expects revenue potential from India advertisement business, which accounts for 35 percent of revenues, at USD 50 million or Rs. 338 crore. Zomato also entered into the food delivery last year, and it is doing 13,000 orders on an average a week of Rs. 575 each. The company competes with players like Rocket Internet's Foodpanda and local startups like Swiggy and TinyOwl in the delivery . Sales rise 7.89% to Rs 4.51 crore Net profit of Bombay Oxygen Corporation declined 71.82% to Rs 1.02 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 3.62 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014. Sales rose 7.89% to Rs 4.51 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 4.18 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014.4.514.18-31.26-43.781.434.470.793.801.023.62 Powered by Capital Market - Live News Sales rise 27.10% to Rs 282.46 crore Net profit of Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) declined 48.75% to Rs 0.82 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 1.60 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014. Sales rose 27.10% to Rs 282.46 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 222.24 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014.282.46222.243.884.219.068.84-2.240.100.821.60 Powered by Capital Market - Live News Sales decline 10.73% to Rs 56.93 crore Net profit of Phoenix Lamps declined 15.66% to Rs 7.43 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 8.81 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014. Sales declined 10.73% to Rs 56.93 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 63.77 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014.56.9363.7720.2223.0212.3013.4611.1412.247.438.81 Powered by Capital Market - Live News $20 billions of investment is anticipated from fiscal 2016-17 for harnessing the potential of solar and wind energy in India from leading financial agencies world over at a consistent volume and quantum for next three years to enable it add solar and wind capacities to an estimated level of between 10,000 to 12,000 mw each year by 2019, according to CMD, IREDA, Mr. K S Popli. Inaugurating a National Conference on Renewable Energy under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Popli said that until now, the solar and wind segments of the renewable energy have already attracted close to $10 billion of investments from global and domestic financial institutions. Of the $10 billion of investments, the share of solar has been to the tune of $5 billion and that of wind $4.3 billion for projects generating energy through these two renewable sources to an extent of between 7,000 to 8,000 mw. The projects likely to generate between 7,000 to 8,000 mw of solar and wind energy would be commissioned earlier than anticipated without disclosing a definite deadline for their commissioning, said Mr. Popli. The financial agencies and institutions that the IREDA has been in touch to corner an anticipated investments of $20 billion every year from next fiscal comprise the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other similar financial institutions in view of the prospects and potential that solar and wind energy carry in India, pointed out Mr. Popli adding that solar segment alone is expected to attract $15 billion of investments and $5 billion likely to harness India's wind energy. The solar and wind energy sector in India and even other parts of the globe have become a suitable alternate to fossil fuels due to obvious reasons. India now gradually provides for a stable interest regime policy and the entire federal system in this country has become supportive to fully realize the potential of solar and wind energy. These factors work in favour of alluring and eliciting investments from global and domestic investors, especially at times when the Prime Minister Mr. Modi himself is committed to make India an attractive hub for solar and wind energy, argued Mr. Popli. Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Dr. Ashvini Kumar said that his corporation would come out floating tenders for great deal of solar capacities in next two weeks as the government has already asked it to commissioned solar energy projects with capacities of 3,000 mw by March 2017. The prospective states that are coming forward with supportive solar energy policies comprise Andhra, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and even smaller states such as Uttarakhand, he added. Among others that spoke a great deal about renewable energy prospects in India complimenting the government for its pro-active and supportive policies towards it consisted of the Chairman, Renewable Energy Committee, PHD Chamber Mr. Sanjeev Gupta and its Director, Dr. Ranjeet Mehta. Powered by Capital Market - Live News At lest 34 Islamic State militants were killed in air strikes by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft and artillery shelling in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source told Xinhua. The international aircraft carried out an air strike on IS positions in a village near the town of Baghdadi leaving 22 IS militants killed and three of their vehicles destroyed, the source said on condition of anonymity. Separately, 12 IS militants were killed by the army artillery and helicopter gunships bombarded IS positions in Saqlawiyah area, just north of the IS-held city of Fallujah, the source said. Meanwhile, a civilian was killed and 20 others wounded when IS militants fired mortar rounds on the government-held town of Amriyat al-Fallujah, the source added. In earlier report on Tuesday, the Iraqi military said in a statement that the security forces recaptured the eastern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi. The statement also said that the troops also seized the highway between Ramadi and Baghdad which passes through the town of Khaldiyah as well as the military airbase of Habbaniyah where US troops and allied coalition military personnel stationed. The military statement was an official announcement for the liberation of the areas in eastern Ramadi, as the troops had launched a major offensive to flush out IS militants from Ramadi and declared a victory on December 28 when the troops captured the city, raising the Iraqi flag on the government complex there. Government troops and allied militias have also been fighting for months to take back other key cities and towns in Anbar, Iraq' s largest province, from IS militants, who previously seized most of Anbar and tried to advance toward Baghdad. Australia can help expand the spread of rooftop solar plants in India, Australia's Oueensland state Minister for Energy Mark Bailey said on Tuesday. According to India's power ministry, Bailey told Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal at a meeting here that Queensland has the necessary expertise to help India expand rooftop solar penetration as three out of its 10 households have solar panels. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Minister for Natural Resources Anthony Lynham also attended the meeting. The Indian government has set a target of building 100 giga watt (GW) solar capacity by 2022. Goyal is in Australia leading the Indian side at the ongoing India-Australia Energy Security Dialogue from February 8-11, focusing on sharing Canberra's expertise in liquefied natural gas (LNG), renewable energy and clean coal technology. "Australia's strong track record in mine health and safety is world class and can be shared with India," India's power ministry cited Lynham as saying at the meeting. In response, Goyal said: "India's manpower and Australia's technology can come together to combine the best of both worlds." Declaring Queensland's willingness to export its expertise in mining, state's Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said they were keen to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef (off Queensland) was not damaged in any way. The Gautam Adani-led Adani Group's proposed $16.5 billion project for developing the Carmichael coal mine and associated railway line and port in Queensland is currently held up owing to environmental litigations and delay in getting the mining lease. The Adanis have also applied for setting up a large solar power project in the province. On the first day of the dialogue on Monday, India and Australia decided to form a sub-group, composed of senior officials of government and industry from both sides, to prepare a roadmap to help provide cheap liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Indian power plants running below capacity due to lack of fuel availability. --Indo-Asian News service bc/pr/vt The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday gave the long awaited nod to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Patna Metro Rail Project, an official said. "The DPR of the Patna Metro Rail project was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The decision was much awaited," the official in the chief minister's office said. The proposal on the Rs 16,960 crore project will now be sent for clearance to the union government. Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) last year submitted the DPR to the Bihar government. Bihar Urban Development Minister Maheshwar Hazari said the metro project was a priority for the state government, which was keen to begin construction as soon as possible. An official of the urban development department said the state government would now work to declare Patna a metropolis to help speed up the metro rail project, which initially would have two routes. A corporation on the lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would be formed for monitoring its construction, he added. Patna, home to more than two million people, witnesses a number of traffic snarls on its roads. A Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, Myanmar is home to bustling precious stone markets and one of the most impressive Buddhist sites. But as you move around the country bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand, you don't feel out of place as Bollywood is extremely popular here. For, right from the maitre d'hotel and chefs to top corporate honchos, Hindi films appear to be a mania in this country dominated by Buddhists. "My parents migrated to Myanmar from India after Independence and so I learnt Hindi from them," local precious stone seller Ma Khin Kyi told IANS. The mother of two, who never visited India, said Hindi soaps and films, which are quite popular among many Burmese, helped her master Hindi. Indian cable and satellite television channels Zee TV and Sony Max are popular Hindi channels in Myanmar, she added. Bollywood stars of yesteryears like Shashi Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty and heartthrob of youngsters -- Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan -- rule their hearts too. Thirty nine-year-old taxi driver Mohammad Shafiq, accompanying the visiting Indian journalists, started humming lyrics "Hum tere bin ab reh nahi sakte" of "Aashiqui 2". He said Hindi films and TV soaps were quite popular in the country. "Most of the Hindi films with Burmese dubbing are released here simultaneously," Shafiq, who speaks Hindi with proficiency, said. Many youngsters, though not literate in Hindi, are so crazy about Hindi film love songs that they keep on humming the popular ones. "India and Myanmar have common heritage and long economic and political relations," said entrepreneur Mak Patel, who was born and brought up in Yangon. Octogenarian Patel, who is an Indian citizen and settled in New Delhi, said the craze for the Hindi flicks dates back to the popular song "Mere piya gaye Rangoon" from 1949 movie "Patanga". "Even popular satellite channels like Sky Net and MRTV-4 have devoted bigger slots for Hindi movies and serials," Patel, a former consultant with ONGC Videsh Ltd, said. Myanmar's capital, Yangon, has six cinema halls that regularly screen popular Hindi movies. Strict censorship doesn't allow Burmese filmmakers to show social and politically driven stories forcing movie buffs to watch Bollywood and Hollywood films through pirated copies. State-run Central Hotel executive Cheery Tun said she liked Aamir Khan-starrer "3 Idiots" and "PK" so much that she saw them several times. Energy-rich and resource-rich Myanmar, which got its independence in 1947, is home to a 2.5 million-strong Indian settled mostly in Yangon and Mandalay. (Vishal Gulati was in Myanmar at the invitation of Indian Buddhist spiritual leader Gyalwang Drukpa's global charity 'Live To Love'. He can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) The Britain-China relationship will be "greater" this year after a "golden" year of 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron said here on Monday. Cameron said this at a reception in his office attended by about 100 representatives from Britain and China to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. "If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want a thousand years of prosperity, grow relationships between people and people," Cameron quoted a Chinese saying to describe the relations between China and Britain. "That is exactly why we engage in the building of this great relationship between Britain and China," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying. Speaking highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Britain last year, Cameron said it not only helped forge a golden era of bilateral relationship, but also led to deals worth around $57.7 billion. He said Britain accounts for around 30 percent of China's total investment in Europe. According to the British government, Britain is also China's second largest exporter in Europe. "It is great when you think about how deep and strong the relationship is," said Cameron, adding the two countries were working closely with each other in areas of trade, investment, infrastructure, education and so on. "I think education is an area we can take to an even higher level. Many Chinese students are studying in Britain. I would like to see more British students take the opportunities to go and study in China. I think there is a huge opportunity in the years ahead," he said. No words can describe the "indomitable spirit" of soldier Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was found alive after being buried under snow in the Siachen for six days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday. Modi and army chief General Dalbir Singh visited the Army Research and Referral Hospital here where the soldier was flown and admitted to the ICU in after being rescued from the world's highest battlefield. Both were given an update on the health of the soldier, who was one of 10 soldiers who got buried when tonnes of snow swept them away in the glacier. "No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," Modi tweeted. "We are all hoping and praying for the best." The army chief "commended the brave heart for his indomitable mental robustness and his refusal to give in to harsh elements of nature", an army statement said. "He also conveyed best wishes on behalf of all ranks of the army for his early and complete recovery," it added. Koppad and the others from the 19 Madras Regiment got trapped in a deadly avalanche on February 3 while manning the highest helipad in the world on the Saltoro Ridge. A 32-year-old man with a criminal record was shot dead here early on Tuesday, after which his family blocked traffic on a busy road causing a huge traffic jam, police said. Arun Kumar, a resident of Islampur village, was killed by unidentified men around 1 a.m. near the village community centre. His family members blocked the Sohna-Gurgaon road, alleging police inaction vis-a-vis the killers. Police officer Vijay Kumar said gang war may have led to Kumar's killing. He said a suspect was being questioned. Bangladesh is now at the crossroads. The war crimes tribunals, set up to punish those who had committed crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's liberation war of 1971, have already sent to gallows three leading lights of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) -- Abdul Quader Mollah, Mohammed Qamruzzaman and Ali Ahsan Mujahid -- while death penalties have been awarded to Motiur Rahman Nizami, the chief of the JeI in Bangladesh. However, the Jamaat's enormous financial clout has created a dangerous situation for the Awami League-led government. While the election commission barred the Jamaat from the polls on Bangladesh Supreme Court orders in 2013, several front-ranking Awami League leaders are now demanding its outright ban. But Jamaat has so much financial clout that any attempt to uproot it altogether at this moment may lead to social unrest. According to Abul Barkat, a professor of economics at the Dhaka University, the Jamaat-e-Islami has created a 'state within a state' and an 'economy within an economy' in Bangladesh. Barkat's study paints a frightening picture. The JeI is now almost everywhere in Bangladeshi society like large financial institutions, household-level micro-credit organisations, madrasas, mass media, information technology, big trading houses and non governmental organizations. Barkat has calculated that Jamaat's net annual profits from such ventures amounts to about $278 million and the largest chunk - 27.5 percent - of this comes from banks, insurances and leasing companies. The NGOs contribute 18.7 percent, 10.5 percent comes from trade and commerce, 10.1 percent from pharmaceutical industries and healthcare institutions, 9.4 percent from ethe ducation sector, 8.8 percent from real estate business, 7.3 percent from transport and 7.7 percent from the media and information technology business. Bangladesh Culture Minister Asaduzzaman Nur has recently alluded to Islamic fundamentalists' involvement behind collection of huge funds from mosques and Bangladeshi establishments in London. But the fundamentalists perhaps do not need such collections as nearly 10 percent of Jamaat's annual profit in Bangladesh goes towards funding the party's political activities. It has also been calculated that this 10 percent can sustain nearly 600,000 cadres. As the Jamaat controlled economy is showing a higher growth rate - 9 percent per annum - than the mainstream's growth figure of 6 percent, the fundamentalist bloc can remain assured of a continuous flow of money. Abul Barkat has calculated that from 1975 to 2012, the Jamaat has earned a profit of $11 billion. Jamaat's principal financial arm in the country is the Islami Bank of Bangladesh Ltd. (IBBL), an organization which was once penalized for money laundering by the Bank of Bangladesh, the country's apex regulatory institution for the financial sector. Mir Quasem Ali, a Jamaat central executive committee member now awarded the death sentence, was once the IBBL director. The beneficiary of IBBL's alleged illegal acts was no doubt the Jamaat-e-Islami. It is interesting to note that the IBBL was founded in 1975 at the initiative of Fuad Abdullah Al Khatib, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Bangladesh. The JeI's penetration into the political economy of Bangladesh is astounding. Apart from the IBBL, Jamaat is in control of 14 other banks which are working mostly in the country's rural sector. In addition, the IBBL is now widely linked with other powerful financial institutions of the Islamic world. Notable among them is the Al Razee Bank of Saudi Arabia. The IBBL has now become one of the three largest banks in South Asia, with 60 percent of its shares held by Saudi individuals and institutions. Among the rest Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar have prominence. Moreover, Jamaat has its presence in the insurance sector also and has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Far Eastern Islamic Insurance Corporation. If information from across the border is to be believed, the Jamaat has already started taking steps to safeguard its financial interests in the event of a crackdown by the Bangladesh government and line-up the next generation of leaders if Matiur Rahaman Nizami and Mir Quasem Ali are really hanged. For over 40 years, Mir Quasem was Saudi Arabia's 'money man' in Bangladesh and it's is quite probable that pressures will be mounted by the Islamic world of West Asia and the Middle East to stop his execution. He had taken refuge in Saudi Arabia after the birth of Bangladesh.After coming back in 1974 he immediately got a job in the IBBL and soon became its director. Mir Quasem Ali is a crucial man in the Jamaat chain of commands that extends up to the Middle East and West Asia. He happened to be the chief of the Islamic Bank Foundation(IBF) too, an affiliate of the IBBL. The IBF acts as the custodian of Jamaat's money accruing from various projects and foreign donations. Mir Quasem was also the country director of a Saudi Arabia-based NGO named Rabeta-al-alam-al-Islami. Rabeta, along with other NGOs like the Kuwait Relief Fund and the Al-Nahiyan Trust of Saudi Arabia, used to run many projects in Bangladesh. Economics professor Abul Barkat has calculated that the Islamic fundamentalism controlled economy in Bangladesh amounts to 8.62 percent of the nation's developmental budget and 1.54 percent of the national export earning. In such a situation, the JeI-led Islamic fundamentalist bloc is a reality in Bangladesh and mere hangings of some Jamaat bigwigs may not be enough to wipe it out. (09.02.2016 - Amitava Mukherjee is a senior journalist and commentator. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amukherjee57@yahoo.com) Women in Indian villages can challenge patriarchy and discriminating gender roles if their participation in solar electricity projects, from planning, implementation to maintenance, is absolute and equal, Norwegian researchers contend. Karina Standal and Tanja Winther from the Centre of Development and Environment, University of Oslo, examined in a recent study how introduction of electricity in new contexts (solar power) affected gender relations in rural communities in Uttar Pradesh in India and in Bamiyan in Afghanistan. "In terms of empowerment, the women feel that access to solar electricity gave them an easier everyday life and sense of accomplishments in pursuing their roles as mothers and wives/daughters-in-law and the like. This is, of course, very important in raising their life quality," Standal told IANS in an email interaction from Norway. Centred on community solar power plants (micro-grids) for generating livelihoods or household electricity in two UP villages and four in Bamiyan, the research revealed contrasting features in terms of inclusion of women in such projects and their ability to counter patriarchy. The study was published in the Forum For Development Studies on January 20. Standal elaborated that the Indian project provided women several benefits but did not elevate them to a position where they could actively challenge discriminatory gender relations. In the Afghan case women role-models trained and working as "solar engineers" meant that communities experienced the benefits of women working and receiving education. "The Indian case in mention did not have this element in the implementation. Rather, it saw it only useful to train men as 'village operators' with responsibilities of the solar equipment. In that sense, this project reinforces patriarchal structures that work to limit women's role outside their home," observed Standal. What emerged was "when projects are carried out without women's true and equal participation, as in the Indian case, there is lost potential in a more long-term empowerment to challenge discriminating gender roles". Standal said the Indian project did attempt at some representation of women in Village Energy Committees that are responsible for the solar systems in their village and for the monthly payments from the villagers for the consumption, salary of the village operator, maintaining bank accounts, holding meetings and the like. "However, the women did not participate in the Village Energy Committees, as they were not allowed to speak freely due to cultural restrictions on women," Standal said, adding that this scenario "cannot be generalized to Indian villages implementing solar electricity in general". But the fact remains, both internationally and in the Indian context, that the issues and opportunities of gender equality and energy development have not been receiving enough attention, stressed Standal. "Women (in the case studies) are only seen as important end-users and benefits are provided for them to have a better life within the existing patriarchal system," said Standal laying strong emphasis on ensuring that "women are granted equal access to participation in such projects". "Participation (should be) at all levels and not reduced to certain areas to make the most of these energy projects." Standal said the Indian project was initiated by a private Norwegian company and executed as a public-private partnership between the company, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Norad (Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation). "The Afghan case was initiated by the NGO Norwegian Church Aid in support with the Indian Barefoot College. Their model of training women as Barefoot Solar Engineers is very interesting and I think has had several added values to the project in terms of impact on gender relations and more opportunities for women," concluded the researcher. Adding from her own experience in the field, Indian environmental economist Joyashree Roy of Kolkata's Jadavpur University, concurred. "True inclusion of a stakeholder (women) from very beginning helps in getting them as change maker," Roy told IANS. (Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in) Fiji has received weapons worth around $8 million from Russia, government officials announced on Tuesday. Defence Minister Timoci Natuva said the guns and ammunition shipped to Fiji recently and received by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces are part of a memorandum signed by the Fijian and the Russian governments in 2013, Xinhua news agency reported. The weapons are expected to strengthen the capabilities of Fijian troops on UN peacekeeping duties, the officials said. Meanwhile, around 20 Russian soldiers, believed to be weapons experts, arrived in Fiji on Tuesday. With the Look North policy in effect, Fiji has been expanding ties with non-traditional partners all over the world. Former prime minister and president of the Nepali Congress (NC), Sushil Koirala died here of Pneumonia early on Tuesday. He was 80 years old. Koirala died at his residence in Kathmandu's Maharajgunj area. Doctors told the media that he died due to failure of his respiratory system. Koirala, who was the prime minister of Nepal from February 11, 2014 to October 10, 2015, will be remembered as the leader under whose leadership Nepal promulgated the new constitution through the constituent assembly in September, 2015. Koirala, who had spent 16 years in India in exile during the pro-democracy movement in Nepal, was a survivor of tongue and lung cancers. His death comes a serious blow to NC that is scheduled to hold its 13th general assembly in March 2016. Hundreds of Nepali Congress leaders and supporters gathered at his Maharajgunj residence to offer condolence to the leader. I am really shocked at his death, NC senior leader and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said. Koirala, who was eying a second term as the party president, was known for his high integrity and simple lifestyle. Disappointing macro-economic data, coupled with a massive plunge in Japanese indices and a weak rupee subdued Indian equity markets on Tuesday. This dragged a barometer index of the Indian equity markets in the red and resulted in the day's trade closing 266 points down. Initially, both the bellwether indices of the Indian equity markets opened on a negative note following Monday's falls in the domestic markets and the US-based stocks. Sentiments were subdued by a sharp plunge of over five percent in Japanese barometer index. Japan's 10-year government bond yield receded to negative terrain, as Yen climbed to more than a year's high against the US dollar. Further, investors were seen disappointed over the third quarter (Q3) earnings results of corporate India, as well as a fall in the country's Q3 GDP (gross domestic product) numbers. In addition, a weak rupee unnerved investors. It closed flat at 67.90 to a US dollar from its previous close of 67.94-95 to a greenback. "Indian rupee had opened weaker on the back of carnage across Asian markets, followed by risk-off sentiments from the US markets overnight," Anindya Banerjee, associate vice president for currency derivatives with Kotak Securities, told IANS. "However, rupee closed stronger, thanks to aggressive intervention from RBI and hedging from exporters. Overall range remains between 67.50-68.30." Even weak crude oil prices return below $30 a barrel (one barrel is equal to 159 litres), as well as German IIP's (index of industrial production) fall dented sentiments. Furthermore, absence of any positive triggers and investors' doubts over the government's ability to perk up investments dragged markets' lower. Consequently, the barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) receded by 266 points or 1.10 percent. Similarly, the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the day's trade in the negative territory. It was lower by 89.05 points, or 1.21 percent, at 7,298.20 points. The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 24,076.85 points, closed at 24,020.98 points -- down 266.44 points or 1.10 percent from the previous day's close at 24,287.42 points. It touched a high of 24,111.19 points and a low of 23,919.47 points during the intra-day trade. The S&P BSE market breadth favoured the bears -- with 1,831 declines and 779 advances. "Absence of any positive trigger and concerns over global growth cascaded into the sharp plunge in Indian markets," 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, elaborated that markets corrected sharply on the back of continued weakness in global markets. "US markets saw a sell off yesterday led by a fall in crude prices on the back of global growth concerns," Agarwal explained. Nitasha Shankar, vice president for research with YES Securities, said that volumes remained high as selling intensified during the day's trade, suggesting choppy and weak sessions ahead. Broader markets ended weak in line with the headline indices. "PSU banks resumed the downtrend following weak set of results. Pharma index was the lone gainer in trade today. Tech and PSU bank stocks were main culprits in the market fall," Shankar noted. All sector-based indices of the BSE except for oil and gas and utilities sectors ended in the red. The S&P BSE IT index plunged by 373.55 points, automobile index plummet by 296.34 points, banking index receded by 210.27 points, metal index declined by 168.80 points and capital goods index edged-lower by 162.16 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE oil and gas index gained 17.77 points and utilities index inched-up by 2.18 points. Both the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers during the day's trade. The data with stock exchanges showed that FIIs divested Rs.680.70 crore, while the DIIs' sold stocks worth Rs.174.14 crore. Major Sensex gainers during Tuesday's trade were Lupin, up 4.68 percent at Rs.1,904; Sun Pharma, up 2.17 percent at Rs.854.25; NTPC, up 1.95 percent at Rs.125.60; ONGC, up 1.77 percent at Rs.218.40; and Gail, up 1.48 percent at Rs.348.60. Major Sensex losers during the day's trade were Coal India, down 4.38 percent at Rs.309.20; Tata Motors, down 4.12 percent at Rs.310.60; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 3.68 percent at Rs.2,281.45; Dr.Reddy's Lab, down 3.61 percent at Rs.2,959.65; and Infosys, down 3.46 percent at Rs.1,109.30. Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Tuesday described how he was assigned to gather military intelligence in India and recruit spies from the Indian Army. On the second day of his deposition through videoconferencing from a US jail before the Special TADA Court here, Headley said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). In his response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the LeT and the ISI. Headley on Monday revealed that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were planned over a year in Pakistan. Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, Headley said in November-December 2007 he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai. At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap. He was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba, and discussed everything with Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army. Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba Police Station, the local markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi. "Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them," Headley said, adding that the plan to target Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for "logistics reasons". All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device for future uses, he added. Headley unravelled before the Special Court how the LeT and Al-Qaeda, which he termed a "terrorist organisation", Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahiddeen and other groups in Pakistan function under the "United Jihad Council" and were working against India. He said the LeT and ISI have a close nexus with the ISI providing the "financial, military and moral support", Nikam later told media persons. Admitting that he served both the LeT and ISI, he said Hafez Sayeed was LeT's "spiritual leader," Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its "operational commander" and worked with the sole aim of spreading terror in India. Headley said that in 2003, he was present at a LeT meeting when Maulana Masood Azhar made a guest speech about his anti-India activities and his release from India (in December 1999 in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814). Headley's deposition will resume again on Wednesday, Nikam told media persons. A doctor, who was on the run after opening fire on a fellow doctor on Monday in Hyderabad, committed suicide at his farm house on the city outskirts, police said. Shashi Kumar, 40, shot himself with his revolver at the farm house at Nakkalapalli in Moinabad mandal of Ranga Reddy district around midnight, police said. A police party, who had reached there around 1 a.m. to arrest the doctor, found him dead. Police also found a bottle of poison and it is suspected that he shot himself from revolver after failing in his first attempt to end his life. Shashi Kumar, in his suicide note, claimed that he did not open fire on Udai Kumar and blamed another doctor and their partner Sai Kumar. He wrote that he escaped and committed suicide due to fear of being implicated in the case. The firing incident had occurred in a car in Himayatnagar area in the heart of the city on Monday evening. During an argument over the management of a hospital, they had opened in the city recently, Shashi Kumar allegedly opened fire from point blank range on Udai from his licensed .32 mm revolver. Udai escaped with injuries under left ear. He was admitted to a hospital and his condition is stated to be stable. Shashi Kumar, a general physician and surgeon, had escaped after the incident and the police had launched a hunt for him. The doctor called his wife over her mobile to say sorry before taking the extreme step. In his suicide note, he named the partners for betraying him and called for punishing them. The three doctors along with some other partners had set up Laure Hospital in Madhapur in the city last month with an investment of Rs.15 crore. Udai had invested Rs.3 crore, Sai Rs.2.90 crore and Shashi Kumar, who already owns a hospital at Chaitanyapuri, invested Rs.75 lakh. Some NRIs were also roped in as investors for the project. Shashi Kumar was unhappy as Sai and Uday had become CEO and managing director respectively. He had called the duo to a restaurant in Himayatnagar for talks on Monday. Since there was no place in the restaurant, they parked the car in a lane and were discussing the issue. Police had booked Shashi Kumar for attempt to murder. A case under Arms Act was also registered against him. A police officer said Shashi Kumar apparently got into severe depression as he was afraid that the case would mar his reputation. Six years after the finalisation of a new India-Bangladesh railway project, the Indian government has sanctioned Rs.580 crore for the vital rail link, an official said here on Tuesday. The Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railway project was finalised in January 2010 when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her visit to New Delhi. "Following the Tripura government's persistent persuasion and Prime Minister's Office (PMO) intervention, the DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) ministry has agreed to provide Rs.580 crore for the new railway project," Tripura government's transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik told reporters. He said: "If the DoNER ministry releases the funds by March, the necessary work for acquisition of required land would start immediately." "Transport Minister Manik Dey wrote several letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and met Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha a number of times. He requested them to sanction the necessary funds." During his recent visit to Tripura, Sinha said the PMO has been supervising the new India-Bangladesh railway project with Tripura. "The Indian government is according highest priority to the Agartala-Akhaura railway project that would automatically connect the rail network of both the countries," Sinha said. He said the Agartala-Akhaura railway project would provide a major boost to development and economy of the northeastern region of India and eastern Bangladesh. "The project would boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Act East' policy." Modi discussed the over Rs.1,000 crore railway project with Hasina during his visit to Dhaka in June last year. "India's external affairs ministry would provide necessary funds for the Bangladesh portion of the Agartala-Akhaura rail project. The DoNER ministry's funds would be spent for the Indian portion of the project," Bhowmik said. The 1,650-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata would be reduced to only 550 km once the new rail track is linked through Bangladesh. "The NITI Aayog had decided in a meeting in Delhi in June last year to put in place the vital railway project between India and Bangladesh by December 2017," Bhowmik added. Bhowmik, who attended the NITI Aayog meeting, said: "The alignment and other technicalities of laying the track to link the Agartala railway station with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station have been changed recently. A final report on the new alignment was also submitted for sanction of funds." Transport Minister Dey quoting Suresh Prabhu said that the railway minister talked to the Railway Board and external affairs ministry about the funding of the project. "On the Indian side, some portion of the track is likely to be elevated," the minister said. The project's cost was earlier estimated at Rs.271 crore. In addition, Rs.302 crore was needed to acquire around 97.6 acres of land in Tripura for laying the track. "After the latest alignment of the project, now 72 acres of land would be required. Hence, to acquire land, the requirement of funds would be reduced to Rs.98 crore from Rs.302 crore," Dey added. Currently, India and Bangladesh have four rail links with West Bengal. Have a message to convey to the aliens out there? Write one fast as researchers are set to beam selective messages from around the world into space at the speed of light to create a celestial time capsule. Part of a cultural project titled "A Simple Response to an Elemental Message" - a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh and the UK Astronomical Technology Centre (UKATC) - dispatches from the public will be converted into radio waves. The messages will then be broadcast towards the North Star Polaris in autumn 2016, reaching their destination in 434 years. The interstellar message in a bottle will comprise of people's responses to a single question: How will our present environmental interactions shape the future? Within 21 hours of transmission, the signal will have travelled deeper into space than mankind's first message to the stars - Voyager 1 - which was launched in 1977. According to the project coordinator Paul Quast from the University of Edinburgh, Polaris was chosen as the destination because of its cultural significance as a reference point for navigators and star gazers. Researchers will be able to use the responses to gauge if there are significant geographical differences in how people think about the environment and the future of the planet. "We are at a pivotal point in this planet's history. Our present ecological decisions will have a massive impact on the future for all Earth's inhabitants. This project will create a culturally inspired message in a bottle capturing global perspectives that will travel into space for eons," explained Quast, postgraduate student at Edinburgh College of Art. The public are invited to visit the official website, http://www.asimpleresponse.org, and leave their contributions to be broadcast into the cosmos. The website is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. German, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin versions will be available soon. The Iraqi security forces fought fierce clashes with Islamic State militants and retook control of the eastern part of the city of Ramadi, while the troops seized a road linking the city to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the military said on Tuesday. The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters recaptured several areas in eastern Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western province of Anbar, including the districts of Sajjariyah and Juwaiba, and rushed into Huseiba al-Sharqiya area, the military said in a statement, Xinhua reported. "Our forces are advancing firmly to chase the enemy, and have opened the highway between Ramadi and Baghdad which passes through the town of Khaldiyah, the statement said, referring to the road that also links Ramadi with the military airbase of Habbaniyah where US troops and allied coalition military personnel stationed. The military statement was an official announcement for the liberation of the areas in eastern Ramadi, as the troops had launched a major offensive to flush out IS militants from Ramadi and declared a victory on December 28 when the troops captured the city, raising the Iraqi flag on the government complex there. Government troops and allied militias have also been fighting for months to take back other key cities and towns in Anbar, Iraq' s largest province, from IS militants, who previously seized most of Anbar and tried to advance towards Baghdad. Israeli and Palestinian officials will hold a security meeting in Jerusalem this week to discuss the situation in the West Bank, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday. Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), who was speaking to Voice of Palestine Radio, did not give further details about the meeting, Xinhua reported. However, another senior Palestinian official said the Palestinian delegation will convey a clear message to the Israeli side on its commitment to agreements and treaties signed in the past between the two sides. But "if Israel kept storming the Palestinian-controlled territories, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would soon reconsider all these agreements", the official said. In March, the PLO Central Council decided to severe security cooperation with Israel and reconsider the signed peace treaties and agreements in response to Israel's policy and the ongoing stalemate in the Middle East peace process. Palestinian factions, like Islamic Hamas movement, the rival of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which controls and rules the Gaza Strip, opposes all kinds of security cooperation with Israel. In early October last year, a wave of violence broke out between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which has so far left 170 Palestinians and 30 Israelis dead. Meanwhile, Erekat called on the international community to exercise pressure on Israel to stop "its aggression" on the Palestinian people and respect the signed agreements. Israeli and Palestinian officials are set to hold a security meeting in Jerusalem this week to discuss the security situation in the West Bank, a top diplomat said on Tuesday. Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), did not give further details about the meeting, Xinhua news agency reported. However, a senior Palestinian official said that the Palestinian delegation will convey a clear message to the Israeli side on the Palestinian commitment to agreements and treaties signed in the past between the two sides. But, "if Israel kept storming the Palestinian-controlled territories, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) would soon reconsider all these agreements," the official said. In March, the PLO Central Council decided to sever security cooperation with Israel and reconsider the signed peace treaties and agreements in response to Israel's policy and the ongoing stalemate in the Middle East peace process. Palestinian factions, like Islamic Hamas movement, the rival of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which controls and rules the Gaza Strip, opposes all kinds of security cooperation with Israel. In October last year, a wave of violence broke out between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, which has so far left 170 Palestinians and 30 Israelis dead. Meanwhile, Erekat called on the international community to exercise pressure on Israel to stop "its aggression" on the Palestinian people and respect the signed agreements. The Japanese cabinet on Tuesday approved withdrawing its bid for Unesco to add churches and other Christian sites in southwestern Japan to the World Heritage register. A UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) advisory panel asked Japan last month to review its nomination of the 14 locations in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures, citing failure to explain their overall value, The Japan Times reported. The sites include Nagasaki's Oura Church, built in 1864 and Japan's oldest church, and the Sakitsu community in Amakusa in Kumamoto prefecture, where Christians practiced their faith despite a ban, persecution and even torture starting in the 17th century. The period gave rise to the nation's so-called "Hidden Christians" who retained their faith and traditions down the generations despite having almost no contact with the Christian community overseas. The government considers that the sites illustrate the 250-year history of Christianity in Japan, from the period of persecution to the faith's subsequent revival. About one percent of Japan's population is Christian. In a notification to Japan on January 18, the International Council on Monuments and Sites said the government failed to adequately explain how the individual sites contributed to the overall value of the bid, and how they meet the criteria of World Heritage sites. This is the second time the government has withdrawn a recommendation. In 2013, it backtracked on nominating the listing of the ancient capital of Kamakura. Culture minister Hiroshi Hase said he will work with local municipalities and experts to re-submit the nomination. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana received a jolt on Tuesday as another of its legislator joined the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). K.P. Vivekanand, who represents Quthbullapur assembly constituency in Greater Hyderabad, met Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao and joined the party. Vivekanand said he joined the TRS as it is the only party which could ensure development of the state. The development came close on the heels of the TDP's crushing defeat in the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The TDP bagged only one seat and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) four seats in 150-member GHMC. The TDP received the blow at a time when it is preparing for by-election to the state assembly from the Naraynkhed constituency on February 13. Vivekanand is the sixth TDP legislator from GHMC to switch loyalties to the TRS since 2014. The TDP had bagged nine out of 24 assembly seats in the GHMC limits in 2014 elections. More than a dozen legislators of both the Congress and TDP have crossed over to the TRS during last one-and-half years. Meanwhile, the lone TDP corporator in the GHMC is likely to meet the chief minister on Tuesday. Srinivas Rao, who was elected from KPHB division, may formally join the TRS. The ruling party scored landslide victory in last week's elections to the GHMC, winning 99 seats. Actress Manisha Koirala on Tuesday mourned the death of her uncle, Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala, who was among her "favourite people". "All my fev people are leaving one by one. Helplessly I watched them go.. RIP," Manisha posted on her Facebook page with an image in which she is seen with her uncle, who spent 16 years in exile in India. Sushil Koirala, a survivor of tongue and lung cancers, died here on Tuesday. He was 80. On Twitter, Manisha, who is herself a cancer survivor, wrote: "I loved him dearly. RIP." Manisha is the granddaughter of B.P. Koirala, Nepal's first elected prime minister. The Narendra Modi government is now looking at the private sector to aide its Swachh Bharat Mission and provide financial assistance for building toilets for poor families, union Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said on Tuesday. He asked commercial banks and micro-financing institutes to come forward for credit disbursal to these families for construction of toilets. "The finance ministry has included water and sanitation into the new list of priority sectors for lending by commercial banks. There is an incentive of Rs.12,000 for toilet construction for BPL (below poverty line) families, but to achieve universal coverage, there is a dire need for easy financing by commercial banks and other financial institutions," the minister said at conference 'Innovative Financing for Clean India'. He noted the NDA government is committed to bring a monumental reform in country's sanitation. "More than 14.7 million toilets were constructed in the rural areas under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project Swachh Bharat Mission, but still close to 50 percent of our rural population still does not have access to a toilet," he added. He said his ministry's policies provide lot of scope for small and medium private sector institutions to engage in waste management and improvisation of village environmental management infrastructure. "Private sector needs to come forward in a big way for credit disbursal to achieve the goal of making India, an open defecation free country by 2019," the minister said asserting sanitation is closely linked with poor health, low education status, malnutrition and poverty. Rural Development Secretary J. K. Mohapatra stressed the need for creating strong synergy between self-help groups (SHGs) and Swachh Bharat Mission across the country. Urging the banks and micro-finance institutions to extend credit for sanitation and water sectors, he also said that the poor are not only credit-worthy and enterprising, but they are extremely responsible borrowers also. He also expressed satisfaction that the self-help group movement is gaining momentum in Indo-Gangetic belt and in central India after its success in south India. Former prime minister Sushil Koirala, who spent 16 years in exile in India, died here on Tuesday. He was 80. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has lost a valued friend. Koirala, who was also president of the Nepali Congress (NC), died at his residence in Kathmandu's Maharajgunj area. Doctors told the media that he died at 12.50 a.m. due to failure of his respiratory system. Koirala, who was the prime minister of Nepal from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, will be remembered as the leader under whose leadership Nepal promulgated the new constitution through the constituent assembly in September 2015. Koirala, who spent 16 years in India in exile during the pro-democracy movement in Nepal, was a survivor of tongue and lung cancers. India condoled his death, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying "India lost a valued friend". "In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades and India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP." "Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family and people of Nepal in this hour of grief," Modi said in a series of tweets. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh also offered his tributes to Koirala. He said, "Nepal has lost a powerful voice and a wonderful human being". "He was Nepal's one of the most seasoned politicians and also a true statesman." Koirala's death comes a serious blow to the NC that is scheduled to hold its 13th general assembly in March 2016. Hundreds of Nepali Congress leaders and supporters gathered at his Maharajgunj residence to offer condolence to the leader. NC senior leader and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said he was shocked by Koirala's death. Koirala, who was eyeing a second term as the party president, was known for his high integrity and simple lifestyle. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has sought the help of various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to obtain the data used by arrested Islamic State suspects. The suspects had extensively used various social media sites, including WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, to recruit and promote the ideology of the terrorist outfit in India. According to sources, the NIA, while seeking the remand of the suspects on Tuesday, told a court here that the suspects also used Internet and Internet-based services such as Telegram, KIK and Surespot. This was in pursuance of a larger conspiracy, and was aimed at identifying and facilitating recruitment of members and promoting the activities the global terror outfit. The NIA said the request to obtain the data was being forwarded to the ISPs under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) for criminal matters, the sources told IANS. It said the information was required, and the accused needed to be in custody to verify the facts that emerge from the contents of the internet-based services used by the accused to communicate with their associates. According to the sources, many electronic gadgets, including laptops, tablets, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards and pen drives, used by the accused had been seized from them after their arrests on January 29. These were forwarded on February 4 to forensic analysts of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team. During in-camera proceedings on Tuesday, District Judge Amar Nath allowed the NIA to quiz the three accused -- Sheikh Azhar-Ul-Islam alias Abdul Sattar Sheikh, Mohammed Farhan alias Mohammed Rafiq Shaikh and Adnan Hassan alias Mohammad Hussain -- till February 19. While Sheikh Azhar hails from Jammu and Kashmir, Farhan and Hassan are residents of Maharashtra and Karnataka, respectively. According to the sources, NIA told the court that custodial interrogation of the accused had led to pointers about links amongst them and their associations with the Islamic State. All three were presented before the court with their faces covered after the expiry of their police remand. "During questioning, the accused disclosed that they are active supporters of Islamic State and remained in close contact with several active members of the IS using internet, telephone and other means of communications." Defence counsel M.S. Khan opposed the NIA plea to extend their custody, saying the agency had sufficient time to interrogate the accused. The three have been booked for criminal conspiracy and under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The NIA added that the trio was involved in a conspiracy to identify, motivate and radicalise recruits and train Indians located both in India and other countries. (Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted at amiya.k@ians.in) Police in the temple town of Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu let off nine Ukranians with a stern warning after they took pictures of the Arunachaleshwarar temple using a drone on Tuesday. "They were let off with a stern warning not to take pictures with a drone. The pictures in the drone camera were erased," a police official in Tiruvannamalai, 195 km from Chennai, told IANS over phone. While the Ukranians claimed that they took pictures with drones wherever they travelled, police did not agree to their point. Chinese smartphone maker LeEco on Tuesday received a mammoth 95,000 orders in 20 seconds for its Le1s smartphones in its second flash sale on Indian e-tail major Flipkart, the company's India chief said. "We are enthralled on getting such a brilliant response from the Indian market for our phone. We have got 95,000 orders for the phone in this flash sale," Atul Jain, COO, smart electronics business, LeEco India, told IANS. "We are sure on selling out a large number of phones. We expect to provide at least 80 percent of the orders we have received." Asked about the customer complaints that the phones were taken off their cart on Flipkart within hours in the last flash sale, Jain said: "It must have happened because of some tech glitch. We will look into the matter and ensure our customers get the devices." "We are humbled by this overwhelming response and now even more determined to live up to to the trust consumers have vested in us." Earlier, LeEco, in its first flash sale, sold 70,000 units of its Le1S phones in a mere two seconds. The company had on January 20 launched two "superphones" -- LeMax and Le1S -- in the Indian market. "India is our new destination. We look forward to making our presence felt strongly in the Indian market, a market of youths," Jain had said at the launch event. In January, the company had showcased in a select preview event, a series of its smart devices, including 3D helmet, Bluetooth headphone and super cycle. LeEco, a chinese internet giant, claims affordable devices to be its unique selling point. Earlier IANS in its verdict of Le1s had said: "The Le1s with all its features and a price of Rs.10,999 is a good buy. Display quality, good user interface, fast charging, lag-free multi-tasking and handy design that lets user work with one hand are some of the features to look for in the phone. Phone loses points for incorporating a quite basic camera." The phone boasts of: 2.2 GHz Octa-core Mediatek MT6795 Helio X10 processor with PowerVR G6200 GPU | 3 GB DDR3 RAM | 5.5-inch display | 32 GB storage | 13-megapixel auto focus rear camera with ISOCELL technology and blue glass infrared filter | 5-megapixel front camera | dual 4G/LTE | Wi-Fi | Bluetooth | 3,000 mAH battery | mirror-finish fingerprint identification system. Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday said 76,263 maritime refugee and migrant arrivals were recorded in Europe through the first six weeks of 2016. This represents close to 2,000 arrivals on European shores every day, nearly ten times the daily average of a year ago, Xinhua reported. With the number of arrivals showing no sign of abating, IOM said the death-toll has also increased. Some 409 people have lost their lives while attempting to reach Europe since the start of the year, compared to 428 deaths registered in the first two months of 2015. The Eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey and Greece remains by far the deadliest, with 319 recorded deaths. The Central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy has seen 90 individuals lose their lives so far this year. A breakdown of this year's arrival-figures show that 70,365 refugees and migrants reached Greece while 5,898 arrived in Italy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and army chief General Dalbir Singh visited the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) here to get update on the condition of the soldier who was found alive six days after being buried under an avalanche at Siachen glacier. The soldier, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, is currently in ICU. The prime minister and army chief were briefed by doctors on the soldier's condition. Lance Naik Koppad was one of the 10 soldiers of the 19 Madras Regiment who were swept under the deadly avalanche on February 3 when they were manning the highest helipad in the world on the Saltoro Ridge of the Siachen glacier. President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday applauded the "indomitable spirit" of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad rescued alive six days after he along with nine other armymen was buried under an avalanche on the Siachen glacier. "I am happy to know that Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad has survived the avalanche on the Siachen glacier. I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions," the President said in his message to army chief General Dalbir Singh. The President said Koppad's will power and courage to fight all odds is truly an example to all others. "I join the people of our country in praying for his early and speedy recovery." Koppad is under treatment at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, where he was flown in from the Siachen base camp and admitted earlier Tuesday. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," a medical bulletin on his condition said. The Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission has written to the union Ministry of External Affairs to seek the repatriation of 11 Dalit youths from Punjab presently lodged in a Dubai jail. The commission urged the MEA for diplomatic efforts to ensure the return of these youths to India. Commission Chairman Rajesh Bagha said these youths had gone to Dubai in search of employment but were imprisoned there. He said their parents brought the matter to the commission's notice. A large number of people from Punjab, mostly youths, work in the gulf countries as skilled and unskilled labour, including in the United Arab Emirates. Enterprise software company Ramco Systems Ltd has decided to train its focus on the airlines sector, including the Chinese airlines, which is now seeing money due to fall in fuel prices, said a senior company official. The company has launched niche enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for the logistics sector as last mile delivery forms the crucial part for the sector, CEO Virender Aggarwal told reporters here. "The fall in fuel prices has affected the helicopter business whereas the passenger airline sector is doing well. We will be focussing on the regional airlines," he said. Presently, the company is majorly focussed on the helicopter players for its aviation software. The fall in oil prices has affected the helicopter business as choppers are mainly employed in off-shore oil business. While a couple of airlines use the company's aviation solution, Aggarwal said the challenge will be to convince the players who generally go in for a better-known brand. Meanwhile the company closed the third quarter with a total income of Rs.117 crore and a net profit of Rs.11.7 crore. For the corresponding period of the previous year the company had posted a total revenue of Rs.98.16 crore and a net profit of Rs.8 crore. Aggarwal said the company is now debt free and is profitable for the past seven quarters. He said the revenue was impacted due to the fluctuation in the exchange rates while the company derives only around 18 percent of its total revenues from the US. Ramco Systems has acquired 18.93 percent stake in a city based cloud startup and also a channel partner SmartMegh with operations in India, ASEAN and Middle East. According to Aggarwal, the company's order book position is around $80 million and a sizeable portion of that is for the HR solutions. As voters in a snowy New Hampshire headed for the polls, Bernie Sanders held a 26-point lead over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic while Donald Trump led the Republican field. With Sanders topping Clinton 61 percent to 35 percent in the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll, most pundits expected the self-styled Democratic Socialist to win the crucial first in the nation vote where independents can participate in either party's primary. Sanders and Trump are the two candidates who also enjoy the most support from independent voters, according to polls. And with "undeclared" voters making up a little more than 40 percent of registered voters, that margin could make a difference. In the face of the tough challenge posed by Sanders, Hillary and her husband former president Bill Clinton have sharpened their attacks on the Vermont Senator. Hillary Clinton noted Sanders has fundraised from Wall Street interests, too, while Bill Clinton ripped Sanders backers for making 'sexist', 'profane' attacks and accused Sanders of derisively labelling opponents as part of the "establishment" when they disagree. On Republican side of the race, with real estate mogul Trump leading with 31 percent support, the main interest centred on who among the remaining seven candidates would finish second behind him. In the final poll, Florida Senator Marco Rubio had 17 percent support, just three points ahead of Iowa caucus winner Texas Senator Ted Cruz at 14 percent. But he was significantly ahead of the fourth and fifth place candidates in the poll, Ohio Governor John Kasich at 10 percent and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 7 percent. Behind Bush, former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina stood at 5 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 4 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 3 percent. Meanwhile, Trump returned to mocking Bush after the two clashed during ABC's Republican presidential debate on Saturday night, calling him a "loser" and saying "every time he attacks me, he melts like butter." "You look at Jeb -- Jeb's a loser," Trump said on CBS Monday. "He's spent $110 million so far, he's at the bottom of the pack or toward the bottom of the pack. He's going nowhere. And the only thing he does is attack me." Bush fired back on twitter later Monday morning, writing, "you aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out." It was a reference to Trump questioning whether McCain -- who spent five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War -- is a war hero. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg added a new twist to the 2016 race by announcing he is considering running for president. In an interview with Financial Times, the billionaire media mogul also criticised the current candidates saying, "I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters" and the public deserved "a lot better." (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) A protest shutdown called by the separatists on the third death anniversary of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on Tuesday adversely affected life across the Kashmir Valley as authorities imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar city. Shops, public transport, and other business establishments remained closed here and all other major cities and towns in the Valley. Attendance in government offices, banks and post offices also ran thin because of non-availability of public transport. Train services have also been suspended between Baramulla and Banihal towns. "Restrictions will remain in force in areas falling under jurisdictions of Rainawari, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj, Safakadal and Kralkhud police stations in Srinagar city," Farooq Ahmad Lone, district magistrate Srinagar told reporters here. Heavy deployment of police and paramilitary central reserve police force (CRPF) troopers in full riot gear has been made across the cities and towns of the Valley to prevent separatists from carrying out protests. Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of Pro-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) has been placed under detention. Guru's family and separatists have been demanding the mortal remains of Guru eversince he was hanged by the jail authorities in Delhi. Guru's 15-year-old son, Ghalib who recently scored a distinction in his 10th board exams, on Monday demanded that the jail authorities should at least return his father's belongings, including a copy of the Holy Quran and spectacles to the family. Guru's widow Tabassum has blamed Kashmiri separatist leadership for apathy towards the family. At least seven people were killed and 15 injured on Tuesday as a blast hit the Police Club in Damascus district of Masaken Barzeh, a source said. A booby-trapped car ripped through the parking lot of the Police Club in Masaken Barzeh, Xinhua quoted the source as saying. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion killed eight policemen and injured 20 others. The death toll was likely to rise as many of the injured were in critical condition. Sikh American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia says he was barred from boarding a flight home to New York from Mexico because he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Ahluwalia, according to the New York Times, said Monday he checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 a.m. and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. When he showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded matter-of-factly that I won't be taking off my turban," he was quoted as saying in an interview from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'O.K., then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline Monday said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible." Ahluwalia, 41, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewellery line and other design work. One of the ten army soldiers buried alive under an avalanche in Siachen glacier area of Ladakh region has been rescued alive, the rest are confirmed dead. "The ongoing rescue operation at Siachen, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was found alive, all the other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," GOC northern command Lt General D.S.Hooda said in an official statement on Tuesday. The medical condition of Hanamanthappa was said to be critical, but attempts were being made to evacuate him to the hospital. "We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us," Hooda added. Ten soldiers were buried under tons of avalanche debris in Siachin glacier on February 3 after an avalanche hit their post. Massive rescue operations had been going on by the army and the Air Force since then to trace the missing soldiers. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, miraculously rescued from the Siachen glacier after being buried under 35 feet of snow for six days, was in coma and battling for life on Tuesday. Doctors said the soldier from Karnataka, who along with nine other colleagues of the Madras Regiment had been assumed dead, was in "extremely critical" condition at the Army Research and Referral Hospital here. The bodies of the other soldiers who too were swept away by an avalanche on February 3 at a height of 20,500 feet on the southern side of the glacier in Jammu and Kashmir were also found, the army said. The dead included a Junior Commissioned Officer. A medical bulletin said Koppad, who was flown to Delhi early on Tuesday, was in shock with low blood pressure and was on ventilator in the ICU. The next one or two days were critical for him. "He has been placed on ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state," said the bulletin issued at 4 p.m. "He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24-48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body. "He has pneumonia and his investigations have revealed liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bone injuries to him," it said. The soldier, being treated by experts, has been given fluids and drugs to bring up his blood pressure. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lauded the "indomitable spirit" of Koppad. Modi visited the hospital along with army chief General Dalbir Singh. Mukherjee said in a message to the army chief: "I am happy to know that Koppad has survived the avalanche... I applaud his indomitable spirit and ability to endure adverse conditions." Modi tweeted: "No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier." In Karnataka, his distraught family and relatives prayed for his well being. The soldier was luckily inside an "arctic tent" which possibly aided his survival despite being under the ice sheet, army sources said. The tent is designed to withstand extreme temperatures and has a fibre-reinforced structure. While Koppad's survival is a miracle, doctors say he was possibly trapped in an air pocket which saved him. "Air pocket created between the snow layers can possibly be a reason for his survival. Also, a strong will power to survive must have acted as an added advantage," said H.S. Chauhan, president of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. Soldiers posted in harsh icy conditions are trained to look for air pockets in case of an avalanche and know how to clear the snow near the nose and the mouth so that they can keep breathing. Even six days after the disaster, by which most people feared that none of the 10 soldiers could have survived, the army refused to give up its search operation in a hostile environment. The efforts paid off late on Monday. Doctors at the site immediately administered warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming -- all of critical importance after the long time spent in the sub-zero environment. Koppad was then flown out of the site on Tuesday by helicopter, along with a medical specialist, first to the Siachen base camp, then to Thois air base in Ladakh and finally to Delhi. That's where the soldier battles on -- this time for his life. Former Indian diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing on sensitive information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), will be charged under the Official Secrets Act, the Delhi High Court has ordered. Justice Pratibha Rani held that evidence placed by the police was "prima facie sufficient" to frame a charge against Gupta under the more stringent section 3(1) (Part-I) of Official Secrets Act, which attracts maximum punishment of 14 years. Gupta, 56, once a second secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was arrested on April 27, 2010, for spying and on charges of passing on information to the Pakistani intelligence agency. On January 7, 2012, the trial court charged Gupta under the Official Secrets Act with spying, which carries a maximum sentence of three years. Police had challenged the order in the trial court and sought modification of charges, demanding that Gupta be tried under sections entailing punishment of up to 14 years. Advocate Rajesh Mahajan, appearing for the police, had told the high court that the information which Gupta passed on to the ISI through emails was related to the security and defence of the nation. He said the Official Secrets Act's section 3(1)(Part-I) provided for punishment up to 14 years. The high court set aside a trail court's order where she was charged under a section attracting maximum punishment of three years. "The material placed by the prosecution supported with opinion was prima facie sufficient to frame charge against the respondent/accused (Gupta) under first part of Section 3(1) of Official Secrets Act attracting maximum punishment up to a period of fourteen years," Justice Rani said in a recent order that IANS has accessed. "After the charge is amended, the trial court shall give due opportunity to Gupta to recall the witnesses already examined for further cross examination if she feels the same necessary to defend herself," the high court said. Gupta allegedly revealed certain classified information to Pakistani officials and was in touch with two ISI officials, Mubshar Raza Rana and Jamshed. As per the charge-sheet filed in July 2010, Gupta was involved in a relationship with Jamshed, whom she planned to marry. The charge-sheet said she used a computer installed at her residence in Islamabad and a Blackberry phone to stay in touch with the two Pakistani spies. Gupta, however, said she is innocent. She was granted bail Jan 10, 2012. (Garima Tyagi can be contacted at garima.t@ians.in) Sushil Koirala, 76, who died early on Tuesday in Kathmandu following respiratory failure, will be remembered as the prime minister of Nepal who stewarded a republican federal constitution of the former Hindu kingdom. Prime minister from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, he successfully manoeuvred the new charter through Nepal's Constituent Assembly on September 20, 2015 -- thus bringing to a happy conclusion the seven-year-long odyssey that had evaded a resolution. Born into a prestigious, influential family that dominated Nepali and gave four prime ministers to the Himalayan nation, Sushil Koirala -- or Sushil Daai as he was popularly called -- led a simple life. A bachelor with frugal Gandhian tastes, he was known for his integrity and simple lifestyle. He often described himself as a foot-soldier of the Nepali Congress which he served for more than 60 years. He was its current president and eyed a second term. A little-known fact of his life was that while his father wished him to join government service, he dreamt of a career in Bollywood. But the pro-democracy movement in Nepal drew him to . Inspired by the social-democratic ideals of the Nepali Congress, Koirala, then a callow 15-year-old, entered in 1954. Aged 21, he went into political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960 when the then Nepal king Mahendra purged an elected parliament and assumed totalitarian rule. During his exile years, Koirala came in contact with prominent Indian leaders, including then West Bengal chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy, and socialists Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Madhu Dandavate, among others. A gritty fighter of the pro-democracy movement in Nepal, Koirala was also a dour combatant at personal level -- he overcame severe health complications in life and survived tongue and lung cancers. Koirala also spent three years in Indian jails for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. While in exile, Koirala was the editor of Tarun, the official party publication of the Nepali Congress. He served as member of parliament several times but declined ministerial posts, preferring to serve the party -- he was member of the Central Working Committee of the party since 1979 and was appointed general secretary of the party in 1996 and vice president in 1998. It was only after the death of his mentor -- and elder cousin -- Girija Prasad Koirala in 2010 that the mantle of the Koirala clan fell upon the unassuming Sushil Daai. He was elected Nepali Congress president the same year. A cousin of three former prime ministers of Nepal -- Bisheshwor Prasad Koirala, Matrika Prasad Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala -- Sushil Daai was a grand-uncle of Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala. Asked about his bachelorhood, Koirala would candidly admit that he was "too busy in politics" to have considered tying the knot. "I was married to democracy...." As prime minister, Koirala was probably one of the world's poorest heads of government. His only declared assets were three mobile phones. If one went by property details published on the government website, he had no other assets to his name. And he showed no penchant for the perks associated with his job. In March 2014, he gave back $650 he had received as allowance for going to Myanmar to take part in a regional summit meeting. Koirala's example was welcomed by Nepalis who perceive their politicians as steeped in corruption -- particularly those in public office. Before he moved to the sprawling official residence of Nepal's prime ministers, Koirala used to live in a two-room, rented house in Kathmandu. Even in his hometown of Nepalgunj in western Nepal, Koirala did not possess any land, unusual in a country where people normally associate politicians with wealth, landed and otherwise. He stayed at the residence of his brother whenever he visited the western Nepali city. A man of very simple tastes, he depended upon the largesse of his party workers and the government even when he had to go to the United States for medical treatment. (Deepak Goel has been a Nepal-watcher for more than 25 years. He can be contacted at deepak.g@ians.in) From left, Ajit Doval, Sitaram Yechury, Anand Sharma, Sharad Yadav and Sushma Swaraj, pay respect near the body of former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, at the national stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal Visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and members of an all-party delegation on Tuesday paid courtesy calls on Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. The Indian delegation -- comprising National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav -- met the two leaders after paying homage to former prime minister Sushil Koirala who died on Tuesday. They met Bhandari at the President's Office and Oli at his official residence. Bhandari told the Indian leaders that Nepal-India relationship was "very deep and intimate and transcends politics". In the meeting with the prime minister, Sushma Swaraj said that as soon as they heard the news about Koirala's demise, an emergency meeting was called which decided to send the all-party delegation to Kathmandu to pay homage to the late Nepali Congress chief. Receiving the Indian delegation, Oli said: "India always stands by Nepal in its hour of grief", which has been demonstrated time and again. Gopal Khanal, the prime minister's foreign affairs advisor, cited Oli as saying: "Your presence in this hour of grief also demonstrates that India is a friend during difficult times for Nepal." In the meeting between Oli and Sushma Swaraj, the two also discussed his upcoming India visit later this month. "We are eager to welcome you in India and preparations of your India visit are underway," Sushma Swaraj said in the meeting. Oli expressed confidence that the differences in opinion about Nepal's new Constitution will be sorted out during talks with the Madhesis and that the government will continue discussions with the agitating parties. Sushma Swaraj returned to New Delhi later in the evening. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead an all-party delegation from India for the funeral of former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala who died early on Tuesday in Kathmandu, an official said. "Together with Nepal, at its time of loss. EAM @SushmaSwaraj to lead all party delegation for funeral of former PM Sushil Koirala," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a tweet. In Kathmandu, officials told IANS that Sushma Swaraj will land at 5 p.m. (Nepali time) and will fly back to New Delhi later in the evening. She will meet Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Gopal Khanal, the foreign relations advisor to Oli, said. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader Anand Sharma and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sita Ram Yechuri will accompany Sushma Swaraj. The Nepal government has decided to accord the state funeral to Koirala. His last rites will be conducted at the Pashupatinath temple on the bank of Bagmati river. The government has also announced a public holiday on Wednesday. India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Kathmandu later on Tuesday to offer condolences on the passing of former prime minister Sushil Koriala, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa said here. Officials told IANS that Sushma Swaraj will land here at 5 p.m. (Nepali time) and will fly back to New Delhi later in the evening. She will meet Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Gopal Khanal, the foreign relations advisor to Oli, said. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader Anand Sharma and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sita Ram Yechuri will accompany Swaraj. The Nepal government has decided to honour Koirala with the state funeral. His last rites will be conducted at the Pashupatinath temple on the bank of Bagmati river. The government has also announced a public holiday on Wednesday. The new generation must be taught war history, says military historian Shiv Kunal Verma, whose new book on the 1962 Sino-Indian war has earned a good response from different quarters. Verma, son of an army officer who was a captain with 2 Rajput in 1962, says he visited schools as part of the book promotion and found that students were keen to what happened in the war. "We assume children are not interested in history. But when we visited schools, children were very enthusiastic about the book," Verma told IANS. "We must focus on making our children aware of the military history of the nation. We must build interest in school and college students about such things," he said. Verma's book - "1962, The War That Wasn't" -- has been printed by Aleph Book Co. The publisher says it sold out within three weeks of hitting the shelves. Two pilots were killed when an army aircraft crashed in Pakistan's Punjab province on Tuesday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the aircraft was on a training flight when it crashed in the Gujrat district of Punjab, Dawn online reported. In November 2015, PAF suffered the loss of its first woman pilot when her training flight crashed near Mianwali city. A military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed in May 2015, killing seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines. In August 2015, another military helicopter being used as an air ambulance crashed near the northern district of Mansehra, killing 12 people. The Uttar Pradesh assembly's proceedings were disrupted on Tuesday as the opposition raised protests over a boy's killing in celebratory firing and attack on journalists in Shamli, forcing the adjournment of the house till Wednesday. As soon as the house assembled, members belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began raising slogans and waved posters and banners against the government. Members of the BSP walked out to protest what they dubbed a "breakdown of law and order machinery" in the state even as a debate was to be held on Tuesday on the governor's address to the joint session of the legislature. The Congress accused the government of failing to protect the people and also raised the issue of recent attacks on journalists. Congress Legislature Party leader Pradip Mathur said his party gave a notice for a discussion on the matter but it was not accepted. BJP legislators raised slogans against the Akhilesh Yadav government over Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan's statement last week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a closed-door meeting with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim at the residence of Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif during his brief stopover in Pakistan in December last year. Angry over the opposition protests, Azam Khan said the legislators creating a ruckus were rioters. Soon thereafter, the house was adjourned till Wednesday. The legislative council proceedings were also adjourned till Wednesday. BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui said law and order in the state was precarious and that farmers were in a mess even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was patting himself on the work done for the welfare of farmers. Ruling party legislators, however, said action was taken in the Shamli incidents and that the opposition was scared of Akhilesh Yadav's popularity and the good work done by his government. The United States has reiterated its commitment to assisting the Indian government in bringing to justice those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks. "The US has committed to doing all we can to assist the government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing on Monday. Kirby's comments came after Pakistani-American key Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley in his first deposition on Monday told the Mumbai High Court from his jail cell in Chicago that Pakistani terrorists conducted the attacks on November 26, 2008, after two failed attempts. "I think we have a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels, and law enforcement's one of those," the spokesman said. "Certainly it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice, and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm, but across all others as well," Kirby added. Headley is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his involvement in the attacks. The US is leading a drive to exert military pressure on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's satellite launch which could escalate regional tension. US defence officials on Monday said Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would meet his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Hawaii this week to discuss Pyongyang's launch, Xinhua reported. Lee Sun-jin, South Korean Army General and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Katsutoshi Kawano, head of Japan's Self-Defence Forces, would participate in the meeting, which was scheduled after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6. Moreover, the US and South Korea have begun negotiations on the deployment of Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system to the Korean peninsula in response to Pyongyang launch on Sunday, the Pentagon said separately on Monday. "The goal of the formal consultations is to bilaterally explore the feasibility of THAAD deploying to and operating on the Korean peninsula at the earliest possible date," Peter Cook, spokesman for the US Department of Defence, said. Cook stressed the negotiations underscored the "ironclad" commitment of the US to defend South Korea and would be "focused solely" on North Korea. China, as a key regional stakeholder, has expressed deep concerns over the proposed THAAD deployment, which it says could worsen the already fragile situation in Northeast Asia. "China holds a consistent and clear stance on the anti-missile issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Sunday. "When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others' security interests." Pyongyang on Sunday said it had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit in less than 10 minutes after the liftoff at 9.00 am (local time). The launch, which took place about a month after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb, caused serious concern around the world and may lead to further sanctions against North Korea. The country is banned from rocket launches using any ballistic missile technologies, according to multiple UN Security Council resolutions. The UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the latest launch, calling it a serious violation of its resolutions. The Council members restated their intent to develop significant measures in a new resolution in response to North Korea's nuclear test on January 6. They are also expected to adopt such a resolution expeditiously in line with the gravity of this most recent violation. South Korea on Sunday strongly denounced North Korea's launch, describing it as an "extreme provocative act" that runs counter to the community's wish for peace, according to a statement issued by the South Korean Presidential Office. The statement noted that the only way of making Pyongyang give up its nuclear ambition is to draft strong and effective sanctions against it, including UN Security Council resolutions, in cooperation with the community. The US said the launch represents "another destabilising and provocative action" and is "a flagrant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest on Monday said allies of the US agree that an "impactful response" is needed. "That means considering a range of economic sanctions that would further isolate North Korea," Earnest said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reiterated his denouncement of the launch, adding that Japan would take "resolute measures" such as the imminent strengthening of its own sanctions against Pyongyang. Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday said swift actions were necessary from the UN Security Council, and that Tokyo would "further strengthen cooperation with related countries such as the US and South Korea to that end." The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday once again condemned the launch, but warned against any unilateral move that could "lead to further development of tensions in the region." China expressed regrets on Sunday morning shortly after the launch, urging all sides concerned to "remain calm, act cautiously, avoid taking moves that could further increase tensions on the peninsula." The central government on Tuesday said that the US will provide further financial assistance for strengthening safety related aspects of India's civil aviation sector. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Indian aviation regulator has entered into a grant agreement with the United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA). The ministry elaborated that the grant agreement has been signed under the India aviation safety technical assistance phase II. "The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and USTDA signed the grant agreement for India aviation safety technical assistance phase II in New Delhi today," the ministry said in a statement. "USTDA will be partially funding the assistance to the tune of $808,327 and contractor 'The Wicks Group' (TWG) will share the cost of assistance at $75,000. Government of India's contribution is for an amount of $446,866." The ministry cited that the USTDA's assistance was necessitated after the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. "Following this the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA carried out an 'International Aviation Safety Assessment' (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013, and India was assigned category II rating in January 2014," the statement said. "In March 2014, USTDA in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a USTDA grant agreement project to address the FAA-IASA findings and help restore category I status to India." The ministry pointed out that under the grant agreement's phase I, US based contractor TWG assisted DGCA in addressing the findings and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014. "Based on this reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, India's category I status was restored in April 2015," the statement added. "Phase II of the current project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA category I status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation." Continuing his expose on the role of Pakistan-based terror organisations, its army, the ISI and others, LeT terrorist-turned-approver David Coleman Headley on Tuesday described how he was assigned to gather military intelligence in India and recruit spies from the Indian army. On the second day of his deposition through videoconferencing from a US jail before the special TADA court here, he said he was tasked with luring spies from the Indian Army to work for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). In his response to questions posed by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley admitted to working both for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the ISI. Headley on Monday revealed that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were planned over a year in Pakistan. Detailing the planning for the 26/11 strike, he said in November-December 2007 he had attended a meeting in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir along with his LeT contact Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, in which they asked him to conduct a recce of the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and other locations in Mumbai. At the meeting, the LeT leaders gave information about a plan to strike during a conference of Indian defence officials and scientists at the luxury hotel opposite Gateway of India which they wanted to hit, Headley told the court of Special Judge G.A. Sanap. However, that plan - to be executed a year before the Mumbai terror attacks - was subsequently dropped as the arms and ammunition did not reach on schedule, he added. Headley was specifically asked by his handlers to survey and videograph the second floor of the hotel which he did along with his wife Faiza, when they stayed there between September 14-28, 2006, and selected the landing site for the vessels which would sneak in from the Arabian Sea at Colaba. He said he had met Major Iqbal of the Pakistan Army first time in 2006 at a house in Lahore and discussed the (above) matters with him. Besides Hotel Taj, Headley made videos of Leopold Cafe, Colaba Police Station, the local markets and restaurants in Colaba, the naval and air force stations, the Maharashtra Police headquarters, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, and the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Prabhadevi. "Sajid Mir and Major Iqbal were satisfied with the videos and photos of the hotel which I gave them," Headley said, adding that the plan to target Hotel Taj conference hall was later scrapped for "logistics reasons". All the data and locations were stored in a GPS device provided by Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa, which he later handed over to Sajid Mir, Headley added. Headley unravelled before the special court how the LeT and Al Qaeda, which he termed a "terrorist organisation", Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahiddeen and other groups in Pakistan function under the "United Jihad Council" and were working against India. He said the LeT and ISI have a close nexus with the ISI providing the "financial, military and moral support", Nikam later told media persons. Admitting to his links with both LeT and ISI, Headley described Hafiz Saeed as LeT's "spiritual leader," while Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was its "operational commander" and both worked with the sole aim of unleashing terror in India. Headley said that in 2003, he was present at a LeT meeting when Jaish-E-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar made a guest speech about his anti-India activities and his release from India (in December 1999 in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814). He met Azhar at the location, around 150 kms from Lahore and the same year he met Lakhvi in Muzafarrabad at the LeT headquarters. However, it was at a meeting in 2006 attended by Sajid Mir, Muzammil, Abu Khafa it was decided that he should go to India. On Monday, Headley deposed roughly on the period between 2003-2005 and on Tuesday (today) he threw light on the period after 2005 till 2008, and the deposition will resume again on Wednesday, Nikam told media persons. As half a million voters in snowy New Hampshire set out to pick up their presidential nominees Tuesday, polls suggested two outsiders, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders, may clinch victory. Polls opened at 8 a.m. across the state which kicks off the US presidential race with the first primary, though nine voters cast their votes in the traditional curtain raiser of Dixville Notch not far from the Canadian border just after midnight. In that snow-bound hamlet, Ohio Governor John Kasich bested Trump 3-2 among Republicans, while Sanders claimed all four votes among Democrats. With Sanders topping Hillary Clinton 61 percent to 35 percent in the final CNN/WMUR tracking poll, most pundits expected the self-styled Democratic Socialist to win the crucial first in the nation vote where independents can participate in either party's primary. Sanders and Trump are the two candidates who also enjoy the most support from independent voters, according to polls. And with "undeclared" voters making up a little more than 40 percent of registered voters, that margin could make a huge difference. In the face of the tough challenge posed by Sanders, Clinton and her husband have trained their guns on the Vermont senator with former president Bill Clinton accusing his supporters of making "sexist", and "profane" attacks. A loss for Tuesday could be especially painful for Clinton as in 1992, New Hampshire voters saved Bill Clinton's presidential campaign and made him the "comeback kid". On the Republican side, with real estate mogul Trump leading with 31 percent support, the main interest centred on who among the remaining seven candidates would finish second behind him. Would Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who scored a surprise win over Trump in the Iowa caucuses repeat the feat as at 14 percent, he is running just three points behind Florida Senator Marco Rubio with 17 percent support? Or would Rubio's stumble under fire from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at Saturday's Republican debate, stall the momentum he gained with a strong third finish behind Trump in Iowa? Meanwhile, Trump returned to mocking former Florida governor Jeb Bush after their clash during the last debate, calling him a "loser" and saying "every time he attacks me he melts like butter". "You look at Jeb -- Jeb's a loser," Trump said on CBS Monday. "He's spent $110 million so far, he's at the bottom of the pack or toward the bottom of the pack. He's going nowhere. And the only thing he does is attack me." Bush fired back on Twitter, writing "you aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out." It was a reference to Trump questioning whether McCain -- who spent five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War -- is a war hero. But whatever the outcome, a number of candidates are bound to drop out after the New Hampshire vote bringing more clarity to the race on the Republican side. (Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in) Deutsche Bank is turning hybrid bonds from a financial regulation poster boy into a problem child. The German lender on February 8 moved to reassure investors fretting about delayed coupons on its new AT1 securities. It shouldn't be a big deal if Deutsche Bank suspends payment on its hybrid bonds: it suspended payment of ordinary share dividends last autumn for two years, and the new "additional Tier 1" hybrids are supposed to absorb loss while the bank is viable - that's why they differ from hybrid forebears in 2008. Yet instead of dampening volatility, the fear of a trigger is exacerbating it. Bank stocks have been falling due to growth fears. That eventually started to catch up with additional Tier 1 securities. Deutsche's are particularly vulnerable because of the bank's weak profitability, relatively low capital, and uncertainty over German AT1 accounting idiosyncrasies. Consider Deutsche's six per cent perpetual bonds. In early January these yielded around seven per cent, on a 2022 expected maturity. Yet as equity prices fell, investors started to discount AT1s with equity-like yields, pushing down prices. As yields rose, the chances Deutsche might not call the bond in 2022 increased, thus extending the possible maturity and magnifying losses. Finally, renewed threat of coupon termination meant the risk of fewer near-term cashflows. What looked like a short-dated bond risked becoming a long-dated, zero coupon instrument. The price collapsed from 93 per cent of par at the start of the year to 72 per cent on February 8. The problem for regulators and investors alike is that all this creates a feedback loop. As AT1 prices fell, investors had few places to sell. Banks don't like making markets in distressed debt of their peers, and Asian private banks - big buyers of high-yield securities -were on holiday on Monday. So investors sold credit default swaps. That pushed Deutsche's senior CDS to over 270 basis points, a level not seen since the euro zone financial crisis. Yet the risk of Deutsche failing is barely comparable: its euro 53 billion of tangible book value is 40 per cent higher than the 2011 figure. The AT1 death spiral is only one small factor in the current market maelstrom. But it highlights the risks of dressing up equity as debt. Regulators hoped the new hybrids would be better at absorbing losses than the pre-crisis ones. The instruments are great at absorbing losses, but the market isn't. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited ideas from the public for the Union Budget 2016-17. On February 5, we published a collection of comments received from our online readers. As we continue to receive more suggestions that indicate the desire to be part of the Budget exercise, we bring you some more suggestions that have come from our readers. On Monday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) issued a set of regulations on data services provided by telecom operators. In particular, it outlawed differential pricing for internet services or "zero rating" services, in which some sites or applications are provided free of charge to end-users. The immediate impact is to render Free Basics, Facebook's free bouquet of low-bandwidth websites, illegal in India. This followed a high-volume debate; Facebook bought considerable advertising space insisting that Free Basics was praiseworthy, and online activists - many connected to the start-up ecosystem that feels most threatened by zero-rating - took to social media and opinion pages of newspapers to decry violations of the principle of net neutrality. Trai's "public consultation" on differential pricing of data services became fraught - Trai and Facebook openly sniped at each other about Facebook nudging its users to email the former in support of Free Basics. Clearly, Facebook made major mistakes in how it presented its case to Trai; it sought to present its acts as some sort of philanthropy, when that is both difficult to believe and irrelevant to the regulatory issue at hand. It is to be hoped that the poor nature of Facebook's public-relations campaign did not influence Trai's decision in any way. In any event, one of the limits of "public consultation" by regulators has been shown up in this case. It may not be wise to depend entirely on public consultation for a wide enough set of views, when a significant set of people affected by a regulatory decision - in this case, the large numbers of those unconnected to the digital world - are necessarily going to be unrepresented. Former Delhi legislator Vijay Jolly was removed from the position of chief of the Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party in November 2014. The outfit is the BJP's arm for its outreach to the Indian diaspora. Jolly pocketed the slight but floated somewhat of a rival outfit, the Delhi Study Group, that tries to keep itself relevant in New Delhi's diplomatic circuit. Jolly's efforts, including press releases that he issues, make for an entertaining read. On Monday, Jolly issued a statement on behalf of his outfit, congratulating Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema on the birth of a "Gyalsey" (prince) on February 5. Jolly said the news of the "newborn... has generated a wave of joy and excitement in Bhutan and India alike". The release also "lauded the humanistic touch, personal care, eternal love and affection of His Majesty for the Queen since he was by her bedside during the time of delivery". There was more: "You are a superb creation of the Almighty on this earth. And we are happy to be your close friend and contact in India," Jolly said of the Bhutanese King. With reference to the piece, "The flaws in bankruptcy law" (February 8), while all the reasons adduced by the writer, Debashis Basu, are correct, there is one that he has left out: the quality of credit appraisal, follow-up and monitoring of big-ticket loans. Public sector banks do prepare a well-documented appraisal report vetted by no less than a dozen senior bank officials. Or, these days they adopt a committee approach that does not seek accountability for faulty appraisal. Thereafter, it goes to the board, which okays it without little responsibility. The above-mentioned appraisal report runs to more than 100 pages, and with more than 30 annexures - each at least five pages long - it becomes a cartload. Credit decisions are taken with reference to future data. If the past data - that is what the actual performance is - does not allow the team to proceed, the appraisal process gets "intellectualised" to justify future assumptions. Of the dozen senior bank officials who vet an appraisal report, only some have the expertise to insert commas and redraft paragraphs without altering the contents. As for follow-up and monitoring, the less said the better. Bankers are incapable of follow-up and inspection, as they have to handle a variety of industries, each with different physical assets. They do conduct a financial follow-up but all negative variances are beautifully explained to justify their earlier faulty appraisal. Then comes the day when they have to initiate action. This process becomes a pen-and-paper exercise completely, delaying the matter by another 24 months or so. After this, the set of papers go to a team that was not responsible for the appraisal. This team is happy not to be party to the criminal lapse in the appraisal and follow-up. In this scheme of things, what can anybody do? So we have workshops, seminars and deliberations that waste reams of paper - now the whole exercise is perhaps digitalised. Feed all important facts into a bulky document to keep it unread. K V Rao Bengaluru can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.in It was the early 2000s, and as a reporter I was on the trail of the country's biggest food marketer venturing into categories as diverse as pizzas, ice-cream mixes and value-added milk confectionery. There was a bravado in the way the top team of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) - popularly known for and as Amul after its larger-than-life brand - was dismissive of multinational firms dominant in the new markets it was entering. I was in Pakistan last week after a gap of nearly 10 long years. The country has changed in some ways - though the attitude towards India remains a mix of warmth and friendliness at the individual level, but consistently hostile at the collective level. The activities and rhetoric associated with the Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 6, my last day in Pakistan, brought the latter aspect into sharp relief. Two major vehicles for Indians' long-term savings, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the National Pension System (NPS), can now invest a portion of their savers' funds in stocks. It is, therefore, vital that both their fund managers and the managements of companies in whose stocks the investment takes place have a truly long-term approach. In between the two come a vital intermediary: Analysts who process information and offer advice, and who also ideally should have a long-term perspective. Against this, we have the widely copied US model which is hostage to the "tyranny of quarterly results." Corporate leaders, mindful of losing investor support and fearful of the prospects of their stock prices dipping at the slightest blip in quarterly numbers, engage in short-termism at the cost of innovation and long-term growth. Frequent foreign visits and increased engagement with the Indian diaspora have defined Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modis foreign policy initiatives in the first 20 months of his tenure. But, Modi is unlikely to be as keen on travelling overseas in 2016. Given his busy domestic schedule, the PM is yet to travel outside India in 2016. His last foreign visit was to Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan (December 23-25, 2015). Since then, he has spent an uninterrupted 46 days in India. This is his second longest unbroken stay in the country since he took over as PM on May 26, 2014. The longest stretch, in his 20-month tenure, between his one foreign visit to the next was from November 26, 2014 to March 9, 2015, which touched 72 days. He is likely to breach that record comfortably, given that no foreign visits are planned until March-end. The PM will travel to the US to attend the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31. Modis focus in 2016 is to be on domestic politics. In February, he will address four rallies across India and then get busy with the Budget session of Parliament. Campaigning for Assembly polls is also likely to take up his time. As many as eight states will go to polls by March 2017, including key states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Modi, according to sources, has conveyed to both the external affairs ministry as well as the overseas friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party that he will cut down on his visits abroad this year. In 2014, Modi had visited nine countries in seven months, which works out to 1.2 countries a month. His travel, in terms of countries visited, was nearly twice in the 12 months of 2015, with Modi visiting 28 countries, or 2.3 countries a month. However, the difference isnt stark in terms of number of days that the PM spent outside India. In 2014, the PM spent 30 days outside India 14 per cent of the 219 days that he spent in the prime ministerial chair after having been sworn in on May 26, 2014. He did not travel at all in the last month of 2014 as well as the first two months of 2015. But, he notched up significant flying miles in the rest of the year. The PM spent 54 days outside India in 2015, or 15 per cent of 365 days. However, 2016 doesnt hold much promise in terms of overseas prime ministerial visits. Modi is likely to visit Pakistan to attend the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit and to Hangzhou in China for the G20 Summit. He is scheduled to attend the India-European Union Summit in Brussels, the Nuclear Security Summit in the US and possibly the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Uzbekistan. Apart from this, the PM will attend the East Asia Summit in Laos. It is unclear if he will travel all the way to Caracas in Venezuela to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit. A visit to Saudi Arabia has been in the works. The PM is likely to skip the UN General Assembly session in September, given it is an election year in the US. Year 2016 will be more about India playing the host, including to the Israeli and Palestinian leadership. It has already hosted the French President and will also host leaders of Russia, South Africa, China and Brazil for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit to be held in New Delhi. Unlike other Presidential proclamations, government will not rush to ratify President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh in the Budget session of Parliament, with the matter pending before the Supreme Court. It will wait for the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict in the matter before moving for the ratification in the session beginning February 23. Generally, such proclamations as also Ordinances are taken up on a priority basis for consideration. This was agreed at a meeting of union ministers today. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, Najma Heptullah and Jayant Sinha attended the meeting that took stock of pending Bills in Parliament. The Budget session begins on February 23. The meeting listed 74 items to be included in the list of 'government business' for the session. It was decided to give 26 items 'top priority' as the ministries wanted them to be introduced and passed in the Budget session itself. A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament - five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha. As for the ordinance on President's Rule in Arunachal, the proclamation of President's Rule ceases to operate within two months unless "it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament". President's Rule was imposed in Arunachal Pradesh on January 26. "Passage of resolutions in both Houses to ratify the proclamation of President's Rule is our priority. But we will have to wait for the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict on the issue," a senior government functionary said. "When the matter is before the apex court, we cannot get a resolution ratifying President's Rule passed," he said. If the resolution is moved, the government will face challenge for its passage in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks the numbers. The Law Ministry, meanwhile, is in two minds on whether to go for an ordinance or bring a Bill in the coming session to amend two electoral laws to allow the Election Commission carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal to accord voting rights to people who came to live in the country following exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh. The term of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly ends on May 29 and elections are likely to be held before that. EC wants a month's time for undertaking delimitation exercise. This has made the Law Ministry jittery on whether the bill to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Delimitation Act, 2002 could be passed by March. The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is learnt to have suggested against bringing an ordinance at a time when the session schedule has been announced. Since the bill is not controversial and extends voting rights to people who have just become Indian citizens, it feels that the bill can be passed in the initial days of the Budget session. The government will also push for the passage of a bill to replace the ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act, which was promulgated on January 8. An ordinance lapses 42 days/6 weeks from the day a session begins unless a Bill to replace it is cleared by Parliament. The ordinance amends the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act to allow custodians to continue to retain control over such properties. One person was killed and eight others injured as the vehicle they were travelling in turned turtle on Mehmoodabad-Reosa road here today, police said. The accident took place in Mehmoodabad police station area near Dharaincha village when the axle of the tempo broke and it overturned, killing 55-year-old Nattha on the spot, they said. Eight persons, including three women and a child, were injured in the mishap, police said, adding the victims belonged to Sadarpur and were returning from a religious trip to Allahabad. The body has been sent for post mortem, while the injured have been admitted to hospital, police said. Two Pakistani Army pilots were killed today when their fighter jet crashed in Gujranwala district in Punjab province during a training mission. Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said the aircraft was on a training mission when it crashed in Punjab. "Both the crew members, instructor pilot Major Azhar and trainee pilot Captain Ahmed lost their lives in the crash," Bajwa said. District Police Officer Rai Zameer said the army's Mushshak jet crashed near Chenab Bridge, some 100 kms from Lahore. "Technical fault could be a reason behind the incident," he said. The rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the bodies to the Combined Military Hospital Gujranwala district of Punjab. Mushshak is a Pakistani built fixed wing turbo-prop trainer aircraft, improved version of the Saab Safari, used by the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force. The crash is the latest deadly accident to hit Pakistan's military. In November last year, a female pilot of Pakistan Air Force was killed when her trainer fighter jet crashed in Punjab province. A 22-year old woman working as a nurse was allegedly raped by a compounder and ambulance driver here, police said today. The woman, a native of Jharkhand was working with the Trivani hospital as a nurse from last couple of years. The woman in her complaint to Gurgaon police alleged that she was raped by Abhay Pratap, a compounder of hospital and Shyam, a driver of ambulance of Trivani hospital. According to Hawa Singh, CPRO, Gurgaon police, the victim was raped by Abhay five days ago in a room of Hospital and he also threatened her with dire consequences, if she disclose the matter to anyone. "Next day Abhay along with Shyam took her to an isolated building where both of them again took turns to gangrape her in sector-5 of Gurgaon and also threatened her with dire consequences if she discloses the matter to anyone. "They then dropped the victim near her rented accommodation. They woman after she gained courage approached Gurgaon police and narrated the entire ordeal. "After the medical examination confirmed rape, a case of rape was registered against both the accused person," said Singh. Abhay has been arrested while Shyam is till absconding, the police added. The Arvind Kejriwal government will highlight its achievements with the slogan 'Ek Saal Bemisal' at a function here on February 14 as it observes its first anniversary in power in Delhi. Sources said the government will soon start a phone number which would allow the chief minister to interact with the people to hear their suggestions. Though the government has not finalised the venue for the event, they said that Chhatrsahal Stadium or Talkatora Stadium will host the function on February 14. A booklet of AAP government's achievements in the last one year too will be released at the event. AAP government would also seek suggestions from the audience on governance. A senior government official said that the entire Cabinet led by the chief minister will attend the event. "The CM has directed all departments to list their achievements in the past one year and submit them to the Chief Minister's Office. If any minister fails to showcase the achievements, the matter will then be taken seriously," sources said. AAP government had organised a similar event at Central Park in Connaught Place to showcase its achievements in the first 100 days. The entire Kejriwal Cabinet was present at the venue where all ministers took turns in comparing their achievements with the first 100 days of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. The Information and Publicity department is also planning advertisements as part of the anniversary celebrations across mediums, including radio and outdoor and newspaper ads, a senior official said. WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury today came out in support of alliance with CPI-M for the coming assembly polls in Bengal saying it is the demand of the people in order to oust Trinamool Congress from power in the state. "It is the demand of a large section of the people who want to get rid of the undemocratic and corrupt TMC regime and of a large section of our grass root workers, who want an alliance in order to defeat TMC. It is our duty to respect that," Chowdhury said when asked to comment on a veteran Congress MLA D P Roy speaking vehemently against it during the day. Roy threatened that he would not be in the fray in the assembly elections in case of an alliance between Congress and CPI(M). "I strongly protest against this proposal of alliance between Congress and CPI(M). How can I forget the atrocities that CPI(M) workers have inflicted on us for three decades during the the Left Front rule," Roy told reporters here. He termed the call of alliance as "an immoral proposal" and said he would met the Congress high command and urge the leaders to fight the assembly polls alone rather than forging an alliance with CPI(M). Roy was not part of the Congress delegation which last week met Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Congress leaders from West Bengal had unanimously rejected any alliance with TMC but remained divided on a tie-up with the Left during the meeting. Keen to tap Australia's rooftop solar expertise, Power Minister Piyush Goyal today said there is need for the technology transfer at affordable rates for efficient expansion of renewable energy in India. "India can use Australian expertise in rooftop solar as almost a third of Australian homes in some states are using rooftop solar," Goyal said while speaking at a round table on 'Renewable Energy Challenges for Grid Integration' at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) here. The Australian expertise in scheduling and forecasting solar generation to enable grid integration would be "welcomed by Indian companies", the minister said. "It is crucial for the prices of renewable energy to be comparable to coal-based thermal power to be viable in India," he said. While emphasising that the technology transfer needs to be affordable, Goyal said that the Australian technology can help in efficient renewable power and grid integration in India. The technology transfer should be through strong educational and research collaboration between Australian (UNSW) and Indian organisations (like National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE). The Uttar Pradesh food safety department has found samples of some other instant noodle brands sub-standard with ash content in the tastemaker exceeding the prescribed limits. The noodle samples of Knorr Soupy, Horlicks Foodles and Ching's Hot Garlic Instant were collected from a city mall in May for testing and its report was received about a fortnight ago," food safety officer of Barabanki district, Sanjay Singh, said. The samples were sent to government Food Analysis Lab in Lucknow where it was found that "total ash of the tastemaker exceeds the maximum prescribed limits ... hence the samples are sub-standard," Singh said. Against the prescribed limit of 1 per cent, ash content was found to be 1.83 per cent in Ching's noodles, while in Foodles it was 2.37 per cent and in Soupy noodles it was 1.89 per cent, he claimed. Notices were sent to all the three companies a week ago giving them a month's time to make an appeal, he said. When asked for comment on the issue, a GSK Consumer Healthcare spokesperson said: "We manufacture Foodles as per product approvals received by us from FSSAI and manufacturing licences received by our third party manufacturer from the Authorities. Foodles available in the market have been manufactured in accordance with this product approvals." A query sent to Hindustan Unilever, which sells Knorr range of noodles, remained unanswered. Capital Food, which markets Ching's Hot Garlic noodles, could not be reached for comment. Responding to a question, Singh said the report did not mention the health hazards caused by ash content higher than prescribed limits. Interestingly, the UP Food Safety Department in May last year had found high lead content and presence of taste enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) in samples of Maggi noodles. Later in June, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banned Maggi noodles, alleging that the instant noodles were "unsafe and hazardous" due to higher than permissible lead content and presence of MSG. Nestle had then pulled the product off shelves. The instant noodle brand made a comeback in November after passing tests at three government labs, after which the Bombay High Court removed the ban. (REOPENS DCM117) When contacted, an HUL company spokesperson said: "With reference to the analysis reports of the UP Food Safety Authority, we wish to clarify that the conclusion that the product is 'sub-standard' is incorrect. We will be making appropriate representation with the regulator. A sessions court here today adjourned till February 15 the hearing on a bail application filed by quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, booked for sedition, as the investigating officer (IO) in the case failed to file a reply challenging the plea. This is the third time when the hearing on Hardik's bail plea, filed last month, has been adjourned due to absence of the IO. Additional Sessions Judge N G Dave deferred the hearing after the court was informed by the state government that the IO is currently in Delhi to attend a hearing in the Supreme Court in connection with this case. Hardik and five of his aides are facing charges under IPC section 124-A (sedition), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against government) and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) in the case filed against them in Ahmedabad city. In a charge sheet filed on January 18, the police had termed his quota stir as a "pre-planned conspiracy" hatched to put pressure on government to accept their "unconstitutional demand of quota". As per the charge sheet, inflammatory messages sent by Hardik Patel and his aides had caused widespread violence which resulted in the loss estimated at around Rs 40 crore. Hardik, behind the bars since October last year, is also facing another sedition case in Surat. NCP leader and former Maharashtra PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, whose troubles seem to be mounting with the Enforcement Directorate arresting his nephew Sameer Bhujbal in a money laundering case, today sought to deflect the blame, stating all his decisions were taken with the then Chief Minister's consent. Meanwhile, the ED also questioned the NCP leader's son Pankaj Bhujbal today in connection with the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and another case. "It takes at least 1-2 years before a proposal is brought before the cabinet...The proposals were then scrutinised by several departments like Law and Judiciary, Finance, Revenue, Home, Urban Development, etc. Once they cleared, proposals came twice to a cabinet subcommittee headed by the Chief Minister. How am I responsible then?" Chhagan Bhujbal told reporters here. The ED filed three cases against my family even though we were given a clean chit by the PWD officials of the present government, and the report was signed by additional chief secretary and the concerned minister, he said. The NCP leader refuted charges that his family was not co-operating with the ED. "Sameer had sought time from the agency as he was asked to submit documents related to transactions of the last 15 years. When he collected all the papers, he himself called ED officials and said he is ready to come over and submit them. In spite of this there was a sudden raid and he was arrested," he said. "When a committee of PWD officials gave me a clean chit, they took six months to do so after studying all files, having thousands of pages. Later, the other committee took only one day to hold me responsible for misappropriation of funds. Can thousands of pages be studied in one day? "We are ready to cooperate fully with the probe. But arresting somebody is not right," Bhujbal said. He also claimed that he had complete support of NCP president Sharad Pawar and hinted that some leaders of ruling Shiv Sena too believed he was innocent. "Parde mein hai, parde mein rehne do (let it remain a secret)," he said when asked to name the Sena leaders. A high-level all-party delegation led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today paid homage to India's "true friend" former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala as country's premier K P Oli said India has always stood by Nepal in its "hour of grief". The delegation, comprising of Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, paid its last respects to Koirala at the Dashrath Rangashala Stadium in the heart of the capital just after arriving. "Sad demise of former Prime Minister of Nepal and leader of Nepali Congress has deeply saddened the leadership, government and the people of India. A dedicated leader, Sushil ji was a man of high thinking and simple living," the delegation's message in the condolence book read. "Nepal's crucial political transition was successfully concluded under his stewardship. On behalf of the people and government of India, we convey our heartfelt condolences. India has today lost a true friend," it said. The leaders also extended their condolences to family members of the former Prime Minister. After paying homage to the Nepali Congress president, Swaraj met party leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Swaraj, along with the delegation, later called on Nepalese President Bidya Bhandari and Oli, who said, "India always stands by Nepal in its hour of grief." According to sources, Oli's visit to India from February 19 was also discussed with the Nepalese leader assuring that he would visit India as scheduled. Terming Indo-Nepal relationship as "very deep and intimate", Bhandari said it "transcends politics". "India is extending its condolences on behalf of its people, the government and all major political parties," Swaraj told the President. Both Bhandari and Oli appreciated the visit by the delegation. According to official sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to all major political parties to ensure that the delegation has leaders from the opposition parties as well. Koirala, who was Nepal's Prime Minister from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, passed away due to pneumonia at his residence here this morning. He was 79. After assuming office, he was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. He was instrumental in the ushering in the new Constitution last year. President Barack Obama has unveiled a cybersecurity "national action plan" as his intelligence chief warned of growing risks from new technologies that open more doors to hackers. Obama asked for $19 billion for cybersecurity efforts in his budget request, a 35% increase from current levels, with $3 billion earmarked to help modernise the patchwork of computer systems used in government agencies. "More and more, keeping America safe is not just about more tanks or more airplanes," Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday. "We also have to bolster our security online. As we've seen in the past few years, and just in the past few days, cyber threats pose a danger not only to our national security but our economic security." US intelligence chief James Clapper underscored those risks at a Senate hearing, pointing out that wider adoption of connected devices and new systems that rely on artificial intelligence can open up doors to hackers. Clapper said "smart" Internet of Things (IoT) devices for autonomous vehicles, household appliances and systems such as electric power grids create new vulnerabilities. The intelligence chief named Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as "leading threat actors" which pose risks for US security, and said these risks are growing as technology evolves and moves into new devices. "Future cyber operations will almost certainly include an increased emphasis on changing or manipulating data to compromise its integrity... To affect decision making, reduce trust in systems, or cause adverse physical effects," Clapper said. "Russian cyber actors, who post disinformation on commercial websites, might seek to alter online media as a means to influence public discourse and create confusion. Chinese military doctrine outlines the use of cyber deception operations to conceal intentions, modify stored data, transmit false data, manipulate the flow of information, or influence public sentiments." The Obama cyber initiative responds to an epidemic of data breaches and cyber attacks on both government and private networks in recent years, and passage last year of a cybersecurity bill that aims to promote better threat sharing. Obama said some US computer networks are "archaic" and use systems that date back to the 1960s. "If you've got broken, old systems - computers, mainframes, software that doesn't work anymore - then you can keep on putting a bunch of patches on it, but it's not going to make it safe," he told reporters. The launch comes after disclosures last year that personal data from some 20 million federal employees, contractors and had been leaked in a massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management. The three-day long Mary Matha festival held at the grotto of Mother Mary atop Gunadala hill in the city begun here today. The festival commenced at the church located at the base of the hillock with the lighting of lamp by Bishop Dr Joseph Raja Rao and amid singing of traditional prayers. Thousands of devotees across the state have arrived here to take part in the festival and offer prayers at the church after visiting the Mary Matha idol on hillock. Not only Christians, but people from other religions also take part in this festival. Though this is a Catholic Christian festival, people break coconuts, light candles and get their heads tonsured for fulfilment of vows. Police have made elaborate security arrangements and also vehicular traffic near the shrine has been diverted to facilitate movement of devotees. The state transport body is running special buses from Krishna, West Godavari and Guntur districts to the city. Apollo Tyres today reported a 51.35 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 278.5 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015. The company, which today announced appointment of former CAG Vinod Rai and ex-CEO of Pirelli Tyres Francesco Gori to its Board of Directors, had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 184 crore in the same period last fiscal, Apollo Tyres said in a BSE filing. Net sales during the period under review stood at Rs 2,929.45 crore as against Rs 3,037.29 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, it added. Revenue from India stood at Rs 2,146.87 crore as against Rs 2,136.57 crore in the year-ago quarter, while that from Europe was at Rs 863.73 crore as compared to Rs 891.55 crore in the year-ago period. Commenting on the performance, Apollo Tyres Chairman Onkar S Kanwar said: "Despite our volumes going up, especially in India, we have reported flat revenues, as we have passed on the benefit of cooling raw material prices to our customers. This, in addition to the increasing import of cheap tyres into the country, has impacted our revenues." The company said its Board of Directors, in its meeting held today, also approved the appointment of Rai as an independent Additional Director and Gori as non-independent Additional Director. Commenting on the appointments, Kanwar said: "Their vast experience would further strengthen our Board, and add value to our strategic decision making process." Shares of Apollo Tyres ended the day at Rs 135.05 apiece, down 1.60 per cent from the previous close on the BSE. Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa today denied that he was favouring any political party as alleged by the camp of the deposed Chief Minister of the state which is under President's rule now. "There was no covert or overt attempt on the part of Raj Bhawan to favour any political party or person as the matter is already in court," a Raj Bhawan statement said. The Congress yesterday accused Rajkhowa of conspiring to help dissident MLAs form a government with the support of BJP without waiting for a decision of the Supreme Court which is hearing petitions challenging imposition of President's rule in the state. The Raj Bhawan statement clarified that the Governor had never sought a report from the state law department on whether Deputy Speaker T N Thongdok can perform the duties of a Speaker when President's rule is in place in the state. The clarification came following claims that Thongdok, a dissident Congress leader, had sought the opinion of law department through the Governor asking if he can function as deputy speaker performing the duties of Speaker, based on which Rajkhowa sought a report from the law department. The claim was made in New Delhi by Geetartha Darshan Barua, spokesperson of deposed Chief Minister Nabam Tuki. The Raj Bhawan statement said, on February 2 the Governor's secretary Joram Beda received a fax from the personal secretary of the Deputy Speaker stating that Thongdok is arriving in Guwahati from New Delhi and requested the Assembly secretariat to provide his official vehicle along with pilot and driver. But the secretary refused to provide vehicles as the state is under President's rule. "On the same day, Thongdok called Beda over telephone and informed that Legislative Assembly is not allowing him to use his official vehicle to which Beda informed him that he may only use the official vehicle that he is entitled to as an MLA," the statement said. Two commuter trains collided head-on in southern Germany today, killing at least eight people and injuring around 100, in one of the country's deadliest rail accidents in years. Hundreds of rescuers were racing to pull passengers from the wreckage in a wooded area near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60 kilometres southeast of Munich. Several carriages were overturned. "We have eight dead on the trains," said police spokesman Juergen Thaimeier, adding that about 100 people had been injured, 55 of them seriously. Local police spokesman Martin Winkler had earlier given a toll of four dead. But rescuers subsequently found another four bodies in the train wreckage. The "tragic accident occurred on the single-track route between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen this morning shortly after 7:00 am (0600 GMT)," regional rail company Meridian, a subsidiary of the French group Transdev, said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Rainer Scharf, a police officer from the southern state of Bavaria, said that "given the severity of the accident, we believe the two regional trains collided head-on at a low speed." He added that the priority was to "rescue the many injured". The police tweeted that several hundred emergency services workers were on the scene in the rural area. Rescue workers from nearby Austria were also on site, rolling news channel NTV said. About a dozen helicopters were also deployed, with television footage showing them waiting in a clearing outside the forest, from where rescuers were emerging with stretchers carrying the injured. A journalist for local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported that rescuers were climbing on the wreckage and pulling people out. The rail route was closed to traffic, as well as two local roads. "The accident is an enormous shock for us," said Bernd Rosenbusch, who heads the Bavarian rail company BOB that operates trains on the route. "We will do everything to help travellers, their relatives and our employees," he added. The accident is believed to be the first deadly train crash since April 2012, when three people were killed and 13 injured in a collision between two regional trains in the western German town of Offenbach. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two commuter trains collided in southern Germany today, killing at least four people and injuring around 100, police said. "The current toll is four dead, 15 critically injured, 40 severely injured and a total of 100 injured," police spokesman Martin Winkler in the town of Rosenheim told AFP. Regional rail company Meridian said in a statement that "a tragic accident occurred on the single-track route between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen this morning shortly after 7:00 am (0600 GMT)". The cause of the accident near Bad Aibling, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of Munich, was not immediately clear. The regional police force in Upper Bavaria tweeted that several hundred emergency services workers were on the scene in the rural area. The rail route was closed to traffic, as well as two local roads. At least four Russian servicemen were killed when a military helicopter crashed in the west of the country late today, the defence ministry said. "According to a search and rescue group that arrived on the scene of the emergency landing of an Mi-8 helicopter, three pilots and one technical instructor were killed," the defence ministry told Russian agencies. Contact with the crew was lost just after 1620 GMT, the defence ministry said, before the helicopter made an emergency landing outside the town of Ostrov, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Russia's border with EU member Latvia. It remains unclear how many servicemen were onboard the helicopter, which was conducting a routine training flight according to the defence ministry. An unnamed source in Russia's security apparatus told RIA Novosti state agency that the helicopter had caught fire. Other sources told Russian agencies the crash is thought to have been caused by a mechanical defect. The defence ministry said that military transportation experts were being flown out to the scene to investigate the cause of the crash. Two commuter trains crashed head-on in southern Germany today, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 100, in one of the country's deadliest rail accidents in years. Hundreds of rescuers were scouring for more passengers trapped in the mangled wreckage in a wooded area near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60 kilometres southeast of Munich. At least two carriages from one train were overturned, while the front of the other was crushed. Blue, yellow and silver metal debris was strewn around the crash site next to a river in the southern state of Bavaria. "We now have nine dead," said police spokesman Juergen Thalmeier. One person was still missing, likely trapped in the wreckage. Eighteen people were seriously injured and 90 had light injuries, police said in a statement. The two train drivers and two conductors were among those killed, local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the . "I am dismayed and saddened by the serious train accident this morning at Bad Aibling," Merkel said in a statement. "My sympathy goes out especially to the families of the nine people who have lost their lives." Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the rail track was fitted with an automatic braking system aimed at preventing such crashes, and that investigators were proving if there had been "a technical problem or human error". "One train was jammed into the other and the carriage of the second train was completely torn apart," he said. Three black boxes on the trains should help shed light on the accident, he said, adding that two had already been recovered, and the third should be found in the course of the day. The trains collided at high speed, and both drivers probably did not see each other until the last minute because the crash happened on a curve, said Dobrindt. "At the moment we will have to wait (for the result of the investigation), everything else is speculation, and would be unhelpful and inappropriate," he said. A passenger named as Patrick B told local radio Rosenheim 24 that shortly after leaving the station of Kolbermoor, "the train suddenly braked, there was a loud noise and the light went out". He said he "heard people shouting for help everywhere" and together with a young man, he opened the carriage door using the emergency system. "We led passengers onto a slope, and only one man with a broken leg could not be helped out. Shortly after, the first emergency workers arrived." Some 700 firefighters, emergency services workers and police officers were deployed in the rescue operation, which was complicated because the forest crash site was difficult to access. Rescuers focused on the impact area of the trains, using electric saws to cut through the mangled wreckage. A higher provisioning for bad assets and contingencies dragged down state-owned Punjab National Bank's net profit by 93 per cent to Rs 51 crore for the three months to December. The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 774.56 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. "I like to mention that the industry is going through very tough times and PNB has been one of the major lenders. And obviously the impact is felt on the bank which is very much visible on its books," Chief Executive Officer Usha Ananthasubramanian told reporters at a post earnings press conference here. PNB increased its provisioning and contingencies allocation to Rs 3,775.53 crore for the October-December quarter of 2015-16, a steep increase from Rs 1,467.77 crore parked aside in the same quarter a year ago. Bank's asset quality deteriorated further as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans hit 8.47 per cent of the gross advances during third quarter of current fiscal, as against 5.97 per cent a year ago. Likewise, net NPAs rose to 5.86 per cent of the net advances as of December quarter of 2015-16, from 3.82 per cent in the previous year's third quarter. In absolute terms, the gross NPAs increased to Rs 34,338.22 crore as of December 2015, from Rs 22,211.43 crore. Net NPAs were at Rs 22,983.40 crore during the quarter, up from Rs 13,787.76 crore. "The increase in NPA is on account of Bank's exercises as part of RBI's Asset Quality Review over the last two quarters of the current financial year. The bank is undertaking the same over the time-frame stipulated by the RBI," PNB said in a statement. However, income of the bank rose by 7.6 per cent to Rs 13,891.20 crore during the third quarter of current fiscal as against Rs 12,904.85 crore a year earlier. The net interest income (NII) during the third quarter stood at Rs 4,120 crore, while the non-interest income stood at Rs 1,671 crore. Ananthasubramanian said the bank has a strategy in place to increase the portfolio under small ticket loans. "In line with bank's objective to achieve profitable growth from the grassroots, share of small ticket advances to non-food credit increased to 60.3 per cent in December 2015 from 57 per cent in December 2014, she added. Shares of PNB today plunged by 6.89 per cent to close at Rs 87.85 apiece on the BSE. Total deposits of the bank grew by 13.3 per cent to Rs 5.49 lakh crore as on December 2015. While CASA (current account & savings account) deposits increased to Rs 1.98 lakh crore as of December 2015, up 14.32 per cent from a year ago. The savings deposits increased by 12.5 per cent on the year to Rs 1.61 lakh crore. Ananthasubramanin said the bank is also looking forward to get capital infusion from the government. "We expect some capital infusion from the government. We may not look worse in terms of capital but as a big player, someone has to participate as a big player when the economy starts moving, we are an active player on the lending side of the banking. I am hopeful capital infusion will certainly happen considering the DNA of the bank," she said. She also said the bank will look more seriously into new streams of income such as fee-based income beyond the loan portfolio. "... We have an insurance partner in MetLife, asset management company relationship and we have lot of investments, we want to leverage on them, even the credit card front." She said PNB is focussing on digitalisation and also increasing its business operations overseas. The bank has opened a representative office in Dhaka, Bangladesh during the third quarter. "The bank will be moving in a big way in digitalisation to protect our customers and to make it a very digital savvy bank. There is a big push on improving the asset quality, and we are going to see good credit pick up as well as improved CASA. "Profit maximisation method has been unleashed, cost control and increase income through new streams of income have been in place," Ananthasubramanin added. She further said that PNB remains committed towards nation building by actively participating in schemes launched by the government. Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the bank opened 123 lakh accounts and issued 99.6 lakh RuPay cards as on December 2015 and Rs 1,324 crore have been mobilised in these accounts. Barbados today confirmed three cases of Zika in pregnant women, bringing to seven the number of people on the Caribbean island with the virus, which is believed to be linked to birth defects. The women will be given specialized obstetric care, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. The new cases were announced on the Barbados government information services Facebook page. Zika, a primarily mosquito-borne illness, has spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean. It generally causes mild symptoms but has been blamed for a rapid rise in the number of children born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains. Barbados said that link has not been confirmed. "The situation is still evolving and information is being updated regularly," the Ministry of Health said. The World Health Organization has declared a global medical emergency to combat Zika and individual countries and regions are beginning to mobilize. With no cure or vaccine for the virus, some countries have taken the extraordinary step of urging women to delay getting pregnant. According to the Pan-American Health Organization, 26 countries have confirmed cases, spanning 7,000 kilometers from Mexico to Paraguay. The hardest hit country is Brazil, which hosts the Summer Olympics starting in August. Brazil has warned pregnant women not to travel there but Games organizers have said by the time the Olympics start, the main mosquito season will be over and they don't expect the illness to affect the sporting extravaganza. The Madhya Pradesh High Court today sought replies within three days from the Centre and the state government on a plea challenging the ASI order that allowed Muslims and Hindus to worship at the disputed Bhojshala monument in Dhar district at different times of the day on Basant Panchami being celebrated coming Friday. The Indore bench of the High Court, comprising Justices P K Jaiswal and J K Jain, served notices to the Centre and the state, seeking their replies. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Arun Singh Thakur (24), a resident of Dhar, who has sought quashing of the ASI order. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) order says that on Basant Panchami, Hindus will perform puja at Bhojshala from sunrise to 12 noon and from 3.30 pm to sunset on, while Muslims will offer namaz between 1 pm and 3 pm. The order had been issued by ASI Director General Rakesh Tiwari on January 20, 2016, under Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 and Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rule 1959. Hindus consider Bhojshala as the temple of Goddess Wagdevi (Saraswati), whereas Muslims treat it as Kamal Moula mosque. In the normal course, Hindus are allowed to perform puja on Tuesdays, while Muslims offer namaz on Fridays. The structure is open to all on rest of the days. However, with Basant Panchami and Friday namaz overlapping on February 12, both sides are refusing to give up their access to the 11th century AD monument, which many dub as "mini-Ayodhya". A similar crisis had erupted at the Bhojshala in 2003, 2006 and 2013, when Basant Panchami and Friday namaz coincided. Manish Yadav, counsel for the petitioner, told reporters here that "The ASI order is illegal, arbitrary and malicious. As per government records, Hindus and Muslims have separate places of worship at Bhojshala premises. But the ASI has vitiated the atmosphere by giving permission to Muslims to offer Namaz at Hindus' place of worship. As a result, the common people of both the communities and authorities were facing problems." Tension has been brewing in Dhar for the last one month in the run-up to the festival as members of both the communities could not arrive at a mutually agreeable solution over paying obeisance as per their respective faith at the protected archaeological structure. Meanwhile, representatives of Muslim community in Dhar today met senior police officials and sought action against members of a right wing Hindu organisation for raising "anti-Muslim" slogans during its rally held there yesterday. Daniel Gerson, who co-wrote "Monsters, Inc" movies and "Big Hero 6", died at his home last weekend. He was 49. According to a family statement, Gerson had been battling brain cancer, reported Variety. The screenwriter frequently collaborated with Robert L Baird. Together the duo co-wrote "Monsters, Inc" and its prequel, "Monsters University", as well as "Big Hero 6", which won the Oscar last year for animated feature. Gerson was also the voice of maintenance monsters Needleman and Smitty in "Monsters, Inc" and Desk Sergeant Sergeant in "Big Hero 6". Gerson and Baird have been credited with assistance on Pixar's "Inside Out", "Up" and "Chicken Little". Born in New York, Gerson attended Cornell University, where he majored in English, and later obtained an MFA from the graduate film school at NYU. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles to begin his writing career, getting his start as a staff writer on the NBC comedy "Something So Right". He later transitioned to animated films for Disney/Pixar, where his films grossed over USD 2 billion worldwide. He is survived by his wife, two children and parents. Bihar cabinet today gave green signal to Metro rail project in the state capital that would be carried out in the next five years at an estimated cost of Rs 16,960 crore. The cabinet gave its approval to urban development department to send a proposal to JICA and Asian Development Bank for the project, Principal Secretary of Cabinet Coordination Brajesh Malhotra told reporters. The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The Metro rail project for Patna would be completed in five years at an estimated cost of Rs 16,960 crore, Malhotra said. Earlier on February 2, Kumar had said at Gazipur in Uttar Pradesh that the state government would not allow metro project in Patna until some technique is developed that could ensure that historical value of the city is not affected due to it. "Patna is a historical city and was known as Patliputra in ancient times. We will not allow metro there until some technique is evolved that could ensure that underground tracks don't affect the historical value of the city," he had said. The Bihar cabinet also gave its nod to 51 agendas of different departments at the meeting today, Malhotra said. BJP today echoed views of ally LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar acted like "lion" when he was in NDA but turned a "cat" in the company of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. "Yes, right. This is why we call Nitish Kumar a 'Bechara Mukhya Mantri' (helpless CM)," BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Paswan had yesterday made a scathing attack at the CM over law and order situation in the state, saying Kumar was a "lion" till he was with the BJP in NDA but has turned a "cat" in the company of Prasad. The BJP has on several occasions described Prasad as a "super chief minister" who has an "over-riding influence in the secular alliance government." During his 'Janata Durbar' today, Sushil, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, also slammed the CM for the "high-handedness" of ruling party legislators and leaders. A dalit couple told reporters at Sushil Modi's house that a rowdy of his village, enjoying patronage of JD(U) MLA from Singheswar Ramesh Rishideo, allegedly raped his wife in November last year. "Despite medical report and statement recorded under 164 after registration of case in SC & ST police station the police is not acting against the accused Anuj Yadav citing political pressure from ruling party MLA," Shyam Kumar Paswan told reporters. "Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar told us categorically that he can not act because of pressure from JD (U) MLA Ramesh Rishidev who is claiming that Yadav was with him on the night of the incident on November 5, 2015," Paswan, who left his job in Haryana to stay with his wife after the incident, said. The couple hailed from Shivnagar Jamuaha village in Madhepura district. Another woman, a primary teacher, narrated her case alleging that she was sexually harassed by the head master of the school in Baratpur under Deedarganj police station of Patna. The head master enjoys patronage of a woman education official who claims to be close to Chief Minister, she claimed, adding, despite registration of complaint on December 17 last year, no action has been initiated so far. Sushil Modi has demanded the state government took action against perpetrators of crime against women. Hitting out at BJP for "surrendering" the interests of Jammu region for their "lust for power", Congress today said coalition partners PDP and BJP should clarify to people who is responsible for Governor's rule in the state. "The two parties have created political uncertainty and different factions within the parties are speaking on divergent lines. BJP (is) for surrendering the interests of Jammu region for their lust for power," senior Vice President, J-K Congress, Sham Lal Sharma said. Addressing a public rally in Akhnoor border belt of Jammu district, Sharma said both parties should clarify to people who is responsible for Governor's rule. "Soon after elections, the parties took pretty long time to decide on government formation and the same is now (being) repeated," he said. Sharma said the agenda of alliance, which is considered the foundation of BJP-PDP alliance, is "clearly shaken" as it was made for six years. Now suddenly BJP-PDP have started renegotiating on confidence building measures which has brought uncertainty in the state, he said. "What has changed so much in past 10 months that this alliance couldn't even stand on its so called 'sacred' agenda of alliance," he said. He also alleged the agenda of alliance was nothing but PDP's election manifesto which was stamped by BJP for the lust of power. "If BJP and PDP have felt that 10 month long rule on the basis of agenda of alliance has failed and people have been deceived, they should go to the people again," the former said. He also said if they are unable to form government they should make it clear to the Governor so that Assembly is dissolved and fresh elections held. After protracted drama over government formation, the PDP is now seeing the coalition as unpopular, while BJP is crushing it's core agenda to be in government, he said. He alleged that the "opportunistic partners" have brought the state to such an impasse where public interest has been hit by personal ambitions. "The money which was being promised under PM's package for flood relief and restoration for Jammu people has not been released yet," Sharma said. He said projects above Rs 3000 crore for Jammu were sent to the Centre for approval, including Chenab project worth Rs 2315 crore, out of which none have been sanctioned under the PM package. "PM'S Package has proved to be Kashmir-centric and people of Jammu have been let down on all the issues," he added. He also accused the BJP of compromising its nationalist agenda, following reports of hoisting of Pakistani and ISIS flags by the hardliners during protests in Kashmir. He said the recent activities of separatist forces were "dangerous" not only for Jammu and Kashmir, but also the rest of India. He alleged that though BJP talks about Indian nationalism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has compromised everything for lust of power. A Bosnian Serb general convicted by United Nations judges of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and described as the "right hand" of Ratko Mladic has died in his cell, a representative from the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal said today. Zdravko Tolimir, 67, died last night at the court's detention unit in The Hague, said a representative of the tribunal's press office who declined to give her name because the court had not yet made an official announcement. Tolimir, the Bosnian Serb Army's top intelligence officer, was convicted in December 2012 of genocide and other crimes in the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of some 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia Europe's worst mass killing since World War II. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Announcing the verdicts, Judge Christoph Fluegge said witnesses described Tolimir as Bosnian Serb military chief Mladic's "right hand. His eyes and ears." The judge said Tolimir had "full knowledge of the despicable criminal operations" of Bosnian Serb forces that carried out the massacre. Appeals judges upheld most of his convictions last April and confirmed his sentence. Despite the genocide conviction, Tolimir was considered a hero among Bosnian Serbs. In a statement, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic called him, "an exceptional man, brave and honorable general who ... Contributed greatly to the defense of his people" and the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia. The alleged main architects of Bosnian Serb atrocities, Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, are both being held at the tribunal's detention unit where Tolimir died. Mladic's trial is still underway, while verdicts in Karadzic's case are expected to be delivered early this year. Both men are charged with genocide and other crimes allegedly committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war that left 100,000 people dead. The UN human rights chief said on a visit to Sri Lanka today that Britain and Sweden should accept the findings of one of his panels that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been arbitrarily detained. Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued its conclusion -- a non-binding legal opinion -- that Assange had been subjected to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments. Britain and Sweden angrily rejected the panel's recommendations that Assange be allowed to walk free from Ecuador's London embassy, where he sought refuge in 2012 and be offered compensation. Speaking in Colombo, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the Working Group, although not a court, based its decision on binding law and that Britain and Sweden should therefore abide by its findings. "Human rights law, the treaty body law is binding law, it is not discretionary law, it is not some passing fancy that a state can apply sometimes and not in the others," Zeid, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters at the end of a four-day visit. A spokesman for Zeid said the panel based its decision on the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "If there are further court cases on Assange, you are likely to see the Working Group's opinion cited in the court, and quite possibly in the judgement," spokesman Rupert Colville said. Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing. Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the panel's opinion "ridiculous" describing Assange as "a fugitive from justice". Zeid told reporters that he had been tied up with his visit to Sri Lanka and so had not had time to examine the British and Swedish reactions to the panel's bombshell report. "I have not had the required time to actually read the reactions of the states (Britain and Sweden) and at some stage soon I will comment," he said. Assange walked into the Ecuador embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation. He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony. An 82-year-old British tourist died here allegedly after she fell unconscious during a visit to the Amber Fort, police said. Brenda Gormley suddenly fell unconscious following which other tourists informed local authorities, who rushed her to a government dispensary where she was declared brought dead, a police official said. The body has been sent to a mortuary at Sawai Madho Singh hospital and the British Embassy informed of Gormley's death, station house officer, Amber police station, Kaptan Singh said. Singh said post mortem can be conducted, to ascertain the cause of death, only after British Embassy officials or someone from her family came and contacted the Police Commissionerate here. She was staying at Rambagh Hotel since February 5, the SHO said. In a goodwill gesture, the BSF today handed over four Bangladesh citizens including a woman who had crossed over to India in search of jobs, to their counterparts in Bangladesh. Four Bangladeshis were apprehended at an unmarked border in South West Khasi Hills district while they were crossing into India from across the International border earlier, a BSF spokesperson said here. They were identified as Pollas Sangma, Sajol Sangma, Roma Sangma and Krishon Sangma, all residents of Ramnathpur village in Bangladesh's Netrakona district, he said. During cross examination, they revealed that they had crossed the border in search of jobs in the coal mines in the state. The spokesperson said the Bangladeshis were later handed over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) as a goodwill gesture following the Co-ordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP) jointly signed by both countries. Meanwhile, 13 cattle were seized by the BSF at Lyngkhat area in East Khasi Hills district in a special drive to contain the smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh. The BSF spokesperson said the BSF has intensified its operations on the Indo-Bangladesh Border to prevent trans-border crimes and the seized items were handed over to the government. Bulgarian prosecutors said today they had charged five border police with being part of an organised crime group and accepting bribes from migrant smugglers at the country's southeastern border with Turkey. The suspects, including three high-ranking officials, were arrested yesterday. Authorities accuse the men of taking bribes in exchange for letting dozens of migrants cross the Elhovo checkpoint illegally from Turkey on their way to western Europe. The officials also arrested groups led by competing traffickers who had failed to pay them money, according to prosecutors. The officials are believed to have been running the bribery scheme since July 2015, when the number of migrants and refugees desperately trying to reach Europe noticeably increased. "It remains to establish how many people managed to cross the border through this corruption scheme," the prosecution said. EU member Bulgaria, which is not in the passport-free Schengen zone, has so far remained on the sidelines of the continent's worst migration crisis since World War II. However, the country has recently seen increased pressure along its 275-kilometre border with Turkey, which allows the migrants to avoid the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands. Pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed spies from his region of Russia are being sent to infiltrate the Islamic State group and assist Moscow in its bombing campaign in Syria. Kadyrov, who has led the North Caucasus region of Chechnya since 2007, made the claims in a preview of a documentary set to air on state television tommorrow. The documentary claims that "agents from special forces from Chechnya were embedded" in IS training camps to collect intelligence and help identify targets for Russian air strikes. Quoting Kadyrov, it said that the "best fighters" from mostly Muslim Chechnya have managed to create an "intricate agent network directly inside IS," although some have been killed. "We unfortunately have had some losses," Kadyrov said in an interview in the documentary. "But they knew where they were going, what they were getting involved in. They went there so we can live peacefully in Chechnya and all over Russia." The preview showed Kadyrov at a training camp in Chechnya where heavily-armed men were shooting at targets and completing obstacle courses. Chechen agents in the IS group "gather information about the structure and numbers of the terrorists and set targets for bombings," the documentary claimed. There was no way to immediately verify Kadyrov's claims. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a ground operation in Syria. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on what Kadyrov said. A source in the Chechen leadership told Interfax agency today that "there have been people from Chechnya in the conflict zone on the territory of Syria and Iraq since the emergence of IS." "These consist of self-organised groups of young men who aim to fight the terrorist organisation," the source said, adding that "none of them are members of the Russian armed forces or working for the interior ministry." IS fighters in December released a video showing the beheading of an ethnic Chechen man who had made a filmed confession that he worked for Russian special services to spy on IS in Syria. Kadyrov at the time conceded that Russian secret services were operating in Syria to "carry out missions to neutralise bandits", but said the execution victim was not working with them. At the same time, some Muslim Chechens and other Russians have gone to Syria to support the IS jihadists. According to figures released by Russia's FSB security service in December, nearly 2,900 Russians are fighting or have fought with the extremists in Iraq and Syria. China confirmed its first imported case of Zika late on Tuesday, Xinhua reported, as fears mount over the fast-spreading virus linked to severe birth defects, mostly in Latin America. Few cases of the mosquito-borne illness have been reported in Asia, but the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency to combat Zika as cases spread elsewhere. Officials in China said a 34-year-old man was diagnosed with the virus after he returned from Venezuela on January 28 and reported a fever, headache and dizziness, according to Xinhua news agency citing health officials. The man, from Ganxian county in the southeast province of Jiangxi, is now recovering with a normal body temperature and fading rash, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission cited on Xinhua. He had travelled home via Hong Kong and Shenzhen and has been quarantined and treated in a Ganxian hospital since February 6. The health commission said he posed an extremely low risk of spreading the virus, the news agency added. The disease starts with a mosquito bite and normally causes little more than a fever and rash. Zika has, however, been linked to a surge in the number of children in Latin America born with microcephaly -- abnormally small heads and brains. So far, 26 countries have confirmed cases of the virus, and dozens of Europeans and North Americans returning from Zika-affected areas have also tested positive for the virus. Brazil has been hardest hit by the outbreak with more than 20,000 cases, including over 2,000 pregnant women. Thailand and Indonesia have reported one case each, but health experts have warned some Asian nations are vulnerable to a Zika outbreak. Health authorities have said Zika could infect up to four million people in Latin America and spread worldwide. China's cotton yield decreased 574,000 tonnes in 2015 as the growing area in the world's largest cotton producing nation dropped amid low profitability and new government policies, the state media reported today. Cotton yield in the world's second largest economy decreased 574,000 tonnes, or 9.3 per cent, year on year to 5.6 million tonnes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Last year, the cotton growing area went down 423,400 hectares, or 10 per cent, to 3.799 million hectares, in China, said Hou Rui, senior statistician of the NBS. The Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin went down by about 17.8 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively, the official Xinhua agency reported. The relatively low profitability of cotton and the government's abolishment of its "temporary purchasing policy" to prop up prices were to blame for the declining cotton growing area, said agronomist Pan Xiufen. China will remain a big consumer of cotton due to its large population, growing income and increasing export demand, the ministry of agriculture said, adding that the shrinking growing area would result in a supply gap in the cotton market. While most parts of China saw cotton growing area and yield down, northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was growing more. In 2015, Xinjiang, home to half of the country's cotton growing area, produced 3.5 million tonnes of cotton, accounting for 62.5 per cent of China's total, compared to 59.5 per cent in 2014, NBS data showed. Cotton yield per hectare in Xinjiang stood at about 1,840 kilograms, 24.6 per cent higher than the national average. China's cotton yield peaked in 2012 at 6.84 million tonnes, more than 2.2 times than that of 1978, official data showed. In a move aimed at making easier construction of buildings around airports, the government today decided to develop colour-coded zonal maps (CCZM) for airports in Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra by April for according height clearances. CCZM will enable respective urban local bodies to accord height clearances in respect of almost all cases, doing away with the need to approach AAI for the same. To begin with CCZMs will be evolved for four such airports - Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra - by April this year for according height clearances for construction. Civil Aviation Ministry will assist in this regard. Such CCZMs will be shared with municipal bodies for according height clearances, as per the meeting today. Progress in this regard was reviewed today at a high- level meeting here convened by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu which was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma. CCZMs for nine more airports - Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Aurangabad, Surat, Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Puducherry - will be developed by June and for the remaining 14 major airports by December this year. Considerable progress has been reported towards enhancing the ease of doing of construction business in urban areas by streamlining the procedures, adoption of appropriate technology and by empowering urban local bodies to accord a wide range of approvals. CCZM for 28 defence airports being used for civilian purposes will be developed for easy sanction of height clearances on the lines of what is being done for civilian airports, according to a release. Works of Defence Act, 1903 will be suitably amended to remove hurdles for construction activities near defence establishments. Distance from the actual storage point will be considered for restricting the construction instead of from the boundary wall of ammunition storage dumps at present, which will bring down the zone of restriction. Instructions have been issued to service headquarters and headquarters of all defence organisations for sharing information along with maps of restricted zones, to municipal bodies. Area Commanders will be required to decide in 30 days on clearing constructions in restricted zones failing which approvals would be taken as deemed. Civil Aviation Ministry has reported that applications received by the Airports Authority of India for height clearances in airport zones have come down by over 200 per month further to development of CCZMs for 12 airports that account for 58 per cent of total such applications and making them available to respective urban local bodies. These airports are Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Chennai. CCZM for Jaipur airport has been recently completed. Civil Aviation Ministry also commissioned improved version of online NOCAS (No Objection Certificate Application System) eliminating human interface and enabling faster issue of NOC through automatic calculations of permissible heights in airport zones with applicants being able to track the status. Culture Ministry has come out with a mobile-based app that enables online approval for construction in the vicinity of monuments in just 72 hours through integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of respective urban local bodies. Time taken at present is about 90 days. Prime Minister's Office has desired that integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of Delhi and Mumbai be completed by March this year. In association with ISRO, Ministry of Culture is developing colour-coded maps for 281 monuments that account for most of the construction-related approvals using which municipal bodies can accord approvals in quick time. Ministry of Consumer Affairs has completed revision of National Building Code enabling speedy building approvals and the same will be notified in the next two weeks. Environment Ministry has come out with revised and simplified environmental norms and the same will be notified at the earliest after consultations with the Ministry of Urban Development. Urban local bodies and state governments will be empowered to accord approvals at their level based on their willingness and ability. Urban Development Ministry will soon issue Model Building Byelaws incorporating all revised and simplified norms and processes enabling urban local bodies to approve building plans in quick time there by enhancing the ease of doing construction business in urban areas. Naidu thanked all ministers and senior officials concerned for their enthusiastic response towards enhancing the ease of doing business. Secretaries of respective ministries besides those of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Consumer Affairs and senior officials from the Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Secretariat too attended the hour-long review. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today said Congress adopted economic policies which could not solve the problems of farmers, labourers and the poor in 55 years. He said contrary to Congress' policies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government was framing policies keeping poor as the centerpoint. "From the time of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, economic policies adopted by Congress in 55 years failed to solve the problems of villages, the poor, labourers and farmers," he said during a 'Jansamvad' programme here. He said, "Congress has taken the country backwards. I am not levelling political allegations, but Congress has to reply. Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and now Rahul say that poverty has to be alleviated, but it has not happened." Gadkari said that BJP has moved ahead with nationalism, good governance and 'antyodaya' as its base and would continue to do so. He said the central government would move ahead by keeping villages, farmers and labourers as the centerpoint and added that youths would be given job-oriented education and skill development. The Union Minister claimed that many decisions were not taken in the last 50 years but it was done in one and half years by Modi government, even though he stressed that the problems could not be sorted out in such a short span of time. He said that it all happened due to lack of vision, wrong economic policies and leadership and emphasised that instead of caste politics, politics of development should be done. He said the Modi government was moving with the concept of technology, innovation, research, entrepreneurship and Digital India. Naidu said that in India the problem is mindset as new ideas are not that easily accepted by people including politicians and media. He said Model Building Bylaws have been approved and "now from next month everything will be online. There will be no human intervention. No hand to hand transaction. What transpires in hand to hand connection, everybody is aware. We want to avoid that." On delay in permissions for the parking lot, Naidu said he has taken note of it and will ensure improvement as his ministry is the nodal authority in this case. He said the parking lot will come as a big relief not only to the staff of Transport Bhawan but also all visitors to the building. He said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is already working on several plans to decongest Delhi NCR. Transport Bhawan will be the first government building to have an automated multi level car parking facility in its premises at a cost of about Rs 9 crore. The automated parking lot project is being undertaken by NHIDCL. The facility will comprise ground plus seven floors. Spread over an area of 314 sq metres and with a height of 22 metres, the facility will be able to house 112 cars. The retrieving time for cars will be 120 seconds. The facility is being built by a Swiss Company. Delhi Congress today slammed Arvind Kejriwal government for imposing "stringent" conditions while extending loan to cash-strapped municipal corporations. "Such stringent conditions have been laid by the Delhi government in extending loan to the municipal corporations that they won't be able employ any new sanitation worker or class IV employee," Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Ajay Maken said. The Delhi government has given a loan of Rs 551 crore to the municipal corporations of and East Delhi which are facing financial crises. Demanding payment of their salary and other dues, sanitation workers of the two municipal corporations had gone on a 13-day long strike. Leaders of sanitation workers and BJP-ruled civic bodies have alleged that while extending the loan of Rs 551 crore to municipal corporations, Delhi government has imposed conditions that would lead to "retrenchment", a "ban on regularisation" of contractual workers and "ban on hiring" of any new employees. "Surprisingly, this is the same Aam Aadmi Party which came to power with the promise to regularise all the ad hoc and temporary daily wagers," Maken said. The DPCC chief said there is no municipal corporation in the country which can sustain on its own and which does not require money from the state government. "Such a situation never arose during the 15-year rule of Congress in Delhi and we used to give them money. Why can't this government provide them funds?" he said. He alleged that the people of Delhi and employees of municipal corporations were suffering due to the "tussle" between Kejriwal government and the Centre. An Egyptian security personnel was killed and three others injured today when militants opened fire on security forces in the restive North Sinai region. The injured has been admitted to a military hospital. Unknown militants opened fire on the secuirty forces, killing one personnel and injuring three, officials said. 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 increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. More than 600 security personnel have been reported killed since then. The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished their houses, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. A 45-year-old Dalit woman was murdered after allegedly being raped, sparking protests near Daurala area here. "The 45-year-old woman went to collect fodder but when she did not return till late evening, the family members with the help of villagers started searching for her. "They found her half-naked body with injury marks, indicating attack by a sharp object, in a nearby sugarcane farm. The body has been sent for post mortem," a police spokesman said. The victim's husband has registered a complaint against unidentified persons. Villagers alleged that police did not take prompt action in the case and staged protest when a police team reached there. "The post mortem report would reveal whether the woman was raped. She was attacked by a sharp object," police said. Former Indian diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of leaking classified information to Pakistan's ISI, will be charged under the stringent provisions of the Official Secrets Act entailing a maximum punishment of upto 14 years, the Delhi High court today said. Justice Pratibha Rani set aside the trial court's January 2012 order by which charges were framed against the diplomat that provided for a punishment of only three years. "The respondent/accused (Gupta) shall be charged for the offence punishable under first part of section 3(1) of Official Secrets Act (OSA) attracting maximum punishment upto a period of fourteen years. "After the charge is amended, the trial court shall give due opportunity to respondent/accused to recall the witnesses already examined for further cross examination if the respondent/accused feels the same is necessary to defend herself," the high court said. The order came on the plea of Delhi Police which had challenged the trial court's January 1, 2012, decision on the ground that as per the material on record, Gupta should have been charged for the offence under OSA which attracts a maximum punishment of upto 14 years. The court noted in its nine-page order that as "material on record justifies framing of charge against respondent for offence punishable under first part of section 3(1) of OSA attracting maximum punishment upto a period of 14 years, the impugned order dated January 7, 2012 is set aside to the extent that respondent/accused has been ordered to be charged under second part of section 3(1) of OSA attracting maximum punishment upto a period of three years". Under section 3 of the Act, passing information relating to defence carries a maximum jail term of 14 years while those not amounting to work of defence carries a lighter jail term of three years. Delhi Police has contended that the information leaked by the former diplomat related to India's security and defence. Gupta, who was posted as Second Secretary (Press and Information) in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was arrested on April 22, 2010 by the police's Special Cell. According to the charge sheet filed in July 2010, she was involved in a relationship with Jamshed, an ISI official, whom she planned to marry. She used to communicate with Jamshed who had a code name 'Jim'. Gupta, who is out on bail, had refuted the allegations levelled against her and submitted before the trial court that the information was not sensitive and the alleged act of passing on information relating to country's internal security to the ISI "cannot be read as related to work of defence". Continuation of China's direct subsidy-based policy and lower demand from spinning mills will keep domestic cotton prices under pressure in 2016-17, says a report. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said it maintains a negative outlook on the cotton sector for the next fiscal. "We believe that the continuation of Chinese direct subsidy-based policy and lower demand from spinning mills will keep domestic cotton prices under pressure. "Though Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam have replaced China with India as a supplier, volumes are picking up at a slow pace, and are unlikely to match Chinese demand," India Ratings and Research Senior Analyst Neermoy Shah said. India produced 28.5 million bales during April-December 2015 as against 29.5 million bales in FY15 and 31 million bales in FY14 against which exports have been 5.3 million bales (4.2 million bales in FY15 and 9.3 million bales in FY 14). In CY17 (CY refers to International Cotton Year, which commences from August and ends in July), the ratings agency expects cotton prices to stay firm. Domestic prices had declined in CY16 in line with Ind-Ra's expectations and are expected to remain under pressure in CY17 as well. Operating margins will stay in 1-2 per cent range for ginners and traders, but the profit after tax margins may improve as companies reduce stocks and focus on receivables management. International cotton prices, however, will remain sensitive to the release of cotton by China from its cotton reserves, which Ind-Ra estimates to be around 59 per cent of global cotton stock at FY16. Chinese cotton reserves will directly impact the quantum of imports in that country and consequently, global stock levels outside China, the report added. The cotton industry is likely to revive moderately in CY17 as exports to Vietnam, Pakistan, and Bangladesh grow. Vietnam is likely to increase its spindles capacity by 30 per cent in FY17. The local cotton production in Pakistan and Bangladesh is unable to keep pace with the increasing demand for apparels from these locations, providing opportunities to Indian exporters. However, in view of China reducing imports significantly and moderating demand from the Indian spinning mills industry, Ind-Ra believes that the demand for cotton will increase at a marginal rate in CY17. Prices are unlikely to increase materially from the current levels, the report added. Ind-Ra said a substantial increase in India's exports to China and other countries will result in the sector outlook being revised to stable. The industry may also see rebound in domestic mill consumption. A rebound in domestic mill consumption driven by higher demand for Indian textiles and adequate domestic availability at stable cotton prices above minimum support prices will lead to a stable sector outlook, Ind-Ra said. At least 15 people have been killed in clashes between armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been the scene of heightened ethnic tensions in recent weeks, local authorities have said. "There have been clashes in the village of Mukeberwa" in North Kivu province on Sunday, Bokele Joy, the administrator of Lubero Territory where the fighting took place, told AFP yesterday. "According to information that I have, between 15 and 30 people have been killed," he said, adding that he could not be more precise as there are no army troops or national police in the area. The United Nations said it was "alarmed by reports of escalating inter-communal violence" in the area, citing "at least 21 people killed, 40 wounded and 70 houses burned down over the weekend. "We have also received reports of massive displacement of civilians, looting, abductions and of at least three rapes during the past few days," it said. Witnesses and local leaders confirmed that many locals had been forced by the violence to flee their homes, though no official numbers were immediately available. Joy added that the fighting broke out after an ethnic Nande militia attacked Mukeberwa, which is held by Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, based for decades in eastern Congo and said to include perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. According to the UN mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and local authorities, inter-ethnic tensions have risen in the region since killings in early January at the Nande village of Miriki, 110 kilometres (65 miles) north of Goma, capital of the restive North Kivu province. Up to 17 people, including two women and the daughter of a local chief, were killed in Miriki by suspected Rwandan Hutu rebels. For several months, Nande chiefs have opposed the return of displaced Congolese Hutus to the region, accusing them of conspiring with the FDLR. The east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen armed conflicts over ethnic and land disputes for more than 20 years. Police today questioned the father of Naveen Khatri, who allegedly murdered his lover and hid her body for five days in Model Town area here, as the victim's father met Delhi Police chief seeking transfer of the case to Crime Branch alleging that local police are trying to protect the accused's family. "Khatri's father, Rajkumar, had disappeared after the incident. He has returned now and we questioned him today. So far, he has claimed that he did not know about his son's crime," a senior police official said, adding that Rajkumar was jailed in connection with a murder and released on parole a few months ago. Also, a police team is looking for a man whose name was disclosed by the accused during interrogation. The man, who is a native of Bihar and works as a labourer in northwest Delhi's Rajpura Gurmandi area, where families of both the victim and the accused live, is suspected to have helped Khatri in hiding the woman's body, the official said. Arzoo Singh Chauhan (21), a student of Lakshmibai College under the University of Delhi, was strangulated to death allegedly by her lover, Naveen Khatri (23) who hid her body for five days and married another woman during the period. The incident came to light on Sunday when Arzoo's body was found in a ventilation shaft at Khatri's residence in Gurmandi locality in Model Town area, following which Khatri was arrested. Meanwhile, Arzoo's father today met Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi and handed him a letter accusing the local police of "playing dirty tricks" and requesting him to transfer the case to the Crime Branch. In the letter, he urged the police chief to transfer the case to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. And in case that was not possible, then let the CBI handle the probe, a police source said. He charged that the local police are trying to protect the other members of Khatri family. In his letter, he alleged that he had met the SHO of Model Town police station to file a report about his missing daughter and had they acted on time, they could have saved her. He also said that the police only acted on February 6, the day Naveen was arrested while his family members were spared. He alleged that the police let Khatri's family to destroy evidences, and that connived in the conspiracy. Arzoo's father said he met the concerned DCP and shared details about the case, a claim which the latter denied. Reacting to the allegations, DCP (Northwest) Vijay Singh said by the time the police received the missing complaint, the woman had already been murdered. "The case is being investigated on its merit. Khatri was arrested the moment his crime came to light and no pre-planned conspiracy as such has emerged so far," Singh said. At this juncture, there are not enough evidences against other members of the Khatri's family. We are still questioning people and investigation is underway, he added. According to the police, Khatri met Arzoo outside Lakshmibai College last Tuesday and both went around the city distributing invitation cards for Khatri's marriage. They together went to the residences to three persons to distribute the cards. Police sources said the couple had a heated argument, following which Khatri allegedly strangulated Arzoo with her stole in southwest Delhi's Nangal Dewat area, shoved her body in his car's trunk and brought it to his residence, where the body was later dumped in the ventilation shaft. Initiating fresh action in the alleged money laundering and black money case against stud farm owner Hasan Ali Khan, the Enforcement Directorate today conducted searches across six cities and seized Rs 26 lakh in cash and documents. The agency, which has booked Pune-based Khan and few of his alleged associates under criminal charges of money laundering in 2011, swooped down on a total of twelve premises in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Hyderabad. "Searches were conducted on at least 12 premises in six cities in Hasan Ali case. About Rs 26.3 lakh cash, documents and computer hardware containing information has been seized after the operations," officials said. About 30 ED officials with assistance of various state police units conducted the operation, they said. In Kolkata, sleuths searched the premises of Khan's alleged associate Kashinath Tapuriah while in Gurgaon they visited the premises of a Swiss hotelier who had been probed in this case earlier. In Pune and Mumbai they searched Khan's residences in posh areas of Peddar Road and Koregaon Park respectively. Sources said the action against Khan and his other associates in the case has come about after a two-year lull as the agency wants to revive the case and bring to light additional evidences so that a trial against him in a Mumbai court could be initiated and the case brought to its logical conclusion and a verdict is obtained. They said ED Director Karnal Singh recently held a high-level meeting in this regard after which the Mumbai zonal office of the agency was asked to lead the operation. It is also understood that the agency has got "fresh leads" in the case, including by way of help from foreign jurisdictions. Khan, who was jailed for a long time under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was released on bail in August last year after which he has been living at his homes in the two cities of Maharashtra. The agency has attached these two immovable assets under PMLA laws and sources indicated these would soon be confiscated. The Hasan Ali Khan case, also being probed by the Income Tax department and few state police units for various IPC offences, is also crucial for the agencies to crack from the point of Khan being the only entity named exclusively in the Terms of Reference of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money that was notified by the government last year. Making a fresh move to speed up the alleged money laundering and black money case against Hasan Ali Khan, the Enforcement Directorate today conducted searches in half-a-dozen cities on the premises of the Pune-based stud farm owner and others associated in the case. The agency, which has booked Khan and few of his alleged associates under criminal charges of money laundering in 2011, swooped down on multiple city locations including those in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Kolkata. "Searches are on at nine places in six cities in Hasan Ali case," an ED official said, adding about 30 officials are ivolved in the operation. Sources said the action has come about now as the agency wants to revive the case and bring to book additional evidences so that a trial against him in a Mumbai court could be initiated and the case is brought to its logical conclusion and a verdict is obtained. They said ED Director Karnal Singh recently held a high-level meeting in this regard after which the Mumbai zonal office of the agency was asked to lead the operation. It is also understood that the agency has got "fresh leads" in the case, including by way of help from foreign jurisdictions. Khan, who was jailed for a long time under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was released on bail in August last year after which he has been living at his residences in Mumbai and Pune. The case, also being probed by the Income Tax department and few state police units for various IPC offences, is also important for the agencies to crack as Khan is the only entity named as an individual in the Terms of Reference of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money that was notified by the government last year. Khan came under the scrutiny from multiple agencies including the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police in 2007 which had been probing him and his associates for charges of money laundering, income tax evasion and violations of the Passport Act. He was slapped with an Income Tax notice demanding taxes over Rs 50,000 crore and it was claimed to be the biggest individual case of black money stashed abroad and also that of the highest tax evasion by an individual in the country. While the I-T department raised a tax arrear demand of Rs 50,345.73 crore on Khan, ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly stashing away USD eight billion of unaccounted money in foreign banks. ED is also probing Khan and others for alleged forex violations. A trial in this case, for money laundering offences, is pending in a Mumbai court since 2011. In 2012, the Finance Ministry had informed Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that recovery of tax arrears from Khan is not possible despite attaching his known movable and immovable assets. The Revenue Department had said that as per existing guidelines, recovery through sale of attached properties can be made only after the decision of appeal filed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which is also ongoing. Khan, his associate Kashinath Tapuriah and eight others have been named in the "top ten individual defaulters" for Income Tax assessment year 2009-10. Tapuriah owes government Rs 602.80 crore in taxes. Late Harshad Mehta (12,719.14 cr), A D Narrotam (Rs 5,781.86 cr), Hiten P Dalal (Rs 4,200.04 cr), Jyoti H Mehta (Rs 1,739.57 cr), Ashwin S Mehta (Rs 1,595.51 cr), B C Dalal (1,535.89 cr), S Ramaswamy (Rs 1,122.48 cr) and Uday M Acharya (Rs 683.22 cr) are also mentioned in the list released by the Finance Ministry in 2011. A huge interest on this amount raised against Khan too has been adding up over the years. Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif today said that fight against militants has entered its most difficult phase in the country's troubled region. "We are in the most difficult phase of the operation after successfully evicting terrorists from their sanctuaries and restoring the writ of the state," Gen Sharif said. Speaking at a meeting of special provincial committee to deal with terrorism, he elaborated that rebuilding the war-hit areas, resettling displaced persons and establishing an administrative system that focuses on the needs and aspirations of the people will be the most demanding task. The meeting held here focused on the return of temporary displaced persons and the ongoing military operations and intelligence-based operations against militants. Gen Sharif also paid tribute to the resilience and sacrifices rendered by the people of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The meeting was attended by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor, the chief minister, Peshawar corps commander and senior officials from the state and FATA. Pakistan army launched Zarb-e-Azb operation in June 2014 and the military crackdown displaced thousands of people while expelling the militants also from the area. The phase return of displaced people is going on slowly, drawing criticism from the people. The recent attacks by militants have also raised questions about the operations against militants. Nepal's former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was credited with promulgating the country's new Constitution in September last year to complete a stalled peace process, died here early today after a bout of pneumonia. 79-year-old Koirala, who was Nepal's Prime Minister from February 2014 to October 2015, died at his residence in Maharajgunj in the outskirt of capital Kathmandu at 12.50 am (local time), Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh told PTI. Koirala, the president of the country's biggest political party, the Nepali Congress, was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Koirala's doctor Kabirnath Yogi said Koirala died after he developed pneumonia in bronchitis' infection due to change in the weather. "Everything was normal till Monday evening, the amount of oxygen being administrated to him was increased," Yogi said, "He had a normal meal yesterday evening. All of a sudden, Koirala's health deteriorated and he breathed his last at 12:50 am." Koirala's body will be taken to party's central office at Sanepa, Kathmandu, and kept there to enable party cadres and others to pay tributes, Singh said. Koirala was earlier successfully treated for lung cancer in the US. Born in Varanasi, India, Koirala entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. He was credited with promulgating the new Constitution of Nepal in September last year to complete a stalled peace process and bring stability to the nation. The new Constitution sparked violence in the country. More than 50 people were killed in clashes between police and Madhesi demonstrators, mostly of Indian-origin, protesting against the charter, which they say leaves them politically marginalised. He also spent three years in Indian prisons for his alleged involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. The plane was said to be carrying boxes of cash, which he and his relatives wanted to use to fund the Nepali Congress. He faced heavy criticism for his government's response to a massive quake that devastated the country last April, killing nearly 9,000 people. People lay flowers and candles in front of the restaurant Le Carillon, one of the establishments targeted in gun and bomb attacks, in Paris France and Germany pressed the European Union on Wednesday to speed up plans designed to crack down on the funding of terrorist groups. Paris, left reeling by two major terror attacks last year, and Berlin want the plans implemented by June, according to a source at talks between the two governments in the French capital. "We have to accelerate the process," said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin at a press conference with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble. The call came a week after the European Commission unveiled plans to choke off financing of terrorist groups, with France pushing hard for a crackdown after attacks in January and November last year. The raft of measures include stepping up efforts to track suspicious flow of money as well as building a better understanding of how terrorist groups use virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin. Sapin called the plans "good proposals," but stressed: "We now have only one concern: that these plans be adopted extremely rapidly at the European level, to allow them to be applied as soon as possible in each of our countries." The plans, which must also be approved by the European Parliament, are based mainly on French proposals. EU finance ministers are due to meet on Friday in Brussels. "France and Germany are in agreement," said a source familiar with the talks, adding that both countries want the plans implemented by June. The French government last month sharply criticised the commission for taking too long to roll out the proposals. France called for the tougher counter-terror measures, following attacks against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in January last year which left 17 people dead. That urgency rose markedly after November's gun and bomb rampage across Paris, which claimed 130 lives and left hundreds more wounded. A British paedophilia survivor who has been asked to step down from a Vatican panel on the issue said today that he felt betrayed by Pope Francis. "Of course Pope Francis has established he is part of the problem," Peter Saunders said in an interview with AFPTV, during which he insisted he had not resigned and that only the pontiff himself could force him to quit the Vatican commission. "That breaks my heart because when I met him 18 months ago I thought there was a sincerity and a willingness to make things happen, and I am afraid that has been dashed now." Saunders, the head of Britain's National Association for People Abused in Childhood, was personally asked to join the panel by Pope Francis. His involvement, along with fellow survivor Marie Collins, helped burnish its credentials as a symbol of the Church tackling the abuse head-on. But Saunders now says he realises the commission was always going to be about "smoke and mirrors" and that he is convinced the Church will never act alone to cure the "cancer" in its midst. The Vatican confirmed earlier today that Saunders, 58, had been asked to step down from the commission because of disagreements over whether the 17 members should get involved in individual abuse cases brought to the Church's attention. Saunders said the move was triggered by tensions that arose after a fellow commission member told him about being approached by two priests from an Italian diocese who had discovered a colleague was a serial abuser of children. "I have always said I will speak my mind and exercise my right of free speech and that really isn't compatible with the way the Church and the Commission operates," Saunders said. "It is also at the heart of why abuse within the Church is still so rampant and widespread." He added: "It is because everything has to exist under conditions of secrecy and darkness and I am not prepared to work like that and I am not prepared to be silenced on an issue as important as child protection." Saunders said the whistle-blowing priests in the Italian case had been told to stay silent by their bishop and referred back to the prelate by local police. The case has since been referred to the Vatican for further investigation. "Now, I find that beyond unacceptable that men doing the right thing protecting children should both be sent away by the police but more significantly and sinisterly... To be told by their boss, the bishop, they must do nothing and to remain silent," Saunders told AFP. The lower house of the French parliament has voted in favour of enshrining in the constitution the process of declaring a state of national emergency, one of a series of controversial amendments the government proposed after November's Paris attacks. The measure - which gives the state increased security powers - was voted through by 103 to 26 yesterday, although it met opposition from some leftwing lawmakers and some deputies from the right. President Francois Hollande imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the jihadist attacks that killed 130 people in the capital on November 13, giving police and security forces sweeping powers to raid houses and hold people under house arrest without judicial oversight. The lower house's overwhelming vote in favour of the measure is the first in a series of steps before the constitution is finally revised. As is the case now, parliament would still need to give its approval for a state of emergency lasting more than 12 days. A state of emergency would last for a maximum of four months under the new rules, after which it would need to be renewed by parliament. Special Operation Group of Police in Rajasthan today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang which allegedly assured people jobs in the Centre's Janani Surkasha Yojana and arrested two of its members from Delhi. 25-year-old Pappu and Manish (28) were caught yesterday from their homes in Delhi by a team of SOG, Dr Alok Tripathi, Additional Director General SOG and ATS said. The gang's woman member Sakshi Thakur was arrested earlier from Meerut. The police are trying to track down other suspects, the ADG said. Using fake letter heads of Union Ministry of Health and Family welfare, the gang recently issued fake "appointment letters" to aspiring candidates for huge sums in several states including Rajasthan, the ADG said. The gang also asked aspiring candidates to deposit heavy amount as a security money for getting jobs, he said. Rajasthan's Medical and Health Department's Mission Director recently brought this matter before the SOG following which the probe was launched, he said. Further probe is underway, the ADG added. Mexican authorities say a gas explosion has ripped through a house where at least 60 abducted migrants were being held captive in a city on the Texas border, injuring five people. The government of Tamaulipas state says two of those were gravely injured by yesterday's blast in Reynosa, across from McAllen. The government says the explosion was caused by an accumulation of gas. Authorities are trying to locate a number of people who ran away after the blast. Officials say the migrants had been held against their will for a week. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today demanded an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) inquiry against officials of Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) over alleged irregularities in regularising a residential area in the city. Referring to UDH Minister Rajpal Singh's statement that he would order an ACB inquiry if necessary, Gehlot said the minister should go ahead without any further delay and order it. "There were many irregularities and rampant corruption in regularising of Prithviraj Nagar. From time to time, I have been drawing attention of the state government about the corruption in JDA and now the minister has himself admitted this," Gehlot said in a statement. During an inspection recently, the UDH minister received complaints about the irregularities by officials of the JDA following which he said that a probe by ACB could be conducted if necessary. Margaret Forster, the author of "Georgy Girl" and more than 20 other novels, has died in London after suffering from cancer in the back and spine. She was 77. Her husband, Hunter Davies, said she died Monday at a hospice in London. The couple spent much of their time in England's peaceful Lake District and also in London. Davies, also an author, said she underwent a double mastectomy 40 years ago and recovered fully, but the cancer returned to her back 10 years ago. "I thought she was a goner," he said of her initial bout with cancer. "It was bad, but eventually she recovered. At age 50 on her birthday, she got up at 5 (am) and ran up Red Pike mountain and then swam in the lake and came back to the house and brought me tea," he said. Davies said the cancer made it impossible for his wife of 55 years to sit for extended periods because of the pain, which also prevented her from going out to restaurants and movies. The Royal Society of Literature issued a statement describing her as "an extraordinarily prolific and gifted writer of fiction, non-fiction and literary criticism." "Georgy Girl" was made into a hit movie in 1966 starring Lynn Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and James Mason. Forster co-wrote the screenplay for the film, which also inspired a bouncy pop tune that captured the exuberance of the times. Forster taught at a girls' school in north London before she started to write books. Davies said her novel "How to Measure a Cow" will be published in March. Noting that close to 50 per cent of rural population does not have access to toilet, the Centre today asked banks and micro-finance institutions to enhance their credit disbursal for sanitation to achieve the goal of Swachh Bharat Mission of making India free from open defecation by 2019. Addressing a conference on 'Innovative Financing for Clean India' here, Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Birender Singh said the Finance Ministry has included water and sanitation as new fields for priority sector lending by commercial banks but this "monumental policy change must translate from intent to action". He said there is incentive of Rs 12,000 for construction of a toilet for BPL families but to achieve universal coverage, there is need for easy financing by banks and other financial institutions. The conference also laid emphasis on the need for creating strong synergy between self-help groups and Swachh Bharat Mission across the country. Maintaining that sanitation is closely linked with poor health, low education status, malnutrition and poverty, the minister said that since the launch of the mission on October 2, 2014, more than 14.7 million toilets have been constructed in rural areas. "But still close to 50 per cent of our rural population does not have access to a toilet," he rued. Singh said the solid and liquid waste management component of the mission provides scope for small and medium private sector institutions to engage in waste management and improvisation of village environmental management infrastructure. Rural Development Secretary J K Mohapatra said there is need for creating strong synergy between self-help groups and the mission across the country. Urging the banks and micro-finance institutions to extend credit for sanitation and water sectors, he said the poor are not only credit-worthy and enterprising but they are extremely responsible borrowers also. He also expressed happiness that the SHG movement is gaining momentum in the Indo-Gangetic belt and in Central India after its success in South India. PMO and Cabinet Secretariat will have to be informed every three hours on developing situation of any disaster categorised as 'Red' and every 12 hours in case of disaster categorised as 'Orange'. These were part of the latest guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, on disaster warning and response of the authorities, and circulated to all states. According to the guidelines, Indian Meteorological Department has been designated as nodal agency for early warning for cyclone, Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre and Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information Services for Tsunami and Central Water Commission for floods. The Geological Survey of India has been marked as nodal agency for issuing early warning for landslides, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment for avalanches and Indian Meteorological Department for heat and cold waves. "Alerts falling in Red stage will be communicated to Prime Minister's Office/ Cabinet Secretariat with 3 hourly updates or at more frequent intervals as warranted by the situation," the guidelines said. Alerts falling in Orange stage will be communicated to PMO/ Cabinet Secretariat with 12 hourly updates or when it is upgraded to the Red Stage, whichever is earlier and alerts falling in Yellow stage will be communicated to PMO/ Cabinet Secretariat through SpeedPost. While very severe type of disaster is categorised as Red, moderate type is categorised as Orange and low type is designated as Yellow. Cabinet Secretary heads the National Crisis Management Committee, which takes care of all emergency arising out of any natural disaster in the country. The revised norms on disaster management, approved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also focused on countering rumours and not taking complaints of missing persons lightly given the possibility of human trafficking. All states are being asked to operationalise a special police task force immediately after any calamity to be "dedicated totally" to look for missing persons with regard to the human trafficking angle. The norms also stress that corpses should not be allowed to rot after a disaster. Shopkeepers, chemists and PDS dealers have to be advised not to raise prices artificially or resort to hoarding. Police personnel have to be deployed at areas deserted after a disaster to ensure safety of property. States have also been asked to supply adequate amounts of kerosene or diesel along with generators to mobile service providers, in case advance warnings have been received. Unlike other Presidential proclamations, government will not rush to ratify President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh in the Budget session of Parliament, with the matter pending before the Supreme Court. It will wait for the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict in the matter before moving for the ratification in the session beginning February 23. Generally, such proclamations as also Ordinances are taken up on a priority basis for consideration. As per Article 356 of the Constitution, the proclamation of President's Rule will cease to operate within two months unless "it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament". President's Rule was imposed in Arunachal Pradesh on January 26 following political instability in the state. "Passage of resolutions in both Houses to ratify the proclamation of President's Rule is our priority. But we will have to wait for the Supreme Court to deliver its verdict on the issue," a senior government functionary said. "When the matter is before the apex court, we cannot get a resolution ratifying President's Rule passed," he said. If the resolution is moved, the government will face challenge for its passage in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks the numbers. The Law Ministry, meanwhile, is in two minds on whether to go for an ordinance or bring a Bill in the coming session to amend two electoral laws to allow the Election Commission carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal to accord voting rights to people who came to live in the country following exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh. The term of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly ends on May 29 and elections are likely to be held before that. EC wants a month's time for undertaking delimitation exercise. This has made the Law Ministry jittery on whether the bill to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Delimitation Act, 2002 could be passed by March. The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is learnt to have suggested against bringing an ordinance at a time when the session schedule has been announced. Since the bill is not controversial and extends voting rights to people who have just become Indian citizens, it feels that the bill can be passed in the initial days of the Budget session. The government will also push for the passage of a bill to replace the ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act, which was promulgated on January 8. As per the Constitution, an ordinance lapses 42 days/6 weeks from the day a session begins unless a Bill to replace it is cleared by Parliament. The ordinance amends the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act to allow custodians to continue to retain control over such properties. Meanwhile, at a meeting of top government officials of various ministries convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, 26 ministries came up with 74 items to be included in the list of 'government business' for the session. It was decided to give 26 items 'top priority' as the ministries wanted them to be introduced and passed in the Budget session itself. A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha. Besides Naidu, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, Najma Heptullah and Jayant Sinha were also present in the meeting. The first part of the session is from February 23 to March 16, while the second part is from April 25 to May 13. Reserving its judgement on the ban of entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali Durgah here, the Bombay High today asked all the parties to submit their arguments in writing in two weeks. The division bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Revati Mohite Dere made the observation after hearing the arguments of the parties concerned. The Durgah Board said that the sanctum sanctorum of the durgah houses the grave of a male saint and in Islam it is sin for women to touch male saint, and hence, women are barred from touching the tomb. Petitioner Raju More, however, contended that as per Haji Ali's website, no one is buried inside the tomb, hence, it is not a graveyard of a saint. "I also gave the court a print out of what is officially mentioned on the Haji Ali's website in support of my argument," he said. The State Advocate General, on the other hand, said unless the Durgah Board is able to prove that ban is part of their religious practice with reference to Quran, women should be allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum of Haji Ali. The court on February 3 had asked the state government to express its opinion on the PIL challenging the decision of Haji Ali Trust to ban the entry of women in the sanctum sanctorum of the historic durgah. This is for the first time that the state has been asked to give its views on women's entry into a shrine. The HC had indicated last month that it would wait for the Supreme Court's ruling on entry of women in Sabarimala temple in Kerala before deciding on the plea. A petition in the apex court has sought entry for all women and girls in the Sabarimala temple which, as a practice, does not allow girls after attaining puberty to enter the premises. The temple, however, allows only those women to enter who have reached the menopause stage. Madras High Court today dismissed a petition seeking a fresh autopsy on the body of one of the three girl students of a naturopathy college in Villupuram who allegedly committed suicide recently. Justice R Mala dismissed the petition filed by the father of Saranya, student of SVS Naturopathy and Yoga Medical Sciences College, who sought a second post-mortem. The three students had allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a farm well as they were unable to bear "harassment" by the management which was accused of demanding "exorbitant" fees. The court had last month allowed the plea of the father of another student, Monisha, seeking fresh post-mortem on her body, as he expressed doubts over the college's claim that the students committed suicide. In the present plea, petitioner's counsel Sankarasubbu argued that as most internal parts of Monisha had been removed and the body embalmed, the real cause of death of the students would not be known. As all internal parts of Saranya were intact, a second post mortem of her body would establish the real cause of death, he contended. Rejecting the arugments, the judge pointed out that internal body parts of Monisha had been removed and sent for forensic and chemical analysis and the report was awaited. Another post mortem on Saranya's body could not be ordered merely because internal parts of Monisha had been removed, she said. The judge directed the Public Prosecutor to file on Friday the status report in the case. The state CB-CID, investigating the case, had yesterday submitted in the court that the report of the autopsy done on Saranya's body showed the death was not due to drowning. Madras High Court has upheld a single judge order awarding Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family of a Dalit Industrial Training Institute (ITI) student, who was murdered in a government hostel in 2010. A division bench comprising justices R Sudhakar and S Vaidyanathan held that the authorities are vicariously liable to pay the compensation, more so when the occurrence had taken place within the hostel premises. Noting that the hostel meant for students, who come from a very oppressed strata of society did not have a watchman, the bench in its order said: "It is the paramount duty of any welfare state, to provide security to the oppressed classes. "Therefore, it is the duty of government to provide all the necessary facilities, infrastructure as well as security for students staying in the hostel. In the absence of providing any security, much less, adequate security, the authorities cannot shirk away from their responsibility by merely stating that vicarious liability cannot be fixed on them," it said. The bench was dismissing an appeal by the Tamil Nadu SC/ST and BC Welfare department and other authorities challenging the single judge order directing a compensation of Rs 10 lakh with interest at the rate of nine per cent per annum from January 2012 till the date of actual payment. The matter relates to murder of a first year ITI student, who was staying in the Adi Dravidar Welfare Hostel at Kayarkulam in Kancheepuram District on October 1, 2010. The father of the deceased boy filed a petition seeking Rs 15 lakh compensation alleging that due to the callous attitude on the part of the authorities, the security in the hostel came to be compromised resulting in the death of his son. The single judge, who allowed the plea, came to the conclusion that the authorities were liable to pay the compensation and awarded Rs. 10 lakh. Aggrieved by the order, the appeal was filed stating that vicarious liability cannot be fastened on the authorities and they cannot be held responsible for the death of the student and therefore the compensation awarded was not sustainable. Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today continued his deposition for the second consecutive day before a special Mumbai court. Headley, appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing, continued to spill the beans on LeT involvement with the 26/11 terror attacks. In his first deposition yesterday, Headley told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. At least 15 tourists, including four foreigners, were injured after being stung by honey bees at the world famous Sun Temple at Konark today, police said. The injured, including children and women, were rushed to a government hospital at Konark. While nine tourists were discharged from the hospital after preliminary treatment, four foreign nationals and two persons from Chattisgarh have to be admitted, an attending doctor said. In view of the incident, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) authorities have stopped the entry of tourists into the temple premises till the beehives are removed. The ASI has closed its ticket counters for tourists at the main gate as the bee attack took place for the second consecutive day today. Yesterday, a swarm of honey bees were sighted at the temple resulting in chaos among the tourists. The bees in hundreds came from a beehive within the temple premises which has reportedly been destroyed by monkeys. A large number of tourists who had come to Konark, were utterly disappointed for not being able to see the 13th Century shrine famous for its sculpture. The Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Baton-wielding Hong Kong police fired warning shots and pepper spray early today after a riot erupted when officials tried to shift illegal hawkers, the worst clashes since pro-democracy protests in 2014. Television footage showed one officer in the busy Mongkok district pointing his gun at crowds of protesters who hurled bricks, bottles and pieces of wooden pallets at police during the Chinese New Year clash. Almost 50 police were injured and 25 protesters injured. Police fired at least two warning shots in the air, multiple outlets reported, a very rare occurrence in Hong Kong. Footage showed protesters digging up bricks from pavements, charging police lines with homemade shields and setting rubbish on fire in the middle of the road. The street battles erupted after officials tried to move illegal food sellers. Demonstrators, including members of radical "localist" groups, tried to defend the hawkers whom they say add to the festive atmosphere. Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said the government "strongly condemns such violent acts". "There was a riot in Mongkok in the early hours of today," the chief executive told reporters. "A few hundred mobs attacked police officers and media." "They committed acts of arson, threw bricks and other objects at police officers, including those who had already been injured and were lying on the ground." Footage from Cable Television showed police and protesters still in a stand-off as day broke while the city's subway operator MTR closed Mongkok station. It later reopened. Police said they acted after crowds ignored calls to disperse. "To ensure public safety and public order, police took resolute actions, including using baton and pepper spray, to stop the unlawful violent acts," a statement said, without mentioning any warning shots. A police spokeswoman said 48 officers were injured, many by glass or by being hit in the head. She said 23 men and one woman aged between 17-70 were arrested for assaulting police, resisting arrest, disorder in a public place and obstructing police officers. Four journalists were also injured, one of which was hit on the head by a brick thrown by rioters, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a statement on its Facebook page. In a relief for several premier institutions that had received notices for off-campus centres, the HRD ministry has accepted a UGC proposal which allows private (rpt) private deemed universities upto six campuses beyond approved geographical boundaries. However, government run deemed Universities like the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, can expand much further as the restriction of having not more than six off-campuses does not apply to them. Several leading institutions including the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBMI), Mumbai, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, Banasthali University (Rajasthan), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research are learnt to have been issued notices by the UGC over over their off-campus centres. In another key development, the ministry has also approved a UGC proposal laying the criteria for appointment of Vice Chancellors. Now a candidate to be appointed a Vice Chancellor of a deemed University should have a minimum of ten years of experience as professor in University system or ten years of equivalent experience in a reputed research or academic organisation. The details for composition of search and selection committees for selection have also been finalised. "The Commission (UGC) had in a recent meeting approved these amendments in the UGC regulations for deemed institutions which have found concurrence of the ministry," a senior HRD ministry official said. Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Cologne for its annual Rose Monday parade, the culmination of five days of Carnival festivities that took place amid heightened security following robberies and sexual assaults in the city on New Year's Eve. Police doubled the number of officers they had on hand this year in an effort to reassure the public in the wake of the December 31 attacks primarily targeting women and blamed largely on foreigners. Through Monday morning, police said they had recorded 542 criminal complaints, including 45 allegations of sexual offences, including rape. Those numbers were roughly in line with 2015, when police said there were 50 sexual offences reported through the full five-day Carnival. The Rose Monday parade almost didn't happen at all amid severe weather warnings, but the city decided to go ahead while banning horses, large puppets and flags for safety reasons. With strong winds predicted over a large swathe of western Germany, other cities, including Duesseldorf and Essen, called off their main Carnival processions entirely. The migrant crisis was reflected in Monday's Carnival floats, keeping in the tradition of topical themes. One featured a caricature of Chancellor Angela Merkel standing in front of her signature quote of recent months, "We will manage it," and the words "tough nuts." At her side was a basket of nuts labelled "refugees." Another featured a pensive, seated Merkel with an EU flag in her hand and the slogan "Merkelancholia." And, reflecting concern over far-right violence, one float depicted a neo-Nazi as an octopus wrapping its tentacles around democracy. The figure of Syrian President Bashar Assad as an angel of peace also wound its way through the city, joined on its float by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Other stories of recent months also played their part. Actress Sonam Kapoor, who is looking forward to her upcoming film "Neerja", says she would rather focus on her performance than chasing awards. The "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" actress feels awards do give a sense of validation to an artist, but to her the craft matters the most. "I do not work for awards, I work for the craft...I am okay with recognition. The reason the awards are important is because they give you a validation and encouragement to do more and also push you to do better because it gives a sense of competition," Sonam told PTI. When asked if Bollywood should start an exclusive award for women to honour and recognise their work, Sonam said, "Yes of course, why not. But I think we already have enough awards in Bollywood for recognition... But I hope there are more nominations in these various awards where women are concerned." Several Bollywood stars have raised concern over the credibility of various award shows, while some categorically stay away from attending such events. Sonam feels things will change for the better. "I think its going to change. Once issues start cropping up, things always change. People start doing the right (thing)." She said Bollywood is male-dominated, but is "slowly changing", and cited an example of how difficult was it for her sister to make her debut film "Khoobsurat". Many producers were not willing to back the project and work with her sister, something which has changed today, she said. "It changed because my sister's first film did well. Now everybody wants to work with her. The first initial step is always difficult but nothing succeeds like success. The industry is male dominated but slowly it's changing." The actress will next be seen in Ram Madhvani's "Neerja", in the titular role of flight attendant Neerja Bhanot. The film revolves around the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi and how the young flight attendant fought for the lives of her passengers. "I have always been fearless. But the most amazing thing about Neerja was she gained courage through her fear. She feared for her life... But she still did what she thought was right. She stood on the side of doing the right thing. That shows incredible strength of character. The International Fleet Review-2016 formally culminated with a joint international band concert at the Naval Officers' Institute here this evening. Warships and Navy personnel from 50 countries participated in the five-day IFR off Vizag coast. Bands of the Navies of the participating countries and the host Indian Navy performed before Admiral R K Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff, who was the chief guest, and others. As per custom, the ships of visiting Navies would be given a send-off tomorrow. They would be escorted to the open seas on their way home, a Navy release said here. The ships will sail out from Visakhapatnam in two groups of 27 each for Passage Exercise (PASSEX). There would be various exercises during the PASSEX such as various formation manoeuvres, cross deck landing of aircraft, etc. A junior imam has been arrested for allegedly sodomising a seven-year-old boy in Kot Purvi area here, police said today. The victim was lured by the imam and sodomised late last evening, they said. Medical examination of the victim has been conducted, police said. Stating that there was no larger issue involved in cases of Indian students, mainly from Telangana and AP, who were sent back from the United States a couple of months ago, a senior US embassy official today noted that each of these cases should be looked at differently. Michael Pelletier, Deputy Ambassador of US in Delhi, said the Indian students were welcome to study in America. "India is the second largest sender of foreign students to the United States," he said. On being asked about the issue of Indian students being sent back on arrival from the US in recent times, he said they were "turned around" and not "deported". "When we saw the about the students who were turned around, they weren't deported but they were turned around....," he told reporters here. Media reports had suggested that there were about 500 such cases but Pelletier said he did not have the numbers on those "turned around". Asked what went wrong in the episode, he said, "Each is an individual case. What I can say is, as a general rule, the immigration officials, when you apply for permission to enter the states at the border crossing (whether that's an airport or a port or land crossing), the border officials are going to want to hear your reason for study. They will look at your visa and they want to see the documentation that supports that. "If there is some reason to believe that you are traveling on the wrong visa or that your purpose is not aligned with the visa, then they may have issues or they may not be able to admit you to the states... There cannot be any generalised view on the students who were "turned around", the US embassy official said. "Each decision is made on a case by case basis. The immigration officer will look at each person who is applying for admission into the United States as an individual. "I think if there is a larger conclusion--there are 1,30,000 people studying successfully in the US and contributing to the economy... But otherwise, for the people who were not granted admission, you would have to look at each case," Pelletier said. The official said the embassy worked with the Ministry of External Affairs, local governments in India and also the department of homeland security and US to figure out the issue following reports of Indian students being sent back. On reports of some students who were not granted admission being handcuffed in the airports, Pelletier said he cannot comment on specific cases. He, however, added that efforts are being made to see that those not granted admission are treated fairly. The US official noted the students who wish to study in America should follow the due process and complete the paper work. "So, I think each case (of students not granted admission) is very different. But what we have found out and keep insisting is that as I said, we very much welcome the visit of bonafide students to the United States. Students who want to travel and study in the US should really take advantage of the education USA resources... "They should have the right purpose, the right documents, the right papers that support their desire to go to the states and I think education USA talks about a five-step process that they should go through. If you follow that process, you get the right information and you should not have any difficulty...," Pelletier said. Those who have been "turned around" can apply afresh but it is a lengthy and expensive process, he added. India is expected to spend a whopping $1 trillion (about Rs 65 lakh crore) by 2030 on ramping up its power infrastructure as one of the world's largest energy consumers aims to provide 24/7 electricity to its citizens. The power sector in the country is at an inflection point and the focus is on developing an integrated outlook with transparent policies on tariffs and fuel pricing which enhance the ease of doing business, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here. "When the world is witnessing a depressed economic atmosphere and there is almost no growth, India is a shining spot. We will use this image and further strengthen it to invite countries such as Australia to invest in the country," he told PTI on the sidelines of the India-Australia Energy Dialogue. India and Australia should come together and invest in several fields, with energy being an important dimension. India's focus is on LNG for power plants, coal mining, clean coal technologies, renewable energy, R&D as well as tie-ups with premier research institutes, he added. "We are a very big and growing market. It is estimated that India will spend around Rs 65 lakh crore on the power sector in the next 15 years to meet its growing demands and providing clean, affordable and 24/7 electricity to its citizens," said Goyal, who also holds the Coal and Renewable Energy portfolios. Goyal is leading a high-level government delegation to deliberate with Australian government and businesses on ways to increase their participation in India's power sector. An industry delegation, led by business chamber CII, is also accompanying the minister. India has set an ambitious plan to add 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. The country aims to have 100 GW of solar power by 2022 along with 260 GW of thermal and nuclear generation and 62 GW of hydro generation capacity. As per International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, India would invest about $845 billion in T&D (transmission and distribution) networks between 2015 and 2040 to ensure universal access to power for customers. Explaining the steps taken by his ministry to provide clean energy, the minister said India has one of the toughest regulations on thermal power. "Our Prime Minister has pledged his commitment towards protecting the environment and we are working on his vision. Our norms on thermal power are more stringent that those in some of the developing countries," he noted. The minister said for India to further strengthen its position on creating a sustainable environment and at the same time expand the economy, it has to seek cooperation from countries working on clean energy technologies and utilise them. "We have to use this clean tech, but for that we also need to ensure that the price is right. For a company or country to sell such technologies to India, it should understand that we have a very, very large market which will give them good returns in the long term," he added. Citing an example, he said that the price of an LED bulb has come down by as much as 40% in India as there is bulk procurement. It has already distributed almost six crore LED bulbs. The minister said that India will concentrate on expanding R&D and is willing to invest on cutting edge technology. "India will lead the world in the future in one of our thrust areas of clean energy through joint initiatives in research and development (R&D). We will leverage technological innovation to improve efficiency of our coal-based power plants at competitive costs. We are also inviting cutting edge technology in the renewable energy space. "My ministry is working on the holistic development across all energy generating platforms and is inviting firms to come to India and manufacture under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative," Goyal said. On opportunities in Australia, the Minister said, "We want to combine the high technology available in Australia with India's skilled labour in renewable energy products that would be state-of-the-art and will be considered the among the world's best." On bringing down the price of technologies that reduce pollution in the coal and power sector, the minister said countries need to come together and work in this direction. "(Countries like) US, China, Australia and India can come together and work on bringing down the price of technologies and products to reduce pollution in coal-based power plants," Goyal explained. Separately, at a meeting in Brisbane with the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Anthony Lynham and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Mark Bailey, Goyal said Indian manpower and Australian technology can be a potent force. "A combination of India's manpower and Australian technology would lead to a world beating outcome," a statement quoted Goyal as saying. He also pointed out the need to increase training collaboration through focused initiatives like 'Train the Trainer'. Palaszczuk spoke about the need for an energy mix, including the need to use different forms of energy and also take into account environmental concerns. India's milk production is estimated to increase to 146.31 million tonnes in 2015-16 while the per capita availability of milk has also increased to 302 gm -- more than the minimum quantity recommended by the WHO, Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. "For the first time there is a record enhancement of milk production at 6.3 per cent whereas on international scenario there is only an increment of 2.2 per cent," the Agriculture Minister said at an event here. Milk production is estimated to increase by 6.3 per cent to 146.31 million tonne in 2015-16 from from 137.61 million tonne in 2013-14, he said. "The country has also been able to provide on an average 302 gm per person per day milk which is more than the minimum quantity required recommended by the WHO," he said after inaugurating Kalki Bhawan and Narmada Hostel of National Dairy Research Institute here. The minister, however, said that even as India stands first on global milk production scenario, milk productivity per animal is far less than the average in developed dairy nations. "There is a need to focus on implementing technologies which result in enhanced milk production per animal," he said. He also pointed out that while focusing on promoting cross breeding of dairy cows to meet high demand indigenous cattle breeds have been neglected. "It is time now that programmes focusing on improvement in productivity of indigenous cattle are developed and implemented intensively," he said. The minister stated that a new initiative as National Gokul Mission has been launched for the preservation and promotion of indigenous cow breeds for the first time. "A sum of Rs 550 crore has been released for 29 proposals from 27 states by December, 2015. Two new national Kambhenu Breeding Centres are being set up (each one in north and south India respectively)," he said. The minister also said that there is need to improve the quality of agriculture education in the country instead of focusing on enhancing number of graduates alone. "India has vast network of institutions for imparting higher education in various agriculture and allied disciplines. ...We are required to improve the quality of agricultural education," Singh said. The projections indicate that by 2020, there would be annual demand of over 40,000 graduates, 10,500 post graduates and 2,800 doctoral degree holders in agricultural and animal sciences, the minister said. To fill up the gap related to the scarcity of veterinary doctors, he said the government has increased the number of veterinary colleges from 36 to 40 and seats have also been upped from 914 to 1332 in 17 veterinary colleges. Singh also said that in India, there are wide variations in profitability at the regional level on one hand, and across small-holder vis-a-vis commercial level on the other. "The net returns on investment range from 15-30 per cent on commercial dairy herds in dynamic milk regions, while profit margins on small-holder farms are below 10 per cent in several regions. This would help in attracting the rural youths in adapting dairying as a profession," he said. He also pointed out that the consumption of milk and its products has increased in both rural and urban food baskets. "In the past decades, there has been an increase in the consumption of milk and milk products in rural and urban areas by 29 and 26 per cent, respectively. "The consumer preferences in India are diversifying towards high value added dairy products such as dairy beverages, fermented milk products, Western dairy products, functional dairy products, and packaged traditional dairy products. "Market growth rate for some of these products is in the range of 15-20 per cent. Keeping in view possibilities and trends, it is important that we find new wage and means and technologies for processing into different dairy products," Singh said. He also said that he strongly believes our institutions of agricultural research and education will attain the highest levels of excellence in development of technologies and competent human resources to effectively deal with new challenges in the changing scenario. Domestic budget airline IndiGo will add 10 more flights, including a third daily service to Dubai from the national capital here as part of its network expansion plans. The addition of these services would take the total number of flights operated by the Gurgaon-based airline to 700 per day. IndiGo is launching 10 new flights across its domestic and international network. The airline will connect Delhi to Dubai with its third flight, starting tomorrow, a release said. The budget carrier would now operate more than 20 daily services to Dubai from eight Indian airports -- Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. At present it flies to 39 domestic destinations besides Muscat, Dubai, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Singapore. In addition, IndiGo will commence its non-stop flight between Bengaluru and Patna, Ranchi and Bengaluru effective February 15, the release said adding the airline will also begin operations between Delhi and Chandigarh and Jaipur and Pune. Chandigarh will also be connected to Kochi via Delhi while Delhi - Lucknow route will now have eight daily non-stop flights, starting February 18, the airline said. Noting that the Indo-Pak ties "remain tense", the US intelligence chief today said India's engagement with Pakistan hinges on Islamabad's willingness to act against those responsible for the Pathankot terror attack. "Relations between Pakistan and India remain tense despite the resumption of a bilateral dialogue in December," James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing. Following the attack on Pathankot Air Force base in January, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based Jaish-e- Mohammad, "India's engagement with Pakistan will probably hinge in 2016 on Islamabad's willingness to take action against those in Pakistan linked to the attack," he said. Seven security personnel were killed and several others were injured when six militants stormed the Pathankot base. Clapper also said the Islamic State (IS) group has become a prominent threat because of its self-described caliphate in Syria and Iraq, its branches and emerging branches in other countries, and its increasing ability to direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world. IS's narrative supports jihadist recruiting, attracts others to travel to Iraq and Syria, draws individuals and groups to declare allegiance to ISIL, and justifies attacks across the globe. The IS-directed November 2015 Paris attacks and IS-Sinai's claim of responsibility for the October downing of a Russian airliner in the Sinai underscore these dynamics, he said. On the other hand, al-Qaida's affiliates have proven resilient and are positioned to make gains in 2016, despite counterterrorism pressure that has largely degraded the network's leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Although al-Qaida's presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been significantly degraded, it aspires to attack the US and its allies, the American spy master said. Clapper also warned that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's efforts to undermine the political opposition in the country will probably provide openings for transnational terrorist groups to expand their presence there. He said that Hasina and other government officials have insisted that the killings of foreigners were the work of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami political parties and are intended to discredit the government. However, the IS claimed responsibility for 11 high-profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities. Other extremists in Bangladesh-including Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)-have claimed responsibility for killing at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013, he said. (Reopens 142) Meanwhile, another top American official said that there is a "significant risk" of escalation of tension "with little warning" if there is a large-scale terrorist attack in India. "There remains a significant risk that tensions could once again escalate with little warning, particularly if there is a large-scale terrorist attack in India," Defence Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Testifying during a Congressional hearing on Worldwide Threats, Stewart said tensions between India and Pakistan subsided in late 2015 following high-level diplomatic engagement and an agreement to continue talks next year. The Haryana government today inked an agreement with Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited to establish medical institutions in the state with proposed investment of Rs 1,000 crore. This project is expected to generate employment for 3,000 persons. A pact to this effect was signed here today by Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Devender Singh, on behalf of the Haryana government, and Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited, Ajay Gupta. Under this agreement, the Haryana government would facilitate Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited to obtain necessary permissions, registrations, approvals and clearances for the project from the departments concerned in order to ensure the establishment of the project in a time-bound manner. This would be done as per the existing policies and rules and regulations of the state government. The project is likely to commence in 2017. Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said during his tour to the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart David Cameron had reached an agreement for expansion of medical services in India with investment of one billion pounds into the Indian healthcare system. This agreement was signed in the same series. Haryana is one of the six states which have signed MoUs with Indo-UK Healthcare Private Limited, he added. Reiterating the state government's commitment towards providing better healthcare services, Khattar said presently, there are nine medical colleges in the state. He added that the government aims to open a medical college in each district. Apart from this, the establishment of a branch of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state is currently under process. While a medical university is presently functioning in the state, another one is being established in Karnal and an Ayurvedic University would soon be opened in Kurukshetra, he added. Recruitment of doctors is being carried out in the state to fill up the requirement for doctors as fixed by the World Health Organisation, Khattar said. An Indonesian court today sentenced seven men to between three and five years in jail for supporting the Islamic State group, weeks after the extremist network launched a deadly assault on Jakarta. Court officials said four of the men on trial had travelled to Syria to undertake military training with IS, while the three other culprits helped purchase tickets and recruited people to join the group. "Indonesians who departed for Syria and supported IS should be considered to have conducted terrorism acts," Mochammad Arifin, a presiding judge over several of the cases, said. Tuah Febriwansyah, who received a five-year sentence on Tuesday, told the court that he had known one of the culprits in last month's attacks that killed four civilians and four assailants. Hundreds of Indonesians are feared to have travelled to the Middle East to join the IS group, which controls vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Several have been detained on their return. Counter-terror officials, however, complain that current laws are still too weak in the Muslim-majority country to prevent extremists from travelling to Syria and to block the spread of radical information on the Internet. An Indonesian court today sentenced seven men for conspiring with the Islamic State group, the first time the country has sent anyone to prison for IS links, as radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir appealed his conviction. A three-judge panel at the West Jakarta District Court found four men guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terrorism law by joining Islamic State jihadists and attending the group's military-style training. Ahmad Junaedi, Ridwan Sungkar, Helmi Muhammad Alamudi and Abdul Hakim Munabari were sentenced to between three and four years imprisonment. Their recruiters, Aprimul Henry and Koswara Ibnu Abdullah, were sentenced to three and four years in jail for helping them go to Syria. The seventh, Tuah Febriwansyah, who is also known as Muhammad Fachry, received a five-year sentence for actively spreading IS propaganda through his own radical website and posting violent videos of terrorism activities on the Internet, including one showing militants in Syria giving military-style training to Indonesian children. At a hearing in another court Tuesday, Bashir filed an appeal to overturn his 2011 conviction for violating the anti-terrorism law by setting up a militant camp in Aceh province. The 77-year-old founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network had received a 15-year sentence, but it was later cut to nine years. Bashir is considered the spiritual leader of al Qaida-linked militants blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. He has expressed his support to the Islamic State and has pledged allegiance to IS. Bashir's lawyers and state prosecutors signed a conclusion of his appeal before judges in the Cilacap District Court, the closest court to the high-security prison island of Nusa Kambangan where he is serving his sentence. The appeal will be sent to the Supreme Court this week for the final ruling. "I hope judges understand that my deed of helping training camp in Aceh was my religious obligation," Bashir told the court. "I'm guilty according to the government law, but what I did is correct according to Islam." Indonesia's government has outlawed the Islamic State group and spoken forcefully against it, as have mainstream religious group in the world's largest Muslim nation. One fear is that militants who travel abroad will return home and conduct terrorist acts in Indonesia. Indonesian authorities estimate over 600 Indonesians have joined IS in Syria or Iraq. India's winning sequence in T20 internationals came to an embarrassing end tonight after a heavily depleted Sri Lanka pulled off an upset five-wicket victory to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Put into bat on a lively track, which had fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were skittled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs with rookie pace trio of Kasun Rajitha (3/29), Dashun Shanaka (3/16) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) doing bulk of the damage. Sri Lanka reached the target with two overs to spare. Senior players Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedara (25) made useful contributions. It turned out to be a blow for Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the team won 3-0 in the series Down Under to achieve the top rank in ICC table for shortest format. If Rajitha blew away the top-order, it was Shanaka and Chameera, who decimated the middle and lower-order with only Ravichandran Ashwin with his unbeaten 31 helping home team cross the three-figure. Such was the abject surrender by the Indian batsmen in the wake of extra bounce and moving deliveries that only Yuvraj Singh (10) and Suresh Raina (20) reached the double figures apart from Ashwin. When Sri Lanka batted, they lost a few wickets in between but the target was too small to defend as the 39-run stand between skipper Chandimal and Kapugedara turned out to be a clincher. Milinda Siriwardana struck 21 off 14 balls as he finished the match with a flourish hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six and a boundary. There was no dearth of effort from the Indian bowlers with Ashish Nehra (2/21 in 3 overs) and Ashwin (2/13 in 3 overs) got a couple of wickets each but it was the failure of the batsmen that hurt India the most. (REOPENS DEL 37) He had stayed at the wicket for a total of 539 minutes and also became the first Indian captain to get to the landmark of a double hundred for the second time in his career. The duo also eclipsed the previous fourth wicket Indian record of 353 by Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman compiled against Australia at Sydney in January, 2004. Rahane too got out not long afterwards, chasing a wide ball from left arm pace bowler Trent Boult and edging behind after a stay of 514 minutes to miss a golden chance to join the double century makers' list by 12 runs. It was the classy Mumbai batsman's 8th three-figure knock in his 29th Test. For New Zealand all the bowlers struggled to not only get among the wickets but also stem the flow of runs and in the endeavour Boult (2 for 113) and Patel (2 for 120) emerged as the most successful ones while left arm spinner Santner picked up 1 for 137. Kohli reached his double century with a single to long leg off Matt Henry who had rapped him on the pads when he was on 194 only for his and teammates' concerted and loud appeal turned down by the umpire. This was one of the rare occasions that the ball beat the bat during the course of the day's play. It took the Indian captain 347 balls and 516 minutes stay to reach the landmark with the help of 18 hits to the fence. The well-set fourth-wicket pair stepped on the gas and attacked the New Zealand bowling with gusto from the beginning of the post-lunch session. Both batsmen looked totally at ease when handling pace of spin on a track that continued to play easy and staved off the Kiwis after having come together at the fall of Cheteshwar Pujara yesterday. Rahane continued to use his feet beautifully against the rival spin bowlers and danced down the track to smack off spinner Patel over the straight field for two of his four sixes. Before lunch the Mumbai batsman became the second player from either side to notch up a century after Kohli, who achieved the landmark yesterday. Commencing the day at 267 for 3, Kohli and Rahane were keen to step up the run-rate and succeeded against the visiting team's attack bowling with the ten-over old second new ball. Rahane, 21 short of the coveted century landmark, faced a short-ball barrage from Matt Henry before reaching his eighth ton in his 29th Test with a single to long leg off Trent Boult. He answered back Henry in his own coin, by going on the attack and hooked the fast medium bowler for a four before the next ball, also dug in short, struck him on the side grill of the helmet. Undaunted, he batted on while Kohli - not out 103 overnight - too took the attack to the opposition by square cutting and straight driving Henry for fours in successive balls. Rahane proceeded to complete his own century in an unruffled manner as New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson brought on Boult to replace Henry. He reached the landmark in 210 balls and with the help of one six and 11 fours. He thus joined Kohli in the list of centurions in the series, the Indian captain having done it yesterday. Ashwin ended the day with 2 for 108 in 31 overs and was taken for runs mainly in his second-last spell of 10 overs. Jadeja was restrictive at best with figures of 1 for 59 in 21 overs, while Amit Mishra, included as the fifth bowler, did not make much of an impression and went wicket less after bowling 10 overs for 42 runs. Shami was luckless and went wicket-less too, giving away 31 runs, while Yadav finished the day with 1 for 68 and looked largely wayward. In the first session, Ashwin accounted for the wickets of Hameed, whose dismissal also brought into play the Decision Review System for the first ever time in a Test match played in this country. Home town boy Jadeja had earlier given India the first break at 47, successfully earning a shout for leg before wicket against England skipper Cook. But thereafter India's success came down to a trickle, as they tasted it only in the final session after going without a wicket in the middle session. India went in with five bowlers, including spinner Mishra for the first time since the second Test against the West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica. England capped 19-year-old opening batsman Hameed and, like the hosts, also included three -spin bowlers. Iraq has completely retaken Ramadi from the Islamic State group, but now faces the enormous challenges of removing bombs, reestablishing basic services and rebuilding the shattered city, officials said today. Government forces recaptured areas on the eastern outskirts of the Anbar provincial capital from IS after weeks of fighting, and authorities say that all areas immediately surrounding the city have been retaken. "All of Ramadi is now liberated" and responsibility for security is being handed over to local police, Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi told journalists in Baghdad. But the city's civilian population has been displaced, and "the biggest challenge before us is clearing the areas of mines" so residents can return, Rawi said, adding that he hopes to obtain international support to remove explosives. Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said that clearing the city of explosives would cost an estimated USD 15 million. "The key right now is to extract the IEDs (improvised explosive devices). This is the single largest, most difficult obstacle preventing people from coming home and rebuilding their lives," said Grande, speaking at a roundtable alongside Rawi. But the city's problems go far beyond bombs. "The level of destruction in Ramadi is as bad as anything we have seen anywhere in Iraq," Grande said. "Houses are destroyed, bridges are destroyed, roads are infested with IEDs, water systems are ruined, schools are ruined, health centres are ruined and businesses are shut," she said. Initial work will be in the Tamim area of southwestern Ramadi, and will include repairing the water system and six health centres, as well as providing six ambulances and dozens of generators, Grande said. The second phase will focus on central Ramadi, and will include repairing water stations, bringing in three mobile electrical grids and connecting them to hundreds of generators, she said. The UN has already secured the USD 10 million needed for the first phase, but the second will cost an additional USD 25 and USD 30 million, plus the cost of clearing explosives. And even that is only the beginning: "Thousands of homes have to be rebuilt. Thousands of buildings have to be rebuilt," Grande said. Rawi said that the provincial government had not received funds from Baghdad since the beginning of December, and that it will have to use part of its 2016 budget to pay debts from the previous year. A suicide car bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group struck near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital today, killing at least 10 people and destroying a number of cars. Syrian state TV reported the toll and showed footage of the blast scene in Damascus, including several damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car. The police officers' club was next to a vegetable market. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks the civil war, said the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20. The IS group claimed the bombing in a statement circulated by its followers on Twitter, saying it was carried out by a fighter known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami. It vowed more attacks. The blast came a day after an international rights group said Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, killing 37 people. The Human Rights Watch report, released yesterday, said that cluster munitions, which are widely banned, have been used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since Jan. 26. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens, HRW said. Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of explosive munitions over wide areas. Some 98 States are party to a convention banning their use but several countries including Syria and Russia, as well as the US, China and Israel have not signed onto the ban. Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the northern province of Aleppo under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks in an attempt to besiege rebel-held parts of Aleppo city, the country's former commercial center. Last week, Syrian troops and their allies were able to lift a three-year siege imposed on the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province. HRW said some of the recent attacks using cluster munitions occurred near the two villages. Opposition activists have said that Russia has been using cluster bombs since the start of its aerial campaign in Syria on Sepember 30. HRW previously documented at least 20 cluster munition attacks by the Russian-Syrian joint operation between Sept. 30 and December 14. It called on Syria and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The widow of late Islamic State group financial leader Abu Sayyaf has been charged for her alleged role in the death of US aid worker Kayla Mueller last year. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, a 25-year-old known as Umm Sayyaf, was accused of conspiring to provide support to the violent extremists, forcibly detaining Mueller and other captives in the couple's homes, where she was sexually assaulted by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Bahar acknowledged that Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residences, describing "owning" as equivalent to slavery, federal prosecutors said yesterday. IS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble. US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26. Abu Sayyaf was killed in May 2015 in a rare US commando raid inside war-torn Syria. Bahar was captured during the operation, and US forces also rescued a young woman from the Yazidi minority and seized a stash of firearms, the complaint recalled. Mueller and other female "captives were at various times handcuffed, held in locked rooms and given orders on a daily basis with respect to their activities, movements and liberty," according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Virginia. "While in captivity, Kayla Jean Mueller was sexually abused by Baghdadi, who forced her to have sex with him," it added. "The defendant (Bahar) knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home." The complaint also alleged that Bahar told the captives that "she would kill them if they did not listen to her." Bahar admitted that she had sole responsibility for holding the hostages captive while her husband traveled on IS business, and that Baghdadi and other members of the group would stay at the residence at times, according to the complaint. If convicted, Bahar faces life in prison. She is currently in Iraqi custody, facing prosecution for terror-related activities. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement. Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI provides "financial, military and moral support" to terror outfits LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, Pakistan- born terrorist David Coleman Headley said today as he revealed more startling details about 26/11 attacks and his role it. Headley, while testifying before a court here for the second day via video-link from the US, said he was working for the Pakistan Army and ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was key man responsible for the November 26,2008 attacks in Mumbai. He also revealed that LeT had planned an attack at a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and had even prepared its dummy. But the plan was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal, added to failure of knowing the schedule of the meet, he said. Headley, who had visited India seven times to scout for targets, said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station. "I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army," he told the Special Judge G A Sanap. He said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provided financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said and went on to claim that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay. When Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him if he was paid by LeT and ISI, he replied in the negative and said, "There is no basis for this question." Headley, who had yesterday told the court that he was a "true follower" of LeT, today said ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative identified him. "In November-December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) which was attended by (LeT operatives) Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting, it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai," he said. Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided. ISIS deployed 60 jihadists in Europe as part of a plot to carry out attacks on five cities including London, Paris and Berlin before the carnage it unleashed in the French capital, according to a media report. Intelligence obtained by Western security agencies before the November 13 Paris attacks indicated that Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the head of ISIS' external operations efforts, was the key figure behind the ambitious plot, CNN reported citing a senior European counter-terrorism source. As many as 60 ISIS fighters had been deployed by the group to Europe to carry out attacks on five cities and had already reached European soil, the source said. The intelligence indicated that the target cities included Paris, London, Berlin and a major population centre in Belgium. However, there was no indication the plan was to attack the cities simultaneously. The source cautioned that the threat stream was based on intelligence, which was fragmentary and difficult to verify, and it was too vague to act on. In addition, there was no specific intelligence prior to the Paris attack on any moving parts of the plot, the report said. "In terms of ambition, it also just pointed towards something we already knew. ISIS had hardly made it a secret it sought to target Europe," the source was quoted as saying. In the year before the Paris attacks, Adnani had threatened the European countries supporting the anti-ISIS coalition in a series of audio messages, making specific references to France and Belgium. And in January 2015, Belgian police broke up a major ISIS plot in Belgium coordinated by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who later became the ringleader of the Paris attacks in which jihadists slaughtered 130 people in a series of bombings and shootings. The source said Western intelligence agencies believe Adnani is at the heart of ISIS' attack planning. "As far as we're concerned, he is top of our target list," the source said. The source said the lack of specific intelligence on any moving parts of the Paris plot has caused consternation, because it is rare for any plot to fly completely under the radar. Western security agencies had picked up at least some specific chatter on planning, which they later realised related to the attack, the source said. After the Paris attacks, new attention was focused on the fragmentary intelligence indicating 60 ISIS operatives had been deployed to Europe. "The worry has been that if, say, 20 were involved in the Paris attacks, there might be 40 or so still out there," the source said. Israel's UN ambassador said the Palestinian leadership has started using recent statements by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "to justify deplorable acts of terror," and he called on the UN chief to withdraw them. In a letter to Ban, Danny Danon cited recent Palestinian killings of Israelis. He yesterday said that Ban's statements have been interpreted as creating "two categories of terror: terror directed at Israelis and terror directed at the rest of the world." Addressing the UN Security Council last month, the secretary-general urged Israel to freeze settlement-building, calling it "an affront to the Palestinian people." He also expressed understanding of Palestinian frustrations, saying that "as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation." UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric yesterday said that Ban "stands by every word he has used." Dujarric said the secretary-general has repeatedly condemned "terror and has said that absolutely nothing, nothing, justifies terrorism." Danon quoted Raafat Alian, the Jerusalem spokesman for the Palestinian Fatah party, as telling the Donia Al-Watan site that Israel's actions against the Palestinian people "cannot go unanswered without natural responses." "Rather than criticizing Israel, a country that has lost so many of its citizens to terror, the UN should hold the perpetrators responsible," Danon wrote. The secretary-general responded to earlier Israeli criticism of his remarks in a New York Times opinion piece last week entitled "Don't Shoot the Messenger, Israel." Ban wrote that he would always stand up for Israel's right to exist, but added that "the time has come for Israelis, Palestinians and the international community to read the writing on the wall: The status quo is untenable. Keeping another people under indefinite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians. A controversial bill that would compel NGOs receiving most of their funding from foreign governments to declare it in official reports passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament early today. The proposal - denounced by critics as likely to encourage a witch-hunt against leftist groups that campaign for the defence of Palestinian rights - was passed in a 50-43 vote following a tense debate. Two more readings of the bill by the parliament, or Knesset, are required for it to become law. The text has renewed tension between one of the most rightwing governments in Israeli history and the United States and the European Union. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who proposed the law, argues it will boost transparency as the government seeks to fight foreign interference and attempts to delegitimise the state of Israel. She has insisted it does not target any specific NGO. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also expressed support for the law. The text does not specifically refer to leftist organisations, but they are expected to be most affected as right-wing NGOs, such as those supporting Israel's occupation of the West Bank, tend to rely on private donations, particularly from within the United States. Several leftwing Israeli NGOs receive large percentages of their funding from abroad, including from European governments. The bill has sparked international criticism, with the US and EU ambassadors to Israel both expressing concern over its implications. It stipulates that NGOs receiving more than half of their funding from foreign governments will have to declare it in all their official reports. At the request of Netanyahu, however, a proposed requirement for NGO members to wear a badge indicating their organisation is funded by a foreign country was dropped. "I do not understand how a requirement for transparency is anti-democratic; the opposite is true," Netanyahu said last month. "In a democratic regime, we need to know who is financing such NGOs, from the right, the left, up or down." Israeli leftwing NGOs have expressed concern at increasingly personal attacks they have been subjected to in recent months, including regular harassment and even death threats. "It is a rebirth for all of us," said Mahadevi, wife of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, with a sense of relief as the family reacted to the of his miraculous survival after remaining buried under snow for six days at Siachen Glacier. "My husband's grandmother inspired him in his life. Her prayers saved him from certain death in Siachen. It is a rebirth for all of us," Mahadevi, residing at Betadur village in Kundagol taluk of Dharwad district, said. Hanumanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive yesterday after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days following an avalanche that had hit his post at an altitude of 19,600 feet where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. Mahadevi said the family was going through a painful ordeal after the members came to know of the tragedy, but the of his survival brought smiles back on faces. "We were going through a painful ordeal after theavalanche struck...The of his survival brought smiles backon our faces. We were all crying and almost lost hope. I didn't know what to do - I have one-and-half-year old girl child," she said. Eshwar, Hanamanthappa's cousin, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting Koppad who is on a ventillator at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi. "What should I say about the gesture Modi has shown toa simple soldier. It is heartening that a person who is Prime Minister of India visited him," he told PTI. Eshwar also appreciated the concern shown by Army officials who had visited the family members and gave hope of hissurvival. "The army officials had visited us and instilled hope by saying 'don't worry, nothing will happen. The Army had said will findhim out and retrieve him alive from the glacier," he said. The family of six members left for Goa from where they would take a flight to Delhi in the evening to be with Hanamanthappa who is critical, Eshwar said. Eshwar said the entire Betadur village greeted the news of survival of Hanumanthappa with a sense of relief. "Some of them were offering prayers in temples for Hanumathappa's survival. They were happy when they realised their prayers have been heard by the Almighty," he said. Meanwhile, noted Karnataka-based industrialist and MP Rajiv Chandrasekhar has announced he would take care of the travel and accommodation of Hanumanthappa's family in New Delhi. Chandrasekhar said in a statement said that "all the help thatthe family of the injured soldier requires will be taken careof to assist them in this hour of anxiety and worry." He also prayed for Hanamanthappa's speedy recovery and support to his family in the hour crisis. "Myheartfelt prayers for a speedy recovery and support to hisfamily at this hour. I salute the soldier and hope he recovers soon," he said. He also joined the nation in grieving the death of other nine soldiers in the natural disaster. "Our soldiers of the Indian Armed forces guard thenation at Siachen - the world's highest battleground 24 x7 braving not only enemy hostility but also the harsh andinhospitable weather," he added. US Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Wednesday that Russia's aerial bombardment of Syrian opposition targets could derail efforts to restart talks to end the country's brutal civil war. Kerry and his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Munich on Thursday to host a meeting of a 17-nation contact group, designed to get the talks back on track. But, US's frustration with Russia's support of Bashar al-Assad's regime is growing, amid fears that the Opposition will refuse to join UN-led peace talks while their cities are under fire. "There is no question, and I have said this before publicly, that Russia's activities in Aleppo and in the region right now are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said. "And, we have called on Russia again to join in the effort to bring about an immediate ceasefire and to bring about full humanitarian access," he said. "That is what this meeting will be about and this meeting will tell a lot about the road ahead," he added, in remarks at the State Department ahead of talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Russia is a signatory to UN Security Council resolution 2254, passed in December, which orders all warring parties in Syria to respect an immediate ceasefire and allow humanitarian agencies to take food and relief supplies to besieged civilians. But, with UN-led peace talks in Geneva stalled, Russian jets have continued to bomb Assad's enemies, most recently in an onslaught that has seen regime forces advance to all but encircle the city of Aleppo. Last week, UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura suspended talks amid opposition protests about the bombing, and Thursday's meeting of the 17-nation Syria Support Group aims to pressure the sides to return to the table. Japanese automaker Isuzu today announced a senior management change in its Indian operations with Hitoshi Kono to succeed Shigeru Wakabayashi as deputy managing director of Isuzu Motors India. The change will be with effect from February 14 and Wakabayashi will assume the role of Division COO, Isuzu Business Division, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan, the company said in a statement. Kono is currently General Manager, Isuzu Asia Department at Isuzu Business Division. Wakabayashi has been instrumental in setting up Isuzu's operations in 2012 in India and building the brand in the country, including setting up a new manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh. The company has since launched ISUZU D-MAX pick-up and MU-7 SUV. Isuzu Motors India Managing Director Naohiro Yamaguchi said, "Wakabayashi has played an important role in the progress of the company. Under his guidance, ISUZU has achieved significant milestones across various aspects of the business." Kono has an experience of over three decades across various global markets. He was responsible for ISUZU Asia Department at Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan, in his earlier role. He was instrumental in establishing ISUZU UTE Australia in 2008 to import and distribute the ISUZU D-MAX in Australia. Sri Lanka must "confront and defeat the demons of the past" and seize the great opportunity to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and provide justice, security and prosperity to its people, the UN human rights chief said today. "Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told media at the end of his four-day visit during which he also travelled to war-torn Northern Province. In Northern Province, Hussein met Tamil leaders and promised them to raise with Sri Lankan leadership the issue of over 4,000 civilians reported missing during the civil war. According to UN figures, up to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war. Hundreds of people are still missing. Hussein, on his first visit to Sri Lanka after succeeding Navi Pillay as UN rights chief to review measures taken by the government to investigate alleged war abuses during the war, said, "Sri Lanka needs a through, frank and honest discussion of the findings of the UN report." In the hard-hitting report submitted by him at the UNHRC last September, Hussein had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to deliver justice to the victims of the 26-year conflict. He has prescribed an international "hybrid court" with foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators. Asked about the progress so far on this, the UN rights chief said the Lankan government has set in motion a consultative process and he was confident that justice would be delivered to the victims of the conflict. He commended President Maithripala Sirisena's government for showing the will to make great changes. "It must seize the great opportunity it currently has to provide all its people with truth, justice, security and prosperity," the UN official said. Hussein said the military needs to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and urged the armed forces to face up to the "stain on their reputation" by addressing allegations of war crimes during the conflict. The government must also take action to find a formula to charge or release the remaining detainees. He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent statement that nearly all disappeared persons are dead had created distress among the victims. Hussein said this statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or killed during the conflict. The UN official is due to deliver two assessments to the Council in June and March 2017. He said the Lankan government has expressed its commitment to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an investigation into the alleged rights abuses during the ethnic conflict that ended in 2009. "I have heard fears that the government may be wavering on its human rights commitments. I was therefore reassured today to hear both the President and the Prime Minister express their firm conviction in this regard," he said. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 580 crore for laying of the five km railway track up to Bangladesh border here, as it expected to complete the work on the 15-km-long rail line to connect Agartala with Akhaura in that country by 2017. Of the 15 km railway track, 10 km falls in the Bangladesh side and the rest in India. "An amount of Rs 580 crore was sanctioned in the wake of a meeting between the officials of the Prime Minister's office, Ministry of External Affairs and Railways ministry recently," state Transport Secretary, Samarjit Bhowick told reporters here. He said the entire project cost would be borne by the Centre and over Rs 1,000 crore was sanctioned for completion of the track in Bangladesh side. A team comprising technical experts of IRCON, representatives of state government, the Indian High Commission officials in Dhaka as well as Bangladesh Foreign Ministry officials had earlier visited the sites. The team had decided that a 3.7-km-long flyover (viaduct) would be constructed along the five km stretch on the Indian side to save cultivable lands and the present detailed project report (DPR) would be changed, he said. New Delhi is keen to establish the rail link as it would connect West Bengal and Tripura through Bangladesh. The 1,700 km distance between Agartala and Kolkata through Chicken Neck near Siliguri would be reduced to 350 km if passengers from here could move through the neighbouring country. During Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, the two countires had agreed to lay the track between Akhaura and Agartala. The 15-km-long Agartala-Akhaura railway route would connect the Indian Railways with the Bangladesh Railways through the North-East which would improve connectivity and boost trade between the two countries. Terror outfits LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen are given "financial" and "military" support by the ISI, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said today as he made fresh revelations including about an aborted plan to target Indian defence scientists and famous Siddhivinayak temple here. Deposing before a court here for the second day via video-link from the US, he said he was working for Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT's top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the mastermind of the November 26,2008 attacks in Mumbai. "I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army," he told the Special Judge G A Sanap during his deposition which will resume tomorrow. He named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali - besides retired army officer Abdul Rehman Pasha who was closely working with LeT and Al-Qaeda. Headley said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provides financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said, even though he claimed that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay. Headley, who had visited Mumbai seven times to scout for targets, revealed that plans to target Mumbai had started over a year before November 26, 2008 and that LeT initially wanted to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel for which even a dummy of the hotel was prepared. But the plan to target scientists was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal and lack of details about the schedule of the meet, he said. He said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station. He said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from Lakhvi since he is its "top commander". Headley, who had yesterday told the court that he was a "true follower" of LeT, today said ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative identified him. The LeT operative said he had been asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. Testifying before a special Mumbai court for the second day today, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. He also said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Continuing to spill the beans, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. He also revealed that, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headley's handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley revealed. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the location for terror attacks in India was not decided. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it. "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. "In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her" In his first deposition yesterday, Headley had told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes in Mumbai that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley had also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley today said that the LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and that he had conducted a recce of the Naval air station and the Siddhivinayak Temple. Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day via video-link, Headley also said that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahfa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley said. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. Headley later said that the "plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall." Giving details of his Mumbai visit, he said that on September 14, 2006, he had come to Mumbai for the first time after joining the LeT. "In 2006, I did surveillance of multiple places but at that point of time, the targets were not decided.I recced Hotel Taj several times in 2007. I also did general surveillance of many places in the city, but I'm not sure if I recced Trident hotel at that time," he said. "In March 2008, when I came to Mumbai, I did surveillance of multiple places like the Taj Hotel, Naval air station and the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters in south Mumbai. I also selected landing sites for the terrorists," said the 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case. Scientists have developed a 3D printed tissue that closely mimics the human liver's sophisticated structure and function, which could be used for patient-specific drug testing and disease modelling. Researchers said the advance could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money when developing new drugs. "We've made a tool that pharmaceutical companies could use to do pilot studies on their new drugs, and they won't have to wait until animal or human trials to test a drug's safety and efficacy on patients," said Shaochen Chen, professor at the University of California, San Diego. Existing liver models for drug screening so far lack the complex micro-architecture and diverse cell makeup. The researchers engineered a human liver tissue model that more closely resembles the real thing - a diverse combination of liver cells and supporting cells systematically organised in a hexagonal pattern. "We've engineered a functioning liver tissue that matches what you'd see under a microscope," said Chen. "The liver is unique in that it receives a dual blood supply with different pressures and chemical constituents," said Shu Chien, professor at UC San Diego. "Our model has the potential of reproducing this intricate blood supply system, providing unprecedented understanding of the complex coupling between circulation and metabolic functions of the liver in health and disease," said Chien. The researchers used a novel bioprinting technology, which can rapidly produce complex 3D microstructures that mimic the sophisticated features found in biological tissues. The liver tissue was printed in two steps. First, the team printed a honeycomb pattern of 900-micrometre-sized hexagons, each containing liver cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. An advantage of human induced pluripotent stem cells is they are patient-specific, which makes them ideal materials for building patient-specific drug screening platforms. Since these cells are derived from a patient's skin cells, researchers do not need to extract any cells from the liver to build liver tissue. Then, endothelial and mesenchymal supporting cells were printed in the spaces between the hexagons. The entire structure a 3X3 millimetre square, 200 micrometres thick - takes just seconds to print. This is a vast improvement over other methods to print liver models, which typically take hours. The structure was cultured in vitro for at least 20 days. The researchers then tested the resulting tissue's ability to perform various liver functions, such as albumin secretion and urea production, and compared it to other models. They found that their model was able to maintain these functions over a longer time period than other liver models. Their model also expressed a relatively higher level of a key enzyme that is considered to be involved in metabolising many of the drugs administered to patients. The study was published in the journal PNAS. Mahyco Monsanto is not entitled to collect royalty from farmers for the cotton seeds supplied by it, a member of the National Cotton Seed Price Control Committee said today. "Mahyco Monsanto had promised that the cotton seeds sold by them will prevent all worms but the seeds are not controlling the worms," P Sugunkar Rao told reporters here. He said Mahyco Monsanto should not be allowed to collect royalty from farmers. "If the royalty is not collected, the cost of the seeds will come down, which would ultimately benefit the farmers," Rao added. Mahyco Monsanto is collecting royalty on BT2 seeds since 2007, said Rao, who is also the secretary of BJP Kisan Morcha. He alleged that Monsanto has abused its monopoly on BT cotton technology and distorted the seed market by employing dubious methods, as established by the MRTP (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices) Commission, which had issued an order in 2006. Rao said the company continued with its practices even after the order and therefore the Centre had to refer the matter to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2015. The Cotton Seed Price Control Order, 2015 would make cotton seeds affordable to farmers, he added. Terming the initiatives like 'Make in India' and 'Startup India' as "much overplayed", industrialist Rajan Mittal on Tuesday said the fact on the ground remains that it is "rather difficult" to do business specially for startups and medium enterprises. He lauded the government for being "active" in promoting entrepreneurship, but said the country must not miss the opportunity to be competitive when China was slowing down. "Issues still remains on ease of doing business on the ground...The fact of the matter remains on the ground is that it is rather difficult specially for a startup, for a medium (enterprises)," Mittal said during a roundtable discussion with Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia here. On her part, Teaotia admitted that "the changes are slow (and) much slower than what we would like to" on ease of doing business, but assured that the issue was getting a huge amount of attention and the changes would come through soon. They were speaking during the AGM of industry body ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) India, an affiliate body of leading Indian business chamber FICCI. Addressing Teaotia, Mittal said: "This new government which is in place has been, I would say, rather active in promoting entrepreneurship. So Make in India, Startup India... factors like this have been much overplayed." Referring to India's rankings on ease of doing business front, Mittal, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises and former president of FICCI, said that "those are very different filters". "... One little change can move us 12 places and we can go ga-ga about that," he added. "We need to really crack the whip and we have to be competitive... This is a good opportunity for India as China is slowing down and manufacturing will probably move. But if we do not really utilise this time period, I think you would miss once again and probably for the final time. So, something really needs to be done in this particular side," Rajan said. Responding to Mittal, the secretary said: "I can't agree with you more and I do not think there is anybody who would disagree.... While we talked about ease of doing business, the changes are slow (and) much slower than what we would like to see. However, this was an issue of prime focus for the government, Teaotia said, while admitting that it was always a a slow process "in our system" because it requires dismantling existing structures and replacing them with new ones. "It has to be a better system. So, it is that process which is taking time. To say that it is not getting attention is not correct. It is getting a huge amount of attention and huge amount of focus and I am certain that you will see changes," she added. The government has taken several steps to improve ease of doing business in the country such as reducing the number of documents for trade related activities. For 2016, India's rank in ease of doing business has improved to 130th from 134th out of 189 economies. In reply to another question, Teaotia said things related with the ease of doing business need to be speeded up and "we are doing that". A worker was injured when a portion of an under-construction tunnel fell on him in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said today. Vijay Kumar, a resident of Odisha, received minor injuries when a portion of an under-construction railway tunnel in Kunda area fell on him yesterday, a police officer said today. A case of negligence has been lodged against the construction company, AFFCON, he said. The injured was shifted to hospital where his condition is stated to be out of danger, he said. Libya's air force chief of staff says a fighter jet was shot down while carrying out airstrikes against Islamic militants. Brig. Gen. Saqr al-Jaroushi told The Associated Press that a Libyan MIG32 was striking the positions of Islamic State militants and other militias in the eastern town of Derna when it came under fire by anti-aircraft guns on Monday. He says the pilot ejected and landed safely. The spokesman for a coalition of Islamic militias in Derna, Abdul-Moneim al-Shairy, confirmed that his group fired at the jet. Four civilians were killed in Derna by an airstrike the day before. Al-Jaroushi says that strike was carried out by a "neighboring country," in a thinly-veiled reference to Egypt. Egyptian army spokesman Mohamed Samir denied his country's forces carried out the strike. A offline mobile app launched by the Indian mission here to provide assistance to Indian workers in the Gulf region, particularly in Oman, has been downloaded by 10,000 expatriates. 'MigCall' has become a handy tool for the workers who do not have access to internet to seek assistance whenever needed, particularly in emergency situation, Indian embassy said. Indian Ambassador to Oman Indra Mani Pandey launched MigCall last month for the benefit of Indian workers. The app has been downloaded by 10,000 people till now, the embassy said in a statement. MigCall is brain child of Rejimon K, a senior Indian journalist based in Oman, and developed in cooperation by Jose Chacko, an Indian businessman in the country. The mobile app is available at Google Playstore in various Indian languages such as Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali and English. Once downloaded, the app automatically saves ten Helpline numbers in the call list. When a user registers his home country as India and host country as Oman, for example, then, five main helpline numbers available in Oman are saved in addition to five helpline numbers in India. Similarly, if the user registers his home country as India and host country as UAE, then, five UAE helpline numbers are saved in addition to five helpline numbers in India, the statement said. At present, 'MigCall' provides helpline numbers of only six Gulf Corporation Council countries. The six GCC countries are Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In addition to helpline numbers, the app also provides helpline numbers of passport services, counseling services, local police numbers and hospital numbers, it said. Notably, it also provides a facility to send an SOS message to an emergency number, chosen by the user, in an emergency situation. The app also provides GPS location to its nearest Indian Embassy. On an average, helpline numbers are getting two to five calls per day from stranded workers in the GCC. The importance of the app to connect Expatriate Indians with Embassy officials cannot be overstated, the statement said. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today slammed the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor. He also described the Left Front's ideology as "obsolete". Addressing Congress workers at the conclusion of the "Jana Raksha Yatra", which turned out to be a launch pad of the party's election campaign in Kerala, he took swipe at Modi on several occasions during his 30-minute speech at nearby Shangumugham beach. "You will never see Prime Minister of India with farmers or labourers. You will never see a photograph of Prime Minister holding hands with farmers or labourers," he said addressing the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram march led by KPCC President V M Sudheeran. Attacking Modi, Gandhi said he had come to power in 2014 elections by "spreading anger among different sections in the state. He divided Hindus and Muslims and created anger in the country". He also attacked the CPI(M)-led-LDF opposition in Kerala and said "the ideology they believe in was obsolete and belongs to the previous century". "Kerala cannot build its future from the vision of last century," he said. Without referring to the solar and bar bribery scams, which has rocked government in the state, Gandhi made it clear that Congress would not compromise on corruption. "Congress party will not compromise on corruption and I want to make it very clear. If there is even a (minute) evidence, Congress party will take strict action," he said as he praised the five-year achievements of the UDF government. "I am happy that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has delivered many of the things he promised," he said. Hitting out at the CPI(M) for its vociferous attack on the government over the bar bribery scam, Gandhi wanted the LDF to make their liquor policy clear to the people. "I have one question to ask to the Left in Kerala. It is simple. I would like them to answer. They should clearly tell whether they will open more liquor bars or close them," he asked. Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Gandhi said Modi had also had made "tremendous promises" to the people and youth in the country, "but failed to keep his promises". Referring to some of the promises made, including Rs 15 lakh to be given to every household in their bank accounts and fair price to farmers for their produce and measures to check price rise, he said, "But the moment he took power, he forgot all the promises." On the prices of essential commodities, he said dal price had touched over Rs 200 per kg and prices of other commodities are "skyrocketing". He alleged that the NDA government has not transferred to people a single rupee of benefit it received following the slump in crude oil prices in the international market. "Farmers are being ignored and they were committing suicide... Whether they are rubber, coconut, cardamom farmers of Kerala or farmers from other states, they do not see any future," he said. He also accused the NDA government of "destroying" major UPA welfare programmes, including National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Right to Information and Food Safety. On the suicide of Hyderabad University research student Rohit Vemula, Gandhi said it was not an issue of community, but an issue of "crushing the voice" of students. He took exception to the reported remark of Union Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani that "Rohit was not a Dalit". "The minister had the audacity to say Rohit was not a Dalit. Madam minister, the issue in Hyderabad is not whether he was a Dalit or not. It is a student was crushed. The issue is why Rohit, an Indian student, was not allowed to say and do what he believes in," he said. Gandhi said the students whom he had spoken in Hyderabad told him that "government in Delhi is trying to crush them, defeat them". "It is not the job of government of India to crush the demands of students," he said. While the Prime Minister was talking of 'building India', 'Make in India' and 'Linking India' campaigns, he was 'crushing' the sentiments of students whether in FTII or Hyderabad, he said. Referring to the suicide of Rohit, Gandhi alleged he had taken the extreme step due to 'pressure' of the central government. (Reopens MDS 9) Gandhi, who backed Chandy, said the chief minister had fulfilled most of the promises made to the electorate. One of the major achievements of the state government is the Kochi metro, which when completed would be affordable to vast majority of the people, unlike the Bullet train visualised by Modi which will be affordable only to a few, he said. Kochi was developed as a Smart city with new jobs, providing new education opportunities. Long before Modi used the world startup, Chandy had opened the startup village at Kochi in Kerala, with the government passing the nation's first startup policy. Chandy also focussed on the poor giving rice at Rs one a kg to 94 lakh families who benefited from the subsidies, Gandhi said. Exhorting the workers to remain united and face the polls, he said he was confident of victory. Former Defence Minister and CWC member A K Antony said BJP should not be allowed to open its account in the state at any cost and alleged CPI-M was following the policy of destruction. "BJP is trying its best to win a seat by hook or by crook. But people will defeat them," he said. He also reminded the Congress in the state to remain united -- physically and mentally. Chandy, Sudheeran and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, were among those who spoke. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today questioned Pankaj Bhujbal, son of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, in a money laundering case registered against him and others in connection with the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and an another case. Officials said Pankaj reached the agency's office in the Ballard Estate area in Mumbai and investigators will record his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). ED had issued summons to Pankaj sometime back and it had also seized his passport then. Pankaj, an MLA in the Maharashtra assembly, has been named in the FIR filed by the agency, besides his father and former state PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, other associates and entities and his nephew Samir, who was arrested by ED in the same case earlier this month. ED had twice conducted searches at nine premises, including properties and offices, belonging to the senior Bhujbal, Pankaj, nephew Samir and few others. NCP had then described the searches as "political vendetta". The agency's action came days after the Bombay High Court on January 28 sought progress reports from the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau and ED in four weeks on their probe against Bhujbal and his family members. The agency has filed two FIRs against the Bhujbals and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), based on Mumbai Police FIRs, to probe the Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and the Kalina land grabbing case. It has also brought out orders for attachment of three properties with an estimated worth of over Rs 280 crore in the case under money laundering laws. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today questioned senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal's son Pankaj for almost eight hours here in a money laundering case registered against him and others in connection with the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and another case. Officials said investigators recorded his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after Pankaj reached the agency's office in the Ballard Estate area here in the morning hours. Emerging out of the ED office after about eight hours of questioning, he told waiting reporters that he has been cooperating with the agency and will continue to do so. ED had issued summons to Pankaj sometime ago and it had also seized his passport then. The officials said he was confronted with a number of documents and financial records which the agency had seized earlier in the case including the testimonies given by other accused. Sources indicated that the junior Bhujbal could be asked to "join investigations again". Pankaj, an MLA in the Maharashtra assembly, has been named in the FIR filed by the agency, besides his father and former state PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, other associates and entities and his nephew Sameer, who was arrested by ED in the same case earlier this month. ED had twice conducted searches at about a dozen premises, including properties and offices, belonging to the senior Bhujbal, Pankaj, Sameer and few others. The senior Bhujbal, who arrived in Mumbai today from the US, also sought to deflect the blame of any irregularities in these cases, as he told reporters that all his decisions were taken with the then Chief Minister's consent. The agency's action in the case has come days after the Bombay High Court on January 28 sought progress reports from the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau and ED in four weeks on their probe against Bhujbal and his family members. The agency has filed two FIRs against the Bhujbals and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), based on a clutch of Mumbai Police FIRs, to probe the Maharashtra Sadan construction scam and the Kalina land grabbing case. It has also brought out orders for attachment of movable and immovable properties with an estimated worth of over Rs 280 crore in the case under money laundering laws. The Assam government should approach the judiciary for recovering around Rs 10,000 crore of pending oil royalty from PSU firms, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. However, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said in December 2014 that the state government had approached the Gauhati High Court seeking a direction to energy firms like ONGC and OIL to pay royalty on crude oil on pre-discounted rate to the state in accordance with a Supreme Court order. "When I met the Assam Chief Minister, I asked him to go to the Court regarding the royalty issue... But the Assam government is not going to the Court," Pradhan told reporters here. Gujarat too had issues regarding royalty payment for crude oil and it approached the Supreme Court, who ruled in favour of the state government and then they got the payment, he added. "On our part, we will tell involved PSUs like ONGC not to fight with Assam government in the Court," Pradhan said at a press conference after releasing the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India here. The problem regarding payment of royalty started many years ago as the "then Congress government did not do justice to the states", he added. "We are in-principle not for any discriminatory treatment between states. However, the Assam government has to approach the judiciary to recover the pending dues from the firms," the Minister said. In April 2015, Pradhan had supported Assam government's claim of seeking royalty on crude from PSU firms, including ONGC and OIL, at a pre-discounted rate in line with a Supreme Court order. "Assam's expectation is right... Today, I met the Chief Minister (of Assam) and we discussed the issue. I will definitely take up this matter," Pradhan had said. On December 1, 2014, Gogoi had said: "We have recently filed a petition to Gauhati High Court regarding the royalty issue by oil producers. We want the High Court to direct the companies to pay royalty to Assam as per the Supreme Court decision regarding a petition by Gujarat. "The Chief Minister had also strongly mentioned the issue in a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to Assam on November 29-30, 2014. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been allowing ONGC and OIL to supply crude to oil marketing companies at highly discounted rates and has asked the producers to pay royalty to the states on the basis of such subsidised prices. The Assam government claims that the amount of discount has at times been as high as 90 per cent or more and this has handed the state a cumulative loss of revenue of more than Rs 10,000 crore since 2008-09. The Supreme Court, in its interim order, had directed ONGC to pay oil royalty to Gujarat at pre-discounted crude price beginning from February 1, 2014. Earlier, the Gujarat High Court in a petition filed by the Gujarat government held that the royalty should be payable to the state at market price of crude oil and not post-discount price. The Assam government has been demanding that the state gets its share of royalty on crude and VAT as well as other taxes at actual market price and not on the basis of heavily discounted sale price as is the case of Gujarat. Upstream companies like ONGC and OIL are liable to pay royalty to the states on production of crude oil at 20 per cent on well head price, subject to certain deductions. Besides, such firms are liable to pay VAT at 5 per cent on sale of oil. Apparently stung by Shiv Sena branding Uttar Pradesh as an "Islamic state", Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will address a public rally in Mumbai on February 16 to take on the BJP's ally in Maharashtra. "Mulayam will address a 'desh banao-desh bachao' rally in Mumbai on February 16," SP's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi told PTI today from Mumbai. The SP supremo's decision to hold a rally in Mumbai assumes significance against the backdrop of Sena accusing the UP government of doing "anti-national business for appeasement politics". Sena had lashed out at the Akhilesh Yadav government for allowing Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali to hold a concert here on Sunday. "The 'Islamic Yadav' government says that Ghulam Ali was invited to perform to promote Hindu-Muslim unity. But, to promote unity, why does one need Pakistani artistes only? There are fine Muslim artistes in the country who are famous," Sena had said in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. The party had also alleged that keeping the upcoming UP Assembly polls in mind, the SP government had started "an anti-national business (of inviting Pakistani artistes) to play appeasement politics." Meanwhile, addressing newly elected block pramukhs, zila panchayat members and district panchayat heads, Mulayam pulled up party leaders for not highlighting the achievements of the state government. He also threatened to oust them within six months if they failed to ensure victory of party candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council polls. The elections to 36 MLC seats are to be held on March 3. Mulayam also blamed party legislators and ministers for SP's poor performance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party was reduced to five seats out of 80 in the elections. The Parliamentary Working Committee of the Nagaland Legislators' Forum on Naga political issue will seek support of various political parties in New Delhi for an early peaceful settlement of the issue. The decision was arrived as part of the Committee's meeting held today in the state Assembly complex under the leadership of Assembly Speaker Chotisuh Sazo and Chief Minister T R Zeliang. The Committee resolved that all members would go to New Delhi on February 15 to meet the leaders of various political parties to apprise them of the issue and seek their support for an early peaceful settlement, stated a resolution. Further, the committee comprising all 60 members of the House, acknowledged and appreciated the joint efforts of the Naga Hoho and Eastern Naga People's Organisation for going to Myanmar recently and meeting the authorised representatives of NSCN(K) and conveying the desire of the state government, Nagaland Legislators Forum and Naga people for resumption of the ceasefire agreement with the Centre. The two apex tribal bodies of the state had gone to Myanmar in between January 24 and February 2 on the request of the Parliamentary Working Committee of NLF. In a bid to decongest traffic in the country, the government has decided to increase the length of national highways from 96,000 km, at present, to two lakh km, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "At present, we have 96,000 km national highways or 52 lakh road length in the country. As much as 40% of the traffic moves on these 2% national highways and as a result five lakh accidents take place," the Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping told reporters here. Gadkari said, "Three lakh people get injured and 1.5 lakh are killed in these accidents. The main reason is traffic congestion. Therefore, to save lives of people and diversify traffic, our government has decided to extend national highways from 96,000 km to two lakh km. Nearly 70% to 80% traffic of the country move on this." He said that a formula based on vehicular traffic has been worked out according to which four-lane, six-lane an express highway would be constructed. The minister said in Uttar Pradesh total length of national highways was 8,483 km of which 4,500 km was with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and 3,134 km was with state Public Works Department. "I am happy to tell that in the next two months we have decided to expand this 8,483 km to 17,000 km which is double. Few proposals have been submitted by the state government and others by MPs and MLAs," he said. He said that two new highways would be developed in UP. "First is east-west highway on which we are going to spend Rs 1,400 crore. This will reduce Delhi's traffic by 50% The second one is from Delhi to Dasna, which would be 14 lane, a first time in the country," he said. He said that earlier travel time between Delhi and Meerut, whih took 2.30 hours to 3 hours would now take only 40 minutes. Work on a ring-road in Lucknow at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore has begun and the detailed project report would be ready in two to three months. Lucknow-Kanpur access control highway has also been planned, which would reduce travel time to 40 minutes. He said that 10 projects were likely to be awarded in next three months with a project cost of Rs 4,000 crore. Gadkari said that 10 rail over bridges were being taken up under Setu Bharatam. He said that initially some projects were stalled due to different reasons, but 95% problems have been sorted out at work has started. "Suppose, if we travel by water it costs 15-20 paisa, by rail Re 1 and by road rupees 1.5, therefore its cost-effective. We are spending Rs 3,000 crore on Ganga and will promote tourism," he said. He said that goods could directly be exported to Bangladesh and Myanmar. It would be useful in development of Uttar Pradesh, he added. Oil and natural gas output from North East India will be doubled, besides ramping up refining capacity, entailing an investment of Rs 1,30,000 crore over the next 15 years. Releasing the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said the region has enormous potential in the oil and gas sector. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided to prepare a separate vision document for the North East to take the region forward.The entire region has huge potential and requires specific attention and investment for its development," Pradhan said. The Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India sets a goal to "increase production of oil and natural gas by two times". "To achieve this target, Rs 1,30,000 crore investment will be made by different players in the next 15 years in North East. This means, every year Rs 8,000-10,000 crore investment will be made and most will come to Assam," the minister said. To increase the output, new technologies will be introduced in association with private players and the refineries will be upgraded to produce BS VI fuel, he added. "We are talking to Schlumberger for exploration. We will get advanced technologies from the tie-up and this will help in increasing the output," Pradhan said. He also said the distribution network, including setting up of an additional 7,000 km pipelines, will be strengthened in the region during the period. Of the Rs 1,30,000 crore investment, Rs 80,000 crore will be required for upstream activities of existing and new oil and gas blocks for exploration. An amount of Rs 20,000 crore will be needed for midstream actions, including setting up of four new natural gas pipelines, five new POL product pipelines and three new LPG pipelines. In the downstream area, three existing refineries will be expanded, a new bio-refinery will be set up at Numaligarh and CGD network will be developed across the region at a total investment of Rs 30,000 crore over the next 15 years. The crude oil production in North East stood at 4.54 MMT in 2014-15, while the natural gas production was 11.3 MMSCMD. The region has a crude oil pipeline network of over 1,500 km that is operated by Oil India and ONGC, while it has 950 km long natural gas pipeline. Besides, the region has a product pipeline network of over 1,126 km that transports petroleum products such as diesel and petrol from refineries to different locations. North East India has four refineries with a combined installed capacity of 7 MMTPA, all of them in Assam. Asked about the source of the investment over the next 15 years, Pradhan said: "We do not need any budgetary allocation for this amount. The amount will be put in by the companies on their own for development of the hydrocarbon sector of North East." On effective implementation of the plans mentioned in the document, Pradhan said the Chief Secretary of Assam has suggested to set up an authority to monitor the progress of the objectives. "I have accepted that suggestion and very soon we will come out with a framework on that." Talking about creation of jobs because of the new added thrust in the sector, Pradhan said around 15,000 direct employment and 50,000 indirect employment will be witnessed over the next 15 years. The Numaligarh refinery will start work from this fiscal to set up a bamboo-based ethanol plant within its complex. The document envisages providing access to clean fuel (LPG, PNG) to all households at affordable prices, to promote production of bio fuel and to develop service provider hubs. It also aims expansion of refining capacity in Northeast, develop crude import infrastructure and promote trade between the region and neighbouring SAARC countries, mainly with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. Besides, the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 decided to generate employment through promotion of manufacturing industry and focus on skill development in the region. The Petroleum Ministry will also contribute Rs 50 crore in next fiscal for social developmental work of Majuli island, preservation of rhino and other CSR activities. Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw today said it will take an investment worth $5 billion in biotechnology to realise the target of making it a $100 billion sector by 2025. "Today, biotechnology is a $11 billion sector, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 20 per cent. We also are aspiring to be a $100 billion sector by 2025," Mazumdar-Shaw said. Though this seems a "fairly daunting task", she said, adding that "by investing in human capital and in the sector alone in terms of infrastructure and other research initiatives, I think we can actually deliver on this aspiration." "We have estimated that it will take a $5 billion investment in biotechnology or life sciences to deliver on this potential of realising $100 billion as a sector." Mazumdar-Shaw, also the Chairperson of Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology, was speaking at the inauguration of 16th edition of 'Bangalore India Bio 1016' here. The event was also attended by Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan and Secretary in department of biotechnology K Vijay Raghavan, among others. Stating that India's investment in science and technology is at suboptimal level, she called on the government to invest more. "Amongst all the countries who invest in science and technology we are at a suboptimal level, we actually have here, Korea which actually leads the way in investing in science and technology and I think India needs to basically up its game in science and technology through greater investment," she said. "We request you (Harsh Vardhan) to push the government to make sure that our investment in science and technology only grows and increases, because this is the future of India, this is what will give us demographic dividend from our scientists," she added. The three-day long "Bangalore India Bio" will be covering various spectrum of activities including multi track conferences, international trade show, key note talks, poster sessions, bio invest, global biotech conclave, among others. She said to dominate in the field such as biotechnology and information technology what is paramount is human capital, which will actually shape India's science and technology prowess in the world. Pointing out that today India boasts of 7,00,000 post graduates and 15,000 Phd's across science and technology, Mazumdar-Shaw said in biotechnology alone there were 15,000 graduates and postgraduates specialised in the area. "If we are to basically convert this rich talent pool into meaningful and productive GDP growth, I think it is very important that we actually see how various sectors in life sciences and science and technology have grown," she said. On bio-pharma, she said it was over 50 per cent of the $11 billion pie that had been created and within that also agri-biotech sector can become a huge strength for this country. "It can provide us with food security just as bio-pharma can provide us with health security," she said. Pointing out that biotech sector in India has attained global scale when it comes to vaccine production, insulin production and biosimilar production, Mazumdar-Shaw said, "India has made a very strong presence in the area of synthetically derived generic drugs, and I think this can be replicated and even augmented when it comes to biosimilars." She said today India's vaccine is the largest by way of volume and one in three vaccines have made in India stamp on it, and in many sectors one in two vaccines is actually made in India. "This is something we can replicate in the area of biosimilars..." she added. Noting that incubators are extremely important, Mazumdar-Shaw requested Ministry of Science and Technology to encourage and invest in incubators in all universities and state government level. "Because this is going to be the future of start-ups and encouraging these start-ups to innovate and create and scale in this particular sector," she added. Stressing on for collaboration in biotechnology sector, the Biocon chief said "it is extremely important for in India to collaborate with overseas, this is something we have recognised for a long time because it is with partnership and collaboration we can speed up innovation. Raising "concern" over the external security of Uttarakhand due to its proximity to the China and Nepal border, Governor Krishna Kant Paul today sought more funds from the Centre for infrastructural development in the border areas of the hill state. "Though the law and order situation is satisfactory in the state, the two international borders it shares with China and Nepal are a cause for concern," Paul said at the two-day Governors' conference at Rashtrapati Bhawan presided over by President Pranab Mukherjee. Highlighting several major issues related to the development and progress of the hill state, he said, "Development of infrastructure in the state's border areas must be given top priority". The Border Area Development Plan and the Border Area Development Authority, funded by the Ministry of Home Affairs, need more funding as well as monitoring, the Governor said. Paul also highlighted development achieved by the state despite severe constraints like vulnerability to natural disasters. "In spite of severe constraints like natural disasters, the state has made steady progress since its inception, witnessing a five-fold increase in per capita income in the last one decade and an appreciable increase in literacy levels," he said. The Governor took up issues including security, Swachh Bharat mission, skill development among youth, higher education and earthquakes. The Governor also spoke of the efforts underway in the state to develop skills in IT, automobile repairing, computer assembling and tourism among school dropouts through Polytechnics in order to make them employable or help them earn their living through self-employment. On the Swachh Bharat mission, the Governor said it was being implemented in the entire state. Plans were underway to dispose of 500 MT of garbage through ultra gasification mechanism in Dehradun and Haridwar. Special emphasis on this mission was being laid at Haridwar during the Ardh Kumbh to ensure that the sanctity and cleanliness of the Ganga was maintained. An adequate number of sanitation staff and toilets were in place at the event. Talking about the focus on the need for improving the standard of higher education in the state, Paul said several initiatives had been taken by him as the chancellor of the ten state government Universities. (Reopens NRG22) These initiatives include a Chancellor's Trophy of Excellence instituted with the aim of encouraging these universities to strive towards excellence, encouraging industry-academia interface, honouring the toppers at a Toppers' Conclave, and honouring researchers, teachers and students for excellence. The Governor also spoke about the many measures being taken to make the Raj Bhawan "smart". Energy was being saved by the use of CFL and LED lights and solarisation was also underway, he said. He also stressed the need for a 'green bonus' being given to the state. Regarding the state's efforts to deal with the threat of earthquake, he said that training was being given to engineers to build quake-resistant buildings. He said a seminar was held last year at Raj Bhawan, where experts from IIT Roorkee made presentations on the Early Earthquake Warning System (EEWS) on which they were working. He said the state government was collaborating with IIT-Roorkee and other institutions to understand the nature of seismic threat in the region. The state government was planning to set up an automated system for dissemination of early warnings of earthquakes. Nets of 30 fishermen boats were damaged allegedly by Sri Lankan naval personnel near Katchathevu islet today and they were chased back till Indian territorial waters, a Fishermen Association official said here. P Sesuraja, the Association Secretary alleged that an unusually large number of naval personnel present in the area damaged the nets and chased the fishermen till the Indian territorial waters. The fishermen, part of a group of about 2,500 who had put to sea early this morning in 640 boats, had to return without the daily catch, he said. Taking note of vacant Labour department posts in Rajasthan, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the state government seeking a report on the present strength of the Labour officials in all the 33 revenue districts of the state. According to a NHRC statement, about 160 posts of Labour Inspectors and a sizeable number of post of Labour Welfare Officers are lying vacant in Rajasthan. The Commission has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Rajasthan government, and sought the details within four weeks. Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, Justice D Murugesan, Member of NHRC, observed that these Labour officers are meant for ensuring implementation of the provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. Therefore, a sufficient number of Labour officers is required. The matter came to the knowledge of Justice Murugesan while he was chairing NHRC's day-long workshop on 'Elimination of Bonded Labour' for the sensitization of various stakeholders, including senior government functionaries, in Jaipur on January 29. The Commission has always emphasized that for effective implementation of the provisions of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, a vigilance committee is must. The Labour officers are members in the vigilance committee at district and sub-divisional level to identify the labourer as bonded labourer and therefore sufficient number of Labour officers should be there, said the statement. Finnish telecom equipment firm Nokia today said it has patterned with Indian Institute of Technology -Madras (IIT-M) to create solutions that will allow to provide cost-efficient broadband connectivity in rural areas using unlicensed spectrum. As part of the three-year partnership, Nokia will fund and provide technological expertise for research at IIT-M's Center of Excellence for Wireless Technology (CEWiT). The project will evaluate the option of using unlicensed spectrum to deliver cost-efficient, last-mile broadband connectivity to remote rural communities in India, complementing the government's National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) initiative, Nokia said in a statement. * * * * * * Adani Power 25 cr share preferential issue * Adani Power has allotted 25 crore equity share to Gautambhai Shantilal Adani and Rajeshbhai Shantilal Adani at price of Rs 28 per unit on preferential basis. "The Management Committee of Board of Directors of company has on February 9, 2016 allotted 25 crore) equity shares to Gautambhai Shantilal Adani and Rajeshbhai Shantilal Adani (On behalf of S B Adani family Trust) at a price of Rs 28 per share (including premium of Rs 18 per share) on preferential basis," Adani Power said in a BSE filing. * * * * * * Irish Institutes to offer scholarships for Indian students * 'Education in Ireland', the umbrella brand under which Irish higher education institutions are promoted overseas, is organising education fairs in India from February 20 to 28. The fairs will bring together 12 of the top educational institutes from Ireland in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi, "Education in Ireland", said in a statement. Enterprise Ireland, a Government body, manages the Education in Ireland, the national brand under the authority of the Minister for Education and Skills. It will be held in Delhi on February 20, in Bengaluru on February 21, in Chennai on February 27 and in Kochi on February 28, the statement added. (Reopens DCM 98) Hero Cycles partners Flipkart to go online * Flipkart today said it has partnered Hero Cycles to exclusively launch three new models on its platform. The three models -- Hero Mega Star 26" (18 Speed), Studd 26T (18 Speed) and Studd 26T (S.Speed) -- are priced at Rs 8,999, Rs 8,555 and Rs 6,350, respectively. ****** 360Ride expands ride-sharing service in Delhi-NCR * 360Ride, a Bengaluru-based startup offering P2P-powered ride-sharing platform, today announced expansion into the Delhi-NCR market. The new service will allow commuters to offer/share a ride with people travelling on the same route, thereby reducing congestion and commuting fares as well, 360Ride said in a statement. ****** Nokia, IIT-Madras ink pact on rural broadband connectivity * Nokia has inked a pact with IIT Madras to provide broadband connectivity in rural areas. In the three year partnership, Nokia would fund an "undisclosed sum" besides sharing of knowledge with IIT Madras Centre of Excellence for Wireless Technology, aimed at providing cost-efficient last mile broadband connectivity in remote rural areas, Nokia VP and Head India region, Sandeep Girotra said. Sunil Ramrakhiani joins Equirus Capital * Equirus Capital, a full-service investment bank, today said it has appointed Sunil Ramrakhiani as the CEO of its wealth management vertical, which will be launched shortly. This wealth management vertical is a part of Equirus' strategy for broad-basing the financial services. Sunil, who was the managing partner of Crystal Path Capital Advisors prior to joining Equirus, is credited to have identified and set up Algorithm and high frequency trading (HFT) team - AlphaGrep Securities while working as a chief operating officer at Way2Wealth Securities, a Coffee Day venture. * * * * * * IIMB inks pact with IIIT-B to share expertise in tech and mgt * Indian Institute of Management Bangalore today said it has entered into an MoU with the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) with an objective of sharing their expertise in areas of technology and management respectively with start-ups being incubated in their respective innovation centres. The institutions will work together to provide technology and business mentorship aimed at helping young technology startups and entrepreneurs achieve sustainable business growth in the Indian startup landscape, IIMB said in a release. The IIIT-B Innovation Centre was started in 2009 and is currently incubating 17 startup companies that are developing innovative IT-based products to solve problems in areas such as healthcare, transportation and energy. * * * * * * IPL-9 most viewed event on TV * Broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India today said the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 9 was viewed by 54 per cent of India's total television viewing audiences, making it the most viewed event on pay TV. The just concluded ninth season of the popular T20 tournament had a cumulative reach of 361 million viewers, it said in a statement. The May 29 final match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore had 121 million TV viewers, a 55 per cent jump over the event cumulative reach average, it said. HGS Colibrium CEO Mark Poling resigns * Hinduja Global Solutions Colibrium today said its CEO Mark Poling has resigned and is leaving as a founder to pursue other interests. As a result of this, he now ceases to be a shareholder of HGS Colibrium Inc, the company said in a statement. Consequently, the effective shareholding of HGS has increased from 89.9 per cent to 95.2 per cent, it added. "Mark's vision and leadership have helped Colibrium become a leading provider of individual, medicare and small group sales and enrollment software for health insurance plans," HGS Executive Vice President and Head of Healthcare Business Ramesh Gopalan said. ******* Cyfuture to set up new data centre with Rs 50 cr investment * IT firm Cyfuture will build a new data centre with an initial investment of Rs 50 crore (about USD 8 million) in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The new data centre, with an initial capacity of 500 racks, will be an addition to its already existing facilities in Noida and Jaipur, Cyfuture said in a statement today. Construction work is in progress and the facility is expected to be operational by the end of the current calendar year, it added. ******* Finance Buddha disburses consumer loans worth Rs 100 cr * Fintech startup Finance Buddha today said it has disbursed over Rs 100 crore in consumer loans in May this year. "We are using our omni-channel distribution strategy coupled with a huge technology multiplier which helps in seamless matchmaking and recommendations... We feel that we have built significant scale in this space," Finance Buddha co-founder and CEO Parth Pande said in a statement. Finance Buddha, which has offices in 12 cities, has originated loans upwards of Rs 1,000 crore in 2015-16. Present both online and offline, the company offers a marketplace for lending products like personal loans, business loans, home loans and loan against property. It aims to disburse over Rs 2,000 crore worth of loans in the next financial year. ******* Wok Express to invest Rs 120 cr for pan-India expansion * Quick service restaurant Wok Express plans to spend Rs 100 crore as it expands its presence in Mumbai and enters new markets like New Delhi and Bengaluru. "Wok Express will open 20 more outlets in Mumbai by 2017, investing about Rs 20 crore in its Mumbai expansion and further invest over 100 crore to set up a chain of over 100 outlets across Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru," it said in a statement today. The investment would be funded through internal accruals and will be spread over five years. The company is promoted by family members of Ajanta Pharma, the statement said. A 19-year-old nursing student has been found dead with head injuries in a private college campus here, with her family suspecting foul play and demanding a detailed probe, police said today. The girl, hailing from Kettipalada in Nilgiris district, was found lying dead in a pool of blood with head injuries on the college campus in Madukkarai last night, police said. This is the third incident involving the death of college students in the state with in a fortnight after the alleged suicide of three girls of a naturopathy college in Villupuram and death of another girl student in Anna University campus in Chennai. Father of the student, Yesudas, reached the college this morning on information from the college management only to learn that his daughter was dead and the body was lying in the hospital. Yesudas, suspecting foul play, claimed that his daughter was "not a coward to commit suicide", police said. The girl's father and relatives refused to accept the body from the hospital alleging foul play in the death and demanding a detailed inquiry into the incident. The Obama administration today proposed $860 million in aid for Pakistan, including $265 million for military hardware, which it said would help the country fight terrorists, secure nuclear weapons and improve ties with India. While there was no mention of Pakistan in President Barack Obama's budgetary proposals, Secretary of State John Kerry in his proposals said the budget includes $859.8 million towards sustaining ties with Pakistan and making progress to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat violent extremist groups." "The requested funding will support the country's counter-insurgency missions, and bolster stability, energy access, economic growth, and social reform," Kerry said in a letter accompanying his proposals. "Pakistan lies at the heart of the US counter-terrorism strategy, the peace process in Afghanistan, nuclear non-proliferation efforts, and economic integration in South and Central Asia," State Department said making its case for the aid to Pakistan under the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund. "OCO resources will support critical US activities such as ensuring the safety of Pakistani nuclear installations,working with Pakistan to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan, and promoting improved relations with India," it said. For Pakistan, the OCO request supports a robust diplomatic presence and critical assistance programmes to advance cooperation and reforms in energy, economic growth, and agriculture, education, health, and stabilisation of areas vulnerable to violent extremism, it said. This includes supporting the government and its people, while maintaining diplomacy and outreach in the face of challenging political and security conditions, it said. The State Department plans to sustain the presence necessary to "achieve our essential strategic priorities of combating terrorism and enhancing stability in Pakistan and the region following the transition in Afghanistan." Under the Economic Support Fund (ESF) of the OCO, the State Department has proposed $400 million to Pakistan. The State Department said this will support the US' strategic objectives in the region, including combating terrorism and violent extremism and increasing security, growth and stability within Pakistan and the broader region. "The request will also demonstrate the US' commitment to fostering longterm cooperation with the Government of Pakistan in order to address areas of mutual interest," it said. Under OCO's Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement section, the State Department has proposed $40 million for Pakistan-funded programmes that will promote stability during the transition in Afghanistan. Proposing $265 million under Foreign Military Funding (FMF)-- which mainly means providing military hardware, the State Department said given the transition in Afghanistan and continued terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, it is essential to Pakistan's efforts to increase stability on its western border and within the country. Oil rebounded slightly today from the previous day's sharp selloff, but gains were capped by a gloomy market assessment from the IEA energy watchdog. In midday deals in London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April was up 11 cents at USD 32.99 a barrel. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery added 46 cents to USD 30.15 a barrel compared with yesterday's close. "Oil prices are recovering slightly from the heavy losses they suffered" yesterday, said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch. Prices had fallen sharply yesterday after weekend talks between OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and fellow cartel member Venezuela dashed hopes for a reduction in world production. "Hopes of coordinated production cuts appear to be dwindling after Sunday's meeting between the oil ministers of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela failed to yield any concrete results," added Fritsch. The International Energy Agency (IEA) also played down talk of a global output cut, warning today that the supply glut would prevent any short-term price rebound, and also shaved its 2016 demand forecast. "With the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term," the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly market report. "In these conditions the short term risk to the downside (for prices) has increased," added the watchdog that advises countries on energy policy. Late last month, prices had rallied on speculation that Russia - the largest global oil producer - and the 12-nation OPEC cartel could discuss coordinated output cuts. However today, the IEA poured more cold water on the prospect of a potential agreement. "Persistent speculation about a deal between OPEC and leading non-OPEC producers to cut output appears to be just that: speculation," the IEA said. "It is OPEC's business whether or not it makes output cuts either alone or in concert with other producers but the likelihood of coordinated cuts is very low." And it noted that OPEC was responsible for the supply glut hitting the market, adding that sanctions-free Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq had "all turned up the taps" in January. The watchdog also lowered its 2016 world oil demand forecast by 0.1 million barrels per day to 95.6 mbd. Oil had crashed in January, with New York crude ducking below USD 28 for the first time since September 2003 on abundant crude supplies and global economic gloom centred on China's slowdown. Oil resumed heavy falls today, erasing earlier gains in highly volatile trade, after the International Energy Agency issued a gloomy market outlook. In late afternoon deals in London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April dived USD 2.25 to USD 30.63 per barrel. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery shed USD 1.07 to USD 28.62 a barrel compared with yesterday's close. Oil had already crashed in January, with New York crude ducking below USD 28 for the first time since September 2003 on abundant crude supplies and global economic gloom centred on China's slowdown. "Oil is falling on continued worries about excessive supply as the odds of an output cut from Russia and OPEC are fading fast," City Index analyst Fawad Razaqzada told AFP today. Prices had tanked yesterday after weekend talks between OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and fellow cartel member Venezuela dashed hopes for a reduction in world production. Today, the market dived once again after the IEA forecast the global oil surplus would be larger than previously expected in the first half of 2016. "The IEA now envisages that supply may exceed demand by an average of 1.75 million barrels a day in the first half of this year, compared with an estimate of 1.5 million last month," added Razaqzada. "The IEA, like many other forecasters, think that the excess could grow if output from the OPEC increases further, a probable outcome given that Iran is now in the process of making a full return to oil the market." The energy watchdog also played down talk of a global output cut, warning that the supply glut would prevent any short-term price rebound. "With the market already awash in oil, it is very hard to see how oil prices can rise significantly in the short term," the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly report. "In these conditions the short term risk to the downside (for prices) has increased," added the watchdog that advises countries on energy policy. Late last month, prices had rallied on speculation that Russia -- the largest global oil producer -- and the 12-nation OPEC cartel could discuss coordinated output cutbacks. However today, the IEA poured more cold water on the prospect of a potential agreement. "Persistent speculation about a deal between OPEC and leading non-OPEC producers to cut output appears to be just that: speculation," the IEA said. One person was killed and two others injured when the truck in which they were travelling overturned at Ambedkar circle here, police said today. The deceased was identified as Mohd Raja, 22 years, the police said. Two injured Sanaullahkhan and Feroze Khan were rushed to a government hospital and their condition was stable, they said. The truck loaded with carpet when the accident occurred midnight last, they said, adding the exact reason and transporter's identity was being investigated. However the driver escaped after the mishap, they said. Nearly 90 policemen and dozens of protesters were today injured in Hong Kong after a riot erupted when officials tried to shift illegal hawkers, the worst clashes since mass pro-democracy protests in 2014. Baton-wielding policemen fired warning shots and pepper spray after the clash started early today. Footage showed protesters levering up bricks from pavements in the busy Mongkok district, charging police lines with homemade shields and setting rubbish on fire in the middle of the road. One officer was seen pointing his gun at crowds who hurled bricks, bottles and pieces of wooden pallets at police. Police said nearly 90 officers were injured by broken glass or hard objects, while dozens of protesters were also hurt in the Chinese New Year clash. Police fired at least two warning shots in the air, multiple news outlets reported, a very rare occurrence in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city. Police Commissioner Stephen Lo defended the officer who fired the warning revolver shots, saying rioters were continuously attacking his already injured colleague. "With no alternative, his police colleague used his firearm in accordance with the use of force principles to prevent his fellow colleague from being further attacked," Lo said, adding there would be a full investigation. Police said 54 protesters aged between 15-70 were arrested for assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in a public place, among offences. "We will consider charging the arrested persons for participating in a riot," Lo said. This carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Social media has dubbed the street battles that erupted after officials tried to move illegal food hawkers as the "fishball revolution". Demonstrators, including members of radical "localist" groups which stress Hong Kong's separate identity from the mainland, tried to defend the hawkers whom they say add to the festive atmosphere. Reports said one of those arrested was Edward Leung, a "localist" candidate for an upcoming by-election on February 28. Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying said the government "strongly condemns such violent acts". "There was a riot in Mongkok in the early hours of today," the chief executive told reporters. "A few hundred mobs attacked police officers and media. A Pakistan Army fighter jet on a training mission today crashed in Gujranwala district in Punjab, killing both the instructor and a trainee pilot. Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said the aircraft was on a training mission when it crashed in Gujranwala district in Punjab. "Both the crew members, instructor pilot Major Azhar and trainee pilot Captain Ahmed lost their lives in the crash," Bajwa said. The immediate cause of crash was not known. The crash is the latest deadly accident to hit Pakistan's military. In November last year, a female pilot of Pakistan Air Force was killed when her trainer fighter jet crashed in Punjab province. (Reopens FGN 26) District Police Officer Rai Zameer said the army's Mustaq jet crashed near Chenab Bridge, some 100 kms from Lahore. "Technical fault could be a reason behind the incident," he said. The rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the bodies to the Combined Military Hospital Gujranwala district of Punjab. A Pakistani court has accepted a petition seeking direction to the government to bring back Koh-i-Noor from British Queen Elizabeth-II, overruling the objection to the plea for the famed diamond, which India has been trying to get from the UK for years. Lahore High Court Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan yesterday overruled the objection by the court's registrar office to the petition which has named Queen Elizabeth II and British High Commission in Pakistan respondents in the case. The plea filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry made Pakistan's claim over the 105-carat gem on the basis that it hailed from the territory that became Pakistan in 1947. The court directed the office to fix the petition before any appropriate bench for hearing. In December last year, the registrar office's had dismissed the plea terming it as non-maintainable and said that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case against the British Queen. The petitioner filed a fresh application in the high court pleading that in Britain the Queen is respondent in every case. "Why not she can be made respondent in a case in Pakistan," he argued in the court. In the petition, Jaffry argued that Britain "forcibly and under duress" stole the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took it to Britain. "The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond," he said. The London-trained lawyer said that he has written 786 letters to the Queen and to Pakistani officials before filing the lawsuit. "Koh-i-Noor was not legitimately acquired. Grabbing and snatching it was a private, illegal act which is justified by no law or ethics. A wrong is a wrong. It does not become righteous or right by passage of time or even acquiescence," he said in the petition. Claiming that the diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact, he sought direction to the government to bring the diamond back to Pakistan from the UK. The Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels and is now on display in the Tower of London. India has made regular requests for the jewel's return, saying the diamond is an integral part of the country's history and culture. India says that Koh-i-Noor was illegally acquired and demands that it should be returned along with other treasures looted during colonial rule. (REOPENS FGN 17) The Koh-i-Noor was mined in medieval times in the Kollur mine in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district. The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya Dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye. Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated. The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. It passed through the hands of various invaders and was finally appropriated by the British in 1850 during the Raj. India has been long demanding the return of Koh-i-Noor which was owned by several Mughal emperors and Maharajas before being seized by the British. When Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence in 1997, many Indians in India and Britain demanded the return of the diamond. British Indian MP Keith Vaz had called for the return of 'Koh-i-Noor' diamond to India ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UK in November last year. Britain has, however, consistently rejected India's claims on the gem and during a visit to India in 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron had said in an interview on Indian television: "What tends to happen with these questions is that if you say yes to one, then you would suddenly find the British Museum empty. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Qatar from tomorrow to further strengthen bilateral relations in various fields and sign a mega $15 billion natural gas deal that will enable the energy-starved country to import the non-toxic gas for 15 years. Sharif will be accompanied by a high-level delegation on the two-day visit beginning tomorrow and have meetings with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, according to a statement by the Foreign Office. The two sides would also hold wide-ranging delegation level talks. "A number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the field of Health, Radio & Television, Education & Research and a Long-term Sale/Purchase Agreement (SPA) of LNG would be concluded by both sides," FO said. An official of ministry of petroleum and natural resource said that $15 billion LNG agreement will enable Pakistan to import gas for 15 years. "The agreement will help address energy shortages in the country and play an important role in economic development," he said. The FO said that the main focus of the Prime Minister's visit and interaction with the Qatari leadership will be on further enhancement of bilateral relations in various fields, including energy cooperation, trade and investment, defence and increase in employment opportunities for the Pakistani workforce in Qatar. Both leaders would also exchange views on regional and issues of mutual interest. Qatar hosts more than 115,000 Pakistanis. "Pakistan gives great importance to its ties with Qatar. The two countries enjoy friendly and fraternal relations marked by close cooperation. Both sides share perception on various regional and issues," it said. Expressing concern over Pakistan's evolving "tactical nuclear weapons" doctrine, a top American spymaster today warned the Congress about the increasing risks of an "incident" associated with the growing nuclear arsenal. "Pakistan's nuclear weapons continues to grow. We are concerned that this growth, as well as the evolving doctrine associated with tactical weapons, increases the risk of an incident or accident," Defence Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Islamabad continues to take steps to improve its nuclear security, and is aware of the threat presented by extremists to its programs," Stewart said in his testimony. A Congressional report in January had estimated Pakistan's nuclear warheads to be between 110-130 and that they are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it "Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more," the Congressional Research Service said in the report. Stewart also said Pakistan will face internal security threats from militants and separatist groups this year. Islamic State's branch in Afghanistan-Pakistan and al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent will remain significant security concerns for Islamabad, he said. "Counterinsurgency operations along Pakistan's Western border and paramilitary operations in Karachi have had some success in reducing violence and are likely to continue," Stewart said. A delegation of parliamentarians from France, Italy, Denmark and Finland and representatives of some international social organisations today met Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien who briefed them about work being done for gender equality and women empowerment. He also informed the delegation about the progress made by India in reducing maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate, a Rajya Sabha release said. The delegation included representatives of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Action Plan Against Diarrhoea and Pneumonia (IAPPD). Kurien also shared the initiatives taken by India for supporting girl child as well as improvement made in the area of reproductive health. He also appreciated the contribution made by the European nations, the United Nations and NGOs in this regard. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today urged the country to pray for the recovery of braveheart Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who miraculously survived after being buried under snow for six days on Siachen glacier. Parrikar, who visited Koppad at the Army Research and Referral hospital here, said his prayers are with the soldier. "Doctors are putting in best (efforts). Let us pray for him," he told reporters outside the hospital. Parrikar met the doctors treating him and inquired about the soldier's health. Koppad is comatose and his condition is extremely critical, the hospital had said earlier in the day, after he was flown in here from Siachen glacier today. Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission today said it has written to the External Affairs Ministry to bring back 11 dalit youths from the state who are imprisoned in Dubai. Chairman of Punjab State SC Commission, Rajesh Bagha, in a release, said 11 Punjabi dalit youths had gone to Dubai in search of employment, where they were imprisoned. Without giving further details, he said the parents of the youths brought this matter to the notice of the Commission, following which, it has written to External Affairs Ministry. Bagha said Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission is duty-bound to address the problems of the community. The Centre is working on a proposal to ply an amphibious aircraft on the Ganga between Varanasi and Kolkata and has a target of developing 111 waterways in the country. "My target is to develop waterways in rivers. Parliament has given the consent to such five inland waterways in which Ganga and Brahmaputra are included. The target is to develop 111 such waterways. There will be trade up to Bangladesh and Myanmar through waterways. An amphibious aircraft will be operated between Varanasi and Kolkata. It will be a cheaper mode of transport," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday at a public meeting here. "620 km-long Farrakha to Patna inland waterway will be completed 6 months," he added. Electric bikes, buses and cars will also be introduced in two years to boost environment protection, he said. "These vehicles will be operated with lithium-ion battery that is used in satellites and rockets. Such an electric bus has been given to the Parliament," he remarked. Gadkari also said the Narendra Modi government would fulfil the dream of ensuring a clean and pure Ganga in five years. The minister said there was a target to start transportation from Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka through an underground sea tunnel. He said 5,000 institutes would be set up in the country having facility such as driving licence, fitness, pollution certificate and would provide employment to one lakh people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will next week launch a 'Rural-Urban (Rurban) mission in Chhattisgarh, aimed at proper implementation of various development schemes. The Prime Minister has given his consent to launch the ambitious Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban (Rural-Urban) mission from Dongargarh in Chhattisgarh on February 21, a press release issued by the state government said. Modi will also lay foundation stones for housing-for-all scheme and electronic manufacturing cluster. He will also inaugurate a jungle safari, it said. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who met Modi here, said the Prime Minister will launch the mission in the presence of villagers, representatives from self help groups and panchayati raj institutions. The Chief Minister said that rural and urban areas will be developed into clusters for implementation of development schemes under Rurban mission, the release said. The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for housing scheme in Naya Raipur. Under the scheme, 40,000 EWS and LIG houses will be constructed towards achieving the target of housing for all by 2022 under 'Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana'. The electronic manufacturing cluster will be developed on 70 acres of land in Naya Raipur at an estimated cost of Rs 90 crore. It is estimated that capital investment of Rs 2,000 crore and employment opportunities for over 3,800 youths will be generated by it. Modi will also inaugurate a jungle safari in Naya Raipur developed in an area of 320.15 hectare at a cost of Rs 226 crore. Raman Singh also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and sought their help in completing various development works in his state related to their ministries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hailed Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining under a huge mass of snow for six days at Siachen Glacier, saying he is an "outstanding soldier" whose "endurance & indomitable spirit" cannot be described in words. Modi went to Army's Research and Referral Hospital here to see Hanumanthappa soon after he was airlifted from Siachen and prayed for his best. "No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," he tweeted. "Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best," Modi added. The Lance Naik was flown here from Siachen Glacier this morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the Research and Referral Hospital. His condition is critical but stable and he is undergoing various tests in the hospital, army sources said. Just before visiting the hospital, the Prime Minister tweeted: "Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation." Hanumanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive yesterday, buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. The temperature at that altitude was minus 45 degrees Celsius. Nine other personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), of Madras Regiment have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he has said. The Pattali Makkal Katchi will not have any apprehensions in contesting independently all the 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu in the coming assembly elections, party's chief ministerial candidate, Anbumani Ramadoss, MP, today said. "It will not have any apprehensions to contest individually (all the seats) without any alliance unlike political parties like DMK, AIADMK and Congress which are scared to contest without alliance," he said. He met Daivasigamani,Coordinator of Farmers Associations at Erode also some 20 Agriculturists Association leaders seeking their support for his party in the polls. He later told reporters that if PMK was elected to power, a separate annual budget would be given for Agriculture and a separate ministry would be started for horticulture, agriculture and irrigation. He hit out at the DMK and AIADMK and alleged that both parties had done nothing for the agriculturists. He said if PMK comes to power it would waive all agricultural loans borrowed from cooperative banks and Nationalised Banks. He alleged that there was no industrial, agricultural and economical development in AIADMK rule. The initial public offer of software provider Quick Heal Technologies was subscribed 77 per cent on the second day of the offer today. The Rs 451-crore IPO received bids for 78,35,850 shares against the total issue size of 1,01,37,557 shares, data available with the NSE till 1700 hours showed. The portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 27 per cent, while non institutional investors received 10 per cent subscription. On the other hand, retail investors portion was oversubscribed 1.38 times, according to the NSE data. Quick Heal has already raised Rs 133.9 crore through issue of shares to 10 anchor investors. The company has fixed the price band at Rs 311-321 for its IPO. The IPO, which would close tomorrow, consists of fresh issue of Rs 250 crore and an offer for sale of about 62.70 lakh equity shares by promoters Kailash Sahebrao Katkar and Sanjay Sahebrao Katkar, as well as Sequoia Capital India Investment Holdings III. ICICI Securities, Jefferies India and JPMorgan India are the book running lead managers while Link Intime India is the registrar to the public issue. While the proceeds from the offer of sale would not go to Quick Heal Technologies, the Rs 250 crore funds raised from fresh issue of equity shares would be used by the company for advertising and sales promotion and capital expenditure for research and development. The proceeds would also be invested to purchase, develop and renovate its office premises in Kolkata, Pune and New Delhi, as well as general corporate needs. The company is a provider of security software products and solutions in India. Quick Heal's equity shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE. Welspun Group today said it has appointed Rajesh Padmanabhan as the group chief human resource officer. Padmanabhan was heading the HR division of Vedanta Group prior to this. He has over three decades of experience across sectors like corporate banking, leasing and structured finance, SAP and global human resources functions, a statement said. Padmanabhan has also worked with Capgemini India, Patni Computers, Essel Propack, ICICI Group and the Oberoi Group. The police arrested four alleged robbers after an exchange of fire early this morning in suburban Borivali. Police received a call that a senior citizen couple were attacked and looted by robbers at Satya Sai Krupa building in Satya Nagar in suburban Borivali at about 2.30 AM. "Following a dacoity in Borivali east area yesterday, we had increased the night patrolling in the entire Borivali- Kandivali belt," DCP (Zone XI) Vikram Deshmane said. A team led by Inspector Gunaji Sawant spotted four robbers near a marshy area near Shimpoli temple and cordoned it off. The robbers threw stones and also fired two rounds at the police before jumping into a nullah. Police fired six rounds in retaliation. As morning broke, three robbers were found in the nullah while another was hiding in a tree. Those arrested were identified as Ashok Rajendra Shinde, Sanjay Kalyan Kale, Santosh Devidas Chavan and Rajendra Chandar Shinde, all from Osmanabad in central Maharashtra and they are part of a 'chaddi-baniyan' gang. The gang derives it name from the practice of the members to wear only knickers and a vest and apply oil to their bodies before setting out to commit a robbery so as to slip out easily in a physical fight, police said. Ashok had suffered bullet injuries during the encounter. Six of the policemen were also injured in the operation but none of them suffered a bullet injury, police said. A massive search operation to nab their accomplices, if any, was underway in the area till 11 AM, Deshmane said. Police recovered the bag robbed from the couple, a revolver and bullets as well as a sickle used in the crime. The same gang had last week committed robberies at Mira Road, MHB, Borivali, other parts of the city and neighbouring areas, police said. A routine blood test that uses a neuroprotective protein as a biomarker may effectively diagnose Alzheimer's disease, a new study has found. Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel and Harvard University in US have proposed a new biomarker for cognitive ageing and Alzheimer's disease: activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP), the levels of which can be easily monitored in routine blood tests. The study also found that ADNP levels tested in the blood correlate with higher IQ in healthy older adults. Medical professionals have to conduct a long series of tests to assess a patient's memory impairment and cognitive skills, functional abilities, and behavioural changes to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease. They also have to execute costly brain imagining scans and even, sometimes, invasive cerebral spinal fluid tests to rule out other diseases. The process is laborious at best - and subjective at worst. For the study, researchers analysed blood samples taken from 42 healthy adults, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and Alzheimer's disease patients. After comparing the ADNP expression in the blood samples, they prepared plasma samples and once again compared the protein levels. Significant increases in ADNP RNA levels were observed in patients ranging from MCI to Alzheimer's. ADNP levels tested in plasma and serum samples, as well as white blood cell RNA levels, distinguished among cognitively normal elderly, MCI, and Alzheimer's dementia participants. "This study has provided the basis to detect this biomarker in routine, non-invasive blood tests, and it is known that early intervention is invaluable to Alzheimer's patients," said Illana Gozes from TAU. "The more ADNP RNA found in the blood cells, the fewer aggregates found in the brain of elderly cognitively normal individuals. Interestingly, we also found that the more ADNP in the serum, the higher the person's IQ level," Gozes said. "We are now planning to take these preliminary findings forward into clinical trials - to create a pre-Alzheimer's test that will help to tailor potential preventative treatments," she added. The findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister D Umamaheswara Rao today said the state Government had released Rs 115 crore for the rehabilitation of those displaced by the Polavaram irrigation project in the East and West Godavari districts. East Godavari district will get Rs 55 crore while the West Godavari will receive Rs 60 crore. An IAS officer had been nominated to look after the rehabilitation scheme, he added. Pumping of water from all the 24 pumps at Pattiseem lift irrigation project to divert the Godavari water to Krishna river to meet the requirement of Krishna delta in the coming Kharif season will be possible by March-end, he said. Under Telugu Ganga project, the government was supplying water for 9.73 lakh acres in Nellore district. The irrigation department had proposed to increase storage capacity of the Kandaleu reservoir in Nellore district with an estimated cost of Rs 320 cr. Legendary children's author Ruskin Bond is writing his autobiography in three volumes, one of which will reveal why he did not marry. "I will write three memoirs. First one will be on my writing life, second one on my personal life, which includes my love life," Bond told PTI in an interview here. The third book, he said would be on his "invented life" - the life, which the writer would like to have. "I can tell a lot of tall stories. That book will probably be the most amusing," the 81-year-old bachelor, who lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie, said. Although many of his stories are semi-autobiographical in nature, his first attempt at writing a full-fledged memoir was in 2000 when 'Scenes from a Writer's Life: A Memoir' was published. But, it covers only first few formative years of the Anglo-Indian's life till the age of 21 before his first book 'The Room on the Roof', which also has autobiographical elements, was published. Born to a British Air Force personnel in Kasauli, he grew up in smaller towns of Jamnagar, Shimla and Dehradun. After staying for a few years in London, the Sahitya Akademi Award winner and Padma Bhushan winning writer came back to the country of his birth. "I am extending that book now to include some of the things I had left out. And some of the things I see in a different perspective now. It will be ready in the next 3-4 months," said the author who was recently in the city to talk at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet. Bond, known for works like 'The Blue Umbrella', 'Funny Side Up', 'Vagrants in the Valley', 'Delhi Is Not Far' and 'A Flight of Pigeons', has been maintaining a diary all his life, which would become the source of his memoirs. He concurrently works on 2-3 books at the same time. Besides the autobiography, he is busy writing a mystery story, while another part of the famous 'Rusty' series would come out next year. "I am also writing a book of fun, which will have funny recipes for cakes, what to eat, what kids like, funny astrological predictions, for example. It will also have some anecdotes about funny things that have happened to me and others," the noted author said. Penguin has just brought out a special 60th anniversary edition of the bestseller 'The Room on the Roof'. "I think its very intense because it was a novel about adolescence written by an adolescent. That is what makes it different. May be I don't have that type of intensity now. May be I am a slightly different kind of writer now," he said. Over many editions, he said he has never changed a word of the book and retained all the mistakes. "It is immature in part, but that reflects the writer. And then people say since it was a writing by a boy, it has the natural wisdom of any young man," Bond said. The first book is the favourite one of the author who has penned over 500 short stories, essays and novels. "I must read through it again. May be I can improve my writing," he signs off. The Russian Orthodox Church today said it hoped a historic first meeting between its Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis would herald a new era of cooperation between two Christian branches that have been estranged for centuries. The Vatican announced Friday that the pair will meet in Cuba next week, in the first gathering of its kind since the bitter 11th-century split that divided Christianity into Western and Eastern branches. Each wing has since maintained that it is the true inheritor of the early Christian church established by the apostles of Jesus Christ. "This historic meeting clearly marks a new stage in our relations," the Orthodox Church's spokesman Father Alexander Volkov told a press conference. He added that the Church hopes the meeting at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport on February 12 will lead to "new prospects" for cooperation between the two. Volkov stressed that the meeting was not political in nature. "I can 100 percent guarantee that this is a meeting between two Church leaders that has nothing to do with politics," he said. "The agenda of a church is not linked to the agenda of any country." Patriarch Kirill, 69, is considered close to the Kremlin. He has notably defended Russia's air campaign in Syria, which Moscow says is aimed at wiping out jihadists. The West accuses Russia of targeting more moderate factions that oppose President Bashar al-Assad, who Moscow supports. Relations have warmed of late between Rome and other branches of the Orthodox tradition, but the Russian one, the most influential in the Eastern family, had maintained its distance until now. A meeting between Francis and Kirill had been on the cards for some time with Francis saying in 2014 that he was willing to meet "wherever you want". Steel giant SAIL today reported a standalone net loss of Rs 1,528.73 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, on lower income. The country's largest steelmaker had reported a profit of Rs 579.09 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, the company said in a BSE filing. The total income of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) dropped by 19.52% to Rs 8,939.12 crore during the quarter as against Rs 11,107.32 crore last fiscal. Total expenses were marginally up at Rs 10,779.72 crore during October-December period as against Rs 10,370.89 crore in the year-ago period. The company's finance cost shot up to Rs 524.24 crore during the quarter as against Rs 366.57 crore in the year-ago quarter. The revenue from Bhilai Steel Plant stood at Rs 3,292 crore while Durgapur Steel Plant contributed Rs 1,435 crore. Revenue from Rourkela and Bokaro Steel plants stood at Rs 1,594 crore and Rs 1,638 crore, respectively. IISCO contributed Rs 712 crore revenue while Alloy Steels Plant recorded a revenue of Rs 131 crore. Salem Steel Plant's revenue stood at Rs 400 crore while Visvesvariya Plant contributed Rs 57 crore revenue. SAIL is the largest steel-making company in India and one of the seven Maharatna's of the country's Central Public Sector Enterprises. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 38.85 on BSE at about 1500 hours, down 4.43% from the previous close. A Patriot missile shot down a Scud fired from the Yemeni capital towards southern Saudi Arabia today, the Saudi-led coalition, the day after another Scud attack. In the latest incident, debris from the destroyed Scud fell in the kingdom's Jazan border province, causing no injuries, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri, the coalition spokesman, told AFP. He said rebels launched it from inside the Yemeni capital Sanaa, located around 200 kilometres from Jazan -- which they seized in late 2014. The Saudis have deployed Patriots designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles, which have been fired occasionally since March when the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in support of the Yemeni government after Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized much of the neighbouring country. In April last year the Saudi defence ministry said coalition strikes had removed threats to the kingdom's security "by destroying heavy weaponry and ballistic missiles" seized by the Yemeni rebels. With coalition-backed anti-Huthi forces now 30 to 40 kilometres from Sanaa, the rebels are retaliating, Assiri said. Vehicle-borne Scud ballistic missiles have a much longer range and more powerful warhead than the rockets and mortar bombs which have struck the kingdom's southern border regions, killing about 90 civilians and soldiers since the coalition intervention began. The United Nations says more than 6,100 people in Yemen have been killed in the conflict since March, about half of them civilians. On Monday the coalition said air defences intercepted a Scud fired at Khamis Mushait, a city near the King Khalid Air Base which is at the forefront of Saudi-led air operations against the Huthis and their allies, elite troops loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Markets regulator Sebi today barred Shamrock Industrial Company for the failure to address investors' grievances and non-compliance with online complaint redressal system - SCORES - while it disposed of proceedings against 10 other firms. Sebi said these companies had failed to obtained SCORES authentication from the regulator within the mandated timeframe. According to an order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), there were three complaints from investors pending against Shamrock Industrial as on January 28, 2016. Barring the company and its directors -- Kamlesh Rameshchandra Khokhani and Kalpesh Rameshchandra Khokhani -- from the securities market, Sebi said the ban will continue till the company resolves all the investor grievances pending against it. Out of the 11 companies in question, eight are under liquidation. These companies are Vermani Steel Strips, Varuna Aagroproteins, SSL (India) Limited, Sidco Leathers, SFL Industries, Altos India Limited, Celeste International and Arihant Steel & Alloys. The Section 446 of the Companies Act states: "When a winding up order has been made or the official liquidator has been appointed as provisional liquidator, no suit or other legal proceeding shall be commenced... Against the company except by leave of the (Tribunal)." In eight similarly-worded orders, Sebi's Adjudicating Officer Vijayant Kumar Verma said, "I am of the opinion that the present adjudication proceedings fall under the scope of 'other legal proceedings' used in the Section 446 of Companies Act, 1956." In the case of two -- Tina Finex and Swadeshi Alloys -- the requirements under Section 15C of the Sebi Act were not fulfilled. The Section 15C pertains to allegations that if any listed company or any person registered as an intermediary, after having been called upon by the board in writing to redress the grievances of investors, fails to do so within the time specified by the board, such company or intermediary shall be liable to a penalty. Launched in June 2011, SCORES provides a centralised database of all investor complaints. Online forwarding of complaints to the listed companies concerned and upload of their action taken reports are done through this system. It also helps investors view, track and follow up the action taken on their grievances. The online redressal system has significantly helped in reducing the processing time of complaints. A senior Afghan Taliban member has died in Pakistan after an illness, militant sources said today, potentially embarrassing Islamabad which denies harbouring the insurgent group's leadership on its soil. Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani, who was in his mid- fifties and a member of the group's Leadership Council, died of cancer last night in a hospital in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, two senior Taliban sources told AFP. Rahmani rose to prominence as a jihadist during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and lost a leg during the conflict, according to a statement on the Taliban's website which confirmed his death but did not say where it happened. He was later appointed governor of Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland, when the militants ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, has long been rumoured to host the "Quetta Shura" or Quetta Leadership Council of the Taliban - senior leaders who fled across the border to Pakistan after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Pakistan, which was one of just three countries to recognise the Taliban during their period in power, denies the council's existence. A senior Taliban leader told AFP: "He died in Quetta late Monday night and today his body was moved to Afghanistan. The burial will probably take place in Kandahar." The source added: "He was a prominent figure in the Taliban leadership and there were some rumours he might soon announce his own splinter group." The dominant faction of the Taliban is led by Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who officially succeeded founder Mullah Omar. A major breakaway faction meanwhile is led by Muhammad Rasul, whose faction is seen by some analysts as closer to Iran. Rahmani's death in Pakistan, which was confirmed by another senior militant source, comes as the Taliban step up their attacks in an unprecedented winter surge a year after the withdrawal of NATO combat troops. Security analyst Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general, said the Afghan Taliban's presence in Pakistan was "an open secret and it seems to be getting confirmed and reconfirmed". He added that due to pressure from the country's powerful military, such was routinely suppressed in the Pakistani media. Market benchmark Sensex slumped for a second straight day as it fell by 266.44 points to 24,020.98 on sustained exodus of global investors from risky assets while IT stocks tanked after Cognizant lowered revenue guidance for the year. Besides, the broader NSE Nifty cracked below 7,300-level. Shares of drug maker Dr Reddy's fell by nearly 4 per cent after the company's third quarter earnings failed to meet market expectations. It posted a marginal rise in net profit at Rs 579.2 crore for the quarter ended December 31, hit by weak sales in emerging markets like Russia and CIS nations. Punjab National Bank plunged by nearly 7 per cent after reporting a whopping 93.41 per cent decline in profit for the third quarter. Global cues were also muted as Japan's Nikkei nosedived nearly 5.50 per cent. China and Hong Kong remained closed for their annual holiday. "Further, weak quarterly earnings of key corporate, global economic growth prospects and continued selling by foreign portfolio investors raised worries in the minds of investors," said Gaurav Jain Director of Hem Securities. However, good GDP growth numbers failed to lift the mood, he added. While releasing the GDP numbers for the third quarter yesterday, the government had said that Indian economy will grow at a 5-year high of 7.6 per cent in the fiscal ending March, overtaking a slowing China. The benchmark BSE Sensex resumed lower at 24,076.85 and dropped further to 23,919.47 before ending at 24,020.98 -- the lowest closing since January 21 -- showing a loss of 266.44 points or 1.10 per cent. The NSE 50-share Nifty also dropped by 89.05 points or 1.21 per cent below the key 7,300-level to 7,298.20. Disappointing corporate earnings and fears of a global slowdown forced investors to dump risky assets and move to safe haven options. Domestic gold prices soared by Rs 710 to regain the Rs 28,000-mark and was trading at its highest level in more than one-year on bullish trend in global markets. IT stocks came under heavy selling pressure, falling by up to 5 per cent, after Cognizant gave a lower revenue guidance for 2016. Shares of Tech Mahindra fell by 4.89 per cent and HCL Technologies was down 4.52 per cent on BSE. Among others, TCS went down by 3.68 per cent, Infosys lost 3.46 per cent and Wipro fell by 1.72 per cent. Overseas, Japanese shares fell sharply, joining overnight sell-off in US. Europe was also lower with key indexes in France, Germany and the UK down by up to 1 per cent. (REOPENS DEL 24) In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite closed 1.34 per cent lower. Other indices like Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong moved down by up to 0.84 per cent. Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, "Nifty opened on a negative note gap down by 49 points at 7,436 levels. However, it recovered afterwards to 7,539 before ending at 7531.80 on short-covering mainly in auto and realty stocks." The market breadth turned positive as 1,390 stocks ended higher and 1,204 closed lower while 123 ruled steady. The total turnover went down to Rs 2,675.79 crore, from Rs 4,898.05 crore yesterday. After some allies expressed concern over lack of coordination in the NDA, BJP chief Amit Shah today met TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and will be meeting leaders of other ruling alliance constituents in the coming days. The initiative has got underway after Akali Dal and Shiv Sena voiced concern over "lack of coordination" in the NDA in a meeting of it constituents yesterday, prompting Shah's reach out. Asked about the issue flagged by the two allies, Naidu downplayed it but told reporters that some states and parties may have some concerns which can be discussed in one to one meetings like this. Speaking to reporters following his meeting with Shah, the TDP leader said larger national and political issues should be discussed in the NDA meeting, while state and party-specific matters can be raised in one to one talks. BJP sources said the exercise will help in obtaining inputs from allies on political and governmental matters, particularly ahead of the Budget Session during which the opposition would seek to corner the Modi government on a variety of issues. "Being the head of the largest NDA constituent, BJP chief is the key driver of the alliance. Such meetings will help in better floor management and also countering the opposition effectively," he said. Naidu was the NDA convener during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and TDP sources said his experience will be of help in running the alliance smoothly. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today said his government believed in liberal and private sector-driven economy as he sought World Bank's support in implementing reform agenda and improving the business climate. While talking to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who called on him at the Prime Minister's House, Sharif said: "Our efforts are aimed at ensuring ideal business environment for the private sector as governments are not meant to do business. "When private sector is adequately facilitated, the business benefits reach the entire country; when the governments start doing businesses, then huge losses in the shape of subsidies are incurred," he was quoted as saying in an official statement. Kim, who arrived in Pakistan yesterday for a two-day visit, said the country's important strategic location between the world's two largest consumer markets (India and China) offers unique opportunities to Pakistan for further economic development. He expressed full support for the government's tough economic decisions and said that the World Bank supports the structural reform agenda. Sharif appreciated the support of World Bank in Pakistan's economic growth and resuming policy lending after the present government assumed office. "The policy-based loans would go a long way in helping the government implement its reform agenda and further improve the business environment in Pakistan," he said. Sharif said that the government is making all-out efforts to bring improvements in every sector of the economy including development of mega-hydropower projects, rail and road infrastructure, education and health. The assistance of World Bank for Dasu Hydropower Project and Tarbela-IV Extension Project will help the government in improving the energy mix and reduce dependence on expensive fuels, he said. Kim lauded the "prudent economic policies of the present government, saying Pakistan's economic outlook has become stable which is the result of the ardent efforts of the country's financial team". "I can recall our first meeting when I had shared my worries about Pakistan's security, energy and macroeconomic stability. Let me state that under your leadership, Pakistan has witnessed phenomenal improvements in all three sectors and we support your endeavours," he said. Pakistan is now on the path of increased economic growth and prosperity, he added. Kim admired the government's projects aimed at achieving better regional connectivity and cooperation. Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is not on good terms with BJP presently after being sidelined in recent Bihar elections, has met "dear friends" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad separately. Sinha, who is the BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib, had a cordial meeting with Prasad at Patna Airport today. Prasad, accompanied by wife Rabri Devi, exchanged pleasantries with Shatrughan and his elder brother Lakhan Sinha and went for nice photo-op of the interaction. Sources close to Sinha who were with him at the time said Prasad in a lighter vein patted the 'Bihari Babu' for single- handedly taking on the leadership of BJP for trying to sideline him. "It's a matter of appreciation that you alone has posed a challenge to BJP leadership," the RJD supremo said. Sinha, who is the second term MP from Patna Sahib, had a warm and cordial meeting with Nitish Kumar at a marriage function here last night during which they shared fond memories and affection for each other. Kumar quipped during meeting, "election time was good that we used to meet very often unlike now. We should meet more frequently," sources close to Sinha said. When asked about his meeting with rivals Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, Sinha told PTI "I believe in the maxim 'once a friend always a friend'." "We know each other very well since long and our friendship should not be seen only from political angle...It's friendship forever," the actor-turned BJP leader said. Sinha, a close associate of BJP veteran L K Advani, who is cut up with BJP leadership after being sidelined in the recent Bihar elections, have caused embarrassment to his party on several occasions by meeting Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad and also praising them. Nitish Kumar had also reciprocated and described Sinha in recent times as "pride of Bihar". Tamil Nadu government today announced Rs 10 lakh each to the families of four army jawans from the state killed in the avalanche in Siachen. Announcing the relief, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a statement here expressed grief over the death of Havildar M Elumalai of Vellore, Havildar S Kumar of Theni, Sepoy G Ganesan from Madurai and Sepoy N Ramamurthy from Krishnagiri district and conveyed her sympathies their their families. "I was grieved to know that four soldiers from Tamil Nadu who were involved in guarding the nation were killed in the avalanche," she said in a statement here. Jayalalithaa said she had ordered granting a sum of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased. A total of 10 army personnel were trapped in the avalanche when it hit a high altitude post in Siachen Glacier in Ladakh on February 3 last. One of them, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, found alive under the snow after six days, was undergoing treatment in New Delhi while others have died. Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh-American actor, model and designer has been barred from boarding a flight from Mexico City to New York after he refused to remove his turban during a security check, drawing swift condemnation from the fashion community. Ahluwalia, 41, based in Manhattan, said he checked in at Aeromexico airline's counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 am yesterday and was given his first-class boarding pass with code 'SSSS' that he said meant that he needed secondary security screening. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia, who appeared in the Oscar-nominated film 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and the US television series 'The Carrie Diaries', wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless plane ticket of Mexico's largest airline. When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. His feet and bag were searched and swabbed. He was told to remove his sweatshirt and was patted down, the New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...That I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." Ahluwalia said he would not board a plane back to New York until the airline makes a public apology and airport security personnel get Sikh awareness training and better training on how to screen passengers with religious headwear. A spokesman for the airline told CNN that Ahluwalia "was asked to submit to a screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol." "We have offered the passenger (two) alternatives to reach his destination as soon as possible," spokesman Amilcar Olivares said. "We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident." Ahluwalia alleged that the airline changed its tune after he made the situation public and acknowledged that they have offered him the chance to get on other flights. The incident drew swift condemnation on social media and from the head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Steven Kolb described the situation as "outrageous" and described Ahluwalia as "overall the nicest guy in our industry. A Sikh-American actor has been barred from boarding a New York-bound Aeromexico flight after he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who had been on a trip to Mexico, took a photo of himself and his boarding pass for an Aeromexico flight back to NYC, explaining in a caption that he had been prohibited from boarding. Ahluwalia said he checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico City's airport about 5:30 a.m yesterday and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless Aeromexico plane ticket. When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...That I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview Monday afternoon from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible". It gave no further details but added that it regretted the inconvenience. Ahluwalia, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work. He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller Beeba Boys. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion. In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap 'Make Love' advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti. The letter 'S' was printed on it four times and encircled with a marker - symbols he said were meant to alert airline crew that a passenger must go through an extra security check. He was still at the airport more than 12 hours later. Ahluwalia said he planned to remain there as lawyers from the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group, and Aeromexico discussed the matter by telephone. He said he had no immediate plans to board another flight. A Sikh-American actor and designer has been barred from boarding a flight from Mexico City to New York after he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, based in Manhattan, said he checked in at the Aeromexico airline's counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 am yesterday and was given his first-class boarding pass with code 'SSSS' that he said meant that he needed secondary security screening. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia, who appeared in the Oscar-nominated film 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and the US television series 'The Carrie Diaries', wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless Aeromexico plane ticket. When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. His feet and bag were searched and swabbed. He was told to remove his sweatshirt and was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...That I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said it "renews its commitment to transport all passengers regardless of their religion, social status or gender. "The airline, however, is required to meet the federal safety requirements outlined by the US' Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for review of selected passengers travelling to the United States. The airline regrets any inconvenience any passenger could perceive due to the application of these procedures." Ahluwalia, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is also a designer known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work. He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller 'Beeba Boys'. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion. In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap 'Make Love' advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti. He has been chosen for best dressed lists for Vanity Fair, British GQ, and Vogue. Ahluwalia was still at the airport more than 12 hours later. Ahluwalia said he planned to remain there as lawyers from the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group, and Aeromexico discussed the matter by telephone. He said he had no immediate plans to board another flight. The Centre's three-pronged initiative of Skill India, Make in India and Digital India will transform the employment scene of the country, says a Rajasthan Minister. The labour reforms brought out by the state government have been widely appreciated and wereproving to be a game changer, Minister of State for Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship Surender Pal Singh TT today said at the 9th edition of CII's Skills and HR Conclave here. The central government was also taking steps to implement a similar policy in labour reforms, he further said. During the 'Resurgent Rajasthan' summit, 11 MoUs were signed with leading companies to improve the skill ecosystem in the state thereby enhancing employment opportunities for the unemployed youth, he added. Earlier, RajasthanMinister for Social Justice & Empowerment & Minority Affairs Arun Chaturvedi said there was a close link between education, a degree and finally a job. He recalled that during his student days, they had agitated for a degree being linked to employment. Chaturvedi said it was unfortunate even today a large number of educated young men and women are unemployable because of not having a particular set of skills. He urged organisations like the CII to join hands with the government to set up skill development centres for training the large young workforce of the state and the country. Gaurav Goyal, Commissioner of Skills, Employment & Entrepreneurship & MD, Rajasthan Skills & Livelihood Development Corporation (RSLDC), said the quality of school education in rural areas needed to be considerably improved since even class 5th students lacked the basic skills of language and arithmetic. Four out of 5 engineers in India were unemployable, he said adding the apprenticeship reforms were required. Group Chief HR Officer of Tractors & Farm Equipment Muthukumar Thanu said the time has come when the women will have to work 24x7. They have already empowered themselves through education and requisite skills and need to perform their jobs which will also bring about a social change. Joint Managing Director & Co-Founder of NIIT Limited, P Rajendran said that entrepreneurship is in the DNA of Rajasthani industrialists and businessmen. With the call made for Startup India, new opportunities will come in the State for employment, he added. Sri Lanka's government must "confront and defeat the demons of the past" and accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said here today. "Sri Lanka must confront and defeat the demons of its past. It must create institutions that work, and ensure accountability," he told reporters at the end of his four-day visit during which he also travelled to war-torn Northern Province. In Northern Province, Hussein met Tamil leaders and promised them to raise with Sri Lankan leadership the issue of over 4,000 civilians reported missing during the civil war. According to UN figures, up to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war. Hundreds of people are still missing. Hussein, on his first visit to Sri Lanka after succeeding Navi Pillay as UN rights chief to review measures taken by the government to investigate alleged war abuses during the war, said, "Sri Lanka needs a through, frank and honest discussion of the findings of the UN report." In the hard-hitting report submitted by him at the UNHRC last September, Hussein had criticised Sri Lanka's failure to deliver justice to the victims of the 26-year conflict. He has prescribed an international "hybrid court" with foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators. Asked about the progress so far on this, the UN rights chief said the Lankan government has set in motion a consultative process and he was confident that justice would be delivered to the victims of the conflict. He commended President Maithripala Sirisena's government for showing the will to make great changes. Hussein said the military needs to accelerate the return of the Tamil lands to their rightful owners and urged the armed forces to face up to the "stain on their reputation" by addressing allegations of war crimes during the conflict. The government must also take action to find a formula to charge or release the remaining detainees. He said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent statement that nearly all disappeared persons are dead had created distress among the victims. Hussein said this statement must be followed by rapid action to identify precisely who is still alive and who has died or killed during the conflict. He said the Lankan government has expressed its commitment to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution mandating an investigation into the alleged rights abuses during the ethnic conflict that ended in 2009. "I have heard fears that the government may be wavering on its human rights commitments. I was therefore reassured today to hear both the President and the Prime Minister express their firm conviction in this regard," he said. He reiterated his position that Sri Lanka's politicised judiciary was unreliable. It was for this reason that Hussein in his report had suggested international participation in the accountability mechanism set up to deal with international crimes and human rights violations committed by both military and the LTTE. He said the process needed to be a Sri Lankan process. The heat over the solar scam today continued to disrupt proceedings in the Kerala Assembly even as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that it was "painful" that the opposition was relying on the allegations of an accused in a criminal case. The CPI(M)-led LDF opposition members moved and squatted in the well of the House raising slogans against the government, prompting Speaker N Sakthan to adjourn the House for the day after hurriedly taking up the other businesses. Trouble began when the opposition demanded a discussion on an adjournment motion on the bribery charges levelled by solar scam prime accused Saritha S Nair against Chandy and state power minister Aryadan Mohammed, which was rejected by Speaker, N Shakthan. The House witnessed heated exchanges between the ruling and opposition members when CPI(M) veteran and opposition leader V S Achutanandan made some comments against Chandy's family members. In his reply to the notice of the motion, Chandy rejected the charges and said it was "painful" that the opposition was attacking the government using the charges hurled by Saritha, a criminal case accused. The opposition's move to use the allegation as a "political weapon" to attack the government would be rejected, he said. He also claimed that the accused had made the allegations against the government as a "revenge" for strong measures against them. However, Chandy said he was "pained" at the opposition's attitude of not giving him due consideration to be shown to a Chief Minister or a person in public life for such a long period. Defending Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the allegations against him were "cruel and heinous". He said the opposition was in such a "politically pathetic state" that they had to take up the charges levelled by a person, who was accused in over 60 criminal cases. Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried in snow for six days, was today flown to the Research and Referral Hospital here from Siachen Glacier. His condition is critical but stable and he is undergoring various tests in the hospital, army sources said. Earlier, he was evacuated to the army's base camp at Siachen Glacier from where was flown to Delhi in a special air ambulance. He was brought to the Palam technical airport and airlifted to the hospital, the sources said. Thappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive yesterday after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days following an avalanche hitting his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he has said. An army jawan who was buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in the Siachen glacier was today miraculouly found alive in critical condition after six days of rescue efforts. "It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacute Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa to the RR hospital in the morning," Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander, said. He said, "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us." He hoped that another miracle continues with Thappa, who hails form Karnataka. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of Madras Regiment were buried after their post was hit by the avalanche at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the tempreature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. Budget carrier SpiceJet is planning to launch a door-to-door cargo delivery service as it seeks to explore other revenue streams amid a turnaround plan. The Gurgaon-based airline is in the process of setting up required infrastructure for the service, which is expected to be rolled out this fiscal, top airline sources said. SpiceJet has already placed order for 100 sub-three tonne trucks with a leading Mumbai-based commercial vehicle maker, besides leasing commercial space for 40 warehousing facilities across the country, they said. Significantly, the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines had unsuccessfully experimented with a cargo delivery service in 2010. "The proposed service is in the planning phase. We are working on it and are hoping that we launch the service within this fiscal," an airline source said. The airline already has the critical air link, he said adding, "we are trying to see if it makes some sense to take it one step forward." According to SpiceJet, domestic cargo is logging a 15-17 per cent year-on-year growth. Coming back from the verge of closure in late 2014, SpiceJet has remained profitable for four straight quarters since the change of ownership January last year. Registering its highest ever quarterly profit, SpiceJet posted a net profit of Rs 238.40 crore for the three months ending December 2015. In the year-ago period, it had incurred a net loss of Rs 275.03 crore. When asked about the economic viability of the plan, another source said, "Initial estimates suggest that the new business could be profitable given the fact that the airline is already carrying the cargo on its passenger flights. Sylvester Stallone thought of boycotting the February 28 Oscar ceremony due to the lack of diversity in this year's nominations. The 69-year-old action star, who is nominated in best supporting actor category for "Creed", said he spoke to his director Ryan Coogler, who is African-American, about whether or not he should attend, reported People magazine. "I spoke with Ryan Coogler when this happened. I said, 'Ryan how do you want to handle this? Because I really believe you are responsible for me being here. I said, 'If you don't want me to go, I won't.' He said, 'I want you to go.' That's the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film," Stallone said Coogler and "Creed" star Michael B Jordan were considered one the biggest snubs by the Academy voters this year. But the "Rambo" star feels things will change for the better in the future. "It's a matter of time. Eventually, all talent will rise to the top. It's a matter of getting a new paradigm, a new way of thinking," he said. The 'failure' of the Meghalaya government to fulfill its financial responsibility has resulted in the Centre delaying deployment of para-military forces in the militancy-hit Garo Hills region, BJP state unit President Shibun Lyngdoh said today. Shibun, who had gone to Delhi recently to meet the Union Home Minister, was informed that the state government has failed to cough up the requisite 10 per cent state share in deploying the Central forces. "The union minister informed that this was the main reason why the Centre has delayed sending the para-military forces to Meghalaya," Shibun told reporters here. He was sharing the outcome of the state party leadership meeting with the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, in New Delhi last month. As it is the case with all NE states, the Centre bears 90 per cent of the cost while the state has to also chip in to pay 10 per cent of any such deployment. "The BJP state unit has also requested the Centre to do something about it to ensure that the forces are deployed at the earliest so that people in Garo Hills can live a safe, secure and peaceful life," he said. According to the BJP President, the state government did not fulfill its commitment to cough up the requisite 10 per cent share required as financial expenses for the deployment of the para-military forces in the state. Last month, the Chief Minister had sought additional deployment of para-military forces to assist the state in tackling militancy and insurgency-related problems in the state including Garo Hills. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with an all-party delegation today paid homage to former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala who passed away here this morning. Members of the high-level delegation comprising Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval paid their respects to Koirala at Dashrath Rangashala Stadium in heart of the capital just after arriving. The leaders also extended their condolences to family members of the former Prime Minister. After paying homage to the Nepali Congress president, Swaraj met party leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Official sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to all major political parties to ensure that the delegation has leaders from the opposition as well. Swaraj, later, will also meet Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Koirala, who was Nepal's Prime Minister from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, passed away due to pneumonia at his residence. He was 79. After assuming office, he was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. He was instrumental in the ushering in of the new Constitution last year. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven will be on a two-day visit to India this month to participate in the 'Make in India Week' here and will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a bilateral dialogue. Lofven leads a high-level delegation comprising State Secretaries, senior officials from the Swedish government, heads of agencies and industry leaders from Sweden to participate in the 'Make in India Week', where Sweden has the largest country pavillion with participation from 18 Swedish companies across all sectors, a release said today. He will be visiting the country from February 13-14. Lofven will inaugurate the Swedish Pavilion along with Modi, after which he will deliver the keynote address at the 'Sweden Seminar' on smart manufacturing, along with a senior representative from the Indian side. He will also participate in the Sweden India CEO Round Table together with Swedish and Indian industry leaders. Lofven will later visit Pune which is a hub for Swedish companies since the 1960s. Swedish companies' operations in Pune date back to 1957, when a large area of land was allocated to those firms in that city, which was strategically a good location considering the proximity to Mumbai. In Pune, he will visit the facilities of two Swedish majors - Tetra Pak and Ericsson. The Tetra Pak plant in Chakan, Pune is a state-of-the-art Swedish example with a modern footprint based on green technology which produces for the Indian market. The Ericsson plant will serve as an export hub for the company. Both are examples of how Sweden makes in India, the release said. Over 1,000 business delegates from 60 countries, 2,500 domestic delegates, 192 companies and four heads of state are expected at the maiden MII week which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on February 13. A Swedish prosecutor said today she still aims to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London over a rape allegation in Sweden, despite a UN report condemning Stockholm for his "arbitrary detention". "Concerning the report that was issued last week, I would like to state that it does not change my earlier assessments in the investigation," Marianne Ny said in a statement. She said she was "currently working on a renewed request to interview Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London". The Australian-born Assange sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 after Swedish authorities issued a European warrant for his arrest over a 2005 rape allegation. Assange has refused to travel to Stockholm for questioning amid fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Assange's confinement to the embassy amounted to an arbitrary detention by Sweden and Britain. But Stockholm and London angrily rejected the findings. "Mr Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay at the embassy," the Swedish foreign ministry said in a statement at the time. Sweden has tried to question Assange since March 2015, and reached a judicial agreement with Ecuador in December that Quito said was necessary to pave the way for Swedish prosecutors to interrogate him. But Quito has not yet granted Swedish prosecutors access to him, rejecting the most recent request in January on a technicality. Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today said that quality of service (QoS) levels for all operators in Goa is in conformity with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)-mandated benchmark. "These measures have resulted in a substantial decrease in instances of dropped calls in almost all key areas in Goa under supervision of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and TRAI, along with government's support," Rajan S Mathews Director General COAI told reporters here. The industry body said operators have been working in service delivery, including unavailability of requisite and adequate tower infrastructure. "More than 1,200 cell sites (cell tower) need to be added to the current total of 3,500 cell sites to facilitate efficient network quality and better connectivity for residents and as well as for tourists in Goa," he said. The industry was doing everything possible to ensure the best possible service delivery to customers, Mathews said, adding operators acknowledge there are areas, especially in dense urban areas where drops and quality could be a problem. Mathews highlighted several factors that are creating network problems in specific areas, which relate principally to availability of cell sites. "More than half of the cell sites are either non- operational or have been shut down due to unfounded concerns about Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) or delays in obtaining timely clearance from local authorities," he said. Despite such challenges, the industry continues to undertake several measures in order to address network quality issues. "Telecom operators have been working towards improving network coverage and capacity enhancement through expediting capital investment, network optimisation, expansion and roll-out of 3G networks to offload traffic from 2G network, additional sites coming online etc," he said. The telecom industry has stressed on the importance of support received from each state government, including Goa. "Industry seeks partnership opportunities with state governments in order to understand major challenges facing them. It is also aiming at implementing the DoT's guidelines on tower infrastructure and EMFto ensure residents' safety. These guidelines were framed by the DoT keeping in mind all regional concerns of tower installation and after a consultation process with State authorities," he said. The guidelines cover aspects like payment of a pre- determined administrative fee which covers all administrative expenses, timely single-window clearance options for the approval of applications, ensuring availability of adequate resources like water and electricity supply, which are needed to structure the effective and developed mobile infrastructure. Tension prevailed in a highly sensitive locality in Ramganj area here after members of two communities clashed over a dispute related to children, police said. While the exact reason for the clash is yet to be ascertained, preliminary probe indicated that the incident, which occurred last night, was initially over children's dispute in which their parents and then members of the two communities got involved, police said. Extra force was deployed in the troubled locality of Kothi-Koliyon-Ki of Ramganj area dominated by a minority community, they said. A case under section 160 of IPC for disturbing peace and indulging in communal incident was lodged against both communities, police said. The situation is under control and life is normal since early morning, they said. No one has been arrested in this matter so far, police said, adding, no one was injured in the incident. To showcase socio-economic and cultural richness of the Northeast, government is hosting a three-day extravaganza here beginning February 12 highlighting various aspects of the region and its people. 'Destination North East 2016' will showcase the richness of the Northeast and it will help bring the rest of India closer to the region, Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said at a press conference. Singh said Northeast has certain speciality which is a great asset for the nation and the contribution of the region in academics, growth and revenue is very commendable. "The Northeast will play an important role in India's Act East Policy. To Act East effectively on foreign policy, it is necessary to Act East within our borders," he said. The three-day event will include theme specific business summit consisting of sectors like tourism, agriculture, food processing, skill development and entrepreneurship, IT, handloom and handicrafts, livelihood, micro-finance and start ups. Singh said 'Destination North East 2016' will enable various Union ministries to show their initiatives in the region. Cultural programmes during the event will show the rich culture and folk dances of Northeast region. Similar extravaganza will be held in Mumbai and Bengaluru and a few other places in the country in coming months. Singh said each state of the Northeast will be known by its distinct identity and for its uniqueness such as Mizoram as bamboo state and Sikkim as a state producing organic vegetables. The Minister also released a schedule of the 'Destination North East 2016' which include business summit and cultural events. Bullish on India growth story, top banker Chanda Kochhar has said the tide is turning for the country with a whole new wave of opportunities blowing in from all directions, including in the form of emergence of digital economy and the rising entrepreneurship. She also said the growing adoption of new technological trends by Young India is giving rise to new consumer behaviour and new business models, including for the banking sector as a whole and ICICI Bank in particular. Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, further said in her keynote address to the India Conference 2016 of the Harvard University over the weekend that the focus of Indian economy is also now broadening to manufacturing. "New areas of manufacturing are emerging like in the defence and the railways. It is estimated that the next driver of employment in the economy will be the manufacturing sector, which is expected to generate around 90-100 million jobs in the next few years. FDI will also play a key role in this area," she said. Stating that several countries and MNCs have expressed their intention to invest in India, Kochhar said this was further supported by efforts at enhancing ease of doing business and the government's commitment to support a non- adversarial tax regime. On the role of women, she said the women contribute only 17 per cent to GDP in India against the global average of 37 per cent, but a transformational trend is happening with the rising role of women leading organisations in key sectors. Giving example of the banking sector, Kochhar said the women are today heading banks constituting 30 per cent of banking system assets in India while the new digital economy was also throwing up new opportunities for Indian women. On what was stopping Indian economy from getting to the 9-10 per cent growth trajectory, she said there is a lot more to be done to achieve what has been envisaged and strengthen the growth process. "Our institutional framework needs to be bolstered further. We have to implement laws like the proposed Bankruptcy Code and GST (Goods and Services Tax) which will create efficiencies and strongly support the business environment. "We have to address impediments that stall implementation of projects and streamline the process to ensure smooth execution, going forward. We need to address the leverage levels among corporates to restart investment cycle," Kochhar said. The levels of traffic-related air pollution and air pollution-associated gases are linked to the formation of dark spots on the skin, a new study has found. The most pronounced changes were observed on the cheeks of Asian women over the age of 50, researchers said. "In addition to particulate matter, traffic-related air pollution is characterised by increased concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2)," said lead investigator Jean Krutmann, of the IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Germany. "While NO2 exposure is known to be associated with low lung function and lung cancer, the effect of NO2 on human skin has never been investigated," said Krutmann. "This is important because environmentally-induced lung and skin ageing appear to be closely related," she said. Two groups were studied. The first included 806 Caucasian German women who were part of the SALIA study (Study on the influence of Air pollution on Lung function, Inflammation and Ageing). The average age was 73.5 years (range 67 to 80 years) and 20 per cent had a history of smoking. These women reportedly spent an average of 2.6 hours a day in the sun. The second group included 743 Han Chinese women from the Taizhou region who were younger than the SALIA group, with an average age of 59 (range 28 to 70 years). Twenty per cent of this group had a history of smoking, with a reported average daily sun exposure of 3.5 hours. The mean levels of NO2 exposure were 28.8 microgrammes per cubic metre in the SALIA study and 24.1 microgrammes per cubic metre in the Taizhou China group. No link was seen between levels of NO2 and formation of dark spots called lentigenes on the back of the hands or forearms, however, exposure to NO2 was significantly associated with more lentigenes on the cheeks in both German and Chinese women older than 50 years. Overall, an increase of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre in NO2 concentration was associated with approximately 25 per cent more dark spots. The researchers performed sensitivity analysis and found that the NO2 gas had a slightly stronger effect than the particulate matter concentration. Lentigenes, also known as liver spots, are small, darkened areas of the skin. Although they may first appear small, they may enlarge and separate patches may merge. They are most commonly found on the face, forearms, hands, and upper trunk. Usually brown in colour, lentigenes can appear yellow-tan to black. They are more common in light-skinned individuals and in US, solar (sun-associated) lentigenes are noted in 90 per cent of Caucasians older than 60 and 20 per cent of those younger than 35 years. Lentigenes, which contain an increased number of the melanin-forming cells of the skin (melanocytes), are generally benign, although some forms may be pre-cancerous. The study was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Having barred discriminatory pricing of data services, the regulator Trai today warned of much stricter action against errant telecom operators if the existing penalty provision fails to tame them. "It's not like that, that you can violate and continue paying penalty," Trai chairman R S Sharma told PTI in an interview. Becoming the first telecom regulator globally to ban zero rating plans like Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) yesterday backed net neutrality while issuing a new set of norms barring discriminatory prices for data services. It also provides for Rs 50,000 per day penalty on violating operators. When asked if penalty fails to deter operators from complying with its regulations, the regulator said, "The contraventions are provided for. Then their is general kind of clause which says that if you contravene then there are other provisions that come into play. They may not be part of this regulation. "There are overall provisions which cover what happens if you contravene with any regulation of Trai then there are other mechanism which are put in to place." Some experts have expressed concerns that operators may pay the penalty and continue with business plans that may be in violation to Trai's latest regulation. Trai provided for a penalty of Rs 50,000 for each day on service providers if they flout the order. The penalty would be subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. "It's not like that, that you can violate and continue paying penalty. Once any tariff plan is announced that plan has to submitted to Trai... We will see if it is contravention to the rules and then we will impose penalty," Sharma said. He, however, said that no penalty will be imposed unless Trai serves notice to a company and that company gets a chance to present its case. Sharma said that operators can charge different rates at different time occasionally to better utilise their network but cannot charge different rates based on the content that they access using Internet. "It may not be exact analogy but let me try to explain. If you are going on an expressway, the toll service provider should be only concerned about toll and not ask where I am going. These are the principles which we are saying you cannot charge differently based on content," he said. Sharma said that the regulation covers net neutrality only on tariff aspect and other components of this principle like throttling of Internet speed have not been addressed under it. "Net neutrality as we understand constitutes number of components which are not purely tariff. We were dealing with some aspect of net neutrality from the tariff perspective. That's what we have come out with because it is in our domain. There are many areas which are not in the domain of Trai," Sharma said. When asked about legitimacy of sponsored data, Sharma said, "It will not be appropriate for me to give you answer in very clear terms. One will have to look into details of it. "As you know devil lies in the details. What exactly is the methodology and whether that methodology comes within scope of regulation. That has to be seen." Trai regulations is the first ever framework in the country on net-neutrality. This is the first consultation paper from Trai which has received maximum comments -- around 24 lakh while social network behemoth Facebook 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. The regulations have been welcomed by citizens, ruling party the BJP and opposition parties including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal. India has become the first major economy to take such action although a few like the Netherlands and Chile have also barred differential data pricing. The US has adopted regulations which give approval to zero-rating plans on a case-to-case basis. Noted modernist artist Jamini Roy's nearly century old paintings have lived beyond their time and find relevance even today. Uma Nair, who has curated an ongoing solo exhibition at the Dhoomimal Art Gallery here showcasing nearly 80 artworks by 20th century master calls him a "universalist." "Jamini Roy is never out of fashion. Whatever he drew was universal. It is relevant even today. It is so important for works of art to live beyond its time," she says of the artist who passed away in 1972. Titled "Carved Contours," the show underway at the Dhoomimal Gallery here is divided into two distinct parts - one set of coloured works and another of pen and ink drawings. Roy who was tutored under the Bengal School of Art under the mentorship of Abanindranath Tagore, shifted from the academic tradition of drawing classical nudes and went on to derive inspiration from the Indian culture. He captured the simplicity of the tribal livelihood in his art where he painted extensively the "marginalised" santhal community of Bengal. "His main subjects were the humble simple people from the santhal tribe. His soft heartedness towards the community comes out of his sensitivity for the poor. In today's world when we hear about atrocities against Dalits, here is an artist who celebrated people who were marginalised," says Nair. Roy's treatment of the female body is sensitive and respectful in a way that it appears sensuous rather than crude and vulgar to the viewer. "I think he was very sensitive. He appreciated women. When you look at the forms of the women he does not make her look cheap but beautiful," says the curator. Even though the artist seldom paints the faces but whatever one sees in Roy's women is all beautiful. "He is a man who loved what he saw. In today's age when we are talking about violence against women, I think respect is very important and I realise Jamini Roy was a humanist," she says. Roy's coloured works show clear influences of the Kalighat patta paintings in his bold sweeping brush-strokes. He also turned to rural decorative traditions of alpana and kantha. According to Nair says the artist's choice of medium of work was egg tempera and tamarind seed glue and that he soon switched from dyes to natural colors, using earth, chalk powder and vegetable colors. "His palette was a limited array of seven colours - Indian red, yellow ochre, cadmium green, vermillion, grey and blue - prepared from materials like hingul, harital, kak khokri, lamp black chalk or limestone," she says. The "mother-child" figure is another recurrent subject in Roy's works, which he blends effortlessly with his other areas of interest of the santhals and bauls, mythology - both Hindu and Christian. Roy's depiction of the selflessness of motherhood in his paintings - an image of a santhal woman embracing her child; a bronze bodied santhal mother feeding an infant - is indeed heartwarming. "He loves portraying Ganesh and Durga, as well as Krishna, especially the child Krishna and scenes from the Ramayan," says Nair. The show has a series of simple monumental images of sari-clad women, village dancers and domestic animals besides Madonna and Christ and the famed Ramayan series. According to the curator, Roy has dealt with the idea of 'Ravana' in a very contemporary way. Unlike his other works which have a very matte finish, this particular work depicting the evil king with his 10 heads positioned diagonally in 'tomato red' exudes an uncanny liveliness. "He has treated it in a very modern way. Whenever you and I think of Ravana, we think of him standing with his ten heads horizontal. He takes the Ravana and makes his heads diagonal. He gives so much joy in the destruction of evil," she says. A 110-page book, brought out by Dhoomimal Gallery, carries a foreword by Uma Jain and curatorial note by Uma Nair and a couple of art write-ups besides a brief biography of Jamini and the images of all his works at 'Carved Contours'. All the images from the exhibition are from the Uma and Ravi Jain Estate. The month long exhibition inaugurated recently at the galley, which turns 80 this year, is set to continue till March 10. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who clung to life buried 30 feet under a massive ice and snow debris that hurtled down a mountain slope on unforgiving Siachen glacier, was today battling for survival after being evacuated. He is comatose and his condition is extremely critical, Army Hospital Research and Referral said after Koppad was flown in here from Siachen Glacier today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag visited the hospital and asked the nation to pray for his well being. Koppad, who was rescued yesterday from an altitude of 20,500 feet by a team of over 150 soldiers and two canines, Dot and Misha, and was initially declared dead by authorities, was flown in here by an IAF aircraft accompanied by a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the Siachen base camp. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frost bite or bony injuries to him, a medical bulletin issued by the hospital said. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hrs due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body," it said. His family's joy knew no limits as the trickled in of him being alive. "It is a rebirth for all of us," said Mahadevi, wife of Koppad, with a visible sense of relief as his miraculous survival. Mahadevi said the family was going through an ordeal after it came to know of the tragedy, but thenews of his survival brought smiles back on their faces. "We were going through a painful ordeal after the avalanche struck...The of his survival brought smiles backon our faces. We were all crying and had almost lost hope. I didn't know what to do. I have a one-and-half-year old daughter," she said. Prime Minister Modi described Koppad as an "outstanding soldier" whose "endurance and indomitable spirit" cannot be described in words. "We are all hoping and praying for the best," Modi added. Parrikar said his prayers are with the soldier. "Doctors are putting in best. Let us pray for him," he said. The Turkish government fears that fierce fighting in Syria's Aleppo province will spark the arrival of up to 600,000 refugees at its border in a "worst case scenario", Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said today. "The worst-case scenario that could happen in this region in the short term would be a new influx of 600,000 refugees at the Turkish frontier," Kurtulmus told journalists following a cabinet meeting. The clashes in the north of Aleppo province -- sparked by a week-long government assault with Russian air support -- have displaced tens of thousands of people. "As a consequence of this situation, we are seeing 200,000 people being forced to flee -- 65,000 in the direction of Turkey and 135,000 inside Syria," Kurtulmus said. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said earlier Monday that some 30,000 people were already massed at the Turkish border. Huge crowds of refugees, mainly women and children, have been forced to wait at the Oncupinar border crossing, which remains closed with only medical emergencies allowed through. "Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible, and to provide them with the necessary services there," Kurtulmus said. The Turkish government has insisted for several days that its open-door policy to refugees fleeing the Syrian war remains unchanged and that it is ready, if necessary, to accommodate a new wave of arrivals. "Obviously, as always, we will provide for our Syrian brothers and accept them when necessary," Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But he added that his country, which is hosting some 2.7 million Syrian refugees, should not be expected "to shoulder the refugee issue alone. Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador today, according to media reports, after State Department spokesman John Kirby angered Ankara by saying that Washington did not consider the main Syrian Kurdish party to be a terrorist organisation. The Turkish government, which views the Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist group, expressed its "unease" over the remarks by Kirby during his daily press briefing in Washington yesterday, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. "We don't, as you know, recognise the PYD as a terrorist organisation. We recognise that the Turks do, and I understand that. Even the best of friends aren't going to agree on everything," Kirby said. Ankara considers the PYD and the powerful Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to be affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey and is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by much of the international community. For several months, the US-led coalition's support for the PYD and the YPG has been a source of friction between Washington and its NATO ally Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week expressed anger over a US high-level delegation's meeting with members of the YPG, which is in control of the flashpoint Kurdish town of Kobane. "How can we trust (you)?" Erdogan said. "Is it me who is your partner or the terrorists in Kobane?" Kurdish forces backed by coalition air strikes ousted IS fighters from Kobane after a months-long struggle in January last year. Turkey fears the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria -- similar to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq -- would spur the separatist ambitions of Turkey's own Kurds. Two militants of the People's Liberation Front of Meghalaya were beaten to death in Goalpara district of Assam near Meghalaya border today, said a district top police official. The militant-brother duo were beaten to death by a mob at Rowmari Garopara area under Rongjuli police station on charge of terrorizing them by demanding extortion money, district Superintendent of Police Nitul Gogoi told PTI. One of the slain Ultras Babul Momin was wanted by police for indulging in anti-social activities and extortion demands, the SP said. Stating the other extremist was identified as (Energy) Momin, he said, adding that extortion demand letters and the Meghalaya-based PLFM letter pads were recovered from the slain militants. Separate trials have opened in the United Arab Emirates of three men accused of links to Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement and 23 others for ties to Al-Qaeda, newspapers reported today. The three Lebanese men charged with "forming and managing a group linked to Hezbollah without obtaining a permit" appeared Monday before Abu Dhabi's state security, Emarat al-Youm newspaper said. Al-Ittihad daily said one of the men is a Canadian citizen and that representatives of his country's consulate attended the hearing, during which all three defendants denied the charges. The trial was adjourned to February 15. In March last year, the Lebanese government said 70 Lebanese, mostly Shiites, were facing deportation from the United Arab Emirates. In 2009, dozens of Lebanese Shiites who had lived in the UAE for years were expelled on suspicion of links to Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, the arch rival of Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies. In the other trial, 23 mostly Yemeni defendants have been charged with forming a cell linked to Al-Qaeda as well as forgery, the newspapers said. Two of the defendants remain at large, according to the reports. That trial was adjourned to March 7. Authorities have enacted tougher anti-terror legislation, including harsher jail terms and have introduced the death penalty for crimes linked to religious hatred and extremist groups. The UAE stepped up security measures since the wave of Arab Spring protests that swept the region in 2011. In July, the UAE executed an Emirati woman for the jihadist-inspired 2014 murder of an American school teacher in an Abu Dhabi shopping mall. British media today lost its legal battle against unprecedented secrecy over terrorism trial of a law student, who was accused of plotting an attack in the country similar to the 2008 Mumbai strikes. The country's most senior judge, Lord Thomas, at the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by media groups to lift reporting restrictions surrounding the prosecution of London-based law student Erol Incedal, who was acquitted at the end of a trial last year. The judge said that the restrictions were necessary "in the interests of national security." He was accused of plotting with a militant in Syria either to target high-profile people such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair or planning a Mumbai-style attack using a gun. In an unprecedented move, much of the trial last year was held in private, with only a small group of specially accredited journalists being allowed to attend but barred from reporting on anything they saw or heard. In addition, parts of the trial were held in secret, with the press as well as the public excluded. Only 10 of the almost 70 hours of evidence were heard in open court. Media organisations had challenged a decision by the trial judge to refuse to lift reporting restrictions. Upholding the court's decision to keep the details of the Old Bailey trial court in London secret, the judge said, "It remains likely that judges will for some time be faced with determining applications for parts of trials to be held in camera for reasons of national security and that there will be appeals to this court." The senior judge did, however, rule that the arrangements surrounding the Incedal case presented difficulties and that a court in the future "should hesitate long and hard before it makes an order similar". Incedal was cleared of planning a gun attack at the end of the trial in March last year, but he was jailed for three-and-a-half years last April for possessing a bomb-making manual on a memory card he had at the time of his arrest in October 2013. He had been convicted of that offence at a previous trial in 2014. His friend Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, who had admitted having an identical document, was jailed for three years by trial judge Justice Nicol. The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had sought complete secrecy for the trial - with Incedal and Rarmoul-Bouhadjar being kept anonymous - but lawyers for the media mounted a successful challenge at the Court of Appeal in 2014. Appeal judges lifted the anonymity, saying the defendants should be named, and declared that while the "core" of the trial could be held in secret it must start and end in public. UK media organisations had claimed there is substantial and genuine public interest in reporting of the matters that lay at the heart of the prosecution's case against Incedal. A raft of UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over the past decade has failed to prevent Pyongyang from scaling up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, a UN panel of experts has concluded. "There are serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime," the experts said in a confidential report obtained yesterday. The panel's finding came as the UN Security Council is working on a new sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its fourth nuclear test and a rocket launch that the world views as a disguised ballistic missile test. "Sanctions have not prevented the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from gradually improving and expanding its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities," said the experts. Investigations by the panel showed that Pyongyang has been successful at sanctions-busting, but the experts also faulted UN member-states, particularly in Africa, for failing to fully implement the measures. Despite the failings, the panel nevertheless proposed adding three North Korean entities and four individuals to the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban. The names of the seven were contained in a confidential annex to the report, diplomats said. The panel also recommended adding drones and related technology to the list of items banned from trade with North Korea and to strengthen measures to prevent specialized training of North Koreans. The Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but the panel said it found "no indications that the country intends to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs." Sanctions-hit companies have managed to conceal their banned activities by embedding agents in foreign companies, resorting to diplomats to act as middlemen and dealing with a "small number of trusted foreign nationals," said the 330-page report. After Ocean Maritime Management was blacklisted in July 2014, the North Korean shipping company continued to evade sanctions by operating "through foreign-flagged vessels, names and company re-registrations and the rental of crews to foreign ships," said the report. Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the United Nations demanded today, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syria's largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, insists that it has an open-door policy toward Syrians escaping conflict but has still kept a key border crossing closed for days. Government officials say the country will provide assistance to the displaced Syrians within their own borders "as much as possible" and would allow them in "when necessary." The UN humanitarian office OCHA said some 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if Syrian government and allied forces encircle the city of Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. Separately, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler asked Turkey to open the border to "all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection as they have done since the start of this crisis." Spindler also urged other nations to shoulder the refugee burden and to work to end the conflict. "At the end of the day, the answer to this crisis is for the peace process to continue in Syria and for the conflict to be solved," Spindler said. Today, several aid trucks could be seen moving through Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, which remained shut to refugees for the fifth straight day. Turkish authorities and charities are assisting the Syrians at a displaced persons camp near the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues. At a joint conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Cavusoglu said Turkey was admitting refugees in "in a controlled manner" and that 10,000 Syrians had been allowed in recently. He did not elaborate, however, and it was not clear if he was referring to the thousands of Syrian Turkmens who were admitted into Turkey earlier this month. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, meanwhile, called on world nations to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. He predicted that Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once left Afghanistan in defeat. The US military hopes to send a sophisticated missile defense system to South Korea "as quickly as possible," the Pentagon said today. Following North Korea's long-range rocket launch on Sunday, South Korean and US military officials announced they would begin formal discussions on placing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) on the North's doorstep. "Without getting into a timeline, we'd like to see this move as quickly as possible," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "We are beginning the consultations now and in the current days with the South Koreans, and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion." The North Korean rocket launch was widely condemned as another step towards an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the US mainland. The highly deployable THAAD system fires anti-ballistic missiles into the sky to hit enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth's atmosphere during their final flight phase. China firmly opposes the deployment of the anti-missile hardware so close to its borders, but Cook said the THAAD system was in no way meant to pose a threat to the Asian giant. "If the THAAD system were deployed to the Korean Peninsula, it would be focused solely on North Korea, contribute to a layered missile defense that would enhance the alliance's existing missile-defense capabilities against potential North Korean missile threats," he said. A US defense official told AFP the anti-missile system could be deployed within two weeks of a deployment order. "Once... Decisions are made, that (timeframe) is possible," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Seeking business opportunities in India's Smart City initiative, the US today said it is looking to participate in all the proposed 100 smart city projects and offered technological support for developing a sustainable economy. US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, who is on a five-day visit to India, said the US can be a "valuable partner" for India in providing sustainable solutions for Smart City initiative. He is leading a delegation of 18 US companies on a Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission. Andrews said the delegation comprising of 18 US firms have come to meet both policy makers and Indian businesses and would showcase the great technologies that provide great value and potential for India. "We believe that US can be a very valuable partner in helping India to develop sustainable economy," Andrews said, adding that there are substantial business opportunities for US companies in India's smart city projects. US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) Director Leocadia Zak said, the US has helped in master planning of Visakhapatnam smart city and is provided technical support to Allahabad and Ajmer. "This is the beginning of the process. Our efforts are not limited to three cities. US businesses have the technological solutions which will be helpful across India," Andrews said. The US is looking forward to work for all the smart city projects, Zak added. Terming financing of these smart cities projects as one of the challenges, Andrews said there would be multi-financial channel for these projects, including the central government, local government and businesses. Yesterday, the US delegation met Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who assured them that Special Purpose Vehicles being set up for implementation of Smart City plans will be empowered to ensure timely execution of all projects by taking required decisions and ensuring necessary coordination. The government had recently announced the first batch of 20 smart cities from 11 states and Delhi. Apart from Bhubaneshwar, the cities in the first batch are Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal, NDMC area of Delhi, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davanagere, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati and Ludhiana. Altogether, 100 cities are to be developed into smart cities as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious programme. For this, the Centre has earmarked Rs 48,000 crore and the states will have to contribute an equal amount. Under the programme, each selected city will be given Rs 500 crore over a period of five years by the Centre with the respective states expected to make the matching contribution. A professor at a US Christian college who courted controversy after donning a hijab in solidarity with Muslims has agreed to leave her tenured position. Larycia Hawkins was placed on administrative leave from Wheaton College in December after posting a picture of herself wearing a hijab on Facebook. Hawkins said she was standing "in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book." Her statement came amid a swell of Islamophobia in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. The school faced a backlash in which it was accused of bigotry and curtailing academic freedom. Administrators at the suburban Chicago evangelical college said the problem was not the fact that Hawkins donned a hijab, but that she wrote "we worship the same God." The idea that Christians and Muslims worship the same God is a direct contradiction of the core of the college's statement of faith, which affirms that salvation is achieved through Christ alone. Faculty and staff members are expected to commit to "accept and model" the college's statement of faith with "integrity, compassion and theological clarity," Wheaton said in a statement. While Hawkins received a groundswell of support that included demonstrations on campus, some Muslims also expressed unease at her assertions that they share the same God. Some also criticised her very act of wearing a hijab. After initiating a termination process in January, the college and Hawkins said in a joint statement yesterday that they had "found a mutual place of resolution and reconciliation." The statement said the two parties reached "a confidential agreement under which they will part ways. The United States today raised concerns over stipulation for local sourcing in tenders in some sectors in India, saying such a requirement will be counter productive in attracting investment. As part of its Make in India drive, the government has mandated in some sectors the stipulation of sourcing a certain percentage of goods and services locally. The US had dragged India to WTO over provision of domestic content requirement in India's solar power programme. Latest to join the local content list is oil and gas sector where international companies will have to source up to 50 per cent of rigs and pipes, among other things, locally for PSU tenders. "Local content requirement is something that we have faced in other countries as well... We strongly believe (from) our experience from around the world, (that) local content requirement will be seen like they drive the business (but) end up actually being counter productive in the long term in attracting investment and getting companies to come to the business," US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce H Andrews said. Andrews, who is leading a delegation of 18 US companies on a Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission, said the US has spoken about its "concerns" over local content. "The more open your market is, actually the more you are going to attract investment and more willing the companies are going to come to do business here," he told reporters. The requirement of sourcing a certain percentage of goods and services from local suppliers will keep "the best and most efficient technology out of the market," he said, adding that opening up to international competition gets the best technology. Reducing competition by artificial trade impediments does not serve the day and enhance innovations, he added. Asking about impediments, Andrews said the US and India have "very good relationship" and are "very focused on solving the problems together." "Clearly there are issues, but the Indian government is involved in very open and frank discussion. That's very important that the governments work together. "There are issues like streamlining of process and ease of doing businesses and local content requirement. We value dialogue and efforts to work collaboratively to address these issues," he said. The US, he said, is in discussions with India on building an innovation based ecosystem. "We are talking to the Indian government, I see their commitment in building an innovative ecosystem whether it's entrepreneurship, whether it's helping businesses, whether it's attracting investment. (Reopens DCM 86) When asked about the hike in visa fees, US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce H Andrews said: "Our Congress recently put an increase in visas which applies across the board. It applies to country visas from all countries." "I know that it's got a great deal of interest in India, it has a very broad application to countries around the world, and that is something that we recognise has had an impact... and there are number of businesses here are interested in the action that Congress has taken," he added. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already written to the US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on the visa fee issue, raising India's concerns. In December, US President Barack Obama had signed into law a USD 1.8 trillion spending package which, among other things, introduces a hefty USD 4,000 fee for certain categories of H-1B visa and USD 4,500 for L1 visa. Companies having more than 50 employees and more than 50 per cent of their US employees on H-1B and L1 visas would have to pay the new fee when the next visa application session kicks off on April 1. Terming the hike under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act as highly discriminatory, IT industry body Nasscom had recently stated the move would have an impact of about USD 400 million annually on India's technology sector. The US has said it is committed to assist India in bringing perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice after Pakistani-American key LeT operative David Coleman Headley in his first deposition told a court that Pakistani terrorists conducted 26/11 strikes after two failed attempts. He also gave details of the role played by ISI whose three officials he named. "The United States is committed to doing all we can to assist the government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "Certainly, it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm but across all as well," Kirby said. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. "We'll always look to try to improve our cooperation across all different aspects of the relationship. I don't want to prejudge or presuppose here based on this testimony, that that it has a strategic value here. That's not for me to speak to," Kirby said. This was a decision and this was an event set up and established by Department of Justice, Kirby said, adding the US has a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels and law enforcement is one of them. Described himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of Hafiz Saeed. The United States welcomes a Saudi offer to deploy special forces to support a possible coalition ground operation inside Syria, the kingdom's foreign minister said today. Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said any operation would be US-led but that Saudi Arabia would play a leading role. "The United States government was very supportive and very positive about the kingdom's readiness to provide special forces to the operation in Syria, should the international coalition make a decision to do so," he told reporters. "So the kingdom will be part of it," he said. "That support came from the White House, it came from the State Department, it was natural for Secretary Kerry to support such a decision." Jubeir said the idea for a possible ground operation had come from Washington, and said that members of the 65-strong coalition against the Islamic State would expect the United States to lead it. The United States has publicly confirmed that it has sent a small number of special operations forces to eastern Syria to help local militias fight the Islamic State group. But debate continues in Washington about the advisability and final size of a possible larger ground operation against the hardline group. The railway station of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, will get a makeover soon with a new 'executive lounge' and some other amenities. "An executive lounge will come up soon at the Varanasi railway station...A proposal has been sent to the IRCTC and it has given its approval in principle for the same", Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Lucknow , Anil Kumar Lohati told PTI here. An executive lounge will also be set up in the state capital Lucknow and both the stations will have upgraded basic facilities like toilets at par with airports, the DRM said adding that toilets at other stations in division are also being upgraded. Varanasi and Lucknow railway station will also have lifts and escalators for the benefit of physically weak travellers, Lohati said adding that it will be operational from this year itself. Besides Lucknow and Varanasi, Praatapgarh, Sultanpur, Prayag, Faizabad and Rae Bareli are also in for upgradation including yard remodelling, he added. American retail giant Walmart will soon sign three pacts with the Telangana government to expand its footprint in the state. Chief Executive of Walmart Latin America Enrique Ostale met Telangana Panchayat Raj and IT Minister K T Rama Rao here, a state government release said, adding that the company was planning to open more stores in Hyderabad. Under one of the MoUs to be signed, Walmart will encourage the women in the state to open kirana (grocery) stores. The second MoU would be about the state-run horticulture corporation supplying fruits and vegetables to the company, while the third one would be about maintenance of 'Krishi Marts' set up by the state government. These MoUs are expected to be signed by the end of this month, the release added. Meanwhile, Norway's Ambassador to India Nils Ragnar Kamsvag also met Rama Rao today and discussed possibilities for cooperation, it was stated. Indian-American Sikh actor Waris Ahluwalia says he was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York because he refused to remove his turban. Ahluwalia, who has featured in movies like "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Inside Man," took to Instagram to write about the incident. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," he wrote. The actor told the New York Daily he could not remove his turban in an airport. "That is not something that I would do in public. That's akin to asking someone to take off their clothes," he said. Ahluwalia missed the Aero Mexico flight leaving at 7:15 am for New York City, where he lives. Delhi High Court today wondered what purpose does the ban on a controversial documentary on December 16 gangrape case serve when it is available on internet and asked the police to submit the legal provisions under which the prohibition was imposed. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Delhi Police to submit case records and status after the March 4, 2015 ban order. "What purpose does the ban serve when it is available on internet? Tell us what are the legal provisions under which prohibitory orders were imposed against the documentary. What is the status of the case after the prohibitory orders," the bench asked the counsel for the police. The court's observation came after the counsel for Delhi police conceded that the documentary is available on internet. It asked the police to file an affidavit giving details of the case by March 21. Counsel for the petitioner contended that as per the RTI reply received, the Centre has claimed that it has all statutory powers to impose prohibitory orders on various grounds including law and order problem. He said that since the documentary was available on internet and have been seen by many, it does not have the effect of prohibitory orders and should be vacated. The court was hearing separate PILs filed by three law students seeking lifting of the ban on the documentary 'India's Daughter' on the grounds that it was "a look at the mindset of one of the convicted rapists". The documentary was made by Leslee Udwin and was broadcast by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was banned by the government after its contents - including the interview of one of the rapists who showed no remorse, triggered outrage. On the night of December 16, 2012, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh and a juvenile had gangraped a girl in a bus and her 28-year-old male friend, who was with her. The victim's friend, suffered injuries in the incident while the girl succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012 at a Singapore hospital. The juvenile accused was on August 31, 2013 convicted and sentenced to three years in a reformation home, while the four others were handed down death penalty. A 35-year-old woman from Meghalaya was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her rented accommodation in west Delhi's Janakpuri area today. The woman has been identified as Bahun Marbaninang, a native of Meghalaya. There were apparently some injury marks on her knees but the cause of death has not been ascertained as yet, a senior official said. "The matter came to light in the morning, following which her relatives were informed. Once they reach Delhi, the body will be sent for a postmortem examination. The cause of death can only be ascertained after that," the senior official said. During preliminary investigation, it emerged that the woman returned in the wee hours today from a party, which was organised by her friend who is the son of the owner of a private school in the area. "We are questioning her associates in order to construct a sequence of events in connection with the matter. No case has been registered so far," the senior official said. In a shocking case, a woman and her paramour allegedly beat her four-year-old son to death and threw the body out of a train, police said today. According to police, the duo has been arrested from north west Delhi's Narela area. "Gurjeet Kaur, whose husband is in Dubai, eloped with Ajay Kumar and took along with herself her son Harmanpreet Singh. The child was beaten to death and thrown away from a train near Katra railway station in Jammu and Kashmir in January, said a senior police officer. "The body of the child was found by Katra GRP personnel. Katra police contacted Narela police station in west Delhi giving information that the location of the accused was traced to the area. "Ajay was caught from a private company where he had started working as a security guard three days back," said the officer. During questioning, the woman, who confessed to killing her own son, saying she had "no affection" for him, told police that her husband has not returned from Dubai and had asked her to live her life the way she wanted. High winds buffeted northwestern Europe on today, leaving one woman in France in a coma after she was hit by an advertising hoarding. In Britain, a search was under way for an animal protection officer who went missing after rescuing sea birds stranded on rocks near Penzance in southwest England on Sunday. Rail and ferry services in southern England and Wales were disrupted as wind speeds reached nearly 155 kilometres (100 miles) per hour, while flood warnings were issued in more than 50 areas. In Germany, storms forced carnival organisers to cancel "Rose Monday" parades in the western cities of Duesseldorf and Mainz and scale back festivities in Cologne, the traditional home of the annual fancy dress celebrations. In Paris, a woman in her early 20s was left fighting for her life after she was hit by a roadside hoarding that had been dislodged by high winds, police said. A man was left with a broken leg in the same incident. France's Atlantic coast was lashed by powerful waves and authorities in resorts such as Biarritz took hasty measures to try to prevent the sea reaching the town. Electricity was cut to 5,000 homes in northern France. "The big northwestern swell has reached the Brittany shores and the Gulf of Gascony as expected," the French weather service said in a statement. The British coastguard was helping in the search for Mike Reid, 54, who was called out to help save around 30 gannets in wind-lashed Cornwall on Sunday but has not been seen since then. Yemeni forces clashed today with Al-Qaeda militants in Aden as the Saudi-led coalition provided air cover, in a bid to drive the jihadists out of the city, security officials said. Al-Qaeda controls part of the southern port city which has become the temporary headquarters of the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as it battles to retake large parts of Yemen from Shiite Huthi rebels. Forces loyal to Hadi laid siege early today to Aden's central Mansura district and clashed with militants, while coalition Apache helicopters provided air cover, security officials in the city said. At least two gunmen were killed in the fighting, the officials said. Residents said warplanes also hovered overhead and that they feared for their lives. "We live in terror... We got rid of the Huthis and now Al-Qaeda militants have come to turn our lives into hell," said one resident. Loyalists backed by a Saudi-led coalition have since July recaptured Aden and four other southern provinces from the Shiite rebels, who continue to control Sanaa and other northern regions. Al-Qaeda and the rival jihadist Islamic State group have taken advantage of the weakness of the central government to gain ground in southern cities such as Aden. Both have a presence in Yemen's second city, where jihadists occupy government buildings and are seen patrolling several districts and intimidating civilians. They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months. By Promit Mukherjee MUMBAI (Reuters) - Russia's top oil producer Rosneft is still carrying out due diligence to buy a stake in Essar Oil Ltd, the Indian group which runs India's second biggest private sector refinery said on Tuesday. Rosneft signed a preliminary deal in July last year to acquire up to 49 percent in Essar Oil, controlled by the Indian billionaire Ruia brothers. "Rosneft is in advanced stage to conclude the due diligence process and it will still take some time before the deal is finally closed," Essar Oil Managing Director L.K. Gupta said on a media conference call after announcing quarterly results. Gupta said the talks with Rosneft were exclusive, and that the company would not comment on "market rumours" on whether Essar Oil was in talks with other global oil and gas companies about further stake sales. Last week, Bloomberg reported that the company was in talks with Saudi Arabia's biggest oil company Saudi Aramco and National Iranian Oil Company to sell a stake in its refinery. Essar, whose business interests include steel, oil and gas, power and ports, has been forced to consider selling assets to reduce its debt, after expanding in India and overseas. Essar Oil on Tuesday posted a seven-fold jump in net profit for the December quarter, its last quarter as a listed company on the Indian stock exchanges, to 3.64 billion rupees ($54 million) helped by a near doubling of its gross refining margin. The company, which is officially de-listed from Feb. 10, said its gross refining margin, an important gauge of profitability for an oil refiner, rose to $13.25 per barrel. Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian crude, is yet to decide whether it will increase its imports from Tehran, Gupta said. "It depends on economic consideration... and whether the crude fits our basket." Essar Oil currently owes $2.5 billion to Iran, he said. The company imported 96 percent more oil from Iran in December compared with the preceding month, tanker arrival data made available to shows, buoyed by the prospects of a lifting of Western sanctions. ($1 = 68.0395 rupees) (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Alexander Smith) Facebook will have to reconsider its approach in the light of India's new rules preventing Internet service providers from having different pricing policies for accessing different parts of the Web, analysts said. "This is a major setback for Facebook," said Naveen Menon, lead analyst at A.T. Kearney in Singapore. "Not only because India was expected to be such a critical piece of the overall Internet.org success story, but more so because it has potential dangerous knock-on effects for the universal access initiative in other markets." Internet.org is Facebook's umbrella initiative to bring Internet access to the unconnected. Part of that is the Free Basics programme, which Facebook has launched in around three dozen emerging countries. The service has been criticised outside India, too, with Facebook accused of infringing the principle of net neutrality - the concept that all websites and data on the Internet be treated equally. Critics and Internet activists argue that allowing free access to a select few apps and Web services disadvantages small content providers and start-ups that don't participate. Ram Sevak Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), told he hoped its ruling would clarify ambiguity about net neutrality and "that India has set the record straight that will be followed [the] world over." In Facebook posts after Monday's ruling, founder Mark Zuckerberg said Free Basics was just one part of a larger initiative that includes solar-powered planes, satellites and lasers, and pairing with local entrepreneurs to provide wireless hotspots. Expanding these approaches with or without the operators was one option for Facebook now, as well as legal workarounds where the service is repackaged, said Martin Geddes, a UK-based telecoms consultant. Facebook could also challenge the ruling in the courts, but a more likely move, said Marc Einstein, Asia-Pacific director at Frost and Sullivan, would be to sit down with the TRAI "to try to come up with a solution that's deemed a little more neutral." Facebook executives were not immediately available for comment, but India-born Karthik Naralasetty, whose blood donor matching service Socialblood is available in more than 20 countries via Free Basics, said Facebook was already re-thinking its approach. "Facebook is re-thinking what it's doing, coming up with better plans," he said by telephone. "Communications will have to improve. They have to get the buy-in of different governments before they go into those countries." FIGHT GOES ON It won't be easy. For one thing, said Neil Shah, a director of Counterpoint Research in Mumbai, Free Basics made little headway in India before it was suspended in December, gaining 1 million users. Only 252 million of India's 1.3 billion people have Internet access. Part of the problem, one expert said, is that Facebook implemented Free Basics in India following a playbook it has used in other developing countries without considering India's active civil society. Indian activists and local businesses strongly opposed Facebook acting as the "gatekeeper" of the Internet, said Rebecca MacKinnon, director of the Ranking Digital Rights project at New America. "India is not a place where Free Basics is going to be welcomed or work and (Facebook) might be better off thinking about another strategy to win over users in India," she said, such as focussing on telecommunications infrastructure or helping people access affordable devices with Internet connections. Opponents of the service said they would continue to fight. "Facebook is not going to take it lying down and they will try and figure out a way for it to happen one way or the other," said Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of Indian dating app TrulyMadly. "Our job is to keep at it non-stop to ensure Internet freedom is not threatened." Regional telecoms operators which partner with Facebook, such as Indonesia's PT Indosat , controlled by Qatar's Ooredoo , and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, said the ruling would not lead them to reconsider the partnerships. "The Indian experience is very isolated," said Vicente Froilan Castelo, general counsel of Globe Telecom. (Reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff and Himank Sharma, with additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Eveline Danubrata in Jakarta, Neil Jerome C. Morales in Manila and Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Stephen R. Trousdale) General Motors said on Tuesday that it is recalling 4,73,000 pickups and SUVs in North America because brake pedals could fail due to a faulty nut. The Detroit automaker is calling back 426,573 2015-16 Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Sierra HD, and Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicles in the United States and 46,837 in Canada. GM says the brake pedal pivot nut may become loose, causing the brake pedal to be loose or inoperative. There are no reports of injuries or crashes. Dealers will inspect the bolt to determine if the vehicle has already received a fix added during production. If not, dealers will add adhesive to the nut and reinstall the nut. By Rajendra Jadhav MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian gold traders say they are struggling to draw buyers despite offering record discounts over rallying international prices, as consumers wait to see if rates can fall further after the federal budget this month. The bullion industry expects the government to cut the record 10 percent import duty on gold in the annual budget for 2016/17 that will be presented on Feb. 29, potentially boosting supply and driving domestic prices lower. Indian gold prices also swung into deep discounts before the last budget, when the government surprised the market with no cut in duty on the metal. India is the world's second biggest gold consumer. Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at MNC Bullion, a wholesaler in the southern Indian city of Chennai, said he was seeing hardly any transactions at present. "Dealers are offering hefty discounts to clear inventory, but buyers are not there in the market," he said. Gold sellers in India, who generally charge a premium over London prices, are offering a record discount of up to $25 an ounce. Weak demand from India at a time Chinese buyers are absent for the Lunar New Year holidays could limit a rally in global prices, which topped $1,200 an ounce for the first time since June on Monday after hefty losses in global stocks. Though the wedding season that extends to May typically raises gold demand, many have delayed purchases in anticipation of prices falling further. Buying has been muted in recent days in otherwise buzzing jewellery centres like Zaveri Baazar in Mumbai. "Today I could not even sell a small piece of jewellery," said Kumar Jain, a jeweller in Zaveri Bazaar, India's biggest bullion market. "Customers are not even making inquiries." Gold prices shot up to their highest since August 2014 on Monday at 28,527 rupees per 10 grams, after trading below 25,000 rupees per 10 gm last month. Local prices are up more than 13 percent this year, and that has weighed on demand to an extent, said some retail buyers. "People are expecting a reduction in the import duty in the budget," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank. "But the market is behaving abnormally. This kind of discount cannot sustain." The high import duty on gold was imposed in 2013 after policymakers scrambled to narrow the current account deficit and arrest a free fall in the currency following heavy buying of the metal, a traditional store of wealth for millions of poor and rich Indians. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; editing by Jan Harvey) NEW YORK (Reuters) - Itochu Corp <8001.T>, one of Japan's biggest trading companies, said on Monday it has agreed to buy a stake in a new joint venture with privately-owned cocoa trader and processor Transmar Group, marking its first foray into the chocolate market. Under the terms of the deal, the companies will form a joint venture called Transmar Group Ltd, which will be based in Britain and hold the majority of Transmar's existing cocoa operations in the United States, Europe and South America, a joint statement said. Itochu said it will take a stake of slightly below 20 percent in the new venture and will act as its distribution agent in select geographies. Transmar Chief Executive Officer Peter Johnson will run the new venture. The deal gives Transmar access to Asia, seen as one of the fastest-growing regions for chocolate demand in the long term. Still, bean grinders have struggled with poor margins over the past year as cocoa prices have soared while consumption of cocoa butter and powder, which are key ingredients in chocolate and chocolatey treats, has weakened. For Itochu, the move is part of the growth strategy for its food division, which buys food stuffs ranging from grains and oilseed to coffee beans and livestock products, on behalf of third parties. The division also handles processing of food. The deal is expected to close this month. (Reporting by Josephine Mason and Marcy Nicholson; Editing by Paul Simao) with 30% female executives rake in as much as 6% points more in profits, according to a study on Monday, feeding into a global debate over the scarcity of women in decision-making business roles. The conclusion stems from a study of about 22,000 publicly-traded in 91 countries ranging from Mexico to Norway and Italy conducted by researchers at The Peterson Institute for Economics, a Washington, DC-based think tank. "If you're a firm and you're discriminating against potential female leaders, that means you're essentially doing a bad job of picking the best leader for your firm," said Tyler Moran, one of the study's three co-authors, in an interview. The results indicate the presence of women in corporate leadership positions can boost a firm's performance, suggesting a reward for policies that facilitate women rising through corporate ranks. But the study found while having women in executive ranks resulted in better profitability, female CEOs or board members did not have a statistically-significant impact on the bottom line. The findings further show that not all firms are created equal when it comes to fostering women leadership potential, with some more likely to encourage female managers depending on characteristics ranging from size to national policies such as family-leave. Larger firms, for example, appear to appoint more women on boards and in upper executive ranks. Karyn Twaronite, a spokeswoman for professional services company EY, which helped fund the study, said the results would likely prompt discussion over the need for different kinds of workplace arrangements. "This research sheds light on the importance of establishing modern workplace benefits, providing equitable sponsorship opportunities, and creating inclusive work environments, so that both men and women can have equal access to leadership positions," she said. Still, despite the bottom line incentives of drawing in more female managers, much needs to be done, the research found. Currently, about three in 10 worldwide have no women either in executive positions or on their board, the researchers found. Next month academics, economists and top members of business and labor tapped by the United Nations will meet to make recommendations on how to boost gender equality and empower women over the next 15 years as part of a new set of global goals agreed by the 193 UN member nations last year. Global crude benchmark Brent was up 17 cents at $33.05 a barrel. It settled the previous session down $1.18 at $33.88. Prices on Monday were hit by a drop in U.S. equity markets amid persistent fears about the global economic slowdown. But on Tuesday, oil market traders seemed to ignore a 4-percent drop in Japan's Nikkei . Many Asian markets are closed for Lunar New Year holidays, with oil trade volumes thin. The U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen <=JPY> as sentiment towards most risk assets turned bearish amid concerns about banking stability. A declining dollar makes oil prices cheaper because most trade is denominated in the greenback, potentially spurring demand. Still, the glut in world oil markets is unlikely to abate soon, with a survey showing U.S. crude stocks likely rose by 3.9 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 5. Industry group American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday releases its weekly inventory reports followed by official numbers from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. There is also little sign of any coordination among big producers outside the United States after weekend talks between OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Venezuela on possible coordination yielded little. That dims prospects of any initiative on curbing supply to boost prices including producers like Russia, analysts say. "Hopes of a coordinated supply cut from OPEC and non-OPEC members continue to fade," ANZ said in a research note on Tuesday. (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Joseph Radford) By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices jumped as much as 2 percent on Tuesday, shrugging off big drops in Japan's stock market and eroding some of the previous session's losses that were driven by festering concerns about global oversupply. U.S. crude was up 33 cents at $30.02 a barrel at 0603 GMT, after rising as far as $30.30. The contract fell about 4 percent on Monday, finishing at $29.69. Global benchmark Brent was up 7 cents at $32.95 a barrel. It settled the previous session down $1.18 at $33.88. Prices on Monday were hit by a drop in U.S. equity markets amid persistent fears about the global economic slowdown. But on Tuesday, oil market traders ignored a more than 5 percent drop in Japan's Nikkei. Many Asian markets are closed for Lunar New Year holidays. "Once again we have got a weaker U.S. dollar and I suspect that that's where the bulk of the support is coming from," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. The U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen as sentiment towards most risk assets turned bearish amid concerns about banking stability. A declining dollar makes oil less expensive for holders of other currencies because most trade is denominated in the greenback, potentially spurring demand and lifting prices. Still, the glut in world oil markets is unlikely to abate soon, with a survey showing U.S. crude stocks likely rose by 3.9 million barrels in the week ended on Feb. 5. Industry group American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday releases its weekly inventory reports followed by official numbers from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. "The fundamentals haven't shifted. The market remains in surplus, and while that's the case, it is very difficult for prices to sustain any gains," McCarthy said. There is also little sign of any coordination on production cuts among big producers outside the United States after weekend talks between OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Venezuela yielded no concrete result. That dims prospects of any initiative on curbing supply to boost prices, including from producers such as Russia, analysts say. "Hopes of a coordinated supply cut from OPEC and non-OPEC members continue to fade," ANZ said in a research note on Tuesday. (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Anand Basu and Tom Hogue) On Monday afternoon, India's telecom regulator finally put to rest the fiery net neutrality debate in India -- by ruling against zero rating and differential tariffs. Zero rating lets Airtel users use Facebook, for instance, free of data levies, while charging for access to other services or websites. This violates net neutrality, which says there should be no differential pricing -- free data for one service, but priced for another -- based on the content or web sites. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has now forbidden such "discriminatory pricing" by whatever name it may be called. The watchdog's ruling is clear and sharp, and a blow to Facebook's high-stakes Free Basics platform, born as Internet.org, as well as to Airtel Zero and other zero-rating platforms tried out, or planned, by telcos. The year-long battle between the heavyweights, including telecom giants and Facebook, and a bunch of volunteers under the SaveTheInternet.in banner, was fiery, and seemingly unequal. Facebook ploughed in an estimated Rs 300 crore into its three-month campaign defending Free Basics. Against it, though, the lone volunteer-activists gradually managed to drum up a great deal of public support. A spokesman said Facebook was "disappointed with the outcome, but we will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the internet and the opportunities it brings". Expectedly, the activists were ecstatic. "This is a historic outcome," said Kiran Jonnalagadda, a co-founder of the SaveTheInternet.in movement. "For the first time, India leads where the US and Europe will follow. Many thanks to TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma for backing such an important ruling as his first major act in office." The TRAI ruling got widespread applause, including from tech association Nasscom, which had given a submission supporting net neutrality. Its Internet council chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani said the ruling would "help address apprehensions of young start-ups fearing lack of a level playing field." Entrepreneur Arvind Jha of TiE said the collective power of 7,000 start-ups (whose founders had written to the PMO supporting Net Neutrality) and a dedicated team of volunteers has won over Facebook's ad blitzkrieg running into hundreds of crores of rupees. So have David and the good guys vanquished Goliath, ending the battle? The reality may be more nuanced than that. A battle much bigger than activists versus Facebook is up ahead: Providing Internet access to nearly a billion Indians who are offline, or nominally online, today. First, the nuances. Facebook is responsible for a great deal of the Internet penetration in India. Of the 300 million mobile users who make up over 90 percent of India's internet base, 56 percent use WhatsApp daily, and 51 percent use Facebook, according to a TNS survey released last October. So, at least two out of every three Internet users in India use mobile data -- purely to use one or the other of Facebooks apps, including WhatsApp. It would be great to find a net-neutral way to let users access the apps or sites they need to (which may include WhatsApp or Facebook), free, or cheaply. The Net neutrality movement, and now TRAI, have shot down Free Basics, which would have got Facebook and a few select apps free of data charges to subscribers of one telco (Reliance Communications). But TRAI hasn't yet suggested what alternatives could be used to provide cheap or free Internet access to the hundreds of millions of mobile users who are unable or unwilling to pay for mobile data. And no! They don't have access to even wireline broadband. The watchdog did ask that question in its consultation paper. So we're all hoping it will yet come up with some workable ideas. There are several options as well. For instance, letting telecom companies offer a certain amount of free data for all, or using apps like Gigato which allow sponsors to top-up data, free, for prepaid users of specific apps: that recharged data can then be used for accessing any website or app. Then there's Digital India, which aims to put Wi-Fi into towns and villages, letting smartphone users access the internet free or cheaply. Former journalist Pierre Fitter puts it well: "Good that all Web content will be treated as equal. Now comes the important bit: making sure everyone can access the Internet." (IANS) Bibby Financial Services Ireland have today announced that they provided 52m in invoice financing to Irish SMEs last year. Bibby Financial Services Ireland is part of the Bibby Line Group, the worlds largest independent invoice finance company that provides over 2.2 billion funding to over 9,500 SMEs globally every year. They currently employ 30 people at their office in Sandyford, Dublin. This is an increase of almost 28% on the 41m credit facility approved by Bibby in 2014. Invoice finance facilities approved by Bibby to Irish SMEs in 2015 varied from 50,000 to 5,000,000. This comes after a recent Red C Credit Demand Survey (Nov 2015) showed that SMEs are reporting improved trading conditions, but they remain cautious in relation to debt. Furthermore, while SMEs believe that banks are more willing to provide credit than before, there is still a perception that banks are only lending to a small number of SMEs. This sentiment is further supported by new data published by the Central Bank, which indicated that access to finance is still considered a major concern for Irish SMEs. Bibbys invoice financing model, however, supports businesses by giving them access to cash tied up in invoices. The facility is available to any business that sells goods or services and invoices customers on credit terms. Bibby guarantees to process credit applications and make a decision on financing in five working days or fewer To deal with demand, Bibby have appointmented a new Managing Director for Ireland, Bernard OHare. From Dublin, Mr OHare is a experienced financial professional, with more than 35 years leadership experience in financial services, and particular expertise in invoice financing. He joins Bibby from Certus, where he held the role of divisional director for four years. His previous experience also includes divisional director at Bank of Scotland Ireland/ICC Bank, where Mr OHare spent 12 years. Speaking today, Bernard OHare said, "As the economy recovers, there is a clear appetite among Irish SMEs to scale and grow their businesses. While the demand for credit among SMEs remains high, immediate access to working capital through invoice finance is enabling businesses to cover their overheads which in turn is allowing SMEs to focus on growth and expansion opportunities. "Last year, Bibby approved 52 million in invoice finance to Irish SMEs and, considering the growing demand for non-bank finance in the SME sector, we expect to see this figure increase significantly in 2016." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us At report in the Irish Independent today claims that workers at the company's Grand Canal offices in Dublin earn 94,590 on average (or 72,783), compared to around 207,884 (or 160,000) paid to their London colleagues. This is despite the fact that Google's employees in the UK are generally tasked with supporting the work of the company's Irish team. Referencing figures from the Google's latest accounts, which were revealed ahead of a UK Parliament Public Accounts Committee meeting this week, the Irish Independent reports that Google Ireland's three directors were paid a combined sum of 1.64m (or 1.265) in 2014. This is despite the fact that the business has sales of 18.3bn, which makes up one-third of the company's global sales. Google Ireland booked 5bn worth of sales from UK advertisers in 2015, but it paid no tax in Britain. Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Two new Tourism Ireland strategies were launched yesterday by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe. The strategies set out and ambitious targets which aims to bring in almost 3.8 million Spanish and Italian visitors between now and 2020 825,000 visitors per year from both countries by 2020 representing growth of +25%. The Tourism Ireland strategies have been developed in close co-operation with a wide range of industry partners, at home and in Spain and Italy. They have identified the opportunities which will drive accelerated growth from both countries to the island of Ireland over the coming four years. Research by Tourism Ireland shows that more than 20% of all Spanish visitors to Ireland visit in the off-season or the forth quarter a real opportunity for Irish tourism operators to win business at a time when there is capacity in accommodation and other tourism facilities. Furthermore, approximately 98% of Spanish visitors to Ireland are independent travellers, with around 95% booking part of their trip online. Spaniards are also heavy users of social and digital media and are hugely influenced by word of mouth. CEO of Tourism Ireland, Niall Gibbons says "Spain and Italy have performed extremely well for tourism to the island of Ireland in recent years and the future is undoubtedly bright. We believe that both are markets of considerable potential for Irish tourism over the coming years. "However, we certainly dont take the performance for granted; we need to adapt and respond to new opportunities to ensure that success continues. I am confident that our new, focused strategies will deliver on the challenging targets we have set for growth in Spanish and Italian visitors, between now and 2020." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Abbott Ireland were celebrating last week after they were awarded the top Shingo Prize, an international award for operational excellence, by the Shingo Institute at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. The prize is a premier award for operational excellence and the standard is, by design, one of the most rigorous in the world. This is the first year that Abbotts diagnostics business has been recognised with this award. Abbott's vascular manufacturing site in Clonmel, Ireland, also received the top Shingo Prize in 2014. The prize is awarded to organisations that demonstrate a culture where principles of operational excellence are deeply embedded into the thinking and behaviour of all leaders, managers and employees. Abbotts diagnostics manufacturing facility in Longford received the award recognising the site's initiatives to develop and maintain continuous improvement to achieve operational excellence. Executive vice president of Diagnostics Products at Abbott, Brian Blaser said, "Our overall mission at Abbott is to advance human health in everything we do, enabling people to not just live longer, but better. "In diagnostics, we do this by helping doctors diagnose and monitor a wide range of health conditions with greater speed, accuracy and efficiency. I want to congratulate the team at our manufacturing facility in Longford on receiving the top Shingo Prize. It is a testament of their deep commitment to serving the people who benefit from our products." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us The Construction Federation of Ireland (CIF) have today expressed concern at the "chronic housing shortage" in Dublin. They were referring to recent figures from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government which show that Dublin experienced a significant drop in the number of new housing units built last year. Only 2,892 residential housing units were built, compared to 3,268 units in 2014. Across the country 12,666 units were completed in 2015. While this was an increase of 15% year on year, the CIF claim it is still far shy of the broadly acknowledged 25,000 units needed to meet demands for housing. The number of residential units commenced in 2015 increased by only 4.9% from 7,717 units in 2014 to 8,093 units in 2015. The only counties to experience any increase in residential commencement activity are Dublin (+24.2%), Louth (+35.7%), Kildare (+30.3%), Wicklow (32.1%), Laois (43.2%), Kilkenny (20.7%), Cork (+15%), and Cavan (+15.5%), while all other counties saw reductions in commencement of new residential units. The CIF claim that only approximately half of the sale price of a house is the cost of building, the rest is made up of a combination of regulatory compliance and VAT. New homes in the UK have a 0% rate of VAT, while in Ireland a 13.5% rate applies. The CIF claim this is too high and is making house-building almost unviable in many parts of Ireland. Director of the Irish Home Builders Association and the CIF, Hubert Fitzpatrick says, "We urge the Central Bank to reconsider its macro prudential policy for residential mortgage lending. "In particular, we believe that a mortgage applicants ability to make regular repayments in the way of regular rent- which in many cases is higher than the repayments they would expect to pay on a mortgage- should be taken into consideration. "Future housing supply will be a major issue for the new Government to grapple with, as the current impasse in relation to the level of new build must be resolved. If we are to maintain the countrys competitiveness in attracting and maintaining new jobs, then we must ensure that we have a viable supply of residential units available for purchase or to rent in the areas where they are most needed." Source: www.businessworld.ie It was announced today that open access fibre and wireless network operator, enet, has signed a seven figure deal with Irish telecoms firm Magnet. The deal will deliver significant extra capacity to the service provider, enhancing Magnets ability to deliver high speed services to businesses and homes on their current networks. This backhaul capacity will be complimentary to Magnets existing network, and will facilitate the telecoms service provider in the delivery of services to their customers in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Portlaoise. CEO of enet, Conal Henry says, "This deal with Magnet further signals our commitment to delivering world class networks on an open access basis to all Irish licensed telecom service providers. "Our continued investment in fibre infrastructure in both backhaul and within the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) towns has given service providers a wealth of choice and opportunities when it comes to delivering the very best services to their customers." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Virgin Media and the National Parents Council (NPC) have today launched a three year partnership to provide Internet safety classes for parents of primary schoolchildren across Ireland. The first series of Internet safety classes for parents will take place in Counties Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary and Wexford. Virgin Media have also announced the launch of a new online resource pack called The Web We Want for teachers. The online resource includes training guides designed by teachers for teachers which include 10 ready-to-use lesson plans for 13-16 year olds, and guides designed by teenagers for teenagers, which integrate important aspects of digital living into everyday lessons. Topics covered in these guides include online rights and responsibilities, censorship, freedom of expression, ethical behaviour and maintaining a positive digital footprint for future wellbeing. Virgin Media CEO, Tony Hanway today commented, "The need to guide and protect children online is no different to having to protect them in the real world. We believe this initiative will provide invaluable advice to parents wishing to learn ways they can ensure their children remain safe online. The Internet offers a world of opportunity for children. "Our partnership with the NPC is designed to ensure that parents and children can extract the best from this world of opportunity while also ensuring that parents, teachers and kids have the necessary skills to ensure they remain safe online. Were absolutely delighted to be involved." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai received restricted stock worth about $199 million, according to a regulatory filing by Google parent company Alphabet Inc . Pichai, who took over in August, received a grant for 273,328 Class C Google stock units on Feb. 3. The valuation is based on the stock's closing price on that date. On the same day, Pichai sold 375 Class A common shares at a price of $786.28 each, and 3,625 Class C capital stock at a price of $768.84 each, the filing said. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie U.S. President Barack Obama unveils his final White House budget on Tuesday with a blueprint for fiscal year 2017 that will lay out his spending proposals for priorities from fighting Islamic State to providing for the poor. The budget for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1 is largely a political document and is unlikely to be passed by the Republican-controlled Congress. But it gives the Democratic president, who leaves office in January, a chance to make a last pitch for funding on issues such as education, criminal justice reform and job creation. "That document ... will be President Obama's final vision of how he lays out the fiscal future for the country," said Joel Friedman, vice president for federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "I don't think anyone expects it to be enacted this year. Republicans aren't going to embrace it, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be a useful document." Congress can advance elements of the budget without endorsing the entire proposal, which is likely to call for roughly $4 trillion in total spending, in line with Obama's $3.99 trillion proposal for fiscal year 2016. The budget is likely to stay within the confines of an agreement reached between the White House and Congress last year that lifted mandatory "sequestration" cuts on both defense and domestic spending. Friedman noted that Obama and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan agreed on some ways to fight poverty, such as an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to encourage low-income Americans to work. But differences between the two political parties in a presidential election year are especially pronounced, and Republican lawmakers have taken the unusual step of not inviting White House budget director Shaun Donovan to brief about the proposal. "Maybe they are taking the Donald Trump approach to debates about the budget. They are just not going to show up," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters last week, referring to the Republican presidential front-runner's decision to skip a debate with his counterparts ahead of the nominating contest in Iowa. The administration has already released key elements. The Pentagon will ask for more than $7 billion for the fight against Islamic State, up about 35 percent from the previous year's request, and Obama will seek a 20 percent boost for renewable energy research funding to a total of $7.7 billion. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie LOGAN A 72-year-old North Logan man pleaded not guilty Monday, to two charges stemming from a vehicle/ATV accident that sent two boys to the hospital last summer. The pleas were entered in 1st District Court after Judge Thomas Willmore ruled there was sufficient evidence to bind the man over for trial. Erin H. Milligan sat next to his defense attorney as the four teenage victims testified. He is being charged with reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor and reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor. The accident occurred July 29, along a canal road, just north of 3100 North and 1600 East in North Logan. The four boys told the court how they were all riding on a small four-wheeler, travelling north, when they came upon a white truck, driven by Milligan, travelling south. They said as he got closer, he sped up, striking the ATV and pushing it into the canal, partially pinning one of the boys underneath. The accident sent two of the boys to the hospital with internal injuries, lacerations and multiple broken bones. One of the boys, a 13-year-old from North Logan, described his injuries, saying he has had to have 12 surgeries to repair his arm. The boy also broke his pelvis, hip and four-ribs. Another one of the boys, a 13-year-old from Logan, cried and tearfully wiped back tears as he described how Milligan looked angry and mad, as the defendants truck sped up as it approached them. Milligan did not testify during Mondays preliminary hearing. Previously, he told investigators that his foot had slipped off the brake and onto the accelerator just before the accident. North Park Police initially reported both drivers apparently saw each other too late and took evasive action the same way, turning into the canal. After the accident though, the families of the boys asked for an additional investigation. An investigator with the Utah Highway Patrol interviewed the boys and Milligan further.

will@cvradio.com Cafebabel's birthday bash: 15 years of Europe in Real Life Published on February 8, 2016 Story by Alexandre Heully en fr pl de es it This month, cafebabel turns 15. Our director reflects on a decade and a half of nostalgia typing on an old-fashioned computer and dressed in a snazzy cafebabel t-shirt and comes to the conclusion that we couldnt have done it without all of you. In 2001, a team of Erasmus students hoped to dream big: they were moved to create the first European media. It was long before the era of Facebook, back when emails were only checked twice a week. In room number 304 of the Institut dEtudes politiques in Strasbourg, after several hours spent struggling with Dreamweaver, we hit the final enter key of an oversized computer and brought cafebabel to life. A dozen articles were published in 4 languages. It feels good to remember the old good days when cafebabel was a student project, that today has turned into a professional website. Back in 2003 I created, along with Adriano Farano and Simon Loubris, the first professional newsroom in Paris, which is known today by all Babelians under the not-so-cute name of La RCE (Redaction centrale europeenne). Today, we are still in Paris (though not in the same office), and rely on a team of 12 full time staff, sporting nifty corporate t-shirts on big occasions. We started work in 4 languages French, Italian, Spanish and English you read that right, there was no German! It was 2004 before we expanded to include it as a fifth language (endlich!), shortly followed by a Catalan version (unfortunately suspended in 2008), and finally a Polish version in 2006. Cafebabel the story of a European media expanding thanks to a vivid network of (nowadays) 20 local teams across Europe. From Seville to Vilnius, from Brussels to Istanbul; we now count 1,500 contributors and publish almost 4,000 articles per year! Of course, this would NEVER have been possible without the commitment of an amazing network of volunteers from all over Europe and beyond. Translators, authors, photographers, filmmakers, local team members, staff and friends you made cafebabel what it is today! For our 15th anniversary, we are preparing some surprises: a gonzo video guiding you through the history of the cafebabel adventure, and the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for a book (a real book! Made of paper and everything!), which gathers the best feature reports and photography ever published on cafebabel, whilst reflecting on the vision of the Erasmus generation over the last 15 years. So happy 15th anniversary to our contributors and to our readers! And happy birthday cafebabel! Story by Alexandre Heully Call for EUtoo Copenhagen: 23-27 March 2016 Published on February 9, 2016 Story by Laura Perret Translation by: Joseph Pearson en fr de it es pl This year, cafebabel is going to 7 different European cities for our new feature report "EUtoo". Following on from Budapest, Madrid, Krakow, London and Athens, we will be heading to the enigmatic city of Copenhagen from the 23rd to the 27th of March. Selected journalists will be accompanied by Lorenzo, our Italian editor, and welcomed to the city by our local correspondents. So what is "EU too"? In brief For our next feature report, EU too, cafebabel is going to meet the disenchanted youth of Europe. Who are these young people, contesting European consensus and leaving it behind in favour of alternative ideas? Why do they feel badly represented? What is it that they want to change? What are they hoping for in the future? In order to answer these questions, we will meet and interview them in their own cities and neighbourhoods. Your role The objective will be to listen to the voices of these young people to include them in the European debate. We are expecting a youth-friendly and off-the-wall tone, as well as an original and innovative style. Spend time with the locals, describe what you see, feel and learn from them. Tell your story in a creative and personal way, backed up with facts, statistics and verifiable sources! Wanted! We are looking for 2 print journalists, 1 photographer and 1 filmmaker who will come together to form this great team. If you are under 35 years old and you live in a European country, send us your CV with 3 article proposals (of three lines each), as well as suggestions of potential interviewees! If you're applying for the photographer or videomaker positons, please send a link to your portfolio as well. Your article proposals need to be linked to one of our four reporting categories: politics, culture, society, or lifestyle. So be creative and do some research before applying. We look forward to hearing your ideas! Send your CV and proposals to the following email: eu-too@cafebabel.com DEADLINE : 21st of February 2016. "EU too" in practice Logistics Once selected, you will have to book your own flights or trains to Copenhagen: a sum of up to 280 euros is reimbursed by cafebabel (you must keep your receipts) once you have returned from the trip and we have received your receipts. Other travel and food expenses will be reimbursed up to 200 euros (for more information contact our project officer Laura). The team will stay in a hostel that will be booked by cafebabel. Editorial Our Italian editor, Lorenzo, will be leading the trip to Copenhagen. He will supervise you whilst deciding on the angle for your article and making preparations for interviews at least two weeks before the trip is due to begin. You will also benefit from the help of our local correspondents in Copenhagen. However, you must prepare your own subject and bring your own ideas to the table. Get information about the city, find people that you would like to interview, show your creativity and motivation! The deadline for the submission of written pieces is strictly one week after the end of the trip. It will then be edited, translated and published in the six languages of cafebabel over the following month. Any questions ? Contact us! This project is co-funded by the European Commission. Story by Laura Perret Translated from Partez en reportage a Copenhague du 23 au 27 mars ! COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A line of new homes under construction in the Rancho Vista subdivision. The Southsides 78414 ZIP code saw the most home sales in 2015 with 911 homes. SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES New homes under construction in the Rancho Vista subdivision. The Southsides 78414 ZIP code saw the most home sales in 2015 with 911 homes. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Workers install a roof on a new home being built in the Rancho Vista subdivision. The Southsides 78414 ZIP code saw the most home sales in 2015 with 911 homes. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A line of new homes being built in the Rancho Vista subdivision. The Southsides 78414 ZIP code saw the most home sales in 2015 with 911 homes. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A sold sign sits outside of a new home under construction Rancho Vista subdivision. The Southsides 78414 ZIP code saw the most home sales in 2015 with 911 homes. By Kirsten Crow of the Caller-Times The 78414 was the place to move in 2015. Nearly 1,000 homes were sold last year in the ZIP code an area of the deep Southside from Holly Road to large portions south of Oso Creek, and from S. Staples Street east to Oso Bay. It was the No. 1 ZIP code for total closed home sales in 2015, according to an annual overview on Corpus Christi's housing market, based on data reported in the Coastal Bend Multiple Listing Service. The figures reflected in the annual report enumerate in chart form trends that residents have known anecdotally, judged by the number of subdivisions springing up from vacant fields of the city's southernmost limits, the constant competition for construction workers and public discourse on the city's growth patterns. The statistics are incomplete, limited only to those companies that use the Multiple Listing Service, but can provide a glimpse into housing trends in Corpus Christi. The ZIP code with the second-highest closed home sales in 2015 was the 78418 the area that includes the island and Flour Bluff where there were 703 home sales last year, according to the report. In third place is 78413 what some would likely consider the traditional Southside, from Holly Road to slightly south of Oso Creek, bound by S. Staples Street and the Way Out Weber area with 426 closed sales. Behind that, there was the 78410 the Calallen area and the 78412, near Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, bound between Ocean Drive and Holly Road. The 78410 saw 350 closed sales, and the 78412 had 301 closed sales, the report shows. The top five ZIP codes for closed sales also showed some of the city's the highest median prices, the uppermost range being the 78414, which saw a $212,500 median home price in 2015, up by 25.1 percent since 2011, when median home prices in the ZIP code were $169,900. Of the five ZIP codes, the lowest of the median home prices $132,200 in the 78412 ZIP code, a 26.4 percent increase since 2011. Builders are building more homes in the Southside and Deep Southside, but both new and existing home prices are going up, said Warren Andrich, president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Association of Realtors. Median home prices in Corpus Christi as a whole continued their dramatic rise last year. The median home price in 2011 was $136,500; and last year, $176,000. The average for the year was $203,700, according to the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. Jim Lee, chief economist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, suggested the housing market in Corpus Christi is softening some, citing increasing inventory and home prices leveling off. The city may not be directly affected by oil field cuts, but oil field suppliers are getting hit, he said. Although he believes the housing market as a whole is softening, it will be more apparent in homes in higher-end markets, Lee added. Andrich disagreed that the market is softening, saying instead that he anticipates the markets will grow. He also pointed to a diversifying economy that isn't reliant on oil. Generally, Andrich believes the city needs new housing. "Our inventory will continue to be at a low amount," he said. "We're still in an out-of-balance market. There are just not enough new homes coming online for sale for the demand, which means prices will continue to rise in the Coastal Bend area." New companies coming online, such as Voestalpine Texas, have offset the drops in employment the city is still seeing a 1 percent growth in employment, Lee said. He believes the effects of that workforce on real estate will mostly be seen on the north side of the bay. Twitter: @CallerCrow When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times FILE Assistant City Manager Gus Gonzalez, pictured here during a news conference this summer, is taking a job in San Antonio. SHARE By Kirsten Crow of the Caller-Times Assistant City Manager Gus Gonzalez is stepping down from his role with the city of Corpus Christi for a private sector job. He is the third assistant city manager to leave the city of Corpus Christi in the last four months. Gonzalez will be vice president of engineering at GE Reaves Engineering in San Antonio, where he is originally from, Gonzalez said. His last day is Friday. Gonzalez has been with the city of Corpus Christi for about 8 years, he said, starting out as the director of the water department. He was promoted to assistant city manager overseeing the public works, utilities and transportation departments in February 2014. Gonzalez said he would always consider Corpus Christi as a second home, saying he leaves "with a heavy heart." "It was not an easy decision for us ... it's certainly bittersweet," he said. Assistant City Manager Wes Pierson left in November to be city manager of Addison, and Assistant City Manager Susan Thorpe left in January to take a job as the Yuma County administrator in Arizona. In the City Council meeting Tuesday, City Manager Ron Olson announced that Mark Van Vleck, most recently the executive director of utilities, will fill the position of assistant city manager of public works, utilities and transportation. Jay Ellington, currently the director of parks and recreation, will serve as interim assistant city manager of safety, health and neighborhoods, the position previously held by Thorpe. Olson will leave the third position open for the time being. The plan is to restructure the city's organization, with a goal to "economize and be more effective with resources," he said. There could be consideration down the line to fill the third position. "We have a lot of challenges, but also opportunities, in attracting and finding new talent and promoting talent from within to fill these positions," Olson told the council. "I look at it as an opportunity to strengthen our organization." Twitter: @CallerCrow SHARE Kleberg County Woman pleads guilty to murder A woman accused of stabbing her brother-in-law and waiting two days to take him to the hospital pleaded guilty Thursday to murder. Guadalupe Guerra Aguinaga, 50, also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence. She received 16 years for the murder and 10 years in prison for the tampering to be served at the same time, according to a Kleberg County District Attorney's Office news release. Fidel Cantu, 71, was stabbed with a paring knife during an altercation May 21, 2014, according to the release. Aguinaga and Cantu's wife told Cantu's family days later that he had a heart attack and took him to a hospital. He died June 7, 2014. Aguinaga and Cantu's wife told conflicting accounts of what happened. Aguinaga's wife was not prosecuted, according to the release. "While they missed their loved one and wanted the maximum penalty for the defendant, they also realized the significant difficulties facing the case if it went to trial," Kleberg County District Attorney John Hubert said. Krista M. Torralva SHARE Nancy Martinez Xadrian Martinez Albert Villarreal By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times A woman accused of standing by while her boyfriend beat her son will testify against him as part of a plea deal. Nancy Rae Martinez pleaded guilty to injury to a child in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence for the death of 6-year-old Xadrian Martinez. The mother was previously charged with capital murder but prosecutors dismissed that charge. Prosecutors are pursuing a capital murder conviction for Martinez's former boyfriend, Albert Villarreal. Attorneys will begin picking a jury for the trial Tuesday in 28th District Judge Nanette Hasette's court. If convicted, Villarreal faces life in prison without parole. Villarreal's lawyers assert Martinez killed the boy. Xadrian's older sister told investigators their mother's boyfriend beat him and slammed him against a refrigerator Aug. 27, 2014, according to the affidavit. Medics saw cuts to his genitalia that appeared to be either bite marks or cuts caused by "pinching with finger nails," according to the affidavit. Nancy Martinez's mother, Cindy Martinez, told police the night of Xadrian's death that his mother admitted to "hitting Xadrian all over his body, " the affidavit states. Child Protective Services records show Nancy Martinez has a history of arrests and reports of physical abuse, according to the affidavit. Twitter: @CallerKMT SHARE Robert Cabello Michael Garibay FARES SABAWI/CALLER-TIMES Michael Garibay, who was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault of a peace officer, walks into the courtroom Tuesday for a hearing. By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times A Corpus Christi police officer who shot a suspect earlier this month is back on duty. Officer Robert Cabello, a three-year department veteran, returned to work Tuesday, a week after he shot Michael Garibay, a man accused of pointing a gun at him on Feb. 2, Senior Officer Kirk Stowers said. It is the city's first officer-involved shooting of the year. Cabello shot Garibay, 24, in the abdomen following a car burglary in the 6800 block of Everhart Road earlier that night. About 11:42 p.m. Feb. 1 Garibay and two others attempted to break into a car and the owner of the car held one of them at gunpoint until police arrived, according to police. Police said Garibay, who fled that scene before officers arrived, later pointed a gun at Cabello during a traffic stop on Lake Medina and Prairie Drives. He was taken into custody, and then to a hospital, after a two-hour standoff. After he was medically cleared, Garibay was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault against a public servant, evading arrest and a warrant for possession of marijuana, according to Nueces County Jail officials. Garibay appeared Tuesday before 105th District Judge Jack Pulcher, who raised his bail from $106,000 to $250,000. Staff reporter Fares Sabawi contributed to this report. Twitter: @CallerNatalia Associated Press file In this Dec. 5, 2013 file photo, marijuana matures at the Medicine Man dispensary and grow operation in northeast Denver. A proposed ordinance brought to the Corpus Christi City Council asks that the police chief employ guidelines that would allow officers to use discretion in their handling of misdemeanor marijuana possession, giving law enforcement the option of cite and release in certain circumstances, instead of automatically arresting individuals. SHARE We anticipate an interesting discussion Tuesday when the City Council considers whether police should be allowed or encouraged to "cite and release" folks whose only apparent offense is possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana. Our opinion: It's high time! Sorry, we couldn't let that one pass. But don't confuse our partaking of the low-hanging fruit as a case of the munchies. It's a clear-eyed reality check. Somebody besides the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) needs to say it: The police have more important things to do, the jail is an expensive, finite resource, and the worst, most dangerous thing about possessing a small amount of marijuana for personal use is its illegality. The debunking of the dangers of marijuana is ancient history. The continuing enforcement against it is a relic of a successful campaign to save a government bureaucracy whose time was up with the repeal of Prohibition. Four states have legalized its recreational use and 23 states and the District of Columbia have allowed it in some form or function. The scariest thing about marijuana is the people who control its illicit distribution. They are a network that wouldn't need to exist if it were legal. But we weren't actually talking about it being legal. That's just an inevitability whose time hasn't come quite yet. The proposal before the council is nothing more than an intelligent discretionary enforcement option that would preserve police resources while not needlessly ruining the lives and reputations of recreational users of small amounts (four ounces is the maximum amount for misdemeanor possession). It's no surprise that NORML President Kyle Hoelscher, of all people, would call marijuana possession a "low-priority crime." But his is a widespread view shared by many nonusers. A police official told Kirsten Crow of the Caller-Times that the department has been interested in being able to write tickets on a discretionary basis for several non-felony offenses, not just marijuana possession. The likely candidates for such light treatment would be current residents with otherwise-clean records. Speaking only for ourselves, we'd be a lot madder about petty thieves getting off with a citation. Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn cautioned against giving police officers a level of discretion they might abuse by letting off some people but not others. But officers already have the power to ignore minor offenses. It's nothing new. It's just, in this case, a proposed strategy for keeping the peace more peacefully and cost-effectively. It should appeal to Vaughn's business sense. Her main concern is her fear that "cite and release" could be the gateway drug to legalizing marijuana. This is an understandable fear. It's a legacy fear traceable to generations of faulty anti-marijuana propaganda and to the tendency of decent people to abide by the law even if the law doesn't make much sense. Marijuana has been against the law since long before anyone on the council was born. Maintaining a hard line against marijuana is a hard habit to break. But this isn't about busting cartel smugglers. So how about Vaughn and the rest of the council thank us and each other for not smoking, agree not to incur the needless expense of throwing the book at those who do, and keep on truckin'? SHARE Scott Elliff Politics then and now This Friday, Feb. 12, marks the 207th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in our nation's history. His political acumen and ability to build coalitions and foster compromise, while remaining true to his core values and committed to a re-United States, are legendary. I wonder, though, how successfully "Honest Abe" would have achieved his goals under the unblinking, burning stare of a rapacious public, fat off the ample political smorgasbord of 24/7 cable news, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. One can imagine the Gettysburg Address, chopped into sound bites and then fed like raw meat to pundits from each end of the political spectrum for nights on end. To what ends would a Lincoln presidency have come had every jot and tittle of each document he had written been the subject of instant and unceasing scrutiny? Consider this line of questioning in a 2016 Lincoln presidential debate: "Turning from the hot topic of slavery, Mr. Lincoln: there is a lot of talk about how much your wife spends on clothes and she seems a little cuckoo, too. Care to comment?" Today's technology provides us with seemingly infinite access to knowledge, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes, methinks we know too much. CAMEROUN :: Cameroon: CRP Chairman, Foligar Lang writes to Cameroonians and welcomes SDF and CRM request for a united opposition against the dictatorial regime of Paul Biya. Fellow Cameroonians.As you all know, President Paul Biya has been in power for 34 years. Unfortunately, and as confirmed by Marafa (a former Biyas Minister of Territorial Administration), Biya has never ever genuinely won any election in Cameroon. Elections in Cameroon have been rigged by the Biyas regime because the Electoral System is designed to favour the incumbent and the ruling party (CPDM). As you all are aware, one of the main reasons Biya has been in power for so long is due to the fact that the opposition parties have been divided for the past 34 years. It is a shame. In order for the opposition parties to win elections in Cameroon, opposition parties must sink their differences, unite as a group to address pertinent issues, make decisions and implement those decisions together. In their respective new year messages to the nation, Professor Maurice Kamto of the CRM and Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF called for the unity of all Cameroonians and opposition parties of good faith against the Biya regime. The CRP welcomes this invitation. On behalf of CRP, I would like to extend my hand to Ni John Fru Ndi and Professor Maurice Kamto. The CRP is willing to work with the SDF, CRM, with other parties and individual groups that are interested in a regime change. CRP is equally calling for a change of the current electoral code, the introduction of an independent electoral commission and the abolition of ELECAM. The CRP is willing to press for the declaration of assets of all Presidential candidates as provided in section 66 of the Cameroon constitution which has always been ignored by Paul Biya and his government. Fellow CRP members Fellow Cameroonians In the coming days and on behalf of CRP, I will write to some opposition party leaders requesting for a meeting, hoping that my invitation will be honoured. Talking about unity is one thing. Making attempts to unite and actually uniting is another thing. So, I will be making attempts to meet with other politicians. No party is too big or too small, too young or too old to think that they can easily and single-handedly put the CPDM out of power. I am urging fellow politicians and Cameroonians to keep pride, fear and cynicism aside so that we can possibly unite as a single force on the things we agree on. We must jointly put pressure on the dictator, Paul Biya so that we can finally get what we want and deserve. With a united force, the Biya regime will be out of power come 2018 or even before 2018 Long live Cameroon Long live CRP With you and for you Foligar Lang Chairman, CRP 08 February 2016 Mr Gentleman is visiting Tucson, Seattle and Vancouver, cities which he says all have similarities with Canberra, "be that through their planning hierarchy, the shift away from a car-dependent society, or the increase in the importance of creating a sustainable place for people to live". [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned [] Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Applications are invited by University of Allahabad. University of Allahabad is looking out for 290 posts of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor. Details of the this recruitment is listed below. Notification details: Advt. No: 01/2016 Name of the post and Number of posts allocated 1. Professor: 49 Posts 2. Associate Professor: 84 Posts 3. Assistant Professor: 160 Posts Who is Eligible for the Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor posts? Qualification: Candidates interested to apply for the above post must be qualified as per the organisations requirement. Qualification becomes manadatory to test the skills and their perseverance in doing a certain job. To know more about the required qualification in detail log on to this organisations website. How to Apply for Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor posts? Candidates who are interested in the above job can apply to the post through the prescribed format. Do not forget to send the applications along with other necessary documents. The address where the applications need to be sent is : The Registrar, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002 (U.P.). Last date of receipt of application is 10 March 2016. What is Application Fee? General/OBC Category candidates: Rs.500/- SC/ST candidates: Rs.200/- What are the Important date Associated with the Job? BMW is stirring up quite a bit of interest around its new M235i Coupe to the point that, the larger 4-Series Coupe, the natural successor to the two-door 3-Series, is actually being overlooked by many enthusiasts. Theres always room for improvement, though, and Germanys Manhart Performance is getting ready to deliver some attention-grabbing news for owners of the car at the upcoming Tuning World Bodensee (May 1-4), Germanys prime aftermarket event. Manhart is holding back on full details, but it did release a single teaser image and a video of its tuned M235i, which it says, will sport an upgraded version of the cars turbocharged straight-six with an output in excess of 400-horses, a notable increase over the factory models 320hp mill. The only cosmetic mods seen here is a new front bumper attachment with additional yellow trims on the corner air inlets, which actually looks better than the stock piece and gives the 2-Series a more aggressive stance, together with new multispoke alloy wheels. By John Halas PHOTO GALLERY VIDEO Toyota today revealed the Urban Utility (or U2) concept vehicle with a customizable interior at a private panel discussion hosted by Make: magazine in San Francisco. Developed by Toyotas Calty Design Research in Newport Beach, California, the U2 concept features a new open architecture and purposeful materials that Toyota says redefine urban utility. For example, it has the ability to roll back the roof, fold down the tailgate into a ramp and customize the interior on a versatile rail system. Set to make its debut at the World Maker Faire in New York City on September 20-21, the U2 study is the size of a compact car, but has the functionality of a compact truck and the spaciousness of a cargo van. Toyota says it also delivers good fuel economy, maneuverability in city environments and easy loading and unloading. Dedicated to people who love outdoor activities involving gear and equipment, the U2 can be customized according to individual needs. The retractable utility bar can serve unique uses, such as holding a desk or grocery bag hooks, while the side windows flip up for easy access from roadside. Other interior features include a versatile utility rail system that can hold everything from baskets to bike stands, the ability to fold and remove the front passenger seat, fold-up rear seating, as well as a unique shifter design with intuitive switch for parking, drive and reverse mode. Design-wise, the Toyota U2 concept has a tool-like exterior with a customizable side panel. The playful styling features details such as circular door handles and a slightly chunky proportion, while the box-like design at the rear hints at the storage capabilities. Highlights of the studys exterior include the rear glass that can slide into the tailgate and protective, replaceable ridges on the tailgate. Toyota didnt say anything about a production version of this concept, but expect to see some of the gadgets shown here on future Toyota SUVs and pickup trucks. PHOTOS Video Continental AG will reportedly open a new bus/truck tire plant in Mississippi, as the company believes that demand for commercial tire products will continue to grow in North America. ModernTireDealer reports that the new plant will be built in Hinds County, 20 miles west of Jackson along Interstate 20, on a site of approximately 1,000 acres, which will be purchased by Mississippi and subsidize part of the facilitys construction. The project in Hinds County, Mississippi, is part of our global growth strategy. In a first step the new plant is especially addressing our commitment to grow our commercial vehicle tire business in North America, said the firms executive board member for the tire business, Nikolai Setzer. The new Continental plant is part of a long-term investment, totaling approximately $1.4 billion, and the facility will employ roughly 2,500 people when it will reach full capacity next decade. Construction is expected to begin in 2018, after the company will begin site development this year, and production of commercial vehicle tires should start by the end of 2019. Conti apparently chose the state of Mississippi thanks to an outstanding business climate and this is where the companys third plant in the United States will be, after the Sumter, S.C, which is going through an expansion, and the Mt Vernon, III. VIDEO Besides the expansion of the RS lineup, Fords plans for the future reportedly include the introduction of a Toyota Prius and Hyundai Ioniq rival. The green vehicle, which is currently unnamed, will be capable of running on battery power at low speeds and for short distances, as WSJ reports. It will be produced in a new assembly complex, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which will have an annual capacity of around 350,000 vehicles. The new plant, along with a separate expansion of the Cuautitlan factory, where another150,000 automobiles will be built, will allow Ford to focus its U.S. factories on higher profit SUVs and trucks. One of the companys Mexican facilities will assemble the Focus, currently produced north of the border at Dearborn, while the Michigan factory should build a new Bronco SUV and a Ranger pickup truck, over the next few years. The compact car and the Toyota Prius rival will join other vehicles currently produced by Ford in Mexico, including the Fiesta, assembled in Cuautitlan, a factory more than 50 years old. The Hermosillo plans, where the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ are assemble, is not expected to be part of the expansion. Note: Ford Fusion Hybrid pictured PHOTO GALLERY The Tekno Autosports McLaren 650S GT3 has raced away with victory at the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour in a thrilling race which saw five different manufacturers, including Bentley, leading throughout. Prior to race day, four examples of the 650S GT3 qualified in the top six with the Tekno Autosports entrant taking police position thanks to a new lap record set by Shane Van Gisbergen. When the race started early Sunday morning, Van Gisbergen quickly opened up a lead and set another official course lap of 2:01.567. Throughout the preceding hours, the Tekno Autosports 650S GT3 remained near the front with Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb also jumping being the wheel for their stints. Van Gisbergen took over the reigns for the final stint of the thrilling enduro in fourth place but thanks to a well-calculated pitstop strategy, the 650S managed to leapfrog the leaders and come home victorious by 1.276 seconds. As for the other three 650S GT3s in the race, the #60 came home in ninth overall while both the Objective Racing and Darrell Lea/Keltic Racing cars failed to finish following separate crashes. Discussing the win, driver and Tekno Autosports team owner Jonathon Webb said: Winners of the Bathurst 12 Hour that is something that will take a little while to sink in. It is a great result for McLaren and massive for Tekno, especially as it was our debut outing together. We faced some real challenges over the course of the weekend, but we pulled together and I am really proud of the guys who have worked faultlessly to achieve this result. Any endurance race is a true challenge, and it is not an easy race to win first time out you just have to look at the quality of the competition and how close the racing was from the first to the last minute. PHOTO GALLERY With just a couple of days left until the 2016 Chicago Auto Show will kick off, Toyota has released a teaser of a new model. Referred to as a hot debut, the vehicle doesnt reveal its shape just yet, but looking closely at the picture we notice the upright grille of the Tacoma, with a different Toyota lettering compared to the standard versions, which only have the manufacturers logo. The company may keep everything in the grey zone for now, but we wont be surprised if TRD is behind this new creation, especially since theres a hood scoop. Its not quite grilling season, but Toyota is heating up the Windy City with a world premiere Thursday, Feb. 11, is what the automaker had to say about its debut. The 2016 Chicago Auto Show will use more than 1 million square feet in the McCormick Place complex and it will open with the media preview, on Thursday, February 11, followed by the public show, two days later. PHOTO GALLERY Photo: Contributed - Maryhill Museum of Art Rodin - The Thinker, taking an online IQ test It saddens me to say this, but there are suspicious people in the world who doubt the value and solid empirical scientific evidence behind online IQ tests. I, err, I mean the suspicious people, dismiss these tests as nothing more than a sleazy tactic to go viral on facebook by offering soaring IQ levels to people who struggle with telling left from right. In fairness the tests on facebook do seem a bit too easy, so I hired a Veritable Whack of Geniuses to create a harder test. By taking this test, you are guaranteed to have an IQ. Tough Mudder Smarty-Pants: The ultimate online IQ test Instructions: Sit up, face the computer screen, place both feet on the floor, sit on your hands, put down the beer, and stop rolling your eyes. You must fully concentrate on your response to each question. Be sure to speak clearly. Using advanced Interactivated Intuitional Thinkware technology, the test software will intuit and analyze your answers. Vancouver is in Greater Vancouver Saskatchewan Toronto Fruit Loops The United States is large a province in Asia Fruit Loops 2 + 2 = 4 four fore for E = mc2 huh? no, I dont think so, thanks anyway formula for doge is it raining today? Hitler wanted to have a functioning brain a fluffy white kitten pizza, no anchovies please world peace The Beatles were 4 Americans 4 bugs, no Raid 4-tunate 4 shur Donald Trump is a nut job the messiah, with bad hair your illegitimate brother Fruit Loops Justin Trudeau is the president of Canada is the prime minster of North Korea, with good hair is your illegitimate brother can eat crackers in your bed Did you go there their theyre Fruit Loops You should use all-caps before someone on the Internet disagrees with you while someone on the Internet disagrees with you after someone on the Internet disagrees with you in an email to the moderator for removing your all-caps post If you fell down, you would get up fast if the beer was out of reach pretend to look around to see what tripped you go viral because everybody on the street put it on youtube die To find out your IQ, click here. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: Contributed Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he is considering mounting an independent campaign for president. Bloomberg told The Financial Times on Monday that he was "looking at all the options" when it comes to a bid. The billionaire businessman said he found the current campaign to be "an insult to the voters." It's the first time he acknowledged a possible run. Bloomberg's aides floated the idea last month that the former mayor could fill a gap in the centre of the political spectrum. He is distressed by the rise of Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz among Republicans and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders among Democrats. Bloomberg was a Democrat before becoming a Republican to run for mayor in 2001. He then became an independent. Photo: CTV A woman is recovering in hospital after she was violently attacked in Surrey, Sunday evening. According to Surrey RCMP, one man is in custody following the assault of the woman with a weapon inside a home. On Feb. 7 at 7:40 p.m., RCMP received a call from a witness who heard a commotion at an apartment block at 13483 108th Avenue. The witness reported hearing and seeing an injured woman in distress and called police. Upon attendance, police located the woman who was suffering from significant, but non-life threatening injuries believed to be stab wounds. Police also located the suspect, a 22-year-old Surrey resident who was arrested and remains in custody while the investigation continues. The Surrey Serious Crime Unit is leading this investigation, says Cpl. Scotty Schumann. Thanks to the quick response of our patrol units the suspect is in custody and there is no risk to the general public. Police will be on scene continuing the investigation throughout the day. Anyone with more information is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers, if they wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca. Photo: The Canadian Press Republican Donald Trump appeared poised to clinch his first victory in Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire following a humbling second-place finish in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, while Sen. Bernie Sanders was cruising to a likely win over Hillary Clinton in what has become an unexpectedly competitive Democratic race. As snowfall brought yet more uncertainty to the race's final hours, Hillary Clinton tried to move past talk of a shakeup in her campaign and controversy over comments by supporters that women should feel obliged to vote for her to become the first female president. Campaigning across the northeastern state on Monday with her husband and daughter, she worked to flip Sanders' favoured critique against her by claiming that he, too, had taken money from Wall Street if only indirectly. The New Hampshire primary traditionally plays a pivotal role by providing momentum to the winners heading into the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada. Those candidates who fare poorly could see donations dry up and face pressure to withdraw from the race. Trump, the billionaire businessman, launched the harshest attacks not against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who had bested him in Iowa, but against Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor is one of three Republicans hoping that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's recent stumbles have opened a fresh path for one of them to emerge as the more mainstream alternative to Trump and Cruz. "Jeb is having some kind of a breakdown, I think," Trump told CNN, calling Bush, the son and brother of presidents, a spoiled child and an embarrassment to his family. "I think it's a very sad situation that's taking place." The enmity was mutual. Vying for votes in Nashua, Bush described Trump variably as a loser, a liar, a whiner and the worst choice for president. He blasted what he said was Trump's proclivity for "insulting women, castigating Hispanics, ridiculing the disabled and calling American POWs losers." Still, Trump was running ahead in pre-primary polls, as was Sanders on the Democratic side as candidates race to collect delegates for the parties' national nominating conventions in July. Not so long ago, Republicans saw New Hampshire as the proving ground that would winnow their unwieldy field of candidates. Rubio's surge into third place in Iowa one week ago raised the prospect that voters here would anoint him over Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Yet Rubio faced fresh questions about his readiness and his ability to defeat the Democratic nominee after Saturday's debate, when he was mocked for reciting rote talking points about President Barack Obama over and over. Growing doubts about Rubio seemed to portend a fight for delegates to the party's national convention that could extend for weeks or months to the dismay of Republican Party leaders hoping for a quick consolidation behind anyone but Cruz or Trump. Democrats are already resigned to the likelihood of a protracted primary contest following Sanders' strong performance in Iowa. Sensing Rubio's vulnerability, nearly everyone seemed to be on the attack. Bush's campaign debuted a new ad questioning Kasich's conservative credentials, while an outside group backing Rubio pulled an ad attacking Cruz and replaced it with one assailing Bush. Christie and Bush both piled on Rubio, claiming he hadn't been tested the way that governors have. In the week since Clinton eked out a win in the Iowa caucuses, her campaign has worked aggressively to lower expectations for New Hampshire, where Sanders has maintained a sizable lead despite Clinton's victory here eight years ago against then Illinois-Sen, Barack Obama. Sanders, a Vermont senator, is well known to voters in neighbouring New Hampshire. Clinton was shouldering renewed troubles amid talk of a possible campaign reshuffling. Although campaign manager Robby Mook is expected to stay, some Clinton allies have said new advisers may be brought in after Tuesday. The former first lady insisted it was all overblown. "I have no idea what they're talking about or who they are talking to," Clinton said on MSNBC. "We're going to take stock, but it's going to be the campaign that I've got." Sanders, wary of upsetting a race trending his way, stuck to core campaign themes as he addressed cheering supporters in Nashua. In recent days, former President Bill Clinton has accused some Sanders' supporters of waging "sexist" attacks, and feminist Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have criticized women who aren't supporting Clinton. Yet Sanders passed up all that on Monday, instead telling supporters in Nashua, "We have come a long way in the last nine months." But his campaign did take issue with Clinton's claim that Sanders benefited from Wall Street money donated to Senate Democrats' campaign arm, with campaign manager Jeff Weaver arguing it "suggests the kind of disarray that the Clinton campaign finds itself in today." Photo: Twitter - AP Rescuers using cranes, dogs and electronic devices searched for survivors Tuesday in a highrise apartment complex in southern Taiwan that was toppled three days earlier by a powerful earthquake. The death toll in Saturday's disaster stood at 40, while 320 people had been rescued, the Tainan city government said on its official website. More than 100 people are believed to still be under the debris following the tragedy that struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar the Lunar New Year. All but two of the casualties in the quake were recorded in the collapse of Tainan's Weiguan Golden Dragon 17-story complex. Although the shallow 6.4-magnitude quake was potentially devastating, few buildings were damaged as a result of strict construction standards in force on an island that is frequently struck by quakes. Most of those who survived were rescued in the hours immediately after the quake, in which the building collapsed onto itself before toppling. Ko Ching-chung said he had propped himself against a wall to avoid falling onto his girlfriend after the quake hit just before 4 a.m. But after 20 hours, he could no longer hold on and collapsed onto her. "She would have soon not been able to breath. I said to her I had to lay on top of her and she said to me it's OK," Ko told reporters at the hospital where he was recovering. Five survivors were believed to have been pulled out on Sunday, and at least four on Monday. One of them, Tsao Wei-ling, called out "Here I am" as rescuers dug through to find her. She was found under the body of her husband, who had shielded her from a collapsed beam, the government-run Central News Agency reported. Tsao's husband and 2-year-son were found dead, and five other members of the family remained unaccounted for, it said. Teams also rescued a 42-year-old man on Monday, and, later, an eight-year-old girl, who had been trapped for more than 61 hours. Mayor Lai Ching-Te told reporters he briefly exchanged words with the girl, Lin Su-chin. "She is awake, but looks dehydrated, lost some temperature but she's awake and her blood pressure is OK," he said. "I asked her if there's anything wrong with her body. She shook her head." Shortly afterward, rescue workers also pulled out a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, identified as Chen Mei-jih, who had been trapped on what was the building's fifth floor. Family members of the missing flooded into the information centre in search of their loved ones or to wait anxiously. Tensions rose as some relatives, losing patience, demanded to speak to rescue workers directly to get the latest information. A couple sitting in a small room where officials release information said they had heard no news about their daughter-in-law and two young grandsons. "Does that mean we are here to wait for bodies?" grandfather Liu Meng-hsun cried out angrily. Photo: Twitter - TRIUMF Art is colliding with science inside Canada's home for particle and nuclear physics. The artist-in-residence program at TRIUMF in Vancouver is bridging the divide between the two disciplines, allowing artists to interpret science, while bringing those scientific ideas to the public in a more accessible fashion. Blaine Campbell, an Edmonton resident who holds degrees in mathematics as well as a fine arts degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, is the newest creator to fill the post. Campbell recently wrapped up his second visit to TRIUMF, which is located on the University of British Columbia's campus but is not part of UBC, photographing the facility and its equipment. His work comes as TRIUMF celebrates the 40th anniversary of the commissioning of the world's largest cyclotron, a particle accelerator that drives cutting-edge science. "Well, I'm intrigued by the idea, the division between the two (art and science), or the perceived division between the two that is almost ingrained into society now that you're either in humanities or sciences or engineering and the two shall not meet so to speak," he said. "As somebody who has worked in both domains, I can see connection in terms of the thought process and the way that you have to kind of creatively abstract ideas to come up with things, whether it be in art or in sciences." One of Campbell's most-recent works includes a kaleidoscope-like stained-glass piece composed of images from the Hubble Space Telescope archive. He also recently completed a second piece, a metal engraving made up of a modified equation meant to summarize all-known physics. Campbell said the program, which doesn't include a paid fellowship, has allowed him to meet with TRIUMF researchers, discuss their work, and get a close-up look at their areas of specialization. He said he initially wanted to conduct a photographic study focusing on detectors pieces of equipment that detect energetic subatomic particles but he has since found other things that are visually interesting. Jonathan Bagger, director of TRIUMF, said the program helps show the public that science isn't practised just for scientists. "Science is done for society, and for really everybody," he said. "There are many ways of communicating science, of expressing the results of science, and I would say the artist-in-residence program is one of the very powerful ways we have of bringing this science to the broader world." Bagger, who previously served at Johns Hopkins University as chair of the department of physics and astronomy, said TRIUMF is well connected to the community and has a "very active engagement" with Emily Carr University. Lisa Lambert, head of strategic communications at TRIUMF, said in an email that the relationship with Emily Carr dates back to 2009, when the program was first established. She said Ingrid Koenig, an associate professor at Emily Carr who has taught a course called "Black Holes and Other Transformations of Energy," will also continue as an artist in residence at TRIUMF until 2018. Beside Koenig and Campbell two others, David Harris and Andres Wanner, have also served as artists in residence, said Lambert. She said TRIUMF, which is owned and operated by 19-member universities from across Canada, is committed to sharing its work and the "excitement of science and discovery," beyond the laboratory, with the public. "We view the TRIUMF artist-in-residence program as an extension of this, bringing the art and science together and exploring both in interesting ways that provide connection to the community and culture," she said. Campbell, meantime, said he plans to return to TRIUMF in March, and until then he's got no shortage of ideas. "There are always ideas that bubble around," he said. "Project ideas, I usually have a list of 20 or 30 things that I would like to be doing if I had the money and the time to do them. That list always kind of changes and evolves and gets added to." Photo: CTV - File photo An inquest is being held this week in Burnaby, examining a police-involved shooting of a man outside a Metro Vancouver casino more than three years ago. Forty-eight-year-old Mehrdad Bayrami died in November of 2012, 10 days after he was shot by Delta Police Const. Jordan MacWilliams. It happened at the end of a five-hour armed standoff in the parking lot of New Westminster's Starlight Casino, where emergency crews were dealing with a hostage situation. A coroner's jury will hear details about the events leading up to the fatal shooting and can make recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy. A second degree murder charge was laid against MacWilliams but was dropped last summer when the Crown found there was not enough evidence to guarantee a guilty verdict. In December, Bayrami's daughter agreed to drop her gross negligence and malicious misconduct lawsuit against MacWilliams. Photo: The Canadian Press U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country. He also said Islamic militants and those inspired by the Islamic State group will continue to pose a threat to Americans at home and abroad; al-Qaida remains an enemy; and the U.S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. Clapper said U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services Committee in his opening statement that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months." Both findings will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturized" hydrogen bomb. Many outside experts were skeptical and Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device." Clapper said that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, "although the system has not been flight-tested." Islamic militants, Clapper said, will continue plotting against U.S. interests overseas and homegrown attacks will pose the most significant threat from violent extremists to Americans at home. "The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," he said. "ISIL involvement in homeland attack activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership," he said using an acronym for the militant group. Clapper said U.S. information systems, controlled by the U.S. government and American industry, are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia and China. North Korea "probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives," he said. Moscow "is assuming a more assertive cyber posture" that is based on its willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations even when those operations have been detected and under increased public scrutiny, Clapper said. Russia's cyber operations are likely to target U.S. interests in part to underpin its intelligence gathering to support Russia's moves in the Ukraine and Syrian crises, he said. Clapper also said Moscow's incursion in Ukraine and other "aggressive" moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the United States. He said he's unsure of Russia's end game but is concerned "we could be into another Cold War like-spiral." "I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about NATO," Clapper said. "They're greatly concerned about being contained and are of course very, very concerned about missile defence, which would serve to neuter what is the essence to their claim to great power status, which is their nuclear arsenal." Clapper said China selectively uses cyberattacks against targets Beijing believes threaten Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy. "We will monitor compliance with China's September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors," he said. Photo: Contributed - Facebook Dennis Adolph A 65-year-old Kamloops man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death Dennis Adolph. The body of Adolph, 49, was found in the 4 Seasons Motel on the Trans Canada Highway on the morning of Jan. 26. Police immediately determined the death to be suspicious before confirming it was a homicide the following day. Gordon Paul Camille was arrested Feb. 5. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday. This is not the first time Camille has found himself in trouble with the law. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail in 2004 when he was found guilty of uttering threats. He receive a 30-day jail sentence in 2008 for breaching a court order. The RCMP has not released any details of the murder. Police are also working to solve an unrelated murder which occurred Jan. 22. In that case, a 30-year-old man died of injuries suffered when he was assaulted in the 400 block of Tranquille Road. No arrests have been made. Police say the two murders are not related. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... LafargeHolcim nominates new chairman of the Board of Directors 09 February 2016 LafargeHolcim announced yesterday that Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of the Board of Directors, has informed the Board that he will not stand for re-election at the companys May 2016 AGM. "The Board regrets this decision while acknowledging Mr Reitzles wish to pursue other business activities that will require his fullest attention, in particular the chairmanship of the Linde Supervisory Board," the group said in a statement. Mr Reitzle was instrumental to the successful merger between Lafarge and Holcim in 2015. Wolfgang Reitzles contribution to bringing the two groups together, and to creating the new leader in the building materials industry, has been invaluable said Paul Desmarais, chairman of the LafargeHolcim Nomination and Compensation Committee. Mr. Reitzle commented: I am satisfied that LafargeHolcim is now fully on track with realising the benefits of the combined businesses. With its committed people and leading position in markets around the globe, LafargeHolcim is well placed to reach its targets. The LafargeHolcim Board of Directors has decided to propose to its shareholders the election of Beat Hess as its new Chairman. A Swiss national born in 1949, Mr. Hess is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board, a Member of the Strategy & Sustainable Development Committee and a Member of the Finance & Audit Committee. He was elected to the Board of Directors of then Holcim Ltd in 2010. From 1977 to 2003, he was legal counsel and later General Counsel of the ABB Group. From 2004 until the end of 2010, he was Legal Director and a member of the Executive Committee of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, London and The Hague. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Nestle SA and of Sonova Holding AG. Further proposals to the LafargeHolcim AGM will be announced together with the invitation to the meeting. Published under FLSmidth receives large cement order in Algeria 09 February 2016 FLSmidth has signed an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract with a value of more than EUR200m with SARL Amouda Ingineering for the supply of a greenfield cement plant in Algeria. The plant will be located in El Beida (Laghouat), approximately 400km from the capital Algiers. The order includes engineering, equipment supplies, construction, commissioning and training. Once completed, the cement plant will have a capacity of 6000tpd. "EPC solutions are increasingly requested by the industry and we are very happy that SARL Amouda Ingineering chose FLSmidth as the preferred supplier based on a very close collaboration and our extensive knowledge of the region. Algeria is a very important market for FLSmidth and we have supplied several cement plants in the country," Group Executive Vice President of the Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen, comments. Published under Apply This takes you to the NIRSAL MFB window of NYIF Tennessee State Parks is offering nine vacation packages in 2016 to suit all types of outdoor enthusiasts and skill levels. Guests can experience guided tours through eight state parks across Tennessee and several natural areas and wildlife refuges. The years tours begin with a Winter Waterfall Tour at Fall Creek Falls and South Cumberland State Park on Feb. 22-24. Focusing on the beauty and history of these majestic falls, guests can experience what a winter water wonderland looks like. The hikes will total roughly seven miles of moderate to strenuous terrain. The cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at the Fall Creek Falls Inn. Call 800 250-8610 for reservations. Additional vacation tour offerings include: Winter Birding Tour: March 4-6 ; locations include the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge, Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Donelson National Battlefield; little hiking is required; cost is $269 per person and includes meals, transportation and lodging at Paris Landing Inn; call ; locations include the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge, Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Donelson National Battlefield; little hiking is required; cost is $269 per person and includes meals, transportation and lodging at Paris Landing Inn; call 800-250-8614 for reservations. Spring Waterfall Tour: March 11-13 ; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park and South Cumberland State Park; strenuous hiking of roughly 6.5 miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call ; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park and South Cumberland State Park; strenuous hiking of roughly 6.5 miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call 800-250-8610 for reservations. Weekend Backpacking Tour: March 11-13 ; South Cumberland State Park; easy to moderate hiking; guests are only required to bring sleeping bag, clothes and personal items great for beginners; easy to moderate hiking of roughly eight miles; cost is $100 per person ages 16 and over or $50 per person for ages 15 and under; call ; South Cumberland State Park; easy to moderate hiking; guests are only required to bring sleeping bag, clothes and personal items great for beginners; easy to moderate hiking of roughly eight miles; cost is $100 per person ages 16 and over or $50 per person for ages 15 and under; call 931-924-2980 for reservations. Spring Wildflower and Waterfall Tour: March 28-30 ; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park, Rock Island State Park and Old Stone Fort State Park; moderate hiking of roughly two miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes and gratuities; call ; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park, Rock Island State Park and Old Stone Fort State Park; moderate hiking of roughly two miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes and gratuities; call 800-250-8610 for reservations. Spring Birding Tour: April 29-May 1 ; locations include Norris Dam State Park, Seven Islands State Park, Cove Lake State Park and Eagle Bend State Fish Hatchery; cost is $269 which includes some meals, transportation and lodging at Norris Dam State Park or guests can pay $119 which does not include overnight lodging. Fall Waterfall Tour Orange Route: Sept. 30-Oct. 2 ; locations include Burgess Falls State Park, Cummins Falls State Park and Rock Island State Park; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call ; locations include Burgess Falls State Park, Cummins Falls State Park and Rock Island State Park; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call 800-250-8610 for reservations. Fall Waterfall Tour Blue Route: Oct. 26-28 and Nov. 7-9 ; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park and South Cumberland State Park; moderate to rugged hiking of 4.5 miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call and; locations include Fall Creek Falls State Park and South Cumberland State Park; moderate to rugged hiking of 4.5 miles; cost is $269 per person and includes all taxes, gratuities, meals, transportation and lodging at Fall Creek Falls Inn; call 800-250-8610 for reservations. This scanning electron microscope image shows bee pollen studied for potential use as electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Color was added to the original black-and-white image. Pollens, the bane of allergy sufferers, could represent a boon for battery makers: Recent research has suggested their potential use as anodes in lithium-ion batteries. "Our findings have demonstrated that renewable pollens could produce carbon architectures for anode applications in energy storage devices," said Vilas Pol , an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. Batteries have two electrodes, called an anode and a cathode. The anodes in most of today's lithium-ion batteries are made of graphite. Lithium ions are contained in a liquid called an electrolyte, and these ions are stored in the anode during recharging. The researchers tested bee pollen- and cattail pollen-derived carbons as anodes. "Both are abundantly available," said Pol, who worked with doctoral student Jialiang Tang. "The bottom line here is we want to learn something from nature that could be useful in creating better batteries with renewable feedstock." Whereas bee pollen is a mixture of different pollen types collected by honeybees, the cattail pollens all have the same shape. "I started looking into pollens when my mom told me she had developed pollen allergy symptoms about two years ago," Tang said. "I was fascinated by the beauty and diversity of pollen microstructures. But the idea of using them as battery anodes did not really kick in until I started working on battery research and learned more about carbonization of biomass." The researchers processed the pollen under high temperatures in a chamber containing argon gas using a procedure called pyrolysis, yielding pure carbon in the original shape of the pollen particles. They were further processed, or "activated," by heating at lower temperature about 300 degrees Celsius - in the presence of oxygen, forming pores in the carbon structures to increase their energy-storage capacity. The research showed the pollen anodes could be charged at various rates. While charging for 10 hours resulted in a full charge, charging them for only one hour resulted in more than half of a full charge, Pol said. "The theoretical capacity of graphite is 372 milliamp hours per gram, and we achieved 200 milliamp hours after one hour of charging," he said. The researchers tested the carbon at 25 degrees Celsius and 50 degrees Celsius to simulate a range of climates. "This is because the weather-based degradation of batteries is totally different in New Mexico compared to Indiana," Pol said. Findings showed the cattail pollens performed better than bee pollen. The work is ongoing. Whereas the current work studied the pollen in only anodes, future research will include work to study them in a full-cell battery with a commercial cathode. "We are just introducing the fascinating concept here," Pol said. "Further work is needed to determine how practical it might be." Taylor Morrison, a leading national homebuilder and developer, has announced plans for Colfax Crossing, a community of 101 maintenance-free townhomes off Western Avenue just minutes from shopping, restaurants and Metra train service in downtown in Des Plaines. "We are very excited to introduce our award-winning townhome designs at Colfax Crossing," says Bob Meyn, vice president of sales and marketing for the Chicago Division of Taylor Morrison. "Des Plaines is a vibrant community, offering a lifestyle that appeals to busy professionals with its shops, restaurants and convenient commuter access. These career oriented buyers want the luxury living space and a maintenance-free lifestyle that we're offering at Colfax Crossing." Advertisement The courtyard-style neighborhood will feature winding sidewalks and small parks with benches with townhomes ranging from 1,726 to 1,824 square feet. Priced from the upper-$200,000s, these homes will include three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and attached two-car garages. The greystone-inspired designs feature three-level living, with the main-floor showcasing a spacious great room, open kitchen with dining area, balcony and powder room. Upstairs, the owner's suite includes a large walk-in closet with private luxury bath. Two additional bedrooms are served by a hall bath or buyers may choose a second suite with private bath in lieu of the third bedroom. The lower level of the home provides access from the garage as well as a large bonus room, laundry room and storage closet. Construction will begin after the first of the year and two professionally decorated model homes will be open for touring in early spring. Quality features included in all the townhomes are 9-foot main floor ceilings, two-panel interior doors, hardwood floors in the foyer and wall-to-wall carpeting in living areas. Kitchens feature GE appliances, a stainlesssteel sink, dining area and a spacious pantry. Advertisement Baths include designer vanities with cultured marble tops and powder rooms have pedestal sinks. Buyers who would like to add their name to the VIP interest list are encouraged to call 847-232-8480. For more information, visit taylormorrison.com/new-homes/Illinois/Chicago. About Taylor Morrison Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (NYSE: TMHC) is a leading national builder and developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and operates under two well-established brands, Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes. Taylor Morrison builds and develops distinctive communities from coast to coast, serving a wide array of homeowners and aimed mainly at first-time, move-up, luxury and 55 or better customers. Darling Homes builds communities in Texas. For more information, visit taylormorrison.com or darlinghomes.com. David Gonzalez, mayor of Chicago Heights, stands in front of Franciscan St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights. Gonzalez is fighting to keep the hospital or at least a free-standing emergency room. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) A Catholic health system's proposal to close a south suburban hospital that has served the community for more than a century has residents and local leaders trying to save emergency medical services. Arnie Kimmel, Franciscan St. James Health's CEO, says it's too expensive to continue to operate hospitals in Chicago Heights and Olympia Fields, which are about 5 miles apart, because they have too many beds and not enough patients. He plans to shutter the Chicago Heights hospital, parts of which are more than 100 years old, and expand and renovate the 35-year-old Olympia Fields campus to accommodate patients from Chicago Heights and other nearby towns. Advertisement Afraid of losing some emergency services, residents and local leaders have spent months discussing and protesting the planned closing, culminating in a hearing Tuesday before a state health planning board, which is scheduled to vote on the proposal next month. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board has scheduled a five-hour hearing to accommodate what it expects will be a large turnout. Part of the public disapproval stems from complaints that Kimmel and Franciscan St. James have been less than upfront about their plans and the need to close the Chicago Heights hospital. Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez, who is leading the opposition, said the nonprofit health system has exaggerated its poor financial health and provided conflicting statements to regulators and the public. Advertisement Kimmel said, "We're aware of allegations that we have been less than transparent, and we don't agree." Franciscan St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights is shown Feb. 8, 2016. Its parent health system plans to close the hospital and relocate services to its affiliate in Olympia Fields. The health system seeks to add beds to its Olympia Fields hospital, but the staff of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board said more hospital beds aren't needed. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) Franciscan St. James paints a bleak picture of its financial health in documents provided to state regulators. The health system said the two hospitals had a combined operating loss of $66.5 million for the four years that ended in 2014. The health system did not provide regulators with a year-by-year breakdown of its operating results. But Franciscan St. James, by Kimmel's own admissions, has "dramatically" improved its financial performance in the last two years. The health system issued a news release June 5, headlined "Franciscan St. James' Financial Recovery Continues." In it, Kimmel said, "The improved financial performance trend that began in 2014 has continued into early 2015." In an interview with the Tribune on Monday, he said the hospitals, not including the physician practices they own, had an operating profit in 2014 and the financial turnaround continued last year. Kimmel's boss, parent company Franciscan Alliance CEO Kevin Leahy, has called the turnaround "nothing short of miraculous," according to published reports in 2014. Despite the financial improvement, Franciscan St. James has to consolidate services to ensure its future, Kimmel said. "I think the hospitals should have been consolidated years ago," said Kimmel, who was named CEO at the end of 2013. "We can save money for the communities and improve care by consolidating all of the hospital services under one roof." The project would boost Franciscan St. James' profits by $20 million a year, he added. Debt ratings agencies have noticed the improved financial performance. Moody's Investors Service, in a report dated Jan. 12, one day after Franciscan St. James filed its plan with the state, said "a marked decrease in operating losses" at the two hospitals has contributed to financial momentum at the parent company, Indiana-based Franciscan Alliance, which owns 13 hospitals. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 7 A Chicago Heights resident on Saturday pickets outside Victory Apostolic Church in Matteson to protest the planned changes involving care offered at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights. (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) "I think it's only fair that a person looking at the (regulatory) application knows that," Gonzalez said of the financial turnaround. "I ... would want to know that. Would you, if you were on the board (of the health planning agency)? You're talking about people's lives here." Gonzalez has organized a task force to review the effects of the closing on the communities served by the two hospitals. Under the proposal, the Olympia Fields hospital would grow from 158 beds to 214 beds to help offset the loss of 312 beds in Chicago Heights. The expansion would include new obstetrics and rehabilitation departments, which are currently in Chicago Heights. If approved, more than a quarter of the patients who would be served by the Olympia Fields hospital would come from Chicago Heights, according to regulatory papers. Kimmel plans to demolish two-thirds of the Chicago Heights campus. The remaining facility would become an outpatient center to provide more primary care and add services to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity. The closing of the Chicago Heights hospital came as a surprise to Gonzalez and other local leaders. In 2014, Franciscan Alliance, the parent company, decided not to sell the two hospitals because of the improved financial performance. In June, Franciscan St. James issued a news release to update the public about its future. In the news release, Kimmel unveiled a plan to consolidate most inpatient services including medical and surgical beds, intensive care and obstetrics at the Olympia Fields campus. His recommendations included keeping 24-hour emergency services at the Chicago Heights hospital, according to the release. Advertisement Franciscan St. James needs to restructure its hospital services to continue to provide care in the south suburbs, Kimmel told the Tribune. He cited a drop in inpatient admissions, which have declined 35 percent at the two hospitals from 2010 to 2014, according to state figures. The trend mirrors the national shift toward more outpatient care, as advances in medicine and government reform have eliminated some need for hospitalization. Gonzalez said he doesn't like to see a reduction in inpatient services in Chicago Heights but accepted the proposal described in June because it kept the emergency room in Chicago Heights. In October, Franciscan St. James announced that its board of directors had approved its restructuring plan, one that included closing Chicago Heights hospital entirely. In place of an emergency room, the health system said it would expand its "urgent care" center in the suburb, which is a few miles away from the hospital. Gonzalez said he was blindsided by the October announcement to close the hospital. Kimmel acknowledged that the June news release could have stated Franciscan St. James' plans "more artfully." "I think what we said at the time is that we were contemplating several things, one of which was keeping a free-standing emergency room," Kimmel said. "And I understand the confusion." The health system has added to the confusion with some of its marketing materials. In a "frequently asked questions" page on its website Monday, one of the questions is, "Are you closing the Chicago Heights hospital?" Advertisement The answer: "No." The video goes on to explain that the Chicago Heights hospital will be "updated" to offer new outpatient services. Kimmel said some residents believe the Chicago Heights campus is terminating all of its services, including outpatient, and the question-and-answer tried to clarify the situation. But he acknowledged that the hospital's response to the question could be ambiguous. "We'll try to do better," he said. Franciscan St. James has cited increasing maintenance costs at the Chicago Heights hospital as one of the reasons the economics of keeping two hospitals open no longer works. It hired a consultant to evaluate the condition of the Chicago Heights campus. The consultant concluded "that major portions of the Chicago Heights hospital's physical plant had reached the end of their useful life, and that needed renovations to bring the hospital to contemporary standards were cost-prohibitive," Franciscan St. James said in the regulatory application to expand Olympia Fields. Franciscan St. James identified the consultant as Tonn & Blank, a construction management company in Michigan City, Ind. What it didn't mention in the regulatory document is that Tonn & Blank is a subsidiary of Franciscan Alliance. Advertisement "I would consider it to be a credible review of the facility," Kimmel said. "They know the facility really well, and they know the market really well." Gonzalez is troubled, however, that the Tonn & Blank's connection to Franciscan St. James was not disclosed. "How can that be an independent review?" he asked. Gonzalez, other community leaders and Chicago Heights residents are most unhappy about the closing of the emergency department in Chicago Heights. The hospital's emergency room, which has 22 stations, had about 40,000 visits in 2014, according to the most recent state data. Olympia Field's emergency room, which also has 22 stations, had more than 35,000 visits in 2014. South suburban mayors and fire chiefs are concerned that the Olympia Fields emergency department won't provide timely access to residents south and east of the hospital. They also question whether the Olympia Fields emergency department will be large enough to handle the increase in visits. Franciscan St. James has proposed enlarging the Olympia Fields emergency department. In a recent mailing to residents, Franciscan St. James said the ER would "double in size." But the regulatory documents indicate the expansion would not double the size of the ER or the number of stations. Franciscan St. James told regulators that the number of ER stations in Olympia Fields would increase from 22 to 32 and the size would grow from 19,156 square feet to 22,122 square feet, a 15 percent increase. Advertisement Kimmel said the marketing brochure didn't explain that the Olympia Fields hospital would be adding a "critical decisions unit" that would have 18 rooms next to the ER. Patients who come to the ER and require additional observation would be moved to the critical decisions unit. He said Olympia Fields would have a combined 50 ER and observation rooms, more than double the 22 ER rooms it currently has. Ed Paesel, executive director of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, plans to make a statement at Tuesday's public hearing against the closing of the Chicago Heights emergency room. In his prepared remarks, provided to the Tribune, he said, "Should the expanded Olympia Fields ER not have capacity at times ... this would create additional time when the ambulances are out of our municipalities and not in service to community residents." Kimmel said he is working with mayors and fire chiefs to address their concerns. But there's not a lot of trust between Kimmel and some local government leaders. Gonzalez has hired a court reporter, for instance, to transcribe discussions at recent public meetings over Franciscan St. James' proposals. "Let's work together so you can consolidate but not at the expense of reduced critical care in Chicago Heights and surrounding areas," Gonzalez said. "We can't be the ones who are going to suffer because you're not making enough at the bottom line." asachdev@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @ameetsachdev Ding Ning, owner of Ezubao, is escorted by policemen in an unknown location. Chinese police arrested 21 employees at China's largest online finance business on suspicion of fleecing 900,000 investors for $7.6 billion, in what could be the biggest financial fraud in Chinese history. (CCTV via AP) BEIJING Kang Weiwei considers herself cautious. When China's stock market took off, she stood on the sidelines. She steered clear of financial products that she couldn't really understand. But the 32-year-old Beijinger needed somewhere to park the $76,000 that her family received from selling an apartment they got as part of a government relocation program. What, she wondered, could beat inflation but keep them safe? Advertisement The answer came on the 7 o'clock news. An ad running moments before Chinese state television's flagship CCTV news broadcast touted a peer-to-peer online lending company called Ezubo that said it matched borrowers and lenders online, potentially making credit available to more people and businesses. The firm advertised on China's government-built bullet trains, and its executives schmoozed with state media big shots and Communist Party cadres. But it was the spot on CCTV's sober nightly newscast that sold her. "The government is behind it," she thought. Advertisement Kang is now one of 900,000 investors caught up in what's being billed as China's largest-ever online scam, a scandal that has robbed them of $7.6 billion and renewed questions about the role the state plays in the country's markets. After shuttering the firm in December, Chinese authorities this week went public with the results of their rapid-fire investigation. In televised "confessions" broadcast on CCTV, the company's top executives said that up to 95 percent of what they sold was fake. "Ezubo was nothing but a Ponzi scheme," said Zhang Min, a top executive. State media reports zoomed in on the greed and guts of Ezubo's executives, noting their over-the-top salaries, love for luxury goods and their bold attempt to bury evidence, stashing "1,200 documents and other pieces of evidence" in a pit 20 feet underground. Not mentioned: how the state that seemed eager to promote companies such as Ezubo could fail so completely at regulating it, despite a high-profile push to root out corruption. "I feel duped by the government," Kang said. Companies such as Ezubo are supposed to be at the vanguard of China's "new normal," what the government has dubbed an era of slower, more sustainable growth as China shifts from a focus on manufacturing and investment to a service economy where innovation is key. Launched in Anhui province in 2014, Ezubo emerged at a time when people needed places to put their money. Real estate looked shaky. The stock market was wild. And it is tough, and mostly illegal, to move money overseas. The company looked well positioned because it was squarely at the center of two sectors that the state sought to promote: financial technology and the Internet. Advertisement It also appeared to have the blessing of the government, investors said. Though the nature of the ties between Ezubo and Chinese authorities are not clear, company executives certainly cultivated the impression they were "in" -- and officials didn't suggest otherwise. In February 2015, Ezubo hosted its annual meeting at the Great Hall of the People, a government building in Tiananmen Square. The theme: "Financial leasing under a new normal economy." The host: CCTV star Zhou Tao. The CCTV link helped convince investors that Ezubo was a good bet. Several said they were swayed in part by favorable coverage and ads on the network. "CCTV is the party's media," said a 32-year-old investor who would give only his family name, Lin. Ezubo was something of a state-media darling. In September, the company participated in the 12th China-Association of Southeast Asian Nations expo, a gathering focused on President Xi Jinping's "one road, one belt" initiative, an effort by Beijing to build strong economic and political ties with its Asian neighbors. Coverage of the event put Ezubo's parent company, Yucheng, front and center: "Yucheng model facilitates 'one road, one belt' strategy," read one headline in state media. Events that linked government strategy to Ezubo's products boosted investor confidence, said Vicky Wu, a 29-year-old who both worked at and invested with the firm. "I was raised to believe it's easier to do business if the authorities have got your back. That's just the way it is," Wu said. Ezubo was soon doing business across China and even in neighboring Burma, where it reportedly founded the "Yucheng Southeast Asia Free Trade Zone." It also formed a militia, inaugurating the force at an event attended by People's Liberation Army officials, according to reports in the state-controlled media. Advertisement Investors who lost money in the scheme now point to cross-border activities as proof of the state's involvement. "The company had its own militia. How could they do that without government approval?" Kang asked. Now that Ezubo's erstwhile friends at CCTV have revealed the firm as a fake, investors want to know who is responsible. The CCTV footage showing the "extremely difficult" excavation of Ezubo's buried records did not address the question of how the 21 people in custody managed to either dupe or pay off the legions of local, provincial and national investigators who were supposed to be keeping them in check. Those who lost money in the scheme say the government owes them answers. Victims are trying to organize online, but they are being thwarted by censors. The awkward truth is that Chinese regulators either knew about the scam and did nothing, or they completely missed the massive fraud, said Victor Shih, an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy. "Did provincial regulators know? They had to know," he said. Advertisement "And it will happen again." Xu Yangjingjing reported from Beijing. Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt Whisky, left, is refined and well-balanced with sweet and honeyed notes and a slightly smoky finish, while Coffey Grain Whisky is a thick, fatty whiskey with notes of sweet corn, nutty oak, fudge and banana. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) A lot of distilleries are like Jack Nicholson. They have a trademark style or approach that makes them immediately identifiable. And then there are distilleries like Japan-based Nikka Whisky Distilling, which takes a very different approach. "What makes us unique is the diverseness behind each process," says Naoki Tomoyoshi, Nikka international sales chief. "Unlike Scotland, where more than 100 distilleries are producing their characteristic styles and so many various types of whiskeys are accessible for the blenders, we were forced into consciously making different types of whiskey, in-house." Advertisement That's both a reflection of time and circumstance. Nikka opened its first distillery in 1934 in Yoichi, which is located on the island of Hokkaido, where it heats its pot stills by direct coal fire in the traditional (but rare) Scottish manner. Thirty-five years later it opened a second distillery on the island of Honshu, about two hours north of Tokyo, where the setting Sendai's fresh water, subtle humidity and crisp air was ideal for producing whiskeys made with soft, mild malted grain. "They're two very different distilleries and countless variables in each process from the peat levels, yeast, shape of stills, types of casks we use allow us to produce a wide range of styles of whiskey," Tomoyoshi says. Advertisement In that way, Nikka is kind of like Daniel Day-Lewis, an actor who, had you not read the opening credits, you might not identify given the lengths he went to disappear into the role. While Nikka's approach could lead to derivative whiskeys or even those lacking personality, instead the mindset means it has no limits thereby enabling it to push boundaries to produce some of the most interesting, balanced whiskeys around. Take Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky. Grain whiskey is typically used for blending but not often bottled on its own. Nikka's take on the style, made using Coffey stills (a particular style of column still that produces spirits of higher alcohol by volume than other types of stills) makes for a delicious thick, fatty whiskey with notes of sweet corn, nutty oak, fudge and banana. Or Taketsuru Pure Malt, a combination of whiskey from both Nikka distilleries. Matured in a combination of sherry butts, bourbon barrels and new American oak, the resulting whiskey is refined and well-balanced with sweet and honeyed notes and a slightly smoky finish. While Nikka has made whiskey for 80-some years, the distillery is regularly pushing to craft something new. In fact, it is regularly experimenting to unearth the "seeds" of a new idea, Tomoyoshi says. "We're constantly looking for the right 'seeds' that will stimulate the curiosity of global whiskey drinkers," he says. "We are not making the seeds in reaction to the market." Instead, it trusts that if it likes what it makes, so will plenty of other people. Given Nikka's track record, that's a safe bet. Zak Stambor is a freelance writer. Actor Waris Ahluwalia attends the "Beeba Boys" premiere during day six of the 12th annual Dubai International Film Festival held at the Madinat Jumeriah Complex on December 14, 2015 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images ) Waris Ahluwalia stopped resisting rigorous airport security checks a long time ago. The well-known Sikh American designer and actor says he's grown accustomed to multiple bag searches, invasive pat-downs and incessant swabbing. Advertisement He'll even let you massage his feet for foreign objects without protest. After passing through two comprehensive screenings before his Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York City on Monday morning, he thought he was ready to board his plane. But security personnel thought otherwise. Advertisement "The security person said, 'Now, will you take off your turban?'" Ahluwalia told The Washington Post, noting that he's unsure of whether the man was employed by the airport, the airline, or both. "I said, 'I won't be taking off my turban here.' "A group of Aeromexico employees spoke among themselves in Spanish and then one guy came back to me wearing an orange vest over a suit and said, 'You will not be flying Aeromexico and you will need to book a flight on another airline.' " Instead of getting angry, the 41-year-old - who several years ago become the first-ever Sikh American model in a national Gap ad campaign - turned to social media, where he used his predicament to raise awareness about discriminatory airport screenings. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST On Instagram, he wrote: "I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban." A photo showed a somber-faced Ahluwalia standing in front of the airline's customer service desk in Mexico City. Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. #lovenotfear #fearisanopportunitytoeducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 9:43am PST On Instagram he wrote: " Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. #lovenotfear #fearisanopportunitytoeducate "My turban and beard represent my commitment to equality and justice," Ahluwalia said in a statement distributed by the Sikh Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group that works on behalf of followers of the monotheistic faith, which originated in South Asia in the 15th century. "If security personnel would like to respond with bigotry and fear then I will take another flight that's more inclusive." In the United States, according to the Sikh Coalition, security agents are allowed to pat down or swab a passenger's turban with permission. Failing that, they can ask a passenger to step into a private area for a secondary screening. Advertisement Ahluwalia said airports all over the world follow similar rules, but he suspects that employees working at Aeromexico's gate hadn't been trained to screen Sikh passengers. Phone calls and emails requesting comment from Aeromexico were not immediately returned. Hours after he was barred from boarding the plane, Ahluwalia remains inside the Mexico City airport. After his story made headlines in the United States, Aeromexico offered him another ticket and told him he wouldn't have to remove his turban, but Ahluwalia refused to accept it. He's now refusing to fly another, "more inclusive" airline, too. "At this point," he said, "I realize that this isn't about my convenience or getting home for lunch today. I realize that if I walk away, somebody else was going to go through this experience again." He added: "It doesn't feel like a choice I can make. I don't think I can just get on that plane." Advertisement He's refusing to leave, he told The Post, until the three demands - noted in a Sikh Coalition tweet - are met: a public apology from Aeromexico; Sikh awareness training for airport security; training on how to screen passengers with religious headwear. Ahluwalia, who is Indian American, has been featured in multiple best-dressed lists, including this Vanity Fair slideshow from 2010 touting his fashionable taste. He has also had roles in several Wes Anderson films alongside Hollywood stars such as Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Even so, this is not the artist's first brush with intolerance. In 2013, a Gap subway advertisement using his photo was defaced with anti-Muslim graffiti in New York, according to the Huffington Post. The caption on the ad was changed from "Make Love" to "Make Bombs," Huffington Post reported. The defacer also wrote "Please stop driving TAXIS" on the image. In recent months, Sikh advocates say, there has been a growing number of violent and discriminatory incident targeting members of the religious group. "For Sikh Americans, the unique markers of religious identity - the turban, the beard - these markers are associated with the markers of terrorism," Simran Jeet Singh, a senior religion fellow at the Sikh Coalition, told The Post's Sarah Kaplan in September. Advertisement In other words: "People see a Sikh and construe them as the enemy." Harsimran Kaur, the Sikh Coalition's legal director, told The Post in December that the backlash against people who are perceived as being non-American has been exacerbated by anti-Islamic statements made by Republican presidential candidates such as Ben Carson and Donald Trump. Carson has said that the United States should not elect a Muslim president, citing concerns about "different loyalties." Trump has called for a "total and complete" ban on Muslims entering the United States. "Trump's statements legitimize nativist impulses," Kaur told The Post. "It's why we're seeing more profiling and vandalism and intimidating incidents. We've been speaking to the family of an elderly man who was hit in the head with an apple a few days ago. These are the kind of things that you start to see as the political rhetoric escalates." A: In the original script, he's already reliving the same day over and over again. So you don't lead up to the point where he wakes up and then, "Oh my God, I'm reliving the same day." So there was a more surreal quality to it. You sort of had to catch up to figure out wait, what is he doing? How does he know to slug this guy? How does he know to do all these things? So there was a certain delightful mystery in those first 15 pages where you're trying to figure it out. The first week's worth of "Film Score" segments, now sitting pretty at www.wfmt.com/movies, began with composer Max Steiner, "King Kong" and the birth of classic Hollywood film composition. Then we moved on to Eric Wolfgang Korngold ("The Adventures of Robin Hood") and Bernard Herrmann (who won his only Oscar for a 1941 film other than "Citizen Kane": "The Devil and Daniel Webster"). But WFMT producer Matt DeStefano and I didn't want to trot through the history of film music chronologically. Not enough time; that glorious history can't be told, or heard, in a couple of dozen segments. "Deadpool," showcasing a character born in a 1991 Marvel Comics "New Mutants" installment, positions itself as the outsider Marvel franchise wannabe, the one that breaks all the rules, daring to make us care about the quasi-human conflicts (cancer, for one) in a sea of nattering sarcasm and merry bloodletting. The movie's far from dull. But first-time feature director Tim Miller's film serves as critique as well an example of what ails the superhero movie industry, as well as for your personal fatigue issues (if you don't have them, good for you) with a film world crammed with Avengers and X-Men and their neighbors. Rohina Malik's new play, now in a world premiere at Berwyn's always-enterprising 16th Street Theater, could almost be described as a bait-and-switch except what you end up catching is a lump in the throat. What begins as a familiar comedy about grown-up immigrant children trying to assimilate without hurting mom and dad's feelings takes on darker shadings about the trauma of refugees. What we learn is that memories happy and horrific cannot easily be assimilated or packed away in a new country. The play opens with Abdul Samee Marcario Lopez Hassan informing his Iraqi father and his Puerto Rican mother that he's decided to change his name to "Sam" to fit in with the corporate world. Bad enough that his marriage to a non-Muslim woman ended in divorce. But now this? To placate them, Sam (Michael Perez) agrees to go with his parents, Ali (Amro Salama) and Sara (Laura Crotte), to meet a possible new Iraqi bride recommended by Imam Rafi (Miguel Nunez). Advertisement When Sam's parents find out that the prospective bride, Yasmina (Susaan Jamshidi), and her father, Musa (Mark Ulrich), are actually refugees, they aren't so hot for the match after all. (This exploration of class snobbery among immigrants feels fresh, even as they eventually overcome their objections in a too-pat manner.) But Sam is taken with Yasmina's grit, her paintings and her necklace she defiantly wears a stone pendant in the shape and bearing the name of her native land, even though customers at the grocery store where she works hurl epithets at her. The two begin a halting but touching courtship, throughout which, in flashbacks and in Yasmina's own stories to Sam, we begin to understand just what she's lived through. Advertisement Like Antigone, Yasmina made it her job to bury the war dead in Iraq, which included her own mother. This puts her in the crosshairs of the militia, who accuse her of working with the Americans. At the urging of her childhood friend Amir (Salar Ardebili), she and her father flee to Syria, which is where the real nightmares begin. It's not easy to combine such dark stories with the lighter comic interludes about immigrant family life, but Malik and director Ann Filmer consistently find that balance. Sam's own anguish he says he's on four medications for anxiety and depression doesn't play with the sense of urgency it needs right now. But his growing attachment to Jamshidi's forthright but emotionally guarded Yasmina feels honest. She responds to his description of her as an "FOB" (fresh off the boat) with a similar acronym beginning with "S." He describes himself as a "salad" of ethnicities (in one charming section, Crotte's Sara explains how a Puerto Rican Catholic decided to convert to Islam), while Yasmina's scarring experiences have left her "alien." There isn't a great deal of dramatic tension in this play we pretty much see what's going to happen before the story gets there. However, Malik's respectful but funny take on these characters keeps them from feeling like caricatures, despite the sitcomlike setup at the beginning of the story. Yasmina talks about "the taste of death," but by the end, Malik has given us a sweet and hopeful story about finding love after horror. Kerry Reid is a freelance critic. ctc-arts@tribpub.com Review: 'Yasmina's Necklace' 3 STARS Advertisement When: Through March 5 Where: 16th Street Theater, 6420 16th St., Berwyn Running time: 2 hours Tickets: $20 at 708-795-6704 or www.16thstreettheater.org "As President Obama serves his final year in office, the timing to make his birthday a state holiday is critical to recognizing his accomplishment and the legacy that he will leave behind for future presidents, Illinois officials and young people who aspire to serve their community," state Rep. Thaddeus Jones, one of the co-sponsors of the Obama Holiday bill, said in a statement. In this Nov. 29, 2008, file photo, an Indian soldier takes cover as the Taj Mahal hotel burns during gun battle between Indian military and militants inside the hotel in Mumbai, India. A Pakistani-American who helped plan a 2008 attack has told a court in India that he traveled to India seven times to scout potential targets for a Pakistan-based group. (David Guttenfelder / AP) reporting from Mumbai, India As rivals India and Pakistan try to get oft-derailed negotiations on track, a familiar obstacle reappeared this week in the electronic form of David Coleman Headley, a former Chicago resident. The American-born militant of Pakistani origin has dominated the Indian media for two days with court testimony via videoconference from an undisclosed location in the U.S., where he is serving a 35-year sentence for involvement in the 2008 terrorist attacks in this commercial hub. Headley pleaded guilty in March 2010 in the most significant terrorism case linked to Chicago at that time, acknowledging he was an operative who traveled to India multiple times to scout targets for a team of gunmen who carried out the bloody coordinated assault in Mumbai. Granted a pardon in India in exchange for testifying against another alleged plotter, Headley on Tuesday repeated his assertions that Pakistan's military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, helped Pakistani militants carry out the attacks that killed more than 160 people in Mumbai. Advertisement Headley said he was working for the ISI as well as the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that India blames for the attacks. He said he scouted the luxury Taj Mahal Palace hotel which was one of the targets and passed video and photos to a Lashkar leader as well as an ISI contact he called "Maj. Iqbal." Much of Headley's testimony repeated statements he made at his federal terrorism trial and in interviews he gave to Indian investigators in the U.S. But his reemergence comes at an awkward time, as India and Pakistan nuclear-armed rivals that have fought four wars against each other in the last 70 years struggle to revive wide-ranging security, economic and political talks. Advertisement Pakistan denies involvement with terrorism and has cast doubt on Headley's credibility, frequently pointing out that he was a double agent. When he moved from the United States to Pakistan in 2002 to train with Lashkar, Headley was also working as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. India has long sought to have Headley testify to raise pressure on Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, whom Headley said was Lashkar's operations commander, is free on bail in Pakistan where he awaits a long-delayed trial. Hafiz Saeed, Lashkar's spiritual leader whose speeches Headley said inspired him, has a $10-million U.S. bounty on his head but lives freely in the Pakistani city of Lahore. On top of this, Pakistani officials this week said they had found no evidence to support India's claims that Jaish-e-Mohammad, a domestic militant group, was behind a deadly attack last month on an air base in northern India. The raid deflated hopes of better relations after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December. The developments this week "reinforce the lack of seriousness in Pakistan to deal with this problem," said Alyssa Ayres, a South Asia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. As New Delhi and Islamabad attempt to restart dialogue, it's the "opposite of a confidence-builder," Ayres said. Still, Sharif, the Pakistani leader, said last week that he hoped talks between the two countries' foreign secretaries, which were postponed in January and have not been rescheduled, would still go forward. In the long-running drama between the two nations, Headley has proven an unusual and enigmatic figure. Born Dawood Gilani to a Pakistani father and American mother, Headley was convicted on drug charges before making a deal with the DEA to become a federal informant and travel to Pakistan to investigate heroin trafficking in 2002. Advertisement Under questioning for several hours this week by Indian public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley described himself as a "true follower" of Lashkar who was "influenced and motivated" by Saeed, the group's founder and spiritual leader. He also juggled relationships with multiple women and stood out for having eyes of two different colors, a condition known as heterochromia. Headley conducted reconnaissance of the Taj hotel while staying there with his wife, posing as a honeymooning couple, he said. He also surveyed naval and air bases, the state police headquarters and the crowded Siddhivinayak temple in northern Mumbai on behalf of Lashkar, he said. Since most of what Headley said in court was already known, analysts said efforts to restart high-level talks would continue. "Back-channel talks are on" between the countries, said Jatin Desai, general secretary for the Pakistan India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy, an independent group that advocates for better bilaterial ties. "It should eventually lead to the official talks." Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Others said that getting Headley to testify was a public-relations victory for India, which has expressed frustration that U.S. authorities did not inform them about Headley despite tracking him before the 2008 attacks. "His statement will definitely help India building its case and will put more pressure on Pakistan," said Amir Rana, an independent security expert based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Advertisement By cooperating with authorities in 2010 after his arrest, Headley was spared from the death penalty and from being extradited to India to stand trial there. Then-Attorney General Eric Holder, who approved the plea deal, said at the time that Headley was providing "valuable intelligence about terrorist activities." In addition to the Mumbai assault, he admitted he scouted targets for a plot to attack a Danish newspaper for printing controversial cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad that outraged the Muslim world. Headley pleaded guilty to all 12 counts of the indictment, including conspiring to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim people in India and Denmark as well as to aid and abet the murder of U.S. citizens in India. Headley later testified against co-defendant Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Chicago businessman who was charged in both the Mumbai and Danish plots. Rana was tried and convicted in Chicago federal court and is serving time in prison. Parth M.N. is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Aoun Sahi contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan. Kia Walker, Tommy Schaefer's mother, speaks to the media regarding her son and also her granddaughter, Stella, at O'Hare International Airport Terminal 5 in Chicago on Nov. 3, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) The boyfriend of Heather Mack, the Chicago woman convicted of helping kill her mother during an exotic Bali vacation, wants to bar the court from receiving regular updates on the health of the couple's daughter, born during the trial, Mack's attorneys say. Mack, 20, is serving 10 years in an Indonesian prison and gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Stella in March. She is raising the child in prison per local custom until age 2. A volunteer attorney appointed by the court has since arranged for biweekly checkups on the child's health and development, and reports those findings back regularly to a Cook County judge. Advertisement In Cook County court Tuesday, Peter Schmiedel, Stella's court-appointed guardian, reported the baby was a little underweight but healthy after a recent hospital visit. But he also informed Judge Neil Cohen that Mack's boyfriend, 22-year-old Tommy Schaefer, of Oak Park, had instructed Schmiedel to cease communicating Stella's health to the court something Cohen found troubling. "I have a personal feeling that if there's one thing everyone can agree upon, it's concern for the welfare of Stella," he said. "It's beyond me why anyone would not want it communicated that she's doing well under bad circumstances." Advertisement Attorneys declined to speculate afterward why Schaefer wants to stop the court from hearing about his daughter's health. Mack and Schaefer were convicted in April of the murder of 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack, whose body was discovered in a suitcase left in a taxi during a lavish August 2014 vacation with her daughter. The woman's friends and siblings say von Wiese-Mack planned the trip as a new beginning for her and her daughter's troubled relationship, and that von Wiese-Mack did not know her daughter's boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, also had traveled to the island. Mack and Schaefer were convicted in April of the murder, which garnered international attention with each development, including the revelation that Mack, then a teenager, was pregnant. Mack gave birth to Stella during the trial. While the criminal proceedings played out in Indonesia, a battle over Mack's $1.56 million trust has ensued in Chicago. Mack's uncle, the trustee, argues Mack should be prohibited from reaping financial benefit from her crime under Illinois' slayer statute, which states that a person who unjustifiably causes the death of another person cannot receive property as a result of the death of that person. Stella is next in line for the money. About one-third of the trust has been spent on legal fees and investment losses. Cohen since has denied Mack further access to the money after her conviction until the slayer statute question is resolved. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Mack's attorneys said Mack wants to keep open communication with Schmiedel, the guardian, and it is Schaefer who wants to impose a ban on the regular health updates. The agency responsible for checking on Stella also provides the mother and daughter with medical services and food packages, attorneys said. Cohen said if Mack's attorneys work on an order stating Mack's consent alone would be sufficient enough for the communications to continue, he would sign off on it. "I really don't think this child should be used as a pawn," Cohen said. "(Communication) could only serve to Heather's benefit." Advertisement One of Mack's attorneys, Michael Elkin, said he was surprised by how well Stella is doing and how capable Mack is of raising her child in prison conditions. He said he speaks with Mack almost every night and "Stella is doing great." "The amenities and the guards are coupled with a place full of women who are a good support system," he said. meltagouri@chicagotribune.com Twitter @marwaeltagouri Tina Hunt had gone to the Cook County criminal courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue to attend her son's court appearance in November 2013 when she found herself in a dispute with sheriff's deputies. After she was taken into custody, a sheriff's deputy charged that she kicked him in the shin during a struggle in a lockup at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Advertisement On Wednesday, the 49-year-old grandmother is scheduled to return to the same courthouse to be sentenced for her felony conviction for aggravated battery of a peace officer. With convictions for two violent crimes decades ago, Hunt faces a mandatory minimum of six years in prison, even though the deputy testified at trial that the kick didn't hurt and left no marks on his shin. The harsh penalty is the result of Illinois' version of the "three-strikes" law. Advertisement "It hurts bad," Hunt told a Tribune reporter at her home on Chicago's West Side as tears streamed down her face. "If I go to the penitentiary for six years, I'm going to lose everything I have, my Section 8 (housing), my (government disability) check, my freedom." A top assistant to State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who's in the midst of a tough re-election battle, defended the prosecution, as did the office of Sheriff Tom Dart, who has been outspoken about too many people being locked up for minor offenses and the warehousing of the mentally ill in jails and prisons. Hunt, who denies kicking the deputy, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, according to Hunt and her attorney. A Temple University assistant professor in criminal justice who spent nearly a decade working at the Leighton Criminal Court Building as a law clerk called the case an example of inequities in criminal sentencing law. "She may very well should have been convicted, but what you see in the sentencing is there's no way to reform," Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve said in a telephone interview. "It's a punitive system. The sins of the past will follow you forever." Amy Campanelli, who heads the Cook County Public Defender's Office, favors an end to mandatory minimum sentencing laws in Illinois. "Her sentence is not for this crime. It's for what she did in the past," Campanelli said Monday. "It's unfair." On a national level, proposed reforms to roll back tough-on-crime sentencing laws enacted in the 1980s and '90s have been one of the few issues to win bipartisan support. Most of those efforts, though, have focused on nonviolent drug offenders. Advertisement While President Barack Obama has said he hopes to make sentencing reform part of his legacy, a U.S. Senate bill passed to much acclaim last fall remains stuck in committee and wouldn't spell the end of mandatory minimum sentences. Hunt, who has been charged under her maiden name of Silas, has a lengthy criminal record, amassing six felony convictions, her most recent for a drug possession offense in 2003 for which she spent nearly a year in prison. Her two convictions for violence date some 20 to 30 years ago an armed robbery conviction in 1987 and a robbery conviction in 1997. While in prison for the armed robbery, she was twice convicted of battery to correctional officers, resulting in her doing the entire six-year sentence. She returned to prison for the robbery conviction. Her conviction last year for kicking the deputy sheriff marked her third Class 2 felony, leaving the judge with no recourse under Illinois law but to sentence her as a Class X offender a category that includes convicted kidnappers, rapists and carjackers. Hunt could be given anywhere from six to 30 years in prison, though under Illinois law she could be freed after serving about half of her sentence if she stays out of trouble. Fabio Valentini, chief of criminal prosecutions for Alvarez's office, said Hunt's extensive criminal past, including her assaults on correctional officers, clearly makes her deserving of the minimum six-year prison term. Her six felony convictions mean "she's not exactly the poster child" for arguing against mandatory minimum sentences, Valentini said. "We're going to ask the judge to follow the law," he said. Advertisement A top aide to Dart said that while such an outcome for Hunt might be troubling, the office must protect the safety of its deputies and correctional officers. "These cases are very difficult, but our priority has to be the safety of our staff who have a very difficult job," said Cara Smith, the sheriff's policy chief. 'It didn't even hurt?' Hunt's latest legal troubles unfolded in November 2013 when she waited in a long security line that stretched out the front door of the Leighton courthouse and then had to rush to find the courtroom where her son was scheduled to appear on drug charges. He was later convicted and is serving a three-year sentence in prison. Her husband is also in prison, serving a six-year sentence for a separate drug conviction. As she exited an elevator on the third floor, a deputy ordered Hunt to step out of the way to make way for jail inmates who were being taken to courtrooms because their secure elevator was out of order. What happened next is disputed, but Hunt ended up being ordered into a stairwell and, after a loud argument with the deputy, told to leave the building. Hunt said the deputy and other officers followed her down the stairs and then arrested her in the courthouse lobby after she complained to two TV news cameramen about what was happening to her. Advertisement It hurts bad. If I go to the penitentiary for six years, I'm going to lose everything I have. Tina Hunt At trial last year, a deputy testified, however, that Hunt stopped in the lobby, refused to budge, yelled obscenities and flailed her arms. She was handcuffed and taken to a sheriff's lockup. A deputy, Ivan Beal, testified that Hunt knocked over a bench and refused to sit down. Beal said he righted the bench and then forced Hunt to sit down by pushing down on her shoulder. She then kicked him on the left shin, he said. "(The kick) did not leave a mark, did it?" asked Hunt's lawyer, Jeffrey Neslund, according to a transcript. "No," Beal said. "You never sought any kind of medical attention?" Neslund asked. "No," the deputy replied. Advertisement "And, in fact, it didn't even hurt, did it?" Neslund said. "No," he said. Beal, however, testified that he considered the kick to his shin to be "insulting" and "provoking." Following the one-day bench trial last year, Judge Erica Reddick found Hunt guilty of the one felony count. 'A travesty of justice' In the interview at her West Side apartment not far from the courthouse, Hunt sat in her living room with dozens of family photos hanging from the walls. Others in frames rested on the floor under a window. Advertisement She acknowledged her violent past but said those days were far behind her. "I was wild back then I was young," she said. "I ended up starting robbing people on account of my mom was using drugs and she would take all the money and leave me and my sister nothing so I (felt) I (had) to take care of myself." Hunt, who said she had open-heart surgery in 2010 after she was diagnosed with a leaking heart valve, showed a reporter what she said were four medications she is taking for heart and high blood pressure issues. But she acknowledged not taking any medication for bipolar disorder. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "I believe everybody in the world is bipolar," she said. "Everyone has their own damn issues." Neslund, her attorney, contended that Hunt was charged only after she had to go to the hospital after another deputy used pepper spray on her. Records show she threatened to go to the bathroom in the lockup after officers allegedly declined to take her to the restroom. Neslund said Hunt bled from her nose. "I think the fact that she was charged with a felony offense for a kick to the shins that caused no injury is a travesty of justice," he said. Advertisement Despite the mandatory minimum six-year sentence she faces, Hunt still held out hope that she could avoid yet another stint in prison. "It really brings the devil out of you," she said. "I've got a life. I may not be that happy in it, but I'm free. I can go to grocery store and get food, go to the laundromat and wash my clothes the way I like, go to the store and get my personals. I don't want to be in no jail." sschmadeke@tribpub.com Twitter @SteveSchmadeke After a speech at the Illinois State Capitol, President Barack Obama stops at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield on Feb. 10, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) SPRINGFIELD President Barack Obama on Wednesday will return to the capital city where he launched his bid for the White House nine years ago, a visit aimed at reflecting on his political roots while urging the country to move beyond the deep partisan divide that has marked his time in office and left his home state struggling with a record-breaking budget stalemate. Obama will deliver his remarks to lawmakers in the ornate House chamber, across the rotunda from where he served as a state senator from 1997 until elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. He's expected to talk about the reputation he developed there of working across the aisle with Republicans as a way to double down on the theme of bipartisanship first laid out in his State of the Union speech in January. Advertisement He also is expected to again acknowledge his share of responsibility for the political gridlock that's worsened since he became president. Such rifts are perhaps on no better display than in Illinois, where Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and ruling Democrats in the legislature have been locked in an ideological battle that has threatened to close universities and has led to cuts in programs for the elderly, abused and addicted, all while sending the state's debt soaring. At the same time, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff, has called for help from the state to fill a massive budget hole at Chicago Public Schools a cry that largely has gone unheeded by Democrats and Republicans alike as the school district has been left to slash budgets. Advertisement But Illinois lawmakers should not expect Obama to chart them a path forward. He's "not there to offer advice or play back-seat driver," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who indicated that the president has long thought "it would be fun" to return to where he started in politics and talk about the potential for the country to find common ground. The situation has become so entrenched in Illinois that some political observers are looking for any flicker of hope. Obama could make an "appeal to the better angels of people's nature," said David Yepsen, a longtime political journalist who now is director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. "It could be a really poignant moment." "As someone from Chicago and an Illinoisan, he's got to be concerned about what's happening in this state, in this city," Yepsen said. "If you think about it, you go back in history, there's never been a time when there has been a crisis of leadership in both Chicago and Springfield like we have today. That has to concern Barack Obama. And anything he can do to smooth the waters, to bring people together, I think is going to be very helpful to the state." The day will not be without political subtext. Obama is expected to touch on the need for more transparency in elections and his wish to change the way campaigns are financed, a message that could be interpreted as a jab at Rauner, a former private equity investor who used his personal fortune to pay for his campaign for governor. Rauner has continued to tap into his wealth to support candidates he thinks could help chip away at the supermajority held by Democrats, and he has taken particular aim at loosening the grip of longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan. For his own part, Rauner has evoked Obama to pursue his own agenda of term limits for elected officials and reworking how legislative districts are drawn, noting in speeches that they are ideas Obama supports, though Democratic leaders in Illinois remain staunchly opposed. Rauner said he hopes Obama's call for bipartisanship resonates in Springfield but was careful to say it was Democrats who need the nudging. "I don't know who in Washington can say, 'Look and follow our model in Washington, we're really working well,'" Rauner said last week. "I know he's been frustrated by the gridlock in Washington and he's talked about the importance of bipartisan compromise. We need that here. I hope he'll talk about that and encourage the supermajority in the General Assembly to do some bipartisan comprises with us." Advertisement Rauner invited Obama for a beer at his favorite brewpub a few blocks from the Executive Mansion, but the president declined, citing scheduling reasons. After the Springfield stop, Obama is set to fly to San Jose, where he will attend a fundraiser Thursday. Instead, the president and the governor are expected to meet at the airport before the speech. Obama also will visit with supporters watching his address at a nearby community arts center. The president is expected to give remarks there alongside several lawmakers he once worked with, including former state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican who is now Regional Transportation Authority chairman. Dillard said he was invited to appear by the White House along with former state Sens. Denny Jacobs, a Democrat from East Moline, and Larry Walsh, who's now Will County executive. "I tell my children that Dad was a very lucky person that he got to work in Springfield with a gentleman who became the president of the United States," said Dillard, who during the 2010 governor primary was the subject of Republican attack ads for his previous appearance in a campaign ad supporting Obama. "I pinch myself every now and again." Obama's trip falls on the ninth anniversary of the 2007 kickoff of his first White House run, which he launched on the steps of the Old State Capitol, the building where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech. It will be the second time a sitting president has addressed lawmakers in the Illinois House the first was Jimmy Carter in May 1978. David Axelrod, a top strategist in Obama's presidential campaigns, said he expects the speech to focus on Obama's "own experiences in Springfield, about his own relationships there and the progress that those relationships across the aisle allowed." Advertisement "And he's going to talk about where we are today," said Axelrod, who will accompany Obama to Springfield. "I don't know if he'll specifically reference the situation in Springfield, but there's a larger structural problem in our politics today that he as president will address a polarization." Sen. Terry Link, a Democrat from Waukegan, noted that he and Obama began in the Senate the same year. At the time, the chamber was controlled by Republicans under the leadership of President James "Pate" Philip, who "was not what you would consider the most liberal of individuals." But Link said Obama found a way to work with Republicans, bringing the sides together on polarizing issues, including the passage of the state's first racial profiling law. The measure passed with bipartisan support, but not until after Democrats regained control of the chamber in 2003. Link said he believed some of that ability to work across the aisle was born in regular poker nights he hosted at his house that Obama and other lawmakers would frequent. "You hung your guns at the door and you sat down and talked about everything but politics," Link said. "It was just six or seven guys sitting together for an evening and forming a relationship. We have lost that. And I think that's what the president will be trying to reiterate to people. 'Hey, we got along, we could find some common ground. We are not going to solve everything, but there has to be a happy medium.'" Republican Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington also was at those card games and recalled a "cordial relationship," even though participants had very different agendas. Brady noted, for instance, Obama's call for the state to study ways to provide health care to all residents. When Republican critics accused him of trying to implement a single-payer health care system run by the state, Obama rewrote the bill to call for expanding existing programs. But Brady expressed little hope that Obama would provide impetus for a significant breakthrough to the current stalemate, saying Senate Democrats led by President John Cullerton seem willing to compromise but have been thwarted by Madigan in the House. Advertisement "We tried to give as much as we could, and it seems the Madigan wing of the Democratic Party won't give an inch," Brady said. "I don't know how you overcome that." Democrats were happy to return the blame. "Both the state government and the federal government have a lot in common in terms of the problem: It's called the Republican Party. As bad as it is here, it's worse in Washington," said Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat and top Madigan deputy. Still, Lang said there is no denying the historical nature of the visit. "I believe that all of my colleagues, regardless of their political persuasion, are looking forward to it," Lang said. "We're proud of him, Illinoisans should be proud of him." Kim Geiger reported from Chicago and Katherine Skiba from Washington. Advertisement mcgarcia@tribpub.com kgeiger@tribpub.com kskiba@tribpub.com Chicago will send $800,000 to Oak Park and Evanston to help fund the expansion of the Divvy bike rental program to those suburbs. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune) Chicago will send $800,000 to its Divvy operator to help pay for an expansion of the bike rental program in Oak Park and Evanston under a Mayor Rahm Emanuel-backed ordinance that got the go-ahead Tuesday from a City Council committee. The long-planned addition of bike rental docking stations is set for spring and will include stations stretching into the Chicago neighborhoods of Austin next to Oak Park and Rogers Park near Evanston. Advertisement Under the ordinance approved by the City Council Budget Committee, $320,000 in federal infrastructure grant money goes for the Evanston expansion and $480,000 for the Oak Park expansion. The full City Council will vote on the proposal Wednesday. The expansion to the two relatively affluent suburbs comes as many Chicago neighborhoods, especially in parts of the South, Southwest, West and Northwest sides, still don't have Divvy rental stations. The stations are installed roughly as far south as 75th Street and as far west as Pulaski Road in Chicago. The expansion into Austin will take in a broad swath of the West Side. Advertisement The Oak Park and Evanston expansions also are set to be funded by $3 million in state grants. jebyrne@tribpub.com Twitter @_johnbyrne Mayor Rahm Emanuel's bid to raise the legal age to buy tobacco products in Chicago to 21 stalled Monday after aldermen complained that tax increases in the ordinance would further drive up illegal cigarette sales and hurt city businesses. During more than three hours of testimony before the City Council Finance Committee, lobbyists representing convenience stores raised the possibility of a lawsuit if the measure passed. In the end, committee Chairman Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, did not bring the proposal for a vote. Advertisement The mayor's push for tobacco tax increases for years have faced opposition in the City Council, especially from aldermen representing wards on the city's borders where smokers can easily cross into the suburbs or Indiana to buy cheaper cigarettes. Emanuel has often overcome such pushback by framing the moves as part of a crusade to prevent teen smoking. But the latest effort comes with the mayor politically weakened due to the fallout from the Laquan McDonald shooting, emboldening aldermen to act independently and making it tougher for Emanuel to count on majority support for his signature proposals. Advertisement Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, chairman of the Black Caucus, said business owners in his South Side ward are already having trouble turning a profit. "We're having a problem with taxes and with our retailers. And the big problem is, quite frankly, I believe ordinances like this that devastate communities of color in particular or those of a lower socio-economic background," Sawyer said. Far Southwest Side gas station owner Raleigh Kean pointed to Emanuel's record property tax increase package and a minimum wage increase the mayor championed as among the rising costs he said are making it tough for small businesses in the city. A crowd of 7-Eleven franchisees in the gallery applauded when aldermen spoke against the plan. The proposal calls for a 15-cent tax per "little cigar," raising the cost of a 20-pack of some varieties such as Swisher Sweets from $5.79 to $8.79, according to the Emanuel administration. The mayor would impose a 90-cent tax on larger cigars. The mayor also wants a tax of $1.80 per ounce on smokeless tobacco, bumping the price of a 1.2-ounce can from $4.19 to $6.35; and a $6.60-per-ounce tax on roll-your-own tobacco, raising the average price of a "small pouch" from $7.25 to $11.54. Emanuel's 2016 budget already includes taxes on electronic cigarettes set to bring in about $1 million. And he included a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes in his 2014 budget, which brought Chicago's combined federal, state and local per-pack tax to $7.17 the highest in the nation. City Health Commissioner Dr. Julie Morita told aldermen Monday that while the new taxes would raise roughly $6 million per year, the focus is on making tobacco too expensive for young people, not simply raising revenue. Advertisement But West Side Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, said neighborhoods in his ward are already seeing a spike in the sale of illegal loose cigarettes that lead to other crime and make it difficult for legitimate tobacco retailers to compete. "I implore you to walk down Madison (Street) with me, from Hamlin all the way to Kostner, and you will see the real consequences of what we're talking about," Ervin told Morita. "This is not theoretical. This is not something that I dreamed up." Mayoral spokesman Adam Collins said the administration would "continue speaking to and working with aldermen on this ordinance that will prevent young people from picking up smoking" but did not specify what changes Emanuel might make to win council support. Burke said he didn't call for a vote on the ordinance because he didn't believe the committee had a quorum present. Yet the committee proceeded through the rest of its agenda, voting on items called by Burke. Among the measures the committee approved was a $3.1 million payment to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department alleging Chicago Police Department residency requirements discriminated against 47 foreign-born applicants seeking to become police officers. The committee also approved a $200,000 settlement to Jonathan Hadnott in a case in which a federal judge sanctioned the city law department for withholding records. Advertisement Hadnott had sued, accusing police of making an illegal arrest and search of his mother's home in 2006. The city argued at the first trial that Hadnott's claim was impossible, contending there wasn't enough time for officers to stop Hadnott, run his name through the law enforcement database, search the house and be back at the station at the time shown in records. After that trial ended in a partially hung jury, lawyers were preparing for a retrial when city attorneys turned over records showing it actually took officers about a minute to run Hadnott's name through the database. The committee also approved a $220,000 settlement for Tiffany Hondras, who said she was illegally detained and searched by police in 2011. The full City Council will consider the settlements Wednesday at its meeting. jebyrne@tribpub.com The 11-year-old boy was inside his Tennessee mobile home, talking with three girls who were standing outside. The group included 8-year-old McKayla Dyer and her sister, who was also 11, according to court documents. During the conversation that night, Oct. 3, the boy asked the girls to go get their puppies. The girls declined. Advertisement The boy left. When he returned, the documents state, he was carrying a BB gun and 12-gauge shotgun. He "then announced to the girls that he had guns," according to court documents. "The victim then laughed at [the boy], and stated that she believed they were not real. Advertisement "[The boy] then made certain the gun was loaded, cocked the hammer of the gun, and shot the victim just above the heart at a downward trajectory, from a distance of 3-5 feet from inside his window." McKayla fell backward and was later pronounced dead. Now, months after the fatal October encounter, the boy has been found guilty of first-degree murder and ordered to remain in the custody of the state until his 19th birthday, the Associated Press reported. "The State of Tennessee should utilize all reasonable resources to determine why [the boy], an 11 year-old child, chose to kill an 8-year-old child, and to treat and rehabilitate him so that this will not happen again," a juvenile court order states. "A child who commits first-degree murder cannot be willy-nilly turned loose into society." The court order was posted by WATE-TV, an ABC affiliate. The shooting occurred in White Pine, Tenn., a town about 40 miles from Knoxville. The boy is "in desperate need of help, and our society has a great need for [him] to receive it," the order states. One of the boy's relatives told WATE that the family is expected to appeal. The Associated Press reports that Department of Children's Services officials were working to try to figure out where to put the boy, who had been trained in firearm safety, according to the court order. "Like any other child who comes into custody, he would need a thorough assessment and evaluation to determine the best placement," agency spokesman Rob Johnson told the wire service. "At this time, it would likely be at an intensive treatment program at one of our private providers." Advertisement McKayla Dyer died in her mother's arms, according to the court documents. "She was a precious little girl," her mother, Latasha Dyer, told ABC affiliate WATE after the shooting. "She was a mommy's girl. No matter how bad of a mood you were in, she could always make you smile." The killing came just two days after a mass school shooting in rural Oregon and rocked the small community of White Pine, Tenn. Jefferson County Sheriff Bud McCoig told The Washington Post at the time that McKayla's death had taken a toll on his investigators. "We only get through it by the grace of God," he said. Both children - McKayla and her killer - attended White Pine School, which teaches students from kindergarten through eighth grade. "We remember her smile and her beautiful face," White Pine Principal Bill Walker recalled. "Our normal has changed." FBI agents gather outside the home of Crystal City, Texas Mayor Ricardo Lopez for his arrest on Thursday morning, Feb. 4, 2016. (Bob Owen / AP) Joel Barajas was the only Crystal City council member to show up to the office Friday. That's because everyone else he works with is facing felony charges. Advertisement Five top officials in Crystal City, Texas, were arrested Thursday under a federal indictment accusing them of taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and helping the operator of an illegal gambling operation who went by the nickname "Mr. T." The indictment swept up the city's mayor, mayor pro tempore (who both have city council votes) and a council member, as well as the city manager, a former city council member and the alleged gambling operator, Ngoc Tri Nguyen. None of the men has commented about the charges against them or filed any pleas in response to the indictment. Advertisement A fourth person on the city council, Marco Rodriguez, was arrested last month on human smuggling charges. According to KENS, Rodriguez admitted to being hired to drive undocumented immigrants across the the border from Mexico. That left just Barajas at City Hall in Crystal City, a town of about 7,500 people 130 miles southwest of San Antonio. He's been on the council nine months, according to KSAT, and he could tell as soon as he arrived that something fishy was going on. "I knew some things were not being correctly taken care of," he said. According to the indictment, the town leadership "used their official positions to enrich themselves by soliciting and accepting payments and other things of value" from Nguyen and others. The document accuses officials of voting to award contracts in exchange for bribes, extorting payments from contractors, turning a blind eye to Nguyen's illegal gaming business while taking action to shut down would-be competitors, and agreeing to reduce Nguyen's taxes in exchange for him waiving debts, among other shady dealings. Mayor Ricardo Lopez, the indictment alleges, instructed city inspectors to "make it easy" while looking at Nguyen's property. He also made extra effort to shut down other operators of "8-liner" gaming rooms, which are nominally illegal in Texas but flourish informally in the southern part of the state. In exchange, he allegedly accepted $6,000 from Nguyen to buy a car. It also says that Lopez and the other officials - Mayor Pro Tem Rogelio Mata, council member Roel Mata and former council member Gilbert Urrabazo - voted to extend city manager and city attorney William Jonas' lucrative contract, in exchange for which he supported their various bribery schemes. The San Antonio Express-News has reported that Jonas, a "one-time Republican lobbyist down on his luck," was paid some $200,000 a year after being hired without ever having worked as a city attorney or even applying for the job. His fees were extraordinarily high for a small town city attorney - the lawyer for a neighboring town made less than one tenth as much - and even higher than the attorneys for big cities like Laredo and Corpus Christie. In December, Jonas surrendered to authorities after being charged with assault for allegedly manhandling an elderly woman who was trying to enter a city council meeting, according to the Express-News. He has pleaded not guilty. Advertisement Residents told KENS that they tried recalling city leaders, but Jonas used his power as city attorney to block their effort. When Barajas tried to have Jonas' contract suspended last month, the rest of the council simply didn't show up to the meeting, the Express-News reported. In their stead were eight uniformed police officers, "in case things got out of hand." Crystal City was $2 million in debt and facing bankruptcy, Barajas told KENS at the time. Richard Durbin Jr., the U.S. attorney for San Antonio, told the Associated Press that he hoped the indictment would help restore some public confidence in the local government. If convicted, each officials faces up to 10 years in federal prison and as much as $250,000 in fines, according to CNN. But Durbin's office doesn't have the power to remove the officials from their positions, the U.S. attorney said - only voters can do that. "What we can do is that first step," Durbin told the AP. "In the end, it falls back on the citizens to make the next decision on who they put in those offices, because that's how the system works." Advertisement Baraja said he wouldn't pressure his colleagues to resign - if they ever show up at a council meeting again (all the men except for Rogelio Mata are out on bond, but none appeared at work on Friday, according to KSAT). But he does want them to fire Jonas. And he wants to get back to work. "What happened is nothing to celebrate. It's something sad that happened to us," Barajas told the Associated Press. "By all means, we need to move forward." MANCHESTER, N.H. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders rode a wave of voter frustration with American politics to commanding victories in Tuesday's New Hampshire primaries, adding crucial credibility to their upstart candidacies. Sanders swept majorities of men, women, independents and young people in his win over Hillary Clinton, but faces challenges in the more diverse states that come next on the primary calendar. Trump, appealing to voters seeking a political outsider, could benefit from the persistent lack of clarity among the more mainstream Republicans struggling to challenge him. Advertisement "We are going to do something so good and so fast and so strong and the world is going to respect us again, believe me," Trump said at a victory rally. Ohio Gov. John Kasich grabbed second in New Hampshire after pouring nearly all of his campaign resources into the state. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio vied for third along with Ted Cruz, the Iowa caucus winner, ensuring all would press on to the next voting contest in South Carolina. Advertisement Sanders, at his own raucous rally, said his victory sent a message "that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California. And that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACs." The enthusiasm behind Trump, a real estate mogul who has never held political office, and Vermont Sen. Sanders, who says he is a democratic socialist, underscores the public's anger with the current political and economic system. Even if neither candidate ultimately becomes his party's nominee, whoever wins that nomination will have to reckon with the voter frustration they've tapped into. Clinton appeared to recognize that reality in her concession speech, echoing Sanders' calls for taking on Wall Street banks and tackling income inequality. But she cast herself as more prepared to make good on her pledges. "People have every right to be angry. But they're also hungry, they're hungry for solutions," she said after congratulating Sanders on his win. New Hampshire did little to clarify the crowded contest among more mainstream GOP candidates fighting to emerge as a challenger to Trump and Texas Sen. Cruz. Florida Sen. Rubio, former Florida Gov. Bush and Cruz battled for third behind Kasich. Throughout the heated primary campaign, Kasich has prided himself on not attacking his rivals. A more moderate Republican from a politically important state, Kasich told supporters Tuesday night that his second-place finish could be an indication that "we're turning the page on a dark part of American politics." The day was a blow for Rubio, who had appeared to be breaking away from the second-tier Republican pack after a stronger-than-expected showing in Iowa. But he stumbled in Saturday's debate under intense pressure from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has relentlessly cast the young senator as too inexperienced and too reliant on memorized talking points to become president. Rubio conceded that the debate may have hurt him in Tuesday's contest and pledged to supporters that his poor performance "will never happen again." Advertisement Christie, however, didn't benefit from roughing up Rubio. He lagged behind the pack as votes were being tallied and said he planned to return home to New Jersey to "make a decision on our next step forward." Bush was pressing on, declaring that New Hampshire voters had "reset the race." Republican voters were more negative about their politicians than Democrats, with about half of GOP voters saying they felt betrayed by party officials. Trump carried a majority of those who said they wanted an outsider to win, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks. More than half of voters in the Republican primary made up their minds in the past week. However, Trump's support appeared more sustained, with his supporters saying they made up their minds some time ago. In a sign of Trump's impact on the race, two-thirds of GOP voters said they supported a temporary ban on non-citizen Muslims entering the U.S., a position the billionaire outlined last year amid rising fears of terrorism emanating from the Middle East. Sanders pulled from a broad coalition of New Hampshire voters, gathering a majority of votes from both men and women, independents and voters under 45. Hillary Clinton won the majority of those over 65. Advertisement Clinton's campaign argues she will perform better as the race heads to more racially diverse states, including Nevada and South Carolina. Both New Hampshire and Iowa are overwhelmingly white states that are far less diverse than the nation as a whole. As polls closed, her campaign manager Robby Mook blasted out a memo touting Clinton's strength with Hispanics and black voters and arguing that a Democrat cannot win the presidency without support from those constituencies. The distinctions between what motivated Sanders and Clinton voters were sharp. The Vermont senator was backed by 9 in 10 voters for whom honesty was important and 8 in 10 who wanted a candidate who "cares about people like me." Clinton, meanwhile, won support from nearly 90 percent of those who considered the "right" experience important in their decision and about 80 percent of those regarding electability as the most important factor. Associated Press In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, displaced Syrians walk among a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. (AP) KILIS, Turkey Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the U.N. demanded Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syria's largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, insists it has an open-door policy toward Syrians escaping conflict but has still kept a key border crossing closed for days. Government officials say Turkey will provide assistance to the displaced Syrians within their own borders "as much as possible" and would allow them in "when necessary." Advertisement The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if Syrian government and allied forces encircle the city of Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. Separately, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler asked Turkey on Tuesday to open the border to "all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection as they have done since the start of this crisis." Advertisement Spindler also urged other nations to shoulder more of the refugee burden and to work to end the conflict. "The answer to this crisis is for the peace process to continue in Syria and for the conflict to be solved," Spindler said. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the world to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. He predicted that Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once pulled out of Afghanistan. "Those ... who turned Syria into a bloodbath will certainly pay for it one day," Davutoglu said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated Tuesday that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues. Several aid trucks could be seen moving Tuesday through Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, which remained shut to refugees for the fifth straight day. Turkish authorities and charities are assisting the Syrians at a refugee camp near the border. One of the few Syrians who managed to cross into Turkey from Oncupinar recently was six-year-old Aya al-Sharqawi who was wounded in Russian airstrikes 10 days ago at her hometown of Tel Rifaat and her uncle, Abdelrahman al-Sharqawi. "I went to buy (biscuits)," the girl said from her hospital bed at the Kilis hospital. "When the plane came I started running. I was near the entrance of my sister's house when the plane came and dropped a bomb." Advertisement Her uncle said the girl was first taken to a field hospital in Tel Rifaat, which then sent her to Turkey for further treatment. Also being treated at the Kilis hospital was Ejnad Akkad, a fighter for the opposition Free Syrian Army, who was wounded by a mine planted by the Islamic State group near the border with Turkey. "The Russian planes have decimated people. The (improvised explosive devices) and mines belonging to (IS) have also slaughtered people," he said. "The (Syrian) regime is advancing only thanks to the Russian warplanes and Shiite militias." At a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Cavusoglu said Turkey was admitting refugees in "in a controlled manner" and that 10,000 Syrians had been allowed in recently. He did not elaborate, and it was not clear if he was referring to the thousands of Syrian Turkmens who were admitted into Turkey earlier this month. The U.N.'s World Food Program said Tuesday it has begun shipping lentils, pasta, beans, vegetable oil, wheat flour, sugar and other items to the town of Azaz northwest of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey, and hopes to continue in coming days. "We are extremely concerned, as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off," said Jakob Kern, the WFP country director for Syria. "But we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey." Advertisement The war in Syria against President Bashar Assad's government has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it began in 2011. Associated Press Juliana da Silva is illuminated by a ray of sunlight as she poses for a photo holding her daughter Maria, who was born with microcephaly, inside their house in Alcantil, Paraiba state, Brazil, on Feb. 7, 2016. (Felipe Dana / AP) RIO DE JANEIRO Across Latin America, in countries with some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, thousands of pregnant women have been infected with the Zika virus, potentially exposing their offspring to devastating birth defects. The virus's explosive growth and the possible dangers it poses to fetal development are fueling urgent abortion debates in several of the countries hit hardest by Zika. Advertisement Nearly everywhere in Latin America, women who wish to terminate their pregnancies have few legal options, raising fears that the outbreak will drive an increase in dangerous, clandestine abortions. On Friday, United Nations human rights officials urged governments in the region to make abortion services available to infected women. Activists in Brazil, Colombia and other nations say they will press lawmakers to act as swiftly as possible to ease rigid restrictions on abortion as Zika proliferates. U.N. health officials have projected as many as 4 million infections in the Americas this year. Advertisement Several governments in Latin American nations where abortion is essentially banned have responded to the crisis by urging women to postpone pregnancy. But the availability of contraceptives is limited, especially in rural Latin America, and church authorities in the heavily Roman Catholic region oppose their use. The number of illegal abortions in Rio de Janeiro is increasing, said a leading doctor in the state who took part in a high level meeting with health officials about the crisis. The doctor asked not to be identified because the information is unofficial. "If I was a woman, had just got pregnant and discovered that I had been infected by the Zika virus, I would not hesitate an instant to abort the gestation," wrote columnist Helio Schwartsman in the daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo on Saturday. Each mother should be able to follow her own instincts, he said. Those calls have been echoed in El Salvador and Colombia and by others here in Brazil, the epicenter for the outbreak, where the government estimates that as many as 1.5 million people may have caught Zika. It is spread mostly by infected mosquitos, but can also be transmitted through sexual contact, and researchers have recently detected "active" Zika cells in saliva and urine. Brazil's government blames the virus for a sharp increase in reports of children born with undersized heads, a condition known as microcephaly, but doctors say they're only beginning to understand the dangers posed by Zika to neurological development. Uruguay and Cuba are the only nations in Latin America where abortion is legal and widely available. Other countries allow it in cases of rape, incest or when a mother's life is in danger. In Chile, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, the procedure is completely banned. All four have reported cases of Zika, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advertisement Other nations in Latin America, including Colombia, the country with the second-highest total of Zika cases to date after Brazil, permit abortionsin cases where the mother's health is in danger or a fetus displays signs of a severe deformity. In Brazil abortion is allowed if the woman has been raped, her life is in danger or the fetus has anacephaly where part of its brain or skill is missing. Last week in Colombia a women was allowed to abort her fetus at 32 weeks, the first known case of a Zika-related legal abortion in the country, according to Colombia's leading weekly magazine, Semana. The fetus had severe cranial deformities and microcephaly, according to the report, but the mother's decision to abort at such a late stage in pregnancy ignited a fierce debate on social media. Colombian officials say 3,100 pregnant women in the country have tested positive for Zika, but they have not publicly confirmed any cases of Zika-related microcephaly. Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria has said pregnant women infected with the virus could be allowed to have abortions under one of the country's legal exceptions. (Pregnant women aren't the only people who should be wary of Zika - Gaviria has linked the virus to three deaths associated with a form of paralysis called Guillain-Barre syndrome.) "We hope Zika changes the debate," said Silvia Plana, the director of Coordination for the Life and Health of Women, a pro-choice legal aid group in Colombia. The government says Colombia likely has 80,000 to 100,000 Zika cases, with as many as 650,000 infections possible this year. Advertisement "The pro-abortion lobby is taking advantage of this to liberalize the legislation," said Danelia Cardona, a psychiatrist and director of the Colombian Episcopal Conference's Department for the Promotion and Defense of Life. She said it was inappropriate to modify legislation about "something as serious and delicate as human life" because of Zika, in the midst of what she called "a temporary and uncertain situation." The virus is believed to be especially dangerous to women during the end of their first trimester of pregnancy, a critical stage in the development of the central nervous system. But it is extremely difficult for doctors to detect such damage, even several months later, so granting women access to legal abortions based on an ultrasound diagnosis of microcephaly would do little to alleviate the risks of giving birth to a child with severe impairments. Brazilian activists want women who have been diagnosed with Zika to be able to termine a pregnancy on that basis alone. A growing concern among pediatricians is that Zika could inflict harm to developing brain tissue in other, less obvious ways than microcephaly. That condition could be the "tip of the iceberg" of a series of neurological problems, some of which might not show up in the brain scans used to spot microcephaly, and might not even show up for years to come, said Isabel Madeira, president of the state pediatrics society in Rio de Janeiro. These could includeepilepsy, behavioral problems and mental retardation, said Heloisa Pereira, a leading pediatric neurologist in Rio. "It could be that these children are born with a normal head size, but manifest other problems later in life," Pereira said. "We don't know because we haven't had the time to monitor their development. We are confronting something new." Advertisement Women On Web, an international group based in Canada that provides advice and medication for women wanting abortion in countries where it is banned, said it has seen a surge in inquiries from women in Brazil. About 10 percent of the 96,000 emails the group receives every year come from Brazil, a spokeswoman said. Normally it asks for a donation of $78-100 to send abortion-causing drugs through the mail. Often, government customs inspectors seize the pills. On Feb. 1, Women On Web announced it would send the drugs for free to women with Zika. Emails from women in Brazil have increased more than 25 percent. Upper and middle class women can opt for safer, if illegal, abortions at discreet private clinics in Brazil, said Rebecca Gomperts, the group's founder, but for poor women the only option may be cheap back-alley clinics. "We just hope that women won't resort to really dangerous methods," she said. An estimated 800,000 to 1 million illegal abortions take place in Brazil every year, and some 200,000 women are hospitalized with complications from the procedure. Advertisement "Imagine the stress, the worry, the desperation of not knowing what will happen with you, or the fetus. It is intense suffering," said attorney Sinara Gumieri, a member of Anis, a feminist group preparing a new proposal to Brazil's Supreme Court giving women with Zika access to abortion. Most of those affected are women in poorer northeastern Brazil where the outbreak has been concentrated. The proposal will also call for better social services for children with microcephaly and those who care for them. But Brazil's powerful anti-abortion lobby includes many influential female doctors and academics. The Brazil Without Abortion Movement, which claims 100,000 members across the country, has attacked the Anis proposal. Its president, Lenise Garcia, a microbiologist at the University of Brasilia, compared it to "Nazi philosophy." "The mentality that is behind this is the same," Garcia said. "It is prejudice against a disabled person." Women who have Zika should be offered counseling and support, not an abortion they will later regret, Garcia said. Advertisement In El Salvador, where abortions are banned under all circumstances, including rape and risks to the mother's life, women convicted of having the procedure can be sentenced to decades in prison. But at least 100 pregnant women have tested positive for Zika so far, and the spread of the virus has intensified the debate about whether the country should ease its blanket prohibition. The health minister, Violeta Menjivar, raised the possibility that abortion laws could be revised. Katie Remer continued to pursue her education after becoming an X-ray technician. (Provided by family) Katie Remer ignored advice she got in high school to become a secretary and instead trained as an X-ray technician, a step that started her on a long career in health care that included many years at Cook County Hospital as a supervisor and administrator. Remer was well into middle age when she became a registered nurse. Aqueela Ali was a co-worker at Cook County Hospital when Remer convinced her they should become nurses. Advertisement "She decided we should try," Ali said of the two going back to school to become nurses when she was in her 30s and Remer was in her 40s. "We graduated from Malcolm X (College in Chicago)." Remer, 76, died of complications from multiple myeloma at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago on Jan. 27, according to her husband, Robert. She was a longtime resident of the Edgewater neighborhood in Chicago and also had a home in Freeport, Ill. Advertisement Remer, born Katie Burks, grew up in Arkansas. She came north with her father when she was 12, her husband said. After graduating from what was then DuSable High School, she trained in X-ray technology at Cook County Hospital, since replaced by Stroger Hospital. She began work in radiology at Illinois Central Hospital on South Stony Island Avenue around the mid-1960s. The hospital later became Doctors Hospital before closing in 2000. She later worked at the since-closed Michael Reese Hospital before going to work as an X-ray technician at Cook County Hospital. Over the years, she moved up in duties and responsibilities at County, according to her husband, who was an administrator there when the two met. They married in 1974. She was promoted to supervisor of the radiology department in the Fantus Health Center. She later became an administrator in the pulmonology department and then became a supervisor in the surgery department. Her final move came just after she became a registered nurse, when she applied for and got the job of technical director for the department of radiology. She helped with the move of her department to Stroger Hospital when it opened in 2002, the same year she retired. In an emailed statement, Dr. Jay Shannon, CEO of Cook County Health & Hospitals System, spoke about Remer's leadership at Cook County Hospital and later with the health system, as well as her dedication to patient care. "She was instrumental in establishing outpatient radiology services at Fantus Health Center in 1998 and transitioning the radiology department to the new John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital," Shannon said. "Katie will always be remembered as a champion for our patients. Her work significantly improved access to specialized diagnostic medical imaging for Cook County's most vulnerable residents." As Remer continued her work in health care, she also continued to pursue education. Over the years, she got a bachelor's degree in sociology from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and then a master's degree from Roosevelt University in health care administration. Both of those degrees came before she took the courses to become a registered nurse. Advertisement "She was ambitious, always wanting to learn," Ali said. "She felt there was so much to know, and she never stopped learning." Somehow she also found time to travel, including to some faraway destinations. "We went all over the world," said Phyllis Mbaye, who met Remer when both were X-ray technicians at Illinois Central. She said she got the travel bug in the early 1970s with a trip they took together to London and Paris, with stops in Liberia and in Spain. "We used to go to Africa each year," said Mbaye, remembering a "fantastic week" the two spent in Egypt in the early 1980s. Friend Sally King said Remer was active in her community and in politics, working hard on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and later volunteering for Barack Obama. "She had a way of dropping the seeds of learning and of happiness on you," Ali said. "She always tried to leave you better than she found you." Advertisement In addition to her husband, Remer is survived by her daughter, Keme Sandoo; sisters Mary Alice Harris, Meany Franklin and Courtney Hale; and a granddaughter. Her first marriage ended in divorce. Plans are being made for a memorial service. Megan is a freelance reporter. If there is one presidential candidate who embodies the nation's lingering post-2008 rage at Wall Street, that surely has to be Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. No other candidate has argued as strenuously for financial reform, or used rhetoric that so forcefully paints a struggle between the financial industry and the rest of the economy. Whether that narrative is accurate, Sanders' concrete proposals give the impression that he hasn't carefully evaluated the policy landscape. Some of the things Sanders is suggesting have largely been done. For example, he recently declared that in its first 100 days, his administration would "create a list of too-big-to-fail banks and insurance companies." Such a list already exists. Under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the Financial Stability Oversight Council a branch of the Treasury Department must maintain a list of systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) that is, banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies that are considered too big to fail because their collapse would endanger the financial system. So Sanders' proposal is already reality. Advertisement Other proposals don't seem like they would address the problems Sanders thinks they will address. For example, he recently tweeted: "Real Wall Street reform meansre-establishing firewalls that separates risk taking from traditional banking." Here Sanders is talking about re-implementing the Glass-Steagall Act a Depression-era rule that separated investment banking from commercial banking which was repealed in 1999. Sanders has attacked rival Hillary Clinton for not strongly supporting its return. Advertisement The problem is, there is no indication that Sanders really understands what Glass-Steagall does. All aspects of banking involve risk-taking. Investment banks underwrite and sell securities for corporations, which entails the risk that these companies will not be able to repay their obligations. Commercial banks take deposits and make loans, thereby incurring the risk that the loans will not pay off. Separating these two activities will do very little, if anything, to make banks less risky. In particular, Glass-Steagall would have done almost nothing to prevent the 2008 financial crisis. The costly mistakes made by the big banks that led to their insolvency weren't in the area of investment banking. Banks got into trouble by buying toxic mortgage-backed securities and using too much leverage, not by underwriting failing companies. There are better ways of separating risk-taking activities from the banks that hold Americans' deposits. One major such reform has already been accomplished the Volcker rule, which bars banks from making many kinds of speculative investments with taxpayer-guaranteed deposits. Sanders, however, doesn't acknowledge this success. Other financial reform proposals of Bernie's seem either bizarre or inadvisable. For example, Sanders has declared that he wants to fund free college tuition with a tax on financial transactions. However, Italy's experience shows that while this sort of tax called a Tobin tax, after the economist James Tobin is effective at reducing trading volumes, it isn't very good at raising money. In that country, taxing financial transactions yielded only a fifth of the expected revenue, and this number will probably drop even more in the long term. Estimates confidently predicting hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from this sort of tax are almost certainly overblown. A financial transaction tax would help curb high-frequency trading another activity that had no real role in the 2008 crisis but it won't provide a stable source of education funding for U.S. colleges. Another example is Sanders' obsession with fees charged for using automated-teller machines. He has repeatedly vowed to cap ATM fees at $2 per transaction. How he arrived at the $2 number is anyone's guess. But regardless of whether a $5 ATM fee is unfair, it's hardly much of a burden. If the ATM fee is higher, just go to the ATM less often, and take out more cash each time. So it isn't clear why Sanders has chosen to focus on this fee, especially when ATMs are obviously a product that provides great value to millions of people. A final example is Sanders' proposal to audit the Federal Reserve. Sanders has been working with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, on this initiative. But as former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has explained, the Fed is already audited. What Sanders and Paul and his father before him, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, want to do is to give Congress close oversight of the daily operation of monetary policy, compromising the Fed's independence. That would dramatically decrease the central bank's ability to respond to crises and recessions like the one the U.S. recently experienced. In all of these cases, Sanders seems either uninformed or seems not to have thought very carefully about the actual ramifications of his specific proposals. His general anti-big-bank attitude might be beneficial, if he appointed tougher regulators who were less likely to fall under the influence of the companies they oversaw. But the effect of that kind of attitude shift isn't easy to predict. If Sanders really wants to improve the financial system, there are almost certainly better ways to do it. One solution that economists across the political spectrum have been converging on is the idea of higher capital requirements for banks. This would prevent banks from borrowing large amounts of money relative to the value of their businesses. Not only would higher capital requirements make the banks better able to absorb losses, but the financial system would be safer because lower leverage equals lower risk. Advertisement For example, higher capital requirements for globally important financial institutions have been in place in the U.S. since 2014. These requirements, and higher capital requirements in general, are slowly reducing leverage in the financial sector. Along with closer regulatory supervision of SIFIs and the restrictions created by the Volcker rule, capital requirements are slowly chipping away at the big-bank model that defined Wall Street before the crisis. Many people are fighting for even higher capital requirements than now are mandated, but Sanders, curiously, isn't among them. In other words, Sanders' crusade against Wall Street might do a little good, but his main objectives have already being accomplished to a large degree. He likes to say that he wants a revolution, but what he is proposing isn't very revolutionary. Bloomberg Noah Smith is an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University and a freelance writer for finance and business publications. Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich waits for the start of Mass on Sept. 16, 2015, at De La Salle Institute's campus in Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Archbishop Blase Cupich's bold plan to reorganize the 351 Roman Catholic parishes under his charge signals a rebirth of the Chicago Archdiocese. And everyone in the Chicago area, no matter their beliefs, will benefit. Advertisement It is a process that will be filled with great pain for the archdiocese's 2.2 million Catholics. Yet, this much-needed effort will result in a spiritually richer, more pastoral church one that is more in tune with the vision of Pope Francis. And one that will be a more vibrant presence in neighborhoods and suburbs throughout Cook and Lake counties, better able to work for social justice and human rights. Advertisement The simple fact is that the archdiocese has too many parishes today. This is a courageous endeavor, and a historic one: Archdiocesan leaders will have to face hard facts that they have been ignoring for decades. For too long, the archdiocese has operated on a 19th-century parish model a model in which Catholics were members of parishes on the basis of geography and ethnicity, a model in which Catholics were thought to walk to Mass each Sunday. This approach worked wonderfully for decade after decade as immigrant Catholics put down their roots throughout the city and suburbs. The neighborhood parish was a cultural center, and the pastor was a lot like a Chicago alderman, helping people find jobs, mediating disputes and laying down the law. Countless Catholics scrimped and saved to pay to build hundreds of beautiful, art-filled and faith-filled churches. But those buildings have become costlier and costlier to maintain, and, in some cases, parishioners can no longer afford to keep them in good repair. And, as neighborhoods have evolved from one ethnic group or another, or to no dominant group, the number of Catholics in some areas has dropped to the point that few people attend Mass, few weddings are celebrated and few babies are baptized. The simple fact is that the archdiocese has too many parishes today. Soon, there won't be enough priests to serve as pastors for all of the parishes. Already, some have minuscule congregations, and some have huge operating and maintenance expenses they can't meet. Full disclosure: I am one of some 60 lay people who meet five times a year with the archbishop to give him advice on questions he raises. But I make these assertions not as a member of the archdiocesan pastoral council, but as a lifelong Chicago Catholic. Advertisement I also make them as someone who, during a 32-year career with the Chicago Tribune, extensively studied and interpreted social trends, demographic shifts and administrative strategies. As the newspaper's urban affairs writer, I became an expert on the neighborhoods and suburbs of Chicago and on the ways they interconnect. And on how important the Catholic Church with its millions of parishioners has been and continues to be to the everyday life of this region. Cupich's initiative isn't about money. It's about doing what's necessary so that every Catholic can be in a parish that is spiritually vital, a parish where the faith family is large enough to be able to support and succor parish members, and also to reach out to serve the world. This is the vision that Pope Francis spelled out in his apostolic exhortation in November 2013: "I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security." A parish, he said, "is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God's word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration." In other words, clinging to the past, clinging to the safety of the way things have long been done, isn't healthy. Parishes must be strong enough and willing enough to take the message of Jesus "out on the streets." Advertisement This archdiocesan rebirth will be hard work for all Catholics. Every parish, no matter its size or finances, will be involved in facing these questions and solving them. And this isn't a case of one-size-fits-all. Decisions will be made at the local level in most cases, by all of the parishes in a certain area of the city or the suburbs. Cupich's advisers, after studying efforts in other dioceses, have developed a variety of new models for a local group of parishes to choose from and adapt. One model, of course, would be for a small parish to merge into a larger one. But other approaches would include, say, three parishes with lay administrators under a single pastor, or even several parishes under a team of two or more pastors. No question, this is a scary time for Catholics. Change is coming, and change is always unsettling. The archbishop is calling on Catholics to take part in giving birth to a new, more vital archdiocese. It's an exciting time. And a blessed one. Patrick T. Reardon has written five books, including "Love Never Fails" and a history of his parish, "Woven Lives: One hundred years in the story of the St. Gertrude faith family." There's an opening in the Republican race for president. Businessman Donald Trump seems to be losing interest after losing Iowa. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may be the top choice of conservative Christians who support carpet-bombing, but he still unnerves many mainline conservatives. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's plans to ride message discipline and policy pliability into consensus support from the party's corporate elite suffered a setback on Saturday night at the Republican debate in New Hampshire. (The Wall Street Journal editorial board, a pillar of that elite, said that Rubio's "gutting by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Saturday was as complete as any we've seen.") Former surgeon Ben Carson appears ready to take his assiduously compiled list of donors and head off for a lucrative retirement. Advertisement "If this were a script," Florida writer Carl Hiaasen wrote last week, "you would now write in a timely entrance by the seasoned, well-credentialed Jeb Bush." Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 29 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Concord, N.H. (Jewell SamadJ / AFP/Getty Images) Or you would if you hadn't spent the past year watching the Republican presidential race. Hiaasen wasn't challenging the conventional wisdom, which predicted Bush's doom months ago. A few paragraphs later, Hiaasen affixed the word "desperation" to Bush's candidacy. Advertisement Yet, all things considered, Bush may be the most formidable candidate that Republicans could run in the general election. Christie is fatally flawed for Republicans by virtue of his own record and a scandal that, at the least, involves his top aides' creepy abuse of power. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has a strong record in an important swing state and appears to be the only genuinely happy warrior in the field. But his support for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion in Ohio will almost certainly destroy him in the primary, should he become a serious threat for the nomination. (And, at the end of the day, he's a bit herky-jerky in demeanor for White House duty.) So that leaves Rubio and Bush among the candidates who don't scare children and moderates. Rubio may or may not be the future. But if Republicans believe their own experts, Bush is probably their best shot in the present. The Republican National Committee's famously ineffectual "Growth and Opportunity Project," issued in early 2013, urged the party to pass comprehensive immigration reform as a way to reach out to Hispanic and Asian voters who had shunned the party's 2012 nominee. That didn't happen. In this campaign, Trump has dominated the debate, lingering over the fine points of deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic and many of whom have American family or friends. Rubio has probably worn out his welcome with voters who care about this on both sides of the divide. He ran against "amnesty" in his 2010 race before making immigration reform his baby and then, when the going got tough, abandoned it to the wolves. Conservative immigration restrictionists don't appear willing to forgive or forget; many revile Rubio for switching sides. Apparently, he elicits similar feelings among many immigration supporters. One activist assured me that if Rubio makes it into a general election, he will face blistering criticism, including in Spanish, for his betrayal. Immigration isn't a decisive issue to most voters, and perhaps Republicans can win in November with a minimal, Romneyesque level of nonwhite votes. It's certainly possible. But it's a hard road the party would do better to avoid. And a Cuban-American nominee won't automatically change the party's defensive posture: a monoracial party appealing to an increasingly multiracial electorate. Bush, we know, has heavy baggage. His brother's presidency was a disaster, and Americans don't seem eager to resume the family's lease on the White House. Running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, whose family tentacles generate a different sort of unease, should take some of the sting out of Bush's predicament. Not everyone agrees. "Bush would suffer from the Bush family connection," said Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz, via email. "The Clinton years were much more positive than the Bush years." Advertisement But Bush's family cuts two ways. His Mexican-American wife represents a visceral commitment to immigration, assimilation and a broad definition of the American Dream. Bush is obviously comfortable in Hispanic culture. And he would be able to make the case, speaking in fluent Spanish himself if necessary, that he stuck to his pro-immigration stand, risked his campaign by battling Trump and the demagogues and won. That could be worth a lot. A December poll of battleground states by Latino Decisions, whose principals also work for Clinton's campaign, showed Bush was the only Republican candidate with a net positive rating among Hispanic voters. (Rubio, by contrast, was a net -8.) Moreover, Bush is knowledgeable enough to think on his feet and experienced, having spent eight years as a popular governor of one of the largest states. Just in case some Republicans out there still think evidence that a candidate can actually succeed at the job is in any way relevant. Bloomberg View Francis Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View. Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich visits a polling station at the high school, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. as voters cast their ballots for the first in the nation presidential primary. (Jim Cole, AP) John Kasich doesn't need an exclamation point in his logo. Riding around New Hampshire on his campaign bus a blend of camper, office and food court the Ohio governor was so charged up last week that even when he sat down to talk, he remained coiled, as if ready to jump into action if we got a flat tire. This is glory time for Kasich. Often in danger of being relegated to the kiddie-table debate of Republican candidates, he is now polling at No. 2 with an asterisk in New Hampshire (it's the new No. 1, with the Trump discount). During his last presidential foray, in 2000, he was so unknown outside Washington that voters thought that he'd come to an event "to shovel the snow." Running as a compassionate conservative, he ran smack into another better-financed one named George W. Bush and quickly dropped his bid. Advertisement This time, he's got enough money. What's more, there's lots of money being spent against him on ads in New Hampshire and South Carolina suggesting that compassionate conservative really means "Obama Republican" (a reference to Kasich's decision to accept federal Medicaid expansion funds as part of Obamacare). "Imagine," he says smiling, "I'm enough of a threat they're going negative on me." Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 29 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Concord, N.H. (Jewell SamadJ / AFP/Getty Images) As we rolled along to his 100th town hall in the Granite State, I saw traces of the 26-year-old who won a seat in the Ohio state legislature and then won a U.S. House race in 1982, the only Republican to beat an incumbent Democrat. Advertisement Hard to peg even then, he was an insider's outsider challenging the leadership but eventually becoming part of it as one of the youngest chairmen of the House Budget Committee, where he was famous for his perfect recall of every line item. Although best known for balancing the budget, he broke from the leadership on occasion: He voted for an assault weapons ban, to cut production of the B-2 bomber and supported President Bill Clinton's effort on welfare reform. He pushed corporate welfare reform, too. New Hampshire takes him back to his first campaign crossing Ohio's small towns in his red Chevette. Kasich's platform now is simple "to bring the Ohio formula to America." He's running on experience, the kind that the Republican governors at the Republican debate on Saturday hammered Sen. Marco Rubio for not having. "Experience gives credibility to what you're going to do next," he said. In his first term as governor, Kasich tackled the state's crippling debt and joblessness. He reduced unemployment to 4.2 percent from 9.7 percent, turned a $2 billion deficit into an $8 billion surplus, and restored the rainy day fund from pennies to $2 billion all while increasing services, lowering taxes and luring new business to the state. His one big mistake: In 2011, he sought a referendum to approve a measure restricting public employees' collective bargaining rights. He lost, and admitted that he had been wrong. He went around making up with the unions and won their support in 2014 (and much more: he received 65 percent of the vote). Friends say that the ballot referendum and the death of his parents in a drunk-driving accident have made him less pugnacious, more thoughtful and, improbably, a good listener, the secret of a successful town hall. And so it was that on Friday, Kasich pulled into Bedford, one of New Hampshire's postcard-perfect towns. Arriving to U2's "Beautiful Day" (if it were up to him, the music would always be Pearl Jam or Pink Floyd), he reeled off facts to a jam-packed room. He got the usual questions. He aced one about the polluted water in Flint, Michigan, a problem he faced in Ohio but leapt on more quickly than Michigan's governor. He made asides, some of them funny. He imitated former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will do a tele-town hall with him later, to dismiss the negative ads: "Luuuuuv the beating." The cake was three-layered, red, white and blue. A few gallons of Rocky Road and it would have been an ice cream social. There's nothing elite about Kasich who, along with his heart, wears the neighborhood in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, where his father carried the mail, on his sleeve. He's aware that a few twists of fate and he could be in the audience and not the one speaking. Some people come to town halls to be convinced, others to be reassured, others to kick the tires. By the end, the 500 who came Friday night were all cheering. Of course, it could be the sugar high, but they all seemed to leave happier than they arrived. Sure, being a compassionate conservative is a bad rap for Republicans these days. But they should remember that in 2012, Mitt Romney lost the "cares about people like you" vote to Barack Obama by 81 percent. In November, Kasich will have two big assets his party needs: a shot at a chunk of that 81 percent and Ohio. Advertisement Bloomberg View Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," FX's new miniseries about one of Los Angeles' most spectacular celebrity trials, isn't perfect. It gets some details a little wrong it conflated Nicole Brown Simpson's funeral with the viewing of her body in the first episode, for instance, and exaggerated to the point of caricature the eccentricities of a couple of significant players. But when it comes to the big thing about the case, "The People v. O.J. Simpson" is exactly right. By 1994, when Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were slain, the Los Angeles Police Department had so ruptured its relationship with those it served that even the most unlikely accusations against it could be taken seriously. Advertisement The miniseries opened with a sequence that telegraphed that context. The first shot was a clip from the videotaped beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991. It then segued into a series of depictions of the riots that happened the following year, after the officers responsible for King's beating were acquitted of all but one count in state court (the jury hung on that charge). In this Aug. 29, 1995, file photo, O.J. Simpson, second from left, is surrounded by his attorneys, clockwise from left, Ken Spaulding, back towards camera, Gerald Uelmen, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran Jr., as they discuss their plans for arguing the admissibility of the tapes of retired Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman in Los Angeles. (Myung J. Chun, AP) Those images were painful to watch I covered the federal trial of those officers, as well as the riots and Simpson's murder trial but the series smartly grasped the intersection of those tortuous and sometimes terrifying events. Advertisement For many, the videotape of the King beating was overdue vindication, proof at last that they had been telling the truth when they accused LAPD officers of brutality, especially in their treatment of black male suspects. Indeed, the most shocking aspect of the tape may not even have been the torrent of blows inflicted on King but rather the fact that none of the 19 LAPD officers who witnessed the incident bothered to report anything wrong until after the video surfaced. When a Ventura County jury in 1992 refused to hold those officers criminally liable for despicable actions the whole world could see, Angelenos' sense of vindication curdled into fury. Hundreds of structures were burned; dozens of people killed. Even President George H.W. Bush described the officers' actions as "revolting." Compounding the anger directed against the LAPD officers involved in the King beating was despair over the department's response to the unrest that followed. When the riots began, Chief Daryl Gates was attending a fundraiser to defeat police reform. In his absence, the department moved indecisively as crowds gathered and turned violent. At police headquarters that afternoon I watched in amazement as a mob overturned a guard shack and set it on fire. Those on duty at the headquarters building stayed inside and watched. The investigations of the LAPD in those years by various commissions, the press and others offered shocking confirmation of a culture that had gone dangerously wrong. Police slang for incidents of domestic violence in African-American homes was "NHI." That stood for "no humans involved." On the night of the King beating, one of the officers used a department mobile device (this was before cellphones) to describe to a colleague another such incident as "right out of 'Gorillas in the Mist.'" Another officer gave this advice to a colleague confronting a suspect: "Capture him, beat him and treat him like dirt." It was against that history that Simpson's defense team served up its critique of the case against its client: The LAPD, it argued, was so sloppy it might have mishandled important evidence, and the department was so corrupt that it was capable of framing a famous suspect, especially a black man. There were many reasons to doubt the notion of a frame-up. Chiefly: Simpson was eminently recognizable, so if police planted evidence to frame him, they would have risked later discovering that he had a solid alibi. That would have turned their plot against them. But what the defense team exploited, and what the FX series conveys, is that it's almost beside the point to argue for or against the idea that Simpson was framed. By 1994 in Los Angeles, such a thing wasn't out of the question, and a jury presented with that argument wasn't crazy to believe it. There is a profound lesson in the trial and acquittal of O.J. Simpson for the many police departments today wrestling with declining public confidence in their integrity. Just last week, a Chicago Tribune poll found that more than half of all residents of the nation's third-largest city distrust their police force. It seems safe to assume that's true in places like Ferguson, Mo.; North Charleston, S.C.; and Baltimore. Advertisement The Simpson case should remind those cities that the evaporation of trust not only damages public safety and puts police officers at risk, it also undermines citizens' confidence in every part of the justice system and makes jurors receptive to the charge that law enforcement is irredeemable. To do their job, police need the public's trust, and once it is lost, it takes a massive effort to recover it. "The People v. O.J. Simpson" gets that fact. Are police executives and political leaders around the county watching? Tribune Content Agency Jim Newton is editor-in-chief of Blueprint magazine. He was a reporter, editor, bureau chief and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Amid the upheaval of unprecedented insults, tweets and investigations in this presidential campaign, one American tradition has held firm: birtherism. The practice of insinuating unconstitutional foreignness in a political opponent dates all the way back to Chester Arthur, elected president in 1880, who was accused of emerging on the wrong side of the Canadian border. A more virulent strain emerged with the presidency of Barack Obama, and now it appears to have become an electoral custom. As we have seen with selfies and the Kardashians, America is more than capable of embracing new traditions, even dubious ones. Though we may never be able to cure ourselves of Kim and Khloe, we can easily fix birtherism. Advertisement And we need to solve it now, as the accusations of constitutional ineligibility against presidential candidates are multiplying. In this political cycle, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal and even Rick Santorum (who had an Italian father) have all faced questions about just how naturally born their citizenship is. As it was with Obama, the insinuator in chief today is Donald Trump, who has an unrivaled pedigree of questioning pedigree. Trump, recall, dispatched detectives to Hawaii to scrutinize Obama's birth and found "absolutely unbelievable" things. He has yet to reveal those things, but one suspects he was probably telling the truth about their believability. We may never know whether birtherism thrives from low information, heartfelt xenophobia or just political opportunism. But here is a simple solution that will cover all motives: Advertisement Henceforth, only foreign-born citizens should be eligible to be president of the United States. Yes, this change would require some tinkering, even a constitutional amendment. But we've enacted those before: even an astonishingly un-American one (the 18th) prohibiting "intoxicating liquors"; and another (the 21st) repealing the 18th. When the American people are sufficiently delusional or regretful, then, we can make the changes we need to form a more perfect union. Why only foreign-born? Simple: Foreign-born citizens want it more. We chose America. We could have stayed where we were and lazily enjoyed the privileges of our original birth citizenship. But we sailed, flew and climbed over walls to find the lamp beside the golden door. Many new citizens risked death to come here; all forswore the homelands of our natural birth. We are the converts, and we have the zeal. Moreover, several of our finest presidents have been foreign-born, including even some delivered on enemy territory: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, we no longer have any foreign-born citizens who satisfy the constitutional requirement of being "a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution." So who knows what James Madisons and Andrew Jacksons we might be overlooking today? Natural-born citizens, on the other hand, just rolled out of bed in the United States. And some don't even appreciate the place: They criticize our veterans, our freedom of religion, our business acumen and those are just the ones running for president. Others may be criminals, even violent ones; and we've seen too many military-age males engage in terrorism. Under the new rule, these natural-born illegals wouldn't be eligible to serve as president. Though it may at first sound radical, this proposal is really quite modest: Lots of serious enterprises require their members to make such an affirmative decision to opt in. Indeed, perhaps the most serious enterprises of all, such as those with custody of our eternal souls. Religions even many all-American, Judeo-Christian ones impose a ritual at the beginning of adulthood that requires the fully informed assent of the faithful. For many Americans of faith, simply to be born a Christian is insufficient; one must come to Jesus. We should require the same of our commander in chief. But what of natural-born citizens? Would it be fair to deprive them of America's fruits and government benefits purely on the basis of a geographical accident? Perhaps not. So we could include a loophole in our new rule that would grant amnesty to natural-born citizens. Those who are willing to self-import can become born-again citizens. Let us say that anyone who is a natural-born American could voluntarily take a test to become a bona fide, presidentially eligible citizen. Advertisement Happily, we have such a civics exam already. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services administers some 750,000 naturalization tests each year. If natural-born citizens nurture their political strength, they could lobby for the right to take this exam also. Of course, they'd have to be willing to be fingerprinted, to compile a complete vaccination record and to submit to a medical exam, including blood tests for communicable diseases. But these are minor inconveniences that any America-loving American should be willing to tolerate. If we follow the example of our most red-blooded immigrants our foreign-born citizens we can make America American again. William Birdthistle, naturally born in Ireland, is a United States citizen and a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Military women have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, with at least 161 killed in those wars. (Howard Lipin / U-T San Diego) It was a historic moment for women when the Defense Department announced that all combat positions would be open to them. "There will be no exceptions," Secretary Ash Carter said in December. "They'll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat." His purpose was a matter of practicality. Fielding the best forces, he said, "requires drawing strength from the broadest possible pool of talent." Military women have already seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, with at least 161 killed in those wars. Hundreds have won awards for valor under fire. Advertisement But opportunities often come with obligations. The one that young women may now face is registering with the Selective Service System, which all men from the ages of 18 to 25 have been required to do since 1980. The commandant of the Marine Corps and the Army chief of staff have recommended including females in registration. Legislation has been introduced to require it. Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie have indicated they support the change. Advertisement One presidential candidate who would not is Ted Cruz, who said that he loves his young daughters and that "the idea that their government would forcibly put them in a foxhole with a 220-pound psychopath trying to kill them doesn't make any sense at all." (We won't try to decipher exactly what he meant.) He blames the very notion on "political correctness." It's not hard to elicit bizarre fears from Cruz. But this one is especially unwarranted. In the first place, the draft ended 43 years ago, and there is close to zero chance it will be revived in the foreseeable future. Neither the military brass nor the average high school senior wants to go back to conscription. The obvious question, then, is why anyone should have to register. Permanently reserving this machinery, at an annual cost of $23 million, brings to mind Ronald Reagan's quip: "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." Timothy Kane, a former Air Force captain and now an economist at the free-market Hoover Institution, doubts that the manpower needs of the military will ever be so great as to warrant reviving the draft. Noting the expanded use of drones, he says, "We're going to see the continuing automation of not only aerial combat but ground combat." For future wars, he notes, we won't need huge numbers of fresh recruits nearly as much as we'll need professional soldiers with years of training. But if our leaders are not going to scrap the Selective Service System, it's hard to see why women should be exempt from registering. Nor is it clear that the Supreme Court would allow such sharply differential treatment based on sex. Women have served in the vast majority of military jobs for years. If the demands of a future war or emergency ever warrant calling up millions of young people, women would have just as much potential utility as men. In Israel, military conscription includes females, who make up one-third of all uniformed personnel and 51 percent of officers. Most military occupations, of course, don't involve combat. When he announced the opening of all jobs to women, Carter acknowledged that because of physical differences, "only small numbers of women" will qualify for elite infantry and special forces units. The great majority of female draftees would not be subject to the dangers that so concern Cruz. In the absence of any plausible need, there is a good case to be made against keeping the apparatus of conscription around. If it's a bad idea to draft women, though, that's for the same reasons it's a bad idea to draft men. Advertisement Follow the Editorial Board on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Deanne Mazzochi, acting chairwoman of the College of DuPage board, said she will make one more attempt before a February deadline to appoint a trustee to replace former Chairwoman Katharine Hamilton. (Jon Langham / Chicago Tribune) A faction of the divided College of DuPage board is making a last-ditch effort to pick a new member before one is chosen for it but, in keeping with the board's paralyzing dysfunction, that effort appears unlikely to succeed. Vice Chairwoman Deanne Mazzochi and her two allies called a meeting for Thursday night, the deadline for choosing a replacement for former board Chairwoman Katharine Hamilton, whose December resignation left the board with a 3-3 split and no college business being approved until last week. Advertisement But it appears unlikely that members of the other side will attend Thursday's meeting, where the sole agenda item is to either approve a trustee candidate or "identify criteria of importance" to pass along to the chairman of the Illinois Community College Board. If the College of DuPage board can't agree on someone by Thursday's state-imposed deadline, ICCB Chairman Lazaro Lopez will choose a replacement, according to state law. Trustee Dianne McGuire, one of the veteran trustees who has been boycotting meetings, said she would not attend the Thursday meeting and wants Lopez a College of DuPage graduate to make the selection. Advertisement "Sometimes, a fresh perspective and a view from the outside is just what is needed," McGuire said in a statement. "I am still supportive of the request to defer this decision to Dr. Lopez." State officials could not recall another time when the ICCB had to step in to name a board member. "It has never risen to this level," said ICCB spokesman Matt Berry. While he said community college trustees need to be replaced fairly regularly, the remaining board members "are usually able to do it themselves." "Dr. Lopez has every intention of making the appointment as soon as possible," Berry said. "He has been reviewing information on potential candidates and is doing his due diligence to make a decision as soon as possible. It will be an important appointment." Indeed, the seventh trustee will likely be the tie-breaking vote on a board divided between the three veteran trustees and the three who won election last spring when they ran as the "Clean Slate," giving the appointee extraordinary power at the state's largest community college. Mazzochi said she called the meeting to "make an honest attempt at fulfilling this position." She said she will likely cancel the meeting Wednesday afternoon unless all trustees indicate they can attend. "Even if we can't reach a decision, I had truly hoped that at the very least we could have offered Dr. Lopez some direction," she said. "It is sad for me to begrudgingly reach the conclusion that there never was any real commitment" by some trustees to choose a replacement. Twenty-seven people applied for the open trustee position, though Lopez does not have to choose any of them. Advertisement The candidates include several who lost in the spring election, including former Republican state Rep. Sandra Pihos of Glen Ellyn. Pihos, who finished fourth, has the backing of college faculty and some former trustees. She expressed disappointment with the board's inability to even hold a meeting to discuss the vacancy. "I understand there's a 3-3 deadlock and things are difficult," she said. "If they had gotten together and realized they wouldn't be able to reach a consensus, I would understand that. It's very disheartening to see that they didn't even attempt to meet." Pihos, who served in the state legislature for 12 years, said the selection process could become "political" once it goes to the ICCB, which is led by a governor-appointed board. "It's unfortunate because this is a local community board, and the decision should have been made by local leaders," she said. Another applicant, Clarendon Hills resident Stephen Spangehl, said he applied after he was contacted by Joseph Collins, the college's interim president. An education consultant, Spangehl was a vice president at the Higher Learning Commission, the agency that accredits the college. He now works with colleges on accreditation issues. Advertisement That experience could be useful at the College of DuPage. The commission put the school on probation a rare sanction in December for, among other reasons, the board's infighting and poor governance. The college has two years to prove it has addressed the agency's concerns. "I hate to see a good college go through this turmoil," said Spangehl, who said he hopes the seventh trustee can unite the board. "They all need to learn that boards function as a whole, not as individuals. When boards begin to behave that way, it is always trouble. It can't continue because it will have serious effects, ultimately on the students who go to the college." College of DuPage student Stephanie Torres who represents students statewide on the Illinois Community College Board believes the school could benefit from letting Lopez decide. Though she is not on the selection committee because it would be a conflict of interest, she said she has spoken with Lopez about how the negative publicity surrounding the college has affected students. "If the board can't come together and make a decision, it might not be a bad idea to have an independent third party look at the candidates," Torres said. "The next trustee needs to come in with an open mind and be willing to listen to all sides. They can't just come in aligned with one side or the other. Nothing will change if that happens." jscohen@tribpub.com sstclair@tribpub.com A Pete's Fresh Market will be part of a development on the former Kmart site at Route 83 and Plainfield Road. (Joseph Ruzich / Chicago Tribune) Eager to spur the redevelopment of the long-vacant Kmart property at Route 83 and Plainfield Road, Willowbrook officials are taking the first step toward creating a business district that would result in a slightly higher sales tax rate for new retailers and restaurants located there. Tentatively named The Willows, the new development would potentially include a 70,000-square-foot Pete's Fresh Market supermarket, as well as a smaller Stein Mart discount department store and Ulta, a cosmetics retailer. An outlying strip-center development fronting Plainfield Road would feature up to four restaurants and two retail storefronts as part of the overall plan. Advertisement The Village Board Monday unanimously approved an agreement with Chicago-based Ehlers & Associates, Inc. to gauge the eligibility of the 10.5-acre site for a business district designation. A business district differs from a tax-increment financing district in that revenue is generated solely from a higher sales tax rate. State law allows an increase of up to 1 percentage point in the business district sales tax rate that may be applied in increments of 0.25 percent. By contrast, a TIF freezes property tax assessments for all taxing bodies, including schools, park districts and the county, within its boundaries for up to 20 years or more. The property tax revenue increase created by development is plowed back into the area to pay for infrastructure and other improvements. Although both TIF and business district designations require a finding that the area in question is "blighted," Village Administrator Tim Halik noted securing a business district is significantly easier to accomplish. Advertisement Halik also told trustees that the developers behind The Willows are asking the village to provide some form of public subsidy because "neither project is financially viable" otherwise. "We are in a great position to do this, because our sales tax rate is the lowest in the area," Halik said. "Even with an increase in this one district, we would still be in a favorable position." The sales tax rate within Willowbrook is 7.25 percent. By comparison, the sales tax rate in Darien is 8.25 percent, Western Springs is 9 percent, Hinsdale is 8.25 percent and Downers Grove 8.25% percent. The agreement approved with Ehlers this week calls for an initial project review at a cost of $6,500. If the site is found to be eligible for business district status, a second phase would include preparation and adoption of a business district master plan at an additional cost of $11,000. The work will begin immediately and take two or three months to complete, according to Halik. Harry Gamble is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. A former real estate agent who was convicted of taking almost $150,000 from his business accounts was ordered Tuesday repay the money and serve 120 days in the DuPage County jail. Harry G. Simons, 49, of Willowbrook, had been found guilty in November of taking earnest money that homebuyers and sellers had deposited with his Burr Ridge realty firm. Advertisement Simons told Judge Robert Miller that he used the money to prop up his ailing business. "I regret everything I did wrong, and I want to be a better person," Simons told the judge. Advertisement Miller noted that it did not appear that Simons gained any personal benefit from the thefts, which took place over a two-year period between 2012 and 2014. But Simons, the judge said, made a stupid bet that he could recoup his business losses if his agency's finances rebounded. "He's been described as not stupid, but really he was when it came to business and real estate," the judge said. Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak asked the judge to give Simons six years in prison for what she described a series of felony thefts. Records indicate that Simons took money from the escrow account 68 times, the prosecutor said. "He was a bad businessman, but that didn't give him a license to steal," Michalak argued. Defense attorney John Paul Carroll said Simons lacked the strength to admit his business had failed and simply shut it down. "I don't think sending this man, a broken man, to prison is going to help society," Carroll argued. The judge ordered Simons to get a job and begin paying $300 per month in restitution at the completion of his jail sentence. Miller also placed Simons on 48 months of probation. Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. An overflow crowd filled the Village Hall during a Tinley Park Plan Commission meeting last week, where a vote on a controversial apartment development was tabled. (JOHN SMIERCIAK / Daily Southtown) Tinley Park trustees on Tuesday will begin discussions aimed at overhauling development codes tailored to the downtown business district that were meant to encourage development, but have handcuffed the Village Board in considering a controversial apartment project. They'll also talk about a possible moratorium on construction in the Legacy District, which takes in much of the Oak Park Avenue business area as well as the site for the planned The Reserve development at the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue. Advertisement No final votes can be taken at the committee of the whole meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in the Fulton Conference Room at Village Hall. The village's Plan Commission last week delayed taking a vote on giving final approval to plans for the 47-unit building, which would be marketed to low- and moderate-income renters. The proposal brought hundreds of residents to the Plan Commission and Village Board meetings last week, with many of them arguing that the village already has a sufficient amount of affordable housing. Advertisement Residents were also upset that the project and the review process for it were not well publicized, and trustees at Tuesday's session are also expected to discuss ways of improving the public communication process. The village did post information about The Reserve on its website late last month, after the Plan Commission gave tentative approval to the project. Building and development codes for the downtown Legacy District were designed to streamline the review process for projects in hopes of spurring development, but in the case of the apartment project, the Village Board had no say in the matter, prompting some trustees to call for a review and revision of the codes. Also at Tuesday's meeting, trustees will discuss bringing in an outside consultant to help in the review of the codes, and Mayor Dave Seaman named a four-person group of residents Matt Coughlin, Trenton Ridgway, Charlie Smith and Roxane DeVos Tyssen to be involved in the process as well. mnolan@tribpub.com More about people boycotting the Academy Awards due to lack of diversity in the nominees: If you don't get recognized for what you do, that's why God says, "You live with yourself." From a garbage collector to a policeman to a doctor, it doesn't matter. If you did the best you can, that's fine. You accomplished something. I raised four kids. Nobody gave me a medal for that. They didn't put me on a stage. Wow, big deal. It's my life. What you achieve, you achieve on your own, not what some people give you because of what you are. Be happy with that and comforted that you accomplished something that somebody else didn't. That's all the recognition you need. When someone gets shot, the first thing they say is: "This guy's a known gang member." That means we know who the gangs are, who the leaders are and who supports them. Yet, nothing's done. I wish they'd take the handcuffs off the cops and let them do their job. Some people are liable to be hurt but, in most cases, they should be hurt bad because they have no problem hurting others. Justice is getting twisted. The bad guys have more rights than the good people. It doesn't make sense. I'm an old man. I've seen too many things in this metropolitan area. What's happening is malarkey. There's no respect for anybody or anything. That's the start of disaster. Advertisement Tom, Oak Lawn Gov. Bruce Rauner needs to be recalled. He is messing up the State of Illinois. Look at the debacle he is making with the Chicago Public Schools. He needs to step down. We don't need Rauner. Advertisement Joan All President Obama's federal regulations have been burdensome to our economy, and none of his policies have helped. By not closing the borders and letting anyone enter this country, and sending thousands to the sanctuary city of Chicago, with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's blessing, Obama has hurt poor minorities' chances for employment by at least 50 percent. He doesn't seem to care, so keep voting Democratic, Chicago. It's done you good so far, or has it? Orland Park I'm so tired of media personalities, especially in radio, reading ads and touting products they use every day, sleep on, drive, have at their houses, etc., when you know they either paid nothing for them, or not nearly full price. It's one thing to mention something, but the repeated promotions are phony and tiresome. Give more credit to your audience. Tinley Park Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > With all of the traffic at 115th St. and Pulaski Road, why there are no arrows in any direction. With the high school right down the street, sometimes one has to wait for several lights to make a turn. I feel that this is an important issue for Alsip to look into or Chicago, whoever is the responsible party. It is a nightmare trying to turn there, either during school hours or later when people are coming home from work. Can something be done to rectify this dangerous corner? Patti, Blue Island A Speak Out commenter said President Obama must be hiding something because he hasn't shown his high school, college and law school transcripts. None of the first 43 presidents of the United States, who were white males, were ever required to show such details of their academic accomplishments. But the first minority president of the United States, an African-American, must show his academic records to prove he's not a fraud? This is nothing more than blatant racism, especially since people aren't insisting that Donald Trump and all the other white candidates show academic transcripts to justify their qualifications to run for president. Advertisement Del, Olympia Fields Some Catholic churches closing. A mosque opening. Stock market crashing. State of Illinois and Chicago totally broke. Many folks with almost no money saved for retirement. Students with billions in college debt. Poor get poorer. Rich get richer. Middle class fights to survive. We don't need the plaque on the Statue of Liberty any more that says, "Bring us your poor and wretched." They're here already. What's Speak Out? Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown. Christopher Burke and Luke Sherry of Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. spoke to Elmhurst Public Works Committee members Monday about stormwater issues around York Commons Park. (Graydon Megan / Pioneer Press) Elmhurst aldermen on the Public Works Committee began consideration Monday of an agreement with the Elmhurst Park District for a flood mitigation project at Golden Meadows Park. That discussion of a draft intergovernmental agreement began even though city officials are still wrangling with the park district over a plan for temporary stormwater detention on York Commons Park. Advertisement The plan is stalled over a demand by the park district for a shut-off valve district officials are convinced is needed to protect people downstream from the consequences of a 500-year storm event overflowing from the proposed detention site on the west side of York Commons. Elmhurst aldermen disagree, voting unanimously to strip the valve requirement out of an intergovernmental agreement with the park district for the York Commons site, with at least one alderman, Patrick Wagner, calling the requirement "ridiculous." Advertisement The proposed detention basin on the west side of York Commons Park is intended to provide flood relief for 38 homes on Crescent Avenue and Cambridge Avenue north of the park. The project, expected to cost an estimated $1.9 million, will carry stormwater from Crescent to the basin through a 48-inch pipe and provide 10 acre-feet of stormwater storage. The proposed valve would be stop flow in the pipe once the basin is full. Without the valve, park district officials won't sign the intergovernmental agreement needed to begin the project, so Mayor Steve Morley has asked aldermen to reconsider the matter at their next City Council meeting Feb. 16. It is not clear what aldermen will do then, but it is clear that the city's engineering consultant, Christopher Burke of Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. thinks that the valve is unnecessary and in fact could introduce a mechanical gremlin into the York Commons detention system. "In a 500-year event, water's coming from everywhere," Burke told committee members, staff two park district representatives and a handful of residents this week. Burke showed what he called an "inundation map" that showed in a 500-year event water would cover York Street and the mouth of Cayuga Avenue at York, as well as areas to the south and west of the park. Burke said in a 100-year storm event, which he defined as 7.58 inches in 24 hours, the detention system would meet DuPage County requirements for no downstream impact. Burke acknowledged that in a 500-year event 6 inches in two hours, 10 inches in 24 hours there could be some downstream impact. But he called that a new standard, one which could be met by digging a portion of the York site about a foot deeper. That would be preferable to, and cheaper than, installing a valve. Burke said inclusion of a valve would introduce issues of failure of the valve and related sensors and questions over whether and when the valve did or not operate properly. Advertisement Like the York Commons plan, the Golden Meadows plan is designed to protect some nearby homes from a 100-year storm event. The site on the west side of Golden Meadows would provide 14 acre-feet of temporary stormwater storage, enough to protect 20 homes on Pine Street, Avon Road and East Court. But unlike York Commons, the Golden Meadows plan calls for the city to buy the land from the park district. A number of details on price and procedure and work with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources remain to be worked out at the next committee meeting Feb. 22. Kennedy said there is one other significant difference. "There is nothing in the [draft] IGA that speaks about a shut-off valve." Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. For years, New York independent producer and casting director Laura Stanczyk has been an out-of-state, behind-the-scenes collaborator at Oakbrook Terrace's Drury Lane Theatre. Seen a show at the suburban venue that featured talent from New York? Odds are, Stanczyk had a hand in putting that talent on stage. Now Stanczyk is taking on a more conspicuous role at Drury Lane as the newly named Director of New Works. The consulting position announces Drury Lane's desire to develop a reputation for producing new musicals and pre-Broadway tryouts as well as revivals such as "Oliver" and "Camelot." "It's easier to sell tickets to 'Hello Dolly' or 'White Christmas.' But I think Drury Lane audiences have a hunger for more than revivals," says Drury Lane Executive Director Kyle DeSantis, "And producing new shows, this is something I've wanted to do since I started (as Executive Director) eight years ago." Advertisement For the last 20 years or so, Broadway in Chicago has had the lock on pre-Broadway tryouts, giving Chicago area audiences their first look at shows including "The Producers", "The First Wives Club," "Aida," "Gotta Dance" and "On Your Feet." It remains to be seen whether Drury Lane can compete with the behemoth organization when it comes to landing the next "Producers." But In some ways, Drury Lane has slowly but surely already begun building a reputation as a nurturer of new shows. Stanczyk was instrumental in bringing last year's "Beaches" to the theater. Billed as a new musical, the weeper inspired by Iris Rainer Dart's 1985 novel and the 1988-film that followed wasn't a true premiere. The show debuted in 2014 at the Signature Theatre in Virginia. Critics weren't impressed on the whole with the Virginia show, and the version that opened in Oakbrook Terrace was substantially different. So far, there are no public plans to take "Beaches" elsewhere. Advertisement When "Hazel" opens in April, it will be a bona fide world premiere. The show based on the spirited maid in Ted Key's beloved Saturday Evening Post comic strip came to the Drury Lane's attention via Stanczyk, who saw an early reading of the Lissa Levin (book), Ron Abel (music) and Chuck Steffan (lyrics) in New York. The production will be directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"), who Stanczyk touts as a star-in-the-making. "I think of 'Hazel' as 'Matilda' meets 'Jersey Boys,'" Stanczyk says. "It's the kind of big, bold beautiful new show that I see Drury Lane doing more and more of." Stanczyk started working with Drury Lane in 2010, when she helped cast "Funny Girl" with New Yorker Sara Sheperd in the title role. Stanczyk has been spearheading the theater's New York casting since. Why look east when the talent pool in Chicago is so deep? "The problem we run into is that Chicago actors are so crazy talented, they're already booked lots of times when we want them. That's when we start looking at New York," Stanczyk says. Stanczyk will remain based in New York, where she estimates she sees around 100 or so readings and backers' auditions of new shows over the course of the year. Logistically, that's something DeSantis just can't swing. "We do seven shows a year at the Drury Lane," he says. "We're always either auditioning or in tech or getting ready to open. I need someone on the ground in New York who can wade through all the new works coming down the pipeline and help find those that would be a good fit here." That fit depends on many factors, Stanczyk says. "I'm always looking for a solid structure. A good story. Obviously a score that's fantastic, tuneful and not aggressively artsy. And a spark. Something that leaps out at me." A Detroit native, Stanczyk trained at New York University and started her show biz career as an aspiring actor before switching to casting. Her Broadway casting credits are eclectic: "Lombardi," "Follies" and "Sideshow" are among the shows she's had a hand in. For several years, she's been dabbling in producing, primarily working on 2014's staging of the new musical "Bull Durham" at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. Her belief in Drury Lane as a tryout powerhouse is palpable. "I remember one of the first shows I saw here, 'Sweeney Todd'," she says of the 2011 staging helmed by Rachel Rockwell. "That was the best 'Sweeney' I've ever seen. I remember thinking right then, this is a theater that could handle new works, that could do far more than revivals." Advertisement "Hazel" will be the first true test of that belief. "I want to continue to push for bringing the most creative people in the industry to our space," says DeSantis. "I want us to be a hub for new works, doing one a season. More than anything, I want to keep our audiences happy and looking forward to whatever it is we're doing next. I've got four or five possible new works that I'm looking at right now. With Laura on board, hopefully you'll be hearing more about them eventually." An overwhelming majority of respondents to a recent Glencoe survey gave the village high marks as a place to live and raise children, though many indicated they would like to see a more lively downtown. Some 608 people took part in the survey, conducted in October and November, on how the village government is meeting the needs of its citizens. Ninety-nine percent of respondents said Glencoe is an excellent or good place to live, while 98 percent said the village is an excellent or good place to raise children. Advertisement "We as a board better not mess up and get that changed," Village President Larry Levin quipped as the results were discussed at the Feb. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting. The $18,150 survey was conducted by ETC Institute, a Kansas City, Kan.-based market research firm. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they were at least 45 years old. Advertisement Storm water management, crime prevention and the vibrancy of downtown were mentioned by nearly all respondents as priorities facing the village, but an ETC official said there isn't a single overriding issue facing Glencoe. "There really isn't any one or two categories that really stands out as by far the top priority," said Jason Morado, an ETC project manager. "That means there is not any one area that is a serious problem or concern." Overall, 71 percent of respondents said they received excellent or good value for their tax dollars, while 92 percent said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of village services. Assistant Village Manager Sharon Tanner said the high satisfaction rates in the survey show the village's investment in community services is paying off, but there is still room for improvement. "Our focus is going to be, how we are going to go from good to great, or great to exceptional in some areas," she said. Meanwhile, 66 percent of respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with street lighting. But 16 percent said they were dissatisfied the highest percentage of respondents indicating dissatisfaction on a question about maintenance in the village. "That tells us to take a deeper dive and learn more what residents would like for street lighting, and if there are opportunities to improve satisfaction in that area," Tanner said. The 7-page survey, which was mailed to residents, also addressed how quickly village personnel responded to questions. While over 75 percent of respondents indicated they got an answer to their question from the first person they talked to, Village Manager Phil Kiraly said he was concerned about the 14 percent of respondents who said they did not. Advertisement "It wasn't a very high number, but it was a high enough number that it flags to staff (that) we have some work to do, so that every person who is answering the phone is able to answer especially relatively straightforward questions," he said. Despite the positive feedback in the survey, Kiraly cautioned that the village's financial situation could be affected by action in Springfield and other economic factors. "It scares me because we have some challenges ahead of us that are going to make sustaining some of these levels of service difficult," he said. Also at the Feb. 4 meeting, trustees unanimously approved a fiscal year 2017 budget that carries nearly $30 million in expenditures and just over $26.6 million in revenue. Village staff said the difference between the two comes from the bond sale last year for storm sewer improvements and a one-time expense to enhance the public safety radio emergency radio network. Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press The Glenview Village Board voted unanimously Feb. 2 to discontinue the village's electric aggregation program, which once offered considerable savings to participating residents, and return their electric service to ComEd after their May billing cycles. (File / Pioneer Press) Citing a projected lack of savings for residents, Glenview has decided to scrap its electric-power aggregation program effective this June. The Village Board voted unanimously on Feb. 2 to discontinue the program, which once offered considerable savings to participating residents, and return their electric service to ComEd after their May billing cycles. Advertisement Glenview joined the Lakeshore Power Alliance, a consortium of four North Shore communities that contracted with MC Squared Energy Services of Chicago to offer lower electric rates to residents, in 2012. The village chose to leave because ComEd has since acquired greater flexibility to buy power and lower its rates to levels no longer guaranteed through an aggregation program with an alternate supplier, said Sarah Kuechler, assistant to the village manager. Advertisement "The board decided if it can't guarantee or at least reliably have savings, they're not going to continue with the program," Kuechler said. LPA officials and a consultant hired by the consortium reviewed current market data and recent requests for proposals by other agencies to project prices for the coming year, she said. "They're just not going to guarantee any savings," Kuechler said. In fact, with a half-cent-a-month flux in ComEd prices recently, the utility's prices have sometimes been lower than MC Square's rates, she said. The board's vote will effectively return Glenview residents to ComEd, unless they enter into a separate contract with MC Squared or another alternate supplier, Kuechler said. Village residents have three choices, she said in a report to the board: -- Take no action and return their accounts to ComEd's default rate after their May meter readings. -- Enter into their own contracts with MC Squared or another certified alternate supplier before the May meter readings. Advertisement -- Immediately return to ComEd by contacting the utility or MC Squared. No fees will be charged for leaving the aggregation program early, Kuechler said. Residents may enter into a contract with an alternate supplier at any time, unless they return to ComEd's default service first, she said. In that case, they must wait six months if they want to return to MC Squared, Kuechler said. The LPA includes Glenview, Northfield, Kenilworth and Wilmette, she said. Northfield and Kenilworth have already voted to discontinue the program, and Wilmette was expected to end its participation on Feb. 9, Kuechler said. None of the members are repealing the ordinances that created the consortium, but they are choosing to discontinue its operation, she said. "We're not officially dissolved, but we would all be discontinuing the program," Kuechler explained. "If circumstances changed in the future, we could restart it. But we don't expect that to happen." Advertisement Glenview residents who switched to MC Squared in 2012 have saved about $326 per household, compared to ComEd's default rate, Kuechler said in January. Overall, community-wide savings have reached about $4.3 million, she said. However, the savings have diminished gradually over each of the last three years, with ComEd and MC Squared rates becoming essentially the same during the fourth year of the program, Kuechler said. Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Deerfield High School Principal Christopher Dignam has been named the next superintendent of Township High School District 113 in a vote the school board hopes will bring closure to controversies involving the district's leadership. "This has really been a two-year process and the district has had a lot of upheaval," said Annette Lidawer, president of the Township High School District 113 school board, on Monday. Advertisement Dignam's appointment to the top job comes less than a year since he joined the school system after serving as principal of Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago. The school board Monday approved a three-year employment contract at a base salary of $205,000. He'll move into the superintendent's job June 28. He already holds credentials to serve as a school superintendent in Illinois. The district will immediately begin searching for Dignam's successor as principal of Deerfield High School. Advertisement Prior to joining District 113, Dignam served five years as assistant principal, and three years as principal of Lane Tech, a selective-enrollment magnet school within the Chicago Public School system. "Dr. Dignam has already had such a positive impact on Deerfield High School," Lidawer said in a news release. "We are confident that in his new role, he will infuse the entire district with cutting-edge programming and innovative ideas that benefit all of our students." In mid-2014, the school board voted to part ways with Superintendent George Fornero at the end of the 2014-15 school year in response to a firestorm that exposed widespread distrust in the central office administration. The ensuing search for a schools' chief led to the selection of a California superintendent who became embroiled in controversy, and asked to be released from her three-year contract four months before her starting date. Daryl Herrick, a retired Wisconsin school superintendent, has been serving as interim superintendent for the 2015-16 year. For the current search, the school board used BWP Associates, an executive search firm, to recruit and screen applicants. According to Lidawer, the firm received 30 completed applications for the advertised position and narrowed the field to six candidates who were interviewed by the school board. Three semi-finalists were interviewed a second time by the school board. They also appeared before several dozen people with some stake in the school system. The 39 interviewers were split into three; mixed groups that included teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, community members and students. Lidawer said the school board was impressed with Dignam's depth of knowledge, his hands-on approach to education and his commitment to putting students first. "We have also been fortunate enough to witness firsthand his inclusive, collaborative and interactive approach towards leadership in his role as principal of Deerfield High School," she said in the news release. Advertisement In a statement, Dignam said, "I look forward to leading with a servant's heart to ensure the academic, social and emotional success of all students, and I will focus on increased transparency in decision-making to provide opportunities for stakeholders to contributeto the future success of District 113." Dignam and his wife plan to move into the District 113 community by the time their daughters, now in seventh grade, are ready to enroll in high school. kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @KarenABerkowitz Only two empty houses stand on the corner of 55th and County Line Road, where the Sedgwick of Hinsdale development was supposed to be built about eight years ago. (Kimberly Fornek / Pioneer Press) An unnamed developer may be coming forward with a plan to build empty-nester housing at 55th Street and County Line Road. The Village Board invited residents to share their opinions about what should be built on the southeast corner of the intersection, where the Sedgwick of Hinsdale development was started, but never built out. Advertisement The unanimous opinion of those who replied is the village needs homes for older residents who are ready to downsize. Cathy Walsh, a broker with Brush Hill Realtors and a longtime resident, said empty-nesters in Hinsdale who want to downsize have nowhere to go but out. They move to Oak Brook, Burr Ridge, La Grange and Downers Grove. Advertisement "We are losing a very essential group of people," Walsh said. Village President Thomas Cauley, Jr. said village officials had very preliminary discussions with a developer about the possibility of building about 50 homes on the site. He would not name the developer, but said it was someone other than the property owner. After hearing from a handful of people at a Feb. 2 meeting about potential development of the property and receiving 44 emails, all in favor of empty-nester housing, Cauley said the village will invite the developer to come forward publicly with a project. If the Village Board gets the sense from the community that the proposal is worth pursuing, it will be referred to the Plan Commission, where the number and type of homes, the zoning, and the traffic will be discussed in detail, he said. Two points came up repeatedly in the emails the village received, Cauley said. One was the idea the property at 55th and County Line could be used as the site for a new Hinsdale Middle School and the existing school site could used for senior housing. Located right in Hinsdale's downtown, the school property would be close to restaurants, shopping and the train station, people wrote. Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 Board President Mridu Garg said district officials explored that idea and other sites in 2014 when they were considering all options to solve the problems at the middle school. After talking to an owner of the Sedgwick site, the district superintendent reported he was willing to sell the property to the school district, but not trade sites, Garg said. She said the price of the property, the cost of installing additional infrastructure, and other factors caused the district to look for a different solution. Cauley said the other issue residents raised was the price of the new homes. The developer talked about building homes that would cost $1 million. But the average price of a house in Hinsdale is between $700,000 and $900,000, Cauley said. People questioned why homes targeted at empty nesters should cost more than the average sales price, Cauley said. The higher the price point the fewer the homes the developer would need to make a profit. If the homes have a lower selling point, the developer likely would want more units and/or smaller lots, Cauley said. Advertisement Walsh, the Brush Hill real estate agent, would like homes built in a range of prices at 55th and County Line Road, she said, "so people have a choice." Sedgwick was to have 36 single-family homes on 20,000 square foot lots. When sales lagged, Edward R. James Partners in 2008 asked to build 61 homes on smaller lots, including 15 duplexes. But 2,000 residents signed petitions against the idea and the Village Board did not approve the change. kfornek@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @kfdoings Events and programs for the whole family are being held at libraries across Lake County. Warren-Newport Public Library Advertisement 224 N. O'Plaine Road, Gurnee 847-244-5150 Advertisement Superheroes: Learn how superheroes have shaped public opinion and influenced American politics during a program titled "Superheroes and Patriots: Comic Propaganda Unveiled" at 10 a.m. Saturday. The program is co-sponsored by the Waukegan Branch of the AAUW and Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar Program. Registration required. Lake Bluff Public Library 123 E. Scranton Ave. 847-234-2540 Needlepoint: Join Candice Engelhard, owner of The Forest Needle in Lake Forest, as she shares her knowledge of threads, needles, canvases and other supplies to consider before beginning a needlepoint project at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Completed projects will be on display. Registration requested. Cooking: Get creative in the kitchen at 1 p.m. Friday. Spice Merchants, a local merchant, will help attendees create a warm and cozy dish for a chilly day. Spice Merchants will provide free samples of the spices needed to complete the dishes. Registration requested. Vernon Area Public Library 300 Olde Half Day Road, Lincolnshire Advertisement 847- 634-3650 Math magicians: Participants explore math concepts through books, games and a craft at 11 a.m. Friday. For ages 3-6 with an adult. Registration required. Story time: The whole family is invited to the new "weekend blend" story time that combines all of the library's weekday story time offerings, plus coffee and donuts, at 10 a.m. Saturday. For ages birth through 5 with a caregiver. Siblings welcome. Tech talk: Examine the pros and cons of different types of contactless mobile payments at 1 p.m. Saturday. Registration recommended. North Chicago Public Library 2100 Argonne Drive Advertisement 847-689-0125 Author visit: TJ Morris, author of "Blood is Thicker Than Color," will discuss her book at 1 p.m. Saturday. Waukegan Public Library 128 N. County St. 847-623-2041 "Fahrenheit 451" workshop: Children will participate in hands-on experiments to learn about the science behind the title in this workshop at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Registration required. Advertisement Jazz and sweets: The West End Jazz Band will perform favorites and standards at this noon concert, with the Friends of the Library selling cookies and other goodies to benefit the library on Friday. Registration required. Zion-Benton Public Library 2400 Gabriel Ave. 847-872-4680 African drumming: Enjoy an interactive storytelling performance using drums and percussion at 1 p.m. Saturday. Through music, learn about the people and culture of West Africa's Guinea. Families and people of all ages are invited. AARP tax aide: Volunteers will help with taxes on Wednesdays, by appointment only. Advertisement Tax forms: Staff will help you find and print forms online (the first 10 pages are free). They will also mail forms to residents, free of charge. Call the Adult Services desk with your name, address, type of form, and form number. Twitter @newssun Ryan London is the project manager for the restoration project at the McCormick Ravine in Lake Forest. (Brian O'Mahoney / Pioneer Press) A recent walk through McCormick Ravine in Lake Forest reveals trees with an orange X spray-painted on the trunk, signifying they are to be cut down. In other places are stumps with pink herbicide slathered on to prevent the roots from re-growing. It's quiet except for the occasional sound of a chain saw in the distance. "One of the ironies of McCormick Ravine [is that] it's probably the finest example of a Lake Shore ravine in northeast Illinois," said John Sentell, president of Lake Forest Open Lands Association. "It is beautiful because it has been ignored. The irony is the fact that being disregarded and misunderstood has hurt it as well." Advertisement McCormick Ravine is ecologically unique, said Ryan London, a restoration ecologist and land protection specialist who works for LFOLA. London is overseeing a $3.5 million project to restore McCormick Ravine. "Because of the topography and moderation of Lake Michigan on the climate there, it's a little bit cooler and moister," said London. "You get species that couldn't normally survive with our regional climate." Advertisement The role of the LFOLA for the last 20 years or so has largely been to monitor rare plant species, London said, and to conduct studies of water quality, reptiles and amphibians in the area. Chuck Myers, superintendent of parks and forestry for Lake Forest, said that more than five years ago, the city started working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a restoration project. Federal funding became available about three years ago. The federal government will pay 65 percent of the cost and LFOLA 35 percent, Sentell said. As part of a land swap with the city, LFOLA will own the land when the restoration is completed in approximately five years. Work started this January. The bulk of it removing large trees, replacing storm sewer pipes, replacing the dam with stone step pools and structures to slow down water will take place in 2016, Sentell said. Over the following three or four years, he said, replacement trees will be planted, trails installed or repaired, a bridge replaced and other projects tackled in turn. A summer camp operated by the city will not be held this summer, said Myers, although he added it will resume in the summer of 2017. The McCormick Ravine restoration is part of a larger project called the Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Program that is under the auspices of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. To the south, the Lake County Forest Preserves oversee restoration of another area and Openlands, a nonprofit in Chicago, a third area There are other ravine projects in Lake Forest. Advertisement Resident Roger Deromedi recently restored the Mayflower Ravine, according to city documents, and the city of Lake Forest is waiting on permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin a restoration of the ravines around Lake Forest Cemetery, Myers said. The permit will probably take six months to one year, Myers said. The project at the McCormick Ravine is important for a variety of reasons, experts said. Among the more unusual species in the 61-acre woods and ravine are the common juniper which turns out to be not so common, London said huckleberry, paper birch trees, dog's tooth violets and partridge berry as well as rare grasses, mosses and mushrooms. London said the ravine also plays host to invasive species either brought over intentionally during European settlement for medicinal or culinary purposes or those that arrived in water, cargo or dirt used as ballast in shipping vessels. Among those are the black locust, box elder, Norway maple, garlic mustard, gout weed and cutleaf teasel, he said. The restoration hopes to correct many issues, including that storm sewer pipes at the bottom of the ravine have broken down and are no longer pleasing to look at. About three feet of soil has covered a concrete dam near the mouth of the ravine, London said, and there are ash trees infested by the invasive emerald ash borer beetle. Advertisement He also said the woods are overgrown and prevent sunlight from reaching many plants, though he acknowledges it may be hard to see the problem in the winter, with branches bared of leaves. He said the overgrowth is connected to erosion what London calls "slumps" that has occurred in spots along the walls of the ravine. "Slumping occurs when there is too much shade," London said."Trees are fairly poor stabilizers of the soil. When sunlight reaches the ground, you can have more vegetative species that are better slope stabilizers." mlawton@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @reporterdude A Cook County judge dismissed an amended lawsuit gainst the village of Niles and the owners behind a proposed gun shop and range. (File photo) An amended lawsuit filed by a Skokie-based gun control advocacy group against the village of Niles and the owners behind a proposed gun shop and range was dismissed by a Cook County judge Tuesday afternoon. Circuit Court of Cook County Judge Franklin Ulyses Valderrama in a hearing at the Richard J. Daley Center granted motions to dismiss the suit filed by attorneys for Niles and 6143 Howard Partners, the company that plans to open a gun shop and range dubbed the Sportsman's Club and Firearms Training at 6143 Howard St., an area located within five miles of several schools. Advertisement 6143 Howard Partners was issued a building permit on Jan. 8, according to Hayley Garard, communications coordinator for the village of Niles. Valderrama did not issue a written ruling on the case. He said his reasons for dismissing the amended suit did not differ substantially from those he already outlined in writing when he dismissed the group's original complaint last June. Advertisement Valderrama said he was swayed by arguments from the defendants' attorneys that the advocacy group behind the lawsuit, People for a Safer Society, did not have proper standing to file the complaint due to the fact that none of its members own any property adjoining or adjacent to the site of the proposed gun shop and range. Attorney for People for a Safer Society, Tony Hind, said the suit was dismissed with prejudice meaning that the group's only recourse would be file a appeal with the state appellate court. "My client does plan to appeal," he said. Denyse Stoneback, founder of People for a Safer Society, expressed her disappointment at the judge's ruling following Tuesday's hearing. She confirmed that the group plans to appeal the decision. "I'm a resident of Niles and I don't want this in my town," said People for a Safer Society member, Ticia Ashcroft, who attended Tuesday's hearing. "It's disgusting." In response to the ruling, Hind said "there's always room for disagreement when you have a case like this." He described the case as "nuanced" and said he believed the group stood a good chance of convincing the appellate judges of the validity of their suit. People for a Safer Society filed an initial lawsuit against the village in October 2014 that sought to annul a special-use permit for the gun shop and range in addition to barring any other gun-related business from opening up shop at the site. The Niles Village Board approved a special-use permit for the business in July 2014, and the board voted again last summer to extend the permit by an additional six months. Advertisement After the suit was dismissed, the advocacy group filed an amended complaint last July naming the owners behind the gun shop and range as a defendant in the case alongside the village. An attorney for 6143 Howard Partners, Jim Argionis, argued during a hearing on the case last month that the group sought "unconstitutional relief" by asking the judge to bar any gun-related business from the site. He said the group did not have the proper standing to sue given that none owned any adjoining property, and that the harms alleged in the complaint were "hypothetical and potential." Mike Connelly, an attorney for the village, told Valderrama last month that the amended lawsuit was nearly "the same complaint" the judge dismissed last summer. The basic tenet of the group's case, Hind said following Tuesday's hearing, was that they believed it was wrong to "drop a gun shop in a place surrounded by a bunch of schools." People for a Safer Society previously urged the village of Skokie to sign onto the lawsuit as an additional plaintiff. Village leaders cited several reasons why they would not get involved in suit, including the potential that their involvement in the case may undermine the village's own legal standing and position on home rule rights. Calls to both attorneys for the village of Niles and 6143 Howard Partners were not immediately returned. Advertisement Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Altercation leads to charges against Gary man Charges of battery by means of a deadly weapon, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and attempted residential entry have been filed against a Gary man. Advertisement Bobby Lee Johnson, 47, of the 5700 block of East 10th Avenue, was charged in Lake Superior Court in connection with an incident reported to police on Feb, 3 in the 1100 block of Hamilton Place, Gary. The victim told police that at about 7:25 p.m., Johnson knocked on his door. The man didn't want Johnson to come inside because they had had an altercation hours earlier, Johnson then broke the outer door window with an orange-clored pipe wrench and reached inside to unlock the door, court documents said. The man told police he went to the door to try to stop Johnson from entering when Johnson struck the man twice in the head with a pipe wrench, causing lacerations and extensive bleeding, a report said. The man was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary, where he received three staples in his head and a splint for a broken ring finger from the incident. Advertisement Two of the charges are Level 5 felonies, which are punishable by one to six years. Man found at truck stop arrested with paraphernalia A 26-year-old Lake Station man pleaded not guilty Monday in Gary City Court to a misdemeanor charge of possession of paraphernalia. Justin Bocart was found lying on the ground at Love's truck stop, in the 3100 block of Grant Street, about 11:15 p.m. Sunday, the arrest report states. He appeared to be "in and out of consciousness. Reserve officer Daniel Guttierrez found a syringe, a spoon and cotton in the man's pocket, court records state. He was treated at the Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus before being taken to the Gary police department, the report states. Court referee Itsia Rivera set Bocart's bail at $500 cash, prompting him to tell her, "I just got a job polishing trucks." She scheduled him to appear in drug court on Wednesday for an evaluation. Bocart asked Rivera what drug court was and she explained it was a program designed for people who have problems with drug abuse. "You apparently need it," she told him. Man accused of murder wants bond Advertisement A Gary man charged with murder in a December shooting is asking a judge to set bail in the case. Larry Dobby Colquitt III, 24, has a hearing scheduled for March 7 before Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas. The judge granted the motion seeking bail that was filed by defense attorney Scott King on behalf of Colquitt. Colquitt has pleaded not guilty in the death of Johnny Ware, 25, of Gary, who was found on Dec. 21 in the 1500 block of West 2nd Avenue, Gary. The day after the homicide, a 14-year-old contacted police and said he had information related to Ware's death. On the day of the killing, Colquitt had accused the teen of breaking into his car and stealing the sound system. The teen's mother told Colquitt her son denied involvement in the crime, the probable cause affidavit states. The teen called Colquitt and asked him to meet him at 4th Avenue and Johnson Street. Colquitt arrived in a black SUV holding a handgun, and Colquitt, his mother and Ware arrived in her car. Ware got out of the mother's car and produced his own handgun, documents said. The men exchanged words and Colquitt left. Later that day, the teen said he was assaulted by a man at 5th Avenue and Grant Street. Hudson Evans, 22, was charged with battery and carrying a handgun without a license in that incident. The teen then contacted Ware, who went to the Johnson Street area to confront Colquitt. As before, words were exchanged and guns displayed before everyone left. Advertisement Later that day, Ware was working on his car and came inside to take a break. He received a phone call and went outside, records state. Five minutes later, a witness told police there was gunfire. The witness saw a man wearing all black clothing standing over Ware and holding a gun, records state. The man got into a black SUV and left, the affidavit states. Chicago man arrested at casino Jerry Clark shook his head in denial Monday in Gary City Court as he heard details of the police report leading to his arrest at Majestic Star Casinos. Clark, 27, of Chicago, was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting law enforcement, criminal trespass and public intoxication. "I passed out, I was so hot. I asked for medical help, they didn't let me see a doctor," Clark told court referee Itsia Rivera. Indiana Gaming Commission agents assisted casino security at 3 a.m. Sunday when Clark refused to leave the gambling boat, the arrest report states. Agents described Clark as loud, smelling of alcohol and, eventually belligerent, court records state Advertisement Although Clark twice began walking toward the bus stop, he finally refused to go, saying he wanted to wait for his friends, police said. Once in custody, he beat his head against a padded wall in the commission office, the report states. Rivera set his trial for May 16 and his bail at $500 cash. Felony drug charges for Michigan City man, 50 A Michigan City man faces a misdemeanor charge of false informing and a felony cocaine charge after police said he tried to pass himself off as his brother during a traffic stop and jail officers found bags of suspected crack cocaine in his hat. Advertisement Deputies with the Porter County Sheriff's Department stopped Dwain Wyatt, 50, around 6:55 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 20 just east of Interstate 94 for possible speeding. Wyatt allegedly denied having any identification, then presented one with his name on it and said it was his brother before acknowledging it was him, a police report said. Advertisement In the police report, police said they found eight small bags that contained crack cocaine in a cigarette pack, and another on the driver's seat. Police said during Wyatt's intake at Porter County Jail, a jail officer removed Wyatt's hat and reportedly found three more bags allegedly containing crack cocaine, the report said. Wyatt also received a written warning for speeding and given verbal warnings for having an expired license and speeding. Hebron man found sleeping in someone else's truck: police A Hebron man faces misdemeanor charged of unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication after police said he was found sleeping in someone else's pickup truck at a local bar. Valparaiso police transported Neal Cleland, 22, of the 500 South block of County Road 500 West, to Porter County Jail and said he had a blood-alcohol content of .21 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent. Police were called shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday to the Franklin House, 58 S. Campbell St., and were informed before they arrived that Cleland had been denied service at the bar two hours before the police call because of his intoxication level and was allegedly attempting to get into numerous vehicles. A bar patron contacted one of the bar's employees because he found Cleland sleeping in his truck, a police report said. The employee tried to wake Cleland up but he wouldn't wake up, so he lifted him out of the car and stood him up. Advertisement The employee said once Cleland was on his feet, he allegedly started stumbling from vehicle to vehicle, pulling on door handles to get into one, according to the police report. The employee wanted to get Cleland a cab ride home but Cleland wouldn't answer any of his questions and, concerned Cleland would hurt himself, the employee called police. The car owner told police he found Cleland sleeping in the passenger seat of his truck, didn't know who he was, and never gave him permission to enter the vehicle, the report said. He told police he thought he locked the truck but the window was down a little bit so Cleland could have reached in and unlocked the door. The truck was not damaged. Police transported Cleland to Porter County Jail. Winnetka Caucus-endorsed trustee candidates, from left, Chris Rintz, Louise Holland and Penny Lanphier answered questions posed by moderator and Rotary Club of Northfield-Winnetka President John Thomas during a candidate forum hosted by the club at the Winnetka Community House. (Lee V. Gaines / Pioneer Press) Three Winnetka Caucus-endorsed candidates for village trustee expressed concerns at a recent candidates' forum about the One Winnetka development proposal currently making its way through the village's planning and review processes. The candidates were asked questions about the One Winnetka project, the Winnetka Caucus, stormwater issues and future redevelopment of a downtown site currently home to a U.S. post office at a luncheon forum hosted by the Rotary Club of Northfield-Winnetka on Feb. 4 at the Winnetka Community House. Advertisement Rotary Club President John Thomas, who moderated the forum, said the four questions asked of the candidates were developed by a task force. The rotary will also host a forum on Thursday at which the independent candidates running for the office of village trustee will be asked similar questions. Thomas, a Winnetka plan commission member, asked trustees their thoughts on the One Winnetka project either as initially proposed or as modified through the planning and review process. Advertisement The plan commission voted last fall to recommend approval of the multi-use planned development at Lincoln Avenue south of Elm Street. The village's design review board recently opted to defer making a recommendation on the massive project until its next meeting on Feb. 18. "The folks that voted for it had nine conditions and three modifications," Thomas said. "The two people voting against it flatly said, 'no, thanks.' I was one who said, if they meet all these conditions, yeah, go ahead." Village trustee candidate Louise Holland said that while "we all want something done on this parcel," she opted as a member of the village's plan commission to vote against recommending approval of the project due to the number of conditions and modifications. "To my way of thinking, when you have that number of conditions and modifications, you're not sending a proper message to the developer by voting yes," she said. "You must vote no to say, 'look, here's what we're concerned about, change it.'" Holland, a former village council member and president, said she specifically had concerns about the height of a proposed 70-foot-tall west building, which would stand adjacent to the 45-foot-tall 711 Oak Street building. "I think (the One Winnetka developer) has that sort of mindset that our zoning requirements are just a starting point for the conversation," said village trustee candidate Chris Rintz. Rintz, a former village trustee and candidate for village president said he works as an "infill town center developer." Rintz said the village's elected officials should "be looking out for the village's best interest" when considering the project in an effort "to make the best deal we can." Advertisement Penny Lanphier, a former village trustee and current trustee candidate, said she helped craft the village's 2020 comprehensive plan and said "there's been a strong thread of consistency through the first plan in 1921, and a lot has to do with the rhythm and scale of residential districts and downtown districts." She said it was incumbent upon the village's advisory boards "to do their homework, ask a lot of questions" and address the problems posed by the development proposal to determine whether or not the project is in the village's best interest. All three candidates praised the vetting process offered by the Winnetka Caucus when asked why they chose to seek or accept an endorsement from the organization rather than run as an independent candidate. "Without some sort of central clearing house for talent and agenda, it becomes a free-for-all in town as far as being able to run for political office," Rintz said. In response to another question from Thomas, all three candidates urged careful consideration of how the funds generated from stormwater fees are used in the future and similarly agreed with one another that cleaning up the downtown post office site in the short term was a good idea, but any large-scale redevelopment of the property should wait due to the fact that the village is still vetting the One Winnetka project proposal. Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for the Pioneer Press. By Allan Xu Manager, Business Advisory Services Dezan Shira & Associates, Shanghai When it comes to hiring and firing in China, foreign managers and investors should not hold preconceived ideas about the strictness of Chinas laws. Highly publicized cases of worker exploitation might give the impression that China unambiguously favor employers, but this is not so. In fact, Chinas laws for firing employees are considerably more rigid than those in the U.S. Firing senior managers is an especially complicated process in China that requires a thorough understanding of the countrys laws. Even before a decision to fire someone has been made, proactively preventing risks related to HR is important. If an employer wishes to terminate a contract of a senior manager, there are a set of specified reasons for them to be able to. These include, but are not limited to: The employee materially breaches the employers rules and regulations Gross negligence by the employee causes substantial damage to the employer The employee has criminal liability imposed against them These causes are stipulated in Article 39 of the PRCs Labor Contract Law. If the case is taken to labor arbitration and the employer is found to have wrongfully terminated the employee, the employee can either demand their old job back or demand compensation that is double the compensation rate of a normal, lawful, termination. RELATED: Payroll and Human Resource Services Accordingly, a company looking to fire senior management should expect to have to show strong evidence in support of their lawful decision to terminate. As part of this, the company should have a handbook of company regulations signed by all employees. The Company Stamp Chinese commercial law attaches high legal importance to the company stamp; its use is a necessity in many business operations. There have been cases where outgoing employees have taken the company seal to paralyze the company and effectively take it hostage. This is an extraordinarily difficult situation, especially if the perpetrator was once the companys official legal representative in China. If a company seal is lost or stolen, an announcement must be made as soon as possible in an official journal; this makes it possible to cancel the seal and register a new one. Companies should set up an internal application process for using the seal: staff members wishing to use it must submit a request to management, clearly stating their reasons for doing so. This article is an excerpt from the December issue of China Briefing Magazine, titled Labor Dispute Management in China . In this issue of China Briefing, we discuss how best to manage HR disputes in China. We begin by highlighting how Chinas labor arbitration process and its legal system in general widely differs from the West, and then detail the labor disputes that foreign entities are likely to encounter when restructuring their China business. We conclude with a special feature from Business Advisory Manager Allan Xu, who explains the risks and procedures for terminating senior management in China. Human Resources and Payroll in China 2015 This edition of Human Resources and Payroll in China, updated for 2015, provides a firm understanding of Chinas laws and regulations related to human resources and payroll management essential information for foreign investors looking to establish or already running a foreign-invested entity in China, local managers, and HR professionals needing to explain complex points of Chinas labor policies. How to Restructure an Underperforming Business in China In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we explore the options that are available to foreign firms looking to restructure or close their operations in China. We begin with an overview of what restructuring an unprofitable business in China might entail, and then take an in-depth look at the way in which a foreign company can go about the restructuring process. Finally, we highlight some of the key HR concerns associated with restructuring a China business. Employing Foreign Nationals in China In this issue of China Briefing, we have set out to produce a guide to employing foreign nationals in China, from the initial step of applying for work visas, to more advanced subjects such as determining IIT liability and optimizing employee income packages for tax efficiency. Lastly, recognizing that few foreigners immigrate to China on a permanent basis, we provide an overview of methods for remitting RMB abroad. A second survivor was rescued Monday mornign from under the debris of a collapsed residential building in southern Taiwan some 56 hours after a 6.7-magnitude quake struck. The man, identified as Li Tsung-tian, was conscious and talking to rescuers when descended from the toppled Wei Guan building in Yongkang District of Tainan City, which bore the brunt of the quake, via a crane. He was rushed to hospital for treatment but may have to undergo amputation, rescuers said. He is the second survivor found Monday morning, the first day of the Year of the Monkey according to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. Earlier in the morning, a woman surnamed Tsao was found shielded under the body of her husband and was pulled out alive by rescuers. She was conscious but in critical conditions. Rescuers are still scrambling through the wreckage to search for the rest of Tsao's family. The 6.7-magnitude quake hit Kaohsiung city at 3:57 a.m. Beijing Time on Saturday, just two days ahead of the traditional lunar New Year. Local monitoring authorities put the scale of the quake at 6.4-magnitude. At least 37 people have so far been confirmed dead in the quake, with over 100 people believed to be still buried under the rubble. Of those killed -- including at least 10 children -- 35 were found in the Wei Guan building, left on its side with twisted metal girders exposed. Taiwan is frequently rattled by earthquakes. Most cause little or no damage, although a 7.3-magnitude quake, the strongest to hit Taiwan in about 100 years left more than 2,000 people dead. Rescuers help an injured man out of a collapsed building in Tainan city February 6, 2016. [Photo by Wang Jinhe provided by China Times to China Daily] A 28-year-old Vietnamese woman was pulled from debris Monday in Tainan, after three, including an 8-year-old girl, were rescued. The woman surnamed Chen is aunt of the saved girl. Both were trapped on the fifth floor of the Wei Guan building toppled by the strong quake on Saturday. Chen, with consciousness and stable emotions, was immediately sent to hospital. Doctors said surgeries were not urgently needed as she had only bruises on her body and necrosis in small parts of her pelvises. Earlier in the day, a man named Li Tsung-tian was pulled out alive after being trapped for some 56 hours. He was sent to hospital for treatment but may have to undergo amputation for injuries on the left leg. Before that, rescuers saved a woman who was partly shielded by her dead husband, on the seventh floor of the Wei Guan building. So far, the 6.7-magnitude earthquake, which struck southern Taiwan two days ahead of the lunar new year, has killed at least 41 people, all but two in the collapse of the 16-storey residential complex. Rescuers are still scrambling through the wreckage to search for survivors. They have been able to confirm signs of life on the top floor of the building, and would begin rescue work after the Vietnamese woman was saved. More than 100 people are believed to be under the debris, and many are trapped at the bottom of the building. "It was a day of vain attempts," said a rescuer, who had joined the work since Saturday morning. He said the previous search had been slow as big machines were limited in use for avoiding additional damage to possible survivors. Dozens of family members of the missing gathered in a temporary media center set up in a furniture store near the toppled building, staring at the rubble with anxiety. Taiwan is frequently rattled by earthquakes. Most cause little or no damage, although a 7.3-magnitude quake in 1999, the strongest to hit Taiwan for about 100 years, left more than 2,000 people dead. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Sunday conveyed condolences to the victims in the strong earthquake. "We're deeply concerned about the disaster situation. We express deepest sympathies to Taiwan compatriots affected by the quake and convey condolences to victims," Xi said in a statement. "Compatriots across the Taiwan Strait are one family whose blood is thicker than water, and we would like to provide assistance in all aspects," Xi added. The Chinese mainland has offered help. While addressing a lunar new year gathering on Saturday morning, Premier Li Keqiang sent condolences to the victims. Many mainland netizens posted messages expressing sympathy for Taiwan compatriots who are affected by the quake. "Let's pray for our Taiwan compatriots," wrote netizen "Zuo'an Houniao." Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Kenya and Tanzanian security team have embarked in a joint operation to track down killers of a black rhino in the world's famous Maasai Mara. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Udoto said the move follows the discovery of a male rhino carcass with missing horns near Sand River barely 300 metres away the Kenya-Tanzania border by a Kenya Wildlife Service veterinary team conducting rhino ear-notching. "From the state of the carcass, the rhino is likely to have been killed on Friday and appeared to have come from the Serengeti side in Tanzania as indicated by the trail in the disturbed long grass," Uduto said in a statement released in Nairobi. He said the ear-notching for monitoring rhino movements is being jointly done by KWS, Narok County and Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa). According to Udoto, preliminary observations show that the rhino was "Temple" as identified by the Maasai Mara management. Its range covered both the Maasai Mara National Reserve and adjacent Serengeti National Park. The killed rhino is estimated to have been aged 15-20 years. "This occurrence in the Mara, the first this year across the country, is of great concern to KWS given the endangered status of the black rhino. Last year, Kenya lost 11 rhinos to poachers," Udoto said. He said a multi-pronged strategy is being enforced to ensure poaching of endangered species is kept to the minimum. "At the same time, the existing cross-border framework between Kenya and Tanzania will be used to bring the culprits to book," KWS spokesman added. The black rhinos were once found abundantly throughout sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of the Congo Basin. Poaching has by now limited their habitat to a patchy distribution from Cameroon in the west, to Kenya in the east and south to South Africa, and only a few years ago, it looked that wild black rhinos would disappear from Africa altogether. Kenya's black rhino population has increased from 381 since 1987 to a current estimate of 640, according to KWS. It is projected to rise significantly in the near future, especially with growing partnerships between government, communities and conservation organisations. Wildlife officials in Indian city of Bengaluru captured a leopard from a school after it mauled six people, locals and officials said on Monday. The wild cat entered the school premises early Sunday morning and remained unnoticed until it attacked an employee in the late afternoon. The school was closed for the weekly holiday. Authorities rushed a team of wildlife to capture the leopard following the attacks. The team had to struggle hard for nearly 10 hours and fire tranquiliser darts to control the wild animal. Footage captured on CCTV installed in the school showed leopard running amok, scaling school wall and attacking people including a forest officer, who was grappling with it. "The animal was taken to the Bannerghatta National Park," an official of the wildlife department told reporters. Officials said all the six people injured, including a cameraman of TV news channel, were treated at hospital and said to be in stable condition. Wildlife officials say leopards stray into residential areas usually in search of food. However, the human presence makes them insecure, following which they resort to attacking people. At times these creatures are attacked by scared villagers in retaliation which also proves fatal for them. There are strict laws in India against the killing of wild animals. Last year, a leopard found its head stuck in a metal pot while searching for food at a village in northern state of Rajasthan. Wildlife expert say mass urbanization, denudation of forests, encroachment of forestland, vanishing of buffer zones in the forests and extraction of medicinal plants are some of the reasons responsible for increasing conflict between humans and animals. Every year many people get killed or injured in the growing man-animal conflict across India. Flash The United States and South Korea have begun negotiations on the deployment of a missile defense system in response to the missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Pentagon said Monday. "The goal of the formal consultations is to bilaterally explore the feasibility of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) deploying to and operating on the Korean Peninsula at the earliest possible date," Peter Cook, spokesman for the Department of Defense, said at a press briefing. Cook stressed that the negotiations underscore the "ironclad" commitment of the United States to defend South Korea. On Sunday, South Korea's defense ministry said the country and the United States had agreed to launch an official negotiation on the deployment of THAAD on the Korean peninsula in response to nuclear test and missile launch by the DPRK. The DPRK said Sunday that it had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into orbit less than 10 minutes after liftoff at 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT), about a month after Pyongyang claimed it had successfully its first hydrogen bomb. China has expressed deep concerns over the decision by the U.S. and South Korea to launch an official negotiation on the deployment of THAAD. "China holds a consistent and clear stance on the anti-missile issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Sunday. "When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others' security interests." At the Pentagon, Cook said the THAAD system would be "focused solely" on the DPRK. The system will "contribute to a layered missile defense that would enhance the alliance's existing missile-defense capabilities against potential North Korean (DPRK) missile threats," Cook said. Flash Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that the Palestinians are holding dialogue with a number of countries to pressure for holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas told Israeli reporters at his office in Ramallah that "the term of the current United States Administration will come to its end soon without achieving anything concerning the peace process, therefore, we are calling for holding an international conference to rescue peace in the region." "The Palestinian side has earlier welcomed the French declaration for holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East in order to come up with an international mechanism to solve the Palestinian issue," Abbas told Israeli reporters. He also noted that the Palestinian side "is determined to go to the United Nations Security Council in order to work on stopping Israeli settlement which represents a serious threat to the principle of the two-state solution that is backed by the world and also to ask for a protection to the Palestinian people." "In spite of this, our hands are still extended to peace and we are working on achieving it throughout peace talks that lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital," said Abbas. He rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's philosophy that the Palestinians should recognize Israel and a Jewish state, adding "we had already recognized Israel as a state and we will continue recognizing it as the state of Israel." Abbas also noted that the Palestinians will keep being committed to the signed peace agreements and treaties "as long as the Israeli side is committed to it." The last direct peace negotiations, sponsored by the United States, had stopped in the spring of 2014 after it went on for nine months, due to deep differences on issues of security, borders, settlement and the recognition of the Palestinian state. Meanwhile, Abbas admitted to Israeli media representatives that he fully backs the Palestinian wave of peaceful protests against the occupation using all peaceful means, stressing that "the Israeli measures and policies are the major reason for the breakout of the Palestinian wave of protests." "Israel violated all the agreements signed between us and refused to abide by it, and at the same time, it gave a free hand to settlers to carry assaults on the defenseless Palestinian people and their Islamic and Christian holy sites. I tell you frankly, all this is fully rejected," Abbas told the Israeli journalists. Asked about the Israeli accusations of incitement, Abbas said "there is a trilateral Israeli, Palestinian, American committee to discuss this issue of incitement and we call on keeping this committee active, but the Israeli side rejected the idea and rejects having the Americans on the table." A wave of violent tension that broke out in the Palestinian territories between Israel and the Palestinians in early October had so far left 170 Palestinians and 30 Israelis killed. Chances of ending violence by resuming peace talks between the two sides are slim, according to observers. Flash U.S. President Barack Obama will ask the Congress for more than 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in emergency funding to help combat the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen believed to cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads, the White House said Monday. The proposal, set to be submitted to the Congress Tuesday as part of Obama's fiscal 2017 budget plan, would support strategies to curb the virus, such as rapidly expanding mosquito control programs; accelerating vaccine research and diagnostic development and enabling the testing and procurement of vaccines and diagnostics. The money would also help educate health care providers, pregnant women and their partners; improve epidemiology and expand laboratory and diagnostic testing capacity; improve health services and support for low-income pregnant women, and enhance the ability of Zika-affected countries to better combat mosquitoes and control transmission. "As spring and summer approach, bringing with them larger and more active mosquito populations, we must be fully prepared to mitigate and quickly address local transmission within the continental U.S., particularly in the southern United States," the White House said in a statement. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would receive 1.48 billion dollars, more than half of that for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to support readiness and response capacity, implement surveillance efforts, improve laboratory capacity for Zika testing and establish rapid response teams. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department would receive 376 million dollars in total to support affected countries' ability to control mosquitoes and the transmission of the virus. The Pan American Health Organization reported 26 countries and territories in the Americas with local Zika transmission. The U.S. CDC also reported 50 laboratory-confirmed cases among U.S. travelers from December 2015 to Feb. 5. In an interview aired Monday on "CBS This Morning", Obama urged the public not to panic. "The good news is this is not like Ebola, people don't die of Zika -- a lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it," Obama said. "What we now know though is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women or women who are thinking about getting pregnant." Zika, which usually causes mild illness, has been linked to about 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in infants in Brazil. U.S. CDC Director Tom Frieden told a teleconference Friday that such fetal harm was "new phenomenon" but "the association is looking stronger and stronger." Flash South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday had telephone calls with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe respectively to discuss tougher new sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on its long-range rocket launch. Park shared a view in her respective phone calls with Obama and Abe that the DPRK's recent rocket launch and nuclear test violated UN Security Council resolutions and represented a significant threat to the international society, according to Park's office. The three leaders agreed to rapidly adopt new UN Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang, involving strong and effective measures, sharing another view that the DPRK should pay a harsh price corresponding to its repeated provocations of significance. The phone calls came two days after the DPRK put an observation satellite into orbit aboard a long-range rocket. Pyongyang tested what it claimed was its first H-bomb on Jan. 6. The DPRK is banned under UN Security Council resolutions from testing a rocket by use of ballistic missile technology and from conducting a nuclear test. Park made phone calls with Obama and Abe, just a day after the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in early January, and had agreed to seek strong and comprehensive sanctions against the DPRK. Park received a phone call from the U.S. president at about 11:20 a.m. local time, making an in-depth discussions about the DPRK's nuclear test and ballistic missile launch, Park's office said. The two leaders agreed to push various bilateral and multilateral sanctions against Pyongyang, separately from new UN Security Council resolutions. About 30 minutes later, Park received a phone call from Abe, agreeing to cooperate in the adoption in UN Security Council of the strongest and the most effective sanctions toward the DPRK. Dear friends of the persecuted, Among the 17 countries that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended in 2015 as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), a designation for governments that engage or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom that are systematic, ongoing and egregious, five are from the Asia Pacific. And of the ten countries that are listed on USCIRFs Tier 2 watch list, five are located in the Asia Pacific. Several countries, including China, have been included on USCIRFs CPC recommendation list since the U.S. Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and created both USCIRF and the Office of International Religious Freedom at the State Department. Religious communities are under attack and suffering persecution in North Korea, China, Pakistan, and Burma, among numerous other countries throughout the Asia Pacific region, and thus require a collaborative and unified response to combat these human rights violations. In light of the global focus on addressing religious extremism and terrorism in the Middle East, including the atrocities carried out by ISIL/ISIS, China Aid is co-hosting the Asia Pacific Religious Freedom Forum (APRFF) from February 18-21. The forum aims to keep a light shined on religious freedom abuse in the Asia Pacific region and identify strategies and mechanisms to combat ongoing religious persecution. As you read this issue of China Aids newsletter, the Asia Pacific Religious Freedom Forum (APRFF) will already be underway in Taiwan, which, in contrast to the mainland, has been recognized as a regional model for protecting religious freedom and related human rights. APRFF delegates from Parliaments, non-governmental organizations, and religious communities representing various nations will be gathered together in Taiwan to declare to those persecuted for their faith in the Asia Pacific that their voices will not go unheard or unanswered. It is my prayer that those persecuted for their faith will hear the calls for justice, religious freedom and basic human rights that will emerge from the APRFF. Thank you for your continued prayers. Expose, Encourage China formally arrests human rights lawyers Seven months after authorities detained hundreds of human rights defense lawyers, other legal professionals and rights advocates, more than a dozen were formally arrested in mid-January. China Aid has closely followed the cases of lawyers Li Heping, Wang Yu, her husband Bao Longjun, and church elder Hu Shigen since they were taken into custody in the widespread crackdown on lawyers and advocates that began on July 9, 2015. Li Heping Wang Yu, a lawyer at Fengrui Law Firm, and her husband Bao Longjun, a human rights advocate and lawyer, were formally arrested on Jan. 13. Wang was charged with subversion of state power, which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, and Bao was charged with inciting subversion of state power, a lesser charge carrying a sentence of 5-15 years. Both are being held in Chinas northern Tianjin Municipality. On Jan. 14, Hu Shigen, the elder of a Beijing house church who was detained on July 10 in connection with the crackdown, was formally arrested and charged with subversion of state power, according to his family, who received a notice from the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau. China Aid then learned of the arrest of human rights lawyer Li Heping on Jan. 19 after Lis wife and lawyer went to the Tianjin Municipal Detention Center No. 1 to inquire about his whereabouts. Lis lawyer later learned from a police officer that Lis arrest was approved on Jan. 8; however, Lis wife did not receive the arrest notice until Jan. 20. Other notable detainees formally arrested for subversion of state power include: Li Chunfu, human rights lawyer and the brother of Li Heping; Zhou Shifeng, the director of Fengrui Law Firm; Wang Quanzhang, a Fengrui Law Firm lawyer; Li Shuyun, a Fengrui Law Firm lawyer; Liu Sixin, a Fengrui Law Firm administrative assistant; and Zhao Wei, assistant to Li Heping. Of the 19 individuals who have been formally arrested, 11 were charged with subversion of state power. China Aid exposes abuses, such as those experienced by the more than 315 Chinese citizens directly affected by the July crackdown, and encourages the abused by supporting their families in order to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China. Expose Church demolished, crosses removed Authorities manhandle a Christian protester. Authorities in the neighboring Chinese coastal Fujian and Zhejiang provinces conducted a church demolition and two cross removals on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, respectively. Videos sent to China Aid showed officials in Fuqing, Fujian, demolishing Yulin Furen Christian Church on Jan. 6 for failure to register with the local government. Previously, it was registered and approved, but not in recent years, an individual from the Fuqing Christian Association said. At this time, a real estate certificate is required for registration [in Fuqing] [Therefore], we cannot just go register, even if we want to do so. There are still many [churches] that have not registered. On Jan. 7, government personnel in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, forcibly demolished Nanhu Churchs and Wutian Dongzhuang Churchs crosses. Christians at both churches attempted to stop the officials, resulting in a scuffle and the detention of several church members. It is the sub-district and city management [officials] that united to demolish [the crosses], a Wenzhou police officer said when China Aid called to inquire about the incident. We only maintained order. China Aid exposes religious freedom abuses, such as those experienced in cases of forced demolitions, in order to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China. Expose Pastor arrested after opposing cross demos Pastor Gu Joseph Yuese Authorities in Chinas coastal Zhejiang province charged the chairman of the provincial Chinese Christian Council (CCC) with embezzlement and re-assigned all ministerial leadership under him to different churches following his dismissal from his position of senior pastor Chinas largest government-approved church in late January. Pastor Gu Joseph Yuese of Hangzhous Chongyi Church was forcibly removed from his position as senior pastor according to a Jan. 18 document released by the local TSPM and CCC because of his public opposition to the hundreds of forced cross demolitions throughout Zhejiang since early 2014. Gus family received an arrest notice on Jan. 28, stating that Gu was placed under residential surveillance in a designated location, a situation commonly known by experts as a black jail. Authorities also detained Gus wife, Zhou Lianmei, for a day and warned her not to leave the country. On Jan. 30, China Aid learned that Gu was charged with embezzling 10 million Yuan (U.S. $1.6 million) in funds. His arrest marks a major escalation in the crackdown against those who oppose the forced demolition of crosses, China Aids Bob Fu said. He will be the highest-ranking national church leader arrested since the Cultural Revolution. China Aid reports cases like Gus in order to expose religious freedom abuses 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 Christian Science Monitor By Robert Marquand February 5, 2016 US officials call for release of leading pastors detained in China. Pastor Li Guanzhong and his wife were detained Jan. 29, days after the head of Chinas biggest megachurch was sent to a black jail. Days after authorities plunked Chinas most prominent Protestant leader, Joseph Gu, into an isolated black jail, police in the same eastern coastal province of Zhejiang have detained another leading pastor who has been defying the Communist Party on religious grounds. Pastor Li Guanzhong and his wife were detained Jan. 29, according to members of his church, as part of what appears to be the toughest crackdown on civil society, including Christians, since Mao Zedongs Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. US State Department officials on Thursday called on China to release Pastor Gu and other church figures under detention, and to respect freedom of religion. The moves by Chinese authorities are seen as an escalation by the Party-state to subdue interest in Christianity as it becomes more widespread and popular in a rising power that has abandoned anti-capitalist Marxist ideology and is looking for spiritual values. Mr. Li has for three decades been a Protestant church leader in Zhejiang and chairs his official county Christian council. Members of Yayu Christian Church gathered in a hall during their turns to protect the rooftop cross from being demolished at the church in Yaxia village in eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province, July 16, 2014. Didi Tang/AP/File Last week authorities detained Gu, leader of Chinas largest evangelical church, Chongyi, in Hangzhou, originally founded in the 19th century. Gu, who styled his expansive modern church along the lines of US pastor Rick Warrens Saddleback megachurch in California, is also a Standing Committee member of the national council of official Protestant churches. He, like Li, is being held incommunicado on criminal charges. The action against Pastor Li brings to eight the number of Protestant pastors held under arbitrary detention in Zhejiang since last July, the apogee of a state-run cross demolition campaign that has seen nearly 1,700 crosses forcibly removed from atop churches since 2014 and has deeply angered a religious minority. Since Jan. 1, 18 crosses have been toppled from churches in Zhejiang, according to the Texas-based China Aid, including edifices in the city of Wenzhou, often called Chinas Jerusalem for its proliferation of evangelical churches and more than 1 million believers. While charges against the eight church leaders range from embezzlement to bribery to fomenting instability, one thing all detainees have in common is their public opposition to the anti-cross campaign. Li fiercely opposed efforts to remove the cross from his church in the city of Jinhua and this month tried to block efforts by security officials to put a Chinese flag atop his church. All eight detainees are part of the official Protestant Three Self church organization a group that for years has considered itself loyal and patriotic and not part of the broader house church movement that continues to thrive, mostly underground, in China. On Thursday a State Department spokesman told the Monitor that China should release Gu and others, including well-known lawyer Zhang Kai. Mr. Kai has taken evangelical cases, and disappeared last summer shortly before a scheduled meeting with the US envoy for religious freedom, Amb. David Saperstein, who was in China at the invitation of the Xi Jinping government. We call on Chinese authorities to immediately release Pastor Gu and other detained religious leaders and activists, including human rights lawyer Zhang Kai and to cease the ongoing cross removal campaign in Zhejiang province, according to the statement. The State Department also called upon Chinese authorities to respect internationally recognized rights of freedom of association, freedom of religion, and access to legal counsel. The Obama administration has been chary to criticize China in its slowly evolving pushback against churches, which is mainly concentrated in one province in China and mainly against public symbols, like crosses. But the criminal charges against Gu and other prominent figures have appeared to many in the international Christian community as something of an unhappy escalation. It is good that the Obama administration remind the Chinese government that its actions neither occur in a vacuum nor go without notice, says Loyola University expert on Christianity in China Carsten Vala. Rather, as a world power Chinas actions are under scrutiny and expected to observe international norms. The concern among some civil society advocates in the West is that China is slowly evolving a new phase of thought crime related to ideas about open society. In recent weeks China apparently abducted five booksellers from Hong Kong and a Chinese journalist in Thailand, closed a well-respected womens legal aid center in Beijing that was founded in the mid-1990s during the UN conference on women, and orchestrated a series of public forced confessions on state television, and brought formal charges against nearly 20 human rights lawyers. China Aid Media Team Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985 Email: [email protected] For more information, click here Christian Today Carey Lodge 09 February 2016 A Chinese pastor imprisoned in so-called black jail for opposing a government crackdown on Christianity has been released, activists have confirmed. Pastor Huang Yizi, from the eastern province of Zhejiang, was formally placed under criminal detention on 12 September 2015 for endangering national security. He was accused of stealing, spying on, buying or illegally providing state secrets for institutions and people outside the country and was not allowed access to a lawyer or to speak with his family. Human rights organisation China Aid received confirmation on Friday that Huang had been freed, just under five months after his arrest. Founder and president of China Aid, Bob Fu, told Christian Today that the pastor looks pale and thin, and that Huang has said he was under huge pressure and threat before his release. Huang previously served a one year sentence for leading a prayer vigil against cross demolitions in Zhejiang but was released on 1 August last year. Police had attempted to remove a cross from the roof of Sjuitou Salvation Church in July 2014, resulting in a bloody clash with members who were guarding the building. Officers reportedly used iron batons to beat those who stood in their way, and one member of the congregation suffered a fractured skull. The cross was eventually removed from the church building. Huang Yizi (L) following his release from a black jail. China Aid Huang then gathered a crowd from his congregation at a government building to demand answers about the incident. He also urged other church leaders to put back crosses which had been removed from their buildings and criticised police violence on his blog. He branded the removal of church crosses an example of severe persecution and an insult to Chinas Christians. He leads Fengwo Church in Wenzhou, a city dubbed the Jerusalem of the East for reportedly having the largest Christian community in China. The pastor was among at least 20 Christians from Wenzhou and Jinhua, also in Zhejiang province, to be held in black jail towards the end of last year. Black jails have no legal status, though the official wording states that detainees are being kept under residential surveillance in a designed location. China Aid has noted that torture is common, and inmates are refused physical, written or verbal communication with family members or legal representatives. We are glad pastor Huang is released home for Chinese New Year after being arbitrarily detained for five months in a black jail, Fu said today. Both the previous one year criminal sentence and the past five months detention are absolutely part of political revenge against pastor Huangs public opposition against the barbaric forced demolition of crosses and his effort for organizing true Gospel mission independent of the government controlled religious body, the TSPM [Three Self Patriotic Movement]. I call upon the Chinese higher authorities to hold accountable of those abusers of power (in its arbitrary nature of pastor Huangs detention) in Zhejiang and restore justice to pastor Huang. Up to 1,700 churches in Zhejiang have been demolished or had their crosses removed as part of a three-year Three Rectifications and One Demolition campaign, supposedly with the aim of exposing and removing illegal structures. However, it is widely seen as a move to combat the increasing influence of Christianity in the country. 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 Enough is enough! Those student hotheads at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have so far been handled with kid gloves and the leniency of the authorities so often demonstrated over the recent months of never-ending trouble has merely served to encourage them to further excesses. How much longer must we wait to see the worst of these misguided youths, female as well as male, hauled into court and charged with such offenses as inciting a mob of fellow students to near-violence, thereby creating a riotous assembly, invading meeting halls and disrupting high-level University Council meetings, entrapment of senior-most Council appointees on HKU premises, preventing their freedom of movement, and various other serious charges? It is high time the kid gloves came off and Hong Kong society condemned such unruly behavior. HKU Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Mathieson has made clear his disgust over Tuesday night's outrageous near riot by offering to pass on to the police videos showing the worst misconduct of the young offenders. It is to be hoped this leads to the identification of some of them. Meanwhile, a question cries out for an honest answer: What is it about these irresponsible youngsters that makes the authorities seem so unwilling to crack down on them? Do they believe that there will be a surge of support for them from the public if the ringleaders are arrested, dragged off in handcuffs and placed in custody to await trial? No! We will all be glad that at last the hands of the police have been freed to allow them to do their jobs and restore calm and order to our respected halls of learning. But stop ... could it be perhaps that a few of the biggest hotheads among these unconscionable lawbreakers are the sons and daughters of some prominent politicos, and the parents would suffer a "black eye" if their offspring's identities emerged? Let us pause here to think back over the past few months and recollect all the civil disorder some hot-tempered but misguided students inflicted on the community. We had to suffer the illegal "Occupy Central" demonstrations. Then, just as those problems were gradually fading away, HKU became the students' new "battleground" because those self-righteous youths were not happy about the council members who would be steering its administration and educational policies into the future. Where did they get the idea that they had the knowledge, wisdom and background to order around faculty chiefs, and pick and choose what particular courses will be beneficial to their futures? What makes the present situation even more intolerable is that some of these "student activists" are recipients of government-funded student loans, without which the doors of academia would have remained forever closed to them. Another point to ponder is that if some of these students are convicted and must serve jail sentences, they will carry the stigma of that conviction throughout their working lives. As a result they will be ineligible for jobs in the civil service - and will also be barred from working in universities or schools. Also, if they applied in the future to migrate to other countries, they would be asked on the application form to disclose whether they had ever been imprisoned - and if they tried to lie about their conviction they would stumble when required to supply confirmation from the police that they did not have a criminal record. Sadly, however, through their endless trouble-stirring these "student activists" make it very clear that they do not have any sense of remorse or shame over their errant behavior. Now let us turn to the parents of these rebellious youth and ask whether they are aware of their children's antics and, more importantly, whether they condone such misconduct? What sort of future do they expect their children to have after an education scarred and pitted with political protests? Suppose one ex-student leader was given an administrative position in a busy factory, container firm or shipping company. How long would it take for him to begin agitating for "industrial action" to tie up the business' production line? If you were an employer, would you run such a risk by offering a job to such a candidate? Almost without exception we would firmly say "No!" If asked whether a crackdown on obstreperous students is overdue, most would certainly say "Yes!". The author is a journalist and former civil servant. (HK Edition 01/29/2016 page10) A sign sits above a HSBC bank. [Photo/CFP] HSBC, Britain's biggest bank, is leaning towards keeping its headquarters in the UK, 10 months after it said it was considering a move back to Asia, to Hong Kong or other cities, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the process. The bank, which was originally founded in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the mid 19th century, announced last April that it was considering a move out of London, possibly to Hong Kong, where it was headquartered until it acquired Midland Bank Plc and changed its domicile to the UK in 1993. The decision to consider moving back to Asia was in part triggered by rising bank taxation and increased regulatory pressure in the UK, but the Financial Times said the situation in British banking had become more stable since last April's announcement. China's economic climate had also become a factor, the FT reported, citing the people familiar with the process. HSBC is due to hold a board meeting on February 19, three days before the bank announces its full-year results. To contact the reporter: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com (Photo : Getty Images) View of the Chittagong sea port. Bangladesh officials have cancelled the Sonadia port project with China and are set to offer a similar sea port construction deal to India for a port in Chittagong. Advertisement In a move that will surely upset China, Bangladesh has cancelled a port project with a Chinese company, but Dhaka is all set to offer a new sea port project to its bitter neighbor India. China had an agreement with the Bangladesh government to develop a port in the Sonadia Island, for which Chinese government had even agreed to provide 99 percent of the required funding. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement However, despite the assurance of financial aid, Bangladesh has reportedly scrapped the Sonadia port project. Simultaneously, Bangladesh is in talks with India to construct a new port near Chittagong. Bangladesh has not given any reasons for cancelling the Sonadia port project, nor has there been any official comments about reports of offering new sea project to India. But experts believe that cancellation of the Chinese project would not have been possible without India's intervention at the behest of the U.S. and Japan. The three countries - U.S, China and India - are very critical of China's effort to increase its maritime presence in South Asia. For India, the Sonadia port, Hambantota Port (in Sri Lanka) and Gwadar Port (in Pakistan) represents China's much talked about "string of pearls" strategy to encircle it in its maritime neighborhood. The Sonadia port would have also brought China very close to India's Andaman and Nicobar Island, which would have surely made India very uncomfortable. Cold War Between India and China India and China, currently two of the fastest growing economies in the world, have traditionally been bitter neighbors. The two countries even went to war in 1962. As their economies have grown at a stupendous pace over the last two decades, both countries have entered into a 'cold war' scenario as they compete for global influence. China is already constructing an ambitious sea project in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. By constructing maritime projects in these two countries, China is seen to be keeping a tab on India. In response, India has increased economic and military cooperation with all the bitter neighbors of China, namely 'Japan', 'South Korea' and 'Vietnam'. Advertisement TagsBangladesh, china, India (Photo : Reuters) China's Ambassador to the United Nations Liu Jieyi (above) has said any new UNSC sanctions against Pyongyang should be aimed at easing tensions and advancing the denuclearization of the Peninsula. Beijing had previously challenged the rationale behind embargoes proposed by the US and its allies against North Korea. Advertisement North Korea's defiant launch of a space rocket last Sunday has dramatically altered the security situation in East Asia, according to experts, and could force China to veer toward a compromise on the US-proposed sanctions against its impoverished traditional ally. With tensions continuing to build throughout East Asia and a sharp division between the US and China becoming increasingly evident, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met on Monday to discuss a response to Kim Jong Un's latest act of defiance. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Samantha Power, US Ambassador to the UN, has said new UNSC sanctions should surpass Kim's expectations, and a resolution should be passed as soon as possible. THAAD Discussions Beijing had previously challenged the rationale behind the embargoes proposed by the United States and its allies against North Korea, arguing more hard-line punitive measures against Pyongyang would only serve to aggravate an already taut situation. But Sunday's rocket launch has accomplished what North Korea's last nuclear test could not: Seoul has now opened its doors to the possibility of allowing the US to position Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems within South Korea's borders. "In response to the increasing North Korean threat, ROK and the US will officially discuss deploying THAAD to US forces in Korea to improve its missile defense posture," Yoo Jeh-seung, who heads defense planning at South Korea's defense ministry, told the press after the launch of the North Korean rocket. Analysts have said the deployment of the powerful US anti-missile system in South Korea could undermine China's defensive posture and boost America's intelligence and strike capabilities over the Chinese mainland. "Reinitiated talks of US-ROK THAAD deployment may naturally begin to edge China towards the negotiating table, where China might request a cessation of missile defense talks in exchange for cooperation on UN sanctions against North Korea," Ian Armstrong, a policy researcher at Wikistrat, said in a report for Global Risk Insights (GRI). Quicker Action China's President Xi Jinping has been reluctant to agree to tougher sanctions against the North out of a concern that more forceful UNSC retaliatory action may cause the rogue nation to collapse altogether, or worse, turn against its neighbor and former ally. However, experts say the possibility of having THAAD batteries on the Korean Peninsula might just outweigh these concerns, and compel China to consider a more flexible stance on the Washington- backed sanctions. "Even if the prospect of THAAD systems coming to Seoul does not create this effect, Washington might opt to utilize it in bringing China into line with the rest of the Security Council," Armstrong reports. Ken Gause, a senior analyst for North Korea at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) in Washington, believes the recent North Korean rocket launch is likely to increase pressure on China to approve at least some new sanctions against Pyongyang. "Beijing will most likely go along with sanctions, but soften the blow," said Gause. "China won't take any actions that could undermine stability in North Korea," he added. China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi appears to give a measure of credence to Gause's view, saying that -- rather than crippling North Korea -- any new UNSC sanctions against Pyongyang should be aimed at easing tensions and advancing the denuclearization of the Peninsula. "I expect quicker action to arrive at a UN Security Council resolution compared to the previous stonewalling and paralysis that has characterized exchanges at the UN Security Council up to now," Scott Snyder, a senior analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Advertisement TagsUS-China relations, China-South Korea relations, North Korea (Photo : Getty Images) After the Chinese new year celebration, major cities in the country have reported significantly lesser tonnes of fireworks debris compared to last year. Advertisement Beijing sanitation office reported on Monday that remains of fireworks used in celebrations to welcome the Lunar New Year were lesser this year compared to 2015. According to the agency, about 2,000 workers cleaned up the streets after the celebration, gathering slightly more than 400 tonnes of firework debris in 24 hours. This is nearly 34 percent lesser compared to the amount of firework debris gathered in 2015. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Studies reveal that a slowdown in firework sales in the last five years in the capital city Beijing is largely accountable for people's heightened environmental awareness. Meanwhile, in Shanghai, there was only approximately 34 tonnes of fireworks trash gathered after the city issued a firework ban that took effect on Jan. 1 - most of these debris were from suburban areas. Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, has also adapted a similar ban like Shanghai and has reported lesser fireworks debris, only about 12 tonnes, compared with 90 tonnes and 225 tonnes in 2015 and 2014, respectively. Before, Jilin's capital Changchuung, was frequently blanketed with smog. After announcing a ban on fireworks in August 2014, the density of PM 2.5 significantly dropped in 2015 by almost 21 percent compared with that in 2014. However, Hangzhou, Changchung and Shanghai are not the only cities to implement a ban on fireworks. In fact, according to the Ministry of Public Service, up to 138 cities have banned the use of fireworks, while nearly 540 cities have set restrictions for the time and place the fireworks can be used. Although the ban represents good news for China's worsening air quality, some netizens seem to have problems with it - especially those who have grown accustomed with Chinese traditions of lighting fireworks during New Year celebrations. Some would like to continue the practice that as started thousands of years ago, while others suggest the government should set up its own firework display for the public to see. A survey by a local municipal bureau in Shanghai revealed that almost 90 percent of the city's residents are in favor of the banning fireworks, while the rest feel they should preserve China's tradition. Zhang Lin, a resident of Changchun, suggests that the government should look for other ways to control or lessen pollution but still preserve the Chinese culture. Advertisement TagsYear of the Monkey, Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year 2016, CNY 2016, fireworks, firework ban A Chinese boy uses sparklers during celebrations of the Lunar New early on February 19, 2015 in Beijing, China.The Chinese Lunar New Year of Sheep also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Advertisement Firecrackers and fireworks during the celebration of the lunar New Year added up to the heavy air pollution experienced by residents in 139 Chinese cities, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. The report quoted China's Ministry of Environmental Protection as saying that heavy air pollution was reported in 139 cities, including Beijing and Tianjin. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The ministry said 92 cities were monitored as having heavy polluted air from 7 pm Sunday to 6 am Monday while another 42 cities reported severe incidents of air pollution during the said period. The ministry monitors 338 major cities during the said period. All the cities monitored, the ministry said 67 were deemed to have clean air while 271 were monitored to have worse air than the national standard. According to the ministry, PM2.5 was the major pollutant during the monitoring period. PM2.5 is a micro particulate matter that triggers hazardous smog. "The average PM2.5 density in the 338 cities reached 148 micrograms per cubic meter, a 27.6 percent rise year on year," the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. It added that it was between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Monday that the PM2.5 density in cities began to rise as people set off firecrackers and fireworks to welcome the lunar New Year. Chinese New Year celebrations often involved firecrackers and fireworks. The Chinese tradition says that fireworks ward off evil spirits and bad luck for the New Year. The New Year officially began on Monday but festivities get going the day before. The celebration, which is also known as the Spring Festival, also marks the largest period of mass migration as millions of Chinese people travel to bet with their families for the holiday. Advertisement TagsChina Pollution, China Air Pollution (Photo : Getty Images) LeTV is looking to expand its presence in China this year. Advertisement Chinese technology company LeEco, formerly known as LeTV, is aspiring to become the third largest smartphone vendor in India by the end of 2016. The company, which entered the smartphone business back in April 2015, recently arrived in the Indian market with the release of its Le 1s and Le Max Pro smartphones. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement LeTV is the latest Chinese company to enter the market, following in the footsteps of numerous Chinese brands such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Xiaomi Inc., Meizu Technology Co., Ltd., OnePlus, Oppo Electronics, and Gionee, among others. As part of its ambitious plan, LeEco announced last month that it will open around 555 customer support service centers that will cover over 300 cities in India. These centers are expected to provide a 24/7 toll free helpline in multiple languages. Atul Jain, Chief Executive Officer of LeEco India said, "At LeEco, it is our constant endeavour to provide our users with superior products and content integrated ecosystem which ensure that their user experience on all our devices is unified and exceptional." "We are very excited about our launch in India and look forward to a long-term association with consumers in this market. We are confident to disrupt the market with our innovative products at sustainable prices." LeEco is also planning to open a new research and development (R&D) center in India, where it aims to hire around 1,000 people in 2016. The center will focus on developing products for both the local and international markets. As for its products, LeEco plans to begin selling its virtual headsets and smart TVs sometime in June. The latest device to land in the country is the Le Max Pro, which is the first to feature Qualcomm's most powerful chipset, the Snapdragon 820. In the meantime, LeEco announced last month that it managed to sell over 3 million units of its Le 1s smartphone in just over two months. Last year, the company sold around 4 million smartphones. Advertisement TagsLeEco LeTV India 2016, LeEco India, LeEco Le 1s Le Max Pro The Chocolate Math of it All - v. 9/30/2022 Number of Days Since This Chocolate Bet Started: 5,860 Number of Chocolate Items Eaten: 5,860+ Number of different items combined with chocolate: 371 - from Absinthe to Zucchini) Weight of Chocolate Eaten: ~ 5,860 oz. (366.25 lbs. or 166.12 kg) Total Number of Chocolate Calories Consumed to date: ~ 879,000 (There are, on average, 150 calories in 1 oz. or 28.3 grams of chocolate.) Number of Companies producing chocolate items I've eaten: Approx. 1,592; Number of bean-to-bar makers: 194 Number of Countries where chocolates were made: 66 Number of Pounds of Chocolate Americans Eat: Approx. 11-12 pounds per year; I eat 27 lbs. (more than 12 kg.)/year. Per capita chocolate consumption in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Ireland: 8-9 kilograms (17-22 pounds)/year. Global demand has stayed high, despite economic fluctuations. Cost of all these Chocolates: A lot of money, but worth every penny. Chocolates range from $1 to $20 each. Occasionally I receive gifts or samples. Copyright Information All other product names, logos, trademarks, and product packaging designs belong to their respective owners. Content and photos are by Corinne C. DeBra unless otherwise noted; all photos are posted in low resolution. Copyright (c) 2006-2021 Corinne C. DeBra, Chocolate Banquet COMMENTARY: NASA bans the word 'Jesus' Guest Columnist | 08 February, 2016 by Todd Starnes / Fox News HOUSTON (Christian Examiner) The name of Jesus is not welcome in the Johnson Space Center newsletter, according to a complaint filed on behalf of a group of Christians who work for NASA. The JSC Praise & Worship Club was directed by NASA attorneys to refrain from using the name 'Jesus' in club announcements that appeared in a Space Center newsletter. Click here to join Todd's American Dispatch a must-read for Conservatives! "It was shocking to all of us and very frustrating," NASA engineer Sophia Smith told me. "NASA has a long history of respecting religious speech. Why wouldn't they allow us to put the name Jesus in the announcement about our club?" Liberty Institute, one of the nation's largest religious liberty law firms, threatened to file a federal lawsuit unless NASA apologizes and stops censoring the name "Jesus." READ THE FULL STORY AT FOXNEWS.COM! --------------- Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook. Record number of Chinese students entering Christian high schools in U.S. 09 February, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) Chinese students aren't only coming to the U.S. in record numbers to study in America's top universities and graduate schools. They're coming in waves to study in, of all places, Christian high schools. Foreign Policy magazine reports that 300,000 Chinese students are now enrolled in American colleges, but "less widely known is that at the secondary level, most Chinese attend Christian schools even though they come from the world's largest atheist state." That large numbers of Chinese come to the U.S. for their secondary education is not new information. In 2014, USA Today reported on the growing number of international students (majority Chinese) enrolled in U.S. public high schools, in spite of the fact their presence in publicly-funded schools is often controversial. Principals want the students because they raise the school's academic profile and test scores, but residents sometimes object that public funds are used to educate foreigners who have paid no school taxes. Also, according to U.S. law, foreign students on F-1 educational visas may only enroll for a single year in public schools. For private schools, however, which depend solely on tuition paid for financial solvency, there is no such limitation and the presence of large numbers of foreign students who can pay the sometimes $25,000-$35,000 a year for school tuition is a win-win. The school's academic reputations improve and they bring in the cash necessary to run the school business. According to data obtained by Foreign Policy from the Department of Homeland Security via the Freedom of Information Act, 58 percent of the F-1 visas issued for Chinese high school students in 2014 and the first three months of 2015 were for Catholic of Christian schools. All of this is done with an eye toward creating a solid academic record pegged to U.S. standards and admission requirements at top U.S. universities. That is why, Foreign Policy suggests, Chinese parents do not object if the private high school has "a Christian underpinning." "According to data obtained by Foreign Policy from the Department of Homeland Security via the Freedom of Information Act, 58 percent of the F-1 visas issued for Chinese high school students in 2014 and the first three months of 2015 were for Catholic of Christian schools," the magazine claimed. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Chinese parents typically buy a home in the U.S. in a school district with a solid record of academic performance and high number of wealthy families. The child then travels to the U.S. with an adult relative or a "housemother" and lives will completing a private high school. After a successful high school experience, the student finds enrollment in and transition to a U.S. university that much easier. Private schools, which oftentimes focus on classical curricula, provide the best launching platform for success in higher education. Many of those schools are Christian. "Just under 28 percent of Chinese students obtained these visas to attend Catholic schools, while 30 percent were for schools with nondenominational or Protestant Christian affiliations, including schools affiliated with Episcopal, Lutheran, Adventist, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Baptist, Church of Christ and Quaker traditions," according to the magazine. Only 4.5 percent of the Chinese students enrolled in U.S. high schools chose the public school route. The number of Chinese students sometimes dubbed "parachute kids" enrolled in U.S. high schools now stands at 23,000, up from only 1,000 in 2005, according to the Institute of International Education. Most of the Chinese students who come to the U.S. come having already been thoroughly indoctrinated with communist ideology and atheism (only about 5 percent of Chinese are Christian). As a result, even those enrolled in religion courses required at many of the private schools do not understand religion, the magazine claimed. "It's challenging to come to these classes with zero knowledge," John May, the director of international student programs at St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy, an all-boys school in Toledo, Ohio, told the magazine. "They have no framework. It's not like a Lutheran sitting in on a Catholic class. It's a blank slate for these guys. It's a bit of a head scratcher." While there have been some instances of students converting to Christianity and being baptized, those instances are rare, the magazine claims. Wheaton professor who said Christians & Muslims worship same God to leave school by NEW YORK (Reuters) - A professor at an evangelical university near Chicago who got in trouble after saying Muslims and Christians worship the same God will leave the school, according to a joint statement released by Wheaton College on Saturday night. Larycia Hawkins, a tenured political science professor, had been scheduled for a disciplinary hearing in five days to determine whether she would be allowed to remain at Wheaton. A joint statement said Hawkins and the college had "found a mutual place of resolution and reconciliation" and that the two sides "will part ways" after reaching a confidential agreement. The controversy began on Dec. 10, when Hawkins wrote on Facebook that she would don the hijab head scarf during the period of advent before Christmas as a sign of solidarity with Muslims. "We worship the same God," she said in her post. The post drew criticism amid a broader debate regarding the role and treatment of Muslims in the United States following the November mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, which U.S. authorities have said was inspired by the militant group Islamic State. The college placed Hawkins on administrative leave as a result. Last month, the school's provost recommended Hawkins be fired. The school previously said Hawkins was disciplined not because she chose to wear a hijab but because her "theological statements seem inconsistent with Wheaton's doctrinal convictions". Both sides struck a conciliatory tone in the statement, which also said neither Hawkins nor school officials would offer any further comment until a scheduled news conference on Wednesday morning. "I appreciate and have great respect for the Christian liberal arts and the ways that Wheaton College exudes that in its mission, programs, and in the caliber of its employees and students," Hawkins said in the statement. The college president, Phillip Ryken, said the school "sincerely appreciates Dr. Hawkins' contributions to this institution over the last nine years." Many members of the faculty had expressed support for Hawkins. Bill Struthers, a Wheaton psychology professor, posted a photo on Facebook on Saturday night of himself holding a handwritten sign reading, "I support Larycia." Wheaton, founded in 1860 and located in the Illinois town of the same name, has approximately 2,400 undergraduate students and 480 graduate students. Growing up as an average high school student in Korea is no easy task, especially if you entered your senior year. While here in the U.S. when you enter your senior year, you would imagine having fun after sending in your college applications and taking fewer classes. If you are a high school student in Korea however, being a senior means going to more classes and either going to a public library or studying until midnight or spending the entire day with a private tutor either by yourself or with a team of students. On the 12th of November, 800,000 high school students took the yearly college entrance exam or the scholastic aptitude test. It is the equivalent of the SAT but students are allowed to take it only once a year, and there is an age limit saying that only students who are seniors in high school above could participate. This exam tests students on Korean (language arts), mathematics, English, and depending on the students preference, 2 additional subjects that vary from the natural sciences to history, economics, and geography. Students also have the option of being tested on a foreign language other than English. For years, students, parents and even teachers have criticized the Ministry of Education for having this yearly exam determine not only what university high school students get admitted into, but even their future as a whole. The day the exam is hosted is a considered a day of national emergency where police officers literally transport students to their designated testing centers, and the Air Force does not host any drills that day in case they might bother the students who are in examination. High school students dedicate their entire teen life to preparing and studying for this test, with their parents investing so much money into hiring tutors and sending their children to after-school educational institutes, called Hakwons, so they could have a better chance at getting into a better university to a, at least financially, brighter future. The problem is that this all-Korea exam is all relative. Only a certain number of students could get As and a certain number of people of people could get Bs. Different universities and different majors require different scores from this test. For instance, in order to be a business major at a local college at a province, one would not need to score as high on the test as a student who wants to go to business school at Seoul National University (Koreas top institute). In addition, a student admitted to Seoul National University as pre-med would have to far outperform a student who got into the same school as a history major or a geography major. Whole families accumulate substantial amount of debt while investing so much into their childrens education. Even after students get into the college they wanted, they would most-likely spend the rest of their lives trying to pay back the debts that occurred from hiring tutors and going to lessons after school. Koreas Ministry of Education had made an attempt to address this issue. Koreas Seoul Newspaper reported the Ministry of Educations solution to the problem was simply making the exam easier. College professors, who write the exam, had initially estimated that students would not need more instruction after school in order to do well if the exam was not too hard. After the 2015 exam was over, and the students got their grades back, it turns out that this was not the case. Seoul Newspaper reported that while students overall scored much higher on the test than those who took it in previous years, too many of the students did well. Because grades were awarded to how well the students did relatively, in other words their national ranking compared to all 800,000 high school seniors, problems occur. If a university required a student to get an A to apply, normally being in the top 6% granted the student an A grade. However, if too many students got perfect scores, then other students who scored even 99 % on the test would not be able to apply. This is exactly what happened this year. Megastudy, an online educational institute reported that they estimated that for language arts a student would have to score 97 % to get an A Grade. For English, one would have to get 98 %, and for math, it was 100 %. Literally one wrongly answered question could send a student to a university that was ranked several stages below the one he dreamed of attending. A student would have to score around 395 out of 400 total points to apply to a popular major at Seoul National University. Parents and students are expressing outrage at the Ministry of Education for their extremely unsuccessful solution to the problem of removing the burden of private education from their shoulders. Many educational experts however explained that the core of the problem was not the exam itself, but Koreas culture where many people put such heavy importance on ones educational background. There is a famous joke that college students use all the time when it is time for them to start job-hunting: Your college GPA really doesnt matter. What matters is what college you came from. Election season is here, and youve probably already heard loads of grumbling about candidates and our political process. The primaries are only just starting. But like an echo following the American presidential candidates on the trail, our collective eye-rolling and ear-plugging has become as reliable as the campaign ads themselves. The despair is not without merit. Donald Trump leads national polls despite having made his fortune (though he hasnt even done that) by profiteering off the vulnerable and elderly through his casinos and strip clubs. And, Hillary Clinton demands religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed in order to accommodate her beliefsall while potentially facing a criminal indictment. No wonder citizens are donning sackcloth and ashes. Amid the lament, however, thoughtful citizens have opportunities to celebrate what is good about this presidential campaign. This can be taken too far, of course. But we can assume a healthy posture between venerating and vilifying this election season for three reasons. Election Season Propels the Economy We will spend more money on the 2016 presidential election than we spend on school construction for at-risk children. I fabricated the statement, but it reflects the kind we constantly hear during election season. We think elections are too expensive, too highly influenced by a few mega-donors, and far less worthy than other places we could invest our money. But an underreported reality of election spending is the churn it has on our economy. Dollars invested in elections dont evaporate. They are investments in democracy. When we hear about candidates raising hundreds of millions of dollars, our shock ... 1 The Editors Desk is a weekly, personal meditation by CT Editor Mark Galli on how he approaches the issues of the day. One could imagine a better outcome at Wheaton College, but it probably wouldnt be one that is achievable given all the bloodshed in the last few weeks. To me, however, what transpired is remarkable: a display of courageous humility by provost Stan Jones and the compromise between Wheaton and Professor Larycia Hawkins. As this controversy continued to unfold, I wrestled with a conundrum for which no solution presented itself. For many years now, Ive heard professors, staff, and students at many Christian colleges and universities complain that they dont know whats going on in their institutions. This seems to reflect the oft-noted reality that we today distrust institutions and their leaders. Many of us agreeeven institutional leadersthat institutions should be more accountable to the people they serve. The solution seems simple: Why not just become more transparent about whats going on, telling those outside the administration what ideas are percolating, what the options areall the while inviting the larger community to participate in the decision-making process? Wouldnt that make for better decisions and a sense of ownership by all? Let me say I am deeply sympathetic with this view. Then recently I met a president of a West Coast Christian college who told me why his school has actually become less transparent over the years. He said before the Internet, his school was collaborative and transparent in decision making. It was typical for the school to present proposals to faculty and staff to get their input long before any decision ... 1 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. 'Ashes to go': Commuters offered drive-thru prayer to begin Lent Drive-thru prayer will be offered to commuters in New Jersey tomorrow as Rev Rich Wisniewski marks the beginning of Lent by providing an "Ashes to go" service. For the third year in a row The Church of the Holy Spirit, an Episcopal church in Tuckerton, will offer drivers the ceremony without them needing to leave their cars. Traditional Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes, the formal Anglican ritual to mark the beginning of Lent, will take place as usual within the church. But Wisniewski will offer commuters the opportunity to participate for an hour at a time from 7am and again at midday. Wisniewski will set up his drive-thru prayer service outside his church on a busy inter-section to attract those who would not normally come to church In previous years Wisniewski said he has given ashes to truck drivers, waitresses and many others who passed by and do not normally attend church. "When I first came here, I asked God why he sent me here. I started realising, I think, I was sent here to realise that there are opportunities here," Wisniewski told Press of Atlantic City. "There are non-traditional ways of doing things. That's so important. "Churches, in general, are at a crossroads," he continued. "Whether it's the pressures of having to work many more hours than people traditionally have, or if they are not comfortable during a traditional worship service, there are a lot of things going on. "I'm challenging that church is a place you go to. Church is really about what people do and how they connect and how they live out what the church teaches us." Wisniewski denied that the drive-thru service cheapened the experience of prayer. "Unless you've experienced the look on someone's face after they've participated, you can't say it's cheapening the whole idea," he said. "It could be joy, it could be brought by some other emotion. But it's definitely a strong emotion." The Episcopal reverend is not alone in offering drive-thru services. The Rev Don McMahon of Emmaus United Methodist Church in Smithville also started offering an on-street prayer service last summer. Passers-by would approach and McMahon would offer prayer if they asked for it. "When you make yourself available like that, people aren't worried about going into the church and someone imposing some kind of theology on them," he said. "If you're there because you care about them, you can meet their needs where they're at." The service had to stop when the colder winter weather arrived. However McMahon said the church planned on building a semi-permanent structure so the service can be provided throughout the year. "One gentleman had come through because he was coming from the hospital. His wife had surgery," he said. "We were responding to that need that he felt." Bangladesh church vandalised; priest says religion was not a motive A Catholic church in Bangladesh has been attacked and looted but the parish priest has refused to attribute a religious motive to the violence. Around 15 armed men vandalised the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and its adjacent convent in Chuadanga, southwestern Bangladesh, over the weekend. Over $8,000 was taken from the site in addition to phones and other valuables, according to ucanews. The attackers also violently assaulted a church security guard and a nun who refused to let them into the chapel. "They vandalized the convent's chapel and desecrated the Eucharist from the tabernacle," said Father Naren Baidya, a priest who visited the scene. Around 350,000 taka ($4,487) was taken from the priest's residence and 300,000 taka ($3,846) from the convent. However parish priest Father Arun Halsona denied the attack was religiously motivated, despite escalating violence in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. "This is a robber-infested area. Three years ago, a gang tried to break into the church but failed as police quickly arrived. We think the same group has been involved in this crime," Father Halsona said. "A robbery case has been filed and we are looking for culprits. So far we have not been able to trace and arrest anyone yet," said Liaqat Ali, officer in-charge of the local Damurhuda police station. Attacks by Islamist groups in Bangladesh have risen with a number of atheist bloggers killed in the past year. In December two former students were sentenced to death for murdering Rajib Haider, an architect and blogger, who was hacked to death near his house in the capital, Dhaka, in February 2013. Haider had led a popular movement demanding the death penalty for Islamist leaders accused of atrocities in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. In 2015 four more bloggers and a publisher were also killed in Bangladesh. Liberal activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have also been targeted. China: Pastor released from 'black jail' after opposing cross demolitions A Chinese pastor imprisoned in so-called 'black jail' for opposing a government crackdown on Christianity has been released, activists have confirmed. Pastor Huang Yizi, from the eastern province of Zhejiang, was formally placed under criminal detention on 12 September 2015 for "endangering national security." He was accused of "stealing, spying on, buying or illegally providing state secrets for institutions and people outside the country" and was not allowed access to a lawyer or to speak with his family. Human rights organisation China Aid received confirmation on Friday that Huang had been freed, just under five months after his arrest. Founder and president of China Aid, Bob Fu, told Christian Today that the pastor looks "pale and thin", and that Huang has said he was under huge pressure and threat before his release. Huang previously served a one year sentence for leading a prayer vigil against cross demolitions in Zhejiang but was released on 1 August last year. Police had attempted to remove a cross from the roof of Sjuitou Salvation Church in July 2014, resulting in a bloody clash with members who were guarding the building. Officers reportedly used iron batons to beat those who stood in their way, and one member of the congregation suffered a fractured skull. The cross was eventually removed from the church building. Huang then gathered a crowd from his congregation at a government building to demand answers about the incident. He also urged other church leaders to put back crosses which had been removed from their buildings and criticised police violence on his blog. He branded the removal of church crosses an example of "severe persecution" and an "insult" to China's Christians. He leads Fengwo Church in Wenzhou, a city dubbed the "Jerusalem of the East" for reportedly having the largest Christian community in China. The pastor was among at least 20 Christians from Wenzhou and Jinhua, also in Zhejiang province, to be held in black jail towards the end of last year. 'Black jails' have no legal status, though the official wording states that detainees are being kept under "residential surveillance in a designed location". China Aid has noted that torture is common, and inmates are refused physical, written or verbal communication with family members or legal representatives. "We are glad pastor Huang is released home for Chinese New Year after being arbitrarily detained for five months in a black jail," Fu said today. "Both the previous one year criminal sentence and the past five months detention are absolutely part of political revenge against pastor Huang's public opposition against the barbaric forced demolition of crosses and his effort for organizing true Gospel mission independent of the government controlled religious body, the TSPM [Three Self Patriotic Movement]. "I call upon the Chinese higher authorities to hold accountable of those abusers of power (in its arbitrary nature of pastor Huang's detention) in Zhejiang and restore justice to pastor Huang." Up to 1,700 churches in Zhejiang have been demolished or had their crosses removed as part of a three-year 'Three Rectifications and One Demolition' campaign, supposedly with the aim of exposing and removing "illegal structures". However, it is widely seen as a move to combat the increasing influence of Christianity in the country. Church destroyed and 200 hundred members detained in Cuba Cuban authorities demolished a large church on 5 February while hundreds of church members were detained, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Emanuel Church in eastern Cuba, affiliated to the Apostolic Movement an unregistered Protestant denomination was surrounded by officials including police, state security and the military at 5am last Friday. They detained Rev Alain Toledano's wife before demolishing both the church and the pastor's home. Property found inside the church including pews, chairs and a piano were confiscated. Toledano was in the United States at the time of the incident. Approximately 200 leaders and members of the church were also detained. Around forty were held in a local school and the rest were taken to police stations, apparently to ensure there were no protests against the demolition. CSW says church leaders reported that many were beaten during their detention. Despite the existance of legal documents proving rightful ownership, over 1,000 blocks of cement were also confiscated by the government, according to CSW. The church building and home were privately owned by Toledano and extension work had previously been approved by the government. Toledano told CSW that he believes the timing of the demolition coinciding with his trip to the US was not a coincidence, but tactical. He said he had received numerous threats of church eviction and closure throughout 2015. This is the second time the family has experienced the destruction of both church and home, and Toledano expressed concern about the impact these events would have on his daughters aged 11 and 12 who he said were screaming as they witnessed their mother being detained. "This series of demolitions since the New Year indicates a worrying escalation in terms of violations of freedom of religion or belief in Cuba," said Mervyn Thomas, CSW's chief executive. The Cuban government has repeatedly refused to register Apostolic Movement churches and Friday's destruction comes in the wake of similar demolitions in Camaguey and Las Tunas provinces on 8 January. Churches in Egypt finally face repair, three years after attacks Churches in Egypt are finally being repaired three years after they were damaged by Islamist groups in the aftermath of former president Morsi's eviction. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the current President of Egypt, has apologised to Christians over the delay to the renovations, which he has now said will be completed by the end of 2016, according to AINA. After pro-Morsi sit-ins were dispersed in August 2013, Coptic Christians in Egypt faced waves of attacks in the north of the country. Coptics, who make up around 10 per cent of the country's 90 million population, were blamed by Islamists for the protests that preceded president Morsi's ousting. A number of Christians were killed and churches as well as Christian-owned property and schools were attacked. Following the coup, al-Sisi promised the armed forces would pay for the repair work. Although action has been scant, the army has begun cooperating with Coptic leaders since al-Sisi reaffirmed his promise. "I appreciate so much the president's promise to continue the restoration process this year," said Bishop Makarius of Minya in a phone call with Ahram Online. He also thanked "the Armed Forces for their effort in renovating the churches to return them to the way they were before the attacks, or even better, and also the efforts of the Muslims who protected churches from attacks and provided refuge for their Christian neighbours to save their lives." "14 August 2013 marks the worst attacks in the Church's modern history, as all Christian lives were threatened," Makarius added. "They lost their properties in seconds, but thank God despite all the sectarian incidents and discrimination, Christianity in Egypt not only remains, but flourishes." According to a report by the Coptic rights group Maspero Youth Union, around 65 churches were burnt and destroyed, some dating back to the fourth century. The perpetrators were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was a supporter. Coptic-owned properties including six Christian schools, 60 houses, 85 shops, three hotels and 80 vehicles were also attacked. Episcopal Primate says decision to censure Church over same-sex marriage was 'fair' The decision to censure the Episcopal Church of the US for consecrating gay bishops and allowing clergy to perform same-sex marriages was "fair", according to its Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Bishop Curry said the vote by Anglican Archbishops from around the world to remove the Episcopal Church from votes on doctrine and from representing the Anglican Communion on ecumenical and interfaith bodies was a "very specific, almost surgical approach". He told the National Press Club that he welcomed it because it allowed the differing provinces of the Communion to voice their differences while remaining part of one body. He said: "There was clarity on our part, both about who we are as a church and about our love and commitment to the communion and there was clarity on their part that they disagreed with us. But they didn't vote us off the island," Religion News Service reported. After the Primates' Meeting in Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby apologised for the hurt and pain caused to the gay community by the Church. He also denied that "sanctions" had been issued against the Episcopal Church and said that instead, it was faced with the "consequences" of its actions. Among those at the meeting was Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America, not formally part of the Anglican Communion but who represents conservative Anglican churches who have refused to follow the Episcopal Church down a more liberal path. After the meeting he said: "I participated fully in the meeting, where the first and primary agenda item was addressing the Episcopal Church's changes to the doctrine of marriage. We spent most of the week discussing this issue and seeking to come to a common conclusion. "We unanimously agreed that these changes 'represent a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our Provinces on the doctrine of marriage,' and we wrestled with what the consequences should be." He also said that although the "sanctions" were strong, they were not strong enough. "To my deep disappointment, they didn't include the Anglican Church of Canada as they should." The Anglican Church of Canada is due to vote in July on whether to change its canon to allow same-sex marriage. Bishop Curry's address last night at the National Press Club was entitled: "Is there room enough for all? The Church's role in creating an Inclusive World." He said: "One of the most important statements of our time was given by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. when he said we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish together as fools the choice is ours: chaos or community. "He was right when he said that in the late 1960s and the sentiment is even more profoundly true now. We must learn to live together even in the midst of intense disagreement and profound diversity. We will either create beloved community or a horrific catastrophe. Religious faith must be a positive force toward that end and that is what Jesus of Nazareth came to show us." He said he could understand why most of the primates voted to censure his Church. "Because we differ on the core doctrine, it would not be seen as appropriate for us to represent the Anglican Communion in ecumenical, interfaith leadership. That's fair." He said the Episcopal Church believed in same-sex marriage "because the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross really are about embracing and welcoming us all." In spite of the censure, the Church will not go back on its actions, he added. "We're not changing." Later, in his Lent message, Bishop Curry said that to be a follower of Jesus was not without struggle. "It is not easy. The truth is, this movement is difficult. It's hard work. It's work of following Jesus to the cross. And it's work of following Jesus through the cross to the Resurrection. To new life. And new possibility. That is our calling. That is the work of the movement. To help this world move from what is often the nightmare of the world itself into the dream that God intends." Germany faces 'high risk' of terror attack as ISIS militants slip in disguised as refugees, police warn Security agencies in Germany are facing a serious situation as a new report indicates that members of the terror group Islamic State [ISIS] have slipped into Europe disguised as refugees. Germany's domestic intelligence agency, BfV, disclosed of the development, which comes a day after security forces foiled a potential terror attack in Berlin, according to reports. "We have repeatedly seen that terrorists ... have slipped in camouflaged or disguised as refugees. This is a fact that the security agencies are facing," BfV head Hans-Georg Maassen told ZDF television on Friday, Reuters reported. He admitted that the New Year's eve mass sexual assault is not the worst his fellow citizens can expect. He told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper on Friday that BfV received more than 100 tips of ISIS terrorists among refugees. "We are in a serious situation, and there is a high risk that there could be an attack," he said, adding however that security agencies, the intelligence services and the police authorities are "very alert" at this time, with the goal to minimise the risk "as best we can." According to reports, two Algerian men suspected of training with ISIS have been arrested for attempting to launch an attack in Berlin. Two other men suspected of terrorist ties have yet to be formally taken into police custody. One of the Algerians and his wife were arrested at a refugee home because they were reportedly sought by Algerian authorities. Two months ago, a captured ISIS terrorist known only as "Harry S" had warned Der Spiegel of future terror attacks. The 27-year-old told the magazine he wanted to "come clean" about what Germany can expect in the months and years ahead, according to reports. Since the civil war broke out, German police have already been overrun with crimes linked to migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, including a slew of sexual assaults that took place on New Year's Eve. Over 100 women were victimised by migrants in Cologne, Bielefeld, Earlier, Germans expressed they no longer feel safe in their home country and had been buying products for protection such as pepper spray, alarms, signal guns and specialty weapons. Homeschool parents face fines, jail time after they were sued by Ohio state for missing paperwork deadlines Two school districts in Ohio have filed criminal charges against the parents of two homeschooling families who face fines and even jail time just for missing the deadline to file paperwork. The criminal charge is called "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," a first-degree misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of up to $1,000 in fines and up to six months in the county jail. Each day that a child is "truant" can be considered a separate offence, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which is representing the two families. According to HSLDA, the two families were new to homeschooling in Ohio. One family filed a notice of intent when they began homeschooling last year. However, they did not know they had to file another notice for the current school year. The other family filed their annual notice of intent but did not submit an educational assessment with their notice because they had not yet completed it, and because they had been told by their school district that there was no deadline for submitting the assessment. Even when the families continued to educate their kids, the school districts decided to treat their children as "truant." The association also said the schools waited to contact the families until the children had accumulated more than a month of absences instead of addressing the issue when the school started marking them absent. "As soon as both families realised their errors, they took action to comply with their districts' demands. After filing the paperwork, both families received a letter from their superintendent verifying that their homeschool programme is in compliance with state law for the 2015-2016 schoolyear. Then they brought criminal charges against the parents," HSLDA stated. HSLDA attorney Peter Kamakawiwoole Jr. told WND that "I wish I could say that this incident is an isolated occurrence, but unfortunately cases like this tend to recur every few years in Ohio: Families submit a document late, and rather than the school district following up with the family after a few absences are accrued, the district waits until many absences are accrued." "When these families finally were contacted by school officials, they provided the missing paperwork, and the school filed criminal charges against them," he said. He said the charge of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," is usually for parents who abuse the system like "aiding or abetting their child in the commission of a crime or a serious offense (obtaining a firearm, for example)." Kamakawiwoole said the statute on chronic truancy "is clearly intended to deal with situations where parents are unwilling to correct persistent and in some cases, dangerous misbehaviour by their children." "Unfortunately, that statute is being applied here to parents who had no idea that there was an issue and at worst committed a clerical error and more importantly, the children have literally done nothing wrong," he added. He said, "The children were attending the school they thought they were enrolled in, they were obeying their parents who expected them to do their school work, and they were doing their lessons daily. These are simply not the sort of families that the Ohio Legislature intended to be subject to these sorts of criminal penalties." The attorney said there are potential stakes for families when schools choose to sue them. "The tragedy is that these prosecutions are entirely avoidable. Ohio's compulsory attendance statute has specific provisions which are supposed to apply when a school district believes that a child is truant," he said. Indigenous people of Mexico demand apology from Pope on eve of visit Pope Francis will officially authorise the use of indigenous languages in Catholic liturgies when he visits Mexico later this week. It is expected to be one of several such gestures he will make. The Vatican said the Pope will present the language decree when he celebrates a special service for indigenous people in Chiapas state next Monday. It is hoped this and other moves in Mexico will go some way to healing the hurt left by centuries of pain and conflict, some of which is certain to emerge during the visit. The Supreme Indigenous Council of Michoacan, Mexico, has already accused the Catholic Church of being complicit in the killing of more than 24 million indigenous people. Thirty indigenous communities of Michoacan have released a statement calling on the Pope to apologise for what happened to their people during the Spanish invasion of the Americas in the 16th century. "For over 500 years, the original people of the Americas have been ransacked, robbed, murdered, exploited, discriminated and persecuted," the council said in a statement reported by Telesur. "Within this framework, the Catholic Church has historically been complicit and allies of those who invaded our land." The Purepechas communities from Michoacan called on the Pope to publicly apologise for the Church's role in their sufferings. The council is also blaming Catholic missionaries for imposing a culture, language, religion and other European values on the people of Mexico. "The Bible was the ideological weapon of the Conquerors," they said in the statement released in the run-up to the visit, describing the Spanish intervention and invasion of the Americas as one of the biggest acts of genocide in history. "The arrival of the Europeans meant the interruption and destruction of various original civilisations, which had their unique ideas and concepts of the world, our own government, writings, languages, education, religion and philosophy," the council said. The council also said the "European invaders" caused the death of 95 per cent of the the total indigenous population within 130 years after the arrival of Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes. Before the Spaniards arrived in the Mexican region, there were about 25.2 million indigenous people. After 1623, fewer than 700,000 were left. In a message to the people of Mexico this week, Pope Francis said he was travelling as a "missionary of mercy and peace". In a video message in his native Spanish, the Pope said he wants to embrace all Mexican people, especially those who suffer. He said: "Would you like me to share with you one of my greatest wishes? It is to be able to visit the home of the Virgin Mary. Like one of her many children, I will go up to the Mother and lay at her feet all that I carry in my heart. It's wonderful to be able to visit the maternal home and feel the tenderness of her benevolent presence. There, I will look into her eyes and beg her to never stop looking upon us with mercy, because she is our Mother in Heaven. From this moment, it is to her that I entrust my journey and all of you, my dear Mexican brothers and sisters." ISIS leader's widow charged over death of Kayla Mueller The wife of a deceased Islamic State leader was charged on Monday in federal court in Virginia with conspiracy in the death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller who was killed a year ago while being held hostage in Syria by the militant group, the US. Justice Department said. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, aka Umm Sayyaf, 25, admitted to FBI agents last year that Islamic State head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at Sayyaf's residence, and that "owning" her was equivalent to enslaving her, according to the complaint. Mueller was raped repeatedly by al-Baghdadi while in captivity in Syria, US officials and theMueller family spokeswoman said last August. Mueller's family could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. Sayyaf, an Iraqi citizen and wife of Abu Sayyaf, a senior Islamic State leader until his death last May, is currently in Iraqi custody for her terrorism-related activities, according to a statement from John Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security. Monday's charges "reflect that the US justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad," Carlin said in the statement. Carlin's spokesman, Marc Raimondi, told Reuters by email that the US government was "fully supportive" of Sayyaf's transfer to Iraqi custody, and that the Justice Department continues to "cooperate with authorities in Iraq to support a prosecution through to its completion and to assist in ensuring that justice is served." The department firmly believes that Sayyaf will be held to account for her crimes, "though we cannot guarantee any particular result," Raimondi added. Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, went to Turkey in December 2012 to work for a Turkish organization providing humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees along the Syrian border. She was seized in August 2013 while leaving a hospital in Aleppo in northern Syria. Al-Baghdadi personally brought Mueller to be imprisoned inside the Sayyafs' home in Syria, US officials told ABC News in August. Sayyaf was charged on Monday with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization that resulted in a person's death, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Fifty-eight of the 80 individuals accused by US prosecutors of Islamic State-related crimes have faced the same charge, though the vast majority have not been accused of facilitating anyone's death. Justin Welby: We must go to the cross for reconciliation We must follow Jesus and be willing to give our lives for the sake of reconciliation, Archbishop Justin Welby told an audience at Queen's University Belfast yesterday. Delivering the annual Church of Ireland Theological Lecture, Welby reflected on the nature of religiously-justified violence, in the context of the rise of Islamic State. "We are in a struggle with a terrorist force of extreme evil," he said. A member of the audience asked how this idea of reconciliation could be carried out given "that as Christians we believe that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation and one of our tasks we are called to evangelise? So how far can we go with people we believe are wrong?" Welby responded: "Well Jesus went to the cross, there's no need to go any further than that. "And I would say that is where we go. We give everything. We give our lives." There is no choice between Jesus and reconciliation, he added. In sharing Christ we offer reconciliation, and inevitably, in offering reconciliation we end up sharing Christ: "The two go together". In the face of evil, "our political vision of what reconciliation in this struggle would look like must include the idea of a world in which religiously justified violence is eliminated... It must be a hope and an expectation," he said. "Our starting point, in building this narrative should be giving voice to the people who experience humiliation: asking what we can do for them and how can we give them hope?" he said. "We must start relationships of love, which aims for human dignity and flourishing. And in practice this brings us to identity, to hospitality and generosity." He called for a growing of wisdom when looking at the situation, for "wisdom tackles the lost nuances of theology, a curse of our age in many faith traditions, and enables us to engage theologically with the other across faiths, without hatred and without cyncism." We must follow Jesus and be willing to give our lives for the sake of reconciliation, Archbishop Justin Welby told an audience at Queen's University Belfast yesterday. 'Madam Secretary' season 2 spoilers: Elizabeth suspects Ukraine involvement in uranium heist in episode 14 After the emotional family affair that took place last episode, Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) is back to work and ready to take on President Dalton's (Keith Carradine) new assignment for her in the CBS series "Madam Secretary." In "Left of the Boom," CarterMatt reports that the Secretary of State will tackle two sensitive cases. The first one has something to do with the alarming uranium heist in Eastern Europe. The United States has to move fast to track down the culprit before the trail goes cold. Elizabeth will have to fly to Europe to determine why the thieves are after the element. Uranium is used to create bombs. Although not as popular as the atomic bombs used in the past wars, explosives created with the said element are as destructive and scary. Will the United States be tracking down terrorists? While the exact place where the theft occurred has not been mentioned, a recent report of the International Business Times posits it is in Ukraine. There are allegations that the country has a huge deposit of uranium. The last involvement Elizabeth had with the Ukrainians was during the Russian crisis, wherein the United States almost announced war against Russia for the attack on the Air Force One. It turned out it was the European country that masterminded the assault to discredit Russia in the Americans' eyes. During the peace talks between the two powerful countries, Ukraine's representative did not attend. When an explosive was launched on the cars of the leaders, killing the Russian Premiere, Elizabeth suspects that the Ukrainians were behind the attack. If the country indeed is the place that she will be travelling to next episode, how will Elizabeth react? The business with the President's plane has still not been cleared. Will it be fair if she just write off the heist and let the Ukrainians find the bad guys on their own? Meanwhile, trouble is also brewing in the biggest ally of the United States in the Middle East Saudi Arabia. Two misguided teenagers will decide that it is cool to be part of a terrorist group. When they suddenly have second doubts in joining, they will pose a threat in an important arms deal between the two countries. Elizabeth must make sure that they return to their parents and salvage the pact before it is too late. "Madam Secretary" season 2 airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS. Pastor facing sex crime allegations states his innocence Toronto pastor Brent Hawkes who is facing allegations of sex crimes from four decades ago has addressed his congregation for the first time. Hawkes told the Metropolitan Community Church that he is innocent and intends to fight the allegations with everything he has. He said the last week had been "very difficult" for him but he has not lost faith in the Canadian justice system and believes he will be fully cleared. He said: "For 38 years I have fought with all I have had for equality for our community now I will fight these allegations with all I have. This time, however, my fight will be different. This time I will allow my lawyers to give me a voice. I wish I could say more but everything I have to say will now be said in court." Hawkes, who was awarded the Order of Canada and is a leading gay rights campaigner, has been accused of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency sometime in 1974 or 1975 when he was a teacher in Nova Scotia. On its website, the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto said the alleged incident purportedly occurred prior to Hawkes becoming its pastor and no charge has been made against the church, which is not funding his legal defence. In a statement, Hawkes said: "I want to be crystal clear: I am innocent of these allegations. The purported events simply did not take place. While it is impossible for me to understand where these almost 40 year old accusations come from, I have a faith that will sustain me as well as faith in Canada's justice system... Suffice it to say, I have lots to say. But everything I have to say will be said in court. So I know you will understand, that for now, we will have to leave things there." The church's board of directors said: "The Board of MCC Toronto knows Rev. Hawkes as a man of high integrity and an inspirational community leader who has led MCC Toronto for 38 years in its quest for tolerance and inclusiveness. Brent has our steadfast support." Pope appeals again for greater effort to bring peace in Syria The Pope has made another urgent appeal for peace in Syria, calling on the international community to spare no effort to bring all the parties in conflict to the negotiating table. Speaking to the crowds gathered in St Peter's Square for his Angelus address, Pope Francis said he is following with great concern the "dramatic fate of the civilian population" who are "forced to abandon everything as they flee from the horrors of war." He appealed for "generous solidarity" in order to provide for the needs of the refugees "to ensure their survival and dignity." He said that only a political solution can guarantee "a future of reconciliation and peace for that dear and devastated nation." He was speaking as further Russian assaults drove tens of thousands from Aleppo in Syria and shortly after talks between the Syrian government and opposition were temporarily suspended. It is believed that at least 250,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced as a result of the conflict. The Pope asked for prayers ahead of his apostolic trip to Mexico this week and for his historic meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. He also spoke of his aim to help victims of human trafficking "break the heavy chains of exploitation to regain their freedom and dignity." The Pope said: "We must do everything we can to destroy this crime and this unbearable disgrace." Pope Francis in Mexico: Will he tackle the issue of femicide? In the build up to the Pope's visit to Mexico, the families of female murder victims are asking whether femicide will be addressed by the Pontifex. The government of one Mexican state, Jalisco, issued a "gender alert" on Monday after it was revealed that at least eight of its municipalities have reported an increase in femicide over the past four years. It is a prevalent issue in Mexico, and one that many women hope will be tackled by Pope Francis. "We deserve that the pope makes a statement about femicides," said Maria Antonia Marquez, the mother of a femicide victim. If he doesn't, it will be "one more that does not listen to us, dead or alive... it's like we are second-class citizens." Marquez's daughter was killed in 2004. Just two days before, Marquez had received a call from her 23-year-old daughter who said she was planning to leave her abusive husband. "Everything will be all right. I will still find the love of my life," she said. However, two days later, she was murdered. Her two children watched as she was strangled to death, according to Buzzfeed. Femicide is a technical term that not all female murder victims fall into the bracket of. It refers to the murder of a woman because of their gender. For a woman's death to be considered femicide, one of the following must have happened: the victim was isolated before her death, she was sexually abused or her body was left in a public place. Since 2010, there have been 922 cases of femicide just in the state in which Marquez lived. Violence is high on the Pope's agenda, said Monsignor Eugenio Lira, who will coordinate the Papal visit. However, it is unlikely that femicide will be touched on specifically because "other people who have suffered other forms of violence will feel excluded, like they are not taken into consideration." However, activist groups are fighting for its explicit inclusion. They argue that Francis has a responsibility to address it, because "the one who has not recognized, who makes invisible, who has not made a statement, who has in a way been an accomplice, is the Catholic hierarchy in Mexico," Ana Yeli Perez, a legal adviser to the National Citizen's Observatory on Femicide said. The visit is an opportunity for Pope Francis to show that he does not shy away from big issues, Jose Barba, the head of a group of former Legionaries of Christ who were sexually abused by a priest, added. "If the Pope doesn't talk about the dead women of Juarez it means that intentionally, definitely, he doesn't see it as productive," said Barba. "It's too much of a hot potato." The National Citizen Femicide Observatory said that at least seven women are killed every day in Mexico. Return from the 'dead': Woman attends own 'funeral,' shocking her husband who wanted her killed With the help of her pastor, Noela Rukundo flew back from her home country, Burundi, to Melbourne, Australia to attend a funeralher own funeral. As she approached the place where she was supposed to be buried, Rukundo spotted her husband, Belenga Kalala, who was, as expected, shocked to see her. His surprise, however, was not borne out of longing for his wife. He was, in fact, the one who wanted Rukundo dead. "Surprise! I'm still alive!" Rukundo recalled telling her horrified husband, as quoted by The Washington Post. "I felt like somebody who had risen again," she added. Rukundo would have been really dead, if not for the compassion of the three hitmen hired by her husband to kill her. Kalala supposedly paid $7,000 Australian dollars to the three men to kill his wife while attending her stepmother's funeral in Burundi. He wanted her dead on suspicion that she was going to leave him for another man. Rukundo recalled being snatched by the hitmen outside her hotel in Burundi. She was blindfolded and taken to an unknown building by her captors, where she was tied to a chair and questioned by the gunmen. One of the men hired to kill her asked, "You woman, what did you do for this man to pay us to kill you?" "What are you talking about?" Rukundo asked, puzzled. "Balenga sent us to kill you," her captor revealed. Kalala thought that they were lying, until she heard the voice of her own husband over the phone giving this order: "Kill her." Upon hearing this, Kalala fainted. "I knew he was a violent man," Rukundo said in a separate interview with BBC. "But I didn't believe he can kill me." Much to her surprise when she woke up, she was still with her captors. They said they spared her life because they didn't believe in killing women, and because they knew her brother. Two days after this incident, she was released by her captors, who even handed her a cell phone and phone recordings to prove that it was indeed her husband who paid for her to be killed. US churches defy federal law and offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants Churches across America are offering sanctuary to illegal immigrants facing deportation in the wake of recent federal immigration raids. At least fifty churches in the country have vowed to provide shelter from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Noel Anderson from the Church World Service group for refugees. This resurgence in the sanctuary movement comes after more than 100 people from Guatamala, El Salvador and Honduras who had entered the US and stayed illegally were detained following federal immigration raids run by ICE. Increased gang violence in these Central American regions has led to increasing numbers of people crossing the border illegally and seeking sanctuary. This has motivated church leaders to defy federal law and offer physical protection to immigrants on their premises. "We are willing to fight this tooth and nail," Rev Fred Morris, who leads North Hills United Methodist Church, told the LA Times. "If ICE wants to come get them, they're going to have to break down the church door." Morris survived detention and torture in Brazil during its military dictatorship in 1974 and knows firsthand the horrors of violence in Latin America. His congregation is one among at least three churches in LA to offer refuge to Central Americans with deportation orders. The latest immigration raids were the "tipping point", according to Alexia Salvatierra, a Lutheran pastor based in LA. "It was basta enough," she said, summing up her community's feeling toward the raids. According to the Church World Service group for refugees, these raids violate human rights when they are used as a scare tactic against the immigrant community and when they deport thousands of Central American refugees back to the gang violence they were escaping. Anderson said he had received "at least a dozen requests" in the week following the raids. The modern sanctuary movement began in the 1980s when churches across the US provided sanctuary for Guatamalans and Salvadorans fleeing civil war. A church cannot legally offer sanctuary from federal immigration officials, however ICE has held an unofficial policy that it avoids entering public schools, hospitals and churches. US judge again denies Texas request to ban Syrian refugees A US judge denied for the second time a request by Texas to bar relief agencies from bringing Syrian refugees into the state, a decision that could have a bearing on the attempts of 30 other governors to block refugees from their states. US District Judge David Godbey said the Republican leaders who have fought the resettlement have not shown Texas would suffer irreparable harm. The same judge rejected in December the state's request for a restraining order saying the evidence presented was "largely speculative hearsay." "The Court does not deny that the Syrian refugees pose some risk. That would be foolish," Godbey wrote in the decision. "In our country, however, it is the federal executive that is charged with assessing and mitigating that risk, not the states and not the courts." Democratic President Barack Obama has pledged to take in 10,000 people fleeing war-torn Syria and has so far admitted 2,000 refugees. Europe is dealing with millions of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa. After the Paris attacks in November, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, was one of the first of more than 30 US governors who are seeking to block the resettlement of Syrians into their states. Some legislators fear that Islamic State, which claimed credit for the Paris attacks, will hide militants intent on carrying out more killings among the influx of refugees entering the United States. The federal government has tightened visa waiver rules for visitors following the attacks in France that killed 130 people and immigration has become a flashpoint in the November presidential election in America. Since the fiscal year 2011, 243 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas, a US court filing in December said, making the state one of the main US relocation sites since the Syrian civil war erupted about five years ago. Since Obama took office in January 2009, the most populous Republican-controlled state has filed suit against his administration 39 times on issues ranging from immigration to the environment to abortion. Although gator wasn't on the menu, it didn't prevent one from making an appearance inside a Florida Wendy's. A Jupiter man threw a three-and-a-half-foot gator through a Royal Palm Beach restaurant's drive-thru window, according to the Palm Beach Post. NEW YORK (AP) An attorney for DMX said the rapper has recovered after he was resuscitated by police outside Yonkers, New York hotel on Monday. Murray Richman said Tuesday that the artist, whose given name is Earl Simmons, is out of the hospital. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Houston rapper Bun B has taken on a new calling: political correspondent. This past week the founding member of influential rap duo UGK and unofficial mayor of Houston flew to New Hampshire to report on the presidential primary in that state for Vice. His primary coverage leads off with a photo of him and Chris Christie, with the New jersey governors arm around Bun. The self-made trillionaire is no stranger to Vice, last appearing in a video profile filmed in December over the Day for Night Festival weekend. Bun takes Vice to House of Pies. Bun even got to see evergreen presidential candidate Vermin Supreme in person, which makes us pretty jealous. In his latest dispatch, Bun almost gets to see Donald Trump talk before an Elks Lodge crowd. I've never been in an Elks Lodge before. Hell, I don't even know what an Elk is or means, he writes. RELATED: Bun B endorses Bernie Sanders Bun and other members of the assembled press cant get into the lodge because its way beyond capacity. I really wanted to see the modern-day New York version of Barney Rubble stand next to Fred and the boys while speaking to the Royal Order of Water Buffaloes, he laments. While traveling through snowy, cold New Hampshire the rapper/reporter spies a house with a number of Bernie Sanders signs out front. The house next door has both the American and Confederate flags on a pole out front. These neighbors obviously don't borrow sugar from each other, he writes. Maybe New Hampshire is a lot more, um, diverse than Texans would imagine. This past Monday night Bun finally gets to see Trump in action at a rally, hours before New Hampshire are to go to the polls. The energy in the room cannot be denied. Trump, the Medicine Man, has come to town and the people have come out in scores for a taste of his snake oil, writes Bun. The whole rally rubs Bun the wrong way, as he writes that security staff on site look at him and other black attendees as potential protesters. Hes there when Trump calls his political foe Ted Cruz a naughty word and thats about enough for Bun it seems. This isn't politics. This isn't making America great. This is truly a circus, Bun writes. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A man who was trying to stay warm in the chilly weather overnight died early Tuesday morning when flames ripped through a trailer where he was sleeping outside a home in southeast Houston. The one-alarm fire broke out about 2:30 a.m. in the 6000 block of Westover near South Wayside, said Deputy Chief Herman Gonzales of the Houston Fire Department. When firefighters arrived they found smoke and flames coming from the travel trailer. They quickly put out the fire, but the residents of the home told them about a man who was staying inside the trailer. Firefighters discovered him in the burned trailer. He died at the scene. His name has not been released. The flames did not spread to the home and no other injuries were reported. Gonzales said residents in the house told firefighters the man was a friend and they had let him stay in the trailer overnight to escape the cold temperatures. The mercury dipped to the lower 40s overnight and a northwest wind swept through the Houston region, according to the National Weather Service. "He needed a place to sleep tonight to get out of the cold," Gonzales said. Tomorow Reaux said she was driving in front of the home when she saw the flames. She stopped, called 911 and pounded on the door to the house to alert the residents. She said she didn't know the man was inside the trailer. "I wish we could've helped save him," said Reaux, who said she knew the victim as a friend. "But I'm glad we were able to save the rest of the family." Reaux said the man was known in the neighborhood and was a fun-loving person. A resident in the home, Tonya Cooper, said the man was a family friend. She said her brother-in-law had let him stay in the trailer for the night. When they saw the fire, they tried to get into the trailer to help him but she said the flames were heavy and forced them back. "It's sad," Cooper said. "I'm sorry for what happened to him." Arson investigators are trying to determine what sparked the blaze, Gonzales said. An electrical cord stretched from the house to the trailer and a space heater was inside the trailer. But investigators are uncertain if they played a role in the fire. Using funds from a 2014 bond package, the city of Seabrook is moving forward with construction projects for new facilities, including a public works complex and an animal shelter with an adoption center. Other projects funded through the $8.55 million bond package will include a fiber optic network for city facilities, the second of two splash pads and purchase of a new fire engine. Bidding is expected this month on the public-works complex, which replaces the current one on 2101 Humble Drive just off Texas 146. City officials expect construction on the new facility, which will be off the corner of Red Bluff Road and Park Drive, to be complete by early 2017. The bond package is part of the city's effort to address aging facilities. "Some city structures are older than 40 years old; they're in poor condition," said LeaAnn Dearman, Seabrook's director of communications, "That can lead to security concerns, too." Dearman said the current animal shelter, which is housed in the same building as the public works complex, has only one entrance in which members of the public have to go past a security desk, hindering access to those potentially wanting to adopt animals. Having an adoption center is something that is important to many Seabrook residents, Dearman said. The facility also has outdated security cameras that will be replaced, she said. Together, the animal shelter and the public works complex will cost $6.85 million. "There are things citizens want and need, which helps the community and brings them together," Dearman said. The first splash pad, the Pelican Bay Splash Pad, was upgraded in July, also using money from the bond package, after nearby residents complained about its condition. City Manager Gayle Cook said residents west of Texas 146 wanted their own recreational water feature, which lead to the Monroe Fields Splash Pad at Brummerhop Park which will be completed this month. The total cost for that project is $450,000. "Council examined city amenities and wanted to prioritize sectors with young families," Cook said. "It allows us to add to our parks and extensive trails network." Dearman said the city is 95 percent complete in laying the fiber optic network that will connect the new public works complex/animal shelter to City Hall and other city facilities. She said the $525,000 network will greatly improve network security and reduce telephone and connectivity costs for the city. "After Hurricane Ike, the city hall building flooded and you couldn't work there. You had to work from the parking lot for city hall's network," Dearman said. "These improvements allow the city to operate from multiple locations if necessary." The final aspect of the package is a new fire engine for the Seabrook Volunteer Fire Department. It's being manufactured and will be complete in spring at a cost of $725,000. The new engine will replace one purchased in 1993 that Dearman said will provide the department with a backup. Northwest Harris County has lacked a cost-free program to help victims of sexual assault, with the closest nonprofit help for victims in Humble or Montgomery County. Northwest Assistance Ministries is working to change that by using a state grant to implement such a program, said Sheryl Johnson, director of NAM's Family Violence Center. The center will run the program when it launches March 1. NAM already receives calls from victims of sexual assault, but restrictions on another grant that funds the center had previously limited that aid to matters related to domestic violence. Otherwise, NAM must refer victims to one of the eight nonprofit centers in the region that help sexual assault victims. "The problem with services for victims of sexual assault is that they're extremely limited," Johnson said. "There's only eight in the region - between The Woodlands and Galveston, Waller and Humble. For a city the size of Houston, that's an extremely limited number of shelters and beds and services. We want to help fill that gap." More Information Need help? Here are ways to reach the Northwest Assistance Ministries' Family Violence Center: Website: namonline.org/get-help/family-violence-center/ 24-hour hot line: 281-885-HOPE Toll-free phone number: 1-888-750-HOPE See More Collapse For some residents, traveling so far outside the area is difficult. "That is a huge geographic distance for someone who has limited transportation or no transportation," Johnson said. "Not only for the initial level of intervention, but many are in need of support services such as a weekly counseling sessions." There is for-profit help for victims in northwest Harris County, but not any free option, Johnson said. "There are private practitioners, private therapists and of course law enforcement and medical facilities here, but in terms of those support services available without cost to the average citizen, there isn't any out here." With the state grant, which is just under $50,000, NAM will begin the program by hiring one staff member. The nonprofit will offer a graduated level of services as the program takes off, starting initially with community education and awareness and a hot line for victims. "The ultimate goal is to do hospital accompaniments - a certified individual who will be able to stay with them and assist them with that process," Johnson said. "And hopefully, accompany them to court as well, assist them with the entire process." The program is much needed in the region, said Rebecca Landes, vice president of program services at NAM. "What we've realized is there's not a component in northwest Harris County that has services for victims of sexual assault," Landes said. "It's a very specialized service and important to support those individual needs. It's best to have a staff member who can meet someone at hospital when going in for medical care and support them and guide them." NAM's service area, by ZIP code, is about the same size as the city of Austin. "If you think of the size of Austin not being able to provide sexual assault services, that is pretty amazing," Johnson said. "How many individuals have become victimized in this way and because of how far flung the services are maybe aren't seeking services at all? Or report it and then find out there's no place to go?" And many victims, if not helped, become victimized again, she said. "We have lots of clients who have been victimized on more than one occasion," Johnson said. "If there isn't some amount of physical healing and emotional healing that leaves them open to possibly more abuse. We feel very strongly that both victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault deserve to have help so they can start to heal." Plans to add two lanes to Texas 6 through part of Sugar Land have been slowed because the project's effects on more than 44 commercial properties and 65 commercial signs. "The original date to let the contract for construction was August 2016," Assistant City Engineer Tim Jahn told City Council on Feb. 2. "The Texas Department of Transportation and Houston Galveston Area Council have requested that funding be moved into fiscal year 2017 due to the time needed to reacquire right-of-way." The widening project includes adding two through lanes from Brooks Street to Lexington Boulevard as well as left turn lanes at specific points. The project is anticipated to cost $7.6 million, which includes construction and right-of-way acquisition. Jahn said Fort Bend County will kick in $1.4 million, and TxDOT another $3.6 million. The city will cover the remainder. TxDOT will award the construction contract and manage the project and the city will have inspectors monitoring it. Although the target date to award a contract has been pushed back to June 2017, "if we get the right-of-way work done more quickly, we can move forward. It is going to be intense. This is a high-priority project," Jahn said. Once appraisals are completed for the right-of-way acquisition, which includes parcels that range from 7 to 15 feet wide, purchase of the property will require about six months, he said. Costs for sign relocation are included in the current construction totals. If right-of-way acquisition pushes the total costs higher after negotiations with property owners or if properties must be acquired through condemnation, the city would bear the burden of the increase because funding from the county and TxDOT are capped. But Jahn said of the city's most recent property acquisitions, which were unrelated to the Texas 6 project, only two of 20 required condemnation proceedings. City staff told the council last July that construction is expected to take 18 months after it starts. In addition to relieving traffic congestion, the project aims to align lanes to address poor sight distances now caused by curves and intersections, city spokesman Doug Adolph said. The city has set a high priority for the project since Texas 6 is a major arterial road which provides connectivity throughout the county. The work will include installation of 3,600 square feet of 5-foot-wide sidewalks along the route. Councilman Steve Porter asked city staff members if landscaping on the project's route would be restored. Jahn and City Engineer Chris Steubing said that isn't included in the project and that funding sources for that work would have to be identified later. Stuebing said no medians would be affected by the expansion since the through lanes will be added to the outside of the roadway. More information about the project is at sugarlandtx.gov. Select "Meeting Agendas" under the "Government" tab on the home page. Next, click "Fiscal Year 2016 archives" and then the link for the Feb. 2 council meeting. Scroll to find Jahn's workshop presentation. Plans for a new post office drop-box location in Missouri City are in the works. Missouri City has one full-service post office at 1902 Texas Parkway. A mail-distribution facility run by the United States Postal Service on Glenn Lakes Lane does not offer any additional services. It's not possible to buy stamps, mail a package or drop off mail at the Glenn Lakes location. That may change in 2017. While the Glenn Lakes facility will still continue its current function, city officials are working with the postal service to add a mail drop box and driveway to provide additional service for a growing part of the city. Glenn Lakes Lane is near Riverstone and Sienna Plantation, both large, growing developments. Discussion has centered on placing the box and driveway on postal service property on Glenn Lakes Lane or perhaps on the shopping center property across the road. The city has committed up to $26,000 to the project and in a recent meeting authorized City Manager Anthony Snipes to continue working with the postal service. "It should be the post office's responsibility to serve a growing city," City Councilman Anthony Maroulis said during a recent council special session when the drop-box project issue was raised. "We should push them to grow with us." There are no plans to build a second post office in Missouri City or remodel the city's current post office, said McKinney Boyd, communications programs specialist for the postal service. But Boyd confirmed there will be a new mail drop box. The project is expected to be completed in 2017, Boyd said. A more specific timeline will be provided to the city when the postal service's budget for fiscal year 2017 is approved, Boyd said. In rapidly growing cities, the postal service partners with local businesses to offer additional services. Missouri City Allen Owen said that Missouri City needs more postal services. "They should be thinking about plans to put a post office in (Sienna Plantation) and take advantage of the growth over there," said Mayor Allen Owen. Missouri City Council member Jerry Wyatt said he could buy stamps at Kroger or a number of other businesses. "Any kind of convenience will help," Wyatt said. "I don't think that will hurt a thing." Prompted by local parents, a public charter school promising academic rigor and a focus on languages for children in kindergarten through eighth grade is planned for Katy. International Leadership of Texas announced it will open a school in August on the northwest corner of Franz and Porter roads, said Eddie Conger, ILT's superintendent and founder. Plans for the K-8 school as well as for another opening next fall in Houston's Westpark area signal the coming of ILT to the Houston area. The group plans to add a high school next year that would be near both K-8 schools. In addition to English, students will be taught Spanish and Mandarin with a focus on leadership. "Many parents are very interested in the international prospective that we are trying to teach," ILT spokesman Jim Croswell said. Construction of the Katy school is estimated to cost between $23 million and $25 million, according to an ILT press release. The 90,000-square-foot facility aims to serve an enrollment of about 1,400, Croswell said. "Our schools have opened at full capacity," Conger said. "The parents know or feel their children will have a top educational opportunity, a new facility, learn three languages as well as leadership skills. Parents are flocking to our mission statement, 'Others Before Self.' Our emphasis is in servant leadership." Katy parents Sandra Warner, Nancy Salazar and Manya Leach were searching for such an educational program for their children. After searching the Internet, the three found ILT, which has schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and they traveled to Dallas to meet Conger, who gave them a tour of the schools. The meeting with the parents led ILT, which had been looking to expand, to pick Katy as a site to establish a school. ILT schools offer classes in kindergarten through eighth grade in Garland, Arlington and Keller. The three campuses have a combined enrollment this school year of just over 5,000, Conger said. "We do have some freedom from some of the regulations that traditional school districts have, but students don't pay tuition," Conger said. Students pay for lunches unless they are on the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. "They pay for their uniforms, and for books fourth grade and above," Conger said. "Parents bring and pick up their children; there are no school buses." After enrollment fills, ILT will conduct a lottery in which slots would be filled as openings became available, Croswell said. Leach said her son attends an elementary school in Katy ISD where he is in a language-immersion program in which he also learns Spanish. That approach combines students from two language groups for instruction where half of the class is comprised of fluent English speakers and the other half of students are fluent in Spanish, Leach said. Students learn academic content through both languages. After unsuccessfully approaching Katy ISD with a request to extend the program to higher grade levels, the three parents began searching the Internet and found ILT, Warner said. "Katy ISD benefits from great reputation, but when it comes to specialized teaching, at least language courses, it has so much room to grow and is not currently meeting that need that many parents want here and that schools like ILTCS offer," Warner said. "It's also nice to have (private or charter) schools because they're smaller in size. It has more opportunities and structure." Attempts to reach Katy ISD for information on its language immersion program were unsuccessful by press time. Financing to build ILT schools is provided through Boise, Idaho investors Jason Kotter and Ryan Van Alfen. "They find a charter they believe in, and they spend their private money to buy the land and build. We are kind of on a lease-to-own arrangement," Conger said. The builder for the Katy school is Arizona-based Vector Construction, and the architectural firm is Boise, Idaho-based BRS Architecture. The school is responsible for hiring staff members and the other financial obligations, Conger said. The state gives about $7,800 per student a year to charter schools, he said. "We are 94 percent funded through (the Texas Education Agency), directly related to the students and the demographics of the students," Conger said. Warner is enthusiastic. "My daughter will graduate knowing three languages, English, Spanish and Mandarin, which will serve her well in her future life," she said. For more information, visit www.ilTexas.org or visit "IL Texas Katy K8" on Facebook. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut caught the attention of every public school district in the nation, including Katy ISD. Since 2013, the school district has added staff to its police department and security forces. Training staff on safety and security also became a focus after the Sandy Hook incident, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults. "Katy ISD has participated in national school security efforts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Connecticut school safety efforts following Sandy Hook," district Police Chief Robert Jinks said in a statement. "We are constantly evaluating and updating systems with the goal of placing many layers of security between those who would cause harm and our students." Established in 1989, the district's police force patrols around the clock, with primary focuses on protecting students and enforcing school laws. At least one officer is assigned to each high school, and all 60 campuses have roaming officers that patrol throughout the day, according to district officials. As the district prepares to add three campuses in August, it plans to assign a security guard to the new junior high and several patrol officers at the other two new campuses, both elementary schools. The district has 53 total officers and 47 security guards. The district also is committed to putting vestibules in schools. Those are chambers next to school entrances that serve to safeguard against intruders. To enter a Katy school, visitors must pass by the front office and sign in. Vestibules have a line of doors that block access to the rest of the school. Those doors are typically locked until someone in the office clears an individual to walk through. Vestibules have been constructed at new district campuses since 2003 and were installed at older campuses after a 2010 bond referendum. The district is upgrading some vestibules with added locks and other safety features, according to district spokeswoman Denisse Coffman. She would not specify how much the vestibules cost and did not have immediate information on how much the district has spent on safety in recent years. But district safety training has not been as strong in recent years, said Diane Wilson, who retired as a Katy ISD teacher in the summer of 2015 after 28 years at the district. "After Sandy Hook, the district had a lot of training to show us how to protect ourselves and our children," she said. "But I noticed before I left that they got a little relaxed with the training since there's been no big incident. "What we need to do is continue to have better and more training for teachers because, even at Katy, a lot of new teachers come in and don't know how to protect their kids in certain situations," added Wilson, who is president of the Association of Texas Professional Educators' Katy chapter and whose granddaughter attends WoodCreek Junior High School. The district has trained all staff members to report any unknown person they see on campus, Jinks said. Security has increased in recent years at campuses, he said. Video surveillance and outside supervision of students by staff has been in place for years. Information regarding if intruder incidents have occurred was unavailable. In neighboring Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, another fast-growth district, vestibules and other physical protection have been added at 35 of 85 campuses since Sandy Hook, according to Roy Sprague, that district's associate superintendent of facilities, construction and support services. He said staff there have received some safety training and safety policies are in place. Cy-Fair ISD has spent $55 million in physical safety structures since 2014 but much less on staff training. Physical protection, such as vestibules, has been pushed at many school districts nationwide, according to Kenneth Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services, but he said that's not what's most important in safeguarding schools. "One of the things that we saw after Sandy Hook is a tunnel vision for active shooter incidents and not for day-to-day safety incidents," Trump said. "The vestibules, the access controls - all of those are good practices and have been implemented a lot, but we have to balance out the hardware and technology with the people side of things. We have to train staff on certain procedures like dealing with angry individuals and practicing for hypothetical situations. "Schools that have greater financial resources like Katy have an advantage, but even some are not doing enough training because it's difficult to get staff commitment." Katy's safety systems are examined often, according to Jinks. Trump predicts that districts will continue prioritizing physical protection such as cameras and locks as gun violence continues, but he advises entities to invest more in training and security personnel. For now, Katy district officials are focused on completing each school opening in the fall - finishing paint jobs, installing computers - but they're also planning safety measures for the new campuses. The schools opening in August include the district's 38th elementary on Westridge Creek Lane, the 39th elementary on East Ventana Parkway and junior high No. 14 on Hawks Prairie Boulevard. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Conroe police say an officer shot and wounded a suspected shoplifter in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store Monday - the second officer-related shooting of someone suspected of taking merchandise from a city Wal-Mart store in less than three years. The suspect, 36-year-old Christopher Fillmore, was treated at a local hospital for the wound and then returned to police custody, authorities said. Fillmore has been charged with aggravated robbery, police said. The officer's name was not released. The incident, which remains under investigation, occurred at around noon in the middle of the Wal-Mart parking lot on Texas 105. According to investigators, Fillmore was observed concealing several items of merchandise and then leaving the store when a Wal-Mart employee attempted to stop him. Investigators did not say what merchandise was recovered. Sgt. Dorcy McGinnis of the Conroe police said Fillmore pulled away from the loss-prevention employee and then displayed what appeared to be a handgun and pointed it at the employee. The weapon was later determined to be an "air soft" BB gun, she said. A Conroe police officer who responded to the incident feared for the safety of the Wal-Mart employee and other citizens in the busy parking lot and fired one shot, wounding the suspect in his left shoulder. "No one else was injured," she said. Fillmore has convictions dating to 1977 for various offenses including home burglaries, thefts and illegal drug possession, public records show. The first shooting of an alleged shoplifter - which was fatal - occurred on July 31, 2013, at a Wal-Mart off North Loop 336 in Conroe. Conroe police Sgt. Jason Blackwelder was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years probation. He also forfeited his peace officer license. In that case, the accused shoplifter, 19-year-old Russell Rios, was unarmed. Authorities said Rios had fled after taking $50 in merchandise from the store and was pursued by Blackwelder, a six-year veteran of the Conroe force who was off-duty at the time. Blackwelder said he'd feared for his life when the suspect placed him in a choke hold. However, authorities said forensic evidence showed Blackwelder had been on top of Rios with his gun pressed against his body when Rios was shot in the back of the head. Rios' mother, Jacqueline, screamed that her son had received "no justice" and the family has filed a civil suit seeking damages. The officer's mother, Nancy, accused prosecutors of trying to "destroy" her son, a public servant. McGinnis could not be reached for further comment on police procedure in this case. Montgomery County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a man Saturday after he was caught attempting to rob a bank in The Woodlands. Shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday, a deputy responding to an alarm that was set off at the Amegy Bank on Research Forest Drive near Gosling Road saw a man leaving the building pushing a chair on rollers that appeared to have an object on it covered by a coat, according to sheriff's office reports. The deputy then approached the man and asked him to identify himself. Initially, the man provided what turned out to be a false name. He then tried to flee on foot, but was caught and detained. An investigation suggested that the man had entered the building using a key card and had pried open teller drawers to steal an undisclosed amount of money. The man was ultimately identified as 59 year-old Rodney Dale Carroll. After a four-year legal battle between The Woodlands Development Co. and dozens of Woodlands homeowners who say their houses were negligently built on active fault lines, a Harris County judge ruled in the favor of the developer late last month. The class action lawsuit was dismissed based on the statute of repose, which limits how much time can pass from when the houses were built to when the lawsuits were filed. The 42 homes involved in the case were built in the 1990s and early 2000s. While there are exceptions for situations where the developer knowingly and fraudulently concealed information - such as an active fault line - the judge ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to say that The Woodlands Development Co. did so, according to court documents. The legal battle started when Gordy Bunch, a member of The Woodlands' governing board, blamed The Woodlands Development Co. for negligently allowing his $1.5 million home in the gated Carlton Woods subdivision to be built on surface fault lines that move about a quarter-inch to a half-inch per year, according to geologists hired by the plaintiffs. A crack ran through his driveway and into the backyard, draining the pool, Bunch said. At one point, the drain pipe to the tub in an upstairs bathroom dislodged, sending water pouring through the floor into the kitchen downstairs, he said. Bunch's house is now valued at $200,000, according to Montgomery Central Appraisal District records. In subsequent years, Bunch was joined by 41 other households with similar complaints: cracked walls, slanted floors, broken windows. One homeowner said part of his home had risen more than six inches, making it so that a ball placed on the floor would roll to the other side of the house. The Woodlands Development Co., however, maintained that the plaintiffs' claims were without merit. It argued that the company had hired a geologist to study the land prior to allowing development and received information that it was safe to proceed with building on the land. When presenting their case, the homeowners' attorneys pointed to the testimonies of geologists they hired who said their inspection of geological data found that an active fault line, the Big Barn line, ran through The Woodlands - right beneath Bunch's house. A study conducted by Fugro Consultants Inc., a geotechnical engineering company, for the San Jacinto River Authority in 2012, when the authority was preparing to lay water pipeline through the community, identified three fault lines running through the area. The consultants found cracked pavement they say indicates active surface fault lines on Cochran's Crossing Drive, Research Forest Drive, Bear Branch Lane and Texas 242, according to the consultant's report. The report noted that the authority's switch from using groundwater to surface water could slow the movement of the fault. The plaintiffs argued that a letter sent by Fugro Consultants to the developers in 1993 warned that it was "highly likely that a geological fault" passed through Cochran's Crossing before they built properties on the land. The developer stated that it had already conducted geological studies on the area and found the warning to lack evidence, according to court documents. Judge Randy Wilson dismissed all cases against the development company last month. He also ruled that the plaintiffs would be responsible for paying the developer's court costs. "We are pleased with the favorable summary judgement in which all of the plaintiffs' claims were dismissed based upon multiple grounds. We believe that the court's decision in this case was the correct one, and that, should the plaintiffs choose to appeal this decision, their appeal will be denied," said Caryn Kboudi, a spokesperson for the development company. "Moreover, we believe the evidence demonstrated that no residence in The Woodlands ever has been built on a fault line, knowingly or otherwise. Now, we look forward to continuing our good work in the community," Kboudi added. Still, Bunch's Houston-based lawyer, Paul Francis, said that the plaintiffs' homes have sustained more damage since the suit was originally filed in 2012. "We are considering all available options," said Geoff Binney, the plaintiffs' Woodlands-based attorney. An appeal must be filed within 30 days of the Jan. 21 judgement. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A former prosecutor who used false testimony and withheld evidence to send a now-exonerated man to Texas' death row has lost an appeal to overturn his disbarment. The Dallas Morning News reports that the Board of Disciplinary Appeals on Monday upheld the decision of the State Bar of Texas to disbar Charles Sebesta. The board's decision is final. Harris County leaders plan to take sides in a Galveston County power battle that has pitted its commissioners against judges. Harris County commissioners voted on Tuesday to file a friend of the court brief in support of their Galveston peers, who tried to re-assert control over court administration. The courts are one of many departments whose budgets the commissioners oversee. The legal wrangling stemmed from a personnel matter and a question over who had the power to fire an employee and to set that employee's salary. State District Judge Lonnie Cox, an administrative court judge in Galveston, filed suit against the county's commissioners court over the firing of a court administrator, Bonita "Bonnie" Quiroga. Cox ordered Quiroga's dismissal to be overturned. Cox and his fellow judges said Commissioners Court had threatened the independence of the judiciary. the commissioners argued, in turn, that the judges had stomped on commissioners' legislative authority. In addition, Galveston commissioners determined it was within their authority to rehire Quiroga at a significantly lower pay grade, since they controlled the purse strings. A visiting judge overseeing the matter in court ruled in December that Quiroga should remain on staff at the higher salary. The commissioners court filed a petition Friday for review with the Texas Supreme Court on the matter. Harris County chose to weigh in in a show of solidarity for the separation of governmental branches. Robert Soard, first assistant Harris County attorney, said, "We want the Supreme Court to uphold the authority of the commissioners so there's not a change in the balance of power." Soard said the Galveston judges' argument calls into question some of the core functions of a commissioners court. "One of their core functions is to set the budget," he said. Harris County's brief, which has yet to be drafted, will back the position of one of the dissenting judges on the First Court of Appeals, who wrote that the judges and the commissioners court are equal branches of government but they have a duty to protect one another. "There's a saying that you don't want bad facts making bad law," Soard said. We don't want those bad facts to create some law that changes how we do things in Harris County." A group of NASA employees is crying foul, accusing the Johnson Space Center of censoring the use of the name of Jesus to promote a praise and worship meeting group in a daily email newsletter. Fox News Todd Starnes first reported on the complaint which was lodged by the Liberty Institute on behalf of the JSC Praise and Worship Club. On its official webpage the Liberty Institute, one of the most notable religious liberty law firms existing, laid out some details of the clubs complaint. The club says that in late May 2015 they were told by JSCs legal team that they were no longer allowed to use the name Jesus in their newsletter statements, with attorneys saying that the name was termed as sectarian. The email newsletter covers a combination of work, professional, civic, and social news around the space center. According to the institute the club submitted this message for inclusion in that newsletter. They hadnt been told previously that the name Jesus would be prohibited. Join with the praise and worship band "Allied with the Lord" for a refreshing set of spring praise and worship songs on Thursday, June 4, from 11:15 a.m. to noon in Building 57, Room 106. (The theme for this session will be "Jesus is our life!") Prayer partners will be available for anyone who has need. All JSC civil servants and contractors are welcome. The Liberty Institute says that NASA didnt want to make anyone think that they were endorsing Christianity over other religions and non-religion that may exist. The institute listed the many times that NASA employees had invoked the name of God, Jesus, or recited scripture during previous space exploration. On Tuesday a NASA representative, Kelly Humphries, offered up a statement on the incident. NASA does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications. The agency allows a host of employee-led civic, professional, religious and other organizations to meet on NASA property on employees own time. Consistent with federal law, NASA attempts to balance employees rights to freely exercise religious beliefs with its obligation to ensure there is no government endorsement of religion. We believe in and encourage open and diverse dialogue among our employees and across the agency. The praise club has since agreed to follow along with the policy but still appealed to the Liberty Institute. They have been meeting since 2001 at JSC with members meeting on their own time. They continue to meet to this day. Attorneys are asserting that the praise club's constitutional rights are being violated. On Monday a demand letter was sent to NASA representatives on behalf of the group, which can be seen online. Volunteer attorneys from Fish & Richardson based in Dallas appear to handling the affairs of the praise club. Lawyer Carl Bruce is representing the praise club officially. When actress and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash went viral last month with her opinion that there shouldn't be award shows for people of color or a Black History Month, people began to reflect on the importance of both. Dash, who co-starred in "Clueless" and is also African-American, argued that celebrating race only divides people. What started as a fun and tasty way to raise money for charity ended in tragedy over the weekend, reports say. On Saturday, a 58-year-old man in Raleigh, North Carolina, died after complaining of chest pains during the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a race that involves a stop at the famous doughnut shop, the News & Observer in Raleigh reports. Check out the Houston Chronicle's Cruz News each morning for fresh updates from the Houston-based presidential campaign of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. New Hampshire votes The Ted Cruz campaign has little at stake in the nation's second primary vote this evening in New Hampshire. No polls see him winning the tiny New England state with one fourth the population of Greater Houston. But Cruz already cemented his contender status with his Iowa win last week, so he has little to fear. It's the moderate GOP candidates who will need a strong showing Tuesday to prove their viability. The night's weakest performers likely will drop out of the race. When they do, the Cruz campaign will be waiting to swoop in and court former rivals' voter bases and big-dollar backers. Presumably, it will do so with a new found prudence, careful not to repeat last week's widely-publicized mistake, when the Cruz campaign pounced on unfounded rumors and announced to Ben Carson supporters that the doctor had left the race. The numbers A CNN/WMUR poll of New Hampshire voters released Monday gave Donald Trump about a 15 point lead over Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are virtually tied for second within the margin of error at 14 percent and 17 percent respectively. But the first votes in the state bucked that trend; polls opened at midnight in the tiny town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Nine voters favored Ohio Gov. John Kasich 3-2 over Trump, and picked Democrat Bernie Sanders 4-0 over his rival Hillary Clinton. Nationally, Trump still holds a commanding lead for the nomination, according to an NBC/SurveyMonkey poll released Tuesday, but Cruz won a major boost with his win in Iowa. Asked who was most likely to win the nomination, 31 percent of Republican voters polled said Cruz up 10 percent from late January. About 42 percent said Trump, down 20 percent over the same time. Demons and lefties Video spread rapidly online Monday of a New Hampshire Cruz campaign event interrupted by a protester yelling, "He's possessed by a demon," referring to Cruz. Cruz replied with mock confusion saying he thought that "usually lefties don't believe in God." Big money While claiming to lead a grass-roots charge against corrupt Republican Party establishment, Cruz enjoys the backing of four of the nation's six largest political donors, a Politico report found. They are: the North Texas Wilks family and its fracking fortune, New York hedge fund tycoon Bob Mercer, Houston energy investor Tony Neugebauer and Illinois manufacturing moguls Dick and Liz Uihlein. Cruz stood with Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton as the top picks of the 100 top donors, raking in $37 million in big-figure checks. Bush topped that list. His campaign is seen as increasingly likely to fail in New Hampshire or another upcoming early primary. His backers will be the prime target for leading GOP hopefuls. Politico wrote, "On the eve of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, the super PAC allies of Cruz and Rubio are circling like vultures around the megadonors who have supported rival GOP presidential candidates whose campaigns are floundering." Mailer controversy, again A liberal Texas political group filed a formal complaint against the Cruz campaign Monday, claiming that an allegedly deceptive fundraising mailer violated state law. The mailer was made to look like official government mail, but lacked the legally required disclaimer stating that it was not. It also was labeled "check enclose," but contained a fake check made out to the Cruz campaign. Such fundraising techniques are relatively common, but may violate a state law passed last year. It also comes after Cruz took heavy flak for another controversial mailer in Iowa -- a faux citation warning voters of follow-up action for their "voter violation" if they didn't turn out to the state's caucuses. Read the full story in the Houston Chronicle. 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. Un microbuz special a fost transmis de Uniunea Europeana si Fundatia Soros Moldova Centrului de zi pentru copiii cu dizabilitati din Cahul A.O. Scotts new book asserts that criticism is a fundamentally democratic undertaking. Thats a surprisingly populist sentiment coming from one of the two chief film critics at The New York Times. Criticism is surely no longer an oligarchy, where writers can claim a monopoly on taste, nor a dictatorship, where they can control hits and flops. But in the eyes of some, Rotten Tomatoes, Yelp, and other review aggregators spell criticisms descent into mob rule. Democracies, after all, still depend on expertise at the top. Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth, out today, attempts to resolve this issue with what sounds like a riddle: All consumers are critics, Scott writes, and all critics are artists. Its a clever rebuke of anti-intellectualism, which, as Scott notes in the introduction, is virtually our civic religion. Those who resent film snobs, however, will probably be disinclined to read 277 pages of abstract critical theory. In that regard, Scott is preaching to the choir. But the book does seek a middle ground between everyday engagement with the arts and professional scholarship. Its a mystery and a horror to me that people are so blindly trusting of aggregated or dubiously sourced opinion, Scott writes late in the book. Not to mention a personal insult. An alternative, he suggests, is not to be blindly trusting of critics, but to use them to stimulate personal analysis. To say that all consumers are critics is like saying that all voters are political philosophers. Its fundamentally true, but that only reinforces the need for journalists to facilitate discourse. Scotts book is valuable for underscoring why the democratic vitality of criticism mirrors that of politicsmore people participating requires more journalism, not less. Scott spoke with CJR at his newspapers Times Square headquarters. The following is an edited transcript. CJR: You toyed with this book concept about five years ago. What motivated you to follow through with it? Sign up for CJR 's daily email SCOTT: I started the book at a moment when I was feeling that there were a lot of misunderstandings about criticism that I felt needed to be cleared up. Partly it was this idea that were not going to need critics anymore because now we have algorithms and Yelp and everybody can just decide for themselves and do whatever they want and its all cool. There was something bothering me about that and it wasnt just defensive. When Samuel L. Jackson famously tweeted at me after The Avengers, Lets go find A.O. Scott a job he can actually do, I had already started early work on the book, but I thought, What is my job? and also, What does this job in a certain way represent that everyone is doing? Theres this sense of enormous abundance: a thousand movies come out every year, a million hours of television are produced, theres more music than anyone could ever listen to, and I dont even know how you count the number of books that are out there. The question is, how do you deal with that? How do you find meaning and sustenance and pleasure and art and all of the things that you want from these things? I thought that exploring the role of the critic and the nature of criticism would be a way to think about that. Thats kind of the urgency or the presentness of the book: How do we find some kind of equilibrium, some way of not just drowning in it or hiding from it? CJR: You called The Avengers a giant ATM for Marvel and its new studio overlords, the Walt Disney Company. Do you have an added responsibility to push back on Hollywoods commercial excess? SCOTT: I think you have to be careful because you cant prejudge. Especially this last year, there are a lot of big Hollywood commercial movies that I liked a lot. There are plenty of scrappy little independent movies that are terrible. However much it figures in what you write and where you come down, you have to be aware of where things come fromin a sense, what the political economy of these art forms is. In the case of The Avengers, you have to be aware of how something could actually have been a lot better. I felt like with that movie, the more original or playful or fresher ambitions were kind of compromised or blunted by the fact that it had to go out and make $1 billion around the world. Sometimes it works the other way: You see a movie like that and you think, my gosh, that used all of those resources and all of that money to do something fresh and wonderful and accessible and new. Thats true of a lot of the Pixar movies, which are not cheap little indie movies. I see criticism as endless contention and the taking and changing of positions in a nonstop dialogue. CJR: The book evaluates criticism as art and scholarship. What public interest does criticism serve? SCOTT: In some ways its not different than the other forms of journalism we practice [at the Times], which is to present a disinterested and honest account of things that happen in the world. Independence is very, very important, and the thing about criticism that sometimes needs the strongest defensenot just a rhetorical defense, but an institutional defenseis that culture is made by a bunch of different industries: by the art world, by the publishing industry, by the Broadway theaters, by the Hollywood studios. There are enormous commercial interests at stake that are trying very hard to influence public behavior. I dont want this to sound like a very sinister thing, but the job of critics is to offer potential consumers an independent, unbought account of these things. The thing that shadows my optimism sometimes is the encroachment of various kinds of advertising and branded content into the discussion, whether its the way celebrity journalism works, or the way that access is controlled, or just the carpet bombing of the airwaves in the digital space with advertisements and trailers and teasers and all of this stuff meant to manipulate attention. Its important that there be a place where people can go to find an alternative to that. CJR: Do you think the book is accessible to the anti-intellectual crowd that doubts the legitimacy of your position? SCOTT: I think so. I hope so. I very deliberately did not want it to be a very insidery book. There are parts of it that are fairly dense or abstract, and a lot of references to various thinkers or writers or works of art in the past. But I hope those are clear enough that theyre not a barrier. I hope that its not a super heavy book. All of this is very serious. But beauty, truth, art, et cetera are also supposed to be fun. CJR: What about the book did you expect other critics would find provocative? SCOTT: A lot of critics see criticism as the application of standards: that it should be about the identification of the conditions of excellence and judging things on those terms. I see criticism as endless contention and the taking and changing of positions in a nonstop dialogue. My view comes a little more out of pragmatism and the idea that those standards are what were making up as we go along, rather than things that exist outside of us as fixed points of reference. Similarly, there are people who will find my agnostic-to-approving view of the internet and digital cultural to be objectionable. A lot of people see it as a threat, although that position was more in the ascendance when I started the book than it is now. CJR: When you say youre not much of an alarmist about digital transformation, does that relate to the viability of professional criticism, or to the understanding of art more generally? SCOTT: More the latter. I tried throughout this book to distinguish the two. I didnt want to write a book thats a defense of how cool my job is or how important I am. I wanted to make it about how criticism exists in the world and, as the title suggests, improves everybodys life. In terms of the art of criticism and the practice of criticism, theres a great kind of democratic flowering of voices and opinions and some very good writing that has come from non-traditional places, and there are a lot of very good people writing now with some degree of professionalism who kind of self-started. Thats all very healthy. At the same time, I do worry as a journalist housed in a big traditional media company about the viability of my livelihood and its future. My best friend in this building until he died last year was David Carr, and David taught me a lot about how to look at the rise of digital media and its effect on traditional media. For him it was about getting the story and telling the truth and finding the different platforms that could do it. Sometimes that would be a big daily newspaper and sometimes it would be a bunch of people putting together a blog. Just looking at some of my own younger colleagues and some of my students [Scott teaches at Wesleyan], Im very impressed with that kind of inventive and entrepreneurial spirit. CJR: But does this expanded opportunity to participate in criticism, which is something you seem to be celebrating, diminish your standing? SCOTT: I think its the way you distinguish yourself. I certainly have this platform of The New York Times and thats a very lucky thing in a lot of different ways, but I dont see it as a place where I have a kind of top-down priestly authority. I have to go out into the world and, like everybody else, try to get some attention by writing as well as I can. I think good writing becomes, in a way, rarer and therefore more valuable. People will either like or dislike the movietheres actually a narrow range of opinions that people can havebut theres an infinite variety of ways to express those opinions and make them interesting. CJR: Laura Millers Slate review described your role at the Times as the film critic of record for the nation. Does that affect how you approach the job? SCOTT: That may in some objective way be true, but if I felt like that every time I sat down to write, I would be completely paralyzed or Id be a total asshole, and I hope Im not either of those things. Its one of the reasons I do most of my writing in my house, where Im sitting down just like when I was a freelancer or a graduate studentto figure out what I think. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Danny Funt is a senior editor at The Week and a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow him on Twitter at @dannyfunt Giant earthmoving machines beep and grind as they drop 17-ton scoops of coal ash and dirt into dozens of railroad cars lined up for two-thirds of a mile at a site along the Virginia-North Carolina border, where the countrys largest electricity company was responsible for one of the worst spills of the toxic, liquefied waste in U.S. history. Duke Energy Corp. will ship 1.5 million tons of residue from decades of burning coal for electricity to a contracted landfill about 130 miles away in central Virginia. The utility built 2 miles of railroad track just to connect existing rail lines with the excavation site. Once the contents of the pit roughly a quarter mile from the Dan River are emptied, itll be lined with waterproof material so heavy metals wont filter into water underground or the river. Then it will be refilled with much of the 1.5 million tons of liquefied coal ash taken from two other pits closer to the rivers edge. A burst pipe at one of them triggered the disaster two years ago this week and led officials to re-examine how they plan to cope with similar dangers at basins around the country. The nations cleanup price tag, which utility customers may be asked to pay, already is pushing into the billions. Many who live near coal ash pits fear the waste allows heavy metals to filter into their groundwater, and they say its past time to move the stuff. For the past 10 months, Duke Energy has been providing Deborah Grahams family with bottled water after the state health department warned that her well water near another Duke site was contaminated with toxic heavy metals. We want it fixed, said Graham, who wants the pits dug out and the waste moved from Buck power plant, her neighbor, 40 miles northeast of Charlotte. No one should have to look at their faucet with fear. Coal ash byproducts include arsenic, chromium, lead, and boron. Duke Energys lawyers admit that over the past 90 years, coal ash has tainted groundwater below the unlined basins at its Buck plant, but they deny that it has polluted neighboring water wells like Grahams. The company last year agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations of groundwater pollution at its coal ash pits. Duke Energy also pleaded guilty to criminal violations of federal water pollution laws and agreed to pay $102 million in fines and remediation. More than 230 power plants in 33 of the countrys 48 continental states have coal-ash impoundments, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Utilities in Georgia and Virginia say EPA rules that took effect last year are the reason theyre closing all their coal-ash basins. The tighter standards took years to develop after the countrys largest spill, the 2008 dam collapse at a Tennessee Valley Authority site in Kingston, Tennessee. It destroyed 40 homes and cost more than $1.1 billion over six years to clean up. The rules came out after the Dan River spill pushed North Carolina legislators to force cleanup ahead of the EPA rules. Now that enforcement is coming, utilities can be expected to follow a common industrial practice overstating cleanup costs to pressure lawmakers and rule-makers to tread lightly, said Lisa Evans, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice. Industry will complain that its going to cost millions and millions more dollars to comply with a particular regulation than you actually see once the regulation is in place and the wheels start turning and theres competition and innovation, Evans said. Theres lots of companies competing for the cleanup jobs and the construction of landfills. Meanwhile, South Carolinas three utilities also are moving coal ash from riverside power plants after lawsuits and other pressure by environmentalists. Santee Cooper and SCE&G have said they dont expect to pass on costs to ratepayers, but that could change. Duke Energy, however, said it will seek permission to raise power bills in both Carolinas to pay for the cleanup. The utility set aside about $3.5 billion for expected cleanup costs in the two states, but the EPA rules added $448 million in new liabilities through September, the company said in its most recent earnings report. If that $4 billion were passed on to ratepayers, the average North Carolina household could see electricity prices rise by an average of about $18 a year over 25 years, according to a calculation by accountants for an independent state agency that represents consumers in rate proceedings. North Carolina environmental regulators havent yet decided which sites will be excavated and carted to new, lined burying grounds. Elsewhere, wastewater will be pumped off the pits into nearby rivers before the basins are covered with waterproof liners, soil and grass. But we will do everything we can to keep cost impacts as manageable as possible in any potential cost recovery filing that we might make in the future, Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said in an email. The company said excavating and reburying the coal ash in lined landfills could cost as much as $10 billion. Thats more than Duke Energy spent to scrap a quarter of its coal-burning power capacity and open 10 new natural gas and coal plants in North Carolina, Florida and Indiana since 2009, the company said. It might not cost that much, but its a starting point for understanding the ripple effects of the North Carolina experience with coal ash, which I would argue are indicative of what rest of the country is going to see, said John Daniels, an authority on handling coal ash and chairman of the civil and environmental engineering department at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Graham said she bitterly opposes Duke Energy raising rates to pay for removing what she believes is a threat to her home and family. The customer has already paid for that electricity when they pay the power bill. This is their trash left over, Graham said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. More than half the people killed last year by house fires in Mississippi were in homes without working smoke alarms, the Mississippi State Fire Marshals Office said. Fire Marshal Mike Chaney points said his office investigated 55 fire deaths in 2015, and found that a bit more than half either had no smoke alarm or had non-working smoke alarms. Seven Mississippi State students who survived a fire last week are proof that smoke alarms save lives, he said. Chaney said the alarm in their rented house woke one student about 2:30 a.m., and he woke the others so they all got out safely. Fortunately, the landlord of this house had been proactive and had had the home hard-wired with interconnected smoke alarms. It was a very smart thing to do, said City of Starkville Fire Marshal Mark McCurdy. Had that smoke alarm not worked,. I have no doubt we would have been dealing with multiple fatalities. Chaney said his office works with local fire departments to install smoke alarms in high-risk homes and homes with older adults, children, and people with disabilities. Alarms installed in 27,000 homes include more than 54,000 standard smoke alarms, 209 bed-shaker devices and 75 strobe smoke alarms, he said. He said local fire departments are now teaming with the Red Cross to install more smoke alarms, and anyone in need of a smoke alarm should contact the local fire department. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Stephen Colbert: Will Ferrell, Wild Animal Expert & Megyn Kelly's Trump Feud [WATCH] Last night, the Denver Broncos defeated the Panthers 24 to 10 and to celebrate the event, Stephen Colbert pulled out all the stops for his live post-Super Bowl episode of The Late Show. Possibly the most notable of his guests included Will Ferrell who showed up ready to be The Late Show's official wild animal expert and Fox news reporter Megyn Kelly who discussed her feud with Donald Trump. To the delight of the Colbert audience, Will Ferrell appeared on stage wearing an over-the-top safari outfit. When asked about his outlandish garb, Ferrell explained he felt, the The Late Show could use an animal expert and proceeded to fail miserably at giving it a go. According to Ferrell, each of his wild animal guests are so rare, there is only one of them left in the world. Despite the ridiculous species names Ferrell applied to each of the animals, they were all quite common. A personal favorite was the Mongolian Bush Tiger, which looked suspiciously like a Guinea Pig, named Kayak. Of this creature, Ferrell said, "The Mongolian Tiger could take down a full grown moose." The show was wrapped up with Colbert's Megyn Kelly interview in which he asked if she had anything she would like to refuse to call Donald Trump since the presidentail candidate "refused" to call Kelly a "Bimbo," in a Tweet following the August 6th GOP presidential debate in which she "pushed Trump on his pattern of nasty comments about women," as reported by The Washington Post. I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016 The Hollywood Reporter captured the essence of her response quite well, "The only thing I really wanted to ask him was - he recently said that his supporters are so devoted to him that he could go in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldn't lose a single voter. In response, I want to ask him, 'Were you talking about me?'" She joked that she doesn't visit Fifth Avenue anymore and called the public feud a "surreal experience."" 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TagsThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Will Ferrell, Megyn Kelly Benjamin Millepied to Step Down at Paris Opera Ballet and Return to Los Angeles Benjamin Millepied attends the Berluti Menswear Fall/Winter 2016-2017 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 22, 2016 in Paris, France. (Photo : Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) Mr. Benjamin Millepied is a man of his moral integrity as it's been announced that he will step down as director of dance at the 335-year-old Paris Opera Ballet due to reasons regarding diversity and, perhaps most astoundingly, the company's lack of excellence. A French native, it was reported last Thursday that Mr. Millepied, who hit global headlines when he met his wife, actor Natalie Portman, on the set of her Oscar-winning role in Black Swan, would be resigning from the post after just a year in the position. Succeeding him will be former Paris Opera etoile Aurelie Dupont, who retired last year, but will return to the job when Mr. Millepied leaves in July. But, in an interview with Le Figaro, and also in the documentary Releve, Benjamin Millepied spoke out about his disdain for the company's internal political system and hierarchical system. Also, the choreographer feels the company lacks significant and noticeable diversity. Despite being heralded by French culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, who thanked Mr. Millepied's "commitment to diversity," Millepied was not satisfied with the company's performance of the classics. "I'm waiting to see real excellence. It's not the best classical troupe, but it might be the best contemporary company in the world," he said in the documentary. However, despite the searing remarks about his struggles felt internally within the institution, also is departing to focus on his own work. In hopes of regaining his own freedom and creativity, he feels honored to have served with the company but feels the job is not something he is particularly in need of, His next move upon returning with his wife to L.A. and the L.A. Dance Project is to build the collective into a larger company that would include ballet in its repertoire. 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TagsParis Opera Ballet, Benjamin Millepied STOW, Ohio -- A Stow man admitted to having a sexual relationship with a teenager. Jonathan Crouch, 37, pleaded guilty Thursday to three third-degree misdemeanor counts of sexual imposition. He originally faced five felony charges. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Tammy O'Brien will sentence him March 17. Crouch will be classified as a Tier I sex offender at the sentencing, meaning he must report his address to the county sheriff every year for 15 years. Crouch previously told investigators that he carried on a months-long sexual relationship with the girl, according to court records. The two met while working out at their apartment complex's workout room. The investigation began April 15 when a man reported finding text messages on his daughter's cellphone that referenced another girl having a sexual relationship with an adult. Stow police spoke with the other girl, a 16 year old, who told police that she had sex with Crouch several times. Officers raided Crouch's apartment in the 2000 block of Hidden Lake Drive and seized three cellphones, an Amazon Kindle, two laptop computers, five thumb drives, two external hard drives, a CD and a smart watch. Crouch was an Army recruiter in Barberton at the time, police said. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Avon Lake police arrested two men accused of illegally killing several deer in the city. Adam Petrella, 26, of Avon Lake and Andrew Smith, 25, of Avon face a slew of charges related to deer killings that were not part of the city's deer culling efforts, Lt. Scott Fishburn said. Petrella pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday in Avon Lake Municipal Court. He was released from police custody after he posted a $1,000 bond. A warrant for Smith's arrest was issued Monday, court records show. Detectives identified Petrella and Smith as suspects after a dead deer was found Jan. 2 near the intersection of Redwood Boulevard and Woodstock Drive, Fishburn said. Investigators determined that the deaths were not part of the culling program. Witnesses described a vehicle that was later connected to the pair. Petrella and Smith face both several misdemeanor charges including hunting violations and animal cruelty, court records show. Smith faces an additional charge of shooting a bow within city limits. The Ohio Division of Wildlife is also seeking sanctions and fines for the suspects, police said. Avon Lake officials approved a deer culling program last March to target the city's growing deer problem. City council authorized spending nearly $16,000 to hire sharpshooters, who killed 21 deer in December. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Internships are often seen as opportunities for college students to jump-start promising careers. Many local business and civic leaders believe such internships could also play a key role in helping Greater Cleveland attract and retain college-educated millennials. The first-ever Cleveland Internship Summit will take place Wednesday to begin exploring how internships could become the focal point of a collective effort to attract and retain skilled younger workers to the region. The free event, which takes place 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cleveland State University Student Center, is being held by CSU and the Greater Cleveland Partnership. "The point is that we want to make internships more valuable and to increase the supply," said Joe Roman, GCP's president and chief executive officer. "From our standpoint, just to ask companies to increase internships is a fruitless effort. "We really need to look at the value and best practices surrounding internships from a 360-degree perspective," he said. "To the degree the internship is more valuable, the more likely it is that the intern would decide to come back to that company some day." The effort to create a coordinated, community-wide push to attract and retain college-educated millennials isn't being done in a vacuum. Its supporters are seeking to expand upon the existing trend of these younger professionals choosing to call Cleveland, especially downtown and neighborhoods such as Tremont and University Circle, home. For example, Cleveland ranks eight nationally in the growth rate of college-educated residents between 25-and 34-years-old, according to a report released this year by CSU's Center for Population Dynamics. Roman said such a growth rate is impressive, but it is only the first step in attracting and keeping a demographic group that could potentially strengthen Greater Cleveland's economy by increasing its competitiveness. "You have to increase the rate first before you can increase the pool to the degree you really move the needle," he said. Tom Hopkins, senior vice president of human resources at Sherwin-Williams, and a summit speaker, said his company hires more than 200 interns for its headquarters and technical centers. Between 35 and 40 percent become permanent employees each year, he said. Hopkins said internships should have these three components if they are going to help in fostering the community goal of increasing the pool of young, educated workers. Internships must not only provide valuable work experience, but they must also offer these interns the opportunity to network. He said it is also important for interns to get "exposure to the region." Hopkins, who is also chairman of the Cleveland Leadership Center, said CLC's (i)Cleveland programs offer best practices in some of these areas. The program serves over 200 interns during six weeks in the summer as well as during winter and spring breaks, said Jill Pecoraro, director of (i)Cleveland and Young Professional Programs. The program includes career-focused components, such as "power lunches" with leaders from various fields, as well as visits to cultural and recreational venues and exposing participants to volunteering and civic activities. "It is important to get them connected to Cleveland in a variety of ways," she said of the interns. Bernie Moreno, president of Bernie Moreno Companies, and a summit speaker, said the community-wide collaboration must include smaller and mid-size businesses, as well as larger corporations. "They have a great need for internships," said Moreno, who chairs GCP's middle market committee. "They just don't have the resources of gigantic companies in having HR departments that can recruit and hire interns." As vice chair of CSU's board of trustees, he said his primary focus is on creating more college-educated workers in Greater Cleveland. Moreno said internships not only help jump-start careers, they offer students - especially those of lower-income - an opportunity to help pay for college. He said not being forced to leave school for financial reasons helps create more college-educated workers. Moreno said his business hires about 15 CSU interns a year. "It is about exposing the Greater Cleveland business community to this resource of students who are out there," he said of the community-wide internship effort. "It is also about exposing the students to the resource that exists in this Greater Cleveland community. "It's like a big blind date," he said of making this match between businesses and students. For information about the summit: gcpartnership.com/en/Find-an-Event/Upcoming-Events/2016/February/Internship-Summit-02-10-16; 216-592-2376 or events@gcpartnership.com Haslam2.JPG Top executives of Pilot Flying J, the family business of Browns' owner Jimmy Haslam, were indicted on charges involving a fuel rebate program. Haslam was not charged or named in the indictment. (The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Former top executives at Pilot Flying J - the family business of Browns' owner Jimmy Haslam - were indicted on federal charges involving a massive rebate fraud committed against trucking companies, according to documents unsealed Tuesday. The company's past president, Mark Hazelwood, was accused of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and witness tampering. The charges stem from allegations that sales employees withheld millions of dollars in agreed-upon rebates to trucking companies. Haslam was not charged, nor was he identified or named in the indictment. He has denied knowing of any wrongdoing. A spokesman for Haslam declined to comment on Haslam. Prosecutors have refused to comment since the beginning of the investigation, and it appears too premature to know whether Haslam could be charged. Already, the scandal has forced Haslam's company to pay more than $170 million in settlements to companies and to the U.S. Justice Department. The charges come nearly three years after FBI and IRS agents searched Pilot Flying J's headquarters in April 2013. Federal authorities seized computers and boxloads of evidence. Ten former employees have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The indictment said the conspiracy to defraud companies took place from 2008 to the spring of 2013. The federal investigation involved at least one cooperating witness who wore a recording device. Federal agents also obtained spreadsheets and emails that sales employees routinely sent to each other. Hazelwood was the highest-ranking former member of Pilot Flying J charged in the indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. The others are: Scott Wombold, a former vice president; John "Stick" Freeman, a former vice president of sales; Vicki Borden, a supervisor in sales; John Spiewak, a regional manager based in Dayton; and regional managers Katy Bibee, Heather Jones and Karen Mann. Each was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Wombold, Mann, Jones, Bibee and Freeman also were charged with wire fraud. Their attorneys are not listed in court documents. The indictment accuses the eight of conspiring to withhold millions of dollars in rebates to unsuspecting trucking companies by sending companies fraudulent statements. The indictment said the conspiracy's goals were to increase Pilot Flying J's market share of diesel fuel sales over its competitors and to maximize the company's profit for each gallon of diesel fuel sold to trucking companies. The charges said the accused attempted to lull the trucking companies into believing "that Pilot was honestly and accurately applying'' the rebates. The indictment is filled with emails that include juvenile humor and cursing. At an October 2012 management seminar at his lake house in Rockwood, Tenn., Freeman joked about the scheme, according to the indictment. "Hey, it, this is a game,'' he said. "We're playing (expletive) poker with funny money, and it's liars' poker with funny money....'' At a February 2013 sales meeting, Hazelwood encouraged the growth of the scheme by knowing which customers to dupe, according to the indictment. "What we're really talkin' 'bout is two-tiered customers,'' he said. "Customer A, Customer B. Customer A looks (at) every orifice you have. Customer B doesn't even know you have an orifice.'' An FBI affidavit filed in April 2013 suggested that Haslam knew about the fraud; it asserted that he and Hazelwood were in sales meetings when the scheme was discussed. Hazelwood left the company in 2014. Hazelwoods's attorney, Rusty Hardin, could not be reached for comment. The company also has been sued more than 30 times in state and federal courts, and the company has paid out $85 million in settlements to trucking companies. The company also agreed to pay the U.S. Justice Department $92 million to avoid charges against the corporation. A spokeswoman for Pilot Flying J said: "We're obviously disappointed and saddened by today's events but cannot comment further on any matters, which are part of the ongoing investigation. We can say that since this unfortunate episode began, the company has put in place policies and procedures unparalleled in the industry to prevent anything like this from happening again. "The company has cooperated with the investigation since its beginnings and will continue to do so. The company repaid affected customers, accepted legal responsibility and agreed to pay a monetary penalty. The trust and confidence of Pilot Flying J's customers continues to be of paramount importance to the company.'' The FBI affidavit said, "The rebate fraud has occurred with the knowledge of Pilot's current President Mark Hazelwood and Pilot's Chief Executive Officer James A. 'Jimmy' Haslam III, due to the fact that the rebate fraud-related activities have been discussed during sales meetings in Knoxville, Tenn., in which Hazelwood and Haslam have been present.'' The rebate program, records show, worked like this: Trucking companies obtained discounts based on the number of gallons of diesel fuel purchased at Pilot Flying J. Each month, Pilot Flying J would send a rebate check to the trucking company. The fraud involved withholding rebates to which the businesses were entitled. The indictment names one Northeast Ohio trucking company that was apparently caught in the scheme. PI&I Motor Express, which has an office on East 55th in Cleveland, is located in Masury in Trumbull County. The indictment does not indicate whether the trucking company lost any money, but it does say that a Pilot Flying J sales employee attempted to fleece the company. Joe Kerola, the president of PI&I, could not be reached. The indictment also mentions Western Express of Nashville and Freeman's role with a broken-down plane. Western, according to the FBI affidavit, audited its bills and calculated that it had been shorted $1 million. When Western told Pilot about the shortfall, Freeman offered to cut the business a check. Instead, Western asked Pilot to buy a plane, for which Western owed $1 million, according to the affidavit. "So, I bought the (expletive) airplane," Freeman said in a conversation secretly recorded by one of the FBI's informants. Freeman, according to the affidavit, said he called Haslam "and told him I got busted at Western Express." "I mean, (Haslam) knew all along that I was cost-plussin' this guy," Freeman is quoted as saying in a transcript in the 2013 affidavit. "He knew it all along. Loved it. We were making $450,000 a month on him." The indictment, however, does not mention Freeman's conversation with Haslam. Plain Dealer reporter Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this. U.S. markets regained much of their losses in a late-day climb Monday, leading "Fast Money" traders to believe some stocks may have reached a bottom. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 177 points lower on the session after falling about 400 points earlier in the day. Amid the dip, trader Karen Finerman saw a buying opportunity. "I'm more inclined to be a buyer when others are fearful," she said. Beyonce's newest song "Formation" is doing more than racking up viral views on YouTube . It's also increasing traffic and sales at Red Lobster . The music video, suddenly posted on Saturday, already has more than 13.3 million views on the video platform and features a series of off-color lyrics about enjoying the popular seafood restaurant. Weekend sales at Red Lobster saw a significant boost from "Queen Bey," spiking 33 percent on Sunday over last year, company brass said. "We are absolutely delighted with what we saw over the weekend, particularly the consumer sentiment that we saw expressed," Kim Lopdrup, CEO of Red Lobster, told CNBC. "It's clear that Beyonce has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that." Monday was another down day for the markets, but some strategists suggest that instead of panic-selling everything, investors should stay calm. Read More Buybacks could be the stock market savior this year United Capital Financial Advisers CEO Joe Duran told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Monday that besides managing the amount of risk in one's portfolio, investors should be doing nothing. "Your emotions are a dreadful gauge of how you should invest. ... Do nothing extreme when the markets are as volatile as they have been," Duran said. Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia. Getty Images Digitally savvy Malaysian police have been taking to social media to issue warnings to critics of scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak in an unusual online campaign that critics say is unlikely to work. Najib is facing the biggest political crisis in his seven-year premiership over a multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and over deposits of $681 million in his private bank account. Najib, chairman of the 1MDB advisory board, has denied any wrongdoing and says he did not take any money for personal gain. Attorney General Apandi Ali last week closed investigations of Najib and said the $681 million was a donation from a Saudi Arabian benefactor and most of it had been returned. That has not stopped Malaysians taking to social media to voice their exasperation. A caricature of Najib with a clown face and the words "in a country full of corruption, we are all seditious", was widely shared recently. The police responded within hours, with an online warning to the artist who drew it, Fahmi Reza, telling him they were watching his Twitter account and he should use it "prudently and in line with the law", he said. "The ruling elite of this country has always been intolerant to dissent. They're always afraid of losing their throne," Fahmi said. "But the people have changed. The culture of protest and resistance is growing stronger." Fahmi was not the first person to be warned over social media comment as the police for the first time make use of Twitter to identify people who are being watched and caution them about repercussions. "Action will be taken against individuals who spread false information," is a typical warning to appear on Twitter, often accompanied by the Twitter handle of the person it is being directed at. Responding to criticism of the attorney general's decision to drop the investigations of Najib, police told another Twitter user: "Investigations will be carried out on the posts made by the owner of this Twitter account". watch now A police spokeswoman confirmed that the Twitter account issuing the warnings was an official Malaysian cyber unit account but she declined to comment on specific warnings, such as the one issued to Fahmi. She referred queries to the head of the police cyber unit but he declined to make any immediate comment. The Home, or interior, Ministry which is in charge of the unit, did not respond to a request for comment. 'Naive' Najib has taken steps that critics say are aimed at stemming opposition. He sacked a deputy prime minister who was critical of him, replaced a former attorney-general and authorities have suspended some media and blocked websites. Asked to comment on criticism of suppression of dissent, Minister of Communications Salleh Said Keruak said police and the communications regulator were enforcing the law. "It is not a crackdown. We are just doing the ordinary enforcement," he said, adding that authorities had taken action in nearly 3,000 cases last year under a telecommunications and multimedia act. Human Right Watch said last month that Malaysia's human rights situation had deteriorated sharply in 2015, as the government stepped up a campaign of harassment and repression. Poland has ramped up its investment in alternative energy, installing almost 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of wind power in 2015 the largest installation of wind power in Europe after Germany according to new data from the European Wind Energy Agency (EWEA). "We saw strong performance in Poland in 2015," Oliver Joy, spokesperson for the EWEA, told CNBC via email. The increase in Poland compared to just 444 megawatts installed in 2014 was mainly down to an expected change in support schemes for renewables, and the move to an auctioning system. "We would call (this) a market-based system, so essentially where projects or developers will have to bid to secure support for their projects," he said. "It's the uncertainty that comes with the change that means that some developers may have accelerated deployment last year to ensure they could stay with the support scheme that they already know." Poland's total installed wind capacity now stands at 5.1 GW. Joy commented that Poland had excellent wind resources both onshore and offshore. "With renewable and wind energy, Poland has the potential to be a center-piece of Europe's energy security drive but the right policies must be in place," he said. In Europe as a whole, Germany is still leading the way when it comes to wind energy. Nearly half of new installations took place in the country. Germany's wind power capacity stood at 45 GW at the end of 2015. watch now In recent decades, New Hampshire voters have held outsized power in presidential politics by virtue of their first-in-the-nation primary. They savor that power, and the chance it gives them to examine candidates for the White House up close. Independents can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary as they choose. Many withhold their commitments until they enter the voting booth. That happens Tuesday. I sat down with some of those voters in The Common Man, a restaurant and bar in Concord. What follows is a condensed, edited transcript of those conversations. Ron Roz with John Harwood Sophie Bearman | CNBC HARWOOD: You've got a lot of conservative choices in this race. Why Donald Trump? RON ROZ, retired construction worker: He's independent: When he started, people thought he was a joke. But you look at his history, and the business and the company that he founded, and what he has done if he can bring half of that to the government, I think we're gonna go a long way. We're too far in debt. He needs to stabilize that real quick. I believe he has the knowledge and the ability to get the economy started again by bringing some of these jobs back to the United States. I mean, he employs thousands. He's not the old school. You know, he's not a lifetime politician. He doesn't need the government to survive. He's taking a hell of a pay cut to take the job if he does. Just his demeanor has got me going to the point where I think he can make a difference. He's not afraid to speak his piece. Gotta break the mold. You can't have the same old thing. Some of the politicians are just, you know, preachin', 'Well, we did this and we did this and we did this' and nothin' gets done, you know? The 'we dids' done. We're being sold down the road. Our military is in terrible shape. We need to rebuild that. The economy is in worse shape. We need to rebuild that. And we need the person to take the lead and bring us back to where we were. Mike Miller Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: When you think about the problems we face as a country, what ticks you off the most? MIKE MILLER, prison employee backing Trump: It seems like every day there's less people working, on the dole, collecting disability. Less workers every year that goes by. And then they tax the daylights out of people that do. That's a problem. I think as Americans we have a right to decide who comes into this country and who doesn't. And I don't think people should be able to force themselves on us to become citizens. I also like Donald Trump on foreign policy. I don't think that we should be cautious about anybody that engages in terrorist activities against us. They pull a move like that, I think we pull a move back. I'm a right-winger. I'm not a Republican. I'm not big on the religious guys. So that x's Ted Cruz. Josh Williams with John Harwood Sophie Bearman | CNBC HARWOOD: Bernie Sanders says in every speech that things in the country are controlled by super-rich people. Do you agree with that? JOSH WILLIAMS, restaurant worker backing Sanders: The people with the money have the ability to control things just because they have the money to do it. I'm more about the people. I mean, I'm a lower-income person. I live on the, like, lower end of things. I make a decent living, but still I feel that if the country were run a little more equally, that I would have a little better of a life. His idea is that things need to change and things need to be new. There was already a Clinton in the White House. She is the past experience in old government, and I feel like we definitely need a new government. We need new things. Feelin' the Bern. I haven't registered yet, but like I said, in the last couple of weeks I've gotten more interested in Bernie and I've seen him and I plan on registering and voting for him. His idea is that things need to change and things need to be new. There was already a Clinton in the White House. She is the past experience in old government, and I feel like we definitely need a new government. We need new things. Feelin' the Bern. I haven't registered yet, but like I said, in the last couple of weeks I've gotten more interested in Bernie and I've seen him and I plan on registering and voting for him. Josh Williams, restaurant worker Sandie Goldberg Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: Do you think some of what Trump does is an act? SANDIE GOLDBERG, former business owner backing Trump: Sometimes he acts like a buffoon. He is not an orator. But on the other hand, he is down to earth. I truly believe he's so sincere about getting America back on track. There is something about the man that instills security in you. You feel he is going to accomplish what he says he's going to accomplish. As my doctor says, I'm black and white, no gray. And that's the way he is. I am so disillusioned right at the moment, just like other citizens of this country. I talk about it all the time with my husband. I get very, very angry watching the news. I feel that we have been isolated from the rest of the world, that we're trying to change other countries to change their way of living. And yet we can't do anything on our own. In my little town of Bradford, I know there have been many foreclosures. I know there are many people that are unemployed. I know there are many people that can't pay their taxes. Candice Perkins Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: Hillary's argument is, 'I've taken a lot of hits but I'm still standing.' You don't think there's a big trust issue with Hillary? CANDICE PERKINS, hairdresser backing Clinton: I think that's just news and garbage and gossip. People, they hate Clinton, you know. I like Hillary. I think it's nice to see a woman in power. That's sort of impressive. I like her experience. I like the name meaning the experience. She's sort of a conservative Democrat, you know. She's not that liberal. I'm still standing. I gained 70 pounds because I went through something horrible. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That cheesy expression is true. She's amazing. Erin Gallant Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: Do you think that the issue with drugs and opioids is a big problem? ERIN GALLANT, waitress who's undecided: Huge. It starts with the provider over-prescribing pain medications. It is an issue that's personal to me. My mom had surgery a couple weeks ago, and the surgeon prescribed her a certain amount of pills. Even (the surgeon) said: 'You know, I've been hearing all this stuff about this being a problem. It made me kind of think maybe I should be prescribing less.' And that scared me as a surgeon who's prescribing these on a regular basis, she was that naive about kind of what is really going on. Is Chris Christie even still in it? I like that he's a supporter of recovery from addiction, and that he's done a lot in the state of New Jersey. Francine Lozeau Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: Where you leaning right now? FRANCINE LOZEAU, retired teacher and undecided Republican: John Kasich. He's probably the most liberal of the conservative Republicans. I just think, you know, we've had two Bushes already. We've had enough Bush. I don't think John Kasich can win. I'm worried about that. But I think I'm just gonna vote for him because that's what I feel like I need to do. He's moderate about everything. He just seems like somebody that I would like. He's been more positive. Not tearing everybody apart. Rubio, too. I like a little bit about his background. And I think that would be good for the office. But I don't know. He's probably the most liberal of the conservative Republicans. I just think, you know, we've had two Bushes already. We've had enough Bush. I don't think John Kasich can win. I'm worried about that. But I think I'm just gonna vote for him because that's what I feel like I need to do. He's moderate about everything. He just seems like somebody that I would like. He's been more positive. Not tearing everybody apart. Francine Lozeau, retired school teacher, on support of John Kasich Tara Harmon Erika Santoro | CNBC HARWOOD: Is it not important enough to have a woman president to vote for Hillary? TARA HARMON, event planner backing Sanders: If that were the one deciding factor, if they both were saying the same thing and I agreed with both of them in the same way, then yes. Then I would choose her because she is a woman. But I just find myself with the issues agreeing with Bernie Sanders a little bit more. I know that she claims to not be establishment, but I think she definitely is. It would be nice to move away from that. HARWOOD: How you think the country's doing? You don't look angry to me. FRANCINE LOZEAU: Well, first of all, I do like Donald Trump's slogan, "Let's make America great again." I do like that. I'm not angry. I'm fine. You know, I think that we can do better. I think we can be better. But I don't think we're right on the brink of total destruction. Some Wall Streeters shake their fist at regulatory burdens imposed on the industry in the wake of the financial crisis. But a few finance pros have regulators to thank for their employment. For now, at least. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein spoke Tuesday at the Credit Suisse Financial Services Conference in Miami, and highlighted the biggest drivers of hiring at the investment bank: the increased need for regulatory and compliance professionals, thanks to myriad new rules from Washington. "We've also had headwinds, because of structural things, of increased head count and most of it is to support heightened compliance efforts," Blankfein said. Read MoreEU banks face major cash crunch He pointed out that Goldman's staff has increased by more than 3,000 since 2012. But, not everyone in the bank's compliance department should get too comfortable. Nothing is more important to a robust almond harvest than a bee, so much so that farmers pay top dollar to borrow the pesky buggers for a growing season. But this year, soaring bee rental fees for California's $6 billion almond crop are attracting a swarm of recent hive heists and leading to stinging losses for beekeepers. It also has created angst for some nut growers as they cope with higher costs and scramble to secure enough honeybee colonies in their orchards for the almond pollination process that begins this month. "It seems to be picking up this year," said Butte County Sheriff's Detective Jay Freeman, who has been tracking recent bee thefts. "That could be due to the increased prices and pollination fees and also a shortage of bees coming into California as well." At least a half dozen honeybee thefts have been reported this year in five counties Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Kern and Sutter. Some beekeepers have estimated their losses could reach $100,000 for the theft of hundreds of hives they rent out to pollinate almonds and other crops. To discourage and trace theft, honeybee boxes, lids and pallets in use typically have distinctive markings or hive frames branded with official numbers. It's not unusual for thieves to paint over the markings or simply transfer the bees to new containers. And there is usually no GPS device on the crates. Once the hives are stolen, they usually end up getting rented or sold to a broker, according to industry insiders. Sometimes they are disgruntled workers or beekeepers down on their luck with dead hives and take others to make up for their losses. The thefts come as nearly 90 percent of all commercial beehives in the U.S. about 1.8 million hives come to California and pollinate the state's more than 800,000 acres of almonds. The state's almond pollination season typically starts the second or third week of February. "This is really prime time for beekeepers in California because the almond trees are going to pop into bloom in the next couple of weeks," said Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation. "As almond acreage has increased, there's been more demand obviously." Beekeepers are charging almond pollination fees of as much as $200 to rent a single beehive this season. That's as much as five times the rate charged in 2004, according to industry experts. Some of the bees used for California's almonds get trucked all the way from the East Coast. "Demand is so strong in California that there's no way that they can supply them domestically here," said Mark Borba, who farms nuts and other crops in California's Central Valley. Borba is getting some of his beehives this year from Michigan, Florida and Idaho. "Scot Rubin is a talk show host, producer, founder of All Games Productions, All Games Network and co-founder of the G4 television network." That's the first line of Scot Rubin's bio on Wikipedia. Down at the very end of the paragraph is this: "Rubin is also the founder of Nitropod, a frozen ice cream company." Rubin, 46, would like to flip-flop those two lines and have the last line go first. "We want to sell millions of dollars of ice cream," he said. This, from a guy who is lactose intolerant and not very talented in the kitchen. More on that later. Scot Rubin mixes a batch of liquid nitrogen ice cream. Jeniece Pettitt | CNBC Nitropod boasts that it makes better tasting ice cream from natural ingredients. Rubin uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze the ice cream at minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit. "The freezing happens so quickly, that the ice crystals the water molecules, the milk molecules end up microscopic." This makes the resulting product creamier. Rubin first saw nitrogen-frozen ice cream in the middle of the hot desert at the Burning Man festival in 2010. "I thought that was really cool," he said. The ice cream tasted delicious, and Rubin wondered, "What if you could make ice cream this way for thousands of people, instead of just a handful of people?" Up to that point, the Boston native had already achieved great success in a completely different field. Here's the basic scoop (pun intended) on Rubin's path to ice cream: He helped pay for college working as a bartender for Club Med. He made his first website in the mid-'90s, teaching himself how to code from a magazine. He persuaded video game companies to send him new games, which he would review on his site, allgames.com. Eventually he helped launch the G4 network, where, among other things, he was an on-air host. Leaving G4, Rubin returned to producing online content, where he also made his biggest mistake, ignoring an idea that would become Twitch.tv, "which just sold to Amazon for $750 million, so that's a pretty big miss." (Twitch actually sold for close to $1 billion.) But back to the nitrogen ice cream, Rubin first saw at Burning Man. He thought making it would be a fun hobby. "It was just an idea of, 'How can I give something to the people at Burning Man for free?'" He soon discovered giving the ice cream away might not be worth it. Rubin found a mixer that could handle liquid nitrogen, but it cost $36,000. "I realized I was going to have to spend some serious money," he said. "Liquid nitrogen tanks, liquid nitrogen hoses, cryogenic mixers, nitrogen itself, everything started to build up in cost, and I said, 'OK, well, this has got to be more than a hobby.'" Rubin cashed out his 401(k) to finance Nitropod in 2012. He rented out a kitchen, began building an ice cream truck, and started selling product. "When I started to put this stuff in people's mouths, they would look at me and say, "Wow.'" In all, Rubin has invested $200,000, but the entire enterprise almost melted away immediately. The company outfitting Nitropod's truck failed to deliver in time for the company's coming out party. Rubin missed an entire summer of business, forcing him to bring in four investors to keep the ice cream business afloat. "Every time I thought this is it, this is done, something from the universe said, 'No.'" Nitropod did survive, and now it's growing. Last year's revenues hit $200,000, recouping Rubin's initial investment ("I do not recommend people take large chunks of their 401(k), IRA out, because you have to now pay taxes at the highest rate on that money"). Jeniece Pettitt | CNBC Current flavors include French Toast and Salted Caramel. There's a vegan option with an avocado base, which tastes like key lime pie and sells for $24 a pint. Rubin likes that one in particular, because he can eat it without taking a lactate pill. Is it crazy that a guy who can't eat ice cream is making a living selling ice cream? "It's not crazy," Rubin laughed. "Have you tasted the ice cream?" One of the trickiest parts of the new endeavor has been learning to work with liquid nitrogen. The nitrogen doesn't stay in the ice cream, as it quickly burns off in the freezing process. The only danger is that it can also burn your skin if there's too much contact. The health department balked at allowing Nitropod to have liquid nitrogen on a food truck, until Rubin brought in a lawyer. "I had to explain to them that there are trucks driving around every day with propane tanks, which makes them driving bombs," he said. "Liquid nitrogen is not explosive." Total giving by the top 50 philanthropists in America dropped 30 percent last year, totaling $7 billion, and marking the lowest amount since 2010, according to a new report. The Philanthropy 50 list, compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the drop was partly due to massive one-time donations in 2014, including a $1.9 billion gift by Bill and Melinda Gates to their foundation. Richard Mellon Scaife in 1997 Keith Srakocic | AP Stock market volatility may also be to blame, especially with wealthy donors from Silicon Valley. After several years in which tech titans dominated the Philanthropy 50 list, New York and other regions made up the bulk of giving in 2015. "For potential tech donors, the flat market in 2015 meant that there were fewer initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions," Emmett Carson, CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, said in the report. The late billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife was the top charitable giver in the U.S. last year, with bequests totaling $759 million. Scaife, heir to the Mellon banking and oil fortune and a leading contributor to the Republican Party, died in 2014. His will was executed last year. Scaife, who had lived in Pittsburgh, directed most of his fortune to two private foundations the Allegheny Foundation, which supports charities in western Pennsylvania, and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which funds conservative and libertarian public-policy groups. He gave each of these organizations $369.4 million. Ranking second was the late John Santikos, who built the largest family-owned theater chain in Texas. Santikos gave $605 million from his estate to the San Antonio Area Community Foundation. Ranking third was Michael Bloomberg, whose giving in 2015 totaled $510 million. He was followed by New York hedge-funder John Paulson, who gave $400 million to Harvard University. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar came in fifth and was the top-ranked tech giver on the list, with $327 million in giving. Other notables included the Walton family, with founder Sam Walton's three children giving $407 million in Wal-Mart stock. The Gateses gave $272 million to their foundation, while 48-year-old entrepreneur Jay Faison, who founded SnapAV, gave $165.6 million to promote clean energy. Warren Buffett's sister, Roberta Buffett Elliott, gave $100.9 million to Northwestern University. The 23 billionaires on the list gave an average of less than 1 percent of their estimated wealth. Of the 23, former hedge-fund manager John Arnold and his wife, Laura, gave the largest share of their fortune, at 5.6 percent. The top 50 list only measures one year, so many donors, such as Gates, are giving away far more of their fortunes over longer periods of time. Whereas the Gates family donated just 0.4 percent of their $76 billion wealth last year, they've gifted $1 billion or more to their foundation several times. Fears of another liquidity shock in the European banking system have gripped the markets this week, with the price of insurance for European bank debt ballooning as market confidence in the region's lenders fades rapidly. Credit markets are "clearly taking note of the systemic risk", but European banks' access to capital and the short-term funding pressures they are tackling are "far less critical" than what lenders faced during the European sovereign debt crisis seven years ago, Goldman Sachs analysts said on Tuesday. Getty Images "We understand why markets might worry. Following the global financial crisis, European banks did not de-lever by nearly as much as U.S. banks. Moreover, to meet rising capital requirements, many European banks were planning to rely on retained earnings," said head of global credit strategy at Goldman Charles Himmelberg, in a note to clients on Tuesday. Bank share prices have faced a dreadful start to the year, with major lenders on both sides of the Atlantic seeing average falls of around 25 percent. Deutsche Bank and Unicredit shares are both down around 40 percent this year, after fears about the banks' capability of meeting their liabilities to investors. "Credit markets are clearly taking note of the systemic risk, and it is certainly unwise to minimize such risks since systemic fears, once in place, can be self-fulfilling and difficult to reverse," Himmelberg added. "But we see many offsetting considerations. For one, the 'capital-raising' pressures currently facing European banks are far less critical than the short-term funding pressures faced during the European sovereign crisis. European banks have ample access to short-term liquidity via balance sheet liquidity, money markets, deposits, and European Central Bank backstop facilities such as the Long Term Refnincing Operation (LTRO), Targeted-LTRO, Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA)," Himmelberg said . Deutsche Bank co-CEO John Cryan rushed Tuesday to reassure investors and staff on the bank's stability, saying that the lender remained "absolutely rock-solid" and that he did not share the market's concern over the adequacy of its balance sheet. Deutsche Bank had already stressed Monday that it had "sufficient" reserves to service its so-called tier 1 debts, or its most junior bonds. watch now As New Hampshire voters go to the polls, the No. 1 issue on their minds may surprise you. One-quarter of New Hampshire adults believe that drug abuse is the most important problem facing the state, according to the most recent WMUR Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. It is the first time since 2008 that New Hampshire residents cited something other than jobs and the economy as the No. 1 state issue. Drugs also topped taxes, health care, education and the state budget as issues of concern for New Hampshire residents. Fears of drug overdose in the small state have soared as a record number of opioid-linked deaths have occurred in New Hampshire, with about one person each day dying as a result of heroin or painkiller overdose. The survey results show how widely the drug issue has cut across the state's population in a short period of time. As recently as February 2013, no New Hampshire residents had cited the drug issue as the state's "most important." But in the past year alone, the percentage of residents who ranked the issue as the "most important" grew from 4 percent (February 2015) to 25 percent (October 2015). "Jobs/economy" was down to 21 percent in the most recent survey. Drug addiction is becoming a key issue in the upcoming election. Ermingut | Getty Images Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), told CNBC that she's not surprised to hear people say this is the biggest issue on their minds, because it's ravaging families and hurting communities in her state. "Obviously, there are huge costs. There are costs in terms of lost productivity from people who are not able to do their jobs because they're addicted. There's a huge cost in terms of families and the tragic loss they are experiencing. There's a huge cost, because we don't have enough treatment beds," Shaheen said. In another sign of how rapidly the drug issue has risen to the top of the "most important" list for New Hampshire residents, drugs are the only issue other than jobs and the economy to hit double digits by percentage in two consecutive survey periods since 2011. Fourteen percent of New Hampshire residents cited drugs as the most important issue in the July 2015 survey. The state's problem is a subset of a nationwide epidemic of drug abuse and addiction linked to opioids. That addiction costs the U.S. economy more than $55 billion, with nearly half of that attributable to loss of workplace productivity. Last year, President Obama asked for only about $133 million to deal with this problem. Last week, however, the president said he wants $1.1 billion to help fight the opioid epidemic. According to the White House, most of that money would go to states to increase funding for treatment centers and providers. States will receive funds based on the severity of the epidemic and on the strength of their strategy to respond to it, the White House stated. Every candidate, Democrat and Republican, has at one point in his or her campaign brought up the issue of prescription painkiller abuse and overdose, with candidates like Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush sharing personal family stories of coping with addiction. It's the worst addiction epidemic in United States history, but it's also different in that this epidemic is disproportionately white, suburban and rural. Andrew Kolodny executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing Executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, Andrew Kolodny, said that the epidemic began long before President Obama was in office, but during his tenure, there has been a drastic spiral downward. "It wasn't until last year that his administration sought any increase in funding to address the opioid addiction epidemic," Kolodny said. President Barack Obama speaks at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University in Palo Alto on February 13, 2015. Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images The White House's Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) unveiled today to fortify America's digital defenses is the latest effort to protect Americans, government agencies and companies against the growing number of cyberattacks aimed at everything from national defense and health care to personal consumer data. It's not surprising that Obama has a request to Congress to boost cybersecurity spending to $19 billion for fiscal year 2017, a 35 percent increase over this fiscal year. The White House also wants to launch a $3.1 billion Information Technology Modernization Fund to retire and replace aging systems in the federal government. To oversee all initiatives, President Obama plans to create a federal chief information officer who would coordinate cybersecurity practices across agencies. DOD and Silicon Valley X Men But one of the biggest behind-the-scenes digital counterterrorism efforts under way by the federal government is not getting much publicity: the Pentagon's effort to enlist the help of Silicon Valley to fight military cyberwarfare including the flow of Islamic State communications across the Internet. In October it set up a new organization, called Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, in Mountain View, California, a short distance from Google 's corporate campus. DIUx represents the DoD's permanent presence in Silicon Valley a staff of roughly a dozen individuals tasked with seeking out potentially useful technologies as well as reestablishing relationships between the Pentagon and the brightest minds in technology. DIUx is not a technology incubator, nor is it a venture capital fund. It has no money to seed companies or technologies, and no mandate to purchase products or services on behalf of the Department of Defense. Rather, its primary function is to serve as a matchmaker, directing defense program offices toward companies that might be able to help solve their technology problems and directing companies toward government labs or technology programs that could be potential customers. As a facilitator, there's little DIUx can do to alter DoD procurement processes or the speed at which the larger Pentagon moves. But it can more quickly connect military problems with potential technology solutions in an effort to get those technologies to the soldiers and security personnel that need them. It can also help connect those companies with billions in new federal dollars that the Obama administration is expected to funnel toward cybersecurity and other high-tech innovations in the next budget. DIUx is not the military's first attempt at fostering this kind of military-tech sector interface. During the opening months of the Afghanistan war, the U.S. Army created a special unit known as the Rapid Equipping Force. When commanders saw a need for a new piece of technology from robots to help clear roadside bombs to computer systems to help organize and sift through intelligence the Rapid Equipping Force would seek out a solution and attempt to get it into the field quickly, often in weeks or months rather than years. Can a public-private partnership work? But marrying Silicon Valley business models to the lumbering bureaucracy of the Pentagon is a different kind of battle, one whose outcome is far from certain. Taken as a whole, the Department of Defense is likely the most plugged-in institution in the world, said Andrew Philip Hunter, a senior fellow and director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The DoD is an amazing font of knowledge about technology," he said. "If you want to know what the cutting edge of technology is in just about any area, you will find an expert in the DoD that knows it chapter and verse." But while all that knowledge resides within the sprawling tendrils of the U.S. defense enterprise, it's painfully difficult to access it. An engineer at the Office of Naval Research or at a contractor like Boeing or Lockheed Martin can know something to which a decision maker in the Pentagon is oblivious. This disconnect between problems and potential solutions underscores the Pentagon's core technology problem. "There's an incredible wealth of information that the department has in its data banks in theory," Hunter said. "In practice, it has a really hard time leveraging and accessing that information." The Pentagon wants to change that by making it easier to put military problems in front of the coders and engineers with the best chance of solving them. Silicon Valley, meanwhile, is arguably home to the greatest concentration of programming and engineering talent in the world. But creating a bridge between the two is more difficult than simply piping the Pentagon's problems to the West Coast. Challenges both cultural and practical contribute to the disharmony between the way the Pentagon does business and the way Silicon Valley innovates. The DoD, with 2 million employees and an acquisition process wound tightly in red tape, moves extremely slowly. The Pentagon routinely spends years or even decades developing fighter jets, submarines and other military hardware a pace that simply doesn't dovetail with Silicon Valley's voracious appetite for new products and return on investment. That doesn't improve a business case that's already a tough sell to companies with valuations stretching into the billions, Hunter said. "I think the single biggest disconnect is that in reality, defense is an incredibly small market," he said. "From a Silicon Valley perspective, there's just very little money to be made." watch now Despite the challenges, the Pentagon is forging ahead and making its case. Even Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has personally turned up in Silicon Valley to push for a new bond between the world's premier tech corridor and the U.S. federal government. "Renewing our partnership is the only way we can do this right," he told a crowd assembled in a Stanford University lecture hall in April. In a 40-minute address, Carter drove home the myriad ways cyberwarfare and cybersecurity are reshaping the modern battlefield. He then announced that the Pentagon was coming to Silicon Valley to stay. As U.S. Army Colonel Peter Newell, who headed the Rapid Equipping Force for three years during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflict, points out, what determines success in this new form of warfare "is how well you change after the first bullet is fired." As the debate grows over whether workers in the gig economy should be classified as independent contractors or employees with benefits, one start-up has become the insurance broker for companies including Uber and Etsy. Launched in 2013, San Francisco-based Stride Health has secured partnerships with companies including TaskRabbit and Postmates, an on-demand network of couriers. Stride Health so far has raised more than $15 million. The company essentially is an online insurance broker and helps workers find health coverage. And to be clear, consumers not the start-ups they work for foot the bill for coverage if they decide to enroll. Stride Health doesn't charge consumers to use the service. The company makes money by pocketing a commission from insurance company plans, featured on Stride Health's platform. Stride Health is available in all 50 states. The company's online platform lists more than 230 insurance carriers, including the big five UnitedHealth Group , Cigna , Anthem , Humana and Aetna . "We identified a pretty compelling market need in the on-demand economy," said Noah Lang, chief executive and co-founder of Stride Health. "We had independent working Americans gathering on these platforms to build their own self-employed lifestyle, but there was one major gap benefits." Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which requires Americans to have health insurance or face penalties, many of those who enroll on Stride Health pocket insurance subsidies to lower their plan costs, Lang said. Getty Images There's long been friendly competition on the eve of the Chinese New Year, as children vie for the most red packets, or hongbao. Now, kids need gaming skills to snare more cash, as tech giants compete to snare the huge e-hongbao market. WeChat, the mobile chat app owned by China's Tencent , revolutionized hongbao - the red packets, or envelopes, that senior family members stuff with "lucky money" and present to junior relatives - in 2014 when it introduced a digital money-transfer feature called e-hongbao. Users can transfer cash from debit cards linked to their WeChat accounts to a number of digital red packets, or e-hongbao. The packets are sent via WeChat to recipients, who must press an "open" button to get the money. The amount of money in each red packet is generated randomly on a "first come, first served" basis. "My friends, colleagues and even parents are all exchanging e-hongbao," said 24-year-old Zhenni Li. "Hongbao is no longer just given from the senior to junior family members." watch now It's all about who's the fastest on the button, and who's the luckiest. "It's more like an interactive game and a fun way to send greetings," Li told CNBC. This year, even China's Communist Party joined the trend, handing out 300,000 yuan ($45,000) before the Chinese New Year's eve via e-hongbao. E-hongbao rocket in popularity The number of e-hongbao exchanges has ballooned in the two years since WeChat launched the feature. According to China's official Xinhua New Agency, more than 5 million WeChat users sent e-hongbao during the first two days of 2014's new year holiday, exchanging over 20 million e-hongbao. This number jumped in 2015 to more than 1 billion e-hongbao exchanges made just on the New Year's eve. According to data released on Tuesday by Tencent, the number of e-hongbao exchanges rocketed this year to 8 billion, with 420 million people making transfers on New Year's eve alone. Tech giants wage e-hongbao war As e-hongbao recipients compete to press "open" first, competition between the tech giants behind the digital red packets is also heating up. During this Lunar New Year holiday period, Chinese internet companies were expected to give out to users e-hongbao, containing either cash or discount vouchers, worth more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), Xinhua reported. One major rival to WeChat is Alipay, Alibaba 's digital payment service, which has a user base of 400 million. Alipay replaced Tencent as the sponsor of this year's Spring Festival Gala, an event televised by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that attracted about 700 million viewers on Sunday night. Alipay handed out red envelops worth 800 million yuan ($122 million) during the gala. What's in it for the providers? Both companies are keen to use e-hongbao to get access to users' bank accounts, in an effort to tap into China's rapidly growing mobile payment market. "This is the future trend," 42-year-old Qinghong Chen told CNBC. "More and more shop owners prefer mobile payments. Even our community's butcher shop has launched the weekly Wechat or Alipay promotion." As if being nominated for the film industry's biggest prize wasn't enough, Academy Award nominees in five categories will receive the annual "Oscar swag bag" a goodie-bag worth upward of $220,000. Los Angeles-based Distinctive Assets puts together the bags independent of the Oscars. The bags are known for pricey items like last year's $20,000 worth of "mind control lessons." Nominees for best actor/actress, best supporting actor/actress and best director will receive them Feb. 28. "To be part of the film industry's biggest night on any level is thrilling," Lash Fary, Distinctive Assets' founder, said in a statement. "We always look forward to introducing standout entertainers to an array of companies with fabulous gifts to share." The Academy, however, was not too keen about Distinctive Assets' swag bag. The organization filed a lawsuit against Fary on Tuesday, citing trademark infringement and perpetuating a connection between the company and the Oscars, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Distinctive Assets' continued use of the Academy's trademarks not only infringes the Academy's trademarks, but it is also likely to dilute the distinctiveness of the Academy's famous trademarks and tarnish their goodwill," the lawsuit states. "Press about the 2016 gift bags has focused on both the less-than-wholesome nature of some of the products contained in the bags ... and the unseemliness of giving such high value gifts, including trips costing tens of thousands of dollars, to an elite group of celebrities." President Barack Obama sent his more than $4 trillion budget for fiscal 2017 to Congress on Tuesday. It's the last budget Obama will deliver as president, and is likely to be contentious as he tries to shore up a two-term legacy and congressional Republicans vie to create gridlock going into the November elections. We're sure to hear the same talk about spending on small business and the importance of national security, but why not live a little and buy some businesses? We thought we'd help out and make some suggestions for the president, who must be getting tired of making budgetary decisions after seven years in office. At $4.1 trillion, the U.S. has the largest federal budget in the world in terms of expenditures If the government wanted to buy companies instead of pay for all the departments and agencies it currently supports, it could acquire more than half of the S&P 500. The $4.1 trillion budget could buy the 342 smallest companies by market capitalization. That includes brands like Kellogg, Pepco Holdings and Sysco. If it were interested only in the big boys, it could buy the top 13 companies of the index: Apple through Wal-Mart. watch now The 2016 contest in New Hampshire could wind up being the "Seinfeld" primary, a political event about nothing. Or at least one that clarifies nothing. If current polling holds and that is a massive "if" these days Donald Trump will score a fairly convincing win. But after Trump, there could be a four-candidate pile-up. Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are all tightly bunched behind. One of them will get the bragging rights of finishing second but none is likely to gain much separation. If that turns out to be the case, then the question of who emerges as the "establishment lane" alternative to Trump and Cruz will remain completely unclear. Bush, Kasich and Rubio will likely all have rationales for staying in the race at least through South Carolina and Nevada and possibly even through Super Tuesday on March 1. Candidate signs are displayed in front of a middle school serving as a voting station on the day of the New Hampshire Primary on February 9, 2016 in Bow, New Hampshire. Getty Images The things we do know about the race are not likely to change after New Hampshire. Cruz and Trump will continue to battle for the title of hardcore conservative outsider champion. And someone, eventually, will emerge as the more mainstream, traditional GOP option. After Rubio's strong third place finish in Iowa, it looked like the Florida senator had the clearest path to unifying the establishment wing. But then Rubio had his robotic debate meltdown and raised fresh questions about his readiness for the role of Republican presidential nominee. Kasich has promised that if he didn't do well in New Hampshire he would pack it up and head back to Ohio. But Kasich's moderate approach and sunny demeanor has helped him rise in the Granite State, and he is likely to get a ticket out of the state to continue his campaign, even though subsequent Southern contests offer little hope for him. Bush needs a strong result to stall a rush of donors to Rubio and keep his hopes alive. And he seems likely to get it. As Rubio falters, the once-dead Bush dream of playing the long game and emerging as the establishment savior now appears to have at least a sliver of life. The lone odd man out in New Hampshire could turn out to be Chris Christie, who despite his strong debate performance and evisceration of Rubio is still mired in single digits in late polls. If Christie does wind up well out of the top group in New Hampshire it's hard to see a reason for him to continue. He doesn't have much money and has little to no shot of doing well in South Carolina without a momentum boost from Tuesday's primary. If anyone is likely to drop out after Tuesday night, it's Christie. Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina might be another who decides to call it quits after New Hampshire. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson will also likely finish near the bottom but has already moved on to South Carolina. After premature reports of his demise in Iowa, it's hard to imagine Carson giving anyone the satisfaction of actually leaving the race based on New Hampshire. So after all the millions in ad spending and exhaustive coverage, New Hampshire could wind up leaving the race pretty much where it is was before Iowa. Trump would once again be the front-runner in a pitched battle with Cruz and a trio of hopefuls battling behind them. Of course there is also the chance that the polls, as they were in Iowa, are totally wrong. If someone manages to beat Trump, that would be a truly momentous event. A Trump loss might not knock the billionaire out of the race. But it would likely mean that he is definitely not going to be the Republican nominee. The more likely outcome is New Hampshire winding up like a "Seinfeld" episode: amusing, full of weirdness and quirky characters with no clear message at all. Forget women on boards and focus on women in leadership: that is the message from a major study of more than 21,000 public companies in 91 countries that found increasing the number of women in top management positions notably boosts profitability. It found that a company with 30 percent female leadership could expect to add up to six percentage points to its net margin when compared with an otherwise similar business with no female leaders. Hero Images | Getty Images But the study, from respected US think-tank the Peterson Institute and EY, could find no impact negative or positive from simply having a female chief executive and only marginal impacts from women on the board. "While the boards of publicly traded firms are an easy target for legislators, the pay-offs for policies that would facilitate women rising through the corporate ranks more broadly might be larger," it concludes. Its findings add further fuel to the debate about improving the chances of women breaking into the male-dominated senior posts. More from the Financial Times CBI demands 25% senior women exec target Women in business / HSBC / Berkeley PM's ambitions put him at odds with Osborne Despite years of focus on increasing gender diversity, progress remains slow: nearly one-third of companies analysed in the report had no women in either board or top management positions, 60 percent had no female board members and 50 percent had no female top executives. In the UK, the government-backed Davies Review recommended in the Autumn that a third of all board seats at Britain's biggest companies should be held by women by 2020, raising its previous aim of 25 percent by 2015. While no formal targets were set for executives, speaking to the Financial Times Lord Davies said "radical change" in the executive layer was needed if progress was to be maintained and he backed the idea of formal targets in principle. The UK government on Sunday said that Sir Philip Hampton, the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and former chairman of RBS and Sainsbury's, would lead the successor body to the Davies Review. Dame Helen Alexander, chair of UBM, will take on the role of deputy chair to the review. Sir Philip said in a statement that he would focus on "improving representation in the executive layer of companies, as well as maintaining the momentum on boards". He added: "This means looking at the talent pipeline for female executives and emerging non-executive directors to ensure we create opportunities and the right conditions for women to succeed." Nicky Morgan, the women and equalities minister, said she wanted to see "an end to all-male boards anywhere on the FTSE 350" as well as "much more progress at the executive layer where we know progress has been slowest to date." Terms of reference for the review have yet to be finalised but the government said the main aims would be to promote more female representation on FTSE 350 boards and to "consider options" for increasing the number of women in the executive layer of the FTSE 350. According to new research from The Pipeline, an organisation that works with companies to help develop their female managers, most FTSE 100 companies are failing to increase the number of women on their senior executive committees. It found that only two companies in the index Severn Trent and Kingfisher achieved a 50:50 split of male and female senior executives, while 13 failed to employ any senior female executives at all. Carolyn Fairbairn, the head of the business lobby group the CBI, said recently that "women as leaders" was the real issue, rather than women on boards, and called for the successor body to the Davies Review to adopt a voluntary target that a quarter of senior executives are female at FTSE 350 companies. watch now watch now watch now As worries about Zika virus mount, pregnant travelers may find they have limited leeway to reschedule, relocate or cancel vacation plans. Last week the World Health Organization declared Zika a public health emergency, noting the virus's suspected ties to microcephaly and other neurological complications in newborns. The Centers for Disease Control have issued Level 2 warnings for 30 areas where the disease is being actively transmitted including Puerto Rico, Mexico, Jamaica and the U.S. Virgin Islands urging travelers to take extra precautions. Pregnant women in any trimester, the CDC warns, should "consider postponing travel to any area where Zika virus transmission is ongoing." Changing babymoon plans, however, isn't always easy or cheap. Travelers' first step should be to check the cancellation and change policies for hotel, airfare and other travel components, said Jason Clampet, co-founder of travel site Skift.com. You may not even need to mention Zika fears; many hotels, for example, still allow penalty-free cancellation with just a few days' notice, he said. No luck? See if there's a Zika-specific policy in place. Most major domestic airlines and several cruise lines have said they are relaxing change policies for pregnant travelers with existing reservations to an affected region. Eligible travelers may be able to reschedule a trip, pick a new destination or receive a refund. American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United and Virgin America all have Zika travel alerts. On the cruise side, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian are among those that have posted waiver details. Call customer service to plead your case even if a travel provider doesn't have a waiver on offer and the return policy seems ironclad. Reps may have some leeway to offer a refund or change waiver on a case-by-case basis, Clampet urged. "Humans can always make choices at these travel brands," he said. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form Terminal ready to take flight The new Columbia Regional Airport terminal is open for business. Flights will start next week. Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll Local professionals chose their favorite business and professional services, products, healthcare, dining and more. Find out who their top picks are. February 8, 2016 - Customers of Chipotle Mexican Grill discover a locked door as they visit the location in the Ridgeway Trace shopping center in East Memphis during lunch on Monday. The eatery closed nation-wide for employees to attend food safety meetings following norovirus and E. coli outbreaks last year that left customers ill. SHARE February 8, 2016 - Employees of Chipotle gather umbrellas from the restaurant's patio in the Ridgeway Trace shopping center in East Memphis as they arrive for a food safety meeting. By Candice Choi NEW YORK (AP) Chipotle repeatedly told employees they need to stay home if they feel sick and the restaurant chain kept all its U.S. locations shuttered early Monday as executives went over new food safety procedures. The presentation for workers, which comes after Chipotle has been slammed by a series of food scares, was broadcast live at hundreds of theaters and hotel conference rooms around the country. Co-CEO Monty Moran noted that two of the four incidents had been the result of norovirus, which is typically caused by sick workers. "If you're feeling sick, especially if you've vomited, whether at work or at home, you need to let your manager or your field leader know right away," Moran said in a broadcast from a restaurant in Denver. With an estimated 50,000 employees in attendance to view the presentation that lasted more than an hour, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. postponed opening its restaurants for four hours Monday, to 3 p.m. local time. As a peace offering to inconvenienced customers, Chipotle said was offering free burritos to people who text in a code to the company. Moran urged employees to be "incredibly hospitable" to customers as the company pushes to win back business. "We need you to be your very best," he said. Chipotle is trying to bounce back from plunging sales since an E. coli outbreak came to light in late October, and a separate norovirus incident in December. The declines have persisted, with January sales down 36 percent at restaurants open at least 13 months. To work through the crisis, Chipotle has hired Rubenstein Public Relations, which helped organize the national worker meeting. The Denver company said employees watched the presentation at more than 400 locations around the country. In New York City, employees filed into two theaters inside Regal Cinemas in Union Square. Many had orange pieces of paper on which they had been told to take notes, though that proved difficult in rooms darkened during the presentation. Employees, who were paid for attending, said they were told to come wearing their uniforms. In a short video, employees were told to watch for symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, explosive diarrhea, yellowing of the skin and eyes and dark urine. "When anyone vomits in the back of the house or the front line, this is a red event, which means we close the restaurant immediately," said Gretchen Selfridge, a Chipotle restaurant support officer. Executives also covered procedural changes that ranged from hand-washing rules and the marinating of meat, to centralized locations where tomatoes and lettuce are chopped. During a brief question-and-answer period in which Chipotle selected screened questions, one employee asked whether the company planned to start chopping vegetables in restaurants again. When the question appeared onscreen, employees in New York City groaned. One said upon leaving that cutting vegetables in stores is hard work. How long it takes Chipotle to bounce back remains to be seen. Other companies hit by food scares have taken about a year or more to recover, Chipotle executives note, though they acknowledge that their situation may differ because it involved more than one incident, and they received intense exposure in both social and mass media. In the meantime, Chipotle has said it does not plan to slow down its rate of new store openings. Chipotle already has more than 2,000 locations, primarily in the U.S. SHARE By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal The Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau has hired resort hotel executive Jeff Homad to lead efforts to grow convention and meeting business. As vice president of convention sales and services, Homad will assume convention- and meeting-related duties previously performed by John Oros, who became chief of Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau last August. Homad has more than 18 years of experience in luxury and upscale destination resorts, hotels and vacation rental properties, most recently as executive director of sales at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla. He headed sales and marketing for hotels and resorts in California, Georgia, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. Homad will oversee convention and meeting sales and services for the bureau and Memphis Cook Convention Center. Im excited to come to Memphis during a time when the city is moving with so much positive momentum, Homad said. The authenticity and appeal of Memphis speaks for itself, and I look forward to helping the team at the MCVB bring more meetings and conventions to this wonderful city." Bureau president and chief executive Kevin Kane said, Jeff has effectively led many hospitality teams across the country. We know his expertise will be the perfect addition to our team in order for us to maintain and grow the number of meetings and conventions booked in Memphis each year. Resurrection Health is partnering with Alliance Healthcare Services to offer mental health and primary care services by co-locating practitioners at AHS and Resurrection Health locations in Frayser and Whitehaven. SHARE By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal The Raleigh-Frayser area in Memphis will see not one but two grand openings of health clinics by separate faith-based organizations on Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the Memphis Democrat who emphasizes support at the federal level for health care issues, is slated to speak at both within the same hour. Resurrection Health is opening its new health center at 2574 Frayser Boulevard from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by an open house until 4 p.m. At 10 a.m., Christ Community Health Services is holding a snow-day delayed ribbon cutting for its new health center at 3481 Austin Peay. Tours will be available before and after the event. The Frayser center will the fourth location for Resurrection Health, founded in December 2014 with Dr. Rick Donlon as its chief executive officer. Donlon also helped found and formerly led Christ Community, which is a "federally qualified health center" that receives federal funding to provide primary care in underserved areas. Cohen is scheduled to attend the Christ Community opening, followed by the Resurrection Health, officials said. Other elected officials and dignitaries are scheduled for both events. February 5, 2016 UT Health Science Center occupational therapy students (from left) Hannah Moore, Kate Rodgers, and Caroline Dickey paint an alphabet caterpillar mural inside the future home of the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center at UTHSC. The clinic is named in honor of former student Rachel Kay who died last year before completing the program. The center will focus on children with developmental disabilities offering a range of screening and treatment for conditions ranging from autism and Down syndrome to developing patients fine and gross motor skills. The clinic will offer services focused on children of families who are uninsured or underinsured. David Waters Columnist SHARE February 5, 2016 Elijah Lightfoot (center) moves furniture as he and fellow students from the University of Tennessee Heatlh Science Center occupational therapy program prepare the future home of the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center at UTHSC. Rachel Kay Stevens In one of her last journal entries, Rachel Kay Stevens wrote, "Love is meeting the needs of other people." That's what Rachel wanted to do with her life. That's why she majored in psychology at Lyon College in her hometown of Batesville, Arkansas That's why she enrolled in the occupational therapy program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis a little more than a year ago. Rachel was planning to spend the rest of her life meeting the needs of children who were struggling through no fault of their own. Children who were being treated as if they were just lazy or slow or obstinate or incorrigible instead of developmentally delayed for genetic or environmental reasons. Children who had difficulty managing their emotions or focusing on school work or just sitting up or sitting still because of congenital abnormalities or fetal alcohol syndrome, abuse or neglect, chronic stress or trauma. Children who had fallen behind because of motor, social-emotional, cognitive or sensory challenges that had been unnoticed or ignored until they entered kindergarten or first grade. Children who were born with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism, torticollis, hypotonia or sensory processing disorder, or any number of disabilities that impair their normal growth and development. There are thousands of such children all over the Memphis and Mid-South area. Many of them are children of poverty who, for a variety of reasons, aren't screened, diagnosed or treated, especially early in life. Most of us don't become aware of their problems until we hear about the results of those problems in low test scores and graduation rates, high teen pregnancy rates and crime rates and other social measures. "I grew up in my little Bartlett bubble, and I was not aware of the extent of the need until we started this project for Rachel," said Caroline Dickey, now in her second-year in UT's occupational therapy program. "When you know there's such a great need, you can't look the other way." Rachel couldn't. Except for being born with a sixth toe on her left foot, Rachel grew up a perfectly normal, healthy and happy child in Batesville. But even as a kid, she was drawn to kids with special needs. "I think her own little birth defect gave her more empathy for others who were dealing with much greater issues," Katrina Stevens said. "She was so happy and so excited about becoming an occupational therapist and learning to help children who didn't have the advantages she did. She had such a tender heart for children who were struggling." No one knew how Rachel's own heart was struggling. On Jan. 21, 2015, not quite three weeks into her first semester at UT, Rachel died suddenly in her sleep. Her autopsy report cited "probable cardiac arrhythmia." She was 21. After Rachel died, her parents, Randy and Katrina Stevens, established a scholarship fund in her name at Lyon. They thought about doing the same at UT, but Dr. Anne H. Zachry, who chairs UT's occupational therapy department, made another suggestion. "The need for occupational therapy greatly outnumbers the available providers and cost is prohibitive," Zachry said. "And even if a low-income child gets screened, the waiting list for therapy can be nine months to a year. If you're talking about a 3-year-old child, that's a critical window of time." As Rachel's faith taught her, when God closes a window, He opens a door. Tuesday morning, Rachel's parents and two sisters, Kayla and Kinley, will be in Memphis to help open the doors of the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center. It will be the only clinic in the area that provides free screenings and other occupational therapy services to children and their families who are uninsured or underinsured. The center, located in donated space at the UTHSC Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities at 711 Jefferson, will be staffed with UT students and volunteer therapists. Clinic organizers hope to see 300 to 500 families every year. "After Rachel died, we decided as a family that it was either do nothing and grieve her loss, or get busy celebrating her life and her legacy," Katrina Stevens said. "If she were alive today, this is where she would be. She would be working in this clinic, helping children in need." February 8, 2016 - Actors Bertram Williams Jr. (left) and Michael Ewing run through a scene from the three-person-play 'A Free Man of Color' during rehearsal in one of the performance spaces at the Hattiloo Theatre Monday evening. The Hattiloo is already planning on expanding with a two story administrative and practice space. SHARE February 8, 2016 - The Hattiloo Theatre near Overton Square is already planning on expanding with a two story administrative and practice space. February 8, 2016 - Actor Bertram Williams Jr. warms up a little before running through a scene from the three-person-play 'A Free Man of Color' during rehearsal in one of the performance spaces at the Hattiloo Theater Monday evening. The Hattiloo is already planning on expanding with a two story administrative and practice space. By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal Open less than 18 months, the Hattiloo Theatre in Overton Square soon will be joined by a complementary second building an adjacent two-story "Hattiloo Theatre Development Center" that will expand the black repertory theater group's mission along with its footprint. The new building is necessary because "we were not prepared for the growth that accompanied our move to Overton Square," said Hattiloo founder and chief executive officer Ekundayo Bandele, 44. "And it wasn't just the physical growth but the audience development, the donor engagement, and the interest from outside of Memphis, as well." Already funded by $750,000 in donations, the Development Center should be open by the first of December. Construction is expected to begin in mid-March on the grassy slope immediately northwest of Hattiloo, in a vibrant theater district that also includes Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse and TheatreWorks. Bandele said the new building has been designed to be compact but large enough to accommodate "not just what we need now but what we'll need in the future, because we cannot be in a perpetual state of construction." With Barry Alan Yoakum of the archimania firm as principal architect, the Development Center will consist of two stories, each measuring 1,200 square feet. The bottom floor will consist mainly of office space, while the top floor will be a rehearsal hall. Children's theater, a program for "special needs" adults and musical theater workshops for high-school students are among the initiatives planned for the center. "This space will help us achieve our goals as a local, a regional and a national presence," said longtime board member Cardell Orrin, Memphis director for the education advocacy group Stand for Children. Founded in September 2006 to provide a venue for the work of African-American performers, directors and playwrights, Hattiloo was housed for most of its existence in a cramped storefront on Marshall Avenue. Following an extensive capital campaign that raised $4.3 million (including $3.3 million for the building, according to Bandele), the Hattiloo Theatre in Overton Square opened in July. Also designed by archimania, the one-story, 10,600-square-foot building at 37 Cooper includes a large lobby, a main stage, a black box theater, offices and backstage areas. The space allows Hattiloo to present ambitious productions with complicated sets (such as the musical "Once on This Island" and the Broadway show "Stick Fly"), but office space and rehearsal space have proved insufficient, Bandele said, thanks in part to the increased ticketing and administrative duties demanded by the jump in tour-group and out-of-town attendance. Bandele said Hattiloo's ticketing software keeps track of the ZIP codes of audience members. Since the move to Overton Square, he said, 31 percent of ticket-buyers have been from outside of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, in part because the new theater is large enough for tour groups. In the past, no more than 10-12 percent of attendees were from beyond the Tri-State region. Bandele said the Development Center will open "debt free," as did the Hattiloo Theater. The center's $750,000 price tag was covered primarily by an anonymous donor who gave $450,000, he said. Other major contributors include the city of Memphis ($50,000), the Hyde Family Foundations ($50,000) and the Assisi Foundation of Memphis ($150,000). Bandele said the planned program for high-school students at the center could prove especially valuable. "There really isn't a lab in America that helps African-American students create musicals," he said. "It's an expensive and elaborate process, and even in Memphis, where we have so much musical talent, young people don't know how to approach musical theater. We've booked 18 musicals at Hattiloo, and only six of those were actually written by black people." Former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood, far left, was arraigned Tuesday morning, Feb. 9, 2016, on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud as well as witness tampering. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Pilot Flying J corporate offices on Lonas Drive and visible from the interstate Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013. MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL By Jamie Satterfield, Knoxville News Sentinel KNOXVILLE After approving an expansion of a scheme to defraud small trucking companies of promised diesel fuel rebates, former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood made a prediction, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. "We're all going to be winners for 2013," the indictment quotes Hazelwood telling sales managers at a November 2012 meeting in which he was secretly recorded. Hazelwood was arraigned Tuesday on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud as well as witness tampering in a nearly three-year investigation. Seven other Pilot employees were named in the 14-count indictment. All eight are accused in the conspiracy count and nine specific charges of wire fraud. Hazelwood faces an additional charge of witness tampering. Former Pilot vice president of direct sales Scott Wombold is also charged with three counts of lying to agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Ten former Pilot employees have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. In addition to Hazelwood and Wombold, the following former Pilot employees are named in the indictment: John Freeman, who was vice president of sales and who has been identified in an FBI affidavit as the architect of the fuel rebate scheme; Vicki Borden, who supervised various sales support staff; sales representatives Katy Bibee, Heather Jones and Karen Mann; and John Spiewak, who is listed as a former regional sales manager. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Trey Hamilton and David Lewen obtained the indictment from a federal grand jury on Feb. 3. It has remained under seal until Tuesday's arraignments. The prosecutors turned to a rare device in federal court the "speaking" indictment, which lays out with specificity the alleged scheme and reveals sections of the government's evidence against each defendant. That evidence includes emails and audio recordings in which Hazelwood and his alleged co-conspirators made no bones about their intent to deceive trucking companies less wise to the ways of fuel rebates. "Say one thing, do another," Freeman wrote. "Use smooth talking and a little change." Hazelwood is captured on secret recordings in late 2012 not only giving his approval of an expansion of the alleged fraud but advising his sales executives exactly how to choose victims. "Customer A, looks (at) every orifice," Hazelwood explained. "You have Customer B, who doesn't even know you have an orifice." It's "customer B," he added, the sales staff should target. Eleven trucking companies are specifically named in the indictment, including BP Express Inc., in Rockford, Tenn. The other companies were located across the country, including in North Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. The indictment alleges that one month after Hazelwood was fired from Pilot in May 2014 he "wilfully tried to persuade his former administrative assistant" to mislead or refuse to cooperate the FBI or the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. That employee is only identified as "Pilot Employee 1." The indictment alleges the conspiracy began in 2008 and ended with the raid on April 15, 2013. The indictment indicates that Hazelwood agreed on the day of the raid to speak with law enforcement. The indictment does not indicate how forthcoming he was. Not named in any indictments returned so far is CEO Jimmy Haslam, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Also not named is former Pilot Chief Financial Officer Mitch Steenrod. The indictment suggests Steenrod was specifically kept out of the loop with Borden at one point writing in an email, "I don't want (Steenrod) to know what happens after that." All of the defendants will be appearing in court Tuesday throughout the day. An April 11 tentative trial date was set, but prosecutors signaled that a delay likely would be necessary because of the sheer volume of evidence they are required to turn over to attorneys. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton allowed Hazelwood to go free under standard conditions of release, restricting his travel to Knoxville and Nashville. Defense attorney Rusty Hardin entered a not guilty plea on Hazelwood's behalf. Also entering not guilty pleas Tuesday morning were Freeman, Wombold and Borden. Hazelwood, Freeman and Karen Crutchman, a senior account representative, all received "target letters," an indication the government was focusing on a possible role in the fuel rebate fraud. Crutchman was not named in the indictment. Of the 10 former Pilot employees who have already pleaded guilty, Brian Mosher was the last to enter a plea and the highest-ranking former staffer to do so. Mosher was director of sales for national accounts. The company struck a deal last year to avoid criminal charges against Pilot itself by paying a $92 million penalty over two years and cooperating in the fuel rebate fraud investigation. The firm also has reached an $85 million settlement with trucking customers who sued the company. The 10 former staffers who struck plea deals in the case all admitted to some form of wire and mail fraud. Each is being held responsible for varying loss amounts and for varying victims. Mosher was hit the hardest, agreeing to a loss calculation of $20 million and a maximum victim count of 250 firms. Those figures boost his penalty range 24 levels under federal sentencing guidelines. Probation is no longer an option as a result. A sentencing chart suggests a penalty range of five to 10 years for Mosher. Three other former staffers have been granted immunity and cooperated in the early days of a probe that began in 2011 with a tipster who secretly recorded chats with a sales executive who later turned FBI mole. That mole is widely believed to be Vincent Greco, who was director of sales for the firm's west region at the time. Greco, too, was granted immunity. The probe went public in April 2013 when federal authorities, including the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division launched a high-profile raid on Pilot headquarters on Lonas Drive. Related coverage: Did 'Dr. John' start Pilot probe? (March 13, 2015) Feds: Pilot Flying J probe will extend into summer (Jan. 28, 2015) Judge seeks details in reviewing fraud claims against Pilot (Jan. 9, 2015) Jimmy Haslam rejects fraud claims in connection with Pilot Flying J suit (Dec. 6, 2014) Two companies continue to press Pilot lawsuits (Nov. 16, 2014) Pilot Flying J seeks dismissal of fraud lawsuits (Sept. 20, 2014) Freeman on hot seat in Pilot investigation (Aug. 3, 2013) Former Pilot regional sales manager, account manager plead guilty in federal court (July 29, 2013) Three more Pilot Flying J employees plead guilty (June 18, 2013) Exclusive: Pilot Flying J investigation highlights plane deal (June 5, 2013) Pilot mum on Ralenkotter, Judd (May 30, 2013) 2 Pilot employees plead to federal fraud charges (May 30, 2013) Pilot president also under scrutiny (April 27, 2013) Box by box, Pilot Flying J records shed more light on rebate-fraud probe (April 22, 2013) Trucking companies reeling from Pilot Flying J fraud allegations (April 19, 2013) CEO Jimmy Haslam: Pilot 'run the right way' (April 19, 2013) Documents in the Pilot Flying J investigation (April 18, 2013) FBI: Pilot engaged in fraud; Haslam knew of scheme (April 18, 2013) Unpaid rebates focus of Pilot Flying J investigation (April 16, 2013) FBI, IRS raid Pilot Flying J HQ; company 'cooperating fully' (April 15, 2013) SHARE Collierville alderman Tom Allen. By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal A plan to permit an indoor shooting range in Collierville was put on hold Monday night by the town's Board of Mayor and Aldermen when doctors from a nearby children's clinic objected. Business owner Mike Italiano is seeking permission to create a shooting range inside a warehouse at 177 Abbington Road near the intersection of Poplar and U.S. 72. Dr. Gina Hanissian and her husband, Dr. Ara Hanissian, operate a clinic on the other side of the road. They said their pediatric clinic is so close that the shooting range would be visible to visiting parents, who might feel intimidated and take their children elsewhere. Moreover, Ara Hanissian said guns can discharge accidentally in the parking lot. "People are imperfect and they're going to make mistakes." Italiano told the members of the board that the chances of a bullet escaping the facility were practically zero, since the shooting area would be surrounded by bulletproof materials on all sides. "I submit to you that will take, like, the magic bullet that killed Kennedy for that to happen." Alderman Maureen Fraser said that as a mother, she could see why parents might feel intimidated by a shooting range next to their child's clinic. She proposed barring the presence of such businesses next to health facilities like the pediatric clinic. Alderman Tom Allen said the board was hitting Italiano with last-minute requirements that hadn't been brought up at earlier discussions. "We're changing the rules on the gentleman and I don't think that's fair whatsoever." The meeting ended with the board deciding to table the issue until its Feb. 22 board meeting. The decision left Italiano the business owner fuming. "So you're going to put my family on the street!" he said to alderman John Stamps afterward. Italiano calmed down a few minutes later. In an interview, he and business partner Jim Kohan repeated their contention that the range was safe. They also said guns are so widespread that people are probably already bringing them to the pediatric clinic parking lot anyway. Technically, Monday's discussion aimed to create general rules for all indoor gun ranges, not just Italiano's. If the general rules are approved, Collierville authorities would then look at specific plans for Italiano's gun range.

The Shelby County Courthouse

By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal A Memphis lawyer was disbarred Tuesday, according to a news release from the Board of Professional Responsibility. George Ernest Skouteris Jr. represented a couple following a car accident in 2007. "In 2010, he agreed to a settlement with one insurer in the amount of $7,974 and with another in the amount of $8,500," according to the news release. "He did not have his clients' authority to agree to the settlements nor did he tell them about the settlements. He signed their names to the settlement checks without their knowledge or consent and deposited them to his trust account." Skouteris misappropriated the money and avoided the couple's attempts to communicate with him, the board said. "... in 2014, he led them to believe their lawsuit was ongoing," the board said. "He failed to advise them that he had been previously disbarred in 2014." Tremaine Wilbourn appears in Judge Loyce Lambert Ryan's General Session Court Division 15 courtroom August 12, 2015. SHARE Sean Bolton August 12, 2015 Tremaine Wilbourn was declared indigent in a court appearance last year, meaning a public defender was appointed to represent him. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty in the case of the man accused of killing Memphis police officer Sean Bolton last year. Tremaine Wilbourn was arraigned in Criminal Court Monday, and the state filed notice that it intends to seek the death penalty, according to documents in the case. The state listed three aggravating factors in the decision: the victim was an on-duty police officer; Wilbourn has a felony conviction for a prior crime of violence, in this case a federal bank robbery in 2005; and the killing was committed to avoid arrest. The tragedy began Aug. 1 in the Parkway Village area when Bolton, who would have turned 34 the week after the shooting, pulled in front of a red 2002 Mercedes-Benz that was stopped on the side of the street. Bolton got out of his cruiser and approached the car, police said, but the passenger got out and a struggle ensued. Police say that Wilbourn pulled out a gun and fired at Bolton at close range. An autopsy report showed that Bolton was hit eight times. Police later found drug paraphernalia as well as 1.7 grams of marijuana in the Mercedes. A man who lives in the neighborhood picked up Bolton's police radio and called dispatchers for help. Bolton was rushed to the Regional Medical Center in critical condition, where the autopsy report shows doctors spent an hour trying to revive him, but could not. After a massive manhunt, Wilbourn surrendered two days after the killing. Officials have charged Wilbourn, 30, with first-degree murder in Bolton's death. Although Wilbourn was officially being held on a $10 million bond, a judge revoked that potential bond Monday in light of the death-penalty filing. Wilbourn is due back in court March 7. By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal Memphis police are looking for a 26-year-old man they say opened fire inside a crowded community center last week. Police are looking for Marcus Dotson in the incident, which happened last Friday at the Riverview Community Center at 1891 Kansas. According to police, Dotson entered the center's gym and pointed a gun at a group of kids. He then opened fire and fled. A juvenile who was with him has already been taken into custody, police said. A warrant for his arrest has been issued on 51 counts of aggravated assault as well as using a firearm to commit a felony and contributing to the delinquency of a child. Dotson has prior arrests for domestic assault and aggravated burglary. Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH. SHARE By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal An off-duty Memphis police officer shot and injured an apparent burglar in Southaven Monday, officials said. The incident happened just before 12:50 p.m. at a home in the 3000 block of Chandler Drive, Southaven Police Lt. Mark Little said. The unidentified officer called local police to report that he'd shot someone trying to break into the home. Responding officers found the suspect in the driveway with a gunshot wound. He was ultimately taken to the Regional Medical Center, police said, where he was in stable condition. Memphis police said the officer has been relieved of duty with pay while the incident is being investigated. SHARE Mr. X By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal A man, known to police as "Mr. X" has been arrested for the alleged violent assault of his mother, according to the Memphis Police Department. Mr. X, 41, was charged with aggravated assault Monday night. According to an affidavit, officers arrived at a home in the 4800 block of Farmwood Drive on Monday. The victim told police she got into an argument with her son. When she told him to leave, he choked her and punched her in the face repeatedly, the affidavit said. She told police she was unable to move on her own and lay on the living room floor for one or two hours before her son called for help. She was taken to Regional Medical Center in critical condition with a split lip, missing teeth and swollen face and eyes, the affidavit said. When police arrived at the home, the suspect told officers "I just hit her with my fist," the affidavit said. The man was taken into custody and admitted to assaulting his mother, police said. Mr. X is due in court Tuesday. He is currently in jail on an $85,000 bond. SHARE David Clinton Praytor By Ron Maxey of The Commercial Appeal A Southaven man is in the Shelby County Jail awaiting extradition to Mississippi after he was wounded Monday by an off-duty Memphis police officer, and former Officer of the Year, inside a Southaven home. Southaven police Tuesday identified the suspect at David Clinton Praytor, 36, who lives in Southaven but also has lived in the Memphis area. The MPD officer, though not identified by Southaven police, has been confirmed as Brian Falatko, who was the 2010 Memphis Police Officer of the Year. Falatko has been involved in several other incidents, in which he was not at fault, while on-duty. According to Southaven police, officers were called to home in the 3000 block of Chandler Driveabout 12:45 p.m. Monday. Falatko told officers he arrived at the home with his children and found the suspect inside. Falatko told Southaven officers he was armed and fired shots at the intruder, striking him once in the upper torso. The suspect was in the driveway when officers arrived. He was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, but then transferred to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis. No one else was injured in the incident. Praytor will be extradited on a burglary charge, police said. Praytor has a lengthy arrest history in Memphis, including charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, DUI, theft and disorderly conduct. According to public records, the home where the incident happened is owned by Margaret Falatko. The two were married in 2011. Brian Falatko's name has surfaced in news accounts several times over the past few years. In 2009, Falatko, responding to a robbery, wounded a suspect who opened fire on him, according to police accounts. In 2011, he was dragged by a vehicle after a traffic stop at Claybrook and Jackson. The driver, Steve Nelson, 29, pleaded guilty to reckless aggravated assault and received a suspended two-year sentence. In 2012, Falatko was struck near Beale and Front while he and other officers were directing traffic. Aggravated assault charges against Veronica Yates, who was accused of intentionally hitting Falatko with her Mercedes, were dismissed after she attended anger management classes and performed community service. And in 2013, Falatko received serious head injuries when he was pushed through a window at B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale while trying to help his partner break up a confrontation outside the club. One of the those involved in the confrontation, Jon Riley, 27, of Memphis, was charged with aggravated assault, public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal Former City Council member Tom Marshall's firms received another $3 million in city contracts last year, bringing the city's total payout to the two firms up to $17.6 million. Marshall's OT Marshall Architects PC also received two subcontracts through real estate firm CBRE, roughly $50,000 each, for work on the city's renovation of the Donnelly J. Hill building and for the relocation of the South Main police precinct last year. Marshall received scrutiny for the number and size of his firms' contracts last March after at least one architect filed an anonymous complaint with Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson. Since then, Marshall's firms have received the two contracts both through Housing & Community Development in addition to its subcontracts. This year, Memphis has a new mayor in Jim Strickland and a new HCD director in Paul Young. Both said Tuesday that contracts would be awarded fairly. "My administration will have a fair, open and competitive process for contracts," Strickland said in a statement. Young said HCD won't have a default contractor, but will "welcome" all qualified vendors to participate. Marshall's most recent contract was signed by former mayor A C Wharton on Dec. 29 fewer than three days before he left office giving OT Marshall Architects $444,000 to design a $4.3 million seating upgrade at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Back in March, at about the same time as The Commercial Appeal published a story on the contracts, Wharton and former Housing & Community Development director Robert Lipscomb approved a nearly $2.6 million contract for architecture/engineering, program management and construction administration on a Raleigh Springs Mall redevelopment. That contract went to Marshall-Toles, a joint venture between Marshall and local minority contractor James Toles. Asked about Marshall's other contracts last March, Lipscomb said he would have a committee of his employees at HCD review contracts to avoid the "appearance of favoritism." Lipscomb approved all of the contracts except the latest one, which was approved by then-interim director Debbie Singleton. Lipscomb resigned in August after he was accused of statutory rape of a then-16-year-old boy. Memphis police are still investigating those allegations, but no charges have been filed. Marshall didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. But in March, he said he stood by his company's work, and clarified that much of the contract amounts go to subcontractors. State law forbids municipalities from bidding out professional services work, which encompasses architectural, engineering and construction management services. Under the citys current policies, directors choose who gets professional service contracts, including legal and construction-related work. Follow more politics and policy coverage from the InforMemphis team on Twitter and Facebook.

The TVA wants to replace the coal-fired Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis with a natural-gas powered plant.

SHARE By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal michael.collins@jmg.com 202-408-2711 WASHINGTON The Obama administration apparently has given up on selling the Tennessee Valley Authority. President Barack Obama's $4.1 trillion proposed budget, submitted to Congress on Tuesday, makes no mention of putting the public utility under state and local control the first time in four years such language has been missing from the president's spending plan. The administration appeared to be backing away from its proposal to sell the TVA when it submitted last year's budget. At the time, the administration noted TVA had taken significant steps to improve its operating and financial performance, but said it would continue to monitor the utility's progress toward achieving the goals in its long-term financial plan. Regardless, the budget document for last year seemed to leave open the possibility that TVA could be sold. "The administration continues to believe that reducing or eliminating the federal government's role in programs such as TVA, which have achieved their original objectives, can help mitigate risk to taxpayers," it said. None of that language is in this year's budget, signaling that the administration has finally put the proposal to rest. "I am glad the Obama administration abandoned this ill-advised idea in last year's budget proposal and that it didn't resurface in this year's proposal," said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Alexander, a Maryville Republican, had opposed selling TVA, arguing there is no federal taxpayer subsidy for the utility and that selling it to a profit-making entity could possibly leader to higher electricity rates. SHARE Bob Morgan Memphis Your Feb. 5 article Smirking ex-exec defies House reported on the epitome of a man who by all best estimates could be described as pure evil. Ill just say Martin Shkreli is way beyond what we would call self- centered. I dont know what kind of label we could put on a person who openly admits to favoring money over human lives and states publicly his success in doing so by raising the cost of life-saving drugs beyond the reach of most who depend on them. Contrast him with a former Memphian who achieved great success in the drug business through the truism and strong belief that the greatest good comes in helping the greatest number of people. This was Abe Plough, founder of Plough, Inc., later Schering Plough. On his retirement, I told him how much he would be missed at the company. He said, Dont give my leaving any thought, as I will now be in a position to help a lot more people. God bless Mr. Plough and what he is still accomplishing, through his foundation, for so many through his caring and unselfishness. SHARE By Dana Milbank PORTSMOUTH, N.H. When Ted Cruz last month mocked Donald Trump's "New York values," it wasn't entirely clear what he was implying. Last week, we got a clue: For Cruz, "New York" is another way of saying "Jewish." At an event in New Hampshire, Cruz, the Republican Iowa caucus winner, was asked about campaign money he and his wife borrowed from Goldman Sachs. Cruz, asserting that Trump had "upward of $480 million of loans from giant Wall Street banks," said: "For him to make this attack, to use a New York term, it's the height of chutzpah." Cruz, pausing for laughter after the phrase "New York term," exaggerated the guttural "ch" to more laughter and applause. But chutzpah, of course, is not a "New York" term. It's a Yiddish a Jewish one. And using "New York" as a euphemism for Jewish has long been an anti-Semitic dog-whistle. I followed both Cruz and Trump last week at multiple campaign events across New Hampshire. It was, in a sense, a pleasure to see them use their prodigious skills of character assassination against each other. It was demagogue against demagogue: lie vs. lie. Both men riled their supporters with fantasies and straw men. But there were discernible differences. Trump owned anger. Cruz, by contrast, had a lock on nastiness. Trump is belligerent and hyperbolic, with an authoritarian style. But while Trump fires up the masses with his nonstop epithets, Cruz has Joe McCarthy's knack for false insinuation and underhandedness. What sets Cruz apart is the malice he exudes. Cruz jokes that "the whole point of the campaign" is that "the Washington elites despise" him. But Cruz's problem is that going back to his college days at Princeton, those who know him best seem to despise him most. Not a single Senate colleague has endorsed his candidacy, and Iowa's Republican governor urged Cruz's defeat, then called his campaign "unethical." Ben Carson, who rarely has a bad word to say about anybody in the GOP race, accused Cruz of "deceit and dirty tricks and lies" last week after the Texan's campaign spread the false rumor during the Iowa caucuses that Carson was quitting the race. Two former rivals who also appeal to religious conservatives, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum (who endorsed Marco Rubio), have questioned Cruz's truthfulness, too. Sarah Palin, whose support for Cruz in 2012 got him elected to the Senate, last week denounced him after a Cruz surrogate accused her of accepting payment from Trump to back him. She, too, accused Cruz's campaign of "lies," a "dirty trick" and "typical Washington tactics." Cruz, in Nashua, slashed back at his one-time benefactor: "It seems if you spend too much time with Donald Trump, strange things happen to people." Somebody in the crowd shouted "Fire Palin!" and the audience cheered. Iowa's secretary of state, a Republican, issued a statement before the caucuses accusing Cruz's campaign of "false representation" because of a mailing to voters charging them with a "voting violation" and assigning them and their neighbors' phony grades. After Cruz's caucus-night skullduggery a campaign email to supporters and a tweet by a Cruz national co-chairman suggesting Carson was quitting the race his response continued the deception. Though he apologized to Carson, he said that "our political team forwarded a news story from CNN" and "all the rest of it is just silly noise." But CNN said nothing about Carson dropping out. After Trump, in his overblown way, accused Cruz of stealing the election, Cruz replied, righteously, that "I have no intention of insulting him or throwing mud." No? He accused Trump of "a Trumpertantrum." He said Trump as president "would have nuked Denmark." He said Trump "doesn't have any core beliefs." He mischaracterized several of Trump's positions, saying "he wants to expand Obamacare," that "for his entire life, 60 years, he has been advocating for full-on socialized medicine" and that Trump favors "amnesty" for illegal immigrants and "wants to deport people that are here illegally but then let them back in immediately and become citizens." He speculated that Trump may have "billions" in loans and said the concept of repaying loans is "novel and unfamiliar to Donald." The misrepresentation isn't limited to Trump. In a single speech in Nashua, he mischaracterized things said by, among others, Jimmy Carter, Chris Wallace, guests on Sean Hannity's show, Atlanta's mayor, Rubio and, of course, President Obama. I asked the Cruz campaign for substantiation of several of Cruz's accusations but received nothing. Unsurprising: Cruz's purpose is not to inform, but to insinuate. Dana Milbank is a columnist for The Washington Post. SHARE By Francis Wilkinson Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is a decent human being and a passionate politician. He is also a grave threat to the Democratic Party. Because the Democratic Party is currently the only major U.S. party devoted to moderation and rational empiricism, Sanders' robust campaign for president is consequently a threat to the U.S. as well. The Republican Party has been debilitated, as a source of policies and as a governing party, by the ever more stringent ideological demands that the party's powerful and adamant fringe imposes on its diminished and enfeebled center. It has succumbed so thoroughly to the paranoid style of politics that the leading Republican presidential candidate from the so-called establishment wing routinely suggests President Barack Obama is a nefarious agent of the nation's doom. Delusional, rancid talk has become so commonplace on the right that it rarely merits notice anymore. Sanders lacks the talent for sneering contempt that animates the candidacies of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businessman Donald Trump and, often enough, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But he shares other unwelcome attributes. The American economy, a sprawling, $18 trillion behemoth stretching and contracting in more directions at once than anyone can possibly comprehend, much less control, is "rigged," Sanders says. This claim, too, owes much to a paranoid style. Who has rigged this giganotosaurus of disparate goods and endlessly varied services? Perhaps "Wall Street." Or maybe "corporations." In politics, any force too spectral to wear a proper name is too elusive to be contained by government or law. Sanders all but admits as much. He posits that his election to the White House, where he would command the vast levers of the executive branch, would be insufficient to unrig things. A majority of electoral votes might suffice for a "moderate" like Hillary Clinton; Sanders, however, requires a "revolution." In Thursday's MSNBC debate in New Hampshire, Sanders exposed other troubling signs reminiscent of some of his right-wing counterparts. His preoccupation with who is and is not a true "progressive" is the mirror image of the right-wing obsession with doctrinal purity and the tedious, narcissistic battle over who is a "true conservative" and who is a compromising RINO. More surprising, Sanders exhibited a lazy contempt for the rigors of the job he seeks. Confronted with actual policy questions, Ben Carson and Donald Trump stumble in the darkness, knocking over lamps and bumping into unfamiliar furniture. They want to be president, but can't be bothered to learn information essential to the job. Sanders is no Carson or Trump; he lacks their preening self-regard (in the form of false humility in Carson's case) and their casual contempt for voters. But Sanders is almost exclusively animated by economic inequality and injustice. His lack of preparation and mental agility on foreign policy, apparent in the MSNBC debate, is alarming. A president is the nation's commander in chief and lead diplomat. Sanders' failure to wrap his head around those responsibilities, nine months after he announced his bid for president, is inexcusable. "ISIS" is not the answer to every question about the Middle East. And there is more to foreign policy acumen than a vote against the Iraq War 14 years ago. None of these problems is a hindrance to Sanders in the Senate, where he is one of 100. But Sanders is no longer content there. He is trying to build a movement to dominate the Democratic Party and go on to win the White House. Democrats can ill afford either outcome. For more than two decades the GOP has veered deeper into disaster. Unable to adapt to the rapid cultural, technological, economic and global changes thrust upon it, the party has fomented backlash and reaction. The national Democratic Party, meanwhile, has left its 1970s dysfunction behind. Flexible and functional, it has displayed pragmatism (how much did Nancy Pelosi NOT want to bail out Wall Street in 2008?) and moderation (basing its health care reform on the plan of a conservative think tank) and knowing, most of the time, more or less, when to take half, or quarter, of a policy loaf when the whole is unobtainable. Sanders threatens that. Should he wrench a sizable part of the party in his direction, and keep it, Democrats risk resembling Republicans in all their sorry ideological fixations, infighting and incompetence. If a large, radicalized faction emerges on the Democratic side, as it has within the GOP, the nation could truly become ungovernable, paralyzed by two fractured parties equally incapable of reconciling themselves to complex realities. This is not the promise of Sanders' vision. but it is a potential consequence of it. Like others, Democrats have a lot of pent-up frustration. Many, no doubt, are eager to stick it to the man. But the man, and even the stick, are metaphors, and pretty shallow ones at that. The Democratic Party's hard-won successes on health care, climate, financial regulation and more are, by contrast, both real and profound. Which is the sturdier political foundation for a just future? Francis Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View. Select Commodity All Ajwan Alasande Gram Almond(Badam) Alsandikai Amaranthus Ambada Seed Amla(Nelli Kai) Amphophalus Antawala Anthorium Apple Apricot(Jardalu/Khumani) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar Dal(Tur Dal) Ashgourd Astera Avare Dal Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Balekai Bamboo Banana Banana - Green Barley (Jau) Bay leaf (Tejpatta) Beans Beaten Rice Beetroot Bengal Gram Dal (Chana Dal) Bengal Gram(Gram)(Whole) Ber(Zizyphus/Borehannu) Ber(Zizyphus/Borehannu) Betal Leaves Bhindi(Ladies Finger) Bitter gourd Black Gram (Urd Beans)(Whole) Black Gram Dal (Urd Dal) Black pepper BOP Bottle gourd Bran Brinjal Broken Rice Broomstick(Flower Broom) Bull Bunch Beans Cabbage Calf Capsicum Cardamoms Carnation Carrot Cashewnuts Castor Seed Cauliflower Chapparad Avare Chennangi Dal Cherry Chikoos(Sapota) Chili Red Chilly Capsicum Chow Chow Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum(Loose) Cinamon(Dalchini) Cloves Cluster beans Cock Cocoa Coconut Coconut Oil Coconut Seed Coffee Colacasia Copra Coriander(Leaves) Corriander seed Cotton Cotton Seed Cow Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea(Veg) Cucumbar(Kheera) Cummin Seed(Jeera) Custard Apple (Sharifa) Dalda Dhaincha Drumstick Dry Chillies Dry Fodder Dry Grapes Duck Duster Beans Egg Elephant Yam (Suran) Field Pea Firewood Fish Foxtail Millet(Navane) French Beans (Frasbean) Galgal(Lemon) Garlic Ghee Gingelly Oil Ginger(Dry) Ginger(Green) Gladiolus Cut Flower Goat Gram Raw(Chholia) Gramflour Grapes Green Avare (W) Green Chilli Green Fodder Green Gram (Moong)(Whole) Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal) Green Peas Ground Nut Oil Ground Nut Seed Groundnut Groundnut (Split) Groundnut pods (raw) Guar Guar Seed(Cluster Beans Seed) Guava Gur(Jaggery) He Buffalo Hen Hippe Seed Honge seed Hybrid Cumbu Indian Beans (Seam) Indian Colza(Sarson) Isabgul (Psyllium) Jack Fruit Jaffri Jamun(Narale Hannu) Jarbara Jasmine Jowar(Sorghum) Jute Kabuli Chana(Chickpeas-White) Kacholam Kakada Kankambra Karamani Karbuja(Musk Melon) Kartali (Kantola) Khoya Kinnow Knool Khol Kodo Millet(Varagu) Kulthi(Horse Gram) Lak(Teora) Leafy Vegetable Lemon Lentil (Masur)(Whole) Lilly Lime Linseed Lint Litchi Little gourd (Kundru) Long Melon(Kakri) Lotus Lotus Sticks Lukad Mahedi Mahua Mahua Seed(Hippe seed) Maida Atta Maize Mango Mango (Raw-Ripe) Marasebu Marget Marigold(Calcutta) Marigold(loose) Mashrooms Masur Dal Mataki Methi Seeds Methi(Leaves) Millets Mint(Pudina) Moath Dal Mousambi(Sweet Lime) Mustard Mustard Oil Myrobolan(Harad) Neem Seed Niger Seed (Ramtil) Nutmeg Onion Onion Green Orange Orchid Ox Paddy(Dhan)(Basmati) Paddy(Dhan)(Common) Papaya Papaya (Raw) Patti Calcutta Peach Pear(Marasebu) Peas cod Peas Wet Peas(Dry) Pegeon Pea (Arhar Fali) Pepper garbled Pepper ungarbled Persimon(Japani Fal) Pigs Pineapple Plum Pointed gourd (Parval) Pomegranate Potato Pumpkin Raddish Ragi (Finger Millet) Raibel Rajgir Ram Rat Tail Radish (Mogari) Raya Resinwood Rice Ridge gourd(Tori) Ridgeguard(Tori) Rose(Local) Rose(Loose) Rose(Loose)) Round gourd Rubber Sabu Dan Sabu Dana Safflower Sajje Same/Savi Season Leaves Seemebadnekai Seetafal Seetapal Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) She Buffalo She Goat Sheep Snake gourd Snakeguard Soanf Soapnut(Antawala/Retha) Soji Soyabean Spinach Sponge gourd Squash(Chappal Kadoo) Sugar Sugarcane Sunflower Sunhemp Suram Surat Beans (Papadi) Suva (Dill Seed) Suvarna Gadde Sweet Potato Sweet Pumpkin T.V. Cumbu T.V. Cumbu Tamarind Fruit Tamarind Seed Tapioca Taramira Tender Coconut Thinai (Italian Millet) Thogrikai Thondekai Tinda Tobacco Tomato Toria Tube Rose(Double) Tube Rose(Loose) Tube Rose(Single) Turmeric Turmeric (raw) Turnip Walnut Water Melon Wheat Wheat Atta White Peas White Pumpkin Wood Yam Yam (Ratalu) Select State Select Market 23 May 2022 - Understand the French healthcare system, how you access it and how you are reimbursed - Useful if you are new to the French healthcare system or want a more in-depth understanding - Reader question and answer section Aimed at non-French nationals living here, the guide gives an overview of what you are (and are not) covered for. There is also information for second-home owners and regular visitors. 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. Well theres another crisis blown over. Yesterday I reported on a looming rebellion of Conservative MPs regarding the Local Government Finance Settlement. There were strong feelings that rural areas were being unfairly treated and it was looking quite likely that the Government could be heading for defeat. Not any longer. Yesterday Greg Clark, the Communities and Local Government Secretary announced that an extra 416 million had been found to soften the grant cuts from central government. He told the House of Commons: Much in the provisional settlement was welcomed, but specific points were raised about the sharpness of changes in Government grant in the early years of this Parliament and there were concerns about the cost of service delivery in rural areas. Another very important point was made: many colleagues and councils felt that too much time has passed since the last substantial revision of the formula that assesses a councils needs and the cost it can expect in meeting those needs. These responses to the consultation seemed to me to be reasonable and ought to be accommodated if at all possible. Everyone will appreciate that the need to reduce the budget deficit means that meeting the recommendations is extraordinarily difficult, but I am pleased to be able to meet all of the most significant of them. I can confirm that every council will have, for the financial year ahead, at least the resources allocated by the provisional settlement. I have agreed to the responses to the consultation, which recommended an ease in the pace of reductions during the most difficult first two years of the settlement for councils that experience the sharpest reductions in revenue support grant. Naturally, in response to the statement, Jon Trickett, the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, said that Conservative Home was essential reading and added that it is clear from the Secretary of States statement that he has studied carefully the representations made by some anonymous Tory MPs via this site. Clark responded: I am delighted to hear about the hon. Gentlemans reading material and to learn that it is through ConservativeHome that he seeks to educate himself these days. That makes a change from the red book that is the preferred choice of the Shadow Chancellor. I encourage him to continue. He will know from looking at that very good website that there is constant praise for the efficiency of Conservative councils, which have a record of economy and good service for their residents. Even the Local Government Association, usually in Oliver Twist mode in matters of local government finance, sound relatively content. Their Chairman, Lord Porter, says: The LGA has been working hard with the Government on behalf of all councils both publicly and privately to highlight the financial challenges they face over the next few years. We are pleased it has listened to our fundamental call for new money to be found to smooth out funding reductions for some councils in 2016/17 and beyond without any other councils losing out further as a result. Extra funding of up to 416 million, which includes an extra 93 million for rural authorities, announced today will go towards easing the financial pressure on those local authorities who were adversely affected by the method of allocating funding and will ensure that no council will move into a negative grant funding position within the next three years. Allowing all local authorities not just the 51 districts with the lowest council tax bases to raise their Band D council tax by 5 will also help some councils mitigate some of the additional funding pressures they face in 2016/17 and beyond. Funding reductions will still be challenging for councils over the next four years. Any extra cost pressures, such as those arising from rising demand or policies such as the National Living Wage, will have to be funded by councils finding savings from elsewhere. Many will have to make significant reductions to local services to plug funding gaps and will be asking residents to pay more council tax while possibly offering fewer services in return as a result. The move to full business rate retention is the most ambitious reform to local government finance of the last few decades. While it wont solve the long-term funding challenges facing councils, it is absolutely critical to ensure any new system works effectively. We look forward to working closely with the Government on ensuring it is implemented and distributed in a way which maximises the potential it offers to our local communities and businesses. Of course, while Clark was making the announcement, he relied on George Osborne to find the money. One placated rebel I spoke to suggested that had Osborne pursued a confrontation on the matter it would have been career limiting in terms of the number of colleagues alienated. 416 million sounds a lot but isnt really in the world of HM Treasury. If all goes well with the public finances and the budget is balanced on schedule then all will be well. The risk is that should public sector borrowing prove more persistent then Osbornes periodic bouts of generosity, such as the one announced yesterday, will be considered imprudent. Nick Timothy is Director of the New Schools Network and a former Chief of Staff to Theresa May. On 24 October 2012, Tom Watson the MP for West Bromwich East and now the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party was called by the Speaker to ask the Prime Minister a question in the House of Commons. What he said caused a sensation. A file of evidence, he claimed, which in 1992 was used to convict a paedophile called Peter Righton, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring. One of its members boasts of his links to a senior aide of a former Prime MinisterThe leads were not followed up, but if the file still exists I want to ensure that the Metropolitan Police secure the evidence, re-examine it and investigate clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and Number Ten. In the three years or so that have passed since Watsons incendiary claim, there has been a confusing mixture of irresponsible innuendo, false allegations and proven facts. Rumours have swirled around Westminster about the identity of an unnamed former minister who is alleged to have been a paedophile, while last summer, Wiltshire Police staged a press conference outside Sir Edward Heaths old home in Salisbury and appealed for his victims to come forward. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is reportedly preparing to apologise to Lord Bramall, the D-Day veteran and former Chief of the Defence Staff, after the Met badly mishandled its investigation into allegations against him that appear to have been baseless. There are similar calls for the police to apologise for their handling of allegations made about Lord Brittan, the former Home Secretary, and Harvey Proctor, the former Member of Parliament. These events have prompted some people to criticise the investigation of old alleged crimes, even when it turns out that the accused have been guilty. Lord Lawson has questioned how much [money] the police is spending now on chasing up often unsubstantiated accusations of historic sex abuse. The Daily Telegraph recently splashed with the headline, Murders rise amid police sex probes as though the investigation of the latter explained the rise in the former. Charles Moore has complained that if you ring the police today and say you are (or were forty years ago) the victim of child sex abuse, they have, according to the rules, to believe you. They have to interview you, log you as an abuse statistic and investigate your accusations. But while nobody should want the police to suspend disbelief and pursue allegations that upon investigation are clearly baseless, we should want them in child abuse cases and other crimes to listen to the alleged victim, interview them, record what they have said, and investigate. That is what the police are there to do. If they did not do these things, they would be negligent, and many crimes would go unpunished. The lessons from the investigation into Lord Bramall and the other errors made by the police come down to simple competence. It was plainly wrong for Wiltshire Police to hold a press conference in front of Sir Edward Heaths home and to talk about his victims as though it was a matter of fact that he was guilty. As the Metropolitan Police have admitted, it was wrong for them to describe publicly allegations about the existence of a Westminster paedophile ring as credible and true when they did not know they were. And it is wrong for the police to routinely leak the names of suspects to the media, just as it is wrong for them to keep people in limbo on bail for many months and sometimes even years. But police incompetence is not just bad for the innocent people accused of crimes they did not commit. In far too many cases, and for too many years, police incompetence has meant that the guilty have got away with their crimes. The independent report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, by Professor Alexis Jay, for example, says that the police gave no priority to CSE, regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime. Exactly the same could be said about the police response to organised child sexual abuse in Rochdale, Derby and Oxford. Likewise, the independent inquiry into the handling of allegations about Lord Janner found that he could have been prosecuted for indecent assault in 1991, 2002 and 2007 but each time did not face justice because of police failures. And of course the police were forced to apologise for failing to act on the multiple allegations made about Jimmy Savile. So the conclusion we should draw from the case of Lord Bramall is that we need to deal with police incompetence, not adopt new policies and rules that make prosecutions of real criminals harder. If the police adopt a sceptical attitude when alleged victims of child abuse come forward, we risk returning to the culture of disbelief described by Alexis Jay that meant for decades few child abuse allegations were properly investigated. And if we decide that the police should not investigate old cases, we will be letting down the victims and telling other offenders like Janner and Savile that they can get away with appalling crimes. We will also send a dangerous signal to younger and more recent victims: that child abuse is not a crime we take seriously. That would be a terrible turn for the worse, not least because we are beginning to learn that the sexual abuse of children is a much bigger social problem than any of us has realised until now. According to the National Crime Agency, at least one per cent of adult men could have a sexual interest in minors, while police leaders believe that the internet is facilitating the abuse of children, by making available hundreds of millions of images of abuse and bringing together online communities of abusers who would not previously have been able to communicate with one another. It is difficult not to discern in some of the critics of the police investigations into child abuse and indeed the critics of the Governments decision to hold an inquiry into child sexual abuse a distaste for simply discussing the subject as well as an intolerance of the campaigners who want to see it given greater public prominence. This intolerance demonstrated well by John Humphrys in this interview with Peter Saunders from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood mirrors the curious tolerance our society has shown to child abuse in the past. Popular references to dodgy uncles, that teacher, and men who like little boys all show we know child abuse is in our midst, yet we do remarkably little about it. Schools, councils, charities, childrens homes, even the BBC have all failed in their duty of care to young people. Some have been actively complicit in the abuse of children. Many families hid it. The authorities often dismissed it. And the result was that many thousands of victims suffered the double trauma of first being abused and then ignored. So while it is certainly true that the likes of Tom Watson need to show more responsibility and the police need to show more professionalism, we must not draw the wrong conclusions about the Lord Bramall case and others like it. We need to face up to the scale of child abuse, we need to be prepared to talk about things we find uncomfortable, and we need to do everything we can to reduce the number of innocent young people who suffer these unspeakable crimes. A Cabinet meeting has been called for next Monday. This is most unusual during a recess week. Cabinet Ministers and former ones cant remember it happening before under David Cameron. Downing Street is saying that the meeting is not designed to discuss Europe interaction, which to my eye confirms that the EU council meeting later in the week, and how the Government will handle its aftermath, will be discussed. The meeting has been shifted from the usual Tuesday to Monday because the Prime Minister is travelling off to drum up support abroad before the summit. This looks like an attempt to ensure that Cameron gets as much publicity bang for his buck post-summit as possible, assuming an agreement is reached, without noises off from the Cabinet Brexiteers. That would mean the Cabinet agreeing rules of engagement. Much will depend on when he calls the Cabinet meeting that will follow the council meeting, after which it has been agreed that pro-Remain and pro-Leave Ministers can go their own separate ways. If the Prime Minister is determined to set the pace on TV and radio for as long as possible, he will seek to put that meeting off until as late as possible (say, Monday February 22 or even later). If instead he seeks to prioritise party unity, he will hold it early on Saturday 20. Having a rules of engagement discussion on Monday would be risky: it might go wrong and the discussion will certainly leak. Whatever happens, the pro-Brexit Ministers should resist having their hands tied and mouths gagged during the post-summit hours that could frame the publics view of the referendum campaigns. Close While U.S. health officials focus on combating the Zika virus, which has been spreading throughout central and South America, the people in Hawaii are battling another mosquito-borne virus. The mayor of the island of Hawaii, commonly known as the Big Island, has declared a state of emergency on Monday over the increasing number of dengue fever cases. On the island, there have been 251 confirmed cases of dengue fever since Oct. 29, which is the highest number of cases that has been recorded since the 1940s. Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi's declaration will allow people to dispose of their old tires in landfills to prevent the mosquito population from growing. Mosquitos like to breed in tires that have been left around. Hawaii governor David Ige stated that he supports the order but will not be declaring a state of emergency for all of Hawaii unless dengue fever starts to spread out of the Big Island, the outbreak needs more resources and/or the outbreak includes the Zika virus. "Mayor Kenoi and his team on the Big Island have been on it from the first report," Ige said a week ago reported by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. "They've done a terrific job of engaging the communities and engaging us, and we've been cooperating with them from the beginning, providing the resources that they need to ensure that we can respond on behalf of the people." If Ige declares dengue fever a statewide emergency, Hawaii could receive funds to help control the outbreak. Dengue fever is a viral disease that is characterized by symptoms such as high fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, headache or pain around the back of the eye area. In severe cases, an infection can lead to life-threatening symptoms such as bleeding and shock. Although dengue fever can be more severe than the Zika virus, officials have been focused on the latter due to the fact that there is evidence linking Zika virus to birth defect, microcephaly. For more information on the outbreak, click here. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close The alarmingly surging accounts of women giving birth to babies with neurological defects such as those born with microcephaly- a condition wherein infants are born with small heads- have triggered debates across Latin America over some of the world's most stringent laws on abortion. The Zika epidemic has led to widespread fear among women of the likelihood of seeing their babies with birth defects. However, abortion is strictly prohibited under most circumstances in a mainly Catholic region where the religious establishment has entrenched opposition toward aborting fetuses. In Colombia, a movement advocating for the lifting of restrictions on abortion laws is gaining momentum but is equally opposed by the Catholic Church. Also, in El Salvador, the health minister is calling on his fellow members of the parliament to revisit the country's laws on abortion in the light of an ongoing Zika scare. Likewise in Brazil, strict anti-abortion laws are forcing pregnant women to seek illegal abortion. "If I were a woman, had just got pregnant and discovered that I had been infected by the Zika virus, I would not hesitate an instant to abort the gestation," wrote Helio Schwartsman in article he wrote for Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo as quoted by The Washington Post. In countries particularly hard hit by the epidemic, women seeking for "therapeutic abortion" are often faced with many legal hurdles. Not only that, they are also being criticized by Catholic authorities. "We should never talk about therapeutic' abortion. Therapeutic abortion doesn't exist. Therapeutic means curing, and abortion cures nothing. It takes innocent lives," remarked Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras as mentioned in a report by RT News. Meanwhile, a judge in Brazil has publicly announced that he would declare abortions "legal" in cases of Zika-induced birth defects such as microcephaly according to a news article by the New York Times. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Hospice patients receiving end-of-life care rarely get a visit from a medical professional within the last two days of life, a new study is reporting. For this study, the research team headed by Dr. Joan Teno, professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, examined the level of care that hospice patients living at home or in a nursing home received in their final days. According to HealthDay, reported by Philly.com, the team decided to focus only on the last two days "because symptoms escalate and pain worsens for patients who are cared for by families, and families need to be educated about how to care for the patient. Also families need support not only in the task of being the hands-on primary caregiver, but also bearing witness to the death of a loved one." The team analyzed data on 661,557 Medicare patients who filed claims during the federal fiscal year of 2014. Out of this group of patients, 81,478 of them (12.3 percent) did not have a visit from a medical professional in their final two days of life. The researchers noted that variations existed by state. For example, if you lived in Alaska or Washington, the chances that you would see a medical professional in your final days were extremely low compared to other states. When the researchers analyzed 3,448 hospices involved in the study, they found that 281 programs (8.1 percent) did not offer visits by a member of the medical community within the two last days of life. Only 21 hospice programs (0.6 percent) offered visits to all of their hospice patients. The team also found that one's likelihood of receiving a visit right before death was affected by race, location of care and the date of the week. Black patients and patients living in nursing homes were the least likely to receive visits. Patients who died on Sunday also had a lower chance of getting a visit. Smaller hospice programs also had lower visit rates. The researchers stressed the importance of getting visits during the final days of life for the patient and the patient's loved ones. "They can make changes to ensure that the dying patient is comfortable and to provide education to the family on how to care for the patient in the last days of life," Teno said. The study's findings have led to a change in the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' hospice care payment policy. The change, which started on Jan. 1, 2016, included a "service intensity add-on payment" that allows hospice patients who are in their final week of life to receive up to four hours per day of visits by a registered nurse or medical social worker. Prior to this chance, Medicare paid a single rate for each patient regardless of the number of visits that the patient received by a registered nurse, social worker or any other members of a professional staff The study, which was funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, was published in JAMA Internal Medicine. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Eden Springs Water: Think Before You Drink A report by BDSlist.org 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org With todays colossal corporations that span the globe, it can be confusing to identify products that should be subject to BDS, the international campaign using Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions to compel Israel to abide by international law. One such product is Eden Springs Water. An Israeli company, Eden Springs delivers over 680 million litres of water across 18 countries, making it one of the worlds leading providers of bottled water in the workplace. Despite its name, however, this lucrative corporation did not begin as a pristine gift from nature; it began and continues to operate as an illegal occupation of the Golan Heights. This was the water I had been searching for," concluded an Israeli named Moshe Meir in 1981 as he drank from the Salukia Springs of Katzrin, Golan Heights. By 1983 the Israeli government granted its approval for the waters commercial production, and within a year Israeli businessman Giorah Naftali began forging the corporation that would not only prosper in Israel, but expand throughout Europe. The corporation bought out and made deals with numerous companies, including superstars Danone and Nestle. In 2013 Eden sold its European and Israeli operations to New York-based private equity firm Rhone Capital for 70 million euros. With its corporate headquarters in Bnei Brak, Israel, Eden has done business under many names: Chateaudeau Eden International Eden Springs Eden Water & Coffee Mayanot Eden Ltd Mayanot Tamda Ltd Mayanot Tamra Ltd Mey Eden Tamda Ltd Does Edens presence in Europe mean it is more global than Israeli and so should not be the target of BDS? Not in the least. Edens original factory remains in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where it derives its very product from the expropriated Salukia Springs. While Eden does source from European springs for its European markets, Edens core website makes clear that its European business is merely an expansion of its Israeli success. The Bloomberg Business snapshot of Eden confirms that the company is headquartered in Israel and that it does business internationally. Does the investment of an American equity firm lessen the Israeli identity of Eden? On the contrary. The financial shuffling was an investment in an Israeli corporation, but also ultimately in Israeli doctrine. The founders and managing directors of Rhone Capital are billionaire financiers Robert Agostinelli and Steven Langman. Agostinelli is a leading supporter of Zionist causes and a founding member of the high-powered Friends of Israel Initiative, which asserts that Israels future is our [Western] fate. Similarly, Langman donated last year between $30009999 to Birthright Israel Foundation, an organisation which, partnered with the Israeli government, recruits potential citizens and supporters of Israel. With its roots in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Eden stands as a prime example of Israels rapacious history. As far back as 1919, when a state of Israel was still in its planning stages, the Zionist Organization presented a statement to the Paris Peace Conference staking its claim on regional water resources. The Zionists stressed the vital importance of securing and controlling water for their proposed state, and pointed to a stretch of land that easily included the present-day Golan Heights. Nonetheless, this portion of the land was absorbed into the French Mandate, and later, upon Syrian independence from the Mandate, declared Syrian. But Israel still had designs on the fertile Golan Heights. Noting the strategic importance of the region, Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs boldly acknowledges that its quest for vital water resources led to the Six-Day War in June 1967, in which Israeli military captured the Golan Heights. In 1975 Prime Minister Rabin even publicly boasted that expanded Israeli settlements in the occupied territories were meant to make it clear to the Syrians that even in the context of a real peace we [Israelis] will not go down from the Golan Heights. Israel maintained a military occupation for over a decade, and then announced it was annexing the territory as Israeli. Syria, of course, took the issue repeatedly to the UN (for instance S/9489). Time and again, the UN ruled that the seizure of the Golan Heights violated international law. Israel simply ignored the UN censures (for instance 35/122, 35/207, 35/674). When Israel proclaimed its annexation of the land in 1981, UN Security Council Resolution 497 declared the seizure illegal. Representatives from nations around the world denounced the move. The UN General Assembly (ES-9/1 and A/RES/37/123) likewise condemned Israels actions. The UN declared Israels brazen tactics illegal and characterized Israels conduct as a continuing threat to international peace and security. Noting that Israel had refused to accept and carry out numerous Security Council decisions, the General Assembly called for the boycotting of Israel, explaining that economic and cultural cooperation with Israel merely encourages Israel to commit acts of aggression and to consolidate and perpetuate its occupation and annexation of occupied Arab territories. Upon the unanimous adoption of Resolution 497even the US agreed the annexation was illegal the Israeli Representative to the UN immediately dismissed the international ruling; he stated on the record: "Israel cannot and does not accept the resolution just adopted" (S/PV.2319). And so Israel has not budged. Its Ministry of Tourism boldly proclaims the land as Israels mountainous northern region, and Israel continues to benefit from the natural resources of the Golan Heights. The UN has recently trotted out the same old condemnations (A/RES/70/91). After nearly 50 years of diplomatic denouncement, though, it has become glaringly obvious that piracy has prevailed. The treasure of the Golan Heights was taken by force and by disdain for the rule of law. It is hardly surprising, then, that Edens website states that it contributes to the Israeli military forces, the IDF. Eden Springs makes a mockery of international law and washes away hope for respectful co-existence. With an absurd twist, in 2012 Eden Springs was granted a contract to supply bottled water to the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva. WHO is, of course, the public health arm of the United Nations. Researchers with BDSlist.org contacted both WHO and Eden Springs. To date, WHO has not responded. Eden Springs Switzerland confirmed that Eden supplies events organized by WHO, particularly the annual week-long World Health Assembly. It is nonsensical that an agency of the UN should be contracting with a corporation built on violations that the UN has consistently denounced. A petition requesting that WHO terminate its business relationship with Eden Springs can be found here. Every purchase of Eden Water normalizes an illegal settlement and exploits the most precious natural resource that lawfully belongs to the Syrians. The time for boycott of Eden Springs is now. BDSlist is a website managed by a group of BDS supporters who aim to share a descriptive list of Israeli companies, products and institutions that should be boycotted. Calling for Israel to stop its unjust treatment of Palestinians and its violations of international law, BDSlist believes that just as boycotts worked against apartheid policies in South Africa, it can work in Israel. Visit www.bdslist.org to learn more. Israel Sentences Israeli Arab Haneen Zoabi To Six Months In Prison By Shubhda Chaudhary 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org Israel, which for long, has worn the disguise of being a so-called democratic state is intrinsically carrying out the political cleansing of Israeli Arabs within its boundaries. The states policies are never questioned as they suspend arrest or judge Israeli Arabs, snatching away their right of dignified life. In a recent case, Israeli court has sentenced the Arab-Israeli MK Haneen Zoabi to six months suspended sentence for three years, in addition to NIS3,000 ($800) fine. Early in July 2014, a few days after the killing of Mohammed Abu-Khdeir, Zoabi is alleged to have made offensive remarks to Arab policemen in the Nazareth courthouse, where they were attending remand extension hearings for riot suspects. The statements included, We should wash the floor with those who collaborate against their own people, and They should fear the shabab [young rioters] and We should spit in their faces. Explaining the states request to impose a suspended sentence, prosecutor Raz Walter said, We are not talking about a slip of the tongue during an argument or a curse spit into the air, but a series of harsh sentences, like a self-contained speech that included a series of rude comments to policemen about their activities. He added that a punishment was important to deter others from using rude words against public servants, noting that Zoabi is an elected official with influence over a wide public. According to the charge, on July 6, 2014, Zoabi was present during remand extension hearings at the Nazareth Magistrates Court for two suspects arrested on the same background. Commenting on the sentence, Zoabi said: This is an unnecessary decision, this entire trial is unnecessary. I am fighting against the oppression of the [Israeli] regime. We are fighting against a racist policy, we are not fighting against people. Zoabi added she had been protesting the fact that the police were persecuting demonstrators and political activists, and she would continue to protest this. Its not just my right, its my obligation, she said. The Israel Police and the judicial system conduct themselves one way toward the Jewish public and a different way toward Arabs. Last week, Zoabi and the other Arab MKs Jamal Zahalka and Basel Ghattas met with families of Palestinian victims killed by the Israeli occupation forces. Many Israelis in the public and political spheres considered this a kind of incitement and; thus, they called to revoke their immunity. Calling for the Israeli occupation to return the bodies of the Palestinian victims killed by the Israeli occupation forces, Zoabi said on Sunday that Bodies are bodies and need to be returned to the families. It does not matter if it is the body of a Jew or an Arab. There are bodies held by Israel for four months now, she bemoaned. Weve spoke to Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and confronted him. We hope hell meet our demands. Shubhda Chaudhary is a PhD Scholar in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She specialises in West Asian politics and writes for think-tanks in Abu Dhabi and South Africa. India In Quest For Capitalism By Nijam Gara 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org Sixty nine years ago, our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru's famous tryst with destiny speech heralded the birth of Independent India after years of struggle against colonial British Empire. Even though the Indian subcontinent boasts of civilizations dating back thousands of years, the geographical idea of India itself and the concepts of democracy and governance for public good were brand new to the people. A mixed economy with a blend of socialism and capitalism, thrust on higher education and agriculture, unflinching commitment to secularism and world leadership in taking up the Non-aligned movement in the post-world war II, cold-war era formed the bedrocks of nation building. Though Nehru fell far short in taking up social issues with the same zeal, his vision for the new-born nation was unparalleled among the various nations that took birth in the post-colonial world. Successive governments that came after Nehru's demise variously sidetracked from the broad founding principles of the nation. However, the final nail in the coffin came with economic liberalization in the post-soviet 1990s spearheaded ironically by the same Congress party that Nehru belonged to but led by P V Narasimha Rao. While liberalization was certainly an idea whose time had come, was India right in embracing capitalism with all the vigor and spineless urgency that it did? Should the country have made the transformation in a much more balanced and nuanced manner while at least paying homage to the principles of mixed economy? Answers to these questions might be evident if we examine the self-proclaimed capitalist societies around the world, especially the USA, the quintessential capitalist country. Evidently, communism proved to be unsustainable worldwide. On the flip side, how successful has capitalism been? Did the wealth really trickle down and lift the poor people in capitalist countries out of poverty? A spate of surveys done in the USA recently show that top 0.1 percent of Americans are now worth more than the entire bottom 90 percent of the population. The wealth of the top 1 percent grew exponentially even in the years of economic recession while the savings of the middle and low income classes sunk rock-bottom. So, why the clamor for capitalism in India? While the lopsidedness of avowed capitalism is so self-evident, why are the middle-classes of India easily sold to the idea of a capitalist economy being panacea to all ills? The only answer that makes sense is that they are living in a world of "ignorance is bliss". Capitalist USA prods countries such as India through institutions like World Bank, IMF, etc. to cut spending on welfare and stop giving 'sops' to the poor and needy of the country. Welfare schemes such as free electricity to farmers, subsidized cereals and government health care are berated by these institutes and our governments are increasingly hostile to the idea of public welfare. No wonder then our public health parameters are so dismal - 7% of Indian children die before their 5th birthday (as opposed to 0.8% of American children), 46 out of every 1000 Indian infants die (this rate is better in North Korea @ 26/1000 and 6/1000 in the USA), India ranks 139 out of 187 in death rate. The irony I want to point out here is that the USA, despite its thrust on capitalism implements some of the largest welfare schemes in the free market world today and perhaps in history. If not for these welfare measures, the bottom 90% of Americans would have vanished by now. As successive Indian governments vie to prove themselves better than the former in withdrawing from the public sphere, washing their hands off from the public health sector and turning a blind eye to the suffering of the poor, both free-market loving republicans and self-proclaimed socially conscious democrats in the USA remain loyal to welfare measures. Let us examine a few of these mass-scale welfare measures implemented by none other than the American government itself: Social Security - First initiated in 1920s by Franklin Roosevelt, this program has only grown exponentially through successive democratic and republican Presidencies. True to its literal meaning, this program serves the old (>65 years) and disabled American citizens. It is estimated that Social security serves pay checks to roughly 20% of the US population amounting to 1.3 trillion dollars (almost 9% of the GNP of USA). Millions of Americans sustain today only because of social security. Yet, the debate today is largely on how to keep this program alive rather than scrapping it in spite of the economic recession and other constraints. Can India ever come close to such a scheme? It would be a feat if the government now headed by pro-corporate Modi even tries to sustain the meager spending in the welfare sector without further cuts! Medicare - Health insurance program administered by the US federal government since 1966. Again, the benefits of this program were only widened by successive governments irrespective of republican vs democrat, including most recently by George W Bush in 2003 when a massive prescription drug benefit was added. It is estimated that roughly 47% of all hospitalizations in the USA are covered by Medicare. This program accounts for about 15% of the USA federal government spending today. It virtually provides a health safety net for most uninsured Americans. Apart from this, there is also Medicaid and other state-level health insurance programs that serve the disadvantaged. That sounds more like socialism than anything else. Still, no serious politician in the USA will ever talk about cutting back on Medicare because such is the impact of this program on the welfare of American citizens. Obamacare - The Affordable Health Care act passed under the stewardship of Obama guarantees that no American citizen can be denied healthcare by private insurance companies on the basis of pre-existing illness. In spite of its loopholes, this law has brought millions in to the fold of healthcare with the stroke of a pen. Again, perfect example of a welfare state than a capitalist monster. In addition to these massive government spending programs that cater to the poor and needy of the capitalist states of America, the US federal and state governments provide numerous subsidies to farmers, war veterans, mentally and physically disabled citizens. Why are the American leaders implementing these measures? Perhaps they want to remain loyal to their founding principles - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to their citizens! Even Donald Trump, a flamboyant billionaire considered extreme has not taken an ant-welfare stance and more over promised to sustain and even expand social security benefits. Then why the mad clamor in India for an unabashed capitalist economy? Why do the middle classes and the half-baked media intellectuals frown at the very idea of state-sponsored welfare schemes geared towards the millions of Indian poor people? What good is 'governance' if it does not have the heart to respond to the suffering of the sick and impoverished? Is the role of an Indian government (state or central) only to cater to the whims and fancies of the corporate 'investors'? They are 'investing' in what? Their own profit and nothing else. For the meager jobs that they claim to create, the popularly elected heads of Indian states prostate at the feet of these corporate giants and mortgage the lands and lives of the people of the soil. Chief Ministers such as Chandrababu Naidu proudly flaunt their pro-corporate credentials while demonizing welfare schemes. Not a single leader today is bold enough to proudly take a welfare stance. They better take a leaf out of the American welfare book! Hope they realize the founding principles of this nation and stay loyal to them. Bio: I am a liberal thinker with a progressive world view. I am from Hyderabad. A doctor by profession. Now working in the USA. Email: nowandhra@gmail.com Ahwazi Arab Cause, The World's Forgotten Struggle For Justice By Rahim Hamid 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org At the beginning, it must be pointed out that there is a difference between Iranian Arabs whose ancestors emigrated with the Islamic conquest of Persia and currently living in Khorasan and Kerman and other parts of Iran and Ahwazi Arabs who settled in the land of the Al-Ahwaz for thousands of years before the arrival of the Persians to the plateau of Iran. Iran today is made up of several peoples, including the indigenous Persian people some of whom have an overbearing and hostile attitude towards the other non-Persian people such as Ahwazi Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Baluchis and Turkmen. Also, there exists a type of Persian expansionist ideology that is based on historical claims to the so-called glorious Persian Empire. There are also sectarian motives and political ambitions that hence have created a bigoted view that an Arab person is inherently inferior and never equals a Persian person in anything. For this reason, for such people, an Arab cannot be considered a true compatriot if he or she is proud of his or her Arab identity. Citizenship rights, justice and equality, are not routinely practiced in Iran, since such rights have never been applied, and only exist in the folds of newspapers and the Iranian Constitution. It is worth noting that the current Constitution contains some articles that include some of the basic cultural rights for the ethnic peoples of the non-Persians in Iran but which remain on ice until now as such codes and articles are considered a threat to Irans national security by the regime. The modern Iranian state formed at the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century and after the occupation of Al-Ahwaz in 1925. Because it aspired to be a liberal egalitarian state where all people would have equal rights under the law. Thus, the name of Persia has been changed to Iran. But, Persians privately grabbed power and extensively furthered Persian nationalist tendency among politicians. At the time, the non-Persian peoples in Iran endured large-scale national oppression. Thats when the persons of non-Persian backgrounds became second-class citizens in Iran. As the view of prevailing racism and contempt is deeply infested in the mindset of Iranian Persians towards the Arabs, it has caused the Ahwazi Arabs because of their Arab identity, creed, and culture to bear the brunt of Iranian fascist policies and be regarded as third-class or worse. A large number of Ahwazi Arab men and women are currently being held in the clerical regime's prisons and detention centers. These men and woman are all victims of poverty and deprivation due to circumstances forced on them by the sectarian Iranian regime. Iranian consecutive governments have brought large-scale devastating social, political and economic consequences for the Ahwazi Arab people. The never-ending grievancesdisenfranchisement, poverty, incarceration and judicially sanctioned killings on a mass scale against Ahwazi Arab people is down to the fact the occupying regime still confident that no international body is going to take effective actions against it for its crimes and ongoing human rights violations in Al-Ahwaz and other regions in the country. This caused more pain and despair for Ahwazis who are struggling for their national rights. The nuclear agreement is, in fact, a death sentence flung out against the will of the oppressed people in Iran, particularly those ethnic groups that have been subjected to decades-long injustice and oppression. For decades Ahwazis, Kurds, Turks, and even Persians have been sacrificing all that is near and dear to them in order to gain freedom and dignity. The international community's silence and the complete absence of condemnation have emboldened the Iranian regime as seen in the growing number of executions of Ahwazi and other ethnic prisoners such as Kurds and Baluchs. Their voices cry out for justice. In these respects, the case of human rights violations perpetrated by the regime during all these years was overlooked by those Western powers who claim to have an unwavering commitment in protecting human rights worldwide. They assisted the regime in reinforcing its encirclement and exerting more punitive practices on the voice of Ahwazis, and all the dissident voices in the country. Under the current sectarian clerical regime, Ahwazi Arab people have subjected to brutal and racist policies such as never experienced before. Deprivation, impoverishment, racial humiliation, constant attempts to obliterate and exterminate the national identity of the great Ahwazi Arab people. The continued refusal to acknowledge the existence of the most fundamental human rights, such as prohibiting learning the Arab language and in turn, imposing the Persian language in educational facilities, official departments, and in all walks of life. The banning and prohibition of Arabic names for new births, preventing people from wearing their traditional Arab clothing. Replacing the historical Arabic names of cities, villages, and neighborhoods with Persian, as well as the implementation of settlement projects aimed at bringing in settlers from Persian areas, granting them housing, employment and welfare and miscellaneous services privileges at the expense of the Ahwazi people. In contrast, the occupying authorities have continued displacement of Ahwazi Arabs from their lands, the implementation of genocidal policies; including looting the wealth of the Ahwaz homeland to keep them at all levels of life, deprived and marginalised. The confiscation of arable agricultural land under the pretext of the implementation of government projects and other racist projects carried out by the sectarian Iranian regime has proved to be more hateful and barbaric than the defunct Shah's regime, and far more dangerous towards the Arabs where this racist and sectarian system falsely and hypocritically claims to be the defender of Islam. In 1995, the United Nations adopted the term of absolute poverty or destitution to describe the case of severe deprivation of basic human needs, including the shortage of food, drinking water and health facilities, accommodation, education and information. The extreme poverty means people are living below the poverty threshold or whose income is less than $ 1.25 a day. In this case, the first goal set by the United Nations is the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger agreed by 189 countries in 2000. It is extremely abhorrent to see that Iranian regime has signed to the goal of eradicating poverty but has it yet undertake deliberate discriminatory measures to increase the poverty, in particular, certain regions in the country. One of these regions is called Al-Ahwaz. Al-Ahwaz was the victim of having its resource-wealthy lands fall into the malicious hands of the Iranian regime, which has exploited and destroyed its environment. Ahwaz has the second largest oil depository with four billion barrels while Ahwazi Arab populations are living under the poverty line, and Ahwazi Arab children are suffering from high rates of malnutrition and severe anemia. Iran governments have always treated the Ahwazi Arabs as second class citizens; Iran demolished and confiscated Ahwazi lands and houses; the oppression and ethnic cleansing carried out against Ahwazi Arabs is unspeakable. Iran has no tolerance for anything linked to Ahwaz i.e.in relation to the Ahwaz environment. Much of the Ahwazi Arab population depends on farming and fishing for their life. Yet, the Iranian regime is carrying out a river diverting project, redirecting the local water of Ahwaz to the dry areas of Iran such as ethnic Persian provinces of Yazd and Rafsenjan, leading to the further impoverishment of indigenous Arab. An aggressive form of personalization has been pursued by the regime to impose forced migration of indigenous Arabs from their homeland and destroy and confiscate their lands. Creation of military industrial free zone since 2005 has involved a massive expulsion of Ahwazi Arabs and destruction of their villages. Up to 50, 0000 Ahwazi Arabs were displaced by the creation of 5000 square kilometers for Security zone stretching 30 Kilometers along the Shat Al_ ARAB waterway. The government had not cleaned up the rivers from the toxic materials from the security zone, which systematically pour into the Karoon and Karkheh Rivers contributing to the problems of pollution and extinction of many species of fish. Every year many of Ahwazi Arabs are displaced from their homes by the devastating floods that also destroy the crops of Ahwazi Arabs farmers. As a result, Ahwazi Arabs farmers experience drought, starvation, and financial loss without any compensation from the Iranian government. The official unemployment rate in all of Iran is 12 percent, but in Ahwaz cities, such as Muhammarah and Abadan, the unemployment rate is 30 percent and sometimes reaches up to 5o percent. There is extreme poverty as a result of racial discrimination and unemployment, paralyses the Ahwazi Arabs economically, socially and culturally. While the illiteracy rate in Iran is about 10 to 18 percent, this is over 50 percent among the Arabs men in Ahwaz and even higher for Ahwazi women. The indigenous Ahwazi Arabs students abandon school at the t rate 30 percent at the elementary level, 50 percent at the secondary level and 70 percent in high school because they force to study in the official Farsi language which is not theirs. There are no official institutions or universities for teaching Arabic in Ahwaz and learning Arabic is just confined to religious study for people who want to be clergy. Consequently, the Ahwazi Arab are semi-literate in their native language and are struggling to learn Arabic despite the denial of their Arabic language. In fact, the education system in Iran promotes and enforces a superficial sense of nationalism based on Persian language and identity. Therefore, the multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual character of Iranians is explicitly denied, and minorities are oppressed. According to articles 19 and 15 of Iran constitution, all non-Persian ethnic minorities have the right to education in their native languages, but Persian fascist regime violates the right to Arabic in Ahwaz and other non-Persian languages such as Kurdish in East Kurdistan, and Turkish in South Azerbaijan. In fact, shortly after the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty in the1925, all non-Persian ethnic group and nationalities in Iran were denied the right to education in their own languages. Notwithstanding the fact that the non-Persian nation such as Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Baluchs, Turkmen, and others constituted the numerical majority in the country, all the Persian regimes from Pahlavi to the Islamic Republic have sought to supplant these languages, cultures, and histories with those of Persian minority. As non-Persian nations, we were subjected to open and shameful acts of linguistic, cultural annihilation, and forced assimilation. This is the ultimate intellectual backwardness of Iranian mentality that at the end of 2015 and in the 21st century, they do not understand nor respect universal values such as equality of nations, individual rights, and civil liberties for everyone, and instead viewed their race as the superior one. These people are suffering from the disease of racism. They refuse to understand that respecting human rights identifies the superiority of people and distinguishes them from others. This painful and dangerous situation persists because there are racist people at the centre of power of the Iranian regime who have influence in Iranian human rights organisations abroad. These elements caused so many people to be deprived of their rights and freedoms and be under oppression and discrimination. Ahwaz is a hell where freedom of speech is illegal, where hundreds of thousands of clerical regime fascists are given free rein to preach hate, where the security forces attack instead of defending their citizens, where entire cities are suffering from lack of regular access to clean water and electricity, where the government profits from oil, the money goes to the sponsorship of terrorism, where breeding hate and aggression is acclaimed. If Ahwazis protest at the brutal regime policies, the armed regime forces pay back in bullets and blood. Hundreds of Ahwazis have been killed and collectively punished, hundreds of media and rights activist arrested. It is very disappointing that the Western powers and the USA are not taking serious action against the clerical regimes crimes and do not mention Irans hand in killing hundreds of thousands of people in Syria and Iraq. After the devastating occupation of Iran of Ahwaz and other non-Persian regions that have experienced nothing just bloodshed, crackdown, abject poverty, and many other things, and must have the right to control their own destiny through ballot box rather than bullet box, to pursue their national aspirations and build up our homelands, to overcome the legacy of the centralised state of Iran that dominated these oppressed nations for years. Rahim Hamid is an Ahwazi Arab freelance journalist This Violation Of The Right To Conscience Must Be Stopped! By Lok Raj Sangathan 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org Students were beaten up in the most brutal manner in Delhi for demanding action by the government in connection with the suicide of Rohith Vemula. Students and youth all over the country are extremely agitated at the victimization of students by the authorities, for expressing views which may be at variance with those of the ruling establishment -- views which turn the spotlight on the failings of the prevailing political and social system -- and for trying to organise around those views. What has happened in Hyderabad Central University revealing the rot that has set within the system has been happening in many universities across the country. IIT Madras last year banned a Dalit students group for criticizing the Central Governments economic policies. It was only after mass agitation by students and people all over the country that that ban was revoked. Two students, who had raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he went to address the convocation of Ambedkar University in Lucknow on January 22, were ejected from the institutes hostel by the authorities. What these developments show is the worsening phenomena of a State that sees all dissent as anti-national. They reveal the increasing violations of the ruling establishment of the right to conscience, a right that Indians have fought for and preserved in spite of severe persecution by the ruling elite. What had Rohith Vemula done that so infuriated those in power that prompted them to drive him to suicide? His sin was toparticipate in an indefinite day and night dharna along with four other fellow students protesting against their savage persecution by the University authorities. His tragic suicide was the result of the continued persecution of dalit students, contrary to the justifications being given by the government. These students were active members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). They boldly propagated their views on various political and social issues, and organized students around these issues. They had protested the hanging of YakubMemon, convicted in the 1993 Bombay blasts case. They had also condemned the attack on the screening of the documentary MuzaffarnagarBaaqiHai (which brings out the role of the ruling establishment in organising the communal massacres in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, in 2013) in Delhi University.The ASA also exposed and opposed the systematic discrimination and humiliation faced by dalits students in the campus at the hand of the authorities. Both the University authorities and the central government are fully culpable in this crime. This incident again confirms that the institutions in post-colonial India operate in the same fashion as they did in colonial times. Students from the most depressed sections of the population are kept away from institutions of higher learning so that they continue to remain in their wretched condition and do not dare to voice their protest. If after heavy odds, they do get admission into these institutions, they are tolerated only as long as they do not question the rampaging discrimination and injustice going on in society. A student organization in a university campus that dares to propagate views that are contrary to those of the government is viciously targeted and suppressedand its activists maligned and persecuted. All forms of dissent are attacked and banned. The right to conscience has been regularly and systematically violated by all governments after 1947 in much the same way as in the colonial period. All those who have a view of the problems of the society today and their solution, which is contrary to the view of the ruling establishment, are branded as anti-national, accused of spreading enmity and hatred and of waging war against the state. The deliberate targeting of the students of Hyderabad Central University as casteist, anti national and extremist, by a Central Minister, for exposing and opposing the state organized communal and fascist terror confirms this truth. In reality, it is not the people who are communal or anti-national. It is the Indian ruling establishment which keeps people divided on the basis of caste, religion, region, language, and others. This incident hasalso brought into sharp focus the deep seated discrimination, the daily humiliation and persecution, faced by dalit students in what are supposed to be centres of enlightenment. Every government that comes to power swears to end caste oppression and discrimination.But caste oppression and discrimination are all pervasive and institutionalised in the present system. Oppressed and marginalized sections of our people, like dalits, tribals, religious minorities and others are systematically victimized on university campuses across the country. The right to dissent, the right to conscience,must not be allowed to be violated by the powers that be. Lok Raj Sangathan supports the struggle of the students and youth of Hyderabad University and all over the country, in defence of the right to conscience.The aim of these struggles cannot be the replacement of one ruling party by another. These struggles have to be taken forward with the long-term vision of a society where the people are truly empowered, where discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, language and region would have been eradicated, and where the political process enables people to select and elect their representatives and demand accountability from them. Lok Raj Sangathan is an all-India organisation that was established in May 1998. It came into being in response to the widespread demand and desire of the people of India to take control of their own lives, and not leave it in the hands of self-serving politicians and narrow-minded parties of vested interests. Support For Poroshenko Regime Collapses In Ukraine By Jason Melanovski 08 February, 2016 WSWS.org Recent polls reveal a collapse in support for the Ukrainian government of Petro Poroshenko, which was voted into office in the aftermath of a Western-backed coup in February 2014. The decline in popularity for Poroshenko, which extends to all the countrys political parties and institutions, explodes the myth that the right-wing Maidan revolution was a democratic transformation. According to Gallup polls recently conducted in the country, only 17 percent of Ukrainians now support the president. That is down from a high of 47 percent immediately after his election in May 2014. His approval rating is now lower than that of former President Viktor Yanukovych, which stood at 29 percent when was driven from office. Poroshenkos support is lowest in the southern and eastern regions of the country. Even in western Ukraine, where his nationalist government had its base of support, he is backed by less than a quarter of the population. According to the same Gallup poll, a mere 8 percent of Ukrainians support Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who has presided over the implementation of right-wing austerity policies and a cataclysmic decline in Ukraines economy. The same percentage express confidence in the national government as a whole. Another poll conducted in early January by the Center for Insights Research, an organization sponsored by the right-wing International Republican Institute, found similarly low numbers of support for the current Kiev regime. In addition, it reported that over 70 percent of Ukrainians oppose the governments conduct in eastern Ukraine, where a violent effort to suppress pro-Russian opponents of Kiev has cost the lives of over 9,000 people and created a refugee crisis. Support in Ukraine for all existing political parties is highly fragmented, with no single party or bloc gaining support from more than 20 percent of the population. Yatsenyuks Peoples Front party would not even win a single seat in parliament, if elections were held today. The evaporation of popular support for the entire political system takes place amid the collapse of Ukraines economy. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Economic Development reported the countrys GDP had declined by 10.4 percent in 2015. It attributed 40 percent of that drop to the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. The countrys currency, the hryvnia, also fell by 12 percent in 2015. Coal production, one of Ukraines main industries, decreased by 38.8 percent in 2015, leaving many coal miners unemployed or without pay. Amid the crisis, imperialist-backed reformers who joined the Poroshenko regime after the Maidan Revolution, such as Lithuanian-born Economic Minister Airvaras Abromavicius, have been heading for the exits. A former investment banker and proponent of austerity and privatization, Abromavicius blamed his departure on corruption and the Poroshenko regimes ties to various Ukrainian oligarchs. However, in his resignation Abromavicius made it clear that he is jumping ship on a sinking government. I want my resignation to serve as a warning call, a cold shower that something is going wrong, he said. In the wake of Abromaviciuss resignation, the value of Ukrainian eurobonds dropped by 1.1 percent. Ambassadors from the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden and Switzerland all said in a joint statement they were deeply disappointed with the resignation of Abromavicius. He was seen as a key ally by the imperialist powers, which are increasingly concerned that Poroshenkos government will be unable to fully implement the austerity policies agreed to in various International Monetary Fund loans. Two other reformers, Agriculture Minister Oleksiy Pasvlenko and Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky, have also resigned in the last month. As the government crisis deepens, there are increasing signs of unrest in Ukraines working class. In December, over one thousand miners from the western Lviv and Volyn regions joined with miners from the eastern Donetsk region to protest outside the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry in Kiev. The workers attempted to present a petition denouncing the collapse in government economic support for the coal industry and carried posters stating, Hungry miners are the shame of Ukraine. According to reports, government officials and politicians refused to meet with the striking miners. On January 12, in the supposedly nationalist capital of Lviv in western Ukraine, over 250 coal miners blocked a highway to demand payment of unpaid wages by the Ukrainian government. Several customs entry points from Poland were also blocked as part of the strike. The miners had been paid just 46 percent of their earnings in November of 2015, and had grown tired of the empty promises from the government. Later in the month, during protests against the construction of a residential building in Kiev that will provide apartments to members of Ukrainian Security Services (SBU), government thugs attempted to disperse the protesters. Days later at another, smaller protest, Kyiv Post journalist Vlad Lavrov reported being attacked while attempting to ask the construction supervisor questions. According to the Index on Censorships Mapping Media Freedom project, since October 2015, 40 verified violations of press freedom have taken place in Ukraine. In addition to intimidating the press in an attempt to halt its declining status among the Ukrainian population, the Poroshenko regime is attempting to whip up anti-Russian chauvinism and war hysteria. On Wednesday, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Poroshenko insisted, The danger of an open war is greater than last year. Russia is investing a great deal in war preparations. What If I Told You The Lesser Of Two Evils Isnt Lesser? By Mickey Z. 09 February, 2016 World News Trust Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. -Mae West No presidential election year would be complete without denial, delusion, deception, and de-friendings. And we couldnt possibly get through the every-four-years charade without those four magic words: lesser of two evils. Since were on the topic of useless, time-sucking rituals, please allow me to re-introduce one of my own: Asking liberals to define lesser. Define Lesser For starters, Im gonna take the foolishly optimistic step of trusting readers to actually click on hyperlinks. Here goes nothing Ive written volumes about our most recent lesser (sic) evil, Barack Obama, so Ill just direct you to something I penned during the 2012 de-friendings, I mean, elections: Define Lesser. Also, this site is chock full of hope and change we can bereave in! Very recently, when Noam Chomsky dutifully followed his own lesser (sic) evil script, I detailed plenty of the previous lesser (sic) evil, Bill Clinton. Just last summer, I deconstructed the saintly myth of 1970s lesser (sic) evil, Jimmy Carter. Moving right along, we also have Lyndon Johnson When George Papandreou was elected Prime Minister of Greece in 1964, his slightly liberal reputation did not sit well in Washington. Things went from bad to worse when Greece further annoyed its superpower benefactor by squabbling with Turkey over Cyprus, and then objecting to U.S. plans to partition the island. LBJ summoned the Greek ambassador for a brief lesson on non-Republican policy: "Fuck your parliament and your constitution. America is an elephant, Cyprus is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elephant's trunk, whacked good ... We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me a talk about democracy, parliament, and constitutions, he, his parliament, and his constitution may not last very long." JFK I'd need a book to do this justice, but for now: The Cuba Project (a.k.a. "Operation Mongoose") was initiated under Camelot (the Kennedy administration) in January 1962 with the stated US objective of helping the "Cubans overthrow the Communist regime from within Cuba and institute a new government with which the United States can live in peace." Noam Chomsky describes Operation Mongoose as such: "What has happened is a level of international terrorism that as far as I know has no counterpart, apart from direct aggression. It's included attacking civilian installations, bombing hotels, sinking fishing vessels, destroying petrochemical installations, poisoning crops and livestock, on quite a significant scale, assassination attempts, actual murders, bombing airplanes, bombing of Cuban missions abroad, etc. It's a massive terrorist attack." Again, I wish I had lots more space but let's face it, Truman did what Reagan, Nixon, and Ike never dared to do: He purposefully dropped a nuclear bomb on civilians. "We have used (the bomb) against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare," Truman later explained, thus justifying his decision to nuke a people that he termed "savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic." He summed up: "It is an atomic bomb. It is the greatest thing in history." FDR I could go on for pages and pages (and I already have) deconstructing the hagiography but, for now, remember that FDR's America fought the good (sic) war against racism with a segregated army. It fought that war to end (sic) atrocities by participating in the shooting of surrendering soldiers, the starvation of POWs, the deliberate bombing of civilians, wiping out hospitals, strafing lifeboats, and in the Pacific boiling flesh off enemy skulls to make table ornaments for sweethearts. And Roosevelt, the leader of this anti-racist, anti-atrocity force, signed Executive Order 9066, interning over 100,000 Japanese-Americans without due process... thus, in the name of taking on the architects of German prison camps became the architect of American prison camps. Obviously, all of the above is but a minuscule sample. Before you whip yourself into an apoplectic fit, I suggest you activate the google function on yer interwebs machine to find more fun facts about how your good guys operate. Closing Thoughts To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: A pessimist is anyone who, given the choice of two evils, chooses both. To directly quote Lucy Parsons: Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth. Mickey Z. is the author of 13 books, most recently Occupy these Photos: NYC Activism Through a Radical Lens. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, you can like his Facebook page here and follow his blog here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here. The Post Iran Nuclear Deal Scenario By Chandra Muzaffar 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org Now that the Iran nuclear deal is being implemented, it is perhaps time to ask, what does it mean for Iran, for other nations in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), for Israel, for the United States of America, for Europe? What does it mean for the world as a whole? Iran With the lifting in mid-January 2016 of years of crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, Iran is now able to trade openly with the rest of the world including exporting its oil. Both the Iranian government and private companies are purchasing goods and equipment from abroad. Iran is also now re-connected to the international financial system. All this hopefully will strengthen the Iranian economy and improve the standard of living of the people. As Iran embraces the international financial system, it should be cautious about embarking upon massive privatization, deregulation, and liberalization, accompanied by the elimination of essential subsidies, as demanded by certain global financial institutions and actors --- in shortpursuing a neo-liberal agenda --- which invariably works to the detriment of the majority of the populace. The Rouhani government should ensure that some of the pillars of post-1979 Iransuch as peoples cooperatives and Waqf (bequeathal) enterprises remain at the forefront of the planned economic transformation, albeit with fundamental changes aimed at enhancing professionalism and curbing corruption. How will these economic changes impact upon Iranian politics? If the lower and middle classes benefit significantly from the post-nuclear deal economic scenario, it is conceivable that the reform oriented Rouhani government will become politically stronger but as it is the conservative forces linked to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are still quite formidable. This is why one of their organs, the 12 member Guardian Council has been able to exclude thousands of candidates from contesting the Majlis (parliamentary) election and the election to the 88 member Assembly of Experts expected at the end of February 2016. One of those aspiring for a seat in the powerful Assembly of Experts which not only monitors the Supreme Leader but also picks his successor who has become a victim of the power play of the conservatives is Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Hassan is known to be close to former President, Muhammad Khatami,thecharismatic icon of the reform movement. In fact, Khatami himself continues to be subjectedto various restrictions engineered by the conservatives, including a ban on the use of his picture in the state media and orders prohibiting him from speaking at public universities. Two reformers who stood for the controversial 2009 Presidential Election, former Prime Minister Hossein Mousavi, and former Parliamentary Speaker, Mehdi Karroubi, are still under house arrest. Though conservative, authoritarian structures and personalities hold sway at this juncture, the post nuclear deal environment may yet help the seeds of change to bear fruit faster than many think. WANA Turning from Iran to WANA, the immediate reaction of Irans adversary, Saudi Arabia, to the nuclear deal has been to assert its power. The intensification of its bombing in Yemen and its execution of the respected Saudi Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, on 2ndJannuary 2016 --- in spite of advice from its own allies to refrain from such action against a peaceful dissenter --- show a determination to flex its muscles whatever the consequences.Qatar, like most of the other Gulf monarchies, is also lukewarm towards the nuclear deal. Turkey however has formally welcomed the deal. The attitude of most of Irans neighbors may have a lot to do with what a number of them perceive as Irans growing influence and power in WANA. After the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Shia majority Iraq in 2003, a Shia leadership has emerged in Baghdad which in spite of Washingtons patronage, does not conceal its deep religious and even political attachment to Tehran. At the same time, the concerted often clandestine attempt by the US and Israel, later aided by Britain and France and abetted by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to oust Bashar Al-Assadthrough arms in the wake of a small uprising in Daraa in 2011, actually strengthened Irans hand in Syria as the latter became more dependent upon the former for military and economic assistance. The Syrian conflict also reinforced Irans relationship with Hezbollah, the dominant political actor in Lebanon which is also fighting on behalf of Assad. By the same token, the armed Saudi suppression of the popular majority Shia revolt against the Bahraini ruling elite in 2011, drew the Bahraini Shias closer to their fellow religionists in Iran. Even in Yemen, it is Saudi intervention to protect the ruler against a complex network of dissenting groups with different agendas that has persuaded some of them to gravitate towards Iran. Expanding Iranian influence in WANA, it is apparent, is the consequence of circumstance and situation often ignited by the political maneuvers of others which in some instances had ironically undermined their own interests. Of course, some Iranian leaders have also taken advantage of these situations. The upshot of it all is a changing political landscape in which Iran is a significant actor especially in those states with an important Shia element. Faced with this reality, some Sunni governments in the region led by Saudi Arabia fear that the nuclear dealand the lifting of sanctions will enable Iran to exercise even more cloutand threaten its neighbors. While there is no justification at all for such fears, Iran would do well to assuage this negative sentiment towards it.Iranophobia assiduously cultivated by the Saudi elite in particular which at its root is about Saudi power is intertwined with the Sunni-Shia dichotomy, and an Arab-Persian divide. These two schisms especially the former stirs deep emotions in much of the Muslim world. This is why the Iranian leadership should tread carefully, holding on to its principles in confronting this irrational fear and yet displaying flexibility manifested through skillful diplomacy --- as it has illustrated in the negotiations leading up to the nuclear deal. In approaching the Sunni-Shia challenge, the present Iranian government should perhaps take a leaf from Imam Khomeinis book. He tried to bridge the chasm between the majority Sunnis and minority Shias globally through certain historical and contemporary events that could bring them together. The commemoration of the Prophet Muhammads birthday was one such instance. Al-Quds Day which he inaugurated --- the last Friday of Ramadan is now dedicated to the liberation of Jerusalem from Israeli Occupation --- was another such occasion. Israel Within WANA, there is another actor that is also fiercely hostile to the nuclear deal. This is WANAs only nuclear-armed entity. The Israeli elites antagonism to the deal has been much more organized than Saudis. Since Iran from the days of Khomeini has been a committed champion of the Palestinian cause, steadfast in its opposition to Israeli occupation and Zionism, Israel has always viewed Iran as a foe. Even when there was no evidence to indicate that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, Israeli intelligence manufactured so-called data to prove to the world that Iran posed a nuclear threat to Israel and the rest of the region. This is why it went all out to try to stop the US and other Western powers from coming to an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program. Though it failed, Israel has not ceased to try to wreck the deal. Immediately after sanctions were lifted, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu declared, Iran has not relinquished its ambition to obtain nuclear weapons and continues to ---spread terror throughout the world. Netanyahu is hoping that a new US President at the end of the year will reverse the nuclear deal. It is worth noting in this regard that the Republican frontrunners in the Presidential race are totally against the deal and are vehemently opposed to any rapprochement with Iran. The United States The organized, sustained opposition of a segment of the Washington political elite is something that Iran will have to take into account in the implementation of the deal. The longstanding relationship between policy-makers and lobbyists in Washington, on the one hand, and Zionist interests and Israel, on the other, is part of the explanation. In recent years Christian Zionists in the US have played a major role in reinforcing and perpetuating this relationship. Their role today is perhaps more significant than that of the conventional Jewish interest groups which in any case were split on the nuclear deal with some of them endorsing it as an effective mechanism for preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. For that reason the deal, they argued, will keep Israel safe. This was also one of President Barack Obamas main arguments for pushing for Congressional endorsement of the deal. He also argued that the USs Arab allies notably Saudi Arabia would feel secure if Iran is stripped of its ability to acquire nuclear weapons. Some of the other reasons for the deal have not been so publicly ventilated. The US leadership cannot ignore the fact that Iran today is a significant player in a region where US interests are entrenched. As we have shown, from Syria, to Iraq, to Lebanon, to Bahrain, to Yemen, Iran is a force to reckon with. It is also quite conceivable that Washington realizes that its special relationship with Israel, on the one hand, and Saudi Arabia, on the other, has its minuses. Backing a bellicose Netanyahu blindly does not always serve the US agenda in WANA. Similarly, a Saudi elite that is deeply embroiled in sectarianism and terrorism can sometimes be an embarrassment. Europe The changing power balance in WANA is one of the reasons why the European Union and most European states warmly welcomed the nuclear deal. A more compelling factor would be the economic benefits that they hope to reap from an Iran that is open to trade and investments. Iranian President Rouhani has already visited Italy and France and forged a whole range of business deals with both countries. One can expect the Iranian government to do the same with other European states in the near future. There will be obstacles. Influential Zionist lobbies exist in both Britain and France but they do not wield the sort of power that the Christian Zionists command in the US. There are other countries too from China and Russia to India and Brazil that will also feel the impact of an Iran that is free to trade and interact with the world. But Irans ties with them were never problematic which is why they are not on our radar screen. Conclusions We are now in a position to draw some important conclusions from our reflections on the post- Iran nuclear deal scenario. One, the impact of the deal upon Iranian politics and to a lesser extent the Iranian economy is still unclear though it has the potential to wrought significant changes. Two, while the deal has intensified conflicts in WANA, the changing political landscape also offers hope: a more influential Iran may be in a position to address issues such as the Sunni-Shia divide and thereby reduce friction in the region. Three, since the deal circumscribes Irans ability to produce nuclear weapons --- an aspiration which the leadership has always maintained was never its goal given the Islamic prohibition against such weaponry --- Iran should now be in the forefront of a vigorous campaign to ensure that WANA becomes a nuclear weapons free zone in every sense of the term in the shortest possible time. Four, since Iran together with the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany managed to resolve one of the most contentious contemporary issues in international politics through diplomacy, and in the process, succeeded to avert war, Iran should now take the lead in tabling a resolution at the UN General Assembly banning war forever as a means of settling bilateral, regional and international disputes. War would then be regarded as a crime against humanity. Five, when war is viewed as a crime against humanity, military arsenals everywhere should also be dismantled. A massive global disarmament movement should be initiated with citizen groups from every nook and cranny participating. It should not be forgotten that disarmament was the revered goal of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the sixties and seventies. Iran is the current Chair of NAM. Shouldnt disarmament become one of the principal aims of NAM once again? Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST). Malaysia. India-Pakistan: Need For UFA Implementation By Ravi Nitesh 09 February, 2016 Countercurrents.org With the recent case of 7th Feb of arrests of 12 Indian fishermen by Pakistan Maritime Agency and arrest of 11 Pakistani fishermen by Indian coast guards a day before, it seems that victimisation and sufferings of fishermen have not stopped despite several efforts of civil societies and promises by governments of India and Pakistan. One such important promise was done during Ufa meet, where issues of fishermen was one among the points discussed. There is need to review Ufa promise again and to build a permanent solution towards this issue. Ufa meet of Indian and Pakistani prime ministers that was held on 10th July 2015 on the sidelines of SCO summit in Ufa, Russia and joint declaration in the same evening, it was hoped that some positive waves of peace diplomacy are on their way, but later, with the unexpected controversy over NSA talks (that was one of the point in joint declaration) and its cancellation led the whole situation in an unpredictable mode, however later the promise was made through the meeting of NSAs in third country. On the second point of joint declaration, where an early meeting of DG BSF and DG Pakistan Rangers was proposed, recently held talks of BSF (led by BSF DG D. K. Pathak along with 23 members delegation) and Pakistani Rangers (led by DG Pakistani Rangers-Punjab Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki along with 16 members delegation) at New Delhi during 9th to 12th September came as positive and in-the-line with Ufa statement. It sends a message that whatever were the reasons and results in past, but both the governments are adopting a flexible and concrete approach towards each other and have put their faith in dialogue. Though, this talk was part of bi-annual talks and reviews the implementation of the agreed norms of cooperation between the two Border Guarding Forces, as agreed during the Home Secretary Level Talks held at Islamabad, Pakistan in May 1989, but organizing it within two months of Ufa summit is fulfilling Ufa promises. This meeting was formally started on 10th September, the joint statement signed at 11 hrs on 12th September and issued by MHA in evening with positive notes that both sides discussed issues of border population, mechanism for safe return of inadvertent crossers and others. Text of joint statement reads The talks were held in a constructive atmosphere. The need for cooperation to maintain the sanctity of the borders was stressed upon. The meeting took up specific issues of concern. Incidents of firing at the borders, smuggling of narcotics, infiltration attempts and defence construction activities were discussed. The issue of inadvertent crossing over by border population and on how to facilitate their return on both the sides was also discussed. The security of the border population being a primary concern of the both sides, it was felt that utmost caution and care would be taken to deal with the civilians. The need for confidence building measures including timely exchange of information, at the field level and mobile communication, simultaneous coordinated patrolling, and sporting events etc. were also discussed. Media reporting was also done in effective manner and even humane angle like sitting of Maj Gen Umar in the vehicle of DG BSF Mr. Pathak, friendly talks etc were also highlighted and showed an important message that how even security personals of India and Pakistan, while meeting each other share humane and emotional angle and not only professional one. It is also expected that next meeting will be held in Pakistan in first half of 2016. In fact, PM Narendra Modi will also be in Pakistan in 2016 as he accepted invitation from Nawaz Sharif during Ufa meeting, to attend SAARC summit. With all these things happening since Ufa declaration, it seems that despite unsuccessful NSA talks, both countries at least did not hesitate in talking each other. But when we go back to Ufa joint declaration again, we find that the joint declaration that was issued had five main points that included a meeting in New Delhi between thee two NSAs , Early meetings of DG BSF and DG Pakistan Rangers followed by that of DGMOs , Decision for release of fishermen in each others custody along with their boats within a period of 15 days, Mechanism for facilitating religious tourism and to discuss ways and means to expedite Mumbai case trial. Ufa Points : Concerned to common people of both sides In the five mentioned points, there are two points, one of fishermen and another of religious tourism, that directly facilitate people of both sides, rather than policies. It is a wonder to see that both countries took decision for fishermen to release along with their boats within 15 days, but unfortunately, it could not be achieved yet. Indo-Pak Fishermen and their victimisation Fishermen are one of the most vulnerable communities affected by Indo-Pak conflict. India and Pakistan connect with each other through Arabian sea and fishermen live in large numbers on both sides as both countries provide good coastal lines and trade of fish. As these fishermen go towards deep sea for fishing, where they complete one fishing trip in 10-12 days. Many times during fishing, these fishermen cross IMBL (International Maritime Boundary Line) or enter in disputed regions of Sir creek. It is a matter of fact that still both the countries have not completely agreed over their maritime boundary line and therefore it is only administrative zone where security personals keep vigil. Such crossings by fishermen happens inadvertently and due to reasons that there is no visible boundary line in sea, neither it can be made in deep sea, and fishermen cannot know that at which point of time, they crossed certain nautical miles and latitude-longitude defined by governments. Also, as they stay in sea during 10-12 days, many times they put ankles of their boats on sea and sleep at night, during which even high and strong waves and wind displace their boats gradually and it enters in administrative zone of another country. Their reasons of going towards IMBL includes good catch of fish, as they (fishermen) say that due to heavy industrialization in coastal areas and unchecked waste disposal in sea, most of the fish moved towards deep sea as fish could not survive in polluted coastal sea areas. Another reason is that, near IMBL, fish catch is good due to its depth and a region where saline water of sea and sweet water coming from Indus get mixed with each other. These fishermen are poor and living on their traditional profession of fishing since generations that went back before partition of India and Pakistan. Few old fishermen believe that as they were doing fishing in sea since generations, they consider whole sea belongs to them and this is a connection that includes emotions and oneness. On crossing of this invisible maritime border, on in entering to disputed regions of sir creek, these fishermen got trapped by coast guards and maritime agencies of India and Pakistan. Fishermen also allege that sometimes, coast guards of other country (India/Pakistan) even cross maritime boundary to catch fishermen. After arrest of these fishermen, they are lodged in jails in other country. But as they are not criminals, many times they have been kept without imposing any charge upon them. They live in jails till the time any mercy or good will gesture comes. Few of them spent many years in jails. It was also seen that persons who were arrested on same time from same boat were got released in different years. One fishing trawler that is able for fishing in deep sea comes in around 25 lakhs. Approx 6-10 fishermen go for fishing on one trawler. As, many fishermen do not have capability to buy it, some of them take it on loans on high interest from local private bankers. It is because; nationalized banks do not provide loans upon boats as fishing comes under risky business. Other fishermen make groups and take boat on rent from local businessmen on per trip basis. In both cases, they are under high pressure to return with good catch of fish. Now, at the time of their arrest in other country, their boats, net, fish also got captured by coastal security agencies. But unfortunately, whenever they got released, their release happened from Wagha Border. Fishermen community demanded many times that when they were captured at sea, they must get released through sea only. It is because, while their release from border, they get only half freedom, as their boats could not be released. When they reach their home, they come in multiple troubles, as they need to pay interest or rent amount to lender, they need to arrange immediate resource for livelihood survival. Fishermen tell that earlier their boats were released through sea, but since last 15 years boats were not released. Hundreds of such boats are lying useless in India and Pakistan and dying without their sailors. What UN Says: Article 73 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea clearly states that, though arrest can be made (clause 1), arrested vessels and their crews shall be promptly released upon the posting of reasonable bond or other security (clause 2). In addition, it holds in clause 3 that coastal state penalties for violation of fisheries laws and regulations in the exclusive economic zone may not include imprisonment, in the absence of agreements to the contrary by the States concerned or any other form of corporal punishment. Importance of Ufa statement for fishermen This Ufa declaration considered one of the genuine demands of community. Till now, release of these fishermen was depend on mercy and good will gesture of governments and it was seen that how during many last occasions , these fishermen were released from each other jails as peace doves. Both governments maintain a good number of such fishermen. As per the list exchanged between Government of India and Pakistan on 01 July 2015, 403 Indian prisoners (48 civil and 355 fishermen) are in jails of Pakistan and 278 Pakistani prisoners (251 civil and 27 fishermen) lodged in Indian jails. These numbers vary frequently and on an average, there are 100-200 fishermen on both sides of jails. But Ufa statement, through including their genuine demand, recognized their problem and provided them dignity. The only wait is of implementation of the same at the earliest. If both the governments can implement their promise at the earliest, it will be a great breathe of life for fishermen on both sides. Also, governments must take a step forward, to ensure that such arrests should be avoided and if found necessary, and then should be done with immediate penalty and release of fishermen along with their boats through sea route only. Ravi Nitesh, Core member of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak Friendship Initiative) E-mail: ravinitesh@gmail.com Twitter: ravinitesh SHARE By Aimee Blume What is ganache? You hear the word often, usually associated with European multilayered torts or intricate desserts arranged in fussy, artistic presentations. It's French. It's decadent. It must be impossible to do at home. Well, no. Ganache at its simplest is actually a mixture of two plain ingredients chocolate and heavy cream. According to the esteemed French food encyclopedia "Larousse Gastronomique" (1988 edition), ganache is a mixture of chocolate, fresh cream and butter. A recipe in the Larousse calls for chocolate and butter to be gently melted together, then the cream whipped and folded in after the chocolate mixture is cool but not set. Even this is more complicated than it needs to be. The more modern website JoyofBaking.com describes ganache as a "velvety mixture of chocolate and cream," usually measured as equal amounts by weight, but varying depending on how firm you'd like the set mixture to be. This straightforward recipe is what is used in many American restaurants today. The cook simply heats the cream until it's hot enough to just begin to produce bubbles around the edge of the container, then pours it over small pieces of chocolate. It is allowed to sit undisturbed until the chocolate is soft, then stirred from the center outward to form a smooth emulsion. Choose a good quality chocolate for the best flavor. It can be a bar chopped with a knife or chips (good ones, not those with paraffin added or anything called "chocolate coating"). You can also use white chocolate, again a good quality cocoa butter and not white coating. If making a smaller amount, the heating of the cream is simplified by using the microwave, heating carefully and stirring once or twice, until the cream is quite hot but not foaming over. The cook must watch closely, but it does remove the chance of the cream scorching in the pot or boiling over to make a hard-to-clean mess on the stove. If more shine is desired in the ganache, a bit of butter can be added. For flavor, vanilla or a liqueur can be stirred in. Martha Stewart sometimes adds a pinch of coarse salt. Most exciting is the many wonderful ways in which this marvelous substance can be used. While warm, it can be eaten as chocolate fondue, as chef Adam Edwards suggests in our other article today. If poured smoothly over a cake or other dessert and then permitted to set, it makes a soft but sliceable glaze that can be used in place of icing and without the need for spreading or a piping bag. If made with three quarters the amount of cream to chocolate and chilled in an airtight container, it lasts for a very long time, and can be scooped out into small balls which can be the center of a chocolate truffle (to make truffles, roll the ball in nuts, cocoa powder, or dip into chocolate coating). Scooped this way, local chef Kathy Schmidt has been known to call it "chocolate pate" and serve a little ball or two in a martini glass with varying garnishes to class it up a few berries, a pretty cookie, a drizzle of melted white chocolate, maybe a splash of Bailey's Irish Cream or Godiva Liqueur. It can even be chilled in a rectangular mold or miniature loaf pan (layers of white and dark chocolate ganache anyone? How about dried fruit stir-ins?) and then sliced to serve. The possibilities are endless. What better day than Valentine's to try out this amazingly simple recipe? If it's your first time making ganache, stick to serving it simply. Once you feel comfortable with it, branch out. Chilled Ganache with Berries Serves 2 INGREDIENTS 8 ounces 60 percent cacao chocolate chips 6 ounces heavy cream 10 raspberries 2 tablespoons Chambord liqueur Mint leaves for garnish DIRECTIONS 1 Place chocolate in a bowl. Heat cream to very hot but not boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Wait 3-4 minutes, then stir outward gently and patiently from the center, creating a dark-brown emulsion. 2 Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and chill. When firm, use a small cookie scoop to scoop two 2-ounce balls into each of two martini glasses. Wrap remaining ganache and save for later. 3 Scatter five blackberries into each glass, drizzle over a tablespoon of Chambord, garnish with a mint leaf and serve. Pistachio Truffles Makes 14 truffles ingredients 8 ounces 60 percent cacao chocolate chips 6 ounces heavy cream 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped 1 teaspoon coarse salt DIRECTIONS 1 Place chocolate in a bowl. Heat cream to very hot but not boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Wait 3-4 minutes, then stir outward gently and patiently from the center, creating a dark-brown emulsion. 2 Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and chill. When firm, divide into 14 equal portions and roll into balls. 3 Scatter the pistachios and salt over a plate and roll each ball of ganache lightly in the mixture. Keep chilled until serving. White Chocolate Bourbon Ganache Brownies Makes 16 brownies INGREDIENTS 8 ounces good-quality white chocolate 4 ounces heavy cream 2 tablespoons Bourbon 1 8x8 pan brownies, baked, homemade or from a box mix, at room temperature DIRECTIONS 1 Place chocolate in a bowl. Heat cream to very hot but not boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Wait 3-4 minutes, then stir outward gently and patiently from the center, creating a smooth emulsion. Mix in the bourbon. 2 Pour ganache over brownies. Chill until ganache sets. Cut and serve. SHARE We have a sign in our dining room that reads "No Phone Zone," and even though we don't always obey its simple phrase, my husband and I are both thankful when we do. I've learned that creating physical "No Phone Zones" in my house and by scheduling technology-free hours in my day, I am better able to connect with my family and friends and less likely to get distracted by the all-consuming (albeit widely entertaining) Internet. I've worked hard over the past year to overcome the distraction that my iPhone brought into my life, without ridding myself of it completely, as it also has proved to be a very helpful device more often than not. Here are a few ways to use technology efficiently by creating manageable boundaries. Have a morning ritual that doesn't involve the phone or computer. I use my phone as an alarm clock, so it is the first object I reach for when I wake up. After shutting off the alarm, I try my best to resist the urge to check my email from bed or look at social media before breakfast. Instead I try to read a book, stretch or walk the dog before checking in on my phone. "Less scrolling, more doing" is a mantra that often comes to mind when I find myself mindlessly scrolling during those early morning hours. Try a screen free day. As warmer weather returns, try to spend a weekend disconnected from media. Although it may be difficult at first to resist the constant stimulation from a phone or media device, I've often found that a day without the Internet leaves me feeling more connected with the people I'm around and less caught up in the day to day happenings of everyone else. Be a good role model. Children love to copy the actions of older siblings and parents. If a child knows that you set limits for your own screen time, it won't seem as difficult for them to create and respect these boundaries themselves. By curbing your own television viewing or focusing on face-to-face conversations throughout the day, you set an example for those around you. Ask yourself why. Why do you feel the need to constantly check your phone when waiting in line? Are you bored or are you afraid of making conversation with someone around you? Do you check social media 4-5 times a day because you are fearful of missing out on what others are doing? Once you dig in and identify what parts of technology are unnecessary or distracting in your life, it can help you to create a better relationship with technology as a tool instead of a hindrance. Hand held tech devices are an important instrument in today's society. They keep us connected with people we love, document the world around us and provide a wealth of educational information. Setting limits allows us to enjoy the benefits of technology without being overburdened by the endless distraction they can also provide. Jessica Mitchell is the Marketing & Design Coordinator at Youth Resources of Southwestern Indiana. Since 1987, Youth Resources has engaged over 145,000 youth in leadership development and community service through its youth-led TEENPOWER, Teen Advisory Council, Teen Court and Make A Difference Grant Programs. For more information, please call 812-421-0030 or visit youth-resources.org. SHARE By The Associated Press LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) A state senator from northern Indiana says he will seek the Republican nomination for state attorney general. Republican Sen. Randy Head of Logansport announced his candidacy during a Cass County GOP event Sunday. Head joins Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill Jr. and former state attorney general Steve Carter as candidates for the Republican nomination. Head tells the (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune he wants to have the attorney general's office challenge the expanding role of the federal government that's diminishing the power of the states. Head was first elected to the state Senate in 2008 and is seeking re-election for the seat. Candidates for Indiana attorney general will be selected over the summer during state party conventions. Current Attorney General Greg Zoeller, a Republican, is running for a southern Indiana congressional seat. SHARE Not everyone embraces the idea of women serving in military combat roles, particularly some Republican lawmakers as well as commanders of the nation's most elite special operations units. The skeptics continue to question whether women are up to the task. They seem determined to squelch recognition of women's battlefield participation any way they can. Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana introduced a bill last week to require all American women between ages 18 and 26 to register for the Selective Service the draft exactly as their male counterparts already are required to do. Yes, the draft still exists, even though we've had an all-volunteer force since the 1970s. This bill clearly was a cynical move designed for shock value. Hunter and Zinke are both veterans. Both appear to believe the Obama administration has gone too far with its advocacy for women who want to pursue combat eligibility. They echo the concerns of various military commanders who contend that women's presence in front-line combat jobs would destroy unit cohesion and erode performance. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ash Carter overruled these objections, with Obama noting in December that 90 percent of military positions have opened to women during recent decades, and that they already serve and some have died while performing combat duties. More than 280,000 women were deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones, and at least 150 were killed. But because they haven't been officially eligible for combat, they haven't always received recognition in the same ways their male counterparts in the military have. In 2012, four service women, including an Air National Guard helicopter pilot shot down in Afghanistan, had to sue to get their combat service recognized. The pilot, a major, had been deemed ineligible for promotion at the time because the Pentagon couldn't officially recognize her combat service. That's the background driving the effort to make their combat service official and establish a training regimen that adequately prepares them for battlefield challenges. The difficult question is the one raised by Hunter and Zinke: If women want equality, are they prepared to accept the awesome responsibility that accompanies it? The short answer is that not all women want to serve in the military, and not all women currently in uniform necessarily want to be on the front lines. Not all men want to serve, and many probably shudder when it comes time to register for the military draft. If Hunter and Zinke seriously want to pursue this bill, let them. It's a good debate for the nation to have. Equality under the law doesn't just mean equal pay and equal opportunities for promotion. It also means bearing equal responsibility, regardless of gender, when the call comes to serve our nation. This editorial originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. SHARE On Aug. 18, 1976, a four-alarm fire in the Windsor Plastics warehouse at 10 N. Kentucky Ave. created an ominous cloud of smoke visible for miles. Nearly 200 Evansville firemen battled the stubborn blaze, which employees discovered on top of a stack of cardboard boxes while working overtime in the early evening. Combined with the hot summer temperature, the heat was so intense that it melted plastic emergency lights, cracked windshields on the firetrucks and forced firefighters to hose down the adjoining Goodwill Industries and other buildings on Division Street. The commotion attracted scores of spectators and created a major traffic jam along the U. S. 41 overpass a block away when motorists pulled over to view the fire. (Photographer: Unknown) --- History Lesson is a pictorial history of Evansville compiled by Patricia Sides, an archivist with Willard Library. The city's best shade trees are dying. Here's what is killing them. Evansville is seriously at risk of losing its ash trees and it needs the public's help to protect them. Children ordered back to Nauru hell Refugee outrage If there were ever any doubt that Turnbull is backing the full reactionary agenda inherited from Abbott, it has now evaporated. Australians have been confronted by the determination of the Coalition government to send 260 asylum seekers back to its notorious refugee detention camp on Nauru. Among the 260 are 72 children, including 37 babies born in Australia. A 24-year-old Iranian woman who was also allegedly raped on Nauru also faces being returned. Turnbull is unmoved and is sticking to the line about seeking to prevent deaths at sea and destroying people smugglers business model. This pernicious, criminal trade of people smuggling cannot succeed, the PM told parliament. The line has to be drawn somewhere and it is drawn at our border. Let them stay rally on Monday at Town Hall Square, Sydney. (Photo: Anna Pha) The public has been flooded with stories and claims about the success of Abbotts Stop the Boats policy, which includes mandatory detention and offshore processing. Stripped bare, the policy means that refugees in detention will be punished and humiliated as a deterrent to others seeking a safe, secure environment for themselves and their families. Despite the strenuous efforts of the federal government to keep a lid on the realities on Manus Island and Nauru, including a ban on the media, the horror stories just keep on coming. The latest reports of sexual assault and other abuse can be added to the pile but the impact on the health and mental well-being of detainees is worsening. Almost a quarter of the children involved who presented to a doctor between April and June 2015 were diagnosed with a mental health condition. The adult rate is 11.6 percent. The rate of distribution of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications has increased 150 percent over the previous year. High Court bombshell A High Court ruling on the legality of offshore detention has reinforced the federal governments fortress Australia mentality. But it has shaken many others and prompted them to speak out. The United Nations has long noted the illegality of Australias detention regime and has come out against the prospects opened up by the High Court decision. In a series of social media posts, the UNs human rights division said We urge Australia to not transfer 267 people ... to Nauru, using the #LetThemStay hashtag, which has been used by refugee advocates fighting to keep refugees from being taken to Nauru. We are concerned that ... Australias policy on the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers arriving without prior authorisation, significantly contravenes the letter and spirit of international human rights law, said a post on the United Nations Human Rights Facebook page. Professor Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, was moved by a report of from a commission team that visited many of those facing removal from the Wickham Point centre near Darwin back to Nauru. They reported that they had never encountered a more traumatised group of children. But they are partly traumatised because of the constant threat theyll be going back to Nauru, Professor Triggs told Fairfax media. Flood of protest The callousness of the prospective return of the refugees has prompted a flood of protest and solidarity in the community. Protests are taking place in several centres across Australia as the Guardian goes to press. Events called at short notice last week were well attended and determination to fight the government over their anti-refugee stance was evident. Normally conservative churches are echoing the calls of many. The Anglican Dean of Brisbane, Peter Catt, has offered sanctuary for the refugees in Brisbanes 115 year old cathedral. This fundamentally goes against our faith, so our church is compelled to act, despite the possibility of individual penalties against us, Dr Catt said. At least ten churches across Australia have taken a similar stance. Victorian Premier Damiel Andrews and SA Premier Jay Weatherill have called on the federal government to let the refugees stay in Australia. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has joined their pledge to take more asylum seekers. This type of solidarity is embarrassing federal opposition leader, Bill Shorten, who appears to be backing the Coalitions xenophobic stance for fear of an electoral backlash. I believe that regional processing provides the best long-term sustainable solution, Mr Shorten said. But Malcolm Turnbull, if he doesnt want to resettle people here, he needs to do something about whats happening in Manus and Nauru. Radical change needed Manus Island and Nauru wont be fixed. The whole punitive concept behind offshore processing cannot be concealed, made legal or even liveable. The Australian government needs to execute a U-turn on refugee policy and live up to its responsibilities before international conventions. Beyond that, it needs to be a force for positive change in the region and beyond; not a dutiful servant of the US as it pursues the geopolitical interests of its capitalist class. Of course, the Malcolm Turnbulls, Peter Duttons and Julie Bishops of this world are not likely to have such a genuine change of heart. Change will have to be forced on them by a further, dramatic, increase in the levels of protest of the sort currently taking place in the streets and in community organisations. Sauce bottle wants fair shake for UN-bound Krudd Kevin Rudds biggest, and possibly only supporter outside Queensland says Cory Bernadi is very rude and should withdraw his objection to the former Prime Minister being put forward for the job of UN Secretary-General. Known only as Sauce, Mr Rudds number one fan says Bernadis claims reveal him as a horrible piece of gristle not fit for the filling of a reheated meat pie, let alone a seat in federal parliament. I dont know how people voted for this Pelican, I mean hes a real nasty pasty and wouldnt know a pie floater from chiko roll, said Sauce. And let, me, say, this I think Kevin 007 is the right bloke for the top job. Cory Bernadi is all Kevins a megalomaniac, Kevins a bastard, Kevins vengeful, zib, zab, zob but ya know, hes really just one of the ordinary Aussie folk. Do you know something? You can take the boy out of Nambour but you cant take Nambour out of the boy. That may be so but if Senator Bernadis wishes fall on deaf ears or, god forbid, hes struck down by another bout of Libyan tuberculosis Mr Rudd could well find himself eating Iced Vovos while sipping some Twinings at the UNs New York headquarters. Lets hope the Chinese interpreters speak half decent Mandarin. Gotta zip! The Common Tern is back and ready to wreak havoc on our shores after a successful breeding season in the northern hemisphere. Climate Mad attempt to reverse the course of history Last week the CSIRO announced that 350 of its Marine and Atmospheric Research staff are to be sacked. The brutal move is significant in the light of recent claims by scientists that a slow-down in the rise of average atmospheric temperatures is attributable to the oceans absorbing a greater amount of the additional thermal energy created by greenhouse gases. CSIROs RV Investigator a state-of-the-art marine research vessel. Last Thursday the head of CSIRO said the organisation would now focus on areas of high technology, to ensure trade advantages for Australian businesses. Nadine Flood, National secretary of the Commonwealth Public Service Union, commented: Government cuts to the CSIRO have already done untold damage with critical research halted into Alzheimers disease and dementia, bowel cancer, geothermal energy and liquid fuels. this gutting of CSIRO is being modelled on Netflix and Silicon Valley Taxpayer spending on science should be about improving Australian lives now and in the future, not moving CSIRO to a business model based on speculative investment rather than real science. Professor Will Stefan from the Climate Council added that Our firefighters, our emergency services and our community will be less prepared for climate risks, including bushfires, heatwaves and extreme weather. The Turnbull government is following the lead of the odious Abbott regime, which attempted to close all government agencies responsible for reporting on climate change, or making recommendations for its mitigation or assisting the development of renewable energy. Private donations enabled Climate Council staff to continue their work. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation survived only because they had contractual obligations with private firms. However, the Turnbull government still wants to abolish those institutions, and is now attacking the Bureau of Meteorology and sections of CSIRO which provide scientific evidence on climate. The government has also removed restrictions on approvals for 21 coal mining projects, so mining corporations will be less subject to ministerial demands for changes to their proposals and the public will also have difficulty monitoring compliance with approval conditions. For example, if BHP Billiton wants to change its management of threatened species or environmental offset areas for its Caval Ridge mine in the NSW Hunter Valley, it wont have to wait for the federal Ministers approval or publish its intentions on the web. All it has to do now is state that in its opinion the new arrangement wont harm the environment. The Turnbull government has also approved two massive Adani coal loading ports at Abbot Point in Queensland, which will pollute the Great Barrier Reef, and the NSW coalition government recently approved an extension of the Springvale mine at Lithgow, which will result in waste water from mining polluting watercourses in the magnificent Blue Mountains. Who pays, who benefits? Climate change and nuclear warfare are the two biggest threats to human life. Yet successive coalition governments have blocked moves to mitigate climate change, apart from the outrageous, ineffectual direct action plan which offers polluting corporations massive taxpayer-funded bribes to cut their emissions. AGL has announced it will cease coal seam gas mining in Queensland and NSW, even though that will involve a $795 million write-down on its assets. But other coal and gas companies are relying on the support of their allies in a mad attempt to reverse the course of history. Last week in an astounding article in The Australian former ABC chairperson Maurice Newman accused the Bureau of Meteorology of being driven by left wing green ideology and implied that the Bureau had in effect cooked its data. The Bureau has reported that 2015 was between the fifth and sixth hottest year on record in Australia, and according to the UK Meteorology Office, 2015 was the worlds hottest year on record. Greenhouse gas-emitting industries would certainly welcome any attempt to discredit institutions that produce weather reports like that. International climate change denier Bjorn Lomberg also weighed in, arguing that in order to lift Africa out of poverty it must have coal-fired power stations, because despite the widespread use of renewables they have only provided a tiny fraction of what the continent needs. Amazingly, to justify this argument Lomberg described wood, which has traditionally provided most of the energy for cooking and heating throughout Africa, as a renewable energy source, even though it bears no comparison to modern renewable energy systems, and burning it produces greenhouse gas emissions which exacerbate climate change just as fossil fuels do. Coal and gas mining corporations argue that climate change has ceased or slowed down, and that humankind should still rely on fossil fuels for energy. They doubtless support the arguments put forward in Newman and Lombergs articles, and they will do whatever it takes to slow down the tectonic shift in global energy production towards the use of renewable energy. But deep down they know they wont succeed, so they want to rip out as much coal as possible before the bottom really falls out of the market. Keen to give them every assistance, the government wants to approve as many new mining applications as possible before Turnbull begins to lose his popularity, which stems in large part from public relief at the deposing of his loathsome predecessor. Australia is one of the worlds largest exporters of coal, and last year our greenhouse gas emissions grew by 1.3 percent compared with the previous year, even though the government promised at the Paris climate conference to reduce emissions by 26-28 percent within the next 15 years. Coal-fired power stations, which produce about a third of Australias greenhouse gas emissions, now produce 5.1 percent more emissions than in June 2014, i.e. just before the Abbott government abolished Labors carbon and mining taxes. According to carbon consultancy firm Reputex, that makes Australia one of the worst emitters in the developed world. The agreement between Labor and the Liberals to cut the renewable energy target has also stalled the development of the renewable energy sector. Scientists now predict rapid atmospheric temperature rises over Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, Russia and Greenland by 2030. Rising temperatures are likely to produce huge methane emissions from the thawing of permafrost regions, an accelerating rise in sea levels and the decimation of some forms of marine life - among other catastrophes. In order to block the flow of inconvenient information to the public, the government is now abolishing areas of public service activity that provide objective, scientific advice on climate change. State and federal coalition governments are determined to protect the coal industry. If we really want to do something serious about climate change we must replace them with a new party alliance that is seriously committed to mitigating the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change. And we must do it soon, before its too late. Ignored in commentary on Syria 23 Million Syrians and the secular Syrian state After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 there was cause for Syrians to be concerned that their country would one day be targeted by the United States. Though not officially in what George Bush termed the Axis of Evil, Syria had attained pariah status: it was not a member of any Western club. Covert and overt interference in Syria by Western governments was nothing new. For example, the first military coup in Syria was orchestrated by the CIA not long after the country achieved independence from France, a country that had destroyed part of the old city of Damascus to quell a rebellion. However, despite its history and position in the world, for those living in Syria in 2003, it was difficult to conceive that this stable, peaceful country would be rocked by a catastrophic war in less than a decade. Damascus and Aleppo, the two oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, were tolerant, vibrant cities. They were modernising at a great pace. There was a buzz in the air. Sometimes the signs of change were miniscule but significant. For example, by 2009 it was not unusual to see young unmarried couples holding hands in public. At the same time, solid faith traditions were maintained: when Christmas and Eid celebrations coincided, decorations for both festivals were sold together in the souq. But since then, in other capitals, a new Syria has been configured. It is a notion of Syria that has at its core the conviction that a brutal Alawite dictator is oppressing a Sunni majority. It is a narrative that is never substantiated; like so many other claims related to Syria today, it passes unscrutinised. But this is dangerous as it can bolster beliefs that contradict basic tenets of our society in that it can confer a degree of legitimacy to hatred, intolerance and anti-state violence. Clarity is needed on Syria. Before the Arab Spring, womens rights and freedom of religion as well as the provision of free education were integral to modern Syria. There was talk of evolution, not revolution. To overthrow the Syrian government by violent means, terror had to be inflicted on local populations; fear engendered; hatred stirred up; and lies told. A doctrine that exhorted people to murder their fellow human beings had to be imported into Syria. A blueprint for the overthrow of a government is not new. Strategists and war rooms have always existed. However, playing with the human heart and mind in war and expecting a clean outcome is like rolling one hundred dices and expecting six to turn up on them all. In Syria today mortars are fired at random into cities; car bombs explode in suburban streets; people are abducted; public servants are assassinated; women are paraded naked in streets; children are thrown off buildings to stop the armys advance; mothers become demented as they watch strangers play with the heads of their children; bodies are cut up and bagged and put on a familys doorstep. On our watch, ones worst possible nightmares are being played out in Syria. In June 2012 Jon Williams, a BBC editor who had reported from Damascus, wrote the following on a blog post: Given the difficulties of reporting inside Syria, video filed by the opposition on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube may provide some insight into the story on the ground. But stories are never black and white often shades of grey. Those opposed to President Assad have an agenda. One senior Western official went as far as to describe their YouTube communications strategy as brilliant. But he also likened it to so-called psy-ops, brainwashing techniques used by the US and other military to convince people of things that may not necessarily be true. A healthy scepticism is one of the essential qualities of any journalist never more so than in reporting conflict: The stakes are high all may not always be as it seems. One example of the muddying of the Syrian story is the oft-repeated claim presented as fact that Assad crossed Obamas red line when he used chemical weapons against his own people in August 2013. Yet the United Nations has not attributed blame for that alleged sarin attack. Furthermore, a report by MIT Professor Ted Postol and former UN weapons inspector Richard Lloyd points the finger at rebels being most likely responsible for firing the munitions. And that suspicion mounts. Turkish opposition MPs recently accused authorities in Turkey of providing sarin to insurgents for the attack, presumably a false flag meant to provoke US, UK and French military strikes on Damascus. In an interview on AI-Jazeera, Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric based in Qatar and described as the unofficial spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood, condoned the targeting of civilians and religious scholars who support the Syrian regime. Just weeks after this fatwa, Sheik Mohamed AI-Bouti, the highly regarded 84-year-old Islamic scholar and imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, was killed in a suicide bombing along with nearly 50 of his students. They were Sunni Muslims killed by a Sunni Muslim. Acts of terror There were many acts of terror in Syria before the invention of ISIS. However, the terrorist acts committed by ISIS have appeared more theatrical and on a much larger scale. In June 2014, purportedly over one long weekend, Islamic State massacred 1,700 young Iraqi soldiers. Not long after, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, referenced this bloody orgy, but he declared that the lesser evil is the Sunni over the Shiites. He contended that the math determined who the lesser evil was. From Israels perspective, he went on, if there is going to be an evil that prevails, let the Sunni evil prevail. But Mr Oren didnt explain who had drawn up the maths and who had independently audited it. The discourse that insists that the violence is between Sunni and Shia Muslims obscures the reality. If the war in Syria can be described as a religious conflict, it is one between a relatively young school of Islam meshed with the ruling elites of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and a more ancient Islam, the Islam that embraced me, a person of no particular faith, when I lived in Syria. In the first week of August 2013 (two or so weeks before the alleged sarin attack in Damascus), around 200 civilians, mostly women and children, were massacred in and around their homes in Latakia. About the same number were abducted. Some scholars observe with concern the close connections high profile NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have with the US State Department. However, despite its generally biased stand on Syria, Human Rights Watch did present a well-documented account of the Latakia massacres. To coordinate and carry out the murders and kidnappings, up to 20 armed groups cooperated; the Islamic State was just one Takfirist group involved. The killings were vicious, but the level of cruelty was not new in the Syrian Arab Spring. A retired American pharmacologist, Dr Denis OBrien, who scrutinised the video footage of the victims of the alleged sarin attack in Damascus, contends that some victims may have been children abducted in Latakia. He noted the stage-managed quality to the display of childrens bodies, and anomalies, such as the appearance of the same body in different locations and clear signs that established the victims didnt die from a sarin attack, as alleged. But the West was expected to respond with bombs to the bodies of the children; no questions were meant to be asked. Before the graffiti It is often claimed that the crisis in Syria began after the arrest and torture of children who wrote up anti-government graffiti in Daraa, a city near the border with Jordan. I have heard different versions of this story: children had their fingernails pulled out; children were killed; children were neither tortured nor killed. Chinese whispers and hearsay are being used to determine narratives on Syria instead of clear-sighted investigations. But the war in Syria began before any graffiti writing. Soon after 9/11, a Pentagon insider told General Wesley Clark that Syria was on a hit list. And before the Arab Spring reached Syria, former French Foreign Affairs Minister Roland Dumas learnt that Britain was organising an invasion of rebels into Syria. Like the former Israeli ambassador to America, some in Australia claim Assad has killed many more people than IS. It is as if Assad is a mythological monster, and the protagonists on the battlefields in Syria are ISIS (the bad rebels), the non-ISIS rebels (the good rebels) and Assad (the monster). Such crude attempts to present Assad as the personification of evil omit mention of the tens of thousands of Syrian soldiers who have been killed by various armed groups waving various flags. And they omit reference to the millions of Syrians who seek a safe haven in government-controlled towns and cities. The truth is the Syrian people are caught in a monster of a war. Their secular state could collapse around them, and millions more could be killed or forced to flee while people a long way from the theatre of war speak with certainty and power but with little reference to them. One month after the start of the so-called Arab Spring in Syria, I returned to Damascus. On Saturday April 23, 2011, I met a young man who had just come from an opposition rally in an outlying suburb of the capital. Some demonstrators at the protest rally had been shot, two of them killed. There were armed police present, but no one saw them draw their weapons, he explained. Who had killed them and why they had been killed was a mystery. In the first stirrings of violence and terror there were many mysteries and many rumours. The birth of the Syrian Arab Spring was not as it was depicted in Australia. That April in a hotel room in Damascus I saw the funerals of soldiers and police on Syrian TV. Bereft widows pleaded for an end to the killings. In presenting the story of Syria, a skewed narrative may support another US-led war, but it can also engender divisions, intolerance and hatreds within our own communities. We can lose what Australia holds dear: peace, harmony and integrity. The stakes are high indeed. The Beacon Culture & Life US elections No doubt you saw, amidst the plethora of fatuous or superficial TV news items last week about the US presidential primary elections, the item about the Evangelical pastor advocating a vote in the Iowa primaries for Trump to be the Republican candidate for President. A scene from The Big Bang Theory with Sheldons Born Again Christian mother the prospect of a fundamentalist Christian president is not so amusing. It was on PBS Newshour that I saw it. This Pastor called on all Born Again Christians to vote for Trump and then to pray for God to guide him to come up with good policies! What kind of medieval mindset must these people be afflicted with? A very strange one if the ignorance that most American fundamentalists wallow in is anything to go by. Theres a poster theyve produced which you can download off the Internet calling on everyone to rejoice over global warming thats right, rejoice because apparently melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, increasingly frequent cyclones and forest fires, and coastal flooding are call signs that Christs second coming is imminent! When that joyous event happens, it seems, the fundamentalist Christians will all be saved, floating up to Heaven in the rapture. Everyone else, including other varieties of Christians, will all perish. It almost makes you wish Heaven was real, for it would be very amusing to see what kind of reception these callous fundamentalists received from the God of Love when they arrived at the Pearly Gates. For most people, these fundamentalists are a peculiarly American joke, crazy but harmless (like Sheldons mother in The Big Bang Theory). However, the prospect of the US presidential race being won by someone who thinks nuclear war is evidence of Christs second coming is not amusing. Of course we have been down this tricky road before, and we survived. But its not a risk we should take too often. Ronald Reagan happily took us to the brink of nuclear war because the prospect of the destruction of life on Earth didnt worry him at all. It would just be the second coming, after all. And thats something we should all welcome, dont you know? On the Democrats side in the primaries, Bernie Sanders is speaking out for workers and the poor. The latter category is rapidly becoming the vast majority in America. No other candidate is speaking up for the toilers, the poor, the unemployed, the homeless all those for whom the American Dream has become a cruel joke. But half the Democrat delegates still seem committed to Hillary Clinton. She would be the first woman president, a fact which has not unnaturally attracted a large chunk of the feminist vote. And she was thought of as a progressive when her husband was first elected President. However, she showed herself to be anything but progressive as Secretary of State. In fact, she fell into step with the same big reactionary corporations she had denounced when supporting Bill Clintons candidature. During her term as Secretary of State, she showed herself to be not just a warmonger but a singularly heartless one at that. When the US lead a NATO assault on Libya, as part of its crushing of the Arab Spring, Hillary showed that she had abandoned whatever remnants of her previous progressive persona still lingered. Libya was the most prosperous state in Africa with the highest standard of living for all its people, but when the rebels the US was paying captured and brutally killed the countrys head of state, Muammar Gadaffi, Hillary quipped to the media, We came, we saw, he died. Her campaign is being run as a celebration, her every move and statement the product of a high-powered team of sales people, laughingly called her advisers. These advisers have clearly decided that formulating actual policies is of no use, and as befits a political campaign run by the advertising industry, have substituted instead the creating of an image for their candidate. So Hillary is ruthlessly mouthing platitude after platitude, talking in generalities about vague notions of greatness and spirituality. If Clinton or any of the Republicans becomes President, and all the Republican candidates campaigns include input from advertising agencies, we will be in for a torrid time. It is painfully obvious that they will effectively continue the policies of Obama (with variations of course): the US will throw its military muscle around in numerous countries whether they want the US there or not, US presidents will order drone strikes and other assassinations against numerous people and groups that the US government finds annoying and every country that tries to follow an independent foreign policy or even an independent trade policy will find itself the target for a coup or yet another colour revolution. On the other hand, if Bernie Sanders becomes the Democrat candidate and he survives long enough to actually run, I suspect he might become the first US citizen to be targeted by a US drone strike! Of course, assassination is not the only tactic available to US imperialism if the dreaded commie Bernie Sanders were to win. He could be given the Jimmy Carter treatment. You will remember that Carter was an advocate of world peace and nuclear disarmament, as well as improving relations between the US and Cuba. His actions as President were sabotaged by the Pentagon and the Intelligence services, while the US media went out of its way to ridicule his every move. He quickly became a one term president. Bernie Sanders is an avowed socialist, and more outspoken than Carter. It may be felt that letting him occupy the White House for even one term would be too dangerous. It wouldnt be the first time that extra-judicial methods were used to change the political situation in America. If any such action were taken against Sanders, however, I think there would be a very angry response from Americans fed up with having their democratic rights cavalierly consigned to the dustbin by advocates of big business. Continue Reading Below Advertisement If you're an American and are trying to compare this to anything you've breathed recently, don't bother. The absolute smoggiest parts of L.A. (the most polluted city in the U.S.) hit 130 on a bad day. Most of the city hovers from 40 to 70. In other words, a "bad day" of smog in Beijing is five to 10 times as bad as the smoggiest days L.A. will ever see. Take a look: CNN It's like the whole city uses Instagram's "cataracts" filter." Continue Reading Below Advertisement That's Beijing on a bad day -- our source adds, "Even on an OK day, you can't see the sun." But, that's not on its worst day -- because on that type of day, you can't even see the skyline. A photo of it would just be a square blotch of blurry nothing. Or, as our source puts it, " ... I was driving, and visibility was down to, the news said, 100 meters. It was not 100 meters; I could see out to 60 feet safely. Headlights were useless. It's not like fog -- it's brown. You can't see through brown. A few times there were reports of it grounding flights." Yeah, that's the other thing: When Beijing's smog gets really bad, it's a schedule-fucker on the level of a snow storm ("My girlfriend just got her first smog day; it's like a snow day but with more cancer.") In 2011, smog forced the entire Beijing airport to close. As a result, Beijing residents (Beijingers, seriously) can check out the daily smog forecast alongside the daily weather forecast. "You look out the window ... you can see when it's going to be smoggy. There's a forecast online. Depending on how windy it is, winter is the worst ... It's more ... savory. The air tastes more savory. It's kind of like when you blow the dust off a book -- like that smell and taste." Cotton's claim minimizes the provisions in the bill that target actual violent offenders while alleviating excessive sentences for low-level drug offenders. The bill is intended to address over-incarceration of low-level, nonviolent offenders. Even if all eligible inmates petition for a reduced sentence, the ultimate decision is with a federal judge. Cotton creates a misleading impression of this complex legislation, and earns Two Pinocchios. Cotton is of the opinion that drug traffickers are still "violent felons," even people who are not technically convicted of a crime of violence. We can't fact-check opinions, but we'll note that "violent felons" generally conjures the image of a murderer, not a drug dealer caught illegally possessing a gun -- or just a bullet. There are thousands of inmates -- 11,524, to be exact -- who would be eligible for resentencing under the Senate bill. But not all of them are convicted of a violent crime, and it's unclear exactly how many of these inmates would actually get their sentences shortened if the bill became law. There are 3,433 inmates in the two sections that include people who may have been convicted of a violent felony. Even then, those inmates may be there because of a sweeping law that has been found to impose excessive sentences. -- The Post says at the outset that the legislation aims to alleviate "over-incarceration" in federal prisons. It thus simply assumes one of the staples of the sentencing reform movement -- that current levels of incarceration are excessive and that current punishments don't fit the crime. But that, as the Post says of Cotton, is simply an opinion. The Post is entitled to its opinion. But it is not entitled to call its opinion a "fact-check" on opposing opinions. -- The SRCA would release criminals not crimes. The pertinent question for deciding whether to reduce an existing legal sentence is whether the criminal is violent, not whether the specific crime for which he went to jail is. A huge number of potential releasees -- much larger that the Post lets on -- have violent backgrounds, whether or not violence was undertaken in the particular crime they were jailed for (often a bargained-down version of more menacing behavior). Indeed, they can be violent men in ways unconnected to their drug dealing (e.g., Wendell Callahan, the early release/child killer from Columbus, Ohio). A huge number of potential releasees -- much larger that the Post lets on -- have violent backgrounds, whether or not violence was undertaken in the particular crime they were jailed for (often a bargained-down version of more menacing behavior). Indeed, they can be violent men in ways unconnected to their drug dealing (e.g., Wendell Callahan, the early release/child killer from Columbus, Ohio). -- As Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Grassley, among many others, have correctly pointed out in the past, the dealing of hard drugs is an inherently violent business. The fact that there was no (or not much) violence in the particular offense of conviction scarcely means the person convicted did not or will not engage in violence, and still less that he is at "low risk," as we are constantly told. -- That a judge has to approve the release is hardly a guarantee against the trafficker's future violence. Many judges like Jack Weinstein and John Gleeson support the push for lower sentences, and they are likely to view re-sentencings through a rosy, ideological lens. But even where judges are playing it straight, they are certain to err (e.g., the reputable Judge Graham in the Callahan case). Why should unsuspecting future victims bear the risks of error? And in the real world of the drug trade, those risks and harms will be borne disproportionately by minorities -- a fact central to this debate, but which the WaPo whistles past. -- The fact checker focuses on the trees while ignoring the forest. She never mentions the thousands of Sentencing Commission early releases going on right now, at levels authoritatively predicted to reach 46,000. The SRCA releases would come on top of that. Thus the number of hard drug traffickers potentially eligible for early release is four or five times what the fact checker is telling us. That is, obviously, a huge blind spot, and extremely misleading to the Post's readers, including its (intended) audience in Congress. Where to start?To use language our friends on the Left would love, there will be no accountability for mistaken or even deadly releases under the SRCA. Bad decisions would be made by the powerful, but paid for by the marginalized. There are three ways to fix Florida's death penalty law -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.The good way is to pass a true unanimity law, requiring the jury to be unanimous one way or the other, i.e., the California/Arizona model. The bad way is to continue with nonunanimous penalty verdicts, okay for now but leaving an issue to attack the law in the future. The ugly way is to adopt a single-juror veto system, the kind that caused the grotesque miscarriage of justice in the Colorado theater shooting case.The House Judiciary Committee's Criminal Justice Subcommittee chose the bad way on February 2, recommending PCB CRJS 16-07. At least they rejected the amendment for the ugly option.In the Senate, on the other hand, the ugly option was adopted in SPB 7068.My letter to the Senate committee chairman, recommending the good option, is here . No one seems to be listening. What a blitz of buyouts in the Australian channel. Have you seen better evidence of the aphorism "get big or get niche" than this distribution market? The new year period brought a flurry of consolidation as intense as I have seen. No fewer than nine distributors and sub-disties have been involved in some kind of merger and acquisition activities in a two-month barrage. Count them. Altech finally went under in December after what seems like months of difficulties. Adelaide's PC Range bit the bullet in January after 16 years in business. Rivals picked up parts of both companies, with Leader Computers absorbing certain Altech assets and PC Range being divided up between a number of smaller buyers, including First International Trading and the Summit Group. (No one, I might add, took on any of the debts.) Leader is not the only established name to snatch up a smaller operator. In January, Exclusive Networks, the global giant that acquired Whitegold Systems in 2014, added Polycom distributor Transition Systems Australia to its portfolio. In early February, Ingram Micro snapped up Connector Systems, a trans-Tasman distributor with its heritage in New Zealand. Distribution is a volume game. Economies of scale are everything. Margins are tiny. Despite the best attempts of most disties to carve out a position as a value-added operation, price remains the main lever to wield when faced with a negotiating reseller. (The secondary lever would be credit terms.) Risks of bad debt are also a constant fear. One lively metaphor compares a distributor to a jumbo jet flying inches off the ground, hoping to avoid a painful write-off. In the case of Dick Smith, it looks like a rough landing ahead for a whole fleet. While it could be months until the retailer's receivers and administrators shed light on the exact numbers, I understand distributors expect haircuts worth tens of millions of dollars. As the Brits like to say, it's squeaky bum time for any Dick Smith disties. Go big or go home For the Ingrams and Synnexes of this world, this low-margin, high-risk atmosphere is business as usual, offset by billions of dollars in revenues. It's easy to see why Dicker Data made the huge gamble to acquire Express Data in 2014. The deal elevated Dicker into the big leagues as the only Australian-owned distributor turning over more than a billion dollars. Right behind the trio of billion-dollar disties are three more, Westcon, Avnet and Distribution Central, which all boast turnovers in the several hundreds of millions. They round out what we on the CRN team see as the 'big six', representing up to $6 billion of channel business. The small to medium end of the distribution space remains a busy sector, typically populated by Australian-owned companies that tend to be focused around one distributor or technology. There are telecommunications wholesalers like V-Express and TBS Distribution. Printing specialists such as Dynamic Supplies and Alloys. Point-of-sale companies such as Sektor. But in each of these specialist sectors, we've seen casualties. Telstra wholesaler ICT 123 was crushed by bad debt in April 2014. Printing distributor Tonnex collapsed in September 2014. Point-of-sale distributor Mecari, previously POS POS, went under in February 2015. Smaller distributors face the twin pressures of larger competitors which have more buying clout, greater mindshare among vendors and often overseas backing and the ever-present competition from cloud, which has been a great leveller in cutting out middlemen. M&A activity is alive and well among the midmarket. Sydney's Bluechip Infotech has probably been the most active at this tier of the channel. The company made its second acquisition in recent memory when it took over Cyberoam operation MPA Systems, following its 2014 takeover of Track IT Online. Bluechip boss Johnson Hsiung told me that he expects to see more consolidation ahead. I tend to agree. I think we'll see plenty more deals in this space, either marriages of equals or buyouts by the big end of town. It's unlikely the rate will match the pace seen over the past few months, but I worry the question will stop being, "Who is getting acquired", and rather, "Who is left?" A new major plauer could be emerging when Leader Computers acquisition of Altech is finalised. Altech was officially wound up by administrators on 19 January owing $9.6 million in debt. However, Leader only acquired selected assets, meaning it wont inherit the multimillion-dollar debt. Leader now owns Altechs intellectual property (including branding), database, systems, stock and a significant number of resellers, but leaves a number of fixed assets to the banks. Leader will now be able to gain a foothold in Western Australia. The South Australian-based distributor manufacturers its own-branded PCs and has set up a new assembly and service centre in WA. We have many resellers in WA however they have had to wait between three and seven days for road delivery from any of our SA, NSW, VIC and QLD resellers, said Leader managing director Theo Kristoris. Now we can hold stock locally we can offer same day service. We also look after many resellers that have national footprint. Previously we could only give fast service to those in SA and eastern states. Now we can give them truly national coverage. While Leader already has a number of big-name vendors under its belt such as HP, Cisco and Microsoft, there are multiple niche vendors on Altechs list that Leader doesnt have. According to Kristoris, the distributor is currently in talks to inherit around 12 new vendors. So far, Leader has managed to grab PC manufacturers Shuttle, Awyun and Astrotek. There is already some vendor cross-over between the two distributors such as Asus, Intel and Samsung. Leader is offering to pay for half the cost return authorisation to resellers for these vendors. Kristoris pointed out that it is taking over Altechs website, and is working to make its own products available through Altechs reseller portal as soon as possible. The project is expected to be completed within two to three months. The acquisition will bring over 12 of the 17 staff from Altech, bringing Leaders headcount to 112. Altech managing director Antony Sheen is not among the new staff, and is yet to announce his intentions. Founded in 1984, Leader specialises in PC, notebook, tablet and server manufacturing. I cannot help but to think of some memes at times. The one that has gotten lodged there today is the late Robin Williams with a great big bushy beard screaming What year is it?. News came out today that, at long last, the White House has come to the conclusion that there is a need for a CISO. According to Reuters, this is an item lodged in the budget. From The Guardian: On Tuesday, the White House is expected to announce that it is seeking to hire its first chief information security officer, a role filled at many companies and local governments but one that has long been absent at the federal level, despite complaints for security experts and lawmakers. In its absence, the government has sometimes struggled to coordinate a jumble of three-letter agencies as it has sought to respond to the latest breach. This is a role that Im really not certain that anyone would want in the short term. Yes this would look good on a resume over the long term but, youd be suffering in the mean time. Why? Simple. This role would have responsibility for security over multiple agencies. This takes herding cats to an entirely new level. This is an Advil/Tylenol advertising campaign looking for a place to happen. We have seen news about the Russians hacking the White House wherein Putins alleged cronies were apparently able to read Obamas unclassified emails. As an aside, have you ever had to read someone elses email as a security role? Excruciating. Granted, this email would have some more pertinent information for an attacker. We have seen the train wreck that was the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach. Weve witnessed that same organization refused to cooperate with investigators, which defies reason. Could not protect their files from attackers (or hobbyists) and now they figure out how to hide files? And of course the piece dresistance, the CIAs admission that they compromised the US Senate. Odd that that one seemed to quietly disappear. This sort of thing isnt new. There is was the case of the 22 million emails that went missing during the George W. Bush administration. Only to miraculously reappear a couple years later...and this gem. So now, they are about to start the search to hire some poor man or woman to take on this herculean task. It would also seem easier for Sisyphus to complete his task than to get a handle on this disjointed landscape. But, this role will most likely be short lived as the incoming President will probably replace this person with someone of their own choosing. Imagine if you will, a job where you have to wear metaphorical kevlar everyday (or at least should). Also, I'm guessing, with unlimited coffee. Waitcoffee? Where do I send my CV? The Golden Globe awards are considered a predictor to the Academy Awards. Using that analogy, and with some license, the CyberTech conference in Tel Aviv may be the Golden Globes with the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco being the Oscars of information security. Strictly speaking, CyberTech would be the Israeli Golden Globe awards, given the preponderance of Israeli firms at the conference. [ MORE FROM CYBERTECH: Live from Tel Aviv, its CyberTech ] I attended the CyberTech 2016 conference in Tel Aviv in late January along with a delegation of other U.S.-based bloggers and journalists, courtesy of the AmericaIsrael Friendship League and the Israeli Foreign Ministry. I met a large number of interesting infosec firms, many of them offering cutting edge solutions. Some of the more interesting companies I met were: HexaTier (formerly GreenSQL) While I am not a marketing maven, I actually liked the name GreenSQL better, as it lends itself to what the firm does. But since they are moving to a set of cloud solutions, the old name seemingly doesnt cut it anymore. They have a set of products around DBaaS (Database as a Service). In the same way Amazon Web Services provides a secure infrastructure; HexaTier has a set of solutions for databases running on Amazon Aurora, RDS or EC2. They claim to offer significant database protections, such as being able to block SQL injections in real time, segregation of duties, full database activity monitoring and more. ThetaRay is a big data analytics software solution. It has an analytics platform for finding anomalies in massive data sets. Not specifically an information security company, part of their solution set offers assistance in mitigating operational risks and fraud. For organizations with huge amounts of data, ThetaRay seems to be an interesting solution to find needles in their information security haystacks of data. Morphisec Polymorphic viruses have long been the bane of information security given their difficulty to detect by traditional scanners, since each copy of the virus looks different than the other copies. Using that as a basis, Morphisec creates a polymorphic defense to hide an applications internal architecture which, in turn, makes compromise of the app more difficult to carry out. Minerva Labs has an endpoint prevention platform. Its defensive malware product is an endpoint solution that attempts to trick malware into thinking it has already launched. Secret Double Octopus was the company with the most off the wall name at the conference. What Tor does for anonymity, they do for data encryption. Their solution sends morphed data via multiple routes across the Internet and it then gets reassembled at its destination. The company claims to solve key management issues as theirs is a keyless system. BioCatch has a behavioral biometrics solution that detects online fraud. The solution compares cognitive behavior of an authorized user. Over time, that behavior and action patterns can then determine if the action is being performed by a real user or an attacker. Their solution is of particular value to financial services firms and online retailers. All of these firms will be at RSA in San Francisco at the end of the month. On the very crowded expo floor; you may want to stop by their booths. In my next and piece about my CyberTech visit, Ill discuss how Israel has become one of the worlds most important incubators for information security software and hardware solutions. See part 3 of this series. Security intelligence platform provider Securonix today announced that Vice Admiral (Ret.) Mike McConnell, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence, has joined the company as senior advisory board member. McConnell is in good company. Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, international cyber security expert Bob Rose, former Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Intelligence Community Patrick Gorman, and former NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis are also members of the Securonix Board of Advisors. McConnell served as Director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996, providing global intelligence and information security services to the White House, Cabinet officials and Congress. In 1996, Booz Allen Hamilton recruited McConnell to create its first information security business a ten million dollar cyber security division that eventually grew into a one billion dollar business. McConnell joined the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) as its initial Chairman of the Board in 2005, where he led efforts to increase collaboration within the intelligence and national security communities. In 2007, McConnell was appointed Director of National Intelligence by George W. Bush, becoming the second person to hold the title. Securonix is innovating analytics capabilities that are game changing in cyber security, said McConnell. Im delighted to be a part of a company that is helping businesses and government tackle the fraud and insider threat problem and Im looking forward to helping clients protect what is most critical to their organizations growth. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two Boots Pizza is opening a new location in Stamfords South End, its second in Connecticut after the New York City-based companys 2008 debut in Bridgeport. Founded in 1987 by Phil Hartman, the restaurants name is in reference to the boot-shaped geographies of Italy and Louisiana. Two Boots built its renown initially by using the culinary palette that is pizza to combine Cajun flavors. The companys local menus today include those creations as well as more traditional pizzas, as well as other Cajun fare like catfish and jambalaya. Unlike many pizza joints, Two Boots in Bridgeport has lured customers with live music, karaoke and themed evenings to include video game nights on Wednesdays. Two Boots colorful signage has become a familiar one throughout New York City, though its 16-year run at Grand Central Terminal came to an end in January after it lost its lease there. The Stamford restaurant will join 14 locations nationally from Los Angeles to Bridgeport, with two more in the works for Jersey City, N.J. and Washington, D.C., with a few having closed over the years as well. Hartman, who could not be reached to comment about the new location and its opening date, told the website New York Eater in 2014 that nobody bats a thousand and that the company has learned from the few missteps it has made. I really love cities with a lot of grit and its not always the best business decision, Hartman has said at the time. So Ive learned the hard way that youve got to balance it a bit and make smart business decisions and also seek out cool areas. If Bridgeport is as gritty as it gets in Connecticut, Stamfords South End has reason to claim title as Connecticuts emerging hot spot with a number of restaurants having opened in the Harbor Point district under continued development by Building and Land Technology, which filled multiple large apartment buildings designed to appeal to young professionals. In Stamford, Two Boots will vie for pizza gourmands with Remos Brick Oven Pizza downtown ranked by TripAdvisor users as the No. 2 restaurant in the city as well as Colony Grill in the South End among dozens of other options. Located at 711 Atlantic Street at the base of the Metro Green Residential apartments, the Stamford Two Boots location will have capacity for 30 as well as outdoor seating for 20 more during warmer months. Two Boots is taking suggestions for a home pie with flavors pegged to a local theme or luminary the Bridgeport location offers The Cliff in honor of native John Ratzenberger of Cheers fame, a scarpariello recipe featuring chicken in white wine sauce with hot peppers and garlic on a white pie. The world of entrepreneurship is surprising. Once you enter it, you either love it or hate it. You're either addicted or turned off. You realize you can go further than you ever thought possible and work harder than you thought you were able. Related: 12 Signs You Have an Entrepreneurial Mindset Some of the most surprising things Ive discovered have been the traits of other successful entrepreneurs. For all the traits of a successful entrepreneur articles youve probably read, you might easily overlook some of the most fascinating and curious traits of all. Here are some of the surprising characteristics Ive identified in most successful entrepreneurs. 1. They are self-taught. You might think that the rock-star entrepreneurs have a leg up on the rest of us. Maybe they had a wise mentor, a powerful group of advisors or some other advantage. In reality, many of the most successful entrepreneurs are self-taught. Take Bill Gates, for example. Slate has described him as an autodidact, someone compelled to learn for himself what he needed to know. Elon Musk is another example. Musk is one of the worlds leading authorities on rocket science. How nerdy of an expertise is that? Musks science degrees from Wharton and UPenn didnt furnish all that knowledge. How else did he learn it? According to Business Insider, He committed textbooks to memory. If youre facing down the prospect of entrepreneurship, dont let lack of knowledge intimidate you. You can learn everything you need to know. 2. They live frugally. Weve all heard the rags-to-riches stories of famous entrepreneurs, read about their stunning yachts and seen pictures of their exotic cars. The fact is, most entrepreneurs live rather frugal lives. Forget the boss cars. Mark Zuckerberg famously cruised around in his remarkably unglamorous Acura, a car that most college grads can own. Jeff Bezos has a net worth of $46.7 billion; his 1996 Honda Accord is worth about $4,000. Were not even sure if Travis Kalanick has a car. He might be carpooling, Uber style. Mark Cuban shares this advice on the frugal entrepreneurs lifestyle: It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter how you live. It doesn't matter what car you drive. It doesn't matter what kind of clothes you wear. Lest Cuban sound like some preacher of austerity, look no further than his net worth of $3 billion to let you know otherwise. Cuban knows, however, that The cheaper you can live, the greater your options. 3. They have worked menial jobs. Jan Koum was sweeping floors, giving his earnings to his ailing mother and living off government food aid. His ascent to stardom began in a little village in Ukraine, in a house without electricity or modern amenities. Now, Koum, cofounder of Whatsapp, sits atop a net worth of $7.9 billion. Related: 9 'Mindsets' You Need to Switch From Employee to Entrepreneur Cuban, for his part was just a bartender at first, washing dishes and earning paltry wages. Warren Buffett sold newspapers. Michael Bloomberg was a parking lot attendant. Oprah Winfrey worked the cash register at a little grocery store. Jeff Bezos was a ranch hand. You get the idea. Cant quit your day job yet? Dont sweat it. Youre in good company. 4. They give back. At some point, lots of money or no, entrepreneurs realize something very important. Its not about the money. Its about doing something that matters. Its about investing in a cause greater than yourself. Its about giving to causes that matter. Bill Gates could have continued to build a software empire but started a giving foundation instead. Entrepreneur Jason Wolfe, founder of GiftCards.com, takes mission trips to Haiti, and gives Christmas gifts to needy children. Mark Zuckerberg plans to give away 99 percent of his Facebook shares. Its not just about the taxes. Its about a life well lived, and an improved life for others. 5. They pursue happiness. Much of todays entrepreneurial advice revolves around Follow your passion and Do what makes you happy. But, honestly, youre going to have to do some things that dont energize or enlighten you. On the other hand, you want to choose a life's work that gives you joy. Otherwise, whats the point? Serial entrepreneur Philippe Courtot, a Business Insider Most Powerful Person, understands the importance of this point: If I had one piece of advice to give my younger self, it would be to stop doing what makes you unhappy and focus on what makes you truly happy. At some point, you're going to look back on your life. If youve spent all your time pursuing the head-banging labor that you hate, youre going to regret it. Even if the money doesnt follow, you can at least do something that you truly enjoy, which is something that money cant buy. 6. They are introverts. The prototypical entrepreneur is an extrovert -- a true back-slapping, deal-making, big-selling, fast-talking, energy-inspiring, high-fiving Type A. Or not. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are textbook examples of introverts. On this list of powerful introvert entrepreneurs, The Wall Street Journal places Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer and Warren Buffett. Sounds like a whos who of entrepreneurs list. And theyre introverts? How does that work, exactly? The leading luminary of introvert science, Susan Cain, explains that their entrepreneurial prowess comes from their uncanny focus. They intentionally step out of the limelight and into the zone where they are most productive and thoughtful, and can move forward most rapidly. As Gary Vaynerchuk wrote: We are in the glory days of the introverted entrepreneur. Because of technology, there are so many ways to build a company now, talk to people and make connections in the business world, all without leaving your desk. So, yes, introverts are great entrepreneurs. Conclusion You may not think of yourself as the prototypical entrepreneur, and thats okay. In reality, theres no such thing as a prototypical entrepreneur. There are simply entrepreneurs. They may look weird, different, attractive, uninspiring or downright shocking. Binding them all together is that entrepreneurial drive and cant-shake-it passion. Simply put, were going to build things, go places and make stuff happen. What are some of the surprising things youve discovered about successful entrepreneurs? Related: The 5 Components of the Mindset That Will Let You Live Your Dream Life Related: 6 Little-Known Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs 'I Will Teach You To Be Rich.' Here's How One Man Continues to Make Good on That Promise. 8 People Just Like You Who Made $1 Million Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved BRIDGEPORT A 46-year-old former Stratford teachers aide pleaded not guilty Tuesday to having a sexual relationship with two teenaged boys once in front of her own daughters. Meanwhile, a judge ruled a lawyer for the two boys cannot sit in on plea bargain discussions in the case. Standing before Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin, Kyle Damato-Kushel, of Overland Drive, Stratford, pleaded not guilty to two counts each of second-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury to a minor and tampering with a witness. She asked for a jury trial. The judge continued the case to March 3. We have an aggressive defense we intend to pursue, Damato-Kushels lawyer, Richard Meehan Jr., said later, as he and his client left the Main Street courthouse. Damato-Kushel is free after posting $50,000 bond. She had worked at Wooster Middle School, and was arrested late last year and charged with having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, beginning when she had been the boys preschool teacher. Police said that victim later told them Damato-Kushel had also had sex with his 16-year-old friend. The boy said on Aug. 12, 2014, he had gotten into a fight with Damato-Kushels husband at her home and had then left the house to meet his friend at Bunnell High School, police said. After a while police said Damato-Kushel had picked both boys up and had taken them, along with her two daughters, now 8 and 15, to the Trumbull Marriott Hotel. While in a room at the hotel with her daughters present, police said, Damato-Kushel had sexual contact with the two boys. James Clark, executive director of the Victim Rights Center of Connecticut, who represents the two teenagers, asked the judge during the hearing to allow him to sit in on pretrial discussions in the case citing an amendment to the state constitution protecting the rights of crime victims. But Meehan objected and the judge upheld the objection. My interpretation of the constitution is that victims can be present at any proceeding in which the defendant is present and the defendant is not present during pretrial discussions. The judge said. Victims have rights under our constitution but there is no enforcement provision and that makes their rights unenforceable, Clark said later. If Judge Devlin is incorrect there is nothing we can do about it. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Kassan Hennix, who has spent nearly half of his 42 years behind bars, will be spending another 14 years in prison for his role in the $3.1 million robbery of Lenox Jewelers in Fairfield in 2013. Hennixs criminal history includes a conviction for third-degree murder for which he served nearly 20 years in prison. In October 1992, federal authorites said he shot a victim multiple times with a sawed-off shotgun, and his co-defendant then shot the victim in the head, killing him. Hennix was released in October 2012 and enjoyed a taste of freedom in Easton, Penn., for less than seven months until May 2013 when he was arrested for the Fairfield heist. On Monday, Hennix was sentenced to 171 months of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for his role in a violent kidnapping and jewelry store robbery. U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford delivered the sentence. On May 18, 2015, Hennix pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. On April 11, 2013, Hennix, Christopher Gay, William Davis and Jeffrey Houston, all of whom were wearing masks and gloves and two of whom were armed with handguns, broke into an apartment on Gravel Street in Meriden. They bound four victims with duct tape and covered their heads with pillowcases, towels and jackets, according to court documents. Davis, Houston and Hennix then forced two of the victims into one of the victims car and drove to Lenox Jewelers in Fairfield, where the two victims worked. A fifth co-defendant followed behind them in a second vehicle. Gay remained in the Meriden apartment to guard the two other victims, the documents state. After the men arrived at the Fairfield store, they stole jewelry, watches and loose diamonds with a value of more than $3 million, court documents state. They then fled in the victims car, leaving the two bound inside the store. One of the defendants called Gay to advise him that they had successfully carried out the robbery and that he should leave the apartment. Davis of Allentown, Pa., Jeffrey Houston of Allentown, also pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their involvement in this kidnapping and robbery. The fifth defendant is awaiting trial. On April 17, 2015, Davis was sentenced to 176 months in prison.On Jan. 27, Gay, a Bronx man was sentenced eight years in prison for his part in the violent kidnapping of employees at a Fairfield jewelry store and the theft of $3 million in gems and watches. Hennix, Davis and Gay have been ordered to pay restitution of more than $3.1 million. The defendants also have forfeited gemstones, jewelry, watches, a vehicle, and more than $127,000 in cash seized from them at the time of their arrests. While the new ID rules are not likely as big a deterrent to participation as the high barrier caucus process seen last week in Iowa, the candidates currently enjoying solid leads in New Hampshire surveys Republican businessman Donald Trump and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are also the ones who have the most to lose if turnout is low. In the case of this primary, however, the meaning of lose is relative. It would be a major upset, indeed, if Trump and Sanders did not finish first in their partys contests Tuesday. But if their winning margins are substantially smaller than predicted by the polls, it will allow others in the race to declare a kind of victory much the way Florida Senator Marco Rubio did with his stronger-than-expected third-place finish in Iowas Republican caucuses, or the way Bill Clinton dubbed himself The Comeback Kid in New Hampshire in 1992, even though he finished eight points behind primary winner Paul Tsongas. Tsongas was the sitting senator from neighboring Massachusetts in 92. The big Democratic winner in Iowa that year was Tom Harkin, but because he was that states senator, the coverage back then wrote off the contest, and the victory provided no bump or momentum for the candidate. This time around, Sanders is, of course, the senator from another New Hampshire neighbor, Vermont a point the campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been repeating for weeks. But go back to the start of this cycle and Sanders was anything but favored even in neighboring New England contests so a Sanders victory will likely not be dismissed quite as easily. Still, the Clinton campaign hopes to bring Sanders margin down to where second place can be spun as a kind of victory moving forward. And to that end, the Clinton team appears to have ramped up the rhetoric. While the tone of the Democratic debates has been refreshingly positive, with both candidates, for the most part, avoiding invective, Clinton surrogates are now taking direct aim at Sanders. And there is no bigger surrogate than the Big Dog himself. At a rally Sunday, Hillarys husband Bill went directly at Sanders, accusing him of everything from sexism to purity trolling. When youre making a revolution you cant be too careful with the facts, said the former president. He then went on to accuse Sanders of using hermetically sealed logic, and alluded to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser that included participation from Sanders and donations from the Vermonters big-bank nemesis, Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs has contributed to a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, and the investment banks CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, has publicly called Sanders dangerous. Other Clinton allies have redoubled efforts to lock in women voters in advance of Tuesdays vote. Theres a special place in hell for women that dont help other women, said Madeleine Albright, secretary of state to President Bill Clinton, and a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter. This is not the first time Albright has said this, but in this context, at Clinton rallies and in press appearances this week, the meaning is very specific. Clinton is losing the female vote in New Hampshire, 50 percent to 46 percent, in the latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. The gap is even more pronounced among younger women, leading iconic feminist Gloria Steinem to remark over the weekend that college-aged female Sanders supporters were just going where the boys are. Steinem later apologized, but the comments from Team Hillary have already drawn rebuke from some New Hampshire women, especially those under 45. Younger women favor Sanders over Clinton by 29 points. The change in tone is unfortunate, Sanders senior adviser Tad Devine said Monday on MSNBC. Devine said he was encouraged by the number of young people drawn to the Sanders message, and warned about sowing division. Whoever wins this thing will have to pull the party together, he said. Devine is likely correct on that front. For while a lower participation rate might help Clinton in the New Hampshire primary, come November, either Democrat will need a robust voter turnout to ascend to the White House. A highly respected Connecticut state trooper was killed in a hunting accident in Texas over the weekend, according to State Police. Trooper First Class Stephen Davis, 51, was killed Saturday evening on the Cinco Ranch in Maverick County, Texas, according to the sheriff's office. U.S. Border Patrol agents at the location led deputies to the scene of the accident. Upon arrival, the deputy noticed a male subject later identified as Stephen Davis, of Hebron, Connecticut, laying in the brush face up and unresponsive. Mr. Davis was found with an apparent wound to the left side of his torso, the sheriffs office said in a release. Contact was made with Alvin Chase, of Warren, Maine who stated while hunting, he shot at a wild hog and accidentally struck Davis. Chase further stated he approached Mr. Davis and noticed he was on his hands and knees on the ground. EMS crews were at the scene, where Justice of the Peace Madera declared Mr. Davis deceased at 7:22 p.m., the sheriffs office said. No charges have been filed in the shooting. The brush country of Maverick County in southwest Texas is a popular destination for hunters seeking white-tailed bucks, elk, pronghorn antelope, wild turkey, hog, bobcat, coyote or javelina. Many of the private hunting ranches have thousands of acres, some of which are fenced in. Davis most recently served at Troop C in Tolland in eastern Connecticut. A 27-year veteran of the state police, he entered the State Police Academy on April 4, 1988, and graduated with the 98th Training Troop on Sept. 2, 1988. During his career he served as a Tolland Resident Trooper, a DARE Instructor and Field Training Officer for new troopers. Davis, a Hebron resident, was also actively involved with the Troop C Explorer Post. A highly-respected trooper, TFC Davis served with distinction and was well-like by troopers and administrators at Troop C and throughout the agency, state police posted on its Facebook page. During his career, he earned a Medal for Lifesaving award from the state police. Lt. Scott Smith, Commanding Officer of Troop C shared the sentiment of Troop C, stating TFC Davis was truly passionate about being a Trooper and his attention to detail was superb. Stephen was a true professional and a well-respected member of this department. The unexpected passing of TFC Davis is a loss for this agency, noted Dora B. Schriro, Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. TFC Davis swore to serve and protect the public and he did so as a true professional, earning the respect of his peers. Col. Brian Meraviglia, commanding officer of the state police, described TFC Davis as a dedicated, distinguished member of the Connecticut State Police family. His brother and sister, troopers at Troop C and throughout the agency will miss him tremendously. Fellow Trooper, TFC Daniel McCarthy, shared a Mark Twain quote to describe his friend and co-worker The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Last Friday's Shark Tank was a military-themed episode, and the training, discipline and focus that two Army Rangers, a retired Air Force major and a Marine, plus two Army spouses demonstrated in their businesses seemed to be exactly the gung-ho, all-in commitment the sharks look for in deal-worthy entrepreneurs. Related: From Flying in the Military to Launching a Business Nonetheless, the timing and scalability of each business still counted, leaving half of the entrepreneurs walking away empty-handed. The evening even featured a commando-style raid, where Daymond John tried to blow up a deal. R. Riveter In a twist on the show's military theme, the first pitch came from Lisa Bradley and Cameron Cruse, two military wives who sought $100,000 for 20 percent of their handbag and accessory company, R. Riveter. The two women manufacture high-end handbags and messenger bags, using upcycled surplus military gear. And while the sharks were impressed with the quality, they were even more impressed with the process. Bradley and Cruse explained that they'd created their company as a way to help military spouses find work. With frequent moves and deployments, these husbands and wives often have trouble getting a job or building a career. So R. Riveter trains them to create individual pieces of bags and sell as piecework to the company, which then assembles them near Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A sample bag that sells for $220 costs $55 to manufacture. Bradley and Cruse told the sharks they had $300,000 in sales for the last 12 months and projected $400,000 for this year. That 25 percent increase, they told the sharks, could come from an investment to support online marketing efforts. So far, they said, they'd invested just $9,000 in the entire venture. The sharks loved this business, especially for its aspect of socialpreneurism. Youre more than a business, Robert Herjavec told them. Added Mark Cuban: Whats really cool to me is that you are a social network through action. Herjavec and Robert OLeary both accepted Bradley and Cruses deal, while Cuban offered additional financing for inventory and equipment. But Daymond John offered something different: advice that the entrepreneurs walk away and self-finance to grow the business first. At this stage, an investment is not in your best interests, John told them. I really believe you should tell all three of these bobos to take a walk and keep the rest of your company, because youll figure it out. Instead, Bradley and Cruse decided to let Cuban help them figure it out. Related: How Military Veterans Are Finding Success in Small Business BearTek Marine Corps. veteran Willie Blount and his second cousin, Tarik Rodgers, pitched their smart-glove technology company, BearTek. It offers a touch-sensitive glove and control module that allows users to control a phone, camera or any other device by touching the tips of their fingers. Although the company had sales of $200,000 in 15 months, the sharks were dismayed by the price, of $200 to $275 per pair. Blount and Rogers countered that the gloves were proof of the viability of their technology, which could be used to control military equpiment, such as drones, night-vision displays and more. That left one more problem for the sharks: what they considered an over-rich valuation for the company of $10 million. That valuation was based on the cousins seeking an investment of $500,000 for just 5 percent of the company. Beyond the valuation, the sharks didnt like how the entrepreneuers lacked any major contracts and hadnt created any product extensions beyond the gloves. The sharks felt that the two men were seeking a far-too-rich deal far too soon. Related: How One Company Is Helping Military Veterans Become Franchisees You really have something here, Lori Greiner told them, but youre just at the point of figuring it out. Major Mom Retired Air Force Major and missile combat crew commander Angela Cody-Rouget sought $150,000 for 20 percent of her home organizing business, Major Mom. She said that she had built the business up to 16 employees in Colorado and Arizona and that the business had had sales of $407,000 last year, with projected sales of $550,000 this year. Cody-Rouget told the sharks that if the profits hadnt been reinvested, the business would have netted her and a partner $320,000 last year. Unlike most clutter consultants, Major Mom's organizers do all the hands-on organizing themselves, decluttering, room redesigns and rearrangements for clients, and hauling off any surplus household items to be donated. Cody-Rouget said she hoped to expand by franchising to other veterans, who she said could start with only $15,000 in financing. The sharks were doubtful about that plan to expand to 150 franchises, and thought that goal would be a bigger challenge than she expected. When Greiner suggested that Cody-Rouget simply continue expanding the business on her own, the entrepreneur answered, Its just not fun, causing Cuban to wince. Thats the scariest answer you can give me, Cuban said. Theres always something more exciting than grinding it out. In the end, the sharks doubts about scalability and sense that the business could grow organically resulted in no offers. Combat Flip Flops Another business with a social mission, Combat Flip Flops, goes by the motto, Business not bullets. Former Army Rangers Donalde Lee and Matthew Griffin distribute what they consider cool products from dangerous places: flip-flops from Bogota, Columba; sarongs from a woman-run business in Afghanistan; and jewelry crafted from old land mines, in Laos. Their most popular product is high-quality flip-flops, which cost about $25 to produce and ship and sell for $70. The company sold $134,000 worth last year and is on track to sell $300,000 this year; already, it's realizing a 5 percent net profit. The partners sought $150,000 for 10 percent equity. Both OLeary and Herjavec saw logistical problems in scaling the business, however, and a lack of focus, with too many products. When OLeary -- who regularly dismisses entrepreneurs he dislikes with the phrase, Youre dead to me -- said he was out, Griffin walked over and handed him a long piece of bright orange plastic. OLeary asked what it was; and Griffin deadpanned, Its how we mark the dead. Despite that exchange, Greiner liked the business, saying that it should first focus on one product line and then branch out; she invited the other sharks to go in on a deal. Cuban and John agreed to join her, and Griffin demonstrated some impressive impromptu negotiating skills, expanding the deal to $300,000 for 30 percent equity, split equally among the three sharks. Related: Why I Wanted to Bring a Smoothie Franchise to Military Bases Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved HARTFORD - The states 18 domestic-violence shelters are operating at above-capacity, as increasing public awareness and outreach campaigns are prompting more women and children to escape abusive relationships, according to a new report. While families are spilling into shelter living rooms and other temporary locations, it underscores the need for more-stable housing options, advocates said. The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence reported Tuesday that 2,323 victims of abuse sought shelter last year, including 1,158 children, with an average stay of 43 days, a length that has increased by 65 percent since 2008. The vast majority of adults in the shelters are women with multi-faceted problems. Karen Jarmoc, a former state lawmaker who is CEO of the coalition, said that the shelters have been able to stay open with a daily cost of $7 per person, with the bulk of funding coming from private sources. The majority of these children are under the age of five, Jarmoc said in a noontime news conference, stressing that many of the youths have experienced violence and trauma. We are over the capacity, basically all the time, Jarmoc said. For instance, in mid-September last year, 332 victims found shelter through local domestic-violence shelters, while 312 beds were available statewide. The extra people slept on sofas and roll-away cots in living areas and playrooms. Certainly the opportunity for more-stabilized housing is important, Jarmoc said. Its been six years since the General Assembly approved 24-hour staffing for the shelters and over the last five years, outreach programs and police assistance have raised awareness, making it easier for victims to leave abusive relationships. We know that the majority of domestic-violence homicides victims and the people around them did not know where to get help, Jarmoc said. The awareness piece has really served to up our capacity. More Information Average shelter capacity: 2008- 57 percent 2015- 114 percent Average shelter stay: 2008- 26 days 2015- 43 days Connecticut's 18 shelters provided services for 35,507 adults and 5,839 children Emergency shelter was provided to 1,165 adults and 1,158 children Crisis calls received - 28,776 *Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence report for fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 See More Collapse Jarmoc and state Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, agreed that the states fiscal reality is that more funding for the shelters is unlikely. She is opposed to the governors plan to remove the funding from the state Department of Social Services and turn it into a block-grant form, because the current budget line approach is more-stable. When things do improve in our state there is this opportunity to take a look at this data and make some decisions around some policy priorities related to helping victims and their families, because its a circumstance that what weve learned is its not going to go away and we have to be very smart about utilizing the resources were going to have, Jarmoc said. If these shelters and these programs didnt exist, or if their funding was cut and they had less of an opportunity to stay in these programs, victims might find themselves going back to those abusive situations and thats the exact opposite of what we want, Flexer warned. Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, said the data reflects the work of the shelters and underscores the importance of those in abusive relationships to escape for safety. Its critical that we maintain the funding because part of what you do all so wonderfully is you break the cycle of violence, Hwang said. You have children and young adults that get impacted and see that this is not the pathway, this is not the way we live. Crisis Numbers: English - 1-888-774-2900 Spanish - 1-844-831-9200 kdixon@ctpost.com; Twitter: @KenDixonCT TRUMBULL For a moment he thought he was in England. But he wasnt. And authorities say his mistake cost two people their lives. Henry Russell had recently moved from the United Kingdom and is accustomed to driving on the left side of the roadway, police said the 27-year-old told them. Accused of killing 91-year-old Allen Finkenaur and his 91-year-old wife, Virginia, in a head-on c rash, Russell was charged Monday with two counts of misconduct with a motor vehicle, a felony. Released on bond, he could face up to 10 years in prison. Shortly after noon on Dec. 22, Trumbull police were dispatched to a crash on White Plains Road near Cedarcrest Road. The Finkenaurs were driving north on White Plains Road when, police said, they were hit by Russells car. Police said a witness told them he saw Russell driving the wrong way and tried to warn him, but to no avail. The elderly couple were taken to St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, where Allen Finkenaur died on Christmas Day from his injuries. His wife died 14 days later. Russell was treated for facial injuries and released from the hospital. He said he is employed in the banking field and only drives once every couple of months in the U.S., police said Russell told them. Russells lawyer, Christian Young, declined comment. Allen and Virginia Finkenaur were among the longest-standing couples in the Heritage Drive neighborhood. They were a sweet couple, very much in love, said Kristen Messerschmitt, a neighbor. They would go on walks together and hold hands down the street. The couple moved into their house on Heritage Drive in the early 1970s, along with the Freiburg family that lives just a few doors down. Michael Freiburg recalled that when he moved in, the Finkenaurs lent his family window screens and at one point helped Freiburg chop down a tree. Now the drapes are all drawn and its like the house is in mourning, said Freiburg, who is retired from General Telephone & Electric Corp. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Tony Barr emphatically denied Tuesday that he threatened to shoot Mayor Joe Ganim. I never said that, I didnt say that and I wouldnt say that, Barr, himself a Bridgeport mayoral candidate last year, said as he stood in the lobby of the Golden Hill Street courthouse after his case was called. Though he finished far down in the field in last Novembers mayoral election, Barr said he holds no animosity toward the mayor, and in fact considers him a friend. Im a Notre Dame High School of Fairfield grad and Joes a Notre Dame of High School grad, and we are both convicted felons, Barr said. During a brief hearing, Supervisory Assistant States Attorney Margaret Kelley asked Superior Court Judge William Holden to continue Barrs case so that further investigation could be done. Barr claims audio and video surveillance in the lobby of the Margaret Morton Government Center will back up his claim that he didnt threaten to shoot Ganim. If it shows I threatened to kill Joe Ganim, I will take the maximum sentence, he said. Holden continued the case to March 11. Barr, 51, served 20 years in prison for being an enforcer for a local drug gang and firing a machine gun at an undercover cop. He was charged on Feb. 4 with threatening and disorderly conduct after police said he angrily demanded to see the mayor stating, I want to talk to the (expletive) mayor now Im going to shoot the (expletive) mayor, Im going to blow the mayors head off. But Barr who received 24 votes for mayor, according to unofficial, election-night returns contends that the threatening story was made up by a security guard at the center and by the mayors aide, Steve Nelson. Barr said earlier in the day he had gone to city hall to pay a $125 car tax bill only to be told he owed nearly $400. The woman in the tax office told me she couldnt do anything about the bill and I should go talk to the mayor about it, Barr said. So thats what I did. He said the security guard at the front desk had an attitude. I told him I wanted to see the mayor and he told me I was going to have to say please, but in the way he wanted me to say it, Barr said. I told them he was violating my rights, and he finally let me call the mayors office. Barr said he was put on hold four times, and that finally Nelson told him Ganim was in New York, so he left. Later, Barr said, he tried unsuccessfully to call the mayor again from the state welfare building. A spokesman for Ganims office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on Barrs accusations. I did 20 years in prison, and Im not going to jeopardize my freedom over something like this, Barr said. For five years Ive been free on the streets, doing good things with no brushes with the law. But, Barr said, as a result of his recent arrest, he lost his job at a Fairfield supermarket. The chicken nuggets in this six-year-old McDonald's Happy Meal practically look as if they just came out of the fryer. They haven't turned black or green or shriveled into nothingness. No mold. After six years, really? TRUMBULL - A realtor was arrested after police said he threatened to kill employees of a local bank. Lou Longwa, the 56-year-old owner of Longwa Realty, was charged Monday with threatening and breach of peace. He was released after posting $1,000 bond. Women raise more money with crowdfunding than men do because of the words female founders tend to use, according to a study currently under peer review. Women generally use words that talk about positive emotions -- for example, excited and happy -- and inclusivity -- such as preferring the pronoun we and words such as together. That kind of language is associated with crowdfunding campaigns that, all other factors being relatively equal, raise more money, says UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Assistant Professor Andreea Gorbatai. Using inclusive language builds this bond of trust, where you feel that people are not trying to take your money, you feel that they are including you in this venture, Gorbatai says. For her research, Gorbatai examined 9,943 campaigns on the San Francisco-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo that ran between Feb. 2, 2010, and Dec. 25, 2013. Approximately two-thirds of the campaigns studied were small-business related, and the remaining third of the campaigns studied were technology related. All campaigns studied were spearheaded by one entrepreneur, as opposed to a founding team. Related: Last Year, Reading Rainbow Raised $5.4 Million on Kickstarter. Then, the Real Work Began. To isolate the effect that language has on the amount of money a crowdfunding campaign raises, Gorbatai used an exact matching technique, with which she would study two campaigns that were raising the same amount of money for a similar reason over a similar period of time where the only difference was that one was run by a solo female founder and the other was run by a solo male founder. For the purposes of the study, a campaign is considered a success over another if it raises more money. That those fundraising campaigns organized by women tend to raise more money than those run by men runs counter to most other fundraising gender dynamics. Online fundraising settings pose an interesting empirical puzzle: women are systematically more successful than men, an outcome contrary to offline gender inequality, she writes. For example, venture-capital funds tend to be overwhelmingly distributed by men to other men, Gorbatai points out in her paper. Related: The SEC Just Approved Rules Opening Up Equity Crowdfunding to the General Public In a 3-1 Vote To be sure, crowdfunding investors have different motivations than traditional investors. While traditional investors are overwhelmingly putting their money behind projects that are expected to see positive financial return, crowdfunding investors give money in order to support projects they value for social or value-related reasons, Gorbatai writes. Thats one reason why language plays such a pivotal role. Those seeking crowdfunding dollars need to convince potential investors of the moral and sociological worth of their cause. And they must do so often without the benefit of face-to-face time spent building relationships. Gorbatai has presented her findings in a working paper titled, The Narrative Advantage: Gender and the Language of Crowdfunding. The academic paper still has to go through a few final stages of peer review and approval before it will be published in a journal. Related: Less Than a Third of Crowdfunding Campaigns Reach Their Goals Related: Women Raise More Money With Crowdfunding, Research Shows How to Use Crowdfunding to Generate Major PR Buzz 5 Important Questions About Real-Estate Crowdfunding Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved A Texas legal panel voted on Monday to disbar a former prosecutor, Charles Sebesta, for presenting tainted testimony and making false statements that undermined a defendant's alibi, helping send the man, Anthony Graves, to death row. The Board of Disciplinary Appeals, appointed by the Texas Supreme Court, upheld a state licensing board's decision to disbar Sebesta for his conduct in convicting Graves, who spent 18 years in prison on charges of setting a fire that killed six people before being freed. Graves, who spent 12 of those years on death row, sought to have Sebesta disbarred. Sebesta prosecuted Robert Carter for the murders and tried to get him to say Graves was an accomplice. But the day before he was to testify, Carter told Sebesta he acted alone and Graves was not involved, according to the board. "Sebesta never disclosed this information to the defense," the board said. Sebesta then presented false testimony implicating Graves, which was crucial in his conviction, since there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, according to the board. Before Graves' attorney was to present a witness providing an alibi, Sebesta falsely stated in court that the witness was a suspect in the murders and could be indicted. The witness refused to testify and left the court, the board said. Graves' conviction was reversed in 2006, and he was remanded for a new trial. In 2010, a special prosecutor found there was no credible evidence that Graves was involved in the murders, and he was released. Sebesta said that he was being unfairly treated and that Graves was justly convicted. "I am concerned about the process," Sebesta said in a telephone interview, adding that he was being targeted by state bar attorneys. "My opinion is that we presented the evidence we had and felt like it was sufficient." Neal Manne, one of Graves' pro bono lawyers, applauded the decision. "In rejecting Sebesta's argument, the Board of Disciplinary Appeals found that Charles Sebesta's misconduct was so egregious that they characterized him as having 'unclean hands.' That certainly is a fitting description," said Manne. A study this month said that U.S. exonerations hit a record high in 2015 as more prosecutors have been looking at troubled cases. The issue has gained additional attention with the release of the hit Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer," which suggests authorities planted evidence against two Wisconsin men convicted of murder. The allegation has been rejected by local law enforcement. Wire services Marco Rubio appeared to pull ahead of the establishment pack after last weeks Iowa caucus. But with the New Hampshire primary under way, his rivals sense an opening. All thanks to Robot Rubio malfunctioning. Rubios GOP counterparts repeatedly have hit the Florida senator for his inability to go off-script and the robotic sameness of his speeches. So has MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough who recently called him "programmed" and "risk-averse." Nobody has done a better job of needling Rubio on his preset talking points better than New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Texas-Mexico border city of Juarez, infamous for violent drug cartel activity, is no longer as lethal as it once was, according to a newly released set of data The Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCSP-JP), an organization based in Mexico, releases an annual, worldwide list of the cities with more than 300,000 residents that are the deadliest. RELATED: Graphic photo of dead father clutching baby killed in Mexican drug gang shootout ignites outrage Juarez has held a spot on the list since 2011, when the CCSP-JP reported 148 non-accidental homicides per 100,000 people, making it the second deadliest place in the world at the time. The 2015 data now shows Mexican cities such as Acapulco, Culiacan, Tijuana, Victoria and Obregon are some of the worlds most lethal spots, but Juarez is no longer included. RELATED: Border Patrol agent charged in grisly decapitation case pleads not guilty to capital murder According to CCSP-JP numbers, Mexican cities showed the biggest decrease in deaths. With 3,946 killings within its population of 3,291,830 people, Caracas, Venezuela is slated as the deadliest place in the world. In order to calculate Mexicos data, CCSP-JP analyzed reports made from the Chihuahua government to two agencies: The National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI) and the Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica (SNSP.) CCSP-JP compared the varying numbers to come up with a final estimate of 367, but added that official stats are still not fully reliable. RELATED: 3 Mexican cartel 'sicarios' arrested near Texas border, suspected of 5 murders [] the data of Chihuahua and Tamaulipas often reported to SNSP are particularly low comparted to the INEGI, which reveal a probable manipulation by the authorities of those two states, the organization explained in a translated version of the methodology. Regardless of official numbers, homicides in Juarez have been on the decrease since 2011, CCSP-JP reported. RELATED: The crazy reasons Mexican drug cartel leaders got busted or killed A handful of U.S. cities made appearances on the list of murderous spots including: St. Louis, Miss.; Baltimore, Md.; Detroit, Mich. and New Orleans, La. which own the 15th, 19th, 28th and 32nd spots, respectively. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Cuba and Egypt ratify bonds of friendship The President of the new Egyptian parliament, Ali Abdel-Al, received Cuban Ambassador Laureano Rodriguez, in an act of ratification of the bonds of friendship existing between the two nations. According to Cubaminrex, during the meeting, where Rodriguez congratulated the President on his recent election, the two parties stressed the historic relations between Cuba and Egypt. They also expressed their satisfaction with the positive state of political and diplomatic relations between the two countries and the need to continue working to develop and strengthen them, especially in the economic and commercial spheres. The Cuban Ambassador expressed his desire to reestablish ties between the parliaments of both nations and to work together to defend, in the various international forums, the national interests of the two nations and of the Third World as a whole. source: www.cibercuba.com Cuba promotes biotechnology products in Indonesia Cuban products that are leaders in the biotechnology field were promoted in Indonesia, mainly Heberprot-P, a novel and unique drug prescribed for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer. According to a note by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Friday, during the recent exchanges held in Jakarta, business opportunities were identified with companies of both public and private sectors. The results of these talks could benefit exchanges between the two countries in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering, and support the care and treatment of people suffering from diabetic foot ulcers in that Asian country. Previously, other promotional activities were also conducted in Spain, the Philippines and Singapore and were in charge of an official of Cubas Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Cuba (CIGB), Dr. Dora Garcia. source: www.cibercuba.com The designer appears perfectly calm as he describes, for about the 10th time that day, his inspiration. I spent some time in Honduras, where I come from, he says. I spent time in the coffee fields, and I thought, Oh, my God, this is great. I saw how they make coffee, and I had this idea that I want to use the colors that are in the coffee fields and put them into my collections. The shows producer offers some last-minute guidance to the dozen or so young men who will wear Carlos Campos creations on the runway. Walk! Stop! Smile! he exclaims. Let them take your picture! Backstage at Skylight Clarkson Studios in the New York City neighborhood known as West Chelsea, just moments before the lights go down, the thump-thump-thump of the music blares, and another New York Fashion Week mens show begins. He was placed in foster care, and again he ran away. I was a kid, he says. I didnt know what I was doing. He made his way to Miami, then up the East Coast to New York. The entire trip took nine months. He lived on the streets and found odd jobs that kept him going as his trek took him through Guatemala and Mexico. No one seemed to notice this child traveling alone until he reached the U.S. I got arrested by immigration in Arlington, Texas, but I was a minor, he says. I didnt know there was a law that they couldnt deport me, and they couldnt keep me in jail because there was no one who could respond for me. So they put me up for adoption. His 13-year-old self saw it as an adventure. His adult self looks back and knows it was a harrowing journey. When I think about it, he says, if you asked me now, would I ever do that again? Hell no. He wasnt following some grand American dream, only the wanderlust of a boy too young to know better. I dont know what drew me, he says. Honestly, when I left home, I walked out of the house, and I thought, I want to go to Brazil, because I always wanted to go to Rio. But a lot of people here were going to America. They were like, Its the land of opportunity. And I thought, Well, Ill go that way, then. Campos left Honduras 30 years ago, when he was just 13 years old. One day he walked out of his home, in the mostly agricultural and crime-ridden town of El Progreso, without a word to his parents or his eight brothers and sisters, and walked yes, walked more than 1,900 miles to the city that would become his home. My mom and dad were tailors, so we had the best outfit all the time. I remember there were times my mom said, Look, we have no money to give you but look how great you look in this shirt. I can do that for thousands of kids, make them feel special because they have an outfit they can wear. When youre a kid, you know, youre afraid, he says. I was afraid my mom was going to be upset with me. Of course, they were not upset. They were desperate trying to find me. They were heartbroken. But he stayed in New York, living mostly on the streets until thanks in part to the parents he left behind, both master tailors who taught their children their trade he found a job and discovered what would become his destiny. I went to a store here in Manhattan and told them, Look, I know how to tailor, he says. They needed someone to do alterations, but they didnt really trust me because I was a kid. The shop allowed him to fix one pair of pants. His work was so good, he got the job, and the owner offered him a room above the shop. He was just 15 years old. He worked all day and went to school at night, earning his high school diploma and developing his dream. By the time he was 22, he had his own small factory in New Yorks garment district, where he made ties and scarves. After that, things went wrong, and I was very upset again, he says. I said, This happened because I was not very well prepared. So I went to school. I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology to better myself and also because I decided that I can take this to another level, and not only be a tailor but be a designer. I think thats my calling in life. And that calling has led him to moments like this. Now one of menswears most respected designers, showing twice a year during New Yorks Fashion Week, selling his line in local boutiques and major department stores, creating bespoke suits for clients and costumes for Broadway. He is dedicated to helping the children of Honduras live their dreams. He has been appointed a brand ambassador for the country, where the long-struggling economy is beginning to make a comeback. He is part of Honduran Global, made up of Honduran expats who return to offer workshops to young people and entrepreneurs, designed to teach and inspire. Perhaps the charity closest to his heart is one inspired by his parents, with whom he, thankfully, made peace before his father and mother died 15 and three years ago, respectively. He is opening small stands in malls in Honduras, selling shirts. He says, For every shirt you buy, well donate one to a kid in need. We already have donated 3,000 of them, and we are so proud of them. Its a simple idea that he believes will have far-reaching benefits. I come from a very, very poor family. But the only thing was we always looked good. My mom and dad were tailors, so we had the best outfit all the time. I remember there were times my mom said, Look, we have no money to give you so you can have lunch. So she said, Im going to pack up your lunch, and I would have that sad face, and she would say, Yes, but look how great you look in this shirt. I can do that for thousands of kids, make them feel special because they have an outfit they can wear. Im sure it will change their lives because my mom changed my life that way. He is involved in building the first Honduran fashion college, hoping to break ground by the end of the year. His recent successes are set against a political backdrop in which immigration has become a major issue, especially among Republican presidential candidates. Real estate mogul Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, has controversially called for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and labeled immigrants rapists and drug dealers. Campos believes the best way to fight that sort of sentiment is by bettering oneself. We are a small company, he says, but we employ seven people in NYC. They get a salary. They get health insurance. But more important, he says, is something you cant touch. Whether Im black, Latino, short, fat, ugly, Im going to make the best of myself, and Im going to make my parents proud after the pain that they went through because they thought I was dead. So when I hear someone like Donald Trump, what I try to do is I try to encourage other Latinos or immigrants to just better yourself and you can prove these people wrong. Japan and Cuba to boost cooperation projects Submitted by: Juana Asia Business and Economy 02 / 09 / 2016 The signing of a contract to improve hygienic-sanitary conditions in the municipality of Centro Habana, in this capital, is part of the cooperation projects promoted by the Japanese Embassy in Cuba. The embassy signed the agreement with the non-governmental organization (NGO) Movement for Peace, Disarmament and Liberty (MPDL), in order to support the delivery of cleaning equipment for waste collection, repair of communal spaces and sanitation of the capital municipality. The project, which has funding of almost 70,000 euros, also includes the implementation of an educational program on the environment for primary and secondary schools of the locality. The Japanese ambassador to Havana, Masaru Watanabe, highlighted that Cuba is one of the most important nations of the Caribbean and, therefore, his country supports various forms of cooperation, especially technical, which involves sending specialists in different areas. The Ambassador added that one of the sectors of interest for Japan is tourism, the economic area, and education, because they want to make academic and school exchanges, all this with the cooperation of the Cuban government and people, he pointed out. source: www.cibercuba.com What's going on in and around Somerset County? Ian relief: Deadline extended for property tax payments Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order delaying the payment of property taxes across 26 Florida counties struggling from impact of Hurricane Ian. A judge denied for the second time a request by Texas to bar relief agencies from bringing Syrian refugees into the state, a decision that could have a bearing on the attempts of 30 other governors to block refugees from their states. U.S. District Judge David Godbey said the Republican leaders who have fought the resettlement have not shown Texas would suffer irreparable harm. The same judge rejected in December the state's request for a restraining order saying the evidence presented was largely speculative hearsay. The Court does not deny that the Syrian refugees pose some risk. That would be foolish, Godbey wrote in the decision. In our country, however, it is the federal executive that is charged with assessing and mitigating that risk, not the states and not the courts. President Obama has pledged to take in 10,000 people fleeing war-torn Syria and has so far admitted 2,000 refugees. Europe is dealing with millions of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa. After the Paris attacks in November, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, was one of the first of more than 30 U.S. governors who are seeking to block the resettlement of Syrians into their states. Some legislators fear that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which claimed credit for the Paris attacks, will hide individuals intent on carrying out more killings among the influx of refugees entering the United States. The federal government has tightened visa waiver rules for visitors following the attacks in France that killed 130 people and immigration has become a flashpoint in the November presidential election in America. Since the fiscal year 2011, 243 Syrian refugees have resettled in Texas, a U.S. court filing in December said, making the state one of the main U.S. relocation sites since the Syrian civil war erupted about five years ago. Since Obama took office in January 2009, the most populous Republican-controlled state has filed suit against his administration 39 times on issues ranging from immigration to the environment to abortion. Reuters With the soon-to-be-completed Crosstown Concourse looming over the horizion, Patrick McIntyre and Brian Skinny McCabe talk outside of the Hi Tones new location on North Cleveland Street. The Hi Tone was one of the first businesses to relocate to the upand- coming Midtown neighborhood in anticipation of the Crosstown Concourses completion. Gus Carrington With the soon-to-be-completed Crosstown Concourse looming over the horizion, Patrick McIntyre and Brian Skinny McCabe talk outside of the Hi Tones new location on North Cleveland Street. The Hi Tone was one of the first businesses to relocate to the upand- coming Midtown neighborhood in anticipation of the Crosstown Concourses completion. Two men take a seat at the bar of the Hi Tone Cafe located on North Cleveland. On a typical Tuesday the Memphis sun creeps through the glass windows and is the only source of light in the bar besides a flat screen above a list of drinks. Armed with colorful tattoos and a fierce, burly beard, head bartender/general manager Patrick McIntyre grabs the television remote and turns the volume down. His accomplice, Joel Gradinger, the ponytailed sound engineer, lights up a few cigarettes as the two reminisce about what each of them miss about the old location of the Hi Tone Cafe. aI miss breaking bottles for sport at the end of the night,a Gradinger said. aWe only have cans now.a McIntyre admits North Cleveland has been a much better fit. aWe were the black sheep,a Gradinger said. aEverybody around there didnat care for us too much. Thereas a lot of businesses and neighborhoods that didnat support us, but over here weare surrounded by like minded people.a Like-minded people include the local residents who are rooting for the Crosstown Concourse, a development project overseen by Kemmons Wilson Companies and designed by Architecture firms Looney Ricks Kiss and Dialog (Vancouver). Overseers of the future Landmark aim to create 800 jobs for Memphis and generate $37 million in new wages annually with 265 loft-style apartments, restaurants, a small grocery, a fitness center, health clinics, a charter high school, commercial offices, and a contemporary art center. The Concourse is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2017. aEveryday those guys are in there working on that place and theyare not,a McIntyre said. aItas gonna be great for the area in general. Thereas gonna be more businesses opening up and this whole area is gonna be completely different in a year and a half. I think weare all looking forward to that.a McIntyre, a seasoned Memphis bartender, has spent several years serving drinks at different Bluff City locations. It took him 13 years to find his way to the Hi Tone. aIave worked at Murphyas, the Buccaneer, and then the Deli,a McIntyre said. aIave worked at all the ones that are kinda known for all the craziness that can kinda go on, but we donat really have that many problems here.a The man admits however, that one incident in the new location of the Hi-Tone sticks out in his mind. aThis guy literally only had two Bloody Maryas from me,a McIntyre said. aEverybodyas standing there looking at him. Heas peeing. Heas just peeing on the bar.a McIntyre maintained that after contacting authorities the situation was peacefully handled. Months later McIntyre even shared a laugh with the officers who specifically apprehended who he still calls athe urinator.a The bartender shared that instances like these, as well as the tight-knit aHi Tone familya make the venue an extremely unique place to work. aItas not your typical bar job,a Mcintyre said. aYouare expected to do your job, do it right, and do it well. Itas honestly hard to find people like that. a One of these people is undoubtedly sound engineer Joel Gradinger. Gradinger, who began working at the old Hi Tone location in the Spring of 2002, led the actual sound renovations when the bar planted itself at 412-414 North Cleveland in August of 2013. aI had a lot more to do with designing and installing the sound system in a much more ideal way than there was at the old spot,a Gradinger said. aI think the best thing you can do is to help the bands be comfortable and confident. If you blow that part of the job; thereas not enough buttons, knobs, and faders to get that back.a One of the most visible changes for the new Hi Tone is that it contains not only a big stage with a second bar, but another smaller room with a more relaxed aesthetic. Most of the bands that perform in the small room stand eye-level to the audience, with the drummer as the only musician on an elevated platform. According to Gradinger, there were many reasons for building a second, smaller room into the new Hi Tone. aWhen I designed this stage I had at the front of my mind that I wanted it to feel natural to play on a the same way youad jam in your living room or something,a Gradinger said. aIt can be intimidating stepping up from a rehearsal space or a house show to something with a full sound installation.a Gradinger stepped up his own musical career in Memphis as a local guitarist and a student in recording technology at the University of Memphis, but gravitated toward doing news@dailyhelmsman.com live sound after working as a studio partner for Brian Powers. Powers came into ownership of the Hi Tone in 2002 and enlisted Gradinger for the sound engineer position. aI liked the pressure of having one shot to do it,a Gradinger said. aMy background was in studio recording where you can obsess over every little detail and live sound is the total opposite. I enjoyed the challenge.a More recent challenges have followed the Hi Tone family during and after the venueas move from Poplar to North Cleveland. Renovation required new bathrooms, electrical, and plumbing as well as building new walls, painting them, and building the bar itself. aIt was a bitch,a McIntyre said. aThis place was just one big empty shell of nothing. It was just torn to bits; piles of trash everywhere, but weave come along way in 2 A years.a Another persisting challenge has been getting virtual databases just to recognize the Hi Toneas shift to Crosstown. aNot even that long ago a cab driver took some people from out of town to the old venue thinking we were still over there,a McIntyre said. aIt was really hard to get Google Maps to change our location on there. I think Apple maps still has us listed at the other location.a Beyond finding the venue, Mcintyre stressed that there are still some Memphians with other reasons for not visiting Hi Tone 2.0. He believes these reasons arenat legitimate. aI still hear that thereas people that either donat know weare open again or know where we are,a Mcintyre said. aThereas other people that I hear possibly are too scared to come down here, they think itas a bad area. Itas Memphis and I know years ago this used to be, but honestly we havenat had any problems with crime down here.a Gradinger also shares the opinion that crime is a lot less prevalent in the newer location of the venue. aI would guess we used to eject an average of three or four people a week at the old spot and I think we throw out like maybe once a month,a Gradinger said. aSince weare not right on Poplar we donat have issues with homeless people, crackheads, whores, and transients.a Still, most of Memphis hasnat caught up with the safer, newer Hi Tone quite yet. aWe knew it would be a struggle,a Gradinger said. aWe came in on the front end of the redevelopment of this neighborhood so itas not an instant transition.a Even after lengthy renovation, public misconceptions of the neighborhood, and the occasional customer lacking bladder control, the aHi Tone familya has stuck together since the move. Gradinger even sees the afamilya as something thatas bigger than the bar itself. aIad say the Hi Tone family even extends beyond the people who work here,a Gradinger said. aThe core group of musicians who have been playing around Memphis professionallya even when they donat have a gig they end up here. Itas a tight nit group of employees but itas a broad spectrumof creative people in Memphis who I think constitute the family.a One of the newer, although more helpful additions to the Hi Tone family has been ex-Newbyas owner Brian aSkinnya McCabe, who in Dec. of 2014 jumped at the opportunity to run the new Hi Tone. According to McIntyre, McCabeas 10 years at Newbyas has brought entirely new crowds to the venue. aThatas a whole new circle of bands we hadnat worked with before,a McIntyre said. aAs well as customers, events that heas always hosted, and annual parties. That growth is great. I just canat emphasize how amazing itas been to work with him and his wife. They are the first ones here the last oneas gone. Theyare very hands on thatas really helped the growth of the new spot.a With newer management, newer stages, and a newer sense of 901 pride Crosstown has already begun to pave greener pastures for Poplaras aBlack Sheepa a The Hi Tone Family. With the addition of the Crosstown Concourse, as well as what McIntyre hints as the next wave of musicians and entertainers to grace the Hi Tone stage(s), the grass may only get greener. aThese days thereas a lot of these local kids who are playing up here who are 20, 21, 22, and theyare already just amazing artists,a McIntyre said. aThey are already talented as hell. Itas just great to see this younger generation thatas now coming along.a Both McIntyre and Gradinger cited that a few of their favorite local bands to work with include MOVIENIGHT and Dawn Patrol. Gradinger further emphasized that his reasoning for adding the Hi Tone small stage was to assist this new wave of musicians. aHaving a smaller venue on the side allows us to bring in bands that might not be able to get a gig otherwise,a Gradinger said. aItas easier for us to take a chance on a new band and see how it flies. I mean it basically doubles our booking opportunities.a With double the room to book and the increased musical network of the new Hi Tone, McIntyre remains positive that the growth around North Cleveland is representative of a growing Bluff City in general. aFor years it seemed like the city was stagnant,a McIntyre said. aThe last couple years itas just been growing like crazy. All the new restaurants; the food trucks, the bike lanes, I couldnat be happier about the way it is. Itas really put itself on the map a lot more than it ever was during the last couple years.a Speaking of maps, it may be a good time for Google and Apple maps to update their databases to include the Hi Toneas new location. An office of inclusion and diversity will get a jump-start at the University of Memphis on July 1 when the school hires the first staff member. President David Rudd will search for a graduate assistant for the office of inclusion, to research the services and trends of other universities in relation to the new, upcoming program. The student government at the University of Memphis voted on and passed a bill, in October, to create an office of inclusion and sexual diversity, a workplace that most universities already have. While the student government does have the power to create a new office, they voted that they would like to see one created. The idea all started when Shelby Elkins, student at the University of Memphis, took initiative after realizing that there was no real central program dedicated to assist those of LGBTQA, womens rights and sexual assault victims. I realized that we did not have anything to offer, Elkins said. We do not have a LGBT office (or) womens right center. The new office of inclusion and sexual diversity would aim to expand programs and connect with the LGBTQA community. They alsohope to build relations within equality. They would also try to make the new office a home for those within this community. I immediately started my research on institutions, private and public, close and far, to see how they dealt with the issues of LGBTQA, womens rights and sexual assault, Elkins said. The data was outstanding, such strong offices across the country programming and leading students to where and whom they truly are. You can technically say that over 60 percent of our campus is under represented or not represented at all, being a majority female campus. Campuses like University Tennessee-Knoxville have set up similar offices. UT-Knox took five years to plan and prepare for the new office. I have full faith that our new Student Government board will push this in a positive direction, Elkins said. While there have been no plans set for as to when the office is expected, there has been progress made for moving forward since the passing of this bill. The student government has set out to hire a graduate assistant to research the next steps to take before the start up of the new office, something Ali Kingston, speaker of the senate, helped to organize. We originally looked at a full office, the size of the multicultural office or the size of student leadership and involvement, but that takes a lot of time and money, Kingston said. We realized we were more concerned with this starting soon, so we proposed we start with a single person and have it grow into a office. Because realistically, in August, we werent going to be able to have a full office of staff. The new graduate assistant will be the beginning of it all, reading up on and researching ways to make this new office thrive within its services in comparison to other campuses. President Rudd has been completely on board since day one for the beginning of the idea, Kingston said. Hes been completely supportive of hearing everything and figuring out how we can make this work. Hes the one that figured that we could do a graduate assistant. That is going to provide for the University to see how much we desperately need this. That individual is going to be able to do research and will be able to program and look at things. Im really excited that its moving forward this quickly. The new graduate assistant is expected to be hired by July 1st. Since 9/11 the FBI has organized more jihadist terrorist plots in the United States than any other organization, national security expert Peter Bergen writes in his new book, United States of Jihad. He backs that startling claim by noting that Al-Qaedas core group in Pakistan attempted six attacks here, its Yemen branches mounted two and the Pakistan Taliban and Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate attempted one each. But the New York Police Department staged three plots, and the FBI orchestrated 30 in sting operations. Bergens book provides sobering reading in a feverish U.S. political climate in which politicians seek to paint Syrian refugees and other Muslims entering the country as potential threats. Americans remain more afraid of terrorism than they ought to be, Bergen has said in interviews promoting the book,Youre 5,000 times more likely to be killed by a fellow American with a gun than you are to be killed by a jihadi terrorist in this country. Of the 330 people charged with terrorism-related crimes since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bergen reports, 80 percent were U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Many of them were influenced by U.S. born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who became a key figure in Al-Qaedas Yemen affiliate and was extrajudicially executed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011. Eighty of the 330 people convicted had Awlakis writings or sermons in their possession, or cited him as being an influence. Seven more had been in contact with him directly, some even traveling to Yemen to meet him. But psychological profiles found no abnormalities and few common features among those charged with such crimes, and authorities see a growing threat of leaderless jihad. Bergen describes jihadists as those who have adopted Binladenism, the dogma laid out by the founder of Al-Qaeda. Every fatal jihadist attack in the U.S. after 9/11, he says, was carried out by a lone wolf, a person who commits acts linked to an ideology but who operates outside of or does not receive orders from a group. Bergens research involved talking to the relatives and friends of arrested suspects, as well as to law enforcement agencies. The causes of radicalization are complex, he writes. There are some similarities in those targeted for recruitment: middle-class background (the poor are generally too busy making ends meet); a cognitive opening, an event that makes someone receptive to new ideas; and isolation. The radicalized are generally educated, and many are married with children. Managing or containing the threat is the best possible solution, according to Bergen. But after 9/11, law enforcement agencies like the FBI and NYPD were told to prioritize preventing terrorist attacks. President George W. Bush told then FBI Director Robert Mueller to adopt a wartime mentality. Among the difficulties Bergen cites in policing the threat is the exponential proliferation of extremist websites and social media feeds. The first leader of a jihadi group to systematically use a Twitter handle was Omar Shafik Hammami (Abu Mansoor al-Amriki), a U.S. citizen who was leader in the Somali group Al-Shabab. Last week Twitter announced it suspended 125,000 Twitter accounts associated with terrorist activity many of those, however, are bots. Bergen dismisses as nonsensical efforts to deny any connection to Islam by those who commit violence in its name, in the same way one cannot claim that Christian beliefs about Jerusalems sanctity had nothing to do with the Crusades or that the growth of illegal Israeli settlements overtaking Palestinian land is not rooted in the beliefs of certain Jewish fundamentalists about the God-given rights of Jews to live there. Still, he challenges profiling tactics by law enforcement, calling them controversial and sometimes ineffective responses to the threat. Early this year, the NYPD agreed to ban targeted surveillance of Muslims, which Bergen said netted little for its efforts. The author also takes issue with the FBIs use of informants generally not a savory bunch who in 2011 alone committed some 6,000 crimes according to the FBIs own statistics. The stings have also caught hapless would-be jihadists who were coaxed to execute plots that never would have happened without the assistance of law enforcement, Bergen writes. The problem for counterterrorism officials during [Barack Obamas] administration was not that they lacked information, but that they didnt adequately understand or share the information they already possessed, derived from conventional law enforcement and intelligence techniques, he said. Of the 72 plots to launch attacks in the U.S. since 2001, 16 involved plans that were not prevented by government action. Of the remaining 56, in 40 cases traditional law enforcement methods uncovered the plots. That emphasis on the effectiveness of traditional police work impressed former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. In her review of Bergens book, she wrote, It is important that we remain resolute and neither lower our expectations nor jettison our values out of some misguided belief that jihad presents easy answers or that conventional efforts must be totally scrapped. In nearly eight years since the start of the 2008 financial crisis, European politics has witnessed a remarkable surge in left-wing anti-capitalism and right-wing nationalism. With the 2016 presidential election, this ideological shift has arrived on American shores. Its heralds are the two expected victors in Tuesdays New Hampshire primary: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Each of these candidates represents a particular political tradition that was, until recently, alien to national elections in the United States. Trump, whose disregard for the pieties of evangelical conservatism sets him apart from other GOP hard-liners, fits neatly into a European mold. His blend of hardline nationalism and ideological flexibility is similar to that of European right-wing populists such as Britains Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and Frances Marine Le Pen of the National Front. Trump, however, falls to the right of his closest European analogues. Both Farage and Le Pen, for example, have publicly distanced themselves from Trumps call for a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration. Farage, in particular, said that Trump had gone "too far" with the proposal. Sanders appears to be a more distinctly American type, a veteran of civil rights marches and the 1960's student movement. But his platform and ideology would be right at home among the moderate social democrats of Scandinavia. His calls for progressive taxation, a stronger labor movement, and an expansive public health care system are already commonplace to the point of banality in Sweden and Denmark to say nothing of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and other strong Western European states. To his critics in the U.S., Sanders is a radical who threatens to ride a wave of popular discontent to upend the political establishment as Greeces Syriza and Spains Podemos parties have. But a closer European analogue to Sanders might be Jeremy Corbyn, the old-school trade unionist who seized control of Britains Labour Party amidst the collapse of the centrist wing. European-style candidates are resonating with voters now because political parties in the U.S. are facing some of the same pressures as those in Europe. Most obviously, American political parties have become more polarized. Whereas European parties have almost always tended to be defined by a shared political program, Americas peculiar constitutional system birthed sprawling coalitions with interests that frequently overlapped for members on different sides of the aisle. But that changed in the aftermath of the civil rights era, when the Republican Party succeeded in capturing the South and began moving further to the right. Democrats eventually began their own leftward drift, albeit at a slower pace; by 2005, political scientists found that even the most conservative Democrat in Congress was nowhere near as right-wing as the most liberal Republican. The two parties had become ideologically discrete, much like the parties in parliamentary system. Political parties in the United States are also experiencing similar external pressures. The 2008 financial crisis pushed millions of European and American households to the economic brink, and disaffected voters on both the right and the left blame the political establishment. As John Judis has observed in the National Journal, a substantial chunk of the Sanders coalition consists of newly proletarianized white-collar professionals who are attracted to the classic social democratic message of wealth redistribution and solidarity between the poor and middle classes. Trumps nativism, meanwhile, has drawn in a poorer and less educated segment of white workers. Like many Europeans drawn to the National Front or UKIP they fear that large-scale immigration will further erode their crumbling economic foothold. To be sure, the U.S. has weathered the recession much better than Europe has. The Federal Reserve has not imposed a tight money policy at the expense of jobs, and U.S. state governments have applied austerity measures only intermittently. As a result, the U.S. has mostly recovered from the elevated joblessness it experienced after the recession, even as the Eurozone continues to suffer double-digit unemployment. Nonetheless, wage stagnation persists in the U.S., and extreme inequality in the U.S. is getting worse. Expect more right-wing populists from the GOP and more social democrats from the left as a result. Lifestyle | Daily Life | News | The Sydney Morning Herald Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross, pictured, questions how the police and CPS's actions investigating VIP child abuse were 'proportionate and consistent'. Four years ago, when police began their high-profile investigation into VIP child abuse, senior officers vowed that their actions would be proportionate and consistent. How hollow those words look today. Time after time, people who are national figures have been subject to lurid allegations that turn out to be fragile, baseless or even fantastical. We might have expected the authorities to learn from the circus they inspired in August 2014 when plainclothes officers in five unmarked cars raided Sir Cliff Richards Berkshire home while a helicopter chartered by the BBC hovered overhead to broadcast live pictures. Of course, none of us knows the truth of the allegations laid against him about an incident way back in 1985, but in a sense that is not the point. For as this newspaper reported yesterday, it is now 544 days since the day Sir Cliff was so publicly outed as a suspected sex offender and yet still no file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Thats three times longer than it took to bring the Nazi hierarchy to trial at Nuremberg after World War II, which cost the lives of 50 million people. Can the police or the CPS seriously think this is being proportionate and consistent? They certainly dont seem to feel the shame they are so generously heaping on others. Former Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal Lord Bramall, is the latest in a long line of victims and victims is the right word in what is supposed to be a process of justice. Lord Bramall is a man I know and regard as of the highest personal integrity. Not even the wildest conspiracy theorist could have considered him to be a dangerous criminal. Yet even though he was in his 90s and his wife was frail (in fact, she died a few weeks later), 20 officers raided their home as though he were a Mafia kingpin. Worse still, in his case, as in others, the police inquiries had no obvious sense of urgency even once the name of the suspect was in the public domain. Last month, almost a year later, there was a grudging admission that there was never anything convincing against him in the first place. It does not take much imagination to guess what it must be like to be publicly accused of sexual molestation, rape or paedophilia. There have been reports that Sir Cliff was selling the home that was raided, feeling it had been defiled, and he has been spending much of his time since in Portugal. The former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, who also faced an anonymous accuser, has moved abroad in disgust. The transfixing shame is enough to destroy peoples lives. And there is no way to alleviate the pressure. The more you deny the allegations, the more that people think there must be something to them. Justice is inverted. Gossips insist they always knew there was something odd about you as they discuss the story with a knowing wink and a nod. In the case of Lord Brittan, he died in January 2015 under a terrible cloud of suspicion. And thats another thing. No one is formally cleared by these inquiries. There is no exoneration and, as yet, no apology. Having had their reputations trashed, the men in question are simply told no further action will be taken whats known in the jargon as NFA. The title of comedian Jim Davidsons book was clearly heartfelt No Further Action: The Darkest Year Of My Life. Even the dead are not safe. Last year, the Wiltshire police made an extraordinary television appeal for witnesses to come forward with claims of abuse by the former prime minister Sir Edward Heath. It was an open invitation for cranks, fantasists and conspiracy theorists to tarnish Sir Edwards name. All too predictably, not a single piece of credible evidence has been produced against him. We have perverted the very concept of British justice. The great irony in all this is that we used to be indignant that so few cases of sexual assault resulted in conviction. Scroll down for video Police investigated Sir Cliff Richard, pictured, in 2014 but no file has ever been prepared for the CPS We were appalled when Esther Rantzens ChildLine first exposed the staggering extent of child abuse in Britain. We were horrified when we learned about institutionalised cruelty and sexual exploitation in care homes, churches and boarding schools. We were outraged when it seemed there had been cover-ups in sex abuse rings, such as those in Rotherham and the scandal of the serial child-molesting MP Cyril Smith. And we were incandescent when the staggering truth emerged about the greatest abuser of them all, Jimmy Savile. As a result of cases like those, a mantra developed that every childs allegation should be believed; every woman who complained of a sex assault should be taken at face value; every survivor of historic molestation must be deemed credible. Its convenient to overlook the fact that the police were in the dock for inaction precisely the opposite of the over-reaction they stand accused of. Little wonder that a senior officer told me recently: Were damned if we do and damned if we dont. Nor should we neglect the fact that some of the historic allegations have been proved in court, with long prison sentences handed down to celebrities such as Gary Glitter, Max Clifford and Rolf Harris. But there plainly is a problem one that the sorry story of Sir Cliff Richards treatment makes all too plain. The fact is that the police are not detached professionals. Perhaps inevitably, they reflect the vagaries of public opinion and the changes in our cultural attitudes. As I saw myself from my years on Crimewatch, police investigations can get carried on a tide of public sentiment. Allied to that, police chiefs and detectives, stung by their failures in the past over Savile and others, are keen to prove themselves. But they dont have the resources, which is one reason these latest inquiries have been so wretchedly protracted. Putting things right will not just be a matter of refining legal processes. We like to revere the British method of justice, stretching back to before the time of Magna Carta. The public was outraged when the shocking truth about Jimmy Savile, pictured, was exposed But our judicial system is antiquated and its approach to sex crimes, in particular, is riddled with contradictions. There is the tension, for instance, between the need for anonymity for rape victims or, indeed, for the accused, and the tradition that justice should be transparent. I note that MPs are planning to vote this week to grant themselves anonymity if any of them are arrested a move that would make a mockery of equality under the law. If MPs can be arrested without being shamed by public exposure, then why not peers, police officers or celebrities or ordinary members of the public, whose lives can also be destroyed by scandalous allegations? There are many other contradictions, too, as the case of Sir Cliff proves all too graphically, such as the conflict between the need to carry out thorough investigations and the danger of creating severe delays during which time a persons reputation takes a fearful battering. After all, justice delayed is justice denied. Also, lets face it, the traditional much-cherished adversarial system of prosecution and defence is hardly the ideal way to establish the truth in the emotionally charged, intimate arena of sexual relations, where faded memories, misconceptions, outright lies and changing moral attitudes all play their part. Even the essential verdicts of traditional law, guilty and not guilty, seem crude when the real world of human relations has so few absolutes. Eurosceptics are constantly accused by the liberal establishment of attempting to exploit fears over spiralling migration to frighten British voters into pulling out of the EU. Bizarrely, the Prime Minister stood accused yesterday of using exactly the same tactic to frighten them into staying in. Mr Cameron made the extraordinary claim that if we leave, the French will throw open their borders and wave tens of thousands of migrants straight through the Channel tunnel to Folkestone. Scroll down for video Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured right, meets with European Council president Donald Tusk, left, for talks on the renegotiation of Britain's EU membership This massive influx, he said, would result in camps similar to the notorious tented city in Calais known as the Jungle springing up all over the South of England. But isnt this a transparent piece of scaremongering? Firstly, our border arrangements with France have nothing to do with the EU, so would be unchanged by a British exit. Under a bilateral treaty between sovereign nations, our frontier post is currently located on the French side of the tunnel and French customs and immigration officers are based in Kent. This enables both countries to identify and vet travellers before they set off a security measure as crucial to France as it is to Britain in these days of murderous Islamic extremism. Even the French interior ministry says scrapping the arrangement would be a foolhardy path and one they would not pursue. And as for the prospect of camps, most migrants have taken months, if not years to reach Calais, with the sole aim of getting into Britain. Once here, they either immediately claim asylum like the Sudanese man who walked through the tunnel or simply disappear into Londons thriving black economy. Why on earth would they hang around in shanty towns kicking their heels? And why would the authorities allow such camps to exist? So there we have it. Its patently obvious the In campaigners are using bogus scare tactics to suggest that quitting the EU would leave us isolated and dangerously exposed in a hostile world. The strategy has been labelled Project Fear and its gathering pace. Weve already been warned that leaving would make us more vulnerable to terrorism, the pound would collapse and every British family would be up to 3,000 a year worse off all unsupported and highly dubious claims. To its shame, the stay lobby has advanced precious few positive reasons for sticking with Brussels. Is that because theyre having trouble finding them? Could shantytowns like The Jungle in Calais, pictured, spring up in the future in Britain? Conflict of interests The Civil Service code doesnt exactly forbid senior officials from accepting gifts and hospitality from lobby groups and big corporations but it warns they must avoid any possible conflict of interests. Between April 2012 and March 2015, Whitehall mandarins whose job it is to implement government policy were entertained or given presents a staggering 3,413 times, including concert tickets, paintings, iPads, and even Fortnum & Mason hampers. One of the most frequent providers of largesse was the British Bankers Association coincidentally at a time when its members were being investigated for rigging foreign exchange and inter-bank lending rates. If thats not a conflict of interests, what is? A care worker has warned women against plucking their eyebrows after she got over zealous with the tweezers as a child and 'ended up with none at all.' Tyne, 20, from Coventry, then got more than she bargained for when she tried to rectify her mistake by reinstating her eyebrows with permanent make-up when she was 15. When her natural brow grew back years later, she discovered her tattoos where not quite in the right place, leaving her with an embarrassing double brow. Scroll down for video Tyne, 20, ended up with double eyebrows after she overplucked her original ones and then had new ones tattooed on. Years later, her natural ones grew back under the tattoo, natural brow seen under tattoo, left Tynes's natural brow can be seen under the tattoo which she had when she was 15 'My eyebrows are horrendous,' she admitted on Channel 4's Bodyshockers. 'I have my natural set and then tattooed eyebrows above. 'One is higher and thicker than the other, one is thicker, one is thinner. I am stuck with four eyebrows. 'They are the biggest mistake I have ever done in my life. I am willing to go through anything to get a natural look.' Tyne explained how her beauty blunder began when she was just ten-years-old and she over-plucked her brows. 'When I first started messing with my eyebrows I was 10, it was the thing to have skinny eyebrows and I ended up with no eyebrows at all,' she said. Tyne looks at a picture of herself when she was a young teenager and overplucked her brows as at that time it was trendy to have thin ones Tyne pictured aged 15 when she first had her eyebrow tattoos and was happy with them. 'I thought that was it, I wouldn't have to worry ever again,' she said As a teenager, Tyne then decided to reinstate her brows by having them tattooed back on in a permanent make-up procedure. She said to begin with she was delighted to have her brow back. 'At first I loved them, it was the answer to my prayers. I thought that was it, I wouldn't have to worry ever again,' she said. However, as she had the tattoos at a time when she was still growing - and before the legal age of 18 - she later found out that the ink was not in right place. 'When I was 17 my natural eyebrows started growing back. That was when I realised my tattooed eyebrows were in completely the wrong place,' she said. When Tyne turned 17, pictured, her original brows started to grow back under her tattoos giving her four She's so self-conscious about her twin brows, she avoided going out unless she had spent two hours a day hiding them with make-up. 'It is a nightmare. I spend 150 a month buying different products to cover it up, it costs a fortune,' she said. She has become so skilled at covering them up, for the last three years even her school friend Rhiannon has had no idea how they really look. She was shocked when her friend revealed how she appeared when make-up free. 'Bloody hell Tyne, now I think I understand why you don't go out in public,' she said. Tyne told Channel 4 show Bodyshockers her eyebrows are 'horrendous' and she would be anything to have a natural look again The 20-year-old spends two hours a day and 150 a month on products to hide her double brow She added: 'It is horrendous, it is like twins on her eyebrows, literally. If my eyebrows looked like that I would go into hibernation for the rest of my life. 'She deserves to have them removed after so long destroying her face.' Tyne's only option was to have five to eight treatments of painful laser removal surgery to break down the pigmentation in the tattoo brows and make then eventually disappear. She has started undergoing sessions at a practice in London, where she has to wear protective goggles throughout, as the laser is applied close to her eyes and could burn her retina if there was a slip up. Tyne has now had laser removal surgery to get rid of the tattooed brow Tyne admitted the treatment 'feels very sharp and it does burn' but she was prepared to endure it to get her natural look back. 'I will be glad to see the back of my double eyebrows. I will go through whatever I need to do remove them,' she said. Whether you expect to be reunited with lost loved ones in a heavenly place, or don't believe anything awaits once you have passed away, what really happens after death remains one of life's great mysteries. But now a group of people who have experienced death and believe they can offer an insight to what it's really like have taken to the question and answer site Quora to explain how it feels. Their experiences range from 'blissful' feelings to disappointment at not reaching personal goals to terrifying emptiness. Scroll down for video A group of people who have experienced death and believe they can offer an insight to what it's really like have taken to the question and answer site Quora to explain how it feels In answer to the question, 'How does death feel?' users responded with tales of near death experiences and coming back to life after being declared clinically deceased. The posts received more than 948,000 views on the question and answer site In answer to the question, 'How does death feel?' users responded with tales of near-death experiences and coming back to life after being declared clinically deceased. Megan described her near death experience as 'blissful, serene, exciting, peaceful and relaxing'. 'I feel like there isn't an accurate word in English that describes how truly wonderful it feels,' she said. The users' accounts of their glimpses of what happens after death have racked up more than 948,000 views and Vera's story was one of the most popular. Almost 16,000 people read her account of being poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty water heater when she was 11 years old and living with her mother in the former Soviet Union. 'I can just see it now, lulling me to sleep, covering me with its heavy and invisible blanket of death,' she recalled. Megan said that her near death experience felt 'blissful, serene, exciting, peaceful and relaxing' and said that it took away any fear she had of dying Almost 16,000 people read Vera's account of being poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty water heater when she was 11 years old and living with her mother in the former Soviet Union 'Next, I felt my heart racing, my head literally buzzing as if there were a bee hive inside it, and it felt as if there were two knives stuck in either side of my head. I knew that I was going to die right then, right now. 'It was a certain feeling of total emergency one gets, like an internal alarm that screams and hijacks your mind, and I knew that I only had moments to save my life, if only I could figure out what to do.' Clinging to consciousness, they tried to call for help but ended up blacking out. 'We were dying. And nobody, nobody in the world could hear us,' Vera explained. 'Next, I remember seeing something like a plasma of colors all around me, with a very strange visual perspective. 'It first looked like liquid clouds, something like the telescope pictures of galaxies, with colors melting into each other, neither far, nor near, and all around me and "through" me, in a pan-vision. Barbara claimed to have experienced death on three occasions and said that she felt very calm and relaxed Lori's experience of dying was also positive and she described seeing a lot of different colours, which made her feel peaceful and safe 'I thought that was so beautiful. I felt a certain lift all over, like my body was a huge lung and it just inhaled and disappeared, and suddenly, an instant release from what now I constantly feel - gravity. 'It felt like being rising up, with a definite sense of direction, and inhaling and expanding. I tried to look at myself, but I was not there. 'That shocked me, but did not scare me. Also, I did not feel alone. There were "others" whom I could not see, but only knew that they were there because they "talked" to me. 'It was as if they were encouraging and welcoming me. I felt this infinite vastness, but also the absence of time, like everything was collapsed into a zero and happened at the same time. 'The last thing I remember is wanting to be somewhere else and being instantly there, and that surprised me and delighted me. I was so infinitely happy.' Vera was saved by her father who called an ambulance when he found the pair of them collapsed. Doctors told him it was too late to save her, as she had been clinically dead for between 15 and 45 minutes. Bryan said that having experienced death his only sadness would be the loss of the amazing experiences, passions, loves and wisdom he had encountered in life Scott stated that when he eventually passes away he hopes it will be as peaceful as the first time, when he experienced death as his heart failed But her father insisted that they try to revive her and medics managed to bring Vera back, and she said she's now at peace because she knows there's a heaven. 'Even when I die someday and change my physical shell to something else, there will always be an I, and the I will never be alone,' she concluded. Barbara shared her story, saying she'd had not one but three experiences of death when her heart stopped during various operations, due to a rare drug intolerance. 'Although I could hear perfectly - the beeping of the monitor as I flatlined, the code on the PA, the squeak-squeak of the crash cart wheels, everyone talking at once - I had no other sensation,' she explained. 'As I was sinking into unconsciousness, I felt very cool, relaxed, no need to breathe, no cause for alarm, no pain of any kind, totally peaceful. Everything grew dark around the edges until there was only blackness. Dea met her cousin in heaven who told her to go back to her body. She then felt herself slamming on to the hospital bed and heard medical staff urging her to stay with them Emmanuel described dying as a feeling of 'infinite sadness and nothingness' and said he was inclined to believe that there was nothing after death 'And then, they revived me, each of three times, the first time by adding Narcan to my IV, the other two times with CPR, after which I spent the night in the cardiac unit at the hospital.' Lori had also been through more than one experiences of being clinically dead, and like Barbara she had a positive experience. 'I died at the age of six on the operating table during a surgical procedure, and was revived 10 minutes later. I do remember being at peace,' she said. I felt guilt, shame, and profound disappointment for not achieving my personal goals. I accepted my fate in some way. The physical sensations were almost nonexistent. I wasn't scared. I was just disappointed. 'I felt comfort. I felt like I was not alone. I saw many colours. Not light, but color like my eyes were covered with a tie-dyed t-shirt or something.' Her second experience was at 23 when she had an allergic reaction to a prescription drug, and was revived within six minutes. 'I experienced the exact same thing. A feeling of being surrounded by something familiar. A feeling of peace and safety, and those colours. I do not care if anyone does not believe me or my statements. This was my experience,' she stated. Scott also had a feeling of peace when he flatlined during a cardiac arrest. 'I just drifted off. No pain, nothing bad,' he said. 'As far as what happened once my heart stopped -- I have no recollection. When I eventually die on a more permanent basis, I can only hope it's as peaceful as the first time.' Aaron described his brush with death as 'remarkable and unforgettable', but didn't have the same feeling of peace. Aaron felt disappointed in himself for dying without achieving his life goals, especially as his mother was in the room willing him to stay alive 'The moment I realised I was on my way out was sad. Particularly because I was aware my mother was in the room watching as medical professionals did their best to keep me alive,' he explained. 'I felt guilt, shame, and profound disappointment for not achieving my personal goals. I accepted my fate in some way. The physical sensations were almost nonexistent. I wasn't scared. I was just disappointed.' He also described how all his senses disappeared one by one, followed by the ability to move. 'First thing I noticed gone was my sense of touch. Followed by hearing. At this time my sense of smell and taste could also have left me. I simply have no idea,' he recalled. 'The last thing to go was my sight leaving me with a field of whiteness, and thoughts which seemed to be further and further apart as my only perceivable experience. Terrance said that his brush with death had taught him to appreciate the important things in life such as being around to see his son grow up 'Suddenly I felt a tremendous pressure against my chest. All senses came rushing back to me only to drift off into white nothing again. This pattern repeated three times to my memory, but who knows, until my heart was able to continue beating on its own.' Bryan didn't detail the circumstances of his near death experience but said that he'd come to the conclusion that his only regret would be 'the loss of some amazing memories, ideas, loves, passions, insights, and bits of wisdom that I've had.' Dea added that she had died back in 2009, although she didn't give much detail about how it happened. 'My first thought after I saw a gorgeous white light at the top of a mountain in front of me was, "Oh my God. I'm dead",' she said. People who have been through an NDE commonly report seeing bright lights, intense feelings of peace, seeing life flash before their eyes, and making a conscious decision or being encouraged by others to return to their bodies 'There were many other people walking up the mountain towards the light. But I was furious. All I could think about was how I had been to the emergency room so many times and had been blown off and "now I'm dead." 'I did not look down at my own body unfortunately, but the other dead people just looked like regular people. I had for the first time in many years absolutely no pain at all. I was just angry. After a few minutes, my cousin sort of popped right in front of me and told me, "Deanne, go back." 'I haven't been called Deanne since I was a kid and she was one of the few people who knew me as Deanne. 'When I turned around to see what she meant by "back," I was slammed into the bed at the hospital with seven doctors and nurses all around me yelling at me to "stay with us". NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES The term Near Death Experience (NDEwas first coined in the 1975 book Life After Life by Dr Raymond Moody. People who have been through an NDE commonly report seeing bright lights, intense feelings of peace, seeing their life flash before their eyes, and making a conscious decision or being encouraged by others to return to their body. Some also report an 'out of body' experience in which they can see themselves being operated on or treated by medics. Scientists believe that physical changes in a stressed or dying brain, imperfect anaesthesia and the body's neurochemical response to trauma are possible explanations. Advertisement 'The pain returned. I was in shock. I'll never forget my two and a half minutes being dead, though, and I am lucky to have been brought back to life.' Emmanuel, however, offered a bleaker picture to some of his fellow posters. He said that a few years earlier he'd been suffering a severe case of pneumonia which had gone untreated and undiagnosed for several weeks. He ended up in intensive care and believes he experienced near death while he was there. 'There wasn't anything even remotely exciting in what was coming. In fact, it wasn't even anything. No light, no hope, no nothing. Only darkness and loneliness,' he said. 'There was no pain, just darkness, extreme vulnerability, extreme fragility and nothing. It wasn't even revolting or scary, just infinite sadness and nothingness. 'After a while in intensive care, my life came back to me, and then it was another story entirely. - I learnt that excruciating pain is actually a very good sign, something that belongs to the living and that welcomes you back to life. 'I have actually quite a cheerful memory of it, even though it was horrible. But at least, "horrible" exists. Based on this experience, I'm inclined to feel that there is nothing after our life.' Terence explained that he'd had 'an experience' although it sounded as if he was merely close to death as opposed to dying and being brought back. 'There's no bright light, Jesus didn't appear through the fog. It's just an acceptance of reality, a definite end - like finishing a book,' he said. 'Also it depends on the speed of dying mines was slow, so I felt body parts numbing the lost of motor skills, people telling me the changes in my skin color. Willem takes over from Matt Dillon, who starred in the brand's Fall 2015 men's ad Actor Willem Dafoe is carving out a name for himself as an unlikely Hollywood sex symbol at the ripe old age of 60, after being chosen as the latest face of FRAME Denim's menswear line. The on-screen star poses in a new series of ads for the brand, photographed by Maciek Kobielski in an apartment on New York's Upper West Side, in which he is captured in a series of nonchalant positions - eating a melon, sitting atop a cluttered kitchen counter and twirling a globe while barefoot, among other mundane activities. 'We were incredibly excited and honored to collaborate with actor and cultural icon Willem Dafoe,' said FRAME Denim founders Jens Grede and Erik Torstensson in a press release. 'Willem is a man who is someone we have always admired both professionally and stylistically.' Scroll down for video Style star: Actor Willem Dafoe, 60, stars in FRAME Denim's Spring 2016 campaign Second act: Willem follows actor Matt Dillon, who starred in the fall campaign, in the brand's series of men who 'define the Frame man' Screen icon: FRAME Denim founders Jens Grede and Erik Torstensson call Willem 'one of Hollywood's more provocative and engaging actors' The Oscar nominee, who last appeared alongside Keanu Reeves in the 2014 action flick John Wick, has several new films in the pipeline including the highly-anticipated animated film Finding Dory, where he'll reprise his role as an aloof Moorish idol fish. Willem, who Jens and Erik call 'one of Hollywood's more provocative and engaging actors', takes the reigns from actor Matt Dillon who starred in the brand's first-ever menswear ad campaign last fall. Male brand ambassadors include Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Jamie Dornan and Vinoodh Matadin. According to the press release, the brand sets out to feature 'seminal celebrities; those with inimitable character and unconventional diversity' in its menswear campaigns. Conversely, leggy model Lara Stone fronts the celeb-favored brand's Spring 2016 women's campaign. Willem's new campaign is markedly more chic than his last ad project - in which he appeared dressed as Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Acting out: Willem is set to star in a string of new movies, including the highly-anticipated animated sequel Finding Dory Brand news: FRAME Denim has also announced plans to open its first two brick-and-mortar locations this spring in Los Angeles and New York Strike a pose: The actor has replaced fellow screen star Matt Dillon as the face of the denim brand Hot property: Just last week, Willem starred in Snickers' Super Bowl ad, for which he recreated Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt lift from 1955 hit The Seven Year Itch Wearing the actress' iconic white dress, and a pair of big pear earrings, Willem took center stage in chocolate bar Snickers' Super Bowl ad, which even saw him show off his tighty whities while standing above a subway grate, his white dress billowing above his head. Far from embracing the potentially-racy moment like Marilyn did in 1955 screen hit The Seven Year Itch, Willem is less than impressed with the incident. 'This is a disaster!' he roars in the hilarious video. 'Who's the genius who puts a girl in heels on a subway grate?' Sir Richard Branson has revealed how he only bought Necker Island in a bid to impress his wife Joan after he managed to wangle an all-expenses paid trip to see the idyllic retreat in the late Seventies. Writing in a love letter to his wife as the couple celebrate their 40th anniversary together, the Virgin boss says he put an offer of $100,000 on the up-for-sale island in a bid to impress then girlfriend Joan - despite knowing Necker's owner expected much more for it. Branson published the romantic missive to Joan on his Virgin website on Friday ahead of their anniversary on Sunday. Scroll down for video 'Girl with the magic eyes:' Sir Richard Branson, 65, has penned a love letter to his wife Joan, 70, who he met in 1976 and wooed with an all-expenses-paid trip to Necker, the island that he would later buy Making a cup of tea: Branson pursued Joan after seeing her at his Virgin Records office in West London; he reveals that he bought lots of items from the bric-a-brac store she worked in in a bid to get her attention He wrote: 'Forty years ago this Sunday, my life changed for the better, forever.' On February 7th 1976 at our Virgin Records studio, the Manor, I experienced love at first sight upon meeting a blonde-haired, down to earth, Scottish beauty named Joan, who just happened to be making a cup of tea.' The entrepreneur reveals how he caught the eye of 'beautiful, witty, down-to-earth' after she visited the Manor in West London. After finding out that she worked at a nearby bric-a-brac store on Westbourne Grove, Branson set about wooing her...by buying trinkets galore from the shop including a 'Now, that's what I call music' sign that would later inspire the record company's best-selling compilation records. Joan Templeman in the late Seventies: The couple, who have two children Holly and Sam together, were married in 1989...on Necker Island Branson, who was married previously to Kristen Tomassi, used the letter to thank wife Joan for an 'extraordinary' life Joan Templeman worked in Westbourne Grove and wasn't initially impressed with Branson's interest in her...but the couple soon began dating and went on to have two children in the early Eighties (Pictured left: Holly, far right and Sam, left with Richard) After the couple began dating, Branson says he heard that an island called Necker in the British Virgin Islands was for sale. The estate agent selling it, impressed by Branson's record company-owning credentials, offered an all-expenses paid trip to see it. Sir Richard managed to persuade them to let him take along a guest - Joan. He writes: 'Together we strolled around Necker Island and dreamed up plans for turning it into our home and a haven for musicians. 'Smitten with the unspoilt paradise, and keen to impress Joan, I offered the highest amount I could afford: $100,000. 'The realtors discounted asking price was $6 million, so you can imagine the response I got. There was no laid-on helicopter on our return trip, and we hitch-hiked back to the airport!' Richard lived on a houseboat while he was courting Joan and says he kept buying things from the shop she worked in despite not having any room to store anything on his floating home Behind every good man: Joan has watched Branson's successes - and failures - during their four decades together Family affair: Branson in the early Eighties with Holly, right, and Sam, left Still close: Holly, pictured with her father at Wimbledon in 2014, is now 34 and has two children Artie and Etta of her own Branson with Holly, left, who now works for Virgin and son Sam, right, who works as a filmmaker Grandparents: The couple now have three grandchildren: Artie, Etta (Holly's children) and Eva-Deia, born to Sam and wife Isabella in February 2015 Branson's persistence paid off though in every sense; a year later he offered $180,000 after 'begging and borrowing' and the island was his. He married Joan there 11 years later and the island is now said to be worth in excess of $200million. The pair were wed in 1989 when their two children, Holly and Sam, were eight and four. The couple now have three grandchildren Artie, Etta (Holly's children) and Eva-Deia, born to Sam and wife Isabella in February 2015. Necker island has since become a by-word for luxury, playing host to a vast array of A-list celebrities and royalty including Diana, Princess of Wales, Nelson Mandela and Kate Winslet, who's married to Branson's nephew Ned Rockandroll. While Winslet was in residence in 2011, the 74-acre paradise was severely damaged in a fire that devastated the island's Great House. The actress and Branson's mother Eve were among those forced to escape after the fire raged at 5am in the morning. The new house, which followed the original's Balinese design, reopened in 2013. Branson said at the time: 'Necker Island has been my home for more than 30 years and for me it is the most beautiful place in the world.' Branson ends the misty-eyed note by thanking Joan for four decades together: 'Its been one big ridiculous adventure of fun, friendship and love' he writes. 'Thank you for making life extraordinary. Your eyes are still as magic as they were forty years ago!' Young, educated and broke is the reality millions of students seeking a university education face. However, some savvy girls have found a controversial way to pay off their tuition fees, cover their rent and buy text books. They also have cash left over at the end of the month to buy designer handbags and to jet off on five-star luxury breaks. But these undergrads aren't turning to loan sharks or spiralling into thousands of pounds worth of credit card debit. Instead, they have turned to the world's largest online dating website that matches them with wealthy benefactors seeking 'mutually beneficial relationships'. Scroll down for video Student Andrea Warren, 19, created an online profile in December 2014 after seeing the success one of her friends had on the site Dubbed 'sugar babies', these good-looking girls join rich older men for cinema dates, gym trips and holidays in return for a monthly cash allowance and lavish presents - plus the piece of mind that they'll leave university in the black. PR and Marketing student Ali Mohamed, 22, turned to the seekingarrangements website after struggling to juggle her college work with her part-time job. 'I was working four days a week and going to university for five days. It was really hard,' she told FEMAIL. 'I would have to run from lectures straight to work and it was just too much. I needed something easier but with similar pay.' Ali, from Oxford, heard about the website through friends on her course and 'decided to sign up to see what the shenanigans was all about'. Despite a slow start - the London Metropolitan pupil was enrolled for six months before she started getting messages - she now has 'arrangements' with two guys. One is 47 years old and the other is 32. 'Obviously the guys don't know about each other,' she joked. 'One guy buys me stuff when I need it - a new dress if I'm going out, shoes, school books. And the other gives me a monthly allowance of 800 to 1,000.' PR and Marketing student Ali Mohamed, 22, turned to the questionable website after struggling to juggle her college work with her part-time job Despite a slow start - Ali was enrolled for six months before she started getting messages - she now has 'arrangements' with two guys. One is 47 years old and the other is 32, pictured, gifts from the men Ali stated from the start that she would not have sex with the men and joining the site was purely to fund her education. 'I specifically - even on my profile - state no intimacy at all because I feel like if you're going to do that it's the same as escorting,' she said. She said most men are fine with this and they're mainly just looking for some female companionship. 'One of the guys owns a set of motorbikes,' she said. 'His ex-wife wasn't into motorbikes but I am. We drove to Spain on them, it was really cool. He liked the fact we have stuff in common that he and his wife didn't.' I specifically - even on my profile - state no intimacy at all because I feel like if you're going to do that it's the same as escorting While her friends know the truth about her lavish adventures, her father just thinks she's dating. Ali said she wouldn't have a boyfriend while 'making arrangements' although she hopes to have a proper relationship in the future. 'I don't think you can carry it on for so long,' she said. 'I don't mind doing it for another year. That could fund my masters. I do want to settle down in the future, though.' Ali agrees that it's a weird way to fund her education but that it works well for her. 'It is bizarre. I thought it was so crazy at first,' she laughed. 'Who would want to pay somebody for companionship? But after hearing these people's stories - their wives have passed away, they're divorced. They don't want marriage they just want female companionship.' She added: 'People think it's a gateway to escorting but if you're honest and just want to give your time, it's not. You have to be clever and sharp.' Meanwhile, Andrea Warren - who uses an alias on the website - created a SeekingArrangement profile in December 2014 after seeing the success one of her friends had on the site. 'Nobody was interested in me for about three or four months but then I got a message,' she told FEMAIL. 'It was a younger guy and he asked me out for food. Then I started going on the site more.' On her page she states that she is a model and student who likes to surf, skate, play piano, collect tattoos and party. Under the 'what I'm looking for' heading she writes: 'Im not sure exactly, Im open to suggestions as long as its nothing ott [sic]. She has uploaded a number of provocative shots including a picture of her in a sports bra and a photograph of herself in a pair of knickers. The 19-year-old student and part-time model, who is originally from Cyprus and now lives in the UK, has since had 'two proper arrangements'. The first lasted for four months until the guy moved to Switzerland and she has been seeing the second since October. Ali agrees that it's a weird way to fund her education but that it works well for her. 'It is bizarre. I thought it was so crazy at first,' she laughed While Ali's friends know the truth about her lavish adventures, her father just thinks she's dating, pictured, a designer gift from one of her 'arrangements' Andrea claims to live in a 300-per-week flat that her sugar daddy pays for. She says he also gives her a 500-a-week allowance and showers her with treats Andrea said the men 'mainly work in banking or finance' and are looking for something 'like a relationship but they don't have time for a serious one'. She said: 'They want somebody that is going to be there for them in the same way. I'm also studying at the moment so it's ideal for me. I don't want anything serious at the moment but you never know.' Andrea claims to live in a 300-per-week flat that her sugar daddy pays for. She says he also gives her a 500-a-week allowance and showers her with treats. TOP 10 UNIVERSITY SUGAR BABIES 1. Kent - 724 2. Cambridge - 704 3. Nottingham - 671 4. Manchester - 562 5. St Andrews - 533 6. Westminster - 522 7. Bristol - 518 8. Glasgow Caledonian - 516 9. Leeds - 423 10. Exeter - 422 Advertisement 'Last week I went to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant for a really expensive meal,' she said. 'I also spent 6,000 in Harrods on a Versace bag, a top and some shoes. I get to do loads of stuff I could never usually afford. I go to Venice next month and I always stay in five-star hotels.' While she understands some people might think the concept is 'creepy', she insists most of the men are just 'everyday guys'. Things are getting serious between Andrea and her 'arrangement'. The pair have had sex and he has met her father. 'The guy sent 10 bouquets of flowers to my house the other week but got the address wrong and they ended up at my dad's,' she said. 'My dad thought I was seeing someone a lot older but he's only 26 and a really nice guy.' Andrea said the pair's friendship is 'really beneficial' for her at the moment and while she doesn't 'actually want a relationship' she likes having someone 'to look after me'. But she's slammed claims she's a gold digger. 'I would not meet up with these people if I didn't think they were interesting or if we didn't have a connection,' she said. 'I don't want loads of awkward encounters, despite the money.' Andrea would 'definitely' recommend it to others, believing it's not unlike other online dating sites. A spokesperson for SeekingArrangement confirmed to MailOnline that Andrea has been a member of the website for 14 months. Founded in 2006 by dating expert, Brandon Wade, SeekingArrangement currently boasts five million members worldwide. Andrea has uploaded a number of provocative shots on her page including a picture of her in a sports bra and a photograph of herself in a pair of knickers On her page, Andrea states that she is a model and student who likes to surf, skate, play piano, collect tattoos and party. Under the 'what I'm looking for' heading she writes: 'Im not sure exactly, Im open to suggestions as long as its nothing ott [sic] Andrea said the men 'mainly work in banking or finance' and are looking for something 'like a relationship but they don't have time for a serious one' Nearly a quarter of a million university students in the UK have linked up with sugar daddies - and mommies - a 40 percent increase from the previous year. Angela Jacob Bermudo, European spokesperson for SeekingArrangement said the trend has 'really caught on' in Britain. 'Most students hear about SeekingArrangement, and this lifestyle from other students who have used it,' she told FEMAIL. 'Financial reasons aside, the society we live in has changed, and there is interest in alternative relationship models. 'Arrangements are a modern take on relationships with traditional values.' Another student, Eva Tomkins, 20, who studies at Manchester Metropolitan, also signed up She continued: 'Women are unfairly labelled gold diggers if they are vocal about wanting a successful partner. The upfront nature of arrangementsbeing able to lay out exactly the type of person and relationship you want, without fear of judgement or stigma from potential partners is empowering. 'If men are allowed to vocalise what qualities they want in a partner, say being educated and beautiful, then women should be encouraged to do the same for whichever qualities they value.' Financial reasons aside, the society we live in has changed, and there is interest in alternative relationship models Seeking Arrangement encourages student sugar baby numbers by offering free premium memberships to students that register with their schools assigned email addresses or show proof of enrollment. While basic sugar baby accounts are completely free, the premium memberships feature students to sugar daddies and mommies, therefore increasing their visibility and chances of securing an arrangement. Angela added: 'For the total number of students, we take into account the total number students registered with their school assigned email addresses, proof of enrollment, and keyword algorithms. 'These are students at the university and college level, and potentially some pursuing vocational education. To use SeekingArrangement, you must be 18 years or older.' Another student, Eva Tomkins, 20, who studies at Manchester Metropolitan, also signed up. The advertising student owes around 25,000 in tuition fees on top of her 400-a-month rent. Speaking to The Sun, the second year student from Lancaster, said: 'Ive earned about 700 and Ive had things bought for me. One guy paid me 200 to go for a drink with him. 'I met him twice so got 400. Ive never felt threatened by anyone. I think most of the people are just lonely and want contact. 'I told my mum. She knows Im struggling financially but that Im not doing anything wrong or illegal.' The advertising student owes around 25,000 in tuition fees on top of her 400-a-month rent On Feb. 4, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and President Barack Obama celebrated the 15th anniversary of Plan Colombia, a controversial U.S. aid program to Bogota signed in 2000 to fight the so-called war on drugs and enhance internal security. The Colombian government is expected to sign a long-awaited peace agreement with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in March, ending the countrys 50-year conflict, in which more than 220,000 people mostly civilians were killed. Washington has provided nearly $10 billion in aid to Colombia since 2000, 71 percent of which has been allocated to security forces. U.S. officials say the initiative was instrumental in moving the peace process forward. But glowing reviews of Plan Colombia obscure its ineffectiveness and the devastating human costs of the countrys militarization. The crackdown has led to massive upheaval, with more than 4 million people internally displaced since 2000. Of those, most were women and children, with Afro-Colombian and indigenous people disproportionately affected. The staggering number about a tenth of the countrys nearly 50 million people adds to those previously dispossessed, leaving Colombia second only to Syria in terms of internally displaced people. The National Unit for the Integral Attention and Reparation of Victims has registered more than 6 million people seeking restitution for harms inflicted during Plan Colombias operation. The crackdown was also accompanied by egregious human rights abuses. Since the plans inception, more than 1,000 trade unionists and at least 370 journalists have been killed; at least 400 human rights defenders were murdered, with many more activists tortured, disappeared, kidnapped or detained; and nearly half a million women were subjected to sexual violence from 2001 to 2009. To burnish claims of the plans success, security forces killed more than 5,700 civilians from 2000 to 2010, many lured to their deaths by the promise of jobs. Military members later staged combat scenes to make it appear as if the deaths were caused by warfare. Impunity has been widespread. Out of some 3,500 killings investigated by Colombias prosecutor general, only 402 resulted in convictions, mostly of low-level forces. Last year, Prosecutor General Eduardo Montealegre announced that 22 generals are being investigated, but their long overdue prosecution is far from certain. In fact, some top officers associated with the scandal have been nominated for promotions. Human rights groups have criticized the demobilization of right-wing paramilitary groups operating under the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia coalition, which was closely allied with Colombias armed forces. The paramilitaries were among the worst violators in the conflict, responsible for most of the killings, and were the primary beneficiaries of a massive land transfer that led to forced displacement of locals. The groups members were offered reduced sentences in exchange for telling the truth and reparations, but most have yet to face justice, since the process has moved at a glacial pace. And some formed criminal gangs dubbed bacrims, which continue to operate with the cooperation of U.S.-backed Colombian security forces. Parts of Colombia, particularly the southern Pacific coastal area, have experienced a troubling recent spike in paramilitary activities. The bacrims remain active in the increasingly violent port city of Buenaventura. The economy is more stable, yet poverty and inequality have been exceptionally stubborn in rural areas. But Plan Colombia mostly benefited the countrys elites. As a Burberry model, Vogue cover girl Jourdan Dunn is seemingly living the supermodel dream. But her enviable lifestyle and stellar success is bittersweet because Jourdan, 25, is also a mother who's regularly forced to leave her son behind when she jets around the world for work. However, in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, Jourdan has teamed up with her son to design and model a new range of childrenswear for M&S. London-born supermodel Jourdan Dunn, 25, is teaming up with M&S to launch her first childrenswear range inspired and modelled by her son Riley, 6, left, who suffers with sickle-cell anaemia Aptly named Lil LonDunn by Jourdan Dunn, the collection celebrates Jourdans love of her hometown, London, and has been designed by the model with her six-year-old son, Riley, as the inspiration. The range is aimed at both boys and girls from age five up until 16, and is an urban, upbeat collection made up of 22 pieces, say the brand. Jourdan says she has been closely involved in the direction of the project from the very beginning, working on all aspects from fabric and fit through to photography and creative campaign style. Her six-year-old son Riley features amongst the children in the first campaign shoot, which will launch in April. Speaking about her latest gig, the 25-year-old said: 'Ive been a big fan of M&S since I was young and have fond memories visiting our local store with my mum as a kid. My collection is inspired by London and has the cool, urban vibe that I look for when choosing clothes for Riley. Her six-year-old son Riley features amongst the children in the first campaign shoot, which will launch in April 'Its been an absolute pleasure to work on this project with such a big British retailer, and I cant wait to see the clothes on Riley and all his friends.' The Victoria's Secret model last year revealed she was envious of her mother spending so much time with her son when she first began working internationally. Speaking in an issue of British Vogue magazine last year, which she covered, Jourdan said: 'They are so close I was kind of jealous of their relationship in the beginning. But it works for me. 'You can find the balance of being a working mother, but I couldn't do it without my mum. She is the one who allowed me to go and do my thing.' The catwalk star also claims other models couldn't relate to her at first because they didn't understand her commitments as a mother. Jourdan added: 'I love that one day I am doing this and then I go home to my reality: getting Riley ready for school, doing his reading with him, taking him to the park. 'For some in this industry their life is their work. The other girls didn't understand in the beginning why I didn't want to go out all the time.' Jourdan, who was scouted in her local Primark at the tender age of 15, fell pregnant aged 18 and after giving birth to her son Riley, his father was arrested for possession of cocaine. Jourdan was in a predicament, left alone to balance her increasingly successful working life with her flailing personal life. And things didn't get any easier for the mother from Ealing after Riley was diagnosed with sickle-cell anaemia, an inherited, noncontagious blood disorder. Jourdan intends to use her status as a famous model to help garner more support for the Sickle Cell Society, which she strongly supports The disorder leaves sufferers with a shorter life expectancy and periods of sickle-cell crisis that last a few days and require serious medication and hospitalisation. Although Jourdan doesn't have the disease herself, she and the father of her son are among the 250,000 people in England estimated to carry the genetic mutation that causes it. Speaking to the Sunday Times Style magazine at the time, the model said: 'I found out I carried it when I was pregnant, which was a huge shock. 'The first time Riley had a crisis, I was working in New York and due to travel to Puerto Rico. Mum was amazing and reassured me he was in the best hands and that I should keep working.' Riley has to take penicillin and folic acid daily and Jourdan worries that more awareness should be raised about the disease. She said: 'It's something people don't really know about, due to the fact it's genetic, so it doesn't have the high profile of HIV or malaria, 'Riley looks just like a normal boy, but I can't get away from the fact he has a serious disease.' Jourdan, who was scouted in her local Primark at the tender age of 15, fell pregnant aged 18 and after giving birth to her son Riley, his father was arrested for possession of cocaine. She has since gone on to become one of the world's most in-demand models The catwalk star, pictured last week at the Zoolander 2 premiere, also claims other models couldn't relate to her at first because they didn't understand her commitments as a mother Jourdan intends to use her status as a famous model to help garner more support for the Sickle Cell Society, which she strongly supports. Taking it in her stride, Jourdan has powered through life and juggled her thriving modelling career with the demands of being a single parent. The modelling world has been extremely accommodating of Jourdan's decision to be a mother first and a model second, with Jean-Paul Gaultier even making her a special pregnancy catwalk outfit for a show. The news of Jourdan's collaboration with M&S comes after the store announced it is teaming up with Alexa Chung on a fashion collection, seeking to repeat last year's success when the model and TV presenter was photographed wearing one of its skirts. The 132-year-old high street stalwart said the new 31-piece womenswear collection, launching in April, was curated and handpicked by the 32-year-old and is focused on bringing back to life items from the group's extensive archive. (L - R) Victoria's Secret models Elsa Hosk, Jourdan Dunn, Karlie Kloss, Candice Swanepoel, Doutzen Kroes and Lily Aldridge at the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show event in London It said the project is the first of the retailer's 'M&S &' series, a sequence of collaborations with designers, brands and fashion icons. The store's choice to introduce Alexa appears to be its latest attempt to revive its clothing range which is said to have seen a drop in sales in the past year. Last month M&S - which also works with stars such as Huntington-Whiteley and David Gandy - said Steve Rowe, the current head of its general merchandise business, would succeed Marc Bolland as chief executive in April. Rowe's biggest task is to revive clothing, which saw a slump in sales over Christmas. With Alexa on board, the brand is hoping her influence will encourage a boost in sales. Last year a 199 seventies-style brown suede M&S skirt was a massive hit after it was lauded by Vogue magazine and worn by Chung, selling 4,500 in the six weeks after launch. They have been busy juggling two young children alongside the demands of their roles as royals , but the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge decided to take a rare night off to enjoy each others' company. According to The Sun, Kate, 34, and William, 33, enjoyed a low-key date night at their local, The Crown Inn at East Rudham, which is a short 15-minute drive from their home in Anmer Hall, Norfolk. A source, who is a regular at the pub and hotel, told the newspaper that the couple's casual outing seemed like a last minute thing and the new parents were dressed down for the occasion. Scroll down for video The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge apparently enjoyed a rare romantic date night at their local pub in Norfolk Prince William and Kate, who was wearing laidback skinny jeans and a navy jumper, apparently wanted a quiet table out of the way. 'They both looked a little tired but seemed to have a lovely time and left at about 10.30pm,' said the source. Clearly making the most of his night off his East Anglian Air Ambulance duties, Prince William opted for a glass of white wine, whilst Kate had a sparkling water. And it seems that the romance is still very much alive for the pair, who were reportedly 'leaning into one another chatting away, laughing and joking.' Kate, 34, and William, 33, reportedly enjoyed a low-key date night at their local, The Crown Inn at East Rudham, which is a short 15-minute drive from their home in Anmer Hall, Norfolk Prince William and Kate, who was wearing laidback skinny jeans and a navy jumper, apparently wanted a quiet table out of the way The pub is said to combine traditional period features with stunning modern-day comfort and luxury hotel accommodation, according to its website On the pub's website, the haunt is described as an 'outstanding Norfolk Country pub/restaurant that combines traditional period features with stunning modern-day comfort and luxury hotel accommodation.' 'We pride ourselves on the quality of our ale, which always includes a selection of four Real Ales always on tap; Woodfordes Wherry, Adnams and two guest Ales are always available,' they say. A spokesperson for Kensington Palace declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline. The Crown Inn was contacted by MailOnline for comment and is awaiting response. The Duchess of Cambridge this weekend suggested she and the Duke of Cambridge, a helicopter pilot, could have another flier in her family as their two-and-a-half-year-old son is 'obsessed' with the air cadets. Kate was speaking as she stepped out in her first engagement as Honorary Air Commandant of the Air Cadets to mark the 75th anniversary year of the Air Training Corps. Kate attended a thanksgiving service at the RAF church of St Clement Danes in central London and a special reception where she told Cadet Warrant Officer Lucinda Conder that she has shown George pictures of Spitfires. In April, the royal couple will visit India, which will be the first time Kate or William have journeyed to the country before. Despite no official itinerary, it's reported they will travel round the Asian subcontinent between April 10 and 17 without, George, two, and Charlotte, nine months Ms Conder, 19, the top female cadet, said: 'He is now obsessed with the air cadets and wants to join. We are going to have to push that one when he gets to 12.' Kate assumed her new role with the Air Cadets in December, taking on the post from the Duke of Edinburgh who had been involved in the organisation for more than 60 years. In April, the royal couple will visit India, which will be the first time Kate or William have journeyed to the country before. The Prince of Wales visited as recently as November 2013, on a nine-day tour. She is best known for her beauty and fashion tips and her online presence - boasting 10 million YouTube subscribers and seven million Instagram fans. But a picture posted by Zoella on the photo sharing site has got people talking about the fashion and beauty vlogger for all the wrong reasons - after she seemingly failed to notice that the 'random' man in the image she had taken on Brighton beach was, in fact, David Gilmour. Her fans were quick to mock Zoella, 25, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, who lives in Brighton with her blogger boyfriend Alfie Deyes, after the wife of the Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist pointed out the online star's error. YouTube star Zoella has been left red faced after captioning a photo of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour as a 'random man' after taking a photo of him on the beach without realising who he was Zoella (left) had photographed the rock star (right) on Brighton beach without having any idea who he was Miss Sugg uploaded the image of a man playing on the beach with his dog on Instagram almost two years ago with the caption: 'I took this photo of a random man & his dog & other photos on the beach at sunset today! Click the link in my bio to give it a read. :)' It has so far been liked more than 221,000 times. However, David's identity was uncovered after his wife Polly Samson bought it to the attention of her Twitter followers on Monday night. Despite the photo being almost two years old fans of David's were quick to dig out the photo and point out Zoella's mistake to her The mistake was pointed out after David Gilmour's wife Polly Samson bought it to her Twitter followers' attention last night She wrote: 'Daughter's just drawn my attention to this "random man" on Zoella's...' before linking back to the vlogger's Instagram. The tweet has encouraged hundreds more to comment, as fans of David's took to Twitter to share their bemusement over Zoella's mistake using the hashtag 'RandomMan'. Several others dug up the photograph still posted on Miss Sugg's Instagram account, commenting to bring the mistaken identity to her attention. Holysmoly wrote: 'THIS IS DAVID GILMORE THE BEST GUITARIST LIVING IN THE WORLD.' Bboudica commented: 'Jesus! hahahahaha...Humanity will talk about this "random man" and his music by the next 500 years...(sic)' Spaceoddity2304 remarked on how lucky she was: 'I wish I could randomly bump into a music legend and his dog. 'I had a walk down that beach after his gig in September. Would love to meet him though I doubt I'd say much such would be my nerves.' After a deluge of tweets, Polly Samson pointed out that her husband was probably just as unaware of who Zoella was. She tweeted this morning: 'To be fair #randomman had no idea who the #randomyoungthings were either. @Zoella lovely pic by the way.' FEMAIL has contacted Zoella for comment. Miss Sugg grew up in Lacock, Wiltshire, the daughter of a beautician mother and a property developer father. After finishing her A-Levels at the local Corsham School - she took art, photography and textiles - the 24-year-old started an apprenticeship at an interior design company. Soon her YouTube channel, set up in 2009, became her full-time job, with more than six million subscribers and 12 million hits on her vlogs per month. Miss Sugg now charges 20,000 a month to advertisers who want to place products alongside her fashion tips. Such is the power of the posts of Wiltshire-born Zoe that skincare brands such as Simple and fashion labels including Topshop are queueing up to work with her. She has created a range of beauty products, published a bestselling novel, been signed by Radio 1, is the charity Minds digital ambassador and was selected, along with brother Joe and boyfriend Alfie, to take part in Bob Geldofs re-release of the Band Aid single. Penguin Random House, the publisher behind her book Girl Online, agreed to sign Zoella after its CEO Tom Weldon was told by his 13-year-old goddaughter that the book would be a huge best-seller. Zoella became the fastest-selling debut novelist since records began with her tome, Girl Online, outselling the likes of JK Rowling and Dan Brown. A transgender woman has revealed how she underwent gender reassignment surgery exactly 30 years after joining the army. Kerri Mitchell, 47, from Romford, Essex, who was formerly known as Kevin, told how she signed up in a bid to be 'like the other boys'. Kerri hid women's clothing in the attic while living with her ex-wife but finally started living as a woman in 2010 - undergoing surgery in September 2014 and spending 4,000 on DD breast implants. Kerri Mitchell, 47, from Romford, Essex, underwent gender reassignment surgery exactly 30 years after joining the army Kerri served with the Royal Green Jackets as a Rifelman in Northern Ireland, Germany, Canada, the Falklands and Gibraltar - but admits she may never have joined if she had been born a woman Kerri said: Its not been an easy road for me, but I dont regret a thing. Being born as Kevin and serving in the army made me the woman I am today. Kerri served with the Royal Green Jackets as a Rifelman in Northern Ireland, Germany, Canada, the Falklands and Gibraltar. She signed up in 1984 in a desperate bid to be the man everyone expected her to be. She said: From the age of seven I gravitated towards womens clothes but I didnt know why. At school, I wished I could wear a PE skirt like the girls, but with no access to internet or people in the media to identify with I just had to go with my instincts. Aged eight, she started sneaking into her mothers room to try on clothes, which made her feel liberated but lonely at the same time. She said: I wondered if I was the only person in the world who felt this way. I tried so much to act like the other boys but I never felt like one of them. As a child (pictured) Kerri gravitated towards womens clothes but she didnt know why and later tried to be more masculine In 2000, Kerri began to dress as a woman in secret keeping clothes in the loft. She said: My wife never went up there. I didnt want to risk the relationship which is why I kept it a secret' Kerri had her first kiss and lost her virginity to a girl, then aged 16 she signed up to join the Army. She said: I wanted to be the Kevin that everyone expected me to be. To a certain extent it worked. I put my past down to childhood innocence and finally became one of the lads. I loved the camaraderie and was very proud to be serving my country. But after eight years she left and began working as a lorry driver. Back in civilian life, the old feelings returned and she began wearing female clothes in secret. Then in 1995 she fell in love with a woman and managed to suppress the feelings to get married in 1998. However two years later, she secretly began dressing as a woman in the loft. She said: My wife never went up there. I didnt want to risk the relationship which is why I kept it a secret I hoped it would be enough to satisfy my urges and allow me to continue with my normal life.' By 2003, the feelings were stronger than ever and she decided to tell her wife the truth. Kerri said: I guess I hoped she might try and understand and accept it as part of our lives, but she refused to discuss it, burying her head in the sand. Kerri was in the army and 'loved the camaraderie and was very proud to be serving my country' but she later left and became a lorry driver Kerri was conscious about her weight so joined Slimming World and lost six-and-a-half stone in ten months. Once she slimmed to a size 12 she finally felt confident to live as a woman every day However Kerri decided she could not go on living a lie and in 2009, after having therapy, the couple separated. Kerri said: Now I was single it was a chance to finally be honest about who I was. Kerri went out in public for the first time as a female and also realised she was attracted to men. She said: That took some getting my head around. But it made sense now I was spending more time as a female. However because she weighed 19 stone and wore a size 22 she didnt feel confident when she went out in public as a woman. In January 2010, she joined her local Slimming World as Kevin and lost six and a half stone in ten months. She slimmed to a size 12 and when she walked through Romford market one Saturday morning dressed as a woman, nobody looked twice. She said: 'I knew then that I had to make the transition full-time and my bosses at the council offices where I worked in IT were supportive.' Kerri, pictured as Kevin, separated from her wife after telling her the truth. Kerri said: Now I was single it was a chance to finally be honest about who I was' Kerri said following her decision to live full-time as a woman her life got easier and more enjoyable In October 2010, she took leave and returned to work as Kerri. She said: My colleagues were great, except one who made an issue about me using the womens toilets but I told her Id much rather use the mens because they were so much cleaner. Kerri said following her decision to live full-time as a woman, life got easier and more enjoyable. She said: People treated me as a female. And underneath I was female and always had been. But I knew Id never really feel complete unless I underwent gender reassignment surgery. She was on her way to the hospital for the NHS funded surgery on 11 September 2014 when it dawned on she had joined the arm 'exactly 30 years earlier to the day'. She said: 'In many ways it seemed poles apart, but at the same time, both required courage, bravery and determination. As she was wheeled into theatre she said there were virtually no nerves because she had never felt more sure about anything in her life. She said: I was just anxious that the surgery would go well. Kerri, as Kevin on a camel in Cairo, Egypt, finally underwent gender reassignment surgery in September 2014 - a procedure that was funded by the NHS When she groggily came round and remembered where she was, she recalled thinking: 'Im a woman at last.' Speaking of the moment the bandages were removed two days later, she said: I felt absolutely amazing. I view my condition as a birth defect, that I was born with an outside that didnt match the inside and surgery simply put that right. But her transformation wasnt quite complete and last year she decided to have a breast enlargement. She said: My surgeon at Transform was lovely, understanding and sympathetic and I felt I was in good hands. Kerri told how her new 4,000 38DD breasts felt like the final part of the puzzle. She explained: Finally I felt I looked good on the outside and I had the confidence to persue my ambition to work as a make-up artist. 'Im now fully qualified and training in theatrical make-up too. Since her transition she has also found a boyfriend. After surgery, Kerri remembers groggily coming round and thinking: 'Im a woman at last.' She has since trained as a make-up artist and found a boyfriend She said: I have been honest with him about who I am but he didnt care. It was me as a person he fell in love with. I was doing the make-up at a fashion show recently and was lucky enough to meet Kellie Maloney who I really admire. Transitioning in the spotlight, especially having worked in such a male dominated environment took real guts.' She believes the success of films like The Danish Girl (a fictional love story loosely based on Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery) is helping to show what it really means to be trans. And after hearing Eddie Redymayne had been nominated for an Oscar for the role, Kerri was inspired to speak out about her own transition. She said: Hearing Redmayne was nominated for his portrayal of the first ever sex change patient felt like such a victory, not just for him but for the whole trans community.' The story-telling Instagram account Humans of New York has moved beyond the city's borders this week for a feature on prison inmates. Photographer Brandon Stanton visited five correctional facilities in the Northeastern US in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland to ask prisoners to pose for portraits, share personal details about their lives, and reveal how they ended up behind bars. The results serve to humanize the men and women behind bars, offering insight into what prison life is really like, the unfortunate circumstances that led people there, and how being locked away has changed their lives. In need of help: In a new Humans of New York series inside prisons, this schizophrenic woman recalled how the voices, or 'friends', in her head drove her to murder her neighbor; she is now on medication Cycle: This man, who is at the Federal Correctional Complex in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, said he got caught selling drugs as a 20-year-old college student and figured his life was over, leading him to get in more trouble It is immediately clear from the picture series that the world isn't as black and white as 'bad guys go to prison'. Many of the men and women featured ended up in jail because of drug convictions, or crimes that were a result of addiction often serving out sentences longer to those given to murderers. One inmate at the Federal Correctional Complex in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, said the first time he went away, he was a 20-year-old student at Penn State University who had been caught selling drugs . 'I assumed my life was over at that point,' he admitted. 'I didnt think I could bounce back from a felony charge, so I pretty much gave up on everything.' While awaiting sentencing, he started doing hard drugs cocaine and heroin and quickly became addicted. That meant that he was, truly, unlikely to ever bounce back from the initial arrest, and he saw himself getting thrown back into prison for new drug charges whenever he got out. Most recently, he was arrested for producing a hard drug called Fentanyl, which had required him to study organic chemistry to figure out how to make it a troubling fact that reveals the potential he might have had. 'Ive spent a total of fifteen years in prison for various drug charges,' he said. 'When I finally got caught [for Fentanyl], all they wanted to know was how I did it. Thats the problem with my addiction. Im smart enough to get around anything. So theres never been anything to stop me but myself.' Poverty: This man took a job moving cocaine from Colombia to Honduras because iIts really tough to say no when there are no other options for money' Hard time: This woman got into the cocaine business to supplement the $500 a week she made at a restaurant and was put away for 25 years Another man at the same prison was also sent away for dealing, which he thought would be his ticket out of poverty. Living in Honduras at the time, he agreed to take a 12-day job on a boat for $6,000, an incredible sum compared to the $4 per day he was making. Nobody cared [that I didn't got to school]. If you move around a lot, the system loses track of you Unfortunately, the job involved moving cocaine internationally, from Colombia to Honduras and eventually he got caught. Ten years ago, after several successful trips, the US coastguard stopped his boat and found 986 kilograms of cocaine, and he's been in prison ever since. But it's not just men who find themselves behind bars for their involvement with drugs. A middle-aged woman at the Federal Correctional Complex in Hazelton, West Virginia, recalled how she got mixed up in the business, too, after the system failed her as a child. She said that at 12 years old, she stopped going to school and started working the fields in order to help her single mom. 'Nobody cared if you move around a lot, the system loses track of you,' she said. There was never enough money, though, so when she was 18 and a friend offered her cash to hide marijuana, she agreed. She said that that's 'how it all began'. Tough life: This woman at the Federal Correctional Complex in Hazelton, West Virginia, started working at age 12, eventually dealing drugs at 18 to make enough money to live Learning lessons: This woman said every crime she's committed 'has come from my addiction' but wants to get her life together next time she's out 'because I dont want to keep hurting people' Yet another woman, who is a single mother herself, wound up in Brookyln's Metropolitan Detention Center for similar reasons. Barely getting by on her restaurant wages of $500 a week, she took a gig as a cocaine transporter to supplement her income. She spent two years doing that, while also selling a little on the side but she never did it herself, and eventually got sold out by someone she trusted. 'I was set up in a sting by the same woman who got me started,' she said. 'I knew Id done wrong but Id never been in trouble before. I thought I would do a little time in jail. 'The detectives told me: "Youre a leader. Youre this. Youre that." The lawyer told me to sign these papers. I didnt understand what to do. They told me I didnt have a chance at trial. They told me they were helping me. I was given 25 years.' Blowing his cover: This man said 'nobody' knows he's in prison, and he has a friend posting for him on Facebook saying he's in Hawaii Few options: This Metropolitan Correctional Center inmate said he tried to make money honestly in order to support his family buy eventually turned to drugs Mental illness plays a part in some of the prisoners' stories, too. A West Indian woman who is currently at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center revealed the sad story of how her schizophrenia landed her behind bars. 'I was sexually abused by two family members until the age of eleven. It happened every time I went to stay at my grandmothers house,' she said. 'I didnt feel like I could tell my mother or father.' I didnt see them as voices. I used to call them my friends. I really thought people were talking to me. When she got older, her father was murdered and soon after, she started hearing voices. 'I take injections for them today. But back then I didnt see them as voices,' she explained. 'I used to call them my friends. I really thought people were talking to me. They had different personalities. They always said bad things, like: "Its not worth being alive." Or "Go ahead and kill yourself." In her mid-twenties, the voices convinced her to kill her elderly neighbor and the neighbor's ten-year-old granddaughter a memory she tries to block. 'I cant remember this or I wont sleep tonight. I kept vomiting while it happened. I didnt sleep for two weeks,' she said. 'The woman and her daughter kept coming back to life and I would see them everywhere.' She wasn't suspected, but the guilt and the images of the dead people haunted her until she eventually turned herself in. Life on the inside: The man on the right is getting out in 40 months, so the man on the left, who is away for life, is tutoring him so he can better his life Family: One woman said she regretted not being there for her daughter, who shared this flashback image of the inmate and her brother Not every story is about how a person ended up in the system. Some people Brandon talked to just shared what it is like living behind bars. One man at the Pennsylvania complex explained how an older man had taken him under his wing. He corrected his Spanish and tutored him in trigonometry, so he'll be able to better himself when he is released in 40 months. His mentor, though, will be away for life. She posts pictures on Throwback Thursday. Shes not ashamed of me, but she just doesnt want anyone to see this khaki uniform Another woman decided to talk about the child she left behind when she was put away 23 years ago. 'Ive got a daughter out there,' she said. 'Its really hurt her. My sister told me that after graduation, when everyone else was taking photos with their family, my daughter just broke down and cried. 'When she visits, she tells me that she feels too guilty to start a family because I wont be there to see it. But shes been very successful despite me. Shes a stylist. Shes doing so well.' To feel connected, she 'tries her best' to 'help' her by ordering fashion magazines and studying them to relay information. The Queen of the Netherlands ditched her usual high-glamour look in favour of comfort as she touched down in Pakistan's Islamabad on Monday night. Maxima was pictured make-up free and in lose clothing as she arrived at Benazir Bhutto International after an 11-hour flight from her home in Holland. The Argentinian-born royal flew in to meet with the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan at the Serena Hotel. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands went make-up free as she arrived at Islamabad airport in Pakistan last night after an 11-hour flight from her home in Holland As she stepped off the plane she was greeted by a large group of officiaries who presented her with a colourful scarf. It is the start of a three-day visit to the country as part of her role as UN secretary special advocate for inclusive finance for development. By Tuesday the Queen was fully refreshed and pictured in her usual glamorous attire as she met with the Governor of the State Bank, Ashraf Mahmood Wathra. The Dutch royal was photographed bare-faced and wearing loose and comfortable clothes as she touched down in the country It is the first of her three-day visit to the country in her role as UN secretary special advocate for inclusive finance for development The Queen appeared to be gifted with a colourful scarf as she was welcomed into the country by officials The 44-year-old Queen greeted Wathra in an elegant silk brown skirt and pashmina off-set with turquoise earrings. Maxima also met with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. During their meeting Maxima revealed she believes that the country would benefit from greater access to smartphones in efforts to empower them, The Express Tribune Reports. Later that day the Queen attended the launch of the Universal Financial Access workshop where she gave an impassioned speech to distinguished guests. The following day (Tuesday) Maxima was pictured in her typical glamorous attire as she met with Governor of the State Bank (not pictured) The 44-year-old Argentinian-born Queen greeted the governor in an elegant silk brown skirt and pashmina off-set with turquoise earrings Maxima revealed to the Prime Minister that she believes the country would benefit from greater access to smartphones in efforts to empower them Later that day the Queen attended the launch of the Universal Financial Access workshop where she gave a speech to distinguished guests During her visit, the Queen is set to hold meetings with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, together with governor State Bank of Pakistan, according to Radio Pakistan. The Dutch Queen was first handed her role of Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance in 2009 by Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon Maxima, who is also the Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, has been tasked with raising awareness of the benefits of financial systems that also help the poor. In practice, this means improving access to savings, insurance and credit - all of which are particularly important in countries where famine and rising food prices can hit the poorest hard and, in the worst cases, lead to starvation and malnutrition. Robyn Lawley's sensational curves and enviable figure have helped her become one of the most in-demand models around the world. But the stunning Australian 'size 14-16' model, who is officially labelled as 'plus-size' when it comes to the catwalk, has had enough of the categories used in the industry. After modelling for high-profile labels including H&M, Ralph Lauren and Chantelle and appearing on countless magazine covers, the model is determined to use her reach to eliminate the categories altogether. Scroll down for video Officially 'plus-size': Robyn Lawley's sensational curves and enviable figure have helped her become one of the most in-demand models around the world. Enough is enough: The stunning Australian 'size 14-16' model, who is officially labelled as 'plus-size' when it comes to the catwalk, has had enough of the categories used in the industry 'Telling women that they're "plus-size" is sending the wrong message - that there is something wrong with them': Lawley says 'we should get rid of' the term altogether 'Telling women that they're "plus-size" is sending the wrong message - that there is something wrong with them. 'If we continue to use that term, which was created by the fashion industry, we are segregating huge numbers of women,' Lawley, from Girraween, New South Wales, told The Telegraph. We should get rid of it. 'Designers say they're changing, but they're not. They should be respectful of their customers and use different-sized women on the catwalk instead of skinny young girls.' 'Be respectful': Lawley says designers should use women of all sizes on the catwalk instead of 'skinny young girls' Taking a stand: 'Designers say they're changing, but they're not,' Lawley said In 2015, the mother-of-one decided to collaborate with swimwear label Bond-Eye and launch her own swim collection, Robyn Lawley, after struggling to find well-fitting swimwear in larger sizes. 'In Australia, I had to drive an hour and a half to the only shop that stocked my size. Everything that did fit, like tankinis, was gross,' Lawley said. The modern cuts range from B cup to F cups and from sizes 10-20 and offer support while feeling comfortable. Making a change: In 2015, the mother-of-one decided to collaborate with swimwear label Bond-Eye and launch her own swim collection, Robyn Lawley, after struggling to find well-fitting swimwear in larger sizes Balance: Lawley is also an advocate for wholesome eating and has a blog, Robyn Lawley Eats, where she shares her favourite recipes and stresses the importance of a balanced diet Lawley is also an advocate for wholesome eating and has a blog, Robyn Lawley Eats, where she shares her favourite recipes and stresses the importance of a balanced diet. In August, the Sports Illustrated beauty opened up to Daily Mail Australia about her one-year-old daughter Ripley and her post baby shape. 'Your shape changes most definitely,' she said, 'It's just in general, you have to wait for your muscles to fuse back together, and your stomach.' Open: In August, the Sports Illustrated beauty opened up to Daily Mail Australia about her one-year-old daughter Ripley and her post baby shape Raw: Lawley shared a snap of her 'tiger stripes' alongside a powerful message on Facebook after the birth of her baby 'You can't be going into full force exercise, you have to go slowly back into it.' 'I fit into the same clothes but I am lucky as I work out with a great trainer who kicks my a**.' Teacher Pauline Yuill was used to being quick on her feet - she was a keen ballroom dancer and even ran the London Marathon at 46. Yet as she hit her mid-Fifties, her fast stride developed into a lop-sided, slow-paced walk. 'I was beginning to walk like someone in their Eighties and had developed a distinctive tilt to the left-hand side,' says Pauline, 60, who teaches English as a foreign language and lives in Forest Hill, London, with husband John, 60, an accountant. 'Walking speed and pattern may be apparent before memory problems in those who develop dementia' Her GP put it down to getting older, but over the following months Pauline's walking slowed even further; she also noticed she wasn't swinging her arms as she walked, even when she consciously tried. In 2012, when a passer-by shouted: 'Why are you walking like a drunk?' Pauline decided to see her GP again. This time she was referred for an MRI scan of the neck and spine to check for arthritis, which picked up some slight deterioration. Yet it would take a further two years - following an incident when her legs gave way suddenly - before she was referred to a neurologist, who diagnosed Parkinson's. 'I'd always associated Parkinson's with uncontrolled shaking, not problems with walking,' says Pauline. In fact Parkinson's often causes a distinctive slow, shuffling walk with a shortened stride, as in Pauline's case. This occurs as brain cells die, leading to a drop in dopamine, which is important for movement and co-ordination - Pauline was diagnosed after a Dopamine Transporter Scan (DaT scan), which measures levels of it. Last month, scientists revealed that stressed people tend to veer to the left when walking 'The gait may become lop-sided because Parkinson's usually starts on one side of the body first, as one side of the brain is affected more than the other in the beginning - so what happens is that your spine changes shape,' explains Professor Tahir Masud, a consultant physician at Nottingham University Hospital, who is a gait expert. 'As it progresses you may notice a shuffling style of walking and experience problems taking the first steps when getting up from sitting - what we call ignition failure.' Comedian Billy Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson's after he'd walked across a hotel foyer in Los Angeles and a surgeon, noticing his strange gait, urged him to see a doctor. In fact, the way someone walks can provide major clues about several diseases, from arthritis to dementia, and even their stress levels. Last month, scientists revealed that stressed people tend to veer to the left when walking. Writing in the journal Cognition, researchers from the University of Kent concluded that this may be because when people feel anxious, the right side of their brain becomes highly active, affecting the direction they walk in. 'There are quite distinctive walks for some conditions that geriatricians and neurologists can spot as soon as someone walks into a room,' says Professor Masud, who makes a point of meeting all his patients in the waiting room so he can watch their walk. Yet he says distinctive walks are often not picked up by doctors. 200 The number of muscles used to take one step Advertisement 'This is a shame because the way someone walks is an easy assessment - it's non-invasive and free, unlike some expensive investigations. 'And it can reveal early signs of certain medical conditions, including minor strokes, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal which puts pressure on the spinal cord or nerves) and osteoarthritis of the hip and knee,' he says. Lynn Rochester, a professor of movement science at Newcastle University, says walking is a good barometer of health. 'It actually requires complex instructions from the brain - it isn't about just contracting and relaxing muscles,' she explains. 'There's some evidence that changes in walking speed and pattern may be apparent before memory problems in patients who go on to develop dementia, for instance. 'In patients with Parkinson's, some of the early changes are very subtle and may not even be detectable by clinical examination. Patients will just say they're slowing down or not walking as well.' After diagnosis, Pauline started treatment with the drug sinemet, which increases dopamine levels, and this has helped to control her symptoms. 'The drugs worked within a few weeks and my walking returned to normal,' she says. 'I'm now back ballroom dancing, have run a 5km race and recently climbed very challenging mountains while visiting my son in Australia.' However, she wishes the cause of her lop-sided walk had been recognised earlier. 'I'd advise anyone who develops a walking problem not to ignore it.' parkinsons.org.uk 'Lurching from side to side as if drunk may be a sign of damage to the cerebellum' [file photo] Health secrets of your walk FEET STICK TO FLOOR 'There is a recognised dementia walk - we call it a magnetic gait - as dementia progresses, your feet appear to stick to the floor as if they were magnetic,' says Professor Masud. This is because in dementia the higher brain functions (that govern thought and action) become impaired. This includes lifting the legs in a timely manner to clear the ground. Other clues would be a slower gait, shorter steps and variability in gait - making you more prone to falls. PENGUIN WADDLE 'Waddling with your upper body moving from side to side like a penguin can be due to compression of the nerves in the lower back, common in degenerative back disease,' says Professor Masud. 'The squashing of the nerves reduces signals to the muscles of the buttocks which are very important for keeping the pelvis straight when you put weight on one leg. 'Normally if you stand on your right leg the buttock muscles will keep the left side of the pelvis up, but if the nerve supply is damaged this doesn't happen, so the pelvis drops with each step and you start to waddle.' KNEES CROSSING OVER 'Scissor gait', where the knees cross over in front of each other, can be related to conditions such as multiple sclerosis, which leads to damage to nerves in the brain and spinal cord, or injuries to the spinal cord from sporting or road traffic accidents, says Professor Masud. 'Damage to the spinal cord may cause weakness and muscle stiffness in the legs. Some muscle groups become stiffer and weaker. This makes the knees cross during walking.' LIMPING Walking with a limp - bearing weight on only one side of the body momentarily - can be a sign of arthritis (in the hip, knee, toe or feet). Of course, it could also be due to injury to one of the lower limbs on one side. Someone with joint pain may unconsciously avoid bearing weight on these joints. SWAYING 'Lurching from side to side as if drunk may be a sign of damage to the cerebellum, part of the brain that controls co-ordination,' says Professor Masud. 'This may indicate a stroke, a brain tumour or damage from alcohol abuse.' DRAGGING FOOT 'This is an occupational hazard for workers who constantly press on their knees, as it damages the peroneal nerve at the side of the leg just below the knee joint,' says Professor Masud. 'This can cause dorsiflexion, where a person can't move their toes up, causing their foot to drag. When they walk they tend to lift their knee up more to stop their foot dragging. 'This can also cause damage to the nerves elsewhere such as the sciatic nerve higher up the leg. Britons are being urged to slap on eight teaspoons of sun cream to stay safe in the summer (file picture) Sunseekers are today warned there is no such thing as a healthy tan and the fair-skinned should spend no more than ten minutes in strong sunlight. New guidance urges adults and children to slap on up to eight teaspoons of suncream during the summer or when holidaying in hot climates. The advice has been drawn up amid soaring rates of skin cancer blamed on a lack of awareness and the boom in package holidays. There are now just over 13,500 cases of malignant melanoma the deadliest form of skin cancer in the UK a year and the incidence is rising faster than any other cancer. NICE has issued its warning as thousands of Britons are booking holidays for the coming spring and summer. But it will be regarded by some as yet further nanny state intrusion. Only last month the Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies issued new guidance stressing there was no safe level of drinking. NICEs advice is also confusing, in that it also urges people, especially under-fives, pregnant women and office workers, to ensure they get more vitamin D, which comes from sunlight, to prevent rickets and osteoporosis. The watchdog tells patients and doctors to try and strike a balance. In a stark warning, however, it states there is no safe or healthy way to get a tan from sunlight. This is because a tan is not a form of protection but a sign the skin has already been damaged. The watchdog also urges Britons to apply suncream liberally and frequently ensuring it is factor 15 or above. Using half of the necessary amount of lotion means it may provide only a third of the protection. Professor Eugene Healy, consultant dermatologist at the University of Southampton, who helped draw up NICEs guidelines, said: Dermatologists have said for many years that there is no such thing as a healthy tan. NICE urges Britons to apply suncream liberally and frequently ensuring it is factor 15 or above (file picture) We would agree because in order for the skin to tan up it has to undergo a certain amount of damage. The body is reacting to the damage and trying to prevent it happening again. We tend not to say to anyone to go out for long periods of time. People should not be outside long enough to cause them to ever burn. 'If you are a typical red-haired or fair-skinned [person], wed probably say only ten minutes, maybe 15, in bright summer sunshine. Malignant melanoma now causes 2,150 deaths a year. There are unusually high rates among the under-55s and that age group accounts for a third of all cases. Experts say many of the cancers happen because the public are unaware of the harm of UV rays. NICE states that even in Britain, the public should take particular care between 11am and 3pm, from March to October. Experts have also said there is 'no such thing as a healthy or safe tan' (file picture) They should apply six to eight teaspoons of lotion at least 30 minutes before going outside in strong sunlight. This is equivalent to 35 millilitres and adults should measure it out, if unsure. They should then reapply it every few hours or immediately after swimming or sweating. Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive at NICE said: We need to better identify groups at risk of over or under exposure to sunlight and give them better understanding of why they may need to modify their behaviour and how. NICE has been criticised in the past issuing overly-zealous and patronising public health guidance. Recent guidelines include telling adults to have two TV-free days off a week and not to share a bottle of wine in evenings. But Sarah Williams, of Cancer Research UK, said: These guidelines help people understand the risks and benefits of being out in strong sun. While we all need some sun for vitamin D, its important not to overdo it as the suns UV rays also increase skin cancer risk. TV personality Dr Christian Jessen describes how he watched his uncle Volker battle with MS Worldwide, more than 2.3 million people are affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). The lifelong condition affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a range of symptoms including problems with movement, balance and vision. It is usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, although people as young as 2 and as old as 75 have developed it. However, latest figures show nearly a fifth of MS patients havent seen a specialist for a year. Now, a new website called 1MSg (one message) has launched, which aims to give MS patients choices about their care. Supporting the campaign is someone who knows only too well the devastation that MS can cause. Dr Christian Jessen, best known for his medical advice in Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies, grew up watching his uncle Volker's battle with the cruel condition. Here, speaking to EVA GIZOWSKA, he shares his uncle's tragic journey from a healthy and active vet to being wheelchair-bound and cared for by his devoted wife... My uncle Volker lived with MS for more than 25 years. He was only 30 when he was diagnosed, before I was born. For many years I didnt understand what was going on to me, he was just my Uncle a good natured man who never forgot a birthday and who gave me a grey African parrot, called Parsons, when I was a little boy. Hed been a talented vet, with a busy practice in Devon, and for many years after his diagnosis he led an active life, though I only ever knew him to be in a wheelchair. As a child, I was told that my uncle had MS, but the term didnt mean anything to me. I knew how he was affected, though; for example, that he got tired and had to rest, and would sometimes get terrible muscle spasms and be in pain. His wife Ann, a trained nurse, did a wonderful job of looking after him. I never once heard him complain. His MS often made him very tired and weak and as the disease progressed, it affected his speech; there were times when he sounded a bit slurry, almost as if drunk. It must have been a huge effort for him, but Volker was always cheerful and I always looked forward to seeing him and talking to him. It wasnt until medical school that I really understood about MS. Its a neurological disease where the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, damaging myelin, the material that insulates the nerves. This affects the transmission of electric signals to the brain, causing a wide variety of problems that may affect movement, speech and muscle control. Volker started to develop symptoms in his mid 20s. At first these were quite subtle a slight shakiness of the hands, a gradual loss of dexterity. Dr Jessen's uncle Volker (pictured) was diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS, the most common form of the disease. This tends to occur in the patients 20s or 30s and the attacks of symptoms come and go Volker, who worked as a vet, was diagnosed after noticing his hands were shaking and he became unable to stitch up wounds. His vision also became blurry and he saw a doctor, who told him he had MS After a while his vision also started to deteriorate. Eventually colleagues noticed that his hands were shaking when he was stitching at the end of operations the stitches were all over the place. I can imagine there must have been suppositions like Is he drinking? and inevitably there came a point where they had to sit him down to talk about the situation; this prompted him to see a doctor, who diagnosed MS. Thankfully MS is no longer a death sentence - especially if those with it reach out for specialist help Dr Christian Jessen Volker gave up surgery but continued to work as a vet for as long as his symptoms were still manageable. He even bought a van and became a sort of travelling vet around the countryside he was very popular but he had to stop work in his mid 30s. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him to give it up. There are different types of MS. The most common is relapsing remitting MS, which Volker had. This tends to occur in the patients 20s or 30s the attacks of symptoms come and go. Typical symptoms include loss of dexterity, vision problems blurred or double vision tingling, numbness, weakness, clumsiness, lack of co-ordination and loss of balance. But in between relapses (that might last a few days or a few weeks) there are periods of remission, where symptoms improve or go away completely. THE CRUEL CONDITION THAT AFFECTS MILLIONS WORLDWIDE Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of symptoms including problems with movement, balance and vision. More than 2.3 million people are affected by MS worldwide. Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, although individuals as young as 2 and as old as 75 have developed it. It's a lifelong condition that can cause serious disability, but it's often possible to keep the symptoms under control for many years and life expectancy isn't significantly affected for most people. MS is an autoimmune condition. This is where something goes wrong with the immune system and it mistakenly attacks a healthy part of the body. The symptoms of MS vary from person to person and can affect any part of the body. The main symptoms include: extreme tiredness (fatigue) vision problems, such as double vision in one eye numbness or tingling in different parts of your body muscle spasms, stiffness and weakness problems with balance and co-ordination problems with thinking, learning and planning Sources: NHS Choices and National Multiple Sclerosis Society Advertisement Symptoms also get worse with time. With primary progressive MS, which affects 10 per cent of MS patients, the symptoms get steadily worse and the onset of the disease tends to be later, generally in someones 40s or 50s. Initial symptoms are stiffness and/or weakness in both legs, then walking difficulties such as tripping, falling, problems walking up stairs; later symptoms may include bladder and bowel problems and chronic fatigue. Ultimately, though, the two groups of patients end up looking very much the same in the latter stages. The problem with MS is that early symptoms are so easy to mistake for something else such as stress, vitamin deficiency, migraines or epilepsy. Volker, for example, lived in an old house with lead piping and he initially thought his symptoms might be caused by lead poisoning. Its still not known exactly what causes MS; there may be a slight genetic link, but its very low. Volker was my fathers brother, and I remember there was a very brief period, when I was very young, probably still a toddler, when my mother was concerned I might be at risk. But she spoke with a consultant who reassured her that although MS does seem to run in families, the risk is very small and she had nothing to worry about. When Volker was diagnosed, in the late 70s, there were only steroids and other medications to relieve symptoms. Today, contrary to what many people think, treatments can make a difference, particularly for relapsing-remitting MS. These typically try to modulate the immune system so its less likely to attack the central nervous system. There are also treatments to manage and control symptoms. Volker didnt want to be defined by his condition and I see this now with some of my patients. Just because someone has got MS, doesnt mean they cant lead a healthy, happy life. But its important they get the right support. Latest figures show that nearly a fifth of patients havent seen a specialist for a year. This is why the One Message Campaign (1MSG) is being launched to correct this and to help people with MS feel more in control of their condition. Dr Jessen said: 'Just because someone has got MS, doesnt mean they cant lead a healthy, happy life.' He added sufferers should see a specialist once a year, and have access to an MS nurse when they need it When Volker was diagnosed, in the late 70s, there were only steroids and other medications to relieve symptoms. He died at the age of 55, surpassing doctors' expectations for his life expectancy As well as being assessed once a year by a specialist, everyone with MS should also have access to an MS nurse (whenever they need it). Emotional support is also very important: talking therapies can be helpful and joining a support group is also a lifeline for many. Uncle Volker died at the age of 55, in 2003, when I was 25. There was a great deal of sadness in our family, but in many ways it was a good death, because he was prepared with his science background, he was totally realistic about his condition. Volker tried every treatment going that was available at the time and doctors hadnt thought he would live as long as he did. The good news is that these days, its unusual to die so young weve come a very long way since my uncle was diagnosed all those years ago. In December, an overwhelming majority of public school teachers in Chicago voted to authorize a strike to take place this spring should they fail to reach a bargaining agreement with the Chicago Board of Education. A strike this year would be the second work stoppage in three years in one of the nations largest school districts. Chicagos 2012 strike, the first in 25 years, occurred after dozens of schools were threatened with closure, a move that would have sent children walking miles through rival gang territory. As the Chicago Tribune reports, the more recent strike authorization vote in Chicago followed teachers opposition to further budget cuts at a moment when what they are asking for is smaller class sizes and more than 1,000 new school nurses, psychologists and social workers as well as hundreds of counselors and case managers. Chicago is not alone. In all, there were 14 work stoppages in public school districts across the country last year, more than in any of the last six years. Already in 2016 there have been some notable job actions by teachers, most prominently the rolling sick-outs of Detroit public school teachers who do not have the legal right to strike. Teachers are striking in increasing numbers not just to raise employment issues such as salary and benefits, but also to highlight concerns about the quality of the public education system as a whole. In demanding concrete reforms such as smaller class sizes, fewer standardized tests and more equal schools across neighborhoods, teachers are defending education as a public good. Beyond scapegoating Over the past decade, advocates in the so-called school reform movement have pushed for the increasing privatization of public schools, primarily through the use of charter schools. In their diagnosis of what is wrong with the American education system, they have used teachers as a primary scapegoat. A key example of this perspective was the misleading 2010 documentary Waiting for Superman, in which the high dropout rates of the American education system were blamed not on declining school budgets in inner cities afflicted by white flight and deindustrialization, but on teachers. Heres how the Harvard Educational Review characterized the worldview of Superman director Davis Guggenheim: The protected, tenured teacher waiting to collect her pension is the reason why Americas children dont have a high-quality education. The reform movements solution? Charter schools, because they dont recognize teachers unions. A note in the Harvard Educational Review challenged such scapegoating. For all of the glossing-over of facts, the incomplete or misleading statistics, and the unsupported claims, it said, Guggenheims biggest sins are those of omission. In a movie ostensibly about teaching, we never hear the voice of a single teacher, and so a great number of schools are written off as in need of replacement. The teachers who have been striking in the past year have made it clear that the choice between preserving teaching as a respected middle-class profession and improving the quality of education for our kids is a false one. Instead, the two must go hand in hand. The scapegoating of frontline educators for the problems of the system as a whole has gone on for too long. When teachers in Los Angeles were poised to strike last February, it was not only because wages had been frozen for eight years, but also because nearly 3,000 middle school and high school classrooms in the Los Angeles Unified School District were packed with more than 45 students, something the teachers argued was hurting the citys kids. The district had consistently opposed limiting class sizes until teachers threatened to walk out. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the district relented and in the final agreement included funding to reduce the size of classes in key subjects or grade levels. When Seattle teachers struck last September, they gave voice to the demands of district parents across the city who had long soured on the rampant over-testing encouraged by the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. They argued that the district hurt students and educators alike by linking teacher pay to students grades on standardized tests a policy disavowed by the very designers of those tests. Moreover, the massive amount of test prep eliminated time teachers had previously used for other subjects and activities, such as science and history, to the students detriment. Seattle teachers had long supported parents opposition to the growing use of standardized tests. In 2013 and 2014, they led a nationally covered boycott of Washington state tests, earning the ire of Obamas education secretary, Arne Duncan. But as the district refused to respond and moved to cut recess for elementary school students a policy that not only undermines childrens enjoyment of school, but also their educational outcomes Seattle teachers finally struck. After a week on the picket line, they won an end to test-based pay and class-size caps for special education students. As The Washington Posts Valerie Strauss wrote after the strike, Seattle teachers had said they were not only fighting for pay raises but to make the system better for students. It sounds like they did. A catch-22 for teachers The chances of her finding a stem cell match for her aggressive form of leukaemia were heartbreakingly small. With a Thai mother and an Italian father, Lara Casalotti, 24, had only a one in 25 million possibility of finding a donor. But she refused to be disheartened and started a global search backed by everyone from JK Rowling and Stephen Fry to David Cameron. Incredibly, a match has now been found and the person will donate their stem cells next month. And, following the campaign, an estimated extra 20,000 people have joined registers so others looking for donors can be helped too. With a Thai mother and an Italian father, Lara Casalotti, 24, had only a one in 25 million possibility of finding a donor but incredibly, after her high profile appeal, a match has now been found These past months have been a whirlwind but I am so thankful a donor with a genetic match has now been found, she said. Thanks to everyone's immense support, I have always stayed hopeful that I would find one, but I realise how lucky I have been given how difficult it was to find that donor. I want to keep urging people to sign up to the donor registries so that everyone can have a chance of finding their match. Miss Casalotti, from Hampstead, north London, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December during a trip to Thailand and was told her best hope of a cure was a stem cell transplant. I have always stayed hopeful that I would find one, but I realise how lucky I have been given how difficult it was to find that donor Lara Casalotti, 24 But the student, who is enrolled on a masters course in global migration at University College London, faced a needle in a haystack search due to her heritage. Just three per cent of worldwide stem cell donor registers have mixed race donors. None of her family members were a match. Her search was made more difficult because she was most likely to get a match from someone of a similar background and hers was a rare occurrence. Now, after a global search by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan - which included Thailand, the US and Italy - a match has been found. The donor's identity has to be kept a secret due to patient-donor confidentiality regulations but it is hoped that they will donate their stem cells in March. Miss Casalotti made the happy announcement on YouTube and will undergo the transplant next month Miss Casalotti started a global search backed by everyone from JK Rowling to David Cameron after her diagnosis with an aggressive form of leukaemia Miss Casalotti, pictured in hospital with her brother Seb who wasn't a match, and over Christmas (right) Miss Casalottis mother, Supanya, said: As a mum, I feel pure relief as we knew the odds were stacked against Lara. Whoever the donor is, they will never, ever know how grateful I am. WHAT IS ACUTE MYELOID LEUKAEMIA? Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a rare type of cancer that affects 2,000 people in the UK each year - usually those over 65. Normally, blood cells are made in the bone marrow in an orderly and controlled way. In AML, this process gets out of control and many abnormal leukaemia cells are made. These immature cells arent able to develop into normal functioning blood cells. These leukaemia cells dont mature, and so dont work properly. This leads to an increased risk of infection as well as symptoms such as anaemia and bruising caused by fewer healthy red blood cells and platelets being made. Advertisement 'The transplant is still a few weeks away and I wish I could wrap them in cotton wool to keep them safe. We know we have a long road ahead as a transplant is an extremely serious procedure, but knowing there is a good match for Lara is a weight off our shoulders that we desperately needed. Her brother, Seb, 20, said: We've been so lucky in finding a match but we know that others are not so fortunate. The Match4Lara events planned around the world over the coming weeks will go ahead as planned, so that other families can one day receive the same good news. This campaign was hatched around the dinner table and we never expected it to receive such incredible support - we were inspired by the Match4Aary campaign, who is still waiting for a match, so we need people to keep signing up to registries worldwide. Miss Casalottis family estimates that the number of people worldwide who have joined a stem cell register as a result is well in excess of 20,000 - a spike of 400 per cent. Her recruitment drive has gone to various universities, including the University of East London where her father Dr Stefano Casalotti is a senior lecturer. Miss Casalotti gives a thumbs up with her brother Seb, mother Supanya and father Stefano Casalotti. She revealed today that a match has been found after her campaign caused 20,000 to join the stem cell register Anthony Nolan also saw an unprecedented spike in new donors from black, Asian, ethnic minority and mixed race backgrounds in the UK. Ann O'Leary, head of register development at Anthony Nolan, said: We're over the moon that we've been able to find a suitable donor for Lara and that she's now able to begin her transplant journey. We're so grateful to Lara and all of her incredible supporters for spreading the word about the simple but vital act of donating stem cells. By diversifying the donor register, they have given hope to so many other people from ethnic minority and mixed race communities. Running is not only good for your body, but also boosts your brainpower, scientists have revealed. Aerobic exercise increases activity in the area of the brain responsible for learning, the hippocampus, a new study showed. And, furthermore, exercise such as running boosted the neuron reserves in the hippocampus far more than high intensity training (HIIT) or resistance training. Lead researcher, Professor Heikki Kainulainen, said: 'Aerobic exercise, such as running, has positive effects on brain structure and function. Running is not only good for your body, it is beneficial to the brain too, scientists have found. They discovered aerobic exercise boosts the area of the brain responsible for learning 'For example, the generation of neurons in the hippocampus, a brain structure important in learning.' 'It has been unclear whether high-intensity interval training, referring to alternating short bouts of very intense anaerobic exercise with recovery periods, or anaerobic resistance training has similar effects on hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood. ' The team studied rats who underwent sustained running, HIIT and resistance training. Professor Kainulainen added: 'The results indicate that the highest number of new hippocampal neurons was observed in rats that ran long distances and that also had a genetic predisposition to benefit from aerobic exercise. 'Compared to sedentary animals, HRT rats that ran voluntarily on a running wheel had two to three times more new hippocampal neurons at the end of the experiment. 'Resistance training had no such effect. Also the effects of HIT were minor. 'To conclude, only sustained aerobic exercise improved hippocampal neurogenesis in adult animals. 'It may be possible to increase the neuron reserve of the hippocampus and thus improve preconditions for learning by promoting neurogenesis via sustained aerobic exercise such as running.' Exercise such as running boosted the neuron reserves in the hippocampus, highlighted in red, far more than high intensity training (HIIT) or resistance training, scientists concluded The rats examined in the study had a genetically high response to aerobic training (HRT) and those with a low response to aerobic training (LRT). The exercise training period was six to eight weeks running, HIIT or resistance training during which control animals of the same rat strain remained in sedentary conditions in the home cage. Professor Kainulainen added: 'The result is important because, according to previous research, the new hippocampal neurons produced as a result of neurogenesis are needed among other things for learning temporally and spatially complex tasks. 'It is possible that by promoting neurogenesis via sustained aerobic exercise, the neuron reserve of the hippocampus can be increased and thus also the preconditions for learning improved also in humans.' Two new cases of Zika virus have been confirmed in the US - marking the first cases in Indiana and Ohio, it emerged today. In Indiana, officials announced the state's first case of the virus has been diagnosed in a non-pregnant resident who recently traveled to Haiti. The patient's condition was not severe enough to require hospitalization. Meanwhile, in Ohio, a 30-year-old woman from Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, was diagnosed with the disease, again after returning from Haiti. Officials in Indiana and Ohio have confirmed two new cases of Zika virus, in two people who have recently returned from Haiti. They mark the first cases in each state So far Zika virus has been identified in at least 13 states, as well as Washington DC. Around 50 cases have been linked to people traveling to regions where the virus is rife, while one, reported in Texas last week, was sexually transmitted. There have been no cases where the virus has been spread by mosquitoes in the US. It came as the World Health Organization declared the outbreak, which has swept through South and Central America since last summer, an international public health emergency over fears the virus has triggered a surge in cases of the birth defect microcephaly. After announcing cases in both states, officials from the Indiana and Ohio health departments, urged members of the public to take precautions against being bitten by mosquitoes. Indiana state health commissioner, Jerome Adams, said: 'The risk of contracting Zika virus here in Indiana remains low, but we know that many residents are concerned. 'We urge anyone visiting affected areas to take steps to avoid mosquito bites.' Dr Mary DiOrio, medical director for the Ohio health department, said: 'There is no available vaccine for Zika so it's important for Ohioans traveling to affected areas to take steps to prevent mosquito bites. 'There have been no reported cases of Zika virus disease transmission through mosquito bites anywhere in the continental US.' So far Zika virus has been identified in at least 13 states, as well as Washington DC. Around 50 cases have been linked to people traveling to regions where the virus is rife, while one, reported in Texas last week, was sexually transmitted She added: 'Prevention of mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission is the same as prevention of any other mosquito borne diseases. 'This includes taking precautions to prevent mosquito bites such as using insect repellents, limiting exposure where and when mosquitoes are most active, and removing breeding sources such as containers that collect standing water.' The Zika virus is carried by two types of mosquito - both of which are common in parts of the US. It's business as usual, because we know how to control these mosquitoes. 'But in order to get rid of these things, you have to be very fastidious Joe Conlon of the American Mosquito Control Association In the majority of cases, around 80 per cent, people infected show no symptoms. In the remaining 20 per cent of a cases sufferers will typically experience fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, red eyes and headache, which can last from several days to a week. Experts convening at the American Mosquito Control Association's annual conference warned the mosquitoes that carry Zika are among the hardest species to fight. They said they live and breed in spots where water collects inside houses and yards. The Aedes aegypti, the mosquito blamed for the Zika outbreak linked to birth defects in Brazil, can be found in the southern US from Florida to California. Meanwhile another carrier is the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which has a more northerly range that includes cities such as Chicago and New York. Joe Conlon, the associations technical director, said US mosquito fighters have experience fighting these species, to prevent past outbreaks of dengue fever and chikungunya virus. He said: 'It's business as usual, because we know how to control these mosquitoes. 'But in order to get rid of these things, you have to be very fastidious.' Some cities and counties are already taking steps to get ready before their mosquito breeding seasons begin in earnest this spring. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of Zika, spreading through South and Central America, an international public emergency, following strong links with the birth defect microcephaly, where babies are born with smaller than normal heads, and can suffer disabilities as a result New Orleans' mosquito control department has lined up laboratories at Louisiana State University and Tulane University that are able to screen mosquitoes caught in surveillance traps for the Zika virus, said department director Claudia Riegel. Harry Savage, chief entomologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said his best guess is that Zika infections transmitted within the US will stay relatively small much like dengue fever, which averaged 25 cases per year from 2010 to 2015 though he said he can't be sure. Because of screened windows and air conditioning, Mr Savage said, mosquitoes are far less likely to be found breeding inside US homes than they are in Latin and Central American countries. Still, Americans' backyards tend to offer plenty of dank breeding spots. US homeowners often aren't pleased to see mosquito control officers at their doors telling them to tidy their property, Mr Conlon added. Divyansh Kakrora, a class 1 student, was found dead in a water tank on January 30 Putting an end to speculations about a sexual harassment angle to the death of Ryan International School student Divyansh Kakrora, the post mortem report on Monday ruled out any such possibility. The class 1 student was found dead in a water tank on the premises of the South Delhi school. The students private parts showed no sign of injuries and the post-mortem report has ruled out all possibilities of sexual harassment, according to the police. Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi said the reports prima facie do not indicate sexual assault. The post-mortem report has been received and is being studied. It suffices to say that it (the report) does not prima facie indicate any sexual assault. Initial reading of the post-mortem report does not suggest any sexual assault. The death was due to drowning, Bassi said. He also said that the police will correlate the findings of the report with their investigation into the case. Divyanshs father Ramhit Meena (centre) after meeting the Delhi Police commissioner On Sunday evening, senior officials probing the matter met the parents of the deceased and tried to brief them about the case. During the conversation, we tried to satisfy them by informing them that all of Divyanshs movements were captured by CCTV camera, except for 55 minutes. We also told them that Divyansh was not a victim of sexual harassment, as cleared by the post-mortem report, a senior police officer said. After the incident, the deceaseds father had alleged that his son might have been sexually assaulted before his death. On Saturday, the Delhi government had said the magisterial probe into the death indicated a heinous crime and the investigation has ignored the observations of the childs parents. The six-year-old was found dead in a water tank on the premises of Ryan International School Divyanshs father met Bassi on Monday afternoon and expressed his doubts over the investigation. He insisted on a CBI probe. The CCTV footage obtained from the school revealed that the boy was last seen alive in the lobby around 12.15pm on January 30, and at around 1.20pm, he was seen being rushed to the parking area by the school staff, who later put him inside a car, a senior police officer said. He added that the hospital authorities informed the police about the incident at 2.40pm. On January 30, Divyansh Kakrora, a class 1 student, was found dead in a water tank under the schools amphitheatre, following which the school principal, a teacher and three non-teaching staff were arrested for negligence resulting in the boys death. They were all released on bail the same day. Against the backdrop of the the rising Taliban attacks within Afghanistan, it is time to assess the latest situation in the country. Our assessment comes amid the continuing dubious role of Pakistan, a more visible Chinese role in the reconciliation process, the ambiguities of US policy in the Af-Pak region, and the Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah's recent visit to India for the Jaipur terrorism conference. Elusive With the death of the elusive Mullah Omar, the myth of the Taliban is believed to be over. Pakistan is now trying to project Mullah Mansour as a myth, with access to him restricted and his movements shrouded in mystery. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani His brand within Afghanistan needs to be politically consolidated. To this end, a so-called jirga comprising a few thousand people was organised by the ISI, declaredly in Afghanistan but actually in Quetta, where he was anointed as Amir-ul-Momineen. The Talibans international legitimacy has to be built. Pakistan is therefore telling the UN that it must reach out to the Taliban if it wants the group to enter the negotiating process. Already, the UN has been in contact with the Taliban in Qatar three or four times. Pakistan is telling the Central Asian states that now a new Taliban exists and it should be engaged. Turkmenistan is in contact with the Taliban. Russia is apparently not in touch with Mansour but with his rival Mullah Rasul, who controls territory in the area through which TAPI would pass. The real red line in the reconciliation process has to be the exclusive role of the Afghan National Security Forces in the countrys security. No dual system of security should be accepted in which the Taliban can have a few divisions under their command. Pluralism and political competition have to be respected as part of any solution. Knowledgeable Afghan sources say that Pakistan wants no political competition in the east and south of the country from which NGO and political party activity would be barred. The objective is to evict India from the sensitive parts of Afghanistan and make them closed zones for Pakistan. The overall security scene is not encouraging. In 2015, the ANSF lost about 9,000 men, causing stress in society and in the armed forces, though not a Syria-like situation. The Afghan forces still retain their multi-ethnic character, with Pushtun officers commanding a non-Pushtun force. Problem The Afghans would want India to work with this force and strengthen it, particularly as this is an area in which Pakistan cannot compete with India. The ANSF is facing a recruitment problem, with only 3,000 trained men joining, leading to a shortfall of 6,000. Pakistan, aware of the situation, has intensified pressure on the force with a series of operations in areas where the Afghan government is weak. A large number of suicide attacks have been launched in cities, with 80 in Kabul alone. Significantly, the Taliban strength of 20,000 to 30,000 equals the real fighting strength of the ANSF, which has a teeth to tail ratio of 1 to 13. Saudi funding to the Taliban seems to have been stepped up by way of equipment and training, judging from the very organised and professional attack on Kunduz. India and Afghanistan should not be distracted from the real threat they face from LeT, JeM and the Taliban by allowing attention to be shifted to the ISIS because of the Wests focus on it. Our focus on ISIS is to Pakistans advantage as it takes the eye off them. At the Jaipur conference the ISIS threat was over-emphasised in the Afghan view. Deliver Pakistan was isolated five years ago and today everybody thinks Pakistan can deliver. Pakistan does not want to violently capture Kabul; the cost of war will become unaffordable as other countries will support resistance. Pakistan would also not want to administer a slap in the face of the US. Its objective would be to keep Kabul besieged and the President beleaguered. India has to balance its policy towards the Pushtuns and non-Pushtuns. We have invested heavily on Pushtuns in the last 15 years, and have apparently taken the sympathy and support of non-Pushtuns for granted. Eighty per cent of the scholarships offered by India go to the Pushtuns, for instance. Pakistan has started reaching out to the non-Pushtuns, asking them why they want to die for the Durand Line when they are not there physically. The Taliban are telling the Chinese - who have a soft corner for them - that they can deliver the Uighurs. The Chinese do not support a military solution in Afghanistan; they prefer a peaceful settlement in which the role of Pakistan expands. The Chinese regard the Taliban as part of Afghan society, support power sharing, consider Pakistans interests legitimate and want to shift attention to the ISIS. The four-way talks on Afghanistan present a problem in that Pakistan supports the Taliban and China supports Pakistan which, with the US as an observer, reduces Afghanistan to a minority. This format is not in Indias interest either, as China has done virtually nothing for Afghanistan whereas India, which has been excluded, has done a lot. Three Delhi Mayors aired their grievances to Home Minister Rajnath Singh Three Delhi mayors who met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the issue of the MCD also used the opportunity to register their complaint against the Delhi government, which they said was threatening them with a CBI enquiry. Sources said Singh assured them that no inquiry could be initiated unless there was a specific complaint by the government. The BJP leaders also apprised him of the alleged irregularities in the transport department to which Singh asked them to lodge a complaint through a proper channel. IAF to hold Iron Fist on March 18 After the grand International Fleet Review that was recently held in Vishakhapatnam, the focus will now shift to Rajasthan next month. The Indian Air Force (IAF) will exhibit its fire power in the military exercise called the Iron Fist. IAF fighter jets will be dropping bombs and fire air to air missiles during the day-long event which has been scheduled for on March 18. Iron Fist will be attended by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi hails TRAI decision Rahul Gandhi, who had lent his support to net neutrality, hailed the TRAIs decision to bar differential tariff for data access as a big win for internet users in India. Welcome TRAI's ruling in support of #Net-Neutrality. Big win for internet users in India! Rahuls office tweeted. Congress quickly welcomed the move and pointed out how Rahul had flagged the concern as the issue affected young voters in the country. Survey: Govt failed to act on 26/11 A high 75% people on social media felt that the Indian government was incompetent and could not act against 26/11 perpetrators in Pakistan. This was part of the daily social media report made by the Home Ministry. On Monday one of the main issues was David Colemans Headleys revelations. In regard to this analysis said that while 19 per cent views were positive (condemned Pakistan), six per cent were neutral and the rest thought government failed to act. 'BJP is preserving Sanatan dharma' The BJP government will not only make India a prosperous nation, but also spread its spiritual message worldwide, party chief Amit Shah said on Monday as he spoke to supporters in Vrindavan. There's nothing like Bollywood royalty to set pulses racing at the Derby on a balmy winter day, so Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khans arrival at the races in Mumbai naturally triggered a minor frenzy. The two stars looked stylish as ever, reminding why they are Bollywoods classiest young duo. As the ponies readied to gallop and VIPs ambled into their seats, the shutterbugs gathered around could not get enough of Kareena, who looked dressed to kill. Saif Ali Khan has been lately donning pencil moustache while Kareena was seen in a colourful maxi The Bajrangi Bhaijaan actress opted for casual chic. She wore a printed Temperley maxi teamed with designer shades and a gold watch. Saif chose a formal suited-and-booted look that complemented the pencil moustache he has been donning lately very well. The celebrity duo also took a few rounds of the track in a van, maxing the buzz for the event. As the race kicked off, many in the gallery were still busy clicking long shots of Kareena from their stands. Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor stole the show at the Derby in Mumbai Beyond posing and preening for numerous photo-ops, Begum Bebo and her Nawab hubby also distributed prizes at the end of the do. Saif and Kareena start the year on a note of optimism, considering both stars could do with a defining hit at this point of their careers. Although Kareenas last release Bajrangi Bhaijaan was a blockbuster, the film had a hero-oriented storyline that saw Salman Khan walk away with all the accolades. Kareena has a couple of interesting releases lined up in 2016. She will be seen in Abhishek Chaubeys episodic film Udta Punjab, which is a drama that exposes the worsening drug scene in that state. The film also stars Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor, although Kareena does not share screen space with ex-beau Shahid. Her other release this year is R. Balkis Ki And Ka, co-starring Arjun Kapoor. Saif has literally been carrying the hype about his forthcoming film on his face these days. His look for Rangoon, highlighted by the pencil moustache he so fondly wears lately, has been the talk of the town. The Vishal Bhardwaj film also stars Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut. Saif has also signed an untitled Mohit Suri with Varun Dhawan. Actors, writers and artistes have been putting in their two bits about the tolerance debate that has been raging in the country for a while. Actor Sonam Kapoor recently pointed out that racism and intolerance are not specific to India, but happen everywhere. Racism exists all over the world, it is not specific to India. But the reason education has always been my favourite category is because it is something which makes people aware and less ignorant. It makes people take decisions which are a little more thoughtful as opposed to behaving like hooligans and junglee..., Sonam told reporters, when asked if India had become racist and intolerant. Sonam Kapoor (left) and Kamal Haasan (right) shared their views on increasing intolerance at different events Criticising the recent Bengaluru incident in which a Tanzanian woman was stripped by a mob, the 30-year-old actor said she too has faced racism. It was a very badly done thing. But I don't think we should say only Indians are like that. I've faced racism in the world always, she said. In a separate event, actor Kamal Haasan has said he was against the word tolerance as he underlined that all communities need to accept each other. Haasan, during a chat with students from Harvard University, said the country has already lost its two arms - Bangladesh and Pakistan - and all efforts should be made to maintain unity and integrity. Citing the example of a sleeveless sweater knit in green thread among other colours, Haasan said: It (India) is a sweater which is already knit with green thread (among other colours). You just can't pull (the green thread). There is no sweater left then. We have already lost the sleeves - Bangladesh and Pakistan (have) gone. It's a sleeveless sweater. So let's keep the sweater. It's getting cold, he said. Haasan's answer came in response to a question from one of the students who wanted to seek his views on voices of intolerance coming from stars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. I am against the word tolerance. You do not tolerate; you accept a friend. Why should you tolerate everything? Haasan asked. After the prolonged rivalry between Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party President Ram Vilas Paswan over the years, their sons appear to have taken over their battle for supremacy against each other in Bihar. Law & order Lalus heir-apparent Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Paswans son Chirag Paswan have locked horns over the law and order in the state, ever since a former mukhiya (village headman) and bahubali (strongman) LJP leader Brijnath Singh was gunned down near Patna last week. The killing prompted Chirag to demand central rule in Bihar, which left Tejashwi livid. Chirag Paswan (left) and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav have been hitting out at each other ever since LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan walked out of his alliance with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and joined hands with the BJP shortly before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Peeved at Chirags allegations, Tejashwi said those who had themselves extended patronage to the people with criminal antecedents in their party had the temerity to talk about the criminalisation of politics now. Chirag should first oust tainted leaders such as Suraj Bhan Singh from his own party before talking about criminalisation of politics in Bihar, he said. Our government has enforced the rule of the law in the state. How did (JDU MLA) Anant Singh go to jail? Tejashwi said Chirag was his elder brother, but he should refrain from tarnishing the image of Bihar by making irresponsible statements. Chirag has become a MP at a young age and he should realise his responsibilities properly, he said. The deputy CM said some people in the Opposition were levelling unfounded allegations against the Grand Alliance government for their vested political interests even though the people of Bihar had taught them a lesson in the state assembly polls last year. The sons of Lalu Prasad (left) and Ram Vilas Paswan (right) are increasingly locking horns over the state's law and order problem It is being alleged that the jungle raj (lawless regime) has returned to Bihar, he said. But is there a mangal raj (peaceful regime) in the NDA-ruled states? He said the terrorists had sneaked into one of the safest airbases in Pathankot. Did we ever say that there is a terror raj in the country? he said. Hitting back, Chirag said Tejashwi would do well not to talk about criminalisation of politics and patronisation of criminal politicians. It is not a hidden fact as to how many criminals were given patronage during Lalu Prasads previous regime? he asked. The Jamui MP said Bihar had returned to that era now. Criminals are having a field day and the law and order situation has deteriorated these days, he said. The government has to be responsible for it. Chirag added Tejashwi was part of the state government and he had to give an answer about the situation. The Bengaluru Police have busted a major child trafficking racket in which 25 children (boys and girls under the age of 10) were sent to the US under false identities in the last year alone. The children were either handed over to their parents who are living in the US as illegal migrants, or to child-trafficking gangs. Police arrested 16 people, including three women, on Monday in connection with the racket, which spreads across Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Pictured: Some of the men being investigated over possible links to the child trafficking racket. The investigation is ongoing. The police managed to nab Uday Rudra Pratap Singh (44), the alleged kingpin of the racket, from his home in Bengaluru. To carry out the trafficking, gang members would pose as couples and travel to the US with a child pretending to be his or her parents. Once they reached the US, the child would be handed over to local contacts and the couple would return to India. The whereabouts of the 25-30 kids who were abducted or taken with the consent of their grandparents from Gujarat, Bihar, UP and Karnataka, is not known so far. In addition to Uday Prathap Singh, the police have arrested Michael (37), Rajesh (43), Simon (36), Kushalappa (34), Gunashekar (42), Dominic Arul Kumar (46), Pravin (43), Joison (37), Manjunath (38), Francis, Christopher Anand, Sangeetha Prakash, Sudhir Kumar Kestur, Latha Vema Reddy, Bhanu Prakash and Veena Prakash, all of whom are Bengaluru residents. A few travel agents are also in the dock for supporting the racket. About a year ago, we received information about a child trafficking ring functioning from Bengaluru and we formed a special investigation team (SIT). We collected information from the passport office, foreigner regional registration offices, travel agents and police from different states and uncovered the racket. We are interrogating the 16 members we have arrested. Hopefully, we should be able to track down the kids, said Additional Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru-East) P Harishekaran, who headed the SIT. The kingpin of the racket would identify potential transporters - men and women who were teamed up to behave like couples. Then, abducted kids or kids handed over by the grandparents (whose children had entered the US illegally) would be assigned to each couple, and trained to behave like a family in Bengaluru. The gang then prepared fresh identities for the family, including ration cards, Aadhar cards, birth certificates, voter IDs, house rent agreements, etc, on the basis of which the family would secure a passport in Bengaluru. A team in Chennai would then assist the gang in procuring Non-Immigration B1/B2 visa (business and pleasure). On obtaining the visa, the family (group of 4-5) would travel to the US from Chennai. The parents would return within a week after dropping the children off. In some cases, the couple returned to India within 48 hours. But in all the cases, the children never returned. We verified the antecedents of these transporters, and none of them reside at the addresses mentioned in the passport or their documents. We are tracing transporters from all the three states, added Harishekaran. Many of the transporters were from middle-class families from north India. Each couple was paid Rs 3 lakhs to accompany the child. In a few cases, persons impersonating either the mother or the father had not returned to India. The police said they are investigating how the kids were convinced to travel to the US with strangers. Rahul Gandhi has accused PM Modi of making excuses for not being able to deliver results in Parliament The stage is set for confrontation between the BJP and the Congress during the coming Budget session, with government managers according top priority to ratifying two ordinances. The legislation relates to Presidents rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Enemy Properties, and the opposition party is set to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issues. Ratification of an ordinance relating to Presidents Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and passing of a Bill in respect of another ordinance regarding Enemy Properties will be taken up on priority during the session, said sources ahead of the Budget session starting February 23. The Congress has been further infuriated after Modi recently blamed the Gandhis for disrupting Parliament during the previous session, which blocked the passage of key Bills, including the GST Bill. On February 5, PM Modi alleged during a rally in Assam that one family was responsible for the disruptions in Parliament that have stalled important legislative business, and said he wondered if they were exacting revenge for their defeat in the 2014 national polls. The Congress has not allowed the Rajya Sabha to function during the past two sessions, demanding action against tainted BJP leaders. Hitting back at Modi, Rahul Gandhi said: The job of the PM is to run the government and not make excuses. The PM has been making excuses for the last one and a half years for not being able to deliver. The Congress, which feels the comment was a deliberate provocation, hinted that the sailing may not be smooth for the government. Which family is the prime minister referring to? The RSS did not allow Parliament to function for seven years and blocked Bills like GST Bill, Insurance Bill and the land pact with Bangladesh, said Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma, while adding that the PM cannot separate our leadership from the party. The PM has not answered the questions raised by us. We will keep asking questions, he said. The Congress has dubbed the imposition of Presidents rule in Arunachal Pradesh as a murder of democracy, as it has directly impacted on Chief Minister Nabam Tuki after rebel party lawmakers voted against him. The Supreme Court is hearing the case of constitutional crisis in the border state, where the Congress has alleged that the BJP instigated its lawmakers. Besides, an ordinance to amend the 47-year-old Enemy Property Act also needs parliamentary approval, and this may not be easy for BJP managers. The PMs Pakistan policy, particularly the governments handling of the Pathankot terror attack, will be used by the Congress to corner the BJP Further, the Congress is expected to corner the PM over alleged corruption in the allocation of land to the business partner of Anar Patel, the daughter of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel. The Congress is also expected to raise the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad University, allegedly due to caste-related conflict on campus, and the alleged role of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in the incident. Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 9, 2013 for his role in the 2001 attack on Parliament, and the lesser-known co-founder of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Maqbool Bhat, who was hanged in 1984, are martyrs in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The university turned into a battleground on Tuesday as the Right and Left clashed when a group of Left-oriented students called a meeting to commemorate the judicial killing of the duo. The situation turned violent and the administration had to call in the police. A poster, which was pasted all across the campus, read: There will be an art and a photo exhibition portraying the history of the occupation of Kashmir and the peoples struggle against it. A protest against the 'judicial killings' of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat was held at Saraswati Hostel and Ganga Dhabha on JNU campus Interestingly, the commemorative meeting went ahead even after the JNU administration revoked permission for the programme in the wake of complaints from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Peeved at this, the ABVP has called upon its cadre to impose a general bandh on the JNU campus on Wednesday. While the meet, couched as a Cultural Evening of Protest in solidarity with the struggle of the Kashmiri People for their democratic right to self-determination was supposed to commence in front of the Sabarmati hostel at 5pm, the ABVP registered its reservations against the move with the vice-chancellor (VC) M Jagdesh Kumar. Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013 after being convicted in the Parliament attack case Tensions rose after Kumar cancelled permission for the event. As the vice-chancellor of the university, it is my responsibility to maintain the peace and tranquility of the campus. Hence, the top administrations of the campus met this evening and decided that this protest cannot be given permission. We informed the organisers that we had cancelled permission, which they claimed to be a cultural event. The top administration of the varsity decided that in the interest of the peace and calm of the university, the permission was cancelled, Kumar told Mail Today. Meanwhile, the station house officer (SHO) of Vasant Kunj police station told Mail Today that the JNU administration had informed the police about the possibility of a confrontation between students of differing ideological hues over the contentious issue, thus the police presence on the campus. No untoward incident occurred at the venue, though preventive measures had been taken by the police, said the police official. Joint secretary of JNU Students Union (JNUSU) Saurabh Kumar Sharma told Mail Today that not only did the protest meet take place in front of Sabarmati hostel, the protesters staged a march from the hostel to the Ganga Dhahba near the main gate. We had expressed our reservations against such anti-national activities taking place on the campus to the authorities. Despite them having denied permission for the event, it still went ahead. This is deplorable, said Sharma. Meanwhile, president of the JNUSU and AISF leader Kanhaiya Kumar told Mail Today that the Left organisations were against curbing of freedom of expression and the right to protest democratically and had thus supported the meet. The administration told the organisers at the last moment that the programme had been cancelled who in turn informed the administration that the denial had not come in time. Though we did not organise the event, we went to support it in principle. ABVP is not the police, nor the guard here, he said. Trai chairman R.S. Sharma said operators would not be allowed to violate norms and continue paying a penalty The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday warned of further action against errant telcos if the existing penalty provision fails to prevent them from discriminatory pricing of data services. In its order on Monday banning discriminatory pricing of data such as Facebooks Free Basics platform, the sectoral regulator provided for a Rs 50,000-per-day penalty on any violation by service providers up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. Trai chairman R.S. Sharma told news agency PTI that operators would not be allowed to violate norms and continue paying a penalty. Once any tariff plan is announced, it has to submitted to Trai. We will see if it is in contravention of the rules and then we will impose penalty, Sharma said. The contraventions are provided for. Then there is general kind of clause which says that if you contravene, then there are other provisions that come into play. They may not be part of this regulation. There are overall provisions which cover what happens if you contravene with any regulation of Trai, then there are other mechanism which are put in to place. Sharma said that telcos can charge different rates at different time occasionally to better utilise networks but cannot charge different rates based on the content that they access using the internet. Net neutrality, as we understand, constitutes number of components which are not purely tariff. We were dealing with some aspect of Net neutrality from the tariff perspective. Thats what we have come out with because it is in our domain. There are many areas which are not in the domain of Trai. (With PTI inputs) Next call drop test is scheduled for April By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma said on Tuesday that another test for call drops would be carried out in April and more cities may be added to the list. While telcos have questioned the validity of such tests, Sharma said: My sense is whatever test drive we have done, they have been done very objectively and in a transparent manner. If there are any more suggestions for transparency, we are certainly ready to look at it. Trai had recently released its findings on call drop tests carried out across seven cities in December and January. Most telcos, including MTNL, failed the tests, which were conducted to check quality of the network and services. Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India asked Trai not to publish the same as claiming there is a huge variation between its findings and their reassessment. The worlds largest concrete maker is at the centre of a row over claims it took more than 90 days to settle some of its bills. In a bitter exchange, Aggregate Industries told the UKs leading small business lobby group: We do not take kindly to implicit threats from organisations such as your own. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) was fighting on behalf of a supplier which claimed it was having to wait more than three months for payment. Hearts of stone? Concrete maker Aggregate Industries have been accused of taking more than 90 days to settle its bills The supplier, which did not want to be named, said: Small firms have to pay staff, HMRC and their suppliers within 30 days. By the time we invoice the company we have already had to carry all the costs on that project. Less robust companies than ours would have been put into administration by this. Many small businesses struggle to survive when large customers turn the screw on payment terms. They rely on prompt payments to manage their cashflow. There is also an EU directive that says payments taking longer than 60 days, unless pre-agreed, are grossly unfair. Aggregate Industries is owned by French-Swiss giant LafargeHolcim, formed by a 25billion merger last summer, which owns some of Britains biggest quarries. Ian Cass, managing director of the FPB, told Aggregate they were in breach of EU directive 2011/7/EU on payment terms. But Aggregate deputy chief executive John Bowater said: I do not know who you have approached to reach a conclusion that our terms are 90 days from when you accept the invoice but this is, clearly, factually incorrect. The firm claims to have done an analysis of around 4,800 of its suppliers. It said 80pc have entered into formal contracts and almost 100 per cent are paid within 63 days of the end of the month appearing on their invoice. Cass said the key point is the reference to payment from the end of the month. I hope you can understand our confusion when you mention that you pay your suppliers within 63 days of the end the month, he wrote. Does this not mean if someone invoices at the start of the month there is the potential for the payment to take 93 days? Shares in TUI Group turned red today after the Thomson and First Choice owner warned that summer holiday bookings to Turkey slumped 40 per cent after recent terrorist and suicide attacks. As a result, holidaymakers are staying away from the country and turning instead to resorts in Spain and the Canary Islands, the tour operator said as it revealed first quarter results.. Friedrich Joussen, TUI's chief executive, said: 'It is evident that there has been a significant shift in demand away from Turkey, with summer 2016 bookings to that destination currently down around 40 per cent.' Trouble: Dozens of people with suspected links to so-called Islamic State have been arrested across Turkey following last month's suicide bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 11 people TUI shares on the FTSE 100 index were down 2.3 per cent, or 25p to 1,073p in late morning trading, with the caution coming at a key time of year for holiday firms, when many customers book their summer holidays. A total of 14 per cent of TUI customers travelled to Turkey last summer. TUI's German business was particularly affected after 10 German tourists were killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul last month. The suicide bombing, which killed 11 people in total, was believed to have been carried out by Islamic State. Turkey has also been impacted by a drop in demand amid general security fears, as the country borders Syria, which is currently gripped in a civil war between its government and rebel groups. Turkey, meanwhile has offered jet fuel subsidies in a bid to stimulate tourism demand after the January attack. Terrorist attacks across traditional travel destinations, including Paris, Egypt and Tunisia have hit the travel sector hard over the past year, while the recent outbreak of the Zika virus across South America is adding to the woes. TUI's management confirmed the group has ceased flying to and from Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, where a Russian passenger plane was shot down last November. TUI has 13 hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the resort accounting for half of its business in Egypt. But despite the trouble in Turkey, the tour operator said it had a good start to its financial year and kept its guidance for a 10 per cent rise in annual earnings. The group also reported a 7.2 per cent improvement in its seasonal underlying losses for the first quarter to 97.3million (75.3million). The group took a 52million (37.6million) hit from the Tunisia attack and former joint chief executive Peter Long said in December the atrocity had been 'the most tragic event that I've ever had to deal with in my 30 years in the industry'. But strong trading and currency exchange rates helped it offset the cost to post a 23 per cent leap in underlying earnings to 1.07billion (775million) for the year to the end of September. Mr Joussen said: 'We have delivered a good underlying performance in the first quarter in spite of the backdrop of geopolitical turbulence in some of our destinations.' TUI also said it had seen a 16 per cent rise in demand from UK holidaymakers for long-haul bookings over the winter following the recent attacks across Europe, with destinations such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica becoming more popular. But there is also mounting evidence that the Zika virus could be having a damaging impact on customer appetite for holidaying in the Caribbean, after Jamaica announced it had been infected by the virus. Overall winter UK bookings are up 3 per cent, while selling prices are 1 per cent higher, according to TUI, while summer bookings in its UK business are 9 per cent higher. In the modern Armed Forces, regular troops and reservists carry out their roles alongside civil servants and civilians and more of these jobs are now being handled by contractors. And whereas the old military was supported by a small club of large quoted defence companies so-called prime contractors such as BAE Systems today the upstarts are nibbling away at the big boys market share. They are lean, agile and driven by innovation but, with their largely ex-military employees, have a public service ethos. Top flight: 2Excel Aviation has more than 115 employees, including seven former Red Arrows flyers PILOTS WHO TEST THE NEWEST GADGETS Founded in 2005 by two ex-RAF Harrier pilots, 2Excel Aviation has 23 aircraft used for everything from transporting holidaymakers to acting as flying labs and trialling the latest military technology. 2Excel and its roster of 32 ex-military pilots trained six of the last eight British Army brigades that deployed in Afghanistan on how to work with drones and combat jets during operations. Among its other roles, the company uses hyperspectral cameras which detect materials from a high altitude for agricultural research, and it has obtained an air operator certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority. The firm can even tackle oil spills using two Boeing 727s with 18 tons of detergent on board. With just four hours notice these can fly anywhere in the world. At the heart of its operations are flight trials work that was done by the military but now increasingly outsourced. Once, a new sensor or electronic gadget would be rigorously tested on real aircraft before going to the front line. Today, simulation is used for trials due to its huge rise in power and quality. 2Excel undertakes this test and evaluation work as well as research and development for the Ministry of Defence. The company has more than 115 employees, including seven former Red Arrows flyers and six pilots trained at the Empire Test Pilots School at Boscombe Down. Co-founder Chris Norton says: We are not trying to undermine the military but create solutions to problems that do not carry the baggage of what has always been done before. 'We then offer that back to the Government, a service that is good value for money and that is cutting edge. TRAINING RAF CHOPPER CREWS The vision of three people, including two former Tornado pilots, Inzpire realised the relationship between the military and defence industry was poor. It had become toxic following a number of high-profile projects which ran late and billions of pounds over budget. Inzpire chief executive Hugh Griffiths says: We wanted to create a long-term defence business that was more aligned towards integrity, trust and honour and would be different from the standard defence company we had all become used to dealing with. Ten years after its foundation, Lincoln-based Inzpire is training all of Britains Apache helicopter pilots at Middle Wallop air base in Hampshire. It also helps train soldiers in liaising with aircraft before they are deployed on operations, such as to Afghanistan, and plays a leading role in simulation and training for the RAF. Our vision is to be the most respected and admired defence company in the world, Griffiths says. We are military people in civilian clothing. 'But of course we do not fire any weapons or drop any bombs. We want to position ourselves as something different, manned by former defence people who really understand the operational environment. Inzpire is now rolling out its business overseas, working with Government-approved partner countries such as Jordan, India and Saudi Arabia. In 2014 overseas sales were 6 per cent of turnover but that was on course to double last year. Key role: Lincoln-based Inzpire is training all of Britains Apache helicopter pilots at Middle Wallop air base in Hampshire CYBER EXPERTS FOR THE MoD Malvern-based 3SDL offers cyber security, unmanned air systems, secure communications and intelligence gathering. It also assists military customers to buy technology, helping them choose the right gear. The companys co-founder and chairman Dibble Clark, who spent 20 years in the RAF, said it has become tough for small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) to win work from the MoD. Other countries are much better at tapping into UK innovation than our own Government, he says. Instead 3SDL and others would like the MoD to look to home-grown, small businesses which are often more innovative than their larger peers, simply because they do not have global shareholders forcing them to focus on quarterly earnings. Clark says: The MoDs desire to improve their relationships with SMEs needs to be backed up with leaner processes, swifter decision-making and a keener approach to risk. The Finnish MoD will sign a single-source contract with us in an afternoon using two sheets of A4 paper, and they are one of the least corrupt nations on Earth. This group of upstarts is likely to receive wider recognition this year as the Armed Forces face tight budgetary controls. RAF Air Marshal Sir Baz North said: The UK military must be affordable now and in the future. In an austere financial climate, which is naturally impacting on the global defence industry, the cost of manpower and equipment must be minimised. The world's biggest soverign wealth fund has called on VW to shed its family ties with Porsche Volkswagen has come under fire from the worlds biggest sovereign wealth fund as it struggles to deal with the diesel-emissions scandal. Norways sovereign wealth fund, which invests the countrys vast oil riches, has accused the German car maker of giving too much power to the Porsche-Piech family and putting minority shareholders at a disadvantage. Through family holding company Porsche Automobil Holding, the Porsche-Piech family own 50.73 per cent of the voting shares in VW, despite owning just 31.5 per cent of the company. VW has also been criticised for anointing Porsche boss Matthias Muller as its new chief executive after being caught cheating diesel emissions tests in the US. Norways 562billion fund owns a 1.2 per cent stake in VW and carries considerable clout. Its chief executive Yngve Slyngstad told a German paper: This cannot be a role model for Germany we dont have the impression they want to listen to other shareholders concerns. The criticism is another headache for VW, which has been forced to delay its annual shareholders meeting and publication of its annual report as it struggles to count the cost of the diesel emissions scandal. The battle to expand Britains airports exploded last night as the boss of Heathrow justified the building of a third runway. In a fierce defence, chief executive John Holland-Kaye warned the UK would fall behind Paris, Istanbul and Amsterdam in having an airport that was a major hub for international travellers if a new runway at Heathrow was not approved. Holland-Kaye was giving his first speech since the publication of a report by Sir Howard Davies, which recommended building at Heathrow to improve the UKs airport capacity rather than expanding Gatwick. Warning: Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye has claimed the UK would fall behind Paris, Istanbul and Amsterdam if a new runway at Heathrow was not approved But at the end of last year a report by a committee of MPs said Heathrow should be barred from building a third runway until the airport can demonstrate its ability to meet pollution targets. Yesterday, Holland-Kaye said: You may hear that air quality is a problem. Not so. Heathrow today meets all EU air quality standards and, with expansion, we will still meet them in fact we wont release new capacity until we can demonstrate that is the case. What you may not have heard is that we are the environmental leader in our sector. In yesterdays Mail Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, said environmental issues were preventing expansion of Heathrow, and urged the Government to get on with building at his airport. Fight: Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye The debate over expanding the UKs airport capacity has been a long-running row. It was hoped that the publication of the Davies report would solve the crisis. Last month Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said that he hoped the Government would finally make its choice between expansion at Heathrow or Gatwick by the summer. Last night Britains biggest pension fund, which is the seventh largest shareholder in Heathrow, stepped into the debate. Roger Gray, chief executive of the Universities Superannuation Scheme a giant investment fund warned that delays in making a decision on Heathrow could deter pension funds from making future investments. And Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons treasury select committee, warned that Parliament and the public had been left partly in the dark on the case for a new runway at Heathrow. He wrote to Chancellor George Osborne criticising him for failing to answer questions connected to the new runway at Heathrow. Tyrie has called for more details of the calculations which led to Davies recommending the controversial addition to the countrys biggest airport. Tyrie said it was unacceptable that the questions have not been answered. Last night, Holland-Kaye said the Government should choose the new Heathrow plan which delivers economic security for hardworking families, [and] more exports to emerging markets to tackle the deficit, supporting the northern powerhouse. He said it was a new plan, designed to meet all environmental targets and which has the support from the majority of local communities. A spokesman for Gatwick said: What Mr Holland-Kaye fails to mention are the insurmountable barriers that have stopped Heathrow expansion time and time again. What remains obvious is that Heathrows time has passed. Top seller: Imagination Technologies is part-owned by Apple and supplies parts for iPhones The boss of troubled smartphone parts maker Imagination Technologies has quit after nearly two decades in the job, as the firm struggles to keep pace with the changing market. Hossein Yassaie, at the helm of the business since 1998, said he was leaving yesterday as Imagination issued its second profit warning in as many months, causing shares to fall 18 per cent in early trading. Imagination, part-owned by Apple, supplies tech used in iPhones but has struggled to adapt to the slowdown in the market. Yassaie, who is originally from Iran and received a knighthood in 2013, said he had built the firm from small beginnings but its initial success has been on the wane since it peaked at a market value of 2billion in 2012. In a bid to turn its fortunes around Imagination will sell its digital radio business, Pure. The company fell out of the FTSE 250 last summer and in the half-year to December reported pre-tax losses of 22.6million, more than double the 10.7million lost for the same period the year before. Its shares have lost more than 85 per cent of their value since 2012. Yesterday, the group said it would make a loss for 2016, but that it has enough cash to stay afloat. Non-executive director Andrew Heath, a former executive at Rolls-Royce, will become interim chief executive. Shares recovered to finish the day down 1.9 per cent at 129.25p. An investigation into the dumping of cheap Chinese steel should be launched by EU lawmakers, European ministers have argued. Business Secretary Sajid Javid is among those demanding stronger action to protect the steel industry. In a letter, also signed by ministers from Italy, Poland, Belgium and Luxembourg, trade defence measures are called for, to protect consumers and producers. Advertisement On a muddy riverbank in south Beijing, Huang Meimei is cooking her dinner on a campfire. Two men, who are Ms Huangs friends, sit on stools nearby, surrounded by debris they have collected on the streets. Discarded by other people, the rubbish is a lifeline for this downtrodden trio. But Ms Huang and her companions are not homeless. They have travelled thousands of miles to the China capital to attempt to get the government to resolve legal problems that have come to dominate their lives. Determined: Huang Meimei, 57, is one of the Chinese petitioners sleeping rough on the streets of Beijing, while they wait for the government to address their legal queries. She has been living on the street in the city since 2010 Makeshift: Ms Huang and others like her are forced to make do with what they can find on the streets, scraping together enough food to survive. Pictured is the bed of a homeless person who lives near Yonganmen Bridge in Beijing Because they are not technically homeless these people are banned from sleeping long-term in the city's homeless shelters. So, as in most cases, if they can't afford accommodation they sleep rough on the streets. This month temperatures dropped to -18C. And this doesn't go on for just a few days. People like Ms Huang have been living this way for years. Miles away from her home, she says she will fight until the better end. Speaking to MailOnline from beside her makeshift cooking pot, she said of a recent particularly cold night: I wrapped myself in three quilts and a plastic cloth so only my eyes were revealed. I did think I might die from the cold weather, but I have to stick at it. The 57-year-old has been sleeping rough in Beijing since 2010, following three years unsuccessfully petitioning in her home Fujian province. She claims that property she owned was unlawfully seized from her. She is also complaining about the death of her father during a medical procedure she says her family didn't agree to. As she gestures to a pair of pink knock-off Angry Birds-themed slippers and a still-sealed 2015 calendar, she explains that she makes money by salvaging items from bins and selling them on the street. I stay warm by making a fire but no matter how many clothes I wear I can always feel the cold, she said, sitting outside her makeshift home made from foraged materials. A few miles east, staying warm beside a campfire on the riverbank next to Yonganmen Bridge, is fellow petitioner Zhang Rongming. Freezing: Petitioner Zhang Rongming, 48, described to MailOnline how he saw an elderly woman freeze to death while sleeping outside a hospital. Although she was covered in quilts it was so cold that by morning she was dead Home: This small corner is where two of the petitioners live, surrounded by the debris that has been thrown away by other people but has become a lifeline for them. Many scrape together a living by selling bits and pieces they find on the streets Ive been here so long, Ive seen people die here, he said. It was last winter a woman petitioner who was at least 60 years old. She slept at the door of a hospital covered in quilts but it was so cold, by the morning she had passed away. The police took her body away. I stay warm by making a fire but no matter how many clothes I wear I can always feel the cold. Petitioner Huang Meimei, 57 The 48-year-old spends his days gathering burnable items to keep his fire going and rooting through rubbish bins for food. He sleeps in an underpass but can only bed down after midnight, when security guards clock off. He has left his home in southwest Chinas Sichuan province to lobby the government to help him get compensation for work injuries he says he sustained during his former job as a construction worker. The petitioners have to file their grievances in person or risk being ignored. They include everything from work injury to land disputes. With northeast China currently experiencing one of its coldest winters of the last 30 years, many petitioners sleeping rough are enduring potentially deadly conditions. My skin was cracked, it felt like knives were cutting into my face and hands, said Mr Zhang of the bitterly cold night of January 23, holding up his haggard hands as proof. He stayed alive by finding quilts discarded by local residents who were moving house and by filling a bottle with hot water in a nearby hospital. Complaints: The claims made in Beijing are about everything from injuries sustained at work to land disputes. Many of those who wait in the city are determined to stay until a decision is made. Pictured, temperatures have fallen so low that even the river has frozen over Ignored: There are no official statistics about the number of people sleeping rough in the city, but it is estimated that around half of those who do in Beijing are petitioners, waiting for the government to make a decision about their legal claims Many petitioners are able to scrape together enough money for food to survive by begging people for cash and donations of food. Pictured is dinner for three petitioners, which they cooked on a campfire Petitioners usually begin the process of filing legal grievances by contacting local government offices in their home provinces. A later step is to file with Beijings State Bureau for Letters and Visits, for which they often travel to the capital to keep pressure on the central bureau for a resolution. Many remain in the city for years if their complaints remain unresolved. There are no publicly released statistics about their numbers, but many can be found sleeping rough near the State Bureaus main building in Beijing. Mr Zhang, who is seeking up to 180,000 Yuan (19,060) compensation for his alleged injuries, has been travelling to the capital sporadically since 2013. He relies on foraged food and handouts to survive there. I cant afford food, let alone hotels, he said. Every Wednesday a Korean person comes here and hands out noodles to us petitioners. I have no choice but to stay here with some hope. Its like a war. I would rather die here [than not petition]. My only wish is that President Xi can solve our problems. We understand that it takes time. There are no official statistics about the number of people sleeping rough in the city. Yuan Jing, co-founder of the Beijing Hefeng Social Worker Agency, a non-profit organisation set up to aid the homeless in central Beijing, estimates that around half of those sleeping rough are petitioners. Company: Mrs Huang (pictured) and the other petitioners have made the decision to live on the streets, and are determined to stay and petition rather than go home to their families and home towns Abuse: Chinese authorities have been accused of holding petitioners in so-called 'black jails': detention centres where torture and abuse is allegedly rife. Ms Huang claims she has been on the receiving end of bullying and detainment from Beijing authorities including police However in 2013, lawyer Sun Yongping, who worked with volunteer group A Helping Hand In The Street, said that the figure could be as much as 80 per cent. There are about 16 government-sponsored shelters for the homeless in the capital, with some acting as liaison agencies and others offering accommodation. Those seeking help from them need to show their ID cards and fill in forms to be accepted, making it a tough process for illiterate applicants. Mrs Yuan told MailOnline that her organisation helps petitioners by providing psychological consultancy services. We can make a difference and they can be positive about their lives, she said. Its about guidance, not making decisions for them. She said that although conditions on the Beijing streets are tough, petitioners should accept that their lifestyle is usually the result of their own choices. They stay here because they are willing to, she said. Its their own choice. The shelters are not big enough to handle all the petitioners continuously flooding in. The shelters working methods are not to blame, they are doing everything they can. The situation is so complicated and cant be solved in one day. Survival: As winter temperatures have plummeted to -18C in central Beijing, the conditions on the streets become life-threatening, particularly for the elderly petitioners Safety: This makeshift camp is the only protection one petitioner has against the outside world. Human rights groups have a long history of accusing Chinese authorities of abusing petitioners Warmth: Many of the petitioners fill their days with collecting rubbish from the streets to use as fuel for their fires - vital if they are going to survive the freezing nighttime temperatures Surviving the cold nights is not the only problem people like Mr Zhang and Ms Huang have to deal with. Human rights groups have a long history of accusing Chinese authorities of abusing petitioners. Such people are often poor, uneducated and rural working class, with little understanding of the countrys legal system. Authorities have been accused of detaining them in so-called black jails: secret detention centres where torture is allegedly rife. William Nee, China researcher for Amnesty International, said: Petitioning is a legal process in China, yet some local governments still go to great lengths to "retrieve" their petitioners from Beijing and use extra-legal [illegal] means to detain petitioners, such as putting them under surveillance or putting them in "legal education centres". Chinese authorities should try to ensure that petitioners legal rights to petition are respected, and that they can freely express their views on the internet and access legal services. Petitioner Ms Huang claims that she has been on the receiving end of bullying and detainment from Beijing authorities including police. She says she was held for 30 days on what she calls an 'excuse' charge of starting a fire. She also claims she has seen officials beat petitioners and has had her ID card confiscated. Possessions: The tucked away shelters where the petitioners make their homes are full of objects they have found on the streets, in the hope of making their shelters more comfortable She explained that she would not want to stay in a shelter for the homeless long-term, even if she could. When officials come to those places they beat and scold people [petitioners] or drop them off far from where they need to be after picking them up, she said. But still Ms Huang, who is a former maintenance worker, stays firm. As the length of time she has remained in Beijing petitioning suggests, she has an unbreakable spirit and sense of optimism despite her alleged mistreatment and the citys ruthless winters. I will continue to petition for as long as I can, she said. And if it doesnt work I will do some self-studying and get a lawyer certificate. Thrashing around in the blood of their family members and slaughtered by 'wealthy' hunters - this is the fate of thousands of pilot whales and dolphins in Japan's infamous killing cove every year. The blood of these highly intelligent and social mammals turns the water in the Taiji cove red as fishermen kill them or snatch the 'prettiest' from their natural habitat so they can be sold into captivity. Disturbing footage filmed during the current hunting season shows a large pod of pilot whales being lured to their slow and painful deaths. Scroll down for video Captive: The pilot whales are rounded up by the hunters in Taiji cove before the 'prettiest' are selected to be sold into captivity and the rest are either slaughtered or are released, but are unlikely to survive on their own Hunted: Ropes are tied around the tails of these gentle giants, shown in this picture released by Sea Shepherd The video was filmed by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the organisation which laid the foundation for the making of the Oscar-winning dolphin-hunting documentary The Cove. Captain Paul Watson, the group's founder, told MailOnline: 'The boats go out early in the morning and once they find a pod they drive them in to an area called the cove. 'They keep them in there for a few hours, sometimes even a day.' Captain Watson said the 'prettiest' creatures - the ones with the least visible scars - are selected and the rest are butchered with knives or spears, or are drowned. 'They tie a rope to their tail and then pull them underwater,' he said, explaining it can take 15 minutes for the dolphin or whale to drown. He said the fishermen responsible for the killings are wealthy, judging by the expensive vehicles in the nearby car parks. Plugs are sometimes placed in their blow holes so the blood from their lungs does not turn the water around them red. Slaughtered: The pod of whales was killed off over a number of days in Taiji - Japan's infamous killing cove Distressing: One whale, which is believed to have a metal rod stabbed through its spinal cord, escapes but is then recaptured by the hunters. It's blood turns the water red as it dies in the cove Gruesome: The water in the cove turns red with the blood of the animals being slaughtered there (stock image) The most attractive dolphins and whales are then sold on into captivity for around 140,000 each, or the meat ends up on dinner plates, Captain Watson claims. 'They sell the meat on the market, but the meat market is a secondary thing,' he added. 'That is diminishing. Now it's being fed to prisoners in prison.' Officials and fishermen in Taiji have defended the hunt as traditional, saying that eating dolphin is no different than eating beef or chicken, despite the fact it contains mercury. In one of the organisation's videos filmed during this season - which runs from September until the end of February - a pod of pilot whales was held in the cove without food or water for three days. Some 70 pilot whales - among the largest of the oceanic dolphins - fought for freedom and were first split into two groups before spending days calling out to each other across the cove. On the second day, the selection and slaughter process began while the protective matriarch of the pod was tied up to keep her from interfering with the killings. After three hours, 11 were dead and one had been chosen for captivity and taken to a pen. Founder: Captain Paul Watson, who established Sea Shepherd, says he still gets angry every time he sees the highly intelligent and social mammals slaughtered in the cove Recaptured: The pilot whale which managed to escape was dragged through the water and back to the boats. It's tail was tied to the side of a vessel Slow death: The pilot whale thrashes around, unable to lift its head above the water, before drowning JAPAN'S INFAMOUS KILLING COVE The hunting season in Taiji, a small town in south-eastern Japan, starts in Septembers and runs for six months through to the end of February. Hunters request a permit to hunt the dolphins in the cove and the governor of the Wakayama Prefecture is responsible for issuing it. Most of the dolphins and small whales captured are killed and their meat is sold for human consumption, despite scientists warning it contains high levels of mercury. The numbers captured has risen substantially in recent years, due to the growing international demand from marine parks. Source: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Advertisement The remaining members of the pod huddled together through the night and over the course of them had been killed. The next morning, Sea Shepherd 'guardians' saw the bodies of several pilot whales which are believed to have drowned. It was then the camera captured the most disturbing scenes - one whale, which appeared to have a metal rod stabbed through its spinal cord, broke away in an attempt to escape. It was dragged through the water and back to the boats by a hunter in a wet suit. It's tail was tied to the side of a vessel so it was unable to lift its head above the water and it was left to drown. On the final day, a further 14 were killed, bringing the hit list to 46 members of the same pod. The remainder - small whales which would not produce much meat - were released but were unlikely to survive on their own. Captain Watson added: 'After years and years of doing this, it always does make me angry and it's frustrating. 'We thought The Cove [documentary] would have an impact, but the Japanese ignored it. It's been a frustrating campaign.' The film's star, Ric O'Barry was deported to the U.S. on Friday after Tokyo airport officials barred his entry. Sociable: These highly intelligent pilot whales are killed for their meat and are sold into captivity. Protests will be held around the world on Saturday to highlight the link between the cove and captivity (stock image) The 76-year-old had been held in a detention facility at Narita airport since he landed on January 18. He and his lawyer said officials accused him of lying during his past visits to Japan. He denies that, and said he is a tourist who came for dolphin watching. O'Barry, who heads the Dolphin Project, which aims to peacefully protect dolphins worldwide, said he was determined to come back to Japan and keep fighting to save the mammals by working with the Japanese people. On Saturday, Sea Shepherd will orchestrate demonstrations around the world to highlight the link between captivity and Taiji cove. Urban explorers are an international community of anonymous artists who seek out abandoned structures The teacher's specialist subject is evident as a frogs, animal hearts and snake eggs sit preserved in glass jars The classroom is a frozen in time as children's desks, textbooks and blackboard chalk remain intact and untouched Socialist propaganda and iconography was found hidden inside leather-bound folders in the basement and attic The New Zealand urban explorer photographer traveled through sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period Village sources told the explorers that the school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Advertisement An International urban explorer has shared his stunning photographs of a Soviet-era biology classroom in Bulgaria - complete with jars filled with various body parts of dead animals - frozen in time. The images, taken by an anonymous New Zealand photographer known as 'Gunner', show the classroom as it used to be in the country's communist era, with long-abandoned children's desks, science textbooks and blackboard chalk. 'I was kindly hosted by fellow explorer photographers in Bulgaria who took me to sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period over the course of two weeks, including the abandoned classroom,' Gunner told Daily Mail Australia. Frozen in time: Frogs, animal hearts and snake eggs sit preserved in dusty glass jars by the classroom's window Bird taxidermy: New Zealand urban-explorer photographer traveled through sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period Abandoned: Village sources told the explorers that the Bulgarian school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 An old Bulgarian world map is found among other teaching aids inside the abandoned classroom Animal biology: Gunner said he delighted in bringing each one out of its cupboard, staging it in the window and watching daylight shine through tinted alcohol' An old gas mask is found in a dark cupboard in the abandoned Bulgarian classroom Mushrooms: Fungi are preserved and used as a teaching display in the abandoned Bulgarian classroom Gunner is part of an international community of anonymous artists who explore and document abandoned man-made structures. 'When we see a sign that says Danger: Do Not Enter, we understand that this is simply a shorthand way of saying leaving protected zone: demonstrate personal accountability beyond this point.' Village sources told the explorers that the Bulgarian school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Frogs, snails, snake eggs, and animal hearts sit in preserved glass jars and act as clues as to what the classroom's specialist subject was. 'We delighted in bringing each one out of its cupboard, staging it in the window and watching daylight shine through tinted alcohol. Their fragility made me happy to have documented them before they vanished to demolition, vandalism or macabre theft,' Gunner said. A Bulgarian historian who has explored other abandoned schools told Gunner to look for socialist iconography hidden in the basements and attics. 'According to the historian, teachers at this Bulgarian school were told to destroy all artifacts relating to the Soviet era, instead they stowed images of Lenin, the communist flag and other left-leaning iconography in the basement and in the attic.' Gunner said there is a myth perpetrated in newspapers that explorers feel the environments 'as haunting, eerie, ghostly, but in reality, they are just exotic and stimulating landscapes in which to make visual art.' 'Leaving the classroom I felt a mixture of emotions, somber at the way Bulgarian society was visited by suffering and division both under fascism and socialism. 'Fascinated by the opportunity to document a slice of that history, and determined as an outsider to make no comment about preservation, restoration and heritage: Bulgaria's culture is Bulgaria's business,' Gunner said. Human anatomy: A lifesize plastic model of a human torso was found in a room - sitting on top of a communist flag Gunner claims in 1987, the teachers at this Bulgarian school were told to destroy all artifacts relating to the Soviet era Gunner said he found socialist iconography hidden inside folders in the classroom cupboards, attic and basement Rabbit anatomy: A model shows how children would be taught about the biological make-up Artifacts: Bottles of mysterious powder remain inside the classroom and are labeled in Bulgarian Cobwebbed poster: 'Socialist iconography was hidden inside folders in the classroom and attic and basement' Apothecary: Lotions and potions used for experiments inside the classroom remain intact since the early 1990s Biology: Dusty models of human torsos where also discovered inside the school Experiments: Frogs and snails remain were found in test tubes. Photographer Gunner believes 'this teacher wanted her or his students to know their world and themselves' NYPD Officer Peter Liang cried on the stand as he recalled the deadly shooting of unarmed Akai Gurley in a poorly lit stairwell of public housing The rookie NYPD Officer Peter Liang who gunned down an unarmed man in a poorly lit stairwell of public housing broke down on the stand Monday as he recalled the deadly shooting. When he fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. He followed the sound down three flights and saw a man lying wounded and a distraught woman bending over him, Liang said Monday at his manslaughter trial in the 2014 death of Akai Gurley, who was shot in a stairwell in Brooklyn public housing. 'I said, 'Oh, my God, someone's hit,'' Liang recalled as he gave an emotional testimony. He took a brief break from the witness stand to compose himself after turning away to hide his tears. Liang said he fired unintentionally after a noise startled him while he was patrolling with his gun drawn, his finger on the weapon's side. 'I just turned, and the gun went off,' Liang said, explaining that his body 'tensed up'. His lawyers say the shooting was an accident, not a crime. But prosecutors and Gurley's loved ones say Liang handled his weapon recklessly and did nearly nothing to help Gurley after realizing the bullet had hit someone. Sylvia Palmer, mother of Akai Gurley, speaks outside state Supreme Court in Brooklyn after hearing NYPD Officer Peter Liang testify about Gurley's 2014 death in a housing project stairwell Gurley, 28, and his girlfriend were taking the stairs rather than having to wait for an elevator when the bullet ricocheted off a wall. 'Peter Liang walked away and left Akai to die in his own blood,' Gurley's mother, Sylvia Palmer, said outside court after hearing the officer give an account she felt showed no remorse. Saying he beamed his flashlight and saw no one after firing, Liang acknowledged that he didn't immediately report the shot. Fearing he would lose his job, he bickered with his partner about which one would phone their sergeant privately rather than radioing in a report Liang said he felt would bring an 'unnecessary' response and pull other officers from their posts. Akai Gurley, 28 (pictured), was unarmed when he was shoot and killed by an NYPD officer in 2014. He was the father of a two-year-old girl Once he did find Gurley, the father of a two-year-old, Liang radioed for an ambulance for a shooting victim, so shaken that he said he struggled to relay the address, he said. 'I was panicking. I was shocked and in disbelief that someone was hit,' said Liang, 28. Meanwhile, Gurley's girlfriend, Melissa Butler, tried to resuscitate Gurley, following instructions called out by a neighbor who was on the phone with a 911 operator. Yet Liang did not try to help, though he said he saw that Gurley appeared to be seriously injured, with his eyes rolled back. Liang said he felt it better to wait, instead, for professional help. While his police training included CPR, he said instructors had given cadets most of the answers to pass the required test, echoing a testimony his partner gave last week. The New York Police Department declined to comment on the allegation, citing the ongoing trial. 'Between you and Melissa Butler, who do you think was in a better position to provide CPR?' Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Joe Alexis asked Liang. 'I didn't know if I could do it better,' Liang said, noting he didn't know what training Butler might have. Kenneth Palmer, stepfather of Akai Gurley, speaks outside state Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Lawyers for Liang say the evidence doesn't meet legal requirements for the charges, which accuse him of disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk of serious injury or death, and have asked the judge to dismiss the case Advocates for police accountability are watching Liang's trial closely. They see it as a counterpoint to cases in which grand juries declined to indict white police officers in the killings of unarmed black men, including Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Liang is Chinese-American. Gurley was black. Liang's testimony came four days after two other New York City officers were shot and wounded while on stairwell patrol in a different public housing complex. Officers Patrick Espeut and Diara Cruz were wounded by a gunman who later killed himself. The judge has barred any mention of those shootings in Liang's trial. Liang faces manslaughter and other charges. Palmer dismissed Liang's claim the shooting was an accident, saying it was murder. Staring ahead vacantly as he tries to blend into the commuter crowd, this is an 'exhausted'-looking Shrien Dewani on a rare public outing after being cleared of murdering his wife on their honeymoon. The millionaire businessman, dressed in a tracksuit and trainers, was spotted on the London Underground as he made his way home on Friday afternoon. It is one of only a handful of occasions that the 36-year-old has been seen publicly since returning to Britain following the collapse of his trial. Staring ahead vacantly as he tries to blend into the commuter crowd, this is an 'exhausted'-looking Shrien Dewani on a rare public outing after being cleared of murdering his wife on their honeymoon Onlookers said it appeared as though Mr Dewani, who they described as looking 'exhausted', had been working out and was carrying a gym bag. They said he avoided eye-contact and shifted nervously in his seat on the train. Since Mr Dewanis return to England in August last year he has kept a low profile, rarely straying far from the family home near Bristol. The care home owner was dramatically cleared in December 2014 of orchestrating his wife Anni's murder while they were on their honeymoon in Cape Town. The couple were driving through the outskirts of the city in 2010 when Anni was shot. She was found in a taxi the next morning with a gunshot wound to the neck. Prosecutors alleged Mr Dewani had organised the car-jacking in the crime-ridden suburb. He then fought a three-and-a-half-year battle against extradition to South Africa, with his lawyers insisting he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The care home owner (pictured left with his late wife) was dramatically cleared in December 2014 of orchestrating the murder if Anni (right) while they were on their honeymoon in Cape Town five years ago The eventual trial was halted before the defence had even begun its case, meaning Mr Dewani (pictured in the dock during his trial) never took the stand But, following years of legal wrangling, the eventual trial was halted before the defence had even begun its case, meaning Mr Dewani never took the stand. Judge Jeanette Traverso threw out the case against him, saying it was based on the witness testimony of a 'self-confessed liar' who 'does not know where the truth ends and a lie begins'. One of the main planks of the case against him had been the evidence of Mr Dewani's secret liaisons with gay prostitutes, including one called Leopold Leisser, who was allegedly told by the businessman that he wanted to find 'a way out' of the marriage. However, much of what Leisser - also known as the German Master - had been prepared to testify about in court was thrown out by Judge Traverso for being 'irrelevant' to the case. Kirk Nesset, 58, was sentenced to six years and four months in federal prison for his massive child pornography collection, a federal judge said Monday An award-winning contemporary literature professor was sentenced to six years and four months in federal prison for his massive child pornography collection that topped a half million images, a federal judge said on Monday. Kirk Nesset's sentencing also included 10 years of supervised release after he serves his time. The 58-year-old resigned from Allegheny College in Meadville after he was arrested in October 2014 and pleaded guilty last year to possessing, receiving and sharing child pornography. Nesset has anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and is bi-polar and, 'for Kirk, obsessive collecting was more important than viewing,' defense attorneys Meagan Temple and Michael Bruzzese wrote in a pre-sentencing memo filed last week. The defense attorneys contend Nesset sought mental health treatment for years, but because his therapist would have had to report the child pornography addiction to authorities, Nesset did not disclose it. As a result, his symptoms were treated but not their underlying cause and defense attorneys argued he deserved mercy because he has actively sought treatment since his arrest. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold contended Nesset's collection of 540,000 child porn movies and images including infant rapes many cataloged into specific computer folders to denote their type warranted harsh punishment. 'Nesset possessed numerous movies and images depicting babies and toddlers subjected to horrific acts of sexual abuse,' Trabold wrote. Nesset told authorities he used the materials to find 'solace' and to 'release steam,' Trabold wrote. Nesset - who resigned from Allegheny College after he was arrested in October 2014 and pleaded guilty last year to possessing, receiving and sharing child pornography - was also sentenced to 10 years probation However, Nesset had a keen interest in pornography involving infants and toddlers, otherwise he 'would have deleted this abhorrent material and not saved it in labeled folders,' Trabold wrote. 'The consequences of his unwavering decision to distribute, receive and possess child pornography pale in comparison to the horrible toll suffered by the child victims whose abuse enthralled Nesset for so long.' The judge also awarded $78,900 total in restitution to four child porn victims who had previously filed complaints. Nesset won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 2007 for a collection of short stories called Paradise Road. The award is given annually by the University of Pittsburgh Press and includes a $15,000 cash prize. Nesset listed physical addresses in Prescott, Arizona, and Meadville, when an FBI agent in Arizona traced two movies to Nesset's computer address in August 2014. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said Nesset (pictured left) possessed numerous movies and images, a collection of 540,000, depicting babies and toddlers subjected to horrific acts of sexual abuse The movies showed girls who appeared to be eight years old having sex with men. A Pennsylvania state trooper in September continued the investigation and found another movie featuring a naked six-year-old girl, the complaint said. Armed with that information, the FBI searched Nesset's Meadville home in October 2014 and seized an external computer hard drive. Daniel Seth Franey, 33, of Montesano, Washington has been charged with illegally A U.S. Army deserter who called Osama bin Laden 'a beautiful man,' made pro-Islamic State statements and called for the death of American troops has been arrested on weapons charges, federal prosecutors said. Daniel Seth Franey, 33, of Montesano, Washington was banned from having guns because he was subject to a protection order taken out by his former partner in 2014. However, he nevertheless joined an undercover agent in making what he believed were black-market gun deliveries, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. Scroll down for video U.S. Army deserter Daniel Seth Franey, 33, of Montesano, Washington pictured in a court sketch. Franey, who made pro-Islamic State statements was arrested on weapons charges, federal prosecutors said on Monday Franey, who allegedly said he considered himself an ISIS soldier and called for the death of American troops, has been charged with illegally possessing firearms. Above a member of ISIS is pictured in Raqqa in 2014 At one point, he fired an AK-47 at a remote campground with the agent, the complaint said. Franey was arrested without incident on Saturday as agents served a 'no-knock' search warrant at his home. An affidavit filed in support of the warrant alleged that he had behaved increasingly erratically in recent weeks. He was seen driving slowly in a parking lot at the non-operational Satsop Nuclear Power Plant; his visits to the homes of two neighbors prompted calls to 911; he made apparent references to attacking a nearby campground that's only open to military members, retirees and their families; and he told the undercover agent on January 29, 'I do really wanna kill agents,' the affidavit said. 'Franey has repeatedly stated that he wants to attack, fight and kill law enforcement officers if and when they made entry into his residence,' the agent wrote in asking for the warrant. 'Although we believe Franey does not currently possess any firearms, this is by no means a certainty.' The investigation began last year, after several people complained to law enforcement that Franey was making pro-Islamic State statements, an agent with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force wrote. Franey is also said to have described Osama bin Laden (pictured) as 'a beautiful man' and 'a diamond.' An investigation began last year, after several people complained to law enforcement that he was making pro-Islamic State statements, authorities said One person said Franey tried to buy his or her AK-47 and insisted that the person should fly an IS flag at home a confrontation that ended only after the person grabbed a shotgun and called police, the documents said. At one point, Franey allegedly told the undercover FBI agent that he considered himself an ISIS soldier 'as much as the brothers over there,' according to ABC News. He also is said to have described Osama bin Laden as a 'diamond' and called ISIS 'the best people on Earth,' according to the FBI. Franey made an initial court appearance on Monday and was ordered detained pending further proceedings, Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said. He faces five counts of unlawful gun possession but no terrorism charges. He was represented by a public defender who did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Following the complaints about Franey, the undercover agent posed as a black-market gun dealer, and Franey joined him on trips as a 'lookout' who was paid a few hundred dollars for his services, charging papers said. In recorded conversations, he made reference to possibly attacking soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and traveling overseas to join the radical militants. In recorded conversations with the undercover agent, Franey made reference to possibly attacking soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and traveling overseas to join the radical militants However, he variously said he did not want to kill anyone and that he only wanted a gun to have at home for protection from law enforcement, the court papers said. He also reportedly said the trip to the campground near Naches, northwest of Yakima, was the first time he had fired a gun in about six years. The gun possession charges stem from his handling of weapons on the gun-delivery trips, including to eastern Washington and California, which were set up by the agent and involved other undercover officers, the charging documents say. Franey constantly asked the agent to procure guns for him, without success, authorities said. 'This defendant possessed firearms, including machine guns, even though he knew he was prohibited from doing so,' Seattle U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said. 'He also discussed attacking members of the military and law enforcement.' Franey served in the Army from 2002 to 2008 and was stationed in Texas and South Korea, the complaint said, adding that he told various people including an undercover officer that he had deserted military, and that Department of Defense records corroborated that. He had been living in western Washington for roughly three years, sometimes finding work as a commercial fisherman in Westport, the complaint said. He has a partner and two young children, as well as children with another woman, who obtained a permanent protection order against him in Lake County, Illinois, in 2014. Terrified passengers had to jump off a plane's wings during an emergency landing in Arizona after the aircraft's cabin filled with smoke. United Airlines flight 6517 had just taken off from Tucson International Airport on Sunday morning when a strong chemical odor and thick smoke swept through the plane. People on board the Los Angeles-bound plane noticed something was wrong almost immediately after the plane left the ground and parents were forced to cover babies' faces with blankets because of the acrid fumes. Scroll down for video Terrified passengers had to jump off a plane's wings during an emergency landing in Arizona after the aircraft's cabin filled with smoke. Pictured, shaky footage taken from the runway by a passenger Passenger Tiffany Lizares covered her baby's head with a blanket after smelling a strong chemical odor Jessica Scott described the cabin as 'completely filled with smoke' before people started screaming that there was a fire on board Passengers described chaotic scenes as people rushed to the exits of the Bombardier CRJ plane after landing, with some forced to jump off its wings as they ran to safety. Tiffany Lizares told KGUN9-TV that she initially thought the man sitting in front of her was smoking before realizing the fumes were coming from the plane. 'We could smell a strong chemical burning odor,' she said. 'I was too concerned with my daughter that I had put a blanket over her head because for a newborn the smell was just too strong. 'We were so scared that I actually at the door handed my baby to my husband and told him to run because he's a faster runner than I am,' the panicked mother said. Her husband, Rylan Lizares, said: 'Luckily I ran out to the left, which had a exit ramp. The other passengers who went to the right or over the wings had to jump out of the plane, so it was about a six foot drop.' Fellow passenger Jessica Scott described the cabin as 'completely filled with smoke' before people started screaming that there was a fire on board. Ryan Lizares grabbed his baby and ran as fast as he could after the smoke-filled plane landed back in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday morning The United Airlines (file picture) plane that made the emergency landing was operated by SkyWest Airlines None of the 73 passengers and four crew members were injured and all on board quickly escaped the aircraft as emergency vehicles met it on the runway. The flight, which was operated by SkyWest Airlines, took off shortly after 6am on Sunday but was back on the tarmac less than 30 minutes later. No fire was found on board and the Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating what caused the smoke. SkyWest Airlines claimed the smell was caused by the plane's air conditioning and that there was not a fire. A spokeswoman for SkyWest Airlines said: 'SkyWest flight 6517, operating as United Express from Tucson to Los Angeles on Sunday, returned to Tucson shortly after departure due to reported smoke in the cabin. 'After landing, the crew expedited deplaning and all 73 passengers and four crew safely deplaned. There were no injuries. 'Mechanical inspection determined no evidence of fire and that the smell was caused by an air conditioning unit. 'We added another flight to help customers resume their travels to Los Angeles as quickly as possible.' United Airlines declined to comment. 56 companies were graded on their efforts to mitigate risk of forced labour They are unable to trace the raw materials and minerals of their products The most valuable companies failed to identify their suppliers Some of the most profitable tech companies in the world have failed to identify their suppliers and trace where their products' raw materials are sourced from, leading to a higher risk of slave-like labour and exploitation. The 2016 Electronics Industry Trends report released on Tuesday by Baptist World Aid claims the electronics industry has failed to make sufficient progress in implementing steps to protect workers. Brands such as Thermomix, Hisense, NutriBullet and GoPro have all been named in the recent report as companies that do not have robust enough labour rights management systems in place to ensure that they're not partaking in forced labour. Scroll down for video An undercover BBC investigation last year showed Apple workers falling asleep on their 12 hour shifts Apple has since earned a B+ grade on the report and claims to be more transparent about their supply chains 'Given how prevalent the problem is in supply chains, it is highly likely that they're engaging in these practices and that their products will have been touched by exploited hands at some stage,' Gershon Nimbalker, the advocacy manager at Baptist World Aid told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's a problem for the entire industry.' The 56 companies were surveyed with 61 questions and graded from A to F on their practices and policies to mitigate the risk of forced labour, child labour and exploitation. This grading reflects the levels of visibility and transparency these companies have across their supply chain. But some of the world's most popular tech companies, such as Thermomix, Hisense, NutriBullet and GoPro, scored an abysmal D-, indicating a failure to trace where their products' components are sourced from. 'Most exploitation happens in the mines - the deeper the supply chain goes, the worse the exploitation is - and it's more likely the grievous forms of exploitation are occurring, Mr Nimbalker said. At the mining level, we've heard consistent stories of forced labour with hazardous tin mining and mud mines where there would be collapses and people would be buried - these are horrific conditions to be working in for workers much less children.' Exhausted workers in Chinese factories can work up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week Popular electronic brands such as NutriBullet (left) and GoPro (right) received a D- on a scale from A to F Thermomix was also named as one company who may be unwittingly partaking in forced labour practices According to Mr Nimbalker, the 'most concerning findings of our report was that while the majority of companies knew their final stage of manufacturing, when we went deeper into supply chain in terms of where components were manufactured and mineral materials processed, the knowledge was really weak.' 'Only 11% of companies had fully traced their components of smelters. 'Intel was the only company that did but no company had fully traced their supply chains,' he said. While 64% of companies showed some improvement since the reports release in 2014, not a single company had managed to improve its practices and policies enough to earn an A grade. The median grade for the 2016 report was C suggesting workers remain overworked and underpaid working long shifts with no overtime pay, little rest and wages so low families struggle to make ends meet. Mr Nimbalker said this lack of a living wage was a 'top concern' as it meant workers still would not be able to afford the basics food, water, shelter and electricity. The report shows the majority of companies the report assessed are working to trace their supply chains in most cases, to prevent the sourcing of conflict materials which are emanated from places where an internationally recognised conflict is occurring like the Democratic Republic of Congo. Apple under fire for their poor factory conditions: Protesters gather outside an Apple store during the launch of the new iPhone The landscape behind the informal garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh demonstrate the abysmal conditions factory workers endure all over the world However, companies who responded to the survey, such as Asus, Fujitsu, Dick Smith Electronics and TomTom, were unable to trace the initial and middle stages of production - extraction, smelting and components - where exploitation occurs the most. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the companies for comment. Despite Apple being awarded a high B+ grade, Mr Nimbalker said that there are still reported cases of worker exploitation in the Apple supply chain. 'Incidences like the highlighting of suicide nets or intense working hours have spurred companies like Apple to be a lot more transparent. 'While Apple has a long way to go to completely tracing raw materials and minerals and paying workers a decent living wage, they're doing more than other companies in the electronic industry,' he said. The lack of a living wage was a 'top concern' as it meant workers still would not be able to afford the basics An informal garment factory located on the outskirts of the centre of Dhaka in Bangladesh An Apple spokeswoman said the company has been working with peers and stakeholders to implement and improve an industry wide standard by expanding traceability to the mine site. 'As of 2015, Apple has more than doubled the number of verified smelters in our supply chain and following our last audit, underage labor now accounts for 0.001 percent of the total work population audited in our supply chain. 'Although this number is low, even one case of underage labor is unacceptable. So we wont stop until it is eliminated from our supply chain entirely,' she said. According to Mr Nimbalker, the fashion industry has seen significant improvements, particularly Cotton On, Kmart and David Jones. Young garment workers are forced to eat, shower and sleep inside factories in Bangladesh due to their workload 'We really hope that consumers and investors take away from our report that they can vote with their wallet and preference companies that do more for workers. 'Call on brands to continue to ensure that they arent being exploited in the production of the technology that we all enjoy,' he said. Other companies such as Hisense Australia were non-responsive to the survey, received an F grade and declined Daily Mail Australia's request for comment. The holy grail for bionics researchers has got a step closer after Melbourne researchers designed a revolutionary bionic spine. New research carried out at the Royal Melbourne hospital in Victoria hopes to help those who have been left paralysed by injury or illness by using a device that is just 3cm long and a few millimetres wide. The Guardian reports that the device will be implanted into the blood vessels leading into the brain until it rests on the part of the brain where nerve impulses control muscle movement. Electrodes on the miniscule device will detect signals from here and send them to another small device implanted in the patients shoulder. This device will translate the signals into commands, which will be fed to bionic limbs to instruct them to move. Scroll down for video Dr Nicholas Opie holds a stent-based electrode which can be implanted in a blood vessel near the brain of people with spinal injuries Electrodes on the miniscule device will detect signals from the brain and these are sent to another device implanted in the patients shoulder It basically sends these commands wirelessly to an exoskeleton - or to a wheelchair. Professor Terry OBrien, the head of medicine in Royal Melbourne hospital's neurology department said the development of the bionic spine was the 'holy grail' and that it was a major breakthrough. 'Calling it the bionic spine is a bit of a catchphrase. It's a device that's implanted in a blood vessel that can be implanted non-invasively - it does not require require neurosurgery,' Professor OBrien told Daily Mail Australia. 'This blood vessel overlies the motor cortex in the brain and the device can then record the neural signals that are associated with wanting to move. 'The problem with someone who is paralysed is that they still have these signals in the brain but they can't be transmitted to the limbs because they have a spinal cord injury. What this allows you to do is to bypass this, which is why it's been called the bionic spine. The new device is just 3cm long and a few millimetres wide The device will translate the signals into commands, which will be fed to bionic limbs like an exo-skeleton (pictured) to instruct them to move The device, which is implanted within a blood vessel in the brain, does the job of sending signals from the brain to the spinal cord 'It bypasses the break in transmission between the brain and the limbs. It'll then potentially allow these brain intentions to be translated into movement using an exo-skeleton or even a powered wheel chair. 'Anything that would involve cerebral input would benefit from this device.' Dr O'Brien said that there has been work done before on 'brain computer interfaces', which is about reading neural signals and translating them into movement. But all of the previous approaches involved implanting a device invasively directly into the brain using neuro-surgery. 'The great breakthrough here is the fact that the device is implanted non-invasively. It doesn't require an operation into the brain, so it doesn't have these complications,' Professor O'Brien said. The 'revolutionary' device implanted in a brain blood vessel may one day enable people with spinal cord injuries to walk again All of the previous approaches involved implanting a device invasively directly into the brain using neuro-surgery, but the new device (pictured) is implanted into the blood vessels leading into the brain The research is only in its infancy they hoped to implant a small, three patient, first human trial towards the end of 2017 'Also over time the brain rejects these invasive devices, but because this one is encased in a blood vessel it doesn't deteriorate over time so it has some great practical advantages.' Melbourne University biomedical engineer Nicholas Opie designed the metal stent, and said that although the research is only in its infancy they hoped to implant a small, three patient, first human trial towards the end of 2017. 'Following this, we will be performing a large global clinical trial in order to obtain FDA and TGA approval to use this device for clinical application. We hope this will be achieved by 2020-2022,' he told Daily Mail Australia. The device can be implanted non-invasively - it does not require require neurosurgery Australia's biggest Islamic School has been stripped of millions of dollars in government funding following allegations that its money was not being used just for education. Malek Fahd Islamic School in Greenacre, south-west of Sydney, which has more than 2,400 students, could be forced to close its gates after the Federal Government said it would withdraw up to $19 million funding. On Monday, the Department of Education issued a notice to the Islamic institution - revoking its Commonwealth funding - with the move placing hundreds of teaching jobs on the line. Education Minister Simon Birmingham said that the funding will be axed as of April 8 after the school had failed to address how the money was being spent, as required under the Education Act. Sydney-based Malek Fahd Islamic School (pictured) has been stripped of $19 million in federal funding following allegations the money was not being used only on education Education Minister Simon Birmingham (pictured) said the funding will be axed as of April 8 after the school had failed to address how the money was being spent, as required under the Education Act The revocation comes after a review into six schools authorities affiliated with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) after concerns were raised about their financial management and governance. 'I am committed to ensuring that all school authorities meet the requirements to ensure that our taxpayer dollars and any private investment by parents is being spent to benefit Australian students,' Mr Birmingham said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia. 'Unfortunately, the authority that operates Malek Fahd Islamic School was not able to demonstrate to my department that they had addressed the significant concerns about their financial management and governance arrangements raised during the formal compliance review of their operation. 'Last year, the department issued a formal compliance notice when it found that the school authority was not complying with fundamental governance, financial and accountability requirements of the Australian Education Act 2013. 'After carefully considering the response to the issues raised in the compliance notice, my department had to make the difficult decision to revoke the funding approval. 'My department will work with New South Wales school authorities to help ensure students and families that are impacted by this decision receive the appropriate support.' More than 2,400 students, who are enrolled at the Sydney's Islamic school could be left stranded The federal government has withdrawn millions of dollars in funding for Australia's largest Islamic school More than 2,400 students are believed to be enrolled at the school in Sydney's south-west (stock picture) The school received about $19 million in funding from the Federal Government in the past year (stock picture) A NSW Department of Education spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that they are continuing to work with the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training. 'Due to ongoing litigation, it is inappropriate for the Department to provide further comment,' the spokesperson said. NSW and ACT secretary of the Independent Education Union John Quessy told ABC News the school could face closure following the revocation. 'We'll need to seek a meeting with the school to find out will they still be operating,' Mr Quessy said. 'It's quite a dramatic move, recurrent funding is usually used to pay teacher and staff wages. 'Malek Fahd is quite a big school, we're talking about hundreds of jobs.' NSW and ACT secretary of the Independent Education Union John Quessy said the school could face closure following the revocation (stock picture) A NSW Department of Education spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that they will continue to work the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training on these matters (stock picture) The Department of Education and Training said the Act requires all school authorities operating on a not-for-profit basis, to be 'fit and proper' and 'ensure that funding provided is used only for school education'. A statement from the Federal Department of Education said it was continuing its compliance assessment of five other school authorities affiliated with AFIC. The schools include the Islamic College of Brisbane, the Islamic College of Melbourne, the Islamic College of South Australia, the Islamic School of Canberra and Langford Islamic College, in Western Australia. 'Concerned parents of students at Malek Fahd Islamic School should contact the school for further information,' the department said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia. Inmate Steven Lawrence Wright was mistakenly released from jail on January 30, but was captured in Nevada on Monday A murder suspect who was mistakenly released from a Los Angeles jail last month was recaptured Monday in Nevada. Steven Lawrence Wright, 37, was unarmed when Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives found him. There was no indication that he committed any crimes while he was on the run for nine days, according to Cmdr Keith Swensson. Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives learned earlier in the day that Wright might be hiding in a Boulder City hotel and asked for help from the FBI and local police departments. He was arrested without incident. Swensson said a man and a woman were also arrested at the hotel on charges of aiding and abetting, but he did not immediately have details about how they know Wright. He declined to say what led detectives to the hotel where Wright was found, though he did say a $20,000 reward generated a lot of tips from the public. Authorities do not plan to file any additional charges against Wright, who will be held in Nevada pending an extradition hearing. 'It's not like it's really an escape. It's our mistake,' said Sgt. Tim Duerr, a longtime investigator in the Major Crimes Bureau, which was tasked with finding Wright. Besides, he said, Wright already faces life in prison if convicted of the charges that put him behind bars. 'Really, what's he going to get' with a new charge, Duerr said. 'He's facing other charges more detrimental to him than anything we can do to him now.' Investigators had been scrambling to recapture Wright since his release from the Inmate Reception Center (pictured) in Los Angeles on January 30 and had been notifying potential targets he might seek Duerr declined to detail what Wright had been up to the nine days he was a free man again. 'I guess he had time to watch the Super Bowl,' Duerr said. Investigators had been scrambling to recapture Wright since his release from the Inmate Reception Center in Los Angeles on January 30 and had been notifying potential targets he might seek, interviewing those who know him best, and chasing down tips from the public. Deputies didn't realize the mistake until more than 24 hours after the release, when they launched their manhunt. A court clerk incorrectly wrote down the case number of Wright's murder charge next to details of his sentence, officials said. The clerk did write the correct information on the second page of Wright's paperwork, but three sheriff's staff members missed it. Wright had been behind bars since April 2011 following his arrest in the shooting death of a 47-year-old man the same year in Pasadena. At the time, police said Wright belonged to the Altadena Blocc Crips, and the victim belonged to a rival gang. Wright was 32 at the time of his arrest in 2011 when he had been found guilty of killing a 47-year-old man in Pasadena. Pictured is the 'wanted' bulletin the LA County Sheriff's Department released a week ago Wright had been found guilty of the killing in 2014 but his conviction was overturned last year after a judge found the trial wasn't fair. Wright was set for a preliminary hearing in a new trial next month, when he also was set to be sentenced for an attempted murder conviction. The sheriff's department is conducting a review to prevent future accidental releases. Swensson said the sheriff's department is working with the court to automate their systems. Currently, 42 different courts send information about inmates to the sheriff's department in handwritten paperwork, Swensson said. Union members may be allowed to vote for strike action by text message or email despite warnings that the system is vulnerable to fraud. Ministers are considering the concession in a climbdown to prevent flagship plans to rein in unions from being killed off in the House of Lords. The move was revealed in a leaked letter from business minister Nick Boles in which he warned that the main provisions of the Trade Union Bill will be defeated if we do not make some move towards accepting the possibility of electronic balloting. Protesters outside St Thomas' Hospital in London as junior doctors go on strike for 24 hours in a dispute with the government over new contracts on 12 January A picket at Poplar, London, England. Thousands of City commuters battled through the first of three successive days of disruption on the Docklands Light Railway Unions have been campaigning for electronic voting in strike ballots for years, saying it would bring the system into the 21st century. But ministers have been alarmed by the lack of security surrounding e-voting systems. They fear that hackers could manipulate the result of strike ballots, or release the names of workers voting against industrial action, increasing the threat of intimidation and reprisals by striking workers. The digital campaign organisation Open Rights Group warned in evidence to Parliament that e-voting remains unacceptably flawed. In evidence previously cited by Mr Boles, the group said: Voting is a uniquely difficult question for computer science; the system must verify your eligibility to vote, know whether you have already voted, and allow for audits and recounts. Yet it must always preserve your anonymity and privacy. Currently, there are no practical solutions to this highly complex problem and existing systems are unacceptably flawed. But ministers fear they may have to accept the move if they are to have any hope of getting the Trade Union Bill through the Lords. The legislation introduces new turnout thresholds for strike ballots in essential services such as hospitals and schools, and is bitterly opposed by the unions and the Labour Party. In his letter to Tory policy chief Oliver Letwin, Mr Boles warns a string of concessions may be needed to prevent the legislation being filleted in the Lords, where the party does not have a majority. Ministers will now promise to consult SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones over whether to introduce the strike ballot thresholds at all. Other concessions proposed include scrapping plans that would force unions to give more than seven days notice of a strike. New rules on the duration of strike ballot mandates will also be watered down. Ministers wanted to limit mandates to four months, but will now extend this to six months. And proposals that would have required picket leaders to wear armbands are set to be dropped. TUC general secretary Frances OGrady urged ministers to ditch the Bill in its entirety, adding: The changes discussed in this correspondence are important. However, they do not go far enough. Labour has vowed to try to block the legislation, warning it could cost the party 8million as unions will no longer be able to deduct members cash for political purposes without their consent. Angela Eagle, the partys business spokesman, said: This leaked letter shows that Labour has been right to oppose this Bill from day one, and its welcome that ministers now privately accept that large parts of the Bill are not fit for purpose and will have significant legal and constitutional implications. Britain has been accused of delivering a slap in the face to Australians and New Zealanders by imposing a 200 annual charge for access to the NHS. Antipodeans are incensed that they are being asked to make the new payment for NHS services while Eastern European migrants from inside the EU have limitless free access. They were previously exempt because of a reciprocal agreement with Britain. Scroll down for video Medical bill: Australians are incensed that they are being asked to make the new payment for NHS services But from April travellers who stay for six months or more will pay a surcharge of 150 to 200 a year. The change comes after the Government slashed tourist visas for Chinese visitors from 324 to 85 less than half what Australians and New Zealanders pay. John Key, the New Zealand prime minister, who is a strong ally of David Cameron, said the charge represented the chipping away of New Zealanders rights in the UK. He said: We have had this relationship based on the history of our country and New Zealand being a British colony. I would have thought charging Kiwis 150 if theyre over there for a bit longer as a surcharge, over and above the national health system, is pretty cheap and not really in keeping with the history of the two countries. Under the existing reciprocal agreement Britons travelling to Australia can stay in hospital free of charge and receive subsidised medicines and GP visits. Tourists in New Zealand can receive free care even for existing medical conditions. In both countries, there is a part-charge for GP visits for all patients, even locals. Shane Frith, a New Zealand entrepreneur and former politician who has lived in the UK for 12 years, said: This is a slap in the face for the nations that have stood by Britain in good times and bad. John Key, the New Zealand prime minister, (left) said the charge represented the 'chipping away of New Zealanders' rights in the UK'. However, Home Office minister James Brokenshire (right) said it was fair' We are meant to have a special relationship and this weakens it. He added: If Britain vote to remain in the EU, it will be the last hurrah for the Commonwealth. It will send a message to New Zealanders and Australians that Britain has chosen its continental pals and not its Commonwealth family. The surcharge already applies to anyone who stays in the UK for more than six months and is from outside the EU. It has raised more than 100m in its first six months for the NHS. But Home Office minister James Brokenshire announced the extension to Antipodeans who apply for visas from April 6. The NHS has been left 'on its knees' by uncontrolled migration from the EU, a leading cancer expert will warn tomorrow. Professor Angus Dalgleish, the principal of the Cancer Vaccine Institute, says the NHS is being bled dry of resources by health tourists denied care at home. Cancer treatment can cost 200,000 and, under Brussels rules, Britain has to offer it to all EU nationals. Professor Angus Dalgleish, the principal of the Cancer Vaccine Institute, says the NHS is being bled dry of resources by health tourists denied care at home. Cancer treatment can cost 200,000 and, under Brussels rules, Britain has to offer it to all EU nationals Professor Dalgleish says this partly explains the NHS's 3billion deficit. He will also claim the Government has hindered progress into key disease areas 'by blindly adhering to EU directives'. 'Our membership of the EU is putting an intolerable strain on our NHS,' Professor Dalgleish, a melanoma expert of global renown, will tell a conference. 'The NHS is on its knees and could collapse completely. NHS Trusts were not prepared for the millions of EU migrants who have poured into Britain because the Government estimate was nowhere near the reality. 'GP services are collapsing under the huge number of people they are having to treat and this has led to less than 20 per cent of students wanting to become GPs. 'Britain is attracting thousands of health tourists from across the EU who cannot get certain drugs or treatments in their home country so come to Britain and demand them as EU citizens. 'Cancer treatment can cost 200,000 a year per patient and while we remain in the EU, Britain has to offer treatment for any EU citizen who comes here so as to not discriminate. Professor Dalgleish says migrant numbers partly explains the NHS's 3billion deficit. He will also claim the Government has hindered progress into key disease areas 'by blindly adhering to EU directives' 'The Health Service is being bled dry this is why our NHS faces a 3 billion deficit.' Professor Dalgleish, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, also claims that EU rules and regulations are holding back cancer trials which could discover new cures or treatments. He will say: 'The introduction of the EU clinical trials directive meant academic led studies carried out in Britain became illegal if not performed to new EU standards. By blindly adhering to EU directives, the British Government has hindered crucial medical research in key disease areas. 600,000 MORE COULD FLEE SYRIA Up to 600,000 refugees could flee fierce fighting in Syria, a Turkish leader warned last night. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the Aleppo area following an assault by regime forces backed by Russian air power. Numan Kurtulmus, a Turkish deputy prime minister, said: 'The worst-case scenario that could happen in this region in the short term would be a new influx of 600,000 refugees at the Turkish frontier.' Earlier the prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said 30,000 people were already massed at the border. Huge crowds, mainly women and children, are halted at the Oncupinar crossing, which remains closed except for medical emergencies. 'Our objective for now is to keep this wave of migrants on the other side of Turkey's borders as much as is possible and to provide them with the necessary services there,' Mr Kurtulmus said. Austria's chancellor declared yesterday that refugees trying to reach Europe by boat should all be sent back to Turkey. Werner Faymann, who leads the Social Democratic Party, said it was the only solution radical enough to solve a crisis that saw a million refugees arrive in Europe last year. Advertisement 'The unfathomable amount of EU regulation and bureaucracy has led to a third less clinical studies taking place in Britain. 'Britain was world leading in these studies but because of the EU, we now lag behind the United States.' Professor Dalgleish is also expected to make a withering attack on the EU working time directive which the Prime Minister opted not to challenge in his referendum negotiations with Brussels. He will say: 'This has destroyed the ability of the NHS to deliver service and training. 'Training has been hit so hard that standards have slipped to worrying levels. Surgeons are not gaining the same experience a registrar previously had when appointed to consultant positions. 'Other EU countries were creative in incorporating the working time directive to ensure specialists could get the 60 hours a week experience needed but the British Government adopted the directive without thinking through the ramifications. 'As a result, training has been hit so hard that standards have dropped and patient care has suffered.' Professor Dalgleish is due to deliver his speech at a conference titled The Good Life After Brexit, which has a theme that Britain will be safer leaving the EU. He will share a platform with former Tory ministers Liam Fox, David Davis and John Redwood, Labour MP Graham Stringer, Ukip leader Nigel Farage and the DUP's Ian Paisley Jr. To London's poshest think-tank, Policy Exchange, where the audience men in covert coats, women in pearls and pashminas could have been grandparents of the Made in Chelsea cast. We had gathered to hear David Camerons thoughts on penal reform. Or as his long, thoughtful, liberal speech might as easily have been titled, how further to pinch Centre-Left turf, make it hard for Labour to attack us as the nasty party and distract the media from the EU row which I am ballsing-up bigtime. An immediate baby elephant lingered in the room. It was in the front row, wearing spectacles and a pair of cheeks so pink and chubby they could have been an infants bontom (as our daughter Eveleen once called hers). I refer to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Justice. Porridge: The PM tours HMP Onley near Rugby ahead of yesterday's speech The PM announced the creation of six 'reform prisons' where governors are given greater control over the way their jails are run Mr Gove is so far an Unknown Quantity on the great EU referendum question. Rumours abound. Will the Gover back Mr Camerons less-than-whelming renegotiation deal or will he stay true to his Eurosceptic past and vote Leave? Mr Gove and Boris Johnson, who is flashing his ankles like a flamenco dancer to both sides of the referendum debate, are the big prizes in the EU contest. Mr Gove came scuttling in to the room at Policy Exchanges Westminster offices, so late that we inky lowlifes of Her Majestys Working Press could not interrogate him. He repeated the scuttle at the end of the speech I have seldom seen the old horse move so fast. Thus were we deprived of any opportunity to question the elusive Gove about his EU intentions. All I can report is that his face by the end was the colour of a postbox. Mr Camerons speech reflected prisons thinking supervised by Mr Gove since he succeeded rightwing clunker Chris Grayling at Justice Mr Camerons speech reflected prisons thinking supervised by Mr Gove since he succeeded rightwing clunker Chris Grayling at Justice. There are to be Gove-style reform prisons, rather like the free schools he introduced when Education Secretary. The rhetoric is a balance of tradition and innovation and is designed to win back the P word (progressive) for the Conservatives. This, again, is something at which Mr Gove has long been adroit. Sure enough, BBC radio was using the P word in connection with the Cameron speech even before he began it at 12.45pm. To get the Left-leaning penal reform establishment cooing over Tory proposals: this will be sweet music to the Cameroons as they colonise New Labour territory. The speech was sparkier than many prime ministerial orations. Had it been given topspin (as we call it in the trade) by ex-newspaperman Gove? It spoke of prisons central bureaucracy so abundant that it runs to 46,000 pages of rules, regulations and guidance, including policy on how many jigsaws or sheets of music a prisoner may keep in his cell (the answer is 12). The ask head office approach to prison governance will be replaced by greater autonomy. Some cells were currently so rough that a staff member had said I wouldnt keep a dog in there. Depends on what type of dog you have, really. Terriers are rather hardier than pekes. Mr Cameron proposed use of satellite communications to track early-release cons. Lets hope they dont get picked up by BBC licence fee detector vans. The only former jailbird I could identify in the audience of about 100 was Sean OCallaghan, former IRA terrorist. Historian Andrew Roberts was there, as was Charity Commission boss Willie Shawcross, the new Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke, and Lord Longfords son, retired diplomat Michael Pakenham. By bigging up Mr Gove, as he did, Mr Cameron will have chiselled himself a little further into the Justice Secretarys too tender loyalties. The Prime Minister, after nods to Ken Clarke and Mr Grayling, also singled out former Tory shadow prisons spokesman Nick Herbert for a mention. The wife of a dead ISIS leader has been charged with keeping American hostage Kayla Mueller and Yazidi women as sex slaves in a Syrian dungeon. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, 25, an Iraqi citizen known as Umm Sayyaf, is the widow of Abu Sayyaf, who was a senior leader in the terror group until his death last year. She and was charged by criminal complaint for her role in a conspiracy that resulted in the death of Mueller in February last year, the Justice Department announced on Monday. Scroll down for video The wife of a dead Islamic State leader has been charged with keeping American hostage Kayla Mueller (pictured) and Yazidi women as sex slaves in a Syrian dungeon The humanitarian worker, from Arizona, was killed in Syria after being held captive by the Islamic State for almost two years. It is still not clear whether her death was at the hands of her captors or as a result of a coalition airstrike. The criminal complaint accuses Sayyaf and her husband of holding Mueller and other women captive. She is now in custody in Iraq due to her terror-related activities, the department said. If convicted, she faces life in prison. U.S. intelligence officials have told Mueller's family that their daughter was forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the group. Abu Sayyaf, who reported directly to al-Baghdadi, was the terror groups minister of oil and gas, and previously responsible for their media program. He was killed in a Delta Force raid of his Syrian compound in June, and his wife was turned over to Iraqi authorities for prosecution. A new photo of Kayla Mueller (left) with her parents was released one year on after her death was confirmed in Syria - this was taken in her final days in America before heading to the Middle-East Carl and Marsha Mueller during a memorial service held for their daughter in March last year According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Mueller and another person were kidnapped at gunpoint by masked ISIS gunmen on their second full day in northern Syria in 2013. In August 2014, two young Kurdish women of Yazidi heritage were taken from their village in northern Iraq and were taken to a prison in Syria where they were held alongside Mueller. Then, around September 24, 2014, Mueller and the other captives were taken from the ISIS prison and transferred into the custody of Abu and Umm Sayyaf. Abu Sayyaf, who reported directly to al Baghdadi, was the terror groups minister of oil and gas, and previously responsible for their media program. According to the Justice Department, the Sayyafs maintained several residences where they held Mueller and a number of other female captives. Umm Sayyaf was interviewed by FBI agents in June last year, where she admitted that she knew how al-Baghdadi treated Mueller. U.S. intelligence officials have told Mueller's family that their daughter was forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) She told agents that al-Baghdadi owned Mueller during her captivity and also said that owning is equivalent to slavery, the affidavit added. She also admitted that her family belong to al-Qaeda in Iraq and remained members of the organization when its name was changed to ISIS. Sayyaf admitted to holding hostages on behalf of the group and said she had sole responsibility for Mueller and others while her husband traveled on ISIS business. She said she would threaten the women, and told them she would kill them if they did not listen to her. Their prisoners were held in locked rooms and handcuffed at various times. The affidavit added that the Sayyaf held young women who were sold or traded to members of ISIS and these women were owned by the men who acquired them. Justice Department officials say they support the prosecution, but they will continue to pursue justice for Kayla. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin said: The charges filed today allege that Umm Sayyaf and others conspired to provide material support to ISIL and that this conspiracy resulted in the death of Kayla Jean Mueller. Sayyaf is currently in Iraqi custody for her terrorism-related activities. We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes. At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. A small but highly-venomous snake has been caught on film slowly devouring another of its own kind. Dave Wiedman from Toowoomba Snake Catchers 24/7 was called out to a house in a northern suburb of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, at about 1am on Monday after residents noticed a small-eyed snake in their garage. 'Once I saw it I noticed something strange. It was a small-eyed snake eating what looked like another small-eyed snake,' Mr Wiedman said in a video. Scroll down for video Cannibal: A small but highly-venomous snake has been caught on film devouring another of its own kind The two reptiles were caught in a tussle underneath a pile of boxes, one with its mouth firmly wrapped around the other. The cannibal's victim had its tail securely fastened around some tether tennis equipment so Mr Wiedman strategically held the exposed snake's head and untwisted the other's tail before laying the pair out on the cement. 'It is not uncommon for a snake to eat another snake but you don't see it often, let alone catch it on film' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I have seen it once before but as soon as I picked the snake up it let the other go.' The two reptiles were caught in a tussle underneath a pile of boxes, one with its mouth firmly wrapped around the other 'It is not uncommon for a snake to eat another snake but you don't see it often, let alone catch it on film,' snake wrangler Dave Wiedman said The small-eyed snake, which is highly venomous, spent the next few minutes slowly consuming its victim The small-eyed snake, which is highly venomous, spent the next few minutes slowly consuming its victim as someone caught the act of cannibalism on film. A small portion of the less fortunate snake's tail could be seen wriggling from its attacker's mouth in the moments before it was swallowed whole. The small carnivorous serpent's can be found in eastern Australia, from the south of Cape York Peninsula all the way to Victoria and are known to eat skinks, small reptiles, their eggs and occasionally frogs. Mr Wiedman said it is not uncommon for small-eyed snakes to target other snakes, including its own kind, with the cannibalistic night-time hunter immune to the venom coursing through its prey's body. The snakes were hidden underneath a pile of boxes and sports equipment The cannibal's victim had its tail securely wrapped around some tether tennis equipment so Mr Wiedman strategically held the exposed snake's head and untwisted the other's tail He then lay the two snakes out on the cement and let them get back to business The type is known to grow up to a metre long, but on average does not exceed 50 centimetres in length. Its scales are a glossy black on top while its belly can range from a creamy colour to a bright coral pink. Tickets to Wimbledon, iPads and dinners at some of the best restaurants were handed out by bankers, arms firms and financial giants Public officials have been wined, dined and showered with gifts by big business raising the risk of serious conflicts of interest, a watchdog warned last night. Tickets to Wimbledon, iPads, bottles of champagne and dinners at some of the best restaurants were handed out by bankers, arms firms and financial giants. Civil servants have been treated to hampers from Fortnum & Mason and secured invitations to private viewings of art exhibitions and movie premieres, the National Audit Office found. One official was sent a painting worth 300, while others were given tickets to FA Cup semi-finals and tours of the Harry Potter film studios, according to its report. Perks have also been extended to the husbands, wives and children of Whitehalls most powerful mandarins. The watchdog concluded that Cabinet Office rules on the hospitality that bureaucrats can receive are even less stringent than the European Commissions rules opening up government to the risk of substantial reputational damage. Looking at only three departments in depth, the report found that more than 150,000 of gifts and hospitality were given to officials in one year. It comes a fortnight after Chancellor George Osborne faced a deluge of criticism over his claim that allowing Google to pay 130million to cover a decade of back taxes was a victory. The report revealed that officials from HM Revenue & Customs were entertained by firms including Unilever, Sky and Imperial Tobacco raising further questions about the taxmans closeness to big business. Between April 2012 and March 2015, senior officials in 17 departments accepted gifts and hospitality 3,413 times from 1,495 organisations or individuals. In 2014/2015, the value of these freebies was estimated at 29,000. The report disclosed scores of examples of arms firms such as BAE Systems inviting officials from defence quangos to dinner, as well as firms providing hospitality despite also being major suppliers to government. Across all departments, the City of London Corporation wined and dined senior officials 73 times, while the British Bankers Association funded 21 events. The report said: British Bankers Association was among the most frequent providers of hospitality, at the same time that some of its members were being investigated in the UK for market manipulations and by the competition regulator. As well as looking at Whitehall as a whole, the NAO carried out detailed work on three departments the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, HMRC and the Defence Equipment and Support quango where they considered hospitality accepted by all officials; not just senior ones. They found that these officials accepted 154,000 of gifts and hospitality in 2014/15. Arms firms have enjoyed regular access to officials from DE&S, with BAE Systems wining and dining them no fewer than 581 times in three years. The NAO concluded: Although the total value of hospitality accepted may not be high, the reputational risks around accepting it can be substantial. While most of cases of gifts and hospitality appeared to be reasonable, we found some examples where acceptance may not have been consistent with the Cabinet Office principles. The Cabinet Office said: The Government welcomes this report which shows that the system is working well, with offers of hospitality being recorded and properly acted upon. The portrayal of gay men in modern films and TV shows is based on unrealistic 'positive' stereotypes, researchers claim. Impossibly glamorous, witty and fashionable gay characters risk leaving real-life gay men lacking self-confidence. The study suggests that stereotypes portrayed on screen may amount to 'positive prejudice' which could damage the well-being of gay men. Researchers warned against painting gay characters as 'one-dimensional figures'. The psychologists, from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, cited a series of movies and TV programmes they say may have left some gay viewers depressed, including Will and Grace (pictured) Researchers warned against painting gay characters who often appear on screen as the best friend of a female lead as 'one-dimensional figures'. The psychologists, from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, cited a series of movies and TV programmes they say may have left some gay viewers depressed. Shows such as Sex and the City and Will and Grace, as well as the film My Best Friend's Wedding starring Rupert Everett and Julia Roberts, all promoted an assumption that gay men must be upbeat, clever and witty, the study said. US sitcom Will and Grace, for example, starred Eric McCormack and Debra Messing as gay lawyer Will Truman and his best friend Grace Adler. Will was portrayed as smart, funny and caring to a fault. Yet the Anglia Ruskin report suggested that such 'seemingly positive stereotypes have the potential to be damaging as they paint gay men as one-dimensional figures and prevent people from seeing someone's true personality'. The team hope to conduct further research to find out whether this overtly positive portrayal of gay men in Hollywood could be harming viewers' self-esteem. Shows such as Sex and the City and Will and Grace, as well as the film My Best Friend's Wedding starring Rupert Everett and Julia Roberts (pictured), all promoted an assumption that gay men must be upbeat, clever and witty, the study said Researcher Ashley Brooks said: 'We commonly see the gay best friend being played out in popular media, and this is also becoming increasingly prevalent in real life interactions between heterosexuals and gay men. Because these attitudes appear positive on the face of it, they gain widespread acceptance and remain unchallenged despite their potential to cause long-term damage.' The academics are now appealing for 1,000 participants to discuss the impact of media attitudes which 'may transmit stereotypical or negative messages'. Project leader Dr Daragh McDermott said that it was important to understand the changing nature of attitudes towards minority groups. Scotland Yard has arrested 11 people claiming to be from Dahomey - a West African nation which ceased to exist from 1975 Britain's biggest police force spent 7million on interpreters in a year including translators for suspects claiming to be from an extinct African kingdom. Scotland Yard has arrested 11 people claiming to be from Dahomey a West African nation which ceased to exist from 1975. The kingdom was established by the Fon people in about 1600 and then became a French colony 1894. It was renamed Benin forty years ago. Police would have had to hire interpreters who could speak Fon or French for those who could not speak English during their interrogation. Figures show that the Metropolitan Police arrested suspects claiming to be from 303 different countries even though there are only 195 official countries in the world from 2012 to 2015. Officers detained 451 people claiming to be from the Irish Free State, which was formed in 1922 and became Ireland in 1937. They also arrested seven from the Ross Dependency, an Antarctic region at the South Pole, over the same period. Each year the Met arrests an average of 230,000 suspects, of which 70,000 of them are foreign nationals. The bill for providing translators for suspects, witnesses and victims was 6.8million between April 2014 and April 2015. Statistics show that the translation bill works out at an average of 100 per arrest of a foreign national. Details of the Mets extensive use of translators comes amid concerns over the decline of routine patrols by bobbies on the beat. Craig Mackey, the Mets deputy commissioner, recently stated that in some cases victims of crime would no longer get to see a police officer in person, but would get a telephone call instead. Mr Mackey, who earns 219,000, said the public would need to get used to a different approach in the way police investigated crime. He said: Some of the services you previously got face to face you wont get in the future. Meanwhile Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, said that such patrols by officers do not prevent crime and do not make people feel safer. The kingdom was established by the Fon people in about 1600 and then became a French colony 1894. It was renamed Benin forty years ago. Pictured: the royal palaces of Abomey, built by the Fon people between the 17th and 19th century Asked directly if the days of bobbies on the beat were over, she said future patrols would not be sent to areas of low crime. Miss Thornton, who earns 252,000-a-year, is the police chief who sparked outrage last year by claiming burglary victims should help the police save time by emailing evidence to spare officers from having to attend the crime scene. Figures released from Freedom of Information request show that 227,535 people were arrested by the Met in 2014 the latest year for which full figures are available. Of these, 159,294 were British and the remaining 68,241 were born abroad. Romanians made up the largest foreign national group arrested, with 7,604 suspects held, closely followed by Polish nationals, with 7,429 arrests. A total of 3,618 Lithuanians were arrested, 2,928 from India, 2,740 from Nigeria and 2,280 from Jamaica. A Met spokesman said: The MPS does not employ full time interpreters or translators but utilises suitably qualified, experienced and vetted resources when required. This figure represents the cost for face to face interpreting and translating words and documents for victims, witnesses and perpetrators of crime as well as for other documents required by the MPS in the course of its business. About Me Andrew Mulenga Andrew Mulenga is a self-taught, freelance arts journalist whose main focus is documenting the contemporary art scene of his home country Zambia. He studied Art & Design at the Africa Literature Centre, Kitwe and began his career as a graphic designer and illustrator at Mission Press in Ndola. He later joined The Post Newspapers Ltd. in the same capacity working his way to an appointment as Deputy Editor of the Education Post while establishing himself as the publications resident art critic. He is the 2012 CNN Multi-choice African Journalist of the year for Art & Culture. In 2014 he received a Media Institute of Southern Africa award for arts journalism. He completed an MA Art History at Rhodes University on an Andrew Mellon scholarship in 2014. He is currently on an Art History and Visual Culture Scholarship for a PhD at the same university. Since 2012 his articles have been regularly adapted in the modules of the Zambian Open Universitys art curriculum. Through his writing as an emerging art historian his current ambition is to encourage Zambian artists to question the sociopolitical, cultural, historical, moral and aesthetic implications of the work they produce. View my complete profile Complicated tax returns and work expense deductions could soon be a thing of the past with Malcolm Turnbull's government reportedly set to introduce a new tax regime ahead of the 2016 election. Scraping the $31 billion the government currently has to set aside for tax deductions is one of the options being considered after the Prime Minister appeared to walk away from endorsing an increase in the goods and services tax to 15 percent at the weekend, Fairfax Media reported. Tax breaks for superannuation contributions and investment properties are also reportedly set for the chopping block as the government considers several options to secure alternative revenue sources. Scroll down for video Scrapping the $31 billion the government currently has to forfeit for tax deductions is one of the options being considered after Malcolm Turnbull appeared to walk away from endorsing a GST increase at the weekend A reduction in work expenses claimed as tax deductions could make way for a lower top tax bracket. HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT GOING TO FUND TAX CUTS? Scraping personal tax returns and work expense claims would free up the $31 billion the government currently has to forfeit. A reduction in work expenses claimed as tax deductions could make way for a lower top tax bracket. Tax breaks for superannuation contributions and investment properties are also on the chopping block. It comes after the government flagged potential for raising the GST to 15 percent. Advertisement Federal MP Craig Laundy, who is Chair of the House Economics Committee and is holding an inquiry into tax deductions, told radio station 2GB that he wants the tax system simplified - and that would include scrapping tax deductions. He has previously cited rules in New Zealand and the UK where work expenses have been cut for lower tax rates. In the UK, some occupations have a list of approved deductible costs that can only be claimed if wholly incurred. 'One of things I've been working with the treasurer on... is looking at tax deductibility,' Mr Laundy told 2GB on Friday. 'Last financial year there was $31 billion of personal tax deductions. It's estimated that 15 percent of that would be overcharged, which is not a small number. 'When you have a complex system it opens it up to manipulation. Tax breaks for superannuation contributions and investment properties are also reportedly on the chopping block as Malcolm Turnbull's government considers several options to secure alternative revenue sources '96.7 percent of Australian tax payers are PAYG tax payers... in a perfect world you eradicate tax deductions... their group certificates lodged with the ATO would become their tax return.' It comes as new figures may show how consumers are reacting to the on-off debate over increasing the GST under the Turnbull government's tax reform process. The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence gauge, due on Tuesday, has been in decline since the beginning of the year against the backdrop of an uncertain outlook for the global economy and volatile financial markets. The debate over a possible increase in the GST from 10 per cent to 15 per cent has also been seen by economists as harming consumer confidence. Mr Turnbull appeared to walk away from endorsing a GST increase at the weekend, saying he was yet to be convinced it was the way to go to fund income tax cuts and lift economic growth. But neither he nor Treasurer Scott Morrison has been willing to rule out pursuing an increase since, saying all options are still being considered. Westpac will release its monthly consumer confidence survey on Wednesday, while National Australia Bank will also issue its monthly business survey on Tuesday. Produce still put through the same rigorous health and safety processes Customers can purchase the 'ugly' products for 50 per cent less Supermarket customers often spend their time in the fruit and vegetable section looking for the best looking produce to put in their baskets. Because of this more than 30 per cent of food grown by Australian farmers is thrown out or rejected solely because of its appearance. In a bid to reduce the 40 million tonnes of food waste Australia disposes of each year, Aussie Farmers Direct has teamed up with Spade & Barrow to deliver boxes of imperfect produce straight to customer's doors. Scroll down for video Produce delivery service Aussie Farmers Direct are offering 'imperfect' fruit and vegetables for a cheaper price Boxes of the produce, which are of the same quality but simply look a little strange, cost just $19.50 - half of the usual $39 it costs for a full box of more aesthetically attractive items This curly cucumber was among vegetables received by one happy customer 'Naked And Fresh' boxes are 50 per cent cheaper than more aesthetically pleasing produce This potato is shaped more like a heart, but still passed all the same safety checks as its prettier counterparts 'Naked And Fresh' boxes are 50 per cent cheaper than more aesthetically pleasing produce, but still adhere to the same strict safety and hygiene regulations. 'With the Naked and Fresh fruit and vegetable box it means we're able to take a bigger proportion of farmer's crop compared to other retailers' an Aussie Farmers Direct spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. 'The food from a safety point of view: it goes through all the same quality control checks during growing and harvesting, the only difference is appearance. 'Its just as fresh, comes just as quickly and goes through all the same checks.' 'Its just as fresh, comes just as quickly and goes through all the same checks,' Aussie Farmers Direct said Deputy CEO of the National Farmer's Association Tony Mahar said they welcomed the initiative 'We don't mind an odd looking apple or a strange carrot', Deputy CEO of the National Farmer's Association Tony Mahar said Deputy CEO of the National Farmer's Association Tony Mahar said they welcomed the initiative and would love to see more of it. 'It's really good for the farm sector - what is does it give them another opportunity to pass off a whole range of products,' Mr Mahar told Daily Mail Australia. He said there didn't seem to be any drawbacks with the new scheme, so long as food safety was not compromised. 'We don't mind an odd looking apple or a strange carrot - chance are they're going to taste as good if not better than other products', Mr Mahar said. The aim is to reduce the 40 million tonnes of food waste in Australia Up to 30 per cent of produce from farmers can be rejected for not being attractive enough In recent years supermarket giant Woolworths also implemented a similar scheme 'The farm sector is getting increasingly good at reducing wastage so these sorts of measures are really welcome and they do help the farm sector and farm businesses,' he added. Mr Mahar also pointed to the benefits for consumers, saying it is a 'huge opportunity for people that are looking for value in products'. In recent years supermarket giant Woolworths also implemented a similar scheme selling bags of less attractive fruit and vegetables as 'The Odd Bunch'. Evidence suggests one in five divorced couples wish they had not split Former High Court judge said it usually happens after five years Former High Court judge Sir Paul Coleridge, pictured, said a high proportion of divorced couples regret splitting up after five years Couples who divorce are likely to regret it five years later, a former High Court judge said yesterday. A high proportion of those who separate wish they had stayed together after a few years of living with the consequences, family judge Sir Paul Coleridge said. The warning to couples to think carefully before they rush to separate follows evidence that more than one in five divorced or estranged people think later that they should have tried to save their marriage. Sir Paul said: Of course there are cases where divorce is inevitable. I havent sat in the courts for 40 years without knowing that there are cases where it is just as well the parties separated. But it has been obvious to me that, by and large, a significant proportion of people who separate wish they had not five years down the line. Sir Paul, who retired from the High Court bench after launching the Marriage Foundation think tank, told BBC Twos Victoria Derbyshire programme that family breakdown was the scourge of society. The regrets of divorcees have been revealed in a survey carried out by the law firm Seddons which said 22 per cent of those who were divorced or separated wished they had not done so. The firms research, carried out by the OnePoll group among 867 divorcees and separated spouses, also suggested that 21 per cent regretted the way they conducted their divorce, 33 per cent regretted the way it effected their children, and 24 per cent wished they had avoided the financial consequences. Only one in five had no regrets at all about their divorce. The warning that those who opt for divorce may be making the wrong decision runs counter to the promptings of academics, researchers and lawyers who advise couples that separating may be a good thing. Controversially, the family lawyers organisation Resolution said last year that eight out of ten children think their parents should separate rather than patch up a rocky marriage. The lawyers group added that an overwhelming majority of young people felt it was ultimately better that their parents divorce rather than stay together unhappily. Sir Paul said of the impact of divorce: It is painful and people dont like to talk about it. Anecdotes are all very well, but the data is what matters and the data on this is overwhelming. Family breakdown has a devastating effect on children, who by every measure of success do worse than children from unbroken families. One in five couples who divorce later regret it according to new evidence (picture posed by model) Whenever you look at the data, children want their parents to stay together even when there are quite high levels of conflict. He added: The reason we have had such an upsurge in family breakdown since the 1980s is because of the huge upsurge in unmarried relationships producing children. 'Whether you like the data or not, the fact is marriage provides a great deal of extra security during the period of very great stress in bringing up children. Sir Paul cited the 47 billion a year calculated as the cost to the country of family breakup. A student who complained about memorials to Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University, didn't even know his first name - calling the British imperialist 'Caesar' An Oxford student who complained of feeling under assault by memorials to Cecil Rhodes knew so little about him that they thought his first name was Caesar, documents show. Responding to a questionnaire about racism at the prestigious university, the student said they objected to having to go to Caesar Rhodes House to visit a library. They added that paying homage to a great colonialist like Caesar Rhodes made them feel uncomfortable and helped perpetuate racial inequality. The comments were contained in a survey of students at Oxford by the universitys branch of the National Union of Students. It was carried out by representatives of the unions Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE), which has supported calls for memorials to Cecil Rhodes to be torn down. The blunder has remained for over a year in the online report, which has been used repeatedly by campaigners to accuse Oxford of racism. It is likely to prove an embarrassment to those campaigning for the removal of memorials to Cecil Rhodes at the university, as it calls into question how much students really know about the 19th century politicians life. The student, writing anonymously, said: Caesar Rhodes was a great colonialist after whom northern and southern Rhodesia was named. He got rich of [sic] the labours of southern African mine workers under the colonial regimes that he helped to house. We have a whole building off of South parks road that is essentially an homage to Caesar Rhodeswhen I go there, I feel very uncomfortable and under ideological assault, as though Im made to feel like this guy did something good or deserves to be honoured with his own entire building. To me, that shows a really glaring example that, at Oxford, there are institutional structures that perpetuate racial inequality and oppressive historical figures. The building in question called Rhodes House housed the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies until 2014, when it was moved. The student made the comments as part of the 100 Voices Report, an ongoing project which was completed just over a year ago and is displayed on the student union website. The report author said: Despite the fact that BME students can and do thrive in the stimulating environment of Oxford, many experience significant racism on a structural and interpersonal level during their time here. Following publication of the report, CRAE declared in November that it stands in full solidarity with Rhodes Must Fall Oxford a now failed campaign to remove a statue of Rhodes at Oriel College. Students, pictured, ran a campaign to have the Rhodes statue removed for months - but were unsuccessful It said: The violence of the statues presence is part of a broader exclusion of the experiences of students of colour at this university. The college originally said it would have a six-month listening exercise, but last month announced it had decided the statue should stay. In a statement, Oriel College said it had received an enormous amount of input from students, academics and other individuals and groups during its consultation. The college said after careful consideration it had decided the statue should remain but it would add a clear historical context to explain why it is there. Rhodes, a British imperialist in southern Africa in the 19th Century, left money to the college on his death in 1902. A scholarship programme in his name has so far been awarded to more than 8,000 overseas students. The university has always denied it is institutionally racist and has said it is committed to supporting potential and current ethnic minority students. One woman is trying to bring the tiny house movement to Pittsburgh, but many cities don't allow homes quite as small as hers. Rachel Ford from West View, a borough north of Pittsburgh, just bought a new home for only $25,000. The home she ordered is about 320-square-feet and it's on wheels. She bought the home from a builder in Michigan who said it should arrive in March, which leaves Ford a little less than a month to find a legal location for it. Rachel Ford, 29, recently bought a tiny home that is 320sq ft and $25,000. He only problem now is finding a city or town that will allow her to have it in a little less than a month There has been a growing number of Americans opting for 'tiny houses' that are less than 400sq ft (file image) She told WTAE that she wants to own a house but can't afford it right now, so she took another route and became interested in a smaller home. Ford said: 'It appeals to me on an economic level. I work two jobs. I don't want to work two jobs forever.' On her blog Ford wrote that she wants a tiny house in order to have financial freedom, actual freedom and simplicity. Timbercraft Tiny Homes in Guntersville, Alabama, builds tiny home that are less than 700sq ft like the one pictured. Ford said she wants a tiny house in order to have financial freedom, actual freedom and simplicity (file image) Ford said she realized that she would have been saddled with debt if she bought a traditional home and living in a tiny home 'offers a smaller cost and higher reward' (file image) She wrote: 'I realized that if I bought a traditional house Id be saddled with debt for nearly the rest of my life. 'Tiny living, on the other hand, offers a smaller cost and higher reward.' Because of the smallness of the home and the fact that it's also on wheels, Ford is going to have an even harder time following most local zoning regulations that require a foundation or a house that is much larger than hers. She told WTAE that 'it is very difficult' and that every borough has its own rules. A small borough called Avalon is considering a change in its zoning laws to accommodate tiny homes, according to WTAE. The only problem is that it will be late summer before a vote can be taken and Ford has to find an area by March. Borough Manager Harry Dilmore said there are small, vacant lots in Avalon, and tiny homes could be a good fit. He said that they are working on a comprehensive plan and zoning. Maren Engh and Max Jallifier were paying $3,500 for an apartment in San Francisco until they decided to buy a tiny home Ford isn't the only one who has considered abandoning an expensive home for homes where you can get more for your money. Last year, curious homeowners were paying as much as $99 a night for a 160sq ft trailer that was being offered by Getaway in New Hampshire - to sample the lifestyle before making the drastic change. Timbercraft Tiny Homes in Guntersville, Alabama, builds tiny home that are less than 700sq ft. Last month a San Francisco couple left their $3,500 per month apartment and sold all of their belongings so that they could move into a 162sq ft trailer. Maren Engh and Max Jallifier sold all of their belongings on Craigslist and moved into their new tiny home. Dozens of tiny houses - defined as homes less than 400sq ft - are available through vacation rental websites, posted by their owners (file image) Companies all over the country are taking advantage of the trend, with Caravan, a hotel in Portland, Oregon, offering six tiny houses ranging from 84 to 170sq feet, for $145 a night. And dozens more tiny houses - defined as homes less than 400sq ft - are available through vacation rental websites, posted by their owners. Joshua James, 23, was arrested on Monday after allegedly tossing an alligator throw a Wendy's drive-thru window last October An alligator was thrown through the drive-thru window of a Florida Wendy's much to the horror of staff. The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Joshua James, was picking up his order at the window of the Royal Palm Beach location before grabbing a three-and-a-half foot alligator from the back of his truck. After receiving his drink he allegedly tossed the reptile through the window while the server was turned around, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Incident report. A photo from the incident shows the alligator looking out from a corner of the kitchen of the fast-food restaurant. The incident took place in October, however James was only taken into custody on Monday by U.S. Marshals, according to WPTV. The station also reported that surveillance video led to his arrest. FWC officials said James admitted to picking the alligator up from the side of the road on Southern Boulevard and bringing it to the Wendy's. Following the incident, the alligator was released into a nearby canal, according to WPTV. James has been charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession and transportation of an alligator. Scroll down for video Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said James admitted to picking up the alligator (pictured in restaurant's kitchen) and taking it to the Wendy's in Royal Palm Beach An anonymous hacker has leaked sensitive data from over 20,000 supposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees and over 9,000 alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, says Intel Group. The cybercriminal carried out one half of the hack right after the Superbowl kick off on Sunday night, which was watched by 114.4 million viewers. The hacker published a list of 9,000 DHS employees and on Monday he sent this message attached to the dump: 'Long Live Palestine, Long Live Gaza' along with the hashtag '#FreePalestine', with the rest of the hacked information. An anonymous hacker leaked sensitive data from over 20,000 supposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees and over 9,000 alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees on Sunday night The pro-Palestine hacker leaked the data as a protest to the American government's support of Israel The hacker, whose Twitter account is 'Penis' tweeted: 'ALL DHS EMPLOYEES (9,000) NAMES, TITLES, PHONE NUMBER, STATE, EMAIL. Pass is lol', followed by a link to the sensitive information. The account has been tweeting frequently since the dump, one reads: 'Be sure to tweet #FreePalestine to bring awareness to all the kids dying by Israeli bombs that the US government funds!' While another says: 'FBI and DHS info is dropped and that's all we came to do, so now its time to go, bye folks! #FreePalestine' Motherboard, who has had direct contact with the hacker, said it had been sent a copy of the data on Sunday, which included names, email addresses (many of which are non-public) and job descriptions such as task force deputy director, security specialist, special agent. he hacker, whose Twitter account is 'Penis' tweeted: 'ALL EMPLOYEES (9,000) NAMES, TITLES, PHONE NUMBER, STATE, EMAIL. Pass is lol', followed by a link to the sensitive information The account has been tweeting frequently since the cyber dump The news site said it reached out to some of the contacts listed and they appear to be legitimate. A spokesperson for the DOJ told Motherboard that the department 'is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components containing employee contact information.' 'This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information,' DOJ spokesperson Peter Carr said in a statement. According to Motherboard, the hacker gained the sensitive information via a 'compromised' DOJ email last week. IT'S BEEN A BAD FEW MONTHS FOR US GOVERNMENT DATA LEAKS... In June, the Office of Personnel Management had data - from phone numbers to fingerprints - leaked from 1.5m current and former government employees and contractors. In October, a group of hackers calling itself 'Crackas With Attitude' (CWA) hacked the email of CIA director John Brennan. They then targeted several other high-profile government employees, including US Spy Chief James Clapper and a Whitehouse official. The hacktivists were able to break into a US law enforcement portal, gaining access to a series of information sharing tools. This hack allegedly allowed them to download one or more databases of US government employees. In November, the CWA hackers released two lists of law enforcement agents from several departments, one containing around 2,300 names, and another containing almost 1,500 names. Both lists seemed incomplete, given that they were in alphabetical order and only included names starting with the first letters of the alphabet. The CWA hackers appear to have shared the databases stolen last year with others. In January, another group of cyber criminals released a list of 80 police officers from Miami, Florida. Source: Motherboard / Guardian Advertisement In October, hackers who claimed to be pro-Palestinian broke into the email account of CIA Director John Brennan (pictured) He then used the compromised credentials to log into the portal where he gained access to the DOJ intranet, where the databases of DHS and FBI details were located. Some of the data from the DHS list appears to be outdated, according to The Guardian. Speaking to Motherboard, Michael Adams, an information security expert who served more than two decades in the US Special Operations Command, said: 'What has anybody in the United States government learned? 'They're not doing information security fundamentals, obviously.' But Peter Carr told the Guardian that this hack was nothing in comparison to the recent theft from the Office of Personal Management. Hen said: 'This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information.' This hack is the latest in a series of cyber attacks on US government employees. In October, hackers who claimed to be pro-Palestinian broke into the email account of CIA Director John Brennan. Insiders say he has to say sorry Lord Bramall, pictured, 92, wants a sincere apology from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe over a 'shambolic' child sex probe Lord Bramall will be devastated if Britains top policeman only apologises to him in order to keep his job, a close friend of the D-Day hero said yesterday. The 92-year-old former Armed Services chief wants a sincere statement of regret from Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, not one made under duress. Sir Bernard is under mounting pressure to apologise to Lord Bramall and the family of the late former Home Secretary Leon Brittan in the wake of Scotland Yards disastrous VIP child sex ring investigation. Sources say the beleaguered Met Commissioner will only be considered for a contract extension if he says sorry for his forces treatment of the pair, which has been widely criticised and branded a witch-hunt. Yesterday there was further controversy over the Mets handling of a separate, historic sex allegation against Lord Brittan. An independent review of a rape claim against the Tory peer was dubbed a whitewash by critics after it described his mentally ill accuser as a credible and compelling witness. A three-page summary of the report by the deputy chief constable of Dorset James Vaughan glossed over the fact that prosecutors refused to consider a file on the case because the evidence was so weak. Controversially, Mr Vaughan said a full version of his dossier will not be published because it contains confidential information for Sir Bernard. Senior Tories say Sir Bernard is likely to apologise to Lord Bramall and Lord Brittans family after Operation Midland, the Mets shambolic inquiry into a serial fantasists claims of a VIP child sex ring, is formally wound up. Insiders said the 280,000 a year Met chief needs to make a public climb-down to have any chance of securing an extension to his five year contract, which ends in September. But a close friend of Lord Bramall, whose home was raided by 22 officers in front of his dying wife before he was interviewed under caution about the abuse lies, said any apology from Sir Bernard must be genuine. Lord Bramall will be devastated if an apology is only made because a gun is held to his head, the friend said. He would want a sincere apology, not one motivated by self-preservation. Lord Bramall said on Sunday he has yet to be told whether he will receive a formal apology from Sir Bernard since he learned last month that he would not face any charges over abuse and torture allegations made by a suspected serial fantasist known only as Nick. The Met has already apologised to Lord Brittans family for not telling him that he had been cleared of the rape allegations before he died from cancer in January last year. Sir Bernard, whose authority at the Met has been weakened by the scandal engulfing the VIP sex inquiries, is due to meet Lord Brittans widow next week. Tory grandee Lord Lamont yesterday criticised the review by Dorset Police that found the Mets probe into the rape allegation against Lord Brittan was fully justified. The former Chancellor claimed it had not addressed whether basic checks had been made by the Met during its inquiry into claims that Lord Brittan raped a 19 year old woman in 1967. He told BBC Radio 4s Today: I think the Brittan family will not be satisfied with this report. It is one thing to say there is evidence, but that evidence has to be tested. What evidence is there that Lord Brittan ever met, ever knew, the woman who was making the accusation? Did they test the place where the assault is alleged to have taken place? And was it credible that that was the place that the assault took place? Insiders say Sir Bernard will have to back down publicly over the investigations into Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan Mr Vaughan refused to comment on the specifics of the police investigation. He said: Ive supplied a confidential report to the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. 'The [Met] have then written to the Home Affairs select committee in confidence and Im not at liberty to go into it, or to be drawn on any further detail of the report. Mr Vaughans review, carried out at the request of the Met, said the accusers allegations were far from fanciful. But there was no mention in its summary that she had a history of psychiatric problems and delusional behaviour. Nor did it state that she had reportedly made false allegations in the past and there was no evidence to support her rape claims against Lord Brittan. There was also no mention that the woman, known as Jane, is a Labour Party activist who openly described Lord Brittan as a political enemy. The Dorset dossier is at odds with a report by a committee of MPs, who lambasted the Met for hounding Lord Brittan over the rape claim. Former Conservative Cabinet minister David Mellor called the Dorset review a whitewash which insulted the intelligence of people who knew Leon Brittan and insulted the intelligence of people who believe in justice. Soaring numbers of patients are unhappy with the way the NHS is run, research reveals. The percentage of adults dissatisfied with the Health Service has risen to 23 per cent the biggest reported increase in 30 years. Patients are particularly unhappy about waiting times to see a GP and the overall standard of appointments. The percentage of adults dissatisfied with the Health Service has risen to 23 per cent the biggest reported increase in 30 years (stock photograph) A total of 31 per cent are not satisfied with family doctor services, the highest level since the survey began in 1983. Research involving 2,169 adults by health charity The King's Fund also found waiting times for GP and outpatient hospital appointments were the most pressing cause for concern. The Government blamed falling satisfaction levels on the pressures of the growing, ageing population. But MP Heidi Alexander, Labour's health spokesman, said: 'This is the clearest sign yet that the public has lost trust in David Cameron's handling of the NHS. 'The fact that one quarter of the public are now dissatisfied with the NHS shows just how far it has declined on this Government's watch. Five years of a Tory government have left the NHS understaffed, underfunded and unable to cope with rising demand.' MP Heidi Alexander, Labour's health spokesman, blasted the findings A Department of Health spokesman pointed out that satisfaction levels were six points worse for the Labour-run Welsh NHS. 'There is pressure on the NHS as our population ages, and that's why the Government is investing record amounts to transform care,' he said. Of those adults dissatisfied with the NHS, 46 per cent said it took too long to get a GP or hospital outpatient appointment. Waiting times for GP appointments are now up to three weeks in many parts of the country as surgeries are so short-staffed. And hospital lists are so long that 6,000 patients face delays of more than a year for routine operations. John Appleby, chief economist at The King's Fund, said: 'It is no surprise to find that dissatisfaction is driven by waiting times for appointments and perceptions of underfunding and staff shortages. 'However, it is also apparent that people's perceptions are influenced by their views about a range of factors including politics, policy and public institutions.' The percentage of adults who said they were dissatisfied rose from 15 per cent last year to 23 per cent now the biggest increase since the survey began. Just 69 per cent reported being satisfied with GP services, down from 71 per cent last year and 80 per cent in 2009. Many are finding it increasingly difficult to get an appointment as surgeries struggle to cope with rising immigration and the ageing population. Only last week, family doctors voted to stop visiting care homes because they were so overwhelmed with work. At a crisis conference, they called for surgeries to be allowed to opt out of providing such services. Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the pressure on family doctors 'is a threat to our own health and our patients' safety'. The driver of a school bus that killed an Indianapolis elementary school principal had left the driver's seat without putting on the parking brake, according to a newly released police report. Buses were lined up outside Amy Beverland Elementary School when the accident happened on January 27. At around 2.45pm, students had boarded the bus and the driver, identified in the report as Christine Beeler, was prepared to hit the road when she got 'distracted' by something and left her seat for some unspecified reason. Scroll down for video Human error: A police report states Indianapolis school bus driver Christine Beeler (pictured) had failed to put on the parking brake before leaving her seat, resulting in a fatal crash The tragic incident took place outside Amy Beverland Elementary School in Indianapolis on January 27 The bus rolled forward and hit Principal Susan Jordan, who witnesses say bravely pushed six to 10 students out of harm's way. Two 10-year-olds suffered non life-threatening injuries in the crash. Police have said they are working under the premise it was an unfortunate accident. Investigators initially said Ms Beeler told firefighters she was not sure what caused the bus to accelerate. Hero: Principal Susan Jordan was killed after pushing a group of students out of the bus' path It will be up to the prosecutor's office to decide whether any charges will be filed against the driver. Peg McLeish, a spokeswoman for the Marion County prosecutor's office, told The Indianapolis Star that the case is still under investigation. School officials have said Beeler has no history of moving violations or discipline issues and described her as a model employee. According to said it likely would take weeks to get toxicology results back. The police report was available on the website www.buycrash.com . Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Lt. Richard Riddle said Monday that the department wasn't releasing the report, but it had been forwarded to state police, which makes the information available to the website. Third-grade teacher Debbie Thie witnessed the moment Beeler's bus slammed into Jordan after she pushed a group of students out of the vehicle's path. 'It was as if the bus wouldn't stop,' Thie said a day after the crash. 'The bus came up on the curb and kept going, across the sidewalk and into the grass. Susan immediately started saving the children. She backed up toward the school trying to beat the bus. She's grabbing kids and scooting them out of the way.' The driver and 25 students on the bus were examined by emergency responders but did not require medical assistance. Colleagues said Jordan, who had been principal at Amy Beverland Elementary for 22 years, made it a point to get to know every student. She 'was going to do everything in her power to make sure that any child that attended that school is going to be successful,' Amy Bilyeu, president of the school's parent-faculty organization, said during a news conference held in the wake of the incident. Police said an initial investigation found no mechanical problems on the bus, and Beeler exhibited no visible signs of impairment. She was given a blood test, which is standard procedure in collisions involving fatalities, but results from the toxicology test aren't expected for weeks. The prophecy is more than seeing into the future. For the prophecy sees without the element of time. For the prophecy sees things as they were, as they are, and as they always shall be. Hailed as the King Over the Water by Tony Blairs dwindling band of supporters in the Labour Party, David Miliband seems to have found an ally in the heir to the throne. I can disclose that Prince Charles has summoned the former Foreign Secretary to his London residence, Clarence House, for private talks. The meeting last Wednesday is likely to provoke much comment in Westminster, as the Prince of Wales has still not had a tete-a-tete with Jeremy Corbyn, who won the Labour leadership by a landslide five months ago, and has no plans to do so. Prince Charles summoned ex-Foreign Secretary David Miliband (pictured together last year), to his London residence, Clarence House, for private talks in a move which is likely to provoke comment in Westminster Charles got to know Miliband quite well when he was Foreign Secretary and they struck up a warm relationship, says my man in Whitehall. The Prince could be forgiven for not rushing to meet Corbyn, a staunch Republican who has made no secret of his desire to abolish the monarchy. In November, Corbyn reportedly refused to kneel before the Queen and kiss her hand, as tradition dictates, when he was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council, the historic group that advises monarchs. And when Prince William married Kate Middleton, Corbyn encouraged TV viewers to watch the Kremlin-funded Russia Today channel instead. Free of Royal Wedding, he explained to his social media followers. After Milibands brother Ed won the Labour leadership in 2010, David took up the 400,000-a-year post of chief executive at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) charity in New York. However, David has refused to rule out a return to Westminster, saying last year: I hope that I can use my voice now and again in the British scene. In terms of what I do next, Ill have to take some time to think about that. Last autumn, it was reported that Labour moderates were secretly working for a dramatic Miliband comeback ahead of the 2020 General Election. A Clarence House spokesman says Charles received David in his capacity as boss of IRC, which has been helping Syrian refugees. The spokesman tells me: Mr Corbyn has not requested a meeting with His Royal Highness. What IS Cressie's pal trying to tell us? Actor Freddie Fox, who was once linked to Prince Harrys ex Cressida Bonas, has spoken openly about his attraction to both men and women. Now, the 26-year- old scion of the Fox dynasty which includes his father Edward and Silent Witness actress sister Emilia has set tongues wagging once again. He appears in a new music video for his cousin Laurences single Rise Again. It sees Freddie acting out an argument with a male lover. Actor Freddie Fox (left), who was once linked to Prince Harrys ex Cressida Bonas (pictured together right in July last year), has spoken openly about his attraction to both men and women The lyrics include the line: Why we now come to blows?/ Know yourself, before anyone else. Freddie played a sexually omnivorous character called Freddie in Channel 4s gay drama Cucumber. When it aired last year, he explained: Ive had girlfriends, but I might fall in love with a man. Tory MP John Howell, 60, is braced for some rough handling as the new trade envoy to Nigeria. I will be offered assistance in preparing me for my trip, which will include the prospect of being kidnapped, says the former tax inspector. For this, they will stage a kidnapping to subject me to some of the conditions I might be subjected to. Im told it will involve me being bundled into a van. MPs prepared to defy Cameron and vote to leave the EU should brace themselves for worse. BBC Radio 3s claims that it is not dumbing down are not altogether persuasive. On Valentines Day this Sunday its once lofty Private Passions record selection, chaired by old-before- his-time Lord Berkeley, will feature one Faramerz Dabhoiwala, described with subtle disdain by the continuity announcer the other day as a historian of sex. Night Emma cast her spell on tech wizard William... Is this where Harry Potter star Emma Watson first cast her spell on American technology entrepreneur William Mack Knight? It was disclosed at the weekend that she has been dating him for four months and here is the picture that proves it. The 25-year-old went to Broadway show Hamilton with Knight, 35, in October. Knight and Emma, who has an estimated fortune of 33 million, have recently been on holiday to California and he is also said to have visited her home in Oxford. NSW Premier Mike Baird has responded to recent criticism of Sydney's lock-out laws, claiming the city is 'more vibrant than ever'. Last week a scathing post by businessman Matt Barrie about the controversial laws went viral, slamming politicians for 'destroying the soul of the city.' Mr Baird reacted to the 'hysteria' with his own strongly-worded post on Tuesday, saying that the new measures had seen violence in central Sydney had decreased by 42.2 per cent. However Sydneysiders have been quick to mock the NSW Premier, saying the laws have destroyed the nightlife while the casino's are conveniently exempt from the laws. Scroll down for video Mike Baird (pictured with his wife, Kerryn, enjoying a glass of champagne to welcome in the New Year) has been criticised for an Facebook post defending lock-out laws blamed for destroying Sydney's nightlife NSW Premier Mike Baird has responded to criticism of the state's controversial 'lock-out laws' He posted this statement on Facebook denying the laws had 'destroyed' Sydney, saying instead it was 'more vibrant than ever' 'This is the greatest city in the world... Long Live Sydney', Mr Baird finished his post 'Lets start with a statistic about Sydneys nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per cent in the CBD since we introduced the "lock-out laws",' the NSW Premier wrote on his Facebook page. 'And theyre down by over 60 per cent in Kings Cross. 'But didnt we achieve this by shutting down the whole city and killing its nightlife? 'Well, one last statistic: the number of small bars in Sydney has more than doubled in the same time period,' the post continued. Mr Baird then addressed the 'main concerns' that people seem to have with the laws: 'you cant drink till dawn any more and you cant impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm'. He said he understood the 'inconvenience', but denied Australia was a 'international embarrassment'. 'Assaults are down by 42.2 per cent,' he wrote. 'And there is nothing embarrassing about that.' The NSW Premier wrote that the laws were introduced to combat 'drinking ghettos', and said that a review with 'hard data' was imminent. The NSW Premier wrote that the laws were introduced to combat 'drinking ghettos' However he was quickly slammed by angry commenters who disagreed that the laws were in fact a good thing Many called into question why the casinos were exempt from the lock-out and last drinks regulations Others suggested the laws should be enforced on a case-by-case basis 'Now some, who wish to define our city by one street on Kings Cross, make the hysterical claim that Sydney is dead,' Mr Baird wrote. 'They couldn't be more wrong. This is the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever. 'Long Live Sydney,' his post finished. However many NSW and Sydney residents have not taken the premier's side on the issue, calling into question the fact that casinos are exempt from the tough new laws. 'I'd like to know the statistic for alcohol related assaults in the neighbouring suburbs such as Newton. I feel like the problem hasn't been addressed just pushed to outer suburbs,' Travis commented. 'Star often appears on 'most violent venues' lists, yet is permitted to serve alcohol 24/7. If the government is genuinely concerned about curbing violence (and gambling addiction too, for that matter), then surely the casino would be included in the lock-out area,' James wrote. 'SOME THOUGHTS ON "LOCK-OUT LAWS": PREMIER MIKE BAIRD Lets start with a statistic about Sydneys nightlife that matters: alcohol related assaults have decreased by 42.2 per cent in the CBD since we introduced the lock-out laws. And theyre down by over 60 per cent in Kings Cross. But didnt we achieve this by shutting down the whole city and killing its nightlife? Well, one last statistic: the number of small bars in Sydney has more than doubled in the same time period. There has been a growing hysteria this week about nightlife in Sydney. The main complaints seem to be that you cant drink till dawn any more and you cant impulse-buy a bottle of white after 10pm. I understand that this presents an inconvenience. Some say this makes us an international embarrassment. Except, assaults are down by 42.2 per cent. And there is nothing embarrassing about that. From the outset, these laws have been about fixing a serious problem. Violence had spiralled out of control, people were literally being punched to death in the city, and there were city streets too dangerous to stroll down on a Friday night. The community was rightly outraged. I was personally outraged. I met face to face with the families of victims. You dont need to see that sort of pain too often to realise there is a problem that needs fixing. And the Government was determined to act. We introduced laws to curb violence and to eliminate drinking ghettos by redistributing the nightlife across the city, making the whole city more vibrant. Now, some have suggested these laws are really about moralising. They are right. These laws are about the moral obligation we have to protect innocent people from drunken violence. Doctors right across the city are now telling us that they are seeing far less emergency room presentations on the weekends. Transport workers are telling us that the trains are safer. Small bars and restaurants are opening across Sydney. And residents across the city, particularly women, are telling us they feel safer walking home at night. At this stage, some of the evidence is anecdotal. But lots of hard data is starting to come in. And it is all telling a similar story. Over the coming months a detailed review into the effects of the lock-out laws will be undertaken. I await this work with interest. But as Ive said before, it is going to take a lot for me to change my mind on a policy that is so clearly improving this city. Now some, who wish to define our city by one street on Kings Cross, make the hysterical claim that Sydney is dead. They couldn't be more wrong. This is the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever. Long Live Sydney. Advertisement 'But no! Lock-out laws may have there place, but if they are to be enforced, they should be on a case-by-case basis - why not apply the laws to the venues that actually have issues, rather all venues in a particular area,' his post finished. 'Hundreds of people have lost jobs because of a few drunk idiots...how about we talk about that statistic? The drag culture is less vibrant, statistics on that? Good selection to suit the purpose of your argument only,' Morgan posted. It comes less than a week after a long rant accusing Sydney of 'regressing into the dark ages' due to the new policies making drastic changes to the city's nightlife and 'destroying' local businesses, went viral online. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also chimed in to slam Sydneys lockout laws on Thursday, tweeting a link to the essay with the line: 'Sydney has lockout laws. Melbourne has 24 hour public transport on weekends.' Flying Squad: The Met police plans to introduce birds of prey to target drones above London Say what you like about Bernard Hyphen-Howe and I have, repeatedly but hes certainly provided me with plenty of material for this column over the years. Take yesterday. There I was, staring at the wordface, stumped for something new to fill this page, when the soon-to-be-ex Met commissioner came riding to the rescue. Or perhaps that should be: flying to the rescue. Bernards latest brainwave is to use eagles to bring down rogue drones guided by terrorists and criminals. Yes, I know it sounds like one of those daft schemes dreamed up by the committee which meets once a week to give me something to write about. But Bernard is deadly serious. He got the idea for a 21st-century Flying Squad after watching a video on YouTube. As you do. It showed a small drone being plucked from the sky above Holland by a specially trained bird of prey. Hyphen-Howe immediately dispatched a chief inspector to the Netherlands to investigate further. Id have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Scotland Yard during that senior management meeting. OK, so weve nicked everyone who appeared on TV and Radio 1 in the Seventies. Weve raided the homes of the former Home Secretary and a 92-year-old war hero. 'Weve arrested dozens of journalists for an offence under an obscure 13th-century law, which a judge says isnt even a crime. What are we going to do for an encore? The lads at the airport said theyre having big problems with drones, guv. And my mate whos a warder at the Scrubs says drones are being used to smuggle drugs over the prison walls. What, you mean like R2-D2 in Star Wars? No, guv, hes a droid, not a drone. I thought droids were those Welshmen who dress up in long robes and dance round Stonehenge during the solstice. Theyre druids, guv. Drones are those mini-helicopter jobs. Very popular these days. You can get one at Argos for under 50 quid. Cant say Ive noticed. Thats because you spend most of your time watching television in the back of your new Range Rover. What are you muttering? Nothing, guv. Just talking to myself. Careful. First sign of madness. Its what did for Ian Blair in the end. Anyway, guv, the anti-terror squad is worried that Izal might get their hands on one of these drones, pack it with explosives and fly it into a public building. Cant we just shoot them down? No, guv, too dangerous. So what are we going to do? Theres a video on YouTube of an eagle bringing down a drone in Holland. An eagle? Yes, guv. Here, have a look. Ive got it on my iPad. Thats clever. Look at those talons. I wouldnt want to be on the end of it. Apparently, the Dutch police have been using eagles for some time. Brilliant. George, shoot over to Amsterdam and check it out. And, Pat, have a word with the endangered species unit and ask if they know where we can lay our hands on half a dozen eagles. Trust me, this isnt a wind-up. A Met spokesman said: As would be expected in an organisation that is transforming, we take an interest in all innovative ideas and will, of course, be looking at the use of eagles by Dutch police. Transforming? Dont tell me Bernard is planning to have a sex-change operation, just so he can claim transphobia when hes forced out. I know it sounds mad, but the plan to use eagles against drones is kosher. The Dutch copper behind the idea explained: The bird sees the drone as prey and takes it to a safe area. Met chief Bernard Hogan-Howe sent staff to investigate a drone-intercepting eagle after seeing it on YouTube Where will it all end? If this catches on, pretty soon the skies over London will be dark with squadrons of police eagles. Itll be like the Blitz all over again, especially if the resident pigeons resent the eagles entering their territory. Therell be blood and feathers everywhere. And if eagles can be deployed successfully against drones, then the skys the limit. Why shouldnt they be used on other operations, too, such as dawn raids and demonstrations? Theresa May wont let Bernard use water cannon, but whats to stop him showering anarchist protesters with eagle droppings from a great height? They could also serve as a deterrent. No petty criminal is going to fancy being dragged out of bed by a ruddy great eagle crashing through the window at six oclock in the morning. And if the Met is going to start using eagles, why not other wildlife? For instance, theyd soon get a signed confession if they stuffed a couple of ferrets down the front of a suspects trousers. I suppose anythings worth a try. Drones are becoming an increasing menace these days. Will this be the breakthrough policing initiative that persuades Theresa May to ignore Hyphen-Howes scandalous and repeated abuse of power and award him the three-year contract extension he so desperately seeks? Probably not. But you never know. As I wrote last week, Theresas already performed a cynical, self-serving volte-face on Europe, so shes quite capable of perpetuating the reign of terror of The Man Who Shames The Met, as the Mail dubbed him on Saturday. Still, hes dug me out of another Monday morning hole. My only dilemma now is whether to file The Eagle Has Landed under Mind How You Go or You Couldnt Make It Up. Next thing you know vicars will be rapping their sermons, like the LA hip hop group NWA, short for Niggaz Wit Attitude, writes Richard Littlejohn The Bishop of London recently urged Anglican clergymen to grow beards as a mark of respect to Muslims. Why stop there? Perhaps they could start sacrificing chickens to persuade devotees of black magic to attend evensong. Or stick pins in human effigies to reach out to members of the voodoo community. Every time the Church of England introduces a new initiative to make itself more relevant, traditional congregations collapse. First it was tambourines, Casio organs and Id Like To Teach The World To Sing, instead of incense and He Who Would Valiant Be. Now the C of E wants to introduce dress-down Sundays, with vicars wearing hoodies and tracksuits in order to appeal to young people. Next thing you know theyll be rapping their sermons, like the Los Angeles hip hop group NWA, short for Niggaz Wit Attitude currently the subject of their own biopic Straight Outta Compton. And coming soon: drive-by sermons as Anglican priests are reduced to roaming the streets, shouting the Word at lapsed churchgoers who have deserted in despair. How long before Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, commissions an NWA-style movie, starring himself as Dr Dre; and featuring as his posse: the vicar from Dads Army; Tom Hollander from Rev; Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London; and Dawn French, the Vicar of Dibley? Dearly Beloved, I give you Vicarz With Attitude: Straight Outta Trumpton. FORGET IT CHRIS BRYANT, WE JUST CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE Back in December, I had the privilege of being invited to the Christmas bash of the Society of Distinguished Songwriters SODS. After dinner, some of Britains greatest living composers and lyricists get up and perform the hits they have written for others. Barry Mason kicked off the festivities with a fabulous, rousing, singalong version of Delilah, which he wrote with Les Reed. Delilah is a wonderful anthem, adopted by supporters of Stoke City and the Welsh rugby team. Chris Bryant MP, Shadow Leader of the Commons, claims the song Deliah glorifies violence against women But now Chris Bryant MP, Shadow Leader of the Commons, wants the song banned because it glorifies violence against women. He especially objects to the line: I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more. Does Bryant aka Captain Underpants really think anyone who hears Delilah is going to rush out and murder a prostitute? As a leading light in the anti-free speech group Hacked Off, Bryant already wants to dictate what we can say and read. Now hes trying to tell us what we can sing. If he gets his way, singing Delilah will soon become a hate crime. Im sure Barry Mason will join us all in telling him to SOD off. Last August, I brought you news that biologists were claiming that the forests of wind turbines around Britains coasts were causing serious distress to marine mammals. The low-level hum and vibration they generate interferes with the sophisticated sonic communications of dolphins, sharks, porpoises and, especially, whales. Weve recently had a slew of whales washed up on beaches. Isnt it entirely possible that these magnificent creatures have been driven to their deaths by eco-maniacs who claim they are saving the planet? Pixie Balls-Cooper, chairman of Labours refugee taskforce, says Europes open borders Schengen agreement should be scrapped. Does this mean that she wont be keeping her promise to welcome a Syrian migrant family into one of her own two beautiful homes? Model Yasmin Le Bon stars in Giorgio Armanis new ageless beauty advertising campaign, but, at the age of 51, she is refusing to let her hair turn grey. I started going grey very early it was the day I had Amber [her model daughter] when I was 24, she admits at a party in St Jamess, London. Im not ready yet to let all my grey hair grow out, because its such a big statement to make to the world. Model Yasmin Le Bon stars in Giorgio Armanis new ageless beauty advertising campaign, but, at the age of 51, she is refusing to let her hair turn grey. She is pictured left at the age of 24, and right last month Youre basically telling everyone that youre old and theres no going back. Some people do it really well, and some even look youthful with it, like Helen Mirren but I dont think I can pull that off. The wife of Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon adds: Fair-haired people have it easier than dark-haired people because the transition to grey is much less obvious. Matthew Barzun, U.S. Ambassador to the UK, shared an appeal from the official U.S. Embassy Twitter account: Heated debate in the office this morning who stole the half-time show at Super Bowl 50? Followers were invited to cast their vote for Coldplay or Beyonce. No doubt Barzun backed his U.S. compatriot. Perhaps the embassy could run a vote on whether its diplomats should cough up the 10 million owed to London in unpaid congestion charges. Readers of the Church Times have not reacted calmly to a recent issue that contained an article endorsing Christian naturism. In the papers latest letters column, one reader says the article wrecked his breakfast. The sight of a wobbly bottom staring back at me from the front cover was altogether startling, he gasps. Surely this was a little too much below the belt? A Devon reader describes the horror of a stall-holder at Barnstaple market who sat down to read the paper during a quiet moment and said: I have got used to opening my Sunday paper and being confronted by pictures of boobs, but never did I think I would open my Church Times and be confronted with a picture of a bare bum. Olivia: TV needs MORE male nudity Olivia Grant, who starred in Women in Love, is demanding that more men get their kit off for camera Having stripped off for her role in the BBC adaptation of Women In Love, actress Olivia Grant is demanding that more men get their kit off for the camera. Having more male nudity on TV is the way forward, so that it can be equal for both sexes, the 32-year-old tells me at a party at trendy Soho club 100 Wardour St. Its a bit sick-making when its just girls taking off their tops. But Grant, who stars in Channel 4s Indian Summers, admits that she has some self-imposed restrictions. Women taking off their clothes isnt empowering if its gratuitous, and I turn down roles that ask for that, she says. With some shows, it feels as if theres a boob quota per episode. I dont agree with that at all. 'Cheating' MP and the curse of Bexhill Pity the poor constituents of Bexhill and Battle, who were informed at the weekend that their married MP, Huw Merriman, had allegedly embarked on a fling with a lawyer after a boozy night five years ago. The largely elderly community on the South Coast had only just recovered from the shock of learning that Greg Barker, Merrimans predecessor in the safe Tory seat, left his wife and three children after a gay affair with an interior designer. Police have dropped their case against the wife of Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer after claiming her $250,000 Mercedes had been modified with an illegal muffler. Aysha Mehajer was issued with a defect notice and a $186 fine on October 7 after police found the side exhaust on her Mercedes G63 did not comply with Australian standards. Ms Mehajer, 29, refused to pay the fine and said she would fight to have the traffic infringement notice overturned in Burwood Local Court. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday that police had dropped the matter and it was formally dismissed by the court registrar. Scroll down for video Aysha Mehajer (left) and her husband Salim Mehajer (right) insisted they would fight a defect noticed handed to the former beautician on October 7 but it was dropped before the matter was heard in court The former beautician and her husband, who is a wealthy property developer in addition to his council duties, vowed to fight the defect notice, insisting the exhaust was a standard feature of the luxury 4x4. Mr Mehajer told Daily Mail Australia the defect notice was 'unlawfully and unjustly issued to us', insisting that his former beautician wife was mistreated after she was pulled over by police last year. 'The conduct of the officer was also questionable as he had advised Aysha to "leave the vehicle and walk home",' Mr Mehajer said. He said that after receiving the defect notice he contacted 'higher authorities' at Mercedes-Benz Australia to clarify if the side exhaust was legal. Tim Clarke, Senior Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Australia responded to Mr Mehajer's questions in a letter viewed by Daily Mail Australia. Mr Mehajer told Daily Mail Australia that the defect notice was 'unlawfully and unjustly issued to us' He added that his wife was also mistreated after she was pulled over by police and told to 'walk home' '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 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 say the configuration is also accepted by NSW regulations. Mr Mehajer posted about the incident on Facebook where he called the police 'fools' and questioned the Commissioner about their performance. Mr Mehajer spoke out against the notice, and the officer who issued it on a Facebook post which has since been deleted The defect notice lists the side-facing exhaust as the problem, however Mercedes-Benz says their vehicle meets Australian standards '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. '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. He said the couple were trying to 'stand up against such injustice and ignorance' inside the police force so that no-one else would suffer the 'inconvenience' his wife did. This comes as Ms Mehajer reportedly wrote a letter to the State Government requesting that her husband be re-instated as Deputy Mayor of Auburn City Council. Mr Mehajer was suspended from office for four months for failing to disclose his financial interests. Mr Mehajer was suspended from office for four months for failing to disclose his financial interests The Civil and Administrative Tribunal handed down the decision on January 29 after a report found the property developer had failed to disclose a pecuniary interest on three occasions. The tribunal said the breaches, which related to a property owned by Mr Mehajer's company at 3 Mary Street, Auburn were 'extremely serious'. Mr Mehajer had failed to disclose his financial interest prior to three council meetings about an amendment which would affect the development of the property. A valuer said the rule change - which increased floor space ratios and height limits - would increase see the value of the property balloon by $1 million. Ms Mehajer insists that a 'proper analysis' of the circumstances would see an end to any 'allegations of impropriety with respect to the purchase'. The colourful mayor and his former beautician wife first rocketed to fame last year after their lavish wedding seriously disrupted local traffic and drew widespread media attention. Around 60 Islamic State jihadis were stationed in cities across Europe shortly before the Paris attacks in November last year and were planning to carry out a number of atrocities. An intelligence source has revealed the target cities were Paris, London, Berlin and a heavily populated area somewhere in Belgium, although there is no evidence to suggest the attacks were to take place simultaneously. The source also revealed that Western intelligence agencies are concerned ISIS may attempt an even more ambitious attack in the coming months. Scroll down for video An unnamed senior European counterterrorism source has revealed that intelligence agencies are concerned ISIS may attempt a an even more ambitious attack in the coming months (file image of ISIS members) The unnamed senior European counterterrorism source told CNN that security agencies had 'hints' that an attack was to be carried out shortly before the Paris massacre, but information was difficult to verify and too vague and fragmented to act on. 'In terms of ambition, it also just pointed towards something we already knew. ISIS had hardly made it a secret it sought to target Europe,' the source told CNN. The source also revealed Abu Mohammed al-Adnani is believed to be the mastermind behind the plan to attack multiple European cities. Al-Adnani, was said to be severely wounded in an airstrike in Iraq last month. He was earmarked as the group's next leader but was reported as having lost 'a large amount of blood' after being hit in the town of Barwanah, in the Anbar province. The source also revealed Abu Mohammed al-Adnani is believed to be the mastermind behind the plan to attack multiple European cities He was moved to the city of Hit for initial treatment before being transferred to Mosul flanked by security guards. Al-Adnani is considered the terror network's most prominent public figure in Iraq, having made several audio recordings which have been posted online. He is held in the same bracket of notoriety as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and has been suggested as the jihadists' next leader should Baghdadi lose his position. Adnani was held in custody - believed to have been at the American detention facility, Camp Bucca - after being captured by US troops in 2005, remaining a prisoner until 2010. Around 60 Islamic State jihadis were stationed in cities across Europe shortly before the Paris attacks in November last year and were planning to carry out a number of atrocities (pictured: The Stade de France after a series of attacks across the French capital in November) A 2.5million bounty was issued in May 2014 for information leading to the Syrian born extremist, referring to his 'repeated calls for attacks against Westerners', and he specifically threatened France and Belgium. In June of that year, he declared a 'caliphate' for parts of Syria and Iraq indicating ISIS' aim of not just being a terrorist group, but a governing body. The source said Western intelligence agencies believe Adnani is at the heart of ISIS' international attack planning. 'As far as we're concerned, he is top of our target list,' the source said. Meanwhile, ISIS have unveiled a new jihadi training camp in the Egyptian desert as the group continues to pose a threat in the Sinai peninsula. The images were taken at the Abu Hajr al-Masri training camp, named after a former Egyptian jihadi and is situated in the remote Sinai desert. The small group of recruits are shown practicing with weapons and undergoing fitness training. All of the fighters appear to be wearing the same matching black robes and beige coloured balaclavas to obscure their identity. They are pictured handling machine guns and practicing military tactics in different formations. Some of the fighters are shown tackling an assault course, including jumping through burning metal hoops and crawling along the ground. on the second night of a holiday in Tonga Byrn said she wasn't worried the virus will affect her ability to have kids A teenager who returned from a holiday in Tonga with swollen eyes and fingers and a rash has contracted the mosquito-borne Zika virus, tests have revealed. Student Jen Byrn received a call from her doctor on Tuesday morning after a ten-day wait for blood test results. 'They said the test came back as positive for Zika, and to just rest, stay hydrated and take Panadol if I'm in pain,' Ms Byrn, a student from New Zealand, told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video Confirmed: New Zealand student Jen Byrn said her family doctor called on Tuesday morning to tell her the news Ms Byrn said she was already feeling a lot better 10 days after she returned from Tonga with a violent rash (pictured), sore eyes, headaches and swollen fingers. Ms Bryn (right) enjoyed her time in Tonga with two friends and only noticed the rash on her stomach once she returned to New Zealand - where she sought urgent medical attention She said she was already feeling a lot better 10 days after she returned from a holiday with a violent rash, sore eyes, headaches and swollen fingers. 'It hasn't affected me as much. I'm still a bit weak and tired but it hasn't stopped me catching up with friends,' said Ms Byrn. The UN health agency has warned that the mosquito-borne disease was 'spreading explosively' in the Americas, with the region expected to see up to four million cases this year. Since it was detected in Brazil in April, the virus has spread to 26 countries in the Americas. The World Health Organization declared Zika an international health emergency last week, citing a 'strongly suspected' relationship between the virus in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and can suffer developmental problems. Ms Byrn said she felt lucky she was able to see a doctor in 'right away' in New Zealand. 'I was lucky enough to be admitted in hospital right after I saw a doctor, as I know there are thousands of people in other parts of the world who are struggling to get access to medical supplies.' 'It's just a relief to finally have a diagnosis, because from what I know about the virus now is that it isn't contagious. She said she wasn't worried about any long-term affects on her ability to have children as doctors told her the virus will be out totally out of her system soon. 'I'm not going to have kids in the next ten to fifteen years anyway, so I think I should be fine.' A Ministry of Health representative contacted her last week and asked for more information on where she was staying in Tonga. Ms Byrn's diagnosis comes after the tiny South Pacific island nation declared an outbreak of the Zika virus last week, with five confirmed cases and 259 suspected. Australia pledged up to $500,000 in aid for its Pacific island neighbours on Sunday to help combat the spread of the Zika virus after an outbreak in Tonga last week raised concern in the region. Jen Byrn: 'I had never heard of Zika before, there were no health warnings in Tonga or New Zealand before we left' Doctors told Ms Byrn (right) that her symptoms pointed to a likely Zika infection. Blood samples were sent to Australia for further tests Australia would work with World Health Organization (WHO) officials and the Tongan government to control the mosquito population and increase access to testing, he said. SYMPTOMS About 1 in 5 people infected with Zika virus become ill. The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis. Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache. The incubation period for Zika virus disease is not known, but is likely to be a few days to a week. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week. People usually dont get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika. Zika virus usually remains in the blood of an infected person for about a week but it can be found longer in some people. Advertisement On Saturday, Ms Bryn told Daily Mail Australia that she started to feel a 'bit under the weather' on the second day of a week long holiday in Tonga. 'I got really badly bitten on the first couple of days, the mosquitoes loved me,' Ms Byrn said. It was only when she returned home and broke out in ugly red spots that she realised something was wrong. She was told to go to hospital from a public health nurse where doctors suspected she had the Zika virus. Doctor's said to stay hydrated and rest as the symptoms will wear off. While in hospital Ms Byrn said she googled the virus for more information and was initially quite alarmed. 'The media coverage scared me at first, seeing all of those poor babies in Brazil and the rapid spread across the world was quite freaky.' Ms Byrn said had to assure friends and family that Zika isn't contagious. 'I had an eye exam yesterday and my mum and I told the woman I might have Zika, she was quite freaked out by it because she told us she was trying for a baby. 'So there's a bit of lack of information out there but the doctors said the virus should be out of my system in a few weeks.' Two women banned from Tinder last week for aggressively promoting U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have been allowed back on the dating app and say they will resume telling prospective matches to 'feel the Bern.' Robyn Gedrich, 23, from New Jersey, and Haley Lent, 22, from Iowa, were locked out of Tinder after others on the 'hook-up' app accused them of spamming them with hundreds of pro-Sanders messages. News of the ban went viral on social media. Both women said on Monday they were able to sign back into the platform. 'I definitely plan to continue meeting new people and promoting Bernie Sanders via Tinder,' Lent said in a Twitter message to Reuters. They're back: Robyn Gedrich (pictured left) , 23, and Haley Lent (pictured right), 22, were kicked off Tinder for 24 hours for trying to get their matches to vote for Bernie Sanders, but have now returned 'I have been focusing on swiping slower to be able to have more in depth conversations today,' Gedrich said by email. 'Hopefully that will translate to more support for Bernie, rather than the dismissal I was receiving before.' A spokeswoman for Tinder, which is part of Match Group Inc, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, said the company would have no further comment. On Friday, a Tinder spokeswoman said: 'We whole-heartedly support people sharing their political views on Tinder, but we don't allow spamming. So feel free to spread the Bern, just don't spam.' 'Feel the Bern' has become a popular rallying cry among Sanders supporters. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is locked in a tight race with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination for the November election. The two square off on Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. 'Do you feel the bern?' Gedrich's message to other Tinder users read, parroting a Bernie Sanders (pcitured) campaign slogan. 'Please text WORK to 82623 for me. Thanks.' Gedrich said she sent messages to 60 people a day for the past two weeks trying to convince them to support Sanders. 'Do you feel the bern?' her message to other Tinder users read, parroting a Sanders campaign slogan. 'Please text WORK to 82623 for me. Thanks.' Gedrich, an assistant store manager at retailer Elie Tahari who lives in Brick, New Jersey, said a text would prompt people to start receiving updates from the Sanders campaign, as well as a link where they could sign up and volunteer. She has been unable to sign back into Tinder since logging off on Thursday. Lent, a photographer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, told Reuters in a Twitter message that she also got locked out of the app on Thursday night after sending messages trying to convince people to vote for Sanders the previous night. Lent, who is married, said she talked to 50 to 100 people on the app. She had even bought a Tinder premium membership, which allows users to change their location, for a month so that she could reach people in New Hampshire and promote Sanders. 'I would ask them if they were going to vote in their upcoming primaries,' she said. 'If they said no or were on the fence, I would try to talk to them and persuade them to vote.' A spokeswoman for Tinder, which is part of Match Group Inc, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp IAC.O, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The two women are the not only ones making unusual use of Tinder, better known as a 'hook-up' app, as a campaign tool. A Facebook (FB.O) group 'Bernie Sanders Dank Tinder Convos' has 782 members. Reported as spam: Robyn Gedrich (pictured left) , 23, and Haley Lent (pictured right), 22, were either unmatched or reported as spam and were then booted from the app On Yahoo's (YHOO.O) Tumblr microblogging site, a thread titled 'Tinder Campaigning, The adventures of a perpetual right-swiper in the efforts of electing Bernie Sanders' has dozens of conversations referencing Sanders pulled from Tinder. 'Swiping right' is a colloquial reference to approving of a potential match on Tinder. Gedrich said she got mixed responses from the 300 Tinder users who replied. 'Some people would ask what is this for, and I would kind of explain,' she said. 'Some of them would unmatch me or report me as a bot.' A bot (or robot) account is a scam profile used to send spam messages. Some responses simply read, 'Trump2016,' expressing support for Republican candidate Donald Trump, the real estate tycoon. 'It was really alarming to see that a lot of people don't know what's going on in the world,' she said. A heartbroken daughter says she will never get the chance to tell her 'amazing' mother how much she loved her after she was killed in a house fire believed to have been sparked by a tumble dryer. Jodie Moloney, 30, said she 'didn't get time' to tell her mother Mishell Moloney, 49, how much she meant to her after she was found dead at her charred home in Frankley, Birmingham, on Sunday. Stay-at-home mother Mishell was found unconscious at the property by her sister and daughter after the pair broke into her home after becoming concerned that they could not get hold of her. Jodie Moloney, 30, said she 'didn't get time' to tell her mother Mishell Moloney, 49 (pictured together), how much she meant to her after she was found dead at her home in Frankley, Birmingham, following a house fire Mishell's 16-year-old son Joshua, who usually lives at home with her, was staying at his father's house on the night of the fire. Mother-of-two Jodie said she last spoke to her mother at 11.45pm on Saturday evening but did not hear from her on Sunday, prompting her and her auntie, Tracey Moloney, to drive to her house. Upon arrival at the property at about 4pm, they found the usual white blinds in the living room window charred black and saw thick, black smoke billowing inside the home. Jodie, a mother to 11-year-old Chloe and eight-year-old Callum, described her auntie as a 'hero' for smashing the windows of the property and running upstairs in a bid to try and rescue Mishell. She told MailOnline: 'I noticed as we pulled up outside the house that the blinds were charcoal colour, they were supposed to be white. 'My aunt and I went round the back and we saw that the blinds at the back of the house were burnt as well so we knew she was in trouble. 'My aunt picked up some sort of spanner and smashed the back windows, while I phoned the ambulance. She ran upstairs with my cousin, Kelly Moorehouse, and they were up there for about five minutes. 'I was out the front screaming for my mum and terrified for what was going to happen. 'My aunt and cousin tried to resuscitate her but then they came downstairs and said to me: 'Jodie, she's gone'. I screamed and fell to the floor. 'I tried to go in but my auntie didn't let me go in, she didn't want me to see her like that.' Paying tribute to her mother Mishell (right), Jodie Moloney (left), 30, said: 'I want the world to know how great she was and how much I love her. My Warrior is what I called her. I'll miss her every day for the rest of my life' Mishell was found unconscious at the property by her sister and daughter Jodie (pictured together in this family collect) after the pair broke into her home after becoming concerned that they could not get hold of her She added: 'I should've gone into the house but I was too frightened of what I would see. 'My aunt is a very strong person, she's a rock. She was very good to my mum. ' Jodie, who lives about 40 minutes from her mother near Birmingham City Centre, said police, fire and ambulance crews then arrived at the property but nothing could be done to save her mother. She said: 'I just want the world to know that she was a really good person. We were so close, she did everything she could to make me happy. 'She was a brilliant nan to Chloe and Callum and I am absolutely broken without her. 'I want the world to know how great she was and how much I love her. My Warrior is what I called her. I owe my life to her. She is my warrior, my hero, my mum. 'I'll miss her every day for the rest of my life.' She added: 'It's hard because what I would like to say to her, I didn't get to in time. Mum, I miss you and we will all miss you. I hope you are happy now that you are with nan.' Jodie also told how her mother's neighbours rushed over to the property in a bid to try and help. Neighbour Eudena Stanford and her 14-year-old son Josh-Lee Moncrieffe helped to try and resuscitate Mishell. Mother-of-five Ms Stanford said: 'Mishell's daughter was banging on the door and screaming out her mum's name. She said they'd been ringing all day and couldn't get hold of her. 'We searched all through and eventually found Mishell. She was upstairs in the bedroom lying on the floor on her back. We rang 999 and the operator told us what to do.' Ms Moloney's home (pictured left) was filled with thick black smoke after the fire, which is believed to have been sparked by a tumble dryer. The mother-of-two (right) was declared dead at the scene by paramedics Paramedics arrived but were unable to save Mishell, who was declared dead at the scene. Jodie added: 'The neighbours were helpful and she [Ms Stanford] brought me into her home and made me a cup of tea. 'They did try and help that day, she tried to calm me down. I appreciate that.' The exact cause of the blaze has not yet been confirmed, although it is feared Mishell's tumble dryer may have been to blame. Fire investigation officers returned to the housing association property yesterday to retrieve the appliance for further analysis. Jodie said: 'At the moment we're not being told anything. All I really can say is that the tumble dryer has been taken away for analysing. 'We're not sure if it's one of the tumble dryers that's been recalled.' A fire service spokeswoman said: 'Further investigations on the tumble dryer are continuing because we are not sure if it's a recalled tumble dryer. 'There is no evidence to suggest that it is at the moment.' Flowers have been left outside the home in Frankley following Sunday's fatal fire which killed Ms Moloney It comes after mother-of-two Stacey Simpson, 30, told how she believed her tumble dryer sparked a fire at her property in Grays, Essex, last week. Ms Simpson sent MailOnline pictures of the devastation left by a fire that she claimed started in her Hotpoint appliance last Sunday. She said: 'I started to smell burning so I went to investigate. As I opened my dining room door that leads into the kitchen I saw flames coming from my tumble dryer. 'I grabbed both my daughters and walked out to the street with us all wearing nothing but pyjamas. Obviously both my daughters was screaming and extremely scared.' She added: 'I have contacted Hotpoint through email but have had no response.' No official conclusion about the cause of that fire has been reached, but a fire officer in attendance told Ms Simpson that the evidence suggests the blaze started in the tumble dryer. A statement from Hotpoint's parent company, Whirlpool, said: 'Whirlpool investigates all reported incidents thoroughly. In the particular case of the Ms Simpson's property, the company will collect the tumble dryer and subsequently examine it in detail. 'However, until Whirlpool has completed these investigations, you will understand the company is unable to comment further.' These images show the severe damage left by a fire thought to have been sparked by a Hotpoint tumble dryer belonging to Stacey Simpson from Grays, Essex. In a separate incident, her house caught alight last Sunday Last year, it emerged a 'significant' number of tumble dryers sold in the UK since 2011 may need repairs owing to fears about fires. Owners of large air-vented dryers and condensing dryers under the Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda brands may need to have them fixed. A West Midlands Police spokesman said officers were called to support the fire service at the scene. A number of safety messages have been issued by the fire service concerning tumble dryers. It advised users to remove the lint from the trap after every dried load, never to cover the vent or any other opening and ensure the vent pipe was free of kinks and was not crushed in any way. A black Audi 4WD with racist graffiti scrawled all over it has been discovered abandoned on a street in Sydney's south-west. Photographs show the late model Audi Q7, which cost more than $100,000 new, covered in phrases such as 'F*** Off Muslim' and 'Arab Muslim Sh**', written in bright yellow spray paint were taken on Tuesday morning on Johnston Road in Bass Hill. As well as the graffiti, the car has had all its windows smashed in, its panels dented and tyres slashed. Scroll down for video A car has been found in Bass Hill, in Sydney's south-west, covered in racist graffiti 'F*** off Muslims' has been spray-painted on the windshield, which has also been smashed in Pictures of the 4WD were posted to Facebook by Queen Street Group, an accident repair centre, in Revesby, also in Sydney's south-west. Manager Milard Omar said a friend saw the vandalised car earlier on Tuesday morning and sent him the photographs. 'We want to help them fix it up', he told Daily Mail Australia. 'We want to help them get it back on the road'. NSW Police confirmed they had received a report of the car on Tuesday, and were investigating the circumstances behind the attack. Police also believe the car may have been parked on the street for a long period of time. The entire surface of the car had been covered in bright yellow spray paint Police said the incident had been reported to them and they had taken the car for forensic examination Accident repair centre Queen Street Group shared the photos online, offering to help the owners repair the damage done to their vehicle 'Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a Black Audi SUV that was located in Bass Hill this morning,' a NSW Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia. 'The car, which had been painted with graffiti and its windows broken, was reported to police at Bankstown Local Area Command. 'Initial investigations indicate the vehicle had been parked at the location for some time but only recently damaged. A man has been found guilty of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a hiking trail, sexually assaulting her and then beating her to death. April Millsap went missing along the Macomb Orchard Trail near Armada, Michigan, while walking her dog on July 24, 2014. Her partially clothed body was found in the woods. James VanCallis, 34, was convicted of first-degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping and assault with intention to rape at Macomb Circuit Court on Monday after a trial that lasted more than two weeks. James VanCallis (pictured right) was found guilty of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and beating April Millsap to death (left) The Detroit News reported that it took the jury of six men and six women more than six hours over the course of two days to find VanCallis, of Wales Township, guilty on all counts at Macomb Circuit Court. He is facing life in prison without parole. During the trial, prosecutors said VanCallis attacked Millsap along the trail, hitting her with his bike helmet. He then dragged her into the woods and then killed her as part of a failed rape attempt. Jurors felt that the evidence in the case was overwhelming, according to the Detroit News, and that the prosecutions assertion that Milsapp was killed with the helmet was credible. She was found with her clothes 'literally ripped off her,' her shorts and underwear around her ankles, and her shoes removed, prosecutors said. Her backpack was missing, while her phone was found nearby. Her cause of death was determined to be blunt head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression. Medical Examiner Mary Pietrangelo testified that the same pattern appeared on the girls face, neck and chest which authorities identified as shoe prints. Flanked by his attorney Azhar Sheikh, left, and sheriff's deputies, James VanCallis, center, showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read Family spokesperson Jessie Kanehl (left) and Karyn Risch, Treasurer of the April Millsap Memorial Garden, address the media after the verdict Monday Jurors heard that she was literally beat and stomped to death. The court was also shown a post-mortem picture of the girl, which showed she had a bruise above one of her eyes. Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor William Cataldo told jurors that the bruise matched an impression of VanCallis helmet. Although no DNA evidence was found on the helmet, Cataldo said this was because VanCallis had cleaned it. Meanwhile, Armada Police Chief said it was a Google Earth animation as well as an app on the murdered teenagers phone that was the smoking gun in the case. The app allowed investigators to figure out exactly where Milsapps phone was located, which they said was at the same place at the same time as the motorcycle VanCallis was thought to have been riding. The prosecution said the fitness app on Millsap's phone had been tracking her walk via GPS when she was attacked. Jennifer Millsap (the mother of the victim, pictured with her husband David Lichtenfelt) said she had called and text her daughter on the day she vanished before being told she had died James VanCallis (right) leans over to speak to his attorney Azhar Sheikh during his murder trial at the Macomb County Courthouse in Mount Clemens, Michigan, on Monday 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. At an arraignment hearing in October 2014, the court heard that the teenager had been walking her dog Penny along the path on the night of her murder. Witnesses also reported seeing the girl 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. In court, Jennifer Millsap, the teenager's mother, told how she sent text messages to her daughter that day, and after two hours with no response, she called and left a voicemail. When she again received no response, she contacted her daughters boyfriend before going to the trail to start searching. VanCallis, pictured at an earlier hearing, dragged his victim into the woods and beat her to death as part of a failed rape attempt The 14-year-old (pictured) had been walking her dog Penny along the path on the night of her murder He told her 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. She added 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. Defending VanCallis, attorney Azhar Sheikh said his client was charged with the crime before any forensic or DNA evidence linked 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. A North Carolina teacher has been forbidden from seeing her own children after she was charged with having sexual relations with a 17-year-old female student. The girl, a student in Fayetteville, North Carolina, said Laura Garrigus, 30, had kissed her and touched her inappropriately at home, in a vehicle and in a bathroom at an undisclosed location, the Fay Observer reported. Garrigus, a married mother of three, has been charged with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a student and two counts of sexual offenses. If she makes bail, she will be forbidden from seeing anyone under the age of 18, including her own children, ABC 11 reported. Laura Garrigus, 30, has been barred from seeing her own children after a 17-year-old student said she had inappropriate sexual relationships with her The girl told police officers that Garrigus (pictured), had kissed her and touched her inappropriately at home, in a vehicle and in a bathroom at an undisclosed location. Garrigus has been charged with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a student and two counts of sexual offenses 'Do you understand that?' District Court Judge Cheri Siler-Mack asked. 'Not even my own children?' Garrigus asked. 'You will not be around any child under the age of 18,' Siler-Mack said. Garrigus, who taught high school science at Cumberland International Early College, resigned in early December last year. This is when the 17-year-old, who studied at the school, said Garrigus had inappropriate relationships with her. Each charge against Garrigus represents a different occurrence between October and December. 'We want our kids to be in a safe environment where they can learn when they're in their schools and these types of allegations are certainly not providing the type of environment we're hoping for,' Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West told ABC 11. Garrigus is due to appear in court again in March. designer, became first Sikh man to appear in ad campaign for GAP In 2013, Ahluwalia, who is also a model and AeroMexico spokesperson said in email to Daily Mail airline regretted causing 'any to fly from Mexico City to New York City Monday morning Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who appeared in The Grand Budapest Hotel, was The Sikh actor and model who said he was barred from boarding an AeroMexico flight on Monday because he was wearing a turban is now refusing to leave Mexico City airport until a list of demands are met. Waris Ahluwalia, 41 - who has appeared in the Wes Anderson films The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic - says he was stopped trying to board a flight to New York for fashion week. Ahluwalia wrote on his Instagram account that AeroMexico staff told him he would have to fly a more 'inclusive' airline when he refused to remove the article of faith while going through security. He has now refused to board another flight until a list of demands - the first being an apology - are met, in an attempt to stop this happening to another Sikh passenger. Scroll down for video Offensive: Sikh actor and model Waris Ahluwalia claims he was barred from boarding an AeroMexico flight bound for New York Monday because of his traditional turban The demands: In a tweet by the Sikh Coalition, Ahluwalia asked for 'a public apology from AeroMexico, Sikh awareness training for airport security, and training on how to screen passengers with religious headwear' Speaking with The Washington Post on Monday night, he said: 'I realize that this isn't about my convenience or getting home for lunch today. I realize that if I walk away, somebody else was going to go through this experience again.' He added: 'It doesn't feel like a choice I can make. I don't think I can just get on that plane.' The non-profit advocacy group The Sikh Coalition tweeted a poster with Ahluwalia's demands. They are 'a public apology from AeroMexico, Sikh awareness training for airport security, and training on how to screen passengers with religious headwear'. The incident started when Ahluwalia posted a photo of himself to Instagram with the caption: 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportuntytoEducate #humanright #dignity #lovenotfear.' Within two hours, Ahluwalia' message had drawn more than 650 'likes' and close to 140 comments, with most of the users blasting the Mexican airline for discrimination. A commenter who goes by the handle @alevogelc wrote: 'I'm sorry for what happened, I really apologize on behalf of all the ignorant people of @aeromexico, but don't worry you got our support! sending you love from Mexico.' Ahluwalia, 41, pictured left posing in Mexico City International Airport, says security personnel prohibited him from getting on the plane after he refused to remove his article of faith in public Another Instagram user @tacirupekajaro stated: 'The [Mexican] government has a campaign to portray us as #mexicoglobal but we will never be such if public and private companies perpetuate #racism inside and outside.' In a statement to Daily Mail Monday afternoon, AeroMexico acknowledged that the actor was not permitted to board the flight, having refused to undergo a security screening. 'About the situation of passenger Waris Ahluwalia, Aeromexico reports that he was asked to submit to screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol. 'We have offered the passenger to alternatives to reach his destination as soon as possible. 'We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident.' Ahluwalia's plane ticket, seen in his Instagram selfie, shows that the actor was scheduled to travel first class on board AeroMexico Flight 404 from Mexico City to New York City at around 7am Monday. The code 'SSSS' on the face of the ticket indicates that Ahluwalia had been randomly pre-selected for a secondary security screening. Wes Anderson's muse: Ahluwalia appeared in Wes Anderson's 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited, which takes place in his native India In good company: The Sikh actor (far right) also had a role in Anderson's The Life Aquatic starring Bill Murray (center) and Anjelica Huston (right of Murray) According to his recent Instagram posts, Ahluwalia jetted off to Mexico City five days ago for a vacation after an extended stay in Thailand. Speaking to the New York Daily News on Monday morning, Ahluwalia recounted how security personnel at Mexico City International Airport initially searched his bag, swabbed him for explosives residue and patted down his feet. The actor initially complied with the security agents' demands but refused to remove his turban in front of other passengers - an act he likened to having to strip naked in public - and asked to be taken to a private screening area. That is when Ahluwalia said he was informed by the airport staff: 'you will not be flying AeroMexico. You will need to book another flight.' The 41-year-old actor and model said he was stunned, especially since the airline had offered to fly him first class earlier. In 2013, posters featuring Ahluwalia as part of a holiday ad campaign for GAP were defaced with racist graffiti in New York Ahluwalia, who is also a successful jewelry designer with the New York-based House of Waris, later posted another selife from the airport along with a message that read: 'Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. This is not the first time that Ahluwalia has been targeted because of his faith. In 2013, he became the first Sikh man to appear in an advertising campaign for GAP. A short time later, several billboards featuring Ahluwalia sporting a beard and turban were vandalized with racist graffiti. The slogan for the national retailer's holiday campaign was 'Make Love' but one person scrawled over a poster that appeared in The Bronx, 'Make Bombs.' Case: Meseret Kumulchew won a tribunal after Starbucks accused of falsifying paperwork caused by her problems with reading, writing and telling the time Starbucks has lost a disability discrimination case brought by a severely dyslexic supervisor who kept making mistakes with paperwork. Meseret Kumulchew, who struggles with reading, writing and telling the time, was accused of falsifying documents at the coffee giant's Clapham branch. Ms Kumulchew was given reduced duties and told to retrain after failing to correctly take the temperature of the water and fridges at regular intervals and record the results. Starbucks said the errors amounted to fraud, which she successfully claimed was a form of disability discrimination. She told the BBC: 'There was a point that I wanted to commit suicide. I am not a fraud. The name fraud itself shouldn't exist for me. It's quite serious. I nearly ended my life. But I had to think of my kids. I know I'm not a fraud. I just made a mistake'. Ms Kumulchew claims she does not want 'special treatment' but admits she wasn't afforded the help needed to carry out her supervisor duties. In a message to Starbucks she said: 'I'll struggle, but don't worry, help me and I'll get there in my own time. 'I'm not going to affect your business, because for every customer I'll roll out the red carpet. I love my job. Giving them a coffee may not be a big deal, but I'm making their life, for the day at least, happy'. Starbucks lost the tribunal in December and is now facing a compensation bill. It is not known if Ms is still working there. The American giant was found to have victimised Ms Kumulchew and its 'equality' policies failed to support her dyslexia. They should have also made 'reasonable adjustments' to her duties to help her continue in her job. Row: Ms Kumulchew was given reduced duties at the Starbucks branch in Clapham, south-west London (pictured) after failing to correctly take the temperature of the water and fridges at regular intervals Upset: Ms Kumulchew, pictured crying, told the BBC that being accused of fraud had left her suicidal Starbucks said in a statement: 'We are in ongoing discussions with this Starbucks partner (employee) around specific workplace support and we are not able to comment on a case that has not yet been completed.' Her case could lead to other cases being brought by dyslexic employees Dr Kate Saunders from the British Dyslexia Association, said: 'One in 10 people has dyslexia to some degree. Many people will not know they have dyslexia because it wasn't identified at school. A specialist riot squad at the centre of a probe into allegations officers wrongly claimed for overtime when their travel cards showed they were going home has been decommissioned 'to cut costs'. The Metropolitan Police said the withdrawal of the Territorial Support Group (TSG) unit based at Paddington Green in Westminster was 'not linked' to misconduct investigations into some officers. Disciplinary action is being taken against more than 20 officers over allegations relating to working practices, unauthorised claiming of overtime and bullying. The Metropolitan Police said the withdrawal of the Territorial Support Group unit based at Paddington Green in Westminster was 'not linked' to misconduct investigations into some of its officers The force's Directorate of Professional Standards, which launched the probe in September 2014, has referred four police sergeants for disciplinary hearings for alleged gross misconduct. Five constables were sanctioned for claiming four hours' overtime which they had not worked, the Met said, while a further two constables face misconduct meetings. Another 13 officers have been 'given advice about professional standards' following the probe. None face criminal charges. The TSG is an 800-strong specialist task force which responds to spontaneous events, including terrorist attacks and public disorder, and played a key role in policing the riots which erupted in the capital in 2011. According to the force's website, TSG officers are selected on merit and must show 'professionalism, self motivation and excellent communication skills'. A Met spokesman said: 'This is not linked to the decommissioning of the TSG base at Paddington Green. 'The TSG unit formerly based at Paddington Green was decommissioned in January 2016 as part of organisational restructuring to cut costs by reducing the number of buildings the task force operate from and improving efficiency by co-locating the specialist units of the command.' The Sun reports officers under the rank of inspector can claim overtime of time and a third, around 30 an hour. The investigation into false overtime claims is just the latest in a series of headaches for the head of the Met, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe (pictured) A source told the newspaper: 'Details from the Oyster cards are electronically stored and apparently showed officers were on their way home while claiming overtime for being at work. 'There was concern about a particular team and discrepancies in their overtime claims. That led to investigations into other teams. It's an embarrassment to the force.' It is just the latest in a series of headaches for the head of the Met, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, who is under mounting pressure to apologise to Lord Bramall and the family of the late former home secretary Leon Brittan in the wake of Operation Midland, Scotland Yard's disastrous inquiry into a serial fantasist's claims of a VIP child sex ring. Hogan-Howe will face MPs in two weeks to give evidence on how the Met handled allegations of historic sex abuse in both cases, all of which proved unfounded. David Cameron and Boris Johnson have already suggested Hogan-Howe should make an apology but he has so far resisted calls for him to do so. Scotland Yard launched Operation Midland after hearing claims made by Nick, an alleged victim of child abuse. Nick is at the centre of extraordinary allegations that three boys were murdered by senior figures, including politicians, in a VIP paedophile gang operating around Westminster in the 1970s and 1980s. Detectives now regard him as a Walter Mitty fantasist but Yard chiefs are desperate to justify spending so much money investigating his bizarre claims. According to figures released under Freedom of Information, the 14-month inquiry burned through 1.8 million in staff costs in its first year alone. This did not include the cost of travel, equipment and expert advice, and it's not clear if it even covered Midland's overtime bill. Hogan-Howe is also the police chief who spent around 14 million on Operation Elveden a highly controversial investigation into the payment of whistleblowers and other public officials (especially police sources) by journalists. No fewer than 70 detectives were assigned to the inquiry, and 62 journalists were arrested. Yet despite 29 being charged as a result, only one case went to trial resulting in a conviction though not a jail sentence which is now being appealed. Since taking office in 2011, Hogan-Howe has also effectively criminalised all contact between his officers and journalists. So draconian are the rules he has introduced to prevent stories about the Met from leaking that officers say they must file a report if they bump into a reporter on a train and have a polite conversation. Unlike his predecessors, Hogan-Howe refuses to meet crime journalists for a Q&A session on a monthly basis. Sometimes they have to wait five or six months to put him on the spot about issues of real importance. A man who has adopted up to 200 cats at a rural home he calls Camp Kitty is embroiled in a legal battle against the council and angry neighbours who claim its unhygienic. Richard McCudden, a painter, said he has taken in the feline friends at his property in central-west NSW because he has a great desire to save cats that would otherwise be euthanised. But neighbours have complained of odour, hygiene and water contamination and have concerns for the welfare of the cats, prompting a legal bid by Cowra Shire Council, Sydney Morning Herald reports. Up to 200 cats are kept at 'Camp Kitty', the home of Richard McCudden in central-west NSW near Cowra One neighbour, Keith Climpson, said the water from his rainwater tank is undrinkable because particles from the cat faeces are blown up on the roof and go into the tank. As many as 200 cats are housed in three large enclosures at the property, with the council attempting to force him to reduce the number of cats under local government legislation. The painter has admitted many of his cats are not de-sexed, registered or microchipped, while Dr Kersti Seksel from Sydney Animal Behaviour Services recommended in a report to the council that he should house no more than 30 cats. One neighbour, Keith Climpson (pictured), said the water from his rainwater tank is undrinkable because particles from the cat faeces are blown up on the roof and go into the tank' They should be separated into social groups of between four and six cats, Dr Seksel said. She had inspected the property last year, and found many were not exhibiting normal behaviours which is a clear indicator of mental or psychological distress. The council has spent about $115,000 in their plight to have Mr McCudden reduce his cats to a maximum of 33, Cowra Shire Council claims. Councillor Ian Brown called the ordeal a cat-astrophe when he spoke with Sydney Morning Herald. The ringleader of a gang of 12 Asian paedophiles who abused a 13-year-old girl was able to fly out of Britain 'on holiday' after his arrest and is 'having the time of his life' on the run. Arif Chowdhury, 20, who would rape the schoolgirl while laughing in her face, managed to fly to Bangladesh while on bail in 2012 - a country with no extradition treaty with Britain. He then set up a Facebook page as a self-styled 'international gangster' to taunt police and said in one message posted since he fled: 'Love is a game and life is pain. My life is thug life'. His aunt Rashona Begum, 38, said his new life is 'like heaven' and the child abuser is now 'learning the meaning of life'. Fled: Ringleader Arif Chowdhury, 20, (left) fled the country after his arrest for raping the 13-year-old victim (posed by model), who was reported missing to police 71 times while she was abused by the 12-man gang She told The Sun: 'He didn't run away because he raped a girl. He went there for a better life. He's having a really good time. 'He's a different person now. Once he is completely improved he will hand himself in.' The rape gang he marshaled were jailed for 143 years yesterday as it emerged the 13-year-old girl they passed around for sex was reported missing 71 times but police failed to rescue her. The men of Pakistani origin subjected the schoolgirl, now 18, to repeated brutal rapes and beatings but police told her worried mother to keep a diary of the girl's movements instead. It was the girl's bravery in giving evidence that helped bring the gang from Keighley, West Yorkshire, to justice and a judge jailed the gang for a total of 143 years yesterday. The case echoes the abuse of young girls by Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale and Rotherham, where police ignored vulnerable victims and avoided arresting predominantly Asian men fearing they would seem racist. Victims campaigner David Hines told The Sun: 'I'm sure police heard the alarm bells. They just decided to ignore the noise. The Government has to get a handle on this. It can't carry on.' Chowdhury and his friends terrorised the vulnerable teenager and orchestrated most of the other sex attacks by Asian men he knew. Meanwhile the groomed girl's terrified mother reported her missing from home 71 times before the gang stopped. Bradford Crown Court heard the girl came from an unhappy home and had been rejected by her mother, a heavy drinker, which may have led to the police not taking it seriously. Khalid Mahood (left), 34, was given an extended sentence of 17 years and Saqib Younis (right), 29, from Keighley jailed for 13 years at Bradford Crown Court Faisal Khan (left), 27, from Keighley was jailed for 13 years at Bradford Crown Court and Sufyan Ziarab (right), 22, from Keighley, Yorkshire, for 15 years Tanqueer Hussain (left), 23, from Keighley was jailed for 13 years and received a five year consecutive sentence for the rape of a second underage victim. Bilal Ziarab (right), 21, from Bradford, was jailed for 12 years Yesterday a local councillor caused outrage yesterday after appearing to dismiss the scandal saying: 'It takes two to tango', Although he condemned the gang he said: 'It takes two to Tango, there are bad apples, but it doesn't mean to say everyone is bad. 'There is some feeling from some people that she played her part in it, the victim had a part to play, I couldn't make any comment on that but it's not widespread.' The men joked in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery yesterday before being given sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to 20 years. Judge Roger Thomas, QC, told them: 'The attitudes the majority of you have so clearly demonstrated to these proceedings has been contemptuous, disrespectful and arrogant on a scale I have hardly seen before in many years of practice in criminal law.' The attackers all from Keighley, West Yorkshire took 'terrible and heartless sexual advantage' of the girl, he said. Most of the jobless paedophiles led a 'feckless and unattractive' life, smoking drugs and hanging around in an underground car park, added the judge. When Chowdhury offered the vulnerable teenager up as a sex object, the men lined up and raped her time and time again. Judge Thomas said: 'She clearly demanded pity and understanding but their view of her was heartless and demeaning. 'They showed her no shred of decency or humanity when, as a vulnerable child, she so needed care and understanding.' Yasser Kabir (left), 25, from was jailed for 15 years and Nasir Khan, 22, from Keighley, was jailed for 13 years Mohammed Akram, 63, was jailed for five years for rape at Bradford Crown Court and Hussain Sardar (right), 19, from Keighley received six years detention in a young offenders institution Israr Ali (left), 19, from Keighley, received three and a half years detention and Zain Ali, 20, from Keighley, received eight years, both in a young defenders institute During the trial, the jury heard how Chowdhury regularly beat the girl. Some of the sex assaults took place on an old sofa in a disused underground car park. On another occasion, five men raped her in succession in a back lane. Even if Chowdhury was not present, the threat of what he might do was enough to ensure the terrified girl did not flee. Throughout her ordeal, she was known to the police and social services. One social worker even took her to have a contraceptive coil fitted at the age of just 14. Eventually in May 2012, she was put in care. Now aged 18, she told in a statement how she still suffered from the physical and mental effects of her ordeal. 'Trust issues affect every aspect of my life,' she said. 'I have struggled to remain in control of my emotions and life in general.' After the case, Kris Hopkins, Tory MP for Keighley, said: 'The sick model of groups of Asian men grooming young white girls to be sexually abused remains a blight at the heart of many communities. Sadly Keighley is at the top of the list.' Local councillor Zafar Ali told MailOnline that grooming was 'not Islamic'. But he added: 'It takes two to tango, there are bad apples, but it doesn't mean everyone is bad. There is some feeling that the victim had a part to play.' Chowdhury escaped justice in 2013 and is believed to be in Bangladesh, effectively beyond the reach of the UK authorities. The rapists are: Yasser Kabir, 25, jailed for 20 years (sentence also for raping two other girls aged five to nine when a teenager); Khalid Mahmood, 34, jailed for 17 years: Sufyan Ziarab, 23, jailed for 15 years; Bilal Ziarab, 21, for 12 years; Nazir Khan, 24, Saqib Younis, 29, and Faisal Khan, 27, all for 13 years; Tauqueer Hussain, 23, for 18 years (sentence also for raping a second underage girl in 2009). Zain Ali, 20, was given eight years in a young offenders' institution for rape; Hussain Sardar, 19, was given six years and Israr Ali, 19, three-and-a-half years. Mohammed Akram got five years for sexual activity with a child. ISIS is likely to step up 'the pace and lethality' of its attacks in the months ahead as it seeks to intensify its global campaign of violence, warned the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency director. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart emphasised the dangers of the jihadi group's 'emerging branches' in Mali, Tunisia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. He also said he would not be surprised if ISIS extended its operations from the Sinai Peninsula in order to strike the heart of Egypt. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart (pictured) emphasised the dangers of the jihadi group's 'emerging branches' in Mali, Tunisia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Indonesia JIhadis in Libya train in the province of Tripoli as ISIS continues to expand in the war-torn country Stewart said that ISIS's presence in Iraq and Syria was only the start, with the group seemingly looking to expand as part of its global plan. 'Last year, Daesh (ISIS) remained entrenched on Iraqi and Syrian battlefields and expanded globally to Libya, Sinai, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Caucasus,' Stewart said. 'Daesh is likely to increase the pace and lethality of its transnational attacks because it seeks to unleash violent actions and to provoke a harsh reaction from the West, thereby feeding its distorted narrative' of a Western war against Islam, he said. Stewart's comments came a day before he and other U.S. intelligence officials are set to deliver an annual worldwide threat assessment to Congress. He also said he would not be surprised if ISIS extended its operations from the Sinai Peninsula in order to strike the heart of Egypt ISIS militants in Egypt released photos of a secret new training camp in the desert of Sinai The Sunni Muslim militant group seeks not only to escalate conflict with the West, but also with Islam's minority Shiite branch, just as Shiite extremist groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah are stoking tensions with Sunnis, Stewart said. 'These threats are exacerbated by the security challenges of the Middle East, which is now facing one of the most dangerous and unpredictable periods in the last decade,' he said. ISIS has as many as 25,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, down from a previous estimate of up to 31,000, according to a U.S. intelligence report revealed by the White House last week. South Korea today unveiled debris from Pyongyang's satellite rocket which it says has a range of some 7,500 miles more powerful than its predecessor. Seoul's Defence Ministry released images purporting to show a section of nose cone retrieved from the waters off the southern South Korean island of Jeju. Officials said the latest rocket was similar to the Unha-3 launched in December 2012, but was believed to have an enhanced range of some 12,000km (7,500 miles). The older version of the rocket had an estimated range of some 10,000km. But they said Pyongyang still lacks the expertise to transform it into a ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland. Meanwhile, U.S. officials said the satellite launched on the rocket over the weekend is now 'tumbling in orbit'. Pictures released by South Korea's Defence Ministry purportedly show a section of nose cone retrieved from the waters off the southern South Korean island of Jeju following a recent rocket launch by North Korea A South Korean defence ministry official said the latest rocket was similar to the Unha-3 launched in December 2012, but was believed to have an enhanced range of some 12,000km (7,500 miles) A graphic released by the South Korean Ministry of Defense the trajectory of the North Korean three-stage rocket launch putting a satellite into orbit. South Korean officials say Pyongyang still lacks the expertise to transform it into a ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland With a range of 7,500 miles, the rocket could have the capability of hitting almost anywhere in the world This is the second time that the rogue state put an satellite into unstable orbit, the last time being in 2012. North Korea has claimed to have put four satellites into orbit but the first two have never been officially confirmed. Signals from the new satellite are yet to be detected, according to CBS, and it is unclear what the satellite is supposed to be using or what it will be detecting. It is currently circling the earth at the height of about 300 miles in roughly a north-south orbit, says CBS. Its route took it over the Levi's Stadium in San Francisco about an hour after the Super Bowl game finished. It comes as leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan discussed how to punish the North for its latest launch and nuclear test, eyeing 'strong and effective' UN sanctions. The rocket, carrying an Earth observation satellite, blasted off on Sunday morning and, according to North Korean state TV, achieved orbit within 10 minutes. The launch, which violated multiple UN resolutions, was widely seen as an act of open defiance just weeks after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test. It sparked strong international condemnations and resulted in an agreement at the UN Security Council to move quickly to impose new sanctions. The Pentagon said it wanted to send a sophisticated missile defence system to South Korea and that the two sides would start formal discussions on placing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) on the North's doorstep. 'Without getting into a timeline, we'd like to see this move as quickly as possible,' Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. Pyongyang's state TV said it successfully put a satellite into orbit, 'legitimately exercising the right to use space for independent and peaceful purposes' North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un watched the rocket launch from an secret planning room He was quick to emphasise, however, that the North has yet to master key technology needed to turn the rocket into an inter-continental ballistic missile, which would require a re-entry vehicle to protect the warhead from heat. He added that the three-stage rocket was confirmed to have put an object into orbit but officials had yet to verify whether the purported satellite was functioning. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, meanwhile, spoke to U.S. counterpart Barack Obama as part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at agreeing on how best to censure the North. Park and Obama agreed to cooperate 'to make sure that the UN Security Council can adopt a resolution for strong and effective sanctions', the presidential Blue House said. In addition to the UN measures, they agreed to hit the North with 'various sanctions and pressure'. Park held a similar conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who also spoke to Obama, telling him that Tokyo was considering its own sanctions against the North, Jiji Press said. North Koreans gather at the Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate the satellite launch on Monday North Korea hailed the successful satellite launch as a major technological and scientific advance A draft sanctions resolution prepared by Japan, South Korea and the United States has been in negotiations for weeks, but veto-wielding China, the North's key ally, has been reluctant to back measures that would take aim at North Korea's already weak economy. China fears that pushing Pyongyang too far could trigger instability that unleashes a wave of refugees flooding across its border. Beijing also worries that a wholesale collapse of the regime in Pyongyang could lead to a US-allied unified Korea right on its doorstep. The flight path of Sunday's rocket was similar to the 2012 launch vehicle, whose first stage debris was recovered by South Korea off its western coast, the defence ministry official said. However, North Korea this time is believed to have had the first stage of Sunday's rocket blow up into around 270 pieces to cover up its technical footprint, he said. The North is already subject to numerous UN sanctions over previous rocket launches and three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. A man who was pulled out of the 17-storey building that collapsed in the Taiwan earthquake this weekend has revealed how he spent 20 hours propped up against a wall to save his girlfriend's life. Ko Ching-chung said he had braced himself against the falling debris in order to avoid falling onto his girlfriend when the 6.4 magnitude quake hit just before 4am on Saturday. Speaking from his hospital bed in Tainan City, Mr Ko recalled how he had managed to hold on for more than a day and a night before apologising, and collapsing on to her. Hero: Ko Ching-chung said he had braced himself against a wall to avoid falling onto his girlfriend when the quake hit at 4am on Saturday, causing the apartment block in Tainan to collapse Mr Ko said that after spending more than 20 hours propped against the wall so as not to crush her with his body, he had to tell his partner he would not be able to hold on much longer. 'She would have soon not been able to breathe,' Mr Ko said. 'I said to her I had to lay on top of her and she said to me it's OK.' Miraculously, both Mr Ko and his girlfriend were rescued from the collapsed block of flats on Sunday morning. The death toll in the quake now stands at 41, with all but two of the deaths resulting of the collapse of the apartment block in Tainan. More than 100 people are believed to still be trapped in the debris as the 72-hour 'golden window' for finding survivors passed Tuesday morning. Strong work: Mr Ko, pictured being embraced by a woman believed to be his mother after his rescue, said that he spent more than 20 hours propped against the wall so as not to crush his partner with his body Mr Ko shows off some of the injuries he suffered after the earthquake in Taiwan caused the block of flats where he was staying to collapse, killing at least 39 people Miraculously, both Mr Ko and his girlfriend were rescued from the collapsed block of flats on Sunday morning Investigation: Taiwanese prosecutors have requested the detention of the developers of the high-rise apartment building in Tainan Five survivors were believed to have been pulled out on Sunday, and at least four on Monday. One of them, Tsao Wei-ling, 45, was found underneath her dead husband, who saved her life by shielding her from a collapsed beam. Ms Tsao called out 'Here I am' as rescuers dug through to find her, eventually locating her under the body of her husband. Her husband and son were found dead, while five members of her family remained unaccounted for, it said. Teams on Monday also rescued a 42-year-old man and an 8-year-old girl. The man, Lee Tsung-tian, was pulled out concious from the sixth floor of the 17-storey building. Rescuers deployed heavy machinery on February 9 in a renewed effort to locate more than 100 people trapped in the rubble as the 72-hour 'golden window' for finding survivors passed More than 100 people are believed to be still buried in the collapsed building from a disaster that struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar: the Lunar New Year holiday A recovered wedding portrait is propped up at the search and rescue staging area of a collapsed building complex in Tainan Rescuers told how they had been trying to dig him out of the rubble for more than 20 hours but were unable to do so as he was trapped by his leg. Several hours later, Mr Lee's girlfriend was found dead in the rubble. The eight-year-old girl, Lin Su-chin, is recovering in a hospital, where she told her father and grandparents that she was looking forward to gorging on sweets as soon as she was well enough. Shortly after she was rescued, workers also pulled out her aunt, a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman identified as Chen Mei-jih, who had been trapped on what was the building's fifth floor. Meanwhile, prosecutors have requested the detention of the developers of the high-rise apartment building in Tainan, official media said Tuesday. As night falls, emergency rescue workers continue to search the rubble of a collapsed building complex Rescue workers carry 28-year-old Vietnamese woman identified as Chen Mei-jih, rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building complex to a waiting ambulance in Tainan Emergency rescue workers continue to search a collapsed building complex in Tainan, Taiwan, Monday The Tainan District Prosecutors Office said Lin Ming-hui and two others, identified only by their surnames, Chang and Cheng, were suspected of negligence resulting in death, Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported. The office requested their detention to prevent collusion or other acts that could disrupt the investigation, CNA said. A hearing on the matter was scheduled for later Tuesday. Shoddy construction is suspected as having contributed to the disaster, with the 17-story Weiguan Golden Dragon, built in 1989, the only major building to collapse in the quake. Although the shallow quake was potentially devastating, few buildings were damaged as a result of strict construction standards in force in Taiwan, an island that is frequently struck by quakes. Most of the 320 people who were rescued from the disaster were saved in the hours immediately after the quake, in which the building collapsed onto itself before toppling over onto its side. Earthquakes rattle Taiwan frequently. Most are minor and cause little or no damage, though a magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. The quake struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar the Lunar New Year. The 92-year-old D-Day veteran, whose home was raided by police last March while he had breakfast with his terminally-ill wife, has attacked the force for its handling of the case A public inquiry should be held into the evidence which sparked a 10-month police investigation of sex abuse allegations made against Lord Bramall, his son has said. A Metropolitan Police probe into the former armed forces chief was dropped last month amid controversy surrounding the overarching Operation Midland, a controversial inquiry into alleged child sex abuse and murder linked to VIPs. The 92-year-old D-Day veteran, whose home was raided by police last March while he had breakfast with his terminally-ill wife, has attacked the force for its handling of the case. And in a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Nick Bramall called for his father's accuser, known only as 'Nick', to be identified. He said: 'As his son, I never doubted him; but what his family and many others seek is a thorough, public and forensic examination of the evidence, as presented to Operation Midland. 'What was the evidence placed before the magistrate that led to the search of his home in March 2015? What was found? Who did the police interview and when? What is known about the man at the centre of the police inquiry? What was so compelling about him that made his accusations so utterly believable? 'We have the right to know these things. The accuser 'Nick' has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, months of police time and besmirched the reputation of honourable men. Surely the cloak of anonymity should now be lifted and this man brought to account.' Lord Bramall pictured here with the Queen at the VJ 50th anniversary parade on The Mall in London in August 1995 Last week, Lord Bramall claimed that officers did not speak to witnesses who cast doubts on the allegations against him until 10 months after he was first spoken to. He's pictured here in 1982 on Ascension Island, where he welcomed men of the Parachute Regiment from the Falklands Scotland Yard declined to comment on Lord Bramall's comments and refused to apologise for pursuing the allegations. Lord Bramall is pictured here at Buckingham Palace with the Queen as she inspects the Queen's Truncheon kept by the 2nd King Edward VII's own Gurkhas Lord Bramall (centre), pictured in 1982 on the QE2 at Southampton before the ship sailed as a troop carrier for the south Atlantic. The man on the right is Defence Secretary John Nott NICK BRAMALL'S QUESTIONS FOR SCOTLAND YARD What was the evidence placed before the magistrate that led to the search of his home in March 2015? What was found? Who did the police interview and when? What is known about the man at the centre of the police inquiry? What was so compelling about him that made his accusations so utterly believable? Nick Bramall wrote in the Telegraph: 'We have the right to know these things. The accuser 'Nick' has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, months of police time and besmirched the reputation of honourable men. Surely the cloak of anonymity should now be lifted and this man brought to account.' Advertisement Last week, Lord Bramall claimed that officers did not speak to witnesses who cast doubts on the allegations against him until 10 months after he was first spoken to and said he was left to prove the allegations were not true. Scotland Yard declined to comment on Lord Bramall's comments and refused to apologise for pursuing the allegations. Operation Midland was launched in November 2014 following allegations that boys were sexually abused by a paedophile ring centred around Westminster more than 30 years ago. There were claims that sex parties were held at the exclusive Dolphin Square apartment block near the Houses of Parliament. A deadly red bellied black snake was found coiled up in a cot at a child care centre. A staff member had the pleasure of coming face to face with the venomous reptile as she was making the children's beds - all who were playing outside, blissfully unaware of the danger inside. Quickly shutting the doors and covering any cracks with towels, the resourceful worker kept her eye on the snake as she called Barry Goldsmith of Snake Catcher Victoria. Within ten minutes Mr Goldsmith was at the centre, on the Mornington Peninsula just southeast of Melbourne, where he quickly set to removing the snake before children became aware of the drama. A venomous red bellied black snake was found coiled up in the cot at a child care centre near Melbourne Victoria Snake Catcher Barry Goldsmith told Daily Mail Australia the female staff member was making beds when the snake fell out of a sheet 'One of the staff was making the kids beds the kids were all outside ... she picked up a sheet and a black snake fell out,' Mr Goldsmith told Daily Mail Australia. He applauded the woman for handling the situation so calmly, taking to his Facebook to post a photo of the snake and warn others about the dangers of killing snakes - which is illegal. 'If they had tried to catch or kill the snake themselves, it could have been a lot worse outcome,' the photo was captioned. Mr Goldsmith said the snake was likely lured in by the prospect of mice living in the centre. 'Kids are filthy and they attract mice ... although I didnt find any evidence of mice which is interesting,' he said. Since the incident with the red-bellied black snake on Monday, he told Daily Mail Australia he had been called to two schools and a retirement home to remove copperhead snakes. He stressed the importance of calling a registered snake-catcher, and urged others to not be frightened by snakes. 'Were in the job of saving snakes, were trying to remove peoples fears of them, theyre not out to hurt us and theyre not out to kill us,' he said. 'Theres no such thing of a snake plague, theres less snakes now. It's just that more people are coming into contact with them because were building housing estates on top of bushland that they call home.' Luckily the children were outside when the snake was found, blissfully unaware of the danger inside Mr Cameron, pictured making his claims on a visit to HMP Onley, warned the Jungle camp would move to Kent if Britain quits the EU France has made clear it will not cancel a border agreement with Britain even if the UK quits the EU - prompting new claims today the Prime Minister is getting 'more desperate'. David Cameron warned yesterday the deal could be threatened by a British exit and Downing Street went so far as to claim 'thousands' of people could de-camp to Britain overnight. Around 7,000 people are staying in camps in and around Calais, frequently attempting to reach Britain - but strict border controls established through a bilateral treaty ensure tight security at rail and ferry ports. French sources today made clear there were 'no plans' to reopen the 2003 Le Touquet treaty which established the working relationship. Senior eurosceptics - including many in Mr Cameron's Conservative Party - were furious at what they saw as 'scaremongering' from the Prime Minister. Sources at the Interior Ministry told the Mail: 'It is not the job of French ministers to get involved in subjects like this. 'There are no plans to reform the Touquet agreement, either by (French Interior Minister Bernard) Cazeneuve or anyone else.' The insider said the minister was committed to tightening controls, and that leaving the French border open 'would be a disaster'. Reacting to the today's reports, Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Cameron was becoming 'more desperate'. Liam Fox, Mr Cameron's former defence secretary, insisted yesterday he was 'sad and disappointed' at Mr Cameron's claims while David Davis said it was 'desperate scaremongering'. The Prime Minister was backed today by Sir Peter Ricketts, a former ambassador to France. He told the BBC: 'This is a bilateral treaty but it was made in a multilateral context where Britain and France are working very closely together across a whole range of issues in the interior, justice area, police co-operation and so on. 'If the context changed, and Britain made a major decision to leave the EU, then I think it is very likely that the French would review its position as well.' Nigel Farage today tweeted Mr Cameron was getting 'more desperate' in this campaign to keep Britain in the EU amid claims the PM was 'scaremongering' Philippe Mignonet, the deputy mayor of Calais, also appeared to back Mr Cameron, adding in today's Telegraph: 'We will have to cancel these agreements, because England won't be in Europe any more. 'So that will really be a foreign country for us.' TOP LAWYERS WARNS THE KEY EU DEMAND MADE BY BORIS WOULD BE 'POINTLESS' The change in the law demanded by Boris Johnson to promote the sovereignty of Britain over the EU would be 'pointless', the former attorney general has warned. Dominic Grieve said short of full treaty change nothing would stop the European Court in Luxembourg being the ultimate court of last resort. David Cameron told the London mayor last week he would shortly produce new laws to confirm the superiority of British legislation over EU rules. But speaking to the BBC, Mr Grieve warned: 'By virtue of the treaties and the acts which followed our treaty of accession, primacy in matters of European law in its interpretation is given to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg and in those circumstances it's difficult to see how any piece of legislation can alter that without our being in breach of the treaties.' He added: 'If we were in breach of the treaties it would simply go to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg who, because their decisions have direct effect here, they would override whatever legislation we had passed because that is the way in which the European Union operates... 'It would in those circumstances be pointless. But it's not to say, for example, that it isn't possible to have a dialogue between our own Supreme Court and the court in Luxembourg in which jurists who are considering the same piece of legislation may exchange views about what the legislation actually means. 'That's very desirable in any working justice system. 'But at the end of the day the buck stops somewhere and the treaty of accession and our own legislation makes quite clear that at the end of the day it is the court in Luxembourg which has the last word, as indeed it has for every other state which is adherent to the European Union.' Advertisement Mr Cameron stood by his claims yesterday, warning: 'If we stay in a reformed EU, you know what you get - a border in Calais and vital information about criminals and terrorists running around Europe.' And his spokesman said leaving the EU could see 'thousands' of people rushing to the south of England. 'The point here is about a huge number of people coming to the UK effectively overnight to claim asylum,' the spokesman said. 'So you're literally having thousands of people coming to the UK overnight to claim asylum in Folkestone or other entry points on the south coast.' London Mayor Boris Johnson questioned whether Mr Cameron's renegotiation 'genuinely achieved any reform' and warned he should have 'tried harder' to secure Britain's borders. Mr Cameron's claim, the plan for which was reported in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, sparked an immediate backlash. Dr Fox said: 'Sad and disappointed to see our Prime Minister stoop to this level of scaremongering. 'Especially as he knows the #Calais agreement is nothing to do with the EU and agreed between the two govts.' The former defence secretary later claimed the angry row was a 'red herring' because the deal was a bilateral one between Britain and France. He highlighted comments made by French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve in October. The French politician said: 'Calling for the border with the English to be opened is not a responsible solution. 'It would send a signal to people smugglers and would lead migrants to flow to Calais in far greater numbers. A humanitarian disaster would ensue. 'It is a foolhardy path, and one the government will not pursue. On the contrary, we're going to make the border even more watertight to dissuade smugglers and migrants, respect international rules and reduce the pressure on Calais.' Mr Farage said: 'Le Touquet Treaty is a bilateral deal, nothing to do with the EU & of course international co-operation would continue once we leave the EU. 'David Cameron is doing anything he can to distract the British people from his disastrous, shambolic, pathetic EU deal. 'Once again we see the pro-EU establishment adopting fear and scaremongering tactics. I believe in Britain - we will thrive outside EU!' In yesterday's backlash, senior Tory MP Sarah Wollaston warned the In campaign should not use 'alarmist' rhetoric to scare people into backing Britain's EU membership Liam Fox, the former Conservative Defence Secretary, said he was disappointed to see Mr Cameron launch was he described as 'scaremongering' More than 7,000 people are now camped out in Northern France, pictured last week, waiting for a way to reach Britain Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'The Prime Minister of an independent Britain would have the ability to prevent the jungle moving to Kent if he had the will to do so. 'I think it's a bit desperate really. 'It's project fear - given the failure of the Prime Minister's renegotiation to impress the British people, it would appear project fear is revving up.' THE BRITISH BORDER IN FRANCE: WHAT IS THE DEAL KEEPING THE JUNGLE IN CALAIS? Britain and France signed the Le Touquet treaty in 2003 amid tensions over the number of people in camps at Calais. The deal was the latest in a series that allowed Britain to carry out border checks on the French side of the Channel - meaning papers were checked there and vehicles inspected. British officials are based on the French side of the channel and cooperation around the eurotunnel terminal was stepped up last summer as the numbers trying to break into the tunnel grew. Scrapping the deal could see British border checks brought back to the English side of the Channel - potentially allowing people to reach the Kent shore to set up camp while awaiting processing. There are currently around 7,000 people at the camps, pictured above last week, with 'roads' handed British-styled names such as Queen Elizabeth II Street. Advertisement David Davis, who launched a bid to be the Out campaign figurehead last week, said: 'As the argument slips away from the Remain campaign they are forced to rely on desperate scaremongering. 'We already have a process where air carriers transporting passengers with no visa are fined as well as being responsible for returning people they have flown to the country illegally. There is no reason why the same policy would not work for trains and ferries. 'And we should spend a small fraction of the savings from our current EU budget contributions on enhancing our border controls and ensuring that they operate effectively. 'It is the failed EU immigration policy that has created the 'Jungle' camp near Calais. The idea that leaving the EU would give us less control of our borders is simply preposterous.' Senior Tory MP Sarah Wollaston tweeted: 'It is simply not credible to claim that EU cooperation on security issues would end in the event of #Brexit. 'Ratcheting up the alarmist rhetoric on security by project fear 'in' campaign will backfire; people don't like to be be taken for fools.' Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said: 'UK border controls are in France because of a bilateral treaty, not because of our EU membership, and a result of the camps in Calais, not the cause of them. 'Clearly, No 10 is in a blind panic over the failing renegotiation.' Britain and France agreed in 2003 that border checks would all be done on the French side of the Channel. There are currently around 7,000 migrants camped in Calais and Dunkirk, many of whom make regular attempts to get into the Channel Tunnel or board a ferry. Ending the agreement would mean cars and lorries would not be checked for migrants until they reach the British side of the Channel. The Prime Minister was defended by Tory MP Damian Collins after it was reported Mr Cameron would warn of the risk Calais migrants would move to Britain if the UK quits the EU London Mayor Boris Johnson, left, has questioned what Mr Cameron's deal is worth while Tory MP Liam Fox, right, will argue this week that staying in the EU is a risk to Britain's national security Damian Collins, the Tory MP for Folkestone and Kent, today said the Prime Minister would be 'right' to make the the warning. Revealing the planned tactic, a source told the Telegraph: 'We will be telling people, look, if we leave the EU, the Jungle camp in Calais will move to Folkestone. 'That is not something people want.' The source added that France would 'love to pull out' of the 2003 Le Touquet treaty which allows the UK border controls in France. Mr Johnson raised Tory tensions over Mr Cameron's draft deal yesterday by questioning what the Prime Minister had secured from Brussels. And in his regular Daily Telegraph column the mayor warned: 'In deciding how to vote I (and I expect a few others) will want to know whether we have genuinely achieved any reform, and whether there is the prospect of any more.' Mr Johnson was critical the deal would allow centralisation of tax and budget powers within the Eurozone. Mr Johnson raised Tory tensions over Mr Cameron's draft deal yesterday by questioning what the Prime Minister had secured from Brussels On sovereignty - thought to be Mr Johnson's key demand - he said it appeared Mr Cameron had 'done better than many expected' but questioned whether it was a 'bazooka or popgun'. And on borders, the Mayor blasted: 'Why didn't we try harder to recapture control of our borders, rather than stick at this minor (if worthwhile) change to the law on benefits?' Elsewhere, Tory MP Liam Fox will argue this week that staying in the EU is a risk to Britain's national security because of open-door migration. The ex-defence secretary will warn that millions of migrants will be able to come to the UK over the next four years possibly including terrorists. He will highlight that many of the more than 1million who have entered Europe during the migrant crisis may be given passports by their host countries in the coming years. Once they have citizenship, they will be free to move around the EU. His speech represents a move by Brexit campaigners to hammer home the national security case for leaving. Dr Fox will say 'remaining in the EU with no control of migration is a threat to national security'. He will make his speech at a conference of Eurosceptics organised by MEP David Campbell Bannerman, co-chairman of Conservatives for Britain. JAMES SLACK'S ANALYSIS: The reasons the Jungle WON'T come to the UK David Cameron claims that if Britain quits the EU, Jungle-style migrant camps will spring up in the South East. JAMES SLACK looks at why critics say he is scaremongering. The Calais border deal has nothing to do with the EU The Prime Minister claimed that France could tear up the deal under which British border officials are allowed to operate on French soil. In fact, the arrangement is based on bilateral treaties, signed in 1993 and 2003, which have nothing to do with the EU. France could end the agreement tomorrow or keep it in place for decades regardless of our EU membership. France is required to give two years' notice to change the rules giving the lie to No 10's claims that 'thousands could be here almost overnight'. It is not in France's interests to have a borders free-for-all If migrants believe there will be fewer border checks at Calais, even more are likely to make the journey across France to Calais bringing further chaos to the port. French railway company SNCF has a 55 per cent stake in Eurostar and will be desperate to avoid making a bad situation worse. The UK has also given France around 20million to boost security at Calais, including erecting giant new fences. Ending the agreement with the UK would mean turning off the funding taps. If migrants believe there will be fewer border checks at Calais, even more are likely to make the journey across France to Calais bringing further chaos to the port The current deal benefits both sides not just Britain In October, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said calling for the border with the English to be opened would send a signal to people-smugglers and would lead migrants to flow to Calais in far greater numbers. A humanitarian disaster would ensue. It is a foolhardy path, and one the government will not pursue. Also, under existing treaties the French are allowed to have border controls at Dover. If they wave everybody through into Britain, they could expect the UK to reciprocate. France already has a huge terrorism problem. Would it really wish to gamble on who was entering from the UK side? Britain has other ways of policing its borders Mr Cameron gives the impression it is the juxtaposed controls or nothing. In fact, we have a series of existing powers to allow us to turn away people with no permission to enter the UK. The idea that camps would spring up on English soil is nonsense Orange Is The New Black star Taryn Manning is suing the NYPD for $10million over her 'false arrest' on November 18, 2014. The actress, who plays Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett in the hit Netflix series, filed the complaint with Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. Manning's action against the NYPD concerns an incident where she was hauled in handcuffs to the Fifth Precinct station in Chinatown. Court documents show that the NYPD were aware at the time that the district attorney's office had decided against charging Manning over the alleged incident. Scroll down for video Taryn Manning is suing the NYPD for $10million over her arrest in November 2014 concerning allegations that she had threatened her stalker Jeanie Heller Frenemies: Heller, pictured left alongside Manning in October 2014, was sentenced to six months in prison for violating the conditions of her release by texting the star Gal pals: The district attorney's office had decided against charging Manning (second from right) over the alleged incident involving her former friend (far right) Manning, according to Page Six, was arrested over allegations that she had sent threatening text messages to her former friend and alleged stalker Jeanine Heller. Manning's lawsuit claims police leaked details of her 2014 arrest to the media According to court documents, the 37-year-old star was at a meeting with detectives with her attorney Stacey Richman. She wrote: 'The meeting ended when I was handcuffed by a detective and locked in a small room adjacent to the interview room. Approximately 20 minutes later, I was removed . . . still handcuffed and marched through the precinct. I was processed and ultimately placed in a holding cell.' Manning claims she remained in the holding cell for several hours and claims the NYPD leaked details of her arrest to the media. She is also claiming for 'attorneys fees, hours of detention, emotional distress and reputational harm'. Manning's stalker Heller was sentenced to six months in prison for violating the conditions of her release by texting the star. In 2012, the actress faced allegations of assault in a series of unrelated incidents involving her makeup artist Holly Hartman. Images released last week reportedly show Hartman following one of the alleged attacks. The pictures, believed to have been taken in 2012, show Hartman sporting scratches on her eyelid and a large bump on her head. Manning was not prosecuted over the alleged incident in 2012 after Hartman decided against pressing charges. Manning is best known for her role as Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett in Netflix series Orange Is The New Black Manning, pictured, has now been accused of attacking her former make up artist Holly Hartman Leaked photos purport to show makeup artist Holly Hartman with scratches on her eyelid and a large bump above her left temple in 2012. The woman has accused actress Taryn Manning of repeatedly beating her During the fight, the actress allegedly punched and kicked her make-up artist pal, scratched her face and bashed her head against the wall after a night of heavy drinking. Sister of Maylynn paid tribute: 'Words can't described how devastated I am' Disabled woman, 52, knifed to death and her elderly mother also stabbed The neighbour of 52-year-old Maylynn Couperthwaite (pictured) has been charged with her murder after she was brutally knifed to death in a double stabbing attack that left her elderly mother fighting for her life The neighbour of a disabled charity worker has been charged with murder after she was brutally knifed to death in a double stabbing that also left her elderly mother fighting for her life. Maylynn Couperthwaite, 52, was killed and 80-year-old Audrey Couperthwaite critically injured following the attack on Sunday at a home in Bury, Greater Manchester. Oliver Faughey, 62, of Woodward Close, Bury, has now been charged with murder and attempted murder. He is due to appear before Bury and Rochdale Magistrates Court today. It came as Maylynns sister Lucy Walton issued a statement on the attack, which happened at a sheltered accommodation bungalow in Woodward Close shortly before 4.55pm. She said: 'Words cant describe how devastated I am by what has happened. I love them both so very much.' Maylynn Couperthwaite, who had volunteered at a local charity shop for 15 years until she had to give up due to ill health, suffered horrific injuries after being repeatedly stabbed in the chest. Her mother is then said to have been attacked as she came to help. Audrey Couperthwaite is still sedated in hospital and remains unaware her daughter is dead. The pensioner, who is also disabled, is in a critical but stable condition and specially trained officers are providing the family with support. She was visiting her daughter at the time of the attack. Locals say the mother and daughter were regularly seen walking their dog and both women were said to use walking frames. One resident in the street, where mostly elderly people live, said: 'This is a friendly area and they are nice people. This is something that has come right out of the blue.' Another added: 'They were nice people always walking their dogs. They would talk to us. They were friendly. I was in their house only last week. 'They are both disabled so they wouldn't have stood a chance. I worry about how this will affect the mother when she finds out.' As forensic experts continued to examine the bungalow where the incident happened, one neighbour who asked not to be named said: 'I heard screaming but just thought it was kids messing about at first. 'Then I looked through the curtains and saw four or five police cars screaming into the road.' Victim: Maylynn Couperthwaite (left) was killed and 80-year-old Audrey Couperthwaite critically injured following the attack on Sunday at a home in Bury, Greater Manchester. Forensic teams are pictured right at the scene Cordoned off: Woodward Close, in Bury, Greater Manchester (pictured), where the double stabbing took place He said he then saw police lead someone away and put them into the back of a police van. Detective Superintendent Sara Wallwork, of Greater Manchester Police's Serious Crime Division, said: 'One of the victims of this shocking incident has now sadly died and we have launched a full murder investigation. 'I know an incident like this can cause a lot of shock within the community but I would like to assure everybody that we have a dedicated team of detectives currently working to investigate the circumstances leading up the stabbing.' Supt Rick Jackson from GMP, added: 'We recognise that there will be a lot of concern around this tragedy but I would like to reassure people this is an isolated incident and an individual has even arrested. 'Enquiries are progressing and we are supporting the family through this tragic incident and we are not looking for anybody else at this time.' Hundreds of former ISIS sex slaves have joined an all-female battalion to launch a massive assault against their abusers in Iraq. The Yazidi women who call themselves the 'Force of the Sun Ladies' have taken up arms in the quest for revenge but also to preserve the future of their race. They are among around 2,000 captives who have escaped their jihadi tormentors who subjected them to horrific torture and rape and massacred thousands of their loved ones after storming their villages in the summer of 2014. Now, driven by a collective desire for vengeance, the battalion is preparing for an offensive on the ISIS stronghold of Mosul where many were exchanged by militants to serve as their sex slaves. Scroll down for video Revenge: Members of an all-female Yazidi battalion (pictured in August 2015) who call themselves the 'Force of the Sun Ladies' are preparing for a massive assault on their ISIS abusers. Hundreds of former ISIS sex slaves have joined the unit to launch an offensive on the terror group's stronghold of Mosul The women are among 2,000 captives who have escaped their jihadi tormentors who subjected them to torture and rape and massacred thousands of their loved ones after storming their villages in the summer of 2014 Capt Khatoon Khider, a member of the Sun Ladies, told Fox News: 'Whenever a war wages, our women end up as the victims. 'Now we are defending ourselves from the evil. We are defending all the minorities in the region. We will do whatever is asked of us.' She is among more than 100 Yazidi women who have trained with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces which are preparing to attack Mosul, with another 500 waiting to follow suit. Around 5,000 Yazidi men and women were captured by the militants, but some 2,000 have managed to escape or been smuggled out of ISIS self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But the United Nations says ISIS is still holding an estimated 3,500 people captive in Iraq, the majority women and girls from the Yazidi community. Surivivors have recounted horrendous stories of sexual abuse and torture. One Yazidi mother, who gave birth while being held as a sex slave, told how she was not allowed to feed her newborn son. Her captor then beheaded the boy when he cried. Taking up arms: Around 5,000 Yazidi men and women were captured by the militants, but some 2,000 have managed to escape or been smuggled out of ISIS self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria Leader: The brigade's founder and commander is Xate Shingali (pictured), a renowned singer who performed traditional folklore music all over northern Iraq Islamic State militants consider the Yazidis to be devil-worshippers. The ancient Yazidi faith blends elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Islam. Most of the Yazidi population, numbering around half a million, are displaced in camps in Iraq's Kurdistan. Last month, director of the U.N. human rights office in Iraq, Francesco Motta, said the militant group is seeking to 'destroy part or the whole of the Yazidi people'. Meanwhile, a young Yazidi survivor urged British lawmakers today to help free the thousands of women and girls that remain captive. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 21, who address parliamentarians in London, is also appealing for more help for displaced Yazidis living in refugee camps, and to investigate whether the militant group has committed genocide against the Yazidi people. Taha took her message to the U.N. Security Council in December and has spoken to successive governments, appealing to the international community to act. Taha has travelled to Egypt, Greece, Kuwait, Norway, the United States and Britain with her message. 'The places I've spoken to have given me hope... but a year and a half has passed and nothing has happened yet,' she said in an interview. She was tortured and repeatedly raped before she escaped three months later. She is now living in Germany. Suspect, 47, also accused of trying to snatch another child moments earlier He gets 60ft away before mother intercepts him with the child in his arms A mother fought off a child kidnapper dressed as an FBI agent who tried to snatch her son during a Costa del Sol carnival popular with expats and holidaymakers. The scare happened on Saturday evening, one of the busiest days in the Malaga carnival calendar, during the Parade of the Gods. The 47-year-old suspect, who is from Malaga, had been spotted mingling among other carnival paraders wearing a shirt with the initials FBI on them and carrying toy handcuffs. Revellers who saw him leaving the scene with the child in his arms stopped him with the help of his mother. Scare: Revellers in fancy dress costumes sing at La Merced square during the week-long carnival in Malaga, southern Spain. Police have arrested a suspected child kidnapper (not pictured) who allegedly tried to abduct a three-year-old boy during the event on Saturday, but was foiled by his mother Authorities today said they believed the same man who has been arrested and remanded in prison pending a full judicial probe was behind a second kidnap attempt moments earlier. Police suspect he picked his alleged victims at random and have so far ruled out the possibility he belonged to a child trafficking gang. A relative of the child's mother handed investigators a 20-second video she recorded on her mobile phone which included footage of the alleged abduction and proved key to the decision to remand the suspected child abductor in prison. The footage is said to show a man dressed in black lifting the youngster from the ground as the child's mother dances in front of the person filming her unaware of the drama playing itself out behind her. He was already 60 feet away when relatives realised the child was missing and caught up with the man as he tried to run away with the infant in his arms. The alleged abductor was held after stopping police in the area to tell them he had been assaulted, although investigators suspect at this stage it was an attempt to divert attention from his wrongdoing after being caught red-handed. The week-long Malaga carnival, which finished on Sunday, is one of the fun highlights of the year in the city The scare happened on Saturday evening, one of the busiest days in the Malaga carnival calendar Miguel Briones, government spokesman for Malaga, revealed today that a second woman had contacted authorities to say the suspect had tried to abduct her seven-year-old girl before she threw confetti at him and alerted others as he fled. He described the incidents as 'random acts' but added: 'We condemn what's happened. It's reprehensible. 'Not only did this man try to take a young boy but also another child.' It is understood the suspect is known to police but has no previous for crimes related to child kidnappings. The week-long Malaga carnival, which finished on Sunday, is one of the fun highlights of the year in the city. Expat groups along the Costa del Sol advertise it on their Facebook pages and blogs and it is also popular with visiting tourists. Unions are currently locked in multiple separate disputes over the Tube They claim they are being forced out by new plans to hire contract workers London commuters could face travel chaos later this week with 2,000 Tube safety workers set to strike as part of an ongoing row with transport bosses. The RMT union announced today that 500 track patrol staff on the Underground would walk out of their jobs for 24 hours starting on Friday morning. They will join another 1,500 maintenance workers who had previously voted to strike at the same time as the first in a new wave of walkouts. Crush: Commuters could face more travel chaos in London as Tube maintenance workers go on strike Transport for London is planning to run services as normal, but warned that passengers could face delays due to the reduced number of safety staff on duty. In the event of signal failures and other technical problems, it is likely to take longer to repair the faults and get services running again. Tube bosses are currently locked in several separate disputes with the unions over a number of different issues. As well as the safety row, talks are ongoing over the proposed 24-hour Night Tube on weekends and planned ticket office closures. According to Transport for London, Friday's strike is a result of plans to change shifts to accommodate the Night Tube, with workers given the choice of whether or not to work the new shifts. Any shifts which are not covered by full-time workers will instead be filled by contract staff. Row: Maintenance workers are set to walk out over changes to the way that staff access tracks A spokesman for TfL said that services were unlikely to be cancelled due to the strike, but warned that there could be delays because of the smaller number of available workers. The strike is the first of seven planned between now and June, including a walkout over the busy Easter weekend. The RMT has accused Tube chiefs of trying to 'bulldoze through' the training of new contract staff in a 'direct attack' on the job security of union members. WHEN WILL THERE BE STRIKES? A series of seven strikes are planned for the following dates: Friday, February 12: 24 hours from 6.30am Sunday, March 6: 12 hours from 6.30am Friday, March 25 (Good Friday): 24 hours from 6.30am Sunday, March 27 (Easter Sunday): 24 hours from 6.30am Sunday, April 24: 12 hours from 6.30am Sunday, May 15: 12 hours from 6.30am Sunday, June 12: 12 hours from 6.30am Advertisement General secretary Mick Cash said: 'This dispute is over an outrageous attempt to casualise and undermine the jobs of our London Underground track patrol members through an extension of the use of private contractors. The plan must be halted. 'RMT will continue to fight all attempts to undermine and casualise jobs across London Underground as the company looks to cut corners to meet Government austerity targets. 'This union will not accept the undermining of jobs, conditions and safety or the creeping privatisation of functions.' Steve Griffiths, chief operating officer at London Underground, said: 'When we introduce the Night Tube we will need some track patrol staff working on Sunday nights rather than Fridays. 'We've given our existing staff the choice whether or not to cover these shifts, which protects their work/life balance. No jobs are at risk and contract staff will only be used temporarily, to cover shifts that our employees choose not to work. 'This freedom to choose for our staff is part of our pay and Night Tube offer, which the RMT has recommended its members accept. We'll be doing everything we can to ensure this doesn't impact services for customers.' The Night Tube was supposed to begin in September last year, but it still has no start date as talks between unions and TfL continue. Workers have been offered pay rises and one-off bonuses in exchange for agreeing to work through the night on Fridays and Saturdays. Turkey is expecting up to one million Syrian refugees to arrive at its frontier as a Russian-backed government offensive in the city of Aleppo intensifies the country's refugee crisis. Currently some 50,000 people are gathered at the border with Turkey seeking refuge from the conflict as Ankara faces increasing EU pressure to allow them to enter. It comes as startling new figures reveal the number of migrants to enter Europe by sea so far this year is ten times more than the same period last year - prompting NATO to consider launching a humanitarian naval mission in the Mediterranean. Shelter: A temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, taken on February 9, as Turkey announced it is expecting up to one million Syrian refugees to arrive at its border Refuge: Syrians who have fled the attacks of Syrian and Russian air forces to live in tents and open areas at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing on Turkish-Syrian border near Azaz town of Aleppo Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu today urged the world to speak out against Russia for 'mercilessly bombing civilian targets' in Syria. Predicting Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once pulled out of Afghanistan - he warned the country would one day 'pay'. He said those 'who turned Syria into a bloodbath will certainly pay for it', reiterating claims that Russia's support of Bashar al-Assad had triggered the exodus to the Turkish border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated Tuesday that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues. The International Organisation for Migration today revealed 76,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea through the first six weeks of 2016. This marked a drastic increase from the first six weeks of 2015, when just 11,000 undertook the voyage. The vast majority of these have arrived in Greece as opposed to Italy, which are respectively known as the eastern and western Mediterranean routes. A young boy peers through a fence at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey Its estimated some 50,000 people have now amassed on the border, prompting fears of another humanitarian crisis Children who fled the bombing warm themselves by a fire at one of several border crossings with Turkey Two children who fled Aleppo try to stave off cold winter temperatures while taking staying at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing In recent weeks the number of people to amass at the border has reached an 50,000 estimated people A young child peers out the window of a family car, which many refugees have been using as shelter An injured Syrian man kisses a child near Oncupinar crossing gate in Kilis, Turkey A woman plays were her children in a wheelchair at the border gate crossing in southern Turkey Turkey has so far kepts its border closed to the refugees, although those injured have been allowed to cross Many of those not injured and unable to cross have been living in makeshift camps scattered along the border Two elderly women carry food and water back to loved ones at the refugee camp by the Oncupinar border gate The makeshift camp in Kilis, where these refugees are staying, is built on an old farm Sheima, 5, lost both eyes when she was hit by a stray bullet in Syria. Here she is on her hospital bed in a small clinic in Kilis Medics at the refugee camp assist an injured man. The crisis at the border has intensified as Syrian government troops have almost encircled the rebel-held parts of Aleppo A Syrian doctor tends to an injured man's leg while he stays at the makeshift hospital on the Turkish border It has prompted calls for NATO to launch a humanitarian naval mission in the area, which head secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said would be considered 'very seriously'. Stoltenberg said he had spoken by telephone with the German and Turkish defense ministers, and that the issue will be on the agenda at a NATO defense ministers' meeting Wednesday. He added that 'we are all concerned' and NATO's 28 member countries 'see the need to manage and to tackle the human tragedy,' and the problems associated with it. Yesterday German chancellor Angela Merkel said she was 'not just appalled but horrified' by the suffering caused by Russian bombing in Syria. She said she and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed tomorrow's NATO meeting should discuss how the alliance 'can be helpful with the surveillance situation' in the Mediterranean and assist the Turkish coast guard and the European Union's border agency. Meanwhile, camps for the displaced along Syria's border with Turkey are at full capacity, aid workers say, as tens of thousands flee a major government offensive in Aleppo province. In and around the border town of Azaz, families are sleeping in the streets, or up to 20 people to a tent, having left their homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. This elderly man is one of 50,000 thought to have amassed at the border with Turkey in a desperate bid to flee the carnage which has erupted in Aleppo A man wraps himself in a blanket while trying to fend off the cold after fleeing the airstrikes in Aleppo Syrians rest in a camp built by a humanitarian organisation near Bab al-Salam border gate in Turkey Humanitarian organisations are warned the influx of refugees has been so rapid families are running out of places to sleep An elderly man who has been living in a vehicle on the border gestures to a photographer A woman airs out blankets and sheets on the side of an abandoned truck on the border with Turkey Turkish authorities have said 600,000 people could yet amass on the border in a worst case scenario As well as using abandoned vehicles, some families are crowding up to 20 people into tents at a time A group of Syrians who fled the attacks in Aleppo sit together at the desolate refugee camp The refugees come predominantly from the suburbs of Hayan, Haritan, Kafr, Anadan, Kafr Naya, Mayir and Ihris - locations targeted by the Russian and Syrian airstrikes Syrian families left homeless by the bombing campaign sift through a bag of old shoes and boots The UN says up to 31,000 people have fled Aleppo and surrounding areas in recent days, as government forces press an offensive that could encircle the rebel-held part of the city. 'There are no longer enough places for families to sleep,' said Ahmad al-Mohammad, a field worker with Doctors Without Borders who enters Aleppo province from Turkey daily. 'Many of them in the first days were sleeping in the streets and outdoors without blankets or covers.' He said up to 20 people were crowding into tents being distributed by aid groups and which are usually meant for seven only, with homes in towns receiving displaced people also filled to capacity. He said aid groups were also distributing warm clothes and mattresses, with Turkey allowing humanitarian goods across the border, which remains closed to the fleeing Syrians. 'They are trapped,' Mohammad said in a late Monday telephone interview. 'They've left their homes and everything they have behind, and they can't get into Turkey.' A young boy peers out the window of his family's car, which sits on the Bab al-Salameh border crossing A young boy peers at the photographer while sitting in the back of a truck filled with his family's possessions A group of children among the 50,000 to have fled Aleppo in recent days wash up inside their makeshift shelter Thousands of Syrians have fled the city of Aleppo following a brutal government offensive on rebel held suburbs Turkish authorities fear as many as 600,000 people will gather at the border to flee Syria's civil war A family sit beside old trucks and oil drums as they hope for entry to Turkey The UN's humanitarian aid agency OCHA said on Monday that eight informal camps on the Syrian side of the border were at 'full capacity.' And the UN's aid chief Stephen O'Brien said he was 'gravely concerned' by the mass displacement, noting that about 80 percent of the tens of thousands of people on the move were believed to be women and children. He said: 'We have reports that civilians have been killed and injured, and that civilian infrastructure, including at least two hospitals, has been hit. People urgently require shelter, food and basic household items.' Syrian government forces backed by allied militias and Russian air strikes began a major operation in northern Aleppo province last week. They have advanced around much of Aleppo city, virtually encircling the rebel-held eastern part, and prompting tens of thousands to flee their homes in the northern countryside. They are now around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Turkish border. While Ankara says its open-door policy to Syrian refugees remains unchanged, it has kept the main Aleppo border crossing closed in recent days, focusing on sending assistance to camps just inside Syrian territory. Many of those living at the camp have nothing more than a blanket for shelter. Others sleep in abandoned cars A elderly refugee sits next to a row of tents - many of which are overcrowded and overflowing Thousands of those living at the camp are children. Here youngsters are pictured collecting fresh water Aid agencies have said the camp sites are already overcrowded while numbers are expected to dramatically increase in the coming weeks putting further strain on resources A youngster pushes a man on a wheelchair through the makeshift campsite at the Bab al-Salameh crossing The number of migrants to have crossed into Europe by sea this year is ten times that of the same period last year, new figures reveal The vast majority of these migrants have entered from Turkey to Greece, via what's known as the eastern Mediterranean route A man gives the thumbs up to cameras after reaching the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkey today A murder investigation has been launched after a man was stabbed to death in a university halls of residence. The body of the 30-year-old was found with multiple stab wounds in a building occupied by Salford University students yesterday afternoon. Police officers made the grim discovery at the flat at Bramall Court on Cannon Street after a pedestrian walked up to a PCSO yesterday and claimed he had killed a man. Police officers made the grim discovery at a flat in Bramall Court (pictured) on Cannon Street, in Salford A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody. A post-mortem examination will take place later to establish the cause of death of the man, who has not been formally identified. Forensic investigators and detectives were at the student accommodation yesterday and are still working there today. Students living at the accommodation say they returned home from lectures to discover the crime scene. One student said the first floor of the complex had been cordoned off by police, the lift turned off and no one had been allowed onto the floor since. Another said it the ground floor that was taped off and students living on the floor had been moved out. One student told the Manchester Evening News she was 'disgusted' about the murder investigation. She said: 'It's quite scary it has happened so close to us. It could have been any one of us. It's just disgusting someone could do that.' Superintendent Mark Kenny of Greater Manchester Police said other students were not believed to be in any danger. 'This is a tragic incident in which a young man has lost his life and we are doing everything we can to find out exactly what happened. 'We have now launched a murder investigation and a team of detectives will be speaking to witnesses over the coming hours and days. 'As part of that I want to appeal to anyone who might have information that could help us - please come forward and speak to my officers. 'I can't speculate on the motive for this crime, but at this early stage there is nothing to suggest there is a threat to the wider student population.' Bramall Court is one of a number of halls of residences used by pupils attending the University of Salford and is the closest to the Adelphi Building and less than a mile from the main campus. It is also said to be a popular choice for students studying music and performing arts. A University of Salford spokesman said: 'We were informed this evening of the very sad news that a young man has been tragically found dead at halls in Cannon Street. 'This has come as a huge shock to us all and our thoughts are with his family and friends.' 'The University is helping Greater Manchester Police with its investigation.' A policeman and a community support officer have been jailed for failing to prevent the murder of a disabled man who was beaten to death by his neighbours after calling for help 12 times in a day. PC Kevin Duffy and PCSO Andrew Passmore were found guilty of misconduct in a public office in connection with the death of Bijan Ebrahimi in Bristol three years ago. The 44-year-old murder victim was killed and set alight by neighbours who wrongly thought he was a paedophile, after police ignored his complaints that he was being threatened. Duffy, 52, was today sentenced to 10 months in prison at Bristol Crown Court while Passmore, 56, was jailed for four months. Jailed: PC Kevin Duffy, left, and PCSO Andrew Passmore, right, have been sentenced to prison for misconduct Victim: The pair failed to prevent the murder of disabled man Bijan Ebrahimi, pictured Bristol Crown Court heard that Duffy saw Mr Ebrahimi, an Iranian refugee, as a liar and a nuisance, disregarding his repeated calls in the days leading up to the murder in July 2013. Passmore was found to have lied by telling murder detectives he had patrolled outside Mr Ebrahimi's home for an hour when it had actually been a few minutes. The two men were convicted by a jury in December, and were both dismissed by Avon and Somerset Police last month. Mr Ebrahimi's death is currently being investigated by the police watchdog, while more than a dozen officers and staff face disciplinary proceedings. Judge Neil Ford QC told the pair that he was jailing them 'with a heavy heart' and suggested that Mr Ebrahimi's death could partly be attributed to 'wider failings in the police'. Chilling: The charred piece of grass outside Mr Ebrahimi's property in Brislington, Bristol, after he was killed He said: 'I cannot go behind the jury's verdicts and it is with a heavy heart that in each of your cases I take the view that only a custodial sentence is appropriate. 'It doesn't seem to me a proper consequence of your wrongdoing that the sentences need be long. 'You have already suffered greatly. You have already lost your careers and in each of your cases there is genuine justification for mercy. 'You must not bear the responsibilities for the wider failings in the police which were beyond your control.' He accepted that the murder victim was 'not an easy man to deal with', but told Duffy: 'You regarded Mr Ebrahimi as a nuisance and someone who could not be wholly trusted.' The judge added that Passmore had 'no need' to lie about his patrol and said that it was not just 'an innocent mistake'. Members of Duffy's and Passmore's families gasped and exclaimed 'Jesus Christ' as the sentences were passed. Family: Mr Ebrahimi's sister Manisha Moores, right, vowed to continue the fight for justice for her brother Ian Stern QC, representing Duffy, told the court his client's action had 'no consequences' in Mr Ebrahimi's death, adding: 'He has lost his good character, his employment and a significant financial sum for him and his family. 'He is a broken man and he will not work obviously in the areas in which he has hitherto worked and the public will be all the more poorer for that.' Michael Borrelli QC, for Passmore - a former soldier - said his client was the carer for his elderly mother and stepfather and suffered from low IQ and memory problems. TIMELINE WHICH LEAD TO TRAGEDY July 11: Bijan Ebrahimi dialled 999 and reported that neighbour Lee James had come into his flat and head-butted him. When PCs Leanne Winter, and Helen Harris arrived, James was crying with anger and frothing at the mouth. PCs Winter and Harris arrested Mr Ebrahimi for an alleged breach of the peace. As he was led away from his home, the crowd cheered, clapped and shouted 'paedophile'. July 12: Mr Ebrahimi was released from custody. He made 12 calls to police non-emergency number 101. He was informed that PC Kevin Duffy, his local beat manager, would visit him. PC Duffy refused to speak to him and said he would call Mr Ebrahimi back at his own convenience. The officer asked PCSO Passmore to conduct a 'bit of a foot patrol' around the area, which went on for about two to three minutes. July 13: Mr Ebrahimi tried to contact PCs Duffy and Winter numerous times. July 14: Just after 1am, witnesses saw James repeatedly stamp on Mr Ebrahimi's head with his right foot. His body was later burned. Advertisement During their seven-week trial, jurors heard how Mr Ebrahimi dialled 999 to report that Lee James had come into his flat and headbutted him. James wrongly believed that Mr Ebrahimi had filmed his young children, when he had actually been gathering evidence of anti-social behaviour. When police arrived at the scene they found a mob outside the refugee's home, while James shouted: 'Paedo! I'm going to f****** kill you.' Instead of dealing with the vigilantes, police arrested Mr Ebrahimi for breaching the peace and held him in the cells overnight. After he was released, he made 12 calls to the non-emergency number 101 and was told that Duffy would visit him but refused to speak to him on the phone. Mr Ebrahimi told one officer: 'My life is in danger. Right now a few of my neighbours are outside and shouting and calling me a paedophile. I need to see PC Duffy.' Duffy told a supervisor: 'He should be told in no uncertain terms that I will speak to him at my convenience. It's Mr Bijan Ebrahimi. He's well known to me and I won't be taking any calls from him.' He asked Passmore to conduct a 'bit of a foot patrol' around Mr Ebrahimi's home at about 8.40pm. Passmore later told murder detectives that he had spent 40 minutes on foot patrol on the estate and a further 20 minutes on the adjoining streets. The jury convicted him of lying about this, accepting the prosecution's allegation that he simply drove up and down in his police car for just two to three minutes. Mr Ebrahimi was murdered three days after his arrest, and just an hour after his final call to police. Witnesses saw James repeatedly stamp on Mr Ebrahimi's head before setting him alight at 1.35am with neighbour Stephen Norley. Neighbours: Lee James (left) was jailed for life for the murder, while Stephen Norley (right), who lived next door, was sentenced to four years in prison for assisting an offender James was jailed for life for the murder, while Norley was sentenced to four years in prison for assisting an offender. PCs Leanne Winter, 38, and Helen Harris, 40, were acquitted of misconduct in a public office during the same trial as Duffy and Passmore. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is expected to publish its investigation findings into Mr Ebrahimi's death at the conclusion of all disciplinary proceedings. In a statement today, Avon and Somerset Police said: 'Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that at the heart of this case is Bijan Ebrahimi's family who have had to endure protracted legal and procedural processes. They have done this with the utmost dignity and composure. 'Our sole aim is to fully understand the circumstances around Mr Ebrahimi's treatment by our police officers and staff in the days leading up to his murder. 'We are at the beginning of a series of misconduct hearings and meetings involving 15 members of staff and officers. 'It's crucial that these disciplinary proceedings are allowed to progress to their final conclusion without prejudice now that the criminal case has come to an end. 'As a consequence, we're unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters. 'The gross misconduct hearings involving police officers will be held in public at Police HQ in Portishead in line with national guidance, and further details will be published five working days before they are due to begin.' Speaking outside court, Mr Ebrahimi's sister, Manisha Moores, said the family's fight for justice would continue. 'No sentence can ever bring our brother back and we as a family have a life sentence to bear,' she said. 'We hope the judge's words today send out a strong message to police officers across the country about the importance of protecting victims and the importance of telling the truth. 'We hope that today's outcome will help other victims and our search for justice continues.' 'I have no intention of taking any calls from Bijan Ebrahimi. I will speak to him at my convenience': Police call logs reveal shocking callousness just hours before vigilante murder Killed: Bijan Ebrahimi made a string of calls to police before he was murdered by a vigilante neighbour Here are details of 12 calls Bijan Ebrahimi made to the police on July 12, 2014 - 24 hours before he was brutally murdered near his home in Bristol by a vigilante who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. Call 1 - 1.28pm: Asks to speak to PC Kevin Duffy. Is told to call back at 2.30pm when PC Duffy is on shift. Call 2 - 3.02pm: Calls again saying PC Duffy was 'supposed to come to my house'. The handler cannot get hold of PC Duffy, who is on a job. Mr Ebrahimi is advised to call back in 15 minutes. Call 3 - 3.34pm: Calls back and again the handler cannot get hold of PC Duffy. Mr Ebrahimi is told to call back in 10 minutes. Call 4 - 3.56pm: Handler gets through to PC Duffy, who says he will visit Mr Ebrahimi later. Mr Ebrahimi tells the handler: 'I don't feel safe here.' Call 5 - 6.39pm: Mr Ebrahimi tells the call handler people are calling him a paedophile and making jokes about him being handcuffed. He said six or seven neighbours were outside his door. He is told to lock his windows and doors and that officers will visit him as soon as they can. Call 6 - 7.05pm: He tells the operator he wishes to speak to PC Duffy as he is expecting him to visit his flat and has a 'mob' outside his door 'insulting him', adding 'my life is in danger'. The operator contacts PC Duffy who replies: 'I have no intention of taking any calls from Bijan Ebrahimi. I will speak to him at my convenience.' Call 7 - 7.27pm: Mr Ebrahimi calls again and is told PC Duffy is busy and will call when he is available. Mr Ebrahimi says: 'But I told him my life is not safe here. I have to leave as soon as possible.' Call 8 - 7.32pm: He telephones again and asks to speak to PC Leanne Winter urgently. Mr Ebrahimi tells police: 'I've got a mob behind my door, a few of my neighbours, they are calling me names and I can't go outside the door because I am not safe.' He is told an officer will visit as soon as possible and the call is a very high priority. The call handler contacts PC Winter. A colleague at the police station answers, saying: 'Leanne Winter is sat just opposite me, stuffing her face with Pot Noodle at the moment.' PC Winter says she does not want to speak to Mr Ebrahimi as she is busy. Mr Ebrahimi tells the operator: 'I can't even open the door to let my cat out. What shall I do?' Call 9 - 8.07pm: Mr Ebrahimi tells police some of his neighbours have left but he still wants to see PC Duffy as he still feels unsafe in his flat and will have to jump out of the window. The call handler contacts PC Duffy who says: 'This is about the fourth or fifth call he has made tonight and trying to get hold of me in particular. I'm not gonna talk to him.' The officer goes on to call Mr Ebrahimi 'a perpetual liar' and adds: 'I have asked for [PSCO Andrew Passmore] to do a bit of foot patrol near Capgrave Crescent just to make sure everything is quiet and show a bit of presence but that's as much as we're doing for him tonight.' The operator tells Mr Ebrahimi that PC Duffy will not be visiting him tonight and he can request another unit attends. Mr Ebrahimi replies: 'Why he keep me here, you know, in the danger area since 2.30pm?' He says he will have to sleep in a park as he does not feel safe. Call 10 - 8.18pm: Mr Ebrahimi tries to find out the name of an inspector he had spoken to that morning in custody. Call 11 - 9.37pm: He calls from outside Brislington police station and is still trying to find out the name of the inspector he spoke to. PCSO Passmore is asked to go down to see him but replies: 'He's a bit of a liability so I don't really want to speak to him outside the nick on my own.' PC Duffy says he has 'no [intention] of seeing Mr Ebrahimi tonight'. Call 12 - 9.42pm: Mr Ebrahimi remains outside the police station and tells the call handler he is waiting for someone to see him. He is told no one is available and he should go home. Mr Ebrahimi replies: 'I can't go home. I'm not safe there.' PC Duffy is called again and says: 'I'm sorry, I'm gonna go off on one in a second because I've had repeat calls from this man. I am considering doing this Mr Ebrahimi for harassment if he keeps on calling.' France has asked for her to be The fate of a jailed former Playboy Playmate, nicknamed 'Asia's sexiest DJ', now rests in the hands of the Secretary of State after France called for her extradition to face parental abduction charges. Angie Vu has been locked up since November, when she tried to flee the U.S. with her nine-year-old daughter. The girl's father in France has custody and had agreed to let her spend some time with her mother, but the plan was for her to return to Paris on August 29. Vu was arrested as she tried to defy that agreement by boarding a plane at JFK Airport bound for China with her daughter on November 4. She told her daughter they were travelling on to Vietnam. Scroll down for video: Stunner: Angie Vu - 'Asia's sexiest DJ' - locked up since November, when she tried to flee the U.S. with her nine-year-old daughter Abduction: Vu has been in a New York City jail since November 4, when she was arrested trying to flee the country with her 9-year-old daughter New home: Vu is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, in an open dormitory with about 100 other female inmates Vu recently revealed that in the past three months behind bars she has been fighting temptations and trying to spend her time productively. 'A lot of lesbians around here and a few blondies are hitting on me,' Vu told the Daily News. 'But I prefer to read my Bible for now,' she told the New York Daily News, A judge has denied Vu bail, determining her a flight risk, so she has remained in jail since her arrest. Her next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. France is currently fighting to have her extradited so that she may face parental abduction charges in that country. Not all bad: A judge denied Vu bail, considering her a flight risk. The Vietnamese stunner says the food in lock-up is 'edible' but there's a real lack of greens. Pictured above sipping champagne at a restaurant in Bangkok Exercise: Vu says she spends most of her time behind bars exercising, reading the Bible and listening to the radio. Pictured above taking a Citi Bike out for a ride in New York City Girls: Vu says several girls at the jail have tried hitting on her. The former Playboy Playmate pictured above with a friend at LAVO nightclub in New York The Vietnamese stunner has spent her time behind bars in an open dormitory with 100 female inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and says prison can be a dangerous place for a celebrity. 'I tried my best not to get in any fight,' she said. 'I thought prison could be much worse, though. Only saw prison on TV, I was ready for gang rape, getting beaten up and vowed to protect my face at all cost. So my social skill became handy.' Still, it's not all bad. Vu says lock-up has helped get her in shape, the food is 'edible' and she has plenty of time to listen to music. 'I realized how tough I am. I thought I couldn't last for two days and it's now three months,' she said. 'I came to God and got saved so I spent time to pray and read the Bible, too.' Four people died, including a young mother and her toddler, when a vehicle crashed in central New Mexico Monday. State police said the roll-over crash happened around 5pm on a service road along Interstate 25 near Lemitar, 75 miles south of Albuquerque. The vehicle was carrying seven people and traveling at 'excessive speed' when it went out of control on a hill and rolled multiple times, police said. Of the seven occupants, six were not wearing seat belts, police said. The six people who were unrestrained were thrown clear in the crash. Audriana Foulentfont, 23, and her son Elijah, two, were among four dead in a roll-over crash in New Mexico Monday The dead were identified as Audriana Foulenfont, 23, of Socorro, her two-year-old son, Elijah Foulenfont, Mariah Garza, 18, of Lemitar, and Eduardo Guiterrez, 23, of Socorro. The driver, Veronica Robles, 23, and a passenger, Lianne Herrera, 23, were critically injured, police said. A second toddler, one-year-old Josiah Rico, was restrained in a car seat and was the only survivor who wasn't critically injured in the crash. The 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe lost control after failing to navigate a hill crest, police said. Tourists visiting some of New York's most prestigious hotels have reported being bitten by bed bugs despite their five star surroundings. Guests at the Waldorf Astoria and Marriott Marquis hotel are among those to have been affected by the infestation. Reports of bed bugs in the city's hotels have jumped by 44 per cent over the past year. According to the Bed Bug Registry, which lists reports of alleged incidents, there are almost 6,000 incidents in their databases relating to New York. Reports of bed bugs in New York hotels have increased by more than 40 per cent between 2014 and 2015 Guests at the Waldorf Astoria, pictured, have reported the uninvited guests in their bedrooms during stays The registry said that reports of infestations had increased by more than 44 per cent between 2014 and 2015. According to the reports, it is not only cheap motels who rent rooms by the hour who are affected by the uninvited guests. One couple who were staying at the Astor on the Park hotel overlooking Central Park posted a video on YouTube of the mattress of their $400-a-night room. According to the New York Daily News, 176 hotels which are part of 272 member of the Hotel Association of New York City have been subject to bed bug reports. Lisa Linden told the paper: 'Bedbugs are a global issue that extend beyond hotels. Every member of the Hotel Association of NYC that we are aware of has an active anti-bedbug program in place. If a problem arises, it is dealt with immediately and effectively.' Many reports of the bed bug website are anonymous. A spokeswoman for the Marriott Marquis said: 'We take all reports made by guests directly to the hotel very seriously. It is not possible to prevent bed bugs from entering a hotel, given the nature of how they are introduced (via guest luggage and/or clothing). 'Proactive measures for bed bug presence should include routine inspection of guest rooms and proper training to identify the signs of a possible presence. 'Marriott has the greatest concern and respect for every guests experience. We take hotel hygiene and cleanliness very seriously. As a result, Marriott has established very strict standards of cleanliness for all its hotels that either meet or exceed public health department regulations, including pest control. 'In the unusual event we are made aware of a concern, we respond immediately to the situation and take the appropriate steps to remediate the problem.' According to experts, there has been a major resurgence in bed bugs over the past two decades because the insects have become resistant to insecticides. Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York said: 'Bed bugs are now very widespread in most major cities around the world, and they have increasingly become resistant to insecticides, making them harder to control.' The scientists identified genes responsible for their insecticide resistance, genes involved in mitigating the traumatic effects of their brand of copulation and anti-coagulant genes useful for an insect that makes blood its exclusive source of nutrients and water. These genetic traits may present vulnerabilities that could be exploited with future insecticides. The genome also harbors numerous genes that originated in bacteria, including one that helps bedbugs metabolize vitamin B. This indicates antibiotics that target bacteria beneficial to bedbugs could be used to control the insects. During mating, male bedbugs stab a V-shaped area of a female's abdomen with their sickle-shaped genitalia. Females possess genes that control a protein that makes that part of their anatomy stronger and better able to withstand this rough sex. Adult bed bugs measure roughly a quarter inch (5 mm) and are reddish-brown. Their bites are not known to transmit disease but some people have very strong allergic reactions, Weill Cornell Medicine geneticist Christopher Mason said. Joshua Benoit, entomologist at the University of Cincinnati said: 'Bed bugs will hide in a variety of places throughout a home. Commonly, they will be on the seams of couches and beds or hidden within the frames of furniture. They have been found in electrical sockets, in drawers or where floors and walls meet,. Bedbugs, found on every continent except Antarctica, have been biting people for thousands of years. Widespread insecticide use in homes after World War Two eliminated them from many regions but bedbugs rebounded by developing pesticide resistance, thriving in heated homes and hitching rides in luggage in international travel. A recent report published in the journal Nature Communications revealed that scientists have produced a genetic map showing where different bed bugs come from. Police are today investigating the death of a man who set himself alight yards from Prince William and Kate's London home. The unnamed man, believed to be in his forties, died next to Kensington Palace at around 3.40am this morning. Witnesses described seeing a fireball in the park close to the palace's orangery and police and the fire service were called at 3am. MailOnline understands the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were with their children at Anmer Hall in Norfolk but Prince Harry, who also shares the grand residence, may have been at home. Investigation: Police are probing the death of a man who was found on fire yards from Kensington Palace (pictured today) Probe: The dead man is being examined by a forensics team in a tent but Scotland Yard has said they believe the man's death is not suspicious Witnesses described seeing a fireball in the park close to the palace's orangery and police and the fire service were called at 3am. Away: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in Norfolk with their children at the time One told MailOnline: 'The emergency services did all they could to save him but he was too badly injured. It looks like a suicide'. The man was put out with a fire extinguisher and given first aid at the scene but died 40 minutes later. Police cordoned off the area today and forensics officers were examining the body in a white tent but appear to be treating it as a suicide. The body was foudn close to the palace but outside its grounds, which also back on to the Israeli embassy. A Met Police spokesman said: 'A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. Police are in the process of informing next of kin. 'At this early stage, no other persons are believed to be involved. This incident is not being treated as suspicious and is not being treated as terrorist related'. A spokesman for the Met said officers were called by a central London hospital at just after midnight on Tuesday after a man in their care had failed to return. They added: 'Police carried out inquiries to trace this missing man at his home address and two associated addresses but the man, aged in his forties, was not present'. Kensington Palace contains a large number of flats used by members of the royal family. Prince Harry moved in next to his brother William and sister-in-law Kate in 2014, with the royal couple having refurbished a flat left vacant following the death of Princess Margaret in 2002. Specialists examine a petrol can near to where the man is thought to have set himself on fire and died The victim is thought to have torched himself near to the boundary of the Palace grounds just after 3am Forensic officers scour the grounds near where the unnamed man, thought to be in his forties, was found just outside the boundary of Kensington Palace Princess Michael of Kent also lives next door to William and Kate at the Central London palace and the complex is also home to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. It is understood no-one else was thought to be involved. A spokesman for the Met said officers were called by a central London hospital at just after midnight on Tuesday after a man in their care had failed to return. Cordon: Officers were seen removing the body of the unnamed man from as the area next to Kensington Gardens was closed off Investigators continued to examine the surroundings near where the man's body was found on the border with the palace A man has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for wearing a cartoon costume of a woman showing skin. The country's morality police swooped on the suspect who was dressed as a mascot for the opening of a sweet shop in Kharaj city near the capital Riyadh. He was accused of not complying with the strict Islamic dress code which requires women to cover themselves in public. Pictures posted on social media show the giant mascot being apprehended by officers and the costume bundled in the back of the police car. Cartoon capers: This mascot was arrested by Saudi's morality police for wearing a costume depicting a woman showing skin in an apparent breach of the country's strict Islamic dress code Even Saudis themselves thought the incident was bizarre, with many using the Twitter hashtag #TheMoralityPoliceArrestingADummy to poke fun at the arrest, it was reported by Vocativ. Some went further, saying the morality police were making a mockery of Saudi Arabia in the eyes of the world. One tweeted: 'You made the world laughing at us, you animals.' A Saudi user added: 'It's awful that it's 2016 and these idiots still have any authority. Strip them of their power.' Women in Saudi Arabia have to wear a long black cloak, called an abaya, cover their hair and, in some regions, conceal their faces while in public. Pictures posted on social media show the giant mascot in the back of the police car after the arrest Women are also banned from driving by religious edict and cannot travel without authorisation from their male guardians. In September 2011, a Saudi women sentenced to 10 lashes for defying the driving ban was only spared when King Abdullah stepped in to stop the public flogging. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, as it is officially known, is responsible for ensuring Islamic laws like those are not broken in public. But it has repeatedly been accused of human rights violations. In 2002, the committee refused to allow female students out of a burning school in the holy city of Mecca because they were not wearing correct head cover. Jones, of Reinwood Road in Lindley, pleaded guilty to assault A dying, blind pensioner was assaulted by a hospital worker in the final hours of his life. Vulnerable Anthony Farrington, a diabetic and amputee, was slapped twice by healthcare assistant Debbie Jones as she struggled to insert an oxygen tube into his nose during a shift at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, a court heard. Mr Farrington, from Meltham, West Yorkshire, died two days later. Jones, from Lindley, pleaded guilty to assault at Kirklees Magistrates' Court on a basis that she slapped Mr Farrington twice. His family told of their disgust at his treatment at the hands of a professional trusted with his care in a statement read out by prosecutor Vanessa Jones. His daughter Louise Drake said: 'It distresses me that he died not only without dignity and in pain but also in fear of those in care of him. 'I don't know how anybody could assault somebody who is terminally ill. 'There can be no greater breach of trust.' She continued: 'When his condition deteriorated in the last days of his life he was in extreme pain and distress and very frightened. 'He insisted on checking our jewellery and rings before he would let us embrace him - this was not normal behaviour. 'He remained in an agitated state which was out of character as he was a confident and social man. 'As a family we did our best but remain appalled by the lack of care and failure to provide dignity for my father. 'This was barbaric care by the offender, my father was confused and distressed. 'We felt unable to protect him as he has protected us throughout our life.' Other family members described how the incident had left them fearful of the medical profession and hospitals. Mrs Jones added: 'There was greater harm (in the case) because he was vulnerable. 'His blindness meant that he couldn't see who was assaulting him and his fear would have been greater.' The grandfather was admitted into the hospital's A&E department on October 2 last year. His diabetes had previously been managed with the help of his wife, who he had been with for 50 years. Vulnerable Anthony Farrington, a diabetic and amputee, was slapped twice by healthcare assistant Debbie Jones as she struggled to insert an oxygen tube into his nose during a shift at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, a court heard But in the later stages of his life his condition became difficult to control and his family made the decision to admit him into the care of staff at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. There it became clear very quickly that Mr Farrington, whose left leg was amputated below the knee, was extremely ill. He was moved into a private room to be cared for in the final stages of his life but remained in an agitated state. His family were then met by a matron who told them that he had been assaulted by 42-year-old Jones. The assault on the 69-year-old was witnessed by a student nurse. The court heard that distressed Mr Farrington had lashed out as she tried to insert a cannula into his nose to give him oxygen. Jones reacted by slapping him twice in his torso. The court heard that Jones was a member of bank staff, who typically provide cover for shortfalls in staffing and staff absences. She is currently suspended pending an investigation into the matter but Mr Farrington's family said she should be removed from her agency's books. Jones, who was not represented, claimed she 'pushed down' on Mr Farrington to try and protect the student when he lashed out. But District Judge Adrian Lower told her: 'In view of the capacity in which you were caring for him you should have shown greater restraint.' He sentenced her to a community order with 140 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitative activities. Jones also has to pay 200 costs and 60 victim surcharge. Hospital trust Director of Nursing, Julie Dawes, said: 'We are really sorry for what happened. This falls well below our standards. A young British woman claims she inadvertently smuggled a weapon on an international flight after buying a gift set at duty free and later finding it had a four-inch knife concealed in the packaging. Hope Sarangi, 19, from Manchester, England, bought a 1L bottle of Grey Goose in a gift set priced at $89 in duty free during a stopover at Brisbane International Airport late last month while travelling with partner Ethan Waszczak, 20. After landing in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ms Sarangi gifted the duty free alcohol to her sister-in-law and claims she discovered a four-inch Stanley knife hidden in the bottom of the package, Daily Mail Australia can reveal. Hope Sarangi, 19, claims she accidentally smuggled a four-inch blade on an international flight after the Grey Goose gift set she bought duty free at Brisbane Airport had a Stanley knife hidden inside (pictured) Hope Sarangi, 19, and her partner Ethan Waszczak, 20, (pictured) say they accidentally smuggled the blade from Brisbane to Christchurch, New Zealand My partner noticed a strange object on the bottom of the box which turned out to be a four-inch sharp blade with a slightly rusted tip, Ms Sarangi told Daily Mail Australia. It had been wrapped in a barcode sticker removed another Grey Goose box set, and was further concealed beneath the bottle inside the box, the 19-year-old said. Very quickly after this our thoughts turned to why the blade was there and who possible could have hidden it and what for. The thought crossed our mind that it was included to cut the bottle seal but seeing its condition and attempted concealment assured us that it wasnt the case. Ms Sarangi had concerns the blade could have been meant for another person to purchase and smuggle on a plane. It had been wrapped in a barcode sticker removed another Grey Goose box set, and was further concealed beneath the bottle inside the box, the 19-year-old, from Manchester, said The four-inch blade wrapped in a barcode sticker and allegedly concealed inside a Grey Goose gift set bought duty free inside Brisbane International Airport It left a rusted imprint in the foam base of the set She said it was most shocking that a dangerous blade was smuggled through and possibly planted for a later passenger to use. The 19-year-old said she'd managed to smuggle it despite Australia having 'some of the strictest security in the world. It had also left a rusted imprint in the foam base of the set, she said. Ms Sarangi said her sister-in-law rang the airport immediately after discovering it. They were all shocked as well and commented that the Duty Free JR store would check the rest of the bottles and recall them if need be. However we were told for an official response we should email the airport which we did but never received a reply, she said. It was over a week since we emailed. Ms Sarangi told Daily Mail Australia more vigilant security in duty shops were needed, and that recalling the product is not enough. She had been flying from Manchester in the UK to Christchurch at the time, with stopovers in Dubai, Singapore and Brisbane on the morning of January 28. When approached by Daily Mail Australia, a Brisbane Airport spokesperson was unable to confirm that a complaint had been made but is following up the claim. The thought crossed our mind that it was included to cut the bottle seal but seeing its condition and attempted concealment assured us that it wasnt the case,' Ms Sarangi said (Mr Waszczak pictured with the blade after discovering it) Ms Sarangi had been flying from Manchester in the UK to Christchurch at the time, with stopovers in Dubai, Singapore and Brisbane on the morning of January 28 (Brisbane International Airport pictured) A British woman been left with a 35,000 hospital bill after she nearly lost her leg in a horror moped crash on holiday in Thailand. Natasha Hutchinson, 24, was travelling on the back of a a rented moped in the popular beach resort Phuket, when they collided with a lorry and she fell off and crushed her leg. Miss Hutchinson has now left her parents tens of thousands of pounds in debt because she had forgotten to get medical insurance. Natasha Hutchinson, 24, has put her parents 35,000 in debt after getting her leg crushed in an accident while on holiday in Phuket, Thailand and forgetting to take out a medical insurance Miss Hutchinson, from Maesteg, Wales, was left with a smashed kneecap, a broken femur, torn muscles, extensive blood and skin loss and septicaemia in her leg following the crash Miss Hutchinson, from Maesteg, Wales, was left with a smashed kneecap, a broken femur, torn muscles, extensive blood and skin loss and septicaemia in her leg following the horror crash in Phuket, Thailand. Her parents were left with credit card debts of 35,000 after forking out for flights, four knee operations, painkillers and skin grafts. Wheelchair-bound Natasha was deemed fit to fly home to the UK last week, and Thai medics warned she may not walk for another nine months. Her mother, Michelle Lucas, 46, said: 'It's every parent's worst nightmare. 'Natasha's completely devastated. She set out for the adventure of a lifetime, and ended up nearly losing her leg thousands of miles from home. Miss Hutchinson's mother Michelle Lucas and her stepfather Richard have been left with credit card debts of 35,000 after forking out for flights, four knee operations, painkillers and skin grafts Miss Hutchinson was riding on the back of a moped with a friend when a truck careened round the corner and knocked her from the bike The 24-year-old has now had a total of eight operations and numerous blood transfusions, and after her most recent skin graft on Monday, she was told she could fly home 'It's so dangerous - Brits go to Thailand and think nothing of jumping on mopeds and doing things they'd never do at home.' Mrs Lucas, a social worker, says her daughter was riding on the back of a moped with a friend when a truck careened round the corner and knocked her from the bike. She says police were called to the scene but no arrests were made. Following the accident, Miss Hutchinson was given a kneecap replacement in a Thai hospital. She was discharged three days later, but re-admitted when she collapsed and was told she had septicaemia and was at risk of losing her leg. Mrs Lucas said: 'On the one hand I was furious that she'd been so naive to not pay for insurance - but then, she was so excited before she set off she could easily have forgotten. 'That's when we knew she was in serious trouble. 'She was so excited that she must have just forgotten. 'Or maybe she thought nothing bad would ever happen to her. 'This was her gap-year between graduating and getting a job, and she couldn't wait to let her hair down.' Her parents forked out another 3,000 for flights back to the UK in order for her to travel in first class, as the 24-year-old was too frail to fly in economy Help: A family friend has now created a fundraising page to help the family scrape back some of the money Early last month, Mrs Lucas and police officer husband Richard Lucas spent 2,000 on return flights to Thailand to be by her side and pay for her treatment. Mrs Lucas says: 'I couldn't bear the thought of my daughter being in pain so far from home. 'I knew how scared she'd be, and was determined to pay for whatever treatment she needed. Seeing her in that hospital bed with her wounds wrapped in bandages, I burst into tears. She said she kept a vigil every day by her daughter's bedside. Mrs Lucas added: 'She was so shaken up, and terrified she would lose her leg. I just wanted to make it all better.' The couple contacted the British embassy who told them they could not help. Miss Hutchinson has now had a total of eight operations and numerous blood transfusions. After her most recent skin graft on Monday, she was told she could fly home. Mrs Lucas forked out another 3,000 for flights back to the UK, travelling with her daughter in first class as Natasha was too frail to fly in economy. Now, Miss Hutchinson's friend Kirsty Purcell, 24, has created a fundraising page to help the family scrape back some of the money. Mrs Lucas said: 'We're in a desperate situation and hope that people will sympathise with the situation. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, pictured leaving No 10 today after a Cabinet meeting, is facing accusations he vetoed a deal to end the strikes Jeremy Hunt vetoed a deal which could have ended the junior doctors strike set to cause chaos in the health service tomorrow, it was claimed today. Sources close to the BMA said an offer was made to resolve the final sticking point over Saturday working hours at no overall cost - only for the Health Secretary to personally intervene. The Department of Health insisted the claim was 'untrue' and Mr Hunt used an appearance in the Commons today to repeat accusations the BMA were refusing to engage in talks. Thousands of junior doctors are due to walk out for 24 hours from 8am tomorrow and 2,884 operations have already been cancelled in preparation for the action. Last ditch talks restarted today in a final effort to end the impasse before a second strike tomorrow. A BMA source today told the Independent that both NHS Employers and the Department of Health 'saw the offer as an opportunity to resolve the dispute'. The source said: 'The one person who would not agree was Jeremy Hunt. 'Even though the NHS Employers and DH teams thought this was a solution he said no.' 'Negotiations have completely broken down,' the source added. 'There are no more dates planned for talks. The BMA wants to continue negotiating but the other side have walked away.' A Department of Health spokesperson said the claims were 'completely untrue'. Asked directly in the Commons if he vetoed a deal, Mr Hunt declined to give a clear denial. He said: 'The only reason we do not have a solution on the junior doctors is because in December on the one outstanding issue, which is about pay on Saturdays, the BMA said they would negotiate but last month they said they refused to negotiate. 'That is the only outstanding issue. If they are prepared to negotiate and be flexible on that so are we.' The only remaining outstanding issue over the new junior doctors contract is which weekend hours attract a premium rate of pay. Ministers have continued to insist they have the right to impose a new deal on medics if negotiations - which have lasted for years - continue to fail. Former NHS chief executive Lord Crisp today insisted the dispute was not about money. Junior doctors launched their first strike action on January 12 and had suspended the campaign of industrial action to engage in further talks The Government's chief negotiator Sir David Dalton outlined the remaining issues in dispute in a letter, pictured, to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt last month He told the BBC: 'What I would say about this dispute is that this isn't about the technicalities of the dispute. 'This is about junior doctors feeling undervalued, unloved and not cared for' He said it was 'remarkable' that 98% of doctors had voted in favour of the strike. 'I think this dispute is a symptom of something else that needs to be done. 'I hope that when the dispute is resolved, that the Government and leaders of the health service will sit down with the junior doctors everywhere around the country and talk to them about what the real issues are and why it is that these young people with whom our future with the NHS depends to a large extent, as well as nurses and others of course, are feeling so disgruntled and so unhappy with what are fantastic jobs. 'I'm not a doctor but being a doctor is one of the greatest jobs in the world.' NHS England has said that 1,150 planned inpatient procedures have been cancelled as a result of the strike planned for Wednesday, alongside 1,734 day procedures. Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors. An offer from the Government in November said 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. But in a new offer, dated January 16, Sir David said that as part of an overall agreement, a premium rate of pay could kick in from 5pm on Saturdays rather than 7pm. Furthermore, premium pay could start at 9pm Monday to Friday. Odes Dupree, 54, was found guilty of two counts of felony murder, malice murder, robbery, kidnapping and burglary in the first degree A man who broke into the house of a great-grandmother, hog-tied and stole her television, has been found guilty of her death after he left her unable to breath. Odes Dupree, 54, was found guilty of two counts of felony murder, malice murder, robbery, kidnapping and burglary in the first degree. His victim, Florence Duke, was found dead, tied up in the bedroom of her Countryside Manor apartment in Douglasville, Georgia. She appears to have died from asphyxiation and her body was found on the floor. The 75-year-old's face had been covered by Dupree, who allegedly made a phone call to a drugdealer in Atlanta. It is thought he used the call to ask for help in removing the stolen televisions. 'We noted some unusual phone activity on her phone, and through subpoenas and court orders, we were able to track that down to a drug dealer in Atlanta,' Lt. James Harrell with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said. The drugdealer, who has not been named, was arrested, leading police to Dupree. The televisions belonging to Duke were later recovered by police, who also found Dupree's fingerprints on the stolen items. It is believed that the sale of the stolen goods was intended to be used to pay off an outstanding drug debt. Dupree is thought to have been staying close to Ms Duke's house and may have visited her apartment in some capacity before. Florence Duke, was found dead, tied up in the bedroom of her Countryside Manor apartment in Douglasville, Georgia 'We have reason to believe he had been in her home before, knew what she had, what she had available,' said Douglasville police Chief Chris Womack. Dupree had previously served three weeks for a probation violation as well as a six weeks spell in prison after being arrested for a theft charge. North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a reactor that could see it stockpiling enough plutonium to create a nuclear bomb, a U.S. intelligence chief has warned. It comes after Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart its nuclear facilities which it had shut down in 2007 - and began testing long range missiles under the guise of 'satellite' launches. The development marks the pariah nation as one of the main threats facing the U.S. this year, James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, claimed. Kim Jong Un (pictured) has restarted North Korea's nuclear facilities and is weeks away from stockpiling plutonium Last month North Korea claimed it had conducted its first 'successful' hydrogen bomb test. The pictures shown on South Korean TV (above) are file images from nuclear tests by other countries In an annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country, he warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that Kim Jong Un had followed through on his threat. He said: ' We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor. 'We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months.' Weapons-grade uranium and plutonium are both highly sensitive chemicals that form the key ingredients in the production of nuclear bombs. Both are created artificially, with only a handful of countries in the world - including North Korea - possessing the ability to manufacture them. North Korea does have A-bomb technology: its first three nuclear tests, from 2006 to 2013, were devices on roughly the same scale as the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As late as September last year Pyongyang warned its main nuclear complex was operating and it was working to improve the 'quality and quantity' of weapons which it could use against the U.S. at 'any time'. It comes as it was revealed today U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Asian allies Japan and South Korea on Monday to garner support for strong action against North Korea in response to the country's recent weapons tests. On Sunday, images from North Korean TV (pictured) show a long range rocket being launched over Japan which the country's state media trumpeted as an 'epochal event' North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un watched the rocket launch from a secret planning room A month ago, it claimed to have carried out its fourth nuclear test with the detonation of a massive hydrogen bomb, though doubts were later cast over the scale and size of the explosion. Today the White House said Obama had spoken to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye to weigh the next steps, including a UN Security Council resolution that would bring new sanctions. All three agreed on the need for a 'strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a robust UN Security Council Resolution,' the White House said. North Korea carried out a rocket launch as recently as Sunday - weeks after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test. Beijing has in the past proved reluctant to support biting multilateral sanctions against North Korea, for fear of destabilizing a regime on China's border. The White House has said it could introduce unilateral sanctions if necessary, but admits that room to punish the already heavily sanctioned nation is limited. The search for a seventh whale seen in trouble off the British coast has been stood down amid hopes it may have returned to deeper waters. The latest reported sighting off Mundesley, Norfolk, came after a bull died at Hunstanton in the county last week. That was the sixth sperm whale to die off the British coast this year and the 30th in the North Sea in 2016. The latest whale sighting follows the discovery of four dead whales washed up on the Lincolnshire coast and two at Hunstanton A member of the Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Team contacted the UK Coastguard just after 10am today to report the whale was 300 to 400 yards offshore. A spokesman said: 'The whale, which is the seventh whale in that area, was reported to be alive and thrashing about in the shallow water.' Mike Puplett, of the UK Coastguard, said: 'We are advising people to keep at a safe distance from the whale, so we do not cause any further distress to it. 'We are doing all we can to assist the authorities and allow those with rescue experience to do their work.' The search was stood down after low tide at about 2pm, following a 90-minute period with no further sightings. The next low tide, when the whale is most likely to become stranded, is due at about 2am tomorrow. Whale watchers try to catch sight of the latest whale that was around 600 yards off shore at Mundesley A coastguard on the lookout for a whale in Overstrand, Norfolk, after another whale was sighted this morning Crowds gathered at various points along the coast between Walcott and Overstrand hoping to catch a glimpse of the whale. Keith Griffin, station officer for the Happisburgh and Mundesley Coastguard Team, said: 'We've carried out an extensive search and are confident that if the whale was in that search area, we'd have found it. 'Low tide has now passed so with a bit of luck it will return to deeper waters and stand a chance of survival.' British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said it had been contacted and was on standby to assist with any rescue attempt. Stephen Marsh, operations manager at BDMLR, said: 'At the moment the report from the Coastguard is that the whale is still free-swimming. 'Because we're coming up to spring tide, the waters may be a bit deeper but that can be a double-edged sword because you get very high high tides and very low low tides. 'If it does strand the story will be very similar to what we've had recently - the whale will have very little chance of relaunching and, if it does, its chances of survival will be very low.' People flocked to see the dead sperm whale which came ashore alive, but died last Thursday at Hunstanton, in Norfolk - another whale has now been spotted about 50 miles away One man looked at the insides of the whale after an autopsy had been carried out on the animal which became stranded last Thursday This was the sixth sperm whale to die off the British coast this year and the 30th to die in the North Sea in 2016 Of the six whales that have died this year in British waters, two washed up at Hunstanton and four on the Lincolnshire coast. Others have been found in France, the Netherlands and Germany. The Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, which looks at all whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings in the UK, is trying to find out why the whales came ashore and how they died. This could help establish what the whales, thought to have come from the same bachelor pod normally living off the west coast of Norway, were doing in the North Sea. One theory is that the male whales could have taken a wrong turn while heading south to find females or been lured by food. Dr Peter Evans, director of the Sea Watch Foundation, told the BBC they had strayed into shallow waters while hunting squid. He said: 'What happens, particularly south of Dogger Bank, is that the depths are much shallower than anything they are accustomed to. 'They normally live out in very deep waters, about 3,000 metres deep - south of Dogger Bank it's mainly less than 50 metres - and can be less than 20.' Dr Evans said once the whales had swum south of Dogger Bank there was little chance of them surviving. A mother has spoken of her shock after a two-star Michelin restaurant sent her a 'threatening email' because she cancelled her 95-per-head reservation when her daughter was unwell. Helen Hall, 46, booked a table for the ten-course taster menu at Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Nottingham, as a Christmas present for her and her husband Neil. But, on the day they were due to go, her asthmatic six-year-old daughter Eleanor came down with a chest infection, a condition for which she had previously been hospitalised. Helen Hall (pictured with husband Neil and daughter Eleanor) has spoken of her shock after a Michelin-star restaurant sent her a 'threatening email' because she cancelled her 95-per-head table Mrs Hall (pictured left with Mr Hall) had cancelled the booking because her asthmatic daughter was unwell Not wanting to leave her with a babysitter, Mrs Hall , who had paid a 90 deposit per person, phoned the establishment to ask if they could re-book for another day. But the restaurant - which last year topped The Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants list - told her she would have to find her own replacement for the table, or face losing the 180. When she posted unhappy comments on social media, the restaurant agreed to a refund - before sending her 'offensive' email in which she claims they accused her of being a bad mother. In the personal email, the restaurant manager also told Mrs Hall, who works at Center Parcs, that she would be warning her boss about her 'rude behaviour'. The email then accused Mrs Hall of 'prioritising a cancellation policy over a severely poorly child', adding: 'May I suggest that you spend more time looking after your daughter than writing hilarious remarks about us on social media. 'What does surprise me is that if my child was as poorly as yours, i'd be at my wits end and not pestering a restaurant.' Speaking to MailOnline, Mrs Hall said she was 'shocked' when she read the email. 'I spent the night in a&e with my daughter until 3am. I had obviously really wanted to go to the restaurant but Eleanor was severely unwell and I didn't want to leave her,' she said. She had booked a table at Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, headed by chef Sat Baines (pictured) in Nottingham to have the ten-course taster menu 'The next day, I saw this email and it was the last thing I needed. 'They were basically accusing me of being a bad mother. I also got quite worried about what they were going to say to my manager. 'I found it very threatening and a personal insult. I don't care how well respected the restaurant is - noone should go around saying things like that.' Mrs Hall had booked the table in November for January 22 after what she describes as a 'tough year'. The restaurant, headed by chef Sat Bains, is one of the most prestigious in the country. But when the day came around, Eleanor was unwell and Mrs Hall did not want to leave her. She phoned the restaurant that morning and was told the table had to be cancelled with 72 hours' notice, meaning she would have to pay the fee. 'I asked whether there was any way around this and they said the only way was to try and resell our table,' she said. 'But they already had two other empty tables - and the restaurant wasn't booked up.' Mrs Hall, from Mansfield, said she then posted on her Twitter and Facebook pages, asking friends if they wanted the table. As she did, she expressed her anger at the fact she was having to find a replacement. She also tweeted the restaurant saying: 'Very upset, lousy customer service'. She then spent three hours at the 24-hour walk-in centre where Eleanor was given nebulisers and stabilisers for her condition. Mrs Hall said: 'I was trying to find a replacement but obviously I was busy with my daughter. I phoned in the afternoon and said I couldn't sell the table. Not wanting to leave her with a babysitter, Mrs Hall, who had paid a 180 deposit for the table, phoned the establishment (pictured) to ask if they could re-book for another day She was later offered a refund - but was told that she would not be welcome at the establishment in the future 'The person on the phone was very, very rude. I was upset, but I never shouted, or swore. I told them I would give them a bad review on TripAdvisor. It's not only got its reputation because of its food, but also because of its customer service. 'I think it's fair to pay some cancellation fee - but almost 100 per cent of the cost is far too much.' Mrs Hall then cancelled her card to stop the payment being taken. Ten minutes later, someone phoned back from the restaurant and told Mrs Hall she would not be charged - but that she would not be welcome there in the future. She subsequently went on TripAdvisor, where she wrote a review saying she was 'heartbroken and disappointed'. Mrs Hall had booked the table in November for January 22 after what she describes as a 'tough year' She wrote: 'I rang the restaurant to explain our genuine reason and wanting to rebook. But I don't want to rebook now. 'I wonder if Sat Bains has children? My daughter is far more important and I would have hoped for some understanding and maybe an offer of us paying half as we had wanted to rebook. Terrible customer service, so very upset.' The next morning, Mrs Hall received an email from the restaurant manager Anca Paraschiv, which she said was the 'tip of the iceberg'. The full email, which has been seen by MailOnline, read: 'May I suggest that you spend more time looking after your daughter than writing hilarious remarks about us on social media. 'We hope she is better as Asthma sufferers ourself know how bad it can get, what does surprise me is that if my child was as poorly as yours and indeed as you mentioned needed hospital treatment, i'd be at my wits end and not pestering a restaurant on there clear and concise cancellation policy.' They added: 'To be very clear, we chose not to charge you solely on the premise that you would not be welcome at any point to visit the Restaurant, as we do not want Rude, aggressive and hysterical guests at the Restaurant, and ones that would prioritise a cancellation policy over a severely poorly child.' She then wrote: 'I may be writing to the MD of Centerparcs, who was only here on Wednesday, to point out the aggressive, and threatening behaviour of one of his staff.' Mrs Hall said she has some sympathy with the restaurant because the cancellation was so late on. But she said: 'I think the cancellation charges should be half. You should have to pay - a lot if places would've done that. But they still had plenty of space and there was no way I was going to leave my daughter.' A spokesman for the restaurant said the cancellation policy is clear and that 50 per cent of the fee is donated to charity. Mr and Mrs Hall were planning to have the ten-course taster menu at the restaurant. Some of the dishes are shown left and right Last year, the restaurant topped The Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants list of best spots to dine out. Some of the dishes are pictured above They said: 'We are a small restaurant with only 12 tables and frequently have waiting lists for reservations. 'Due to this, we have a clear and concise cancellation policy, the terms of which are not only on our main website menu, but are also sent to our guests with our standard confirmation email. '50 per cent of all of these charges are donated to our restaurant charity, Macmillan Cancer Research. 'Also we try to assist our guests, who have last minute cancellations, by posting the notices on our own website and social media platforms to try and re-sell the tables. In this instance, we did the same. Mrs Hall posted on Facebook in an attempt to try and give her table away to family or friends 'We were unable to resell this particular table, but after further verbal contact with this guest, we chose to waive the cancellation fee. We hope her child has made a full recovery.' In 2012, Sat Bains, the chef at the restaurant, took a bite back at his critics on TripAdvisor by commenting on his customers' own bad reviews of his restaurant. We are a small restaurant with only 12 tables and frequently have waiting lists. Due to this, we have a clear and concise cancellation policy Spokesman for Restaurant Sat Bains The restauranteur became so fed up with anonymous comments on the popular TripAdvisor website that he posted a series of sarcastic replies at the end of critical reviews. To one customer who complained their waitress had not 'put them at ease', he responded: 'Her comments on you weren't very flattering so I'm going to leave them out.' He attacked one disgruntled customer saying: 'You could have mistaken their "get - together" for a wake. 'The only reason the staff stuck around was to make sure they were still breathing. As a death of grumpy customers is not something I want on my conscience.' Bains also ridiculed diners who criticised the price, quality and atmosphere at his eponymous restaurant and guest house in Nottingham. In response to one commentator who questioned the value of a 'nearly 300' meal he wrote: 'Just a quick clarification, the bill was 255 pounds not 'nearly 300'. I would hate for people to think I exaggerate!! wink wink!' She later posted on Facebook about the 'disgusting' behaviour of the chef. The post led to the email she received from the restaurant the next day, which she also commented on Mr Bains won the best starter award in the 2007 series of the BBC's Great British Menu. He opened Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in 2002 and a year later it became Nottingham's first Michelin star restaurant. In 2006 it won the AA's Restaurant of the Year for England and in 2009 the restaurant received the AA's highest accolade of five rosettes. Feedback from users of the popular website is overwhelming positive with 75 per cent of dinners giving him an excellent rating. Last year, it topped The Sunday Times Top 100 Restaurants list of best spots to dine out, shooting up six years from the year before Advertisement Royal Caribbean could be in hot water after it knowingly let one of its largest cruise ships sail into a storm with category one hurricane-like strength, which forced passengers into more than ten hours of lock down. Florida Senator Bill Nelson asked why the ship would continue right into the path of the ferocious storm that had been predicted at least four days on February 3, before the cruise encountered it. Senator Nelson called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the Anthem of the Seas voyage, which fought through waves as high as 30 feet and winds of approximately 150mph. 'The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. 'So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?' Nelson said on the Senate floor on Monday. Royal Caribbean said in a statement the ship experienced 'extreme wind and sea conditions' that were not expected. Captain Claus Andre Anderson and cruise director Abe Hughes posted a video to YouTube yesterday saying the storm was much more intense than originally predicted. 'I have never seen a low-pressure (storm) that was not forecast anything near like what we experienced. 'It developed so quickly. And that's the thing, it just became so intensified in eight or nine hours. It goes from being nothing to a full-blown storm,' Captain Anderson said in the video. Ryan Maue, a digital meteorologist for WeatherBell Analytics, told NJ.com he couldn't believe that was true. 'The storm was well forecast by many different weather models from every agency. 'This situation is no different in practice to purposely sailing a vessel into the path of a rapidly developing Category one or two hurricane. Scroll down for video One of the ship's tower structures (pictured, back left) was torn off and landed on the deck after the category one hurricane-like storm Chairs were blown into one of the water park areas and gravel, glass and sand appeared strewn about the deck and pool areas A pile of wind-ravaged lounge chairs were left in a mangled pile on the deck after the massive storm tossed the ship in huge ocean swells Piles of debris had to be navigated by passengers as they exited their rooms and walked about the deck for the first time in hours Glass shattered across the ship and broken chairs seemed to appeared in every corner of the ship's deck from the storm's 150mph winds Shattered glass and a broken tower greeted terrified passengers yesterday after they woke and were able to go outside for the first time 'This was not a surprise to anyone watching the weather on a daily basis,' Ryan told NJ.com Monday afternoon. The National Weather Service's Ocean Prediction Center had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance. Senator Bill Nelson (pictured) has called for an investigation into Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas cruise ship, which knowingly sailed through a storm, terrifying passengers Official advisories and warnings issued by the National Weather Service had been released when the system began to form. The first warning was issued Saturday - the same day the ship left the New Jersey - for possible hurricane-force winds in the exact area the ship planned to sail through. 'The extreme impacts were also quite predictable and expected by meteorologists at NOAA OPC (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center) and private forecasting companies. 'Folks all marveled at the extreme intensity of this storm on Twitter. 'The impacts were the same or worse than a Category one hurricane at sea. 'Waves of 30-feet-plus and wind gusts above 80 knots were experienced over a very large area of the Atlantic Oceam,' Ryan said. Hurricane-like conditions caused items inside the ship to fly off shelves and smash into one another as the vessel leaned at least 45 degrees off center in the swells, passengers said. Royal Caribbean told passengers yesterday the ship was turning around and sailing back to New Jersey after another storm system was said to be brewing off the coast of Florida. Four people were said to have minor injuries and the ship suffered only superficial damage. 'I was shaking all over,'. 'Panic attack, things like that. ... I've been on over 20 cruises, I've been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never. 'I'm not being over-dramatic by saying it was the scariest moments of my life - having no control in hurricane-like winds for hours on end with baby on board, not being able to leave our cabins. 'Royal Caribbean should be ashamed of themselves for continuing on a course Mother Nature deemed unfit,' passenger Shara Strand of New York City said. Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Lairson says she and her father, Sam, could feel the Anthem of the Seas, begin to sway by 2.30pm on Sunday. The captain directed passengers to their cabins and there, the Lairsons heard glasses shatter in the bathroom. They put their belongings in drawers and closets to prevent them from flying across the room. They ventured to the balcony, where Sam Lairson shot video of wave after wave rising below. 'The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands. 'After that we had to keep the doors to the balconies sealed,' Sam Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said. Weather Bell released this image of the storm's size and strength. Advisories and warnings went out days before the ship left harbor This weather forecast shows the nor'easter was predicted days before the ship left harbor on Saturday Crews swept up debris left over from the storm, which have included shards of broken glass from the banisters, smashed chairs and dirt Swells for the ferocious storm rocked the ship and caused damages on the interior as items flew off the shelves as shown in this picture of the Anthem of the Seas' kitchen The ceiling of the Anthem of the Seas collapsed as the vessel endured 150mph winds, which caused the ship to rock back and forth for hours on ends and causing damage to the furniture and structure inside Huge pots were toppled as hundreds of towels lined the floors and door ways to keep water from the massive swells from seeping in Massive: The Anthem of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean, is the third largest cruise ship ever built The trip was originally supposed to be a week-long round-trip from New Jersey to Florida and the Bahamas, but the hurricane-force storm cut the vacation short. The ship, with more than 4,500 guests and 1,600 crew members, left New Jersey on Saturday. It was scheduled to arrive for a stop at Port Canaveral, Florida, at noon Monday, then move on to its other stops in the Caribbean. But Royal Caribbean said on its corporate Twitter account that the ship would turn around and sail back to Cape Liberty. '#AnthemoftheSeas will turn around & sail back to Cape Liberty. 'This decision was made for guests' comfort due to weather forecasts. 'The forecast would likely have impacted original itinerary. We're also sensitive to what guests have already been through. 'We appreciate our guests' patience and cooperation. We know it was tough day on Sunday apologize for their discomfort,' Royal Caribbean's coporate Twitter posted. Guests will get a full refund and a 50 per cent off a future cruise. Passengers onboard buzzed happily about that news, Strand said. Gabriella Lairson said that by early Monday morning, people were out and about on the ship, checking out the minor damage in some public areas. Fellow passenger Jacob Ibrag agreed. 'I can't wait to get home and kiss the ground,' said Jacob. Jacob said he saw water flowing down stairs and helped some people who were stuck in an elevator Sunday as he made his way to his cabin per the captain's orders. 'At one point a group of ten people got stuck in the middle of floors in an elevator. 'People banded together to help the mechanic on site to get the people out,' Jacob said. He said the ship's rocking was so intense, he's sure people on board became ill. The 25-year-old from Queens, New York, then stayed in his cabin until noon Monday, at one point filling his backpack with essentials in case of an evacuation. Frightened passengers posted pictures of damages from on board Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas as the ship swayed last night Rain pelleted the windows and doors shattered in the wind and waves of the nor'easter, which caused the ship to rock through the night Terror at sea: Waves crashed against the cabin windows as passengers hunkered down to brave the storm Adam Middleton, 24, from London, was locked down in his cabin during the story. He told the Mirror: 'The captain said it's the worst day at sea he's ever had. 'He had to turn the ship around when it got bad. 'We had to take things off the tables and secure fragile belongings as everything was sliding around. 'The captain held the ship in a stationary position against 150mph winds. 'He said ship was handling very well as its designed to. 'It was scary because we didn't expect it to be so bad. 'But we also felt okay in our room as we closed curtain and put a movie on.' Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, told USA Today that the ordeal was 'truly terrifying'. He said the cruise director was nervously giving updates, and he later posted photos of shattered glass panels on a pool deck. But Huschka was among passengers who found a silver lining in the storm. On Monday, he posted: 'The good news? They never lost the Super Bowl signal. Perfect TV picture throughout storm!' Royal Caribbean gave guests free Internet access and a complimentary cocktail hour, spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email. 'Feeling better after the happy hour they just put on for the guests,' Sam Lairson joked. Rocked: The ship was leaning so much in both of these pictures the men are actually standing up straight but appear to be defying gravity Hurricane-force winds reaching 150mph caused huge swells, which sent the ship teetering through the night at angles of 45 degrees Furniture toppled and broke as the ship was tossed around by giant ocean waves from the nor'easter, which began around 3pm yesterday Jack Straw will never be made a peer under Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership it was claimed today Jack Straw will be denied a peerage by Jeremy Corbyn because of his support for the Iraq war, it emerged today. Mr Straw had reportedly been lined up for a seat in the House of Lords before he became embroiled in a row over his outside earnings in his final weeks as an MP. The former Blackburn MP, who served as a cabinet minister for all of Labour's 13 years in power, is one of his party's most senior and experienced politicians and he was cleared by the Commons watchdog following an investigation into the lobbying row. But sources close to the Labour leader have said he will not be honoured with a knighthood or a seat in the House of Lords while Mr Corbyn is in charge. They told the Guardian: 'The chances of Jeremy awarding him with either a knighthood or a peerage are close to zero. They then added: 'Actually, they are zero.' Mr Straw's support for the 2003 Iraq war is thought to count heavily against Mr Straw. He also continues to face a damages claim from a Libyan couple allegedly 'rendered' to one of Colonel Gadaffi's prisons. Mr Straw was recorded by an undercover reporter last year in a lobbying sting which also featured Tory grandee Sir Malcolm Rifkind. He boasted to the Channel 4 team that he had secured changes to European rules on sugar production which helped them. Following the broadcast of the allegations, Mr Straw referred himself to the Commons standards watchdog. It found last year the investigation had uncovered 'no breach of rules on paid lobbying'. Ofcom later said the programme had been fair to the two MPs and was in the public interest. REVEALED: JACK STRAW'S SECRECY IN POWER Two Whitehall departments overseen by Jack Straw, who is now reviewing right-to-know rules, were among the worst at concealing information from the public. In the six years he was either Justice Secretary or Foreign Secretary under Freedom of Information laws, his departments never ranked higher than 15th out of 21. Critics will suggest this is further evidence that the Government appointed Mr Straw as chairman of the committee considering tightening up the laws because of his opposition to FOI legislation. The law, which has uncovered countless public sector scandals and examples of wasteful spending, is under threat from the Tories because ministers claim it is too costly to administer. Maurice Frankel, the director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said it appeared Mr Straw had been appointed to the panel because of his criticisms of the Act. He said other departments took steps to significantly improve their compliance with time limits on responding to requests. However, he noted that the record on releasing information might reflect the type of requests Mr Straws departments received. Mr Straw said he was always keen to see that departments complied with FOI request deadlines. Advertisement Both MPs were secretly filmed discussing how they could use their contacts to benefit a private company and both boasted about charging at least 5,000-a-day. In an extract of a conversation with undercover reporters, Sir Malcolm was filmed discussing that his usual fee was 'somewhere in the region of 5,000 to 8,000' for half a day's work. Swedish prosecutors are working on a new request to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The move comes despite last week's finding by a United Nations working group that Mr Assange was being 'arbitrarily detained' by the UK and Swedish authorities. The Swedish Prosecution Authority (SPA) said the ruling did not have any effect on their chief prosecutor Marianne Ny's previous conclusions on the case. Sweden has been stymied in its attempts to question Assange since he took refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over a rape allegation, which he denies. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds a copy of a UN ruling as he makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, last week. Swedish prosecutors say they are working on a new request to interview him despite a UN ruling that he is being 'arbitrarily detained' Defiant: The Swedish Prosecution Authority said the ruling did not have any effect on their chief prosecutor Marianne Ny's previous conclusions on the case and will seek to question him in the Ecuadorian embassy In a statement, the SPA said: 'The prosecutor responsible for the case, director of public prosecution Marianne Ny, is currently working on a renewed request to interview Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London. 'A former request was rejected in January by the Prosecutor General of Ecuador.' Ms Ny added: 'Concerning the report that was issued last week, I would like to state that it does not change my earlier assessments in the investigation.' Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond branded the working group's findings as 'frankly ridiculous' and said the Australian was 'hiding from justice'. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond branded the UN working group's report on Assange 'ridiculous' and said the WikiLeaks founder is a 'fugitive from justice' Statement: Philip Hammond took to Twitter to add to his previous statement on Julian Assange Mr Assange said he had been 'vindicated' by the ruling and said Mr Hammond's comments were 'beneath' the minister's stature and insulting to the UN. He believes he will be taken to the United States for questioning over the activities of WikiLeaks if he is extradited. He said UN Working Group's decision was legally binding, insisting there was no higher authority on whether detentions were lawful. Mr Assange said Sweden and the UK had opportunities in the past few weeks to appeal against the decision but had not taken any action, so the matter was now a 'settled law'. An eight-month-old girl was the only survivor in a car crash that killed her mother and her grandparents. Baby Keira Adkison was in a rear-facing car seat when the family car slammed into the back of an armored truck on the President George Bush Turnpile in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Thursday. The girl's mother Carolyn Adkison, and her parents Carolyn and Thomas Lewis, were killed instantly. Keira is in a stable condition in hospital despite suffering a fractured skull, wrist and collar bone, CBS reports. Keira Adkison (left) was in a rear-facing car seat when the family car slammed into the back of an armored truck on the President George Bush Turnpile in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Thursday. Her mother Carolyn Adkison and grandparents Carolyn and Thomas Lewis (all pictured on the right, left-right) were killed instantly Her devastated father Nick has not left her side. According to the Midlothian family's pastor, it took Carolyn and Nick years to conceive. '[It] had been a pretty long journey for them to see that happen,' Liberty Baptist Church's Pastor Leonard told CBS. 'To be up there at the hospital with them with that, it was a special time. Just a lot of joy in their life.' He said he has spoken to widower Nick, who is in shock. 'He's obviously grieving a great loss,' the pastor said. 'Then to have to realize that now he has to move forward as a single parent dad has its own unique challenges as well.' Police are now investigating how the family's car hit the armored truck, which had two people inside who were unharmed. This is the dramatic moment a bout of road rage turned very nasty when a BMW driver attempted to shunt another motorist off the highway. Instant karma came for the driver following the act of aggression however, as only moments later the 4x4 skidded off the road and onto a grass verge. The shocking incident was captured on a dashcam by a vehicle travelling along the stretch of motorway in Durban, South Africa. A silver Volkswagen Polo, which is being tailgated by the BMW x5, overtakes the filming car in the outside lane The video shows a silver Volkswagen Polo, which is being tailgated by the BMW x5, overtaking the filming car in the outside lane. The driver of the larger car, which has its hazard lights on, appears to want the Polo to move over into the middle lane. And as the two vehicles continue down the motorway, the Polo does indeed pull over to allow the BMW x5 to overtake. But this action does not seem to defuse the situation as instead of overtaking, the BMW driver decides to cruise alongside the Polo. The Polo pulls over to allow the BMW x5 to overtake and the two cars cruise alongside one another on the road Suddenly the road rage boils over and the BMW x5 pulls in and out of the middle lane with a jerk reaction The two cars continue down the motorway next to one another for a couple more feet until suddenly the road rage boils over. Pulling in and out of the middle lane with a jerk reaction, the BMW comes within inches of colliding with the Polo. The manoeuvre appears to try and intimidate the driver of the Polo, who reacts by moving over to the left hand lane to avoid a crash. The video maker can be heard sounding his horn at the dangerous driving in front as suddenly the BMW begins to skid off the road. The BMW comes within inches of colliding with the Polo, which reacts by moving over to the left hand lane Unable to correct such a manoeuvre, the 4x4 veers onto the grass verge along the side of the motorway Unable to correct such a dramatic manoeuvre, the car veers onto the grass verge along the side of the motorway and ploughs into a ditch before coming to a stop in front of a crash barrier. Since appearing online a number of people have commented on the dramatic footage. One viewer wrote: 'I don't care if that dude in the BMW crashed already, he still needs to be found and charged for his actions. 'Despicable that people like this are allowed on our roads. They think they own them, but they don't even deserve to be on them.' Terrifying: Randell Ashton was found sitting on the bed of a sleeping co-ed at the University of Central Oklahoma's Alpha Delta Pi sorority house on Sunday A convicted sex offender from Oklahoma was arrested by police on Sunday night after a spree that saw him exposing himself in a grocery store before breaking into a co-ed's bedroom while she slept and stealing underwear. It was at around 2am on Sunday that a member of the University of Central Oklahoma's Alpha Delta Pi sorority house woke to find Randell Scott Ashton, 41, sitting on her bed with his pants down. 'You are not Brittany,' he told the girl before pulling up his pants and leaving the room. Police were called and soon arrested Ashton, whom they identified as the man who had exposed himself in a grocery store three hours earlier. It is believed that Ashton gained entry to the house after the girl he surprised left her bedroom window open. After he left her room, she locked him out, though he tried to re-enter the room a number of times. With the rest of the bedrooms locked, Ashton was heard pacing around the inside of the sorority house, and when police arrived he was standing on the balcony above the main entrance. Officer Ben Daves told the Edmond Sun: 'I exited my car and he ducked back inside. A few seconds later, Ashton reemerged onto the balcony. I told him to go to the north side of the house and that Officer Haddock and I would meet him there.' According to the police report, Ashton claimed that he was there to meet a girl named Brittany. However, the co-eds living in the sorority house told police there was no-one of that name living there. According to police, none of the girls were harmed. Scroll down for video Spotted: Ashton was standing on this balcony above the main entrance when police arrived. He was later identified as the man who'd exposed himself in a Crest grocery store earlier that night Police found a porn magazine belonging to Ashton inside the house and two more in his car outside, which was impounded so it could be searched for stolen property. Soon after, police identified him as the man who had been captured on security tape at a Crest grocery store three hours earlier, walking up and down the aisles and exposing himself. He had fled the store before police could arrest him. But there was more to come: when Ashton was being processed by jail staff, he was found to be wearing women's panties. Offenses: Ashton has a criminal record in Oklahoma stretching back to 1994. It includes convictions for indecent exposure and failure to register as a sex offender In an interview with News9.com, Jenny Wagnon, spokesman for the Edmond Police Department, said: 'One of the girls inside the sorority house was able to identify [the underwear] as hers. 'She had done her laundry and they were sitting out on top of her laundry and they were missing.' Ashton stated in a police report that he took the panties because he needed clothes, the Edmond Sun reported. According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Ashton has a criminal record in the state stretching back to 1994, when he was given five years' probation for distribution of controlled substances. Adam Osborne (pictured), who was married at the time of the 'inappropriate' emotional and sexual relationship, embarked on the two year-affair with his patient, who he had been treating for depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue George Osborne's psychiatrist brother begged his vulnerable patient mistress not to report him days after she tried to kill herself because it would 'destroy' his family, a disciplinary panel has heard. Dr Adam Osborne, who was married at the time, embarked on a two-year affair with his patient, who he had been treating for depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue at a private practice in London. But after he broke off the relationship in February last year, he began making threats towards the woman if she did not retract the complaint she had made to the General Medical Council (GMC). Dr Osborne, who is five years younger than his Chancellor brother, did not attend the hearing as he has been on sick leave. The panel was told he had 'blamed' his patient and viewed himself as the 'victim'. The tribunal is to make a decision on the allegation that the doctor's fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct. The tribunal heard how the woman, who was referred to as Patient A, also had problems with substance abuse and self-harm. She had been under Dr Osborne's care at a private practice in central London between February 2011 and late 2014 and had been in a relationship with Dr Osborne for two years. On February 6 2015, Dr Osborne ended the relationship. Emails between the former lovers were read to the tribunal. In one, Dr Osborne said: 'We don't seem to be able to live with one another and it's destroying both of us and destroying any relationship that we once had.' Patient A responded saying she was 'confused', adding 'it seems to me like you are breaking it off'. She added: 'Just please tell me the truth the way it is. I'm very much balancing on the edge and it's so easy for me to tip over just now.' Dr Osborne, who admits he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, the woman was a vulnerable patient because of her history of poor mental health, replied: 'Yes I need to break from this relationship'. George Osborne's (pictured) brother cannot practise as a doctor until the investigation is concluded Two days later, on February 8, Patient A was admitted to hospital after taking an overdose. Hours earlier, she had disclosed details of the relationship to treating psychiatrist Dr Neil Boast, who had been Dr Osborne's supervisor for a period. Representative for the GMC, Bernadette Baxter said: 'Dr Osborne wanted to end the relationship with Patient A, the significance of this date is it was two days before she made a very serious attempt on her own life by taking alcohol and prescription drugs.' Ms Baxter said the woman had been a 'high risk' patient and the two triggers for the overdose had been the 'stress' of the relationship and an ongoing custody dispute with her partner over the custody of their two children. Chancellor George Osborne's psychiatrist brother begged a vulnerable patient not to report him to a medical watchdog after he ended their affair Following complaints to the GMC by Dr Boast and Patient A, Dr Osborne sent a 'number of inappropriate emails' to his former lover between 14 February and 24 February, urging her to withdraw the complaint. One email said: 'Please don't do this to me, it will destroy me and my family in public.' Representing the GMC, Bernadette Baxter said: 'Patient A said on a number of occasions she wanted him to stop contacting her.' The emails 'became more imploring' and Dr Osborne was 'highly manipulative' in preying on the woman's vulnerabilities. 'He sees himself very much as a victim. He is blaming the patient,' she said. The tribunal was told that there had also been contact between Patient A - who no longer lives in the UK - and Dr Osborne's wife, Rahala Noor, a plastic surgeon who he married in 2009. The pair met as undergraduates at St Andrews University, Fife, before going on to study medicine together at Manchester University. Counsel for Mr Osborne, Julian Woodbridge, said his client had been on sick leave. Reading a letter to the tribunal, he said: 'Dr Osborne accepts that he did engage in an inappropriate relationship with the patient, Patient A, and he apologises for his conduct in this respect. 'Dr Osborne also accepts that after he tried to end the relationship he did subsequently send a number of inappropriate emails in a moment of panic. Again he apologises and much regrets any further distress.' Dr Osborne had his licence suspended by the GMC last year after the accusation was made by the patient, who is married with two children. It meant he could not practise again until the case was resolved. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) Fitness to Practise hearing is due to last 10 days. This is not the first time Dr Osborne, who qualified as a doctor in 2004, has been embroiled in scandal for medical failings. In 2010 he was suspended from practising medicine for six months after writing fraudulent prescriptions for a girlfriend, a family member and an escort girl whilst a psychiatry trainee at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester. It was found Dr Osborne had 'behaved dishonestly' after attempting to obtain anti-psychotic medication for a cocaine-addicted woman he had been seeing while his partner was away. As a result, the tribunal at the time said the misconduct - which related to incidents between June 2006 and May 2008, impaired his fitness to practise. A Texas couple is accused of holding a Nigerian nanny against her will for over two years while they forced her to work without pay and abused her. Chudy and Sandra Nsobundu, who are also Nigerian, were arrested on Monday in Houston. The nanny, who has not been identified, claims she was forced to work from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day. She was made to clean, cook, and care for the children, according to Click 2 Houston. Scroll down for video Chudy (left) and Sandra (right) Nsobundu, who are also Nigerian, were arrested on Monday in Houston on charges of forced labor, withholding documents, conspiracy to harbor an illegal immigrant and visa fraud Arrested: A couple is accused of holding a Nigerian nanny against her will in this Houston home for over two years while they forced her to work without pay and abused her The nanny also alleges the family did not allow her to eat fresh food and that she was only allowed to eat leftovers from the family's meals. The family initially promised her a $100 per month salary which she says they never gave her. If she wanted milk for her tea, the nanny said she would have to strain milk from the children's cereal bowls. The employee said she was severely abused in the home and was once even dragged down the hallway by her hair. She also said she was hit by the couple several times and that they threatened to kill her. The nanny also alleges the family did not allow her to eat fresh food and that she was only allowed to eat leftovers from the family's meals The Nsobundu couple are charged with forced labor, harboring an illegal alien, and withholding documents. After a tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, the alleged victim was rescued on October of last year, according to CW39. The couple could face up to 60 years in federal prison if convicted. Neighbors told Click 2 Houston that they were surprised by the allegations but said that while the children played with other children, the parents were private. 'We do crawfish boils, New Year's Eve and Fourth of July, and sometimes, they would send food, and sometimes, they would come out and eat. They loved to come play with all the kids. They are from Nigeria,' neighbor Paula Meche said. 'I don't know how people can treat other people like that. I'm compassionate and I don't know if I could treat anybody like that,' Meche added. And they insist the proposed laws have been rushed and badly drafted MPs say the Bill fails to bring together all powers of intelligence agencies Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve today blasted the draft snooping bills as having been rushed by the Home Office The Government's overhaul of snooping laws has been rushed and is full of holes, a powerful Commons committee said today. The Intelligence and Security Committee said the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill had 'failed' in its task of drawing together all of the laws allowing police and security services access to communications data. The legislation does not cover all of the intelligence agencies 'intrusive' abilities to monitor phone calls, emails and internet traffic and, in the view of the committee, represents a 'missed opportunity' to make the law clear. The powers outline when the 'data' of a communication - such as where and when it was made, the format and who was involved but not the content - can be secured. The Government drew up the new laws following the exposure of GCHQ's Tempora programme and the scandal over American agencies' intrusive surveillance revealed by whistle blower Edward Snowden. Home Secretary Theresa May has vigorously defended the need for updated and new powers as vital for tackling serious crime and terrorism. She has warned current powers have been left behind by modern technology. But committee chairman Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, today warned the new legislation was not good enough. He said the committee did 'support' the Government's goals and praised the inclusion of 'explicit authorisation for Bulk Personal Datasets, Bulk Communications Data and Computer Network Exploitation'. But Mr Grieve said: 'It is nevertheless disappointing that the draft Bill does not cover all the Agencies' intrusive capabilities as the Committee recommended last year. 'This means that the various powers and authorisations remain scattered throughout different pieces of legislation and, as a result, the draft Bill is limited in the extent to which it can provide a comprehensive legal framework. In our view this is a missed opportunity.' The chairman added: 'Taken as a whole, the draft Bill fails to deliver the clarity that is so badly needed in this area. 'The issues under consideration are undoubtedly complex, however it has been evident that even those working on the legislation have not always been clear as to what the provisions are intended to achieve. 'The draft Bill appears to have suffered from a lack of sufficient time and preparation.' The committee of MPs and peers took evidence in private from Home Secretary Theresa May, the heads of GCHQ, MI5 and MI6, and other officials. Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured leaving No 10 today after a cabinet meeting, has said the bill was needed to fight terrorism and serious crime The report found: There was not 'sufficiently compelling' evidence of the need for bulk EI warrants, and members recommended they are removed from the Bill. 'Class' BPD warrants, which allow agencies to obtain any number of datasets in a category without specifically informing ministers of each one, should be removed because the acquisition of any BPD is 'sufficiently intrusive that it should require a specific warrant'. The approach in the Bill towards examination of communications data is 'inconsistent and largely incomprehensible'. It is the second time in a matter of days that the Bill has come under fire in a parliamentary report. Last week the Commons Science and Technology Committee found key parts were confusing and warned the Bill could undermine the UK's technology sector. It has also been attacked by internet giants. When the Bill was presented last year, Mrs May hailed it as a 'modern legal framework which brings together current powers in a clear and comprehensible way'. Rachel Logan, of Amnesty UK, saizd: 'The damning report from the Intelligence and Security Committee is just the latest in a relentless wave of criticism the Government has faced over its surveillance power-grab plans.' Renate Samson, the chief executive of Big Brother Watch, said: 'The Intelligence and Security Committee have today dealt a serious body blow to the draft Investigatory Powers Bill. Once again the proposals have been defined as too broad and lacking in clarity.' Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokeswoman said: 'This is a very detailed report. The Government will want to take time to look at it and consider it. 'The whole point of having this pre-legislative scrutiny period is so we can hear the views of others and engage with them to make sure we get this absolutely right. 'This is about making sure our police and our intelligence agencies can continue to keep people safe in Britain, whether that's tackling organised crime, tackling terrorism. 'We need to make sure they have the powers they need for the digital age.' Shadow minister Keir Starmer said: 'Labour has consistently argued that the extension of surveillance powers can only be justified if accompanied by much improved transparency and ever-more robust oversight and scrutiny. 'The ISC report, while accepting the case for a new legal framework, contains powerful criticisms of the Tory Government's draft Bill. 'These include that privacy is not adequately protected and that the provisions on communications data are overly broad. 'Labour will work constructively with the Government to get this Bill right because it matters to our security, privacy and democracy. 'It is clear though as the ISC report emphasises that this will take time and that such an important Bill should not be rushed through Parliament without proper scrutiny. A father strangled his wife and autistic son before killing himself in a 'gruesome' murder-suicide, police say. The bodies of David Joost, 54, Margaret O'Leary-Joost, 55, and Daniel Joost, 18, were found inside their home in Oak Forest, south of Chicago, on Monday night. A colleague of Mrs O'Leary-Joost found blood seeping under the family's garage door after going to check on her after she called in sick on Friday and failed to show up at work on Monday. The Joosts' 20-year-old daughter, Kathryn, is away at university and has been informed of her family's deaths by police. Scroll down for video David Joost (center left) strangled his wife Margaret O'Leary-Joost (right) and autistic son Daniel Joost (center right) before killing himself, police say. His daughter, Kathryn Joost (left) is away at college and was not home Joost (pictured with Mrs Joost) is believed to have throttled his wife and 18-year-old son before killing himself The bodies of Joost, his wife and son (Mrs Joost pictured with her daughter and son) were found after one of her colleagues became concerned when she did not show up for work Mrs O'Leary-Joost's co-worker at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Chicago called police, who broke down the door of the home and found the wife and son dead in their beds. There were ligature marks around both of their throats, Oak Forest Police Chief Gregory Anderson told the Chicago Tribune. Joost was found hanging in the garage with his wrists cut. Anderson said the deaths appeared to be a murder-suicide, which he described as 'gruesome'. 'Obviously, there is something going on when something this gruesome, this horrific happens,' the police chief said. Investigators believe the three family members died on Friday or on Saturday morning. There was no sign of a break-in and no suicide note was left behind. There is no history of domestic violence at the home, officials said. Police said Joost had recently lost his job and was struggling financially. Police found blood seeping under the Joost's garage door when they arrived at the house in suburban Chicago Crime scene: Oak Forest Police believe the family died on Friday or early on Saturday morning Photographs posted on Facebook suggested the Joosts were living a happy life, however the father-of-two had recently lost his job, police said His LinkedIn page suggests he was working at a software company, while also running his own business. His wife worked as a crisis worker at a hospital, while Daniel Joost was attending a transition program for people with autism. Kathryn Joost was not at the home as she is studying at Millikin University, in Decatur, Illinois. 'We can't imagine what she's got to be going through,' police chief Anderson said. Family photographs posted online by Joost, his wife and his daughter show what appears to be a happy family. In a touching note on his music and theater blog, Joost wrote of his love for his family. 'Thanks to Margaret for being the love of my life. Thanks to Kathryn for being the music. Thanks to Daniel for being my little Jesus,' he wrote in July last year. But the father-of-two appeared to have problems under the surface and had blogged about how a U2 song reminded him of a friend's suicide attempt. He wrote about how he listened to the song Sleep Like a Baby Tonight 'constantly' while walking his dog, adding that he was 'appalled' young people might think 'that taking ones own life is the only way out' after hearing the song. Joost was a keen musician and had created an alternative soundtrack to the Alfred Hitchcock murder-thriller Psycho. 'Thanks to Margaret for being the love of my life. Thanks to Kathryn for being the music. Thanks to Daniel for being my little Jesus,' Joost wrote in July last year Family photographs posted on line by Joost, his wife and his daughter show what appears to be a happy family Police said the deaths of Joost, Mrs O'Leary Joost (center) and Daniel Joost (left) appeared to be a murder-suicide, which he described as 'gruesome'. Kathryn Joost is also pictured, right Neighbors told NBC Chicago that they had not seen any movement at the home since Saturday. Bill O'Malley, who lived next door to the family, said 'they were nice people, friendly'. 'You'd just see him, he was always out barbecuing in the summers, in the flowers ... walking the dog,' Mr OMalley said. 'It's shocking. Its kind of disturbing, really. You never really know whats going on behind closed doors, I guess,' he added. Angela Orosz was the only baby born in the Auschwitz death camp during the Holocaust to survive the ordeal, and she has said it is her 'duty' to keep the memory alive for those who did not. The 71-year-old is due to give her harrowing testimony against former Auschwitz guard Reinhold Hanning, who she says was part of the 'killing machine' that destroyed 1.1 million lives in the camp. Ms Orosz, now living in Montreal, Canada, weighed just a third of what a normal infant does when she was born, and only escaped death at the Nazi concentration camp because she was so weak she was 'unable to cry'. Survivor: Angela Orosz, 71, was one of two babies born in Auschwitz during the Holocaust to survive, and she is now testifying against Reinhold Hanning, a former guard 'Because so much time has passed since then, it's important that the last remaining survivors speak out,' Orosz said. 'I'm probably the youngest of them, but for me it's a duty to keep the memory alive.' Orosz's birth in Auschwitz was nothing short of a miracle, given the abuse that her mother suffered in the camp in occupied Poland. To her knowledge, she was one of two babies born in Auschwitz who survived. Her parents had wedded in 1943 but the Nazis invaded Hungary a year later, and forced them onto a train car for cattle. Her mother was already pregnant when they arrived in Auschwitz in May 1944 and were both put to hard labour. 'My duty': Ms Orosz-Richt, born in Auschwitz, sits next to her lawyer Heinrich Rothmann during the trial of Former SS-Mann Oskar Groening in Lueneburg last year Survivors: A photo taken of prisoners after Auschwitz was liberated in 1945. Some 7,000 prisoners, including more than 600 below the age of 18, were still alive when the camp was reached by Red Army soldiers Unimaginable loss: Angela Orosz's whole family died in Auschwitz, with the exception of her mother Her father died of exhaustion, while her mother was so undernourished that the pregnancy did not show even in the seventh month. She was also subjected to notorious camp doctor Josef Mengele's gruesome experiments, including a sterilisation procedure that entailed inserting a burning substance into her cervix. All the while during the torture, Orosz was in her uterus. Although she was only an infant during the one month she spent in Auschwitz before it was liberated on January 27, 1945, Orosz said it was clear that 'it has marked my entire life'. 'I was a very sick baby. I looked like a rag doll. In November 1945, when I was almost a year old, I weighed only 6.6 pounds' - the weight of a newborn.' Ms Orosz has said it is her 'duty' to keep the memory alive for those who did not Her mother also survived. 'My mother was the only one convinced that I would live,' she said. A doctor cared for her for several years until her bones were strong enough to walk on. 'The legacy of Auschwitz, of my mother's starvation and abuse, never disappeared completely. I stand less than five feet tall today,' she said. Orosz only returned to Auschwitz for the first time last year, convinced by her stepbrother. 'I was hesitating, because my mother had always said to me, if you don't have any memories, don't get any. But I thought about it for a long time, and in the end I (summoned) the courage,' she said, adding that one of her two grown children accompanied her. 'It was tough to be there. At the same time, I and many other survivors wanted to show the world that we survived, that Hitler did not win, that the Jewish people are strong and will be strong.' At Auschwitz she was approached by a German lawyer who asked her to testify at the trial of Oskar Groening - known as the 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz'. 'I first told him no. Then, I heard the testimony of one of the survivors, who embraced Herr Groening in the courtroom and publicly forgave him, and my blood was boiling. 'We survivors cannot forgive in the name of the six million who were murdered. Then I decided I was going to testify after all.' At last April's trial of Groening, who was sentenced to four years in jail as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases, she told the accused to his face: 'I cannot forgive you.' She dismissed any talk that low-ranking SS officers were simply following orders, calling that 'a lie'. 'They knew that children, men and women were murdered when arriving in Auschwitz. They smelled the... burning human flesh coming from the crematoria. If they were there, they were part of this mass murder.' That many of the defendants are now well in their 90s is not an issue, Orosz said. 'The crimes that were committed at Auschwitz are so unspeakable that we can't just stop and say it's too late now,' she said. She said the terror wrought by the Nazis needed to be kept alive in human memory. Swiss bailiffs were forced to cancel their plans to evict Mr Strickler A court order has been extended while they try to find them a new home The bankrupt owner of a zoo has admitted almost 40 animals, including lions, tigers and a bear, will have to be put down if a new investor is not found. Rene Strickler, the owner of Raubtierpark in Subingen, Switzerland, is no longer able to pay rent and is facing eviction from the site. But he fears he will be forced to euthanise the zoo's 18 big cats and more than 20 other animals if he is required to close. Scroll down for video Two of the tigers in Raubtierpark, Subingen, play fight with each other in the big cats' pond The two tigers, one of which is white, are among the 18 big cats currently living in the park Bailiffs have been forced to cancel plans to evict the zoo because they have nowhere to put the big cats A white tiger plays with a toy ball while relaxing inside the big cat pond at the park in Switzerland The two tigers are best friends and often delighted crowds with their raucous play fights As well as tigers, the park is home to lions, pumas, a bear and a 20 animal-strong petting zoo Two teenage lions wrestle while sitting in the grass at the park, which is to be evicted by court order They are among more than 40 animals that will be euthanised if the park is ordered to close, its owner says He said: 'I tell you quite openly, these animals are so close to me that if you try to move them they would have a broken heart.' He claimed it was not possible to move the animals on to other zoos, adding: 'They would not survive the journey. 'They will have to be killed and that would cause protests around the entire world.' Swiss bailiffs were forced to cancel their plans to evict the entire zoo because they do not have anywhere to put the animals. A spokesman for the bailiffs, who were ordered in over the failure of Mr Strickler, a former circus boss, to pay rent, confirmed that it was a unique situation. The spokesman told Swiss media: 'At worst we might end up with a dog or cat which would end up in animal home, but 18 big cats is another matter.' The owner of the land, Espace Real Estate, had wanted the zoo with its animals moved out by the end of last year. Despite a court order, this proved impossible because there was nowhere to house the animals. This has now been extended while a new solution is sought. Local experts confirmed it would be difficult to find homes for the animals in Europe and Strickler has said that if the land is seized, the only option will be to put them all to sleep. Bailiffs were ordered in after zoo owner Rene Strickler was unable to pay rent However, he has said he will be forced to euthanise the animals as they have nowhere to go Two young lions relax in the grass at the park, which is located in Subingen, in Switzerland Tickets bought in Florida and California have yet to have come forward However, only one winner from Tennessee has so far claimed their prize Three winners shared the jackpot, pocketing around $528million each It has been four weeks since the biggest ever Powerball jackpot of $1.5billion was won by three ticket holders. But a month on, two of the top prizes, worth $528 million each, have still to be claimed by the winners. The Powerball draw on January 13 saw record numbers of people queue for a tickets to be in with a chance of winning the record-breaking jackpot. Scroll down for video The 7-Eleven store in Chino Hills, California where one of the winning Powerball tickets was bought. The winner has still not come forward The winner who purchased their ticket at the Publix supermarket in Melbourne Beach, Florida is also yet to claim their prize After the draw John and Lisa Robinson from Munford, Tennessee, came forward as one of the three winning ticket holders. However, the winners that purchased their tickets in Florida and California, are yet to come forward. And any lucky winner has just 60 days to claim their prize if they want to receive it in a lump sum. Officials previously announced that the winning tickets were bought at a Publix supermarket in Melbourne Beach, Florida, and at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California. A map showing where the three winning tickets of the $1.5billion Powerball prize were bought before the draw on January 13 People celebrate inside he 7-Eleven, where a winning ticket was bought. Store owner Balbir Atwal was also awarded a $1million cheque by the California state lottery And Shelly Gerteisen from the Florida Lottery says the winner in her state could be planning for the future before handing in their ticket. She told Florida Today: 'Were kind of guessing along with everyone else. It is not unusual, however, for this amount of money, for the winner to get their affairs in order, or seek an attorney. 'Its a life changing amount of money, so (the winner) just may be seeking legal counsel or maybe waiting for media interest to die down. That includes, estate planning or meeting with financial advisers.' Meanwhile Chino Hills, where another of the winners likely lives, sits to the east of Los Angeles and is already one of the richest places in the country. The only winners to claim their share of the $1.6billion prize are John and Lisa Robinson from Munford, Tennessee The owner of the 7-Eleven that sold the winning ticket, Balbir Atwal was also awarded a $1million cheque by the California state lottery. It had been first thought that a mother-of-seven from California had been one of the three Powerball winners. The woman, 62, who had not been named, is a nursing home carer and is believed to have worked at the Park Avenue Health and Wellness Center in Pomona, around 10 miles from where the winning ticket was bought at a 7-Eleven in Chino Hills. It is thought she received a text from her son after the draw was made on Wednesday night to tell her he had checked her ticket and that she had matched all six numbers. Suspect 'fled the Syria war via Turkey before claiming asylum in Germany' Police carried out anti-terror raids in a German village after a TV station interviewed a refugee suspected of being an ISIS commander. Officers searched the homes of two men living in migrant housing in Sankt Johann, near the western city of Mainz, after they were accused of being part of an extremist organisation. It came after Spiegel TV reported that it had tracked down one of the men, a 32-year-old Syrian which it claimed was an former ISIS commander. Scroll down for video Tracked down: Police carried out raids in a German village after TV station Speigel Online interviewed a refugee who is suspected of being an ISIS commander, seen here (left) speaking to a reporter The suspect, named only as Bassam, allegedly fought with ISIS in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor before leaving via Turkey and claiming asylum in Germany. Bassam is said to have fought with Islamist militias battling the Syrian government as part of the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front before joining the ranks of ISIS, it was reported by Breitbart which cited the Speigel TV report. He had initially wanted to be a suicide bomber, but his brother secured him an officer role through his position as a sharia judge, the news station claimed. He was reportedly captured by Free Syrian Army soldiers at a checkpoint near Aleppo last summer after intelligence that he was fleeing Syria with tens of thousands of dollars in cash. He was released 20 days later with a mobile phone memory card containing ISIS propaganda but without his cash. It is not known why. It was reported that German security services were unaware of his presence in Germany since last autumn until the Spiegel interview. 'Terror commander': The suspect (not pictured) allegedly fought with ISIS in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor before leaving via Turkey and claiming asylum in Germany Federal prosecutors declined to confirm those details. Spokesman Michael Neuhaus said only that the two men are 'suspected of taking part in the Syrian civil war as members of a foreign terrorist organisation'. He declined to provide further details, including whether the men had been arrested, citing the ongoing investigation. Last week, German police conducted raids in Berlin and across western Germany against four Algerian men suspected of having ties to ISIS and plotting an attack in Berlin. Election watchdog is investigating and could had evidence to the police Comes after thousands in undeclared receipts uncovered for by-elections Newly uncovered hotel receipts have revealed that the Tories allegedly covered up thousands of pounds in hotel bills to spend more on beating Nigel Farage in the key Thanet South seat. An investigation revealed that the Conservatives did not declare more than 4,000 of hotel receipts which would have taken them over the legal spending limit for the constituency in the election. The party now faces an internal investigation and even a police probe after the revelations about spending in a key seat, which Ukip leader Nigel Farage had vowed to win or promised to resign. Scroll down for video An investigation revealed that the Conservatives did not declare more than 4,000 of hotel receipts which would have taken them over the legal spending limit for the Thanet South constituency, where they beat Ukip leader Nigel Farage (pictured as the results were read out on May 13) Farage had promised to resign if he lost the Thanet South seat, but the next day the party refused to accept his resignation (pictured on May 14) The news, uncovered by a Channel 4 investigation, comes amid reports that the Tories included a bill for 14,000 at the Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate in their national expenses submission. It means that the bill, submitted to the Electoral Commission, is not deducted from local campaign spending limits for the party fighting such a key constituency. These are the latest in a series of allegations that the party breached guidelines for campaign spending, after it emerged that thousands more in receipts were not declared in by-elections. Hundreds of receipts allegedly show the party failed to declare thousands of pounds in hotel bills, which suggests the party broke the 100,000 spending limit for each of three crucial by-elections. At the time, the Conservative party was attempting to defeat a major threat from Ukip just months after Nigel Farage's party won the 2014 European Parliament elections. The Thanet South seat was seen as key in the General Election in 2015, as Farage's charismatic leadership had brought the party to fame, and many thought that toppling him may end the threat that they posed the Tories. Farage was defeated and the Tories went on to win an overall majority, but new allegation pose questions on the legality of their campaigning ahead of their shock victory. The Channel 4 investigation revealed the receipt for 4,242.60, including bookings for six Conservative Party Members one of whom stayed 12 nights during the campaign. The amount would take them over the legal spending limits, put in place under the Representation of the People Act to prevent elections being skewed in favour of richer parties. The Tories were accused of breaking spending limits in Rochester, where senior party staff, including David Cameron, pictured with candidate Kelly Tolhurst, made regular visits to the constituency in a bid to beat Ukip The Rochester by-election in 2014 was won by Ukip's Mark Reckless, pictured with Nigel Farage, despite the Tories outspending Ukip by thousands Channel 4 News said it had also obtained undeclared hotel bills for 2014 by-elections in Clacton, Rochester and Newark, which showed the party paid for large numbers of party staff, campaigners and senior figures to fight the seats. Lawyers told the programme that the evidence would provide grounds for a police investigation. The Tories failed to beat Ukip in two of the by-elections - in Clacton they were overwhelmingly beaten by Douglas Carswell after he defected from the Conservatives, while they narrowly lost out to fellow Tory defector Mark Reckless. They managed to beat Ukip in Newark, but at the time Mr Farage accused the Conservatives of breaching the spending limit. The receipts claim to have uncovered 57,000 of undisclosed hotel bills in Rochester, which would have taken the party more than 50,000 over the spending limit. In Clacton, the party was accused of more than 10,000 in overspend, while in Newark it was alleged of breaching the limit by more than 6,000 in hotel bills. Douglas Carswell, pictured with Ukip leader Nigel Farage, said the receipts unveiled by Channel 4 News was 'truly shocking' and 'intolerable' Nigel Farage. pictured with Mark Reckless during the Rochester and Strood by-election in 2014, expressed fears that the Conservatives had breached the spending limits at the time Patrick O'Flynn, who was Ukip's director of communications at the time of the by-elections, said the evidence uncovered was 'truly shocking'. Conservative MP Charles Walker said today that he would raise the allegations at the next Conservative party board meeting. A Conservative spokesperson said: 'All by-election spending has been correctly recorded in accordance with the law.' Ukip MP Douglas Carswell described the evidence obtained by Channel 4 News as 'shocking' and 'simply intolerable'. 'You have to have a law to make sure you don't have unfair advantage,' he said. 'We need to look at whether the Electoral Commission should have the right powers. I will certainly be raising it.' The elections watchdog said it was investigating and said it could pass on information to the police if it believed the allegations fell under the Representation of the of the People Act. In a statement today the Electoral Commission complained that the Government had rejected its request for stronger investigative powers to sanction offences relating to candidate spending and donations. Kelly Tolhurst, pictured left, failed to win the Rochester and Strood by-election despite claims that the party broke the spending limit by more than 50,000 but she beat Mark Reckless, pictured right, six months later at the 2015 General Election Ukip won two of the three by-elections in question despite accusations that the Conservatives outspent them by tens of thousands of pounds Kent, Nottinghamshire and Essex police - the three authorities that cover the three constituencies in question - said they had not yet received any complaints but said the Electoral Commission could hand over evidence if they judged the evidence breached the law. A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said: 'We have not received any reports relating to claims of overspending by a political party in the Newark by-election of 2014, and as such no investigation has been carried out. 'Should we have a complaint from either a member of the public or from the Electoral Commission it will be given due consideration.' Similar statements were given by Kent and Essex police. A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission said: 'We have been made aware of the allegations of spending breaches at three parliamentary by-elections. 'Alleged breaches of the rules around candidate spending at by-elections or parliamentary general elections are matters for the police to investigate under the Representation of the People Act 1983. 'The Electoral Commission only has powers to consider possible breaches of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act at general elections, which is the legislation we regulate. 'We will be considering whether any of the allegations made last night also come within the Commission's remit or are strictly matters for the police to investigate. 'In 2013, prior to the last General Election, the Electoral Commission recommended that we should be provided with investigative powers and sanctions for offences relating to candidate spending and donations at specified elections. Bill Clinton was left off his leash this morning showing up at a middle school in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to encourage more votes. 'I like Kasich,' Clinton said to a man holding up a sign for the Republican governor of Ohio. 'I think he'd make a good president,' said the man. 'Can we change your vote?' But Bill Clinton was there to support his wife Hillary Clinton, who's in danger of losing the nation's first primary by more than 13 points to rival Bernie Sanders. 'I don't think so,' Clinton replied, having just suggested last night that he wished he wasn't married to the candidate so he could speak more freely, most likely about the Vermont senator. 'Sometimes when I am on a stage like this, I wish we weren't married, then I could say what I really think,' Bill Clinton said last night in Hudson, New Hampshire, before introducing his wife at a last-minute rally. Scroll down for video Terie Norelli, a former Democratic member of the New Hampshire House, caught Bill Clinton on camera this morning as he visited a polling place at a Portsmouth middle school Bill Clinton posted this tweet of a supporter taking a selfie with the former president. He's been helping his wife in a last minute push in the state Bill Clinton said he was 'happy' in his marriage, but told an audience in Hudson, New Hampshire that sometimes he wished he wasn't married to the candidate so he could 'say what I really think' Bill Clinton, pictured here squeezing his candidate wife Hillary Clinton has said several times that he regrets not being able to be frank about this election 'I don't mean that in a negative way,' he added. 'I am happy.' While refusing to let the name Bernie Sanders roll of his lips, former President Bill Clinton went after the Vermont senator at a campaign rally earlier in the day in Manchester. 'It bothers me to be in an election where debate is impossible because if you disagree you're just part of the establishment,' Clinton said today at Manchester Community College, shortly before his wife walked on stage. The former president also thanks the young voters who were actually supporting Hillary Clinton. In Iowa, she lost 18 to 29-year-old voters by 70 points. 'I am so grateful for all the millennial young people who are supporting Hillary,' Bill Clinton said. 'And they are just as mad as the ones who aren't,' he noted. 'They just know they've got to translate that anger to answer and that resentment to results,' he added. Bill Clinton has started attacking his wife's Democratic rival Bernie Sanders suggesting that the Vermont senator can't go around labeling who falls in the 'establishment' of the party TEAMWORK: Bill and Hillary gave Sanders the one-two punch yesterday in New Hampshire. She hit him for attending a Martha's Vineyard fundraiser for the Democratic Party attended by the same sorts of people he deplores her for taking checks from POPULAR: Hillary is losing young people in New Hampshire more than 8-1 - but they seemed happy to see Bill at a Manchester rally Entering the community college yesterday with daughter Chelsea at his side, Bill Clinton confessed that, 'the harder this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former president ... and not the spouse of the next one.' The line got big cheers. 'And I'm so happy all the time because of our granddaughter and grandchild-to-be that I'm not mad at anybody, but I respect the anger, the apprehension, the anxiety that so many Americans have,' Clinton continued. He noted how many Americans haven't seen their paychecks increase since the day he left the White House in 2001. 'So we need big changes, that's right, you'll hear Hillary talk about her visions,' Clinton said. 'The real question isn't whether we need big changes ,yes, the real question is, who's got the best ideas, who's the best change-maker.' Pointing fingers, but not saying names, Clinton asked if it was fair to label his wife, or New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, or New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen as 'establishment.' The two female politicians are supporting Hillary Clinton and were also on hand to introduce the candidate at the earlier stop. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin also got a shout-out, with Clinton noting how he was supporting the former secretary of state and unsuccessfully tried to bring single-payer healthcare to his state, the plan that Sanders support. COMEBACK KID: Bill and Hillary are seen here in Bedford New Hampshire during his 1992 campaign - when he came from behind to come in second in the state ROLE REVERSAL: Bill Clinton even dressed the part Sunday as he ripped into Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally in New Hampshire In Vermont it didn't work. 'That's hardly an establishment candidate,' Bill Clinton said. Former Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, who is going door to door for the Clintons in New Hampshire in advance of the state's primary tomorrow, put it a smart way, Bill Clinton pointed out. 'I asked Mark Pryor what he said when he was walking on doors, he said, 'I like them both, I served with them both, but she gets a lot more done,'' the former president said. Yesterday's comments were an encore to the performance Bill Clinton gave Sunday in Milford, while Hillary Clinton was out of town in Flint, Michigan. It was then that the former president began whacking Sanders around, without saying the Vermont senator's name. 'When you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful with the facts,' Clinton said, according to Politico. 'The New Hampshire I campaigned in really cared that you knew what you were doing, and how it was paid for,' Clinton said, reminding the voters of his own relationship with the state. In the 1992 New Hampshire, Bill Clinton's campaign, under the duress of sinking poll numbers, pulled off a silver medal in the state, which eventually propelled him to the Democratic nomination. Sanders has a lot of large-scale ideas universal healthcare, tuition-free public college, etc. and has broadly described how he would pay for it, by raising taxes, but any economic drag that might occur from the new taxes has not been accounted for. Clinton took on the 'Bernie Bros,' men on social media sites who are harassing Hillary Clinton's female supporters for only 'voting with their vagina[s].' The former president called out the 'vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane ... not to mention sexist.' He also reminded the audience about the data breach that occurred, allowing Sanders campaign operatives to sniff around the Clinton voter file last December. 'It was your campaign that made 25 separate inquiries in the mere space of 30 minutes trying to [loot] information out of computers,' Bill Clinton said, suggesting Sanders' public apology should be discounted because 'in private they sent an email complaining [about the DNC] leaving the keys in the car, and said, 'all we did was drive off.'' Clinton noted how the Sanders campaign raised $1 million off the incident. Hillary Clinton supporting celebrities Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen braved the freezing cold today to shake hands with voters at polling places in New Hampshire. Danson, 68, and Steenburgen, 63, have been friends with the Clintons for decades. Bill Clinton even walked Steenburgen down the aisle during the couple's 1995 wedding. 'We actually know her as truly the brightest, most honest, trustworthy person we have ever met in our entire life,' Danson told DailyMail.com outside a Manchester precinct this morning. 'When you watch her getting defined by other people, you just can't sit still.' Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton supporting celebrities Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen braved the freezing cold today to shake hands with voters at polling places across New Hampshire. They're seen here outside St. Anthony Community Center this morning in Manchester 'We're going to as many polling places as we can, today to say, "Hey, vote for Hillary," ' Danson told DailyMail.com. 'We believe that she's the one who can really make change.' Danson and Steenburgen are seen here at another polling place. Webster School, in Manchester at another point in the morning Danson won Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for his role as Sam Malone, the bartender, in the 1980s sitcom 'Cheers'. He's also had lead roles in Damages, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Cyber. In January Variety said he would not be returning to Cyber and would instead begin work on NBC sitcom Good Place, a production of Parks and Rec alum Mike Schur, with Kristen Bell, which is set to air in the fall. He told DailyMail.com that he and his wife will stay for Clinton's post-election party tonight in Hooksett. Tomorrow morning they'll dash back to Los Angeles to fulfill commitments for work. 'We're going to as many polling places as we can, today to say, "Hey, vote for Hillary," ' he said. 'We believe that she's the one who can really make change.' Danson added: 'I know we're all after basically after the same changes in the social fabric here, jobs and education and health and all of that stuff, but we feel her plan to get it done is the one that will actually make that change that we're all hoping for.' Steenburgen grew up in Arkansas and has been friends with the Clintons since she was introduced to them during Bill's first term as governor following her Academy Award performance in Melvin and Howard. Since then her credits have included Philadelphia, Back to the Future III, Elf and Step Brothers. 'She's been one of my best friends for 38 years, so I've known her for a very long time,' she said today as she talked to DailyMail.com in the bitter cold outside St. Anthony Community Center in Manchester. 'She's inspired me to do more in the world as far as being an activist and reaching out to help other people.' Danson and Steenburgen are seen here talking with reporters aboard Clinton's press plane in March 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio. They have been friends with the Clintons for decades. Bill Clinton even walked Steenburgen down the aisle during the couple's 1995 wedding Danson, left, and his wife Mary Steenburgen, right, are pictured here with former President Bill Clinton, center right, and daughter Chelsea Clinton, last night at Hillary's Hudson New Hampshire rally - her final push before today's primary Steenburgen and Danson accompanied Hillary Clinton in 2008 on several legs of her bid to defeat Barack Obama. The couple is reprising their role as surrogates for her in New Hampshire this week Steenburgen grew up in Arkansas and has been friends with the Clintons since she was introduced to them during Bill's first term as governor following her Academy Award performance in Melvin and Howard. She and her husband are pictured above at an LA fundraiser for Clinton in April 2008 The movie star cited Clinton's work with children and her involvement in the Pediatric Aids Foundation as reasons she's supporting her longtime friend's White House bid. 'There's too many things for me to even name that I've done with her, as far as things that make an important difference in the world,' she said with a laugh. 'And I'm not sure that I would have done all that without having a friend that inspired me in such a great way.' Steenburgen and Danson accompanied Hillary Clinton in 2008 on several legs of her bid to defeat Barack Obama. They were standing with her that year when she ended her campaign and endorsed Barack Obama during a speech at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. 'I've watched her as a mother, I've gone through life's ups and down with her. I knew her parents, and she knew mine,' Steenburgen said today. But that's not the sole reason she volunteered her time today, the actress said. 'I have lots of friends, but this is a friend that happens to be the most qualified person in the world for this job.' Steenburgen said, 'If you laid out her resume and everyone else's resume that's running and you took their names off it, and you took their gender off it, and you just looked at the resume of what they've accomplished, I have zero doubt that this is the person who's resume you'd choose that's most qualified for the job for so many reasons.' 'She gets things done, she doesn't just throw bricks or verbal bricks. She knows how to find common ground and work with people and how to stand her ground when you can't work with them.' Here they are seen with Hillary Clinton during a February 2008 fundraiser in San Francisco. They were standing with her that year when she ended her campaign and endorsed Barack Obama during a speech at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Mentioning no one in particular, Steenburgen said, 'I don't believe in just voting for a personality, I believe in looking at the whole truth that someone's walked through life and hers is stunningly effective.' Danson agreed with his wife's assessment of Clinton's readiness for the job. 'I wouldn't want anyone but her to be the commander in chief, no one else,' he said. And like her husband, Steenburgen said, 'I'm just honored to talk about her because I know her as opposed to all the people that talk about her that are putting their own personal spin on it as opposed to knowledge.' The couple is reprising their role as surrogates for her in New Hampshire this week. They attended a rally with her last night in Hudson and hit up voting locations in Manchester today. Danson also spent the last weekend in January here, campaigning in Clinton's stead as she and her family made a final push in Iowa. He stopped by an evening phone bank for Clinton in Concord, New Hampshire Public Radio reports, where he called the Clintons, 'Truly family friends.' On that trip he ended the night at a meet in greet in Concord at the aptly named Cheers Grille and Bar. A 60-year-old man needed stitches after he was pushed down a flight of stairs by an angry commuter at rush hour. The man was pursued by a fellow passenger after they collided at the ticket barrier at Putney overground station in south west London. As he reached the top of the stairs to the exit, his 'cowardly' attacker shoved him from behind and he sustained a head wound, a black eye, and bruising to his hands and face. The badly injured man was taken to hospital where he was given stitches. A 60-year-old man was pushed down a flight of stairs by this man as they exited Putney overground station The station is one of the busiest in the UK and used by more than 11 million commuters every year British Transport Police have now issued a photo of the younger man they want to trace in relation to the incident around 7.30pm on Monday, February 1. Detective Sergeant Dan Holmes said: 'At a busy station like Putney it's inevitable people will inadvertently come into contact with each other, but that doesn't excuse any form of violent retaliation. 'Aside from the man needing stitches, he was also treated for a black eye, along with gashes and bruising to his hands and face. 'This was a cowardly attack on a man involved in what was simply an accident. 'I'm calling on anyone who can help us identify the man in the image we've circulated to get in touch.' The station is one of the busiest in the UK and used by more than 11 million commuters every year. Anyone with information should call 0800 40 50 40, or text 61016, quoting 189 of 9/2/16. A British man who has been held in a notorious prison in Myanmar for 14 months without being charged has spoken of his life in the 'hell on earth' jail. Niranjan Rasalingam, 29, from Croydon, was arrested in December 2014 alongside three Indian men, accused of stealing 25.2 million kyats (13,745) using cloned bank cards. Mr Rasalingam has revealed that he is being kept in horrible 'inhumane' conditions at Insein Prison in Yangon's northern outskirts. Niranjan Rasalingam, 29, from Croydon, has revealed that he has been kept in horrible 'inhumane' conditions at Insein Prison (pictured) in Yangon, Myanmar, without any formal charge since December 2014. 'Life in Insein prison is hell on earth the conditions, the corruption and the danger,' he told the Guardian in an interview via his legal team. 'I have paid to get a bed and bedding and friends from the UK have sent money to me to try to get a few comforts like additional food and toiletries.' Mr Rasalingam, an accountant, also told the newspaper that he had been assaulted by another prisoner during his time in the prison. He revealed that he is continuously being transported to courts in different parts of the country in order to be 'remanded', which allows authorities to keep him in prison without a formal charge. Mr Rasalingam had arrived in Myanmar to work as broker for a travel agency website and says he only knew one of the three Indian men arrested alongside him. Mr Rasalingam revealed that he is being 'remanded' through courts in different parts Myanmar, which allows authorities to keep him in Insein(pictured) without a formal charge He told The Guardian that he had been denied food and consular access for three days after his arrest, before being ordered to sign a paper in Burmese admitting a crime. Insein Prison is known for its brutal living conditions for prisoners, which were highlighted last year when a New Zealand man was jailed for using an image of Buddha which 'insulted the religion'. Bar manager Philip Blackwood used the image to promote a drinks night, for which he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years. His family revealed at the time that he was forced to 'sleep on a wooden pallet and only given broth and rice to eat'. Michael Junior faces jail for causing death by dangerous driving after he killed two young girls A motorist who killed two young sisters and left their mother and two other children with serious injuries has admitted causing death by dangerous driving. Michael Junior, aged 35, will be sentenced later this week after pleading guilty to five charges during a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court. The engineer entered guilty pleas to causing the deaths of Lily and Shelly Wu, aged seven and six, and causing injury to their mother Zhulan and two other children who cannot be identified because of their age. Junior ploughed his grey Seat Leon into the group in the Harmsworth area of Birmingham on June 21 last year. Witnesses saw a group of people walk out in front of a parked bus before the accident. Paramedics rushed the two sisters to Birmingham Children's Hospital but they died the following morning. Mrs Wu, 39, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she fought for life after being placed in a chemically-induced coma. The girls, who attended Wilkes Green Infants School, were on their way to Chinese Sunday School where they attended each week when they were hit. Judge Murray Creed was told that Junior, of Handsworth, had 'said tearful farewells' to family members and expected to be jailed today for ploughing into the pedestrians. Sentence was due to be passed on Junior at today's hearing but a judge due to hear the case was taken ill. Junior's counsel, Timothy Harrington, told Judge Creed: 'It's obviously a case of great sensitivity. The defendant understands that Your Honour can't deal with the case today.' Judge Creed imposed an interim driving ban on Junior and granted him bail for two days. The judge told the defendant: 'I re-admit you to bail as before but you should understand that in relation to this type of offence the court will be considering uppermost in its mind the question of immediate custody.' No details of the fatal incident in Grove Lane, Handsworth, were given to the court by prosecutor Gareth Walters, who said still photographs of the scene would be submitted to the sentencing judge. Shelly and Lily Wu (right) were walking to Sunday School when they were knocked down and killed last June For more of the latest news from Russia visit www.dailymail.co.uk/russia In recent years he has reasserted his country's massive military might It comes Russia's relations with the West remain low over Syria dispute Vladimir Putin has put thousands of troops, warplanes and battleships on high alert in a series of military drills designed to test his military's mobility amid growing tensions with the West. The war games in south-west Russia will include bombing runs and troop deployments, which the Kremlin says will test its military's ability to respond to external threats. It comes as Western tensions with Russia remain at a low following its annexation of Crimea in 2014, its clandestine support for rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, and its bombing of Syria. The drills comes as tensions with the West continue to worsen as Russia flexes its military might on the international stage A man believed to be a Russia soldier stands guard on a military vehicle outside the Ukrainian city of Simferopol. Putin has initiated military drills for his army in the country's southwest near Ukraine Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that military units were put on combat alert early Monday, marking the launch of the exercise that involves troops of the Southern Military District. The district includes troops stationed in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as well as forces in the North Caucasus and southwestern regions near the border with Ukraine. Shoigu said the maneuvers will also engage airborne troops and military transport aviation, as well as the navy. He noted that the drills are intended to check the troops' ability to respond to extremist threats and other challenges. According to Shoigu, who spoke at a meeting with the top military brass, the war games would include redeployment of air force units to advance air bases and bombing runs at shooting ranges. Russia has demonstrated its resurgent military might with its air campaign in Syria in support of president Bashar al-Assad The maneuvers will test the troops' mobility, with some being deployed to areas up to 1,800 miles away, the military said. Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in a statement that up to 8,500 troops, 900 ground weapons, 200 warplanes and about 50 warships will be involved in the drills. The exercises are the latest in a series of major drills intended to strengthen the military's readiness which have continued despite the nation's economic downturn. Even though a drop in global oil prices has drained the government's coffers and helped drive the economy into recessions, the Kremlin has continued to spend big on the military, funding the purchase of hundreds of new aircraft, tanks and missiles. Russia has demonstrated its resurgent military might with its air campaign in Syria, which helped President Bashar Assad's military win a series of victories in recent weeks. The military used the Syrian operation to test new types of weapons in actual combat for the first time, including long-range air-and-sea-launched cruise missiles. The air blitz in Syria has badly strained Russia's relations with Turkey, which shot down a Russian warplane at the border with Syria in November. The latest drills could be part of muscle flexing amid the tensions with Ankara. Two schoolboys who stole an ice cream and a bag of salted sunflower seeds from a classmate when they were 14 and 15 have been jailed for 13 years each after a trial lasting eight years. The incredible sentence, for robbery, was passed down by the court even though the victim had never even complained about the matter to police. It was only raised by teachers at the school in Istanbul who were hoping to scare the two boys, part of a group of six that had apparently been stealing the sweets from other kids. Volkan Kutlu, pictured, is one of two men who have received a 13 year prison sentence for stealing an ice cream eight years ago when he was aged just 14 in Istanbul, Turkey Kutlu, pictured, was arrested by Turkish police as he was about to enter an exam hall in university after an appeal against the marathon jail term was rejected by an appeals court Kutlu's mother Havva Saglam, pictured, claimed Turkish authorities are treating her son like a 'killer' Despite the eight-year-long trial, the two accused, Volkan Kutlu, now aged 22, and Okan Ciftci, now aged 23, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time, had managed to complete their education. And Kutlu had even gained a place at university when they were arrested after the appeal court rejected their bid to stay out of jail. Kutlu was dramatically grabbed by police as he was about to walk into an exam. The court case had started after the pair were arrested at an Internet cafe by police and the first court case was at the Bakirkoy 1st Children's Heavy Penal Court where because of their young age they had expected to simply get a slap on the wrist and be released. A report prepared for the court case even noted that it was a childish act which it was clear they had no intention of repeating. Instead, they were jailed and now the sentence has been confirmed by the High Court 6th Penal Chamber with the pair now arrested and imprisoned. Students who were studying history in their second year with Kutlu at the Trakya University said they were stunned by the decision to jail him as he was regarded as a model student, but he and his former friend will now have to serve at least eight years before they are eligible for parole. Kutlu's mother, Havva Saglam, who is a single parent and who paid for her son's education by working as a nurse, said: 'He had an exam the day he was taken to prison. I took his clothes and lecture notes and came back to Istanbul that night. An elderly woman was stung thousands of times after being attacked by a swarm of bees that had been stoned by schoolboys as she was walking past. The shocking incident, which left hundreds of bee stings sticking out of the woman's face, happened in the town of Amanzimtoti in South Africa. Medic Chris Botha, who by chance is himself a bee farmer, said that when he turned up after answering an emergency call he noticed that the woman was lying on the ground having been covered with a blanket by a relative. This is the shocking picture of a South African woman who had been stung on the face by thousands of bees The woman was attacked near the KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa (file photograph) Firemen had been forced to put on firefighting apparatus in order to get to the woman without being stung themselves, and their colleagues had sprayed water on the bees in order to calm them down. He said when they managed to move the woman they were shocked to discover that she had been stung thousands of times. The woman's grandson who had tried to help was also stung a few hundred times. Botha said paramedics had to work hard to stabilise the woman before rushing her to hospital. Crimewatch presenter Jason Mohammad would have been forgiven for feeling a bit awkward on Monday nights show when the mugshot of a convicted thug was shown that looked just like him. The likeness was flagged by dozens of Twitter users, including Cornish police officer PC Alice Nicholas, who tweeted: That awkward moment #Crimewatch. Her post has now been retweeted over 800 times. Crimewatch presenter Jason Mohammad would have been forgiven for feeling a bit awkward on Monday nights show when the mugshot of a convicted thug was shown that looked just like him Mr Mohammad acknowledged the stir that it had caused. He tweeted: Thanks for the tweets. And yes, I've seen the picture. His doppelganger is a vicious Slovak called Viktor Lakatos, who was jailed for a savage knuckle-duster attack on a frail pensioner - Colin Butlin. Sophie Raworth said on the show: 'In March we asked for your help in finding Victor Lakatos. Crimewatch presenter Jason Mohammad acknowledged the stir that the image had caused The likeness was flagged by dozens of Twitter users, including Cornish police officer PC Alice Nicholas, who tweeted: That awkward moment #Crimewatch Detectives wanted to question him after an 89-year-old man was attacked and robbed on his own driveway. As a direct result of the programme Viktor Lakatos has been jailed for 18 years. Twitter user Duncan Edwards Red, commenting on how similar Lakatos looked to Mohammad, said: Have you seen this man? Yeah, he's stood next to you luv. Lakatos went on the run after attacking Mr Butlin in November 2014. The Slovakian national had carried out the violent attack on the defenceless pensioner as he was stripped for cash. Burglar Allan Campbell, who uses dating sites to find places to stay for the night, is being sought by police A burglar who uses dating sites to find places to stay for the night is being sought by police. Allan Campbell is wanted on recall to prison to complete a sentence for burgling narrow boats. Officers searching for the 42-year-old have revealed he is known for using websites to trick women into allowing him to stay at their properties for days at a time. The missing prisoner is originally from Boston, Lincolnshire, but is thought to have recently been in the West Yorkshire area. He was jailed in October 2013 for four and a half years for a spate of burglaries and for breaking a suspended sentence. A court heard he wrenched doors and windows off narrow boats along Wiltshire canals while serving a suspended sentence for burgling more than 80 caravans along the south coast of England. He evaded police capture for a year before he was taken to court in 2013, where 15 other offences from across the country were taken into account. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police confirmed they were searching for Campbell. They said he may have travelled to South Yorkshire and Northamptonshire and is also known to have links to the Chesham area of Buckinghamshire. They added: 'If you know his whereabouts, or you believe you may have encountered him online on a dating site, please contact police on 101.' Campbell is described as 6 2 tall and of proportionate build. He has numerous tattoos on his arms, hands, chest and back. It is not known what dating sites he uses. If not, the lawyer says, they 'have ways' of beating the extradition request They demand that prosecutors agree to spare him maximum-security jail As a result, they will consider pleading guilty in US - but on one condition Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera is willing to plead guilty in the United States - as long as he is not jailed in a maximum-security prison. The Sinaloa cartel leader believes he would enjoy better treatment in an American cell compared to the 'extreme freezing conditions' of his current Mexican lock-up where he 'fears for his life', his lawyer revealed in an exclusive interview with Univision last week. However, he will only plead guilty if US prosecutors promise to spare him from its most brutal institutions 'where he would not see the light of the sun for more than an hour a day'. According to the lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, Guzman 'has many resources to combat extradition' if America does not offer a suitable plea deal. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO El Chapo believes he would enjoy better treatment in a US cell compared to the 'extreme freezing conditions' of his Mexican lock-up where he 'fears for his life' - but he would demand being spared from a high-security jail Mexican and U.S. officials want to have El Chapo tried and imprisoned in America because of his track record of escaping from Mexican prisons. Since being recaptured in January, the Sinaloa cartel leader has been held in the same maximum-security prison he escaped from just outside Mexico City. In a bid to prevent another breakout, Mexican jail workers have reportedly been moving Guzman from cell-to-cell on a daily basis. And according to Rodriguez, the conditions are life-threatening. Last week Guzman's legal team filed an official complaint to a Mexico City judge that accused Mexican officials of torture, saying he is being kept in temperatures below zero degrees Celsius. Jail workers, the complaint claims, are 'trying to turn him into a zombie' and 'drive him to death'. Speaking to Univision, Rodriguez said: 'I fear for his life.' According to one of El Chapo's lawyers, Jose Refugio Rodriguez (pictured speaking to Univision last week), Guzman 'has many resources to combat extradition' if America does not offer a suitable plea deal He went on: 'If anyone is subjected to such cold temperatures - so cold, extremely cold - they could get very sick.' Consequently, he revealed, Guzman is actively considering surrendering to America's extradition request if US authorities agree that he would not be held in similarly brutal conditions. 'We are going to work the extradition so that the United States doesn't find a man on his knees, begging for help,' Rodriguez insisted to Univision in his first interview for 36 years. Protesters have let off an explosive outside a police station in Kos, in the latest of a series attacks on officers which have included firebombs, flares and firecrackers. Dozens of protesters also clashes with police on the island this weekend during a rally opposing a controversial migrant and refugee screening centre, construction of which is already underway. Four teams of riot police were sent to the eastern Aegean island on Friday to guard the disused army camp at Pyli, which is being converted into the screening centre. Fury: Riot police clash with locals in Pyli, outside the military camp where Greek authorities are building a controversial migrant and refugee screening centre Aggression: Tyres burn outside the military camp, which is being guarded by four teams of riot police after violent protests over the construction of the centre broke out On Sunday, six youths aged between 17 and 24 were arrested for launching attacks on riot squads, before the explosive went off on Monday afternoon. Attacks on police officers have become so common that the officers union expressed fears that the situation on the island may go the way of Keratea a Greek town where months-long protests and attacks on officers prevented the construction of a landfill site. Protests were also reported close to the northern city of Thesaloniki on Sunday, and rival protests in Pireaus, close to Athens, on Monday. It has been decided that a referendum will be held as to whether to continue the construction of the centre. Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis said: Since government officials and the local MP believe that the citizens of Kos are in favour of [the centre], I have instructed the municipalitys general director to explore the procedures for an immediate local referendum so that citizens can decide whether they are in favour or opposed to [the centre] that is being constructed. Pressure is being piled on Greece by EU partners to open five such screening centres by next week, or risk being excluded from the passport-free travel of the Schengen zone. Clashes: Pressure is mounting on Greece to open five screening centres by next week's deadline, with EU partners threatening to exclude it from the Schengen zone if it can't exercise control over the incoming wave of asylum-seekers landing on its shores Pressure: Greece announced this week that it will meet the deadline for the centres. The country was the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants who reached the EU last year Greece announced this week that it would have the migrant and refugee screening centres up and running by next week. Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said Greece would meet a mid-month deadline to complete the five centres also known as hot spots on the islands, as well as two relocation centres on the mainland. The Defence Ministry has undertaken a pledge to complete the work for the centres by February 15, Mr Kammenos told reporters. But Greek authorities are struggling to cope with the increasing flow of asylum-seekers arriving on its islands, while still navigating an exit from one of the worst debt crises in decades. Greece was the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants who reached the EU last year. Former reality TV contestant Tina Wesson has offered her forgiveness to the man convicted in her son's death. Wesson, who won Season 2 of 'Survivor,' spoke in court Monday to Braylon Davis, who received a two-year sentence for his role as a driver in the single-car crash that killed 25-year-old Taylor Lee Collins in 2013 in Chattanooga. Collins was the only passenger in the vehicle, and both men had been drinking. Mother's forgiveness: Tina Wesson, who won Season 2 of 'Survivor' (pictured left), on Monday offered her forgiveness to Braylon Davis (right), who has been convicted in the death of Wesson's son Taylor (seen left) Wesson won the show's $1million prize in 2001 and returned twice to compete again, most recently in 2013 when she was joined by her daughter, Katie Collins (left) Davis pleaded not guilty in December to multiple charges including vehicular homicide by intoxication, but a jury convicted him of criminally negligent homicide. I have forgiveness for you. I understand mistakes and I understand grace.You have my grace today, Braylon, and I just hope you will take that grace and make better choices in your future. Tina Wesson to Braylon Davis Wesson, 54, told Davis that she harbors no bitterness but still misses her son 'with an intensity you cannot realize,' reported the Chattanooga Times Free Press. 'I have forgiveness for you,' the heartbroken mother told Davis during Monday's hearing in Hamilton Count Court.' I understand mistakes and I understand grace. 'You have my grace today, Braylon, and I just hope you will take that grace and make better choices in your future.' Wesson noted in her remarks that during his trial, Davis did not seem to be overwhelmed with remorse. When given a chance to speak, Davis said he thinks every day about the crash that killed Collins. 'I am extremely sorry about what happened,' he said, addressing Taylor's family from the stand. 'And I know that you say you don't really see the emotion. 'Well, there's nothing to see. It's what I feel down inside me, and I can't do anything more than apologize to you and try to move on with my life and pray that you can, as well.' On December 3, 2013, Davis (left) was the driver and Collins was the passenger (right) when their car went off the road in Chattanooga and rammed into the wall of a garage Special bond: Katie Collins posted this photo depicting her and her late brother on her Facebook page shortly after his death Tina Wesson's season of 'Survivor,' which was filmed in Australia, aired back in 2001. She won the show's $1million prize after defeating 15 other contestants, among them former Fox & Friends present Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and returned twice to compete again, most recently in 2013 when she and daughter Katie teamed up for 'Survivor: Blood vs Water,' which was filmed in the Philippines. Taylor Collins died on December 3, 2013, when the car he was riding in went off the road in Chattanooga and rammed into the wall of a garage at 20 South Germantown Road. Collins, who was sitting in the front, was ejected from the vehicle because he was reportedly not wearing a seat belt. He was rushed to an area hospital, where he died a short time later from his injuries Travis Boles, the grandfather of Taylor's girlfriend, told the National Enquirer at the time that the victim and his friend, Braylon Davis, were heading home from a party when the accident happened. Hillary Clinton's campaign has yet to release the content of her speeches to Goldman Sachs and perhaps with good reason. 'She sounded like a Goldman Sachs managing director,' an audience member of a Clinton speech, which made the candidate $225,000, told Politico. 'It would bury her against Sanders,' another attendee of the October 2013 speech in Arizona said. While most ex-government officials do the speaking circuit as a way to make a Washington career profitable, Clinton's speeches to firms like Goldman Sachs, which contributed to the 2008 economic crash, have become campaign fodder thanks to Bernie Sanders' anti-Wall Street crusade. Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton's being called out for her six-figure speeches to Goldman Sachs with attendees saying she sounded like the firm's 'managing director' Friends in high places: Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs (L) stands on stage with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York 'It would bury her against Sanders,' an attendee of Hillary Clinton's Goldman Sachs speech said of the content of the remarks, which was friendly to the firm The Vermont senator has hinted that Clinton would pack her White House with Wall Street allies and alumni. Those speeches demonstrate a coziness with the bankers Sanders has suggested. So far, Clinton hasn't responded well when asked. During a town hall event with Anderson Cooper last week, the CNN journalist asked Clinton why she took $675,000 for three speeches. 'Was that a mistake?' he asked. Clinton responded that she gave speeches to an array of groups, with Cooper asking why she had to take that much money from the Wall Street bankers. 'Well, I don't know,' Clinton replied. 'That's what they offered.' She tried to revise the flippant comment the night after, while debating Sanders on MSNBC. 'I think I may not have done the job I should have in explaining my record,' Clinton said. 'I did when I left the secretary of state's office like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists and others I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors. I spoke to the American Camping Association. I spoke to auto dealers and firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about my experience as secretary of state.' 'What i want people to know is: I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying, "You're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages." I called to end the loopholes that hedge fund managers enjoy,' Clinton continued. 'I called for the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau before it was created,' Clinton added. 'I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand, and where I have always stood, is [that] they are trying to beat me in this primary.' But those who witnessed the speeches don't recall Clinton railing against Wall Street. 'It was pretty glowing about us,' said the first source. 'It's so far from what she sounds like as a candidate now. It was like a rah-rah speech.' The second attendee agreed. ''It really makes her look like an ally of the firm,' Politico's source said. Clinton's spokesperson pushed back on these accounts. Sumner Redstone was allegedly set to leave his ex-girlfriend $70million in cash, assets and property in his will - on top of another $70million he gave her in the past six years. The billionaire mogul's ex-girlfriend Manuela Herzer was to receive '$50 million and Mr. Redstones Beverly Park home, worth roughly $20 million' according to a court filing obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. That money would come on top of the $70million in cash and assets Redstone's daughter Shari said her father gave to Herzer since just 2009 while she lived near his home. The money from the will has now been directed to Redstone's charitable foundations. Redstone just last week stepped down from his role as chairman at both CBS and Viacom, becoming chairman emeritus at both and handing over the reins to Les Moonves and Philippe Dauman respectively. Bank: Sumner Redstone was set to leave his ex-girlfriend Manuela Herzer (above in 2012) $50million in cash and assets in his will More bank: Redstone's daughter Shari (above in 2012) also said in a court filing Herzer has received $70million in cash and assets since just 2009 from the mogul Daughter: manuela's daughter Katherine stars in the CBS show Madame Secretary (above with Tea Leoni) News of Herzer's stake in Redstone's well comes two weeks after Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan said that a doctor hired by the woman should evaluate Redstone's health and mental health. Judge Cowen based the ruling on the depositions of two doctors who have evaluated Redstone and believe he could undergo a short examination from another doctor. Cowan says the evaluation should last up to an hour and cannot be attended by Redstone's regular physician or attorneys handling the case. Herzer had raised issues about the 92-year-old's health and decision-making capacity after she was suddenly expelled from his house in October. Redstone parted ways with Herzer after 20 years together, a woman who he briefly dated but then became one his closest friends and confidantes. She soon filed a suit asking to be restored as his caretaker arguing that he was 'mentally incompetent' describing him as a 'living ghost' and 'tragic figure.' Herzer, 52, was banned from the billionaire media mogul's Beverly Park mansion in October for reasons that remain unclear. She began dating Redstone - who is worth an estimated $6.4billion - in the 90s, and remained a close friend and confidante after the two split, moving to a house just down the street from him. Six weeks prior, Redstone had kicked out his live-in lover of four years Sydney Holland, 44, after learning she was having an affair. At the same, Redstone appeared to be getting closer to his family, with whom he has long had a tumultuous relationship. Property too: Redstone was also set to leave Herzer (above in December) his $20million mansion Vanity Fair spoke with a source who said at the time: 'All of a sudden on Monday there were a bunch of lawyers and house staff standing around, and she walked back in the house and it was communicated to her that Sumner doesnt want her there anymore.' The source then added that Herzer was shocked when she got the news, and quickly grew concerned as to who would care for the mogul. 'She doesnt know why shes not there anymore, and theres no one around. No family. Nobody responsible. Theres a driver and a nurse supposedly running the show,' they said. Redstone's daughter Shari disputed these claims however, and said there is nothing to worry about. 'Two of Sharis three children [Brandon and Tyler Korff] visited Sumner immediately; the third [Kimberlee Korff] called from the East Coast and is seeing him next week,' said Shari's spokesperson Nancy Sterling. 'Shari also flew out to see her father [last Wednesday] and everyone was excited to be able to spend time together again as a family.' In an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Herzer said of meeting Redstone: 'I was so enamored. I could do no wrong. He was just for me the greatest thing since sliced bread. There was no age at that point.' She then added; 'This is the nicest guy Ive ever met... I felt a connection to him that was really like - I cant explain. It was this chemistry.' Redstone meanwhile said of Herzer: 'I have known Manuela for over 20 years. She and her children are family to me. Her house in LA is five minutes away from my house and I get to see her frequently. Manuela is one of the smartest women I have ever met.' Eric Trump has backed up his father's position on bringing back waterboarding for terrorist suspects, claiming it is no worse than fraternity hazing. Donald Trump has vowed to bring back waterboarding and 'a hell of a lot worse' if he is elected president. Eric, 32, told Fox News the torture technique was 'no different' to what goes on in frat houses on a daily basis as he downplayed the interrogation method and called for it to be reinstated. Scroll down for video Eric Trump has backed up his father's position on bringing back waterboarding for terrorists, claiming it is no worse than fraternity hazing He is pictured campaigning in New Hampshire on Tuesday with his wife Laura 'You see these terrorists that are flying planes into buildings. You see our cities getting shot up in California. You see Paris getting shot up,' Eric said. 'And then somebody complains when a terrorist gets waterboarded, which quite frankly is no different than what happens on college campuses and frat houses every day.' Eric, who was part of the Delta Sigma Pi fraternity at Georgetown University, insisted that if his father reintroduced waterboarding he could 'keep this country safe'. Speaking of his father, Eric said: 'He's got amazing backbone, hes a tough guy, hes sick of the nonsense, and he wants to protect this country. 'Hes sick of seeing whats happening to this country, whether it be on trade, whether it be $19trillion worth of national debt, whether it be terrorists coming in and trying to infiltrate our country. I mean, he would be very, very, very, tough. I mean, thats who the man is. Hes a very tough guy.' Trump's third-born might not wrong to say waterboarding has been used during fraternity initiations. Donald Trump, pictured today at a polling place for the presidential primary in Manchester, New Hampshire, has vowed to bring back waterboarding and 'a hell of a lot worse' if he is elected president In March last year, a rumor spread that the Sigma Chi chapter at the University of Houston was suspended following allegations a student was waterboarded with alcohol, Gawker reported. The university would not give details about the 'disturbing allegations of hazing within the fraternity'. There were similar claims at Binghamton University in New York in 2012, when police investigated reports that Alpha Pi Epsilon had waterboarded members. According to the New York Times, a police report said the alleged hazing involved 'rigorous exercise, alcohol consumption, paddling and "waterboarding" where the pledges were being hosed down'. 'Information was also reported that some of the pledges had acquired pneumonia from the "waterboarding,"' the report said. Trump, who is currently campaigning in New Hampshire to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee, has thrice shown support for waterboarding over the last few days. Speaking at the GOP debate on Saturday, Trump said: 'In the Middle East we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people, we have things that we have never seen before. 'We studied Medieval times, not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. 'I would bring back waterboarding and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,' he added. While Trump said he supported bringing back waterboarding, Ted Cruz (right) said it should be used sparingly He brought up the subject again on Sunday as he spoke with CNN, saying he would ensure waterboarding was declassified as torture so it could be used on terror suspects. 'They're chopping off heads of Christians and many other people in the Middle East. They're chopping heads off, they laugh at us when they hear that we're not going to approve waterboarding and then they'll have a James Foley, and others, where they cut off their heads.' James Foley was an American journalist who was beheaded by ISIS murderer Jihadi John in 2014. 'You can say what you want,' Trump said. 'I have no doubt that it does work in term of information and other things. And maybe not always, not nothing works always. But I have no doubt that it works.' 'But more importantly, when they're chopping off the heads of people, and innocent people in most cases, "beyond waterboarding" is fine with me.' Trump brought up waterboarding for a third time as he campaigned in New Hampshire this week. 'We have people in the Middle East who are chopping off the heads of Christians. 'Waterboarding is peanuts compared to what we're talking about. Waterboarding is fine and much tougher than that is fine too.' His Republican rivals have been mixed on the subject. Ted Cruz said waterboarding should be used sparingly, Jeb Bush has said it should not be brought back at all, and Marco Rubio would not be drawn on the matter during Saturday's debate. Police have issued an e-fit of one of the two armed robbers that shot a wealthy insurance executive in the leg during a bungled raid on his 2million home. The victim, named as Timothy Mardon, is being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg after intruders forced their way into his Grade II-listed home in the Essex village of Sible Hedingham on Saturday morning. The two men fled the property empty handed and are still at large. The e-fit is of a man seen sitting in a car with another man on Wethersfield Road, between Sible Hedingham and the Blackmore End turning, at around 1.50am on Saturday Police are hunting for two armed robbers after millionaire insurance tycoon Timothy Mardon (pictured with his wife Sarah) was shot in the leg during a bungled raid on his 2milllion home Police are hunting for two armed robbers after a wealthy businessman was shot in the leg during a bungled raid on his 2milllion home (pictured) Mardon, who is in his 40s, is a division president at ACE Tempest Re, a Bermuda-based insurance company. The father-of-two, who has worked in the industry for 22 years, is believed to spend much of the year living in Bermuda with his wife Sarah. One neighbour told The Times: 'The couple, Tim and Sarah, spend most of their time in the Caribbean. They're only really here for a couple of weeks at Christmas, and some other times. The whole thing seems odd.' Ms Mardon is the chairman of The Eliza DoLittle Society, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to provide help to the island's poor. Documents show Mr Mardon bought the house in 2006 for 1.8m from Gary Mulgrew, one of the millionaire British bankers who became known as the 'NatWest Three'. Mr Mulgrew was jailed in the US in 2008 following a high-profile extradition bid after being falsely accused of helping destroy US energy company Enron. He eventually pleaded guilty only to defrauding his employer NatWest. The e-fit is of a white and bald man in his 20s who was sitting in a car with another man on Wethersfield Road, between Sible Hedingham and the Blackmore End turning, at around 1.50am on Saturday. Detective Inspector Rob Kirby said: 'We have been able to produce an e-fit of the man who was sat in the driver's seat of this car which is described as a sporty version of a metallic silver Mark II Fiat Punto. The robbery took place in the Essex village of Sible Hedingham. The suspects are both white men in their 20s of slim build and were wearing dark clothing and one of them is described as bald 'In the passenger seat of this car was a man in his 20s who was white and bald. 'If you recognise yourself from this description or if anyone else believes they know someone who looks like this e-fit and drives a silver Punto then we would like to hear from you. 'We have received a very positive response from the community in Sible Hedingham and surrounding areas so far with lots of useful information being called in. 'We are following up every call we've received and would urge the community and wider public to continue supporting this investigation. 'We want to find the men responsible as soon as possible. 'This was a callous and extremely violent unprovoked attack. It would have been obvious how serious the victim's injuries were but they left him for dead.' Essex Police said Mr Mardon had suffered 'life-changing' injuries and was in great pain. However, the force said they believe the motive was 'theft-related' adding there was nothing to suggest the victim was individually targeted. In his 1973 classic Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Bruce Springsteen tells the song's subject that he wants the two of them to 'skip some school, act real cool, stay out all night, it's gonna feel alright.' That's pretty much the same excuse that a New York dad made to his daughter's school teachers the day after a local Springsteen show. A note that Patrick Pipino, from Albany, wrote to his 12-year-old's teacher has been widely shared online for its honesty. 'Please excuse Isabelle's tardiness to school today,' Pipino began the note. The note that Albany dad Patrick Pipino wrote to his daughter's school teacher after a Bruce Springsteen show The young Springsteen fans Isabelle, 12, and Sarah, 7, at the New Jersey rocker's Albany show on Monday 'In the interest of honesty, I feel it my obligation to be straight with all of you as to the reason. Last night Isabelle was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Albany, and darned if he didn't play for three and a half hours.' Springsteen, who is known to play lengthy shows despite turning 66 last year, performed at Albany's Times Union Center on Monday. The New Jersey rocker is on tour performing the entirety of his 1980 double album The River. Pipino's two daughters Isabelle, 12, and Sarah, seven, are both big fans of the Boss, he told ABC News. 'They both love Bruce Springsteen, and have ever since the older one was only four years old. Isabelle would be singing from the back seat and if I had something else on, she would say, "Dad, can we listen to Springsteen?"' The local newspaper Albany Times Union called Monday's 34-song show both 'exhausting' and 'richly rewarding.' This leads to a division between people, which can have dangerous results but also think gay people are more similar each other than straight people Researchers found many people believe in the 'born this way' In 2011 Lady Gaga brought the phrase 'Born This Way' to the forefront of pop culture with her chart-topping anthem of the same name. The song promoted positive self-image and a mentality that people are genetically made to be whoever they are. But researchers are saying even those who believe sexual orientation is not a choice can still be homophobic in the same way that those who know race is not a choice can be racist. Lady Gaga (pictured) released her son 'Born This Way' in 2011 as an anthem of acceptance for LGBT people Gaga's message was widely grasped as the statistics of people who believed in th'born this way' concept more than doubled from about 20 per cent in 1985 to 47 per cent in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. University of Tennessee and University of Missouri-Colombia researchers polled 645 college students and had them answer a questionnaire about their beliefs involving sexual orientation. The students were given statements like 'It is impossible to truly change ones sexual orientation' then asked to rate each statements validity on a scale of one to five: 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'. The researchers discovered that many participants felt strongly that being gay is not a choice but they also believed that many gay people are similar. Some researchers think Gaga's 'born this way' message (seen singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl) can reinforce discrimination in the same way racists know race is genetic and can't be changed This means the students felt that people don't choose to be gay but there is also something different about people who are gay. 'The promotion of "born this way" ideology is not likely to substantially reduce homophobia. 'We need to target these other beliefs, which are largely absent in conversations about the nature and origin of sexual orientation,' Patrick Grzanka, a professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee told Fusion. Suzanna Walters, the director of Womens, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Northeastern University believes society is in a place where the 'born this way' stance might start to do more harm than good. 'Historically, biological arguments for identity are largely used in the service of quite heinous political movements like slavery, the Holocaust, and the history of racism. Chelsea Clinton claims she left a Baptist church as a child because they started talking about abortion in Sunday when she was just six years old. Chelsea made the comment at a recent fundraiser for her mother Hillary Clinton in an attempt to address evangelicals who question her mother's faith in God and secular voters who say she's too religious, according to The New York Post. A Democrat shared Chelsea's speech with a Post reporter who did not specify where the campaign fundraiser took place. Scroll down for video Speaking of faith: Chelsea Clinton, pictured right on Tuesday in New Hampshire, claims she left a Baptist church as a child because they started talking about abortion when she was just six-years-old 'I find it quite insulting sometimes when people say to my mom, my dad or me . . . that they question our faith,' said Chelsea. 'I was raised in a Methodist church and I left the Baptist church before my dad did, because I didnt know why they were talking to me about abortion when I was 6 in Sunday school thats a true story,' the presidential hopeful's daughter added. Methodists are pro-choice whereas Baptists are not. The Clinton's have been criticized by religious groups who say they are not religious enough and by atheists who say that Methodists are too religious, according to the New York Post. Former president Bill Clinton was raised a Baptist, Hillary was raised a Methodist, and Chelsea's husband Marc is Jewish. Chelsea said that even though her family has a diverse set of beliefs, her mother still stands strongly by her faith in God. 'My mother is very deeply a person of faith,' Chelsea said. 'It is deeply authentic and real for my mother, and it guides so much of her moral compass, but also her lifes work,' she said. Chelsea also addressed her family's secular critics who feel that Hillary or anyone in her family is too religious. Chelsea Clinton, 35, traveled to the New England state from her New York City home to campaign for her mother ahead of Tuesday's primary Campaign stop: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stops at Dunkin' Donuts with her daughter Chelsea Clinton, left, on Tuesday. Chelsea has said her mother is true to her religious faith 'I recognized that there were many expressions of faith that I dont agree with and feel [are] quite antithetical to how I read the Bible,' Chelsea said, 'But I find it really challenging when people who are self-professed liberals kind of look askance at my familys history.' Chelsea Clinton, 35, and Ivanka Trump, 34, both traveled to the New England state from their New York City homes to campaign for their parents ahead of Tuesday's primary. While Chelsea joined her mother and father Bill at a rally for Hillary at Manchester Community College on Monday and snapped selfies with her mom's supporters, Ivanka was all smiles as she addressed the crowd at her father's rally, which was also in Manchester. Daniel Moynihan was paid between 395,000 and 400,000 to head up the Harris Federation An Academy head was paid almost three times the salary of the Prime Minister last year after receiving a bumper pay rise, accounts show. Daniel Moynihan was paid between 395,000 and 400,000 to head up the Harris Federation, which received millions in government funding to run 37 academies. It is thought the astonishing pay deal makes him the highest-paid academy head in the country, and comes as many schools complain of budget squeezes. Annual accounts reveal Sir Daniel, a head teacher who was knighted in 2012, received a 5 per cent pay rise of 20,000 in 2014-15 compared with the previous year. His salary has risen by 83 per cent since 2009 and would now pay the annual wages of 14 newly qualified teachers in inner London. Yesterday, critics said the package would be difficult to justify given the shortage of money in the education system. Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: It is becoming increasingly difficult for some academies to justify paying their chief executives and heads such high salaries. The more money that goes to chief executives and heads, the less there is to spend on pupils. There should be transparency and accountability so that it is clear what salaries are being paid and what they are being paid for doing. Dia Chakravarty, political director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: People don't begrudge just rewards for good results but far too often taxpayer-funded salaries are handed out irrespective of performance, sometimes even rewarding failure. Parents will want to keep a very close eye on the Academy's operations to make sure this enormous salary really is good value for money. Sir Daniel is paid double the salary of Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department for Education its most senior civil servant who earns between 160,000 and 165,000. Sir Daniels employers pension contributions for the past year were 40,000-45,000, down 10,000 from the previous year. Overall, 141 employees at the Harris Federation were paid more than 60,000 up from 118 the previous year. A total of 32 employees were paid more than 90,000 this includes head teachers of the academies. Four were paid more than 200,000. Sir Daniel, 56, was previously head teacher of Valentines High School in Ilford and then became head of Harris City Academy Crystal Palace in 2005. Sir Daniel is paid double the salary of Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department for Education its most senior civil servant who earns between 160,000 and 165,000 He was appointed chief executive of the Harris Federation the following year. He lives with his wife Jane, 61, in a 600,000 four-bedroom semi-detached house in Bromley, South London. They have two grown-up children. The revelation comes after the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicted schools are facing an 8 per cent cut in their budgets in real terms over the next five years due to increased costs and soaring pupil numbers. Harris Federation has rapidly expanded over the last seven years and has successfully turned around many failing schools. The Harris City Academy in Bromley, London. The Harris Federation has rapidly expanded over the last seven years and has successfully turned around many failing schools. In 2009, there were only seven Harris academies while now there are 37. It has been named by the Sutton Trust charity as one of the most effective academy trusts at improving educational outcomes of disadvantaged students. A spokesman for the Harris Federation said: The Harris Federation has transformed some of Londons hardest to improve schools, including those that had previously failed entire generations. FBI Director James Comey revealed investigators are still unable to access the phone contents belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers due to encrypted technology. He told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the phenomenon of communications 'going dark' due to more sophisticated technology and wider use of encryption is 'overwhelmingly affecting' law enforcement operations, including investigations into murder, car accidents, drug trafficking and the proliferation of child pornography. 'We still have one of those killer's phones that we have not been able to open,' Comey said in reference to the San Bernardino attack on December 2. FBI investigators are still unable to access the phone contents belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers due to encrypted technology, it has been revealed . Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, launched the ISIS-inspired attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, in the California town, leaving 14 dead Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, launched the ISIS-inspired attack with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, in the California town, leaving 14 dead. Comey and other federal officials have long warned that powerful encryption poses a challenge for law enforcement and national security professionals. Technology experts and privacy advocates counter that so-called 'back door' access provided to authorities would expose data to malicious actors and undermine the overall security of the Internet. A study from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard released last month citing some current and former intelligence officials concluded that fears about encryption are overstated in part because new technologies have given investigators unprecedented means to track suspects. The White House last year abandoned a push for legislation that would mandate U.S. technology firms to allow investigators a way to overcome encryption protections, amid rigorous private sector opposition. But the issue has found renewed life after the shootings in San Bernardino and Paris. Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the intelligence panel, have said they would like to pursue encryption legislation, though neither has introduced a bill yet. A female shark which has had no contact with males for more than two years is set to give birth to two babies. The white spotted bamboo shark arrived at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre in 2013 having been evacuated from the badly flooded sister centre in Hunstanton. She has been the only member of her species at the centre in that time and has had no contact with male sharks. Miracle birth: A female white spotted bamboo shark (pictured) at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre has produced two fertile eggs, despite having had no contact with male sharks for more than two years But now experts at the centre have said she has produced two fertile eggs which are due to hatch in nine months time. 'They will be the first such births in the Sea Life network and we're excited and privileged to be expecting such a miraculous event,' said marine biologist and shark expert Darren Gook. If the births are successful, the babies would be examples of an amazing phenomenon to conceive without a male which has only recently been identified in sharks. Fertile: The two fertile eggs (pictured) are thanks to a phenomenon known as 'virgin birth', which has only recently been identified in sharks The discovery of the two eggs containing valid embryos comes within days of the announcement in Germany of a second generation virgin birth involving the same bamboo shark species at a research facility in Munich. Mr Gook said: 'The process is called "parthenogenesis" and has long been known to occur in domestic chickens and some reptiles, but was not recorded in sharks until 2008. 'Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to their eggs to produce offspring which are either clones or half-clones of themselves. 'It's been recorded in bonnethead, blacktip and zebra sharks as well as white spotted bamboos. 'It was assumed offspring born this way were infertile and it was an evolutionary dead end, but events in Germany have now disproved that.' Mr Gook added that one explanation of asexual reproduction is that it is natures way of ensuring the survival of the species if there is a drastic decline in numbers making it harder for males and females to locate each other. John and Sally Bercow have been seen out together with their children for the first time since their reconciliation after a brief split last year. The couple walked the red carpet with their three children Oliver, 11, Freddie, 10, and seven-year-old Jemima, during a glamorous promotion night on the West End, London. They posed up with members of the cats from new show Cirque Berserk, smiling for the cameras as the children sported toy swords and magic wands. Reconciliation: The couple walked the red carpet with their three children Oliver (right), 11, Freddie (second from right), 10, and seven-year-old Jemima (left), during a glamorous promotion night on the West End, London Carnival atmosphere: The family pose together with members of the cast of Cirque Berserk (pictured) Bercow wore a tie that matched his wife Sally's dress as they posed on the red carpet (pictured) Commons Speaker John wore a grey suit with a red tie which matched his wife's patterned dress, a further sign of their rekindled union after their marriage was shaken by her affair last year. It is believed to be the first time that they have been seen out with their daughter and two sons since they reconciled in October last year. Sally seems to have recovered well after fracturing three ribs while training for TV show The Jump, forcing her to pull out of the series in early January. John Bercow rekindled his marriage with wife Sally in October, five months after she was revealed to have been having an affair with his cousin in May last year. Mrs Bercow, 45, is believed to have moved back into her husbands home in Westminster after he decided to give their relationship another chance following a 'make or break' holiday together last year, The couple pose with Oliver and Jemmima But Mr Bercow, 52, allegedly told the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant to keep a lower public profile and concentrate on being together as a family with their three children. The shock affair progressed so far that lawyer Alan Bercow, 57, even moved into the Bercows' 1.2million London flat in Battersea, while the Speaker was away campaigning in his Buckingham constituency. After Alan returned to his wife Erica, just before the affair came to light, John's friends said the 13-year marriage 'teetered on the edge of divorce' for weeks as the Bercows had a trial separation After Sally complained that she found living by herself 'excruciatingly lonely', John decided in June to give her a final chance on the understanding that she never again goes off with another man. The Mail on Sunday reported in July that John was spending from Sunday evening until Thursday morning at the Commons flat with their children, while Sally remained in Battersea. And on Thursday evening, the Speaker and the children were moving into the Battersea flat so they could all spend a long weekend as a family. Sally once admitted the marriage had struggled in part because she disliked being in Parliament, comparing it to 'living in a goldfish bowl'. She had said: 'I hate Parliament, I always have done. It's a time warp, it's full of flunkies all these portraits of f****** politicians from the 18th Century. John and I have had a difficult marriage for a long time, primarily because we're living in Parliament and I hate it there.' Posters featuring the bearded actor that appeared in The Bronx were defaced with racist graffiti referencing 'bombs' and driving taxi designer, became first Sikh man to appear in ad campaign for GAP In 2013, Ahluwalia, who is also a model and He says he accepts apology but airlines need to do more to respect faith irport screeners asked him to remove his turban in public, but he refused Ahluwalia, 41, won't leave Mexico until he can talk to bosses about training their staff The Indian-American actor and designer banned from a Mexico City-New York flight because he refused to remove his turban will not leave until he can talk to AeroMexico bosses. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, accepted an apology from the airline but now wants to discuss how the airline should train their staff to handle similar situations in the future. 'The reason I am here on my own will is that I'm afraid that if I leave this can happen again to someone else,' he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. 'And I can't in good conscience allow that.' Ahluwalia, who has appeared in Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic, took to Instagram on Monday morning uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless AeroMexico plane ticket. Scroll down for video Sikh actor and model Waris Ahluwalia, 41, told CNN that AeroMexico's apology was 'a brilliant start' but that he would remain in Mexico until he can talk with the airline's bosses. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 'we're just a few steps away from a lot of hugs' Ahluwalia said on Instagram he was barred from boarding a flight bound for New York on Monday because he refused to remove his turban Ahluwalia, pictured in Mexico City, has chosen not to leave until he can talk to AeroMexico's bosses about how they can train their employees to avoid similar issues in the future A post that accompanied the image read: 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportuntytoEducate #humanright #dignity #lovenotfear.' On Tuesday, Aeromexico posted a statement on its website apologizing to Ahluwalia. The actor, who has chosen not to board another flight out of Mexico, told CNN the apology was 'a brilliant first step' but more was needed to avoid further misunderstandings from now on. 'Really, this is about education, about education of the Sikh religion, but also of other religions, and this is not just about me or Sikhs,' he said. The current US Transportation Security Administration's regulations read: 'Persons wearing head coverings, loose fitting or bulky garments may undergo additional security screening, which may include a pat-down. A pat-down will be conducted by a TSA officer of the same gender. 'If an alarm cannot be resolved through a pat-down, you may ask to remove the head covering in a private screening area.' The actor, pictured left posing in Mexico City International Airport, says security personnel prohibited him from getting on the plane after he refused to remove his article of faith in public Ahluwalia told CNN's Christiane Amandou (left): 'Really, this is about education, about education of the Sikh religion, but also of other religions, and this is not just about me or Sikhs' Ahluwalia, who said the airline's reaction had left him anxious and shaking, told CNN he wasn't angry at AeroMexico. 'They did not know,' he said. 'I cannot blame them for that, but ignorance and fear is the flag humans carry, and we have to be vigilant to fight that.' The airline previously said the incident has motivated it to 'strengthen the customer service protocols of our safety personnel in respectful accordance with the cultural and religious values of our customers.' Reacting to the apology, Ahluwalia said he is satisfied but he is now waiting for the carrier to implement special training on how to treat Sikh passengers, for whom the headgear carries deep religious significance. Ahluwalia told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 'we're just a few steps away from a lot of hugs.' Within two hours of posting his picture on Instagram, Ahluwalias message had drawn more than 650 'likes' and close to 140 comments, with most of the users blasting the Mexican airline for discrimination. A commenter who goes by the handle @alevogelc wrote: 'I'm sorry for what happened, I really apologize on behalf of all the ignorant people of @aeromexico, but don't worry you got our support! sending you love from Mexico.' Another Instagram user @tacirupekajaro stated: 'The [Mexican] government has a campaign to portray us as #mexicoglobal but we will never be such if public and private companies perpetuate #racism inside and outside. In a statement to Daily Mail Online on Monday afternoon, AeroMexico acknowledged that the actor was not permitted to board the flight, having refused to undergo a security screening. 'About the situation of passenger Waris Ahluwalia, Aeromexico reports that he was asked to submit to screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol. 'We have offered the passenger to alternatives to reach his destination as soon as possible. 'We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident.' The non-profit advocacy group The Sikh Coalition quickly picked up the story, repeatedly sharing Ahluwalias tweet on its social media account. Ahluwalia's plane ticket, seen in his Instagram selfie, shows that the actor was scheduled to travel first class on board AeroMexico Flight 404 from Mexico City to New York City at around 7am Monday. The code 'SSSS' on the face of the ticket indicates that Ahluwalia had been randomly pre-selected for a secondary security screening. Wes Anderson's muse: Ahluwalia appeared in Wes Anderson's 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited, which takes place in his native India In good company: The Sikh actor (far right) also had a role in Anderson's The Life Aquatic starring Bill Murray (center) and Anjelica Huston (right of Murray) According to his recent Instagram posts, Ahluwalia jetted off to Mexico City six days ago for a vacation after an extended stay in Thailand. Speaking to the New York Daily News on Monday morning, Ahluwalia recounted how security personnel at Mexico City International Airport initially searched his bag, swabbed him for explosives residue and patted down his feet. The actor initially complied with the security agents' demands but refused to remove his turban in front of other passengers - an act he likened to having to strip naked in public - and asked to be taken to a private screening area. That is when Ahluwalia said he was informed by the airport staff: 'You will not be flying AeroMexico. You will need to book another flight.' The 41-year-old actor and model said he was stunned, especially since the airline had offered to fly him first class earlier. Ahluwalia, who is also a successful jewelry designer with the New York-based House of Waris, later posted another selife from the airport along with a message that read: 'Dear NYC fashion week. I may be a little late as @aeromexico won't let me fly with a turban. Don't start the show without me. This is not the first time that Ahluwalia has been targeted because of his faith. In 2013, he became the first Sikh man to appear in an advertising campaign for GAP. A short time later, several billboards featuring Ahluwalia sporting a beard and turban were vandalized with racist graffiti. The slogan for the national retailer's holiday campaign was 'Make Love' but one person scrawled over a poster that appeared in The Bronx, 'Make Bombs.' The offensive scribbles also included the line: 'Please stop driving taxis!' Wolfgang Ballinger, the Psi Upsilon fraternity president at Cornell University who was arrested on attempted rape charges, has been freed from custody but is barred from campus The president of a Cornell University fraternity who was arrested on attempted rape charges has been freed from custody but is barred from campus, where he lives. Wolfgang Ballinger, 21, was arrested last week and is accused of trying to force himself on a woman he allegedly led to a bedroom at a Psi Upsilon frat house at the Ivy League college. Ballinger did not appear in court today and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him, which include first-degree sexual abuse and a criminal sexual act. A grand jury is set to decide whether he should be indicted, ABC News reported. The student was previously being held at Tompkins County Jail on a $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond, however he was released on his own recognizance. Ballinger, who is originally from upstate New York, allegedly attempted to rape a woman at the Ithaca-based university at around 2am on February 1. The female student identified him and he was arrested on Friday, police said. The chapter has been suspended until further notice. Ballinger posted a video on YouTube in 2014 describing himself as a junior majoring in hotel administration, however he has deleted it since his arrest. He claimed to have a humble upbringing in a small town in New York, but his deleted Facebook page suggests he went to $45,000-a-year Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School on the Upper West Side, The Daily Beast reported. Ballinger also said his father runs bars in New York and Canada, and that he helped run part of one of the nightspots bar in the Manhattan, making a $3,000-a-night profit He added that he spent a summer working at the Marriott Edition hotel in New York before going to college. Ballinger (seen in a YouTube video, right, and in a police mugshot, left) is also charged with first-degree sexual abuse following the alleged incident at the Ithaca-based university Ballinger, 21, is said to have led the woman to a bedroom at a Psi Upsilon frat house (fraternity house pictured) before the alleged assault. Picture courtesy of the Cornell Daily Sun The Psi Upsilon chapter at Cornell (university pictured) has been suspended 'I believe that my family life and my small-town nature has given me the tools to strive as an entrepreneur,' he said in the video. Cornellfrat.com, which ranks different fraternities at the university, says members are 'for the most part, snobby elitists and not very down to earth at all'. The site describes Psi U as 'very wealthy', with attractive brothers who 'fit the stereotypical boarding school-type persona'. The chapter is said to be particularly exclusive and rarely has open invite event, but has 'great sorority relations'. Psi U Fraternity executive director Thomas Fox said: 'Sexual assault, and any form of sexual harassment, is against our policy and in opposition of the values of Psi Upsilon. 'Our chapter is cooperating with Cornells investigation into this matter and any members involved will be held accountable. 'The Chi Chapter at Cornell has a distinguished history with the university and we are committed to continuing to be a benefit to Cornell and the Ithaca community.' Elizabeth Garrett, president of Cornell University said: 'I am deeply disturbed by the allegations of sexual assault involving the president of Psi Upsilon. 'Sexual violence has no place at Cornell, and if these allegations are substantiated, those involved will be held accountable. Toni Nicole Sutton, 37, a teacher at Crawford High School in San Diego pleaded not guilty A California high school teacher, 37, allegedly had sex with her 16-year-old male student in a car, her home, and even a classroom at the school. Toni Nicole Sutton, 37, a Spanish teacher at Crawford High School in San Diego pleaded not guilty on Monday to 11 felony charges related to the alleged incident with the minor. Bail was doubled for Toni Nicole Sutton, who had been out of custody on $50,000 bail, according to CBS. She was taken to jail. Sutton, who has a child and a boyfriend with two children of his own, faces nine years behind bars if she is convicted, according to Fox. The illicit relationship started in June of 2015 when the student was 15-year-old, according to police. The parents went to the police after they found text messages between Sutton and the boy. Defense attorney Kerry Armstrong said he was upset that Sutton's bail was increased. 'She's been a teacher for 11 years, Armstrong said. 'She started being a teacher in West Virginia, where she grew up, and teaching is her life. And obviously, no matter what happens in this case, that's over. She'll never be a teacher again with allegations like this, even if we win this case so, she's heartbroken, she really is.' 'She's the nicest, sweetest lady you'll ever meet in your life,'' her attorney said. 'You would never believe she would be charged with something like this.' Sutton was placed on administrative leave following her arrest. Defense attorney Kerry Armstrong, pictured with his client on Monday, said he was upset that Sutton's bail was increased. 'She's been a teacher for 11 years, Armstrong said A major Chinese city, which is this year playing host to the G20 summit, has passed a law to ban spitting on the streets and other public places in response to public outcry. The local government of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, east China, has decreed that the 'uncivilised behaviour' will be punished from March 1 onwards, according to People's Daily Online. The law, which also covers regulations on littering and using phones while driving, has been named the Regulation on Promotion of Civil Behaviors and comes with the ability to penalise wrong doers. Making a point: This sign in Hangzhou, east China, sports questionable grammar in the English translation Spitting in public is a common sight in China, from cities to rural areas. Residents can be seen spitting in the middle of the streets and in front of the others without concern. However, now the practise carries a potential penalty fine of up to 200 yuan (21) and a criminal record in Hangzhou. Other acts which can be punished by authorities according to the law include throwing cigarette butts out of car windows, dropping trash on the street and leaving used chewing gum in public places. The popular tourist city ran a survey a few months ago and found that 90 per cent of respondents disapproved of spitting - although just 10 per cent of those asked were willing to stand up to wrongdoers. While Chinese social media users have been unanimous in their support of the regulations, society experts are said to have been more wary of them, saying that the lack of proper of enforcement will render the law worthless. Under threat: Residents who break the law in Hangzhou will face a fine of 21 and a potential criminal record (file photo) Bustling: Hangzhou is a popular tourist destination in China and will host the international G20 summit this year (file photo) Several Chinese cities including Shanghai and Guangzhong issued spitting bans following the outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003, but they have largely failed due to weak enforcement. In 2007, before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government launched a national campaign to try and discourage the practice but lasting effects of this effort have not been felt. The 2016 G20 summit will be held in Hangzhou on September 4th of this year, the 11th meeting of the international committee. Tens of thousands of well-wishers have flocked to the Giant Buddha in Leshan, China, to welcome the Lunar New Year. Pictures taken on February 8 show a sea of people queuing patiently on top of Emei in Sichuan Province, waiting to prayer for good fortune before the giant statue, reports the Peoples Daily Online. The famous Leshan Buddha is over 230 feet tall and is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world, according to UNESCO. Its an extremely popular spot for tourists in China. Patients: Thousands of tourists wait in line to pray for good fortune to the giant Buddha in Leshan, China Holiday: New Year's day in China marks the start of an official week long public holiday for most people Yesterday was the first day of the lunar New Year in China, and many people see it as a day to pray for good fortune and get the best start to the year. It is also the first day of an official week long holiday in China and millions head out of the cities to popular tourist destinations. Burning a stick of incense is a way to offer a prayer to the Buddha who sits proudly in the side of the side of Lingyuan mountain, facing to the river in Leshan. Construction of the Buddha began in 713 AD during the Tang Dynasty (618907 AD). It was finally completed 90 years later after being carved by hand out of the mountain face. It is so big that each foot is 36 feet long and each toe nail is bigger than the average dining room table. Massive: The famous Leshan Buddha is over 230 feet tall and is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world Long wait: Pictures taken on February 8 show a sea of people queuing patiently on the huge mountaintop While some people walk up and down the narrow stairway which were pictured packed out yesterday, others opt for a boat ride to see the Buddha. There are 250 steps leading to the top of its head carved into the mountainside. According to tradition, fortune-seekers queue outside different temples and statues on New Year s Day and New Years eve to receive good fortune ahead of the others. Sometimes these queues can last for hours. The holiday, also known as Spring Festival, focuses on family reunion and is a time when migrant workers return to their hometowns, some for the only time this year. Spring Festival is the country's most important holiday, equivalent to Christmas for many in the west. One particularly picky young woman dumped her boyfriend of a year after being served food at his parents' house which she considered to be 'too humble' for her tastes. In a forum post on Chinese social media, the 27-year old woman, calling herself 'Xiang shuo you shuo bu chu kou', admitted to leaving her partner after visiting her in-laws over Chinese New Year, according to a report by People's Daily Online. Upon seeing the dishes the parents - who are from Jiangxi province, southeast China had served up, the comparatively wealthy woman from Shanghai said she was 'shocked' and decided it was time to call it a day on their relationship. Public rant: A woman from Shanghai said she was shocked by the meal (left) she had at her boyfriend's rural family in a online post (right) The woman said that concerns had been previously raised by her own parents that her potential future husband was too poor to afford to buy the couple a house. In the lengthy post on a BBS forum accompanied by images of the offending celebratory meal, she wrote: 'I was bred in Shanghai and was born in 1988... My family is well off.' 'I have a boyfriend and have been dating him for a year. He comes from elsewhere [other than Shanghai]. He's good at working and has the looks that I like. But he doesn't have a good financial background.' She continued: 'When I saw their food, I wanted to throw up. It was 100 times worse than what I had imagined. I can't accept it. I can't leave now, there is no transport. I will share a room with his sister tonight and leave the next morning.' After her post went viral online, the woman surprisingly received support for her plight from some quarters, with many saying she was not expecting too much. Split up: In the same post, the 27-year-old woman said she decided to break up with her boyfriend immediately Love or wealth? Marrying for status and money continues to provoke heated debates among people in China 'Wunderkammer Li Yi Meng' wrote on Weibo: 'I can truly understand her. She made the right choice. I got married this year. My husband comes from rural Hunan, I come from Harbin.' 'This year, after I had the Chinese New Year's meal at my mother-in-law's house, I cried If I hadn't got married, I would certainly break up.' However other users were far less sympathetic, with 'Xun Yirong' writing: 'You're marrying him, not his family's food. If you don't like you can break up with him, but why did you send a post to insult the others.' 'Mi Feng Er Lai' added: 'Although the meal might not look good to you, but his parents might have waited for a year to prepare this for you. They wanted to welcome you.' As millions celebrated the Lunar New Year in China, heavy air pollution hit 139 cities. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said during the early hours of Monday, the Lunar New Year's Day, many of the major cities were monitored as being severely polluted, reported the People's Daily Online. The news came after many Chinese cities had banned the use of firecrackers and fireworks throughout the New Year. Toxic: Millions of people in China celebrated the Lunar New Year on Sunday with fireworks that polluted the air Mess: Cleaners sweeping up the rubbish from the fireworks after the celebrations on Sunday February 8 Pollution: During the early hours of Monday morning, smog levels reached severely hazardous in some cities The monitoring results were announced by Ministry of Environmental Protection on its website yesterday in a statement. The pollution was attributed to the use of fireworks and firecrackers, as well as 'unfavourable meteorological conditions', according to Hu Kemei, the deputy director of the department of environmental protection at the Ministry. Out of 338 major cities monitored, 67 were clean and 271 were worse than the national standard. A total of 92 cities were observed as being heavily polluted in the air, and 47 cities including the capital Beijing and Tianjin were monitored as being severely polluted. PM2.5, a micro particle matter that causes hazardous smog, was the major pollutant. The average PM2.5 levels in the toxic cities was 338 which is extremely hazardous. This means it is no longer deemed safe to go outside without wearing a pollution mask, and that is not always safe. Celebration: Setting off fireworks for Chinese New Year is thought to drive away evil spirits bringing good luck Hazardous: During the hours of 1am and 2am most people were setting off fireworks in China for New Year Smog: Fireworks and firecrackers were to blame for extremely hazardous pollution levels in China yesterday The World Health Organization considers the safe level of PM2.5 to be 25 micrograms per cubic metre on a 24-hour average basis. Since the evening of Sunday February 7, the ministry said hourly PM2.5 levels began to rise rapidly, peaking between 1am and 2am on Monday morning. This was when most people were setting off fireworks and firecrackers in China. Setting off fireworks for Chinese New Year is a tradition in the country. It is thought to drive away evil spirits and bring in good luck. Millennials seem to be all talk and no action when it comes to choosing chocolate, according to a recent study. Researchers found 89 percent claim to prefer organic, certified ethically sourced rainforest friendly chocolate brands, but only 14 percent have actually purchased them. The study suggests that Millennials do not want to dish out the money for ethical or social factor labels. Researchers found 89 percent claim to prefer clean label chocolate brands, but only 14 percent have actually purchased them. The study suggests that Millennials do not want to dish out the money for ethical or social factor labels 'Most participants showed little discriminability among factors like organic, certified ethical sourcing, and rainforest friendly, a strong preference for clean labels, and more concern about high levels of fat rather than sugar in their chocolate confections,' reads the study by Kansas State University published in the journal Food Quality and Preference. 'For most participants, their choice behavior reflected minimal concern for ethical factors whereas their public declarations in a focus group suggested otherwise.' QUESTIONS ASKED FOR FIRST EXPERIMENT 1. What characteristics regarding the ingredients of a candy are important to you? 2. What nutritional aspects of a candy do you notice? 3. Are you eating more or less candy than you did five years ago? How much? If there was a change, why? 4. Are you eating more or fewer snack items than you did five years ago? How much? If there was a change, why? 5. Is the character of a company or its leadership important in your choice of which company's products to purchase? If so, describe which factors have affected your choices in the past. 6. Which of the following issues regarding food are important to you and why? Gluten-free, GMO, organic ingredients, use of pesticides, labor source (minors, low pay, ethical sourcing)? Advertisement The team recruited 80 participants in focus groups and 214 for the choice studies, and assigned them to groups based on their age. Younger Millennials were participants 18-25 years old and older Millennials were participants 26-35 years old. 'Participants who modestly preferred a candy with certain labels in our focus group may be unwilling to pay much more to obtain it,' Michael Young, professors at Kansas State University and lead author, said in a recent press release. The study's hypotheses was Millennials will show loyalty to healthier choices, be more concerned about the ingredients in the chocolate and want to know if the company's methods are ethical. The team believes each sample of chocolate will be judged based on these factors, rather than how each one tastes. However, they also believed these choices would also affect what they purchase on their own. 'We got the impression in the focus groups that Millennials were learning in college what attitudes were popular to express regarding their food,' Young said. The team recruited 80 participants in focus groups and 214 for the choice studies, and assigned them to groups based on their age. Younger Millennials were participants 18-25 years old and older Millennials were participants 26-35 years old. Most common words found in group of older Millennials (pictured) 'But many of the older Millennials confessed that they often were not making purchases consistent with those expressed attitudes due to limited financial resources.' The first experiment consisted on eight focus groups that involved questions about the participants general snaking habits such as 'What nutritional aspects of a candy do you notice' and 'What characteristics regarding the ingredients of a candy are important to you'. All of the answers were carefully examined using word frequency analysis, which produced 75 most frequent words used during the discussion. Discussions among younger Millennials commonly mentioned words like food, favorite, company, snack, fat, calories and words related to brand names and ingredients. The common words for the older Millennials included company, ingredients, organic, bar, food, fair trade, vegan, price and words related to purchasing locations and packaging. The first experiment consisted on eight focus groups involving questions about general snaking habits such as 'What nutritional aspects of a candy do you notice' and 'What characteristics regarding the ingredients of a candy are important to you'. Most common words found in group of older Millennials (pictured) For the choice part of the study, participants were placed in six cluster based on the trends with their preferences: lower fat and pro-taste cluster (31 percent), low fat and some sugar cluster (19 percent), calorie and health conscious cluster (14 percent), socially conscientious cluster (14 percent), sweet and tasty cluster (11 percent) and pro-taste and anti-organic cluster (11 percent). Five of the six, or 89 percent of the participants, preferred clean labels smaller number of ingredients with pronounceable names. 'Nearly all MGs strongly preferred a clean over an unclean label, and companies are already making moves toward cleaner labels with both The Hershey Company and Nestle announcing new initiatives in February, 2015,' reports the study. The study also proved that Millennials were much more tolerant of higher sugar contents, than they were about fat. The pro-taste and anti-organic cluster was more in favor of higher fat and pushed away from organic and non-GMO products. 'I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what is really going on in the heads of the individuals in the pro-taste and anti-organic cluster,' Young said. 'They were mostly men with high self-control -- individuals who don't impulse buy -- and all they really cared about was the taste.' The second part of the study asked participants in the choice group to complete questions about their history of buying average food items. Five of the six, or 89 percent of the participants, preferred clean labels smaller number of ingredients with pronounceable names. The study also proved that Millennials were much more tolerant of higher sugar contents, than they were about fat This helped Young and his team understand buying demographics and confirm the clusters. For example, they found those in the calorie and health conscious clusters do not typically buy chocolate milk or cake mixes. 'The buying demographics validated the emerging picture of the clusters,' Young said. 'What they were doing in the context of the experiment really did correlate with what they were self-reporting as products that they were buying in the real world.' The majority of the participants were from the Midwest, which Young said may influence the choices. 'Although older Millennials voice their interest in certified ethical chocolate, it is too early to tell if this is a fad or a shift in consumer preferences,' Young said. 'However, ethical sourcing is a laudable goal and companies should lay the groundwork for possible change in consumer preference.' Pet owners will often admit their cat rules the roost and they give into their every whim, but this jovial quip could have a much more serious reality. Researchers have discovered that a parasite carried by pet cats, called toxoplasma gondii, has the ability to manipulate how other animals behave. The study of chimpanzees found toxoplasma gondii can lead the primates to develop a fatal attraction to the smell of their most dangerous predator, the leopard. And given the fact chimps are our closest relatives, the parasite could have a similar effect on our brains and behaviour. A common parasite carried by cats could be manipulating our behaviour. A study of chimpanzees found toxoplasma gondii can lead primates to develop a fatal attraction to the smell of their most dangerous predator, the leopard. And given the fact chimps are our closest relatives, it could have a similar effect on us When the apes were infected with the parasite, their behaviour changed, making them more attracted to the smell of leopard urine. This manipulation, explained the researchers, would make the animals more likely to be eaten by leopards in the wild, which helps the parasite to complete its life cycle. T.gondii can infect a number of species, including chimps, rats and even humans, but it needs to spend a part of its life cycle in a cat in order to reproduce. Infected animals come into contact with a cat before being eaten, and so the parasite finds its way into the stomach of the predator. The cat then excretes the parasite, and when an animal comes into contact with the faeces, the parasite jumps into its new host. In the latest study, researchers looked at a group of more than 30 captive chimps in Gabon, a proportion of which were infected with T.gondii. A study of chimps infected with a parasite commonly found in cats, Toxoplasma gondii, found that their behaviour changed, making them more attracted to the smell of leopard urine. As chimps are our closest relatives, the findings suggest we could be manipulated by the parasite in a similar way. Stock image Infected chimps were up to three-times more likely to investigate the smell of leopard urine than non-infected apes, making them more likely to become a meal for the cats. Stock image When the chimps were exposed to urine samples from leopards - their natural predator in the wild the infected chimps were up to three-times more likely to investigate than non-infected apes. But when they were exposed to urine samples from other species of big cats, such as lions and tigers, which don't typically hunt chimps, there was no difference in the response between the infected and non-infected chimps. A FATAL ATTRACTION Researchers looked at a group of more than 30 captive chimps in Gabon, a proportion of which were infected with T.gondii. When the chimps were exposed to urine samples from leopards their natural predator in the wild the infected chimps were up to three-times more likely to investigate than non-infected apes. But when they were exposed to urine samples from other species of big cats, such as lions and tigers, which don't typically hunt chimps, there was no difference in the response between the infected and non-infected chimps. This manipulation, said the researchers, would make the animals more likely to be eaten by leopards in the wild, which helps the parasite to complete its life cycle. Advertisement The researchers believe the parasite is hijacking the chimps' sense of smell to ultimately find its way back into the digestive system of the leopard. In the wild, chimps are likely to be repelled by the smell of leopard urine, as it's a clear sign that a predator is nearby. But when infected, chimps are more likely to investigate the smell of urine, so they're more likely to be eaten by a leopard, which ultimately means the parasite is ingested by the cat and gets to reproduce, starting the cycle again. 'We suggest that the behavioural modification we report could increase the probability of chimpanzee predation by leopards for the parasite's own benefit,' the authors wrote. 'This possible parasite adaptation would hence suggest that Toxoplasma-induced modifications in modern humans are an ancestral legacy of our evolutionary past.' The findings are published in the journal Current Biology. While the call of the jungle is a far cry from western life, the T.gondii cycle plays out just as well in the cities and towns all over the world. Just like the chimps, rats infected with T.gondii are more likely to investigate the smell of cat urine, and so more likely to be killed. The authors suggest that the behavioural modification reported could increase the likelihood of chimps being eaten by leopards for the parasite's (T. gondii, pictured) own benefit DOES T. GONDII AFFECT CHILDREN? Research has suggested the parasite could be harming children's performance at school. Scientists at the University of Iowa and Florida International University found children who tested positive for the parasite had poorer reading and memory scores in cognitive tests. They said future studies are needed to confirm these findings and research could include trials to confirm if vitamin E can improve the symptoms. Advertisement The parasite then reproduces in the gut of the cat until it is excreted. But a scratch or exposure to urine or faeces could enable the parasite to jump to humans instead. It is believed that the parasite may in fact already be living in as much as 60 per cent of humans worldwide. Anecdotal evidence claims that it can increase risk-taking behaviour in humans, and has even been linked to increased risk of car crashes. Lead author of the study and researcher at the Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Ecology in Montpellier, Clemence Poiritte, told MailOnline: 'The research doesn't focus on the extent of Toxoplasma-induced behavioural changes in humans, but on the evolutionary origin of these previous reported behavioural alterations.' Dr Poiritte explained that while there are few, if any symptoms of infected humans, some behavioural changes have been reported, and that some research has even suggested a link with psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia. T.gondii (pictured) may already infect as many as 60% of humans worldwide. Anecdotal evidence claims that it may increase risk-taking behaviour in humans, and has even been linked to increased risk of car crashes Evidence has even shown men infected with the parasite will rate the smell of cat urine as more preferable than that of large cat species, such as tigers. This could be evidence that the same hijacking effect as in chimps is seen in humans as well. 'This altered olfactory preference is intringuing because it doesn't apparently increase parasite transmission,' explained Dr Poiritte. 'Because humans are considered as dead-end hosts for the parasite, these modifications were more seen as side effect of modification that evolved in appropriated hosts, such as rodents. 'Our study rather supports the hypothesis that manipulative abilities of T. gondii have evolved in the human lineage when our ancestors were still under feline predation. Behavioural modifications in humans could thus rather be an ancestral legacy of our evolutionary past. 'We certainly have to conduct more studies on humans to fully understand the consequences of this parasite on human health and behaviour.' Over the past week, iPhone owners globally have been reporting their handsets have been rendered useless due to a code known as 'Error 53'. It only appears on handsets that have been repaired by non-Apple engineers but it effectively 'bricks' them, making them unusable. Apple claims the code protects customers, but experts are suggesting the move may be illegal and are planning to launch a lawsuit to address their concerns. Over the past week, iPhone owners have been reporting their handsets have been rendered useless due to a code known as 'Error 53'. It only appears on handsets that have been repaired by non-Apple engineers but it effectively 'bricks' them, making them unusable. Apple claims the code protects customers At least one US law firm has announced its intention to bring a class action against Apple on behalf of iPhone owners whose handsets have been crippled by the update, The Guardian reported. And a London-based barrister believes the move may be an crime in the UK too. Users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have reported seeing the 'Error 53 code' after the roll-out of the iOS 9 updates. The error is actually shown in iTunes on handsets that have had a TouchID sensor replaced, or a cable changed, since the last software upgrade. Handsets are said to be 'bricked' and don't function properly, while any data stored on them is reportedly lost without any hope of retrieval. The focal point of the issue lies in the security measures of the Touch ID sensor. WHAT IS ERROR 53? iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor in your iPhone or iPad correctly matches your device's other components. If iOS finds a mismatch, the check fails and Touch ID, including for Apple Pay use, is disabled. As a result, Error 53 shows up, rendering the phone unusable. Any third-party repairs that affect this area, like the home-button or the screen, can spur the messages, and thus, the death-sentence, for an iPhone. Advertisement Apple told MailOnline: 'We take customer security very seriously and Error 53 is the result of security checks designed to protect our customers. 'iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor in your iPhone or iPad correctly matches your device's other components. 'If iOS finds a mismatch, the check fails and Touch ID, including for Apple Pay use, is disabled. 'This security measure is necessary to protect your device and prevent a fraudulent Touch ID sensor from being used. If a customer encounters Error 53.' Any third-party repairs that affect this area, such as the home button or the screen, can spur the messages, and thus, the death-sentence, for an iPhone. While some people have pointed out the move makes sense from a security point of view, because it ensures data associated with Apple Pay is kept safe, others have slammed it. Apple has recommended users contact Apple Support for help, but customers are reportedly being turned away from Apple stores, having been told unauthorised repairs void the device's warranty. However, experts are suggesting the move may be illegal and are planning to launch a lawsuit to address their concerns. At least one US law firm has announced its intention to bring a class action against Apple (logo shown) on behalf of iPhone owners whose handsets have been crippled by the iOS 9 software update The error message has reportedly also popped up for users who had damaged their phones, and gone on using them without seeking repair. Seattle-based law firm PCVA has called on users with crippled handsets as a result of the 'Error 53' code to get in touch, with a view to bringing a class action. HAS APPLE ACTED ILLEGALLY? Seattle-based law firm PCVA has called on users with crippled handsets as a result of the 'Error 53' code to get in touch, with a view to bringing a class action. It said Apple's move may breach consumer protection laws in the US. 'We believe that Apple may be intentionally forcing users to use their repair services, which cost much more than most third party repair shops,' PCVA's website says. Richard Colbey, of Lamb Chambers in London, said Apple's 'Error 53' update could potentially be viewed as an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, which said it is an offence to intentionally destroy someone else's property. 'It is hard to see how something which ceases to work in this way could be said to be of reasonable quality, one of the determinants of which is durability,' he explained on his blog. But freelance technology writer Charles Arthur explained: 'The "property" argument isnt a great one, to be honest. 'Apple sells you a device, but it doesnt give you untrammelled rights to it; you arent legally allowed to (try to) decompile the software, or the firmware, or to dig into things like the Secure Elements. 'You dont own the entire thing.' Advertisement It said Apple's move may breach consumer protection laws in the US. 'We believe that Apple may be intentionally forcing users to use their repair services, which cost much more than most third party repair shops,' PCVA's website says. 'Where you could get your screen replaced by a neighbourhood repair facility for $50-80, Apple charges $129 or more. There is incentive for Apple to keep end users from finding alternative methods to fix their products. 'Think of it this way: Let's say you bought a car, and had your alternator replaced by a local mechanic. 'Under Apple's strategy, your car would no longer start because you didn't bring it to an official dealership. They intentionally disable your car because you tried to fix it yourself. 'That is wrong, and we hope to prove that it violates various consumer protection laws in the United States.' Richard Colbey, of Lamb Chambers in London, said Apple's 'Error 53' update could potentially be viewed as an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, which said it is an offence to intentionally destroy someone else's property. 'It is hard to see how something which ceases to work in this way could be said to be of reasonable quality, one of the determinants of which is durability,' he explained. However, revered technology writer Charles Arthur has pointed out that the argument of ownership is a shaky one, and the issue could potentially be fixed. 'Replace the new Touch ID processor with the old one (people say they have successfully done this,)' he wrote on his blog. Before adding: 'However, saying it is a lot easier than doing it. Some people don't have the old one. Or the old one might just be broken.' Prototype system could be particularly useful for self-driving If you are fed up with your sat-nav barking orders at you on busy, congested and ugly roads, there could soon be a solution. An artificial intelligence system has been developed that analyses Google Street View images using deep learning to come up with the most scenic routes. The 'Autobahn' system is not only designed to make driving more enjoyable, it could also be used in self-driving cars, where everyone inside vehicles will be a passenger able to gaze out of the window. The AI system analyses Google Street View images using deep learning to come up with the most scenic routes. These Street View images show a route near Copenhagen. A forest view (top and marked green on the map), ocean view (middle and marked blue) and highway view (bottom and marked black) show the route There are already systems that promise pleasant drives, by including points of interest or geotagged photos to pick a route, for example. But the newly developed Autobahn system, created at the University of Bremen, takes a different tact. It uses real views taken from car windows incorporated into Google Street View. 'While [previous] approaches use proximity, distribution or other spatial relationships of the data sets, they do not take into account the actual view on specific route segments,' explained the designers. Computer scientists from the University of Bremen, Germany and the Hasselt University in Belgium, developed the system, which first divides Street View scenes into squares. Examples (from left to right) of Mallorca in Spain, Madeira in Portugal and Rone-Alpes in France are shown above 'In contrast to other photo sharing platforms, building upon Google Street View has the advantage that these images are taken from a vehicle (in the majority of the cases) on major roads.' SAT-NAVS PUT LIVES AT RISK Last year, a survey revealed one in seven drivers who use a sat-nav admit making impromptu illegal or risky manoeuvres to correct mistakes when following instructions. The study, by road safety charity Brake and insurance firm Direct Line, said that one in 14 drivers have had a near miss and have swerved or braked suddenly to avoid a hazard because they were distracted by a sat-nav. This number rose to 11 per cent of drivers aged under 24, but dropped to below five per cent for motorists older than 35 year's old. A total of seven per cent of the 1,000 individuals surveyed admitted to being distracted by the stereo, while 12 per cent said they took their full attention away from the road because of passengers. Advertisement Computer scientists from the University of Bremen, Germany and the Hasselt University in Belgium explained that the system begins by dividing Street View scenes into squares. They are then categorised by a neural network, into forest panoramas, ocean views and boring stretched of road, for example. Planning a route is much like using a standard sat-nav, in that users can type in their start point and desired destination. But there is be an extra step - what they would like to see on the way. 'As input, the Autobahn system requires the user to additionally select one of the six predefined scenic routing parameters in order to align the routing to the user's preferences,' the study continued. The system then plots the best route to deliver that experience. Nina Runge, a computer scientist from the University of Bremen, told Wired: 'We determine if a cell shows, for example, mountains, the ocean or a non-scenic view, then we compute a route which contains as many scenic points as possible without making long detours.' For example, it might choose a winding coastal path if the driver wants a sea view, or take a quiet country lane over a more direct motorway if they want to take in some trees. It has already been tested in Mallorca, Madeira in Portugal and Rhone-Alpes in France. Planning a route is much like using a standard sat-nav (shown above), in that users would type in their start point and desired destination. But there is an extra step what they would like to see on the way One test, conducted on 24, people revealed most of the participants preferred a scenic route, even if it took slightly longer for them to reach their destination. Dr Runge believes the system may be of use in the future when the full attention of drivers is no longer needed in autonomous cars. 'Navigation will no longer be only a tool to navigate from point A to point B on the shortest or fastest path, but the selection of a route will have an impact on the in-car experience as well', said the researchers. of seven wonders of the ancient world Egyptian authorities have arrested three people after they appeared in a video selling stones from the 4,500-year-old Giza Pyramids to undercover journalists. The Interior Ministry announced the arrests on Saturday, after journalists from a local website used a hidden camera to capture horse carriage drivers selling two stones for 250 Egyptian pounds (22). One of the men, whose face was blurred in the video, bragged about selling stones, which date from around 2,500-3,000BC, to foreign tourists for up to 500 (388). Footage appears to show a man taking two people to the bottom of a pyramid, before exchanging cash and stashing small stone pieces in a rucksack The footage, which was shot by DotMsr who said they decided to investigate claims that the illicit sales were taking place, appears to show a man taking two people near to the ancient tourism attraction, before exchanging cash and stashing small stone pieces in a rucksack. The Great Pyramids of Giza which were used as sacred burial structures, were built in the fourth Pharaonic dynasty. The Great Pyramid is the oldest and only surviving monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Giza Pyramids, which were used as sacred burial structures, were built in the fourth Pharaonic dynasty MailOnline Travel also reported on an incident earlier this month which saw Egyptian authorities warn holidaymakers who have a foolish desire to scale its famous pyramids - to stay off or risk being banned from the country for life. That's what happened to 18-year-old German tourist Andrej Ciesielski, who illegally climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, on a recent visit to the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ciesielski, from Munich, travelled to Egypt with the intention of snapping photos from atop the mammoth 4,500-year-old tomb, risking his life and imprisonment after he was detained and questioned by police. Egypts Ministry of State for Antiquities confirmed the teenager has been banned from re-entering the country, reported Egyptian Streets, a news website. Airbnb hosts in Sweden's capital are being warned about a rise in the number of pimps and prostitutes who are turning properties into temporary brothels. Stockholm police said pimps are creating fake profiles on Airbnb and other short-term accommodation websites to pose as legitimate customers and rent privately-owned homes for two or three weeks at a time. The homes are then used as a place where sexual services are offered to clients in the owners' bedrooms, unbeknownst to them while they are away, said Simon Haggstrom of the police prostitution team. Stockholm police said pimps are creating fake profiles to rent privately-owned homes for two or three weeks Haggstrom told the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter that 'second-hand apartments' are now the most popular market for prostitution in the capital, overtaking hotels. He said: 'People are naive. They should think some more about who they rent out to.' Haggstrom said temporary brothels in the homes of holidaying owners are the work of organised crime groups with 'clear links' to Eastern Europe. He said most of the women are between 18 and 23 and have been forced into prostitution after moving from countries such as Romania in an attempt to escape poverty. In most cases, police are tipped off by neighbours who become suspicious of the activity next door after seeing men coming and going at all hours. In Stockholm, second-hand apartments are now the most popular market for prostitution, said police Similar claims surfaced about apartments in Manhattan in New York two years ago, and last year a woman from Lismore, Australia, said she was horrified when she learned from her neighbours that her home was used as a brothel by a guest who booked through Airbnb. Pye Jakobsson, from Rose Alliance Sweden, which describes itself as a sex worker rights organisation, told The Local that pimps are taking advantage of unsuspecting property owners due to a housing shortage and a police initiative which trained hotel staff to spot sex-trade workers. An Airbnb spokesman told MailOnline Travel: 'We have a zero-tolerance policy for issues like these. 'Over 70 million guests have stayed on Airbnb and issues for hosts and guests are incredibly rare. Edinburgh City Council is currently in discussions with Scottish and UK government about the possibility of introducing a tourism tax. The tax, which is likely to be a levy on hotel rooms, could raise millions each year - making a significant contribution towards the city's tourism infrastructure while lessening the burden on public funds. A source at Edinburgh City Council has told MailOnline Travel that the levy could be imposed 'as early as the end of this year' . Edinburgh could impose a tourism tax that could bring in millions each year for the city and help fund its cultural activities (file photo) A Tourism Visitor Levy was included in the proposal for the City Deal currently being considered by UK and Scottish Governments according to a representative at Edinburgh City Council. It will cover Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Scottish Borders and Fife. However, a separate discussion with Scottish ministers, which covers only Edinburgh, is also in place so that even if the City Deal doesn't go through, Edinburgh could still impose the levy if the city gets the go ahead from the Scottish Government. The source told MailOnline Travel: 'A decision could be reach in the next couple of weeks or by March or April. 'If it goes through by spring or summer then it could be imposed as early as the end of this year.' The possibility of a tourism tax has already prompted hot debate in Edinburgh. Julia Amour, the new director of Festivals Edinburgh, said the city should consider a levy under the currently economic climate. The group organises major events in the city, including Edinburgh Fringe (above) Deputy leader of Edinburgh City Council Sandy Howat said in a statement: 'For Scotland's Capital city, a form of 'tourist tax', as part of a new package of local government funding, would make perfect sense as we aim to offset public funding cuts and invest in our city. 'Such a levy could be as little as 1 per night but still provide the city with up to a 15 million boost for supporting culture and city infrastructure.' 'It would not necessarily be a blanket tax across the city and I would in fact hope to see large hotels pay a bit extra, with small hotels providing a bit less or nothing at all.' He added: 'Additional revenue could be used to build additional capacity across the city to develop our cultural and festival programme and ensure the city presents itself as a world leader to visitors and locals alike. 'While an agreement is still to be made, we are in talks with Ministers and remain hopeful.' Edinburgh's Cultural Venues, which includes National Museum of Scotland (above), is putting its support behind the tourism tax. The museum is currently updating its collection to coincide with the 150th anniversary of its building this year. It is set to add 10 new galleries with a total of around 3,000 new objects in science, technology, art, design and fashion Top attractions and festival organisers in the Scottish capital have offered their support towards the levy, which could become a key part of the funding for the city's cultural activities. Julia Amour, the new director of Festivals Edinburgh, which organises Edinburgh Fringe, said the city should consider a levy under the currently economic climate. A review of the organisation's strategy report,Thundering Hooves, revealed that the changes in the economy has meant that funding issues will need to be addressed in the future. Ms Amour told Scottish paper The Herald: 'It's very clear that the public funding rounds are going to be very tight. 'I think the festivals have responded brilliantly - earned income has gone up by a third in the last five years, but it is really important to understand what economies might look like, that's why the Thundering Hooves report calls for a wider debate on alternative sources of income.' The city is already in talks regarding the new tourism levy but a decision is yet to be made (file photo) Ms Amour's position was backed by Duncan Hendry, chairman of Edinburgh Cultural Venues (ECV). The group, which includes key attractions such as National Museum of Scotland, brings in 194 million into Scotland each year according to STV News. It signifies major support for the levy, which will ultimately be considered by Edinburgh City Council. In a statement, Mr Hendry said: 'Edinburgh's Cultural Venues attract huge numbers of visitors to the city throughout the year, for exhibitions, music and theatre performances, films and events. They are also key to the success of the City's Festivals. However, once a decision is made, the levy could come into effect as early as the end of this year (file photo) 'It is imperative that these venues not only have sufficient revenue funding to run their annual programme of activity, but also the funds to maintain their buildings to meet customer expectations.' 'It is the belief of all members in Edinburgh Cultural Venues that the cultural offer should be seen holistically and that additional financial support, whether raised through a visitor levy or other means, should be distributed across this essential infrastructure which underpins Edinburgh's international reputation for culture.' How the levy will be imposed is yet to be revealed and could take shape in several different forms. European cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Rome and Paris already impose a tax on its visitors. A drunk passenger allegedly threatened to open a plane's emergency exit after he mixed alcohol with anti-depressants. Danny Golden, 29, had arrived back into Dublin Airport from Brussels to visit family at the weekend. He works as a software developer in France. Police were called when the Ryanair flight from Brussels landed in Dublin, and a drunk Danny Golden was led off the aircraft (file photo) Swords District Court heard how Mr Golden was prescribed anti-depressants following the break-up of a long-term relationship. He admitted being drunk on the Ryanair flight, with the court hearing he had brought cans of beer on board from Belgium, and despite being told not to, he continued to drink them in the cabin. Officers were called once the plane landed in Ireland to deal with a disruptive passenger, and Mr Golden was escorted off the aircraft, reports the Herald. Mr Golden has said he is 'absolutely ashamed' by the incident when he drank alcohol on the flight despite being on medication WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SOMEONE OPENED THE EMERGENCY EXIT MID-FLIGHT? British Airways' head of flight and technical training Captain Dave Thomas explains that it would not be possible to open the door mid-flight. 'The exits on modern aircraft are normally referred to as 'plug doors',' he explains. 'That means that with the use of clever door mechanisms, the doors themselves, when closed, are tapered like a bath plug so in effect they are bigger than the openings in which they sit. 'This stops them opening outwards and the pressure inside the cabin is equivalent to between two to three tons of pressure, which stops them opening inwards.' Advertisement Garda Tom Doherty told the court that as well as being drunk, Golden 'claimed he was a dangerous man and threatened to open an emergency door.' These claims were discounted by the defendant, who said that he can't have been perceived as a threat as he was seated near the door anyway. However he did describe how he was 'absolutely ashamed' by the incident. The defence agreed that Mr Golden should not have mixed anti-depressants with alcohol, and accepted that following the break-up of his relationship, he had 'struggled to cope.' Judge Dermot Dempsey decided not to impose a criminal conviction after Mr Golden donated 500 to the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service. A spokesperson for Ryanair told MailOnline Travel: 'We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. TUI Group, the worlds largest tour operator, says its summer bookings to Turkey have plummeted by 40 per cent following recent terror attacks in Istanbul and Ankara. The Hanover-based travel company, which owns UK brands Thomson and First Choice, said tourists are staying away from the country and opting for mainland Spain and the Canary Islands instead. Turkey is usually a popular destination thanks to its history and idyllic Mediterranean resorts, but is one of a handful of destinations where tourism is currently suffering thanks to terrorism. Tourists walk through Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district, where 10 holidaymakers were killed in January Last month, 10 German tourists were killed in a suicide bombing just steps from the historic Blue Mosque in Istanbul's storied Sultanahmet district. Turkish officials said the attacker was affiliated with ISIS and security has been tightened. Friedrich Joussen, chief executive of TUI, said: It is evident that there has been a significant shift in demand away from Turkey, with summer 2016 bookings to that destination currently down around 40 per cent. TUI said a total of 14 per cent of its customers travelled to Turkey last summer, but demand for holidays has dropped particularly in Germany following last months bombing. Turkey, which shares a border with Syria, has also been affected by the migrant crisis. Attacks in Paris, Egypt and Tunisia have also hit the travel sector, with the outbreak of the Zika virus adding to the woes. Britains Foreign & Commonwealth Office said more than 2.5million Britons visit Turkey every year and most visits are trouble-free. However, the FCO has warned holidaymakers that the threat from terrorism remains high as groups such as ISIS continue to plan and carry out attacks. TUI Group isnt the only tour operator that has seen a drop in bookings, The Daily Mail reported on Saturday. TUI, which owns Thomson, has seen an increase in bookings to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands As of last week sales of UK package holidays to Turkey were down by a third on this time in 2015, according to research company GfKs Leisure Travel Monitor. It also found that bookings to Egypt, where no flights have been operating from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh amid security concerns at its airport following the downing of a Russian passenger jet, have fallen by more than half. UK holidaymakers have been advised against all but essential travel to Tunisia, where 38 foreign tourists, mostly Britons, were killed in a mass shooting at a resort near Sousse last summer. Thomson and Thomas Cook have cancelled all summer holidays to the country. Package bookings to Portugal have jumped by 32 per cent, while Spanish destinations have seen a 27 per cent increase, said GfK. TUI, meanwhile, said it had got off to a good start to its financial year and kept its guidance for a 10 per cent rise in annual underlying earnings despite the impact from attacks. Shares in TUI fell 3% after the update. She's set to strut her stuff down the catwalk in Australia on Thursday night, for retail giant Myer's autumn winter fashion show. And ahead of doing so, Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik stunned in a photo shoot that helped announce her participation. The 24-year-old brunette beauty shows off both her sartorial savvy and enviable figure in a white cut-out dress and a stylish red frock. Scroll down for video White hot: Ahead of walking in Myer's autumn/winter fashion show on Thursday night, Shanina Shaik has stunned in a photoshoot that helped announce her role in the parade With a golden tan, the star - who hails from Melbourne - poses up a storm in the outfits. The white cocktail dress features a cross-over neckline and a cut out just under the bust and finished below her knees. The look is teamed with nude strappy sandals. Elsewhere Shanina flaunts her trim pins in the sweet red frock, which comes with a high-neck and long sheer sleeves. The thigh-skimming dress is teamed with white strappy heels. Racy in red! The brunette beauty also flaunts her trim pins in a sweet frock, that has a high-neck and long sheer sleeves and finished mid-thigh With both looks, Shanina has her dark hair out in loose tousled curls and swept to one side. Her make-up is flawless and includes dewy foundation, touches of blush and bronzer, a smokey eye and a nude lip. The leggy star also flaunts the engagement ring given to her by fiance DJ Ruckus, whose real name is Greg Andrews. Picture perfect: Her hair is swept to one side in loose tousled curls and her make-up is flawless and includes dewy foundation, touches of blush and bronzer, a smokey eye and a nude lip On Monday Shanina shared a video to her Instagram page in which she wears the white dress while announcing to fans she was going to Australia for the show. 'Hey Australia, I'm super excited to announce that I'm heading home this Thursday for the Myer Autumn/Winter fashion launch,' she said in the short clip. She added her fans can keep-up-to-date with her movements online, and that she'll 'she you there' before blowing a kiss at the camera. Just before the post, she shared a picture of herself sitting in a plane in a Qantas jumper, ready to jet Down Under. In the image, the US-based star has her hair in two braids and she looks off camera and out the window. On her way: On Monday, Shanina shared a picture of herself sitting in a plane in a Qantas jumper, ready to jet Down Under On Thursday night she will join the likes of Jennifer Hawkins - who is the face of Myer - in the catwalk showcase held at Barangaroo Reserve. It is rumoured Shanina will soon take up an ambassador role for the brand after Kate Peck was recently dropped from the coveted role. Other ambassadors include Jodi Anasta, Kris Smith and Rachael Finch. Shanina spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the show, saying: I love coming back home to Australia, and its also my birthday so its a super exciting time for me.' Kelly Cartwright celebrated the launch of her new health, nutrition and fitness blog on Monday morning, exactly five weeks after giving birth to her first child. The Australian athlete heralded website Aussie Bodies across social media by posting a snap of herself and newborn son Max, taken shortly after his birth on January 3rd. Captioning the shot, she wrote: 'BABY MAX WILLIAM MILLER || FINALLY my blog is up! It's only taken me 5 weeks! Talking Birth, parenting & some of the things that have worked for me!' Scroll down for video New initiative: Kelly Cartwright celebrated the launch of her new health, nutrition and fitness blog on Monday morning, exactly five weeks after giving birth to her first child The new blog offers tips on staying slim, keeping fit and enjoying a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Kelly and husband Ryan Miller announced her pregnancy on Instagram last June, while she was still a contestant on reality show Dancing With The Stars. She continued to appear on the show as her on-screen commitments weren't thought to have any impact upon her or her baby. Big news: Kelly and husband Ryan Miller announced her pregnancy on Instagram last June, while she was still a contestant on reality show Dancing With The Stars The sportswoman was eliminated from the show when she was over five weeks pregnant, but was gracious in her defeat, with the judges and her fellow contestants commending her for the 'inspirational' qualities she brought to the series. After giving birth the former paralympian shared the first snap of her newborn child with her 15,000 followers in January. Captioning the shot, she wrote: 'Welcome to the world Max William Miller. Born @ 1.17pm today weighing 2.8kgs @ryanjm313.' Introducing Max: After giving birth the former paralympian shared the first snap of her newborn child with her 15,000 followers in January Husband Ryan also took to social media to share the news, alongside a black and white image of Max's hands and hospital bracelet. 'Max William Miller born at 1317hrs on 4th January 2016. Strong like his dad, good lookin like his mum (sic),' he wrote. Shortly before the birth, Kelly revealed to her fans that she has been trying to induce labour and asked followers for tips. His support has been unwavering since his husband entered the jungle. And as Anthony Callea locked horns with another camp mate on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! over the weekend, his husband Tim Campbell was the first to come to his defence again. The actor took to social media to slam producers for 'carefully editing' footage to make for better TV and accused them of promoting Havana Brown following her spat with his partner on Sunday night's episode. Scroll down for video Speaking out: Anthony Callea's husband Tim Campbell slammed I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! producers on Twitter on Sunday 'Hard to say why we see 6 hours of a carefully edited 168 hours a week,' he wrote, before fuming: 'TV will milk it and influence people!'. His comments came after Anthony found himself being labelled the 'rudest' camp mate by co-star Havana Brown who claimed his treatment of former Bachelor star Laurina Fleure had been out of order. 'Anthony's the rudest b****** in here,' the DJ said on Sunday night, claiming Anthony had been 'abrupt' towards Laurina when she accidentally burned cheese over a pan. In a promotional tweet for the episode, the official I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Twitter account shared a photograph of Havana alongside her comment: 'I'm just saying that's not a way to speak to someone.' See more of the latest I'm A Celebrity updates as Tim Campbell defends Anthony Callea Defence: Tim batted away criticisms aimed at his partner and instead suggested the show had been 'carefully edited' Locking horns: Antony was left outraged when Havana Brown labelled him the 'rudest' camp mate on the show Disgruntled that they had not shared a photograph of Anthony or his point of view, Tim responded to the Network: 'Thanks for that pro-Havana tweet!'. He went on to label critics 'embarrassing' and 'pathetic' for their ongoing criticisms of his partner, rounding off his argument: 'I'm not as influenced by headlines and editing. I know how this game works.' Anthony was left outraged by Havana's comments on Sunday's show, refusing to accept her characterisation of him as the most impolite celebrity on the show. Defending her friend: The DJ insisted she thought Anthony's behaviour towards Laurina Fleure had been abrupt Not happy: Tim accused Network Ten of siding with Havana after the official I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! shared a teaser from the pair's bust up featuring only her comments Disagreement: The argument stemmed from Anthony's alleged treatment of former Bachelor star Laurina Fleure (above) 'I'm not going to sit here and take that I'm the rudest person in here,' he told the 30-year-old, adding: 'How can you just joke around with a comment like that, I find that just absolutely rude.' Jo Beth Taylor intervened to speak up for Anthony, scolding Havana: 'That's not fair.' Laurina previously described Anthony as the 'coldest' towards her in the camp, complaining: 'From the moment we landed here, he has been the coldest person here to me. 'It is like I dont even exist. Im done trying there. I dont have anything against him but Im going to stop trying now.' The Real Housewives franchise is known for its cat fights, scandals and plenty of tears. And as season three of Australia's own version approaches, fans are able to catch a glimpse of the eight women at their most vulnerable. In an extended teaser for the upcoming season of Real Housewives of Melbourne, Janet Roach hints she may have been diagnosed with a serious illness. Scroll down for video 'I was diagnosed with...': Janet Roach hints at serious illness in an emotionally-charged extended teaser for Real Housewives of Melbourne season three She is seen in her kitchen explaining to a male friend as they dry the dishes, that she'd 'been losing a bit of weight,' prompting a visit to her doctor. 'I was diagnosed with,' she begins before pausing, with her friend responding a concerned 'With?' and Janet responds by flashing a forlorn expression before the scene cuts. The trailer begins with Housewives Chyka Keebaugh and Jackie Gillies reflecting that not only is it 'the best season so far,' but that it's about showing the women's more sensitive side. Concerned: Janet's male friend flashes her a concerned expression as she explains her medical situation 'This season is more about depth, it's more about showing a vulnerable side,' says Jackie, before it cuts to her having a tearful conversation with Chyka. The hit reality series hasn't neglected to leave out the explosive drama however, and in glimpses of conversations, there are countless fiery clashes. After flashes of the group voyaging on a desert holiday, Pettifleur Berenger is shown banging her hands down on the dinner table as she yells at Gina Liano with rage to 'calm the f*** down!' Plenty of surprises: Chyka Keebaugh promises season three is the 'best season so far' High octane drama: The teaser also includes some of the more heated moments in the upcoming series, including Gina Liano (left) and Pettifleur Berenger (right) in a heated quarrel It's cut-throat! Fellow housewife Gamble Breaux then imitates stabbing someone with a knife during her piece-to-camera Not one to stand down in an argument, Gina fires back at her counterpart shouting: 'Stay the f*** out of it!' Fellow housewife Gamble Breaux then imitates stabbing someone with a knife during her piece-to-camera, in lieu of the fight. As the camera shows Chyka clashing with an unidentified housewife, Gamble narrates: 'Chyka angry [is] scarier than Jackie and Gina put together.' Cause for celebration: Gina Liano appears to have officiated Gamble's marriage to Dr. Rick Wolfe Destination wedding: The ceremony takes place in Byron Bay 'She could be on the cover of one of those boy magazines': Gamble doesn't mince her words when discussing newcomer Susie McLean The teaser also includes snips from Gamble and partner Dr. Rick Wolfe's wedding in Byron Bay, which appears to have been officiated by Gina. The show also welcomes newcomer, Susie McLean, who Gamble describes as looking 'like she could be on the cover of one of those boy magazines, sexy girl,' she says with a smile. The sneak peek concludes with Janet summarising their extravagant lifestyle, saying: 'What is not to like about driving around in limousines with hilarious women that are opinionated and interesting, drinking champagne? 'What's not to like?' she shrugs. Real Housewives of Melbourne premieres on Arena on Sunday February 21. She may be on the fast track to being one of the most desired British stars following her steamy antics in the BBC's epic War And Peace. But it seems Tuppence Middleton isn't ready to let fame and fortune go to her head, as the actress and her beau, Robert Fry, were spotted browsing through charity shops in London, on Monday. Apparently on the look-out for a bargain, the 28-year-old actress ditched her TV temptress looks and sported a scruffy ensemble as she went make-up free for a trip to a local charity shop in Muswell Hill. Scroll down for video Downtime: War and Peace star Tuppence Middleton looked a world away from her TV temptress character as she stepped out for a low-key outing with boyfriend Robert Fry Tuppence - who has shot to the nation's attention playing Countess Helene Bezukhov in the adaption of Tolstoy's great work - looked a far cry from her regal character. Swapping her regal Russian appearance for something more dressed-down, the blonde beauty appeared to be having a VERY relaxed day, as she was almost unrecognisable from her vampish appearance at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on Sunday. Slipping into something thoroughly more 'modern', the Bristol-born beauty cut a casual figure in her shabby chic wardrobe. Clearly feeling the chill winter weather, the actress wrapped up warm in a sheepskin lined jacket and a warm, moss green, roll-neck jumper dress. A very different look: The blonde beauty appeared to be having a VERY relaxed day, as she was almost unrecognisable from her vampish appearance at the Evening Standard British Film Awards on Sunday How the nation know her: Since spring-boarding to national fame in War And Peace, Tuppence's sultry and regal look as Helene Bezukhov has been fixed firmly in the nation's mind And obviously keen to keep the chill weather at bay Tuppence opted for a pair of warm tights, before rounding off her outfit with a pair of tan leather loafers. The Imitation Game actress left her freshly dyed peroxide blonde hair on display, wearing her wild locks in a swept-over, off-centre parting - adding a slight rock 'n' roll edge to her look. The pretty star let her naturally striking looks shine through, wearing an understated palette of make-up. Ditching the tiara: Tuppence looked a far cry from her regal character during her outing, however, and opted for a much more shabby chic approach Shabby chic shopper: Slipping into something thoroughly more 'modern', the Bristol-born beauty cut a casual figure in her shabby chic wardrobe - consisting of a warm fleece-lined jacket and roll-neck dress Keeping warm: Obviously keen to keep the chill weather at bay Tuppence opted for a pair of warm tights, before rounding off her outfit with a pair of tan leather loafers Blonde beauty: The Imitation Game actress left her freshly dyed peroxide blonde hair on display, wearing her wild locks in a swept-over, off-centre parting - adding a slight rock 'n' roll edge to her look A naturally striking look: The pretty star let her naturally striking looks shine through, wearing an understated palette of make-up Artistic flare? Robert meanwhile looked every-inch the London bohemian, opting for a mix of gent about town and casual studio gear Seasonally sensible: Clearly feeling the chill winter weather, the actress wrapped up warm in her sheepskin lined jacket and a warm, moss green knitwear Robert meanwhile looked every-inch the London bohemian, opting for a mix of gent about town and casual studio gear. Wearing his long brown hair pushed back off of his face, the artist wore a navy overcoat, dark blue shirt, jeans and tan lace-ups - finishing the whole affair off with a dark grey scarf. The couple were obviously enjoying some time together before Tuppence starts work on the second series of Netflix Original series, Sense 8. Larking around: The couple were obviously enjoying some time together before Tuppence starts work on the second series of Netflix Original series, Sense 8 Having a giggle: laughing and joking around as they grabbed a coffee and perused the wears in various charity shops, the artist and actress appeared delighted with the way their day out was heading A fine time: And while Tuppence didn't manage to find any items of wort in the shops, the couple were no doubt happy to be able to while away the winter's afternoon together laughing and joking around as they grabbed a coffee and perused the wears in various charity shops, the artist and actress appeared delighted with the way their day out was heading. And while Tuppence didn't manage to find any items of wort in the shops, the couple were no doubt happy to be able to while away the winter's afternoon together. Obviously making the most of the her down time, the couple could soon be apart for a lengthy spell, as according to the International Business Times filming for Sense 8 series two is slated for March of this year - with the filming locations set to be worldwide once-again. She was in Australia just a short two weeks ago. And on Tuesday Shanina Shaik was once again back in her native country ahead of the annual Myer Autumn/Winter fashion launch on Thursday. The 24-year-old flashed her impressive diamond engagement ring from fiance, DJ Ruckus, as she strutted through Sydney's International airport following a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles. Scroll down for video Home sweet home: Shanina Shaik touched back down in Sydney on Tuesday ahead of the annual Myer Autumn/Winter fashion launch Despite the long hauled travel, the Victoria's Secret stunner showed off her flawless complexion by going almost make-up free. She displayed her long toned legs in a pair of black skinny jeans, which she teamed with a loose-fitting white T-shirt. While tucking the plain top into her high-waisted trousers, Shanina added a black blazer featuring gold buttons down the sleeves. Bling bling: The 24-year-old flashed her impressive diamond engagement ring from fiance, DJ Ruckus, as she strutted through Sydney's International airport following a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles All class: Shanina displayed her long toned legs in a pair of black skinny jeans, which she teamed with a loose-fitting white T-shirt She slicked back her dark brunette locks and styled them in two tight braids, a look currently popular among celebrities, especially Kim Kardashian. The recently engaged beauty accessorised her arrival attire with a pair of tan suede high heels, a leather choker necklace and a black handbag. On Monday, Shanina shared a video to her Instagram page announcing to her fans that she was appearing in the fashion show. 'Hey Australia, I'm super excited to announce that I'm heading home this Thursday for the Myer Autumn/Winter fashion launch,' she said in the short clip. She added that he fans could keep-up-to-date with her movements online and she finished the clip by blowing a kiss to the camera. Styling: The recently engaged beauty accessorised her arrival attire with a pair of tan suede high heels, a leather choker necklace and a black handbag Braided beauty: She slicked back her dark brunette locks and styled them in two tight braids, a look currently popular among celebrities, especially Kim Kardashian Just before the post, she also shared a picture of herself sitting in a plane wearing a Qantas jumper. Shanina will join the likes of Jennifer Hawkins in the catwalk showcase held at Barangaroo Reserve this coming Thursday night. It is rumoured Shanina will soon take up an ambassador role for the department store after Kate Peck was recently dropped from the coveted role. Other ambassadors include Jodi Anasta, Kris Smith and Rachael Finch. My Kitchen Rules star Gianni Romano has appeared in yet another embarrassing video, this time being shown to seemingly mock The Last Post as he prances around with a fake trumpet in his underwear. The lawyer is seen dancing around a bedroom in a pair of tight-fitting boxers while mimicking the military bugle call in footage taken in 2011. At the time Gianni, who stars alongside his wife Zana in the current series of the cooking show, had not yet married the Albanian lawyer. See MKR updates on Gianni Romano as he appears in a new video mocking The Last Post Whatever next? My Kitchen Rules star Gianni Romano has appeared in a video which shows him jokingly performing The Last Post in his underwear He is understood to have put on the performance after a raucous night out. In the video he enters a room wearing nothing but his underwear and reading glasses, holding a horn to his mouth and marching slowly in the style of the ceremonial performance often used to commemorate the death of a soldier. After delivering a few bars of the call, Gianni is seen bursting into an unhinged dance and prancing around for a camera filming him. The Last Post is a military bugle call used to signal the end of a day's activities and is most commonly associated with the Gallipoli Campaign, one of the bloodiest of World War I and the beginning of Australia and New Zealand's military efforts as independent dominions. The ceremonial bugle call is incorporated in military funerals and memorial services. Spoof: In the video Gianni performs the first few bars of the military bugle call before bursting into dance and humming a sped up version of the call Joking around: Gianni is seen prancing around the room in his underpants as he sings in to his make-shift instrument The footage's emergence comes after Gianni was seen in previous videos jokingly simulating sex with a teddy bear and urinating into a vase after a drunken night out. Daily Mail Australia has approached Seven Network for comment. Earlier this week a video surfaced in which the self-proclaimed 'legal eagle' was seen relieving himself into a vase, the 28-year-old laughing as his antics was caught on camera. In an earlier video he jokingly simulated sex with a teddy bear while lounging around in his underpants and a T-shirt. New role: Gianni and his wife Zana are among contestants in the current season of My Kitchen Rules History: Last week footage surfaced in which the lawyer was seen jokingly simulating sex with a teddy bear Unhinged: In another video, Gianni was filmed urinating into a vase after a drunken night out in 2011 Gianni has not spoken publicly of the embarrassing videos, nor has his wife who is being billed as the 'villain' of this season of My Kitchen Rules. The pair have spoken out previously to defend their tough approach, with Zana telling Daily Mail Australia last month that she was surprised to have been portrayed in such a way by producers. In a recent episode of the show Zana came to blows with fellow contestant Monique Fitzgerald, brandishing the police officer 'insecure' in a later interview. 'I can feel that she has an issue that we're competitive and I think that that's part of her insecurity. 'And she doesn't like the fact that I have a brain,' she said of the 33-year-old Senior Constable. Advertisement They are the honoured few who have been nominated for a famous golden statuette. And on Monday the nominees for the 88th Academy Awards gathered together at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in LA for the annual Oscar lunch. With the ceremony just under three weeks away, campaigning is now more serious than ever. However the awards continue to be shrouded in controversy because of the uproar over the lack of black talent in the contest. Scroll down for video The winner is: Hollywood gathered for the annual Oscars lunch yesterday, where all of the nominees gathered around for the 'class picture' AND THE NOMINEES ARE: THE FULL LIST OF THOSE ATTENDING THE 88TH OSCARS NOMINEES LUNCH Seated (L-R) : Adam Benzine, Paul Massey, Michael Standish, Chris Jenkins, Randy Thom, Jason Smith, Josh Cooley, Maryann Brandon, Richard Williams, Patrick Vollrath, Ed Lachman, Mary Parent, David Acord, Anders Langland, Henry Hughes, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Tom Yellin. Row 1 (L-R) : Rosa Tran, Jacqueline West, Ed Guiney, Evgeny Afineevsky, Matthew Shumway, Amy Hobby, Jonas Rivera, Gregg Rudloff, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Love Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Courtney Marsh, Nomi Talisman, Mark Ruffalo, Diane Warren, Paco Delgado, Bryan Cranston, Jistin Wilkes, Blye Pagon Faust, Roger Guyett, Basil Khalil, Drew Kunin, Sian Grigg, Andrea Berloff. Row 2 (L-R) :Adam Stockhausen, Tom McArdle, Keith Redmon, Damian Martin, Ale Abreu, Matthew Heineman, Matt Damon, Bernhard Henrich, Cameron Waldbauer, Alan Robert Murray, David White, Michael Schaefer, Stephen Mirrione, Adam McKay, Robert Pandini,Phyllis Nagy, Deniz Gamze Erguven, Nicole Grindle, Duncan Jarman, Saoirse Ronan, Hank Corwin, Micheal Sugar, Patrick Tubach, Frank A. Montano, Rich McBride. Row 3 (L-R) : Jon Taylor, Hamish Purdy, Matthew Wood, Lady Gaga, Oliver Tarney, Gabriel Osorio, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Singer, Serena Armitage, Lon Bender, Dan Hertzfeldt, David Darg, Arthur Max, Pato Escala, Laszlo Nemes, Andy Nelson, Eva von Bahr, Eric Dupont, Jack Fisk, J Ralph, Imogen Sutton, Thomas Newman, Finola Dwyer, Duke Johnson, Carter Burwell, Ciro Guera and guest, Jerry Franck, Stuart Wilson. Row 4 (L-R) : Jimmy Napes, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Seale, Pete Docter, Marc Platt, Jonathan Herman, David Lang, Rooney Mara, Alicia Vikander, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alex Garland, Tom McCarthy, Sanjay Patel, Naji Abu Nowar, Alan Wenkus, Tobias Lindholm, Jennifer Lawrence, Meg LeFauve, Nicole Rocklin, Dee Hibbert-Jones, Benjamin Cleary, Konstantin Bronzit, Martin Hernandez, Steven Spielberg, Drew Goddard, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sam Smith, Richard Stammers, James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia, Paul Norris. Row 5 (L-R) : Ridley Scott, Christopher Scarabosio, Charlie Kaufman, Margaret Sixel, George Miller, The Weeknd, Emma Donoghue, Lenny Abrahamson, Liz Garbus, Mark Mangini, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Bryn Mooser, Matt Charman, Steve Golin, S. Leigh Savidge, Brie Larson, Jeremy Kleiner, Ronnie Del Carmen, Rena DeAngelo, Chris Duesterdiek, Sylvester Stallone, Sandy Powell, Emmanuel Lubezki, Roger Deakins, Eddie Redmayne, Charles Randolph, Rachel McAdams, Mary Jo Markey, Stephan Moccio and Jamie Oliver Donoughue. Advertisement All together now: A behind-the-scenes look of the group photo was put on Twitter. The 35th annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon was held at the Beverly Hilton on Monday afternoon All smiles: Fresh from her Superbowl performance, Lady Gaga waves for a photo taken by People magazine at the luncheon But it didn't stop the great and the good of the film world from taking some time out at the event to enjoy for a moment the fact they could be walking away with a gong on the big day. Actress Alicia Vikander, who has been acknowledged in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in The Danish Girl, stunned in a short-sleeved orange mini dress that showed off her toned legs and arms. The 27-year-old Swedish star added beige ankle strap heels for a summer feel even though it's the dead of winter. Rachel McAdams looked like a winner already in her sparkly mini dress. The Notebook vet has been given a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her turn in Spotlight. See more of the latest on the Oscars 2016 as the nominees attend an Academy Awards luncheon Mingling with the big cheese: Jennifer Lawrence posed with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs Ready for her close up: Underneath her jacket she wore a bustier that didn't show too much and didn't show too little. A wide belt added a bit of Vogue-ishness Dazzling in a dark color: The star went with a black power suit that lent an air of sophistication. The beauty, singled out for her work in the drama Joy, looked at ease as she posed on the carpet alone Look who she made friends with: J-Law, as she has been nicknamed, posed with Room star Jacob Tremblay Star power: Newcomer Jacob Tremblay chills out before lunch in a photo taken by People (left), while (right) is a look at the people at Table 6, including Tremblay and Room writer Emma Donoghue The 37-year-old blonde's pink little sleeveless number had a cute red bow on her chest that was planted just below a lavender jewel-encrusted neckline. The True Detective star accessorized nicely with a pink clutch purse and pink velvet pumps. Jennifer Lawrence went with a black power suit that lent an air of sophistication. Underneath the jacket portion was a bustier that didn't show too much and didn't show too little. A wide belt added a bit of Vogue-ishness. The beauty, singled out for her work in the drama Joy, looked at ease as she posed on the carpet alone. Awesome in orange: Actress Alicia Vikander, who has been acknowledge for her Best Supporting Actress work in The Danish Girl, stunned in a mini dress that showed off her toned legs and arms at the Oscar lunch High up: The 27-year-old Swedish star added beige ankle strap heels for a summer feel even though it's the dead of winter This is far from her first Oscar lunch. She has already won the top prize for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook in 2012. Also present was Best Actress nominee Brie Larson who got a nod for her work in the drama Room. The beauty kept it feminine with a light pink blouse that was slightly see-through and had a Golden Era Hollywood style appeal.A striped skirt with eyelash designs on it looked unique as did her beige and black heels. At one point her co-star Jacob Tremblay posed with her. The child actor looked dashing in a blue suit and tie with brown shoes. Eddie Redmayne, nominated for The Danish Girl, had his arm out for wife Hannah Bagshawe. She looked party perfect in her interesting black dress with a pastel finish on the hem. ACADEMY AWARDS 2016: THE NOMINATIONS BEST PICTURE Spotlight The Revenant The Big Short Brooklyn The Martian Bridge Of Spies Room Mad Max: Fury Road BEST ACTOR Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs Matt Damon, The Martian Bryan Cranston, Trumbo BEST ACTRESS Cate Blanchett, Carol Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years Brie Larson, Room Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn Jennifer Lawrence, Joy BEST DIRECTOR Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant Tom McCarthy, Spotlight Adam McKay, The Big Short Lenny Abraham, Room George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight Tom Hardy, The Revenant Christian Bale, The Big Short Sylvester Stallone, Creed BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Rooney Mara, Carol Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight Rachel McAdams, Spotlight ORIGINAL SONG Earned It, Fifty Shades of Grey Manta Ray, Racing Extinction Simple Song #3, Youth Til It Happens to You, The Hunting Ground Writing's on the Wall, Spectre ORIGINAL SCORE Bridge of Spies Carol The Hateful Eight Sicario Star Wars: The Force Awakens FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Embrace of the Serpent Mustang Son of Saul Theeb A War DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Amy Cartel Land The Look of Silence What Happened, Miss Simone? Winter on Fire BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Inside Out Spotlight Ex Machina Bridge of Spies Straight Outta Compton BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Room The Martian Brooklyn Carol The Big Short BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant The Hateful Eight The Danish Girl Sicario BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Inside Out Boy And The World Anomalisa When Marnie Was There Shaun The Sheep DOCUMENTARY SHORT Body Team Chau, Beyond the Lines Claude Lanzmann A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness Last Day of Freedom COSTUME DESIGN Carol Cinderella The Danish Girl Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING Mad Max: Fury Road The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared The Revenant ANIMATED SHORT Bear Story Prologue Sanjay's Super Team We Can't Live Without Cosmos World of Tomorrow FILM EDITING The Big Short Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant Spotlight Star Wars: The Force Awakens PRODUCTION DESIGN Bridge of Spies The Danish Girl Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant VISUAL EFFECTS Ex Machina Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Star Wars: The Force Awakens Advertisement Glowing: Rachel McAdams looked like a winner already in her mini dress. The Notebook vet has been given a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her turn in Spotlight Nifty: The 37-year-old blonde's pink little sleeveless number had a cute red bow on her chest that was planted just below a lavender jewel-encrusted neckline In December a source told E! News that she was expecting their first child. And Redmayne revealed he is trying to enjoy the 'extraordinary ride' of his second best actor nod in two years as he joined his fellow Oscar nominees for the celebratory lunch. He said: "It's such an extraordinary ride. Last year was like being hit by a bulldozer and it's such a frenzy of emotions that you try to remain open enough to enjoy it and remember it." 'You think of it as an evening event but it takes such a long time, I will have a calm day. 'I promise Hannah whenever we come to LA that the sun will be shining, but it rained last year. We will have a gentle day and relax and enjoy it. Last year I was such a frenzy of nerves .' Asked if he would have a glass of champagne, he replied: 'Several.' Flawless: Rooney Mara impressed with her ladylike look that included a dramatic, pulled-back hair do She sure is in bloom: The star, who has been recognized for her work in Carol as a Best Supporting Actress, looked striking in this white mini dress with flower embroidery on the sleeve and side Bonding with the costume specialist: Mara (L) and costume designer Jacqueline West (R) stopped to chat Lady Gaga is nominated for her song Til It Happens To You - a collaboration with Diane Warren - in the Best Original Song category for the film The Hunting Ground. The Golden Globe winner looked cool as a tall glass of champagne in her silk, sleeveless dress that hugged every inch of her toned figure. To add even more drama, the Poker Face singer wore her long blonde piled up on top with a few curled tendrils falling over her shoulders. The singer was got very emotional at one point during the luncheon - according to E! News tears were pouring down her face when she was name checked in a speech at the event. Oscars producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin took to the stage, and David gave a special mention to the singer for her performance of the national anthem at the Super Bowl. The Oscars love her voice: Lady Gaga is nominated for her song Til It Happens To You - a collaboration with Diane Warren - in the Best Original Song category for the film The Hunting Ground Hand in hand again: The musicians looked closer than ever as they posed against the Oscar backdrop Sizzling singer: The Golden Globe winner looked cool as a tall glass of champagne in her silky, sleeveless dress that hugged every inch of her toned figure Let's just belt out a tune right here, right now: Gaga started singing a song as she showed off her tattoos (and that rock from fiance Taylor Kinney) next to Warren He said it was: 'the best rendition I have ever heard, and, trust me, I've heard a lot.' David has been involved in producing several Super Bowls in the past. The star was so surprised by the unexpected praise - her mouth dropped open when she heard her name and tears rolled down her cheeks. According to the website she 'was so overcome with emotion she rested her face in her hands before taking a deep breath to regain her composure and wipe the tears from her face.' Leonardo DiCaprio was also in attendance - he is in line for Best Actor - up against Sylvester Stallone. Does he already have his acceptance speech written? Leonardo DiCaprio looked his usual red-carpet dapper self in a dark suit with polka dot tie. He is one of the favorites this year as his work in The Revenant has won raves Best buddies: The Titanic vet posed next to his Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Bonding with the action star: The drama actor spent time with Sylvester Stallone, who has been praised for his work in Creed Man to man: Both acting vets looked put together nicely in their sharp suits; Sly cutely had on a name tag, as if he needed one This kid sure knows how to work a room in Hollywood: The Golden Globe winner threw a punch at screen legend Sly, best know for playing a prize fighter in Rocky The pair exchanged pleasantries at the luncheon, and the Creed star revealed he was ready to boycott this years ceremony after the #Oscarssowhite backlash. The 69-year-old actor told The Wrap : 'I remember I spoke with ('Creed' director) Ryan Coogler when this happened and I said: 'How do you want to handle this? Because I feel like you are responsible for me being here.'' The director is African-American, as well as Sly's co-star Michael B. Jordan, who were both passed over for Oscar nominations this year. The actor was nominated for reprising the role of Rocky Balboa in the film and is a hot favorite to take home the trophy. Sly continued: 'I said: 'If you don't want me to go, I won't.' He said: 'I want you to go.' That's the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film.' The 'elephant in the room' was addressed by Oscar president Cheryl Boone Isaacs who said, according to The LA Times : 'This year, we all know there's an elephant in the room. I have asked the elephant to leave.' The lack of African-American nominees marred this year's awards in its early stages. So ladylike: Jennifer Jason Leigh wore a coral colored dress with black pumps and purse - she is nominated for Hateful Eight The look of love: Eddie Redmayne, nominated for The Danish Girl, had his arm out for wife Hannah Bagshawe All dressed up... and somewhere to go: She looked party perfect in her interesting black dress with a pastel finish on the hem. In December a source told E! News that she was expecting their first child Jada Pinkett Smith lead the charge by announcing her decision to boycott the ceremony with a video on Facebook, which also urged other people not to go. She was then supported by her husband, Will Smith, and director Spike Lee. Also at the luncheon, Rooney Mara impressed with her ladylike look that included a dramatic, pulled-back hair do. The 30-year-old star, who has been recognized for her work in Carol as a Best Supporting Actress, looked striking in this white mini dress with flower embroidery on the sleeve and side. Matt Damon chucked the tie for a less formal look; his grey suit and white shirt made him look rather nondescript as he posed on the red carpet. The star is nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Martian. Never too early for The Weeknd: The musician, who dates Bella Hadid, has been nominated for his song Earned It from Fifty Shades Of Gre Pretty in pink: Also present was Best Actress nominee Brie Larson, who got a nod for her work in the drama Room Her screen son: At one point her co-star Tremblay posed with her. The child actor looked dashing in a blue suit and striped tie with brown shoes Just two girls ready to party: Larson (L) with director/screenwriter Deniz Gamze Erguven (R) She wore short shorts to the big event: Also present was Saoirse Ronan who has been nominated for Brooklyn A winner every day: Acclaimed actress Charlotte Rampling - nominated for Best Actress for 45 Years - wore basic black with unusual footwear. She kept her makeup simple and her short locks brushed back; Ronan is on the right Jennifer Jason Leigh wore a coral colored dress with black pumps and purse - she is nominated for Hateful Eight. Acclaimed actress Charlotte Rampling - nominated for Best Actress for 45 Years - wore basic black with unusual footwear. She kept her makeup simple and her short locks brushed back. The 41-year-old Titanic vet also posed next to his Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Going simple: Matt Damon chucked the tie for a less formal look; his grey suit made him look rather nondescript. The star is nomination for Best Actor for his work in The Martian This man sure cleans up well: Mark Ruffalo, who has been given props for his turn in Spotlight, wore a grey suit with black shoes; also present was Steven Spielberg (right) whose film Bridge Of Spies has been recognized The event, at which nominees from all 24 Oscar categories mingle and participate in a class photo, kicks off events leading up to the 88th Oscars, which will be held Feb. 28, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, broadcast live by ABC. The Weeknd, who dates model Bella Hadid, was also at the lunch. She is a social media sensation who lives an ultra-glamorous life. But Pixie Curtis proved she still has a lot in common with girls her age as she was pictured sporting a Frozen beach towel robe while spending the day at Bondi beach with her mother Roxy Jacenko. The four-year-old tot was in great spirits after enjoying a splash about in the water, walking hand-in-hand with her PR maven mother. Scroll down for video Like mother, like daughter: Pixie Curtis was pictured sporting a Frozen beach towel robe while spending the day at Bondi Beach with her mother Roxy Jacenko The adorable youngster looked every inch the mini socialite with Ray Ban shades in place, while she, of course, donned on of her famous Pixies Bows. Completing her ensemble with flip flops, the young starlet seemed happy to be spending the day in the glorious sunshine. Her business savvy mother wore a white top and a grey jersey skirt, which she teamed with black flip flops. The pair were joined for the outing by Roxy's friend and fellow Bondi Beach resident Marcus Ritchie, ANZ Director of Utilities & Infrastructure. Cutie pie: The adorable youngster looked every inch the mini diva with Ray Ban shades in place while she donned her famous Pixies Bows Fun day out: The four-year-old tot was in great spirits after enjoying a splash about in the water Keeping it casual: Her business savvy mother wore a white top and a grey jersey skirt, which she teamed with black flip flops Sharing a picture on her Instagram, Roxy joked: Some lurk the promenade with a small fluffy puppy to snag a good looking gent - others a toddler !!!! Hahaha Pixie Curtis doing some due diligence today. Meanwhile, Roxy who handles her daughters Instagram account also shared a picture of Pixies page which said: Down on Bondi Beach - checking out the talent and oh my it's brimming with good sorts today.' In another snap, Pixie struck a pose on the rocks in a snap captioned: 'She said "just give me something natural Pix" - I think I've nailed it!' Famous pair: It was a mother-daughter affair for the pair, with Roxy's husband and son absent from the outing Friends: The pair were joined for the outing by Roxy's friend and fellow Bondi Beach resident Marcus Ritchie, ANZ Director of Utilities & Infrastructure Fun in the sun: Sharing a picture on her Instagram, Roxy joked, Some lurk the promenade with a small fluffy puppy to snag a good looking gent - others a toddler' Last month, Roxy and Pixie returned from a break with their family in Fiji, including Roxy's husband Oliver Curtis and their one-year-old son Hunter. It is the second time the family has visited the exclusive Laucala Island in a year with the group jetting to the resort in September. It is also where Elle Macpherson tied the knot with Jeffrey Soffer in 2013. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday, Roxy revealed the pair are on yet another adventure as she said: 'We are en-route to Singapore currently with Singapore Tourism.' Taking a dip: Meanwhile, Roxy who handles her daughters Instagram account also shared a picture of Pixies page which said: Down on Bondi Beach - checking out the talent' Off we go: Last month, Roxy and Pixie returned from a break with their family in Fiji, including Roxy's husband Oliver Curtis and their one-year-old son Hunter She's used to making great strides in her career as the world's first transgender model. And Andreja Pejic showed exactly why she has proved so successful on the runway as she flaunted her long pins at the TV Guide Magazine Celebrates Dick Wolf's Chicago Fire series in New York. On Monday, the 24-year-old Australian model showcased her long limbs in a pair of leather mini shorts, which she teamed with a fitted spandex high-neck top and leather boots. Legs eleven out of ten! Andreja Pejic flaunted her long slender pins as she stepped out in New York on Monday to attend the TV Guide Magazine Celebrates Dick Wolf's Chicago Series Walking the carpet at the LeGrande Lounge at The Time New York Hotel, it was easy to see how the lofty beauty has commanded success on the runway. The six foot, one inch model wore her honey-blonde locks down in loose waves which tumbled past her shoulders. She opted for a hint of peach blush over her well defined cheek bones, thick lashings of mascara to make her blue eyes pop and a layer of pink gloss. She accessorised her look with a fur jacket, loosely thrown over one shoulder, and completed her edgy look with a pair of patent leather boots. The long and short of it! The 24-year-old Australian model showcased her model limbs in a pair of leather mini shorts, which she teamed with a fitted spandex high-neck top and leather boots The Australian celebrity ushered in the New Year in Miami with her close friend and fellow Australian model Catherine McNeil. She posted a racy snap featuring herself, Cat and friend Lexi Boling posing in scant attire in their hotel bathroom during the celebrations. 'We are here', wrote Andreja in the caption as Cat posed seemingly topless with her hands in the air. Leggy beauty: Walking the carpet at the LeGrande Lounge at The Time New York Hotel, it was easy to see how the lofty beauty has commanded such success on the runway In February last year, Andreja made her triumphant debut on the catwalk as a woman following a year spent undergoing a series of gender reassignment procedures. Speaking to Vogue about her decision to transition, the Serbian-born, Melbourne-raised model revealed that she had previously been advised not to undergo the surgery because it would transform her from an interesting enigma into just another pretty girl. There was definitely a lot of, "Oh, youre going to lose whats special about you. Youre not going to be interesting anymore. There are loads of pretty girls out there,"' she explained. One agent even advised her that 'it's better to be androgynous than a tranny', but Andreja refused to fall prey to those opinions. Natural beauty: Andreja opted for a hint of peach blush on her well defined cheek bones and lashings of mascara to make her blue eyes pop 'It is about showing that this is not just a gimmick,' she said of being transgender. Andreja first made a name for herself within the fashion industry as both a male and a female model, with her androgynous look allowing her to showcase both male and female designs. In 2012 she modelled Jean Paul Gaultier's Haute Couture Fall/Winter collection in Paris before going on to showcase the same designer's menswear range. She also walked for designer Giles Deacon's Autumn/Winter show at London Fashion Week in 2015. A successful catwalk model Andreja has also recently become the face of Make Up For Ever, making her one of the first transgender model's to become the face of a beauty brand. The Vogue model, born in Bosnia-Herzegovina before emigrating to Melbourne, was scouted aged 16 while working in McDonald's. Leggy babe: In February last year, Andreja made her triumphant debut on the catwalk as a woman following a year spent undergoing a series of gender reassignment procedures Breaking the mould: Speaking to Vogue Australia, she revealed that she had previously been advised not to undergo the surgery because it would transform her from an interesting enigma into just another pretty girl They will have been married for 15 years in August. And Pierce Brosnan proved he is just as smitten with his wife Keely Shaye Smith as he was the day he met her as he shared a sweet throwback snap to his Instagram page on Tuesday. The 62-year-old actor professed his love for the American journalist - with whom he shares sons Dylan, 19, and Paris, 13 - with a beautiful snap of the two from way back when. Scroll down for video 'My love': Pierce Brosnan proved he is just as smitten with his wife Keely Shaye Smith as he was the day he met her as he shared a sweet throwback snap to his Instagram page on Tuesday The image depicts a sharp-suited Brosnan looking lovingly at his wife, who looks beautiful in a floral gown, as they smile for photos. 'My love ....,' he romantically captioned the blissful shot. Pierce married Keely in 2001, 10 years after his first wife, Cassandra Harris, passed away at age 43 following a battle with ovarian cancer. Long-time loves: Pierce married Keely in 2001, 10 years after his first wife, Cassandra Harris, passed away at age 43 following a battle with ovarian cancer Years later and the star is still in awe of his wife's strength and support for him, frequently gushing about her in interviews. 'I love her vitality, her passion,' he said. 'She has this strength that I wouldn't be able to live without. When Keely looks at me, I go weak,' he told the Independent in March last year. Meanwhile, it's been announced that Pierce is set to star in an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel Across the River and Into the Trees. Smitten: Pierce regularly gushes over his wife, telling the Independent in March 2015: ''I love her vitality, her passion. She has this strength that I wouldn't be able to live without. When Keely looks at me, I go weak' The GoldenEye actor has joined forces with director Martin Campbell to bring the American author's best-selling 1950 book to the big screen. Written in Venice during Hemingway's first visit to Italy, the story revolves around ageing Colonel Richard Cantwell who serves in the European country after World War II and who is dying of heart disease. Filming is due to start in October and Oscar-nominated Michael Radford and BAFTA winner Peter Flannery have adapted the script. The former James Bond star and Campbell have previously teamed up on GoldenEye. They appeared to be headed toward a glittering romance in the Celebrity Big Brother house. Yet Scotty T and Megan McKenna's union appears to have fallen flat as they headed into the real world, with the Geordie Shore star revealing the duo may not have a future. The 27-year-old Newcastle native, who won the Channel 5 show, offered a bashful response when grilled by New! magazine about his plans for a romantic future with the Ex On The Beach star, 23, as she recently broke up with fellow reality star Jordan Davies. Scroll down for video Lost love? Scotty T and Megan McKenna's union appears to have fallen flat as they headed into the real world, with the Geordie Shore star revealing the duo may not have a future Viewers watched with baited breath as they saw the romance between Scotty and Megan unfold, before she became the fourth housemate to be evicted from the seventeenth series. While many believed the duo would relight their fire upon leaving the show, it appears their vibrant love affair has become relatively lacklustre on the outside world. When asked if he would stop romancing a new woman because of Megan, he joked: 'I'm in love with Megan. I'm not really, I'm only joking. Megan's just got out of a relationship. She lives in Essex. See more CBB updates as Scotty T rules out future with CBB love interest Megan McKenna Long-distance cannot go the distance; The 27-year-old Newcastle native, who won the Channel 5 show, offered a bashful response when grilled by New ! magazine about his plans for a romantic future with the Ex On The Beach star, 23 Love no more: Viewers watched with baited breath as they saw the romance between Scotty and Megan unfold, before she became the fourth housemate to be evicted from the seventeenth series 'I live in Newcastle. I genuinely don't know what's going to happe. I don't commit unless I can put all my effort into it and at the minute I'm too busy.' As Scotty has jetted back to Newcastle to continue filming Geordie Shore, it appears a 273-mile separation would put a dampener on their love affair. The handsome reality star also referenced Megan's recent split with Magaluf Weekender star Jordan Davies, who both Megan and Scotty starred alongside in the current series of Ex On The Beach. Megan, who admits to harbouring a jealous temperament, watched enviously as fellow-housemate Tiffany Pollard made a move on Scotty after she left the show. Too many exes: The handsome reality star also referenced Megan's recent split with Magaluf Weekender star Jordan Davies [pictured left], who both Megan and Scotty starred alongside in the current series of Ex On The Beach. Scott, famed for boozing and bedding, played up to her advances, although he has dismissed the advances as her seeking male attention. He said: '[Tiffany] was pure trying it on with me every night - I'm not even joking! She was like "Damn Scotty, you looking fine!" She's a nice girl. I think she was just missing a bit of male attention.' When asked whether he would be able to handle the Flavor's Flav Of Love star, Scotty joked: 'Aye of course! I would have destroyed her!' She's only just single again following her recent split from basketball player James Harden. However, it didn't take long for Khloe Kardashian to enjoy a night out with another ex, rapper French Montana. The youngest Kardashian sister, 31, showed off her fabulous figure in a white halterneck jumpsuit and dusky pink coat as she reunited with her former flame in Los Angeles. Scroll down for video Looking fierce: Khloe Kardashian leaves The Nice Guy lounge in Hollywood with best pal Malika Haqq on Monday night Friendly terms: Khloe was joined by ex-boyfriend French Montana, who looked casual in black jeans and a bright red hoodie As the news became public of her split from James a few weeks ago after six months of dating, Khloe headed out for dinner with French at BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood. Joined by her BFF Malika Haqq, the gang then headed off to new Hollywood hotspot The Nice Guy for drinks. After The Nice Guy, it was then on to nearby strip club Ace Of Diamonds - the same gentlemen's club where James was spotted partying with Scott Disick and Tyga last month. See more Khloe Kardashian updates as it's revealed she's split from James Harden Hitting the town: After a steak dinner, newly-single Khloe was spotted heading to The Nice Guy before moving on the Ace Of Diamonds strip club Wild night: Khloe and French look sheepish as they leave the Ace Of Diamonds strip club A bit of all white: The gym-obsessed reality star showed off the results of her workout sessions in the pale ensemble As fans of Keeping Up With The Kardashians will know, French's relationship with Khloe's pal Malika isn't exactly smooth sailing. In one episode of the show last year, French - real name Karim Kharbouch - blamed Malika for the demise of his romance with Khloe. The pair originally dated for six months in 2014, before splitting for several months and resuming their relationship in December 2014 before splitting again the following March. Why so shy? Khloe seemed rather coy as she made her way into strip club Ace Of Diamonds 'I don't believe in f**king and ducking': Khloe and French jumped in a taxi with their friends after drinks at The Nice Guy Ahead of her evening out, Khloe namechecked her glam squad for creating her look. She wrote: 'Excuse me!! Bobble head coming through!! Weeeerrrrk @monicarosestyle @joycebonelli @jenatkinhair.' Us Weekly reported on Monday how Khloe had split the Houston Rockets shooting guard, 26, last month. An insider told the magazine: 'She dumped him weeks ago.' Moving on: Khloe's night out was the best recipe for the reality star following a romantic disapointment She won't be single for long: The 31-year-old is hoping to find true love again following the breakdown of her marriage to Lamar Odom Burly: Khloe was guided into the strip club by a protective bouncer as she followed her friends Khloe and James started dating in last July, but their relationship cooled somewhat after her estranged husband Lamar Odom ended up in a coma after a wild bender at a Nevada brothel. The pair were last pictured together on New Year's Eve in a video of the pair kissing during their celebrations in Houston. Despite their romantic relationship ending in March 2015, Khloe has remained on friendly terms with French, 31. In an interview on sister Kylie Jenner's radio show, Khloe said last month: 'We have history. Weve had a relationship and a great friendship and I love that we are still friends. 'I dont believe in f**king and ducking.' On good terms: Khloe and French originally dated for six months in 2014, before splitting and resuming their romance for another three months in 2015 Check it out: Khloe showcased her outfit on her Instagram page before her night out They cover all manner of topics as the hosts of daytime talk show, This Morning but Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield seriously lost the plot during a raunchy discussion. Ferne McCann appeared on the show on Tuesday, to talk about the very raunchy contents of this year's 139,000 Oscars goody bag. 'This year it includes a Nuelle Fiera Arouser For Her, a Prehancer vibrator,' she said. Giggles: This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield seriously lost the plot during a raunchy discussion on Tuesday's show 'What's a Prehancer,' exclaimed Holly. 'I've seen a picture of it, it looks like a mouse for your computer. Have a Google.' Ferne said. 'I don't know what it does, but now we know why they look so great on the red carpet. Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lawrence are now the proud owners of one,' she added. She added that last year, the stars were gifted The Afterglow Pulsewave vibrator but it has now been replaced. Racy freebies: Ferne McCann appeared on the show to talk about the very raunchy contents of this year's 139,000 Oscars goody bag 'Did it give you an afterglow?' laughed Phil. 'Did it shake your teeth out?' as he struggled to contain himself. Prehancers, for the record, are designed to be used for a few minutes ahead of intimacy, rather than during, in a bid to get things started. But the joys of the goody bag don't end there. 'There's also a 10-day first-class trip to Israel, a personal trainer and 170 loo roll,' added Ferne. Shocked: 'This year it includes a Nuelle Fiera Arouser For Her, a Prehancer vibrator,' Ferne told a flabbergasted Phil and Holly 'Why on earth is it so expensive?' Holly asked. 'It's made of gold,' said Ferne. 'Leonardo DiCaprio will be using gold toilet roll.' 'You're making it up,' said Phillip, to which she replied: 'I am, actually.' Ferne also offered: 'They are giving away a vampire breast lift, where they take your blood and plump it back into your boobs to give them a boost.' Shocked: 'Did it give you an afterglow?' laughed Phil. 'Did it shake your teeth out?' as he struggled to contain himself Woman in the know: Ferne also offered: 'They are giving away a vampire breast lift, where they take your blood and plump it back into your boobs to give them a boost' 'They take your blood?' exclaimed Holly. 'Didn't Kim Kardashian have that done on her face?' They have proved in the past that they are not afraid to tackle intimate issues on women's health from showing how to check breasts for lumps to broadcasting a volunteer having a smear test. Last week, the show went one step further by broadcasting 'live from a vagina' as they tested a product designed to improve the strength of the pelvic floor. The gadget reviewed was the 149 'Elvie', which the show's consumer expert Alice Beer explained looks a bit like a computer mouse and is inserted into the vagina like a tampon - leaving Holly Willoughby in fits of giggles and Phillip Schofield looking stunned. Last week, the show went one step further by broadcasting 'live from a vagina' as they tested a product designed to improve the strength of the pelvic floor Presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby look on with shocked faces as the demonstration unfolds Holly got the giggles when she asked if men could use the product The presenting duo were amused as they viewed a demonstration of the Elvie The app synced to the gadget Nilufer was using, screen shot pictured, allowed the show to proclaim they were 'live from Nilufer's vagina' It then links up to a smartphone via Bluetooth and a compatible app give instructions on how to do pelvic floor exercises. Alice, who had tried the gadget at home, explained to intrigued presenters Phillip and Holly: 'Once you have set up the app on your mobile using Bluetooth it "talks" to your nether regions. 'It then instructs on a series of exercises of lifting, relaxing and then asks you to "fire" at a series of targets by squeezing rapidly. It's like playing Pac-man with your bits.' Following Alice's explanation, freelance writer Nilufer Atik, 39, from London, bravely volunteered to show how the 'Elvie' works live on the show. She had already set the product up and the app showing her scores was shown on a screen behind her as she demonstrated what happened when she squeezed her pelvic floor. The 149 product is inserted in the vagina like a tampon and then transmits via Bluetooth The app instructs the user to tighten their pelvic floor, left, and then gives them a score on their effort Holly, seen with an Elvie gadget in her hand, struggled to keep a straight face through out the segment Phillip had to assure his co-presenter that the gadget was just for women as she laughed at her mistake Nilufer illustrated how the score on the app changed as she was 'squeezing and relaxing', commenting that it was 'like interval training for the vagina.' She was cheered on by the presenters as she tried to achieve a high score through her efforts with Phillip commenting: 'I'm gutted this is the one game I can't play!' Holly then caused much hilarity when she asked: 'This is for men as well isn't is it?' with Phillip telling her, 'What books have you been reading, I don't think it is!' Nilufer said her score was lower than it had been in the past, pointing out that the app keeps a record so the user is motivated to keep exercising their pelvic floor. 'Today I am weaker for some reason, it keeps a record and I can get competitive about it,' she said. Fitness expert Nilufer said the gadget is like 'interval training for the vagina' She was cheered on by the presenters as she tried to achieve a high score through her efforts with Phillip commenting: 'I'm gutted this is the one game I can't play!' Phillip and Holly burst into giggles through out the show as they let viewers know the segment 'live from a vagina' was coming up. They also flummoxed guest Chris Kamara when they asked him what he thought the product was for. The segment also caused bemusement with their audience as it came after beauty advice on how to plump up your lips Kylie Jenner style. Phillip kick started the innuendos when he tweeted to promote the show: 'What an @itvthismorning we have in store. We'll be joined by @Rylan @Kevsimmx @chris_kammy #PlumpLipTips #TMLifeHacks and #TMVaginaWorkout'. His co-presenter Rylan Clark-Neal replied: 'Just to put it out there, today on @itvthismorning there's #PlumpLipTips and #tmVaginaworkout. Not connected....', while Miss Pullen Tweeted: '#PlumpLipTips #TMVaginaWorkout #thismorning oops I got these two mixed up.' When the vagina workout section then got underway, viewers took to social media to air their views. Dave '@DaveyBoi' Tweeted: '#TMVaginaWorkout I'm glad i'm a bloke and don't have to play "Pac-Man with my bits" :D', while Joyce Combe wrote: '#thismorning lol what a subject to talk about on the show.poor Philip!! #TMvaginaworkout'. The presenters interviewed, from right, consumer expert Alice Beer, physio Katie Mann and Dr Monah Mansoori, who commented on the importance of strengthening the pelvic floor Doctor Monah said a weak pelvic floor can cause a number of problems including incontinence Dr Monah used a model to who where the pelvic floor is as she explained how it is 'a sheet of muscles that lies like a sling or hammock and supports the organs in the pelvis' Georgia Graham said: 'Never thought I'd see that on this morning ... #TMVaginaWorkout' with a screen grab from the show and the caption 'live from Nilufer's vagina'. STV said: 'We're loving Phillip Schofield's face during #TMvaginaworkout.' Meanwhile Amy '@geordiegalg' referred to Holly's gaff saying: 'Oh Holly!! I'm creased! I definitely don't think men can use that! #TMVaginaWorkout'. Nilufer herself Tweeted earlier in the day to advertise her appearance to her followers, who are used to reading her fitness advice in the national press. She wrote: 'For those who'd like a laugh at my expense, I'll be on @thismorning at 11am today talking about a very special type of workout.' Georgia Graham Tweeted her shock when she saw the show was 'live from Nilufer's vagina' Joyce Combe Tweeted: 'Lol what a subject to talk about on the show. Poor Phillip! #TMvaginaworkout' While the segment did give Phillip and Holly the giggles and amused some viewers, the show was also keen to point out the seriousness of the issue. Dr Monah Mansoori was on the sofa to explain just why strengthening the pelvic floor is so important, with one in three women experiencing pelvic floor problems which can cause embarrassing incontinence and affect the sex life. She said: 'The pelvic floor is a sheet of muscles that lies like a sling or hammock and supports the organs in the pelvis like the bladder, the bowls and uterus for women. 'They can get weakened for a number of reasons - pregnancy as things can get lax, ageing, genetics, it can happen to men as well as it can also be caused by chronic constipation and lifting heavy things. 'It is important to look after as it supports everything down there, can lead to incontinence and affect your sex life. Phillip teased the workout on the show earlier in the day on Twitter Rylan Clark-Neal joked that the beauty section to get plumper lips was not related to the vagina workout 'If it is weakened what can happen is the organs can hang further down and cause problems with urinating and opening the bowls.' Holly praised the Elvie gadget for making the task of doing pelvic floor exercises seem more fun and helping the user to visualise how it was working. But for anyone who can't afford the gadget, physio Katie Mann said exercises can be done easily without any products. She advised squeezing the pelvic floor ten times, three times a day, as if trying to hold in a wee. Following her appearance, Nilufer told FEMAIL why she thought it was an important issue to raise. She said: 'I think it is important for women to do pelvic floor exercises regardless of whether they've had babies or suffer from incontinence. I exercise regularly and do a lot of core work which strengthens this area naturally but people often neglect working on smaller muscles in the body like these which also contribute to overall health and wellbeing.' She added: 'Yes, we did have a bit of a giggle live on air, but ultimately, there is nothing embarrassing or humiliating about pointing out the importance of strengthening your pelvic floor. And none of us should be embarrassed about any part of our bodies or health issues relating to them.' Food lover: Phillip and Holly also joined cooking expert Phil Vickery on the show Food treat: The host showed off his culinary skills as he tossed a pancake They only confirmed their relationship at the start of the year, so its no wonder Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice still look very much the newly smitten lovebirds. The couple - who started dating shortly after the former Coronation Street star ended her romance with Sean Ward - appeared to be in relaxed spirits as they enjoyed a break from the Strictly live tour on Tuesday afternoon. Stepping out onto the streets of Nottingham, the dancing duo looked completely enamoured as they walked hand-in-hand. Scroll down for video Hand in hand: Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice appeared to be in relaxed spirits as they enjoyed a break from the Strictly live tour in Nottingham, on Tuesday afternoon Georgia, 24, cut a relatively stylish figure in a grey high-neck blouse and a green parka coat, which boasted a faux fur trim hood, gold pop studs and black trim. She teamed her getup with tight blue jeans and black River Island suede booties, while wearing her long golden-tinted tresses in sleek waves. Meanwhile, Giovanni dressed down in a navy padded jacket and a distressed pair of denim jeans, which was paired up with a plain T-shirt and white high-top trainers. City chic: Georgia, 24, cut a relatively stylish figure in a grey high-neck blouse and a green parka coat, which boasted a faux fur trim hood, gold pop studs and black trim Meanwhile... Giovanni, 25, dressed down in a navy padded jacket and a distressed pair of denim jeans, which was paired up with a plain T-shirt and white high-top trainers. Following their successful stint on the BBC 1 dancing competition, the pair have embarked on a nationwide tour with their Strictly counterparts. And proving just how much fun they are having, Georgia took to her social media sites to post a fun snap, alongside the caption: This was the funniest thing ever. Laser quest with the strictly crew! X. The pair recently revealed that they are planning to move in together in London, and it seems that the prospect of spending an infinite amount of time together isn't the least bit daunting. Speaking to Star Magazine, the actress revealed: 'At the end of the tour it will be six months where we've been together every single day.' Inseparable: Following their successful stint on the BBC 1 dancing competition, the pair have embarked on a nationwide tour with their Strictly counterparts Close bond: The pair recently revealed that they are planning to move in together in London, and it seems that the prospect of spending an infinite amount of time together isn't the least bit daunting And while after one month many couples are still unsure of each other, Georgia explained she's hoping to replicate the 'amazing experience' she had with Giovanni on TV on the live tour. 'We had such an amazing experience on Strictly,' she said. 'It's nice to be able to go on tour together now and experience this together now.' And despite putting on a brave face over the last few weeks, her ex, Sean is clearly finding the couple's recent split difficult to bear, as he recently removed all trace of her from his Instagram account. The 27-year-old uploaded a series of blank images to his page alongside the words: Fresh and Clean, Clean and Fresh. She's notorious for finding herself in the middle of a drama. And it seems Eva Price is making no attempt to keep her head down and stay out of trouble as she turns secret agent for the day with her partner in crime, Billy Mayhew. Staking out the O'Driscoll mansion, the blonde beauty - played by Catherine Tyldesley - transforms into James Bond for the day in hilarious new Coronation Street scenes. Scroll down for video Corrie's Angels? She's notorious for finding herself in the middle of a drama, and it seems Eva Price is making no effort to stay out of trouble as she turns secret agent for the day in Coronation Street scenes In upcoming scenes, Eva drafts in Billy (Daniel Brocklebank) to spy on Richie O'Driscoll (James Midgley) as she grows suspicious that he and his wife Julia (Malgorzata Klara) are hiding illegal workers in their home. New to the cobbles, the wealthy couple may have won over some of Weatherfield's residents, but Eva and Billy can't shake the feeling that something is not right about the pair. Teaming up to prove their theory, they hide in their car as they watch open-mouthed while the O'Driscolls arrive back in their Mercedes 4x4 and grab some files before speeding off into the distance. See more of the latest Coronation Street news, spoilers and cast updates Double O-Dear: Staking out the O'Driscoll mansion, the blonde beauty - played by Catherine Tyldesley - transforms into James Bond for the day with her partner in crime Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) Chaos on the Cobbles! Teaming up to prove their theory, the pair hide in their car as they watch open-mouthed while the O'Driscolls arrive back in their Mercedes 4x4 Taking her role as an honorary spy very seriously, Eva even holds her hands together Charlie's Angels style as she prepares to snoop around the mansion. Opting to wear a pair of figure-hugging leggings and a pair of cosy brown boots, Eva didn't quite dress like a Bond girl but looked inconspicuous nonetheless. Meanwhile, Vicar Billy also stuck to his usual day wear, donning a grey pea coat over his clerical collar and jeans. Suspect number one: New man on the cobbles, Richie O'Driscoll (James Midgley) is followed by Eva and Billy who are suspicious that he and his wife are hiding illegal workers in their home Whilst Eva and Billy put on a humorous display as private detectives, the storyline is set to deal with the far more serious issue of child slavery and homelessness. In shocking scenes, Eva will find Polish teenager Marta hiding out in Underworld after escaping from the O'Driscoll's home where she had been kept as a slave by the couple. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News a Coronation Street insider said: 'This is going to be a very difficult subject to tackle, but it has been in the news recently and sadly is not as uncommon as people might think. 'Undoubtedly it will make for some difficult scenes, and perhaps some uncomfortable viewing, but its important to highlight the reality of people in these terrible situations.' Dave Billsborrow is resting and on painkillers after an urgent operation to remove a malignant skin tumour on Monday. And although the former Bachelorette contestant told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday he was feeling 'fine', he revealed he was awake during surgery. 'They put me to sleep but I woke up halfway through the operation, so I could sort of still talk to the surgeon as he was cutting me open,' he revealed, adding 'they were very professional'. Scroll down for video 'I woke up halfway through': Dave Billsborrow revealed he was awake during surgery as doctors removed a basal cell carcinoma - the most common type of malignant skin tumour - from the side of his head on Monday After asking if they could removed the drape so he could watch what they were doing, Dave says he was told it wasn't in his best interests. The 30-year-old plumber had a spot on the side of his temple, which some doctors had misdiagnosed as a rash, which later turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma - the most common type of malignant skin tumour. While he was told the tumour was not life-threatening, he was warned it had the potential to turn serious, which Dave admitted unnerved him, saying: 'I think it will scare anyone'. 'It's in my genes unfortunately': Dave revealed his mum has had a number of skin cancers cut out over the years and admitted the diagnosis has scared him a little However, the former reality TV personality also revealed to Daily Mail Australia that he is somewhat used to dealing with such scares, after his mum has had a number of skin cancers removed herself. 'It's something that's in my genes unfortunately,' Dave said. 'She's a little bit angry cause I didn't really tell anyone til it was going down', the 30-year-old added of his mum's reaction to his news. 'Thanks sweetheart': The loved up plumber posted a tribute to Instagram to his girlfriend Sarah-Mae Amey for nursing him back to health He added: 'She was fine - like she says, there's no point worrying about something you can't control, even though she's a big worrier - I'm her youngest you see.' The plumber, who says he is a sun safe person and conscious of skin cancers, reiterated that he only shared news of his surgery on social media to raise awareness of the issue. While he implored fans to get checked, reminding them it can happen to anyone, Dave also made light of using his celebrity status for the cause as Hugh Jackman did the same following the removal of a fifth skin cancer on his nose. 'Shame ol Hughy Jackman got in there before me': The former Bachelorette star joked about using his celebrity to raise awareness of the issue as Hollywood heavyweight Hugh Jackman did the same this week 'Shame ol Hughy Jackman got in there before me, he's got just that little bit more of a profile than I do,' Dave joked. 'Maybe Hugh Jackman's trying to be like me!...I really doubt it,' he laughed. Taking to Instagram again on Tuesday night the now lucky in love personality paid tribute to his girlfriend of three months, Sarah-Mae Amey, who has helped nurse him back to health. 'Thanks so much for everyone's support. But a special thanks to my gf for looking after me during my little skin scare..Thanks sweet heart,' he captioned the shot with his arm around Sarah. 'My poor little bandage head': Sarah-Mae shared a picture collage of Dave on social media and gushed about what a 'trooper' he was through the process The brunette beauty also shared a shot of her patient, telling fans: 'My poor little bandage head @dave_billsborrow Such a trooper!' Reaching out: Dave's former Bachelorette co-star Michael Turnbull asked after his pal's health Shortly after the procedure Dave uploaded an image of himself lying in a hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around his head. Next to the image he wrote: 'A message for everyone to go to a skin clinic and get checked out. Skin cancers can happen to anyone! I'm all good, but unfortunately people are to late. So people get to a skin clinic and get checked. (sic)' Dave's former Bachelorette co-star Michael Turnbull was quick to check in with his buddy and wrote: 'Cuzzie !!! Are you ok.' Cute couple: The brunette beauty uploaded this snap of herself and Dave to her Instagram page along with just a heart emoticon The 30-year-old plumber replied: 'I'm all good. Bit of a saw head but sweet (sic).' Dave's fans were quick to send him well wishes and some decided to share their own experiences with skin cancer. The tradie's girlfriend Sarah-Mae Louise posted a selfie of the pair of them together to her own Instagram page. Instead of a lengthy caption she just uploaded the image along with a heart emoticon. She's got two films scheduled for release this year as well as another two with unconfirmed release dates. And Charlize Theron is certainly notching up the movie credits as she was pictured filming yet another project in Berlin on Tuesday. The Oscar-award-winning actress debuted a new look as she transformed into the leading character which she plays in new spy thriller The Coldest City. Scroll down for video Back to her roots: Charlize Theron rocked a nostalgic look as she was spotted filming in Berlin on Tuesday Charlize, 40, cut a strong figure as she was pictured on location in the rain-drenched German capital. She rocked a platinum wig which no doubt took her back to her bottle-blonde days a few years ago. The hair-piece was shoulder in length, feathered in style and featured a full and poker straight fringe which perfectly framed her face. Star treatment: The 40-year-old leading actress was fussed over by members of the film crew as she shot scenes for The Coldest City in the rain Do blondes have more fun? The Mad Max: Fury Road star sported a platinum blonde wig which was feathered and full-fringe in style as she got to work on set Agent uniform: Charlize was suitably styled for the occasion as she got into the character of Lorraine Broughton - a top agent - during the Cold War era You can stand under my umbrella: A willing member of the crew ensured not one strand of Charlize's perfectly-preened wig didn't fall out of place in the wet conditions as they protected her from the downpour Charlize certainly looked the part of top female agent Lorraine Broughton - the leading character in the upcoming spy thriller. She was dressed in a long black wool coat which was tailored and double-breasted in design and hid the rest of her outfit aside from her shoes and scarf. The Golden Globe winner teamed the smart cover-up with a pair of flat black leather boots which reached up her legs. On-duty chic: The Golden Globe winner was dressed in a full-length black tailored coat which concealed the rest of her outfit but ensured maximum warmth Taxi for Theron: Details regarding the plot were unclear from the on-set snapshots but she was seen looking intrigued as she clambered into a taxi Murder mystery: Charlize's character is tasked with investigating the murder of an underground M16 agent who turns out to be a smuggler She was no doubt grateful her character was a practical dresser as a black and white checked scarf provided her with an extra element of warmth. Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, Charlize remained highly professional throughout the set. And with willing members of the film crew guarding her from place to place with an umbrella, she couldn't complain. The Coldest City is set in the German capital during the Cold War era and tells the story of a murdered underground MI6 agent who death is investigated by Lorraine Broughton and who subsequently discovers he was smuggling double agents into the West. Charlize is supported by James McAvoy, John Goodman and Sofia Boutella although details regarding their respective roles are so far unknown. Stellar line-up: She is supported on-screen by James McAvoy, John Goodman and Sofia Boutella although details regarding their respective roles are so far unknown Advertisement She plays the leading role in the new romantic comedy and Dakota Johnson also commanded the spotlight as she led the glamour at the star-studded European premiere of How To Be Single in London on Tuesday evening. The Fifty Shades of Grey actress made a literally shimmering entrance onto the pink carpet in the capital's Leicester Square as she'd picked out a gold-lame floor-length gown for the special screening. Dakota, 26, glittered from head-to-toe in the metallic frock which featured a plunging neckline, offering attendees and onlookers a glimpse of her pert cleavage. Scroll down for video How to shimmer! Dakota Johnson was the shining star as she led the glamour at the star-studded European premiere of How To Be Single in London on Tuesday evening She was the shining star of the event as she turned heads in the form-flattering frock which clung to every contour of her body thanks to the skin-tight nature of the fabric. While the deep-V neckline meant a large proportion of her alabaster-toned decolletage was on show, eyes were also drawn to her back as the dress design featured generously-sized cut-outs. Dakota supported her naturally pert bust with a black bra which was partially visible thanks to the open-back design and she was lucky to avoid any unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions despite the sides being largely open. She was keen not to distract from her upper half and the trailing length of the festive-season-appropriate number ensured her slim pins were entirely concealed, as were her choice of accompanying heels for the most part. All that glitters is gold: Dakota, 26 - who plays leading character Alice in the hotly-anticipated rom-com - shimmered from head to toe as she arrived on the pink carpet dressed in a gold-lame frock Single girls assemble: Leading lady Dakota was joined by (from left to right) Rebel Wilson (Robin), Alison Brie (Lucy) and Leslie Mann (Meg) Nipping out: She flashed a generous glimpse of her pert cleavage in the plunging gown while managing to avoid over-exposing herself, despite the risque cut-out details Christmas came early: The Fifty Shades of Grey actress wouldn't have looked out of place at a festive gathering in the metallic number Flawless from every angle: Dakota made the most of her slender frame in the frock which clung to every contour thanks to the skin-tight nature of the fabric 'Cos she slays: The talented Hollywood star commanded the style limelight in her bold choice of outfit for the highly-anticipated event Turning up: Dakota didn't let the downpour dampen her spirits and confidently strutted onto the bright pink carpet laid outside the cinema Mind your step: Dakota's flowing frock trailed along the ground and she avoided tripping by gathering the length in her hands Shining bright: The Melanie Griffith held her own on the pink carpet, exuding grace as she posed with her hand on her hips in front of the pap pack The star of the show: The leading actress was mobbed by eager fans desperate to get a scribble of her autograph on their merchandise Nice to see you, to see you nice: Dakota met supporting star Rebel Wilson with a warm embrace as she arrived minutes behind her Anything for the leading ladies: Dakota and Rebel's freshly-styled hair was protected by security guards holding umbrellas over them Strike a pose: Leslie, Dakota, Alison and Rebel all looked excited as they prepared to unveil their new release to the European media Coppa feel: Comedienne Rebel was evidently in a mischievous mood as she reached for Dakota's pert behind while the foursome posed as a group Individual style senses: The talented actresses showed just how much they differ in the sartorial stakes as they picked out very different outfits for the occasion Doing her part: The Texas-born screen star was all too happy to sign as many autographs as she could for her adoring fans Keeping it classy: Although she drew all eyes to her pert cleavage, thanks to the plunging neckline of the shimmering gown, she ensured not to over-expose herself Safety first: The Anastasia Steele star ensured her breasts were firmly encased in her dress as they were supported by a delicate black bra which she flashed a glimpse of as she turned her back to the cameras We're all in this together: The acting troupe put on a cosy display as they celebrated the imminent release of the new chick flick Couldn't have done it without you: Director Christian Ditter and producer Dana Fox also showed their support Dakota towered above her co-stars somewhat as she further heightened her 5'7" figure with a pair of platform heeled peep-toes which were an exact match to her glittering gown. She looked every inch the leading lady as she was impeccably made up, favouring her go-to look - meticulously-applied eyeliner flicks and a sumptuous red-pink lipstick plumping her pout. The Texas-born screen star swept her super-glossy and endless brunette tresses into a mid-height ponytail with her full fringe and front sections left loose to further frame her face. Meticulously-made up: Dakota was impeccably made up, favouring her go-to look - meticulously-applied eyeliner flicks and a sumptuous red-pink lipstick plumping her pout Low-maintenance look: She wept her super-glossy and endless brunette tresses into a mid-height ponytail with her full fringe and front sections left loose to further frame her face Smiles all round: Dakota, Leslie and Alison smiled from ear-to-ear as they posed for plenty of group shots before heading inside the cinema Dakota was joined by the equally talented Rebel Wilson who plays the supporting role of Robin in the hotly-anticipated chick flick. The BAFTA nominee greeted the 35-year-old comedienne with a warm embrace as they both did their best to not let a badly-timed Great British downpour rain on their parade ahead of the special screening. Although Rebel opted for a strikingly different outfit to her co-star, she too added an element of sparkle to the otherwise-dreary night and made quite the entrance in a decorative dress. Blue is best: Australian comedienne Rebel - who plays the supporting role of Robin in the rom-com - turned up in a brightly-coloured textured dress which featured an asymmetric hem Curves in all the right places: Rebel, 35, made the most of her curvaceous figure in the figure-hugging number which exposed a glimpse of her slender calves Not impressed: Rebel appeared to be struggling with the less than ideal weather conditions as she looked to be scowling at the downpour I got your back: Rebel and Alison playfully sized up next to one another as they did their thing for the pap pack Let me take a selfie: She delighted her fans by taking a moment to pose for a silly selfie with a lucky few Rebel's choice of attire made the most of her famous curves as the blue textured material clung to all the right places while the asymmetric hem exposed her slender calves all well as her glittering silver stilettos. The popular screen star appeared to be struggling with the less than ideal weather conditions but she soon got into the spirit of the movie as she assembled for group shots with Dakota, Leslie Mann and Alison Brie. Leslie Mann too showcased her individual style sense as she appeared to have been inspired by traditional Chinese dress on the night, arriving in a little black dress which was decorated with colourful applique patches. It's a hard job but somebody's got to do it: Leslie Mann injected a much-needed burst of rainbow colour to the otherwise grey evening Thrilled: Leslie - who plays Meg in the new release - appeared in high spirits despite the ill-timed downpour I think you're turning Japanese: The 43-year-old appeared to have been inspired by traditional Oriental dress in the wardrobe department Big night ahead: She couldn't contain her excitement as she rocked up to Vue cinema in the capital's West End Sheer delight: The 40-year-old Virgin star highlighted her hour-glass figure in a decorative dress which was made from layers of black organza and featured floral applique detailing Age-defying beauty: The award winner didn't look a day over 30 as her face boasted professionally-applied contouring and a glossy pink-red lip Leslie, 43, showcased her age-defying figure in the statement number - made from layers of organza - which was cinched at the waist and jutted out into a structured skirt. The Knocked Up actress followed Dakota's glamour lead by opting for professionally-applied contouring, lashings of mascara but her lip was glossy as opposed to matte. Alison Brie too put on a show-stopping display as she was pictured arriving on the pink carpet ahead of the special screening. The Mad Men actress was a vision of sexiness as she made the most of her impeccably-toned figure in a rather revealing gown which was a sight to behold. Calling the style shots: Alison Brie was not afraid to show some skin as she arrived to the European premiere of How To Be Single in London's Leicester Square on Tuesday evening Legs eleven: Alison, 33, offered onlookers a generous eyeful of her impossibly lean legs in her thigh-slashed ice blue gown Alison, 33, turned heads as she arrived to the capital's Leicester Square dressed in a blue floor-length number which left little to the imagination. She owned the style limelight in the frock which was slashed from the hem to her thigh, offering onlookers a generous eyeful of her impossibly lean legs. Additionally, the form-flattering one-piece featured risque lace detailing which stretched from her thigh to her cleavage, affording an extra revealing element. Contrasting colours: The Mad Men actress clashed with the bright pink carpet in her pastel-coloured frock Curves in all the right places: Alison - who plays Lucy in the new rom-com - turned heads thanks to the slashed hem and risque lace-up detailing The mane attraction: The California girl stole the spotlight as she posed up a storm, with her gorgeous brunette curls tumbling down her bare back Confident display: The some-time Hannah Montana star braved baring her body in the revealing dress despite the plummeting temperatures Pop Singer FEMME made an appearance on the pink carpet at the premiere. The 'Light me up' singer is soon to release her much anticipated debut album 'Debutante' on the 15th April. Having toured the USA with Charli XCX, featured on tracks by Huxley, been remixed by NZCA Lines and partnered with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for their critically acclaimed Ultraista collaboration and album, as well as being called a one-woman powerhouse by Radio 1s Annie Mac Pop Star: British Pop singer FEMME sent shock waves down the pink carpet which complimented her pixie haircut, is soon to release her long-awaited debut album Debutante on 15th April While the quartet of talented actresses were undeniably the main attraction, the guest list wasn't short of showbiz attendees with the cream of the UK's reality-star crop putting in an appearance. Living up to the film's premise, a beaming Danielle Lloyd cut a sensational figure as she arrived at the star-studded event on her own, in an eye-grabbing ensemble. Slipping into a white figure-hugging midi-dress, which featured cutaway panelling on the back, the former Miss England winner opted for a subtle approach to showing some skin. Bodacious in a bodycon: Danielle Lloyd pulled out all the style stops as she arrived at the London premiere of How To Be Single on Tuesday night Showing a hint of skin: Braving the cold temperatures and damp weather at the Vue cinema in Leicester Square, the 32-year-old mother-of-three made sure to showcase her figure to the max in a white bodycon dress How to walk a red carpet? Living up to the film's premise, a beaming Danielle cut a sensational figure as she arrived at the star-studded event on her own in the form-flattering number Figure-flaunting fashion at its finest: Slipping into a white figure-hugging midi-dress, which featured cutaway panelling on the back, the former Miss England winner opted for a subtle approach to showing some skin Featuring seamed panel detailing on various sections of the garment, the former glamour girl subtly drew attention to her newly slimmed-dwm figure. Adding a jazzy flourish to her look, Danielle teamed the dress with a pair of snake-skin stilettos, which offered her petite frame some much-needed height. Former TOWIE star Amy Childs and current cast-members Danielle Armstrong and Katie Wright brought a touch of Essex glamour to the event. Red-dy to party: Amy Childs looked sensational in a scarlet cut-out dress at the premiere of How To Be Single in London on Tuesday Generous assets: The busty flame-haired beauty pouted and posed as she stopped for photographers with her hand on her hip Competition: Kate Wright - a newbie to the ITVBe reality show - gave the original Essex girl a run for her money in a cleavage-flashing navy top and split pencil skirt Amy, 25, led the way in a daring red dress, which made the most of her sensational hourglass figure as well as her surgically-enhanced chest. The flame-haired beauty pouted and posed as she stopped for photographers with her hand on her hip before sneaking inside to watch the brand-new movie. Meanwhile, Kate - a newbie to the ITVBe reality show - gave the original Essex girl a run for her money in a super-sexy but ladylike ensemble which comprised thigh-split mustard midi skirt and low-neck navy strap top - which barely contained her famously ample assets. While Amy and Kate represented stereotypical Essex, Danielle, 27, took a casual approach to the dress code and was uncharacteristically covered up in a khaki tiered maxi dress which she teamed with a leather biker jacket and lace-up heels. Uncharacteristically covered up: The girls= were joined by a third TOWIE star, Danielle Armstrong, who had opted for a much more demure look than usual Styling it out: The blonde drowned her figure in a khaki maxi-dress, which she added an edge to with a leather biker jacket and strappy heels Elsewhere, Michelle Heaton hoped to give the cream of the celebrity crop a run for their money in the style stakes as she too arrived to the event in a head-turning ensemble and unaccompanied. The mother-of-two was a vision of health in a plunging red mini dress which perfectly complemented her deeply-bronzed skin. Michelle, 36, made the most of her famously fit figure as the form-flattering number - which was rendered in lace - exposed almost the full length of her lean legs and a glimpse of her modest cleavage. Also in attendance was Cally Jane Beech of ITV's Love Island fame and it was obvious she was desperate to make a lasting impression as she left very little to the imagination in a body-baring black dress. Red hot: Michelle Heaton hoped to give the cream of the celebrity crop a run for their money in the style stakes as she too arrived to the event in a head-turning ensemble and unaccompanied Bags of style: Michelle, 36, cut a flirty figure in a red lace mini dress which featured a plunging neckline and a thigh-skimming hem Too much? Cally Jane Beech left little to the imagination when she stepped out in a deliberately body-baring frock on Tuesday Now shy: Wearing a floor-length black dress which was almost completely sheer, the raven-haired reality-show contestant was clearly looking for attention Tony- and Oscar-nominated actor Ken Watanabe has been forced to delay his return to Broadway's The King and I while he battles stomach cancer. The 56-year-old Japanese actor, who made his American stage debut last year opposite Kelli O'Hara in the revival of The King and I, was due to return to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical from March 1-April 17. The actor has undergone endoscopic surgery and is recuperating at a hospital in Japan. Health battle: Ken Watanabe, pictured in June at the 69th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York, has been diagnosed with stomach cancer In a statement, the actor said: 'I would like to ask for your understanding that the start of my performance in New York will be a little delayed.' Watanabe, who has been in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Inception, also starred in the reboot of Godzilla and Letters From Iwo Jima and lent his voice to the fourth installment of the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction. He earned an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor in the Tom Cruise-led 2003 film The Last Samurai. Lead role: The actor in Broadway's The King and I in June. He has been forced to delay his return to the stage The King and I is also nominated for a Grammy Award for best musical theater album. Word of the diagnosis was first reported by Kyodo News service. Ken was previously diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 1989 and after he defeated it, it returned in 1994. He went into remission two years later. Explaining his reluctance to talk about his illness previously, he said: 'As an actor, I didn't want to talk about it. If I create a strong guy, everyone couldn't see the strong guy. This is inside of me.' Advertisement The world of fashion collided in spectacular style on Tuesday night in London as supermodels new and old united to celebrate 100 years of British Vogue. The new wave of catwalk queens including Lily Donaldson, Lara Stone and Karlie Kloss mingled with the likes of '80s runway divas Jerry Hall and Yasmin le Bon at one of the biggest nights in fashion so far this year. The uber-fashionable event, hosted at the National Portrait Gallery, was to mark the launch of the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition, a display featuring the finest works shot for the style bible since its launch in 1916. Scroll down for video Strike a pose: Supermodels united on Tuesday night in London as Lily Donaldson, Lara Stone and Karlie Kloss all stepped out at the super-stylish Vogue 100 exhibition launch at the National Portrait Gallery Leading the way was newbie Donaldson, who flashed more than a hint of her ample assets as she arrived alongside the likes of one of the world's highest paid posers, Lara Stone. Heading to the ultra fashionable event, held in association with Perrier Jouet champagne, the blonde beauty opted for an understated yet super stylish black gown, which featured an extremely low-cut neckline. Straddling the sartorial line between risque raciness and red carpet glamour, the Burberry model showcased her incredible figure to the max in the fitted frock. Featuring a severe sweetheart neckline, Lily's ample assets were firmly on display - with the lingerie model seemingly unperturbed by the perilous state of her modesty. The statuesque beauty rounded her look off with a pair of understated heels. Showcasing her fashion credentials, Lily opted for the age old adage of 'less is more', choosing to keep her look uncluttered. Leader of the fashion pack? Arriving at the National Portrait Gallery, the 29-year-old Victoria's Secret beauty flashed more than a hint of her ample assets in a sensational black gown Walk this way: The model subtly drew attention to her decolletage with a simple gold cross necklace, whilst she also sported matching gold earrings, a bracelet, and a handful of shimmering rings Tower of strength: Lily showed off her statuesque figure as she posed alongside twin designers Dean Caten and Dan Caten Power pals: Lily proved herself to be quite the socialite as she mingled with Karlie Kloss and Suki Waterhouse Standing tall: The 29-year-old London-born pin-up towered above her pint-sized designer friends The model subtly drew attention to her decolletage with a simple gold cross necklace, whilst she also sported matching gold earrings, a bracelet, and a handful of shimmering rings. Wearing her signature blonde locks style into an immaculate back-swept side-parting, the runway queen let her tresses tumble down her back so that her striking features were place prominently on display. Using a smokey eye effect the stunning model highlighted her piercing eyes, whilst she plumped her lips up subtly with a slick of nude lipstick. Competing against Lily in the style stakes at the event was Calvin Klein beauty, who flaunted her lithe and slender pins in all their glory by slipping into sheer black top and a suede mini skirt. Sheer beauty: Competing against Lily in the style stakes at the event was Calvin Klein beauty Lara Stone, who flaunted her lithe and slender pins in all their glory by slipping into sheer black top and a suede mini skirt Cover girl: Mum-of-one Lara - who has graced the cover of British Vogue several times - kept her hair and make-up simple for the event Risque on the red carpet? The 32-year-old Dutch beauty - who shares the same agency as Lily, IMG - opted for a slightly different take on red carpet raciness, as she flashed her black bondage-inspired bra through a sheer black top American dream: Vogue favourite Karlie opted for a very racy cut-out design as she turned out to celebrate the magazine Pin control: The beauty showed off her catwalk queen legs in the split detail number, and added a pair of strappy shoes Showing her support: The 23-year-old's good friend Dakota Johnson hot-footed it from her How To Be Single premiere down the road in Leicester Square to show her support Talented twosome: Dakota and Karlie were understandably in high spirits as they celebrated their respective successes Showing her the ropes: The Victoria's Secret model stood in for Lottie Moss' older sister Kate as she kept her company during the star-studded event Head's above the rest: The towering catwalking queen made married couple Leon and Yana Max look petite in comparison to her Runway queen: Jourdan Dunn joined the new wave of supermodels who strutted their stuff at the glitzy event Modern beauty: The London girl landed her first British Vogue cover almost exactly a year earlier in February 2015 The 32-year-old Dutch beauty - who shares the same agency as Lily, IMG - opted for a slightly different take on red carpet raciness, as she flashed her black bondage-inspired bra through a sheer black top. Teaming the see-through garment with a fitted, thigh-grazing mini skirt, which hugged her toned waist and derriere, Lara ensured that her all eyes were drawn to her toned and honed legs. Further accentuating her famous pins, the Vogue cover girl finished her look off with a pair of understated black platform heels. Keeping her look simple and devoid of extravagance, Lara only accessorised with a studded black leather clutch. Representing the 1980s: Eighties supermodel Jerry Hall proved she still had what it takes as she made a glamorous turn at the celebratory event Always in style: The Texan beauty had her trademark blonde mane to one side as she showed off her engagement ring from new fiance Rupert Murdoch New wave: Jerry mingled with the likes of model of the moment Suki Waterhouse inside the party The money shot: All eyes were drew to the former super-model's left hand where sat her 2.4 million engagement ring from husband-to-be Rupert Murdoch Newly-engaged bliss: Jerry beamed from ear-to-ear as she paused for a moment alongside Yana and Leon Max Daring: Suki looked sensational in Ralph & Russo as she went without a bra under a black blazer which she teamed with a split-front skirt Careful! The beauty almost suffered a wardrobe malfunction in front of her fashionable friends as the front of her jacket threatened to leave her exposed Wearing her lutrous golden mane in a loose and natural style, she allowed her locks to tumble in slight bouncing waves down past her shoulders. Opting for a minimal approach to make-up, the model let her striking looks shine though; only adding a hint of eyeliner, blusher and lipgloss to add accentuate her features. Giving the new girls a run for their money were the likes of fashion icons Jerry Hall and Elizabeth Hurley. Jerry - one of the leading models of the 1980s - proved she could still strike a pose with the best of them as she arrived a demure black dress with sheer sleeves. The Texan beauty, 59 - famed for her blonde mane - beamed as she showed off her most recent fashion accessory, a huge diamond engagement ring from fiance Rupert Murdoch. While Jerry represented the '80s, the 1990s were covered by none of other than 50-year-old Liz. The Bedazzled actress - who became a fashion favourite after wearing that Versace safety pin dress in 1994 - hardly looked any different as she worked the red carpet in a LBD, which also boasted sheer detail on the decolletage. Bedazzling: Elizabeth Hurley showed off her amazing figure as she strutted into the museum in a sheer-detailed little black dress '90s darling: The actress pulled off a series of poses as she proved she hadn't lost any of the allure which made her a style icon in the 1990s Getting in touch with her artsy side: The 50-year-old shimmered as she posed among the iconic fashion portraits Rubbing shoulders: She took time to chat with Eva Herzigova and designer Patrick Cox as they toasted 100 years of the top fashion mag A man's lady: Elizabeth looked to be a hit among the male attendees who couldn't get enough of the legendary actress and model Still rocking it: Former catwalk icon Yasmin Le Bon also arrived to celebrate the fashion bible's centenary alongside her Duran Duran frontman husband Simon Family affair: The brunette beauty, who went for Boho chic in a midnight blue silk gown, was also joined by her daughter with Simon, Amber, who has followed in her footsteps and is also a model Friends in fashionable places: The mother-and-daughter duo posed with luxury womenswear designer Emilia Wickstead Power pairs: Simon and Yasmin took a moment to pose with fellow married power couple designer Leon Max and his wife Yana Kinda kooky: The 26-year-old took an alternative approach to the dress code as she toughened up her LBD with brightly-coloured hair and a leather biker jacket Noughties but nice: Sophie Dahl, who took the fashion world by storm in the early 2000s thanks to her voluptuous curves, looked uber-glam in a simple black dress and fur jacket Working it: The granddaughter of author Roald Dahl may have moved on to cooking but she proved she could still work a camera Music meets fashion: Sophie, 38, was accompanied by her jazz-musician-husband Jamie Cullum I'm behind you: Sophie towered above the pint-sized pianist who looked suave in a star-print shirt, polka-dot tie and velvet blazer Now for the Noughties, which were represented by the likes of couture darling Erin O'Connor and former plus-sized beauty Sophie Dahl. The exhibition marks the centenary of the British arm of Vogue, which was exported to the UK by American publisher Conde Montrose Nast in 1916. It is the first of its kind, celebrating the images which have graced the pages of the magazine over the last centry. The works of Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino and Corinne Day all appear in the display, which opens to the public from February 11. The display will feature some of British Vogue's most iconic shots, from Princess Diana posing in a tiara for Testino, to 90's grunge-era Kate Moss and even a model standing among the rubble in war-torn London during the Blitz. Other snaps include the Beckhams at the height of their '90s fame, a cocky young Jude Law, late great designer Alexander McQueen and even the future King of England, Price Charles, who was snapped posing with chickens on his country estate. Stauesque: Erin O'Connor - a longtime favourite with couture designers in Paris - wore an eyecatching ruffled halterneck design and toted a Smythson Envelope clutch Kissing a prince: Erin blew a kiss at one photo of Prince Charles at his country estate which had made the exhibition Striking blondes: Eva Herzigova (L), famous for her 'Hello Boys' wonderbra advert in the '90s, rocked an androgynous look in tailored black, as did socialite Laura Bailey All that glitters is gold: How To Be Single leading lady Dakota Johnson made the short trip from the premiere of the new rom-com to the gallery, dressed in the same shimmering gown Couples who party together, stay together: Hair stylist Nicky Clarke and his girlfriend Kelly Simpkin put a sweet and stylish display Not a check in sight: Burberry Chief Creative Christopher Bailey opted for a plain but suitably suave ensemble Three cheers for Vogue: Dame Zandra Rhodes, actress Daisy Lewis and Jasper Conran all appeared to be having a great time at the special event She changed her spots! Lion Babe singer Jillian Hervey showed off a lot of leg and cleavage in a racy leopard print dress Standing on her own two feet: Kate Moss' little sister Lottie put on a confident display as she arrived alone to the National Portrait Gallery Moss is boss: The 18-year-old appeared to have found her fashion-sense feet as she looked super chic in a khaki blazer-playsuit Holding her own: Despite being surrounded by the fashion elite, the blonde teenager appeared to be keeping it together Mingling: Lottie was all too happy to rub shoulders with guests including Yana Max Speaking about what makes Vogue so iconic, Shulman - who has edited since 1992 - said that the publication was 'very clear about the core values [of fashion] while being open to adaptation and innovation.' Aimed as a guide for the rich and wealthy to spend their money, the magazine transcended its original boundaries of reporting the latest fashion trends to purchase to become a bench-mark for social events, culture and trends of the day. The exhibition, as the title suggests, takes in 100 years of British Vogue. Each room in the exhibition tells the story of a decade through a spectrum of portraits. Featuring icons, models and social darlings from across the breadth of the magazines time in publication, Vogue 100 years shows British history in a completely different light. 100 years of British VOGUE - a timeline As the exhibition launches to mark the centenary of the British arm of Vogue, MailOnline takes a look back at where it all began... 1916 - The first issue is published - after the franchise is exported to the UK by American publisher Conde Montrose Nast. Former fashion designer Elspeth Champcommunal was the first editor. 1922 - Champcommunal leaves with Dorothy Todd taking the reigns. Todd shifted the publication's focus from fashion to literature causing it to lose much of its audience. 1926 - British VOGUE takes off under the editorial direction of its third editor - Alison Settle. 1940-1960 - The magazine reverts back to its literary-loving ways under Audrey Withers who supported the reporting of issues regarding the Second World War. 1992-2016 Current editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman bolsters the publication's success to more than a million readers thanks to her no-nonsense attitude - she famously commented, 'super-skinny models are no longer acceptable' in her quest to put a stop to designers sending size-zero models down the catwalk - and her experimental edge. Advertisement A hole new look: Donna Air, who started off her career as a model, arrived in a layered lattice overcoat, which she teamed with a shimmering satin black dress and oxblood patent boots Late legend: Donna stood in front of one of the display's biggest works, a portrait of late designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in 2010 Boys' club: Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey - who is one of fashion's most influential people - mingled with photographer to the stars Mario Testino, a favoured snapper of all Vogue editors Feeling golden: Dakota braced against the icy chill in her scanty dress to head into the cold London streets Arriving in style: Karlie proved she sure knows how to make a superstar entrance Knuckle dusting: Eva was flaunting a sensationally blingy clutch bag with a length of knuckle duster on the clasp as she arrived in style in a BMW 7Series model Old and new: Fashion icons from both the younger and older generations were out in force - as illustrated by Jerry Hall and Lottie Moss Careful! Suki Waterhouse's perilously plunging top was at risk of flashing all as she leaned forward to see the top gape open Great from all ankles: Jourdan Dunn looked incredible from all angles as she flaunted her long legs in her skimpy gown Hair-raising couple: Nicky Clarke looked handsome on the arm of his girlfriend Kelly Simpkin - both of whom naturally had flawless locks She is hardly backwards in coming forwards. So it's perhaps not surprising that Cally Jane Beech left little to the imagination when she stepped out in central London on Tuesday. The former Love Island star turned heads for all the wrong reasons as she arrived at the UK premiere of How To Be Single at Leicester Square. Scroll down for video Too much? Cally Jane Beech left little to the imagination when she stepped out in central London on Tuesday Wearing a floor-length black dress which was almost completely sheer, the raven-haired reality-show contestant was clearly looking for attention. Managing to be both backless and with a plunging neckline, she also displayed her legs in a thigh-high slit which invited even more focus. Posing up a storm as she navigated the red carpet, she clearly wasn't feeling shy. Now shy: Wearing a floor-length black dress which was almost completely sheer, the raven-haired reality-show contestant was clearly looking for attention Not subtle: Managing to be both backless and with a plunging neckline, she also displayed her legs in a thigh-high slit which invited even more focus Joining her at the event was boyfriend Luis Morrison, who she met on the infamous TV show. Seemingly color co-ordinated with his partner, he wore a grey chequered suit which he matched with a white shirt and black tie. Also wearing a predictable pocket square and some trying-too-hard loafers, they'd clearly been sharing the same stylist. She's not singe! Seemingly color co-ordinated with his partner, Luis wore a grey chequered suit which he matched with a white shirt and black tie Strike a pose: Pouting up a storm as she navigated the red carpet, she clearly wasn't feeling shy The event was centred around the launch of new Hollywood release How To Be Single, which stars Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson. The synopsis on IMDB says: 'New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.' Sadly, although it is yet to open here on Friday, it only received a critic rating of 2.5 out of 5 on the movie database. Party time: The event was centred around the launch of new Hollywood release How To Be Single, which stars Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson Oh dear! The former Love Island star turned heads for all the wrong reasons as she arrived at the UK premiere of How To Be Single at Leicester Square Teresa Giudice dealt with rancid food and dirty bathrooms when she she spent almost one year inside the Danbury Federal Correctional Facility in Connecticut due to 40 counts of fraud charges. So it's no wonder the 43-year-old Bravo beauty broke down in tears when she returned home to her posh New Jersey mansion - and into the arms of her husband Joe and four daughters - in December. The reunion was filmed for the seventh season of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey and a snippet was shown on Tuesday. Scroll down for video... Touching: Teresa Giudice broke down in tears when she returned home to her New Jersey mansion in December after nearly a year in prison. A snippet of the reunion was shown to announce the seventh season of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey Letting go: Teresa was so overcome with emotion that she covers her face with her hands 'After 11 months in prison, be there for the moment Teresa comes home,' read the text on the clip. When the star first gets home she can see handwritten signs that have been taped to the front door of her residence, which is now out of foreclosure. The mother mom of four is greeted by husband Joe and their daughters Gia, 15, Gabriella, 11, Milania, 10, and Audriana, six. Teresa was so overcome with emotion that she covers her face with her hands. Her rock: The mother mom of four is greeted by husband Joe, who wore a tank top that showed off his tattoos The kiss: When Teresa was in the Danbury Federal Correctional Facility in Connecticut he taped his own show But their time together won't last long: Joe's 41-month sentence begins in March Giudice looks different from her pre-prison days with a slimmer figure and shorter hair. She also much less makeup on than normal. Joe is dressed in nothing but a black tank top that shows off his many tattoos. 'Hi, honey. Welcome home,' he said. Joe's 41-month sentence begins in March. Her kids cry too: The mother mom of four is greeted by husband Joe and their daughters Gia, 15, Gabriella, 11, Milania, 10, and Audriana, six Strong girl: The children were taken care of by Joe as Teresa wrote her journal Turning the Tables: From Housewife To Inmate And Back Again This comes the day after Bravo confirmed the series would return for a seventh season with the new episodes centering on Teresa, Melissa Gorga and Jacqueline Laurita. Other cast members have yet to be announced. The show will debut later this year. Also on Tuesday, Teresa's Good Morning America interview aired. She described prison life as 'hell.' The new and improved Trey: The star seen leaving Good Morning America in New York City on Tuesday In the best mood of her life: The beauty has said she is a different person now. She said of the next season of RHONJ: 'For me, this season is all about letting go of the past and embracing the future. People are calling me Teresa 2.0' 'It was no country club, trust me,' she said. 'There was mold in the bathrooms, there was not running water constantly, the showers were freezing cold. It was hell.' While she says there were fights in the jail, she was never scared because she knew she 'could hold my own'. Still, she says meeting the women changed her opinion of criminals as all being bad people. To the contrary, she says she encountered a good amount of kindness and even made fiends. 'The girls were amazing there. Anytime someone new comes we help each other,' she said. Good to go: On Monday it was announced The Real Housewives Of New Jersey is set to return for season seven. And there are plenty of vets on board, including Teresa, Melissa Gorga and friend Jacqueline Laurita Last season: (from left) Amber Marchese, Dina Manzo, Melissa Gorga, Teresa Guidice, Nicole Mauriello and Teresa Aprea pose for season six 'I am very excited to be back,' Giudice told Bravo's The Daily Dish on Monday about her return to RHONJ. 'For me, this season is all about letting go of the past and embracing the future. People are calling me Teresa 2.0.' Finally talking: Also on Monday a new teaser for Giudice's first post-prison sit down with ABC's Good Morning America was shared where the beauty revealed her New Jersey mansion is out of foreclosure Stronger than ever: The TV star had no problem talking about her painful past that included time in jail Her house arrest ended on Friday. Gorga added: 'I can't wait for you to see what we've been up to and how much our kids have grown.' Also in her GMA interview, Teresa told Amy Robach: '[We're not in] foreclosure any longer, thank you, God. And our restitution's paid off. We're in - thank God - in good shape.' 'Like a lot of people, the Giudices had fallen behind on their mortgage payments, which then puts the home into foreclosure as a way to protect the bank,' her lawyer, James J. Leonard Jr. told People. Home again: Teresa looked to be in good spirits as she told Robach in her ABC interview, which will air Tuesday at 7 am EST: '[We're not in] foreclosure any longer, thank you, God. And our restitution's paid off. We're in - thank God - in good shape' Grand: Their Montville Township, New Jersey, 10,000-square-foot estate slipped into foreclosure in April, according to NJ.com Determined: 'Losing the family home was never an option. Teresa made that very clear to me,' Leonard said. 'There was no way we were going to let that happen. I am very happy it all worked out' 'Fortunately, they were able to pay back the money owed in full and the home is no longer under the threat of foreclosure.' Their Montville Township, New Jersey, 10,000-square-foot estate slipped into foreclosure in April, according to NJ.com. They then put the on the market for almost $3m. 'Losing the family home was never an option. Teresa made that very clear to me,' Leonard said. 'There was no way we were going to let that happen. I am very happy it all worked out.' Her husband, Joe, is set to begin his own 41-month prison sentence in March. Her new book Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again is out Tuesday. They welcomed their first son together just over a week ago, confirming on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert that Rocco was born on February 1. And as Rose Byrne and her partner Bobby Cannavale took the little one on his first public outing through the streets of New York on Tuesday, the new parents held him close. Both dressed in thick winter layers, a make-up free Rose, 36, and her 45-year-old beau looked every inch the protective parents as they walked arm-in-arm. Scroll down for video Nice to meet you Rocco! New parents Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale took their week-old son on his first public outing around the streets of New York on Tuesday Rose was dressed in a three-quarter-length navy coat with sheerling lining inside the hood, black leggings and black ankle boots. Bobby meanwhile was dressed similarly, in a dark blue puffed coat with faux fur trim on the hood, with straight leg blue jeans and black high-top sneakers. To shield their newborn from the near-freezing weather, the doting new dad had draped a grey blanket over the baby carrier he had strapped to his chest. Keeping it on the down low: Bobby confirmed on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert that Rocco was born on February 1 Protective: Both dressed in thick winter layers, a makeup free Rose, 36, and her 45-year-old beau looked every inch the protective parents as they walked arm-in-arm The actor, of Boardwalk Empire fame, confirmed the happy news to the Late Show host on Friday, and though he didn't go into too much detail, he announced they had named their son Rocco. 'You know, I didn't do anything. We [fathers] don't do anything and I'm so tired. I think I've gained 28 pounds since Monday,' he told the host. He also mentioned he had received somewhat of an unusual gift from his 'good friend' and screen legend Al Pacino. 'He gave me a diaper cake for the baby, it was like a big cake made of diapers,' he laughed. Rugging up: Rose was dressed in a three-quarter-length navy coat with sheerling lining inside the hood, black leggings and black ankle boots Keeping warm: To shield their newborn from the near-freezing weather, the doting new dad had draped a grey blanket over the baby carrier he had strapped to his chest 'For your boy,' he added doing his best impression of the acclaimed Godfather actor. The Australian beauty and Bobby have been dating for three years and formally announced they were expanding their broad in November to TV WEEK magazine. During an interview with the publication Bobby slipped: 'Its a great time and we feel really excited about it'. 'We havent talked about it to anyone, but its pretty obvious if you see her that Rose is pregnant - and I will tell you that I am the dad.' She's one of Hollywood's most in-demand leading ladies, and is no stranger to red carpet glamour. And once-again Kate Winslet flaunted her flare for the fashionable in a figure-hugging red number at a special London screening of her latest project, Triple 9, on Tuesday evening. Arriving at the Ham Yard Hotel, the 40-year-old actress looked incredible as she showcased her slender curves in a fitted midi dress before flirting up a storm with co-star, Aaron Paul. Scroll down for video Lady in red: Kate Winslet flaunted her flare for the fashionable in a figure-hugging red number at a special London screening of her latest project, Triple 9, on Tuesday evening Looking younger than her years, the Oscar-winning actress chose to flaunt her figure at the event by channeling an understated yet eye-catching look with her colourful garment. Slipping into the fitted red, knee-length dress, the Titanic actress highlighted her hourglass form to the max. Featuring a high V-shaped neckline which tapered away over the shoulder, the actress showed off her toned arms, while the garment's figure-hugging nature drew attention to her curves. Fun and flirtatious: Arriving at the Ham Yard Hotel, the 40-year-old actress looked incredible as she showcased her slender curves in a fitted midi dress before flirting up a storm with co-star, Aaron Paul (pictured) Understated yet stunning: Looking younger than her years, the Oscar-winning actress chose to flaunt her figure at the event by channeling an understated yet eye-catching look with her colourful garment Teaming the dress with a pair of jet-black stiletto heels, the Reading-born star accentuated her figure further, whilst also subtly highlighting her toned pins. Sticking to her fashionable yet understated theme, Kate accessorised her look with a small black clutch, dangling diamond earrings, silver bracelet and a collection or rings. The Steve Jobs star wore her blonde locks pulled back into a bun with a stylised sweeping fringe at the front. Red hot style: Slipping into the fitted red, knee-length dress, the Titanic actress highlighted her hourglass form to the max; before rounding her ensemble off with a pair of black stilettos Less is more: Sticking to her fashionable yet understated theme, Kate accessorised her look with a small black clutch, dangling diamond earrings, silver bracelet and a collection or rings Natural beauty: The Steve Jobs star - the role which has earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at this year's Oscars - wore her blonde locks pulled back into a bun with a stylised sweeping fringe at the front Hard at work: Opting for a minimal and understated make-up palette, Kate chose to let her naturally striking looks shine through, as she wore only a hint of eyeliner and a slick of nude lip gloss alongside her foundation Opting for a minimal and understated make-up palette, Kate chose to let her naturally striking looks shine through, as she wore only a hint of eyeliner and a slick of nude lip gloss alongside her foundation. The actress - who is nominated for the Best Supporting Actress gong thanks to her role in Steve Jobs - is currently on the promotional trail for crime thriller, Triple 9. But it was her flirtatious performance on the red carpet with co-star Aaron Paul that stole the show on Tuesday night. Following their lead: Aaron cut a handsome figure in a stone two-piece suit, shirt and black lace-ups, as he cosied up to his Oscar-winning co-star at the event Plenty of laughs: However, it was the pair's flirtatious performance on the red carpet which really stole the show on Tuesday night Just joking: Cosying up alongside the 36-year-old actor - who shot to fame on the back of AMC's award-winning Breaking Bad - Kate could be seen smiling and whispering jokes into his ear Cosying up alongside the 36-year-old actor - who shot to fame on the back of AMC's award-winning Breaking Bad - Kate could be seen smiling and whispering jokes into his ear. Obviously amused with the banter Aaron played up to the flirtatious banter and laughed along - even throwing a cheeky, lingering star at Kate during their photo op. And while it seems that the two A-Listers could have happily spent the evening in each other's company, they were joined at the event by their co-stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anthony Mackie. Playing up for the cameras: Obviously amused with the banter Aaron played up to the flirtatious banter and laughed along - even throwing a cheeky, lingering star at Kate during their photo op Hugging it out: The two Hollywood stars appear to have struck up a strong friendship during their time on the set of Triple 9 Chiwetel stuck with his usual suave and tailored look, donning a black two-piece suit, blue shirt and blue tie. The actor - who earned a Best Actor nomination for his role in 2013's Ten Years A Slave - looked delighted to be back in his hometown. And following his suave sartorial lead, Aaron and Anthony were both suited and booted for their appearance on the red carpet. Triple 9 follows a crew of dirty cops who are blackmailed by the Russian mob leader, Irina Vlaslov (played by Kate), to execute a virtually impossible heist. In good company: The actress and Aaron weren't alone on the red carpet, as the pair were joined by co-stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anthony Mackie, as well as director John Hilcoat Sartorially swish: Fellow Oscar-nominated Brit, Chiwetel stuck with his usual suave and tailored look, donning a black two-piece suit, blue shirt and blue tie Jokes all around: Likewise Kate was seen sharing a joke with Chiwetel, which clearly tickled the London-born actor The heat is on: Triple 9 follows a crew of dirty cops (Aaron, Chiwetel and Anthony) who are blackmailed by the Russian mob leader, Irina Vlaslov (played by Kate), to execute a virtually impossible heist The magic number? Anthony, Aaron and Chiwetel cut dapper figures in their suits as they posed on the red carpet together Cool cats: With John stepping in to the mix the three actors looked their element as they posed alongside the Australian director Boys will be boys: Anthony and Aaron couldn't resist joking around, much to the amusement of Chiwetel Getting in on the act: John joined in the boys' banter, sporting a wry smile as he playfully told them off All too much: The group descended in to laughter as Chiwetel joined in with banter She has been busy promoting her new film How To Be Single over the past few weeks. And Rebel Wilson continued to go all out for the promotional duties as she cut a stylish figure at the London premiere alongside her co-stars on Tuesday evening. The Australian funnywoman turned heads in a sequinned blue gown as she braved the rain in order to pose up a storm on the red carpet. Scroll down for video Stand under my umbrella: Rebel Wilson continued to go all out for the promotional duties as she cut a stylish figure at the London premiere alongside her co-stars on Tuesday evening The actress teamed her dress with silver heels and voluminous curls as she dazzled next to the likes of Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann and Alison Brie. Taking to Instagram after the premiere, Rebel captioned a smiling pic saying: London premiere tonight of #HowToBeSingle ! Thanks to all the people who came. Rebel thanked fans for their support as she added in another snap caption: #HowToBeSingle thank you London! Even in the rain, we turned it up X. Va va voom: The Australian funnywoman turned heads in a sequinned blue gown as she braved the rain in order to pose up a storm on the red carpet Fashion fan: The gown, which featured an asymmetric hem did not appear to be from Rebel's own fashion line, Torrid The film follows four single women and two men as they cope with the ever-evolving definitions of love in todays world. Rebel is herself a single lady after confirming her split from her actor ex-boyfriend Mickey Gooch. The star recently opened up about the hazards of not being a single girl in Hollywood - revealing that she's often approached by men looking for casual hook-ups. 'Some people offer me one-night stands,' the 35-year-old told Woman's Day. The gang: The actress teamed her dress with silver heels and voluminous curls as she dazzled next to the likes of Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie and director Christian Ditter Kisses: Rebel went to plant a kiss on co-star Alison's cheek as they posed together Helping hands: Rebel and Dakota were shielded from the rain by helpful assistant who held umbrellas over their heads 'I was at Chateau Marmont and the bartender was like, "If you want, you can come back later..." Of course I said no!' The blonde also admitted that while her romantic past had been somewhat limited, being on her own had made her grow as a person. Rebel explained: 'It's good to be an independent woman, to go after what you want, have fun and not feel like you have to be a couple to be able to do that. I really related because I've been single most of my life.' How To Be Single is released in Australian cinemas on February 18 and US cinemas on February 12. Best pals: The rapport between the leading ladies was clear to see as they shared a hug 30,000 Syrian refugees mass at Turkish border: Turkey PM Around 30,000 Syrians are at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. With his country facing mounting pressure to open its border, Davutoglu said the refugees would be admitted if need be, although Turkey should not be expected "to shoulder the refugee issue alone." "Around 30,000 Syrians have now massed," the border with northwestern Syria which remains closed, he told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Syrian refugees jostle each other near the Turkish border crossing on February 6, 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) Davutoglu, whose country is hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees, said Turkey would take refugees "if necessary." "Obviously, as always, we will provide for our Syrian brothers and accept them when necessary," he said. But he warned: "No one should assume that just because Turkey is taking in all the refugees that it should be expected to shoulder the refugee issue alone." Merkel's visit is aimed at pressing Turkey to make good on pledges to do more to reduce the influx of refugees to Europe. It came as 33 people died off Turkey's coast attempting to reach Greece in two separate tragedies on Tuesday. The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the outflow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance. The EU on Wednesday finally reached an agreement on how to finance the deal. But the deal and the onset of winter do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with boats still arriving on the Greek islands daily. Mauritania Islamist hunger strikers 'risking death': statement Dozens of Islamists on hunger strike at Mauritania's main jail said in a statement on Monday that some of the inmates were "in danger of death". The 27 prisoners accused their jailers of "inflicting collective punishment against (ultra-conservative) Salafist prisoners after the escape of Cheikh Ould Saleck," a high-profile jihadist on death row over an Al-Qaeda assassination plot. Ould Saleck escaped from jail on December 31, but was recaptured and sent back to Mauritania on January 20 after he crossed the Guinea-Bissau border into Guinea. This picture released by the Mauritanian news TV (AMI) on January 20, 2016 shows Cheikh Ould Saleck, a high-profile jihadist on death row over an Al-Qaeda assassination plot He has since been transferred to the Salaheddine prison in the north, where the most dangerous Islamists on death row are held, according to a Mauritanian security source. "We have nothing to do with this jailbreak," said the inmates on hunger strike in the capital Nouakchott since January 11, demanding that they no longer be held responsible for the escape. "Some hunger strikers are in danger of death and their situation is getting worse day by day," said the statement, whose signatories are accused of terrorist activities. The prisoners said conditions in the jail were "unliveable", as they demanded that authorities allow family visits and medicines be supplied to those who need them. Ould Saleck, 31, has been on death row since 2011 over an Al-Qaeda plot to assassinate the president. Juan E. Mendez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said last week during an official visit to Nouakchott that living conditions for detainees in the country were "inhumane". "The legal safeguards against torture and ill-treatment are in place, but they don't work," he said. US welcomes Saudi troop offer for Syria: FM The United States welcomes a Saudi offer to deploy special forces to support a coalition ground operation against the Islamic State group inside Syria, the kingdom's foreign minister said Monday. Speaking after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said any operation would be US-led but that Saudi Arabia would play a leading role. "The United States government was very supportive and very positive about the kingdom's readiness to provide special forces to the operation in Syria, should the international coalition make a decision to do so," he told reporters. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (R) shakes hands with US Secretary of State John Kerry on January 23, 2016 in Riyadh Jacquelyn Martin (Pool/AFP/File) "So the kingdom will be part of it," he said. "That support came from the White House, it came from the State Department, it was natural for Secretary Kerry to support such a decision." Jubeir said the idea for a possible ground operation had come from Washington, and that members of the 65-strong coalition against the Islamic State would expect the United States to lead it. State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the United States welcomed the Saudi offer, and that discussions were ongoing, but would not comment on the nature or timing of any operation. "We are talking about a ground element," he said. "We have discussed the potential value of a special operations capability inside that element, which would be valuable. " The United States has publicly confirmed that it has sent a small number of special operations forces to eastern Syria to help local militias fight the Islamic State group. Israeli parliament debates controversial NGO funding law Israel's parliament began debating late Monday a controversial bill that would compel NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign governments to declare this in all of their official reports. The debate was expected to continue late into the night on a proposal that critics say would encourage a witch-hunt against leftist groups that campaign for the defence of Palestinian rights and against Israeli settlement-building. The text does not specifically refer to leftist organisations, but they are the groups it would impact as right-wing NGOs supporting Israel's occupation of the West Bank tend instead to rely on private donations, particularly from the United States. Israel's parliament began debating a controversial bill that would compel NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign governments to declare this in all of their official reports Heidi Levine (Pool/AFP/File) Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who proposed the law, argues it will boost transparency as the government seeks to fight foreign interference and attempts to delegitimise the state of Israel. She has insisted it does not target any specific NGO. Organisations funded by the EU would be among those affected, including Israeli settlements watchdog Peace Now; B'Tselem, an NGO that champions human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories; and Breaking The Silence, which provides a platform for former soldiers to denounce the army's actions. More than 30 hurt after US casino bus flips over in snow A bus driving from New York to a casino in neighboring Connecticut overturned on a snow-covered highway Monday, injuring more than 30 people and forcing police to close the major route. The charter bus was heading to the Mohegan Sun Casino -- a drive of about two hours and 15 minutes -- when it flipped over on its side on Interstate 95 near the town of Madison during a snowstorm around 12:30 pm (1730 GMT), state police said. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. Three to seven inches (7.5-18 centimeters) of snow were forecast to fall on southwestern Connecticut on Monday, according to the National Weather Service Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File) Pictures of the scene on social media showed snow covering part of the road. Three to seven inches (7.5-18 centimeters) of snow were forecast to fall on southwestern Connecticut on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Of the 70 passengers on board, 30 were able to walk off the bus themselves. Emergency services evacuated the others, officials said. Those with minor injuries were taken to area hospitals, police said. The accident, which took place about 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) from the casino, involved no other vehicle. Mohegan Sun is one of the country's largest casinos and is operated by the Mohegan tribe. Other buses en route to the casino from New York were diverted back to the city, a casino spokesman said. The bus owner, Dahlia Inc, was not immediately available for comment. The eyes in the sky over North Korea Global concerns over North Korea's latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch have shone a spotlight on the perennial, high-tech game of hide-and-seek played around Pyongyang's advanced weapons programmes. On the seeking side are analysts using high-resolution images from a circling constellation of commercial satellites to pick up whatever data they can on the North's fast-developing nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. It's a challenging task that more often than not is reduced to educated guesswork, as the number of clues they have to work with is diminished by an increasingly effective North Korean concealment programme. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering a speech at a national awards ceremony for nuclear scientists KCNA (KCNA/AFP) Satellite imaging has been around for decades, but for most of that time was almost exclusively for government and military use. It was only at the start of the 21st century that high-resolution commercial images became publicly available. - A new window - For civilian North Korea watchers, the aerial snapshots provided by organisations such as DigitalGlobe and Airbus DS opened an entirely new window onto one of the most closed regions in the world. Two of the main monitoring targets are on opposite sides of the country: The Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast and the Sohae satellite launch complex in the northwest. "From early on the demand for informed analysis on North Korea was higher than for any other country, with the possible exception of Iran," said Allison Puccioni, an imagery analyst with expertise in North Korea. "The fervour over the Punggye-ri test site was unlike anything else, especially in terms of media interest." Effective analysis requires high-level expertise in areas like nuclear fuel cycles and advanced weapons systems. But the key raw materials are images and, in recent years, the North Koreans have become far more adept at hiding their activities from the satellite lenses. "They have certainly adopted additional concealment measures," said Puccioni. "They are clearly well aware of the orbital patterns of the satellites and are operating around those patterns to avoid detection," she added. Another tactic is to work at night or on cloudy, rainy days. - Under wraps - In a recent post on the 38 North website run by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, imagery analyst Jack Liu noted how North Korea's fourth nuclear test on January 6 had taken the international community by surprise. "Unlike the 2013 test, when heavy activity was seen in the weeks prior to that test, very little preparation activity was visible leading up to the 2016 test," Liu wrote. "The North Koreans have continued to improve their operational security and concealment procedures, limiting what is visible to commercial imaging satellites," he added. 38 North specialises in satellite imagery analysis of North Korea, which is also provided by Jane's IHS and the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. Managing editor of 38 North, Jenny Town, said North Korea had quickly become wise to the satellite monitoring process. "They've learned what we are looking for, and so they've learned when not to do things," Town told AFP. They have also covered, screened or moved underground structures at sensitive sites to shield them from observation. This is particularly true at the Sohae satellite launch site where a rocket can now be brought in, assembled and erected on the launch pad without being directly caught on camera. "We can see movement, but we still don't know what, if anything, is actually being moved," said Town. During preparations for the North's first successful space rocket launch in December 2012, satellite images showed the three-stage carrier sitting on the launch pad. By contrast, the rocket that blasted off on Sunday was never seen, although an image collected the day before the launch showed a tractor-trailer that was "probably" bringing in the third stage, Town said. "Again, that's down to the concealment procedures. They just didn't reveal what was there during the satellite hours," she added. - Sharper eyes - North Korean efforts to avoid detection have been partly mitigated by technical developments on the monitoring side. In June 2014, US federal law permitted American companies to sell satellite imagery with a resolution of 25 centimetres (10 inches) per pixel -- a dramatic 400 percent increase in resolution from the sharpest images previously available. An even stronger weapon is the development of radar and infrared imaging. "With radar, you still get returns on objects under concealment as the radar hits right through the camouflage," Puccioni said. At the same time, there is an increasing number of commercial companies providing images. That will result in the launch of around 70 new satellites over the next five years, adding to the 14 already in orbit, Puccioni said. "So obviously, that's a much larger constellation." A US soldier stands atop a military humvee at a training ground in Paju, South Korea YONHAP (YONHAP/AFP) N. Korea rocket appears to have longer range: Seoul The rocket launched by North Korea at the weekend seemed more powerful than its 2012 predecessor, but Pyongyang still lacks the expertise to transform it into a ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland, South Korean officials said Tuesday. The comments came as leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan discussed how to punish the North for its latest defiant launch and nuclear test, eyeing "strong and effective" UN sanctions. The rocket, carrying an Earth observation satellite, blasted off on Sunday morning and, according to North Korean state TV, achieved orbit within 10 minutes. North Koreans celebrating a report on a rocket launch in Pyongyang HO (KCNA/AFP) The launch, which violated multiple UN resolutions, was widely seen as an act of open defiance just weeks after Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test. It sparked strong international condemnations and resulted in an agreement at the UN Security Council to move quickly to impose new sanctions. The Pentagon said it wanted to send a sophisticated missile defence system to South Korea and that the two sides would start formal discussions on placing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) on the North's doorstep. "Without getting into a timeline, we'd like to see this move as quickly as possible," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. A South Korean defence ministry official said on condition of anonymity that the latest rocket was similar to the Unha-3 launched in December 2012 but was believed to have an enhanced range of some 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles). The older version of the rocket had an estimated range of some 10,000 kilometres. He was quick to emphasise, however, that the North has yet to master key technology needed to turn the rocket into an inter-continental ballistic missile, which would require a re-entry vehicle to protect the warhead from heat. He added that the three-stage rocket was confirmed to have put an object into orbit but officials had yet to verify whether the purported satellite was functioning. - 'Strong and effective sanctions' - South Korean President Park Geun-Hye meanwhile spoke to US counterpart Barack Obama as part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at agreeing on how best to censure the North. Park and Obama agreed to cooperate "to make sure that the UN Security Council can adopt a resolution for strong and effective sanctions", the presidential Blue House said. In addition to the UN measures, they agreed to hit the North with "various sanctions and pressure". Park held a similar conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who also spoke to Obama, telling him that Tokyo was considering its own sanctions against the North, Jiji Press said. A draft sanctions resolution prepared by Japan, South Korea and the United States has been in negotiations for weeks, but veto-wielding China, the North's key ally, has been reluctant to back measures that would take aim at North Korea's already weak economy. China fears that pushing Pyongyang too far could trigger instability that unleashes a wave of refugees flooding across its border. Beijing also worries that a wholesale collapse of the regime in Pyongyang could lead to a US-allied unified Korea right on its doorstep. The flight path of Sunday's rocket was similar to the 2012 launch vehicle, whose first stage debris was recovered by South Korea off its western coast, the defence ministry official said. However, North Korea this time is believed to have had the first stage of Sunday's rocket blow up into around 270 pieces to cover up its technical footprint, he said. The North is already subject to numerous UN sanctions over previous rocket launches and three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. It routinely insists the launches are part of a legitimate space exploration programme but the United States and its allies view them as disguised ballistic missile tests. Mumbai plotter 'says he worked for Pakistan spy agency' An American who helped survey targets for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks told a special Indian court Tuesday that Pakistan's spy agency provides support to militants blamed for the atrocity, according to a prosecutor. David Headley, who was sentenced in 2013 by a Chicago court to 35 years in a US prison for his role in the attacks that killed 166 people, also said he worked for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). "Today David Headley has given certain sensitive revelations," Indian public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said outside Mumbai's sessions court on Tuesday following the American's testimony via video link. India has long blamed the LeT for the coordinated attacks on November 26, 2008 when Islamist gunmen stormed luxury hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish centre and other sites in the country's financial capital Pedro Ugarte (AFP/File) "Firstly he said that he was working for ISI... David Headley further confirmed that ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had a close nexus with each other," Nikam told reporters. "I did ask him how he could say that... and he said 'ISI provides financial and moral as well as military support to Lashkar-e-Taiba'," the prosecutor added. India has long blamed the LeT for the coordinated attacks on November 26, 2008 when Islamist gunmen stormed luxury hotels, the main railway station, a Jewish centre and other sites in the country's financial capital. The attacks, which lasted for three days, have been a consistent source of acrimony between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has called for Islamabad to bring the alleged masterminds to justice. Pakistan's government has technically banned LeT but a number of its leaders, including Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, remain free. India blames Saeed and Lakhvi for masterminding the attacks in 2008 and Pakistan's reluctance to hand them over remains a continual source of friction between the nuclear rivals. Analysts accuse the ISI of maintaining links with a range of militant groups in Pakistan, including the LeT, but Islamabad denies this. Headley, 55, was giving evidence to the Indian court from an undisclosed location in America for the second day. The court is trying suspected plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Jundal. In December it pardoned Headley, the son of a former Pakistani diplomat, on condition that he testified to the court. The pardon does not affect the US sentence. which came after he admitted scouting targets for the Mumbai attackers. After initially denying involvement, Headley confessed and cooperated with US authorities to avoid the death penalty. According to Nikam, Headley told the court Tuesday that he had surveyed various locations in Mumbai, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and Oberoi hotel. All three were hit during the attacks. On Monday, Headley testified that the Pakistan-based LeT had also been behind two failed attempted attacks on Mumbai in September and October 2008. Protests as S. Africa's top court hears case against Zuma Opposition protesters chanting "Pay back the money" demonstrated Tuesday outside South Africa's Constitutional Court, as judges heard a complaint against public funds spent to upgrade President Jacob Zuma's rural estate. The upgrades at Zuma's homestead, which were valued in 2014 at 216 million rand (then $24 million), have become a symbol of alleged corruption and greed within the African National Congress (ANC) government. Among the supposed security work was a swimming pool described as a fire-fighting facility, a chicken run, a cattle enclosure, an amphitheatre and a visitors' centre. South African President Jacob Zuma, who has often been accused of allowing corruption to flourish since he came to power in 2009, is under pressure over South Africa's sharply slowing economy John Macdougall (AFP/File) As lawyers presented their case in the court, several hundred protesters from the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party could be heard outside, chanting "Zuma must fall" and other slogans. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, the country's ombudswoman, ruled in 2014 that Zuma had "benefited unduly" from the work on his Nkandla property, and she said that he should pay back some of the funds. "The president's defiance of the public protector violated his duties under the constitution," Wim Trengove, a lawyer representing the EFF, told the court on Tuesday. "He doesn't recognise that her orders enjoy any status beyond that of recommendations." EFF's firebrand leader Julius Malema led protesters who marched through Johannesburg to rally outside the court. "We are here to say the president will have to pay back the money," he told his cheering supporters. In a U-turn ahead of the court hearing, Zuma last week agreed to reimburse some of the costs incurred, in an apparent attempt to end the two-year scandal. But the two main opposition parties -- the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the EFF -- declined to drop their Constitutional Court bid to have Madonsela's ruling declared legally binding. - Zuma under pressure - "This case goes far deeper than the question of the public protector's powers," DA lawyer Anton Katz told the court. "It goes to a systemic failure of government in general. "There has been an abuse of public resources at an extraordinary scale for the benefit of one family in a country where most families barely can afford food, education, healthcare and housing." The court held a one-day hearing on Tuesday, with a judgement expected at a later date. The ANC dismissed the case has being "negatively politicised by the EFF and DA". All parties are jostling for advantage ahead of municipal elections due later this year that could see a fall in support for the ANC, which has ruled since the end of apartheid more than 20 years ago. The president, who has often been accused of allowing corruption to flourish since he came to power in 2009, is under pressure over South Africa's sharply slowing economy. He will make his annual state of the nation address in parliament on Thursday. The occasion descended into chaos last year when EFF lawmakers scuffled with security after interrupting him to protest over the Nkandla scandal. Zuma had previously said he did not order the upgrades to his property in rural KwaZulu-Natal province. An enquiry by the police minister last year concluded that the work was all security-related. The police minister said that the swimming pool was actually a "fire pool" needed to fight any blaze at the mainly-thatched compound, and the cattle kraal and chicken run were to prevent animals tripping motion detectors. Architects and contractors have been accused of submitting inflated costs for the work. Iraq's Ramadi retaken, but rebuilding it a huge task Iraq has completely retaken Ramadi from the Islamic State group, but now faces the enormous challenges of removing bombs, reestablishing basic services and rebuilding the shattered city, officials said Tuesday. Government forces recaptured areas on the eastern outskirts of the Anbar provincial capital from IS after weeks of fighting, and authorities say that all areas immediately surrounding the city have been retaken. "All of Ramadi is now liberated" and responsibility for security is being handed over to local police, Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi told journalists in Baghdad. A member of Iraqi pro-governement forces flashes the sign of victory atop an armoured vehicle on February 8, 2016 in the Jwaibah area, on the eastern outskirts of Ramadi, after Iraqi troops retook it from Islamic State (IS) group jihadists Moadh al-Dulaimi (AFP) But the city's civilian population has been displaced, and "the biggest challenge before us is clearing the areas of mines" so residents can return, Rawi said, adding that he hopes to obtain international support to remove explosives. Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said that clearing the city of explosives would cost an estimated $15 million. "The key right now is to extract the IEDs (improvised explosive devices). This is the single largest, most difficult obstacle preventing people from coming home and rebuilding their lives," said Grande, speaking at a roundtable alongside Rawi. But the city's problems go far beyond bombs. - Widespread destruction - "The level of destruction in Ramadi is as bad as anything we have seen anywhere in Iraq," Grande said. "Houses are destroyed, bridges are destroyed, roads are infested with IEDs, water systems are ruined, schools are ruined, health centres are ruined and businesses are shut," she said. Initial work will be in the Tamim area of southwestern Ramadi, and will include repairing the water system and six health centres, as well as providing six ambulances and dozens of generators, Grande said. The second phase will focus on central Ramadi, and will include repairing water stations, bringing in three mobile electrical grids and connecting them to hundreds of generators, she said. The UN has already secured the $10 million needed for the first phase, but the second will cost an additional $25 and $30 million, plus the cost of clearing explosives. And even that is only the beginning: "Thousands of homes have to be rebuilt. Thousands of buildings have to be rebuilt," Grande said. Rawi said that the provincial government had not received funds from Baghdad since the beginning of December, and that it will have to use part of its 2016 budget to pay debts from the previous year. Iraq announced in December that it had recaptured Ramadi, located west of Baghdad, but daily fighting with IS jihadists continued for more than a month on the city's eastern outskirts. - 'Famine' in Fallujah - Iraqi forces "were able to liberate areas east of Ramadi" including Sichariya, Juwaiba and Husaiba, meaning that all areas immediately surrounding the city have been recaptured, the joint operations command said in a statement on Tuesday. They "were also able to open the Ramadi-Baghdad road passing through Khaldiyah," it said, referring to a government-held area along the route. IS overran large areas of Iraq in June 2014, but security forces and allied tribesmen held out in parts of Ramadi until May 2015, when the jihadists seized the city in an assault spearheaded by a wave of car and truck bombs. But the capture of Ramadi was the last major advance by jihadists in Iraq, and Baghdad's forces slowly tightened the noose around it in the following months before moving into the city itself. IS still holds Fallujah, east of Ramadi, and Mosul, Iraq's second city that is located in the north. Fallujah has been largely cut off by security forces, and the situation inside the city "has reached a state of famine", Rawi said. Iraq is deploying thousands of soldiers to an area southeast of Mosul for operations aimed at cutting supply lines linking it with areas farther south, which will set the stage for direct efforts to retake the city. Deputy Special Representative of the UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Lise Grande (R) and Suhaib al-Rawi, Iraqi governor of the Anbar province, give a press conference in Baghdad on February 9, 2016 Sabah Arar (AFP) Iraqi troops retake Ramadi Jonathan Jacobsen (AFP) Nine dead in IS car bomb at Damascus police club: monitor A suicide car bombing killed nine people Tuesday at a police officer's club in the Syrian capital, a monitor said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 people were also wounded in the Damascus blast, adding that policemen were among the dead and injured. The monitor said the suicide bomber had been wearing a police uniform, a tactic used in the past by IS. A member of Syrian security forces stands guard next to a damaged vehicle at the site of a suicide attack at a police officer's club in the Masaken Barzeh district of the capital Damascus on February 9, 2016 Loaui Beshara (AFP) The jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. It said one its members had detonated an explosives-laden car at a club for "criminal" police officers, and claimed that the attack had killed nearly 20 people and wounded 40. Syrian state television initially reported the blast had hit a vegetable market in the Masaken Barzeh district in northern Damascus. But it subsequently cited a source in the interior ministry saying a car had tried to ram into the police officer's club in the area, but was stopped by guards. "A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries," the state broadcaster reported. Syrian state news agency SANA said three people were killed and 14 wounded in the attack. Car bombs have been used regularly in Syria's war, often to devastating effect. While the capital has been largely spared, a multiple bomb attack near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside the city killed at least 71 people last month. More than one million Syrians living under siege: NGOs More than a million Syrians are living under sieges mostly enforced by regime forces five years into the war, a new NGO report said Tuesday, warning the crisis was "far worse" than the UN has admitted. A joint project collecting data from a network extending deep into trapped Syrian communities came to the grim conclusion that inadequate UN reporting may also "inadvertently encourage the expansion of the Syrian government's 'surrender or starve' strategy." Citing the example of the town of Madaya where 46 people have died from starvation since December, the report warned the true extent of the crisis was being masked by what it said was the UN's "under-reporting" of the situation on the ground. A UNICEF employee measures the arm of a malnourished child after entering the the besieged Syrian town of Madaya on January 14, 2016 Pictures of severely emaciated adults and children in Madaya emerged late last year, and some humanitarian access was finally allowed into the town after a global outcry. But Madaya did not even figure on a UN list of trapped communities, said the report from Siege Watch, a joint project launched by the Washington-based Syria Institute and PAX, a peace organisation based in the Netherlands. New data gathered by the NGOs listed 46 communities around Syria where it said a total of 1,099,475 people are besieged. The overwhelming majority are encircled by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The figure could be even higher as the reporting began in November 2015, before the start of the latest regime assault to encircle rebel-held areas of northern Aleppo, which has sent tens of thousands fleeing. People in besieged Syrian communities had an "elevated risk of death" due to deprivation from lack of food as well as electricity and running water, the report said. "The scale of the crisis of besieged areas in Syria is far worse than the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has acknowledged," the report said. - Survival tactics - In response, Syrians "have begun to acclimatise to a more primitive lifestyle," adopting "survival tactics" such as rooftop gardening and burning plastics to extract oil. Syria's nearly five-year conflict has claimed 260,000 lives and displaced half the population since March 2011. The latest UN figures released in January put the number of people under siege at 486,700 people, with more than living half in areas encircled by regime forces. But Siege Watch said its data pointed to "continued under-reporting of the siege crisis in Syria" in monthly UN reports. The UN's "characterisation does not accurately reflect the situation on the ground," the report said. Out of the 46 besieged communities, only two -- the towns of Fuaa and Kefraya in Idlib province -- were being held hostage by opposition forces. A third area -- Deir Ezzor city where some 200,000 are trapped -- was encircled by both jihadists from the Islamic State group and regime forces, it said. The report said the UN's misreporting of the numbers under siege meant that many people remained "unaware of the extent of the crisis and the international response has been muted as a result." Peace talks aimed at trying to end the conflict were suspended until February 25, with the UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura saying "more work" was needed to prepare all sides for the negotiations. The Syrian cities under siege Jonathan JACOBSEN, Paz PIZARRO, Rana MOUSSAOUI (AFP) Syria's Red Crescent delivered aid to the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya, on January 14, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP/File) US to send reinforcements to aid Afghans in embattled province: official The United States is set to send additional troops to Afghanistan's embattled southern Helmand province in a bid to bolster local forces that have struggled to fend off persistent Taliban assaults, officials said Tuesday. The new mission would focus on training and buttressing the 215th Corps of the Afghan army based in the province, a spokesman for the US army told AFP. It will also provide additional protection for the US advisors already on the ground. An Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel keeps watch during an ongoing battle with Taliban militants in the Marjah district of Helmand Province on December 23, 2015 Noor Mohammad (AFP/File) "This was a planned deployment of additional personnel to both bolster force protection for the current staff of advisors and to provide additional advisors to help with ongoing efforts to re-man, re-equip, and re-train the 215th Corps," said Colonel Michael Lawhorn, a spokesman for the US command in Kabul. The spokesman did not provide more information on the deployment, including troop numbers, but said the soldiers' mission was to help "train, advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts". Helmand, a poppy producing province in southern Afghanistan, has seen some of the fiercest battles over the course of the of war that began almost fifteen years ago. The Taliban have intensified their campaign in the province since the US-led combat mission in the war-torn country officially ended in 2014. Last December, a Taliban offensive drove out Afghan forces from most of the Sangin, a major poppy growing area in Helmand. The onslaught raised fears that Afghan forces were too overstretched to fend off the insurgents. The government forces backed by US airstrikes later pushed back the Taliban, though some local officials admit the strategically important district largely remains under the insurgents' control. An Afghan army commander in Sangin told AFP on Tuesday that the US mission in Helmand, though limited, was crucial in their fight against the Taliban. "The US special forces help evacuate our casualties, resupply our troops and coordinate airstrikes on enemy positions. I believe, if it was not for their help, Sangin... would have already fallen," he told AFP requesting anonymity. With many US advisors embedded with Afghan troops on the battlefield, they have been increasingly engaged in combat. Last month, a US soldier was killed in Helmand province when their unit came under Taliban fire. In October, President Barack Obama announced that thousands of US troops would remain in Afghanistan past 2016, backpedalling on previous plans to reduce the force and acknowledging that Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone. US soldiers patrol at the scene of a suicide car bomb attack that targeted a compound for foreign contractors near international Kabul airport on January 4, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) Iran nuclear deal delays bomb by 10-15 years: IISS chief The deal between world powers and Iran has delayed Tehran's acquisition of nuclear weapons by 10 to 15 years, the head of a top defence think-tank told AFP on Tuesday. The agreement struck in Vienna in July between Iran and the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5 plus one) sees sanctions progressively lifted in return for Tehran ensuring its nuclear programme remains for civilian use. "2015 was by and large a decent year for news on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," said John Chipman, the director-general and chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The agreement struck in Vienna in July between Iran and the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5 plus one) sees sanctions progressively lifted in return for Tehran ensuring its nuclear programme remains for civilian use Atta Kenare (AFP/File) "Principally because, of course, we did see in the last year the conclusion of the P5 plus one agreement on the Iranian nuclear file." He was speaking after presenting the IISS's annual assessment of the global balance of military power. "There are lots of sceptics as to how good an arrangement that is but there is some consensus that at least that it has delayed for some 10 years, and possibly 15 years, the acquisition by Iran of a nuclear weapon," he added. Egypt policeman jailed for 8 years for death in custody An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced a policeman to eight years in prison for beating to death a veterinary surgeon in custody, a judicial official said. Mohammed Ibrahim was tried on charges of killing the vet in November in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, and forging official documents to falsely accuse him of being a drug dealer. On Tuesday, the court in Ismailiya found him guilty and sentenced him to eight years in jail, the official said. Egyptian policemen in the dock over using excessive force in 2014 Khaled Desouki (AFP/File) Rights groups regularly accuse both the regular police and secret police of abusing and torturing detainees. In December, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that police officers found guilty of "committing mistakes" would be punished. Egyptian courts have since sentenced some policemen to jail terms in similar cases. A court in the Nile Delta city of Tanta sentenced two policemen in absentia to life in jail for killing Ismail Abdelhamid in October 2014. And two secret policemen were jailed for five years for beating to death a lawyer held in custody at a Cairo police station in February 2015. That verdict came two days after an officer got five years for beating to death a suspect in a drug case in the Nile Delta town of Rashid. Police abuses under former president Hosni Mubarak were a key factor in the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster. One trigger for the revolt was the case of Khaled Saeed, a young man tortured to death by police after his arrest in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. Mubarak was succeeded in 2012 by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, who lasted just a year before his ouster by the army following massive rallies demanding his resignation. Morsi's overthrow unleashed a deadly crackdown on his supporters in which hundreds have been killed and thousands detained, and accusations of ill treatment in prisons are common. The interior ministry has said it does not condone torture, but admits that there have been "individual" cases of abuse. Hamas fighter killed in new Gaza tunnel collapse A Hamas militant was killed on Tuesday when a tunnel collapsed in the Gaza Strip, the group said, in the fourth such incident over the past few weeks. The death brings to 11 the number of Gazans killed in four separate collapses since January 26, and comes with Israeli concern building over the reconstruction of tunnels it says could be used for attacks. Israel's military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday that militant tunnels in Gaza were now the army's main priority. Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, squat in a tunnel, used for storing weapons, as they take part in military training in the south of the Gaza Strip on March 3, 2015 Mahmud Hams (AFP/File) The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said in a statement that Marwan Maarouf, 27, from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, died "after the collapse of a resistance tunnel". Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, said his body had been taken to Khan Yunis hospital. Ten other Palestinians have died in three tunnel collapses in the past two weeks, nine of them members of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades. During previous conflicts with Israel, Hamas forces have used the tunnels to avoid or carry out attacks, store weapons and at times to enter Israel. Hamas says it needs the tunnels to defend itself against Israeli firepower. Palestinian militants in Gaza have fought three wars with Israel since 2008. Gazans have also used tunnels along the Egyptian border for smuggling. Hamas controls Gaza but an Israeli blockade severely restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory, and Egypt's sole border with Gaza has also remained largely closed since 2013. In late 2014, Egypt began setting up a buffer zone on its border with Gaza, and destroyed hundreds of tunnels it says are used for smuggling weapons and other items. In September 2015, Egyptian forces carried out digging work that Palestinians say led to the flooding of the last remaining tunnels there. On Saturday Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said the tunnels were flooded by Egypt at Israel's request. His office later said the remarks were misinterpreted. Amid cybersecurity warnings, Obama unveils 'action plan' President Barack Obama unveiled a cybersecurity "national action plan" on Tuesday as his intelligence chief warned of growing risks from new technologies that open more doors to hackers. Obama asked for $19 billion for cybersecurity efforts in his budget request, a 35 percent increase from current levels, with $3 billion earmarked to help modernize the patchwork of computer systems used in government agencies. "More and more, keeping America safe is not just about more tanks or more airplanes," Obama told reporters at the White House. US President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with members of his national security team on cybersecurity on February 9, 2016 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC Mandel Ngan (AFP) "We also have to bolster our security online. As we've seen in the past few years, and just in the past few days, cyber threats pose a danger not only to our national security but our economic security." US intelligence chief James Clapper underscored those risks at a Senate hearing, pointing out that wider adoption of connected devices and new systems that rely on artificial intelligence can open up doors to hackers. Clapper said "smart" Internet of Things (IoT) devices for autonomous vehicles, household appliances and systems such as electric power grids create new vulnerabilities. The intelligence chief named Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as "leading threat actors" which pose risks for US security, and said these risks are growing as technology evolves and moves into new devices. "Future cyber operations will almost certainly include an increased emphasis on changing or manipulating data to compromise its integrity... to affect decision making, reduce trust in systems, or cause adverse physical effects," Clapper said. "Russian cyber actors, who post disinformation on commercial websites, might seek to alter online media as a means to influence public discourse and create confusion. Chinese military doctrine outlines the use of cyber deception operations to conceal intentions, modify stored data, transmit false data, manipulate the flow of information, or influence public sentiments." The Obama cyber initiative responds to an epidemic of data breaches and cyber attacks on both government and private networks in recent years, and passage last year of a cybersecurity bill that aims to promote better threat sharing. - 'Broken, old systems' - Obama said some US computer networks are "archaic" and use systems that date back to the 1960s. "If you've got broken, old systems -- computers, mainframes, software that doesn't work anymore -- then you can keep on putting a bunch of patches on it, but it's not going to make it safe," he told reporters. The launch comes after disclosures last year that personal data from some 20 million federal employees, contractors and others had been leaked in a massive breach at the Office of Personnel Management. That followed news of attacks hitting health care networks, retailers and others affecting tens of millions more, and a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures. Michael Daniel, Obama's special assistant for cybersecurity, said the plan calls for "both the modernization of our IT (information technology) and the modernization of how we handle cybersecurity." As part of his initiative, Obama issued an executive order creating a 12-member cybersecurity commission to make recommendations to both the public and private sectors. The panel is to issue a report to the president by December 1. A White House statement said the plan calls for a new federal chief information security officer to direct cybersecurity across the federal government. The White House also will join the private sector in a campaign to help consumers improve online security, in part by helping reduce dependence on passwords, which can often be stolen by hackers. The campaign is about "moving beyond just passwords and adding an extra layer of security," such as biometric identification or multi-factor authentication using a secure code, according to the White House. The effort includes major technology firms such as Google, Facebook, Dropbox and Microsoft as well as financial service providers such as MasterCard, Visa and PayPal. Another part of the program calls for the government to step up security for its own transactions with citizens to avoid password or identity theft, the White House said. The announcements were made on "Safer Internet Day," designated by governments and technology firms to boost awareness of cybersecurity issues. Aleppo siege spells doom for West's goals in Syria: analysts The siege of Aleppo has taken the West even further from achieving its key goals in Syria of stemming the refugee flow, removing the Assad regime and tackling the Islamic State group, experts say. As the joint forces of Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria encircle the divided northern Syrian city, the so-called "moderate" opposition faces a potentially devastating turning point in its five-year war against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The collapse of the "moderate" opposition would have serious knock-on effects for the West. A Syrian man injured in Syria kisses a children near Oncupinar crossing gate, on February 9, 2016, in Kilis as around 30,000 Syrians are at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo Bulent Kilic (AFP) "The civil war is feeding a horrific humanitarian crisis with obvious significance for the twin Western concerns of refugees and extremism," said Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European Council on Foreign Relations. The United Nations says more than 30,000 people have fled Aleppo in just a few days as the fighting intensifies, and officials are warning that Europe could see migrant numbers that eclipse even the record figures of the past year. "The worst-case scenario that could happen in this region in the short term would be a new influx of 600,000 refugees at the Turkish frontier," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus warned on Monday. Assad's main international backers -- Russia and Iran -- argue that the Syrian leader is the best hope for ending the war -- a view that is gaining some currency in Western capitals despite them seeing Assad as responsible for most of the quarter million dead in the conflict. "There is not the same sense of urgency or moral impulse to get rid of Assad," said Barnes-Dacey. "But Assad can't win this war outright. No one realistically believes he can stabilise the country and deal with both extremism and refugees," he said. - 'Rampant wishful thinking' - The onslaught on Aleppo led to the collapse last week of the first peace talks between the regime and opposition in Geneva, but Washington sees little alternative but to keep the negotiation process going. The United States is unwilling to throw full military support behind the rebels -- fearful of becoming mired in an indirect conflict with Russia. Instead, analysts say the White House is still hoping Moscow and Damascus will get tired of fighting and seek a settlement. "Wishful thinking has been rampant in Washington," said Hassan Hassan, of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington. "The West is banking on the political process, on the idea that the regime campaign will get to a stalemate and will eventually accept concessions. They think the bombardment of Aleppo is just part of the negotiation. "But they are being played by the regime and Russia. The regime is seeking total victory and wants to get to a point where it doesn't need to negotiate. That's the only doctrine the regime believes in." - Boon or bust for IS? - While it will generate still more humanitarian disasters and a fresh exodus of refugees, analysts say the fall of Aleppo will not directly impact the West's primary concern: the war against the Islamic State group (IS), which has become practically a separate conflict in eastern Syria. "If Aleppo falls, it would be a big symbolic victory for the Syrian government over the Sunni insurgency," said Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst for IHS in London. "But the Western strategy (against IS) shifted away from backing the Sunni insurgency in the middle of last year... It just wasn't working," Strack said. In October, the US formally abandoned its $500 million (450-million-euro) plan to train a moderate Sunni force to fight IS after a series of embarrassing setbacks that saw some of the first recruits simply hand over their weapons to extremists. Washington and its Western allies are now putting their hopes in Kurdish fighters, hoping they will act as ground forces against the brutal jihadist group. Experts are divided on whether the current trends of the conflict will help or hinder the Islamic State. Some fear the decline of the moderate opposition will force many into the arms of IS. "The Russian plan is to get to a place where Assad is left alone against the Islamic State," said Agnes Levallois, a Middle East consultant in Paris. "But that will create a scenario where the Islamic State can present itself as the great and only defender of the Sunni community against the Syrian regime." Other analysts agree that extremist groups will take advantage of losses by more moderate forces, but point out that IS is currently under considerable pressure in key areas. "Overall the current trends look bad for the Islamic State -- you've got US-backed Kurdish forces and Russian-backed Syrian forces competing for the territory held by the Islamic State along the Turkish border," said Strack. US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrive for talks on the Syria peace process in Zurich on January 20, 2016, as the White House still hopes Moscow and Damascus will seek a settlement Jacquelyn Martin (Pool/AFP/File) Syria air strike hits MSF-supported hospital, 3 dead: statement An air strike hit a hospital in southern Syria that is supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing three people and wounding six, the medical charity said on Tuesday. "The strike on Tafas field hospital, some 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the Jordanian border, took place on the night of February 5. It caused partial damage to the hospital building, and put its heavily-used ambulance service out of action," MSF said in a statement. A nurse was among the casualties, it added. [caption] "The hospital is the latest medical facility to be hit in a series of air strikes in southern Syria, which have been escalating over the past two months," it said, without specifying who was behind the strikes. In addition to the Syrian government, Russia and a US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group are also carrying out raids in the war-torn country. A Syrian aid group in January said 177 hospitals had been destroyed and nearly 700 health workers killed since the outbreak of the country's civil war in March 2011. It is not the first time MSF-supported facilities in Syria have been hit. "Since the start of this year alone, 13 health facilities in Syria have been hit, confirming that hospitals and clinics are no longer places where patients can recover in safety," the charity said. Obama unveils $4.1 trillion election-tinged budget Barack Obama unveiled the last budget of his presidency Tuesday, a record $4.1 trillion plan that is dead-on-arrival in Congress but could shape the 2016 White House race. Legislatively, the future looks bleak for Obama's 2017 fiscal plan, which covers spending on everything from cybersecurity to the environment. It includes big-ticket investments in America's creaking infrastructure -- to the tune of $320 billion over the next decade -- and ramps up research into clean energy technologies and cancer. Copies of US President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2017 budget are distributed by the Senate Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 9, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) But Republicans who control Congress have already vowed to draft their own plan, "rather than spend time on a proposal that," according to House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, "will double down on the same failed policies." Adding insult to White House injury, spending announcements that would have made waves in the first year of Obama's administration are likely to quickly dissolve into saturation coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary, which also takes place Tuesday. Still, the budget provides Obama with one of his few remaining opportunities to fashion national and Democratic party priorities. Obama said the budget was a statement of intent, saying it would invest in innovation and strengthen national security. "The budget that we are releasing today reflects my priorities and the priorities that I believe will help advance security and prosperity in America for many years to come," hed said. It is chock-full of measures designed to wean the United States off fossil fuels, including a $10-a-barrel levy on crude. A "computer science for all" program would give schools $4 billion to teach a "new basic skill" and help modernize workforce skills. Looking farther afield, the proposal will include $7.5 billion -- a 50 percent increase from the previous year -- to fund the campaign against the Islamic State group. That includes $1.8 billion to pay for over 45,000 more GPS-guided smart bombs. The budget would also invest more than $19 billion in cybersecurity, a 35 percent jump designed, Obama said, to tackle the issue "in a more aggressive way." "Cyber threats pose a danger not only to our national security, but also our financial security and the privacy of millions of Americans," Obama said. An additional $4.3 billion would be spent on "countering Russian aggression and support European allies." - Fortuitous timing - While politics may have doomed this budget, the plan might have its biggest impact on the campaign trail, where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting a tougher-than-expected battle for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Sanders' electrifying support in early voting states has exposed a battle for the soul of the party. The self-styled democratic socialist's message has eclipsed Clinton's more moderate and, she claims, realistic message. The pair virtually tied in Iowa and the last polls showed Sanders leading Clinton in New Hampshire by nearly double digits. Obama is unlikely to withhold endorsement from either, but they will be cautious about getting on the wrong side of a potent campaigner who remains deeply popular among Democrats. When Obama earlier this year suggested he could not vote or campaign for anyone who does not support gun control, Sanders was quick to define his record on the issue. The budget also provides Obama an opportunity to draw sharp contrast with Republicans, as the November general election looms. "Clearly, Republicans are not interested in hearing about a budget that invests in the future and grows the wages of hard-working Americans," charged House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Republicans appeared happy to draw their own contrasts. "This isn't even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans," said House Speaker Paul Ryan. Eric Ueland of the Senate Budget Committee distributes copies of US President Barack Obama's Fiscal Year 2017 budget on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 9, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) Rocker Ted Nugent, a long-time campaigner for right-wing causes, came under fire Tuesday from Jewish groups after he alleged a conspiracy behind U.S. gun control efforts. The 'Cat Scratch Fever' guitarist on Monday listed on Facebook prominent US Jewish politicians who support stricter gun laws and put Israeli flags on their pictures. 'What sort of racist prejudiced (person) could possibly not know that Jews for guncontrol are nazis in disguise?' he wrote in one of a series of profanity-laden postings. Ted Nugent, seen on April 12, 2015, asked what person 'could possibly not know that Jews for gun control are nazis in disguise?' in a Facebook post recently Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that the group would urge Facebook to take down the graphic if Nugent, who is 67, did not do so himself. 'There are Jews on both sides of the gun control controversy and Nugent knows it. He owes our community an apology,' Cooper said. Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, acknowledged that Nugent has been an 'equal opportunity offender' but said he had drifted into 'conspiratorial anti-Semitism.' 'It should go without saying that anti-Semitism has no place in the gun control debate,' he said, urging Nugent to take down the post. Nugent posted this on his Facebook on Monday - calling out Jewish politicians in favor of gun control. The post had Jewish groups accusing Nugent of anti-Semiticism, including some with the same second amendment beliefse as Nugent The comments have not only alienated those for gun control, but many with Nugent's same beliefs in the right to bare arms. 'Mr. Nugents thinly veiled call for violent action against Jewish gun control advocates is beyond reprehensible,' gun-rights supporter Robert Farago, who is Jewish, told the New York Daily News. 'It also gives aid and comfort to the forces of civilian disarmament, allowing them to portray gun owners as bigots.' Farago added: 'The NRA should distance itself from Mr. Nugent. They should revoke his membership and remove him from their Board.' Nugent, who has sold more than 30 million albums, is well-known for his strong views on guns. He has lashed out against proposals for tighter screening on weapons sales following a string of mass shootings in the United States and has long spoken out against animal rights. Nugent campaigned for 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and was invited a year later to watch President Barack Obama's State of the Union address as a guest of then congressman Steve Stockman of Texas. Sudan names new military chief amid Darfur clashes: ministry Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir named a new military chief of staff Tuesday as his forces battle rebels in the Jebel Marra area of the western Darfur region, the defence ministry said. Bashir issued decrees appointing "Lieutenant General Emadeddin Adawi to the post of joint chief of staff", the ministry said in a statement. Adawi takes over from Lieutenant-General Mustafa Obeid Salim, who held the post from 2013 in what is usually a four-year assignment. General Mustafa Osman Obeid Salim, seen in Khartoum on June 25, 2013, will be relieved by Lieutenant General Emadeddin Adawi The decrees also appointed Lieutenant General Yahya Mohamed Khair as deputy chief-of-staff, as well as several other new nominations, but gave no reason for the changes. The reshuffle came as Sudanese troops fight rebels from the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdulwahid Nur in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to have fled the latest clashes, which flared on January 15. Ethnic insurgents in Darfur rebelled against Bashir's Arab-dominated regime in 2003 claiming they were being marginalised. Bashir unleashed a campaign to crush them and was indicted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges relating to the conflict that the United Nations says has cost around 300,000 lives. Winter storm could dump over a foot of snow on Cape Cod BOSTON (AP) A wind-driven winter storm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and threatened to drop more than a foot of snow on southeastern Massachusetts on Monday. Motorists in New England were warned to be vigilant after a charter bus heading to a casino skidded off a Connecticut highway, injuring at least 30 people. In New Hampshire, the storm could last into early Tuesday, when the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary is held. Police in Hampstead on Monday turned away people from a full coffee shop where Republican candidate Chris Christie was making a campaign stop. One woman lamented that she couldn't stand out in the cold because she has asthma, but authorities were adamant that no one else would be allowed in because doing so would violate fire codes. A woman clears off her snow-covered car after work in Pittsfield, Mass, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast centered on New England on Monday, bringing howling winds and coastal flooding and threatening Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts with up to 18 inches of snow. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP) BERKSHIRE COURIER OUT, GREAT BARRINGTON RECORD OUT, RURAL INTELLIGENCER OUT, BERKSHIRES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Driving on treacherous roads caused accidents across the region. In Connecticut, a bus carrying about 70 passengers from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino crashed on a snowy Interstate 95 and fell on its side in Madison. At least 30 people were injured, and the northbound side of I-95 there shut down. Some areas of the Cape and Martha's Vineyard had about 9 inches of snow Monday evening. The National Weather Service said the islands appeared to have met the conditions for a blizzard. Boston could see 6 to 10 inches, and areas south of Boston were getting moderate coastal flooding. In Rhode Island, crowds of mourners lined the streets amid bitter temperatures and falling snow to bid farewell to former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, whose casket was carried by horse-drawn carriage from City Hall to the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. Other parts of the Northeast, including Northern New England and the New York City area, were expected to get much less snow. New York City, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey could get 2 to 3 inches from Monday into Tuesday night, the weather service said. Elsewhere, the snow meant unpleasant outdoor work for some workers. Sean Nardone, a custodian for the U.S. Postal Service, was scheduled to spend the day shoveling and treating the front steps of several post offices south of Boston. "I don't like it very much," Nardone said as he tossed rock salt on the steps of the Whitman post office while a howling wind blew. "I hope global warming friggin' helps out this winter," he said. "I hate to sound selfish, but I could use some warmth." Raj Patel, who co-owns a convenience store in Whitman, said the storm is good for business. "It's convenient for the neighborhood. We are always open for them. In past storms, we've sold out of milk right away. Milk, bread, water a lot of people walk from their homes, so we stay open," he said. Communities across the region closed schools and issued on-street parking bans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker closed state offices in nine counties Monday, and state courts were closed in 10 counties. Boston's Logan Airport remained open, but hundreds of inbound and outbound flights were canceled. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which was crippled by a series of historic storms during Boston's record-breaking winter last year, was operating on a normal weekday schedule with winter routes in effect for buses. Although there were delays, no major problems were reported. Chinda Trate, 27, said her train ride from Lowell, about 30 miles northwest of downtown, was uneventful. She arrived on time for work after catching her usual morning train. "It's just another day for me so far," she said as she took a late afternoon break from work at a downtown law firm. "We live in New England, so you kind of expect this kind of weather." ___ Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg and Philip Marcelo in Boston; Denise Lavoie in Whitman, Massachusetts; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Holly Ramer in Hampstead, New Hampshire; and Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report. A man walks through the snow in the parking lot in front of the McKay Street garage in Pittsfield, Mass., Monday, Feb 8, 2016. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP) BERKSHIRE COURIER OUT, GREAT BARRINGTON RECORD OUT, RURAL INTELLIGENCER OUT, BERKSHIRES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT A woman enters her snow-covered car after work in Pittsfield, Mass, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast centered on New England on Monday, bringing howling winds and coastal flooding and threatening Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts with up to 18 inches of snow. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP) BERKSHIRE COURIER OUT, GREAT BARRINGTON RECORD OUT, RURAL INTELLIGENCER OUT, BERKSHIRES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT A woman walks down the street in New Bedford, Mass., on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 during a snowstorm. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Kevin Lord, of Sagamore Beach, Mass., braves near hurricane-force winds to inspect storm erosion on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, along a beach near his home in Bourne, Mass. A wind-driven winter snowstorm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and sent a charter bus heading to a casino skidding off a Connecticut highway, injuring about 30. (AP Photo/William J. Kole) Two men walk across the street in as seen through the frozen window pane of a cafe on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 during a snowstorm in New Bedford, Mass. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Vehicles make their way through downtown New Bedford, Mass., during a snowstorm on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT A man makes his way up the street New in Bedford, Mass., during a snowstorm on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Jason Souza sweeps the snow from a driveway in New Bedford, Mass., during a snowstorm on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Snow clings to a bush Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, on Cape Cod in Bourne, Mass. The second winter storm in four days to hit New England could last into Tuesday. (AP Photo/William J. Kole) Jean Brown bundles up as she walks in downtown Providence, R.I., during a snow storm, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut, could see winter storm conditions with an accumulation of 4 to 8 inches. The heaviest snowfall is expected during Monday's morning commute through the afternoon. (AP Photo/Stew Milne) Judge again denies Texas' efforts to block Syrian refugees AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A federal judge Monday again ruled against Texas in its efforts to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees, saying that while it would be "foolish" to deny there are risks following the Paris attacks, state officials have never shown an imminent danger to the public. The decision by U.S. District Judge David Godbey is another setback for Republican leaders in Texas, which was the first state that sued the Obama administration over resettling families from the war-torn country but has failed to halt or even slow the arrival of any new refugees. Godbey, who in December knocked Texas for offering "largely speculative hearsay" about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees, seemed to wink this time at the state demanding action from a judicial branch that GOP leaders often accuse of overreach. "Somewhat ironically, Texas, perhaps the reddest of red states, asks a federal court to stick its judicial nose into this political morass, where it does not belong absent statutory authorization," wrote Godbey, who was appointed to the Dallas court by former President George W. Bush. A spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Republican is evaluating his next options. "At a minimum, Texans deserve to know if the people moving into our communities and neighborhoods have a history of providing support to terrorists," spokeswoman Katherine Wise said. Nearly 30 states vowed to ban Syrian refugees following the Paris attacks, which occurred in November and have been linked to the Islamic State group operating in Syria. Texas mounted the most aggressive campaign from the start by suing the federal government, which failed to halt the arrival of 21 Syrian refugees in December. Alabama filed a similar lawsuit in January. The Obama administration says refugee vetting is rigorous and can take up to two years. In an 11-page ruling, Godbey wrote that "it is certainly possible that a Syrian refugee resettled in Texas could commit a terrorist act, which would be tragic." But he said it is up to the federal government and not courts to decide that level of risk. Wise said Godbey acknowledged "the validity of our concerns" and says it is effectively up to Congress to give states a bigger voice when it comes to resettlements. A resettlement group has asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. ___ Experts tell panel why gas is so expensive in California SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Gouging by oil companies could be one reason California drivers pay about 76 cents more for a gallon of regular gas than motorists elsewhere in the nation, a state government panel was told Monday. Fuel experts and consumer advocates also told the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee that a high state gas tax and more rigorous regulations have kept prices relatively high as oil prices have plunged across the nation in recent months. Drivers in California pay more partly because of stiffer fuel blend standards to meet the state's unique air-quality rules, speakers said at the hearing. In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, photo, motorists get gas at a Costco station in Sacramento, Calif. Fuel experts, economists and consumer advocates are expected to appear at a hearing of the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, to discuss why California gas prices are consistently higher than the national average. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) The panel, appointed by the California Energy Commission, is studying whether changes in state policies and laws could rein in the prices. The average price in California for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.50 on Monday 76.5 cents higher than the national average, according to Gordon Schremp, a fuels adviser at the CEC Energy Assessment Division. Committee Chairman Severin Borenstein said taxes and cleaner-burning fuel account for about 40 cents of the price difference. Witnesses split over whether the additional cost stems from price gouging by providers. Bob van der Valk, senior editor of the Bakken Oil Business Journal, said a lack of active oil traders has opened the door to price gouging. "We have an ill-equipped market, so it is prime to be manipulated and it is being manipulated," van der Valk said. Dolores Santos of the Oil Price Information Service noted that a number of fuels advisers and gas companies have left California or deactivated their businesses increasing pricing fluctuations since a regulatory provision of Assembly Bill 32 took effect a year ago. Jamie Court, president of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, argued that oil refiners have been intentionally importing less oil and increasing exports, thereby tightening supplies in California. Two industry associations were invited to the meeting. Their representatives did not comment during the discussion. The committee also considered how the state could feasibly and legally require oil companies to disclose more information. The members agreed to focus on making transaction prices more transparent and publishing information more quickly at their next meeting. Lawmakers last year held hearings on gas prices after one of the largest price swings in recent history. State energy officials said two refineries that make up 17 percent of the state's processing capacity went offline after a plant explosion and a labor dispute, limiting supply and driving up prices. Severn Borenstein, right, chairman of the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, discusses the fluctuations in the cost of gasoline in California during a hearing Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Fuel experts, economists and consumer advocates gathered to explore why California gas prices are significantly higher than the national average and study possible policy changes to address the volatility in prices.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Gas prices are displayed at a Chevron gas station Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Fuel experts, economists and consumer advocates are meeting, Monday, at hearing of the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee to explore why California gas prices are significantly higher than the national average and study possible policy changes to address the volatility in prices.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Members of the Petroleum Market Advisory Committee were joined by fuel experts, economists and consumer advocates to discuss the fluctuations in the cost of gasoline in California during a hearing Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. The committee is exploring why California gas prices are significantly higher than the national average and study possible policy changes to address the volatility in prices.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Iraqi woman charged with role in US female hostage's death WASHINGTON (AP) The wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a U.S. raid last year has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to the aid worker's death, the Justice Department said Monday. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture last May that she and her husband kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. U.S. officials have said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group The criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Umm Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. FILE - In this May 30, 2013, file photo, Kayla Mueller is shown after speaking to a group in Prescott, Ariz. The wife of a former senior leader of the Islamic State has been charged in federal court with contributing to the death of Mueller. The Justice Department on Feb. 8, 2016 announced charges against 25-year-old Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, who's also known as Umm Sayyaf. (AP Photo/The Daily Courier, Jo. L. Keener, File) The case was brought one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though it's not clear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman, who was captured last year, is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force commando raid on his compound in Syria. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism," he added. Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he had been hired to fix the Internet service for the hospital. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country. Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. Mueller was transferred in September 2014 along with two Kurdish women of Yazidi descent from an Islamic State prison to the Sayyafs, according to the FBI affidavit, which says the couple at times handcuffed the captives, kept them in locked rooms, dictated orders about their activities and movements, and showed them violent Islamic State propaganda videos. After her capture last year, the affidavit says, Umm Sayyaf admitted she was responsible for Mueller's captivity while her husband traveled on Islamic State business. She said that al-Baghdadi would occasionally stay at her home and that he "owned" Mueller during those visits, which the FBI says was akin to slavery. The Justice Department complaint echoes earlier assertions from U.S. intelligence officials, who had told Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. "The defendant knew how Ms. Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms. Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home," the affidavit states. Hong Kong activists, police clash over holiday food stalls HONG KONG (AP) Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. The violence is the worst in Hong Kong since pro-democracy protests rocked the city in 2014, leaving a growing trust gap between the public and authorities. Activists angered over authorities' attempts to crack down on the food hawkers in a crowded Kowloon neighborhood held running battles with police into the early morning hours of Tuesday. Riot police move forward to the protesters on a street in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Protesters pelted officers with bottles and pieces of trash. Some threw garbage cans, plastic safety barriers and wood from shipping pallets at them. They also set fires on the street. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters a mob had attacked police officers and journalists, and said the perpetrators would be prosecuted. Police cars and public property were damaged, fires started and bricks and other objects thrown at police officers, including those already injured and lying on the ground, Leung said. "I believe the public can see for themselves from TV news reports the seriousness of the situation. The (Hong Kong) government strongly condemns such violent acts. The police will apprehend the mobs and bring them to justice," Leung said. Officials said they were investigating whether the violence had been organized in advance. At one point, a protester tried to tackle a traffic police officer from behind before both sides rush in to the melee in the middle of a busy street, according to footage shown by local news channel Cable TV. Moments later, another officer appeared to fire two warning shots into the air. Hong Kong police said in a statement that the protesters had ignored their warnings to get off the street and shoved officers, who responded with batons and pepper spray. Acting District Commander Yau Siu-kei said 23 men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of assaulting and obstructing officers, resisting arrest and public disorder. The arrested were as young as 17 and as old as 70. Police said 48 officers were hurt by glass and flying objects. Yau said two warning shots were fired. The unrest started when authorities tried to prevent unlicensed street food sellers from operating on Monday night in Mong Kok, a working-class district of the city. The hawkers have become a local tradition during the Lunar New Year holiday but this year authorities tried to remove them. The hawkers were backed by activists who objected to the crackdown over concerns that Hong Kong's local culture is disappearing as Beijing tightens its hold on the semiautonomous city. The latest scuffles underscore how tensions remain unresolved more than a year after the end of pro-democracy protests that gripped the city. Mong Kok, a popular and densely populated shopping and entertainment district, was one of the neighborhoods where activists occupied streets for about 11 weeks in late 2014, capturing world headlines with their demands for greater electoral freedom. Riot police stand guard as rioters set fires and throw bricks in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Rioters throw bricks at police and lit fires on streets in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Smoke rises as rioters set fires on a street in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) An injured rioter police is attended by a colleague as rioters set fires and throw bricks at them in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) A rioter tries to throw a litter bin at police on a street in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Rioter police arrest a rioter in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Protesters collect bricks from a pathway during clashes with police in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Riot police officers react as rioters set fires and throw bricks at them in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Smoke rises as rioters set fires against police in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) A police officer walks past fire set by rioters in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Riot police stand guard against a broken car in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) A protester kicks a riot police in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Rioters throw bricks at police in Mong Kok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, leaving dozens injured and arrested. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) A rioter throws bricks at police and lit fires on streets in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Rioters set fires on streets in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Smoke rises as rioters lit fires on streets in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Rioters throw bricks at police and lit fires on streets in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Rioters scuffle with police on a street in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) A rioter is taken away by police on a street in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Stronger regional coordination can counter Africa extremism THIES, Senegal (AP) Violent extremist groups and their affiliates are collaborating more in northern Africa, and regional forces must be built up and supported with deeper intelligence sharing to counter the increasing threat of attacks, the head of the U.S. military's Special Operations Command Africa said Monday. Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc spoke on the sidelines of Flintlock, the U.S. military's annual counter-extremism training exercise based this year in Senegal. Monday marked the opening of training of African forces as ambassadors, generals and troops gathered on an airfield in Thies, Senegal, holding flags that represented the some 1,700 participants from about 30 countries across Africa, and other Western countries. The training comes as the region battles a growing threat from al-Qaida-linked extremists and Nigeria's Islamic extremist group Boko Haram which has pledged support to the Islamic State group . A flag bearer holds the American flag as American forces take part in the opening ceremony of Flintlock, anti-terrorism training in Thies, Senegal, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Flintlock is annual military exercises that focuses on anti-terrorism and security training by American and European security forces to country's taking part. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn) Violent extremist organizations have become more collaborative, sharing tactics and procedures, said Bolduc. "They have traded ideas and concepts on how to message and present themselves in public, solidifying their ideology and what they stand for. And we have watched that collaboration manifest itself in becoming more effective in north Africa," he said. Nations have also started to come together to look at how regional cooperation can support countering the threat of the extremists, he said, pointing to the multi-national force battling Boko Haram with troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon. He warned, however, that the military is not the only solution. Intelligence sharing is vital, but so is working with civil administrations to connect from the ground up to deal with the threat, he said. Gen. Amadou Kane, the chief of staff of Senegal's armed forces, said the threat of extremism affects all nations. "We can't know where the threat will next come, so we must then reorganize ourselves," and make efforts to do that with neighboring countries, he said. Flag bearers carry Senegalese, second right, and Mauritanian, right, flags representing countries taking part in the opening ceremony of Flintlock, anti-terrorism training in Thies, Senegal, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Flintlock is annual military exercises that focuses on anti-terrorism and security training by American and European security forces to country's taking part. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn) Senegal soldiers take part in the opening ceremony of Flintlock, anti-terrorism training in Thies, Senegal, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Flintlock is annual military exercises that focuses on anti-terrorism and security training by American and European security forces to country's taking part. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn) Senegal soldiers prepare their flag's before taking part in the opening ceremony of Flintlock, anti-terrorism training in Thies, Senegal, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Flintlock is annual military exercises that focuses on anti-terrorism and security training by American and European security forces to country's taking part. (AP Photo/Jane Hahn) US responses to NKorea nuke, missile tests will upset China WASHINGTON (AP) North Korean nuclear and rocket tests are drawing quick responses from the U.S. that will upset a supposed partner against Pyongyang's weapons development China. New efforts to toughen South Korea's missile defense system and sanctions legislation moving swiftly through Congress could both hurt Chinese interests. The Chinese are concerned the missile defense system could be used against them, and the U.S. sanctions could hit Chinese companies that trade with North Korea. The U.S. and China both oppose North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and have characterized it as an issue they cooperate on, even though China is an old ally of the North. But a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion and Sunday's rocket launch that world leaders called a test of ballistic missile technology have exposed stark differences between Washington and Beijing on how to deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's provocations. In this Jan, 27, 2016, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. North Korean nuclear and rocket tests are drawing quick responses from the U.S. that will upset a supposed partner against Pyongyang's weapons development _ China. New efforts to toughen missile defense in South Korea and sanctions legislation moving swiftly through Congress could both hurt Chinese interests. The Chinese are concerned the missile defense system could be used against them, and the U.S. sanctions could hit Chinese companies that trade with North Korea. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, Fiile) Beijing is reluctant to impose stiff economic sanctions, fearing a collapse of North Korea's economy and a flight of refugees across the border into China. But even if the U.N. Security Council can't agree on the kind of tough measures that Washington wants, the U.S. can act on its own to pressure Pyongyang. For some time, the U.S. has been nudging its close ally South Korea toward allowing the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system on its soil. Seoul, which hosts 28,500 U.S. forces, has been reluctant to initiate talks on the system that could hurt its improving relations with Beijing. But soon after North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space, the U.S. and South Korea announced they were looking into a possible THAAD deployment. "We would like to see this move as quickly as possible," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters Monday. He said consultations would begin within days. China was quick to make its displeasure known. In a commentary Monday, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said a deployment could trigger a regional arms race. "It would be unwise for the United States to act arbitrarily in disregard of international opposition just to serve its own interests of carrying out its 'Pivot to Asia' strategy," the commentary said, referring to President Barack Obama's effort to increase the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region, in part to counter the rise of China. Cook said a THAAD deployment would be directed solely at North Korea and no other country should be concerned. But critics including Theodore Postol, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have said the system could help U.S. radar spot missiles from China. On the economic front, the U.S. sanctions legislation could also cause discomfort in Beijing, which is North Korea's main trading partner and source of economic support. On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to pass the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act that aims to expand and tighten economic restrictions to block the Kim regime's access to hard currency, targeting both North Korean entities and companies in other countries like China that deal with them. The House of Representatives last month passed a version of the bill amid frustration that U.S. policy has failed to stop Pyongyang's progress toward having a nuclear-tipped missile that could hit the U.S. West Coast. The bill has strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. The legislation requires an investigation and then imposition of sanctions on any person that "knowingly" engages in prohibited activities, ranging from importing weapons technology to "cyber terrorism." In the Senate version, trading precious metals or coal that is linked to North Korea's ruling party or armed forces is also forbidden. Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korea at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that measure could implicate state-owned Chinese companies which trade with North Korea. He said such companies may not do a lot of business in the U.S., but blacklisting them would cause diplomatic problems with China. He said that China might even try to challenge such an action by the U.S. at the World Trade Organization. Joseph DeThomas, a former senior State Department official who advised on Iran and North Korea, played down expectations that new U.S. sanctions would have a dramatic impact. The secretive nature of North Korea's business dealings and its isolation from the world economy means that good evidence of sanctions violations is infrequent, and the evidence must then pass a rigorous, internal U.S. government review, he said. The executive would also have some discretion over implementation of the legislation if it is ultimately signed into law by Obama. Still, the legislation would elevate the stakes, as the U.S. and China, which fought on opposite sides in the 1950-53 Korean War, grapple with a North Korea which appears impervious to diplomatic pressure and intent on building a bigger nuclear arsenal. "There are a lot of Chinese chips on the table here," said DeThomas, now professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University. "Is there a way for the U.S. and China to act together to deal with the North Korea problem or are we heading toward a parting of the ways which will pose a lot of risks to both sides?" New England digs out from latest storm; snow in Mid-Atlantic BOSTON (AP) A wind-driven winter storm that brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod fell short of forecast snowfall totals and spared the Northeast the widespread power outages that had been predicted. Snowflakes were still flying Tuesday as New England residents continued to mop up from Monday's storm. And the misery may not be over. The National Weather Service forecast scattered and localized heavy snow showers in Southern New England on Wednesday that could drop another 4 inches of snow, but are more likely to leave behind an inch or so. Brian Libby of Eastham, Mass., walks back from looking at Nauset Light Beach where the steps were washed away during the storm Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. A wind-driven winter storm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and threatened to drop up to 18 inches of snow on southeastern Massachusetts on Monday. (Merrily Cassidy/The Cape Cod Times via AP) Following predictions of up to 18 inches in some parts of New England, the totals by the time the snow ended Tuesday morning among the hardest hit areas were 11 inches in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and 10 inches in nearby Yarmouth. Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard fell just short of 10 inches. Boston got 6.4 inches. In Rhode Island, Coventry and Scituate each got 8.5 inches, while Pomfret, Connecticut, had 8.2 inches, according to the weather service. A day after a charter bus crash that injured three dozen during the snowstorm on Interstate 95 in Connecticut, seven people remained in critical condition; a total of 11 are hospitalized. New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania got much less snow than was originally forecast, but some accumulation was predicted as the storm was expected to last into Wednesday. Predicted snowfall totals for southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey were downgraded to 1 to 3 inches, although a winter storm warning remained in place for parts of Philadelphia's western suburbs, where up to 5 inches was possible. Parts of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia could get more than 6 inches of snow. New York City could get up to 1 to 3 inches of snow, and the weather service issued a coastal flood warning for Long Island's south shore. Most New England schools that had closed on Monday reopened Tuesday, although some openings were delayed. The storm lasted into early Tuesday in New Hampshire, where the first-in-the-nation presidential primary is being held. The weather service said snow will be light and fluffy and accumulation will be modest. The weather service also confirmed that blizzard conditions were reached in six locations on Cape Cod and the islands. Blizzard conditions are described as falling snow that reduces visibility below a quarter mile, with winds gusting frequently to 35 mph or more, for three hours. The mid-Atlantic region awoke Tuesday to a mix of rain and snow. The weather service issued a winter weather advisory in the region and expected the mix to change over to snow and fall occasionally during midday hours, with rain mixing in during the afternoon south of Baltimore. Less than an inch of snowfall was forecast in the Washington area, but 3 to 6 inches in the Baltimore area and northern Maryland. Cold, windy weather descended on the Carolinas. The weather service forecast freezing temperatures all the way to the South Carolina beaches by Wednesday night. Brisk winds of upward to 30 mph will mean wind chills in the teens and below for most areas by Wednesday night. Up to 6 inches of snow is expected in the North Carolina mountains by late Tuesday. ___ Associated Press writers Bob Salsberg and Philip Marcelo in Boston; Denise Lavoie in Whitman, Massachusetts; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Holly Ramer in Hampstead, New Hampshire; and Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report. Plows move snow off Main street in Hyannis, Mass., Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. A wind-driven winter storm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and threatened to drop up to 18 inches of snow on southeastern Massachusetts on Monday. (Ron Schloerb/The Cape Cod Times via AP) Carly, left, , and Matthew Steenstra of Barnstable, mass., brace against the wind and snow at Millway Beach during high tide Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. A wind-driven winter storm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and threatened to drop up to 18 inches of snow on southeastern Massachusetts on Monday. (Ron Schloerb/The Cape Cod Times via AP) Kevin Lord, of Sagamore Beach, Mass., braves near hurricane-force winds to inspect storm erosion on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, along a beach near his home in Bourne, Mass. A wind-driven winter snowstorm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and sent a charter bus heading to a casino skidding off a Connecticut highway, injuring about 30. (AP Photo/William J. Kole) Two men walk across the street in as seen through the frozen window pane of a cafe on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 during a snowstorm in New Bedford, Mass. The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast is expected to bring blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts and leave behind as much as 18 inches of snow. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT A man walks through the snow in the parking lot in front of the McKay Street garage in Pittsfield, Mass., Monday, Feb 8, 2016. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP) BERKSHIRE COURIER OUT, GREAT BARRINGTON RECORD OUT, RURAL INTELLIGENCER OUT, BERKSHIRES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Jury begins deliberating in cop's stairwell shooting trial NEW YORK (AP) Jurors began deliberating Tuesday on whether a rookie police officer who shot an innocent man in a dark public housing stairwell accidentally discharged his weapon, as he says, or whether he acted out of recklessness and did little to help the dying victim, as the prosecution contends. New York Police Department Officer Peter Liang faces up to 15 years in prison if he's convicted on manslaughter and other charges in the death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was taking the stairs down with his girlfriend rather than wait for an elevator at the Brooklyn complex. Liang, 28, testified this week that he didn't know anyone was in the pitch-black stairway on Nov. 20, 2014, when he unintentionally fired his drawn gun while on patrol after being startled by a noise. The shot ricocheted off a wall and hit Gurley, who was unarmed. Police Officer Peter Liang, center, exits the courtroom during a break in closing arguments in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) District Attorney Kenneth Thompson sat in the front row next to Gurley's domestic partner, Kimberly Ballenger, as Assistant District Attorney Joe Alexis held up Liang's gun while delivering his closing argument to the jury Tuesday. "This finger along the side of the gun ... will not slip off and find its way to the trigger," he said. "This was no accident." Liang's attorney, Robert Brown, cautioned jurors not to let emotions play any role in their deliberations. "What happened here is a tragedy," he said. "It's a terrible tragedy. But it's not a crime." Before delivering his instructions to the jury, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun dismissed one of two misdemeanor counts Liang faced, saying prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof in an argument that not rendering medical aid to Gurley in the stairwell was criminal. Liang testified Monday that after firing the shot, he beamed his flashlight into the stairwell and initially saw no one. Liang acknowledged that he didn't immediately report the shot. Fearing for his job, he bickered with his partner about which one would phone their sergeant. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. He followed the sound down three flights and saw Gurley lying wounded. "I said, 'Oh, my God, someone's hit!" Liang recalled, fighting tears and turning away from the court audience. He took a brief break from the witness stand to compose himself. As he radioed for an ambulance, Gurley's girlfriend, Melissa Butler, tried to resuscitate Gurley, following instructions relayed by a neighbor who was talking to a 911 operator. Yet Liang did not try to help. He said he thought it would be better to wait for professional aid. Prosecutors questioned that decision and sought to show that he had been trained in handling firearms and unexpected, risky situations. Outside court, Gurley's relatives called for Liang to be held accountable for what they see as a callous killing. The shooting came in a year of protests and nationwide debate about police use of force, especially after grand juries declined to indict white police officers in the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Missouri. Both Garner and Brown were black and unarmed. Gurley, too, was black. Liang is Chinese-American. ___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report. New York City Police Officer Peter Liang, center, arrives for closing arguments at his Brooklyn Supreme Court trial in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Liang says he didnt know anyone was in the pitch-black stairway when he unintentionally fired. The shot ricocheted off a wall and hit Gurley, who was taking the stairs down rather than wait for an elevator. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis holds New York City Police Officer Peter Liang's fire arm as he speak during closing arguments in Liang's manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool) FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2015, file photo, New York City rookie police officer Peter Liang arrives at court in New York for arraignment. When Liang fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. He followed the sound down three flights and saw a man lying wounded and a distraught woman bending over him, Liang said Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at his manslaughter trial in the 2014 death of Akai Gurley, who was unarmed. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) New York City Police Officer Peter Liang, center, arrives for closing arguments at his Brooklyn Supreme Court trial in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Liang says he didnt know anyone was in the pitch-black stairway when he unintentionally fired. The shot ricocheted off a wall and hit Gurley, who was taking the stairs down rather than wait for an elevator. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson arrives to Brooklyn Supreme Court for closing arguments in the trial of New York City Police Officer Peter Liang on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Jurors will start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson returns to the courtroom after a break in the closing arguments in the trial of New York City Police Officer Peter Liang on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Police Officer Peter Liang, center, enters the courtroom after the lunch break in his trial on charges in the shooting death of Akai Gurley, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. Jurors are scheduled to start discussing their views of Liangs actions as soon as Tuesday. Closing arguments are expected in the morning, and deliberations are likely to begin in the afternoon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Robert E. Brown, attorney for New York City Police Officer Peter Liang holds Liang's fire arm as he speaks during closing arguments in Liang's manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool) New York City Police Officer Peter Liang appears during closing arguments in his manslaughter trial, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at Brooklyn Supreme court in New York. The rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man in a dark public housing stairwell says what happened was a deadly accident. Prosecutors call it manslaughter and say he acted recklessly and then did little to help the dying man. Jurors could start deliberating as soon as Tuesday on whether Liang's actions amounted to a crime. (Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool) Palestinian doctor aims to boost West Bank medical services NABLUS, West Bank (AP) After Dr. Saleem Haj-Yahia performed the first-ever successful artificial heart transplant in the West Bank last month he was greeted with flowers, balloons and cheering crowds and publicly praised by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The British-educated cardiologist has become a media darling in his native land and now speaks of ambitious plans to raise the level of the entire Palestinian medical infrastructure. "I've done enough in the U.K. and now it's time to do something in my country for my people," said Haj-Yahia, 47. "In the U.K. you cannot have a bigger impact, because the system is working well while here any significant efforts can make a difference." In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 photo, Palestinian cardiovascular surgeon Saleem Haj-Yahia, left, performs open-heart surgery at An-Najah University hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. Dr. Haj-Yahia is the first surgeon to perform a successful artificial heart transplant in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) Haj-Yahia's goal involves far more than mere national pride. He seeks to increase Palestinian medical self-sufficiency, and make the Palestinian medical system less dependent on its Israeli counterpart. For years, any complicated operations or sophisticated treatments have had to be carried out in Israeli hospitals, creating both a dependency and a major expenditure for the already cash-strapped Palestinian government. "Most of the Palestinian patient transfers to Israel were heart and cancer cases and we managed to reduce them largely," said Haj-Yahia, seated in his office at An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus. "Some Palestinian doctors from New York, experts in transplanting marrow, will join in the near future and we will be in the first line in the world in this field." Since returning home in 2014 to become dean of the medical school at the An-Najah teaching hospital, Haj-Yahia has focused on improving the hospital's capabilities in the fields of cancer treatment and organ transplants. Local health officials say that his efforts have already yielded tangible results. Dr. Amera Hindi, head of the Medical Transfer Unit in the Palestinian Health Ministry, said the money spent on transferring Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals has dropped by 30 percent in the last year. She credited the "development of the medical services in the Palestinian hospitals." The Palestinians see increasing the self-reliance of their medical system as a harbinger of autonomy on other fronts and a form of preparation for the overall independence they seek as a future state. "If we succeed in building the system, the medicine will see huge developments" Haj-Yahia said. "It's our duty to build the system with the new generation of doctors who are joining our universities." Haj-Yahia was born in an Arab village in Israel and earned his first medical degree at the prestigious Technion in the northern city of Haifa before pursuing higher education in Britain. He trained in the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital in London, where he served as a transplant fellow from 2002-2009 and was involved in the development of the artificial heart program and lung transplant program. After spending four years running a cardiac transplant program in Glasgow, Scotland, he decided to accept An-Najah's offer to return home saying it offered him a rare opportunity to really influence change. In January, he transplanted an artificial heart into an 18-year-old boy who was suffering from severe heart failure. "He was on the verge of death and would have died in two months if this operation wasn't done," Haj-Yahia said. The patient, Ahmad Sabareh, now says he is making plans to attend university soon. "I lifted weights today. I'm doing well," he said while watching TV in his hospital room. "It's a new life ... I have lots of plans for the future." Haj-Yahia's work has resonated widely in Palestinian society, where medical education is relatively new, particularly among the students at An-Najah, 4,000 of whom study medicine, pharmacy and nursing. "Professor Haj-Yahia inspires every one of us. He made us much more confident of our education and ourselves," said second-year student Dalia Yaesh. In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 photo, Palestinian cardiovascular surgeon Saleem Haj-Yahia, left, performs open-heart surgery at An-Najah University hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. Dr. Haj-Yahia is the first surgeon to perform a successful artificial heart transplant in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 photo, Palestinian cardiovascular surgeon Saleem Haj-Yahia, left, visits 18-year-old Ahmad Sabareh recovering from heart transplant surgery at An-Najah University hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. Dr. Haj-Yahia is the first surgeon to perform a successful artificial heart transplant in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) Iran's reformist ex-president calls on supporters TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's reformist ex-president has called on Iranians to cast their vote in the crucial upcoming election despite a ban preventing many reformist candidates from running. In a statement issued late Monday, Mohammad Khatami called on his supporters to vote in the Feb. 26 parliamentary elections to serve "national interests." Khatami said although it is disappointing that "capable" and "deserving figures" have been disqualified, people should vote because "massive participation" and "heated elections" are in their interests. FILE -- In this Feb. 14, 2009 file photo, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami attends a meeting with supporters, in Tehran, Iran. In a statement issued late Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, Khatami called on Iranians to cast their vote in the Feb. 26 parliamentary elections despite a ban preventing many reformist candidates from running. The elections are expected to be a show-down between hard-liners and moderates, who are hoping for an electoral boost following the newly-implemented nuclear deal and lifting of international sanctions. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File) The reformist ex-president remains popular among young people and women but is deeply disliked by hard-liners and the state media has banned the broadcasting of his picture. After weeks of intensive political lobbying by President Hassan Rouhani, the Guardian Council, Iran's hard-line constitutional watchdog, reversed a ban on 1,500 parliamentary candidates Saturday. It is unclear how many of those approved are reformists. In total, about 6,200 candidates including 586 women have now been approved to run for Iran's 290-seat parliament. Over 12,000 hopefuls had initially registered for the election. Deputy Interior Minister Hossein Ali Amiri said the Rouhani administration worked hard to reverse as many disqualifications as possible to pave the way for a "competitive election." He said he had written to the Guardian Council, providing "analysis" and "consultations" to encourage a reversal of the ban. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said the nuclear deal reached by Iran and world powers in January has led to more eagerness among Iranians to vote, by increasing "people's enthusiasm to have a role in their country's political, social, legislative and economic future." Amiri added that a greater number of candidates in the Feb. 26 vote is expected to lead to a larger turnout. In the capital Tehran, some 1,200 candidates will compete for 30 seats. In past elections, large turnouts have led to more seats for pro-reform candidates. The elections are expected to be a show-down between hard-liners and moderates, who are hoping for an electoral boost following the newly-implemented nuclear deal and the lifting of international sanctions. ___ WATCHING TUESDAY: NH existential test for Trump's candidacy WASHINGTON (AP) Which candidate is "the best," who's the most experienced, who's a revolutionary and who's a robot? New Hampshire voters will be the judge of that and much more in a presidential primary that turns 100 years old Tuesday. At stake are the political fates of billionaire Donald Trump's improbable candidacy, a pair of political dynasties and a gaggle of governors and senators doing a lot of sharp elbowing in the fight for a strong finish in the nation's first primary of 2016. A supporter holds up a sign as Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a campaign rally Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Republican billionaire Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders are hoping for their first wins of the 2016 race after coming in second in Iowa behind GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Elsewhere on the Republican side, there's a four-way battle among governors Chris Christie and John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio to be the alternative that establishment Republicans might like better than Trump. And on the Democratic side, the Clintons are fuming that the state that made Bill "the comeback kid" in 1992 seemed unlikely to vote for his wife over Sanders. Reminiscing with a local official about the economy during his presidency Bill Clinton said Monday: "We'd be better off if any of these young people could remember it." Here are some things to watch as New Hampshire votes on Tuesday: ___ TRUMP TEST Trump's big talk gets a "yuuuuuge" test in New Hampshire. Trump is in the lead of the Republican race and he'll need to finish that way if he doesn't want to be the loser that he's branding opponents. Come in anything but first place, and Trump's fundamental rationale for his candidacy "I'm a winner" will be seriously damaged. His second-place Iowa finish will not have been a fluke. Even a less-than-impressive finish in first place a markedly smaller margin than the double digits the polls are showing could weaken the winner narrative. Trump told CNN on Sunday that he wants to come in first, but he doesn't need to finish that high to continue his campaign. Still, if he's not a winner after the vote, does Trump want to continue spending his own money on a nomination he's having trouble ... well ... winning? WOMEN FOR CLINTON? Clinton, the fundraising juggernaut who won New Hampshire in 2008 and whose family has campaigned there for a quarter century looks likely to lose the vote Tuesday to a socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders is from neighboring Vermont and out-raised the former secretary of state last month by $5 million. There is talk of a campaign shakeup after New Hampshire. "We're going to take stock, but it's going to be the campaign that I've got," Clinton told MSNBC. Watch the way women vote in the Democratic primary. There's evidence in recent days among Clinton backers that the former first lady isn't securing the levels of support among women particularly young women that her campaign had expected, considering the historic nature of her candidacy. What bubbles out are frustrations with female voters backing Sanders despite the prospect of electing the first female president. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said over the weekend that there was "a special place in hell" for women who don't help women, while writer and famed feminist Gloria Steinem suggested women backing Sanders were doing so to meet boys and later apologized. Bill Clinton in a speech railed against Sanders' supporters running a "sexist" and "profane" campaign against Hillary Clinton on the Internet. THE ESTABLISHMENT PRIMARY The biggest question mark is who wins the mud fight for the establishment mantle in the GOP race. Rubio, who came in a close third to Trump and Cruz in Iowa, was on the verge of slamming the door shut on this contest until Christie embarrassed him in Saturday's debate as a repeater of rote talking points. But Christie didn't win that mini-race for himself, meaning the contest for establishment love remains an expensive four-way slugfest among Rubio, Christie, Kasich and Jeb Bush. The stakes for each member of this quartet are enormous. Rubio needs a big win in New Hampshire to stay in contention here. But the two governors, Christie and Kasich, have hung virtually their entire White House hopes on finishing strong in New Hampshire. And for Jeb Bush, who limped out of Iowa in sixth place with 2.8 percent of the vote, New Hampshire offers some prospect of redemption. He's been having better crowds in the last few days at his events. ___ Associated Press writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report. __ Follow Laurie Kellman at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman Chelsea Clinton walks off stage as her parents Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton embrace during a campaign stop Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Hudson, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., smiles as he greats attendees during a campaign stop at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore Center Arena, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Democratic presidential candidate, Vermin Supreme, with beard, tries to talk with Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as he walks to his bus after a town hall-style campaign event, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) Zola Pezzetti, 5, of Londonderry, N.H., rests while Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during the final rally before the New Hampshire primary at Nashua Community College in Nashua, N.H., Monday Feb. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) US senator calls for investigation of cruise ship in storm MIAMI (AP) Federal transportation officials might soon be looking into a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend. Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the voyage that forced frightened passengers into their cabins overnight Sunday as their belongings flew about, waves rose as high as 30 feet, and winds howled outside. "The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?" Nelson said Monday on the Senate floor, according to a news release from his office. This image made available by Flavio Cadegiani shows damage to Royal Caribbean's ship Anthem of the Seas, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The ship ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, forcing passengers into their cabins overnight. No injuries were reported and only minor damage to some public areas. The ship is turning around and sailing back to its home port in New Jersey. (Flavio Cadegiani via AP) The National Weather Service's Ocean Prediction Center had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance, Susan Buchanan with the weather service said. The first warning was issued Saturday for possible hurricane-force winds in the area the ship was scheduled to sail through. Royal Caribbean announced Monday that the ship was turning around and sailing back to its home port in New Jersey. No injuries were reported, and the ship suffered only minor damage. "I was shaking all over," passenger Shara Strand of New York City wrote to The Associated Press via Facebook on Monday. "Panic attack, things like that. ... I've been on over 20 cruises, I've been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never." Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Lairson says she and her father, Sam, could feel the ship, Anthem of the Seas, begin to sway by 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The captain directed passengers to their cabins. There, the Lairsons heard glasses shatter in the bathroom, and they put their belongings in drawers and closets to prevent them from flying across the room. They ventured to the balcony, where Sam Lairson shot video of wave after wave rising below. "The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands," Sam Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said in an email. "After that we had to keep the doors to the balconies sealed." The ship with more than 4,500 guests and 1,600 crew members sailed Saturday from Cape Liberty, New Jersey. It was scheduled to arrive for a stop at Port Canaveral, Florida, at noon Monday, then move on to other stops in the Caribbean. But Royal Caribbean said on its corporate Twitter account that the ship would turn around and sail back to Cape Liberty. "This decision was made for guests' comfort due to weather forecasts" that would continue to affect the ship's itinerary," Royal Caribbean tweeted. Guests will get a full refund and a certificate toward a future cruise. Passengers onboard buzzed happily about that news, Strand said. Gabriella Lairson said that by early Monday morning, people were out and about on the ship, checking out the minor damage in some public areas. Lairson praised the crew and captain. "They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable," she wrote to the AP on Facebook. She said she and her father were a little disappointed the ship was turning around, but she called it "the best thing for the safety of everyone." Fellow passenger Jacob Ibrag agreed. "I can't wait to get home and kiss the ground," said Ibrag, who saw water flowing down stairs and helped some people who were stuck in an elevator Sunday as he made his way to his cabin per the captain's orders. The 25-year-old from Queens, New York, then stayed in his cabin until noon Monday, at one point filling his backpack with essentials in case of an evacuation. Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, was onboard and started tweeting when the inclement weather hit. He told USA Today that the ordeal was "truly terrifying." He described the cruise director nervously giving updates, and he later posted photos of shattered glass panels on a pool deck. But Huschka was among passengers who found a silver lining in the storm. On Monday, he posted: "The good news? They never lost the Super Bowl signal. Perfect TV picture throughout storm!" Royal Caribbean gave guests free Internet access and a complimentary cocktail hour, spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email. "Feeling better after the happy hour they just put on for the guests," Sam Lairson joked. And despite her own worries, Strand said her daughter, 8-month-old Alexa, slept through the entire episode. ___ Associated Press writers Janelle Cogan in Atlanta and Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report. This image made available by Flavio Cadegiani shows damage to Royal Caribbean's ship Anthem of the Seas, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. The ship ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, forcing passengers into their cabins overnight. No injuries were reported and only minor damage to some public areas. The ship is turning around and sailing back to its home port in New Jersey. (Flavio Cadegiani via AP) Belligerence as strategy: Pyongyang and its provocations In Japan, the prime minister said North Korea would be committing a "grave, provocative act" if it followed through on plans to launch a long-range rocket. South Korea warned of "searing consequences" if the launch went ahead. Moscow and Washington, which rarely agree on much of anything these days, both denounced Pyongyang's plans. Even China, North Korea's closest ally, said it was worried. But in the end, the international outrage didn't make any difference. On Sunday, Pyongyang launched its rocket which it says was designed only to carry a satellite into orbit, but which much of the world insists was a camouflaged long-range missile test and then proudly proclaimed its success. Because North Korea learned long ago that it could achieve a great deal with deliberate belligerence. FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, file photo, people walk by a screen showing the news reporting about an earthquake near North Korea's nuclear facility, in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean officials detected an "artificial earthquake" near North Korea's main nuclear test site Wednesday, a strong indication that nuclear-armed Pyongyang had conducted its fourth atomic test. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File) Here's a look at Pyongyang's provocations. NUCLEAR TESTS Years after North Korea first agreed to shut down its nuclear weapons program, even as it quietly built it up, Pyongyang no longer makes a secret of its ambitions. Its 2012 constitution enshrines its status as a nuclear state. When it set off its fourth nuclear weapons test just a few weeks ago, infuriating the international community, it called the explosion "a great deed of history." The test "guarantees the eternal future of the nation," the government declared. If the statement was over the top, there was also truth amid the hyperbole. North Korea is an impoverished nation with a military often reduced to using decades-old Soviet equipment. It is profoundly isolated, facing sanctions that cut it off from most international trade. Its leaders are mocked regularly in the Western media. Nuclear weapons, though, make the world pay attention. Even to a country so poor that 24-hour electricity is considered a luxury. North Korea's nuclear weapons technology has given it immense international negotiating power, allowing Pyongyang to alternate nuclear tests with talks to ratchet back its weapons programs. Over the years, those talks have resulted in billions of dollars in aid. The nuclear tests are also powerful messages for domestic consumption, proof of how North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, like his father and grandfather before him, had developed the country's military technology to withstand the ever-looming threats of South Korea and the United States. Or as Kim put it in his New Year's address: "If invasive outsiders and provocateurs touch us even slightly, we will ... answer with a merciless, holy war of justice." ROCKET LAUNCHES Nuclear weapons are inherently dangerous, of course, but they are far more dangerous if they can be launched quickly against targets around the world. That, however, requires missiles, along with the technology to miniaturize nuclear explosives so they can fit onto warheads. In announcing its launch plans, Pyongyang insisted its intentions were peaceful, calling it part of a "space development program" and saying the rocket would carry an Earth-observation satellite. Many experts believe the North's rockets look more like they are designed to carry satellites into space and less like long-range missiles but the technology is similar, and forbidden by a series of U.N. resolutions. As a result, much of the world denounced the Sunday launch as yet another ballistic missile test, and one more step toward a North Korean arsenal of nuclear weapons capable of striking as far away as the United States. The announcement was also quickly followed by demands to further tighten trade restrictions on North Korea, already among the most-sanctioned nations in the world. It also sparked renewed calls, particularly from U.S. officials, for China to exert pressure on Pyongyang. While Beijing quickly expressed regret Sunday that North Korea had "obstinately insisted in carrying out a launch," it also pushed back against simply ratcheting up sanctions. China's U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, said any new U.N. resolution should "do the work of reducing tension, of working toward denuclearization." Beijing has also made clear it believes there is plenty of blame to go around, and that it does not like being lectured to by Washington. Soon after the January nuclear test, China's official Xinhua News Agency said the United States was responsible for much of the tension on the Korean Peninsula, saying "it boils down to Uncle Sam's uncompromising hostility ... flaring up the country's insecurity and thus pushing it toward reckless nuclear brinkmanship." Such talk is welcome in Pyongyang, which has long portrayed itself as a courageous nation standing up to American aggression. Strained relations between Beijing and Washington also give North Korea more room for its own diplomatic maneuvering. FAKING IT What happens when you want to demonstrate your military might but your technology isn't quite ready? If you're North Korea, experts say, sometimes you fake it. Or at least you exaggerate. Pyongyang called its January nuclear blast a successful test of a hydrogen bomb, proof that North Korea was now "equipped with the most powerful nuclear deterrent." Well, probably not. Weapons experts said there was little chance that Pyongyang had detonated an H-bomb. At best, they said, Pyongyang had set off a "boosted" explosion, which uses hydrogen isotopes but has far less strength than a traditional two-stage hydrogen bomb. Or take North Korea's purported submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In 2015, when North Korea announced it had successfully launched a missile from a submarine, experts said it may have actually been fired from an underwater testing barge. Then, last month, a North Korea television report appeared to show leader Kim Jong Un proudly watching a successful underwater launch of a KN-11 missile. But detailed analysis of the footage done at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies, a leading proliferation research center in Monterey, California, instead found a carefully edited collection of video clips. Hidden amid the splicing was a completely different reality, they said. The missile, the Middlebury scholars found, most likely exploded moments after leaving the water. FILE -In this Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, file photo, North Koreans gather at the Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate a satellite launch, in Pyongyang, North Korea. People in Pyongyang danced and watched fireworks the day after a rocket launch that has been strongly condemned by many countries around the world. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File) Georgia law giving police grand jury access may face change ATLANTA (AP) After a naked, mentally ill black veteran was shot dead by a white police officer last March in an Atlanta suburb, the officer was allowed a privilege ordinary citizens don't get, and even police officers don't get anywhere except in Georgia: He sat in on the grand jury session considering the shooting and addressed the grand jurors without facing cross-examination. Grand jury proceedings are traditionally secret, with the person accused of wrongdoing often unaware the grand jury is hearing the case. But Georgia law requires that a law enforcement officer be allowed to sit in on the entire proceeding and make a statement at the end that prosecutors can't question. Robert Olsen was a DeKalb County police officer when he killed Anthony Hill on March 9 while responding to a call about a naked man behaving erratically outside an apartment complex. When his case went before a grand jury last month, Olsen spoke to the panel for 20 minutes. His were the last words the grand jurors heard before deliberating. In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, District Attorney Robert James reads through the charges after a grand jury indicted Officer Robert Olsen in the shooting death of Anthony Hill in Decatur, Ga. Police officers facing indictment in Georgia have a privilege that the average citizen doesnt have and that even police dont have in other states. Georgia law requires that a law enforcement officer be notified in advance that a grand jury will hear his or her case. The officer is also allowed to sit in on the entire proceeding and make a statement at the end that prosecutors cant question. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Even though District Attorney Robert James won an indictment against Olsen, he thinks the law on police and grand juries has to change. "It's profoundly unfair," he said. Georgia is the only state that allows the officer's unchallenged statement at the end of a grand jury session, said Chuck Spahos, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia. In some other states, a prosecutor can call the officer as a witness, but the officer is subject to questions and can't listen to the other testimony, he said. The law has drawn criticism, especially as police use of force cases face increasing scrutiny nationwide. Now Georgia lawmakers are proposing changes in a bill filed Monday. Critics argue the current law gives an officer an unfair advantage that an ordinary citizen doesn't have and makes it extremely difficult to indict an officer. Olsen's indictment was among the rare exceptions. The grand jury proceeding is characteristically a one-sided procedure and isn't the place to hear from the accused, said Caren Morrison, a Georgia State University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "The time to be able to explain the justification for use of force or the particular pressures that police have to operate under really is trial, not the secret proceeding of the grand jury," she said. Morrison said it can raise concerns about favoritism and impropriety, which can be especially troubling when there's a common perception that prosecutors don't always try hard to indict officers. But others say police officers frequently must make split-second decisions under intense pressure and should be able to explain their actions. The officer's perspective is different from other witnesses, said Joe Stiles, executive director of the Georgia division of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association. "He can help explain why, as a police officer, he took the actions that he took," Stiles said. Having listened to the prosecution's entire case, the officer can also tailor his statement to address that evidence and can raise issues that wouldn't be admissible at trial, without the prosecutor being able to rebut any of it, James said. Instead of just bringing in an investigator to summarize the case and calling a witness or two, James said he must bring in more evidence to strengthen his case to the point that the officer's statement can't undermine it. James said Georgia's law can also give the officer's attorneys an advantage if the case goes to trial because they "see the hand that we're holding, but we don't necessarily get an opportunity to see the hand that they're holding." The bill filed Monday says the officer must be notified and given a copy of the proposed indictment at least 20 days before the grand jury meets and that the officer may request to appear as a witness but cannot be required to do so. The officer will still appear at the end of the prosecutor's presentation and will be allowed to make a statement, but he may be questioned by the prosecutor or the grand jurors and the prosecutor may present rebuttal evidence. "I think we will debate bits and pieces of this, but I think we have buy-in from law enforcement leaders who recognize things need to change," said, Spahos, who's been a leader in the effort to change the law. But Stiles, with the Police Benevolent Association, said the grand jury process is meant to determine whether there's enough evidence to go to trial. "That's not where the case is supposed to be tried," he said. "I don't think that's the appropriate time to ask questions." 10 Things to Know for Today - 9 February 2016 Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. TRUMP, SANDERS LOOK TO EMERGE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE WITH WINS Their victories would lend needed credibility to the unexpected candidates' pursuit of their parties' nomination. FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, people wait to leave the besieged town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, Syria, where Doctors Without Borders says dozens of people have died of starvation since September. (AP Photo, File) 2. WHY HONG KONG ACTIVISTS, POLICE CLASH Protesters angered over authorities' plans to crack down on the food hawkers in a crowded Kowloon neighborhood hold running battles with law enforcers. 3. WHO IS CHARGED WITH ROLE IN KAYLA MUELLER'S DEATH The wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a U.S. raid last year admits that she and her husband kept the aid worker captive along with several other young female hostages. 4. DEATH TOLL IN GERMAN TRAIN CRASH RISES TO AT LEAST 8 "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," says a police spokesman. 5. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH ARCHITECTURE OF WHITE SUPREMACY People across the South are debating whether to preserve the remnants of their Jim Crow history, from segregated waiting rooms to "whites only" water fountains and long-abandoned schools for black children. 6. NORTH KOREA ADOPTS STRATEGY OF DELIBERATE BELLIGERENCE Sometimes it's nuclear tests, sometimes it's rocket launches. And sometimes Pyongyang simply fakes it. 7. MORE THAN 1 MILLION ARE BESIEGED IN SYRIA A new report which presents the numbers challenges the United Nations, which estimates just half that amount and has been accused by some aid groups of underplaying a crisis. 8. OBAMA TO RELEASE $4 TRILLION-PLUS BUDGET FOR 2017 It comes as the deficit, which had been falling over the duration of his two terms, has begun to creep up, above the half-trillion mark. 9. SNOWFLAKES TO DESCEND ON EAST COAST The National Weather Service says New York City, Philadelphia, and portions of New Jersey could see 4 to 8 inches of snow. 10. PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999 The Denver Broncos will board fire trucks and roll slowly through the crowd-lined streets of the Mile High City to celebrate winning the Super Bowl. A young girl looks at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a campaign stop Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Hudson, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The architecture of white supremacy still evokes pain BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Growing up in the 1950s, William Bell had to enter Birmingham's segregated Lyric Theatre though a side entrance, marked "COLORED," that was walled-off from the elegant lobby. He climbed a dimly lit stairwell to watch movies from the steep balcony where black patrons had to sit for generations. Now the mayor of Birmingham, Bell recalls the Lyric's beauty, but also the way it isolated black people. The inequity built into The Lyric Theatre's very architecture is a painful reminder of the city's ugly past as one of the most segregated places in America. But it also serves as a living history lesson, a symbol of how the Deep South has changed since the courts ended discriminatory Jim Crow laws. In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, a woman stands in the doorway of then new Historic Colored Entrance at the Lyric Theatre, in Birmingham, Ala. Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyrics discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. In this case, they chose to highlight the history, installing a glass door with the etched words Historic Colored Entrance in the lobby wall so patrons can peer into the past. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyric's discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. In this case, they chose to highlight the history, installing a glass door etched with the words "Historic Colored Entrance" in the lobby wall, so that patrons can peer into the past. Across the South, people are struggling with similar questions: What does a changing region do with the vestiges of back-alley service windows, segregated waiting rooms, dual water fountains and abandoned schools that once formed the skeleton of a society built on oppression? Northern states have such reminders, too. A black heritage trail in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, includes all-black burial grounds and a plaque explaining that blacks had to sit in designated pews in New England churches through the mid-1800s. In Detroit, murals decorate a 6-foot-tall concrete wall built in 1941 to separate a new development meant for whites from an existing black neighborhood. But the issue has become particularly acute in the South, where millions still remember living through segregation. More so than in the past, many older people and younger generations feel a need now to discuss the legacy of Jim Crow, said Robert Weyeneth, a University of South Carolina history professor who specializes in preservation. "It has become more complicated today because people are more willing to think about the preservation of the architecture of white supremacy," Weyeneth said. "Initially, no one wanted to save these things." It makes some people uncomfortable to be reminded of segregation at the Lyric, but the mayor believes people must see history as it really was, even if that means glancing up at the segregated balcony where he sat as a young boy. The ornate theater was beautiful, he recalls, but blacks up there could never mingle with the white patrons far below. "The best seats were on the front row of the balcony because you could flick popcorn or peanuts down and it would land in their hair," said Bell, now 66, grinning at the memory. "We should not shield ourselves from our past," he added. Some other places where communities have had to come to terms with the physical reminders of segregation: OAKLAND CEMETERY - ATLANTA Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, with 70,000 graves dating to 1850, shows that segregation was meant to last eternally in the Jim Crow South, and operators don't shy away from its history. The city-owned cemetery was divided by race for generations until the City Council ended the practice in 1963. Today, some black people are buried in previously all-white sections, including Atlanta's first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, who died in 2003 and lies in an ivy-covered grave. Explaining this segregated past is part of the educational mission at Oakland, said executive director David Moore. A brochure, guided tours and audio exhibits explain the cemetery's black section, which holds about 12,000 graves, and signs denote the black section, a Jewish section and a mixed-race "Potter's Field" for indigent burials. A recent visitor complained that the story of slave burials and segregation was "sad" and shouldn't be discussed. Moore disagrees. "Cemeteries provide a great place for people to look and try to figure out what happened before," he said. ___ MONTPELIER TRAIN DEPOT - ORANGE, VIRGINIA Built in 1910 when laws prevented whites and blacks from mingling in many public spaces across the South, the Montpelier Train Depot at Orange, Virginia, was constructed with separate waiting rooms for whites and blacks. Preservationists at President James Madison's Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the rooms as they were during a 2010 renovation. The depot remains an active U.S. Post Office, and some favored taking down the "WHITE" and "COLORED" signs that hang over the waiting room entrances. Instead, the depot has been equipped with exhibits that explain the legal history of "separate but equal" laws and their effects on black residents during the Jim Crow era. ___ JONES COUNTY COURTHOUSE - ELLISVILLE, MISSISSIPPI The metal plaques attached to two concrete water fountains outside the Jones County Courthouse in Ellisville, Mississippi, hide an ugly truth: one fountain was exclusively for whites and the other for blacks. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sought the removal of the dual fountains in 1989, calling them a painful reminder of segregation, but the white-controlled board of supervisors refused. Instead, officials plastered over the "COLORED" and "WHITE" inscriptions, which reappeared once rain washed away the plaster. County leaders then decided to cover the old racial inscriptions with plaques denoting the year the courthouse was built, 1908. Today, the twin water fountains still flank the courthouse stairs. Nearby on the lawn stands a monument to Confederate veterans. ___ BUTLER BEACH - ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA There's little to let visitors know that Frank B. Butler County Park was once a thriving resort for blacks located just south of segregated St. Augustine Beach, Florida. The park's website tells the story of Butler, a black businessman who saw the opportunity for a black beach in the segregated South during the first half of the 1900s. The Atlantic Coast resort he created grew to include bathhouses, a casino, pavilions, a motel and other amenities for blacks who weren't allowed at white-only beaches in the South. Those structures disappeared generations ago, and black historian Bernadette Reeves laments the lack of markers at the site on scenic A1A to explain its significance. "Can you imagine that the whole Atlantic Ocean wasn't big enough for whites and blacks to swim together?" she said. ___ ROSENWALD SCHOOLS - REGIONWIDE Philanthropist Julius Rosenwald spurred the construction of more than 5,300 schools for blacks across the South over a two-decade period ending in 1932. Efforts to save the buildings are spotty. Rosenwald built the schools at the urging of black leader and educator Booker T. Washington, who founded Tuskegee University in rural east Alabama and had a firsthand view of the inherent inequality of "separate but equal" schools for blacks and whites. Rosenwald's schools bridged a gap that white-controlled governments wouldn't fill. Today, some communities and groups have embraced the preservation of Rosenwald schools, typically wood-frame structures built along rural roads. The National Trust for Historic Preservation estimates that fewer than 450 survive today. In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, a view of the marquee is seen of the Lyric Theatre, in Birmingham, Ala. Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyrics discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. In this case, they chose to highlight the history, installing a glass door with the etched words Historic Colored Entrance in the lobby wall so patrons can peer into the past. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows a sign marking the entrance to the colored area at the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, a painter touches up paint for the reopening of the Lyric Theatre, in Birmingham, Ala. Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyrics discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. The inequity built into The Lyric Theatres very architecture is a painful reminder of the citys ugly past as one of the most segregated places in America. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows monument honoring Confederate soldiers at right with two concrete water fountains at the entrance of the Jones County Courthouse in Ellisville, Miss. Each fountain has a metal plaque that hides inscriptions designating one fountain for whites and one for blacks during the segregation era. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) In this Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 photo, visitors walk through the black section of once-segregated Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Opened in the 1850s as the city's main burial ground, the cemetery wasn't desegregated legally until the 1960s. Today, tours and educational materials highlight the vestiges of Jim Crow still visible in the cemetery. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) This photo taken Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 shows a wreath decorating a grave in the black section of once-segregated Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. Opened in the 1850s as the city's main burial ground, the cemetery wasn't desegregated legally until the 1960s. Today, tours and educational materials highlight the vestiges of Jim Crow still visible in the cemetery. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, Birmingham, Ala., Mayor William Bell, looks up at the stairs of the Historic Colored Entrance at the Lyric Theatre during renovations, in Birmingham, Ala. Bell says he remembers running up and down the stairs as a child. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows a sign marking the white entrance at the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows publications on display at the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo, Montpelier IT manager, Richard Monroe, walks his dog past the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows a "Smoking Sambo" calendar and other artifacts on display at the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va.. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows the old Mount Sinai Junior High School, a so-called "Rosenwald School" built for rural blacks during the Jim Crow era near Prattville, Ala. Philanthropist Julius Rosenwald spurred the construction of more 5,300 schools for blacks across the South in the early 1900s, but fewer than 450 remain since efforts to save the buildings are spotty. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) This Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 photo shows a restroom inside the abandoned Eleanor Roosevelt School at Warm Springs, Ga. The school, named for the former first lady, was one of thousands of so-called "Rosenwald Schools" built to educate rural black across the South during the Jim Crow period of the early 1900s, but today it is in bad disrepair. Some communities have preserved the schools for the sake of history, while others have not. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo, a view from the stage is seen of the Lyric Theatre during renovations in Birmingham, Ala. Growing up in the 1950s, William Bell had to enter Birminghams segregated Lyric Theatre though a side entrance, marked COLORED, that was walled-off from the elegant lobby. Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyrics discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) In this Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 photo, a visitor takes a photo at once-segregated Butler Beach in St. Augustine, Fla. Now a public park, the beach was once set aside for blacks during the segregation era. Today it is a popular destination for families and other beachgoers, but there is no information posted at the site to inform visitors about its Jim Crow past. (AP Photo/Jason Dearen) In this Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 photo, Robert Lovett stands outside the abandoned Eleanor Roosevelt School at Warm Springs, Ga. The school, named for the former first lady, was one of thousands of so-called "Rosenwald Schools" built to educate rural black across the South during the Jim Crow period of the early 1900s, but today it is in bad disrepair. Some communities have preserved the schools for the sake of history, while others have not. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) This Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 photo shows the stage and seating area of the Lyric Theatre during renovations in Birmingham, Ala. Preservationists had to decide whether to keep reminders of The Lyrics discarded color line before they unveiled an $11 million restoration of the 102-year-old theater, which had been closed for decades. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo, a woman walks past one of the concrete water fountains in the front of the Jones County Courthouse in Ellisville, Miss. Both fountains have metal plaques covering inscriptions designating that one was for whites and the other was for blacks during the segregation era. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows a classroom in the old Mount Sinai Junior High School, a so-called "Rosenwald School" built for rural blacks during the Jim Crow era near Prattville, Ala. Philanthropist Julius Rosenwald spurred the construction of more 5,300 schools for blacks across the South in the early 1900s, but fewer than 450 remain since efforts to save the buildings are spotty. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) This Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 photo shows an advertisment for a "Colored Horse Show" on display at the Montpelier Train Depot segregation exhibit in Orange, Va. Preservationists at President James Madisons Montpelier estate, where the white-and-yellow depot is located, decided to keep the segregated waiting rooms when the structure was renovated in 2010. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Norway investigates child abuse at asylum-seekers' centers HELSINKI (AP) Norwegian police said Tuesday that they are investigating several cases of sex offenders allegedly abusing children at asylum-seekers' reception centers in the country. Swedish police, meanwhile, arrested more than a dozen people suspected of planning an attack on a refugee center. In Norway, the abuse was reported to authorities during the autumn and winter, Axel Wilhelm Due from the National Criminal Investigation Services told The Associated Press without providing figures or details except to say that there were "several" cases. The incidents included abuse by known sex offenders visiting the reception centers as well as residents of the centers, Due said, adding that police were reviewing every alleged case. A Syrian refugee woman hugs her daughter after their arrival on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The International Organization for Migration says Mediterranean crossings in the first six weeks of this year are running at nearly ten times the rate in the same period last year, and 409 people have died trying to cross this year. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) "We are looking very seriously at every individual case, and based on our information it's very likely that children living in reception centers in Norway have been and are being subjected to sexual abuse," he said. "But generally there is low criminal activity in and around the reception centers." Due said that police wouldn't provide details about the alleged cases at this stage. Last year, more than 31,000 people applied for asylum in Norway of whom 5,300 were unaccompanied minors. In neighboring Sweden, police said they have arrested 14 men on suspicion of preparing attacks on an asylum-seekers' center near the capital, Stockholm. Various weapons, but no firearms, were found in cars during the arrests on Monday evening in Nynashamn, 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Stockholm, police spokesman Lars Bystrom said. He didn't identify the men, but Swedish Radio cited local police officer Lars Alvarsjo as saying they were Polish, and possibly members of right-wing groups. The arrests come amid increasing opposition to migrants and reports of attacks against refugee centers in the Scandinavian country, which has been a top European destination with 163,000 arrivals last year. Previously known for its generous immigration policies welcoming refugees fleeing war and persecution, the Social Democratic led-government reversed course late last year tightening border controls and immigration regulations. Meanwhile, The International Organization for Migration announced that 409 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and migrant crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly 10 times the rate of the same period last year. IOM says 76,000 people have reached Europe by sea, nearly 2,000 per day, since Jan. 1. More than three-fourths of the deaths have been on the short eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece which traditionally has seen far fewer deaths than the much longer central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy. The IOM statement Tuesday comes a day after Turkey's coast guard said 27 migrants had died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. In Macedonia, authorities are reinforcing a barrier at the country's border with Greece that is designed to limit the number of migrants and refugees crossing into the country. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov visited the border town of Gevgelija on Tuesday to witness the start of the construction of the existing metal border fence's second layer. The second part of the fence was being built five meters (16 feet) behind the first, an army official said. Macedonia started building the fence in November when it toughened entry criteria for migrants and refugees traveling through Greece. Indonesia sentences 7 for IS links, as Bashir files appeal JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced seven men for conspiring with the Islamic State group, the first time the country has sent anyone to prison for IS links, as radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir appealed his conviction. A three-judge panel at the West Jakarta District Court found four men guilty of violating Indonesia's anti-terrorism law by joining Islamic State jihadists and attending the group's military-style training. Ahmad Junaedi, Ridwan Sungkar, Helmi Muhammad Alamudi and Abdul Hakim Munabari were sentenced to between three and four years imprisonment. Their recruiters, Aprimul Henry and Koswara Ibnu Abdullah, were sentenced to three and four years in jail for helping them go to Syria. Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir gestures as he speaks to the judges during his appeal hearing at the local district court in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The 77-year-old cleric who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2011 for setting up a militant training camp in the province of Aceh is currently appealing to have his conviction overturned. (AP Photo/Agus Fitrah) The seventh, Tuah Febriwansyah, who is also known as Muhammad Fachry, received a five-year sentence for actively spreading IS propaganda through his own radical website and posting violent videos of terrorism activities on the Internet, including one showing militants in Syria giving military-style training to Indonesian children. At a hearing in another court Tuesday, Bashir filed an appeal to overturn his 2011 conviction for violating the anti-terrorism law by setting up a militant camp in Aceh province. The 77-year-old founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network had received a 15-year sentence, but it was later cut to nine years. Bashir is considered the spiritual leader of al Qaida-linked militants blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. He has expressed his support to the Islamic State and has pledged allegiance to IS. Bashir's lawyers and state prosecutors signed a conclusion of his appeal before judges in the Cilacap District Court, the closest court to the high-security prison island of Nusa Kambangan where he is serving his sentence. The appeal will be sent to the Supreme Court this week for the final ruling. "I hope judges understand that my deed of helping training camp in Aceh was my religious obligation," Bashir told the court. "I'm guilty according to the government law, but what I did is correct according to Islam." Indonesia's government has outlawed the Islamic State group and spoken forcefully against it, as have mainstream religious group in the world's largest Muslim nation. One fear is that militants who travel abroad will return home and conduct terrorist acts in Indonesia. Indonesian authorities estimate over 600 Indonesians have joined IS in Syria or Iraq. Suspected militant Abdul Hakim Munabari is escorted by police officers upon arrival for his sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Munabari who received three years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Suspected militant Tuwah Febriwansyah also known as Muhammad Fachry, center, enters the court room at the start of his sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Fachry who was sentenced to five years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Suspected militant Ridwan Sungkar is escorted by a police officer as he arrives for his sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Sungkar who was sentenced to four years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Suspected militant Koswara, center, is escorted by an armed police officers as he arrives for his sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Koswara who was sentenced to four years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Suspected militant Helmi Muhammad Alamudi also known as Abu Royan, center, is escorted by police officers as he enters the court room for his sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Alamudi who was sentenced to three and a half years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Suspected militants Aprimul Henry, left, and Ahmad Junaedi, right, are escorted by police officers as they arrive for their sentencing hearing at West Jakarta District Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The court sentenced seven men, including Junaedi and Henry who both received three years in jail, for conspiring with the Islamic State, the first time it has sent anyone to prison for IS links. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) The Latest: MSF says 23,000 flee Aleppo BEIRUT (AP) The Latest developments on the war in Syria and the tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing violence (all times local): 11:29 p.m. Doctors Without Borders says some 23,000 new arrivals fleeing the fighting in Aleppo are in urgent need of emergency shelter and support near Syria's border with Turkey. In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, a displaced Syrian boy eats at a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) In a press release issued Tuesday, the group says it has increased the number of beds in its hospital in Azaz district to 36 beds from 28 and is preparing to extend capacity if necessary. The group says it has distributed hundreds of blankets, tents, mattresses and other supplies. The group also says it has pre-positioned aid inside Aleppo in the event supply lines get cut. The group said it was worried about an impending food, water and fuel crisis in coming weeks. ____ 9:15 p.m. Russia's foreign minister says Moscow has presented Washington with new proposals for ending Syria's civil war. Sergey Lavrov says in an interview with the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets published Tuesday that the plan is specific and simple, but does not provide details. Lavrov is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday in Munich. Lavrov shrugged off criticism that Russia had contributed to the collapse of peace talks in Geneva last week by providing air cover for a Syrian government advance north of Aleppo. Instead, he blamed Turkey, saying it had fueled the conflict by providing militants with weapons and supplies, and buying oil from them. Russia is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and has been waging an air campaign on its behalf since Sept. 30. 4:15 p.m. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital, Damascus that killed at least 10 people. In a statement circulated on Twitter by several accounts affiliated with the group, IS says Tuesday's attack was carried out by a fighter known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami. It vows more attacks. Syrian state TV says the bombing killed at least 10 people, and showed footage of damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks both sides of the conflict, says the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20. ___ 2 p.m. The United Nations says hundreds of thousands of people in Syria's largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes and is calling on Turkish authorities to open the border to help those fleeing the violence. The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA says 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if the Syrian government and allied forces encircle Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. Laying out contingency plans, OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. The refugee agency UNHCR also called on Turkey to open its borders to allow in people who have already fled Aleppo and who have gathered by the thousands near the Syrian-Turkish border. ___ 1:50 p.m. Turkey's prime minister is calling on the international community to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also says Tuesday that Russia will eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once left Afghanistan. Davutoglu was speaking to legislators of his ruling party as tens of thousands of Syrians who fled a Russian-backed Syrian onslaught around the city of Aleppo massed at the border with Turkey. Turkey is already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees. Davutoglu insisted that Turkey has not shut its borders to refugees even though it has not let in the new wave of arrivals. A senior government official said Turkey would care for the Syrians within their borders "as much as possible." ___ 11:05 p.m. Syrian state media says a car bomb has exploded near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital of Damascus, wounding at least eight people. The SANA news agency says the blast went off near a vegetable market in the northern neighborhood of Masaken Barzeh. State TV said the blast occurred near a police officers' club, inflicting casualties. The opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, said the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20 after it was detonated in the parking lot of the officers' club. Such attacks are not uncommon in the Syrian capital, the seat of power of President Bashar Assad. The blast came a day after an international rights group said Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, killing 37 people. The Human Rights Watch report said that cluster munitions, which are widely banned, have been used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since Jan. 26. In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, displaced Syrian children play at a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, displaced Syrians walk among a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) This photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, shows a temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 file photo, people wait to leave the besieged town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, Syria, where Doctors Without Borders says dozens of people have died of starvation since September. (AP Photo, File) Bosnian Serb convicted in Srebrenica genocide dies in cell THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) A Bosnian Serb general convicted by United Nations judges of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and described as the "right hand" of Ratko Mladic has died in his cell, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal announced Tuesday. Zdravko Tolimir, 67, died Monday night at the court's detention unit in The Hague, the tribunal said in a statement. The cause of death was not announced. The court said that local authorities "have commenced standard investigations as mandated under Dutch national law." FILE - In this Wednesday, April 8, 2015 file photo, Zdravko Tolimir, a Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, talks to a U.N. security guard as he arrives in the courtroom of the the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. Tolimir, convicted by a United Nations tribunal of involvement in the Srebrenica genocide, has died in his cell. A representative of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal press office said Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016, that Zdravko Tolimir died Monday night at the courts detention unit. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) The organization dealing with legacy issues from the Yugoslav and Rwanda war crimes tribunals as they wind down their operations also announced an inquiry. Tolimir, the Bosnian Serb Army's top intelligence officer, was convicted in December 2012 of genocide and other crimes in the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of some 8,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia Europe's worst mass killing since World War II. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Announcing the verdicts, Judge Christoph Fluegge said witnesses described Tolimir as Bosnian Serb military chief Mladic's "right hand. His eyes and ears." The judge said Tolimir had "full knowledge of the despicable criminal operations" of Bosnian Serb forces that carried out the massacre. Appeals judges upheld most of his convictions last April and confirmed his sentence. Despite the genocide conviction, Tolimir was considered a hero among Bosnian Serbs. In a statement, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic called him, "an exceptional man, brave and honorable general who ... contributed greatly to the defense of his people" and the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia. The alleged main architects of Bosnian Serb atrocities, Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, are both being held at the tribunal's detention unit where Tolimir died. Mladic's trial is still underway, while verdicts in Karadzic's case are expected to be delivered early this year. Both men are charged with genocide and other crimes allegedly committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war that left 100,000 people dead. ____ Associated Press writer Aida Cerkez in Sarajevo, Bosnia, contributed to this report. FILE - In this Wednesday, April 8, 2015 file photo, Zdravko Tolimir, a Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, crosses himself as he arrives in the courtroom of the the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. Tolimir, convicted by a United Nations tribunal of involvement in the Srebrenica genocide, has died in his cell. A representative of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal press office said Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016, that Zdravko Tolimir died Monday night at the courts detention unit. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) The Latest: Norway investigating migrant child abuse cases GENEVA (AP) The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local): 6:40 p.m. Norwegian police say they are investigating several cases of sex offenders allegedly abusing children at asylum-seekers' reception centers. A woman reacts after her arrival with other migrants and refugees on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The International Organization for Migration says Mediterranean crossings in the first six weeks of this year are running at nearly ten times the rate in the same period last year, and 409 people have died trying to cross this year. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) Axel Wilhelm Due from the National Criminal Investigation Services says the incidents were reported to them during autumn and winter 2015-2016, but didn't provide figures or details except to say that there were "several" cases. Due said Tuesday that the incidents included abuse by known sex offenders visiting the reception centers as well as residents of the centers, adding that police were reviewing every alleged incident "very seriously." He added that generally there is "low criminal activity in and around the reception centers." Last year, more than 31,000 people applied for asylum in Norway of whom 5,300 were unaccompanied minors. ___ 6:25 p.m. European Union leaders are ready to deny entry to migrants who delay applying for asylum when they arrive because they would rather stay in another country. A statement drafted for next week's EU summit seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday said entry should be refused to those "who have not made an asylum application despite having had the opportunity to do so." The draft statement for the Feb. 18-19 summit could still be modified. The move would be significant because many people fleeing conflict for safety in Europe arrive in Greece, but don't apply for asylum there because they would rather live somewhere else. EU nations are ready to deny entry to potential refugees who do not apply for asylum in the first European country they arrive in Under international law, people in need of international protection can't be refused asylum. ___ 4:55 p.m. Authorities in Macedonia are reinforcing a barrier at the country's border with Greece that is designed to limit the number of migrants and refugees crossing into the country. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov visited the border town of Gevgelija on Tuesday to witness the start of the construction of the existing metal border fence's second layer. At the same time, more new arrivals continued to enter the country. The second part of the fence was being built five meters (16 feet) behind the first, an army official said. Macedonia started building the fence in November when it toughened entry criteria for migrants and refugees traveling through Greece. ___ 4:10 p.m. Stockholm police say they have arrested 14 men on suspicion of preparing attacks on an asylum center near the Swedish capital. Police spokesman Lars Bystrom says various weapons were found in cars during the arrests on Monday evening in Nynashamn, 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Stockholm, but they didn't include firearms. He didn't identify the men, but Swedish Radio cited local police officers Lars Alvarsjo as saying they were Polish, and possibly members of right-wing groups. Bystrom said Tuesday the men were suspected of preparing aggravated assault and arson, but declined to give further details. The arrests come amid increasing opposition to migrants and reports of attacks against refugee centers in the Scandinavian country, which has been a top European destination with 163,000 arrivals last year. ___ 3:45 p.m. Croatia's interior minister has announced a new way migrants will be transiting the Balkans an attempt to stem their flow toward western Europe. Vlaho Orepic said Tuesday that Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Austria agreed that the migrants will be transported in trains straight from the Macedonian to the Austrian border. So far, hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing wars and poverty were transported to the borders of each of the Balkan countries where they were separately screened and given temporary asylum documents before continuing their journey. But Serbia's minister in charge of migrants, Aleksandar Vulin, said that the transport changes have not yet been agreed and "for now, everything remains as it was." Orepic said the paperwork would "soon" be centered only in Macedonia on its border with Greece before the migrants reach Austria. He said they would be allowed to disembark the trains only if they seek asylum in one of the Balkan countries or in cases of illness. ___ 3:40 p.m. Greece's prime minister says possible NATO involvement in dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe should only involve patrols in Turkish territorial waters. Olga Gerovasili, a government spokeswoman in Athens, said Premier Alexis Tsipras discussed the issue in a telephone call Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Greece is facing growing pressure from the European Union to strengthen border protection and detection of migrants who are not considered eligible for asylum in Europe. On Monday, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos suggested that the EU's border protection agency Frontex could patrol Turkish waters and turn back boats carrying migrants and refugees. He said Frontex patrols could "stop the great migratory flow to Greece" as well as deaths in frequent disasters at sea. ___ 2:45 p.m. Hungary's foreign minister says four central-eastern European countries cooperated well during the migrant crisis, helping Hungary to "stop the migrant pressure at its borders." Peter Szijjarto said Tuesday after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that Hungary's success in halting the migrant flow was made possible by assistance from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which sent police and equipment to help guard Hungary's fence on its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Leaders of the four countries in the so-called Visegrad Group will meet next week in Prague with officials from Bulgaria and Macedonia. Hungary has been advocating for a "European defense line" to stop the flow of people along the borders Bulgaria and Macedonia share with Greece. Szijjarto said it was unfair to put the pressure of "protecting Europe" from migrants only on Turkey and that Europe has to "eliminate its defenselessness" on its southern borders. ___ 2:05 p.m. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the U.S.-led alliance will discuss this week whether to get more involved in trying to stem Europe's ongoing migration crisis. Stoltenberg said Tuesday he had spoken by telephone with the German and Turkish defense ministers, and that the issue will be on the agenda at a NATO defense ministers' meeting Wednesday. Stoltenberg said that "we are all concerned." He said NATO's 28 member countries "see the need to manage and to tackle the human tragedy," and the problems associated with it. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed Wednesday's NATO meeting should discuss how the alliance "can be helpful with the surveillance situation" in the Mediterranean and assist the Turkish coast guard and the European Union's border agency. ___ 1:45 p.m. Austria's foreign minister says his country will substantially reduce the influx of refugees this year and urged the countries on the Balkan migrant corridor to be prepared to do the same. Sebastian Kurz says that last year Austria accepted 90,000 people and will limit the number to 37,500 in 2016. Kurz said "we are aware of the consequences this could cause" on the migrant route that leads from Greece through Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia before reaching Austria. He said that Austria is ready to help Macedonia and the other countries on the corridor to stem the surge. Most of the migrants fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia want to go to Germany and other rich EU states where they seek asylum. ___ 12:20 p.m. The International Organization for Migration says 409 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and migrant crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly 10 times the rate of the same period last year. IOM says 76,000 people have reached Europe by sea, nearly 2,000 per day, since Jan. 1. More than three-fourths of the deaths have been on the short eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece which traditionally has seen far fewer deaths than the much longer central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy. The IOM statement Tuesday comes a day after Turkey's coast guard said 27 migrants had died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. A man gestures after his arrival with other migrants and refugees on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Tuesday, Feb. 9 2016. The International Organization for Migration says Mediterranean crossings in the first six weeks of this year are running at nearly ten times the rate in the same period last year, and 409 people have died trying to cross this year. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) A Syrian refugee woman hugs her daughter after their arrival on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The International Organization for Migration says Mediterranean crossings in the first six weeks of this year are running at nearly ten times the rate in the same period last year, and 409 people have died trying to cross this year. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis) UN urges Turkey to open border to Syrians fleeing Aleppo KILIS, Turkey (AP) Turkey must open its doors to the tens of thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the U.N. demanded Tuesday, as an aide group said tents on the Syrian side are overcrowded and food in short supply. Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrian refugees, insists it has an open-door policy toward Syrians escaping conflict but has still kept the key Bab al-Salameh border crossing closed for days. Government officials say Turkey will provide assistance to the displaced Syrians within their own borders "as much as possible" and would allow them in "when necessary." UNHCR spokesman William Spindler asked Turkey on Tuesday to open the border to "all civilians who are fleeing danger and seeking international protection as they have done since the start of this crisis." In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, displaced Syrians walk among a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) Spindler also urged other nations to shoulder more of the refugee burden and to work to end the conflict. "The answer to this crisis is for the peace process to continue in Syria and for the conflict to be solved," Spindler said. The war in Syria against President Bashar Assad's government has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it began in 2011. In recent days, a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive around the country's largest city Aleppo has sent an estimated 75,000 Syrians fleeing toward the border with Turkey, according to Abdulsalam al-Shareef, a consultant for the Turkish charity group Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or IHH. The group, which has been distributing food, medicines and blankets at the border, said Tuesday it was expanding an existing displaced persons camp a few kilometers away from Bab al-Salameh and was "surveying" sites for possible new camps. "Today the situation got worse because yesterday night and (this) morning, Russian jets started bombing two big cities, Tel Rifaat and Marea," he said. "It is really a big disaster." Although some humanitarian aid has arrived, there is still quite a large need for basic humanitarian assistance because of the sheer scale of the situation, said Dalia al-Awqati, north Syria director for the Mercy Corps aid group. "The ability to provide individual shelter for new arrivals is definitely being challenged," she said. "The tents are definitely overcrowded and the food is overstretched." Al-Awqati added the displaced Syrians are not likely to return because their homes "are no longer accessible." On Tuesday, the U.N. also warned that hundreds of thousands of others in Aleppo could soon be cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if the Syrian government and allied forces encircle the city of Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu estimated that up to a million more people could flee if the onslaught continues. The country's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged the world to speak out against Russia for "mercilessly bombing civilian targets" in Syria. He predicted that Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in "embarrassment" in a way similar to the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan. "Those ... who turned Syria into a bloodbath will certainly pay for it one day," Davutoglu said. Russia has insisted its warplanes target the Islamic State and other extremist groups and has firmly denied that they hit civilian areas. Several aid trucks could be seen moving Tuesday through Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, opposite the Bab al-Salameh gate in Syria, which remained shut to refugees for the fifth straight day. One of the few Syrians who managed to cross into Turkey from Oncupinar recently was six-year-old Aya al-Sharqawi who was wounded in Russian airstrikes 10 days ago at her hometown of Tel Rifaat and her uncle, Abdelrahman al-Sharqawi. "I went to buy (biscuits)," the girl said from her hospital bed at the Kilis hospital. "When the plane came I started running. I was near the entrance of my sister's house when the plane came and dropped a bomb." Her uncle said the girl was first taken to a field hospital in Tel Rifaat, which then sent her to Turkey for further treatment. Also being treated at the Kilis hospital was Ejnad Akkad, a fighter for the opposition Free Syrian Army, who was wounded by a mine planted by the Islamic State group near the border with Turkey. "The Russian planes have decimated people. The (improvised explosive devices) and mines belonging to (IS) have also slaughtered people," he said. "The (Syrian) regime is advancing only thanks to the Russian warplanes and Shiite militias." At a joint news conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Cavusoglu said Turkey was admitting refugees "in a controlled manner" and that 10,000 Syrians had been allowed in recently. He did not elaborate, and it was not clear if he was referring to the thousands of Syrian Turkmens who were admitted into Turkey earlier this month. The U.N.'s World Food Program said Tuesday it has begun shipping lentils, pasta, beans, vegetable oil, wheat flour, sugar and other items to the town of Azaz northwest of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey, and hopes to continue in coming days. "We are extremely concerned, as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off," said Jakob Kern, the WFP country director for Syria. "But we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey." ___ Keaten reported from Geneva. Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Dominique Soguel in Kilis, Turkey, contributed. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto shake hands during their press conference after their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (Janos Marjai/MTI via AP) In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, displaced Syrian children play at a temporary refugee camp in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) This photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, shows a temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey was under pressure from the EU to open its border to up to 35,000 Syrians who have massed along the frontier in the past few days fleeing an onslaught by government forces and intense Russian airstrikes in Aleppo. (IHH via AP) A man carries the body of a child that drowned with other migrants as they were trying to reach Greece, at a port in the coastal town of Dikili, near Izmir, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey's state-run news agency says dozens of migrants attempting to reach Greece have drowned after their boat sank off the Turkish coast. The drownings came as Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ankara to discuss the migrant crisis with Turkish officials. (AP Photo) Members of Turkish forces look at the bodies of some of the migrants that were drowned as they were trying to reach Greece, at a port in the coastal town of Dikili, near Izmir, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. Turkey's state-run news agency says dozens of migrants attempting to reach Greece have drowned after their boat sank off the Turkish coast.The drownings came as Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ankara to discuss the migrant crisis with Turkish officials. (AP Photo) In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, children play at a temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the United Nations demanded Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syrias largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. (IHH via AP) In this photo provided by Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, people walk around a temporary refugee camp for displaced Syrians in northern Syria, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing with Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. Turkey must open its doors to the thousands of Syrians who have massed at the border after fleeing violence, the United Nations demanded Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of others in Syrias largest city could be soon cut off from humanitarian aid amid blistering Syrian and Russian airstrikes. (IHH via AP) US intelligence chief warns of more homegrown terror attacks WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. intelligence chief says Islamic militants will continue plotting against U.S. interests overseas and homegrown attacks will pose the most significant threat to Americans at home. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country. Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America might motivate others to replicate them. US intel warns of expansion of terror groups in Bangladesh WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday efforts by Bangladesh's prime minister to undermine the political opposition will probably provide openings for transnational terrorist groups to expand their presence in the South Asian country. Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper questioned Bangladesh's public insistence that the killings of foreigners were the work of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and are intended to discredit the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In written testimony to a Senate hearing on worldwide threats, Clapper noted the claims of responsibility from the Islamic State group for 11 high profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities, and claims from the Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent for killing at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013. Bangladesh is a Muslim country with traditions of secularism and tolerance but it has become increasingly troubled by extremist violence. Hasina's government has denied that the Islamic State group has a presence in the country, and has accused domestic Islamist groups and political opponents for the violence. Princeton opens dialogue on alumnus Woodrow Wilson, racism TRENTON, N.J. (AP) How do you apply 21st-century sensibilities to the legacy of a man raised in the 19th-century South who achieved greatness in the early 20th century at an institution that didn't begin admitting blacks until the late 1940s and women until 1969? That is the question faced by a Princeton University committee that has started examining the legacy of alumnus and former President Woodrow Wilson as part of an agreement with students who staged a sit-in to protest his views on race and segregation and urge the Ivy League institution to rename buildings and programs carrying his name. Wilson was president of Princeton from 1902 to 1910 and served as New Jersey's governor from 1911 to 1913, when he entered the White House. The Democrat was a leading progressive, credited with creating the Federal Reserve system, guiding the U.S. into World War I and trying to preserve a lasting peace with his "Fourteen Points" and the League of Nations, which won him the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. But Wilson also supported segregation and appointed Cabinet members who segregated federal departments. FILE- In this March 4, 1913 file photo, Woodrow Wilson takes the oath of office for his first term of the Presidency in Washington. Princeton University has started a scholarly examination of the legacy of alumnus and former President Woodrow Wilson as part of an agreement with students who staged a sit-in to protest his views on race and segregation. A Princeton official says the goal is to try to get as many perspectives on the table as possible about Wilson and what should be done." (AP Photo/File) The protesters, both black and white, wanted the school to acknowledge what they said is Wilson's racist legacy and to rename buildings and programs named for him. Scholars see some room for interpretation in what critics cite as instances of Wilson's bias. For example, was he being racist when he denied a black student admission or was he shielding the student from an environment where he would be ignored by classmates? The Wilson Legacy Review Committee has established a website where the public can comment and read essays about Wilson by nine scholars. It also is holding small group discussions with students, alumni and the public. The next session will take place Feb. 18-20 when the school marks Alumni Day. "The goal is not how many people attend," said Bob Durkee, Princeton's vice president and secretary. "They want to try to get as many perspectives on the table as possible about Wilson and what should be done." In one of the essays, Paula Giddings, a professor of Afro-American studies at Smith College, wrote, "In my opinion, his segregationist and racially exclusive policies as president of Princeton University and as the 28th President of the United States are sufficient grounds for the refusal to honor his name in an institution that values diversity and the standards of a liberal arts education." Kendrick Clements of the University of South Carolina wrote, "Woodrow Wilson exemplified aspects of the racism that has permeated American history, but he also proposed that students and faculty confront all of the nation's problems in their classrooms and seek solutions for them." The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, Virginia, where Wilson was born, has been following the review. Chief executive officer Robin von Seldeneck thought the essays were written by a well-rounded group of scholars who appreciate the different aspects of Wilson's life. The museum, she said, doesn't excuse Wilson's racism but tries to understand why it was there. "We have to consider the entirety," von Seldeneck said. "I cringe how I'd be judged 100 years from now." About 30 black and white Princeton students, from a group called the Black Justice League, in November demanded changes to improve the social and academic experience of black students. They want Wilson's name removed from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs and one of the school's residential colleges. They also want a large photo of him in a dining hall taken down. Princeton's protest followed demonstrations on the University of Missouri's flagship campus over what some saw as the university leadership's indifference to racial issues. The university system's president and the Columbia campus' chancellor resigned. "Most of the content in the letters was compelling," said junior Asanni York of Black Justice League of the essays. "But some downplayed Wilson's prejudice." York predicted the school will not move quickly, and there is no firm deadline for when the Princeton committee will finish its examination. Change in institutions like Princeton, which students and alumni refer to as "the bubble," can seem glacial. But committee members believe dialogue is important. "They are listening, hearing and becoming more informed," Durkee said. "They'll deliberate, make recommendations and then issue a report to the Board of Trustees." ___ Online: Princeton's Wilson Legacy Review Committee: http://wilsonlegacy.princeton.edu Macedonia: Trial opens for 29 men accused of terrorism SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) A trial has started in Macedonia of 29 men charged with terrorism-related offences in connection with a two-day shootout with police in 2015 that left 18 dead, including eight police officers. Last May's shootout in the border town of Kumanovo came after a group of gunmen briefly seized control of a police station on the Macedonia-Kosovo border. The gunmen surrendered after two days of fighting which left 18 dead, 42 policemen injured and damaged dozens of homes. The 29 have been charged with terrorism and participating in a terrorist organization. Seventeen are residents of neighboring Kosovo, one is from Albania and the remaining 11 are Macedonian ethnic Albanians. Defendants, their lawyers and police officers sit in the front rows in a courtroom of the criminal court in Skopje, Macedonia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The trial opens Tuesday for 29 people charged in connection with a 2015 shootout with police in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo that left 18 people dead, including eight police officers. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) The fighting in ethnically mixed Kumanovo was the worst since 2001, when an ethnic Albanian insurgency nearly developed into all-out civil war. Defendants, their lawyers and police officers sit in the front rows in a courtroom of the criminal court in Skopje, Macedonia, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. The trial opens Tuesday for 29 people charged in connection with a 2015 shootout with police in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo that left 18 people dead, including eight police officers. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski) Obama reassures Japan, South Korea after Pyongyang launch WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama is reassuring the leaders of South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will defend its allies following a rocket launch by North Korea. The White House says Tuesday that Obama spoke with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday evening. Obama is condemning the North's rocket launch and calling it a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The leaders are calling for a strong global response, including a new Security Council resolution. The diplomacy comes after Pyongyang launched a rocket it says was solely to carry a satellite into orbit. The U.S. and others worry it was a cover for a long-range missile test. Red Lobster has seen a staggering 33 per cent rise in sales just a day after Beyonce mentioned the seafood diner in her latest song Formation. The chain, known for its cheddar biscuits, reported the year-on-year spike in orders on Sunday, 24 hours after the singer released the song online. In it, she says she goes to the fast food restaurant after sex. 'When he f*** me good I take his ass down to Red Lobster,' she chants - prompting a slew of memes that use the term 'Red Lobster' as a euphemism. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Singing in Formation, Beyonce says she goes to the seafood diner after sex. 'When he f*** me good I take his ass down to Red Lobster,' she chants, prompting a slew of memes that now use 'Red Lobster' as a euphemism Red Lobster saw a staggering 33 per cent rise in sales on Sunday - just a day after the song's release The Formation video also shows a woman eating shrimp from a Styrofoam box from a street corner It is not immediately clear whether the sales comparison was from the Sunday of the same weekend a year ago, or with February 7, 2015, which fell on a Saturday last year. Sales on Saturdays and Sunday on average may vary. The pop culture spotlight is no doubt a welcome change for Red Lobster, which was sold by Darden Restaurants in July of 2014 after it suffered ongoing declines in sales. The chain, which is now privately held by investment firm Golden Gate Capital, says it has posted sales gains every quarter since the separation. And after the mention by Beyonce, it says it was also a trending topic on Twitter for the first time. 'It's clear that Beyonce has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that,' Red Lobster CEO Kim Lopdrup said in a statement. Red Lobster, based in Orlando, Florida, has more than 700 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Erica Ettori, a Red Lobster representative, said she could not 'confirm or deny' whether the chain has reached out to superstar, but noted that things were 'moving fast', as she noted that lobster is considered a romantic food. Within minutes of the song's release, Red Lobster was one of the first things listeners seemed to pick up on. John Legend tweeted a picture of Obama looking pensive, with the words: 'When you realize your dad took your mom to red lobster every week.' His pregnant model wife Chrissy Teigen definitely seemed to be a fan of the post as she replied: '@johnlegend this is a good tweet.' Red Lobster's own tweet did not go down so well. Hours after the song's release, it tweeted: 'Cheddar Bey Biscuits' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?' The fast food chain disappointed Twitter users with its mediocre joke responding to the song on Sunday This was one of thousands of tweets slamming Red Lobster for being slow and lax Later, the chain responded with this tweet to defend its poor reaction It was met with ridicule online. 'yall had hours and this is what yall came up with,' read one tweet that echoed thousands of others. Red Lobster have since tried to defend their unsuccessful tweet, first posting: 'You try to bake Cheddar Bay Biscuits and tweet at the same time! #harderthanitlooks #Formation.' That tweet, however, simply provoked more backlash, the restaurant firm finally admitted they had made a mistake. 'Our bad. We're really busy for some reason. #ThanksB #' Meanwhile Southwest Airlines - which was not mentioned in the song - was applauded for their tweet reaction. In reference to her lyric - 'I got hot sauce in my bag, swag.' they tweeted: 'Got hot sauce in your bag? Checked: #SWAg Carryon: 3.4 ounces or less. #Formation.' PICTURED: New Hampshire voters gather to vote for president NASHUA, N.H. (AP) Starting at the stroke of midnight, when a handful of small towns opened their polls, tens of thousands of New Hampshire voters cast ballots Tuesday, choosing their favorites among the pack of Republicans and Democrats who hope to one day be president. Here's what some of them had to say as they headed to the polls in Nashua, a small city near the state's border with Massachusetts. The former textile hub, now home to some notable tech firms like HP, Dell and Oracle and with a downtown enjoying a revival of sorts, has more than 50,000 registered voters, of which nearly 15,000 are Democrats, 12,000 are Republicans and 24,000 are unaffiliated. Nicole Reitano, 24, who voted for Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., poses for a portrait outside her polling place at Broad Street Elementary in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, during the New Hampshire primary. I felt like he was the most honest, said Reitano, an embroiderer, of her decision to pick Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. Hes had the same views forever and hes never budged. That makes me feel confident in him. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ___ "I felt like he was the most honest," said Nicole Reitano, a 24-year-old from Nashua who voted for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, running against Democrat Hillary Clinton. "He's had the same views forever and he's never budged. That makes me feel confident in him." ___ "It's very important to vote and we always vote for the person we think is going to help the most people," said Alanna Van Antwerpen, 40, of Nashua, as she voted with her 6-year-old daughter, Norah, at her side. Van Antwerpen, who declined to say who she voted for, said she was just glad the primary season, at least for New Hampshire, was finally over. "If we make it to this time next year in one piece as a nation, I'd be impressed," she said. "There's this underlying tension. Everyone gets a little amped up. People are very committed to the political process here." ___ "We voted for Hillary," said Kelly Stephens, 33, of Nashua, who voted with her husband Andrew Stephens, 34. "My heart kind of wanted Bernie, but my head went the Clinton route. She's a little more put together with her ideas." ___ "We like that he is a born again Christian," said Phyllis Grant, an 80-year-old from Nashua who voted for GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz along with her husband, Martin Grant, 87. ___ "I bounce around between Democrat and Republican," said Edward O'Neill, 68, a retired General Electric worker from Nashua who declined to say who he ended up voting for. "This election has been really crazy. I really just made up my mind when I sat down in the voting booth." ___ "I voted for Hillary," said Ashok Patel, 58, of Nashua. "I think she is the most likely to win. I don't know Bernie well and I see Hillary with more potential to win. I also think it's about time that one of the best democracies in the world has a woman as president." Alanna Van Antwerpen, 40, of Nashua, N.H., with her daughter Norah, 6, poses for a portrait outside her polling place at Broad Street Elementary in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016, during the New Hampshire primary. Its very important to vote and we always vote for the person we think is going to help the most people, says Van Antwerpen, who declined to say who she voted for, saying she was just glad the primary season, at least for New Hampshire, was finally over. If we make it to this time next year in one piece as a nation, Id be impressed, she said. Theres this underlying tension. Everyone gets a little amped up. People are very committed to the political process here. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Andrew Stephens, left, and Kelly Stephens, of Nashua, N.H., hold their children Luke, 2, and Finn, five-months, as they pose for a portrait outside their polling place at Broad Street Elementary in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, during the New Hampshire primary. We liked her the last time around, Andrew Stephens, a psychotherapist, said of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons unsuccessful 2008 campaign. And the Republican campaign is just a bit of a circus. Kelly Stephens, an occupational therapist, agreed, My heart wanted Bernie Sanders. My head said Hillary. Shes a little more put together. The thought process is a little more there. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Merton Grant, 87, and his wife of 58 years Phyllis Grant, 80, of Nashua, N.H., pose for a portrait outside their polling place at Broad Street Elementary in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, during the New Hampshire primary. The couple voted for Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "We like that he is a born again Christian," says Phyllis Grant. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Edward O'Neill, 58, of Nashua, N.H., poses for a portrait outside his polling place at Broad Street Elementary in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, during the New Hampshire primary. O'Neill doesn't want to say who he voted for but doesn't think the country is ready for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and says that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump scares him. "I bounce around between Democrat and Republican. This election has been really crazy. I really just made up my mind when I sat down in the voting booth." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Woman finds artwork by father killed in Vietnam SAN DIEGO (AP) Erika Colligan spent three decades searching for her father's artwork paintings the South Vietnam pilot made for the U.S. Air Force aviators who trained him during the Vietnam war. The 50-year-old San Diego software consultant was only 1 when her father died in a plane crash in his native country in 1966. At age 10, her family fled Vietnam and came to the United States, leaving behind their belongings and his artwork. Colligan believes most of his paintings were destroyed after the Communist government took power, but she kept faith some of the artwork Phan Khoi made for his American friends was still out there, offering a tangible sliver of the father she never got the chance to know. Erika Colligan poses with a painting made by her father Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in San Diego. After three decades searching for her fathers artwork - paintings the South Vietnam pilot made for the U.S. Air Force aviators who trained him during the Vietnam war, Colligan recently found one. The painting gave her the first tangible sliver of the father she never got the chance to know. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) For decades she showed veterans a faded photograph of Khoi sitting with a paintbrush and two portraits in his room at a U.S. Air Force base. She posted the image repeatedly online, asking if anyone recognized the American pilot in one of the portraits. Her search paid off about three months ago when it led her to Khoi's former Air Force instructor, retired Col. Billy Mobley. Mobley told her in an email that Khoi had given him a painting a serene landscape that has hung on his wall for more than 50 years. Colligan immediately drove to Mobley's house in Stephenville, Texas. "He grabbed hold of my face and said, 'Yep, you're Phan Khoi's daughter all right,'" Colligan said. He then handed her the painting. "I took the painting and cradled it for half an hour and cried a lot," she said. She ran her finger over her father's signature on the back. She and Mobley talked well past midnight that cold December day. She learned her father was a quiet, serious man, a surprise to the outgoing woman with an easy laugh. "It did not bring me closure, instead it marked a beginning for me," she said later. Mobley, now 83, was overwhelmed as well. "That hit me right in the heart," he said of Colligan's visit. "Phan Khoi gave me that painting in 1962 and then here was his daughter standing in front of me." Khoi was among more than 1,500 Vietnamese pilots sent to the United States for training. The U.S. military helped build the South Vietnam Air Force to be among the ten largest air forces in the world in 1974. U.S. military instructors would spend up to a year alongside the pilots, inviting them to their homes for barbecues and holiday dinners, despite the cultural and language barriers. But once the training ended, most of the U.S. instructors lost contact with their students. After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the South Vietnam Air Force dissolved. Many of the South Vietnam pilots returned to the United States, this time as refugees battling discrimination in their adopted country. "They were such dedicated, such honorable men and we didn't know what had happened to them," Mobley said. "Then I get this email from a lady looking for her father." Colligan learned that the two portraits in the faded photograph she had shared with veterans for decades were paintings her father made for his other Air Force instructor, Doyle Ruff, who appears as the young pilot in one portrait; the other was of Ruff's daughter, Rebecca, who was two at the time. After contacting him, retired Col. Ruff sent Colligan a birthday card Khoi had given him in 1963, and later Ruff's ex-wife sent her the two portraits, and shared her own memories. In early January, Colligan organized a reunion with Mobley, Ruff, other Air Force officers and some of the South Vietnam pilots they had trained more than a half century ago. She and her family spent two days at a San Diego hotel, mostly listening to the men reminisce about grumpy instructors, the risks of flying then and the pilot who loved to paint. In the room where they chatted was the painting Khoi made for Mobley. Colligan felt almost as if her father was there. Now that she has seen his paintings in person, she can see that her father would paint the name of the person into the background, as if hiding a clue. Her search continues to lead her to more people who knew Khoi. "I think my father is doing this," she said of her search. "My objective is still to find his artwork but along this journey I've been able to learn what my father was like. It's been a great journey." Ngo Nhat, second from left, speaks with retired Gen. Ed Loy during a gathering of South Vietnam pilots and the U.S. Air Force aviators who trained them Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in San Diego. After three decades searching for her fathers artwork _ paintings the South Vietnam pilot made for the U.S. Air Force aviators who trained him during the Vietnam war, Erika Colligan recently found one. The painting gave her the first tangible sliver of the father she never got the chance to know. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) Son of Iraqi Kurdish leader calls for aid to battle IS SALAHUDDIN, Iraq (AP) A senior Iraqi Kurdish leader on Tuesday called for international aid to help finance the war against the Islamic State group, saying it's a "miracle" that underpaid Kurdish forces are still on the front lines. Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region has seen its revenues plummet because of low oil prices, a dispute with Baghdad over petroleum revenues and an economic downturn driven by the war with IS. Iraqi Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga have long been close U.S. allies, and are among the most effective ground forces battling the Islamic extremists. Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Governments security council, and the son of Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, poses for a portrait after an interview with The Associated Press in Salahuddin, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. He asked for international help to finance the regions war against the Islamic State group and repeated a call for a referendum to decide whether the region should seek independence from Iraq. (AP Photo/Alice Martins) But Masrour Barzani, son of the regional President Masoud Barzani and head of the region's security council, told The Associated Press that many Kurdish fighters are not being paid. "I think the international community should understand that these are, at the end of the day, human beings and they all have families," he said. "It's the responsibility of the entire world to come to the assistance of the peshmerga to win this war." With oil prices hovering around $30 a barrel, the region is pulling in around $450 million a month, less than half what's needed to cover $1.2 billion in expenditures. Kurdish officials say they need oil to return to $50 a barrel in order to pay salaries. A Kurdish delegation visited Baghdad last week to ask the Iraqi government for aid but no deal was reached. Iraq's central government is also struggling to make ends meet, for the same reasons. Under existing agreements, the Kurdish region is entitled to 17 percent of the nation's oil income, but Baghdad stopped payments in 2014, saying the Kurds were illegally exporting oil in pursuit of independence. Barzani said the largely autonomous region still plans to hold a referendum on independence, but did not provide a timetable. "We try to stay in this country, but if the authorities in Baghdad do not consider Kurds to be equal partners and if they keep pushing the Kurds to stay away, then they shouldn't blame the Kurds for seeking other, better solutions," he said. The region has been largely autonomous since the early 1990s, when the U.S. and allies set up a no-fly zone to protect the Kurds from Saddam Hussein. With a population of about 5 million people, it has its own government, parliament, security forces, and flag. But Kurdish officials say the lack of statehood prevents them from taking certain actions to alleviate the financial crisis, like issuing government bonds. Any immediate move toward independence is unlikely, given the financial crisis, splits among Kurdish political parties and the threat posed by IS militants dug in 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the regional capital, Irbil. "We will not declare independence right now," Barzani said. "We're just talking about a right that the Kurds, like every other nation, have. Whenever they feel it's time to exercise that right we expect the world to understand that." Masrour Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Governments security council, and the son of Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, poses for a portrait after an interview with The Associated Press in Salahuddin, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. He asked for international help to finance the regions war against the Islamic State group and repeated a call for a referendum to decide whether the region should seek independence from Iraq. (AP Photo/Alice Martins) 2nd outside report says Mexico students not burned at dump MEXICO CITY (AP) A group of Argentine forensic experts says it has determined there is no biological or physical evidence to conclude that 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico in 2014 were incinerated at a trash dump as government investigators initially said. The report released Tuesday by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team said the dump in Cocula, Guerrero state, had been the site of multiple fires at various times. But it said that while the remains of at least 19 people were found near the dump, there is no evidence that the remains were from the missing students. The government has said the students were killed by a drug gang, their bodies incinerated, and their charred bone fragments gathered up and tossed in bags in a nearby river. Some of those bone fragments have been linked by DNA testing in one case positively, and in another case tentatively to two of the missing students. Blanca Nava, second left, and Mario Gonzalez, third left, both relatives of missing students, hold up a copy of an investigation that an Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team gave to the Mexican Attorney General's Office, during a news conference in Mexico City, Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016. The team announced they have determined there is no physical evidence to conclude that 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico in 2014 were incinerated at a trash dump as government investigators initially claimed. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) But because the forensics team was not present when a bag containing the fragments was recovered, it cannot vouch that those fragments came from the dump. The team also said that largely undamaged plants found at the supposed site of the pyre would have been killed or been severely damaged by a fire of such intensity. "So far the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team has not found scientific evidence to establish any correspondence between the elements recovered in the Cocula dump and the disappeared students," team member Mercedes Doretti said. It is the second independent report to reject the Mexican government's main finding from a little over a year ago about what happened to the students, who were taken by police in the nearby city of Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014, and allegedly handed over to local members of a drug gang for slaughter. They remain missing. In September, experts from the Inter American Commission of Human Rights said a separate independent forensic investigation established that they could not have been burned at the dump. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday in a statement that they had received the Argentine team's report and noted they previously agreed with the Inter American Commission to form a new team of forensic experts to conduct another analysis of the dump. The new analysis has not yet taken place. The students' disappearance attracted local and international opprobrium and has been a stain on the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto. The Argentine experts' investigation spanned more than a year and examined diverse elements found at the site, from human remains to plants, excrement, insects, rocks, glass, bullet shells and tires. It also incorporated satellite imagery. The report concluded that while there were multiple fires there over the course of years, none was large enough to have burned 43 bodies. In 2015, then Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam claimed his investigators had arrived at a "historic truth" about what happened to the students: that they were killed by drug gang members, burned at the dump and their ashes put into sacks and thrown into a nearby river. "That's why we don't have any faith in the institutions, because they have just told a bunch of lies," said Blanca Nava, the mother of missing student Jorge Alvarez Nava. "All the public officials who took part in this lie should be punished," said Hilda Legideno, the mother of Jorge Antonio Tipaza. FILE - In this Dec. 26, 2015, file photo, relatives of the 43 missing students from the Isidro Burgos rural teachers college march holding pictures of their missing loved ones during a protest in Mexico City. A group of Argentine forensic experts said on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, that it has determined theres no biological or physical evidence to conclude that 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico in 2014 were incinerated at a trash dump as government investigators initially claimed. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) Miguel Nieves, center right, a member of an Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team speaks, during a news conference with member of his team and relatives of the missing 43 students in Mexico City, Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016. The team announced they have determined there is no physical evidence to conclude that 43 students who disappeared in southern Mexico in 2014 were incinerated at a trash dump as government investigators initially claimed. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Some Dominicans don't want Vagas Llosa to get literary prize SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) Plans in the Dominican Republic to award a literary prize to Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa have angered some people, including a member of the president's Cabinet. Dominican and foreign academics selected Vargas Llosa to receive the Pedro Henriquez Urena Prize at an April book fair. The prize has typically been presented by the country's culture minister. Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo said late Monday it would be inappropriate to honor Vargas Llosa because of statements the author made about a controversial Dominican court ruling on immigration in 2013. Others echoed his criticism. Peru's Nobel Literature Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, right, kisses the hand of Spanish writer Elvira Lindo during the Goya Film Awards Ceremony in Madrid, Spain, Saturday. Feb. 6, 2016. The Goya Awards are Spain's main national annual film awards. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) The Nobel Prize-winning author was a prominent critic of a ruling that disenfranchised thousands of people born in the Dominican Republic to non-citizens. Some effects were later addressed by legislation. Vargas Llosa could not immediately be reached for comment. Isabel Preysler, left, and writer Mario Vargas Llosa arrive to the red carpet of the Goya Film Awards Ceremony in Madrid, Spain, Saturday. Feb. 6, 2016. The Goya Awards are Spain's main national annual film awards. (AP Photo/Abraham Caro Marin) Isabel Preysler, left, and writer Mario Vargas Llosa pose for photographers before the Goya Film Awards Ceremony in Madrid, Spain, Saturday. Feb. 6, 2016. The Goya Awards are Spain's main national annual film awards. (AP Photo/Abraham Caro Marin) Isabel Preysler, left, and writer Mario Vargas Llosa arrive to the red carpet of the Goya Film Awards Ceremony in Madrid, Spain, Saturday. Feb. 6, 2016. The Goya Awards are Spain's main national annual film awards. (AP Photo/Abraham Caro Marin) Tory politicians and backers at lavish fundraising event Tory politicians and their backers donned their dinner suits and ball gowns on Monday to raise funds for the Conservative party. At a lavish black tie event held in London at the Brewery by the Barbican centre, it is understood guests were set to bid on a number of undisclosed auction lots throughout the evening. Some of those in attendance included Sir Eric Pickles, Business Secretary Sajid Javid, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan. Mayor of London Boris Johnson arrives at the fundraiser Harlow MP Rob Halfon was spotted going in, Tory mayor of London candidate Zac Goldsmith arrived in a black cab, and London mayor Boris Johnson rolled up on his trusty bike. Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha were also in attendance - as well as Tory supporter Baroness Karren Brady and a raft of other wealthy supporters. Last year it was understood that tables to the annual event fetched 15,000 each - as the party looked to raise 3 million for the election spending pot. Some of the lots up for grabs at the auction last year included a shoe shopping spree with Home Secretary Theresa May, a chicken supper at the home of Michael Gove and a selection of budgets signed by Chancellor George Osborne. It is understood that some of the auction lots this year included a number of holidays. Sarah Vine, on leaving the event, said there was a Bordeaux wine tour up for grabs and a day of shooting in "somewhere posh like Northamptonshire". Michael Gove said he could not remember any of the lots, blaming the fact he was "terribly forgetful". One guest who did not want to be named said: "It was all pretty low level items - no one bid very much. Call to end long distance hospital admissions for mentally ill The practice of sending mentally ill people long distances for treatment should end, a commission has said, as experts branded some services "potentially dangerous". Around 500 mentally ill people every month are estimated to travel over 50km (over 30 miles) to be admitted to hospitals far from their own homes. These long-distance admissions are mainly due to difficulties in finding acute inpatient beds or suitable alternative services in the area where they live. Around 500 mentally ill people every month are estimated to travel more than 30 miles to be admitted to hospitals far from their own homes A new independent commission led by Lord Nigel Crisp and supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists says thousands of people in England each year are "travelling unacceptably long distances for acute admissions" and calls for the practice to end by October 2017. A report from the commission said: "Out of area treatments cause problems for patients and for their families and carers. Geographical separation from a patient's support networks can leave them feeling isolated and delay recovery. "Moreover, mental health personnel from the patients' home area have difficulties in visiting them with the result that they may well spend longer as inpatients than they would have done if admitted locally." The commission also said there were major problems in people being able to access acute care, partly due to a lack of funding and inadequate staffing. It said: "Access to acute care for severely ill adult mental health patients is inadequate nationally and, in some cases, potentially dangerous." There are also issues with suitable community alternatives to admitting people to hospital. " Members of the commission were told that significant numbers of patients were admitted because of a lack of alternatives and many also had their discharges delayed ," the report said. In 2013/14 1.7 million people in England used mental health services, with 105,270 admitted to hospital. As of 2011/12, NHS spend on adult mental health services in England was 6.63 billion. There are also t he indirect costs of mental illness, including time lost from work or education. The commission wants a new four-hour wait target to be introduced for admission or acceptance for home-based treatment following assessment for acute mental illness. Lord Crisp said: "It is time to end the difference in standards between mental and physical illnesses. People with severe mental illnesses need to be able to find care just as quickly as people suffering from physical illnesses - and they shouldn't have to travel long distances to do so." Professor Sir Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: "Everyone agrees that it is a scandal that patients with serious mental disorders who need admission can end up being sent anywhere from Cornwall to Cumbria in a search for a bed. And yet it continues. "In particular we stand alongside Lord Crisp in asking that there is a new pledge for a maximum four hour wait for admission or home treatment by 2017, and that the unacceptable practice of sending seriously sick patients around the country is ended by the same date. If we were talking strokes, heart attacks or cancer, we wouldn't even have to ask." Brian Dow, director of external affairs at Rethink Mental Illness, said: "If you have a physical health emergency you expect to be treated quickly, not sent miles from home. "So why is this acceptable if you have a mental health emergency? Mental health remains a neglected service. The Government has promised to invest an 600 million during this Parliament which is incredibly welcome, but to put that into context, almost 600 million was cut from mental health services in the last Parliament, so essentially it's filling up what was previously drained out." Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "The fundamental cause of the failings, neglect and risks taken with the lives of psychiatric patients is the relentless agenda adopted by successive governments to close down psychiatric beds and units and replace them with community teams. "Patients are also being held in police cells, or shunted hundreds of miles across the country. In one case known to us, the parents of one 18-year-old girl have travelled 25,000 miles over the last two years to visit her in four different psychiatric units because there is no psychiatric bed in Cornwall. "The Government promised a revolution in psychiatric services last month, but no money to replace the beds already closed, nor any guarantee that the 10 million funds pledged will reach the frontline." Mental health minister Alistair Burt said: "It's crucial that people get the mental health care they need as quickly and as close to home as possible. Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma out for six months Kurt Zouma will almost certainly miss the rest of the season and Euro 2016 with a knee injury which could have implications for John Terry's future at Chelsea. France defender Zouma injured his anterior cruciate ligament in Sunday's 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Manchester United. A statement on Chelsea's official website read: "Kurt will undergo surgery in the next 48 hours and is expected to be out for approximately six months." Chelsea's Kurt Zouma is almost certainly out for the rest of the season with a knee injury Zouma landed awkwardly early in the second half of the drawn Premier League contest and was carried off on a stretcher. He vowed to return "stronger" on Monday. The 21-year-old wrote on Twitter: "Scan today (Monday) has shown I injured my ACL. I will have surgery this week & will come back stronger. Thank you everyone for all the messages." Zouma has started 16 of the last 19 Chelsea matches in all competitions, displacing Gary Cahill as first-choice alongside captain Terry. Cahill, the England vice-captain, will welcome the opportunity to return to the starting XI, even if the circumstances are unfortunate for a team-mate. Cahill will likely line up alongside captain Terry in Saturday's Premier League clash with Newcastle. Terry last Sunday made his first appearance at Stamford Bridge since declaring Chelsea would not be extending his contract this summer. The 35-year-old skipper thanked supporters following the draw with United, but said there had been no communication with the club over his future. The Blues maintain a contract offer could yet be tabled to Terry, who is set to make his 699th Chelsea appearance against the Magpies. And Terry will likely be first choice with Cahill for the rest of the campaign, giving him the opportunity to make a compelling argument that he should stay. Spain full-back Cesar Azpilicueta told the London Evening Standard: "It's a situation between him and the club. I don't know what's happening. "But since I arrived at Chelsea I have learnt a lot from him. I have played alongside him on the left for most of the time, even in training. Police officer and PCSO jailed for misconduct after vigilante murder A police officer and a community support officer have been jailed for misconduct following the vigilante murder of a disabled refugee. Pc Kevin Duffy, 52, and PCSO Andrew Passmore, 56, were convicted of the charge in connection with the death of Bijan Ebrahimi in Bristol in 2013. Mr Ebrahimi, 44, was punched and kicked to death and his body set on fire by neighbour Lee James, who wrongly believed he was a paedophile. PCSO Andrew Passmore (left) and police constable Kevin Duffy, of Avon and Somerset Police, who have both been jailed for misconduct following the vigilante murder of disabled man Bijan Ebrahimi. Duffy failed to respond to numerous pleas for help by Mr Ebrahimi two days before the murder, as he viewed him as a nuisance and a liar. Former soldier Passmore lied to murder detectives by claiming he patrolled outside Mr Ebrahimi's home for an hour, when it was actually two minutes. Both have been dismissed from Avon and Somerset Police since their convictions and subsequent misconduct hearings. Judge Neil Ford QC, the Recorder of Bristol, said there had been "wider failings" by the force before Mr Ebrahimi's death. The judge, who jailed Duffy for 10 months and Passmore for four, said they had "betrayed" the public's trust. "It is with a heavy heart that in each of your cases I take the view that only a custodial sentence is appropriate," Judge Ford said. "You have already lost your careers and in each of your cases there is genuine justification for mercy. "You must not bear the responsibilities for the wider failings in the police which were beyond your control." Mr Ebrahimi had a history of disputes with his neighbours in Capgrave Crescent in Brislington. On July 11 2013, he filmed James drinking beer while playing with his young daughters on a communal green. James wrongly believed that Mr Ebrahimi had been filming his children for sexual gratification and burst into his flat. Mr Ebrahimi dialled 999 and two police officers, Pc Leanne Winter and Pc Helen Harris, arrived to find James crying with anger and frothing at the mouth. Pcs Winter and Harris arrested Mr Ebrahimi for breaching the peace and led him out in handcuffs in front of a crowd, who jeered and taunted him. Mr Ebrahimi was released from custody the following day and made 12 calls to the police non-emergency number 101. "There was a developing theme of Mr Ebrahimi saying that he didn't feel safe and that a crowd was outside," the judge said. Pc Henrietta Staveley-Brown emailed Duffy, the neighbourhood's beat manager, warning of "vigilante issues" after visiting the estate that day. The officer also raised concerns to a sergeant and inspector but no patrols were arranged in what Judge Ford described as a "serious failing". Mr Ebrahimi was informed that Duffy would visit, but the officer refused to see him. "My life is in danger. Right now a few of my neighbours are outside and shouting and calling me a paedophile. I need to see Pc Duffy," Mr Ebrahimi told one operator. Duffy told a supervisor: "It's Mr Bijan Ebrahimi. He's well known to me and I won't be taking any calls from him." The judge said Duffy's omission to visit or speak to Mr Ebrahimi, whom he regarded as a "nuisance", was a serious failing. But he added there was "much doubt" that Duffy could have prevented the murder. Passmore drove to the estate after being asked to conduct a "bit of a foot patrol" by Duffy that evening, July 12, and spent two minutes outside. Judge Ford said Passmore had "no need" to lie to murder detectives and claim that he had patrolled for an hour, but he deliberately did so. The following day, July 13, Mr Ebrahimi attempted to contact Duffy and Pc Winter. He phoned police at 00.14am on July 14, about an hour before his murder. Witnesses saw James repeatedly stamp on Mr Ebrahimi's head before setting him alight at 1.35am with neighbour Stephen Norley. James was jailed for life for the murder, while Norley was sentenced to four years in prison for assisting an offender. Pcs Winter, 38, and Harris, 40, were acquitted of misconduct following the seven-week trial at Bristol Crown Court last year. Avon and Somerset Police are now beginning misconduct hearings with 15 members of staff and officers. "As a consequence, we're unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters," a force spokesman said. IPCC commissioner Jan Williams said the police watchdog would published its investigation findings into Mr Ebrahimi's death at the conclusion of all disciplinary proceedings. Speaking outside court, Mr Ebrahimi's sister Manisha Moores said: "We hope the judge's words today send out a strong message to police officers across the country about the importance of protecting victims and the importance of telling the truth. "We hope that today's outcome will help other victims and our search for justice continues." Avon and Somerset Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Morgan said: " Today it is important we should remember Bijan Ebrahimi and his family who are at the heart of these proceedings, and the lengthy and painful legal processes they have had to endure alongside their tragic loss. They have done this throughout with the greatest dignity and composure. I reiterate my heartfelt apology and condolences to the family today. "In summing up in court today, His Honour Judge Ford recognised the appropriateness of custodial sentences for Kevin Duffy and Andrew Passmore. The principle job of the police service is to protect the public and in this case Bijan Ebrahimi was failed. "The judge also made reference to the responsibility of the wider organisation today. Our focus has been and will continue to be to understand the circumstances around Mr Ebrahimi's treatment by our police officers and staff in the days leading up to his murder, and do all that we can to prevent such a dreadful event happening to anyone again. "We are at the beginning of a series of misconduct hearings and meetings involving 15 members of staff and officers. It's crucial that these disciplinary proceedings are allowed to progress to their final conclusion without prejudice now that sentencing has taken place. As a consequence we're unable to comment any further to avoid any prejudice to the disciplinary matters. "The gross misconduct hearings involving police officers will be held in public at Police HQ and further details will be published nearer the time." E.ON and Age UK suspend branded energy tariff offer E.ON and Age UK are to temporarily stop offering a branded energy tariff following criticism of the deal, citing "continued speculation regarding the partnership". Age UK was criticised for exploiting its position as a trusted charity after it was claimed E.ON paid it 6 million a year in return for the charity pushing expensive tariffs to the elderly. An E.ON spokesman said: " This decision has been reached on a mutual basis and both organisations retain confidence in the tariff offered to customers. E.ON and Age UK are to temporarily stop offering a branded energy tariff "However, due to continued speculation regarding the partnership, both organisations feel it is right to pause and reflect on the best way for both parties to achieve their shared goal of helping customers." The change will come into effect on Wednesday February 10. The move comes after The Sun newspaper revealed it found details of E.ON payments to the charity contained within Age UK's annual accounts. It is claimed the charity had been recommending a special E.ON tariff in leaflets and booklets, stating it was "great value" and "helps save energy and money". The charity has been paid at least 6 million every year, receiving around 41 for every person that signed up, it was reported. It was claimed that the tariff, on average, costs pensioners 245 more than they would pay on E.ON's cheapest deal. E.ON has confirmed there was a "commercial relationship" between it and the charity but the supplier said its tariffs were competitively priced, and Age UK has rejected any allegations of wrongdoing. Existing E.ON customers on the tariff will be unaffected, and will be able to continue until the end of their contract or move between tariffs without penalty, the energy company said. Putin ally says Chechen spies infiltrate Islamic State in Syria By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, hardline leader of Russia's Chechen region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Chechen spies loyal to Moscow had infiltrated Islamic State in Syria and were gathering intelligence for Russian air force bombing strikes. The assertion, by Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, is impossible immediately to verify. But true or not, it could have the effect of stirring distrust in jihadi ranks towards Chechens and other militants from Russia and the former USSR who have joined Islamic State. Kadyrov, who keeps tight control of Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region with a history of rebellion against Moscow, said Chechen spies had trained alongside Islamic State fighters from the start of the Syrian war. "An extensive spy network has been set up inside Islamic State," Kadyrov's office quoted him on Monday as telling Russia's state-controlled Russia 1 channel. He said Chechnya's "best fighters" had been sent to Syria to gather information about militants' structure and numbers. "Thanks to their work as agents, the Russian air force is successfully destroying terrorist bases in Syria." When asked about the comments, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, declined to confirm the presence of Chechen forces in Syria. Kadyrov's full interview on the subject is due to be broadcast on state TV on Wednesday. Matvey Ganopolsky, a commentator for the Ekho Moskva radio station, said Kadyrov's words were impossible to check and looked to be part of a pattern of "lies and misinformation". Islamic State in Syria posted footage in December of the murder of a man it identified as a Chechen who had been spying on them for Russian intelligence. Kadyrov, himself accused by campaign groups of human rights abuses, denied he was a spy. Some Chechens are known to be fighting as committed jihadis on the side of Islamic State in Syria and Moscow fears they may return to attack Russia, something they have threatened to do. CHECHEN TRAINING CAMP Russia launched air strikes in Syria on Sept. 30 and has set up an air base to complement an existing naval facility. It has infantry and armour there to protect its assets and has military trainers and advisers working with the Syrian army. Western diplomats have said Russian special forces are also active in Syria; Russian authorities have been coy on that. But state TV, in a teaser broadcast on Sunday evening ahead of the full programme later this week, said the time had now come to talk about the forces who were helping coordinate Russian air strikes in Syria "at the cost of their own lives". It showed a training camp in Chechnya, which it said was where soldiers now active in Syria had honed their skills. The footage suggested Chechen special forces might also be involved in Syria as well as the spies of whom Kadyrov had boasted. Hundreds of heavily armed men with four-wheel drive vehicles were shown lined up, with one man shown repeatedly firing a pistol as he navigated what looked like a special urban warfare training course. Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel turned Kremlin loyalist, was also shown firing a high-powered weapon at a target himself. He said his men in Syria had suffered losses. Kadyrov said in October he wanted to send Chechen servicemen to Syria to take part in "special operations" but would only do so if Putin authorised such a deployment. U.S. National Security Agency merging offensive, defensive hacking operations By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency on Monday outlined a reorganization that will consolidate its spying and domestic cyber-security operations, despite recommendations by a presidential panel that the agency focus solely on espionage. The NSA said the reorganization, known as "NSA21," or NSA in the 21st century, will take two years to complete, well into the first term of whoever is elected president in November. A review board appointed by President Barack Obama recommended in December 2013 that the NSA concentrate solely on foreign intelligence gathering. The board's recommendations came as the United States was reeling from disclosures from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the collection of vast amounts of domestic and international communications data. Under the board's plan, a separate agency would have been housed within the Department of Defense with responsibility for enhancing the security of government networks and assisting corporate computer systems. Ignoring that recommendation, the Obama administration will replace its separate spying and cyber-defense directorates with a unified organization responsible for both espionage and helping defend U.S. computer networks. The "new structure will enable us to consolidate capabilities and talents to ensure that we're using all of our resources to maximum effect to accomplish our mission," NSA Director Mike Rogers said in a workforce address made publicly available on Monday. Some technology specialists and privacy advocates have said the government agency responsible for building and exploiting flaws in computer software for spying purposes should not be the same one entrusted to warn companies about detected software weaknesses. The presidential panel cited concerns about "potential conflicts of interest" between the NSA's offensive and defensive objectives, in addition to the need to restore confidence with the U.S. technology industry to induce better cyber-security collaboration. "I hope the NSA will explain its strategy for continuing to rebuild trust with the private sector," Peter Swire, a professor of law at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who served on the five-member review group, said on Monday. Hong Kong riot police clash with protesters amid crackdown on street vendors HONG KONG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Riot police used batons and pepper spray early on Tuesday to quell fights after authorities tried to move illegal street vendors from a working-class Hong Kong district, the worst street clashes since pro-democracy protests in late 2014. Protesters hurled bricks at police as scuffles broke out, while other demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins in the streets of Mong Kok, a gritty neighbourhood just across the harbour from the heart of the Asian financial centre. Police fired two shots into the air, a police spokeswoman said, amid chaotic scenes. "To ensure public safety and public order, police took resolute actions, including using baton and pepper spray, to stop the unlawful violent acts," police said in a statement. More than 100 protesters remained in a stand-off with officers early on Tuesday during the Chinese New Year holiday, when most of the city is shut down, with rubbish bins and flower pots in flames nearby. The Mong Kok underground train station was closed temporarily. A police statement said three men aged 27 to 35 were arrested for assaulting a police officer and obstructing police, while three police officers received hospital treatment. Broadcaster RTHK said later that 24 people had been arrested. Hong Kong Indigenous, a localist group that is fielding a candidate in a Legislative Council by-election in a few weeks, was involved in the protest, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported. U.S. military seeks to prepare Africa for shifting terror threat By Emma Farge THIES, Senegal, Feb 8 (Reuters) - African forces began a U.S.-led counter-terrorism training programme in Senegal on Monday amid what a U.S. commander said were rising signs of collaboration between Islamist militant groups across north Africa and the Sahel. The annual "Flintlock" exercises started only weeks after an attack in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou left 30 people dead. The assault on a hotel used by foreigners raised concerns that militants were expanding from a stronghold in north Mali towards stable, Western allies like Senegal. Al Qaeda (AQIM) fighters claimed responsibility for the attack, one of increasingly bold regional strikes in the Sahel, a poor, arid zone between the Sahara Desert and Sudanian Savanna that is home to a number of roving militant groups. U.S. Commander for Special Operations Command Africa Brigadier General Donald Bolduc told reporters on Monday that increased collaboration between militant groups meant they have been able to strengthen and strike harder in the region. "We have watched that collaboration manifest itself with ISIS becoming more effective in north Africa, Boko Haram becoming more deadly in the Lake Chad Basin (and) AQIM adopting asymmetrical attacks ... against urban infrastructure," he said. ISIS, or ISIL, is used for the militant group Islamic State. Bolduc said that cooperation had increased as Islamic State exploited a power vacuum in Libya to expand its self-declared caliphate, which takes up large areas in Syria and Iraq. "We know in Libya that they (AQIM and ISIS) are working more closely together. It's more than just influence, they (AQIM) are really taking direction from them," he said. Not all security experts agree that there are emerging alliances between Islamist militant groups. Some argue that competition between groups has led to more attacks. This year's programme, which opened on a dusty airstrip in Senegal's central city of Thies, involves around 1,700 mostly African special operation forces. Western partners including France and Germany are among more than 30 countries participating. Nathan Broshear, spokesman for U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, said the exercises were called Flintlock, after a type of firearm, to symbolize readiness for any threat. Bolduc stressed the importance of regional cooperation and intelligence-sharing and said the United States would help Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon set up a joint intelligence centre by the middle of next year. The United States already supports a regional task force against the Nigeria-based group Boko Haram. The Ouagadougou attack and a hotel attack in Mali's capital in November led to a greater emphasis on preparing for urban attacks this year through training to increase cooperation between military forces and police. At the request of African partners, the exercises will also include anti-Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) training. Brazilian studies aim to unravel Zika's link to birth defects By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - At Roberto Santos General Hospital in Salvador, Brazil, Dr. Antonio Almeida and a team of specialists are closely following two groups of women: Those who deliver babies with abnormally small heads and those who deliver apparently normal babies. The hospital is one of three in this city on Brazil's eastern coast where investigators are studying the most urgent question of the Zika outbreak: Is the virus causing a spike in birth defects, and, if so, how great is the risk? The answer will help shape the response to the rapid spread of Zika throughout the Americas. Concerns over the potential link to microcephaly have prompted a U.S. alert advising pregnant women against travel to 31 countries and territories with outbreaks. Officials in El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador and Jamaica have urged women to delay pregnancies. The many unknowns about Zika's effects and transmission have cast a shadow over plans for the Olympic Games in Rio, set to begin in early August. The evidence so far is compelling enough that the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency Feb. 1. But it is mostly circumstantial: Suspected cases of microcephaly - a rare birth defect characterized by small head size and an underdeveloped brain - spiked 30-fold in late 2015, months after Zika's arrival in Brazil. There is harder evidence as well. Brazilian researchers have isolated the virus in brain tissue and amniotic fluid of 17 babies and stillborn fetuses with microcephaly whose mothers had symptoms of Zika infection during pregnancy. The finding provides scientific plausibility that Zika could cause microcephaly, a condition that can result in developmental delays as well as seizures, hearing loss, vision problems and trouble swallowing. They can range from mild to severe. "We know the virus can cross the placenta," said Dr. Albert Ko, a tropical disease specialist at Yale University and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a government research institute in Salvador. "It can infect the baby, and it's likely the reason why these fetuses were stillborn or had congenital malformations. That is what we know up to this point." The study in the Salvador hospitals is one of several aimed at proving or debunking the suspicion that Zika causes microcephaly. In the northeastern city of Recife, Dr. Ernesto Marques, a researcher from the University of Pittsburgh and Fiocruz Pernambuco, the state arm of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, is finalizing plans for a similar study in 12 hospitals. Separately, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a retrospective study looking at microcephaly cases already reported and comparing them to healthy births. ACHIEVING CONSENSUS The virus was discovered in 1947 in Uganda's Zika Forest. For decades, Zika had been associated only with mild symptoms, making it less of a concern than similar mosquito-transmitted viruses, such as dengue and yellow fever. Brazil is investigating more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly reported since October and, so far, has confirmed more than 400. That is a significant increase from about 150 cases in a typical year. Experts believe it will take six to nine months to begin to understand whether Zika can cause microcephaly. But it may take longer to reach scientific consensus. To establish proof that a microbe causes a disease, researchers often follow Koch's postulates, a method developed in the 19th century and used to show the HIV virus was responsible for AIDS in 1984, three years after the first cases emerged in the U.S. The method requires researchers to establish that the suspected pathogen is strongly associated with disease and that it can be passed from one infected host to an uninfected host and cause disease. The pathogen also must be isolated and grown outside the host, a step that Marques said had been accomplished with Zika. The epidemiological studies are case-controlled - following and comparing pregnancies that result in healthy babies to those that result in cases of microcephaly. They are looking for evidence that the Zika virus is passed from infected mothers onto fetuses who develop microcephaly. THE STUDIES The study in Salvador hospitals is funded by Brazil's Ministry of Health and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It aims to rule out Zika as a suspect in cases where other causes of microcephaly - including genetic disorders, cytomegalovirus and rubella infections, or exposure to drugs or alcohol during pregnancy - are found. In apparently normal babies, Ko and his colleagues will look for problems other than microcephaly that could be related to fetal Zika infection, such as vision and hearing impairment, intellectual disability, bone and growth problems, and liver and spleen damage. Such problems can also occur with exposure to other viruses, such as rubella, that cause microcephaly. "One possibility is that those microcephaly babies are just the severest cases and that they are only a small proportion of all the babies who were infected," Ko said. Along with full clinical and imaging tests, Ko's team is testing babies and mothers for active Zika infections or antibodies. Pregnant women are asked about any fever, rash, itching or red eyes to determine possible exposure, said Almeida, hospital director at Roberto Santos General. They receive fetal ultrasounds to look for signs of microcephaly, such as brain calcifications. The study now includes more than 80 babies with microcephaly, and hundreds of normal births. Within the microcephaly group, some of the babies have unusual lesions in the eyes and ears. Preliminary results could be shared with the scientific community within the next month, Almeida said. In a recent case, Zika virus was found in the brain, bone marrow and spinal fluid of a stillborn baby who had severe brain lesions, he said. Head measurements suggest the baby also had microcephaly. The mother had no Zika symptoms during pregnancy, suggesting that the virus may cause microcephaly even in asymptomatic women. "We see the patients, and we are very, very scared," Almeida said. "You can't imagine the suffering of the pregnant women in Brazil." In Recife, Marques is gearing up a similar study that aims to enroll 200 babies with microcephaly and 400 healthy babies by June or July in 12 hospitals. Marques hopes to have some answers by August. No one wants answers more than Dr. Manoel Sarno, a fetal medicine specialist on Ko's team. In July, Sarno began to notice a spike in microcephaly cases among patients who recalled having Zika symptoms. Since then, he has identified 80 cases of microcephaly and has wept with many of the mothers. Protests intensify in Iraqi Kurdistan amid economic crisis ERBIL, Iraq, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Protests intensified in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Tuesday after the government unveiled new austerity measures to avert an economic collapse that officials warn could undermine the war effort against Islamic State. Some Kurdish peshmerga fighters blocked the main road outside their base in the city of Sulaimaniyah on a third day of strikes and demonstrations by police and other government employees demanding their salaries. Hit hard by the global slump in oil prices, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) last week said it would pay only part of state workers' salaries until its fiscal health improved. The new measures do not include employees of the Interior Ministry or peshmerga who have pushed Islamic State back in northern Iraq, but the KRG is already several months in arrears. "It's four months since we received our salaries," one of the protesters told local TV channel NRT. "Frankly the peshmerga can no longer put up with this." Another peshmerga chipped in: "This government has lost its legitimacy. They must make way for other people." Kurdish officials have warned that the economic crisis could increase desertions from the peshmerga, and are asking foreign powers including the United States for financial assistance. Peaceful demonstrations were also held in the towns of Koya, Halabja and Chemchemal. In recent days there have strikes and small protests in the regional capital Erbil, where displays of public anger are rarer. A decade-long economic boom in the autonomous region came to an abrupt halt in 2014 when Baghdad slashed funding to the Kurds after they built their own oil pipeline to Turkey and began exporting oil independently. That left the KRG struggling to meet a bloated public payroll of 875 billion Iraqi dinars ($800 million) per month. The KRG has tried to make up the shortfall by increasing independent oil sales to around 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), but at current prices the region is still left with a monthly deficit of 380-400 billion Iraqi dinars ($717 million). The war against Islamic State and an influx of more than a million people displaced by violence in the rest of Iraq has only compounded the crisis, which is also the result of years of mismanagement and corruption since 2003's U.S.-led invasion. Iraq's troubled finances slow efforts to rebuild Ramadi By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Strain on Iraq's budget from falling oil prices is delaying the removal of Islamic State explosives in Ramadi and the restoration of basic services needed for displaced civilians to return to the western city. The army declared victory in December over Islamic State (IS) after elite counter-terrorism forces seized the Anbar provincial capital's main government building. On Tuesday those forces reclaimed strategic territory linking the city to a major army base nearby. The recapture of Ramadi was the first major gain for the U.S.-trained army since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the ultra-hardline Sunni militants in 2014. Its recovery boosted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in his quest to oust IS from Mosul, northern Iraq's biggest city, later this year. But Ramadi's hundreds of thousands of residents will not be able to go home until bombs are removed and infrastructure damaged by six months of fighting is rehabilitated - operations that require tens of millions of dollars Baghdad cannot spare. "We know that the government has its back against the wall fiscally. In order to stabilize areas and to help displaced families go back, we've got to do more," said Lise Grande, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. She appealed to international donors for at least $40 million more for initial reconstruction efforts. Iraq, with income nearly exclusively from oil, is struggling to pay its bills amid the fall in global crude prices. Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi said his provincial government had not received its share of the federal budget in about two months. "The local government has accumulated debts from last year which will be paid from this budget," al-Rawi told reporters in Baghdad, declining to define the size of the debt. Besides U.N.-funded activities, he said efforts to prepare Ramadi for the return of civilians were being financed "through local efforts" of provincial authorities, without providing details. Unless additional funds are provided, it could take nine months for those efforts just to clear Tamim, a large district in southern Ramadi where the first phase of U.N. efforts will be conducted, according to Grande. The United Nations also plans to rehabilitate health, water and energy infrastructure in the city, much of which was destroyed in fighting that included Islamic State bomb attacks and devastating U.S.-led coalition air strikes. "The level of destruction in Ramadi is as bad as anything we have seen anywhere in Iraq," said Grande. "Thousands of homes have to be rebuilt, thousands of buildings have to be rebuilt. The total cost of reconstruction in Ramadi is huge." STRATEGIC ADVANCE Tuesday's advance by Iraqi forces in Ramadi's eastern farmlands boosted government efforts to close in on Falluja, the Islamic State stronghold located halfway to Baghdad and now besieged by the Iraqi army and allied, Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias. The ultra-hardline Sunni militants of IS swept through a third of Iraq in 2014, declaring a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, carrying out mass killings and imposing a draconian form of Islam, but have since been pushed back on various fronts. A military statement broadcast on state television said the army, police and counter-terrorism forces had retaken several areas, including the town of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about 10 km (6 miles) east of Ramadi. "(Our forces) also managed to open the road from Ramadi to Baghdad that passes through al-Khaldiya," the statement added, referring to a highway that links the city to the Habbaniya army base where U.S.-led coalition forces are located. "All of Ramadi has now been liberated," said al-Rawi, the Anbar governor, adding that the handover of authority to local police from the military was going smoothly. No civilians are currently living in the city, he added. Kuwait backs alliances against Islamic State, but no troops By Sylvia Westall DUBAI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Kuwait backs international efforts against hardline Islamist groups in Iraq and Syria although the Gulf Arab state's constitution prevents it from sending troops to fight abroad, a senior Kuwaiti official said. Kuwait, a U.S. ally and neighbour of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, is part of a 34-nation alliance announced by Riyadh in December aimed at countering Islamic State and al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Several Gulf Arab states including Kuwait also provide varying kinds of support to a U.S.-led coalition that has been fighting Islamic State in Syria since 2014. The issue of Gulf Arab participation in Iraq and Syria has come to the fore because Saudi Arabia said on Monday it was open to sending special forces to Syria, and the United Arab Emirates has said it would be willing to send troops to train and support a U.S-led coalition against Islamic State. "Kuwait stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our brothers in Saudi on all fronts. We are always ready and able to provide what is needed to our Gulf partners within the confines of our constitution," said Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Kuwait's minister for cabinet affairs, in an interview in Dubai. Speaking late on Monday, he said this could be "intelligence-sharing, the provision of establishments required by the coalition to facilitate their activities". He did not elaborate. AIRFIELDS Diplomats in the region have said Kuwait has permitted some foreign air forces participating in the U.S.-led coalition to use airfields in its territory. Major OPEC oil producer Kuwait, which was invaded by Iraq in 1990, can declare defensive war if under direct threat but offensive war is prohibited by the constitution. Home to several U.S. military bases, Kuwait suffered its deadliest militant attack in decades in June when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself up inside a packed Shi'ite mosque, killing 27 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility. "It's very difficult to stop a lone, deranged person from doing something like that," Sheikh Mohammad said, when asked about security measures since the attack. "However many new procedures have been put in place in public areas in order to make it more difficult ... be it religious venues or commercial or social venues." This included new legislation requiring government buildings to install closed-circuit television and for private institutions to have CCTV with a data log in public areas. He described the attack as a failed attempt to stir up sectarian tensions in Kuwait, which is home to a sizeable Shi'ite minority active in business and politics. "If anything, that bombing showed the world, and showed specifically the deranged people who adhere to this skewed doctrine, what it is to be Kuwaiti," said Sheikh Mohammad, a member of the ruling Al Sabah family. "It brought us closer together," he said, because it had reawakened the idea of Kuwaiti national identity. IRAN Kuwait, which sits across the Gulf from Shi'ite Muslim power Iran, welcomed Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers and hoped it would bring greater regional security. But, like other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, it stood beside Saudi Arabia in a flare-up of tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. That erupted when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shi'ite cleric on Jan. 2 and Iranian protesters retaliated by attacking Saudi diplomatic missions. Iran should respect Saudi Arabia's implementation of its sovereign law, Sheikh Mohammad said. "What occurred in the aftermath, specifically the abhorrent infringement of the Vienna convention and the bullying tactics with the Saudi embassy and consulate ... were and are a great cause for concern in Kuwait, the GCC and the wider diplomatic world." Sheikh Mohammad, who is also acting minister of electricity and water, said Kuwait's widening budget deficit had made urgent economic reforms necessary, including reducing subsidies for utilities, which he said would help prevent waste. Most Gulf states are planning economic reforms as low oil prices strain their finances. Kuwait needed to protect its welfare programme over the longer term, to ensure it is enjoyed by those who need it, by cutting out "free-riders" from the system, he said. The plan, which would be Kuwait's biggest subsidies reform since the 1980s, is being discussed by the government and parliament this week. Thanks to subsidies it costs just over $10 to fill a car's 50-litre petrol tank while electricity costs less than 1 U.S. cent per kilowatt hour, a fraction of what it costs to produce. Zimbabwe says to import 1.4 mln tonnes to March 2017 after drought HARARE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will need to import 1.4 million tonnes of grain at a cost of nearly $720 million dollars after drought slashed harvests, leaving 3 million of people in need of food aid, vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Tuesday. Damascus vows to recapture Aleppo from rebels By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam DAMASCUS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Damascus aims to secure Syria's border with Turkey and recapture the city of Aleppo with its latest military offensive, a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday. In an interview in her Damascus office, Bouthaina Shaaban held out little hope for diplomatic efforts to end the five-year civil war, telling Reuters proposals for a ceasefire were coming from states that "do not want an end to terrorism" and wanted to shore up insurgents who are losing ground. The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, has launched a major advance in recent weeks near Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city, now divided between rebel- and government-held sectors. The offensive, one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five year civil war, has brought government forces closer than they have been in years to a border crossing with Turkey that has served as the main supply route into rebel-held territory. There would be no letup in an army advance, which aimed "to liberate cities and villages that were controlled by the terrorists for 3-1/2 years, and also an attempt to liberate the city of Aleppo from the crimes of terrorism", Shaaban said. Damascus intended "to control our borders with Turkey, because Turkey is the main source of terrorists, and the main crossing for them". The United Nations said on Tuesday it was worried about the fate of up to 300,000 people still living in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, who could be cut off from food supplies if the government advance succeeds in surrounding the city and blocking access from Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have fled the area, and Turkey, which has already taken in 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has so far mostly kept the border closed to them, despite U.N. calls to allow them to flee. Shabaan said Turkey was using the refugee crisis to blackmail European states, criticising Ankara and its "Ottoman ambitions" as the prime cause of the war that has driven 11 million people from their homes and killed 250,000 people. The Syrian army and its allies have gained ground in recent weeks in the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo, which border Turkey to the north, and Deraa, which borders Jordan to the south. They have also advanced against Islamic State to the east of Aleppo. The advance helped derail the first peace talks in two years, which collapsed last week before they had begun in earnest, with rebels demanding a halt to bombardment - something the Syrian government criticised as pre-conditions for talks. International powers are expected to meet later this week to revive diplomacy, with Washington seeking a truce. MOMENTUM The gains have helped to tip the momentum Assad's way after Damascus lost ground last year to an array of insurgents in western Syria including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, other Islamist groups, and "Free Syrian Army" rebels that have received U.S. backing. The Syrian government describes all the groups fighting it as terrorists. "We hope that the operation will continue in the north until we control the borders and stop the terrorists who Turkey has since the start of the crisis worked to send to Syria," Shabaan added. Asked if military operations would continue at the same pace, she said: "Certainly, God willing". U.N.-led efforts to launch peace talks in Geneva last week were suspended as the government offensive gained ground. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura aims to reconvene the talks later this month. However, diplomats say they have little hope for a resumption of talks as long as the Russian-backed government offensive is under way full bore. Shaaban said she did not expect success for diplomacy, saying the problem remained one of foreign support for militants in Syria and if there had been "a real international desire" to end the problem the crisis would been resolved years ago. "The states that support terrorism in Syria, behind the financing and weapons, did not take a decision to halt this financing and arming, and therefore we do not see success for the diplomatic efforts", she said. Alongside Turkey, Saudi Arabia has been a major sponsor of the insurgency that grew out of an uprising against Assad's rule. Before the start of any negotiations, the opposition has demanded a halt to airstrikes and a release of detainees. The Syrian government has said it did not impose any preconditions and would not implement any preconditions before talks. U.S. officials have said Secretary of State John Kerry will push to secure an immediate ceasefire and aid for civilians ahead of a meeting of powers in Munich this week. Shaaban said: "I believe the talk of a ceasefire is to avoid the main thing that must be done, which is fighting terrorism." "As for talk of a ceasefire, it comes from states that do not want an end to terrorism in Syria, but which want to shore up the positions of those terrorists." She said Turkey was primarily responsible for the conflict and refugee crisis, because it "was the one that attacked Syria", and it was now seeking to gain from the issue by demanding membership of the European Union and financial incentives. "The solution to the refugee crisis is via the return of security to Syria, and I am confident that the majority of Syrians dream of returning to their country," she said. "What happened in Syria is a Turkish aggression, and therefore with all sincerity I say to the European and Western states that Turkey is the problem. The Erdogan government is the problem, and cannot be part of the solution." Poland, courting NATO, plans to boost Middle East military involvement By Wiktor Szary and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Poland signalled on Tuesday its willingness to play a more active role in tackling the Middle East security crisis, in an apparent attempt to persuade its NATO allies in return to boost their presence in eastern Europe. Alarmed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Poland hopes NATO will agree at a summit in Warsaw in July to send more troops to former communist eastern Europe. But sources familiar with the negotiations say Warsaw is facing resistance, including from southern member states which downplay the Russian threat and argue that Islamic State and other jihadist groups pose a more immediate danger to Europe. "We have announced an increase in our participation, also military, in actions in the Middle East," Deputy Defence Minister Tomasz Szatkowski said at a panel discussion ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels later this week. Szatkowski told Reuters Poland's involvement in the region had so far been limited to actions such as sending ammunition to Jordan, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State. "Right now, we are working on other things. The talks are ongoing, (but) directional decisions have been made," he said, adding that Poland would announce the precise details of its involvement in the coming days. A security source said Poland's involvement in the region would likely be military, but not frontline, and could involve logistics. BRUSSELS MEETING Poland's involvement on NATO's southern flank is "absolutely necessary" if it is to secure a satisfactory agreement on the alliance's presence in eastern Europe, said Michal Baranowski, Director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Warsaw. "The meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels (this week) is a good moment to announce this move because it will be key for establishing the outlines of an agreement which may be reached at the Warsaw summit," Baranowski told Reuters. The United States and Britain have proposed sending troops to Poland for military exercises but diplomats say there will be no permanent NATO base in eastern Europe such as the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, because European countries want to stick to a 1997 agreement with Moscow on not stationing substantial combat forces on the NATO-Russia border. Without a permanent base, Poland is hoping to persuade its allies to substantially increase the size and frequency of NATO exercises on its soil, among others. A declassified top secret memorandum written by President Pranab Mukherjee has revealed that as external affairs minister, he falsified Subhas Chandra Bose's wife's views on his death. The memo is part of the 100 files related to Netaji released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23. [National Archives, New Delhi.] The memo details a hush-hush trip of Pranab to Germany in 1995, undertaken with a view to exorcise the ghost of the controversy surrounding the disappearance of Netaji. Pranab describes his October 1995 meeting with Netaji's wife Emilie Schenkl, her daughter Anita Pfaff and son-in-law Dr Martin Pfaff over the contentious issue. The memo shows Pranab making a pitch for bringing about a closure to the controversy surrounding Netaji's death by bringing his "ashes" from Japan to India. "Netaji's widow and his daughter raised the issue of a suitable memorial for Netaji as well as the question of what to do with Netaji's ashes once they had been brought to India, that is whether the ashes should be immersed in the Ganges or be kept at a place of reverence. "The entire family expressed happiness over my visit," adds Pranab, further claiming, "I feel that Netaji's widow and daughter are keen that an early solution be found to the issue of return of Netaji's ashes to India." [National Archives, New Delhi.] However, what Pranab has recorded in the official document is completely at variance with what really happened. Almost every member of Netaji's family will tell - with the exception of those having a link to the Congress - that Netaji's widow never ever believed in the air crash theory of his death. Consequently, she never believed that the ashes in Japan's Renkoji temple were Netaji's as she believed that he was in Soviet Russia after his reported "death". Among others, Raimund Schnabel, a German journalist, had told her that Netaji was in the Soviet Union after 1945. This writer was told of this fact by several members of Netaji's family, including Chitra Ghosh, Netaji's niece and nephews Subrata Bose and Pradip Bose (both deceased). For the record, in March 2000, Netaji's Germany-based grand-nephew Surya Kumar Bose submitted a duly sworn affidavit before the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry asserting his grandaunt's views on the matter. Surya's version of what really transpired during Pranab's visit, supported by other family members, is as follows: "On October 20, 1995, auntie rang me after 10.30pm from her daughter Anita Pfaff's home in Augsburg. She was quite agitated. She told me that Mr Pranab Mukherjee was coming to Augsburg on October 21, 1995 to convince her and Anita to give their approval for bringing the so-called 'ashes' of Netaji to India. Mr Mukherjee also wanted her to sign a document which he would take back to India as proof of her approval. She again emphasised to me that she had never believed in the plane crash story and would neither sign any document nor agree in any way to bringing the 'ashes' to India or to anywhere else." According to Surya, on October 21, "Anita and her husband Dr Martin Pfaff had to take Mr Pranab Mukherjee out for lunch as auntie could not tolerate any discussion on the so-called 'ashes' in her presence. Auntie told Pranab Mukherjee quite clearly that she did not believe that Netaji had died in a plane crash in Taihoku [Taipei] and that those 'ashes' in the Renkoji temple had nothing to do with Subhas". Surya had to speak with his grand-aunt again when an Indian daily subsequently carried a news item quoting Pranab as saying that Emilie "had given her approval to the government of India's plans for bringing the 'ashes' to India". Emilie turned livid and accused Pranab of "propagating an untruth for reasons best known to him and the government of India". According to Surya and other family members, like Netaji's siblings, his wife too never agreed to any plan to bring the ashes kept in a Japanese temple and fob them off on the people of India as Netaji's ashes. There is no document in the declassified files throwing up any sign that Netaji's wife had agreed to the government's position about his death. For reasons only she can explain, Anita agreed to Pranab's suggestions against the wishes of her family members, excluding those linked to the Congress. After her mother passed away in 1996, she joined the efforts to bring the Renkoji remains to India. These efforts peaked after the Congress returned to power in 2004. As Indians world over rooted for declassification of the secret files about Netaji, Anita's response, I have the mortification to write, was negative. Everyone wanted to see the veil go off on official secrecy, but Netaji's daughter remained silent. But after it became well-known that the files were going to be declassified, she grudgingly started making half-hearted statements in favour of declassification. Anita's recent interview to India Today underlines her inexplicable approach towards finding a solution to the vexed issue of Netaji's death. Asked whether declassification was going to end the controversy surrounding her father's death, she said it won't "because you can present any amount of proof but certain people will not believe it". Later in the interview, she makes this incredible statement with regard to the DNA testing on the Renkoji remains she has claimed for years are her father's. The rising Taliban attacks within Afghanistan, the continuing dubious role of Pakistan, a more visible Chinese role in the reconciliation process, the ambiguities of US policy in the AfPak and the most recent visit to India of Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah for the Jaipur terrorism conference make it opportune to assess the latest situation in Afghanistan. Elusive With the death of the elusive Mullah Omar, the myth of the Taliban is believed to be over. Pakistan is now trying to project Mullah Mansour as a myth, with restricted accessibility to him and his movements shrouded in mystery. His brand within Afghanistan has to be politically consolidated. To this end a so-called jirga comprising a few thousand people was organised by the ISI declaredly in Afghanistan but actually in Quetta, where he was anointed as Amir-ul-Momineen. The Taliban's international legitimacy has to be built. Pakistan is, therefore, telling the UN that it must reach out to the Taliban if it wants the group to enter the negotiating process. Already the UN has been in contact with the Taliban in Qatar three or four times. Pakistan is telling the Central Asian states that now a new Taliban exists and it should be engaged. Turkmenistan is in contact with the Taliban. Russia is apparently not in touch with Mansour but with his rival Mullah Rasul, who controls territory in the area through which TAPI would pass. The real redline in the reconciliation process has to be the exclusive role of the Afghan National Security Forces for the country's security. No dual system of security should be accepted in which the Taliban can have a few divisions under their command. Pluralism and political competition have to be respected as part of any solution. Knowledgeable Afghan sources say that Pakistan wants no political competition in the east and south of the country from which NGO and political party activity would be barred. The objective is to evict India from the "sensitive" parts of Afghanistan and make them closed zones for Pakistan. The overall security scene is not encouraging. In 2015, the ANSF lost about 9,000 men, causing stress in society and in the armed forces, though not a Syria-like situation. The Afghan forces still retain their multi-ethnic character, with Pushtun officers commanding a non-Pashtun force. Problem The Afghans would want India to work with this force and strengthen it, particularly as this is an area in which Pakistan cannot compete with India. The ANSF is facing a recruitment problem, with only 3,000 trained men joining, leading to a shortfall of 6,000. Pakistan, aware of the situation, has intensified pressure on the force with a series of operations in areas where the Afghan government is weak. A large number of suicide attacks have been launched in cities, with 80 in Kabul alone. Significantly, the Taliban strength of 20,000 to 30,000 equals the real fighting strength of the ANSF, which has a teeth to tail ratio of 1 to 13. Saudi funding to the Taliban seems to have been stepped up by way of equipment and training, judging from the very organised and professional attack on Kunduz. India and Afghanistan should not be distracted from the real threat they face from LeT, JeM and the Taliban by allowing attention to be shifted to the ISIS because of the West's focus on it. Our focusing on the ISIS is to Pakistan's advantage as it takes the eye off them. At the Jaipur conference the ISIS threat was overemphasised in the Afghan view. Deliver Pakistan was isolated five years ago and today everybody thinks Pakistan can deliver. Pakistan does not want to violently capture Kabul; the cost of war to it will become unaffordable as other countries will support resistance. Pakistan would also not want to administer a slap on the face of the US. Its objective would be to keep Kabul besieged and the president beleaguered. India has to balance its policy towards the Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns better. We have invested heavily on Pashtuns in the last 15 years and have apparently taken the sympathy and support of non-Pashtuns for granted. Eighty per cent of the scholarships offered by India go to the Pashtuns, for instance. Pakistan has started reaching out to the non-Pashtuns, asking them why they want to die for the Durand Line when they are not there physically. The Taliban are telling the Chinese - who have a soft corner for them - that they can deliver the Uighurs. The Chinese do not support a military solution in Afghanistan; they prefer a peaceful settlement in which the role of Pakistan expands. The Chinese regard the Taliban as part of Afghan society, support power sharing, consider Pakistan's interests legitimate and want to shift attention to the ISIS. The four-way talks on Afghanistan present a problem in that Pakistan supports the Taliban and China supports Pakistan which, with the US as an observer, reduces Afghanistan to a minority. This format is not in India's interest either, as China has done virtually nothing for Afghanistan whereas India, which has been excluded, has done a lot. For our Afghan friends, India is a power in Afghanistan because it has built relations with Afghans. Pakistan, China and the US must not be allowed to sideline us there. At long last, Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment has relented and allowed reporters to return from their exile in the Senate gallery to which he banished them. Few can comprehend why he ever did so in the first place. Petty spite seems the only coherent explanation. Petty spite also would explain the new seating arrangements. Gone are the tables where reporters once worked. Now, as the photo illustrates, they are consigned to office chairs with small lap-desk armatures. Perhaps next year it will be folding camp stools. Whatever the reason, Norment certainly has a bee up his nose about those who keep the public informed. This year he is sponsoring a measure (SB 560) that would yank foreclosure notices from newspapers and hide them in circuit court buildings and websites. That might be helpful to banks (Norments No. 1 contributor is the banking industry) and real-estate speculators but its a bad deal for ordinary citizens. Virginia has one of the shortest foreclosure periods in the nation. The only way to offset an accelerated foreclosure period is to balance it with a broad disclosure policy that informs as many people as possible. Norment has introduced another measure (SB 564) that would carve out further exemptions to the states Freedom of Information Act. And in the wake of the Bob McDonnell gifts scandal, he infamously griped that the only reason lawmakers passed even watered-down reforms was that the media are on our backs. Someone should point out to him that he is a public official, and offer to explain what the public part of that term means. If he doesnt want the people he pledged to represent to know about what he is doing ostensibly on their behalf then perhaps he is better suited for a different line of work. Perhaps New Mexicos Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert could use a new recruit. In this article I am going to explain twelve things you should know about the extreme-right hate group called Britain First. ... YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Issue on teaching Armenian Genocide courses in Swedish schools is discussed, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Sweden, Arshak Gavafyan mentioned in the interview with Armenpress. He presented the 2016 projects of the committee. Answering to the question on what projects Armenian National Committee of Sweden plans for 2016, Mr. Arshak Gavafyan said one of the most important issues on which they are actively working is the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Swedish Government. As we know, in 2010 the Swedish Parliament recognized the genocide what happened with Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks in the Ottoman Empire but the Swedish Government did not take any steps over the mentioned issue. We work hard over this direction to achieve the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Swedish Government. This issue is on our agenda and we need to be consistent to achieve the recognition of the Armenian Genocide also by the Swedish Government. We are planning a very important project on teaching Armenian Genocide courses in Swedish schools. It is very significant as eventually people will be introduced with the history since their childhood, Arshak Gavafyan noted answering to the question whether what measures the Armenian committee is taking to make the issue available in different groups of the society. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom paid tribute to Genocide victims in Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. Accompanied by Deputy Director of Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Suren Manukyan, Swedens Foreign Minister laid flowers at the eternal fame as well as placed a wreath at the Memorial, Armenpress reports. Margot Wallstrom got introduced with the history of the Armenian Genocide and the establishment of the Memorial Complex, as well as toured the Memorial area. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Russian-Turkish relations may remain frozen for a long time if Ankara does not change its position in relation to the destruction of the Russian Su-24 warplane, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov said in the interview with RIA Novosti reporter, Armenpress reports. Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated following the downing of a Russian Su-24 aircraft over Syria by a Turkish jet on November 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a "stab in the back" by the supporters of terrorists. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on ensuring national security and special economic measures against Turkey. "There are a certain number of countries with which our relations do not develop for decades, but simply about the same relationship we will have with Turkey if Ankara does not change its position ( on Su-24)." - Karlov said. Russia expects from Turkey an official apology for the downed Su-24, the punishment of those responsible and compensation. Russian President Vladimir Putin from the very beginning said what Turkey should do to overcome this profound crisis in our relations. We are waiting for an official apology from the Turkish side, punishment of the perpetrators and compensation for the damage that was done to our state. Turkey's statement reads that Turkey is sorry for the incident but it is clearly not enough as they did not match the level of what happened. So the Turkish side must take the next step, Karlov said. If these conditions are not met then there is no possibility on normalization of the relations between Russia and Turkey, diplomat mentioned adding that there is no sense to talk about a meeting as long as Turkey does not change its position in relation to the destruction of the Russian Su-24. "The Turkish side has repeatedly stated that it would like to hold a meeting at the highest level. If this country does not change its position talking about a meeting has no sense, Karlov said. Hyderabad: Switzerland-based Ferring Pharma has offered to invest up to $250 million in setting up a facility in the upcoming Pharma City on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Ferring Pharma chairman Frederik Paulsen and India head Ashok Alate met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday and submitted a proposal to this effect. The $1.5 billion turnover Ferring Pharma has nine plants worldwide in countries like Argentina, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Scotland and Switzerland besides nine more R&D units in other countries. They also have two plants in Maharashtra. The company officials informed the CM said they would like to concentrate in Telangana. During the discussions, they assured zero discharge with complete treatment facilities within the premises. Smoke is seen billowing out of the Taj Hotel in south Mumbai during security personnels Operation Cyclone following the 26/11 attacks in 2008. (Photo: PTI) Mumbai/New Delhi: India will tell Pakistan to act swiftly against the Mumbai terror attack accused, especially against Pakistani state actors and JuD chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed after David Coleman Headley spilled the beans on the direct role of Pakistans ISI and other state actors in the carnage. Headleys video deposition in a Mumbai court Monday is the first case of deposition via video link from overseas. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said the testimony by Headley will end the ambiguity on the role of Pakistani state and non-state actors in the Mumbai attack and help India take the case to a logical conclusion. Sources said if need be a fresh dossier may be sent to update the evidence shared with Pakistan. Earlier, in his deposition, Headley said, However, foreigners are not allowed in Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Area) in Pakistan, and they thought I was a foreigner and arrested me. At that time, Maj. Sajid Mir came to interrogate him because as an ISI officer it was his duty to interrogate people arrested in that area. Headley added he was then carrying literature on India, that made the authorities arrest him. But he also had with him a Pakistani identity card, and when it was proved he was a Pakistani they let him go. Headley then testified that Maj. Mir thought he (Headley) could be useful for them, so he introduced him to ISIs Maj. Iqbal, and it was at their instance that he changed his name and got issued a new passport and a business visa for India. Maj. Iqbal was happy to see it (business visa for India) and approved it, added Headley. With this visa, he came to Mumbai seven times before the 26/11 attacks. He also visited Delhi once. After getting the visa Maj. Mir asked him to set up an office in Mumbai so he could visit the city easily, and his first assignment in Mumbai was to prepare a general video of the city. I was intending to go to Kashmir to fight against Indian troops but I didnt go as I was told I was too old to go to Kashmir, Headley said in his statement as an approver in the court of special judge G.A. Sanap on Monday. He told the court: Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi (of LeT) told me I am not fit to go to Kashmir, and that they would use me for some other purpose. Headley also testified on how the ISI and LeT trained him to gather Intelligence and do a recee of Mumbai. headley info1 Army and IAF specialised teams search on Monday for the bodies of the soldiers hit by an avalanche in Siachen Glacier. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: In what can only be described as a miracle, one of the Indian Army soldiers trapped and buried under a sheet of ice at the Siachen Glacier was pulled out alive by Army rescuers. Read: Army releases names of Siachen avalanche victims The bodies of the other nine soldiers were also pulled out. The soldier who was found alive was identified as Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. The Udhampur-based Northern Command said he was being rushed to hospital and described his condition as critical. The Army had to burrow through more than 35 feet of ice and snow before finding the soldier and nine other bodies. The ten soldiers were buried under a wall of ice that collapsed on them at the icy glacier which is the world's highest and coldest battlefield. The very fact that a soldier was found alive at such icy depths after a few days is being described as a medical miracle. However, the Northern Command confirmed the deaths of the other nine soldiers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier condoled the deaths of all the soldiers after authorities had virtually given up hope of finding them alive. However, the Army had persisted with its rescue efforts. Read: Hope dies for 10 Army soldiers buried in Siachen, PM 'salutes' their bravery On February 3, a huge wall of frost and snow had crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier, smothering a vast area which also had an Army camp located on it in the southern side of the area. The post was being manned by a Junior Commissioned Office (JCO) and nine soldiers when the incident occurred. Among the victims four are from Tamil Nadu, three including the JCO from Karnataka and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra. Earlier on Monday, Army rescuers including specialist high altitude teams retrieved the frozen body of one soldier after excavating a new site in their search for ten jawans buried by a deadly avalanche that swept through their post in Siachen glacier area at a height of 19,600 feet in eastern Ladakh last week. Read: Army recovers body of one of 10 soldiers from Siachen Stun guns that disable people or animals with an electric shock are cleared for sale only in a few other European countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, France and soon Italy. (Photo: AP) Prague: After the attacks in Paris and New Year's security scares, Germans have been snapping up self-defense equipment like stun guns - to the delight of a Czech manufacturer who corners the market. Prague-based Euro Security Products, or ESP, has been flooded by new orders from Germany for stun guns and can't keep up with demand. Company owner Bretislav Kostal said demand began skyrocketing in September and the company delivered a total of 25,000 for the German market in 2015. Some 15,000 of those were in the last four months of the year. "Our production capacity was 3,000 pieces a month. Now, we've been working to increase it to 4,000 a month," Kostal said. Ingo Meinhard, the head of the German association for weapons dealers, said the group had seen increasing interest in defensive products such as stun guns, CS gas and pepper spray following the attacks in Paris in November. Though official sales figures were not yet available, he said there had been a further increase in demand following the New Year, which saw a terrorism scare in Munich in which two city stations were evacuated, as well as assaults on women by foreigners in Cologne. Meinhard said it was less likely that the security concerns were about the influx of migrants and refugees into Germany. "It is in fact the terror threat, from our point of view," he said. He noted there was demand across generations and professions and from both sexes. He said that, previously, the typical customers tended to be people who worried about their safety after dark when night started falling earlier in the autumn. "We think that most of these articles will never be used," he said, but rather serve the "psychological effect" of making people feel safer. Stun guns that disable people or animals with an electric shock are cleared for sale only in a few other European countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, France and soon Italy. ESP was the first producer to meet strict requirements of the new German regulations in 2012 and claims to have about 90 percent share of the national market. Germany's kh-security GmbH & Co. KG, which distributes the Czech stun guns, confirmed the big rise in sales last year and another peak following the New Year's Eve security incidents. "We're not in a position to react so quickly," Kostal said. "With the orders we have, we are sold out for the next three months." Besides the stun guns, ESP exports expandable batons, pepper sprays, shields, textile handcuffs and other products to more than 50 countries for individual customers as well as police and armed forces. The explosion was also reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, which said it hit the garage of a police officer's club in the district. (Photo: Google Maps) Beirut: A suicide car bomber blew himself up at a police officers' club in a residential district of Damascus on Tuesday, killing several people, Syria's interior ministry said, and ISIS terrorists claimed responsibility. It said that a number of people were also wounded in the blast in Masaken Barza, a middle class district where several major government buildings are located. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in Syria's civil war, said eight police officers were killed in the blast and at least 20 wounded after a vehicle was detonated in a parking lot in the police officers' club. The ultra-hardline ISIS, in a statement carried by social media, named the bomber as Abu Abdul Rahman al Shami and said he had turned his enemies' "tranquility into horror" to avenge what it called the suffering of fellow Sunni Muslims. It put the death toll at 20 with at least 40 injuries. An interior ministry statement said security forces prevented the suicide bomber from entering the heavily patrolled complex and that the blast occurred at its gates. Syrian state television reported earlier that the blast took place in a busy marketplace. It then retracted this information. The last major blast in the Syrian capital occurred on January 31 in a Damascus district where Syria's holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine is located. The blast killed over 70 people including at least 25 Shi'ite militiamen, and was claimed by ISIS. Suicide bombings in the heart of the Syrian capital have generally subsided in the last two years. Insurgents however continue to frequently fire mortars into the capital from rebel-held eastern suburbs. Some recent government decisions and initiatives on solar energy are in line with the policy to encourage this sector as part of the overall efforts to promote renewable energy production and use. Among the many areas of renewable energy, the solar sector has received special attention because of the relative abundance of sunlight and the possibility of producing energy even at the micro level, unlike in the case of wind or wave energy. But there are disadvantages also which other sectors do not have. The Union Cabinet last month approved a viability gap funding (VGF) of Rs 5,050 crore for setting up 5,000 mw of grid-linked solar projects. The need for VGF shows that the solar projects may take time to become financially viable. But the grant also shows the keenness of the government to promote the sector now so that it will become an important part of the energy basket in future. The government has also decided to increase the capital subsidy for roof top solar plants from Rs 600 crore to Rs 5,000 crore in the next five years. This is expected to take solar power generation from 500 mw to 4,200 mw. Doubts have been expressed about the need for subsidy when the cost of solar panels has steadily declined over the years. It might fall further. There are tax concessions also. In the case of large solar projects, the recent bidding for a plant in Andhra Pradesh which promised power at the rate of Rs 4.63 per kwh indicates that the solar sector will become very competitive in future. While the decision on subsidy may be a sign of the governments enthusiasm, it should also take steps to address inadequate grid infrastructure. Transmission of power is as important as production. For this, grid quality has to be improved. The launching of the Solar Alliance, which had been promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the climate conference in Paris, is yet another initiative. The foundation of the alliance was laid in Gurgaon by visiting French President Francois Hollande last month. It is an ambitious venture with participation from 121 countries which receive more than 300 days of sunlight a year. The aim is to make efforts to reduce the cost of finance and technology for solar power, and development and adaptation of technologies to suit the needs and conditions of member countries. It also aims to increase international cooperation in all aspects relating to solar power. The alliance has the potential to develop into a major international institution. The recent incident involving African students in Bengaluru has evoked international attention and being treated as a racial attack. As per media reports, a Sudanese student Mohammed Aahad drove his car rashly resulting in the death of a woman on the night of January 31, 2016. Soon a crowd gathered there and the infuriated mob dragged out Aahad, assaulted him and his friends and set their car on fire. On hearing this incident a police vehicle came to the spot, rescued Aahad and admitted him to a hospital. Little later a car in which another group of African students were travelling came on the same road and seeing the gathered mob made a U-turn and drove away. Some in the mob chased this car for two km, stopped it, pulled out the students and assaulted them. A Tanzanian girl who was in this car was allegedly manhandled. This car was also set on fire. On hearing this incident a police patrol car arrived, and took the injured driver to a hospital. Two constables in the patrol car were deployed to control the mob. It is alleged that the mob attacked the Tanzanian girl in the presence of police. On February 3, newspapers reported that the Tanzanian girl was stripped and paraded naked. National television channels picked up the story and the Bengaluru police was in the centre of attention. It is the version of the city police that the victim Tanzanian student had not complained about her molestation. The Tanzanian maintained that she was attacked in the very presence of police and did not make any separate report to the police. The Bengaluru Police Commissioner has now placed under suspension an ACP and other officials for dereliction of duty which gives credence to the statement of the victim. The questions that are being asked are whether this was an incident of racial attack and whether police are taking care of safety and security of foreigners in India. Another important question is that why police kept quiet about the assault on the Tanzanian till media raised it. It is apparent that Aahad drove his car in a rash and negligent manner resulting in death of a woman. Whenever a road accident involving death happens, it is common knowledge that the mobs who gather beat up the driver, irrespective of his colour of skin and also damage the vehicle if police are not around. This is mob mentality. In the second incident, the fact that a few persons gave a chase to the car in which Tanzanian was travelling, stopped it, assaulted the inmates and set the car on fire indicates an act of vendetta. This incident is definitely that of race relations. When the police came to the spot, they shifted the driver to the hospital and saved him from mob fury. They did not take any action to protect the hapless girl and her friends. They should have called for reinforcements and ensured their safety. This, clearly, is a failure on the part of police. Sense of prejudice If we delve deep, it is apparent that the local community is against the African students. There is a common perception that foreign students live a lavish lifestyle and insensitive to local culture. The citizens feel that many African nationals indulge in anti-social activities including drug peddling and cheating. A common complaint from localities where African students reside is that they party late into the night and play loud music and do not care for their neighbours. In fact, in Bengaluru itself there have been many incidents where locals and African students have rubbed each other wrongly. The incident in Delhi where a politician raided a predominantly African community alleging prostitution, is a case in point. Even at the lower level of police hierarchy, there is a prejudice against the Africans. Many cops complain that Africans behave rudely in the police station. They also say that some students overstay their Visa. However, this does not absolve them from their basic duty of providing safety and security to the foreign nationals. The main cause of such incidents is the sense of prejudice that prevails in the mind of locals against African students and nothing seems to have been made to bridge the cultural gap that exists between the two. No effort appears to have been made to sensitise each other about the cultural differences and help each understand the other better. A sensitisation programme for not only the police but also the citizens of the area where foreigners reside, should be organised. It has now transpired that the Tanzanian girl was not stripped naked and paraded which shows that some members of the media sensationalised the issue. More restraint is called for in media report-age. Only through better understanding such incidents against foreigners can be brought down. (The author is retired Director General of Police, Karnataka) YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Sweden sees the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the format of peaceful negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in Yerevan who is in Armenia on an official visit. We have discussed with Mr. Nalbandian the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and this was a good opportunity for us to understand exactly how this issue is perceived by your side. I should note there is no military solution to this conflict and we must do everything possible to avoid escalation, Swedens Foreign Minister said, Armenpress reports. She added that the 2 sides are urged to work over the solution of this conflict. Earlier Margot Wallstrom visited the Armenian genocide Memorial complex then met with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. Swedens Foreign ministers visit to Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is expected. Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Kingdom of Sweden were established in 1992. July 10. The Khan Market Traders Association (KMTA) wrote a final letter to Bollywood actor Salman Khan on Monday seeking response if he has decided to withdraw Khan Market from his e-commerce portal. Khan Market Khan had unveiled an online shopping portal Khan Market on his 50th birthday in December. The traders at the upscale Khan Market had sent a legal notice to the actor over the name as they believed the name would mislead shoppers and there was a need to protect the brand name of the market. Initially, the traders association had sent a letter appealing to the actor to take off the name. The KMTA is now sending an email and a hard copy to the actors office. We would wait for a response in the next seven days. This is, however, the final reminder in which we are requesting the actor to look into it. Following this, we will look for other options, including legal recourse, said Sanjeev Mehra, president, KMTA. The KMTAs reminder urges the actor for a prompt response on the request to withdraw the name Khan Market from his portal. We had earlier sent a letter to the actor. We were informed by his office to drop in an official email and that the issue would be looked into. This initial gesture was appreciated, said Mehra. The traders body has not received any communication from the actors office since, he added. When we further contacted the actors office, we were told that he is busy shooting for his upcoming film Sultan. We were further told that we would be contacted once the actor returns. It is now past that day too and there has been no communication from his office. The initial response was that the actor would not want to hurt traders sentiments which we appreciated. The delay is worrying us now, said Mehra. According to traders, the name Khan Market on the actors portal site would directly affect the business of traders and affect their livelihood. According to the Khan Market Traders Association, Salman Khan had earlier communicated to the traders through his office that he would not want to hurt their sentiments and would review the matter. The Health Department sealed six ultrasound machines at a private hospital here after a doctor was found involved in illegal sex determination and divulging it to a patient during a decoy operation. The department conducted a decoy operation at MGS Superspeciality Hospital in Punjabi Bagh where the radiologist was found operating in connivance with a tout. The woman who underwent the ultrasonography was 12 weeks pregnant and was charged Rs 11,000 for the procedure. The doctor held is a repeat offender and was already under the departments scanner. Another doctor was involved in the case who drew circles on the patients hand so that she could be easily identified once she reached the hospital. Dr A S Chauhan who was found guilty of indulging in illegal sex determination on Monday was caught in an earlier case too in which the raiding team had recovered an ultrasound machine from his residence. He was later released on bail, said Dr Shalley Kamra, State Programme Officer, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, state health department. The department will suspend the PNDT registration of the hospital on Tuesday and issue a showcause notice till it provides further clarification. The health department handed over the radiologist and tout to the police on the basis of evidence gathered on the spot. The raiding team also found other discrepancies like no form was filled by the patient a rule before every ultrasound is conducted. This is in contravention to the PC & PNDT Act. However, we do not think there is any involvement of the (hospital) management in this case. This seems to be independently carried out by the doctor who came under the departments scanner earlier as well, said Dr Satyajit Kumar, nodal officer, PNDT department, Punjabi Bagh. The operation was jointly conducted by the state health department and its Haryana counterpart. The decoy patient was from Bahadurgarh in Haryana. The decoy patient contacted a tout. We followed them on the route. The tout met another doctor midway and paid her Rs 10,000 of the total money received from the patient. The doctor drew four circles on the patients hand so that she could be identified once she is taken to the MGS Superspeciality Hospital. The woman was asked to show her hand during the procedure. Soon, the radiologist who flouted other norms as well, told her there was positive news and that she would have a baby boy. The team handed over the doctor and the tout to the police on the basis of this, Rakesh Dahiya, senior drugs control officer, Rohtak zone. The CBI is likely to probe the death of a six-year-old boy in a south Delhi school water as the AAP government on Monday recommended the handing over of the case to the central agency. Devansh Kakora died in Ryan International School. The parents have demanded a CBI probe after a magisterial investigation had pointed to suspicious conduct of school authorities. The governments decision to hand over the probe to the central agency came on a day when the Delhi Police studied the post-mortem report of the boy and ruled out possibility of sexual assault before his death. The parents of Devansh Kakora, whose body was found floating in a water tank at the school, have been demanding a probe by the central agency, alleging that Delhi Police were overlooking various important aspects in the case. The Delhi government today referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the case of mysterious death of six-year-old student Devansh at the Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj on 30 January, said a statement by the government. It said the decision for a CBI probe was taken based of findings of the magisterial inquiry and demand by the parents of the victim. The magisterial inquiry pointed out the suspicious conduct of school authorities and raised further queries. Therefore, it was decided by the government that in the interest of justice, it will be appropriate to refer the case for investigation to the CBI, said the statement. The boys father Ramhit Meena had on Saturday alleged that the child was sexually assaulted before being done to death and that there were injury marks on his private parts. He had even alleged that the principal of the school threatened the family to keep quiet over the issue. A CBI probe was ordered in Ryan School death case. Hope for fair and speedy justice for Devansh, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted. The magisterial probe had said deliberate inaction by the school authorities amounted to gross criminal negligence which led to the death of the child. In a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Sunday, Meena had sought her intervention in ensuring a CBI probe into the case. A copy of the letter was also sent to Prime Ministers Office. There is hope of faster lifting of mounds of garbage from Tuesday as a section of agitating civic workers suspended their agitation over unpaid wages till Wednesday. In clear signs of cracks emerging among the protesting municipal employees, some sanitation workers refused to resume and continued their indefinite strike for the13th day on Monday despite the Delhi High Court frowning over their intention. Minutes after some employees unions agreed before the court to call off their protest on the condition that salaries would be credited to their accounts within next two days, municipal mini-vans could be seen lifting garbage that had spilled on to roads from community bins in north and east Delhi. People heaved a sigh of relief seeing sanitation employees. At last, the stalemate is over. A few more days of garbage piling up would have created an epidemic-like situation, said Mallika Jacob, who lives in east Delhis Mayur Vihar Phase 1. While sanitation workers and engineers associations have been continuing protests, a majority of doctors resumed their duties on Friday. Municipal teachers and other employees too ended their protests on Saturday. The United Front of MCD Employees, an umbrella organisation for sanitation workers which had called the strike, said that safai karamcharis will resume work on Tuesday. We have suspended the strike for two days as the commissioners gave us the assurance that the money will be transferred to our accounts by then, said Rajender Mewati, general secretary of United Front of MCD Employees. If the civic agencies fail to deliver on their promise then we should not be blamed for taking to streets again. For how long can one work empty stomach? added Mewati. While some employees unions said that would end their agitation only after the High Courts hearing on February 10. We will only call off our strike after the High Court hears the case about the clearance of our arrears, said Sanjay Gehlot, president of Swatantra Majdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha. Also, sanitation workers staged a demonstration outside Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodias Khichdipur Camp office. We will continue our agitation as its not about the salaries any more. We want a permanent solution so that we dont have to resort to striking work again to get our salaries, added Gehlot. We will protest outside Tourism Minister Kapil Mishras house in Yamuna Vihar tomorrow, he said. While municipal teachers resumed work on Monday. All the teachers have joined office today. We have been given assurance by the commissioners that salaries will be credited to our accounts soon. We all have got the salaries till November, said Ram Niwas Solanki, general secretary, Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh. Fund-starved North and East Corporations employees including sanitation workers, teachers and engineers went on strike on January 27 demanding timely payment of salaries and clearance of arrears. On January 30, doctors, nurses and para-medical staff joined the agitation. Even sanitation workers of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation struck work showing solidarity with their co-workers. The Delhi government has anti-Dalit agenda as it has given funds to the two cash-strapped municipalities on a condition that no fresh recruitment be done by them particularly for Group-IV category which comprises safai karamcharis and beldars, said North Corporation Mayor Ravinder Gupta on Monday. Gupta, Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj and Leader of House Yogender Chandolia slammed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for imposing anti-Dalit conditions in lieu of funds being given to North and East corporations. They said the corporation will not abide by such discriminatory conditions. The mayor said the Kejriwal government is doubled-faced as it had promised to regularise the contractual employees of the municipalities and now it has imposed a condition that safai karamcharis and beldars engaged on temporary basis should be discontinued in a phased manner within a year. The chairman of the standing committee said the AAP government is trying to paralyse the corporations by limiting their scope of development schemes by reducing man power. The corporations have also been told not to undertake a development project without the approval of the city government, he added. In the eyes of media and public, the Delhi government has presented itself as a messiah by offering funds to the corporations. But people must know the anti-Dalit and anti-poor conditions imposed by the government in lieu of the funds, Bhardwaj said. Leader of House Yogender Chandolia said providing rebate and exemption on property tax, fees and other charges is a constitutional right of a corporation. He said by imposing restriction on providing rebate, the government wants to crush the power of the civic agencies. A doctor, accused of opening fire on his business partner over a dispute, committed suicide with the same weapon hours after the attack, police said today. Dr Shashi Kumar was found dead at a farmhouse in Moinabad area around midnight. He allegedly shot himself dead by firing the pistol into his mouth, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Rajendranagar division), K Ganga Reddy said. A suicide note, purportedly written by Shashi, was recovered from the spot. The deceased claimed that he had not shot Uday, his business partner, and alleged that their another partner, Dr Sai Kumar, had opened fire on Uday. "We are verifying the allegations made in the suicide note," the ACP said. Uday, Shashi Kumar and Sai Kumar are partners in a multi-speciality 100-bed hospital in Madhapur area here, which was inaugurated on January 1. According to police, a woman had dropped Shashi to the farmhouse after the incident. The incident occurred yesterday on street number 6 of Himayath Nagar here. Shashi Kumar allegedly shot Uday inside a car before fleeing from the spot. Police had formed two special teams to arrest Shashi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) VB Kamalasan Reddy yesterday said the incident could be a fallout of disputes over running of the hospital. Uday managed to get out of his car, get inside an auto-rickshaw and reach a private hospital. He is stated to be "stable". As per the preliminary probe, Shashi Kumar had invested about Rs 75 lakh in the hospital. Uday was the medical director, Sai Kumar the CEO, and Shashi the director, the DCP said. "It seems differences had erupted and Shashi had sought his money back," he said. The three had met to discuss the issue. At the time of the incident, they were sitting inside a car - Uday in the driver's seat, Sai on co-driver's seat and Shashi on the backseat. "Following heated arguments, Shashi threatened them and suddenly took out his licensed .32 pistol and allegedly fired one round at Uday. The bullet grazed his left ear," DCP Reddy said. Narayanguda police has registered a case of attempt to murder under Section 307 of IPC in this regard. Authorities today tightened security as a precautionary measure in the wake of separatists' call for a strike to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on this day three years ago. "Restrictions have been imposed in five police station areas in old city as a precautionary measure in view of apprehensions of law and order problems," a police official said here. He said the restrictions have been imposed in Khanyar, Maharajgunj, Rainawari, Safakadal and Nowhatta areas of the city while additional deployment of forces has been carried out in Maisuma and Kralkhud police stations for maintaining law and order. Normal life was affected as separatist groups have called for a general strike today over the hanging of Guru, who was sent to the gallows in 2013 following his conviction in the Parliament attack case. His body was buried in Tihar Jail in Delhi. While top separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq are out of station, several others were detained or put under house arrest yesterday. Meanwhile, CRPF has put all its units across Kashmir on high alert in view of the strike call. All CRPF establishments and units have been put on high alert in view of strike and protest call given by all factions of Hurriyat and all the separatists on February 9, 10 and 11, a CRPF spokesman said in a statement here. In view of stone-pelting incidents on Fridays and Sundays in Old City areas, CRPF troops deployed in the city have been asked to keep close watch and maintain active coordination with police to counter any propaganda or provocation by the separatists, the spokesman said. CRPF DIG (Operations) Srinagar Sanjeev Dhundia reviewed the security situation and asked officers and jawans to remain vigilant and alert, and to take adequate measures to prevent injuries to personnel. The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday, the dpa news agency reported. It was not clear how fast the trains were travelling at the time of the crash but German rail operator Deutsche Bahn told dpa they were permitted to travel of speeds up to 120 kilometres per hour on that stretch of track. The trains crashed in a remote area about 60 kilometres southeast of Munich in an area with a forest on one side and a river on the other. Rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall river to waiting ambulances. Authorities said they were being taken to hospitals across southern Bavaria. Hundreds of emergency personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria were on the scene looking through the wreckage and aiding in the evacuation of the injured. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," Sonntag said. The two trains from the so-called Meridian line were both partially derailed and wedged against one another, train operater Bayerische Oberlandbahn said in a statement on its website. It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said. Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, speaking from the crash scene, said his thoughts were with the family members of the dead and the injured. "We need to find out know what happened, if the cause of the crash was based on the technology or human failure," he said. Bayerische Oberlandbahn said it had started a hotline for family and friends to check on passengers. Two commuter trains crashed head-on this morning in a remote area in southern Germany, killing at least nine people and injuring some 150, some of whom had to be cut out of the wreckage and transported across a river for medical care, police said.The two regional trains crashed before 7 am on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria, and that several wagons overturned, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press.Fifty of those hurt have serious injuries, he added. It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage and authorities were still working at midday to remove the final body from the train."Once that is done then the investigators can begin their work," federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told the AP from the scene. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is the first responsible side for maintaining the status quo in the frames of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It aggravates the situation and does not respond to the calls of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in the meeting with reporters on February 9 answering to the remark whether Azerbaijani Foreign Minister already mocks Minsk Group co-chairs in his statements, says he will not meet with them as there is no sense in it and blames Armenia for stubbornly keeping the status quo. According to Armenian FM, Armenia and Minsk Group are interested in changing the status quo but Azerbaijan contributes to the maintenance of the status quo. The first responsible side is Azerbaijan that the status quo is maintained, because the status quo can be changed as a result of reaching agreements through negotiations. Who is against the creation of the investigation mechanism? Azerbaijan. They invented that if the mechanism is set up, it will contribute to the preservation of the status quo. On the contrary, if the mechanism is established, it will create more favorable conditions for the continuation of negotiations aimed at the settlement of the conflict, Armenian FM mentioned expressing a hope that Azerbaijan will change its destructive path and Armenia will continue its efforts over exclusively peaceful settlement of the issue. And what refers to the mockery towards the Minsk group co-chairs, Edward Nalbandian noticed it is not a single step from by official Baku. Baku repeatedly uses improper statements against co-chairs and all those who dare to express an opinion that does not match their official opinion, Armenian FM said. According to the Minister, Azerbaijan blackmails them and tries to get some benefits which, however, bring to a negative impact against Azerbaijan. The toddler playing at the freshly-painted house in Mhaskarwadi hamlet of Satara district in western Maharashtra is clueless as to why are her mother and grandparents crying, little aware that her father died in the Siachen avalanche, which claimed lives of nine soldiers. Her father Sepoy Sunil Suryawanshi was among the soldiers buried under the tonnes of snow after a massive avalanche hit their post at the world's highest battlefield of Siachen on Wednesday. Recalling her last conversation with Sunil, his mother Sangita said: "He said I will return and asked all of us to take care. He said he would call again." The soldier's father Vitthal said he was "proud of his son's sacrifice". "We still feel that he will come back and be in our midst again," Sunil's brother Tanaji said, hoping for a miracle to happen. Tanaji, who works at a bank in Karad town, said Sunil was very fond of his year-old girl. Vandana Suhas Bhosle, who taught Sunil till class IV at a village school, said he walked six kms a day to attend the school from 5th to 10th standard at Kukudwad, near Mhaskarwadi which is in Maan tehsil and 70 km from Satara. She lauded the dedication of the soldier's father who brought up his two sons on a paltry income. "Vitthal, who owns two acre land, took up 'rangari' (painting) jobs, painted schools, built toilets and undertook sundry jobs to help support his children's education," Vandana told PTI. "Sunil's family moved into their new house just recently. There was to be a 'vastu shanti' (house warming) function on February 19, on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti," she said. Sunil, born in 1991, was married around two years ago. This is for the second time in the last four months that Satara district has made the country proud after another son of soil died in the line of duty. On November 17, Colonel Santosh Mahadik, a highly decorated para-commando of Satara, who was commanding officer of the 41 Rashtriya Riffles, died fighting militants in Kupwara district of north Kashmir. "In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her," he said. The deposition of Headley assumes significance as it could help bust Pakistan's argument that attacks in India are carried out by "non-State actors" and that its army and ISI have nothing to do with them. 10 LeT terrorists, who came from Karachi via the Arabian Sea on November 26,2008, targeted several places in Mumbai, leaving 166 dead and 309 injured. During the gunbattle with security forces which went on for 60 hours, the attackers were in continuous touch with their handlers in Pakistan. The court had on December 10, 2015, made Headley an approver in the case and directed him to depose before the court on February 8 (today). He had then told Special Judge G A Sanap that he was "ready to depose" if granted pardon. The court is currently trying key plotter Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in the case of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Jundal, who is also attending the deposition via video conference from the Arthur Road prison here, took objection to the presence of former investigation officer of the 26/11 case, Ramesh Mahale. Jundal's lawyer Wahab Khan told the court that Mahale was a witness in the case against Jundal, and hence cannot remain present in the court when another witness is deposing. The court then asked Mahale to leave the court. Giving details about plans to target India's commercial capital, Headley said, "In November-December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) which was attended by (LeT operatives) Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting, it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai. The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me." He said LeT operatives Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa had "some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time. They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel." The "plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall," he said, adding another reason for dropping of the plan was that he could not get details about the schedule of the conference. About plan to target Siddivinayak Temple, Headley said, "Sajid Mir (Headley's handler in LeT) specifically asked me to make video" of it. Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided. Continuing to spill the beans, he said that, "I met Abdul Rehman Pasha (retired Army officer) in Pakistan in early 2003 at a mosque in Lahore. When I first met Pasha he was with LeT. At that time he had no relation with Al-Qaeda, but may be after two years, he left LeT to join Al-Qaeda." "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked," Headley said. "Samir Ali also wanted me to do some intelligence work in India. I was in contact with Samir Ali over phone," he said. On his links with militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed's founder Masood Azhar, he said, "I know Maulana Masood Azhar as I saw him once in October 2003. He is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. In October 2003, there was a gathering of LeT and he was a guest speaker there." Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI provides "financial, military and moral support" to terror outfits LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, Pakistan- born terrorist David Coleman Headley said today as he revealed more startling details about 26/11 attacks and his role it.Headley, while testifying before a court here for the second day via video-link from the US, said he was working for Pakistan Army and ISI besides LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) and that he knew about ISI official Brigadier Riyaz being the handler of LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was key man responsible for the November 26,2008 attacks in Mumbai.He also revealed that LeT had planned an attack at a conference of Indian defence scientists at Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes and had even prepared its dummy.But the plan was dropped because of logistical reasons, like difficulty in smuggling in weapons and personal and failure to know the schedule of the meet, he said.Headley, who had visited India seven times to scout for targets, said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval air station."I was also working for ISI and had met many people from the Pakistan Army," he told the Special Judge G A Sanap.He said his assessment was that ISI and LeT were coordinating with each other. "ISI provided financial, military and moral support to terror outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed, LeT and Hizbul Mujaideen," he said and went on to claim that his opinion was formed on the basis of hearsay.When Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him if he was paid by LeT and ISI, he replied in the negative and said, "There is no basis for this question."Headley, who had yesterday told the court that he was a "true follower" of LeT, today said ISI official Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, the LeT operative identified him.The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at a conference in Taj Mahal Hotel a year before the 26/11 strikes.The "plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall," he said, adding another reason for dropping of the plan was that he could not get details about the schedule of the conference."In November-December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) which was attended by (LeT operatives) Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting, it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai," he said."The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley said."They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel," he said about the plan which was dropped later.Prior to November 2007, he said, the targets in Mumbai had not been decided.During his over four-hour-long deposition which will resume tomorrow, Headley said the LeT group as a whole is responsible for the terror attacks in India and it can be speculated that all orders come from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.He said he had been asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. "I was asked to gather military intelligence and recruit Indian armymen for spying purposes," he told the court.He said he also conducted a recce of the Naval air station and the Siddhivinayak Temple. "Sajid Mir (Headley's handler in LeT) specifically asked me to make video of Siddhivinayak," he said.Giving details of his Mumbai visits, he said on September 14, 2006, he had come here for the first time after joining the LeT."In 2006, I did surveillance of multiple places but at that point of time, the targets were not decided. I recced Hotel Taj several times in 2007. I also did general surveillance of many places in the city, but I'm not sure if I recced Trident hotel at that time. I recced the World Trade Centre then," he said."In March 2008, when I came to Mumbai, I did surveillance of Taj Hotel, Naval air station and the Maharashtra State Police Headquarters in south Mumbai. I also selected landing sites for the terrorists," he said.Headley told the court that LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen are all part of United Jihad Council working in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).Continuing to spill the beans, he said that, "I met Abdul Rehman Pasha (retired Army officer) in Pakistan in early 2003 at a mosque in Lahore. When I first met Pasha he was with LeT. At that time he had no relation with Al-Qaeda, but may be after two years, he left LeT to join Al-Qaeda."On his links with militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed's founder Masood Azhar, he said, "I know Maulana Masood Azhar as I saw him once in October 2003. He is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed. In October 2003, there was a gathering of LeT and he was a guest speaker there."Headley, during his deposition, named three officials of the Pakistan army and ISI -- Colonel Shah, Lt Colonel Hamza and Major Samir Ali."I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked," Headley said."Samir Ali also wanted me to do some intelligence work in India. I was in contact with Samir Ali over phone," he said.He told the court that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was the "operational and spiritual" head of LeT. But, when asked if Lakhvi was the one who ordered for attacks in India, Headley said he cannot say for sure."I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he said.He further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US government to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it.""Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing.Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT."In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with an all-party delegation today paid homage to former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala who passed away here this morning. Members of the high-level delegation comprising Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval paid their respects to Koirala at Dashrath Rangashala Stadium in heart of the capital just after arriving. The leaders also extended their condolences to family members of the former Prime Minister. After paying homage to the Nepali Congress president, Swaraj met party leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula. Official sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached out to all major political parties to ensure that the delegation has leaders from the opposition as well. Swaraj, later, will also meet Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Koirala, who was Nepal's Prime Minister from February 11, 2014, to October 10, 2015, passed away due to pneumonia at his residence. He was 79. After assuming office, he was tasked with formulating the long-delayed Constitution to bring stability to the nation after years of ethnic conflict and the abolition of the 239-year-old monarchy. He was instrumental in the ushering in of the new Constitution last year. Tamil Nadu government today announced Rs 10 lakh each to the families of four army jawans from the state killed in the avalanche in Siachen. Announcing the relief, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a statement here expressed grief over the death of Havildar M Elumalai of Vellore, Havildar S Kumar of Theni, Sepoy G Ganesan from Madurai and Sepoy N Ramamurthy from Krishnagiri district and conveyed her sympathies their their families. "I was grieved to know that four soldiers from Tamil Nadu who were involved in guarding the nation were killed in the avalanche," she said in a statement here. Jayalalithaa said she had ordered granting a sum of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased. A total of 10 army personnel were trapped in the avalanche when it hit a high altitude post in Siachen Glacier in Ladakh on February 3 last. One of them, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, found alive under the snow after six days, was undergoing treatment in New Delhi while others have died. Delhi High Court today wondered what purpose does the ban on a controversial documentary on December 16 gangrape case serve when it is available on internet and asked the police to submit the legal provisions under which the prohibition was imposed. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Delhi Police to submit case records and status after the March 4, 2015 ban order. "What purpose does the ban serve when it is available on internet? Tell us what are the legal provisions under which prohibitory orders were imposed against the documentary. What is the status of the case after the prohibitory orders," the bench asked the counsel for the police. The court's observation came after the counsel for Delhi police conceded that the documentary is available on internet. It asked the police to file an affidavit giving details of the case by March 21. Counsel for the petitioner contended that as per the RTI reply received, the Centre has claimed that it has all statutory powers to impose prohibitory orders on various grounds including law and order problem. He said that since the documentary was available on internet and have been seen by many, it does not have the effect of prohibitory orders and should be vacated. The court was hearing separate PILs filed by three law students seeking lifting of the ban on the documentary 'India's Daughter' on the grounds that it was "a look at the mindset of one of the convicted rapists". The documentary was made by Leslee Udwin and was broadcast by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was banned by the government after its contents - including the interview of one of the rapists who showed no remorse, triggered outrage. On the night of December 16, 2012, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh and a juvenile had gangraped a girl in a bus and her 28-year-old male friend, who was with her. The victim's friend, suffered injuries in the incident while the girl succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012 at a Singapore hospital. The juvenile accused was on August 31, 2013 convicted and sentenced to three years in a reformation home, while the four others were handed down death penalty. Having barred discriminatory pricing of data services, the regulator TRAI today warned of much stricter action against errant telecom operators if the existing penalty provision fails to tame them. "It's not like that, that you can violate and continue paying penalty," Trai chairman R S Sharma told PTI in an interview. Becoming the first telecom regulator globally to ban zero rating plans like Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) yesterday backed net neutrality while issuing a new set of norms barring discriminatory prices for data services. It also provides for Rs 50,000 per day penalty on violating operators. When asked if penalty fails to deter operators from complying with its regulations, the regulator said, "The contraventions are provided for. Then their is general kind of clause which says that if you contravene then there are other provisions that come into play. They may not be part of this regulation. "There are overall provisions which cover what happens if you contravene with any regulation of Trai then there are other mechanism which are put in to place." Some experts have expressed concerns that operators may pay the penalty and continue with business plans that may be in violation to Trai's latest regulation. Trai provided for a penalty of Rs 50,000 for each day on service providers if they flout the order. The penalty would be subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. "It's not like that, that you can violate and continue paying penalty. Once any tariff plan is announced that plan has to submitted to Trai... we will see if it is contravention to the rules and then we will impose penalty," Sharma said. He, however, said that no penalty will be imposed unless Trai serves notice to a company and that company gets a chance to present its case. Sharma said that operators can charge different rates at different time occasionally to better utilise their network but cannot charge different rates based on the content that they access using Internet. "It may not be exact analogy but let me try to explain. If you are going on an expressway, the toll service provider should be only concerned about toll and not ask where I am going. These are the principles which we are saying you cannot charge differently based on content," he said. Sharma said that the regulation covers net neutrality only on tariff aspect and other components of this principle like throttling of Internet speed have not been addressed under it. "Net neutrality as we understand constitutes number of components which are not purely tariff. We were dealing with some aspect of net neutrality from the tariff perspective. That's what we have come out with because it is in our domain. There are many areas which are not in the domain of Trai," Sharma said. When asked about legitimacy of sponsored data, Sharma said, "It will not be appropriate for me to give you answer in very clear terms. One will have to look into details of it. "As you know devil lies in the details. What exactly is the methodology and whether that methodology comes within scope of regulation. That has to be seen." Trai regulations is the first ever framework in the country on net-neutrality. This is the first consultation paper from Trai which has received maximum comments -- around 24 lakh while social network behemoth Facebook 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. The regulations have been welcomed by citizens, ruling party the BJP and opposition parties including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal. India has become the first major economy to take such action although a few like the Netherlands and Chile have also barred differential data pricing. The US has adopted regulations which give approval to zero-rating plans on a case-to-case basis. In a landmark verdict, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that a woman candidate cannot be permanently debarred from joining as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps on the ground she became pregnant during the selection process, asserting such an action has "no place" in modern India. The woman, who applied in early 2013 for a short service commission in the AMC, was asked to join service in February 2014 after clearing all examinations and medical tests. However, between the period of her application and joining, the petitioner conceived and disclosed this fact on the date of joining after which she was not allowed to assume duties. She then approached the Punjab and Haryana court. Passing a 36-page judgement recently on a petition by the woman, Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu held that forcing a choice between bearing a child and employment interferes both with a woman's reproductive rights and her right to employment and such an action could have no place in modern India. In the verdict relating to the rights of women in uniformed services, the High Court also held that in such cases, keeping the nature of employment in consideration, the government could grant maternity leave or keep a vacancy reserved which could be offered to a candidate after childbirth. The woman was informed that she could not join since her pregnancy amounted to deterioration in health. Her candidature was cancelled and she was advised to undergo the entire selection process again in case she wanted to join AMC. Aggrieved, the petitioner had moved the High Court in 2014, averring that pregnancy was not "deterioration in health" but a mere incidence of marriage and womanhood. The petitioner pointed out that there would have been no problem had she not disclosed her pregnancy or had conceived the day after joining or had given birth before the joining date and that in paramilitary forces uniformed doctors were simply asked to join after childbirth in case any problem was envisaged due to pregnancy. Unlike other branches, married women till the age of 45 are eligible to join AMC and there is no formal training in a military academy. The candidates are required to join a hospital closest to the residence and made to complete a basic in-service course of eight weeks within a flexible time period before joining the service. Bengalureans were left flabbergasted when they heard about the attack on the Tanzanian student in the City recently. Known to be a more tolerant place compared to most cities in the country, Bengaluru saw many speaking of the assault as a racist one, while others point out that it was circumstantial. While the flow of events may lead to varied conclusions, foreign students who have made Bengaluru their home are concerned. They voice their concerns and share their experiences in the City. Marvin Ampaire, a fourth-semester MBA student of Koshys Institute of Management Studies, who is from Uganda, says that the whole episode came as a shock to him. Back home, we have immense respect for foreigners. We make it a point to see that they are safe and protected under the law. If something unfortunate happens, we make sure that appropriate action is taken at the earliest. He adds that the law in Uganda treats foreigners exactly like its residents. He has noticed resistance from people in the City towards foreign students. I have experienced such an incident too I was on a bike, on a chore, when some people hit me on the back as I rode by. Since then, I always think twice before I take my bike and prefer taking the bus. He adds that since there is differentiation between people from different classes here, this is expected. This will hamper the growth of the society. Marvin adds that despite this, he has had a relatively comfortable stay here and always tries to gel with people around. There is discrimination in even services like healthcare, laments Suzanne Nasaka, a second-year student from T John College, who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has noticed that she is charged much more at clinics and even at provision stores. Things are always rated higher for foreigners. Everything should be same for everyone as it just doesnt make sense otherwise, she states. Other students like Muhammed Ahmed, a MSc Bio-Tech student of The Oxford College of Science, says that in all their actions, foreign students need to remember that they are not in their home country. Since not all cultures are similar, what one might be able to do freely in their home country could get them in trouble elsewhere. Often foreign students come here and do whatever they please. He says that though the country and the City have been welcoming, one needs to adjust accordingly. About the attack, he says, Whatever the reason maybe, it was disturbing to see mature people act this way. Also it is alarming to know that people felt the need to take law in their own hands. But Muhammed believes that the incident occurred due to some residual anger as a result of which the mob just jumped to action. He says, Everyone isnt the same. Just like there is a misconception about students from Africa being involved in illicit activities, not all localites are intolerant. It is sad that some of them turn out to be bad pods, but not everyone should be seen through the same eye. Some students have even faced hostility in their own classrooms, like Nigerian national Aishatu Aje, a fashion degree student. She says, Though my stay has been smooth, I have seen our teachers treat me and other foreign students differently. There are even some batchmates who look at us through a judgemental eye. Considering the assault on the Tanzanian student as an act of racism, Aishatu says that the police and people need to be more sensitive. A clear identification of the root cause of an issue is needed, more than judging everyone of a particular colour or caste, according to one act, she says. There are others like Gethma Senadheera, from Sri Lanka, another fashion student in the City, who feels that there are many who have a hostile attitude towards foreigners. She says, I have faced instances where autorickshaw drivers and even bus conductors have been very rude when I havent given them the exact fare. Not all people are polite here and often they are not respectful towards women. The change has to come from within. They have to know that when people from outside choose to come to the City, this adds to the economy too. Gethma adds that laws need to be more stringent here. With respect to this specific case and similar ones, the police needs to do their best to hear all sides of the story, before reaching their own conclusions. Ramired Sorasit from Thailand, a BCA fourth-semester student from Baldwins Methodist College, says that when they are in a different country, they are expected to adjust. However, the culture is very different. I found it annoying that I was often stared at, when out on the streets. I dont know if it is the way I talk or the way I dress, but it can be awkward. Then again, back home when foreigners visit, our people also get curious about them, she narrates. She quickly adds, Apart from this, I love the City. Her friend, Abis, also from Thailand, says that her eight years in Bengaluru have been peaceful. Earlier when I used to travel in autorickshaws, it would get very troublesome due to regular arguments with the driver. They can be really tough with foreigners. But now things are smooth. She says that she is lucky that shes never had to face any disturbing episodes till now. Watch the video on: www.deccanherald.com http://goo.gl/xg5ZMY Stating that Internet cannot be allowed to be monopoly of few, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today slammed Facebook's Free Basics programme and said such differential pricing modes are "plainly not acceptable". The minister said the Trai's order on differential pricing for data services has enhanced India's image in the Net community world over and established its maturity. "We are expanding digital India into nook and corner of the country, and taking extraordinary steps to empower the people through technology, to create a knowledge economy. The very concept of differential pricing on data, whether it is Free Basics or any other mode, is plainly not acceptable," Prasad told PTI. Backing net neutrality, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has barred operators from charging different rates for Internet access based on content, dealing a blow to Facebook's controversial Free Basics and other such plans. Ruling against discriminatory pricing for different data platforms or content, Trai said operators cannot enter into pacts with Internet companies to subsidise access to some websites. The move dealt a blow to Facebook's plans to offer Free Basics service that allows free access to certain websites in partnership with a telecom operator. Zero tariff plans of other operators like Airtel would also be impacted. "This view I have been holding since the day I became minister. In this light, I fully welcome the tariff order of Trai which has enhanced the image of India in the Net community world over and establishes our maturity," he added. The Minister further said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi fully respects the freedom of expression and discourse on social media and Internet. "The view of our government from the beginning has been very clear, which I have also articulated in Parliament, that is Internet is one of the finest creations of human mind and it should not become the monopoly of few," Prasad said. Facebook had launched an aggressive campaign to defend its Free Basics platform and argued that zero-rating plans can lead to increase in Internet adoption at no cost to the government, the content provider or consumers. The debate on Net neutrality started after Airtel decided to charge separately for Internet-based calls in December 2014, but withdrew it later after protests. The debate heated up after Airtel launched free Internet platform Airtel Zero and later Facebook came out with its Internet.Org, renamed as Free Basics. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Friends of Armenia will travel to Washington, DC from across America on March 15 for a two-day Capitol Hill advocacy campaign promoting peace, prosperity, and justice for the Armenian nation, organized by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Armenpress reports citing the official website of ANCA. We look forward to building upon the success of Decembers fly-in with a renewed grassroots drive this spring challenging Azerbaijans aggression, removing barriers to the growth of U.S.-Armenia economic relations, and overriding Turkeys veto against a principled American stand for a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide, said Elen Asatryan, ANCA Western Region Executive Director and Armen Sahakyan of the ANCA Eastern Region. We encourage constituents from across America to join us, once again, in making our case to Congress. Congressional leaders will be urged to help save lives, avert war and create the conditions for a fair and enduring peace by demanding the immediate implementation of the Royce-Engel proposals for Nagorno Karabakh: 1) The withdrawal of snipers and heavy arms, 2) the addition of OSCE observers, and 3) the deployment of gunfire locator systems. The U.S. government, the OSCE and both Armenia and Artsakh have endorsed these proposals. Only Azerbaijans objections are preventing their implementation. ANCA also recently published a report on summarizing its efforts over Artsakh in 2016. In the report the Committee reaffirmed its commitment to the fight against Azerbaijani aggression urging the government of the USA to restrain the provocative actions of official Baku. At the same time The US government will be urged to stop military assistance to Azerbaijan and instead of it to sponsor projects in Artsakh. The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the Central government to submit an action-taken report with regard to foreigners who have overstayed their visas in India and those who have not complied with the conditions imposed while issuing visa. While hearing two bail petitions filed by Nigeria nationals, Justice A V Chandrashekara directed Additional Solicitor General Krishna S Dixit to submit details about the number of foreigners who have overstayed their visas in the country, fines collected by the competent authority from overstaying foreigners, details about those who have committed crime and are behind bars, and those who have applied for bail. The bench also sought information on the action taken by the FRRO against the violators. The presiding officer of the court had summoned the ADGP (Crime) and the Bengaluru Police Commissioner to his chamber to gather details about the number of foreigners staying in the City. One of the petitions was about five Nigerians, who were arrested on charges of cheating a person coaxing the latter into buying a car on OLX, an e-commerce website. The petitioners had placed an advertisement in the website to sell a Honda City car for Rs 3,26,600. After the buyer approached them, the petitioners directed him to transfer the amount through internet banking and to visit the airport to pick the car. However, following the transfer of the amount, the petitioners didnt show up to hand over the car. In an other petition, a Nigerian has sought bail as he was arrested for his suspected involvement in selling drugs. On questioning him, the police found that the Nigerian failed to reveal his identity and produce his passport or visa. He was booked under various Sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946, Foreigners Order, 1948, and Passports Act, 1967. Justice Chandrashekara said that he would hear both the matters together and adjourned the next hearing till February 11, 2016. Man-animal conflict The High Court has directed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) to take steps for mitigating the man-animal conflict in the State. The petitioner had sought a direction to the PCCF for erecting barriers and digging trenches, fences and repellants such as crackers on the forest fringes. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath disposed of the petition. I met Sandeep Pandey days after he was sacked from his position as a visiting professor at a prestigious technical institute at Banaras Hindu University. We sat in a dreary guesthouse on the university campus. Pandey had just finished a long train ride. With his wrinkled kurta pajama and rubber slippers, he was every bit the picture of an old-fashioned leftist. That was why hed been fired. Ideologically, I am at the opposite extreme to the people who are at present in power, he said. These people not only cannot tolerate any dissent; they dont even tolerate disagreement. They want everybody who disagrees with them out of this campus. Pandey was referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party and more to the point the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJPs cultural fountainhead. The RSS was founded in 1925 as a muscular alternative to Mahatma Gandhis freedom movement. Its founder admired Adolf Hitler, and in 1948 the organisation was blamed for indirectly inspiring Gandhis assassination. The BJP has not always had an easy relationship with the RSS. With its fanciful ideas of Hindu purity and its sweeping range of prejudices, the organisation is dangerously out of step with the realities of political landscape. When the BJP wants to win an election, it usually distances itself from the RSS' cultural agenda. Modis 2014 election had very little to do with the RSS and everything to do with his personality and promises of development. But the RSS doesnt see it that way. Like a fairy-tale dwarf, the group has sought to extract its due from the man it helped into power. As payment for the debt, the RSS wants control of education. Specifically, it wants to install its men at the helm of universities where they will wreak vengeance on the traditionally left-wing intellectual establishment that has always held them in contempt. At a prestigious film institute, students are protesting the appointment of a president whose only qualification, they feel, is a willingness to advance the RSS agenda. The groups members have met with the education minister in the hope of shaping education policy. In states that the BJP controls, the RSS has been putting forward the names of under-qualified ideologues for advisory positions on the content of textbooks and curriculums. It has also sought to put those who share its ideology at the head of important cultural institutions, such as the Indian Council of Historical Research. This is the background to Pandeys dismissal. His new boss, Girish Chandra Tripathi, the vice chancellor, is an RSS man. The Ministry of Human Resource Development helped push through his appointment after Modis election. The new vice chancellor soon turned on Pandey. It was all engineered, Pandey said to me. First, the professor said, he was denounced by a student. Then a local news website printed a bogus story accusing him of being part of an armed guerrilla movement (Pandey, a Gandhian, opposes all violence). Soon after, the technical institutes board of governors decided, on Tripathis recommendation, that he be fired. He is an alumnus of the university and a mechanical engineer with a degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He has won awards for his social work. None of this made a difference. He was given a month to clear out. Value of dissent I thought I should speak to the vice chancellor. He was out of town, but came on the telephone. The mention of Sandeep Pandey was like a trigger. He told me that Pandey had questioned whether Kashmir was an integral part of India and he had tried to screen the banned documentary Indias Daughter, which deals with the infamous gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, a physiotherapy student in New Delhi in 2012. I must not have seemed sufficiently appalled. Tripathi tried a different tack. He said, on hearing of my connection to an American publication, Tell me, can you, being a professor in America, criticise the American government? Yes, I answered. He tried again. Can you, he thundered down the line, being a professor in America, teach what is against Americas interests? I remembered a professor at Amherst College, my alma mater, who had once compared George W Bush to Osama bin Laden. Probably, I said. Well, maybe you can in America, he said with disgust. But you cant do it in India. I had one last question. I had seen the vice chancellor recently at a religious event celebrating the universitys centenary, where the presiding pundit had claimed that ancient India possessed the science of gestational surrogacy. We had these technologies, too, the pundit said, but over the course of a thousand years of slavery we forgot them. Or, rather, we were made to forget them. Pandey, a man of science, had told me that Tripathi and his ilk were of the same mind as the pundit and even believed ancient India had possessed aircraft and ballistic missiles. I had to ask. Did the vice chancellor really believe this? I still say it, he said defensively. I asked him to explain further. He said this was not a conversation to be had on the telephone. He would show me all the evidence later. The line went dead. The problem with the vice chancellor is not just that he is right-wing. It is that he is unqualified for his position. This was never more apparent than in his total inability to grasp the value of dissent at an institution of learning. Pandey has spent a lifetime working among some of Indias most voiceless people. It was sinister in the extreme that he should be dismissed for being anti-national. And that term is being bandied about far too much by the RSS and its allies these days. The RSS student wing at the University of Hyderabad recently smeared a 26-year-old doctoral student from a low-caste background as anti-national for his activism. The university decided to ban him from all public spaces. Earlier this month he committed suicide. The RSS has always been more of a liability for Modi than an asset. The organisation has been waiting to introduce its radical agenda on the cultural and academic landscape in place of the Modi governments promise of development. If Modi gives them an opening, they will bury him. They will reduce his broad mandate to the hysteria of a few. And, in the bargain, they will do immeasurable harm to the capacious idea of what it means to be Indian. Northeast India has a perennial problem of scarcity of cooking gas, petrol and diesel in times of natural calamity, ethnic violence erupts and economic blockades since they are transported to the remote region via roads. To solve the issue, New Delhi is planning a network of pipelines to carry petroleum products to all the state capitals, apart from making the region a hydrocarbon hub of the country in 15 years by investing Rs 1,30,000 crore. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided to prepare a separate vision document for Northeast to take the region forward. The region has huge potential and requires specific attention and investment for its development, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Pradhan said while releasing the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India. Northeast has over 3000 km pipeline network for transportation of gas and petroleum products. The Centre will soon launched the ambitious plan of laying a network of 7000 km-long pipelines across the region to maintain a smooth supply chain, the minister said. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the production capacity of all the refineries in Assam would be enhanced. To achieve this target, Rs 1,30,000 crore investment will be made by different players in the next 15 years in Northeast. This means, every year Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore investment will be made and most will come to Assam, the minister added. Detailing the plans, the minister said Rs 80,000 crore will be required for upstream activities of existing and new oil and gas blocks for exploration. Another Rs 20, 000 crore will be required for midstream actions, including setting up of four new natural gas pipelines, five new Port of Loading pipelines and three new LPG pipelines and in the downstream area, three existing refineries will be expanded. In addition, a new bio-refinery will be set up at Numaligarh and CGD network will be developed across the region at a total investment of Rs 30,000 crore. There are four refineries in the region with a combined installed capacity of 7 million metric tonnes per annum. DH News Service A BSF helicopter carrying Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and seven others made an emergency landing at Hindon airbase due to engine troubles detected after being airborne for about 20 minutes. BJP MP from Tehri-Garhwal Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, two television journalists and Union Home Ministry officials were on board the Mi-17V5 chopper headed to Tehri in Uttarakhand. Rijiju was going to Uttarakhand to review disaster preparedness and to meet paramilitary personnel deployed along the Sino-India border. Around 20 minutes after the take-off from Delhis Safdarjung airport, the pilot detected some technical problems in the engine and decided to land the chopper at Hindon airbase in Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Navy underlined its growing prowess at the International Fleet Review (IFR) 2016 last week. Though it was largely a ceremonial inspection of naval warships by the head of the Indian State, it provided an opportunity to the Indian Navy to showcase its might and rapidly expanding capabilities. It was in 2001 that an event of such a scale was held in India and since then it has only grown bigger with a fleet comprising of 75 frontline ships and submarines besides 24 ships from across the world. This year saw participation of naval contingents from around 50 nations including Australia, Bangla-desh, Brazil, China, France, Indonesia, Iran, Maldives, the UK and the US. Flagging the threat of sea-borne terror and piracy as two key challenges to maritime security and underlining the need to respect freedom of navigation against the backdrop of South China Sea dispute, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared during the IFR that India will be hosting the first-ever Global Maritime Summit in April. He made it clear that the Indian Ocean region remains his governments priority given its 1,200 island territories, and its huge Exclusive Economic Zone of 2.4 million sq km and the region serving as a strategic bridge with the nations in our immediate and extended maritime neighbourhood. Underlining the need for a modern and multi-dimensional Navy, Modi stressed that India would continue to actively pursue and promote its geo-political, strategic and economic interests on the seas, in particular the Indian Ocean. The Indian Navy has emerged as an indispensable tool of diplomacy in recent years, making it imperative for policy-makers and naval thinkers to think anew the role of nations naval forces in Indian strategy. Despite a general understanding among political elites that it was the littoral dominance by the European powers that led to their colonial ascendancy in the Indian heartland, the focus on land frontiers led to the dominance of the Indian Army in the national security discourse. Until the end of the Cold War, the maritime dimension of Indias security did not figure adequately in the national consciousness. The policy makers did not perceive the advantage of building up nations maritime sinews as the country remained concerned with the north and north-western frontiers after partition rather than with her sea frontiers. Yet, despite Indian Navys marginalisation and the preoccupation of the policymakers with safeguarding the integrity of nations land frontiers, the Indian Navy was largely successful in maintaining a credible naval force in the region. Today, the Indian Navys original local sea control and shore defence orientation, which largely focused on preserving the integrity of Indian coastal waters from regional threats, has given way to a more ambitious naval posture. Her naval policy is geared towards ensuring the freedom of navigation for shipping and safety of sea lines of communication as well as to safeguard its interests in contiguous waters, Exclusive Economic Zone and island territories. The Indian Navy would eventually like to emerge as a world-class blue-water force, equipped to meet regional challenges and threats and to safeguard the countrys maritime interests. Naval expansion The Indian naval expansion is being undertaken with an eye on China, and INS Arihant and INS Vikrant notwithstanding, India has nautical miles to go before it can catch up with its powerful neighbour, which has made some significant advances in the waters surrounding the country. The launch of an aircraft carrier is seen as critical for the Indian Navy as it remains anxious to maintain its presence in the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, especially in the light of Chinas massive naval build-up. The Indian naval planners have long argued that if it is to be in continuous operational readiness in the Indian Ocean, protect sea lanes of communication in the Persian Gulf and monitor Chinese activities in the Bay of Bengal, it needs a minimum of three aircraft carriers and a fleet of five nuclear submarines. There are some suggestions that the Indian Navy could be close to realising the dream of operating three carriers by the end of the decade but that may be rather optimistic. Other serious challenges remain as exemplified by the enduring problems of safety and reliability which the Indian Navy has been grappling with for decades. The force has a poor accident record with several mishaps in recent years. Even as Indian Navys surface fleet expansion has been progressing well, its submarine fleet is not only ageing but also depleting fast with the induction of new submarines not on track. Despite some recent successes, Indias indigenous defence production has been marred by serious technical and organisational problems leading to significant delays in the development of key defence technologies and platforms. The Navy, much like the other two services, has found it difficult to translate its conceptual commitment to self-reliance and indigenisation into actionable policy, resulting in a perpetuation of reliance on external sources for naval modernisation. Yet, Indias reliance on its navy to project power is only likely to increase in the coming years as naval build-up continues apace in the Indo-Pacific. There's a long tradition in India of viewing the maritime dimension of security as central to nations strategic priorities. With India's economic rise, New Delhi is trying to bring that focus back, making its navy integral to national grand strategy. While China remains a significant worry, the bigger problem is one of introducing organisational changes and doctrinal evolution in the Indian Navy. How India manages these issues will be significant not only for Indian Navy's future but also for the rise of India as a credible global military power. (The writer is Professor of International Relations, Kings College London) David Headley on Tuesday testified that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had planned to target defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel here. Spilling the beans on the role of the LeT, he said that in December 2007 at a meeting in which his handler Sajid Mir and Abu Khafa were present this was discussed. In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by Sajid Mir and Abu Kahfa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai. They had some information of meeting of defence scientists at the conference room of the Taj, Headley said. Headley later said that the plan to attack the conference hall in Taj was cancelled due to logistical reasons, like it was not possible to get weapons and personnel to the hall. They also designed a dummy of Taj Hotel. But the meeting was cancelled, he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the terror targets were not decided. When asked about LeTs plan, he said: Plan to attack Taj during the meeting. However, the plan was shelved. He said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zakiur Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him, he told the court. Urged LeT to challenge ban David Headley wanted LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and LeT chief of operations Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to challenge the ban imposed on the terror outfit, reports DHNS from Mumbai. While Hafiz Saeed did not say much about it Lakhvi was not too enthusiastic, he recalled. Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba agent David Headley told a Mumbai court on Tuesday that the Siddhivinayak Temple at Prabhadevi, Naval Air Station at Colaba and the Maharashtra Police headquarters were among the possible targets. These locations, however, were not selected when the actual attack took place between November 26 to 29, 2008, in which 166 people were killed and over 300 injured. Headley revealed the names of places surveyed: Two south Mumbai 5-star hotelsthe Taj Mahal Palace at Colaba and Oberoi Trident at Marine DriveChhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), landing site of Badhwar Park, Maharashtra Police headquarters near Regal Cinema, Chabad House and Leopold Cafe at Colaba, the entire stretch of Shahid Bhagat Singh Road from the Colaba police station, Naval Air Station and Siddhivinayak Temple. Sajid Mir (LeT handler) wanted me to especially do reconnaissance of Siddhivinayak Temple, said Headley. On his visits to Mumbai in 2008, he said: I did surveillance of multiple targets as well as selected the landing site. Headley said that he had taken photographs and videos of these places and handed it over to Mir and Maj Iqbal of ISI on his return to Pakistan. To a question on CST, he said that at initial stages, it was surveyed for an escape route for the fidayeens. Headley further said that he was taught to use GPS by Mir and Abu Khafa. When asked for reasons, he said: So that I could fix and store locations in the Arabian Sea. On his return, he had handed over the GPS device to Mir. In fact, Headley had scouted these locations not once but several times during the seven trips before the 26/11 terror strike. He said that the first meeting to fix Mumbai as a target was held in December 2007 at Muzaffarabad. Headley also admitted that he was investing in property in Dubai. I had business in US and it was that money, he said and repeatedly denied getting money from LeT or ISI. Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) wanted David Headley to undertake reconnaissance of military establishments in India and develop contacts with officials of the armed forces and recruit spies. This was way back in 2006 even before the Mumbai terror attack plan was conceived and after he was caught along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and came in contact with two ISI operatives Maj Iqbal and Maj Ali. During his deposition, he said that had met Maj Iqbal in early 2006 in Lahore. Asked what Maj Iqbal wanted him to do, Headley said: He wanted me to note the movement of troops in India. He wanted someone to spy.on matters of military intelligence, movement of officers. He wanted me to develop contacts with officials of Indian military forces with a purpose to gather intelligence. Asked where he meet Maj Iqbal in Lahore, he said it was in some house. Asked if anyone else was present, he said: A Colonel of the Pakistani Army was presentno one was wearing uniform. When pressed further on what they told him, Headley said: I said yes to what he was asking.on (aspects of gathering) military intelligence. Headley also confirmed that Maj Iqbal asked him about his passport, visa, training and other aspects. Fumbles... gets irritated The otherwise calm and composed David Headley fumbled when he was reeled out and countered with names of ISI handlers and operatives and posed a battery of questions that hinted towards his strained relations with wife Faiza Outelha, reports DHNS from Mumbai. The questions were pertinent as it dwelt on the larger aspect of the reconnaissance that he carried out in Mumbai ahead of the 26/11 terror attacks. The 56-year-old Pakistani-American was visibly tensed and fumbled and went into silent mode for some time when he was confronted with names of ISI agents like Col Shah, Brig Riyaz, Lt Col Hamza, Maj Sameer Ali, Maj Iqbal. He denied meeting Brig Riyaz but said he met Col Shah only once. He confirmed other names. When it was pointed out that during one of his visits to Mumbai, he initially stayed with wife Faiza in Taj Mahal Palace, but later she shifted to Outram Hotel, he said: I dont remember. When confronted with facts and hotel receipts, he said: Its a personal matterwe had an argumentits between me and her. Terror plan First meet held in 2006 to decide target Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru Taj Hotel discussed as a target in 2007 meet attended by Sajid Mir, Muzammil and Khafa Sept 2008: First attempt to attack Mumbai fails Oct 2008: Second attempt to attack Mumbai fails Nov 26-28, 2008: Ten LeT fidayeens carry out multiple attacks on Mumbai Targets include the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Cafe, the Chabad House and the CST All locations scouted in advance by Headley Early years:David Headley Born Daood Gilani on June 30, 1960, in Washington DC to a Pak diplomat and American mother Headley is a US citizen, by birth Elementary schooling at Jesus and Mary Convent, Karachi Attends Habib High School in Karachi and Cadet College in Punjab (Pak) Meets Dr Tahawwur Hussain Rana in Cadet College Knows English, Urdu and Hindi Tumultuous marriage Marries Shazia Gilani in 1999 Meets Portia Peters in 2004, marries her later Marries Faiza Outelha alias Faizala Christiana in 2007 Faiza complains to police in Lahore in Dec 2007 about Headley being abusive Faiza complains to US Embassy in Islamabad in Jan 2008 about Headleys terror activities Hunting down Headley Oct 3, 2009: Held by FBI atChicago airport en route to Pak Jan 14, 2010: Charges framed March 18, 2010: Enters plea bargain with FBI; agrees to reveal about 26/11 attacks and Denmark plot June 2010: US gives NIA access to Headley Jan 24, 2013: Gets 35 years in prison by a US court for Mumbai attacks Dec, 2015: Turns approver Feb 8, 2016: Starts deposing before Mumbai court LeT & ISI Joins Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in 2002 Undergoes LeT training Meets LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and chief of operations Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in 2002-04 Hears lecture from JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar Applies for change of name in 2005 in Philadelphia Name changed on February 15, 2006 Meets Maj (retd) Abdul Rehman Pasha after arrest in Landi Kotal area Maj Pasha later joins al Qaeda Visits Pak in 2006; meets ISI handler Maj Iqbal and LeT contact Sajid Mir Shamim Malik, a 14-year-old student, who was beaten up by a hostel warden at a residential school at West Bengals Murshidabad district, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, leading to the arrest of two persons. The boy was reportedly punished for stepping out of school premises on Monday to meet his parents. According to the police, Shamim was assaulted by hostel warden Hanif Sheikh when he went to meet his parents, Julhas Malik and Shamina Bibi, outside the school gate on Monday evening without permission. After he returned to his room, Hanif beat him severely to teach him a lesson. Later in the evening, he was taken to a hospital after he fell ill but he passed away. The police arrested Hanif, along with Liton Sheikh, the school owners son, on Tuesday. Shamim joined the privately-owned Al-Islamia Mission at Murshidabad, around 200 km north of Kolkata, on January 22. He had gone home for the weekend and had returned on Monday to resume classes. He came to meet me to collect some books and stationeries I purchased for him. We want justice for my boy, said his mother, Shamina Bibi. Julhas, the father, said that teachers tried to hush up the matter. School authorities called us at 11 pm, only after his condition worsened, nearly two hours after Shamim was hospitalised, he said. He added that even after they reached the hospital, teachers kept claiming Shamim had fallen ill in class. When we reached, we found him dead. Doctors later told us he was beaten up mercilessly, the father said. Denying the allegations, school committee general secretary, Abul Kalam Azad told reporters: The student might have had some disease. He suddenly fell ill and became unconscious on Monday evening. We immediately took him to hospital but unfortunately he could not be resuscitated. Its a sad incident but no one had hurt him. Julhas, however, said that a number of Shamims classmates reported to him about his son being beaten up and taken to the hospital only after he fell unconscious. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. On February 9, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Galust Sahakyan received Jan Zahradil, President of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists /AECR/ of the European Parliament, Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Information of the Armenian National Assembly (NA). Galust Sahakyan stressed that the European Union has been and continues to remain one of the important partners of Armenia. The Head of the Parliament noted that the cooperation of Armenia with the EU is based, first of all, on the common system of values, and our country is resolute in strengthening and expanding the relations with the European Union. Highlighting the role of the parliaments in the development of Armenia-EU relations, Mr Sahakyan noted that the parliamentary format is the platform that gives an opportunity to have free and frank discussion on the issues of bilateral interest. Touching upon the works of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the President of the National Assembly highlighted the format of multilateral cooperation, which gives an opportunity to discuss issues relating to the region. In this context the Head of the Parliament stated that Armenia should use the possibility of this cooperation, and not avoid it unlike the Azerbaijani Delegation. The decision made by Azerbaijan on termination of the membership in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is not surprising, Galust Sahakyan said. Touching upon the NKR conflict, the National Assembly President noted that the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is one of the most important priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia. He once again documented that Armenia sees the solution of the conflict through exclusively peaceful means under the auspice of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which is the only format of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Thanking Galust Sahakyan for the reception, the Member of the European Parliament Jan Zahradil stated that the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists with its activities will promote the intensification of Armenia-European Union relations. Touching upon the NK conflict, Jan Zahradil stated that he is for the peaceful settlement through the dialogue within the framework of the authorities of the competent structures. At the guests request the NA President Galust Sahakyan also touched upon the foreign policy and the regional problems of Armenia. The Delhi High Court has declared that eldest woman of a Hindu undivided family (HUF) can be its karta, in a landmark verdict, setting a new milestone for womens rights. Explaining the meaning of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act that gives women equal rights of inheritance in an HUF property, Justice Najmi Waziri said the rights cannot be curtailed when it comes to the management of the property. It is rather an odd proposition that while females would have equal rights of inheritance in an HUF property, this right could nonetheless be curtailed when it comes to the management of the same. The clear language of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act does not stipulate any such restriction, the high court said. The high court passed its order on a suit filed by the eldest daughter of a north Delhi business family. She sought entitlement as the karta after death of her father and three uncles. Karta stands for head or manager of joint Hindu family and its properties. The person has superior powers over other family members over management of the properties and other family affairs. The title is usually given to the seniormost man of an HUF. Justice Waziri noted that earlier woman member of HUF was prevented from becoming its karta as she did not possess the necessary qualification of co-parcenership However, with the amendment in the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, equal rights of inheritance were given to Hindu men and women. The original 1956 Hindu Succession Act has not mandated equal rights for daughters in ancestral property. In the instant case, the family members had opposed plea of the women, asserting the rights only with respect to the inheritance of property and not its management. The high court, however, rejected their argument, holding, If a male member of an HUF, by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a karta, so can a female member. The court finds no restriction in the law preventing the eldest female co-parcener of an HUF, from being its karta. Teams from the UK and the US consulates visited the City on Tuesday and met the local police in connection with the trafficking of children to the US. The teams met senior police officers following the arrest of 16 persons by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday in connection with illegally sending children to the US. The City police are in touch with their counterparts in the UK and the US, said Additional Commissioner of Police (East) P Harishekaran. He, however, said it was too early to say anything about the specific objectives of the suspects. The police are still interrogating them and are likely to arrest five more persons who are at large, Harishekaran said. The police have recorded the statements of the arrested and seized documents, laptops and other electronic gadgets. Police are yet to retrieve the data and verify the same, he said. The SIT had conducted simultaneous raids and had arrested 16 persons in connection with the trafficking of children to the US. The arrested had created fake parents for procuring passports and visas. They claimed that they had exported 32 children so far. Efficient screening and early detection holds the key to contain the growing number of non-communicable diseases. The Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, in this direction, will soon run a mobile cancer bus. Speaking on the sidelines of an event organised on the Hospital premises here on Tuesday, Dr K B Lingegowda, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, said that the mobile cancer bus would be donated by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The facility is likely to be available to the public by March this year. As per the proposal, the bus would have facilities like digital X-ray device, digital mammography, ENT screening equipment, pap smear table, pathology lab, colonoscopy (for gynaecological screening) and prostate cancer screening. Dr Lingegowda said early detection was the key to treat cancer. As part of World Cancer Day, we conducted screening in seven places across the State. The new bus will help us conduct the screening camps with ease, he added. The proposal has been submitted and the bus would be readied at an estimated Rs two crore. Besides providing logistics for cancer screening, the Hospital authorities are hopeful that they can create awareness about the disease with the new facility. On board will be a crew of 19 members comprising three surgeons, a gynaecologist, X-ray technicians, mammography technicians, cyto technicians, patho technicians, nurses, attenders and a driver. The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on Tuesday stayed, for two weeks, the State government order suspending an assistant commissioner of police (ACP) and a police inspector in connection with Tanzanian student assault case. After hearing the petitions of the ACP (Yeshwantpur) Ashok Narayan Pise and Soladevanahalli police inspector Praveen Babu, the KAT stayed the suspension order and issued notice to the State government. Pise, Babu and four constables were suspended on the charge of dereliction of duty when the incident took place on the night of January 31 on Hesaraghatta Main Road. In his petition, the ACP contended that he did not commit any dereliction, which could attract the suspension. He was deployed at the Palace Grounds where Invest Karnataka-2016, a global investors meet, was organised. So, there was some delay in reaching the accident spot. He had taken necessary measures to control the situation. Hence, the government order should be withdrawn. A few local residents had thrashed a Sudanese student for causing the accident. The cops shifted him to a private hospital at Rajarajeshwarinagar. Later, they shifted the student in the ACPs vehicle to KC General Hospital in Malleswaram on security grounds. He returned to the spot in a two-wheeler of a policeman, Pise stated in his petition. A group of locals had assaulted Jamal Ibrahim, a friend of the Tanzania student, before he reached the spot. The cops shifted Jamal to Saptagiri Hospital, and Kareem Saheb, the husband of Shabana Taz who was killed in the accident, was being treated at the same hospital. Local residents demanded Ibrahim be handed over to them. The cops shifted Ibrahim to the scanning room through the rear door, the ACP stated. The inspector, in his petition, stated that the a complaint from Ibrahim was received at 9.30 pm on January 31. Ibrahim complained that some people assaulted him and his friend, and set their car on fire. Ibrahim did not inform about the attack on Tanzania student. Hence, the cops could not get more details about the incident. The cops arrested the suspects on February 3, the day when the victim lodged a complaint, the inspector stated. DH News Service Lance Naik Hanmanthappa Koppad, who miraculously survived for six days buried under ice and snow in the Siachen glacier, has been brought to the R&R Hospital in Delhi and doctors are trying all they can to save him. The armyman from Dharwad in Karnataka is currently in coma and his condition remains extremely critical because of lack of oxygen to the brain and cold exposure. He is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body, says a medical bulletin issued by the hospital. Modi visits hospital Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the hospital and discussed his condition with the doctors. No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanmanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier. Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanmanthappa. We are all hoping and praying for the best, Modi tweeted. A team of 10 armymen from 19 Madras Regiment was guarding a helipad at 20,500 ft on the Siachen glacier the worlds highest and harshest battlefield when they were hit by an avalanche on January 3. They were buried under 35 ft of ice and snow for five days before the rescue teams were able to dig the spot. The night temperature was in the range of minus 50 degrees Celsius while the day temperature was about minus 25 degrees. The soldier was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming before being flown out in an Dhurv helicopter from the site on Tuesday to the Siachen base camp, from where he was brought to the Thois air base. He was then transferred to Delhi by the Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft along with a critical care specialist of the IAF and medical specialist from the Siachen base camp. At the R&R Hospital, doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia, liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bony injuries to him. However, it is the lack of oxygen to his brain, which is worrying the doctors. DH News Service On recovery, he was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented. Hanmanthappa was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and was in cold shock. He was immediately resuscitated by the doctors who had been camping there for the past five days in the hope of finding survivors. The soldier was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming before being flown out in an Dhurv helicopter from the site on Tuesday to the Siachen base camp, from where he was brought to the Thois air base. The soldier was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming before being flown out in an Dhurv helicopter from the site on Tuesday to the Siachen base camp, from where he was brought to the Thois air base. He was then transferred to Delhi by the Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft along with a critical care specialist of the IAF and medical specialist from the Siachen base camp. At the R&R Hospital, doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia, liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bony injuries to him. However, it is the lack of oxygen to his brain, which is worrying the doctors. For the last six days, about 180 men from the 102 brigade of Indian Army, along with two sniffer dogs, were on duty almost round the clock, except for the mandatory spell of rest required at the worlds highest battlefield the Siachen glacier. Their mission succeeded on Tuesday when they managed to extricate Lance Naik K Hanmanthappa alive and bodies of his nine mates, who unfortunately could not make it. The team from 19 Madras Regiment was guarding the Sonam helipad at an altitude of 20,500 feet. The helipad was at the base of Bana post, the highest post on the Siachen glacier-Saltaro ridge, named after Subedar Major Captain Bana Singh from 8 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry regiment, who captured the highest post in Siachen in 1987. Army officials in Delhi said a huge block of ice wall broke off from the mountain, resulting in an avalanche, which buried the 10 men from Madras Regiment within minutes. The ice debris covered an area of 800x1000 mt and created a gigantic heap of ice of about 30 ft height. The rescue team comprises two units from Ladakh Scout regiment besides the instructors at the Siachen Battlefield School, who are well-versed with the glacier and its treacherous climate. The commanding officer of 19 Madras regiment was also present at the spot. The Army moved specialised equipment like rock drills, electrical saws, earth augurs and deep penetration Doppler radars that can pick up metals or heat signatures at a depth of up to 20 mt and radio signal detectors. Dogs do their bit Two trained sniffer dogs, Dot and Misha, were flown in. Moving up the equipment was a slow process as helicopters can carry only a fraction of their capacity due to rarefied atmosphere. Indian Air Forces 114 Helicopter Unit (Siachen Pioneers) and Army Aviation choppers ferried the men and machines to the icy heights. Scouring every inch The team painstakingly scoured every inch of the ground with their pods and radar to identify the location where the men were buried. The efforts were often hampered by high intensity winds and blizzards. They slept in tents and continued the search by rotation. By February 8, the team zeroed in on the spot. Subsequently they had to cut 25-30 ft thick blue ice harder than concrete to reach the men. The soldier from Dharwad was the only one found alive. His pulse was feeble but the heart was beating. The doctor accompanying the rescue team undertook emergency measures to resuscitate him and flew him out of Siachen at the first opportunity. DH News Service YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Sweden, Margot Wallstrom and the delegation led by her on February 9. Armenpress was informed about this from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Office. The President of Armenia and the Foreign Minister of Sweden discussed opportunities of developing Armenia-Sweden relations both in bilateral and multilateral formats, possible assistance of Sweden for the reforms undertaken in Armenia, exchanged ideas over regional developments and challenges, current international issues, and negotiation process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The President introduced in detail the position of the Armenian side to the guest, based on the fundamental principles of international law. The interlocutors mutually highlighted the political dialogue between Armenia and Sweden which has significantly activated in the recent period. President Serzh Sargsyan documented with satisfaction that today Sweden is among Armenias reliable partners in Europe. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom stated that a good platform has been established for further developing and deepening relations between the two friendly states, and expressed readiness on behalf of her country to assist Armenia in conducting reforms. The President of the Republic mentioned that the authorities view the comprehensive reforms in Armenia as an important guarantee for the progress and development of the country and the support by the EU colleagues is highly appreciated. Referring to Armenia-EU cooperation, Serzh Sargsyan stated that Sweden, as a friendly country, plays a significant role in strengthening Armenia-EU relations. Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom assured that Armenia can continue relying on the support of Sweden and be convinced that the delegation led by her is in Armenia as a friend of EU Eastern Partnership and the region. The Minister considered the cooperation in the mentioned format as another opportunity to strengthen relations between the two states. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects the Minsk Group Co-chairs, as well as CSTO to make addressed assessments to Azerbaijani-led ceasefire violations. Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told about this at the YSU in a meeting with students and professors, answering the question what are Armenias expectations from the CSTO when the adversary regularly violates the ceasefire regime. First and foremost, we expect all the international norms to be complied with, and the ceasefire violator should get an assessment it deserves. One of the best options for that is the establishment of trust mechanisms, which can be brought into life by installing mechanisms for international investigation of incidents, the Minister stated. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance that was signed on 15 May 1992. In 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent StatesRussia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistansigned the Collective Security Treaty. Three other post-Soviet statesAzerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgiasigned the next year and the treaty took effect in 1994. Five years later, six of the nineall but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistanagreed to renew the treaty for five more years. Uzbekistan rejoined the CSTO in 2006 but withdrew in 2012. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Swedens Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom have signed in Yerevan on February 9 an agreement on the mutual elimination of double taxation of income and property and prevention of tax evasion, Armenpress reports. Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, Nalbandian said the two countries are boosting a multifaceted dialogue on domestic, regional and international issues. He said the agreement is important because companies with Swedish capital operate in Armenia. Armenian FM also mentioned both countries are determined to continue the dialogue at the highest level for the deepening of cooperation. According to him, the sides have reached also an agreement on the improvement of their legal framework and encouragement of investment. For her part, Margot Wallstrom emphasized that signing of the agreement opens up broad opportunities for the development of bilateral commercial and economic relations. She mentioned the signing of the agreement is a significant step which will facilitate Sweden citizens activity and life in Armenia and mutually the same in Sweden for Armenians. Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Kingdom of Sweden were established in 1992. July 10. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has called the rising rates of obesity a national emergency and has requested the governments forthcoming childhood obesity strategy to be gamechanging. Hunt, speaking on the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show, answered questions about the introduction of a sugar tax in the UK. Last October, Prime Minister David Cameron opposed a sugar tax, claiming there were more effective ways of tackling obesity, which is a primary cause of type 2 diabetes. Hunt said: We have got to do something about this. Ive got a one-year-old daughter, and by the time she reaches adulthood a third of the population will be clinically obese. One in 10 will have type 2 diabetes. It is a national emergency. Obesity costs more, globally, than all conflict on the planet. It is a war, its just that it doesnt have a shoot-out. The government is due to publish its childhood obesity strategy in early 2016 and Hunt acknowledged that a sugar tax is still being considered by Downing Street. Public Health England is among the many organisations, including Action on Sugar, which has called for the introduction of a sugar tax. In July, the British Medical Association urged the government to introduce a 20 per cent tax on sugar. I dont mind not getting a tax if there is something better and more symbolic because what we need is a change, said Hunt. It has to be a game-changing moment, a robust strategy. The issue here is to do what it takes to make sure that children consume less sugar, because we have got this terrible problem we are the most obese nation in the EU and it is getting worse. David Cameron has said if it isnt a sugar tax, it needs to be something equally robust, but he hasnt taken a sugar tax off the table. We have got parents up and down the country who want to know that they are going to be given the support they need to make sure their children eat healthily. While the introduction of a sugar tax appears to be a consideration for the government, there is opposition to this measure from people who believe the tax would mainly hurt the poor. In 2015, Elini Courea of The Spectator argued that indirect taxes including vehicle excise duty, air passenger duty, green taxes and duty on tobacco, alcohol and petrol make the poor poorer. A sugar tax will only add to this problem; yet another callous levy on the lifestyle of the poor. Furthermore, critics have argued a sugar tax could prove problematic for people with type 1 diabetes and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes who need to buy sugary products to treat hypoglycemia. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has come up with a set of regulations banning differential pricing for data services in India. Now, we all know that Facebook was depending on this decision to realise the fate of their free internet service- Free Basics, in India. While Free Basics will now not see the light of day in the country, the ruling has also banned all special internet packs for the future. Here's how the decision will impact your smartphone data packs. What did TRAI say and what does the ruling mean? According to the TRAI ruling, "No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content. No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content... Reduced tariff for accessing or providing emergency services, or at times of public emergency has been permitted. In simple terms, this means that - 1) Telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance etc, will NOT be able to charge you extra (over and above your current data pack) for services such as Skype and WhatsApp and othe VoIP calls. 2) Telecom operators will NOT be able to offer special internet packs for a particular app or service on the Internet. So no more WhatsApp or Facebook free interent packs. 3) Telecom operators will NOT be able to offer free data packs for browsing any particular website. 4) Telecom operators CAN'T enter into any exclusive contracts with content providers, be it a person, service or an app. This means services like Free Basics, Airtel Zero are banned and illegal in India. 5) Zero rate services are ONLY ALLOWED during times of emergencies, Provided that such tariff shall be reported to the authority within seven working days from the date of implementation of the reduced tariff. So, what happens to my existing internet packs? No, you are not being robbed. The TRAI ruling states that if you (the customer) have already subscribed to a special intenet pack, nothing contained in these regulations shall affect any packs, plans or vouchers with unexpired validity. But, your packs and plans must have less than 6 months validity, beyond which the pack will cease to exist. Data packs that will NOT survive going forward Airtel's 200 MB Data for WhatsApp packs Airtel's Rs 5 and Rs 7 Facebook pack Airtel's free 1 month Facebook trial Idea Facebook, WhatsApp plans Free Basics service on Reliance, and more such plans. Airtel, Idea still selling Facebook, WhatsApp packs. When will they stop? Well, according to TRAI, telecom companies can face a fine ranging from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 50 Lakh if they continue to flout these norms which came into effect yesterday. We tired searching for Facebook and WhatsApp packs online and while Vodafone's website did not offer any such plans, Airtel and Idea are still listing these plans online. In fact, we were also able to subscribe to one such pack for Facebook today. We have asked Airtel for their comments on the same and are awaiting an answer from them soon. Below are the screenshots attached for the Airtel Facebook pack we were able to subscribe to. Let us know if you are still subscribing to any such plans or if you have any questions about the new rules. Airtel Facebook pack subscribed on February 9,2016 YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. The European Commission has published the results of the study showing the happiest European cities. People in Aalborg are more satisfied with their lives than in any other city in Europe, Armenpress reports. According to the study, a full 72 percent of Aalborg residents are very satisfied with their lives while another 24 percent are fairly satisfied. 67 percent of residents of Copenhagen are very satisfied and 24 percent are fairly satisfied, which makes it the second. Aalborgians are also among those who feel the safest in Europe, with 96 percent saying they feel safe in the city. Copenhageners werent far behind at 95 percent. In Aalborg, 91 percent of respondents also said that most people in the city could be trusted, putting it behind only Oulu, Finland as Europes most trusting city. Following Aalborg and Copenhagen as the five most satisfied cities in Europe were Reykjavik, Zurich and Graz. ZOTAC ZTSSD-A5P-240G-PE 240 GB Premium Edition detailed review ZOTAC makes a foray into the SSD business with their brand new spanking Premium Edition series. Currently, available in 120, 240 and 480 GB capacities, these SSDs are powered by Phisons latest S10 controller which weve briefly touched upon in our review of the Kingston HyperX Savage SSD. And just like the Kingston HyperX Savage, the ZOTAC 240 GB Premium Edition also uses Toshibas A19 MLC NAND, except the ZOTAC SSD uses eight NAND chips while the Kingston SSD uses sixteen. And the performance difference between the two is absolutely minimal as well. To put things into perspective, the ZOTAC SSD was ahead of the Kingston SSD by 0.06 points in our benchmarks not really a real-world differentiator, for most tasks. So where does it differ from its twin from another mother? For starters, the Savage is well built with a thick metal chassis while the ZOTAC SSDs body is a little thin but made of aluminium as well. The internal layout is quite similar as well except for the fact that one has twice the number of NAND chips. Both SSDs come with three year warranties but the ZOTAC SSD is a lot cheaper than the Kingston HyperX Savage a crucial differentiator. For that price, you get just the SSD and a few screws so its not as if theres more value for money given the fact that the Kingston packaging comes with an external case as well. However, cost/GB is quite less. Being so close to the stalwart Samsung 850 Pro, you might be hard pressed to pick the Samsung over the ZOTAC. The performance difference is minimal but the cost difference is the clincher in a price conscious market like ours. Definitely worth considering for an SSD at sub-10k. Specifications ZTSSD-A5P-240G-PE Form factor: 2.5-inch Cost/GB: Rs.32 Dimensions: 100 x 69.9 x 7 mm Controller: Phison PS3110-S10 Toshiba A19 MLC Toggle NAND Warranty: 3 years Contact Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. Phone: +91 40048176/5 Email: pr@supertron.com Website: www.zotac.com Sabien Technology was looking at some seriously depressed numbers in its first half trading on Tuesday, blaming reduced margins and increased costs for the result. The AIM-traded manufacturer of the patented M2G energy saving devices saw sales revenue slip in the six months to 31 December, to 321,000 from 542,000 a year earlier. Its total received sales orders also dropped, to 268,000 from 610,000. The firm's loss before tax almost doubled to 984,000, from a 521,000 loss in the previous corresponding period. Sabien had net cash of 868,000 at the end of the period, down from 1.17m. "Gross margins in the period at 61% were lower than in previous years due to an increase in costs related to the pilot programme", said chairman Bruce Gordon. "The increase in operating loss is caused by a number of factors, including an increase of 50% in headcount, with the recruitment of more technical and administrative personnel, and the routine development and upgrading of the group's M2G product, both of which had been taken into account in the preparation of the group's budget and forecasts for the year", he explained. Sabien said it had a sales pipeline of 6.4m, with 30 pilots agreed with 30 UK customers. It also received a 314,000 order post period end, in February, giving total orders received since 1 January of 412,000. "The board anticipates that the trading performance will be in line with its expectations for 2016, dependent on the group receiving a number of orders by 30 June 2016 for which customers have given an indication of the likely order date," Gordon concluded. At 1458 GMT, shares in Sabien Technology were flat at 4.87p. Oil futures endured another volatile session on Tuesday as the WTI front-month contract fell below $30 per barrel, while metals saw lacklustre trading in Europe. At 1748 GMT, WTI was 0.91% or 27 cents lower at $29.42 per barrel, while Brent was down 2.49% or 82 cents to $32.06 per barrel. Earlier in the session, Goldman Sachs repeated its warning that crude oil futures might fall below $20 per barrel in 2016. The supply-demand imbalance in the market was such that in some geographies there was no capacity left to store surplus oil, the investment banks head of commodities research, Jeff Currie, told Bloomberg in an interview. Once you breach storage capacity, prices have to spike below cash costs because you have to shut in production almost immediately, Currie added. Meanwhile, analysts at Morgan Stanley said rebalancing may not come until mid-2017. "Despite the myriad announcements of capital expenditure cuts, production has yet to respond enough to rebalance the market," the investment bank said in a note to clients. Away from oil markets, precious metals had a decidedly lacklustre session. COMEX gold futures contract for April delivery fell 0.26% or $3.10 to $1,194.80 an ounce after stacking up gains of over 3.5% overnight, but spot gold was 0.51% or $6.30 higher at $1,195.73 an ounce. COMEX silver futures fell 0.04% or two cents to $15.42 an ounce, while spot platinum rose 1.14% or $10.53 to $935.48 an ounce. Base metal contracts saw red across the London Metal Exchange board, with the much scrutinised three-month copper delivery futures contract down 3.6% to $4,471.00 per tonne at 1635 GMT. Concurrently, primary aluminium (down 1.2%), zinc (down 3.4%), lead (down 1.2%), tin (down 0.3%) and nickel (down 1.8%) three-month futures joined copper in posting declines. Liz Grant, senior account executive at Sucden Financial, said, Having edged to $1,200 overnight, gold trading was choppy, edging lower through the morning. With the risk button in the "off" position, base metals struggled to hold the higher prices seen overnight and through the London morning. Finally, headline agricultural commodity futures were largely on mixed turf. CBOT wheat (down 0.41%), CBOT corn (down 0.38%) and ICE cotton (down 0.25%) futures headed lower, and ICE cocoa (up 0.03%) and CME live cattle (up 0.29%) headed higher. Deutsche Banks balance sheet is rock solid the German lenders boss, John Cryan, said in a letter sent to staff, according to reports. In a memo sent to the banks employees, Cryan reportedly said he was not concerned about Deutsche Banks ability to meet legal costs, although it will almost certainly have to add to its provisions for that concept. Nonetheless, that had already been factored into the lenders budget plans, Cryan said. I am personally investing time to resolve successfully and speedily open regulatory and legal cases, he said. I want to remove the uncertainty among staff and in the market that these cases cause. A small group of senior people, led by me, will focus on this. For everyone else, we ask you to continue to focus on our clients and on the implementation of our strategy. Later in the day, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble would tell Bloomberg Television he wasn't worried about Deutsche Bank either. "I have no concerns about Deutsche Bank," Schaeuble reportedly said. As of 13:41GMT shares in Deutsche Bank were lower by 2.59% to 13.56. The chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, has become the highest paid corporate boss in the US. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Pichai has been awarded 273,328 Alphabet shares currently worth $199m (138m). The new award of shares takes Pichai's total stock value to approximately $650m, with the latest awards valuation putting him above John Hammergren of pharmaceutical firm McKesson, whose package was worth $131.2m in 2015, according to Forbes. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, have fortunes worth $34.6bn and $33.9bn respectively. Pichai joined the company in 2004 rising through Googles ranks. He has previously worked at Applied Materials and at McKinsey & Company. My way or the highway! Behaving ugly will not get you your way in Ecuador. It might in the U.S but here, no. Admittedly, were all human and make mistakes from time to time because we're not able to hold our patience at the moment due to other pressures, and some of us might behave kind a ugly, but only for the moment and we realize we are not being nice and we change our stance the next time around. However, some of us are just ugly all the time. Ugly people end up leaving Ecuador because they brought ugliness with them, are generally already unhappy and stressed and therefore it is mirrored back to them. First Rule Dont Be Ugly We shouldnt behave ugly; instead we should behave kindly but assertively. Have you ever heard the saying, You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar? Its true. When you are sweet as honey the flies literally come swarming towards you with gusto. What happens when you are ugly like vinegar? People stop listening. Of course we shouldnt behave phony either; we must remember to behave with people in the way we would want for them to behave with us. When we need to talk to Ecuadorians about anything, we first greet them with kindness and then ask about their family. We usually find something endearing and genuinely positive to say about that person or family. Ecuadorians generally are, especially when it comes to family, commendable people. This is not done out of fake flattery or praise so we can get our way, but is the way people are actually supposed to behave towards one another in lifesomething that too many folks have forgotten this day and age. Instead of behaving nasty and rude when we dont get our way, behave like a decent person. Explain your situation and get your point across with assertiveness not aggressiveness; big difference here. We do need to be assertive; otherwise we are more apt to be taken advantage of. Next Second Rule Compromise Let's work together and bridge the gap! I learned this about marriage but it extends to all relationships. If the give and take aspect of a marriage is unequally balanced the marriage will fall when storms come. Sure, one spouse can take up the slack for awhile but that gets tiresome after awhile. Imbalance in a relationship just means someone is going to get the short end of the stick. It may work for a time, but after awhile it will wane. Life is all about give and take and there is no real relationship without fair compromise. This is why gringo gouging does not work with principled people, no matter how much money they may have. Its not about the money, its about the principle! It works when you are a tourist because it is expected that you will pay more, but a full-time resident should not have to pay more for food, rent and services! Compromise by buying more or by going to that same sellerexplain to them this is what you will be doing if they dont gouge you on the price. Compromise = Give and Take. Next Rule Three Be Nicely Persistent Recently we spent hours and days over a period of weeks and months trying to get a letter and some packages that we have not received from the Ecuador postal system. Weve learned a lot from this. We learned nothing is what it seems. Talk is cheap and that actions speak a whole lot louder than appeasing words ever could. This is not meant to be disparaging but reality of how it really is. The two girls in the Cuenca post office keep telling us to be patient (6 months later) and that it is Quitos postal systems fault why we havent gotten our letter sized parcel and that it is the customs office fault why we have not received our packages. We have been patient, thats the whole point. Just because were tenacious doesnt mean were not patient. We are persistent and they need to know that. Were not going to go away. Perhaps they think that after 6 months were going to forget about our important mail. Were kind, we smile, we even hug them, we never yell and scream; were never ugly but we are persistent and we are going to be coming back! We have learned while living in Ecuador is that hoping for change instead of trying to change is all we can ask for. I just want my mail. Such a normal sounding request. Well then, what's the problem? Please give me my mail. The mail belongs to the recipient, not the post office. We stopped buying things we need and we just go without. You can do that when you set your mind to it. Next Rule Four Dont Act Superior We all know that no human, no matter how much money, power, or skin color they have is superior to another human being; thats just downright egotistic thinking. I learned that a long time ago in first grade, when public schools actually taught ethics and values. Am I really that old? Rule Five Live and Let Live or Be Unhappy Trying Dont forget, we can catch more flies with honey than we can with vinegar, so be the honey. Smile a lot, all the while behaving assertively gentle and persistent. Expecting things to be different is an unhealthy way to look at undesirable aspects of life abroad, instead, take each day as it comes. The more we expect the more disappointed we will become. Never take what someone says written in stone, just see it when you see it and then youll know it to be true. Patience is a virtue, even though sometimes you may be waiting for nothing to materialize. We realize that a character flaw, such as telling fibs or lies to appease you with words is done out of kindness rather than harm. There is so much of this in Ecuador and South and Central America that we just smile, laugh, have fun, and take it all in, all the while not considering a word of it. Were the foreigner in a land that is foreign to us and many of us are used to doing things a certain way or having things done a certain way. But were the new guy in town and if we want to be happy, live and let live then we need to tolerate a different way, not push our way into town. If we can share a better way because it was asked for, that is altogether a different story. Following any or all of these rules does not necessarily mean we will get our way, but it does mean we behaved kindly, principled and respectfully, which is really all we're after here. Until we write again. You might try these articles too. Circleville Pumpkin Show 2022: What you need to know if you plan to go YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Relations between Armenia and Sweden dynamically developed, particularly after opening of the embassies in both countries. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian mentioned about this in a joint press conference with the Foreign Minister of Sweden Margot Wallstrom. Together with Ms. Wallstrom we opened the Embassy of Armenia in Sweden in Stockholm in 2014. The Embassy of Sweden was opened here as well. The embassies actively engaged in development, expansion and deepening of relations. Edward Nalbandian said. Armenpress reports Margot Wallstrom noted that strengthening bilateral economic relations creates great opportunities for development of economic relations. The Foreign Minister of Sweden also mentioned that they hail Armenia-EU negotiations on the new agreement. We agreed with Ms. Wallstrom to continue the high-level political dialogue, hold consultations between two Ministries of Foreign Affairs on a regular basis in order to further deepen cooperation. As an important field of development of bilateral cooperation we outlined the IT sector. Surely, we touched upon Armenia-EU relations. We stressed the importance of launched negotiations on the new Armenia-EU framework agreement, Edward Nalbandian added. This is the first visit of Foreign Minister of Sweden Margot Wallstrom to Armenia. Earlier, she visited Armenian Genocide Memorial, met with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian received Japanese Foreign Ministers special envoy for South Caucasus, Ambassador Toshihiro Aiki on February 9. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA Armenia, greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian attached great importance to future deepening of friendly relations between Japan and Armenia and expansion of multisector partnership. Thanking for the reception, Japanese Foreign Ministers special envoy stressed that his country is interested in fostering cooperation with friendly Armenia, which is promoted by high-level interactions and mutual visits. The implementation process of the agreements reached during the visit of the President of Armenia to Japan was touched upon during the meeting, as well as issues of regular consultations between the MFAs, partnership between the parliamentary friendship groups, cooperation in international organizations, expansion of trade and economic ties were discussed. Minister Nalbandian highly appreciated Japans development assistance rendered to Armenia. The interlocutors exchanged ideas over a range of regional and international issues. Ambassador Toshihiro Aiki introduced the efforts made to reinforce security and stability in the Korean Peninsula. The sides expressed concern over the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea, which is in contradiction with the UNSC resolutions. Minister Nalbandian touched upon Karabakh issue, presenting the situation in the conflict zone, recent developments of the negotiation process, as well as the efforts made by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs for exclusively peaceful conflict settlement. Subscriber content preview The state has a transportation funding shortfall of $165 million. By KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press BOISE, Idaho Idaho's state police budget would see a dramatic $16.7 million drop in funding with the goal to provide more dollars to the state's aging roads and bridges under a new bill headed to the Senate floor. The proposal is appealing to those inside the Idaho Statehouse as part of an ongoing effort to chip away at the state's ever-growing transportation funding shortfall currently estimated at $165 million. Yet the proposal has also hit an unsettling chord among lawmakers hesitant to slash more than 20 percent of the Idaho State Police's budget with no funding alternative in place. . . . YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Military-technical cooperation agreement will be signed between the governments of Armenia and Greece. Armenpress reports the issue of the approval of the agreement is included in February 11 session of the Government of Armenia. The cooperation between the sides will cover a range of sectors. Particularly, it is planned to exchange technologies of the production of arms, explosive devices, and technical support, information on arms production, experience and opinion, as well as research on military products. The sales of joint production to third countries are regulated by separate agreements with the consent of both countries. The sides will set Armenian-Greek interagency commission for military-technical cooperation to implement the provisions provided for by the agreement. Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence has long acted as the 'manager' of international jihadi forces and it may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State, a leading US daily said on Sunday, in a stinging commentary on Pakistan's ''intervention'' in a number of foreign conflicts. Underlining that experts have found ''a lot of evidence'' that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive, an op-ed in The New York Times said, ''This behaviour is not just an issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a number of foreign conflicts. ''Its intelligence service has long acted as the manager of international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, and there is even speculation that it may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State.'' This comes even as David Coleman Headley, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and key planner of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, admitted in testimony on Monday that he was in touch with at least one ISI officer (See: LeT operative Headley reveals links to Pak army, ISI). The report said that though Pakistan denies harbouring the Taliban and al Qaeda, and points out that it, too, is a victim of terrorism, ''many analysts have detailed how the military has nurtured Islamist militant groups as an instrument to suppress nationalist movements, in particular among the Pashtun minority, at home and abroad''. ''Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard. Determined not to let its arch rival India gain influence there, and to ensure that Afghanistan remains in the Sunni Islamist camp, Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, promoting those who further its agenda and cracking down on those who don't. The same goes for al Qaeda and other foreign fighters,'' wrote Carlotta Gall, the North Africa correspondent for NYT. She said there are reports that Pakistan had a role in the rise of the Islamic State. ''It might come as a surprise that the region's triumvirate of violent jihad is living openly in Pakistan,'' Gall said as she listed out top terrorist leaders living openly in Pakistan. ''First, there's Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, and second-in-command of the Taliban. He moves freely around Pakistan, and has even visited the Pakistani intelligence headquarters of the Afghan campaign in Rawalpindi,'' she said. Then there is the new leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who has openly assembled meetings of his military and leadership council near the Pakistani town of Quetta, the author said. ''Finally, al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, enjoys sanctuary in Pakistan - one recent report placed him in the southwestern corner of Baluchistan. He has been working to establish training camps in southern Afghanistan,'' Gall wrote. Mumbai, India's commercial capital, is all geared for the `Make in India Week', a flagship event to provide greater momentum to local manufacturing initiative, to showcase the country's manufacturing prowess and to promote India as preferred manufacturing destination globally. The week-long programme, beginning 14 February, would offer unprecedented access, insights and opportunities to connect and collaborate with India and global industry leaders, visionaries, academicians, central and state administrations. The event aims at creating a confluence of policymakers, industry, entrepreneurs and academia to showcase, connect and collaborate, as well as highlight the people, policies and partnerships driving India's new manufacturing revolution, and take corporate and public participation to the next level. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has pitched the Make in India story to investors across the globe, will inaugurate the marquee event, which will host government delegation from 49 nations and business delegations from 68 countries during the week. Speaking at the curtain raiser press conference, minister of state (independent charge) for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, said, ''The government has incessantly pushed policy measures to boost manufacturing and today FDI in India is growing at 48 per cent while globally there is a sharp fall. The global business community has responded enthusiastically to Indian economy's revivalist fervour and `Make in India Week' will further showcase the nation's accomplishments in manufacturing and position India as investment, innovation and manufacturing hub." Drawing attention to the role of the centre and the states as partners in realising the nation's potential for achieving higher rates of growth and creating employment for masses, the minister said, "States have a significant role in building and sustaining a manufacturing revolution and in the spirit of co-operative as well as competitive federalism they will be the drivers of development and centre will play a catalytic role." Emphasizing that the world has now started to recognise India as a trusted investment destination, chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said "India is poised to be the next big manufacturing destination." Some of the key government delegations would include prime minister-led delegations from Finland, Sweden and Lithuania and deputy prime minister-led delegation from Poland. High level government representatives are accompanied by large business delegations. "In order to give further momentum to the initiative begun by the prime minister aimed at promoting India as a big investment destination and increasing its share in global foreign investment, Make in India Week will be the biggest such effort," secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Amitabh Kant stated while speaking on the occasion. The `Make in India' centre, setup at MMRDA grounds in Mumbai to host the event would showcase exhibitions of the most innovative products and manufacturing processes across 11 sectors. The centre would include sector specific pavilions showcasing all 11 focus sectors, 17 state exhibitions and several country pavilions. The exhibition area would cover 2,20,000 sq m and accommodates 27 halls. Country pavilion would include exhibitions from Sweden, Germany and South Korea. Over 190 exhibitors would showcase manufacturing prowess of the country across focus sectors. The week would also serve as a crucible of ideas and innovation with industry-academia interaction featuring manufacturing success stories. The prime minister would inaugurate an exhibition on innovation - the best of IIT - at the Make in India centre. Leading Institutions from the world over would come together and showcase solutions to address problems in three important areas - water, transportation and energy. As a celebration of the entrepreneurship spirit of India's youth and to catalyse start up community to drive the entire value chain from innovation to manufacturing in India, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Qualcomm India would organize India's largest start-up contest ''QPrize Make in India'' awarding Rs2 crore in equity investment as prize money for the winning company. As a forum on rethinking contemporary design practices against the backdrop of manufacturing and promoting India as a global centre of design, a conference on empowering through design would be organised to bring together global design thought leaders Key opportunities in sectors like auto, defence and aerospace, food processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, electronics and information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, industrial equipment manufacturing, construction equipment, and infrastructure will be showcased through 21 seminars conceptualised and led by the key central ministries. Seminars will showcase investment opportunities in each sector, recent policy initiatives for attracting investments and ease of doing business. Twelve state investor summits (Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamilnadu) will be held showcasing key sectoral strengths with reference to investment opportunities, steps undertaken by the state governments to improve business environment, locational advantages, and industrial infrastructure availability. In addition to the seminars, the highlights of week include events such as CNN Asia Business Forum, Time India Awards, Driving Innovation: Hackathon, Make in India: The way forward, Conference on Empowering through Design, The Global Design and Innovation session and Champions for Societal Manufacturing. The Make in India Week will help forging enormous global engagement with Indian industry in the form of partnerships and investments paving the path for a transformation of the world's largest democracy into the world's most powerful economy. dpa ElectionsData With dpa ElectionsData you get access to a unique collection of data. Via a programming interface (Rest-API), your developers can access detailed information, candidate profiles and live results for all national elections in the European Union and important international elections, like the US Midterm elections etc. The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties. Mr Gamato is uncertain about the availability of government funding. As he did so, electoral commissioner Patilias Gamato announced the tentative date of 24 June for the start of next years general election, although theres a catch. ORO Governor and national member of parliament Gary Juffa has initiated a Take Back PNG campaign to motivate Papua New Guineans to play a bigger part in the countrys economy. Mr Juffas campaign will constitute seminars throughout PNG which will be led by the Oro governor. According to EM-TV journalist Adelaide Kari, the seminars will discuss national patriotism and how people can be involved in the development of PNG. Mr Juffa said many Papua New Guineans lack true patriotism and need to stand up for their country in times of need and act when they see something is wrong. Meanwhile, Mr Gamato said he needed nearly $US60 million to conduct the general elections scheduled to be held from 24 June - 8 July 2017. He said the electoral commission had asked the government for nearly $US64 million in the 2016 budget but was only allocated $US3.3 million. Words as Gifts reminds us that Michael Dom has been writing poetry for 20 years, plenty of time to hone a style and a purpose. And that purpose has been frequently political, keeping a weather eye on those who seek to exercise power and especially those who exercise it in their own rather than in the common interest. He is a poet equally capable of devious nuance, spiralling metaphor and rock-crushing bellicosity; sometimes in the one piece of writing and always with a message. SOMEHOW, through forces not evident or apparent, in Michael Dom Papua New Guinea produced a world class poet. But this collection takes us elsewhere: into the realm of the poets personal experience, into his relationships with beings animate and inanimate and into the core of what it means to be a Melanesian and a poet. By the time I first encountered Michael Doms work five years ago, he was already an accomplished poet. He had mastered the art and forged his own style and decided that whatever he wrote should resonate and soar and translate the reader into his writing as an insider. There are no bystanders in this world of vivid imagery, wrenching honesty and lyricism. And frequently we are reminded of the comedic streak that frequently flashes through Michael Doms poetry and which one suspects is often a means of dealing with a world that is too big-ugly and irrational. This is a valuable collection for a number of reasons, serving as a retrospective of poetic development, a repository of great verse, and a reminder that poetry is a living form that geographical remoteness, educational disregard and cultural isolation can never suppress. Keith Jackson IN THE five years or so since the Crocodile Prize for literature began we have seen an abundance of work from talented Papua New Guinean writers, poets and essayists. In a country with a strong oral tradition poetry seems to be a natural fit but it has been a mixed bag with a strong propensity for free verse and prose most apparent. There have been exceptions of course. One of these is Michael Dom. He has consistently demonstrated a technical mastery of the form coupled with a forensic eye for imagery and a sense of the moment, be it political, topical or mundane. It has been this high standard that has seen him recognised as Papua New Guineas unofficial poet laureate. This collection brings together some of his best work, along with ten new poems never before published. Our involvement in the Crocodile Prize will begin to wind down during 2016. After that it will hopefully be continued by the little band of writers that have accompanied us over these last five or so exciting years. As we write there is no guarantee that this will happen, Papua New Guinea being what it is. Our most fervent hope is that we will leave an enthused and talented group of writers who will uphold the legacy of the prize. We feel certain that Michael Dom will be among this number. This current collection therefore comes at the beginning of an historic moment in Papua New Guinean literature. As such it represents the best of our expectations. We hope there will be much more after it. Phil Fitzpatrick Send words as gifts The title poem is not new but has never been published in PNG Attitude or the Crocodile Prize, first seeing Dawns light in my first collection, At Another Crossroads. It is a poem written for the two girls in my life whom I missed terribly after moving to Labu Station - my then girlfriend and my niece and God-child Michael Dom A painful beauty here Ripped seams of content Scattered at listless feet Another separate sunrise Aches on our horizon Mercy please today Gentle rain delay Lost time and consequence Held now in disregard Betrayed by duty call Send words as gifts Appeasements for grief Surrendered verve To tender hands Held now only in dreams. What I was told; my parents scold This second poem, What I was told, is aimed at young children and was first published as a comment, not a literary work, encouraging poets to try the rondeau style for the Rivers Awards Michael Dom "Trying to map the conditions of the road outside of the car is difficult, but it turns out there is so much data flying around the car that we can input that into the all-wheel drive computer and develop a very accurate job of predicting when wheelspin is going to happen. For example, we know what the temperature is outside because we have a temperature gauge. We know if it's raining because you'll turn on the windshield wipers. And we know if the car is on an incline because the stability system has a G-sensor in it. We can also directly measure traction through a number of other systems; the brakes, steering and throttle" Holden's new compact SUV will be revealed at the 2016 Geneva motor show in March through GM's European arms Vauxhall and Opel. The upgraded Trax will be an important model for Holden as it falls behind newer, more advanced baby SUVs including the likes of the popular Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V. The SUV market is growing at an exponential rate in Australia as consumers move away from the traditional small and large sedans and hatches. The Mokka X - badged Trax in Australia - features a new wing shaped grille and revised LED headlights. The SUV's overall design gets a more muscular look with a wider, more solid stance. Its interior draws inspiration from the new Astra small car with a new instrument cluster and the addition of a seven- or eight-inch touchscreen which will run Holden's MyLink infotainment system. The Mokka is expected to feature the same engines as the new Astra - which arrives late in 2016 - including the brand's new 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol which produces 110kW and 230Nm. There is also the brand's 1.6-litre turbo diesel engine, which might not make it to Australia. Holden's current SUV range is bereft of diesel options, and only offers an oil burning variant in its largest Colorado 7 SUV line-up. The updated Trax is the next model in line as part of Holden's expanding European-sourced lineup, with the Astra GTC/VXR and Cascada convertible already on sale locally. Holden has said that it will source one-third of its future model range from Opel in the future as it ceases local manufacturing in 2017. Opel has also said that Holden would have a voice in future European-sourced cars. Opel member of the board and vice president of communications, Johan Willems said when speaking to Drive at the 2015 Geneva motor show, "I am sure that Holden will play a key role for the products that are coming there." "There is [currently] input I know that for a fact." Opel Insignia A prototype of the next-generation of the Opel Insignia large car has been caught testing again in Europe. The new large sedan is expected to be revealed in 2017 and is expected to form the basis of Holden's large car range once local manufacturing wraps up in 2017. Holden has already gone on the record and said that it will source one-third of its range from Opel and Opel has hinted that the Commodore replacement would be the Insignia and that Holden and Opel would work together to tailor the car to Australian needs. The images of the Insignia show a more sloping roofline that give the large car a similar look to the Audi A7 Sportback. While details are scarce at this point, the new Insignia is expected to be offered with a range of four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines sending power to the front wheels. Performance variants will most likely be offered with a turbocharged V6 that drive all four wheels, after Holden confirmed that the V8 days are numbered. BMW X2 BMW's new compact coupe-like SUV has been spotted testing. Drive's sources in Germany confirmed the go-ahead for the new X2 in May this year. The X2 is to be positioned between the newly released X1 and the X3. The X2 has been conceived around BMW's UKL platform structure, which it shares with the new X1 and other recently launched BMW models, including 2-Series ActiveTourer and 2-Series GranTourer. Taking cues from the larger X4 and X6, the X2 will boast four conventional front hinged doors and a heavily angled liftback style tailgate. The design of the new off-roader is planned to be unveiled in an upcoming concept previewing the new BMW, possibly as early as the 2016 Geneva motor show with sales commencing in 2017. The new Range Rover Evoque rival is expected to share the same engine lineup as the new X1 with a range of three and four cylinder petrol and diesel variants. There is a strong possibility of an M variant following on from the recently revealed BMW M2 to take the fight to the likes of the Audi RS Q3 and Mercedes-AMG GLA 45. Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabrio AMGs Mercedes-Benz 's last piece of its C-Class puzzle has been caught testing. The sedan version is already on sale and the coupe is due to go on sale locally in March 2016. Next will come the cabriolet models, which have been spotted recently undergoing engineering testing. It has been rumoured that Mercedes may decide to forgo its C450 AMG Sport models and instead pull them into the AMG fold under the C43 AMG moniker. The C43 AMG Cabriolet will be powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 - which the same as in the newly revealed Mercedes-AMG SLC43 - that produces 270kW and 520Nm with peak torque being developed at just 2000rpm. The drop-top variant of Mercedes-Benz ballistic C63 has also been caught testing. It will be powered by the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with 375kW and 700Nm and will have the same specifications as the both the sedan and coupe. And as per Mercedes-Benz Australia's policy it will most likely only import the more powerful S variant of the C63. Porsche Cayenne Porsche's updated large SUV has been caught undergoing testing in Europe. The popular large luxury SUV has some stiffer competition on the way from high-end luxury options such as Bentley Bentayga and Maserati's Levante. It is likely that the Cayenne will share the same underpinning as the Audi Q7 and the Bentley Bentayga which will be built on the group's flexible MLB platform. In typical Porsche style there won't be too many drastic cosmetic changes with only slight details altered to freshen up the look of the new Cayenne. It is expected to officially break cover in 2017. Porsche Panamera Shooting Brake Porsche's new wagon has been spotted. The estate version of the brand's large Panamera sedan has been snapped while undergoing testing. The second-generation Panamera will be built on a new platform that allows for a more flexible range of options including the wagon version spotted here, but also potentially a coupe and convertible version. Porsche's former head of research and development, Wolfgang Hatz said previously, "We have prepared it for a lot of derivatives, personally I like very much the Sport Turismo, I love this car. But there is a good chance for more derivatives." The Shooting Brake will most likely go head-to-head with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake. Again, expect to see the production version in 2017 at one of the major European motor shows. The Inniskeen Parade Committee would like to say well done and thank you,to all who helped organise, prepare for and participate in the Inniskeen Parade event on Monday the 18th March. The parade hosted participants from near and far, with very creative efforts made with floats from various entrants.l It was a real pleasure to see such a great crowd turn-out also. The prize for the Best Float went to Lisdoonan Vintage with their Old time kitchen . Well done to them and to all creative sparks who participated in the parade. The winners of the raffle prizes are as follows : 1st prize of Weekend Break to Bloomfield House was won by Michael Cassidy,Crossmaglen, 2nd prize of E75 won by Majella Mc Cann, Silverbridge, 3rd prize of A Meal Voucher for Cluskeys Restaurant won by Daniel Gilsenan. Hampers won by : Peter Boylan, Conor Mc Hugh, Dwayne Lennon, Jamie Courtney, Pat Boylan, Michael Boyce, Emma Keenan and Paddy Cunningham. The Inniskeen Parade Committee would like to say well done and thank you,to all who helped organise, prepare for and participate in the Inniskeen Parade event on Monday the 18th March. The parade hosted participants from near and far, with very creative efforts made with floats from various entrants.l It was a real pleasure to see such a great crowd turn-out also. The prize for the Best Float went to Lisdoonan Vintage with their Old time kitchen . Well done to them and to all creative sparks who participated in the parade. The winners of the raffle prizes are as follows : 1st prize of Weekend Break to Bloomfield House was won by Michael Cassidy,Crossmaglen, 2nd prize of E75 won by Majella Mc Cann, Silverbridge, 3rd prize of A Meal Voucher for Cluskeys Restaurant won by Daniel Gilsenan. Hampers won by : Peter Boylan, Conor Mc Hugh, Dwayne Lennon, Jamie Courtney, Pat Boylan, Michael Boyce, Emma Keenan and Paddy Cunningham. Acknowledgements are to be made to the following: Ciaran & Michael Mc Ardle (Sponsors of Lorry), D.G. Mc Ardle (Sponsors of Trailer for Musicians Stand) Paul Shevlin, Bernard Duffy, Patrick Keenan (Sponsor of Boat), David Meegan (Uileann Pipes on the Inniskeen Float), Inniskeen Float Participants: Tom Lennon, Sinead Mitchell, Alice, David M. Bronwen & Heather Rose Mitchell, Alannah, Megan & Sophie Mc Mahon, Eamon Keenan, Catherine Keenan, Linda Boylan, Patricia Martin and Margaret Holland, Paddy & Sheila Dowdall and Hughie Byrne. Vera Mc Enaeney (Music & Commentating), Mickey Carroll (Commentating), Band - Glass Camouflage (Sponsored by Seans Chippy Inniskeen), Hughie Byrne (Sponsor), Cluskeys Little Ash (Sponsor), Kitty Lennon, Seamus Lynch, Pat Keenan, Stewards : P.J. Boylan, Peter Dooley, Donal Smith, Owen Greene, Owen McKeown, Tomas Gernon. Much gratitude is given to all who played their part in helping to organise the Inniskeen Parade, as ever the day was a great success, although the rain & cold weather hampered the desired outcome for all, the turn-out was fantastic - thanks everyone...it was truly a Community effort!!! Best of Luck Best of Luck wishes go out to Seamus Shevlin, Inniskeen Fuels, on the recent opening of his Filling Station in Inniskeen Village in the premises formerly known as The Hut which had been the successful business of the late Benny Duffy. Besides the usual Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, Green Diesel etc Seamus is also stocking Coal, Briquettes, Sticks, Gas etc. etc. Hopefully he will get lots of support from the whole parish. New Lights The extra Lights in the Muff-Mucker area and Blackstaff are due to be erected in June/July. They will be very welcome as many many people use the Footpath for their daily Walk. . Mol an Oige Mol an Oige Committee Childcare Ltd held a Pyjama Day in aid of The Irish Hospice Foundation for Children. Our Preschool children and staff took part in this event. A total of 367.00 was raised on the day. A huge Thank You to all our families who donated. A fun day was had by all. COMMUNITY ALERT. There was a great attendance at the meeting regarding setting up TEXT ALERT in the parish. Information sheets will be available shortly .There will be a charge of just 2 per contact number to join. More information regarding the launch will be available shortly . The more people who join, the more succesful in preventing crime this scheme will be Table Quiz Inniskeen Red Cross will hold a table quiz on Friday 5th April at 8 -30pm in Inniskeen Social Club . Table of 4 30 ! Everybody welcome !!! Irish Dancing Irish dancing classes taught by World Champion Caoimhe Boylan takes place every Thursday evening at 6.00pm in the Community Centre. Children of all ages and ability welcome. For fun or competitions Bingo The Bingo is on this Saturday night, as usual, in the Community Social Club at the usual time of 8.30pm. . The usual Prizes and a Jackpot of 750 on offer, increasing monthly by 50 if not won, this week on 45 numbers. Books 5 and Sheet 2. Bus from Carrickmacross each night leaving Convent Lands 7.45, Highfield entrance 7.47, Main Street at Bus Stop 7.50, ONeill Street 7.52 and Cloughvalley 7.55 Social Club This Saturday music as usual for the weekly Dance for all those who are interested in Jiving etc. 10.15pm. This week Saturday April 6 Mickey the Butcher. Classes resumed on Monday, 7 January in Community Centre, 7.30pm to 8.30pm for beginners, 8.30pm to 9.30pm for advanced. great way to exercise and good fun as well. all dances covered, salsa, funky waltz, line dancing, and lots more Fundraiser Fundraiser for Carrick Cancer on 13th April in Social Centre Inniskeen, Music by Seamus & Bernard. Anyone that wants to donate prizes for auction or raffle can contact any of the following ladies Sinead Byrne, Catherine Dooley, Mary Woods, Bernie Smith & Rita Callan. So far for auction, Freisin Heifer Calf, Belgium Blue Calf, 2 Nanny Bother Goats & Kids, 2 Man Utd Tickets for any home game, 4 tickets for Lepardstown Races. Please support this worthy cause because you never know when you might be needing them. Pick 4 At the Pick 4 draw held on Monday March 25 the numbers drawn were 6, 15, 27 and 28 and there was no outright winner of the Jackpot of 3,200. Winners of 20 each are as follows:- Margaret & Kathleen McEneaney, Mobane, Crossmaglen, Micha Byrne, Drummond, Bronagh Duffy, Drummond Nellie McGeough,, Oghill, Edel Lynch, c/o credit Union, Ollie Woods, Drumneill, Margaret Boylan, Inniskeen, Anna Jones, Drumboat, Tony brady, c/o 12 Daighs Tce. and Eileen Johnston, c/o Owen Greene. This week the Jackpot is 3,400 and to be in with a chance get your entry from any member of Inniskeen GFC, Blackstaff Parents Association or the Development Group St. Daighs National School Enrolment Forms, Enrolment forms now available for parents wishing to enrol their children in St. Daighs National School in September. Call to the school office or phone (042) 9378256. Meegan Harvey Cumann Easter Commemoration will take place on Easter Saturday evening 30th March 2013 at 7.30pm in St Mary,s Graveyard, Inniskeen. Followed that night by an Irish night in McNellos. Music by Gary Keenan Taille 5.00. Sunday Dancing On Sunday night music as usual for the weekly Fun dance. A great nights dancing for all who enjoy lively music and fun dancing. This Sunday April 7 ShoBud, great Bands to provide a Month of lively Dancing. The Annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards 2013. The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award is for a first unpublished collection of poems in English by an Irish poet. The award is now in its 42nd year. Previous winners include Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, Paul Durcan, Thomas McCarthy, Peter Sirr, Sinead Morrissey, Conor OCallaghan, Pat Boran, Joseph Woods and Geraldine Mitchell. The winner of this years award will receive 1,000. The closing date for entry to the competition is Friday 26th July 2013. The Award will be presented on Friday 27th September 2013 at the opening of the Annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend in Inniskeen. Rules and entry form are available from the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen:Tel. 00353(0)429378560, Fax:00353 (0)429378855 E-mail: infoatpkc@eircom.net www.patrickkavanaghcountry.com Whist The Whist is held each Tuesday night at 8pm in the Social Club and new players are always welcome to come along and join in. On March 12th, the highest score was held by Paddy Duffy,joint highest ladies Jeanette Connolly, Ann O Reilly & Joan Duffy, highest gent Heather Christmas, lowest score Sheelagh Finnegan, Sweep winners Margaret Clarke, and longest Sit Tom McHugh. For lessons for new members phone 042 9378146 Patrick Kavanagh Student Poetry Award 2013. The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is organising this award which in previous years was organised by Co. Monaghan V.E.C. It is open to students of second-level schools in Counties Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, and Tyrone. Rules of the competition and entry-forms are available from the Patrick Kavanagh Centre. Closing date for receipt of entries is Friday 31st May 2013 at 4pm Presentation of this years certificates and prizes will be on Sunday 29th September in the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen.Winning schools will be given good notice of same. Community Alert Have you signed up for TEXT ALERT yet ? Forms available in the local shops or from committee members . Red Cross Inniskeen Red Cross will hold a table quiz on Friday 5th April at 8 -30pm in Inniskeen Social Club . Table of 4 30 ! Everybody welcome. 2 per form Item No "x x x. The elements of the crime of theft as provided for in Article 308 9 of the Revised Penal Code are as follows: (1) t... T-Mobiles 700-MHz rollout has given its mobile users some of the fastest data speeds in the U.S. market, according to a report OpenSignal released Tuesday. OpenSignal crowdsources data on carrier signal quality from users who have its consumer mobile application installed. T-Mobile has the fastest 4G LTE download speeds in the country, overtaking Verizon by a slight edge. Its expanded LTE coverage is almost identical to AT&Ts coverage and is closing the gap with Verizons coverage, according to the State of Mobile Networks: USA report, which was based on speed tests conducted from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. We think the story around the OpenSignal report is just as much about our LTE coverage gains, if not more so, as our being able to remain Americas fastest 4G LTE network, said Viet Nguyen, senior communications manager for corporate communications at T-Mobile. T-Mobile doubled its LTE footprint last year, adding nearly 1 million square miles of LTE and covering nearly 97 percent of Verizons customers, he told TechNewsWorld. Speed Slowed by Throttling How fast a carriers data flows may be less important to consumers than how it doles out that speed. Coverage area also may trump speed for customers. Being identified as the fastest mobile data provider can be a big win for any company, especially if proven by a neutral third party, said John Turner, CEO ofUsersThink. The problem is, as it is easy to fact check these types of things, many, many more people would be hesitant to fully believe these claims if it was shown that a company like T-Mobile was actually throttling its data in a violation of net neutrality, he told TechNewsWorld, referring to areport from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The sad efforts of a certainCEO to dismiss the EFF does little to improve the public image of the company, no matter what other awards or tests it may win, Turner added. While data speed is important, what counts more for many mobile users is where they can get a signal, suggested Alex Merkulov, CEO of8th Sphere. I think most consumers care about network speed, but many care more about coverage area as well as signal strength and stability, he told TechNewsWorld. For people who live behind thick stone walls in NYC or people who travel outside densely populated areas, Verizon should still remain the provider of choice. Just because customers get a fast download speed in one corner of an apartment does not mean they are getting a great mobile networking experience overall, Merkulov said. Digging In to the Data T-Mobile is meeting its goal of having more LTE coverage across the country, according to OpenSignal. T-Mobile users got LTE 81.23 percent of the time. However, it was third behind Verizons 86.73 percent and AT&Ts 82.63 percent. 4G download speeds for T-Mobile and Verizon averaged about 12 Mbps nationally, with T-Mobile edging out Verizon in a speed comparison in the 11 largest U.S. cities. T-Mobile had the fastest 3G voice calls and the fastest 3G download speeds at 3.48 Mbps, OpenSignal found. AT&T and Sprint showed much slower results, but all four major operators gained ground on their coverage footprints in the last quarter. Numbers Count Any time a challenger like T-Mobile or Sprint receives recognition from an independent, well-respected third-party source like OpenSignal, it is significant, according to Rob Chamberlin, chief revenue officer atDataXoom. Its used not only in consumer-based advertising, but also by carrier B2B teams. T-Mobile has a rather low penetration rate in midmarket and enterprise relative to all of the other carriers, particularly Verizon and AT&T, so this might entice a business to more seriously consider T-Mobile as an option, he told TechNewsWorld. Network speeds become more relevant to consumers and businesses as more mobile applications utilize video. Business apps like wearables are video-centric and require fast network speeds to work effectively. Network speeds are most noticeable and important when bandwidth-heavy apps are used, Chamberlin said. Other Perspectives OpenSignals speed test results differ considerably fromother accounts, according to Sprint, although its not clear what criteria those tests used. OpenSignal also draws a comparison between the slower speeds of even the fastest U.S. networks and networks in other countries. Countries with newer LTE networks have bigger spectrum blocks, OpenSignal concludes. The U.S. networks carry more users, however. An unusual partnership between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tenth Amendment Center is pushing states to adopt model legislation that the organizations argue will fill in gaps in student-data-privacy protections. Proposed overhauls of digital-privacy laws, including many that regulate relationships between ed-tech vendors and school districts, were simultaneously introduced in 16 states and the District of Columbia last month in bills based on the model legislation. Though the ACLU, with headquarters in New York City, and the Los-Angeles based Tenth Amendment Center are generally seen as being on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, they have found common ground in their advocacy for stronger electronic-privacy protections. In consultation with the centera think tank that advocates strict limits on federal powerthe ACLU wrote model legislation that both organizations are urging legislators around the country to support. Chad Marlow, the ACLU advocacy and policy counsel, said that the parts of the bills aimed at bolstering student-privacy protections were written to ensure that schools dont become a Constitution-free zone, and that companies that want to collect student data must first get explicit permission. Over the past two years, 32 states have enacted some sort of data-privacy law, according to the Data Quality Campaign. Some of those laws have been sweeping, such as Californias Student Online Personal Information Privacy Act , which has drawn particular praise from privacy advocates. Other laws are much weaker, experts say. To work around a lack of movement at the federal level over data-privacy protections for students, the activists and lawmakers working with the two organizations are calculating that if they get enough states to adopt a stricter slate of privacy expectations for vendors, companies will have little choice but to raise their standards to a level nationally that would allow them to work in any state. Top Priorities in Model Legislation for Student Data Protections The ACLU has outlined four main areas for states to focus on when crafting data-privacy legislation, including: Student Information Systems Privacy Requiring specific permission from parents before student data are used for noneducational purposes by a third party. 1-to-1 Device Privacy Placing limits on the ability of schools and third parties to access information about student behavior or communications that are made on computing devices loaned to students. Student Personal Technology on Campus Ensuring that the same legal protections that apply to students personal electronic devices away from school also apply when students are on campus. Student Social Media Privacy Barring educational institutions from demanding access to students social-media accounts, with few exceptions. Source: ACLU and Tenth Amendment Center It would be impractical for Google to have 50 different privacy standards, said Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, during an audio press conference. Menu of Provisions The model bill crafted by the ACLU is meant to serve as a menu of data-privacy provisions from which other groups and state lawmakers can pick and choosemeaning that each state bill can be somewhat different. Many of the bills have a broad focus that aims to improve data-privacy protections across society, not just in schools. However, in states where the ACLU and the Tenth Amendment Center believe that existing student-data protections are weak, the proposed legislation focuses on stepping up safeguards in four specific areas: Parental or student consent to release student data for noneducational purposes or to third parties; Limits on information that can be gleaned from computing devices loaned to students; Protections from warrantless searches of students on campus; and Restrictions on access to student postings that are behind privacy settings on social-media. The model legislation also calls for professional development to help teachers familiarize themselves with basic student-data-privacy concepts. Student-data protection is of special interest to the ACLU because the group holds that K-12 students are extremely vulnerable to being aggressively targeted by companies seeking such information to build personalized marketing profiles, Marlow said. He also echoed other experts who are concerned about certain scenarios in which students might feel inappropriately pressured to waive their privacy rights or risk being barred from participating in classroom activities that require use of ed-tech tools that aim to personalize learning. Marlow pointed to the controversial practices of the now-shuttered nonprofit InBloom as indicative of another type of behavior his group is trying to combat. InBloom drew withering fire from critics upset about the amount of student information it planned to collect and share with third parties. The Future of Privacy Forum a Washington-based think tank and a co-author of the Student Privacy Pledge , a commitment by ed-tech companies to safeguard dataoffered a measured endorsement of the provisions in the ACLUs model bill. The forum applauded the model legislations language on parental-release mechanisms and its calls for teacher professional development on basic data-privacy issues, but is worried that an overly strict definition of personally identifiable information and the risk of personallegal liability for teachers who make mistakes could undermine both the ed-tech industry and the work of classroom educators. Critiquing Two State Bills Steven Hodas, an education innovation cluster leader at Digital Promise, a nonprofit group that seeks to improve schools through research and technology, said the language in some of the bills might balance the interests of students with the operational needs of schools and vendors better than others. Some of the state proposals, like Alabamas, appear to be less concerned with the prospect of student data falling into the hands of advertisers than with a schools right to collect such information in the first place, said Hodas, who emphasized that his views on data privacy were his own and did not necessarily reflect the organizational positions of Digital Promise. Hodas interpreted another section of the Alabama bill, which would prohibit schools or officials from administering student surveys on psychological resources, mindsets, effortful control, attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, or intrapersonal resources as potentially interfering with some schools burgeoning interest in collecting information on student qualities such as perseverance or grit. Another part of the Alabama legislation says that no student data shall be used for predictive modeling for detecting behaviors, beliefs, or value systems, or predicting or forecasting student outcomes. That language could, in theory, hamper the ability of an ed-tech company to use data to customize classroom learning, said Hodas. Instead of wishing away an entire category of knowing about education, Hodas said, states would be better served by allowing companies to collect some essential data and then enacting strict punishments for instances of its misuse. He said the ACLU-backed bill proposed in Nebraska is more familiar with how schools actually work. The bill includes broader exceptions for vendors who want to use student data to improve their products. The variations between some of the proposed pieces of legislation reflect the unusual coalitions behind some of the efforts. The Alabama bill, in particular, was the product of a reconciliation between the ACLUs proposal and one by the Eagle Forum of Alabama , a Birmingham-based nonprofit that promotes conservative causes. Deborah Love, the groups executive director, said it was sad that people are surprised that there is such broad bipartisan support for initiatives that ensure that liberty is respected in our houses of learning. While the ACLU and the Eagle Forum have their philosophical differences, both Marlow and Love said they do not expect the proposed law in Alabamaor, in Marlows contention, any of the bills nationallyto hurt ed-tech companies that are already acting ethically. The overriding goal of the legislation, according to Marlow, is to empower parents and kids to make informed choices about what they do or dont want to share. The results of the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, the test that is used to do an international ranking of students academic performance, will be trumpeted later this year, and the responses will undoubtedly repeat those of previous years: U.S. officials will wring their hands and lament that American student achievement is stagnant, that it is lagging woefully behind our economic competitors, and that we therefore need to import features of schooling from higher-scoring countries. This edu-masochisma distinctly American way of focusing on our educational shortcomingscan be traced at least back to the late 1950s and the Soviet Unions launch of Sputnik. Perhaps the nations early trailblazing successes in establishing mass schooling and developing a uniquely excellent system of higher education have left U.S. educators particularly vulnerable to charges that other nations are surpassing us. These fears unfortunately have led education policymakers astray. They focus on what other nations are achieving, and they fall prey to those urging us to copy Finlands, Singapores, or South Koreas schooling practices. But why compare national student performance in the United States with average scores in other countries, when U.S. students attend schools in 51 separate education systems responsible to states and the District of Columbia, not the federal government? The U.S. education system is a construct that does not exist operationally. Whats more, a well-respected test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides a state-by-state picture of our schools that is much more relevant than either PISA or other major international tests, such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). President Barack Obamas signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act in December underscores this reality: Although the federal government retains the ability to measure and compare how different states are doing with NAEP, the new law makes clear that the authority to decide school policy resides with the states. Our recent study of two decades of PISA, TIMSS, and NAEP scores offers new data that highlight why education policymakers should emphasize national test results . To begin with, schools in the United States are not doing as poorly as international-test scores suggest. It makes sense to look to high performers in Europe and Asia for new education strategies if we lack our own success stories, but that is not the case. After we adjusted for socioeconomic differences in the samples of students taking the PISA and TIMSS tests, we found that performance on international math and reading tests in states such as Massachusetts and North Carolina is as high as, or higher than, in the highest-scoring countries in Europe. We also showed that gains in TIMSS mathematics scores over the past 12 to 16 years in several states are much higher than gains in other countries. Furthermore, students in these same states and others have made very large, steady gains on NAEP, especially in mathematics, over the last two decades, despite the dip in scores in 2015. Thats in marked contrast with the average U.S. results on PISA, which did not rise between 2000 and 2012. Policymakers also must consider whether international tests are influenced by factors that are as much social and cultural as they are educational. There is no causal evidence that students in some Asian countries, for example, score higher on international tests mainly because of better schooling. Their achievement is more likely the result of large investments made by families on outside-of-school tutoring and cram courses to hone test-taking skills. Such differences between other countries and U.S. states in these social and educational contexts make it difficult to infer relevant educational policy from correlations with student test scores. Worrying about how schools in other nations are better than ours doesnt get us much closer to answers." By contrast, the conditions and context of education in the high-scoring states are more similar to those in other, lower-performing states than they are to other countries. Teacher labor markets are not drastically different from state to state. Furthermore, the state systems are regulated under the same federal rules. If students with similar family academic resources attending schools with similar socioeconomic and ethnic composition in some states make much larger gains than in other states, those larger gains are more likely to be related to specific state policies that could be applied elsewhere in the United States. In our study, we showed that the basis for such fruitful comparisons exists. We found that since 1992, the average annual increase in demographically adjusted NAEP 8th grade math scores of students in the top-gaining 10 states was 1.6 points per year, double that of students in the bottom-gaining 10 states. Thus, for a 21-year period between 1992 and 2013, 8th graders in the higher-gaining states increased their math performance 16 points more than students in the lower-gaining states. This represents about one-half a standard deviation of the individual student variation in NAEP 8th grade math scoresa huge difference in performance gain by typical educational improvement standards. States that made large reading gains were not necessarily the same states that made large math gains. For example, Maryland and Florida made relatively larger gains in reading than in mathematics. And Texas and Massachusetts made large gains in math, but not reading. Another direction for further policy research is to pair off states with different patterns of gains in 8th grade math. We showed in our study, for instance, that 8th grade students in Massachusetts made much larger gains in math after 2003 than their counterparts in neighboring Connecticut; that students in Texas greatly outpaced demographically similar California from the early 1990s until 2013; and that students in New Jersey made larger gains than students in New York after 2003. These and other state comparisons could provide important insights into the kinds of policies that enabled students in some states to make much larger demographically adjusted gains in math scores than students next door. A case in point is Massachusetts and Connecticut, where students had the same NAEP math score in 2003. By 2013, Massachusetts students had increased by 17 points over similar students attending similar schools in Connecticut. We need to learn why students in Massachusetts took off in math after 2003 while students in Connecticut did not. To be sure, international comparisons can be instructive. It is useful to know that teachers in high-scoring Finland are prepared much more thoroughly than teachers in most U.S. states, and that high teacher salaries in Singapore and Taiwan have eliminated shortages in math instruction. But too much time in the United States is spent fear-mongering and declaring that our economy is about to tank because of how U.S. schools purportedly stack up against schools in other nations. Its almost as if we want to punish ourselves. Despite these cries, our economy has grown, and the nation remains the leader in innovation. While improvement is needed, worrying about how schools in other nations are better than ours doesnt get us much closer to answers. We can put an end to our edu-masochism: If researchers spend more effort on assessing our own states successes and failures in improving student performance and less on trying to draw lessons from countries with very different social and educational contexts, they are sure to spark a much more productive national educational policy debate than we have had in the past decade. To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. Bogota, Feb 8 (EFE).- Palm oil and the potential of its phytonutrients constitute a business opportunity for Latin American countries, especially Colombia, which is preparing itself for a post-conflict scenario, specialists participating in a conference here on the sector's prospects agreed on Monday. Within the framework of the 1st EFE Palm Industry Forum in Bogota, scientists and businessmen emphasized the opportunities afforded by this product in areas such as nutrition, cosmetics and the pharmaceutical industry, among others. The president of the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers of Colombia, or Fedepalma, Jens Mesa Dishington, said that the sector's agroindustrial development potential is "immense" now that Colombia "is in the negotiation phase to terminate a conflict" with the FARC guerrilla group. Mesa said that in Colombia, the world's fourth-largest palm oil producer and the largest in the Americas, there are already some 500,000 hectares (1.25 million acres) of cropland producing some 1.3 million tons of palm oil in more than 120 municipalities. "The Colombian government has often said the palm crop is capable of substituting, for example, the coca crop (the raw material of cocaine) because it really permits more stable growing conditions and provides real opportunities for young farmers to find a better future," he said. For Spain's ambassador to Colombia, Ramon Gandarias Alonso de Celis, the palm oil sector is one in which the country "has much knowledge" and where the potential for "enormous development" exists. Regarding the crop's potential, Consuelo Ferrero, CEO of Spanish chemical engineering company Palmvit, said that palm oil is "another liquid gold," given the quantity of phytonutrients it contains and its market value. Ferrero added that palm oil's high commercial value is due to the fact that it is a natural product containing a great amount of tocotrienols, an exclusive form of vitamin E with great anti-oxidant and cardiovascular protection properties. "The numbers speak for themselves. While 100 liters of palm oil would generate about $92 in business, the same quantity of tocotrienol sold to the cosmetics industry, for example, would generate about $7,500," she said. Meanwhile, Colombia's deputy minister for Entrepreneurial Development, Daniel Arango, called on the sector to "increase its productivity," warning that it has grown in extent but its productivity has not expanded at the same rhythm. "We must focus ourselves on products with greater value added," he said. According to the vice minister, Colombian palm oil exports grew by 10.4 percent in 2015 and he emphasized that there is a "great market opportunity to be opened for (Colombia)." Agriculture Ministry permanent crops program coordinator William Granados Perez said Colombia expects to add 150,000 hectares (about 370,000 acres) to its palm oil plantations over the next three years. The expansion is part of the government's Colombia Siembra Plan, whose goal is to go from 7.1 million hectares (17.5 million acres) to 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) under cultivation over the next three years, Granados said He said the Agriculture Ministry "plans to invest 1.6 trillion pesos (about $480 million) in this period." Assemblyman Bob Oaks is discussing the possibility of running for the seat currently held by state Sen. Michael Nozzolio. In an email, Oaks, R-Macedon, said he's considering running to succeed Nozzolio, R-Fayette, who announced last week that he won't seek re-election this year. "I love serving the people of Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne County in the state Assembly but with New York's numerous challenges, I would be remiss if I did not explore the possibility of mounting a Senate campaign," he said. "I am now going through the process of talking with my family, various local officials and other key individuals as I make that decision." Oaks' district, the 130th Assembly District, includes all of Wayne County and portions of Cayuga and Oswego counties. The district overlaps with the 54th Senate District, which Nozzolio represents. The 54th District includes all or parts of Cayuga, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Tompkins and Wayne counties. Oaks was first elected to the state Assembly in 1992 the same year Nozzolio left the Assembly to run for state Senate. He previously served as Wayne County clerk. A North Rose native, Oaks attended Colgate University, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science. He earned a master's degree in recreation administration from the University of Montana. Republicans are confident they will hold on to the 54th District seat. According to the state Board of Elections, the district has 14,255 more GOP voters than Democrats. So far, Oaks is the only Republican to express interest in Nozzolio's seat. Other potential candidates include Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Assemblyman Gary Finch, both of whom live in the district. DEWITT | A federal program that designates regions as "manufacturing communities" would be made permanent under legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The existing initiative expires at the end of President Barack Obama's term, Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said Monday at FeldMeier Equipment in DeWitt. In order to continue to the program, legislative action is needed. Gillibrand is the sponsor of the Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act. This would establish a permanent program to support manufacturing communities. To receive the classification, regions would need to emphasize six areas, including advanced research, infrastructure and site development and workforce training and retraining. "We all know that Syracuse has the tradition and talent to earn this honor," Gillibrand said. "I'm going to fight hard in Washington to make sure they get this designation." Last year, Vice President Joe Biden and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that Rochester and the Finger Lakes region would host a $610 million photonics hub. The Department of Defense will provide $110 million. The state's share of the funding is $250 million. Private entities will invest $250 million. Gillibrand noted that her bill has bipartisan support in both houses. In the Senate, the measure is cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk and Jerry Moran, Republicans from Illinois and Kansas, respectively. In the House, the bill's Republican cosponsors include U.S. Reps. Richard Hanna, John Katko and Tom Reed of New York. "It can make such a difference to have Democrats and Republicans working together to move something forward," Gillibrand said. Katko said the manufacturing communities designations can help address key issues in the region, including poverty. "The manufacturing community is a very important part of central New York's fabric, its history," he said. "And in the last probably generation, we've really taken a gut shot. It's bills like this that can really help bring it back." In one organization's view, U.S. Rep. John Katko gets an "A" for his education record. The National Education Association gave Katko, R-Camillus, the high score based on votes cast in 2015. The group focused on 14 votes in the House of Representatives, including measures that would restore standards for paraeducators and prevent states from being punished if a large number of students opt out of standardized tests. Arguably the most notable vote was Katko's support of the Every Students Succeeds Act, which overhauled No Child Left Behind. The legislation was approved in December and signed into law by President Barack Obama. "Central New York parents, educators and administrators know best when it comes to educating our children and improving education in our schools," Katko said after the bill's passage. "We must credit our teachers with the ability to make decisions on the local level and give them the flexibility they need to teach students using unique, inventive and creative methods reflective of local conditions." Katko has made education a priority during his first term in Congress. Along with the bills that earned him a top grade in NEA's report card, he supported other measures, including the Mental Health in Schools Act and the Summer Meals Act. In September, he visited the First English Lutheran Church Food Bank in Syracuse to highlight poverty in central New York. Education can play a role in combating poverty, he said. He noted that upstate cities Rochester and Syracuse with high poverty rates have mediocre graduation rates. "Don't tell there's not a correlation between poverty and education," he said. Katko was one of 22 New York House members to receive an A grade from the NEA. Those who earned top marks include U.S. Reps. Richard Hanna and Louise Slaughter. U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, received A grades from the NEA. Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London. 17:55, 17 OCT 2022 Re: Thinking of moving from London to Zurich...some questions Quote: CustomX Sorry, I should make myself clearer. It's my Ltd company. I'm the director. I choose if/how to pay myself. I guess I'm asking whether there is a way that I could rather pay myself in Switzerland so that the salary is taxed at Swiss rates..... Apologies if this has been said before - it's late and I've not waded through the other three pages - but there's a lot of advice on the HMRC website and it may simply be worth a call to them to get it from the horse etc. I assume, as it's your own company, you do your own taxes already? There's space for foreign earnings on that. Have you got a tax dude/dudette who can advise you? If not, I'd find one. There is a dual tax agreement thingy (not the technical term) to ensure that you're not over-taxed on your worldwide earnings, but I'm not sure it doesn't stop you being taxed twice in the first place: I believe you have to claim it back. UK tax would be offset against Swiss tax (or vice versa) and a "check/balance" scenario would happen and you'd either get some tax back or owe more. Again, this is all info I've gleaned for myself of late. I really would consult your accountant. Surely to just pay Swiss tax you'd have to deregister it (?) in the UK and set up your company here again from scratch? I know there are rules about that. There will be more information in different threads. You'd also have to be really careful with the amount of time you spend in the UK in a tax year. It's not many days, depending on your work situation over here. Apologies if this has been said before - it's late and I've not waded through the other three pages - but there's a lot of advice on the HMRC website and it may simply be worth a call to them to get it from the horse etc. I assume, as it's your own company, you do your own taxes already? There's space for foreign earnings on that. Have you got a tax dude/dudette who can advise you? If not, I'd find one. There is a dual tax agreement thingy (not the technical term) to ensure that you're not over-taxed on your worldwide earnings, but I'm not sure it doesn't stop you being taxed twice in the first place: I believe you have to claim it back. UK tax would be offset against Swiss tax (or vice versa) and a "check/balance" scenario would happen and you'd either get some tax back or owe more. Again, this is all info I've gleaned for myself of late. I really would consult your accountant.Surely to just pay Swiss tax you'd have to deregister it (?) in the UK and set up your company here again from scratch? I know there are rules about that. There will be more information in different threads. You'd also have to be really careful with the amount of time you spend in the UK in a tax year. It's not many days, depending on your work situation over here. Last edited by RufusB; 16.02.2016 at 00:52 . Reason: Something else occurred to me Thinking of moving from London to Zurich...some questions I'm hoping to get some advice and feedback. I know there's a wealth of information on this forum and I've sifted through a lot of it, but I'm still struggling to get my head around the whole cost of living situation and where we will stand in a potential relocation to Zurich. I'll try not to ask the questions that I've already seen answers to. Here's my situation. Wife and I live in London. No kids. I work from home and earn roughly 34k through a UK Ltd company. Wife earns the same as a salary. We pay 1350pm rent here in London for a one bed flat. Wife has been offered a job in Zurich, paying (100k CHF) which is basically doubling her salary. I can likely continue in my same role working from Zurich but my 34k will obviously not go as far in Switzerland, so we are trying to work out whether my wife's salary package offer is a decent deal or not, given the exorbitantly high cost of living that we're told to expect in Zurich. So essentially as a couple we're going from earning a combined 68k in London to earning a combined 104k (150k CHF) in Zurich. 1. Is my wife's 100k CHF offer enough to cover the high cost of living, considering it'll basically be making up for my low salary as well? 2.. I gather that rental prices are roughly the same as London so that should stay relatively constant. Will 2000 CHF per month get us a decent 1 bedroom flat close to centre of Zurich in an ex pat friendly area? 3. I only speak English. I work in sales. English is my primary skill. If I were to look at getting another job in Zurich, what are my chances of finding a decent job, given that I only speak English? I do plan to learn German but realistically I will not have the command of German to be able to "sell" in that language, for a good few years. 4. Is there any issue with me continuing to earn my income through my UK company (and pay my taxes in the UK) and just transferring money over to my (yet to be opened) Swiss bank account? Or will I have to somehow pay income tax in Switzerland if I am resident there? 5. A large part of our lifestyle here in the UK involves enjoying good food. Not gourmet stuff. Just lots of fruit, veges and decent quality home cooked food. We also tend to dine out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Normally spend 40ish per meal (2 mains, a drink each and a shared desert). I gather that we're gonna have to get used to spending 100 CHF every time we go out for a meal in Switz. Can you get decent Thai food in Zurich? Mexican? Burgers? Meditteranean falafel etc? 6. We don't know yet whether the salary package includes health insurance for one or both of us. I understand that this is compulsory in Switz. Is it common for employers to pay health insurance premiums for employees? I gather that for a decent plan that covers health and dental we're looking at around 400 CHF per person, per month. right? 7. smartphone plans. In the UK I pay 20 a month for unlimited minutes, texts and 3GB of data. No contract or commitment. Anything comparable in Switz? 8. Home broadband - recommended good deals? Need unlimited data and at least 10Mbps download speed. No need for television. We don't watch it. Only need broadband and a landline phone. 9. What is the deal with online shopping from Switzerland? On an almost weekly basis, I purchase items from UK sellers on Ebay/Amazon. Will this become more expensive due to Swiss import duties and taxes? Do I have to just forget about online shopping and accept that I will be paying Swiss prices for goods from now on? 10. We will likely get some type of relocation allowance or have the costs paid. I assume its therefore best to buy furniture such as a bed here in the UK and get it driven over in a container. Will we need to pay Swiss taxes on newly acquired stuff (such as a bed)? 11. I hear that people regularly go over to Germany to do their shopping. How does this work in terms of customs and import taxes? Don't you have to pay tax on that shopping when you bring it back over the border into Switz? Is this a non-option for people like us who don't own a car? 12. We have a small online business that involves shipping items out to customers worldwide. Are postage costs in line with everything else in Switz? Ie. expensive compared with the UK? 13. Flights from Zurich appear to be significantly more expensive than flights from London. Is this an accurate impression? Or is it just the time of year that I happen to be looking at? Thanks for any and all advice/suggestions/feedback! Hi All,I'm hoping to get some advice and feedback. I know there's a wealth of information on this forum and I've sifted through a lot of it, but I'm still struggling to get my head around the whole cost of living situation and where we will stand in a potential relocation to Zurich. I'll try not to ask the questions that I've already seen answers to.Here's my situation. Wife and I live in London. No kids. I work from home and earn roughly 34k through a UK Ltd company. Wife earns the same as a salary. We pay 1350pm rent here in London for a one bed flat. Wife has been offered a job in Zurich, paying (100k CHF) which is basically doubling her salary.I can likely continue in my same role working from Zurich but my 34k will obviously not go as far in Switzerland, so we are trying to work out whether my wife's salary package offer is a decent deal or not, given the exorbitantly high cost of living that we're told to expect in Zurich.So essentially as a couple we're going from earning a combined 68k in London to earning a combined 104k (150k CHF) in Zurich.1. Is my wife's 100k CHF offer enough to cover the high cost of living, considering it'll basically be making up for my low salary as well?2.. I gather that rental prices are roughly the same as London so that should stay relatively constant. Will 2000 CHF per month get us a decent 1 bedroom flat close to centre of Zurich in an ex pat friendly area?3. I only speak English. I work in sales. English is my primary skill. If I were to look at getting another job in Zurich, what are my chances of finding a decent job, given that I only speak English? I do plan to learn German but realistically I will not have the command of German to be able to "sell" in that language, for a good few years.4. Is there any issue with me continuing to earn my income through my UK company (and pay my taxes in the UK) and just transferring money over to my (yet to be opened) Swiss bank account? Or will I have to somehow pay income tax in Switzerland if I am resident there?5. A large part of our lifestyle here in the UK involves enjoying good food. Not gourmet stuff. Just lots of fruit, veges and decent quality home cooked food. We also tend to dine out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Normally spend 40ish per meal (2 mains, a drink each and a shared desert). I gather that we're gonna have to get used to spending 100 CHF every time we go out for a meal in Switz. Can you get decent Thai food in Zurich? Mexican? Burgers? Meditteranean falafel etc?6. We don't know yet whether the salary package includes health insurance for one or both of us. I understand that this is compulsory in Switz. Is it common for employers to pay health insurance premiums for employees? I gather that for a decent plan that covers health and dental we're looking at around 400 CHF per person, per month. right?7. smartphone plans. In the UK I pay 20 a month for unlimited minutes, texts and 3GB of data. No contract or commitment. Anything comparable in Switz?8. Home broadband - recommended good deals? Need unlimited data and at least 10Mbps download speed. No need for television. We don't watch it. Only need broadband and a landline phone.9. What is the deal with online shopping from Switzerland? On an almost weekly basis, I purchase items from UK sellers on Ebay/Amazon. Will this become more expensive due to Swiss import duties and taxes? Do I have to just forget about online shopping and accept that I will be paying Swiss prices for goods from now on?10. We will likely get some type of relocation allowance or have the costs paid. I assume its therefore best to buy furniture such as a bed here in the UK and get it driven over in a container. Will we need to pay Swiss taxes on newly acquired stuff (such as a bed)?11. I hear that people regularly go over to Germany to do their shopping. How does this work in terms of customs and import taxes? Don't you have to pay tax on that shopping when you bring it back over the border into Switz? Is this a non-option for people like us who don't own a car?12. We have a small online business that involves shipping items out to customers worldwide. Are postage costs in line with everything else in Switz? Ie. expensive compared with the UK?13. Flights from Zurich appear to be significantly more expensive than flights from London. Is this an accurate impression? Or is it just the time of year that I happen to be looking at?Thanks for any and all advice/suggestions/feedback! Re: Registered c permit but giving birth in Uk to return to work after maternity leav Quote: Supakataki I've just registered with the NHS, to register you need to show a utility bill and ID. I know this because my dad is a GP. If you are legally resident in the UK, then that is fine. But since you say you have a C permit, you can understand why people might think you're not legally resident in the UK and therefore defrauding the NHS. In principle it is possible to be resident in more than one country. Especially tax resident. So, if you want to stop the questioning of your motives and get answers to your questions, why not explain how you are resident in both Switzerland and the UK? To legally register you must be resident in the UK. They may accept a utility bill with a UK address and your name, and a passport, but if you're not resident in the UK that is fraud.If you are legally resident in the UK, then that is fine. But since you say you have a C permit, you can understand why people might think you're not legally resident in the UK and therefore defrauding the NHS.In principle it is possible to be resident in more than one country. Especially tax resident.So, if you want to stop the questioning of your motives and get answers to your questions, why not explain how you are resident in both Switzerland and the UK? __________________ Down with racism. Long live miscegenation! Medical Certificate Hello all, Anyone knows if when you get a surgery in a very complicated wisdom tooth removal that was completely horizontal, from outside Europe(Brazil), and the doctor there recommends 14 days of total rest to avoid stitches to rupture and also because there was gum/bone implant to the lower jaw. And then you arrive in Switzerland, and your boss says he only accepts any medical certificate if it's passed by a Swiss doctor, the certificate I have it's in English, so not really a very "strange" language, and he does speak English, is this legal at all? Because first of all the doctor here doesn't know exactly all that was done during the surgery, so he cannot evaluate correctly, so we went to a doctor here, my wife face still looks like a chipmunk on the side of the surgery, and the Brazilian doctor, recommended 14 days rest, and here "yeah 4-5 days should be good". The boss says "since the surgery was not in your arms and legs you can work, I would understand if was office work, but in this case it's heavy cleaning, with short time frames, so the pressure its huge to finish in time. In case something happens, and the stitches rupture or so, due to the stupid sickness leave days reduction, can I process him stop that stupid pressure to work, and "f@ck the health" method, since 14 days rest to 4-5 days it's a huge difference.. Thanks Consulting contract outside Switzerland (tax issues) I've tried to find some information on the forum but failed. My obvious keywords gave dozens of irrelevant results. During my previous job, I developed a software that was sold to a company in Canada. That company now owns the IP rights for the software and the actual source code. I am currently employed in Zurich (B permit) and I'm being taxed at source (fixed monthly salary). The said company has contacted me to develop some extensions and fix some bugs in the code. They will provide a list of bugs and features, we will agree on a price and deadline, and upon completion they will pay me the money. My previous company has replied in writing that they have no demands on money etc. (since nobody there can do the job anyway). My current company has no problem in me doing this as long as I don't use company equipment, my work is not affected, and I don't use the company name in any way. My assumption is that I'll make a declaration of this money at the end of the year and they will recompute my tax and contributions based on the revised income and I'll pay the difference. For instance, I am now paid X/month, so Income=12*X+Contract. Is this correct? Will I get taxed on the lumped money for the year, or just on the month I get the money? Do I have to charge VAT for these services? The company told me they usually pay the VAT on their side in Canada. Any hints I need to keep in mind so as not to get in trouble? As soon as I receive the contract I will of course visit a lawyer (and hope he doesn't charge me half the amount I get ). However, I would like a first view to see if it's worth the trouble. Thanks in advance! Hi all,I've tried to find some information on the forum but failed. My obvious keywords gave dozens of irrelevant results.During my previous job, I developed a software that was sold to a company in. That company now owns the IP rights for the software and the actual source code.I am currently employed in Zurich () and I'm being taxed at source (fixed monthly salary). The said company has contacted me to develop some extensions and fix some bugs in the code. They will provide a list of bugs and features, we will agree on a price and deadline, and upon completion they will pay me the money.My previous company has replied in writing that they have no demands on money etc. (since nobody there can do the job anyway). My current company has no problem in me doing this as long as I don't use company equipment, my work is not affected, and I don't use the company name in any way.Do I have to charge VAT for these services? The company told me they usually pay the VAT on their side in Canada. Any hints I need to keep in mind so as not to get in trouble?As soon as I receive the contract I will of course visit a lawyer (and hope he doesn't charge me half the amount I get). However, I would like a first view to see if it's worth the trouble.Thanks in advance! On 23 July 2009, the Manipur police claimed to have had an encounter with a Peoples Liberation Army Cadre Sanjit, in which he died. While this version was widely contested by the local people who claimed that Sanjit was murdered in a cold-blooded manner, a set of sequential photographs depicting Manipur police commandos overpowering an unarmed Sanjit, taking him inside a shuttered-down chemist shop and then coming out with his bullet-ridden dead body, published in the Tehelka magazine, left no doubts about the nature of the killing. The Manipur administration, however, reiterated its stand. Recently, head constable Herojit Singh, who had allegedly fought back Sanjit leading to his death and was later awarded a gallantry medal, told the press that he had killed an unarmed Sanjit on orders from his higher-ups. His confession reiterates the claims of civil society groups. While Herojit waited for six years to come out with the statement, in the meantime the assistant superintendent of police (ASP), who allegedly ordered the encounter, has been promoted. Significantly, Herojit has claimed that the then ASP had also told him that the Chief Minister and the Director General of Police had given the go ahead. Though the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which conducted an inquiry into the case has charge-sheeted nine policemen, none has yet been arrested. As for the superior officers or higher-ups, no action was initiated by the CBI. Herojits statement shows that there is a clear hierarchy at work, wherein the higher-ups are protected and the lower-ranked officers are tried if there be a pressing case like Sanjits. The ESRF User Organisation has awarded the title of Young Scientist of the year to Dr Andrew Cairns, 27, for his ground breaking studies of negative linear compressibility. On behalf of the ESRF User Organisation, Andrew was presented the award by Professor Massimo Altarelli, at the 26th ESRF User Meeting in Grenoble, on 8th February 2016. The panel of judges, made up of eminent X-ray scientists selected by Massimo Altarelli, received many high quality nominees for the prize, making the final choice a difficult exercise. Although the existence of negative linear compressibilities (NLC), or the expansion of materials under pressure, has been known for many decades, Andrew Cairns, using ESRF X-rays, identified materials with the strongest NLC effect yet known, at least one order of magnitude larger than in previous known cases, said Massimo Altarelli. The work that earned Andrew Cairns this recognition was published in Nature Materials in 2013 and received much attention, not only in scientific spheres but also in the general media. "Andrew Cairns has done outstanding work on the mechanical properties of metal-organic frameworks, in particular concerning the occurrence of negative linear and negative area compressibility in cyanide systems, and I was delighted to hear that he has received the Young Scientist of the Year award from the ESRF User Organisation," said Tony Cheetham, Fellow of the Royal Society and eminent scientist in the field of materials chemistry. Being named as Young Scientist is a huge surprise, and a great honour. Of course this work would not have been possible without the help of many colleagues who I would like to thank: those at Oxford, collaborators across Europe, and the very patient ESRF scientists who helped with our original experiments, said Andrew Cairns on receiving the prize. Materials that break the rules Negative compressibility occurs when a material expands under pressure, rather than shrinking. Whilst thermodynamic laws forbid the volume of the material to expand, they do not dictate that it must shrink in every direction. Take the example of a foldable wine rack, says Andrew. Its collapsed (low-volume) state is narrower but taller than the expanded (high-volume) state. This expansion with volume reduction is negative linear compressibility (NLC). Until recently very few NLC materials were known, and of those the expansion was small in comparison to the normal contraction of common engineering materials. This is where Andrews work has made such a significant impact. His research brings together mechanistic understanding of the phenomena with the knowledge of how to engineer materials on the atomic scale in a class of materials known as molecular frameworks. Since the discovery of extreme NLC in these structures, more NLC materials are being identified. Its like a game of Meccano, says Andrew. Molecular frameworks are made up of metal nodes with certain shapes, which for us act like hinges, linked together with molecules that act as struts. There is a huge choice of metals and linkers available, and part of the challenge is to select the most appropriate candidates to target functionality. So for NLC were usually looking for materials that resemble the famous wine rack! The applications for NLC materials is wide: sensitive pressure sensing, pressure driven actuators, the development of artificial muscles, bullet-proof clothing, fibre optics for telecommunications, or compensators for other undesirable material expansion. Although finding application for his research is high on the list of concerns, it does not seem to be the main motivation for Dr Cairns. Im attracted to exotic materials that break the rules. They do the opposite to whats expected of them and for me thats fascinating. Imagination, intuition, knowledge: ingredients for science Andrew has been studying materials showing unusual properties since 2010. It became the focus of his PhD thesis at the University of Oxford in the UK, which he completed in 2015 and for which he obtained a commendation from the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division of Oxford University, a rarity reserved for exceptional reports. His thesis director, Professor Andrew Goodwin, Department of Chemistry, Oxford University, was delighted to hear the news of Andrews latest award. This is wonderfully deserved recognition for a supremely talented young researcher. Andrew is a careful experimentalist, with a sharp analytic mind and excellent scientific instincts. But, above all, he is a creative researcher with no fear of the tricky and rewarding science between disciplines. Andrew Cairns, left, with Prof. Andrew Goodwin, at the ESRF User Meeting 2016 where Prof. Goodwin gave a keynote lecture on "supramolecular interactions in the solid state: flexibility, frustration, and function". Credit: ESRF/C. Argoud. Despite his genuine modesty and fresh demeanour, Andrew is well accustomed to receiving prizes. In fact his work has been receiving recognition ever since he first triumphed in high school chemistry Olympiads, having being nudged in this direction by an observant and conscientious teacher. The same whose influence led to an application to study at Oxford. I spent all my childhood trying to find out how things work. Taking things apart and putting them back together again. Participating in the Olympiads made me realise how much I love problem-solving. I never thought Id do a PhD or be working at the forefront of a field of research. I feel privileged to be able to have a job where I can do what I really love doing every day. As well as carrying out challenging high-pressure experiments in his new role at the ESRF, he hopes to continue to design and make new materials with exciting properties. For him, this process is creative as well as technical: following instinct to what might be interesting, dreaming up awesome new structures, imagining how they might respond when put under pressure. Sometimes, you just dont know where the idea will come from. The inkling of a breakthrough It was during the first year of his PhD studies that Andrew discovered the ESRF. In late 2011, he obtained three days of beamtime on BM01, the Swiss Norwegian beamline, to carry out the experiments that compensated him with a Eureka moment, and the beginnings of a scientific breakthrough. During the first year of my PhD, I was at the ESRF testing the materials that our group had made during my Masters. I remember we were plodding along, methodically testing the materials and then one sample started showing a response completely different to the others. I remember that feeling, walking over to the canteen for lunch, in a bit of a haze thinking What is going on? What are we going to do with this? then realising that Id never seen this before, and nobody else had either! Of course, a lot of work was needed in between this first inkling that something exceptional was taking place and getting all the data together to confirm and present the findings. Andrew clearly remembers that Eureka moment, however, and how it helped him in those long months before publication. No matter how few and far between those moments, they are a powerful driver for perseverance. The undergraduate chemistry degree at Oxford University includes one year of research following on from a mainly theoretical programme. It was this practical experience that was critical for Andrews career path; the deciding moment when he knew he wanted to work in research. After the PhD he saw the ESRF was seeking a post-doctoral fellow for its high pressure beamline, ID27. He was attracted by the possibility to continue his own research projects while learning more techniques and experimental skills, at the same time as meeting people to develop collaborations and gain momentum on projects. Andrew joined the ESRF in September 2015 and hopes this move will give the opportunity of many more discoveries like those that started it all in 2011. Theres still so much to learn. Just how large can these responses be? How do we go about engineering materials with complex combinations of properties? Can we tailor and tune properties to the optimum that might be demanded for a particular application? Needless to say these next steps are very exciting, About the Young Scientist Award Each year since 1995, the Young Scientist Award (YSA) is presented to a scientist aged 35 or under in recognition of outstanding work carried out at the ESRF. The ESRF Users Organisation chooses a chairperson for the YSA. The chairperson then forms a selection committee composed of distinguished scientists whose expertise covers the most important areas of synchrotron science. The panel calls for nominations from institutes around the world and evaluates nominees on the basis of the following criteria: Significant and personal contribution to either a novel method or technique, or to the advancement of a particular field based on ESRF measurements Quality and quantity of publications, conference contributions and responsibilities Importance of the specific field for synchrotron science research For the 2016 YSA the selection committee was set-up and chaired by Prof. Massimo Altarelli, Chairman and Managing Director of the European XFEL, Hamburg, Germany. Professor Altarelli was Director of Research at the ESRF from 1987-1993. The panel was composed of the following members: Professor Janos Hajdu, Univ. of Uppsala, Professor Alessandro Olivo, Univ. College London Professor Massimo Altarelli, European XFEL (Chair) Professor Ivan Vartaniants, DESY, Hamburg and National Research Nuclear University, Moscow, was also consulted for a specific nomination concerning the use of the coherence properties. Previous winners of the Young Scientist Award. Survey reveals how much pocket money Aussie kids are earning New data reveals gender pay gap reversed when it comes to pocket money. The Siena College Research Institute recently released the results of its annual survey of upstate business leaders. The poll results were interesting, not only because of the insights provided, but because it represents the views and voices of business leaders. We hear enough political speeches and redundant rhetoric about the states business climate. It is critical that we pay attention to the men and women who create jobs, bolster our local economies and have an in-depth knowledge of the challenges that exist. TELLING STATISTICS For years, Albany has provided nothing to the states businesses other than taxes, fees and regulations. The pattern has resulted in one of the nations worst business climates, a fact not lost on the business leaders who operate in New York. The Siena survey produced some alarming feedback: 64 percent of upstate businesses believe New York is doing a poor job of creating a business climate in which companies can succeed, an increase of 9 percent from 2012. Upstate business confidence is at its lowest point since 2012, with 87 percent of businesses stating they have little-to-no confidence that state government will improve the climate for businesses over the next year. When asked to consider all the factors that go into locating a business in New York, 67 percent of upstate businesses said they would have located somewhere else if they had to do it all over again. Governmental regulation ranked as the #1 challenge facing upstate businesses. 87 percent of upstate businesses surveyed oppose increasing the minimum wage for all workers to $15 per hour. HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES SUCCEED Instead of forcing more politically-driven policies like the $15 per hour minimum wage on the backs of job creators, Albany must focus its efforts to eliminate the obstacles faced by businesses and enact broad-based tax cuts that will facilitate the necessary improvements to our economic environment. My Small Business Full Employment Act will provide: Personal Income Tax Exemption: Provides a 15 percent Personal Income Tax exemption for businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Employee Retainment Tax Credit: A tiered tax credit against the Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Corporate Franchise Tax (CFT) for businesses with at least one and fewer than 100 employees that maintain their employment levels for one year. The credits range from $1,000 to $5,000. Hire-NY Tax Credit: Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees would be eligible for a $5,000 tax credit against the PIT and CFT for each new job created. Sales Tax Amnesty Program: Creates a sales tax amnesty program for struggling small businesses recently audited and fined by the Department of Taxation and Finance. It would be a limited-time opportunity allowing businesses to pay a defined amount in exchange for forgiveness of a tax liability. Tuition Assistance Tax Credit: Employees who agree to work with an employer for a specified number of years would be eligible to have their college tuition paid for by their employer. In turn, the employer would be awarded a 25 percent tax credit or up to $5,000 annually. Small Business Regulatory Relief Division of Regulatory Review & Economic Growth: Would make binding recommendations to eliminate onerous regulations. It would also require a small- business economic impact statement prior to the passage of any rule or regulation impacting small businesses; a regulatory flexibility analysis prior to the adoption of proposed regulations to minimize adverse impacts on small businesses; and require a periodic review of rules and regulations to determine whether such rules should continue without change, be amended or rescinded. Small Business Regulatory Amnesty Program: Allows small businesses to remedy rules or regulation violations within six months to avoid financial penalties. As the states only legislative leader who has owned and run a business, the feedback from upstate business leaders comes as no surprise. The challenges are real and they are significant. Unfortunately, to date, Albanys response has been anything but. What do you think? I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding this or any other issue facing New York State. You can always contact my district office at (315) 781-2030, email me at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us, find me by searching for Assemblyman Brian Kolb on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter. Jean Maria Arrigo, who confronted systematic efforts by the American Psychological Association (APA) to allow and conceal the involvement of psychologists in the torture and abuse of detainees following the September 11 attacks, has been awarded the 2015 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Arrigo, an independent social psychologist and oral historian focusing on ethics and national security issues, was honored by AAAS "for her courage and persistence in advocating for ethical behavior among her fellow psychologists, the importance of international human rights standards, and against torture." In 2005, APA convened the Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) in response to press accounts disclosing the role psychologists played in coercive interrogations at U.S.-run detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq. Arrigo was named to the task force, which was to provide ethical guidelines for psychologists' participation in national security detention and interrogation operations. Unlike Arrigo, most of her fellow task force members were representatives of the military and intelligence community. Arrigo raised a range of concerns before and during the meeting. She called unsuccessfully for the task force's mission to be broadened to encompass questions of whether APA should declare psychologist involvement in coercive interrogations incompatible with the profession's ethical obligations. Arrigo also endorsed the minority view that the Geneva Convention's human rights standards should govern APA's position rather than the standards adopted by the Bush administration. Additionally, Arrigo voted against the majority's decision that the task force deliberations should remain secret. The PENS task force report, written by the chief ethics officer at APA, asserted that psychologists' participation in national security interrogations served to keep these operations "safe, legal, ethical, and effective," a claim drawn directly from Department of Defense instructions. Arrigo acquiesced to adoption of the task force's pre-determined conclusions based on a promise that this was only a "first step" and that further ethical concerns would be addressed at subsequent meetings. When it became clear to her that this promise would not kept, Arrigo made public the entire PENS listserv correspondence, all drafts of the PENS report, and her personal notes. She joined the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, which spearheaded an effort to repudiate and annul the flawed PENS report. "Arrigo raised concerns and objections both during panel meetings and repeatedly thereafter, sounding the alarm over the panel's close ties to the military and its failure to ensure psychologists wouldn't be facilitating torture," said Darshan Karwat, a AAAS Science and Technology Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy, who nominated Arrigo for the award. Through articles, interviews, and talks, Arrigo advocated against the APA's policy and the legitimacy of the PENS task force. Arrigo and the coalition "have for the past decade overcome systematic silencing of their voices" by APA, Karwat said, despite personal attacks against her by some APA staff members and elected leaders. In 2014, New York Times reporter James Risen's Pay Any Price charged that the APA approved the role its members were playing in interrogation techniques that were widely believed to be torture. In response, APA initiated an independent review by law firm Sidley Austin that ultimately confirmed Arrigo's longstanding suspicions. The subsequent report, known as the Hoffman Report after its lead investigator, found extensive collusion between APA and Department of Defense officials over several years, with some text of the PENS report copied directly from emails between APA's ethics officer and DOD members of the task force. Relying in part on documents provided by Arrigo, the Hoffman Report concluded that the PENS report was tainted by significant conflicts of interest and was primarily a public relations effort to quiet the growing outrage among psychologists and the public over the profession's reported involvement in abusive interrogations. Under pressure from Arrigo and fellow dissidents, the APA rescinded the PENS report in 2013 and last year revised its ethics policy to prohibit the participation of psychologists in national security interrogations. Arrigo's actions "attest to her courage in continuing to stand up and speak out for the ethical behavior of members of her profession, the integrity of internal task force efforts, the importance of rigorous international standards in U.S. national security policy, and the immorality of torture, even in times of crisis," the selection panel said. Established in 1980 and approved by the AAAS Board of Directors, the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award honors scientists, engineers, or their organizations for exemplary actions that foster scientific freedom and responsibility. Previous award winners have been recognized for outstanding efforts to protect the public's health, safety, or welfare; to focus public attention on potential impacts of science and technology; to establish new precedents in carrying out social responsibilities; or to defend the professional freedom of scientists and engineers. The AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award will be awarded during the 182nd AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., 11-15 February 2016. The AAAS Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, February 12, in Palladian Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel. ### ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (February 9, 2016) - Recent years have seen an increase in those suffering from allergies, including baby boomers. And because older people tend to have additional chronic diseases, diagnosis and management of allergic rhinitis (hay fever) can be a challenge. A new study shows immunotherapy (allergy shots) reduced symptoms by 55 percent after three years of therapy, and decreased the amount of medication needed for relief of symptoms by 64 percent. The study, in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), randomly sorted 60 hay fever sufferers, aged 65 to 75 years, into two groups. The first group received allergy shots for three years, and the second group received a placebo. "Older people who suffer from hay fever may have health challenges that younger people do not," said allergist Ira Finegold, MD, ACAAI past president. "Hay fever is often ignored in older patients as a less significant health problem because of diseases such as asthma, coronary heart disease, depression and high blood pressure. Also, some baby boomers might not realize they have allergies, and their physicians might not suggest allergy shots. The research indicated that allergy shots were extremely effective for this group." Although the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases rarely focus on older patients, according to the Polish study, hay fever is more common in patients over 65 years of age. "It's important that allergy treatment methods commonly used in young people are also investigated for use in older patients," said allergist Gailen Marshall, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. "More and more allergists are expanding the age limit for allergy shots as the baby boomer generation enters their senior years. Although there are no doubts about the effectiveness of allergy shots for both adults and children, there hasn't been much research until now in older patients." The study authors state the results of the study indicate an aging immune system doesn't significantly influence the effectiveness of immunotherapy. ### For more information about immunotherapy, and to locate an allergist in your area, visit AllergyAndAsthmaRelief.org. About ACAAI The ACAAI is a professional medical organization of more than 6,000 allergists-immunologists and allied health professionals, headquartered in Arlington Heights, Ill. The College fosters a culture of collaboration and congeniality in which its members work together and with others toward the common goals of patient care, education, advocacy and research. ACAAI allergists are board-certified physicians trained to diagnose allergies and asthma, administer immunotherapy, and provide patients with the best treatment outcomes. For more information and to find relief, visit AllergyandAsthmaRelief.org. Join us on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Washington, D.C., Feb. 9, 2016 - Researchers at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS, and the University of Lorraine have recently developed a design for a coiled-up acoustic metasurface which can achieve total acoustic absorption in very low-frequency ranges. "The main advantage is the deep-subwavelength thickness of our absorber, which means that we can deal with very low-frequencies - meaning very large wavelengths - with extremely reduced size structure," said Badreddine Assouar, a principal research scientist at CNRS in Nancy, France. Assouar and Li, a post-doc in his group at the Institut Jean Lamour, affiliated with the CNRS and the University of Lorraine, describe their work this week in Applied Physics Letters from AIP Publishing. Acoustic absorption systems work by absorbing sound energy at a resonant frequency and dissipating it into heat. Traditional acoustic absorbers consist of specially perforated plates placed in front of hard objects to form air cavities; however, in order to operate at low frequencies, these systems must also be relatively thick in length, which makes them physically impractical for most applications. To remedy this, Assouar's group, whose previous work consisted of developing coiled channel systems, designed an acoustic absorber in which sound waves enter an internal coiled air channel through a perforated center hole. This forces the acoustic waves to travel through the channel, effectively increasing the total propagation length of the waves and leading to an effective low sound velocity and high acoustic refractive index. This allows them to make the absorber itself relatively thin, while still maintaining the absorptive properties of a much thicker chamber. This is made possible because the coiled chamber's acoustic reactance - a property analogous to electrical reactance, a circuit's opposition to a change in voltage or current - compensates for the reactance of the perforated hole and allows for impedance matching to be achieved. This causes all of the acoustic energy to be transferred to the chamber, rather than reflected, and to be ultimately absorbed within the perforated hole. Further applications of such metasurface may deal with the realization of tunable amplitude and phase profile for acoustic engineering, which would allow for the manipulation of an acoustic wave's propagation trajectory for special applications, such as manipulating particles with a vortex wavefront. Future work for Assouar and his group will include developing the sample fabrication process with 3D printing and subsequent performance analyses. ### The article, "Acoustic metasurface-based perfect absorber with deep subwavelength thickness" is authored by Yong Li and Badreddine M. Assouar. It will appear in the journal Applied Physics Letters on February 9, 2016 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4941338). After that date, it can be accessed at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/108/6/10.1063/1.4941338 ABOUT THE JOURNAL Applied Physics Letters features concise, rapid reports on significant new findings in applied physics. The journal covers new experimental and theoretical research on applications of physics phenomena related to all branches of science, engineering, and modern technology. http://apl.aip.org BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 8, 2016 -- The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will hold its annual meeting April 2 - 6 at the San Diego Convention Center. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology conference, at which five other sponsoring societies and multiple guest societies also will hold their annual meetings. Below are the scientific symposia highlights. Each of the 12 symposia will be held over multiple days. For a day-by-day schedule, visit http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/program/. BIOINORGANIC CATALYSIS A closer look under the hood Enzymes are sophisticated molecular machines that make myriad biochemical reactions in nature possible. Over the past 100 years, scientists have learned a lot about how enzymes function but there is still much unraveling to do in order to precisely delineate the impact these machines have on disease processes. This symposium will provide a tour of the forefront of enzyme research, offering a look under the hood of some of the most sophisticated enzymes currently known. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/enzymes/) CELL SIGNALING, KINASE, AND CHEMOTHERAPY From bench to bedside Kinases influence cell signaling, which affects cell growth and differentiation. Abnormal kinase activity is associated with many cancers, and drugs that can inhibit kinases have become a highly successful and growing class of anticancer agents. This symposium will focus on how kinase activity is regulated and on ways to target kinases during cancer treatment. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/cellsignal/) CHEMICAL BIOLOGY Next-generation opportunities Discovery often happens at the intersections of disciplines. Real-world biological challenges such as controlling microbial infections, improving food production and managing global sustainability will require approaches dependent upon chemical biology techniques that combine vast genomic information with powerful analytical tools. This symposium will explore new applications and opportunities for chemical biologists at disciplinary intersections. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/chembio/.) CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION AND GENE REGULATION How chromatin remodeling influences health President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative ambitiously aims to gather health data, including genomic information, from a diverse cohort of 1 million volunteer participants. Once those data are gathered, researchers will begin the enormous task of analyzing the differences between individuals and determining what role genetics play in diseases. Previous research has demonstrated that proper regulation of gene expression and function is critical to maintaining health, but our understanding of how this process works remains limited. This symposium will zero in on the relationships between gene regulation and disease, focusing in particular on the impact of remodeling of chromatin structure. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/chromatin/) DNA REPLICATION, REPAIR AND RECOMBINATION Make no mistake about it How cells manage to make and maintain an extraordinary amount of DNA while avoiding most errors that lead to mutation and disease remains one of the foremost questions in molecular biology. This symposium will focus on how DNA replication, repair and recombination are done right, and how errors in these processes lead to diseases such as cancer. Aziz Sancar of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who won the 2015 Nobel prize for his work on DNA repair and the ASBMB's Bert and Natalie Vallee Award in Biomedical Science, will give a lecture about his work Tuesday, April 5. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/dna/) EDUCATION Training the next generation of biochemists and molecular biologists Nobelist laureate William Lawrence Bragg once said, "The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them." This quote raises the question of how today's educators should structure training programs so that students maintain their sense of wonder about the world both in and out of academia. This symposium will explore how universities can help students gain a deep and quantitative understanding of biochemistry and molecular biology, engage students on both theoretical and experiential levels, and prepare students for a range of careers. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/biochemedu/) GLYCOSCIENCE IN BIOLOGY From humans to bacteria Glycans -- often referred to as carbohydrates, saccharides or sugars -- are molecules found in and on every living cell. They affect gene and protein expression. They act as red flags on pathogens for our immune system. They can be used to make renewable materials. And so much more. This symposium will showcase new research about how glycans get tacked onto proteins, how glycans affect basic cellular processes and how learning more about glycans can help researchers combat certain diseases. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/glyco/) LIPIDS They continue to surprise us As scientists learn more about lipids, it becomes increasingly clear that they play important roles as structural molecules, signaling molecules and regulatory molecules. Determining how lipids are generated and ultimately function will provide researchers a better understanding of how cells and organisms develop and respond to their environments. This symposium will feature presentations on these topics from leaders in the study of lipid function in health and disease. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/lipids/) METABOLISM, DISEASE AND DRUG DESIGN Drug discovery and the changing landscape of biology Drug-discovery programs are constantly enlivened by new advances in biochemistry and molecular biology. This symposium will highlight some of the novel approaches being taken to integrate new tools and concepts into the drug-discovery pipeline. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/metabolism/) NONALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE Seeking solutions for a growing problem Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease affects more than 30 percent of the U.S. population. Latinos in America are disproportionately affected by the disease, and it is also on the rise in India and Brazil, underscoring its global impact. The symposium will focus on the molecular signals that contribute to liver failure and the genetics that contribute to disease outcomes. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/nafld/) PROTEIN SYNTHESIS & DEGRADATION Shifting paradigms in the regulation of protein functions The dogma that protein function is solely regulated by the process of translation has been turned on its head. Researchers have recognized that maintenance and degradation processes play equally important roles in dictating protein function, and recent work has shown the impact of misregulation of these processes in diseases such as Alzheimer's. This symposium will consider how, as new tools and methods emerge, unanticipated paradigms of protein function regulation are being formed in this complex and exciting field. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/protein/) STRAIGHT FROM THE BENCH SYMPOSIA Protein engineering and microbes The two Straight from the Bench symposia - one about protein engineering and the other about microbes - were organized by graduate students. The protein engineering session will include a keynote lecture about designing and optimizing artificial enzymes, and the microbes session will include a keynote lecture about the organism that causes African sleeping sickness. (More information: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/proteinengineer/ and http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/posttrans/) SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AND PROTEOMICS Breaking down complex biological systems Biochemical research has evolved from focusing on individual pathways and components to studying entire biological systems, whether it be a single cell, a multicellular organism or a microbial community. The new challenge for researchers is how to integrate findings from different fields and disciplines in order to develop and apply approaches capable of probing these complex systems. At this symposium, experts in network modeling, proteomics and data analysis will present insights into the new linguistics of biological systems research. (Schedule: http://asbmb.org/meetings/AM2016/sessions/proteomics/) ### About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit http://www.asbmb.org. Oxford, February 9, 2016 - Reducing the number of men who go to prison could help curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in a community, according to research published in Social Science & Medicine. A new computer model developed by researchers at the University of Michigan in the US suggests that reducing incarceration in a community may also reduce the number of sexual partners men and women have, therefore reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. Men who have been to prison can experience major changes in their sexual behavior when they're released. In a community, this can affect the way men and women interact sexually. The new computer model shows that high rates of incarceration of men increase the number of sexual partners for both men and women in a community. "The model shows that simply removing men and returning them to the community frequently can increase the number of sexual partners that both men and women have in the community," said lead author Dr. Andrea Knittel, who is now at the University of California, San Francisco. "It supports the assertion that mass incarceration has complicated and far-reaching unintended consequences, and may have significant public health implications." Men are incarcerated much more often than women - in the US in 2009, 954 men were incarcerated per 100,000 residents, compared to 68 women per 100,000 residents. Because of this, most research focuses on men. Previous research has shown links between high levels of incarceration in a community and higher rates of HIV infection. Studies have also revealed a connection between incarceration and risky sexual behavior, such as having more than one sexual partner at a time, or a greater number of sexual partners. However, until now, there has been little research into the effect of incarceration rates on the sexual behavior and spread of sexually transmitted infections in a community. In the new study, the team developed an agent-based model - a computer simulation that creates a small community in which 250 "agents" or simulated people can date and have sexual relationships. The team ran the simulation without incarceration to see how many sexual partners men and women in the community would have. They then ran it again with incarceration to see what would happen. They used data from other studies that show when men are incarcerated they have a slightly higher risk of ending a relationship and become slightly less desirable as partners. In the simulation, incarceration increased the number of sexual partners for both the male and female agents. In addition, when the average sentence length was increased, the differences were more pronounced, suggesting that harsher or longer penalties might exacerbate the effect of incarceration. "Our model showed that high levels of incarceration likely play a role in community-level sexual behavior, and are likely detrimental in terms of sexual risk for HIV and other STDs," said Dr. Knittel. "The results suggest that reducing incarceration and creating a more open criminal justice system that supports the maintenance of inmates' relationships to reduce instability of partnerships for men who are incarcerated may have important sexual health and public health implications." Prisons are expensive and overcrowded; there is growing interest in decreasing incarceration to tackle these issues. Dr. Knittel believes computer simulations like the one in this study are a helpful way to model the effects of reducing incarceration at the community level. "The methods are interesting and unique, and offer a digital petri dish in which experiments that would be impossible in the real world are absolutely doable. The results from computational models can never be applied thoughtlessly to the real world, but are thought-provoking and demonstrate what is possible." Read more on Elsevier Connect. ### Article details: "Modeling the community-level effects of male incarceration on the sexual partnerships of men and women" by Andrea K. Knittel, Rachel C. Snow, Rick L. Riolo, Derek M. Griffith and Jeffrey Morenoff (doi: doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.005). The article appears in Social Science & Medicine, Volume 147 (December 2015), published by Elsevier. A copy of the paper is available to credentialed journalists upon request, contact Elsevier's Newsroom at newsroom@elsevier.com or +31 20 485 2492. About Social Science & Medicine Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. The journal publishes articles on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. About Elsevier Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions -- among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey -- and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com There is no question that the heroin and drug epidemic has taken a toll on our community, devastating many families in Auburn and wreaking havoc on the well-being and safety of where we live. While the growing national discussion on the issue is important to creating long term solutions, political talking points and vague proposals have not put us here in Auburn any closer to overcoming the epidemic. Our community needs leaders working within our neighborhoods and schools, working with local law enforcement, parents, teachers, and health professionals, to address the epidemic with strategies that work for Central New York. I believe Representative Katko has been that leader. Since being elected to Congress, Representative Katko has remained committed to combating the heroin and drug epidemic in our community. Fostering a local dialogue by hosting town forums with local experts on heroin and drug abuse and working in Washington to fight for meaningful policies, Rep. Katko has become a leading figure on this issue in our community as well as in the House of Representatives. As a former federal prosecutor, Representative Katko recognizes the gaps within the criminal justice system that perpetuate the heroin and synthetic drugs epidemic. In Washington, he introduced legislation to close these gaps and provide law enforcement with the authority they need to prevent the manufacturing and selling of synthetic drugs. Having witnessed the tragic impact of drug abuse on our region, I am grateful that we finally have a Representative standing up as a leader in our community and in Congress in the fight against this epidemic. Timothy Zentner Auburn Boulder, Colo., USA - Seismic, deformation, and gas activity (unrest) typically precedes volcanic eruptions. Tracking the changes of this activity with monitoring data makes it increasingly possible to successfully forecast eruptions from stratovolcanoes. However, this is not the case for monogenetic volcanoes (usually the result of a single magmatic pulse). Eruptions from these volcanoes tend to be small but are particularly difficult to anticipate since they occur at unexpected locations, and there is very limited instrumental monitoring data. Many monogenetic volcanic fields occur in high-density, populated areas and tourist destinations (e.g. Canary Islands, Auckland City, Mexico City, Izu-Tobu volcanic field), and thus even a small eruption can have a major economic and societal impact. Helena Albert and colleagues have compiled historical accounts of felt seismicity and combined this information with petrological studies to propose a new conceptual model. Albert and colleagues show that seismic crises occur about a year, two to three months, and a few weeks before eruption, and that these correspond to magmatic intrusions and mixing at mid-crustal depths, followed by magma transport to the surface. They propose a general model for these eruptions in which early dike intrusions in the crust do not erupt (e.g., stalled intrusions) and make small plumbing systems, but they probably are key in creating a thermal and rheological pathway for later dikes to be able to reach the surface. These observations provide a conceptual framework for better anticipating monogenetic eruptions in similar settings and magmatic fluxes and should lead to improved strategies for mitigation of their associated hazards and risks. FEATURED ARTICLE Years to weeks of seismic unrest and magmatic intrusions precede monogenetic eruptions Helena Albert et al., Central Geophysical Observatory, Spanish Geographic Institute (IGN), 28014, Madrid, Spain. This article is open-access online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37239.1.abstract. Other recently posted GEOLOGY articles are highlighted below: Universal scaling of fluid permeability during volcanic welding and sediment diagenesis Fabian B. Wadsworth et al., Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Theresienstrasse 41, 80333 Munich, Germany. This article is open-access online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37559.1.abstract. The movement of pressurized fluids through a volcano or Earth's sedimentary crust and escape is a crucial process to constrain. It helps us to interpret gas fluxes we measure at the surface, or to predict when fluid-driven fracturing will or will not occur at depth. But to understand these processes, we need to know how permeable geologic materials are. This key parameter has remained confined to case studies in which single rock-types are tested and a relationship is proposed. However, in this study, the authors propose that a fundamental relationship exists in which a few simple geometric parameters can be used to predict how permeable a rock will be. More than this, the investigators show that knowing how permeable the sediment or volcanic ash was when it was first deposited is sufficient to know how the permeability will change when the deposit is buried, compacted and undergoes diagenesis at depth. This will help us to predict catastrophic events such as gas-driven volcanic eruptions and borehole failure during resource exploration. Isotopic evidence for iron mobility during subduction B. Debret et al., Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Elvet Hill, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. This paper is open access online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37565.1.abstract. Subduction zones are the geological setting where one plate is dragged beneath another into Earth's interior. These zones are the main place of chemical and fluid exchange between Earth's surface and interior and are associated with active volcanism and high concentrations of ore-forming metals. We have used Fe isotopes in samples of subducted plate material to study the chemical reactions that take place during subduction. Our results show that iron, which is usually considered as immobile, is mobilized in fluids lost from the subducting plate. The mobilization of iron could be triggered by the presence of sulfate and chlorine in fluids. Such fluids are highly oxidizing and capable of mobilizing many other elements, including ore-forming metals like copper and zinc. The migration of these fluids from the subducted plate to the overlying mantle is likely to be an important factor in controlling the chemistry of arc magmas in subduction zones. The ancestors of meandering rivers Renato Paes de Almeida et al., Instituto de Energia e Meio Ambiente, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Avenida Professor Luciano Gualberto, 1289, Sao Paulo-SP 05508-080, Brazil. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37534.1.abstract. This contribution aims at an important question regarding the evolution of sedimentary systems through time, namely the nature and characteristics of rivers developed in low-lands before the first appearance of land plants. Since the efficiency of the sedimentary transport through these low slope gradient areas is dependent on the channel style, the characterization of the pre-vegetation equivalents of the post-Silurian meandering rivers is of great importance to the understanding of the sedimentary global-scale dynamics in Precambrian and Early Paleozoic times. The conclusions are based on the integration of numerical modeling with field data from excellent exposures of a Mesoproterozoic succession from northeastern Brazil, enabling the proposition of new models for these non-actualistic depositional systems. Beyond the importance for the field of Precambrian geology and fluvial depositional systems, it is possible to foresee the potential interest of a broad audience among earth scientists, with far-reaching implications ranging from regional mineral prospection in alluvial and coastal deposits to the modeling of mass transfers and responses to tectonic and climatic forcing. Is the Troodos ophiolite (Cyprus) a complete, transform fault-bounded Neotethyan ridge segment? Antony Morris, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA Plymouth, UK; and Marco Maffione Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37529.1.abstract. Ophiolites are slices of oceanic crust and upper mantle tectonically emplaced above sea-level. By exposing oceanic rocks at the surface, they provide opportunities for detailed study of the processes operating during seafloor spreading. One of the best-known ophiolites occurs in the Troodos mountains of Cyprus. This formed ~90 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, and studies of ancient magnetizations locked into its rocks can help quantify the styles of deformation that occurred during its formation. This new study uses paleomagnetic data from upper crustal rocks in the relatively unexplored northwestern region of the Troodos ophiolite to establish for the first time that a major oceanic fault zone marks its northern margin. Movement along this oceanic transform fault during seafloor spreading resulted in clockwise rotation of small fault-bounded blocks in response to shearing, with rotations increasing in magnitude as the transform zone is approached. This newly recognized "Northern Troodos transform fault" and a similar, previously identified structure along the southern margin of the ophiolite, together define the limits of the oceanic ridge segment that produced the Troodos crust. The length of this segment is consistent with formation at a slow-spreading rate and in a setting above an intra-oceanic subduction zone. Key role of continental margin sediments in the oceanic mass balance of Zn and Zn isotopes Susan H. Little et al., Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37493.1.abstract. Like us, microscopic oceanic plants (called phytoplankton) need nutrients, like zinc (Zn), to grow. As they build their bodies, phytoplankton take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it into solid organic material. When they die this organic material sinks, and the carbon it contains is transported to the deep ocean, and trapped. This process, the "biological pump," is one control on climate. Scientists would like to answer the question: was the biological pump different in the past? Was it more or less efficient, with a knock-on effect on climate? Various geochemical techniques have been developed to try to find out, including measuring Zn isotopes in ocean sediments. As yet, however, we don't fully understand the modern ocean cycle of Zn and its isotopes -- that is, the sources of Zn to the ocean and the places and ways in which it is removed (the Zn "sinks"). This knowledge is crucial. Here, we show that organic-rich sediments deposited on the margins of continents are a significant sink for Zn, and specifically for light Zn isotopes. This observation helps to balance the modern ocean Zn cycle, and challenges the view that Zn isotopes in ocean sediments reflect the efficiency of the biological pump. A priori evidence for zircon antecryst entrainment in megacrystic Proterozoic granites A. Heinonen et al., Department of Geosciences and Geography, Division of Geology and Geochemistry (DiGG), PO Box 64, Gustaf Hallstromin katu 2a, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37696.1.abstract. Age determinations of granitic rocks are based on measuring the uranium and lead isotope compositions of the mineral zircon. In many cases the precision of these measurements has been observed to suffer from slightly older zircon crystals that crystallized at an earlier stage of the magmatic evolution of the granites. This study comprised three samples from the ca. 1.63 Ga rapakivi granites of southeastern Finland. A special microdrill sampling method was employed in order to extract zircon crystals from within large (up to 15 cm) alkali feldspar crystals that may have crystallized earlier than their host rocks. The uranium and lead isotopes and the trace element compositions of the zircon crystals were measured and compared to results from zircon extracted from the groundmasses of the host rocks. The results show that the large alkali feldspar crystals were most likely crystallized significantly earlier and from magmas with different chemical composition than their host rocks. Furthermore, the groundmasses of all studied granites were observed to be of similar age, ca. 1628 Ma. These observations lead to an enhanced geochronological interpretation of the studied granites and potentially provide a new method to study the different types of zircon in granitic rocks. Devonian subduction and syncollisional exhumation of continental crust in Lofoten, Norway Nikolaus Froitzheim et al., Steinmann-Institut, University of Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, 53115 Bonn, Germany. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37545.1.abstract. When two continents collide, one of them may be subducted, i.e. forced deep down into the Earth's mantle where it is metamorphosed under high-pressure conditions. Thereby, basaltic rocks are transformed into eclogite. The basement rocks of the Lofoten islands in Northern Norway, located in the Caledonian collision zone where Baltica and Laurentia collided about 400 million years ago, were only weakly deformed during the collision but they do contain eclogite. Newly discovered kyanite-bearing eclogites from the Lofoten islands record metamorphism under pressure of 2.5-2.8 GPa and temperature of ~650 degrees C, indicating that they were subducted to a depth of ~90 km. Using the Lu-Hf decay system on garnet, the eclogite formation was dated at 399 plus or minus 10 million years, which is the time when continent collision reached its climax. The rocks returned to a shallow level soon after. These results demonstrate that during continent collision, subducted continental basement rocks may stay rigid down to a depth of ~90 km and may return to Earth's surface almost undeformed. Nb-Ta fractionation in peraluminous granites: A marker of the magmatic-hydrothermal transition Christophe Ballouard et al., Geosciences Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118, OSUR, Universite Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37475.1.abstract. In their late stages of evolution, peraluminous granitic melts exsolve large amounts of fluids which can modify the chemical composition of granitic whole-rock samples. The niobium/tantalum (Nb/Ta) ratio is expected to decrease during the magmatic differentiation of granitic melts, but the behavior of both elements at the magmatic-hydrothermal transition remains unclear. Using a compilation of whole-rock geochemical data available in the literature, we demonstrate that fractional crystallization alone is not sufficient to explain the distribution of Nb-Ta in most peraluminous granites. However, we notice that most of the granitic samples displaying evidence of interactions with fluids have Nb/Ta <5. We propose that the decrease of the Nb/Ta ratio in evolved melts is the consequence of both fractional crystallization and sub-solidus hydrothermal alteration. We suggest that the Nb/Ta value of ~5 fingerprints the magmatic-hydrothermal transition in peraluminous granites. Furthermore, a Nb/Ta ratio of ~5 appears to be a good marker to discriminate mineralized from barren peraluminous granites. Dissolved gases in hydrothermal (phreatic) and geyser eruptions at Yellowstone National Park, USA Shaul Hurwitz et al., U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. This article is online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2016/02/05/G37478.1.abstract. Dissolved gases reduce the boiling temperature of water and increase the explosivity potential with respect to pure water. Therefore, in areas where magma is actively degassing into a hydrothermal system, gas-rich thermal waters enhance geothermal energy production, can be propellants in hazardous hydrothermal (phreatic) eruptions, and can modulate the dynamics of geyser eruptions. To provide a better understanding of the processes controlling hydrothermal and geyser eruptions, pressurized samples of thermal water that preserved dissolved gases were collected from a research well and thermal pools in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. The data in conjunction with thermodynamic calculations demonstrate that carbon dioxide mainly derived from magma and nitrogen from meteoric water reduce the near-surface boiling temperature of thermal water. These findings imply that dissolved gases modulate the dynamics of geyser eruptions and are likely triggers of hydrothermal eruptions when recharged into shallow reservoirs at high concentrations. Thus, monitoring changes in gas concentrations and compositions of thermal waters could provide important information on the natural resources (geysers) and hazards (eruptions) in these areas. ### GEOLOGY articles are online http://geology.gsapubs.org/. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary articles by contacting Kea Giles at the e-mail address above. Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org. http://www.geosociety.org/ Johns Hopkins recently received approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to be the first hospital in the U.S. to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants. The institution will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and the first in the world to execute an HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant. "This is an unbelievably exciting day for our hospital and our team, but more importantly for patients living with HIV and end-stage organ disease. For these individuals, this means a new chance at life," says Dorry L. Segev, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. This announcement brings to fruition the exhausting two-year effort Segev put into helping draft and push through the 2013 HOPE Act ? a bill signed by President Obama that made it possible for HIV-positive individuals to donate organs, and one of only 57 bills passed in 2013 by the most unproductive Congress in the history of the United States. Approximately 122,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the U.S. at any one time. Thousands die each year, many of whom may have lived had they gotten the organ they needed. Meanwhile, Segev estimates that each year, about 500 to 600 HIV-positive, would-be organ donors had organs that could have saved more than 1,000 people ? if only the medical community was allowed to use the organs for transplant. The antiquated law, which the HOPE Act reversed, prevented doctors from using organs from HIV-positive donors, even if they were intended to be given to an HIV-positive patient desperately in need of the organ. Despite very positive outcomes in non-HIV transplants in HIV-positive recipients and proven results of HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplants in South Africa, HIV-positive to HIV-positive transplant in the U.S. was not a possibility until now. "Organ transplantation is actually even more important for patients with HIV, since they die on the waiting list even faster than their HIV-negative counterparts. We are very thankful to Congress, Obama and the entire transplant community for letting us use organs from HIV-positive patients to save lives, instead of throwing them away, as we had to do for so many years," says Segev. The first approved HIV-positive to HIV-positive transplant could take place as soon as a suitable organ should become available and a recipient is successfully identified and prepared. ### The door to the digital Universe has been flung open! Mitaka, a free downloadable software program to visualize the Universe based on real astronomical data, now accommodates a variety of the languages found on planet Earth. With this upgrade, many people all over the globe can use a PC to navigate through the digital Universe in their native language. The Four-Dimensional Digital Universe (4D2U) Project of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) was launched in 2001. This project aims to visualize the latest astronomical data obtained by observations and numerical simulations. The 4D2U project has developed various contents visualizing the Universe, including the software known as "Mitaka" and dozens of movie clips. These contents are regularly shown in the 4D2U Dome Theater in the NAOJ Headquarters. They are also very popular among schools and science museums in Japan and other countries. At the 3D theater of the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawai'i, the 4D2U contents are on permanent display and have received a favorable reception from audiences. However, until now Mitaka has been available only in Japanese and English. There have been many requests from various countries for the multilingualization of Mitaka. In the latest version of Mitaka, ver.1.3, the displayed language is defined by several external files. Users can modify the files to change the language to any one they would like, not only languages using the Latin alphabet, but also including other character sets defined in Unicode, such as Brahmic, Chinese, Cyrillic, and Hangeul. Right-to-left scripts such as Arabic, will be supported in future versions of Mitaka. "In the future, we will increase the number of language information files contained in the default version of Mitaka" said Tsunehiko Kato, the developer of Mitaka. "If a language is not contained in the default version, anyone can create his/her own language files. I really hope that Mitaka will be widely used around the world for educational purposes, live shows, exhibitions, and personal use in many languages." Various astronomy data are contained in Mitaka: orbits for 20 thousand asteroids; stellar positions based on the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues; and galaxies based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The structure of the Milky Way Galaxy and the gravitational lens effect of the supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy are constructed based on theoretical models. Mitaka also actively incorporates the latest data, such as the surface textures of Pluto and Charon obtained by NASA's New Horizons probe. With Mitaka, users can fly out from the Earth, traveling to the edge of the known Universe. Mitaka and the movies developed by 4D2U are available free of charge on the project web site. Currently, only three movies are listed on the English page, but more than a dozen movies will be added in the near future. These movies are provided in several formats: flat screen or dome screen (fish-eye) versions, with 2D or 3D options. "Mitaka" is the name of the city in western Tokyo where the NAOJ Headquarters is located. NAOJ Mitaka Campus houses several historical telescopes, including the 65-cm Refractor built in 1929. It is also home to modern instruments such as the TAMA300 gravitational wave detector, the Solar Flare Telescope, and the special purpose computer GRAPE. ### BROOKLYN, N.Y.--The National Science Foundation (NSF) selected Siddharth Garg, a member of the computer hardware security research team at New York University, to receive a prestigious award for promising young faculty. He plans to use the accompanying grant to develop algorithms that could help secure microchip design and manufacturing. Garg, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, received the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award, more widely known as a CAREER Award, which includes mentoring and $500,000 over five years to advance his research. The design and production of microchips is now a highly decentralized process, with much of the manufacturing outsourced to offshore foundries. While the practice is cost-effective, it challenges the trustworthiness of the finished product by increasing the possibilities of pirating, counterfeiting, and inserting malicious Trojans--adaptations, like the horse of mythology, that are benign-looking but malicious. Garg explained that security is just as important a metric for chip designers as energy efficiency and performance. "If designers do not include safeguards, their chips can be modified in potentially dangerous ways," he said. "Chips manufactured by bad actors can enable intellectual property theft and corporate espionage, or even pose national security risks." Among the solutions that Garg and his colleagues are exploring are integrated circuit (IC) logic encryption and split manufacturing. These techniques aim to prevent pirates from reverse engineering and exploiting a design by obfuscating the designer's intent. Logic encryption locks chips using inputs referred to as keys. The chip functions correctly only with the correct key, which is known only to the designer but not to the untrusted manufacturer. Split manufacturing breaks up a chip into multiple pieces (like those of a jigsaw puzzle) that are separately manufactured and reassembled by the designer after manufacturing. "We are delighted that Siddharth Garg has joined the growing list of NYU Tandon faculty members who have won NSF CAREER Awards," said NYU Tandon Dean Katepalli R. Sreenivasan. "He joins a respected core group of researchers who were among the first to address the importance of hardware security to national security, our infrastructure, commerce, and individuals. This award reaffirms our conviction that he has embarked upon research of the utmost importance and that he will be making vital contributions to his field." The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a highly competitive activity that offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research. ### The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. How information is transferred from biological molecules to crystalline surfaces could pave the way for the development of new drugs and other synthetic materials. New research, published today in Nature Chemistry, explains how biological molecules can change the shape of minerals by controlling how they link together. Investigating why crystals of achiral minerals obtain a chiral shape - that is, how they take on a left- or right-handed nature - the research team showed how metal surfaces could be re-shaped by chiral molecules. The importance of chirality - or 'handedness' - in drug development was brought to light in a devastating way almost half a century ago with the development of the Thalidomide drug. Prescribed widely to pregnant women for the treatment of morning sickness, it was later discovered that Thalidomide is a chiral molecule and while the left-handed molecule was effective, the right-handed one was highly toxic. As a result, thousands of children around the world were born with severe birth defects. Paving the way for new drugs Professor Werner Hofer, from Newcastle University, UK, and one of the authors on the paper, says this new research furthers our understanding how chiral molecules behave and could pave the way for the development of new drugs and other synthetic materials. "In the biological world, we see inorganic minerals being shaped with remarkable control but until now we haven't understood how it was happening at the level of the atoms," explains Professor Hofer. "Now we see that the organic molecules are acting as a scaffold, dictating where the atoms of the minerals are placed and how they are linked together - a bit like building blocks. And as they do this, the biomolecules transfer their left or right-handed nature, or chirality, to the crystal structure. "By understanding this process, we can now force materials to behave in a certain way, using biological plans to create the shapes and structures that we want. This has huge potential in the fields of materials design and drug synthesis." Professor Roman Fasel, who led the study and is based at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, adds: "Single-handed metal surfaces are of considerable interest in enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis - a chemical strategy to produce single-handed molecules in a selective way. "Our work reveals an easy way to obtain such surfaces, simply by adsorbing a specific single-handed molecule that re-shapes the metal into the desired chiral morphology. "However, it must be noted that the present results only provide a proof-of-principle - to put this into practice, the challenge will be to identify the "good" molecule that creates the specific metal surface morphology suitable for the desired catalytic reaction. That is not an easy task by any means, but we hope that our work may stimulate efforts along these lines." Chirality in nature Chirality - or 'handedness' - is a striking property of the biological world. Many organic molecules, including glucose and most biological amino acids are chiral and the DNA double helix in its standard form always twists like a right-handed screw. Chirality can also be seen in organisms. Snails, for example, can show chirality or 'handedness' -- some individuals have shells that spiral in a right-handed direction, others have left-handed shells. "It means that they cannot be superimposed onto their mirror-image," explains Professor Hofer, a chemical physicist at Newcastle University, UK. "Your left and right hand are chiral - mirror images of each other but no matter how you put them together you can't exactly superimpose one onto the other. "But while this phenomenon is common in the biological world, it's rarely seen in mineral structures, except in those that have been biologically formed and a lot can be learned about how they are created by studying how chiral information is transferred from molecules to crystalline surfaces." In this latest study, the international research team - involving experts from the UK, Switzerland, Hungary Italy, China and the US - explain how handedness is transmitted and what the underlying mechanism is at the atomic scale. Using the organic molecule hemifullerene imprinted onto a copper surface, the team saw how the copper surface atoms were re-arranged into a chiral pattern due to the formation of chemical bonds. "We started with a very ordered, achiral surface and what we ended up with was a classic chiral pattern," explains Professor Hofer. "The organic hydrocarbon had restructured the metal surface in such a way that chirality had become imprinted onto the metal." Chirality and drug development - the Thalidomide tragedy Thalidomide was prescribed widely to pregnant women between 1957 and 1962 for its benefits in reducing morning sickness. However, when taken during the first trimester of pregnancy, Thalidomide prevented the proper growth of the foetus and the result was that thousands of children around the world were born with severe birth defects. Thalidomide is a chiral molecule and the drug that was marketed was a 50/50 mixture of left and right-handed molecules. While the left-handed molecule was effective, the right-handed one was highly toxic. The essential oil carvone is another (of many) examples of where the right and left handed forms of the molecule are polar opposites - one smelling like caraway, the opposite handed isomer like spearmint. "The Thalidomide tragedy highlights the important role played by chirality in biological systems and what happens when we get it wrong," says Professor Hofer. "This research will hopefully further our understanding of this process and help us to accurately synthesise new drugs and materials in the future." ### WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An international team of scientists led by Purdue University has sequenced the genome of the tick that transmits Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne illness in North America. The decade-long project, involving 93 authors from 46 institutions, decodes the biology of a bloodsucking arachnid with sophisticated spit, barbed mouthparts and millions of years of successful parasitism. The genome of Ixodes scapularis, known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick, also sheds light on how ticks acquire and transmit pathogens and offers tick-specific targets for control. "The genome provides a foundation for a whole new era in tick research," said Catherine Hill, lead author of the paper, Purdue professor of medical entomology and Showalter Faculty Scholar. "Now that we've cracked the tick's code, we can begin to design strategies to control ticks, to understand how they transmit disease and to interfere with that process." I. scapularis is the first tick species to have its genome sequenced. The principle genome paper was published in Nature Communications on Tuesday (Feb. 9) and is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10507. Genomic Resources for Tick-Borne Diseases Tick-borne illnesses cause thousands of human and animal deaths annually, and ticks transmit a wider variety of pathogens and parasites than any other arthropod. They primarily spread disease by creating a feeding wound in the skin of their hosts, regurgitating infected saliva into the wound as they ingest blood. Despite ticks' capacity to acquire and pass on an array of pathogens, tick research has lagged behind that of other arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, largely because of a lack of genetic and molecular tools and resources. "Ticks are underappreciated as vectors - until you get Lyme disease," Hill said. About 30,000 cases of Lyme disease cases are reported in the U.S. annually, most concentrated in the Northeast and upper Midwest. But the Centers for Disease Control estimates the actual number of cases is 329,000 a year, many of which are unreported or misdiagnosed. While not fatal, Lyme disease can be permanently debilitating if the infection is not treated before it reaches the chronic phase. The deer tick also vectors human granulocytic anaplasmosis, babesiosis and the potentially lethal Powassan virus. Other tick species transmit a number of flaviviruses, including some that cause hemorrhaging and inflammation of the brain and the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord. Less is known about the tick-borne flaviviruses than Lyme disease, Hill said, but they are particularly important diseases in Europe and parts of Asia and represent global threats to human health. "Genomic resources for the tick were desperately needed," she said. "These enable us to look at tick biology in a systems way." The genome provides two lines of valuable biological resources, Hill said: the genes and proteins that make ticks successful parasites and excellent vectors of parasites and pathogens. Identifying the proteins involved in the transmission of tick-borne diseases could help researchers develop strategies to halt this process. Researchers pinpointed some of the proteins that play key roles in the interactions between deer ticks and the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and proteins associated with the transmission of human granulocytic anaplasmosis, an emerging disease. A companion paper published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases identified proteins and biochemical pathways associated with infection and replication of the encephalitis-causing Langat virus, another pathogen transmitted by Ixodes ticks. These proteins could be candidates for drugs and vaccines and give clues to how the virus affects the tick. "This study opens the door to understanding how tick-borne viruses exploit their hosts and offers unique insights from ticks that could be applicable to humans," said Richard Kuhn, lead author of the virus study, Purdue professor and head of the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases. "Once you know which host proteins are critical for virus replication, you can manipulate those proteins to interfere with the growth and development of the virus." An Inside Look at Tick Biology The genome also provides insights into unique aspects of tick biology. Ticks' saliva, for example, teems with antimicrobials, pain inhibitors, cement, anticoagulants and immune suppressors, all designed to help the tick feed on its host undetected for days or weeks. The genome reveals that tick saliva contains thousands of compounds - compared with mere hundreds in mosquito saliva - a diversity that presumably allows ticks to exploit a wide range of hosts and stay attached for a long time, Hill said. The researchers also identified genes that could be linked to ticks' ability to synthesize new armorlike cuticle as they feed, allowing them to expand over 100 times. The team searched for clues to how ticks digest blood, a toxic food source due to its high concentrations of iron. The genome points to a number of proteins that link with iron-containing heme molecules, the byproducts of blood digestion, to make them less toxic. "Ticks have an amazing number of detoxification enzymes, and we don't know why," Hill said. "We've got our eye on this because these enzymes are also involved in detoxifying insecticides. As we develop new chemicals to control ticks, we'll be going up against this massive arsenal of detoxification enzymes, far more than insects have." One of the major findings of the genome project is that about 20 percent of the genes appear to be unique to ticks. These genes could provide researchers with tick-specific targets for control. "We don't see the equivalent of these genes in a mosquito or human," Hill said. "That's a fascinating collection of molecules, and as a scientist, I can't wait to get into that pot of gold and find out what these are and what they do." Unique Features of the Genome One of the main challenges the research team faced was the complexity of the tick genome, one of the larger arthropod genomes sequenced to date. About 70 percent of the genome is repetitive DNA, an unusual aspect further explored in a companion paper published in BMC Genomics. While copies of duplicated genes are often eliminated, the tick genome has retained these repeated genes. Many of them have mutated, suggesting that the two copies of a gene are associated with different functions and give the tick an evolutionary advantage. These duplicated genes could also be targets for new tick control measures, Hill said. "We estimate those gene duplications took place probably just after the last Ice Age when tick populations would have been expanding into new habitats," she said. The project also included the first genome-wide analysis of tick population structure in North America, resolving a long-standing debate over whether deer ticks in the North and South are actually two different species. According to Hill, the genome offers convincing evidence that the two populations are the same species, despite their genetic differences. Because the majority of Lyme disease cases occur in the North, there might be a genetic component to ticks' ability to transmit Lyme disease that a comparison of the two populations could illuminate. "Now we've got the script to help us work out what proteins the tick's genes are making, what these proteins do and whether we can exploit them to control the tick," Hill said. ### Co-principal investigators for the project are Claire Fraser of the University of Maryland's Institute for Genome Sciences; Frank Collins of the University of Notre Dame's Department of Biological Sciences; Bruce Birren of the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University; and Karen Nelson of the J. Craig Venter Institute. The JCVI and VectorBase annotated the genome. The National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided principle funding for the project. NIAID scientist and co-author Jose M. Ribeiro was supported through the NIAID intramural research program. The genome project produced six companion papers: Grabowski, J. et al. Changes in the proteome of Langat-infected Ixodes scapularis ISE6 cells: metabolic pathways associated with flavivirus infection. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004180 Van Zee, J. P. et al. Paralog analyses reveal gene duplication events and genes under positive selection in Ixodes scapularis and other ixodid ticks. BMC Genomics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-2314-6 Egekwu, N. I. et al. Comparing synganglion neuropeptides, neuropeptide receptors and neurotransmitter receptors and their gene expression in response to feeding in Ixodes scapularis (Ixodidae) versus Ornithodoros turicata (Argasidae). Insect Mol. Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/imb.12202 Zhu, J. et al. Mevalonate-farnesol biosynthesis in ticks: comparative synganglion transcriptomics and a new perspective. PLoS One. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0141084 Carr, A. L. & Roe, R.M. Acarine attractants: chemoreception, bioassay, chemistry and control. Pest. Biochem. Physiol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2015.12.009 Carr, A. L. et al. Evidence of female sex pheromones and characterization of the cuticular lipids of unfed, adult male versus female blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis. Exp. Appl. Acarol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10493-015-0009-y As population growth, greater food consumption, competition for land use, and climate change pose challenges to world food production, managing loss of crop due to pests and weeds becomes increasingly important. While chemical pesticides offer effective means for control, potential loss of crop yield is still significant, as is cost. Global potential loss from pests has been estimated to be between 50% and 80% of yield based on crop type. In a paper published last week in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, authors Chris Guiver et al propose adaptive control techniques to model pest dynamics and management as a control system. Mathematics has been used to model pest control in other studies. Most of the prevailing approaches rely on deterministic or stochastic optimal control tools, where a management or intervention strategy is used to accomplish a desired behavior and minimize cost. There are pitfalls to these approaches, most notable of which is the capability to handle the uncertainty in pest dynamics due to the interaction of novel species and environments. "Modeling for the purposes of pest management is inherently uncertain," says Stuart Townley, co-author and principle investigator on the project. "Vital rates of pests, such as birth and growth rate, and fertility, are highly sensitive to uncertain and stochastic environmental conditions, while data are often limited; so detailed models to guide decision making are unlikely to be available. Relying on tools from optimal control which require this level of detail could result in poor or fragile performance." Adaptive control, on the other hand, works around the uncertainty because it does not need prior information about uncertain parameters. "Our study's primary insight is that, given the uncertainty surrounding models for pests, design of pest management strategies faces two approaches: either develop better models so that optimal controls can be more effective, or adopt design approaches that tolerate the likely level of uncertainty to be faced," says author Brigitte Tenhumberg. The authors adopt the latter approach by using adaptive control techniques. The input, state, and output in the control system are represented by pest control, the pest population, and some measure of the population respectively. The goal of the control system then, is to eradicate or lower the pest population by determining an input which stabilizes the model, driving state variables to zero. The advantage of adaptive control is that it achieves state stability with minimal knowledge of the system to be controlled, and is simple to compute. The system does not seek to update the dynamic model over time by inferring or estimating parameters. The management strategy, in turn, changes over time in response to how the measured variable changes. The downside of adaptive controllers is that the additional robustness needed to model uncertainty concedes a loss in optimality. As author Markus Mueller explains, "The trade-off between robustness and optimality is pivotal in all areas where management or control decisions are made. Management actions can steer closer to optimal decisions when reliable models are available. However, when models are poor, as is the case with pests, actions need to be more cautious and robust. It is at this end of decision making where adaptive control is especially appealing and offers significant advantages compared to other optimal or robust control approaches." The uncertainty in models necessitates approaches that must be both robust and capable of quantifying the level of uncertainty they can handle. "In applications, the compromise between robustness and optimality also has economic considerations," adds Guiver. "Optimality may reduce implementation costs, but is susceptible to costly failure; while robustness would have higher implementation costs, it compensates for these potential failures and consequent losses." Future work from the group includes adaptive deployment of biocontrol agents in order to reduce chemical pesticide usage. This would involve modeling the dynamics of the biocontrol agents in addition to that of pests. Modeling of the spatial distribution of pests will also be incorporated. "So far, our work has focused on the temporal aspects of pests with abundance changing in time. Clearly, pest abundance has a spatial dimension and this needs to be addressed as well when designing pest management strategies," says author Richard Rebarber. "Here, pest management would seek to reduce, or contain, both the spread of a pest and its abundance. Since using pesticides can have unwelcome consequences, we are also exploring the use of adaptive feedback control in the design of pest management strategies based around bio-control (also known as natural enemies, or pest-predators)." "Pest management is one of the key factors in addressing the challenge of food security for a burgeoning world population with an increasing per-capita demand," says author Brigitte Tenhumberg. "Addressing food security undoubtedly requires a holistic approach, drawing upon input from policy makers and stakeholders, as well as theoretical insights from academia. Our contribution is to seek approaches to reducing crop losses to pests by applying less pesticide more effectively." ### Source Article: Simple adaptive control for positive linear systems with applications to pest management SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 76(1), 238-275. (Online publish date: February 4, 2016) http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/140996926 The full version of this article is available for free at the link above. About the authors: Chris Guiver was an associate research fellow; Markus Mueller is a lecturer; and Stuart Townley is a professor in applied mathematics at the Environment & Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, England. Since publication, Chris Guiver has taken a lectureship in applied mathematics at the University of Bath, England. Christina Edholm is a doctoral student; Yu Jin is an assistant professor; and Richard Rebarber is a professor in the mathematics department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brigitte Tenhumberg is an associate professor in the school of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jim Powell is a professor of applied mathematics and biology at Utah State University. (Philadelphia, PA) - Cadavers have long been one of the most important resources for anatomy teaching in medical school. Now, they are also at the forefront of cutting-edge genetics teaching, thanks to innovative thinking by professors at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM). In a paper published Feb. 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Temple team, led by Glenn S. Gerhard, MD, Chair of the Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry, Joseph and Rebecca Goodfriend Endowed Chair in Genetics, and Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at LKSOM, described the use of cadaver DNA to advance genetics learning in a first-year medical curriculum. They are the first to explore the novel approach, which is aimed at filling a critical gap between the application of genetics in medical care and the education and training of future clinicians. "Genetics education is an underlying theme that bridges areas of medical teaching," explained Dr. Gerhard. "But many institutions are struggling to improve genetic literacy in their medical programs." At LKSOM, Dr. Gerhard and colleagues have been moving toward revising the first-year medical curriculum, particularly where genetics is taught. "Our goal is to integrate cutting-edge, modern genetics into the curriculum in ways that are clinically meaningful and relevant as well as unique, taking us away from the types of standard cases that have been taught in textbooks and lectures," he said. Initially, Dr. Gerhard considered having students genotype their own DNA, an approach that had been tried previously at other academic institutions. Genotyping is used to identify single-nucleotide variations in an individual's DNA sequence, which can provide insight into traits such as hair or skin color as well as disease risk. Knowledge of such personal traits, however, can cause distress and anxiety among students. As Dr. Gerhard began to explore other possibilities, he considered cadaver DNA, which would remove the personal aspect from sequencing and genotyping. Cadaver DNA, however, is highly fragile. Chemicals used for embalming, along with the storage of bodies for long periods of time, jeopardize the structural integrity of genetic material. Dr. Gerhard's team spent several months optimizing protocols to allow for the isolation of intact DNA from cadaver tissues. The team piloted the approach during the fall semester of 2015. First-year medical students at LKSOM isolated cadaver DNA during the course of their dissection studies and then submitted the samples to Dr. Gerhard's laboratory for exome sequencing, which elucidates the genetic code for all protein-encoding genes. Specific single-nucleotide variations identified from exome sequencing were then assigned to each dissection team for analysis. Students examined the variants to gain insight into how specific genetic alterations affect traits and disease, and then presented their findings to the class. According to Dr. Gerhard, the project was a success. "The goal is to connect anatomy to genomics in the context of biochemistry," he said. Analyses of cadaver DNA provided real-world scenarios, with a range of genetic variants, from those that influence drug metabolism to mutations associated with cancer - all of which could be correlated with observations the students made during their dissections and integrated with biochemistry learning in other classes. Such extensive insight and opportunities for learning would not have been possible with DNA from healthy students. Moreover, Dr. Gerhard explained, "The element of reality - real patients with real diseases - is dynamic. The cadavers are different every year." That means students and their professors are likely to encounter different genetic variants in the future, leading to new opportunities in teaching and research. Dr. Gerhard hopes to enlist the help of sequencing companies and eventually to secure other sources of funding to offset the expense of using cadaver DNA. Meanwhile, he and colleagues are developing ideas for focused class projects, particularly in the areas of cancer genomics and pharmacogenomics. ### Other individuals contributing to the report include LKSOM professors Barbara Paynton, PhD, and Steven N. Popoff, PhD. The work was funded by the Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Biochemistry at LKSOM. About Temple Health Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $1.6 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the "Best Hospitals" in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Fox Chase Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; and Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. The Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools. Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 840 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Katz School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to U.S. News & World Report, LKSOM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation. Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents. The University of Cincinnati's Arlitt Center for Education, Research, and Sustainability was awarded a three-year, $1,635,115 grant (DRL#114674) from the National Science Foundation to build professional support for teachers and to continue research into early childhood learning in designed outdoor play and learning environments called PlayScapes. The grant, believed to be the largest of its kind awarded to the Arlitt Center, builds on the success of early childhood science learning through UC's PlayScape partnership with the Cincinnati Nature Center. The new NSF funding for these outdoor learning labs for preschoolers will support four initiatives: The design, implementation and evaluation of four web-based professional development programs for preschool teachers. Research into how teacher development was successful in teaching STEM content to young children. Additional research into how children's play in outdoor nature settings increased their understanding and engagement with science and nature. The development and design of mini-PlayScapes to be built at three partner sites: The Cincinnati Nature Center, the Head Start-funded Cincinnati Union Bethel early childhood education program and the Head Start-funded Child Focus, Inc. early childhood program in Clermont County. "We'll also be researching if learning is affected by how often during the week that the children visit the PlayScapes," adds Victoria Carr, associate professor of education and director of the Arlitt Center for Education, Research, and Sustainability. "We'll examine how well the new partner sites use the design principles for the mini-PlayScapes that will be built at those sites. "We'll be conducting professional development, researching what the teachers learn, and then applying that learning to successful learning in children," says Carr. The Cincinnati Nature Center celebrated the opening of its 1.6 acre Marge & Charles Schott Nature PlayScape in August 2011. The 10,000 square-foot UC PlayScape was dedicated in August 2012. The $401,000 UC PlayScape is believed to be the nation's first architecturally designed outdoor play and learning environment installed on a college campus. Carr says previous UC research has shown how the current Cincinnati outdoor PlayScapes impact science learning in children, including their sense of mapping, their understanding of where their food comes from and what is needed for plants to grow. "We've discovered a significant difference after exposure to PlayScapes on the attributes and the depth of information that children can provide about living things," says Carr. The UC PlayScape was initially conceived from a grant awarded to the Cincinnati Nature Center from the Harriett Williams Downey Fund at Greater Cincinnati Foundation. The grant supported the planning for two PlayScapes in Greater Cincinnati. Grants from P&G and Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency provided additional support to the partnership as well as funding from private donations. UC's PlayScape is open to the public and has the following features: A tree house to elevate children into the tree canopy and give them a clear view where they play. An open lawn for running, rolling and sledding. A controlled water feature for children to drink and use for play and learning. A log fort for children to play, hide and look out over the landscape. A sensory garden for children to plant, grow and harvest vegetables and herbs. A "bird blind," which is a discreet observation area where children can watch birds in action. Gathering decks for children to play, draw, do dramatic work or projects, or rest. An observation post for education researchers to examine how this natural setting enhances learning for young children. A perimeter fence, providing a safe and secure environment for children to explore within the PlayScape. The NSF project is funded through the foundation's Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which previously awarded UC's Arlitt Center a $330,124 grant in 2011. ### About the Arlitt Center for Education, Research, and Sustainability The center - which also houses a demonstration preschool for teachers to observe young children as they're learning - is dedicated to research and teaching best practices related to human development, sustainability and environments for children, youth and families. Providing more than 87 years of educational excellence for children 3 to 5 years old, the center is supported by Head Start and is one of the oldest and most diverse preschool programs in the United States. It was the first Cincinnati preschool staffed by teachers who were specifically trained in early childhood education. The center has a blended Head Start and tuition program, serving children of varying cultures, abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds. UC's Arlitt Center is housed in the School of Education in UC's College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH). PHILADELPHIA-- A new way of mapping the "transcriptome" -- the collection of RNA read-outs that are expressed by a cell's active genes -- has been devised by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. RNA is both the molecular bridge between DNA and the production of proteins that carry out the functions of life and the molecular toolbox that collectively helps those proteins do their work. As such, RNA exists in a variety of forms, each with a particular role and purpose, not all of which are fully understood. Using the new method to shed additional light on the role of RNAs in cells, the team identified RNA variants in mammals that had been largely invisible to previous techniques. The researchers also demonstrated that these "dark" variations in RNA are strikingly common in mammalian cells and likely have roles in gene regulation across tissues, development, and in human diseases. The team plans to perform the analyses using the now-free software to interrogate aberrant cells in neurodegenerative disorders, cancers, and other illnesses. "It's very exciting for us, and I think for the research community in general, among other reasons, because we can now go back through the vast amount of existing transcriptome data, knowing that new and important things will emerge," said senior author Yoseph Barash, PhD, an assistant professor of Genetics. Barash is also a senior fellow at the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics. The report by Barash and his team, which included co-lead authors Jorge Vaquero-Garcia, Alejandro Barrera, and Matthew R. Gazzara, all research staff at Penn, was published online in eLife this week. An Incomplete Picture Barash's laboratory has been devoted principally to the study of RNA transcripts and their variations by using machine learning and computational modeling. One major mechanism of variation, called alternative splicing, has been known to scientists since the 1970s. When a protein-coding gene is first transcribed into RNA, cellular machinery slices the fresh RNA transcript into segments. It then discards non-protein-coding segments (introns) and splices back together protein-coding segments (exons) into a finished transcript of messenger-RNA, which is later translated into a protein. Sometimes, depending on circumstances in the cell, the splicing machinery deliberately omits splicing in one or more exons, and the result is a shorter messenger-RNA transcript, which in turn codes for a different form of the protein. In this way, a single gene may code for multiple forms of the same protein, each of which has its own distinct biological role, for example working only in one set of cell types or only during fetal development. Splicing patterns that deviate from normal are known to contribute to many diseases. A long-standing problem for biologists has been that they have no easy, error-free way to identify and quantify all the distinct messenger-RNA splice variants in a sample. Modern RNA-sequencing technology (RNA-seq) is a powerful scientific tool but mostly yields the sequences only of fragments of messenger RNAs. Those fragment sequences essentially have to be stitched back together, with the aid of sophisticated software and existing RNA databases, to get a complete picture of the transcriptome. But that picture isn't necessarily a complete one. "The reads from RNA-seq are sparse and also short compared to actual messenger-RNA transcripts, so you don't directly know what transcripts those reads came from," Barash said. "Therefore you also don't directly know the abundance of those transcripts." A New View of the Transcriptome The new approach devised by Barash and his team begins with the mapping of what they call local splice variations (LSVs)--essentially the variable junctions between exons, which are detectable sequences that span more than one exon. "These are places where the splicing machinery of a cell makes a choice about which exon is spliced to another," Barash said. The team developed software to generate LSV maps from RNA-seq data and combine those data with existing RNA databases to yield pictures that include ordinary, known splice variants, as well as complex splice variants that other methods fail to detect. To gauge the importance of the hitherto-unseen part of the transcriptome, the team used the new MAJIQ software (Modeling Alternative Junction Inclusion Quantification) to analyze RNA-seq data from a variety of species including lizards, mice, and humans. The analysis revealed that complex splice variants are much more common than previously thought--comprising, for example, about 37 percent of the transcriptome variations in human samples. "These variations are a bit like the dark side of the moon," said Barash. "They were known to exist, yet we lacked the ability to shine a light on them -- and now they turn out to make up a third of the variations in human messenger RNAs." The complex splicing variants detected with MAJIQ included a highly conserved, yet previously unreported variant from the gene Ptbp1, which is known to be critical for proper brain development. Further analysis suggested that the newly discovered variant is involved in controlling the expression of Ptbp1 after birth by introducing a "poison exon" which marks the transcript to subsequent degradation. Another complex variant detected with MAJIQ, from the human, synapse-related gene CAMK2D, turned out to be expressed about 40 percent less in brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients, compared to controls. The team later found a similar drop in a second, larger RNA-seq dataset, also from Alzheimer's disease cases. Overall, the team identified approximately 200 cases of altered splicing in Alzheimer patients that were reproducible in the two independent studies. "We think that findings like those are just the tip of the iceberg," Barash said. He and his colleagues now plan to do further MAJIQ-based investigations of complex splice variants in other disorders. However, Barash emphasizes that the MAJIQ software package will now be freely available for other academic researchers, who will all be able to use it in their own ways. In addition to MAJIQ, the team also has produced a complementary software package, VOILA, which enables researchers to visualize the complex splice variants detected by MAJIQ. ### Other co-authors of the paper include Juan Gonzalez-Vallinas, Nicholas F. Lahens, and Kristen W. Lynch, all from Penn. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health (R01 AG046544, R01 GM067719) and the Penn Medicine Neuroscience Center. Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $409 million awarded in the 2014 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2014, Penn Medicine provided $771 million to benefit our community. DETROIT-- Mutations are the replacement of DNA bases known as Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Guanine (G) and Thymine (T) with other bases. When mutations such as C to T or G to A are found within a specific DNA sequence, this is known as a mutation signature. These mutation signatures are like spelling mistakes that carry signs of the agents that caused the mutations. Ultraviolet light, tobacco smoke and other cancer-causing agents leave behind such signatures in the DNA of tumors. Recently, a new mutation signature found in cancer cells was suspected to have been created by a family of enzymes found in human cells called the APOBEC3 family. The study, "Strand-biased Cytosine deamination at the Replication Fork causes Cytosine to Thymine Mutations in Escherichia coli," led by Ashok Bhagwat, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition to Bhagwat, collaborators from Wayne State University and Indiana University have determined the target within DNA that is attacked by APOBEC3 enzymes. Results from this basic science research project provide an understanding of a major source of mutations that may drive tumor growth and also explains a key finding in microbial evolution. DNA consists of two thin strands that are made up of the four bases, which are arranged in specific sequences, creating words and chapters that contain the secrets of the cell. The two DNA strands are intertwined with each other to protect the bases from damage by chemicals and enzymes. Unfortunately, the cell must copy its DNA before it can divide. This copying process requires that the two DNA strands are briefly separated, making DNA "single-stranded" and thus susceptible to damage. According to Bhagwat, an odd quirk of DNA biochemistry is that one of the DNA strands, known as the lagging-strand template (LGST), stays single much longer than its counterpart, the leading-strand template (LDST). The WSU/IU team showed that APOBEC3 enzymes preferentially attack the LGST, causing mutations during DNA copying. "We did this work using the simple bacterium Escherichia coli as a model, introducing the active part of the human enzyme APOBEC3G in it," said Bhagwat. "The advantage of using E. coli is that its complete DNA sequence can be easily determined and the way it copies its DNA is well understood." Bhagwat's research team has been studying the larger AID/APOBEC family of enzymes for the past 14 years and has helped show that this family of enzymes converts C to an abnormal base called Uracil (U). The U gets repaired back to C most of the time, but sometimes this process fails and U is fixed as a T. This is called a C-to-T mutation. Bhagwat initiated collaboration with Patricia Foster, Ph.D., at Indiana University and provided her group the A3G gene to express in E. coli. They determined the DNA sequence of hundreds of such bacteria and cataloged more than 1,000 mutations caused by A3G. Weilong Hao, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences at Wayne State, later analyzed the mutations, and noticed that when A3G was in the cells, C's in the LGST were replaced with T's three to four times the frequency at which they were getting replaced in the LDST. Statistical analysis of the data showed that this occurrence was extremely unlikely to happen by chance, which means that APOBEC3 enzymes must target the LGST. Cancer is often called a genetic disease because nearly all cancer-causing agents cause mutations. When the DNA sequence of breast tumors and other cancers was recently determined, C to T were the most frequently found mutations. These mutations were often found in clusters, suggesting that large stretches of DNA must become damaged in a single mutational event. "These mutations had the signature of mutations caused by APOBEC3 enzymes, but it was unclear where these enzymes found the necessary long stretches of single-stranded DNA to mutate," said Bhagwat. "The work by our collaborative team has shown that during the copying of DNA, the LGST strand of DNA is accessible to APOBECs and this causes the mutations." According to Bhagwat, bacteria like E. coli display a phenomenon called "GC skew" that is related to this discovery. Bacterial DNA typically has fewer C's in LGST than G's. In light of the results of work by WSU/IU scientists, this observation can be explained at the molecular level. Bacteria do not naturally contain APOBEC3 enzymes, but water and other cellular chemicals can also cause C to T mutations. However, they do so at a very slow rate compared to APOBECs. Despite this slowness, the bacteria have replaced many of the C's in their LGST with T's over millions of years of evolution, creating the GC skew. Thus, the act of copying DNA, which is essential to life, drives both microbial evolution and cancer development. "Our results could have a great impact on identifying the source of mutations in many cancers and perhaps tailoring treatments based on this information," said Bhagwat. "Only some tumors have APOBEC mutational signatures and these can be identified using current DNA sequencing technology. Eventually, we may be able to treat these cancers in their early stages to prevent mutations caused by APOBEC3s." "This study is a beautiful example of how the power of bioinformatics and genomics is valuable in addressing important biological questions," said Hao. "It has potential to make a positive impact on the health outcomes of people with cancer and possibly other diseases in the near future." ### This research was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes (grant number 057200), Wayne State University and the U.S. Army Research Office. About Wayne State University Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://research.wayne.edu. Ask Americans to name the former U.S. president whose face currently graces the U.S. $10 dollar bill and most will be quick to answer Alexander Hamilton. Sure, it's a trick question. But a new study from memory researchers at Washington University in St. Louis confirms that most Americans are confident that Alexander Hamilton was once president of the United States. "Our findings from a recent survey suggest that about 71 percent of Americans are fairly certain that Alexander Hamilton is among our nation's past presidents," said Henry L. Roediger III, a human memory expert at Washington University. "I had predicted that Benjamin Franklin would be the person most falsely recognized as a president, but Hamilton beat him by a mile. "The interesting thing is that their confidence in Hamilton having been president is fairly high -- higher than for six or so actual presidents." Roediger, PhD, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, has been testing the ability of undergraduate college students to remember the names of presidents since 1973, when he first administered the test to undergraduates while a psychology graduate student at Yale University. Roediger's 2014 study in the journal Science suggest that we as a nation do fairly well at naming the first few and the last few presidents in the order they served. But our recall abilities then fall off quickly, with fewer than 20 percent able to remember more than the last eight or nine presidents in order. The focus of the current study is a bit different, said Roediger, because it's designed to gauge how well Americans can recognize the names of past presidents, as opposed to the much greater challenge of directly recalling them from memory and listing their names on a blank sheet of paper. This study, published online this week in the journal Psychological Science, is co-authored by K. Andrew DeSoto, a former psychology graduate student at Washington University who is now a research methodology fellow at the Association for Psychological Science. "Our studies over the past 40 years show that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents, but the question we explore with this study is whether people know the presidents but are simply unable to access them for recall," Roediger said. The current study is based on a name recognition test administered to 326 people via Mechanical Turk, an interactive online service operated by Amazon. Participants were asked to identify past presidents when presented with a list of names that included actual presidents and non-presidents, such as Hamilton and Franklin. The lists also presented other false items, including familiar names from American history and non-famous common names, such as Thomas Moore. With each president-or-non-president response, participants indicated their level of certainty on a scale of zero-to-100, where 100 was absolutely certain. The rate for correctly recognizing the names of past presidents was 88 percent, well above recall but far from perfect. Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were recognized less than 60 percent of the time. Hamilton was more frequently identified as president than several actual presidents, and people were very confident when saying he was president (83 on the 100-point scale). The study identified three other prominent figures from American history that more than a quarter of those surveyed incorrectly recognize as past presidents, including Franklin, Hubert Humphrey and John Calhoun. Perhaps more striking, nearly a third of those surveyed falsely recognized the common name "Thomas Moore" as someone who was once an American president. Humphrey served as vice president and ran for president in 1968. Franklin was a famous American involved in the events surrounding the founding of the country and served as ambassador to France. Calhoun was a senator and vice president for seven years. "These factors may account for their general familiarity in American history, but if subjects cannot recollect their roles, then false recognition as president may occur because subjects cannot oppose the high name familiarity with knowledge of their actual roles," Roediger said. "John Calhoun is a surprise, because he was a supporter of states rights and slavery, but apparently people remember the name but not why they know it." The high false alarm rate for Thomas Moore, however, came as another surprise to the researchers. People with this name have served in the U.S. House of Representatives, but none are particularly famous. "Our best guess is that the Anglo-Saxon structure of his name, the frequency of both parts of the name, and possibly his confusability with Sir Thomas More, the counselor to King Henry VIII, may have contributed to the name's familiarity and false recognition," Roediger said. Roediger and DeSoto suggest that our ability to recognize the names of famouspeople hinges on those names appearing in a context that's related to the source of their fame. "Elvis Presley was famous, but he would never be recognized as a past president," Roediger said. "Most of the names in our study that were falsely recognized as belonging to past presidents are those with strong ties to American history. These same individuals would not be recognized if the task were to recognize famousmusicians from the 1960s. It's not just enough to have a familiar name, but it must be a familiar name in the right context." This study adds to an emerging line of research that focuses on how people remember history -- a field called collective memory or historical memory. A striking detail emerging from recent studies by Roediger and DeSoto is that the ability of people to remember the names of presidents follows very consistent and reliable patterns. "No matter how we test it -- in the same experiment, with different people, across generations, in the laboratory, with online studies, with different types of tests -- there are clear patterns in how the presidents are remembered and how they are forgotten," DeSoto said. While many of these patterns can be explained using decades-old theories of memory, the findings are also sparking new ideas about how lasting fame is shaped by the nuances of human memory function. "Even on a recognition test, knowledge of American presidents is imperfect and prone to error," Roediger said. "The false recognition data support the theory that false fame can arise from contextual familiarity. And our recall studies show that even the most famous person in America maybe be forgotten in as short a time as 50-75 years." ### Editor's Note: Journal article is available online: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2715690##' Related study news release: https://source.wustl.edu/2014/12/most-american-presidents-destined-to-fade-from-nations-memory-study-suggests/ Invesco has become the latest big asset manager to move into robo-advisory. In January it bought Jemstep, a US fintech firm that provides a digital platform for investment advisers, helping them onboard clients and providing automated portfolio advice, management and services. Peter Nesvold, Silver Lane Advisors The acquisition follows several other recent deals in the UK and the US. Aberdeen Asset Management bought Parmenion Capital Partners last September. A month before that, BlackRock bought FutureAdvisor, while Fidelity has acquired eMoney Advisor and Schroders bought a stake in Nutmeg in 2014. The robo-advisers, while not all offering the same services, do have one thing in common they all bring the asset managers closer to automated investment retail distribution. There are about 100 such firms worldwide, and consultants predict their assets could grow to more than $2 trillion by 2020. While they have shown an impressive ability to gain credibility in a short time, the robo-advisers revenues have yet to pack a punch. Many instead measure their progress primarily on account growth, which Peter Nesvold, managing director at M&A investment bank Silver Lane Advisors, finds analogous to internet-only banks that sprang up in the 1990s. Proposition He points out, however, that internet banks grew much faster back then than robo-advisers are doing today. Why? Early internet banks offered deposit rates two or three times the national average, a more compelling proposition than robo-advisers discounting financial advice to investors that may not currently use an adviser at all. He predicts that while automated financial advice is here to stay, most independent robo-advisers will lose ground to larger, more-established firms. Thats because companies such as Schwab and Vanguard can leverage billion-dollar brands to play catch up in a hurry. If thats the case, it makes perfect sense for an independent robo to sell now while acquirers are keen to buy the technology before they develop it internally, he says. The recent volatility in the stock markets may accelerate this trend, as distress in the public markets also causes dislocation in the private financing markets. Given these robo-advisers are still consuming cash and have financing needs, were likely to see a wave of consolidation, says Nesvold. Those who have sold themselves already are smart to have done so before the sales become forced. Indeed, Personal Capitals reported dual-track process of considering both a Series E capital raise and/or a sale of the entire business suggests that the sense of urgency among robos is heightening. Asset managers can provide a much bigger springboard for independent robo-advisers than going it alone. Research from Silver Lane estimates that it took Wealthfront about three and a half years and Betterment a little more than four years to generate as many accounts as Schwab did in just 90 days when it launched robo-advisory platform Intelligent Portfolios. The sale of the robo-advisers marks a shift in strategy, however. Originally developed as B2C businesses, the asset management acquirers are essentially turning them into B2B offerings. That is the case for FutureAdvisor. Speaking about the acquisition, Robert Fairbairn, global head of BlackRocks retail and iShares business, says: Our goal with FutureAdvisor is to be the B2B digital advice partner of choice in the US, giving partners high-quality, technology-enabled advice capabilities to improve their clients investment experience. Nesvold says that robo-advisers give asset managers a fuller suite of product solutions and deepen their relationship with the wealth management industry. For Aberdeen, the Parmenion acquisition is a pure B2B play. Parmenion provides portfolios to UK financial advisers. Aberdeens group head of brand, Piers Currie, says the purchase is also about future-proofing. With some of the UK regulations taking place, the risk is being pushed now from pension funds to end-investors or employees, he says. Its early days in that cycle, but we have to understand the innovation and technology that will enable us to serve in that new environment where investors are doing more themselves. Regulatory change, social change and competitive fear are driving the appetite for acquisition, he says. But while some asset managers claim the acquisitions are B2B plays, Nesvold says that they may also be keeping their options open should they decide they need their own digital distributor for their own products, chiefly exchange-traded funds. Invesco, BlackRock, Schroders and Aberdeen are large ETF houses. Compliments The growing ETF market could be perfectly complemented by the robo-advisory model. Is it a coincidence that Deutsche Bank, a large ETF provider, launched maxblue, an in-house robo-adviser in December? Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, which are also committing to building ETF platforms, have backed Motif, an online digital platform that provides baskets of stocks based on themes. Its feasible in five years time that ETFs are the default investment option for younger investors, says Nesvold. That audience is likely to want digital distribution directly. So who is next? Wells Fargo says it is looking for a partner. Nesvold says State Street is a premier ETF manufacturer that has yet to make a big move. By this point, it could soon be a buyers market. Irans head of Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi (L) and the head of the Central Bank of Iran, Valiollah Seif, on January 17 after international sanctions on Iran were lifted The big moment arrived. On January 17, after the European Union said it had implemented regulation to removesanctions against Iran, Swift was turned back on in Iran. And, in some cases, appeared not to work. Well, you know how it is when your computer has been switched off for a while. Apparently, reconnecting to Swift itself is a straightforward process, but the problem has arisen with the Cisco systems that are instrumental to its effective running. Some banks in Iran report either that their licences had expired while under sanctions and now need to be reissued; or that their software is no longer up to date after all the years in the wilderness. Swift confirms to Euromoney that many Iranian banksare now exempt from the financial messaging restrictions that the EU imposed on them in March 2012. Swift has informed the relevant stakeholders about the necessary measures that need to be put in place to make it possible for those banks that are delisted by the implementing regulation to reconnect to Swift, it says. Those banks that are delisted by the implementing regulation will now automatically be able to reconnect to Swift, following the completion of our normal connection process. This is understood to include administrative and systems checks, connectivity and technical arrangements. Problems The implementing regulation does not repeal all EU sanctions on all Iranian banks, therefore Swift remains prohibited from providing specialised financial messaging services to the EU-sanctioned Iranian banks that remain listed under EU regulation, Swift says, adding that it is incorporated under Belgian law and has to comply with all related EU regulation as confirmed by the Belgian government. Swift declines to comment on any specific problems with reconnection in Iran, nor on its arrangements with Cisco; Cisco did not respond to requests for comment. These are purely teething problems but Euromoney understands that in the long-awaited relative freedom that has followed the implementation of the nuclear agreement, some banks are still transacting payments through intermediary banks in Oman and Turkey. We do know, though, that most banks are at least permitted to rejoin the international banking fold. One of the first steps following implementation was the official removal of restrictions on most banks in the Iranian banking system, says Radman Rabii at Firouzeh Asia Brokerage in Tehran. The Central Bank of Iran announced on Wednesday [January 20] that restrictions on using the Swift network have been lifted, and reconnection by Iranian banks is expected in the coming days. The central bank then came out with a list of newly reconnected banks including some surprising names. Several of the big private banks, such as Saman, Pasargad and Parsian, reconnected first, with two of the smaller state-run banks, Maskan and Keshavarzi, all as expected. Then the central bank named 12 further state banks that are now reconnected, among them the big names of Bank Mellat, Bank Melli, Tejarat Bank and Bank Sepah. The last of these names is the one raising eyebrows both within and outside Iran. Sepah is the Persian word for army. Its capital was originally provided by the Army Pension Fund. It has been under US sanctions since 2007, with the US claiming then that the bank actively assisted Iran in developing missiles that could carry nuclear weapons (which the bank fervently denied). It had always been assumed that Sepah, with such clear links to the military, would be excluded at least from the first round of sanctions relief, and indeed, when the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (the nuclear agreement)was announced, Sepah was on the list of banks that remained under sanction. Now, it appears, it no longer is. One thing rapidly becoming clear as Irans international banking devices start up again is that the flow of capital is at first going to be with the east, not the west. Just as the tankers leaving Iran, on the morning after the sanctions were lifted, were headed for India rather than the Suez Canal, it is thought that the first foreign bank to resume full banking lines with Iran was Chinas ICBC. Then, on January 21, the Central Bank of Iran said that ICBC had formally requested the right to open branches in Iran, both on the mainland and within the free trade zone of Kish Island. Hossein Yaqoubi Miab, the director for international affairs at the central bank, also told local media that he had received similar requests to open branches from banks in Australia, Italy and Lebanon. Now comes the next phase of Irans rehabilitation: guessing who they are. Given how long it has taken, any news is good news. Italy finally reached agreement with the EU in late January on steps to deal with the hundreds of billions of euros of bad debts that have weighed down its banking system for the last decade. Much of the delay was caused by debate as to whether or not the plan would constitute state aid. Those not familiar with European legalism might question the point of the Italian government doing anything, if it is not state aid. Still, the EU has approved a plan it deems not to be state aid. The result is a necessarily watered-down version of a hoped-for bad bank. It is so watered down, in fact, that it is not a bad bank at all. It comes in stark contrast to the Irish and Spanish plans, which helped those countries rebound so much sooner and more decisively than Italy. As research from Citi points out, Irish and Spanish banks were obliged to transfer loans to a state asset management vehicle at a set price. Italy, on the other hand, is merely offering a paid-for guarantee for the safest portion of funding for a special purpose vehicle that will buy some of the banks loans. The government may be a more readily available guarantor than banks might otherwise find. But it is nowhere near as radical a solution understandably so, notes CreditSights, given the absence of the kind of EU-funded bank recapitalization programme that Spain had. In Italy, the guarantees also have to be set at what the EU decides are market rates. Italian banks have already started setting up bad debt securitization platforms. Italys third biggest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), sold a 1 billion portfolio of NPLs into a securitization vehicle financed by affiliates of Deutsche Bank in December. The state will now guarantee the senior debt of such operations. It is unlikely ever to have to honour the guarantee, as equity and subordinated debt tranches will take the first hit from any shortfall to the price the SPV paid for the loans. The guarantee should attract a much broader array of investors to bonds issued by such vehicles, even if the banks still have to hold onto most of the riskiest tranches. However, the price could put off all but those banks with the highest funding costs. The states fee for the guarantee will be based on CDS of issuers with similar ratings to the SPV tranche. To make sure the banks are not tempted to sit back and forget about the underlying loans, the price will rise over time initially being based on three-year CDS, then five-year, then seven. As research from Milan-based Banca Akros points out, thats hardly encouraging, given the time it takes to realise collateral in Italy. The banks that will benefit most are those that need it most, like MPS. In the short term, the lack of any forced sales is a relief for bondholders too, as there will be no immediate shock. The transfer of NPLs to a bad bank for four bailed-in Italian lenders in November came with an 80% loan loss reserve, raising the question of whether a wider bad bank scheme might require similar write-downs. Yet there were already signs of Italys NPL market picking up, with schemes such as KKR Credits Pillarstone platform, last year. That is partly due to investors hunt for yield and partly because the ECB is fed up with Italian banks doing nothing about the problem. Now the Italian government and the EU can say they acted; unsurprisingly, investors remain unenthusiastic. It makes consolidation even more vital. Daniele Nouy: 'Non-performing exposures are also still a serious prudential challenge in some countries, including Italy.' The EUs banking union the most ambitious integration project since the euro hit a watershed as the Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive and Single Resolution Mechanismcame into force on January 1. These bodies now operate alongside the Single Supervisory Mechanism, headed by Daniele Nouy, which assumed prudential control of eurozone bank supervision in November 2014. The common aim is to end taxpayer-financed bank bailouts, by bailing in bank equity and bondholders relying on creditors for at least 8% of a lenders liabilities alongside a bank-financed resolution scheme and a harmonized deposit guarantee programme. But events in Italy and Portugal at the end of last year, before the BRRD came into force, raised questions about both governments commitment to new bailout rules and, by extension, the credibility of the new resolution authority. In November, Italy used an industry-financed bailout fund which was provided with a short-term loan guaranteed by a state-owned postal savings bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to inject 3.6 billion into four small banks. The intervention wiped out shareholders and junior creditors, while senior bondholders and depositors were protected. Italian officials deny fiscal backing, but there are questions over whether or not the bailout structure would have complied with BRRD rules against discretionary state backing. Breach More controversially, leading lawyers and bank investors argue that the bail-in of senior bondholders of Novo Banco in December breaches BRRD norms on the equal treatment of senior creditors and on the transfer of bonds to a third party. Nicolas Veron, senior fellow at Bruegel, a European think-tank, says: BRRD defines the future stance on bail-in in theory, but it remains to be seen how it will play out in practice. While Novo Banco is no precedent for the future, it does underline the massive uncertainties that remain in that area, as do the recent cases in Italy. Dan Davies at Frontline Analysts, a bank equity-research house, and a former investment banker, adds: Politicians wanted to get the Italian rescues done before year-end, precisely because they knew that once BRRD kicked in, they lost all powers to a supervisory architecture thats run from Frankfurt, with very little national discretion. At the end of the day, everything got done, and everyone who did anything had to get the ECBs blessing first. Policymakers claim that the recent leg of the eurozone crisis and negative bank-sovereign feedbackare now over. The bond spread between Portugal and Germany, for example, is only 230 basis points. While this is, in part, thanks to the ECBs monetary actions, the SSMs market credibility has helped. None of the banks included in the 2014 Comprehensive Assessment have collapsed, in sharp contrast to the ill-fated EU stress tests of 2010 and 2011, Veron says. Greek banks raised equity from private-sector investors, vindicating the SSMs earlier assessment of their solvency, while analysts say the new supervisory regime imposes tougher capital and liquidity requirements than the national supervisors it has replaced. Regimes Reform advocates call for further harmonization to complete the banking union, including efforts to reduce the home bias of banks sovereign debt portfolios, and a specific, pan-European insolvency regime. Veron explains: Bank insolvency law remains national, and so is the insolvency court system. Since bank resolution is defined as an alternative to court-ordered insolvency (no creditor worse off), this means that we are still far from a genuine single resolution mechanism. Taxation, consumer protection, housing finance, pensions, accounting and auditing are among the other areas that are still entirely or significantly national. We are still very far from a pure, complete banking union. In a speech last November, Nouy stressed: There are still a lot of challenges ahead, most notably in terms of achieving the main goal of the SSM: ensuring fully harmonised prudential banking supervision in the euro area. She added: Non-performing exposures are also still a serious prudential challenge in some countries, including Italy. ECB board member Benoit Cure concluded in a speech in January that external and internal rebalancing was a prerequisite for further eurozone integration, as recommended by the Five Presidents Report, authored by heads of key European financial and political institutions. Of immediate concern is Germanys resistance, citing fears over debt mutualization, to the European Commissions European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS), which EC officials say would complete the banking-union project, in the absence of fiscal integration. Davies backs Berlin. This is a pretty daft idea because deposit insurance cant help with system-wide crises. Its also politically toxic because the German savings banks see it, correctly, as either a raid on their massive and massively solvent fund, or, also correctly, as an attack on their practice of bailing each other out to avoid washing any dirty linen in public. For now, supervisory officials are content with focusing on more prosaic matters: to bolster the quality and transparency of data-sets and to harmonize audits while streamlining and centralizing decision-making. On that front, Italian banks seemed to get a pass after the SSM clarified it would not be undertaking a new asset-quality review of the countrys lenders and didnt foresee new provisions or unexpected requests for additional capital. The statement came after news of an SSM questionnaire sent to several banks in Italy fed fears over additional provisioning. Italian bank stocks sold off heavily last month. But the SSMs very exercise to understand the governance of the NPL process management underscores a more-fundamental point: it has the power to investigate NPLs on a granular, bank-by-bank basis, to audit the auditor and to harmonize valuation-practices, says Davies. Aside from NPL supervision, theres an argument that regulators should now play second fiddle to the market in solving banks capital problems. As Euromoney has reported in recent months,a lack of bank M&A and belated decisions on retooling business-modelsare key constraints on credit growth and bank earnings, rather than weak capital ratios per se. Capture the splendor of the Lofoten Islands in Norway! Aerial view of Reine, Norway. All photography in this post is the property of ClassicNorway.com. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Far above the Arctic Circle and undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and most photographed regions in Norway, the Lofoten Islands are ridiculously picturesque with majestic fjords cutting deep into rugged peaks scraping the skies above; and along the shores, tiny fishing villages chock-full of charming rorbuer, one-time wooden-cabin homes to thousands of migrant fishermen who made their living upon these waters for centuries. Visit in the summer and you'll revel in the land of the midnight sun, and from September to mid-April, chase the ever-elusive Northern Lights as they blaze across dark winter skies high above the frozen landscapes laden with snow. The ever-elusive Northern Lights blaze across winter skies in Vidar Lysvold, Henningsvr on the main island of Austvagy, Norway. Surrounded by all this visual grandeur, it should come as no surprise that the entire region is every landscape photographer's dream come true and hence, the focal point of this photographic expedition across northwestern Norway. If you too are left awe-struck and humbled by this natural and rugged beauty, be sure to read more about a special photography workshop that my Norwegian colleague, Sven-Erik Knoff, is hosting at the end of this month. He and his partner Emile Holba will teach you how to capture those compelling images of the Nordic land! Winsome fishing villages chock-full of charming rorbuer or wooden cabins or wooden cabins in Nusfjord. Many have been refurbished and are now available as holiday rentals for your visit. First, a little bit about the Lofoten Islands Rustic rorbuer line the waters in Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway. Comprising a 70-mile archipelago that stretches from the tiny island of Rst in the southwest corner of the island chain to the waters of Raftsundet in the northeast, Lofoten, a one-time polestar of the cod industry, is steeped in a maritime past that precedes even the Vikings! Throughout history, the cod industry provided much of the region's income from the annual hunts which took place from January through March. Every year, 30,000 migrant fishermen in more than 6,000 fishing boats would cast their nets upon the waters and reap their seafaring harvests. The fishermen would then exchange part of their catch for room and board in the rustic rorbuer owned by the fish-station proprietors, keep in mind they were not as quaint and charming. Today, Lofoten remains a center of the cod industry but fishing is a now a year-round enterprise and on a much grander scale. If you visit in the summertime, you will see the cod drying out on giant A-frame wooden racks, quite a sight to behold when thousands of them are left to bask in the Nordic sunshine. The Northern Lights provide a stunning backdrop to the cod-drying wooden racks in the Lofoten Islands. While fishing certainly plays a major role in this region, Lofoten is one of Norway's most popular tourist areas especially in the summer, but for those brave few who dare to become explorers of the frozen north, the area will leave you spellbound by the Northern Lights. Wintertime blankets Reine in a frosty coat of snow. Some of the most popular areas of the Lofoten Islands include Svolvr on the island of Austvagy, home to the Svolvrgeita or Svolvr Goat Mountain as well as the North Norwegian Artists' Centre. You'll find the Lofoten Museum and the Lofoten Aquarium in the city of Kabelvag to the south. On the island of Vestvagy, the Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg was built in a remarkable replica of the largest Viking longhouse ever discovered in Norway; and actually uncovered on the museum's grounds. Finally Reine in the Moskenes district, the primary location for the photography workshop detailed below, is the region's most popular destination and features many of those winsome fishing villages I mentioned earlier. Inspired? Aerial view of Reine in the Lofoten-Island archipelago. Photographers Sven-Erik and Emile will teach you how to hone your photographic technique to create stunning images such as these that fill this article. Workshops are jam-packed with exciting sight-seeing excursions, photography and editing lessons, delicious meals and more! Perhaps you'll capture an eagle in flight aboard the whale and eagle sea safari. Today, Lofoten remains a center of the cod industry but fishing is a now a year-round activity on a much grander scale. More of scenic Reine, Norway. Now meet your photographers: Sven-Erik Knoff Born and raised in Norway, Sven-Erik's longtime passion for photography evolved into a full-time career just a few years ago after capturing the attention of the BBC with his stunning images of Trondheim. After earning his long-awaited and well-deserved recognition, this self-taught photographer transformed his passion into his career. Now he travels the world capturing moments of visual romance including some of the most dramatic images of Norway that I have ever seen. Emile Holba Emile Holba Focusing primarily on documentary and portraiture, Emile works with a host of clients from grant-awarding foundations to commercial enterprises including tourism, the music industry, education and technology. Getting there and tips to know before you go: SAS offers flights to Bod Widere to Lofoten (Leknes, Svolvr) Bring plenty of warm clothes and shoes for long, cold days outdoors. Don't forget those hats and gloves too! Camera, equipment including tripod and remote release Most importantly, your passion and appreciation for the splendor of Norway Enjoy your unforgettable expedition to the Lofoten Islands in Norway. Drug bust A Flagstaff traffic stop ended in a drug bust last week. According to the police report, an officer pulled over a vehicle in the 2400 block of North West Street after it stopped at an intersection without a stop sign at about 12:15 p.m. last Tuesday. While the suspect was struggling with a field sobriety test, an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper arrived with his K-9. The dog signaled that there were drugs in the vehicle. Officers then searched the vehicle. Inside, they found a pouch containing dozens of individual-sized packages totaling more than 40 grams of methamphetamine, multiple individual-sized containers totaling about 3.5 grams of heroin, approximately 0.7 grams of marijuana, a syringe containing an unidentified clear liquid and a scale with drug residue. Kristin Marie Robledo, 34, was arrested and charged with a long list of drug-related crimes, including possession of narcotic drugs for sale and transportation of narcotic drugs. She was booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility. Police are awaiting lab results to determine whether a DUI charge should be added. 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. I would love to see book suggestions based off music. I see a lot of posts/articles about "what to read next if you loved blank book," but what about "what to read next if you love jazz music" or "what to read next if you love zydeco music." Do you love Zydeco Music?! I confess that I only just discovered what it is. When I started my every day blogging challenge, and asked for recommendations on what to post about, Yivette said:I responded by searching to find out what Zydeco music is. Per Wikipedia: "Zydeco is a musical genre evolved in southwest Lousiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native people of Louisiana." Zydeco is not just all kinds of Cajun and Creole music though. There's a nice paragraph about the distinctions here Since then, I've been listening to Zydeco and enjoying it. "Bye Bye Kitty Zydeco" by Kathy Kallick is my favorite song so far. A quick word about listening to music online: I do most of my listening on Spotify, but I've been looking into Amazon Prime Music. Do you use Amazon Prime Music? I'd love to hear about your experience, what you like and don't like about it. Right now Amazon has put a bounty on it, meaning if my blog readers sign up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime Music I can get a special extra commission.I'll tell you the reason Amazon Prime Music appeals to me over Spotify --- Amazon has Taylor Swift. I'm not a huge Swifty, but I like her stuff, and Spotify doesn't have it. I imagine Amazon has some other artists Spotify doesn't. I've signed up for a free trial, and if you're interested I'd be much obliged if you'd use my link above to sign up for one, too.Now! It's time for the books! These three are stellar books that jump to mind when I hear Zydeco.by Mike Artell -- I love this book so much. I discovered it when I was in high school and it's one of the few picture books I took with me to college. I developed voices for each of the characters (Petite Rouge, Grandmere, and Claude who is the alligator that plays the role of the wolf). It is written in poetry, and in dialect. Reading it the first time takes some thought, and becoming skilled at read-aloud takes practice, but it's SO worth it. Every time I read this to kids they are laughing at the antics, scared of ol' Claude, and triumphant right along with me. It made my list of Top Ten books to Read to a Kindergarten Class . And I couldn't help but mention it in my post, Diversify Your Child's Library by Thatcher Hurd -- Dont' judge this book by its cover alone. We checked it out from the library years ago and I'm still singing the song! The story is lively and fun, and parents of kids who are learning an instrument will relate to Mama. :) Miles and his friends get sent out of the house because their mothers are sick of the music they're playing. They form a swamp band and get hired to play for some gators. Thankfully the book has a happy ending. Looks like it was a Reading Rainbow book episode 5 ).(season 4,by Kathy Appelt -- This book is unusual, strange, and beautifully written. It is perfectly suited for read-aloud, even though it is a longer book. According to the Amazon page, it's marketed for kids 10 and up. I would agree with that. The chapters are quite short, which provides lots of good stopping places. The Underneath follows the story of several animals in the bayou, and most especially a dog and a cat who are friends, living under the house of a man. Most Zydeco music that I've listened to is very upbeat -- I think that's part of the genre. This book is not upbeat. It is mysterious and foreboding and suspenseful. But it's so well written I had to recommend it with this list.And don't worry, Yivette, I'll get around to posting my list for jazz music, too. This coming Friday, February 12, is Darwin Day, aka Academic Freedom Day. In keeping with time-honored practice well, a practice going back a couple of years anyway the occasion has come to announce the winner of our Censor of the Year (COTY) award. Presented by Discovery Institutes Center for Science & Culture, COTY is a dubious honor, recognizing outstanding efforts in silencing debate about Darwinian evolution and alternative theories of lifes origins. This year, nominees submitted by our readers included the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic, Bill Nye, the National Center for Science Education, the mainstream media, and Neil deGrasse Tyson the last of whom would be a repeat winner, since he was also the past years COTY. Each of these nominations has merit, but when we thought it over, the answer seemed obvious. As you will already have grasped from the headline, this years winner and the leading nominee as well is the Commission on the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. This choice, however, calls for a necessary clarification. It is unclear who on the Commission participated in deciding to exclude Discovery Institute from the churchs upcoming General Conference, and thereby censor discussion of intelligent design. When we inquired, we were told only that the leadership of the Commission made the decision. The UMC with its motto of Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors refuses to disclose who made up this shadowy leadership group. So the best we can do is bestow COTY on the Commission. Certainly, we mean no criticism of United Methodists as a whole, many of whom support ID and free speech, and have vigorously objected to their churchs act of censorship. That is much to the annoyance of some UMC leaders, including Bishop Michael Coyner of Indiana, as our colleague Donald McLaughlin (himself a United Methodist) pointed out. Why was the UMC Commission the obvious winner? After all, at least in the initial move to bar us, they did not set out to hurt or intimidate any particular scholar or scientist (as past COTY winner Jerry Coyne did) or to mislead the general public (as did Neil deGrasse Tyson). Instead, the Commission stands out by exemplifying what appears to be the culpable ignorance, confusion, and shiftiness of leaders who ought to know better who should welcome insights revealing the design of life! but who prefer to clap their hands over their ears. Who knows what these folks really had in mind, but an excessive, fawning concern about what prestige academia thinks of you, combined with intellectual laziness in researching the matter for oneself, are together the typical reasons that clergy go astray on this issue. The Commission deprives the people they supposedly serve of information vital for their faith. ID is a science not faith-based argument, drawing data from biology, cosmology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and other disciplines. It makes no appeal whatsoever to Scripture or any religious tradition. Yet a coherent notion of theism, whether Christian or Jewish, reasonably expects objective confirmation of teleology in the origins of the cosmos and of life. If there were no such available evidence, that would pose a problem perhaps not insurmountable but profound for religious believers. If there is evidence, religious leaders owe it to members of their churches and synagogues to share that with them by the same token, you might say, that atheist leaders owe it to their followers to broadcast the best arguments they have for their beliefs. A church barring discussion of ID makes as much sense as an atheist group banning discussion of Darwinism. Maybe thats why in their public explanations of the anti-ID ban, UMC leaders have offered a revolving conveyor belt of muddled and misinformed rationales. We have analyzed those here. The height of absurdity was reached when the official United Methodist News Service commented on the controversy, citing the New Testament account of Jesus tempted by Satan. After invoking Judge Jones and the Kitzmiller case, the article observed: Because intelligent design starts with belief in a designer, who as Jesus said should not be put to the test, it doesnt offer testable hypotheses the way evolutionary biology does. ID does not start with belief in a designer and it does offer testable hypotheses, but leave that aside. They linked to a verse in Luke 4: 12 Jesus answered, Its been said, Dont test the Lord your God. 13 After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. In this comparison, Discovery Institute is evidently the devil no less! rebuked by Jesus (= UMCs Commission on the General Conference, or perhaps Judge Jones?) for offering Christians and other theists objective evidence that life reflects a designers purpose and wisdom. The lunacy of this, reported by John West on Friday of last week as we were closing nominations for Censor of the Year, surely seals the deal. In recent weeks we have also reported polling information that is relevant here. In time for Darwin Day, we showed huge support, across the political spectrum, for introducing students not to intelligent design (something we oppose) but to scientific evidence on both sides of the Darwin debate. Censorship on evolution is also massively unpopular, across age, gender, and politically categories. Is human life just flotsam cast up by a mindless material process? That, the picture of what man is, constitutes the ultimate question posed by the study of evolution. Without regard for what is merely politically correct, Americans want to know what science has to say about biological origins. The leadership of the UMC Commission, isolated from mainstream opinion, is thus this years COTY. They deserve it, whoever they are. The award is an occasion for sensible members of that church, and other thoughtful people of any religious persuasion or none, to rise up in protest. We have already offered an easy way of taking action. If you havent already, please spare a moment and do so. Image credit: myskina6 and dule964/ Dollar Photo Club. Weve met reporter Patrick Anderson before. See here for responses from last year to his reporting for the Sioux Falls, SD, Argus Leader. On the subject of academic freedom, his work has left much to be desired. Now Mr. Anderson is back, spreading more misinformation. In January, Senator Jeff Monroe introduced Senate Bill 83, which noted: No teacher may be prohibited from helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established pursuant to 13-3-48. Unfortunately, the bill died in committee on Thursday. However, I would like to correct Andersons inaccurate reporting about the bill in particular and the issue of academic freedom in science education generally. First, academic freedom bills, such as SB 83, do not authorize the teaching of intelligent design. On January 31, Anderson wrote for the Argus Leader: The bill is an effort to protect educators who offer a different school of thought on some of the subjects outlined in the states science standards, Monroe said. But science teachers dont need the protection as long as theyre working with theories based on factual evidence, said Julie Olson, a science teacher in Mitchell. Olson is president of the South Dakota Science Teachers Association. Science has got to be fact-based, it has to be evidence-based, Olson said. Intelligent design isnt evidence-based, so it isnt science. Olson wishes Monroe and other lawmakers behind the senate bill would be more direct about their intentions. I just hate the fact that theyre trying to sneak in the discussion on intelligent design, Olson said. If thats what they want taught they should at least say it. Anderson allows this to go unchallenged. But no, the bill only would have permitted the teaching of scientific strengths and weaknesses on scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established Since intelligent design is not part of the curriculum anywhere in South Dakota, it would not have been protected by the bill. Teaching the strengths and weaknesses of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory is not the same as teaching about ID. For instance, in discussing evolution, a teacher might talk about whether or not Galapagos finches provide evidence of macroevolution. But such a discussion would not present positive evidence for design. To demonstrate the validity of intelligent design, one must make a positive case for the theory. Second, Discovery Institute does not support pushing intelligent design into public schools. In fact, we oppose it. Patrick Anderson has misstated Discovery Institutes position before, claiming that Discovery Institute advocates teaching intelligent design in public schools on the evidence of our textbook, Discovering Intelligent Design, produced explicitly and exclusively for home and private schools. This year, hes at it again, writing: The bill [SB 83] is based on model legislation from the Discovery Institute, a group with a curriculum for teaching intelligent design. No, here is what the Introduction to the curriculum says: A NOTE ON USE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS This supplemental textbook is not intended for use in public schools. ID is a scientific theory and is not religiously based, but we live in a highly charged political climate that is often hostile to ID. While ID should be perfectly legal to discuss in public schools, there are strong reasons not to push ID into the public school curriculum. In particular, the priority of the ID movement is to see the theory progress and mature as a science. However, when the subject is forced into public schools, it tends to generate controversy, changing the topic from a scientific investigation into an emotional, politicized debate. This can result in persecution of ID proponents in the academy, ultimately preventing ID from gaining a fair hearing within the scientific community. The Introduction goes on to quote our official policy on teaching ID in public schools, which we have stated again and again. We oppose mandating the teaching of intelligent design in public school science classroom, and have made that clear in our ID curriculum for home and private schools. Can this be any clearer? Third, academic freedom legislation, such as Monroes bill, doesnt authorize the teaching of creationism. Anderson reports: The proposal could make it easier for teachers to bring Creationism into a public school classroom, despite parts of the bill that disavow any association with religion, said Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education. Its kind of a recipe to encourage teachers to go rogue, Branch said. I admit that its fairly unlikely that teachers are going to be doing that, but teachers are people too, and people have funny ideas. [T]he bill states it may not be construed to promote any religious or nonreligious doctrine. Authors give no direction for determining what the promotion of religious doctrine might look like, Branch said. Its like wearing big sign saying, ignore me,' Branch said. Again, no. The bill would not have authorized the teaching of creationism or other religious beliefs. The text notes it only would have protected the teaching of scientific information and may not be construed to promote any religious or nonreligious doctrine, nor may these provisions be construed to promote discrimination against any religion, religious belief, nonreligion, or nonbelief. Furthermore, the bill didnt need to give direction for determining what promotes religion because courts have already defined what constitutes promotion of religion. Branch is neither a lawyer nor a legislator. There is a long line of court cases that make clear what is permissible and what is not. As Casey Luskin has pointed out, [I]f youre teaching religion, then youre not protected by an academic freedom bill. Since creationism has been ruled a religious belief by the Supreme Court, teachers who teach it would not be protected. Clearly, South Dakotas legislation would not have authorized teaching creationism. Finally, opponents hold that the academic freedom bill somehow would have subverted the states science standards. Andersonreports, Even without the religious implications of the bill, Monroes proposal undermines the democratic process of approving curriculum standards for K-12 schools, [Glenn] Branch [deputy director of the National Center for Science Education] said. The National Center for Science Education reports on their website: Testifying against the bill was Wade Pogany, the executive director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, who told the committee, in the words of KELO AM radio (February 4, 2016), that state and federal courts have ruled that teachers cant abandon the curriculum for their own beliefs. But Branchs and Poganys concerns have little relevance to SB 83. First, such legislation does not undermine the democratic process. The Board of Education in South Dakota isnt elected in the first place, but appointed and then confirmed by the Senate. It would seem just as democratic to have permissive legislation for academic freedom in science education passed through the legislature. Additionally, the general public overwhelmingly supports teaching the scientific strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories in at least one area (Darwinian evolution) as evidenced by a recent SurveyMonkey nationwide poll. Eighty-one percent of respondents agreed that, when teaching Darwins theory of evolution, biology teachers should cover both scientific evidence that supports the theory and scientific evidence critical of the theory. Of those from the West North Central region (which includes South Dakota), 83 percent agreed. Furthermore, this legislation was limited to the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established pursuant to 13-3-48. This bill only applies to content that has already been approved by the Board of Education of South Dakota. It does not authorize the teaching of information on topics outside of the standards. The Introduction to the South Dakota Science Standards notes: The concepts and content in the science standards represent the most current research in science and science education. All theories are presented in a way that allow teachers to structure an experience around multiple pieces of scientific evidence and competing ideas to allow students to engage in an objective discussion. The theories are presented because they have a large body of scientific evidence that supports them. These 6 standards were developed in such a manner to encourage students to analyze all forms of scientific evidence and draw their own conclusions. Academic freedom legislation is in agreement with the spirit and purposes of South Dakotas science standards. So what would academic freedom legislation actually accomplish? As I have written here previously, it would permit teachers to foster an environment of scientific inquiry by educating students about the evidence on both sides of scientific issues. Where this approach to learning has been adopted already, it trains students to think analytically. It awakens interest in science by inviting students to confront relevant research themselves. And students who succeed in science courses in grades K-12 are surely more likely to pursue degrees in those fields. Inquiry in the classroom paves the way for inquiry in the lab. Contrary to what Mr. Anderson has been telling readers of the Argus Leader, enacting academic freedom legislation would have done a service to educational excellence in South Dakota. Image: South Dakota State Capitol, by Jake DeGroot [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons. When Audi launched the Q7 in India in December, it also became the first brand to successfully integrate its social presence with its TVC. The campaign, part of a larger campaign themed #GreatnessStarts, allowed people to share their tweets. The TVxTwitter concept was the big finale to the campaign. As the first of its kind in this region, Audi was able to integrate live tweets into their Launch Ad Spot. Globally, brand conversations spilling over from their TV spots to Twitter drives engagement and Audi asked people to share their tweets with the #GreatnessStarts hashtag and people obliged for the opportunity to be telecast on TV. Embeddable Tweet- https://twitter.com/AudiIN/ status/679352455117725696 Speaking about the #GreatnessStarts campaign, Joe King, MD of Audi India said, Audi Q7 being a class leading product we wanted a class leading innovation to engage with audiences. TV is the traditional medium of reaching audiences and digital is the new horizon. By connecting TV and digital we are also showcasing how our products built on our time tested legacy of Quattro while continuously evolving and integrating technology into every aspect delivers unparalleled performance and luxurious comfort. This campaign is going to create a first-of-its-kind engagement in the process. This is hardly the first time an innovative campaign has been done by the auto sector on social media. In fact, social media experts we spoke with opined that the auto sector has been one of the best users of social media for a long time. "If you think about it, it makes sense. Auto brands know that a lot of their customers research online before buying so it makes sense for them to have a strong presence on social and digital media. Some of them are really good though some do lack a proper content marketing plan. However, the auto sector is one of the most mature sectors when it comes to the use of digital media," opined Chetan Asher, Co-founder and MD of Tonic Media. https://twitter.com/jlrindia/ status/638996898783760384 Taranjeet Singh, Business Head (India) of Twitter, gave other examples of how brands have been using Twitter for creative campaigns. "We work with almost all auto brands throughout the year. One thing we have seen is that a lot of brands have started using video. Video provides better engagement, more immersive user experience, and greater relevance in the moment," he said. When asked about what exactly brands expect from social media campaigns, he said the main aim was generating social interactions with consumers and creating live connections with the audience. He pointed out that Royal Enfield had made use of promoted tweets for the recent launch of Himalaya while Maruti Suzuki has also used Twitter promoted tweets for the launch of its new Vitara Breeza. There are many ways that auto brands can leverage Twitter for their campaigns. For example, BMW launched a Flock-to-Unlock campaign, JLR launched their Discovery series on Periscope, and we are seeing more innovation with the Auto Expo 2016," he added. https://www.instagram.com/p/ BBWwB1fJRiN/?taken-by= skodaindia With Instagram now allowing videos, it has also emerged as a favourite for auto brands, who seem to prefer more visual mediums. For example, Sanjay Mehta, CEO at Mirum India was of the opinion that influencer marketing continues to remain the top priority for auto brands so their focus is more on blogs and platforms like Team BHP. However, he also said that visual platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are also increasingly becoming popular. "The more you dabble in digital media, the more mature you get and auto brands have always been big users of social and digital media," he further added. On similar lines, Gautam Mehra, Business Head (Social Media) of iProspect India said that the use of digital for branding will increase dramatically in 2016. "The auto sector has definitely woken up to digital and social media in a big way and it's not surprising for them to do so. Facebook alone has 23 million males from 25-44 coming from the Top 8 cities. That is massive reach of the core car buying TG. A car buying process involves researching the available options, social/peer validation, cost analysis and booking a test drive. Digital lends itself perfectly for all four of the above. With the massive reach of Facebook and the native ad formats, auto makers are poised to leverage this to the maximum," he said. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) PHOENIX -- Arizona taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $240 million to help convince adults to get state permits to carry concealed weapons. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee voted 5-4 Monday to give individuals a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit for the cost of the required course, up to $80. House Majority Leader Steve Montenegro, sponsor of HB 2494, said it will encourage people, who already can carry a concealed weapon without any training at all, to attend the eight-hour course. The Litchfield Park Republican said police officers have told him the first-line of defense for citizens is someone who has been trained in the use of a firearm. He said the training covers not just the mechanics of the weapons but also the laws about when to use it. Rep. Bruce Wheeler, D-Tucson, said he wasn't buying it. He said the officers he has heard from worry about rushing into a situation and trying to figure out which people with guns are the good guys and which are the bad guys. "It creates utter and complete chaos for law enforcement,'' he said. But Wheeler said the bigger question is the price tag. He said if three million adults who don't already have CCW permits all take advantage of the credit, that pencils out to $240 million. Montenegro, however, was relying on an estimate from legislative budget staffers who said this should cost no more than $1.9 million next year -- and presumably the same amount every year going forward. That's based the fact that about 32,000 people got CCW permits last year. Legislative staffers figured that the pace would remain the same in the future and only 75 percent of those taking the course would seek reimbursement on their tax forms. All that, however, however, presumes the pace would remain the same even if the effective cost went from $80 to zero. Montenegro brushed aside the whole cost question as irrelevant. "You can't really put a price on safety,'' he said. Montenegro, who has such a permit, said the course teaches important things. "They really instill you not only how the firearm works, the components of the firearms, but also what the laws say, what safety is, what to do, what not to do, how to treat firearms,'' he told committee members. And Montenegro said that includes when not to use a gun. "These are lessons in firearm safety that are appropriate for the next generation of firearm users,'' he said. At last count, the Department of Public Safety said there were 253,279 individuals who had taken the courses and qualified for the permits. While any adult can carry a concealed weapon, having that permit grants the holder certain rights that are not available to others, such as the ability to bring it into a place where alcoholic beverages are served, though they have to agree not to drink. Potentially more significant, it allows someone with an Arizona CCW permit to also carry their weapons while in other states with more restrictive laws. Montenegro's legislation is prospective only and would not help anyone who already has taken the course. Wheeler said if the cost is just $1.9 million a year forever into the future -- and he is not conceding the point -- he wondered exactly what would be cut out of the budget to pay for that. Montenegro had no specific answer. Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, questioned why Democrats would oppose the measure. "The Left is always saying we need to regulate the Second Amendment,'' he said, with proposals to require people to request a permit even just to buy a weapon, register them with the state and have the names in a database. This proposal, he said, entices more people to apply for a CCW permit. "Now we have a record of them having this gun,'' Kern said. Despite the 5-4 vote the measure faces an uncertain future when it goes to the full House, with cost being part of the question. Several GOP legislators who agreed to support it Monday said they don't like the idea of dollar-for-dollar tax credits for anything. Bank of England (BoE) Dovishness and EU Referendum Uncertainty Continues to Hinder Demand for the British Pound (GBP) Against Peers Such as the Euro, US dollar, Australian Dollar and NZ Dollar. With many analysts predicting long-term detrimental ramifications from a British exit from the European Union, demand for the Pound Sterling (GBP) has continued to abate in February. EU referendum uncertainty is also predicted to negatively impact Bank of England (BoE) policymaker outlook, further weighing on GBP to USD, EUR conversions. The pound vs euro exchange rate has dropped over 9% since the turn of 2016. UK GDP slowed to 0.4% in the three months to January, according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR). According to research James Warren, The softening of growth in the three months to January was primarily driven by weakness in the production sector at the end of last year. In a new study, based upon the experiences of 20 countries over 40 years, Goldman Sachs identified just an 18% chance that the US economy will enter recession over the next year, while the risk to the Eurozone stands at 24%. The UK, however, performs best of all the worlds developed economies, with Goldman Sachs claiming there is no chance of a recession. Here are today's live exchange rates for your reference: On Friday the Euro to British Pound exchange rate (EUR/GBP) converts at 0.872 Today finds the pound to euro spot exchange rate priced at 1.147. At time of writing the pound to us dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.121. The live inter-bank GBP-AUD spot rate is quoted as 1.788 today. At time of writing the pound to new zealand dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.98. NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 21st Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks. British Pound Falls to Historic Lows va the Euro and US Dollar The Pound dropped sharply against all its major counterparts on Monday, as fears of a European exit sparked a sell off across markets, sending the Pound Vs Euro to a fresh yearly low and Sterling tumbling against all 16 of its major counterparts. If the UK abandons the European Union in whats being dubbed the Brexit, this could ignite a collapse in the British Pound and many suggest lose between 15 20% off its value. Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note on Thursday that a departure from the EU would increase uncertainty, weigh on the U.K. outlook and raise concerns of foreign investors. In a separate note at the latest Bank of England meeting, Governor Mark Carney, said a so-called Brexit could compromise the U.K.s ability to lean on wealthy friends to cover a shortfall known as the current account deficit, which is the ratio of money coming into the country to money leaving the country. Pound Sterling to Euro (GBP/EUR) Exchange Rate Drops to One-Year Low Markets have become nervous, and this is evident with the latest drop we have seen with the British Pound over the last couple of weeks, as markets enter a new phase of selling. The Pound Vs Euro exchange rate has dropped over 9% in the last two months from a high back in November 2015 at 1.4320, to currently trade down at 1.2906, representing the lowest level in over a year. The Pound also shed over 0.6% against the US Dollar on Monday, dropping from a high at 1.4547 to trade as low as 1.4350 by late European trading. It has since recovered some ground to currently trade back above 1.44. The biggest losses were seen against the higher yielding currencies, with the Pound Vs Australian dollar dropping 1.02% and the Pound Vs New Zealand dollar dropping 0.67% by the close in London. Markets will now focus on Wednesday with the up and coming UK GDP estimate, Manufacturing and latest Industrial production figure which is due for release in early European hours. This weeks major event risk however will be the up and coming meeting with Fed President Janet Yellen, who will provide the latest testimony to Congress on Wednesday. Investors will be looking to Yellen for clues of future policy decisions. Yellen likely will aim to tread a fine line as she gives report to a House committee, followed by similar testimony before a Senate panel Thursday. Disappointing UK Production Data Doesnt Push Sterling Negative Industrial and manufacturing production figures for the UK have all printed below forecast, showing a moderate decline in sector activity. Year-on-year (YoY) Industrial Production and month-on-month (MoM) Manufacturing Production were both predicted to show growth, but instead printed in negative territory. Switzerland is the best country in the world for a career abroad thanks to its high earning prospects, job security and enjoyable work culture, according to expats.Some 65% of expats in Switzerland say the country offers higher salaries than at home, while 53% praise the working culture and 43% feel more secure in their job, the latest HSBC expat explorer survey data shows. In second place is Sweden, then Germany, Russia and Singapore. Career hotspots in Asia and the Middle East make up the next four places with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia and then the United States.The rankings looked at eight key criteria to reveal which countries enable expats to thrive in their careers. These are the chance to acquire new skills, career progression, job security, actual and prospective earnings, benefits packages and work/life balance, as well as fulfilling work and the work culture.Expats in Sweden enjoy the best work/life balance in the world, with 72% of expats there finding a better balance than at home. The UK, which ranks 20thoverall, is one of the best places to develop skills, with nearly 59% of expats saying the country offers them a better chance to do this.While earning prospects for expats vary within Europe, job security in the region is rated the highest in the world. Four of the top five countries for expat job security, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and France, are in Europe, with 59% of expats in both Germany and Sweden feeling more secure in their role after moving there.Destinations in the Middle East offer excellent benefits packages and strong earning prospects. Some 67% of expats in Qatar, 62% in the UAE and 61% in Bahrain say they earn more now than they did at home. There is more to expat employment contracts than just salary, however, and 94% of expats in Oman receive at least one benefit from their employer, more than anywhere else.Asian countries also score highly for expats who are willing to develop their career. Some 62% of expats in Singapore say their earning prospects are better than at home and 59% say it is a good place to progress their careers. Hong Kong performs even more strongly for these two aspects, with 68% and 63% rating it as a good destination for earning prospects and career progression respectively. However, only 28% of expats in Hong Kong say their work/life balance has improved."Career success means different things to different people. It can be about rapid development and pay rises, or working in a job which challenges you. Others move abroad in search of more fulfilling work or to just find a better balance between work and life," said Dean Blackburn, head of HSBC Expat."According to the 22,000 expats we surveyed, Europe offers the best all-round careers experience, especially for aspects such as job satisfaction, security and a great work/life balance," Blackburn continued. "Ambitious expats looking to move up the ladder will take a keen interest in Asia, while the financial rewards generally on offer in the Middle East provide an enticing prospect."Its all down to what you want to get out of a career specifically during your time abroad and thats why we created an interactive careers tool. If you want to know which country best suits your career priorities, learn about what its like to work in a different country or find out how to start a new career abroad, our tool could provide the answer. Thousands of expats have made the move before you, now you can learn from their experience." Telephonic threats forced three Flagstaff Unified School District schools into lockdowns Monday afternoon. Knoles Elementary School, Mount Elden Middle School and Flagstaff High School all received threatening phone calls within one hour of each other, district spokeswoman Karin Eberhard said. Eberhard said all three schools were searched and no threats were found. Both FHS and MEMS were out of school at the time of the call, Knoles was still in session. The district was the target of similar threats in the previous school year. A New York man was arrested in connection with the threats in July. The man told police when he was arrested that he was a "gamer" and the threatening calls were made after losing an online game. PHOENIX -- State lawmakers will decide whether those who have something to say on college and university campuses can be told when and where they can say it. The proposal by Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, would make it illegal for state-run schools to designate any area on campus as a "free speech zone.'' In fact, HB 2615 requires universities and community colleges to convert any such existing area to a memorial or monument. Kern isn't the only one to outlaw such special areas. The Alliance Defending Freedom already has filed suit against Paradise Valley Community College over what the public interest law firm says is the illegal practice of requiring groups to get permits, provide prior notice -- and then be restricted to certain areas of campus. The college has yet to respond to the lawsuit. Kern told Capitol Media Services his legislation is not based on that incident. In fact, Kern said he was unaware of the litigation. Instead, he said it came from his own experience when he was younger working with a church group that wanted to hand out material at Glendale Community College during July 4th activities. Kern said there was no problem for the first few years. "All of a sudden, they came up with this free speech zone which was way away from the people,'' he recalled. "It defeated the whole purpose.'' Kern said colleges still would be able to have some limited controls if his measure becomes law. For example, he said they could restrict the times that amplifiers could be used. Similarly, Kern said his legislation is designed to protect only non-commercial speech, meaning that merchants would not be able to use the law to set up booths on campus to sell items. And Kern said a college might be able to ask for some advance notice from those who want to reserve a specific space to prevent conflicts with other groups. "You don't want people hurting each other,'' he said. Kern said his legislation is limited to colleges and universities and would not bar a city hosting an event from shunting off protesters to free speech zones far from the event. That has been the practice by both political parties for some time now during their quadrennial conventions. He said that's a different situation. "The reason why college campuses and universities are kind of singled out is because these have always been the bastions of free speech, the bastions of free debate,'' Kern said. The lawsuit pending in Maricopa County Superior Court was filed on behalf of Brittany Mirelez and Richard Shemberger. According to their lawyers, Mirelez, who is a student at the college, set up a table last October in the "speech zone'' to talk with students about joining the Young Americans for Liberty student group she is trying to start on campus. The lawsuit says she was asked to leave because she had not obtained prior permission as required by college policy. In filing suit, the pair are challenging not just the permission requirement but the whole designation of a specific 0.2-acre area on the 92.4 acre campus. The result, the legal papers say, "closes an entire forum for speech activity.'' "The sidewalks and open spaces of PVCC's campus are designated public forums -- if not traditional public forums -- for speech and expressive activities by students enrolled at PVCC,'' the lawsuit states. "A public college's ability to restrict speech -- particularly student speech -- in a public forum is limited,'' it continues. "The First Amendment's Free Speech Clause prohibits censorship of political expression.'' There was no immediate response from the college to the litigation. In one way, Kern's legislation goes beyond what is in the lawsuit. He said campuses should be open to all, regardless of whether they are enrolled at the school. "The entire campus should be a free speech area, in my opinion,'' Kern said. He said restricting people with a message to "a little box in the corner kind of defeats the purpose.'' "Those free speech zones are way away from anybody you want to try to get your message out to,'' he said. The following editorial appeared in The Sacramento Bee on Thursday, Feb. 4: When theres the political will, there tends to be a political way to accomplish the impossible. It appears this finally may be the case with the nations long-ignored epidemic of heroin and prescription opioid addiction. On Tuesday, the Obama administration unveiled a plan to ramp up spending on drug treatment and prevention, which is woefully inadequate in most states, and to expand patient access to the overdose-reversal drug, naloxone, and to other drugs proven to curb addiction. Nationwide, about 2.2 million people need treatment for opioid abuse, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but about only 1 million manage to get it. To change this, the president intends to ask Congress for a fiscal year investment of $1.1 billion over two years a budget request that, in normal times, would be an exercise in futility. But this is a politically charged election year thats anything but normal. The New Hampshire primary is coming up, and New Hampshire is a state that has been particularly ravaged by drugs. It has one of the highest rates of fatal opioid overdoses in the country. That means a whole lot of voters in New Hampshire want to talk about drug addiction. They want to know what the men and women running for president can do to help. They want to know what those in Congress can do about it, too and for good reason. More Americans die from drug overdoses now than from car crashes. In 2014, that was about 47,000 people. Most took opioid painkillers prescribed by a doctor; many others died from heroin, the cheaper alternative. New Hampshire may have the dubious distinction of being the poster child for this epidemic, but the same drugs have taken hold of communities across the country. For this reason, because of the pressure from voters and the timing of the election, the Obama administration could get a lot of what it wants from Congress to combat opioid addiction. If not, lawmakers may go to one of the other bipartisan solutions on the table. Among them is a bill from Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. One could lament that the Obama administration and Congress are acting now more because its politically expedient than because its the right thing to do for millions of Americans. While thats obviously true and while its a shame, in the end, we dont really care. More than the politics of why, what matters is that were facing an emergency with this seemingly unstoppable epidemic of lethal drug addiction. What matters is that something gets done. More companies flee government greed The following editorial appeared in The Orange County Register on Friday, Feb 5: Maybe theyre looking for leprechauns. More U.S. corporations are moving their headquarters overseas, in particular, to Ireland. The latest to depart is global car parts supplier Johnson Controls. Reported the New York Times, Johnson Controls said it was renouncing its United States corporate citizenship by selling itself to Tyco International, based in Ireland, a deal struck in large part to reduce its tax bill, which it said should drop by about $150 million annually. Thats just the latest effort by corporate America to flee the United States. In the last year, Pfizer said it was leaving for Ireland, as did Medtronic, the medical device maker. The moves are called inversion in corporate lingo and are made to avoid Americas 35 percent tax on corporate profits. Other countries rates include: China, 25 percent; Japan, 24 percent; South Korea, 22 percent; Russia, 20 percent; Hong Kong, 17 percent; Germany, 15 percent; Canada, 15 percent; and Ireland, 12.5 percent. So a move to the Emerald Isle means a corporate tax cut of nearly two-thirds. Among Democrats, not only self-proclaimed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders has attacked the corporate exodus. Last week, Hillary Clinton blasted Johnson specifically for working to game the tax code and shelter money overseas to avoid paying their fair share. She promised to block deals like Johnson Controls and Tyco, and place an exit tax on corporations that leave the country to lower their tax bill. That reminds us of the diploma tax the Soviet Union levied in the 1970 on educated people who wanted to emigrate. The Republican presidential candidates all have called for addressing corporate flight by cutting the corporate tax rate. For example, Sen. Marco Rubio wants 25 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz proposes 16 percent and Donald Trump, 15 percent. Their approach encouraging corporations to stay and use their profits to create more jobs just makes more sense. Patients who join clinical trials can be lifesavers The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, Feb. 2: As the nation takes up what President Barack Obama calls a moon shot to cure cancer, the need for contributions from one sector of the medical community may not be obvious the patients themselves. It almost seems unkind to ask patients already burdened with the fears, expenses and challenges of what can be painful, sickening treatment regimens to help others. Patients need the best care, and they deserve all of the assistance that can be offered. At the same time, however, they are in a unique position to make contributions to science that, even if they wont benefit personally, can certainly be helpful to others. Most adults with cancer are hesitant to join clinical trials that drive the research that leads to advances in care and, ultimately, cures. Just 3 to 5 percent of patients volunteer, with 1 in 5 cancer studies failing to drawn enough participation to determine what works. Ironically, the problem is particularly acute for studies of breast cancer and other forms that have seen higher survival rates and cures largely due to earlier clinical trials. Researchers see greater participation among patients who have cancers with poorer outcomes, including melanoma and pancreatic, lung and colon cancers. Physicians for their part must do a better job of reassuring their patients that volunteering for the studies will not diminish the quality of care that they receive. If anything, they stand to benefit from new treatment options in addition to what currently are the best options. Researchers, too, must explain their trials more fully. Caregivers alone, though, will not be able to beat cancer. Future medical advances depend on the patients, too. Americans should know whos funding political TV ads The following editorial appeared in The Seattle Times on Tuesday, Feb. 2: Television watchers need to brace themselves for the worst this election season. Hundreds of millions of dollars are likely to be poured into political ads narrated by ominous voices and designed to influence voters ballot choices. Some commercials, paid for by campaigns, will conclude with candidates saying they approve the message. Viewers should be extra skeptical of any ads brought to them by independent political action committees with benign sounding names like Priorities USA Action, Believe Again, Unintimidated PAC and Right to Rise USA. Such names reveal nothing about who the true sponsors of the advertisements really are. The Federal Communications Commission, which seems to turn a blind eye, should require more transparency and has the authority to do so: Section 315 of the Communications Act requires broadcast stations to identify sponsors of political ads in files available for public viewing. Not every station is complying, according to extensive research by civic watchdog groups, such as the Sunlight Foundation, the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause. Section 317 requires advertisers and broadcasters to disclose to viewers and listeners the true identity of the person, group or entity paying for a political ad. Many dont, and the FCC has failed to enforce this rule. Last week, 168 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to quickly require that broadcasters reveal the names of political-ad sponsors on the air. According to OpenSecrets.org, conservative groups by far dominate this type of campaign advertising. Democracy is weakened when influence over the public airwaves is controlled by dark-money groups, whether on the right or the left, which have the power to raise and spend unlimited funds. Citizens have a right to know when and why mega-rich individuals, such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the industrialist Koch brothers, pour their wealth into advocacy. Thats why the FCC must do more as a regulator to restore trust in American democracy by ensuring campaign commercials are more transparent. Fractured Libya a worry for US The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday, Feb. 5: Libya is rapidly growing as a concern for the United States, joining Iraq and Syria as areas where the presence and influence of the Islamic State are increasing. In the absence of a government, which was destroyed in 2011 by the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and some internal elements, Libya remains the principal springboard for Africans fleeing across the Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe. Migrants from the south are not as big a problem for Europeans as the refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but they, too, are difficult to absorb. Libya is partly presided over not governed by rival groups, one in Tripoli, the former capital, and the other at Tobruk. Both pretend to be the legitimate government, but neither is accepted across the country. Other nations tried to assemble a government of national unity, incorporating elements of both groups, in Rome last year. It didnt hold when the opposing leaders returned to Libya. Another important element is the Islamic State group, based in Sirte, a port on the Mediterranean. Some speculate that the Islamic State is looking for a staging area outside Syria and Iraq, where it would be potentially safer from U.S. bombing and possible ground attack. Libya offers the added advantage of access to oil money. Under former leader Moammar Gadhafi, Libya pumped more than a million barrels a day. Its daily production is now down to 400,000 barrels, but the Islamic State would have the income from at least part of that. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States needs to do something about Libya, a problem he inherited from predecessor Hillary Rodham Clinton, who pushed the intervention that overthrew Gadhafi. He recently ruled out U.S. boots on the ground, something that should please Americans, given the futility of trying to resurrect Libyan governance. CARROLLTON, Ohio The slowdown in the oil and gas industry may not be good for royalty owners, but there may be an upside to this downside. Mike Jacoby, shale energy director for the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth, said there is little encouraging news on upstream oil and gas development. Natural gas spot prices in 2015 were at 16-year lows, and most analysts feel well development will likely be curtailed until prices recover. Some companies are predicting 2017 will be the year for the turnaround, but no one really knows, said Jacoby in a statement. On the bright side, he said, abundant supply and low prices are creating new opportunities midstream and downstream. Midstream processors are rumored to be considering NGL petrochemical projects in Ohio. Downstream, the PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker project is ramping up engineering work and anticipating a final investment decision in about a year, said Jacoby. Jacoby said gas-fired power plant projects are also actively being discussed Welcomed breather Tait Carter, Carroll County Economic Development assistant director, said the good thing is that oil and gas drilling in Carroll County has not reached the peak. She said the lull in the action is welcomed. Our county has seen a lot of boom and bust. We dont want to go through a bust, instead we are trying to capture companies and create jobs, said Carter. No warning Carter said that the oil and gas activity took off without warning in Carroll County, a rural county in southeastern Ohio. When it hit, the county didnt have the infrastructure to accommodate the boom. She said it lacked rail service in parts of the county, electricity that could support industries, along with water and sewer service. This caused problems because many industries and companies wanted to locate in the county, but couldnt because of the lack of infrastructure. Now that a slowdown is occurring, she is hopeful the county can get some infrastructure built, and when the boom returns, the county will be ready. This is giving us time to get ready for what is to come, said Carter. Water and sewer The county hopes to complete a 4-mile water and sewer project before the oil and gas activity regains momentum. Carter said Fairmont Tool wants to expand in the county by 100 more employees, but the existing septic system will not support that many employees, according to state regulations. With the support of grants, four miles of water and sewer lines are being planned along state Route 43. Carter said it is the main way to Canton, Ohio, and it parallels to the railroad, which makes it a good place for other businesses to locate once complete. She said there are companies on a list waiting for infrastructure to be constructed. We want to be proactive in Carroll County instead of reactive like we have in the past, said Carter. Pipelines The pipeline construction in Carroll County is also a plus, she said. The Rover pipeline and transmission pipelines are either under construction now or waiting to be constructed. Once that happens, she said, it will get the oil and gas activity moving forward and produce more royalty income for landowners in the county. Investments Carter said farming is a big part of the countys economy and it is good to see farmers investing in their operations again. She expects more to happen once the lull in the oil and gas industry lifts. Its great to see farmers investing in themselves and not leaving the area. Its evident how much they have invested in farm equipment and some of that is attributed to the oil and gas, said Carter. Electricity Take a drive along state Route 9, and its hard to miss the Carroll County Energy construction. Carroll County Energy is an electric generation facility that will use natural gas to produce power. In addition to creating construction and industry jobs, the power plant is helping to do one thing long overdue in the community: get a school built. Pending final state approval, the power plant will receive a tax abatement on property taxes for 15 years, but will earmark $1.3 million annually to the Carrollton Exempted Village School District to help pay for new school buildings. Carter said without the shale industry, the electric plant may not have come to the area, and without it, students would probably not get a new school. The last tax levy approved by voters was in the 1970s. Housing Carter said the housing situation in Carroll County is getting better with the slowdown. In the middle of the drilling frenzy, the said there was big shortage of rental housing. Now that oil and gas employees have gone home, the housing prices have gone down and there is definitely a lot more signs up for rent or sale, said Carter. She added that one bright spot to the housing situation has been the construction of the new assisted living center, Centreville Villages of Carroll County. It is providing 55 jobs and will provide a service that the county needs housing for the aging population. Hospitality Its not doom and gloom for the restaurant business. Que Paso bought a building in the downtown area of Carrollton and appears to be working on its second location. The first location is in Minerva, Ohio. One industry that is feeling the economic pinch is the hotel industry. Carter said the hotels in Carroll County began feeling hit as early as 2014. The county is trying to rebuild Carroll County as a destination, in the hopes that hotels will be booked no matter what the primary industry happens to be. Weve got to make this the new place to be, said Carter. Shropshire A Full-Time position is available for an assistant herdsperson on a family dairy farm in mid Shropshire. We have a 250 dairy herd rearing own replacements together with a b... New report backs farmers' calls for better waste crime policies Wheat: Net sales of 66,200 metric tons--a marketing-year low--for delivery in marketing year 2015/2016 were down 78 percent from the previous week and 74 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Yemen (32,000 MT), unknown destinations (16,000 MT), Mexico (14,200 MT), Trinidad (7,500 MT), El Salvador (6,000 MT), Liberia (6,000 MT, switched from Nigeria), and South Korea (4,200 MT). Reductions were reported for the Dominican Republic (12,400 MT), Nigeria (6,000 MT), Honduras (5,200 MT), and the Philippines (1,400 MT). Net sales of 87,800 MT for 2016/2017 were reported primarily for the Philippines (50,000 MT), the Dominican Republic (14,100 MT), and Mexico (7,000 MT). Exports of 230,300 MT were down 26 percent from the previous week and 34 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were South Korea (53,400 MT), the Philippines (36,600 MT), Japan (33,000 MT), the Dominican Republic (27,600 MT), Mexico (24,500 MT), and Honduras (19,600 MT). Exports for Own Account: Exports for own account totaling 1,200 MT to Italy were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance is 54,800 MT, all Italy. Corn: Net sales of 1,129,100 MT for 2015/2016 were up 38 percent from the previous week and 56 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (301,400 MT), Colombia (248,300 MT, including 77,500 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 200 MT), Japan (209,300 MT, including 39,600 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 200 MT), South Korea (66,100 MT, including 63,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 200 MT), Egypt (64,700 MT, including 60,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), and Peru (63,500 MT). Net sales of 14,400 MT for 2016/2017 for Japan (10,200 MT) and Mexico (5,000 MT), were partially offset by reductions for Nicaragua (800 MT). Exports of 660,700 MT were up 2 percent from the previous week and 19 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (195,600 MT), Colombia (155,700 MT), South Korea (67,300 MT), Japan (64,700 MT), Egypt (64,700 MT), Peru (38,500 MT), and Guatemala (26,700 MT). Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, the current outstanding balance totals 398,000 MT, all unknown destinations. Barley: There were no sales or exports reported during the week. Sorghum: Net sales of 187,000 MT for 2015/2016 were reported for China (112,300 MT), unknown destinations (61,300 MT), and Mexico (13,500 MT). Exports of 165,600 MT were up 65 percent from the previous week and 13 percent from prior 4-week average. The destinations were China (162,200 MT) and Mexico (3,300 MT). Rice: Net sales of 39,000 MT for 2015/2016 were up 72 percent from the previous week, but down 1 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Japan (26,500 MT), El Salvador (6,500 MT), Canada (1,900 MT), Jordan (1,300 MT), and Yemen (800 MT). Reductions were reported for Israel (500 MT). Exports of 39,700 MT, down 7 percent from the previous week and 17 percent from the prior 4-week average, were reported to Japan (12,100 MT), Haiti (6,800 MT), South Korea (4,900 MT), Canada (4,800 MT), and Mexico (4,000 MT). Exports for Own Account: The current outstanding balance is 200 MT, all Canada. Soybeans: Net sales reductions of 43,600 MT for 2015/2016--a marketing-year low--were down noticeably from the previous week and from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Spain (102,400 MT, including 101,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), the Netherlands (73,300 MT, including 70,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Japan (57,900 MT, including 9,200 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 200 MT), Mexico (46,200 MT), and Taiwan (34,000 MT, including 2,000 MT switched from Indonesia). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (374,900 MT), China (55,200 MT), and Tunisia (2,700 MT). Net sales of 65,700 MT for 2016/2017 were reported for unknown destinations (65,000 MT) and Japan (700 MT). Exports of 1,141,500 MT were down 14 percent from the previous week and 23 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (811,100 MT), Spain (102,400 MT), the Netherlands (73,300 MT), Japan (39,900 MT), and Mexico (28,700 MT). Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, the current outstanding balance totaling 235,000 MT is for China (175,000 MT) and unknown destinations (60,000 MT). Exports for Own Account: The current outstanding balance is 500 MT, all Canada. Soybean Cake and Meal: Net sales of 186,300 MT for 2015/2016 were down 7 percent from the previous week, but up 26 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (92,000 MT), the Philippines (43,200 MT, including 30,000 MT switched from unknown destinations), Jamaica (20,200 MT), Guatemala (10,200 MT, including 9,300 MT switched from unknown destinations), Canada (7,500 MT), and Honduras (7,000 MT, including 5,900 MT switched from unknown destinations). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (11,500 MT), the Dominican Republic (9,900 MT), and Ecuador (2,500 MT). Net sales of 1,200 MT for 2016/2017 were reported for Mexico. Exports of 220,900 MT were up 74 percent from the previous week and 8 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were the Philippines (84,400 MT), Mexico (39,900 MT), the Dominican Republic (28,500 MT), Colombia (15,500 MT), and Guatemala (10,200 MT). Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, outstanding optional origin sales total 99,000 MT, all unknown destinations. Soybean Oil: Net sales of 12,800 MT for 2015/2016 were up 40 percent from the previous week, but down 30 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for South Korea (10,000 MT, including 800 MT switched from unknown destinations), the Dominican Republic (5,200 MT), Mexico (4,400 MT), Guatemala (3,500 MT), and Colombia (2,700 MT). Reductions were reported for Peru (12,600 MT) and unknown destinations (800 MT). Exports of 22,200 MT were up noticeably from the previous week, but down 33 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were primarily Peru (11,800 MT), Mexico (7,100 MT), Colombia (2,700 MT), and Canada (500 MT). Cotton: Net upland sales totaling 251,600 RB for 2015/2016 were up 96 percent from the previous week and 75 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Turkey (91,700 RB), Vietnam (74,800 RB, including 3,100 RB switched from Hong Kong and 800 RB switched from Japan), Pakistan (18,300 RB), Indonesia (13,900 RB, including 600 RB switched from Japan), China (13,700 RB), and Bangladesh (11,600 RB). Reductions were reported for El Salvador (2,100 RB), Japan (600 RB), and Nicaragua (200 RB). Net sales of 6,800 RB for 2016/2017 were reported for Turkey (4,400 RB) and Mexico (2,400 RB). Exports of 233,500 RB--a marketing-year high--were up 49 percent from the previous week and 75 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Vietnam (60,600 RB), Turkey (51,700 RB), Mexico (25,900 RB), Indonesia (17,500 RB), and Thailand (15,200 RB). Net sales of Pima totaling 10,800 RB for 2015/2016 were down 65 percent from the previous week and 44 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for China (3,900 RB), Turkey (1,800 RB), India (1,200 RB), and Pakistan (1,000 RB). Exports of 11,200 RB were up 99 percent from the previous week and 49 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (3,900 RB), India (3,700 RB), Germany (1,000 RB), South Korea (600 RB), and Indonesia (400 RB). Exports for Own Account: The current outstanding balance of 41,100 RB is for China (35,500 RB) and Vietnam (5,600 RB). Hides and Skins: Net sales of 371,400 pieces were reported for 2016. Whole cattle hide sales of 370,300 pieces were primarily for China (264,400 pieces), Mexico (26,900 pieces), Thailand (26,000 pieces), Taiwan (19,100 pieces), and South Korea (17,200 pieces). Reductions were reported for Germany (100 pieces). Exports of 444,500 pieces were reported. Whole cattle hide exports of 440,700 pieces were primarily to China (300,200 pieces), South Korea (66,700 pieces), Mexico (25,400 pieces), Taiwan (19,600 pieces), and Thailand (16,400 pieces). Net sales of 195,500 wet blues for 2016--a marketing-year high--were reported for South Korea (65,900 unsplit and 40,500 grain splits), Mexico (44,000 grain splits and 700 unsplit), Italy (24,100 unsplit), and China (7,900 unsplit and 7,000 grain splits). Reductions were reported for Vietnam (300 grain splits), Japan (200 grain splits), and Hong Kong (100 grain splits). Exports of 133,500 wet blues were primarily to China (23,700 grain splits and 21,500 unsplit), Mexico (23,500 grain splits and 4,300 unsplit), Italy (20,100 unsplit and 1,800 grain splits), and Vietnam (13,500 unsplit and 2,300 grain splits). Net sales of splits totaling 2,490,800 pounds for 2016--a marketing-year high--were reported for China (1,702,600 pounds), South Korea (862,600 pounds), and Hong Kong (50,000 pounds). Reductions were reported for Vietnam (124,400 pounds). Exports of 2,508,400 pounds--a marketing-year high--were reported to China (1,933,000 pounds), Vietnam (523,400 pounds), Hong Kong (50,000 pounds), and South Korea (2,000 pounds). Beef: Net sales of 9,500 MT for 2016 were reported for South Korea (2,500 MT), Japan (2,000 MT), Hong Kong (1,500 MT), Mexico (1,100 MT) and Taiwan (1,000 MT). Exports of 12,400 MT--a marketing-year high--were up 6 percent from the previous week and 24 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (3,500 MT), South Korea (2,700 MT), Hong Kong (1,600 MT), Mexico (1,400 MT), and Canada (1,300 MT). Pork: Net sales of 18,600 MT for 2016 were reported for Mexico (6,400 MT), China (4,900 MT), South Korea (2,500 MT), Japan (2,300 MT), and Canada (600 MT). Exports of 18,400 MT--a marketing-year high--were up 2 percent from the previous and 15 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (4,800 MT), Japan (3,400 MT), China (3,000 MT), South Korea (2,100 MT), and Canada (1,400 MT). Source : USDA OILSEEDS: U.S. soybean ending stocks for 2015/16 are projected at 450 million bushels, up 10 million from last month due to a lower crush. Soybean production, trade, and other uses remain unchanged. Crush is reduced 10 million bushels to 1,880 million reflecting a lower soybean meal export forecast. Meal exports are reduced on sluggish shipments and sales as well as greater expected competition from Argentina where larger projected soybean supplies boost soybean meal exports. Lower U.S. soybean meal exports are partly offset by increased domestic soybean meal use which is raised to reflect relatively strong October-December disappearance. Soybean oil stocks are projected lower as reduced production more than offsets larger imports and a higher extraction rate. Soybean oil imports are raised on large shipments from Canada. The 2015/16 season-average soybean price range projection is unchanged at $8.05 to $9.55 per bushel. Soybean meal and oil price projections are also unchanged at $270 to $310 per short ton and 28.5 to 31.5 cents per pound, respectively. Global oilseed production for 2015/16 is projected at 527.4 million tons, up slightly from last month as an increase in soybean production more than offsets lower forecasts for peanuts and sunflowerseed. Soybean production in Argentina is projected up 1.5 million tons to 58.5 million on a higher yield projection. The revised yield forecast is in line with an adjustment to last years yield and is also supported by beneficial rain that has improved crop prospects. Peanut production in India is reduced this month on lower area. Global sunflowerseed production is projected lower as a decrease for Russia more than offsets higher production in Ukraine. Global 2015/16 soybean and product supply and use changes include increased soybean crush for Argentina and Canada, increased soybean meal and oil exports for Argentina, increased soybean oil exports for Canada, and reduced soybean meal exports for India. In addition to the United States, higher soybean meal disappearance is projected for India where soybean meal substitutes for lower peanut meal disappearance. Soybean meal disappearance is also raised for Canada. Global oilseed stocks are projected at 91.2 million tons, up 0.3 million. Higher soybean stocks in Argentina, the United States, and Turkey, more than offset lower rapeseed stocks in the EU and Canada. Source : USDA WASDE To the editor: In September 2002, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote a memo to then Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. The memo indicated that intelligence concerning the location of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was 90% incomplete and that knowledge of the Iraqi chemical weapons program in general was 60-70% incomplete. It is claimed that Secretary Rumsfeld elected not to share this information with his cohorts in the White House. Consequently, the Bush administration blindly proceeded to press the case for invading Iraq as if WMDs were an imminent risk to US security. Their message was driven down the throats of the US Congress and the United Nations, as well as the American public. Some staunch ideologues will claim that congressional supporters for the Iraq invasion in 2003 were complicit in creating the fiasco that we currently experience in the Middle East, but we now know such a claim is a malicious lie. The Bush administration deliberately withheld information that would almost certainly have resulted in a failure to support their bogus plan. Interestingly, it turns out that some key Bush people actually did know about the JCS report, and it is very important for American voters to realize that those deceivers are presently embedded as advisors and consultants within the full spectrum of leading (and losing) GOP presidential candidates. The memories of 4,500 dead American soldiers and 170,000 dead Iraqi civilians should weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of all voters as they review their ballots this year. DAN CADY Flagstaff The Egmont Group Financial Intelligence Units from 151 jurisdictions, with 19 other observer organizations issued its latest Communique from its meeting in Monaco last week, targeting terrorist financing. The Egmont Group, founded in 1995, is used by enforcement agencies to share information and help each other develop evidence to prosecute financial crimes, such as money laundering, tax evasion, and graft. The U.S. Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a member, along with the UKs National Crime Agency, and Germanys Zentralstelle fur Verdachtsanzeigen. The permanent secretariat is in Toronto, Canada. The DOJ has said it receives help in FCPA enforcement from the Egmont Group. Since September 11, 2001, the Egmont Group has focused more attention on the fight against terrorist financing. Heres the full text of the Egmont Groups February 1, 2016 Communique: * * * The increasing actions of terrorists and terrorist organizations such as ISIL, al-Qaida and their respective affiliates, as demonstrated by recent terrorist acts in Indonesia, Egypt, France, Lebanon, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, and the proliferation of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), poses serious threats to security and international financial stability. In response, the Egmont Group members have cooperated to produce an operational analysis of the financing for ISIL FTFs. The project identified challenges and highlighted successes to information sharing in combating terrorist financing (TF). Recognizing its important role, on 1 February 2016, the Heads, or their designated representatives, of 102 Financial Intelligence Units, convened an extraordinary meeting of its governing body to discuss how the Egmont Group could positively respond to this increasing threat. As the international group that unites its members to exchange financial intelligence and expertise, the Egmont Group is committed to capitalising on its unique global network. During this extraordinary intersessional meeting, the Heads of FIUs, within the context of each jurisdictions TF risk assessment, adopted the following recommendations and initiatives to: provide indicators of terrorism financing to industry partners to assist the identification of suspicious financial activity; engage with domestic intelligence agencies to strive to improve the flow of TF-related information; examine the utility of cross-border wire transfer information in the context of combating TF; consider the reporting of couriers transporting cash or non-cash instruments across borders; identify the need to expand the range of reporting entities subject to Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) reporting regime; update the Egmont foundational documents to enable spontaneous and multilateral information exchange; implement solutions for appropriate access to more sources of information necessary to share actionable financial intelligence to counter TF threats; continue cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which sets the international AML/CTF standards to overcome information access and sharing challenges and ensure the international standards enable effective combating of terrorist financing; and, commit to improve FIU capability leveraging expertise and technology to better capitalise on data, exchange intelligence and enable cooperation. By undertaking these initiatives and taking on-board these recommendations, the Egmont Group demonstrates that it recognizes its important role in combating terrorist financing. Continuously improving the flow of financial intelligence through its unique global network is a priority of the Egmont Group. The Egmont Group is committed to support its members and further cooperate with its international partners in combating terrorist financing. Chair, Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units 1 February 2016 Monaco _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here. The OP Jindal Global University, the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Anti-Corruption Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law are organizing the first ever Conference of Business Ethics and Corruption in the Globalized World. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent financial crisis has opened debate on the wider role of business in society. As the regulations guiding transnational flow of trade and investment become increasingly permissive, technology reduces distance, and markets and supply chains get more integrated, modern business entities can be seen as inhabiting a global society. In such a society a corporate entity cannot be seen as a mere automaton guided by self-interest but as a moral entity that has citizenship obligations of its own. One critical obligation is that businesses shall not engage in acts of corruption. Corruption can be defined simply as abuse of public office for private gain. (World Bank 1997).There can be ethical, economic and rights based arguments against business participation in corruption. Thomas Donaldson and Thomas Dunfee propose an integrative social contract theory whereby business and society enters into an agreement of mutual rights and obligations, suitable for their circumstances. Though the term of these contracts may vary with the demands of the given society, they are subject to certain hyper-norms, i.e. overarching norms to which these contracts are subject. The prohibition of corruption is one such hyper-norm. As Steven Salbu points out, corruption is disfavored by all societies in all points of time. Susan Rose-Ackerman argues that prohibition of corruption is an obvious corollary of laws that allows business to exist. Scholars across disciplines like Susan Rose-Ackerman, Johann Lambsdorff, Robert Klitgaard, Philip Nichols, Andrew Spalding, Daniel Kaufman and Shang-Jin Wei et al have comprehensively marshaled together research that demonstrates the impediment to economic growth, degradation of social and political institutions, misallocation of resources and skills, impoverishment, and numerous other societal ills that corruption inflicts on polities and economies. Research also shows that corruption acts as a regressive tax on companies, inhibit firm growth affect corporate structuring etc. Thus to use the simple economic paradigm, corruption can be seen as welfare decreasing and hence as a fit target for corporate and commercial regulation. Corruption can also be seen as a violation of human rights. It is an impediment to access to justice and rule of law, both fundamental human rights (C Raj Kumar 2011). Alternatively if one adopts the capabilities approach of Dr. Amartya Sen, widespread and systemic corruption can be seen as impediment to freedoms and reduction in the capability of the citizen to democratic participation. Thus the issue of corruption by business organizations merges into the wider issue of the obligation of business to uphold human rights. These approaches to corruption are not necessarily in conflict with each other but supplement each other in framing law and policy. Call for papers:- We are soliciting papers for the first conference/workshop. We invite thoughtful papers from academics, practitioners and students .Papers can be submitted on any of these broad themes: Corporate liability for corruption Corruption and good corporate governance Industry and political corruption Corruption and democratic participation (especially the role of civil society organizations, community organizations in combating corruption) Corruption and human rights Soft law controls on corruption The role of social-media in fostering integrity Corruption under the common law Private actions against corruption Corruption and third parties The corruption impact assessment of regulations Collective anticorruption programs Anticorruption certification standards Control of transnational corruption National and international anticorruption regimes (especially with that in India) Indias role in combating foreign corruption by national companies Corruption and inward foreign investment in India The role and efficacy Anti-corruption agencies in India This list is only suggestive: any submission related to corruption keeping in view of the broad contours of the Conference is welcome as well. The event is to be held at the Delhi on April 30, May 1 2016 in India Habitat Centre. Interested persons should submit a one page proposal to Suvrajyoti Gupta on [email protected] along with a short CV that should inter-alia contain their contact details. The abstracts are to be submitted by February 15, 2016. The Proposals will be reviewed by a committee representing the three sponsors. The selected authors shall be intimated by March 1, 2016. If accepted, a proposer must supply a five page (or longer, if you prefer) paper by April 10, 2016. Copies of all papers will be distributed to all participants before the workshop; an objective of this meeting is to thoroughly discuss the ideas contained in each paper. The precise format of the conference/workshop will depend on the number of submissions received. _____ Andy Spalding is a Senior Editor of the FCPA Blog and Associate Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. Britain's Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne was celebrated with a gun salute over the weekend. Britain's Queen Elizabeth The ceremony marked the beginning of the 64th year since the 89-year-old royal took over from her late father, George VI, as the monarch. The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery was on hand at Green Park in London to mark the occasion, whilst a 62-gun salute was held at the nearby Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company. Music was later provided by the Band of the Royal Artillery as soldiers belonging to The King's Troop appeared in Hyde Park. Meanwhile, the Queen has a busy year ahead with celebrations for her 90th birthday taking place in June. To celebrate the official occasion, the Queen will host a street party in The Mall near Buckingham Palace, London. Of the event, organiser Peter Phillips, who is also the Queen's grandson, said: "I was very conscious to make sure we did this properly, so we went through the normal channels of approaching the Palace. "We had to show that this wasn't a case of trying to cut corners because the Queen happens to be my grandmother. I said [to the Queen], 'Oh, by the way you may or may not have heard that we are having conversations with your office about this' ... She said, 'I've heard you're up to something.'" Killer Frost! Tomorrow on @CW_TheFlash - you don't wanna miss it! pic.twitter.com/FjQLmDsokO Danielle Panabaker (@dpanabaker) February 8, 2016 Killer Frost is officially making her way onto screens this week, as Danielle Panabaker revealed a brand new first look image of her Earth-2 character on The Flash. Part of a criminal team with Deathstorm (Robbie Amell), the pair look set to cause chaos as Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) does his best to bring nemesis Zoom to justice. Since the show offered hints of time travel and alternate universes back in the first season, Killer Frost's debut has been hinted at over and over again, so fans should be looking forward to finally seeing the villain in action. Chatting about the new episode, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg teased: "There's a couple of surprises that we've got in store that we're really excited about." The Flash continues Tuesday, February 9 on The CW in America, and will return to the UK on Sky1 this coming March. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on The Textiles ministry has given the 'Indian Handloom Brand' tag to Chettinad cotton sarees, which would enable them to promote the material in the international market, The Times of India has reported.The 'India Handloom Brand' is an endorsement to quality of the handloom products right from its inception that is raw material, processing, embellishments, design besides compliances of social and environment.The move comes as a big boost to a group of 650 weavers from Koviloor and Karaikudi under the Rajiv Gandhi Weavers' Co-operative Society in Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga district.S Palaniappan, President of the Society, said when the society members attended the textile conference in Chennai last August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was impressed with their product. The Textile Committee authorities then asked the Society to apply for the Indian Handloom Brand tag, which it did on September 28, last year. After the product was subjected to a series of testing, the society received an official communication from the textile ministry on January 6, about the tag.Palaniappan said the society provides yarn to the weavers who spin the beautiful intricately designed sarees in different hues. "This is the traditional saree of the region, characterised by its silk-like texture and contrasting border and bodies colours, with intricate designs adorning the border," he said.The society has about 650 weavers, most of them women who are paid for their weaving, which they predominantly undertake in their homes. They comply with specifications of the textiles committee of 60 x60 (warp and weft) and also use permitted dyes. "The sarees are suitable for both summer and winter, where the can keep the body warm or cool according to the climate," said Palaniappan."The colours of these sarees never fade, and unlike other cotton sarees, they will retain their 48-inch width even after umpteen number of machine or hand washes," the newspaper quoted Palaniappan as saying. Kancheepuram silk from Tamil Nadu has also received the tag, he said. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Delhi High Court has cleared the way for the Central Government to bring Bt cotton seeds under a price control regime after it rejected Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Pvt. Ltd's (MBBL) plea to put on hold the Centre's cotton price control order.The Government's price control order mandates a panel to fix the maximum price for Bt cotton seeds. The Delhi High Court has cleared the way for the Central Government to bring Bt cotton seeds under a price control regime after it rejected Mahyco # MMBL had appealed for quashing certain provisions in the price control order, specifically those allowing the Government to royalty fees. In its petition, MBBL had argued that the price control order is illegal and unconstitutional and the Government can't regulate its prices.On January 27, the Agriculture Ministry had set up a nine-member committee under a joint secretary to execute its cotton price control order issued on December 7, 2015.The central price control order aims to keep Bt cotton seed prices affordable for farmers and bring uniformity in prices across states.Around eight million farmers grow cotton in India and the double gene Bt cotton technology supplied by MMBL accounts for 95 per cent of the seed market.MMBL supplies the genetically modified Bt cotton technology to 49 seed companies in India in exchange for a trait or royalty fee. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Inkjet conference and course provider IMI Europe Ltd has announced its European event program for 2016.The first is IMI Europe Inkjet Ink Development Conference, which will be held from April 13-14, 2016 at Aquatis Hotel, Lausanne, Switzerland, an IMI Europe press release revealed. Inkjet conference and course provider IMI Europe Ltd has announced its European event program for 2016.The first is IMI Europe Inkjet Ink# The IMI Europe Inkjet Ink Development Conference is a two-day technical conference aimed at the inkjet ink development community.The program will have presentations from Adphos, Air Products, BASF, Buhler, Fujifilm Imaging Colorants, IGM Resins, imageXpert, Malvern Instruments, Microtrac, Pall, RJA Dispersions, etc.The conference is divided into sessions on Colorants & Dispersions, Equipment &Techniques, Materials for Inkjet Inks and Processes & Applications, with each session chaired by an industry expert, the company said.The next event IMI Europe Inkjet Summer School will run June 20-24, 2016 at the Heidelberg Print Media Academy, Heidelberg, Germany.According to IMI, with a series of six technical courses, each of 1.5 days duration, the Summer School allows developers to get an in depth look at a particular area of technology with leading technical experts in each field.In the lineup for 2016, is the Inkjet Academy as well as courses on Fluid Dynamics and Acoustics, Digital Textile Printing, Inkjet Ink Characterisation, Inkjet Ink Manufacturing and Jetting Functional Fluids.The Inkjet Ink Characterisation course is a new event for 2016, while the other courses have been run previously, gaining positive feedback from attendees, IMI informed.The last event of the year is IMI Europe Digital Print Europe, which will be held November 28 to December 1, 2016 at the Novotel Amsterdam City Hotel, Amsterdam, Netherlands.There will be an edition of the Inkjet Academy, as well as another technical course, followed by the main Inkjet Printing Conference.The show will give top level market and technology briefings from industry-leading companies, intended for strategic and business development executives across the industry.We are pleased to announce our full conference and course program for 2016, Dr Tim Phillips, managing director at IMI Europe said.With a strong line-up of technical courses and strategic conference content, we believe we are well-placed to continue our leading role in the ongoing development of the inkjet digital printing community, he added.IMI Europe provides strategic and technical overviews of the inkjet printing industry, developing and organising digital printing conferences and courses in Europe and Asia.Its experience dates from the beginnings of inkjet's commercialisation in the 1980s and it was early to recognise and promote the growth of industrial inkjet applications since 2000. (AR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Here is a good news for all the fans of Rocking Star Yash! The 'Annthamma' actor's next has been titled as 'Maanja' (tentatively titled) & the film-makers are keen to choose the same title, says closest sources. Even before the official confirmation by the film-makers, the news about Yash's upcoming movie is doing rounds on social media. After the success of Masterpiece, Yash has signed a movie with writer Mahesh Rao and producer K Manju. This upcoming movie has once again brought the 'cute couple' Yash-Radhika Pandit together. It for the 4th time the actors Yash & Radhika Pandit are pairing up and this is definitely a great news to their fans. Earlier, the pair shared a magical on-screen chemistry in Santhosh Anandram's 'Mr And Mrs Ramachari'. Check out adorable pics of Yash & Radhika Pandit below... Not only in Mr And Mrs Ramachari, the sizzling chemistry of the actors was evident in movies Moggina Manasu & Drama is a feast to watch. More interestingly, Yash and producer K Manju are teamed up again after the huge success of Raja Huli. With the unique title 'Maanja', Yash & the team members of the movie have created huge ripples in Sandalwood. The movie will be officially launched soon, said producer K Manju. Let's wait for official confirmation on Yash's Maanja to go on floors soon! WHOA! To all the readers out there, hold your breath! Here, we bring you an exclusive yet interesting story about Rachita Ram, the successful actress of Kannada film industry. The close sources to Rachita Ram say that, the actress has been offered three Telugu scripts. After the hatrick success from Bulbul, Dil Rangeela & Ranna, the actress is presently wrapping up Chakravyuha opposite Puneeth Rajkumar. Now, even before the release of Chakravyuha, the most expected movie of Appu, Rachita Ram has bagged offers from other neighbouring and the second biggest, Telugu film industry. The further reports say that, Rachita, the hot beauty of KFI, is still in dilemma to finalize the script, so we might have to wait for the official confirmation by the actress. Check out latest pics of Rachita Ram below... Though Ranna was the official remake of Telugu hit movie Attarintiki Daredi, Rachita Ram agreed to play the lead role and she acted the role of Samantha of the original. She earned huge appreciations for portraying the role and thus how, she bagged to share on-screen space opposite Powerstar. If everything worked according to the planning then Rachita was earlier offered for Rana Vikrama, due unavailability of the dates, she gave up the movie. Also Read: Rachita Ram Is Desperate For Puneeth Rajkumar? Nevertheless, Rachita Ram will be soon seen on the big screens through Chakravyuha and the audiences are eagerly waiting to see her chemistry with Puneeth Rajkumar. If we have look back, Rachita Ram started her career through a TV serial 'Arasi'. Speaking to Filmibeat Rachita Ram has spoke about her upcoming movies. The confident actress said, " Acting has always been her passion , bread & butter. She continued to tell, " As an actor or any other form of artist has no language barrier and the best example is Deepika Padukone who started her career in Sandalwood industry , Then Bollywood & the recent news of her entering into Hollywood as well. I always choose the best scripts in Kannada industry as well. Best examples are My first Fiction in Zee Kannada "Arasi" , My first appearance on Big Screen Bul Bul or it may be a Dil Rangeela , Ranna , Barjari or the most expected Chakravyuva with Puneet Raajkumar. But I always give first preference to Kannada industry and I love the kind of support by kannada industry & the audience". Kshemanga Velli Labhamga Randi Kshemanga Velli Labhamga Randi, which is an out and out comedy entertainer, was released on 4 Feb 2000 marking an unexpected super hit in the month. Murari The film marks one of the biggest hits of Mahesh Babu's career and it was released in the year 2001, on 16 Feb. Priyamaina Neeku Another film, which ran up to 100 days in theaters, was Tarun and Sneha starrer Priyamaina Neeku. The movie released on 11 Feb 2001. Mallishwari Venkatesh and Katrina Kaif's Mallishwari, still remains one of the most loved entertainers in Telugu and it was released on 18 Feb 2004. Sankranthi On the same day in the consecutive year, Venkatesh bagged another hit with the film Sankranthi. The movie released on 18 Feb 2005. Ye Maya Chesave It is a shocking fact that post 2005, Feb witnessed a super hit only in the year 2010. Ye Maya Chesave, released on 26 February 2010, was a blockbuster, which boosted the careers of both Samantha and Naga Chaitanya. Ishq After almost 14 consecutive flops, Nithin bagged a blockbuster with Ishq, which changed his fate forever. The film released on 24 Feb 2012. Mirchi Mirchi remains one of the biggest blockbusters in the career of Prabhas and Anushka and the movie released on 8 Feb 2013. Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju MMIRR was an unexpected hit, which released on 6 Feb 2015. Temper Temper, which released on 13 Feb 2015, not only gave an image makeover for NTR, but has also pushed his box office stamina close to 50 Cr mark. NTR roared in Temper, with an interesting character sketch. When Rachel McNeil told her client that she would be able to collect half of her ex-husbands Social Security benefit, the news opened old emotional wounds. Im not sure that I want to have anything to do with him, the then 66-year-old client told McNeil, a financial advisor with Raymond James Mustard Seed Advisors in St. Petersburg, Fla. McNeil tried to shake off the clients reluctance to apply for the benefit. The move would give her roughly $1,200 a month, while allowing her own Social Security benefit to grow, McNeil explained. Youre going to get more dollars each year that you wait and assuming that you live past 80 that is going to make more dollars in your bucket than any other way, she explained to the client, who at 66 had reached her full retirement age and was eligible for a benefit of $2,200 a month. McNeil explained that her ex wouldnt know she would be drawing on his benefits because the Social Security Administration doesnt disclose this information. If you can get past the emotional aspect of a perceived tie-back to him, we recommend you consider this, McNeil told her client. The client agreed. For the next two years, she received an ex-spousal Social Security benefit of $1,200 a month one of multiple income streams she received and gradually phased into retirement, working fewer hours. At 68, she decided that shed wait until 70 to transition to her own Social benefit, which was estimated to grow to $2,750, or $550 more a month than it otherwise would have been had she claimed at 66. In the interim, the client was ready to take a little more from her IRA to boost her income but would return to her regular 4% IRA withdrawal rate once she started to receive her own Social Security benefit. As fate would have it, she didnt need to. Days after deciding shed wait until her 70th birthday to switch to her own work record, she learned that her ex-husband passed away unexpectedly, again setting off a wide range of conflicting emotions. She also learned to her astonishment that she would receive her ex-husbands full Social Security benefit of $2,400 as an ex-spouse survivor. Even McNeil was surprised. She was unaware that if an ex-spouse dies, the surviving ex-spouse could continue to receive ex-spousal benefits. McNeils client will continue to receive a monthly $2,400 Social Security check as an ex-spouse survivor until May, when she turns 70 and switches to her own $2,750 benefit for the rest of her life. If she lives until 85, she will have collected roughly $581,400 in Social Security benefits on both her ex-husbands and her own work record. Thats $79,800 more than if she simply started collecting benefits on her own work record at 66. McNeil doubts that this type of claiming strategy will be available to clients two to ten years from now. She anticipates that Congress will move to tighten claiming options and that seniors will have to choose between either claiming benefits on their own work records or taking half of their ex-spouses benefit, whichever is higher. I think theyre going to lose the window to allow the ex-spouse to let their own work record grow, she says. In the meantime, clients should take advantage of the opportunity to boost their Social Security benefits by delaying benefits as long as they can. Every year you wait to turn it on, you currently get an 8% increase, she says. Where else in the marketplace can you get 8% a year guaranteed return by waiting? Have you helped a client with a unique Social Security benefit claiming situation that you would like to share with readers? Please email me at margarida.correia@sourcemedia.com or call me at +1-212-803-8791. Read More: TORONTO, Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Orvana Minerals Corp. (TSX:ORV) (the "Company" or "Orvana") reports the results following the annual shareholders' meeting held on February 3, 2016 in Toronto (the "Meeting"). The following nominees were elected as directors of Orvana: Jacques McMullen received75,898,803 votes (representing 98.20% of votes cast); Gordon J. Bogden received 77,229,778 votes (representing 99.92% of votes cast); Daniella Dimitrov received 75,890,678 votes (representing 98.19% of votes cast); Juan Gavidia received 75,900,303 votes (representing 98.20% of votes cast); Ed Guimaraes received 77,227,978 votes (representing 99.92% of votes cast); Sara Magner received 75,899,178 votes (representing 98.20% of votes cast); Gordon Pridham received 77,226,878 votes (representing 99.92% of votes cast); and Audra Walsh received 75,662,278 votes (representing 97.89% of votes cast). Mr. John Wilson has retired from the board of directors of the Company (the "Board") and therefore did not stand for re-election. The Board and management of Orvana would like to thank him for his contributions, support and guidance as a director for the past four years. Mr. Jacques McMullen was elected as chairman of the Board immediately after the Meeting. After the Meeting, Mr. Juan Gavidia stepped down as a director to permit him to instead provide certain consulting services to the Company. The Company also reports the re-appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the Company's independent auditor. For full voting details please see Orvana's voting results as filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Orvana Orvana is a multi-mine gold and copper producer. Orvana's operating assets consist of the producing gold-copper-silver El Valle mine in northern Spain and the producing gold-copper-silver Don Mario mine in Bolivia. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com). Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this information constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things, Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions; future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; and mine development plans. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this information, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to, the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; and labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations. A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or Don Mario and/or ability to resume operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; and the risks identified in the Company's Disclosures under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties". This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors. Any forward-looking statements made in this information with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this information are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future operating activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. For further information: Daniella Dimitrov, President & CEO, T (416) 369-1629, E ddimitrov@orvana.com; Joanne Jobin, Investor Relations Officer, T (416) 369-6275, E jjobin@orvana.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/08/16 -- Alabama Graphite Corp. ("AGC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: ALP)(OTCQX: ABGPF)(FRANKFURT: 1AG) was disappointed earlier today by a press release that was issued by Northern Graphite Corporation ("NGC"), which made unsubstantiated and speculative allegations against AGC. AGC's management believes the press release was intended to bolster NGC's position within the graphite development industry and distract AGC from its objectives of commercializing its projects and completing its business plans. NGC made the following unsubstantiated allegations in its news release entitled "Northern Graphite Advances Purification Technology": (a) the low-temperature graphite purification process referred to in AGC's Preliminary Economic Assessment for its Coosa Graphite Project, effective as of November 27, 2015 (the "PEA"), infringes upon the intellectual property rights of NGC; and (b) the reported high margins in the PEA based on production cost estimates of less than US$3,000/t are unrealistic for the purposes of coated spherical graphite projects. With respect to the first allegation mentioned above, the Company wishes to clarify that the process that AGC's low-temperature graphite purification process is based upon has been publicly known for quite some time. The underlying process was the subject of various patents that expired decades ago. The Company also wishes to highlight the fact that each graphite deposit has its own purification parameters that depend on characteristics specific to each deposit and end product: no two graphite deposits have the exact same purification requirements or processes. Accordingly, the particular graphite purification parameters used for one graphite deposit will never be the exact same for another graphite deposit because they are specific to each deposit. As a result, copying another company's graphite purification process would not be expected to work or be useful for AGC's purposes. Additionally, management of the Company disagrees with the assertion that Preliminary Economic Assessments' reported high margins based on production cost estimates of less than US$3,000/t are unrealistic for the purposes of coated spherical graphite projects, and wishes to emphasize that the figures used for its PEA were reviewed and vetted by several Qualified Persons within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") who are independent from AGC. AGC management believes it is irresponsible to make unsupported allegations against a peer-group member without having verified or confirmed the applicable facts. For clarity, no lawsuit has been initiated against AGC or any of its subsidiaries, as acknowledged by NGC. AGC is currently reviewing all measures at its disposal to address the disappointing and speculative assault by NGC, including, but not limited to, commencing litigation against NGC and its spokespersons. AGC President and Chief Executive Officer Donald Baxter, P.Eng. commented: "We infer that this speculative attack may be the result of the challenging times that some are facing in the graphite development space. There are many roadblocks for companies that have not been able to adapt their strategies to the changing markets and times, and it must be incredibly frustrating. Regardless, we are confident that the research and development work that has been done to develop AGC's graphite purification and processing capabilities has been built upon information that is already publicly available and then customized for AGC's needs in a manner that does not infringe upon any of the intellectual property rights of others. "We will not allow any un-substantiated allegations, which we view as baseless, to delay or distract us in any way from the commercialization and realization of our business plan. We encourage our fellow shareholders to remain steadfast so that we may get back to the business at hand and continue to advance AGC as a company of quality and integrity," stated Mr. Baxter. Qualified Person Donald K. D. Baxter, P.Eng., President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of AGC, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release. About Alabama Graphite Corp. Alabama Graphite Corp. is a Canadian-based flake graphite exploration and development company as well as an aspiring battery materials production and technology company. The Company operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Alabama Graphite Company Inc. (a company registered in the state of Alabama). With an advancing flake graphite project in the United States of America, Alabama Graphite Corp intends to become a reliable, long-term U.S. supplier of specialty high-purity graphite products. A highly experienced team leads the Company with more than 100 years of combined graphite mining, graphite processing, specialty graphite products and applications, and graphite sales experience. Alabama Graphite Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of its flagship Coosa Graphite Project in Coosa County, Alabama, and its Bama Mine Project in Chilton County, Alabama as well the research and development of its proprietary manufacturing and technological processing process of battery materials. Alabama Graphite Corp. holds a 100% interest in the mineral rights for these two U.S.-based graphite projects, which are both located on private land. The two projects encompass more than 43,000 acres and are located in a geopolitically stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction with significant historical production of crystalline flake graphite in the flake graphite belt of central Alabama, also known as the Alabama Graphite Belt (source: U.S. Bureau of Mines). A significant portion of the Alabama deposits are characterized by graphite-bearing material that is oxidized and has been weathered into extremely soft rock. Both projects have infrastructure in place, are within close proximity to major highways, rail, power and water, and are approximately three hours (by truck or train) to the Port of Mobile, the Alabama Port Authority's deep-seawater port and the ninth largest port by tonnage in the United States (source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/USACE). The state of Alabama's hospitable climate allows for year-round mining operations and the world's largest marble quarry (which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in Sylacauga, Alabama), is located within a 30-minute drive of the Coosa Graphite Project. On November 30, 2015, Alabama Graphite Corp. announced the results of PEA for the Coosa Graphite Project, indicating a potentially low-cost project with potential positive economics. Please refer to the Company's technical report titled "Alabama Graphite Corp. Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Coosa graphite Project, Alabama, USA" dated November 27, 2015, prepared by independent engineering firms AGP Mining Consultants Inc. and Metal Mining Consultants Inc., and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Note: a preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature, it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized. (i)Inferred Mineral Resources represent material that is considered too speculative to be included in economic evaluations. Additional trenching and/or drilling will be required to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that all or any part of the Mineral Resource will be converted into a Mineral Reserve. For further information and updates on the Company or to sign up for Alabama Graphite Corp. News, please visit www.alabamagraphite.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements") that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect Alabama Graphite Corp.'s current expectations. When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project", "belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or "should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current view of Alabama Graphite Corp. with respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things, the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of graphite; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. Forward-looking statements are also based on a number of assumptions, including that contracted parties provide goods and/or services on the agreed timeframes, that equipment necessary for exploration is available as scheduled and does not incur unforeseen breakdowns, that no labor shortages or delays are incurred, that plant and equipment function as specified, that no unusual geological or technical problems occur, and that laboratory and other related services are available and perform as contracted. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and Alabama Graphite Corp. undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements (unless required by law) if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. Alabama Graphite Corp. cautions that the foregoing list of material factors and assumptions are not exhaustive. When relying on Alabama Graphite Corp. forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and assumptions and other uncertainties and potential events. Alabama Graphite Corp. has also assumed that the material factors and assumptions will not cause any forward-looking statements to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors and assumptions is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. 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 OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Website / LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter Contacts: Alabama Graphite Corp. Ann-Marie M. Pamplin, BA (Hons), BEd Director of Investor Relations +1 (416) 309-8641 apamplin@alabamagraphite.com www.alabamagraphite.com Alabama Graphite Corp. First Canadian Place 100 King Street West, Suite 5700 Toronto, Ontario M5X 1C7 CANADA PUNE, India, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Maleic Anhydride Marketby Raw Material (N-Butane and Benzene), by Application [UPR, 1,4-BDO, Additives, Copolymers, and Others), and by Region (NA, APAC, Europe, Row) - Global Forecast to 2020", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size in terms of value, is projected to reach USD 5.08 Billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2015 and 2020. Browse 86 market data Tables and 47 Figures spread through 120 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Maleic Anhydride Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/maleic-anhydride-market-31705758.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. N-Butane to account for the major share of the maleic anhydride market until 2020 The maleic anhydride market is segmented by raw material, namely, n-butane, and benzene. N-Butane is the most preferred raw material and holds the major market share in global maleic anhydride market. The factors driving the n-butane maleic anhydride market are its lower cost process with higher productivity, a lower amount of risk involved, less complex production process, and it is less harmful to the environment. Growing automotive industries and industrialization to drive the UPR application The UPR application is leading the maleic anhydride market. This is owed to the rapid growth of the automotive, construction & manufacturing, and marine industry in the Asia-Pacific region. The increasing demand of automobiles can be attributed to the increasing disposable income of people and industrial growth in this region. This growth in the automotive industry eventually contributes to the growth of UPR in the Asia-Pacific region. For More Info Make Inquiry http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=31705758 Asia-Pacific to be the largest as well as the fastest-growing market during the forecast period The Maleic Anhydride Market is broadly segmented into four regions, namely, Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. Asia-Pacific is the largest market for maleic anhydride, followed by North America. Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market during the forecast period. Growing industrialization, in the region, has offered enormous opportunity for the use industries of maleic anhydride in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, the global maleic anhydride market is dominated by various market players such as Huntsman International LLC. (U.S.), Changzhou Yabang Chemical Co. Ltd. (China), Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical (China), Ningbo Jiangning Chemical (China), Lanxess AG (U.S.), Polynt (Italy), Thirumalai Chemicals Ltd. (India), Ashland Inc. (U.S.), Flint Hills Resources (U.S.), Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd. (Japan), Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Japan), Bartek Ingredients Inc. (Japan), Bluestar Harbin Petrochemical Corp (China), and others. The research study is aimed at identifying emerging trends and opportunities in the global maleic anhydride market along with a detailed classification of the market, in terms of value and volume. It provides a comprehensive competitive landscape and identifies the key players in the global market. The research study also includes a detailed segmentation of the global maleic anhydride market on the basis of application, raw material, and region. Browse Related Reports: Unsaturated Polyester Resin Market by Type, End-User Industry (Building & Construction, Marine, Automotive & Transportation, Pipes & Tanks, Electrical & Electronics, Wind Energy, Artificial Stones), by Region - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/unsaturated-polyester-resin-upr-market-891.html 1,4 Butanediol Market by Technology (Reppe process, Davy process, Butadiene process, Propylene oxide process and others), and by Application (THF, PBT, GBL, PU, and Others) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/1-4-butanediol-market-685.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&Mcatersto amultitude of clients acrosseight different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog:http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Benedict, while the "father of the new liturgical movement" (in my estimation at any rate), is not the new liturgical movement; as such the new liturgical movement does not die with the end of his papacy. - Shawn Tribe, New Liturgical Movement CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday. The Australian dollar fell to near 3-week lows of 1.5941 against the euro and 80.76 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5788 and 82.08, respectively. The aussie dropped to a 6-day low of 0.7029 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.7085. Against the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the aussie slipped to 2-day lows of 1.0652 and 0.9805 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.0686 and 0.9865, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.62 against the euro, 79.00 against the yen, 0.69 against the greenback, 1.05 against the kiwi and 0.97 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. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Commodity currencies such as the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars weakened against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Monday as investors turned risk averse, tracking the overnight sell-off on Wall Street and the European markets amid rising concerns over slowing global economic growth and uncertainty over the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy. Many of the markets in the region remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. In economic news, the latest survey from the National Australia Bank showed that business confidence in Australia showed a steady if low level of support in January, with an index score of +2. That was unchanged from the December reading following a downward revision from +3. Meanwhile, Crude oil prices tumbled Monday amid lingering doubts about the health of the global economy. Monday, the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars fell against their major counterparts. The Australian dollar fell 0.38 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.46 percent against the yen and 0.31 percent against the euro. The NZ dollar fell 0.04 against the U.S. dollar, 0.80 percent against the yen and 0.56 percent against the euro. The Canadian dollar fell 0.42 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.89 percent against the yen and 0.66 percent against the euro. In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar fell to near 3-week lows of 1.5987 against the euro and 80.36 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5788 and 82.08, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.62 against the euro and 79.00 against the yen. The aussie dropped to a 6-day low of 0.7019 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.7085. On the downside, 0.69 is seen as the next support level for the aussie. Against the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the aussie slipped to 4-day lows of 1.0651 and 0.9787 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.0686 and 0.9865, respectively. The aussie may test support near 0.69 against the greenback, 1.05 against the kiwi and 0.97 against the loonie. The NZ dollar fell to a 6-day low of 0.6589 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.6623. The kiwi is likely to find support around the 0.64 area. Against the yen and the euro, the kiwi dropped to a 2-week low of 75.79 and nearly a 2-week low of 1.7000 from yesterday's closing quotes of 76.74 and 1.6881, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 73.00 against the yen and 1.72 against the euro. The Canadian dollar fell to nearly a 3-week low of 1.5637 against the euro and a 2-week low of 82.34 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5584 and 83.17, respectively. If the loonie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.59 against the euro and 79.00 against the yen. Against the U.S. dollar, the loonie dropped to 1.3951 from yesterday's closing value of 1.3926. The loonie is likely to find support around the 1.42 area. Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen rose against its major rivals amid rising risk aversion. Data from the Bank of Japan showed that the M2 money stock in Japan was up 3.2 percent on year in January, worth 923.7 trillion yen. That topped forecasts for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.1 percent gain in December. The M3 money stock added an annual 2.5 percent to 1,242.0 trillion yen, unchanged and in line with expectations. The yen rose to a 15-month high of 114.87 against the U.S. dollar and nearly a 3-week high of 165.78 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 115.84 and 167.16, respectively. If the yen extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 113.00 against the greenback and 163.00 against the pound. Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the yen advanced to near 2-week highs of 128.75 and 116.55 from yesterday's closing quotes of 129.66 and 117.34, respectively. The yen may test resistance near 127.00 against the euro and 115.00 against the franc. Looking ahead, preliminary Japan machine tool orders for January is due to be released at 1:00 am ET. Swiss unemployment rate for January and Germany's industrial production and trade balance, both for December, are slated for release in the pre-European session at 1:45 am ET and 2:00 am ET, respectively. U.K. trade data for December is set to be published later in the day. At 4:30 am ET, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe is expected to speak about at the British Property Federation Residential Conference, in London. At 5:00 am ET, Bank of Spain Governor Luis Linde will deliver the lecture 'An outlook on the Spanish Economy' at the conference organized by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, in London. In the New York session, U.S. wholesale inventories data for December and U.S. NFIB small business index for January At 10:00 am ET,European Central Bank Board member Peter Praet to deliver keynote speech at the 'Lender of Last Resort: An International perspective' conference organized by Harvard University in Washington. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is set to issue Swiss unemployment data for January is due to be released in the pre-European session on Tuesday at 1:45 am ET. The jobless rate is seen at adjusted 3.5 percent in January versus 3.4 percent in December. Ahead of the data, the Swiss franc held steady against its major rivals. As of 1:40 am ET, the Swiss franc was trading at 1.1036 against the euro, 1.4199 against the pound, 0.9849 against the U.S. dollar and 116.53 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Inchcape Plc. (INCH.L), a premium automotive group, announced Tuesday the appointment of Richard Howes as the Group's new Chief Financial Officer. He succeeds John McConnell, who previously announced decision to leave the Group and return to his native Australia. McConnell will leave Inchcape on February 29 and Howes will take up his appointment, and join the Inchcape Board, on April 11. Howes is currently Chief Financial Officer of Coats Group plc, an industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business. Previously, he held the same position at Topaz Energy and Marine, an international oil field services company. He also worked for former FTSE 250 company Geest plc, an international food manufacturer. Stefan Bomhard, Chief Executive of Inchcape said, 'We are delighted to be appointing someone of Richard's calibre and experience to Inchcape. He will be a very valuable addition to the business, having demonstrated a strong track record leading finance functions at a number of international public companies.' 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. Copenhagen, 2016-02-09 08:30 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --The Board of Directors of ALK (ALKB:DC / OMX: ALK B / AKABY / AKBLF) today considered and approved the 2015 Annual Report with the following highlights:[1]Q4 performance Revenue and operating profit were impacted by a strong sales upturn in Europe in Q4:-- Total revenue, including partner income, increased 9% to DKK 687 million (612). -- Base business revenue grew by 9% to DKK 678 million (601) driven by growth in all product lines. -- Reported EBITDA, including the gain on the sale of the European veterinary business was DKK 148 million (57).Please refer to page 73 in the enclosed Annual Report for further details on the Q4 financial performance.Full-year performance ALK achieved satisfactory results in 2015, in line with the most recent profit upgrade from 6 January:-- Total revenue, including partner income, grew to DKK 2,569 million (2,433). -- Base business revenue increased 5% on a like-for-like basis to DKK 2,384 million (2,219). -- EBITDA before special items was DKK 452 million (453). Excluding sales royalties and milestone payments, EBITDA before special items increased to DKK 331 million (273). -- Reported EBITDA increased to DKK 451 million (404) yielding an 18% margin (17). -- Net profit was DKK 344 million (181). The Board proposes a dividend of DKK 5 per share.Globalisation and pipeline progress ALK's globalisation efforts continued to advance with the formation of new partnerships for South-East Asia (Abbott) and Australia-New Zealand (Seqirus) as well as R&D progress in all key geographies:-- ACARIZAX, the first and only SLIT-tablet against both house dust mite allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma, was approved in 11 European countries and has been launched in Germany and Denmark. -- Additional progress for ACARIZAX in Japan (launched under the brand name MITICURE), North America, Australia and Russia. -- Regulatory submissions for other SLIT-tablets in Australia, Russia and Japan. -- GRAZAX Asthma Prevention trial results to support the positioning of AIT in asthma treatment and prevention.2016 outlook in summary ALK's performance in 2016 is expected to be positively influenced by an unusually large order intake, especially in France. At this stage and given the uncertainties involved, ALK has decided to provide a base case financial outlook that includes an estimated positive impact on revenue and earnings based amongst other things on current order intake. The impact is likely going to be most significant in H1, whereafter the market in H2 is expected to gradually normalise.-- Base business revenue is expected to grow organically by approximately 10% to DKK 2.6 billion. -- EBITDA before special items, excluding revenues from sales royalties and milestone payments, is expected to increase by approximately 35% to DKK 450 million (331). -- ALK's partnerships are expected to further contribute to ALK's revenue and earnings. Potential milestone payments in 2016-17 total DKK 75 million. -- Free cash flow is expected to be largely level with 2015.ALK will provide regular updates as the market situation in Europe becomes clearer.Audio cast Today, ALK hosts a conference call at 02.00 p.m. (CET) at which Management will review the results, the outlook and answer questions.The call will be audio cast on www.alk-abello.com/investor, where the presentation will be available shortly before the call begins. Participants in the conference call are kindly requested to call in before 1.55 p.m. (CET). Danish participants should call in on tel. 7022 3500 and international participants should call in on tel. +44 (0) 20 7572 1187 or +1 646 722 4972. Please use the following participant pin code: 34934477#.ALK-Abello A/SFor further information please contact: Jens Bager, President and CEO, tel. +45 4574 7576 Investor Relations: Per Plotnikof, tel. +45 4574 7527, mobile +45 2261 2525 Media: Jeppe Ilkjr, tel. +45 7877 4532, mobile +45 3050 2014[1] Comparative figures for 2014 are shown in brackets / revenue growth is measured in local currencies. Revenue from ALK's base business is defined as total revenue excluding revenues from the SLIT-tablet partnerships in North America and International marketAttachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=545800 VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - KKR (KKR) announced the signing of three agreements to ultimately acquire a combined 50% stake in Valinge, a Swedish industrial R&D company. KKR will acquire the two 20% stakes of the current minority owners, Kronospan and Swiss Krono Group, as well as an additional 10% stake from the founder. Valinge is an R&D and IP company with particular strength in wood based technologies and the flooring and furniture industries. 2015 License income and EBITDA is expected to be 86 million euros and 46 million euros respectively, for Valinge. 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. ArcelorMittal S.A. / ArcelorMittal publishes convening notice for Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Luxembourg, 9 February 2016 - ArcelorMittal has published the convening notice for its Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders, which will be held on Thursday 10 March 2016 at 11:30am local time at the company's registered office, 24-26 Boulevard d'Avranches, L-1160, in Luxembourg. The ArcelorMittal shareholders entitled to vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting will be those who are shareholders on the record date of 25 February 2016 at midnight (24:00 hours) Central European Time. The convening notice, voting forms and all other meeting documentation will be available on ArcelorMittal's website http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/ (http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/) under Investors - Equity Investors - Shareholders' meetings - Extraordinary General Meeting 10 March 2016, from 9 February 2016. Shareholders may obtain further information at ArcelorMittal's registered office, by calling +352 4792 3198, sending a fax to +352 26 48 19 95 or +44 20 7629 7993, or emailing privateinvestors@arcelormittal.com (mailto:privateinvestors@arcelormittal.com) About ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 19 countries. Guided by a philosophy to produce safe, sustainable steel, we are the leading supplier of quality steel in the major global steel markets including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with world-class research and development and outstanding distribution networks. Through our core values of sustainability, quality and leadership, we operate responsibly with respect to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and the communities in which we operate. For us, steel is the fabric of life, as it is at the heart of the modern world from railways to cars and washing machines. We are actively researching and producing steel-based technologies and solutions that make many of the products and components people use in their everyday lives more energy efficient. We are one of the world's five largest producers of iron ore and metallurgical coal and our mining business is an essential part of our growth strategy. With a geographically diversified portfolio of iron ore and coal assets, we are strategically positioned to serve our network of steel plants and the external global market. While our steel operations are important customers, our supply to the external market is increasing as we grow. In 2015, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $63.6 billion and crude steel production of 92.5 million tonnes, while own iron ore production reached 62.8 million tonnes. ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS). For more information about ArcelorMittal please visit: http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/ (http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/) Partnership offers turnkey app solutions and services to the Connected Car, Internet of Things and Smart Device markets AppCarousel, the leading provider of app platforms for connected devices, and Mobica, the leading provider of software engineering, testing and development services, have announced a strategic partnership leveraging each other's expertise to offer end-to-end app and software solutions to markets worldwide including connected car, connected fleet, Internet of Things, and smart devices. AppCarousel's platform delivers a range of solutions to organizations looking to deploy apps and app ecosystems including; app marketplaces, digital goods commerce, and app lifecycle management for all types of connected devices. Mobica provides services to those organizations, including design, software creation and software solutions. This partnership enables AppCarousel and Mobica to offer complete turnkey solutions from app building through to app deployment, ongoing app management and monetization. In the rapidly expanding connected car sector, automotive manufacturers and their supply chains are increasingly turning to AppCarousel and Mobica to create great app experiences for the connected driver along with the creation of custom software management solutions for the vehicle, to ensure apps and critical on-board software stay up-to-date and relevant. Mobile and connected device companies come to AppCarousel and Mobica because they need custom apps, a white labeled app store and an app management platform to make their app ecosystems a reality. Together, AppCarousel and Mobica provide end-to-end solutions to companies that require custom app creation, distribution and monetization solutions for their developers, partners and customers. "Many organizations do not have the expertise to determine their app strategies on their own, so the AppCarousel and Mobica partnership enables us to address all of their needs whether it's creation of apps and software or a platform to make those app strategies a reality," said Emanuel Bertolin, CEO of AppCarousel. "Our two companies are complementary and we are excited to be working together on many opportunities including the burgeoning automotive sector." "With this strategic partnership, businesses can entrust AppCarousel and Mobica to address all of their app-related needs, all the way from creating apps and software to getting them out there in a managed scalable manner," said Jim Carroll, Mobica CTO. "With Mobica's extensive software engineering and development services and AppCarousel's app management and over-the-air update expertise, our partnership delivers a unique approach to the connected device markets we serve, including automotive, IoT and smart devices." About AppCarousel AppCarousel is the leader in end-to-end app management platforms for connected devices. The AppCarousel platform delivers a seamless, integrated solution to securely distribute, update, control and manage any kind of software or digital asset over the air. AppCarousel provides curated app stores and software marketplaces, developer programs, and the merchandising and monetization of apps. AppCarousel serves businesses in market sectors including connected cars and fleets, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and the growing number of devices connected through the Internet of Things. AppCarousel is a wholly owned subsidiary of AppDirect. AppCarousel has offices in Calgary and San Francisco and a global team to serve its worldwide customers. Learn more at www.appcarousel.com About Mobica Headquartered in Wilmslow, UK, Mobica is at the forefront of the automotive software revolution, working on production quality software for new cars produced by over 10 of the leading vehicles OEMs in the world. Working directly with vehicle OEM's, Tier 1 suppliers, semiconductor vendors, and specialist automotive ISVs, helping to create their Infotainment, ADAS, and connectivity solutions. As a member of GENIVI and Khronos we define key standards that are integral to the roadmap of the connected car. Mobica specializes in designing, developing and testing robust, scalable, production ready software from our nearshore offices in close collaboration with our customers. www.mobica.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005467/en/ Contacts: AppCarousel Lissa Franklin, +1 510-517-8463 lissa.franklin@appcarousel.com MOSCOW, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the report (http://www.gazetevolkan.com/haber/chpden-ak-partiye-hem-yanit-hem-elestiri/3370/), due to the war in Syria, the Turkish economy has lost $ 17.5 billion dollars in three years. Tourist business is sustaining losses as well. Owing to cooling in relations with Russia, resorts of the country have forfeited Russian customers. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330632 ) Turkish youths are obliged to leave the country to search for jobs in the European Union while social networks are full of their sharp comments. Strange as it may seem, the situation could prove advantageous for the Turkish president Erdogan. Dissatisfied youths are those most likely to vote against him; once they leave for Europe, his political position is arguably strengthened. His electors are mainly country people who will not go anywhere to stage protests. Second, through Turkish communities in Europe, Erdogan increases influence on the EU at the very moment when the European Union is in crisis due to economic problems as well as the flow of refugees. http://thewarmy.com/a/will_unemployed_turkish_youths_go_to_europe_because_of_erdogans_plans-5060/ LONDON, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Niche platform launches 1.8 million aircraft loan, a first for peer lending Ablrate, the marketplace lender who specialises in asset backed transactions, today announces the launch of its largest aircraft loan so far, which begins the flow of a large pipeline to the platform. The company has filled 4 million in loans since inception from aircraft to service tribes in Papua, to bottling plants in Lancashire. The p2p industry has created billions of pounds of origination of loans in various niches with Ablrate servicing a 50 billion + addressable market in regional aircraft and other asset backed loans. David Bradley-Ward, CEO at Ablrate, said: "We completed a Cessna Caravan EX loan for 1.3 million last year, this one tops that at 1.8 million and is an indication of the increase in loans that we are bringing to the platform in 2016. With new institutional support and an amazing group of retail investors we are looking forward to topping this loan very soon." This comes after the death of Mr Bradley-Ward's business partner who was a co-founder of the company. "Tony was a business partner and a dear friend who is succeed by his son Mark, and this is just the first loan in the plans we made to make Ablrate the defacto platform for those raising money in the regional aircraft and capital equipment financing space. Tony would have loved the buzz of getting this done. We created a system to develop 100 million + per annum in loans in our space and this year we are able to start that process, and it's fitting that Tony's son will be joining us on that journey." For more information on Ablrate's investing opportunities please visit http://www.ablrate.com About Ablrate Ablrate is a pioneer in asset backed lending against high-quality assets and the first peer lending platform in the world to give investors access to aircraft transactions. Through our unique online investment platform, we enable individuals and businesses to manage their own financial risk and returns, disintermediating and removing the cost of the middleman. Investors have full visibility of the asset they are investing in, but also of the potential risk exposure they are taking on. Ablrate gives investors access to exciting and unique investment opportunities ranging from the highly regulated aircraft leasing space to capital equipment transactions that provide investors with good security and higher returns. http://www.ablrate.com The Directors of the Issuer accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. 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 CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese yen retreated slightly from early highs against the other major currencies in the pre-European session on Tuesday. The yen fell to 115.34 against the U.S. dollar and 166.17 against the pound, from a 15-month high of 114.21 and nearly a 3-week high of 164.79, respectively. Against the euro and the Swiss franc, the yen dropped to 128.99 and 117.05 from nearly 2-week highs of 128.27 and 116.10, respectively. Against the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen slipped to 81.40, 76.31 and 82.70 from early near 3-week highs of 80.22, 75.12 and 81.90, respectively. If the yen extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 118.00 against the greenback, 171.00 against the pound, 132.50 against the euro, 119.00 against the franc, 85.00 against the aussie, 79.00 against the kiwi and 85.00 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. Working in collaboration with a leading Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) provider Advantage Insurance Holdings Ltd., OneShield's technology breaks new ground with a transaction-based solution delivering an operationally-efficient platform for product and account lifecycle management-- all within a cloud-based "As-a-Service" environment. MARLBOROUGH, Massachusetts, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Already a proven core systems technology platform for the global property and casualty (P&C) insurance markets, OneShield Software is applying its automated and user-configurable rapid application development technology to a broader range of financial services. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150519/217002LOGO Advantage Insurance Holdings Ltd. of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, is a leading provider of specialty insurance and related services to business owners and high net worth individuals seeking customized solutions for their risk management and financial planning needs. Advantage worked with OneShield to significantly automate what was largely a manual and paper-based process for issuing, rating, and managing complex and custom-tailored insurance products. "Simply stated, OneShield is extending its proven platform to other financial service sectors. We are able to rapidly build digital business solutions by leveraging our common object models and without writing a single line of code. Couple that with our ability to support the application in the cloud and on an "As-a-Service" basis, and the efficiencies and savings for our clients are even greater," says OneShield President and CEO Glenn Anschutz. "OneShield has demonstrated the extensibility of our technology platform in the P&C market but this project clearly highlights OneShield's ability to scale and provide solutions to new markets outside of traditional P&C." Automating Core Systems and Processes PPLI policies are a unique form of variable life insurance that offer policyholders a customized estate planning tool. While Advantage had grown rapidly in the PPLI marketspace since its launch in 1993, they have relied heavily on maintaining policies in a manual manner. Advantage turned to OneShield to adapt its proven OneShield Enterprise core system to their unique market needs - enabling the firm to create new efficiencies in task and document processing, improving financial management, enhancing customer communication, and ensuring adherence to anti-money laundering and KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations. "OneShield's technology platform gives us the flexibility and horsepower we need to meet our goals for future growth and scalability," says Eric Miller, Senior Vice President for Advantage Life. "Ultimately, it means we can service our clients with the utmost efficiency and responsiveness." Using OneShield's technology platform, expectations are that operational efficiency at Advantage will allow automation of nearly 100% of its paper-based processes, and will modernize the controls and management of its policy documents. Another key improvement will be in analytics and business intelligence reporting. Internal stakeholders will have automated and customized reporting for rapid information sharing and monitoring. As a result, overhead costs are expected to decrease dramatically as the system evolves. Compliance Management and Business Development As in other areas of insurance and financial services, Advantage required a core system that could fulfill compliance and "Know Your Customer" requirements. An important component of OneShield's platform is its Entity Relationship Management (ERM) module with its unique capabilities to track all interactions with existing and prospective clients - proactively alerting specific users to upcoming events and activities. "Knowing there was no software in the market that addressed our needs, it was critical to Advantage that the partner we chose had a centralized data model schema, that would ease the creation of programming "objects" that describe our life, annuity and asset concepts," explains Miller. "The icing on the cake, so to speak, was the ability to leverage OneShield's existing frameworks - allowing us to quickly create workflows and tailor them to our business." Within the OneShield Enterprise application framework, policy administration is handled under a role-based user access model that allows Advantage personnel to self-manage and configure their business process flow - from prospecting to policy termination. The user interface can be self-configured to meet Advantage's specific requirements for viewing, managing, and analyzing its business pipeline to monitor and procure new business opportunities. About OneShield Software. OneShield Software delivers core business software solutions to the global insurance and broader financial services industry. Our portfolio of standalone, subscription, and cloud-based software products includes enterprise class policy management, billing, claims, rating, product configuration, business intelligence, and analytics solutions that leverage a tool based open architecture and single data model platform to streamline your business. OneShield Software automates and simplifies the complexities of core systems with targeted solutions, seamless upgrades, collaborative implementations, and lower total cost of ownership. With its corporate headquarters in Marlborough, MA and offices in Australia, Canada, and India, OneShield, Inc. has a combined 46 products in production across the P&C and Life insurance markets. To learn more, visit OneShieldLife.com. About Advantage Advantage Insurance Holdings Ltd., through its operating subsidiaries, provides customized insurance products and services to businesses and individuals worldwide. Founded in 1993, Advantage now serves over 200 clients and administers over $1 billion of insurance assets from its headquarters in Grand Cayman and operating locations in Charleston, South Carolina; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Scottsdale, Arizona. Advantage's primary lines of business include private placement life insurance, captive insurance management and alternative risk transfer services. Additional information is available on Advantage's website: www.aih.com.ky OneShield is a registered trademarks of OneShield, Inc. Other capitalized terms used herein are also protected marks of OneShield, Inc. Copyright 2013- 2016 by OneShield, Inc. All rights reserved. - With Access Equipment Modularization, NTT Enables Service Providers to Begin Service Immediately - TOKYO, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In order to enable a more diverse range of services to be provided quickly and at low cost, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (hereinafter "NTT") has introduced the FASA (*1) (Flexible Access System Architecture) concept for technology development on future access networks. FASA aims to serve customers and service providers who use access networks and wish to begin using or providing services immediately. FASA will not make use of conventional purpose-built equipment, but instead modularize the various individual functions of access equipment as much as possible to enable the free combination of these individual components. This will allow functions to be built into the equipment at low cost and flexibly as required for services, while still maintaining the same service quality. The innovative concept of this sort of modularization technology for implementation in access equipment is the first of its kind in the world. Additionally, an API (*2) developed in cooperation with multiple partners will be released in phases, promoting a commonly usable API. NTT has developed NetroSpherePIT as a visualized testing environment for the implementation of the NetroSphere concept (*3). Testing of FASA under NetroSpherePIT has already begun, in addition to the testing of technologies that work toward the concept, such as Multi-Service Fabric (MSF), new server architecture (MAGONIA), and Integrated Management. In the future, NTT will perform R&D with even greater openness, in cooperation with other carriers and vendors. Background In February 2015, NTT introduced the NetroSphere concept, a vision of R&D for future communications networks. At that time, MSF and MAGONIA were also announced as R&D initiatives working toward the implementation of the concept and transforming network infrastructure for the future. Additionally, in May 2014, NTT announced the "Hikari Collaboration Model," which promoted the further use of access networks by enabling various business players to collaborate in the creation of new types of communications services. However, access networks are equipped with a large amount of access-specific equipment, making it difficult to promptly change or add functions and stalling any large reduction of costs. FASA will be introduced in this context as a part of the NetroSphere concept to transform access networks and their system architecture. FASA (Fig. 1) Conventionally, network infrastructure has been comprised of equipment specifically developed for each function. This is true of access networks as well, which contain a large amount of purpose-built equipment. Thus, in order to add or change a function to meet the requirements of new services, at present it is necessary to newly develop the equipment from the device level. Moreover, equipment specifications differ from vendor to vendor, making large cost reductions on equipment difficult to achieve and equipment maintenance complicated. With FASA, the components of access equipment are separated into three types: (1) software components, (2) generic hardware, and (3) external modules. FASA enables access equipment to provide its necessary functions through the unrestricted combination of these three component types. With software components (1), it will become possible to add new functions quickly and flexibly just by adding or updating necessary software in response to the requirements of services. For the generic functions of access equipment, generic hardware (2) will make it less frequently necessary to newly develop equipment from the device level by striving to achieve a set of common generic components. The creation of such components can also be expected to lower equipment costs and make maintenance simpler by reducing the number of component types that need maintenance. For functions like optical transmission that are difficult to address with either software components or generic hardware, things like optimal transmission capacities can be achieved through the use of external modules (3) that can be substituted for dedicated hardware in response to the requirements of services. FASA aims to achieve a structure that can meet the needs of service providers who want to begin providing service immediately. It does this by making it possible to add on or exchange newly developed software components and external modules to achieve necessary features based on customers' and service providers' demand. For example, mobile traffic is growing year by year, and it is expected that coordination between mobile communications and access systems will be used to efficiently accommodate this growing traffic. While mobile communication specifications are in a state of rapid evolution, access systems can enable providers to begin providing new services sooner with FASA's generic hardware, timely software component add-ons, and the use of external modules. Commonly usable API by multiple partners (Fig. 2) FASA seeks to achieve thorough modularization while still maintaining the quality of access services (e.g. fair transmission speeds among customers) provided by conventional access-specific equipment. To achieve this, access equipment will be modularized in implementation as described above, and it will be necessary to introduce an API to handle the exchange of data among these components. This is an innovative concept and the first of its kind in the world. Moreover, the introduction of an API commonly usable by partners both domestically and internationally can be expected to attract a large number of vendors while also achieving modularization, universal compatibility, and cost reduction. NTT plans to introduce the FASA API in phases moving forward into the future. (The first API release is scheduled for May 2016.) API brush-up work will also be conducted in cooperation with partners who support the project's core concept. Testing in NetroSpherePIT (Fig. 3) NTT has developed NetroSpherePIT as a test environment for the NetroSphere concept, and it is used for work on identifying issues and implementing the concept in practice. NetroSpherePIT, named with reference to a pit in automobile racing, serves as a space for sending new technologies and services into the field (i.e. for commercialization) in cooperation with a variety of partners. Collaborative testing has already begun with some partner companies. At the NTT R&D Forum 2016 (*4), FASA will be given a public test run in NetroSpherePIT along with MSF, MAGONIA, and Integrated Management. Here, feasibility will be tested in NetroSpherePIT for prototypes in which OLT functionality is handled though modularized hardware components and some modularized software components. These prototypes will be assessed in a virtual environment using generic hardware. Looking forward To bring FASA to fruition, it will be necessary to achieve this transformation in partnership with many players in the communications industry. In the future, NTT will cooperate with international and domestic equipment vendors, carriers, and others who share a vision for FASA or something similar to FASA. Open cooperation will also be pursued for initiatives like joint work on API brush-ups and joint testing under NetroSpherePIT. Terminology (*1) FASA: Flexible Access System Architecture. (*2) API: Application Programming Interface. This is an interface that specifies how components should interact. (*3) NetroSphere concept: "NetroSphere: Towards the Transformation of Carrier Networks" (NTT news release Feb 19, 2015) (*4) NTT R&D Forum 2016: To be held February 18-19, 2016, at the NTT Musashino R&D Center (Musashino, Tokyo). About Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo CEO: Hiroo Unoura Attachments/ References (Fig. 1: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI1fl_klx47q8d.jpg ) (Fig. 2: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI2fl_6E48wyI1.jpg) (Fig. 3: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M103662/201602087715/_prw_OI3fl_S953JlC4.jpg ) FASA and MSF are trademarks of NTT. MAGONIA is a registered trademark of NTT. Following months of speculation, Japan's cabinet has today confirmed that changes to the country's clean energy incentive program will include the introduction of an auction mechanism for solar projects, set to be introduced in April 2017. The current clean energy support program was introduced in 2012 in the immediate wake of the Fukushima disaster. Putting solar PV front and center, a generous feed-in tariff (FIT) has helped to propel the market to the number two spot in the world, with Japan's 10 GW-plus of additions in 2015 beaten only by China. However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his cabinet had been under increasing pressure to amend the program, which many felt was beginning to prove burdensome for a growing number of bill payers. On April 1, Japan will liberalize its electricity market in a move that will ... 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, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- --Travel and risk managers now benefit from asset management feature, integration of near-real time flight tracking information,as well as expanded GBT partnership with iJET International Inc -- American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) today announced new functionalities for its flagship travellercare solution EXPERT CARE. This innovative web based tracking solution locates all travellers worldwide, visualises which travellers are closest to a potential travel disruption and enables travel and risk managers to not only locate impacted travellers but also communicate with them in real-time. The GBT solution enables companies to communicate with traveller via SMS, email, or a mobile application, and prioritise aid to those travellers with the greatest need. Now, EXPERT CARE also integrates near real-time flight status and tracking information so travel managers can see flight delays and disruptions within the EXPERT CARE platform as they happen. By layering flight status and tracking information into the EXPERT CARE platform and integrating it with traveller itinerary data, travel managers now have the information at their fingertips to be truly proactive in managing disruptions.They can use EXPERT CARE to visualise all travellers on delayed or canceled flights, and communicate with impacted travellers over familiar channels with greater ease and speed than ever before. In addition, GBT has introduced an asset management feature for the product, which allows companies to quickly communicate with employees at a specific corporate location when a disruption occurs. EXPERT CARE also incorporates American Express Corporate Card transaction data, providing additional information to pinpoint a traveller's location during an emergency. The functionalities enable travel managers to be armed with the tools they need to keep employees informed, wherever they are. "As business becomes increasingly global and corporations make investments in corporate travel to drive growth, employee care continues to be a top priority for GBT customers worldwide," said Philippe Chereque, Chief Commercial and Technology Officer, American Express Global Business Travel. "Our aim is to provide an end-to-end solution that makes fulfilling this duty of care obligation as simple as possible - regardless of whether employees are at the airport or in the office." GBT also announces an expanded partnership with iJET (iJET)., a leading provider of risk management solutions. Through this partnership, GBT customers using EXPERT CARE will be able to select from of a wide range of travel risk management and response capabilities iJET offers and benefit from fully-customised and flexible solutions designed specifically to address their company's travel patterns and ensure safety throughout every stage of the traveller's journey. This partnership provides GBT's and iJET's mutual customers with greater insight, expertise and flexibility through a combined offering of the two companies' best-in-class solutions and resources. For instance, travel managers now have access to dedicated hotline services 24/7, can take advantage of iJET's security and medical response capabilities as unforseen events may arise, as well as benefit from iJET's assessment evaluations and benchmarking tools to better understand situations and the risks associated with specific regions once travellers arrive back to their origins safely. "American Express Global Business Travel is a well-respected leader and driving force in the travel management community," said Theresa Thomas, Vice President Travel Partnerships, iJET International Inc. "We share GBT's commitment to providing customers with the expertise, insight and flexibility to enhance their travellers' experiences. We look forward to working closely with GBT to deliver integrated travel risk management services and enable continued growth for our customers as their needs evolve." About American Express Global Business Travel American Express Global Business Travel enables corporations and empowers business travellers with insights, connections and exceptional customer service on a global scale. Through technology and information, American Express Global Business Travel provides leading travel solutions, integrated consulting services, proprietary research, and end-to-end meetings and events capabilities. These innovative offerings enable clients to optimise the return on their and meetings investments. American Express Global Business Travel has operations and network partners in nearly 140 countries worldwide with approximately 12,000 employees. American Express Global Business Travel ranked first among corporate travel providers in the 2015 Corporate Travel 100 ("CT100"), an annual listing compiled by Business Travel News which ranks companies with the largest volume of U.S. air bookings. Learn more about how American Express Global Business Travel connects the world at www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com and twitter.com/amexgbt. American Express Global Business Travel ("GBT") is a joint venture that is not wholly-owned by American Express Company or any of its subsidiaries ("American Express"). "American Express Global Business Travel", "American Express" and the American Express logo are trademarks of American Express, and are used under limited license. Silicon Valley headquartered vendor enters 3.2bnFrenchenterprise market with leading VAD Malwarebytes, the cybersecurity software company that prevents and remediates malware for both people and companies, today launched a significant push into the French enterprise market with leading IT distribution partner, Infinigate. The two companies will work closely together, using a structured programme to inform French companies about complex cyber-threats that bypass traditional security measures, and how specialised layered security tools can address this problem. The approach builds on Infinigate's security sector specialism, which has seen the VAR expand into numerous European territories. Founded by Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Marcin Kleczynski, Malwarebytes provides award-winning layered protection against advanced malware and exploits which have sophisticated anti-detection capabilities. The strength of its technology has seen the company, recently pass $100 million in billings, driven by over 100% enterprise sales growth, and average deal size increasing by 75%. Anthony O'Mara, Vice President EMEA at Malwarebytes, said, "France is a major market for us, so working with an experienced security focussed distributor, which has a strong team and established infrastructure, is of paramount importance. This is why we have partnered with Infinigate. The continued advancement of enterprise cyber-threats makes our award winning solutions increasingly relevant, and will provide opportunities for Infinigate and its channel partners. Patric Berger, Directeur General at Infinigate, said, "Protecting critical infrastructure and sensitive enterprise information is a huge focus in France right now, providing Malwarebytes with a significant opportunity. The company has earned a great reputation, driven by the efficacy of its products, and we look forward to helping customers tap into this." Catherine Oudot, Channel Partner Manager at Malwarebytes, said, "As emerging cyber-threats become ever more advanced and nefarious, we believe educating customers about the benefits of a layered approach is vital. This opens up a lot of opportunities to channel partners in the security space, allowing them to provide insight and add value by having a suite of security solutions to meet their customers' needs." Malwarebytes recently opened a new European Headquarters in Cork to provide local support and after-sales service for its EMEA expansion. More detail on the company's enterprise products can be found at www.fr.malwarebytes.org ENDS About Malwarebytes Malwarebytes protects consumers and businesses against malicious threats that escape detection by traditional antivirus solutions. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, the company's flagship product, has a highly advanced heuristic detection engine that removed more than five billion malicious threats from computers worldwide. More than 70,000 SMBs and enterprise businesses worldwide trust Malwarebytes to protect their data. Founded in 2008, the company is headquartered in California with offices in Europe, and a global team of researchers and experts. For more information, please visit us at www.malwarebytes.org. Malwarebytes reflects the operating philosophy of its founder and CEO Marcin Kleczynski: to create the best disinfection and protection solutions to combat the world's most harmful Internet threats. Marcin has been named to the 2015 Forbes 30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Enterprise Technology list and the Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 Under 40 award, adding those to a 2014 Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005186/en/ Contacts: For Malwarebytes Michael House +447958336475 michael@fieldhouseassociates.com Figures in brackets, unless otherwise stated, refer to the comparison period, i.e. the same period of the previous year. Automation has been consolidated into Valmet's financials since April 1, 2015, when the acquisition of Automation was completed. October-December 2015: EBITA margin in the targeted range Orders received increased to EUR 793 million (EUR 480 million). Orders received increased in the Pulp and Energy, and Paper business lines and remained at the previous year's level in the Services business line. Automation contributed to orders received with EUR 67 million. Orders received tripled in China. Net sales increased to EUR 854 million (EUR 777 million). Net sales increased in the Services, and Paper business lines and decreased in the Pulp and Energy business line. Automation contributed to net sales with EUR 95 million. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items were EUR 63 million (EUR 48 million), and the corresponding EBITA margin was 7.3 percent (6.1%). Profitability improved due to increased net sales in Services and Paper business lines, improved gross profit, and the acquisition of Automation. Earnings per share were EUR 0.18 (EUR 0.17). Non-recurring items amounted to EUR -10 million (EUR -5 million), of which EUR -5 million impairment related to fixed assets. Cash flow provided by operating activities was EUR 64 million (EUR 30 million). January-December 2015: Profitability in the targeted range Orders received decreased to EUR 2,878 million (EUR 3,071 million). Orders received increased in the Services business line, remained at the previous year's level in the Paper business line, and decreased in the Pulp and Energy business line. Automation contributed to orders received with EUR 222 million. Orders received increased in China and North America. Net sales increased to EUR 2,928 million (EUR 2,473 million). Net sales increased in the Paper, and Services business lines and remained at the previous year's level in the Pulp and Energy business line. Automation contributed to net sales with EUR 229 million. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items were EUR 182 million (EUR 106 million), and the corresponding EBITA margin was 6.2 percent (4.3%). Profitability improved due to increased net sales in Services and Paper business lines, improved gross profit, and the acquisition of Automation. Earnings per share were EUR 0.51 (EUR 0.31). Non-recurring items amounted to EUR -26 million (EUR -12 million), of which EUR -14 million related to the acquisition of Automation and EUR -5 million to impairment of fixed assets. Cash flow provided by operating activities was EUR 78 million (EUR 236 million). Dividend proposal The Board of Directors proposes for the Annual General Meeting that a dividend of EUR 0.35 per share be paid. The proposed dividend equals to 68 percent of the net result. Guidance for 2016 Valmet estimates that net sales in 2016 will remain at the same level with 2015 (EUR 2,928 million) and EBITA before non-recurring items in 2016 will increase in comparison with 2015 (EUR 182 million). Short-term outlook General economic outlook Global growth, currently estimated at 3.1 percent in 2015, is projected at 3.4 percent in 2016 and 3.6 percent in 2017. The pickup in global activity is projected to be more gradual than in the October 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO), especially in emerging market and developing economies. In advanced economies, a modest and uneven recovery is expected to continue, with a gradual further narrowing of output gaps. The picture for emerging market and developing economies is diverse but in many cases challenging. The slowdown and rebalancing of the Chinese economy, lower commodity prices, and strains in some large emerging market economies will continue to weigh on growth prospects in 2016-17. (International Monetary Fund, January 19, 2016) Short-term market outlook Valmet estimates that the short-term market outlook has improved for Board and Paper to good level (previously satisfactory level) and for Energy to satisfactory level (previously weak level). Valmet also estimates that the short-term market outlook for Pulp has decreased to satisfactory level (previously good level). Valmet reiterates the satisfactory short-term market outlook for services, automation, and tissue. President and CEO Pasi Laine: Acquisition of Automation and profitability improvement the main successes of 2015 The year 2015, Valmet's second year as an independent company, was successful in many ways. We acquired and integrated the Automation business, we were able to improve profitability and to reach our targeted profitability range for the full year, and we retained our position among the world's sustainability leaders for the second consecutive year. The role of our stable business, meaning services and automation, has increased, which offers us resilience and visibility. We succeeded in strengthening our position in the paper industry, and we are now the market leader in paper, board and tissue technologies. One of the highlights of the year was the acquisition of Automation. With our unique offering, we are now capable of serving our customers better than ever and move our customers' performance forward. Having process technology, automation and services within the same company clearly differentiates us from our competitors. The acquisition of Automation has also strengthened Valmet's position as the forerunner in Industrial Internet. This plays an important role in enhancing our leadership in technology and innovation. Another key element is our renewal capability. Going forward, the focus areas of our research and development work are to ensure advanced and competitive technologies and services, to enhance raw material, water and energy efficiency, and to promote renewable materials. For the last couple of years, we have worked very hard to reach our profitability target. I am very pleased to see that Valmet's profitability in 2015 reached the targeted level. Every Valmet employee around the world has made a valuable contribution to this. The significant improvement in profitability over a rather short time has required a lot of team work, commitment and determination. Key figures* EUR million Q4/2015 Q4/2014 Change 2015 2014 Change Orders received 793 480 65% 2,878 3,071 -6% Order backlog** 2,074 1,998 4% 2,074 1,998 4% Net sales 854 777 10% 2,928 2,473 18% Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items 63 48 31% 182 106 73% % of net sales 7.3% 6.1% 6.2% 4.3% Earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) 52 43 22% 157 94 67% % of net sales 6.1% 5.5% 5.3% 3.8% Operating profit (EBIT) 41 38 11% 120 72 65% % of net sales 4.9% 4.8% 4.1% 2.9% Profit before taxes 37 36 2% 108 67 61% Profit / loss 28 25 10% 78 46 69% Earnings per share, EUR 0.18 0.17 9% 0.51 0.31 67% Earnings per share, diluted, EUR 0.18 0.17 9% 0.51 0.31 67% Equity per share**, EUR 5.70 5.36 6% 5.70 5.36 6% Dividend per share, EUR 0.35*** 0.25 40% Cash flow provided by operating activities 64 30 >100% 78 236 -67% Cash flow after investments 51 15 >100% -287 194 Return on equity (ROE) 9% 6% Return on capital employed (ROCE) before taxes 12% 9% * The calculation of key figures is presented in the Tables section of the Financial Statements Review 2015. ** At the end of period. *** Board of Directors' proposal. Equity to assets ratio and gearing As at December 31, 2015 As at December 31, 2014 As at September 30, 2015 Equity to assets ratio at end of period 36% 42% 35% Gearing at end of period 21% -21% 28% Orders received, EUR million Q4/2015 Q4/2014 Change 2015 2014 Change Services 267 273 -2% 1,119 1,055 6% Automation 67 - - 222 - - Pulp and Energy 261 66 >100% 864 1,344 -36% Paper 199 142 40% 673 671 0% Total 793 480 65% 2,878 3,071 -6% Order backlog, EUR million As at December 31, 2015 As at December 31, 2014 Change As at September 30, 2015 Total 2,074 1,998 4% 2,117 Net sales, EUR million Q4/2015 Q4/2014 Change 2015 2014 Change Services 314 278 13% 1,128 989 14% Automation 95 - - 229 - - Pulp and Energy 245 312 -22% 913 956 -5% Paper 200 186 8% 659 528 25% Total 854 777 10% 2,928 2,473 18% Webcast for analysts, investors and media Valmet will arrange a news conference in English for investment analysts, investors, and media on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Finnish time (EET). The news conference will be held at Valmet Head Office in Keilaniemi, Keilasatama 5, 02150 Espoo, Finland. The news conference can also be followed through a live webcast at www.valmet.com/webcasts (http://www.valmet.com/webcasts). It is also possible to take part in the news conference through a conference call. Conference call participants are requested to dial in at least five minutes prior to the start of the conference, at 1:55 p.m. (EET), at +44 1452 560304. The participants will be asked to provide the following conference ID: 25632403. During the webcast and the conference call, all questions should be presented in English. After the webcast and the conference call, media has a possibility to interview the management in Finnish. The event can also be followed in Twitter at www.twitter.com/valmetir. Further information, please contact: Hanna-Maria Heikkinen, Vice President, Investor Relations, Valmet, tel. +358 10 672 0007 Kari Saarinen, Chief Financial Officer, Valmet, tel. +358 10 672 0031 VALMET Kari Saarinen CFO Hanna-Maria Heikkinen VP, Investor Relations Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers. Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy. Valmet's net sales in 2015 were approximately EUR 2.9 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki. Read more www.valmet.com (http://www.valmet.com), www.twitter.com/valmetglobal (http://www.twitter.com/valmetglobal) Follow Valmet IR in Twitter www.twitter.com/valmetir (http://www.twitter.com/valmetir) Valmet's Financial Statements Review 2015 (http://hugin.info/149898/R/1984667/727667.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: Valmet via Globenewswire HUG#1984667 MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Note to editors: An image is included with this press release on Marketwired's website. Marc-Andre Lanciault, CEO and President of Karelab, is proud to announce the company's first acquisition, another step in an extended period of phenomenal business growth that was recently recognized with a ranking in the prestigious PROFIT 500 list. Today, Karelab acquired Propulse, an innovative online platform for human resources management. Propulse is the only solution providing bilingual and anonymous surveys designed to accurately and regularly measure employee satisfaction. Each week, the software sends employees a flash survey that can be completed in less than two minutes. The five-week Propulse Cycle surveys, one by one, the fundamentals of employee satisfaction: employee expectations, skills, recognition, work relationships and availability of materials. The Propulse platform also allows the addition of personalized questions to target a company's specific needs. "Company executives value anonymity, because they understand that employees want to express themselves freely and without fear of reprisals. Propulse is positioned as the most secure online survey solution because it destroys all personal information that could identify an employee. Company executives are also attentive to how long it takes to complete a survey. Our solution gathers information over a period of weeks with surveys that employees can complete in just two minutes. This strategy ensures the integrity of data, reduces the more subjective answers often associated with a tiresome and longer annual survey, and covers all key elements for each company," explains Nicolas Tarragoni, Product Manager at Karelab. Karelab has built its reputation by carving an ingenious niche at the intersection of several markets: employee performance, employee recognition and employee rewards. The company has built on this foundation by creating a unique product featuring gaming mechanisms and an enterprise social network. This Gamification Platform includes, most notably, modules for interaction and training, motivational campaigns, games and quizzes. It is currently being used by more than 100,000 employees in large corporations around the world. "The addition of Propulse to our products will enable us to offer our existing clients a unique solution and help us reach out to small- and medium-sized companies, a market with exceptional potential. This acquisition is part of a strategic plan that seeks to make Karelab a leading world provider of innovative management solutions for employee performance, recognition and reward," asserts Lanciault, President of Karelab. In the coming months, the company will accelerate growth in both Canada and the United States, as well as launch a new version of its platform that will be more accessible to small- and medium-sized companies. The value of the transaction with Informatique Dominic Goulet was not disclosed. Karelab has built its reputation by carving an ingenious niche at the intersection of several markets: employee performance, recognition and rewards. The company has built on this foundation by creating a unique product featuring gaming mechanisms and a social network for companies. This Gamification Platform includes, most notably, modules for interaction and training, motivational campaigns, games and quizzes. Karelab has published a white paper explaining how these gamification techniques can be applied in unexpected domains, such as sales, marketing and human resources. This document is the first in Quebec to show how gamification can be integrated into a business and why 50% of large-scale organizations chose to use it. About Karelab Founded in 2003, Karelab provides innovative tools and personalized services for measuring and boosting performance, engagement and recognition in the workplace. The Karelab Gamification Platform is a performance management program and collaborative social network that drives motivation and pleasure, and builds a sense of community. For more information about Karelab, visit www.karelab.com For more information about Propulse, visit www.propulseapp.com About Informatique Dominic Goulet After creating its own consulting firm which worked on large-scale projects, Dominic Goulet now focus all his attention developing SaaS products. Quebec City-based Momenteo has a clear objective: allow freelancers across the globe to live from their passion by simplifying accounting, invoicing, expense tracking, online payments and financial reports. To view the image accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042235_Karelab.jpg Contacts: Source and information: Paola Giuge medias@karelab.com 1-855-932-4626 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (TSX: DML)(NYSE MKT: DNN) is pleased to announce the discovery of a new high-grade uranium intersection near the Gryphon deposit on Denison's 60% owned Wheeler River property in Northern Saskatchewan. Drill hole WR-633D1, located approximately 100 metres north of the Gryphon deposit, intersected approximately 11 metres of basement-hosted uranium mineralization including intervals of 5.7% eU3O8 over 1.0 metre and 6.3% eU3O8 over 1.7 metres. In late 2015, Denison reported a significant increase in the estimated mineral resources on the Wheeler River property. The initial estimate for the Gryphon Deposit added inferred mineral resources of 43.0 million pounds U3O8 at a grade of 2.3% U3O8 to 70.2 million pounds U3O8 of indicated mineral resources grading 19.1% U3O8 at the Phoenix deposit. The Gryphon deposit is basement-hosted and consists of a set of parallel, stacked, northeast plunging lenses that are broadly conformable with the basement stratigraphy. Four groups of lenses have been interpreted to date, namely the A, B, C and D series, based on their position relative to the different basement stratigraphic units. The estimated mineral resources contained in the Gryphon deposit include only the results from the A, B and C series lenses. The D series lenses were excluded as there was insufficient drilling completed at the time of the resource estimate. Denison's President and CEO, David Cates, commented, "With the successful delineation of the Gryphon deposit, completed in 2015, our exploration team set out in 2016 to discover new uranium mineralization in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit. We view the geological trend that Gryphon is situated on as a highly prospective district for the discovery of additional mineralization, and only a few short weeks into our exploration program, the property and our exploration team have delivered again with the discovery of additional high-grade uranium mineralization." New Intersection of High-Grade Uranium Mineralization Drill hole WR-633D1 was designed to test for further basement-hosted mineralization immediately north of the Gryphon deposit, and down plunge of previous mineralized intercepts. The drill hole encountered the sub-Athabasca unconformity around 500 metres below surface, followed by weak basement-hosted mineralization and alteration around 675 metres, 680 metres, 682 metres and 684 metres before entering high-grade uranium mineralization around 751 metres, as detailed below in Table 1. Table 1: WR-633D1Intersection ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)4 eU3O81(%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WR-633D12 751.5 754.7 3.2 2.0 (includes) 3 753.6 754.6 1.0 5.7 (and) 2 757.7 765.3 7.6 1.7 (includes) 3 760.3 762.0 1.7 6.3 (includes) 3 764.2 765.2 1.0 1.2 Notes: 1. eU3O8 is radiometric equivalent uranium from a total gamma down- hole probe 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% eU3O8 3. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% eU3O8 4. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths The high-grade mineralization occurs within altered pelitic gneisses and pegmatite that both occur within the Basal Pegmatite Unit and represents the best intersection to date in this unit, which has undergone little previous drill testing. The mineralization is open in all directions and will be prioritized for follow-up this winter. Possible Continuation of the D Series Lenses Previous 50 x 50 metre delineation drilling has shown the Gryphon mineralized lenses to be structurally controlled with a plunge to the northeast. In this regard, the mineralized intersections in drill hole WR-633D1 possibly represent the down plunge extent of some of the D series lenses located approximately 180 metres up plunge to the southwest. Additional drilling will be required to validate if the stratigraphy is continuous and if the intersection of mineralization in WR-633D1 is a continuation of the mineralization occurring in the D series lenses. The D series of lenses is currently defined by intersections from drill holes completed previously. Table 2 provides highlight intersections of the D Series lenses. Table 2: DSeriesLensIntersections ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)3 Assay U3O8 (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WR-5581,4 611.7 612.2 0.5 7.3 WR-5652,4 686.0 689.9 3.9 0.6 Notes: 1. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% U3O8 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% U3O8 3. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths 4. The intersections listed above are both from the D1 lens. Drill hole WR-558 is located approximately 140 metres up plunge to the southwest of WR-565. Wheeler River Property The Wheeler River property is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits. The Phoenix deposit is estimated to include indicated resources of 70.2M lbs U3O8 at a grade of 19.1% U3O8, and is the highest grade undeveloped uranium deposit in the world. The Gryphon deposit is hosted in basement rock, approximately 3 kilometres to the northwest of Phoenix, and is estimated to contain inferred resources of 43M lbs U3O8 at a grade of 2.3% U3O8. Wheeler River is a joint venture between Denison (60% and operator), Cameco Corp. ("Cameco") (30%), and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (10%). A 47,000 metre exploration drilling program is currently underway at Wheeler River with a focus on testing numerous unconformity and basement exploration targets in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit, as well as other priority target areas on the property. Concurrent with the winter 2016 drilling program, a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") is underway studying the economic potential of co-developing the Gryphon and Phoenix deposits. The PEA is expected to be completed during the first half of 2016. Illustrative Figures & Further Details A property location and basement geology map is provided in Figure 1. Figure 2 provides a plan map of the northeast plunging Gryphon mineralized lenses projected up to the basement geology at the sub-Athabasca unconformity. The cross-section in Figure 3 represents section line 5187GP and illustrates the new mineralization discovered in drill hole WR-633D1, which occurs to the north of the stacked A, B and C series lenses that define the Gryphon deposit. The cross-section in Figure 4 represents section line 5050GP and illustrates the stacked lenses (A, B and C series) that define the Gryphon deposit, as well as the D series lenses, which occur up plunge of the mineralization intersected in WR-633D1 illustrated in Figure 3. Further details regarding the Gryphon deposit and the current mineral resources estimated at Wheeler River are provided in the report titled "TECHNICAL REPORT ON A MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE WHEELER RIVER PROPERTY, EASTERN ATHABASCA BASIN, NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA.", dated Nov. 25, 2015, authored by William E. Roscoe Ph.D, P.Eng. and Mark B. Mathisen C.P.G of RPA. A copy of this report is available under Denison's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Qualified Person The disclosure of a scientific or technical nature contained in this news release was prepared by Dale Verran, MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat., Denison's Vice President, Exploration, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. For a description of the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied by Denison, please see Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Denison Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan. Including its 60% owned Wheeler River project, which hosts the high grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, Denison's exploration portfolio consists of numerous projects covering over 390,000 hectares in the eastern Athabasca Basin. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture, which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest deposit and a 61.55% interest in the J Zone deposit on the Waterbury Lake property. Both the Midwest and J Zone deposits are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. Internationally, Denison owns 100% of the Mutanga project in Zambia, 100% of the uranium/copper/silver Falea project in Mali, and a 90% interest in the Dome project in Namibia. Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Denison Environmental Services division and is the manager of Uranium Participation Corporation, a publicly-traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "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". In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: exploration (including drilling) and evaluation activities; total expected cost of such activities and Denison's share of same; completion of the PEA; CNSC's approval to increase the annual production limit of U3O8 at the McLean Lake mill as well as the collective bargaining with unionized employees at the McClean Lake mill, and their respective impact on the 2016 production plan and Denison's share of revenue from the Cigar Lake toll milling arrangement; Denison's share of operating and capital expenditures; acceptance by Mongolian authorities of application for applicable mining licenses, and receipt and amount of contingent payments in a timely manner; Denison's ability to complete a spin-out or disposal transaction of its African interests; DES' expected revenue from operations, and its forecast expenses and expenditures; and renewal of the MSA with UPC and forecast revenue and expenses associated with providing services under MSA. 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 Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the "Risk Factors" in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 available under its profile at www.sedar.com and in its Form 40-F available at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These factors are not, and should not be construed as being, exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this press release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in its expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. Maps are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042313_maps.pdf. Contacts: Denison Mines Corp. David Cates President and Chief Executive Officer (416) 979-1991 ext. 362 Denison Mines Corp. Sophia Shane Investor Relations (604) 689-7842 www.denisonmines.com Follow Denison on Twitter: @DenisonMinesCo ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Fortis Inc. (TSX: FTS) ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") today announced that its Board of Directors has accepted, with regret, the resignation of Mr. Paul J. Bonavia as a director of the Corporation. Mr. Bonavia resigned in order to remain in compliance with the rules of another entity of which he is a director. These rules would not permit Mr. Bonavia to serve as a director of Fortis following the announcement by the Corporation today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire ITC Holdings Corp. "We want to thank Paul for his invaluable contribution to the company. His thoughtful leadership and insightful perspective during his limited tenure on our Board have been invaluable," said David G. Norris, Chair of the Board of Fortis. "We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours." The Board of Directors and Fortis would like to extend their thanks and appreciation for the service of Mr. Bonavia. Fortis is a leader in the North American electric and gas utility business, with total assets of approximately $28.6 billion as at September 30, 2015 and revenue totalling approximately $6.7 billion during the twelve month period ended September 30, 2015. Its regulated utilities serve more than three million customers across Canada and in the United States and the Caribbean. Fortis also owns long-term contracted hydroelectric generation assets in British Columbia and Belize. Fortis' shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com or www.sedar.com. Contacts: Ms. Janet Craig Vice President, Investor Relations Fortis Inc. 709.737.2863 I average 50% of my traffic from the world outside of the USA. That is delighful, and I hope the world is well served by this blog. Of the world nations represented in my traffic, Russia and Canada are tied for second place after the USA. Tell a friend about us. This is NOT an imperialist blog site. God cares just as much for you as he does for me, and God is not a nationalist. The Bible, Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: ADVA Optical Networking SE / ADVA Optical Networking IFRS 2015 Financial Results Conference Call Information . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. In conjunction with the release of its IFRS 2015 financial results, ADVA Optical Networking will host a conference call for investors at 3:00 p.m. CET / 9:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, February 25, 2016. Investors may dial in directly to participate in the call, and download the corresponding presentation on ADVA Optical Networking's website. Participating in the call will be ADVA Optical Networking's Chief Executive Officer, Brian Protiva; Chief Financial Officer, Ulrich Dopfer; and VP Marketing & Investor Relations, Stephan Rettenberger. To participate directly, investors are invited to dial +49 69 22 22 29 043 or +1 855 402 77 66, Pin Code: 8648 9048# and access the call with the name 'ADVA Optical Networking IFRS 2015 financial results.' To download the presentation, investors are encouraged to go onto the 'conference calls' website at least 15 minutes prior to the call, located in the 'financial results' section of the investor relations area of ADVA Optical Networking's website at www.advaoptical.com (http://www.advaoptical.com). The call will be archived as an audio file, which will be posted for download on the 'conference calls' website after the call. # # # About ADVA Optical Networking At ADVA Optical Networking we're creating new opportunities for tomorrow's networks, a new vision for a connected world. Our intelligent telecommunications hardware, software and services have been deployed by several hundred service providers and thousands of enterprises. Over the past twenty years, our innovative connectivity solutions have helped to drive our customers' networks forward, helped to drive their businesses to new levels of success. We forge close working relationships with all our customers. As your trusted partner we ensure that we're always ready to exceed your networking expectations. For more information on our products and our team, please visit us at: www.advaoptical.com (http://www.advaoptical.com). Published By: ADVA Optical Networking SE, Martinsried/Munich and Meiningen, Germany www.advaoptical.com (http://www.advaoptical.com) For Press: Gareth Spence t +44 1904 699 358 public-relations(at)advaoptical.com (mailto:public-relations@advaoptical.com) For Investors: Stephan Rettenberger t +49 89 890 665 854 investor-relations(at)advaoptical.com OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC), an electricity transmission company, announced Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement and plan of merger to be acquired by Canadian electric and gas utility company Fortis Inc. (FTS.TO) in a transaction valued at approximately $11.3 billion. Under the terms of the transaction, ITC shareholders will receive $22.57 in cash and 0.7520 Fortis shares per ITC share. The per share consideration represents a premium of 33% over ITC's unaffected closing share price on November 27, 2015. Following the acquisition, Fortis would be one of the top 15 North American public utilities ranked by enterprise value, with an estimated enterprise value of C$42 billion or $30 billion. In connection with the acquisition, Fortis will apply to list its common shares on the NYSE. Separately, Fortis announced that its Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of PaulBonavia as a director. 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. MANCHESTER, NH -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Xeros, the innovator of an ultra-low water laundry system, announced today that it has signed a deal with New York City-based eLaundry.com in excess of a million dollars for Xeros' award-winning polymer bead cleaning laundry systems which are proven to dramatically reduce water, energy, and detergent consumption while providing a gentler and superior clean. To promote the new Xeros laundry services, eLaundry.com will introduce Xeros as an ingredient brand in their storefront, on delivery vehicles and throughout the business. eLaundry.com provides on-demand laundry service to consumers and commercial customers in New York City such as hotels, spas, salons, colleges and universities, health clubs, and restaurant and is one of the largest laundries in Manhattan. The company offers free pickup and delivery in Manhattan that can easily be scheduled online or by text message. The company aims to make doing laundry accessible, affordable, and easy with superior cleaning results. eLaundry.com processes over 3.6 Million lbs of laundry per year. "Xeros has been a great investment for our business. Xeros' green and sustainable laundry system enables us to dramatically reduce our water, energy and detergent usage while delivering exceptional cleaning results for our customers," said Charles Sakkal, owner of eLaundry.com. "The feedback from our customers has been great and we are excited to promote Xeros as part of our overall brand promise." "On-demand laundry services are disrupting laundry industry. Consumers and businesses can use a smart phone, text, phone call or go online to easily schedule pick-up and delivery of their laundry," said Jonathan Benjamin, Global President of Laundry at Xeros. "Xeros polymer bead cleaning is also disrupting the industry enabling on-demand laundries to provide their customers a higher quality, superior and more gentle clean as well as being more operationally and ecologically efficient than traditional aqueous machines." The Xeros laundry system replaces up to 80% of the water with 1.5 million polymer beads that gently massage textiles to provide superior cleaning results as compared to conventional aqueous washing methods. By combining the beads' molecular structure with a proprietary detergent solution, dirt from soiled items is attracted and absorbed by the beads, producing cleaner results in ambient water. The reusable beads have a lifespan of hundreds of washes before being collected and recycled. The patented, award-winning system uses 80% less water, up to 50% less energy, and approximately 50% less detergent than traditional systems. For More Information Click here to view a video on how the Xeros polymer bead cleaning laundry system works. About Xeros Cleaning Xeros is changing the way textiles are cleaned. Using patented technology, the Xeros System for commercial cleaning uses up to 80% less water, 50% less energy, and approximately 50% less detergent, and delivers superior cleaning results compared to conventional washing. Xeros was recently awarded a Bronze Medal in the prestigious Edison Awards; was named a top invention by TIME magazine, winner of 'Best Technological Breakthrough' in The Climate Week Awards 2011; listed in Worldwide Fund for Nature's survey of global 'Green Game Changers'; and has been awarded two Rushlight 2013 Awards for green innovation. Strategic partnerships include BASF. Xeros is headquartered in the UK with offices in the US and China. For additional information, please visit www.xeroscleaning.com. The Xeros Logo, Xeros and Xeros Sbeadycare are trademarks of the Xeros group of companies. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2961014 Media contacts: Neal Stein Red Javelin Communications 321-473-7407 neal@redjavelin.com PROVIDENCE, RI -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- New research sponsored by Vector Software, the world's leading provider of innovative software solutions for robust embedded software quality, reveals that as the world around us increasingly becomes more dependent on products whose functionality is controlled by software -- and the demand for improved product quality and regulations become more stringent than ever -- software testing is an industry in the midst of incredible transition. Issued today, the Vector Software Annual Software Testing Technology Report was designed to capture the thoughts of industry leaders across the embedded software testing industry to discern: What trends the market is actually embracing What users are interested in learning more about What projects the market plans on addressing in the near future What capabilities are of interest to users The purpose of the research was to learn about what the embedded software testing industry is focusing on now and what its concerns may be in the near future. Selected highlights from the findings are: Continuous integration and continuous testing are critical concepts of interest. Other than the overall term of "embedded software test," respondents of the Vector Software Annual Software Testing Technology Report were most familiar with the terms continuous integration (CI) and continuous testing. This aligns well with the overall industry shift toward increased quality as continuous integration requires isolated code changes to be immediately tested and reported when added to the larger code base. Some surprising results came in terms of respondents' familiarity with the term "technical debt." About 45% responded that they were "very unfamiliar" with the term (which represents latent defects introduced during system architecture, system design, or system development), and its overall weighted average score for familiarity came in at just 2.33 out of 5. A large majority of respondents (nearly 80%) indicated that they were potentially planning to address bug and defect tracking with their next project. This finding is not surprising given the many studies that have shown that the largest component of software cost is often not the original development, test, and manufacturing, but the post release maintenance cost. The growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) has had a noticeable effect on the software testing industry. This is likely due in large part to the fact that because IoT enables the interconnection of the physical and virtual world based on interoperable communication technologies, essentially every electronic device will have network connectivity -- and that means every manufacturer of electronic devices will also be in the software business. The top capabilities that respondents are interested in are: regression and system testing; code coverage; automated C, C++, Ada dynamic/unit testing; and automatic test case generation. The research also generated findings of interest on a wide variety of key topics including code quality and testing analytics (with responses broken out between specific audience segments including management, developers, and testers/QA team). The full report includes more detailed information on the impact of automated testing of legacy code, the effects of continuous integration and change-based testing, technical debt, the Internet of Things, and much more. The complete report is now available for download on Vector Software's website. About Vector Software, Inc. Vector Software is the world's leading provider of software testing solutions for safety and business critical embedded applications. Companies worldwide in the automotive, aerospace, medical devices, industrial controls, rail, and other business critical sectors rely on Vector Software's VectorCAST test automation platform. The VectorCAST environment enables software development teams to easily automate complex testing tasks to improve software quality, using Test-Driven Development, Continuous Integration, and Change-Based Testing processes to engineer reliable software for accelerated time-to-market release cycles. Vector Software is headquartered in East Greenwich, Rhode Island USA with offices worldwide, and a world-class team of support and technology partners. To learn more, visit: www.vectorcast.com or follow Vector Software on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Contact: Anna Barcelos 401.398.7185 Email Contact 1351 South County Trail, Suite 310 East Greenwich, RI 02818 USA www.vectorcast.com SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Trifacta, the global leader in data wrangling, today announced it has raised $35M in growth-stage financing from existing investors Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Ignition Partners and new investor Cathay Innovation. The new funding brings the company's total amount raised to more than $76 million. The additional financing will be used to fuel the growth of Trifacta's global field organization and the continuing innovation of its award-winning products. "Trifacta has created the way organizations are unlocking the value of their diverse, complex data by empowering non-technical users to discover, cleanse and blend information themselves," said Frank Artale, managing partner at Ignition Partners. "We're excited about the tremendous momentum Trifacta has built today and are looking forward to accelerating that success in Europe and Asia with the help of Cathay Innovation." "The multibillion-dollar big data and IoT revolution requires a modern, innovative approach to preparing data and empowering end users," said Ping Li, partner at Accel and director of the Big Data Fund. "Trifacta delivers that platform. We've backed Trifacta's incredible team from the beginning and are excited to help the company scale to take advantage of this significant market opportunity." "Trifacta's disruptive approach to data wrangling has cemented their position as the leader in the category," said Denis Barrier, co-founder, Cathay Innovation. "We are delighted to be able to leverage Cathay's extensive network in Europe and Asia to support Trifacta in delivering their innovative technology to customers around the globe." "2015 was a breakout year for Trifacta, from customer wins with companies like Kaiser Permanente, Juniper Networks, TeliaSonera and Royal Bank of Scotland, to an expanded partnership with Cloudera, to recognition by key industry analysts as the leader in data preparation," said Adam Wilson, CEO at Trifacta. "With the significant data challenges facing organizations today, it's great to see thousands of companies turning to Trifacta to enable their end users to wrangle data of all shapes and sizes." Trifacta 2015 Highlights: Increased sales over 700 percent and added new users at more than 3,000 companies, spanning 105 countries around the globe. Expanded customer base to include global brands such as Citco, TeliaSonera, Royal Bank of Scotland, Proctor & Gamble, Juniper Networks, Sanofi, Kaiser Permanente, Pfizer and PepsiCo. Earned the top ranking in the first End User Data Preparation study by Dresner Advisory Services. Launched partnerships with Salesforce, MapR Technologies and Zoomdata, in addition to expanding efforts with existing partners Cloudera, Hortonworks and Tableau. Strengthened the executive team with the addition of proven industry leaders, Sachin Chawla who joined the company as vice president of engineering to lead the team in delivering enterprise-grade software solutions, and Joe Scheuermann who was appointed to vice president of marketing to increase demand generation and product marketing efforts. Launched Trifacta Wrangler, a free, connected desktop edition of its data wrangling software to address the needs of analysts who work with data in Excel or self-service visualization tools, such as Tableau. Released v3 of Trifacta Wrangler Enterprise, furthering Trifacta's leadership in the Hadoop market by augmenting user experience to empower a diverse range of users to work more productively with data, regardless of technical ability. The v3 release also established data governance requirements for security, metadata and data lineage management and operationalization for organizations implementing data wrangling solutions at enterprise scale. Opened operations in Europe with two new offices in London and Berlin, driven by the growing global big data market. "Trifacta is a pioneer of self-service data preparation and data wrangling, and the rapid adoption of Wrangler, combined with expansion into Europe, illustrates there is significant interest in modern approaches to data discovery, governance and preparation as enterprises explore the benefits of more agile analytics environments," said Matt Aslett, analyst at 451 Research. Trifacta Award Highlights In 2016, Trifacta has already been named a Delta-V Award winner for the big data platforms category by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). Last year, Trifacta won the Technology Innovation Award for End User Data Preparation from Dresner Advisory Services and was also named a 2015 Ventana Research Technology Innovation award winner in the big data category. Trifacta was selected as a 2015 Red Herring Top 100 North America Winner, showcasing the company's momentum in the big data space and was also named to the The Channel Company's 2015 CRN Big Data 100, a list that recognizes companies that bring innovative tools, technologies and services to market, helping organizations productively manage, process and analyze the increasing volume of information being generated today. To experience Trifacta first hand, download Trifacta Wrangler for free today at www.trifacta.com/start-wrangling/. Additional Resources Learn about Trifacta products Read CEO Adam Wilson's blog on the funding Download Trifacta Wrangler for free Follow us on Twitter Become a fan on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn About Trifacta Trifacta, the global leader in data wrangling software, significantly enhances the value of an enterprise's big data by enabling users to easily transform and enrich raw, complex data into clean and structured formats for analysis. Leveraging decades of innovative work in human-computer interaction, scalable data management and machine learning, Trifacta's unique technology creates a partnership between user and machine, with each side learning from the other and becoming smarter with experience. Trifacta is backed by Accel Partners, Cathay Innovation, Greylock Partners, and Ignition Partners. Media Contact: Nolan Necoechea for Trifacta LEWIS 415-432-2452 Email Contact MEXICO CITY, 2016-02-09 13:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empresas ICA, S.AB. de C.V. (BMV:ICA) (NYSE:ICA), the largest infrastructure and construction company in Mexico, confirmed today that its subsidiary COVIMSA has signed an agreement with CKD Fomento a la Energia e Infraestructura de Mexico (EXI), through the EXICK Trust, for a Ps. 750 million convertible loan to provide the resources required for the completion of the Palmillas-Apaseo El Grande tollroad in the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato.Autovia Queretaro, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of COVIMSA, holds the 30-year concession to construction, operate, exploit, preserve, and maintain the highway.The Palmillas-Apaseo El Grande tollroad is one of the most important construction projects in Mexico. The 4-lane, 86 km, high-specification tollroad in Queretaro and Guanajuato is expected to reduce traffic congestion resulting from the sustained economic growth of the region.This agreement ensures all the resources that are required to finalize the construction and putting into service of the highway. ICA expects that the construction phase will be completed in September 2016, and the highway will join ICA's existing portfolio of five operating highways.This press release contains projections or other forward-looking statements related to ICA that reflect ICA's current expectations or beliefs concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results or events due to important factors such as changes in general economic, business or political or other conditions in Mexico, Latin America or elsewhere, changes in capital markets in general that may affect policies or attitudes towards lending to Mexico or Mexican companies, changes in tax and other laws affecting ICA's businesses, increased costs, unanticipated increases in financing and other costs or the inability to obtain additional debt or equity financing on attractive terms and other factors set forth in ICA's most recent filing on Form 20-F and in any filing or submission ICA has made with the SEC subsequent to its most recent filing on Form 20-F. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to ICA on the date hereof, and ICA assumes no obligation to update such statements.Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. is Mexico's largest infrastructure company. ICA carries out large-scale civil and industrial construction projects and operates a portfolio of long-term assets, including airports, toll roads, water systems, and real estate. Founded in 1947, lCA is listed on the Mexican and New York Stock exchanges. For more information, visit ir.ica.mx.For more information, please contact:Gabriela Orozco gabriela.orozco@ica.mxrelacion.inversionistas@ica.mx +(5255) 5272 9991 x 3012Pablo Garcia Chief Financial Officer pablo.garcia@ica.mxIn the US: Daniel Wilson, Zemi Communications +(1212) 689 9560 dbmwilson@zemi.com CANNES, France, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The first edition of IPEM - the International Private Equity Market - will take place in Cannes' fabulous Palais des Festivals from February 17th to 19th, 2016. The event opens on February 16th with an Opening Party - the first networking event of this 3-day trade show - before the official launch of the exhibiting area and its rich program of conferences on February 17th. Executives and representatives from the 350+ IPEM 2016 participating companies are already getting ready for this major event thanks to myIPEM, the online meeting arrangement service, to best organize their agenda, which will certainly be overloaded with meetings and business opportunities. 1,000+ PE professionals and business owners from 30 countries are expected in Cannes. "This great IPEM journey started 18 months ago when we decided to launch this worldwide event structured like a marketplace dedicated to private and institutional investors, investment funds, service providers, and business owners seeking to procure funding for their development" proclaims IPEM Chairman Rene Peres. "We are delighted to see that this event is already generating new perspectives in the industry and that we helped to create new connections between many professionals who are taking part in this first edition." Abraaj Group, ACG Capital, Akina, Allianz Capital Partners, APG, Ardian, Banque Lombard Odier, China Investment Corporation, CNP Assurances, EFG Bank, European Investment Bank, Idinvest, MACSF, Partech Ventures, Pinebridge, Quadrivio and Stepstone Group are among IPEM 2016 participating companies. Insider exposes covert world of corporate greed, corruption, crimes WILMINGTON, Delaware, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Sophia DeNapoli's book "Secrets, Lies & Chemical Compounds: The Pawn" (ISBN-10: 1503089045 and ISBN-13: 978-1-5030-8904-4) would seem fantastical if it were not inspired by her own experiences working for the largest chemical company in the world. In her new crime thriller, DeNapoli compels readers to confront the painful truth that greed, corruption, scandal, sex and cover-ups are rampant in the corporate world. In the book, Bernie DeVittoria has a serious ethical dilemma: help the company to hide their murky misdoings, or speak out against the depravity. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160205/330155 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160205/330156 Corporate lawlessness is rampant, but how does it happen? As the story begins, Renard Chemicals has hired Bernie back, along with a smattering of additional candidates. Grateful for the employment, the new hires are set on building a defense for the company against several high-profile lawsuits. Recently divorced, Bernie needs a break from her personal dramas. She is relieved to be back at the company she once loved. Bernie dives into her job overseeing the retrieval and classification of legal documents for the lawsuits against Renard. In the process, she uncovers the company's depraved negligence toward the victims in the chemical lawsuits. Bernie clashes with the company and openly airs her disapproval of the treatment of the victims. As she pushes forward, she uncovers the "Jackal" behind the chemical tragedy in a suspense-filled, secretive game - with an outrageous twist ending. States DeNapoli, "This story is seriously about control, power and global mega-chemical companies." "Secrets, Lies & Chemical Compounds: The Pawn" is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels. About the Author: Sophia DeNapoli brings real-life experience to her only partially fictionalized book. The author grew up on the East Coast where she attended Catholic school. It is this ethical foundation that has deeply rooted her sensibilities in faith and morality. Prior to writing, DeNapoli worked for the largest chemical company in the world, where she saw firsthand the unethical backbiting and double-dealing that goes on behind closed corporate doors. MEDIA CONTACT: Sophia DeNapoli Phone: +1 (302) 379-4572 E-mail: sophiadenapoli@yahoo.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/SLCCpawn Twitter: @sophiadenapoli Instagram: sophiadenapoli REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE Mindbreeze provides the perfect replacement with additional high-end features Now it's official ("So long Google Search Appliance" source: Fortune.com). The Google Search Appliance (GSA) will be discontinued. It is now time for GSA customers and business partners to switch to a new enterprise search provider. Mindbreeze, a European leader in the field of enterprise search and big data, offers the perfect replacement with the Mindbreeze InSpire appliance. "The move didn't come as a surprise to us," explains Daniel Fallmann, founder and CEO of Mindbreeze GmbH. "Our appliance provides a seamless transition. Customers won't lose the GSA settings, which will be automatically migrated into our appliance. Mindbreeze InSpire not only takes on the existing configuration, it also supports the relevant GSA interfaces. Clients can even keep the GSA look and feel if they so desire. Additionally, Mindbreeze InSpire offers some extra high-end features", says Fallmann. For instance, as standard, Mindbreeze InSpire, the European enterprise search appliance, offers over 450 connectors, open interfaces and configuration options, especially for relevance adaptation and contextualization. A comprehensive semantic pipeline (self-learning semantic analysis) ensures content comprehension. This allows the user a consolidated and continuously up-to-date view on any given topic, such as business cases, customers or products. European customers such as Lufthansa, Deutsche Telekom and s.Oliver have already successfully implemented Mindbreeze InSpire. Together with customers from Latin America and the United States, this translates into many millions of users and often billions of documents that are already being searched with this appliance in the individual companies. See more information about how Mindbreeze InSpire is the perfect GSA successor: www.mindbreeze.com/gsa-replacement Mindbreeze Mindbreeze, based in Austria, is a leading European provider of software products for enterprise search, big data and knowledge management. The products "understand" information and provide a consolidated view of corporate knowledge regardless of where (data sources) and how (structured unstructured) this data is saved. www.mindbreeze.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005942/en/ Contacts: Mindbreeze GmbH Ulrike Kogler Tel.: +43 732 606162 E-mail: pr@mindbreeze.com Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tgzk74/joint_ventures) has announced the addition of the "Joint Ventures Other Collaboration Agreements for the Oil Gas Industry (London, UK 24-25th of November, 2016)" conference to their offering. It is key to the success of all oil and gas companies to form powerful alliances that address the unique challenges they face in areas of mutual interest. Well-structured and effective joint ventures lead to commercial success and new opportunities. To achieve this success you need to ensure you have the correct agreement in place. This unique seminar has been designed to follow on from the highly popular Drafting and Negotiating Oil and Gas Industry Contracts to focus on the key considerations of a successful joint venture agreement. Attend this programme to ensure you are up-to-date on the legal and commercial aspects of joint venture agreements that lead to successful collaborations. For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tgzk74/joint_ventures View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005973/en/ Contacts: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Sector: Gas, Oil ORLANDO, Florida, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DistribuTECH -- Trilliant, a global smart communications leader, today is proud to announce that its multi-technology, multi-purpose Smart Communications Platform has reached approximately 65% market share in the UK, in one of the most progressive smart deployments in the world, focusing on delivering real benefits for the consumers. According to a study commissioned by the European Smart Metering Industry Group, UK households have the potential to achieve annual savings of 938 million a year by measuring and managing their electricity useusing smart meters. The Government has identified smart meters as key energy efficiency technology and is aiming for approximately 52 million smart meters to be installed in 30 million homes and businesses in the UK by 2019. One of the key barriers to this roll out is the mastery of the business and technical complexities required to ensure successful rollouts. This success is a testament of the feat accomplished by Trilliant and partner teams, as well asthe strong teamwork and leadership between the company and its energy retailer customers. It also demonstrates the company's full commitment to the UK Smart vision in offering its deep technological expertise and experience to help deliver real benefits to UK consumers. The cellular-based Trilliant Communications Hub, part of the multi-technology, multi-purpose Trilliant Smart Communications Platform, has been successfully deployed in the UK, enablinga Smart system connecting electric meters, gas meters and in-home displays. Moreover, the Trilliant UnitySuite Head-End System (HES), also part of the Trilliant Smart Communications Platform, is able to manage all of the demands of acompliant smart system by managing all the smart devices and communications across the whole smart fleet. The Trilliant Smart Communications Platform offers proven, secure, compliant and scalable solutions to help the United Kingdom achieve their smart visions. "The UK has a bold and sophisticated vision for their Smart program," said Andy White, CEO at Trilliant. "As a company who has had experience working with some of the leading utilities and energy retailers around the world, we are honored for the opportunity to work with the leading partners and customers in the UK to deliver real smart benefits for their operations and consumers. We have focused on customer partnerships, standards and regulatory compliance in the UK and are committed for the long haul to ensure a successful Smart transition for the UK market." The Trilliant Smart Communications Platform is a multi-technology, multi-purpose communications platform purpose-built for the energy industry that helps utilities, energy retailers and cities modernize their infrastructure to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Trilliant has worked with leading utilities, energy retailers and cities around the world who collectively serve more than 100 million consumers to deliver real smart energy benefits. These benefits include enhanced energy efficiency, improved grid reliability, the integration of renewable energy resources and electric vehicles, and consumer empowerment to better manage their energy consumption. To learn more, visit Trilliant booth #1439 at DistribuTECH or website at www.trilliantinc.com About Trilliant Trilliant helps leading utilities and cities around the world achieve their smart visions through the Trilliant Smart Communications Platform, the only communications platform purpose-built for the industry that helps utilities and cities securely and reliably deploy any Smart Grid - AMI, DA and DSM, and Smart City applications, on one powerful network. Trilliant has worked with leading utilities and cities worldwide who collectively serve more than 100 million customers. The Trilliant Platform helps utilities and energy retailers enhance energy efficiency, improve grid reliability, lower operating costs, integrate renewable energy resources and electric vehicles, and empower consumers to better manage their energy consumption. For more information, visit www.trilliantinc.com. Zuken Innovation World 2016 Americas: April 18-20 Zuken is to launch its Zuken University and Expert Bar at Zuken Innovation World (ZIW) Americas (http://www.zuken.com/ziw-us). The popular annual user and technology conference will be held on April 18-20 at Coronado Island Marriott Resort Spa, San Diego, California. Through more than 35 classes showcasing "how-to" and best practices for the 2016 product releases, participants will learn the newest features and quickly boost productivity with Zuken tools in an informal classroom setting. For those arriving at the conference armed with a specific product question, the Zuken Expert Bar is a new addition that offers the opportunity to meet 1:1 with Zuken product experts and pose their toughest challenge. Kent McLeroth, President and CEO, Zuken Americas said: "ZIW is such a great opportunity for both formal and informal learning and networking. The learning opportunities Zuken University classes provide will give participants a greater ROI for their attendance than ever." Networking is at the heart of the ZIW experience and plenty of opportunities will be available to meet other Zuken users, partners, industry experts and Zuken staff. Attendees will be treated to a conference dinner at the San Diego Wine and Culinary Center, continuing the learning experience with food and beverage pairings, tasting stations and more. The conference agenda is now available online and features class topics including: Differential Pairs Managing and Routing, Harness Builder Basics, Flex Design using CR-8000 Design Force 2016, and many more. Partners and customers confirmed to present include: Accelerated Designs, AGCO, Applied Materials, Northrop Grumman, PTC, Siemens Solid Edge and others. Join the Zuken community Follow the lead-up to all of our ZIW events globally as we announce our conference agendas, keynote speakers, and more on the Zuken Blog (http://blog.zuken.com/), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/zuken), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zuken/275263940979) and Twitter (@ZukenAmericas (http://www.twitter.com/ZukenAmericas), @ZukenUK_SCAN (http://www.twitter.com/ZukenUK_SCAN), @ZukenCentralEur (http://www.twitter.com/ZukenCentralEur)). For more information and to find your local Zuken Innovation World event, visit www.zuken.com/ziw. Global ZIW conference dates and locations North America San Diego, CA (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/usa/1506-ziw-san-diego) - April 18-20, 2016 Europe Bologna, Italy (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/italy/1607-ziw-italy) - June 7, 2016 Paris, France (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/france/1606-ziw-france) -June 9, 2016 Luzern, Switzerland (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/switzerland/1606-ziw-ch-2016) - June 16, 2016 Seeheim-Jugenheim near Frankfurt, Germany (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/germany/1607-ziw-2016) - July 13-14, 2016 Coventry, UK (http://www.zuken.com/en/news/events-calendar/uk/1609-ziw-2016) - September 2016 Yokohama, Japan mid-October 2016 ends For a downloadable Word document and press images visit the press kits area of the press center www.zuken.com/presskits. Words 368 Captions Image: Z0457-ZIWUS-1.jpg Caption: Zuken University will launch at Zuken Innovation World (ZIW) Americas, April 18-20 2016, San Diego. Image: Z0457-ZIWUS-2.jpg Caption: Zuken Innovation World (ZIW) Americas (http://www.zuken.com/ziw-us) will be held on April 18-20 at Coronado Island Marriott Resort Spa, San Diego, California. Image: Z0457-ZIWUS-3.jpg Caption: More than 35 classes will showcase "how-to" and best practices for the 2016 product releases at ZIW Americas About Zuken Innovation World Zuken Innovation World conferences are our premier annual events for the Zuken community. Held in locations around the globe, these conferences bring together our customers and industry professionals in an environment that encourages networking, learning, and sharing of innovative ideas. The conferences take place in the spring to fall timeframe. www.zuken.com/ziw About Zuken Zuken is a global provider of leading-edge software and consulting services for electrical and electronic design and manufacturing. Founded in 1976, Zuken has the longest track record of technological innovation and financial stability in the electronic design automation (EDA) software industry. The company's extensive experience, technological expertise and agility, combine to create world-class software solutions. Zuken's transparent working practices and integrity in all aspects of business produce long-lasting and successful customer partnerships that make Zuken a reliable long-term business partner. Zuken is focused on being a long-term innovation and growth partner. The security of choosing Zuken is further reinforced by the company's people-the foundation of Zuken's success. Coming from a wide range of industry sectors, specializing in many different disciplines and advanced technologies, Zuken's people relate to and understand each company's unique requirements. For more information about the company and its products, visit www.zuken.com. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005994/en/ Contacts: Zuken Amy Clements PR Contact, Americas Tel: 1 972-691-3284 Email: amy.clements@zuken.com (dionne.hayman@zuken.com) Twitter: @ZukenAmericas (http://www.twitter.com/ZukenAmericas) New Edition Reflects Growing Physician Interest in Latin America and Spain Joins French and German Language Editions in Meeting Needs of Global Medical Community NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Medscape,the leading source of medical news and information for physicians, today launched the Medscape Spanish Edition, developed to serve the clinical and practice interests of Latin American and other Spanish-speaking physicians and healthcare professionals. http://espanol.medscape.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330849 Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151110/286098LOGO Medscape's Spanish Edition follows the launch of Medscape's French and German editions. As with all Medscape global editions, the Spanish edition can be accessed via www.medscape.com. The Spanish edition will feature: Medical news covering major local and international medical conferences, key clinical studies, drug approvals and alerts, and a variety of other medical news stories covering major local and international medical conferences, key clinical studies, drug approvals and alerts, and a variety of other medical news stories Expert perspectives and commentary from well-known thought leaders in Latin America , Spain , and worldwide and commentary from well-known thought leaders in , , and worldwide Continuing education activities to support professional development The Medscape Spanish Edition will cover vital developments from across medicine and include focused sections on primary care, cardiology, diabetes and endocrinology, hematology-oncology, HIV and infectious disease, pediatrics, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry. The Edition is intended for physicians and healthcare professionals in the more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America as well as Spain and will also be a valuable resource for Spanish-speaking physicians and healthcare professionals in the U.S. Quotes: Jeremy Schneider, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, WebMD Global "The Medscape Spanish Edition extends our global reach in an important market while providing U.S. Spanish-speaking healthcare professionals an additional resource. By offering Medscape's leading editorial and educational resources in Spanish, we deepen our commitment of providing the Latin American and Spanish medical community with the most comprehensive and relevant clinical information needed to help improve patient care." Bernardo Schubsky, MD; Senior Editorial Director for Latin America, Medscape "Medscape is seen as a valuable resource throughout Latin America. By developing a site that speaks directly to the clinical needs and concerns of Latin American physicians and health care professionals, we are ensuring that our content and information is even more accessible and relevant to them. As we strengthen an already valued relationship with this important physician community, we will look forward to hearing their feedback so that we can ensure that our content is as meaningful and useful as possible." About Medscape and WebMD Medscape, a subsidiary of WebMD Health Corp., is the leading source of clinical news, health information and point-of-care tools for healthcare professionals. Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians and other health professionals the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools. Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free C.M.E. and C.E. courses and other educational programs for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. WebMD Health Corp. is the leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications. The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, Medscape Education and other owned WebMD sites. WebMD, Medscape, CME Circle, Medpulse, eMedicine, MedicineNet, theheart.org and RxList are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries. STOCKHOLM, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Palantir is pleased to appoint Peter Ohling as the new CEO of the company with immediate effect. Ulf Lilja, the current CEO, steps down but will continue to work as a senior advisor for the company. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330796 ) Peter has been working as Head of business development at Palantir for the last three years. Prior to this he held various positions at the head offices of several multinationals. Ulf Lilja, departing CEO, commented: I am very pleased to hand over the role as CEO to Peter who has done a distinguished job as Head of business development. His extensive experience, complementary skill set and outstanding track record means that he is ideally positioned to drive forward the company's next phase of growth. Peter Ohling, CEO of Palantir, commented: I am delighted to be appointed CEO of the company at such an exciting time and continue building on an excellent foundation provided to globally commercialize the software and grow the business at pace. I look forward to setting out my strategic vision for this growth in the coming months. About Palantir Palantir is a leading provider of business intelligence-, entity management- and legal- software-solutions which facilitate the collection, storage, structuring, analysis and presentation of key management data. Our systems were first developed in 1989 to serve large- and medium-sized organizations and to deliver flexible and customizable systems to meet the requirements of our customers. Palantir Systems AB, Peter Ohling (CEO), Mobile: +46(0)72-51-29-197, Email: peter.ohling@palantir.se MARKHAM, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- VIQ Solutions Inc. ("VIQ", "VIQ Solutions" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: VQS) is pleased to announce that David Tilling, former export director with VIQ distributor Digital Voice Processing ("DVP") of South Africa, has joined the Corporation as Regional Sales Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"). Mr. Tilling brings VIQ over 20 years of digital capture, management and collaboration software sales and project management experience at DVP, including over 15 years of working with VIQ's digital suite of software solutions. During his time at DVP, Mr. Tilling played a central role in winning prestigious new enterprise-level contracts for VIQ like the Mauritius and Malawi National Assemblies, the Lesotho and Botswana Judiciaries and recently the Zimbabwe Judicial Services Commission. Mr. Tilling is now based in the United Kingdom and will be responsible for operations, business development, sales and partner channels across the EMEA region, as well as managing and expanding important relationships with key regional partners like Digital Voice Processing in South Africa, Brahler in the United Kingdom, Gulf Business Machines in the United Arab Emirates and AVL Projekt in Serbia to name a few. "I'm delighted to join VIQ Solutions in the capacity of Regional Sales Director for EMEA, having been a champion of their leading-edge digital solutions in Africa for many years," said David Tilling. "I look forward to working with new and existing VIQ customers and partners across these regions to continue the expansion of the VIQ footprint. The region is currently undergoing a digital seachange, with technology-savvy customers demanding sophisticated, high-security workflows that include integrated video, cloud technologies, mobility and collaboration. With multiple digital modernization projects underway in the courts, militaries, medical and law enforcement agencies, VIQ's unmatched suite of interoperative solutions is uniquely well positioned to meet these modern initiatives." VIQ maintains a long and prestigious list of current customers in the EMEA region, including the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom, the Scottish Court Services, the Serbian Judiciary, the Abu Dhabi Judiciary, the Judicial Services Commission in Zimbabwe, the South African National Defense Force and many more. The addition of a Regional Director in the EMEA region increases VIQ's business development and technology coverage around the world, alongside VIQ Solutions in the Americas and Spark & Cannon in Australia and East Asia. "The potential for significant growth throughout the EMEA region, combined with the fact that VIQ's footprint in the EMEA is growing steadily in recent quarters meant that it was time for VIQ to grow smartly and dedicate the proper high-caliber resource to this key growth region," said Sebastien Pare, President and CEO of VIQ Solutions Inc. "With his sales experience and expert knowledge of both our software and our diversified markets and regions, David was the perfect fit for this new role and I am delighted that he is now a key member of VIQ Solutions team." For more information on what is making the news at VIQ Solutions, please visit our website at www.viqsolutions.com/news. About VIQ Solutions Inc. VIQ Solutions is the global expert in digital recording technology. With a better approach to the collection, storage and management of digital audio, video and files, we help increase efficiency, improve security and reduce costs for courts, law enforcement agencies, insurance companies, health providers, and legislatures around the world. We've got the technology, the experience and the expertise to efficiently manage country-wide installations of hundreds of rooms, with hundreds of terabytes of data. Managing digital media evidence is what we do, and we do it better than anyone else. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward looking statements or forward looking information under applicable securities legislation. Such forward looking statements or information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward looking statements or information typically contain statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward looking statements or information in this news release include, but are not limited to, the future plans and objectives of the Corporation. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Contacts: Sebastien Pare President and Chief Executive Officer VIQ Solutions (905) 948-8266 ext. 221 spare@viqsolutions.com OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - In a decision going against public opinion, the Canadian government announced that it will end air strikes targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and bring home its six fighter jets on February 22. At the same time, Canada will triple the number of its special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210, while a handful of surveillance and refueling aircraft will continue to play roles in the US-led coalition. This was announced by Defense Minister Hargit Sajjan Monday at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior officials. As well, the Canadian government will provide about Can$1 billion (USD 718 million) in development and humanitarian aid over three years for the Mideast region, officials said. With this, Trudeau is implementing his election campaign pledge last year to end the airstrikes. 'We know Canada is stronger, much stronger, than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth,' Trudeau told reporters. Some two-thirds of Canadians polled, however, support the bombing mission or want it to be expanded. 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. SANDY, UT -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Opengear (www.opengear.com), a leading provider of critical infrastructure management solutions through advanced console servers, remote management, monitoring, and cellular out-of-band products, today announced strong momentum in the U.S. market coming out of a 2015 year that featured significant sales and channel growth, the introduction of innovative, award-winning new products, and a series of major customer wins. The introduction of Opengear's Resilience Gateway helped set the stage for the company's 2015 success. All models in the product line include Opengear's industry-first Smart OOB and Failover to Cellular. The built-in technologies enable intelligent monitoring and automatic remediation of remote networks while ensuring companies can maximize network uptime and maintain business continuity, even during primary connection outages. The Resilience Gateway also introduced support for multi-carrier, dual SIMs that expand carrier diversity and increase uptime by allowing businesses to access the most suitable carrier for each location and situation. As a result, top industry publication CRN named Opengear to its 2015 Tech Innovator List and awarded the Resilience Gateway top honors in its enterprise networking category. The Resilience Gateway was also featured as a Network World Product of the Week, joining Opengear's ACM5500 Management Gateway with that distinction. In still another award win, Opengear received the 2015 IoT Evolution Product of the Year Award for the IM7200 Infrastructure Manager. The preceding year also saw Opengear debut Zero Touch Provisioning across its entire out-of-band management portfolio. This key feature enables automated configuration provisioning for newly deployed Opengear appliances over networks with no manual user interaction needed. And, Opengear saw an active year speaking to businesses concerned with avoiding costly network downtime, including participation at M2M Evolution and IoT Evolution (as well as at the event's Battle of the Platforms). The bottom line result of Opengear's combined 2015 efforts was the achievement of 55% year-over-year sales growth. Opengear saw a continued rise in partner and customer relationships as well, achieving 83% year-over-year channel/reseller growth and earning Preferred Solution Partner status within the Cisco Solution Partner Program. Major customers that Opengear began serving in 2015 included Apple, Uber, Comcast, Dropbox, Tesla and others across key verticals such as healthcare, banking, and retail. Opengear also figured into many business' Internet of Things plans, with businesses finding the network resilience solutions well-suited to ensuring connected devices stay connected, no matter what. "The advanced out-of-band features our products deliver truly set us apart in the industry in 2015, and we're proud of the positive attention they've received -- from awards to channel interest to strong sales growth," said Todd Rychecky, VP Sales Americas, Opengear. "Our products and solutions serve the distinct and critical need for organizations to safeguard network uptime and business continuity in the face of connectivity issues. This is especially true in sectors where the costs of downtime are devastating, such as retail, finance, Internet-of-Things-dependent businesses, and more. We look forward to carrying this momentum onward into an even more successful 2016." About Opengear Founded in 2004, Opengear delivers next generation intelligent solutions for managing critical IT and communications infrastructure. Opengear smart solutions equip our customers' networks with smart automation and bulletproof resilience, enabling them to optimize technical operations and secure business continuity. The company is headquartered in the USA with executive offices in New Jersey, a manufacturing facility in Utah, R&D operations in Australia and sales offices in Europe, Asia and the USA. Visit www.opengear.com to learn more about Opengear network resilience products and solutions. DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- The Chron Organization, Inc., currently known as USA Restaurant Funding, Inc. (OTC PINK: USAR), announced today that it has retained the services of The Eversull Group (TEG), an experienced and successful Investor Relations and Shareholder Services firm, to assist the Company to increase visibility to the investment community, improve shareholder communications, and expand media relations. Byron Young, Chairman of USAR, commented, "Our management is looking forward to working with TEG as our IR firm. Jack Eversull's firm has a proven track record of enhancing shareholder value and visibility and will communicate our performance. We believe that by utilizing TEG's services, we will have a better corporate profile within the investment community and improve investors' understanding of our company." Jack Eversull, President and Founder of TEG, Inc., said, "The management team of USA Restaurants, soon to be known as The Chron Organization, is very experienced and highly successful. We look forward to communicating their future success within the investment community. We will announce the new stock symbol and official name change when they become effective with FINRA." The Chron Organization, Inc., currently known as USA Restaurant Funding, Inc. (OTC PINK: USAR), is a services company providing automation, security and energy conservation services. The Company provides homeowners with the latest in security, monitoring and automation controls enabling homeowners to have a Smart Home at an affordable price. Chron combines that with energy efficiency and energy conservation services such as on-site Solar, LED lighting and Retail Energy Services, reducing both their carbon footprint and their monthly energy expense. To learn more, please visit the website at www.chronhomeservices.com. The Eversull Group, Inc. (www.TheEversullGroup.com) was founded in 1997 by Jack Eversull. TEG is a full-service investor relations and shareholder services consulting firm focusing on customizing each client with strategic IR/PR programs to broaden investor awareness and enhance corporate image. Forward-Looking Statements: FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release may contain forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "should," "intend," "estimate," "projects," variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com. INVESTORS & MEDIA CONTACT: Email: Email Contact Phone: (469) 626-5275 Investor Relations: The Eversull Group, Inc. Jack Eversull President 972-571-1624 214-469-2361 fax Email Contact DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Sixteen percent of broadband households in Texas own a smart energy device, which could include smart thermostats, light bulbs, power strips, outlets, and plugs/adapters, compared to 12% of all U.S. broadband households, according to Parks Associates. The Dallas-based market research firm will share new research on the growth of energy programs, successful regional and national strategies, and ways for companies to integrate connected devices and energy management programs at Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, February 22-24, 2016, in Austin. "Texans are slightly ahead of the curve when it comes to buying smart energy devices," said Stuart Sikes, President, Parks Associates. "Texas companies including Austin Energy and Reliant have been strong leaders in driving consumer awareness of energy programs and products -- 36% of Texas broadband households are familiar with energy monitoring and management products, compared to 28% nationwide. This innovative market has made Texas an excellent location for the Smart Energy Summit for seven years." In the past year, 12% of Texas broadband households purchased or received a smart energy device. Nationwide, 9% of broadband households purchased these devices over the same period. Nationally, interest in these products is starting to align with the Lone Star State -- in Texas and the U.S., 41% of broadband households plan to purchase a smart energy device in the next 12 months. "One-third of U.S. broadband households are interested in one or more home energy management features, and 19% of U.S. broadband households own a smart home product, with thermostats and lighting leading the way," Sikes said. "Much of the current growth nationwide comes as a result of pilots and innovations tested in Texas, and in 2016, we will see new businesses and partnerships develop between energy providers and smart home solution providers as the convergence of energy management, the smart home, and distributed generation begins to offer real value to consumers." William Clayton, Vice President of Customer Care Operations at Texas-based Reliant, NRG, will deliver the keynote "Making Energy Easy and Engaging for Customers" at the Smart Energy Summit on Tuesday, February 23. Other keynote speakers are Seth Frader-Thompson, President, EnergyHub, and Paul Campbell, VP Innovation / Head of Silicon Valley Innovation Center, Schneider Electric. Additional Texas-based companies participating in the summit include: Austin Energy - Karen Poff, Project Manager CPS Energy - Rick Luna, Sr. Manager, Products and Services Daikin, U.S. - Ian Herrod, Executive Vice President Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) - Paul Wattles, Sr. Analyst, Market Design & Development Reliant, NRG - Corey Chao, Innovation Manager, Connected Home Conference sponsors include Tendril, EnergyHub, Honeywell, Powerley and DTE Energy, Affinegy, ecobee, PlanetEcosystems, WeatherBug Home, WSI, Z-Wave, Schneider Electric, State Farm, Tyco, and WattzOn. Media and organizations supporting the event include Advanced Energy Economy, IoT Consortium, Antenna, Antenna Systems & Technology, Conference Guru, Engerati, FierceEnergy, Green Button Alliance, HomePlug Alliance, HomeToys.com, ISE Magazine, IoT Today, Israeli Smart Energy Association (ISEA), KNXtoday, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Open Interconnect Consortium, OpenADR Alliance, Remote Site & Equipment Management magazine, SmartGridNews, SmartGridSpain, Smart Grid Today, TD The Market Publishers, TREIA, Utility Dive, Utility Post, and WSN Buzz. Information about the Smart Energy Summit can be found at http://www.ses2016.com. Press passes are available at http://www.parksassociates.com/ses-presspass. To schedule a meeting with an analyst or speaker or to request materials from the energy conference, please contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com or 720.987.6614. About Smart Energy Summit Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer examines the expanding market for the smart home and the role of energy solutions within the Internet of Things, including connected devices, energy management, utility services, and home control platforms and services. Smart Energy Summit addresses strategies for utilities, service providers, retailers, and manufacturers to expand and monetize their energy offerings by engaging consumers, developing new business models, and creating unique partnerships. The summit agenda features thought leaders representing utilities, state and national regulators, telecom and security companies, retailers, and OEMs presenting on the state of the market and the emerging consumer and business opportunities. The seventh-annual Smart Energy Summit will take place February 22-24, 2016, at the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas. Follow the event on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt and on the Smart Energy Insights Blog. For information on speaking, sponsoring, or attending Smart Energy Summit, visit www.ses2016.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2961370 Holly Sprague Parks Associates 720.987.6614 hsprague@gmail.com SALT LAKE CITY, UT and SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 --At this year's Strategies in Light show (March 1-3, 2016, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara), EnOcean will present its comprehensive wireless LED control system for intelligent and energy-efficient lighting control. The portfolio is based upon self-powered, wireless sensors and switches, combined with LED fixture controllers. The "zero batteries solution" enables all kinds of sophisticated lighting control including daylight harvesting and task tuning. For a significantly simplified installation, EnOcean also presents the Navigan Wireless Commissioner, an easy-to-use software tool for remote configuration. Since EnOcean introduced its LED control portfolio to the market at Strategies in Light 2015, it has been established as one of the leading wireless solutions in this field. It attracted many major OEM market players that included the comprehensive product range in their offering. At this year's Strategies in Light, the company Inventronics for example will show its latest developments: intelligent LED drivers that can dim to dark and support the EnOcean LEDD Fixture/Zone Controller. "LED technology redefines the demands and possibilities of lighting control. Today, light is a key factor for energy savings, well-being and work productivity. Wireless controls can cover all of these requirements at low installation costs while offering the highest flexibility in expanding the system at any time. Self-powered wireless solutions are even more attractive as they eliminate the burden of battery maintenance costs and down time," says Nathan Lee, VP of America Sales, EnOcean Inc. Comprehensive wireless control The EnOcean technology is optimized for ultra-low power communication, allowing the use of self-powered, wireless sensors and switches. EnOcean's OEM LED control portfolio is based on the 902 MHz frequency, which delivers substantial range in buildings. Being highly flexible and requiring no maintenance, service, or battery change, the solutions are ideally suited to retrofit existing buildings with sophisticated LED control including daylight harvesting and task tuning. The complete LED control portfolio consists of LEDR and LEDD Fixture/Zone Controllers, self-powered, wireless light switches, occupancy and light level sensors as well as the Navigan remote commissioning software. OEMs can also create EnOcean-enabled products by using the extensive line of EnOcean RF modules. Remote set-up and commissioning The LEDD and LEDR controllers are both supported by Navigan Wireless Commissioner (NWC 300U) and the Navigan Software. Via this remote commissioning interface, settings such as thresholds, dimming levels, ramp speeds, task tuning, or timers can be changed wirelessly. Employing a Windows-based laptop equipped with the remote commissioning tool, an installer can locate wireless devices throughout the facility, logically connect the controller to switches and sensors, and configure settings in the controller over the air - completely without physical access, saving time and costs. More information on Navigan can be found at www.navigan.com. Installers can find tutorial videos showing the tool's functionalities at www.navigan.com/support. About EnOcean EnOcean is the originator of patented energy harvesting wireless technology. Headquartered in Oberhaching, near Munich, the company manufactures and markets energy harvesting wireless modules for self-powered Internet of Things applications in the field of building and industrial automation, smart home and LED lighting control. EnOcean technology combines miniaturized energy converters with ultra-low-power electronics and robust RF communication using various standards. For more than 10 years, leading product manufacturers have chosen wireless modules from EnOcean to enable their system ideas. EnOcean is a promoter of the EnOcean Alliance, a consortium of companies from the world's building sector that has set itself the aim of creating innovative solutions for sustainable buildings. Self-powered wireless technology from EnOcean has been successfully deployed in several hundreds of thousands buildings worldwide. For more information visit www.enocean.com Press Contacts Valerie Harding Ripple Effect Communications E: Email Contact T: 617-536-8887 Angelika Dester EnOcean E: Email Contact T: +49.89.6734689-57 SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Fresh Healthy Vending International, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND) continued securing locations for its franchisees in January with an unprecedented number of community/recreation centers and schools. The Company, which franchises its Fresh Healthy Vending machines and micro markets throughout the U.S. and Canada, has a proprietary location securing process that is followed by a dedicated team of location procurement specialists. Additionally, each franchisee gets a dedicated account manager to make sure the locations secured are of the highest quality, in terms of captive audience foot traffic and health food demand. "My Fresh territory account manager has taken a keen interest in using our feedback and expectations to make sure they propose locations that are highly likely to succeed," says franchisee Steve Winters, who co-owns a Fresh Healthy Vending franchise in Texas. "They look only for high traffic locations that are anxious to get healthy vending machines in their facilities." Since the Company takes the responsibility of securing locations for their franchisees, its expertise and experience comes to bear on every location, leaving little if any room for unsuccessful placements. Chief among the locations the Company secured in January were a large number of community and recreation centers, including YMCAs, YWCAs, fitness and dance facilities and more. YMCA and YWCAs included locations in Ohio, Tennessee, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. "We decided to go with Fresh Healthy Vending based on the well known brand, the look of the machines, and the focus on available health food choices," says George O'Brien, CEO of the Greenburg (PA) YMCA. "It is important that our YMCA members are able to get good tasting, healthy snacks and drinks when they're here and we think they'll be drawn to the compelling design of these high tech machines." The number and types of schools welcoming Fresh Healthy Vending to their institutions continued to grow in January, with high schools and junior highs in Michigan, Kentucky and New York, as well educational facilities such as The Stadium School in Baltimore, MD and The Karate School in Ft. Worth, TX. Junior high and high schools are among the most involved institutions to place healthy vending, thanks in part to the fact that they must meet the federally mandated guidelines that are part of the Smart Snacks in School initiative, which went into effect in 2014. The Company has dedicated account managers who can help schools choose foods and drinks that meet those guidelines and give other pointers that benefit any kind of school seeking Fresh Healthy Vending. For more information on Fresh Healthy Vending, the franchise program, or to receive a free healthy vending machine in your school or business, visit www.freshvending.com or call toll free 888-902-7558. About Fresh Healthy Vending Fresh Healthy Vending, based in San Diego, California, is North America's leading healthy vending franchisor. Fresh Healthy Vending pioneered the concept of vending machines stocked with tried-and-tested fresh, healthy snack options to serve the growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has over 230 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision. The Company has booked over 3,300 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations. Fresh Healthy Vending's stock is traded on the OTC Markets, Symbol: VEND. Cautionary note on forward-looking statements Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Fresh Healthy Vending's actual results are described in Fresh Healthy Vending's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Forms 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended September 30, 2015, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Fresh Healthy Vending's current beliefs and expectations. Fresh Healthy Vending undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Brenda Manea 714.904.8592 brenda@bamcommunications.biz Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE: MCRN), a leading industrial technology company serving the plastics processing industry is pleased to announce that their newest European manufacturing facility in Policka, Czech Republic, is progressing as planned. The Policka location manufactures the Uniloy brand's complete range of blow molding machine systems. Milacron's investment in the Policka facility represents a continued commitment and long-term strategy for the valuable European market. Milacron will also start delivery of its extended injection product portfolio including the Magna Toggle Servo (MTS) and Elektron EVO from Policka, to support growth and customer demand as a result of the successful launch at Fakuma in October 2015. Milacron's Policka facility opened April, 2015. The world-class facility is over 11,000 square meters, with a planned addition that will add 4,000 square meters. The Policka facility is operated by an experienced and skilled workforce of over 90 employees. The labor force has more than doubled since opening to meet production demands and the rapid increase in recruitment was aided by a successful local open house that saw 1,000+ visitors tour the facility and apply for employment. Over the last several weeks our production progress has allowed the Policka facility to ship an impressive number of blow molding machines to customers in European countries, South America, China and the United States and are now successfully producing high quality parts in production environments. In addition, Milacron continues to evaluate strategic suppliers to ensure a robust and efficient supply chain to complement the progress of the site. To date things have operated well beyond expectations and as a result have seen 100% on-time delivery of all machine orders. The facility represents an investment of over 15 million Euros to serve the growth of the European market, and allows Milacron to offer high-speed deliveries and support to customers all across Europe. "Our investment in Europe is imperative to support our growing global customer base. Our goal here is simple; to be the European leader in blow molding system manufacturing," said Ron Krisanda, Chief Operating Officer, Advanced Plastic Processing Technologies. Milacron's Uniloy brand has blow molding machine manufacturing facilities in Policka, Czech Republic and Afton, OH. The systems are designed and engineered in three technology centers, Berlin, (Germany), Magenta, (Italy) and Afton, Ohio (USA). Uniloy's molds are expertly manufactured in Tecumseh, Michigan. Milacron's commitment to service is demonstrated by its European blow molding service centers, located in the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany and the UK. Milacron continues to push the boundaries of possibilities in plastics with breakthrough products from leading brands including Milacron, Mold-Masters, DME, Ferromatik, Uniloy and CIMCOOL. Download High Resolution Images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eve5io01ktu89tk/AACE8YcubWJhfuOuvaTFHFcpa?dl=0 About Milacron Milacron is a global leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of highly engineered and customized systems within the plastic technology and processing industry. Milacron is the only global company with a full-line product portfolio that includes hot runner systems, injection molding, blow molding and extrusion equipment plus a wide market range of advanced fluid technologies. Visit Milacron at www.milacron.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005612/en/ Contacts: Milacron Michael Ellis, 905-877-0185 ext. 354 Michael_Ellis@milacron.com Merkle (merkleinc.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, announced its acquisition of dbg (dbg.co.uk); a UK-based, independent marketing solutions agency that specializes in optimizing client data to make compelling connections to drive growth and improve marketing and business performance. Launched in 2007, dbg specializes in the use and assimilation of first, second, and third-party data, employing analytics and technology to create informed customer interactions that drive growth for brands. The company delivers expertise in database marketing, campaign management, and marketing automation to a wide range of European and international clients, including Renault, Ted Baker, Center Parcs, RBS and VW. Dbg's team of 140 experts will join Merkle's Marketing Solutions Group, bringing Merkle's total number of UK-based employees to more than 300 and more than 3,000 worldwide. This is the second in a series of planned European acquisitions designed to reinforce Merkle's global presence. It follows the company's 2015 acquisition of Periscopix (periscopix.co.uk), a leading London-based performance marketing and programmatic agency. Tim Berry, who formerly served as president of Merkle's CRM solutions, will assume the role of president of Merkle Europe, driving the agency's overall European growth strategy. "We are thrilled to welcome dbg to the Merkle family," said David Williams, Merkle's chairman and CEO. "As the needs of our European and multi-national clients expand, it's important for Merkle to build competencies that complement our U.S. business model, working with in-country professionals who share our values of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit." "We're looking forward to this new chapter in dbg's history," said dbg CEO Richard Lees. "We believe this opportunity will not only ensure the best future for our company, but will also expand the range of products and capabilities available to clients, adding best-in-class expertise and global scale. We are committed to providing the highest quality of service, helping brands to succeed through data-driven solutions." "With its foundation of data and analytics-based solutions, coupled with expertise in many of the same industries served by Merkle, dbg will help us continue to increase our global footprint and further build out our European hub in the UK," Tim Berry commented. "What we do for our clients in the US has been validated by Forrester in its most recent Customer Insights Services Providers Wave Report, and we aim to bring the same capabilities, with an equal degree of service excellence, to Europe. We are confident that the combination of dbg's talent base and skill sets with Merkle's deep expertise in CRM will help solidify our position as a global leader in performance marketing." About dbg dbg is an independent data and technology agency, focusing on optimising customer data to drive intelligent marketing and deliver business growth. The business has a 13m turnover and employs 140 people, working from offices in London and Bristol. Services includeMarketingDatabase Solutions, Multichannel Campaign Management, Data and Business Intelligence, Data Visualisation, Digital Communications Strategy, email marketing, analytics and outsourced campaign management. To support the delivery of a wide range of marketing solutions, dbg has a collection of market-leading tools and strategic partnerships with all the top industry technology providers, including Adobe, IBM Unica, RedPoint, SAS, Tealium, Apteco FastStats, Kitewheel, 3Radical, QlikView and Tableau. Their clients cover multiple sectors and include VW Group, Ted Baker, Whitbread and NowTV. dbg.co.uk About Merkle Merkle is a global data-driven, technology-enabled performance marketing agency and the largest independent agency in the US for CRM, digital, and search. For more than 25 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The agency's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights. When combined with its strength in performance media, Merkle creates customer experiences that drive improved marketing performance and shareholder value. With more than 3,000 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland with 14 additional offices in the US and offices in London, Shanghai, and Nanjing. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005259/en/ Contacts: Merkle Inc. Sarah Bourdeau, 443-542-4288 SBourdeau@merkleinc.com LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Kaseya, the leading provider of complete IT management solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) today announced the introduction of the Kaseya Business Management Solution (BMS) which gives MSPs the ability to control all aspects of their business -- sales, marketing, human resources, client project management and IT service delivery at a price that is 66 % lower than current industry solutions. Learning from widespread dissatisfaction with competitor's "first generation" PSA tools, Kaseya developed its second generation BMS platform with the overarching goal of providing MSPs with a better solution by: Reducing cost and enabling significant productivity improvements across all departments at one low price; Enabling the fast rollout of new service offerings by streamlining the processes to market, sell, bill, deploy, and support them; Putting managers in complete control of client projects with Best-in-Class project management and billing; Automating staff scheduling to drive improved resource utilisation, project profitability, and higher client satisfaction levels; Providing an open platform with easy integration into the broadest range of client service delivery tools including remote monitoring and management, network/system management, security, and cloud management systems. Straightforward all-inclusive pricing that enables automation across all business functions to yield maximum operating cost reduction. Kaseya also addressed the limitations in first generation PSA offerings which are built on ten-to-twenty year old technology by: Utilising a cloud-based approach that makes deployment fast and easy and provides authorised access from any web-enabled device at any time -- reducing the cost and effort associated with complex legacy PSA implementations; Building a highly responsive and intuitive web interface to reduce training costs and materially improve user productivity - for both power and casual users -- reducing the learning curve and inefficiencies caused by archaic PSA UIs; Significantly lowering the total cost of ownership by eliminating add-on feature prices, hardware, systems software, and systems administration costs associated with the support and maintenance of antiquated PSA solutions; Kaseya BMS's all-inclusive pricing of $25 per seat, per month is 66 % lower than competing solutions and delivers everything an MSP needs to run their business, but without all of the obsolete feature baggage and technology limitations of legacy PSA systems. Kaseya BMS is the culmination of more than a year of joint R&D work between Kaseya and its partner Vorex which resulted in the recent acquisition of Vorex by Kaseya. Over $25M in total R&D costs was invested by both companies over the last three years to bring this solution to market. As part of this announcement, Kaseya is offering MSPs a competitive upgrade of one- year free license for all ConnectWise, Autotask, and Tigerpaw customers. Learn more here: kaseya.com/forms/bms-competitive-offer Kaseya's focus is to drive down the cost of administrative (non-revenue generating) tools and activities to free-up precious human and investment capital to be re-invested in new revenue generating services that drive growth. Kaseya's "Times Twenty" initiative focuses on enabling MSPs to put that capital to work in designing and deploying IT service offerings that will generate a 20 times return on their investment. The Kaseya IT management portfolio provides the largest monetisation opportunity for MSPs -- helping them become High Growth (or 2nd Generation) MSPs -- by enabling them to broaden their service portfolio to include 2nd generation MSP services to address new customer requirements and grow their revenue by 20% or more over the last three years. According to recent research contained in Kaseya's 2016 MSP Pricing Survey, these 2nd Generation MSPs: Have experienced more than 20 % annual growth over the last three years, Offer Security Services including Patching & Updates (90 %), Audit & Discovery (67 %), Desktop Security (74 %), Offer Identity and Access Management services which are growing at a double digit CAGR over the past three years (33 %), Offer cloud-based services such as monitoring, hosting, backup/recover and desktop/server management (50 %), Charge more on average for monthly server support and maintenance, Provide hosting services for customer owned equipment (85 %), Offer cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) (50 %), And expect increased revenues in 2016 (66 %) Supporting Quotes "Kaseya believes that MSPs should minimise the amount of money spent on non-revenue generating products and activities," said Fred Voccola, CEO of Kaseya. "Unfortunately, first generation PSA solutions are costly products built with obsolete technology and loaded with unused features that hamper employees from doing their job. Kaseya has raised the bar for improving staff productivity and business profitability by introducing Kaseya BMS at an unheard of price point." "As a former MSP, I know first-hand the impact that the right solutions can have on the profitability, efficiency and service quality of a business," said Miguel Lopez, SVP and GM for MSP Solutions, Kaseya. "We spoke to hundreds of our customers on what Kaseya BMS needed to do and delivered just that. We are so confident in our solution that we are offering a one-year free licence of Kaseya BMS to all Connectwise, Autotask, and Tigerpaw customers." "We hand selected Kaseya BMS among all currently available PSA systems to provide industry-leading project management, service delivery and internal business operations," said John Morris, CEO at Spark Alliance, Inc. "It was the clear choice for us to continue being a driving leader as a 2nd generation MSP. We have used products such as Connectwise, Autotask and ServiceNow in the past. It became immediately evident that Kaseya BMS was going to be able to reduce the number of systems and streamline our process even further than we had originally anticipated. Spark Alliance, Inc. has reduced from seven disparate systems to two fully integrated solutions. We reduced our costs by 66 % and achieved no less than a 25 % increase in efficiency. We are convinced we made the right choice aligning ourselves closely with Kaseya and expect tremendous growth opportunity with this relationship." "We've been using Kaseya BMS [formerly Vorex] to manage our pharmacy clients' accounts and projects," said Amy Tischler, vice president of client services for Liberty Software based in Southlake Texas. "The solution gives us full visibility into the status of our customers' accounts by tracking their inventory purchases and replacements, and by tracking the status of individual projects accurately to enhance our customer satisfaction. The inventory functionality is very important to us allowing us to minimise mistakes and maximise profit. We are excited to hear of the continued development and enhancements that Kaseya will bring to the Kaseya BMS product." Helpful Links Kaseya BMS Kaseya Free Competitive Upgrade Kaseya: What We Do Kaseya: How We Help Kaseya Blog Follow Kaseya on Twitter Follow Kaseya on Facebook Follow Kaseya on LinkedIn Kaseya on YouTube About Kaseya Kaseya is the leading provider of complete IT Management solutions for Managed Service Providers and small to midsized businesses. Kaseya allows organisations to efficiently manage and secure IT in order to drive IT service and business success. Offered as both an industry-leading cloud solution and on-premise software, Kaseya solutions empower businesses to command all of IT centrally, manage remote and distributed environments with ease, and automate across IT management functions. Kaseya solutions currently manage over 10 million endpoints worldwide and are in use by customers in a wide variety of industries, including retail, manufacturing, healthcare, education, government, media, technology, finance, and more. Kaseya, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland is privately held with a presence in over 20 countries. To learn more, please visit www.kaseya.com. Media Contact Taunia Kipp Kaseya 415-694-5700 x1973 taunia.kipp@kaseya.com DUBLIN, IRELAND -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Boxever, the leader in data science and omni-channel personalization for airlines and travel companies, has hired David Kern as vice president, global sales. Kern, who will be tasked with driving the company's continued global expansion, joins Boxever following sales leadership positions at Episerver, KeyedIn and Epicor. "The travel industry is hungry for solutions that will help drive personalization and ultimately improve customer experience," said Dave O'Flanagan, CEO and co-founder of Boxever. "Boxever's platform positions our company to lead the data science revolution in travel. David will build on our recent successes in the Americas and continue to drive sales globally." Prior to joining Boxever, Kern served as vice president of sales at Episerver, where he was instrumental in generating a 72 percent increase in total revenue. In his first year on the executive team at Ektron, a customer experience management platform later acquired by Episerver, Kern helped the company grow its global revenue by 45 percent. Boxever recently announced its $12M series B funding, financed by Polaris Partners, Frontline Ventures and others, with additional debt funding from Silicon Valley Bank. The investment is being used to support Boxever's strategic growth initiatives, including expansion of sales and customer support in North America. Kern, who will head up global sales from Boxever's New York office, is the first in a series of hires planned in the region. "Boxever is helping travel brands differentiate themselves by offering their customers relevant, personalized experiences across every channel in real-time," said David Kern, vice president, global sales of Boxever. "My passion and experience supports this company's vision, and I'm looking forward to using my expertise to enable companies to realize significant value and return from their investment in the Boxever platform." In addition to its latest round of funding, Boxever continues to grow at a rapid pace globally. The company achieved 463 percent compound revenue growth over the last period, and added a significant number of leading global travel brands to its customer base, including Emirates, Cebu Pacific, Alitalia, AeroMexico, Brussels Airlines and Aer Lingus. To learn more, visit www.boxever.com. About Boxever Boxever is the leader in data science and omni-channel personalization solutions for airlines and travel companies. Boxever's Customer Intelligence Cloud enables travel marketers to build a 360 degree view of every customer and apply predictive analytics and machine learning to automatically create personalized, one-to-one marketing experiences that lead to higher conversion rates, increased revenue and truly differentiated customer experiences. Boxever's platform represents a new class of enterprise IT and enables digital transformation within airlines and travel organizations. Today, leading travel brands from all across the globe -- including Emirates, Air New Zealand, eDreams ODIGEO, Cebu Pacific, Alitalia, AeroMexico, Brussels Airlines, and Aer Lingus -- rely on Boxever to help acquire, convert and retain customers. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at www.boxever.com or follow us on Twitter @Boxever. PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- OpsPanda, a Palo Alto-based SaaS startup focused on Sales Resource Planning, today announced a $5M Series A funding round led by TDF Ventures, joined by a leading private university and seed investor PivotNorth Capital. OpsPanda will use the funds to scale sales and marketing. Available today and deployed by leading high-growth companies, OpsPanda's SaaS service uses predictive analytics to help sales teams align goals with results by leveraging data buried in the enterprise--such as quotas, hiring, attrition, skills and ramp. Industry analyst research highlights operational planning as an emerging class of performance management solutions for sales and other business functions. "At Hyperion we built the budgeting side of EPM, and now we're tackling sales and marketing where the impact is even bigger," said Jon Kondo, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, OpsPanda. "OpsPanda helps sales leaders marry top-down goals with bottom-up reality, extending the knowledge they derive from spreadsheets and pinpointing exactly when and where to add resources to hit their quarter and year." Kondo co-founded OpsPanda in late 2014 with fellow Oracle, Hyperion and Platinum alums and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) veterans Robert Gersten, Chief Product Officer, and Hung Vo, Chief Technology Officer. "For far too long, companies have had to rely on homegrown, error-prone spreadsheets to run their sales operations," said Oracle and Siebel alum Steve Mankoff, General Partner at TDF Ventures, known for early investments in startups like Virtustream (acquired by EMC in 2015). "We're thrilled to partner with the proven experts at OpsPanda as they address this gap by building and delivering the market-leading, collaborative sales capacity planning and performance management SaaS solution." "It is great to welcome Steve to the OpsPanda family," said Tim Connors, Founder, PivotNorth Capital. "It isn't often when every founder and investor in a company has had billion dollar IPOs or exits. In Jon, Robert, and Hung, we have a world-class team that knows exactly how to build an enduring company in this category. It is an honor to be invited to help." OpsPanda's rapidly-growing customer base spans from early- and late-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies. If you have or plan a large sales force, learn more and schedule a demo at www.opspanda.com. Read about OpsPanda's journey to reinvent sales planning on LinkedIn Pulse. This brings OpsPanda's funding to $6M including the $1M seed round led by PivotNorth in 2015. About TDF Ventures TDF Ventures invests in Series A stage start-ups focused on Infrastructure, Software and Services (IaaS, SaaS, XaaS). Current areas of focus include security, the intersection of social media in the enterprise, distributed data centers, cloud services, software defined networks, business automation, small cell solutions, mobility and anything as a service. Partners are in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley. www.tdfventures.com About PivotNorth Capital PivotNorth Capital works to be the first and most-trusted investor in world-class technologists solving problems of importance to society. PivotNorth is run by Tim Connors, a 17-year veteran venture capitalist formerly with U.S. Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. Tim has had billion dollar exits as an operator and as a VC both via M&A and IPO. The firm is based in Menlo Park, Calif. www.pivotnorth.com @PivotNorth @timc About OpsPanda OpsPanda helps companies identify gaps, opportunities and risks of achieving sales goals by modeling, planning, reporting and analyzing their use of sales resources. The OpsPanda application allows sales, operations and finance to define and rationalize the resources needed to meet and exceed their sales targets and the variables that affect the performance of the sales team. Based in Palo Alto, California, OpsPanda was founded in late 2014 by veterans in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software. Investors include TDF Ventures, PivotNorth Capital and a leading private university. www.opspanda.com @opspandainc Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2961526 Media contact: Joanna Rustin Email Contact 866-496-8028 DUBLIN, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DMS Offshore Investment Services Ltd. (DMS), the world's largest fund governance firm, has recruited David Morrissey, former Managing Director of SEI Investments Global Fund Services Ltd. to serve as Executive Director with its Dublin team. He will lead all aspects of client service delivery across multiple product lines and will also serve as an independent director on Irish and Luxembourg funds. DMS Chief Executive Officer Anne Storie remarked: "David comes to DMS with a remarkable track record of success in product development and client service in the alternative investment fund industry. His expertise and insights in areas such as AIFMD and UCITS are well known and we are excited that he has joined our team. David's contribution will be key to our continued success as DMS builds on the successes of our AIFMD/UCITS solutions and other services to our global clientele." As Managing Director of the Business Development and Marketing Group at SEI Investments Global Investment Services, Mr. Morrissey led the European Team and was responsible for developing new product services, including the firm's AIFMD solution. He successfully secured and contracted SEI's largest mandate in the history of its Investment Manager Services Division with over 80 products and portfolios with a combined total assets under management in excess of 50 billion dollars. Joining SEI in 1997, he first served in various operational roles, and later in Client Service and Business Development. At different points, he headed the Shareholder Services Division and the European client service group. He also had responsibility for developing the European alternative hedge fund outsourcing business for SEI's Investment Manager Services Division. An expert on AIFMD, he has been a frequent panelist and speaker at industry events and seminars covering the Directive and its impact on Investment Managers accessing the European market. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330755 About DMS DMS Offshore Investment Services Ltd. (DMS) is the worldwide leader in fund governance with more than 225 professionals representing leading investment funds with assets under management exceeding $330 billion. DMS provides trusted and comprehensive Fund Governance, FATCA, AIFMD + UCITS, Banking + Custody, Trust, Corporate and Outsourcing solutions that support investments across a range of structures, and diverse investment strategies. Media contact: KateBohner Managing Director/Chief Marketing & Communications Officer DMS Offshore Investment Services (p)+1.212.403.2783|(c)+1.917.863.5310 E: kbohner@dmsoffshore.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-sei-managing-director-david-morrissey-joins-dms-300217083.html TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Pasinex Resources Limited (CSE: PSE)(FRANKFURT: PNX) (the "Company" or "Pasinex") today announced the completion of another lot sale of 1,556 tonnes wet weight (1,463 tonnes dry weight) of high grade zinc mineral material (at approximately 38% Zn) from the Pinargozu zinc mine in Adana province, Turkey. This lot represents a doubling of tonnage produced and over 1,200,000 lbs of contained zinc metal. The Pinargozu mine is included in the 50-50 company, Horzum Arama Isletme AS (Horzum AS), which is a corporate joint venture (JV) between Pasinex and Turkish mining house, Akmetal Madencilik San ve Tic. AS (Akmetal AS). Steve Williams, President and CEO of Pasinex, commented, "With this latest lot sale, we continue to improve the stability and predictability of our operation. By doubling mine production to approximately 60 tonnes per day, the Horzum AS JV company is in a cash flow positive scenario, which is where every mining company wants to be - and we're there! An advancing zinc price and our increase in tonnes produced is a great way to begin our second full year of production." Pasinex Resources also announced the VP - Exploration, Clinton Smyth has resigned from this role to pursue other options. Steve Williams commented, "Clinton made a great contribution to Pasinex in our formative years and in guiding our early property acquisitions. We wish him the best in his next endeavour." About Pasinex Pasinex Resources Limited (CSE: PSE)(FRANKFURT: PNX) is a base-metal and precious-metal focused Company with a goal to build a mid-tier international mining company. The Company's initial priority is to build a prospective portfolio of base-metal opportunities in Turkey. The Company has a strong technical management team with many years of experience in mineral exploration and mining project development. The focus of Pasinex is to build a mid-tier zinc company based on their Turkey zinc projects. The Pinargozu mine is included in the 50-50 company, Horzum Arama Isletme AS (Horzum AS), which is a corporate joint venture between Pasinex and Turkish mining house, Akmetal Madencilik San ve Tic. AS (Akmetal AS). Akmetal A.S is one of Turkey's largest family-owned conglomerates with the past-producing Horzum zinc Mine nearby. Visit our web site at: www.pasinex.com. On Behalf of the Board of Directors PASINEX RESOURCES LTD. The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although Pasinex Resources Ltd. believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: the forgoing ability to finance exploration in order to further develop the Pinargozu Property, all exploration drilling results, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate. Readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Contacts: Pasinex Resources Limited Steve Williams President / CEO 416.861.9659 info@pasinex.com CHF Investor Relations Cathy Hume 416.868.1079 ext. 231 cathy@chfir.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. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a frantic effort to win back diners, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is offering free burritos to its customers. Forced to shut down the chain's nearly 2,000 outlets Monday after disastrous outbreaks of E. coli and norovirus caused by tainted food, Chipotle announced changes in its food safety measures, and said it is spending $10 million for the same for its small suppliers. The money will be used to ensure serving fresh food while minimizing risk in its complex supply chain. The Denver-based chain suffered a blight on its reputation and a sales downturn after food-borne illnesses sickened about 500 customers in 13 different states. By way of apology, Chipotle offered customers who text the word 'raincheck' to 888-222 that it will send them a SMS coupon for a free burrito within the next few days. The offer was on the table only for a limited number of hours on Monday. The restaurant's stock is trading significantly lower than its record high last year, and the company is facing a federal criminal investigation. 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. Deadline approaching for NFB scholarships LINCOLN Time is running out for Nebraska Farm Bureau members to apply for scholarship funding through the NFB Foundation for Agriculture. There are three scholarships offered through the foundation, the applications for which are due March 1, according to a press release from Nebraska Farm Bureau. Also available is a education loan, applications for which are due May 1. The scholarships are $1,000 to $1,200. For more information or to apply for the NFB scholarships, go online to www.nefbfoundation.org, or contact the foundation at FoundationForAg@nefb.org or 402-471-4747. Submitted to the Daily Sun WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Ohio Gov. John Kasich received the most votes in the tiny New Hampshire community of Dixville Notch early Tuesday morning. The few residents of Dixville Notch traditionally vote at midnight, casting the first votes in the New Hampshire primary in what is sometimes a predictor of the eventual outcome. Sanders received all four Democratic votes in the small resort community, while Kasich topped real estate tycoon Donald Trump three to two on the Republican side. Kasich, who is hoping a strong showing in New Hampshire will provide a boost to his campaign, personally called all nine voters in Dixville Notch, his campaign said. The Ohio governor was also the top Republican vote-getter in Hart's Location, another small community that joined in the midnight voting. Kasich received five votes from Hart's Location, followed closely by Trump with four and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with two. On the Democratic side, Sanders was the choice of twelve Hart's Location voters, while seven voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The town of Millsfield also returned to midnight voting this year and strongly supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. Cruz received nine votes in Millsfield compared to just three for Trump. Clinton edged out Sanders two to one in the town. Meanwhile, the RealClearPolitics averages of polls of the New Hampshire primaries show Trump and Sanders with big leads statewide. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR) today announced it is teaming up with community partners across the country for PinkShirtPromise, a national campaign inspiring Canadians to join the movement to end bullying. PinkShirtPromise launches today and continues through Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday, February 24. "Bullying is destructive, emotionally damaging, and, in some cases, deadly, and no child should have to suffer from its harmful and negative effects," said Brad Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications Inc. "Shaw's PinkShirtPromise campaign is a powerful initiative that gives us the ability to work closely with our partners to create safer environments for children and youth - whether at school, at home, or online." Starting today, Shaw is asking Canadians to work toward ending bullying by sharing their personal pledges on social media using PinkShirtPromise. Participants can also post a photo of their pinky or a photo of themselves making a pinky promise with a friend or family member using PinkyPromise, and then nominate three friends to do the same to promote accountability and maintain commitment to the promise. Everyone who participates in the campaign will be entered for a chance to win an ET Canada Experience, which includes flights for two to Toronto and two nights hotel accommodation, and a $1,500 dollar shopping spree at a participating shopping centre. Visit www.shaw.ca/pinkshirtpromise to learn more. Through the Shaw Kids Investment Program (SKIP), PinkShirtPromise brings together the expertise, knowledge, and resources of community partners from across the country. Key SKIP partners include Youthlink Calgary, Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Kids Help Phone, MediaSmarts, Companies Committed to Kids, and Rock Solid Foundation. Shaw's PinkShirtPromise campaign starts on Safer Internet Day, which is supported by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and encourages people to raise awareness about the importance of online safety by tweeting and posting using the hashtags SID2016 and Up2Us. For more information on Safer Internet Day, visit www.saferinternetday.org. To support PinkShirtPromise and enable participants to more easily post and share their promises, Shaw will open up its Shaw Go WiFi Guest Network, with access to 75,000 active hotspots across the country, on Pink Shirt Day. Shaw Internet subscribers already have access to the Shaw Go WiFi service; others can access the Guest Network by searching for available WiFi connections on their devices and selecting 'ShawGuest' from the list of available options. A full list of locations is available at www.shaw.ca/wifi or by downloading the Shaw Go WiFi Finder app. Quotes: "YouthLink Calgary is very proud to partner with Shaw to stand up against bullying. At YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre, we believe education is the key to prevention and every day our educators teach youth that whenever one person takes a stand, it helps other people to do the same. We applaud Shaw and the PinkShirtPromise campaign for encouraging people to take action. We stand shoulder to shoulder to help empower kids and make our communities and schools a safer place for kids to be." Tara Robinson, Executive Director, Youthlink Calgary "The Canadian Centre for Child Protection plays an active part in supporting youth in crisis who have been affected by a sexual picture or video shared online, often in tandem with cyberbullying. We share Shaw's PinkShirtPromise campaign goals in encouraging youth to stand up for someone who is being mistreated or bullied both online and offline." Lianna McDonald, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection "Bullying is one of the most common concerns we hear about at Kids Help Phone, and the effect that is had on young people-both emotionally and physically-is significant, regardless of whether they are being bullied or doing the bullying. We're proud to stand in partnership with Shaw Communications to make a PinkShirtPromise, and create safer and friendlier communities for all kids in Canada." Sharon Wood, President and Chief Executive Officer, Kids Help Phone "Our research shows that three-quarters of Canadian students say it's important to speak out against bullying, racism and sexism online. Unfortunately, almost half of them don't feel that it's their place to do so, and older kids are more likely than younger ones to feel this way. Shaw's PinkShirtPromise is a vital step in showing kids that they have a right to safe and respectful online spaces and the power to create them." Cathy Wing, Co-Executive Director, MediaSmarts "As a champion of kids' social, mental, and physical well-being issues, Companies Committed to Kids is proud to play an active role in ending bullying. Our recent national research, Taking the Pulse of Canada's Kids, indicates 80 per cent of Canadian parents feel bullying prevention is important to their child's well-being. Shaw's PinkShirtPromise campaign challenges all of us - as parents, advocates, and citizens - to stand together to stop bullying at school, online, and in our communities." Bev Deeth, President, Companies Committed to Kids "As a leader in violence prevention programs for children and youth we know all too well the issues facing our communities when it comes to bullying. Shaw has been a great supporter of our award-winning WITS Program and we are excited to partner with them on the PinkShirtPromise campaign to engage Canadians in lending their voice and support to end bullying." Dorian Brown, Executive Director, Rock Solid Foundation About Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a diversified communications and media company, providing consumers with broadband cable television, High-Speed Internet, Home Phone, telecommunications services (through Shaw Business), satellite direct-to-home services (through Shaw Direct) and engaging programming content (through Shaw Media). Shaw serves 3.2 million customers, through a reliable and extensive fibre network. Shaw Media operates one of the largest conventional television networks in Canada, Global Television, and 19 specialty networks including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, HISTORY and Showcase. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR). For more information, please visit www.shaw.ca. Contacts: For media inquiries, please contact: Shaw Communications Inc. Chethan Lakshman VP, External Affairs (403) 930-8448 chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca AURORA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Commport is pleased to announce that Eric Blanchette-Ouellet will be joining Commport in the newly created position of Vice President of Business Development, Eastern Canada. Eric's primary responsibility will be the continuous expansion of Commport's Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Global Data Synchronization (GDSN), and Prodigo Procurement solutions in the Quebec and Maritime Provinces. "We are thrilled to have Eric joining our team," said Dave Ralph, CEO of Commport. "He shares our corporate values and our focus on driving efficiencies into the communities that we participate in day to day. He has shown himself to be a very knowledgeable resource in both the GDSN and EDI communities." "I am very excited to be joining Commport and am looking forward to helping Canadian organizations adopt and implement Commport's EDI and data synchronization solutions. I look forward to building on Commport's momentum in the market by providing "best of breed" e-commerce solutions to our current and future customers." Eric will be joining Commport in mid-February from the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services where he was responsible for procurement and logistics improvement projects. Eric will continue to perform his role as Committee Member with the Healthcare Supply Chain Network (HSCN) organization and has previously been a key contributor to both the GS1 Canada Healthcare Standards Workgroup as Co-Chair and the Canadian Public Procurement Council where he has acted as President. About Commport Communications International, inc. Since 1985, Commport Communications International, inc. has been a leading provider in innovative technologies that leverage integration, collaboration and automation to deliver true value in business to business supply chains. Commport is a privately owned corporation and is the only provider in the world positioned to offer full service Value Added Network, EDI, translation and GDSN data synchronization services to both the demand side and the supply side of the trading partnership. To find out more about Commport Communications, please visit www.commport.com. Contacts: Commport Communications International, inc. Mike Dunbar VP Sales and Marketing 905-727-6782 www.commport.com SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- OneSpin Solutions, provider of innovative formal verification solutions, and Sigasi, provider of hardware description language (HDL) design software, today announced the integration of the OneSpin formal-based design inspection software with Sigasi's HDL authoring system Sigasi Studio XL. The solution gives designers a way to run formal-based structural code checks within Sigasi's environment at the point of edit, spotting issues that otherwise require additional verification effort. The use of formal techniques eliminates much of the false error-reporting characteristic common in rule-based linting tools, accelerating the verification process. Combining Sigasi Studio XL with the formal inspection capability from OneSpin enables early bug detection when changes are easier to make and less costly. "Designers are under increasing pressure to eliminate bugs upfront in their code before transfer to the verification process," says Dr. Raik Brinkmann, OneSpin Solutions' president and chief executive officer (CEO). "Linking formal verification-based inspection with Sigasi's HDL authoring solution will ensure cleaner designs and greater productivity, challenges facing every design team." The integration was accomplished using OneSpin's LaunchPad technology. LaunchPad provides a mechanism for third-party, domain experts to leverage formal technology in their products without having to develop it themselves. The structural analysis section of OneSpin's 360 DV-Inspect tool has been directly included within Studio XL. Furthermore, immediate access is provided to OneSpin's full range of formal Design Verification solutions that may be launched from Studio XL for enhanced design inspection and verification. "Early verification activities always pay off since errors become more expensive the later they are detected," notes Dr. Philippe Faes, Sigasi's CEO. "The combination of formal directly into code editing, means earlier verification catching issues as they occur." The new formal inspection option for Sigasi Studio XL will be distributed initially by eVision systems, and demonstrated at its stand (Hall 4/4-560) at embedded world 2016 February 23-25 in Nuremberg, Germany. The VHDL option is available immediately for FPGA and ASIC design flows, with a Verilog version to follow later in the year. Pricing is available upon request. About Sigasi Sigasi is a privately held, angel-funded Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company based in Belgium. Sigasi creates and markets the popular Sigasi Studio design environment for HDL code authoring. Sigasi Studio is an intelligent hardware design tool that features advanced programming assistance for engineering teams who create microchips for strictly regulated and safety sensitive environments. Sigasi Studio is sold worldwide to industry leaders in medical, telecom, automotive, defense and aerospace. It reduces development times, enhances design team efficiency and takes the manual labor out of hardware design. Email: info@sigasi.com Website: www.sigasi.com Follow Sigasi on Twitter @sigasi About OneSpin Solutions Electronic design automation (EDA) supplier info@onspin-solutions.com Website: www.onespin-solutions.com Follow OneSpin on Twitter @OneSpinSolution OneSpin, OneSpin Solutions, OneSpin 360, and the OneSpin logo are trademarks of OneSpin Solutions GmbH. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information, contact: Nanette Collins Public Relations for OneSpin Solutions (617) 437-1822 Email Contact Annette Bley Public Relations for OneSpin Solutions +44 (0)20 7482 4800 Email Contact Philippe Faes CEO Sigasi +32 9 277 00 50 Email Contact PUNE, India, February 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market by Rated Power (Up To 30 MW & >30 MW), by Application (Combined Cycle & CHP), by End-User (Utilities, Chemicals, Refineries, Pulp & Paper, Commercial & Others), and by Region - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market is expected to grow from an estimated USD 740.7 Million in 2015 to USD 888.2 Million by 2020, at a CAGR of 3.7% from 2015 to 2020. Browse 70 market data Tables and 59 Figures spread through 137 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/heat-recovery-steam-generator-market-177042936.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Factors such as increasing efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, growing adoption of CCPP & CHP, increasing global electricity demand & subsequent investments in power plants, and economic benefits of implementing heat recovery steam generators are driving the market worldwide. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants to be the dominant application segment in the global Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market Heat recovery steam generators find application mainly in CHP and CCPP. The CHP market accounted for more than 50% of the total market share in 2014. Cogeneration or CHP is highly efficient and can achieve primary energy savings by nearly 40%. Moreover, they are installed close to the end-user, which helps in reducing T&D losses. The typical recoverable temperature ranges from 90oC to 400oC, which are used for district heating or cooling and other factory processes. Make an Report Inquiry http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=177042936 Increasing preference for >30 MW heat recovery steam generators The report also segments the Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market on the basis of its rated power, which includes up to 30 MW and >30 MW. The >30 MW power rated heat recovery steam generators have been widely accepted in the past few years, and finds application mainly in CCPP. The market for > 30 MW power rated heat recovery steam generators will be driven by the many combined cycle power plants that are planned to come up in Asia-Pacific and North America. Replacement of old coal-fired power generation capacity in the U.S. with new large capacity gas-fired power plants would give a major boost to the market. The up to 30 MW power rated Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Europe is the dominant market for heat recovery steam generators Europe continues to dominate the market, as it has the highest number of CHP plants in the world, and Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest pace. Factors such as urbanization, industrialization, and fast economic growth necessitates huge requirement for electric power from various countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which demands development of new power plants, especially gas-fired ones. To provide an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes profiles of some of the leading players in the Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market including General Electric Company (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), Amec Foster Wheeler plc. (U.K.), Babcock & Wilcox Company (U.S.), and Doosan Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (South Korea), among others. Dominant players are trying to penetrate developing economies and are adopting various methods to grab the market share. Market share analysis based on developments for key companies has also been included in the report. The scope aids market participants to identify high growth markets and help managing key investment decisions. For this report, major players in the Heat Recovery Steam Generator Market have been identified using various primary and secondary sources, which include press releases, annual reports of top market players, interview with key opinion leaders such as CEOs, directors, and marketing personnel. Based on this research, the market shares have been evaluated and validated. Browse Related Reports Gas Turbines Market by Design Type (Heavy Duty & Aeroderivative), Rated Capacity (1-40 MW,40-120 MW,120-300 MW, & Above 300 MW), Application (Oil & Gas, Power & Other), Technology (Open Cycle & Combined Cycle), and Region - Forecast and Trends to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/gas-turbines-market-94641697.html Steam Turbines Market by Type (Steam Cycle, Combined Cycle and Cogeneration), by Rated Capacity (1-120 MW, 121-350 MW, 351-750 MW and Above 750 MW), by Exhaust Type (Condensing and Noncondensing), by Application (Coal, Nuclear, Biomass and Others) and by Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Middle East & Africa) - Global Trends and Forecasts to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/steam-turbines-market-235206532.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/energy-and-power Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Mundoro Capital Inc. (TSX VENTURE: MUN) (www.mundoro.com) ("Mundoro" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Graham Brown to the Board of Directors (the "Board") of the Company. Mr. Brown has 35 years' experience in mining and exploration as an independent consultant, senior executive and global leader of a highly successful discovery team. His broad experience base includes working on four continents, completing over 100 technical assignments, and covering a range of commodities in over 25 countries. John Hoey, Chairman of Board of Directors commented, "We are pleased Graham is joining the Board with his depth of international experience in the minerals sector. The Company will benefit from Graham's experience with early stage exploration programs and joint venture operations." Mr. Brown holds a BSc. from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and a MSc. from James Cook University, Australia. He has been a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists ("SEG") since 1999, participated in the Colombia Senior Executives Program in 2004 and the Duke Business Leaders Program in 2007. He is a past councilor of the SEG and current British Geological Survey industry advisor and Natural History Museum honorary research fellow. In 2011 he was the co-recipient of the PDAC Thayer Lindsley Award. Mr. Brown joined Amax as an exploration geologist in 1980 and worked on a variety of exploration and mining operations in the Circum-Pacific region. For a decade Mr. Brown worked as a consultant involved with the exploration and evaluation of a number of major discoveries in both Asia and Europe. In 1994 he joined Minorco as Chief Geologist and served as consultant to project and acquisition teams in the Former Soviet Union, Central African Republic's, Middle East and Subcontinent. Subsequently he became the region's Vice President Exploration and, following the Minorco-American Anglo plc merger in 1999, he served as Vice President Geology. In 2003 he was appointed Senior Vice President Exploration and managed geosciences, technical services, and R&D programs. In 2005 he was promoted to Head of Base Metals Exploration and in 2009 he took up the position of Group Head of Geosciences responsible for the governance, over sight and assurance of all aspects of geosciences and exploration activities across the Anglo American Group. Mr. Brown's awards and recognition during this period include: Los Sulfatos (PDAC), Sakatti (FEM) and most successful major base metals explorer (MEG). Exploration discoveries credited to his team include: Boyongan and Bayugo (Cu-Au) in Philippines, Morro sem Bone and Jacare (Ni) in Brazil, Gamsberg East (Zn) in South Africa, Gergarub (Zn) in Namibia, West Wall, San Enrique Monolito and Los Sulfatos (Cu-Mo) in Chile, and Sakatti (Ni-Cu-PGE) in Finland. New Joint Venture Prospects Mundoro has been approached by third parties regarding the opportunity to joint venture the Company's 100% owned Serbian properties. Although the Company is in active discussions, the Company cannot provide assurance that a transaction will be concluded as a result of these discussions. The ongoing interest in the Company's exploration properties by third parties demonstrates the exploration potential of these projects. On behalf of the Company, Teo Dechev, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director About Mundoro Capital Inc. Mundoro is a Canadian based public company which is focused on generating value for its shareholders through utilizing the collective expertise of our management, technical team and directors to invest in mineral projects that have the potential to generate future returns to shareholders. Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Information included, attached to or incorporated by reference into this News Release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated by reference in this News Release are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding discussions with companies to partner with or joint venture any of the Company's exploration projects, expected budgets, activities, events or developments that the Board and/or management expects or anticipates may occur in the future. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe" or "continue" or similar words or the negative thereof. The material assumptions that were applied in making the forward looking statements in this News Release include expectations as to the Company's future strategy and business plan and execution of the Company's existing plans. There can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which these forward-looking statements are based will occur. We caution readers of this News Release not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements contained in this News Release, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include general economic and market conditions, changes in law, regulatory processes, the status of Mundoro's assets and financial condition, actions of competitors and the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are made as of the date of this News Release and the Board undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and for a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Mundoro Capital Inc. Teo Dechev CEO, President and Director +1-604-669-8055 www.mundoro.com According to Technavio's latest report, theglobal automotive blind spot detectionmarket is likely to grow at a CAGR of over 21% during the forecast period. Advancements in the automobile industry have led to the development of collision avoidance systems (COS). These COS are called life saver technologies, as they help in reducing the severity of accidents. Blind spot detection (BSD) is a collision avoidance system that tracks the traffic just behind the vehicle, including the blind spot of the consumer's vehicle. The system keeps the alert active until the vehicle in the neighboring lane has exited the blind spot. The system utilizes either radar and ultrasonic sensors or cameras placed on the rear and side of the vehicle, to monitor the road area behind and next to the consumer's vehicle, warning the driver if he tries to change lanes. In this report, Technavio covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global automotive blind spot detection 2015-2019 The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top five vendors operating in the market. The market is segmented into the following regions: Americas EMEA APAC Americas: stringent safety regulations boost growth In terms of revenue, the market in this region is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 21% during the forecast period. Technavio expects the market to witness a steady growth from countries such as the US, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Panama, with most of the demand coming from North America, particularly the US. The rise in the number of accidents, owing to abrupt changing of lanes by the driver without noticing and analyzing the rear-view and blind spot, is expected to support the growth of the market. Additionally, stringent safety regulations such as mandatory rear-view cameras in all vehicles are expected to contribute to the market growth. Request for a sample: http://goo.gl/b5x3Gf EMEA: increase in number of accidents promotes growth of BSD market In terms of revenue, the market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 20% during the forecast period. According to Technavio, the market will grow at a fast pace in the coming years due to the high number of accidents, and rising safety concerns among both the consumers and government authorities. Faizan Akhtar, a lead analyst at Technavio for the automotive components industry, says, "Stringent safety rules and regulations are being imposed by the European Commission and car assessment programs such as Euro NCAP, mandating the installation of collision avoidance systems, which has led to an increase in demand for automobile BSD equipment." APAC: fastest-growing region in the BSD market APAC, growing at a CAGR of over 25%, is the fastest-growing region in the BSD market. The region has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of automobiles in operation, which has led to an increase in the number of accidents because of abrupt lane changes, unknowing shifting of lanes without noticing other vehicles in blind spots, and inaccuracy of the driver in maintaining safe distance between vehicles. "This has resulted in growing safety concerns among consumers and government authorities, which is expected to positively impact the market growth during the forecast period," says Faizan. Key vendors: Auto-i Continental Valeo Xiamen Autostar Electronics ZF TRW Some of the other prominent vendors listed in the report are: Delphi Automotive, Robert Bosch (Bosch Mobility Solutions), Ford Motor, Preco Electronics, Delphi, DENSO, Autoliv, and Ficosa International. Browse Related Reports: Global Automotive Switches Market 2015-2019 Global Automotive Timing Belt Market 2015-2019 Waste Management in the Automotive Industry 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/20160209005204/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com LOS ALAMITOS, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- NovaWurks Inc., a provider of high technology space products and services, announced today that Bill Crandall has been named the company's new Chief of Advanced Projects. Crandall, previously a senior program manager at NovaWurks, will manage the growing commercial division for space-based services and technologies at NovaWurks. With more than 25 years of experience working in all aspects of aerospace-related hardware design, building and product testing, Crandall will be responsible for business development and project management in his latest role. "Providing our clients with creative solutions is a driving factor for NovaWurks' commercial services division," said Talbot Jaeger, founder and Chief Technologist at NovaWurks. "Bill's proven expertise and deep involvement in our company's development of the Hyper-Integrated Satlet (HISat) technology makes him the perfect choice for helping clients to build and deploy space solutions more efficiently and cost effectively than ever before." Prior to this appointment, Crandall led the hardware design team at NovaWurks. Before joining NovaWurks, he managed spacecraft program implementation from early design stages to real-time launch and on-orbit operations at ground stations for Boeing. In addition, he has managed procurement in the design and production of electronic and mechanical hardware for space and aircraft applications. Crandall is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. He earned a certificate in Astronautical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles. He resides in Los Alamitos with his wife and four children. About NovaWurks: NovaWurks, Inc., located in Los Alamitos, California, invents, designs and creates high technology products and services for a broad range of applications for space. The NovaWurks team of designers, scientists and engineers offers a diverse background in spaceflight, consulting and research work with decades of experience in managing complex, visionary projects for government, military and corporate clients. For more information, visit www.novawurks.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2961490 MEDIA CONTACT: Vivian Slater (714) 573-0899 ext. 235 vivian@echomediapr.com BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- DataXu, a leading provider of programmatic marketing software, today announced its new Pre-Bid Viewability capability that integrates third party viewability optimization from industry leaders comScore, DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. As a result, DataXu customers globally have the ability to apply a simple and automated solution to improve viewability performance on display advertising campaigns. As an industry leader in promoting quality and trust, DataXu has already implemented a number of measures to police the digital advertising ecosystem for the benefit of all customers. This new viewability feature will build upon the success of DataXu's 97% Fraud Free Guarantee, a no-cost-to-customers offering that has ensured ads are showing in non-fraudulent placements and being seen by humans, not bots, since the beginning of 2015. DataXu is the only player in the industry that offers an automatic billing credit for any fraud over three percent across all 50+ markets in which DataXu operates. With these new Pre-Bid Viewability integrations, DataXu offers customers flexibility and choice in working with three industry-leading partners that each bring a unique approach to improving viewability and quality: comScore provides pre-bid and in-flight viewability insights, revealing quality impressions for media buyers to help them achieve stronger campaign performance and ROI. DoubleVerify authenticates the quality of every ad impression, before the bid is placed and in real-time during delivery, to provide insights and optimization actions that drive higher performance. "Collaborating with DataXu helps bring our independent metrics into the programmatic space, making it easier for our clients to buy quality verified impressions and evaluate the delivery performance in a seamless manner," said Duncan Trigg, Senior Vice President of Advertising Effectiveness, comScore. "We look forward to this partnership and what it means for creating a more transparent and trusted programmatic environment." "As an industry leader in authenticating the quality of digital media, it's exciting to kick off this viewability integration with the DataXu platform. By partnering with best-in-class platforms, we're able to provide marketers with solutions that drive higher performance," said Wayne Gattinella, CEO of DoubleVerify. "Our integration into the DataXu platform is another great step towards making sure all marketers have actionable solutions to improve their media quality," said Harmon Lyons, VP of Business Development, Integral Ad Science. "Our pre-bid targeting segments continue to be best in class at helping clients bid on inventory that's likely to be in view and fraud-free." "As the industry collectively works towards a brand-safe and transparent digital ad marketplace, it's important that marketers have a strong foundation of confidence as it relates to the quality of their impressions," said David Shapiro, Vice President of Corporate and Business Development, DataXu. "This pre-bid viewability feature, along with our successful 97% Fraud-Free Guarantee program, combine to position DataXu at the forefront of industry efforts to minimize these troubling challenges." About DataXu DataXu's vision is to make marketing better using data science. The world's top brands and agencies partner with DataXu to better understand and engage their customers across all available media formats, devices, channels, and buying modes. DataXu's total advertising solution, ranked #1 in the industry, provides marketers with unparalleled Media Activation, Marketing Analytics and Data Management capabilities. With sixteen offices in eleven countries, DataXu's full-stack solution is powering the digital transformation of the world's most valuable brands. Visit www.dataxu.com for more information. Contact: Katie Gabriello PR Manager Email Contact (857) 445-4687 PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- The Stanford Center on Longevity today announced the twelve finalists of its third annual design challenge. This year's theme, "Using Happiness to Optimize Longevity," invited university students everywhere to submit designs for new products which encourage everyone to live longer, fuller lives. Finalists come from as far away as Taiwan and Turkey to as close as UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University. Now, all twelve final projects will be given sponsored travel to Stanford University, so one representative from each team can pitch their designs to renowned industry leaders for final judging on April 5. The two grand prize winners will receive entrepreneurial mentorship and over $10,000 each in cash prizes -- seed money to turn their designs into real products. "We're excited by the high caliber of projects we've received this year," said Professor Laura Carstensen, Founding Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. "Each design has the potential to become a product that benefit us all." This year's Challenge has two categories, Mind and Mobility, reflecting the Center's mission to help people reach old age mentally sharp and physically fit. Entries include: City Cart: A combination walker and cart designed to help users with mobility issues safely and easily take shopping trips. (Team lead: Brandon Lopez of San Francisco State University.) Dex: Smart insoles with pressure sensors and a health monitoring system which monitors users' gait and recommends game-based exercises on their smartphone. (Team lead: Elyn Wu of the National University of Singapore) FamilyTree: Pairs of potted plants integrated with Internet-connected sensors, so families separated by distance can help each other monitor, care for, and grow their plants as a shared goal. (Team lead: Carrie Gladstone of UC Berkeley) Veevo: A compact, in-home workout station which folds out into five different exercises -- then folds back into a usable end table. (Team lead: Sarah Ahart, Virginia Tech) POTALK: Potted plant with watering system triggered by a microphone, encouraging isolated people to talk with others. (Team lead: Hsin-Yi Tung, National Chiao-Tung University) Bath Chair: Portable bath which helps the mobility-impaired safely bathe while maintaining a seated position. (Team lead: Tzu-Ping Hsu, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology) Sturdy Swivel: Helps the mobility-impaired enter and exit vehicles while in a seated position. (Team lead: Jessica Hsueh, University of California at Berkeley) Echo: Audio simulation kit helping people recently visually impaired to develop auditory awareness of their surroundings. (Team lead: Yee Jek Khaw, National University of Singapore) Memoir Monopoly: Rehabilitation game platform for dementia patients, engaging them through interactive challenges. (Team lead: Szu-Yang Cho, National Taiwan University) FILLanthropy: Volunteer matching service for people of all backgrounds and interests to help share their time and talent with each other. (Team lead: Annabel Chen, Stanford University) PicMemory: Therapeutic mobile app helping people with dementia organize their life stories while facilitating family interaction. (Team lead: Hung-Chi Lee, National Taiwan University) Yedi70: Social network and informational resource for seniors connected to an online marketplace. (Team lead: Ozge Armutcu, Koc University at Istanbul) A full description of all entries and their designs will be posted on the Stanford Center on Longevity's homepage and the Challenge's Facebook page. Winners of the 2014 and 2015 Design Challenge, EatWell and SPAN, respectively, are on their way to becoming mass produced products and have already been featured by CNN, Buzzfeed, Mashable, and PSFK, among many other top media outlets. ABOUT THE STANFORD CENTER ON LONGEVITY The mission of the Stanford Center on Longevity is to redesign long life. The Center studies the nature and development of the human life span, looking for innovative ways to use science and technology to solve the problems of people over 50 and improve the well-being of people of all ages. For more information about the Center, visit http://longevity3.stanford.edu/ and follow us on Twitter @longevitycenter Media Inquiries Vanessa Camones theMIX agency for Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge Email Contact The chairman of the Revenue Committee, Sen. Mike Gloor, introduced LB 958 at the request of the governor. LB 958 is part of a property tax relief proposal offered by Gov. Pete Ricketts. The public hearing on LB 958 was held this past week before the Revenue Committee, lasting 6 hours. The governor was the first proponent testifying after Sen. Gloor. The intent of the governors proposal is to slow the increase in state-wide agricultural land valuation and to slow the growth of spending, and therefore property taxes, levied by political subdivisions. The legislation limits the budgeted growth of restricted funds, eliminates exclusions to the levy limit, and limits the state-wide increase in agricultural land valuation to 3 percent. Under LB 958, if the increase in agricultural land in any year exceeds 3 percent on a statewide aggregated basis, the Property Tax Administrator will determine the factor needed to uniformly and proportionately reduce the value of every parcel of agricultural land so that the statewide aggregate increase on agricultural land does not exceed 3 percent. The adjusted valuation used for the calculation of the school finance formula would also be adjusted by this factor. Gov. Ricketts said that the legislation introduced this year is a step toward his broader goal of tax relief in Nebraska. He pledged to continue to work to reduce property and income taxes during his time as governor. He mentioned that he has heard from Nebraskans that say his proposal doesnt go far enough and from others, primarily local governments, that felt it goes too far, leading him to conclude that it strikes the right balance. Earlier this week, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Pork Producers all indicated their support for LB 958. The three major agricultural groups believe that the governors proposal is a step in the right direction and will help remedy the disproportionate property tax burden placed on agricultural landowners when supporting school districts. Open Sky Policy Institute testified in opposition to LB 958. The Institute released a policy brief stating that if an assessment growth cap on agricultural land had been in effect for this year, it would have resulted in shortfalls for schools and other localities, tax shifts and disparate impacts on agricultural landowners. They cited another study which stated that such unintended consequences are why assessment caps are among the least effective, least equitable, and least efficient strategies available for property tax relief. While the intent of the cap is to help the agricultural community, the Institute believes that the largest benefits will go to farmers and ranchers near urban areas, not to the most rural parts of Nebraska. Others testifying in opposition to LB 958 stated that the bill would shift taxes to residential and commercial property owners. Others feared the potential loss in revenue for school districts and other political subdivisions. City representatives stated that it would hinder their ability to save money for major projects, as well as provide for services such as public health and 911 coverage, because the bill would put capital improvements and expenditures for interlocal agreements under the overall budget limit. As the Legislature continues to discuss various bills pertaining to tax relief, I encourage your comment. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My email address is dwatermeier@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number at the capitol is (402) 471-2733. ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Aurion Resources Ltd. ("Aurion") (TSX VENTURE: AU) and its partner B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO)(NYSE MKT: BTG)(NAMIBIAN: B2G); ("B2Gold") are pleased to report a series of encouraging gold results from its fall-2015 exploration program in northern Finland. The best results came from Trench K15-02, a 310m2 excavation located 370 m west of the Kutuvuoma Main Zone, where a total of 31 individual 0.85m to 3.0m long channel samples were collected, with assay values ranging from 0.39 g/t Au to 63.1 g/t Au. The best length weighted average intervals reported were 6.5 g/t Au over 9.8m, including 11.3 g/t Au over 3.0m, 21.7 g/t Au over 3.0m, including 63.10 g/t Au over 0.9 m and 3.20 g/t Au over 10.9m, including 5.0 g/t Au over 5.6 m. The T2 excavation made approximately 100m east of Kutuvuoma Main, assayed on average 4.93 g/t Au over 10.94 m including 35.0 g/t Au over 1.2 m. Prospecting approximately 1.6 km to the west and along strike of Kutuvuoma has identified a new zone of similar style of mineralization over a distance of approximately 400 m. The area is generally overburden covered, but 51 grab samples from outcrop and subcrop assayed up to 21.2 g/t Au, including four samples assaying 5.5, 11.6, 14.8 and 21.2 g/t Au. A 48 sample, orientation, B-horizon soil survey (100m spaced lines, 25 m spaced samples) was conducted over this new prospect with individual soil samples assaying up to 1.1 g/t Au. This mineralization also lies 500 m southeast of a 1.5 km long Au-in-till geochemical anomaly with individual tills assaying from up to 1.3 g/t Au. The Kutuvuoma trend has very few natural bedrock exposures, however, with a limited amount of exploration work (and time in the field) trenching, soil sampling, base of till sampling and prospecting has defined an open-ended mineralized trend greater than 5 km long where only limited drilling was conducted in the past, over a distance of 175 m and to a depth of 175 m at the Kutuvuoma deposit. Mike Basha, President and CEO of Aurion commented: "We are very encouraged to have encountered such a robust and extensive gold system early in this program at Kutuvuoma. We are looking forward to a very busy and exciting 2016, as we move this project forward aggressively with our partner B2Gold". The 2015 field program was fully funded by B2Gold Corp. ("B2Gold"), under an agreement whereby B2Gold can earn up to an undivided 75% interest from Aurion in a project area of approximately 25,000 hectares in Northern Finland by completing $15 million in exploration expenditures, a positive feasibility study and issuing 550,000 B2Gold shares (see Aurion news release of January 20, 2016 for details). Fieldwork focused primarily on the high grade Kutuvuoma and Ahvenjarvi gold projects, and comprised mechanical trenching, geological mapping, prospecting, surface geochemical sampling and metallurgical testing. Kutuvuoma Trenching Five widely spaced trench excavations were completed over a distance of approximately 1,250m with all encountering the Kutuvuoma mineralized horizon. A total of 255 saw-cut channel samples were collected. Length weighted average assays of these sampled intervals are summarized in Table 1 below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1. Length Weighted Average Gold Assays - Kutuvuoma Trenching Program ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade (g/t) Trench ID Width (m) Uncut/Cut Comments ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- K15-01 3.10 0.78 450 m W of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 0.97 1.48 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 0.92 0.79 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- K15-02 9.82 6.47 370 m W of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 3.00 11.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 10.92 3.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 5.00 5.63 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 2.98 21.68/8.09 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 0.90 63.1/20.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 3.77 4.82 Longitudinal sample (E-W) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- K15-03 6.85 0.33 275 m W of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- K15-04 1.00 9.96 100 m W of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 1.10 1.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- T2 10.94 4.93/3.30 100 m E of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Including 1.20 35.0/20.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- K15-05 3.00 0.16 800 m E of Kutuvuoma Deposit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kutuvuoma is a high-grade, shear zone hosted gold deposit that was discovered in the mid-1990's by the Finnish state entity Outokumpu Oy while exploring for base metals. Outokumpu drilled 47 shallow core and reverse circulation drill holes totalling 3,425m, testing only a very small area (approximately 175m horizontally and 175m vertically). No other exploration has been conducted since the mid-1990's. Numerous high-grade drill intercepts including 7.2 g/t Au over 19.4m from 60m downhole, 13.2 g/tAu over 5.0m from 88m downhole and 12.6 g/tAu over 7.0m from 26m downhole were recorded from the historical drilling. True width of the mineralization is estimated to be approximately 70-80% of drill intercepts. Ahvenjarvi Seven trenches were excavated at Ahvenjarvi. A total of 206 individual (mostly 1m-wide) channel samples were collected from the trenches. Highlights of assay results from these trenches are presented in Table 4 below: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 4. Ahvenjarvi Trench Results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trench ID Width (m) Grade (g/t) Comments ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-01 0.81 6.33 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.46 13.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.06 1.95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-02 0.91 7.16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.94 4.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.58 2.41 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.05 1.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-03 0.88 8.94 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.88 1.34 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.4 1.57 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-04 1.01 0.83 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-05 0.65 12.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.15 1.10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-06 0.36 5.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.48 1.24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A15-07 No significant values ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Further prospecting and reconnaissance mapping was conducted along and within the trend and a total of 41 rock chip (grab) samples were collected from outcrop and sub outcrop. The samples assayed up to 8.1 g/t Au, with an average for all the samples of 0.57 g/t Au. To date a total of 330 rock chip/grab, and channel samples have been collected from outcrop, sub-outcrop, angular boulders and trenches over an area measuring 2,300m long and 150m to 700m wide, with assay values up to 28.8 g/t Au and an average of all samples of 0.81 g/t Au. The area is generally poorly exposed with the majority of samples collected within this trend occurring in a "window" through the overburden. Further work to identify new zones of mineralization and controlling structures to this widespread gold system is ongoing. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Channel samples were cut with a diamond blade saw. All samples were delivered to Labtium Oy's facility in Sodankyla, Finland. The Ahvenjarvi samples were analysed for gold using procedures 704P (Detection Limit - 0.01 gold; Upper Limit - 100.00 g/t gold) - 25g fire assay with AAS finish. The Kutvuoma samples were analysed for gold using procedures 705P (Detection Limit - 0.005 gold; Upper Limit - 100.00 g/t gold) - 50g fire assay with AAS finish. Multi-element analysis was completed using procedure 511. This procedure detected 31 elements by aqua regia acid digestion, HCl leach followed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis. Labtium is a Finnish, accredited, certified laboratory group. They are monitored by an internal QAQC program and include the inclusion of blank material, duplicates and certified reference material. Qualified Person Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., Aurion's President and CEO, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has approved the technical disclosure and verified the technical information in this news release. Forward-Looking Statement Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companies' current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Aurion is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. On behalf of the Board, Mike Basha, 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 release. Contacts: Aurion Resources Ltd. Mike Basha (709) 699-8300 or (709) 722-2141 mbasha@aurionresources.ca www.aurionresources.com HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Federal investments in several disciplines will help push the frontiers of knowledge in fields like ocean and coastal research, children's health, and sustainable infrastructure. Today, Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, accompanied by Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, participated in an event at Dalhousie University to celebrate the appointment of six new innovative and talented researchers as Canada Research Chairs. Dalhousie University will receive $5.7 million for these new chairs. This includes Dr. Pedram Sadeghian, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Infrastructure. Dr. Sadeghian will explore advanced materials and new technologies to increase the sustainability of existing and new civil engineering infrastructure. This research will lead to new structural systems with longer service life, better performance and less environmental impact, thus helping improve Canada's infrastructure. Minister Bains also announced an additional $8.3 million through the Research Support Fund to cover the indirect costs of research at the university as well as nearly $370,000 in infrastructure support through the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This funding will help support cutting-edge research in a number of fields, including environmental and climate science. Quotes "Attracting and retaining the world's brightest minds is critical to ensuring that Canada is positioned to conduct world-class levels of scientific research, achieve technological excellence and compete in the global economy. The researchers that we are celebrating today at Dalhousie University offer unique and essential expertise to help develop technologies and services to benefit the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and the world." -The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "I am very pleased to celebrate the new Canada Research Chairs at Dalhousie University and the renewal of Dr. Stokesbury's Chair at Acadia University. His research on fish behaviour and survival will lead to strategies that promote economic activity in coastal communities without causing significant harm to fish populations. Government of Canada investments in research are strengthening our country's competitiveness and helping train the next generation of our highly skilled workforce." -The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board "The Canada Research Chairs program remains a cornerstone of our efforts to attract and retain the brightest minds in Canada. It has become one of our most important and respected investments in research and provides resources to mentor and train the research leaders of tomorrow." -Dr. Mario Pinto, President, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada "Leading researchers are pushing the boundaries of sustainable technologies, but their efforts rely on state-of-the-art facilities and labs. With the right tools, Canada's top researchers are helping to reduce our environmental burden, stimulate the economy of the future and transform our lives." -Dr. Gilles Patry, President and CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation "We're very pleased that Minister Bains and Minister Brison are here to personally honour our newest Canada Research Chairs. We are thrilled to have the expertise and insight of these researchers at Dalhousie University. Their work contributes not only to the Dalhousie community but also to the world as a whole." -Dr. Richard Florizone, President of Dalhousie University "I was working in the U.S. as an Assistant Professor, but I always wanted to come back to Canada, where I was trained as a postdoctoral fellow. The Canada Research Chair program made my return possible." -Dr. Pedram Sadeghian, Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Infrastructure, Dalhousie University Quick facts -- More than 1,700 Canada Research Chairs are working at over 70 post- secondary institutions across the country. -- A total of twenty-one new and renewed Canada Research Chairs are being announced in Atlantic Canada: four in New Brunswick, four in Newfoundland and Labrador, and thirteen in Nova Scotia. -- In Nova Scotia, the breakdown of new and renewed chairs is as follow: six at Dalhousie University, three at Saint Mary's University, two at St. Francis Xavier University, one at Acadia University and one at Universite Sainte-Anne. -- The Research Support Fund offsets a portion of the costs associated with managing research at Canadian institutions such as training costs for workplace health and safety, maintenance costs for libraries and laboratories, and administrative costs. -- The Canada Foundation for Innovation gives researchers the tools they need to innovate by investing in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in Canada's universities, colleges, research hospitals and not-for-profit research institutions. -- Created in 2000, the Canada Research Chairs program has helped attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds. Canada Research Chairs deepen our knowledge, enhance our quality of life and grow our economy. Associated links Recipients list Follow the Minister on Twitter: @MinisterISED Contacts: Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca SEATTLE, WA and TOKYO, JAPAN -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Arzeda, a synthetic biology company, and Mitsubishi Rayon, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, that manufactures chemicals, plastics, and fibers, today announced an industrial collaboration for the development of an improved process for producing a chemical building block with multiple applications. This collaboration will leverage each company's unique technologies, with work occurring at Arzeda's laboratories in Seattle, as well as at laboratories of Mitsubishi Rayon in Japan. Arzeda will utilize Archytas, its proprietary industrial protein design software, while Mitsubishi Rayon will apply its expertise in process development and industrial scale-up. "Through synthetic biology, Arzeda is able to help our customers unlock new opportunities for innovative, high-performing and sustainable products," said Alexandre Zanghellini, Arzeda CEO. "Mitsubishi Rayon has long been known as a leader in chemistry, and it is a great honor to be working with their team." "Through our own experience and expertise, as well as with innovative technology like Arzeda's, Mitsubishi Rayon can meet the growing global demand for a range of products in a sustainable manner," said Takayuki Iseki, General Manager, R&D Administration Department. "We look forward to the collaboration." About Mitsubishi Rayon As well as being a major supplier of MMA monomer, applying its polymer technology gained from synthetic fiber and synthetic resin, Mitsubishi Rayon group's business, including its hollow fiber membranes, carbon fibers, plastic optical fibers, and other products, helps to improve the aquatic environment, reduce CO2 emissions, and conserve energy. About Arzeda Since 2008 Arzeda has been harnessing the power of computational and synthetic biology to create new enzymes and chemical products that can compete on performance, cost and sustainability. In partnership with Fortune 500 companies and industrial leaders, the company has developed a portfolio of enzymes and specialty chemicals for polymers, advanced materials and health and nutrition products. Arzeda's proprietary platform and validation process rapidly create "cell factories" that can be used at an industrial scale to solve problems and create opportunities that otherwise would be impossible. More information is available at www.arzeda.com. Media Contacts Arzeda John Williams Scoville PR for Arzeda (206) 625-0075 jwilliams@scovillepr.com Mitsubishi Rayon Takushi Yamamoto PR and IR Office +813 6748 7140 yamamoto.takushi@mb.mitsubishichem-hd.co.jp Theglobal industrial PC market is likely to grow at a CAGR of over 10% during the forecast period. In this report, Technavio covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global industrial PC market through 2016-2020. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top four vendors operating in the market. The market is segmented into the following regions: EMEA APAC Americas EMEA: largest industrial PC market The industrial PC market in EMEA is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 8%. The oil-rich Middle East countries, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq have contributed to the growth of the market in EMEA, as industrial PCs are widely used in the oil and gas industry. Industrial PCs also offer remote users easy access to critical data in real time, so that the data can be used for applications, such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), control room management, exploration, and wellhead monitoring. These PCs help create safer and more productive work environments. However, Bharath Kanniappan, senior industry analyst for the automation industry at Technavio says, "EMEA is likely to lose its historical growth rate in the global industrial PC market during the forecast period. The decline will stem from the slow growth in manufacturing industries in Germany, France, and Italy in the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis and the Greek debt crisis. Also space constraints in setting up of new manufacturing plants may also push the industrial PC market to decline in EMEA." Request for a sample: http://goo.gl/NMzVn0 APAC: fastest growing market for industrial PCs The industrial PC market is expected to reach USD 2 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 11%, making it the fastest growing market during the forecast period. The main revenue contributors to the market in APAC are Japan, South Korea, China, and India. The growth in manufacturing sectors in APAC has boosted the industrial PC market. Technavio predicts that APAC will see growth in the industrial PC market, in the wake of growing investments in sectors such as oil and gas, chemical and petrochemicals, automotive, and energy industries. Asia accounted for more than 9,500 manufacturing companies in 2014, and this boosted the growth of the industrial PC market in APAC. Americas: reshoring of manufacturing leads to growth in the industrial PC market The industrial PC market in the Americas is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 10%. The major contributors to the industrial PC market in the Americas are the US and Canada. The manufacturing industry in the US is gaining ground, indicated by the reshoring of manufacturing jobs to the country. In 2010, about 10,000 manufacturing jobs were added in the US and this figure rose to 60,000 in 2014. Several companies such as GM, Walmart, Caterpillar, Ford, and GE are reshoring their manufacturing jobs. Following this, US manufacturing industries are implementing industrial PC technologies to automate their production processes. "Many companies across automotive, oil and gas, and energy industries are setting up new plants in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. This will boost the growth of industrial PC market in the Americas" says Bharath. Key Vendors: Advantech Beckhoff Automation Kontron Rockwell Automation Browse Related Reports: Global Industrial Lead Acid Battery Market Industry Analysis 2015-2019 Global Industrial Robotics Market in Electronic and Electrical Industry 2015-2019 Global Industrial Valves Market in Oil and Gas Industry 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/20160209005178/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- ALIX RESOURCES CORP. ("Alix" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: AIX)(FRANKFURT: 37N) announces the signing of an option agreement with Lithium Australia NL ("LIT") (ASX: LIT) to jointly explore and develop the Electra lithium project in Sonora, Mexico. Agreement terms are set out below. Alix and LIT will also work to define a percentage interest whereby Alix will share an interest in successful lithium extraction from clay technology patents arising from the joint efforts in Mexico. This transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Alix and Lithium Australia NL will harness the expertise of both companies and their strategic partners to advance the Electra Project which hosts projected extensions of the Sonora lithium clay deposit located in Mexico under development by Bacanora Minerals Ltd. and Rare Earths Minerals PLC (REM). Kappes Cassiday and associates (Nevada) will provide valuable processing expertise. In-field lithium assaying capability will be provided by SciAps (Boston-based instrumentation company specializing in portable analytical instruments). Alix offers an integrated exploration team, complete with seasoned professionals fluent in Spanish and English, covering legal, logistics and tenure activities, from offices based in Vancouver, Canada and Hermosillo, Mexico. It is anticipated that field crews will return to the properties shortly to commence an exploration program designed and approved by the management of both LIT and ALIX. The location of the Electra project in northern Sonora allows for year round access and field activities. Also in conjunction with this transaction, LIT will work with clay samples taken from the Electra concessions in an effort to develop a disruptive lithium extraction technology. Lithium clay deposits have presented significant challenges and the application of the best available technology will be key to commercializing these occurrences. Adoption of mineral separation technology form other industries may allow the production of a beneficiated product, to reduce capital and operating costs. Mike England, President of Alix states, "This transaction will see the Electra project advanced with dilution not being a factor, a very favorable development for Alix shareholders given market conditions." Alix - LIT agreement terms: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BINDING FARM IN TERMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Earn in Phase 1 - LIT may earn a 25% interest in the Project by; - The issue of 500,000 Fully paid ordinary LIT shares to Alix (following LIT shareholder approval due to no placement capacity, EGM to be held within 60 days of this term sheet) - The issue of 500,000 Partly paid LIT contributing shares paid to A$0.0001 each (A$0.2499 unpaid) to Alix (following LIT shareholder approval due to no placement capacity, EGM to be held within 60 days of this term sheet) - Expenditure of A$150,000, spent entirely on phase one work. Alix to be the operator - LIT to subscribe for CAD$100,000 private placement in Alix Resources at CAD$0.05 per share and a 1 for 1 attaching CAD$0.075 one year warrant. Phase 2 - LIT may earn a 49% interest in the Project by; - The issue of 500,000 Fully paid ordinary LIT shares to Alix - The issue of 500,000 Partly paid LIT contributing shares paid to A$0.0001 each (A$0.2499 unpaid) to Alix - Expenditure of a further A$250,000 within 12 months of signing. Alix - LIT combined board to agree on scope of work, LIT to have deciding vote. Phase 3 - LIT may earn a 65% interest in the Project by; - The issue of 1,500,000 Fully paid ordinary LIT shares to Alix - Expenditure of a further A$1,100,000 within 24 months of signing. Alix - LIT to manage all work program facets. - Cash Payment of A$250,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Michael England, President, CEO, Director 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. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). Contacts: Alix Resources Corp. Michael England President, CEO, Director 1-604-683-3995 or Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770 The Annual General Meeting of Marel hf. will be held at the Company's headquarters at Austurhraun 9, Gardabaer, Iceland, on Wednesday, 2 March 2016 at 16:00.Agenda:-- Annual General Meeting matters as provided for in Article 4.13 of the Company's Articles of Association. -- Report on the execution of remuneration policy. -- Proposal on a renewed authorization for the Company to buy own shares. -- Any other business, lawfully presented.The meeting will be conducted in English.In particular, it should be noted that candidatures for the Board of Directors shall be submitted in writing to the Board of Directors at least five full days prior to the meeting, i.e. before Friday 26 February at 16:00 pm (GMT).In order for shareholders to have proposals or matters considered by the meeting, they must have been submitted to the Board of Directors at least ten days prior to the meeting, i.e. by the latest on 21 February at 16:00 pm (GMT).On the Company's AGM website www.marel.com/agm further information in relation to the Annual General Meeting can be found, including further information on the right of shareholders to submit items and proposals to the meeting's agenda, a draft agenda for the meeting, proposals of the Board of Directors, the Company's annual statements for the year 2015, information on the total number of shares and voting rights as of 9 February 2016, proxy template, as well as information on documents to be submitted in relation to the meeting.The meeting's agenda and final proposals will be available to shareholders seven days prior to the meeting, both on the aforementioned AGM webpage of the Company as well as at the Company's offices at Austurhraun 9, Gardabaer, Iceland.Agents of shareholders shall submit written proxies at the entrance of the meeting. Ballots and other applicable documents will be available at the venue of the meeting as of 15:30 on the day of the meeting.The Board of Directors of Marel hf. SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Cambria, the first and only family-owned, American-made natural quartz producer in North America, today opened its newest gallery in San Francisco. The 4,300-square-foot Cambria Gallery - San Francisco is located at 1045 Bryant Street, adjacent to the city's design district in the South of Market Area (SoMa). Cambria Gallery - San Francisco provides consumers and trade professionals alike with a stunning, inspirational showroom to collaborate and experience Cambria. The space was designed with an upscale, boutique aesthetic that celebrates the character of the 100-year-old building, while reflecting the city's modernity. Given the local culinary scene, the gallery boasts a gorgeous Cambria-clad demonstration kitchen, full working bar and custom wine display. Visitors also will be treated to a multitude of trendsetting vignettes incorporating Cambria and innovative fabrication techniques, for example: a dry-stack fireplace with hand-chiseled edging, focal walls of quartz and reclaimed wood, and dramatic custom-inlay panels. Full-size slabs of our newest and most-popular designs, and 12x12's of all 126 of our designs are on display. As the leading innovator in natural stone, Cambria offers the most diverse quartz palette in the world with 126 designs for both residential and commercial use. Cambria surfaces are completely maintenance free, and all designs are offered at the same price point -- allowing the customer to choose freely based on creativity and not cost. "Cambria has been focused on steadily building our brand in San Francisco for years," said John Brekke, President of Cambria California. "To further reinforce our presence in the market, and provide consumers and trade professionals with a physical space to experience our unparalleled quartz offerings, we are opening a signature Cambria Gallery. It is a privilege to expand locally and positively contribute to the rich fabric of this community." Cambria Gallery - San Francisco is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Thursday from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The telephone number is 415-431-4304. Cambria has eight additional galleries across North America located in Minneapolis, Minn. (2); Rochester, Minn.; Mankato, Minn.; Atlanta, Ga.; Palm Desert, Calif. (2); Toronto, Ontario. To view Cambria's other latest news, including details on the launch of our new division, Cambria International, visit CambriaUSA.com/press. About Cambria Cambria is the first and only family-owned, American-made producer of natural quartz surfaces. The premier source for the freshest and most-expansive quartz palette in the world, Cambria is harder, stronger, safer, and easier to care for than other stone surfaces. All designs are completely maintenance free and offered at the same price point, giving customers flexibility to explore possibilities without compromising style preference or budget. Headquartered in Le Sueur, Minn., Cambria is sold through an exclusive network of premium, independent specialty retail and trade partners that can be identified at CambriaUSA.com or CambriaCanada.com. CambriaQuartz Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2961834 Contact: Sarah Bakken Director of PR and Social Media 612-759-4557 (mobile) Sarah.Bakken@CambriaUSA.com DUBLIN, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hjv79x/europe) has announced the addition of the "Europe Turbomachinery Market for Oil and Gas - Growth Trends and Forecasts (2015-2020)" report to their offering. This comprehensive report analyzes the European turbomachinery market for oil and gas, and the various factors set to affect this market in the coming years. It considers current and future drivers, challenges and opportunities, offering readers an unrivalled understanding of this market and the key topics all market participants should be aware of. The increasing number of oil and gas pipeline projects in the European region is likely to boost the demand for turbomachinery in the region. In 2015, Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three European companies to build a second large gas pipeline system under the Baltic Sea called Nord Stream II. The future demand for turbomachinery solutions is going to be for ones that features low emissions, efficiency, and low cost of operations. This report comprehensively analyzes the European Turbomachinery market by segmenting it based on countries, application and Type. Key drivers and restraints that are effecting the growth of this market are discussed in detail. The study also elucidates on competitive landscape and key market players. Companies Mentioned: ABB Ltd. Alstom SA Crompton Greaves Ltd. GE Co Hyosung Power & Industrial Systems Performance Group & Industrial Systems Performance Group Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Siemens Energy Schneider Electric Eaton Corp Powell Industries Report Structure: 1. Introduction 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Key Inferences 5. Market Overview and Industry Trends 6. Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities 7. Europe Turbomachinery Market, Value Chain Analysis 8. Europe Turbomachinery Market, By Countries 9. Europe Turbomachinery Market, By Application 10. Europe Turbomachinery Market, By Type 11. Competitive Landscape 12. Key Company Analysis 13. Appendix For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hjv79x/europe Media Contact: Laura Wood , +353-1-481-1716, press@researchandmarkets.net CARMEL, IN--(Marketwired - February 09, 2016) - Mainstreet , a national investment company known for creating innovative solutions to benefit consumers, has brought in two experienced industry professionals to lead Texas and Arizona operations for Mainstreet Health. Mr. Mark Fritz joins Mainstreet Health as its new president of operations - Texas and Arizona and Ms. Joyce Fritz joins Mainstreet Health as its new vice president of operations - Texas. Mr. Fritz has worked in the transitional care industry for the past 25 years. His focus has been promoting and delivering better service to patients. He cofounded Harden Healthcare in 2001. Mr. Fritz served as CEO and vice chairman of TRISUN Healthcare, the skilled nursing arm of Harden. In 2006, he founded Remington Medial Resorts where his vision was to provide inpatient hospital-type health care in a hotel-like setting, keeping the operations focused on the patient. Ms. Fritz is a licensed administrator with more than 25 years of industry experience. She has been intimately involved in the development and construction of transitional care centers throughout the years. Ms. Fritz was a key player in the development of TRISUN Healthcare. After TRISUN, she was strategically involved in the conception and development of Remington Medical Resorts in Texas. Most recently, Ms. Fritz was administrator for Remington Medical Resort San Antonio. "Mainstreet Health is excited to welcome Mark and Joyce, two professionals having extensive health care backgrounds with a focus on PatientGuest experience," said Gary Smith, senior vice president of Mainstreet Health. "We are committed to changing the way health care is delivered nationwide and with their leadership in Texas and Arizona, I have no doubt we will have continued success with our new approaches to care delivery." Within Mainstreet Health, Mr. Fritz will maximize his experience in providing transitional care to those in need of recovery services and to provide leadership consistency to both Arizona and Texas operating companies as they develop and operate Mainstreet Health's first Rapid Recovery Centers. His leadership with locally-based business development personnel and network of hospital and health system contacts will ensure partnerships crucial to successful transitional care operations. Ms. Fritz will be responsible for implementing the Mainstreet Health platform for operations in our Texas properties. Her experience with the Remington Centers will be very valuable in the development and success of the Mainstreet Health platform. "Few people have an opportunity in their lifetime to be part of something larger than themselves," said Mark Fritz, president of operations - Texas and Arizona. "It's quite humbling to be a leader in something revolutionary that changes the quality of life so greatly that every person may enjoy better health care. It is truly my privilege to be part of such a dynamic company as Mainstreet." "I am humbled and delighted to become part of the Mainstreet Health team," said Joyce Fritz, vice president of operations - Texas. "It's an honor to join in the passion to innovatively help individuals heal and recover faster, stronger and better." Mainstreet Health is scheduled to break ground in the coming months on its first two rapid recovery centers. The first property, located in Phoenix, Arizona, is scheduled for mid-February, with the second property to break ground in San Antonio, Texas in mid-March. About Mainstreet Mainstreet is a national investment company known for creating innovative solutions to benefit consumers, and does so by pioneering innovative solutions to solve existing problems. Mainstreet Development, the company's development arm, has grown from a start-up to become the nation's largest developer of transitional care properties. Mainstreet Development has been recognized by Senior Housing News, winning the Architecture & Design Award in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and has been named to the Inc. 500l5000 five times since 2010. For additional information, visit www.mainstreetinvestment.com. Ashley Mattox 317.452.9466 amattox@maininvest.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada The 40 anniversary of TRIUMF's cyclotron-the world's largest-is an extraordinary nation-building milestone. When founded, TRIUMF was supported by three western Canadian universities. Its membership has grown considerably since then and now includes 19 universities from coast to coast. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, along with Terry Beech, Parliamentary Secretary for Science, visited the TRIUMF research laboratory today to celebrate this landmark in Canadian science and history. TRIUMF has continued to reinvent itself over the years and push the boundaries of discovery and innovation in subatomic physics. It is home to cutting-edge science that has a tangible impact on the lives of Canadians. From helping advance the next generation of lithium batteries to developing medical isotopes to diagnose and treat cancer, TRIUMF's research has direct applications in our day-to-day world. A hub for enquiry and ingenuity, TRIUMF has enabled Canada to be a significant player in the international science and technology landscape. TRIUMF is deeply integrated in the global scientific community, playing a part in Nobel Prize discoveries such as the Higgs boson in 2012 and Dr. Art McDonald's recently celebrated research demonstrating that neutrinos have mass. Quotes "As the Government of Canada celebrates TRIUMF's past, we look forward to its bright future, particularly as it continues to foster world-class research collaborations across the country and around the world. Thanks to TRIUMF's ambitious international partnerships, Canadian researchers have been at the centre of some of the most important global research projects. TRIUMF will continue to be the place where our brightest scientific and technical minds come together with our sharpest entrepreneurs, expanding the boundaries of knowledge and contributing to our social and economic growth." - The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science "The Government of Canada's investment in TRIUMF is helping to ensure that our country stays at the forefront of international subatomic physics research. Canadians will continue to benefit from the lab's groundbreaking discoveries for many years to come." - Terry Beech, Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Member of Parliament for Burnaby North-Seymour) Quick facts -- Over the years, the Government of Canada has supported the world-class efforts of TRIUMF by providing nearly $1.5 billion in funding for capital, equipment and operations. -- TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics and accelerator-based science, was founded in 1968. On February 9, 1976, Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau officially commissioned TRIUMF's cyclotron, the heart of the laboratory. -- TRIUMF's current flagship project-the Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory (ARIEL)-continues to reflect this collaborative Canadian-wide spirit by bringing together all of TRIUMF's member universities, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and several provincial partners. -- From the search for the Higgs boson to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that neutrinos have mass, TRIUMF and its scientists have helped Canada partner with the global scientific community on some of the greatest discoveries in human history. Associated links http://www.triumf.ca https://www.flickr.com/photos/triumflab/sets/72157661873373203 Follow the Minister on Instagram and Twitter: @ScienceMin Contacts: Camille Martel Communications Office of the Minister of Science 343-291-2700 Camille.Martel@canada.ca Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca Sustainability and the use of renewable resources in the manufacture of polyurethanes are the focus of two technical sessions at the upcoming UTECH North America conference taking place April 6th and 7th 2016 at Charlotte Convention Center, North Carolina, USA. A free-to-attend trade show takes place alongside the conference. No less than eight out of a total of nearly 40 technical papers being presented at the UTECH North America conference will present innovative approaches to increasing sustainability in the manufacture and use of polyurethanes including the latest global developments in the production of raw materials. Jeff Rowlands, Director, Green Urethanes chairs the two sessions running over both days of the event. Soybean and cashew nutshells are among two sustainable resources whose use features in the program with Phil Sarnacke, Plastics Commercialization Manager at the United Soybean Board presenting on Soy Polyols a Sustainable Bio-Material for the Global Polyurethane Industry. He will be followed by Cardolite Corporation's Technical Marketing Manager Yun Mi Kim whose paper is entitled: Cashew Nutshell Liquid based Polyols and Diols: Their Hydrophobicity and Outstanding Durability Anna Cherian, Senior Scientist, Applications Development at Novomer will deliver a paper on Converge CO 2 -based polyols for Rigid Foam insulation, while speakers from Wanhua, DuPont Tate Lyle, Croda and Bio Amber will further explore a range of innovations in the use of bio-based polyols. Their papers include: Next generation novel polyols, raising the bar of high performance polyurethanes Production of Bio-based Polyester Polyols for New Polyurethane Applications Application of bio-based polycarbonate diol in polyurethane elastomer Bio-Based Succinic Acid: A Building Block for Succinate Polyester Polyols in Modified Thermoplastic Urethanes for Elastomers and Hot Melt Adhesives Biobased 1,5-pentanediol and polyvalerolactone polyol: Unique C5 polyol for green polyurethane Polyurethane Specialist, Mark Listermann will chair a session-closing round table debate looking at the sustainable use of additives and formulated products. Other sessions from two parallel conference streams include those looking at polyurethanes in automotive applications, flexible foams, rigid foams, CASE products (coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers), the latest advances in processing equipment and blowing agent innovations. Conference delegate rates are highly competitive compared to other events in the industry and offer outstanding value to all those with a professional interest in polyurethanes. Early-bird delegate rates for conference bookings made until February 19th are US$150 for a single day or US$225 for both days. Thereafter the standard rates are US$180 for a single day and US$265 for both days. Often described as the hidden polymer, polyurethanes are widely used in automotive, aerospace, building and construction, furniture and bedding, electrical and electro-technical, footwear and textiles, mining and offshore, pipes, refrigeration and insulation. Among the major international companies with booths already booked at the accompanying free-to-attend UTECH North America 2016 trade show are Dow Chemical, Wanhua of China, Cannon, Hennecke Inc, DuPont Tate Lyle, Repi LLC, Honeywell, Chromaflo Technologies and Tosoh. The event is supported by the Polyurethane Manufacturers Association (PMA), the industry organization dedicated to advancing cast polyurethane technology. For more information, to book a place as a conference delegate or to register for free attendance at the trade show visit: www.utech-north-america.com Follow UTECH North America on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/UTECH_NA Join the UTECH North America Linked In Group at: http://linkd.in/1hi088f View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209006617/en/ Contacts: UTECH North America For more information: Alan Caddick, Crain Communications Tel: 44 20 8253 9631 Email: acaddick@crain.com or Media Contact: Doug Bentall, Iona Communications Tel: +44 1892 800164 Email: doug@ionacommunications.com Paris, 9 February 2016 COFACE SA implements contingent equity line of up to 100M COFACE SA ( COFACE ) implements today a 3-year contingent equity line (with a termination option after 2 years at the sole discretion of Coface) of 100 million with BNP Paribas Arbitrage, available in one tranche and exercisable upon occurrence of extreme events described below. This contingent equity line is an efficient and cost-competitive solution (annual commission of 0.50%) to complete existing capital and solvency management tools. It contributes to prudent capital management in the framework of Solvency II's pillar 2 and protects the group from extreme risks by enhancing its financial strength. For such purpose, COFACE and BNP Paribas Arbitrage have entered into a warrant issuance agreement (bons d'emission d'actions), pursuant to which COFACE will issue on 10 February 2016, 15,724,823 warrants to BNP Paribas Arbitrage. The warrants issuance was decided by the CEO of COFACE on 9 February 2016, pursuant to the delegation granted by the company's Board of Directors on 15 December 2015 and on 9 February 2016, within the framework of the 12th and 13th resolutions of the General Meeting of Shareholders of COFACE held on 2 June 2014. The maximum amount of the consecutive capital increase is 100 million (issuance premium included), an amount for which COFACE has received a firm commitment from BNP Paribas Arbitrage to subscribe for shares, in view of their private placement in accordance with the provisions of article 411-2 II of the French monetary and financial code. The share issuance will be triggered automatically upon the occurrence of certain extreme events described below during the 3-year risk coverage period beginning on 1 January 2016 and ending 31 December 2018 (inclusive). The warrants will remain exercisable until 30 June 2019 at the latest. In the absence of the occurrence of extreme trigger events, the estimated probability of occurrence of which is very low, no share will be issued under this programme, which would then reach its terms without having any dilutive effect on shareholders. Characteristics of the contingent equity line The operation will consist in the issuance by COFACE of 15,724,823 warrants (bons d'emission d'actions) to BNP Paribas Arbitrage. Each warrant will oblige BNP Paribas Arbitrage to subscribe to a new COFACE share in view of its private placement according to the terms of article 411-2 II of the French monetary and financial code. Under this agreement, COFACE has committed to drawdown the line in case one of the events described below occurs and BNP Paribas Arbitrage has committed to exercise the number of warrants necessary to subscribe to new shares for a maximum amount of 100 million and within the limit of corporate authorisations. In accordance with the 13th resolution of the general meeting of shareholders dated 2 June 2014, the amount of the capital increase which could be carried out in accordance with the terms described herein shall not in any case exceed 10% of the share capital over the 12 months preceding the day on which the price of the share issuance is determined. The line will only be exercisable if one of these events occurs: (i) the estimated ultimate net loss ratio[1] (#_ftn1) of the COFACE group for the preceding financial year is superior or equal to 110% or (ii) the eligible capital of the COFACE group are below 105% of the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) (as these terms are defined by the regulatory framework of Solvency II). The new shares, if any, will be subscribed by BNP Paribas Arbitrage at a price corresponding to 93% of the average of the volume-weighted average share prices for COFACE shares on Euronext Paris over the three trading days preceding the exercise of the warrants. In addition, COFACE and BNP Paribas Arbitrage have concluded a profit-sharing agreement which stipulates that 50% of the profit, if any, will be paid to COFACE. If the sale of the new shares occurs immediately after the exercise of warrants in an off-market transaction, the part of the profit due to COFACE will be paid by reducing the number of shares to be issued by COFACE upon exercise of the warrants, in order to limit the dilutive effect of the transaction for COFACE's shareholders. If the shares are not resold immediately, the part of the profit due to COFACE will be paid in cash. Under current market conditions (i.e. an issuance price of 6.77 based on a 7% discount on an average of the volume-weighted average share price over 3 days of 7.28[2] (#_ftn2) per share), the maximum size of the operation in case of a drawdown of the line would represent 9.40% of COFACE's share capital[3] (#_ftn3). Should the share price decrease by 10%, the maximum size of the operation in case of a drawdown of the line would represent 10% of COFACE's share capital based on an average of the volume weighted average share price over 3 days of 6.55 per share (that is to say an issuance price of 6.09 per share after application of a 7% discount). BNP Paribas Arbitrage does not intend to become a long-term shareholder of COFACE and will do its best efforts to sell the shares as quickly as possible upon exercise of the warrants, through a private placement. The implementation of this contingent equity line and the potential issuance of new shares in case of drawdown will not be subject to publication of a prospectus submitted to a visa of the French Autorite des marches financiers (AMF). COFACE will communicate relevant information to the market in compliance with applicable regulations at the time new shares are issued. Potential dilutive effect for COFACE's shareholders The potential dilutive effect of the contingent equity line arranged with BNP Paribas depends on the probability of occurrence of the extreme trigger events described above and on COFACE's share price at the time of their occurrence. By way of illustration, the following table summarises the potential dilutive impact of the operation under different scenarios for a shareholder who holds 1% of the share capital prior to the operation (calculated on the basis of the number of shares comprised in the share capital as at 31 December 2015). Share issuance price Scenario Number of new shares issued Percentage interest of the shareholder Non-diluted basis Diluted basis(1) Average of the volume weighted average share price over 3 days preceding exercise of the warrants of 7,2767 (issuance price = 6.7673)(2) No trigger 0 1.000% 1.000 % Trigger event 14 776 942 1.000 % 0.914 % (1) Based on the dilution of share capital as of 31 December 2015 which would result from the exercise of all existing stock options, exercisable or not (including all out-of-the-money options at the date of this press release) and final acquisition of all the outstanding shares granted free of charge. (2) In the event of a share issuance on the day of the warrants issuance. This press release is for information only and does not constitute an offer of sale, nor the solicitation to buy securities and the operations which are presented herein do not constitute a public offering in any jurisdiction, including France. The release, publication or distribution of this press release is forbidden in any country where it would violate applicable laws and regulations. CONTACTS MEDIA Monica COULL T. +33 (0)1 49 02 25 01 monica.coull@coface.com (mailto:monica.coull@coface.com) Maria KRELLENSTEIN T. +33 (0)1 49 02 16 29 maria.krellenstein@coface.com ANALYSTS / INVESTORS Nicolas ANDRIOPOULOS Cecile COMBEAU T. +33 (0)1 49 02 22 94 investors@coface.com (mailto:investors@coface.com) FINANCIAL CALENDAR 2016 February 9 2016: publication of 2015 results May 4 2016: publication of Q1-2016 results May 19 2016: general shareholders' meeting July 27 2016: publication of H1-2016 results November 3 2016: publication of 9M-2016 results FINANCIAL INFORMATION This press release, as well as Coface SA's integral regulatory information, consolidated accounts and Q1 analyst presentation, can be found on the Group's website: http://www.coface.com/Investors About Coface The Coface Group, a worldwide leader in credit insurance, offers companies around the globe solutions to protect them against the risk of financial default of their clients, both on the domestic market and for export. In 2015, the Group, supported by its 4,500 staff, posted a consolidated turnover of 1.490 billion. Present directly or indirectly in 99 countries, it secures transactions of 40,000 companies in more than 200 countries. Each quarter, Coface publishes its assessments of country risk for 160 countries, based on its unique knowledge of companies' payment behaviour and on the expertise of its 340 underwriters located close to clients and their debtors. In France, Coface manages export public guarantees on behalf of the French State. www.coface.com (http://www.coface.com) Coface SA. is listed on Euronext Paris - Compartment A ISIN: FR0010667147 / Ticker: COFA DISCLAIMER - Certain declarations featured in this press release may contain forecasts that notably relate to future events, trends, projects or targets. By nature, these forecasts include identified or unidentified risks and uncertainties, and may be affected by many factors likely to give rise to a significant discrepancy between the real results and those stated in these declarations. Please refer to the section 2.4 "Report from the Chairman of the Board of Directors on corporate governance, internal control and risk management procedures" as well as chapter 5 "Main risk factors and their management within the Group" of the Coface Group's 2014 Registration Document filed with AMF on 13 April 2015 under the number No. R.15-019 in order to obtain a description of certain major factors, risks and uncertainties likely to influence the Coface Group's businesses. The Coface Group disclaims any intention or obligation to publish an update of these forecasts, or provide new information on future events or any other circumstance. [1] (#_ftnref1)The estimated ultimate net loss ratio corresponds to the estimated gross ultimate loss ratio for credit insurance activity (but excluding "caution" and single risks), after taking into account reinsurance contracts (proportional and in excess of loss). The estimated gross loss ratio corresponds to the relation between (i) and (ii) with (i) the ultimate cumulated gross charges for claims for the financial year N such as estimated at 31/12 of the year N before taking into account reinsurance disposals and after taking into account claims management charges and corresponding to the volume of premiums in the denominator, that is to say (ii) acquired insurance premiums, net of premium refunds, and attached to the on-going financial year N and such as estimated at 31/12/N, before taking into account reinsurance contracts and after taking into account premium refunds. 2 From 03/02 2016 to 05/02 2016. (#_ftnref2)3 On the basis of the current share capital of COFACE composed of 157 248 232 shares as at 31 December 2015. COFACE SA implements contingent equity line of up to 100M (http://hugin.info/161449/R/1984901/727813.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: Coface SA via Globenewswire HUG#1984901 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - CBS News released the criteria for the next Republican presidential debate on Tuesday, indicating that several candidates will need strong showings in tonight's New Hampshire primary to qualify. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., real estate tycoon Donald Trump, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have all secured spots in the debate by finishing in the top three in last week's Iowa Republican caucuses. The other candidates will need a top five finish in New Hampshire or place among the top five candidates in an average of national and South Carolina polls. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are both in the top five in national and South Carolina polls and seem likely to make the stage. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also seems likely to qualify for the debate, as polls suggest he is poised to perform well in New Hampshire. However, it could be a different story for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has made the main stage in most of the previous Republican debates. Christie's level of support nationally and in South Carolina is in the low single-digits, and polls suggest he would need a surprisingly strong showing in New Hampshire to reach the top five. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina also seems likely to miss the cut after she also failed to qualify for the last GOP debate. The CBS News debate scheduled for Saturday will be moderated by 'Face the Nation' host John Dickerson along with CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett and Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Technavio analysts forecast the global vacuum heat treatment marketto post a CAGR of more than 6% by 2020, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global vacuum heat treatment market for 2016-2020. Based on end-user platform, the market is divided into the following segments: aerospace, automotive, industrial, and commercial. According to Anju Ajaykumar, a lead unit operations research analyst from Technavio, "The market will be driven primarily by the rising demand for vacuum heat treatment furnaces from APAC, followed by the Americas, over the next five years. Several developing countries in APAC, including India and China, will contribute to the demand for this technology." Technavio's heavy industry analysts highlight the following three factors influencing the growth of the global vacuum heat treatment market: Growth of copper and steel industries Increased demand from automobile industry in Asia and Africa Need for hardening dissimilar materials Growth of the copper and steel industries Copper and steel are in high demand globally as they find extensive use in industrial and other applications. Technavio expects the global copper industry's capacity to grow at the rate of 9% and the steel industry's at 7% during the forecast period. The demand for copper is likely to grow considerably as a result of increasing investment in the construction industry which is a major consumer of copper. Therefore, major copper-mining countries such as Chile and Peru are making substantial investments in this sector to boost production. "India and China are the emerging economies that are expected to contribute to the growing demand. Growth of various end-user applications will necessitate the use of vacuum heat treatment technologies that help copper achieve the required specific metallurgical properties and surface modifications," adds Anju. Increased demand for vacuum heat treatment from the automobile industry in Asia and Africa In the automobile industry, vehicle manufacturing involves the use of several components such as gears, piston mills, camshaft, and flywheels that are made of metals, including steel, aluminum, iron, and other alloys. For example, in any automobile, the parts used comprise about 60% iron and steel, 13% plastic, 6% aluminum, 3% glass, and 8% other materials. "Automobile manufacturing involves the application of various types of heat treatment and surface engineering processes to enhance the performance of the automotive components. These processes are necessary to improve the strength and hardness of materials, to increase reliability, and also the lifespan of the components," explains Anju. Need for hardening dissimilar materials A broad range of industries including aerospace, automotive OEMs, die-mold machining, component manufacturers, machine tools, and healthcare industries are seeking better products that have higher durability and quality. As the overall quality of products need to improve in minimal time and at minimal cost, companies in several industries are developing products that are stronger than iron. This objective is achieved by adding alloy materials, which are non-metallic binding materials, to the original materials, and then subjecting them to vacuum heat treatment. This process helps in rearranging the crystal structure of materials by heating them in a temperature controlled environment, resulting in hardening of dissimilar materials. It also enhances the tensile strength of the materials with minimum distortion. These attributes will drive the demand for vacuum heat treatment during the forecast period. Browse Related Reports: Global Metal Stamping Market 2015-2019 Global Metal Casting Market 2016-2020 Global Dairy Processing 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/20160209005190/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Servers.com has completed the roll out of a new software-defined network using Brocade IP Fabric. The network connects four data centres across two continents to ensure Servers.com can flexibly scale to meet the growing demand for its cloud, content delivery, and dedicated hosting services at competitive price-points. The highly automated, open standards-based network has enabled the company to join the small group of providers globally who offer 40 GbE server connectivity for data-intensive applications such as Big Data analytics. Open to automation To ensure that Servers.com can continue to provide the agility and scalability its customers need, the company has automated its data centres using its own OpenStack and Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions. Leveraging the Brocade IP Fabric as the foundation, Servers.com's new network is built on Brocade VDX switches, which provide the OpenStack support, and programmable REST APIs required to enable the automation. These switches also offer 40 GbE ports that can be broken into four independent 10 GbE ports giving Servers.com huge flexibility. Putting customers in control - fast, flexible, robust, secure, future proof -- Offering up to 40Gbps to each server the new network is fast and fast to deploy - customers can order their server from a self-service portal and get exactly what they need spun-up and connected within 40 minutes. -- Customers can configure virtual connections anywhere freeing switches from having to physically connect to specific servers. This means customers can quickly and dynamically scale their private networks. -- Security is high; customers are guaranteed their own isolated network. -- Automation of the data centres reduces ongoing maintenance, costs, and the risk of human error associated with manual configuration. -- Adoption of open standards for SDN software and the supporting hardware gives Servers.com the ability to rapidly incorporate new capabilities without reengineering the network. This means customers can be confident of having access to the latest technologies and techniques without delay. From bare metal to cloud "This was a strategic investment. We had to completely re-think our infrastructure," said Konstantin Bezruchenko, Chief Technical Officer at Servers.com. "And although we wanted to deliver powerful capabilities, the network itself had to remain simple to scale and manage. The combination of our own version of OpenStack with the Brocade IP Fabric allows us to offer customers anything from bare-metal dedicated networking to multi-continent cloud. I'm looking forward to seeing what our customers create with the new systems." About Servers.com Servers.com is part of XBT Holding established in 2005. XBT was founded to satisfy the growing demand for high-quality hosting solutions. The experience and expertise gathered over the years of cooperation with different industries helped us understand the way hosting is delivered. Practicality is, at this point, an underestimated factor influencing customers. The decision to consolidate all services provided by our subsidiaries is meant to simplify the way hosting is acquired. Contacts: PR contact: Olga Galkina PR manager galkina@servers.com Investor Relations: Rajesh Kumar Mishra CFO finance@xbt.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 02/09/16 -- Constellation Software Inc. ("Constellation") (TSX: CSU) announced today that it has entered into, through its wholly-owned subsidiary N. Harris Computer Corporation ("Harris"), a definitive agreement to acquire SIV.AG ("SIV"). SIV is the provider of utility billing, financial, and customer care outsourcing solutions for over 300 utilities and energy service providers throughout Europe. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The acquisition expands Harris' existing utility software business with customers in Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Macedonia. SIV software provides solutions to optimize a utility's billing, financial, asset management and energy management workflows. In addition, SIV provides turnkey business process outsourcing solution for billing and customer care for energy traders and other market participants. Harris will continue to develop, sell, implement and support all SIV solution suites using the SIV employee group headquartered near Rostock, Germany. Jeff Bender, Chief Executive Officer of Harris, commented, "SIV is a great addition to our utility portfolio and expands our reach into the European market. SIV customers will continue to benefit from our commitment to providing solutions that optimize utility meter to cash processes and improve customer service." About Constellation Software Inc. Constellation Software acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses that provide mission-critical software solutions. About N. Harris Computer Corporation Since 1976, Harris has focused on providing feature-rich and robust turnkey solutions to Public Sector, Schools, Utility, and Health Care agencies throughout North America. Harris' focus is on creating long-term relationships with its customers and ensuring that it meets the changing needs of its customers over time. Further information about Harris may be obtained from its website at www.harriscomputer.com. Contacts: Constellation Software Inc. Jamal Baksh Chief Financial Officer (416) 861-2279 jbaksh@csisoftware.com www.csisoftware.com N. Harris Computer Corporation Jeff Bender CEO (613) 226 5511 ext 2146 jbender@harriscomputer.com www.harriscomputer.com If approved, CT-P13, a proposed biosimilar to Remicade (infliximab), will be the first biosimilar monoclonal antibody to be licensed in the United States Celltrion, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Arthritis Advisory Committee recommended approval of all indications for CT-P13, a proposed biosimilar to Janssen Biotech Inc.'s Remicade (infliximab), by a vote of 21-3. CT-P13 is the first biosimilar monoclonal antibody (mAb) medication to be considered by the FDA. Celltrion is seeking approval of CT-P13 for the treatment of a variety of serious autoimmune diseases, including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, among others. The Committee based its recommendation on the totality of evidence presented at the Arthritis Advisory Committee meeting, comparing CT-P13 to the U.S. reference product, Remicade, in which the Committee concluded that the data submitted by Celltrion demonstrates CT-P13 is highly similar to U.S.-licensed Remicade, notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive components. Further, the Committee noted that there were no clinically meaningful differences between CT-P13 and U.S.-licensed Remicade in terms of the safety, purity, and potency of the product in the studied indications of rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. The Committee acknowledged the extensive data provided by Celltrion to address the scientific considerations for extrapolation of data to support biosimilarity to other conditions of use. Remicadehas been licensed in the U.S. for 18 years and is indicated for the treatment of: Moderately to severely active Crohn's disease in adults and children; Moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis in adults and children; Moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis; Active ankylosing spondylitis; Active psoriatic arthritis; and Chronic severe plaque psoriasis. "Given that this would be the first biosimilar monoclonal antibody to be approved in the U.S., this Advisory Committee meeting is an essential step in increasing acceptance of these critical medicines and increasing access for every patient who needs these treatments," said HyoungKi Kim, CEO of Celltrion. "We have experienced the benefits of biosimilars outside of the U.S., including Europe, and are looking forward to advancing our development program with the FDA. "Our CT-P13 application in the U.S. is the first in an age where biosimilar mAbs are globally recognized as innovative, high quality biologics that are highly similar in both efficacy and safety to their originator products, but are more affordable for patients," continued Kim. If approved by FDA, Pfizer would assume commercialization rights for the medication in the United States under the proposed brand name, Inflectra. The FDA's decision is anticipated in April 2016. About Infliximab Infliximab is a treatment for many autoimmune diseases, with more than 18 years of clinical data and experience since its FDA approval in U.S. in 1998. Celltrion's CT-P13, a proposed biosimilar to Remicade, is currently approved in 67 countries across the globe including Canada, Japan and throughout Europe. CT-P13 was licensed by the European Commission in September 2013 as Remsima/InflectraTM for all indications of its reference product, Remicade, including moderately to severely active adult and pediatric Crohn's disease (CD), moderately to severely active adult and pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC), moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), severe active ankylosing spondylitis (AS), active psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO). About Celltrion Based in Incheon, Republic of Korea, Celltrion, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical leader with strong research and development capabilities in biosimilar monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and novel drugs for various therapeutic areas, including oncology and autoimmune diseases. Founded in 2002, Celltrion focuses on promoting the health and welfare of patients in need of innovative biopharmaceutical products through world-class manufacturing and research facilities, developing state-of-the-art technologies, and establishing quality systems. Celltrion's research and development expertise, coupled with a passion for patient well-being, is a unique set of capabilities that allowed the Company to enter into this highly challenging space. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209006848/en/ Contacts: for Celltrion U.S. Media Craig Heit, 347.451.4733 Celltrion@GCIHealth.com (ASX:WHC) : Hello Im Carolyn Herbert from the Finance News Network and joining me from Whitehaven Coal Limited, to discuss the companys first half FY2016 results is CEO, Paul Flynn. Paul, welcome back.: Thanks Carolyn, nice to be here.: Youve just announced your half-year results for FY2016. What were the highlights?: The highlight for us really is return to profitability. Thats certainly the most important one I think people should focus on. Cash flows been very strong; we put money in the bank, so were delivering the company period on period. And an extraordinarily strong operational performance, backed with lower costs.: Can you tell us how your projects performed for the half?: Narrabri, our great underground mine has performed very very well. Maules Creek in its first six months of commercial production is already running at an annualised rate, of 8.5 million tonnes per annum. So these two have been the standouts in our portfolio. The smaller mines are doing their bit, as they should, theyre reliable, consistent performers.: Taking a look at sales now. Whats the split between thermal and metallurgical coal, and how is that going to be changing over the next few months?: In this six months it was about 12 per cent net, 88 per cent thermal. But as we ramp up Maules Creek even further, this is the mine thats got the big proportion of met coal in it. As we get up to our full run rate of about 13 million tonnes per annum, we expect the group to be about 35 to 40 per cent met coal.: How have the prices for those performed for the half, especially given the current volatility in commodity prices at the moment?: US dollar pricing has been softer; the currency has moderated slightly. So AUD pricing for us is slightly softer over the six-month period. So not a big change in that regard and in fact, we brought our costs down. So we widened out our margin spread, which is very positive. Going forward, we think that for the rest of this calendar year, were probably going to be as we see it today. So Id say a relatively flat outlook for the balance of this calendar. With new power stations coming on in Asia though, I do expect that to tighten in the New Year.: Weve heard a lot about debt in the market recently and Whitehaven says its starting to de-lever. What sort of message is this sending about the companys priorities?: I think the clear message is even at this tough time in the cycle, weve recorded a profit. Were putting money in the bank, we can de-lever and thats a pretty unique proposition I think, compared to other companies in our sector at the moment. Its clear that weve been able to manage our costs and increase that margin spread, as I mentioned and as a result, put money in the bank. And I think this is just the beginning of it. As we grow Maules Creek, more volume with higher margin tonnes coming out of both Narrabri and Maules, higher than our average margin that we reported today, that will give us greater capacity to de-lever in the future.: To those who are negative about coals long-term future, what would your response to that be?: My view is that coal has a bright future. Its certainly the cornerstone of energy supply globally today. And as all the discussions in NDCs and COP21, and IEA reports have shown, they expect it to be the cornerstone of energy supply into the future. As I say with the new power stations being built in our region in particular, using better technology and the technologies that align to the coal quality that we sell, we think demand for our coal quality - Australia more generally but Whitehaven more so, because its better quality than average, will be in stronger demand in the future.: Finally Paul. Whats your outlook for the remainder of FY2016 for Whitehaven and for the coal market more generally?: For us, certainly more money in the bank, so were going to be de-levering the business. Our net debt position will continue to drop. We are going to continue to drive profitability; we said that we can reduce our costs between one and two dollars per tonne, in the second half. Im pretty confident we can do that. So our outlook is actually one of over the hump of capital investment, now into operationalization of these great assets. So I think a very good future.For the market, I think its generally going to be flat; were in the counter reciprocal position I suppose in some senses, expanding at cyclical lows. But for the whole sector I think, underlying a flat outlook for the balance of the year, in 2017 looking better.: Paul Flynn, thank you for the update on Whitehaven Coal.: Thanks Carolyn. AccelFoods, a NYC-based accelerator for packaged food and beverage companies, has launched its $20m second fund. The accelerator has also added six startups to its portfolio as a part of its fourth class, which will be the first to be backed by the new fund. The companies will receive day-to-day support from the AccelFoods operating team, mentorship from industry experts, and advice from strategic partners over the course of an eight month program. Co-Founded by Managing Partners Lauren Jupiter and Jordan Gaspar, AccelFoods invests in high-growth food and beverage products. Class IV includes: Crunchsters, a Boulder, CO-based provider of a snack made from sprouted mung beans that includes protein, fiber, and minerals; Il Morso, a Treasure Island, CA-based provider of an organic, fair trade, and non-GMO mouth melting coffee; Nona Lim, an Oakland, CA-based provider of a line of all-natural soups, bone broths, ramen noodles and gluten-free rice noodles; Purely Pinole, a Santa Monica, CA based company that has introduced pinole, an ancient Aztec powerfood, to the U.S. under the brand Purely Pinole. Pinole is a gluten-free, non-GMO hot cereal which is rich of fibers, proteins, and is antioxidant; Tea Drops, a Northern California based manufacturer of certified USDA Organic, bagless, pressed teas that dissolve in hot water; and Wandering Bear, a New York-based company that puts ready-to-drink cold brew iced coffee on tap in any refrigerator. FinSMEs 09/02/2016 The Man He Killed Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 "Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have set us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place I shot him dead because Because he was my foe, Just so: my foe of course he was; That's clear enough; although He thought he'd 'list, perhaps, Off-hand likejust as I Was out of workhad sold his traps No other reason why. Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You'd treat, if met where any bar is, Or help to half a crown" Ted McDonald recently posted Obsolete History 02 about rewriting history. It contained a picture of the wounded Lion watching over the Unknown Confederate soldiers at Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery.Here are a few thoughts and facts about Oakland Cemetery.The wounded lion sculpture in Oakland Cemetery was commissioned in 1894 and was the largest piece of marble at that time. It oversees the Confederate graves of unknown.My best friend's mother is buried there. She died in the 1965 (he was 18). When we both got out of the Army in 1969, we visited the Cemetery and her grave had caved in since there was no cement vault. The Grass was overgrown and a hangout for wino's and other malcontents. We hauled dirt in to fill the sunken grave but he never went back until a few years ago after it was added to the National Register.Today Oakland Cemetery is a well-maintained cemetery and attracts frequent visitors.It seems that we cannot learn the lesson that we all will share the same earth eventually but cannot find the key to sharing it while we are above it.The cemetery is the resting place of former Mayor Maynard Jackson, Margret Mitchell Marsh, Ivan Allen, Jr. and Franklin Miller Garrett (1906 - 2000), Atlanta historian notable for his extensive survey of Atlanta cemeteries. He was dubbed "Atlanta's Official Historian" and is buried on commons ground on a plot donated by the City of Atlanta. Oakland Cemetery In true Atlanta Fashion, there is a bar across the street named Six Feet Under. Atlanta does not have a history of reverence for historical locations. As long as there is room to tear down and build a commercial building, Atlanta is more than willing to move on from it's past. Thanks To General William Tecumseh Sherman, the tear down part was easily accomplished and set the tone for later demolitions of buildings and historical locations. Atlanta was at one time called the "City too Busy to Hate" but now it is known as "The City too Busy to Care" by the historical buffs still in residence. Six Feet Under Bar and Resturant I am not one of those who believe that every leaf or twig should be preserved for posterity, but there should be some common sense applied to certain historical locations. Atlanta is and always has been a city of commerce. It was the hub where the railroads crossed and headed in all directions. It is no surprise that it is still the magnet of the South for rural people seeking a better life as well as accomplished business people seeking to expand their business. My personal opinion is that Atlanta is one of the cities that have moved on from its history. That is sometimes at the cost of preservation some important artifacts.One of our best mayors in Atlanta was Ivan Allen Jr. He served as mayor of Atlanta from 1962 to 1970. Here is a picture of him with his display of Ground BreakingShovels circa 1960's which illustrates the tremendous change that he brought to the Atlanta landscape and skyline. Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. and his collection of shovels Here is Mayor Ivan Allens memory of the event:He also was the mayor who had the most influence in moving away from our historical fixation with Confederate Memorials and artifacts. Regardless of your personal prejudices, Mayor Allen helped to bring Atlanta into the modern age with new construction and new businesses moving to Atlanta. At the same time we had a governor Lester Maddox who was famous for selling pick handles and refusing to serve Negroes in his restaurant. That was the yin and yang of the South then and sometimes even today. We are a very curious people down here.Please do not misunderstood me here. I have great reverence for the heroes of the Confederacy and their courage in standing up for what they believed in. I do not however have a sentimental view that wants to go back to those times when people were property and individual rights were determined by the color of your skin. It took me a long time to come to the realization that I could respect and admire the warrior while at the same time disagreeing with his reasons for fighting. Woo, a San Francisco, CA and Tel Aviv, Israel-based newly launched platform that allows tech talent to measure their market value, raised $2.35m in seed funding. Backers included Hank Vigil & Fritz Lanman from Acequia Capital, Lord David Alliance, an active investor in tech companies, and Moshe Lichtman of Israel Growth Partners. The company intends to use the funds to scale its platform and expand its presence both in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as in additional regional markets. Led by Liran Kotzer, co-founder and CEO, Woo levarages a talent-first approach that allows tech candidates including software engineers, developers, product managers, QAs, DevOps and designers, to understand their worth and demand. The solution then introduces them only to companies who are willing to meet their key terms and expectations up front. The company, whose platform is now available on an invite-only basis to tech professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area or planning to relocate to the region, plans to expand into other industry functions and geographic locations in the near future. FinSMEs 09/02/2016 As per a report by PTI, Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) wants Maruti Suzuki to take the lead for development of India-specific products. The company plans to launch 15 new products by 2020 in India. The engineers at Maruti Suzuki will lead the product development for three to four models out of the total 15 that will be launched in the next five years. These products will not be built from scratch but will be based on the Suzuki platform. This will allow Suzuki to direct its focus on premium models, giving Maruti the charge for the... It was about time. Wed reached the saturation point in Superhero genre. There were way too many generic origin stories and sequels from both Marvel and DC. Every superhero movie nowadays is either about a cookie cutter villain who wants to take over the world, or about a cookie cutter villain who wants to take over the world and show up in the sequel. And the heroes either weep gloomily (Man of Steel) or try too hard to be funny (Ultron). We needed a superhero who gets the bullshit out of the way and knock people in the balls for fun. We needed a superhero who doesnt mope around in his origin story. We needed a superhero who impales bad guys with dual Katanas. And most importantly, we needed a superhero who asks if youre going to touch yourself tonight. With no attempt at a hyperbole, I can tell you that the era of The Dark Knight is over. Deadpool is here. And things will never be the same again. Deadpool, directed by Tim Miller is a raging, exploding subversion of superhero films. And by subversion I mean it grabs you by the collar, shows you how most superhero movies suck, and nimbly demonstrates how things can be different when some brain cells are put to use by filmmakers. The opening sequence, a slow freeze frame zoom out of a car crash plays out like an Honest Credits skit, where the producer is called a rich asshole and the writers are called the real heroes of the film. This is the kind of film Deadpool is - self aware, self-referential and in full Hollywood bashing mode. Nobody is spared not even the producers of this very film, where Deadpool makes fun of the lack of budget. The film doesnt shy away from thrashing rivals studios as well. In the scene where its time to turn a human into a mutant with a sci fi experiment, Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, who also played Green Lantern, asks the evil scientist not to give him a shitty CGI suit. His love interest (Morena Baccarin) isnt the delicate blonde haired damsel in distress shes as demented as him, and their disturbingly lusty relationship is played out as love. No schmaltzy upside down kisses in the rain here the woman wears a strap on and proceeds to bend the superhero here. Such insane subversion is feels like discovering treasure. And now that youve seen the shinier side of the genre, its going to be difficult to come back to the straightforward superhero movies. When Deadpool spends the whole movie telling you how youve been watching shitty movies until now, your expectations for Batman vs Superman, and the future Avengers films dissipates. Its like tasting Belgian chocolate waffles in Belgium - you cant go back to Bandra Nutella waffles after that. Or like eating a Pizza in Milan and realizing Dominoes tastes like turd. Or like wearing silk underwear and realizing you cant go back to cotton. If the point still isnt clear in your head you need to schedule a meeting with Deadpool. This movie is written by the same guys who wrote Zombieland, and their wicked sense of humor is infectious. The more surprising part is that this is director Millers first film. With the kind of visual artistry, mayhem, and grasp on humor on display in Deadpool, this achievement is the equivalent of the Taj Mahal being built by a guy who held a rock cutter for the first time. Deadpool is Foxs Guardians of the Galaxy, and its opened a whole new gateway for the superhero genre. Whether you have a date or not, make sure you celebrate Valentines Day at the multiplex playing this movie. Its a love story after all, with lubricated strap ons. A couple of things stand out in the economic growth numbers released on Monday, once one gets past the mandatory cheering about India being the fastest growing economy, even at a lowered growth estimate. For one, the projected 7.6 percent in the current fiscal (against 7.2 percent in 2014-15) doesnt stand on very firm ground. This growth is not being powered by investment. Secondly, the fiscal deficit target is almost certain to be breached unless there is a massive cutback in spending or huge surge in revenues. There is little point in raising the usual questions about the robustness of the numbers thrown up by the new methodology. The new GDP series is work in progress and, as this article points out, it will take time for the glitches to be ironed out. Until then, these are the numbers one will have to go by, no matter how unbelievable they are. Now, getting back to the two flags. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) the measure of investment - is likely to see some growth (5.3 percent in 2015-16, up from 4.9 percent in 2014-15 and 3.4 percent in 2013-14), but the GFCF-GDP ratio is set to decline further to 29.4 per cent. This will make it the fifth straight year of decline. Even looking at it in quarter-over-quarter terms, the investment rate is falling. After a steady decline to 29.9 per cent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2014-15, it had shown a very small improvement to 30.9 percent in Q1 of 2015-16. But then it started falling again and, as of Q3 of the current fiscal, stands at 27.8 per cent. If the investment rate has to touch the full-year figure of 29.4 percent, it will have to grow almost 4 percent in the current quarter. That seems a tall order; the Reserve Bank of Indias quarterly OBICUS (order books, inventories, and capacity utilisation survey), shows capacity utilisation down to 70.6 per cent in the July-September quarter. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index moved back into the positive zone in January, but the improvement was moderate; it does not hold out hope for a dramatic investment revival. After all, corporate balance sheets as well as that of banks continue to be stressed. So, as D. K. Joshi, chief economist of Crisil says, it will be a challenge to make investment the engine of growth. Can private consumption be that engine this year? The private final consumer expenditure (PFCE) to GDP ratio also provides a mixed picture. While it has improved over the years (from 57 percent in 2012-13, it is set to touch 59.8 percent in 2015-16), it has been fluctuating since the first quarter of 2014-15 and in Q3 of this fiscal stood at 59.3 percent; it was 60.1 percent in Q1. Remember Q3 (October-December) was the festival season, so this drop is puzzling and worrying. If the economy is to grow at 7.6 percent this year, private consumption will have to grow 11.6 percent in January-March and that, says Devendra Pant chief economist of India Ratings, looks very difficult. Now, on to the fiscal challenge. The fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent for 2015-16 was based on the assumption of GDP being Rs 141 lakh crore; it is now projected at Rs 135 lakh crore. So even if the government sticks to the budget estimate of a fiscal deficit of Rs 5.55 lakh crore, the ratio to GDP will rise to 4 percent, which will create its own set of challenges for the target for 2016-17. But if the government plans to stick to the 3.9 percent target with the lower GDP, then it will have to contain the fiscal deficit at Rs 5.29 lakh crore. The government has only two options either raise revenues or cut spending by nearly Rs 26,000 crore. As of December, total receipts were 67 percent of budgeted estimates. Pushing this up significantly is not going to be easy. Cutting back on expenditure at a time when public spending is needed to pump prime investment is also fraught with risks. Given the inflexibility of revenue expenditure (salaries, interest payments, pensions account for the bulk of it), the axe may fall on capital expenditure. Now, the quality of expenditure has certainly improved under this government growth in capital expenditure has been higher than in revenue expenditure and the share of the former is also higher (14 percent) than earlier (when it was around 10-12 percent). But Abheek Barua, chief economist of HDFC Bank, points to a worrying phenomenon. Since January, there has been a major liquidity shortage in the market, with the government keeping very large cash balances with the Reserve Bank. The cash balances, he says, are twice the size of what they were in the last few years and this is an indication that the government has completely clamped down on expenditure. This may help the government show better fiscal deficit numbers, but the effect on the economy will be very worrying. And if it is capital spending that is being scythed, then one can kiss any investment revival goodbye. Clearly, the governments economic management skills are going to be put to severe test. (This is an updated version of the analysis of Punjab National Bank earnings, adding other banks' numbers.) At least three public sector banks (PSBs), Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Dena Bank posted huge losses in the October-December quarter on account of a sharp increase in bad loans, while Punjab National Bank (PNB), Indias second largest state-run bank, logged a significant fall in its profit. Bad loans are loans, where recovery is overdue more than 90 days. PNB reported gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of 8.47 per cent for the December-quarter. This is the highest level of bad loans the bank has recorded at least in 11 years. High bad loans result in high provisioning, the money every bank need to set aside to cover their future losses, which more than doubled for PNB to Rs3776 crore in the third quarter from Rs1468 crore in the year-ago quarter. As result, the net profit of the bank plunged 93.4 per cent to Rs51 crore in the third quarter, compared with Rs775 crore in the corresponding period in last year. This is arguably one of the worst quarterly results of PNB in recent years. Take a look other banks numbers. Central Bank of India logged a loss of Rs 836.62 crore for October-December 2015-16, against a profit of Rs 137.65 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal with its GNPAs rising to 8.95 per cent of the gross advances during the quarter, as against 6.2 per cent year ago. Similarly, Dena Bank reported a loss of Rs 662.85 crore for the third quarter as against net profit of Rs 76.56 crore in the same quarter last year, after it witnessed its GNPAs jumping to 9.85 per cent from 5.61 per cent in the year-ago period. Allahabad banks loss stood at Rs 486.14 crore for the third quarter, hit by 6.40 per cent GNPAs (from 5.46 per cent) and subsequent provisions. What we are seeing here is just an indication of the deeper stress the banking system with the problem aggravated due to a prolonged economic slowdown. Even large private sector banks, such as ICICI Bank, have felt the pain of rising stress in the banking system. ICICI Bank registered a sharp increase in its GNPAs to 4.72 per cent of total loans in the quarter as compared with 3.77 per cent in the preceding quarter and the 3.40 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Here again, the bank had to set aside higher chunk of money to cover provisions on the bad loans, which put pressure on its bottom line. As Firstpost highlighted the other day, the story of other large banks, especially public-sector banks, couldnt have been more different as seen in the earnings of Allahabad, Dena and Central Bank results. Other PSU lenders, which are yet to announce earnings, too may not tell us a very different story. How did the problem worsen? The NPAs on bank balance sheets didnt happen overnight. There is a mix of factors including laxity in apprising creditworthiness of a borrower for years on end, governments directed lending through state-run banks, using state-run banks for the roll out of governments populist schemes and the misuse of banking system by politically connected crony promoters to their advantage. What we see today is a result of all this. When banks went on a lending spree in 2010-2013 period, the assumption was there will be a sharp economic recovery that will justify their actions. But, that recovery hasnt happened yet, putting a whole lot of loans at risk. As Firstpost pointed out in a recent article, it wouldnt be an exaggeration if one says that Indias state-run banks are on the verge of a crisis. Over 90 per cent of the total bad loans of Indian banks (currently stands over Rs 3,00,000 crore) is on the balance sheets of these entities. Their restructured loan portfolio would be nearly double this amount, if one goes by industry estimates. These two categories together, termed as stressed assets, would constitute around 11-12 per cent of the total bank loans given. Also, there is a risk of existing restructure loans turning bad if economy doesnt do well as expected. Many loans, especially in infrastructure sector, which bank conveniently pushed to the restructured basket to avoid turning bad loans, might return to haunt in that case. This is one reason why RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, stipulated a deadline of March, 2017 for banks to clean up their bad loans and state the problem today and do not postpone for tomorrow. Though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the finance ministry have consistently maintained that bad loans in Indian banking system is not at an alarming level, the stress that is emerging from bank balance sheets, especially that of state-run banks, is indeed a serious problem for finance minister, Arun Jaitley, considering its multiple implications on requirement of capital and banks ability to further lend that is critical for economic growth. Burden on the fisc In turn, this would make allocation of capital to state-run banks a complex process for Jaitley, who has so far allocated Rs70,000 crore for state-run banks and has asked them to find funds from the market for about Rs1.1 lakh crore. The consensus estimate of capital these banks would require in the year to 2019 is at least Rs2.4 lakh crore when the Basel-III norms will take effect. Also, the capital requirement can change if bad loans shoot up beyond estimates. For every Rs100 loan, banks need to set aside Rs15 if the loan turns bad. The government, which owns majority stake in these banks, will have to work out ways to face this capital shock in the years ahead or, at least, let these banks go private and fend for themselves. One thing is sure. Managing the sarkari banks is going to be a much more difficult affair for Jaitleyone more headache for the lawyer-turned-politician as he prepares to unveil the Union budget for 2016-17. Data contribution by Kishor Kadam BAD AIBLING, Germany Ten people were killed and at least 81 injured on Tuesday when two passenger trains collided head-on at high speed in remote countryside in southern Germany. One passenger was still missing, police said, and 18 of those injured were in a serious condition. The crash happened during the morning rush-hour about half way along a six-km (four-mile) stretch between the spa town of Bad Aibling and Kolbermoor in Bavaria, near to the border with Austria. Ambulances could not reach the site, which was heavily wooded with a steep hill on one side and a river on the other, so helicopters had to airlift people to nearby hospitals. Police said recovery operations with heavy machinery would be suspended overnight and restart at daybreak on Wednesday. The trains had been carrying about 100 passengers, mainly commuters. Police said more people would have been travelling if it had not been a holiday week. Hundreds of emergency service workers, including mountain rescue teams, worked to save passengers at the crash site, where several derailed blue, yellow and grey train carriages lay on their side next to the track. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the trains and track had been fitted with an automatic brake system that was introduced across Germany after 10 people died in 2011 near Magdeburg when a train driver drove through two red signals. "It's one of the biggest accidents we have had in the last few years," he said. Germany's most serious post-war train accident occurred in 1998 when 101 people were killed near the northern town of Eschede after a high speed ICE train crashed. Dobrindt said both trains on Tuesday must have been travelling at high speed entering a curve and the drivers had probably not seen each other. Police declined to comment on the cause of the crash. They appealed for people to donate blood. Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock and sent her condolences to families of the victims. "I trust that the authorities responsible will do everything they can to clear up how this accident could happen," she said in a statement. Dobrindt said an investigation had begun and that the priority was to find out whether the cause was a technical problem or human error. The trains' operator, Meridian, is part of French passenger transport firm Transdev, which is jointly owned by state-owned bank CDC and water and waste firm Veolia. Transdev said in a statement that management and staff were terribly shocked by the "exceptionally serious accident" and that Chief Executive Jean-Marc Janaillac was at the scene. State-owned Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track, which has a speed limit of 100 km per hour. The company said the safety system had been checked last week. (Additional reporting by Rene Wagner and Thomas Seythal in Berlin, Michael Dalder in Bad Aibling, and by Geert de Clercq in Paris; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Gareth Jones) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. A group of rescuers of the Indian army on Monday were on a routine drill, during an operation to rescue ten missing soldiers on a massive block of ice on the Siachen glacier, when they found an unconscious and wilted Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was among the ten soldiers missing after an avalanche hit their post on Wednesday. Lance Naik Koppad is a resident of Betadur village in Dharwad district of Karnataka. He survived miraculously and is being treated in the RR Hospital in Jammu. But his medical condition is said to be critical. Dharmendra Kumar Meena, SP of Dharwad, told Firstpost on the phone from Belgaum that he met the family of Lance Naik Koppad in Betudur village in his district two days ago. He had joined the army in 2003 as a soldier. His father is a farmer and he is married to a woman named Madhavi and they have a daughter Netra, who is one year old, he said. It was extremely difficult to give them hope, but the news that he is alive is comforting, he added. Lance Naik Koppad is the only earning member of his family and got married two years back in a nearby district. Madhavi, his wife, told Firstpost, While I am happy that my husband is alive and I would go to see him soon, I feel the pain of other families too whose family members have died in this tragedy. We are completely dependent on my husband for our survival. He is the only earning member in the family. I had lost hope of him being alive. The entire village turned up at our home and I am preparing to go to see him. Ramappa Koppad, the father of Lance Naik Koppad, told a police inspector posted in Kundgod village that after having lost hope for six days, he was happy to learn about his son being alive. He hoped his son would survive. The army says the Lance Naik Koppad was found after great difficulty as the rescue operations and efforts were hampered by frequent blizzards, extreme freezing temperature and low visibility apart from the effects of rarefied atmosphere at such high altitude. General D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander based in Udhampur, Jammu, said on Tuesday that of the ten soldiers buried under the ice, Lance Naik Koppad has been found alive, although his medical condition is not stable. "It was a miraculous rescue," said General Hooda, Ten army soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, went missing after their post was buried by an avalanche at 19,600ft in one of the worlds highest battlefields between India and Pakistan near the Line of Control in the northern glacier sector of the Ladakh region on Wednesday. Finding the place was the first difficult job. We know now the exact place where our soldiers could be buried. To find him alive is miracle, and I hope these miracles would continue, Col N N Joshi, a defense ministry spokesperson in Srinagar told Firstpost. Rescue teams have been sifting through a huge mass of ice in the treacherous region and are cutting through up to 30 feet of ice at multiple locations where soldiers could be buried. "After searching for six days, rescue parties were able to hit the camp site," Joshi said. We should be able to extract the bodies of other missing soldiers in next couple of days. The Army and Air force have been working with efficacy while keeping in mind dangers involved in such kind of operation and finding Lance Naik Koppad alive is a testimony of that, he said. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea by two former rebel Congress lawmakers in Arunachal Pradesh challenging acceptance of their resignations by Speaker Nabam Rebia on October 1, 2015, 15 days after they had signed it. Declining to interfere with January 12 order of Gauhati High Court upholding the speaker's decision to accept the resignations of Wanglam Sawin and Gabriel D. Wangsu, a bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel asked them why they kept silent for 15 long days before the resignations were accepted. "Be careful you don't sign in future," the bench said, as it dismissed the plea, being unimpressed by submission by senior counsel L. Nageshwar Rao, appearing for the lawmakers, that resignations should be seen in the context of power struggle going on within the Congress in the northeastern state. Rao argued that the resignations were not given of their free will and were obtained under duress. He said he was not denying his clients had signed the letters but sought the circumstances under which they gave the signatures has to be looked into as there were "sufficient reasons to create doubt" about them. He said that the language of the two resignation letters is identical and was not in the prescribed format as provided under the rules. The reasons for the resignation are "moral grounds", not able to rise to the "expectation" of the electorate and that the resignation is "irrevocable", he noted. "Could a resignation be irrevocable, denying its author right to withdraw it," Rao asked, contending that the speaker should have gone into the circumstances under which they were tendered. But the court wasn't persuaded. "Could there be a law that if a resignation (letter) has to be accepted, (the speaker must) entertain a doubt, go behind it (circumstances of the resignation) and inquire," the bench asked Rao. Telling Rao that one can understand if it was the case of a group D employee, the court said "the fact remain is that it is his (Sawin) signature" and the signature, the duration (from its signing and acceptance) and (absence) of objection could not be overlooked. Meanwhile the constitution bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice N.V. Ramana said that under the scheme of the constitution, the governor's powers were limited and should be exercised in a fair manner in furtherance of democracy. "Under the constitution, the powers of the governor are limited," it said as senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi told the court in certain situation, the width of the governor's powers gets enlarged. Dwivedi contended that if a chief minister refuses to convene the assembly session to prove majority support, then the governor could summon it with a message that the motion of confidence should be taken up first. "If a chief minister is adamant and does not call the session (of assembly), then can governor not exercise his discretionary powers and summon the house with a message," he said, defending the decision of Arunachal Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa summoning the assembly session in December 2015. Appearing for some of the rebel Congress legislators, Dwivedi asked that if the governor has limited powers, could the court further curtail them. The constitution bench is hearing petitions by Rabia and others on the prevailing political crisis in the state and the constitutional functionaries' role. IANS RALEIGH How Republican is North Carolina? My answer is 63.I realize this number has no meaning to you right now. I'll explain it. For starters, I'm not saying that 63 percent of North Carolina voters are Republicans. Not even half of them are Republicans. In fact, out of approximately 6.5 million people registered to vote in our state, some 30.5 percent are Republicans. Democrats make up 40.8 percent, Libertarians account for about half a percent, and unaffiliated voters make up the remaining 28 percent.How people identify themselves often differs from their party registration, but that doesn't explain my answer, either. Some right-of-center Democrats and unaffiliated voters are reliably Republican voters. Still, that would put the number of operational Republicans into the mid 40s, at most. (Operational Democrats are a comparable number, at least in North Carolina, with true swing voters representing only about a tenth of the electorate).When I rate Republican strength in North Carolina at a 63, I'm referring to a weighted percentage of electoral power held in the state. A couple of years ago I constructed a North Carolina Election Index to track the relative strength of the two main political powers over the past several decades. The index contains eight variables measured on the same scale, with a 0 percent meaning the category in question is completely dominated by Democrats and 100 percent meaning the GOP is completely dominant.The eight variables are: 1) the share of the GOP vote in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2) its share of Council of State seats (other than governor), 3) its share of U.S. House seats, 4) its share of U.S. Senate seats, 5) its share of N.C. Senate seats, 6) its share of N.C. House Seats, 7) its share of N.C. Supreme Court seats, and 8) its share of county commission majorities.Any attempt to attach a single number to a multivariate phenomenon such as partisan strength requires judgment calls. As you can see, I place the highest emphasis on state-level offices - they account for five of the eight variables - and give twice as much weight to legislature power as I do to control of the governor's mansion. I also think control of the high court and of county governments to be very important.Others may disagree with my preferences here. I consider them defensible, particularly in light of recent events. After Republicans took control of the North Carolina General Assembly in 2010, for example, they spent two years sparring with Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue. She usually lost. In terms of formal institutional power, our governors are still weaker than those of most other states.My North Carolina Election Index begins in 1950. The overall Republican score that year was just a 6, about where it had stayed for most of the previous century. The GOP score rose to a 10 in 1960 and then stayed in the teens for nearly all of the next two decades, except for a fleeting uptick to 26 in 1972. Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 and reelection in 1984 helped state Republicans rise into the 20s, then the 30s. After the Republican Revolution of 1994, the GOP score made it into the 40s. It rose again in 2002, into the 50s. GOP fortunes waned when Barack Obama was elected president, but then recovered and soared to new heights in 2012 and 2014.Republicans are proud of their recent political accomplishments. Democrats are frustrated by them. Both should keep them in perspective. In no way are North Carolina Republicans as powerful today as North Carolina Democrats were during their heyday. In 2016, the likely gubernatorial matchup between Pat McCrory and Roy Cooper will be highly competitive. So will a number of legislative seats, judicial and county races, and several seats on the Council of State, including wide-open races for attorney general and state treasurer.As the political index clearly shows, presidential candidates and administrations have a large effect on state party success. To forecast what will happen next for North Carolina's Democrats and Republicans, start by watching the presidential primaries. The recent series of detentions and arrests of Muslim youths and clerics from across the country for being IS sympathisers is an organised conspiracy to malign Muslims, suspect their patriotism and derive political benefits by creating hatred between Hindus and Muslims, feel Muslim leaders. On Monday, they demanded that the random and arbitrary arrests must be stopped immediately. It has already been proved, they argued, that charges against most people tried under draconian laws such as UAPA, MCOCA and TADA to counter so-called terrorism were bogus. The conviction rate under TADA was just one percent. In 2014, only 18 out of 141 people apprehended under UAPA could be chargesheeted while 123 people were found innocent. It means charges could be proved only against 12% of the accused, said Naved Hamid, president of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM). He added that while there were arrests of innocent Muslim youth on one hand, on the other there were efforts to release those associated with the Hindutva terror network. This proves that the government is implementing its communal agenda and its slogan sabka saath sabka vikas is hollow, he said. The community leaders said that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh had last year categorically refuted the possibility of Islamic State making inroads in India and claimed it had failed to attract Muslim youth. But just before this Republic Day, security agencies began arresting Muslims across the country on suspicion of having links with IS and Al-Qaeda. This gave an impression that Muslim youths are not only in contact with IS but are also actively engaged in preparation for terror attacks in the entire country and that they are busy recruiting for the group and and radicalising others. It appears to be an attempt to create a climate of fear and anxiety within the Muslim community. Therefore, the agencies must stop arbitrary arrests immediately, said Muhammad Salim Engineer, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). He demanded that the police officers who detain innocent youth deliberately must be awarded stringent punishment if the accused are acquitted later. The youth must be released within six months if the agencies are unable to prove any allegations against them. He also voiced his apprehension over the central government considering lifting MCOCA in the cases of the Hindutva terror accused. SQR Ilyas of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Welfare Party of India (WPI) described the nationwide crackdown as an attempt to demoralise and demonise the community and its youth. At a counter-terror conference held in March 2015, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that there was no IS presence in India. How come most educated Muslim men are suspects within one year? he asked. The leaders said these youths will also be acquitted of terror charges in the same manner as those innocent Muslim youths arrested in similar cases in the past. But by the time they get justice, their precious years would be lost and they would face difficulties in restarting their social life. Therefore, they demanded that the government and its security agencies must withdraw cases and release those against whom no substantial proof was found. They also demanded that a core group comprising human rights organisations working in terror cases, civil society groups and community organizations should be formed. Every such case should be referred to the panel. This core group would work as a watchdog. Only this will help establish mutual harmony, contact and cooperation between the police and the public and shut the door of misunderstandings, they said in a charter of seven demands. Dharwad: Family members of Siachen avalanche survivor Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad flew to New Delhi on Tuesday night from Panaji to be with him as he battles for life in an army hospital, an official said. "Koppad's family was taken to the army hospital from the Indira Gandhi airport in a military car by the army to be his bedside," the official told IANS from Bengaluru, about 430 km from here. Earlier, the state government made arrangements to fly Koppad's family members to Delhi from Panaji in Goa, the nearest airport to Delhi. News of Koppad being alive six days after he was buried in a Siachen glacier in an avalanche on February 3 gave new hope to his family, which almost gave up on seeing him again. "The state government has made arrangements for the family's stay at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi and transportation to reach the hospital at the earliest," Dharwad Deputy Commissioner P. Rajendran Cholan told reporters here earlier. According to army sources, Koppad's family members -- including wife Mahadevi, mother Basavva, daughter Netra and brother Govindappa -- went in a car to Panaji from their native place Betadur near here, about 10 km from this city. Koppad of the 19th Madras Regiment was posted at the Siachen glacier, where nine of his colleagues were also buried about 40 feet deep in the avalanche in minus 40 degrees Celsius. When Koppad was flown to Delhi from Siachen in an air ambulance earlier in the day for reviving him from a comatose condition, the village folk joined his family to offer special prayers for his speedy recovery from a critical condition. "There is a ray of hope amid gloom in the village with prayers for Koppad's precious life," the source said. The defence ministry had advised the state government to make special arrangements for rushing Koppad's family to Delhi so that he could see them at the earliest. "It is a punar janam (rebirth) for him and all of us," Mahadevi told news channels, which rushed to Koppad's village for his family's response to the news of his being alive amidst gloom and doom. IANS Mumbai: Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day today, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel here and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian army-men to spy for them. David Headley also admitted that his wife Faiza lodged a complaint in US assembly (Islamabad) that he is involved in terorist activities and was having close association with LeT. He also said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Continuing to spill the beans, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. He also revealed that, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headley's handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley revealed. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it." "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing. Headley says he had also conducted recce of Maharashtra State Police Headquarters and the Naval air station in south Mumbai. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. "In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her" In his first deposition yesterday, Headley had told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes in Mumbai that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley had also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. With inputs from agencies Chennai: Madras High Court today dismissed a petition seeking a fresh autopsy on the body of one of the three girl students of a naturopathy college in Villupuram who allegedly committed suicide recently. Justice R Mala dismissed the petition filed by the father of Saranya, student of SVS Naturopathy and Yoga Medical Sciences College, who sought a second post-mortem. The three students had allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a farm well as they were unable to bear "harassment" by the management which was accused of demanding "exorbitant" fees. The court had last month allowed the plea of the father of another student, Monisha, seeking fresh post-mortem on her body, as he expressed doubts over the college's claim that the students committed suicide. In the present plea, petitioner's counsel Sankarasubbu argued that as most internal parts of Monisha had been removed and the body embalmed, the real cause of death of the students would not be known. As all internal parts of Saranya were intact, a second post mortem of her body would establish the real cause of death, he contended. Rejecting the arugments, the judge pointed out that internal body parts of Monisha had been removed and sent for forensic and chemical analysis and the report was awaited. Another post mortem on Saranya's body could not be ordered merely because internal parts of Monisha had been removed, she said. The judge directed the Public Prosecutor to file on Friday the status report in the case. The state CB-CID, investigating the case, had yesterday submitted in the court that the report of the autopsy done on Saranya's body showed the death was not due to drowning. PTI New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hailed Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining under a huge mass of snow for six days at Siachen Glacier, saying he is an "outstanding soldier" whose "endurance & indomitable spirit" cannot be described in words. Modi went to Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi to see Hanumanthappa soon after he was airlifted from Siachen and prayed for his best. "No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," he tweeted. "Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best," Modi added. Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 The Lance Naik was flown to New Delhi from Siachen Glacier on Tuesday morning in a special air ambulance and admitted to the Research and Referral Hospital. His condition is critical but stable and he is undergoing various tests in the hospital, army sources said. Just before visiting the hospital, the Prime Minister tweeted: "Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation." Hanumanthappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive on Monday, buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. The temperature at that altitude was minus 45 degrees Celsius. Nine other personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), of Madras Regiment have died, according to Lt Gen DS Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he has said. PTI Kolkata: A student of a residential school in West Bengal's Murshidabad district died on Tuesday after allegedly being beaten by teachers for indiscipline. Two teachers were arrested in this connection, police said. The incident occurred at the Al-Islamia Mission near Dak Bungalow More. According to the police complaint, 12-year-old Shamim Malik was beaten mercilessly by the headmaster of the school Halif Sheikh and warden Liton Sheikh after the Std VIII student met his parents outside the school on Monday evening. The child was rushed to a hospital where he died in the morning. "On the basis of the complaint, we have arrested both the headmaster and warden of the school. They are being interrogated," Superintendent of Police, C Sudhakar said. The parents alleged that their son was beaten only because he had met them outside the school without seeking permission "He had come to meet me to collect some things that I had purchased for him. We want justice for my boy," said Shamina Bibi, the mother. "The school teachers tried to hush up the matter and informed me about my son's hospitalisation only after his condition worsened. The teachers kept on claiming that my son fell ill, but we have been told how he was beaten mercilessly by them," said Julhas Malik, the father of the child. Locals of the area blocked roads and staged a demonstration demanding exemplary punishment for the teachers. The arrested duo was presented before a court which remanded them to three days police custody. IANS Jammu: Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried in snow for six days, was on Tuesday evacuated to the army's base camp at the Siachen Glacier from where he is being flown to Delhi's Research and Referral Hospital in a special air ambulance. He will be brought to the Palam technical airport and airlifted to the hospital, army sources said. Thappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive on Monday after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he has said. PTI Digging into diversity at N.C. heritage sites Wilson Hoggard's research showed that eastern North Carolina's heritage tourism sites could be doing more to attract African-American visitors. Both the plantation house and slave quarters at Somerset Place are used for historic reenactments. (Contributed photo) Somerset Place in Creswell, pictured below, includes permanent and traveling exhibits related to slavery and African-American history. (Contributed photo) Located near Windsor, Hope Plantation was the home of former N.C. Governor David Stone and is one of six eastern N.C. historic sites included in research aimed at increasing minority visitation. (Photos by Cliff Hollis) One East Carolina University student's research could help museums, plantations and Civil War sites in ongoing efforts to present a balanced view of history and to attract more minority visitors.Wilson Hoggard '14 said he has always been interested in history and received his bachelor's degree in history from N.C. State University. For his master's thesis in sustainable tourism at ECU, he said,To research the subject for his thesis, titled "Diversifying Eastern North Carolina Heritage Sites: Tour Guides' Perspectives," Hoggard chose six sites Somerset Place, CSS Neuse, Museum of the Albemarle, Historic Beaufort, the Port of Plymouth Museum and Hope Plantation. He visited each site, speaking to tour guides about whether and how they cater to minority visitors, the barriers to attracting minority visitors and what improvements could be made.With the notable exception of Somerset Place, he said, each site could be doing a lot more to represent the African-American experience as a part of the portrayal of N.C. history. The top five reasons given by the tour guides for low minority participation were a lack of representation, elitist perceptions, lack of knowledge or interest, fewer African-American travelers and admission fees.said ECU's Christine Avenarius, anthropology professor, who was Hoggard's thesis chair for the project.At Somerset Place, thanks to the efforts of former site manager Dorothy Spruill Redford, there are presentations and exhibits representing the lives of the slaves who lived on the plantation. A series of Somerset Homecoming events beginning in the late 1980s reunited the descendants of the slave families, and some of them continue to hold annual family reunions at the site, said Karen Hayes, historic site manager.she said.In 2014, N.C. State students performed a dramatic interpretation based on N.C. slave narratives at the reconstructed slave homes on the plantation. Traveling exhibits of the 13 amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation have been displayed, and Somerset is also part of the National Park Service's Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, a listing of sites that played a role in the efforts of slaves to escape their bondage.Hayes added.The rest of the sites, however, lacked significant exhibits and programming related to the African-American experience, Hoggard said.he noted in his research findings. A common script for all tour guides would be a good start, he explained, since the content of each tour otherwise depends on the guide's own interests.Hoggard acknowledged that funding could be a major barrier to creating new exhibits and better staffing. Along with better scripts and exhibits among the short-term and long-term initiatives, his research suggests reaching out to children in schools, partnering with local universities, hosting traveling exhibits and hiring more black staff members.Hoggard said.Jeff Bockert, east region supervisor for N.C. Historic Sites, said that many of the sites are increasing efforts to incorporate programming and exhibits that include the African-American experience. Somerset Place, along with Historic Stagville in Durham, are unique in that they include both the plantation home and the slave quarters, which provides an opportunity for interpretive scenes.he said.For example, he added, Historic Edenton is adding new interpretation of the urban experience of the enslaved population.he said,Hoggard is now a teacher at Lawrence Academy, a private school in Bertie County. With help from Avenarius and his other advisor Carol Kline, who now teaches at Appalachian State University, he has prepared the thesis as an article with the hopes of publishing it.Avenarius said. On the second day of his deposition before a Mumbai court, David Coleman Headley continued to implicate the Pakistani establishment. Headley said that he met Major Iqbal, one of the alleged handlers of the attack, for the first time at a house in Lahore. "In this meeting, a colonel from the Pakistan Army was also present," he said during examination by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. Further, he said that in 2003, he met retired major Abdul Rehman Pasha, also accused of being a handler, at a mosque in Lahore. While several statements implicating the Pakistan army have been reported to have been made in the past, Headley's statements assume significance as they have been made before a court of law rather than to a police officer, and are admissible as evidence. Headley also said that during his surveillance in Mumbai, he was specifically asked to conduct a reconnaissance of the Siddhivinayak temple, which sees crowds of thousands of people every day. Subsequently, he said that after the surveillance, he handed over the GPS device back to alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Sajid Mir. During his deposition, Headley, who has been sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment in the US, said that he stayed as a paying guest at Shyam Niwas near the Breach Candy hospital in South Mumbai in 2006. Speaking about the planning for the 26 November, 2008 attacks in Mumbai, he said that the plan to attack a conference hall at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba was for 'logistical reasons.' When asked to explain what 'logistical reasons' meant, Headley said that it referred to getting 'personnel and weapons.' David Headley is deposing before a Mumbai court after being granted a pardon and being made an accused-turned-approver in the 26 November, 2008 terror attacks case. In his first deposition on Monday, Headley told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. With inputs from PTI Dr RK Pachauri, the tainted director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has been reinstated as vice chairman, a post specially created for him. This position also gives him executive powers in the organisation. Women lawyers and activists, furious at TERIs decision to reinstate Pachauri, voiced their anger and fear at what TERI has done for women and civil society. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson, Biocon and member, governing council of TERI who resigned citing 'moral responsibility' over Pachauri's case, when contacted about his reinstatement said, "I do not wish to comment." Indira Jaising, former additional solicitor-general of India: "The big issue is that TERI has no service rules. There are no rules governing the chairman and executive director. TERI is funded by the government and they should at least withdraw funds to the organisation. Pachauri is also the chancellor of TERI University. What kind of message does this give to society? "He will be able to influence the witnesses to the case now that he is back at TERI. Many women who were victims and conducted the enquiry on the case have all quit TERI. Women at TERI are terrified of him. Taking him back at TERI is a big step back for civil society. TERI has captains of the corporate world on its board like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, former banker Naina Lal Kidwai and Deepak Parekh. What message are they sending to women working in organisations headed by them? Shaw has said she is resigning from TERI, but I havent seen any letter of resignation. This action of TERI has the potential to undermine the law." Abha Singh, activist lawyer: "This is very sad. This action by TERI shows the apathy of the system towards women victims. The case is still going on but people in high places get back to their jobs. Shouldnt the system exhibit that no matter how high a position an individual occupies, if there is even a slight scar to his reputation, it should be taken seriously? "If you let the high and mighty get away with serious issues like sexual molestation, what message are you conveying to society? Will women who have suffered sexual molestation have the courage to come out after this reaction? The demonstrative effect that is being conveyed is that nothing will happen to people in power. The victim whom the media and the rest lauded as 'brave' and 'bold' has now become a 'poor' victim. She is in oblivion. It is unfortunate that in spite of having strong laws in our country, we are unable to help women who have been molested and sexually harassed." Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar, ex-member, National Commission for Women and activist: "Who took the decision to appoint Pachauri back at TERI? He may be an expert in his subject but that should not mean that when his morality is under question, he can be taken back in positions of power. "What will women who work at TERI go through now? Couldnt TERI wait till the charges against Pachauri were cleared, to take him back? If people in top positions can flout rules, what should we expect from the common man?" Shaina NC, national spokesperson, BJP: "We cannot pronounce someone guilty unless proven. But as a woman, I strongly feel that anyone who is embroiled in cases of sexual controversies should not be taken back in office. In this particular case, he has a lot to answer. "However, I believe the legal system will deliver justice in due time." Lucknow: Apparently stung by the Shiv Sena branding Uttar Pradesh as an "Islamic state", Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will address a public rally in Mumbai on 16 February to take on the BJP's ally in Maharashtra. "Mulayam will address a 'desh banao-desh bachao' rally in Mumbai on 16 February," SP's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi said on Tuesday from Mumbai. The SP supremo's decision to hold a rally in Mumbai assumes significance against the backdrop of Sena accusing the UP government of doing "anti-national business for appeasement politics". Sena had lashed out at the Akhilesh Yadav government for allowing Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali to hold a concert in Lucknow on Sunday. "The 'Islamic Yadav' government says that Ghulam Ali was invited to perform to promote Hindu-Muslim unity. But, to promote unity, why does one need Pakistani artistes? There are fine Muslim artistes in the country who are famous," Sena had said in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. The party had also alleged that keeping the upcoming UP Assembly polls in mind, the SP government had started "an anti-national business (of inviting Pakistani artistes) to play appeasement politics." Meanwhile, addressing newly elected block pramukhs, zila panchayat members and district panchayat heads, Mulayam pulled up party leaders for not highlighting the achievements of the state government. He also threatened to oust them within six months if they failed to ensure victory of party candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council polls. The elections to 36 MLC seats are to be held on 3 March. Mulayam also blamed party legislators and ministers for SP's poor performance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party was reduced to five seats out of 80 in the elections. PTI New Delhi: A chief minister's exclusive powers cannot be pre-empted by the governor, whose powers are "limited" under the Constitution and should be exercised in a fair manner to ensure survival of democracy, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. "Under the Constitution, he (governor) has not got so much of powers. He has limited powers which should be used in a fair manner, so that democracy survives," a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice JS Khehar said while examining the governor's powers, an issue that has arisen in the wake of the political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh. Observing that the governor "has no business to call the assembly session on his whims to test the majority of a chief minister and his government", the apex court asked "does it not amount to interfering with the legislative functioning of the House." "The governor cannot pre-empt the powers which are exclusively granted by the Constitution to the chief minister and his (council of) ministers," the bench said. The bench posed several questions during the hearing of a batch of petitions filed by various Congress leaders challenging the advancement of the assembly session by Governor JP Rajkhowa, when a lawyer of some rebel Congress MLAs justified the actions of the governor. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, the counsel for rebels, said the governor, being the administrative head, in his "wisdom thought that this (summoning of the House and subsequent business) may be one of the solutions". His submission was in regard to the advancing of the assembly session from January 2016 to December 2015 by Governor Rajkhowa. The bench, which also comprised Justices Dipak Misra, MB Lokur, PC Ghose and NV Ramana, observed that the right of the governor under Article 175 (right of the governor to address and send messages to the House and Houses) of the Constitution was limited. "There is a problem. Messaging, he can do independently but the nature of messages is important. He needs to take the aid and advise of the chief minister and his council of ministers," the bench said, adding, "how far he (Governor) can act, is limited." Dwivedi submitted that the governor can send a message and call for the assembling of the House as he has got such powers under the Constitution. Before concluding the day's hearing, the bench also opened the sealed cover containing dispatch records of the state assembly provided by the Secretary of the House. The bench perused the dispatch register and, with the assistance of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, asked some queries to the official and later left the matter for the contesting parties to raise objections, if any. Dwivedi, in his arguments, said the governor's decision to summon the assembly session was the only "possible solution" in this "evil situation" as the Speaker was under clout. "Let us not go by the evil. There is a sword of democracy, you will have to go by that," the bench remarked. It also questioned Rajkhowa's decision to advance the three-days long assembly session to 16 December, 2015 from 14 January, 2016 and asked as to what difference would have been made if the assembly could have met as scheduled earlier. "Why was the session called for only three days? What would have happened, if the assembly proceedings would have taken place on pre-scheduled 14 January, instead of 16 December, 2015," it said. "What was the tearing hurry? You could have said that do not change the constitution of the House till 14 January, the bench added. The bench posed the query when Dwivedi said that there were serious corruption charges against then Speaker Nabam Rebia and the governor was empowered under the Constitution to advance the assembly session and instruct that the issue of removal of the Speaker be taken up as first item of business. The court, however, observed that what was the necessity for the governor to write that the composition of the House shall not be altered. It appeared that the governor tried to "interfere with the functioning of the House" as he advanced the session, which was earlier decided on the aid and advise of the chief minister and his council of ministers. "Suddenly, one day, he (governor) says that he does not require any advice and advanced the assembly session and that to, for three days only," it added. The court, which is hearing a batch of pleas on certain powers of the governor under the Constitution, would resume hearing on Wednesday. PTI The upcoming budget session is unlikely to see much activity beyond Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reading out his budget speech, according to Congress sources. With enough ammunition at hand, the party is preparing an all-out assault on the Narendra Modi-led government. Its going to be a stormy session. The prime minister should take the opposition into confidence and see to it that the House functions smoothly and effectively. While he should be careful about what he says outside Parliament, in Assam he makes outrageous remarks against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. If the PM thinks he can do without the cooperation of the opposition, let him go ahead and get the bills passed, Congress MP and chairman, Public Accounts Committee, KV Thomas told Firstpost. According to Congress sources, party MPs have decided to attack the government on three issues the suicide of Hyderabad-based research scholar Rohith Vemula and caste politics, the political crisis in Arunachal Pradesh and the controversial issue of land allotment in Gujarat. The recent comment of the prime minister that one family is indulging in negative politics has made them more aggressive. A couple of days earlier, former minister and Congress leader Anand Sharma had said that the issue of allotment of government land at throwaway price to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patels daughter was a serious matter. This is a serious matter and must be raised in the Parliament session. The PM must break his silence and answer the questions. It is imperative that he comes clean. The Parliament proceedings have been stalled so far because of the stubborn and confrontational attitude of the PM. He should not provoke and insult the principal opposition party and then say that he seeks co-operation. It is a funny way of seeking co-operation, Sharma said. After hitting the Congress wall in two successive Parliament sessions, the government had hoped to pass the long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in Rajya Sabha in the latter half of the Budget session, and then get the requisite half of the 29 states to ratify the Bill. With the Congress hardening its position, it looks difficult now. Moreover, the Congress leadership is of the impression that the BJP is not really keen on getting the GST Bill passed, simply because the RSS doesnt want it. That is the reason the BJP is trying to provoke it by criticising its leaders. The current finance minister as the Leader of Opposition earlier had proudly said that disruption of Parliament was a legitimate parliamentary tactic. Therefore, I think it would be appropriate that the Opposition holds the government accountable to the same standard. It is the responsibility of the government to reach across and ensure smooth functioning of the House. For the PM to expect the opposition to bend over backwards, I guess is expecting too much, remarked Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari. New Delhi: A delegation of Delhi Congress leaders on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take up the issues faced by civic employees, including sanitation workers, due to the financial crises in the municipal corporations in the national capital. Led by Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, the delegation submitted a memorandum to Singh and apprised him of the crises affecting the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations that had led to sanitation employees striking work. "The minister's attention was drawn to the plight of the employees, particularly sanitation workers and other Class-IV workers who went on strike due to non-payment of wages," Maken said. He charged that the "conditional" loan advanced by Delhi government to the north and east corporations would not bring a permanent solution to the problems facing the civic bodies, he said. "The home minister carefully listened to the views of the Congress delegation and promised to take appropriate action," Maken said. In the delegation were Delhi Congress spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee and leaders of opposition in the north and east corporations, Mukesh Goel and Varyam Kaur, respectively. PTI A committee appointed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to probe alleged misuse of land allotted to Associated Journals Limited has said that the newspaper company is undertaking construction work in excess of what it was allowed. The Gautam Chatterjee committee submitted its 20-page report to the principal secretary of the revenue department Manukumar Srivastava. Congress, which owns AJL and the now-defunct National Herald newspaper, was constructing a commercial building on a plot of 3,479 sq m in suburban Bandra, off the western Express Highway, instead of building a research centre dedicated to Jawaharlal Nehru for which it had been allotted the plot. While the urban development department granted AJL permission to construct an 11-storey commercial building in 2003, building permissions were sought and received only in 2013, reports The Indian Express. While AJL had said it would require 11,000 sq ft construction in basement and 9,000 sq ft on top of the building, it is in reality constructing on over 83,000 sq ft, a majority of which is for commercial usage, the report states. This is in contravention of a government resolution that states one can use no more than 15 per cent of the area for commercialisation to cross-subsidise the project, an RTI activist said. Mumbai BJP secretary Vivekananda Gupta alleged that there was a violation of Maharashtra Land Revenue Code in the allotment and the use of the land given to AJL. He termed the ongoing construction on the Bandra plot as mostly commercial in nature and illegal. He demanded that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should immediately issue stop-work notice, and the government should take the land back. Gupta also demanded that all the recreational grounds and open spaces allotted under the 2007 caretaker policy of the BMC should also be taken back where clubs have been constructed by trusts controlled by politicians. "Open spaces belong to the public at large. But there is restricted entry to the public and unrestricted entry to those who have paid exorbitant fees as membership," he said. With PTI By Sanjay Kaul Steven Spielberg's 1998 Second World War film Saving Private Ryan follows the fortunes of a group of soldiers with one mission: To bring back a soldier alive and unharmed. For the Congress, even years after Robert Vadra shot to fame for his business dealings, he continues to be the mascot for crony corruption which was verily the cause of the party's debacle in the last General Election. It is this stigma that severely dents the partys prospects in a new India that is more intolerant to corruption than ever. But as it happens in the Congress, the Gandhi family is untouchable even as it remains incorrigible, and the party has to bear the shame of being Vadras party forever. So what can the Congress do to salvage some respect? The best option it has is to find a Robert Vadra in BJP, and if it cant find one, create one! But creativity is moored in intellect and intuition. Having fallen short in those departments, it has latched on perilously to an indulgent article published in a newspaper about a company in Gujarat that acquired land at certain valuations and attempts to link the Gujarat chief ministers daughter to the deal. The article in question fails to identify any form of corruption and its author is on record that she is not claiming that this is a scam. In a time of acute shortages of both strategy and tactics, statesmanship and acumen, the Congress is waving this newspaper article as a flag to rally its troops to attack BJP on charges of corruption. However, the war cry is withering in the face of facts. Let us examine why the allegations are frivolous and the political Opposition hare-brained. Here is a brief summary of events: -An MOU was signed between WWR and the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd for developing a wildlife resort and investing around Rs 80 crore for that purpose. WWR asked for allotment of land in Dhari Taluka of Amreli District. -The collector of Amreli recommended the allocation of 13 different parcels of land measuring 9,94,824 square metres (around 99 hectares) on 6 December, 2008. The recommendation was made on the basis of the District Level Valuation Committee Report dated 5 December, 2008. -Of the 13 different parcels, 10 land parcels measuring around 8,25,260 square metres were valued at Rs 60,000 per hectare and the other three measuring 1,69,564 square metres were valued at Rs 1,50,000 per hectare. -The proposal was reviewed by the chief town planner and he recommended the allocation of land at the revised rate of Rs 1,50,000 per hectare for all 13 land parcels. -The state-level valuation committee (SLVC) headed by Principal Secretary Finance department and comprising three other senior secretaries of the government of Guajrat and the Chief Town Planner considered the proposal in its meetings dated 14 July, 2009 and 15 December, 2009. -The proposal was finally recommended by the SLVC on 12 January, 2010 at Rs 1,50,000 per hectare for all 13 land parcels. Thus, the total value of the 9,94,824-square-metre land was accordingly pegged at Rs 1,49,22,360. -Since the land value was more than one crore, it was submitted to the Cabinet for approval as per the prevalent policy of the government of Gujarat. -The proposal was made to the Cabinet with a 12 percent hike and the final value at which the land was to be given was Rs 1,67,13,043. -The land is situated in the Patla village of Dhari taluka of Amreli district which is near Gir National Park. -The government of Gujarat has made a recommendation to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, on 27 August, 2015 to include certain areas in the eco-sensitive zone. -The land in Patla is part of the proposed eco sensitive zone. -The government of Gujarat has also come out with a government resolution dated 1 July, 2015 prohibiting the construction of resorts etc within a kilometre of specified areas like Gir. Since this land falls within the eco-sensitive zone, construction restrictions apply to this land also. It has not been given any concessions and land was allotted as per the rules and regulations. No favour was done to any individual/company in this regard. On the contrary, the government increased the cost of the 10 parcels of land from Rs 60,000 per hectare to Rs 1,50,000 per hectare. That is a clear 250 percent premium on the value of the land. The land in question has not been spared or taken out of the proposed eco-sensitive zone. Additionally, further restrictions were imposed by way of the government resolution on construction activities in eco-sensitive zones to prevent any adverse impact on the sanctuary. Compliance has been ensured by Gujarat government. So how was this out of line, or an alleged sweet deal? Now let us also consider the background of the company in question: -The Company WWR was incorporated in 2008 and promoted by Sanjay Dhanak and Sudhir Ved. Sanjay Dhanak is son of Vajubhai Dhanak, an ex-MLA from Janata Dal (later merged with the Congress) during 1989-1994 in Gujarat. -Later, in 2009, Ved exited from the company and Harshad Mehta and his wife Naina came in his place. The application for land allocation, the land allocation by the government and private purchase of the land was done between the years 2008 and 2010. -Afterwards, from April 2011 to September 2012, shares belonging to the Mehtas and Dhanak were purchased by Parshwa Taxchem (promoted by Daxesh Shah) and Anil Infra Plus (promoted by Amol Shah). These transactions occurred after the land was allotted and permission for establishing the resort was given. -Anar Patel does not hold any equity in any of the above mentioned companies. Neither is she a director in any of them. And so, to associate Anar Patel or any other family member of the chief minister of Gujarat with the company is a complete fabrication, or in simpler words, a blatant lie. Raising the bogey of preferential land allotment is an old trick in the books of political adversaries. In spite of many attempts at smear campaigns, not one allegation against the government of Gujarat has been found to be true. The state has a proud history of probity on this account and it may be pertinent to visit this Supreme Court observation regarding the process of land allotment in Gujarat: The Land Acquisition Act has become a fraud. It seems to have been devised by people with a sick mind who had scant regard for the welfare of the common man. It is time the Act is scrapped, But there is one state from where we do not receive any such complaints. Look at Ahmedabad which is developing but there are no complaints from that place. They have the same officers of the same cadre as in the rest of the country," the court said, adding officers from other states can train under their Gujarat counterparts. Trying to seek equivalence to cover up its endemic weakness for corruption is not a strategy that will deliver results for the Congress unless it purges itself of the stigmata that Vadra and others of his league lend to the party. All this fulmination by its members does is remind us of another movie classic that might have a role for Vadra: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The author is a member of the BJP and a spokesperson for the party. He tweets @sanjay_kaul JERUSALEM Three Arab-Israeli lawmakers were suspended on Monday from speaking in parliament as punishment for supporting families of Palestinian assailants killed by security forces after they attacked Israelis. The Knesset Ethics Committee ruled that Balad party members Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas would be barred from plenum and committee business for four months and Jamal Zahalka for two months, but they will be able to vote. Last week, the three visited the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in incidents, including one on a bus in Jerusalem last year in which three people were killed. They were accused of standing as a mark of respect for the attackers, but Zahalka denied this and said they were praying. Tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel have risen since a wave of stabbings, shootings and car-rammings carried out mainly by Palestinians has killed 27 Israelis and a U.S. citizen since October. A few Arab Israelis have also carried out attacks. In the same period, Israeli forces have killed at least 156 Palestinians, 101 of them assailants, authorities say. Most of the others died during violent protests. The bloodshed has been partly fuelled by Palestinian frustration over long-stalled peace talks and anger at perceived Jewish encroachment on a contested Jerusalem shrine. The three legislators faced the hearing after other lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and hundreds of members of the public complained to parliament and accused the three of disloyalty to the state. "We are not prepared to accept a situation where Knesset members support the families of those who murdered Israeli civilians and stand to attention to the memory of those who murdered our children," Netanyahu said in parliament. Attorney-General Avihai Mandelblit has also called for a police investigation against the three. The left-wing Balad party is part of the Joint Arab List, a conglomeration of four factions that holds 13 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Balad members are particularly vocal in supporting Palestinian causes. Zahalka told the Knesset television channel news that the suspension was "a political price for our moral stand, but we are prepared to pay this price." Israel's Arabs have accused Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition of anti-Arab bias. Netanyahu drew widespread international condemnation after making a rallying call to his supporters on election day last year to rush to the polls because Arabs were being bussed "in droves" to vote. He later apologised for the remark. (This version of the story fixes wording in second para) (Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Tom Heneghan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. "In the last decade, the punitive and overzealous tools and approaches of the modern criminal justice system have seeped into our schools, serving to remove children from mainstream educational environments and funnel them onto a one-way path toward prison.... The School-to-Prison Pipeline is one of the most urgent challenges in education today." (NAACP 2005) The term "Zero Tolerance," as it applies to school policies, is well known in society. Examples that might come to mind include a seven-year-old being suspended for eating a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun or a teen being suspended for wearing an American flag shirt.While the notion of Zero Tolerance is understood, the roots of it generally are not. It is important to understand where the term originated. Zero Tolerance is now being used to further the narrative of a "school to prison pipeline" and the subsequent calls for the removal of police presence in schools or the removal of School Resource Officers (SROs). We'll get into the "school to prison" pipeline later. First, let's look at Zero Tolerance.Zero Tolerance traces back to the 1980's when it was a term applied to the "war on drugs." This term found its way into education by the beginning of the 1990s with the full approval of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).At the 1994 AFT convention, members passed a resolution calling for Zero Tolerance policies to be employed with regard to school violence. It called for the mandatory expulsion of students who assaulted teachers or students, or who were found to be in possession of drugs or weapons.Not long after, California Democratic U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein pushed an amendment to the "Goals 2000" education bill. The amendment required school districts to expel any student caught with a gun on campus for one year. The catch was that Goals 2000 did not have mandatory state participation and it was then added to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). A year later, in 1995, the Gun Free Schools Act would come into play as a widely used form of Zero Tolerance.Early on, Zero Tolerance policies were heavy in the area of truancy. From there, policies morphed into more and more severely lop-sided punishments for what many would consider minor infractions. The Zero Tolerance policy idea hamstrung any local control over discipline and related decision-making and threw common sense out the window.Having said that, the original intent of Zero Tolerance the expulsion for violent acts or weapons has seemingly had very little impact on crime in schools. Back in November I wrote about the increasing frequency of police being called to Wake County Schools and how fights were becoming "normal" occurrences. Clearly, Zero Tolerance was not playing much of a role in curbing such instances.So how does Zero Tolerance fit in with the "school to prison pipeline"? The answer lies in a paper from 2009 by Nancy Heitzag in which the school-to-prison pipeline phrase started to gain momentum. The main thrust of Heitzag's paper is that Zero Tolerance disproportionately punished minority students, especially black students.Heitzag has a Ph.D and is a professor of sociology, and a co-director of the interdisciplinary Critical Studies of Race and Ethnicity Program at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Heitzag's ideas on the so-called pipeline will be included in a book due out this April.Heitzag seems to be just as much an activist as sociologist. She is an editor at Critical Mass Progress , a very left-leaning web-based organization focused on racial and social justice activism in education. Be sure to read the Principles, Priorities and Responsibilities section of its About page. Her Twitter account's banner states, "Critical Mass Progress" and "Educate, Agitate, Organize".Heitzag has also been involved in the school-to-prison pipeline movement trying to oust SROs from schools as evidenced by her involvement with the Twin Cities Social Justice Education Fair. If you have any doubt that it is all about the promotion of social justice activism in our schools, read the " Vision and Goals " statement of the Twin Cities Education Justice Fair, which openly advocates infusing social justice into curriculum.In the opening of her 2009 paper, "Education Or Incarceration: Zero Tolerance Policies And The School To Prison Pipeline," Heitzag quotes the NAACP's the original use and definition of the phrase:Heitzag goes on to blame No Child Left Behind, poverty, systemic racism and blacks being automatically associated with gangs as causes of the "pipeline." Heitzag never delves into the actual crimes, behavior or incidents, but rather she brushes facts aside. She asserts it must be racism and states,Activists are now using the term "school to prison pipeline" with greater frequency and connections have been established between "pipeline" activist groups and Black Lives Matter.An example of such a local connection goes back to 2014, when a group called NC HEAT showed up at a Wake County School Board meeting. ABC 11 covered the event , and showed protesters speaking while clad in orange jumpsuits:said Cary High School student Qasima Wideman.About a half dozen with the student advocate group NC HEAT used the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting to blast what they call the system's school-to-prison pipeline.said Knightdale High School student Tavon Bridges.They claim zero-tolerance policies involving minor incidents lead to arrests, juvenile detention referrals and jail. That's the case with their friend Selina Garcia. NC HEAT produced no actual data or evidence that minor incidents were leading to arrests or jail. The subtext of their complaints points back to Zero Tolerance policies as being racist.Keep in mind that groups like NC HEAT are not populated with your typical students. For example, Qasima Wideman is involved with at least half a dozen Leftist, LGBT, social justice and "education activism" organizations. By using narrative vehicles like the school-to-prison pipeline, young activists like Wideman are actually acting as recruiters. That's important to note, since the population being drawn from is made up of impressionable K-12 children.These developments mirror the leftist Cloward-Piven strategy of overwhelming a system to cause crisis, collapse and therefore, change and replacement of said system. Groups right here in North Carolina are working in such a manner to overwhelm the system.These are groups such as the NC Student Power Union, remnants of Occupy Chapel Hill, the Southern Vision Alliance, plus activists trying to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour with the support of Moral Monday groups. Then add in school-to-prison pipeline groups like NC HEAT and Youth Organizing Institute. These groups, who have acted separately in the past, are now coalescing to feed a larger movement: Black Lives Matter. That's the real agenda of the prison-to-pipeline activists. Berlin: Two trains crashed head-on in southern Germany early Tuesday, leaving at least two people dead and around 100 injured, police said. More than two hours after the crash, emergency services were still trying to reach people trapped in the wreckage. Police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press the two regional trains crashed near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria before 7 am and that several wagons overturned. He said that the scene of the accident on the tracks between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen was so confusing that he did not have any specific numbers of injured and dead yet. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," Sonntag said. Sonntag said several rescue helicopters were also involved. "We have a lot, a lot of staff on the ground who are all involved in the rescue efforts," he said. AP KINSHASA At least 21 people were killed, 40 wounded and dozens of houses burnt in weekend attacks aimed at Hutus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Monday, expressing alarm at rising ethnic violence. The attacks were the latest in a series of deadly skirmishes between Hutus and other local groups. These have intensified since last month when the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu militia operating in eastern Congo, was accused by authorities of killing at least 14 ethnic Nande in North Kivu province. U.N. spokesman Amouzoun Codjo Martin said the weekend attacks were carried out by members of two militias, the Nande-dominated UPDI and the NDC, which is mostly made up of Nyanga, another local ethnic group. The fighting had reached an "alarming level", the U.N. said in a statement, and could cause "large-scale violence" in the region, as well as displacement of civilians. The U.N. has also received reports of looting, abduction and rape over the past few days. Ethnic rivalries, foreign invasions and competition for mineral-rich land have stoked persistent conflict among eastern Congo's dozens of rebel groups over the last two decades, costing millions of lives. Tensions have spiked between the Hutu and neighbouring communities since Congo's army launched a military offensive last year against the FDLR, displacing large numbers of fighters and Hutu civilians. Congolese troops and U.N. peacekeepers were forced to fire into the air last Wednesday in a nearby town to disperse Hutu and Nande villagers after the two groups clashed with machetes and batons. (Reporting By Aaron Ross; Editing by Edward McAllister and Mark Trevelyan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Colombo: The UN human rights chief said on a visit to Sri Lanka on Tuesday that Britain and Sweden should accept the findings of one of his panels that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been arbitrarily detained. Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued its conclusion a non-binding legal opinion that Assange had been subjected to arbitrary detention by the Swedish and British governments. Britain and Sweden angrily rejected the panel's recommendations that Assange be allowed to walk free from Ecuador's London embassy, where he sought refuge in 2012 and be offered compensation. Speaking in Colombo, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the Working Group, although not a court, based its decision on binding international law and that Britain and Sweden should therefore abide by its findings. "Human rights law, the treaty body law is binding law, it is not discretionary law, it is not some passing fancy that a state can apply sometimes and not in the others," Zeid, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters at the end of a four-day visit. A spokesman for Zeid said the panel based its decision on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "If there are further court cases on Assange, you are likely to see the Working Group's opinion cited in the court, and quite possibly in the judgement," spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP. Britain and Sweden sharply condemned the panel's findings and said they would change nothing. Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the panel's opinion "ridiculous" describing Assange as "a fugitive from justice". Zeid told reporters that he had been tied up with his visit to Sri Lanka and so had not had time to examine the British and Swedish reactions to the panel's bombshell report. "I have not had the required time to actually read the reactions of the states (Britain and Sweden) and at some stage soon I will comment," he said. Assange walked into the Ecuador embassy in June 2012 to avoid the threat of arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he still faces a rape allegation. He has lived there ever since in a small office room with a bed, computer, sun lamp, treadmill and access to a small balcony. AFP The possibility of finding all the dead bodies of soldiers who had gone missing after an avalanche buried their post on the Siachen glacier six days ago, has increased after rescuers found a soldier alive buried under 25 feet of ice on Monday. A junior commissioned officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of the Madras Regiment were buried after an avalanche hit their post at an altitude of 19,000 feet on the highest battlefield on earth. Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, a resident of Betadur village in Karanatka has survived miraculously, and is being treated in the RR Hospital in Jammu, but his medical condition is said to be critical. General DS Hooda, Northern Army Commander, based in Udhampur, Jammu said on Tuesday among the ten soldiers buried under ice Lance Naik Koppad has been found alive, although his medical condition is not stable. "It was a miraculous rescue," said General Hooda said. Ten army soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer, went missing after their post was buried by an avalanche at 19,600ft in Siachen in the northern glacier sector of the Ladakh region on Wednesday. We found the area after great difficulty. The efforts have been hampered by frequent blizzards, extreme freezing temperature and low visibility apart from the effects of rarefied atmosphere in such high altitude, Col NN Joshi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, told Firstpost in Srinagar. Finding the place was the first difficult job. We know the exact place know, were our soldiers could be buried. To find him alive is a miracle, and I hope these miracles will continue, Joshi added. Army teams have been sifting through the huge mass of ice in the treacherous region, sometimes digging more than 30 feet to find the soldiers who are buried. "The operation has entered its sixth day and rescue parties have hit the camp site," Joshi said. "Rescue teams are cutting through upto 30 feet of ice at multiple locations where our soldiers could be buried. We should be able to extract the bodies of the other missing soldiers in next couple of days. The Army and Air force have been working with efficacy while keeping in mind the dangers involved in such kind of operation and Lance Naik Koppad being found is testimony to that, he added. Indian Army rescuers fought adverse weather conditions to reach to the spot where the earlier post stood. But after the picket was buried by an avalanche, it was carried forward to hundreds of metres ahead of the original location. It is highly likely now that the dead bodies will be found in next two days. The first challenge you encounter in operations is like these is finding the place, where the soldiers could be buried, an army officer said. But after we know the place that they are in, it becomes easier to find the bodies. Although I must say it is highly unlikely any of them will be alive now. But we are praying for a miracle, Joshi said. To reach the spot, rescuers needed to spread a web of ropes and the stairs, so that people could walk on it. At 19,600 feet, soldiers cant walk for more than 10 steps, you need rest for five minutes, and than carry forward because the oxygen content is very low. This is the second big operation carried by the soldiers across India and Pakistan since 2012. The deadly mountains buried 129 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians on 7 April, 2012, when a massive avalanche struck the Pakistani military headquarters at Gayari, 30 kilometres west of the glacier terminus. The operation, to rescue the dead bodies, lasted for months and Pakistan was forced to invite international experts to help them in the rescue mission which also failed to extract dead bodies for a long time. Former Prime Minister of Nepal and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala passed away due to pneumonia at his residence early on Tuesday. He was 79. Koirala, who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on 10 February, 2014, died at his residence in Maharajgunj in the outskirt of capital Kathmandu at 12.50 am (local time), Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh told PTI. He had returned from the US after undergoing a successful treatment for the lung cancer and is credited with promulgating the new constitution of Nepal in September, 2015. Koirala was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and he succumbed to the disease. His body will be taken to party's central office at Sanepa, Kathmandu and kept there for last tributes from party cadres and others, Singh said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the death of former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala, saying "India lost a valued friend". In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades & India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family & people of Nepal in this hour of grief. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 Born in Banaras, India, Koirala entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. He also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. With inputs from agencies Jakarta: An Indonesian court Tuesday sentenced seven men to between three and five years in jail for supporting the Islamic State group, weeks after the extremist network launched a deadly assault on Jakarta. Court officials said four of the men on trial had travelled to Syria to undertake military training with IS, while the three other culprits helped purchase tickets and recruited people to join the group. "Indonesians who departed for Syria and supported IS should be considered to have conducted terrorism acts," Mochammad Arifin, a presiding judge over several of the cases, said. Tuah Febriwansyah, who received a five-year sentence on Tuesday, told the court that he had known one of the culprits in last month's attacks that killed four civilians and four assailants. Hundreds of Indonesians are feared to have travelled to the Middle East to join the IS group, which controls vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Several have been detained on their return. Counter-terror officials, however, complain that current laws are still too weak in the Muslim-majority country to prevent extremists from travelling to Syria and to block the spread of radical information on the Internet. AFP MANCHESTER, N.H. The insurgent candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, billionaire Republican Donald Trump and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, looked likely to get a lift on Tuesday at the New Hampshire primary elections by defeating mainstream rivals. In an election year when Americans seem angry at traditional politicians, the two men held strong leads over their respective opponents in New Hampshire, the second state in the process of picking party nominees for the Nov. 8 election to replace President Barack Obama. For the other Republican candidates, it was a fight for second place in the state behind Trump. After a strong third-place showing in last week's Iowa caucuses, the first state to hold a nominating contest, Marco Rubio needs another top-tier finish in New Hampshire to buttress his argument that he is the candidate around whom the party's leadership and wealthy donors should rally. A debate performance by Rubio on Saturday night was widely mocked by Republicans and Democrats, as well as legions on social media, but a robust finish in New Hampshire may help defuse the notion that it did lasting damage. A WMUR-CNN poll on Monday showed Trump leading in New Hampshire with the support of 31 percent of those planning to vote in the Republican primary. Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida, was second at 17 percent, followed by Ted Cruz, a conservative Texas senator, at 14 percent, and Ohio Governor John Kasich at 10 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor, and former tech executive Carly Fiorina trailed in the single digits. Trump, who has courted controversy by deriding Mexican immigrants and promising to ban Muslims from entering the United States, spent the final campaign hours in New Hampshire insulting his rivals. In an interview with MSNBC, he called Rubio "confused," Bush a "loser," Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton "evil" and Cruz "nasty." At a campaign event on Monday, the real estate mogul gleefully repeated an audience member's description of Cruz as a "pussy" because the senator from Texas said he was more hesitant than Trump about supporting torturing the country's captured enemies. On the Democratic side, Sanders held a strong poll lead over former secretary of state Clinton. He disputed Clinton's notion that he had an advantage over her simply because he is a U.S. senator in the neighbouring state of Vermont. Clinton, who beat Sanders by only a fraction of a percentage point in Iowa, has sought to play down expectations about her showing in New Hampshire. "VOTE THEIR PASSIONS" Obama, who has not yet endorsed a candidate from among his fellow Democrats, expressed surprise at the leads in polls held by Trump and Sanders. "Early on, often times, voters want to just vent and vote their passions," he told CBS News in an interview that aired on Tuesday. At a polling station in the town of Derry on Tuesday morning, Clinton bumped into the husband of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Fiorina, who has repeatedly derided Clinton's marriage to former U.S. President Bill Clinton as loveless. "Well, give my best to Carly," Clinton said to Frank Fiorina after they had swapped pleasantries about the marvels of democracy. "Want to get a picture?" Fiorina said he did, and they grinned for cameras. Primary votes were already counted in Dixville Notch, a town of about a dozen people that prides itself on being the first in the state to vote. Sanders won all four Democratic votes there while in the Republican race Kasich beat Trump, 3-2. State-wide results were not due till Tuesday night. Kasich has long staked the viability of his campaign on the outcome in New Hampshire, which does not produce many of the delegates needed to win a presidential nomination but is important because of its place early in the election calendar. In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday morning, Kasich said his fate was now in the hands of voters. "So I'm really cool with whatever happens here," he said. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Caren Bohan, Toni Reinhold and Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios? Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything. No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now, unending. Washington: The US has said it is committed to assist India in bringing perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice after Pakistani-American key LeT operative David Coleman Headley in his first deposition told a court that Pakistani terrorists conducted 26/11 strikes after two failed attempts. "The United States is committed to doing all we can to assist the government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "Certainly, it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm but across all others as well," Kirby said. Kirby was responding to questions on the deposition by Pakistani-American terrorist Headley, who on Monday told a Mumbai court via a video-link from the US how his outfit had planned the 26/11 attacks and executed it after two failed attempts and gave details of the role played by ISI whose three officials he named. Headley, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, spoke about the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir. "We'll always look to try to improve our cooperation across all different aspects of the relationship. I don't want to prejudge or presuppose here based on this testimony, that that it has a strategic value here. That's not for me to speak to," Kirby said. This was a decision and this was an event set up and established by Department of Justice, Kirby said, adding the US has a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels and law enforcement is one of them. Described himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of Hafiz Saeed. PTI MANCHESTER, N.H. A week ago, it looked like the stars were aligning for Marco Rubio. Now, as New Hampshire holds its pivotal primary on Tuesday, the Republican presidential contender has to hope the sky does not come crashing down on him. After a surprisingly strong third-place showing in last week's Iowa caucuses, Rubio came into New Hampshire hoping for a top-tier finish in the state to buttress his argument that he is the candidate around whom the party establishment should rally. But a debate performance on Saturday night that was widely mocked by Republicans and Democrats, as well as legions on social media, might have changed the equation for the U.S. senator from Florida, although he is still showing strength in polls. A robust performance in New Hampshire may help defuse the notion that he sustained a critical blow at the debate. Dante Scala, an analyst on local politics at the University of New Hampshire, said that if Rubio did not do well in Tuesday's primary, "it isn't fatal necessarily but it makes the road to the nomination longer and riskier." Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is widely expected to win Tuesday's primary, which is part of the state-by-state process of picking party nominees for the Nov. 8 general election to replace Democratic President Barack Obama. Primary votes were already counted early on Tuesday in Dixville Notch, a town of about a dozen people that prides itself on being the first in the state to vote. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders won all four Democratic votes there while in the Republican race Ohio Governor John Kasich beat Trump, 3-2. Trump spent the final campaign hours insulting his rivals. In an interview with MSNBC, he called Rubio "confused," Jeb Bush a "loser," Hillary Clinton "evil" and Ted Cruz "nasty." He gleefully repeated an audience member's description of Cruz as a "pussy" at a Monday campaign event because the senator from Texas said he was more hesitant than Trump about supporting torturing the country's captured enemies. AIMING FOR SECOND After Rubio finished far ahead of mainstream rivals Bush, Chris Christie and Kasich in Iowa, he appeared to be best positioned to place second in New Hampshire, perhaps knocking Christie or Kasich out of the race and emerging as the partys best hope to derail Trumps insurgent bid. Rubios debate showing, in which he helped further the perception that he is an overly scripted, even robotic, candidate, has been cited by other contenders as proof he is not ready to lead. "When the lights get that bright, you either shine or you melt," Christie, the New Jersey governor, said at a campaign event in Hudson, New Hampshire, on Monday. "We can't afford to have a president who melts." Rubio, in an interview with CNN on Monday, dismissed the torrent of criticism that has come his way since the debate and said his potential to be a strong candidate against the Democrats made him a target. A WMUR-CNN poll released on Monday showed Trump leading in New Hampshire with the support of 31 percent of those planning to vote in the Republican primary. Rubio was second at 17 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 14 percent, and Kasich at 10 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. Bush, a former Florida governor, and Christie trailed with other candidates in the single digits. On the Democratic side, Sanders had a strong lead over Clinton, the former secretary of state who narrowly beat him in Iowa. Clinton has sought to play down expectations about her showing in New Hampshire, suggesting Sanders could do well because he is from neighboring Vermont. But a big loss to Sanders, an underdog candidate who describes himself as a democratic socialist, would be embarrassing for Clinton. President Barack Obama, who has not yet endorsed a Democratic candidate, expressed surprise at Trump's and Sander's leads in polls. "Early on, often times, voters want to just vent and vote their passions," he told CBS News in an interview that aired on Tuesday. Kasich, who has been rising in the polls in New Hampshire, is another candidate seeking to profit from Rubios troubles. He has long staked the viability of his campaign on the outcome in New Hampshire. In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday morning, Kasich said his fate was now in the hands of voters. "So I'm really cool with whatever happens here," he said. (Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Susan Heavy and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Caren Bohan, Toni Reinhold) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New York: A Sikh-American actor has been barred from boarding a New York-bound Aeromexico flight after he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who had been on a trip to Mexico, took a photo of himself and his boarding pass for an Aeromexico flight back to NYC, explaining in a caption that he had been prohibited from boarding. Ahluwalia said he checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 am on Monday and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless Aeromexico plane ticket. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...that I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview Monday afternoon from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible". It gave no further details but added that it regretted the inconvenience. Ahluwalia, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work. He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller 'Beeba Boys'. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion. In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap 'Make Love' advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti. The letter 'S' was printed on it four times and encircled with a marker symbols he said were meant to alert airline crew that a passenger must go through an extra security check. He was still at the airport more than 12 hours later. Ahluwalia said he planned to remain there as lawyers from the Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights group, and Aeromexico discussed the matter by telephone. He said he had no immediate plans to board another flight. PTI Kathmandu: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and members of an all-party delegation on Tuesday paid courtesy calls on Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. The Indian delegation comprising National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav met the two leaders after paying homage to former prime minister Sushil Koirala who died on Tuesday. They met Bhandari at the President's Office and Oli at his official residence. Bhandari told the Indian leaders that Nepal-India relationship was "very deep and intimate and transcends politics". In the meeting with the prime minister, Sushma Swaraj said that as soon as they heard the news about Koirala's demise, an emergency meeting was called which decided to send the all-party delegation to Kathmandu to pay homage to the late Nepali Congress chief. Receiving the Indian delegation, Oli said "India always stands by Nepal in its hour of grief", which has been demonstrated time and again. Gopal Khanal, the prime minister's foreign affairs advisor, cited Oli as saying: "Your presence in this hour of grief also demonstrates that India is a friend during difficult times for Nepal." In the meeting between Oli and Sushma Swaraj, the two also discussed his upcoming India visit later this month. "We are eager to welcome you in India and preparations of your India visit are underway," Sushma Swaraj said in the meeting. Oli expressed confidence that the differences in opinion about Nepal's new Constitution will be sorted out during talks with the Madhesis and that the government will continue discussions with the agitating parties. Sushma Swaraj returned to New Delhi later in the evening. IANS The government in this case had to have its arm twisted to follow its commitment to property owners like Lyndon. That shows reform of the civil forfeiture laws cannot be entrusted to voluntary policy changes from the government. What is truly needed is binding reform from Congress." In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did.... Last year...the Treasury and Justice departments deposited more than $5 billion into their respective asset forfeiture funds. That same year...burglary losses topped out at $3.5 billion. The Department is deferring for the time being any equitable sharing payments from the Program. We preserve our ability to resume equitable sharing payments at a later date should the budget picture improve. These additional funds have allowed our office to purchase extra items and equipment to fight crime.... The drug dealers paid for new patrol cars. I love this idea. Recently, however, there is a wind blowing in Washington, D.C. to limit or suspend this program.... To put this in plain English: there will be no more money coming from our seizures.... This is a victory for the drug cartels that can operate without fear of losing drug profits. Sheriff Darren Campbell...repeatedly refers to the...seizure of the "profits of drug dealers." No doubt some, perhaps most, of the money seized is illicit. But if the assets were known to be drug profits, his department would simply charge the drug dealers with a crime and take the money the old fashioned way by proving its origin. What makes this program different, and un-American, is that the authorities take someone's money at gunpoint and then force them to prove their innocence to get it back.... Also conveniently omitted is any mention of the conflict of interest in having the police benefit from taking citizens' assets. Think about this. Do you want a police force incentivized to seize your property and able to do so on a whim? When they have taken your assets, what will you use to hire a lawyer to recover your property? As regular readers already know, civil asset forfeiture is a legal process that empowers government agents to confiscate property they suspect has been used for, or derived from, criminal activity. It is a civil action against the property itself, which means the owner need not be convicted of a crime. In fact, the owner need not even be a suspect. To get the property back the owner must initiate legal proceedings at his or her own expense and prove that the property was not used or obtained illicitly. Civil asset forfeiture is inherently unjust, not to mention a violation of due process. What's worse, it tends to pervert the proper relationship between the police and the public by turning the former into predators and the latter into their prey.I discussed civil asset forfeiture frequently in 2015, beginning, in my very first newsletter , with US Attorney General Eric Holder's 1/16/15 order curtailing a Department of Justice practice called "equitable sharing." By means of this practice the DOJ had been encouraging state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in its civil asset forfeiture program by giving them a substantial share of the proceeds. I noted that, unlike most states, there's no civil asset forfeiture under North Carolina state law. Instead, property can only be forfeited if the owner has been convicted of a crime. Moreover, under our Constitution, law enforcement agencies may not profit from these criminal forfeitures; instead the proceeds must be "used exclusively for maintaining free public schools." This is as it should be, and I suggested that, because the DOJ's equitable sharing program had given law enforcement agencies in our state a way to evade these protections, the announced curtailment of the practice should be especially good news for North Carolinians.I also ventured to hope that, "More reform will follow," but in this I was disappointed. The next few months brought news of asset forfeiture reform proposals both in Congress and in various state legislatures , and in some of those state legislatures real progress was made . However, no further progress was made at the federal level, and as a result North Carolinians continued to be the victims of assert forfeiture abuse. In May I wrote about one such victim, Lyndon McLellan, who owns a convenience store in Fairmont, North Carolina. On the basis of several large cash deposits, federal agents seized $107,000 from his bank account and refused to return it. He was not accused of any crime, and the deposits were legitimate. Nevertheless, it took him over a year to recover his money, and he might never have done so if the Institute for Justice had not agreed to represent him without charge. Afterwards, IJ attorney Scott Bullock observed Months went by, however, and no such Congressional reform was forthcoming; which made it all the more frustrating when, in November, the Washington Post reported that There was, at last, one small piece of good news in December. It took the form of a DOJ letter to "State, Local and Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies" stating that, due to budget cuts:And adding:Despite that hopeful addendum, the letter came as a nasty shock to many state and local law enforcement agencies, including some in North Carolina. In an op-ed in the Mooresville Tribune , Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell complained:Mooresville Tribune reader Sonny Morton responded quickly with a letter to the editor That's the kind of kind of good sense and fair-mindedness I've come to expect from North Carolinians. It's one of the reasons North Carolina has the best asset forfeiture regime in the country , and (as I've said ) it's one of the reasons I feel so lucky to live here. Google today announced that it is now offering flood alerts through Google Public Alerts in India. This is provided by the Central Water Commission (CWC) using its observation stations for more than 170 areas. These alerts are available on Google web search, Google Now cards in the Google app, Google Maps, and on the Public Alerts homepage, both on your computer and phone, said google. Clicking on the alert will show you information with details about the hazard, including a map and expected timeline, as well as tips on how to stay safe. Google introduced cyclone alerts in 2015 that shows cyclones projected area of impact, estimated time of arrival, and advice on what to do to stay safe. Payal Patel, Product Manager and Kiran Bapna, Head, New Business Development, Google India, said: Were constantly working to improve our Google Crisis Response tools to make critical information more accessible around natural disasters. Through Public Alerts we show relevant official weather, public safety and earthquake alerts to give people the information they need to make informed decisions in times of crisis. Were thankful to the Central Water Commission for making their flood alerts available as well as the India Meteorological Department for their cyclone alerts. By making critical and life-saving information more widely available to people around India, we want to help more people prepare for natural disasters, and hopefully protect more lives together. Your RSS feed from RSSFWD.com. Update your RSS... Last week, Apple CEO TIM Cook said that it is working on bringing Apple stores in India. Now, new reports are saying that the iPhone and iPad maker will have to re-submit an application for opening single brand retail stores in the country. Apple had filed a proposal with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) to open its own branded stores in the country last month. Now, DIPP has explained the gaps to the company and wants them to submit a fresh application, seeking more information on their proposal for further processing. Bloomberg, citing a source familiar to the matter reported that the company is expected to win approval from the government to launch the stores. It is not known how much Apple has invested and plans to open how many stores in India. In 2014, Apple had requested the Indian government to relax the policy on foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail. A foreign company needs to manufacture 30% of its goods in India to be able to operate retail stores in the country. Apple currently has only 2% market share in the country and hence it is trying to target the mid tier smartphone segment in India. What happened? Wells Fargo (WFC 0.07%) said that it has reached an agreement in principle to settle a complaint about its mortgage-lending practices. The bank is to pay $1.2 billion in order to, in its words, "resolve certain civil claims that the Federal Government had pending against the Company relating to the Company's Federal Housing Administration... lending program for the time period 2001-2010, as well as other potential civil claims relating to the Company's FHA lending activities for other periods." In 2012, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney filed a mortgage-fraud lawsuit against Wells Fargo, alleging that, due to the company's "misconduct" in arranging those loans, the FHA was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for insurance claims on mortgages that went into default. The settlement has led to Wells Fargo increasing its legal accruals for fiscal 2015. This impacts the company's net income for the year, which has been reduced by $134 million ($0.03 per share) to $22.9 billion ($4.12). Does it matter? In and of itself, the settlement is not all that significant -- even the full amount is barely 5% of Wells Fargo's freshly adjusted net profit for the year. And relatively speaking, the company has paid relatively little in the wave of big-ticket legal settlements and fines arising from its crisis-era relationship with the FHA. Earlier this year, for example, Goldman Sachs said it would pay around $5.1 billion to settle a state and federal investigation into its conduct in relation to mortgage-backed securities in those bad old days. Although the $1.2 billion won't make too much of a dent in Wells Fargo's finances -- or by extension, its stock price -- it seems that getting in hot legal water made the bank tighten its standards. Last year, it said it would raise the minimum credit score on selected types of FHA loans. That, plus the settlement, will hopefully make the bank more careful when arranging these mortgages. If there were only three charts that an investor could look at to get up to speed on Bank of America's (BAC -0.65%) stock, here's what they'd be. 1. Valuation The first thing an investor needs to know about Bank of America's stock is that it trades for the second lowest valuation multiple among the nation's biggest commercial banks, behind only Citigroup (C -0.97%). Investors can buy Bank of America's shares right now for a 29% discount to its tangible book value, whereas they'd have to pay an 82% premium to purchase shares of Wells Fargo (WFC 0.07%). This implies that there's upside to Bank of America's shares based on valuation alone. While it will be a long time before its shares trade for a multiple equal to Wells Fargo's (if they ever do), it isn't unreasonable to think that they'll trade for more than its tangible net worth at some point in the not-so-distant future. This follows from the simple fact that Bank of America's earnings are improving and should continue to do so, as it puts more crisis-related issues in its rearview mirror with each passing quarter. 2. Stock performance The second thing that an investor needs to know is that Bank of America is, to a certain extent, damaged goods. This is reflected in its stock chart dating back to before the financial crisis. Over the past decade, Bank of America's shareholders have seen the value of their investment fall by 72%. This is better than Citigroup's stock, which is down by 92% over the same period. But it's meaningfully worse than the performance of both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which have seen their shares increase by 44% and 53%, respectively, over the same period. This matters because the same culture that led to this decline, which was fueled by imprudent lending and a lack of discipline with respect to acquisitions, should be assumed to still exist at Bank of America -- and, for that matter, at Citigroup as well. Consequently, while it seems reasonable to assume that shares of both of these banks will recover over the foreseeable future given their extremely low valuations, these aren't the types of bank stocks that long-term investors can add to their portfolios and simply forget about. 3. Capital allocation The final thing that an investor needs to know about Bank of America is that it's likely to increase its dividend substantially in the quarters and years ahead. You can see this in the chart below, which illustrates how Bank of America allocated its capital in the first three quarters of 2015. The point here is that Bank of America retains a very large share of its earnings, as opposed to distributing the money to shareholders via dividends and stock buybacks. A bank like Wells Fargo, by contrast, seeks to allocate its earnings roughly evenly among dividends, stock buybacks, and retained earnings. While this isn't a good sign for Bank of America, because it reflects a lack of confidence on the part of the Federal Reserve, which has veto power over capital plans at the nation's biggest banks, it nevertheless illustrates how much room Bank of America has to increase its dividend going forward. This is particularly true given that the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's earnings have only recently begun to approach a normalized level. To this end, 2015 was the first time that Bank of America had strung together four consecutive calendar quarters of meaningful profits. It still has a lot of work to do on this front, given that its profitability is still roughly half that of Wells Fargo's, but 2015 nevertheless represented a tangible step in the right direction. Things looked as if they might fall into place again for Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG 0.59%) after the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention declared the fast-casual dining chain's long national nightmare was likely over. The health agency said the rash of foodborne illness cases from E. coli contamination that first began last October and sickened more than 50 people in 11 states appeared to be over. It was closing out its investigation even though it hadn't determined a cause. As the FDA noted, "No food item has been identified as causing the outbreak, and by the same token, no food has been ruled out as a cause." Not so spicy results The crisis became a crippling event for the chain. Chipotle just reported revenues for the three-month period ending in December dropped 7% as same store sales plunged 15% from the year-ago period. But if investors were expecting the restaurant chain to have finally reached an inflection point, Chipotle dashed those hopes by also revealing that a criminal probe into a separate foodborne illness case in California had suddenly gone national, and federal investigators were looking into the corporate response to such incidents going back three years. Chipotle said it was served with a second subpoena on Jan. 28, demanding the restaurant produce records relating to food safety matters going all the way back to the beginning of 2013. While noting it was fully cooperating with the request, it also ominously pointed out that what had at one time been an investigation focused solely on a single norovirus outbreak that occurred at a Simi Valley restaurant last August, reportedly sickening 234 people, had now blown up into a full-scale, companywide probe. What did they know, when did they know it? Federal criminal investigations into foodborne illnesses are not common, but they do happen -- though most companies are not penalized. ConAgra (CAG -1.63%) was identified as the source of a 2002 E. coli outbreak from its meat that sickened 28 but suffered no consequences. Others, such as Sara Lee, have faced fines. The food manufacturer paid $4.4 million after pleading guilty to charges of selling tainted meat in a listeria outbreak that killed 15 people. Juice company Odwalla was fined $1.5 million for selling unpasteurized apple juice that killed an infant, and ConAgra was finally held to account and paid over $11 million for its 2007 peanut butter salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds. And sometimes executives go to jail. The Justice Department is investigating Blue Bell Creameries over an outbreak of listeria that resulted in three deaths. The FDA has determined the company knew about the listeria as early as 2013, meaning criminal investigators will want to know just how much Blue Bell executives knew and when. If the answer turns out to be like the one for executives at Peanut Corp. of America, it could mean a lengthy prison sentence. The peanut processor's CEO was found to have ordered the company to "just ship 'em," referring to nuts he knew were contaminated with salmonella that ended up killing nine people. He is serving a 28-year jail term, while another executive is behind bars for 20 years. Under the gun The risk for Chipotle executives is if investigators find a smoking gun in the documents they've subpoenaed indicating executives knew about or covered up information that caused people to become ill. California county health officials expressed surprise that federal investigators were looking into the matter after Chipotle announced the original subpoena but also pointed out that the company only notified them of the norovirus outbreak after receiving word that customers were becoming ill. By then, the fast-casual chain had already closed and sanitized the affected restaurant. Chipotle Mexican Grill is planning to launch a major public relations campaign next week to begin wooing back customers who fled after the food contamination outbreaks, but an ever-expanding criminal probe into the company's handling of the cases makes it hard to serve up a mea culpa when we still don't know if there is blame to be assigned. Ford (F -2.97%) is planning a series of investments that will more than double its production capacity in Mexico, according to a Wall Street Journal report. What's happening: According to the Journal's report, Ford is planning around $1 billion to build a new vehicle-assembly complex in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, and to expand an existing factory near Mexico City. The plants are expected to be up and running in time to add about 500,000 units of production starting in 2018. These moves will more than double the company's existing production capacity in Mexico. Ford built about 433,000 vehicles in Mexico in 2015, representing 14% of its North American production. These moves haven't been confirmed by Ford. But if the Journal's report is on target, Ford will follow up a $2.5 billion investment that it announced last April in new engine and transmission plants in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Guanajuato. It's a big expansion of Ford's capacity south of the border. What's the Blue Oval planning? What Ford is probably thinking: Right now -- and probably for the foreseeable future -- demand in the United States for SUVs and pickup trucks is very high, with many buyers migrating away from traditional sedan choices to car-based "crossover" SUVs. Ford, like its old Detroit rivals General Motors (GM -0.56%) and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), is selling so many of its popular crossover SUV models that its factories are struggling to keep up with demand. Ford could almost certainly sell even more Explorers, Edges, and Escapes if it could easily make more. Meanwhile, its sales of sedans are slumping. The midsize Fusion is doing OK, but the small Fiesta and Focus, and big Taurus, have all seen sales decline over the last year or two. That's not just a Ford issue: Even longtime sedan king Toyota (TM 0.20%) is struggling to sell Camrys and Corollas in the U.S. Meanwhile, a new four-year labor agreement has made the U.S. a relatively expensive place to build cars. The solution? It appears that Ford is moving most of its sedan production to Mexico so that it can use its existing U.S. facilities to make more SUVs and trucks. SUVs and trucks generally have higher profit margins than sedans, so the move makes financial sense. The Journal's report said that Ford would use its expanded Mexican production capacity to build a new hybrid vehicle intended to rival Toyota's Prius, as well as several other unnamed models. Ford already makes the Fiesta and some Fusions in Mexico. It's believed that the Blue Oval will move the next-generation Focus and C-Max, currently made in Michigan, to Mexico in 2018, so that it can use the Michigan plant to make a new Ranger pickup, and an SUV. Ford is also expected to halt U.S. production of the Fusion, and to use that car's Michigan production line to manufacture the new Lincoln Continental. What this means for Ford investors: If Ford is, in fact, planning to move most of its North American sedan production to Mexico, it makes a lot of financial sense. It follows other recent moves by CEO Mark Fields that appear to be intended to boost Ford's profit margins during the next few years, including a new round of cost cuts in Europe, and Ford's announced withdrawal from the Japanese market, where it has struggled for years. Taken together, the moves could be interpreted as girding for the next U.S. recession -- or simply, as moves to maximize the return that Ford delivers to shareholders. Either way, they're welcome. Every taxpayer's goal is to make sure the Internal Revenue Service gets as little as possible. For that to happen, you need to take every tax deduction, credit or other income adjustment you can. Here are 10 tax breaks -- some for itemizers only, others that any filer can claim -- that often get overlooked but could save you some tax dollars. 1. Additional charitable gifts Everyone remembers to count the monetary gifts they make to their favorite charities. But expenses incurred while doing charitable work often aren't counted on tax returns. You can't deduct the value of your time spent volunteering, but if you buy supplies for a group, the cost of that material is deductible as an itemized charitable donation. Similarly, if you wear a uniform in doing your good deeds -- for example, as a hospital volunteer or youth group leader -- the costs of that apparel and any cleaning bills also can be counted as charitable donations. So can the use of your vehicle for charitable purposes, such as delivering meals to the homebound in your community or taking the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts troop on an outing. The IRS will let you deduct that travel at 14 cents per mile. 2. Moving expenses Most taxpayers know they can write off many moving expenses when they relocate to take another job. But what about your 1st job? Yes, the IRS allows this write-off then, too. A recent college graduate who gets a 1st job at a distance from where he or she has been living is eligible for this tax break. This tax break is found in the adjustments to income section at the bottom of Form 1040. 3. Job-hunting costs While college students can't deduct the costs of hunting for that new job across the country, already-employed workers can. Costs associated with looking for a new job in your present occupation, including fees for resume preparation and employment of outplacement agencies, are deductible as long as you itemize. The one downside here is that these costs, along with other miscellaneous itemized expenses, must exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income before they produce any tax savings. But the phone calls, employment agency fees and resume-printing costs might be enough to get you over that income threshold. 4. Military reservists' travel expenses Members of the military reserve forces and National Guard who travel more than 100 miles and stay overnight for the training exercises can deduct related expenses. This includes the cost of lodging and half the cost of meals. If you drive to the training, be sure to track your miles. You can deduct them on your 2015 return at 57.5 cents per mile, along with any parking or toll fees for driving your own car. You get this deduction whether or not you itemize; it's one of the above-the-line deductions found directly on Form 1040. But you will have to fill out Form 2106. 5. Child care credit, and more Millions of parents claim the child and dependent care credit each year to help cover the costs of after-school day care while Mom and Dad work. But some parents overlook claiming the tax credit for child care costs during the summer. This tax break also applies to summer day camp costs. The key here is that the camp is a day-only getaway that supervises the child while the parents work. You can't claim overnight camp costs. Remember, too, the dual nature of the credit's name: child and dependent. If you have an adult dependent who needs care so that you can work, those expenses can be claimed under this tax credit. 6. Mortgage refinance points When you buy a house, you get to deduct the points paid on the loan on your tax return for that year of purchase. But if you refinance your home loan, you might be able to deduct those points, too, as long as you use refinanced mortgage proceeds to improve your principal residence. 7. Many medical costs Taxpayers who itemize deductions know how difficult it often is to reach the adjusted gross income threshold required before you can claim any itemized medical expenses on Schedule A. It might be easier to clear that earnings hurdle if you look at miscellaneous medical costs. Some of these include travel expenses to and from medical treatments, insurance premiums you pay for from already-taxed income and even alcohol- or drug-abuse treatments. Keep good records of all your medical-related expenses. They could help you clear this tax deduction hurdle. Changes made with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act mean that taxpayers age 65 or younger must have qualifying medical expenses in excess of 10% of adjusted gross income in order to deduct them. And self-employed taxpayers take note. If you are not covered by any other employer-paid plan, for example, one carried by a spouse, you can deduct 100% of health insurance premiums as an adjustment to income in the section at the bottom of Page 1 of Form 1040. 8. Retirement tax savings The retirement savings contribution credit was created to give moderate- and low-income taxpayers an incentive to save. When you contribute to a retirement account, either an individual retirement account (traditional or Roth) or a workplace plan, you can get a tax savings for up to 50% of the first $2,000 you put into such accounts. This means you get a $1,000 tax credit, which is a tax break that directly reduces dollar for dollar any tax you owe. 9. Educational expenses The Internal Revenue Code offers many tax-saving options for individuals who want to further their education. The tuition and fees deduction can help you take up to $4,000 off your taxable income and is available without having to itemize. The lifetime learning credit could provide some students (or their parents) up to a $2,000 credit. Don't forget the American opportunity tax credit, which offers a dollar-for-dollar tax break of up to $2,500. This education tax break was created as part of the 2009 stimulus package as a short-term replacement for the Hope tax credit, and was made permanent in December 2015 with passage of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes, or PATH, Act of 2015. 10. Energy-efficient home improvements Tax breaks for some relatively easy energy-efficient home improvements are available under the Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit. If you haven't claimed this credit in its prior tax year incarnations (it was first available in 2005) and have made energy upgrades in 2015 (or will do so in 2016) it could be worth up to $500 in tax savings. To claim this credit, found on part 2 of Form 5695, you must pay attention to specific spending limits, such as $150 for high-efficiency furnaces and boilers, $300 for air conditioners and heat pumps and $200 for replacement windows. Yes, this tax break does require record keeping and filling out some work sheets. But if you qualify, it is a tax credit, giving you a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill. And when it comes to taxes, every dollar saved helps. Copyright 2016, Bankrate Inc. Heroin addiction and overdose deaths are on the rise in the United States. According to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from heroin-related overdoses nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, claiming more than 8,000 lives in 2013 alone. The recent CDC report shows those addicted to opioid painkillers were 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin. Its no secret that New Hampshire has been battling a heroin epidemic of its own. In 2015, there were at least 400 overdose deaths according to the Medical Examiners office who is still investigating cases that could exceed that death toll. Its the top issue for the first-in-the-nation primary, and since the last presidential election the number of drug overdoses has doubled in the state. Leading up to the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, some 2016 presidential candidates have been addressing the epidemic in a personal way as they barnstorm the state for votes. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shared his friends struggle with opiates, as did Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, who talked about losing her step-daughter to addiction. Texas Senator Ted Cruz discussed his sisters drug overdose and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush addressed his own daughters addiction battle. We are very grateful that candidates are sharing their stories and normalizing the disease and substance abuse disorder. Truly talking about the issue and knowing that 42% of people in New Hampshire know somebody who does heroine, that speaks volumes, said Holly Cekala, the director of the Hope for New Hampshire Recovery, an addiction recovery community center in Manchester. If we are going to normalize the disease then we need to normalize the way we go about treating it and getting people back to health. Cekala says presidential contenders such as Bush, Christie, Fiorina and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders have all visited the center for an open dialogue on potential solutions. She says the center helps people maintain their recovery post rehab, an area that lacks funding. We are out there advocating as loudly as we can so these candidates will take heed as to what the solutions are - you need to support recovery after initiating it with treatment. Its not going to work otherwise, its going to be a completely rotating door and that is what we see all over the country, said Cekala. Accessing care, reducing stigma and providing substance abuse disorder resources covered by insurance companies are the basic needs that Cekala says must be addressed to combat the heroin epidemic. I have parents coming in to Hope for New Hampshire desperate because their insurance companies dont cover treatment. They have emptied 401k plans, they have emptied college fund plans to get their children treatment and that is disgusting. That is terribly traumatizing for them, said Cekala. If you are a parent of a child with substance abuse disorder, these parents are often in an outside universe without much help or access and thats terrifying. For Jon Kesty, personal tragedy has become his lifes mission. Kesty lost his 23-year-old daughter Sumner, after she overdosed using heroin. He says she started experimenting with drugs like Percocet which quickly turned into an addiction. It opened my eyes to this world of substance abuse disorder; its something that is a horrible thing. As a parent you cant believe your child is shooting up Percocet - I didnt know what to do, it was a two-year downhill road with opiates, said Kesty. Kesty says his daughter went to rehab twice but wasnt able to maintain her recovery. Im not in recovery from using, I am in recovery from losing, said Kesty adding. It took a few years to work through the grief process and now I just want give back by educating people about prevention and services. Kesty spends his time traveling around the state sharing his knowledge about addiction with students as a prevention specialist with Hope for New Hampshire Recovery. He along with his wife, also started a Manchester chapter of the national organization, Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing (GRASP). The support network helps family members who have lost a loved one to substance abuse or addiction. With a spotlight on the heroin epidemic in the Live Free or Die state, Cekala has high hopes the presidential candidates will take the message to a national stage and create change. Just by presidential candidates talking about it and normalizing it, it makes it easier for people to talk about heroin and opiate addiction. What happens when people start talking about it? They start finding better solutions together. We know that addiction is a preventable disease you can recover from, but you cant do it alone, said Cekala. A young woman in the United Kingdom said she is fighting for her life after doctors failed to diagnose her with breast cancer because they reportedly said she was too young. The Scottish Sun reported that, prior to her 2013 diagnosis, Laura Saull, 27, went to her general practitioner and reported changes in her breasts. But she said her doctor told her she was too young to have the disease and prescribed her anti-anxiety pills instead. Saulls mother died of breast cancer at age 42, when Laura was 11. Six months after the initial visit, Saull was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, which has now spread through her chest, spine, ovaries and brain. The disease is now classified as stage 4, The Sun reported. Saull has had both breasts removed and has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy. Saull regularly blogs about her cancer battle on her personal website, livingwithstage4, and she told The Sun shes speaking out about her diagnosis so other young women can avoid her fate. Cancer does not pick and choose age, Saull told the news website. I believe if they had caught my cancer a year before they did, it would not be terminal at this point. The Sun does not report whether Saull is taking legal action against the hospital where she was misdiagnosed, nor does the website name the hospital. A Canadian man gave more than just a ring to his fiance, he also donated one of his kidneys to her after her own stopped functioning properly. Christian Willenborg and Errin Tollefson, of Saskatoon, met five years ago, CTV News reported. On their fourth date, Tollefson told Willenborg that she was born with only one kidney, and that it was on the verge of failure. Her father had been approved as a donor match, but he died of kidney cancer before the operation could be performed. Tollefson was already facing nine hours of dialysis each night when she contracted an infection, prompting Willenborg to step forward. When you see death in your loved ones eyes, when you see fear in your loved ones eyes, youre compelled to act, he told CTV News. Tests revealed Willenborg was a near-perfect match for Tollefson. The couple underwent surgery February 4 and Willenborg posted a Twitter update the next day indicating that all went well. While surgery is never a fun experience, this is all for a good cause, he said, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. He described Tollefson as his perfect match in love and in life. While we met only a few years ago, we share an amazing bond. What joy you brought into my life. You gave me life, and now its my turn to give it back, he said, according to the news station. A terminally ill single mother who campaigned tirelessly for right-to-die legislation in California died Saturday, PEOPLE reported. In 2014, Christy ODonnell, 47, was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer that went on to metastasize throughout her body. She died a peaceful death surrounded by her 21-year-old daughter and older brother, PEOPLE reported. Though California signed the End of Life Option Act into law, it has not gone into effect and the former police sergeant did not want to break any laws to end her life, PEOPLE reported. She did take advantage of hospice care, so they did what they could to keep her as comfortable as possible, Jay Watts, ODonnells brother, told the magazine. Unfortunately, she had tumors throughout her brain and her liver and everywhere. They did the best they could, but they couldnt stop the seizures on and off or the breakthrough pain. Watts told PEOPLE that had the law been in effect, his sister would have taken the option a month ago when her seizures started. She knew what was going on she did the best she could, he said. ODonnell wrote a letter to be released after her death which included her hopes that soon the legislation would go into effect so that others would not have to endure her suffering. Today, I write this goodbye with tears in my eyes, not of sadness, but joy for my daughters future and the life I have lived, the letter said, according to PEOPLE. I have taken advantage of everything current medical science has to offer to try to live longer. I have prayed to be healed and have had people around the world praying for me. Yet I have suffered more emotional and physical pain than anyone should have to endure. My daughter and I fought very hard during the last months of my life to try to bring about positive change in this world. My daughter has unselfishly given up her time with me to all of you, so that no child will ever again have to watch the person they love suffer at their death, she wrote, the magazine reported. I ask you all to continue making your voices heard for those who are suffering. I take comfort in knowing that someday aid in dying will be lawful not only in California, but throughout the United States. She ended the letter with a special message to her daughter. A new transparent, bendable pressure sensor could be incorporated into a pair of latex gloves and one day help doctors check women for breast cancer, without requiring X-rays, researchers say. Doctors often touch and feel patients' bodies, applying small amounts of pressure with their hands, when assessing patients' health. For instance, any hard spots or lumps may be a sign of abnormalities such as tumors. In fact, doctors may rely heavily on their "tactile feeling" of a patient's body to figure out whether the person may have cancer, said study senior author Takao Someya, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Tokyo. Pressure sensors could help doctors analyze their patients' health with greater precision than is possible with their natural sense of touch, the researchers said. "Tumors are normally more rigid than breast tissue, so we can input that data to a sensor-attached glove," Someya told Live Science. However, because human bodies are generally soft, sensors that touch bodies must be soft too, in order to work well. But so far, pressure sensors that are soft have been vulnerable to bending, and these devices could not distinguish their own bending from the variations in pressure in the object they were supposed to measure, the researchers said. "Many groups are developing flexible sensors that can measure pressure, but none of them are suitable for measuring real objects, since they are sensitive to distortion," study lead author Sungwon Lee, also of the University of Tokyo, said in the statement. [10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life] Now, the scientists say they have developed an ultrasensitive transparent pressure sensor that can accurately detect pressure even when the sensor is distorted to an extraordinary degree. The researchers made the sensor from composite fibers containing graphene, which are sheets of carbon just one atom thick, and carbon nanotubes, which are carbon pipes only nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter. They took meshes of these pressure-sensitive, 300-to-700-nanometer-wide fibers and embedded them in thin, light, transparent, elastic plastic sheets. When this flat sensor is bent, the nanofibers can shift around in the spaces inside the mesh, so their sensor capabilities do not change much even when the sensorsare bent to an extreme degree. However, the sensor can still respond when compressed by pressure. In experiments, the device successfully measured pressure even when it was placed on the soft, movable 3D surface of a balloon that researchers pressed their fingers into. In addition, when the scientists wrapped their sensor around an artificial blood vessel made of plastic and filled with water, they found that "it could detect small pressure changes," as well as how fast the pressure was changing, Lee said in the statement. The researchers noted that it was too early to suggest that pressure-sensitive gloves could replace mammography, which uses X-rays to diagnose and locate breast tumors. Still, one day, "the new sensors may offer easy and painless monitoring of tumors without exposure to radiation," Someya said. This new sensor could also make robots sensitive to pressure, Someya said. "Imagine that you are shaking hands with a robot that has soft skin," Someya said. "Currently, there is no pressure sensor that accurately works" once it is bent, he said. If the pressure sensor malfunctions, shaking hands with such a robot could be very dangerous, since the robot might end up accidentally crushing a person's hand. In the future, the researchers want to design a stretchable pressure sensor that can accurately detect pressure even when the device is stretched, Someya said. The scientists detailed their findings online Jan. 25 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Sierra Leone's last known Ebola patient has been released from hospital, medical officials said on Monday, allowing authorities to begin a six-week countdown before declaring the West African country free of the virus once more. Thirty-eight-year-old Memunatu Kalokoh was discharged on Friday, said Col. Sahr Foday, the head of the Sierra Leone Army Medical Unit where she was admitted. Kalokoh is the aunt of Mariatu Jalloh, the 21-year-old student who died of the virus last month in the same week that the World Health Organization declared the region Ebola-free. The case triggered a country-wide hunt for people who may have come into contact with her. Kalokoh nursed Jalloh when she was sick. Health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahyah Tunis said this meant the country had again started the 42-day countdown after which the outbreak will be declared over if there are no new cases. This represents twice the length of the virus's incubation period - the time elapsed between transmission of the disease and the appearance of symptoms. Even after that, however, the WHO said cases like this one are likely to re-emerge as efforts continue to stamp out the virus that killed more than 11,300 people in two years, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Sierra Leone was first declared free of Ebola in November before Jalloh's case emerged and raised fears of a new upsurge. Health experts expressed concern that many of the routine procedures established to contain the virus were not carried out in her case. Dozens of people who may have come into contact with Jalloh before she died remain missing, and the health ministry has urged them to come forward. That effort has been hampered by fear and suspicion in local communities. "There will be no punitive action against them and we will treat them if they are sick," Tunis said. A Utah woman who lost her natural eyelashes after getting extensions may serve as a cautionary tale for women considering the cosmetic procedure, which has been popularized by celebrities like reality TV star Kylie Jenner. Michelle Lundberg, of Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City, told Fox 13 Now that she suffered itchy eyes and a rash on her eyelids after getting false eyelashes applied at an unnamed salon. When she tried to have the lashes removed, her natural lashes broke off. It took weeks and weeks and weeks for them to grow back to normal," Lundberg told the news station. Consumer Reports issued a warning in 2013 about the potential dangers of false eyelashes, including allergic reactions and infections. The group advises consumers avoid eyelash extensions and opt for mascara instead. Salt Lake City-based ophthalmologist Mark Mifflin told Fox13Now.com that false eyelashes can cause side effects as minor as itchiness and redness, but also as major as a corneal infection. He explained an abrasion of the cornea is like a scratch, but sometimes those can actually become infected and that can lead to scarring, which can lead to eyesight loss. Marisa Kelly, owner of Salt Lake City-based salon Entice Lashes & Brows, told the news station warning signs that false lashes are being incorrectly applied include the use of tape, which can cause eye irritation, as well as the use of glue that contains toxic formaldehyde. She added that too-heavy false eyelashes may also cause breakage to natural lashes. "If you're paying $30 for a full set, they're probably not using the proper products," Kelly said. Lundberg told Fox13Now.com that, in light of her recent traumatic experience with the procedure, she wont be risking eyelash loss by getting extensions any more. "That's what I guess I learned from all of this is just be comfortable with who you are," Lundberg told the news station. Ted Cruz may have been born in Canada, but Bernie Sanders is the U.S. politician who seems most interested in Canadianizing his country via this 2016 election. So its a good idea to look at what the avowedly socialist Democratic contender is proposing, as it has played out across the northern U.S. border. Hint: its expensive. Whether it is single-payer health care, or free tuition for post-secondary education, paid family and medical leave for workers, or extensive public infrastructure projects, most of Sanders favorite solutions are taken from the policy book of Americas friendlyand very much more left-wing-- neighbor. In some cases, Sanders is Canadian-light, putting forward proposals not as socialist as their Canadian equivalents. In other cases, Sanders ideas are even more socialistic than their Canadian equivalentsthough they tend in the same direction. Take his biggest ticket item: health care. Sanders estimates the system he espouses will cost an additional $1.4 trillion per year. Americans wont need to pay for private insurance under his plan as they instead will get free health serviceslike Canada. Of course, the extra cost will have to be covered in some way. That will be through income-based taxes on employees and households. Federal income tax rates in the Sanders Administration would be hiked substantially, with the highest rate of 52 percent applied to incomes in excess of $1 million. Capital gains and dividends would be fully taxed as income and various deductions curbed for the rich. Canadians dont pay directly out of pocket for hospital and physician services, and they pay at subsidized prices for drugs and other health care services. As in Sanders proposed scheme, Canadian income and sales taxes cover the costs, largely paid by the middle-class and rich. With tax hikes imposed this year by the newly elected Trudeau government, the top total marginal income tax rate now averages 53 percent. Not far from Sanders idea. The catch is that Canadians label anyone rich who has an income of more than $140,000 in U.S. dollars. Americans may find that the Sanders version of Canadian health care requires something similar. To keep health costs low, which Sanders says he will do, the Canadian system rations services with long waiting times and tough limits on non- necessary services such as optometry, homecare, dental care and drugs. Health care is a right in Canada, just as Sanders hopes to achieve, but it is not always a right to timely, quality health care. This has led middle-class and wealthier Canadians to seek parallel health services by travelling to the U.S. As a response to that dilemma, Sanders health proposal would allow a European-style private medical system to operate alongside the free one. But that too is likely to be expensive, and something only the well-to-do can afford. Sanders idea of free tuition for universities and colleges is more aggressively socialistic than in Canada where students pay roughly a fifth of their education costs. On the other hand, his idea of paid parental and medical leave for 4 months isnt as sweeping as Canadas one-year limit. And Sanders proposal to build bridges, roads and other public infrastructure is not as big in relative terms as massive transportation and infrastructure spending planned by deficit-plagued Canadian federal and provincial governments. Taken together, however, Sanders proposals will expand federal programs and push up taxes to levels similar or beyond Canadas, equal to roughly 40 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (current level, about 33 percent). His ideas to pay for this include financial transaction taxes, expanded estate taxes (death taxes) and corporate taxes on income in tax-haven countries. Canada has none of theseyet. On the other hand, Canadian federal and most provincial governments impose value-added taxes as high 15 percent in some provinces as well as new levies on carbon. Sanders wants to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent within 15 years with a whopping carbon tax, elimination of fossil fuel subsidies and massive investments in renewable energy. So welcome to Canada, America! Your close neighbor may soon get closer than you ever imagined. Jack M. Mintz is the founding director and Presidents Fellow at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy and currently Scholar-in-Residence at Columbia Law School. Many people today see science and the Bible as a bitterly divorced couple and feel forced to take sides. Its a real tragedy because notwithstanding the impression created by extremists on both sides, the two are in fact remarkably harmonious. As a theoretical physicist and Christian, I have discovered at least ten fundamental truths that are affirmed by both modern science and ancient Scripture. Does that surprise you? Are you skeptical? If you are, I dont blame you: all of us are heavily influenced by media that relish playing up people arguing about the age of the earth, the role of evolution in our planets natural history, the reliability of science and so forth. Lost in the noise and fury of these shouting matches are the voices of reason and faith. Ratio et fides what I call IQ and SQ (spiritual quotient) operating peaceably and powerfully together, as they do in my own life. Chief among the ten truths that comprise the astonishing concurrence between science and the Bible is this one: Truth absolute, objective truth exists. In todays post-modern world, this is no trivial consensus. It is huge, placing science and the Bible squarely against pop relativism. An illustration of sciences belief in absolute truth is simple: if you and I jump from a tall building, we will both fall at roughly the same rate 32 feet per second per second. Theres not one gravitational truth for you and another for me. There is only one law governing the behavior of gravity throughout the universe, it being a cornerstone of 21st-century physics. Likewise, according to the Bible, there is not one god for you and another for me. There is only one God in the universe, he being the one described in Scripture. Whether you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God or merely a collection of myths and fables is irrelevant to this discussion. The point is, when it comes to arguing for the existence of absolute truth, science and the Bible are not at odds. They are on the very same side. The same accord exists for revelations concerning the behavior of time; hidden realities; logic and proof; the supernatural oddness of light; the very existence of our universe; the craziness of life; and the uniqueness of the human animal. In each instance, science and the Bible uphold identical truths. What does this all mean to you and me? Everything. For starters, you should not be misled into believing that science advances at the expense of the Bible. Or that the Bible is outdated and irrelevant because it is ancient. Or that reason and progress are the enemies of faith, and vice versa. Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth. Those are the words of Pope John Paul II, and I agree with them. In a lifetime spent sincerely seeking out what is true and trustworthy, I have discovered that relying on logic alone doesnt cut it. As Charles F. Kettering, the famous engineer and head of research at General Motors once observed, Logic is an organized way of going wrong with confidence. Faith is required to make sense of life faith in something or someone for which we cannot provide any proof. Some elect to have faith ultimately in themselves, others in the latest faddish ideas. I choose to have faith in the Bible and, happily, in doing so, I dont have to give up having faith in science as well. Ah, the sad sound of feminist desperationthats what we heard this past weekend. With Bernie Sanders giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money, feminists have resorted to shame tactics to appeal to women voters. On Friday, Gloria Steinem told Bill Maher that young women are only voting for Sanders because thats where the boys are. It seems women dont think clearly when they have boys on their mindsays a feminist. And on Saturday, at a rally in New Hampshire for Mrs. Clinton, Madeleine Albright shouted, Theres a special place in hell for women who dont help each other! To which Hillary cheered in response. Nothing like a little intimidation to rein people in. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Clinton & Co. just dug their own grave. American women, apparently now even left-wing women, are not being the good feminists theyre supposed to be. Instead, theyre thinking for themselves. And theyre tired of being told they owe the ability to breathe to the women who came before them. But Hillary understands women! Shes on your side! We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, implored Albright, referring to the fight for equality. And a lot of you younger women think its done. Its not done! Blah, blah, blah. Can we get some fresh blood here, please? My sympathies certainly dont lie with left-wing women, but I will say this: theyre smart to forge their own path. While theyre no doubt concerned with some of the same issues feminists are, they clearly dont mind if its a man who fights on their behalf. Feminists do. Which should tell you everything you need to know about the feminist elite. Hillary & Co. have zero concern for the women of America. Zero. Their agenda is different. Its to push the men out and get the women in. What they want, at the end of the day, is a matriarchy. That is not what most women, Republican or Democrat, want. According to The New York Times, a Wall Street Journal/NBC/Marist College poll of Democratic voters in New Hampshire showed 64 percent of women under the age of 45 supported Bernie Sanders, while only 35 percent backed Mrs. Clinton. Whats happening is dreadfully obviousits just hard for feminists to swallow. Feminism, as they know it, is dead. Women have heard the siren call long enough, and theyre sick of listening to it. That doesnt mean women dont believe in equal rights. It means they know such rights already exist. It also means they dont identify with crazy statements like the ones Steinem made to Maher on Friday, when she said the road used to be a male province and that home is still the most dangerous place for a woman. Hey Gloria, Madeleine and Hillary: just because women dont agree with you doesnt mean they dont know any better. It just means they dont agree with you. Telling young women who dont vote for Hillary that they know not what they dootherwise they wouldnt be stupid enough to vote for Sandersis hardly going to help you win them over. Hello? Its time for feminists to pack it up and go home. That ship has sailed. If they hurry, they might still be able to climb aboard. When is second place a victory? When youre running against Donald Trump in New Hampshire. With the billionaire businessman leading just about every Granite State poll going into the first-in-the-nation primary, the big question when returns come in seems to be who will snag the coveted No. 2 slot. All eyes are on second place, Republican strategist Mercedes Schlapp said. The race for second and for that matter, third is a crowded one on the Republican side. On the heels of the Iowa caucuses, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio seemed to be the one with the momentum, surging in the polls after his strong third-place finish. But he was thrown off his stride at Saturdays debate where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie challenged his readiness and mocked him for relying on scripted anti-Obama talking points. Whether the shaky debate performance hurts Rubios standing in New Hampshire will become clearer Tuesday night. Aside from Rubio and Christie, the battle for second is also joined by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Rubio, for his part, is not backing off the anti-Obama talking points Christie hammered him for at Saturdays debate. The senator told Fox News hes only saying what he believes, that Barack Obama is changing America. He stressed that no matter how New Hampshire decides, theres plenty of presidential race left to go. Obviously, we want to do well here in New Hampshire and get as many delegates as we can. The same is true in South Carolina and in Nevada, he said. I feel very confident that as we move forward in this process, that's what we're going to wind up at. The New Hampshire race has shaped up in a sense as a contest between governors and senators -- with the three current and former governors in the race pitting their on-the-job experience against the popular appeal of the contests two senators. Cruz and Rubio placed first and third in Iowa, respectively. Bush, Kasich and Christie all failed the make the leaderboard in the leadoff caucuses, though, and the pressure is perhaps highest on them to do well in New Hampshire. Bush has revived a long-simmering feud with Trump in the run-up to the primary, first going after him at Saturdays debate for his support as a developer for eminent domain powers and then on Twitter for his past criticism of Sen. John McCains war record. Their dispute has essentially devolved into a nasty bout of name-calling. In a tweet, Bush called Trump a whiner and a loser after Trump called him desperate and not a man. But Bush told Fox News the real issue is he doesnt think Trump is a true conservative I don't think he's a conservative and the party nominee ought to be a conservative, he said. Trump, though, told Fox News that Bush is weak on the issues of immigration and more. Jeb Bush is a very weak candidate, Trump said. Despite the drama surrounding candidates like Bush and Christie, it is Kasich who with an upbeat message and approach focused on his Ohio record has gradually been climbing in the polls ahead of the New Hampshire vote. The RealClearPolitics polling average showed him in third position in the state, just ahead of Cruz and Bush. Meanwhile, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina have so far struggled to gain traction in New Hampshire. The polls in New Hampshire are not always the greatest indicator of success, however, as the state allows undeclared voters to affiliate with a party at the polling site and vote in that partys primary. A large break of unaffiliated voters for one candidate could lead to a primary night surprise. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is looking to answer Hillary Clintons narrow Iowa caucus victory with a win of his own Tuesday night. The Vermont senator, like Trump, has been leading in New Hampshire polling for months. Polls begin to close in the state starting at 7 p.m. local time, and all are set to close by 8 p.m. After the ridiculously close squeaker in the Iowa caucuses, the states Democratic Party said it couldnt release the raw vote totals for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. That simply isnt how they do business, party officials insisted. Even after they audited the results this week, Iowa Democratic officials would say only that Clinton won 49.84 percent of the vote and Sanders 49.59 percent, reducing her margin slightly to a quarter of a point. Sanders has called for the raw vote totals to be released. The state party says thats not the way it conducts the caucuses. And the press has pretty much let the matter drop. But it hasn't played out that way in past elections. Here are the vote totals reported--or, some argue, estimated--for Iowas 2008 Democratic caucus: Barack Obama, 93, 952. John Edwards, 74,377. Hillary Clinton, 73,663. Joe Biden 2,328. Its not a secret document. Its available on CNNs website. Iowa Democratic Chairman Andrea McGuire wrote in the Des Moines Register that the raw vote totals are irrelevant. These are not contests of popular raw votesnor do we think they should be, McGuire said. Asking for raw vote totals demonstrates a misunderstanding of our process. But if it wasnt a problem eight years ago, why is it such a big deal now? A spokesman for the Iowa party maintains it did not release the raw totals in 2008 and that the figures reported by CNN are probably based on journalistic estimates. "Candidates are competing for delegates in the Iowa Democratic Precinct caucuses, which is why we report the statewide delegate equivalents won by each candidate," the spokesman said. Which raises the question: Why would the party put the media in the position of having to do their own calculations? Obviously the raw vote makes little difference in terms of delegates. But if Clinton, as expected, loses New Hampshire, and it turns out Sanders got more votes in Iowa, that would be a double blow psychologicallyand give the Vermont senator bragging rights in the first two contests. Its hard to avoid the suspicion that the state party establishment is trying to protect Hillary. Perhaps its just a coincidence that McGuire, an Iowa co-chairman of Clintons 2008 campaign, drives a Buick with the license plate HRC2016. **Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.** THE NEW HAMPSHIRE EXPECTATIONS GAME GOFFSTOWN, N.H. They say winning is the only thing, but how you win matters when it comes to the New Hampshire Primary. There is a lot of lazy talk in the world of pundits about how many tickets there are out of New Hampshire this year on the Republican side. Since the Democratic race is only two people theyre not counting tickets, but for the GOP side the main priority now is winnowing their field of candidates. Republican voters have been like shoppers in a grocery store, overwhelmed by the choices in the cereal aisle. This one has too much sugar. That one is too dry. The other one is bland. When the options seem limitless we are always quick to find fault with the choices. In that way, Republican voters have been immobilized by the tyranny of multiplicity. As has been the case in every recent cycle, the priority for Republicans is to come to as quick a conclusion as possible with the least amount of damage inflicted to the eventual nominee. The members of the red team failed in that goal in the past two cycles. But this year, New Hampshire might give the party a chance to do just that. So with all this talk about tickets out of New Hampshire always remember that each candidate has a specific threshold to meet in order to advance to South Carolina on Feb. 20 and beyond. With those high-stakes in mind, lets look at what each of the viable candidates needs to do today in order to keep on moving. [What are the three keys to winning in New Hampshire? Chris Stirewalt has the answer in 60 seconds. WATCH HERE.] Donald Trump -The New Hampshire frontrunner in polls since the beginning of August, Trump stands atop a 17-point lead in the Real Clear Politics average for the Granite State. Even if Trump were to underperform here as he did in Iowa a 5-point slip it would still leave him 12-points ahead of his closest competitor. That wouldnt be the kind of dominance shown by the two prior GOP nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney who won the states by margins of 54 points and 41 points respectively. But it would be enough to get Trump back on track following his Iowa disappointment. What Trump should be worried about here isnt a loss but rather a larger shortfall than he saw in Iowa last week. In Iowa, Trump did worse than expected but his rivals did slightly better. But if there is greater evidence that Trumps supporters dont show up to vote or that he actually drives up support for other candidates, this could be start of a long, painful season for the celebrity billionaire. So while margin of victory matters, the real key for Trump is clearing the 25-percent mark that would be consistent with his Iowa underperformance. If he falls short of that threshold it would mean that Trumps coalition isnt a coalition after all. But if Trump wins here by 10 points or more and with more than a quarter of the vote, he will have fully reclaimed his frontrunner status. Marco Rubio - The Floridian would certainly rather have not endured his Saturday night suplex from Chris Christie. But there is a silver lining: If he had been untouched in the debate, the expectations for Rubio today would have been entering dangerous territory. Sans suplex, Rubio would be facing a required second-place finish to avoid an embarrassment. But the last round of polling actually showed Rubio still rising. Perhaps his debate brain freeze slowed his roll, but theres no evidence of freefall or even reversal here. If Rubio does finish second, he can count on a comeback kid narrative. But if he finishes third or perhaps even fourth it will not be debilitating. But that depends on who is ahead of him in the stack. The Iowa bronze winner can afford to finish behind Trump or even Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has a one-state campaign focused on New Hampshire. Kasich is already discounted in the process. Heck, Rubio could fall behind Sen. Ted Cruz if Cruz pulls a stunner. The only real imperative for Rubio is to not fall behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. That would scramble Rubios chance to unite the traditional GOP coalition and start duking it out with Cruz and Trump for South Carolina. Bush may not have a path to the GOP nomination, but he and his group have enough money to take Rubio out of the money. John Kasich - The Ohio governor could have run as a conservative, but he made a decision long ago to play up his Huntsmanian qualities as a liberal Republican with trans-partisan tendencies. Democratic-leaning independents in New Hampshire and in the political press eat that stuff up. Kasich has yo-yoed in the polls here, some have shown him vaulting to second place by huge margins, but Real Clear Politics average has him at third place with 13.5 percent of the vote. But Kasich is also-ran nationally and Republican voters obviously resent his Democratic dabbling. Lacking a plausible path to the nomination, its not clear what a second-place finish would do for Kasich. For him to really remake the race here, Kasich would need to pull off a super stunner and win here. But as John McCain learned in 2000, even that probably wouldnt be enough given power of the South in early GOP primaries. Ted Cruz - The Texas senator doesnt draw a lot of water up here in New England. And thats probably okay with him. Cruz booked his ticket out of New Hampshire in Des Moines. Hes got a win under his belt, big money and a great organization in the Southern states just ahead, starting with South Carolina. Cruz is running a respectable fourth in the RCP average and doesnt need to do any better than that in order to shift southward with vigor. And if Cruz could somehow slip into third place it would give him quite a boost. But Cruz did take some lumps here over his campaigns sharp elbows against the gentle Ben Carson in the Iowa caucuses. That combined with pro-lifers rallying around Sen. Marco Rubio could cost Cruz here. Theres almost nothing that could happen here to take Cruz out of contention, but he would surely rather have a pleasant surprise than be a cellar dweller here. Jeb Bush - The presidential bid of the former frontunner could end tonight. What would have been an impossible thought a year ago, Bush is facing elimination in the first primary. Bush is running fifth both nationally and in New Hampshire and needs to do substantially better than that tonight to keep on keeping on. And the presence of his family and longtime supporters in New Hampshire in the past week suggests that the family knows that the end is nigh. Bush can only continue if he finishes third or very close to whoever does. If Bush does so he can use his remaining funds to kill Rubio and open the way to a Trump nomination. And in that way, Bush really needs a big surprise showing to make the case to a party that has spurned him that he could really make things happen. Otherwise, pressure will mount for his departure. Chris Christie - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has long pegged New Hampshire has his path to victory. Donning a pin of the Granite State next to his home of New Jersey, Christie hasnt quite caught the fire he hoped, mostly staying in the single digits according to the Real Clear Politics average in the state where he currently sits at approximately 6 percent. He will have to have a shocking result here in the Granite State in order to have any path forward, but his path would require a refiguring of the Republican Party that is about as unlikely as him being the nominee. [Watch Fox: N.H. primary night special coverage begins tonight at 7p.m. ET.] WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE Live Free or Die is the state motto of New Hampshire, and many take pride in the phrase today as a symbol of the states rebel spirit against big government and taxation. But how exactly did the Granite State become associated with the famous phrase? N.H. Tour Guide tells: The phrase was taken from a toast on July 31, 1809 which was written by General John Stark, a famous New Hampshire soldier of the American Revolutionary War. General John Stark was invited to an anniversary reunion for the battle of Bennington but he became ill just prior to the reunion and could not attend. In his absence, he sent his toast in a note. Part of that toast read Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils. Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM POLL CHECK Real Clear Politics Averages National GOP nomination: Trump 29.5 percent; Cruz 21 percent; Rubio 17.8 percent; Carson 7.8 percent New Hampshire GOP Primary: Trump 31.2 percent; Rubio 14 percent; Cruz 11.8 percent; Kasich 13.5 percent; Bush 11.5 percent National Dem nomination: Clinton 49.3 percent; Sanders 36 percent New Hampshire Dem Primary: Sanders 54.5; Clinton 41.2 percent General Election Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +4 points Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans +0.5 POWER PLAY: NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY PALOOZA Fox News Senior Political Correspondent, Mike Emanuel, and The Hills, A.B. Stoddard, discuss whether neighboring Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will actually pull out a win here in the Granite State, and if he does, does it matter? The panel weighs in on the Democratic battle and whether it will bubble over today. But the GOP side is the one to watch, and the panel says that there are only four clear tickets out of New Hampshire. Who are they and what does that mean for folks looking for a miracle win? The panel gives their take to Chris Stirewalt. WATCH HERE. [Keep up with the incoming results from the N.H. Primary throughout the day here.] WHICH WAY TO ALEXANDRIA? NH.GOV: Early historians record that in 1623, under the authority of an English land-grant, Captain John Mason, in conjunction with several others, sent David Thomson, a Scotsman, and Edward and Thomas Hilton, fish-merchants of London, with a number of other people in two divisions to establish a fishing colony in what is now New Hampshire, at the mouth of the Piscataqua RiverThus the settlement of New Hampshire did not happen because those who came here were persecuted out of England. The occasion, which is one of the great events in the annals of the English people, was one planned with much care and earnestness by the English crown and the English parliament. Here James the first began a colonization project which not only provided ships and provisions, but free land bestowed with but one important condition, that it remain always subject to English sovereignty. So it remained until the War of the Revolution. Smith first named it North Virginia but King James later revised this into New England. Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. Tuesdays vote in New Hampshire marks the 100th anniversary of the first-in-the-nation primary. New Hampshires primary is a cherished responsibility for Granite Staters that reflects and informs who we are, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan told Fox News. So why is New Hampshire first, and why is it such a big deal? According to the governor, New Hampshire was the first to truly recognize that direct citizen involvement in the nomination process makes for better presidential candidates and better presidents. The New Hampshire primary traditionally has been first for the last century, a position that was sealed into law in 1975 by New Hampshire's secretary of state holding that New Hampshires primary would fall at least seven days before any other. Here are some other fast facts: Since 1976, no Republican candidate has won the partys nomination without winning Iowa or New Hampshire. Since 1952, only three candidates have lost the New Hampshire primary and gone on to be elected president of the United States: Bill Clinton in 1992, George W. Bush in 2000 and Barack Obama in 2008. Between 1952 and 1988, no candidate who lost the New Hampshire primary won the White House. 44 percent of voters in New Hampshire are unaffiliated, making up the largest voting bloc in the state. New Hampshires unaffiliated voters can decide on the day of the election which partys primary to participate in. New Hampshires secretary of state is predicting a record 550,000 voters will cast ballots in the presidential primary Tuesday. Campaigns and outside groups are projected to spend $116 million on ads in New Hampshire. From 1916 to 1948, the voters' decision in the New Hampshire primary was solely for the selection of delegates; there was no vote on the presidential contenders themselves. But in 1952, New Hampshire made a change allowing citizens to vote directly for the candidate of their choice, instead of delegates. Other states soon followed. The primary originated because we wanted to get rid of what was essentially a caucus, said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and chairman of the New Hampshire Primary 100th Anniversary Commission. We wanted to give power to the people. That is a tradition that still holds true today the primary is about the people Levesque explained one of the ways the states primary anniversary commission is celebrating the 100th birthday on Tuesday they replicated the ballot box from the first primary in 1916, which existed in the New Hampshire State House, to serve as a time capsule. Students, voters, and candidates alike can submit notes and letters to be reviewed another 100 years from now. In a snowy backwoods town in New Hampshire, Marco Rubio was sounding nothing like the man who repeated the same debate answer four times. It was the afternoon after the ABC debate, and 300 people in a Hudson school auditorium were paying rapt attention as Rubio weaved attack lines, policy wonkery and personal anecdotes into a seamless narrative. And when he got to his usual finalehow his parents came here with nothing, became a bartender and a maid, and only in America could he run for the highest office in the landwell, he struck the right emotional notes. But this is not the Rubio you see on television. Its not the way he comes across in interviews and debates. In those settings, he can seem repetitive and robotic. And thats why using the same lines about President Obama as Chris Christie hammered him was deemed so damaging. It feeds the medias narrative about Rubio the robot. The pundits acted as though Rubio had utterly implodedsome of the same pundits who assured us how much momentum he had gained from a third-place finish in Iowa. Rubio Chokes, declared the Boston Herald. Politicos insiders concluded he had crashed and burned. It was a rough night, no question. But I suspect it will blow over quickly. Dont voters assume that most politicians memorize canned lines and zingers in a debate? Rubio didnt make a factual blunder or forget the third agency he planned to abolish; he kept insisting, verbatim, that Obama was intentionally undermining the country. Average viewers dont always score these things like the commentariat class. They assume politicians memorize their zingers. Since the knock on Rubio is that he seems young and is just a first-term senatoralthough Ted Cruz is the same age and came to Washington two years after Rubiohe may have overcompensated by trying to be utterly disciplined. He may feel he has little margin for error. Message discipline is a strength in a presidential campaign, but not if it drains the candidate of personality. Rubios stump speech at the school contained many of his standard lines; indeed, reporters covering him tell me they can recite the speech word for word. He talked about uniting the Republican Party and the conservative movement. He talked about ObamaCare and overregulation and securing the border. He talked about Benghazi and how Hillary Clinton isnt even qualified to be president. He declined to make a sympathetic nod even when asked about police brutality against minorities, saying he is sick of reading articles about how the police are doing this or that wrong. But the Florida lawmaker also leavened his speech, and the Q & A, with humor and personality. He was amused by protestors dressed as Spider-Man and Batman and kept coming back to that, saying he would even cut their taxes. He joked that he wasnt wearing his infamous high-heeled boots. When Rubio spoke of the economy, he said he had lived paycheck to paycheck. When he spoke of student debt, he recalled having struggled with more than $100,000 in student loans. When he spoke of protecting Social Security, he said that people like his mother deserved their benefitsbut that the program would go bankrupt if it wasnt reformed for retirees a decade from now. And he was capable of surprising. When asked about the criminal justice system, he owned up to a Washington Post report about being arrested at 18 for drinking beer in a park. While Rubio joked that he wasnt condoning such behavior, he said he wasnt prosecuted, but some kid who stole a belt at Macys could end up with a permanent record that would ruin his ability to get a job. There are other talented politicians in this GOP field. Chris Christie has given spellbinding answers about how the scourge of drug abuse claimed the life of a friend. Cruz can speak like a fiery preacher, the occupation of his father. Donald Trump can be both mesmerizing and entertaining at his rallies. The enigma of Rubios candidacy is that his natural eloquence often seems scripted. Depending on the outcome today in New Hampshire, its a puzzle that Rubio may have limited time to solve. Residents of three small New Hampshire towns cast their ballots in the Granite State's first-in-the-nation presidential primary just after midnight Tuesday, kicking off a contest where several candidates are eyeing a comeback. On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of next-door Vermont is looking to rebound from his narrow Iowa loss with a big victory over Hillary Clinton. And on the Republican side, nearly a half-dozen candidates are battling for position behind Donald Trump, with the race's governors Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich -- looking for redemption after missing the leaderboard entirely last week. With votes in from residents of Dixville Notch, Millsfield and Hart's Landing, Trump, Ohio Gov. Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz shared the Republican lead with nine votes each. New Jersey Gov. Christie followed with three votes, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida governor Bush each had two. Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina each garnered one vote. On the Democratic side, Sanders led Clinton by 17 votes to 9. In a statistical oddity, the candidate who receives a plurality of the Republican vote in Dixville Notch (population: 12) has been the GOP nominee in every election cycle since 1968. This year, Kasich won the town's vote, 3-2, over Trump. With Trump leading the Republican race by double digits in most polls, the big question entering Tuesday's primary was whether the relentless attacks against Rubio during and after Saturday nights Republican debate would be enough to bring the surging freshman Florida senator back to the pack in the race for second place. In the two-person Democratic race, Sanders has held an advantage over Clinton in New Hampshire for weeks. The state is friendly territory for the Vermont senator and a must-win if he's to have a chance of staying competitive with Clinton as the race moves to more diverse states that are seen as more hospitable to the former secretary of state. Christie has been unrelenting in questioning Rubios readiness and authenticity. At Saturdays debate, he slammed the senator for repeatedly reciting anti-Obama talking points. He repeated the criticism Monday night in an appearance on Fox News' "The Kelly File." "You can't repeat the same thing over and over again," Christie said. "[Is Rubio] going to do that sitting across from [Russian President] Vladimir Putin? There's no substance there." "He's a nice guy, he has talent," Christie continued," [But] he's too young, too inexperienced and he has served not one day in a position of management in his entire life." Rubio, though, has dug in and continued to repeat his criticism of President Obama that drew Christies scorn. "People said, 'Oh, you said the same thing three or four times.' I'm going to say it again," Rubio said Monday in Londonderry. As far as that message, I hope they keep running it. And I'm going to keep saying it because it's true," Rubio said Sunday on ABCs This Week. "Barack Obama said he wanted to change the country. He's doing it in a way that is robbing us of everything that is special. Speaking on Fox News, Bush said hes also going to continue taking on front-runner Trump, as he did during Saturdays debate. Hes not a conservative; he doesnt have the temperament to be president and whenever I have the chance to describe what I think about him, Im gonna do it, Bush said Monday. Bush hammered Trump on Saturday for his broad support of eminent domain and Trump's past attempt to use it to take a womans property for a project in Atlantic City. During that dispute, Trump tried to shush Bush, but was booed by the audience. Bush pointed to that exchange in questioning how Trump would do in a general election race. You think hes gonna shush Hillary Clinton? Bush said. He would lose. Trump saved his harshest attacks Monday for Bush as well as Cruz, who bested him in Iowa. When an audience member at a rally in Manchester shouted out an insult directed at Cruz a vulgar term for "coward" Trump repeated the term and jokingly reprimanded the woman. Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler responded to the Associated Press via email, saying, "Let's not forget who whipped who in Iowa." "Jeb is having some kind of a breakdown, I think," Trump told CNN Monday, calling Bush, the son and brother of presidents, a spoiled child and an embarrassment to his family. "I think it's a very sad situation that's taking place." Kasich, meanwhile, has taken a less confrontational approach in the race, casting himself as a uniting force and touting his economic record as governor. The Ohio governor has seemingly pinned his hopes on New Hampshire and said Sunday hes going in strong while stressing he also has substantial resources on the ground in states like South Carolina and Nevada. Kasich also criticized Bush over an online video that hit Kasich for expanding Medicaid and what the Bush campaign called his "liberal record" in Ohio compared to Bush's two terms as Florida governor. "I'm really disappointed in Jeb," Kasich told "The Kelly File." "Look, I mean, he's taken the very low road to the highest office in the land, and he's been negative all along, but that's okay." Carson and Fiorina also are looking to do better than they did in Iowa, but have struggled to even break into the middle tier in Granite State polling. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Russia sent the United States a "concrete" plan to end the five-year civil war in Syria, and Washington was reviewing the proposal, Russia's top diplomat told state media Tuesday. U.S. officials did not immediately confirm they received such a plan. The Russian news agency RIA reported the comments from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is set to meet with Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday in Germany. Kerry did not appear to address Russia's claim while speaking to reporters in Washington Tuesday, but he called on Moscow to help arrange for an immediate ceasefire. He cited Russia's role in the ongoing government onslaught on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Last week, Syrian troops and their allies were able to lift a three-year rebel siege imposed on the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo. "Russia's activities from Aleppo and in the region are making it much more difficult to be able to come to the table and be able to have a serious conversation," Kerry said. Lavrov shrugged off criticism that Russia had contributed to the collapse of peace talks in Geneva last week by providing air cover over Aleppo. Instead, he blamed Turkey, saying it had fueled the conflict by providing militants with weapons and supplies, and buying oil from them. "Unless we can get to a ceasefire that everybody has signed up to, and humanitarian access to the areas everybody has agreed needs it, then the conflict will be prolonged," State Dept. spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The Syrian uprising began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests but escalated into a full-blown civil war after a harsh government crackdown. The fighting has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee the country. The war has drawn in regional and international rivals, with a U.S.-led coalition launching airstrikes against fighters linked to the Islamic State terror group. Opposition activists have said that Russia has been using cluster bombs since the start of its aerial campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. The U.N. humanitarian office OCHA said 300,000 people could be cut off from aid if Syrian government and allied forces encircle Aleppo and deprive those fleeing from their last way out. OCHA said local leaders believe up to 150,000 people could try to flee to nearby Afrin and the surrounding countryside. The Associated Press contributed to this report. If polls are to be believed, Hillary Clinton's once commanding national lead over Bernie Sanders appears to have evaporated in a matter of days -- pointing to trouble ahead for the former secretary of state as voters cast their ballots Tuesday in Sanders-friendly New Hampshire. Two recent national polls show Sanders closing the gap against Clinton. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Clinton leading Sanders 48-45 percent. And a Quinnipiac University poll from Friday showed Clinton leading 44-42 percent. Both polls were taken since the Iowa caucuses. The Vermont senator also has led in virtually every New Hampshire poll going into Tuesdays primary, after narrowly losing to Clinton last week in the Iowa caucuses. While state polls are by far better indicators going into each individual primary, the national polls help gauge the candidates broader appeal. Over the past several months, Clinton has at times led the national polls by more than 30 points contributing to her front-runner label even as she faced tight races in Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton, interviewed on MSNBC Monday night, said she knew this wasnt going to be easy. I always knew that Senator Sanders [has] been in public life next door for 25 years; he's [in] the Congress for that long, he had a tremendous amount of familiarity and a sense of really belonging in the area, she said. So, I always knew this was going to be hard. I feel good about the campaign we waged here. I think we have an uphill battle. We're going to battle it until the last votes are counted and we're going to turn around and head off for the next contest. The polling may still be in flux. A Rasmussen poll also taken right after the Iowa caucuses showed Clinton retaining a double-digit lead. But Sanders may be heading for a big win in New Hampshire Tuesday night, if he can hold off Clinton, who has gotten tougher on the Vermont senator in recent days as her husband Bill Clinton also ratchets up his attacks. When youre making a revolution, you cant be too careful about the facts, Clinton said at a Milford, N.H., event Sunday, a swipe at Sanders call for political upheaval. He followed up Monday at an event at Manchester Community College, accusing Sanders of demonizing anyone who disagrees with him. We cant get in a place where were so mad that we demonize anyone who is against us, where we cant have an honest discussion about health care, where anyone who is on the other side is part of a mystical establishment, Clinton said. At a rally Monday in Derry, N.H., Sanders continued to slam Clinton for the help shes getting from super PAC donations. On Twitter, Sanders said if voters show up in large numbers, hes got New Hampshire locked down. If there is a high turnout tomorrow, I think we are going to win. I urge you all: Come out and vote. #VoteTogether, he tweeted. The Quinnipiac poll of 484 Democrats was taken Feb. 2-4, and had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 512 Americans was conducted Feb. 2-5 and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. The nations top intelligence official confirmed Tuesday that the Islamic State has succeeded in making and deploying chemical agents in Iraq and Syria -- calling it the first such attack by an extremist group in more than two decades. The confirmation of mustard gas use came during Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he spoke to the Islamic State's growing sophistication online and in the battlefield. He did not elaborate on where and when the chemical attacks occurred, though there has been mounting evidence the terror group was experimenting with chemical weapons. [The Syrian government] has used chemicals against the opposition on multiple occasions since Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. ISIL has also used toxic chemicals in Iraq and Syria, including the blister agent Sulfur mustard, Clapper said. He said this marks the first time an extremist group has produced and used a "chemical warfare agent in an attack since Aum Shinrikyo used sarin in Japan in 1995," referring to the Tokyo subway terror attack that year. Fox News previously reported on ISIS' potential experimentation with chemical weapons. Photos taken by the Kurds in northern Iraq last summer and reviewed by Fox News showed burns and blistering on skin following exposure to odorless, colorless agents absorbed through the clothing. A doctor who was in northern Iraq last year said he treated Kurdish fighters whom ISIS used as "lab rats for WMD," adding that the variety of burns and illnesses suggested that "mustard gas, precursors, as well as neurotoxic acids" were being tested. Evidence has also indicated that Damascus has been using chemical weapons against the Syrian opposition and civilians, despite an agreement to reduce its stockpile two years ago. The Japan attack that Clapper referred to in his testimony occured in March 1995. Then, perpetrators hailing from the cult Aum Shinrikyo launched five coordinated Sarin gas attacks on the Toyko subway, killing 12, severely injuring 50 and leaving some 1,000 people with temporary vision impairment. Clapper dropped the latest revelation amid discussions of other worldwide national security threats, including North Korea, which he said has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months. Meanwhile, Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Islamic militants will continue plotting against U.S. interests overseas and homegrown attacks will pose the most significant threat from violent extremists to Americans at home. "The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," he said. "ISIL involvement in homeland attack activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership," he said, using an acronym for the militant group. He also, in his prepared testimony, said ISIS has an "unprecedented online proficiency." Clapper said that the North Korean government announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. He added that U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there. His testimony followed the North Koreans' recent underground test explosion and rocket launch. He said the communist nation is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. When asked, separately, if the the intelligence community suspected that the Iranian government was violating its own nuclear agreement with Washington and its international partners, Clapper said, no. We have no evidence thus far that they are moving toward a violation, he testified, adding that Washington is in the distrust and verify mode and is watching closely. On the cybersecurity issue, Clapper said China selectively uses cyber-attacks against targets Beijing believes threaten Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy. "We will monitor compliance with China's September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors," he said. He also warned that Afghanistan is at "serious risk of a political breakdown during 2016." He said waning political cohesion, rising activities by local powerbrokers, financial shortfalls and sustained attacks by the Taliban are eroding stability. Russia, meanwhile, continues to compete to create an image of being co-equal with the United States, and is very paranoid about NATO and about being contained, he said in response to a question on Russian aggression in Syria and Ukraine. Fox News' Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Climate changes in the sixth and seventh centuries may have played a huge role in shaping human history, according to new research. A paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience Monday identifies a period from 536 to about 660 AD as the Late Antique Little Ice Age, spanning most of the Northern Hemisphere. The research highlights key climactic changes that began around 1500 years ago, significantly impacting history. In particular, the sixth century coincides with rising and falling civilizations, pandemics, human migration and political turmoil, it explained. The studys authors cited, for example, the Justinian plague that ravaged the Byzantine Empire, the Sasanian Empire in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region in 541 and 542 AD. Related: Climate change didn't force Vikings to abandon Greenland, scientists say The researchers also identified movements out of the Asian Steppe and the Arabian peninsula, as well as the spread of Slavic-speaking peoples and political upheavals in China as the result of a cooler climate. The studys lead author Ulf Buntgen is head of the Dendroecology Group at the Swiss Federal Institute. Dendroecology is the scientific study of tree rings. Here we use tree-ring chronologies from the Russian Altai and European Alps to reconstruct summer temperatures over the past two millennia, explained the scientists, in their paper. We find an unprecedented, long-lasting and spatially synchronized cooling following a cluster of large volcanic eruptions in 536, 540 and 547 AD. Related: Early man's actions caused global warming, study says By spewing sulfur, volcanic eruptions can increase reflection of solar radiation back into space, cooling the Earths atmosphere. The cooling temperatures following the sixth-century eruptions were probably sustained by ocean and sea-ice feedbacks, according to the researchers. Scientists are using climate to gain insight into key periods in history. Last year, for example, a report published in the journal Science Advances challenged the long-held theory that Vikings settled on Greenland during warmer temperatures during the so-called Medieval Warm Period. Researchers analyzed chemical isotopes in boulders that were left by advancing glaciers over the last 1,000 years in Southwestern Greenland and nearby Baffin Island. Authorities in India say that a small object that plunged from the sky and killed a man on Saturday was a meteorite. The Tamil Nadu government said that the meteorite crashed into an engineering college in Vellore in Southern India, killing one man and injuring three others, according to The Times of India. Police say a bus driver standing nearby was hit by the debris and died while being taken to a hospital. Related: NASA will tackle asteroids with new Planetary Defense Office The tragic death may be the first by meteorite in recorded history, according to Live Science. Citing witnesses, The Times of India reports that the meteorites blast left a crater 5 feet deep and 2 feet wide. Police recovered a black, pockmarked stone weighing 0.39 ounces, it said. Scientists, however, said they had yet to determine whether the object was from outer space or possibly a passing airplane or man-made satellite. Experts from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Tuesday examined the impact crater using metal detectors to check the site for the presence of metals and dug up the soil. Related: 100-foot asteroid to buzz Earth next month "The object that police have recovered from the site would have to undergo chemical analysis" to confirm its origin, said the dean of the institute, Prof. G.C. Anupama. She said that while it was rare for meteors to reach the ground before burning up in the atmosphere, it happens. In February 2013, a meteor blazed across southern Urals that scientists said was the largest recorded strike in more than a century. More than 1,600 people were injured by the shock wave and property damage was widespread in the Siberian city of Chelyabinsk. Related: Enormous beam found streaming from black hole in distant galaxy Tamil Nadu's top elected official J. Jayalalithaa has offered compensation to the bus drivers family. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Not all weapons have a trigger, but that doesn't make them any less effective. No, I'm not talking about bombs, but rather about Google's new strategy to use its highly targeted advertising system in the battle against ISIS. Last week, Anthony House, the senior manager for public policy and communications at Google, revealed plans to show users anti-radicalization links in response to terrorism-related searches. The plan was outlined before a committee of the British parliament dedicated to counter-terrorism. The program is still in its pilot stages, but House is hopeful that this new plan may provide a clever tool that protects the freedom of the Internet while protecting the livelihoods of the world's citizens. "We should get the bad stuff down, but it's also extremely important that people are able to find good information, that when people are feeling isolated, that when they go online, they find a community of hope, not a community of harm," said the Google manager. The idea, the Internet giant says, is to provide a sort of alternative narrative to those looking for information about extremism. In a statement, a Google spokesperson further explained, "What was referenced is a pilot Google AdWords Grants program that's in the works right now with a handful of eligible non-profit organizations. The program enables NGOs to place counter-radicalization ads against search queries of their choosing." Related: Google reveals Justin Bieber video is most complained about clip on YouTube In addition to the counter-terrorism ads, Google is also ensuring that its subsidiary YouTube makes anti-extremism videos more discoverable, further aiding the overall efforts against ISIS and similar groups. The move comes in the midst of an ongoing debate about the role and responsibility that social media groups should accept in responding to the proliferation of extremism. ISIS is known for leveraging sites like Twitter and Facebook for both recruitment and propaganda purposes, and a recent lawsuit against Twitter suggested that ISIS has only reached its current level of influence with the (albeit unintentional) help of social media platform. And while Google ads may not be a comprehensive solution, it's certainly a step in the right direction when it comes to using tech to fight the bad guys. Conan O'Brien is coming to Harvard to talk about the value of a liberal arts education. The late night TV host will visit the Cambridge campus on Friday for a conversation about arts and education with university President Drew Faust, followed by questions from the audience. O'Brien is a Brookline native and a 1985 graduate of the Ivy League university, which has about 29,000 students. He hosts "Conan" on TBS and is a former host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC. The ticketed event will be held at 4 p.m. at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. It will also be streamed live on the university's website. A mugger who hit two New York City subway riders on the head with a hammer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson says Anthony Coward was sentenced Monday. The May 2014 attacks occurred in the Rockaway Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The victims were ambushed from behind while they were buying fare cards. Coward stole $58 from one victim and $140 from the other. Prosecutors say he continued to hit one victim after he fell to the ground. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 25 to two counts of first-degree robbery. An award-winning contemporary literature professor faces at least five years in federal prison when he's sentenced for his massive child pornography collection. But the 58-year-old could likely face more. An Erie federal judge agrees with federal prosecutors that guidelines for Monday's sentencing of Kirk Nesset call for between 12 years, seven months and 15 years, eight months in prison. Nesset resigned from Allegheny College, in Meadville, after he was arrested in October 2014 and pleaded guilty last year to possessing, receiving and sharing child pornography. His attorney has argued that Nesset has mental health issues that were complicated by his fear of revealing his porn proclivities from therapists, and deserves mercy. But federal prosecutors in Erie say his collection of 540,000 child porn images, including infant rapes, warrant harsh punishment. The wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a U.S. raid last year has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to the aid worker's death, the Justice Department said Monday. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture last May that she and her husband kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. U.S. officials have said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group The criminal complaint, filed in federal court in Virginia, charges Umm Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. The case comes one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though it's not clear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman, who was captured last year, is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force raid of his compound. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he had been hired to fix the Internet service for the hospital. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country. Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. According to the FBI affidavit, Mueller was transferred in September 2014 along with several other female captives from an Islamic State prison to the Sayyafs. The couple at times handcuffed the captives, kept them in locked rooms, dictated orders about their activities and movements and showed them violent Islamic State propaganda videos. After her capture last year, according to the affidavit, Umm Sayyaf admitted she was responsible for Mueller's captivity while her husband traveled for Islamic State business. The Justice Department's case echoes earlier assertions from U.S. intelligence officials, who had told Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. According to the affidavit, Umm Sayyaf said that al-Baghadi would occasionally stay at her home and that he "owned" Mueller during those visits, which the FBI says was akin to slavery. A Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped in October 2014 said al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited. The 14-year-old Yazidi girl made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she talked to U.S. commandos in November 2014. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to Mueller's parents in June 2015. Charlie Linville twice tried to climb Mount Everest but never made it due to devastating natural disasters on and near the world's highest mountain. But the Afghanistan veteran who lost a lower leg in combat is determined to reach the top -- hoping to serve as an inspiration to others. "I really found a passion to show people that anything's possible, no matter what you do," 30-year-old Linville, of Boise, told the Idaho Statesman. "I hope to inspire other people and get them to get up and accomplish whatever they want to do in their life." Charlie Linville "I hope to inspire other people and get them to get up and accomplish whatever they want to do in their life," he told the newspaper. Staff Sgt. Linville, who joined the Marine Corps two years after high school, signed up to become an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, disarming improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, according to the paper. On Jan. 20, 2011, Linville and his team were tasked with a routine detonation -- not immediately realizing there was an IED hidden beneath another one. I remember stepping on it, I remember the distorted boom in my ears, and being out of it and waking up," Linville told the Statesman. I cant say why my bomb didnt fully detonate. If it had, I would have been a triple amputee and I would have died," he said. Linville lost his right leg below the knee. His quest to climb the 22,000-foot peak began while recovering in his hospital bed. "I got blown up and severely wounded and kind of sat in a hospital bed and couldn't figure out what I was going to do with this rest of my life and what could this body that I now have do," he told the newspaper. "And the answer kind of found me. Hey, go try to climb the world's tallest mountain and see if you can be successful." Linville first attempted to climb Everest in 2014 but his efforts were thwarted when when an avalanche ripped through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Nepalese guides and forcing officials at the time to close the mountain to climbers, according to the newspaper. Linville -- whose climbs have been sponsored by The Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization that helps wounded veterans -- tried again the following year. But shortly before Linville and his team made the trek, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, killing almost 2,000 people. The quake triggered avalanches on the mountain, which was once again closed to climbers. Linville said he's determined to make it to the top in May -- and, in doing so, inspire others around the world who face physical and emotional challenges. And if I can affect one person, maybe directly me knowing that person or indirectly, like I dont know them but they hear my story; and they get up, they leave their house and start doing (something) in their life ... he told the paper. "If it just changes one persons life, then all the misery, everything that has come with it, will be worth it. Maybe Ill never know if it was worth it. I guess Ill go on living my life thinking that it was." Click for more from the Idaho Statesman The 13-year-old Virginia girl who was killed after climbing out of her bedroom window talked of running away and starting a family with the man now charged in her slaying, a friend and classmate of the seventh-grader said. Natasha Bryant told The Washington Post that Nicole Lovell said Virginia Tech engineering student David Eisenhauer, 18, was her boyfriend. She said Nicole described Eisenhauer as "funny and really nice" shortly before her Jan. 27 disappearance in Blacksburg. Eisenhauer is charged with abduction and first-degree murder. Another Virginia Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Keepers, is charged with accessory before and after the fact and with illegally dumping Nicole's body just across the state line in North Carolina. Authorities say Nicole was stabbed. Natasha, also 13, said Nicole met Eisenhauer online and corresponded with him online. Natasha said she was unaware of Eisenhauer's age at the time. But Natasha said she and other friends worried about Nicole's online activities. Nicole's father, David Lovell, said in a recorded interview for the "Dr. Phil" television show that the family also became concerned after learning before Christmas that Nicole was chatting "inappropriately" with older men, according to a news release from the show. "You could tell these older guys had fake profiles," Lovell told host Phil McGraw, according to excerpts in the release. "Some of the things they said were way too grown up for the picture they had." The parents took away Nicole's phone, but she later got it back, he said for the show, which airs Wednesday. Natasha told the newspaper -- which said her father agreed that she could be interviewed -- that Nicole told people she was talking to Eisenhauer. "She always talked of running away with him," she said. "She used to talk to a lot of older guys. A lot of people told her not to. I told her it's not safe. I told her she was going to be hurt or kidnapped or something." Nicole's mother, Tammy Weeks, has said her daughter was bullied at school. Natasha said many of Nicole's peers "talked behind her back" about a tracheotomy scar on her throat, and Nicole turned to social media "looking for someone who would give her attention and give her some compassion." Authorities have not disclosed any possible motive for Nicole's slaying, and her father seems to still be searching for answers. "How can it go from being my wonderful, happy daughter to she was murdered a few days later? I talked to her about a week before she went missing and everything was normal. She was my little baby girl," he said, according to the "Dr. Phil" statement. Meanwhile, more than 100 people gathered Monday evening in Blacksburg for a vigil in Nicole's memory. Weeks spoke to the crowd about her daughter, whom she called "Coley." "As I stand here tonight, my family and I are broken," Weeks said. "God, I miss you, Coley." Friends and others who know Eisenhauer and Keepers have described them as motivated young people who seemed to have a bright future before their arrests. But at a bond hearing last week for Keepers, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettit said the defendants met at a fast-food restaurant and carefully plotted Nicole's death. Eisenhauer and Keepers, who both are from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, are being held without bond. Their next court appearance is set for March 28. Defense attorneys have declined to give interviews. An elderly Los Angeles newspaper vendor was freed from his Harvard Heights stand by police on Monday after accidentally locking himself inside for four days. The unidentified 84-year-old vendor had also been living in the wooden stand, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson told KTLA. A passerby heard moaning coming from inside the stand Monday afternoon and called authorities, police said. Responding officers cut the stands lock and freed the man. The vendor was malnourished and dehydrated, police said. He remained hospitalized as of Tuesday. A group of politicians from Illinois have nominated the Emanuel AME Church of Charleston, South Carolina, where nine people were brutally gunned down during a Bible study last June, for a Nobel Peace Prize. Thornton Township, Illinois, supervisor Frank Zuccarelli noted in a WBBM-TV report Monday that the nomination was inspired by the stunning decision of the church family to forgive the accused killer of the nine and avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof, just days after the attack. "If anyone was responsible for promoting the peace, it was Mother Emanuel and the church leadership," said Zuccarelli, who traveled to Charleston with other politicians in the aftermath of the attack, according to The Post and Courier. "They demonstrated more love, peace and forgiveness than we have ever seen before. ... They are a great example for us all to follow." The church was nominated by four U.S. congressmen from Illinois, a state senator, and U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. An Illinois state senator, two college professors and Clyburn also signed on, explained the Courier report. Zuccarelli and politicians, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Robyn Kelly, submitted Emanuel's nomination Saturday to meet Tuesday's nomination deadline, according to goupstate. Read the Original Story from ChristianPost.com An Illinois man who had recently lost his job apparently strangled his wife and autistic son to death before slitting his wrists and hanging himself in his garage, authorities said. David Joost, 54, his wife, 55-year-old Margaret OLeary-Joost, and the couples son, 18-year-old Daniel Joost, were found dead Monday night, WGNTV reported. They had been killed at some point during the weekend, officials said. Police informed David and Margarets 20-year-old daughter, who was away at college at the time. We cant imagine what shes got to be going through, Oak Forest Police Chief Gregory Anderson told The Chicago Tribune. OLeary-Joost called in sick to her job as a hospital crisis worker at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn on Friday, police said, and when she didnt show up to work Monday a co-worker went to check on her, according to The Tribune. But instead of finding OLeary-Joost at her house, the co-worker saw blood seeping from beneath the garage door. A car in the garage was out of gas and not running, according to a news release viewed by The Tribune. Causes of death havent been determined and authorities are set to perform an autopsy. Officials said there was no history of domestic violence or police calls to the house. David Joost had recently become unemployed and was reportedly struggling financially. Obviously, there is something going on when something this gruesome, this horrific happens, Anderson told The Tribune. The feds might soon look into a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that sailed into a powerful Atlantic storm with 100-mph winds Sunday, ultimately forcing the captain to turn the ship around. Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas was set to return to its home port in New Jersey on Wednesday morning, Fox 5 reports. Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the voyage that forced frightened passengers into their cabins overnight as their belongings flew around, waves rose as high as 30 feet, and winds howled outside. "The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?" Nelson said Monday on the Senate floor. The National Weather Service's Ocean Prediction Center had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance, Susan Buchanan with the weather service said. The first warning was issued Saturday for possible hurricane-force winds in the area the ship was scheduled to sail through. Royal Caribbean announced Monday that the ship was turning around. No injuries were reported, and the ship suffered only minor damage. "This decision was made for guests' comfort due to weather forecasts" that would continue to affect the ship's itinerary," Royal Caribbean tweeted. "I was shaking all over," passenger Shara Strand of New York City wrote to The Associated Press via Facebook on Monday. "Panic attack, things like that. ... I've been on over 20 cruises, I've been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never." Sixteen-year-old Gabriella Lairson says she and her father, Sam, could feel the ship begin to sway by 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The captain directed passengers to their cabins. There, the Lairsons heard glasses shatter in the bathroom, and they put their belongings in drawers and closets to prevent them from flying across the room. They ventured to the balcony, where Sam Lairson shot video of wave after wave rising below. "The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands," Sam Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said in an email. "After that we had to keep the doors to the balconies sealed." The ship -- with more than 4,500 guests and 1,600 crew members -- sailed Saturday from Cape Liberty, New Jersey. It was originally scheduled to arrive for a stop at Port Canaveral, Florida, at noon Monday, then move on to other stops in the Caribbean. Guests will get a full refund and a certificate toward a future cruise. Passengers onboard buzzed happily about that news, Strand said. Gabriella Lairson said that by early Monday morning, people were out and about on the ship, checking out the minor damage in some public areas. Lairson praised the crew and captain. "They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable," she wrote to the AP on Facebook. She said she and her father were a little disappointed the ship was turning around, but she called it "the best thing for the safety of everyone." Fellow passenger Jacob Ibrag agreed. "I can't wait to get home and kiss the ground," said Ibrag, who saw water flowing down stairs and helped some people who were stuck in an elevator Sunday as he made his way to his cabin per the captain's orders. The 25-year-old from Queens, New York, then stayed in his cabin until noon Monday, at one point filling his backpack with essentials in case of an evacuation. Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, was onboard and started tweeting when the inclement weather hit. He told USA Today that the ordeal was "truly terrifying." He described the cruise director nervously giving updates, and he later posted photos of shattered glass panels on a pool deck. But Huschka was among passengers who found a silver lining in the storm. On Monday, he posted: "The good news? They never lost the Super Bowl signal. Perfect TV picture throughout storm!" Royal Caribbean gave guests free Internet access and a complimentary cocktail hour, spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email. "Feeling better after the happy hour they just put on for the guests," Sam Lairson joked. And despite her own worries, Strand said her daughter, 8-month-old Alexa, slept through the entire episode. Click for more from Fox 5. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Bernie Sanders and John Kasich won! Well at least in the tiny town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire where the towns nine voters all cast their ballots at Midnight on the day of the first in the nation primary. Bernie Sanders got all four Democratic votes, John Kasich got won 3 to 2 over Donald Trump among GOP voters. Well see what voters finally say when we have the results from the rest of the state. The frontrunners according to all the recent polls suggest its Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders race to lose. But New Hampshire is infamous for throwing curve balls. It got really ugly on the trail in the past few days. Well spend some time discussing the various confrontations. Just one example is Donald Trump who used the P word to describe Ted Cruz.. following the lead of an audience member. 1020EST -- Carly Fiorina visits a polling location at Bartlett Elementary School, Goffstown, NH. LIVE via LiveU 1025EST -- Sen Rubio visits a polling location in Salem, NH. POOL COVER 1100EST -- OH Gov Kasich visits a polling location at Broad Street Elementary School, Nashua, NH. LIVE via LiveU 1120EST -- Sen Rubio visits a polling location in Derry, NH. POOL COVER 1200EST -- Sen Rubio visits a polling location in Londonderry, NH. POOL COVER 1330EST -- Sen Cruz makes a retail stop. Red Arrow Diner, Manchester, NH. LIVE via LiveU Weather could also play a factor. Its a nicer day today in New Hampshire, but parts of New England could get more snow today. President Obama submits his yearly and final budget to Congress today at 11am. The price tag is about $4 trillion and adds 19 billion for fighting cybersecurity. The White House also suggesting a $10/barrel tax on oil to pay for deficit reduction. The GOP has already snubbed the Presidents proposal. The Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Budget committees say they wont invite the presidents budget director to hearing on the proposal which is a breach of protocol. That budget also has more than $7 billion to fight ISIS. Theres a hearing today from the Senate Armed Services Committee with testimony from James Clapper the director of national intelligence on the threat from the Islamic state. A new government report on health insurance says eight states saw a big drop in those without health insurance. AZ, CA, CO, FL, IL, KY and MI all got lots more folks insurance. U.S. Senator is calling for the NTSB to investigate a near-disaster on a cruise ship that ran into a massive storm over the weekend causing panic onboard and damage. Royal Caribbean says the storm was bigger than forecast. The ship is returning to port. That satellite fired into orbit by North Korea is out of alignment and not maintaining orbit.. so a failure. But its widely seen as a provocation, and a snub of ally China. The North Koreans are also reportedly close to testing yet another nuclear device. A train crash in southern Germany has killed at least 8 and hurt 150. Its a remote area, and rescuers are having trouble reaching victims. Japanese stocks fell more than 5% today after a bad day on Wall Street yesterday. We get earnings reports today from Viacom and Disney. For more news, follow me on Twitter: @ClintPHenderson Hundreds of buildings -- from houses to strip malls -- could face the wrecking ball after California authorities unraveled a decade-long scam involving a pair of phony building engineers who used stolen software to craft bogus blueprints, officials told FoxNews.com. Wilfrido Rodriguez and Ruben Gutierrez, allegedly posing as licensed professionals and using stolen software, drew up engineering and architectural plans for homes, apartments, commercial properties and strip malls in at least 56 Southern California cities beginning in 2003, according to police. Neither had the training, expertise or credentials to vouch for the safety of the building plans, and authorities are only now grasping the scope of the problem. There has never been a case involving alleged engineering fraud of this magnitude, Detective Rod Barton, of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau, told FoxNews.com. Because this involves fraud related to structural engineering, we just dont know if the houses are safe, unsafe or suitable for habitation. There has never been a case involving alleged engineering fraud of this magnitude. Det. Rod Barton, of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department The pair duped architects, builders and homeowners into believing they knew what they were doing, Barton said. Now, authorities are tasked with reviewing every building the pair worked on and determining if they are structurally sound, an issue made all the more urgent given the frequency of earthquakes in California. A significant concern is foundations, said Panos Prevedouros, a professor and chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. Experienced drafters can work out safe designs for small masonry structures, but proper foundation design and specialized structural components required detailed engineering analysis. Before embarking on their alleged scam, the pair worked for the Rolling Hills Estates-based Palos Verdes Engineering Company. The company, which declined to comment for this story, told authorities it uncovered the alleged engineering fraud after a customer complained about an offer made by the men in April 2014. Since that time, Barton and his bureau have been tracking down projects that involved the pair, and have been stunned and horrified at the number of buildings involved. Up until then, nobody had any knowledge that this fraud was occurring, Barton told FoxNews.com. We visited 56 cities from San Bernardino and Riverside to Ventura County. Our nexus were the initial files Palos Verdes Engineering identified, and then we segued into other projects. It was a lot of groundwork. Law enforcement authorities are working the Board of Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists to determine the scope and risk posed by the alleged fraud. Evidence thus far uncovered leads us to believe there were hundreds of projects built on their fraudulent structural engineering, said Tiffany Criswell, the boards enforcement manager. Evidence leads us to believe there are additional properties we have yet to identify. One challenge for law enforcement is that many local governments only keep design and engineering plans on file for six months. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department sent contact letters to homeowners, developers, and architectural designers whose properties have been identified as possibly being associated with fraudulent structural engineering, Barton said. Investigators believe additional properties associated with structural engineering fraud may exist, but have not yet been identified. The men have not been charged and are cooperating with the sheriffs detectives. While sheriffs didnt say how much the men allegedly profited on the deal, they likely made at least $2,000 to $3,000 per project on potentially several hundred projects over 11 years, according to industry insiders. The LA sheriffs white collar crime division will consider the case and whether to charge the men with a variety of crimes including civil engineering fraud, grand theft, theft of company identity, and forgery, LA sheriffs detectives said. Palos Verdes Engineering Company had no business relations with the men between 2003 and 2014, during the time the alleged fraud occurred, Barton said. The men allegedly stole software from the company, which was used to produce fraudulent engineering plans bearing its company name and logo, Barton said. Palos Verdes Engineering Companys civil engineer seal and forged signature was also used on structural engineering records to make the plans appear authentic, and as if they had been reviewed and approved by a licensed professional civil engineer. Legitimate professional engineers must have a degree in civil engineering, pass several grueling exams and obtain five years of experience before they can sign off on design documents for implementation. On the architectural side, the value of architectural licensure is immeasurable, said Matt Tinder, spokesperson for The American Institute of Architects, in Washington, DC. Without it, the entire built environment could serve as a public safety hazard, Tinder said. While there have been no glaring design flaws brought to the sheriffs attention, there could be a risk to the public, which could be heightened by a natural disaster such as an earthquake. The sheriffs department is advising homeowners who worked with Rodriguez and Gutierrez to contract the services of a civil engineer to go through the plans, examine their residence and determine if they are safe. We want to make sure people are safe, Barton said. There is a reason all these requirements are in place. When the whole procedure is circumvented, something bad can happen. A federal prosecutor handed over hundreds of hours of audio recordings Tuesday to an attorney defending a man accused of plotting to shoot up a Milwaukee Masonic temple in the name of Islam. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kanter said the recordings of Samy Mohamed Hamzeh speaking Arabic with government informants were made between October and January. He handed the stack of discs to defense attorney Craig Albee at the conclusion of an arraignment hearing during which Hamzeh pleaded not guilty. Hamzeh, 23, has been charged with receiving and possessing improperly registered firearms. Authorities say he purchased two fully automatic weapons and a silencer from undercover federal agents on Jan. 25. He faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty, Kanter said in court. Hamzeh teared up before the hearing when he saw his mother walk in the courtroom crying. He was more composed when U.S. Marshals escorted him out of the courtroom after the hearing. His mother blew him a kiss as he passed. Both of his parents declined comment, but Khawla Hamzeh has told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper that she believes her son was set up. Albee declined to argue for his client's release from jail, saying he needed an opportunity to review the evidence first. The public defender's office has said their strategy will likely focus on the accuracy of translated recordings, as well as what FBI informants were saying. Judge David E. Jones said he would hear Albee's bail argument when it was ready. Hamzeh, who was born in New Jersey, has been scheduled for his next hearing on March 29. Authorities have said Hamzeh wanted to kill at least 30 people to spark more mass shootings across the U.S. and show that "nobody can play with Muslims." According to the criminal complaint filed last month, he targeted the Freemasons because "they are playing the world like a game." Masons are members of a fraternal organization that carries out a variety of activities including charity work. In the years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the FBI has routinely relied on undercover operations similar to the one that led to Hamzeh's arrest. The FBI sees sting operations as vital tools in preventing acts of terrorism and appropriate to use against those who have expressed an inclination toward violence. The targets come to the attention of authorities in various ways, sometimes through information from a confidential FBI informant or via online writings that promote jihad or profess allegiance to terrorist groups. Defense attorneys frequently challenge the operations in court, contending that their clients were entrapped and suggesting that agents are taking advantage of a defendant's misguided thoughts or mental illness. They accuse investigators of effectively grooming clients into plotting acts of terror. Some judges have criticized the FBI's tactics. In 2011, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York said in sentencing one defendant to 25 years in prison that the government "created acts of terrorism" out of fantasies, bravado and bigotry. An 18-year-old woman who was 3 months pregnant was killed Sunday in Los Angeles when someone opened fire on a car during what police said may have been a gang-related shooting. Maria Cordova, 18, and her boyfriend, 19-year-old Henry Sanchez, were killed when their car was struck by gunfire and crashed into a home in Boyle Heights, ABC7 reported. A third passenger in the vehicle sustained moderate injuries, officials said. One person who was inside the home was not injured. My brother was with his girlfriend. He was excited, you know, that he was about to be a father, Jesse Sanchez, Henrys brother, told ABC7. Police said a passenger in a black SUV was the gunman. Authorities said they are investigating the shooting as being gang-related. I just want whoever did it to actually take responsibility, said Jesse Sanchez, Henrys dad. You know, like why are you doing this to someone else? A gofundme account set up to help with Cordova and Sanchezs funeral costs had raised only $160 in 18 hours. A Texas couple is charged with enslaving their live-in maid, an illegal alien whom they allegedly forced to work nearly 20 hours per day, use cold water to bathe and strain milk from cereal bowls to drink. Chudy Nsobundu, 56, and Sandra Nsobundu, 50, were charged with violations for forced labor, withholding documents, conspiracy to harbor an illegal alien and visa fraud, according to a Justice Department press release. The release alleges the Katy couple subjected a 38-year-old Nigerian national to physical and verbal abuse while forcing the woman to care for the couples five children for two years. She was reportedly told not to watch television or sit down during her work hours, which stretched from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. The woman was also allegedly forced to sleep on the floor and could only eat leftovers from previously prepared meals. The criminal complaint said in one instance Sandra Nsobundu dragged the woman by her hair and hit her across her face because she did not like the socks the victim put on one of the children. The defendants had allegedly agreed to pay the woman $100 per month, but they never compensated her for her work. A tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center ultimately led authorities to the Nsobundus' door, where the woman was found on Oct. 10. A San Antonio newspaper that threatened to publish police officers names and addresses is backing off the controversial plan following backlash from the public and members of law enforcement. San Antonio Observer Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Zarriello told News4SanAntonio on Sunday the weekly tabloid had no intention on following through with the threat. She said her intent was to make an officer think twice before shooting so fast and killing an unarmed person. The Observer had been inundated with phone calls and voicemails, Zarriello said. Some of the callers had made death threats, she said. Zarriellos initial comments came at a news conference after the death of Antronie Scott, an unarmed man shot and killed by San Antonio police on Thursday. She said the Observer was looking into the future prospects of publicizing the names and addresses of all San Antonio Police Department officers in order to protect our community. Zarriello had said Scott was unjustly murdered. She described his hands as being in a position of surrender when he was shot. Police at the scene said Scott, who was wanted for drugs and gun possession, quickly turned around with something in his hand, which cops mistook for a gun. It turned out to be a cell phone. Officials are investigating the incident. "Like Ku Klux Klansman with hoods, [officers] do everything they can in order to protect their identities for fear of being brought to justice," Zarriello said during the news conference, according to KENS 5. "Just as the names and addresses of sex offenders are publicized in order to protect the public from their wicked behavior, we feel that our community has the right to the exact same level of protection. Cops arrested a Texas prosecutor for driving while intoxicated after she slammed her Hyundai sedan into a parked car in Austin early Sunday morning. Travis County Assistant District Attorney Erika Hansen, 37, claimed she'd had two pints of beer that night and never drove faster than 35 mph when she got distracted and hit the car, police say. They add that she apparently tried leaving the scene at first, but ultimately remained until cops arrived. She failed a sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent, more than double the legal limit of .08 percent, Fox 7 reports. Hansen "intends to continue to cooperate and take responsibility for her actions as her case makes its way through the legal process," her attorney, Rick Flores, told KEYE. The District Attorney's Office claimed it was reviewing her case. Hansen had been a prosecutor there since March 2015, reportedly focusing on domestic violence cases. She was booked into the Travis County Jail Sunday morning, and bail was set at $3,000. Click for more from Fox 7. Swiss police have arrested a man suspected of murdering an American woman who worked as a nanny in Vienna, Austria. The Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported that the suspect, identified only as 24-year-old Abdou I., was arrested Thursday at an asylum center in northeastern Switzerland, just over the Austrian border. The paper said Abdou was an asylum seeker originally from Gambia, in Africa. Some other reports gave the suspect's age as 23. The suspect was arrested nine days after Vienna police found the body of 25-year-old Colorado native Lauren Mann in her Vienna apartment. Mann was found lying face-down on a mattress with traces of her blood on the floor. An autopsy gave suffocation as the cause of Mann's death. The arrest also came nearly 4 weeks after a Senegalese refugee was booked for the murder of an American woman in Florence, Italy. Ashley Olsen's body was discovered strangled to death in her apartment in early January. Kronen Zeitung reported that Abdou I.'s DNA was found at the crime scene and authorities tracked his cell phone to the Swiss refugee center where he was ultimately arrested. The paper had previously reported that Abdou I. had migrated to Italy in 2012 and had later requested asylum in Germany. However, his application was denied and he was threatened with deportation due to a series of criminal offenses, including a 2014 conviction for sexual abuse of minors. Kronen Zeitung reported that friends and classmates of Mann told the paper that she often went to train stations and shelters to help distribute food and blankets to asylum-seekers, and wanted to help the suspect. The report said that though she did not know of his criminal history, she knew he faced deportation back to Africa. The suspect has denied an initial request to be extradited to Austria, which means authorities there must submit an official extradition request under European Union guidelines within 18 days. At least ten people were killed and 89 others were injured Tuesday after two commuter trains collided head-on in southern Germany along a curve where an automatic safety system apparently failed to stop them, the transport minister said. The trains crashed on a single track shortly before 7 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) near the spa town of Bad Aibling, approximately 35 miles southeast of Munich. The crash site is located in a densely wooded and hilly region near the river Mangfall, making rescue operations more challenging. It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage and authorities were still working at midday to remove the final body from the train. "Once that is done then the investigators can begin their work," federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told The Associated Press from the scene. A statement from the trains' operator Bayerische Oberlandbahn, said both trains had partially derailed and were wedged into each other. Neither the operator nor authorities were able to address possible causes of the collision. German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrint said the two trains were on a curve and it appears that neither had time to brake before they hit head-on. "We need to determine immediately whether it was a technical problem or a human mistake," he said. Dobrint said the stretch was fitted with a safety system designed to automatically stop trains to prevent such a crash and it's not clear why it didn't function. Black boxes recovered from the trains should provide more answers once analyzed. It was not clear how fast the trains were traveling at the time of the crash but German rail operator Deutsche Bahn told the dpa news agency they were permitted to travel of speeds up to 80 mph on that stretch of track. The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday, the dpa news agency reported. Authorities had initially reported 150 injured but federal police spokesman Stefan Brandl later lowered that figure to 89, with ten of those injuries considered serious. TV footage showed emergency helicopters and ambulances lined up in an area near the crash scene waiting to transport the most severely injured to hospitals. Water police were helping in the rescue efforts as well, dpa reported, taking injured from the trains across the river to waiting ambulances. About 700 emergency personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria were involved in the rescue efforts and about a dozen helicopters were used. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," Sonntag said. Dpa quoted Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, as saying, "this is a huge shock -- we are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees." Both the trains' operator and federal police in Bavaria have activated phone hotlines for family and relatives. Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, speaking from the crash scene, said his thoughts were with the family members of the dead and the injured. "We need to find out know what happened, if the cause of the crash was based on the technology or human failure," he said. In Munich, the city blood center put out an urgent call for donors in the wake of the crash. The Munich Blood Donation Service, which delivers blood products to local hospitals, said on its website that there was "an acute increased need for life-saving blood products" after the accident and called for immediate donations. Germany is known for the quality of its train service but the country has seen several other accidents, typically at road crossings. Most recently, a train driver and one passenger were killed when a train hit the trailer of a tractor in western Germany in May, injuring another 20. In 2011, 10 people were killed and 23 injured in a head-on collision of a passenger train and a cargo train on a single-line track close to Saxony-Anhalt's state capital Magdeburg in eastern Germany. Germany's worst train accident happened in 1998, when a high-speed ICE train crashed in the northern German town of Eschede, killing 101 people and injuring more than 80. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A suicide car bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group struck near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and destroying a number of cars. Syrian state TV reported the toll and showed footage of the blast scene, including several damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car. The police officers' club was next to a vegetable market. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks the civil war, said the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20. The IS group claimed the bombing in a statement circulated by its followers on Twitter, saying it was carried out by a fighter known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami. It vowed more attacks. The blast came a day after an international rights group said Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, killing 37 people. The Human Rights Watch report, released Monday, said that cluster munitions, which are widely banned, have been used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since Jan. 26. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens, HRW said. Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of explosive munitions over wide areas. Some 98 States are party to a convention banning their use but several countries including Syria and Russia, as well as the U.S., China and Israel have not signed onto the ban. Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the northern province of Aleppo under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks in an attempt to besiege rebel-held parts of Aleppo city, the country's former commercial center. Last week, Syrian troops and their allies were able to lift a three-year siege imposed on the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province. HRW said some of the recent attacks using cluster munitions occurred near the two villages. Opposition activists have said that Russia has been using cluster bombs since the start of its aerial campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. HRW previously documented at least 20 cluster munition attacks by the Russian-Syrian joint operation between Sept. 30 and Dec. 14. It called on Syria and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. HRW said the International Syria Support Group that will meet in Germany on Thursday "should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority." The ISSG includes 17 regional and world powers trying to end Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011. Cluster bombs have also been used in other recent conflicts in the region, including by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled in a bloody uprising in 2011. The United Nations and human rights groups have said Israel dropped about 4 million cluster munitions during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians, according to U.N. demining experts. Authorities made a startling discovery in Brazil after opening a tomb and seeing a man buried alive. The mans family members who were not identified noticed blood stains on one of their relatives graves last week in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, outside Rio de Janeiro, and notified police, ninemsn reports. The local fire department said the man, believed to be 33 years old, was not carrying any form of identification and had several assault marks on his body. He was taken to a nearby hospital and police said they were carrying out an attempted murder investigation, ninemsn reports. Click for more from ninemsn. Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, is set to speak Thursday at a rally in Iran for one of its new drones, Iranian media report. The planned ceremony marks 37 years after Iran's Islamic Revolution, in which Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized control from the Shah, who had gone into exile. Both Farrahkan and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani will speak, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reports. The homegrown drone will go on display along with a ballistic missile and a satellite carrier, organizer Asghar Abkhezr told the news agency. Farrakhan and Rouhani met for dinner as recently as 2013, in New York City. Critics have long condemned Farrakhan, 82, for his inflammatory statements about Jews, Catholics, gays and Asians. Speaking in 2010, he claimed "white right" would conspire to keep President Obama to one term in office. Farrakhan also said the president was manipulated into disavowing him. Farrakhan also recently described Judaism as a "deceptive lie" and "theological error" meant to expand Jewish control of the U.S. government and economy, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The satellite that North Korea launched into orbit Sunday is now "stable" in orbit, a U.S. official told Fox News on Tuesday. Earlier reports had claimed the satellite was "tumbling" in orbit, which would have rendered it useless. A U.S. official told ABC News the same technology used to get the payload into orbit is the same needed to launch a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile at the U.S. A satellite launched by the secretive regime in 2012 is still in orbit but spiraling back to Earth and is not believed to have transmitted signals back to Earth. Both satellites bear the name "Shining Star," a reference to Kim Jong Un's father, the late Kim Jong Il. The new satellite, which is thought to be somewhat larger than the earlier one, is called Kwangmyongsong 4. The Shining Star name was also written on the rocket itself, which previously carried the name Unha, or "Galaxy." South Korean officials and foreign analysts said Tuesday that they now believe the first stage of the rocket had a cagey new feature: It was deliberately rigged to blow up after separation Sunday, for the express purpose of confounding foreign analysts. While government leaders around the world are trying to figure out how to punish North Korea for its rocket launch, the U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries are scouring the seas for debris and analysts are studying photos, trajectories anything that might provide insight into North Korean rocketry skills. So far they haven't found much, in part because the first stage was destroyed. In a statement Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said it believes the North deliberately blew up the rocket's first stage after burnout to prevent South Korea from retrieving rocket debris. Previously, South Korea retrieved the first stage of the rocket the North launched in 2012, along with a 2-by-12-inch explosive device they say suggests the North had intended to blow that one up, too. From North Korea's perspective, blowing up some of the evidence makes sense. "If I were North Korea, I would probably have done the same thing to avoid South Korea pulling it out of the sea to study it and show it off," said David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The second stage lands far enough out at sea that it is probably not recoverable, so they wouldn't need to worry so much about that." The move could also have deeper military implications. Governments around the world have denounced the launch as a cover for testing long-range ballistic missile technology, which it is banned from doing under U.N. resolutions. Ted Postol, a rocket expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that if the North deliberately blew up the rocket's first stage, it could complicate weapons defenses being developed by the United States. "If it is true that the first stage was intentionally cut into many pieces, it is a clear indication that the North Koreans have also demonstrated the potential to build countermeasures against U.S. missile defenses," he said. He said such defenses rely heavily on infrared tracking. But previous tests by the U.S. of its anti-missile defense systems indicate that a plethora of false targets like the fragments of a detonated rocket stage make it difficult for interceptors using infrared homing devices to distinguish the warhead from pieces of debris. South Korea says it has already retrieved what it believes is the rocket's fairing a casing that protects its payload in the waters southwest of the southern Jeju island. Its defense ministry said the rocket's second stage was believed to have landed in the waters east of the Philippines' Luzon island, about 1,500 miles away from the North's launch pad. The ministry said South Korea and the United States are still trying to find its exact splash zone. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Swedish prosecutor investigating rape allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says she is planning to interview him at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, The Guardian reports. Marianne Nys announcement comes one week after a United Nations report found Assanges stay at the embassy -- which he entered voluntarily in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over the charges -- constitutes arbitrary detention. The report concluded Assange, 44, should be set free and compensated for lost time. But Ny says the panels report does not change my earlier assessment in the preliminary investigation, The Guardian reports. One woman said Assange intentionally damaged a condom and pinned her down while having sex. A second woman said Assange had sex with her without a condom while she was asleep. In Sweden, having sex with an unconscious, drunk or sleeping person can lead to a rape conviction punishable by up to six years in prison. When prosecutors moved to question Assange about the women's allegations, they sought an international arrest warrant issued in November, 2010. Assange surrendered and was detained and placed under house arrest. He later lost a series of legal attempts to block extradition. Faced with the decision to either return to Sweden to answer questions or take radical action to avoid it, Assange chose the latter. On June 19, 2012, he walked into the Embassy of Ecuador in central London to seek asylum. He's been there ever since in a prolonged state of legal limbo. The sex crime allegations against Assange, which he denies, came at the height of his fame as the founder of WikiLeaks, an organization that had made a name for itself by releasing hundreds of thousands of pages of classified government documents. He had challenged, and embarrassed, U.S. officials with his disclosures, and insists the sex crimes charges are part of a larger conspiracy to land him in a federal U.S. prison over his work. U.S. officials have not revealed whether there is a secret indictment of Assange in U.S. courts, but in 2015, U.S. government representatives reiterated that a "sensitive" law enforcement investigation into WikiLeaks is ongoing. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Important Cookie Information We collect information from our users this is for administration and contact purposes in connection with contributions you may wish to make to the site or your use of certain site features such as newsletter subscriptions and property enquiries. HuHot Mongolian Grill's largest franchisee has just been acquired by private equity investment firm Sun Capital. The Omaha, Nebraska-based CCW, is the franchisee of 21 HuHot restaurants across the Midwest, including locations in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota. "CCW has built a strong business on a unique concept, and we're excited to partner with this experienced management team to build on their tremendous success," said Marc Leder, co-CEO at Sun Capital. "The company is well positioned for continued, substantial growth." Sun Capital's Managing Director Anthony Polazzi added, "We see significant opportunity for CCW to expand with the HuHot brand and beyond. We are actively exploring development partnerships with fast-casual franchisors, as our focus will be on working with the business' outstanding operating team to scale this single concept franchisee into a multi-concept platform." The HuHot brand welcomes the move. Molly Vap O'Shea, chief brand officer at HuHot said, "In an industry where the appetite in the market is to acquire high performing restaurant units, the Sun Capital acquisition proves that our model is working. We are excited to welcome Sun Capital to our family and look forward to helping them support their aggressive growth plans for the HuHot concept." O'Shea said the Sun Capital acquisition validates HuHot's concept, scalability, and strong unit economics. "We take pride in providing full support to our franchises; from concept evolution to cutting-edge marketing tactics, our family-owned business continues to make decisions with the franchisees and the success of the brand equally in mind," she said. Sun Capital has experience in the restaurant sector through its investments in current affiliated portfolio companies, including Bar Louie Restaurants, with more than 100 locations across the U.S.; Boston Market, with more than 460 nationwide locations; and Smokey Bones, with over 65 locations. California Tortilla Kissimmee Opens This Week, First Central Florida Location for Popular Fast Casual Chain Franchise Owners Bring Mid-Atlantic Fast Casual Franchise to Greater Orlando February 09, 2016 // Franchising.com // KISSIMMEE, FL - This week, California Tortilla will open its doors in Kissimmee, the first location in central Florida for the mid-Atlantic based chain. Conveniently located in the brand new Crossroads Shopping Center - and just a mile away from the world-famous Gator Land - the fast casual concept brings its fresh, imaginative Mexican menu to central Florida. California Tortilla opened its first store twenty years ago in Bethesda, MD, and has since expanded northward to new markets including Philadelphia and the greater NYC metropolitan area; now the launch of California Tortilla Kissimmee takes the fast casual chain the furthest south to date. Along the way, California Tortilla developed a loyal fan base with adventurous flavor combinations, use of imagination in unlikely places, commitment to using fresh i ngredients and cooking in small batches throughout the day - all without ever taking themselves too seriously. As a long-time resident of the Washington, DC area, franchise owner Dale Warden has been an enthusiastic fan of California Tortilla, won over by the quality and freshness of their food, and the fun of their unique, Mexican Re-Imagined brand. Though he was always a foodie, Dale spent three decades in a decidedly different industry, traveling the world as a micro-economist. But when he became an investor in Founding Farmers, one of DCs most popular restaurants, Dale decided it was time to open one himself. So with the help of Floridian Nick Patel, who brings with him 10 years of restaurant experience, and JoAnn Warden, aka Dales Boss and wife, who ran her own management consulting business for 25 years, Dale set about finding the right opportunity. For Dale, California Tortilla was the perfect fit: California Tortilla doesnt just put out a quality product, they create a one-of-a-kind experience. When you look at customer satisfaction, menu variety, the system theyre providing to franchisees, and the unit economics, in every one of those areas, California Tortilla offered exactly what I wanted. And he knew the perfect location. Florida is now the third most populous state and demographics show that population growth is exploding in the Central Florida area, explained Dale. And Kissimmee has everything we were looking for: with its proximity to Disney, theres high employment and high demand for time shares and hotel rooms. Our location is an easy drive to Old Town Kissimmee, The Loop shopping center - and of course, Gator Land. California Tortilla Kissimmee is located in the new Crosslands Shopping Center and seats 70 inside, with additional outdoor seating available. And for Dale and Team, this is just the beginning: he plans to open four locations in Central Florida this year. By end of this year, well be flying flags from the Atlantic Coast to Tampa Bay, and will have created over 130 jobs. California Tortilla Kissimmee will celebrate the grand opening by serving free burritos and a beverage for both lunch and dinner service on Tuesday, February 9th. Plus, theyll be offering free burritos for a whole year to the first 20 customers in line that morning. And judging by the success of past openings, expect to see hungry locals to turn out in droves. Check in at the store for an exciting schedule of special events throughout the year. This location will have special meals for the kids, room for school students and select beer and wine for adults. About California Tortilla Fast Casual leader California Tortilla serves fresh, made-to-order, delicious, award-winning burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and salads all grounded in a foundation of Mexican cuisine yet combined with imaginative and international flavor combinations and customization opportunities, including a Wall-of-Flame with over 70 distinctive flavors and heat. They are Mexican Re-Imagined. Based in Rockville, MD, the fast-casual chain has nearly 50 locations across the East Coast in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Florida and the District of Columbia. They are best known for their fresh food, unique recipes, innovative promotions, and customer and community engagement via Twitter and Facebook. For more information and to inquire about franchising opportunities, please visit www.californiatortilla.com or call 301-545-0035. SOURCE California Tortilla Media Contact: Alicia Sellitti alicia@adscommunications.com 917-822-9010 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Scooters Coffee Expands South Dakota Presence National Franchise Announces New Franchise Agreement for Brookings, SD February 09, 2016 // Franchising.com // Omaha, NE Scooters Coffee, the Midwest-based coffee franchise that has experienced tremendous growth over the past year, announced they have signed a franchise agreement for a location in Brookings, SD. Weve seen tremendous success for the Scooters brand in South Dakota, so were very excited to see more growth in the state, said Don Eckles, Scooters Coffee Co-Founder. As a neighboring state, we know South Dakota holds the same Midwestern work ethic and friendly nature as we do in Nebraska. The franchise agreement was signed with new franchisees Loren and Julie Ortman, who currently live in the Omaha metro. As someone who grew up in South Dakota, Im thrilled at the opportunity to bring the Scooters brand to Brookings, said Loren. Seeing how supportive the brand is first-hand here, I know well see great success in Brookings. With more than 130 stores in soon-to-be 15 states, Scooters recently signed a large Area Representative Agreement in Phoenix, along with several other Multi-Unit Agreements in Florida, Oklahoma and Arkansas. In late 2015, the company opened its first location in Roswell, Georgia (Atlanta metro) and plans to build several more stores in the Atlanta area. At the same time, Scooters will continue to build locations in the Midwest region, with several stores slated to be opened in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota and Missouri. The company also added depth to its product profile in 2015, with the release of its toasted gouda cheese ciabatta and bagel breakfast sandwiches, along with the Southwest Breakfast Burrito. Scooters, which hand-crafts its pastries and roasts its own 100% shade-grown coffee (sourced through the Arbor Day Foundation), at their Omaha headquarters, will add several innovative items to the menu in 2016, including a comprehensive iced tea program and more breakfast options. About Scooters Coffee Founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska, Scooters Coffee roasts only the finest coffee beans in the world at its headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Scooter's success over 17 years of history is simple: Stay committed to the original business principles and company core values. The Scooter's mantra, often recited to franchisees, customers and employees is: "Amazing People, Serving Amazing Drinks, Amazingly Fast. It represents the company's business origins from 1998 and reflects a steady commitment to providing an unforgettable experience to loyal customers. For more information, visit scooterscoffee.com or Facebook.com/ScootersCoffee. SOURCE Scooters Coffee ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Zerorez Celebrates Record Growth Year in 2015 Progressive Brand Marks Progress; Expansion Continues in East Coast, Atlantic and Heartland February 09, 2016 // Franchising.com // Zerorez Franchising Systems, Inc., franchisor of the Zerorez franchise entities across North America, celebrated an historic year in 2015. The year produced record revenue growth, and the Zerorez organization achieved its 7th consecutive year of double-digit growth. In addition, Zerorez grew from 35 locations to 42 locations in 27 states and added nearly 10% more mobile units to its expanding service fleet. The continuing success and expansion of our brand are a result of our outstanding comprehensive cleaning process and our Empowered Water technology, but our progress really is a tribute to the dedication and hard work of our franchise owners and team members across the country, said Richard Arnold, Chief Operating Officer at Zerorez Franchising Systems, Inc. In January 2016, Zerorez has opened an additional location in South Carolina and is working on potential locations in Virginia, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. A number of other markets are available and significant franchise opportunities exist for individuals desiring to become part of the strong and growing Zerorez brand. Zerorez, one of the leading carpet cleaning franchise options in the industry, boasts an innovative and technically superior way to clean carpets and other living surfaces. The companys patented cleaning system is completely green and does not use harsh or aggressive chemicals to clean. Instead, its revolutionary cleaning technology employs Empowered Water, manufactured via a scientifically proven process, which changes the waters molecular structure by softening it, removing heavy metals and then processing the softened water through a generator that electrolyzes and oxidizes the softened water. This creates a powerful cleaning solution without harsh chemicals or toxins. The carpet cleaning industry has been cleaning carpets the same ineffective way for decades, stated Arnold. Traditional cleaners add a detergent or surfactant to water and then attempt to extract all of the water, soap and dirt from the carpet. However, no traditional system can extract all of the detergent and water from the carpet. The water and soap residue germinate in the carpet and act like magnets, attracting more dirt, residue, bacteria and airborne particles that gather on the carpet. Zerorezs Empowered Water acts LIKE a detergent, but without any soaps, detergents or harsh chemicals and it truly cleans the carpet without soil-attracting residue left behind. Cleaning this way makes spots much less likely to re-appear, reduces dry-time and makes it safer for each home or office cleaned. About Zerorez Franchising Systems, Inc. Zerorez Franchising Systems, Inc.s corporate offices are in metro Salt Lake City Utah, and its franchise organization is coast-to-coast in 27 states. In recognition of its cleaning efficacy, the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) has awarded Zerorez its Platinum Rating, the cleaning industrys highest rating. See www.zerorezfranchise.com for more information or to contact the corporate office. SOURCE Zerorez Contact: Brian Dixon bdixon@zerorez.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus New York City Construction Accident Attorney Calls for Safety Measures after Fatal Manhattan Crane Collapse New York City construction accident lawyer, Kenneth A. Wilhelm stresses the need for better crane safety at work sites following the deadly crane collapse in Lower Manhattan, which killed one person and injured several others. -- One person was killed and three others were injured when a crane collapsed at a Lower Manhattan street, hitting buildings before crashing down on parked vehicles. According to a report in The New York Times, workers were trying to secure the crane when it toppled onto Worth Street just before 8:30 a.m. Feb. 5 The crane crashed onto roughly two blocks of roadway causing gas and water main leaks in the area. The Times reports that the piece of construction equipment was so massive that its boom measured about 565 feet. The person who was killed was sitting in a car parked on Worth Street when the crane fell, according to the Times. Two people were seriously injured and one more person suffered relatively minor injuries, according to the report. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members of the deceased victim," said New York personal injury lawyer Kenneth A. Wilhelm. "It is indeed fortunate that more people were not seriously injured considering this huge crane collapsed during a busy time of day in an area that's normally bustling with activity." The crane was being operated on 60 Hudson Street - the site of the former Western Union building. The machine known as a "crawler crane" was last inspected by the city's Buildings Department a day before its collapse. City officials had approved an extension to its present length. The Times news article also stated that the equipment was being used to replace generators and air-conditioning units on top of the building. Wilhelm called for better enforcement of the city's safety regulations when it comes to large cranes. "These are extremely dangerous pieces of equipment that require daily safety inspections," he said. "As we saw in this tragic incident, crane accidents can result in catastrophic injuries and fatalities involving not just construction workers, but also passersby." Wilhelm said he hopes there will be a thorough investigation into how and why this fatal crane accident occurred. "It may be months before we know all the facts of this case and understand what went wrong and how it may have been avoided," he said. It's also crucial that victims and their families get the support and resources they need during this difficult time. "Victims and their families in such cases endure not only emotional trauma, but also severe financial strain. It is important that their legal rights and best interests are protected." Contacting the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm For questions or comments please contact the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm. Our New York personal injury attorneys can help victims and families with medical malpractice and accident cases. We can also help with personal injury and medical malpractice cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. The TOLL FREE phone numbers for us are: 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496), 1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800-LAS-LEYES For more information about us, please visit http://www.WORK4YOULAW.com Contact Info: Name: Kenneth A. Wilhelm Organization: Kenneth A Wilhelm Address: The Law Offices of Kenneth A Wilhelm 445 Park Ave, New York, NY 10022 Phone: (212) 545-7373 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/new-york-city-construction-accident-attorney-calls-for-safety-measures-after-fatal-manhattan-crane-collapse/103283 Release ID: 103283 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) TheCareGuide.com Supports Call for Action on Violence in Long Term Care Homes TheCareGuide.com supports the call for action on provincial aid to combat senior-on-senior violence in long term care homes. -- Toronto, Canada, February 8, 2016 - TheCareGuide.com (www.TheCareGuide.com), a premiere source that offers free information to older adults on elder care and housing solutions, is speaking out on the need to protect residents of long term care homes from violence brought on by other residents. The call to action comes amidst urgings by Ontario's own long term care homes, many of which have been troubled by the issue. Currently only six of Ontario's 626 long term care homes have received the adequate funding to bring in extra behavioral staff to help reduce the amount of violence amongst its senior residents and staff. (Source: Sher, J., "Nursing homes ask province to help reduce violence among elderly," Ottawa Citizen web site, January 4, 2016; http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/nursing-homes-ask-province-for-help-to-reduce-violence-among-elderly.) "The problem is not going to go away, especially with the growing aging population in Canada," notes Fred Schleich, president of TheCareGuide.com. "Seniors dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia can become aggressive and confused, and increased staff with the training and knowledge to better manage these residents would reduce serious or even fatal injuries to other residents and staff." The majority of violent incidents involve an aggressor with some form of dementia, but few homes are equipped to deal with residents who are identified as problematic. In an attempt to combat violence, care facilities have established strategies like keeping residents occupied to reduce stress and restlessness and provide calming environments. "There are many ways to curb this sort of violence, but care facilities can't do it all on their own," laments Schleich. "It costs money to implement these solutions and extra help from the province would be extremely beneficial." TheCareGuide.com has served as an information resource for elderly adults and their family members since 1996. Their directory and guidance articles cover the full spectrum of care options including home care, community support, retirement homes, independent supportive living, assisted living, memory care, long term care, and hospice. It remains a valued authority on how seniors can find the retirement care option best suited for their unique needs. More information on TheCareGuide.com and the Care Guide publication can be found at www.TheCareGuide.com. For more information about us, please visit http://www.thecareguide.com/ Contact Info: Name: Fred Schleich Organization: The Care Guide Address: 9 Cedarview Drive Toronto, Ontario M1C 2K5, Canada Phone: 416.287.CARE (2273) Source: http://marketersmedia.com/thecareguide-com-supports-call-for-action-on-violence-in-long-term-care-homes/103304 Release ID: 103304 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Malaysia Tour Website Launches Details About Upcoming Choices Tours to Malaysia using Iran Air and Mahan are both direct and international with stops in United Arab Emirates, Qatar and between Kuala Lumpur and Penang. -- Malaysia tour (??? ????? )options are available to residents who want to explore the fascinating and historic areas of the country. Some of the tour highlights include Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang and Singapore. Travellers are invited to visit the website in order to specify the ports-of-call for the tour. The Malaysia destination for Iranian travellers can include a stay of as much as two weeks with no visa required. When a Singapore stop is included in the tour, visa requirements must be met before travelling. Travel on the excursions may be done by external and internal flights. Tours to Malaysia using Iran Air and Mahan are both direct and international with stops in United Arab Emirates, Qatar and between Kuala Lumpur and Penang. There are ground transfers between cities and between Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. The trip between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore is accomplished by air transport. The exact connections will be determined by the travellers, in coordination with the company representatives. Vouchers for airlines and for hotels are provided in electronic form for convenience to passengers. It is important to contact the agency about delivery electronically. Allowance for receipt of the necessary documentation at the agency is important. Travellers are requested to send the first page of the passport via fax, or email. The agency will provide the paperwork as needed. The hotels included in the tour package are usually rated at three-star. If the desired hotel is different than the standard package, travellers are invited to check the options which are pictured on the tour website. Arrangements can be made prior to the start of the tour. The tour includes a number of points of interest, both historical and culturally significant. Shopping opportunities and enjoyment of the activities are a popular way to learn more about other parts of the globe. For more information about us, please visit http://malaysia-tour.ir/ Contact Info: Name: Yusef Abad Organization: Saadatseir Address: Address: Unit 7, Floor3, No 51, 25st St, Jamalodin Asad Abadi Av, Tehran Iran Phone: 00982143674367 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/malaysia-tour-website-launches-details-about-upcoming-choices/103345 Release ID: 103345 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) New Luxury Travel Blog Features Most Expensive Suites in the World This infamous suite has housed guests such as Michael Jackson, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton. The price is set at $67,000 per night. -- Luxury travel blog director, Chloe Barnes, is pleased to announce the launch of a new blog to provide ideas for luxury accommodations around the world. Suite Suggestions exists to bring travellers the most exclusive and coveted accommodations from around the world, with suites featured from the world's top luxury hotels and resorts. The settings vary, with snowy chalets, beachside resorts and private island escapes each showing off their most extravagant rooms on offer. While the blog provides comprehensive descriptions of availability, facilities and accommodations, it is the images that are captured to show the accommodations and scenery that will make travellers want to drop everything and book. The suites are displayed in full colour in ways that can almost do them justice, given the sheer magnitude of some of the rooms. The locations described and pictured in the Suite Suggestions blog are sourced from all over the world. The world's most expensive suite is pictured in several images, along with a description of the Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva. This infamous suite has housed guests such as Michael Jackson, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Bill Clinton. The price is set at $67,000 per night. Other locations pictured in the blog include Zanzibar, Bangkok, Crete and the Caribbean. The accommodations are high end, with extras that are out of reach for all but a select few. Toiletries by Hermes, bulletproof glass, a Steinway grand piano, a private gym, billiards table and a private elevator are just a few of the ways to enjoy extreme luxury in temporary accommodation. When the traveller wants to enjoy a specific brand of luxury and needs suggestions about an out-of-the-ordinary location for a truly luxury experience, the blog is an excellent starting point to see the amenities that qualify as the best in the world. For more information about us, please visit http://www.suitesuggestions.com/ Contact Info: Name: Chloe Barnes Organization: Glimster Ltd Address: Winnington House, 2 Woodberry Grove, Finchley, London, N12 0DR Phone: +44 (0)7 411213523 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/new-luxury-travel-blog-features-most-expensive-suites-in-the-world/103344 Release ID: 103344 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Medical Simulation Market To Grow At a CAGR Of 14.15 % By 2019 : Radiant Insights,Inc RadiantInsights.com includes new market research report on "Global Medical Simulation Market Size, Share And Trends Report To 2019 : Radiant Insights" to its huge collection of research reports. -- About Medical Simulation Simulation is a technique that provides real-time exposure in a fully interactive appearance. A medical simulator helps healthcare experts in various ways such as improving laparoscopic surgical procedures, providing standard training for cardiac patients, improving medical knowledge, and easing in surgical procedures. Also, simulators have become a reliable teaching process for learners by improving their basic knowledge and procedural skills. The aim of medical simulation is to reduce the medical errors while educating medical students and healthcare experts for various medical application and surgical process. Browse Full Research Report With TOC On " Global Medical Simulation Market 2015-2019" at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-medical-simulation-market-2015-2019 Covered in this Report The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Global Medical Simulation market for the period 2015-2019. The following are the various types of medical simulation techniques available in the market: human-patients simulation, simulation training services, simulated clinical environments, interventional simulators, low-fidelity task trainers simulators, and medical imaging simulation. The report covers the Americas, and the APAC and EMEA regions; it also covers the Global Medical Simulation market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Key Regions o Americas o APAC o EMEA o Key Vendors o CAE Healthcare o Gaumard Scientific o Kyoto Kagaku o Laerdal Medical o Limbs & Things o Mentice o Simulaids Browse Full Research Report With TOC on http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/healthcare Other Prominent Vendors o 3B Scientific o Adam, Rouilly o Altay Scientific o Cardionics o Eped o INGMAR Medical o Kavo o Medical Simulation o Yuan Technology About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions. Contact Details: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Web: http://www.radiantinsights.com/ For more information about us, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-medical-simulation-market-2015-2019 Contact Info: Name: Michelle Thoras Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc. Address: 28 2nd Street Phone: 14153490054 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/medical-simulation-market-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-14-15-by-2019-radiant-insightsinc/103329 Release ID: 103329 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) PayPal Virtual Credit Card Replaced By PayPal Prepaid Card MicroLabors offers MasterCard credit cards in amounts from $5 to $500 or higher. The virtual cards are purchased using PayPal for protection of sensitive information. -- PayPal virtual credit card is designed to allow online buyers to use a card without the need for going through the credit applications and check which are required for bank-issued credit cards. For card-holders who want a secure way to pay for goods purchased online, a virtual credit card is a useful solution. Paypal's prepaid card is collaborated with MasterCard and works in the same way that a debit MasterCard is used when shopping online. Obtaining a virtual credit card number through MicroLabors is an easy and convenient way to use a credit card for online purchases. The card carries the MasterCard insignia so that it is recognized by merchants everywhere. The cards are for relatively small balances and cannot be reloaded. The initial funds load is from PayPal, 2CheckOut, BlueSnap or Authorize.Net. Using the payment methods protects sensitive information from those who would try to steal identities. Overdrafts of bank accounts are impossible when using the virtual card. Although MicroLabors.com is the originator of the card, it is purchased through the Paypal account and no sensitive information is maintained by MicroLabors. The virtual card can be delivered anywhere and used anywhere that MasterCard is accepted. The virtual product doesn't permit financial account verification and the maximum amount is from $5 to $500. For cards in larger amounts, the buyer will be required to provide proof of identity and payment must be made using a bank transfer. The resulting card has the full international card with sixteen digits. There is an expiration date which is set at one day to three years, based on the card balance. The card has the card security code of three digits on the back end. Delivery is through SMS paypal email or account email. A virtual card is an international trademark. There is a small service fee which is non-refundable. Website: http://microlabors.com/paypal-virtual-credit-card/ For more information about us, please visit http://microlabors.com/product/buy-virtual-card-with-paypal/ Contact Info: Name: microlabors Organization: microlabors.com Source: http://marketersmedia.com/paypal-virtual-credit-card-replaced-by-paypal-prepaid-card/103347 Release ID: 103347 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Marrickville Florist Delivery On Same Day With No Hidden Fees Service Launched The prominent boutique florist store Darling Buds of Annandale has just expanded its delivery services to guarantee same day home delivery of its elegant and custom-made floral arrangements to the residents of the local suburb of Marrickville, in Sydney, Australia. -- The florist business Darling Buds of Annandale has expanded its delivery services and is now available to ensure home delivery to customers of the local suburb of Marrickville in Sydney, Australia. Darling Buds of Annandale is a family operated florist providing customers with a wide range of beautiful bouquets and fresh floral arrangements to suit any occasion at a reasonable price since 1991. The boutique store has just expanded its delivery services to include home delivery for customers looking for a florist for Marrickville. Their elegant custom-made arrangements with fresh flowers and teddy bears, candles, cards, balloons or chocolates to celebrate anything from Valentine's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, mother or father's day and graduations to a romance, friendship or a simple "thank you", and more, can be created and delivered in the same day, if the order is placed before 1 pm. The florists at Darling Buds of Annandale also have extensive experience creating elegant custom-made arrangements for corporate events, grand openings, weddings or funerals and all their bouquets are stylishly wrapped in a self-contained water system to keep them fresh during the delivery. The owners, Natalie and Tony, explain their business is built on the combination of high-quality customer-service and "florists that take the time to create floral arrangements that suit any budget and desire using only the freshest flowers". A gallery with some examples of arrangements created by the florists at Darling Buds of Annandale can be found on the website at the link provided above along with a 'Flowerpedia', detailing the traditional meaning of different types of flowers. In addition to Marrickville, the florist shop guarantees fast home delivery with no hidden charges to most Sydney metropolitan areas and also provides an alternative click-and-collect service where customers can order the arrangement or bouquet online and collect it Darling Buds of Annandale's shop whenever is most convenient for them. With Valentine's Day coming up, the florist is currently offering premium discounts on a 'Sending Lots of Love' floral arrangement with a dozen roses and the option to add foil balloons, soft teddy bears, chocolates, a greeting card, scented candles, diffusers and wine. For more information about us, please visit http://www.darlingbuds.com.au/Fast-Flower-Delivery-To-Marrickville.html Contact Info: Name: Minh Ta Organization: Darling Buds of Annandale Address: 93 Booth Street Annandale NSW 2038 Australia Phone: 02 9552 1258 Release ID: 103278 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Crowning moment for a Marietta Dentist, Google's Panoramic Street View Indoors. Google's virtual tour is a great way for small businesses like Dr. James P. Sylvan D.D.S. to showcase what their office to potential new customers. -- With Google's move to focus on local search, Google Maps has gone from the street to inside the local business. The search engine leader is now using the panoramic 4K images stitched together, by certified Google photographers, to give a rich 3D - 360 degree tour of the inside of a business. These new tours are called "Virtual Tours", and to see if a business has one on their Google Mas page look at the lower right image caption for "See inside". A new addition to the Virtual Tours is Dr. James P. Sylvan D.D.S. Dentist Marietta, GA. This is an interactive way for potential customers to engage with a place of business. The customers can take the virtual tour scrolling around an office as if from the perspective of standing inside the facility. Google trains photographers on their Street View technology, like Businessview360 who shot Dr. James P. Sylvan D.D.S.'s Virtual Tour. The images are taken from a tripod and are shot 360-degrees to give a full panoramic view. Once a shoot is finished, the photographer marks up and uploads the images, then Google renders them into a seamless tour that is attached to Google Maps. A Virtual Tour is a great way for potential customers to see the cleanliness and quality of a place of business. Especially if one wants crowns or bridges cosmetically implanted This is why Dr. Sylvan wanted to show off his Dentistry practice. He has practiced Award winning Cosmetic Dentistry for over 30 years, voted a Top Atlanta-Area Dentist, a People's Choice in Atlanta Magazine, and even as a Peer Review Dentist by other industry leading Dentists. Not to mention his 5 STAR reviews in Google from long standing customers. As business owners consider how to impact the ever-growing web searchers, the Google Virtual Tour could be a great resource for a small business; however, as Businessview360, will say, just doing the Virtual Tour is not how to gain the most impact, they believe the Tour to be an asset, and that it should be used correctly to have the greatest effect. A small company, Capturing Clicks, has emerged as a dynamic company that has a grasp on how to get the most impact out of this new growing trend, the Virtual Tour. For more information about us, please visit http://jamespsylvandds.com/ Contact Info: Name: Dr. Sylvan Organization: James P. Sylvan D.D.S. Address: 3901 Roswell Road Suite 220 Marietta, GA 30062 Phone: 770-977-0977 Release ID: 103366 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) North Parramatta Car Towing Service With 24-7 Emergency Assistance Launched Carlingford Towing, a driver owned car towing business with over 20 years of experience, has extended its damage free towing services with 24-7 emergency assistance and expert insurance claim advice to the local suburb of North Parramatta. -- The car towing business Carlingford Towing has announced the expansion of its car towing services, including 24-7 emergency cover and expert insurance claim advice, to the local suburb of North Parramatta in Sidney, Australia. Carlingford Towing is a driver owned towing firm with over 20 years of experience providing fast and comprehensive car towing services to customers in Carlingford and its surrounding areas. The business has announced that its fully qualified staff is now also available to provide 24-7 car towing for North Parramatta. All the Carlingford Towing trucks are equipped with the latest 'tilt tray' technology to eliminate any potential risk of damage to the client's vehicle. The safe transportation and damage free towing are guaranteed for vehicles of any size as well as heavy machinery like forklift trucks, trailer generators, scissor lifts, cherry pickers, and more. The staff has extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of the motoring industry, from the repair process to insurance assessing, being able to advise the clients on any matter regarding their insurance claim forms, procedures and processes. The towing services are available 24-7 to provide immediate and comprehensive assistance for any potential emergency and the calls are answered directly by one of Carlingford Towing's drivers who will be able to immediately respond to any questions or requirements the client may have and provide an accurate quote and time of arrival. The owner, Greg Richardson, a driver himself with 27 years of experience in the motoring industry, explains that "at Carlingford Towing, we pride ourselves on providing a speedy, efficient and hassle-free service. We have built a reputation as a premier towing specialist and North Parramatta residents can feel safe in knowing that whatever their vehicle towing needs are, we have the experience and the know how to deliver a service that's second to none". In addition to North Parramatta, the firm is currently providing its 24-7 car towing services to drivers in Carlingford, Cheltenham, Dundas, Eastwood, Epping, Ermington, North Rocks, Pennant Hills, Oatlands, Rydalmere, Telopea and West Pennant Hills. For more information about us, please visit http://www.carlingfordtowing.net.au/towing-services-for-north-parramatta/ Contact Info: Name: Minh Ta Organization: Carlingford Towing Address: 214 Midson Road, Epping NSW 2121 Australia Phone: 02 9871 7354 Release ID: 103385 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) 85ideas.com Expands Into Deals and Reviews 85ideas.com expands their information to better compete with other similar sites in the industry. -- 85ideas.com, a popular WordPress theme and information provider, has expanded their service offerings with the introduction of their new Deals section of the site. Many of the industry's most prominent theme, plugin, and hosting providers will be featured. Reason for the addition The addition is a strategic move to better position the site against others in the industry and gain a better foothold on the already-existing price conscious readers. In addition, the company also hopes to increase its bottom line, allowing the site to bring on new writers and produce even more content than it already is. "We already have hundreds of thousands of people visiting our site every month. The introduction of a Deals section allows us to directly cater to what those readers are looking for; free and discounted offerings. We hope this allows our price conscious consumers to upgrade from free plugins and themes, and create something truly beautiful," said Mike Hughes, co-founder of the site. A few of the company's main promotions are listed below: ASmallOrange Bluehost MyThemeShop Over the course of the next year, the site plans to steadily add one or two deals per week, and closely monitor their partners for flash and seasonal sales. Other competitors like WPBeginner have been doing this for a while and have seen great success, and 85ideas also hopes to cash in with the move. ABOUT 85ideas.com 85ideas.com is an all-inclusive resource for bloggers looking to take their websites to the next level. From tutorials to free themes built by us, bloggers can find everything they need here all under one roof. For more information about us, please visit https://85ideas.com Contact Info: Name: Mike Hughes Organization: 85ideas.com Phone: 4029263589 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/85ideas-com-expands-into-deals-and-reviews/103374 Release ID: 103374 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Proton Therapy Market Global Trends, Growth Drivers, Competitive Landscape & 2030 Forecasts Analysis MarketReportsOnline.com adds "Global Proton Therapy Market Report: 2015 Edition" report to its research store. -- Proton therapy market is mainly centred in the Americas, more specifically in the North American region. However, since last few years, it has been observed that the technology is now being adopted at a fast pace by medical specialists of the European and Asian regions. The technology around proton therapy has also made inroads in various other corners of the world all because of the increasing financial strength and interest of governments in its advancement. Company Coverage of Proton Therapy Market: o Varian Medical Systems Inc. o Elekta o IBA Inc. o Hitachi, Ltd. Complete report available with Table of Contents at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/438251.html. Radiation describes the way energy moves from one place to another. One of the top technological developments in the field of radiotherapy has allowed for the evolution of proton therapy. Proton therapy, also called proton beam therapy, is a type of radiation treatment that uses protons rather than x-rays to treat cancer. It is a highly precise method of radiotherapy which is suitable for all patients regardless of age, mainly depending on diagnosis. A proton is a positively charged particle. Technological upgradations like rotational gantries, higher energies and larger fields have expanded the application of proton therapy to almost every site of the human body . Some of the factors driving the growth of proton therapy and thus radiation therapy are increasing number of cancer cases worldwide, growing preference for non-invasive procedures and technological innovations. Other factors like ageing population also promote the use of proton therapy equipments. Proton therapy treatment centers involve huge investments in terms of finance, location as well as experienced professional with hands-on-experience of this technology. Cutting edge technologies like pencil beam scanning hold the potential to elevate the ability to treat the highly complex tumors, while leaving healthy tissue and critical structures untouched. This particular technology is used with proton therapy and thus, many new proton centers are adapting it worldwide. Place a direct purchase order on this proton therapy market report at USD 800 (Single User License) http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=438251. This report assesses the proton therapy market and associated terms in terms of both market volume and market value. The top companies having a vicious competition with each other and dominating the industry are- IBA Inc, Varian Medical systems, Elekta, and Hitachi Ltd. These players are being profiled in the report along with their key financials and strategies for growth. Few Points from List of Tables and Charts Provided in Global Proton Therapy Market: List of Tables Cancer Prevalence Statistics in the US (2014/2015) Cancer Incidents & Radiation Units in LMIC Region (2013) List of Charts Cancer Therapies Classification Global Radiation Therapy Equipment Market (2009-2014) Global Radiation Therapy Equipment Share (2014) Global Radiation Therapy Equipment Market Revenue by Region (2010/2015E) Volume of Radiation Therapy Equipment (LINAC's) by Country (2014) Share of Cancer Patients Treated with Radiation Therapy by Region (2014) Proton Therapy Application on the Basis of Cancer Site Proton Therapy V/s X-Ray / IMRT - Prostate cancer Proton Therapy Treatment Devices Global Proton Therapy Market by Value (2013-2030) Global Proton Therapy Market Value by Segment (2014-2030) Global Proton Therapy Market by Annual Patient Volume (2006-2014) Global Proton Therapy Market by Cumulative Patient Volume (2005-2014) Global Proton Therapy Market by Patient Volume Forecast (2015-2030) Global Proton Therapy Market by New Treatment Rooms (2006-2014) Global Proton Therapy Market by Cumulative Treatment Rooms (2006-2014) Global Proton Therapy Market by Cumulative Treatment Rooms Forecast (2015-2030) Proton Therapy Cost per Room (2014-2019E) Other Related Reports on Proton Therapy Market: Global Proton Therapy Market: Trends and Opportunities (2015 Edition): The report provides detailed regional analysis of North America, Europe and Asia for the proton therapy market. Regional proton therapy market is analyzed on the basis of proton therapy installation base and patients treated by proton therapy. Regional analysis also includes currently operating clinical proton therapy facilities and upcoming clinical proton therapy facilities each in North America, Europe and Asia. http://www.marketreportsonline.com/438098.html. Global Radiation Therapy Market Report: 2015 Edition (http://www.marketreportsonline.com/400291.html) Radiotherapy is a treatment procedure that involves the use of high-energy radiation. It is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control cell growth and is also used to treat benign (non-cancerous) tumors and other conditions like thyroid disease and some blood disorders. Almost half of the cancer patients are being treated by radiation therapy. Nowadays, new treatment techniques such as image guided radiation therapy (IGRT), proton therapy; brachytherapy and stereotactic radiation therapy are being increasingly adopted. Browse All Pharmaceuticals Market Research Reports at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/cat/pharmaceuticals-market-research.html. For more information about us, please visit http://www.marketreportsonline.com/438251.html Contact Info: Name: Ritesh Tiwari Organization: Market Reports Online Phone: + 1 888 391 5441 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/proton-therapy-market-global-trends-growth-drivers-competitive-landscape-2030-forecasts-analysis/103337 Release ID: 103337 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global Gas Generator Market 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Cost of Energy, Investment Trends, Regulations , Outlook to 2025 Global Market News has released report on Global Gas Generator Market 2016. Deerfield Beach, FL, United States of America February 9, 2016 /GlobalMarketNews.us/ Gas Generator Market Outlook to 2030 : Gas Generator provides an detailed overview of Gas Generator scenario. This report on Gas Generator also includes an review of trial numbers as well as their (Gas Generator) average enrollment in uppermost/top countries which are conducted worldwide. Gas Generator report also covers disease clinical trials by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, research, review, Size status as well as end points status. Report Gas Generator also Includes prominent drugs for in-progress trials (Note: based on number of ongoing trials and reviews). Do Enquiry Before Purchasing Report Here : http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/gas-generator-market-global-market-size-equipment-35995#InquiryForBuying The report covers detailed analysis and forecast of important market dynamics of Gas Generator industry including market drivers and restraints. It also evaluates future growth & demand opportunities for its stake holders. The report throws light on upstream and downstream markets of Gas Generator industry. The report provides detailed analysis of production price, production capacity, production volume, production value, production cost or profit margin and supply & demand analysis/forecast. Get Sample Copy of Report Here : http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/gas-generator-market-global-market-size-equipment-35995#RequestSample Scope of Gas Generator Report:- This report includes a snapshot of all over the world clinical trials and reviews landscape on Gas Generator scenario. Report on Gas Generator also provides high level data related to the Global clinical research by country (G7 & E7), sponsor type, region, trial, review, size status as well as end points status on Gas Generator scenario Report reviews top companies involved in Gas Generator as well as provides e all trials (Trial title, Phase, Research and Status) pertaining to the company on Gas Generator scenario. This report provides all the unaccomplished trials on Gas Generator scenario (Withdrawn, Terminated) with reason for unaccomplishment on Gas Generator. About QY Market Research QY Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. QY Market Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. Contact us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USA Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 The post Global Gas Generator Market 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Cost of Energy, Investment Trends, Regulations , Outlook to 2025 appeared first on Global Market News. For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Global Retro-Reflective Sensors Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2025 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Research on Global Quatrz Oscillator Market 2016 Industry Analysis, Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Private Branch Exchange(PBX) Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Research, Demand & Forecast (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Print Mark Sensor Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Growth & Analysis 2022 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global OLED Lighting Device Market 2016 Industry Trends, Demand, Analysis & Review Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Network Card Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Marine biotechnology Market is expected to reach $5.9 billion by the year 2022 Global Market News has released report on "Global Marine biotechnology Market 2016". Deerfield Beach, FL, United States of America February 09, 2016 /GlobalMarketNews.us/ -- The Global Marine biotechnology market is expected to reach $5.9 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2014 to 2022. The growth factor for marine biotechnology market is increase in the demand for natural products. The key drivers for the market are new applications of marine derived enzymes in cosmetics industry and use of marine algae and micro algae in bio-field production. The increase in demand for commodities has resulted in supply shortages and high prices in crude oil, steel and other metals. Developing countries face a challenge as they do not often have the established industrial infrastructure to act as sub-contractors. The market has also been witnessing increasing investments from venture capitalists. However, high R&D costs could pose a challenge to the market growth. Request For Sample Report Here: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-marine-biotechnology-market-outlook-trends-forecast-35868#RequestSample North America has the largest market for marine biotechnology with U.S. accounting for major share, whereas Japan is the fastest growing market. Europe is also one of the leading regions contributing to the global market. With Europe recovering from the economic crisis, the region has been making steady investments in marine biotechnology and is also witnessing the emergence of several small and medium sized enterprises that are making significant contributions to the R&D and introduction of novel marine-based products. In addition, the European Union research policy supports several collaborative projects in marine biotechnology. Marine biotechnology market is segmented by product, by end-use applications and by geography. Based on product, market is classified into biomaterials, bioactive substances and others. Based on end-use applications, market is classified into industrial products, health care/biotechnology, consumer products, public services & infrastructure, and others. Based on geography, market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. Do Inquiry Before Purchasing Report Here: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-marine-biotechnology-market-outlook-trends-forecast-35868#InquiryForBuying The key players in the Marine biotechnology market include CP Kelco, Nutrex Hawaii, BASF SE, Biotech Marine, Lonza Group Ltd., PharmaMar S.A, BioLume Inc., Royal DSM N.V, Sea Run Holdings Inc, and Cyanotech Corp. What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Market share analysis of the top industry players Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements About Market Research Store Market Research Store, we have market research reports from competent publishers. Our Research Specialists have thorough knowledge about offerings from different publishers and different reports on respective industries. They will help you refine search parameters and get desired results at your doorstep. Here you can review the complete range of available reports, review the scope of study and methodology of reports. Apart from the published market research reports, we also provide customized study on any topic to meet the varied requirements of our clients. Whether you are looking for new product trends, competitive analysis or study on existing or emerging markets, Market Research Store has best offerings and expertise to get the critical information for you. You can also choose the option to purchase full reports or sections from the report or only charts or tables. Contact us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, USA USA Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com The post Global Marine biotechnology Market is expected to reach $5.9 billion by the year 2022 appeared first on Global Market News. For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Global Retro-Reflective Sensors Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2025 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Research on Global Quatrz Oscillator Market 2016 Industry Analysis, Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Private Branch Exchange(PBX) Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Research, Demand & Forecast (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Print Mark Sensor Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Growth & Analysis 2022 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global OLED Lighting Device Market 2016 Industry Trends, Demand, Analysis & Review Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Network Card Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Oleochemicals Fatty Acids Market to Grow at a CAGR of 8.1% during 2022 by Market Research Store Global Market News has released report on "Global Oleochemicals Fatty Acids Market 2016". Deerfield Beach, FL, United States of America February 09, 2016 /GlobalMarketNews.us/ -- The Global Oleochemicals Fatty Acids Market is valued at $16.4 billion and is expected to reach $30.62 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 8.1% from 2014 and 2022. Some of the key drivers of the market include consumer-driven demand and recyclability. Whereas demand for food & beverages, soaps & detergents acts as opportunities for the market growth. Exposure to consumer trends is favoring markets such as cleaning, beauty and food. Request For Sample Report Here: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-oleochemical-fatty-acids-market-outlook-trends-35901#RequestSample Asia-Pacific held the largest share in 2013, China being the top contributor. Japan, China and India are the prominent countries with a huge demand for oleochemicals. Growing applications of oleochemicals in the soaps & detergents industry is boosting investments in the oleochemicals market. The demand for oleochemicals is rising in the pharmaceutical & personal care industry as consumers are becoming conscious about the environmental benefits and cost effectiveness offered by oleochemicals. Significant mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and joint ventures are the industry trends that are playing a major role for the market growth. Oleochemicals fatty Acids market is segmented by product, by application and by geography. Depending on the products, the market is segmented into distilled fatty acids, stearic acid, polyunsaturated fatty acids, fractionated fatty acids, glycerin and fatty alcohols. Based on applications, market is categorized into food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and personal care, polymers, soaps and detergents. By geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. Do Inquiry Before Purchasing Report Here: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-oleochemical-fatty-acids-market-outlook-trends-35901#InquiryForBuying The key players in the Oleochemicals Fatty Acids Market include Arizona Chemical Company LLC, Amyris, Emery Oleochemicals, P&G Chemicals, Godrej Industries, Isosciences LLC, Evonik Industries, Solazyme, Cargill Incorporated and Genomatica. What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Market share analysis of the top industry players Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements About Market Research Store Market Research Store, we have market research reports from competent publishers. Our Research Specialists have thorough knowledge about offerings from different publishers and different reports on respective industries. They will help you refine search parameters and get desired results at your doorstep. Here you can review the complete range of available reports, review the scope of study and methodology of reports. Apart from the published market research reports, we also provide customized study on any topic to meet the varied requirements of our clients. Whether you are looking for new product trends, competitive analysis or study on existing or emerging markets, Market Research Store has best offerings and expertise to get the critical information for you. You can also choose the option to purchase full reports or sections from the report or only charts or tables. Contact us: Joel John 3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, USA USA Tel: +1-386-310-3803 GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651 Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com The post Global Oleochemicals Fatty Acids Market to Grow at a CAGR of 8.1% during 2022 by Market Research Store appeared first on Global Market News. For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Global Retro-Reflective Sensors Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2025 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Research on Global Quatrz Oscillator Market 2016 Industry Analysis, Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Private Branch Exchange(PBX) Market 2016 Industry Size, Trends, Research, Demand & Forecast (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Print Mark Sensor Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Growth & Analysis 2022 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global OLED Lighting Device Market 2016 Industry Trends, Demand, Analysis & Review Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) Global Network Card Market 2016 Industry Size, Research, Trends, Demand Review & Forecast 2020 (Thu 3rd Mar 16) In what is one of the new state medical officer's first public health awareness projects, state health officials are rolling out a monthly series of messages aimed at boosting awareness of health issues as they relate to Montanans. Called Health in the 406, the program will each month focus on a different health topic broken down into bite-sized bits of information that are easy to read and remember. "What we're trying to do is bring up items to highlight areas where we are being successful in public health, and some areas that need improvement as well," said Dr. Gregory Holzman, State Medical Officer with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services. Through a new website, voluntary email signups and a media push, DPHHS hopes the effort will open up more Montanans to information on public health topics they might have known about or been interested in before. That includes things people normally think of as public health topics such as vaccinations or disease control but officials also want to focus on other aspects, including chronic pain, mental health and birth defects, while highlighting programs or efforts in communities around the state. "We want people to see public health differently," said Linda Krantz, DPHHS chronic disease prevention program manager. "Public health has expanded and grown so much. It touches everybody and people don't think of things like falls as public health issues." The first topic covers falls and fall safety in Montana. Included are statistics about falls in Montana they result in 3,400 annual hospital stays and 19,800 emergency room visits while costing about $135 million along with demographics saying that Montanans over 45 with arthritis have twice the risk of falling as those who don't, as well as resources and programs, like the statewide Stepping On classes, designed to help prevent falls. "It's a great way to educate the public and other health care providers around the state with some data," said Jeremy Brokay, coordinator of the DPHHS injury prevention program. " ... We just want people to know that they're common, they're predictable and they're preventable." By design, the post is broken down into three quick bolts of information covering numbers, demographics and resources so that the entire thing can be read in just a few seconds. "We want to be very, very simplistic like the three bullet points that people can read in an email before they even have a chance to delete it," Holzman said. "They might learn something new or reconfirm something they already knew." Officials also want the public to be involved and have set up an email account at healthinthe406@mt.gov for people to contact with suggestions or comments. Many of the program's components are borrowed from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention effort called Did You Know, only localized for the Montana public. Holzman said that the number of people who signed up for that program was "pretty impressive" and hopes to replicate those results in Montana. Holzman served as head of Michigan State University's Healthy Campus Initiative and was an associate chair of preventive medicine there before coming to Montana in the summer of 2015. He replaced Dr. Steven Helgerson, who retired. Among his other previous positions are stints as Michigan's chief medical executive and the CDC's deputy director for the Office of State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support. He also spent time in Montana in 1998 as a staff physician at the Blackfeet Community Hospital in Browning. He said that community health-building programs like Health in the 406 and collaborative efforts with communities, health care providers and organizations around the state are among his top priorities. "I believe public health is one of the biggest areas where we can make a difference in people's lives," he said. Among the medical officer's duties are leading statewide public health programs, keeping an eye on public health issues, working with the CDC and working with programs and other organizations around Montana on disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. Window Well Experts Move To New Manufacturing and Office Location In Walworth, Wisconsin Window Well Experts has moved to a new combined manufacturing plant and office space in Walworth, Wisconsin to improve the quality and speed of their deliverables and services. -- Window Wells are a great way of getting natural light into spaces that are technically subterranean, but they come with their own challenges and disadvantages, including being a trap for rainfall, snow, animals, falling leaves and other debris. This means that these window wells need to be protected from the elements, and there is no better way to do that than with a clear cover that lets the light through but not the elements. Window Well Experts have been manufacturing these covers for over forty years, and have now moved to a larger, more advanced central location in Wisconsin to better deliver their services nationwide. The company has moved both their manufacturing and offices to a new address at 278 N Main St. Walworth, WI 53184, from their previous home in Delavan, WI. The new building allows the company to deliver faster manufacturing, increased capacity, increased inventory and a shorter production time from order to delivery. The new manufacturing plant also allows for new manufacturing techniques, new window well covers and associated products, and innovative custom designs to match the specific requirements of every client's space. This head office will enable them to increase the number of their products sold throughout the US, making them a truly national company. A spokesperson for Window Well Experts explained, "We are thrilled to be able to move to our new manufacturing facility and head office in Walworth, a stone's throw from where we first started business in Harvard, IL. The new facility is hugely exciting for us because it will create fundamental changes in the pace of our manufacturing and new product development. We will be able to create more and better products faster than ever, and tailor them to our clients' exact specifications. 2016 will be the most exciting year in our history." About Window Well Experts: Window Well Experts have been manufacturing low profile clear unbreakable plastic window well covers, custom metal grate window well covers, fabricated atrium dome type window well covers, and custom molding clear unbreakable plastic bubble/dome type window well covers for over forty years. The company headquarters and primary manufacturing facility in Walworth, WI is supported by distribution centers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information about us, please visit http://windowwellexperts.com/ Contact Info: Name: Bob Jankowski Organization: Window Well Experts Phone: 1-888-650-9355 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/window-well-experts-move-to-new-manufacturing-and-office-location-in-walworth-wisconsin/103418 Release ID: 103418 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) 1300Fridge Introduces Commercial Refrigeration Services For Local Businesses Food service and hospitality businesses waste a lot of energy on refrigeration. See how 1300Fridge's services are helping local business owners combat this problem at http://www.1300fridge.com.au/. -- Statistics show that food service businesses consume energy at twice the rate of other types of businesses. Energy consumption rates can sometimes be even higher for cafeterias, full-service restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality establishments. Unfortunately, many of these businesses waste up to 80 percent of the energy they consume because of inefficient equipment. It is with these statistics in mind that 1300Fridge, a premier commercial refrigeration service company based in Perth, is introducing their services designed especially for businesses in the foodservice and hospitality sectors. Those who would like to get a glimpse of what 1300Fridge has to offer business owners should visit www.1300fridge.com.au/commercial-refrigeration-services/. Darren Dweyer, a representative of 1300Fridge, stated, "Many business owners fail to realize that inefficient refrigeration methods can lead to a lot of waste in their business. Not only does it cost them more on their monthly electricity bills, but it also leads to faster breakdowns on equipment and, in many cases, faster food spoilage for restaurant and hotel owners. Fortunately, the commercial refrigeration services that 1300fridge offers can help local businesses curb all of these types of waste. In turn, this saves them a great deal of money as well as keeping them from experiencing unnecessary frustration." Dweyer goes on to say, "We only service businesses, and that exclusivity allows us to offer comprehensive services to companies who need it. For example, we can do a pre-sale inspection for business owners who are looking to purchase a commercial refrigerator or freezer or a building that already has this equipment installed. For their convenience, we also offer businesses around-the-clock emergency service as well as hassle-free preventative maintenance plans. All of these service options have the potential to save a business owner time and money and keep equipment issues to a minimum." "Research shows that having a more energy-efficient refrigeration system can reduce business costs by as much as 30 percent. Our services are here to help business owners achieve that goal. We encourage them to give us a call for whatever refrigeration needs they may have so that they can worry less and focus more on the other important aspects of their business." Business owners who want to get in touch with 1300Fridge or discover how they can benefit from their services can do so through their website at www.1300fridge.com.au/commercial-refrigeration-services/repairs/. About 1300Fridge: 1300Fridge are the commercial fridge experts in Perth, Western Australia. Their fully trained and licensed refrigeration mechanics are trained to service commercial refrigeration equipment. Their team does work for cafes, restaurants, clubs, pubs, shops, butchers, bakers, and many other commercial customers. 1300Fridge's fridge mechanics are experts in gas leaks, fan motors, compressors, tx valves, and have the knowledge necessary to re-gas and rewire commercial refrigeration equipment. For more information about us, please visit http://www.1300fridge.com.au/ Contact Info: Name: Darren Dweyer Organization: 1300Fridge Phone: 1300 374 343 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/1300fridge-introduces-commercial-refrigeration-services-for-local-businesses/103444 Release ID: 103444 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Hurricane and Greenivative Tech Game Changer in Emergency Preparedness Field Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Technologies announced the availability of their new Emergency Power Generator "GMAG Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II" beginning 2/8/2016. More information can be found at http://www.hurricanewindpower.com/greenivative-g-mag-gen-ii. -- Customers looking for the latest Emergency Power Generation technology will soon be able to purchase G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II by Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Technologies. Today Anthony Jones, CEO at Hurricane Wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Technologies releases details of Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II's development. G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II is designed to appeal specifically to those with interest in the disciplines of Emergency preparedness, prepping, defense contractors, disaster relief agencies. The product we have developed is a :Saltwater fuel cell, battery charger for emergency portable power technology - This technology utilizes a stored chemical reaction activated by saltwater one of the most abundant resources on earth to provide power in the event of a natural disaster. This is great news for the consumer asThe ability to generate power to provide light, to make a phone call or power other communication or use signaling devices could mean the difference between life and death. Long shelf life and compact design - This was made part of the product, since The saltwater battery charger can be stored for over a decade and has the ability to recharge 6 batteries over 30 times roughly the same power potential of carrying 180 AA batteries with a finite shelf life. Customers who buy G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II should enjoy this feature because The G-mag will ensure the end user has portable dependable power on demand that can be called on in a moments notice. Charges mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. - Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Tech made sure to make this part of the Emergency Power G-Mag Generation II development as The smart charger for 5 volt devices allows the generation II power cell to charge a large variety of phones tablets and mobile devices. . Customers will likely appreciate this because charging versatility maximum usage of the emergency power generated with unmatched versatility. The product can be seen in demonstrated at power cell charger demonstration video Anthony Jones, when asked about G-Mag Saltwater Battery Charger Generation II said: "This new technology is a game changer for emergency power generation in the event disaster strikes" This is Hurricane wind Power in partnership with Greenivative Tech 1st release of a new product and Anthony Jones is particularly excited about this release because this product is a unique offering in the field of portable power generation. The patent pending technology does not rely on wind or solar which may not be available in the event of an emergency. The product is not sensitive to such events as solar flares and has the ability to save lives. The market has not seen anything quite like this before. I am excited about this product because it is the an evolution of a technology which can be expanded to eventual larger units which will be the leading edge of power generation in the field of portable power and emergency preparedness. . Those interested in purchasing can go directly to the product listing, here: http://www.hurricanewindpower.com/greenivative-g-m... For more information about us, please visit http://hurricanewindpower.com Contact Info: Name: Anthony Jones Organization: Anthony Jones Address: 3518 Valley View Ave Roanoke VA 24012 Phone: 1540-761-7799 Release ID: 103381 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Drug And General Health Test Provider TestCountry Awarded Google Trusted Stores Badge Drug and general health test provider TestCountry has been awarded Google Trusted Store status and will now display the coveted Trusted Store badge on its website to let customers know they can fully trust the store's customer service. -- Drug and general health test provider TestCountry, which offers instant and lab-based drug and general wellness tests, was recently selected to join the Google Trusted Stores program. To help shoppers identify online merchants that offer a great shopping experience, the Google Trusted Store badge is awarded to e-commerce sites that demonstrate a track record of on-time shipping and excellent customer service. When visiting the TestCountry website, shoppers will see a Google Trusted Store badge and can click on it for more information. TestCountry president Zeynep Ilgaz says the is thrilled the company has attained Google Trusted Store status after trying for so long. "It took years and many resubmissions from a hard working team to get this approval," Ilgaz said. "This designation is extremely important for TestCountry, as it will help our online exposure, search results and our reputability as an online store. This would not have happened without the hard work of our team. The whole process started in 2013 and we were rejected many times, but never took 'no' as an answer. Instead, we focused on the improvements that we could do on our site and eventually attained this coveted status. We are as proud as we are thrilled to now be recognized as a Google Trusted Store and to extend to our customers all the features that recognition brings with it." As an added benefit, when a shopper makes a purchase at a Google Trusted Store, they have the option to select free purchase protection from Google. Then in the unlikely event of an issue with their purchase, they can request Google's help, and Google will work with TestCountry and the customer to address the issue. As part of this, Google offers up to $1,000 lifetime purchase protection for eligible purchases. Google Trusted Stores is entirely free, both for shoppers and for online stores. The program helps online stores like TestCountry attract new customers, increase sales and differentiate themselves by showing off their excellent service via the badge on their websites. Ilgaz says becoming a Google Trusted Store is a vital step for TestCountry due to the nature of the products it sells. "When people turn to TestCountry as a drug and general health test provider, they want to know they can trust the people they're dealing with. This designation lets them know we can be counted on to provide the utmost in customer service and will ship to them in a timely manner. These are two important elements when deciding on a drug test or health test provider and we welcome the boost to business that this will surely bring." For more information about us, please visit http://www.testcountry.com/ Contact Info: Name: Rob Swystun Organization: TestCountry Phone: (800) 656-0745 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/drug-and-general-health-test-provider-testcountry-awarded-google-trusted-stores-badge/103480 Release ID: 103480 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) When 6-year-old Hunter Stevens lost his favorite toy a little stuffed dog named Woofee on a recent trip to Miles City, he thought he'd lost the beloved companion forever. But thanks to the work of staff at Holy Rosary Healthcare and a connection via Facebook with a Wal-Mart employee, Hunter reunited a week later with Woofee, who along the way got a VIP tour and checkup at the hospital, all documented by staff to let Hunter know he was OK. "Hes special to me," Hunter said. "My brother Aksel got him for me. Thats why hes so special." While tagging along with 8-year-old Aksel on a Jan. 11 visit to the Miles City hospital from their Plentywood home more than 200 miles away Hunter brought Woofee to keep him company. After visiting the doctor's office and running a few errands in Miles City with his mother, Tiffany Stevens, Hunter and his family began the long drive home. Along the way, he realized he'd left Woofee somewhere in Miles City. "On the way home, he goes, 'Wheres Woofee?'" said Grace McClymont, Hunter's grandmother. "He cried all the way home, like any little boy would who'd just lost his best friend." Meanwhile, sometime after Hunter left, Holy Rosary in-patient access employee Lexie Koester found Woofee sitting near the hospital's entrance. She picked up the stuffed animal and set it on her desk, trying to figure out what to do with it and to whom it might belong. As Koester thought about what it was like when she lost stuffed animals as a kid, or when her own children did so, she decided to post a picture of Woofee on a Miles City Facebook page in an effort to track down the owner. "I just felt really sad for the kid," she said. "You could tell he was really well-loved. He had stains, his fur was matted a little bit things that show he's been through a lot." The Facebook post was liked and shared dozens of times, with Koester occasionally posting a short comment from Woofee's perspective to keep it high on people's feeds, but with no luck. Upon arriving home in Plentywood, McClymont had called a few of the places in Miles City where Hunter might've dropped Woofee, but to no avail. "Nobody had turned it in. Nobody had found it," she said. A day or so after Koester posted about Woofee on Facebook, Wal-Mart employee Jannette Federspiel saw it and remembered somebody calling in that week about a similar lost stuffed animal, leaving contact information in case it turned up. She called Holy Rosary and passed along that contact, which turned out to be from McClymont. Soon after, the hospital called to let her, and Hunter, know they'd found the stuffed animal. "We were sitting at the dinner table, and I played the message back," McClymont said. "He just sat there with his mouth open and said, 'Woofee's coming home? He's really coming home? Thank you, Jesus.' We'd been praying about it." The hospital said they'd be happy to return Woofee to Hunter, but that it would take a few days to get to Plentywood from Miles City via mail. That ended up falling on Jessica Kuipers, the hospital's marketing and communications specialist. But before she sent Woofee home, she made sure that Hunter knew his favorite toy was safe and had a good time at the hospital. "I just thought that we've got to do something more," she said. "Here's this little boy who's so excited that his favorite toy is going to come home, and he's been worried about it. So we created a whole story of what he did here while he was lost." Kuipers took Woofee around the hospital, taking pictures of each stop along the way. Woofee got a checkup, had his blood drawn, got an X-ray, stopped to pray in the chapel, visited staff and different departments and got a little exercise. After, staff wrote up a story about Woofee's time at the hospital and posted the pictures to Facebook for Hunter to see. They also snagged a few goodies from the gift shop to send in the package. "We all had a lot of fun with it," Kuipers said. "Kids, they cherish these stuffed animals so much. We've all lost a stuffed animal as a child, so to return one like this is really, really fulfilling." On Jan. 20, Woofee made it home to Hunter, who was waiting eagerly with his mother, grandmother, brother and 11-year-old sister, Ava. "He was so exited, he just hugged him and hugged him and hugged him," McClymont said. "Since then, except to go to school, he hasn't put him down." Both Koester and Kuipers said that they, along with other staff, were happy to help. They said that it stems from a desire to help patients however they can. "That was phenomenal to me," McClymont said. "It was phenomenal because they cared enough to do something like that." And while it was a small act in the day-to-day at the hospital, it made a big difference for Hunter. "He makes me feel happy and safe," he said of Woofee. A team including the former chief executive of Mortgages PLC has announced it is to set up The Mortgage Lender, a new company in the specialist mortgage market, within weeks. Trevor Pothecary , chief executive of TML, was formerly chief executive of Mortgages PLC, which he founded in 1997 and which securitised over 7bn of mortgages in the specialist lending market. Mortgages PLC was sold to Japanese-financed Majestic Acquisitions in January 2002. Majestic then sold its stake in Mortgages PLC to investment bank Merill Lynch in November 2004. Back in 2008 Merrill Lynch stopped lending through its two UK brands Wave and Mortgages PLC for the forseeable future due to market conditions. Mr Pothecary is currently chairman of RPS Capital Partners. Based in Glasgow, The Mortgage Lender will be an intermediary-only proposition. Details of the product range, pricing and distribution partners are set to be revealed shortly, with a launch planned within weeks. Mr Pothecary said: I can confirm that I am currently working on an exciting project with an experienced team, and we expect to launch a new entrant to the UK mortgage market imminently. There are of course numerous components in such a venture, but we are well advanced in all areas including people, processes, technology, product design, funding, and obtaining the required regulatory approval. The board of TML will also include David Newman, chief financial officer, Hugh Meechan, chief operating officer who was former Mortgages PLC operations director, Pete Thomson, sales and marketing director, and Alex Cameron, chief administrative officer and general counsel. Also on the team are Alisa Smith, head of credit scoring, Claire Duncan, head of projects, Scott Callaghan, head of operational finance & business risk, Stephen Crawford, head of new business, and Susan McCallum, head of compliance. All five, along with Mr Newman, are former Mortgages PLC colleagues of Mr Pothecary. Adviser view Ray Boulger, senior technical manager for John Charcol, said: Weve seen new lenders popping up last year headed up by previous chief executives who disappeared, like Fleet Mortgages. Its a sign that the market is recovering its stance. After the credit crunch when funding disappeared, weve increasingly seen improvement in funding capacity because lenders can get funding from the private sector. Those people previously running businesses have got the knowledge. Its following a well-tried path others have recently followed. Its good news for borrowers, not just in terms of rates. We need more diversity in terms of lenders satisfying a demand not currently being met but there are good opportunities. Advisers can customise the video, at no cost, with their branding and contact information, by approaching Canada Life Group Insurance. This follows the launch of a suite of materials on 17th November 2015 designed to help advisers make the most of the opportunities presented by AE which advisers seeking new corporate clients could customise with their branding. Starting from the 1st January 2016, 1.8m employers will need to go through automatic enrolment and 7 out of 10 say they will ask a business adviser for help. To view the video, visit Canada Life or copy the URL: http://www.canadalife.co.uk/group/auto-enrolment-video The video is targeted at smaller employers that are due to set up their workplace pensions. Advisers can use this video to explain what AE is to their corporate clients, how the organisation can become compliant and the support offered by the adviser firm. The video also provides advisers with an opportunity to differentiate their offering by extending the AE pension discussion into additional benefits, and provides clear reasons why group life, specifically, could be a differentiator in the war for talent (once everyone has a workplace pension). The video is also easy to receive. Canada Life will brand the video with an advisers companys name, contact details and logo at no cost. Advisers can simply email Canada Life with their contact details and company name and the insurer will deliver a customised automatic enrolment video. Advisers can then place this on their websites, send to prospects or promote themselves online. The aim is to provide a continuity of marketing materials from hard copy folders and flyers, a pop up stand and video which all look and feel professional and consistent as well as personalised. Dan Crook, sales director at Canada Life Group Insurance, stated: The pensions market is soon to be flooded by employers who have never sought professional help before. This surge of new business entering the market in 2016 represents a huge opportunity for advisers who operate in the employee benefits space. At Canada Life, we want to be viewed as the provider thats doing the most to support advisers as they navigate their way through this unchartered territory. Well do this by providing them with the tools they need to educate employers about their new duties. We hope a conversation around cost effective Group Life benefits is a natural partner to the compulsory pensions work. Paul Avis, marketing director at Canada Life Group Insurance, added: Our aim is always to make life as simple as possible for advisers and to help them develop their business and by providing this level of marketing and promotional support to them we believe that we can genuinely grow the group risk market. One of the bankers involved in the London Whale investigation has hit back at the Financial Conduct Authority after it slapped a six figure fine on him. Earlier today (9 September) the regulator announced it would be fining Achilles Macris 792,900 for failing to inform it about concerns with the Synthetic Credit Portfolio he was responsible for. But Mr Macris, the former head of JPMorgans CIO International, has accused the FCA of wasting public money and significantly damaging his reputation and career. He responded that todays outcome represents a major climb-down by the regulator, after four years spent fighting to clear his name. A spokesman for the FCA declined to comment on Mr Macris comments, other than to say the regulator is funded by fee payers. Mr Macris said: The FCA has had several opportunities to admit its mistakes, but instead, at every turn, it has until now sought to defend and justify its position, wasting public funds. I remain profoundly concerned about how the FCA, and in particular its enforcement staff, has acted. It made completely unfounded public allegations and assertions, without giving me a fair hearing, which it has now had to withdraw, but which have significantly damaged my reputation and career. Mr Macris added that he accepted the fine, so as not to prolong a drawn out and burdensome process on the basis that he would not be banned from the regulated sector. In September 2013, JPMorgan was fined 137.6m as a result of the losses incurred by the Synthetic Credit Portfolio, which totalled $6.2bn (4.3bn) by the end of 2012. These losses occurred as a result of what became known as the London Whale trades, which were conducted by traders Javier Martin-Artajo and Bruno Iksil, but ultimately overseen by Mr Macris. In 2013 Mr Macris complained that the FCA identified him in its highly critical assessment of the trading debacle, without giving him the chance to defend himself. This was taken to the Upper Tribunal in April 2014 and then to the Court of Appeal last May, where a judge agreed with Mr Macris. A further appeal in the Supreme Court is due to be held in autumn. Mr Macriss fine was handed down on the basis he had two opportunities in 2012 to inform the FCA of concerns about the portfolio, but the regulator said they did not do so. He stated having already achieved two significant court victories, in which the FCA was found to have acted against the law in not giving me third party rights, that he looks forward to further vindication in the Supreme Court. If I succeed, the FCA will have to expunge from the JPMorgan notice the false and unfair statements made about me. Mr Macris left JPMorgan in July 2012 and is now pursuing other interests. A newly released document suggests more farmers than previously acknowledged suffered ill effects from organophosphate sheep dip before the products were withdrawn, claim campaigners. Details of a 1992 sheep dipping survey were released by the Health and Safety Executive following a Freedom of Information Request by the Sheep Dip Sufferers Group. The HSE survey examined sheep dipping facilities and practices on a representative sample of 696 farmers across 16 different regions of Britain. See also: Minister pledges to re-examine OP sheep dip files It found 160 occasions where some form of ill-health occurred after dipping. But only two of these occasions were reported to the HSE and only three were reported to the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Symptoms described ranged from headaches, nausea and aching limbs to longer term problems with joints, loss of memory and difficulty in concentrating. The study findings say in most cases symptoms were not corroborated by medical diagnosis. The document says: Particular caution needs to be exercised in converting the facts relating to the health effect measured by the survey to incidence rate. Some commentators had claimed that nearly 10% of the 1,800 people involved in sheep dipping believe they had suffered from ill health, the document adds. But such claims were not true and a crude incidence rate could be said to be one of 8.9 self-reported illness episodes per 1,000 dippers per annum. Initial survey results were published as a news release in 1993, with the title HSE survey confirms poor working practices during sheep dipping. But this is believed to be the first time that the full survey results have been made public. The Sheep Dip Sufferers Group, which is calling for official recognition that farmers were poisoned by OPs, said the 8.9 rate per 1,000 dippers suggested a total of 33,000 incidents of illness. Whatever the precise figure, it does seem by 1992 HSE were aware of the devastating effects dipping was having on the health of sheep farmers, said campaign co-ordinator Tom Rigby. He added: We believe this is the reason Maff ended compulsory dipping in June that year something they have always denied. Mr Rigby said the campaign was now requesting disclosure of correspondence between HSE and Maff in the weeks prior to the decision being taken to end compulsory dipping. Defra minister George Eustice said last autumn that he would look back through the government archives from the time when compulsory dipping was discontinued. Mr Eustice said: This work is under way and we hope to provide more information in due course. I am sympathetic to farmers suffering from ill health and acknowledge that some of them associate their illness with the use of OP sheep dips. The use of organophosphate is controlled to minimise the risk to humans and safety advice has always been based on the latest available scientific evidence. The government committed over 4m to research this issue, and the Committee on Toxicity has looked at this matter exhaustively over the past decade. Its conclusions are clear that low-level exposure to organophosphate does not cause long-term health effect in adults. However acute poisoning can, in some cases, have longer-term effects. When Kori Keller saw her dog up for adoption on a website over the weekend, she was shocked. The last time she'd seen Buster, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever, Keller thought he was on his death bed. Keller paid Shiloh Veterinary Hospital for Buster's euthanasia. But after a series of tests determined his illness was not terminal, a veterinarian from Shiloh took the dog home. Buster's health improved, and the dog was put up for adoption. After the miscommunication, the hospital will add a new pet relinquishment form to their protocol to avoid any future misunderstanding. Buster was returned to Keller on Monday, and Keller paid for all tests the dog had while under Shiloh's care. "We wouldn't just give up on him," Keller said. But Keller had believed her dog was helpless. "Him getting better, that wasn't an option," Keller said. "I had four kids at home thinking their dog was dead." Buster had been losing weight, and it wasn't immediately obvious what was wrong. The tests needed to diagnose him weren't guaranteed to yield an answer. After a discussion with the vet, Keller believed Buster was going die. She wasn't against treating him, but, as she understood it, there wasn't anything to treat. The hospital had hope for Buster, though hope that wasn't communicated as clearly as Keller would have liked. The clinic told Keller that Buster would be housed with a vet who had just recently lost her own yellow lab. That vet would try to help Buster, and if he were to die, she would be able to see him through his final days. Keller then saw Buster on the Rimrock Humane Society's adoption page, posted on Jan. 26. "I relinquished him to the vet," Keller said. "I didn't asked for him to be re-homed." Keller saw the post Sunday and in what she called a "heated moment" wrote a Facebook post explaining the situation and pledging to call Shiloh in the morning. Keller didn't need to alert Shiloh, though. The veterinary hospital's phones began ringing about Buster not long after the post went live. Ed Jorden, one of four owners of Moore Lane, Skyview and Shiloh veterinary hospitals, said people were calling the clinic to switch their service. Jorden said the vet did take Buster home. The hospital did charge a cremation fee. They did try to find Buster a new home. But none of this was meant to be behind the owner's back. "They were going to euthanize it; they didn't want it anymore," Jorden said. Jorden said Buster gained 10 pounds under the vet's care, but the large dog turned out to be more than she could care for. So, Shiloh called the Rimrock Humane Society and asked if they could help find a new home for the animal. Rimrock Humane Society President Sandy Church said when they got the call, there was nothing unusual about it. While Shiloh provides less than 1 percent of the Humane Society's dogs. Veterinary hospitals aren't known for adoptions, Church said. The humane society's social media pages get more viewers, so they will do courtesy posts for vets or small organizations who are having trouble getting their animals homes. The Humane Society and Shiloh have worked together on and off for 18 years, and Church said while some type of miscommunication took place in this scenario, the Humane Society has never had a problem with Shiloh. Jorden said the vet has a euthanasia form that acts as a relinquishment form. He said the hospital had a verbal agreement with Keller about relinquishing her animal. In Montana, dogs are considered property under state law. However, legal forms for relinquishing animals aren't standardized. They are different depending on whether the animal is being given to animal control, a shelter or a veterinary hospital. Church said the Rimrock Humane Society's form was written by lawyers. It details that as soon as the form is signed, the owner gives up the right to any and all information regarding the animal. It is stated several times on the form. The Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter has many forms regarding relinquishment, but owners can opt in for information if the shelter feels the animal is not adoptable through them. Then, the owner and Anderson have a conversation. This option was added to the form only a short time after Anderson began at YVAS. She said a woman had given a cat up for adoption and the shelter was forced to euthanize it. When the owner saw the cat was no longer on the YVAS website, she called the shelter and thanked them for finding it a new home. "My heart hit my stomach," Anderson said. After that, shelter staff took more time in explaining to owners what happens when they relinquish a pet and getting a good feel for why the pet was being given up for adoption. Anderson said it is good practice for owners to fully discuss their options and research what different veterinary hospitals and shelters do, so that both the owners and the organizations are clear about what the owner wants. "Owners have lived with their animals and cared for them," Anderson said. "Who am I to decide something for them?" JCB is marking the 70th birthday of its iconic 3CX digger with a limited run of models sporting a retro colour scheme. The first batch of Platinum Edition 3CX backhoe loaders has already rolled off JCBs production line at Rocester, Staffordshire, with a paint job last used 40 years ago on the JCB 3C III model. That means they come complete with red buckets, full white cab and red wheels, instead of the current black and yellow livery. See also: Tips for buying a used JCB pivot-steer The limited edition 3CX backhoes are also fitted with air-conditioned cabs, heated seat and a six-speed transmission. They even come with an in-cab coffee maker. Lucky buyers will receive commemorative pack, which includes scale models of both the Platinum Edition 3CX and original 3C backhoe, a set of retro overalls, a polo shirt and a tool bag. A total of 70 machines will be manufactured one for every year that JCB has been in business and will be exported as far afield as Australia, as well as being sold in the UK, France, Spain and Russia. Since 1953 JCB has produced more than 600,000 backhoe diggers and now sells them in 120 countries. Dairy farmers and potato growers fear their businesses will be seriously hampered if Welsh government plans for a massive expansion of nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZ) are approved. Less than 3% of Welsh farmland currently falls within an NVZ but the Welsh government is about to consult on plans that would draw in 25% of all land used for milk production. Half of Wales potato growing area would also be designated as an NVZ. Pembrokeshire would be the region most affected where up to 2,000 land holdings in the Cleddau Rivers catchment and the Milford Haven waterway would be subject to restrictions on fertiliser and manure spreading. See also: More farmers could face NVZ restrictions in Wales Land draining into a number of lakes on Anglesey could also be affected. A further lake is under consideration in west Carmarthenshire, where there is a high concentration of dairy farms, and also a groundwater designation. Opposition The plans have received short shrift from farmers whose land falls within the proposed zones. Tenant dairy farmers Jeffrey and Elinor Evans, who run a herd of cows at Broadmoor Farm, a county council holding near Wolfscastle in Pembrokeshire, are fearful for the future of their business. The couple have a spring-calving system and, when conditions are favourable, cows are out at grass at the beginning of February. Key requirements of NVZs Livestock manure nitrogen (N) farm limit A loading limit of 170kg/ha of total N from livestock manures deposited during grazing and by spreading a calendar year, averaged across the farmed area Grassland derogations Farms with at least 80% of the agricultural area as grassland can apply for a derogation to operate at a higher manure N farm limit of 250kg N/ha. Closed periods These prohibit the spread of organic manures and manufactured nitrogen fertilisers during specific periods of the year. These vary and depend on country, crop type and soil type. Manure storage capacity Farms must provide sufficient storage facilities to store all slurry produced by livestock during a period of six months for pigs (1 October to 1 April), five months for cattle (1 October to 1 March), and to store all poultry manure produced during a period of six months. They are intensively stocked on their milking platform at about six cows a hectare and the capacity of their slurry storage facilities would leave them well short of the five months required under NVZ regulations. The council, which owns the farm, has told Mr and Mrs Evans there is no cash available to establish an NVZ-compliant lagoon. We have been in discussion with the council and they have told us that there is no money for extending slurry storage at the farm. Im not sure how we are going to cope if these new rules do come in, said Mr Evans, a First Milk supplier. The intensity of how we produce milk on our farm is in jeopardy. If we are forced to cut cow numbers our income will go down too. It is a real problem for us and could be the nail in the coffin. At nearby Letterston, Jordanston Farm also neighbours a tributary of the western Cleddau and is likely to be included if the designations go ahead. Mansel Raymond runs a herd of 300 dairy cows together with followers at this holding. As with Broadmoor Farm, there is not sufficient capacity for storing five months worth of slurry at Jordanston Farm. Who on earth is going to have the spare cash for the capital investment that would be needed to become NVZ compliant? There is no money in the dairy sector, said Mr Raymond. Grant funding When the last round of designations was made in 2012, 3.1m in grant funding was made available for increasing storage capacity. Eligible farmers were paid up to 40% of their costs or up to 30,000. It is unclear what level of funding, if any, will be available this time. Mr Raymond is concerned that the nitrate regulations will impact farm productivity. We are a major grass growing county producing lots of milk and we also grow a lot of winter wheat, potatoes and oilseed rape. Regulation is forcing us to do more and more non-productive work, there is no groundswell of reason behind these new regulations Mansel Raymond, dairy farmer We will be forced to reduce the inputs that help us to capitalise on that early advantage. Regulation is forcing us to do more and more non-productive work, there is no groundswell of reason behind these new regulations. It is expected that farmers will be consulted on the proposals in the near future. NFU Cymru insists there must be a 12-week consultation and that this period should not coincide with the dissolution of the Welsh government and purdah (the period immediately before an election or referendum when there are restrictions on the activity of civil servants) ahead of the assembly elections in May. The union wants farmers to be in a position to explain the impact of proposals to their assembly members. It added that the draft action programme for farmers, together with a regulatory impact assessment, must be released at the same time as the consultation on new designations. Otherwise, farmers would be unclear on what the designation would entail and the likely impact to their businesses to respond to the consultation from an informed position. NFU Cymru said any planned designations must be based on robust scientific evidence that watercourses are polluted with nitrates from agriculture. We dont feel we are at that point, said Walter Simon, NFU Cymru county chairman in Pembrokeshire. We are scrutinising the evidence base underpinning all the proposed designations very closely. The Welsh government would not confirm its planned timetable for publication but told Farmers Weekly: We aim to launch a full 12-week consultation on both the NVZ designations and the action programme before the end of March. A vote to leave the EU could result in some farms going bankrupt, but leaving could offer long-term benefits to the farming industry, according to a leading agricultural economist. Allan Buckwell, emeritus professor and former chief economist at the Country Land and Business Association, said a vote to leave would cause massive uncertainty and in the short-term greater hardship. However, in the longer-term it could be a significant wake-up call to the UK agricultural industry and could encourage the take-up of technology and bring greater efficiency. In perhaps the most detailed report written on the implications of a vote to leave the EU or Brexit so far, commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Farmers, Prof Buckwell said the most vulnerable farms would be those with grazing livestock or heavy borrowings. See also: EU exit likely to lead to reduced farm subsidies The matters that would have the most impact on farmers was the shape of the UKs trading relationship with the EU and with the rest of the world, and the post-Brexit UK agricultural policy put in place, said the report, published on Monday (8 February). Whatever decision was taken about future trading arrangements with the EU, it was inevitable there would be more customs controls, and thus higher trading costs, which could depress UK farm prices, it said. And while it was likely that a UK government would continue with some direct payments to farmers it was unknown for how long and with what conditions. UK domestic agricultural support will not be higher than now under the CAP, and could well be lower. However, over the longer term, processors and retailers would be keen to ensure continuity of supply and in time UK farmers would adjust, said the report. In fact, leaving the EU could actually prove to bring beneficial long-term effects for the sector as a whole. Probably the greatest shock to UK farming will be in the 12 months following a leave vote in the referendum, said the report. Once the effects of this shock work through the system, and critically, depending on the intelligence and constructiveness of the policy debate which then follows, the longer run course of British agriculture could be a less precarious, resilient industry capable of dealing with the inevitable challenges it will continue to face not least from climate change. Concluding the report, Prof Buckwell said he expected the status quo would prevail and the UK would remain in the EU. However the referendum debate will expose, yet again, that current CAP is not well tuned to support environmentally sustainable and viable farming. The so-called reformed EU will still have an insufficiently reformed agricultural policy. Key quotes On trade There is a great deal of speculation about the trading relationship which the UK will seek with the EU. This is a complex area with a wide range of possibilities. However, the outcome is not simply a matter of UK choice. It will depend on what can be negotiated with the EU. On direct payments It is concluded that UK will not walk away overnight from direct payments to its farmers post-Brexit. Some form of such payments, paid from the UK Treasury will continue, but details at what rate, to whom, for how long and with what conditionality is not yet knowable. On regulation Continental traders can be expected to be extremely vigilant that the UK is not seeking, through Brexit, to achieve competitive advantage by deregulating its domestic business whilst maintaining open access to the EU market. It would be most unwise of any business to consider that if the UK has left the EU then these regulations would no longer apply. On the benefits Brexit would be a significant wake-up call to the industry and perhaps catalyse change. Of course the best farmers are already alive to the benefits of precision and knowledge-intensive farming, but the tail in productivity performance in UK agriculture is still long. There is wide scope to improve the efficiency of use of fertilisers, crop protection products, energy and animal feed. At 2011s European Game Developers Conference, industry veteran Mark Cerny rattled gamers cages when he told a room full of journalists he believes the traditional single-player game experience will be gone in three years. Right now you sit in your living room and you're playing a game by yourself we call it the sp mission or the single-player campaign. In a world with Facebook, I just don't think that's going to last." Cernys prediction placed single-player gamings death at the end of 2014. These comments were said at a time when a good majority of developers were going out of their way to include multiplayer components into games. Even the strongest of the narrative driven adventure series (like BioShock, Singularity, Batman: Arkham, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Uncharted) invested significant development resources into multiplayer integration. Gamers were flocking toward games like Call of Duty and Battlefield primarily for their multiplayer experiences. That was the it factor of the time. Multiplayer was king, and most publishers wanted in on the action. Stacked up to these juggernaut releases, a single-player shooter on its own seemed somewhat incomplete, no matter how good it was. That fallacy hung over the industry. A day after Cerny made his remarks, another industry veteran, Keith Fuller, who was a contractor for Activision at the time, stoked the fire in an interview with CNN in which he stated, What I've been told as a blanket expectation, is that 90 percent of players who start your game will never see the end of it unless they watch a clip on YouTube." I remember talking to numerous game creators at Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, and various other companies about player retention and finding ways to keep them engaged in single-player content, while simultaneously being tasked to create a unique hook for multiplayer. Sometimes this task fell onto the same development team of the core game, creating a mess of development from a studio ill prepared to dive into the online waters. The addition of multiplayer often affected the quality of the single-player game. Other times the multiplayer component was developed by an external team, and didnt match the vision or tone of the story-based content. I also remember hearing rumors of edicts being passed down to every developer working with giant publishers to incorporate connected functionality in their games. One developer, who wishes to remain nameless in this article, says it felt like his team was assimilated by the Borg. In 2010, Electronic Arts appeared to be all in on online gaming. In an interview with Develop, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau took a calculated shot at single-player gaming when he said I volunteer you to speak to EAs studio heads; theyll tell you the same thing. Theyre very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay be it cooperative or multiplayer or online services as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours and youre out. I think that model is finished. Online is where the innovation is, and the action is at. If you look at Electronic Arts release schedule from 2012 up until now, it reads like a multiplayer-focused playbook. Almost every game has some kind of online component, even the least likely of subjects such as role-playing juggernauts Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Visceral also implemented cooperative play into Dead Space 3. In a 2010 video interview, Boss Key Productions Cliff Bleszinski, who was working on Gears of War 3 at the time for Epic Games, told Xbox 360 Achievements The biggest mistake you can make as a developer right now would be to make a game thats a six-hour experience that has no multiplayer. What happens is gamers [say] Ill rent it, or Ill buy it used. You dont want gamers to date your game; you want them to marry your game. The more positive reinforcement you can use to do that, the better. Everybody in the industry is trying to figure out what to do to mitigate used game sales. This is the time when downloadable content and season passes became the norm for online-focused games. The industry at large was invested in finding ways to keep discs spinning in gamers' systems. For annualized series like Call of Duty, this often meant a full year of add-ons that led up to the next release. Not everyone was bearish on single player at the time. Bethesda Softworks largely ignored the industrys trends and instead focused on making quality single-player experiences like the internally developed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim an adventure players can sink hundreds of hours into and Arkane Studios Dishonored, an exceptional stealth adventure. Both games, which only offered single-player content, were critically acclaimed and sold well. Harvey Smith, Arkane Studios co-creative director, backed up the success of his title with strong words for the industry mindset in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz. What people say each cycle is, 'Fill-in-the-blank is the new thing' Smith said. And if you're old enough, you remember when it was live-action video games. At another point it was MMOs. At another it was social games. At another it was multiplayer shooters. And none of those things are bad; they're all great. But what the reality seems to be is we keep adding types of games and finding new player groups for those. The market seems to be expanding. It seems like our attention focuses on the new thing, but in reality, there are still plenty of people that like a particular kind of game. Every time someone announces the death of the single-player game, something like The Sims or BioShock Infinite comes along and does different things well. So far we haven't capped out. It's not like DOTA fans are buying DOTA and not playing Skyrim, or buying Dishonored and therefore not buying Madden. I think there's a bunch of different audience types, and we haven't even hit the limit yet." The push for multiplayer took center stage at the beginning of this new console generation. The PC market had found success in MOBAs and MMOs, and publishers saw the potential of adopting large-scale multiplayer experiences to console. Although Microsofts desire for Xbox One to always be connected to the Internet was chanted to hell by gamers, many developers embraced the idea. Respawns highly anticipated shooter Titanfall took the biggest leap by shunning single-player completely. Titanfalls multiplayer-only focus became a hot topic for gamers and the press alike. The norm for gamers at the time was for a triple-A shooter to offer a full suite of modes for single player, multiplayer, and co-op. A release that honed in on just one element, yet retailed for the same price as the other games that offered more robust feature sets didnt sit well. Titanfalls model, as controversial as it was, was an enormous success. Over 10 million people played it since launch. 2K Games adopted a similar model for the online 4v1 title Evolve, which again was scrutinized, but shipped over 2.5 million copies. Last years Star Wars Battlefront shipped more than 13 million units, but received similar flak for its lack of a campaign. Battlefront has always been a series that steered clear of significant narrative-based modes, but again, players assumed EA would adopt the feature set of DICEs other popular FPS series, Battlefield. The state of console shooters was largely a negative talking point in 2015, not just for the number of modes, but the quality of the individual games. Battlefront didnt offer enough content in its multiplayer offering, Evolves evolving season pass drew ire, and Call of Duty: Black Ops III, while doing great things in Zombies and competitive multiplayer, delivered a dud of a campaign (perhaps the worst in the series). The big shooter successes were Destiny: The Taken King, an expansion that delivered great, new content, but also served the purpose of smoothed out rough spots from the original game, and Halo 5: Guardians, a gargantuan effort that took big risks with storytelling, player movement, and game modes even though those changes werent to everyones liking. The year was instead silently dominated by single-player games, and the hint of publishers shying away from multiplayer integration in triple-A releases. Lengthy role-playing games like Fallout 4 and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt were two of the most talked about and successful releases of the year. The Witcher III netted Game Informers Game of the Year and Readers Choice Awards. In a study conducted by ICO partners, it was the most talked about game in the media in 2015, and was the fifth most talked about game on Facebook behind FIFA 15, Mortal Kombat X, Fallout 4, and Batman: Arkham Knight. There was an undeniable hunger from gamers for sprawling open world adventures. Grand Theft Auto Vs mind-bogging sales, which crested over 60 million at the end of 2015, I assume are for the single player first, and multiplayer second. Games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Assassins Creed Syndicate, which previously offered multiplayer components, abandoned the connected world with each respective development team stating it was a move made to improve upon the single-player experiences. Konamis decision to delay the versus component of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain didnt deter sales, but more so hinted at the publishers confidence in this mode, which has floundered since its launch late last year. One of the biggest emerging storylines from this new generation of games has been the success of adventure games. This genre has new life, and game makers are flocking to it to experiment with different storytelling methods. Dontnods Life is Strange delivered spellbinding drama in a high school, and Supermassive Games Until Dawn showed us that the DNA of a campy slasher flick can transform into a thrilling choice-driven experience. While I havent played Toby Foxs Undertale yet, people cant stop gushing about this adventure/RPG hybrid, going as far to say its so good that they dont want to say anything about it for fear of spoiling its surprises. And lets not forget about Telltale Games continued contributions to the genre. The technology fueling Telltales games becomes a little more antiquated with each new title, but the studio's expertise in storytelling has been proven time and time again. Tales from the Borderlands showed growth for the company, moving away from the Kleenex-grabbing drama of The Walking Dead formula for a more comedic and lighthearted journey. Respected industry talent turned doomsday criers may have called for an end of days for single player, but they couldnt have been more wrong. We dont want to play exclusively in connected worlds we want it all, the single player, the multiplayer, the VR experiences we cant even comprehend yet, all of it. A good game is a good game thats what drives gamers, not trends. I hope the days of studios trying to cram a game into the same type of mold, even when the developers are saying it won't work, are behind us. The focus should be on wowing us and giving us something we love playing. When a developer says it's a mistake to make a story-driven game with no multiplayer components, it speaks more to those single-player experiences being creatively bankrupt than gamers not wanting that type of game again. A Pinch of Salt: To vote now or to vote later that is the question Deploying Lena didn't work. Neither did shout-outs from Beyonce, Kim, Ilana and Abbi, Ariana, Katy, Demi or either of the Amys. Hillary Clinton's squad of celebrity surrogates, stumpers and endorsers (surnamed Dunham, Knowles-Carter, Kardashian West, Glazer, Jacobson, Grande, Perry, Lovato, Schumer and Poehler, respectively, as if you had to ask) may be totes on fleek. And they may be idolized by many American millennials. But they have not succeeded in transferring their youthful popularity to their preferred presidential candidate. Both nationwide, and in the early primary states, Bernie Sanders is thoroughly trouncing Clinton among the under-30 set. In the Iowa caucuses alone, Sanders beat Clinton 84 percent to 14 percent in this age group, according to entrance polls. Why are so many young'uns feeling the Bern? I see two main reasons. The first is that, to millennials, Sanders's socialism is a feature, not a bug. Much of the current conversation about Sanders's "democratic socialism" is predicated on whether Americans can look past this supposedly toxic label. But millennials love Sanders not despite his socialism, but because of it. "Socialism" has never been a dirty word for the current cohort of youth, who either didn't live through the Cold War or don't remember it. We are more likely to associate socialism with prosperous, egalitarian, relatively well-functioning Scandinavian states the kinds of places that produce awesome things like Ikea and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" than with autocrats who starve their people. Socialist appeal Many of us also entered the job market just as unbridled capitalism appeared to blow up the world economy. Perhaps for this reason, millennials actually seem to prefer socialism to capitalism. In a recent YouGov survey, 43 percent of respondents under age 30 said they had a favorable opinion of socialism, while just 32 percent said the same about capitalism. Among all ages, races, geographic regions, genders, party affiliations and income levels, millennials were the only demographic that held socialism in higher regard than capitalism. It's not just Sanders's socialist label that sells; it's his socialist ideas, too. To a generation that's broke, in debt, underemployed and stuck in its parents' basements, promises of a political revolution, more equitable distribution of (other people's) wealth, a more robust social safety net and free college can sound pretty appealing. There's a second major reason millennials prefer Sanders to Clinton, and that one is more stylistic than substantive. It has to do with his so-called "authenticity," by which is usually meant his willingness to look and sound like a hot mess. I suspect young Americans have always been skeptical of anyone trying too hard to look and sound a particular way (see: Holden Caulfield vs. the "phonies"). But that skepticism is heightened among today's youth. In the social media era, meticulous image management is both a necessity and a source of constant resentment and cynicism. We are bombarded with carefully curated Instagram feeds, tweets and other forms of self-conscious digital preening. We must be camera-ready at all times, lest an unflattering image find its way onto Facebook. Yet what's perhaps the bravest, most powerful boast you can make online? "#Nofilter," a humblebrag hashtag applied to unedited photos. Or perhaps its close cousin, "#IWokeUpLikeThis." It is precisely Sanders's au-naturel-ness that endears him to his young fans: his unkempt hair, his ill-fitting suits, his unpolished Brooklyn accent, his propensity to yell and wave his hands maniacally. Sanders, it appears, woke up like this. Bound by propriety These qualities are what make him seem "authentic," "sincere" even especially when contrasted with Clinton's hyper-scriptedness. Sanders, unlike Clinton, doesn't give a damn if he's camera-ready. This is, of course, a form of authenticity that is off-limits to any female politician, not just one with Clinton's baggage. Female politicians at least if they want to be taken seriously on a national stage cannot be unkempt and unfiltered, hair mussed and voice raised. They have to be carefully coifed and scripted at all times, because they have to hew as closely as possible to the bounds of propriety available to both their sex and their occupation. They can't be too quiet or too loud, too emotional or too cold, too meek or too aggressive, and so on. But they also can't appear to be trying too hard, either. At least if they want the kind of enthusiastic millennial support that Sanders enjoys. SALEM Pro business and agriculture groups rallied Monday afternoon at the Capitol, protesting mandatory increases in the states minimum wage laws. Friday afternoon, the Senate Committee on Workforce and General Government approved a modified proposal by Gov. Kate Brown that would create a three-tiered minimum wage over the next six years. In the Portland area, the minimum wage would escalate to $14.75 per hour. In other urban areas such as Salem and Eugene, it would increase to $13.50 and in rural areas, it would cap out at $12.50 per hour. After 2022, annual increases in the minimum wage would be tied to the consumer price index. Monday morning, Albany Area Chamber of Commerce President Janet Steele encouraged local business and ag leaders to attend the rally. The Albany chamber opposes these mandatory minimum wage increases, Steele said. We have met with Sen. Sara Gelser and Rep. Andy Olson many times to make our concerns known. Gelser, a Democrat, favors the wage increase, while Olson, a Republican, opposes them. Sen. Gelser definitely knows our position and why our local business leaders have been very forthcoming about the effects increasing the minimum wage will have on their businesses, Steele said. It will affect the total number of employees and decrease profitability. There will be higher prices. On a 3-2 vote, the Senate committee approved the bill and it now goes to the House. Senators Dembrow, Gelser and Rosenbaum, all Democrats, were in favor and senators Knopp and Thatcher, Republicans, opposed it. According to the bill, Linn and Benton counties would be considered urban counties. Non-urban counties would be Baker, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa and Wheeler. Roger Nyquist, chairman of the Linn County Board of Commissioners, testified before the committee last Tuesday and emphasized that Linn County may choose to not participate in increasing minimum wages because the board believes such unfunded mandates by the state are unconstitutional. The board, which includes commissioners John Lindsey and Will Tucker, believes Article XI, Section 15, of the Oregon Constitution, requires the Legislature to reimburse local governments when they spend money to comply with new laws. If the mandate is unfunded, the commissioners believe the county can opt out and all of the private businesses with whom the county competes, are also protected from having to increase wages. Oregons current minimum wage is $9.25 per hour, about $2 more than the federal minimum wage. Don Matteson flew through a hurricane in the 1960s, nearly started a shooting war between Chile and Peru in the 1970s, and was held at gunpoint and arrested before he was a teenager. By contrast, the Corvallis man's 100th on Saturday at Timberhill Place was a somewhat more sedate affair. Nevetheless, Matteson took great joy being the life of the party, dancing, laughing and telling takes of his adventurous younger days. And he was happy to share his secrets to a long-lasting and happy life. Eat oatmeal mush for breakfast every morning, eat lots of red meat and chase young girls, Matteson said with a howl. I also drink a Coke every day. I think that helps too. Matteson later added that hes not sure if anything hes ever done has helped him live longer, but it has made him happy. Ive been the luckiest guy alive. Nothing bad has ever happened to me, Matteson said, and then launched into a story about being arrested before he was a teenager. It was 1928 in the middle of Prohibition and Matteson was 12 years old when he became a driver hauling sugar from a coastal sugar house near Hammond to an illegal family-owned still run by a couple of his uncles. Matteson recalled one trip when he had just parked his car outside of the still when he saw a police car come from out of nowhere and park right next to him. I was unloading the stuff for the drop when I saw them, Matteson said, adding that he spent five days in jail before his father got him out. Mattesons uncles were not as fortunate. They went to jail for a long time, Matteson said. The centenarian says he is happy to talk about his few run-ins with the law in his early days, but those who know Matteson best say he is one of the most kind-hearted and hardest-working men they have ever met. He worked. Thats what he did, said son Curtis Matteson, 61. He was a madman for working. Matteson was born on Feb. 8, 1916, in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, moved with his family down to the Oregon Coast in 1922 and graduated from Seaside High School in 1934. In business, Matteson made a name for himself as a jack-of-all-trades working as a butcher, commercial fisherman and cattle rancher before helping start the Portland-based Coast Packing Co. in the 1960s. But the only thing that rivaled Mattesons work ethic was his sense of adventure. He put everything into his work. And when it came time for adventure, he put everything into that too, Curtis said, adding that his father learned to drive at 5 years old and learned to fly airplanes as a teenager. Coast Packing did well enough that by the 1960s, our family had an airplane. And when I was 12 years old, we went on a trip to South America and we almost didnt make it back. In spring 1967, Mattesons good friend and fellow aviator, Robert Carrasco, had told the family that there might be a large iron deposit underneath some land that Carrasco had recently acquired in his home country of Chile. In order to find it, they would need to fly a plane affixed with a high-tech metal detector known as a magnetometer over the recently acquired land. Without a moments hesitation, Matteson agreed to use his own twin-engine Cessna and fly from Oregon down to Chile. Within a week, the group took off to hunt for the iron ore deposits. On one evening during the trip, when Curtis was flying the plane over Colombia, they ran into violent thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds in the International Tropical Convergence Zone. I was 12 years old flying through there and the plane was shaking and we were all scrambling and dad spotted a runway down below and we wheeled the plane around and barely landed, Curtis said, laughing. And were sitting there waiting for the weather to clear when this Englishman pops down on the same runway. He gets out and asks us what were doing there. He tells us he flies there every day and that we came at the worst time. So we wait with him for a bit and he ends up escorting us down to our next destination. Just the luckiest thing in the world. In the following weeks, the group located several small iron deposits in Chile. The trip made such an impression on Curtis that he ended up pursuing a career as a mining engineer. That was the beginning of my whole life and I owe it all to him and that crazy trip, Curtis said. Thats how Dad is. He gives you the wheel and expects you to figure it out just like he did. And I dont know if its just that were all too stupid to know better, but its made us all a very happy family. But even Curtis will admit that sometimes luck is the only thing that has gotten Don and the rest of the family through some harrowing situations. Luck is definitely a part of it, Curtis said. Sometimes he pushes things a little too close to the edge. Curtis recalled another trip he would never forget. It was May 1977 when Carrasco approached the Mattesons to take another flight down to Chile. Only this time, instead of looking for iron ore deposits, the mission was to bring a plane down to Robert Carrascos brother, Raul. But there was a major barrier Chile and Peru were on the brink of war and travel into Chile would be nearly impossible. Again, Don Matteson didnt hesitate. It was an adventure and they were good friends, so Dad didnt think twice, Curtis said. But South America had changed. A lot. Curtis said that once the trio made it through Mexico, they were harassed nearly every time they landed. In Panama, we were held at gunpoint. But Dad didnt care. He argued with them, we refueled and we got back on the plane, Curtis said. But in Peru, we barely escaped. They had landed at a small airbase in Talara, Peru for the night. The next morning, military personnel on the base began to act suspiciously and accused the group of spying for the Chilean government. The guy had taken us to a small room and was accusing us of all of these crazy things. The second he left the room, I looked at Dad and Bob and said, we got to go. So we just got on the plane and took off, Curtis said. But still several miles away from their destination and gliding on fumes, the group began getting radio calls from the Peruvian government demanding that they land in Lima, Peru. Carrasco said that wasnt an option. I told Don that if we landed in Lima, we were never going to get to Chile, Carrasco recalled. So we kept going. I was more afraid of my brother, who would be mad that he would never get his plane, than I was of them. The group flew straight for Arica the northernmost city in Chile. We were sucking fumes but we got low and off the radar and when we landed (in Arica) I saw some jets flying overhead, Curtis said. I found out what it was later. A few days later, the group met with a U.S. diplomat at an embassy in Santiago, Chile. He said that we almost started a shooting war, Curtis said. Those jets I saw fly over us were two Peruvian jets that had been sent up to intercept us. It made the Chileans nervous watching this so they set up a group of F-5 fighters to get them out of there. These Peruvian jets wouldve shot us out of the sky if they hadnt gotten involved. Lucky. But thats how dad always did it; a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. Could it be that simple? Could we repair Oregons public schools by just focusing on a handful of critical areas? If we improve the readiness of students who are entering kindergarten, make sure students are reading at grade level by third grade and work to increase attendance levels, will that do the trick? Well, no. Our educational system is too complex and we ask so much of teachers and administrators these days that plenty of work will remain, even if were hitting on all cylinders on those three areas. But making progress in those areas certainly wont hurt, and, in theory, improving Oregons performance in any of those should pay off in sustained improvement in the states high school graduation rate, which finally is showing some signs of life after years of being stuck in neutral. It stands to reason, though, that students who dont attend classes regularly are less likely to graduate, and the numbers in Oregon would appear to bear that out: As The Oregonian newspaper discovered in a groundbreaking investigation two years ago, nearly 100,000 Oregon students are chronically absent that is, they miss at least 10 percent of the school year. You dont need to have an advanced degree in education to understand why high rates of chronic absenteeism could lead to relatively low graduation rates and, as it turns out, Oregons high school graduation rate historically has been among the worst in the nation. But absenteeism is not an easy problem to fix (and, in fact, it seems to be a sure bet that its tied up with a number of other issues). So this years legislative session is taking a modest step toward at least identifying some ways to begin addressing absenteeism. House Bill 4002, which was approved last week by the House Education Committee, directs the Department of Education to develop a plan to deal with absenteeism. The bill says the plan should include: A process for publicly disclosing annual information about chronic absence rates at each school. The best practices to improve attendance rates that have shown promise at other schools or districts. A process for identifying schools in need of support to reduce absenteeism rates. A description of the assistance available to schools that need support in dealing with the issue. The report would be due back to the Legislature no later than Dec. 1. That deadline seems reasonable, considering that the absenteeism issue has been a high-profile one for at least a couple of years. In other words, this seems unlikely to catch the Department of Education completely off-guard. And, even though we have editorialized against packing too much into this short 35-day legislative session, House Bill 4002, a one-page bill, strikes us as a reasonably simple bit of legislation: Heres a big problem, it says. Lets spend some time figuring out what were going to do about it. (Its telling that the only votes against it at last weeks committee hearing came from two Republicans who didnt think the state Education Department was equipped to make a difference on this issue.) Assuming the bill passes, the Education Department will get a chance to dispel those doubts and to fix a big gap in Oregon schools. BISMARCK, N.D. A 185-foot-long housing unit that once provided temporary space for workers in North Dakotas Oil Patch is getting a fresh start as living quarters for minimum-security inmates at a transitional facility south of Bismarck. Inmates on work release were scheduled to start moving into the modular unit this week at the Missouri River Correctional Center. Leann Bertsch, director of the state Department of Corrections of Rehabilitation, said the unit being leased from Target Logistics will provide an additional 36 beds to help address a lack of capacity at Missouri River, where all 155 beds currently are full. The units single-bed rooms will offer more privacy for inmates who have to work in the morning and may find it difficult to get a good nights sleep in Missouri Rivers dormitory-style housing, she said. Each pair of rooms is connected by a shared bathroom and shower. Theyre small rooms, but theyll have their own rooms, so privacy is a big factor, she said. A smaller, adjacent unit will serve as a commons area and dayroom with a kitchenette. The state spent $60,000 to transport and put the units together and is paying Target Logistics $35 per bed per day, or $1,260 daily, for the housing unit, corrections officials said. Bertsch said the department had been considering shipping some inmates to Colorado to alleviate capacity issues. But that posed the likely and undesirable scenario of minimum security inmates landing in a medium- or maximum-security facility, she said. It also would have cost more than temporary housing at a time when most state agencies, including corrections, have been ordered to cut 4 percent from their 2015-17 budgets to help cover a $1 billion revenue shortfall. It really makes sense to avoid excess costs, she said. Gov. Jack Dalrymple proposed $30 million in his 2015-17 executive budget to replace the Missouri River Correctional Center with an expanded facility because of flood damage, mold and ongoing maintenance concerns. But state lawmakers cut the project from the budget as falling oil prices clouded the states revenue picture. With the budget situation having worsened since then, Bertsch said its highly unlikely the 2017 Legislature will fund the project, and the modular unit could become a longer-term solution. Target Logistics spokesman Randy Pruett said the 36-bed unit was part of a crew camp near Tioga that housed workers for a specific construction project, and the intent was always to move the units elsewhere when the project was completed. These things are being put to use, and were always looking for other opportunities and other ways to do that, he said. Don Redmann, director of facility operations for the corrections department, said the setup will give work-release inmates a little more normal as they prepare to transition to life on the outside. One of the goals is to get them ready to live in the community again, and this is an important first step, he said. The single-room housing also provides another management tool for corrections staff when dealing with inmates, Redmann said. It gives them an incentive to behave and earn a room, he said. KALISPELL Flathead County is pursuing a felony charge against the Army veteran who was shot by two Kalispell police officers last month. Ryan Pengelly, 30, is charged with assault on a police officer. Montana shooting victim is decorated Army veteran who survived bomb blast KALISPELL The man who allegedly aimed a rifle at two Kalispell police officers Tuesday bef Pengelly allegedly pointed a rifle at Sgt. Chad Zimmerman while Zimmerman and Officer Eric Brinton were attempting to take Pengellys mother, Bonnie, into custody during a welfare check Jan. 12. Prosecutors say Pengelly ignored commands to drop his weapon. He was shot four times by Zimmerman and Brinton, but survived. Pengelly told investigators from the Flathead County Sheriffs Office, who eventually concluded the shooting was justified, that the officers did not give him enough time to put down his rifle. However, he added, Thats probably what I did wrong, I pointed the rifle at him, it was wrong. If I would have known it was a police officer, I would have put it down immediately. In court documents, Deputy County Attorney Stacy Boman said the officers were responding to a report that Bonnie Pengelly had made suicidal and homicidal statements. Bonnie Pengelly answered the door, but refused to accompany the officers to the hospital and began to retreat inside the house, according to Boman. When Brinton attempted to gain control of her arm, she called for her son. Pengelly exited his bedroom armed with the rifle. During the struggle, Sgt. Zimmerman saw movement out of the corner of his eye, Boman wrote. Officer Zimmerman looked up and saw a male holding a rifle in his hands. Report: Kalispell officers who shot combat veteran justified KALISPELL The Flathead County Sheriff's Office has ruled that the Kalispell Police officer After ordering Pengelly to drop his weapon, Sgt. Zimmerman stated Ryan Pengelly did not lower his weapon, but brought the muzzle up on Sgt. Zimmerman. Zimmerman said he feared for his life and the life of Brinton. Pengelly served a total of three tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he survived a bomb blast in which he suffered a traumatic brain injury. The home on Looking Glass Avenue where the shooting took place was built for Pengelly and his wife by Operation Finally Home after a 2011 fire destroyed their mobile home. A search of the home after the shooting located a camouflaged rifle with a loaded magazine and a bullet chambered, according to the court documents. Pengelly could face up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted. Karneval round-up : Bonn and Cologne celebrate in the sun Bonn/Cologne Initial scares about high winds and heavy storms, gave way to sunshine and smiles for Rosenmontag parades in Bonn and Cologne. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Despite the heavy storm warnings from the German weather service (DWD), Karneval enthusiasts had decent weather on Monday to experience the Rosenmontag parades. After some heavy rain in the morning, the afternoon brought over 2 hours of sunshine, periodically interrupted by a few dark clouds. The heaviest wind gust was measure at 2:00 p.m., 63 kilometers per hour, making it an 8 on the wind scale. Dusseldorf and Mainz had cancelled their parades, along with many other towns including Dortmund and Essen. Even though there was plenty of sun and Kamelle (treats thrown out at the parade), the crowd number in Bonn was far less than the 200,000 expected. Some adjustments had to made as well; not all of the horses were allowed to participate. This resulted in a riding corps from Beuel grown men on little white wooden stick horses. Corps member Michael Stodolik quipped, They are very subdued, they all had a shot before we came out. Participants in the Bonn parade numbered around 4,300 and it celebrated through the city of Bonn for about 3 hours. Musicians were fully prepared in case of high winds. We know our songs by heart anyways said Michael Vianden and Martin Rubner from a music club in Duisdorf. Police reported some incidents but nothing that would really rain on the parade. They took ten persons into custody for causing mischief, throwing over bikes and verbally abusing people. Seven persons had to be taken to hospital, five of them due to alcohol consumption. Four of those were youth, and two other youth were turned over to their parents after having had too much alcohol. Police confiscated 33 big bottles and 157 little bottles of alcohol, and ten packs of cigarettes from under-age youth. The Cologne parade got underway at 10:00 a.m., minus 500 horses. No need to scare the horses in case high winds did appear. But carnevalists there also enjoyed the better than expected weather. On the floats were a likeness of both Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin - the latter sans shirt. The Cologne parade is the longest in Germany, and Cologne a major Karneval city. Officials there said it would have been terrible to cancel their parade. Parade goer Mario Lagreca put it this way, If the parade had not taken place, it would have been Ash Wednesday all year long. Robbery attempt on Maxstrae : Kiosk owner and brother mugged on Rosenmontag Bonn Witnesses alerted police to a mugging and attempted robbery at a kiosk on Maxstrae. Police were able to apprehend the suspects. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Police arrested two men, ages 21 and 23 in the Altstadt area of Bonn on Monday. They are alleged to have threatened and attacked a 35-year-old kiosk owner, trying to take money from the cash register. A witness alarmed police, who were on duty in the area of the parade, and they were able to apprehend the suspects as they were trying to leave the area. The Kiosk owner was taken by ambulance to the hospital for his wounds, treated and released. His 28-year-old brother, who had tried to help him, was more seriously injured and had to stay in the hospital for treatment. The suspects appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and police tests showed 1.2 and 1.6 percent. A subsequent blood test was ordered. Criminal police are now investigating the incident, which occurred around 4:00 p.m. on Maxstrae. Three hours after the mugging and arrests took place, six to eight men were seen shattering the two windows of the kiosk. All of them had dark hair and one was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt. They took off running in the direction of Frankenbad. A police spokesperson says there was also a confrontation at Berliner Platz, near the Stadhaus (city administration building) on the same evening. Witnesses say that at around 8:00 p.m., a man was lying on the ground and calling for police to help. They describe a man fleeing the scene as wearing dark clothing and having a full dark beard. The injured 27-yer-old was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Police have not been able to question him yet. Anyone having information about the suspects is asked to please contact police at 0228 150. Parking in Bonn : Park places too narrow Foto: Barbara Frommann Bonn Even though there are requirements about the width of a parking spot, many find the parking spaces in some Bonn parking garages too narrow. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Mother of baby Ben, Wiebke Pfob tries to take her infant out of the back seat from the side door of her car but there is not enough space at the side of the vehicle. She is prevented from opening the door wide enough to get the baby with baby seat out of the car. She has to clap down a back seat and take her baby out from the rear of the vehicle. This describes a scene at the old Friedensplatz garage. It is difficult for driver and passengers to climb out of a car there because the places are so narrow. For those who need to take out something as big as a baby seat, it is impossible. In North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), there is a rule that parking places must be at least 2.3 meters wide. Veronika John, spokesperson for Bonn City Parking says this is not always possible due to building materials. In the old part of the Friedensplatz garage, the spaces are only 2.2 meters wide. John recommends those who need more space to not enter the old part of the Friedensplatz garage direction Oxford Strae but rather to go in the newer part. In that area, there are some designated parking spots for mother or father with child Mutter-Vater-Kind places. Another problem in the narrow parking garages is that some SUV drivers will park, overlapping substantially into a second parking spot, taking up two places. John said they are aware of this problem and parking personnel are told to speak to those who they see taking up two spots. Repeat offenders are fined. Beethoven garage is one John recommends for those who want more space, especially for parents with infants. Parking spots there are 2.5 meters wide. She also sees the Munsterplatz garage in a positive light because the places are clearly marked, even if they are not wider than required. When Pfob left the Friedensplatz garage, she tried out the Stadthaus garage and said that worked better. Even though the places there are just the required 2.3 meters, there are no concrete pillars in the way. Although there are not many family friendly parking spots in the city, John points out that there are plenty of parking places reserved for women, Frauenparkplatze. She also said that they regularly review the need for special types of parking places. by: Joan M Teno (@JoanMTeno) A high quality hospice provides the best end of life care something that I have documented in JAMA 2004 and Journal of Palliative Medicine 2015 articles. However, an important caveat is high quality. Both my mother and great aunt died on hospice service, for which I am very grateful for the excellent hospice care each received. Some recent papers that I have written about the variation in key processes of hospice care, including one published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week, may lead some of you to question whether I truly support hospice. Maybe you can rightly accuse me of not being a hospice advocate. I have always been inspired by Dom Berwicks central question as interim Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), How will this policy impact and improve the care of Medicare Beneficiaries? So why have I concluded that visits by professional hospice staff matter in the last two days of life? First, I dont expect that 100% of hospice patients dying on routine home care (RHC) are visited in the last two days of life. Rather, I am concerned by the patterns that we observed in the analysis of FY 2014 administrative data: 1) Blacks were 30% less likely to get visits; 2) nearly one in five persons dying in a nursing home did not get a visit; 3) one in five dying on a Sunday did not get a visit by professional staff; 4) 8% of hospice programs that had at least 30 patients who died and were discharged on RHC did not provide any visits by professional staff in the last two days of life; and 5) finally the striking, geographic variation. Previously, I have been an author in a study that reported Blacks had more unmet needs for pain and bereaved family wanted more information about pain management. This lack of visits raises an important concern. Historically, nursing home as site of hospice care has lower reported ratings of the quality of care so the lack of visits may be a concern. My mother died in a nursing home I am thankful for the nurses, social worker, and volunteers who visited her in the last days of her life, even though I as physician was at her bedside for most of the time in the last days of her life. Second, a concern that has been mentioned is that family dont want these visits. Perhaps, this should be a focus of future research. My experience with focus groups and in-depth interviews with families attest to the importance of these visits. For example, the words of a bereaved family member expresses this concern eloquently. Im glad I (kept her at home) but I think towards the end giving the medications and upping the medications seemed so fast. All of a sudden now she is on all this morphine and all this whatever it is. And that kind of bothered me too. It really did. Because it was like, my God, Im giving her this stuff. Am I giving her too much? Im not a trained medical person. My best educated guess is the observed variationis not being driven by family preference being different in the state of Rhode Island vs. Wisconsin. Something that I have said about feeding tube insertions and patterns of hospitalizations that I have called burdensome transitions. Why not focus on visits by nurses aides, bereavement staff visits, and those by spiritual staff? The fact that we did not report those visits is not meant in anyway to under value the importance of those staff. Rather, our focus was to examine whether professional hospice staff who are responsible for the plan of care are reassessing patients at this critical time period. The issue with rural hospice programs is important. I think that we need to test telemedicine intervention in hospice not as a means of saving money, but ensuring dying persons and their family receive the needed support. I agree that visits in the last 2 days of life is a population based quality measure that should be examined in the context of national bench marks or expert opinion. If I was the CEO of a hospice program that made no visits by professional visits in the last two days of life, I would be concerned. Ultimately, I would look at the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems hospice survey (CAHPs) Hospice results of my organizations. When I examined this in a small number of hospice programs as part of the validation of the Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) survey, we found differences in overall rating of the quality of care and family report of concerns with training in pain management. Is more better? Time and time again, as health service researcher, I have questioned our current volume based financial incentives that has resulted in late referral to hospice, more stays in an ICU in the last 30 days of life, and multiple hospitalizations in the last 90 days of life. While hospice payment reform cuts RHC payment post day 61, the service intensity adjustment provides incentives for more care. Working as hospice medical director for nearly 20 years, I believe that incentives that result in more visits by an RN and /or MSW in the last week of life will improve the care of the dying. However as a health service researcher, I think it is important to examine whether this policy is effective based on interviews with bereaved family members as well as patient reported outcomes of symptom control in the last week of life. Theres a good chance Western Sugar will still be turning out product when Easter Peeps hit supermarket shelves. With three weeks left in February, there are still sizable sugar beet piles in the Yellowstone River corridor waiting to be trucked to Billings for refining. The 2015 crop was well above average. After six months of turning beets to crystal sugar and molasses, Western Sugar Cooperative still has a ways to go. We are currently 90 percent complete, said Randall Jobman, Westerns agricultural manager. We typically try to finish by mid-February, but it isnt all that unusual to go into the last week of February depending on crop size. Farmers from Bridger to Forsyth uprooted more than 32 tons of beets per acre on average in 2015. The sugar content of the crop was 18.2 percent. Initially, Western expected to make sugar until the middle of February, an average finish that should be put in the context of the cooperatives early start last Sept. 2, though Western did lose more than a week of production in October after mechanical problems and a death at the factory. This is the second season in a row that the Western Sugar factory in Billings was slated to operate most of February because of a bumper crop. In Eastern Montana, Sidney Sugars is also still refining sugar after a record crop of 1 million tons. Sugar in the regions crop was nearly 19 percent. Economically, the outlook for 2016 is sweet. Sugar beets are on the rebound after a three-year sour patch brought on by a global sugar glut and Mexican sugar imports to the United States that eroded industry profits. I think theyre pretty optimistic on price, and theyre basing that on supply-and-demand fundamentals, said John Gates, Northwest Farm Credit vice president of Eastern Montana. Theres less sugar in the world, mostly due to weather conditions in sugar cane areas, particularly India, China and Brazil. Meanwhile, sugar consumption is up in Europe, Thailand, China and Russia, according to a December report issued by Northwest Farm Credit. Northwest ranks sugar beets as one of the positives in a very challenging agriculture economy. Its also been a year since Mexico began cutting back on the amount of sugar exported to the United States, which has tightened up the amount of sugar available for baking, candy and beverages in the United States. The cut in supply has pushed sugar back into a profitable range. Sugar farmers in Montana and Idaho are receiving $42 to $45 a ton on their grower returns. CASPER, Wyo. For the fourth consecutive year, state lawmakers will sponsor legislation that would repeal gun-free zones in Wyoming. However, House Bill 86, or the Wyoming Repeal Gun Free Zones Act, would omit schools, colleges and universities from the repeal. Allowing guns on school property dominated debates about the bill in previous legislative sessions. Last year, House Bill 114, also called the Wyoming Repeal Gun Free Zones Act, was largely defeated due to the issue of guns in schools. HB 86 would allow people with a concealed weapons permit to bring guns to any government meeting or legislative assembly, from town council meetings to sessions of the Wyoming Legislature. The bill is sponsored by some of the same lawmakers who introduced a similar bill in the last three legislative sessions, such as Reps. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, Kendell Kroeker, R-Evansville, and Mark Baker, R-Rock Springs. Sens. Cale Case, R-Lander, and Curt Meier, R-Lagrange, are co-sponsors for HB 86. There was wide support last year among educators for an amendment to HB 114 that gave school districts control over whether concealed weapons would be allowed on school property. But proponents of the bill argued that allowing local school governments to decide gutted the original intent of the bill. Some in the education community feared HB 114 would cause insurance companies to drop coverage to districts that allowed guns on school property. The budget session of the Wyomings Legislature convened Monday. Non-budget bills such as HB 86 require two-thirds support for introduction. Microsoft's HoloLens has edge over Google Glass: Study News oi -GizBot Bureau A comparative study of Google and Microsoft smart glasses by Britain-based market research firm Juniper Research has found that the Microsoft's HoloLens will be better poised at dominating the market by 2020, a media report said. In a recently published report, Juniper Research said that more than 12 million smart glasses, like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens, will reach consumers by 2020. SEE ALSO: Coolpad Note 3 Lite: Why is it a Flagship Killer However, Microsoft has the upper hand because the HoloLens is advertised as a product people could use at home or at work, whereas Google Glass is marketed as an mobile computing device, winbeta.org reported. Juniper Research classified smart glasses as "head-mounted devices that provide display and computing capabilities while overlaying, but not replacing the visual world". The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were not included in Juniper's definition due to their closed head-mounted displays. "While Google Glass has similar features to a smartphone like a camera, phone messaging alerts, and directions. Smart glasses should not entirely replace the functionality of a smartphone," said James Moar, a research analyst with Juniper Research. He added that HoloLens is different from Google Glass because the former is more about solving problems, creating new products, and editing models in a 3D environment to better visualise the final product. "For a consumer who does not need constant hands-free computing, most smart glasses functions can be more easily and cheaply done on a smartphone, which is now a much more common item in many markets," Moar added. SEE ALSO: Take an inside look at the new Apple Museum in Prague As HoloLens are smart glasses that are designed and equipped to handle indoor spaces (for now), Google Glass faces a significant challenge because it has to process the large amount of information needed to handle the demands of the outside world, according to the report. Google Glass also presented a huge challenge on privacy concerns, it added. While Microsoft is expected to ship out HoloLens developer units sometime soon, Google has gone back to the drawing board with Project Aura to remake the Google Glass experience into a more private system. Source IANS Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Twitterati upbeat over net neutrality News oi -GizBot Bureau Twitterati on Monday joined the user industry in hailing the telecom watchdog for ruling in favour of net neutrality, though it meant a loss of face to Facebook and cellular operators. Minutes after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued an order upholding net neutrality and ruling out discriminatory pricing of data content, twitterati across the country took to micro-blogging to express their views. SEE ALSO: 8 Super Tech Cars that we saw at Auto Expo 2016! Among them were Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who welcomed the ruling and termed it a "big win for internet users in India". As against Facebook's Free Basics and the country's largest private telecom operator Airtel Zero offerings, the watchdog said "no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content". Joining their leader, Congress spokesman Randeep S. Surjewalla and party leader Ahmed Patel welcomed the TRAI decision. "The decision will negate differential data pricing and ensuring #Net Neutrality," Surjewalla tweeted. "The decision will ensure a free and open internet for all #Net neutrality," tweeted Patel. Leading e-tailor Snapdeal co-founder and chief executive Kunal Bahl said "great to see TRAI backing #NetNeutrality! Let's keep the Internet free and independent". Taking a pot shot at Facebook's Free Basics, which is against net neutrality, journalist Vir Sanghvi tweeted "rot in hell Free Basics. You can't fool all the people all the time. Good decision by TRAI". Journalist and former Hindu editor-in-chief Siddharth Varadarajan said "TRAI lays down historic order protecting net neutrality". Mumbai-based anti-corruption crusader Anjali Damani tweeted the order as a big blow to Facebook that was "leaving no stones unturned to get Free Basics programme". SEE ALSO: 11 Facts About Gaming In 2015 That'll Blow Your Mind Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, however, asked where he could read up on both sides of the #NetNeutrality debate. "Have no idea what the debate is all about & would like to know," the National Conference leader quipped in the tweet. Source IANS Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications CHEYENNE, Wyo. Citing Bible verses while making financial and moral arguments, supporters of Medicaid expansion gathered Monday with Gov. Matt Mead at a church to rally for the Obamacare program that would extend coverage to 20,000 adults in Wyoming. Our legislators could still find it in their hearts to put politics aside and follow a higher law: Love your neighbor, said the Rev. Dee Lundberg of the Casper United Church of Christ. Yes, treating all of our citizens with the same dignity and respect that our political leaders would most assuredly expect for themselves. Mead, Lundberg and about 120 other people from around the state filled the sanctuary of Highlands United Presbyterian Church to discuss the importance of urging state lawmakers to expand Medicaid. Monday was the first of the approximately 20-day legislative session, in which lawmakers will adopt a two-year budget for the state. The Legislature has rejected expansion each year since 2013. This year, the Joint Appropriations Committee, a group of lawmakers who first craft the state budget, rejected Meads proposal to expand Medicaid. However, the full Legislature is expected to discuss the issue again through different budget measures during these next 20 days. Mead, a Republican, originally opposed Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act. But he has since said the state needs to expand Medicaid to provide health care to the low-income adults, even if the federal act is flawed. This year, he added expansion to the Wyoming Department of Healths budget. The state could receive $268 million in federal money at a time when mineral production and revenues are down, according to estimates from his office. Health expenses from the 20,000 Wyomingites are part of the $100 million yearly uncompensated costs absorbed by hospitals throughout the state. No new U.S. president will be able to flip a switch and fix health care in a way that would eliminate the ACA, he said. Like it or not, it is so intertwined with our system of health care, he said. The state is losing $310,000 each day Medicaid is not expanded, he said. Many lawmakers have reservations over expansion, saying they do not believe the federal government will meet its commitments to pay for most of the program. But Mead countered that over half of state agencies not including boards and commissions receive federal money. Are we going to return AML money? he asked, referring to over $500 million the federal money the state will receive for having mine lands. A large coalition called Healthy Wyoming is behind expansion. It includes religious and medical groups, but also business groups such as the Casper, Cheyenne and Jackson Hole chambers of commerce and the Wyoming Business Alliance. These are not hotbeds of liberal people, Mead said. Mead said hes talked to Brian Sandoval, the Republican governor of Nevada, which expanded Medicaid. Sandoval told him its one of the best things to happen to the state, said Mead, who had to leave shortly after his comments. The governor and other speakers encouraged the group to call and email legislators to tell them they are in favor of expansion. The Rev. Rodger McDaniel, pastor at Highlands United Presbyterian, quoted from Proverbs When there is no vision, the people perish. He called Meads budget during challenging economic times visionary. Without the Medicaid expansion, several programs throughout the state face cuts, including for seniors, disabled and mentally ill people and students. Thats the kind of vision under which people perish, he said. Jason Baldes of the Wind River Native Advocacy Center, which works on behalf of both the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes, said over 3,000 people on the Wind River Reservation would benefit from Medicaid expansion. About 15,000 people live on the reservation, he said. Cheyenne family medicine physician Jason Bloomberg, who used to run a clinic with his wife from their own money to treat uninsured people, said that if Mead could change his mind on Medicaid expansion, there is hope for other lawmakers. Im really (impressed) with people whose positions can evolve, he said. Counter-ISIL Strikes Continue in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, February 8, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria A fighter aircraft conducted a strike near Hasakah, which suppressed an ISIL rocket position. Strikes in Iraq Attack and fighter aircraft conducted nine strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government: -- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL tunnel. -- Near Habbaniyah, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb. -- Near Kisik, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position. -- Near Mosul, four strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions, suppressing an ISIL rocket position and an ISIL mortar position. -- Near Ramadi, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL tactical vehicle, an ISIL vehicle bomb, and an ISIL anti-air artillery piece. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister sets new course to address crises In Iraq and Syria and impacts on the region Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau Ottawa, Ontario 8 February 2016 The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau today announced Canada's new policy to address the ongoing crises in Iraq and Syria and the impact they are having on the surrounding region. It will make a meaningful contribution to the Global Coalition's fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while strengthening the ability of regional governments and local authorities to defend themselves, and rebuild over the long-term. It is a whole of government approach that enlists several federal departments to work closely together to enhance security and stability, provide vital humanitarian assistance, and help partners deliver social services, rebuild infrastructure and good governance. On the security front, Canada looked at how the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) could best contribute in the fight against ISIL in the region within the Global Coalition. In keeping with the mandate the government received from Canadians last fall, the government will focus on training and advising local security forces to take their fight directly to ISIL. To this end, additional military resources will be dedicated to supporting Coalition partners at various headquarters and to training, advising and assisting Iraqi security forces in their efforts to degrade and defeat ISIL. While Canada will cease air strike operations no later than February 22, 2016, aerial refueling and surveillance activities will continue. As well, stabilization and counter-terrorism measures and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear security programming in the region will be enhanced To help address the protracted and tragic crises in the region, Canada will focus on meeting the basic needs of those most impacted by the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, including refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries. We will also work with international partners to build local capacity in communities and countries hosting large numbers of refugees, such as Lebanon and Jordan. Activities will include helping partners: provide education, healthcare and sanitation; maintain and repair infrastructure; promote employment and economic growth; and foster good governance. Canada must do more to help find a diplomatic solution to the crises in Syria and Iraq. An enhanced presence on the ground will allow Canada to increase its engagement with local and international partners and participate more actively in multilateral efforts to resolve the crises and restore stability in the region. The Government of Canada will contribute more than $1.6 billion over the next three years towards its new approach to security, stabilization, humanitarian and development assistance in response to the crises in Iraq and Syria, and their impact on Jordan and Lebanon. Quotes "Our new policy in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region reflects what Canada is all about: defending our interests alongside our allies, and working constructively with local partners to build real solutions that will last. We will work with allies to defeat ISIL and the terrorist threat it represents. At the same time, we will help address the needs of millions of vulnerable people while helping lay the foundations for improved governance, economic growth and longer-term stability." - The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada "Our new approach to Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region will be challenging and dangerous at times. There will be lessons learned as we adapt to changing circumstances on the ground. I am confident that we are up to these challenges and that we will show the world all that Canada can accomplish in a crisis situation." - The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Task Force Al Taqaddum: Role of U.S. Troops during operations in Anbar Province US Marine Corps News By Sgt. Ricardo Hurtado | February 8, 2016 Things have changed a bit around Al Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq since the 2011 withdraw of U.S. troops in the Anbar province. What once was a busy hub for aircraft coming in to scatter the area with military personnel now seems far more subtle in its footprint. The Iraqi military installation now houses different components of the Iraqi Security Forces, including the 8th Iraqi Army Division and the Anbar Operations Command. The AOC is staffed by Iraqi military leaders and is the brains of operations in the Anbar province. It moved to Al Taqaddum shortly after the fall of Ramadi last summer. A team of advisors arrived in Al Taqaddum, to form a task force, shortly after President Obama's June 10 announcement on the augmentation of U.S. troops in the Anbar province to advise and assist Iraqi forces. "We have [service members] that have experience in specific areas and they provide advice in the form of planning and coordinating combat operations for the ISF to execute them here in Ramadi during the counter attacks," said U.S. Marine Col. Christopher J. Douglas, commander of TFTQ. "The assistance we provide is specifically in the form of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance flights and air support and strikes that are provided by coalition aircraft." Task Force Al Taqaddum currently operates out of Camp Manion in Al Taqaddum. It is a U.S.-led coalition force composed of Marines and Sailors from II Marine Expeditionary Force and augments from Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, as well as U.S. Soldiers with 1st Infantry Division, Airmen with U.S. Air Forces Central Command, and components of the Australian and Italian armed forces. The task force's mission is to advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces in operations in the Ramadi area. U.S. Marines are embedded full time as advisors to the AOC. The Americans work, eat and sleep at the AOC compound providing around-the-clock advise and assist support. A Marine advisor explained that Iraqi troops call in from the frontlines to the AOC via their individual command operation centers to report encounters, firefights and intelligence data. As advisors, the Marines help coordinate operations, such as airstrikes and counter attacks on the spot. All strikes and operations are ultimately approved by Iraqi leaders. "This is an important mission at the strategic level because Daesh is believed to be a threat to [the U.S.] at some point if they were given freedom of operation and were able to take over large portions of territory in Syria and Iraq and have access to money and influence, [Daesh would] potentially be able to strike us back in the U.S.," said a U.S. Marine and primary advisor to the 8th Iraqi Army Division. "On a more operational level, we've been partners with Iraq since the invasion in 2001, so we are here to support them, keep them as a viable country, and a big portion of it is having a legitimate military capable of defending its borders and kicking out threats like ISIS and things like that, which provides stability to the region." Besides providing assistance to the AOC, the task force also works alongside the 8th, 10th and 16th Divisions of the Iraqi Army, as well as the Anbar National Police and the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service. TFTQ has played a significant role on the Ramadi counter attacks, ensuring the ISF have the right tools to defeat the enemy. "Another big component that TFTQ does is that it provides medical care. It's huge, because it provides the will to fight," said a U.S. Marine advisor to the AOC. "They know that when they are fighting and something happens to them there is medical help fairly close and they are going to be taken care of." The medical team for TFTQ is composed of U.S. Soldiers with the 772nd Forward Surgical Team, the 115th Combat Support Hospital and U.S. Navy Corpsmen with II MEF and SPMAGTF-CR-CC. Wounded Iraqi soldiers are brought to the gates of Camp Manion, where they are first treated by U.S. Navy corpsmen. The corpsmen asses the patient's injuries, stabilize the casualties and perform emergency procedures on the spot, if necessary. Based on the corpsmen's assessment, it is determined if a patient will be admitted for further care by the U.S. Army medical teams. The assessment must meet the medical rules of eligibility to determine if the corpsmen are able to provide care. Iraqi soldiers who are in danger of losing their life are seen immediately, while more routine injuries may be referred to local hospitals. Although circumstances in the area call for an operational mindset, TFTQ takes any opportunity to provide training to Iraqi units that are stationed in Al Taqaddum or nearby. "The environment that we are in right now is not a learning environment, we are very much in an operational environment where training is not the primary focus," said a U.S. Marine primary advisor to the 8th Iraqi Army Division. "That being said there are training opportunities. With the 8th Iraqi division we've conducted artillery training, communication training, medical training, explosive ordnance disposal and engineer training, all uniquely with 8th Division because they are based out of [Al Taqaddum] already." Douglas said that since their arrival in Al Taqaddum the progress has been noticeable and steady, and that despite setbacks "the ISF have remained strong, have executed counter attacks and retaken any ground that they lost." "They retook that Local Government Center within the city of Ramadi, that's deep in the center of [the city]," added Douglas. "[They're] clearing the city of Ramadi so it can ultimately be turned back over to local ISF and the local police to work together and provide the stability and security within the area." Members of the task force remain confident in the ability of the ISF to effectively use the training and tools provided as part of the advise and assist efforts. "We are side-by-side in the fact that we want them to be as successful as if we were out there doing it ourselves," said a U.S. Marine advisor to the AOC. "We are aiding them with assistance, we are providing the eyes in the sky, we are providing them with bombs on target, and that gives them the confidence that they are not in the fight alone.' NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Marines with HMLA-267 support Scorpion Fire US Marine Corps News By Lance Cpl. Harley Robinson | February 8, 2016 Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 267 took part in exercise Scorpion Fire 1-16 on and near Naval Air Facility El Centro, California, Jan. 25 to Feb. 5, 2016. The Marines with HMLA-267 conducted close air support and live-fire training with simulated targets. "We were one of the aviation players that played a role in the integrated fire," said Maj. Mark Mirra, a pilot with HMLA-267 and a Stafford, Virginia, native. "We engaged simulated scenarios and conducted an assault support mission." The crew chiefs aboard a UH-1Y Huey, equipped with an M107 .50-caliber Special Applications Scoped Rifle and an M134 Minigun, had the responsibility of eliminating the targets. "I got to work on my proficiency on the M107 .50-caliber [SAS rifle]," said Lance Cpl. Sharron Steck, a crew chief with HMLA-267 and Peoria, Illinois, native. "I had to listen to what the pilots were telling me while working with the ground guys in order to find the target and recognize it." Scorpion Fire took three months to plan, and was an 11-daylong training exercise supported by Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, Marine Air Control Squadron 1, Marine Aircraft Group 11, Marine Aircraft Group 13, Marine Aircraft Group 39, and select supporting units of the United States Navy. The training exercise brought together squadrons from all over, and combined aerial and ground efforts, according to Mirra. "It helps us prepare for real-life combat situations," said Steck. "When we go out there, we're going to be talking to the guys on the ground or the other aircraft in order to complete our mission and find our targets. What we do protects our guys on the ground, so it's important for us to train so that we can carry out our operations seamlessly." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Montpelier Returns Home After Successful Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160208-02 Release Date: 2/8/2016 9:41:00 AM By Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic Public Affairs NORFOLK (NNS) -- The Los Angeles fast-attack submarine USS Montpelier (SSN 765) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Feb. 5, after completing a successful deployment to the European Command and Central Command areas of responsibility. During the deployment, the crew executed the Chief of Naval Operations' Maritime Strategy in support of national security interests and maritime security operations. During the underway, Montpelier steamed more than 38,319 nautical miles. The crew conducted port visits in Souda Bay, Crete; Manama, Bahrain; Jebel Ali, UAE; and Toulon, France. 'I am continuously amazed by the inherent resilience and dedication demonstrated by submariners,' said Cmdr. Steve Mongold, Montpelier's commanding officer. 'Montpelier is manned by an exceptionally talented crew.' While on deployment, Montpelier had 18 crew members earn their warfare qualifications. They also had 15 promoted to the next pay grade. After spending major holidays overseas, the Montpelier Sailors were ready for their homecoming in Norfolk. 'We are looking forward to being reunited and spending time with our family, friends, and loved ones,' said Mongold. 'Montpelier celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner and all the fixings, prepared by our outstanding culinary specialist division. Christmas Day was spent in Jebel Ali.' According to Mongold, Montpelier's crew celebrated the New Year reflecting on their accomplishments in 2015 and preparing for their journey home. First time ombudsman Cassie Tatum, wife of Chief Fire Controlman Thomas Tatum, summed up the overall excitement of the Family Readiness Group (FRG). 'Everyone's incredibly excited to have their Sailors back home,' said Cassie. 'While in the shipyard for repairs, we had a lot of crew changeover, so this was a first deployment for many of our families. We all made it through and did amazingly well.' Monthly FRG meetings that turned into potlucks; social media groups created to share advice and provide a forum for questions and answers; along with monthly newsletters were some of the vehicles used to keep the families engaged and create a bond among the families on the homefront. 'I think most people will be able to look back on this time and say they made at least one friend that made a difference,' said Cassie. The wintry weather may have delayed the boats arrival, but for Cassie and the rest of the families that surrounded Pier 3, 'it's right on-time.' Fast-attack submarines like Montpelier have multi-faceted missions. They use their stealth, persistence, agility and firepower to deploy and support special force operations, disrupt and destroy an adversary's military and economic operations at sea, provide early strike from close proximity, and ensure undersea superiority. Montpelier is the third ship in the U.S. Navy to be named for the city of Montpelier, Vermont. Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company and Drydock Company, the 'Mighty Monty' was commissioned March 13, 1993. The submarine has a crew complement of 15 officers and 129 enlisted. The submarine is 360-feet long, and can travel in excess of 25 knots. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Cheyenne Returns from Western Pacific Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160208-01 Release Date: 2/8/2016 9:32:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Swink, Pacific Submarine Force Public Affairs PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN 773) returned to Pearl Harbor, Feb. 5, completing a regularly-scheduled five-month deployment to the Western Pacific. The submarine's commanding officer, Cmdr. John Stafford, who hails from Staten Island, New York, said his crew's performance was admirable. 'They were resilient when they needed to be, and creative with their tactics, keeping the ship on point and on mission,' said Stafford. 'I can't say enough about the effort they put in to get there and stay there.' Lt. Cmdr. Jeremy Johnston, USS Cheyenne's executive officer, had high praise for the crew's performance. 'New crew members excelled,' Johnston said. 'It was a tough task, but they took it head on and worked hard. We supported our junior crew through a rigorous training and qualification program backed with practical evolutions and on-the-job training. On Cheyenne, we say that our best resource is new people.' Senior Chief Sonar Technician Julio Hernandez, Cheyenne's chief of the boat, from Brawley, California, said the crew performed phenomenally. 'We made the crew own the training, so they trained each other,' said Hernandez. 'It was the Sailors training the Sailors, which was effective because they owned it and believed in it.' While deployed, 15 Sailors and four officers earned their designation as qualified in submarines and now wear the dolphin warfare insignia. Additionally, eight Sailors were advanced in rank, three officers were promoted, and 14 junior Sailors reenlisted while underway. 'My favorite part of deployment was the relationships we strengthened as a crew,' said Electronics Technician 1st Class Taquan Monrose, from Newport News, Virginia. 'We spent months together doing some things other people couldn't imagine.' Cheyenne achieved a number of milestones while under way, including participation in anti-submarine warfare exercises with Submarine Group 7, a port visit to Subic Bay in the Philippines, participating in volunteer work at a school for physically-challenged children, and organizing a beach clean-up. Upon returning home to Pearl Harbor, Stafford and his crew looked forward to reuniting with family and friends. 'We talked about doing a lot of big trips; but to be honest with you, I am just looking forward to Lanikai Beach, maybe movie night on Friday night, and going to church on Sunday,' said Stafford. 'If I could get back to that routine, I would consider it a great success.' Waiting on the pier were friends and family with leis, banners and signs, with many of the greeters cheering their return. Debora Ann Harris traveled from Coconut Creek, Florida, to welcome home her son, Lt. Logan Harris. 'He always has been a leader and is very industrious,' said Harris. 'We are just so very proud of him. The excitement of them coming in is almost overwhelming.' Homeported in Pearl Harbor, USS Cheyenne is named after the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and was the last of the 62 Los Angeles-class submarines to enter service in the U.S. Navy. Commissioned Sept. 13, 1996, Cheyenne measures more than 360-feet long and weighs more than 6,000 tons when submerged. In 2003, Cheyenne earned the distinction of 'first to strike' as the first ship to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Since then, the submariners aboard have modified the original 'Live the Legend' motto to 'Ride the Legend,' representative of the warrior spirit of the crew and the pride they take in their mission and namesake city. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada stop 'anti-Daesh' air raids as part of US-led alliance Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 6:32PM Canada says it will end its contribution to the ongoing bombing campaign by the US-led coalition against what is claimed to be Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria, saying such airstrikes will not bring long-term stability to the Middle East. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would stop its air raids as part of the US-led coalition no later than February 22, and that the country's six fighter jets would be pulled from the bombing mission. The premier said the airstrikes "do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities," stressing the need for "a political solution" to the crises in Syria and Iraq. Trudeau added, however, that Canada will increase the number of its special forces in Iraq to "train" the local troops' fighting Daesh terrorists. The number of military personnel Canada is contributing to the mission in Iraq and Syria will increase to 830 from the current 650 while Ottawa will remain a member of the coalition until March 2017, according to Trudeau. He estimated that Canada will be spending more than US$1.15 billion (CA$1.6 billion) on the mission as a whole. In a similar stance, Canada's Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance also said "this is exactly the right time" to stop the bombing campaign. The US-led coalition first began its so-called anti-Daesh air strikes in Iraq in 2014 and expanded the campaign to neighboring Syria later that year. The strikes have done little to dislodge the Takfiri terrorists. Many of the parties to the same alliance have been among the supporters of terror groups operating against the Damascus government since March 2011. A recent report published by the Soufan Group, a New York-based think tank which provides strategic and security intelligence services, said around 130 Canadian nationals have so far joined the ranks of terror groups in Syria and Iraq. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bomb explosion kills six civilians in SE Afghanistan Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 6:9PM A bomb explosion has rocked an area in southeastern Afghanistan, killing at least six civilians and injuring nine others, security sources say. According to local Afghan officials, the casualties were caused after the blast occurred in front of a bakery in Yahya Khil district in Paktika Province on Monday. Local residents and witnesses said that the blast targeted police and government employees buying bread in the troubled region. No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the blast. The attack comes hours after at least three Afghan soldiers were killed and nearly two dozen others injured in an attack on a bus carrying Afghan army personnel near the Balkh provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif. In an email to media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. Also on February 1, a bomb blast outside a police station in the capital, Kabul, killed at least 20 people and injured 29 others, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. According to some government and diplomatic sources, Afghanistan's Interior Minister Noor-ul-Haq Olomi has offered his resignation to President Ashraf Ghani amid growing criticism over the deteriorating security situation in the war-wracked country. The sources said the resignation has not been accepted by Ghani yet as he is still looking for a replacement. Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity over 14 years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. The 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, but many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity. Afghan forces have been engaged in military operations across the country to end the Taliban-led militancy and violence. In addition to that, some districts in Afghanistan, including the volatile Nangarhar Province, have been witnessing a rise in the number of Daesh terrorists in recent months as the terror group, which is mainly operating in Iraq and Syria, is making inroads into Afghanistan with the number of its followers growing across the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Clashes in eastern DR Congo claim at least 15 lives Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 6:2PM More than a dozen people have lost their lives in clashes between armed groups in the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where ethnic tensions have surged in recent weeks. Local authorities in DR Congo said some 15 people were killed after an ethnic Nande militia group attacked the village of Mukeberwa in North Kivu Province on Monday. Clashes then erupted between the assailants and the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, who are in control of the village. "According to information that I have, between 15 and 30 people have been killed,' said Bokele Joy, the administrator of North Kivu, adding that he could not be more precise as there are no army troops or national police in the area. The developments come as the UN peacekeeping mission to the DR Congo has reported of a rise in inter-ethnic tensions since early-January killings at the Nande village that claimed some 17 lives. The FDLR includes Rwandan Hutus, who are thought to have taken part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed the lives of at least 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi minority. A large number of the Hutu rebels fled to the neighboring DRC in fear of retaliation by Tutsi people when Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda, ended the genocide in July 1994, and rose to power. The rebels are also accused of carrying out attacks in DR Congo and committing serious human rights violations, including recruiting child soldiers and rape. Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and has left over 5.5 million people dead. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN says over 58,000 Somali children risk starving to death Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 5:21PM The United Nations (UN) has warned that over 58,000 children would starve to death in Somalia if they are not provided with urgent humanitarian assistance. UN aid chief for Somalia Peter de Clercq said on Monday that more than 300,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. The UN official also said that they urgently need medical, food, and other humanitarian support. 'The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five years acutely malnourished,' the official said, adding, 'We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated.' The UN has said that nearly one million people are struggling every day to meet their food needs. According to the world body, 4.7 million people, or nearly 40 percent of Somalia, stand in need of humanitarian aid. The grim assessment comes as severe drought continues to hit several regions in the impoverished war-torn country. Northern Somali areas are especially hard hit by the ongoing drought. The drought has been exacerbated by by an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern. 'The food security and malnutrition situation in Somalia is alarming, especially in parts of Puntland and Somaliland, which have been hard hit by drought exacerbated by El Nino,' the UN said in a statement, adding 'We are deeply concerned...with severe drought conditions intensifying in Puntland and Somaliland, many more people risk relapsing into crisis.' The UN has also appealed for urgent support and humanitarian assistance. The world body is calling for USD 885 million in aid to assist people in conflict- and disaster-affected regions. Nearly four years ago, intense drought and war sparked a famine, killing more than a quarter of a million people across the war-torn Horn of Africa country. The international community has failed to tackle the famine crisis due to the ongoing war and internal conflicts in the African country. The developments come as the African country has been the scene of clashes between government forces and al-Shabab fighters since 2006. Somalia did not have an effective central government from 1991 to 2012, when lawmakers elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new president. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At least 40,000 dying of starvation in South Sudan, UN reports Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 3:4PM The United Nations has voiced concern over the severe food crisis in South Sudan's war-ravaged areas, saying a catastrophic situation awaits tens of thousands of civilians grappling with malnutrition in the African state. "Nearly 25 percent of the country's population remain in urgent need of food assistance, and at least 40,000 people are on the brink of catastrophe," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN children's fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in a joint statement issued on Monday. According to Jonathan Veitch, the UNICEF representative in South Sudan, "Families have been doing everything they can to survive, but they are now running out of options." Sources say those worst-affected regions are in the northern battleground state of Unity, once the country's key oil-producing region, which has been a scene of heavy clashes between government troops and rebels. The counties of Leer, Guit, Koch and Mayendit have also been reported as badly affected areas. Veitch further called for "unrestricted access" to the crisis-hit zones, saying, "Many of the areas where the needs are greatest are out of reach because of" the ongoing violence between government troops and rebel forces. The three UN bodies had put the number of those facing starvation in South Sudan at 30,000 in a report last October. The new warning comes three months after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed hunger assessment, said "there is a concrete risk of famine" if urgent humanitarian aid is not provided in war-zone areas. South Sudan plunged into chaos in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy, Riek Machar, around Juba. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than two million people. The ongoing violence in South Sudan comes despite a ceasefire agreement reached between government troops and rebels last August. Both sides have on numerous occasions traded accusations of violating the internationally-mediated accord. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security raid kills 60 in southeast Turkey: Report Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 7:43AM At least 60 people have been killed in an attack by Turkish forces against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, a report says. Security forces raided the basement of a building in the district of Cizre in southeastern Sirnak Province on Sunday evening, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) reported. According to the military, several high-profile terrorists had been holed up in the basement. According to earlier reports, several dozen civilians had also been trapped in a basement for two weeks amid heavy fighting in Cizre. It was, however, not known if it was the same basement. Turkish activists, including prominent scientists, condemned the attack, describing the situation in the area as an "utter human tragedy." They said the Turkish military's operation against the PKK had targeted civilians trapped in the area. The activists called on the authorities to rescue the people, and denounced the attacks as "collective punishment." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, however, had accused the militants of using civilians as a "human shield." The PKK launched an insurgency against the central government in Turkey in 1984. So far, more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Turkish forces have killed almost 700 PKK militants since mid-December 2015, according to the Turkish military. Violence between the militant group and the Turkish army increased last July, and shattered a fragile two-and-a-half-year ceasefire between the two sides. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemenis pound Saudi military base with 2 ballistic missiles Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 3:15AM Yemen's army has reportedly carried out two ballistic missile attacks against a military base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern Asir region. The missiles hit the King Khalid air base in the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait in Asir region late on Sunday. The possible death toll and the extent of the damage inflicted upon Saudi troops and the military base in the Monday attacks were not yet released. However, Saudi Arabia claimed on Monday that its forces had intercepted a ballistic missile fired at the base. Yemenis launch such attacks in retaliation against an unabated aggression by the Saudis. The country has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March last year in a bid to bring the country's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Riyadh ally, back to power. Over 8,270 people, among them 2,236 children, have been killed and 16,015 others injured since the onset of the aggression. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada's CF-18 Jets to Cease Anti-Daesh Operations 'Within 2 Weeks' Sputnik News 19:31 08.02.2016(updated 19:51 08.02.2016) Canada will finish its airstrikes against Daesh terrorists withing the next two weeks by ceasing its operations of CF-18 fighter jets in Iraq and Syria, Canada's Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan announced on Monday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) He also said that Canada would triple its train, advise and assist efforts aimed to counter Daesh in northern Iraq. 'Under our new plan, military efforts are clearly situated within the more integrated approach that includes enhanced diplomatic, humanitarian, and development efforts First, we will triple the size of our train, advise and assist effort in northern Iraq,' Sajjan stated. "Within two weeks from today, the CF-18 cruise will cease operations in theatre [Iraq, Syria]," Sajjan said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated that all Canadian aircraft will be withdrawn from the area by March 31, 2016. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that the country would continue supporting the US-led coalition with aircraft for refueling and surveillance purposes. "We [Canada] want to provide everything that we can to help with this fight against the Islamic State. Many people [anti-Daesh coalition members] mentioned the great importance of our refueling and surveillance planes, and we are happy to continue providing them,' Trudeau stated. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated that all Canadian aircraft will be withdrawn from the area by March 31, 2016. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Thai Authorities Refute Reports of Bangkok Mulling Purchase of T-90 Tanks Sputnik News 12:32 08.02.2016 The Thai authorities on Monday refuted media reports that Bangkok was planning to purchase Russian T-90 tanks, the country's chief of staff spokesman said. BANGKOK (Sputnik) In recent months, it has been reported in the media that Thailand is considering buying an unspecified number of Russian-made T-90 battle tanks. Over the weekend, reports again emerged of Thai plans to purchase Russian tanks as Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who also serves as the country's defense minister, is expected to travel to Russia in the near future. 'Contrary to the reports of some Thai media outlets, Thailand has no plans to purchase Russian tanks. The fact that the deputy prime minister might examine the tanks during his visit to Russia, does not mean that he is going to sign a contract for their purchase,' Col. Winthai Suwaree told reporters. According to media reports, Bangkok is also interested in procuring some Chinese tanks that are based on the Soviet-era T-72 tank design. In 2011, Thailand placed an order worth $240 million for the purchase of 49 T-84 tanks as well as auxiliary military equipment with the Ukrainian company Ukrspetsexport. However, by the end of 2015, only 10 tanks had been delivered to the Royal Thai Army, which has allegedly caused concern among senior officials. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address In Somalia, food security and malnutrition situation is 'alarming' - UN report 8 February 2016 According to a new United Nations food security and nutrition assessment, the situation in Somalia is alarming and could get worse, especially in parts of Puntland and Somaliland, which have been hard hit by drought exacerbated by El Nino. "We are deeply concerned that the proportion of severely food insecure people remains alarmingly high, especially people who are unable to meet their daily food needs. Some 3.7 million people will be acutely food insecure through mid-2016. With severe drought conditions intensifying in Puntland and Somaliland, many more people risk relapsing into crisis," said Peter de Clercq, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, in a press release. Produced by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and in collaboration with Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the report says the situation is critical and could get worse. This latest assessment confirms persistently high and alarming levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in Somalia, with an estimated 4.7 million people nearly 40 per cent of the Somali population in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 950,000 of these people are acutely food insecure and struggle every day to meet their food needs. Internally displaced people make up more than two thirds, or 68 per cent, of acutely food insecure people and are in dire need of assistance. "The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, with nearly 305,000 children under the age of five years acutely malnourished. We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated. The drought could push these numbers higher in the months to come. We must act now. Partners are ready to scale up response, but funding is urgently needed to ensure this is done in a timely manner," Mr. de Clercq added. While acute food insecurity and malnutrition is prevalent across the country, the report highlights that the drought situation in Puntland and Somaliland is of particular concern. Erratic rains during the 2015 Gu (April to June) and the Karan (August to September) seasons in Puntland and Somaliland resulted in a near-total failure of cereal production (87 per cent below the five-year average). Meanwhile, the 2015 Deyr rains (October to December) were also below average in these areas, putting pressure on pasture and livestock and leading to the migration of 60-70 per cent of households along with their animals to areas with better pasture and water. In addition, poor availability of pasture and water for livestock has significantly exacerbated the humanitarian situation. Increasing movement of livestock including from Ethiopia and Djibouti are putting stress on adjacent areas. "We must do more to address recurrent hunger" stressed Mr. de Clercq. "Humanitarian assistance is vital and has achieved enormously positive food security results in recent years. But this alone will not free Somalia from the scourge of hunger. We must look to remove the underlying causes of hunger. Fighting hunger is development priority, as well as a humanitarian one," he said. Positive food security results along the Shebelle River, resulting from timely and well-targeted preparedness work that significantly reduced El Nino-related flooding shows, once again, that early action saves lives and livelihoods, the Humanitarian Coordinator further underlined, noting that these lessons must be carried forward into drought-affected areas. The 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia calls for $885 million to address the most urgent needs of 3.5 million people. It seeks to reduce preventable deaths, provide basic services and strengthen the protection of vulnerable people, including the internally displaced. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia arrests seven Daesh militants, thwarts terrorist attacks Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 11:31AM Russian security forces have detained seven Daesh terrorists who were planning to launch terrorist attacks in several cities across Russia. Russia's FSB security police said on Monday that they arrested the Takfiri militants who included Russian nationals and citizens of Central Asian states in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, according to Interfax news agency. The terrorists were planning terrorist attacks in the capital Moscow and the city of St Petersburg as well as the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, the FSB added. The security agency further said, without giving further details, that the group was led by a Daesh militant who had arrived from Turkey. The news comes a few days after Andrey Przhezdomsky, spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorism Committee of Russia, said terror cells affiliated with Daesh Takfiri terrorists are planning to carry out attacks in Russia and Europe. Przhezdomsky also said on January 29 that Russian border guards and security forces are doing their best to stop the flow of terrorists to and from Syria through Turkey. 'In 2015, we stopped more than 100 Russian citizens from leaving [Russia] to join the ranks of militants." Moscow says an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 militants hailing from former Soviet countries have joined Daesh, which is mainly operating in Syria and Iraq. Russia has been conducting airstrikes on the positions of Daesh and other militant groups in Syria based on a request by the government in Damascus since September 30 last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said before the beginning of the attacks that military action was needed to block the return of Russian nationals fighting alongside the ranks of Daesh in Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China says will pay rewards for online terrorist tip-offs Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 8:5AM China says it will pay up to 100,000 yuan ($15,200) to anyone who reports online "terrorist" content, after handing out two million yuan worth of rewards last year. "The Internet has become a channel for terrorists to spread extremist religious ideas, provoke ethnic conflicts and advocate separatism," the official Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed source from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) as saying on Monday. Encouraging the public to provide tip-offs via a telephone hotline, the source said Twitter-like microblogs and popular instant messaging services such as WeChat are among tools used by terrorists to "brainwash" young women and children. According to the report, the CAC received over 20,000 reports in 2015 and gave out two million yuan worth of rewards in total. This year, valuable tip-offs could receive up to 100,000 yuan each. Last December, Beijing called for a crackdown on online audio and video recordings used by terrorists, after the Daesh terrorist group purportedly released a Chinese-language song to recruit militants. The Chinese government says it faces a serious threat from militants and separatists in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang. The Chinese government also claims that the Turkic ethnic group in the region is separatist, and that some groups in the Uighur community are already attempting to establish an independent state. Rights groups have long complained that China's restrictive policies have led to escalated ethnic tensions in Xinjiang, where clashes between government forces and locals have left hundreds killed over the past years. The Uighur briefly declared independence twice before, in 1933 and 1944. The region, however, was brought under the complete control of China in 1949. Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is a large and resource-rich area in the northwest of the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Jailed American Testifies About Islamist Involvement in Mumbai Attacks by Anjana Pasricha February 08, 2016 An American in a U.S. jail for his role in the 2008 terror attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai, India, told an Indian court a Pakistan-based Islamic terror group made two failed attempts to mount terror strikes in the city in the months prior to the assault. David Headley, who is serving a 35-year-sentence for his role in making preparations for the attacks, testified in an Indian court via video link from an undisclosed location in the United States. Headley's deposition is expected to give India more ammunition as it continues to press Pakistan to act against those who planned the Mumbai terror strikes, which New Delhi has long blamed on the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Mumbai attacks In 2008, 10 heavily armed gunmen mounted coordinated raids that lasted three days on the city's main rail station, a Jewish center and five-star hotels. Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters Headley said he joined the LeT in 2002 after listening to lectures by Hafiz Saeed, the group's founder who urged waging "jihad" to free Kashmir from Indian rule. "They said they should do the jihad. Then I asked the meaning of jihad and he said to fight against the Indian army," Nikam quoted Headley as saying. Headley has an American mother and a Pakistani father. Nikam said Headley, who scouted for locations during seven visits to Mumbai prior to the strike, also revealed he met with officials of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. The 2008 attacks in Mumbai continue to strain relations between the two rivals, with India blaming Pakistan for not doing enough to punish those responsible, and Islamabad saying New Delhi has failed to provide sufficient evidence to win convictions. Last week, the Indian foreign ministry reacted strongly after Saeed warned of more terror attacks of the kind mounted last month on an Indian air base in Pathankot. 'Saeed is a globally designated terrorist. It is a matter of grave concern that he can enjoy freedom in Pakistan,' the statement said. Tensions The Pathankot attacks put strains on ties between the two countries just as they appeared to be improving. Talks between their foreign secretaries have been postponed and no new date has been set for the dialogue. Kiren Rijiju, India's junior Home Minister, said Headley's testimony would lead to a logical conclusion in the Mumbai case. Information provided by Headley, which included information about his background and the 'working systems, supports, backups. ... It will help us,' Rijiju said. The United States has turned down India's request for Headley's extradition, but a conditional pardon given by an Indian court in December allowed him to become a witness. His deposition came in connection with the trial of an Indian national, Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, who is allegedly one of the plotters in the Mumbai terror attacks. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Wife of IS Leader Charged in Death of US Hostage by Smita Nordwall February 08, 2016 The U.S. Justice Department has charged the wife of a now-deceased Islamic State leader for her alleged role in last year's death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar and her husband, Abu Sayyaf, are accused of holding Mueller and other women captive in their home. U.S. officials say Mueller was subjected to repeated sexual abuse by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during her captivity. Mueller was killed in February 2015. Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, 'knew how Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Mueller was held against her will in Sayyaf's home,'' federal prosecutors said Monday. Abu Sayyaf was killed in a Delta Force commando raid of his Syrian compound in June, and his wife was turned over to Iraqi authorities for prosecution. Umm Sayyaf allegedly admitted to FBI agents last summer that she was chiefly responsible for Mueller and other hostages while her husband traveled. On those occasions, she acknowledged hosting Islamic State members and al-Baghdadi at her home. Sayyaf told interrogators that al-Baghdadi 'owned' Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residence, and acknowledged that 'owning' is equivalent to slavery. The Justice Department said it plans to 'pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism.' If convicted, Sayyaf faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The most recent study by the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission on the economic impact of airports in the state found the industry contributes $1.56 billion to the economy annually. Since the economic benefits of the public-use airports were last measured in 2010, these benefits have grown significantly, said Kyle Wanner, executive director of the Aeronautics Commission. Economic impact from the 89 public airports, including eight commercial service airports, statewide has increased 47 percent since 2010. Though commercial airline boardings were down five percent in 2015, Wanner said it was still the state's second best year on record. The study, partially funded by a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, measured jobs, annual payroll and purchase of goods and services associated with airport management, aviation-related businesses, capital investment and spending by visitors who use airports. Visitor spending information was gathered through paper and electronic surveys at each of the state's commercial airports. Travelers filled out the electronic survey before being able to access Internet service. Bismarck saw 110,342 visitors based on the survey spending about $624 per trip. Dickinson had 25,891 visitors, spending $612 per trip. Williston had 53,415 visitors, spending the most of visitors traveling through any other airport at $1,160 per trip. Wanner said airport-related job numbers rose from 8,872 in 2010 to 12,217 in the first quarter of 2015; annual payroll rose from $366 million to more than $505 million; and airport-related spending rose by about $500 million to $1.6 billion. Annual state and local sales tax revenues from airport-supported activities increased from $31.1 million to more than $60 million. New airport jobs included everything from management to operations personnel to employees of airport service providers. As far as salary range, Wanner said a pilot for a charter operation could easily make more than $45,000 annually. In high demand areas such as Williston, wages for a fueling agent may be $20 to $22 per hour a job that would typically pay $10 to $12 hourly. The research also considered the economic impacts from other facets of aviation in North Dakota, including the U.S. Air Force bases in Minot and Grand Forks and business that produce aviation and aerospace products. These other activities provide an additional $2.1 billion in annual economic output and support about 20,000 additional jobs that have an annual payroll estimated at $931 million. Combined, aviation has a total estimated annual economic output of $3.66 billion in the state. Wanner said this information can be used to justify continued investment in North Dakota's airports; economic impact information for each of the state's 89 airports is available online. More information on the study is available from the Aeronautics Commission website at www.aero.nd.gov. Secretary Kerry's Phone Call With Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida Readout Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC February 7, 2016 The below is attributable to Spokesperson John Kirby: Secretary Kerry spoke separately this morning via phone with Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida regarding the launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea using ballistic missile technology. The Secretary reaffirmed for both foreign ministers the U.S. ironclad commitment to the security and defense of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and our other allies. The Secretary condemned the launch as a violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions that threatened international peace and security, and he emphasized the importance of a united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a strong UN Security Council Resolution. The Secretary also noted the vital importance of continued close communication and cooperation among the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea in addressing the threats posed by North Korea. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China regrets over DPRK' s satellite launch People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:29, February 08, 2016 BEIJING, Feb. 7 -- China expressed regrets on the launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of an earth observation satellite Sunday morning, calling for calm on the Korean Peninsula. 'The DPRK should be entitled to peaceful use of outer space, but this right is currently restricted by United NationsSecurity Council resolutions,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. 'Scientists and technicians of the DPRK National Aerospace Development Administration succeeded in putting the newly developed earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong-4 into its orbit according to the 2016 plan of the 5-year program for national aerospace development,' the DPRK state media KCNA reported. The Republic of Korea (ROK) has denounced the launch, calling for stronger sanctions against Pyongyang, and the United Statesalso condemned the launch, saying it represents 'another destabilizing and provocative action' and is 'a flagrant violation' of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. The UN Security Council is to convene a closed-door emergency session to discuss the launch. China was regretted that the DPRK insisted on the launch using the ballistic missile technology despite universal opposition of the international community, the spokesperson said. The launch, the first since December 2012, came one month after the DPRK tested what it claimed to be its first hydrogen bomb. Countries including the United States and the ROK have sought fresh sanctions since the nuclear test on Jan. 6. Hua called all sides concerned to 'remain calm, act cautiously, take no moves that could escalate tension on the peninsula, and make joint efforts to safeguard regional peace and stability.' According to the spokesperson, Chinese deputy foreign minister Liu Zhenmin lodged representations to the DPRK's Ambassador to China Ji Jae Ryong on Sunday over the satellite launch and made clear China's stance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia condemns DPRK's long-range rocket launch People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 10:25, February 08, 2016 MOSCOW, Feb. 7 -- Russia's Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned the long-range rocket launch of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). 'It is obvious that such action leads to a serious aggravation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia on the whole,' the ministry said in a statement. '(The launch) plays into the hands of those who put stakes on bloc policies and the buildup of a military confrontation, and would cause serious damage to the security of countries of the region, primarily of North Korea (the DPRK) itself,' it said. Earlier in the day, the Korean Central Television (KCTV) reported that the DPRK had successfully launched a Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, which was widely seen as a disguised test of long-range ballistic missile technology. By doing so, Pyongyang ignored calls by the international community, and the launch once again showed a 'defiant disregard' for international law, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry said the course that Pyongyang has chosen would only arouse strong protests, adding that it strongly recommended that the DPRK's leadership consider whether its policy of acting in opposition to the international community meets the country's best interest. UN Security Council resolutions ban the DPRK from launching a rocket by using any ballistic missile technologies. A long-range rocket and a ballistic missile have overlapping technologies. The launch came about a month after the DPRK tested what it claimed to be its first hydrogen bomb, the fourth nuclear detonation following three other ones in 2006, 2009 and 2013. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DPRK's satellite estimated to double predecessor in weight: S.Korea People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 09:40, February 08, 2016 SEOUL, Feb. 7 -- The weight of a newly launched satellite of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was estimated to have doubled that of its predecessor, indicating an advancement in ballistic missile technology, South Korea's spy agency said Sunday. The DPRK announced a successful launch of a Kwangmyongsong-4 Earth observation satellite into space aboard a Kwangmyongsong rocket, which Seoul sees as a long-range ballistic missile. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported on the launch to the parliamentary intelligence committee, two members of the committee told reporters, according to Yonhap news agency report. The Kwangmyongsong was estimated to weigh around 200 kilograms, two-fold the weight of its predecessor Kwangmyongsong-3 that was launched by the DPRK in December 2012 into orbit. The spy agency believed that the newly launched rocket didn't go through an experiment of atmospheric re-entry, a prerequisite for developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). But, the DPRK seemed to have advanced ICBM technologies on rocket stage separation and guided control given the flight time, stage separations and drop zones of the separated stages. Whether the satellite works normally will take a couple of days to determine, according to the NIS. The rocket's key components were estimated to have been imported mostly from Russia. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea Undeterred by International Condemnation by Brian Padden February 08, 2016 North Korea's defiant stance in the face of international condemnation over its rocket launch Sunday and its nuclear test last month are in some ways strengthening Kim Jong Un's position at home and abroad. Domestically, the young leader is portrayed by the North's tightly controlled state media as a strong leader defending the country's sovereignty against hostile American and South Korean forces. And Sunday's rocket launch is described by state media outlets as a great technological achievement by a rapidly advancing nation that fills many North Koreans with pride. Official media have published interviews with North Korean citizens praising the launch as a symbol of technological progress, however it is impossible to gauge the actual domestic support for the impoverished country's ambitious nuclear programs and missile launches. The U.S. Joint Space Operations Center said North Korea's rocket launch put two objects in orbit, but it is unclear if either is sending out signals. No signal has ever been detected from a similar North Korea satellite, launched in 2012, which orbits the Earth every 95 minutes. Pyongyang has said the 100 kg, metal "satellite" was equipped with cameras to send images back to Earth. The United Nations Security Council Sunday condemned North Korea for testing ballistic missile technology under the guise of a satellite launch that contributes to the "development of nuclear weapon delivery systems." U.N. Security Council resolutions have banned North Korea from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology and have imposed four rounds of increasingly stronger sanctions since 2006. Defiant abroad Pyongyang's recent rocket launch and nuclear test sends a clear message to the international community that North Korea will not give up its nuclear deterrent. In 2013 North Korea adopted the "Byungjin" (parallel development) policy of 'economy and nuclear weapons' designating both as essential goals to maintain the country's independence. For the ruling Kim Jong Un family, the fall of Moammar Gaddafi of Libya in 2011, after he gave up his country's nuclear weapons, was a cautionary tale that solidified their uncompromising nuclear position. "I don't think any kind of sanctions or anything else, other than force or some internal revolutionary change in North Korea, would get them off this track. It's part of their identity," said Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer in international relations with Troy University in Seoul. Demand for sanctions Following Sunday's controversial launch, Washington and its allies reiterated demands for harsh economic sanctions that would impose real economic pain on North Korea by restricting shipping, aviation, and trade. China's, the North's key economic benefactor, is reluctant to go along with punitive measures that could destabilize the region. Beijing reportedly only supports sanctions on the transfer or sale of military equipment or other items directly related to the North's weapons program. And it wants all sides to exercise restraint and resume international talks to address a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear standoff. However, the Xi Jinping government is being seen as increasingly impotent and unable to exert any influence over its ally. The Kim Jong Un government announced the planned rocket launch on the same day China sent envoy Wu Dawei to North Korea last week. Even many Chinese see Pyongyang's disregard for Beijing as humiliating. "There's criticism domestically, particularly online of Chinese saying, 'You know, what is going on? And how do we let the tail wag the dog, and how do we let our much weaker [and what] should be subservient ally get away with this stuff?' " said John Delury, a China and North Korea analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University. Arms race The United States and South Korea issued a statement soon after the launch, announcing they would begin formal talks about deploying the sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) to the Korean peninsula. Japan also said it is considering THAAD to enhance its defenses. The North Korean rocket on Sunday flew over Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture. THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It has so far proven effective against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. China has voiced opposition to a further military buildup on the Korean peninsula and particularly to the THAAD system, whose radar could penetrate Chinese territory. On Sunday Beijing's foreign ministry said China is 'deeply concerned' over the announced negotiations and said the missile defense system will escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq deploys troops to seize Mosul: Army official Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 1:54PM An Iraqi army official says thousands of soldiers are being deployed to an army base in northern Iraq in order to prepare for retaking Mosul from Daesh Takfiri militants. 'Units from the Iraqi army have begun arriving to [at] a military base near the Makhmur district to start launching initial military operations toward Mosul,' the official said on Monday. Makhmur is some 70 kilometers southeast of Mosul. The official added that three brigades have so far been stationed at the base and some 4,500 soldiers would eventually arrive. Daesh captured Mosul in June 2014 and from there began to seize other areas in the north and west of Iraq. The army official further noted that the aim of the military operation is to cut off Daesh supply lines between Mosul and surrounding areas like Hawijah in Kirkuk Province and Baiji in Salaheddin Province. Halgurd Hekmat, a spokesman for Kurdish forces, also said that the majority of the deployed troops are Kurdish. 'These forces came with the approval of the presidency and government of the Kurdistan region of Iraq,' Hekmat added, noting that the base is for both aircraft and soldiers. On Sunday, a senior Saudi-born Daesh commander, named as Shobaib Abu Majd al-Kanani, was killed in an airstrike in Nineveh Province. Eight other Takfiri militants were also killed in the attack. Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since Daesh launched an offensive in the country in June 2014. The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others. Iraqi army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq building wall around Baghdad: Abadi spokesman Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 8:20AM A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has confirmed the construction of a security wall around the capital, Baghdad, after the premier apparently dismissed the idea. Saad al-Hadithi said on Sunday that the wall is being built but stressed that it is 'not politically motivated' or aimed at 'achieving demographic change.' The remarks came a day after Abadi in a statement described Baghdad as the capital of 'all Iraqis,' and added that there can be 'no wall or fence to isolate it or prevent other civilians from entering it.' Baghdad Operations Command said on February 3 that preparatory work for a security barrier had started without providing further details. Iraqi Interior Ministry's spokesman, police Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said the 'wall' would include an increased number of checkpoints around Baghdad in an attempt to prevent Daesh Takfiris from smuggling car bombs in. 'It's not a wall exactlyWe have reduced the number of attacks inside Baghdad, but we are working to prevent them completely," he said. Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since Daesh terrorists launched an offensive in the country in June 2014, and took control of portions of Iraqi territory. The militants have been committing vicious crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others. They have also claimed responsibility for several deadly assaults in recent months in Baghdad. On January 11, elements with the extremist group targeted a shopping mall in an assault that killed nearly 20 people. Iraqi army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Christian Iraqi Forces Join Fight Against IS by Rikar Hussein February 08, 2016 As Iraqi and Kurdish forces increase their fight against Islamic State (IS) fighters near Mosul, a military unit of Iraqi Christians has joined them. Currently stationed in the Tal Qasab area 72 kilometers northwest of Mosul, the Nineveh Plain Forces (NPF) was formed in September 2014 in response to IS control of Christian territories in northern Iraq. It answers to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, whose Peshmerga fighters are playing a leading role in the war against IS. Sefa Ilyas Checo, the commander of NPF, said in an interview with VOA that his forces have battled alongside Kurdish Peshmergas who have provided weapons and training. "We are currently 600 trained fighters and more young Christians are ready to join," he said. "We are ready to fight IS inside Mosul city." Nineveh Plains is a region northeast of the city of Mosul and home to many Iraqi minorities such as Christians, Yazidis, Shabaks, and Turkmen. Reports estimate that between 150,000 and 200,000 Christians lived in the region before IS took over much of it. Hopes for autonomy The brigade wants to someday serve as the security force of an autonomous administration that Christians hope to establish in northern Iraq, Christian military commanders and political representatives told VOA. Iraq's Council of Ministers had decided in 2014 to change the status of the Ninevah Plains from a province to a governorate. But with IS controlling key parts of the region, that change never happened. Romeo Hakari, the secretary general of Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (an Iraqi Christian party), told VOA that the NPF would become the basis for the defense force of the Christian autonomous administration to be established after IS removed from Mosul. "The initial goal of the force is to liberate Christian areas from IS," Hakari said. "However, this force will become the core defense force of Nineveh Plains people after IS We want autonomy for the people of Nineveh Plains after the liberation of the area." Khalid Jamal Albert, the General Director of Christian Affairs for Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, told VOA that his government backs that idea. "It is early to talk about what the form the self-rule would be," he said, "but the Kurdistan Regional Government supports self-rule for the people of Nineveh Plains." Iraqi Christians divided Rich with oil and other natural resources, the Ninevah Plains region has been racked by disputes between the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The disputes have divided Iraqi Christians over the fate of the region. And some Christian leaders are not happy that some Christian forces would join ranks with Iraqi fighters. "The forces under the Iraqi government are controlled by Shiite militias," said Romeo Hakari, leader of the Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party. "Culturally, ethnically, and religiously, we cannot be a part of the forces supported by the Shiite militias." But Hakari says it is in the best interest of Iraqi Christians to cooperate with the Kurdish regional government because it recognizes their rights of self-administration. "The draft constitution of the Kurdistan region recognizes the right of Christians, Turkmen, and other minorities of autonomy," Hakari said. "We have a long history of being used as isolated militias by previous Iraqi governments. The current government want to make us a part of Shiite militia." But Joseph Salioh, an Iraqi Christian who serves in the Iraqi parliament, said Christian forces should be allied with Kurdish and Iraqi entities. "We have interest in both sides," he said. "We live among our Kurdish brothers and we have a lot in common with them. But whether we like it or not Kurdistan is a part of Iraq." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US urges Israel to accept military aid deal: Report Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 10:28AM A new report says American officials are urging Israel to seal a military aid package deal with Washington as Tel Aviv would not find a better contract with the next US president. According to the Israeli paper, Haaretz, after three rounds of talks between the United States and Israel, negotiations on a new military aid package for Tel Aviv have become stuck as the two sides try to strong-arm one another. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that if Israel's security needs would not be met, he would not sign a deal and would instead wait for the next president to take office in January 2017, senior US officials reacted angrily and warned that the budgetary situation would not improve, and that Israel would not get a better deal with the next president. 'Even as we grapple with a particularly challenging budget environment, this administration's commitment to Israel's security is such that we are prepared to sign an MOU [memorandum of understanding] with Israel that would constitute the largest single pledge of military assistance to any country in US history,' the newspaper quoted the unnamed official as saying. 'Israel is of course free to wait for the next administration to finalize a new MOU should it not be satisfied with such a pledge, but we would caution that the US budgetary environment is unlikely to improve in the next 1-2 years and Israel will certainly not find a president more committed to Israel's security than is President [Barack] Obama.' The report added Israel's security is a top priority for the Obama administration and to the extent that it can reach a new security memorandum of understanding, it will further exemplify President Obama's commitment to Israel's security. The White House has already said, 'From the $20.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing to the additional $3 billion in missile defense funding the United States has provided under his leadership, no other US Administration in history has done more for Israel's security.' The current MOU signed ten years ago between the US and Israel is due to expire at the end of 2018. As a result of the understanding, the United States has provided $30 billion over a decade in military aid to Israel. In the course of meetings between Netanyahu and Obama at the White House in November, the two announced the opening of new negotiations on the memorandum for the coming decade. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tokyo to 'Swiftly Proceed' With Own Measures Against Pyongyang Sputnik News 21:53 08.02.2016(updated 21:57 08.02.2016) Tokyo is currently working on its own measures against Pyongyang to quickly respond to the launch of a long-range rocket by North Korea and other pressing issues, Japanese Foreign Ministry's press secretary Yasuhisa Kawamura told Sputnik on Monday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo would tighten unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang, after North Korea launched the long-range rocket on Sunday, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution which bans Pyongyang from launching rockets that may be used as ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads. 'Japan is preparing to swiftly proceed with its own measures from the standpoint of the most effective measure for comprehensively resolving the issues of abduction, nuclear and missiles,' the press secretary said in an-email response to a question on the time frame for Tokyo's unilateral measures against Pyongyang. Tokyo imposed several rounds of unilateral sanctions, including a trade embargo, against North Korea over its abduction of Japanese citizens. Japan is seeking further cooperation with Moscow and other relevant parties to adopt a new UN Security Council resolution on Pyongyang's recent rocket launch and nuclear activity, Kawamura added. 'Japan fully intends to further strengthen cooperation with Russia and the other relevant countries for adopting a strong new resolution by the UNSC,' the press secretary said. Members of the UN Security Council agreed on Sunday to adopt a new resolution with significant measures in response to Pyongyang's recent rocket launch, which could be a disguise for a ballistic missile test, and alleged nuclear bomb test. Earlier on Monday, the Security Council issued a statement, saying that it intended to develop further measures in its new resolution. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address United Blood Services is asking donors who have traveled to the Caribbean, Mexico or Central or South America to not donate blood for 28 days after leaving those areas to reduce the risk of spreading the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The restriction may cut the blood supply by about 2 percent, according to a news release from the nonprofit group. Blood banks in Bismarck, Minot and Fargo could be impacted by the new donor deferral measure. Blood centers in states bordering Mexico will be particularly affected by the post-travel waiting period, according to the release. Northern and Midwestern states will also be affected, as many residents travel to warmer climates, such as Mexico and the Caribbean, to escape winter weather. Kim Peterson, regional field operations director of United Blood Services in Bismarck, said she expects the travel restriction to affect the blood supply at the Bismarck location, though it wont be as bad as it will be in the southern states. "They still think were going to take a hit, she said. Peterson adds that the restriction occurs during the cold and flu season when donor deferrals are already high. "Now, this will potentially add to it, she said. Were hoping that people who havent traveled or who havent tried donating before or havent donated in a while will be the people that step up. More than 25 countries and territories have been affected by the disease, including Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The North Dakota Department of Health issued caution last week for people planning to travel to affected areas. The Zika virus is primarily transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although the mosquitoes known to carry the virus are not found in North Dakota, those traveling to affected areas can bring the disease back with them. Peterson said United Blood Services does a health history screening of all donors, including travel questions to detect if donors have traveled to areas affected by diseases such as malaria. A new question will be added to determine if donors have traveled to areas impacted by the Zika virus. United Blood Services followed in suit of other blood suppliers who were adding stricter policies to mitigate the transmission of the Zika virus, Peterson said. "Its not that its just ours, we upped our policies to match what the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and everybody else is doing, she said. Last week, the American Red Cross announced a 28-day waiting period for travelers wanting to donate blood. The Canadian Blood Services also announced last week anyone who has traveled outside of Canada, the continental U.S. and Europe will now be temporarily unable to give blood for three weeks. The CDC says there have been reported cases of the virus spreading through blood transfusion and sexual contact -- including a sexually transmitted case in Texas last week. Pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant should postpone or cancel travel to the areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing. The virus may be linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with smaller than normal heads and brains. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global health emergency, linking the spread of the disease to a spike in cases of microcephaly in Brazil. There is no vaccine to prevent Zika virus disease, and those who travel to countries where the disease exists should avoid mosquito bites by taking standard precautions, including using insect repellents. For more information on the Zika virus, visit http://www.cdc.gov/zika/. To donate blood, visit www.UnitedBloodServices.org or call 877-827-4376. Volunteer blood donors must be at least 16, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and be in good health. Additional height and weight requirements apply to donors 22 and younger, and donors who are 16 must have signed permission from a parent or guardian. Fresh Japanese Sanctions Against North Korea Imminent by Steve Herman February 08, 2016 North Korea's latest long range missile launch has Japan moving quickly to impose additional unilateral sanctions against Pyongyang. "I think it's going to be a matter of hours, not days, before the Japanese government comes up with a list of sanctions to be imposed against North Korea," said Tomohiko Taniguchi, an advisor to the cabinet of Japan's prime minister on Monday. Some key sanctions against North Korea which were previously eased by Japan are now expected to be tightened again. 'From the perspective of what would be the most effective method, the government is preparing to decide the specifics of a measure,' the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters on Monday. Eased sanctions to be tightened Among the sanctions that have been eased: a ban on senior officials of North Korea's de facto embassy from re-entering Japan after visiting North Korea. The two countries have no diplomatic relations. The pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chosen Soren, for decades has served as the tolerated conduit between Tokyo and Pyongyang. Japan is now expected to reimpose a lower threshold of three million yen (about $25,500) for reporting of remittances to North Korea from Japan. It is currently relaxed at 30 million yen ($255,000). Sources say the list of people connected to North Korea and banned from entering Japan is also likely to be expanded. Stronger financial sanctions Tokyo, in concert with Seoul and Washington, is also looking at tightening financial sanctions on North Korea. A range of sanctions, taken individually and collectively by a number of nations and U.N. resolutions, appear to have done little to dissuade North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, from defying widespread international condemnation. Japanese official scolds Kim Jong Un "It may be that the international community should have paid more attention to what the naughty boy in North Korea wishes to do," Taniguchi told VOA during an interview at the official residence of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. North Korea's multi-stage rocket flew over Japan's southern island of Okinawa on Sunday morning before placing an object into orbit around the Earth. Japan's self-defense forces deployed PAC-3 surface-to-air batteries after North Korea revealed plans for the launch, but the Patriot missile units did not attempt to engage on Sunday. "PAC-3 is there to shoot down flying objects of any sort that could do any harm to Japan and the people. The final analysis proved that those dangers were not imminent," Taniguchi told VOA. United Nations meeting Japan, along with the United States and South Korea, called for Sunday's emergency session of the U.N. Security Council. The Japanese ambassador to the U.N., Motohide Yoshikawa, said the time for dialogue is over and called for more pressure in the form of a "robust" Security Council resolution to stop Pyongyang. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power, following the Sunday closed-door session, said the Security Council members were united in condemning the "illegal missile launch" in defiance of resolutions of the world body. In a posting on Twitter, Power said: "Nobody fooled by 'peaceful earth observation' nonsense." North Korea has described its Sunday launch as a peaceful act to place an earth observation satellite into orbit. Debate over North Korea's technological progress A space engineering specialist has told Japan's quasi-official NHK network that Sunday's launch reveals the North Koreans may have developed a more powerful version of a long-range ballistic missile. The first and second stages of the rocket fell minutes earlier than observed during North Korea's December 2012 launch, an indication the missile used a more powerful engine which consumed fuel more quickly, said Daido University president Akira Sawaoka. Sawaoka, a senior counselor for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, called the technological progress the North has made in the last five to six years significant and not to be underestimated. Others however, say it is premature to conclude Sunday's launch marks a significant advancement. Analyzing a preliminary overlay of the exterior imagery of the latest vehicle on the launchpad with that of the Unha-3 rocket from four years ago "we don't know how much tinkering went on inside, but the similar splash down zones in 2012 and 2016 makes me think not too much," wrote Melissa Hanham in the armscontrolwonk.com blog. She is a senior East Asia research associate at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies. Some in the non-proliferation community say North Korea's intent is having a ballistic missile armed with a nuclear warhead capable of crossing oceans. Sunday's launch came one month after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which it hailed as an underground detonation of a hydrogen bomb. The United States and others have cast doubt on the blast being caused by a hydrogen weapon. North Korea, meanwhile, is already planning its fifth nuclear test, according to reports in Seoul attributed to South Korea's National Intelligence Service. And a pro-North Korean newspaper in Tokyo is predicting further ballistic missile launches. "In the future as well, the world will see Kwangmyongsong-class satellites continue to blast off and soar high into the sky at a time and at the place determined by the Workers' Party of Korea," according to the online edition of the Choson Sinbo. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address After Rocket Launch, South Korea Fires Warning Shots At North's Navy February 08, 2016 by RFE/RL A day after Pyongyang's controversial rocket launch, South Korea fired warnings shots at a patrol boat from North Korea's navy that briefly crossed into South Korean territorial waters. The incursion early on February 8 came amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula following North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket that carried a satellite into space and raised concerns about Pyongyang's nuclear program. South Korea, Japan, and the United States consider the launch to be a missile test in disguise that violates several UN Security Council resolutions. On February 7, the UN Security Council met in an emergency session and strongly condemned the rocket launch, saying it would adopt a resolution with 'significant' new sanctions. The statement was backed by China, Pyongyang's ally, and the 14 other Security Council members. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said a new UN resolution targeting North Korea must be adopted quickly and include 'unprecedented measures' that Pyongyang doesn't expect. Japanese envoy Motohide Yoshikawa also called for heavier sanctions, saying 'the existing sanctions have not stopped North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.' But China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the resolution should 'do the work of reducing tensionand of encouraging a negotiated solution.' North Korea's state television claimed a North Korean satellite called Kwangmyongson-4 is now orbiting the Earth every 94 minutes and that the North would continue to launch satellites in the future. But critics said the launch was a cover for testing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead -- a test that is banned by multiple Security Council resolutions. It followed North Korea's claim in January that it tested a hydrogen bomb. Condemnation after the February 7 launch was swift, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling it 'deeply deplorable' and saying the rocket used ballistic-missile technology. Ban also said North Korea must stop 'provocative actions.' Russia said Pyongyang 'once again demonstrated a flagrant disregard of the norms of international law.' China's Foreign Ministry said it 'expresses regret' about North Korea's 'insistence on implementing a launch of missile technology in the face of international opposition.' U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded to news of the launch by reaffirming Washington's defense commitment to Japan and South Korea. Kerry said the United States will work with the UN Security Council on 'significant measures' to hold Pyongyang accountable for violating UN resolutions. Meanwhile, the U.S. Strategic Command said that its systems had detected and tracked what it believed to be a North Korean missile launch into space. In a statement, the U.S. Strategic Command said defense officials tracked the launch in a southern trajectory from North Korea over the Yellow Sea. It said the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, 'determined that at no time was the missile a threat to North America.' Also on February 7, a senior South Korean Defense Ministry official announced that Seoul and Washington had agreed to begin talks on the possible deployment of an advanced missile-defense system in South Korea. With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, BBC, CNN, NHK, Yonhap, and Interfax Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/korea-tensions-navy-rocket-launch-un-sanctions/27537895.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Snap Military Drills Involve 8,500 Servicemen, 200 Aircraft Sputnik News 19:49 08.02.2016 The ongoing snap military exercises in southern Russia involve up to 8,500 troops, some 900 military vehicles and 200 aircraft, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Monday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Units of the Southern Military District, with participation of separate units of the Airborne Troops and military-transport aviation, started the snap exercises earlier on Monday. 'Up to 8,500 personnel, some 900 units of military equipment, about 50 combat ships, as well as up to 200 aircraft and helicopters, are taking part in the drills,' Antonov said in a statement. Units of the Southern Military District, with participation of separate units of the Airborne Troops and military-transport aviation, started the snap exercises earlier on Monday. Russia has voluntarily notified members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of the snap combat readiness drills in the south of the country, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov said earlier. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Unkillable': Russia Testing New Generation Armored Vehicle Sputnik News 17:05 08.02.2016 The Bumerang - Russia's newest armored personnel carrier, which was unveiled during last year's May 9 Victory Parade in Moscow - is currently undergoing preliminary trials. Alexander Krasovitsky, the head of the Bumerang's maker, the Military-Industrial Company, heaped praise on what he describes as a "machine you simply can't kill." "This is a new generation vehicle, better armed and better protected, both actively and passively, and boasting an advanced system of control, which exceeds what you can find on the very best foreign analogues," Krasovitsky told RIA Novosti. First presented during the 2015 Victory Day parade on Red Square, the Bumerang is already being eyed by foreign militaries. "There is a great deal of foreign interest in buying the Bumerang. If we get an official go-ahead from the government we'll be ready to sell," Alexander Krasovitsky said. The Bumerang is to replace the BTR-82/A, a heavily modernized version of the 1980s-designed BTR-80. Its 8x8, front-engine design features ceramic armor technology, including anti-tank grenade and anti-mine protection, has a crew of three, and can be fitted with a 30 mm anti-materiel or armor-piercing cannon, a 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun. In addition to its role as a troop carrier, the Bumerang can serve as an anti-tank missile carrier, an air defense missile launcher, an armored ambulance, a command post vehicle, a fire-support vehicle and a mortar carrier. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Next Level: Russia Upgrading Some 20 Warships, Submarines Sputnik News 14:31 08.02.2016(updated 17:19 08.02.2016) Russia is repairing and modernizing some 20 warships and submarines in the framework of its large-scale rearmament program. MOSCOW (Sputnik) About 20 ships and submarines of the Russian Navy are currently undergoing repairs and modernization, a Russian defense industry source said Monday. 'At the moment, some 20 warships and submarines of various series, including the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, the large anti-submarine warfare ships the Admiral Chabanenko and the Admiral Tributs, the guard ship Neustrashimy, the large amphibious landing ships the Kaliningrad and the Oslyabya, are being repaired and modernized,' the source told RIA Novosti. The source added that about 10 submarines of various series were being upgraded. The Russian Navy will receive two modernized nuclear missile cruisers by 2021, the source said. The Admiral Nakhimov missile cruiser is currently undergoing repair and modernization at the Severodvinsk port's Sevmash shipbuilders and will reenter service in 2018. In 2019, the Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) missile cruiser will go in for repairs and modernization. "Work on the repairing and modernization of the Pyotr Veliky may begin in 2019 after the Admiral Nakhimov is finished with repairs and modernization at the end of 2018. So, by 2021, the Navy will have two modernized nuclear missile cruisers." According to the Russian Navy's Shipbuilding Department, the overhaul of the Admiral Nakhimov will involve upgrading of the warship's life support systems, missile systems and artillery weapons, as well as electronic weapons systems. The life of the warship will be extended for at least another 35 years following the repairs. The Admiral Nakhimov, formerly named the Kalinin, is the third of the four Kirov-class heavy guided missile cruisers that was in service with the Soviet and subsequently the Russian Navy from 1980 to 1998. Only one of them, the Pyotr Veliky, is operational at the moment. Russia is currently implementing a large-scale rearmament program, announced in 2010, to modernize 70-percent of its military hardware by 2020. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi Arabia, NATO to discuss Syria troop deployment: Reports Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 4:3PM The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Saudi Arabia are reportedly set to discuss Riyadh's proposal for troop deployment to Syria under the pretext of fighting Takfiri Daesh terrorists. Saudi media quoted NATO sources as saying on Monday that Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is scheduled to attend the Western military alliance's meetings in Brussels this week to hold talks on Riyadh's plan for ground intervention into Syria. The meetings will be attended by member states of the US-led coalition purportedly striking Daesh positions. The participants are also slated to exchange views on the performance of the 34-strong coalition formed by the Saudi regime last December with the declared aim of fighting "global terrorism," according to Saudi Arabia's news 24 website. Last week, military officials in Saudi Arabia announced that kingdom is ready to send ground troops to Syria if the US-led coalition, which claims to be targeting terrorists in Syria, decides to start such operations. Although swiftly welcomed by allies like the United States, the proposal was met with huge criticism from Syria and Damascus' allies. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem condemned the initiative, saying "coffins" await any aggressor in the country "whether they be Saudis or Turks." Russia has also warned Saudi Arabia that any military ground operation in Syria without the Damascus government's consent amounts to a declaration of war. Moscow also says NATO is to blame for the collapse of peace talks and growing tensions in the Arab state. Saudi Arabia, along with members of the Washington-led alliance, has been the staunch supporters of the Takfiri militants operating to overthrow the Damascus government since early 2011. A recent report published by the Soufan Group, a New York-based think tank which provides strategic and security intelligence services, said around 2,500 terrorists currently involved in the deadly militancy in Syria and Iraq are Saudi Arabian nationals. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign ground intervention to intensify Syria crisis: Iran Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 10:32AM Iran has warned against any foreign ground incursion in Syria without the approval of the Syrian government, saying the move would only intensify the crisis in the conflict-stricken country. Speaking at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said the Syrian crisis is a result of meddlesome approach by certain regional and extra-regional countries. "The Syrian crisis is the result of interference by certain regional and international powers that want to impose their policies on the government and the people of Syria," he said. Iran believes that any action in the countries that are grappling with crisis should not violate the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of those countries and that any kind of measure taken without the approval of the governments in such countries would only lead to the escalation of the conflicts there, Jaberi Ansari said. The Iranian official further said renouncing terrorism and supporting intra-Syrian talks can only settle the crisis in the Arab country. The Iranian official's remarks came after Saudi Arabia said on February 4 that it is ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition decides to start such operations. US State Department spokesman, John Kirby, welcomed the Saudi decision. Saudi Arabia is a member of the so-called US-led coalition that has been conducting air raids against what are claimed to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from the Syrian government or a UN mandate since September 2014. The US-led strikes have, on many occasions, targeted Syria's infrastructures and left many civilians dead. Earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said that any "ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorization would amount to an aggression that must be resisted." Meddlesome policies hinder Yemen peace Referring to the ongoing crisis in Yemen, Jaberi Ansari said interference of some regional countries has prevented the success of the UN-brokered peace talks aimed at settling the deadly conflict in the impoverished Arab country. He warned that the persistence of the Yemeni crisis will strengthen terrorist groups which threaten global security. Yemen has been under airstrikes by Saudi Arabia since March 26 last year. The Saudi strikes have been meant to undermine Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, back to power. Some 8,280 people, among them 2,236 children, have reportedly been killed and over 16,000 others injured. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the poorest Arab country's infrastructure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Erdogan irate over US envoy meeting with YPG in Kobani Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 9:18AM Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been irked by a US envoy's meeting with Syrian Kurds in the Syrian border town of Kobani, warning the US to choose either Ankara or the "terrorists" in the town as its ally. Last week, senior US diplomat Brett McGurk, along with a delegation, met members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is in control of strategic Kobani. Erdogan reacted to the visit on Sunday, saying, "Is it me who is your partner or the terrorists in Kobani?" in a question apparently addressed to the US. The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) along with its military wing, YPG, is considered by Turkey to be affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s and is considered by Ankara as a terrorist group. The US special envoy met with YPG members after the PYD was excluded from peace talks for Syria in Geneva. Turkey had threatened to boycott the peace talks if PYD was invited. "Do you accept the PKK as a terrorist organization? Then why don't you list the PYD and the YPG as terrorist organizations, too?" Erdogan asked. The Kurdish forces managed to retake full control of Kobani from Daesh in June 2015 for a second time, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Relief agencies deliver more aid to Syrians in militant-held suburb Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 7:34AM Relief agencies deliver more aid packages to 700 families in the militant-held suburb of Mu'adamiyat al-Sham near the Syrian capital of Damascus. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered more food and hygiene kits for around 3,500 people in the suburb on Sunday. The Red Cross stressed the importance of regular access to the suburb and other besieged areas in the Arab country, and said more aid will be delivered to Mu'adamiyat al-Sham in coming days. The convoy is the second of its kind that was destined for the suburb this week as a similar operation provided food for over 12,000 people and medical supplies for 10,000 people earlier in the week. On Friday, Syrian government forces gained full control of a strip of land used as a supply route between the two militant-held areas of Mu'adamiyat al-Sham and Darayya, tightening a three-year siege on the Takfiri terrorists. The news comes as the Syrian army continues their successful offensives against the Takfiri militants in several regions across the country with the latest reports saying that the government forces retook control of various strategic areas on Sunday. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army and popular committees gained control of Kafin village in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The report added that the army is just 25 kilometers away from the border with Turkey, which is seen as a key supply route for terrorists. The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 260,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations. The world body says 12.2 million people, including more than 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria. The foreign-sponsored militancy in the Arab country has also displaced about half of the country's population. The Syrian military backed by volunteer forces has inflicted heavy losses on foreign-backed militants during mop-up operations on different fronts and gained more ground against militants. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ground incursion into Syria, Iraq opens gates of hell: Hezbollah Brigades Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 7:3AM The Hezbollah Brigades, a popular resistance group fighting Daesh militants in Iraq, has warned Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries against any ground incursion into Syria or Iraq, saying such a move would "open the gates of hell" to the potential aggressors. In a Sunday statement, the Special Operations of Hezbollah Brigades, also known as Kata'ib Hezbollah or Hezbollah Battalions, advised "the sons of Saud and those rulers who stand behind them not to take a risk and to learn (their) lesson." "The Arab kingdoms tried Daesh mercenaries to implement their malicious plans in Iraq and Syria, and they failed," the statement added. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Sunday it was ready to send troops to Syria to join a US-led campaign allegedly fighting Daesh Takfiri group. The announcement came after Saudi Arabia said on February 4 that it was ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition decides to start such operations. Saudi Arabia is a member of the so-called US-led coalition that has been conducting air raids against what are claimed to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from the Syrian government or a UN mandate since September 2014. The US-led strikes have, on many occasions, targeted Syria's infrastructures and left many civilians dead. On February 5, Bahrain's Ambassador to Britain Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa also said that the kingdom is ready to deploy ground forces to Syria under the Saudi leadership. He said the Saudi initiative was meant to combat both Daesh and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said that any "ground intervention on Syrian territory without government authorization would amount to an aggression that must be resisted." He has also warned that potential aggressors would return home in a "wooden coffin." More than 260,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced in nearly five years of conflict in Syria. The Syrian military backed by volunteer forces has inflicted heavy losses on foreign-backed militants during mop-up operations on different fronts and gained more ground against militants. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bismarck Public Schools is seeking to buy a more energy-efficient bus that runs on diesel as part of the states Clean Diesel Grant Program. The North Dakota Department of Health is offering to match up to $40,000 for school districts, cities, counties and other government agencies that want to purchase new vehicles and equipment to reduce emissions. The Bismarck School Board gave the go-ahead Monday to ask for bids for a new bus. Darin Scherr, business and operations manager for the school district, estimated the vehicle would cost $100,000. The clean diesel grants are an annual program administered by the health department with money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This year, the department has $114,000 to award, according to a press release. Forty-six vehicles in North Dakota have been replaced with the grant money, leading to a 160-ton reduction in air emissions over their lifetime, according to the health department. Merkel 'Horrified' At Russia's Syria Campaign As HRW Reports Cluster-Bomb Use February 08, 2016 by RFE/RL German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is 'horrified' by the suffering being caused by Russian and Syrian air strikes. Merkel, who was in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials, said on February 8 that 'tens of thousands' of people are being affected by the bombing campaign that is coming 'primarily from the Russian side.' She added that Germany and Turkey will insist on compliance with a UN resolution passed in December that calls for an end to the bombing of civilians. Western nations have repeatedly accused Russia -- which began its Syria bombing campaign in September -- of targeting moderate opposition groups instead of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) fighters, and of killing hundreds of civilians in the western and northern parts of Syria. The Kremlin denies the charges and says it is only bombing terrorist groups. Russian air strikes have helped Syrian forces recapture some territory lost to extremist groups and other opposition fighters in central and western Syria. Syrian forces in recent days have made gains in areas surrounding Aleppo, the country's largest city that has been divided between government forces and opposition fighters. The growing siege of the city -- which had a prewar population of more than 2 million people -- has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee north toward the Turkish border, about 40 kilometers away. Merkel's comments came the same day that Human Rights Watch said the Russian-Syrian military operation has used cluster munitions in at least 14 attacks since January 26. It said those attacks had killed 37 civilians -- including six women and nine children -- and wounded dozens of others. The use of cluster bombs has been banned by 118 countries, but not by Russia or Syria. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian military, said in December that there are no cluster munitions 'at the Russian air base in Syria.' HRW says cluster munitions have been identified in photos and video taken at Russian's Hmeymim Air Base in Syria. Nadim Houry, the deputy director of HRW's Middle East division, said that 'any solution of the Syrian crisis needs to address ongoing indiscriminate attacks. A good place to start would be a commitment by Russia and Syria to stop using cluster munitions.' Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after meeting with Merkel on February 8 that some 30,000 Syrians from Aleppo are waiting at the border and would be allowed in 'when necessary.' Davutoglu also blamed Russia for the new wave of refugees to Turkey, which has already taken in some 2.5 million Syrians since the civil war began in 2011. At least 250,000 people have died in the conflict, and several million have fled their homes. Davutoglu added that Turkey and Germany have agreed on a joint diplomatic initiative to end the Russian-Syrian offensive against Aleppo. The EU has agreed to give Turkey 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in exchange for its efforts in stemming the tide of migrants coming to Europe. Meanwhile, Davutoglu said Turkey and Germany will ask NATO at a February 11 meeting of the alliance's defense ministers to become involved with 'the flow of refugees from Syria.' 'We will make a joint effort on the effective use of NATO's observation and monitoring mechanisms on the border and in the Aegean,' he said. More than 900,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece last year, with hundreds of others drowning during the attempt. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/human-rights-watch- cluster-munitions-used-russia-syria/27539334.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Airstrikes in Syria Help 'Iraqi Military in Fight Against Daesh' Sputnik News 20:07 08.02.2016(updated 21:46 08.02.2016) The actions of the Russian Air Forces in Syria are effective and have a positive impact on the fight against Daesh in Iraq, Joint Commander of the Iraqi Armed Forces Yahya Rasool Abdullah told Sputnik. The Syrian army with the aid of the Russian air force has managed to destroy the main stronghold of the terrorists in the province of Latakia in Salma city situated on the border with Turkey and in the town of Sheikh Miskin and Osman in the south. A four year blockade was lifted in the province of Aleppo where two Shiite cities of Noubel and az-Zahra were freed on Thursday. The offensive is under way in the suburbs of Damascus as well. "Russian strikes are playing an effective role in the destruction of terrorist groups in Syria, and we know how many terrorists come out of Raqqa, the so-called Daesh capital of Syria. Attacks on critical command centers have reflected positively on the military operations in Iraq as well," the commander said. Rasul also mentioned the positive support from the international coalition led by the US in spying and investigating, as well as support provided from a joint information center of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia situated in Baghdad. Commenting on the possibility of expanding cooperation with the Russian Federation, representatives of the Armed Forces said that Iraq is open to support from all of the interested parties. "We have a lot of contracts for the supply of arms and equipment with Russia. We need support of all in the fight against terrorism because Iraq represents the whole world in fight with them," Rasool said. On September 30, Russia at the request of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria began target airstrikes on the Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations. With the support of the Russian aviation, government troops and patriotic opposition forces launched an offensive attack on terrorist positions. Just in the last 1.5 months, according to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria more than 150 settlements have been freed from terror. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Best is Yet to Come: Syrian Army Advancing Toward City of Idlib Sputnik News 14:58 08.02.2016(updated 15:52 08.02.2016) Syrian government forces are making advances toward the northern city of Idlib, Lebanon's Al Mayadeen television reported Monday. LATAKIA (Sputnik) According to the broadcaster, units of the Syrian army are located just a few miles outside Idlib, which is currently controlled by militants. In late January, jihadists, particularly al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, reinforced their positions in Aleppo, which is close to the Syria-Turkey border. Last week, the Syrian army managed to cut off terrorists' supply routes from Turkey in northern Aleppo. The troops, with support from the local militias, broke through the sieges in the towns of Nubl and Zahraa. Now the government army aims to gain control of the Syria-Turkey border. Earlier in the day, the governor of the Latakia province said that the Syrian army's latest successes in the counterterrorism fight are a testament to the effectiveness of its cooperation with the Russian Aerospace Forces. On September 30, 2015, Russia launched an aerial campaign against terrorist groups in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syria has been engulfed in an armed conflict since 2011, with forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting against opposition factions and terrorist groups, including Daesh and al-Nusra Front. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Army Razes Daesh Training Camp in Raqqa, Paves Way to Turkish Border Sputnik News 10:18 08.02.2016(updated 12:50 08.02.2016) Syrian Air Force jets destroyed a major training building used by Daesh militants in the terrorists' de facto capital of Raqqa, Iran's Fars news agency reported, citing informed sources on Sunday. According to the agency report, over 30 terrorists were killed and dozens more were injured in the aerial attack on the focal point of Daesh-controlled territories in Syria. Raqqa was captured by Daesh militants in 2013 and has since been the terrorists' de facto capital in Syria. Last week the Syrian Army, in cooperation with local militia, cut off the terrorists' main supply routes in the northern Aleppo province as part of a major offensive near the Turkish border. Dozens of militants were killed and many more wounded after the Syrian troops finally captured the Ma'arasta-Masqan road in the north of the province, where earlier the army broke the militants' four-year siege of two towns, sources said. The terrorist groups operating in the region are fleeing in large numbers as more and more towns and villages are falling into the hands of the advancing government forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Army's Success Evidence of Effective Cooperation With Russian Forces Sputnik News 08:16 08.02.2016(updated 11:07 08.02.2016) The Syrian army's latest successes in the counterterrorism fight are a testament to the effectiveness of its cooperation with the Russian Aerospace Forces, the governor of the Latakia province said Monday. LATAKIA (Syria), (Sputnik) Last week, the Syrian army managed to cut off terrorists' supply routes from Turkey in northern Aleppo. The troops, with support from the local militias, broke through the sieges in the towns of Nubl and Zahraa. Now the government army aims to gain control of the Syrian-Turkish border. 'These victories are evidence of good collaboration of the Syrian army and the group of the Russian Aerospace Forces. They show that our people are holding on to their land and will never allow it to be torn apart by terrorists,' Ibrahim Khodr Salem said in a speech addressing new volunteer recruits. More than 500 new recruits gathered in central Latakia, having passed a basic training course. They are now awaiting deployment. According to Salem, this is the fifth set of volunteers. Syria has been mired in a civil war since 2011, with the country's government fighting against multiple opposition factions and extremist groups. On September 30, 2015, Russia launched an aerial campaign against the Daesh terrorists in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Daesh is outlawed and considered a terrorist group in Russia. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address All sides in Syria killing thousands of detainees in crimes against humanity, UN reports 8 February 2016 Thousands of detainees have been killed while in the custody of the warring parties in Syria over the past four and a half years, with thousands held by the Government beaten to death or dying from torture and anti-Government groups brutalizing and executing prisoners in war crimes and crimes against humanity, a United Nations commission reported today. "Nearly every surviving detainee has emerged from custody having suffered unimaginable abuses," Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said of those held by the Government in releasing the report in Geneva Out of sight, out of mind: Deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic. "For ordinary Syrians, the spectre of arrest or abduction and the near-inevitable horrors that follow have paralyzed communities across the country," he said. The report, which calls on the Security Council to adopt targeted sanctions against persons, agencies and groups suspected of responsibility or complicity in deaths, torture and enforced disappearance, is based on 621 interviews and extensive documentary material on killings by all parties between 10 March 2011 and 30 November 2015. It details how civilians have been arbitrarily arrested, unlawfully detained, taken hostage, or kidnapped, with eyewitness accounts and documentary evidence strongly suggesting that tens of thousands of people are detained by the Government at any one time. Thousands more have disappeared after initial arrest by State forces or while moving through Government-held territory. It describes, sometimes in gruesome depictions, how thousands of detainees held by the Government have been beaten to death or died as a result of injuries sustained due to torture. Many others perished as a consequence of inhuman living conditions and deprivation of medical care. These killings and deaths, the report stresses, occurred with high frequency over a protracted period of time and in multiple locations controlled by the Syrian State apparatus, with significant logistical support involving vast State resources. Government officials intentionally maintained such poor conditions of detention for prisoners as to have been life-threatening, and were aware that mass deaths of detainees would result. These actions, in the pursuance of a State policy, amount to extermination as a crime against humanity, the report adds. The Commission determines that the Syrian Government has also committed the crimes against humanity of murder, rape or other forms of sexual violence, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance and other inhuman acts. These violations constitute war crimes, where the acts were committed after the start of the armed conflict. As anti-Government armed groups and terrorist groups have come in control of territory, they too have held prisoners under brutal conditions, the report says. Some anti-Government armed groups established makeshift places of detention where captured Government soldiers were ill-treated, and executed. "We have heard shocking evidence of how people have been summarily executed following illicit trials, while some individuals taken hostage died in the custody of armed groups", said Commissioner Vitit Muntarbhorn. Jabhat Al-Nusra and anti-Government armed groups control places of detention, holding Government soldiers as well as civilians. The torture and deaths of detainees have been recorded in some of these facilities. Both the terrorist group Jabhat Al-Nusra and some anti-Government armed groups committed the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, and torture, the report found. In areas under control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) the terrorist group subjected detainees to serious abuses, including torture and summary executions. Detainees were frequently executed after unauthorized courts issued death sentences. ISIL has committed the crimes against humanity of murder and torture, and war crimes. Through the report, the Commission hopes that efforts will be strengthened to find a path to justice for Syrian civilians, as well to assist prosecutorial and judicial authorities seeking to bring cases, whether at a national or international level. "Accountability for these and other crimes must form part of any political solution," said Commissioner Carla del Ponte. "Instead, these violations are being committed with total impunity." The Commission was established by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in 2011 to investigate and record all violations of international human rights law and allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, and to identify, where possible, those responsible with a view to ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Citing Betrayal, Some Syrian Rebels Withdraw From Front by Jamie Dettmer February 08, 2016 Syrian rebels in northern Syria have come under an intense weeklong bombing campaign by Russian warplanes. The insurgents, who also have been trying to hold on in the face of a coordinated ground offensive by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, have sheltered in tunnels or taken cover in blast craters. One young rebel fighter told VOA about his ordeal and why he and many other fighters are withdrawing from the front. For almost a quarter of his young life, 20-year-old Ahmad has been a fighter, but the fight has gone out of him. After enduring 400 airstrikes in four days in the villages of the northern countryside of Aleppo, where a devastating Syrian government offensive has been pressed, he withdrew from the frontline along with a hundred of his comrades. Low morale He said morale has dropped to rock bottom and militia commanders are trying to boost the confidence of the fighters. There is talk of forming a new Aleppo army, uniting the more moderate, less religious-based militias aligned to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army. When the warplanes paused their bombing runs, there were skirmishes with combatants clashing just meters from each other. "The first day, the fight, it is easy. After that the second days and the third, it was very difficult. We lost a lot of people, a lot of friends, a lot of fighters," he said. And the fourth day? The Russian warplanes razed everything in a three kilometer area. He told VOA that on the fourth day he was at the front, in a chain of villages north of the city of Aleppo, there were more than 400 airstrikes. He said the fighters and civilians alike hid in tunnels dug before the offensive and in bomb craters. He said they could feel and hear the percussion of blasts. And the heat as well. At one point he said they examined themselves quickly to make sure they had not been hit. Everything was being thrown at them missiles, barrel bombs and sea mines, as well as vacuum and cluster bombs. He said they became expert at distinguishing from the impact what had been fired at them. Felt betrayed A short young man, with dark eyes and black hair, he hardly has the need to shave yet. He flicks a cigarette nervously as we talk. When I ask him why he left on the fourth day, he goes quiet. There is a long pause. He said that he and about another 100 fighters from the militia Nour al-Din al-Zenki withdrew not because of fear but because they felt they had been betrayed, let down by everybody who claimed to be the friends of Syria, meaning the U.S., the West and Gulf countries, as well as their own commanders. He said the commanders of the Free Syrian Army militias and the hardline Islamist brigades, as well as al-Qaida's affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, should have set their differences aside and unified. Now it may be too late. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey, West in Standoff Over Syrian Refugees by Jamie Dettmer February 08, 2016 More than 25,000 Syrian civilians have become the unwitting victims of a standoff between Turkey and Western relief agencies. The Turkish government refuses to admit the refugees, the first in a wave of civilians fleeing an offensive by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the northern Aleppo countryside. Turkish officials say their country has reached the limit on the number of Syrian refugees it can admit. In a bid to pressure the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United Nations and Western relief agencies are refusing to dispatch aid across the border to the refugees. "Some relief organizations have asked us to assist them to transport supplies to help these newly-displaced Syrians, but we have declined," a U.N. official told VOA. "If we agree, it is likely the Turks will continue to refuse to admit them." An official with the International Organization for Migration said, "Our position is clear: they are war refugees and they should be allowed into Turkey." Both officials asked not to be named in this article. A senior EU official told VOA: 'We are doing this to try to force Turkey's hand to open the border.' At Turkey's Oncupinar border crossing, only a few relief trucks crossed Monday into Syria, not one with U.N. or Western charities and relief agencies logos. The trucks that crossed were from the Independent Doctors Association, a private Syrian charity, the Turkish Red Crescent and IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish NGO. Most of the half-dozen trucks carried tents and camp construction material, suggesting that Turkey is planning for the refugees to stay on the other side of the border for the time being and is not near to succumbing to Western pressure. Desperation at border Zakaria Ibrahim, who oversees the Syrian Red Crescent's mission in Azaz, the closest Syrian town to the border here, says there are approximately 25,000 refugees on the Syrian side. "There are 890 families - just over 6,000 people - right by the border crossing. Another 530 families - nearly 3,000 people - are in Azaz. And about another 9,000 are scattered along the border." He said some of the displaced civilians, though, had gone further afield and his mission is not able to estimate their number. "The only supply deliveries are coming from IDA, our colleagues in the Turkish Red Crescent and IHH," he confirmed." He said the refugees are desperate to cross into Turkey. "There are about 20 collective tents separate from the semi-permanent camp that has been there for months. The tents measure from 70 square meters to 100 square meters; but, they are not big enough to shelter everyone and some of the tents are for women and children only." He added, "There are only five latrines for these people and they are being used just by the women. The men have to relieve themselves in the fields. "The longer the Assad offensive continues, more villages and towns are impacted. These people are just the first in a wave that will get bigger." The Syrian Red Crescent estimates that 25,000 civilians are now close to the border near Oncupinar, some sheltering in nearby villages. Turkish officials put the number at more than 35,000 Syrians. 'Nowhere else to go' Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told CNN-Turk television Sunday his country has taken in three million refugees from neighboring countries, most of them Syrians. In an enigmatic remark, he also said, 'In the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings and Turkey will... watch the massacre like the rest of the world or we will open our borders." President Erdogan recently said, 'If necessary, we have to and will let our brothers in." With more tents being sent across the border, it remains unclear when, or if, Ankara will open the border. The Syrian Red Crescent's Ibrahim says the Turks are planning to ship across another 250 smaller tents for families. European Union officials have urged Turkey to admit these new refugees, but in an echo of arguments sometimes used by European politicians seeking to curb refugees heading to Europe, a Turkish official told VOA, "If we open the border, it will be like opening the floodgates." While the Turkish government is refusing to let in Syrian refugees, it is refusing to allow out dozens of Western journalists at Oncupinar eager to cover the story. Despite claiming the country has an "open border policy," the Turkish government has had most of the crossings along the border closed for refugees for about a year. Syrians already registered in Turkey are allowed back and forth across the border, especially during religious holidays. For the past week, even the traders' corridor has been closed and the normal crowds milling around by the Oncupinar border post have disappeared - replaced by the press corps. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian-Backed Offensive in Syria Pushes War to Tipping Point by Sharon Behn February 08, 2016 Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian government forces have pounded their way toward the strategic city of Aleppo, threatening to encircle and crush rebel forces who have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime for more than five years. 'If that happens, the rebel momentum will be gone,' said Omar Lamrani, a military analyst for Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm based out of Texas. 'If Aleppo were to fall, it would highlight how dire the situation is for the rebels throughout the country.' Russian warplanes have been relentlessly bombing northern Syria for days, forcing U.S.-backed and other rebel forces to take shelter in tunnels and blast craters. One young rebel fighter told VOA that morale has dropped to rock bottom as anti-Assad fighters feel the West has abandoned them. 'I have spoken with the ambassadors and their staffs of the U.S., Britain and France, and asked them, 'What will you do other than make statement?'' said Zakaria Malahefji, political officer to the 3,000-strong Fastaqim Kama Umirt brigade. With government troops backed by Russian air power and Iranian-backed ground forces seizing the northern part of the city and threatening to move south to link up with government-held parts of the city, it does not appear that Washington can do much. 'The U.S. has its game plan, and that is the negotiating table,' Lamrani said. But with Syrian forces gaining ground, the attraction for the Syrian government of a political solution over a military one appears to be fading fast. Further complications loom Talks in Geneva for a political solution to Syria's conflict stalled last week after just two days on differences between Syria and the opposition on the priority of humanitarian issues. The U.S. State Department said Russia was also partly to blame. 'It is difficult in the extreme to see how strikes against civilian targets contribute in any way to the peace process now being explored,' said spokesman John Kirby. Although the Russians have lost men and money, Lamrani said it appeared that their investment was paying off, to the detriment of the Syrian opposition and its U.S.-led coalition backers. 'They are highlighting they are a power in the Middle East,' he said. The Russians and Iranians are also pushing to create a situation whereby the 'only really viable choices are the Syrian government or Islamic State and IS is a non-option.' 'By removing the rebels from the equation, then essentially it is game over,' Lamrani said. But the conflict could also get more complicated and more drawn out. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, unwilling to cede such influence to Syria and its allies, might decide that one way to force everyone back to the negotiating table is to raise the cost of the military campaign by bolstering the rebels with more money and bigger and deadlier weapons. 'They want to maintain a stake in the conflict,' Lamrani said. 'They still want the U.S. to stay close and give them cover against Russia to keep Russian ambitions at bay.' VOA's Jamie Dettmer contributed to this report from the Turkish-Syrian border. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Welcomes Saudi Offer to Send Troops to Syria by Smita Nordwall February 08, 2016 The United States has welcomed a Saudi offer to deploy special forces to support a possible coalition ground operation inside Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Monday that his country's willingness to send special forces to Syria is contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort. 'There is a discussion with regard to a ground force contingent, or a special forces contingent, to operate in Syria by this international U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to provide special forces to such operations should they occur,' he said, using an acronym for Islamic State. While he declined to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets, Jubeir said Saudi forces would be part of an international coalition that 'will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground force contingent in Syria.'' Four months of Russian airstrikes have tipped momentum toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the nearly 5-year Syrian civil war in which at least 250,000 people have died and more than 10 million have fled their homes. U.S. President Barack Obama has resisted committing U.S. ground troops to the Syrian civil war, but has sought greater help from regional leaders in the Middle East in the fight against Islamic State. Saudi Arabia has so far focused its attention on another civil war in the region, the one in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition is battling Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who captured the capital of Sana'a in January 2015. State Department reporter Pam Dockins and Pentagon reporter Carla Babbs contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey must apologize to Russia for last year jet downing: Deputy FM Iran Press TV Mon Feb 8, 2016 11:17AM Russia has called on Turkey to stop stirring tension between the two countries and apologize for the downing of its Su-24 bomber jet in November last year. "The Turkish side knows very well what needs to be done in order to return to normal Russian-Turkish relations. What we said several weeks ago still stands today," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov told RIA Novosti in an interview on Monday. Meshkov stressed that normalization of relations between the two countries depends on the Turkish side. 'Instead of intensifying the situation and making completely invented claims against Russia, it would be better to look into the mirror and do what is done within civilized intergovernmental relations. Our position hasn't changed," Earlier, Meshkov said that Turkish authorities should compensate Russia for the downing of the Su-24 bomber jet last year, as well as apologize and guarantee that the incident does not happen again. Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesman said that his country had no intentions of doing such things. Tensions between Moscow and Ankara sharply escalated when Turkey on November 24, 2015 downed the Su-24 fighter jet over Syria, claiming that it had entered Turkish airspace, an accusation strongly rejected by Moscow. Of the two pilots aboard the warplane, one was rescued with the help of the Syrian army, but the other was killed by militants fighting the Syrian government. Russia suspended all military deals with Turkey and imposed a number of economic sanctions on the country following the incident. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Thirty Years After Chernobyl, Ukraine Doubles Down On Nuclear Power February 08, 2016 by Tony Wesolowsky Nearly 30 years after Chernobyl spewed nuclear dust across Europe and sparked fears of fallout around the globe, a strapped, war-torn Ukraine is opting for 'upgrades' rather than shutdowns of its fleet of Soviet-era nuclear power reactors. Kyiv is planning to spend an estimated $1.7 billion to bring the facilities, many of which are nearing the end of their planned life spans, up to current Western standards. Ukrainian officials hope to further their energy independence from Moscow and potentially export some of the resulting electricity to Western Europe as part of an 'EU-Ukraine Energy Bridge' that can further cement Kyiv's ties with Brussels. But can they allay fears, in Ukraine and beyond, that the plans will put Europe at risk of another Chernobyl? The project has the backing of the West, including a $600 million contribution split evenly between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Euratom, the EU's nuclear agency. 'The project we support -- ourselves, the EBRD, and Euratom -- is actually about the country's energy independence, and essentially, survival. Because for the country, where nuclear power plants produce over 50 percent of electricity, this sector remains vital -- very, very important. This is a necessity,' says Anton Usov, senior adviser for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus at the EBRD, an international institution funding projects in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. For Kyiv, keeping its nuclear power stations humming makes sense given the government's strategy to wean the country off Russian energy, namely gas. Ukraine is also making moves to end its dependence on Russia for the fuel powering the nuclear plants. Nuclear power accounts for around half of Ukrainian electricity. Enerhoatom, the state-run nuclear energy operator, runs 15 reactors at four nuclear power plants, including Europe's largest power plant at Zaporizhzhya, which houses five reactors. They are all equipped with pressurized reactors known by their Russian abbreviation VVER, which are Russian-designed but an upgrade to the graphite-moderated RBMK reactors found at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Most of the reactors came online in the 1980s, with the oldest -- Unit 1 at the Rivne nuclear plant -- generating power since December 1980, three years before the ill-fated reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl started churning out power. That Ukraine is opting to upgrade its nuclear power plants is not surprising, according to Steve Thomas, a recently retired professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom. 'There is a lot of pressure around the world to life-extend existing plants as it becomes more difficult to build new ones. As a result, the utilities are wanting to hang onto the ones they've got,' Thomas tells RFE/RL. He said Europe's biggest producer of nuclear power, France, plans to spend an estimated 80 billion euros ($89 billion) to upgrade its 58 nuclear power reactors. The EBRD said the program of 87 safety-measure upgrades is vital for Ukraine, especially since the Russian-backed conflict in the east of the country has affected coal supplies from the Donbas region. Supplies of the kind of high-quality black coal that the Ukrainian power sector has relied on so heavily in the past 'could no longer be a sustainable solution for its power plants,' Usov says, 'because the pace of their supply from Donbas has been erratic.' Enerhoatom said the upgrades are being done to the highest standard, but critics have their doubts. They said Ukraine's nuclear reactors should be shut down as soon as possible, noting that one of the reactors still churning out power is older than the unit that exploded at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986. They also raised doubts over whether the program will be carried out to the highest standards. 'One of the reasons why the EBRD was ready to finance this program is that they said they will have a say in what is going on in Ukraine with the reactors, and that they will have leverage to ensure that everything is done properly," says Iryna Holovko, a Ukranian nuclear activist with the NGO Bankwatch. 'Now we see that it is not happening because the [Ukrainian] regulator still makes decisions without the safety procedures done.' Usov said the concerns raised by outside groups -- including Bankwatch -- are being addressed. 'We've touched on these issues numerous times with the environmental groups. They attend our annual meetings and regular meetings of the banks. And we had a proper panel, with the likes of Bankwatch, where we touched upon these issues,' Usov says. Enerhoatom vowed through a spokesman that 'Ukraine has some of the most demanding conditions for extending' the life of its nuclear reactors. 'For example, in Ukraine, a nuclear power unit with a 30-year lifeline can be granted a 10-year extension after a safety assessment,' spokeswoman Ilona Zaets said in an e-mailed response to RFE/RL. 'In the United States, reactors are given a 30-year extension right away -- and this number could rise. The [Ukrainian] Nuclear Regulatory Commission is discussing the possibility of raising the extension period to 80 years.' The upgrade work is just part of a bold plan to make Ukraine a major energy player in Europe beyond its decades-long role as a major transit country. In a state energy strategy document released in 2006 and covering the sector until 2030, Kyiv foresaw the construction of 11 new nuclear units. Ukraine's current financial straits could put such bold plans on hold. However, Kyiv appears to be moving ahead with intentions to make Ukraine part of the European power grid by 2017, a target set out by President Petro Poroshenko after he took office in mid-2014. In March, Ukrainian energy distributor Ukrenergo signed a deal to export electricity to its Polish counterpart as part of the Ukraine-EU energy bridge. The proposal envisages a 750-kilowatt transmission cable from Khmelnitskyy, in Ukraine, to Rzeszow, in Poland, that will also carry electricity from a coal-fired energy plant at Burshtyn, in Ukraine's far west. Under the project, the Khmelnitskyy Unit 2 reactor will then be disconnected from the Ukraine grid and plugged into the European one. But the project hinges on completion of two reactors at the Khmelnitskyy plant -- Units 3 and 4 -- whose construction was halted in 1990. Critics have questioned whether finishing reactors that have been mothballed for 15 years makes economic sense. 'They clearly do have to modernize their generation, but completing half-built nuclear power plants could still be a much more expensive option than building renewables, gas-fired plants, or whatever,' Thomas says. 'I don't think nuclear is necessarily the cheapest option.' In a sign that Kyiv is working to cut its nuclear ties with Moscow, Poroshenko in October ripped up an agreement with the Russian atomic energy giant Rosatom to complete construction at Khmelnitskyy. Aleksandr Nikitin, chairman of the Environmental Rights Center Bellona, said at the time that the decision makes it clear that Ukraine and Russian 'are breaking all ties.' 'The two countries essentially are in a state of war, and therefore there can't be any discussion of joint construction of such a huge project as a nuclear power plant,' Nikitin said of the formerly close partners whose relations soured dramatically when unrest unseated pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. Enerhoatom has insisted money for the reactor work will be no problem. Spokeswoman Zaets said Enerhoatom has an offer from a Polish company to finance the construction, and 'therefore the current financial problems do not affect the project.' Ukraine is also opening other doors with Western nuclear partners. In November, Enerhoatom signed an agreement with the French engineering firm Areva 'for safety upgrades of existing and future nuclear power plants in Ukraine, lifetime extension, and performance optimization.' U.S.-based Westinghouse, which has been operating in Ukraine since 2003, signed a deal with Kyiv in December 2014 'to significantly increase' nuclear fuel deliveries to Ukraine until 2020. Russia's Foreign Ministry reacted to the deal between Westinghouse and Kyiv by calling it 'a dangerous experiment.' Ukraine still depends on TVEL, a nuclear-fuel subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, for fuel at 13 of its 15 reactors, highlighting Russia's continuing sway over Ukraine's nuclear program. Westinghouse has been challenging TVEL for a bigger cut of the nuclear-fuel market in Eastern and Central Europe, where Russian-designed reactors are the norm. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has offered significant loans for several Westinghouse projects in the region, and U.S. officials have lobbied governments to diversify away from dependence on TVEL, according to Statfor, a U.S.-based analytical center. It is unclear whether Ukraine's nuclear gamble will pay off. But the stakes are high, and Holovko suggests that Kyiv has left itself few other options. 'For now, we have a situation where we have no Plan B,' Holovko said. Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/thirty-years-after-chernobyl- ukraine-doubles-down-nuclear-power/27539152.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Travis Clark, who was shot by Bismarck police on Jan. 31 after allegedly disobeying orders, is now accused of attempting to escape from his hospital bed Sunday. Bismarck Police Sgt. Mark Buschena said Clark was at Sanford Health on Sunday in the custody of the Morton County Sheriff's Department. He was unshackled to use the bathroom and, when returning to bed around 11:30 p.m., allegedly assaulted a Bismarck-Mandan security officer and ran from the building. Clark, 26, was arrested on Jan. 31 on a warrant for earlier charges of burglary and reckless endangerment. Clark has not been charged with any crimes related to the alleged escape attempt or the officer-involved shooting. Clark was shot by two Bismarck police officers after he allegedly ignored the officers commands and reached for what was believed to be a weapon in his vehicle parked outside a mobile home at 1119 University Drive. Buschena said that during the alleged escape attempt Sunday, Clark bit his IV line, disconnecting it from the IV tree. The 63-year-old security officer pushed Clark to the bed by his neck, according to the police report. Clark then allegedly kicked the security officer in the stomach and swung at the officer, knocking off his glasses. Clark ran down the stairs, followed by the security officer and jumped into a vehicle owned by a 28-year-old Mandan woman, locking the doors. Buschena said Clark allegedly refused to get out of the vehicle for the Bismarck-Mandan security officer or Sanford Health's security. When law enforcement arrived, Clark exited the vehicle without incident and was returned to his hospital room, Buschena said. Kings Dominion is bustling with activity this month. Construction crews are slated to start today on erecting Delirium, the thrill ride that looks like a giant Frisbee swinging in a pendulum motion while spinning in a clockwise rotation. And the northern Hanover County theme parks iconic sign along Interstate 95 is getting a face-lift with an updated logo, LED lighting and a bigger full-color screen. We have a lot happening right now, spokeswoman Katelyn Sherwood said. The Delirium ride replaces the Shockwave stand-up coaster that the park closed in August. Crews began dismantling the Shockwave in November to get the site in the parks Candy Apple Grove section ready for Delirium. Once the land was cleared, the contractors drilled holes for the new rides footers. There wasnt a lot going on visually to see until recently when we got all the parts, said Sherwood, noting that the steel, seats and other parts for the ride arrived early last week. The various pieces of the ride are staged in the parking lot, she said. A crane was slated to arrive Saturday to start transferring the steel and other parts to the site. The plan is for them to start erecting it Monday, she said. From that point on, Im told it is a quick process to assemble. The plan calls for having Delirium ready for park guests by mid- to late March. Everything is on schedule right now, Sherwood said. Deliriums manufacturer is Mondial, a Dutch company. The ride will send 40 outward-facing riders on a continuous ring with their legs dangling free in the air spinning at the bottom of a giant arm that swings back and forth up to 115 feet in the air at a maximum 120-degree arc. As the ride gains momentum, it is expected to give riders a swirling view of the park as they experience gravity-defying hang time. The sign along I-95 has been there since the mid-1970s when the park opened. It was time for a new one, she said. The letters on the sign facing southbound travelers came down in the past week. The letters for those heading northbound are slated to come down this week. The sign will have the parks updated logo and will include a full-color screen and LED lighting. The old signs digital section was 7 feet tall by 46 feet wide. The sign did not have full color graphical display capabilities. The new sign does and the display area is bigger 11 feet by 46 feet. Work on updating the sign is expected to be completed by early March. Toombs now home-based The Toombs Ltd. store, with its potpourri of lighting fixtures and other items at the northeast corner of Patterson and Libbie avenues, closed at the end of last year. But owners Bill and Mary Ellen Toombs still operate the business by appointment only from their home on Libbie Avenue just behind their former store at 5730 Patterson Ave. Toombs is a small, family-owned business that has been operating in Richmond for more than four decades. It had been at Patterson and Libbie for about 25 years. Besides selling lighting fixtures including crystal chandeliers, lamps and sconces, Toombs also offers expert brass refinishing services and silver repair and replating. Meal-kit service coming A meal-kit delivery service will be available in the Richmond region starting next month. Baltimore-based Terras Kitchen said it will deliver what it calls farm-to-table meal kits, with prepped ingredients and step-by-step recipe cards. The kits can be transformed into dinners in 30 minutes or less. Consumers select from a menu of seasonal recipes, designed by Terras Kitchen chefs. Current meal selections include tomato scallion rice with cheesy grilled squash, penne pasta with balsamic marinated tomatoes or spicy grilled chicken with Mexican corn salad. Each meal serves two and costs between $11.99 and $18.99. It also offers one-serving Grab-n-Go items that range in price from $3.99 to $9.99. The facility where Terras Kitchen packages the food is in New Jersey. The food and other items are sourced locally throughout the East Coast, the company said. The food is delivered fresh not frozen via FedEx using a vessel that keeps ingredients cool and fresh for delivery. The company said the eco-friendly vessel is reusable, and Terras Kitchen will schedule a pickup date and time with FedEx to retrieve it and return it to the company. Shipping is free, but Terras Kitchen has a minimum order of $83.99. The service has been available in certain markets on the West Coast for the past six months. State Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne Jr. will study whether an inland port should be set up in Southern Virginia to help improve commerce both regionally and statewide, according to Del. Danny Marshall. Marshall, R-Danville, introduced House Joint Resolution 99, which asks the secretary to study the feasibility of establishing an additional intermodal transfer facility along U.S. 58 near Danville. He said, though, that he would be happy to see it established in Martinsville-Henry County instead. A House subcommittee is considering the resolution. However, Layne already has said that he will do the study, Marshall said. Layne did not respond to a request for an interview. An inland port already is operating in Front Royal, in Warren County about 60 miles west of Washington. The proposed inland port would be similar to the existing one. At that port, freight in large containers is collected in large quantities and then transported by trains to coastal ports at Hampton Roads. Inland ports help companies reduce their costs, and they help reduce the number of large trucks traveling on roads, according to Marshall and the resolution. Marshall and Mark Heath, president and chief executive officer of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., think that having an inland port in Southern Virginia would help grow the regions economy. It would make us more competitive in the global market, Heath said. The port itself would create new jobs, although Marshall and Heath said they could not speculate as to how many. People throughout the region could easily drive to jobs at the port, no matter where it is located, Marshall said. But the main thing, he said, is that the port would make it easier and less costly for companies in the region to import materials from overseas and ship products to other countries, he said. Shipping and delivering freight by rail generally costs less than shipping and delivering by truck, he mentioned. The lower costs should help companies already in Southern Virginia create new jobs, Marshall said. The presence of the port also would help attract manufacturers and distributors to the region, and those firms would create jobs, he said. A state website shows that major companies such as Home Depot, a home improvement store chain; Rite Aid, a drug store chain; Kohls, a department store chain, and Red Bull, an energy beverage company, have established distribution centers that created jobs in Northern Virginia as a result of the inland port there. An inland port would allow Danville to leverage itself for types of investment it today cannot easily attract due to the higher cost of freight transportation, Marshalls resolution states. He maintains that the location near Danville was merely a suggestion, though. Im aiming it to the region, Marshall said of the port. He said he would be pleased to see it set up, for instance, at the Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre being developed off U.S. 220 south of Ridgeway in Henry County. Another potential site that he mentioned is off U.S. 29 near Gretna in Pittsylvania County. Heath said he is not certain whether Commonwealth Crossing would be suitable for an inland port. He said he first would have to find out the states site needs for the facility. I can tell you that wed consider having the port there if the state was to be interested, he said. Another site that Heath mentioned is potentially suitable for the port is the former DuPont property just south of Martinsville. Obviously, it (the port) is an idea with merit, he said. If the state wants to put one in this part of the world, wed do everything we could to accommodate it. According to Marshall and the resolution, in conducting the study, Layne is to consider the inland ports benefit to the region and the rest of the state as well as the costs to establish it, potential funding sources (including federal ones), its effects on transportation-related state agencies and specific localities that would benefit from it. Layne is to finish the study by Nov. 30 and submit to Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the General Assembly a report on the findings as well as an executive summary, the resolution shows. Those documents eventually will be posted on the legislative website. TORONTO, Feb. 8, 2016 - Geodex Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:GXM) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the consolidation of the common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") on the basis of one (1) post-consolidation Common Share for every ten (10) pre-consolidation Common Shares (the "Consolidation"), will become effective on February 9, 2016. The Company has received final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") to effect the Consolidation. The post-Consolidation Common Shares are expected to begin trading on the TSXV at the opening of market on February 9, 2016, under the existing stock symbol "GXM". A new CUSIP number has been obtained to replace the previous CUSIP number in order to distinguish the pre-Consolidation Common Shares and the post-Consolidation Common Shares.Following the Consolidation, the Company will have approximately 2,110,053 Common Shares outstanding. The change in the number of issued and outstanding Common Shares resulting from the Consolidation will not materially affect any shareholder's percentage ownership in the Company, although such ownership will be represented by a smaller number of Common Shares.With respect to the Consolidation, letters of transmittal are being mailed out to the Company's registered shareholders. All registered shareholders will be required to send their share certificates representing pre-Consolidation Common Shares, along with a properly executed letter of transmittal, to the Company's registrar and transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc. ("Computershare"), in accordance with the instructions provided in the letter of transmittal. Once a completed letter of transmittal is submitted to Computershare by shareholders, along with their respective certificates representing the pre-Consolidation Common Shares, such shareholders will receive their new post-Consolidation Common Share certificates. Shareholders who hold their Common Shares through a broker, investment dealer, bank or trust company should contact that nominee or intermediary for assistance in depositing their Common Shares in connection with the Consolidation.Upon completion of the Consolidation, the previously issued 6,700,000 special warrants of the Company, which includes 350,000 special warrants issued to certain finders in lieu of cash, will automatically be exercised into 670,000 units ("Units") of the Company. Each Unit is comprised of one Common Share and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"), whereby each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at a price of $0.20 per Common Share on or before July 17, 2017.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Geodex Minerals Ltd.Gorden GlennInterim President & Chief Executive OfficerForward Looking Statements: The Statements included in this press release. Including those concerning predictions of economic performance and management's plans and objectives constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, opinions, forecasts, projections or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although the Company believes that expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The Company cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what the Company currently foresees.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.NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAWS.Investor Relations647-985-2785info@geodexminerals.comwww.geodexminerals.com CENTENNIAL, Colo., Feb. 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NioCorp Developments Ltd. (NioCorp or the "Company) (TSX:NB) (OTCQX:NIOBF) (FSE:BR3) announced today that it will broadcast an update on its Elk Creek, Nebraska superalloy materials project to investors and others in a global webcast on February 23, 2016, following the conclusion of its 2016 Annual General and Special Meeting ("Annual Meeting"). The Elk Creek Project is expected to produce niobium, scandium, and titanium, which are technology metals used in superalloys and in a variety of applications in the automotive, aerospace, defense, construction, clean energy, medical, oil and gas, and other industries. Providing the update will be Mark Smith, CEO and Executive Chairman of NioCorp Developments Ltd., and Scott Honan, President of Elk Creek Resources Corp., the wholly-owned operating subsidiary that is overseeing the Elk Creek Project. The live, listen-only webcast will begin at 10:30 a.m. MST, following the conclusion of NioCorp's 2016 Annual Meeting. The webcast will feature a presentation by Mr. Smith and Mr. Honan, as well as a question-and-answer session with investors in attendance at the Annual Meeting. More information on the NioCorp Annual Meeting can be seen here. Investors and others wishing to view the webinar must pre-register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2298956040844614657 Mark Smith Mark Smith Executive Chairman, CEO and Director @NioCorp $NB $NIOBF #Niobium #Scandium #ElkCreek About NioCorp NioCorp is developing a superalloy materials project in Southeast Nebraska that will produce niobium, scandium, and titanium. Niobium is used to produce superalloys as well as High Strength, Low Alloy ("HSLA") steel, which is a lighter, stronger steel used in automotive, structural, and pipeline applications. Scandium is a superalloy material that can be combined with Aluminum to make alloys with increased strength and improved corrosion resistance. Scandium also is a critical component of advanced solid oxide fuel cells. Titanium is used in various superalloys and is a key component of pigments used in paper, paint and plastics and is also used for aerospace applications, armor and medical implants. Cautionary Statements Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For More Information Contact Jim Sims, VP of External Affairs, NioCorp Developments Ltd., 720-639-4650, jim.sims@niocorp.com TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb 9, 2016) - Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (TSX:DML)(NYSE MKT:DNN) is pleased to announce the discovery of a new high-grade uranium intersection near the Gryphon deposit on Denison's 60% owned Wheeler River property in Northern Saskatchewan. Drill hole WR-633D1, located approximately 100 metres north of the Gryphon deposit, intersected approximately 11 metres of basement-hosted uranium mineralization including intervals of 5.7% eU 3 O 8 over 1.0 metre and 6.3% eU 3 O 8 over 1.7 metres. In late 2015, Denison reported a significant increase in the estimated mineral resources on the Wheeler River property. The initial estimate for the Gryphon Deposit added inferred mineral resources of 43.0 million pounds U 3 O 8 at a grade of 2.3% U 3 O 8 to 70.2 million pounds U 3 O 8 of indicated mineral resources grading 19.1% U 3 O 8 at the Phoenix deposit. The Gryphon deposit is basement-hosted and consists of a set of parallel, stacked, northeast plunging lenses that are broadly conformable with the basement stratigraphy. Four groups of lenses have been interpreted to date, namely the A, B, C and D series, based on their position relative to the different basement stratigraphic units. The estimated mineral resources contained in the Gryphon deposit include only the results from the A, B and C series lenses. The D series lenses were excluded as there was insufficient drilling completed at the time of the resource estimate. Denison's President and CEO, David Cates, commented, "With the successful delineation of the Gryphon deposit, completed in 2015, our exploration team set out in 2016 to discover new uranium mineralization in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit. We view the geological trend that Gryphon is situated on as a highly prospective district for the discovery of additional mineralization, and only a few short weeks into our exploration program, the property and our exploration team have delivered again with the discovery of additional high-grade uranium mineralization." New Intersection of High-Grade Uranium Mineralization Drill hole WR-633D1 was designed to test for further basement-hosted mineralization immediately north of the Gryphon deposit, and down plunge of previous mineralized intercepts. The drill hole encountered the sub-Athabasca unconformity around 500 metres below surface, followed by weak basement-hosted mineralization and alteration around 675 metres, 680 metres, 682 metres and 684 metres before entering high-grade uranium mineralization around 751 metres, as detailed below in Table 1. Table 1: WR-633D1Intersection Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)4 eU 3 O 8 1(%) WR-633D12 751.5 754.7 3.2 2.0 (includes) 3 753.6 754.6 1.0 5.7 (and) 2 757.7 765.3 7.6 1.7 (includes) 3 760.3 762.0 1.7 6.3 (includes) 3 764.2 765.2 1.0 1.2 Notes: 1. eU 3 O 8 is radiometric equivalent uranium from a total gamma down-hole probe 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% eU 3 O 8 3. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% eU 3 O 8 4. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths The high-grade mineralization occurs within altered pelitic gneisses and pegmatite that both occur within the Basal Pegmatite Unit and represents the best intersection to date in this unit, which has undergone little previous drill testing. The mineralization is open in all directions and will be prioritized for follow-up this winter. Possible Continuation of the D Series Lenses Previous 50 x 50 metre delineation drilling has shown the Gryphon mineralized lenses to be structurally controlled with a plunge to the northeast. In this regard, the mineralized intersections in drill hole WR-633D1 possibly represent the down plunge extent of some of the D series lenses located approximately 180 metres up plunge to the southwest. Additional drilling will be required to validate if the stratigraphy is continuous and if the intersection of mineralization in WR-633D1 is a continuation of the mineralization occurring in the D series lenses. The D series of lenses is currently defined by intersections from drill holes completed previously. Table 2 provides highlight intersections of the D Series lenses. Table 2: DSeriesLensIntersections Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)3 Assay U 3 O 8 (%) WR-5581,4 611.7 612.2 0.5 7.3 WR-5652,4 686.0 689.9 3.9 0.6 Notes: 1. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% U 3 O 8 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% U 3 O 8 3. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths 4. The intersections listed above are both from the D1 lens. Drill hole WR-558 is located approximately 140 metres up plunge to the southwest of WR-565. Wheeler River Property The Wheeler River property is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits. The Phoenix deposit is estimated to include indicated resources of 70.2M lbs U 3 O 8 at a grade of 19.1% U 3 O 8 , and is the highest grade undeveloped uranium deposit in the world. The Gryphon deposit is hosted in basement rock, approximately 3 kilometres to the northwest of Phoenix, and is estimated to contain inferred resources of 43M lbs U 3 O 8 at a grade of 2.3% U 3 O 8 . Wheeler River is a joint venture between Denison (60% and operator), Cameco Corp. ("Cameco") (30%), and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (10%). A 47,000 metre exploration drilling program is currently underway at Wheeler River with a focus on testing numerous unconformity and basement exploration targets in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit, as well as other priority target areas on the property. Concurrent with the winter 2016 drilling program, a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") is underway studying the economic potential of co-developing the Gryphon and Phoenix deposits. The PEA is expected to be completed during the first half of 2016. Illustrative Figures & Further Details A property location and basement geology map is provided in Figure 1. Figure 2 provides a plan map of the northeast plunging Gryphon mineralized lenses projected up to the basement geology at the sub-Athabasca unconformity. The cross-section in Figure 3 represents section line 5187GP and illustrates the new mineralization discovered in drill hole WR-633D1, which occurs to the north of the stacked A, B and C series lenses that define the Gryphon deposit. The cross-section in Figure 4 represents section line 5050GP and illustrates the stacked lenses (A, B and C series) that define the Gryphon deposit, as well as the D series lenses, which occur up plunge of the mineralization intersected in WR-633D1 illustrated in Figure 3. Further details regarding the Gryphon deposit and the current mineral resources estimated at Wheeler River are provided in the report titled "TECHNICAL REPORT ON A MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE WHEELER RIVER PROPERTY, EASTERN ATHABASCA BASIN, NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA.", dated Nov. 25, 2015, authored by William E. Roscoe Ph.D, P.Eng. and Mark B. Mathisen C.P.G of RPA. A copy of this report is available under Denison's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Qualified Person The disclosure of a scientific or technical nature contained in this news release was prepared by Dale Verran, MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat., Denison's Vice President, Exploration, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. For a description of the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied by Denison, please see Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Denison Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan. Including its 60% owned Wheeler River project, which hosts the high grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, Denison's exploration portfolio consists of numerous projects covering over 390,000 hectares in the eastern Athabasca Basin. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture, which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest deposit and a 61.55% interest in the J Zone deposit on the Waterbury Lake property. Both the Midwest and J Zone deposits are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. Internationally, Denison owns 100% of the Mutanga project in Zambia, 100% of the uranium/copper/silver Falea project in Mali, and a 90% interest in the Dome project in Namibia. Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Denison Environmental Services division and is the manager of Uranium Participation Corp., a publicly-traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "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". In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: exploration (including drilling) and evaluation activities; total expected cost of such activities and Denison's share of same; completion of the PEA; CNSC's approval to increase the annual production limit of U 3 O 8 at the McLean Lake mill as well as the collective bargaining with unionized employees at the McClean Lake mill, and their respective impact on the 2016 production plan and Denison's share of revenue from the Cigar Lake toll milling arrangement; Denison's share of operating and capital expenditures; acceptance by Mongolian authorities of application for applicable mining licenses, and receipt and amount of contingent payments in a timely manner; Denison's ability to complete a spin-out or disposal transaction of its African interests; DES' expected revenue from operations, and its forecast expenses and expenditures; and renewal of the MSA with UPC and forecast revenue and expenses associated with providing services under MSA. 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 Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the "Risk Factors" in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 available under its profile at www.sedar.com and in its Form 40-F available at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These factors are not, and should not be construed as being, exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this press release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in its expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. Maps are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042313_maps.pdf. VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 09, 2016) - Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: MIN) (FRANKFURT: 3XS) (OTCQX: EXMGF) ("Excelsior" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of a comprehensive Updated Prefeasibility Study ("Updated PFS") on the North Star Deposit of the Gunnison Copper Project, located in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona. The project is designed as a copper in-situ recovery ("ISR") mine using solvent extraction-electrowinning ("SX-EW"). The Updated PFS was completed as a result of the recent acquisition of the Johnson Camp Mine ("JCM") and staged production approach which have dramatically lowered initial capital costs to $45.9 million. Excelsior has also made progress on its permitting process and an update is included below in this news release. Updated Prefeasibility Study Results Highlights of the North Star Gunnison Copper Project Updated PFS (United States dollars) Net Present Value ("NPV") of $1.2 billion pre-tax and $829 million post-tax at 7.5% discount rate using a life of mine ("LOM") copper price of $2.75/lb; Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 57.9% pre-tax and 45.8% post-tax; Initial construction capital costs of $45.9 million includes 20% contingency, 16% EPCM, freight, mobile equipment, owner's costs and capital spares; Payback period for initial capital of 1.8 years pre-tax and 2.6 years post-tax; Average life-of-mine operating costs of $0.70/lb; All-In Cost (all capital plus operating costs) of $1.24/lb; Sensitivity analysis at a LOM copper price of $2.00/lb generates an IRR of 30.8% pre-tax and 26.2% post-tax. Over 850 million pounds of copper added to the probable mineral reserve, an increase of 24%; Mine life of 27 years; Staged production profile: initial production rate of 25 million pounds of copper cathode per annum using the existing JCM facilities, followed by an intermediate expansion stage to 75 million pounds per annum and final expansion stage to full production of 125 million pounds per annum (includes the construction of an acid plant at full production). The staged production profile makes possible the funding of future expansions out of cash flow; Staged production approach lowers initial capital costs, reduces financing risk and speeds the timeline to first production. Commenting on the results, President and CEO, Stephen Twyerould said, "This Updated Prefeasibility Study supports the advantages of our recent acquisition of the Johnson Camp Mine. The Company has pre-purchased a 25 million pound per annum SX-EW processing facility that has helped to reduce our overall start-up capital to about $46 million. This is an outstanding result. Even at today's copper prices of $2.00/lb, the Gunnison Copper Project would still return a post-tax IRR of over 26%." The Updated PFS was completed by M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation ("M3") of Tucson, AZ and is effective as of February 9, 2016. The technical report (the "Report") summarizing the results of the Updated PFS, and prepared in accordance with National Instrument ("NI") 43-101, will be filed on SEDAR and Excelsior's website within 45 days of this news release. Results of the Updated PFS disclosed in this press release are in United States Dollars. Financial Analysis As highlighted in the tables below, the Updated PFS demonstrates excellent project economics. Based on an initial production rate of 25 million pounds per annum, the Updated PFS base case generates a post-tax NPV of $829 million (at a cash flow discount of 7.5%), an IRR of 45.8% and a payback period for initial capital of 2.6 years. This financial analysis is based on a number of assumptions which will be fully set out in the Report. The base case uses the following parameters over the 27-year mine life: Copper selling price of $2.75 per pound; Total copper recovery of approximately 48% (based on a combination of metallurgical recovery and presumed sweep efficiency); Average of approximately 9.3 pounds of acid consumed for every pound of copper produced; Initial acid price of $125/ton, declining to $44.9/ton in year 7 (acid plant is built in year 6); State tax rate of 6.97% and a federal tax rate of 35%; Staged production commencing at 25 million pounds per annum, ramping up to 75 million pounds in year 4, and then to 125 million pounds per annum in year 7. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS SUMMARY Pre-Tax Post-Tax IRR 57.9% 45.8% Initial Capital Payback (years) 1.8 2.6 NPV (million $) @ 7.5% 1,204 829 Ratio of Initial Capital to NPV 7.5 0.038 0.06 COST METRICS (million $) Cost/lb Direct Operating Costs 1,505 0.70 Royalties and Other Production Costs 402 0.18 Initial Capital Costs 45.9 0.02 Sustaining Capital Costs 735 0.34 All-in Cost (all capital + operating) 2,688 1.24 Taxes 986 0.46 With Excelsior's recent acquisition of the neighboring Johnson Camp Mine, initial capital costs have been reduced significantly commensurate with the staged production schedule. Total initial capital expenditures (including 20% contingency, 16% EPCM, capital spares, owner's costs, mobile equipment and freight) are estimated at $45.9 million. The production well-field is estimated at $17.8 million and upgrades to the SX-EW and related infrastructure costs are estimated at $22.7 million. Initial production of copper cathode through the JCM facilities is estimated to be 25 million pounds per annum. A number of opportunities have already been identified to further reduce initial capital by a significant amount. Total sustaining capital costs over the life of the mine are $735 million, which includes production well-field expansion, SX-EW expansion, acid plant construction and water treatment facilities. The Direct Operating Cash Cost is $0.70/lb and the All-In Cost (all capital and operating costs) is $1.24/lb. The Company has also evaluated a secondary case without an Acid Plant. In this case the project still retains strong economics, highlighted by a pre-tax NPV 7.5 of $1.0 billion and an IRR of 58.18% (post-tax: NPV 7.5 of $706 million and IRR of 46.2%). Total initial capital expenditures remain the same as the "Acid Plant" scenario. Total sustaining capital costs over the life of the mine are $657 million, which includes production wellfield expansion, SX-EW expansion and water treatment facilities. Average life-of-mine operating direct cash costs are estimated at $1.02/lb for the "Non-Acid Plant" option with an All-In Cost of $1.53 per pound. Comparison Between 2014 PFS and 2016 Updated PFS A direct comparison of the results on a post-tax basis from the 2014 PFS and the 2016 Updated PFS are provided in the table below. Key Parameters Acid Plant (2016) Acid Plant (2014) Copper Cathode sold (MMlb) 2,162 1,682 Copper Price ($/lb) 2.75 2.75 Gross Revenue (million $) 6,0081 4,626 IRR 45.8% 44.7% NPV @ 7.5% 829 826 Ratio of Initial Capital to Post Tax NPV 7.5 0.06 0.34 Operating Costs (million $) Cost/lb (million $) Cost/lb Production (Wellfield) 703 0.33 449 0.27 SXEW 512 0.24 356 0.21 Water Treatment Plant 138 0.06 199 0.12 G&A 152 0.07 147 0.09 Direct Operating Cash Costs 1,505 0.70 1,151 0.68 Royalties 203 0.09 48 0.03 Other Production Expenses 199 0.09 162 0.09 Initial Capital Costs Production (Wellfield) 17.8 0.01 75.3 0.04 SXEW + Infrastructure 22.7 0.01 186.3 0.11 Owners Costs 5.3 0.002 23.2 0.01 Total Initial Capital Costs 45.9 2,3 0.02 284.7 0.17 Sustaining Capital Costs Production (Wellfield) 373 0.17 440.2 0.26 Plant + Infrastructure 362 0.17 162.2 0.10 Total Sustaining Capital Costs 735.2 0.34 602.4 0.36 All-in Cost (all capital + operating) 2,688 1.24 2,248 1.34 Taxes 986 0.46 753 0.45 1 Includes minor acid sales towards the end of the mine life 2 Includes 20% contingency, EPCM, freight, and capital gains 3 Low initial capital reflects staged production starting at 25 million pounds per year Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Mineral Resource Estimate The total mineral resource estimate for the North Star Deposit is based on results from 122 drill holes totalling 158,785 feet and is effective as of June 1, 2015. The estimate is classified as a measured, indicated or inferred mineral resource, consistent with the CIM definitions referred to in NI 43-101. Excelsior is not aware of any environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other issues which may materially affect its estimate of mineral resources. North Star Resources (Oxide and Transition at 0.05% cut-off) Category Short Tons (million) Total Copper % Pounds of Cu (million) Measured 199 0.36 1,427 Indicated 667 0.26 3,525 Total M&I 866 0.29 4,953 Inferred 173 0.17 576 The North Star mineral resources were modeled to respect the detailed lithologic, structural, and oxidation modeling completed by Excelsior. Copper mineral domains were interpreted on 100-foot spaced, east-west vertical cross sections that span the 2.3-mile north-south and 1.3-mile east-west extents of the deposit. These domains were then used to explicitly constrain the estimation of copper grades into 50 x 100 x 25 foot (x, y, z) model blocks using 20-foot composites and inverse-distance interpolation. The grade estimation is further controlled by the incorporation of a number of unique search ellipses that reflect the various orientations of the modeled structural zones, as well as the strike and dip of the favorable stratigraphic units in areas unaffected by the structures. All samples were prepared from manually split half-core sections on site in Arizona. Split drill core samples were then sent to Skyline Assayers & Laboratories ("Skyline") in Tucson, Arizona, an independent laboratory, for Total Copper and Sequential Copper analyses. Skyline is accredited with international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005 General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories. Total Copper, Acid Soluble Copper and Cyanide Soluble Copper were analyzed. Excelsior has no relationship with Skyline Labs other than Skyline being a service provider. Standards, blanks, and duplicate assays are included at regular intervals in each sample batch submitted from the field as part of an ongoing Quality Assurance/Quality Control Program. Mr. Michael M. Gustin, with the independent firm Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and is responsible for this mineral resource estimate. He has verified, reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this section of the news release. Mr. Gustin has verified the data underlying the results by reviewing the drilling, sampling, assay, and quality assurance and quality control data, as well as the geologic interpretations completed by Excelsior. Mineral Reserve Estimate The Updated PFS mineral reserve is based on an economic analysis of the mineral resource using a copper price of $2.75/lb and key parameters developed from prior test work, the 2014 PFS and the most recent test work completed in 2015. The economic optimization was performed on Measured and Indicated Resources at a cut-off grade of 0.05% total Cu. EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) was calculated on a resource block by block basis using the key economic and technical parameters. For a column of resource blocks to be included in the reserve, the capital costs of establishing the wells for those blocks would have to be less than the combine EBIT for the same blocks. The mineral reserve was estimated after applying engineering and operational design parameters which removed the thinner and deeper portions of the mineral resource. Internal dilution has been included in the final mineral reserve estimate. MDA is of the opinion that the mineral reserve estimate derived in this Updated PFS reasonably quantifies the economical mineralization of the North Star Deposit. The reserve estimate is as of June 1, 2015 and the mineral reserves presented in the table below are included in the mineral resource estimate set out above. North Star Mineral Reserves (Oxide and Transition at 0.05% cut-off) Category Short Tons (million) Total Copper % Pounds of Cu (million) Probable 775 0.29 4,463 Mr. Neil Prenn, of MDA of Reno, with the independent firm Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and is responsible for reviewing and approving this mineral reserve estimate. He has verified, reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this section of the news release. Mr. Prenn has verified the data underlying the results by reviewing the drilling, sampling, assay, and quality assurance and quality control data, as well as the geologic interpretations completed by Excelsior. Permitting & Timeline An Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) and Underground Injection Control Permit (UIC) are the two primary operating permits that Excelsior needs to acquire prior to commencing operations. Excelsior has submitted permit applications to both the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The ADEQ is responsible for issuing the APP and the EPA is responsible for issuing the UIC. Excelsior is working with both the ADEQ and the EPA and expects to receive draft permits by early 2017. Subsequent to a public review period, Excelsior anticipates receiving all operating permits by mid-2017. Because of Excelsior's recent purchase of the Johnson Camp Mine, the construction timeline has been shortened and Excelsior is forecasting the commencement of production by early 2018. Stephen Twyerould added, "Over the past twelve months we have completed our metallurgical and hydrological programs in preparation for the feasibility study, the results of which have been included in this Updated PFS and have been used to support our permit applications. What remains is the necessary engineering to complete the full feasibility study, which we expect to complete by the end of the year, and to obtain our operating permits in a timely manner. Based upon what we believe to be one of the most environmentally friendly copper mining projects in the world today, we look forward to working with the State and Federal regulatory agencies, stakeholders and local communities to deliver long needed economic growth for southeastern Arizona." Technical Report and Qualified Person The Report will be filed on SEDAR and on Excelsior's website within 45 days of the date of this news release. The Report will consist of a summary of the Updated PFS. The Report is being prepared under the supervision of Conrad Huss, P.E. of M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation, Tucson, Arizona, who is a qualified person that is independent of the Company. The Report will also receive contributions from the following additional qualified persons, who are also independent of the Company: Dr. Ronald J. Roman of Leach, Inc., Tucson, Arizona (metallurgy and leaching recovery). Mr. Neil Prenn, of MDA of Reno, Nevada (mineral reserve). Mr. Michael M. Gustin of MDA of Reno, Nevada (geology and mineral resource). Mr. R. Douglas Bartlett, of Clear Creek and Associates of Phoenix, Arizona (hydrology, mining method, permitting and environment). Mr. Thomas L. Drielick, of M3 Engineering & Technology Corporation, Tucson, Arizona (process engineering) Each of qualified persons has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release that is relevant to their area of responsibility and verified the data underlying such technical information. Retention of a Market-Maker The Company also announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has retained Venture Liquidity Providers Inc. ("VLP") to initiate its market making service to provide assistance in maintaining an orderly trading market for the common shares of the Company. The market making service will be undertaken by VLP through a registered broker, W.D. Latimer Co. Ltd., in compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and other applicable legislation. The Company will pay VLP CDN$5,000 per month from its current cash on hand. The engagement is for a period of 12 months, but can be terminated without penalty by either party at any time with written notice. The Company and VLP act at arm's length, and VLP has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. The finances and the shares required for the market making service are provided by W.D. Latimer. The fee paid by the Company to VLP will be for services only. About Excelsior Mining Excelsior is a mineral exploration and development company that is advancing the Gunnison Copper Project. The Excelsior management team consists of experienced professionals with proven track records of advancing mining projects into production. Prior to the release of the Report on the Updated PFS results, additional information about the Gunnison Copper Project can be found in the technical report filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com entitled: "Gunnison Copper Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Prefeasibility Study" dated February 14, 2014. For more information on Excelsior, please visit our website at www.excelsiormining.com. ON BEHALF OF THE EXCELSIOR BOARD "Stephen Twyerould" President & CEO Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: (i) the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves; (ii) the robust economics and potential returns associated with the Gunnison Project, (iii) the technical viability of the Gunnison Project; (iv) the market and future price of copper; (v) expected infrastructure requirements; (vi) the results of the Updated PFS including statements about future production, future operating and capital costs, the projected IRR, NPV, payback period, construction timelines, permit timelines and production timelines for the Gunnison Project, (vii) expected acid consumption rates; (viii) the use of Johnson Camp infrastructure; (ix) opportunities to reduce capital costs; and (x) the ability to mine the Gunnison Project using in-situ recovery mining techniques. In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words 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" or "be achieved" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, copper and other metal prices, the timing and amount of future exploration and development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs, the availability of necessary financing and materials to continue to explore and develop the Gunnison Project in the short and long-term, the progress of exploration and development activities, the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, the completion of the permitting process, the estimation of insurance coverage, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. 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 factors include risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters as plans continue to be redefined including the possibility that mining operations may not commence at the Gunnison Project, risks relating to variations in mineral resources and reserves, grade or recovery rates resulting from current exploration and development activities, risks relating to the ability to access infrastructure, risks relating to changes in copper and other commodity prices and the worldwide demand for and supply of copper and related products, risks related to increased competition in the market for copper and related products and in the mining industry generally, risks related to current global financial conditions, uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources, access and supply risks, reliance on key personnel, operational risks inherent in the conduct of mining activities, including the risk of accidents, labour disputes, increases in capital and operating costs and the risk of delays or increased costs that might be encountered during the development process, regulatory risks, including risks relating to the acquisition of the necessary licenses and permits, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks, including the risk that the financing necessary to fund the exploration and development activities at the Gunnison Project may not be available on satisfactory terms, or at all, risks related to disputes concerning property titles and interest, environmental risks and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's reports and filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators. 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 not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information. 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, and no securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this release. Taxation of Non-Resident Military Members and their Spouses Recent cases indicate that some service members who have lived in the District of Columbia, but who are legal residents of other states or tax jurisdictions, may have been referred to debt collectors based on erroneous reports for owing unpaid income taxes. In some cases, the member has long since had a permanent change of station or retired before the first collection notice is sent. If you have received such a notice, you may be unsure of how to resolve this issue. Know that the Service Members Civil Relief Act provides that a member will not be taxed by multiple tax jurisdictions when moving to a different state due to military service. Military spouses may face similar collection efforts and there are protections for spouses accompanying service members as well. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act is intended to benefit spouses of military personnel who move into a state to be with the service member. Any income earned for services performed in such a state will be exempt from the new state and local income tax and withholding. Instead, the spouses state of legal residence would remain the taxing state. For example, a spouse who is a California resident might move from California to Mississippi to live near Keesler Air Force Base, which is their military spouses duty station. Assuming the spouse wishes to retain his or her California residency or domicile, and intends to return to the state, any wages the spouse earns in Mississippi would be exempt from Mississippi income tax withholding. The spouse would instead pay and report state income taxes to California. Employers are generally not required to withhold income taxes owed to other states if they do not have an established office or physical presence in the other state, which means you may owe the state of California when you file taxes. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act addresses only tax law concerning income earned in nondomicilliary states; it does not change the rules for establishing and proving legal residency. Understanding the meaning of legal state of residency or domicile and knowing how to prove it are keys to understanding this law. A spouse does not inherit the domicile of the military member through marriage. Domicile must still be demonstrated or proven under the rules that have always been in place. For example, you must be physically present in a state in order to establish residency with that state. For assistance in clarifying this law, please contact the Legal Office for an appointment to meet with a legal assistance attorney. You may also check with the appropriate state tax authorities for any rules they may have put out with respect to refunds for the 2015 tax year. Not long ago, avoiding alcohol meant soberly befriending the water jug while friends enjoyed flights of wine or elaborate cocktails. Today, you don't need booze to drink well at a great restaurant. The rise of juice pairings and non-alcoholic matches means that designated drivers, pregnant women, under-age diners and other teetotallers can experience a vibrant jackpot of drinks from strawberry water with smoked verjuice and yuzu (at Sydney's Rockpool) to lemongrass chrysanthemum and rosewater soda (at Neil Perry's Spice Temples) and over at Union Electric in Melbourne's Chinatown, they're shaking up Virgin Botanicas a fresh combo of cucumber, ginger and blackberry shrub. Despite the party vibe of the place, owner Huw Griffiths says, "I like alcohol a lot. But sometimes I just want something delicious and a little bit silly. There are always people who can't or don't drink, and we want to make sure we look after them." Related Content Where to find the best non-alcoholic drinks in Melbourne and Sydney In Australia, juice pairings have been found at Sydney's Momofuku Seiobo, which opened in late 2011, and acclaimed restaurants far and wide offer non-alcoholic matchings, including Brae in Birregurra, Attica in Melbourne andBiota Dining in Bowral, NSW. Adelaide's Orana once used crushed green ants to create a juice with a spiky citrus flavour. Melbourne's Vue De Monde employs Sarah Harleaux as tea sommelier a rare title in Australia, but a prominent role in the Middle East, where alcohol is banned in certain countries. For her, dealing with tea is like working with wine. "Every year, the tea differs from the other years," Harleaux says. "It's a permanent challenge." And like wine, some varieties are hard to source. Da Hong Pao comes from the cliffs of China's Wuyi Mountain. "The trees are fairly rare and the landscape hardly accessible to humans, which makes it so precious." Overseas influences have shaped our drinks lists in other ways. Phil Gandevia, bar manager at Bentley Restaurant + Bar recalls "spectacular" booze-free matches at New York's Eleven Madison Park, while Momofuku Seiobo sommelier Ambrose Chiang notes that juice pairings are big in Japan, given its non-drinking population and access to incredible fruit. At 17, he experienced a standout pickled ginger juice at a Michelin-starred restaurant there. The flavours of raspberry and juniper give the Courtside Cooler its unique flavour. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen And it was the program of non-alcoholic pairings at Copenhagen's Noma that inspired Momofuku Seiobo to pioneer Australia's first juice pairings. Chefs Ben Greeno and Clayton Wells had been at Noma and saw how it worked. Momofuku Seiobo's version "was really popular from the start", says Richard Hargreave, who was sommelier at the time. His successor Chiang says demand for non-alcoholic options echoes the expanding nature of drinks lists. "Sommeliers now are not just wine sommeliers," he says. Today, a good restaurant also offers sake, cider, beer, spirits and, yes, tea, kombucha and juice. "Restaurants are embracing the diversity of drinks." El Verde by Phil Gandevia of Sydney's Bentley This recipe makes use of a juicer to extract the flavours of savoury vegetables like cucumber and celery. It pairs well with fish, Mexican and Japanese flavours. Advertisement 30ml cucumber juice 30ml celery juice 30ml strong green tea Refreshing drop: The El Verde pairs well with fish, Mexican and Japanese flavours. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen 15ml fresh lime juice 15ml agave nectar (available at health food stores, or the organic section of your supermarket) pinch of salt Embla's green tea infusion is bright and complex. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen 1. Combine all ingredients in a container and chill. Serve in a sake or small wine glass, garnish with a celery leaf and a few drops of toasted sesame oil, or hot sauce for a Mexican vibe. Courtside Cooler by Fred Siggins This summery spritz is made for the gin fans with a good whiff of juniper (the berry that gives gin its distinctive taste), and a bittersweet kick from tonic water reminiscent of real booze. Designed as a standalone tipple rather than a food match, it'll pair nicely with a cucumber sandwich nonetheless. fresh raspberries 40ml verjuice (available from specialty food stores) 30ml juniper syrup tonic water 1 lime Juniper syrup 40 juniper berries (available from specialty grocery and spice stores), crushed in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder cup white sugar cup water 1. For the juniper syrup, place all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes on low. If you're feeling creative, try adding other ingredients commonly used in making gin like licuorice root, fennel seed, coriander seed and citrus peel. Strain out the crushed juniper berries and chill the syrup. It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month. 2. Place 15-20 raspberries in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and muddle. 3. Add the verjuice and juniper syrup. 4. Fill the shaker with ice and shake hard for 10 to 15 seconds. 5. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice. 6. Top with tonic water, stir and garnish with a twist of lime peel and a few raspberries. Embla's Green Tea Infusion This green tea infusion is bright and complex, matching perfectly with food you might usually pair to a light and crisp white wine, like pinot gris. It's also easy to play around with different teas, fruits and flowers to create your own unique version. 50g loose leaf Japanese green tea 1 tbsp crushed, dried lemon peel 1 tbsp crushed, dried bitter orange peel 1 tbsp dried rose petal 1 tbsp dried marigold 1 tbsp dried safflower 1 tbsp dried cornflower 1. Combine ingredients and place in large teapot. Add 700 millilitres of boiling water and let stand for two minutes. Strain and allow to cool, then place in a clean wine bottle and chill. Serve in wine glasses with a twist of grapefruit peel. Makes a 700ml bottle Dear Gov. Bush: There are many ways to express your love of country. One is to serve as president. In your case, that path seems closed. Since April, you spent the better part of $15 million in Iowa, yet you came sixth, winning just 2.8 percent of the vote and one delegate. At this rate, you'd need to spend $18,540,000,000 to win the nomination which is more than even Right to Rise can manage. There is no shame in losing, of course, and it's always possible that New Hampshire will shock the world by giving you a victory, but let's face it, the RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire polls has you at under 10 percent (under 5 percent nationally), and your donors are panicking. After what was supposed to be a reassuring post-Iowa conference call with your campaign, one donor told Politico, "Have you ever heard the phrase 'rattle of death'?" Even stipulating that primary polls are notoriously poor, there are other reasons to conclude that this is not your year. It may not have much to do with you personally. There has never been a third president from the same family. Most Americans were fine with two Adamses, Harrisons, Roosevelts and Bushes. Three is pushing it. I know; I know. You're your own man. Of course that's true. Life isn't fair. But it goes both ways. You would almost certainly never have been governor if your name had been James Ellis instead of James Ellis Bush. You seem to be a fine person and were certainly a superior and very conservative governor of Florida. For good or ill, gratitude for past service is not the mood this year, and, with all due respect, except at the last debate, when, freed from Donald Trump's bullying, you finally stood up straight, you've been an awfully dull candidate. We cannot chalk it up to voter ignorance. Between your campaign and your super PAC, you've already spent $89.1 million on positive ads about yourself and negative ads about others. One of the great traits about the Bush family, as about other great New England Protestant old-money families, is that you value good manners, courtesy and integrity. Those virtues are disparaged in our increasingly vituperative, bombastic and swaggering era. One senses that you find Donald Trump's conduct disgusting and even a little bewildering. Good for you. It is. And yet, you've directed the overwhelming majority of your negative advertising (and you've led the pack on negative ad spending) not against Trump, who seems to represent everything you find destructive and dangerous in modern politics, but against your old friend and ally Marco Rubio. Your ads have been embarrassing. You and Rubio agree on nearly everything, so you're dredging up long since debunked stories about credit cards and ridiculous accusations of missed votes in the Senate chamber. Really? Is that all you've got? No, you've also run ads attacking Rubio for taking the same position you took on illegal immigration. You seem to believe, as many of us do, that in order to prosper, in fact, in order to survive, the Republican Party must look beyond its aging, white, rural and evangelical Christian core to welcome African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, urbanites and the young. Yet by attacking Rubio, you are attempting to sabotage the very best messenger the Republican Party has found in decades. As you yourself put it: "What Marco has, I think, is something that the Republican Party needs to have: a hopeful, optimistic message based on our principles. He's probably the most articulate conservative on the scene today." After Iowa, Marco Rubio has an excellent chance of winning the Republican nomination. If he prevailed, he would be the most conservative nominee in decades and well-situated to win the general election. This is not to hurt your feelings, but your general election favorability ratings are the worst in the Republican field with the exception of Trump. Despite the avalanche of negative ads, Rubio's net favorable ratings are the best (with the exception of Ben Carson, and we know where that's going). If you were to drop out of the race now and endorse Marco Rubio, or, at the very least, call off the attack dogs, you would be advancing everything you say you believe in except yourself. It would be a gracious and inspiring gesture. It would be a different way to serve your country and might even revive our faith in Yankee integrity. (Mona Charens syndicated column appears in the Tribune on Tuesdays.) Embla's dark and saloony interior. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen Address 122 Russell St Melbourne, VIC 3000 View map Opening hours Mon-Wed noon-midnight; Thu-Fri noon-1am; Sat 4pm-1am Features Accepts bookings, Bar, Business lunch, Events, Gluten-free options, Late night, Licensed, Breakfast-brunch, Long lunch, Pre-post-theatre, Romance-first date, Vegetarian friendly, Wheelchair access Prices Moderate (mains $20-$40) Chef Dave Verheul Payments eftpos, AMEX, Visa, Mastercard Phone 03 9654 5923 You're right, you've seen it all before. The wood-fired oven that fuels the menu. The wine list: assertively current, packed with cult wines of now. Even the dark-and-saloony decor with accents of copper and brick and mismatched Deco lamps. It slingshots you back to Melbourne's early small-bar days, only this time, the chairs are real and the Melbourne Bitter is a kolsch. Somehow it all comes together at Embla in a way that seems new. But that's always been the skill of Team Town Mouse. Co-owners Christian McCabe and chef Dave Verheul have spent the past three years showing Melbourne how New Zealand does hospitality. (Read: very well.) Here at their new second venture on Russell Street a wine bar for now, with a restaurant to come in six months they have the extra chops of business partner Eric Narioo, who oenophiles will know as a founder of London bars Soif, Terroirs, Brawn and Les Caves de Pyrene. The chicken packs an umami punch. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen Chuck ex-Supernormal chef Peter Cooksley, fresh from a fire-themed trip to Asia, and Paul Guiney of Semi Permanent into that A-team and I challenge you to think of anywhere in Melbourne you'd rather be. The best news is, all that fire power manifests as a venue you'd file under "casual Tuesday" as much as palm greaser or Tinder date clincher. If the Town Mouse creed might read "how far can we push diners while still making them sit on stools?" (It's pretty far you'll drop $100 plus on Verheul's vegetable-worshipping, tweezer-driven cooking with no regrets), Embla seeks the casual-yet-mindblowing line. Rainbow trout gets the wood-fired treatment. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen It's simpler, cleaner and while the menu is driven by the fire, Embla can feel beautifully raw. Literally, in the case of a take on tartare. A crimson and cream jumble of raw beef dry-aged pope's eye is cut to a potentially affronting dice with creamy fat distinct, but it makes for fresh and easy eating with radish for crunch, coastal rocket bringing heat, and the airy creme fraiche for acid. I think I speak for everyone when I say take a bow, Dave Verheul, for finally giving cheesy, creamy cultured butter its rightful place: centre snack. Here it's the thick base for a single salty anchovy and fine onion rings, all balanced on an impossibly fine toast. Snack of the year to date. Steak tartare with radish, coastal rocket and and creme fraiche. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen Tweaks to the wine-food classics are tiny but effective, typically taking dishes into the realm of pistol-whip-your-senses fresh. Pickled cucumbers come with a silky, salty pool of creamed feta. A pork, fennel and vermouth terrine falls somewhere between chunky pate and meatloaf. Or there are the plump de-shelled mussels, classically paired with rouille (that bready, spicy, saffron-kicked aioli), but taking a sharp, oh-so-right Japanese turn with pickled ginger and sesame. And instead of pulling the sweetness from creamy stracciatella (like smashed up mozzarella and cream) with the contrast points of salty meats or acid tomatoes, Verheul takes the savoury herbal route of chamomile and pickled fennel. Pork, fennel and vermouth terrine. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen And all before the main action. The wood-fired oven is much like the set-up at Franklin in Hobart, with an off-set hotbox and a flue pulling the heat and just a little smoke across the food so the signature is stony, earthy and sweet rather than brutally smoky or charred. It gives just a little extra river rock to a fillet of rainbow trout, further enhanced with a little horseradish and juicy, salty succulents. Singed broccoli with bitter, nutty, creamy sunflower seed miso is destined to become as cult as the Town Mouse cauliflower, and if you trust the straw poll we take of everyone sitting at the bar on one night, the chicken, de-boned, seared skin-down on cast iron and finished with whole garlic in the oven alongside a heavily reduced stock of the bones, is the best the city has ever seen. Its shell is basically cracking while the jus possesses so much umami you'd think miso is involved. To the wine you're just as likely here for: file under sometimes esoteric (we're talking a by-the-glass list that gets as wild as the pronounced peachy funk of Arfion's Smokestack Lightning), and served-alongside-the-winemaker (there's generally one or two propping up the bar). The carte is geared more like a playlist than a cover-all-bases book and they're proud of it. That means whole sections dedicated to William Downie because they like the guy, some rogue gems like the Scuttlehole Chardonnay from Long Island and no sauv blanc. It's compiled by McCabe and crew through road-testing, and they drink well. Some have criticised the layout that jumps between regions and styles, but this is drinking best done by throwing control to the bar. There's much to love, or at least learn, and if all else fails, they make a rum old fashioned to go with the yoghurt parfait for dessert. And there it is. Nothing revolutionary. Embla simply knows and likes itself. You'll like it too. THE LOWDOWN Pro tip That 4D cinema next door? Treat yourself to a glimpse of "special effects" '80s-style . Go-to dish The chicken currently holds the title for best bird in town, $33. Like this? Andrew McConnell's Marion wine bar should be just as high on your list. 53 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. http://embla.com.au/ SHARE LEFT: Travis Smith, born with a serious heart defect, sits on an examination table at Boston Childrens Hospital in December. TNS Medical advocates can help guide patients on difficult care choices By Barbara Sadick Stan and XuXia Smith learned from an ultrasound midway through the pregnancy that their son would be born with an often-fatal congenital heart defect. In the first week of the babys life, they got more bad news: Some major organs were incorrectly formed and mislocated inside Travis tiny body. They faced a long journey. I felt like Id been hit by a tidal wave. I couldnt process the information I was being given fast enough, and I knew wed need someone to help us translate and evaluate the enormous amount of information we were being bombarded with, Stan Smith said. The Chicago couple hired Dan Polk, a patient advocate and retired neonatologist whose specialty is working with sick babies and their families. Polk helped the Smiths understand the complexity of their sons condition while building an experienced health care delivery team, and he has guided them through the intricacies of Travis treatment. More than two years after his birth, he still has medical issues that require Polks counsel. I was trained to take care of patients but found myself spending too much time away from the bedside, said Polk, who took up patient advocacy in 2013 after 35 years in practice. Being an advocate for babies and parents has allowed me to do what I was trained to do: take care of patients. There are perhaps 250 to 300 patient advocates for hire in the United States, one professional association estimates. Some advocates such as Polk have clinical backgrounds and know how to navigate the health care system. They may accompany patients to appointments and facilitate doctor-patient conversations in patient-friendly language. They may also handle tasks such as prepping for medical appointments, finding the right doctors and even deciphering medical bills and health insurance plans. Advocates arent cheap their rates can start at $100 an hour or more, depending on experience and credentials and insurance doesnt cover them. Smith, 69, runs an economic and financial consulting firm. His wife, XuXia, 41, takes care of Travis and their 5-year-old daughter, Blake Sarai TeiTei Smith. They have the resources to pay for a top-notch advocate. Polks standard hourly fee is $300, but his rates depend on the client and the situation. When he travels for out-of-town consultations and treatments, as he sometimes does with the Smiths, his daily rate is $1,500 plus expenses. Smith said advocates can sometimes help a client avoid unnecessary expenses that they might incur by going it alone. Without Dan, the doctors in Boston and Chicago never would have imagined that wed be able to understand the level of complex information we asked for, he said. But with Dan, we could not only travel at their speed and understand what was going on, we could collaborate in coming up with better solutions and pathways for care. Physicians sometimes say complicated things, Polk said. Just because their words are heard doesnt mean they are understood. In the Smiths case, he noted, 15-minute conversations with doctors often led to three-hour discussions with Polk to talk over what they meant. Working with the Smiths, Polk constructed plans to address Travis medical issues. Preparations for repairing Travis heart were among the most technically and emotionally challenging. The first step was to help the Smiths understand what was wrong and the solutions that might keep Travis alive. Then the parents had to decide who should perform the procedure and where. And for the surgery at Boston Childrens Hospital, Polk accompanied the parents to explain the operation as it unfolded. A good advocate must have the ability to evaluate complex medical situations, formulate a plan to address them and implement it, Polk said. Thats not all. One lesson Polk learned is that theres a time to talk and a time to listen. Initially, listening is probably more important to understand the entirety of a situation, but at some point, you have to start to act, he said. Polk helped the family avoid pitfalls. Once, a doctor recommended that Travis get immediate surgery on an intestinal abnormality. Polk suggested the Smiths get another opinion. A second doctor suggested they wait and see. A third physician agreed, and so did Polk and the Smiths. An immediate operation could have led to scar tissue that might have caused an intestinal blockage. We cant say what would have been the result of a trip or fall, but we do know that many families who we met on the same journey have lost their children, Smith said. Physicians see value in patient advocates, too. Dr. Pedro del Nido, who operated on Travis heart at Boston Childrens Hospital, praised Polk for applying his medical knowledge and communication skills to present information clearly in a way that allowed for rational, thoughtful decisions. Most doctors welcome advocates, said Dr. Sima Kahn, a patient advocate and an obstetrician and gynecologist in Seattle. Doctors are so overworked that they seem thrilled to discover that people who do what I do exist and that I am part of a team that can take pressure off them. When Keith Cotton was diagnosed with stage 2 brain cancer two years ago, he and his wife hired Kahn. She helped them find the best specialists, discover options and ask the questions that they didnt know to ask themselves. After Cotton had a tumor removed, he wasnt sure he wanted chemotherapy and radiation, but Kahn helped him to see the benefits. I realize now that not having the treatment would have been a bad idea, said Cotton, 39, whose wife, Megan, gave birth to their first child, Grace, in June. Finding advocates such as Polk and Kahn isnt always easy. Teri Dreher, the founder of North Shore Patient Advocates in Chicago, recommends weighing an advocates educational and practical experience. Someone with complicated health issues might benefit from an advocate with a medical or nursing background. And advocates who lack clinical backgrounds may have personal experiences that make them excellent choices. Advocates can help patients make better decisions, said Trisha Torrey, director of the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates. When you dont know what you dont know, you dont know what questions to ask, and thats when a patient advocate can be indispensable, she said. The Smiths celebrated Travis improving health and the new year in Disney World. Stan Smith says his sons neurologist has told them that Travis should be back on track in his mental and physical development next year. Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times Heather Yavarone adjusts the pacifier in her newborns mouth in the nursery at Community Medical Center. Yavarones baby, along with a least 17 other newborns, received knitted red hats as part of the American Heart Associations Little Hats, Big Hearts program that spreads awareness of congenital heart defects in newborns. SHARE LEFT: RN Leah West holds up a newborn inside the nursery at Community Medical Center. Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times A newborn baby sleeps with a knitted red hat inside the nursery at Community Medical Center. The hat was one of hundreds delivered to newborns during the month of February to recognize American Heart Month. shot/archived 0206 optional By Michelle Gaitan of the San Angelo Standard-Times As another February rolls in, trekking along with it a heightened sense of awareness for a healthy heart, adults usually take the forefront. But with nothing more than a roll of red yarn, the volunteer Texas chapter of Knitting Hats for Little Hearts founded by Sonora resident Nancy Johnson is refocusing the attention to include awareness for infants. "Every newborn baby is going to receive a red hat in the month of February," Johnson said, adding she got the idea for a local chapter after first knitting a few hats with a friend to send to a hospital in Chicago. "I thought it was just a really neat idea and thought "Why can't we do this in Texas?" she said. The group has become the first chapter of the American Hearts Association's Little Hats, Big Hearts program that provides knitted hats to newborn babies in the state. In September, the chapter launched at San Angelo Community Medical Center, making it the first hospital in Texas to participate in the program after Johnson first pitched the idea to her doctor last year. Locally, the chapter has knitted 1,350 hats and with the help of San Angelo's AHA, will be distributing the knitted hats to hospitals in West Texas throughout the month of February. Little red hats have already been given to every infant born so far at Community and Shannon Medical Center this month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defects among infants, affecting nearly 40,000 infants born in the U.S. each year. Congenital heart defects are conditions present at birth that affect how a baby's heart is made and works. Pediatrician Dr. Srikanth Podaralla with Community Medical Associates said defects can be found during a pregnancy, at and after birth. "The first thing is prenatal diagnosis when the mom is pregnant and her OB/GYN can do a fetal ultrasound, and if (a defect) is severe enough it can be picked up during that pregnancy period," he said. "But most of them are picked up after the baby is already born because they are subtle and also there are no abnormal findings in the ultrasound." Podaralla said once a baby is born doctors begin looking for signs such as how the baby is breathing, if the baby turns blue and desaturation, where oxygen levels are less than 90 percent. Within the first 24 hours all newborns are given a pulse oximetry screening, which is a test to determine the amount of oxygen in the blood and pulse rate. In 2013 Texas set legislation in place to ensure all babies are screened for congenital heart defects before leaving the hospital. A pediatrician checks every day until the baby is discharged, he said. "This is a recent development where all the babies are being checked for this because a lot of babies have been going home and then they are coming back with signs of sepsis and shock because we missed the diagnoses," Podaralla said about hospitals throughout the nation. Overall U.S. infant mortality rate decreased 2.3 percent to a historic low of 582.1 infant deaths per 100,000 live births, but the 10 leading causes of infant death in 2014 remained the same as in 2013 with congenital deformities leading the list, a 2015 CDC report finds. "Congenital disease of the heart is usually multifactorial," he said. "Sometimes it's associated with different syndromes and sometimes it's associated with drugs, alcohol. But most commonly, we don't know the reason." There are two important terms used cyanotic, when the baby turns blue, and non-cyanotic congenital heart disease. About one percent of all babies born have congenital heart disease and that number is important because one out a hundred newborns will have a congenital heart problem, and 25-30 percent of that 1 percent will have a severe problem called a critical congenital heart disease, Podaralla said. Podaralla said being aware of the issues early can make a life altering difference. "Because this is the most congenital problem the parents are going to encounter, when you have home births this will be missed," Podaralla said. "The thing is that treatments are so advanced now they can have a pretty much normal life if you go through the proper channels." Spreading the word around about congenital heart defects during American Heart Month is no easy task, but Jamie Muth, corporate director for the San Angelo AHA, credits Johnson and the local chapter for the program's growing success in Texas. The purpose of the program is to bring awareness of congenital heart defects that are the No. 1 killer of babies. The hats serve as a reminder for parents to make sure they are aware of the defects and for them to talk with their doctor, she said. "We're trying to save lives one baby at a time," Muth said. Already touching hospitals in Abilene, Lubbock, Midland and Odessa, Johnson said the chapter's goal for next year is to have all babies born in Texas receive a knitted red hat. "All of a sudden it's an explosion (and) people are willing to help out and help mothers with babies being born with these birth defects," Johnson said. "And each hat we ask people to say a little prayer over it." "These hats will be kept and passed down," Johnson said. "These hats were made with love." For more information about the Little Hats, Big Hearts program in Texas visit heart.org/littlehatsbighearts Renderings for Mathis Field Airport Improvements SHARE By Federico Martinez San Angelo city officials have reached a tentative agreement with a second airline to set up operations at the city's recently remodeled airport. The new airline could be operating by next year if efforts progress smoothly, officials say. The agreement will be taken to City Council for consideration in March or early April, Luis Elguezabal, the airport's director said on Monday. "We have spoken to an airline that is interested in serving San Angelo and would provide direct flights to Houston," Elguezabal said. "I can't release the name of the airline yet because it needs to go before City Council first and the company must also receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration." Elguezabal and city business and government leaders recently visited with representatives from SkyWest Airlines which is based in St. George, Utah. Elguezabal said SkyWest is not currently being considered. "We've spoken to many companies but most of them have said 'no thanks' because they don't believe they can make a large enough profit in a city the size of San Angelo," Elguezabal said. Mayor Dwaine Morrison said the city for years has been trying to lure a second airline to the airport, but have been unsuccessful. Those efforts aren't a reflection on American Airlines which has provided San Angelo with "tremendous service," he said. One reason the city would like a second airline is because American Airlines does not offer a direct flight to Houston, or anywhere else, Morrison said. "With American you have to go through Dallas first before you can go anywhere else," he said. American Airlines has been the sole airline serving San Angelo since Continental Airlines discontinued its services in October 2008. Graphic Illustration SHARE Iowa to New Hampshire: 7 days, 7 thoughts The week between Iowa and New Hampshire is a traditional period where American families gather to feast on political prognostication, pontification and panic. It can be great, but, like holidays, it can foster quarrels, indigestion and, in extreme cases, spite-voting. To help enjoy this pregnant pause, here are seven tips for the seven days between Iowa and New Hampshire. Tip 1: Iowa is not America. Iowa's population is far whiter than the rest of America. Iowa is 92 percent white, America is 77 percent. Iowa has far fewer people born in other countries. In America, 21 percent of the population speaks a language that isn't English, but only 7 percent in Iowa. Iowa has no cities with a population over 210,000. Caucus-goers are themselves a very small slice of the population and a whiter slice, especially on the Republican side. The Iowa caucus results simply do not represent of the rest of America. Partly because of that, the outcomes in Iowa rarely predict what voters in the rest of the country will do. Tip 2: New Hampshire is not America. New Hampshire is even whiter than Iowa. Its largest "city" has 110,000 people in it. Its population is slightly more educated and well off than the rest of the country. Together, Iowa and New Hampshire tell us something about the voting behavior of white people who don't live in or near large cities. Blacks, Asians and Hispanics are basically excluded from the first two elections in the presidential nomination process. This distorts results for both parties, but it especially affects Democrats because minorities vote in Republican primaries far less. Hillary Clinton, for example, does far better than Bernie Sanders with minority voters in all the polling so far, so Sanders is lucky that Iowa and New Hampshire come first. The big contest after the first two is South Carolina, which has a large minority population. If Clinton wins big there, the Democratic race will suddenly look very different than it does today. Tip 3: America is not the same, old America, either. The U.S. is growing more diverse very quickly. For example, in 2012 there were 23.3 million Hispanic eligible voters; there are 27.3 million this year, making Hispanics the largest block of minority voters. In 2014, there were four states where minorities make up the majority; by 2044, the U.S. will be majority-minority. Demographic changes are usually written about more in post-mortems than predictions. But the current of demographic change works against the Republicans and the nativist, anti-immigrant rhetoric of Donald Trump and the other Republican candidates will exacerbate that. Tip 4: Bernie is not Barry. In 2008, the unknown Barack Obama creamed Hillary Clinton and a slick campaigner named John Edwards in Iowa. Obama lost to Clinton in New Hampshire and then mega-creamed Clinton in South Carolina. That is what you call a wave. Sanders is riding a pond ripple by comparison. He did well in Iowa, sure, and he'll probably win in New Hampshire he lives next door. Obama quickly showed he could appeal to every kind of Democratic voter eventually to a healthy majority of American voters and that hasn't been true for Bernie. A wave might carry Sanders to the nomination, but it doesn't exist yet. Tip 5: Hillary is Hillary, period. There will be lots of stories, just as there have been most weeks since 2007, sagely advising Hillary to be softer, meaner, more genuine or more phony. Please, hold your fire. Hillary is not changing. More precisely, the public persona of someone who has been in the spotlight for as long as she has doesn't change short of some epic event, good or bad. Hillary is a wholly known quantity and the quantity is not going to vary. She is not a good campaigner, she doesn't have good political pitch and she is not a ham. That doesn't mean she can't win. Just ask Richard Nixon. Tip 6: Ted Cruz is not Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee. Huckabee won Iowa in 2008 on the wings of the evangelical vote and Santorum did the same in 2012. They both flamed out soon after. That is not going to happen to Cruz, for many reasons. He is running second in New Hampshire and in many other states; he has cash-on-hand and a cadre of huge bankrollers; he is a champion debater; he is disciplined and so is his campaign; conservative media love him; he gets some of the anti-Trump vote. The Republicans haven't nominated a candidate so extreme since Barry Goldwater. Cruz remains a long shot but his candidacy is likely to last awhile. Tip 7: February is not June. Sorry, but this year's nomination campaigns are likely to be Napoleonic long and bloody. There is no incumbent. The schedule was rejiggered to make fast victories harder. The flow of funds to campaigns has never been freer. Nothing about Trump's campaign has been predicted. Neither party has a dominant front-runner. I truly hope I'm wrong on this last tip, but let's talk in the summer. Dick Meyer is chief Washington correspondent for the Scripps Washington Bureau and DecodeDC. Contact him at dick.meyer@scripps.com SHARE Carter G. Woodson was born in Virginia, 10 years after the fall of the Confederacy. Working as a sharecropper and a miner, he rarely had time to attend school until age 20. But he sure made up for lost time. Woodson would devote the rest of his life to studying, and today he's known as the father of African-American history. Through his studies, Woodson wrote, he found that African-American contributions to history "were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them." He concluded that racial prejudice "is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind." And that, he believed, had a dispiriting effect on young black people. "Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history," he observed. Black History Month, which Woodson founded as Negro History Week in 1926, was his effort to combat that tradition. Chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, the second week in February was designated as a time to celebrate black history. The first year, education officials in just three states and two cities recognized the event. But by 1929 it was being promoted in nearly every state in the nation. In 1970, black students at Kent State University celebrated the first unofficial Black History Month. Just a few years later, in 1976, President Gerald Ford himself officially recognized the event. "In celebrating Black History Month," Ford said, we can make "progress in the realization of the ideals envisioned by our Founding Fathers." And, seizing on Woodson's efforts, he added: "Even more than this, we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history." In the intervening 40 years, we've seen remarkable progress in racial justice and also heartbreaking setbacks. These days there are some people in the black community like actress Stacey Dash who, as in Woodson's own day, feel Black History Month is unnecessary. And their essential point is valid: Black history is American history, and we shouldn't relegate its teaching to one month a year. But that isn't the point of Black History Month. The American dream remains perilously out of reach for many people of color. The National Urban League Equality Index a figure my organization developed as a comprehensive comparison of black America's status in the areas of economics, health, education, social justice, and civic engagement stands at just 72 percent. That racial disparity won't disappear if we simply ignore it. Justice won't be achieved unless we actively seek it out. Black History Month not only serves as a reminder of what our forebears have achieved, but as an inspiration for the journey that remains before us. Why do some elected officials in South Dakota continue to struggle with the concepts of transparency and accountability? Why after declaring their intention to run for public office and then soliciting votes do they decide it is logical to regard the public as an obstacle to effective governing? Apparently, some local elected officials are not satisfied even though emails sent on government accounts are considered private conversations or that they can go into executive or closed meetings for a variety of reasons and then are not required to disclose what happens there unless they decide to. Now, we are learning that some local elected bodies apparently are taking it a step further by prohibiting members of the public from recording public meetings held in public places. Apparently, they believe being in absolute control of their meeting is an entitlement they earned when they were elected by the voters, the same people whose trust they sought while on the campaign trail. As a result, 18 lawmakers including Sens. Craig Tieszen and Bruce Rampelberg of Rapid City and Reps. Lance Russell of Hill City, Timothy Johns of Lead and Thomas Brunner of Nisland have co-sponsored Senate Bill 90, which allows the public to use either audio or visual technology to record a public meeting "as long as the recording is reasonable and not disruptive." While this legislation does give local elected bodies a little wiggle room to pull the plug on a recording they deem unreasonable, it also puts the burden on them to do so and then convince the other elected officials to agree that the recording is disruptive. It is unfortunate that we need this sort of legislation in a democracy, but we also know that some elected officials are willing to go to great lengths to conduct as much business as possible away from the critical eye of the public and the media and then deflect blame when someone is unhappy with their decisions. But if that is the case, they should choose not to run for an elected office and pursue other endeavors that can be done in private and with less scrutiny. The advance of technology allows the public access to meetings that otherwise are difficult to attend for people who are working, raising families and paying their taxes. They, like government, should be entitled to take advantage of technology as a way to become better-informed citizens who can make educated decisions when they cast their votes at the next election. The lawmakers who co-sponsored this legislation should get the support of the entire Legislature. SB 90 will make our elected officials more accountable and that's good for South Dakota. -- Rapid City (S.D.) Journal This time last year, talk in the Capitol swirled around how newly elected Gov. Wolf's first budget was going to be bold and controversial.It was to be an early test of whether the mild-mannered Democratic governor with the polished business resume and the famously unpredictable Republican-dominated legislature could put aside political and policy differences and achieve something.Few could have predicted just how messy that experiment would get.Nearly 12 months later, the governor finds himself still wading through a stubborn and mentally exhausting stalemate over his proposed spending priorities for the current fiscal year.And now he has to unveil a budget for the next one.On Tuesday, Wolf will address a joint session of the legislature and implore lawmakers to embrace some of the same core ideas he advocated last year: more money for public schools, and a permanent solution to gaping deficits that have plagued the state's budgets for more than half a decade.And just like last year, he is expected to argue that the only way to fix the state's cash-flow problem -- while also buoying public education, a priority for his administration -- is by making the politically difficult decision of raising the state's sales or personal income taxes."We are in a crisis mode," Mary Isenhour, Wolf's chief of staff, said in an interview late last week, describing a state shortfall predicted to grow from $500 million this year to between $1.8 billion and $2.5 billion next year. "For many years, state government has been robbing Peter to pay Paul. And Peter is out of money."Without a balanced budget that attacks the deficit, she said, "We are going to have to do massive cuts."Wolf has already started releasing some details of his plan. Last week, he traveled to Reading and Philadelphia to announce his intention to ask for $200 million in additional funding for public schools; and $60 million more for preschool programs.That money, he stressed, will be on top of the school funding increases he wants -- but still hasn't secured -- for this year.That first funding boost was part of his tentative deal with GOP leaders on a $30.8 billion budget that unceremoniously blew up days before Christmas.It derailed, in large part, over disputes on how to fund the increase in spending. Despite the participation of their leaders in negotiating the deal, Republicans in the more conservative-leaning House balked at the eleventh hour because the deal would have required hiking sales or income taxes.Wolf still expects that pieces of it will stand, namely, the proposed deal to increase public education funding by $350 million in this fiscal year.That deal is dead, House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R., Indiana) said last week."He's got to be realistic," said Reed. "At some point, he's going to have to change or adjust his vision accordingly so we can complete this year's budget first."Ask anyone in the Capitol what progress has been made to resolve their differences, and the answer is invariably the same: We're working on it.Complicating matters is a looming election in which all 203 House seats and half the 50 Senate seats are up for grabs. Pushing through a substantial tax increase in an election year will be a heavy political lift.Rep. Pamela DeLissio (D., Philadelphia) said in an interview last week that as the stalemate dragged on last year, she advocated for a mediator. "You know when people need help with the dialogue," she said.But she and others said they hope Wolf's budget address this week will lay out, in the starkest of terms, what a refusal to raise significant new revenue could mean: severe cuts, likely in such areas as public education and social services."He has to, even more clearly than last time, spell out the choices before us," said Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Montgomery). "Do we continue the obstructionism or do we finally sit down and decide how to move Pennsylvania forward?"Rep. John Taylor, a Republican from Philadelphia, said he doesn't want to vote for a tax increase. But he believes that ignoring the need to raise new dollars could have catastrophic consequences for critical state programs."If you are an elected official right now in the Pennsylvania legislature, you have one of two bad choices," he said. "Either you are going to have to vote for drastic cuts that are politically disastrous, or tax increases that are politically disastrous."It's almost as if leadership has to act as if we don't care about the political consequence," he said. "Because if we don't act like that, the political consequences will envelop us anyway." (TNS) -- The European Union and United States reached a political agreement last week on allowing EU citizens personal information to be sent across the Atlantic, but lingering uncertainty about whether the pact will be approved by EU regulators has businesses and U.S. lawmakers on edge.The Commerce Department has said implementation of the new accord would safeguard some $260 billion that more than 4,000 businesses such as Google and Amazon contribute to the U.S. economy each year.The deal, announced on Feb. 2, focuses heavily on providing privacy assurances to EU citizens concerned about how their data might be used by the U.S. government. Its a concern that grew after revelations in 2013 about the extent of surveillance by the National Security Agency.Negotiators on both sides of the Atlantic raced to reach the pact before a body of EU regulators was poised to start discussing potential penalties on businesses transferring data from the EU to the U.S. if no appropriate solution had been found.For now, even though the new pact is far from final, businesses are being spared from enforcement actions.Instead of recommending penalties right away, EU regulators requested that the European Commission provide details on the new data transfer agreement by the end of February since the group had not yet seen a text of the proposal. The regulators are then expected to make a decision about whether the new pact addresses privacy concerns raised in an October court decision that invalidated a previous framework. The EUs highest court ruled that the U.S. did not do a good job protecting EU citizens data sent from the EU to the U.S. in various transactions such as airline reservations and payroll processing under a framework that had been in place since 2000. That program was run on the U.S. side by the Commerce Department with enforcement from the Federal Trade Commission.U.S. lawmakers welcomed the announcement of a political agreement but made it clear theyll keep a watchful eye on what happens next.Our focus now turns to understanding the finer details and enforcement mechanisms of the new deal, which hopefully wont temper todays good news, Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders said in a statement on the day the agreement was announced. All of the unnecessary delay has been costly, but its important to note just how critical this is for job creators on both sides of the Atlantic and our respective economies.Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., urged the EU and Commerce Department to implement the new agreement without delay.There will be several months of waiting, though, as the EU starts a multi-step process of formalizing the agreement. That process is likely to draw out the suspense for businesses looking for a longer-term answer on how they can legally transfer data from the EU to the U.S.It seems in general a pause button has been hit, said Adam C. Schlosser, director of the Center for Global Regulatory Cooperation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.EU regulators said last week that companies using alternate mechanisms such as model contract clauses and binding corporate rules to transfer data from the EU to the U.S. will continue to be able to do so. The group warned, though, that companies that dont have those mechanisms in place are at risk of penalties from the data protection authorities in EU member states.Schlosser said hes hopeful the EU data protection authorities will use common sense in making any decisions about whether to bring enforcement actions against businesses until a new pact is finalized.Tech groups expressed concern about the remaining uncertainty of potential penalties.We call on European Data Protection Authorities to endorse this new and strengthened framework and give time for companies to transition, said Computer and Communications Industry Association International Policy Director Christian Borggreen in a statement.Mark MacCarthy, senior vice president of public policy at the Software and Information Industry Association, said in a statement that the new agreement would help avoid overly protective restrictions or inconsistent country-by-country regulations which could severely limit digital trades global benefits.We believe the framework will be effective in fostering global economic progress, and we hope it will be quickly reviewed and made final by European leaders, he said.Before the European Commission can consider adopting the new deal, the working party of regulators must give its advice and there must be a vote in a committee composed of representatives of member states, according to an approval process outlined by EU officials. At least 16 out of 28 EU member states representing at least 65 percent of the total EU population would have to vote in favor of the deal for it to proceed.That vote could show whether member states are convinced the new pact would be enough to protect their citizens privacy in the U.S.The agreement comes with a slew of provisions aimed at ensuring personal data is protected from indiscriminate mass surveillance.I believe this new arrangement is what Europe needs. Both our citizens and our businesses will benefit from this, European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip said in a news conference in Strasbourg, France.Among other things, the new accord calls for creating a special ombudsperson to address EU citizens complaints about U.S. agencies handling of their data, holding a joint annual review of the agreement and requiring written assurances from the National Intelligence director that EU citizens personal data is protected.It was a tough negotiation focused on protecting privacy for both EU and U.S. citizens and businesses, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in a call with reporters.The EUs Justice, Consumer and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jourova said she and Ansip will prepare documents related to the new agreement, which is being referred to as the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, for adoption in the coming weeks by the European College of Commissioners.We will do our best to have the new arrangement in force as soon as possible. My estimation is three months, Jourova said.Jourova said the main achievements of the pact are that it provides clear safeguards and transparency obligations on U.S. authorities access to data and that the U.S. is providing for the first time ever binding assurances to the EU on the limitations of law enforcement and national security agencies access to data. Those assurances are to be provided in writing by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, she said.This is a unique step the U.S. has made in order to restore trust in our trans-Atlantic relations, Jourova said.The State Department has also agreed to create a special ombudsperson role for complaints by EU citizens concerned about their data.The European Commission and Commerce Department will review the agreement annually.Pritzker and Jourova expressed confidence the new agreement will withstand any future legal challenges. But some representatives of member states have been quick to express skepticism that the agreement will do enough to protect EU citizens information from U.S. surveillance, and privacy advocates are already predicting there could be further court battles. The streets of New York City are one step closer to super-fast public Wi-Fi. LinkNYC , a public-private partnership between the city and a consortium of technology companies, has debuted its first two payphone-turned-tech kiosks in Manhattan. These gleaming aluminum "Links," as they are called, contain Wi-Fi beacons, mobile device chargers and informational tablets that include an app allowing free phone calls to anywhere in the country. The city plans to roll out 500 more of them by July and to have at least 4,550 spread across the five boroughs by 2020.The Links are an early example of efforts by cities across the country to retool their public rights of way to provide better services and even generate revenue. In the case of LinkNYC, that revenue comes from advertisements that light up 55-inch HD screens on each side of the kiosks, changing every 15 seconds. The ad revenue will be split between the city and CityBridge, the designer and operator of the Links. The city is guaranteed at least $500 million over the next 12 years.That arrangement is leading some to raise questions about privacy. Ad space on the Links is so valuable because of the user information (including IP addresses, GPS location and browsing data) that allows advertisers to deliver highly targeted content to passersby. The back end works similarly to ad-targeting algorithms users encounter while surfing the Web.In a recent article in, Benjamin Dean, who researches Internet governance and cybersecurity at Columbia University, wrote that "far from being free, use of LinkNYC comes with the price of mandatory collection of potentially sensitive personal, locational and behavioral data." To underscore this point, he cited a Pew Research Center survey in which nine in 10 adults said that "being in control of what information is collected about them is important." A more recent Pew report , however, found that "there are a variety of circumstances under which many Americans would share personal information or permit surveillance in return for getting something of perceived value." That "something" might be a social media platform, a search engine -- or ubiquitous wireless Internet where payphones used to be. To echo the Pew report, "Free is a good price."LinkNYC has a transparent privacy policy promising that no personally identifiable information will be shared outside of CityBridge. But as with all public services, users must assume some risk. Even with the cybersecurity protections CityBridge has built into the Links, it still falls on users to make informed choices when connecting their devices to new sources of Internet service. As the's Joanna Stern put it in a recent video feature on LinkNYC , "You wouldn't use a public toilet without the proper precautions. Don't use a public hotspot without them either."Certainly privacy is a real concern in any public-private partnership involving citizens' data. High-profile data breaches at the federal-government level and concerns over exploitive corporate data-mining practices have rightly elicited unease. But municipal governments have sustained a good track record so far. As partnerships of this sort become commonplace, cities have an opportunity to raise the bar and chart a path as public stewards of citizens' information.It remains to be seen whether LinkNYC's privacy protections will be as customer-focused as promised. But if it holds up, it will be a big step in advancing the city's tech ecosystem in a common direction, whether in city agencies, emerging start-ups in "Silicon Alley," schools in underserved communities or -- yes, the curbs of city sidewalks. Cybersecurity challenges facing the nation were the topic of much discussion on the morning of Monday, Feb. 8, following the dedication of the new and expanded 60,000 square-foot National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) facility in Maryland that is working to accelerate the development and use of secure, standards-based technology in the private sector.During dedication remarks, attended by state and federal leaders and private-sector officials, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) said the center would play a vital role in providing the foundation for improved cybersecurity standing in the United States.There is no part of our economy that does not face cyber threats; whether its the government that has been hacked or the private sector, big or small, she said. Weve got to be able to protect ourselves.Mikulski was lauded as a driving force behind the initiative to secure and fund the NCCoE facility, which began as a public-private partnership under the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2013.The push to bring more technology-related businesses to the state has officials hoping for long-term growth over places like Fairfax County, Va., where the federal government has already made substantial technological investment.After the ceremony, an expert panel discussed some of the opportunities and challenges facing information infrastructure, the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors, and how to increase consumers' cybersecurity confidence.U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said during the panel that the current standing of federal cybersecurity has vastly improved since she was appointed to the post in 2013 -- but there is still a ways to go.I think the level of awareness has risen dramatically," she said, "but it is still not where it needs to be.She pointed to an increased need for improved communication with private-sector companies, and said the ever-growing number of devices connecting to the so called Internet of Things was spurring this need even further.We need to step up our cybersecurity game, she said. Now, weve made a lot of progress in the last two and a half years, but frankly, Im assuming that the Department of Commerce was for sure not the best so, we have to step it up in the federal government.She pointed to clear channels of information sharing as a means of preventing systematic attacks among organizations.Unless we have the mechanism and the protections and the legal structure to allow for that, then crime pays, she said.Private-sector panelist Michael Brown, CEO of Symantec, said that more investment needs to be made in cybersecurity threat prevention and detection not just in recovering from breaches.Because we are not spending enough to protect ourselves, we make crime pay for all the hackers out there, Brown said. Were probably spending about 10 percent of the cost of a breach. So, until we equal that out more so were spending enough to make crime not pay as handsomely, then we open ourselves to attack.As Commerce Secretary Pritzker talked about," he continued, "the attack surface is expanding because we continue to implement new technologies, whether its going to the cloud or the Internet of Things, that make us more vulnerable."Brown went on to compare the current state of cybersecurity to the tale of the blind men describing the various parts of an elephant.Weve all got to collaborate to see the shape of the elephant, and I find these days, government wants to collaborate but it is a little more of a one-way street than a two-way street, he said. This is a new muscle for everybody; we havent been adept at sharing in a collaborative way. Wed like to see more of what the government knows at Symantec, and that would allow us to protect our customers better.Amit Yoran, president of cybersecurity firm RSA, said he believes the reliance on data analytics will play a key role moving forward in the ability of organizations to detect and respond to online threats and what he said are more agile adversaries.Candidly, I think the future is quite bleak unless we very radically change the dynamic that exists today, which is one that very much favors the offense, the cybercriminal, he said. I think the first key step there is to raise the level of awarenessYoran said the conversation should not be limited to the intelligence community, but rather should be a more global approach with an aggressive, fully informed risk-management focus.I think we need to really shift how the federal government engages on the cyberdomain," he said, "and carefully define and carefully limit what each department and agency is doing, and make sure we get that economic engagement through Commerce." (TNS) Hours after a magnitude-6.4 earthquake destroyed buildings in Taiwan, four state lawmakers said they want California to help fund an earthquake early warning system, which has been stalled by a lack of funding.Theres no valid reason not to make this relatively small investment in an early warning system that has the potential to save the lives of Californians, state Sen. (D-San Mateo) said in a statement. I urge my colleagues and the governor to join us in fulfilling our primary responsibility of protecting the public.Added state Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), a former speaker of the state Assembly, in the statement: Its crucial that we fund a statewide earthquake early warning system and get it in place right away.The voices of support that emerged Friday for the warning system mark a change in tone at the State Capitol, where there had been few outspoken supporters of the system in recent years. On Wednesday, H.D. Palmer, deputy director for the Department of Finance, said that Californias policy is to not use money from the general fund for the early warning system.But it was becoming increasingly unclear when the public could expect to see the earthquake early warning system on their cellphones, computers and televisions, with no solution in sight for full funding.The total cost of building the system across the West Coast is $38 million, plus $16 million a year to operate it. For California alone, the cost is $23 million to construct the network, and $12 million annually to maintain it.Congress and President Obama have already kicked in about half of the $16-million annual cost to operate the program, but federal elected officials have said California, Oregon and Washington ought to contribute substantial amounts of money for the network.Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) hailed the interest of state lawmakers in the system Friday.Im thrilledIm really encouraged by whats happening, Schiff said in a telephone interview Friday. It was all the more apparent this week that we need the full buy-in by the state of California, and now we have some very influential lawmakers who are making earthquake preparedness and the early warning system one of their real priorities. I think we're really gaining traction now, and it's great news for California.The U.S. Geological Surveys earthquake early warning system was given the spotlight Tuesday at a summit held by the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy. The summit gave high-profile backing to the early warning system, and speakers urged policymakers to find a way for the system to be completed.The prototype early warning system has already shown promising results in its test phase giving 30 seconds of warning to downtown L.A. before the ground shook from a magnitude-4.4 earthquake centered in Banning last month. In 2014, the system handed researchers in San Francisco eight seconds of notice before the shaking arrived from a magnitude-6.0 earthquake that began in Napa.But the system doesnt yet have enough seismic sensor stations 1,000 more need to be built or upgraded across the West Coast, added to the existing network of 650 facilities, which have been largely focused on the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.The blind spots are important to fill. A lack of sensors in the northern reaches of California means that San Francisco could receive delayed warnings if an earthquake started near Cape Mendocino and barreled south to the Bay Area.Other countries have developed earthquake early warning systems after devastating quakes killed thousands of people. Mexico City has had a system since 1991, built after a 1985 earthquake killed at least 9,500 people.Japan built a nationwide early warning system after 1995 Kobe earthquake killed more than 5,000 people. When the magnitude 9 earthquake hit east of Japan in 2011, many people in Tokyo, 200 miles away from the epicenter, had 30 seconds of warning that the shaking was coming.The warnings would allow elevators to automatically open at the next floor before shaking arrives, tell surgeons to halt surgery, and slow down trains to decrease the risk of derailment. In Japan, one factory has figured out a way to secure noxious chemicals between the time a quake warning is issued and when the actual shaking arrives.The early warning system works on a simple principle: The shaking from an earthquake travels at about the speed of sound through rock slower than the speed of today's telecommunications systems. That means it would take more than a minute for, say, a 7.8 earthquake that starts at the Salton Sea to shake up Los Angeles 150 miles away.The two senators, Hill and Hertzberg, and Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) said they want to repeal a current state law that prohibits the use of state general fund dollars to fund an earthquake early warning system. Theyre also proposing $23 million to install earthquake sensor stations and upgrade telecommunications networks to get the system up and running in this state. The proposal, however, does not address ongoing operational costs.We will have conversations with project stakeholders about how to maintain the systems operability and long-term financing, Hill and Gray said in a statement.They added that the state legislative analyst recently predicted that California will end the next budget year with a reserve of $11.5 billion.We should use a small fraction of that money to make a smart, one-time investment in a system that can improve public safety and save lives, the lawmakers said. We share Gov. Browns commitment to fiscal restraint. However, to not invest a small fraction of the overall state budget to implement the earthquake early warning system would be fiscally irresponsible.Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) said he wanted secure funding to both build the early warning system and operate it through the budget process.During budget negotiations, Nazarian also planned to re-introduce the idea that the state should give owners a tax credit for earthquake retrofits; for instance, for every $100 spent on a qualified retrofit, a taxpayer would receive a $30 break on income or corporate taxes over a period of five years after the retrofit is completed.Nazarian introduced the idea as a bill in the last legislative session; it passed the Legislature and was vetoed by Brown.Every second matters in an earthquake, Nazarian said in a statement. Lets get this done. (TNS) -- The states new online voter registration system appears well on its way to becoming the preferred option for Alabamians looking to register or update their voter information.But the influx of new applications this election season also has meant long hours for local officials who must process the documents.Announced last week by the Alabama Secretary of State, the system allows residents to register to vote or update their voter information online.According to the office of the secretary of state, the system is designed to increase the accuracy of voter rolls and provide a more convenient alternative to the existing paper forms.Since an unannounced soft launch Jan. 22, the system has quickly grown in popularity, snagging 27,813 users statewide as of 3:15 p.m. Friday.The spike in online requests has some local registrars working overtime to process the forms.That means a lot of late nights and early morning work, said Adonis Bailey, chairwoman of the Morgan County Board of Registrars.Bailey said she and her staff have come in early and stayed late every day since Jan. 28 and came in on at least one weekend to process the online forms.The Morgan County office processed about 200 applications Tuesday. That compared to just 400 for the whole month of January.Its just so many more people than were used to, said Cathy Austin, an administrative assistant in Baileys office.Similarly, in Limestone County, Board of Registrars Chairman Felix Liveoak said they processed about 200 applications Tuesday compared to just 56 the day before.Its going to overtake the paper system, he said.Liveoak said he wasnt sure if the new system was easier for his staff as it came out in the middle of an election season. He said the paperless forms can be more complex for those processing them.The biggest challenge, he said, is processing applications that are meant to update an existing registration such as a change of address or name.In Morgan County, Bailey said, they have had trouble with applicants failing to fill out portions of the form, including the section that asks for previous voter registration information.You have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb, she said.So far, theyve been able to find all of those applicants old registration information. That helps ensure voters are removed from the rolls for their previous address.Bailey advised that every applicant list his or her phone number even though its not required so registration officials can call if there are any questions.Without a phone number, Bailey said, the only other option is to mail a copy of the application back to the voter with a request for missing information. That could delay processing until after the deadline for the next election.The electronic system allows voters to register a few days later than they would have had to otherwise.According to Bailey, the deadline for walking into a board office and registering in time to vote in the March 1 primary election is Friday.For those mailing their applications, the application must be postmarked no later than Saturday. Finally, for those submitting their applications online, the last day is Feb. 15.Bailey said she is worried the varying deadlines may be confusing for some voters.The office of the secretary of state has already taken steps to correct some glitches in the new system.John Bennett, deputy chief of staff, said there were three instances of people submitting more than two forms during the soft-launch from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1. In one case, the applicant submitted 10 identical voter registration forms.Bennett said it appeared those users had slow Internet connections and clicked the submit button multiple times when the page didnt reload as expected.To correct the problem, they disabled the submit button after the first click, he said. Those users were not able to register multiple times, according to Bennett.Bennett also said there was a problem processing the many applications in Jefferson County.They had a huge influx in the first couple days when it went live so their county systems were kind of slow processing them, but theyve since caught up and are processing on schedule, he said.Bennett reported no other problems for the system that continues growing in popularity. With no publicity at all, he said, 146 people used the site the first day.To register online, voters must enter either their state-issued drivers license number or their non-driver identification card number.State voter identification laws still apply for online registrants, meaning they will be required to produce a valid photo ID before voting.Bennett said they are investigating other methods of identification for online registration.We want to make sure theyre absolutely secure, so we dont have any issues come up, but as soon as were able to verify that another method is secure, then we will add that as a way to register, he said.According to the Secretary of States Office, the new system is designed to make it easier for Alabamians to vote.It is incumbent upon us as election officials to leverage technology wherever we can to facilitate the voting process, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said in a statement. We want every eligible Alabamian to be afforded the right to vote as well as participate in the electoral process. With most of the work being done in-house, the new system has proven cost effective, according to Bennett, who said their total expense was $2,050 for the development of a Web application that has not yet been released.Bennett said they hope to release that application by the end of the month.It will allow people to register to vote, find out if they already are registered and give them directions to their polling places. FARGO -- China is a fast-growing, major market for Upper Midwest soybeans, but the world environment of cheap oil is "flipping around world logistics" and taking away the region's advantage of shipping soybeans through the Pacific Northwest. In 2016, North Dakota is going to be the largest soybean export state in America, said William Wilson, a professor of agricultural economics at North Dakota State University. About 70 to 75 percent of the state's soybeans are exported through the Pacific Northwest, where exports have grown from 2 million tons to 12 million tons per year in the past decade. The U.S. has more than doubled the railcar unload capacity since 2008. Wilson spoke Feb. 2 at the Northern Soybean Expo in Fargo. He said changing oil prices will affect U.S. exports and noted Pacific Northwest historically had a $20 per ton freight advantage to China, compared with shipments from the Gulf of Mexico. That differential recently has shrunk to about $10 per ton. "Today's oil prices have that spread (heading) to about $5 a ton, so that means the advantage is diminishing," Wilson said. Two weeks ago, the freight differential between the Pacific Northwest at a specific point was about $3.25 per ton, he added. "I just was in Mexico with some grain trade people and they told me there are a lot of ships going from the U.S. Gulf, around the Cape -- not through the (Panama) Canal -- because oil prices are so cheap." Wilson said he received individual reports on Jan. 8 that a Brazilian company shipped soybeans at equal freight rates to Pacific Northwest. U.S. and Brazil spread The U.S. used to have a seven-year infrastructure jump on its main competitors, but that has shrunk to four or five years. The spread between U.S. and Brazilian freight costs are narrowing. "Their discount to U.S. values is becoming lesser, and that's driven by improved logistics in their marketing systems," Wilson said. In 2015, Brazil exported more soybeans to China than the U.S. for the first time, he said. Recent market trend studies indicate a cyclical demand for Upper Midwest soybeans, meaning instead of a 12-month average shipping season, the bulk of the region's soybeans must travel to China within a four-month period. That means about 60 percent of the grain should move within 60 days of the harvest. "This is a huge challenge for the industry," Wilson said. To be competitive, the vast majority of the beans must travel in a three- or four-month period -- from December to February, while Brazil peaks in July. This demand is directly reflected in the basis figures. Farmers need to take counter-moves to reduce the risk of depressed market basis -- or freight disadvantage. "Whether you're hedged or not hedged, you should be selling your cash beans for shipping in January, February and March," Wilson said. "You don't want to be storing soybeans beyond that. I can say this with greater confidence than any other commodity we do research in." it may look like we have bipolar but we dont, theres more than one on this account penis (@DotGovs) February 8, 2016 When will the US government realize we won't stop until they cut relations with Israel.. penis (@DotGovs) February 8, 2016 Be sure to tweet #FreePalestine to bring awareness to all the kids dying by Israeli bombs that the US government funds! penis (@DotGovs) February 8, 2016 On Feb. 8, an unknown hacker released contact information of about 20,000 FBI employees -- one day after information for 9,000 DHS employees was published, theThe data was published via a Twitter account called @DotGovs , which bears the tagline F*** your government. #ProPalestine.Though the data from the two hacks were released from the @DotGovs account, it was made clear that the actual hackers may be different.The hacker claiming responsibility for the DHS breach contacted Motherboard on Feb. 7, claiming he gained access to contact information for tens of thousands of federal employees by hacking into a Department of Justice email account, and then calling someone in the DOJ's Web department, posing as a new employee who needed help.The motive for these hacks appears to be political. Feinstein effort Hacking concerns Human trafficking (TNS) -- A fight over encryption-protected smartphone data is heating up in California and New York where lawmakers and law enforcement groups are pushing bills to enable investigators to unscramble data to obtain critical evidence in human trafficking, terrorism and child pornography cases.The bills seek to loosen the powerful encryption tools major cell-phone manufacturers have put in place to protect a smartphone users privacy and guard against hacking. Supporters argue law enforcement needs access to data that can help them prove or solve criminal cases, while technology and privacy groups are concerned the legislation would put a users personal information at risk.If your kid goes to meet someone and your kid disappears and we find the phone, right now today, there is no way for us to find out who they were last texting, who they were talking to unless you have the pass code to get in, said Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove (Sacramento County), who authored the California legislation, AB1681.A similarly worded bill is being considered in New York. Legislation is also expected to be introduced in Congress, where proposals are being discussed in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has called for antiencryption legislation, writing an opinion piece for Bloomberg last week saying privacy is important, but this must be balanced with concerns over national security.Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she plans to introduce legislation with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., to require companies to provide encrypted data when presented with a court order.Encryption protects data such as photos, messages, e-mails, contacts and call history on smartphones by scrambling the information so that it cant be seen or read unless someone unlocks it with the pass code set up by the phones owner.Before 2014, virtually all smartphones had encryption protections that could be unscrambled by manufacturers so that if law enforcement took a search warrant and a cell phone to a manufacturer like Apple, the phone maker would unlock and turn over material covered under the warrant.But now, some newer smartphones and tablets, including Apple and Google devices, automatically encrypt the hard drives so that the data can only be accessed with the log-in code set by the user. Under this stronger data encryption, companies cannot unlock protected material. That means when an officer has a warrant to search a suspects phone, the data can only be accessed if the suspect surrenders the pass code.You have a murder victim and they are dead, and their phone is locked, Cooper said. Of course as a detective I would want to know who they talked to last, but I cant access that phone? To me, a lot of these things arent fully thought out.Coopers bill, like the legislation in New York, would essentially roll back the technology so that cell-phone data can be decrypted or unlocked by the device manufacturers or operating system providers. Manufacturers would face a $2,500 fine for each phone sold in the state that is not capable of being decrypted.Cooper said hes trying to reach a middle ground with critics who say they dont want law enforcement to have the capability of disabling a phones encryption.Im OK with sending that phone to Apple with a copy of the search warrant and Apple sending the information back to law enforcement, Cooper said. So there is no privacy issue.Andrew Crocker, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, said the legislation would still weaken privacy protections.Yes, Apple could create a system where they have a key, but then they have a target on their back, said Crocker. Its not an issue of Apple being uncooperative. This is just how you design a feature to be secure.Crocker said lawmakers like Cooper dont see the risk that hackers pose to innocent people, who store a great deal of personal information on their phone, including financial and medical records. He said those with something to hide on their phones will find other ways to get around the law, such as buying an encrypted phone out of state or using a third-party encryption software.Computers dont differentiate between who has the key, Crocker said. If you make the key accessible to anyone other than the owner, it will make it vulnerable to an attack.A consortium of cyberactivists and technology organizations issued an open letter last month under an initiative called Secure the Internet to fight the attempt by governments across the world trying to ban or limit encryption tools.Our safety and privacy depend on secure communications tools and technologies, the group wrote in the letter. Encryption protects our most personal and sensitive information: our communications, bank information, medical records, and more.Crocker said law enforcement has made the same argument against encryption technology since the 1990s.I dont question their motives, Crocker said. But, they arent taking in the whole set of facts or they wouldnt introduce bills like this.For crime victims advocates like Jenny Williamson of Courage Worldwide, giving officers a way to unlock a phone is crucial to helping catch human traffickers. She said information in a pimps phone can prove a girl was trafficked, perhaps allowing a teen to avoid having to take the stand against her trafficker.The phone holds the evidence to her abuse, Williamson said at a news conference in January at the state Capitol in support of AB1681. The phone holds the evidence to her being sold as a commodity.Cooper said hes already seen so much misinformation about his bill in the two weeks since he introduced it. The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the Assembly.Its kind of like the vaccine debate last year, Cooper said. Its crazy misinformation. The biggest thing is the information we want to get is from your phone at rest, not information traveling over the airwaves. This wont affect 99.9 percent of the public. Kevin Magnussen and his long-time manager Dorte Riis Madsen are set to split, according to the Danish newspaper BT. The report said it was the young Danish driver, and not his female manager Madsen, who negotiated with Renault and other teams and secured his return to F1 for 2016. It is believed Magnussen, 23, was also supported in the deal by the Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, whose Jack and Jones fashion label is a new sponsor of the Renault works team for this year. BT claims: "Several independent sources in and around Danish motor sport say, without wanting to be quoted, that the conflict between Kevin Magnussen and Dorte Riis Madsen is to the point that only the contract is now binding them together." Magnussen and Madsen, who have worked together since the driver's early teenage years, did not comment, but the manager was not present at Renault's recent Paris launch. (GMM) Officer facing charge is suspended WEST FARGO, N.D. -- A West Fargo police and school resource officer who was arrested on New Years Day on suspicion of driving under the influence will be suspended for five days without pay, the West Fargo Police Department said Monday in a statement. Officer Weston Christianson will remain in his assignment as a school resource officer for Liberty Middle School, Chief Mike Reitan said in the statement. Because the DUI case is still active, the police department had no further comment, Reitan said. The decision to suspend Christianson comes after an administrative investigation by the West Fargo Police Department. Christianson joined the department in November 2013. He assumed the role of school resource officer in January 2015. He was initially stopped for speeding on Jan. 1 by a Cass County sheriffs deputy who ended up arresting Christianson on suspicion of DUI. According to online court records, Christianson has pleaded not guilty to a charge of reckless driving. -- Forum News Service Ex-administrator reaches plea deal GRAND FORKS -- A former University of North Dakota department chairman charged in federal court with distributing and collecting child pornography entered a plea deal last week and will plead guilty, according to the agreement. Robert William Beattie, 55, was charged in U.S. District Court in Grand Forks with one count of distributing child pornography and two counts of possessing child porn. He faces up to 40 years in prison with a five-year minimum sentence, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release on the charges, according to the agreement. Beattie must also register as a sex offender. His jury trial, scheduled for Feb. 16, was canceled Beattie is no longer employed at UND, according to the university. He was arrested Aug. 6, after a search of his home and found more than 800 sexually explicit pictures and videos of children ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old. The Medical Board of Examiners in North Dakota suspended his medical license several days later. Beattie was placed on electronic home monitoring at his Cushing, Minn., home. -- Forum News Service GRAND FORKS -- Chemical spray drift is a growing concern for farmers and society in general. But new tools can help reduce the problem, a University of Minnesota extension agent says. "The technology is getting better," said David Nicholai, extension crop specialist. Nicolai demonstrated some of the new technology at the Best of the Best Research in Wheat and Soybean workshop Feb. 4 in Grand Forks. The event, organized by the North Dakota State University and University of Minnesota extension services and grain grower groups in both states, drew about 325 people, most from northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Most of the sessions were aimed specifically at wheat or soybeans. But a few, including Nicolai's, addressed topics of interest to farmers in general. Farmers spray their crops to help protect them from weeds, insects and other pests. But the chemical spray can drift, with spray particles moving to, and being deposited on, locations for which they aren't intended. Those "nontarget locations," as they're sometimes called, can include nearby communities and fields. Spray drift comes in two ways: Vapor drift occurs when the active ingredient evaporates and the vapor containing the active ingredient moves somewhere else. Particle or droplet drift, which occurs immediately after application, is the actual movement of spray particles away from the target area. Many factors affect this type of drift, but droplet size is the most important. Small droplets fall slowly, and so they're carried farther by air movement. That's where the new technology comes in. Nozzles that produce large, uniform droplets, which take less time to fall to the ground, can reduce drift. Nicholai and others suggest that farmers consider switching from standard flat-fan nozzles to what are known as turbulence-chamber or venturi nozzles, which increase droplet size and can reduce the amount of drift. Venturi nozzles inject air into the pesticide droplet to make it bigger, thereby reducing risk. The cost of new, modern nozzles is minor, compared with potential losses from spray drift, experts say. Companies that sell equipment designed to reduce spray drift can be a good source of information, Nicolai said. University of Nebraska Extension also has helpful information, he said. To learn more, visit www.water.unl.edu/crops/drift. (Jonathan Knutson is a staff writer for Agweek. To subscribe to the weekly agriculture magazine, call 800-811-2580 or email subscriptions@agweek.com.) GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Grand Forks Air Force Base will not be a temporary shelter for unaccompanied minors coming across the southern border, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., announced Monday. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was considering using the base to house the children, many of whom have tried to escape gang violence in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in recent years. The idea drew criticism from Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kevin Cramer, both North Dakota Republicans who advocated for housing unaccompanied children in southern facilities. Hoeven cited logistical concerns of using a base far from the border, and Cramer called it an inappropriate use of a military base. But in an interview last month, Heitkamp said she hoped the prevailing attitude in Grand Forks will be one of welcoming these children if the HHS chose to house them here. HHS decided against an unused building on Grand Forks Air Force Base because it couldnt hold enough people and has never been used for housing, according to a press release from Heitkamps office. It also doesnt have windows or access to infrastructure for a kitchen, dining and food preparation. Todays decision by HHS was made after officials from the agency visited Grand Forks Air Force Base and assessed whether or not the base met the federal governments needs to temporarily house unaccompanied children fleeing unfathomable violence in Central America, Heitkamp said in a statement. But if it were under consideration again in the future, I would hope that Grand Forks and all of North Dakota would welcome these children who have to live day-to-day in some of the most dire situations that we cant even fathom. Heitkamp said said she saw the heartbreaking circumstances the children face during an official Senate trip to Central America last year, adding that they are fleeing areas that are essentially war zones. Humanitarian response The United States saw a surge in children coming across the border by themselves in late 2015, with the Washington Post reporting more than 10,500 crossed into the U.S. in October and November, a 106 percent increase over the same period a year prior. Still, fewer than 30,000 unaccompanied Central American minors were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2015, down from more than 50,000 in fiscal year 2014, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Andrea Helling, an HHS spokeswoman, previously said the department was paying close attention to the number of children coming across the border and expanding capacity. A child is in HHS care for an average of 32 days while officials find a U.S. sponsor, which is often a family member, Helling said in December. They also go through immigration proceedings once they leave HHS care. The Department of Defense is an exemplary partner in this humanitarian response and we look forward to their continued partnership as we develop efficient, cost-effective strategies to address temporary shelter needs for unaccompanied children in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, Helling said in an email Monday. She added Grand Forks Air Force Base was determined to be not appropriate for use at this time. Cramer agreed with the HHS decision, in part because using military facilities isnt compassionate to children fleeing their home countries. What we need to do is keep them close to the border in facilities designed specifically for this and then provide them their legal process as quickly as possible and return them home, he said in an interview. I dont think any military base anywhere, much less in Grand Forks, N.D., accomplishes that. Cramer voiced his concerns with the idea of using military bases during a speech on the House floor in January and in a letter to Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Robert Carey in late 2015. Hoeven reiterated his position that it didnt make sense to bring the children to a northern tier base such as Grand Forks. It makes much more sense to locate them in facilities we have along the southern border that are designed for them and then work to reunite them with their families in their home countries, he said Monday. Oops! There was a problem! Sorry, but we can't find what you were looking for right now. The content may have been removed, or is temporarily unavailable. GreatAndhra.com powered by India Brains Infotech, LLC, its owners, associates and employees are not responsible for any errors, omissions or representations on any of our pages or on any links on any of our pages. 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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who recently gifted his son and IT minister K T Rama Rao with municipal administration department for his crucial role in ensuring landslide victory for TRS in recent GHMC elections, is all set to make him Minister for Industries too soon. The municipal administration portfolio was held by CM himself for the last 20 months, which has now been handed over to KTR. Currently, Jupally Krishna Rao is the minister for industries in Telangana cabinet. TRS party sources said Jupally will soon be stripped off industries portfolio and would be handed over to KTR. This is because KCR strongly feels that only KTR with his 'corporate looks' and with his fluency in English in both US and British accent besides good Hindi speaking skills can do complete justice to industries portfolio while interacting with chiefs and CEOs of Multi National Companies across the globe and top notch companies in India. KCR feels Jupally would be no match to KTR in this regard. Though Jupally continues to be the industries minister for the last 20 months, KTR has been playing an active role by meeting top MNCs, corporates and industrialists seeking investments in Telangana across the globe. Even on Monday, KTR toured Mumbai and met Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and Reliance Group chairman Mukesh Ambani seeking investments in Telangana. KCR now wants KTR to be made official industries minister. However, to compensate Jupally for this loss, KCR wants to transfer the portfolio of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, which is being held by KTR for the last 20 months. This will send signals that KCR was not marginalising Jupally but simply exchanged the portfolios between KTR and Jupally. KCR is of the opinion that the ministry of panchayat raj and rural development will not match the stature and capability of his high-profile US educated son and it will be ideal for KTR to hold portfolios of Information Technology, Industries and Municipal Administration and Urban Development, which deal with urban areas. A large-scale study that included women from Germany and China has demonstrated a link between levels of traffic-related air pollution and air pollution-associated gases with the formation of dark spots on the skin, known as lentigenes, or liver spots. The most pronounced changes were observed on the cheeks of Asian women over the age of 50. The report is published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology . In addition to particulate matter, traffic-related air pollution is characterized by increased concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). While NO 2 exposure is known to be associated with low lung function and lung cancer, the effect of NO 2 on human skin has never been investigated. This is important because environmentally-induced lung and skin aging appear to be closely related. lead investigator Jean Krutmann, MD, of the IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Dusseldorf, Germany The researchers studied two groups. The first included 806 Caucasian German women who were part of the SALIA study (Study on the influence of Air pollution on Lung function, Inflammation and Aging). The average age was 73.5 years (range 67 to 80 years) and 20% had a history of smoking. These women reportedly spent an average of 2.6 hours a day in the sun. The second group included 743 Han Chinese women from the Taizhou region who were somewhat younger than the SALIA group, with an average age of 59 (range 28 to 70 years). Twenty percent of this group had a history of smoking, with a reported average daily sun exposure of 3.5 hours. Many more women in the SALIA group reported using cosmetics with sun protection (61% vs. 4.2%). The mean levels of NO 2 exposure were 28.8 g/m3 in the SALIA study and 24.1 g/m3 in the Taizhou China group. No association was seen between levels of NO 2 and lentigenes formation on the back of the hands or forearms, however, exposure to NO 2 was significantly associated with more lentigenes on the cheeks in both German and Chinese women older than 50 years. Overall, an increase of 10 g/m 3 in NO 2 concentration was associated with approximately 25% more dark spots. The spots were visually evaluated by trained personnel according to photo reference scales and quantified using a validated skin aging score system (SCINEXA). The investigators performed sensitivity analysis to see whether they could pinpoint whether it was the concentration of particulate matter or NO 2 gas that had a greater impact on dark spot formation. They found that the NO 2 gas had a slightly stronger effect than the particulate matter concentration. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest epidemiological study demonstrating a link between traffic-related air pollution and the formation of lentigenes. The findings also strengthen the concept that the pathogenesis of lentigenes might differ depending on the anatomical site. co-investigator Dr. Li Jin, PhD, of Fudan Universitys State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai, China, and the Fudan-Taizhou Institute of Health Sciences Lentigenes, also known as liver spots, are small, darkened areas of the skin. Although they may first appear small, they may enlarge and separate patches may merge. They are most commonly found on the face, forearms, hands, and upper trunk. Usually brown in color, lentigenes can appear yellow-tan to black. Lentigenes are more common in light-skinned individuals and in the US, solar (sun-associated) lentigenes are noted in 90% of Caucasians older than 60 and 20% of those younger than 35 years. Lentigenes, which contain an increased number of the melanin-forming cells of the skin (melanocytes), are generally benign, although some forms may be pre-cancerous. Resources Achievers Greensboro Elks Lodge No. 602 held its annual Hoop Shoot Contest on Jan. 15 at the Lindley Recreation Center in Greensboro. Boys and girls in three age groups competed to determine a champion. Winners included: Christopher Skerlak, 8-9 boys; Jalyn Taylor, 8-9 girls; Thomas Gamble, 10-11 boys; Haley Haith, 10-11 girls; Whit Edwards, 12-13 boys; and Clara Pope, 12-13 girls. *** The Greensboro Historical Guild will meet Feb. 15 at the Greensboro Historical Museum, 130 Summit Ave. in Greensboro. Refreshments and social time will begin at 10 a.m. with the program following. The program will focus on Francis McNairy and his Guilford County descendants from Bill and Rosa McNairy. For information, call (336) 373-2043. *** Forty-five members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater High Point participated Jan. 30 in the Block Kids Building Program, a program of the National Association of Women in Construction. The local Piedmont chapter hosted the program at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater High Points Southside Club. Each participant was given Legos, tin foil, a rock and string to build a structure. Judges from N.C. A&Ts construction management program and members of the associations Piedmont chapter chose the winners: Sydney Roseboro, Janasha Carter, DeAndte Perez, Malia Roberts and Layla McClain. Each winner received a monetary gift and advanced to the regional competition. Announcements The Greensboro Astronomy Club will hold a Learn to Use Your Telescope event from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Greensboro Science Center, 4301 Lawndale Drive in Greensboro. If you just cant seem to get your telescope working or the directions in the instruction manual are confusing, bring your scope and the manual to this event. A group of amateur astronomers will be there to help telescope-owners sort out their problems so they can begin enjoying the wonders of the night sky. For information, contact Danny Lineberger at (336) 852-8750 or lineberd@bell south.net. *** The Piedmont Bird Club will meet at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Library, 1420 Price Park Road in Greensboro. Brian Bockhahn, education specialist for N.C. State Parks, will present a program on birds of prey, focusing on the raptors that live and migrate through North Carolina. Participants will learn how to identify hawks and other birds of prey in flight using multiple field marks and flight behavior. Bockhahn has traveled to all 50 states and 14 other countries to see birds, bugs and other wildlife. For information, visit www.piedmontbirdclub.org. Awards The Rotary Club of High Point Student of the Month for January is Anna Grace Guffey, a senior at Wesleyan Academy. Guffey is active at her school, Westover Church, Miracle League and a host of other places. She will attend Liberty University in the fall. *** Markel, an insurance holding company, announced that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater High Point was one of four clubs and 59 youth camps across the U.S. to receive the prestigious Safety First designation for 2015. Each year, Markels Safety First program recognizes policyholders who have shown an exceptional commitment to the safety of employees and customers. *** High Point University senior Jasmine Williams received the honor of Big of the Year at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Piedmont Gala on Jan. 30. The journalism major from Montgomery Village, Md., has volunteered as a mentor and Big Sister since 2012. She has held several fundraisers for the organization, including raising more than $1,000 during the Bowl-for-Kids-Sake event to help match more children in need of mentors. For the past four years, Williams has mentored her Little, Yave Maldonado, a fifth-grader at a High Point elementary school whose mother died in a car accident. They work on homework together, visit the school library or computer lab, and play kickball during recess. He has also joined her on HPUs campus for Easter egg hunts and other events for the children. BLACKSBURG, Va. The 13-year-old Virginia girl who was killed after climbing out of her bedroom window talked of running away and starting a family with the man now charged in her slaying, a friend and classmate of the seventh-grader said. Natasha Bryant told The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/1O082hF ) that Nicole Lovell said Virginia Tech engineering student David Eisenhauer, 18, was her boyfriend. She said Nicole described Eisenhauer as "funny and really nice" shortly before her Jan. 27 disappearance in Blacksburg. Eisenhauer is charged with abduction and first-degree murder. Another Virginia Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Keepers, is charged with accessory before and after the fact and with illegally dumping Nicole's body just across the state line in North Carolina. Authorities say Nicole was stabbed. Natasha, also 13, said Nicole met Eisenhauer online and corresponded with him online. Natasha said she was unaware of Eisenhauer's age at the time. But Natasha said she and other friends worried about Nicole's online activities. Nicole's father, David Lovell, said in a recorded interview for the "Dr. Phil" television show that the family also became concerned after learning before Christmas that Nicole was chatting "inappropriately" with older men, according to a news release from the show. "You could tell these older guys had fake profiles," Lovell told host Phil McGraw, according to excerpts in the release. "Some of the things they said were way too grown up for the picture they had." The parents took away Nicole's phone, but she later got it back, he said for the show, which airs Wednesday. Natasha told the newspaper which said her father agreed that she could be interviewed that Nicole told people she was talking to Eisenhauer. "She always talked of running away with him," she said. "She used to talk to a lot of older guys. A lot of people told her not to. I told her it's not safe. I told her she was going to be hurt or kidnapped or something." Nicole's mother, Tammy Weeks, has said her daughter was bullied at school. Natasha said many of Nicole's peers "talked behind her back" about a tracheotomy scar on her throat, and Nicole turned to social media "looking for someone who would give her attention and give her some compassion." Authorities have not disclosed any possible motive for Nicole's slaying, and her father seems to still be searching for answers. "How can it go from being my wonderful, happy daughter to she was murdered a few days later? I talked to her about a week before she went missing and everything was normal. She was my little baby girl," he said, according to the "Dr. Phil" statement. Meanwhile, more than 100 people gathered Monday evening in Blacksburg for a vigil in Nicole's memory. Weeks spoke to the crowd about her daughter, whom she called "Coley." "As I stand here tonight, my family and I are broken," Weeks said. "God, I miss you, Coley." Friends and others who know Eisenhauer and Keepers have described them as motivated young people who seemed to have a bright future before their arrests. But at a bond hearing last week for Keepers, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettit said the defendants met at a fast-food restaurant and carefully plotted Nicole's death. Eisenhauer and Keepers, who both are from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, are being held without bond. Their next court appearance is set for March 28. Defense attorneys have declined to give interviews. MANCHESTER, N.H. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders hope to emerge from New Hampshire's primary Tuesday with their first wins of the 2016 presidential election, victories that would lend needed credibility to the unexpected contenders' pursuit of their parties' nomination. Trump leads a Republican field that has been in flux in the final days of campaigning across snowy New Hampshire. A rocky debate performance by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has jeopardized his chance to pull away from a trio of governors and firmly establish himself as the chief rival to Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. In the two-person race for the Democratic nomination, Sanders has held an advantage over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire for weeks. The state is friendly territory for the Vermont senator and a must-win if he's to have a chance of staying competitive with Clinton as the race moves to more diverse states that are seen as more hospitable to the former secretary of state. "We're running a very radical campaign because we are telling the American people the truth and that's something that is not often told in the political world," Sanders said Monday as he urged supporters to help him pull out a win. The senator finished second to Clinton in the leadoff Iowa caucuses by the narrowest of margins. The enthusiasm behind Trump, a real estate mogul with who has never held political office, and Sanders, an avowed democratic socialist, underscore the public's anger with the current political system. Even if neither candidate ultimately becomes their party's nominee, those who do will have to reckon with the voter frustration they've tapped into. After finishing behind Cruz in Iowa, Trump has spent the past week both protesting that result and stepping up more traditional campaign activities. While he's long preferred large rallies, he spent the final full day of campaigning holding some smaller town hall events. Trump did get in a shot at Cruz during a massive rally in Manchester Monday night. When an audience member shouted out an insult directed at Cruz a vulgar term for "coward" Trump repeated the term and jokingly reprimanded the woman. The large Republican field was winnowed after Iowa, but there remains a crowded grouping of more traditional candidates, including Rubio. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have all staked their White House bid on New Hampshire, hoping a strong showing here will lead voters and crucial financial donors to give their candidacies another look. Rubio appeared to be breaking away from the governors after a stronger-than-expected showing in Iowa, but stumbled in Saturday's debate under intense pressure from Christie. The New Jersey governor has relentlessly cast the young senator as too inexperienced and too reliant on memorized talking points to become president. Rubio played into Christie's hands by responding with the same well-rehearsed line each time he was challenged by the governor. Rival campaigns hope the moment was enough to give voters pause when they head to the polls on Tuesday. In his final swing through the state Monday, Christie urged voters to pick a candidate who "has the maturity, and the steadiness, and the aggression to protect our country and put us back in the right spot." Kasich, who has prided himself on avoiding attacks on his rivals, said he hoped New Hampshire voters are "fed up with the negative." If Rubio and the governors finish in a pack Tuesday, it's likely to frustrate Republican Party elites who are eager to coalesce around a single candidate to challenge Trump and Cruz. Some party leaders believe both Trump and Cruz are unelectable in the general election, especially if Clinton is the Democratic nominee. Despite the expectations of a loss in New Hampshire, Clinton has campaigned aggressively in the state. Amid her rallies and town hall events, she's knocked on voters' doors and made surprise visits to local coffee shops and restaurants. "I am thrilled to be here the day before the first in the nation primary to make my final push to convince as many Granite staters as possible to come out and vote for me," Clinton said during a stop in Manchester Monday. Behind Clinton's upbeat demeanor, however, are growing concerns within her campaign about her standing with young people, who are flocking to Sanders. Some Clinton supporters also fear she isn't doing as well with female voters as she should be, a concern that was magnified after high-profile women backing her campaign made eyebrow-raising comments that appeared to disparage women supporting her rival. AP writers Lisa Lerer, Ken Thomas and Holly Ramer contributed to this report. I wholeheartedly agree with Jim Dyes recent letter (Democratic socialism does have a place here, Jan. 28). Socialism has in most European countries evolved from being a stringent ideology to a very moderate one. Its adherents belong to Social Democratic parties that traditionally wield positive influence in the region. A good example is Scandinavia, where responsible capitalism harmoniously goes hand in hand with fair social welfare systems. Its a fact that the worlds happiest people are the Danes. There are, of course, wealthy people in Scandinavia, though few multimillionaires and billionaires. The core population is a strong middle class that primarily drives the economy. Universal health and elder care are provided along with decent minimum living wages, just to mention a few benefits. There is no money pollution of politics and no gerrymandering. A more progressive taxation system than in the U.S. prevents concentration of the nations wealth among a few. Voter participation in elections often comes close to 75 percent much higher than in the U.S. Bernie Sanders, who has referred to the Scandinavian model, is a Social Democrat rather than a socialist, and voters shouldnt fear his ideas, the implementation of which would, unfortunately, be difficult in the U.S., which is essentially a survival of the fittest society. Ole Giese Greensboro Comentarios y reflexiones sobre la actualidad politica y economica de Espana y del mundo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BETHEL A local salon with nearly three decades of experience contributing to the local community was recently named one of the best businesses in the industry for their philanthropic efforts. Maria Rodrigues and Robin Miller, who started Escape Salon and Boutique on Greenwood Avenue 29 years ago, said giving back is in the very culture of the business they created. The salons motto, Rodrigues said, is Everyone Sincerely Cares About People Everywhere. This is a great honor, but its really due to the incredible staff members we have working for us, an incredible base of clients who care so much about the community that were a part of, Rodrigues said. Its really through their support that we are able to do all that we do. We find that people enjoy helping out and becoming part of something, often all they need is the right avenue to follow. Salon Today, a national trade publication covering the salon and spa industry, named Escape one one of its top 200 salons in the United States. Escape was one of only two dozen salons to earn the designation based specifically on its philanthropic efforts. Our editors recognize that strong business leadership requires the mastery of a number of different best business practices, Stacey Soble, editor-in-chief of Salon Today, said in a recent statement announcing the award recepients. The salons named to the Salon Today 200 for 2016 not only proved they excel in one or more of these areas, they also have created rewarding environments for their staff members and standout experiences for their clients. Their willingness to share their success offers our readers important business benchmarks and inspirational b usiness-building ideas. Rodriques said the salon holds quarterly fundraising efforts for a variety of local charities, annually supports the Bethel-based Scotty Fund, which provides assistance to families with chronically ill children and participates each year in Relay for Life. The salon also offers a boutique thats filled with fair-trade products as well as locally made goods. Weve been making a real effort of late to support the local artisan community, Rodrigues said. Bobbi Jo Beers, director of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce, noted that Escape was also named the organizations business of the year in 2014. The boutique that offers a place for local artisans to sell their wares really tells a lot about who the salon owners are, Beers said. For them its not about profit margins, its about doing what they can to help provide for a strong community. They are always lending a helping hand and are a true asset in the community. dperrefort@newstimes.com; Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media Marriott International wants to keep the large majority of brands of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT), the CEO of Stamford-based Starwood told hotel owners, following Marriotts $12.2 billion acquisition of Starwood slated to be completed mid-year. In a February 4 letter to hotel owners following Januarys Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles, Starwood CEO Thomas Mangas said he believes most, if not all Starwood brands will survive the combination. In addition to running Starwoods day-to-day business operations, Mangas said his top priority has been to advocate for Starwoods people in his words. Develop a prototype, get it manufactured and start selling. Sounds simple enough, right? Nothing is simple about bringing a new physical product to market. It's even more challenging for those bringing a complex product, such as a new electronic device, to market. But many entrepreneurs have the false illusion that they can take a product from concept to market in a short time -- perhaps even in a year. That's just not realistic for most products, even simple ones. Related: 5 Tips to Get Your Product or Service Noticed Bringing a new electronic product to market is costly. The majority of boot-strapped startups don't have the cash or risk-tolerance to develop a market-ready product in one step. Instead, it usually takes many small steps to get a complex product developed, manufactured and on the market. Here's how to do that. 1. Prove the concept. The first stage of development is to create a proof-of-a-concept prototype. The goal of this stage is to create a functional prototype while keeping risk and cost as low as possible. For electronics, this usually means using either a development kit or electronic modules. A development kit is a platform for creating an electronic prototype without the need to have custom printed circuit boards manufactured. Generally, a development kit is a microcontroller board which can be programmed to serve as the brains for your product. Arduino is the most popular electronic development kit. Arduinos are fantastic for putting together a low-cost, functional proof-of-a-concept prototype. Electronic modules, on the other hand, are designed to perform a specific sub-function. For example, modules may be used to perform functions such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS or video-capture among many others. But you can't take a development kit-based product to market. The end-product will be too expensive and frequently too large to be a viable product. However, at this stage, you are merely proving that your product indeed works as planned. Also be aware that most large investors will be hesitant to invest in a product that is only taken to the development-kit stage. From my experience, they usually expect the product to be bootstrapped to the next stage. Related: The 5 Hidden Costs of Building a Mobile App 2. Prove it will sell. The next stage of development is to create a prototype that can actually be sold. You will need to produce small numbers of your product for market testing and getting feedback. Think you know exactly what consumers want? I can almost guarantee that you don't -- although hopefully your close. The only way to truly know what they want is with real-market feedback, where people have voted with their hard-earned money. If your product has any advanced features such as video, WiFi, cellular or GPS (to name just a few), then at this stage, your prototype will likely be a combination of custom-designed electronics and electronic modules. Modules may be used to implement some, but not all, of the advanced functions for your product. This type of hybrid prototype will be less expensive to manufacture than a development-kit based prototype, yet it won't be as costly to develop as a fully custom-circuit design. At this stage, the goal is to just produce something that can be sold -- but not necessarily at a profit. If you can break even, that's great, but you may have to even sell at a loss. Just remember, at this stage market data, not profit, is your goal. Profit will come later. The use of electronic modules at this stage is a great way to implement complex functions into your product without spending tens of thousands of dollars on development. Their use not only reduces development costs but can also save you significant certification costs. For example, all electronic products must be certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be sold in the U.S. This certification is required to ensure that the product doesn't cause radio interference or produce dangerous levels of electromagnetic radiation. The cost of FCC certification is drastically higher if your product includes wireless features such as Bluetooth, WiFi or cellular. By using modules for wireless functions that have already been FCC certified, you can save thousands of dollars in certification costs. Wireless functions are also complex and risky to develop, and the use of a module greatly reduces this complexity. 3. Now comes the profit. Finally, it's time to focus on profit! Once your manufacturing volumes warrants it, you'll want to upgrade to a fully custom-circuit without the use of any modules. This will lower your per-unit cost and increase your profit margins. This is also likely the stage at which you'll want to consider moving your manufacturing to Asia. Moving manufacturing offshore will also increase your profit margins. Many entrepreneurs want to rush directly to this stage -- but that's a mistake. You don't want to jump to this stage before your sales volume is high enough to justify the high upfront costs. New entrepreneurs should always strive for minimize risk. By taking small steps through product development, you'll reduce your risk and increase your chance of success. Related: What It's Like When You Finally See Your Idea-Turned-Product on Store Shelves Related: 3 Steps to Bring Your New Electronic Product to Market Get a Software Patent to Protect Yourself, But Be Prepared for a Frustrating Process What It's Like When You Finally See Your Idea-Turned-Product on Store Shelves Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Weve got some big, awesome shoes to fill today, said Sheilah Smith, setting her right high-heeled shoe on the podium in front of her. Smith was halfway through the YWCAs 39th annual Business Recognition and Volunteer Awards, which she co-chaired. Eleven Greenwich and Stamford women were honored for their volunteerism and entrepreneurial success at the BRAVA luncheon. Luckily what happens in Greenwich stays in Greenwich, she said. Excuse me while I put my shoe back on. About 370 people came to the Hyatt Regency Greenwich Friday morning to hear from the honorees, who came from a variety of backgrounds and a variety of disciplines. Though there was no single secret to their successes, they did give advice about what helped them along the way. Persistence has given me the energy to regroup after hitting personal and professional potholes, said Ellen Adams, co-founder and manager of Hinoki Capital Management, a Greenwich-based equity hedge fund and the first woman to receive her award that morning. Said Anne Angevine, a hematologist and medical oncologist at Stamford Hospital, When I was younger, my dads advice every time I walked out the door was very simple, but effective still to this day: Do the right thing. Sheryl Battles, vice president of communications and diversity strategy at Pitney Bowes Inc., echoed other women honorees in saying that she could not have gotten where she is without the help of others, but also added that individual success is only possible by helping others to succeed, too. (Giving back) is easy to do for those you know. Its a labor of love. What Im challenging myself and colleagues to do is to think about Who makes that sacrifice for those who are most in need? Who goes together with a stranger? she said. Battles also quoted an African American proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. State Sen. Chris Murphy thanked the women for being role models to the community and to his two small children. You cant say enough about what their example means, not just to the individuals who know them, but the individuals who have seen the greatness they have achieved, the ceilings they have shattered, have seen the expectations they have defied and believe that they can do the same thing, he said. Along with Battles, Angevine and Adams were eight other honorees: Nancy Altobello, Global Vice Hair of Talen at EY; Laura Beck, Principal at Cummings & Lockwood LLC; Paola Garelick, co-founder and owner of Garelick & Herbs; Christine Georgopulo, owner of the Arthur Murray Grande Ballroom of Greenwich; Mellisa Mulrooney, executive director and CEO of Stamford Museum & Nature Center; Lindsay Sheehy, a partner at Holland & Knight LLP; Stacy Zarakiotis, owner of the Greenwich Pediatric Dental Group LLC and Felice Zwas, chief of gastroenterology and chairman of the medical executive committee at Greenwich Hospital. It may be cold and snowy outside, but inside I am basking in the warmth of this moment, said Battles. SFoster-Frau@scni.com; @SilviaElenaFF Greenwich officials said Tuesday that they were not aware of any plans to settle Syrian refugees in town, a day after a Greenwich man pressed Donald Trump on his controversial immigration policy. The unnamed man, who identified himself as being from Greenwich, asked Trump at a campaign event Monday in Salem, N.H., whether the Republican presidential candidates refugee policy would bar Syrian children from the country. Some of their children are ages 5, 8, 10, 12 (and) are planning to go to school there, the man said of Greenwich. I am wondering if you would be able to look at these children in the face and tell them theyre not allowed to go to school in the community? Trump repeated his opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the country. He has also proposed banning all Muslims from entering the country. More News Trump: No Syrian refugees in Greenwich I can look in their face and say You cant come, Trump said to applause from the audience. We dont know where their parents come from. Their parents should always stay with them. You have to keep them together, thats very important. But we dont know where their parents come from. They have no documentation. Trumps stance is contentious, with many of his opponents disputing his characterization of Syrian refugees. But the question that the Greenwich man asked Trump appears to be a moot one - at least for the moment - in Greenwich. Both Town Hall and school district officials said that they were not aware of any plans to relocate Syrian families to the town. We have no knowledge of these reported plans, said Superintendent of Schools William McKersie, referring to the Greenwich mans comments. Alan Barry, the towns social services commissioner, said that he was also unaware of any refugee relocation plans involving Greenwich. Contrasting with the opposition from many of his Republican gubernatorial candidates, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has maintained that the state is reading to take in refugees from Syria, which has been ravaged by a devastating civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 4 million in the past five years. A number of Republican Greenwich elected officials, including First Selectman Peter Tesei, have said in recent months that the U.S. should hold off on accepting more Syrian refugees. In a November interview with Greenwich Time, Tesei said that he did not question that most of the Syrian refugees were innocent civilians fleeing the civil war. But he said he lacked confidence that robust background checks were in place to ensure that none were affiliated with terrorist groups including ISIS, which controls large swathes of Syria. We want people who are worthy of coming into this country and wont be exploiting the humanitarian situation and infiltrating this country to do harm, Tesei said. Democratic Selectman Drew Marzullo has said that he agrees with Malloy, on the condition that refugees undergo comprehensive background checks. Until a humanitarian corridor in Syria is established where the U.S. and Europe can protect life from being slaughtered by sheer evil, in my opinion, our country has a moral obligation to assist and help the helpless, Marzullo said. A Syrian family moved to Connecticut - reportedly New Haven - after Indiana officials blocked the familys move to their state. pschott@scni.com; 203-625-4439; twitter: @paulschott January Gems As many of you probably know, I am doing an Alaska big year. As the year goes along, I dont plan to do a detailed report on this ABA blog, I am going to summarize my January birding here to give you a taste of the possibilities of winter birding in Alaska. You can read a detailed daily account on my blog (lynnbarberblog.com) and the list itself is on my web site (lynnbarber.com). Things gave slowed down substantially since January, so I expect that there wont be much of a February summary. My plan had been to start the year in Anchorage to get the usual winter birds out of the way. That all changed when Rich MacIntosh reported a Common Pochard on Kodiak Island on December 29th. I made last-minute plane reservations immediately. On New Years Eve I went to Kodiak, and spent a sleepless night waiting for dawn (a very long wait in Alaska in January) and a possible Pochard. By 10:00, with the help of Rich, I had a Common Pochard on my year list (bird #2; Bald Eagle was bird #1). By the end of January 2nd, my year list was up to 52, and I was a happy birder. Other highlights for me in Kodiak were Emperor Goose and Redhead (often hard to find in AK). Common Pochard Emperor Geese Redheads Although for a while it looked like fog would keep me on Kodiak, I was able to fly out to Anchorage on a later flight on January 2nd to begin my originally-planned travel. My January 3rd flight to Juneau, however, was cancelled due to plane problems and weather, so it wasnt until January 4th that I started my southeastern Alaska trip. The change in plans required some rescheduling and rebooking of things but it all worked out. I spent 2 days in Juneau, 2 in Ketchikan, and 2 more in Juneau, with a side trip to Hoonah from Juneau. Much time in Juneau was spent looking for a reported Western Meadowlark, and finally finding it in the icy rain on my last day there. Prior to that, highlights in Juneau included a very welcome surprise Northern Pygmy-Owl, a Spotted Towhee that had lingered in someones yard for a month or so, and a male Annas Hummingbird coming to a feeder. Ketchikan highlights included Brandts Cormorant found with the help of Steve Heinl, a Pied-billed Grebe swimming in a vanishing open area in a frozen-over lake, a couple of Hooded Mergansers and a flock of wintering Western Grebes. The goal of the short flight to Hoonah was to see a wintering female Brewers Blackbird in Amy Courtneys yard, which was there along with a Rusty Blackbird. N. Pygmy-Owl Annas Hummingbird Brandts Cormorant Brewers Blackbird By the end of the southeastern AK trip, my year-list was at 81, and I returned to Anchorage on January 10th. Over the next 7 days in the Anchorage area, with the help of several other birders (e.g., Aaron Bowman), I reached 94 species. Highlights for me were Eurasian Collared-Dove (still a rarity up here), Northern Hawk Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Spruce Grouse and Cedar Waxwing. Gray Jay is widespread in the Anchorage area but it took me a while to get my first one. Eur. Collared-Dove Am. Three-toed Woodpecker Spruce Grouse N. Hawk Owl Gray Jay Cedar Waxwing On the evening of January 17th, I flew to Homer, arriving just before dusk. Aaron Lang met me and we hastened off to a home there that was hosting a Brambling. The Brambling made a very quick appearance, and darkness fell. The next day Aarons yard produced an American Tree Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow. Final highlights in Homer were both a Red-throated and a Yellow-billed Loon. Brambling White-throated Sparrow Between January 19th and the end of the month, I mostly birded in the Anchorage area, and added Boreal Owl, Black-backed Woodpecker (north of Anchorage), Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Goshawk, and Townsends Solitaire. Bohemian Waxwings and American Dippers are quite common during most Anchorage winters. By the end of January, I was at 105 species for the year, considerably more than a third of the species that I am likely to get by the end of the year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate U.S. Sens. Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Murphy, D-Conn., joined firefighters from Stamford Fire House Station 5 Jan. 4 in celebrating the permanent extension of the World Trade Center Health Program and September 11 Victim Compensation fund. The World Trade Center Health Program expired in October 2015, and the Victims fund was set to expire October 2016, if not for the action of Blumenthal, Murphy and a bipartisan group of Senators that passed legislation to extend both. The World Trade Center Health Program provides medical treatment for more than 33,000 first responders and survivors suffering from illnesses related to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Victim Compensation Fund has provided over $1.44 billion to responders, survivors and their families. In the state alone there are 381 first responders and 48 survivors currently benefiting from the World Trade Center Health Program and 38 residents who have received compensation from the Victims fund. Fi rst responders, Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters of Connecticut President Peter Carozza, Connecticut State Fire Administrator Jeffrey Morrissette and Mayor Martin were among those in attendance. More Information How to reach them U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal 203-330-0598. Email: blumenthal.senate.gov/contact- U.S. Sen Chris Murphy 860-549-8463. Email: murphy.senate.gov/contact U.S. Rep. Jim Himes 866-453-0028. Email: himes.house.gov/contact-me/email-me- State Sen. L.Scott Frantz 800-842-1421. Email: ctsenaterepublicans.com/contact-frantz State Rep. Livvy Floren 800-842-1423. Email: livvy.floren@housegop.ct.gov- State Rep. William Tong 800-842-8267. Email: william.tong@cga.ct.gov State Sen. Carlo Leone 800-842-1420. Email: carlo.leone@cga.ct.gov- State Rep. Patricia Billie Miller 800-842-8267. Email: patricia.miller@cga.ct.gov State Rep. Caroline Simmons 800-842-8267. Email: caroline.simmons@cga.ct.gov - State Rep. Terry Adams Tel: none given. Email: terry.adams@cga.ct.gov State Rep. Daniel Fox 800-842-8267. Email: dan.fox@cga.ct.gov - Find your district: cga.ct.gov See More Collapse Without pause or hesitation, fire fighters from across Connecticut risked their lives rushing to Ground Zero on September 11, saving countless lives and supporting vital rescue missions. Our support for these heroes should never have been subject to arbitrary deadlines or limitations, said Blumenthal and Murphy in a written statement on Tuesday. Simmons, Martin, Leone honor volunteers On Friday, state Rep. Caroline Simmons and state Sen. Carlo Leone, both D-Stamford, and Mayor David Martin attended the annual Stamford Volunteer Day at Ferguson Library, hosted by the United Way Western Connecticuts Volunteer center. More than 30 Stamford residents were recognized for their contributions to the c ommunity. Teens spend a ton of time on their mobile devices and the majority of them take drivers ed, a notoriously outdated process. Why not revamp the content and put it on mobile devices, so students can actually engage with the lessons? From the beginning, the idea behind Aceable was to to deliver an experience that resonates with your audience, says the 32-year-old entrepreneur. To date, about 300,000 people have taken its courses, which can cost up to $100. Most users are in Texas, although the company also operates in California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois and is working to bring its drivers ed courses to other states. So far, its been a fairly bumpy road. The hardest part, Garrett says, is waiting for state approval. California, for example, recognizes web-based drivers ed courses, but not mobile ones. And some states, including New York and Massachusetts, dont permit online drivers education courses at all. At least in part, these discrepancies are likely the result of a long-lasting debate on the safety of online driving courses. Theoretically, with online formats, theres less face time and more chances to cheat, although Aceable does have safeguards, such as a voice recognition tool that asks students to repeat particular phrase at random times throughout the course. And Garrett points out teens cheat in the classroom, too. At the end of the day, if someone really wants to cheat, theyre going to find a way to cheat, he says. Theres also the question of whether online courses are as effective. Allen Robinson, chief executive of a national organization that represents traffic safety educators, says that while he sees the value of online courses, especially for students who live far from classroom sites, in-person courses are preferable because the face-to-face interaction decreases the learning curve. Garrett argues that his drivers ed courses are just as, if not more engaging, than the traditional format. As technology gets better and better it has the ability to provide an adaptive learning experience for each individual student, he says. Though Aceables model isnt built for repeat customers -- once students complete the course they typically dont take it again -- word of mouth and returning families are big drivers of user growth. But this also points to larger problem for Aceable: researchers from the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan found that the percentage of young Americans seeking drivers licenses has dropped over the past three decades. This may hurt Aceables potential growth. Related: School's in--Online Garrett isnt blind to Aceables limitations. As a result, the company is considering additional certificate career-based courses, ranging from nursing to cosmetology. For now, the focus is to continue making a difference by helping students feel confident and prepared when they eventually hit the road. To find a business that comes with a great mission its great, Garret says. To be able to make a positive social impact is awesome. As if Greenwich wasnt already out of reach for most families, Donald Trump would make Connecticuts wealth capital even more selective. The Republican presidential contender said Monday that Syrian refugees would specifically be unwelcome in Greenwich and the rest of the nation in a Trump administration. Trump was responding to a question from an audience member during a town hall event in Salem, N.H., ahead of Tuesdays presidential primary in the Granite State. The unidentified man prefaced his question by telling Trump that he was from a Connecticut town where the real estate mogul owns a home. More News At home with Donald and Melania Trump I dont think they should be moving into Greenwich, Connecticut, Trump said. I dont think they should be coming into the United States. Trump jokingly asked if the man was an political operative from a rival campaign. Hes a rich guy, Trump said. Did Hillary (Clinton) send you by any chance? The audience member said no, and then asked Trump to expound on his controversial proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Some of their children are 5, 8, 10, 12 (and) are planning to go to school there, the man said of Greenwich. I am wondering if you would be able to look these children in the face and tell them theyre not allowed to go to school? Trumps answer drew applause from many in the audience. I can look in their face and say, You cant come here, Trump said. Up in New Hampshire campaigning for Clinton Monday, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., a Greenwich resident, condemned Trump's remarks. "The people of Greenwich are welcoming, compassionate people," Himes told Hearst Connecticut Media. "They resoundingly reject the hate-filled, fear-mongering suggestion that we should turn away vulnerable innocents, especially women and children, who are fleeing terror. We're made of better stuff than that and are willing to do our part accepting refugees into our community." Himes said Trump is playing off people's prejudices. "Sadly, It's becoming ever more difficult to justify responding to Trump's increasingly outrageous claims, intended to appeal to the basest of human instincts to gain attention; yet we must in order to stem the real harm they do," Himes said. In contrast to many states with Republican governors, Connecticut under Democrat Dannel P. Malloy has offered asylum to refugees from war-torn Syria after recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. The open-door policy has touched off an emotionally charged debate, with critics saying it invites terrorists to infiltrate the state and defenders saying that refugees must go through an exhaustive vetting process before they are allowed into the country. Its unclear how many Syrian families have resettled in Connecticut. In November, Connecticut took in a Syrian family that had been turned away from Indiana. AARP Alabama, with its more than 440,000 members, announced the appointment of Candace Williams to the position of state director. Williams, an Alabama native, will provide strategic guidance to staff and volunteers, give leadership to advocacy teams, and establish and maintain networks with the nonprofit sector and business community, as well as state and local government officials throughout Alabama. The appointment was announced by John B. Caine II, AARP's regional vice president. "Candace Williams brings a multitude of skills, coupled by a commitment to service and a wealth of knowledge, to her new role as state director," Caine said. "I am enthusiastic and highly confident that she will do a great job, as AARP serves the 50-plus population and their families in Alabama." Added Williams, "I look forward to leading AARP's Alabama initiatives and to using AARP's resources in innovative ways to help make our state a place where everyone lives with dignity and purpose and fulfills their goals and dreams." Williams had been serving as interim State Director since April, 2014. Before joining AARP in 2013, Williams served as director of Affiliate Services for Hands On Network, the volunteer-focused arm of Points of Light Institute. Her successful career in nonprofit management also included serving as the first Executive Director of Hands On Birmingham; Regional Director for the American Heart Association; Director of PR and Development for the West Alabama Chapter of the American Red Cross; and Field Director for the Tombigbee Girl Scout Council. Williams is a native of Jemison, Alabama, and received her Bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Alabama. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of nearly 38 million, that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employment and income security, retirement planning, affordable utilities and protection from financial abuse. We advocate for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name as well as help our members obtain discounts on a wide range of products, travel, and services. A trusted source for lifestyle tips, news and educational information, AARP produces AARP The Magazine, the world's largest circulation magazine; AARP Bulletin; www.aarp.org; AARP TV & Radio; AARP Books; and AARP en Espanol, a Spanish-language website addressing the interests and needs of Hispanics. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. The AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. AARP has staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Learn more at www.aarp.org. Contact: Jamie Harding Phone: (205) 470-1265 JHarding@aarp.org Public Speech Without Accountability at Vassar | Main | Zionism is Threat to Democracy? according to Haaretz February 09, 2016 Where's the Coverage? Palestinian Official Calls to 'Intensify and Develop' Anti-Israel Violence Referring to Palestinian Arab terror attacks against Israelis, Fayez Abu Aita, a spokesman for the Fatah movement that controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), has called to intensify and develop this popular uprising.? Despite frequently quoting him in his role as a Fatah spokesman, major U.S. print news outlets have failed to report these comments. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a non-profit organization that translates Arab and Iranian media, Aitas comments were made on official PA TV on Jan. 21, 2016. Aita also claimed that the popular uprising? [a series of stabbing, shooting, vehicular and other attacks since September 2015] is growing today. It has moral and material support from the Palestinian leadership and from the Fatah movement, so that it will be able to continue.? The Fatah official did not seem to notice the potential contradiction of calling the anti-Jewish violence a popular uprising? that also has moral and material support? from PA and Fatah leadership. Seeming to support Aitas contention that the PA supports the continuing terror attacks: On Feb. 3, 2016, PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with the parents of several young Palestinian Arabs who were killed by Israeli security forces while murdering Jews. Abbas did so only hours after three Palestinian Arabs murdered nineteen-year old Border Police officer, Hadar Cohen (Abbas Signals Solidarity with Terrorism,? The Times of Israel, Feb. 16, 2016). Despite acknowledging PA support for terror attacks, Aita blamed Israelis for the violence. Alluding to U.S. and Israeli-led negotiations with PA leaders for a two-state solution? in return for peace with and recognition of the Jewish state, the Fatah official said, Palestinian leaders suffered in those negotiations like Job suffered. All the smart-asses say that 20 years have passed and the negotiations have failed. We have suffered like Job, and we are not going for this popular uprising just for fun.? What Aita did not mention was that Palestinian leaders prolonged either their suffering,? the negotiations or both by rejecting statehood in exchange for peace with Israel in 2000, 2001 and 2008, among other instances. Instead, the Fatah spokesman asserted: As far as we [the PA and Fatah] are concerned, it [the stabbing intifada?] will gradually escalate. It plays an extremely significant role at this state, but it could develop into an intifada throughout our homeland. It depends on how much Israel succumbs to the will of the international community, and to the Palestinian peoples right to end the occupation, to self-determination, and to the establishment of the Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.? As Fatahs spokesman, Aita is regularly quoted by news media (see, for example, Hamas Suspends Voter Registration Process in Gaza,? The New York Times, July 2, 2012). Yet, despite treatment of him as a go-to source, Aitas recent admission of Palestinian leadership supporting anti-Israeli terror attacks was not mentioned by a single major U.S. print news outlet. Wheres the coverage? Posted by SD at February 9, 2016 10:31 AM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment Hopefully a little bit of false advertising. A Super Bowl ad by a tiiiny 11-person company is noteworthy enough, but throw in that the product being sold is coffee that comes with a warning label, and everyone is going to have some questions. The ominously named Death Wish Coffee is a three-year-old roaster whose line of joe contains a comical amount of caffeine enough to unequivocally herald the robusta-Arabica mix as the worlds strongest, as well as highly addictive. Death Wish snagged ad placement probably worth $5 million (the companys 2015 total revenue) by winning a contest held by Intuit, TurboTax and QuickBooks parent company. About 15,000 small businesses entered, and Inuit whittled those down to nine finalists and told them the winner would be determined by public vote. Death Wish apparently has a rabid fan base that also gets very little sleep, sort of turning this into a cakewalk for the company especially after it called in favors with the stars of Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, who are among the companys devoted buyers. Owner Mike Brown explains the idea wasnt even that serious at first he was running a cafe in Saratoga Springs, and customers would come in asking for a cup of your strongest. To mess with them a little bit, Brown invented an absurd roast that averages 54.2 milligrams of caffeine per ounce when brewed, which means its about six times more caffeinated than McDonalds coffee and nearly three times more than the typical cup at Starbucks. It has an alarmingly high coffee-to-water brew ratio, and theres a money-back guarantee if its not the strongest coffee youve ever had. Death Wish had an earlier brush with fame back in 2013, when the coffee got on an episode of Good Morning America and promptly sold out on Amazon. Brown says the publicity almost buried them, so this time they hired more people, contracted two additional roasters, and have been cranking out coffee 20 hours a day for more than a week. [NYT] At the beginning of this month Samsung released a new version of its Internet browser for Android 5.0 and up. This adds a new API which developers can use to create ad-blocking extensions. Just a few days later, one of the first such extensions, AdBlock Fast, landed in the Play Store - only to be pulled by Google soon after. There's a happy end to this story, however. The developers behind AdBlock Fast appealed Google's decision to pull their app out of the Play Store, and today the search giant has reversed its stance on the matter. Hence, the plugin is once again available to download from the de facto Android app store. What's more, the developers have updated AdBlock Fast and it now works with Samsung devices running Android 4.0 and higher (previously your handset had to be at least on Lollipop). Source | Via So far, we've seen the LG G4 getting updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow in South Korea, Europe, and Canada. Additionally, units sold by Sprint, US Cellular, and T-Mobile have already received their taste of Google's latest treat. And now it's time for the G4 sold by AT&T to be in the exact same position. The over-the-air rollout is apparently under way as you read this, so if you have a G4 purchased from AT&T you might receive that coveted update notification at any time. If this hasn't happened yet but you're impatient, you can always manually check by using the appropriate menu in Settings. It's a 971 MB download, though, so maybe use Wi-Fi to grab it. After having updated your G4, it will be on software version H81020n. Aside from everything that Google's packed into Android 6.0 (features such as Doze mode, Now On Tap, and the new permissions system for example), this release also comes with support for video calling, AT&T notes. Source | Via Google has just announced that it's introducing its flood alerts feature in India. The feature will be available through Google Public Alerts, which is basically a platform that the company uses for disseminating emergency messages. Clicking on an alert will display related details such as a map, expected timeline, as well as tips on how to stay safe. "Using data provided by the Central Water Commission (CWC), users can now find flood alerts with river level information for more than 170 areas in which the CWC has active observation stations," the Mountain View, California-based company said in a blog post. Accessible through both Desktop and mobile, these alerts will be available on the company's web search, Google Maps, Google Now cards in the Google app, as well as on the Public Alerts homepage. Source Curious eyes have staked out regulatory organs around the world, looking for Galaxy S7 findings (water resistance, Always On display). The latest comes from the FCC, where Samsung disclosed the battery capacity and connectivity features of the S7 and S7 edge. The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge will have a 3,600mAh battery, a solid bump over the 3,000mAh battery of the S6 edge+. The phone has LTE, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth and NFC. This filing was for the South Korean version, which will come in SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ flavors. The Samsung Galaxy S7 will have the same connectivity options. This too was a Korean model, which will hit the three major carriers in its home country. Battery capacity is not specified, it should be lower though (smaller size and all). Via Haiti - Security : Messages of the PNH Monday at a press conference at his office in Petionville, Godson Orelus, the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) has reassured the population of the commitment of the National Police at his side, in order to "preserve public order and the gains of democracy in a situation of political uncertainty." It has guaranteed the revelers, who were deprived of festivities Sunday, February 7th because of "political problems" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16542-haiti-flash-first-carnival-day-canceled.html that they will be able to celebrate at Champ de mars, in complete safety this Monday and Tuesday February 8 and 9 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16544-haiti-flash-beginning-of-the-national-carnival-this-monday-details.html On the other hand he invited the protesters not to use violence to get their claims while congratulating those among them who still have a moderate attitude. On the latest events in Cabaret where men torched the police station of Saint-Medard and looted a credit union https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-16534-icihaiti-flash-burning-of-a-sub-police-station-in-saint-medard.html Godson Orelus assume it was acts of banditry that police and justice proposed to punish and that an investigation was underway to identify the perpetrators. Coming back to the presence of armed men in military fatigues on the streets of the capital last Friday, he called these former soldiers not to demonstrate in possession of firearms, reminding them that the decree remobilising the army https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15914-haiti-flash-official-remobilisation-of-the-armed-forces-of-haiti.html do not frame yet with material provisions and organic of command that would make it effective. According to him, this attitude would only complicate an already fragile situation, recognizing their rights to demonstrate peacefully, like any citizen. HL/ SL/ Haitilibre Haiti - News : Electoral Zapping... The G8 talks of a parliamentary coup ! Monday, February 8, in a note signed by Samuel Madistin, the group of candidates to the Presidency G8 member says take note of the departure from power of President Martelly at the end of its mandate and the institutional vacuum created at the Presidency. Moreover, "[...] The G-8 condemns the irresponsible and thoughtless statements made during a 'National Assembly' held in violation of the Constitution by improperly elected parliamentarians who stormed the Haitian parliament without wait until the end of the electoral process as required by the Constitution in Articles 92.3 and 95, paragraph 2. [...] The G-8 will not support any Parliamentary coup. With the departure of former President Joseph Michel Martelly, the alleged agreement https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16535-haiti-flash-g8-already-challenge-the-crisis-exit-agreement.html signed on the sidelines of the Constitution between the executive and the legislative is exhausted https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16533-haiti-politic-the-details-of-the-agreement-from-a-to-z.html [...] The Group supports the continuation of peaceful popular demonstrations held across across the country in order to force state officials to respect the verdict of the polls." Evans Paul offers himself as a mediator... Sunday evening, Evans Paul, in his first speech since assuming the interim head of the Executive, called for the end of the mobilization, offering himself as a mediator between the various parties to the crisis. He implicitly announced imminent action of onsultation of the Primature, condemning the excesses and violence that they come from the opposition or the ruling power "Nap kontinye vanse nan direksyon aktivite demokratik pou relanse demach eleksyon yo," adding "Mobilizasyon jodi a se dyalog pot mwen louvri 2 batan pou resevwa tout revandikasyon lari a. Se nan koute tout son tt lide n'ap rive chante refren patriyotik viv ansanm nan latrankilite, pwogre ak lespwa yon pi bon Ayiti pou nou tout." Lire aussi : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16552-haiti-politic-first-speech-of-evans-paul-as-chief-of-the-executive.html The presidential sash from President Martelly to the Museum The presidential sash of former President Joseph Michel Martelly, was delivered to the Speaker of the National Assembly, according to article 4 of the law on the presidential sash and of swearing which states the "the outgoing President presents the presidential sash to the President of the National Assembly to be entrusted to the National Pantheon Museum of Haiti (MUPANAH) on behalf of our history." Statement by the Spokesperson of the European Union "The agreement concluded between President Martelly, on the eve of his term and the Presidents of the Senate of the Republic and the House of Representatives is a step in the right direction https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16533-haiti-politic-the-details-of-the-agreement-from-a-to-z.html which should allow, through its implementation, to ensure the stability and continuity of the state. It must also guarantee the continuation of the electoral process that will lead to the nomination of the next President elected by the people of Haiti as well as complement, in the same context, the election of deputies and senators. It is important to preserve the right of the Haitian people to choose their government democratically in this all forms of violence. The European Union is ready to accompany the implementation of this agreement and will continue to give its full support to face the challenges and the necessity of reform that the economic and social situation requires." HL/ HaitiLibre The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and National Park Service (NPS) are pleased to announce their 2016 Centennial Challenge project. The nonprofit Foundation will raise $411,632 to update the fire suppression system at Flat Top Manor at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, milepost 294, near Blowing Rock. The funds will be supplemented with an award from Congress of $294,487 to address this pressing need on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the countrys most visited National Park unit. This week, NPS announced nearly $48 million of Centennial Challenge projects to help parks across the country improve visitor services and support outreach to new audiences. The projects, many of which tackle deferred maintenance, come as the NPS kicks off its second century of service in 2016. Congress provided $15 million for the projects, which will be matched by almost $33 million from more than 90 park partners. We are excited that the Blue Ridge Parkway will be the recipient of these Centennial Challenge dollars for a second year, said Mark Woods, Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Through making this donation, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is helping us care for the resources of this park in meaningful ways that will be enjoyed for years to come. This years Centennial Challenge kicks off a multiyear initiative by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to rehabilitate Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, which faces serious maintenance issues due to shortfalls in funding from the federal government. The long-range work will be guided by the Developed Area Management Plan, recently completed by the Parkway, and a steering committee of local volunteers. The work will include additional repairs to Flat Top Manor, the Apple Barn, carriage trails, the observation tower, and more. We are thrilled and honored to play a role in ensuring a bright future for this beloved estate, said Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. Moses H. Cone Memorial Park tells an important story in the history of the High Country and North Carolina, and we are looking forward to partnering with the community to address the repairs this cherished site deserves. Since its inception in 1997, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has worked with donors to invest in the preservation of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. To date, the organization has dedicated more than $1 million in support for this popular destination, including successfully nominating the estate for the National Register of Historic Places. The 2016 Centennial Challenge program builds on the successes of 2015, when Congress appropriated $10 million. In 2015, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation made the commitment to raise matching funds for five Centennial Projects on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The nonprofits collaboration with the National Park Service through the Centennial Challenge in 2015 and 2016 will have a $1.4 million impact on the Parkway. The Centennial commitment is in addition to the Foundations annual financial support of park-identified needs in the areas of historical and cultural preservation, natural resource protection, education and outreach, and visitor amenities. To support this project and other critical needs on the Parkway, please visit www.brpfoundation.org or call (866) 308-2773. About Moses H. Cone Memorial Park The park was owned and developed as a gentlemans country estate by Moses H. Cone, an American captain of industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who with his brother, Ceasar Cone, brought denim production to the South. Together they built a textile empire that still exists today. Cone was not only a successful entrepreneur, he was an inquisitive gentleman farmer who experimented with agriculture and designed and built one of Americas most beautiful country estates. Beginning in 1897, he carefully created an impressive retreat featuring carriage trails, lakes, orchards, fields, and forests. His vision was influenced by a great regard for the natural landscape. Before his untimely death in 1908, he constructed Flat Top Manor as the centerpiece of this idyllic mountain retreat. After his passing, his wife, Bertha, operated the estate for 40 years, adhering to his original concept. The 3,500-acre estate became part of the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1950. 2015 Centennial Projects In 2015, the Foundation committed to raising $357,370 to complement funding allocated by Congress for five Centennial Challenge projects. The Challenge provided donors with the opportunity to double their contribution to the projects of their choice. The Foundation is still accepting donations to complete the five projects: the repaving of Abbott Lake Loop Trail for ADA accessibility (milepost 86 in Virginia), replace roof and repair structure of Polly Woods Ordinary (Milepost 86 in Virginia), rehabilitation of historical structures at Johnson Farm (milepost 86 in Virginia), replace amenities and repave trails at Price Lake Campground (milepost 297 in North Carolina), and rehabilitation of Mount Pisgah Amphitheater (milepost 408 in North Carolina). To support these and other critical needs on the Parkway, please visit www.brpfoundation.org or call (866) 308-2773. About the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation The Foundation is the primary private fundraising organization of the Blue Ridge Parkway, helping ensure cultural and historical preservation, natural resource protection, educational outreach, and visitor enjoyment now and for future generations. www.brpfoundation.org Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket JACKSON, Mississippi-- Budget issues are forcing the Mississippi Department of Corrections to cut the state inmate population at county regional jails. On Friday, MDOC began removing 602 inmates from 13 of the 15 regional jails. Regional facilities receive $29.74 per inmate, per day. MDOC is contractually required to provide 80 percent occupancy. George County has seen the effects of the removals according to Sheriff Keith Havard. "The state picked up 20 of our inmates on Friday and because we charge so much an inmate to house them, taking from us takes money out of our pockets." Jackson County sheriff Mike Ezell says he has spoken with MDOC and is looking for a way to work out a deal. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell "They have not taken any of the inmates yet, but we are in the early stages of talking to MDOC to work something out," Ezell said. "The facilities here where the MDOC folks live belongs to the county, so we are trying to work out some sort of deal to keep some of the folks here." "We are looking for ways to offset some of the costs of housing, meals, and things like that. There is a lot to get done here in order to make this happen." With funding being cut, this puts not only Jackson County, but other surrounding counties in a bind as well. "The inmates provide a lot of labor for the cities of Pascagoula, Moss Point, Gautier, and Ocean Springs and supplement work personnel," Ezell continued, "so in order for us to be able to do this, we must be able to come up with a solution with the surrounding cities to see how we can best utilize the work force and also take care of their living needs." Counties are allowed to keep the inmates in work programs but the MDOC will not reimburse them for expenses related to housing, education and alcohol and drug treatment. MDOC still will provide and pay for medical care. Given MDOC's issues-- low pay, high turnover, critical staff shortages, and aging facilities, MDOC commissioner Marshall Fisher said he's constantly re-evaluating the department's expenditures. "Hard choices are just as necessary this year as they were last year when I became corrections commissioner," Fisher said. "For example, I don't like having to close community work centers, but we simply don't have the staff to keep some of them operating." The Finnish Customs reported that the value of exports to Russia fell sharply across all categories of export goods, by a total of 34 per cent year-on-year between January and November of 2015. The fall was not quite as severe as the 47 per cent decline in the value of exports to Russia witnessed in 2009 but notably sharper than the 13 per cent decline witnessed in 2014. The value of exports from Finland to Russia continued to plummet in 2015, suggest preliminary statistics published by the Finnish Customs on Monday. In particular, the exports of food, transport equipment and industrial machines dropped over the first eleven months of last year, by 67, 56 and 38 per cent respectively. Also the value of imports from Russia to Finland dropped notably as a result of the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, by a total of 32 per cent one percentage point more than in 2009 between January and November of 2015. The value of both exports and imports fell more than the average of member states of the European Union. The total value of exports from the EU to Russia fell by 29 per cent between January and November of 2015, while that of imports from Russia to the EU fell by 26 per cent. The slowdown in trade with Russia is largely to blame for the decline in the value of all goods exported from Finland in 2015, according to the Finnish Customs. The preliminary statistics indicate that the value of all exports dropped by four per cent to 53.5 billion euros while that of all imports dropped by six per cent to 54.2 billion euros over the first eleven months of last year. The decline in total exports is attributable especially to two factors: the severe fall in the value of exported oil products and the notable decline in exports to Russia, the Finnish Customs states in a press release. The statistics are noteworthy especially in light of the fact that the value of exports remained unchanged and that of imports only decreased by one per cent in 2014. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Iran is a county country of beautiful mountains and deserts situated in southwest of Asia. Eastern Iran is dominated by a high plateau, with large salt flats and vast sand deserts. The plateau is surrounded by even higher mountains, including the Zagros to the west and the Elburz to the north. Irans neighbors are Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia to the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and Turkey and Iraq to the west. The capital Tehran is the countrys largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Climate The eastern and central basins are arid, with less than 200 mm (7.9 in) of rain, and have occasional deserts. Average summer temperatures exceed 38 C (100.4 F). The coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern Iran have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm (5.3 to 14.0 in). Name of the country: Islamic Republic of Iran National Slogan: Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic Capital: Tehran Geographical condition: 35 41 N 51 25 E Capital: Tehran Language: Persian Religion: Islam Leader: Great Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei President: Dr. Hassan Rohani National Day: 11 February Population (2016) : 79000000 Currency unit: Iranian Rial Internet Domain: ir International Tel code: 0098 Exports: oil, carpet, fruits, dry fruits (pistachios, raisins and dates), leather, caviar, petrochemical products, apparels and dresses, foodstuffs. Imports: machineries, industrial metals, medicines, chemical derivatives. Industries: oil, petrochemical, textile, cement and other materials for building construction, food derivatives (especially refining sugar and extracting edible oil), Agriculture: wheat, rice, grains, fruits, oily seeds such as pistachios, almond, walnut, cotton. Transportation: 7286 kilometers of railways and 158000 kilometers of roads. Pipelines: oil derivatives 3900 kilometer, natural gas 4550 kilometer. Ports: Abadan, Ahwaz, Shahid Beheshti port, Abbas port, Anzali port, Bushehr port, Imam Khomeini port, Mahshahr port, Turkman port, Khoramshahr, Noshahr. History Recent archaeological studies indicate that as early as 10,000 BC, people lived on the southern shores of the Caspian, one of the few regions of the world, which according to scientists escaped the Ice Age. They were probably the first men in the history of mankind to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. Language and literature Official language (of Iran) is Persian. Persian serves as a lingua franca in Iran and most publications and broadcastings are in this language. Next to Persian, there are many publications and broadcastings in other relatively popular languages of Iran such as Azeri, Kurdish and even in less popular ones such as Arabic and Armenian. Many languages originated in Iran, but Persian is the most used language. Persian belongs to Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The oldest records in Old Persian date to the Achaemenid Empire, and examples of Old Persian has been found in present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt. Persian is spoken today primarily in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but was historically a more widely understood language in an area ranging from the Middle East to India, significant populations of speakers in other Persian Gulf countries, as well as large communities around the World. Persian, until recent centuries, was culturally and historically one of the most prominent languages of the Middle East and regions beyond. For example, it was an important language during the reign of the Moguls in Indian where knowledge of Persian was cultivated and encouraged; its use in the courts of Mogul India ended in 1837, banned by officials of the East Indian Company (British Colonialism). Persian scholars were prominent in both Turkish and Indian courts during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries in composing dictionaries and grammatical works. A Persian Indian vernacular developed and many colonial British officers learned their Persian from Indian scribes. The name of the modern Persian language is sometimes mentioned as Farsi in English texts. Human beings are members of a whole In creation of one essence and soul If one member is afflicted with pain Other members uneasy will remain If you have no sympathy for human pain The name of human you cannot retain These verses by great Iranian poet Sadi is written in entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York. We can distinguish two periods of Persian poetry: one traditional, from the tenth to nearly mid, twentieth century; the other modernist, from about World War II to the present. Within the long period of traditional poetry, however, four periods can be traced, each marked by a distinct stylistic development. The first of these, comprising roughly the tenth to the twelfth century, is characterized by a strong and an exalted style (sabk-e fakher). One may define this style (generally known as Khorasani, from the association of most of its earlier representatives with Greater Khorasan) by its lofty diction, dignified tone, and highly literate language. The second, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, is marked by the prominence of lyric poetry, the consequent development of the ghazal into the most significant verse form, and the diffusion of mystical thought. Its style is generally dubbed Eraqi because of the association of some of its earlier exponents with central and western Persia (even though its two major representatives, Sadi and Hafez, were from the southern province of Fars); it is known by its lyric quality, tenderness of feeling, mellifluous meters, and the relative simplicity of its language. With Ferdowsis immortal poem, the Shah-nama, epic poetry rose to the height of its achievement almost at its beginning. Hailed as the greatest monument of Persian language and one of the major world epics, it consists of some fifty thousand couplets relating the history of the Iranian nation in myth, legend, and fact, from the beginning of the world to the fall of the Sassanian Empire. Ferdowsi, who belonged to the landed gentry (dehqan) and was well versed in Iranian cultural heritage and lore, fully understood the sense and direction of the work he was versifying. His approximately thirty years of labor produced a magnificent epic of tremendous impact. The culmination of Persian lyric poetry was reached about a hundred years after Sadi with Hafez, the most delicate and most popular of Persian poets. His ghazals are typical in their content and motifs but exceptional in their combination of noble sentiments, powerful expression elegance of diction and felicity of imagery. His world-view encompasses many Gnostic, mystical, and stoic sentiments, which were the common cultural heritage of his age. While Hafezs satirical lines against pretense and hypocrisy lend a biting edge to his lyrics, his philosophical outlook and Gnostic longings impart an exalted air of wisdom and detachment to his poems. But he is above all a poet of love who celebrates in his ghazals the glory of human beauty and the passion of love. Nima Yushij is (1897-1960) the father of modernist poetry and writing free verse. It not only dispensed with the necessity of rhyme and consistent meter, but it also rejected the imagery of traditional poetry and departed noticeably from its mode of expression. By the late 1950s modernist poetry had become the dominant mode of avant-garde Persian poetry. Most of the contemporary literary movements in the West, from the Symbolist to Imagist schools, have found exponents among modernist Persian poets. In modernist poetry, all formal canons, thematic and imagistic conventions, as well as mystical dimensions of the traditional school are by and large abandoned, and the poets feel free to adapt the form of their poems to the requirements of their individual tastes and artistic outlooks. Iranian Calendar Iranian official calendar, regulate according to Solar year & Iranian months. 21 March, i.e. 1 Farvardin, is the first day of the Iranian New Year. Lunar calendar is also announced officially in Iran. Lunar year is 10 days less than the Solar year, so specific days of performing religious rites, that adjust according Lunar calendar, each year is different from next & former years. Therefore it is recommended to tourists that they check and arrange their proper traveling time with related agencies. Especially in the month of Ramadan when Muslims are fasting and in the month of Muharram which is a month of mourning for Shia Muslims. These situations influence the daily and current activities and some days in these two months are public holidays. Friday is official holiday every week of the year. Culture Iranian culture has long been a predominant culture of the Middle East and Central Asia, with Persian considered as the language of intellectuals during much of the 2nd millennium, and the language of religion and the populace before that. The Sassanid influence carried forward to the Islamic world. Much of what later became known as Islamic learning, such as philology, literature, jurisprudence, philosophy, medicine, architecture and the sciences were based on some of the practices taken from the Sassanid Persians to the broader Muslim world. Following is the full text of joint statement read by Zarif and Mogherini: Today, we have reached Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Ever since Adoption Day, we worked hard and showed mutual commitment and collective will to finally bring the JCPOA to implementation. Today, six months after finalisation of the historic agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran has implemented its nuclear related commitments under the JCPOA. As Iran has fulfilled its commitments, today, multilateral and national economic and financial sanctions related to Irans nuclear programme are lifted in accordance with the JCPOA. The EU and E3+3 countries, consisting of the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America, and Iran will also cooperate in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, in the framework of the JCPOA. UN sanctions related to Irans nuclear programme are lifted. United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), which endorsed the JCPOA, will from now onwards, together with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), be the sole international legal framework related to Irans nuclear activities, terminating provisions of resolutions 1696 (2006), 1737 (2007), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008), 1929 (2010) and 2224 (2015). The EU has confirmed that the legal framework providing for the lifting of its nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions is effective. The United States today is ceasing the application of its nuclear-related statutory sanctions on Iran, including terminating relevant Executive Orders and licensing of certain activities, as specified in the JCPOA. The EU and the United States have issued relevant guidelines on the details of sanctions, which have been lifted thus facilitating international engagement in Irans economic development. As foreseen, we will continue to thoroughly monitor and oversee the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA as exactly agreed on 14 July 2015 through the Joint Commission, consisting of the E3/EU+3 and Iran, coordinated by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. On its side, the IAEA is entrusted with the responsibility for the monitoring and verification of the JCPOA as well as of Irans obligations as a Party to Non-Proliferation Treaty and its safeguards agreement and the provisional application of its Additional Protocol. We would like to use this opportunity to thank the Austrian Government for their hospitality and all those countries that supported the negotiation process and helped to implement some of the commitments under the JCPOA. We also wish to express our appreciation to all those who led these negotiations on behalf of Islamic Republic of Iran and E3/EU+3 since 2003. All sides remain firmly convinced that this historic deal is both strong and fair, and that it meets the requirements of all; its proper implementation will be a key contribution to improved regional and international peace, stability and security. This achievement clearly demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most difficult issues and find practical solutions that are effectively implemented. This is an encouraging and strong message that the international community must keep in mind in our efforts to make the world a safer place. Picture: JOE KLAMAR - LEHTIKUVA / AFP Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure. WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more. Cartel gang target Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch has been moved to a special protection wing of Wheatfield Prison because of renewed fears that he could be murdered on the orders of the Christy Kinahan mob. 'Del Boy' is just one of dozens of the extended Hutch gang whose lives are under threat from the Kinahan cartel in the wake of the assassination of David Byrne (34) at the Regency Hotel, and last night's murder in Ballybough. The decision to move 'Del Boy' to a more secure area of Wheatfield Prison happened on Saturday, just hours after Friday's hotel bloodbath, which gardai believe was carried out in revenge for the murder of his brother Gary Hutch in Spain last September. Convicted killer 'Del Boy' (31) has already survived two serious jail attacks since his brother was murdered, and sources say that there is intelligence that the cartel are determined to murder him behind bars. Protection It can also be revealed that two violent criminals, who attacked 'Del Boy' in Mountjoy Prison last year on behalf of the cartel, refused to take advice to move to a protection wing in that jail at the weekend. Close associates of 'Del Boy' are suspected of being part of the six-man hit team that murdered Byrne and injured his two friends, Aaron Bolger (25) and Sean McGovern (30). Daniel Kinahan (37), the son of cartel boss Christy Kinahan, was the chief target of Friday's attack, but he escaped unhurt. The murders are part of a bitter feud that has been simmering between the two factions for over five months. It escalated when Gary's uncle, Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, refused to attend a meeting with the cartel. A major garda briefing, which involved senior detectives from across the capital, took place at Ballymun Garda Station yesterday, where it was decided that there will be an increase in armed checkpoints. No arrests have yet taken place and gardai have not identified all those involved in the bloodbath, while it is understood there are no "imminent plans" to arrest any suspects. Edward Neddie Hutch was shot up to nine times by the gunmen The brother of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch was murdered in cold blood in a vicious retaliation to Friday's hotel shootout. Edward Hutch, known locally as Neddie, was gunned down inside a house on Poplar Row in the north inner city just before 7.45pm. A gang of four men burst into the house - through the window and front door - shooting Mr Hutch up to nine times. A local source told the Herald that up to a dozen shots were fired at the scene. Sources last night said that Mr Hutch was not a player in organised crime and was considered a "soft target". The Christy Kinahan cartel are the chief suspects for the shocking revenge murder and the assassination is considered a major escalation of gang war that is spiralling out of control. Targeted Mr Hutch was targeted because he was the brother of 'The Monk' and the uncle of Gary Hutch who was shot dead by the same gang in Spain last September. It is understood that he had worked as a taxi driver and had not been in serious trouble with the law for decades. "He was a soft target. They only went after him because they know the pain it is going to cause his brother Gerry," a source said. In a deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence, associates of Gary murdered senior cartel member David Byrne in the Regency Hotel on Friday. The Drumcondra shooting in turn led the cartel to declare that anyone connected to Gary or Gerry Hutch was a legitimate target after they held a 'war summit' in a south inner city pub at the weekend. Dozens of members of the Hutch gang have been warned that their lives are in danger by gardai in recent weeks. It is understood that a very close Crumlin-based associate of David Byrne put up a six-figure sum to avenge his death at the weekend. He is not suspected of being one of the gunmen last night because he has been under major garda surveillance. Two of the men involved in the shooting on Poplar Row are believed to have escaped in a car which was later found dumped in nearby St Patrick's Parade. Crucially, it was not burned out, but it seems as if it was the intention to destroy it because a canister of petrol was found inside it. Last night, Mr Hutch was described as being well-settled and respected in the Ballybough community. He had a number of convictions for small-time fraud and shoplifting. Shortly after the shooting up to 120 people surrounded the home of Edward Hutch Snr last night. Tensions were on a knife-edge as hundreds of people streamed onto the streets from the Ballybough flat complex. Gardai struggled to come to terms with the event as a steady flow of people moved in and out of the small ground-floor flat before authorities could cordon off the area. Less than an hour after the shooting gardai were investigating reports of shots being fired in Tallaght. However, there were no reports of any injuries in the incident. Sources said reports of shots been fired or a bomb going off were a trick often used by 'Fat' Freddie Thompson in the past to divert garda resouces to different areas. Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald pledged to meet with senior gardai this morning to discuss the murder. The shooting was "another deplorable example of the ruthlessness of gangland criminals", she said. "It seems that some gangs are intent on waging a feud where human life counts for nothing. "The gardai will take all necessary steps to try to prevent further bloodshed, but we have to recognise the challenges they face. Members of gangs who have fears for their safety should come forward to the gardai." Local Social Democrats councillor Gary Gannon described the killing as a "needless tragedy". "This level of depravity cannot be tolerated on our streets. But at this moment my thoughts are solely with the family of Edward," he said. Meanwhile, Cllr Christy Burke hit out at the fact that armed checkpoints in the city failed to prevent the hit. "This is what it has come to. You can be shot dead because of your name. If they can't get who they want they'll find a relative. It's shocking," he told the Herald. "The gardai have lost it in my opinion. They don't have the resources they need and ordinary citizens need protecting. "There were armed checkpoints around the city last night and all weekend, and still this happened. It was the element of surprise." investigation In the past Mr Hutch was suspected of helping launder some of the proceeds from the hiests carried out by his brother. He was one of a large group of the Monk's associates targeted in Operation Alpha, the first major investigation launched by the Criminal Assets Bureau shortly after it was first established in 1996. As part of the enquiry, which was to last over 10 years, the CAB seized a bank account in Eddie Hutch's name which contained over 156,000. Prior to the latest murder garda sources revealed that fear was running high in the north inner city as people feared the Kinahan gang were "hell-bent" on revenge. Just hours before the shooting senior gardai met in Ballymun where it was decided that there will be an increase in armed checkpoints across the city. Not everyone involved in Friday's bloodbath has been identified. A federal law is needed because the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010, although valuable, is limited in scope. It bans the trade in video depictions of cruelty, but it does not prohibit the underlying conduct of the cruelty itself. Photo by iStockphoto 1.4K shares In May 2015, in Temecula, California, a U.S. Marine couple living at Camp Pendleton were accused of shattering their dogs legs and binding his mouth with rubber bands for days. In a case like this the state can prosecute under its anti-cruelty statute, but given that the practice occurred on a U.S. military installation, it might give local prosecutors pause. Thats precisely why Congress should enact the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act. Where abuse occurs on federal property, or in cases that span multiple states or other territorial jurisdictions, a federal anti-cruelty statute would allow a crackdown on cruelty. Fortunately, theres momentum building for just such a measure in Congress. Introduced by Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Ted Deutch, D-Fla., and Senators Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., H.R. 2293 and S. 1831 have attracted as cosponsors a majority of the U.S. House and nearly a third of the Senate. The measure would allow federal law enforcement agencies to bring a case against people perpetrating the most malicious forms of cruelty with a federal dimension. Five years ago, Congress passed the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act, prohibiting the trade in obscene video depictions of animals being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or subjected to other forms of heinous cruelty. The law is valuable but limited in scope, and while it bans the trade in video depictions of cruelty, it does not prohibit the underlying conduct of the cruelty itself. A federal ban would help not only animals, but potential human victims as well. There are a raft of studies to indicate the link between the abuse of animals and violence against people: Of 36 convicted multiple murderers questioned in one study, 46 percent admitted committing acts of animal torture as adolescents. Of seven school shootings that took place across the country between 1997 and 2001, all involved boys who had previously committed acts of animal cruelty. A 2002 study found that 96 percent of juveniles who had sexual conduct with animals also admitted to sex offenses against humans. The National Childrens Advocacy Center, a non-profit that combats child abuse and neglect, endorses The PACT Act. The National Sheriffs Association also backs the legislation, along with more than 150 law enforcement agencies across the country. And just last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began including animal cruelty offenses in the Uniform Crime Report. The nation is waking up to cruelty as an indicator of a social pathology. First offenders typically start on animals, then turn their violent instincts to people. While all states have laws against dogfighting and cockfighting, Congress saw fit to pass a federal anti-animal fighting statute for complex cases involving multiple jurisdictions. The state and federal laws are complementary, and we propose a similar set-up for anti-cruelty statutes targeting the most malicious types of abuse. Congress should act on this legislation now. Theres no excuse for a delay. As a society, we have an unspoken pact with vulnerable creatures to protect them from needless and malicious violence, and the PACT Act is part of any good plan to act on that principle. Gardai have found an imitation firearm and a fake hand grenade during a search of a house as they continue to question a father and son about the gruesome murder of Kenneth O'Brien. Members of the garda technical bureau searched the house in Finglas in north Dublin all day yesterday, following on from the arrest of the men on Saturday morning. The duo - who were not previously known to gardai for involvement in serious crime - are being held at Leixlip and Naas garda stations. Sources said that an imitation firearm and fake grenade were found during the search and gardai have been investigating the men's links to dissident republicanism. The army bomb disposal unit was called to the property, but the grenade was quickly declared safe. It is understood that the younger of the arrested men gave gardai a detailed statement, but sources said detectives were now checking out the details he gave to officers. A number of garda vehicles were parked outside the Finglas house as the searches were going on yesterday. Surveillance It has been established that the father and son knew Mr O'Brien and they became "persons of interest" in the case over a week ago. They had been under surveillance before their arrests. The young man was arrested in Finglas at around 4am on Saturday. His father was picked up a few hours later. Mr O'Brien (33) - originally from Ballyfermot in Dublin - was fatally shot once in the head and his body dismembered. His torso was placed in a suitcase and dumped in the Grand Canal at Ardclough in Co Kildare. Additional body parts were later found in the canal near Sallins, Co Kildare. The 33-year-old lived in Clondalkin, west Dublin, with his partner and young child. Gardai believe that the 33-year-old was murdered within hours of leaving his Clondalkin home on January 15. It is understood that the victim had been either laundering cash for a crime gang or providing them with money when a dispute led to his death. Chainsaw After being shot in the head, Mr O'Brien's killers cut up his body using a chainsaw and scattered it in different locations in the Grand Canal. Mr O'Brien's funeral heard about the terrible loss that his family had suffered. "The sudden loss of Kenneth and the circumstances surrounding his death are more than any parents, partner, son, family, friends or anyone should ever have to endure," a letter from his father Gerry stated. "We are so grateful to be in a position to be able to put our son to rest peacefully." The defendant admitted to being drunk on a Ryanair flight from Brussels to Dublin. (Stock image). A software developer had to be taken off a flight after he got drunk and allegedly threatening to open the emergency door. Danny Golden (29) mixed alcohol with anti-depressants, which he has been taking since he broke up with his girlfriend. He was coming home for the weekend after his mother bought the flights as a present. Golden told the court he was "absolutely ashamed" of his behaviour. Judge Dermot Dempsey applied the probation act after Golden donated 500 to the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service. The defendant admitted to being drunk on a Ryanair flight from Brussels to Dublin. Garda Tom Doherty told Swords District Court that officers were called to Dublin Airport last Friday following reports of a disruptive passenger. Gda Doherty said Golden had bought cans of beer in Brussels and started drinking them on board the flight. Airline staff told Golden he couldn't drink them, as only alcohol purchased on the plane can be consumed on the flight. Gda Doherty said Golden refused to stop drinking and he had to be escorted from the plane at Dublin Airport. Dangerous Gda Doherty further alleged Golden claimed he was a dangerous man and threatened to open an emergency door. However, defence solicitor Fiona D'Arcy said Golden believes he said, "if I am such a dangerous man, why was I put sitting at the emergency door", and there was no such threat. Gda Doherty said Golden - of Monread Heights in Naas, Co Kildare - was very drunk. Ms D'Arcy said Golden studied in Carlow IT and is a software developer working in France. She said Golden and his long-term partner broke up a few months ago and he has struggled to cope since. Ms D'Arcy said Golden is on prescribed anti-depressants, and should not have mixed his medication with alcohol. Gov. Tom Wolf's second budget address Tuesday lasted not quite a half-hour. But the truth is, it ended long before he finished speaking. It ended halfway through, amid the scalding rhetoric that netted him a chorus of catcalls and boos from House Republicans who were its intended targets. Wolf scorched Republicans, telling them they should "find another job," if they couldn't (or wouldn't) fix the state's fiscal mess. The speech to a joint session of the state House and Senate came more than seven months into a fiscal year that still hasn't resulted in an agreement on his first budget. And putting the "bully" in bully pulpit, the York Democrat, sounding like nothing so much as an enraged headmaster, warned that the state's fiscal train had been "careening" down the tracks for years. And it was up to lawmakers to stop it - or not. "It's up to the people in this chamber to save our taxpayers from getting handed the bills Harrisburg wasn't responsible enough to pay," he scolded them. "It's up to the people in this chamber to save Pennsylvania's future. "It's time for the people in this chamber to get back to work," he said, doing his best Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of Angry God" routine. Except the hell Wolf sketched out in his speech wasn't fire and brimstone and a place of eternal damnation (though the Capitol can often seem that way). It was one of mass teacher layoffs, rising property taxes, slashed social service programs and cratering credit ratings. "If we do not solve this crisis, whatever partisan gain you think you may win will be dwarfed by the enormous losses our state will suffer," he said. "Nobody in Pennsylvania will care one iota about the politics of a disaster that costs our Commonwealth so much." But as he asked lawmakers to sign off on a proposed $33.2 billion spending plan that depends on massive income and sales tax hikes intended to close a looming $2.2 billion deficit, it was tough to imagine the two sides sitting down across from each other for a long time. "This is my 18th budget and these were the most absurd, most politically motivated remarks I've ever heard," Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said. "The governor has no intention of getting anything done." House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, doubled down, saying the only way Wolf's spending plan could could work was if he'd "picked up a leprechaun with a pot of gold," in his famous Jeep. "I thought he'd come back from Fantasyland, but instead he left for Neverland," Reed quipped. But here's the thing: On the merits, Wolf's not wrong. It's a national embarrassment that Pennsylvania, with one of the largest and best-paid Legislatures in the country, can't get a budget done. And he's right that the state has been papering over its fiscal flaws for entirely too long. Our only company in this infamy is Illinois, which rivals, but doesn't quite eclipse, the Keystone State's long and glorious history of incompetence and corruption. They don't have a budget either. So there's that, at least. Wolf and the Republicans came close to ending the protracted drama late last year. But a laboriously negotiated compromise collapsed for two reasons. First, Wolf couldn't (or wouldn't) dredge up the Democratic votes for a pension reform package that Senate Republicans said they needed in exchange for their votes on the administration's tax hikes. Second, late last year, House Republicans abruptly pulled the plug on a vote on the Senate plan claiming they didn't have the backing for Wolf's tax hikes. They were also touchy about his resistance to booze privatization. But the decision on the vote conveniently flew in the face of the fact that nearly two-dozen insurgent House Republicans were set to support them and end the stalemate. So the House GOP bugged out for the holidays. Senate Republicans, fearing schools and nonprofits would run out of cash, sent Wolf a previously approved House budget. A week or so later, Wolf called it garbage and made like Jackson Pollock with his line-item veto pen. And what was left was an 11-month, stopgap budget that nobody liked. And that's pretty much where things have sat ever since - apart from periodic fits and starts -- but with no resolution. Wolf is sticking by the scuttled "framework" even though seemingly everyone in the Capitol -- except him -- thinks it's long since dead. So Wolf is right to be frosted at House Republicans for not keeping up their end of the five-party deal. And he justifiably reserved much of his budget speech ire for them. And the Guv's Democratic allies in the House and Senate are onto something when they credited him for what they called some badly needed truth-telling. "For four years [voters] were fibbed to ... we don't have balanced budgets," House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, said. "There's no wishing it away. It's time to enact a responsible budget with recurring revenues." But here's where the administration loses it. Republicans are also right when they argue the state needs to get its fiscal house in order and curtail spending. And some even agree on the existence of a structural deficit. But no matter how angry you are, no matter how frustrated, you don't march into someone's house, tell them how bad their dinner is, what lousy hosts they are, how badly behaved their kids are and how you hate the way they've furnished the joint, and then wonder why you're never invited back. But that's what Wolf did Tuesday, and in the doing of it, he accomplished the rarest of all things: He made Republicans nostalgic for former Gov. Ed Rendell, who could peel the paint from the walls, but also knew when it was time to sweet-talk someone. "Rendell was as political an animal as anyone," Corman observed. "But he never would have given a speech like that. For a guy who positioned himself as an outsider, everything is politically motivated." If it had been any other time, Wolf said at the start of his speech, he would have offered a "proposal full of ideas to move our Commonwealth forward." After that speech - and the reaction to it - it's hard to imagine anything else but more gridlock. Hagerstown man found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in 2021 shooting Hagerstown resident Gage J. Coles was convicted Thursday in the October 2021 shooting death of John A. Leonard IV and the shooting of Jaseye Stephens. By technology standards, Dialogic is a veteran having been established in 1983, the company has supplied communications infrastructure used by carriers, enterprises and developers for many, many decades. The New Jersey company enjoyed the benefit of providing solutions which could be paid for by arbitrage. In the late eighties and nineties, Dialogic boards allowed companies to build computer-telephony solutions which used off-the-shelf computers to compete with custom-built hardware solutions from manufacturers of telecom equipment. Even though Dialogic boards were not cheap, solutions based on their products cost far less than alternatives on the market thanks to the ability to leverage PCs and servers. Over time, expensive long-distance rates were chopped down by Dialogic products which helped launch the international call-back market allowing international users to call a US number and hang up only to have a call initiated from the US, using much cheaper calling rates. From there, the IP telephony or VoIP market was invented allowing Dialogic boards to take traditional analog voice calls, compress and packetize them and send them over the Internet as well as corporate networks. In my opinion, the companys mission has always been to enable communications to become far more flexible and cost-effective by leveraging commoditized hardware. For example, much of the voicemail market relied on their boards and when carriers wanted to add ring-back services, quite often they used Dialogic components. In the late nineties there was a big trend in the market to provide application generators or app-gens the idea being you could use a drag-and-drop interface to develop IVR, ACD and other voice applications Press one for sales, press two for service, etc. As hot as the market was at the time, it became less talked about as developers started to leverage open-source and cloud solutions instead of traditional in-house or customer-premise based solutions. Jim Machi with Dialogic discusses the significance of this news with me at ITEXPO Fort Lauderdale 2016 An interesting thing has happened over the years Customers still need to develop solutions based on Dialogic products and they need help doing it but they dont have as many options available to them. As a result, Dialogic has purchased application development leader, Apex Communications the company founded by Elhum Vahdat, based in southern California. Apex has had close ties to Dialogic for decades. Dialogic PowerVille (formerly PowerApp)Overview Dialogic PowerVille will be the name of the companys new applications division. Some may see this move as a conflict with existing partners but it really doesnt seem to be, as Dialogic has said they do not plan to offer application services in the contact center or fax markets as they already have partners in these spaces. What kind of apps might we see? Ones which ping your phone when a camera detects motion or which integrate WebRTC with social networks. In other instances, we might see a traditional voice app being converted to the cloud, VoIP or even VoLTE. Dialogics Alan Percy discusses the companys PowerVille Load Balancer, NFV, open source in the carrier market and more at ITEXPO Fort Lauderdale 2016 Prepackaged apps will consist of things like white label Centrex, visual IVR, audio and video conferencing and a number of Class 4 and 5 applications. The company will continue its relationship with Broadsoft as customers want to move more into the Class 5 arena. Dialogic may be unique in being able to combine custom and prepackaged apps and enabling elements under one umbrella. Their portfolio includes a variety of applications that can be customized easily to meet the needs of operators around the world, including adding video to existing voice solutions, migrating existing voice / video solutions to WebRTC-based solutions and/or IMS/VoLTE-based solutions, and various forms of IoT communication applications. Dialogic Vision The first arbitrage opportunity I spelled out at the top of this piece using off the shelf hardware to produce more flexible communications systems is similar to what is powering the carrier move to NFV today. Expect this company with its media server and new flexible real-time communications load balancer to be on the short list of carriers looking to virtualize their network functions especially when solutions can now become more flexible thanks to custom app development. The Dialogic Road Map Eventually we Can Expect the Apps to be Delivered from the Cloud Dialogic also released a new logo and Tim Moynihan and Jim Machi promised me there will be lots of exciting news soon to report such as a large win in a tier one mobile operator in Japan. Stay tuned. If you want to check out Dialogic in person, be sure to visit them at MWC in Barcelona or All About the API in Las Vegas. This weekend might be the last warm one we have in awhile local UPDATED Acting U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. has been talking a lot about ensuring that schools are diverse, as a means to ensure equity and boost student achievement. And now it seems hes hoping to put some new money where his rhetoric is. The Obama administrations final budget, slated to be released Tuesday, is expected to ask for $120 million for a new competitive-grant programcalled Stronger Together"that would help districtsor groups of districtstackle the sticky issue of making schools more socio-economically integrated, sources say. Grantees could either use the money for planning grants, or they could move right into implementing ideas. So will this new grant program actually come to fruition? Its tough to say. The administration and Congress agreed on pretty strict spending caps that dont leave a lot of room for new programs. And, politically, it seems unlikely that the Republican lawmakers who control the committees overseeing education spending would want to help President Barack Obama and King bolster their legacy on the way out the door. Still, the next presidential administration could take the idea and run with it. And the proposal may make some advocates happymany think the Obama administration hasnt done enough on the issue of integration. More in this great This American Life episode . In some other advance tidbits from the administrations fiscal year 2017 budget request, sources say the president will seek: A $450 million increase for the Title I grants for disadvantaged students. The boost for Title I, however, includes the money that used to be part of the School Improvement Grant program, which was eliminated under ESSA. So its not really a net increase for the program. And special education state grants would be flat-funded, but theres some extra money for early childhood special education. A $77 million increase for Career and Technical education, plus $25 million more for state assessments, which would bring the program to $405 million. Federal programs for rural schools, which got a bump in the most recent budget, would be flat-funded. Preschool development grants, which have moved to the Department of Health and Human Services, would see a $100 million increase to $350 million. $100 million for new Computer Science for All development grants that would help disadvantaged communities bolster computer science education. Education Innovation and Research"the successor program to Investing in Innovation, would get $180 million, an increase of $60 million over i3s current funding of $120 million. Overall, the Education Department would get $69.4 billion, an increase of about $1.3 billion, or just under 2 percent. The presidents budget is also expected to seek $500 million for the new block grant program in the just-passed Every Student Succeeds Act, into which a number of other programs were consolidated. The administration wants to put a twist on that program, though. Instead of having the money go out by formula to states and then districts, as it does under ESSA, it would first go by formula to states, who would then send it out competitively. And the grants would be at least $50,000. Under ESSA, districts that receive less than $30,000 from the block grant dont have to abide by the rules in the law for using it. But, if the grants are as big as $50,000 districts who get them would have to spend at least 20 percent on one activity that helps improve student health and safety, and another 20 percent on at least one activity that helps students become more well-rounded. And they couldnt spend more than 15 percent of the funding on technology infrastructure. Why the twist? Under ESSA, the block grant was slated to be much larger, $1.6 billion. But it would be difficult for the administration and Congress to provide all that money and stay within the strict spending caps. If the $500 million goes out by formula to districts, the grants wont be very big, the thinking goes. Making it competitive within states would alleviate that problem. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . UPDATED President Barack Obamas final budget blueprint seeks new money to help schools become more socioeconomically integrated, and proposes increases for the administrations long-time priorities, including expanding preschool and helping school districts scale up promising practices. But the spending plan, which is unlikely to be adopted wholesale by a GOP-controlled Congress, would essentially flat-fund programs that nearly all school districts depend on to educate students in special education and disadvantaged students. And it asks for a modest boost overall for the U.S. Department of Education$69.4 billion in discretionary funding, or a 1.9 percent increase over current levels. The Presidents budget reflects the Administrations broader efforts to expand opportunity and ensure every child can achieve his or her full potential, said Acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr. in a statement. We have made tremendous progress with record high school graduation rates and more students of color going to college, but we have further to go to ensure that educational excellence is a reality for all students. Integration Focus The budget request includes a $120 million ask for Stronger Together, a new competitive-grant program aimed at helping schools become more socioeconomically diverse. The money would go to districts, or groups of districts, that have big achievement gaps and problems with socioeconomic integration. The grants could be used either to help these districts figure out a plan to address those problems, or to implement a strategy thats already been developed. The focus on integration isnt a total surprise: King has made the issue a theme of recent speeches. Among other things, he said, it can help ensure that students across the economic spectrum have access to the same resources including great teachers, enrichment classes, and cutting-edge technology. (More here .) The integration emphasis is carried over into other parts of the education budget ask. The president also wants $115 million for Magnet Schools, up from $96 million currently, in part for five-year competitive grants to support desegregation efforts. Plus, the budget seeks $17 million for the charter school program, which would bring it to $350 million. The administration sees charters and magnets as key vehicles for integrating schools. And, the department wants $100 million for a new computer-science initiative that would help schools that serve disadvantaged kids. The budget also seeks $800 million, a $63 million increase, for English-language acquisition grants. But for his part, Jeff Simering, the director of legislative services for the Council of the Great City Schools, was unhappy with the priority of the new program on socio-economic integration at the expense of racial integration. Racial re-segregation has further isolated minority students in many school districts, he said in an email. Whats more racial isolation still plagues the nations elementary and secondary school system. The new socio-economic integration proposal redirects attention and funding away from the continuing need for traditional integration of students. While Simering doesnt except the proposal to come to fruition, given the tight budget climate, he would rather see the additional $120 million put towards magnet schools, or Title I grants for disadvantaged kids, which Obama basically slated for stagnant funding. Formulas Flat Big programs that go out to nearly every school districtTitle I grants for disadvantaged students and state grants for special educationwere essentially level-funded. To be sure, the request for Title I grants to districts included a $450 million increase over current levels. But thats not new money because the Every Student Succeeds Act, the newest edition of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, eliminates the School Improvement Grant program, which received about $450 million in fiscal year 2017. The request just adds the former SIG money into the broader Title I program. Special education state grants, meanwhile, would receive $11.9 billion, the same level as last year. (More on special education and the budget here .) AASA, the School Administrators Association, commended Obama for making education funding a consistent priority throughout his presidency, said Noelle Ellerson, the organizations associate executive director of policy and advocacy. But AASA was dismayed to see level funding for special education. And the organization is worried that the amount of Title I funding the president is asking for isnt going to be enough to offset new rules set forth in ESSA that allow states to hold back a part of their Title I money for innovation and school turnarounds, while not abiding by the usual constraint that districts be held harmless for this year only. AASA wants the administration to explain how it arrived at that Title I number, and show that districts wont lose out on funding. Amy McIntosh, the departments acting assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy, told advocates Tuesday that the request for Title I balances the need for increases in Title I with the need for a robust resources for innovation and school turnaround. ESSA Implementation The spending plan is the first since the passage of ESSA. And the money would be available in federal fiscal year 2017, and for the most part, make its way to districts during the 2017-18 school year, the first year the new law goes into full effect. The plan also includes increases for a handful of programs that were enshrined in ESSA, including: $350 million for Preschool Development Grants, which moved from the Education Department to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under ESSA. Thats an increase of $100 million over current levels. The budget also seeks $9.6 billion for Head Start, an increase of $434 million over current levels. $180 million, or a $60 million hike, for Education Innovation and Research"the program in ESSA that succeeded Investing in Innovation, the Obama administrations grant program that sought to scale up promising practices at the district level. $128 million or an increase of nearly $55 million for the Promise Neighborhoods, which helps communities pair wraparound services, such as health and arts education with academics. A $25 million increase for state assessments, which would bring the program to $403 million. The proposal would cut state grants for assessments that go out by formula to $350 million from nearly $370 million. But it includes $18 million in new money to help states and districts audit their testing systems and eliminate assessments that are redundant, not particularly useful, or of low-quality. Plus it seeks $25 million to help states develop more-innovative assessments. The department also wants $500 million for a brand-new program created under ESSA, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program. The program, which is essentially a big block grant for districts, consolidated a bunch of smaller programs aimed at student health, safety, college-readiness, technology, and providing students with a well-rounded education. The departments ask, which is only about one third of the $1.6 billion authorized for the block grant under ESSA, would seek to give states more control over how districts spend these funds, sources say. It would allow them to provide the money competitively, instead of by formula, as under the new law. Grants issued by states would have to be at least $50,000 each. Under ESSA, districts that get at least $30,000 in funding from the new program have to adhere to some guidelines for spending the moneythey have to direct at least 20 percent to an activity that gets at student health and safety, plus at least 20 percent to something that helps kids get a well-rounded education. And they cant spend more than 15 percent on technology infrastructure. Under the departments ask, there would be fewer grants, but all of them would be large enough to be subject to these rules. For its part, AASA would like to have seen the block grant - which was authorized at $1.6 billion in ESSA - funded at a much higher level, to help preserve the district flexibility the organization believes Congress intended. By more adequately funding [the block grant] the administration can eliminate the perceived need for this prescriptive language and can instead provide a funding level that more closely aligns with congressional intent and the spirit of the legislation that President Obama himself signed into law, Ellerson wrote in an email. Douglas Levin, the president of EdTech Strategies, a consulting organization also would have liked to have seen more money for the block grant. But, given limited resources, he called the proposal smart and said it would help increase the programs impact. Doubling Down The request includes some items that the administration has already telegraphed, including $4 billion in mandatory funding to improve computer science education. And it recycles pieces of long-standing proposals that Congress hasnt acted on yet, including $80 million for next generation high schools that put a focus on technology, and a $1 billion RESPECT initiative to improve the teaching profession. It also re-ups a request for a $75 billion Preschool for All Initiative. Early Reaction Republicans were quick to throw cold water on the spending plan. The American people arent interested in continuing the same failed policies that have fostered an anemic economy, stagnant wages, and a lack of full-time jobs. Yet thats precisely what the presidents budget would do, Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee said in a statement. But Democrats found a lot to like to in the proposal. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was happy to see the proposed increase for the Preschool Development Grant program, which she fought to include in ESSA. So how much of the spending plan will Congress actually enact? The requests for new programmatic funding are probably going nowhere, given budget constraints, said Joel Packer, the executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a lobbying coalition. But he thinks lawmakers may be interested in adopting a few of the increases the administration has suggested, including the small boost for English-language acquisition grants, plus a $77 million for career and technical education grants, bringing that program to $1.2 billion. Copies of President Barack Obamas fiscal 2017 federal budget are delivered to the House Budget Committee Room on Capitol Hill Tuesday. --Andrew Harnik/AP Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . As U.S. presidential candidates fight over the best way to address the influx of Central Americans across the Southwest border - with debate about building walls and deporting immigrants - the nation's public schools have opened their doors, taking responsibility for helping tens of thousands of children find their footing here. It's not an easy task. Many of the new arrivals don't speak much English and are behind academically. They often come with scars, having fled desperate poverty or violence or both. Many endured difficult journeys, sometimes leaving their families behind or rejoining parents in the United States after years of separation. And U.S. schools, already strapped for resources, are trying to provide special services, including English-language instruction and mental-health care. The schools have to, because it's the law: Children who are living in this country have a right to a public education, regardless of their immigration status. But for many educators it's also more than a legal obligation, it's the moral thing to do. "The United States is founded on human rights," said Sandra Jimenez, the principal of High Point High School in Prince George's County, Maryland, a Washington suburb where the immigrant population has grown rapidly. "The only reason these people are here is because they are desperate. These people are coming to survive." There were more than 630,000 immigrant students nationwide in the 2013-2014 school year, according to the latest federal education data available, which defines immigrants as children born outside the country and enrolled in U.S. schools for less than three years. That figure has grown since immigration across the southern border surged two years ago: Between Oct. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2015, federal officials released more than 95,000 unaccompanied minors into U.S. communities, virtually all of them entitled to enroll in public school. High Point, like many other schools flooded with foreign students, has had to adjust. A school with enrollment of 2,400, it has registered 282 new immigrants so far this school year. Last year, it took on 396 new immigrants; the year before that, 307. Some of them immigrated legally, and others did not. Many arrived from December to March - a time of natural transition, because the Central American school year ends in December, Jimenez said. "This is normal for us," Jimenez said. "We plan for the influx from the beginning of the year." Newcomers are enrolled in classes with other newcomers, and Jimenez changed staffing so that some teachers had room in their schedules to add classes as more children arrived. She hired bilingual staff members in key positions, including administrators, secretaries and security guards. There are evening workshops on family reunification. When students need housing or health care, counselors work to connect them with community groups that can help. She can speak at length about language acquisition, the pedagogy of teaching English as a second language and the importance of children learning grade-appropriate vocabulary in math, science and social studies - such as "commutative property," which new arrivals were practicing in a math class on a recent weekday morning. But Jimenez said that the most powerful thing that the school has done is to show its new immigrant students that they have support and that they are safe. "We have built an oasis. School is the place where people have your back," she said. "If you don't feel safe, you can't learn." Advocates agree that schools play a key role in shaping the path that students take after they arrive. Many students are not only poor, struggling with English and navigating without a lot of support at home, they say, but also often are under pressure from gangs seeking new recruits. "They have all these other factors and pressures going on. It's critical for schools to provide a holistic, comprehensive support system," said Zorayda Moreira-Smith of CASA of Maryland, an advocacy group. She said Prince George's County, and High Point in particular, have gone to unusual lengths to let students know they are welcome, including by issuing public statements opposing immigration raids in recent weeks. "I am deeply troubled by the fear and uncertainty that exists in so many of our school communities as a result of the actions of the Department of Homeland Security," Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said in a statement in January, when officials said that the raids had caused a drop in attendance. "To our PGCPS students and families: We stand with you." Not everyone believes that the nation's tax dollars should be used to educate immigrants who arrive in the country illegally, and others argue that forcing school districts to take on the challenge it isn't fair when resources already are stretched too thin. "Congress should not allow the Obama administration to incentivize illegal immigration and human smuggling by rewarding those who participate," Jessica Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, told a House Judiciary subcommittee Thursday, arguing that youths and other immigrants should be detained near the border. In an email to The Washington Post, she bemoaned the effects: "The cost of meeting the educational needs for the kids who are arriving illegally as part of the surge is the main way that the administration's policy is burdensome to state and local governments." Services for immigrant students have caused tension in Prince George's County. In 2014, school system officials announced that they planned to create two high schools for English-language learners; the NAACP objected, arguing that other students also have academic needs that deserve attention. Daniel Domenech, executive director of AASA, the school superintendents' association, said that in many cases of immigrant influxes, class sizes rise and school districts are faced with providing additional services without more funding. "It's a problem," he said. "Having said that, I have to tell you that just about in all cases, districts will bend over backward to accommodate and provide for these students whatever services they need." About 8,000 international students enrolled in Prince George's County schools last school year, and half of them were new to the United States, coming not just from Central America but also from nations as varied as Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Jamaica. They all registered through an intake center meant to evaluate their English skills and place them in a suitable school. On a recent morning at the center, 12-year-old Yenifer Garcia Salguero and her mother, stepfather and two younger half-brothers crowded into a small room where she received her assignment to a county middle school. Yenifer had just arrived from Guatemala and hadn't seen her mother for a decade. How was she feeling about school, about being in the United States? "Nerviosa," she said. Nervous. High Point began confronting those nerves two years ago by hosting "talking circles" with its new immigrant students - a chance for them to share where they are from, what they are afraid of and what they want to achieve. Suzanne Tchouomtseu Tochie, 19, a senior who arrived from Cameroon in 2014, said that the circles helped her feel connected at a disorienting time. "People tell their story. They talk about what they're going through," she said. "You get to know the real person." Social worker Beth Hood and counselor Jessica Jackson held a talking circle one recent morning, inviting a dozen students to scoot their desks into a circle inside a High Point science classroom. The students were new immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and most had been at the school for a few months. One girl said it was her second day. They listened quietly as one after the other answered the teacher's questions: What did you imagine about the United States before you arrived? How do you feel now that you are here? One thought he would be living at the beach, he said in Spanish, and here he was in suburban Maryland. But then the conversation deepened, with some saying they were worried about their immigration cases. Others said they had come to the United States to earn money and hadn't expected to go to school until immigration officials told them it was required. Many said they had expected that they would finally be able to spend time with their parents after years apart but that they hardly saw their parents, who were always working. The girl on her second day at High Point said she had been crying because she missed her mom, who was still in El Salvador. "You have our respect," Hood told the students in Spanish. "You are not alone in your experiences. This stage of getting used to everything is not forever." Hood had invited a 20-year-old junior, Wilson Santos, to offer hope and advice. He had worked on a farm in Guatemala in grinding poverty until three years ago, when he saw no other option than to come to the United States. He walked across the desert, he said, and was stopped by immigration officials while trying to cross the U.S. border. He never expected to go to school, he said, and yet school became his anchor. He now is a legal resident, he said, and is working a construction job on weekends. He expects to graduate from High Point next year and hopes to own a business someday. "I feel more than anything proud of myself," he told his fellow students, speaking in Spanish. Many students drop out before they get a diploma, and High Point's on-time graduation rate - though it has climbed in recent years- is 64 percent, far lower than the national average of 82 percent. Hood, the social worker, said that the figure masks the important progress that students are making in school - including those who drop out. She said they are learning English, learning how to access services and advocate for themselves, and learning how to survive. The sudden demise of its president Sushil Koirala early on Tuesdsay has put the Nepali Congress, the Himalayan nations oldest political party, at the crossroads. At the time of his death, the biggest party in Nepals parliament was going through its organisational polls from the grassroots level to elect a new president during its general convention in March. Sushil Koirala was the fourth person from the Koirala family, considered the first family of Nepali politics, to have headed the party and governments in the past 70 years. Except for stints by Subarna Shamsher Rana and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, the Koiralas brothers Bisheshwar Prasad, Matrika Prasad and Girija Prasad and their cousin Sushil have been at the helm of the party since its inception in 1946. With his demise, Nepals oldest party will be without a Koirala in control after two decades. Electing a new leader and charting its future course wont be easy for the party. Koirala was seeking re-election to the top party post at the time of his death. With him out of the fray, the battle for the leadership will be fought between senior leaders Sher Bahadur Debua and Ram Chandra Poudel. His niece and Girija Prasads daughter, former deputy prime minister Sujata Koirala, has expressed a desire to vie for the partys chiefs post but she isnt considered a serious contender. Our party was responsible for promulgating the constitution under Koiralas leadership. Now it is for us to take the role of ensuring that its implemented in letter and spirit, said Poudel. Koirala had unsuccessfully contested for the prime ministers post soon after the new constitution was adopted last September. But he failed to muster enough support and lost to Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist chairman KP Sharma Oli. There is speculation that the Nepali Congress could join the Olis government soon after its general convention ends in order to help implement the new constitution. During his tenure as party chief, Koirala always tried to keep all factions united. The coming days will show if internal differences prevent the Nepali Congress from returning to the centre stage of politics. (Views expressed are personal) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON There has been a controversy over Sabarimala, a pilgrimage centre in Kerala, being anti-women and against gender equality. A legal battle is underway in the Supreme Court and events have reignited a debate on the place of women in society, patriarchy and Indian culture. The name Sabarimala is derived from Sabari, a vanvasi devotee of Sri Ram. The earlier name of the place was Mathangamala, named after the sage Mathanga, and after Sri Ram and Sabari met there, the place came to be called Sabaris mala, and thus Sabarimala. One of the most important temples here, along with the main deity of Ayyappa, is of Malikapurathamma,whose birth name was Lalitha and she was a warrior from the Ezhava Cheerapanchira Kalari. She was the lover of Manikanta. Ayyappa is Manikanta, who was born around 1,000 years ago and defeated the Dacoit king Udayanan with the help of Vavar and his Muslim army. Kerala takes pride in the secular heritage of Sabarimala where millions of Hindus first offer their prayers at the Vavar Mosque and the Arthunkal Church (whose priest Father Veluthachan assisted Manikanta for education) before praying to Ayyappa. Keralas pluralistic and secular history owes a lot to this temple. Sabarimala is a space designed for common people to experience sannyasa. Thats the reason why pilgrims are required to observe strict abstinence from physical and worldly pleasures for 41 days before visiting the temple. The notion that Sabarimala is anti-women is a false one. Every year thousands of women visit the temple. The regulation is only for women between the age group of 10 and 50. Girls below the age of 10 and women above 50 have no restrictions. There are many temples that have restrictions, some on men: The Attukal temple in Thiruvananthapuram, where every year more than three million women offer prayers, is known as the womens Sabarimala. In the Chakkulathukavu temple at Alapuzha, men cannot perform the nari pooja. In short, every temple is unique in its own sense and right. Every temple has a unique pratishta sankalpa or idol concept, or, every temple has its own philosophy. One of the strengths of our civilisation is that it has explored spirituality in detail, but we should be honest and acknowledge the weaknesses too. One such weakness is the lack of documentation of history. The reasons for the Sabarimala pilgrimage and history of the temple should have been better documented. Had this been done, we would not have had the current controversy. While discussing this, we also have to take into account the cultural sensitivity and constitutionality of modern India. Article 14 of the Constitution, or the Right of Equality, is not a standalone article. We also have Article 25 and Article 26 that ensure the Right to Faith. There should be a balance between the two. As a devotee I believe cultural sensitivity would be shown and the Right to Faith will be granted by the apex court. It is time we gave importance to facts along with history. It is often said that just because something is going on for centuries, it need not be right. Similarly, it must not be forgotten that just because something is going on for centuries it need not be wrong either. Rahul Easwar is an author and activist. The views expressed are personal. Terrorism is a hydra-headed monster that respects no borders. Its ever-changing nature keeps the intelligence and security establishment of every nation on their toes. How affected is India, and is the Islamic State (IS) extending its tentacles into India? While there are indications that terror groups are focusing on India and that the IS threat is growing, New Delhi seems in no hurry to sound the alarm bells. Speaking to a news channel, the minister of state for foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Mohammed Gargash, said: We need to tackle this [IS] threat and nobody is immune. If you think you are immune [and] you are going to be negligent, you are going to be hit. Everybody.... whether India or the UAE... Terror cooperation between India and the UAE has increased. On Tuesday, a Delhi court remanded for 10 days three terror suspects, handed over by the UAE, for their alleged links with the IS. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2015, India is the sixth-most affected nation in the world by terrorism. India has been on the list of the 10 worst-affected nations for the past 14 years. The NIAs arrest of Abu Musab, along with a dozen other people, last month is disturbing proof that India cannot ignore the IS, not anymore. Read these developments with a recent statement of President Pranab Mukherjee and there is a mismatch. Speaking in Jaipur, Mukherjee said, Because we celebrate plurality, and allow space to develop and find out identity within that spaceis the reason why global terror outfits have not been able to find traction in India. The President is right when he says that plurality is Indias strength. Indias plurality is commendable and its secular fabric has stood the test of time both things to be proud about. It would, however, be tricky to assume that this would be a shield against terrorism. But today is there room for such plurality and development in India? Thats a question the government must ponder over. Growing acts of intolerance and communal tension where particular communities are marginalised, do not celebrate plurality, and allow space to develop and find out identity within that space. The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stress that innocent Muslims must not be harassed in the effort to check terrorism, should be seen in this light. By increasing cooperation with other countries to fight terror, the government is taking the right steps. However, it can do a lot more to produce a conducive environment that checks people from turning to terror. Prevention, always, is better than cure. (Views expressed are personal) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When the Nobel Laureate and Myanmars democracy warrior, Aung San Suu Kyi, visited Kathmandu a couple of years ago, she was introduced to Nepals top political leaders. Suu Kyi joked, Never have I been in a room with so many former Prime Ministers! After 1990, Nepal has had 13 men who have become Prime Ministers, some of them multiple times. The average tenure has been a little over a year and many among them have made little contribution to write about. Sushil Koirala, who was PM when Suu Kyi cracked her joke, joined the list of former Prime Ministers this October when he lost in a parliamentary vote to the current incumbent K P Oli. A little after midnight on Tuesday, Koirala passed away. From President Pranab Mukherjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indias top leadership expressed condolences over his death. A high level team which includes external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, NSA Ajit Doval, Congress Anand Sharma, CPMs Sitaram Yechury and JDUs Sharad Yadav have flown to Kathmandu to pay their respect to the departed soul. But was Sushil Koirala just one of the dozen plus men who lived in the prime ministerial residence in Kathmandus Baluwatar in the last two decades? Or does he leave something more tangible behind? There is no black and white answer - for like all politicians in public life for decades, Koiralas record was mixed both for Nepal and on the Nepal-India front. Read | Former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala dies at 78 A party man Sushil Koiralas crowning glory was not in 2014 when he became PM, but in 2010 when he defeated former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba to become the president of Nepali Congress. And this was because he was the quintessential party man. Koirala had no life besides the Nepali Congress. He was a bachelor who got politically socialised under the shadow of his far more illustrious cousin, the legendary B P Koirala. Once the Nepali monarch took over absolute power in 1960, dismissing BP as PM, the NC had to wage a 30 year long struggle. Sushil spent many years in exile in India, especially Bihar and UP. But his role was primarily that of assisting BP. This is the period his networks in the party grew, but he was a junior activist. He also played a part, somewhat peripheral, in the hijacking of a Nepal Airlines aircraft as a mark of opposition to the royal autocracy - NCs leaders later claimed this had the backing of Indias covert agencies; Sushil however had to spend a few years in an Indian prison. Under his other cousin, Girija Prasad Koirala - who became the countrys PM five times and was NCs most powerful leader till his death in 2009- Sushils role in party affairs grew. He refused all executive positions in government and showed little interest in power politics or inter party battles. As one of his younger colleagues remarked to this writer many years ago, Sushil da knows what is happening in the different factions of our student wing in even a college. That is his passion. He doesnt care about what India and China are doing in Nepal. This does not mean he did not have strong opinions or ambitions. He was firmly anti communist, and this made him skeptical of the alliance with the Maoists which led to the anti monarchy struggle and the peace process in 2005. He was also an old school democrat who was more focused on the form of democracy - periodic elections, free press - rather than its substance and did not quite internalise the need to restructure the state to accommodate aspirations of all segments - this was understandable because a large part of his political life was spent in fighting for democratic freedoms. Democracy, he genuinely believed, would cure all problems. Within the party too, he had views - while a pillar of the establishment faction, he was unhappy with Girija babu for promoting his daughter, Sujata. As Girija babu began fading away, Sushil became the acting president of the party. He came into his own when he defeated Deuba in the party convention. Koirala took a rather strong position on terms of the peace process (which involved the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants), and insisted there could be no constitutional negotiation with the Maoists till it became a civilian party. He also insisted that a Maoist-led government must not be allowed to hold the elections - and wanted to become PM himself once the first CA was dissolved. That did not happen, a Chief Justice led government was constituted, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the NC. Sushils most successful political moment was when the Nepali Congress, after a surprising and devastating loss to the Maoists in the 2008 elections, made a grand comeback in the 2013 elections for a second Constituent Assembly. This may have happened more due to the weaknesses of the Maoists and the Madhesi parties, and the increasing public disillusionment with their performance in government, rather than NCs intrinsic strengths or Sushils personality. But the fact that he led the party to victory will surely be counted as among his most remarkable achievements. And so three traits of Sushil Koirala stand out- in times of fluid political loyalties, his complete loyalty to the Nepali Congress and his enormous investment in the party institution was remarkable. Few devote their lives to one particular institution. The second was his lifelong commitment to formal democracy - and this was no mean achievement given the long battle the Nepali political parties had to fight against the monarch and the Maoists. And finally, he was able to maintain a high degree of probity an integrity in public life as austerity in private life - this is the simplicity Modi admired in his condolence message. His distance from formal state power helped. But there were gaps. For Sushil, NC represented democracy and democracy was NC. The problem - he clearly saw both as intrinsically linked with the Koirala family and its fortunes. While he was fond of repeating that there could be no compromise with democratic values, Koirala did not think hard enough about democracy in a diverse society and what it means. Like Girija Babu, he was skeptical of the politics of identity; he was a reluctant convert to the idea of federalism; and he was not comfortable with the categories of caste and ethnicity that has come to dominate Nepali political discourse. He did not realise that for democracy to be meaningful, it had to become more inclusive. Record as PM But while his contribution as a party man cannot be disputed, Sushil Koiralas record as Prime Minister was rather weak. As the PM when the earthquake struck Nepal last April, the onus was on Sushil Koirala to provide direction to the administrative machinery and hope and direction to the citizens. It is true that no least developed country could have coped with a tragedy of this magnitude. But by all accounts, the Government did a dismal job; the PM got to know about the quake from a phone call by Narendra Modi; it took him days to make a public appearance; the administration at the centre could not play the effective role of coordinating relief and rescue efforts; there was an unnecessary and damaging ultra- nationalist tilt in official discourse with both internationals and NGOs being treated with skepticism and even suspicion when the country needed all the help it could get; his government was unable to pass a legislation and set up reconstruction authority; precious time for reconstruction was lost; and citizens in the hills had to live through a difficult monsoon and remained inadequately prepared for the winter. Koiralas other task was promulgating the constitution. And here, the narratives about him diverge in the Nepali public sphere. One view - the dominant view in Kathmandu - gives him credit for leading the constitutional process and ensuring its promulgation after seven years of drift. The constitution managed to restrain the fundamental Principles of the political transformation - federalism, democracy and republicanism. Many see this as his abiding contribution. But another view - to which this writer subscribes- is that in the quest to be the man who presided over the promulgation of the constitution, Sushil left a deeply contested document, which has divided Nepali society, perhaps irreversibly. The constitutional process isolated the Madhesis; it did not do justice to ethnic minorities; it flouted the fundamental principle of gender equality. In the run up to the promulgation, the Koirala government shot three dozen Madhesi protestors, causing deep alienation. The process may have been pushed by other leaders, and Koirala often expressed helplessness. But there can be no excuse for state brutality - and for not pausing the process in order to make it more inclusive. The fact that Sushil was said to be eyeing the presidency after the constitution was done indicated a narrow power ambition drove the rush. What should have been a moment for celebration for all turned out to be a moment of mourning for half the country. The India dynamic The condolences from India may be genuine and Sushils own stated commitment to cordial Nepal-India ties when he was alive may have been real. But the fact is that the Indian establishment and the late PM shared a deeply difficult relationship. Sushil continued to feel till the very end that India had been unfair to the Koirala family - especially BP when he was PM and struggling for democracy; he also continued to feel strongly that India had supported and harboured the Maoists against democratic forces during their Peoples War. Personally, he did not like Indian advice that he should be more accommodative of Madhesi concerns towards the end of the first and second CA; he also felt it was the lack of Indian support that deprived him of becoming Prime Minister after CA-1s dissolution; he did not like PM Modis emphasis on a constitution by consensus last year; he saw the Madhes and Tharu movement as orchestrated by Indian agencies; and in a conversation with Modi, he directly blamed R&AW for instigating violence in Tarai. India saw most of these allegations as baseless - and typical of the tendency of Nepali politicians to pass on the blame to Delhi rather than own up to their own failures. India saw him as an extremely rigid and conservative politician; a section of the security establishment appeared to think that he had links with Pakistan when the ISI factor in Nepal was a major concern for India in the late 90s; Delhis diplomats saw him as ungrateful who did not remember that India had supported him in the race for party presidency in 2010 as well as provided generous support in the 2013 polls; they also felt that if only he had enabled the passage of the constitution in 2012, he could have become Prime Minister and did not like the fact that he had opposed the extension of the CAs term at that point; they were unhappy with him for consistently undermining Indian advice to take along all sections of the polity together before promulgating the constitution and for using excessive force in Tarai last August-September; and there was fury in Delhi at his suggestion that India was somehow behind the Tarai violence - this, Indian policy makers felt, was proof of the blindness to domestic discontent. But the India-NC relationship - as many in Kathmandus political circles joke- is like a difficult marital relationship. There is a power dynamic, they often complain against each other, there is manipulation but they also turn to each other at the end of the day. And in an episode representative of the love-hate relationship between India and NC, that is what happened once the constitution was promulgated. Delhi did not want UMLs K P Oli to become Prime Minister and prodded Sushil Koirala to put up a candidate from NC - even reassuring him that the party had a good chance. There was a strong lobby within NC which wanted to retain power. Sushil got tempted and filed his nomination - he lost. His faction blamed India for putting him up for the contest and not delivering a victory; Delhi blamed him for leaving it too late and filing his own nomination instead of putting up a more winnable candidate. And that is the note on which Sushil Koiralas political career ended. It was a life that captured the complexities of Nepali politics - the struggle for democracy, the dominance of one family in a key party, the blindness to the inclusion question which is todays defining debate, and a relationship with Delhi with many shades of gray. RIP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An irritated Preity Zinta took to Twitter to slam rumours surrounding her impending marriage plans. The actor said she was fed up of manufactured news. She added that there is no need for any speculation and she will make an announcement when she has to. It seems the marriage gossip is not leaving Preitys side. Last year, there were reports that the Soldier actor would be tying the knot with her rumoured American beau Gene Goodenough in January, and now there are rumours suggesting that she will be getting hitched on Valentines Day weekend. Really? I think you should shut down your paper or carry real news! I am actually fed up of manufactured news. Can you leave my marriage announcement to me please after all its my life till then leave me alone, Preity tweeted. Read: Preity Zinta to marry her American boyfriend? Not yet Really ? I think you should shut down your paper or carry REAL news ! I am actually fed up of MANUFACTURED NEWS https://t.co/MIOVfOo23B Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) February 9, 2016 The actor also blamed media for spreading fictitious stories. She added: Am seriously fed up with all the speculation about my personal life! The media really knows how to ruin things...this needs to stop! #fedup. Am seriously fed up with all the speculation about my personal life ! The media really knows how to ruin things THIS NEEDS TO STOP ! #fedup Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) February 9, 2016 The actor, who was last seen in the 2014 release Happy Ending on the big screen and on the small screen as a judge on the dance reality show Nach Baliye 7, also tweeted about a shoot without divulging much information about it. At a shoot now so have to run! Its a crazy day today and I must confess I am getting crazier, she wrote. Rhode Island students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams by computer tended to score lower than those who took the exams by paper, raising further questions about the validity and usefulness of results from the tests taken last school year by more than 5 million students in the multi-state Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. The differences were sharpest on the English/language arts exam, where 42.5 percent of Rhode Island students who took the test on paper scored proficient, compared to 34 percent of those who took the test by computer. A spokesman for the state department of education said the variability in scores appears to be due in large measure to student and system readiness for technology. Findings vary among other states that took part in PARCC testing last year: Illinois has also found higher proficiency rates among paper-based test takers, as Education Week first reported earlier this month . first reported earlier this month . Colorado has uncovered similar trends in specific grade-subject combinations. Maryland officials have completed an analysis comparing students PARCC results by mode of administration, but are not releasing the results until later this month. Officials in the District of Columbia say they did not have enough paper-based test-takers to conduct a full analysis that controlled for student characteristics. Mississippi officials say they are currently taking a closer look at their states results. Officials in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey, and New Mexico said they have not conducted analyses searching for a possible mode effect, generally because the vast majority of students in their states took the exams via a single format, or because the state has since dropped the PARCC exams. The results from Rhode Island, where almost 22 percent of students took the PARCC exam on paper, provide further fuel to concerns raised last week, when Education Week reported that PARCC scores tended to be lower on computer-based exams . Officials from the consortium acknowledged that the differences were likely attributable in part to students familiarity with the computer-based test delivery platform, rather than their academic knowledge and skill. The score discrepancies vary across states, districts, grades, and subjects, with the advantage for paper-based test-takers appearing to be most pronounced in English/language arts and in upper-grade math. Such differences in scores pose a serious short-term concern, especially given the high stakes that some states and districts intend to attach to the PARCC results, according to assessment experts consulted by Education Week. But long-term, a possible mode effect on the exams should be seen as a technical challenge that should dissipate over time, said Morgan Polikoff , an assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California. Theres no question in my mind that moving to computerized testing makes a lot of sense, but the process is not necessarily going to be smooth, Polikoff said in an interview. That suggests the need for caution in how the results are used in the first few years, but it doesnt suggest that we need to abandon the idea of computer-based testing altogether, he said. Comparing Paper-Pencil and Computer Test Scores For more than two decades, researchers have found signs that some students tend to do slightly worse on computer-based versions of an exam , for reasons that have more to do with their familiarity with technology than with their academic knowledge and skills. One challenge in conducting such analyses is that the students who take each format of an exam may have different demographic and academic backgrounds. In December, officials in the 111,000-student Baltimore County school district sought to account for that possibility of differences in student populations in an analysis of the districts 2014-15 PARCC results, using statistical techniques to isolate the impact of testing format. They found that after controlling for student and school characteristics, students were between 3 percent and 9 percent more likely to score proficient on the paper-and-pencil version of the math exam, depending on their grade level. Students were 11 percent to 14 percent more likely to score proficient on the paper version of the ELA exam. Its also important for states and districts to look at possible mode effects among different subgroups of students, said Polikoff of USC. The concern is if there are differential effects for different groups, Polikoff said. If, for example, taking tests on computers causes score declines among low-income but not high-income students, that would be a problem. A 2015 working paper from the National Center for Educational Statistics found such differences among 4 th graders taking a computer-based pilot version of the NAEP writing exam . As a result, its important that states such as New Jersey, which are already administering exams almost entirely online, to consider the impact of the mode of test administration, Polikoff said. If its harder for some kids to do well on computer-based tests, that could affect within-state comparisons, even if everyone is taking the test on computer, he said. There still could be effects that are systematically biasing results against certain students, teachers, or schools. Most states with an overwhelming majority of online test takers have declined to conduct any such analysis, however. Below is a summary of the information that states that took part in PARCC testing during the 2014-15 school year have to date provided to Education Week: Arkansas Of the roughly 245,000 students in the state who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams, about 93 percent took the tests online, according to a spokeswoman for the state department of education. State officials have not conducted any analyses to compare results by mode of administration, nor do they have any plans to conduct such an analysis in the future. Arkansas has since dropped PARCC and will administer the ACT-Aspire exams this April. The state expects administration of the new exams to be 100 percent online, except for students who need accommodations, beginning this year. Colorado The state department of education found that 12.2 percent of Colorado 3rd graders took the PARCC English/language arts exam on paper, and these students tended to score higher than their classmates who took the exams by computer. There were some signs of a similar trend on upper-grades math exams, although drawing clean comparisons was tricky because of varying test participation rates. In the lower grades, where roughly 12 percent of Colorado students took PARCC math exams on paper, students scored similarly on the PARCC math exam, regardless of testing format. In Colorado, the paper-based version of the PARCC ELA exam was only available as an accommodation to students in grades 4-11; roughly one-tenth of 1 percent of students in those grades took the paper-based ELA exam, the vast majority of whom were students with disabilities and English language learners. About 474,000 students took the 2014-15 PARCC exams in Colorado. It was the states third year of online testing. Results from last years PARCC exams will not be used for state accountability or teacher evaluation purposes this year, thanks to a one-year pause approved by the state general assembly. PARCC math and English/language arts exams will be given in the state this April. District of Columbia In the D.C. schools and the districts public charter schools, 92 percent of the more than 31,000 students who took the PARCC exams used a computer-based delivery format, according to a spokeswoman with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. That high percentage of online test-takers meant that officials could not construct a representative sample of paper-based test-takers that would allow for a comparison of scores by testing format that controlled for students demographic and academic backgrounds. District officials could not provide a descriptive comparison of proficiency rates among paper- and computer-based test-takers. We are confident in the results and our focus continues to be on using those results to help students, families and educators understand the critical concepts students need to master to be successful at the next grade level and be prepared for college and careers, according to a statement from the OSSE. More than 95 percent of students will test online this spring and we expect 100 percent to test online by 2017, other than those students who need a paper-based test as an individualized education program (IEP) accommodation. D.C.'s PARCC tests will be administered between March 28 and May 20 of this year. Illinois A comparison of online and paper-and-pencil scores done by the state boards data-analysis division was also posted on the boards website and reported on last week by Education Week. Here was our original breakdown of the Illinois scores: That analysis shows often-stark differences by testing format in the percentages of Illinois students who demonstrated proficiency (by scoring a 4 or 5) on PARCC English/language arts exams across all tested grades. Of the 107,067 high school students who took the test online, for example, 32 percent scored proficient. Thats compared with 50 percent for the 17,726 high school students who took the paper version of the exam. The differences by format are not so pronounced in elementary-grades math; in grades 3-5, in fact, slightly higher percentages of students scored proficient on the online version of the PARCC exam than on the paper version. But proficiency rates among paper-and-pencil test-takers were 7 to 9 points higher on the 8th grade and high school math exams. The Illinois board has not conducted any further analysis of the results to determine the cause of those discrepancies. Board officials declined to be interviewed. The statewide results in Illinois suggest some differences in performance between the online and paper administrations of the assessment, according to a statement provided by the board. There is no consistent relationship from district to district. ... Both versions of the test provide reliable and valid information that teachers and parents can use to identify student strengths and areas needing improvement. State education officials declined interview requests. The state will again administer PARCC exams this spring. Louisiana All 316,000 or so Louisiana students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams did so on paper. As a result, the state has not conducted any analysis to compare scores by mode of administration, according to a spokesman with the state department of education. Louisiana has since moved to bar schools from using PARCC test items for the majority of its 2015-16 exams. The upcoming Louisiana Educational Assessment Program exams, to be administered April 25-29, will include both PARCC items and a majority of locally developed test items. Maryland Of the roughly 877,000 Maryland students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams, 81 percent took the tests online, according to an analysis provided by the state department of education. State officials have completed an analysis of PARCC results by mode of test administration, but results will not be shared publicly until a February 23 meeting of the state board of education, according to a spokesman for the state education department. Maryland districts will be giving this years PARCC exams during a 30-day window of their choosing, between April 4 and June 10. The state has delayed the use of PARCC results for high-stakes purposes such as student graduation and teacher evaluation until the 2016-17 school year. Mississippi Of the roughly 250,000 students Mississippi students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams online, roughly 82 percent did so online, according to an analysis provided by the state department of education. Officials are currently investigating possible differences in scores by mode of administration, as well as some concerns over the establishment of cut scores, according to a spokeswoman. The MDE is continuing to evaluate the PARCC results prior to their inclusion into the states accountability model, according to a statement. Our initial quality control, along with anecdotal information from the field, has increased the degree of analysis being conducted, to include, but not limited to, examining mode effects and score volatility at the cut scores for Levels 3 and 4. Mississippi has since dropped PARCC and will administer Mississippi Assessment Program exams in April and May. New Jersey Of the more than 550,000 New Jersey students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams, 99.4 percent did so by computer, according to a spokesman with the state department of education. Concerns regarding a possible mode effect simply isnt an issue in New Jersey, because virtually all of New Jerseys students took the PARCC assessments on computer. Regular administration of PARCC exams in New Jersey will take place between April 11 - May 20. New Mexico Of the nearly 377,000 New Mexico students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams, nearly 93 percent did so online, according to a spokesman for the state department of education. The state has not conducted any analyses to compare results by mode of test administration. New Mexico will administer the PARCC exams again this school year. We expect to have nearly all students testing online later this year, according to the spokesman. As we have said from the beginning, this was a new test for students in our state last year and we expect that as students and teachers become more familiar with the expectations and format of the test, our students will rise to the challenge. Ohio A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education said that 65 percent of the states students who took the 2014-15 PARCC exams did so online. The department was unable to provide an exact number of test-takers. No analysis has been done to compare results by mode of administration, and no such analysis has been planned. Ohio has since dropped the PARCC exams. Tests developed by the American Institutes for Research will be given this school year. Rhode Island Of the roughly 151,000 students in the state who took PARCC exams in 2014-15, 21.6 percent took the test on paper, while 78.4 percent took the exams online. Across all grades, 42.5 percent of Rhode Island students who took the PARCC English/language arts exam scored proficient, compared to 34 percent of those who took the exam online. Across all grades, 26.8 percent of Rhode Island students who took PARCC math exams on paper scored proficient, compared to 24.4 percent of those who took the exam online. The scope of the differences varies by district, school, subject and grade. In a statement, state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Ken Wagner said the variability appears to be related primarily to student and system readiness for technology. We have no plans to revise the intended use of our PARCC results during this period of transition, Wagner said. Our goal is to complete the transition to an all-online test administration by spring 2017, other than for students with individual accommodations. See also: At a time when the Censor Board is in news for all the wrong reasons, heres one more film that will test it to the fullest. The trailer of Global Baba, director Manoj Sidheshwari Tewaris take on organised religion, was released on Tuesday, and it has already set tongues wagging on the social media. The film, which has actor Abhimanyu Singh playing a global baba with millions of followers and Ravi Kishen as an honest cop out there to expose the criminal behind the baba, is set to release on March 11. Watch: Trailer of Global Baba The trailer promises a thrilling ride into the dark underside of the nexus between politics and religion in India. It shows how fake saints are exploiting believers in the name of religion and how they go untouched by even the most honest police officers. Follow @htshowbiz for more. Bollywood star Govinda Tuesday offered unconditional apology and RS 5 lakh as compensation to a fan whom he slapped seven years ago for a film in Mumbai. However, the Supreme Court insisted the actor must personally apologise to the complainant who wants to prosecute him for criminal intimidation and assault that may land the star in jail for two years. What did we tell you on the last hearing. We had asked you to meet him and sort it out. Whatever you want to offer, tell him personally and dont give it to us, a bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and UU Lalit told Govindas counsel, Sangeeta Kumar, when she handed over the terms of settlement to them. Complainant Santosh Bateshwar Rays advocate Jatin Zaveri alleged the star had not made any effort to meet his client. He is trying to mediate either through his lawyer or personal secretary, he told the bench. Watch: Govinda slaps Santosh Bateshwar Ray in this video A meeting was finally fixed on February 6 but the star had failed to turn up. His secretary forwarded the apology on behalf of Govinda, according to Zaveri. Read: I could never show my calibre, says Govinda Kumar defended Govindas conduct by saying he mistook the courts earlier suggestion. Its an unintentional error. He was under he impression a written apology would be enough. He is prepared to even appear in the court and apologise, the advocate said. There is no need for him to come here. Let him go and meet the complainant and thrash it out, the bench said, giving the star a final opportunity. It gave him two weeks for a conciliation, failing which the court shall hear Rays appeal on merits. Now, heres the most famous slap in Bollywood Watch: Showdown between Anupam Kher and Dilip Kumar in Karma Ray has come up to the SC against the Bombay High Courts order quashing his private complaint against Govinda seeking his prosecution. The HC had set aside the trial court order summoning him. Ray wants the case to be revived. Read: SC to Govinda: Apologise or face prosecution in 2008 slapping case During the November 30, 2015 hearing a bench then headed by Justice TS Thakur had said it admired watching Govindas movies. He is a big actor. When you make a mistake you should have a heart to admit it. You should ask him (the complainant) to forgive and forget, it had told his advocate. The bench had also noted that the star was also an MP at the time of the incident. He should accept his mistake rather than prolonging the litigation that began in January 2008, it had said. Watch: Govinda slaps Nagma in Kunwara The bench refused to believe that the television footage showing the star assaulting Ray was morphed. The judges saw the video clip on the mobile phone of Rays advocate and said: This is a TV report. It cannot be wrong. Read: Want to work with Govinda, David Dhawan once again, says Tabu When Govindas counsel offered to tender an apology before the court and monetary compensation to Ray, the court told him that it was for the complainant to accept or reject it. Your expression of regret here will not solve the matter here... It need not be made here. You should make it to the complainant. There should be remorse and apology. You must ask your client to call on him and express regret and he must accept the regret. If he does not want to accept, we cant help you. It is for you both to decide, it had then said. Read: Raveena Tandon, Govinda to team up for dance show Shine of India Ray has demanded that Govinda should face criminal trial for criminal intimidation (section 506 IPC) and for using criminal force to cause him grievous hurt (sections 323 and 353 IPC). Under section 506 Govinda can face jail term up to two years. The law permits a compromise between the complainant and the accused. The court can also impose only fine on the accused. Follow @htshowbiz for more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An early recovery of Indias economy seems a distant dream, as Indias merchandise exports have been contracting in double-digits since December 2014 due to tepid global demand and volatile global currency market. Data recently released by the commerce ministry showed that during December 2015, exports contracted 14.75% to $22.3 billion, while imports shrank 3.9% to $33.9 billion, amounting to a trade deficit of $11.7 billion. Indias overall exports are projected by the ministry to decline 13% from the last years level to $270 billion in 2015-16, with a trade deficit of around $120-125 billion. The two major reasons behind declining exports are falling crude prices and the Indian rupee, which has not depreciated as much as the other currencies have. This has made exports from India less competitive. Oil crash is something on which India has no control. But, if the finance ministry does not react to the currency devaluation soon, then other countries will become protectionist to safeguard their own economies , Arvind Mehta, additional secretary in commerce ministry told HT. Another senior ministry official said that the government will have to devise strategies to increase market access and raise the competitiveness of exporters. India has a tendency of looking only at traditional export markets, and focusing on only those commodities in which it has gained a strong foothold. Some of the markets such as China, Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin American nations, etc can prove to be a blessing in disguise for the falling exports, provided the right strategy is being adopted, said the official who did not wish to be identified. But is the government actually taking measures to arrest the declining exports? A fundamental magic fix to the falling exports is to devalue your currency, which traditionally economies have done in the past Japan did it, China is doing it, Korea has done it, Mehta said. However, he added maintaining a healthy exchange rate comes under the domain of the RBI, and there is nothing much that the commerce ministry can do. The commerce ministry is also mulling some other measures . Addressing the mounting trade deficit with China has finally gained some ground. India, which currently has a deficit of $49.5 billion (2014-15), is likely to further go up to around $60 billion in the short term. Cabinet Secretariat has constituted a task force of senior government secretaries and officials from the departments such as revenue, MEA, DEA to formulate a strategy to address this deficit, the official said. Commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself is monitoring the situation and has decided to meet sector-wise export promotion councils to address issues. The ministry is also mulling to have a bilateral trade agreement with the UAE, which is Indias largest export destination. UAE has a huge opportunity and PM himself has asked the ministry to initiate a bilateral with the UAE. Commerce ministry has an agenda to increase the bilateral trade with the UAE by 60% over the next five years, another official said. Bilateral trade agreements will definitely help India to increase exports. Diversification, in terms of both product and geography, helps in expanding export revenues as a country becomes less vulnerable to economic slowdown, said DK Joshi, chief economist, CRISIL comment. By the time Dharminder Nagar crossed 30, his family had begun to think he was using studies as an excuse to avoid working. Nagar says this with one of his frequent guffaws, but his family had good reason to suspect his intentions. Five of Chaudhary VedRam Nagars six sons Dharminder is the fourth were well into their careers by 2004. The oldest had joined the fathers thriving dairy business, the second was doing well as a politician, the third and fifth, too, had joined the father, and the youngest had started a construction company. Dharminder Nagar till then had spent all his years studying medicine and health management systems, with a short stint as a doctor thrown in between. I was the only one not doing anything. Finally, father said I had wasted a lot of time on experiments. It was time to get serious, says Nagar, now 45. VedRams right to demand that of his son was unquestionable. He was born in poverty and, after his fathers death, left the family village in Uttar Pradesh as a young boy to look for livelihood in Delhi. He ran errands at various dairies in the big city. By the time he was in his thirties, he had enough learning and savings to start out on his own. Paras Dairy, which he set up in 1960, became so popular so fast it slowed down Amuls march in north India. We are Gurjars. There is milk in our blood. But my father was perhaps the first entrepreneur in the community, says Nagar. Not the last, though. Nagar started Paras Healthcare, whose first hospital opened in Gurgaon in 2006. It now has five. I have bets with my brothers that I am the tortoise who will overtake them all. He plans to do that by treating the middle class, which often gets denied good-quality healthcare, at times because it is too expensive, at other times because it is too far. The middle is my goal. I can support the poor, but cant serve them wholeheartedly through my business. The rich I dont care about. Nagar chooses his locations carefully, building his hospitals in places that have gaps in affordability, access, or quality. That sounds good, and noble. But thats also what one has heard from the other private sector hospital chains: Fortis, Apollo, Max. Actions speak louder than words, says Nagar. Lets hear them. My newest hospital is in Darbhanga. That is loud, especially because the Paras hospital in Darbhanga comes on the back of a large one in Patna. Both the towns are in Bihar, a fertile soil for medical practice, dotted with thousands of small nursing homes owned by doctors none too large, none too modern. They do good business, because you dont go to a government hospital in Bihar if you can avoid it. But why wont he build his business in and around Delhi, where Paras is a household name? My aspirations are different. I want to go where there is a need. When you come to my hospital in Bihar, you will see a person clad in a dhoti, another in slippers, and a third in a suit and necktie all in the same queue. These hospitals are full of doctors of Bihari origin who have come from all over the world. He is walking the need talk in his expansion plans. All the six hospitals he plans to build in the next four years are to be in small towns. However, even the Paras hospital in Gurgaon, the city of rich executives and expatriates, has the same spirit. Its building has little glass, and a small facade. Nagar claims it costs 30% less on an average to get treated there instead of any of the bigger hospitals. He has kept his costs low by being judicious in expenditure. Others complain that I am spoiling the market in Gurgaon. A lot of the other hospitals buy technology thats relevant to only 1% of the patients. But the other 99%, too, pay for it. I buy a technology if at least 70% of my patients benefit from it. He talks about a hospital in Gurgaon that spent Rs 10 crore on buying two catheterisation labs, used in cardiac procedures. I bought just one. It does exactly the same job, and came for Rs 2.5 crore. Nagar wont be deterred by the uniqueness of the market he has chosen. For instance, his Patna hospital applied a year ago for a licence to do transplants. The bureaucrats there are still trying to figure out how this licence is to be issued, and to whom. No one had applied for it so far. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Want to own an apartment with the latest facilities in the heart of Delhi? Citizens may soon be able to buy homes in upscale colonies in south, west and central Delhi, with real estate companies looking to redevelop traditional colonies to cash in on the Delhi address fix. The target traditional families who do not wish to move to Gurgaon or Noida. High-rise apartments are already replacing two-three storey buildings in specific localities, with local property dealers and builders carrying out construction works. Now, one of Indias biggest industrial houses, Tata Group, is eyeing a business opportunity there, beginning with a land parcel in west Delhi. The group is already developing certain projects in Mumbai. The houses are likely to be priced on the higher side, mainly due to their locations. Right now we have not finalised anything, but we are looking for land parcel in West Delhi, Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD, Tata Housing Development Company, told HT. Tata Housing will take over a chunk of houses and aggregate the land to construct residential towers, relocating the old owners. If today, one independent house has three floors, once converted into a multi-story residential tower of, for instance, 10 floors, Tata Housing will sell the remaining seven floors. For existing residents, it could mean moving to a new four-bedroom flat from the earlier two or three. In Mumbai, the rising costs and lack of space make it unfeasible for residents to move out of dilapidated housing societies. There are also security issues and lack of modern amenities. In such a scenario, redevelopment can offer a long-term solution to the problem. That has been our strategy to develop projects in prime locations. We are adopting the same strategy in the Delhi market, Banerjee said. A number of buildings in Delhi are getting dilapidated and there is lack of space. The only way to get additional inventory in the city is to redevelop societies, to give consumers the latest amenities. Redevelopment will also boost housing and urban development in the Capital, he added. The National Building Construction Company (NBCC) is already redeveloping three government colonies at Netaji Nagar, Kasturba Nagar and Thyagraj Nagar in south Delhi. Another real estate major, KP Singh-led DLF, has taken over some old mill lands and are converting them into residential towers. This is a wonderful opportunity both for new consumers and existing residents. Redeveloping the existing land is the only option to cater to the rising demand. Tatas, too, will have an existing platform to enter the main Delhi market, said Samir Jasuja, CEO of PropEquity. But will it be easy for owners and residents to move out of the comfort of their old homes? Only time will tell. A Delhi BJP delegation, including the three mayors, on Monday met Home minister Rajnath Singh and asked him to intervene in the battle for funds between the Delhi government and the municipal corporations. The BJP leadership accused the Delhi government of creating controversies with lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. The BJP leaders held the government responsible of not fulfilling its constitutional obligation of providing statutory funds to the municipal corporations, leading to a collapse of civic services in the capital. We brought to the knowledge of the home minister how the Delhi government had denied the pending funds as per the 3rd Delhi Finance Commission and has put on hold the implementation of the 4th Delhi Finance Commission recommendations on funds to the municipal corporations by imposing unconstitutional riders for central assistance, said Satish Upadhyay, Delhi BJP chief. According to the delegation, they assured Rajnath that once the recommendations of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission are implemented and pending funds released by the Delhi government, the corporations will provide best possible civic services to the city. The Delhi Congress, meanwhile, has sought an appointment with Rajnath to discuss the problems plaguing the civic bodies and seek his intervention. Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said he had written to the home minister asking for an appointment as the MCDs were under the Union Home Ministry. The loan sanctioned by the Delhi government would not provide a permanent solution to the problems of the MCDs, which have witnessed several strikes by the workers, Maken said. Residents of north and east Delhi breathed easy as municipal employees returned to work on Tuesday and the corporations began clearing out garbage piling on the streets for nearly two weeks. Some unions, however, continued the protest and held demonstrations across the city. Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP alleged that the allocation of funds by the Delhi government was anti-Dalit as it had a condition that the corporations do away with contractual staff. AAP promised to regularise the services of temporary employees, especially the safai karamchari but after coming to power this Kejriwal government has back-tracked. As per a circular to the municipal corporations on February 4, the government has asked the corporations to do way with temporary employees, said Satish Upadhyay, Delhi BJP chief. According to the municipal officials, the entire sanitation machinery was pressed into cleaning and disposing of garbage from Monday and over 8,000 tonnes of garbage was collected and disposed of in North and East Delhi. Read | Garbage crisis: MCD workers end strike after Delhi HC intervenes According to municipal officials, while it will take at least two to three days to bring things back to normal, others services including teaching, issuing of certificates and treatment of patients at hospitals had already begun. Zonal officers have been asked to make sure garbage is lifted from every road with special attention to areas that are heavily populated. In case of other services, the heads of departments have been asked to keep a check on employee attendance and make sure that all workers have resumed their duties, said a senior official. The sanitation workers of the three municipal corporations had on Monday agreed before the Delhi high court to call off their strike and resume work immediately after the three BJP-ruled corporations said they had released their wages, though the two camps have failed to reach any long-term resolution. We are protesting against Delhi government because the conditions for the `551 crore loan extended to the municipal corporations are against employees, claimed Sanjay Gehlot president of the Sanyukt Morcha. The high court will hear the matter once again on Wednesday, where the unions are expected to seek a permanent solution for the salary disbursement. The workers unions have claimed that they will take a final call on the strike after Wednesdays hearing. Read | Mumbais fire and Delhis MCD strike: Tales from a not so Swachh Bharat Municipal workers on Monday warned they would resume their strike if nothing comes out of the high court hearing on the case on Wednesday. Majority of the municipal workers called off the 13-day strike that crippled civic work in the capital after the high court intervened. We called off the stir on a temporary basis after the court assured us our demands would be heard. If the corporations fail to provide a permanent solution to this recurring issue, we will initiate our strike once again, said Rajesh Misha, president, United Front of MCD Employees. Though the municipal administration geared up to clean up the city after the high court order brought relief, officials said that they feared the strike might start again from Wednesday. A lot depends on Wednesdays hearing. The municipal corporations dont have funds to disperse the arrears to the employees, which is one of their demands. This might once again lead the employees to continue their strike, bringing the corporations to a standstill once again, said senior municipal official. In a bid to end the stir, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung had allocated `1,000 crore collectively to the north and the east municipal corporations. According to the municipal sources, the amount would only meet the salary needs of the municipal employees till March 31. Even though the corporation is slated to get the funds from the Delhi government in the next financial year, the amount as per the current rate would be insufficient with an added liability of the seventh pay commission, which is expected to come into force from April 1, said an official. The second phase of the odd-even road rationing initiative could be back in the first week of April. After over two lakh people sent in their suggestions and the Delhi government contacted another 10 lakh for feedback, it is certain that the restriction on cars will be back for another stint. The government is expected to announce a date for the second leg of the restriction on Tuesday. The question is that of timing. February is right here and a lot of things need to be taken into account before implementing the system. It is possible that the restriction will come back in April, said a government official. Over the course of the past 15 days, the government received 182,808 missed calls to give feedback on the odd-even restriction. In addition, 28,400 forms were filled online and 9,000 emails were sent. The transport department made calls to 10 lakh people to collect feedback. The process came to a close at 6pm on Monday. Public meetings were held in each constituency by MLAs to gauge residents reactions. An overwhelming majority, according to government officials, were in favour of the return of the formula. After a 15-day trial of the odd-even restriction on Delhi roads between January 1 and January 15, the Delhi government had claimed massive support from Delhiites and said it would look at reintroducing the restriction. The feedback was brought not just to know if the people want odd-even back but also to understand when and in what form it should be implemented. The feedback form asked people if they wanted the restriction back, when they wanted it back (options were February, exam-time in March, April and May) and for how long it should be implemented. When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government launched a full-fledged war against air pollution in Delhi last year, the measures it introduced were drastic. But so was the situation in the nations capital, its lungs blackened by toxic exhaust fumes from vehicles and industries and in part by smoke from crop residue burnt in neighbouring states. Air in the Capital is a toxic concoction of exhaust fumes from vehicles, industries and smoke from crop residue burnt in the neighbouring states. And therein lies the biggest challenge for the state government led by Arvind Kejriwal in ensuring cooperation from neighbouring states in cleaning up the air in Delhi, named by the World Health Organization (WHO) among the worlds most polluted cities. From the radical road-rationing scheme to the decision to shut down polluting power plans, the AAP government made all right moves, according to experts. It has been a good start. People have understood how behavioural change can help. Now there is a need to sustain it. The odd-even plan was an emergency measure and it worked to a large extent. It has been a movement in the right direction, said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at the Centre for Science and Environment, who also heads its air pollution control campaign. The government now needs to take up its source-wise action plan and push for time-bound implementation. The wake-up call for the government came after a study on Delhis air quality, conducted by IIT-Kanpur over two years, revealed that vehicle exhaust was choking the lungs of people during winter. In summer, the danger came from fumes released by coal-fired power plants, the fly ash they release and dust from roads and construction sites. Earlier, too, governments took measures against pollution with a push for CNG-fuelled vehicles. The momentum is being built again and it needs to be sustained, Roychowdhury said. The debate over whether the road rationing scheme actually helped reduce pollution is still continuing with the government claiming big gains and some experts refuting them. It was clear, however, that air quality in some parts of Delhi did improve. Apart from the road rationing scheme in the first fortnight of 2016, the government also took other tough measures to clean the citys air. It was decided that movement of trucks in Delhi will be allowed from 10.30 pm or 11 pm instead of 9 pm, as these slow down traffic which in turn escalates pollution. Mobile enforcement teams were conceptualised for crackdown on vehicles triggering pollution and vehicles not having pollution under control certificates. The Centre too joined in by bringing forward by a year the cut-off date for implementation of Euro-VI emission norms, earlier fixed for January 1, 2019. It will now be implemented from January 1, 2017 in Delhi. The PWD decided to start vacuum-cleaning roads from 1 April 2016, to check road dust. The plan was in cold storage for a long time and it remains to be seen if it takes off on the new date. Extensive horticulture has also been planned to ensure that open areas prone to generating dust are greened and do not contribute to the dust. The government also decided to shut down the Badarpur thermal power plant, one of the coalbased plants of the NTPC which was commissioned in the early 1970s and uses outdated equipment and often breaks down. It also wrote to the National Green Tribunal for shutting down thermal power plants around Delhi, such as the one in Dadri. The NGT had earlier asked five neighbouring states like Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab to clamp down on people burning crop residue, one of the major contributors of air pollution in Delhi during the winter. Experts pointed out that the single biggest challenge for the government now will in convincing neighbouring states and towns to join hands with it to combat pollution. For, the air we breathe does not recognise geographical boundaries. North Carolina is considering a major change to its higher education admittance system. Students who are accepted to public colleges and universities, but deemed the least well prepared, would be required to attend community college first. According to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education , North Carolinas university system is examining the idea, and is expected to produce a report on how it would work by March 1. The idea came from the states Republican lawmakers, who inserted language outlining the program in the state budget. The legislature has been increasingly critical of North Carolinas higher education system, according to the Chronicle. Students who are admitted at four-year colleges and universities in North Carolina but then identified as the least well prepared would have to attend two-year institutions, but once they complete associate degrees within three years, they would be guaranteed enrollment at the four-year institutions. The North Carolina Guaranteed Admission Program, or NCGAP, would begin with the cohort of students entering college in the fall of 2017. Not many details of the program have been spelled out yet, including exactly what kind of academic profile would result in deferred acceptance to a four-year institution. The bill says only that NCGAP would apply to a student who satisfies the admission criteria of a constituent institution, but whose academic credentials are not as competitive as other students admitted to the institution. The idea behind the program, according to the Chronicle, is to increase the university systems six-year graduation rate of 67.5 percent, and decrease student debt. But some faculty leaders are saying the plan would be logistically tough, crowd resource-poor community colleges with too many weak students, and possibly drive some students to colleges out of state. Writing in defense of the proposal last summer , Jenna A. Robinson, the president of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, said that for too long, students still in need of the three Rs have been admitted, blurr[ing] the line between basic and higher education. Requiring the least-prepared students to obtain associate degrees shifting it back to lower levels of education where it belongs, she wrote. The family of six-year-old Devansh, who was found dead in a water reservoir in Ryan International School, held a candle light vigil at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, demanding justice for their child. We are running from pillar to post seeking justice for our child who did not die accidentally but was murdered. We just hope that the Centre agrees to Delhi governments recommendation for a CBI probe into the incident, his father Ramheet Meena, a paramedical staffer at AIIMS, said. On January 30, Devansh Kakrora, a class 1 student at Ryan International School in south Delhis Vasant Kunj, was found dead in a reservoir under the schools amphitheatre, following which the principal of the school, a teacher and three non-teaching staff were arrested on the charge of negligence causing the boys death. All of them were released on bail the same day. The childs parents had written to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, HRD minister Smriti Irani and the Prime Ministers Office demanding a CBI inquiry into the incident. Following the request from parents and the findings of a magisterial probe which spoke of suspicious conduct of school authorities, the Delhi Government had on Tuesday recommended a CBI probe into his death. In a bid to pay salaries to its employees, the municipal corporations may have emptied out the employees provident funds account. Municipal sources suggest that the while the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has used approximately Rs 400 crore, its eastern counterpart has used around Rs 190 crore of the employee PF accounts. The municipal officials claim the transfer of funds are internal borrowing, a practice the corporations have followed for several years. The practice is like a fallback during financial crisis. The funds are transferred back to the employees provident funds account as and when the grants/revenue is received, said a senior municipal official. Sources in the civic body said that even though the practice has been continued for several years, it has never affected the salary or payment to the employees after retirement. The provident funds are a collection of employees salaries and as only a limited number of people retire every year the funds are transferred back into the accounts of the respective employees, a high-ranking official said. He added that the activity is followed across all agencies and not a new practice. The unions in the municipal corporation claimed that will apprise the high court about the situation on Wednesday. These funds are savings of the employees and the municipal authorities have no right to willfully transfer them. We will explain the severity of the situation to the high court and hopefully, it will decide in our favour, said Sanjay Gehlot, president, Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha. North and East Delhi Municipal corporations have been under a severe financial crunch for over an year which has led to continuous delay in salary payments of employees. The continuous delay had also led to a 13-day strike in the municipal corporation, bringing key municipal services to a complete standstill. Although the employees had called off their strike temporarily on Monday, the final call on the stir will be taken on Wednesday. Ten of the 12 universities of Madhya Pradesh have failed to conduct semester examination in time, said a higher education department official. The calendar released by the department has not been followed properly, resulting in delay in holding exam and releasing results, the official said. Principal secretary KK Singh expressed dissatisfaction over delay in academic year at a monthly meeting with registrars of universities on January 20. The universities which are given A grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council -- Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyala (DAVV), Indore and Jiwaji University, Gwalior -- were also in the list of universities which couldnt hold the exam properly. Bhopals Barkatullah University and Vikram University in Ujjain have completed the examination process. The academic session in newly introduced Maharaja Chhattrasal Bundelkhand University is yet to start. The semester system was introduced in 2008 in all the universities but the failure to follow academic year have stoked controversies many times. Minister of state for higher education Deepak Joshi has asked the officials to do away with the semester system. I am not in favour of semester system in undergraduate courses as the University Grants Commission has issued some guidelines in this regard. Soon, we will come up with solution to convert our universities into world class universities, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The date for submitting the nursery admission application forms in the national capital ends on Tuesday. The submission date was extended to Tuesday only for children above four years of age. The extension was given after the Delhi high court quashed the upper age limit category introduced by the Delhi government. The government had issued a circular notifying that children above four years could not apply to nursery classes this year. Some parents had moved the high court against this decision, after which the court quashed the circular and directed the government to give these children some time for application. The last day for application for both general and Economically weaker Section (EWS) category students ended on February 5. The schools will release the final list of selected candidates in the general category on February 15. Each school will have to upload the names of selected candidates along with points received by them on the website and even display it on the notice boards. For the EWS category, the government will conduct draw of lots and allot schools to the selected candidates. Read more | Our struggle for an education: Delhis great nursery admission mess SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar has received a grant of Rs 5 crore from the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India for setting up a technology business incubator in Punjab. The grant received will be utilised to contribute towards the Central Governments Start-Up India Programme. The new incubator aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurship culture in the state over a period of five years by providing facilities like mentoring, physical office space, library and equipments among other things. Key focus will also be on providing networking and marketing support to all incubatees in order to enable and prepare them to raise capital through angel funding. The main objectives of this Incubator will be to promote new technology/knowledge/innovation based startups, build a vibrant startup ecosystem, by establishing a network between academia, financial institutions, industries and other institutions, provide cost effective, value added services to startups like mentoring, legal, financial, technical, intellectual property related services, provide a platform for speedy commercialisation of technologies developed by the host institution or by any academic/technical/research and development institution or by an individual and create jobs, wealth and business in alignment with national priorities, a press release from the institute said. Read more | Big challenge for small-town IIMs, IITs: Retaining faculty IIT Ropar has always strived to achieve excellence in the field of technological innovation and research. We hope that this new venture will be another stepping stone in the direction of technological advancements in our country and it will open up new horizons for research and innovation, says Professor S K Das, director, IIT Ropar. Currently, Centre for Innovation and Business Incubation at IIT Ropar offers incubation services for technology and knowledge-based entrepreneurship. This centre has already received financial assistance from Department of Science & Technology and other sources. Our vision for start-ups is in sync with the overall vision of the Indian government and this grant of Rs 500 lakh for setting up the technology business incubator will certainly give a big boost to the entrepreneurship culture in the state, says Dr Harpreet Singh, associate dean, industrial relations, international and alumni affairs, IIT Ropar. Oscar-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow told a Los Angeles court on Monday that she feared for her safety after receiving dozens of letters from a man accused of stalking her for the past 17 years, according to media reports. Paltrow, who read aloud from the letters sent by Dante Michael Soiu, 67, told the jury she found the messages religious to pornographic to threatening, the California wire agency City News Service (CNS) reported. Paltrow, 43, said Soiu sent her about 70 letters, a cookbook, clothing and other items from 2009 and 2014, CNS reported. Read: Eww, Gwyneth Paltrow just called ex-husband Chris Martin her brother I have a goal to marry Gwyneth Paltrow, one letter said, according to CNS. A 2010 letter declared, You are hopelessly lost, CBS News reported. Now you must die. Yourself, must die so that Christ can have preeminence. Paltrow, who testified for about three hours, told the court she feared for the safety of her family and said at least one of the letters had arrived directly to her Los Angeles home. A prosecutor says Dante Soiu has stalked Paltrow for 17 years and sent her 66 letters between 2009 and 2015. (AP) Soius attorney, Lynda Westlund, told the court he was harmless and said Paltrow misinterpreted his letters, many of which were biblical in nature and meant as religious messages to the actors, CNS said. Soiu has pleaded not guilty to one felony count of stalking. This is the second time Soiu, of Columbus, Ohio, has faced trial on charges of stalking Paltrow. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2001 trial. Read: I am afraid I will end up in a mental asylum: Gwyneth Paltrow He spent more than three years in a mental health facility after the trial, CBS News reported. Follow @htshowbiz for more The recording of David Coleman Headleys testimony in the 26/11 case is bound to put additional pressure on Pakistan to bring to book the perpetrators of the attacks that claimed over 166 lives in Mumbai in 2008. The case being pursued by Pakistani authorities against Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and some other accused can be termed anything but a trial, as the accused were treated with respect and extended the best of comforts. Read more: David Headleys deposition exposes Pakistans sham 26/11 trial It was only due to international pressure created by New Delhis aggressive diplomacy that Islamabad reluctantly initiated action against the accused. Can similar pressure following Headleys deposition force the Nawaz Sharif government to act against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed? Will they again put in jail Lakhvi who is roaming free after being granted bail? There have been reports that Lakhvi was openly meeting his LeT associates and overseeing operations against India. He was reportedly given personal bodyguards and phones and is said to have fathered a child while in jail. This exposes Pakistans doublespeak on the question of punishing the terrorists responsible for the 26/11 attacks. Read more: From Mumbai to Pathankot: What David Headleys testimony reveals Much of what Headley told a Mumbai special court from Chicago via videoconferencing on Monday was stated by him before the National Investigation Agency (NIA). But his naming Saeed as well as Pakistan army and ISI officers as those who planned the deadly attack will certainly embarrass Pakistan that has been blaming it on so-called non-state actors. India is likely to seek action against Saeed whose recent threat to repeat Pathankot-type attacks has been noted with anger and concern in New Delhi. Will Pakistan act against Saeed and the army officers Major Iqbal, Major Ali and Major Abdul Rehman Pasha? Headley testified that he was trained by the LeT in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Abbottabad near Islamabad under the guidance of Saeed and Lakhvi. Already, India has supplied enough evidence in the form of dossiers to Pakistan. Also, New Delhi has been exerting diplomatic pressure on Islamabad through the US to act against terror groups that target India. But Pakistan has failed to act, so far. The US has announced a reward of $10 million for the capture or any information leading to the capture of Saeed, one of the most wanted criminals in the world. After Headleys deposition, India is expected to ask the US to take action against Saeed. Four of the victims of 26/11 were US citizens and India wants Washington to take cognisance of Headleys statement and act against the JuD chief. If Pakistan is serious about punishing those responsible for killing scores of innocent people, it can ask for a copy of Headleys testimony. Alternatively, it can request the US to allow it to record Headleys testimony the way India has done and take the case in Pakistan to its logical conclusion. But the power equations between Islamabad, Rawalpindi (army headquarters) and Muridke (the LeTs nerve centre) are such that successive elected governments have failed to act against the ISI-backed non-state actors. So, will the Nawaz Sharif government muster courage and show the political will to buck the trend? N Chandrakumar is no ordinary auto-rickshaw driver. He is also a part-time writer whose novel earned him an invitation to the Venice International Film Festival last year. The Tamil movie Visaaranai (Interrogation), which is based on one of Chandrakumars books, was the first Tamil movie ever to be screened at the festival. Co-produced by Dhanush (actor Rajinikanths son-in-law) and directed by noted Tamil filmmaker Vetrimaaran, the movie is running to packed houses in Tamil Nadu, turning the 53-year-old into a celebrity. He comes with his own moniker as well Auto Chandran. Read more: Coimbatore autowallah takes write route to Venice film fest Spending much of his time penning thoughts and stories in between shuttling passengers, Chandran has several novels to his credit and is now drawing film makers like bees to a hive. The author is penning the script for a second film -- Veppamatra Velloliyal (White Light Without Heat), which began shooting recently. In spite of his newfound fame, Chandran remains busy negotiating the clogged roads of Coimbatore. Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the city last week meant an unexpected holiday for him. His auto stand is near the ESI hospital that Modi inaugurated and most auto-rickshaw drivers took the day off to avoid police harassment. Once in a while, Chandran does face the perks of his popularity. He bought a ticket for Visaaranai and accompanied Vinod, the producer-director of his new film, to the theatre. As the show got over, the audience spotted him. They took lots of selfies with him and surrounded him, to talk to him, Vinod said. Read more: Visaaranai writer Chandrakumars book on rape inspires new film Auto Chandran is pleased with how things are unfolding, what with filmmakers from Chennai getting in touch with him. He however considers working with Vetrimaaran his best experience yet. A 10th standard graduate, he was arrested in his 20s in a case of doubt by the Andhra police. He wasnt a free man for almost six months after. Post release, he eventually moved to Coimbatore where hes been driving an auto ever since. Lock Up, the inspiration behind Visaaranai, is the gritty tale of Auto Chandrans incarceration. Quite a bit of his work is auto-biographical. Perhaps thats also why Chandran continues to drive the auto-rickshaw and involves himself in auto union matters. Read more: Visaaranai is one of the best films in world cinema: Rajinikanth His next script sounds like it could be shoo-in at film festivals it deals with the sexual identity of todays youth. A low budget film set under Rs 50 lakh, it follows 20 characters for a day in Coimbatore. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Centre is working on a proposal to ply an amphibious aircraft on the Ganga between Varanasi and Kolkata and has a target of developing 111 waterways in the country. My target is to develop waterways in rivers. Parliament has given the consent to such five inland waterways in which Ganga and Brahmaputra are included. The target is to develop 111 such waterways. There will be trade up to Bangladesh and Myanmar through waterways. An amphibious aircraft will be operated between Varanasi and Kolkata. It will be a cheaper mode of transport, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday at a public meeting in Lucknow. 620 km-long Farrakha to Patna inland waterway will be completed 6 months, he said. Electric bikes, buses and cars will also be introduced in two years to boost environment protection, he said. These vehicles will be operated with lithium-ion battery that is used in satellites and rockets. Such an electric bus has been given to Parliament, he said. The surface transport and shipping minister said the Narendra Modi government will in five years fulfil the dream of ensuring a clean and pure Ganga. The minister said there was a target to start transportation from Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka through underground sea tunnel. He said 5,000 institutes would be set up in the country having facility from driving licence, fitness to pollution certificate and would provide employment to one lakh people. The Indian Army soldier, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, is currently in a comatose state and continues to be in shock with low blood pressure, an army statement released on Tuesday said. The soldier, found alive six days after being presumed dead under 35 feet of snow, has been put on ventilator in ICU, and remains extremely critical, the medical bulletin said. He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body, the bulletin said. He has pneumonia and his investigations have revealed liver and kidney dysfunction. Fortunately there was no cold exposure related frost bite or bony injuries to him, it said. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lance Naik Hanumanthappa at the Armys Research & Referral Hospital . No words are enough to describe endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Hes an outstanding soldier, Modi told ANI. Hanumanthappa was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at Siachen Glacier. He was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition with a weak pulse on Tuesday. #SiachenMiracle PM Narendra Modi reaches Army RR Hospital to meet Lance Naik Hanumanthappa pic.twitter.com/8VGPbnpJlL ANI (@ANI_news) February 9, 2016 He was the lone survivor out of group of ten Indian soldiers that was wiped out by an avalanche in the region last week. Rajiv Chandrasekhar has announced that he will be making arrangements for the family to travel from their hometown in Karnataka to Delhi. Read more: Rescued Siachen soldier on ventilator, army hopes miracle continues 12 pm: Family erupts in joy, says jawan triumphed death As news spread of his rescue, his family erupted in joy and hundreds of villagers gathered at Dharwad in northern Karnataka. He is named after the god Hanuman, hence he triumphed death. We are all overwhelmed. We cannot stop crying, his father told news channel CNN-IBN. Watch | Siachen survivors family overjoyed Read more: Soldier who was found alive being flown from Siachen Glacier to Delhi His wife told news agencies that she was very happy and would go to a temple to offer her prayers. I want to go see him, she told ANI. 11 am Experts say jawan has little chance of survival But experts said the jawan had little chance of survival as victims trapped in such harsh conditions Siachen regularly reports temperatures in the range of -45 degree C usually suffer extensive organ damage. He was flown to Delhi in a C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force and taken to the Army Research & Referral Hospital in the Capital. A special medical team was accompanying him and doctors said his condition was stable but not out of danger. My prayers are with Lance Naik Hanumanthappa who miraculously survived the avalanche at Siachen, defence minister Manohar Parrikar tweeted. Social media also erupted in euphoria amid an outpouring of prayers for the jawan. But army authorities confirmed none of the other soldiers survived the avalanche. Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us, Lt Gen DS Hooda told PTI. Siachen is considered the highest battlefield in the world where thousands of soldiers have died over the decades, more often from the harsh conditions than from military offences. India moved into the Saltoro Range and the Siachen glacier in the mid-1980s following conflict with Pakistan over the disputed region. (With inputs from agencies) . By Devin Corrigan Since the 19th century, the education of children in the U.S. has largely fallen under the purview of compulsory mass schooling systems. This momentous shift away from private tutoring and homeschooling has long generated debate about parent and family engagement with schools. In California, where state and federal laws have formalized such engagement in new ways, another shift may be underway. Two reports express cautious optimism that parent and family engagement could reach long-touted potential, but they also assert that effective parent engagement has thus far proved elusive for many California districts. Ready or Not: How California School Districts are Reimagining Parent Engagement in the Era of Local Control Funding Formula , a forthcoming report from Los Angeles-based nonprofit Families in Schools , and Two Years of Californias Local Control Funding Formula: Time to Reaffirm the Grand Vision a brief by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), offer concrete suggestions and tools to districts for effective parent engagement. Research findings suggest that districts should take the issue seriously; scholars have demonstrated a positive relationship between parent engagement and student academic achievement. Both reports rely on local stakeholder interviews across multiple districts to gauge the state of parent and family engagement since Californias Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was signed into law in 2013. Under LCFF, California school districts have more authority to make funding decisions, including the allocation of extra funds for English Learners, foster youth, and low-income students. LCFF designates eight priority areas for districts including Engagement, which explicitly includes parental involvement. The PACE report situates community engagement within a holistic take on the various challenges and successes of LCFFs implementation. Essentially, they conclude that despite strong efforts on the part of districts, challenges persist, such as a lack of proper outreach and public awareness. The authors advocate a sustained, deliberative approach that goes beyond collecting the opinions of those with the loudest voices, instead focusing time and resources on training sessions for district personnel, assistance from intermediary organizations, and data-driven conversations. Ready or Not, the report from Families in Schools, echoes many of the same problems and proposed solutions, also in the context of LCFF implementation. First categorizing the challenges cited by respondents, the report then provides six policy recommendations: Develop statewide standards for parent engagement Build relationships and partnerships between parents and school staff Invest funding and resources in parent engagement to meet Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) goals Partner with community groups and other external organizations Tailor programs to the different needs of parents Provide professional development on parent engagement Both reports stress the importance of partnerships, professional development, and a diversity of voices, as well as the point of view that effective parent and family engagement is worth the effort. Of course, that effort costs money, which is why many advocates of family and parent engagement (such as the National PTA ) cheered the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA authorizes grants - $500,000 at a minimum - for Statewide Family Engagement Centers, which will support partnerships with technical assistance, professional development, and outreach. The law also calls for statewide sharing of effective engagement practices, and directs more engagement-related funds toward disadvantaged students. The California State PTA issued a statement supporting the Centers but also urging the federal government to do more: We need regulations that make it a priority for schools, districts and states to engage parents in supporting their schools and engaging in decision making and accountability. While there is room for debate about whether ESSA goes far enough, the law irrefutably increases support for family and parent engagement in K-12 schools. Coupling this additional federal funding and guidance with lessons learned from two years of LCFF, California finds itself in an unique position to lead. In the foreword of Ready or Not, Dr. Karen Mapp writes, "[The LCFF] is a window of opportunity for California school districts to invest the necessary energy and resources to get home-school partnerships right, and show the rest of the nation the potential and future of family engagement. With the passage of ESSA, that window just opened a bit wider. Devin Corrigan is an On California research assistant and a recent MA graduate of the International Comparative Education program at Stanford University. Hyderabad A doctor, accused of opening fire on his business partner over a dispute, committed suicide with the same weapon hours after the attack, police said on Tuesday Dr Shashi Kumar was found dead at a farmhouse in Moinabad area around midnight. He allegedly shot himself dead by firing the pistol into his mouth, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Rajendranagar division), K Ganga Reddy said. A suicide note, purportedly written by Shashi, was recovered from the spot. The deceased claimed that he had not shot Uday, his business partner, and alleged that their another partner, Dr Sai Kumar, had opened fire on Uday. We are verifying the allegations made in the suicide note, the ACP said. Uday, Shashi Kumar and Sai Kumar are partners in a multi-speciality 100-bed hospital in Madhapur area here, which was inaugurated on January 1. According to police, a woman had dropped Shashi to the farmhouse after the incident. The incident occurred on Monday on street number 6 of Himayath Nagar here. Shashi Kumar allegedly shot Uday inside a car before fleeing from the spot. Police had formed two special teams to arrest Shashi. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) VB Kamalasan Reddy said the incident could be a fallout of disputes over running of the hospital. Uday managed to get out of his car, get inside an auto-rickshaw and reach a private hospital. He is stated to be stable. As per the preliminary probe, Shashi Kumar had invested about Rs 75 lakh in the hospital. Uday was the medical director, Sai Kumar the CEO, and Shashi the director, the DCP said. It seems differences had erupted and Shashi had sought his money back, he said. The three had met to discuss the issue. At the time of the incident, they were sitting inside a car - Uday in the drivers seat, Sai on co-drivers seat and Shashi on the backseat. Following heated arguments, Shashi threatened them and suddenly took out his licensed .32 pistol and allegedly fired one round at Uday. The bullet grazed his left ear, DCP Reddy said. Narayanguda police has registered a case of attempt to murder under Section 307 of IPC in this regard. Union information and broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley has called for an independent probe into the attack on two journalists of a leading English news channel who were allegedly attacked by a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and MLA Nahid Hasan and his aides in Uttar Pradeshs Shamli district where they had gone to report. The two reporters were in Shamli to cover the incident in which an eight year-old boy was allegedly killed in celebratory firing by party workers. Late on Monday night, Jaitely condemned the incident on the micro-blogging site Twitter and said: Attack on journalists in Uttar Pradesh is condemnable. An independent probe into the incident should be carried out. Attack on journalists in Uttar Pradesh is condemnable. An independent probe in to the incident should be carried out. Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 8, 2016 Meanwhile, there is a surge of protest on social media against the attack on journalist Malini Subramaniams house in Bastar. Subramaniam who writes for a website has alleged that her house was stoned on Sunday evening by a group of Samajik Ekta Manch activists, who also asked her to leave Bastar. A Kashmiri artist on Tuesday accused Facebook of pulling down a cartoon marking the third anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Gurus execution. The cartoon depicts roots growing out of Afzal Gurus grave in Tihar jail and connecting to roots of a large tree named Kashmir. Guru, who was from Baramulla district, was hanged at the jail in 2013 for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack. The artist, Mir Suhail Qadiri, said the cartoon was deleted from Facebook on Tuesday morning. The cartoon was first published in the English daily of the Valley, Rising Kashmir. We remove any comments - posted by anyone - that praise or support terrorist groups or their actions, a Facebook spokesperson told HT. Qadiri, who posts his cartoons regularly on a FB page titled Mir Suhail, said he realised at around 11 am that the Guru cartoon he had posted an hour earlier was removed. The artist said he found a message from Facebook, We removed something you posted with the image of his post containing the Guru cartoon. He said FB has also blocked him from posting new cartoons on his page. (Screengrab from Facebook) The incident shows how fragile freedom of expression is in India. I know that in a community many people dont like my cartoons, but things getting deleted is just not acceptable, Qadiri told HT. The artists allegation came in the midst of a shutdown in Kashmir Valley called by separatist groups. Gurus execution has been an emotional issue in the Muslim-dominated Valley with a section hailing him as a hero. Gurus family and separatists have also been demanding the mortal remains of Guru. The cartoon basically showcases how emotionally Kashmiris are connected with the hanging of Afzal Guru. The roots of the trees represent veins. And its not my opinion. See how Kashmir was todaya complete shutdown on the occasion of anniversary of Gurus hanging, Qadiri added. FB had faced accusations of curbing artistic freedom earlier too. In November, an artwork titled Punjaban by graphic artist and designer Orijit Sen was removed purportedly containing nudity. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) planned to attack the famous Siddhivinayak temple and a conference of defence scientists at an iconic Mumbai hotel a year before it targeted Indias financial capital in 2008, the outfits operative David Coleman Headley told a city court on Tuesday. The US citizen of Pakistani descent also said spy agency ISI provides support to a slew of militant groups including the LeT, strengthening Indias allegations of the Pakistani establishment backing extremists. The 56-year-old told the court that he conducted surveillance of multiple targets in the city including the Siddhivinayak Temple at Dadar and the state police headquarters at Colaba. Sajid Mir (Headleys LeT handler) had specifically asked me to take video footage of Siddhivinayak Temple, he said. Headley said he too worked for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency that provided financial, moral and military support to the LeT, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters on the second day of Headleys deposition via video link. Read | David Headleys deposition exposes Pakistans sham 26/11 trial The LeT operative, who was jailed for 35 years in 2013 by a US court for plotting the strike, said the ISI also provided support to other militant groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen as well as the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is suspected to have carried out last months attack on Punjabs Pathankot airbase. I have no direct knowledge, but it is my assessment that the terrorist organisations in Pakistan and the intelligence agency coordinate with each other, he told additional sessions judge GA Sanap, clarifying that his assessment was based on what he observed in Pakistan and what he heard from people around him back there. He said the LeT had planned to attack Hotel Taj Mahal Palace in south Mumbai in 2007 when a conference of Indian defence scientists was scheduled to be held there. The US national said the plan was dropped, probably for logistical reasons. There were some problems in getting personnel and ordinance to the hall, he said after Nikam sought an elaborate answer, adding that he had taken photographs and video of the conference hall when he stayed in the hotel in April 2007 along with his second wife, Faiza. Headley said ISI officer Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of LeT leader and 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a day after he told the court that he was a true follower of the terrorist group. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, Headley identified him. The Mumbai attacks that lasted three days and left 166 people dead have been a consistent source of acrimony between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has called for Islamabad to bring the masterminds to justice. Pakistans government has technically banned the LeT but a number of its leaders, including Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi, remain free. Replying to a question from Nikam, Headley said he was not being paid by the LeT and he was earning handsome amounts from his businesses in the US while he had invested in real estate in the UAE. He also said the LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen are all part of the United Jihad Council based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). (With agency inputs) Read David Headley: From a video store operator in NY to 26/11 accused Inspired by Hafeez Saeed, Headley meticulously planned 26/11 attacks Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley told a Mumbai court on Tuesday that spy agency ISI provides support to the terrorist group that carried out the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008, strengthening Indias allegations of the Pakistani establishment backing extremists. The US citizen of Pakistani descent said he too worked for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency that provided financial, moral and military support to the LeT, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters on the second day of Headleys deposition via video link. Headley, who was jailed for 35 years in 2013 by a US court for plotting the strike, said the ISI provides support not just to the LeT, but also other terrorist organisations such as the Hizbul Mujahideen as well as the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is suspected to have carried out last months attack on Punjabs Pathankot airbase. I have no direct knowledge, but it is my assessment that the terrorist organisations in Pakistan and the intelligence agency coordinate with each other, he told additional sessions judge GA Sanap, clarifying that his assessment was based on what he observed in Pakistan and what he heard from people around him back there. Watch | 26/11 victim says terror attacks mastermind should be hanged The 56-year-old said ISI officer Brigadier Riyaz was the handler of LeT leader and 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a day after he told the court that he was a true follower of the terrorist group. When shown a photograph of Lakhvi, Headley identified him. The Mumbai attacks that lasted three days and left 166 people dead have been a consistent source of acrimony between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has called for Islamabad to bring the masterminds to justice. Pakistans government has technically banned the LeT but a number of its leaders, including Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi, remain free. Replying to a question from Nikam, Headley said he was not being paid by the LeT and he was earning handsome amounts from his businesses in the US while he had invested in real estate in the UAE. He also said the LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen are all part of the United Jihad Council based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). (With inputs from agencies) Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley continued to depose before a Mumbai court for a second straight day. Here are 5 key takeaways from the explosive hearings: 1)The Lashkar-e-Taiba was targeting Mumbais famous Siddhivinayak temple for a terror strike and asked Headley to survey the popular Hindu shrine that is visited by thousands of people daily. 2)The Lashkar-e-Taiba didnt plan to initially target Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus where attackers killed over 50 people and from where Ajmal Kasab was captured. Headley originally surveyed the railway station as an exit point for terrorists. Read more: Live: Headley says he worked for ISI, met people from Pak army 3)The Lashkar-e-Taiba planned to attack the Taj Mahal hotel in November 2007 to target a proposed meeting of defence scientists. The conspiracy to conduct the terror attacks started in November 2006. 4)The Lashkar-e-Taiba asked Headley to gather military intelligence in India and also recruit someone from the Indian military for spying. 5)Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence provides moral, military, financial support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Headley said he was working for the ISI and met many people from the Pakistani army. A soldier who was miraculously rescued by army personnel nearly a week after he was buried under 35 feet of snow by a deadly avalanche on Jammu and Kashmirs Siachen Glacier was battling for his life on Tuesday. Army teams on Monday pulled out alive Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who was trapped under a mound of snow for six days, an unparalleled feat on the planets most unforgiving battlefield. The soldier was conscious when he was rescued, but later slipped into a coma with army sources saying he was in extremely critical condition. He was among 10 soldiers of the 19 Madras Regiment who were presumed dead after a blinding slide struck their post in the western Himalayas on February 3. A day later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Manohar Parrikar took to Twitter to mourn the soldiers killed in the avalanche, ending all hopes of finding survivors. A special operations C-130J Super Hercules plane of the IAF on Tuesday flew a dangerously-ill Koppad to Delhi where doctors are trying to save his life at the Army Research and Referral Hospital. The next 24 hours to 48 hours would be critical for the Siachen survivor, officials said. Another miracle may be required given his condition, with a team of four super specialists monitoring his vital signs round the clock, a defence ministry source said. The immediate threat is from acute renal failure related to the crush syndrome expected when people are trapped in an avalanche for a long time. A small air pocket may have helped Koppad survive, said experts. Modi, Parrikar and army chief General Dalbir Singh visited the hospital and met doctors taking care of the soldier. Read | Siachen survivor Hanumanthappa fights for life, India prays for him No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier, the PM tweeted, with the entire country praying for the 33-year-old soldiers recovery. His family in northern Karnatakas Dharwad erupted in joy as the news of the dramatic rescue spread. Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Chandrasekhar, well known for championing military causes, made arrangements for the family to fly to New Delhi and for its stay here. The army has also made arrangements for the family to stay in the hospital complex. The dangerous rescue mission, carried out at a height of 20,500 feet, ended with Koppad being pulled out alive along with the bodies of his comrades. Five dead soldiers lay next to him. The men died living up to the motto of their regiment, Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyaha (It is a glory to die doing ones duty). The Madras Regiment soldiers were buried under snow after a massive wall of ice measuring 800ft by 400ft collapsed on their post. The ice debris covered an area spanning 1,000 metres by 800 metres, creating a nightmare for rescue teams racing against time to find survivors. The operation involved more than 200 soldiers, avalanche rescue dogs, helicopters, rock drills, electrical saws and radars that can pick up metallic objects or heat signatures at a depth of 20m. The men had to physically cut off ice blocks inch by inch as they went about looking for survivors. The dogs, Dot and Misha, came in for special praise from army officials. Read | Soldier who was found alive being flown from Siachen Glacier to Delhi It is to the credit and dogged determination of the rescue teams which were working under extreme conditions that they have managed to extricate Koppad alive, an army spokesperson said. He added that Koppad had shown superhuman courage by surviving for six days in temperatures ranging between minus 30 and minus 55 degrees. Rescue efforts were hampered by high intensity winds and blizzards. But despite the efforts, none of the other nine soldiers could be rescued alive. The army identified the martyrs as Subedar Nagesha TT, Havildar Elumalai M, Lance Havildar S Kumar, Lance Naik Sudheesh B and Sepoys Mahesha PN, Ganesan G, Rama Moorthy, Mustaq Ahmed S and Sepoy nursing assistant Suryawanshi SV. The Tamil Nadu government announced Rs 10 lakh each as compensation for the families of four army jawans from the state who were killed in the avalanche. Read | After 6 days, soldier buried in Siachen avalanche found alive The city police are looking into allegations that their counterparts from Gurgaon killed gangster Sandeep Gadoli in a staged shootout at a hotel in suburban Mumbai, with the incident sparking a debate on alleged extrajudicial killings by Indian authorities. The crime branch is recording the statements of witnesses, including Gadolis girlfriend who was with him at the time of the incident, while officers said no case has been registered against the Gurgaon policemen though eight of them were taken to the Mumbai police commissioners office on Tuesday. According to reports, the Gurgaon Police team arrived in the city based on a tip-off that the accused, wanted in Haryana for three dozen cases including eight murders, was hiding at the Airport Metro hotel in Andheri. As soon as the team barged into his room, Gadoli opened fire, following which the police retaliated and the gangster suffered bullet injuries, said sources. Officials say the mob boss kept travelling from one city to another to escape the police and ran an extortion racket while on the move. Human rights activists have for years accused authorities of executing hundreds of people in make-believe shootouts while taking on militants and organised crime syndicates in parts of the country. Dilip Rupwate, the area ACP, said that if crime branch officials find anything incriminating in an investigation, they generally approach the local police and register a case against the suspects. But, as of now, no case has been filed against Gurgaon Police here, he said. Gadoli had a reward of Rs 1.25 lakh on his head and was in the news last year over the killing of Gurgaon municipal councillor Binder Gujjars driver in October. Officials said such cases are usually investigated by the state CID, but since policemen from another state are involved, the probe was handed over to the crime branch. The house of an expelled Samajwadi Party leader was raided in a village in Uttar Pradesh to arrest five accused for the death of an 11-year-old on Monday night. Celebrations on Sunday went awry when shots fired hit a child in an e-rickshaw. Party workers were celebrating party candidate Nafeesas win as the block development committee chairman (block pramukh). Nafeesas husband Gayur, his brother Mumtaj, and three others were charged for the incident, and allegedly fired illegal country-made pistols during the celebrations. The deputy inspector general of police, Saharanpur division, A K Raghav led the raid in the house and searched the village of Bhoora for over an hour, but was unable to find the accused. Meanwhile, a case has also been registered against SP MLA Nahid Hasan and 25 supporters who allegedly attacked a TV news crew and held the cameraman hostage for hours, threatening him to delete footage of the incident. Results to the party pramukh post were announced on Sunday, leading to a day of celebrations by party supporters. Eleven-year-old Shami was returning home in the evening when he was shot. Though he was rushed to a hospital, he succumbed to his injury, leading to a public outrage in the village. Hundreds of people with Shamis family blockaded the hospital and roads using his body, demanding justice. They were dispersed by the police, but not before Rs 5 lakh was promised as compensation to the family. A protest was also staged at the Kairana police station till late Monday night, demanding immediate arrest of the accused. Challenging a male bastion, two women who were first to complete a course for Qazis among 30 students are facing a backlash from Muslim religious organisations who say they cannot judge men. The women are being trained by Darul Uloom Niswaan, a centre for Islamic learning and theology started by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA). BMMA founder Zakia Soman says the training programme for the 30 women began in Jaipur. The initiative is part of the larger feminist movement by some women activists and scholars who want to present a humane, just and peaceful face of Islam, she says. Inspired by the works of progressive and feminist Islamic writings, Soman and BMMA co-founder Dr Noorjehan Safia Niaz framed the curriculum for the programme. Till now, the Quran has been interpreted by men and they have given a patriarchal interpretation. The growing instances of triple talaq, halala, polygamy, denial of alimony are results of patriarchal interpretation, Soman told HT. Dr Niaz says Ulemas and Maulvis interpret the Quran in a conservative, patriarchal manner. They havent addressed problems of women nor responded to needs of a changing society. In Jaipur, Jahanara and Afroz Begum are facing a backlash from Muslim religious organisations for their decision to become Quazis. But they remain unfazed. I have been working for Muslim women since a long time. I understand their daily trials and tribulations, and I realise there is a need to view issues in the Muslim community from womens perspective, Jahanara said. Afroz says the Quran gives both men and women the right to education and encourages them to gain knowledge. I wanted to learn more about my religion so I took up this training. But Muslim religious bodies such as All India Muslim Personal law Board, Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Anjum Educational Welfare Society are up in arms. In Quran, it is written that women cannot judge men. So how can they become Qazis and give rulings? All India Darul Qazat national president Khalid Usmani said. The Quran also states that women cannot lead menso women cannot perform Namaz. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind secretary Mohamed Iqbal says the Darul Uloom Niswaan has no authority to appoint Qazis. Qazis can only be appointed by certain bodies like All India Muslim Personal Law Board or Government of India under the Qazi Act, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Note: Joshua Cowen, an Associate Professor of Education Policy in the College of Education at Michigan State University, joins us this week as a guest blogger. You can follow him on Twitter at @joshcowenMSU. Last month, a pretty big earthquake shook the world of school choice. A team of economists studying the Louisiana Scholarship Program released the first evidence of substantially negative school voucher impacts on student achievement. The rigor of the study was beyond dispute, so instead of the usual back-and-forth debating the quality of the work or the motives of the researchers themselves, both sides of the choice debate have jumped ahead to wondering how to explain what amounts to a shocking bit of news. Well learn more in a couple of weeks when some new work from a separate team will come out with an extra year of data and outcomes other than test scores. But its clear that, at least initially, voucher users did really poorly in Louisiana. The simplest explanation, and the one Im going to push here today, is that on their own, these results shouldnt be so surprising. Weve seen positive and negative effects for charter schools in different places for years so its probably time we saw something like this for vouchers. Whats stunning, though, is just how large the negative Louisiana results appear to be. And its their size that makes the results susceptible to over-interpretation and over-explanation. The most interesting debate about all of this has taken place among school choice supporters. There are several theories being tossed around, but by far the one thats drawn most of the attention is the idea that overregulation of private schools is to blame. The idea is that we should expect bad things to happen when states or school districts tell private schools what to teach and how to measure results, especially if those mandates discourage high quality, innovative private schools from joining voucher programs. This is all an intellectual possibility for sure, although as Doug Harris, my colleague down in New Orleans, has pointed out, it rests on mostly theory with little in the way of evidence to support it. In fact, the only study out there to look directly at the effects of regulation on voucher programs showed positive effects on test scores. I happen to have co-authored that paper. So I want to put on my Captain Obvious hat for a moment and simply use these ridiculously bad Louisiana voucher results to remind everyone that whatever part an explanation like regulation does or doesnt play in the story, it remains true that some private schools are just not very good at educating kids. There are also some awful charter schools. And, as we know, some pretty miserably run traditional public schools. There are also some amazing examples of truly effective schools in each of those sectors. And so, collectively, were going to keep seeing some studies show positive results of school choice, some negative, and some no differences between sectors at all. That kind of variation is built into the argument for school choice in the first place. If the whole point of choice is to allow parents to find schools across sectors that meet their kids needs, it follows that schools are expected to be very different. And were not just talking about differences between good and bad schools here, either. There are also differences between what good schools are good at doing in the first place. This is why were starting to see a number of studies that show no positive impacts of charter or voucher schools on test scores, for example, but big positive effects on other measures like high school graduation or college attendance. On a more basic level, what it means to be a charter school, or a participating school in a voucher program, varies substantially by state. So its not even clear that when we see certain resultsout of Louisiana or any other single contextwe can infer a whole lot about similar programs nationally. Just remember that next time you read that charters or vouchers are all bad, or all good. The truth is right there in between. That may sound like Im trying to have it both ways. What Im really trying to do is argue that as much as we need to keep studying these programs, the evidence we obtain from that effort really cant be used to make overly general arguments about which schoolscharters, vouchers, traditional publicare best for kids. There are big differences between individual schools, and the more school choice we have, the more individual school differences are going to matter a lot more than the sector in which each school is located. And thats why the only hard and fast lesson we can reliably draw from any new study, regardless of what new information it offers, is the importance of obtaining that information in the first place. Private schools may not release test scores on their own, so studies like the one out of Louisianaand the testing requirements that made it possibleare especially valuable. If youre a choice opponent, this is the only way to keep these individual schools honest. And if youre a choice supporter, well, theres a flip side to that coin: information is vital to any competitive market. So, now we know: voucher schools in Louisiana just arent that great. But that knowledge tells parents and policymakers in that state a lot more than it tells the rest of us about the pros and cons of expanding school choice. --Joshua Cowen A soldier declared dead has been found alive under 25 feet (8 metres) of snow, six days after he was buried by an avalanche that hit his military post in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Rescue teams dug out Lance Naik Hanamanthappa in one of the worlds most unforgiving environments, at an altitude of 19,600 feet (6,000 m) on the Siachen Glacier, which India and Pakistan have fought over intermittently for almost three decades. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us, D.S. Hooda, an Indian army commander, said in a statement on Tuesday. .Hooda, who heads the Indian Armys northern command, called it a miracle as he described the huge challenges faced by the rescue team, operating at an altitude of 5,900 metres (19,600 feet). It was not a typical soft snow avalanche. It was like a wall of rock-hard ice, he told AFP, describing how army rescuers used sniffer dogs and specialist radar to detect the buried soldiers. The effort went on day and night, except during two nights when blizzards hit the area. Hanamanthappa has been rushed to hospital and the army said he remains in a critical condition. The bodies of the other nine soldiers had now been retrieved, he said, declaring the rescue mission over. Reports said the soldier was found buried under nearly 25 feet (eight metres) of snow in temperatures of minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 49 Fahrenheit). He had survived thanks to an air pocket. At the Siachen Glacier in the Karakorum range, thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops contest an area above 20,000 feet (6,096 m) where they must deal with altitude sickness, high winds, frostbite and temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit). The inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire. An estimated 800 soldiers have died on the glacier since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat. Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan fought over Siachen in 1987. But guns on the glacier have largely fallen silent since a peace process began in 2004. A private residential school headmaster in West Bengals Murshidabad district allegedly thrashed a 14-year-old student to death on Monday night for stepping outside the premises to see his parents off without permission. The boy, Samim Mallik, was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital and police arrested two people, the headmaster and the owner of the Al Islamia Mission school at Majlishpur, a remote village in Murshidabad. He was our only son. He was earlier studying in a government school. We admitted him in this private residential school so that he can perform better. But they killed him. I want the guilty to be hanged, said his mother Shamima Bibi, crying inconsolably. Sources said the victims parents had gone to the school to meet him on Monday evening. The boy came out of the school boundary to see them off. This allegedly enraged the school authorities as the boy didnt inform them, and he was beaten up. The school authorities didnt inform us. Around midnight, I received a call from the hospital authorities. When I called up the school, they told me our son had fallen ill while studying, said Jugnu Mallik, the victims father. The incident triggered protests and villagers blocked the state highway and clashed with police personnel. Most of the teachers at the school are absconding. We have arrested two persons the headmaster Hanif Sheikh and the owner of the private boarding school Liton Sheikh - after the childs parents lodged a complaint with the local Barwan police station, said C Sudhakar, superintendent of police of Murshidabad district. The accused were sent to two days of police custody. This is the third such death of students in schools in recent weeks. A 12-year-old boy was found murdered in a Ranchi school last week, with his internal organ damages skull fractured, while the Capital has been rocked by the alleged drowning of a six-year-old in a water tank inside Delhis Ryan International School. A shutdown by separatists and restrictions imposed by authorities disrupted life in Kashmir on the third death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. While old parts of Srinagar were under police restrictions, shops and business establishments were closed in other parts of the city. The attendance in government offices was also very thin. Several parts of the city such as Khanyar, Nawhatta, Kralkhud, MR Gunj, Safa-Kadal and Maisuma saw massive deployment of police and CRPF in riot gear, with no movement of people allowed. The shutdown also affected the movement of traffic. The situation in other major district headquarters of the Valley was no different. Rail services within the Valley have also been suspended. Separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chief Yasin Malik, had called for a shutdown on February 9 and 11, demanding the mortal remains of Guru and JKLF founder Maqbool Bhat. The call was supported by United Jehad Council. Police launched a crackdown on the separatist leaders to foil their protest plans. Yasin Malik was arrested on Monday and was remanded to a seven-day judicial custody. Hardline Hurriyat Conference spokesman Ayaz Akbar said the police placed senior leaders, including Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan, under house arrest. JKLF has also planned a protest rally on February 10 to demand the mortal remains of Guru and Bhat. A memorial programme has also been announced for February 11 in Bhats village in north Kashmirs Trehgam. Bhat, a pro-freedom leader, was hanged and buried in Tihar jail five years before militancy erupted in the Valley on February 11, 1984, on charges of murdering a CID inspector. Twenty-nine years later on February 9, 2013, Guru was also hanged and buried in Tihar for his role in the Parliament attack in 2001. Activists and people in Kashmir have been critical of the hanging as they believe Gurus role could not be fully established in the attack. Inhospitable climate at Siachen, the worlds highest battleground, has claimed more lives than gunfire since rivals India and Pakistan stationed troops here in 1984. Several hundred troops from either side have died (--a BBC report in 2014 put the number at 2,700) in the last three decades on the glacier, with the majority of deaths attributed to exposure to extreme weather, altitude sickness caused by thin and oxygen-depleted air, and avalanches. Last week, 10 soldiers were buried in a blanket of snow after an avalanche hit an Indian army outpost on the glacier where temperatures can fall as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius. Of them, only one was found alive after almost a week of searching. On the Indian side, 869 army personnel, including 33 officers and 54 junior commissioned officers, have lost their lives in one of the worlds most forbidding environments. Last month, four soldiers of the 3 Ladakh Scouts were killed when their patrol party was hit by a snow avalanche, while one person was killed and 15 rescued after an avalanche hit their post last November. Official data released by the Pakistan government in 2010 shows that 213 deaths were recorded at Siachen between 2003 and 2010. Another avalanche at the base camp in 2012 claimed the lives of 129 Pakistani soldiers. India and Pakistan spend crores to provide troops the best equipment to bring down casualties. India spends an estimated Rs 6.8 crore a day to maintain its troops at Siachen. In its 2005 report, The Second Freedom South Asian Challenge 2005 to 2025, the Strategic Foresight Group predicted the Siachen glacier may kill around 1,500 soldiers from the two countries between 2006 and 2010 without a single shot being fired. Located on the Line of Control in the eastern Karakoram Range at an altitude of 19,600 feet, Siachen is claimed by both India and Pakistan. The two countries have about 3,000 stationed troops to man the nearly 150 military outposts along the glacier. However, experts frequently question its strategic importance. Stephen Cohen, a US specialist on South Asia, dismissed Siachen as not militarily important, and described the standoff as a struggle of two bald men over a comb. Until 1984, neither side had troops permanently stationed there. Both countries agree on a need to demilitarise the glacier, but attempts to reach any agreement have been unsuccessful though a ceasefire has been maintained since November 2003. Six days after being thought dead, an army jawan was found buried alive under 25 feet of snow on Monday following an avalanche that wiped out an Indian post on Siachen glacier. Read more: After 6 days, soldier buried in Siachen avalanche found alive Read more: Avalanche study centre had issued warning to army on Feb 2 Ten soldiers were believed dead after the avalanche hit the post on February 3, five of whose bodies were recovered. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 4 extended his condolences to the soldiers, while tributes were paid nationwide. So when news of the surviving soldier emerged, social media erupted with joy and wishes for the soldier who is currently critical . The Twitter hashtag #SiachenMiracle was the top trend by Tuesday morning as people took to the microblog to convey their regards and wish him well. #SiachenMiracle Salute the man who had the resilience to fight for six days covered in snow and our army to keep searching for him! Praneet Nakhare (@praneetMUFC) February 9, 2016 Surviving under the ice cold avalanche for 6 days! Kudos to Hanumantappa Kopad. Credit to Indian Army as well. #SiachenMiracle Poulomi Guha (@poulomiguha) February 9, 2016 wake up with this good news #SiachenMiracle Hats off to the braveheart soldier ! Harsh (@Ha_rs_H) February 9, 2016 You sir, are the stuff of legends. Hats off to your courage & endurance. #SiachenAvalanche #SiachenMiracle pic.twitter.com/Ac5Ukrk8RT Dhaval Mehta ? (@dhaval_km) February 9, 2016 Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found with a very weak pulse. Northern Army commander Lt Gen DS Hooda said he was being transferred to a hospital on Tuesday morning. Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us, he told PTI. This has to be the toughest survival story #SiachenMiracle https://t.co/QAwnnW2nTZ Rahul Singh (@rahul16march) February 9, 2016 The Siachen glacier is the worlds highest battlefield at an altitude of 19,600 feet and located close to the Line of Control (LoC). Rescue personnel had to dig through almost 40 feet of frozen ice to find the surviving soldier and his dead comrades. The operation faced its own challenges like bad weather in the form of a blizzard, freezing temperatures and extremely low visibility. #SiachenMiracle is as much about the boy hanging on to life as it is about his brothers in arms who kept digging for past 6days.#JustSaying Harpreet (@CestMoiz) February 9, 2016 Deep respect to our brave men at #Siachen who've tirelessly dug thru 30ft of ice in -20*C n found one soldier alive after SIX days. Jai Hind atul kasbekar (@atulkasbekar) February 9, 2016 Close to a thousand soldiers have died on the glacier, more often from the harsh conditions than from military offences. India moved into the Saltoro Range and the Siachen glacier in the mid-1980s following conflict with Pakistan over the disputed region. Read more: Despite risk to soldiers, Siachen is vital to Indias security The Uttarakhand forest department has found evidence of the presence of snow leopards in six valleys during a survey conducted to study the population of the endangered cat in the upper reaches of the hill state, an official said on Monday. The 15-day survey in June 2015 the first in the state to map the population of the high-altitude species was conducted in 16 valleys and evidences of its presence we r e found i n six, said Digvijay Singh Khati, Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden. The snow leopard, found at an altitude of 3,000m, is a Schedule I animal under Wildlife Protection Act of India and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Uttarakhand is among the five states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, where snow leopards have been sighted. Their presence has been earlier recorded on camera traps in Gangotri and Nanda Devi. However, this is the first time that we have found evidence of their presence in six of the 16 valleys where the survey was conducted, Khati told HT. Thirty-nine pieces of evidences, including dropping and scats, were found, he said. They will be sent for DNA analysis to find out the numbers of snow leopards in the region. With the findings, we are hopeful the state will now be covered under the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme that includes 12 range countries, where the elusive big cats are found, Khati said. Through this project, we would be able to do better habitat management of the species. In 2013, 12 snow leopard range countries, including India, Russia, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, signed the ambitious Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Conservationists say the numbers of snow leopards have decreased over the years due to the receding snowline and poaching in the hill state. The lack of a population map of the animals in Uttarakhand had created a hurdle for the states inclusion in the Project Snow Leopard launched by the Union ministry of environment, forest, and climate change in 2009. Under this, states had to identify the animals habitats and draft management plans. The Centre, under the project, provides funds for research, including the use of camera traps and satellite collaring, to collect more data on the elusive big cat. Snow leopards prefer steep rugged habitat with broken terrains, cliffs, rocky outcrops, and ravines. According to WWF India, there could be as few as 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild with only around 500 in India and their numbers are continuing to fall. Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried in snow for six days, was on Tuesday evacuated to the armys base camp at the Siachin Glacier from where he is being flown to Delhis Research and Referral Hospital in a special air ambulance. He will be brought to the Palam technical airport and airlifted to the hospital, army sources said. Thappa, who hails from Karnataka, was found alive on Tuesday after being buried under 25 feet of snow for six days after an avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified, he has said. A Rajasthan teenager has developed an e-armour for girls, which shocks a molester numb on contact and dispatches the girls location, help messages and the incidents video clip to the police, according to government officials. The device weighs 150 grams and is worn on the wrist. All that a girl has to do is to switch it on when sensing trouble. The moment the girl defends herself with the wired hand, the molester will get a 220-volt shock, the officials said. The armour caught the governments attention when it won the first prize during a state-level science fair in January this year. It will be displayed in the National Science Fair to be held in March in Delhi, officials said. Interestingly, the young inventor, Niranjan Suthar, 17, is a Class 12 arts student of Ahor government higher secondary school in Rajasthans Jalore district, about 390 kilometres from Jaipur. He couldnt join the science faculty due to poor marks, Sudhar said. But, he loved tinkering with electronic gadgets and when the Delhi gang rape hit the headlines, he took it upon himself to develop a safety device for girls. And in over two years of trial and error, he successfully developed the device which he named a Shocking Glove. Sudhar said he learnt the circuiting from internet sources but joined them into a utility device himself. The Glove is fitted with a SIM card, a GPS chip, a video camera and a 3.4-volt battery and a transformer which amplifies 3.4 volts to 220 volts on contact. It is a technical hybrid between a shock gun and a cell phone, Sudhar said, adding that a glove cost him R500. He said his parents provided him with everything he needed and his school gave him the platform to display the device at the district and state level science fairs. The device won the first prizes in the district level science, mathematics and environment fair at Jalore in October 2015 and the 48th state-level science, mathematics and environment exhibition in Ajmer on January 21, 2016. He said a Delhi-based electronic firm had asked for the device model for R&D to explore the possibilities of converting it into a usable consumer format. However, Sudhar wants it to be displayed at the national fair first. It is not Sudhars first invention. Earlier, he had developed a mini-robot and a small solar panel car too SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The drowning of a Ryan International School student may have made ripples in the Capital but a few kilometers away, a similar death of another boy last week has hardly generated any attention, possibly because of his impoverished background. Ankit Singh, 4, allegedly drowned in a septic tank inside a municipal school in outer Delhis Kapashera on January 27, three days before six-year-old Devansh Kakrora was found dead in a water tank at the Vasant Kunj school. But while Devanshs death made headlines with top political leaders visiting his family and the Delhi government recommending a CBI probe, Ankits poor parents are left wondering if their sons death will ever be investigated. Why will anybody care about a poor mans son? his father Rajesh Kumar Singh asked in frustration, sitting in their small one-room house. He works as a tailor in an export firm in Gurgaon, earning Rs 8,000 a month. The only memory left of Ankit, a Class I student, is his school identity card that he forgot to carry that day. His 25-year-old mother, Poonam Singh, has spent the past week staring at the card and crying. Rajesh said the media forgot about Ankits death in 24 hours and no one from the government came to visit. The family came to know about a Rs 2 lakh compensation by the south Delhi municipality corporation through the newspapers. We were called by the SDM and told an investigation is on. They never heard what we had to say. No one has come to us or told us anything about the compensation, Rajesh said. The schools principal has been suspended. Poonam blamed the school authorities for the delay in taking Ankit to hospital and alleged they tried to stop her from seeing her son. The trauma of Ankits death has separated her from even her older son, Rohit. After the incident, Rohit wouldnt stop crying. So we took him to our village in Bihar and left him there. He didnt want to come back, said Poonam. Rajesh described Ankit as a bright student, who would have made it big. He never wanted to miss school even when he was sick or there was heavy rain outside. Ankits friends said he stood third in class last year. He was very nice but more important, he was not scared of anything, said Ashish, who lives in the same colony. But in the absence of money or political power, the family is almost certain those responsible for their sons death will escape. Last time, even when the SDM called us to court, they did not listen to us. They mostly heard what the school had to say, said Rajesh. A day after the death, the colony residents protested but police allegedly lathicharged them, injuring some of them. Poor people are remembered only when the government wants votes. At times, I feel frustrated. I think, had I a little more money or been a little educated, I could have done something, said Poonam. Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma on Monday favoured the entry of women in Keralas Sabarimala temple, saying there should be no discrimination on the basis of caste and gender. The government is of the opinion that there should be no discrimination in all religious places on (the basis of) caste and gender, the Minister of State for culture and tourism (independent charge) said while launching a tourist helpline when asked for his opinion on the matter. His remarks come in the backdrop of Kerala government defending in the Supreme Court the ban on the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years in the historic temple. However, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed the Supreme Courts move as interference in the long held traditions of the temple. I find the petition in the Supreme Court an interference in the long held traditions of the sacred temple and troubling. Culture, spirituality around one of Keralas most revered shrines must be preserved and respected. As in many cases, age old traditions and rituals defy modern explanations and tests. Neverthless, they have to be respected for what they are - traditions and values that many Hindus and Indians value dearly, he said in a statement on Monday. Sharma made the comment at the launch of a round-the-clock tourist helpline. The 10-year-old petition filed by Young Lawyers Association of India has faulted the Travancore Devaswom Boards policy to not allow women inside the temple after they attain puberty. Louisianas attorney general says that the lawsuit against President Barack Obama over the Common Core State Standards that Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards dropped last week is not his to drop. On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Landry filed papers with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to let him take over as plaintiff for former Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, who originally filed the suit. Jindal brought the suit in late 2014, alleging that Obama manipulated billions of dollars in federal grant money and policy waivers to illegally pressure states to adopt the common core. But Edwards, elected in December, said Feb. 4 that he was dropping the longstanding lawsuit against the federal government because the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which specifically bars the federal government from mandating standards, coupled with the states own efforts to rewrite its standards makes the lawsuit educationally and financially unnecessary, according to the Associated Press. The state has paid close to $450,000 to its lawyer, Jimmy Faircloth, to handle the case, the AP reported. On Monday, Jeff Landry, the states attorney general said hes the one who should be deciding what lawsuits proceed or are dropped, not the governor. The governor disagrees. As in any case, the clientnot the attorneyshould ultimately make the decisions on the course of action, and I have decided that this case will not proceed, Edwards wrote to Landry, according to a letter made public to the AP. In response, Landry sent a letter that said, in part, Under our Constitution, the person tasked with the authority to make decisions on the legal business of the State of Louisiana is the Attorney General. With Nitish Kumars Janata Dal (United) and Ajit Singhs Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) initiating merger talks, the spotlight is slowly shifting to the key battleground state of Uttar Pradesh, which will see assembly elections in early 2017. A glance at the performance of Bihar-based parties in UP and UP-based parties in Bihar indicates that they are not able to replicate their success from one state to another. There may be an overlap in the manner in which the Hindu caste structure affects electoral dynamics in both states, the importance of the Muslim Vote, the grammar of social justice and the political culture. But each has its own history. Nitishs efforts to carve out an alliance in UP will be a challenge, and whether he can pose a challenge to established leaders or will sink--precisely like Mulayam Singh sunk in Bihar--is to be seen. But this is not about Nitish: it is about Ajit Singh, a man who has had a rough few years. Some have been surprised about the choice and wondered why Nitish may have collaborated with Singh. The skepticism about the alliance is understandable. Singhs RLD performed miserably in the last Lok Sabha elections, failing to win a single seat. This was a blow to him--as well as his articulate son and the inheritor of the RLD mantle, Jayant Chaudhary. The Muzaffarnagar riots and the subsequent communal polarisation destroyed the Jat-Muslim alliance, carefully built by Chaudhary Charan Singh and nurtured by Ajit Singh. Singhs gambit of getting the UPA government (in which he was a senior cabinet minister) to add Jats in the OBC reservations list did not work. He had to vacate his central Delhi bungalow, and this has been a time of political wilderness for the father-son duo. Singh, who has the dubious reputation of having been in multiple parties and on all sides of the political fence, appeared to be facing his darkest moment yet. But there is a strong case for the decision. On a recent trip to western UP, it was difficult not to spot a trace of nostalgia for Chaudhary Saheb, as Singh is called like his father before him. Jats are restive - and their anger is directed both at the SP state government. and the BJP at the centre. Cane farmers in the region have not got their dues from the mills in time for two years now. The farmers claim that the prices are low in any case, and when they do not get it on time, it becomes impossible to sustain livelihoods. The mills blame it on low sugar prices, but the farmers also blame the government for not being able to get the mills to pay on time. The government has offered relief packages but it does not go far enough. There have even been farmer suicides - something that wasnt heard of in west UP. A Jat farmer told HT in Muzaffarnagar, At least Chaudhary Saheb spoke for farmers in parliament. The BJP and SP dont care for us. There is also another somewhat disturbing reason for increasing Jat disillusionment with the BJP. Many Jat young men had got implicated in the Muzaffarnagar riots. Their families and supporters had hoped that with the BJP coming to power, the cases would be managed and the boys would get away. But this has not happened. A Jat village pradhan of Pinna village, which falls in the Bijnore Lok Sabha constituency, complained that they had been used as fodder in the riots, and would never get into such clashes again. The region remains a communal tinderbox--but there is a somewhat higher degree of caution because of the consequences that came with the riots and communal tensions for the men involved. And then there is a somewhat inexplicable, but strong emotional bond that Jats still share with Charan Singhs family. He was after all their tallest leader, the only Jat PM India has had so far. A Meerut academic explained it this - Jats get disillusioned when Ajit Singh is in power and vote him out, but they then start regretting having done so and feel bad for betraying Chaudhary Saheb, which helps in the subsequent election. The polls are a year away. And there is little sense in making predictions. The RLD will face enormous challenges--Muslims and Jats are still unlikely to come together; given that RLD is not strong enough throw up a CM, in presidential-type contests, the party starts with a huge disadvantage; their patronage networks are limited to west UP districts; and they dont quite have a strong governance record to sell. But in the maze that is UP politics, the Ajit Singh-Jayant Chaudhary duo matter. And that is what Nitish seems to have decided to bank on, in his quest to build a grand opposition to BJP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Amid raging controversy over the number of terrorists that attacked the Pathankot airbase, National Security Guard (NSG) chief RC Tayal says he will be very surprised if it turns out that there were less than six attackers. No question of revising the number of attackers. The NIA is probing the case. Let us wait for the forensic report to come, Tayal told HT. Security forces first engaged with the Pathankot attackers on the intervening night of January 1 and 2, almost 24 hours after the terrorists had entered the airbase. Four terrorists were neutralised by the afternoon of January 2. The area was cordoned and a sanitising exercise began on the January 3 morning. As our bomb disposal squad chief Lt Colonel E Niranjan got martyred while sanitising the body of one of the terrorists on January 3 morning at around 9.30 am, at the same time one of the other NSG team found the ground floor of the two story building nearby locked up. We used a radar on the wall of the building which detected signs of movement. One of the commandos who had gone to put the radar said he heard a voice from inside telling someone, get up, NSG has come. The team of commandos was attacked from inside by a grenade. One of the commandos got a splinter injury in his eye as well, said Tayal. Tayal added fire also came from the ground floor of the building and there were more than 30 explosions in the building. Some LPG cylinders stored there also exploded and the building caught fire. How is it possible that there wasnt anyone there if we faced fire from the ground floor and grenades were lobbed outside? asked Tayal. The NIA recovered only ashes from the fully burnt building with no signs of any weapon or clothes worn by the attackers, who may have been hidden there. The NIA has sent the ashes for forensic examination to see whether it has traces of human DNA. A satyagrah (non-violent resistance) was organised by Hindu hardliners on Tuesday outside the Bhojshala temple in protest of administrations decision to allow Muslims to offer namaz at Bhojshala on Vasant Panchami. Over a thousand supporters participated in the satyagrah including Member of Parliament Savitri Thakur. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders also addressed the satryagrah and said the administration was misguiding the community. We have organised the satyagrah outside the temple but we have the right to pray inside the temple and the temple is ours. Some people from the administration are spreading rumors that if the Hindus will not offer prayers on Vasant Panchami and will pray outside Bhojshala, they will never be able to pray inside the temple in future which is not correct, said Gopal Sharma, convener of Dharm Jagaran Vibhag, an outfit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The Bhoj Utsav Samiti, whose office-bearers are Hindu hardliners, announced on Monday that they are going to hold Akhand (non-stop) Saraswati pooja outside the disputed Bhojshala premises on Vasant Panchami if Muslims are allowed to offer namaz in Bhojshala on that day. Political observers feel that the Bhoj Utsav Samitis stand is a clear attempt to put pressure on the government to scrap the namaz or face the tag of being anti Hindu. Dhar MP Savitri Thakur also participated in the satygrah and inspected the preparations made by the administration. She assured the people that she will talk to senior officials and a stable solution will be found over the Bhojshala issue. Sangathan Mantri Sohan Singh Solanki said people of Hindu community had been fighting for Bhojshala for the last 711 years. Bhojshala is a disputed 11th century structure that is claimed by both Muslims and Hindus. Muslims say it is a mosque while Hindus say it is a temple of Goddess Saraswati. According to directives of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which maintains this structure, Hindus and Muslims can offer prayers at the shrine every Tuesday and Friday, respectively. The structure becomes a flashpoint when Vasant Panchami, also referred to as Saraswati Puja, falls on a Friday as it happened in 2003, 2006, 2013. This year again, its falling on a Friday (February 12). According to ASI order, Hindus can pray from sunrise to 12.30 pm and then from 3.30 pm till sunset and Muslims from 1 pm to 3 pm on that day. However, Hindu organisations have rejected the arrangement, warning that there will be either puja or namaz at the shrine on February 12 and not both. Communal passions ran high as heavy police force had to be deployed on Vasant Panchami on previous such occasions to remove Hindu devotees from the shrine premises to ensure that Muslims are able to offer namaz. Police arrested six persons in Jamalpur, Burdwan, for allegedly trying to impersonate as officials of the defence ministry. They even used the metal board of the defence ministry and ordinance factory board on their car. The accused were detained on Sunday morning and arrested on Monday. Burdwan district police already informed the army colonel of Fort William and joint commissioner of police (crime) in Kolkata. Officials at Fort William told Burdwan police that the vehicle does not belong to the forces. Interestingly, Panagarh army base camp is just 60 km from Jamalpur. Police have initiated an investigation regarding the motive of those arrested. On October 2, 2014, crude IED blasts rocked Khagragore in Burdwan, which brought to light a major terror network of Jamaat-ul Mujahidin Bangladesh in the state. Burdwan SP Kunal Aggarwal told HT, Six persons, namely Sakir Ahmed, Salim Akhtar, Seikh Irfan, Seikh Ansaruddin, Abdul Akhtar and Seikh Sharukh, all residents of Topsia road, Tiljala police station, have been arrested and with a vehicle having a metal board Govt of India, ministry of defence. We also informed Fort William and the Kolkata Police (crime branch). A police team from Burdwan was sent to Tiljala to get information about the accused. The police also came to know that the owner of the vehicle is Abdul Kaderwaj Khan of Kolkata. They started a specific case under sections 419, 420, 379 of the IPC. On Monday, the police produced all the accused before the Burdwan court for a seven-day police remand but got only three days. The accused were coming from Kolkata to Durgapur. During checking, they were asked to stop their vehicle. But they did not. The police chased them and detained their vehicle. They have no driving licence or identity card and there are no papers of the vehicle. However, we could not find any suspicious object inside the vehicle, said the SP. They failed to provide ID cards to prove their claim and also failed to produce any valid document of the vehicle. Further investigation is on, Aggarwal said. The police said that they are residents of Tiljalas Topsia road. Most of them worked in travel agencies as driver. The police learnt that they have no criminal records in Tiljala. The police are trying to find why they put the board of ministry of defence in the car. Prime minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Bombay Art Societys office at Bandra before the inauguration of Make In India Week at the MMRDA ground at Bandra-Kurla Complex. Modi will also speak before a gathering of artists at Rang Sharada auditorium. The Bombay Art Society premises will showcase the exhibitions of the three master artists at three galleries. The society is in the process of acquiring the paintings by the noted artists. Modi will spend more than five hours at the MMRDA ground after inauguration. The PM will receive and interact with the state heads of various countries, including Sweden and Poland, among others. After attending a dinner hosted by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Turf Club in south Mumbai on Saturday, the Prime minister will fly back to Delhi same night. Four state agencies, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Trourism Development Corporations (MTDC) are arranging the week-long events. The MIDC will shoulder a major share of the responsibility from inviting international dignitaries including heads of state to investors to logistical support, media arrangements and hospitality. A grand function at Chowpatty, which has been called Maharashtra Night and is expected to see a turn- out of more than 25,000 Mumbaiites, is being also organised by the MIDC. Meanwhile, the state government clarified Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has been invited for the inauguration of the Maharashtra pavilion on February 14. This means Thackeray has not been invited for the two inaugural functions to be presided over by Modi at the MMRDA and NSCI. The chief ministers office clarified on Tuesday that Thackeray has been personally invited by Fadnavis about a week ago. It is not clear yet if Thackeray will attend. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced to launch Punjab Dialogue, a 150-day-long programme, from March 15, under which party leaders will engage rural people in preparing the blueprint of the election manifesto. Under this initiative, which is being started on the lines of the Delhi Dialogue, AAP has identified 10 core sections of society who will be engaged in the first phase of this exercise, to be completed by August 15. This move, according to party leaders, is an attempt to do away with the usual practice of releasing manifestos without taking feedback from the electorate about their problems and aspirations. During the five-month-long exercise, AAP activists will hold discussions in each assembly segment with farmers, youth, women, traders, industrialists, ex-servicemen, labourers, professionals, NRIs and government employees. The election manifesto will be prepared on the basis of issues flagged in these intensive interactions. Our focus will be on knowing what people want on issues such as farmer suicides, drugs, unemployment, corruption, law and order, health, education, land mafia, mining mafia, cable mafia, liquor mafia and transport mafia, Ashish Khetan, journalist-turned-AAP politician, said at a press conference here. After taking feedback at the grassroots level, the same exercise will be held in urban areas in the second phase. The comprehensive manifesto will be launched on August 15, said Khetan, who was flanked by Punjab party affairs incharge Sanjay Singh. The manifesto, AAP leaders said, would also focus on government debt. Responding to a question, the leaders said there could not be scarcity of funds, provided the government was run with honesty. Targets Cong, SAD Accusing the Congress and the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of turning politics into a trade, AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked: Why has Parkash Singh Badal been sitting over the Ludhiana city centre scam for the past eight years? Why is he (Badal) saving Amarinder? The AAP leader added: Ladne aaya hun Punjab beimano se, darne nahin (I have come to Punjab to fight corrupt people, not to get frightened). He alleged that even a councillor was worth several crores in Punjab. What are their sources of income? In Delhi, we have drastically brought down the cost of construction. For example, a dispensary was built for Rs 20 lakh, while its sanctioned construction cost was Rs 1.25 crore. Similarly, a bridge was constructed at a cost half of the approved budget. This is how money is saved, Sanjay said. There is good news for those who missed the opportunity to meet the Bollywood actor Aamir Khan while he was shooting in Ludhiana for his upcoming film Dangal in the last month. He will be back in town in last week of June to shoot some more scenes of the film which is a biopic on a Haryanvi wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. Interestingly, this time he will be back after shedding extra weight (about 25-30 Kgs) that he had gained to replicate the looks of the wrestler. For the same, he has already begun special training programmes which will be very intensive and for the same he will also travel to the US, said a source from the film crew. The film also carries the part where wrestlers younger days have to be shown and so far, Khan has covered the entire elderly part of the wrestler shooting of which was done in Ludhiana villages -Kila Raipur and Gujjarwal and several other locations in the country including Delhi. Now, on the coming Ludhiana visit, we will shoot the younger days of the wrestler -when he was in his early 20s which will naturally be shot in the same villages. The schedule will be for about few weeks and may commence by June end or maximum by mid July,confirmed a source from the film team.Meanwhile, Khan and his team will stay at the same hotel where they stayed last time. Bookings for the same have already been made by actors production house-Aamir Khan Productions (AKP). We have room bookings from AKP for the last week of June onwards and they have been made for three to four weeks. AKP team has also shared that change of dates is also possible as Khan has to be fully prepared for portraying younger Mahavir Singh Phogat, shared Manav Inder Singh Guram, public relations officer of Radisson BLU MBD Hotel. On the other hand, on January 16, Khan and his team members also enjoyed a dinner party organised by the local administration. There he remained very open to selfies and autographs with the guests in the party. While he asked to address the guests, he appreciated Punjab, its people and their hospitality. Coming to Punjab is always special. Honestly, I have fallen in love with Kila Raipur and Gujjarwal too where I had been shooting for the last several weeks. Other parts of the country should also draw inspiration from Punjab,he said. It is pertinent to mention here that on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on January 14 Khan also took out time for kite flying with Gujjarwal villagers. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mounting debt coupled by recurrent losses in agriculture as well as pressure on the part of the bank to repay the loan, besides the stress on the family front, allegedly forced an Amritsar farmer to commit suicide by consuming a poisonous substance at Fatehpur Rajputan village, near here on Monday. However, the police are yet to register a case in this regard, which the kin of the deceased say is as an attempt by the police to hush up the case. The deceased has been identified as Mangal Singh (62). The incident occurred on Monday morning when the farmer was in his fields, but the death occurred later in the evening in a private hospital. Giving the details, Sukhdev Singh, son of the deceased, said his father had gone to the fields owned by the family in the morning where he consumed some poisonous substance. He, then, returned home and lay on a cot and started vomiting. His condition started deteriorating and when we asked him the reason, he said he had consumed the pesticide used for treating the paddy crop, said Sukhdev. He added that the family rushed him to the hospital where he died in the evening. He said his father had taken a massive loan amounting to almost `10 lakhs from a bank in 1993, for purchasing a tractor, which had somehow snowballed into a huge amount, despite the repayment of a significant amount over the years. Despite repaying a major chunk of the loan, the bank officials claimed that my father owed them `16 lakh. This coupled with continual losses in agriculture and tension on the family front in the form of illnesses of some family members, who required treatment, caused him to take the extreme step, he added. He added that the authorities concerned of the bank had asked them to curb the agricultural expenses and repay the loan as soon as possible. My father had even received a letter from the bank in this regard, besides several reminders to repay the loan and was under pressure on account of the same, Sukhdev Singh maintained. While on Monday cops had been denying the suicide, claiming that Mangal Singh was alive, on Tuesday, SSP Amritsar Rural Jasdeep Singh Saini could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts. In a swift action, the Chamba police, on intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, arrested 12 forest officials in connection with large scale illegal axing in Chamba forest division that had come to light in November 2014. Deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Bir Bahadur Singh has confirmed the arrest of the officials, adding that further information could be given only after the completion of arrest report. Meanwhile, sources told that the all the 12 officials, one of whom had retired, were summoned to the police station on Monday for interrogation and were later arrested. Large scale illegal felling of trees in Almi Beat of Chamba forest division had come to light in November 2014 but an inquiry team constituted by government was able to visit the snowbound area only in June 2015. They had submitted the report on July 23, 2015. The team led by Bir Bahadur had found 1800 trees illegally felled. The state assembly had seen uproarious scenes over the issue. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As the municipal corporation (MC) officials are busy in preparing the Budget to be presented before the MC House next month, residents want from the civic body to ensure well-constructed roads, safe drinking water supply, storm sewer system, solid waste management, sanitation, developed parks and public transportation. The MC had proposed a Budget of Rs 803 crore for 201516, but the government had approved only Rs 742 crore. Residents want from the MC to increase their annual Budget by generating more sources of income so that the city, which has to developed as a smart city can see major developments during 2016-17. The residents wish that the city roads should be free from potholes while there should be proper disposal of solid waste. The residents want from the MC to ensure safe drinking water supply to avoid diarrhoea and gastroenteritis outbreaks in the city. Ludhiana West subdivision grievances committee member, Satish Thaman, said the residents generally complain about unhygienic conditions, non-lifting of garbage, potholed roads, cleaning of sewer lanes and contaminated water supply. The MC should make the budget according to the requirements of the city, he said. The MC should bring proposal to ensure safe drinking water supply, construction of rain harvesting system, proper lifting of garbage, development of parks and installation of storm sewer system, he said. A resident of Tajpur road Lakhwinder Singh said, There are many areas of Tajpur road, Dhandari, Giaspura and outer areas of the city where the roads were not constructed. The MC should bring proposal for constructing new roads. Every year, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis cases are reported due to contaminated water supply. The MC should take measures to ensure safe drinking water supply. The MC should develop all parks to make the city green. The civic body should take required measures to ensure clearing of blocked sewer lanes before the rainy season. More city buses should be started to make the public transportation better, Jagjeet Singh, a government school teacher. District congress president (urban) Gurpreet Gogi, who is councillor from ward no. 53, said, There are many areas where contaminated water supply invites diseases. The MC should take measures to install RO system to purify water being supplied to the residents. The sewerage system should be upgraded. The lifting of garbage is not being done properly so that it must pay attention to improve the solid waste management system. Special budget for health branch should be presented before the House. Plants for sewerage treatment and disposal of solid waste should be set up in the city. It should take measures to redress the problem of stray dog menace, said Gogi. MC commissioner GK Singh Dhaliwal said they are preparing the Budget for 2016-17 while adding that they will ensure development of parks and roads. We will ensure bricks or metalled roads in the entire city. Besides, we have made plans to improve the solid waste management system. The residents can also give us suggestions regarding the budget as we would look into them. However, I assure that the city would see major developments during 2016-17, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON It's usually OK to wear a piece of fabric on your head, provided it's got a shape that doesn't frighten other domesticated primates. Unfortunately for Waris Ahluwalia, an Indian-American actor and designer, the piece of fabric on his head was in the shape of a turban, a shape that triggers acute panic in certain homo sapiens. As a result, Ahluwalia was prevented from boarding an Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to New York. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," he wrote on Instgram. From The Guardian: For Sikhs, wearing a turban symbolises commitment to the faith. "[Taking the turban off] is not something that I would do in public," Ahluwalia told the New York Daily News. "That's akin to asking someone to take off their clothes." This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST Aeromexico made the following statement on their website: Aeromexico is a global airline that has operations in countries around the world, which recognizes and is proud of the diversity of its passengers. Every day we work to ensure strict compliance with the highest safety standards, while we respect and value the culture and beliefs of our customers. We apologize to Mr. Waris Ahluwalia for the bad experience he had with one of our security elements in addressing your flight to New York in the Mexico City International Airport. This case motivates us to ensure that security personnel strengthen its care protocols, always respecting the cultural and religious values of customers. Image: Shutterstock Perturbed over the working of the basic and applied sciences department, which lost the answer sheets of the re-appear exam conducted on January 14, affected students boycotted classes and held a protests on the Punjabi University campus on Monday. They also disrupted classes of the engineering departments. Students of other departments joined the protest as well and demanded action against the erring officials. The protest erupted after the university authorities announced a fresh re-appear exam. The department put up a notice on its notice board that read, The department had conducted an internal reappear exam of applied mathematics (first semester) on January 14 but on January 15, the answer sheets were stolen. The department had constituted a committee to investigate the same and the committee has decided to re-conduct the exam on February 9. The students are now demanding that the university should give them passing marks, as the answer sheets were lost because of the universitys negligence. It is the negligence of authorities. We can appear for the exam on such short notice. The university should give passing marks to all students, who appeared in exams, the protestors said. The university authorities, however, said the demand of the students is unjustified as it is not feasible to pass all students. Dr Sanjiv Puri admitted that the answer sheets had been stolen, but refused to give further details. He said that the matter is already with the higher authorities, who will take the final decision. The Dal Khalsa activists, who have been opposing the attempt of Khalsa College Governing Council (KCGC) of setting up of Khalsa University ever since it conceived the plan in 2011, has once again opposed the move and have advised the council to set up the proposed university in Jalandhar, instead. Dal Khalsas youth wing Sikh Youth of Punjab was of the view that if the KCGC management did so, all opposition and fears would be put to rest. Party spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said, As per my knowledge, the Khalsa College Governing Council has around 100 acres of land in Jalandhar, which fulfils the requirement of setting up a professional university. He also warned the KCGC management that they should not overlook certain aspects that had generated controversy and raised eye-brows against its decision. Even if the management thinks that Khalsa University is need of the hour, the management should come up with a plan that does not create controversies or suspicion, said Singh. Taking a serious note of Sikh-American designer Waris Ahluwalia being barred from boarding a flight as he was sporting a turban, the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar requested US President Barack Obama to initiate action against the airline concerned. In a statement here on Tuesday, Makkar said: It is unfortunate that members of the Sikh community have to face embarrassment abroad due to their religious symbols and turban. Sikhs have contributed in a big way in progress of various countries, but due to lack of knowledge they are subjected to such treatment. It is certainly unjustified, he added. Obama had appreciated the role of Sikh community but still we feel that adequate measures have not been taken to make people aware about Sikhs religious symbols. The US President must ensure that such discrimination with Sikh community ends, said the SGPC chief. How the drama unfolded Indian-American Sikh designer Waris Ahluwalia on Tuesday claimed that he was denied boarding an AeroMexico flight bound for New York from Mexico City only because he was wearing a turban. Ahluwalia fame posted his photograph with his flight ticket on photo-sharing app Instagram and claimed that he was denied boarding because he refused to remove his turban. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban.#FearisanOpportunitytoEducate#humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear, Ahluwalia posted on Instagram. A Sikh community-based organisation in the US, The Sikh Coalition, condemned the incident, calling it shameful, while several other users took to social media to support Ahluwalia. Soon, people from across the world were up in arms with Ahluwalia and took to social media to express their condemnation for the incident: Political resettlements have changed the battle scene for the Samana seat ticket dramatically in the past one month. Except Shiromani Akali Dals candidate cabinet minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, all ticket aspirants from other parties have switched their loyalty in the run up to the 2017 assembly polls. Within a month, Congress heavy weight and ticket contender Jagtar Singh Rajla moved to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has emerged as a force to reckon with in Patiala district, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-appointee former information commissioner Harinder Pal Singh Harry Mann has joined the Congress. However, claiming the Samana seat is not going to be a cakewalk for Mann, as he is not the only leader from the Congress eyeing the ticket from the seat. Former zila parishad chairperson Gursharan Kaur Randhawa and party heavyweight Lal Singhs son Rajinder Singh are also working in the constituency and are strong contenders for the ticket. In the 2012 assembly polls, the Congress had pitted Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Captain Amarinder Singhs son Raninder Singh from the Samana seat, but he lost to SAD candidate Surjit Singh Rakhra, who is now a cabinet minister in the Punjab Government. Captains announcement of one family-one ticket has not only put Raninder out of the race, but it has also weakened the candidature of Rajinder Singh, as his father Lal Singh is a sitting member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Sanour. It would be tough for Harry Mann to strengthen his position in Samana without having the blessing of Lal Singh, as nearly 54 villages of the erstwhile Dakala seat represented by the latter are now part of Samana. Lal Singh still holds considerable clout in these villages besides being close to the party high command. Before joining the SAD, Harry Mann had served in various capacities in the Punjab Youth Congress and PCC. He served as the president of the district Congress committee, Patiala (rural), between 1995 and 1997 and was appointed the chairman of the Kisan Cell of the PCC by Capt Amarinder Singh in 1998. However, as he deserted the Congress after the denial of ticket in 2006, he was not in touch with the constituency. The switching of loyalties by politicians has even left the party workers confused. Those Akalis who were with Harry Mann are now shying to join the Congress, while Congressmen who supported Rajla are in two minds about moving to the Congress fold. Both Rajla and Harry Mann have switched parties in the past two elections, and have now joined other political outfits to get the assembly ticket. They will have a tough time convincing the traditional workers of their respective parties, said Shamsher Singh, a resident of Samana. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Dhanush and filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon are coming together for a new Tamil film called Enmel Payyum Thota, work on which is expected to begin in March. Gautham was to use this title for a project he was supposed to work with Suriya. Since that project fell through, he decided to go ahead and work on the same script with Dhanush with the same title, said a source close to Menon. Tipped to be an actioner set against the backdrop of gang wars, the film will be wrapped up in just two months. Dhanush wants his portion to be completed before he starts working on his Hollywood project. He is expected to start work on this project from March, the source added. The rest of the cast and crew are yet to be finalised. Read: Dhanush to play lead in a big Hollywood film with Uma Thurman By this month end, Gautham will finish shooting for bilingual film Achcham Yenbathu Madamaiyada. Dhanush, who is currently shooting for Tamil political thriller Kodi, is expected to finish shooting for it latest by the last week of this month. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop One of the biggest complaints that Indian movie men have is against censorship. And rightly so. For, art should never be fettered. But sometimes, censorship is touted as one of the reasons for a bad film. This line is debatable. Let us look at Iran, where censorship is almost brutal. While a master auteur like Jafar Panahi has been banned from making films for 20 years and is now under house arrest of sorts in Teheran, and fantastic artists like Golshifteh Farahani (who will soon be seen playing alongside our brilliant Irrfan Khan in Anup Singhs Song of Scorpions) had to flee Iran and take refuge in Paris, the city of liberty, fraternity and equality, there are, yet, men like Asghar Farhadi who make fabulous cinema well within the strangulating restrictions imposed by the Iranian clergy. Farhadi, who gave us a masterpiece like A Separation in 2011 (which premiered at Berlin), is now all set to roll out his next piece of cinema. He is shooting Forushande in Teheran - yes, right under the watchful eyes of the mullahs, much like he did with A Separation. Read: Cannes Film Festival supremo Thierry Fremaux isnt quitting A Separation won the Golden Bear for Best Film at Berlin, Silver Bears for Best Actor and Best Actress and the 2012 Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Picture. (Berlin Film Festival) Farhadis seventh feature, Forushande, explores the relationship between a man and a woman that all of a sudden turns violent. The story underlines the possible reasons for a man, otherwise calm and inoffensive, changing into a brute, unreasonable and cruel. Farhadi said in a note that as in my previous movies, Forushande addresses how social challenges can propel the downfall of some people. Indeed so, and this has been the Iranian helmers strongest point. He has the fascinating ability to weave into intimately personal relationships (like that between two people in love), political and social (sometimes moral) factors -- factors that affect human relationships, at times, gravely so and with ugly consequences. Read: Berlin Film Festival to open with Coens Hail Caesar! The Past (2013) is a haunting piece of cinema that unravels the mysteries of human behaviour against ethnic and cultural turmoil. (Cannes Film Festival) We saw this most vividly in A Separation -- which won the Golden Bear for Best Film at Berlin, Silver Bears for Best Actor and Best Actress and the 2012 Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Picture. A Separation is a painful story of a couple, where the man expects his modern, working wife to take care of his home and his father, down with Alzheimers. When she wants to move out of a socially restrictive Iran, with their daughter, to another country, the husband objects, because there is no one to take care of his father. Herein lies the moral dilemma and conflict, and narrated against the backdrop of the political and social climate prevailing in Iran, A Separation turns out to be a powerful document of societal order ruining very close ties. Read: Thomas Vinterberg to return to Berlin with The Commune The Past -- which premiered at Cannes in 2013 -- is yet another haunting piece of cinema that unravels the mysteries of human behaviour against ethnic and cultural turmoil. Although this work is set in France, it talks about the relationship between a man, who returns to Paris, to settle a divorce with his wife, who has since her breakup found a guy whose wife is in deep coma. The Past is more about deceits and lies told through marital discord, but the underlying cultural conditioning of the Iranian couple cannot be missed. Forushande seems like the third part of a trilogy (although Farhadi has not said so). But whatever it be, the film will may well be as riveting as A Separation and The Past. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala, credited with promulgating the countrys first democratically drafted constitution, died at his residence in Kathmandu early on Tuesday at the age of 78. Koirala, the president of the Nepali Congress, was suffering from pneumonia and breathing-related ailments. His personal physician Karbirnath Yogi attributed the death to respiratory failure because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The government declared a three-day period of national mourning and an official holiday on Wednesday. A cabinet meeting decided Koiralas last rites would be performed with full state honours. Nepal and Nepalis will always remember him as someone who dedicated his entire life to the nation and to uphold freedom and democratic values and also his incomparable contribution towards drafting the constitution, said a statement from Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis office. Watch | Nepals former PM Sushil Koirala passes away Indian leaders, including President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, expressed condolences. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj arrived here on Tuesday evening with a delegation comprising Congress leader Anand Sharma, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, CPIs Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to offer her last respects. Koiralas death came at a time when the Nepali Congress was holding its organisational polls and he was a frontrunner for the top post one more time. The Nepali Congress announced the suspension of all activities related to the polls till February 13. No decision was made to change the dates for the partys general convention scheduled for next month. Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family & people of Nepal in this hour of grief. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 Koirala was elected head of government in Februray 2014, soon after the second constituent assembly polls, and was instrumental in promulgating the much delayed statute in September last year. A lifelong bachelor, he was known for his corruption-free image and simple way of living. Koirala was at the front of the Nepali Congresss efforts to usher in democracy in Nepal from an early age, and was imprisoned for three years for his involvement in hijacking a plane to gather funds for the party. He was elected president of the party in September 2010, and under his leadership, the Nepali Congress became the biggest party in the second constituency assembly polls held in November 2013. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Trade agreements like TPP and the US-EU TTIP are notorious for their Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses, which let corporations sue governments in secret proceedings, in order to force them to get rid of environmental, safety and labor laws that reduce profits. In a bid to save TTIP, the European Commission has rebranded them as "Investor Court Systems" that are functionally equivalent to ISDSs. The German Magistrates Association ("the largest professional organization of judges and public prosecutors in Germany") has published an "Opinion on the establishment of an investment tribunal in TTIP the proposal from the European Commission" that condemns the whole idea of ISDSes, saying that it lacks a "legal basis" and that there's no evidence that it is needed and worse, ISDS tribunals don't "meet the international requirements for the independence of courts." This attack from a very unexpected quarter is a really devastating blow for the ICS idea. It will be hard for Malmstrom to claim with a straight face that, unlike the current corporate sovereignty system, ICS is a real court, with all the protections that ISDS lacks, because a large number of EU experts in this area have just stated unequivocally that it isn't. The judges' opinion makes it even more likely that the US will reject the ICS idea out of hand, not least because it can now simply point to the German Magistrates Association's analysis as proof that ICS doesn't do what Malmstrom says it does. That leaves the really interesting question: where does the EU's Trade Commissioner go from here? She can hardly return to the old-style ISDS for TAFTA/TTIP, since she has been busy rubbishing it in order to promote her new ICS idea. Moreover, this latest rejection comes at just the wrong time, since it is widely expected that corporate sovereignty will be one of the main items on the agenda for the next round of TAFTA/TTIP negotiations. Awkward. Top German Judges Tear To Shreds EU's Proposed TAFTA/TTIP Investment Court System [Glyn Moody/Techdirt] Opinion on the establishment of an investment tribunal in TTIP [Bilaterals.org] (Image: TTIP Trojan Horse, Greensefa, CC-BY) If Donald Trump wins in the New Hampshire primaries on Tuesday, and by a wide margin as polls indicate he could, pundits believe the Republican party nomination is his for the asking. And if Bernie Sanders does as well as predicted by polls he is leading Hillary Clinton by a double-digit margin he could turn the Democratic primaries into a protracted, costly contest. But the state has a rocky relationship with polls. They are more often wrong than right, said Andrew Smith, a New Hampshire academic who has been polling the state since 2000. Another pollster has called the state a graveyard of polls. Watch | Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders win New Hampshire in crucial US vote Trump has an unassailable lead over his nearest rival Marco Rubio, 31.2% to 14% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, and is widely expected to win. The point of interest being the margin, which, if thin, might be bad news for him, read with his under-performance in the Iowa caucuses last week, which he lost to Ted Cruz. The contest on the Republican side is really for the Number 2 slot, which is currently occupied by Rubio in polls, with Governor John Kasich a close third, at 13.5%. Though Cruz is placed fourth, he is not said to be in that race which has the governors Kasich, Jeb Bush (formerly) and Chris Christie, who are looking better than ever before. Rubio came to New Hampshire riding a surge in numbers caused by a strong finish in Iowa he was a close third. But he has since come under withering attack from the governors. A spat with Christie in the last presidential debate, for instance, is believed to have damaged his chances significantly, stopping his surge at the least, if not reversing it. Kasich has been rising. But Smith said the Ohio governor has made the tactical mistake of presenting himself as a moderate conservative to court independents. That may not work. On the Democratic side, Sanders is so far ahead of Clinton 54.5% to 41.2% that the former secretary of state will consider a single-digit defeat margin a good outcome. Sanders began rising around September-October, and never let Clinton catch up. The win in Iowa, by the thinnest of margins, hasnt helped her narrow the gap here at all. Democratic primary voters have never historically supported candidates backed by the party, said Smith, who has co-authored The First Primary: New Hampshires Outsize Role in Presidential Politics. They like left-leaning liberals, and Sanders is just that. His socialism is less of an issue specially, Smith added, with the new generation in the party that grew up post-cold war. Sanders has surprised experts and pundits beating Clinton even among younger women, who should otherwise have been on her side. She has tried to win them over, but unsuccessfully so far. Lahore A Pakistani court has accepted a petition seeking direction to the government to bring back Koh-i-Noor from British Queen Elizabeth-II, overruling the objection to the plea for the famed diamond. Lahore high court justice Khalid Mahmood Khan on Monday overruled the objection by the courts registrar office to the petition which has named Queen Elizabeth II and British High Commission in Pakistan respondents in the case. The plea filed by barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry made Pakistans claim over the 105-carat gem on the basis that it was taken from the territory that became Pakistan in 1947. The court directed the office to fix the petition before any appropriate bench for hearing. In December last year, the registrar offices had dismissed the plea terming it as non-maintainable and said that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case against the British Queen. The petitioner filed a fresh application in the high court pleading that in Britain the Queen is respondent in every case. Why cant she be made respondent in a case in Pakistan, he argued in the court. In the petition, Jaffry argued that Britain forcibly and under duress stole the diamond from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took it to Britain. The diamond became part of the crown of incumbent Queen Elizabeth-II at the time of her crowing in 1953. Queen Elizabeth has no right on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, he said. The London-trained lawyer said that he has written 786 letters to the Queen and to Pakistani officials before filing the lawsuit. Koh-i-Noor was not legitimately acquired. Grabbing and snatching it was a private, illegal act which is justified by no law or ethics. A wrong is a wrong. It does not become righteous or right by passage of time or even acquiescence, he said in the petition. Claiming that the diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab province and its citizens owned it in fact, he sought direction to the government to bring the diamond back to Pakistan from the UK. The Koh-i-Noor is one of the Crown Jewels and is now on display in the Tower of London. India has made regular requests for the jewels return, saying the diamond is an integral part of the countrys history and culture. India says that Koh-i-Noor was illegally acquired and demands that it should be returned along with other treasures looted during colonial rule. Pakistans military establishment is said to be very concerned about the conventional military modernisation programme of the Narendra Modi government, and frustrated that no deal had been struck with India since the NDA came to power. As the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) published its annual Military Balance 2016 report on Tuesday, Ben Barry, a senior expert who works with the military-strategic communities in India and Pakistan, said there was great optimism in Islamabad when Modi came to power. In the government and security community in Pakistan there was great optimism when Modi came to power, that he would be able to engage Pakistan and maybe strike a deal (normalisation of relations, reduction of tension over security), Barry told HT. But I think there is some frustration in Islamabad that they havent been able to achieve that. We have contacts with the Pakistani military. I think they are very concerned about Indias conventional military modernisation. Barry, a former brigadier in the British army, said Pakistan was particularly concerned with India acquiring advanced weapons systems like Apache helicopters, C-130 Hercules aircraft and T-90 tanks. The India-US nuclear deal too remained a matter of concern in Islamabad. According to the IISS expert, We should take confidence that there hasnt been a repetition of the terrible massacre in Mumbai. I may be proved wrong, though, but given the state of various extremist groups in Pakistan, it is very, very difficult for the Pakistani government to withdraw all of them. They may have had a hand in generating some of these and setting them up, but its quite difficult to turn them off. Barry said Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif was able to take advantage of the 2014 massacre in an army-run school in Peshawar to launch Operation Zarb-e-Azb to clear North Waziristan of militant groups. There is no doubt that it has made considerable difference. Islamist terrorist groups and their capabilities have been considerably degraded by the Pakistan Army and the police, Barry said. The Military Balance 2016 report details various initiatives taken by the Modi government to encourage FDI and private sector participation in defence, and lists the personnel and assets of Indias armed forces and reserve forces. The Indian governments Make in India policy aims to strengthen the indigenous defence-industrial base through measures that include reforming Indias foreign direct investment cap. However, industrial-capability limitations and bureaucratic obstacles have hampered a number of promising initiatives, it said. Focussing more on developments related to Russia, China, Iran and NATO, the analysis states that western military technological superiority is eroding due to the proliferation of advanced military capabilities and growing accessibility to military-relevant high technology around the world. Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies, London SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An Indian American Sikh man barred from boarding his flight home from Mexico City Monday for refusing to remove his turban has turned his plight into a cause. Waris Ahluwalia, an actor and designer who made headlines in a GAP ad in 2013, is now refusing to be flown home by officials of the airline chastened by the outpouring of outrage. Ahluwalia has posed a three-point demand to the airline, Aeromexico, according to the Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group, for agreeing to be put on a flight home to New York. I realize that this isnt about my convenience or getting home for lunch today, Ahluwalia told The Washington Post. I realize that if I walk away, somebody else was going to go through this experience again. He added: It doesnt feel like a choice I can make. I dont think I can just get on that plane. He wants Aeromexico to issue a public apology, give an undertaking to provide Sikh awareness training to staff and train them on how to screen passengers with religious headgear. According to multiple news reports, Ahluwalia was about to board his Aeromexico flight from Mexico City after going through the mandatory screenings when he was stopped. Ahluwalia was put through another round of screening now. They searched his bag, patted him down and asked him to remove a sweatshirt he was wearing. They asked him to remove his turban, which he refused. I responded matter-of-factly that I wont be taking off my turban, he told the New York Times. And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, O.K., then you are not getting on the flight.? Sikh men are routinely subjected to extensive and intrusive screening at US airports, even for domestic flights. A former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN wasnt spared either. This has little to do with their being Sikh. Most times they are subjected to this treatment because they are mistaken for West Asians, specially men, who also use similar headgear. A Sikh owner of a gas station became the first victim of the 9/11 backlash when he was shot dead by a man who wanted to avenge the attacks just four days after, on September 15. Ahluwalias GAP ad was defaced in New York with anti-Muslim graffiti. Someone wrote on it Make Bombs, a take on the ad campaigns slogan, Make Love. New York congressman Joe Crowley said in a tweet, Id say this is unbelievable but fact is Sikhs continue to face discrimination based on how they look. This must end. Ahluwalia, 41, lives in New York, and is known for his House of Waris jewellery line. He also acts, and worked in Wes Andersons The Darjeeling Limited and The Grand Budapest Hotel. He was still at the Mexico City airport Tuesday afternoon, according to an update tweeted by Sikh Coalition, which said he spent the night there. A controversial family of Indian-born businessmen known for their close links with President Jacob Zuma has been thrust back into the spotlight in South Africa after a key opposition party demanded their ouster from the country. It was another ordinary day in abnormal South Africa when, during a news briefing last week, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the opposition party known for its confrontational tactics, answered a question about the Guptas. Guptas must leave the country with immediate effect. Were tired of talking about the Guptas, EFF leader Julius Malema said. We must take action against corruption. Its a battle, its a war against the Guptas. Malema continued: We are not going to allow South Africa to be sold over a plate of curry. Were not part of that mess. Were going to take physical action over that. The attack was the latest salvo by critics of the family, led by brothers Atul, Rajesh and Ajay, known for their close proximity to South Africas powerful, in particular President Zuma and his family. On Tuesday, the Gupta brothers and nine other applicants filed an urgent application in the high court of Pretoria, asking it to interdict Malema from inciting violence against employees of their businesses. South Africa is facing a difficult time 22 years after the end of apartheid. GDP growth has slowed, with the World Bank pegging it at 0.8% this year, and the country is facing downgrades from ratings agencies. South Africa has also struggled with inequality and the official unemployment rate is more than 25%, though some estimate the unofficial rate to be much higher. Recently, a spate of racist social media posts by white South Africans has called into question once again the state of race relations. Zuma and the ruling African National Congress have been criticised for a lack of development, in particular not doing enough to improve the economic prospects of the African majority while favouring businesspeople with political connections such as the Guptas. Read | From Saharanpur to South Africa: The rise of Ajay Gupta Who are the Guptas The Guptas business deals have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Their mining companies have been accused of benefiting from political connections. Last year some accused them of influencing the decision to fire South Africas finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, and replace him with a party backbencher, a move that sent the financial markets into a tailspin. Political analyst Ebrahim Fakir says that while the Guptas have built their success on access to political figures, they are not alone in this. Every successful business, whether family or otherwise, they all managed to get terribly successful because of their proximity to power. This is true everywhere, Fakir says. The trouble is they appear to have been lobbying in an unethical way. Atul Gupta reportedly arrived in South Africa in 1993 and entered business, most notably with Sahara Computers, whose name invoked an Indian business giant but which has no connection to its namesake. The government at the time was emerging from apartheid and eager to attract investors. They came at a time of euphoria when the country was looking for investments. I think they came with a pot of money to invest and they grew from there, Fakir says. Accusations Zumas son Duduzane Zuma is director of Sahara Computers. His twin sister Duduzile has also worked for Sahara. One of the wives of the polygamous Zuma has reportedly been employed by a mining company owned by the family. It was with Duduzane Zuma that the Guptas made their introductions to many South Africans. In 2010, Duduzane and members of the family were among those set to become beneficiaries of an 800-million rand mining deal, a little more than $100 million at the time, involving AngloAmerican and ArcelorMittal. The deal drew controversy and was later overturned in court. The Guptas were back in the news in 2013, after the family used a South African military airbase, Waterkloof, to ferry foreign guests for a nieces wedding at a posh resort. Atul Gupta later apologised for the familys use of the airport. And while the Guptas were in the news, they also launched their own media company, first with The New Age newspaper in 2010. The papers editor and several senior staff members quit shortly before the publications launch. The newspaper was followed by the 24-hour cable news network, ANN7, which launched in 2013. For critics, the newspaper and news network have highlighted the Gupta familys improperly close relationship with government, and they allege that state-owned companies are inappropriately supporting the media units in the form of advertisement and sponsorships. The New Age and ANN7 have been accused of supporting Zuma and the Guptas editorially as well. The criticism reached a new, tense high at Malemas news briefing, when he accused them of being part of the familys cartel and banned them from covering EFFs events. We cannot guarantee the safety of Gupta employees at our events, Malema told reporters. Emblematic of countrys problems The Gupta family could not be reached for comment on this report. But in December, The New Age CEO Nazeem Howa released a statement defending the family from accusations that it was benefiting from political connections. They are not politically active nor have they taken any political benefits and remain simple business people focusing on running profitable and sustainable businesses, Howa wrote. He added the Guptas employ more than 5, 000 South Africans and havent taken money out of the country as suggested by some media entities. But Mondli Makhanya, a political editor for South Africas Citypress newspaper, wrote last year the Guptas had become emblematic of the countrys problems. It could be argued that it is unfair on the Guptas to have all the nations woes piled on their shoulders. But the thing is, they are taking the bullet for many others who are involved in the project of state capture by business interests during the Zuma presidency. The Guptas are emblematic of that phenomenon, Makhanya wrote. Fakir agrees, saying unhappiness with Zuma has become enmeshed with the Guptas due to their close relationship. Because Zuma is so closely tied to them they appear to be closely related. So everything Zuma does wrong, and he does plenty wrong, gets tied to them, Fakir says. For the third year in a row, a record number of U.S. citizens and green card holders renounced their citizenship and gave up their green cards in 2015, according to data released by the Treasury Department. A record-breaking 4,279 people gave up their citizenship or long-term residency in 2015, compared to 3,415 people who called it quits the previous year, reported The Wall Street Journal. The IRS publishes a list of individuals who renounced on a quarterly basis, and the latest released Friday includes the names of 1,058 citizens and permanent residents who relinquished their passports from September to December. The real overall number is likely much higher, according to Forbes. While there isn't a single explanation for the rising numbers, many people are believed to renounce to avoid stricter tax policies, while others do so for political, legal or familial reasons. The number of renunciations has soared since the 2010 implementation of the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which cracks down on foreign banks and their U.S. customers who use dual residency to hide money offshore. The banks are now required to report to the IRS income information for their U.S. customers or face penalties. Since the passing of FATCA, the U.S. has collected more than $13.5 billion in taxes and penalties from banks and U.S. taxpayers that failed to comply. "An increasing number of Americans appear to believe that having a U.S. passport or long-term residency isn't worth the hassle and cost of complying with U.S. tax laws," Andrew Mitchel, an international lawyer, told the WSJ. The U.S. is the only country in the world, other than the African nation of Eritrea, to impose taxes on income earned abroad, which results in many of the 7 million Americans living overseas being taxed twice. Expats must also comply with strict income- and wealth-reporting requirements and face harsh financial and criminal penalties for choosing not to do so anywhere from $2,000 to $70,000, according to The Washington Times. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Major changes could be coming to Hillary Clinton's campaign staff after Tuesday's New Hampshire primary because the former secretary of state and her husband, Bill, are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the campaign's messaging and digital game, Democratic operatives say, according to a Politico exclusive published Monday. "The Clintons are not happy, and have been letting all of us know that," one Democratic official told Politico. "The idea is that we need a more forward-looking message, for the primary - but also for the general election too... There's no sense of panic, but there is an urgency to fix these problems right now." Clinton, who won the Iowa caucus by so little - less than a half of a percentage point - that many consider it to be a win for Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, is expected to take a beating in Tuesday's contest in New Hampshire well into double digits. Although Clinton has been able to significantly close that gap, according to The Wall Street Journal, a gap which was more than 20 points in January, it has become increasingly clear that she has grown frustrated by her campaign's inability to present a coherent and positive view of her candidacy. "There's nobody sitting in the middle of this empowered to create a message and implement it," one former Obama 2008 aide told Politico. "They are kind of rudderless... occasionally Hillary grabs the rudder, but until recently she was not that interested in [working on messaging]... Look, she's going to be the nominee, but she's not going to get any style points and if she isn't careful she is going to be a wounded nominee. And they better work this sh-t out fast because whoever the Republicans pick is going to be 29 times tougher than Bernie." Sanders, however, has been able to boast many online victories, including more donors contributing to his campaign than any other in history, even Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. The Sanders campaign said earlier this month that it had raised $20 million for the month of January from a record-setting number of small donors. The campaign says that more than 770,000 individuals contributed over the month with an average of $27 per contribution, putting the total number of donations past the 3.2 million mark, according to USA Today. The campaign also said that 99.9 percent of the donors gave less than the maximum limit, making them eligible to contribute more later in the race. In recent polling, Sanders leads Clinton in New Hampshire by more than 12 points. According to recent polls compiled by RealClear Politics, Sanders has 53.3 percent support, while Clinton has 40.5. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said on Monday that he would "eliminate" the Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United that paved the way for the influence of super PACs in the electoral system. "If I could do it all again I'd eliminate the Supreme Court ruling" Citizens United, Bush said in an interview on Monday, according to CNN. "This is a ridiculous system we have now where you have campaigns that struggle to raise money directly and they can't be held accountable for the spending of the super PAC that's their affiliate." Bush reiterated his position during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, saying, "The ideal situation would be to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that allows for...unregulated money for the independent and regulated for the campaign," according to The Hill. The irony was not lost on Donald Trump, who took to Twitter to highlight a degree of hypocrisy in Bush's newly-found position, given the support he receives from Right To Rise, a super PAC that raised $120 million to put Bush in the White House, Politico reported. "Now that Bush has wasted $120 million of special interest money on his failed campaign, he says he would end super PACs. Sad!" Trump tweeted. Now that Bush has wasted $120 million of special interest money on his failed campaign, he says he would end super PACs. Sad! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2016 "I would turn that (Citizens United) on its head if I could," Bush said at a luncheon in Nashua, New Hampshire before the early voting state's primary on Tuesday, according to CBS News. However, Bush seemed just as bothered by the personal nature of attack ads, as anything else. "I mean, I just saw a mailing that attacked me through my mother with one of the super PACs," Bush told CNN. "C'mon man, that's a pretty low blow." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Two prominent American women, Gloria Steinem and Madeline Albright, abandoned women's rights and equality by encouraging young women to forget using their brains - and just cast the boob and vagina vote for Hillary. While stumping for Hillary Clinton in Concord, N.H., former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Saturday said there was a "special place in hell" for women who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders over Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. I wonder if Albright thinks women should be perpetually barefoot and pregnant, too. Implying that women shouldn't use their brains and vote according to gender criteria even if you think there's a better candidate who serves your interests - dare we say a male - is taking identity politics to a new offensive level. Sounds like Albright wants to take women back to the Dark Ages. I wonder if Albright believes there's a special place in hell for men like Bill Clinton who repeatedly disrespect their wives by committing serial affairs? Better yet, going with this "vote for me because I look like you" approach, does Albright think blacks should vote for black candidates only or be damned to hell? If so, which Democrat candidate should blacks vote for in Albright's mind? Sanders or Hillary? Steinem, Queen of the 1960s feminist revolution, also spent the weekend belittling women, implying they are mindless gender groupies who must vote for Hillary. Appearing on Bill Maher's HBO show she implied that young women are only supporting Sanders to pick up boys. "When you're young, you're thinking 'Where are the boys?' the boys are with Bernie," she quipped. Before that she insulted young women, saying that while "men tend to get more conservative because they gain power as they age, women get more radical because they lose power as they age." Though she issued an apology later on Facebook, the anti-feminist, man-hating hypocrisy oozing from the mouths of both Steinem and Albright demonstrates they think America's female millennials can be manipulated for votes. Kidding aside, Albright's comments reveal the desperation of Hillary's campaign in New Hampshire, and frankly, within the Democrat party. The fact is Sanders is appealing to millennials - young women included - because he's offering free college - free everything - and because they see Hillary for what she is: a corrupt, ruthless career politician who will say and do anything to get elected. According to Associated Press polling conducted in Iowa last week, women 29-and-younger voted, 6-to-1, in favor of Sanders over Clinton. Likewise in New Hampshire, polls indicate Sanders holds the same large lead among young women. Clinton may be running to become the nation's first female president, but the fact that the next generation of female leaders finds her grossly unappealing is a special kind of character indictment. --- Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessary represent those of Headlines and Global News. Crystal Wright is the author of the newly published book "Con Job: How Democrats Gave Us Crime, Sanctuary Cities, Abortion Profiteering, and Racial Division" and editor and publisher of the blog Conservative Black Chick. As a black conservative woman living in Washington, D.C, some would say she is a triple minority: woman, black and a Republican living in a Democrat-dominated city. Wright is the principal owner of the Baker Wright Group, LLC , a full service public relations firm, specializing in communications counseling, media relations, message development, media training and crisis communications. Follow her on Twitter at @GOPBlackChick. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. After a round of insults between Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Jeb Bush Monday morning, Trump took to the television airwaves to lambast the former Florida governor for being "sad," "pathetic," "desperate" and an "embarrassment to his family." "He's a desperate person," Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday afternoon, just a day ahead of the New Hampshire primaries, according to The Washington Times. "He's a pathetic person - he doesn't even use his last name in his ads. He's a sad person who has gone absolutely crazy. I mean, this guy is...a nervous wreck. I've never seen anything like it." He continued: "Jeb is having some kind of breakdown, I think. Look, he's an embarrassment to his family. He has to bring his mother out and walk his mother around at 90 years old. I think it's a very sad situation that's taking place." Trump then moved on to the topic of eminent domain, a law that Bush says that Trump abused to steal land from citizens. "The Texas stadium, when he talks about the taking of land. Well, they used - the Bush family used the taking of land privately, eminent domain on Texas stadium. So you look at this kind of stuff - it's absolutely amazing," he told CNN, according to The Daily Caller. "And on top of it, Wolf, he spent over $100 million, and he's a failed candidate, I mean, he's a laughingstock," Trump added. The bickering started early Monday morning when Trump hopped on Twitter to claim Bush has "zero communication skills," which resulted in him spending "a fortune of special interest money on a Super Bowl ad." Jeb Bush has zero communication skills so he spent a fortune of special interest money on a Super Bowl ad. He is a weak candidate! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2016 Bush, Trump's most consistent critic on the campaign trail, hit back a couple hours later, tweeting to Trump: "You aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out." .@realDonaldTrump, you aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out. Jeb Bush (@JebBush) February 8, 2016 Bush was referring to comments Trump made over the summer about McCain, the Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee who was held as a war prisoner in Vietnam for five years. Trump said he likes people that weren't captured and that McCain was only "a war hero because he was captured." Trump responded with a couple more tweets: Jeb Bush is desperate - strongly in favor of #CommonCore and very weak on illegal immigration. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2016 Everybody is laughing at Jeb Bush-spent $100 million and is at bottom of pack. A pathetic figure! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2016 The two also traded jabs in separate interviews on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Monday morning. Bush has been ramping up his attacks against Trump in an attempt to gain footing in New Hampshire ahead of the primaries. Trump is still dominating the field with 31 percent, while Bush sits in fifth with 10.5 percent, according to Real Clear Politics' average of polling data. Bush is doing something right, though, as a poll released Sunday by Monmouth University found he has risen 9 points since January. When on CNN on Monday, Blitzer asked Trump to respond to being called a "loser ... a liar and a whiner." Trump unleashed on Bush: "No, I'm not a whiner. I get things done. You know, I get things done. Look, Jeb is the kind of a guy, if he weren't in government, nobody would give him a job. Couldn't get a job. You look at what he says, I mean he lies so much. I'm very strong on Second Amendment. You know that. You've heard my speeches. I'm very strong on low taxes. I've got a huge tax cut for everybody. He says I want to raise taxes on everybody. I mean, you know, how do you do that? A guy goes out and says he wants to raise taxes." "The guy is, you know, he's got a failed campaign," Trump said. "He's a nervous wreck. He's probably going to be the last of the governors, I would say. Certainly he's the least talented of the governors. And you know, he's done poorly in the debates over the period of time. And what he does is he goes around saying I'm the only one to have courage to go after Trump.' "What courage is it?," Trump rhetorically wondered. "He says nasty things. I always put him down on the dais, and he goes away like a little sheep. You know, the guy is just not a man. He shouldn't be - he should speak much more positively." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Peters, Pennsylvania Police Chief Harry Fruch has ordered his police force to investigate middle school students who are taking and sharing naked pictures of themselves. "If the photograph was taken by the individual, male or female between the ages of 12 and under 18, she's as much a guilty party as the person who received it. She is not a victim in this case or he is not a victim," said Chief Fruch. From Lenore Skenazy of Free-Range Kids: A musician who suffered brain damage was able to experience the joy of playing music once again thanks to brain-reading technology, according to the Telegraph. Rosemary Johnson, 50, had a promising music career in her future until a tragic car accident robbed her of her ability to speak and move freely. But now, after 27 years, Johnson was able to experience creating music again thanks to the "brain computer music interfacing" technology developed by Plymouth University and the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London. "It was really very moving," said Eduardo Miranda, professor and researcher at Plymouth University. "The first time we tried with Rosemary, we were in tears. We could feel the joy coming from her at being able to make music. It was perfect because she can read music very well and make a very informed choice." By concentrating on images on the screen, she was able to compose music that was then played aloud by accompanying musicians who sight read her choices in real time, according to Science Alert. "It's not yet possible to read thoughts, but we can train people to use brain signals to control things," added Miranda. "The great achievement of this project is that it is possible to perform music without being able to actually move. She is essentially controlling another musician to play it for her." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Waris Ahluwalia, well known Sikh actor and designer, said on Monday that he was barred from boarding an AeroMexico flight From Mexico City to New York because of his turban. "This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia captioned an Instagram photo of himself holding up his boarding pass. The 41-year-old actor was heading to New York for the New York Fashion Week, which starts Wednesday. Ahluwalia, who has made appearances in films like "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "The Darjeeling Limited," was prohibited from flying after he was asked to take off his turban for security screening, which he refused. "That is not something that I would do in public," he said, according to New York Daily News. "That's akin to asking someone to take off their clothes." Ahluwalia asked if he could remove his turban in a private screening area, but his request was denied, after which, an Aeromexico staff member told him that he "will not be flying Aeromexico" and that he should "book another flight." "I was shaking at first," Ahluwalia said. "That's not a nice thing to be told, that you are not allowed to fly on this plane because of something you are wearing, or because of your religious beliefs." "About the situation of passenger Waris Ahluwalia, Aeromexico reports that he was asked to submit to screening and inspection before boarding, in strict compliance with TSA protocol," said an Aeromexico spokesperson, according to The Huffington Post. "We have offered the passenger to alternatives to reach his destination as soon as possible. We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by this incident." However, Ahluwalia shared another Instagram update that stated that he was still in Mexico City, 13 hours after the incident and that "no traveler should be subjected to" what he had to go through. Ahluwalia made news in 2013 after the Gap ad he modeled for was vandalized with racist graffiti. The ad campaign's slogan of "Make Love" was changed to "Make Bombs," as HNGN previously reported. This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban. #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate #humanrights #dignity #lovenotfear A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:58am PST Update. 13 hours later. Still in Mexico City. No traveler should be subjected to what I was today. All we're asking for from @aeromexico is an apology and education/training of the staff. #lovenotfear #FearisanOpportunitytoEducate A photo posted by Waris Ahluwalia (@houseofwaris) on Feb 8, 2016 at 6:33pm PST @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Update Feb. 9, 6:06 a.m. EST: BREAKING: German police say all train crash survivors have been rescued from wreckage. The Associated Press (@AP) February 9, 2016 -- Two trains collided near Bad Aibling in Bavaria early Tuesday morning, leaving eight people dead and more than 150 people injured. The two trains crashed into each other on a single track between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen shortly before 7 a.m. local time. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag said, according to The Associated Press. The police have not ruled out searching for more possible casualties in the crash. A final tally of the number of fatalities and injuries has yet to be determined. A total of eight rescue helicopters were stationed on a lawn near the Bad Aibling's entrance and more rescue staff made their way to the wreckage, according to The Independent. Several wagons overturned during the collision. Since the incident took place on a single-track rail, police are now investigating about whether or not signal failure was the cause of the accident, the Daily Mail U.K. reported. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Tensions between South and North Korea have escalated once more after the South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat that briefly moved south of the countries' disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea, Seoul's defense ministry said on Monday. A South Korean military official told the Yonhap news agency that the North Korean vessel crossed the Yellow Sea border just before 7 a.m. Sunday, but retreated northward after the warning shots were fired into the water. "It quickly retreated after the South Korean navy fired warning shots," a ministry official said. Pyongyang refuses to recognize the de-facto maritime boundary between the two Koreas, the Northern Limit Line, arguing that it was unilaterally drawn by U.S.-led United Nations forces after the 1950-53 Korean War. As a testament to this, North Korea frequently fires artillery shells and moves naval ships near to or across the line, according to DW. As such, incidents like this are not uncommon and though they don't usually don't amount to anything, limited naval clashes did emerge in 1999, 2002 and 2009 due to such provocations. However this incident underscores the heightened tensions between the two nations following the North's launch of a long-range rocket on Sunday, reported the AFP. The South argues the launch was a disguised ballistic missile test and has remained on a high state of alert ever since. Emphasizing Seoul's current state of mind, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has called for heightened vigilance against any further provocation from North Korea following Sunday's missile launch and last month's nuclear test. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The City View Bar and Restaurant Casino in Nairobi's Eastleigh district became the site of a grisly murder today after a gambler lost his temper and killed two casino workers in a fit of rage, before being chased out and stoned to death by fellow gamblers, according to APA News. The violent events allegedly started when the man, identified as John Barnabas Mchanga, became extremely irate after losing about $300 in a game. Mchanga asked a female manager to lend him money so that he could win back his losses. The manager, however, refused. Mchanga then went berserk, attacking the female manager before leaving. He was not gone long, though. He soon came back with a sword, slashing her to death. One of the casino's security staff, who attempted to intervene, was also killed in the scuffle, reported the Daily Star. Another security officer who was wounded in the incident has been admitted to a hospital due to injuries. The officer remains in serious condition. Other gamblers in the casino eventually took the matter into their own hands, chasing Mchanga off of the casino's premises, cornering him on a nearby street and stoning him to death, reported BBC News. The gambling industry has experienced a boom in Kenya, with revenues in 2014 reaching about $20 million. The industry has also grown about 6 percent annually. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Despite Julian Assange being given the support of the United Nations, whose recent report condemned the U.K. and Sweden for Assange's "arbitrary detention," a Swedish prosecutor has declared that she would still continue to pursue an interrogation of the WikiLeaks founder, according to DW News. In a statement on Tuesday, Marianne Ny, one of Sweden's most prominent prosecutors, stated that the United Nations' report does not change anything. If any, she is more intent to bring him in for questioning over charges of rape which Assange allegedly committed back in 2010. "Concerning the report that was issued last week, I would like to state that it does not change my earlier assessments in the investigation," the prosecutor said, according to The Local. With regards to Ny's efforts, the Swedish prosecution authority stated that that the sharp-witted prosecutor is working on a new application to interview Assange in Ecuador's embassy in London. The WikiLeaks founder had previously stated that he was open to a dialogue with investigators, provided that the interviews were done in the Latin American country's embassy in London, which had been his home for the past four years, reported India News. The 44-year-old Assange had refused to leave the embassy grounds to go to Sweden, under fear of deportation to the United States, where he is wanted for releasing about 500,000 sensitive military files through his site, WikiLeaks. For more World News, click here. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A suicide bomber hit a busy market in Damascus on Tuesday, killing several people and injuring others. Early reports indicate that the suicide bomber targeted a police station but was thwarted by guards. The bomb was detonated in the adjacent vegetable market. Eight members of the police were included in the casualties, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told BBC News. It is not yet clear if there are civilian deaths and Syria's interior ministry has not confirmed nor identified the total number of people killed. There are still conflicting reports about the actual death toll. Citing multiple sources in Syria, for instance, there were 3 to 8 fatalities and at least 14 injured in Al Jazeera's latest report. A militant unit of the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the bombing, has also declared that the blast killed around 20 people and wounded 40 others, according to the Daily Mail. The suicide bomber was wearing a police uniform, a well-known tactic used by militants to carry out terrorist attacks. Last month, a militant detonated a bomb near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, which is located in the outskirts of the Syrian capital. The attack killed 71 people, a figure that added to more than 260,000 deaths accumulated since the Syrian conflict started last 2011. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The FBI formally confirmed Monday that it is investigating Hillary Clinton's exclusive use of a private email system while working as secretary of state. In a letter dated Feb. 2 and disclosed Monday in federal court, the FBI's chief attorney, James Baker, wrote to the State Department and officially confirmed the probe after it refused to comment on the matter last year. "Since that time, in public statements and testimony, the Bureau has acknowledged generally that it is working on matters related to former Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server," wrote Baker, reported the Hill. "The FBI has not, however, publicly acknowledged the specific focus, scope, or potential targets of any such proceedings," he said. "Thus... we remain unable [to] provide [details about the case] without adversely affecting on-going law enforcement efforts." The Justice Department submitted the letter Monday as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against the State Department by government watchdog Judicial Watch, according to Fox News. The FBI is looking into whether Clinton knowingly transmitted classified information over her unsecured server, which experts say was most likely hacked by foreign governments. The Obama administration confirmed last month that 22 emails on Clinton's server contained "top secret" information that may have jeopardized lives. Clinton insists that she never sent or received information that was marked classified, and said during last week's Democratic presidential debate that she is "100 percent confident [that the investigation will not turn criminal]," according to the Washington Examiner. "This is a security review requested and carried out that will be resolved," she said. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that the FBI's confirmation proves that the investigation is not a simple security review. "The FBI's announcement confirms the investigation into Hillary Clinton's secret email server is far from the routine 'security review' she has claimed," he said. "Clinton's conduct was a severe error in judgment that grossly endangered our national security and put highly classified information at risk." Republican Rep. Darrell Issa and former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have recently said that friends within the FBI acknowledged that the bureau is ready to indict Clinton and are making sure they have more than enough evidence to do so. "I have friends that are in the FBI, and they tell me they're ready to indict," DeLay, a Texas Republican, told Newsmax's "The Steve Malzberg Show." "They're ready to recommend an indictment and they also say that if the attorney general does not indict, they're going public." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Hospitality Net today Sign up to our free daily newsletter, A Utah State House of Representatives bill would outlaw doxingpublishing someone's private info with the intent to facilitate harassmentbut the EFF says the planned law's language is so broad it would target free speech. At fault, Sam Machkovech reports, is the fact that the law doesn't clearly define its terms. [Lead sponsor State Representative David E.] Lifferth's suggested amendment, on the other hand, offers no such specific, harassment-minded qualifiers in regard to "personal identifying information." The legislation as written would punish citizens for posting a laundry list of information about anyone if a court determined there was intent to annoy, alarm, or offend them, including names, birthdays, phone numbers, place of employment, photographs, or other realistic likenesses. The penalty for first-time offenders would be a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine. Among other things, such legislation might limit citizens' ability to hold public officials and other influential members of society accountable for their actions. Lifferth has promised to fix the bill's language. Jannah Hotels and Resorts is to start construction on a new five-star hotel that will make the reception check-in queue a thing of the past. The UAE-based hotel developer and operator will break ground on its seventh hotel, Jannah Creek Dubai, a 152-room establishment that is scheduled to open in 2018 in the premium Creek area. Jannah Creek Dubai will offer a multitude of innovative features, including a unique check-in experience with no sign of the usual time-consuming queues and document signing at a reception desk. Instead, weary travellers arriving at the luxury hotel will be greeted by one of Jannah's renowned Karim the guest's very own personal genie who will carry out the check-in on a tablet device as he shows them to their room. After enjoying their welcome drink, guests will be invited to use an ingenious QR code that, once scanned, will take them to a video that will introduce the features and amenities of the room and the hotel. Nehme Imad Darwiche, Chief Executive Officer of Jannah Hotels and Resorts, said: "As well as delivering a truly five-star product, Jannah Hotels and Resorts believes in embracing technology to provide an ultra-modern service that offers our guests more time to sit back, relax and enjoy their stay. "We wanted our guests' experience to be as smooth and hassle-free as possible, right from the moment they arrive. What better way to eliminate the wait to check-in at reception than removing reception altogether? "Our Karim check-in service gives a personalized touch that is synonymous with Jannah's ethos towards an exclusive customer experience." The Karim service, a unique feature of the Jannah brand, is available 24 hours a day to provide personalized attention to each guest without intrusion. The Karim service includes general assistance, such as wake-up calls followed by tea or coffee, arranging for medical pillows, and helping newcomers with anything from car purchases to finding a suitable school for their children. Jannah Creek Dubai is a partnership between Jannah Hotels and Resorts and the Abu Dhabi-based Al Rubayeh Group. HE Mohamed Bin Rubayeh Abed El Aziz Al Muheiri, Chairman of Al Rubayeh Group, said their latest property addition is an example of the partnership's emphasis on innovative features that enhance guest experiences and aid environmental sustainability. "We are never shy of pushing the conceptual boundaries of what our hotels offer from a technological and service point of view," he said. "And we spare no expense when it comes to installing smart systems that cut power consumption and ensure the sustainable development of Abu Dhabi in line with the overarching vision of the country's leaders." Jannah's new smart hotel will follow the example of its 18-storey Jannah Burj Al Sarab in Abu Dhabi, which offers sustainable features such as applications that reduce power consumption inside its 318 rooms and suites, while solar boards on the roof generate power to warm bath water. In addition, laundry and sheets are transferred through pipes without the need to use elevators and consume power. Jannah Burj Al Sarab also features the fastest Wi-Fi available at any hotel in the world. Its 1.2 Gigabit per second (Gbps) speed, putting it ahead of every other hotel to have tested its speed on the website www.hotelwifitest.com, which tests and rates Internet speeds available at hotels around the globe. For reservations, call 00 971 (0) 2 652 6777 or 800-JANNAH (526624), or email [email protected] For more information on the hotel, visit www.jannah.ae About Jannah Hotels and Resorts: Jannah Hotels was born and raised in the Liwa Desert of the United Arab Emirates. Founded on the spirit of the Noble Bedouin Hospitality and pioneered with an infrastructure that is innovative, creative and dynamic, Jannah Hotels and Resorts has blossomed into the hotel managementcompany of choice. Offering leading proprietary technology and evolutionary programs, the company offers intelligent and efficient hotel management services that are focused on ensuring properties managed under the Jannah Hotels and Resorts brand"s reach their operating potential in every aspect. Properties in the portfolio include Jannah Burj Al Sarab, Jannah Eastern Mangroves Suites, Jannah Place Abu Dhabi, Jannah Marina Bay Suites, Jannah Place Dubai Marina, Jannah Creek Dubai, and Andalus Al Seef Resort and Spa. It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Related Related Press Release Cachet Hotel Group Appoints New Leadership Team to Strengthen Expansion in the Americas Meredith Gelacak joins CHG in a newly created position, as President of Hotel Operations Americas, reporting to CEO Alexander Mirza. A veteran of the hotel industry, Gelacak brings more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, including 15 years with Hilton Hotels Worldwide, where in her last role she served as Vice President of Food and Beverage where she oversaw US$2 billion dollars of revenue for Hilton Hotels, managing celebrity chefs and third party operator relationships. Gelacak also served as General Manager for several full service Hilton Hotels with an average key count of 400 rooms. In addition, she brings substantial entrepreneurial experience, from serving as Chief Operating Officer of a luxury spa venture featuring LVMH brands that managed the Waldorf Astoria New York Spa, to participating in the launch of the award winning French restaurant, Millesime, at the Carlton Hotel in New York. The report is written to counter potential dangers with preemptive response planning. It encourages organizations to implement appropriate security measures, collaborate with local authorities and train staff in proper prevention and reaction methods. Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) has released a special report Hospitality Attacks: Tips That Could Save Lives. The feature is available free to the hospitality industry via PineappleSearch.com, HFTPs hospitality-specific search site that was built for hospitality by hospitality. The comprehensive report prepares a hospitality property for a hostile attack, and includes a review of security assessments, staff training, response plans and active shooter response. With all of the global developments around public safety, HFTP saw a need for a high level document on the topic said HFTP Global President Arlene Ramirez, CHAE, CHE, CHIA, MBA, principal at ADR Hospitality Consulting and on the faculty at the C.N. Hilton College, University of Houston. Although public safety in hospitality is a slight departure from finance and technology education, we felt that education on this topic is critical. Hospitality Attacks was written by Eliza Selig, HFTP director of communications and Frank Wolfe, CAE, HFTP CEO. The report is written to counter potential dangers with preemptive response planning. It encourages organizations to implement appropriate security measures, collaborate with local authorities and train staff in proper prevention and reaction methods. Hospitality Attacks: Tips That Could Save Lives is available on PineappleSearch.com. About HFTP HFTP, founded in 1952 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA with additional offices in Maastricht, The Netherlands, and Kowloon, Hong Kong, is the global professional association for financial and technology personnel working in hotels, clubs and other hospitality-related businesses. HFTP provides first class educational opportunities, research, and publications to members around the globe including, the premiere hospitality technology conference HITEC -- founded in 1972. HFTP also awards the only hospitality specific certifications for accounting and technology -- the Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (CHAE) and the Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) designations. HFTP was founded in the USA as the National Association of Hotel Accountants. Learn more at www.hftp.org. Pharrell Williams has always been a fashion icon, among his many other talents. He recently bought back full control of Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream, clothing and fashion labels he popularized in the mid 2000s. His next move is a much bigger one, as Pharrell has been named co-owner of the Dutch denim brand G-Star RAW. Labeled a strategic partnership, Pharrell will be immersed in the company on many creative levels, from collections, to advertising and business strategy. So rather than Pharrell purchasing a stake in the company, it appears this partnership is more in line with a highly visible brand partnership than a back-room business deal. Only positive words flowed between the two parties. G-Star is an independently minded and forward thinking company, states Pharrell Williams. I believe they will be the definitive jeans brand of the 21st century. I am looking forward to being part of that mission and to co-create G-Stars future Pharrells company Bionic Yarn previously partnered with G-Star to create RAW for the Oceans, a line of denim products created using recycled ocean plastic. It was during that partnership that the musician and denim brand realized they had great synergy, and decided to continue working together at a higher level. Both parties made the announcement via Twitter and a press release. [via] Pharrell-GStar In yet another extraordinary twist to the water fluoridation story, the former Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, has spoken out for the first time about the fluoride report, which he produced and which he believes was suppressed by the Dail committee that commissioned it. To read John Gormleys Report on Water Fluoridation in Ireland go to hotpress.com/fluoride The Texas County Genealogical and Historical Society has a library open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its Grand Avenue building. Its meetings are on the first [] Last December, Vtech, a crapgadget/toy company, suffered a breach that implicated the data of 6.3 million children, caused by its negligence toward the most basic of security measures. Nevertheless, the company was back in January, advertising its new line of (I'm not making this up) home security products. Now, the company has re-opened its portal for its children's products, with new terms of service, all in CAPS: "YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ANY INFORMATION YOU SEND OR RECEIVE DURING YOUR USE OF THE SITE MAY NOT BE SECURE AND MAY BE INTERCEPTED OR LATER ACQUIRED BY UNAUTHORIZED PARTIES." Even by the low standards of license agreements, this is extraordinarily abusive language. It's unclear when this language was added, but the document says it was updated on December 24 of last year. (VTech did not respond to a request for comment on the Terms and Conditions but said "key functions" of the Learning Lodge came back online on January 23.) But security and privacy experts are concerned that this could be an attempt to skirt lawsuits in case of a future data breachand they believe consumers should be aware of the move to avoid liability, especially considering that VTech is now getting in the house monitoring business. Rik Ferguson, the vice president of security research at Trend Micro, said the clause is "outrageous, unforgivable, ignorant, opportunistic, and indefensible," and likened it to "weasel words." Despite this surprising changea British law professors told me he's "never seen a clause like that before"legal experts doubt the provision has any real value. Hacked Toy Company VTech's TOS Now Says It's Not Liable for Hacks [Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/Motherboard] Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Belvoir Federals Marketing and Public Relations Manager Earns CMP Accreditation Belvoir Federal Credit Unions Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Amy McConnell, has earned the esteemed designation of a Certified Marketing Professional (CMP) from th Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 12:25 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Woodbridge, VA (PRWEB) February 03, 2016Belvoir Federal Credit Unions Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Amy McConnell, has earned the esteemed designation of a Certified Marketing Professional (CMP) from the nationally acclaimed Direct Marketing Association (DMA).As the worlds largest trade association dedicated to advancing and protecting responsible data-driven marketing, DMA, which was founded in 1917, stands out as the premier organization for executives who embrace a responsible, customer-centric approach to marketing and fundraising.DMAs education programs provide world class training on a multitude of topics, ranging from direct mail to data governance to the latest in digital advertising. All of the learning opportunities, which are recognized throughout the marketing community as the definitive source for information about marketing research, regulatory issues, and best practice recommendations, are delivered by experts in their field.The pro... 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. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Cenergy International Services & HKA Enterprises Merge to Create Global Workforce Solutions Firm Cenergy International Services & HKA Enterprises Merge to Create Global Workforce Solutions Firm Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 6:56 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes (PRWEB) February 04, 2016Cenergy International and HKA Enterprises today announced the completion of their merger, creating one of the largest workforce solutions firms in North America. The new company, Cenergy Partners, will offer a full suite of workforce solutions globally to industries including energy, engineering & construction, aerospace & defense, shipbuilding and power & utilities.Cenergy International Services, founded in 1996, is an established global leader in staffing and consulting. Company founder and owner June Ressler says, HKA Enterprises is a world-class organization, and I look forward to what we can accomplish together. The addition of industries and services to the Cenergy International portfolio will bring great value to our clients and great opportunities for our employees and consultants.HKA Enterprises, founded in 1977, is a multinational staffing firm with 35+ years in the industry, specializing in engineering, design and constructi... 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. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Everything about SEO Directories Posted by Lisa Handson on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 7:27 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes While we're talking about SEO (search engine optimization) Company India and planning to get listed in the SEO Directories, let us understand what it is! 'SEO directory' is just the yellow pages of the online world here: 1. You get your website registered 2. Have a chance to win good traffic from the people visiting your directory as Google USED to use online directories for looking when someone placed a search 3. Plus added inbound links to your site. But that's a thing of the past. Let's know the working and some tips to level up your listing in 'SEO directory' from the best SEO packages in India in today's world:- Just getting listed won't get you traffic anymore. Google and other search engines don't appreciate shortcuts now. It is when Google realized that links the directories gifted work effectively and quite easily to get good ranking but don't follow the genuine webmaster guidelines, it decided to DECREASE the gravity given to directories. Instead of online listi... 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. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile EzW2 2015 Tax Software Now Accommodates Businesses With Employees Working In More than One State ezW2 2015 tax preparation software will now support W2 form printing for employees that work in two different states. Test drive the demo version by visiting Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 12:28 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 04, 2016Not all employees work at just one location. These days, companies rely on employees to travel to different locations, sometimes even different states. Because of this, developers at Halfpricesoft.com have created a feature in ezW2 2015 to print forms for employees that may have more than one job site.ezW2 2015 software now accommodates W2 form printing for team members that work in two different states. said Halfpricesoft.com Founder, Dr. Ge.ezW2 small business version is only $39 ($79 for the new enterprise version which includes pdf filing, efiling and importing data). EzW2 2015 software from Halfpricesoft.com automates the process of completing, printing and filing all the W2, W3, 1099-misc and 1096 forms.ezW2 2015 can be downloaded and tested for compatibility for up to 30 days at:http://www.halfpricesoft.com/w2-software-free-download.asp. The trial version will print forms with TRIAL on forms and will not permit e-filing.Feature... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. 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You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Prospects are Bright for Nurses with Advanced Education in a Specialty Field Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 9:45 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes AURORA, Colo., Feb. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's healthcare landscape, there's no shortage of specialty areas for ambitious nurses. American Sentinel University offers career-shift strategies for nurses switching specialties in 2016 to fulfill their career goals.Photo - http://www.americansentinel.edu/nursing Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160201/328142LOGO "Nurses have a powerful thirst for knowledge and a strong desire to learn and grow, and this often translates into motivation to make a career change. Many will reach a time when they would like to experience different professional opportunities," says Elaine Foster, Ph.D., MSN, RN, Associate Dean, Nursing Graduate Programs at American Sentinel University. "This may mean moving from one type of unit to another, working in a different kind of facility, or even moving away from the bedside and into an area with less patient contact."Career prospects are bright for nurses who have receiv... 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. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. 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You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Security Mentor Selected by the State of Wyoming to Provide Security Awareness Training Wyoming State Government is Transforming Employee Security Through More Interactive and Engaging Lessons Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 02-09-2016 12:23 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes Pacific Grove, California (PRWEB) February 03, 2016Security Mentor, a pioneer of innovative security awareness training that drives real behavior change, today announced that the State of Wyoming has selected the company to provide end-user training for its more than 10,000 state government employees. Utilizing Security Mentors award-winning approach, the State of Wyoming will benefit from brief, interactive, engaging lessons that will make Wyoming state government employee education more effective and memorable."Security Mentor has allowed Wyoming to implement a very user friendly and near automated solution to meet our security awareness needs, said Rick Imbrogno, Information Security Officer, Wyoming Department of Enterprise Technology Services.Enhancing the cyber security awareness of State of Wyoming employees coincides well with the States focus on cybersecurity in general. At the recent Wyoming Broadband Summit, a group of cybersecurity experts urged s... 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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You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-09 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Issue of EU country exiting the Schengen zone never raised, says Commissioner Avramopoulos [02] Tempi Valley to close indefinitely as of Tuesday noon [03] 1,034 refugees from Chios and Lesvos arrived at Piraeus port [01] Issue of EU country exiting the Schengen zone never raised, says Commissioner Avramopoulos "There has never been a matter of military strengthening on FYROM's borders as there has never been an issue of an EU country exiting the Schengen zone," EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos on Tuesday said in an interview with STAR TV. "The EU has never raised the issue of a country exiting the Schengen zone. When deficiencies or mistakes occur, Europe asks to correct them," Avramopoulos noted. "Countries must meet their commitments," he underlined adding that as soon as the hotspots start operating, the EU funds will be disbursed. The Greek Commissioner also said that if the hotspots had already been constructed, many problems would have been averted. He also stressed that Greece is not alone either on economic or political terms. He stated that Greece has already received 33 million euros out of the total amount of 475 million euros approved. According to the Commissioner, Greece has lagged behind on some issues and argued that hotspots can only be set up within the boundaries of Europe. [02] Tempi Valley to close indefinitely as of Tuesday noon ANA/MPA--Farmers decided to close the Athens-Thessaloniki motorway at Tempi Valley indefinitely starting from Tuesday noon. The farmers decided to toughen their stance in protest against the government reform plans in social security, pension and tax system. [03] 1,034 refugees from Chios and Lesvos arrived at Piraeus port Blue Star ferry carrying 1,034 refugees from Chios and Mytilene docked at Piraeus port on Tuesday. Most of these people are temporarily accommodated in the port of Piraeus passenger stations, as it is not possible to take them by bus to the crossing point at Idomeni (Greece-Fyrom border)due to the farmers' roadblocks accross the country A meeting, chaired by Shipping Minister Thodoris Dritsas, on the refugee issue will be held later in the day. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-09 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Tsipras has phone contact with Merkel on her visit to Turkey [02] Europe may even close the borders even if Greece meets its obligations, says Alt. Migration Minister [03] Alt FM Xydakis briefs Austrian Ministers on Greece's efforts and positions on the refugees issue [01] Tsipras has phone contact with Merkel on her visit to Turkey Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday had a phone contact with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in order to be briefed on her visit to Turkey, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said on Tuesday during a press briefing. Tsipras made clear that any involvement of the NATO will concern the Turkish territorial waters and should by no means affect Greece's sovereign rights, she underlined. Gerovassili also made clear than the issue of joint patrols in the Aegean has not been raised. [02] Europe may even close the borders even if Greece meets its obligations, says Alt. Migration Minister Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas in an interview with Star TV late on Monday did not rule out possible negative acts on the part of Europe "even close the borders although Greece meets its commitments." "There will be no tragic events, but it will be a difficult issue that we will be able to address," he explained. Mouzalas summed up the national policy for the refugees to: the identification centers to be ready and adequately staffed, creating relocation centers for refugees and asylum seekers, and temporary centers. Moreover, Greece is asking a safe corridor for refugees from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and immediate readmission to Turkey of those not seeking asylum or refuse voluntary return. He also referred to the issue of unaccompanied children saying that "we are lagging significantly behind." To address that issue, he said that a committee composed by the ministry, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been set up. [03] Alt FM Xydakis briefs Austrian Ministers on Greece's efforts and positions on the refugees issue Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, had successive meetings on Monday with the Minister of the Interior of Austria, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, and the Secretary General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Michael Linhart, in Vienna, his first stop of his a tour to central European countries. Xydakis' meeting with Mikl-Leitner took place in a constructive atmosphere. The two ministers focused on the refugee crisis, of historic dimensions, that Europe is facing, as well as on the need for the countries of Europe to work together in facing the crisis. Leitner referred to the shared historical course of the two countries, while Xydakis stressed that the two countries are essentially "in the same boat." Leitner referred to the problem posed for Austria by the increased number of refugees it is being called upon to accommodate. Moreover, she requested a detailed briefing on a number of issues that concern the management of refugee flows. On his part, Xydakis highlighted that Greece, based on international law, must rescue these people, and that is what it is doing. At the same time, he explained that the Greek Coastguard is operating beyond its capabilities and needs material and staff support. He also noted that the European Union must collaborate to support Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan where Syrian refugees are being hosted to improve refugees' living conditions and intercept the refugee flows. He highlighted the need to strengthen the UN World Food Programme, which in 2015, due to lack of funding, dramatically reduced refugees' daily nutrition, which made refugees seek alternative refuge. He also informed the Austrian Minister of the Interior of the fact that Greece is adequately guarding its maritime borders in ongoing cooperation with Frontex as well as its land borders. "You can't stop refugees with fences at sea. Desperate people will seek another route," Xydakis noted, stressing that throughout the previous period Greece has been requesting assistance that it has not received at the rate it should. "Naturally, we are seeing weaknesses, but, due to the unprecedented size of the refugee flows, these were to be expected. We believe, however, that these issues can be dealt with through the revitalization of European solidarity, and not by falling into the trap of a blame game," Xydakis said, referring to the debate that has opened up in the EE with regard to the Schengen Treaty. In response to a question from Leitner regarding the Greek-Turkish readmission protocol, Xydakis noted the delays that have been seen on the part of Turkey and the efforts that have been made recently to improve cooperation between the two countries. Leitner assured Xydakis that Austria will support Greece with human resources and equipment, and the two ministers agreed on the need for sincere relations of cooperation between the two countries. The Greek minister met subsequently with the Secretary General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Dr. Michael Linhart. The two collocutors focused on the refugee issue. Linhart acknowledged that Greece is facing a demanding situation just as difficult as that of Austria and noted that the two countries must work together with the aim of finding European solutions. He referred in particular to the completion of the hotspots and the functioning of the relocation mechanism, stressing that every positive step that is taken restores European cooperation. Xydakis thanked Austria, stressing that the two countries share a common burden. He explained the technical issues Greece is facing with regard to guarding its maritime borders; issues that it is coping with while at the same time rescuing thousands of people. He noted the delay in European assistance and requested Austria's political and substantial support: "The European Union is coming up against the lack of trust between its members, and diplomacy must play a positive role," Xydakis stressed. He also referred to the issue of the support of FYROM by the member states of the EU an issue that has arisen in recent days and stressed that the member states must safeguard the Union, strengthening the trust and cooperation among them. Finally, he noted that Greece has redoubled its efforts but sees as necessary a European solution, the implementation of the relocation plan, as well as the implementation of the Joint Action Plan with Turkey. On Tuesday, Mr. Xydakis will travel on to Bratislava, where he will meet with the Foreign Minister of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak, and the Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Ivan Korcok. Mr. Xydakis will complete his tour on Wednesday, in Budapest, where he will meet with Hungary's Interior Minister, Sandor Pinter, Deputy Minister of State for European Affairs, Takacs Szabolcs Ferenc, and Economic Diplomacy Minister, Levente Magyar. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-09 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Programme review must be completed quickly, gov't spokeswoman says [02] Interior Minister Kouroumblis: Some EU countries have an appropriate and irresponsible attitude [03] Rhodes island coasts swamped with fish [01] Programme review must be completed quickly, gov't spokeswoman says "Our firm position is that the program review must be completed in a short time because neither Greece nor Europe have time to waste," government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said on Tuesday during a press briefing. "Any differences need to be bridged; the ball is now on the institutions' court, that need to show a constructive stance," Gerovassili underlined. On pension reforms, she stated that the new proposal of the government supports the low and middle incomers, while there are gradual increases to the high incomes. She also said that the government is open to dialogue with the farmers. "Our aim is to find the best possible solution," she stressed. The government spokeswoman noted that Greece will be ready ahead of the European Council meeting on February 18, but what matters is that EU countries meet their commitments since this is the key to reducing refugee flows. She said that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had a phone contact with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in order to be briefed on her visit to Turkey. Tsipras made clear that any involvement of the NATO will concern the Turkish territorial waters and should by no means affect Greece's sovereign rights, she underlined. Gerovassili also stated than the issue of joint patrols in the Aegean has not been raised. Referring to Tsipras' visit to Iran, the government spokeswoman said that it is part of a wider framework of initiatives for upgrading Greece's international relations. Gerovassili said the visit to Iran was successful and strong investment interest was expressed from both sides, especially in the technology sector, oil, manufacturing, energy and transport adding that significant agreements have already been signed between Greek and Iranian businessmen. [02] Interior Minister Kouroumblis: Some EU countries have an appropriate and irresponsible attitude Interior and Administrative Reconstruction Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis on Tuesday speaking to Praktorio 104.9 FM referred to new members that joined the EU with Greece's approval and which demonstrate an inappropriate and irresponsible attitude, adding that unfortunately these extreme views find allies in Greece. Kouroumblis was answering a question on whether there are centers in the EU that want Greece outside the Schengen zone. He lashed out at those who accused Greece of deficiencies over the handling of the refugees issue and referred to unfulfilled, as he called them, European promises. "We rescued 130,000 people that were in the waters," he underlined adding that Greece had to offer shelter and transport to these people. "They had promised to give us 200 identification machines and they have sent us only 100 and voices wanting Greece out of the Schengen zone continue to exist in Europe," he noted while referring to the islanders he said that they should be awarded the Nobel prize because they "saved Europe's dignity." Commenting on the locals reactions on the construction of hotspots, he claimed that the Greeks should not be trapped in fear. "We were always an open society," he underlined. On the new election law, he pledged that the government will table it on time because, as he noted, it does not seek to take anyone by surprise, stressing that it will seek the best possible consensus of all parties. [03] Rhodes island coasts swamped with fish Rhodes coastline has swamped with breams and thousands of amateur fisheremen have gathered in the last two days at the coast area next to the city's port and filled their buckets with dozens of fish. According to estimates, the school of fish probably escaped from a nearby Turkish fish farm. The same incident was observed in the same area two years ago. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Naked Yoga YYC Adventurous Calgary couples can ditch their dinner date on Valentine's Day this year for something a little different. Naked Yoga YYC is offering classes for couples to help them bond and connect, owner Katherine Medina told The Huffington Post Alberta. Advertisement "Getting in the door is the hard part," Medina advises couples who might be a little nervous. "The class is welcoming, you don't need any experience, and if you just try that's the biggest hurdle right there." Medina has been offering naked yoga classes in Calgary for just over a year. The classes were initially just for women to promote body positivity, but have since expanded to be co-ed. Attendees at one of Katherine Medina's Naked Yoga classes. (Photo: Naked Yoga YYC) Even though the classes are entirely non-sexual Medina says they're more about stripping away distractions to focus on the practice some studio owners have been put off. Advertisement "If we open our minds and our hearts a little bit we'll find it's just yoga," Medina said. "It's about being free... and spending the time with just you and your mat." "When you have nothing else to think about it makes your practice a bit deeper." She said most of her clients are repeat customers that got addicted after their first session. Earlier on HuffPost: As a debate looms over Canada's role in the fight against the so-called Islamic State, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is already cautioning against "over-the-top" rhetoric that he says only elevates the terrorist group. That message, delivered at a press conference in Ottawa Monday, is similar to one U.S. President Barack Obama shared in his final State of the Union last month that spurred criticisms he was downplaying the ISIS threat. Advertisement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama meet at the APEC summit in Manila in November 2015. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) Trudeau's long-awaited, anti-ISIS plan confirmed that while Canada's training mission will be expanded, airstrikes will stop within the next two weeks. The prime minister also announced that the mission will face a debate and vote in Parliament next week that promises to be contentious. With key cabinet ministers by his side, Trudeau warned against heated bombast when it comes to the group. Advertisement "ISIL would like us to see them as a credible threat to our way of life and to our civilization," he said. "We know Canada is stronger much stronger than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth." The prime minister added leaders should take care not to do "precisely" what enemies want. "ISIL would like us to see them as a credible threat to our way of life and to our civilization." "They want us to elevate them, to give into fear, to indulge in hatred, to eye one another with suspicion and to take leave of our faculties," he said. "The lethal enemy of barbarism isn't hatred. It's reason. " Trudeau said his government's approach will be centred on what's effective, not what feels good to say. "Terrorists do not have the strength to defeat us, so they seek to have us defeat ourselves," he said. Ambrose: ISIS 'the worst terrorist threat in the world' But at a press conference responding to Trudeau's plan, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose painted a slightly different picture of ISIS than that of "thugs." She called them "the worst terrorist threat in the world" and said it was shameful that Canada will soon stop the bombing mission. Advertisement "If (Trudeau) doesn't think that we should use our military against this group, I don't know when he thinks we would ever use our military,'' she said. The Prime Minister is taking a shameful step backward from our proud traditions: https://t.co/VupYxUrJ0e Rona Ambrose (@RonaAmbrose) February 8, 2016 In a statement to media, Ambrose also called ISIS the greatest global terror threat. She said "ISIS and ISIS-inspired attacks" have spread beyond the combat theatre to claim Canadian lives. "Halting and degrading ISIS is more critical than ever to keep people safe," she said in the release. Obama: ISIL not a threat to U.S. existence In his speech to congress last month, Obama conceded the terror group was a "direct threat" to Americans because even a "handful of terrorists" with no value on human life can wreak havoc. Advertisement "But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands," he said. "Twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages" are dangerous, Obama said, but not a threat to the country's existence. "That is the story ISIL wants to tell," he continued. "That's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religion." Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks to supporters in Alabama. (Photo: Mike Kittrell/Associated Press) Advertisement Obama's words packed a punch in light of the U.S. presidential race, in which numerous Republican candidates are talking tough. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa caucus and is now considered a top-tier candidate, called Obama's speech an exercise in "politically correct denial." He's vowed to carpet-bomb ISIS "into oblivion." New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said America is "already in World War III" with jihadists, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has called ISIS an "apocalyptic group," and said the battle to eliminate them is a "clash of civilizations." GOP front-runner Donald Trump told ABC News Sunday that he would do "a hell of a lot worse" than waterboarding to stop ISIS. "We're like living in medieval times," he said. Advertisement Also on HuffPost An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more. But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be and shouldnt be bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre. Have an interest in what youre writing about Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show. If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating. Include fascinating details Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to. Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read. Borrow some creative writing techniques Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting. consider your own opinion Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others. Cut the waffle Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem. Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose. employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them. You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect. Avoid repetitive phrasing Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable. Use some figurative language Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know. As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy. Employ rhetorical questions Anticipate the questions your reader might ask. One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration. Proofread Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them. The Toronto Blue Jays avoided an arbitration hearing by signing the Josh Donaldson, the American League's MVP, to a two-year contract worth $29-million (U.S.), according to Sportsnet. The news comes just a week before the hearing date, that was submitted over a $450,000 difference between the Jays' contract offer of $11.35-million and Donaldson's request of $11.8-million. Advertisement The popular Blue Jay, known by his Twitter handle, Bringer of Rain, is one of several high-profile Jays looking to score new deals in the ensuing weeks. Team leader Jose Bautista expressed recently that he wants to be a Blue Jay for the rest of his career. Watch the video above to find out more. Also on HuffPost Were in the hairy part of wintercold snaps, storms, days you just dont want to leave the house. Fortunately, theres books! Its a lot easier to deal with being trapped inside when youve got something fascinating to read. To that end, weve got a collection of 15 books that are perfect to hibernate with. Through these pages you can revisit a childhood favourite or find a new one. You can travel to places as far flung as East Africa, India, Laos, and Greenland, without standing in a long security line at the airport (or worrying about the exchange rate). You can laugh or cry, or something do a bit of both with the same book. And you can forget about that storm raging outside for a few hours. There are few things more Canadian than making the best of terrible weather and capping it off with a trip to Tim Hortons. A snowstorm walloped the Maritimes on Friday, but it didn't stop New Brunswick dog trainer Allyson Mitton and her pooches from getting their Timmies fix. Advertisement Mitton, who lives just outside of Sussex, hooked up a sled to her two border collies, Shift and Braya, and off they went into town. "It was just a slick sidewalk and stormy day, [there] was hardly any traffic, there was nobody walking, so that was our opportunity," Mitton told The Huffington Post Canada in an interview. She pointed out she's usually quite selective of where she takes the dogs, since they're not very big. Advertisement "We run trails that are slick and fast and not deep snow, which means the trail that we did the other day ... was so nice." Allyson Mitton says smaller breeds like border collies can also be trained to mush. (Photo: Facebook) Mitton said people generally think only large breeds like huskies can pull a dogsled, but smaller breeds like collies which weigh between 12 and 20 kilos can be taught to mush as well. Working with smaller dogs, she said she just has to do some of the work herself. "I run a kicksleigh, and it's a really light, light sled, so I kick to help them, so if the going's tough or if we're uphill, I'm kicking or running." Advertisement Mitton said there are actually half a dozen other owners in the area that go out on weekends to run sled trails with their dogs. An 'amazing sport' She called mushing an "amazing sport" for the level of trust it builds between dogs and their owners. "My life is in their hands, so it's an amazing sport for that," she said. "They trust me to tell them where to go, and I trust them to take me there." And the dogs' reward for the trip to Timmies? Some Timbits, of course. Watch the full video above. Also on HuffPost Most Canadians believe that any change to this country's voting system should be put to a national referendum, a new poll suggests. The numbers from Insights West, released Tuesday, are likely music to the ears of federal Conservatives who have consistently pushed the new Liberal government to commit to a national vote on electoral reform. Advertisement Liberals have so far ruled out taking such a step by arguing they already received a clear mandate in October to move away from Canada's first-past-the-post system. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef answers a question in the House of Commons. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP) According to Insights West, however, 65 per cent of Canadians think a referendum is needed to change the current system, while 17 per cent think a vote in the House of Commons suffices. Advertisement Supporters of Elizabeth May's Green Party are most likely to support a referendum. The Greens have long advocated shifting to a system of proportional representation that would see a party's share of seats better reflect its popular vote. Eighty-six per cent of Green voters endorse the idea, as do 76 per cent of Tories. However, 68 per cent of Liberal supporters and 58 per cent of NDP voters also want a referendum. Insights West also found that three in five Canadians are satisfied by the existing first-past-the-post-system, in which the candidate with the most votes wins. Though some maintain the system creates stable governments, critics have bemoaned the way majority governments are won by parties that do not earn the support of a majority of Canadians. "The only consensus is on the need to hold a referendum on any proposal that is made." Justin Trudeau's Liberals, for example, secured a majority government last fall and all the power that accompanies it with 39.5 per cent of the popular vote. That's roughly the same popular vote Stephen Harper's Conservatives received in 2011. Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for Insights West, said that while there are mixed reviews on changing the voting system, Canadians want to have their say directly. "For all the talk about electoral reform that Canadians have been exposed to over the past few months, the only consensus is on the need to hold a referendum on any proposal that is made," he said in Tuesday's news release. Advertisement Tory critic to minister: Did you vote in referendum? Conservative critic Scott Reid has often mentioned in the House of Commons that three Canadian provinces have already held referendums on electoral reform British Columbia and Prince Edward Island in 2005, and Ontario in 2007. In each case, voters opted to stick with the status quo. Citizens in New Zealand and the United Kingdom have also participated in referendums on democratic reform. Reid has taken to asking Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef if she thinks Canadians are "too immature" to handle the topic, or unworthy of being "treated like adults." But last week, he tried an interesting new tactic with Monsef, who represents the Ontario riding of Peterborough. "In 2007, the government of Ontario held a referendum on whether to change its voting system to mixed-member proportional," Reid said last Monday. "My question for the minister for elections, from Ontario, is simple. Advertisement "Did she vote in that referendum, or did she regard the referendum as being such a disservice to Ontarians like her and me that she withheld her vote as a protest against an entire, illegitimate process?" Conservative MP Scott Reid speaks in question period in 2012. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP) House Speaker Geoff Regan interjected to say he wasn't sure that how someone voted in the past is a matter for the current government. "I do not know how fair that was to the minister, Mr. Speaker," Scott said. Reid has publicly accused the Liberals of seeking to "rig" the next election by moving to a system that will benefit the party the most a charge Grits dismiss. Though Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc said in December that the government had no plans to pursue a referendum, MP Mark Holland, who serves as Monsef's parliamentary secretary, suggested that position may have softened. Advertisement Holland told reporters last week that a referendum is "not something that we are ruling in or out." NDP proposes change for special committee The Liberal platform stated that 2015 would be the last election conducted under the first-past-the-post system, and that legislation to enact electoral reform would be tabled within 18 months of forming government. Last week, New Democrats called on Liberals to cede their majority control over the special Commons committee that will review and recommend a new voting system. NDP democratic institutions critic Nathan Cullen suggested that such a step would help put to rest fears that Liberals would pick a system that benefits them most. An online petition sponsored by Reid, urging Liberals to give Canadians a direct say on any changes to the electoral system, has been signed more than 11,000 times. Also on HuffPost Maryam Monsef, Democratic Institutions Minister See Gallery Kim Ducherer/Farm Wife Style An Alberta woman's handmade jewelry is headed to Hollywood, where it will be included in gift bags for nominees at the Grammy Awards and Academy Awards. "It's totally unreal," Kim Ducherer, designer and founder of Farm Wife Style, told The Huffington Post Alberta. "Just the fact that I've had so many people reach out to me in the past couple of days hundreds that to me is so humbling in itself." Advertisement The Leduc County farmer only started her jewelry business a year ago. She makes all of the pieces at home on her family's farm during her interview, she ducked out briefly to check on some newborn lambs that were being pestered by a magpie. Coldest day of the year is always when the first lamb is born #ofcourse #frozenears #farmlife #farmwife #farmwifestyle #snuggles Posted by Farm Wife Style on Sunday, 17 January 2016 Ducherer said her jewelry business and farming have one thing in common simplicity. "Farming is just such a down-to-earth job. So everything I have is very simple, very classic, easy-going. Nothing is over-the-top," Ducherer said. "It's my style." On a whim, Ducherer applied to have her pieces included in the award shows, and was blown away when the company that provides the gift bags expressed interest. Advertisement Farm Wife Style's "Be Electric" necklace, right, is headed to the Grammys, and her druzy earrings, left, are headed to the Oscars. (Photo: Farm Wife Style) "Celebrities are just people too, but of course they get more press time than you or I would. To have a celebrity wearing it would just be that much more exposure." It took Ducherer four months to create the special pieces. She chose 170 rose-gold lightning bolt pendants for the Grammys, and 70 sets of glittery druzy stud earrings for the Oscars. The 2016 Grammy Awards take place Feb. 15, and the Academy Awards on Feb. 28. Advertisement Also on HuffPost: The majority of Canadians say they're worried if Donald Trump becomes U.S. president, according to a new poll. The survey conducted by Leger for Montreal dailies Le Journal de Montreal and Le Devoir asked 1,524 Canadians from across the country about the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. Advertisement The majority of Canadians are worried this man could become the next U.S. president. (Photo: Reuters) While Trump was among the most well-known contenders, 70 per cent of Canadians said they held a bad opinion of him. A majority of respondents 65 per cent said they were worried about him becoming president. When asked who they believed would become the next U.S. president, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton led by a wide margin with 55 per cent of responses. Trump came in second with 19 per cent, and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders came next with 11 per cent. Advertisement Feeling the Bern? Sanders is considered to be the socialist candidate in the U.S. presidential race, and many of his policies are considered to be either the status quo or less progressive than what's been implemented in Canada. NDP MP Niki Ashton recently tweeted her support for his campaign. And last Wednesday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair referenced Clinton and Sanders' opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal during question period. But Canadians were still split on Sanders, with 31 per cent saying they had a positive opinion of him, 26 per cent having no opinion, and 36 per cent saying they didn't know who he is. Every other candidate received less than five per cent of the vote, which may be due in part to the fact that many respondents didn't know who they were. Advertisement For example, only two per cent of respondents believed junior Republican Sen. Marco Rubio would become the next U.S. president, but 47 per cent of candidates didn't know who he was. The online survey, which was conducted Feb. 1-4, has a margin of error of 2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Also on HuffPost CP There has been no end of controversy over how much money UberX drivers make. Uber itself has said its New York drivers have a median income of $90,000 a year, casting the work as economic freedom. The company says its drivers in Toronto make $23 an hour on average. Its revenue in its first year in the city worked out to just $3,125 per driver, but Uber says thats because most work part-time. Others suggest the sharing economy company is exploiting drivers and turning a once stable job (taxi driving) into an unstable, low-paid contractor job. Advertisement The Journal de Montreal decided to find out for itself. It sent out a reporter to work as a full-time UberX driver. After a 35-hour week on the job, the reporter estimated he earned $4.60 an hour below any minimum wage in Canada, and as the Journal noted, below the poverty line. After Uber took its 25 per cent cut, the driver/reporter earned $13 an hour, but that fell to $4.60 after subtracting expenses gasoline, insurance, car maintenance and even depreciation in the cars value over that week. Several UberX drivers told the Journal they earn less than the promised $17 to $20 an hour, but still like the social aspect of the job. It would be difficult to pay the bills working as an Uber driver full-time, some told the paper. Advertisement Taxi drivers demonstrate against UberX in Montreal, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. (Canadian Press photo) Not all drivers tell the same story. One Toronto driver told the Toronto Sun she earns $22 an hour, working part-time. I want to enjoy this part of my life, semi-retired Esther Nerling told the paper. This is the perfect job for me because I can go on vacation when I want, I can turn [the app] on and off when I want. Ive had a career and I dont want that (now). The taxi industry says Uber is driving down its incomes. A taxi industry group told the Journal incomes fell 30 per cent last year. Some drivers in Toronto say theyve lost half their income. Some academics are growing concerned that Ubers business model is undermining driving as a viable source of income. Right now, everyone on both sides is losing, Olivier Germain, a professor of management and technology at Universite du Quebec a Montreal, told the Journal. This is a classic capitalist business model in which the one who benefits most is Uber. Advertisement Uber isn't (yet) a publicly traded company, but it recently valued itself at US$62.5 billion. That would make it larger than Ford, TimeWarner, PayPal and eBay, to name a few. Policy-wise, different cities are reacting in different ways to Uber. The city of Edmonton, Alberta, recently legalized the service, setting a minimum fare for Uber rides (but no maximum, allowing for surge pricing) and giving taxis a monopoly on street hails and taxi stand pickups. Toronto is also looking at legalizing and regulating the service, though some cab drivers object to giving the ride service legal status. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised eyebrows with his comments on torture during a weekend debate, and now his son is doing the same. Fox News host Greta Van Susteren asked Eric Trump Monday night what his father meant when he vowed to implement torture methods "worse than waterboarding." Advertisement The younger Trump began his answer by referencing attacks in the U.S. and France. "Well, you see these terrorists that are flying planes into buildings, you see our cities getting shot up in California, you see Paris getting shot up, and then somebody complains when a terrorist gets waterboarded, which quite frankly, is no different than what happens on college campuses and frat houses every day," he said. Eric Trump has been stumping for his father in New Hampshire. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images) His father would "keep the country safe, there's no question about it," he said. "I mean, he would be very, very, very tough, that's who the man is, he's a very tough guy. Eric, the third child of Donald and Ivana Trump, continued: "He's sick of seeing what's happening to this country, whether it be on trade, whether it be $19 trillion worth of national debt, whether it be with the terrorists coming in and trying to infiltrate our country." Advertisement At Saturday's Republican presidential debate, all three Republican candidates voiced their support for waterboarding, but Trump vowed to bring in torture techniques that were "a hell of a lot worse." Shrove Tuesday also known as pancake day is the day before Ash Wednesday or what many Christians observe as the beginning of Lent. So today, you don't have to feel bad about consuming a delicious pile of flapjacks because heck... you're allowed! Advertisement The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the word shrive, which means to confess and seek absolution. The holiday is widely observed by Catholics as the last day to indulge before giving up certain things like unhealthy foods or alcohol for a 40-day period before Easter Sunday. During Lent, spiritual growth is encouraged, as is self-examination and righting any wrongs that have been committed. Watch the video above to find out more. Also on HuffPost One British woman was hoping to gain a golden glow when she sent her boyfriend out to get her a bottle of St. Tropez Bronzing Mousse, from Boots, a popular U.K. based drug store. But 27-year-old Kirsty Reeves ended up looking a little more like the 'Incredible Hulk,' she claims. Advertisement Woman claims fake tan made her skin turn green "like the Incredible Hulk" https://t.co/ayK6BEJFgopic.twitter.com/361m4WO9vk HuffPostUK Lifestyle (@HuffPoLifestyle) February 5, 2016 "I put it on for the first time and it is usually tinged a bit green because it has a green undertone to it," she told the Colchester Gazette. "I left it for about 45 minutes as usual but it was getting greener and greener. I only put it on the bits you are going to see. I thought it wasnt going well and it didn't come off." After calling a friend who works as a beauty therapist, the onetime fake tan user learned the product may have had this reaction with her skin as a result of air getting into the bottle. Horrified and understandably so the woman reportedly tried to remove the tanner with a standard makeup wipe, with very little luck. Reeves, who lives in West Bergholt, Essex, says it took three days for her skin to return to its normal colour, although she was left with a large red mark on the side of her face after the green hue had finally faded. Advertisement Naturally, the 27-year-old, who got nicknamed 'Princess Fiona' from "Shrek" by her father, filed a complaint with the store. But even after showing the manager pictures of the disastrous ordeal and her store receipts, Reeves was only offered a 15 voucher, which she says was insulting. Fake tan turned this woman into Princess Fiona from Shrek https://t.co/q17JOcOAXspic.twitter.com/bUh884qIIY Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) February 5, 2016 "Im on a zero-hours contract, but there was no way I could go to work. I didnt go out. I was horrified. I knew I didnt have an allergic reaction. I knew it was the product." A Boots U.K. spokesman said, "We are very sorry to hear about our customers experience. The quality of the products we sell is of utmost importance to us and we will investigate this matter further with the supplier." Advertisement In response, St. Tropez provided a statement to The Huffington Post U.K., saying, "St. Tropez has identified some isolated quality issues with a small quantity of St.Tropez Self Tan Dark Bronzing Mousse in products manufactured over two years ago. "The guide colour of some tanning products containing higher levels of DHA such as the Dark Bronzing Mousse have a tendency to go green when they get warm. This is because increased levels of DHA in heat can cause the red dye to leach from the guide colour so that it looks green instead of brown. "Brown is made when you combine three primary colours, yellow, blue and red. When the red drops out you are left with a green guide colour. We recommend that all tanning products containing high levels of DHA are stored below 30 degrees (as indicated on pack)." Yikes! It's probably safe to say that she won't be using any tanning mousses anytime soon. Also on HuffPost Summer Beauty Fails See Gallery "I take my kids there. We all dip our cups in the river and drink straight from it," Josh said recently when I was in Moose Factory, a remote community on the James Bay coast. Josh is a dad from Moose Cree First Nation. He's talking about a river that still flows without interruption and is the last source of clean drinking water in northeastern Ontario. In English it's called the North French. In Cree one of its names is Meh ko pwa meh stik Sipiy meaning "red willow river". The North French River. Photo courtesy of Bernie McLeod of Moose Cree First Nation. Moose Cree has spent years using their laws to keep the river safe from resource development. But Ontario has yet to reciprocate and still keeps the watershed open for industrial activities such as mining under provincial laws. This is a recipe for conflict. Advertisement The North French flows into the Moose River from its headwaters about 50 km north of Cochrane. Within the watershed, woodland caribou and birds ranging from warblers to nighthawks, several of which are threatened species, continue to find refuge. A variety of fish -- an important traditional food source -- also thrive in the North French River, including a genetically distinct population of sturgeon, even from those in the Moose River. This boreal watershed also holds significant carbon stores that must be maintained if Ontario is to keep its Paris climate commitments. The case for protecting the North French River is strong and compelling. Moose Cree's efforts to safeguard this river date back to 2002 when the community informed then MNR Minister Jerry Ouellette of the need for permanent protection. The minister rejected that request. The community persevered. Over the next 14 years they would face down mining and forestry companies. And they would conduct studies and canoe trips to enhance Moose Cree's traditional knowledge of the river. Moose Cree is patient and thinks long term. Many still hunt on the land, but they've also been diversifying their incomes by developing businesses ranging from tourism operations to a partnership in a major hydroelectric project on the Lower Mattagami River. In a February 2015 letter to Premier Wynne, Chief Norm Hardisty said that, "The Moose Cree... are not generally opposed to resource development in our Traditional Territory." However, his First Nation is determined that the health of the rivers and land they have long relied on will be protected. In that same letter, Chief Hardisty made it crystal clear that the First Nation intends to protect the 6,660 km2 North French Watershed -- representing about 10 per cent of their traditional territory and containing the last river there that has not yet been negatively impacted by resource development. Advertisement The case for protecting the North French River is strong and compelling. It'll help Ontario meet its ambitious objectives under the Far North Act and Endangered Species Act. It'll help with caribou conservation as mandated by the federal recovery strategy for threatened boreal caribou. It'll help Ontario further its bold climate plans. And it'll help Ontario toward reconciliation with Indigenous people. Protecting the North French would be a gift to the planet. And Moose Cree has already done most of the heavy lifting. Forestry companies are largely respecting the call for no logging within the watershed. Moose Cree has launched its own conservation plan, with members monitoring the area to ensure that mining companies avoid staking claims and drilling there, and negotiating with others to reduce harm they may cause in managing a hydro corridor that transects the North French headwaters. With the one year anniversary of the letter to Premier Wynne fast approaching and online staking coming in 2017, it's time for Ontario to get on board. The longer Ontario delays putting in place a land withdrawal the greater the risk of someone physically staking more mining claims here thereby jeopardizing the protection initiative. Next year the risks could be even greater. Anyone anywhere in the world with a computer will be able to electronically stake in 70 million ha of land in Ontario that is open to mining. As we huddled in a teepee in the bush eating moose stew, we felt the sacredness of the land and the generous spirit of its people. It's time for Ontario to do the same and protect this magnificent river. Advertisement Teepee at a camp in the Moose Cree homeland. Photo from Wildlands League. Anna Baggio (right) with Janet Sumner, Executive Director of Wildlands League (centre) and Jen Lamson (left) taking in the hospitality of Moose Cree First Nation (Wildlands League photo). Bernie McLeod from Moose Cree works to protect the North French River (Wildlands League photo). Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: OJO_Images via Getty Images Business people talking in office When we came to Canada, my husband and I arrived with no jobs. With the confidence of youth, we were positive it would all work out well. And it did. It was also our first clue that entrepreneurship was our destiny because we were accustomed to ambiguity and taking risks. Advertisement That's likely why so many immigrant families gravitate to self-employment as a work route when they come to Canada. After all, they've already risked all by moving to a new country and culture. Certainly that was what I found as I spoke to the women in One Red Lipstick, a book that shares the stories of 24 women from across North America. Each woman had faced some challenge in her life and yet not only moved on, but went on to build a successful business and life -- success on their own terms. But there were some common threads in the stories. Some of the women, Maria, Nadja and Wendy grew up working in the family business of their immigrant parents. They saw first hand what was involved, and the hard work it took to succeed. However, that didn't put them off. And later in life when they were running their own businesses, they were grateful for those experiences. Maybe it is the work ethic that is ingrained in us, but it was also the role models we had growing up. Advertisement As the refugee families arrive in Canada, it will be interesting to see how many start their own businesses. It was the search for role models that made twenty-something Spenser Chapple embark on the One Red Lipstick project in the first place. She'd seen how her mother Fay coped with becoming the breadwinner after her father had a brain stem stroke, and she had to support her seriously disabled husband and three children. Spenser knew from her mother's friends that other women were facing tough challenges too, yet no one knew. They would just dust themselves off, focus and carry on. She almost wanted to "bottle" that tenacity but she also wanted the women to share what life was really like. It is that sense of vulnerability and resiliency that is captured in the book and the upcoming documentary. As Fay would say, it is when ordinary is no longer an option. But as you hear the stories, you learn that we all have options. Yes, life may send you some curveballs that you can't control, but you can control how you react and deal with the situation. Advertisement As the refugee families arrive in Canada, it will be interesting to see how many start their own businesses. They've already shown their courage and endured much to get here, and so have some of the key ingredients it takes to make a go of it. As for the women in One Red Lipstick -- they are role models for us all. The book is being launched on International Women's Day, March 8. To learn more, go to www.oneredlipstick.com Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: UniversalImagesGroup via Getty Images GP listening to young male patients heartbeat using stethoscope (Photo by Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Biomedical knowledge should always be considered in its socio-historical context, as social factors cannot be divorced from science. Through much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, medical experiments were performed on vulnerable populations including the infamous Tuskegee University-affiliated investigation concerning "Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male" and those carried out by the Third Reich. Advertisement It is, in fact, a physician whom we can credit -- or blame -- for being the first to employ the term "race." During his travels, Francois Bernier introduced the term in his 1684 novel, New Division of Earth by the Different Species of Races which Inhabit it, in which he contends that that "[Humans] differ so clearly that people who have traveled widely can thus often distinguish unerringly one nation from another." Bernier continues to describe having "observed that there are in all four or five types of race among men whose distinctive traits are so obvious they can justifiably serve as the basis of a new Division of the Earth." In the late 19th century, the work of comparative anatomist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach gained posthumous appreciation. Blumenbach proposed that Europeans were the original "racial type" that all other races degenerated from. This study of physiognomy was primarily concerned with assessing an individual's character from their outer appearance and often considered those of African extraction to be intellectually inferior based on pseudoscientific analyses of skull sizes and facial characteristics. Advertisement Race is a social construct because individuals of different continental origins are not categorically different. Overall, there are more differences within those of the same continental origin than between groups differing in continental origin. As the Human Genome Project delineated, the DNA of humans is 99.9 per cent identical. "Ethnicity" refers to a multidimensional construct that reflects biological, historical, cultural and linguistic factors. How a person identifies with these has been used to supplant or complement the term "race" in many settings. As members of ethnic minority groups have suffered historically because of what has erroneously and malevolently been ascribed as innate inferiority, should physicians avoid reifying race by espousing a "colourblind" practice? It depends. The emerging field of ethnic dermatology serves as an example of how an understanding of socio-historical forces shaping fundamental aspects of medical pedagogy is paramount. For most of the history of dermatology, description of skin and hair disorders was based almost exclusively upon patients of European ancestry. This one-size-fits-all approach mirrors the way in which the 70kg white male was considered the standard for American medical research during the 1970s and 1980s. Advertisement We have learned that nuances in skin and hair properties among different ethnicities may prove clinically relevant. There is evidence that the severity of atopic dermatitis in patients of African ancestry is greatly underestimated compared to white children when erythema (redness of the skin from inflammation) is included compared to when this factor is excluded. "Race, insofar as it was historically conceived to 'unerringly' delineate categorical differences between people of differing continental origins, should be discarded outright." Because erythema is difficult to assess reliably in pigmented patients, Vachiramon et al. recommend that physicians rely especially upon on the report of the families of African American children when determining severity score -- upon which treatment is based. Many lesions that appear red in lightly pigmented individuals will appear violet in heavily pigmented patients, and the latter may undergo unnecessary biopsies. In general, the fact that heavily pigmented skin, both within and outside of a medical context, is consistently described as a variant to the default lightly pigmented skin reflects signifies that progress remains before privilege is not tied to ethnicity. But in this modern age, surely objective scales would prove useful to the unbiased practice of medicine? Advertisement As it turns out, these measures are not free from bias, either. In an interview with the Atlantic, author Lundy Braun describes the origin of the spirometer. Samuel Cartwright was a 19th-century physician and plantation owner, and the first person to use the spirometer to compare pulmonary capacity between black slaves with whites. Cartwright held that "the [lesser] development of lung tissue and accessory muscles of respiration among the negroes than for whites" proved a justification for slavery insofar that it increased the fitness of African Americans. As a result, the spirometer was created with a racial correction factor to decrease the value among African Americans. Braun explains that "the problem here is the survival of the framework of innate racial difference." I completed a number of assessments of patients with work-related asthma in an occupational medicine clinic. After inputting values for age and sex, I realized that the machine retained "white" and "black" as racial identifiers on the drop down menu. Race and ethnicity, as socially constructed labels of collective and individual identity, do not necessarily correlate with genes of medical consequence. Ethnicity as a proxy for genetics can be discouraged. Race, insofar as it was historically conceived to "unerringly" delineate categorical differences between people of differing continental origins, should be discarded outright. However, ignoring ethnicity and phenotype altogether may prove disadvantageous. Isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine is a medication that has received FDA approval for treating heart failure in African Americans. If the "standard" population for clinical trials form the 1970s were employed, this benefit would remain unrealized. The same result would occur if a "colourblind" approach were employed in recruitment. Advertisement Emphasizing biological differences must not obscure minority status as a social determinant of health. Increased prevalence of hypertension in a person of African ancestry may be due to resistance to a certain first-line medications that work in non-African Americans but a number of socio-historical factors unique to black Americans should also be considered. These include marginalized housing and, subsequently, fewer areas to walk safely. In addition, lower income, decreased level of health literacy, as well as stress related to lower socioeconomic status and living as a visible minority contribute. Physicians should not strive to be colourblind. Patients should be treated as individuals. It would be remiss not to recognize ethnicity as a part of the profile of a patient. When done correctly, racial profiling in the medical sense can prove a worthwhile practice. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Kutay Tanir via Getty Images Flag of Canada "Canada has a good reputation...in the world, but let's make no mistake about it: Canada does not have a history as a pacifist or a neutralist country. Canada has soldiers who are buried all over Europe because we fought in defence of liberty." This quote by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley came to mind this week as I listened to an awkward press conference with Canada's new prime minister trying to articulate the reasons behind the first major foreign policy decision of his government. John Manley was a smart and thoughtful politician and this simple, yet deeply patriotic quote, made days after the horrible terror attacks of 9/11 came to reflect the sentiment of many Canadians reacting to the terror attacks that killed 26 Canadians and thousands of Americans. Advertisement Throughout our history, standing with our allies has never been a Conservative versus Liberal proposition. Manley spoke about a Canadian willingness to stand up against such acts of terror by evoking the powerful imagery of our past and the solemn white gravestones that mark Canada's history of playing a role far from our shores. While Manley led the cabinet committee that planned our response to the 9/11 terror attacks, it was this powerful quote, more than anything else, that led to Manley being recognized as Time Magazine's Person of the Year in Canada. Canadians are not an aggressive people, but from our earliest days as a nation we have never shied away from taking a stand for liberty alongside friends that share our values. Throughout our history, standing with our allies has never been a Conservative versus Liberal proposition. In fact, Canadian political debates over successive generations have shown near unanimity on this point. In 1939, Prime Minister MacKenzie King thanked Conservative leader Robert Manion in the House of Commons for his bi-partisan support for action in Europe and went so far as to compliment Manion's personal record of military service (Manion was a Vimy Ridge Veteran). In that debate, King cast aside differences between Canadians and viewed all citizens as united in common cause to preserve freedoms far from our shores. King said, "[t]his deep-lying instinct for freedom is, I believe, characteristic of the citizens of Canada from one end of this great country to the other." Advertisement In a 1951 speech to the Empire Club of Canada years before he became Prime Minister, Lester Pearson similarly articulated the need for an active Canada in a dangerous world. He described the need for Canada to be part of "collective action with our friends abroad." He also linked Canadian deployments overseas as being critical to our domestic security. "We should accept without any reservation, the view that the Canadian who fires his rifle in Korea or on the Elbe is defending his home as surely as if he were firing it on his own soil." This active and internationalist approach coupled with Pearson's view of Canada as a leader amongst the middle powers of the world became so central to Canadian foreign policy that our Foreign Affairs Building bears Pearson's name. The Conservative government's approach to countering the Islamic State (ISIS) threat was a three-pillared plan that combined allied military action, alongside direct foreign aid, and support for refugees and the dislocated in the region. In many ways, the plan brought to the last Parliament by the Conservatives was consistent with the Pearsonian worldview that Canada has a duty to take collective action with our friends to advance liberty for others and provide security at home. All this leads me back to the press conference held by Prime Minister Trudeau announcing the withdrawal of CF-18 fighter jets from the coalition fighting ISIS. This Liberal government seems comfortable tossing aside central tenets of Canadian foreign policy if they conflict with the pre-election position of their leader. We witnessed a collection of Ministers offering clumsy platitudes about training and institution building without answering the simple question as to why Canada is withdrawing our modest combat commitment while our allies step up their efforts to fight ISIS. Prime Minister Trudeau did not invoke King, Pearson, Manley or any of their shared foreign policy principles, but instead offered his own insight that military action against ISIS was not in Canada's national interest because "the lethal enemy of barbarism" is actually "reason." Thank you prime minister. Perhaps ethnic minorities at risk in the region, or orange jumpsuit clad prisoners being readied for execution can try to reason with ISIS going forward. Until then, the vast majority of Canadians are looking for the Canada our allies and the world once knew. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Canada's ISIS Mission: Then & Now See Gallery Blend Images - REB Images via Getty Images It seems like every day I read another article about how bad technology -- and particularly social media -- is for us. Advertisement I get it. I do. I see the online bullying and shaming. I (sometimes) read the horribly racist/homophobic/misogynist and just plain rude comments on news stories. I've been known to check Facebook at inappropriate times. (Hey, when Corey Hart posts, I'm there, baby.) But as a person with a disability, I consider technology an incredible gift. It has opened up the world to me. Like Hugh Herr, the biophysicist who specializes in robotics, says, "Remove technology and I am imprisoned. All I can do is crawl. But with it I am free." Free. I have a hearing disability. My diagnosis is profound hearing loss. I identify as "hard of hearing" (HOH) but I could also identify as "oral deaf." My hearing is pretty bad, but I don't know sign language and I am not part of the deaf community. I rely on lip reading to communicate. I think I'm pretty good at it, but it's not easy. It's estimated that only about 30 per cent of speech can be interpreted by lip reading. The rest of it is guesswork, and it's made more difficult by things like poor lighting, visual distractions, hand gestures, conflicting body language and accents. Advertisement I fill in the blanks, sorting through all the possible puzzle pieces and inserting the most likely ones. It's mentally draining, exhausting and not terribly accurate. Plus, it has etched deep frown lines into my brow, as I have been frowning in concentration for much of my life. Because of my disability, I can't use a regular telephone. I use a TTY, which is a text telephone. If I need to call someone -- and, yes, in this day and age, I still need to call places, like my doctor's office -- I dial the relay service. The operator there places the call for me. I type my side of the conversation, and she reads it out loud to the person I am calling. That person, in turn, dictates their part of the conversation to the operator, who types it out for me. It's cumbersome. It's anything but private. And often, the transcription quality is poor, and I'm left floundering. But online, where text-based communication rules, I'm on an even footing with everyone else. I understand everything. With technology, I am free. I'm equal. I'm not disabled. I remember my awe when I saw a RIM 850 wireless pager for the first time. That would have been around 1999 or 2000. It belonged to another HOH person I knew. His wife had a sister device and they sent text messages back and forth. The possibilities inherent in such a device amazed me. Advertisement And then, in the early aughts, I joined an online message board and started making online friends. And here was the thing: after a lifetime of either "outing" myself by explaining my difference and asking for help or secluding myself because communicating took too much effort, when I was online, no one even needed to know I was HOH. At first I reveled in that freedom and in being able to pass as an able-bodied person. But over the years, I've become more vocal about disability rights and more comfortable with asserting my needs. My HOH voice has value, and I'm not shy about sharing my story. Honestly, the future of technology scares me a little bit. I see a movement towards more audio-based communication online. Video is becoming more prevalent on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. Short, personal videos very rarely include closed captions, and indeed most of the videos on YouTube remain uncaptioned and are inaccessible to people with hearing disabilities. And now Facebook provides a platform for both video and voice chat. Are we moving away from text-based communication? Is the technology that makes me non-disabled disintegrating? I don't know. Still, I have to agree with those like Alan Campbell who consider the evolution of technology -- and the ways it allows us to communicate -- exciting. Advertisement It's my hope that if we are moving towards audio-based communication online, that other technology will step up and help me maintain my freedom in interacting with others. One such piece of technology that has me very excited is Ava, basically a real-time captioning app that can be used in all types of situations. In a recent Facebook post, the app developers even hinted that Ava may one day be capable of transcribing sung lyrics. And, suddenly, these song lyrics take on a whole new meaning: "Baby, you can fly on your own. Just spread your wings and dream of tomorrow." "HOH Oh!" pieces by Jacki Andre explore living life with a disability, and especially issues related to being hard of hearing (HOH). Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: MUSTAFA OZER via Getty Images Turkish gay rights group (LAMBDA) activists wave peace flags infront of a mosque in Istanbul on March 16, 2010 during a demonstration against Family Affairs Minister Aliye Selma Kavaf. Some 60 activists denounced Kavaf and called for her resignation, as they accuse the Family Affairs Minister of insult, incitement to crime and incitement to enmity and hate -- crimes which are punishable by up to two, five and three years in jail respectively. Kavaf, who is also women's minister in the Islamist-rooted government, said in a newspaper interview last weekend that she believed homosexuality was a 'biological disorder, a disease.' AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images) On January 28, Rev. Mark Chiang from the Edmonton Presbytery (United Church), Netta Phillet and Priel Buzny from Temple Beth Shalom, and I participated in a panel on the Abrahamic faiths and homosexuality at the University of Alberta. The responses to my presentation reflected the unprovoked and unneeded suffering of LGBT Muslim youth. Given strongly held views by celebrity Muslim preachers, it was not surprising that a gay Muslim student emailed me expressing that if he accepted himself, he would lose relations and hurt his loved ones. His only way out was to abstain from any kind of intimacy, affection or companionship. Advertisement I also received an online request from a young gay Muslim, who wanted to discuss "something personal." I later discovered that he had taken loads of sleeping pills and was admitted to the hospital. At the panel, Mark, Netta and Priel spoke of how many denominations in their respective faiths fully affirmed their LGBT members. Unfortunately, I could not say that for Islam outside the progressive Muslim circles. Celebrity preachers, popular amongst conservative Muslim students, attempt to bulldoze the diversity of Islam. Indeed, Shia, Ismaili, Bohra, Ahmadi, Sufi and progressive Muslim voices are conspicuously absent at Muslim Student Association events. Advertisement Even when Muslim preachers do not advocate for the death punishment explicitly (ubiquitous in classical Islamic legal manuals), the predominant Islamic position remains that of social ostracism. It is argued that while it is a sin to "practice" homosexuality, it is also kufr (disbelief) to justify it. It is therefore not surprising that many LGBT Muslims suffer from cognitive dissonance. Unable to deal with sexuality in a healthy manner, many lead dual lives. Paradoxically, some who engage in unhealthy sexual expression become judgmental of fellow LGBT Muslims who accept themselves. Safe spaces for LGBT Muslims in Edmonton are non-existent. Last year, a health education worker in Edmonton indicated that several LGBT Muslim youth are homeless and mentioned having to deal with the suicide of a 15-year-old Muslim boy. Where the older Muslim generations are cautious about homosexuality as a "Western" phenomenon, even younger Canadian Muslims generally view the issue through the lens of "sin." Advertisement In this day and age of Gay Straight Alliances, the raising of the transgender flag at the Alberta Legislature, will the Muslim community wish to sideline the plight of some of its most vulnerable members? We are told that the prohibition of homosexuality is black and white in Islam. Comparisons are often made between sins like eating pork, drinking wine, committing adultery and homosexuality. However, all such arguments do not reflect a reasonable understanding of Islamic law, which is meant for the welfare of human beings and not for sole subjugation. Revelation is guided by reason and not by unthinking dogma. When straight Muslim students defend celebrity preachers through "context" even in the face of clear homophobic and supremacist utterances, how can they ignore that context in the case of a scriptural story about coercion and inhospitality? If Muslims are not going to reflect deeply on the classical definition of liwat -- penetration of men suffering from anal disease by other men with superfluous desire -- what is the point of thumping verses where Allah repeatedly asks human beings to use their intellect and reflect? Advertisement It is moral sophistication that allows us to distinguish between addictions that lead to harm and human constitution that yearns for intimacy, affection and companionship. Islamic principles indicate that nothing has been forbidden by Allah without the provision of substitutes, halal meat for pork, many beverages for wine, marriage for adultery, trade for gambling and so on. Yet, conservative Muslims expect gay Muslims to remain permanently celibate or enter a marriage of convenience. Would they like such petty prescriptions for themselves or for their own sisters and brothers? Human beings are not super normal creatures. Muslim researchers indicate that two thirds of young Muslim adults in Canada and the U.S have had sex before marriage. This is despite the fact that their situation is temporary for they have the option of marriage. How can anyone then reasonably expect LGBT Muslims to remain permanently celibate? In making such unreasonable prescriptions, are not conservative Muslim leaders first making sinners and then judging them for being sinners? The bias of LGBT Muslims is clear, for just like any human being they desire to live their lives with intimacy, affection and companionship. It is time conservative Muslims thought about their own biases, of how their deep-rooted heterosexism and paralyzing fear of eternal Hellfire is destroying lives in the urgent present. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: After a two-hour flight from Toronto and I find myself on the islands of South-West Florida. Known as Captiva, Sanibel, and Cabbage Key, these islands encircle central Fort Myers where long white sandy beaches await laid-back, sun-seekers like me. Rich with natural beauty and legendary tales of pirates, poets, and naturists, I set out to explore the region's best in island hopping adventures. Cruising with Dolphins For this trip I had one mission: to see a wild, live dolphin swimming in the ocean. And a tour with Captiva Cruises en route to the tiny island of Cabbage Key was my chance to do it. I board the Lady Chadwick and immediately begin pressing the guide for dolphin details. "They aren't scared of boats at all," he tells me. "They're really social animals. In fact, if you holler and cheer for 'em, they'll put on a little show". Moments later he announces that a group of dolphins are racing towards the boat's port side sending me a runnin' and a hollerin' to meet them. Advertisement Now alongside the boat, the pod obliges us in their game of jumping and diving with incredible speed as passengers cheer them on. Mission accomplished. A $70,000 Meal I'm still reeling from my dolphin encounter when we dock on the island of Cabbage Key. Once a private island it is now home to the Cabbage Key Island Restaurant and Bar. Advertisement Here the ceilings and walls are dripping with one-dollar bills affixed by patrons keeping up a local tradition. As the legend goes, fisherman would a sign and stick a bill to the wall before setting sail as pre-payment for a drink on their return. These days the walls are lined with some $70,000 dollars in singles signed and scribbled on by guests like Jimmy Buffett and now, me. I order a grouper fish burger, a slice of their frozen key lime pie, and set about defacing Washington's face with a black sharpie. You can find it behind the bar. (Photo Courtesy of Debra Smith) Shelling Out A short drive from, Fort Myers over the arching causeway and I've got my toes in the sand on Sanibel Island. Home of the highly photographed Sanibel Lighthouse, this is where I will try my hand at shelling. A popular activity among locals and tourist, shellers come here to comb the sand of Bowman's beach in search of exotic seashells. Like you, I was sure that shelling would be a bore. It wasn't. Sea breeze, warm sun, and soft sand went perfectly with this utterly calming activity. I walked with my feet in the ocean scanning the beach distracted only by massive pelicans flying mere inches above the water. And while I didn't find a Triton's Trumpet or Lion's Paw, I did line my pockets with a few Lightening Whelks. Advertisement The Wild Life I cross Sanibel Island heading for interior side where a visit to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge reminds me what really love about South-West Florida: the nature. Camera in hand I take a seat at the rear of an open-air tour bus manned by our biologist guide. As the trip sets off, birders and nature enthusiasts around me gasp in delight, scrambling to photograph the hunting Osprey and soaring Great Blue Herons above. Entirely wild and eco-life focused, Ding Darling preserves and protects some 240 species of birds, 30 species of mammals, and 50 types of reptiles and amphibians. Along the way we see fish jumping from the estuary, dozens of tiny crabs scattering about mangrove trees, and countless exotic birds strutting the grounds. When the bus slows alongside an enormous alligator lying motionless in the sun, my tour mates and I are delighted and terrified. An equally excited woman steps from the car ahead and poses 20 feet from the gator for an ill-conceived selfie. Her stupidity is rewarded for he was full. A little further down the 4-mile tour loop, we see a group of large tropical birds nibbling at bugs on the shoreline--a rare treat, I'm told. Our guide's excitement reaches its crescendo as a candyfloss coloured Roseate Spoonbill takes to the air in a flurry of vibrant pink feathers. Advertisement Fun House Feast Ready to eat and unwind I head off of Sanibel to Captiva Island for the last stop on my island hopping tour: the mind-bending Bubble Room. Here the 1930s kitsch and Hollywood memorabilia is outdone only by the portion sizes. Massive fruity cocktails and platter-sized dishes are served-up by enthusiastic staff whirling under colourful bubbling holiday lights. A toy train runs through the labyrinth of pink dining rooms and bars each decked out with toys, posters, and antiques. My fast talking waiter lights fiery flambes and dishes out massive entrees like the 9oz Charlie Chaplin Pork Chops and the 16oz Dem Bones T-Bone steak. Despite its trippy decor and funhouse atmosphere, the Bubble Room is best know for their super-sized pieces of delicious cake and key lime pie. Stuffed to epic proportions, the waiter temps me with a tray of incredible multi-layer cakes. He smiles patiently knowing no one can resist a Red Velvet giant. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Youjin Do Digital nomadism has been rising in popularity over the past few years, yet it's still largely misunderstood. I've been a digital nomad for about two years, and family and friends continue to ask me, "do you ever work?" Youjin Do, a digital nomad based in Miami, and Seoul and Jeju, Korea, wants to clear up many misconceptions--cue images of 20-year olds traveling and partying--to showcase what this lifestyle choice is really about and what it is becoming. Advertisement Over the past two years, Do, 27, has been creating a documentary, One Way Ticket, to talk to the people at the forefront of the movement from the founder of a co-working space in Bali, Indonesia, to Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek. Today Do talks about digital nomadism, creating her first documentary, and how she deals with stress: Tell me about being a digital nomad. I've been away from my home country for the last eight years. I was born in South Korea and grew up there. When I was 18, I had my first experience abroad; I studied in China. When I graduated, I did an internship at a startup in San Francisco. I kept working for companies abroad and travelling around the world. I had no idea what a digital nomad was. But me and everyone around me were just doing it because it seemed kind of obvious. In the last few years, the term has become more popular with the rise of remote working. I've been blogging a lot about it in Korean because it's really not well known in Korea. Also, most Koreans don't read English media, so I feel responsible to spread the message in my country. Advertisement But, blogging seemed a bit too plain. I wanted to capture the real vivid image of people's lives, and how they've changed because of the experience. Last year I started making a documentary about it. Since then I've interviewed people like the creator of the biggest fully remote working company Automattic Matt Mullenweg, as well as the writers of influential books like Tim Ferriss, who wrote the 4-Hour Workweek. What have you learned while making a documentary? I learned that one of the biggest misconceptions is that digital nomads are only 20-something single people travelling from city-to-city every few days with their laptop, partying everywhere and being without any home base. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, but digital nomads appear on a full spectrum. There's a great variety of people doing this. From backpackers who hardly make any money, to couples in their 50s who run an entire law firm remotely, to millionaire startup founders in their 30s with multiple home bases around the world, who love the freedom to go wherever they want. It's also not perpetual travellers necessarily; people can go wherever they want for a few weeks, months, or years. And it's not even about travel particularly; it's mostly about having the freedom to lead your life in your own way. For example, one of the big reasons people quit their office jobs to work remotely for companies is so they can have the flexibility to spend more time with their spouse, children, friends, and family. And they can go on trips to different countries whenever they want. Advertisement What have you learned about yourself? Ironically, another thing I learned about myself is that I do want to have a home base now. I'm 27. I've been away from my country for the majority of my 20s. And especially for this documentary I've moved from Asia to Europe to Latin America to the United States, all in less than one year. I loved seeing all the different places but it's also a bit exhausting. I feel disconnected from my friends in Korea and my own culture. As much as I love being abroad, I also love knowing where my roots are. And I think I need to balance both of those a bit. Having a home in Korea, and maybe a second home in another country would strike a nice balance for me. This year I want to have a home base in Jeju, a South Korean island. The Korean government is trying to attract digital nomads, and they've opened up a free co-working space there. Since it has super-fast internet, it makes for a good place to finish off my documentary. How do you control stress? All this organizing and travelling while making a documentary is a lot of stress. When my head becomes too full, I do a brain dump of my thoughts in Workflowy, which is like a very minimalistic hierarchical list app. Then from there I build a to-do list based on my thoughts in Trello. That helps clear my thoughts and then I know what's next. I also do breathing exercises. I try to breathe very deeply in and out, like five times, and that helps significantly. If I'm in Korea, I visit the Korean Spa called Jim-Jil-Bang, and that always relaxes me like crazy. Who's had the biggest influence on your life and why? I can't pick one person. I think the biggest influence is meeting all the people in the last eight years that I've been travelling around the world. Everyone I spoke to had a different story that I could listen to and made me think in new ways. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Advertisement There's nothing like travel that makes it possible to meet such a wide range of people. It takes you out of the bubble of people you'd normally hang with, and that develops you as a person, a lot. What else? I'm raising money now to finish off the post-production of my documentary. It's non-profit and it costs a lot to hire professional editors, so every little bit helps a lot. You can donate at digitalnomaddocumentary.com. Follow Do on Twitter. One Way Ticket will be shown at select film festivals and released for free online in early 2016. I'm fascinated by creative women -- their passions, challenges, and contributions to society. If you know a creative woman to feature, please tweet @kmarano. Tony Webster/Flickr A police line keeps the public out of the scene of a car crash in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.A 2008 Tony Webster. Last Spring, I mentioned the problems that a Richmond Hill, Ontario family was having with acquiring adequate service for their son with schizophrenia in one of my Huffington Post blogs. That was one of the many blogs I write on the pathetic state of care that we have for the treatment of those with serious mental illness. Sadly, the father in this case, Bob Veltheer, was murdered on Sunday evening February 7 and, the next day, his son Jacob was arrested. Bob and his wife talked to me before I wrote the blog wanting to reveal just how badly people with serious mental illness are treated by the health system but decided to remain silent other than what I reported then. Advertisement Before I outline what I know of the care their son got, I should mention that Bob was the founding member and president of Home on the Hill, an agency set up to try to get housing for the mentally ill when their families could no longer keep them at home. I had been invited to speak at their monthly meetings a few times as had my blogging partner in another blog we share, Dr David Laing Dawson. Last year, Jacob, who suffers from schizophrenia, was found sitting on a bus at the end of the line in Newmarket, Ontario presumably having failed to get off when it passed through Richmond Hill. He was suicidal, so the police were called and he was taken to South Lake Hospital. After a week and still suicidal, according to the family, he was discharged against the wishes of his family and that is what I reported. Upon discharge, he ran off, as do many people with schizophrenia, and the York Regional Police went looking for him. He was found after three days and returned home only to disappear again. This time, when he was found, he was admitted to MacKenzie Health in Richmond Hill. After a brief stay, he was discharged with a community treatment order to a residence. A community treatment order is a legally binding order that the individual must accept regular medical help and medication. If they fail to abide by this, they can be returned to hospital by police. Jacob, it seems, was too sick for the residence to cope with (but not sick enough to be in hospital) and was evicted from the residence. What should the parents do but what all parents do and that was to take him home. Just recently, the team that supervised his orders (the South Lake Assertive Community Treatment team), wanted him discharged to the care of the family doctor. His mother had just made contact with a local Richmond Hill psychiatrist and was waiting to hear back to see whether that doctor would see him. Advertisement Friday night, Bob had a meeting with a member of Home on the Hill executive at his house and I was told that Jacob was so distraught that he was pacing about the house talking to himself (or his voices or demons) in a loud voice. That Sunday night, the police allege that Jacob murdered his father. This horrific tragedy could probably have been prevented had Jacob been kept in hospital long enough to stabilize him properly and, if that was not possible, to give him a secure place where he could live. The number of psychiatric beds in Ontario has been declining considerably over the past few decades but the total extent is not available since statistics on that can't be found. And I've tried. The most recent Ontario report released in December of 2015 called Taking Stock found that access to services varies across the province and is inconsistent. "This is not the first preventable death, nor will it be the last unless we finally start to care" Late last year, the brand new psychiatric hospital in Hamilton closed a ward because of budgetary problems although that hospital has 6 vice presidents, 31 directors, a medical director earning $500K a year and a CEO making $750K a year. And, as I wrote a year ago, Ontario has had 17 reports on the sad state of mental health care between 1983 and 2011 but little has been done. This is not the first preventable death, nor will it be the last unless we finally start to care. In my book on schizophrenia, I describe a case where a family in Mississauga, Ontario desperately tried to get help for their son. They could not and he ended up killing both his parents. I met the son a couple of years ago and found him to be a very pleasant and sane individual. But that was after years in a forensic psychiatric hospital where he has been getting treatment. Imagine if his family were able to get that when they first tried. I am not Emil Zola nor was Bob Veltheer, but I accuse the complacency of the Ontario government for his death. Government bureaucrats have been informed repeatedly both verbally and in writing about the need for accountability, program evaluation, transparency regarding mis-spending, mis-use of privacy legislation and the historical resistance to partner and collaborate with families. The Central Local Health Integration Network where Bob resided, I'm told, had recently been notified about the profound need for hospital beds by Home on the Hill. Advertisement Home on the HIll has been attempting to meet with the new Health Minister, Jane Philpott, whose constituency is near Richmond Hill but have not heard back yet. I would like to see either a Coroner's Inquest or a Royal Commission into the circumstances that led up to this horrific event. And I would like to see Ontario finally do something other than commission studies which they then ignore. This week some of the best cave divers on the planet will mount an expedition to penetrate into a subterranean world that's remained hidden for more than 50 years. Along with a crack scientific and support team, Jill Heinerth, Phil Short, Sabine Kerkau and Steve Lewis will travel to Bell Island, Newfoundland in Canada and attempt to explore the old iron ore mine that runs under the island and adjacent bay. Advertisement The mine's tunnels stretch for hundreds of kilometres under the island and adjacent bay. The last miner walked out in the mid 1960s leaving most of their equipment and tools behind. When the mine was shut down, the pumps were turned off and it flooded. Eventually the water levels rose, covering more than a hundred years of mining history. So why is this team mounting this expedition, disturbing this long dormant underwater archive? Partly for the pure spirit of adventure. The divers want to go where no person has walked for nearly half a century and explore what amounts to a perfectly preserved underwater mining museum. When the cold water rose it preserved a perfect working iron ore mine. Advertisement The divers are looking to see what historical artifacts remain that should be preserved and catalogued in the local mining museum. For 100 years men lived and died in this mine. They recorded their triumphs and tragedies in these dark tunnels. Local historians think their lives should be honoured and preserved, and these divers are taking the first step to do that. Others agree. The expedition has caught the attention of the prestigious Explorers Club. Impressed with the potential for original exploration, they've granted Mine Quest the honor of carrying one of their flags. These flags have flown at both polar poles and on top of the highest mountains in the world. Thor Heyerdahl carried one on the Kon Tiki expedition, as did the astronauts on Apollo 11. Mine Quest has also been noticed by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. They've accorded the expedition the title of "Expedition of the Year." But exploration isn't the only driving force behind the expedition. It also has a heavy scientific bent. Diver Alert Network researcher Neal Pollock will use the opportunity to monitor the divers for bubbles in their hearts by taking ultrasound readings post-dive. He'll also be taking blood samples to look for blood markers indicating decompression stress. The overall goal of the study is to look at the effects of multi-day diving on people in high-stress environments. Advertisement Scientist Dawn Kernagis will also be doing some ground breaking research into how stress can virtually reprogram your body at a genetic level. It's called epigenetic modification and if the right triggers are initiated these changes cannot only affect you, but be passed on to your children. She's currently doing similar research for the U.S. military. And the final reason for the expedition -- trying to see whether the mine can be made into a safe place as a diving adventure destination. Rick Stanley, one of the primary organizers of the expedition hopes that if this can be accomplished then there will be some economic spin offs to the local community -- hard hit since the mine closed. "If we raise the profile of the mine, then more people will visit to dive and to take the mine tour," said Stanley. He hopes that will give Bell Island a little economic boost. A group of local volunteers have been doing back-breaking labour in the old mine to clean up the debris in the tunnels that lead up to the water's edge -- getting the site ready for the divers. Mark and Marcia McGowan, John Olivero, Nick Dawe, Kyle Morgan, Teddy McCarthy, Des McCarthy, Ron Reid, and Bonnie and Tom Spracklin had to make sure a proper lighting system was installed, and built a staging area for the divers to work from -- a floating dock and tables. After two weeks of work, everything is ready to go. Advertisement Once the expedition begins, the divers will face a somewhat daunting set of challenges. The layout of the mine is a veritable labyrinth; old equipment presents a series of jagged obstacles ready to trap unwary divers; fine sediment that can shut down all visibility just waits to be stirred up. The tunnels run deep and, of course, they're pitch black. An attempt made in 2007 to penetrate the mines ended in the death of one diver. There's no doubt the expedition is a risky venture. But at the end of the week-long expedition, with a little luck, the team will have re-discovered a slice of history, they'll have made some scientific discoveries and they may open up a whole new opportunity for properly trained divers worldwide -- a chance for dive experience extraordinaire. I'll be diving the mines (after the pros have laid in safety lines, of course) and filing daily reports from the Mine Quest expedition. It kicks off on February 15. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: AlexRaths via Getty Images Female doctor with the stethoscope holding heart The idea behind the day was about assisting health care providers (like doctors, nurses, clinicians and their staff) in promoting sexual and reproductive health in a comprehensive way. Advertisement Eventually the day became a week long campaign (SRH Week) and joined the online world with a website and social media pages. Each year focused on a different theme -- from being able to ask questions about your sexual health to accessing information online and knowing how to "heart your parts." Strides were made and we've come a long way in the last 13 years but a lot is left to do. To this day, one major factor affecting sexual health is the relationship between health care providers and their clients (which include patients). Positive relationships between clients and providers foster better health outcomes and access to services. And on the flipside, negative relationships and experiences have the opposite effect. Action Canada, in partnership with CPHA, is leading the 2016 national campaign and spent the last year meeting with community advocates and health care providers across Canada to discuss barriers to accessing quality health care that diverse communities and groups face and how we can work together to break these down. We heard from a lot of different individuals and communities. Everyone had positive and negative experiences to share with tips and solutions to overcome barriers in accessing sexual health services. As health care professionals, we need to recognize how health intersects with people's identities, communities and situations. We need to actively take these factors into account and work together to ensure that everyone is provided with the right care at the right time and in a way that is respectful and empowering. Advertisement Not every experience is negative and there are lots of great examples of health care providers overcoming stigma and offering their clients the support they need. But unless we work together to build the relationships that foster good health, people and communities across Canada will continue to be left out of the "universal" health care system. So here is what we are doing about it: under the theme "What's Your Relationship Status?" this year's SRH Week campaign offers the tools and information that both health care providers and clients need to build healthy 2-way relationships and to give and receive the best care. It also equips community members and leaders, including health care providers, with tools to enhance local capacity to address what gets in the way of good relationships and to champion a holistic approach to health care. The website includes the voices of health care providers and advocates as well as rights-holders and communities who continue to face barriers - addressing the issues they face and what health care providers can do to make their practices and their clinics more inclusive and welcoming to a greater diversity of people and communities. Advertisement And now ask yourself, what's your relationship status? To learn more about Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week and the important relationship between health care providers and health care clients, visit www.srhweek.ca or follow #SRH2016 nagehanozsezer via Getty Images Valentine's Day Romantic Dinner Meal Opt for a few aces up your sleeves this Valentine's Day. To add some context to this statement, I reference a timeless adage: "The way to someone's heart is through their stomach." There's no denying the truth in those words. Attaining culinary success in spades can guarantee you affection in return. This year, wow your sweetie with dinner and dessert; make it an intimate affair and create classic dishes with a twist in your own home. Advertisement I visited Ovest, a modern Italian trattoria in Toronto, to ask Executive Chef Danylo Mielnik for two recipes that would be ideal for such a celebratory occasion. He offered up the Gnocchi con Pesto di Pistacchi and the Nutella Mille Feuille dishes. Certainly, they may not appear to be the archetype of aphrodisiac foods, but one taste will most assuredly change your mind -- and get your heart racing. And don't worry, you needn't slave away in the kitchen all day with these recipes. Many components can be prepared a day in advance. First up: cloud puffs of gnocchi with an ample amount of nutty-sweet pistachio pesto and salty pancetta pieces. The spuds have a soft chew which make for a time-release of flavours on the tongue. Delicate and floral, they're rich-tasting and pleasingly squishy. Finished with niblets of pancetta, a little bowl of this stuff goes a long way. Then save room for dessert, of course. It's an easy assembly job but still a beaut of-a-looker in its own right. A double decker of passion-flaked puff pastry sandwich a mound of Nutella mousse. It's feather-light on the tongue, chocolatey -- (Chef references Ferrero Rocher, but without the heaviness), and gush-worthy good. Advertisement If you still want to brave the cold and get gussied up, here's an ideal game plan to consider: grab a seat at Ovest's modern bar for some nibbles and sips. I recommend their Frittura di Pesce to get the evening going. Lightly seasoned, the fried seafood goodies have a perfectly crisp exterior and sweet, creamy flesh. Linger over a glass of vino (they have over 125 different varietals to choose from), then head home for the main indulgences. Advertisement Gnocchi con Pesto di Pistacchi (Gnocchi with a Pistachio Pesto and Pancetta) Chef Danylo Mielnik offers the following helpful tips when making gnocchi: have patience and do not overwork the dough (it will make the pasta dough stiff, resulting in very tough- textured gnocchi). The gnocchi should still be pliable but able to hold its shape, like a soft pillow. Ingredients For the Gnocchi: 1kg net weight of cooked baking potatoes (peeled, boiled and passed through a food mill or potato ricer) 300 gr of all-purpose flour 50 gr of grated Parmigiano Reggiano 1 egg, beaten 1 tbsp. salt For the Pesto and Finished Dish: 1 cup of shelled, blanched and peeled pistachios 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil 1 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano 2 shallots, minced 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1 cup of unsalted butter 200 gr of pancetta, diced 10 slices of rolled pancetta fried for garnish Method Gnocchi: Boil 1kg of peeled baking potatoes (russets) in unsalted water until fully cooked. Drain for 5 minutes. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer. Allow the potatoes to cool until room temperature. Spread the potatoes out and create a well for the flour, eggs, cheese and salt. Mix by hand for 3-5 minutes until the entire mixture is well combined. Allow the dough to rest with a damp tea towel covering the gnocchi for 10-15 minutes. Cut the mound of gnocchi dough into approximately cup portions. (This will allow for the inexperienced gnocchi roller to easily roll the gnocchi). Roll on an un-floured work surface until you have logs that are the diameter of no larger than a dime. Using a bench scrapper (or sharp knife) cut the logs of gnocchi dough into approximately 1 1/2 cm pieces. Heavily flour gnocchi and transfer to a baking sheet. You can prepare and store for up to 24 hours in advance on a floured baking sheet covered with plastic wrap. Advertisement To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi slowly with the help of a slotted spoon, making sure none of the gnocchi stick together. Leave in the boiling water for 30 seconds before gently stirring to help keep the gnocchi from sticking to each other and at the bottom of the pot. Once all of the gnocchi float the top, continue to cook for an additional 30 seconds. Strain and keep hot while you prepare the sauce. (Reserve 2 cups of the pasta water for the sauce). Sauce: For the sauce, begin by combining the pistachios and olive oil in a blender. Blend until smooth (close to the texture of natural peanut butter). Meanwhile, bring a large frying pan to medium heat and cook the small pieces of pancetta until lightly golden brown and crispy. Add the shallots and garlic and continue to cook on medium heat for 1-2 more minutes. Add the pistachio pesto and 2 cups of pasta water and bring to the boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and salt to taste, continue to reduce the sauce until the gnocchi is completely coated with the pesto. To Serve: Serve garnished with a slice of crispy pancetta and a sprinkle with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Advertisement Nutella Mille-Feuille Ingredients For the Mousse: 1 Cup of Nutella 1 1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream (35% fat) 1/4 cup of toasted chopped hazelnuts For the coulis: Fresh Raspberries - 1/2 pint 6 tbsp granulated sugar For the Mille-Feuille: Puff pastry (Ovest makes theirs from scratch, but for sanity's sake, you may use good quality, store-bought puff pastry) Cocoa powder and icing sugar to finish Method Mille-Feuille: Cut the sheet of puff pastry into small individual portions. Poke holes in the puff pastry so it does not rise too much as it bakes and rises uniformly. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake following directions on box. Approximately 375 degrees for 18 minutes. Mousse: Spread Nutella out in a large mixing bowl and keep in a warm place so the Nutella softens. Whip the heavy cream to whipped cream consistency - stiff peaks. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the Nutella and combine vigorously, do not worry about losing volume in the whipped cream. Once combined, add the other 2 parts of whipped cream into 2 stages gently folding the cream until incorporated. Add the hazelnuts and refrigerate for 2 hours before using. Raspberry coulis: Combine raspberries and sugar in a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute. Strain through a fine strainer. Advertisement To Assemble Cut the puff pastry in half so you have a top and bottom. Using a piping bag or spoon, put the Nutella in a flat thick 1 inch layer and then add the top of the puff pastry. Dust with icing sugar and cocoa. Garnish plate with raspberry coulis. Serve. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFFPOST: Jodi Jacobson via Getty Images Contemporary luxury home for sale in West Vancouver. RM Written by Wayne Karl By this time next week, you will no longer be able to buy a home in Canada priced at more than $500,000 with a five-per-cent down payment. Big deal or no deal? It seems to depend on what market you're in. In December, Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the changes to the rules for government-backed mortgage insurance, designed to contain risks in the housing market, reduce taxpayer exposure and support long-term stability. Advertisement Effective February 15, for properties between $500,000 and $1 million, the minimum down payment for new insured mortgages will increase from five to 10 per cent for the portion of the house price above $500,000. The minimum down payment for properties up to $500,000 remains unchanged at five per cent, as does the minimum down payment of 20 per cent for homes priced at more than $1 million. If you're first-time homebuyers buying a property of less than $500,000, the new rules won't affect you. For those buying for between $500,000 and $1 million, you better get on it if you hope to buy before February 15 and still be able to put down five per cent. Otherwise, your options are to delay your purchase until you've saved the additional funds for the new, higher down payment or you come up with the additional funds. Advertisement "We think the ramifications will be fairly minimal," says James Laird, president of CanWise Financial. "It will affect only a small number of buyers. People in the affected group may need to rent a little bit longer until they save the extra down payment required. They may still buy where they're planning to by getting help from family. Or they may still buy right away but buy a slightly smaller home than they were planning to." While the new down payment requirement was intended primarily to slow the housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver -- where average home prices are $630,876 and $947,334, respectively -- those markets continue to hum along. Figures for January 2016 indicate Toronto shows no serious signs of slowing. The average home price in Toronto grew to $636,728 in January 2016 from $583,084 in January 2015, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). For the rest of the GTA, the average price grew to $627,871 from $536,139 over the same period. Spike in homebuying activity "We've seen a tremendous increase in sales month-over-month from last year, but I don't believe that has anything to do with the new mortgage rules," says Mark McLean, president of TREB. "In early December there were a lot of buyers who backed away from the market because of buyer fatigue, and with more listings on the market now those buyers are jumping back in. In the residential freehold market, I don't expect to see any significant change in buyers' habits as the price point is significantly higher. The condo market is off to a record start in the downtown core, where in the east and west core of the city there are as many listings as there are sales which indicates continued support for the condominium sector. I don't believe that will change significantly with the new mortgage rules." Advertisement TREB expects home prices to continue to trend upward in 2016, with the average selling price forecast to settle between $655,000 and $665,000. A recent Ipsos Reid survey showed a very small share of intending buyers in Toronto were planning on down payments of between five and 9.9 per cent. "This suggests that only a small percentage of intending buyers will be impacted by the mortgage lending guideline changes announced by the federal government in December 2015," says Jason Mercer, TREB's director of market analysis. Toronto-based mortgage broker and wealth planner Calum Ross expected the new rules to cause a spike in activity before the deadline, particularly on homes priced between $500,000 and $1 million. "Market stats show there has been more action," he says. At least one mortgage expert suggests that additional mortgage regulations could be on the horizon if this latest round of changes don't have their desired effect. Advertisement "User requests to ratehub.ca mortgage brokers are up almost 50 per cent, which indicates that buyers could be making a push to beat the February 15 deadline," says Alyssa Richard, CEO of ratehub.ca, a mortgage rate comparison website. "It's very important to keep an eye on whether this will actually slow the housing market. We could see more legislation introduced in the future if regulators are not seeing the cooling effects they are hoping for from this change." Markets to be impacted CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal says Calgary is among the markets to be hardest hit due to the large share of high-ratio mortgages in this city. The new measures are estimated to impact about 10 per cent of new sales there, while in Toronto the figure is five per cent; in Vancouver, just 2.5 per cent. January figures from the Calgary Real Estate Board show that the market is indeed enduring tough times, whether related to the new rules or the state of the provincial economy. Sales and listings are down double digits, year-over-year, though the average price is holding its own, down just 0.71 per cent to $457,359. Days on market, however, are way up -- more than 24 per cent -- to 51 days from 41. In Edmonton, things are even worse, with the average price falling 6.34 per cent year-over-year in January to $339,714. Read more here. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: A campaign to remove abortion from criminal law was launched on Tuesday as it emerged two women could be jailed in Northern Ireland for abortion offences. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) want to decriminalise abortion and are being supported by a range of womens organisations including Fawcett Society, Royal College of Midwives and End Violence Against Women Coalition. At present, a woman who ends her own pregnancy at any gestation can be sentenced to life imprisonment under "laws created before women could vote", the BPAS said. Advertisement The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has launched a campaign to remove abortion from criminal law "Womens organisations have today backed calls for Victorian-era legislation criminalising abortion to be scrapped and for the procedure to be regulated in the same way as all other womens healthcare," it said. The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act - and equivalent common law offences in Scotland - the BPAS said, "threatens the harshest punishments for self-induced abortion imposed by any country in Europe today, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland". The 1967 Abortion Act did not overturn that law, but made abortion lawful if two doctors agreed a womans mental or physical health would suffer if she were forced to continue her pregnancy. It did not extend to Northern Ireland. Advertisement BPAS said: "But even where it applies, abortion is not a choice a woman can make for herself, but a decision which must be made on her behalf by doctors." Goretti Horgan, Alliance for Choice Northern Ireland, said the two women currently facing trial in Northern Ireland are at "the sharp end of the criminalisation of abortion in the UK". She said the women were "essentially" on trial because they could not afford to travel to Britain and pay for a private abortion. Horgan said: "If the mother who faces prison for getting abortion pills for her teenage daughter lived in England, her daughter would have been fast-tracked for an abortion if that's what she wanted. A 21-year old is facing life imprisonment for taking pills that she would have got on the NHS had she lived in Britain. This should not be happening in the 21st century." In Durham last year, a mother was imprisoned for two-and-a-half-years for inducing a miscarriage in the third trimester using medication bought online. Advertisement The BPAS said the "increasing availability and knowledge of these pills means more women are likely to put themselves at risk of prosecution". It added: "Abortion cannot be provided solely on the request of a woman anywhere in the UK today, and a doctor, midwife or nurse who provided safe abortion care on her request alone could face prison." BPAS said decriminalisation was needed because current legislation around abortions was "not in keeping with principles of womens rights, bodily autonomy, and patient-centred care". The threat of prosecution, it said, was also putting doctors off "training in this field and providing care". "Today, even where the 1967 Act applies, women are compelled to continue pregnancies because they cannot find doctors willing or able to treat them," the BPAS said. Advertisement "In requiring women obtain the permission of two doctors, the current law can delay those who are sure of their decision. It has also prevented developments in clinical practice that have facilitated the safe and effective treatment of women in other countries "As safe and effective medications to induce abortion become readily available online, more women are at risk of prosecution. Even countries such as Poland, where abortion is highly restricted, do not prosecute women for self-inducing abortion." Ann Furedi, BPAS chief executive, said one-in-three women in the UK will have an abortion during their lifetime and the law needed to change to enable them to "live their lives in the way they see fit, and bear children at the time they think is right". She said: "It is high time we recognised this by taking abortion out of the criminal law, and making clear that we trust women to make their own decisions about their own lives and bodies. Sam Smethers, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, added: Safe, early, medical abortions are readily available but our outdated abortion laws hinder womens access to them. It makes no sense to force women to delay the termination of a pregnancy when that is their decision. We need modern abortion legislation fit for 21st Century. Diane Munday, the former general secretary of the Abortion Law Reform Association in the 1960s, said: If in 1967 - on the day I celebrated that parliament had put Britain in the vanguard for womens reproductive rights - anybody had told me that nearly half a century later we would be lagging behind most of Europe I would have called them deluded. But they would have been right. "In the past 50 years, technology and medicine have moved forward beyond belief, yet abortion remains hedged with the same red tape as it did in the 1960s. The anachronistic legal need for two doctors who know nothing about the pregnant woman, her life and her circumstances still stands. Jurisdictions including Canada and Australia have decriminalised abortion and the skies have not fallen in and neither have rates of abortion risen. A week after the Iowa caucuses and a day after the Super Bowl, voters in New Hampshire go to the polls. It's a tradition stretching back to the 1950s, and a hugely important marker for the 18-month reality show that is the 2016 presidential race. Whereas Iowas caucus system relies on antiquated methods of vote casting (people moving around a room is considered good politics in the Hawkeye State) Tuesday's primary is a more traditional secret ballot in which voters pick their nominee. Advertisement A vendor sells Trump memorabilia outside at a town hall meeting at the Lions Club February 8, 2016 in Londonderry, New Hampshire The rules of the Granite State election allow both existing party members and unaffiliated voters to lodge their preference. Unaffiliated voters can register the day before, making accurate polling for the state very difficult especially in years of higher voter turnout. It also means that those voters signing up late (up to 45 percent of the electorate could decide who to vote for as late as Monday) will swing the election. The result will come down to which individual candidates appeal to the most voters rather than any fidelity to a particular party. Advertisement Like Iowa, the importance of New Hampshire is not in the amount of delegates a candidate can leave with (the total number of delegates ultimately decides who is the nominee), but in determining which candidates stay in the race. A bad showing in New Hampshire traditionally means donations dry up, forcing hopefuls to withdraw. Alternatively, a good showing can propel an ailing campaign back into health. Recent campaign finance reform has allowed some candidates to build up huge war chests, lessening the financial impact or a poor ballot, but momentum still remains important. Melissa Chandler leads Bleu the steer to promote presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Manchester, New Hampshire For Republicans, businessman Donald Trump has led in statewide surveys for several months and is the favourite to win, although some pollsters warn his fear peddling rhetoric might not translate into a sweeping victory on Tuesday. Advertisement Trump benefits from the fact that he is less ideological and socially less conservative than the rest of the Republican field, said Linda L. Fowler, a professor of government at Dartmouth College. Speaking to The Huffington Post UK, the academic noted that perceived problems with Trump's campaign in Iowa could work to the tycoons benefit in New Hampshire. People here, at least some of them, are susceptible to celebrity, as they are everywhere, she said, adding: [New Hampshire] voters also like straight talk. Ted Cruz speaks during a campaign event at The Tuckaway Tavern in Raymond, New Hampshire on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016 Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whose brand of extreme politics proved popular in Iowa, is unlikely to appeal to the less religious voters of New Hampshire, though Fowler argues Cruz doesnt need to win to remain viable in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 20 and in the more religious southern states that follow. Advertisement As such, the senator will likely vie for second position with Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who finished third in Iowa, as well as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who could benefit from a solid TV debate performance on Saturday. John Kasich, the moderate governor of Ohio, is also expected to be competitive, while former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is still in the mix, albeit running out of chances to build up some steam. Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at Chez Vachon restaurant in New Hampshire The state has a historical reputation for backing establishment candidates, including Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in 2012, John McCain and Obama in 2008 and John Kerry and George Bush in 2004. However, voters also went for John McCain over George Bush in the 2000 GOP race, and for conservative author Pat Buchanan in 1996, meaning the state can spring a surprise. Advertisement Noting Newt Gingrichs fourth place finish in 2012, Fowler said the best way to think about the state is that it gives some candidates a second look after Iowa and lets them through the gate to try their fortunes for a bit longer. Likewise, it can shut the door on others, she noted, citing the campaigns of Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum, also in 2012. A lot of its influence depends on the calendar and whether candidates have the resources to stick around for a few more contests, Fowler adds. A stuffed moose sits on a stool after at a town hall campaign event at the Lions Club on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, in Londonderry, New Hampshire For the Democrats, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders leads in the polls and should come out ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but hell require a sizable victory if he is to have the impetus moving forward into the southern primary states in which Clintons polling is far stronger. Advertisement Sanders was narrowly defeated in Iowa, a state he once trailed by a huge margin. However, Fowler is dubious over whether the senator's impressive Iowa result will have an impact in the 'first in the nation' primary. Whether the toss-up in Iowa will boost his standing here or give people second thoughts is an open question, she said. The party of austerity held a lavish fundraiser on Monday evening, as top Tory politicians and their financial backers dined at the secretive Black and White Ball near to the Barbican centre in central London. Garbed in ball gowns and black ties, Tory grandees, including Sir Eric Pickles, Business Secretary Sajid Javid, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, attended the event, which is held every year to raise money for Party coffers. Advertisement Prime Minister David Cameron leaves a Conservative party Black & White Ball fundraiser at the Chiswell Brewery, London Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha arrived in a car, Tory mayor of London candidate Zac Goldsmith arrived in a black cab while Boris bowled up on his bike. Lynton Crosby, the Australian mastermind behind the Tories 2015 election victory, arrived in a limousine. The guest list boasted a raft of wealthy backers, including Anthony Bamford, Chairman of JCB, and Howard Shore, executive chairman of Shore Capital. Guests could bid on a number of undisclosed auction lots throughout the evening. A day with Goldsmith on the campaign trial sold for 35,000, while a giant election poster showing former Labor leader Ed Multiband in the pocket of Alex Salmond reportedly fetched 50,000. Advertisement Mayor of London Boris Johnson leaves the fundraiser on his bike According to the Guardian, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was the butt of several jokes. At the 2015 event, tables costs 15,000 each as the party looked to raise 3 million to spend on the election. Diners could bid for a shopping trip with Home Secretary Theresa May, a chicken supper at chez Gove and a budget signed by Chancellor George Osborne. SeekingArrangement.com Nearly a quarter of a million students have signed up to become "sugar babies" - where they are paid by a richer, older man to keep him company - in the past year. Advertisement More than 225,000 young women joined dating website SeekingArrangement.com in 2015, which hooks "sugar daddies" up to young women who wish to "experience a luxurious lifestyle and meet wealthy people on a regular basis". Andrea Warren, a 19-year-old law and English student, moved out of her student flat and into a 300-a-week accommodation, paid for buy her sugar daddy, who also gives her a 500 allowance - every week. "Last week I went to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant for a really expensive meal," she told the Daily Mail. "I also spent 6,000 in Harrods on a Versace bag, a top and some shoes. I get to do loads of stuff I could never usually afford. I go to Venice next month and I always stay in five-star hotels." According to the site, there has been a 40% rise in students joining, a figure based on the number of university email addresses. Advertisement Kent University had the highest number of users - 724 - while Cambridge comes a close second with 704. Portsmouth saw the biggest increase in members, with 216 signing up in the past year. Eva Tomkins, 20, a second-year advertising student at Manchester Metropolitan University, joined last year and told The Sun: Ive earned about 700 and Ive had things bought for me. Ive had lots of people contact me. "Id say about one in five messages you get is sexually explicit but I just dont reply. One guy paid me 200 to go for a drink with him. I met him twice so got 400. Ive never felt threatened by anyone. I think most of the people are just lonely and want contact." Brandon Wade, founder of the site, which was launched in 2006, said members make 2,000 a month on average. "While some students choose debt or slog away at low-paid jobs, university sugar babies are afforded a higher quality lifestyle," Wade said. "It allows students to focus on their studies. Advertisement |Some see this as a controversial solution," he added. "However, Seekingarrangement.com has helped students graduate debt-free. Thats more than anyone can say of parliament or university bodies." Clover Pittilla, a Bournemouth student, told Newsbeat: "Sometimes, sometimes [there is an expectation of sex]. But they are usually quite forward with that. #boston #christmasboston #shopping #christmasshoppingdone A photo posted by Clover Pittilla (@cloverpittilla) on Dec 11, 2015 at 8:42am PST "They usually say it straight away. If that's what they want then that is what they want. "But if that is not what I want, that is not what I am going to do. "But if they are attractive or whatever and you wouldn't mind, then why not." In a previous interview with GQ, Wade defended his site saying: "Calling women 'prostitutes' who want something more out of a relationship than just this abstract notion of love is a comment and a stigma that is born from pure jealousy. "The truth is, in my opinion, love is a concept that's been invented by poor people. "These people aren't wealthy, they aren't beautiful, they aren't the cream of the crop - so what do they have? They have love. For everyone else there's our website." A rare albino turtle was spotted on Sunday on a beach in Australia. The tiny creature, dubbed 'Little Alby,' was discovered by wildlife volunteers observing the hatchlings from a green turtle nest at Castaways Beach, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Most of Alby's siblings hatched on Friday, but he waited till Sunday before making his way to the ocean. Advertisement Speaking to the BBC, Linda Warneminde from the Coolum and North Shore Coast Care said: "It was very chipper and just took off into the water as happy as can be. "He wasn't sick, he was just white," she added. Warneminde's group gathers data by checking the nest for empty shells. However, they were surprised to find the distinctive turtle still hanging around. "We were amazed to see this small white creature with pink flippers," she told CNN. A badger became an unlikely archaeologist when it accidentally dug up a Bronze Age cremation site near Stonehenge. Objects dating from 2,200 to 2,000 BC were uncovered by the animal, including a bronze saw, a copper chisel, an archer's wrist guard and cremated human remains. Experts said that the owner of the artefacts was most likely an archer. Advertisement Sherd showing badger claw marks The badger decided to make its home in a convenient mound, inadvertently unearthing the objects, the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC) said. Richard Osgood, from the MOD's Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said it was an "exciting" and "utterly unexpected" find. Badger setts are not uncommon at historical sites. Osgood said that, while the discovery of the items is welcome, the burrowing animals can be an archaeological risk. Advertisement A badger became an unlikely archaeologist when it stumbled upon a Bronze Age burial site He told the BBC: "There are badger setts in quite a few scheduled monuments - the actions of burrowing animals is one of the biggest risks to archaeology in Britain - but to bring out items of this quality from one hole is unusual. "We would never have known these objects were in there, so there's a small part of me that is quite pleased the badger did this... but it probably would have been better that these things had stayed within the monument where they'd resided for 4,000 years." Wrist guard and shaft straighteners The WHSC said in a blog post: "Luckily the badger has not caused too much damage to the objects and evidence of badger activity is only visible in the surface of some fragments of the ceramic sherds. "It is probable that the ceramic vessel had remained intact in the ground and unfortunately the badger dug its tunnel through the middle of it, causing the vessel to break into over 200 sherds. Advertisement "The conservators are cleaning and stabilising the ceramic fragments before undertaking a jigsaw without the picture to reassemble the vessel. "The vessel is nearly complete with very few missing areas meaning after the conservation treatment is completed and the urn is on display, it will give a very good indication of how it would have looked when in use around 3,000 years ago." Selection of ceramic sherds The site has now been excavated by archaeologists, with assistance from volunteers. The items dug up by the badger will go on display at Wiltshire Museum in Devizes later this year. The badger has reportedly been safely moved on to a new home. This is not the first time that a badger has been responsible for an archaeological find. Close-up of the Koran and the Bible ImageDB via Getty Images An analysis of the Bible and the Quran has found that violence and destruction are discussed more frequently in Christian scripture than in the Islamic text. SEE ALSO: In an effort to dispel the oft-mentioned argument that Islam is an "inherently violent religion", an American software engineer processed the Holy books in order to find out how frequently savagery is mentioned. Advertisement Tom Anderson said: "The project was inspired by the ongoing public debate around whether or not terrorism connected with Islamic fundamentalism reflects something inherently and distinctly violent about Islam compared to other major religions." Far-right groups such as Britain First often advocate the idea Islam is "inherently violent" Anderson used software he developed, Odin Text, to analyse both the Old and New Testaments as well as an English-language version of the Quran dated from 1917. It took just two minutes to complete the analysis and produce a series of data analysing the sentiment of words included in the scriptures. Advertisement Of eight emotions - joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation - the Bible scored higher for anger and much lower for joy and trust than the Quran. The analysis plotted the occurrence of eight major emotions Delving into the Bible further revealed the Old Testament was distinctly more violent than the New Testament. The process identified words such as "destroy", "kills" and phrases such as "suffer vengeance", as having violent connotations. Advertisement There were more subtle differences between the New Testament and the Quran Anderson wrote in summary: "Of the three texts, the content in the Old Testament appears to be the most violent. Killing and destruction are referenced slightly more often in the New Testament (2.8%) than in the Quran (2.1%), but the Old Testament clearly leadsmore than twice that of the Quranin mentions of destruction and killing (5.3%). References of killing and destruction as percentage of verbatim text Quran - 2.1% New Testament - 2.8% Old Testament - 5.3% Source: Odin Text However, Anderson cautions: "First, I want to make very clear that we have not set out to prove or disprove that Islam is more violent than other religions. "Moreover, we realize that the Old and New Testaments and the Quran are neither the only literature in Islam, Christianity and Judaism, nor do they constitute the sum of these religions teachings and protocols. Advertisement "I must also reemphasize that this analysis is superficial and the findings are by no means intended to be conclusive. Ours is a 30,000-ft, cursory view of three texts: the Quran and the Old and New Testaments, respectively." Tom Anderson founded Odin Text and undertook the analysis last month Hundreds of thousands of Christians are being asked to switch energy tariffs for Lent, in a campaign that says it's their religious duty to use power from renewable sources. Worshippers are being asked to "put their faith into action" by using electricity from solar or wind energy, in a mass bid to tackle climate change. Campaigners from the charities Christian Aid and Tearfund claim that Christians are deeply concerned about climate change, and want "warm actions not just warm words" to halt its progress. Advertisement For 'The Big Church Switch' starting on Wednesday, they hope contact at least 150,000 Christians of different denominations to encourage them to switch their provider or tariff to renewables. Churches are being encouraged to 'lead the way' in renewables Leading bishops are backing the campaign which calls on the faithful to show they "love their neighbours" and care for creation. Churches are also being asked to switch to using only green energy, and the Lutheran Church and Quakers in Britain have already switched to 100% renewable tariffs. Advertisement The Big Church Switch is calling itself a "new initiative responding to the Christian communitys concern around climate change". It will offer a website with information on how to switch tariff easily from Ash Wednesday, 10 February, which marks the first day of Lent. Organisers hope to send a message to the government that churches are prepared to "lead the way" in using renewables instead of fossils fuels, whose burning releases gases that cause climate change. Churches will be encouraged to invite local politicians to services and tell them about the importance of green energy and why the government must do more to reduce CO2 emissions. 'Switching is a great way for Christians to love our neighbours' Nicholas Holtam, the Bishop of Salisbury, who leads on environmental issues for the Church of England, said it was a "simple, practical good idea". Advertisement "If Lent is about renewing our lives in response to the love of God here is a way to follow," he said. "You can do it, and so will I. Ben Niblett, Tearfund Senior Campaigner said: "The UK church has a vital role in overcoming poverty and inequality in a way which doesnt cost the earth and lasts for generations to come. Switching is a great way for Christians to love our neighbours and show the government we want more action on climate change, like investment in clean, renewable energy. 'Christians care about our neighbours in the UK and around the world being hit by climate change - we're seeing more floods, more droughts, and more people going hungry - so we think this will strike a chord.' The campaign is backed by figures including the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes; the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker; the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson and the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton. Advertisement Climate change is a key concern for Christians, the campaign claims Laura Taylor, Christian Aids Head of Advocacy, said: The congregation at my own local church, Epsom Baptist Church, wanted warm actions not just warm words, so we are going to put our faith into action by switching as part of this movement. I encourage every church to join the campaign. The project also hopes to use the buying power and "combined consumer force" of thousands of Christians to leverage green deals with energy providers. A spokesperson for Christian Aid told The Huffington Post UK: "Christian Aid and Tearfund will communicate with its supporters through mailings and emails over Lent. This is never an exact science, but we hope that together we can reach over 150,000 Christians who will take this campaign up through their churches." It also hopes to reach the faithful and church leaders through parish newsletters, as well as climate change charities. "Weve already had a number of dioceses make requests for our materials," the spokesperson added. Advertisement David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, supports the campaign An animal rescue centre is appealing for a new home for one of its rabbits - who happens to be the size of a dog. Atlas is a seven-month-old continental giant rabbit who arrived at the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) centre in Glasgow after his owners could no longer care for him. Advertisement According to the charity, it is unknown how much larger the bunny will get, but others of his breed have ended up weighing as much as 50lbs (3.5 stone) and growing to 1.2 metres long. Unsurprisingly, the centre is hoping to pair Atlas with an owner who has plenty of living space and experience of keeping giant rabbits. Atlas, our larger than life rabbit, needs a new home! https://t.co/iTby6ABJOXpic.twitter.com/ROP4CujDmZ SCOTTISH SPCA (@ScottishSPCA) February 8, 2016 Centre manager Anna ODonnell said in a statement: "Atlas is already about the size of a westie and is still young with some growing to do. Advertisement "He is a very friendly rabbit who loves attention and getting cuddles. Atlas is also an inquisitive boy who makes everyone laugh with his mischievous character. "We are looking for a specific home for Atlas due to his breed and size. A standard rabbit hutch wont do so his new owner will need plenty of space for him. "Atlas needs an owner with the knowledge to properly care for him, so ideally someone who has kept a continental giant before." Anyone interested in adopting Atlas is being asked to call the SPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999. John Bercow has revealed the source of his Conservatism - reading the Socialist Worker newspaper as a child. The Speaker, who was elected as a Tory MP for Buckingham in 1997, told the Commons today the leftwing publication was read by his childhood friends. "Did reading it make me a Tory?" he told Labour's David Winnick. "Probably." Advertisement "I read the journal myself very occasionally when I was a school student but it hasn't passed my desk since I must concede," he said. Bercow was responding to a point of order from an SNP MP who had complained about information revealed by a leak to the newspaper. The Speaker added: "I wasn't conscious that ministers had a hotline to the Socialist Worker newspaper." On Sunday, the Socialist Worker revealed a letter sent by Nick Boles on January 26, minister of state for skills, to David Cameron, Oliver Letwin and Chris Grayling. Advertisement In the letter, Boles indicates concessions to the Trade Union Bill may be made in order to avoid defeat in the House of Lords. On February 2, SNP Chris Stevens asked Boles asked Boles whether he would "dump" certain provisions from the Bill from applying to Scotland and Wales. Boles said concessions would not be made. Sir Nicholas Soames MP before the unveiling of a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. Andrew Matthews/PA Archive Sir Winston Churchills grandson today branded Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a poisonous puff ball in a Twitter rant. Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames weighed into the saga of Mr Assanges three and a half years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he fights deportation to Sweden to face allegations sexual assualt. Advertisement Sir Nicholas, who served as a Defence Minister in the mid-1990s, is clearly not impressed with last weeks UN ruling that Mr Assange has been arbitrarily detained by the UK. Today, the Mid-Sussex MP provoked the anger of the official WikiLeaks Twitter account as he laid into Mr Assange. He wrote: That poisonous puff ball Assange is NOT a political dissident He jumped bail rather than face charges of rape#commoncriminal and coward That poisonous puff ball Assange is NOT a political dissident He jumped bail rather than face charges of rape #commoncriminal and coward Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) February 9, 2016 Advertisement After WikiLeaks replied: Mr. Assange has not been charged, the woman says the police made it up and his asylum is in relation to the United States, Sir Nicholas tweeted a string of insults: @wikileaks scoundrel liar coward bail fugitive and common criminal Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) February 9, 2016 The spat comes as a YouGov poll shows two thirds of Brits disagree with last week's UN ruling. According to the polling company, 66 per cent of British people say he is not being arbitrarily detained "he is voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy" while only 14 per cent say he is and 20 per cent don't know. British public reject UN ruling on Julian Assange https://t.co/KlaVWjRD6cpic.twitter.com/KkS5wTNDl7 YouGov (@YouGov) February 9, 2016 Despite last weeks UN ruling, the UK Government vowed to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden if he left the Ecuadorian embassy. Advertisement A Foreign Office statement said: Julian Assange has never been arbitrarily detained by the UK. The opinion of the UN Working Group ignores the facts and the well-recognised protections of the British legal system. He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy. An allegation of rape is still outstanding and a European Arrest Warrant in place, so the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden. As the UK is not a party to the Caracas Convention, we do not recognise diplomatic asylum. Shadow Employment Minister Emily Thornberry outside Portcullis House, London, who has said there was a "brutally honest" debate within the party over air strikes against Islamic State in Syria. Yui Mok/PA Wire Emily Thornberry has acknowledged some Labour MPs "kicked off" at her during Monday evening's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party as she updated them on the progress of her defence policy review. But the shadow defence secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning she did not think her critics represented all Labour backbenchers. Advertisement Earlier this morning shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said it would likely be "impossible" for the pro-Trident and anti-Trident sides of the Labour Party to reach an agreement. Thornberry, like Jeremy Corbyn, is opposed to the renewal of Britain's nuclear weapons system. Many Labour MPs are in favour and several shadow cabinet ministers have hinted they would quit if Labour ditches its support for the renewal of Trident. Former Labour security minister and Royal Navy chief Lord West phoned in to the Today programme during Thornberry's interview to dismiss her argument as "nonsense". Speaking to the BBC, Thornberry repeated her claim made at the PLP meeting that the Trident nuclear submarine fleet could be made obsolete by drones. She had suggested Trident could become as outdated as World War II Spitfires. Advertisement "The idea of the Trident replacement is that it can hide in the sea. If technology is moving faster than that then it may well be that Trident will not be able to hide. And if thats right, then if we are to bet everything on mutually assured destruction, we have to be assured that it is going to work," she told Today. "There are forthcoming generations of drones that can work under seas. Now at the moment they have two problems; one is communications and the other is battery life. "But I was explaining to the PLP that Id actually met one of the Young Turks at the moment who is developing these drones. And they are very hopeful that in the next 10 years or so that actually the seas will no longer be opaque." Thornberry said of the row at the meeting of Labour MPs and peers: "Four or five, perhaps possibly six people at the PLP last night kicked off. But I dont think they necessarily represent the whole of the parliamentary Labour party." Advertisement Former Labour minister Lord West was critical of Thonrberry Lord West was one of several Labour figures who tore into Thornberry during last night's meeting of the PLP. During the meeting of Labour MPs, Thornberry's critics dismissed her performance as "waffly and incoherent" and "woeful". One MP, Madeleine Moon, who sits on the NATO parliamentary assembly, tweeted her opinion of Thornberry shortly after leaving the meeting in the Commons. Oh dear oh dear omg oh dear oh dear need to go rest in a darkened room Madeleine Moon (@MadeleineMoon) February 8, 2016 Asked this morning if, as defence secretary, she would ever use nuclear weapons, Thonrberry said: "If nuclear weapons need to be threatened then they have failed. Advertisement "Everybody says that, the whole point is about nuclear weapons is that you dont use them. In order for them to work at all, you have to be able to say with confidence 'I have a big stick, my stick is larger than your stick', and both sides need to be confident that actually that threat is a real one." Corbyn triggered an internal-shadow cabinet row over the renewal of Trident in September after he told the BBC he would never authorise the use of Britain's nuclear weapons. Burnham, who is a supporter of Trident renewal, said the meeting "confirmed something many of us had long suspected: that the debate on Trident in the Labour Party is going to be very difficult". He told BBC Radio 4's Today: "There are two positions here which are difficult to reconcile - maybe impossible to reconcile - and the party has got to find some way of accommodating those positions and move forward and don't let this issue take over everything." In an apparent dig at Corbyn's suggestion that a new fleet of nuclear submarines could be deployed without warheads, he said: "There are some hybrid options that have been put forward but I think most people have found that they just don't work. Advertisement "So the discussion has been in the party: 'can you realistically try to find a halfway house?' and most people have concluded that you can't. Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey at the Unite Scotland Policy Conference 2016 at the Golden Jubilee Hotel, Clydebank, Glasgow. Andrew Milligan/PA Wire Len McCluskey, the leader of the Unite union, has told Labour MPs "plotting" against Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to stop "scheming". In a speech to the Oxford Union on Tuesday evening, which can be read in full on The Huffington Post, McCluskey attacked the so-called "moderates" in the Parliamentary Labour Party for refusing to accept Corbyn's victory. Advertisement "Their analysis of Labour's defeat in 2015 was unconvincing, their proposals stale, minimalist and uninspiring. And for the most part they have still not shaped up after Corbyn's victory. Until they can do that, they are a plot without a programme; a cabal without a critique," he said. McCluskey, who has previously warned the Labour leader not to just "say the first thing that comes into his head", acknowledged this evening that Corbyn's first few months in power had been characterised by some "sloppiness". "Both Jeremy and his team are on a steep learning curve - but not in a classroom, instead on the front line and under heavy enemy fire," he said. Advertisement "From thirty years on the backbenches to having to carry out shadow cabinet reshuffles. It was never going to be easy. But if there has been some sloppiness in the early months of Corbyn's leadership that has not been the heart of the problem. "The real difficulty has been the behaviour of a number of Labour MPs and Party grandees who have simply refused to accept the result of the leadership election. "They spend their time both plotting behind the scenes, with every week producing another coup plan - or running to the media to attack the Leader and the policies that Party members voted for." McCluskey said Labour MPs who were agitating against Corbyn had to be issued "a clear warning" not to try and force a leadership change. He said the "bizarre" views of some, including former shadow cabinet minister Michael Dugher who has said May's local elections will be high-noon for Corbyn's leadership, "all have to be dismissed with distain by any real Labour supporter". Advertisement McCluskey said of so-called moderate Labour MPs: "Their analysis of Labour's defeat in 2015 was unconvincing, their proposals stale, minimalist and uninspiring. And for the most part they have still not shaped up after Corbyn's victory. Until they can do that, they are a plot without a programme; a cabal without a critique. "Some have sought to excuse their disloyalty to Corbyn by pointing to his own rebellious past on the backbenches. But who can seriously argue that his votes in parliament against the Iraq War, against ID or against university tuition fees now diminish his ability to lead the Labour Party today. On all these issues he was not only right, I believe he was giving voice to the views of most Labour supporters." Specialist riot officers have been accused of claiming overtime when their Oyster Card showed they were actually commuting home. The group, a unit of the Metropolitan Police's Territorial Support Group (TSG), based at Paddington Green in Westminster, has been decommissioned to cut costs, but the force said the move is not linked to a misconduct investigation into some of its officers. The unit had 119 officers out of the TSG's roughly 800. Disciplinary action is being taken against more than 20 officers over allegations relating to working practices, unauthorised claiming of overtime and bullying. Advertisement The Sun quoted a source, who said: "Details from the Oyster cards are electronically stored and apparently showed officers were on their way home while claiming overtime for being at work. Today's Sun front page In 2014/15 39 police forces in England and Wales spent 313m in overtime. The Met, the largest force in the country, accounted for a third of this, the BBC has previously reported. The force's Directorate of Professional Standards, which launched the probe into TSG officers in September 2014, has referred four police sergeants for disciplinary hearings for alleged gross misconduct. Advertisement Five constables were sanctioned for claiming four hours' overtime which they had not worked, the Met said, while a further two constables face misconduct meetings. Another 13 officers have been "given advice about professional standards" following the probe. TSG officers during a demonstration in 2009 The TSG is an 800-strong specialist task force which responds to spontaneous events, including terrorist attacks and disorder, and played a key role in policing the riots which erupted in the capital in 2011. According to the force's website, TSG officers are selected on merit and must show "professionalism, self motivation and excellent communication skills". An ex-colleague of the force told The Sun: "There are plenty of occasions when officers stay behind and dont claim overtime. People should not have their careers wrecked over this. Advertisement A Met spokesman told The Press Association: "This is not linked to the decommissioning of the TSG base at Paddington Green. "The TSG unit formerly based at Paddington Green was decommissioned in January 2016 as part of organisational restructuring to cut costs by reducing the number of buildings the task force operate from and improving efficiency by co-locating the specialist units of the command." Issues over public trust of the TSG have previously led to calls for it to be scrapped. In 2013, Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the London Assembly, said it behaved like a "paramilitary body", adding its heavy-handed tactics alienated young people. She told the BBC: "They think they are incredibly special. That generates a feeling that they can do things differently from other police officers. NASA is being accused of banning the word Jesus by an internal Christian group at the Johnson Space Center. Some members of the Nasa JSC Praise and Worship Club are claiming that it's using illegal censorship to ban the word from its newsletters. Advertisement Threatening legal action because of the alleged move, an attorney for the group described it as "blatant discrimination from a religious perspective". The announcement in question read "Jesus is our life" and was written to promote a Christian faith meeting, featuring a lunch and a sing-a-long. Sophia Smith complained about the "censorship" Sophia Smith, a member of the religious group, spoke out about the decision: "We want NASA to stop censoring us using the word 'Jesus' in our announcements, Advertisement "It's part of our belief and we are called to use the name of Jesus when we pray," Smith told local news. Jeremy Dys, an attorney with the religious group said "It's illegal for Johnson Space Center attorneys to censor in the name Jesus in employee emails." The legal team also claim that the space center told them they could not use Jesus in the newsletter because "it would look like the agency was endorsing Christianity over other religions and non-religion". Despite the threat of legal action, a spokesperson with NASA's Johnson Space Center gave a statement to a local news channel that conflicts with what the group claim to have been told: Advertisement "NASA does not prohibit the use of any specific religious names in employee newsletters or other internal communications. The agency allows a host of employee-led civic, professional, religious and other organizations to meet on NASA property on employees' own time. North Korea has fired up a plutonium reactor, according to US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who warned on Tuesday the facility could provide fuel for a nuclear arsenal within months. The revelation comes days after the regime used a long-range rocket to fire a satellite into space, an act western experts regard as a test of the countrys intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Advertisement Image from television North Korean workers operate equipment at North Korea's main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 The Yongbyon enrichment facility was shut down in 2007, however in 2013 Pyongyang announced it would reopen the site. "We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor," Clapper said. Advertisement "We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months," he added. Clapper made the claim as part of an annual assessment by US intelligence agencies as to the top threats facing the country. In this Feb. 26, 2015 photo, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington The most significant threat to the US, he said, is Islamic militant attacks, both homegrown and overseas. Advertisement "The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," he said. A police officer responding to a call from an animal welfare sanctuary in Florida ended up falling in love with his new best friend. Fort Walton Beach officer Marcus Montgomery was called out to the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) on an unrelated call when one of the staff members heard a noise outside. They went out the back to find a box of ten adorable puppies who had been left behind their building. Advertisement "As soon as I saw him, I said 'dont bring him in here or else I will take him home right now,'" Montgomery told ABC News. "When I held him close, he bumped his nose next to mine and licked it. I knew right then that I needed to get him." Officer Montgomery giving his new potential family member some lovin'. Thank you for all you do for our community and for adopting from PAWS! Posted by Panhandle Animal Welfare Society on Thursday, January 28, 2016 But they brought the little pup in anyway, and Marcus fell in love. He adopted the abandoned canine on the spot and took him home to meet his family's four-year-old pit bull terrier named Vader. Continuing the 'Star Wars' theme, they named the new addition Kylo. Advertisement Thank you to the member of public that recently helped @MPSGroveSNT during a foot chase!#TrippedUp#Legendpic.twitter.com/xdafINkc1o Kingston Police (@MPSKingston) February 8, 2016 Police are urging a "legend" who stuck out his foot to trip up a suspected drug dealer they were pursuing to get in touch so they can thank him. In CCTV footage released by Kingston Police the unidentified passer-by can be seen walking arm-in-arm with a woman when he spots police chasing the teenage offender who was suspected of selling Class A drugs. Advertisement The man, dressed smartly in a jacket and shirt, then casually trips the suspect who falls to the ground, allowing police to arrest him. Thank you to the member of public that recently helped @MPSGroveSNT during a foot chase!#TrippedUp#Legendpic.twitter.com/xdafINkc1o Kingston Police (@MPSKingston) February 8, 2016 Kingston police later tweeted the video, and thanked the member of the public, who simply walks off with barely a backward glance, after assisting officers with the arrest. On Tuesday PC Sebastian Ellis from Kingston Borough told the Evening Standard: "We are very thankful to this man for his swift intervention that helped the officers detain the suspect. Advertisement "The video was brought to the attention of the Borough Commander who was very impressed and would like to meet the passer-by. "So if you are reading this article please get in contact with me." Scotland Yard said officers were patrolling near Clarence Street, Kingston, around 11.20pm on Saturday when they received a report that two males were selling drugs nearby. A woman with dyslexia has won a disability discrimination case against Starbucks after she was accused of falsifying documents at a London branch in Clapham. Meseret Kumulchew was discriminated against after making mistakes due to her difficulties with reading, writing and telling the time, a tribunal ruled. As a result Kumulchew, who was a supervisor, was given lesser duties and told to retrain, which left her feeling suicidal. In a decision released in December, the tribunal found Starbucks had failed to make reasonable adjustments for Kumulchew's disability and had discriminated against her because of the effects of her dyslexia. It also said Kumulchew had been victimised by the coffee chain and there appeared to be little or no knowledge or understanding of equality issues. Advertisement Meseret Kumulchew won a disability case against Starbucks after she was accused of falsifying documents A separate hearing is to take place to determine if Kumulchew should be paid compensation. Starbucks has reportedly said it is in discussions about providing more workplace support. Kumulchew was responsible for taking the temperature of fridges and water at specific times and entering the results in a duty roster. The accusation of falsifying documents related to Kumulchew mistakenly recording incorrect information. She took Starbucks to an employment tribunal claiming disability discrimination because she had made Starbucks aware that she was dyslexic, meaning she had difficulties with words and numbers. Advertisement The British Dyslexia Association said the case did not set a legal precedent, but should be a wake-up call for employers as it estimates that one in 10 people has dyslexia to some degree. Kumulchew told the BBC that she was "not a fraud". She said: "It's quite serious. I nearly ended my life. But I had to think of my kids. I know I'm not a fraud. I just made a mistake." According to the broadcaster Starbucks released a statement saying: "We are in ongoing discussions with this Starbucks partner (employee) around specific workplace support and we are not able to comment on a case that has not yet been completed." The company said it was committed to having a "diverse and inclusive workforce" that "feel welcome and comfortable in our stores". Advertisement Kumulchew said she wanted help - for example, more time to fully understand and become familiar with a task, and someone to check her work for mistakes. "I'll struggle, but don't worry, help me and I'll get there in my own time," she told the BBC. "I'm not going to affect your business, because for every customer I'll roll out the red carpet." The five things you need to know on Tuesday February 9, 2016 1) LEXICON SPITFIRE In case youve havent heard, Emily Thornberry had a pretty rough time of it at last nights PLP. Ive done a full, blow-by-blow - or heckle-by-heckle - account of the meeting HERE. Some MPs chanelled Madnesss Youre An Embarrassment, Madeleine Moon tweeted her dismay, others were struck by the Shadow Defence Secretarys suggestion that Trident could become as outdated as Spitfires. Advertisement Many at the PLP were depressed to hear Thornberry suggest that drones could one day track deep subs, a claim they think was based on guesswork at best and lefty conspiracy theories at worst. Yet what riled many was the lie that the review was a genuine attempt to be open minded on the issue. Here's just one choice quote an MP present gave me afterwards: "It was a toxic mix of Islington dinner party self-assuredness, total ignorance about the subject and complete indifference to the disastrous path down which she and Jeremy Corbyn are taking the Labour party." Thornberrys defence review will be discussed by the Shadow Cabinet for the first time today (she gave a brief update last week but there was no time for a full debate). And it could get pretty brutal (though tempers may not boil over like last night). Andy Burnham was on the Today programme this morning confirming just how difficult the defence review had been. Corbynistas will point to Burnhams admission that this issue came up in the party leadership race, and counter that Corbyn won by a landslide. Advertisement But the Shadow Home Secretary spoke for many in the Shad Cab when he said: Im a multilateralist not a unilateralistThere are two positions here that are difficult to reconcile maybe impossible to reconcile. Some hybrid options have been put forward but most people have found that they just dont work. He said others have asked if you can realistically find a half way house - and most people have found that you cant. That word 'impossible' will be repeated. Thornberry is due on Today at 8.30am. 2) RICKETTS DIAGNOSIS The Telegraph and Mail splashes ridicule David Camerons claim that Britain quitting the EU would lead to the Jungle migrant camp moving from Calais to Dover. Both pick up on the Scaremongering quote from Liam Fox and DD. But other papers point to real hints in France that they would indeed be forced to shift the border over the Channel. And on the Today prog, the PM had some heavy duty backing from our former ambassador to Paris (and crucially former national security adviser) Sir Peter Ricketts. He pointed out Sarkozys opposition were already considering scrapping the deal between the UK and France, and said the current government were likely to reconsider it, with the treaty under review after Brexit at the very least. The Sun meanwhile has a neat story on the wider EU referendum, saying the PM will refuse pleas for head to head debates (especially with a sweaty Nigel Farage), preferring instead the BBC Question Time format that served him so well in the 2015 election. Vote Leave may have to hire some chicken costumes of their own - Labour has some going cheap. As it happens the IFS report yesterday (see below) had some warnings about Brexit too: leap in the dark was a phrase well hear more of. But what caught my eye was the line about freedom of movement would still be needed outside the EU. Advertisement 3) MUMS THE WORD The IFSs Green Budgets have a habit of pointing out uncomfortable projections for governments of all stripes and yesterday was no exception. Lots of papers have seized on the 2bn gap in Treasury coffers that could be triggered by global economic turbulence, and the Guardian focuses on welfare cuts while the Times prefers the go in on possible fuel duty rises and new child benefit cuts. But the Mirror has the best cuts story, splashing on the revelation that David Camerons mother Mary has signed a petition calling on Oxfordshire county council to save 44 childrens centres. Mrs C doesnt live locally but signed in on a visit, perhaps to see her son in his constituency home. She told the paper My name is on the petition but I dont want to discuss this any further. Greg Clark at least cheered up some in his party with a council settlement yesterday that helps Tory rural areas. Its always a bit of a PR problem for the party of austerity to hold a lavish fundraising ball. Boris turned up on his bike in the City last night, but Sir Lynton Crosby wasnt so squeamish and arrived in a limo. The poster of Miliband in Salmonds pocket went for 50k in the auction. A pretty good deal given the original ad cost just 950. The FT has a front page story suggesting The Big Short is on again, this time in London: luxury homes are being shorted by hedge funds in a bet on falling prices. BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR Watch this brilliant clip of a member of the public who helped Kingston Police catch a suspected drug dealer. Advertisement 4) CANT GET NO SATISFACTION It never rains but it pours for Jeremy Hunt. The latest British Social Attitudes Survey has found that public satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to a 30-year low. The main causes seem to be staff shortages, long waits to see a GP and a belief theres not enough cash to fund services. Dissatisfaction has jumped by 8% the largest year-on-year rise ever seen. Just six in 10 (60%) Britons now say they are satisfied with the NHS, a sharp drop since the all-time high of 70% who voiced satisfaction as recently as 2010. Labour isnt shy in saying 2010 was the last time it was in power. Heidi Alexander ridiculed Hunt yesterday for again sending his deputy Ben Gummer to cover for him for an urgent question on the doctors strike. The Indy has an exclusive that Hunt blocked a deal that NHS Employers and officials believe could have ended the dispute. DH says the claims are completely untrue. 5) MENTAL HEALTH WEAK Amid record deficits, Hunt is facing demands to give an emergency injection of cash to the NHS. The last time the DH spent more than Parliament had approved, Nigel Crisp was fired as its chief exec. Today, Lord Crisp Mental is back with an independent report on poor quality mental health services in England. Advertisement He says the NHS must stop sending severely ill adults long distances from homes and families sometimes to hospitals hundreds of miles away. About 500 patients a month are having to travel more than 31 miles (50km) for acute care in psychiatric wards. If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England William Nilly via Getty Images Tory-led councils in the south of England have been handed the lions share of 300 million to cope with deep spending cuts - while many Labour authorities in the north have been given nothing. Ministers revealed Surrey, Hampshire and Hertfordshire will get the biggest cushion to deal with the next two years of local government austerity, which will see around 6 billion cut in England by 2019. Advertisement However, around 200 authorities, including many in inner-London, the Midlands and the north, do not get a penny. Councils not to get any "transition" funding over the two years include: Carlisle, Barnsley, Barrow-in-Furness, Bassetlaw, Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolsover, Bolton, Bradford, Burnley, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Dudley, Durham, Gateshead, Hackney, Haringey, Hartlepool, Hounslow, Islington, Knowsley, Lambeth, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lewisham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Preston, Redcar and Cleveland, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, South Tyneside, Southwark, St Helens, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Wakefield, Walsall, Waltham Forest, Wigan, Wirral and Wolverhampton. The windfall, which had not been included in the provisional local government settlement announced before Christmas, follows fierce lobbying by Tory MPs, particularly in the rural shires over their fears their councils were being hardest hit by cuts. Some Conservative MPs were threatening to vote against the funding deal if ministers refused to increase the money they were given hugely embarrassing and potentially fatal given the Government's slim majority. Advertisement Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds hit out at the snub to some of the UK's poorest regions. The MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester told The Huffington Post UK: Local government has been treated disgracefully by the Tories since 2010, with Northern-run metropolitan areas treated far worse than Southern shires. It is as if they are trying to bankrupt some Northern councils. This decision is another kick in the teeth for people who rely on essential services like social care. Jonathan Reynolds: "It is as if they are trying to bankrupt some Northern councils." Authorities to get the biggest slice of the piece include David Cameron's Oxfordshire county council, Richmond-upon-Thames, which Tory London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith represents, and Devon in the South West, the region that helped swing the election for the Conservatives thanks to the demolition of the Lib Dems. The top 20 are: Surrey - 24.1m Hampshire - 18.7m Hertfordshire - 15.6m Essex - 13.9m West Sussex - 12.4m Kent - 11.4m Buckinghamshire - 9.2m Oxfordshire - 8.9m Leicestershire - 6.6m Cambridgeshire - 6.4m Wiltshire - 6m Warwickshire - 6m North Yorkshire - 6m Cheshire East - 5.9m Dorset - 5.9m Richmond upon Thames - 5.8m Devon - 5.6m Staffordshire - 5.6m East Sussex - 5.4 Worcestershire - 5m Local Government Secretary Secretary Greg Clark told Parliament the transition grant was to help councils as they move towards an era of relying less on funding from local government and more from keeping money raised locally through business rates. Advertisement Conservative minister Greg Clark: "We will provide transitional funding for the first two years of the Spending Review period for councils as they move from dependence on central Government grants to greater financial autonomy." Mr Clark said: These are important times for local government. The devolution of power and resources from Whitehall is gathering momentum. Todays settlement means every council will have, for the financial year ahead, at least the resources allocated by the provisional settlement. In addition, we will provide transitional funding for the first two years of the Spending Review period for councils as they move from dependence on central Government grants to greater financial autonomy. Michlen or Michelin Message to the author - Thank you very much for ensuing your threat of going to social media following our telephone and email conversations. Having spoken to this reviewer over the telephone on Tuesday night, we were shocked to hear that her and her party had a bad experience. We were not made aware of any issues during their dining experience. We would like to address a few things about this report; We DID NOT charge extra for the monkfish as she has claimed. We have a copy of the receipt and there is no record of this. We were not informed prior to their visit that a member of the party was pregnant, so as a restaurant on a busy Saturday night we had to adjust and create a new menu for a guest that could have affected our service for the whole evening. Had this guest stated she was not happy with the daube of beef we would have done something else or offered an alternative. It clearly seems this reviewer does not like the fact we want to rectify an issue she has brought up but is not willing to accept anything from us. If all 4 diners were embarrassed and it was in fact the worst food, I am embarrassed for them not having enough courage to express themselves on the evening. These are 4 adults all upset by their dining experience who ate all 6 courses without once alerting us to the fact that they were not enjoying it. Having dined in several Michelin star restaurants I am amazed this was her first review! I worry for all the other establishments she is going to! She is clearly self-conscious and defensive and happy to slander an establishment. The 12.5% service charge that was and is added to the bills is discretionary and can always be removed. And why should you feel embarrassed to ask for it to be removed? If I am asked to pay for something that I feel I have not received I would refuse! The service charge was 41.30 (and has now been refunded). The gentleman that paid the bill quietly organised it at the bar away from the table. This was a perfect opportunity for the service charge to be questioned, for him to let us know how very terrible the evening had been. There were no guests within earshot so there would have been no reason for any embarrassment. However, when asked how the meal was he responded positively. The gift voucher was not presented at the time of the payment, yet we kindly obliged to take it off the bill and collect the voucher at a later stage. This was arranged with the gentleman and was handled very discreetly as requested. There was no fuss what so ever. We wrote an email to acknowledge the feedback following the telephone call. We offered the party a complimentary meal and a full refund of the service charge. This was declined and the lady stated that she would use this site as a tool for being detrimental to our business and 30 members of staff. Not to mention a dedicated and passionate Chef/patron who has helped develop the culinary dining scene for the people of Birmingham. They are clearly not willing to compromise with us, which shows how social media has changed the way a restaurant has to operate and how guests can influence and affect the organisation. Should any person reading this report or any other establishment find it useful, please do not visit the restaurant. In regards to Masterchef, Glynn is well celebrated and well received in the public scene. Perhaps this reviewer would have more satisfaction from watching Man versus Food. We want guests to enjoy their experience here at Purnells, and if we dont meet their expectations then we apologise. Food is subjective, we are not right or wrong, but this is our belief and ethos. Everyone has their own right and opinion and we fully understand that we may not be to everybodys taste. When this is the case, feedback is welcomed and used constructively. When feedback is false and littered with lies it is not welcomed and as an independent restaurant we will fiercely dispute any attempts to blacken our name. This review is not based on fact and we have tried to contact the author to discuss and settle this and strangely she has not taken our calls. A 93-year-old World War II veteran who last saw his wartime girlfriend 70 years ago is to travel 10,500 miles to Australia to meet her. UPDATE: Former paratrooper Norwood Thomas is embarking on the mammoth journey from Virginia, US, to visit his former beau whom he met just before D-Day while serving in London. Thomas will travel for two days to reach Joyce Morris, who is now 88 years old, for a special trip Down Under, The Virginian-Pilot reported. Advertisement Norwood Thomas and Joyce Morris are to be reunited after 70 years Thomas said: "I'd rather die traveling to Australia than live sitting around at home wondering, 'What if?'" Morris was a 17-year-old British girl, whom Thomas remembers as a "pretty little thing," when he was a 21-year-old member of the US's 101st Airborne Division, the Associated Press reported. Thomas told the paper: "Joyce was special; the one that got away. "But after the war, my orders to go home came so quick there was no real chance to even say goodbye." Advertisement Norwood Thomas embarking on his journey to Australia Thomas, who hasn't seen Morris since 1945, has kept a photo of her ever since. After the war, the pair wrote letters to each other and Thomas even asked Morris to come to America and be his wife. But somehow Morris misunderstood and thought he'd found someone else. She stopped writing. As time passed, the two went on with their separate lives. They both married other people, had careers and children. Thomas' wife died in 2001. Morris divorced her husband after 30 years. Last year, Morris asked one of her sons to look for Thomas on the Internet, where he found his name featured in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper's D-Day series called "The Lucky Few." Despite being nearly blind, Morris recently managed to reconnect with Thomas via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Thomas' trip to Australia, and Air New Zealand arranged the flight. Advertisement Thomas' son Steve said of the donations: "It's really touching, we want them to know it worked. He's going." Norwood Thomas said he's excited to see his former love. He confessed: "I'm just looking forward to seeing her smile. "I have no idea if there'll still be romantic feelings. A matching stem cell donor has been found for the 24-year-old Londonstudent whose fight with blood cancer inspired more than 20,000 people to register to donate in just under a month. Lara Casalotti shared her good news in a video, above, saying: "I'm very excited to tell you some great news, a well-matching donor has been found. Advertisement "If all goes to plan I will go to transplant soon. It's amazing to think this person is the one in 25 million." Lara announcing her matching donor had been found She continues: "Thanks to everyone's efforts, there are lots of donor drives still planned - I urge everyone to go to these drives and sign up. "There are still plenty of people who are waiting to find their donor." In January, people desperately tried to find a stem cell donor to help Lara using the hashtag #Match4Lara, after she developed acute myeloid leukaemia at Christmas whilst visiting Thailand. Advertisement Casalotti during her intensive chemotherapy As Lara is Thai-Italian, she faced a needle in a haystack search as only three per cent of stem cell donors are mixed race. The flood of new test subjects has also improved the chances for others awaiting matching cells. Lara Casalotti was diagnosed with leukaemia at Christmas last year Laras mother Supanya said: As a mum, I feel pure relief as we knew that the odds were stacked against Lara. Whoever the donor is, they will never, ever know how grateful I am. The transplant is still a few weeks away and I wish I could wrap them in cotton wool to keep them safe! We know we have a long road ahead as a transplant is an extremely serious procedure, but knowing there is a good match for Lara is a weight off our shoulders that we desperately needed. Advertisement The #Match4Lara appeal has been backed by thousands of friends, strangers and celebrities including J.K. Rowling, David Cameron, Gareth Bale, Stephen Fry and Mark Wahlberg. What is a stem cell transplant? If a patient has a condition that affects their bone marrow or blood, a stem cell transplant is their best chance of survival. Doctors will give new, healthy stem cells to the patient via their bloodstream, where they begin to grow and create healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. In the UK, the Anthony Nolan Trust saw an unprecedented spike of new donors from black, Asian, ethnic minority or mixed race backgrounds. At the campaigns peak, more than 50 percent of those signing up to the register were from BAME backgrounds, the highest proportion ever seen by the charity. Lara, who is studying for a Masters in global migration at UCL, will now proceed to the next stage of the transplant process. Advertisement Ann OLeary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan, said: Were over the moon that weve been able to find a suitable donor for Lara and that shes now able to begin her transplant journey. The rhetoric of Christian anti-choice groups has drowned out the voices of pro-choice Christians. I believe being pro choice and being a Christian are not diametrically opposed. It is vital that other Christian positions on abortion are heard. Whilst I recognise those of Christian faiths have a diverse range of opinions on abortion, it is important to be able to have uncomfortable conversations and debates within our community. The protests outside clinics by groups such as 40 Days for Life highlight the hypocrisy of some anti-choice Christian groups who cloak the targeting of abortion clinics as a Christian act. 40 Days for Life are an Evangelical Christian anti-choice group whose mission is to 'bring an end to abortion'. Their main activity is carrying out what they describe as 'peaceful vigils' outside facilities that provide abortions. These 'vigils' involve a constant presence outside of clinics for 40 days over the period of Lent. 40 Days for Life 'vigils' are far from peaceful; they are, in fact, a campaign of coercion. Their round-the-clock presence creates a climate of fear and intimidation and they are known to use tactics of harassment to deter women from seeking abortions. 40 Days for Life volunteers approach and follow women entering and leaving clinics and have even been known to physically obstruct access. They hand out propaganda, particularly in the form of misleading and medically inaccurate leaflets, in an attempt to scare women into not carrying out a termination. I believe 40 Days for Life are co-opting Lent, a time for solemn religious observance, to forward their agenda to stop abortion. Lent is a time to reflect and prepare for Easter through fasting, contemplation and penance. For most Christians, this will include giving up treats and indulgences, carrying out acts of charity and generally reflecting on how to be a better person in the world. I believe, as a Christian, that the 40 Days for Life campaign is completely incompatible with the true significance of Lent for Christians. Instead of using this period as a time for self-reflection and helping others, they use Lent as an opportunity to harass and intimidate women who choose to access a safe, legal procedure. Advertisement For several months now, the political fight between NHS junior doctors and the Department of Health has been filling our papers and newsfeeds. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt proposes to change the contracts of junior doctors in order to have the same junior doctor hospital cover at weekends as on weekdays. However, the doctors say that the contract will force doctors to work even longer and more unsociable hours, which will compromise patient safety. This has led thousands of doctors onto the streets in protest, and the next day of industrial strike action planned for Wednesday 10 February, 2016. So why is Hunt still not willing to change the proposed contract? The justification given by him and the prime minister is that their aim is to try to fix a serious problem: NHS patients are more likely to die on weekends than on weekdays. The question is, is this true? Are we really more likely to die at the weekend in the NHS? There are two main studies that are repeatedly quoted by Hunt and his government colleagues- one looking at overall death rates, and one looking specifically at stroke patients. But is Hunt's analysis of the data valid? Advertisement Study 1: Weekend Death Risks When he initially proposed the contract changes, Hunt stated: "Around 6,000 people lose their lives every year because we do not have a proper seven-day service in hospitals. You are 15% more likely to die if you are admitted on a Sunday compared to being admitted on a Wednesday." This referred to a British Medical Journal (BMJ) study which found two relevant sets of results. The authors measured two types of mortality risk: 1. The risk of dying in hospital on a particular day 2. The risk of dying within 30 days of hospital admission, if you are admitted on a particular day On the first measure of risk, the authors found that there was no significant difference between the risk of dying in hospital on a Wednesday, compared with Saturday or Sunday. To say that your risk of dying in hospital on a Sunday is higher than on a Wednesday is, according to this study, false. There is no difference in risk. In fact, the only significant difference that was found was that the risk of dying in hospital on Friday was slightly higher than on Wednesday. And thus the risk of dying on a Saturday or Sunday in hospital is less than on a Friday! On the second measure, the study found that the risk of dying 30 days after admission, was significantly higher for admission on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, compared with Wednesday. The greatest increase in risk was on Sunday admissions. Therefore, to say the risk of dying within 30 days if you are admitted on a Sunday is higher than for a Wednesday is true. However, it also applies to admission on most other days. Therefore, Hunt's quotation is a misrepresentation of the study's findings, as it fails to take into consideration the majority of the study's data. Advertisement However, even if we just consider the specific difference between 30-day mortality risk on Sunday compared with Wednesday, the authors of the paper had this conclusion: "It is not possible to ascertain the extent to which these excess deaths may be preventable; to assume that they are avoidable would be rash and misleading." Compare this with Hunt's quote from above "Around 6,000 people lose their lives every year because we do not have a proper 7-day service in hospitals." Hunt clearly views these excess deaths as avoidable, and so, according to the study's authors, is being "rash and misleading". Study 2: Dying of a Stroke The other line repeated by Hunt and Cameron is: "And at the moment we have an NHS where if you have a stroke at the weekends, you're 20% more likely to die. That can't be acceptable." This is in reference to a long and complicated study which measured a massive number of variables related to strokes in the UK. The study found that the risk of dying within seven days of having a stroke was 19% higher if hospital admission occurred on the weekend, compared with weekdays. Hunt and Cameron are (more or less) correct with their reading of the data. However, when it comes to attributing a cause to this mortality-risk increase, discrepancies start to arise. Hunt's contract changes indicate that he attributes this result to decreased Junior Doctor cover over the weekends. However, the study's authors attributed the risk increase to "a higher stroke severity threshold for admission on weekends." Advertisement They concluded this because, as well as a 19% increase in mortality risk at weekends, the study also found that the proportion of patients presenting with a stroke who were admitted to hospital was 21% lower at weekends. In other words, only the most severe stroke cases came to hospital at the weekend, while on weekdays hospitals saw both severe and less severe cases. It isn't really surprising then that a higher proportion of weekend stroke admissions die, compared with weekdays; a higher proportion of weekend stroke admissions are life-threatening, compared with weekdays. The mortality risk increase appears to be nothing to do with junior doctor care of inpatients. Are We Really More Likely to Die at the Weekend in the NHS? In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a study in the Lancet claiming to have found a link between the MMR vaccine and paediatric autism. The data and Wakefield's analysis were quickly found to be invalid and misleading, but before the study could be discredited, the damage had been done. The number of MMR vaccines plummeted and thousands of people have died or become seriously injured from subsequently contracting measles or mumps. One 2011 article even described the Wakefield paper as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years" I'm no socialist, and I don't live in the USA, but I have been following Bernie Sanders with intrigue since he announced his candidacy for Democrat nominee. I suppose it was the 'socialist' part that caught my attention; a "Commie" was in the race for the Oval office. However, his socialism is exactly why I, arguably naively, dismissed him. I mean seriously, how could someone even slightly socialist be in with a shot at the White House? We are indeed talking about the same place where half of the electorate would prefer a leader who speaks bluntly about Islamic extremists even if what they say is belittling of Islam as a whole. Sander's performance at the Iowa caucus, however, forced me to re-examine my pre-emptive rejection of him, and I came to realise how his sudden emergence is strikingly similar to Corbyn's. Whilst Corbyn and Sanders don't share much on policy, there are other parallels that can be drawn, the most obvious of which is that both are the 'extreme left' of their respective political spectrums. Whilst a lot of Sanders' socialism is widely accepted as standard policy in Europe, it is radical in the USA. Corbyn, on the other hand, is radical for the UK and would arguably never enjoy the same spotlight in the USA as he enjoys here, before being charged with treason. This obvious similarity makes them both surprising people to be so prominent in politics. Both are seemingly unelectable, with Corbyn's support stooping to new lows, yet they manage to attract a large support base. Advertisement Being on the left-wing, both are on a crusade for greater equality in their countries. Corbyn is proposing a nationalised economy very similar to the post-war economies of Europe and whilst Sanders is also driving forward a European-style economy, he is looking to the current Scandinavian capitalist economies for inspiration. He wants free healthcare in the USA, and rightly so, but despite this being standard in Europe, it is a radical "looney-left" policy across the pond. Both are veterans of their Houses. Corbyn has been an elected politician for the last 33 years and Sanders has been serving in public office for the last 34. They have both been gaining experience in politics since David Cameron was 15 years old and George Osborne was 10. In those three decades, both have been against war and intervention. Corbyn is vocally against any intervention, having formed the Stop the War coalition in 2001. This "one-size-fits-all" approach to intervention is one that can be constricting at times and one that Sanders has not adopted. Whilst Bernie is, according to a campaign website Feel the Bern, "generally anti-war", he did vote for military action in Kosovo but decided not to support NATO intervention in Libya. Both are against intervention although Sanders is slightly more flexible on the issue than the rigid Mr Corbyn Moreover, both Sanders and Corbyn have emerged as a result of public distrust of the establishment. This support stems mainly from young people who feel Corbyn and Sanders are "in touch with ordinary people". These people feel that whilst the USA is the richest country on the face of the Earth, many aren't feeling it and although Hillary is also a Democrat with a lot of experience, voters feel she is part of the very establishment that "ordinary Americans" want a candidate to take on. Corbyn's support in the UK comes from people with similar attitudes towards the establishment as those "ordinary Americans" and whilst he doesn't enjoy the same scale of positive support in the polls as his American counterpart, he does have fans for the same reasons as Sanders. This anti-establishment feeling has emerged in several other countries; just look at Marie Le Pen's support in France as she takes on the system, or even closer to home with Farage and the rise of UKIP. The recent emergence of anti-mainstream left-wing parties like Podemos in Spain is another example of the dissatisfaction many people have of the ruling elite today. Whilst Sanders and Corbyn may not have the same electoral prospects as other more conventional leaders, they embody an attitude of distrust and disgust that a sizeable chunk of the electorate has towards the establishment. Advertisement This February The Huffington Post UK is running Making Modern Love, a fortnight-long focus on what love means to Britons in the 21st Century. Built on the three themes of finding love, building love and losing love, HuffPost will feature human stories that explore exactly what it is to be in love in modern times Think about a time you have bought something that turned out not to be fit for purpose; perhaps that shiny new car that revealed its rust-ridden undercarriage the first time you washed it, or that "bargain" dress that fell apart and shrunk in the dryer? That is how I imagine Lesley must have felt when she realised that she was not getting quite what she thought she was with me. Advertisement What she thought she was getting was a sporty, middle-aged, mildly successful, gregarious, rugby-playing bloke. Instead, a few short years into what had been a wonderfully joyous relationship, swept along from a romantic first meeting in Madrid that involved my pocket being picked on the Metro; she found that her own precious possessions had been snatched away. My very inner soul had now been revealed, stripped back to reveal a somewhat less alluring core. There is no easy way to tell the person you love that you are not the man she thought you were; that, in fact, you are not a man at all. No easy way to tell indeed. My previous experience of doing just that had ended my marriage a few years previously, after which, I had shamefully and desperately tried to shake off the "psychological problems" that I had become convinced I had, to lead a male life. The telling though is easy compared with the hearing. While I waited for what I assumed was the inevitable end of my relationship, she was left to try to piece together being lied to- not maliciously, but lied to nevertheless. Advertisement Her reaction? Calm confusion was the public face that belied a stomach-churning silent reality that her life had suddenly been turned upside down. We talked, we cried, she read, avidly and researched indomitably. Her research revealed a world hitherto unknown, or at best, a safe distance away from her. A transgendered spectrum of transsexual women, transvestite men, and gender dysphoria. She shone her inquiring light into dark recesses where some so-called feminists rail against those they dismiss simply as male fantasists- or worse, potentially dangerous sexual predators. Was this the person she had fallen in love with, had married in a whirl of Las Vegas glitz and Elvis impersonators? Fortunately, she believed the evidence of her own eyes, of her own heart- and carried on researching. She became more knowledgeable than I on gender dysphoria and its effects. She was more prepared than I ever had been, to face the truth, a truth that I had dared not properly encounter for 50 years. She began to understand. All this time though, we were living our lives, paying bills, working, socialising. She had 3 stepsons, we both had work. She agreed to a financially disastrous move back from our idyllic lives in Spain so I could start my transition in earnest. We talked more, we cried more. She got rightly frustrated with my 100 mile an hour pace of intended transition; but equally understood why I was in such an unseemly hurry. Lesley was with me when I took my first, nervous steps in public presenting as female, doing my damnedest not to look like a stereotypical transvestite. She advised me, chided me when I suggested wearing something completely inappropriate, or got my make-up badly wrong. It was all part of the "real life experience" that the psychologists and other health professionals insist on to ensure that you are a valid candidate for hormone treatment and, ultimately, surgery. Advertisement She stood with me on the heart-breaking occasion when we told my sons who I was, and what I was about to become. She sat, silently strong, while we were coldly told we would have to leave our village, our home. That day haunts us even now. She has been with me at every turn, every page of the at times terrifyingly and gut-wrenchingly emotional journey we have both been on The last 31/2 years have been hell for her. She has had some support from her friends and family; but she has lived a new reality every single day. She has seen us go from an outwardly affluent heterosexual couple, to a flat broke same sex one. All this time, supporting me through my hormonally-induced mood swings, through my constant tears of self-loathing for what I had done to my relationship with my family; and to supporting me as I desperately tried to rebuild my working life after the majority of my friends and business colleagues had voted with their feet and disassociated themselves completely. She has been the one person who has encouraged me to believe that I could be a writer. Most of all, Lesley has had the patience to allow the real me to develop. To see the person I had deliberately suppressed for so many years, emerge once the testosterone-driven mantle I had been wrapped in, deliberately exaggerated even, slowly fade away. For her, it faded away to reveal an unremarkable middle-aged woman, full of the doubt that being invisible in the workplace and in society brings. She understands completely when I get angry with well-meaning types who tell me how happy I must be now I have what I want. What I want? Who would want to put themselves and their loved ones through this? No, she understands completely that I had no choice in this matter. An unremarkable middle-aged woman is what I am. Lesley however, is the polar opposite of unremarkable. I would like to think that she has fallen in love with the real me now; the sensitive, emotional, irrational and irritating me, that is. I cannot speak for her though. All I can say is that, whatever happens to us in the future, she has already proven that she has more love and understanding in her heart, more inner strength than anyone I have ever met. I can never repay her adequately for all she has done for me, and helping us both on our journey. Advertisement If there is a better example of unconditional love, I have never experienced it. Games of Thrones, the TV series on HBO, starts in the first minute of its first episode with a very menacing threat, that of the 'White Walkers', ghosts from the deep north and from beyond the winter of life. But then, we lose sight of this mythical menace. However, it remains in the background whenever someone is saying "Winter is Coming!". We see different type of dangers, and we forget this initial warning, lost in other myths and petty conflicts... And then it hits us five years later, at season five, episode eight - and we understand that, indeed, that very peculiar "Winter" is the worst thing that could happen to the earth. We are today faced with a grave danger posed by the rise of the machines. Between today and 2022, according to different but converging estimates, one supercomputer somewhere in a civilian lab will reach the theoretical calculation power of the human brain. Some actually put it at around 10^16 floating operations per second. If that's the case, we've already crossed that threshold last year. More importantly, it takes usually less than 20 years for the calculation power of the top lab to get in the computers found in mainstream commerce. Imagine the type of power we'll have at our finger tips in 20 years from now. To add to that - some US Air Force researchers estimate that we may reach two trillion connected devices by 2035. If only 5% of them are autonomously moving - then there'll be more robots than human beings on earth in 20 years from now. Based on the observation of current robot population and its dynamics, others arrive at the same conclusion. Advertisement But beware of the wrong myths, too. Very smart people like Elon Musk or Stephen Hawking have been warning us about the threat of IA. Some of their warnings are misguided or imprecise. Machines are not going to seize power once they become super-smart to get rid of the human species. Cognition and emotion are two separate brain functions. Our emotional system is shared in large part with all our mammal brethren, as neuro-scientist Jan Panksepp has demonstrated. The emotional system, and the reactions it triggers, was developed for one specific reason: reproduction and survival. But machines are different. They are not going to fight for the girl next girl - they are not vying for reproduction. They are not even fighting for survival. By design, they can be switched on and off and on again. They can go from life to death and back to life at the user's will. The actual problem does not lie with the machine but more precisely with software, the digital language that human user and machine use to communicate one to the other. This is also what is called "cyberspace", hence the "cyber" threat. There are still no methodologies to this day to release software without zero bugs. Even if there was one, because that new software would interconnect with all the other software layers in Cyberspace, it would still be potentially compromised by the most vulnerabilty-riddled software it interacts with. When these vulnerabilities are actioned by malevolent human users, they pose all sorts of catastrophic dangers. With Internet of Things and mass robotization on its way, we are going to live soon in a fully programmable world. But in a programmable world, it is easy to re-program a tool into a weapon. So, all of a sudden you lose the control of your car - this was demonstrated in 2015 by researchers able to take over remotely a Jeep Cherokee. This explains why cybercrime may rapidly expand and reach 2-3 times the amount of money made by the illegal drug traffic markets. Besides, thousands of cars could be taken over the same way, and crash the same day. This could give ideas to terrorists. Advertisement Behind lie all sorts of grave dangers. We could have the rise of "cybercrime-states" as we had "narco-states" - states corrupted to the core by the money in cybercrime. They could become safe haven for black hat hackers, mercenaries working for other rogue states or cybercrime empires. But if we cannot control our programmable world, then global economy will collapse - a threat mentioned by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in hearings to Congress in 2015. Then - terrorists could create mass terrorism waves. Even worse: programmable military systems could be hacked. This has already happened in the past. This risk is the reason why US nuclear missile silos are still using 1980s computer equipment - to avoid the vulnerabilities that may come with a major IT upgrade. If whole classes of conventional weapons are becoming "hackable", armies are going to become very nervous. Add to that the very risk already posed in terms of international stability by cyber-weapons. They have no doctrine of use today as clear as that of nuclear forces during the cold war. However, the sabotage of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Iran in 2007-2010 by a cyberweapon has demonstrated their strategic potential. This adds to an escalation risk, already taking place in slow motion. And this all create a very dangerous mix that could reach its acme as we achieve a fully programmable world by the middle of this century - only 30-35 years from now. That is way earlier than the risks pose to earth by global warming. And the funny thing: very few people talk about it. Fancy grilling a Christian? Last Tuesday I came across a small advertisement on a bike shed in James College, advertising an event in which I would be able to "Grill a Christian." I would be presented with a "panel of Christians" who would tell me what they "actually think" on things that matter to me. It made me think of a sort of sinister interrogation, in which a string of believers would be chained before me and submitted to my relentless questioning - an inquisition, if you will. Alternatively, I could just attend the event for the free food. The Christian Union is arguably the biggest and most well-known religious organisation on the campus. Its members enthusiastically welcome Freshers during their first week of university life, handing out free goodies and inviting them to various events in the week. They hold regular 'Big Questions' meetings in Yourspace, the YUSU common room, in which speakers from local churches and organisations visit to discuss religious dilemmas including the relevance of God in science and university life, the relationship between Christianity and women, the nature of God and whether we can be good without God and His influence. On Tuesdays, each college division of the Christian Union meets for small events including discussions, Bible studies and games nights. The Christian Union is renowned for its acts of generosity and goodwill around the campus. Most events, big and small, involve plenty of free food for anyone, religious, agnostic or atheist, who attends. Toasted sandwiches are a well-known delicacy at Christian Union events. In exchange for a short, sentence-long extract from the Bible, you will receive the toasted sandwich. What makes this goodwill all the more evident is the knowledge that the Christians themselves receive no funding from the student union. The ham, cheese, chocolate and sweets are paid with the pounds in the pockets of the Christian Union members. Advertisement As much as charity and general niceness are good virtues, the campus Christians seem willing to put themselves into the spotlight with a smile. Some students will readily admit that they do take advantage of this, visiting the events simply for the convenience of a free and ready dinner. Who would willingly sacrifice weekly a portion of their student loan to pay for toasted sandwiches for everyone else? Being open to all religious faiths and none, occasionally Christian Union events can be sabotaged, by accident or by intention, by questions from audience members that are deliberately chosen to be uncomfortable. Christian Q&A sessions often feature queries on the instructions concerning slavery in the Bible, the attitude of the Church toward homosexuality, the prophecies on the apocalypse or whether God's chosen people are stronger than iron chariots. Some people ask how it is possible for some Christians to believe the world to have been created in six days, six thousand years ago, in contrast with the mainstream scientific understanding of the age and nature of the planet. Reading the advertisement, it seemed to me that the Christian Union was once again setting itself up to be used and abused, whether by students who were ready to ask a difficult question on Christian practices or simply looking for an unearned toasted sandwich. But it was the James College Christians themselves, not others, who were offering their members up to be "grilled." I went along to the advertised event and put a question to the panel of Christians. Why do you put on these kinds of events e.g. being 'grilled'? I wrote. Doesn't it feel like you're putting yourselves in the line of fire? One panellist said: We are putting ourselves in the line of fire, but why do we do it? It's ultimately what the Christian Union is all about: creating a space where people can come and have the safety and freedom to ask the questions about life and investigate Christianity. Ultimately, the Christian Union is motivated by their belief and confidence in the good news and message of Christ. The Union wishes to spread His good news and enable students to learn more about Him and His story. The Christian Union may expose itself and its members to flak with its open, public discussions and its occasional dogmatism, but what could be more commitment to free discussion than the provision of opportunities to learn, question ideas and develop oneself? Though I do not align myself with the religious beliefs of the Christian Union, I am convinced that its members are some of the kindest students on the campus. Over biscuits and lemonade with the Christians of James College I had some of the most pleasant and thoughtful conversations I think I have had at university. Few others are so willing to sit down and speak to strangers with such keenness to learn about you and the inability to lose a smile on their faces. At no point did I ever feel that my lack of faith made me unwelcome. Are the Christian Union members aware that many people turn up just for the sandwiches? Of course they are. Do they mind? No. The Christian Union wishes to express their goodwill to everyone. People who turn up experience their good intentions, whether they turn up to learn about God or learn about sandwiches. Cleaning Constantine College's kitchens free of charge last year was an expression of the Christian Union's love for the residents. Across many universities beside York, from St. Andrews to Chester, university Christian Unions are known for their regular acts of goodwill and their members' enthusiasm. 'Grilling a Christian' is not the first time that the University of York's Christian Union has hosted an atypical event on campus and it won't be the last. Marion Wagschal's new show at Canada House is her first ever show in the UK. Relatively unknown outside of North America, the latest exhibition at Canada house is of paintings created between 1980 and 2015. Hopefully this fantastic show will bring her to the attention of a wider audience. Wagschal has been painting for five decades and as the work here shows, she is no follower of fashion. Early on in her career at a time when abstract art was dominating the art scene, Wagshal was painting figurative work, at a time when the female form was still about objectification: garish high-heeled figures with bulging breasts. As Berger says in Ways of Seeing (1973): "Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at". But Wagschal eschewed passivity and was taking control of the male gaze by painting an extraordinary self portrait, Cyclops (pictured here but not on show at Canada Gallery), in which Wagschal defiantly bared all. 'Objectify away' she seems to say. Advertisement There is nothing romantic about Wagschal's work. These images are of sagging, aged, fleshy bodies. The passing of time is the first thing I think when I enter the gallery. These are people who really have lived. And inevitably died. The portrait of her dead mother, a holocaust survivor, is painfully blunt. Death hangs around a few of the paintings, in the guise of a memento mori in Woman with Still Life (1998), a dead coyote in Song for a Dead Coyote (2015) which was reminiscent of Angela Carter's fairy tales, and what looks like a suicide attempt in Portrait With Shattered Glass (1990). Advertisement Wagschal re-writes art history again and again in these works with her female forms: Cyclops itself references Goya of course, and the disturbing Baal is a Sherman-esque self portrait whereas in Caryatid from 1998, instead of a historical caryatid, quite literally a statuesque woman who bears the weight of the temple, Wagschall here casts the Caryatid as the monumental temple itself, defiantly blocking our view with a voluminous mass of material. Like many of her canvases, the figure is having trouble fitting in the canvas, flowing like a river of flesh into our viewing space. The scale of these works invokes the frigidity of a large-scale history painting, but the subject matter and her distinct framing allows us to drift back into the canvas and thus empathise with the subject matter. Like many of the feminist pioneers of the time like Margaret Harrison and Nancy Spero to name just two, Wagschal's work focuses on themes involving women and their representation in western culture. Wagschal takes the female figure, a central object of Western art since time immemorial, and reclaims it through a wholly personal approach. As this exhibition demonstrates, her first ever showing in the UK, rarely have women's representations of themselves been given a showcase. By far the most powerful work is the cinematic Tales from the Schwarzwald as told by my Mother. This work, which took 33 years to complete, tells the tale of Wagschal's mother (here seen as an icon from which the narrative spreads out from) and the family possessions which vanished in the Holocaust. The heap of innocent children's dolls, disturbingly remind us of the innocents lost in the concentration camps that her family luckily escaped (they left Germany in 1938). Once again death or the prospect of death haunts the canvas. Advertisement The paintings are astonishing. Having not known her work, I was not expecting to see work so profoundly moving. These immense canvasses draw you into the lives of these ordinary women who have largely been forgotten in a predominantly male version of art history. The work is as intimate as it is monumental, as much about the way we look as what we are looking at. The prison reforms proposed by David Cameron on Monday are a welcome announcement, but they mark a decisive change in Tory policy and they barely touch the surface of the challenges confronting our prisons. Let's start with numbers. The prison population today is almost 85,000, virtually the same as it was in May 2010. In fact, it reached a record high of 88,179 under the Tories in 2011 as it was pushed to capacity. Reducing the prison size has hardly been a priority for the Government for the last 6 years. Advertisement Next, attitudes towards eduction. In 2013, the then Justice Secretary Chris Grayling introduced a ban on books being sent to prisoners. His reasoning? It could result in contraband being smuggled in. The ridiculous ban was overturned just 12 months later when the High Court declared the ban 'unlawful'. Not really the actions of a Government that values the education of prisoners. Now let's turn to staff. In 2010, there were almost 24,000 members of staff in Government-run prisons. As of December 2015, that figure was under 15,000. The Tories have overseen a reduction of prison staff of about 40% whilst the prison population has remained the same. Those who remain are over stretched and levels of morale are the lowest they have been for years. Finally, the absence of rehabilitation. Cameron went from 'hugging a hoodie' to becoming a justice hard liner soon after entering Number 10. Prisons have remained places where prisoners learn to become better criminals instead of leaving as reformed individuals, and one in every four prisoners have been jailed previously, a figure which has remained unchanged for the last decade. If we want to reduce the number of prisoners, we need to invest in alternative forms of punishment. Restorative justice, where an offender meets the victim, has been successful in reducing crime rates in many countries and it must become the norm if we are to reduce recidivism. Community sentences require supervisors actively involved with the offender rather than just observing them, and that means employing more supervisors. Electronic tags should be used less sparingly and accompanied by closer surveillance. Advertisement Keeping someone in prison costs 100 per day. If that money was used efficiently to pay for alternative forms of punishment with proven track records in countries such as Sweden, then the prison bill could easily be cut with no risk to the public. The House of Lords recently considered two proposals relating to the government's so-called 'Living Wage'. The first, proposed by Conservative peer and under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, asked us to approve the proposed Regulations, which would see the national Minimum Wage increased to 7.20 per hour for all workers aged over 25. The second, raised by Labour's Shadow Spokesperson for Business, Innovation and Skills, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, asked us to express 'regret' that businesses might not comply with the new rule. Advertisement The problem is that neither really comes close to the heart of the matter, which is that what the government calls a Living Wage is in fact nothing of the sort. The Living Wage, as campaigned for by the Green Party and the national Living Wage Foundation, is a rate of pay calculated according to the cost of living, which determines whether someone is living in poverty . The Foundation's most recent calculations show the amount a worker must be paid to exist above the poverty line is now 8.25 per hour outside London - more than 1 per hour more than the government's proposed wage. But in spite of this considerable gap, the government is still referring to its proposal as a 'Living Wage', when it is in fact simply an increase in the national Minimum Wage, and even then only for workers aged 25 and above. Advertisement It is not as if the Conservative Party is unaware of this - or of the difference between what it proposes and the Living Wage working people deserve and require. In Parliament, the legislation is called the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2016. But outside of Parliament, it consistently refers to 7.20 as a Living Wage. In a letter I sent to Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills , I pointed out that the government's own website, launched to 'explain' the 7.20 rate to businesses, is named 'www.livingwage.gov.uk', extremely similar to the Living Wage Foundation's 'www.livingwage.org.uk' home address. (My Green Party colleague, Caroline Lucas MP, has worked to reveal that the government's one-page site cost almost 29,000 - a price one web developer called 'ridiculous', adding that 'hiring a professional to do it should cost under a grand' ) And this is a matter that should concern us. Because it is about more than just a name. The amount of money people are paid is central, in our current system, to almost every part of their lives - to where they live, what they eat, how they care for their family. Wealth or lack of it impacts health, education, young people's chances in life, and older people's ability to live in comfort. An increased minimum wage, which is what the government is offering, is a small step towards improving thousands of working people's lives. Advertisement But to call it a Living Wage, and imply that it will lift working people out of poverty when it will not, is to pretend that a problem has been solved, and that we do not need to keep working to make sure people's earnings are enough to support them and their families. Of course, we do. The point of a wage policy must have as its base the lifting of workers from poverty. Being born, and living in London I spent the first eighteen years of my life assuming that everyone was pro-choice, the choice being whether or not to have children. I took the provision of abortion as a healthcare right for granted, as it had always been available to me, and I assumed that was the case in the rest of the United Kingdom. I was wrong. One month after I turned eighteen I moved to Belfast, in Northern Ireland for University, I have no doubt in my mind that it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I will leave Belfast after graduating with the belief, legally speaking at least, it is the worst place in the UK to be a woman. When I moved there I quickly learnt that abortions were hugely restricted in NI. As a Christian I'm unsure if I would ever want an abortion, but I never imagined still living in the UK and it not being available. By the end of first year I had also learnt that by registering to a GP surgery here I lost my right to an abortion from the NHS in England too. The law surrounding abortion in the UK is a complex thing, no more so than in NI, but put simply the Offences Against the Person Act (1861), states that abortion is a criminal offence. Since then while the law has changed in Britain in 1929 and then again in 1967 the Abortion Act now allows abortions to be provided up to 24 weeks gestation in most circumstances. More so there is no limit if the foetus has a Fatal Foetal Abnormality (FFA) or if the Mother's life is facing substantial risk. While these changes have happened in Britain, NI has seen one change to abortion law with the 1945 Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Act. Only permitting an abortion if there is real, serious and long term or permanent threat to the Mother's life, and with a maximum of nine weeks and four days gestation. Yet despite this, healthcare professionals find that the lack of guidelines prevent them performing abortions even in cases where it could be legal, for fear of criminal prosecution. Despite the more recent laws, an act created in 1861 still governs that abortion (in certain circumstances) is a criminal offence across the UK, but does this matter? How many would have even heard of this act, which is older than every current MP, MLA, MSP and AM (although sometimes you wouldn't think it)? Advertisement In the last few months two cases have come to light of women in Northern Ireland being arrested for taking and/or providing abortion inducing pills. That means that in the UK, because of an act dating back to 1861, people are facing criminal prosecution for trying to access healthcare that is safe, free and legal, although still limited, just a thirty minute flight away. Decriminalisation is, as far as I'm concerned a vital part of our fight for Women's liberation, and I think it should be part of yours too. You can help by supporting the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) campaign for decriminalisation, and show support on social media to raise awareness. There are also charities which help fund women who are desperate to access abortions in Ireland but cannot afford to travel over to get one, a process which can cost up to 2000 in total. The reality is abortion happens whether you agree with them or not, so do we want women to have to travel, or worse to harm themselves, rather than being trusted to make their own decisions. This is why we are calling for the decriminalisation of abortion across the UK, because it is not mine or anyone's place to determine what a woman should do with her own body. I, the NUS-USI Women's Campaign and the NUS UK Women's Campaign trust women to make decisions about their own healthcare and their own bodies. Because we believe that those of all genders and none should be equal in society and their bodies should not be seen as property of the state. Because I stress that I am not a vessel, that it is my body my rights and that a woman who knows she does not want to continue a pregnancy is not a criminal. Advertisement There are some great things happening in Manchester right now. Recently I went to see Barbarians: A Trilogy, a new piece by choreographer, Hofesh Shechter. It was a slick and introspective piece of contemporary dance, full of modern electro vibrations and intimidating drones that underpinned delicate Baroque melodies. The inventive fusion pieces continued on Saturday night when I went to see Icarus at the Edge of Time at the RNCM, Manchester. Icarus was an accumulative piece built up from physicist Brian Greene's short tale of the same name. Greene's narrative, a take on the old Icarus myth, depicts a boy on a journey through space. Rather than flying too close to the sun, this new Icarus defies his father's warning and flies too close to a black hole instead. The consequences are partly disastrous and partly wonderful. The new Icarus doesn't die, he survives... in a way. Retuning from the edge of the black hole he discovers that 10,000 years have past. Advertisement The reworking of the Icarus myth began as Greene's way of explaining relativity to his young son. But the tale didn't stop as a bedtime story. Greene, who attended the premiere to introduce and narrate the piece, approached Manchester based filmmakers AL and AL to create a film to accompany his original narrative. And that, as they say, is history. AL and AL created an immense piece of moving imagery, stunningly embellished by CGI techniques. The result for Greene's story was magical. Icarus, played by a young actor, is the only face seen in the film. His father is a faceless man, presented always with his back to the audience. The 'aliens' (some new race encountered by humans while Icarus is exploring the black hole), are blurred shimmering entities, with the slightest of humanoid shaping. All of this is embedded by AL and AL within the swirling expanse of space, which they splash with blue, pink, and white brilliance. But, like I said, this piece is accumulative. And every story needs music (I'm biased of course), and this one is no exception. Add one Philip Glass score and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Duncan Ward and the retelling becomes a modern masterpiece. My memories of the score are all percussive. The full timpani set adding the rumbling precursors to danger; blocky natural wooden sounds adding an unsettling trot that dislodges the senses, moving the audience away from the fabrication of AL and AL's scintillating space. AL and AL's surrealist computer generated film stands in relief against the acoustic clonk of Glass's score. The combination is jarring and charming in all the right ways. It is clear to see why Manchester is the European City of Science 2016. The combination of scientific reworking of myth, live narrative, engrossing imagery, spectacular use of technology, and an inventive, jaunting score make the hour long piece feel like a ten minute whirlwind. I didn't only learn a little bit about the concept of Relativity (curtesy of Greene's humorous opening speech), but I've also seen what can be achieved by mixing and accumulating art forms, and by blending science and myth. The lineage of a myth never really ends and that's a wonderful thing. Myths are always there to be revised, reworked and retold. As technology and human knowledge expand, old tales take on new meaning. I'm pleased I was able to see the results of this cross-genre, cross-pollinating effort. Advertisement Icarus at the Edge of Time was presented by HOMEmcr and performed live at the RNCM. I hope there will be more shows elsewhere because it is a truly special live event. For information on performances past and future, here's a link: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/icarus-edge-time/ BEN STANSALL via Getty Images This blog is an edited transcript of the address delivered by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey to the Oxford Union on Tuesday 9 February Last summer's Labour leadership election must count as one of the biggest upsets in British political history. Certainly it was the most extraordinary event in the 45 years I have been a Labour party member. Advertisement Jeremy Corbyn's election, winning with a mandate which dwarfed that given to any other leader of a British political party in a generation or more, will, I believe, be seen as a major turning point in British politics. It's been all too much for some, and I will say a word about them in a minute. But first I think we should celebrate the process that led to this outcome - the engagement of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them only marginally interested in mainstream politics previously, who felt inspired to join in with the Corbyn campaign. For too long, politics has been an elite sport, increasingly the preserve of a small slice of society nurtured at distinguished addresses like this one! Jeremy Corbyn has already let some air into a very stuffy room, and if he achieves nothing else we should be grateful for that. Of course, some folk aren't grateful at all. Advertisement They say we are heading back to the 1980s, worse still 1970s, when Labour was supposedly in the grip of extremism and was considered too left wing to win office. From day one the media and political class have used that as their narrative. Corbyn has been cast as 'hard left-wing', 'far-left' - 'extreme' even - and that was just the mainstream outlets. The attacks from the right-wing media and tabloid press were more focused and vitriolic - he is not just left-wing but a danger to the country, the man who hates Britain, a terrorist sympathiser. They have set out to create a caricature of Corbyn, so people never get to hear his real message. Nick Robinson, the former BBC political editor, wrote to his colleagues accusing the BBC's political coverage of reinforcing anti-Corbyn bias. And analysis from the Media Reform Coalition found that the British press "systematically undermined" Corbyn with negative media coverage in his first week as Labour leader. In that week, across eight national newspapers, 80% of articles were 'negative', openly hostile or expressing animosity or ridicule, whilst only 13% of stories were positive. Advertisement Of course the truth is Jeremy Corbyn does present a very real threat - but it's not to the ordinary people of our country. It's to the ideological consensus that has dominated political and economic thinking in Britain and the West for more than a generation. And it seems that no-one finds this more of a threat than some Labour MPs. The sort that cheered on the neo-liberal economic policies and illegal wars that disfigured the record of the last Labour government. These MPs, who refuse to accept the overwhelming mandate Jeremy Corbyn got from Labour's membership, are generously described as the "moderates" in the Party. It's an abuse of language - there is nothing "moderate" about voting to bomb Syria or agreeing more public spending cuts, anything more than it's "extreme" to vote for peace or for an end to eye-watering austerity. Such labelling simply obstructs the debate we need to have. Which is: What went wrong with New Labour, what lessons can we learn, and how can we craft an appealing electoral pitch for the reality of 2020, not 1997? Today's political and economic challenges are direct consequences of the failed political consensus of the past 30 years. After the 1992 General Election and the election of a fourth consecutive Conservative government, Margaret Thatcher announced 'the end of Socialism' - and Tony Blair believed it. He declared that New Labour was now "the political wing of the British people" while others in the party told us "we're all middle class now". New Labour may well have believed its own rhetoric on building a classless society. Its leading figures saw a virtue in being more comfortable in City boardrooms than they were in trade union offices. Advertisement Don't get me wrong the last Labour government did a great many things. Not least in civil and equal rights, restoring dignity to pensioners, giving opportunities in education, training and work to the young and investing in our communities. But for all the good it did do, the last Labour government did nothing to change the fundamental structures of wealth and power in this country. In fact, it helped entrench them. The last Labour government built new schools and hospitals by the dozen-load - but it also led the way for free schools (through academies), brought NHS privatisation in through the back door and left hospital trusts with crippling PFI debts. The last Labour government brought in the minimum wage but it also subsidised the poverty wages paid by big business through it programme of tax credits. Tax credits signalled a refusal by New Labour to deal with the significant economic structural causes of the problem (low pay and corporate greed) being content to simply ameliorate the symptoms. Labour got tired. It thought managing the worst aspects of capitalism was the best it could do. And the New Labour brand became tarnished. The professionalization of politics created a new political class. Political debate was out. Politicians now had to be "on message". The politics of great ideals gave way for the politics of spin. It's no surprise that somewhere along the way people lost interest in politics. Turnout in elections fell and the belief that politics could achieve real change was eroded. New Labour's unholy alliance with the City of London, its backing of light-touch regulation for the financial sector and refusal to act on the mass tax avoidance of the corporate elite was more than a minor misjudgement. It was an indictment of Labour's 13 years in government. What people remember today is a government that started out "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich", and ended with a Treasury note that simply read: "I'm afraid there is no money left". And to add insult to injury New Labour's leading figures were quick to find favour in the City of London with lucrative careers after waltzing off the political stage - leaving all to fall behind them. And that's before we even mention Iraq. And so the New Labour experiment failed. Advertisement The global banking crisis and a taxpayer funded bail-out of the banks raised the first big question mark over New Labour economics. It was then people started noticing that not only had the economic model crashed, but that society was still divided, with widening inequality, an elite super-rich and rampant corporate greed. In opposition Ed Miliband started to grasp the seriousness of the problem, although his responses were hampered by timidity, over-cautiousness. Millions of people wanted more, a decisive alternative to the past. If people are looking for an explanation for the rise of Corbyn-mania last summer - they needn't look much further than this history. And it's exactly this failed political consensus of the past 30 years which makes Jeremy's popularity today all the more understandable. He has asked the obvious questions about our society, and raised the issues that the prevailing consensus cannot grapple with. He articulates the simple human decency which tells us that cutting support to the sick and disabled whilst doing nothing about a growing super-rich cannot be right. He asks how can it be right that more than half of people in poverty in this country are in work? He talks about young people priced out of buying a home and unable to afford extortionate rents. He raises the obscenity of hundreds of thousands resorting to food banks simply to raise their families. Advertisement He speaks for students leaving university with debts totalling tens of thousands of pounds. These aren't 1980s throwback issues. They are the here-and-now reality of a country more deeply divided than I have ever known it. That is why Jeremy Corbyn's message can, and does, resonate with the public, and why support for him is holding up so strongly, despite the media onslaught. Of course there is another side to things. There are many who say the Corbyn leadership 'hasn't all gone to plan' so far. Well the truth is - and this isn't really a secret: his leadership of the Labour Party was never planned at all. He didn't stand in the expectation of winning. Most politicians who run for the leadership of their party have spent years preparing, assembling a team, formulating detailed policies, cultivating media contacts, hiring image consultants and so on. And even they still have teething problems when they win. Jeremy had done none of these things. Nor had the team around him - because until a couple of months before his election, there was no such team. That is part of the reason he won. He is not the normal identikit career politician. It's central to his appeal to a public that wants something different from politicians. But it is also of course a weakness. Let's face it, lack of preparation is a weakness for most things in life. So both Jeremy and his team are on a steep learning curve - but not in a classroom, instead on the front line and under heavy enemy fire. Jeremy has been fast-tracked from the fringe meeting to the centre of the conference hall. Advertisement From thirty years on the backbenches to having to carry out shadow cabinet reshuffles. It was never going to be easy. But if there has been some sloppiness in the early months of Corbyn's leadership that has not been the heart of the problem. The real difficulty has been the behaviour of a number of Labour MPs and Party grandees who have simply refused to accept the result of the leadership election. They spend their time both plotting behind the scenes, with every week producing another coup plan - or running to the media to attack the Leader and the policies that Party members voted for. All this has made it hard for Jeremy's voice to be heard, for his message to get across. Every issue is turned into a "Labour split" row. Now of course there is a problem here that requires careful handling. Jeremy derives his huge mandate from the Party's membership and its registered and affiliated supporters. On the other hand, his committed support in the Parliamentary Labour Party is very much smaller. As I say, this is a sensitive issue. That's why I'm not a supporter of going back to mandatory re-selection or other changes designed to intimidate or undermine Labour MPs. But I also believe that we need to issue a clear warning to those who are advocating the PLP being used as a lever to force Jeremy Corbyn out. The bizarre plans outlined by Joe Haines, (Harold Wilson's advisor) and pollster Peter Kellner, the call to arms by Damian McBride in his Times article and the ludicrous 99 days notice given by Michael Dugher to the arch-Tory Mail on Sunday - all have to be dismissed with distain by any real Labour supporter. If the Labour MPs want something constructive to do, then start working out policies and ideas that might help attract voters back to Labour. Advertisement The leadership election revealed just how much the New Labour faction had run out of political impetus. They offered no answers to the big questions of inequality, economic management, and 21st century social justice. There were certainly no big ideas from what were dubbed the "mainstream candidates" during the last leadership election. Remember, the leading Blairite standard-bearer was Liz Kendall who got two per cent of the vote. Their analysis of Labour's defeat in 2015 was unconvincing, their proposals stale, minimalist and uninspiring. And for the most part they have still not shaped up after Corbyn's victory. Until they can do that, they are a plot without a programme; a cabal without a critique. Some have sought to excuse their disloyalty to Corbyn by pointing to his own rebellious past on the backbenches. But who can seriously argue that his votes in parliament against the Iraq War, against ID or against university tuition fees now diminish his ability to lead the Labour Party today. On all these issues he was not only right, I believe he was giving voice to the views of most Labour supporters. I'm not saying that any Labour MP should have to abandon his or her own views, or cease to articulate them within the Party's democratic structures. But I am saying that this continual war of attrition is achieving nothing beyond taking the pressure off the government. So my clear message to the plotters is - stop the sniping, stop the scheming, get behind Jeremy Corbyn and start taking the fight to the Tories. Advertisement Jeremy Corbyn's message, his authenticity, his radical challenge to the status quo is part of an international movement against business-as-usual politics. In Europe we can talk about Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain. Just look across the Atlantic. By putting his socialist principles at the forefront of his campaign, taking on the injustices of inequality and a super-rich elite, Bernie Sanders has seen his popularity soar and his challenge for the White House taken seriously. The Senator from Vermont hasn't changed his message to fit in with the public mood - he's been banging on the same political drum all his life. Tad Devine, Sanders' top strategist, says his campaign "has the potential to change the composition of the electorate, and getting young people and lower income voters back into it on the side of the Democrats because his message is so powerful and believable." The globally political and economic problems are so stark that they can no longer be ignored. Politicians who are willing to talk frankly about them - will be listened to. So we need to sharpen and clarify our message, confident that there is a growing receptive audience. At the 2015 General Election Labour was anti-Tory cuts but not anti-austerity. It was a muddled message that failed to convince many people. Now we have a clear message: one that rejects austerity economics and promises investment and growth instead. Advertisement Fairness, tackling corporate greed, tax avoidance and tax evasion, and holding power and wealth to account - all popular proposals which are resonating on both sides of the Atlantic. What Jeremy Corbyn offers - like Sanders in the U.S. - is a calling out of corporate corruption, a rejection of the austerity that has made the UK the most unequal economy in the G8 and the promise that politics and politicians can and will put things right for ordinary working people. But Labour cannot simply go back to where it left off in 1997, 2007 or 2010. Many of the problems the country faced then have worsened - and there are other brand new ones as well. So what does Jeremy Corbyn have to do to be a leader of tomorrow - our next Prime Minister? It's right to say that it's not enough for Labour simply to point the finger at Tory hypocrisy. The challenge the Labour Party faces today is to prove to working people that it's on their side. Yes, it will always be there defending the poorest and challenging the Tories' ruthless attack on welfare. But I accept the view that this is not enough. We also have to set out a new agenda on building the modern productive economy that delivers security and prosperity for ALL working people. In short, Labour must show that it can best express: The emerging consensus in favour of a more powerful role for the state in tackling social and economic problems The resolute action needed to tackle inequality and its consequences The need to address the insecurity that millions of people who are not badly off nevertheless feel - fear for the future of their jobs, of their living standards, of their homes and their children's prospects And the rebalancing of our economy away from its overwhelming reliance on financial services. As leader, Jeremy Corbyn has already overcome a number of political hurdles placed in his way. On Syria, he spoke out against extending British military involvement but allowed the free vote demanded by a small clique in his shadow cabinet. A very big majority of Labour MPs voted with their leader and at the same time reflected the views of the wider British public, despite all the fuss at the time. On tax credits George Osborne was forced to reverse cuts that would have hit the lowest paid working people the hardest. And Labour peers are working hard to defeat some aspects of the Tories' malicious and vindictive Trade Union Bill - a piece of legislation which in some of its provisions does not threaten trade unions as much as they threaten democracy itself. So there are reasons for Labour to be confident. Polling tells us that on key issues, a majority of voters back Left alternatives, from renationalising the railways and utilities to higher taxes on the rich. Of course, it's still a big step from popular single issues to building an entire programme of government. But at the last election there was no great enthusiasm for the Tories. Labour increased its vote by more, despite the collapse in Scotland for specific reasons. The collapse of the Liberal Democrats allowed the Tories to win a majority in the House of Commons without widespread support across the country - just 36% of the vote and less than a quarter of the electorate put Cameron back in Number 10. Now there are warnings that another economic crash may be around the corner - indeed, some are pencilling it in for 2018 when I guess many of you will graduate. The weakening position of China will have ripple effects around the world. And Britain is particularly vulnerable. With an economy only kept on the tracks by fuelling private debts and a housing bubble and no answer forthcoming on fixing its critical structural failings, the Tories will have their work cut out winning over new supporters. Advertisement So this is the moment for a clear and confident Labour alternative. The energy and enthusiasm of last summer's leadership election campaign needs to be sustained all year round, and taken to a still wider audience. It's about, as the saying goes, a new kind of politics, one that can engage and enthuse non-voters as well as our traditional supporters, and that can win over waverers as well as mobilising the committed. The Labour Party was, let's remember, founded to overturn the establishment consensus of 100 years ago, to give working people a voice in politics and in government. Challenging the establishment has always been Labour's calling, something that was forgotten but has now been rediscovered. And that's why I am confident that Jeremy Corbyn, who embodies much of the best of our past, is also the man for the future of our country. That's what I hope for. There's a lovely poem by Emily Dickinson: Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all There may be some amongst you who want only a big house and a Porsche. Well good luck! But I hope most of you can look beyond that. You are the future. Your whole life that lies ahead will, I hope, be fulfilling. Be determined to make your mark. Be determined to fight for a better, more equal Britain, and a more peaceful world. Thank you for listening. There are some days when you listen to the outstanding Kirsty Young on the BBC Radio Four's Desert Island Discs that you wish the programme would go on forever. Not only is the guest interesting and are the questions penetrating, but you also like most - obviously not all - of the musical choices that he or she has picked to take to their lonely island when they are eventually cast away. Naturally, there are some programmes or guests that you find you have little in common with and are uninteresting or boring. But that, dare I say, is not Young's fault: she is always so captivating and interested and it's very difficult to please all BBC listeners all the time. However, this past Sunday (and the programme is repeated on Friday mornings) the person being questioned in the hot seat was Dame Carol Black. She, among other things, advises the Government on health issues and is currently also principal of the all-girls Newnham College in Cambridge. Those who tuned into the programme will have heard that Black, who is going to be 77 this year, still goes running in order to keep fit and although she came to medicine relatively late compared to other students (aged 25 rather than 18) her motto is "go for it" - otherwise in life you will regret it. Advertisement And naturally there were many on social media who applauded her "can do" attitude of get up and go. Some even said listening to her was the "perfect" Sunday morning. But what struck me more poignantly was when she was asked by Young how she had managed her work-life balance. She neatly side-stepped that question. It's always difficult for women to juggle having a successful family and a successful career, and this seems something that Young is often curious about when she has women guests who have had high-powered or high-profile careers. And naturally, there are many women who have voluntarily given up their careers and made a definite and positive decision to be stay-at home mothers. They too are nothing but successful, but sadly, often I hear stories from these women that their husbands don't understand what sacrifices they have made and have no idea what's it like being a full-time mum. But back to Black: I can only assume that she had difficulties along the way and she alluded to a failed marriage. She admitted that she had thought of being single, or on her own when aged 59 she went to a dinner at Cambridge University and there she met the man who was later to become her husband - Dr Christopher Morley, a vice-master at Trinity College in Cambridge. Advertisement From listening to her, I didn't get the impression she was looking for romance or a companion, yet it came her way. And it is clear how happy and content she had been since. I naturally wanted to hear more about the personal happiness that this couple managed to achieve and what advice she might have had for others who might have given up on finding a soul mate or companion in life, but then found the right person at the right time. Usually, when I see a video on Facebook, I either laugh loudly and genuinely or I question the seconds that I had wasted on what was a meaningless and moronic clip. Last weekend my sister sent me a video of a young girl who secretly, without any remorse, cut uneven portions of her hair with the poise and confidence of an award-winning hair stylist. Naturally, I smiled at the young girl's naivete, but, I also questioned the aged tradition of 'growing up,' and whether parents teach their children on the basis of meeting customary societal demands like having an acceptable hairstyle. Whether it be positive or negative, it certainly is obvious that so much of what we know is engrained into our memories by those who cared for us as children. But, what can we, as adults, learn from the free spirited children that we teach? That innocent smile on the young girls face, from the video illuminates a childlike characteristic that should be preserved and understood instead of moulded with time. Children have an organic capacity for learning based on the absence of prejudgments associated with historically established forms of racism, sexism and ageism. In modern times, the way in which parents view the world begins to subtly hinder certain aspects of their child's natural and creative development. For example, if a family has conservative values, a boy who shows interest in a female doll at a toy store will most likely be swayed into buying a truck or something more masculine. This incident in a child's life will create a specific misconception surrounding what boys should like based on a societal stereotype; even though the attraction toward a 'girl' toy is completely normal. Families continue to employ subtle traditional roles for their children that subconsciously characterise what a person should be like in the future. It seems obvious for the untainted eyes of children, however, adults find it harder to accept people for being their natural selves. Advertisement The answer to the title of this piece is quite straightforward because children represent honesty and purity in a world filled with corruption and lies. We enter this world unaware of societal expectations. However, as time goes by we begin to form opinions through understanding history, oppression and prejudice. Through observing the purity of children and using that as a metaphorical formula to measure how we should act in everyday life, it is possible that we the people of this world can peacefully prosper. Children cry when they are sad, smile when they are silly, and laugh when the world makes them happy. The spirit of a child is simple, but obscured by the harsh reality of the adult perception toward the 'real-world'. It has always astounded me how little attention people have paid to risk and future developments when debating Trident. It's a debate that heats the passions up more than most, because it deals with such visceral things as security and morality, and acts as a proxy for political identity. All too often people revert to established positions, comfortable that they are right, even if they lose. But if we are to take security seriously, and not simply see our nuclear weapon systems as symbols of our power and status, then they have to work. If they do not they are worse than useless - we end up relying upon an illusion. As I have outlined elsewhere, the emerging threats are serious - our systems, particularly our nuclear submarines, are under significant threat rendering deep doubt on the assurance our concepts of nuclear deterrence rely upon. Just because we believe that they have worked in the past is no clear indication of the future. History is littered with examples of armies failing to wake up to the changes to military technologies and suffering humiliating defeats as a result. This requires those responsible for the political decisions to account for those risks and set out a clear analysis before massive and generational commitments are made to systems that look likely to end up redundant. Scoffing at this without taking the time to consider it is highly irresponsible. Advertisement The Trident Alternatives Review was concluded less than three years ago claiming to give an exhaustive account of the choices. It did not mention the risk of vulnerabilities to submarines. On the contrary, it simply stated a bald and widely-held assumption that our submarines simply cannot be tracked. That assumption is what is today under question. It also claimed it would take Aldermaston 24 years to produce a warhead for any alternative systems. It was this assertion that meant alternative systems were then deemed untenable. The assumption at the heart of this has never properly been considered. Instead, leading politicians, true to form, used the report to score political points against each other Emily Thornberry's review appears to be open-minded. That is at least what she is claiming, and the evidence from her recent media interviews and the direct conversations I have had with her lead me to believe it. She is suffering a relentless attack on her character and intelligence on the basis that she has no place in questioning the assertions of invulnerability of our systems. But this is doing disservice, to her, but far more importantly, to the issue facing us as a nation. Are we really so confident, in the face of evidence, that submarine-based nuclear systems will remain undetectable in the future? Let's talk about it openly and focus on the question, not engage in character assassinations. And let's not pay too much attention to those (on both sides of this vicious debate) who play the men (and women) and not the ball. Last week, hundreds of academics from Oxford and Cambridge called for their institutions to pull their money out of fossil fuels. Along with the incredible student activists, students' union officers and even alumni calling for the same thing, it feels like almost everyone attached to these institutions wants this to happen. The universities will have to act. It's a matter of time. At NUS, we've just launched our Divest-Invest campaign. We'll be moving 100 million of higher education endowments out of fossil fuels and into renewable alternatives. Over the last few months, we issued 600 freedom of information requests to all universities and colleges, asking about the nature of their investments and the attitudes staff and students have towards fossil fuels and renewables. We've found that there was overwhelming support for renewables, and a strong desire to be able to invest locally and ethically. And we're going to help students' unions make that happen. Advertisement Sadly, we can't tell you exactly what Oxford, Cambridge and their colleges have invested in fossil fuels. Even after the internal review they're boasting about, Cambridge still aren't being transparent with us. But what we do know is that Oxford and Cambridge have endowments of about 10 billion. This is more than the rest of HE endowments combined. They're likely to have hundreds of millions invested in fossil fuels. That's what's so exciting about Divest-Invest when it comes to sums of money like that. For Oxford and Cambridge, moving their money would be so much more than a gesture. Don't get me wrong, it says a lot when such respected institutions take a moral stand on one of today's most crucial social justice issues, and that's important. But it also frees up hundreds of millions of pounds to invest in the renewable and clean tech alternatives to coal, oil and gas. This makes a massive practical impact as well as a strong political statement. I could probably list a hundred reasons why I love Glasgow, with everything from the culture, music, architecture, nightlife, and countless restaurants, to buskers and bagpipers on Buchanan Street, the Clyde, the Duke of Wellington with his ever-stylish traffic cone hat, and, of course, the people of Glasgow themselves. One thing, however, that might just surpass everything else on this long list is Glasgow's progressive attitude. When it comes to social issues - whether it be politics, the refugee crisis, homophobia, racism, xenophobia and everything in between - Glaswegians never shy away from making their views known, and continuously step up to champion worthy causes, and to defend groups facing unlawful persecution. So, it was no surprise to see such a huge public reaction from Glasgow, Edinburgh and further throughout the country when controversial pro-rape pick-up artist known as Roosh V planned neo-masculinist meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh in an attempt to spread his militant misogynistic views in Scotland. But after tens of thousands signed petitions against the meet-ups for heterosexual men only and Roosh V received more backlash from Glasgow than 'anywhere else combined', the rape advocate was forced to cancel the events as he was no longer able to guarantee safety for his supporters. Advertisement As a side note: amongst many other, shall we say, 'negative personality traits', it also seems that Roosh V is irony impaired considering that he couldn't see anything strange about worrying over non-consensual violence against his supporters, while, paradoxically, advocating for the private legalisation of non-consensual sexual violence against women. Apparently, he doesn't seem to see how he is undermining his own argument. Following the cancellation of said meetings where Roosh V was not anticipated to attend in person but through a video-chat instead, many started to speculate that the announcement was, in fact, a false publicity stunt designed to make the protesters think they had won while secretly allowing the meet-ups to go ahead. These suspicions were quashed, however, on Saturday, February 6 (the day that the Glasgow event was scheduled to take place), when Glasgow's famous George Square, affectionately nicknamed 'Freedom Square', played host to an anti-rape protest that spread throughout the city centre. Quickly generating the #glasgow4equality hashtag on Twitter, protestors held signs branded with the messages including: 'Scotland for gender equality', 'Try picking up some ethics', 'Men are not predators, women are not prey', 'No means no', and more. Many also captured videos and images of the demonstrators who peacefully marched through Buchanan Street and Sauchiehall Street to stand up for women's rights, protest against misogyny, rape, and gender inequality, and to show that Scotland will never support or condone views that objectify and disrespect women. Advertisement Many have argued that writing, reading, tweeting and talking about Roosh V merely plays into the militant misogynist's hands as it provides him with free publicity and a wider reach. While I agree that Roosh V, as an individual, should not necessarily receive media coverage or online exposure, I think that allowing him and his supporters to spout their poisonous and backwards views would only condone their damaging, sexist behaviour. Glasgow's reaction to this story is not merely about one man. The backlash created by the people of Glasgow - and throughout Scotland - is about supporting gender equality and the significance of consent, refusing to condone rape advocates, and tackling the larger issues of rape culture and societal sexism. Whenever David Cameron decides that the time has come to step down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, there will be one almighty battle. Whoever takes over will believe that they have a very good chance of beating a Corbyn-led Labour Party in 2020 and gaining their own mandate as Prime Minister. It will be possible though to pinpoint exactly the time and day when George Osborne threw away his chances. On 23 January 2016, 12.15am, he tweeted: "#Google tax bill is a victory for the action we've taken.I introduced Diverted Profits Tax.We now expect to see other firms pay their share" From that moment on his chances were scuppered. The reaction of the media and the public to the announcement ranged from the sceptical to the incredulous. The size of the tax bill was questioned and even the normally ultra-loyal Sajid Javid conceded that the deal was 'not a glorious moment' and he recognised the 'injustice' and 'unfairness' felt by the public. This demonstrates just how wrong Osborne's tweet was and long lasting its damage will be to him. Advertisement Things got so bad that Google themselves had to appear on the Andrew Marr show to try and dig themselves out of the hole and the whole incident even allowed Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, to land a keen blow with his accusation of 'mates rates' being charged. Calls have been made for the deal to be investigated by the European Commission so the whole issue will continue to hang around for some time to come. Osborne is sometimes considered as a 'master tactician' and the policies he introduced at time of Budget 2015, such as the national living wage, had him at the top of his game. His role in the 2015 election win and his apparent ability to outsmart the Labour Party proved that he could do no wrong. This was though to ignore the 'omnishambles' Budget of 2012 and his apparent inability to deal with the deficit which was put off until nearer the time of the 2020 election, not before 2015 as originally envisaged. Advertisement The measures in the July 2015 Budget were underpinned by an unexpected financial windfall delivered by the Office for Budget Responsibility. However, with economic growth being downgraded, not least by the Bank of England, the boost may fall flat. If the extra unexpected cash does not come through then Osborne will have a serious hole to dig the Government out of. There have also been a series of moves that have upset the business community, not least the Apprenticeship Tax. As I have written before, this is not the Conservative Government business thought it was getting. The Living Wage is adding extra costs and the repatriation of housing association homes is not popular with providers. Operators in the bus sector are looking at the prospect of re-regulation (yes, re- not de-) with trepidation. Osborne will also not gain a boost in popularity from amongst the Conservative Party membership by going down an anti EU line which Boris or Teresa might try to do. He has to stand on his record and achievements. The Conservative manifesto commitment to establish a National Funding Formula for schools was confirmed by Chancellor George Osborne in last year's Comprehensive Spending Review. This commitment, dubbed "Fair Funding", promises to iron out the geographical differences in pupil funding that exist across the UK by taking money from those authorities currently receiving the most and redistributing it to those receiving the least. It's an appealing notion. If the budget for pupils is limited, surely it ought to be shared out fairly across the country, rather than concentrated in some areas at the expense of others? Put like that, it's hard to argue against the government's proposal. But my question is this: why, exactly, do we have to accept that school funding should be a zero-sum game? Advertisement There isn't a never-ending pot of public money, we all know that. There never has been. But what there is is a very large pot of public money - currently around 740bn a year - that Government spends across all sectors. Of that 740bn, an awful lot is spent without us really knowing if it makes any difference at all. This is not, of course, a phenomenon unique to government - businesses suffer from the same problem. As the famous US entrepreneur John Wanamaker once said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half". Businesses get round this problem by doing exhaustive testing: spending a small amount of money in a certain area, measuring outcomes, and then widening out the test if it works. When it comes to education, such testing is, for obvious reasons, much harder to perform. But it so happens that, over the last 15 years, London schools have acted as just such a controlled experiment. And the results should give every politician pause. Currently, London schools get more money per pupil than schools elsewhere in the country. In part, this is because, when the current schools funding system was introduced in 2006, the allocation of money followed historical funding levels that had been committed by Local Authorities. This meant that those councils that had previously chosen to allocate more of their overall budget to schools than to other services (like my own borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and many other inner London boroughs) retained that level of funding when the school budget-setting powers were taken away from them and returned to Whitehall. Advertisement As a result, the hypothesis "if you spend more money on schools, you will improve outcomes for children" has been tested - and London schools have delivered an irrefutable answer. Between 1998 and 2009, under the Labour Government, school funding rose by around 5% a year, and schools in inner London felt the benefit. In 2002, 35% of pupils were getting five A*-C grade GCSEs. By 2013, that figure had almost doubled to 64%. For our most disadvantaged pupils the rise is even starker, more than doubling from 23% in 2002 to 49% in 2013. These aren't small, year-on-year, marginal increases - these are astonishing improvements in real outcomes - a transformational life-changing impact on hundreds of thousands of young people. Here in London, we've inadvertently discovered something special: an area where increased government spending has made a major difference to outcomes. And not just any outcomes. What could be a better use of public money than investing in improved educational outcomes for the young? It's not just the right thing to do because it ensures equal opportunities for every young person, regardless of their background - it's also the right thing to do for our economy and for our competitiveness as a nation. As I write, we don't yet know the exact shape that the "fair funding" cuts will take, though figures from the Campaign for Fairer Funding in Education, key proponents of the changes, show that schools in Hammersmith and Fulham could see cuts of at least 10%. The consultation on the issue was due to begin in February. But, as with the decision on a third Heathrow runway, there are rumours that the Government will delay it until after May over fears that the redistribution could impact Zac Goldsmith's Mayoral chances, given that most of the authorities that would lose out are in inner London. Advertisement How many students know who their university's chancellor is? Some might, if the chancellor is famous for other things like Dawn French, Steve Cram or Grayson Perry. And some might have heard them make speeches at graduation or matriculation ceremonies. But I don't imagine many do. And I really doubt any students could say their time has been changed or improved by the chancellor in post. Can any of those chancellors - often still engaged in their own busy careers - really connect with students? Really inspire them or engage with them? How many of them are actually on campus more than a handful of times during the three years most students are studying? Well, at De Montfort University, we've just got a new chancellor who I think will change that, one who had already inspired me in a big way before she was even asked to consider the post. Advertisement Her name is Doreen Lawrence. Or - to give her proper title - The Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE. But that title is misleading. I hear Baroness or Lord or Lady or Duke and suddenly I can't see a real person. I see someone living a life a million miles away from the one me, my friends and my family live. When you add to that the elaborate robes and hats chancellors always seem to be wearing, you get someone who most students at university would find it hard to connect with. But this Baroness is different. This chancellor is different. Because the long title is not who Doreen Lawrence is, not to me or, I imagine, to most other people. She is not a hereditary peer, she is not landed or noble by birth or any of that. In 1993, she was mostly known as Mum to her son Stephen. She had been born in Jamaica and emigrated to England at the age of nine, later becoming a bank worker. Advertisement But in April, Stephen, then 19, was murdered as he stood waiting for a bus. Despite a subsequent investigation and trial, nobody was convicted of the murder. Whoever had done it had got away with it. But Baroness Lawrence wouldn't accept that. She stood up and accused the Met Police of being racist and incompetent. She campaigned relentlessly for an inquiry. And, in the end - despite having no standing or influence beside her own will and her own sense of right and wrong; despite being a black woman in a predominantly white society; despite the many layers of authority ranged against her - she won. An inquiry was opened which vindicated what she'd been saying all along. It also led to a new trial and the conviction of Stephen's killers. I knew all this; I'd followed the story and I was kind of in awe of Doreen Lawrence. I was so excited when I heard she had decided to become our new chancellor. Already, on the day she was invested this month (January) she showed that she wanted to be an active part of university life, touring the campus and chatting to students. She said she didn't like all the attention and publicity, that she just wanted to get to know students. I feel a real connection with her. My family were originally from Jamaica, like hers. They came to England in 1992 and I was born in England, like Stephen. Advertisement I've been quite lucky in my life. I've never really been the victim of racism. There have been a couple of incidents - comments made by people where I've worked, normally things which I know were not meant to be offensive but which are still stereotyping. The truth is, if you are black, you never stop being aware of it. You feel you have to try harder than other people to have the same chance. In a way I know I'm lucky that my name is Tiffannie because people won't assume I'm black from reading it so I avoid being judged by the colour of my skin. But what happened to Stephen Lawrence and the fight his mother had to put up, shows there is still a real problem in our country. Unlike Stephen, I actually have a chance. I'm at university, trying to live the life I want. And he would be so proud to know that his mum is genuinely inspiring young people to do the things they really want to, to feel that they can achieve what want to with enough hard work. After all, she did exactly that. Stephen had been a talented runner and a good student: he dreamed of becoming an architect. But he was forever denied the chance of going to university and making that dream come true. I have this chance and this opportunity to follow my dreams not only for myself but for those who couldn't Advertisement Many young people find the idea of starting their own business to be so daunting that they never give it a go. The number of people slaving away, doing jobs that make them deeply unhappy, when they clearly have the talent and discipline to successfully follow a career path that they actually enjoy, is something that saddens me. I'm a 25-year-old designer from London and my eponymous brand, Tom Cridland, is best known for The 30 Year Sweatshirt, our campaign against fast fashion in the form of a luxury jumper that we guarantee will last for three decades. I started the business in 2014 with a 6,000 government StartUp loan, as a modern languages graduate from the University of Bristol. I spent half of my startup funds finding suppliers and making our first samples. Despite having only 3,000 left in the bank and no stock, website or experience in fashion or business, it never occurred to me that I might not press on. With no further investment, we turned over 250,000 in our first year through organic growth and, this year, we have just opened our first shop in the King's Road in London. We have made clothing for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Grant, Rod Stewart, the Elton John Band, Ben Stiller and Daniel Craig. Advertisement Based on what I've learned over the past couple of years, here are my five tips to running a startup with severely limited resources: 1. Don't outsource anything you can easily do yourself Be extremely careful with your funds and don't outsource any work unless absolutely necessary. While you're building up sales and turnover, you should be packing and dispatching all your orders yourself, even if it means you're working late and getting up early. Most importantly of all, be very wary of PR agencies, who often quote exorbitantly expensive monthly fees, tie you into long contracts and, ultimately, don't secure you any press. 2. Prioritise ruthlessly Your time is one of your most valuable resources and the growth of the business must be your absolute priority. If you find yourself dealing with an excessively difficult customer who is taking up too much of your time, just refund them. If you're spending hours agonising over social media but press and word of mouth promotion is what drives traffic to your site, just post less to your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Always remember the Pareto principle that 80% of your achievements are the result of 20% of your actions. Advertisement 3. Don't pay fees to stock anywhere In an age when retail is in decline and high street stores are struggling, it's madness to be sucked in by the allure of "serviced retail" like I was. I was stocked by a London boutique who charge me an expensive monthly fee for the dubious privilege of putting my brand's trousers on sale in their basement. Luckily, e-commerce sales were rising at the same time as word of my brand spread, so the loss I made on the venture didn't affect the fortunes of my business. The lesson firmly learnt here, however, is never pay anyone to stock your product. A shop should be happy to buy your good wholesale or take commission on sales, otherwise it's clear they don't really have faith that they'll be able to sell it. 4. Pay attention to the boring details The chance to often be creative is one of the best things about being an entrepreneur but it's equally important to focus on the less exciting details. Maintaining accurate records, book-keeping, managing stock and logistics, and generally being well organised is crucial. Coming up with a great idea is half the battle. Executing it well requires discipline. 5. Think outside the box I wanted to grow and scale my business at the end of last year with a bigger stock order, but didn't want to take out a risky loan. Instead, I founded a PR boutique two months ago, which I run alongside my clothing brand, and have signed my first 15 clients already. I was nearly bankrupted by PR agencies and serviced retailers as a young entrepreneur just starting out and this is what inspired me to do this. My menswear brand has always sought to innovate and I want to do the same in fashion PR. Fairfax Embattled Human Services Minister Stuart Robert is set to face more questions about his conduct, as the opposition demands answers to accusations he misused his public office on a trip to China. The Queensland MP and former assistant defence minister visited Beijing in 2014 and attended a signing ceremony between his friend and Liberal Party donor Paul Marks and Chinese owned company Minmetals. Advertisement Federal Labor has called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to sack Robert if it is proven he breached the ministerial code of conduct, while Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has called on Robert to make a statement. "The Stuart Robert scandal is going to become a test of Malcolm Turnbull's judgement," Shorten told the ABC. "The writing is on the wall about Stuart Robert. Clearly, the media and Australia are dissatisfied by the information they have so far. "Malcolm Turnbull has lost more ministers than he's released tax policies for Australia." Turnbull shouldn't need his department secretary to decide whether Stuart Robert has breached ministerial standards. Show some leadership. Mark Dreyfus (@markdreyfusQCMP) February 8, 2016 Advertisement The scandal comes just weeks after the the Prime Minister lost two government frontbenchers -- Jamie Briggs and Mal Brough. Turnbull on Monday sought advice from the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on whether Robert acted improperly. Stuart Robert and Tony Abbott's former chief of staff Peta Codlin pictured having a "blue" during the 2013 election On Tuesday it was reported Robert also had a meeting with a senior Chinese government minister on the trip. Advertisement Education minister Simon Birmingham said the prime minister expects high standards of all his ministers. "He has demonstrated he will apply those standards in an impartial, fair and independent way," he said. "In this case he has asked the secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet to look into the issues and to make sure the ministerial code of conduct has been adhered to. Jupiterimages via Getty Images Wet roses with dew Jay Z might have bought Beyonce 10,000 roses ahead of her Superbowl performance, but soon it might be the average Joe Blow forking out serious dosh for a bouquet of the romantic blooms. According to Sarah Sammon of Simply Rose Petals, climate change is wreaking havoc on the growth habits of roses Down Under, which could lead to decreased availability and skyrocketing prices in the future. Advertisement Sammon has seen it herself in the 12 years of running her rural Victorian business, which in October last year experienced an average temperature six degrees hotter than any other October in the Swan Hill region. "October is usually when we begin to see our roses coming in," Sammon told The Huffington Post Australia. "I was overseas last year representing Australia on the Global Farmer Roundtable. Normally, our roses go into flush from early to mid November. "But when I returned from overseas on 24 October, the crop was in full flush. All 6,000 rose plants were producing at full capacity. I hadn't even started hiring harvest staff -- to say I was understaffed is an understatement." Advertisement Essentially, the consistently warmer weather has meant the growing season is much longer than it has been in the past. "I mean, we have been producing for 12 years and before that, my mother grew cut flowers and so has been in the industry for over 30 years," Sammon said. "She has definitely noticed the change. "We used to finish picking around late May. The last couple of years, weve actually picked into July, when we normally start pruning. Its completely bizarre to be picking in July; we are having frosts and still have roses producing." Though a longer harvest season might sound like a good thing -- more roses for everyone! -- it's actually not that simple. "In one way it is beneficial, because we have had an increased yield," Sammon said. "But it has made it really challenging for pruning. You cant prune until they have gone into hibernation and shut down in winter. Because they are shutting down for shorter periods of time, the roses are being put under more stress. Advertisement "In addition to that, managing staff can be really tricky. Normally we would have staff pruning over the winter, but now, instead of having full-time staff over a shorter period, we are looking at casual staff over a longer period. "Then add factors such as the fact that water is going to become such a precious resource, we are all going to have to pay higher prices, as well as things like the backpackers tax due to come in later this year -- I do think people are going to have to expect higher prices. "I dont think its going to be the case that in five years time, you're not going to be able to buy roses, but I do think its going to be the case they are going to be much more expensive." So in conclusion? Infratech / Fairfax media An Australian startup will soon export its groundbreaking floating solar technology to the U.S., helping to improve the water quality and reduce water evaporation in a severely drought-affected Californian town. It will be the second large-scale floating solar plant built by Sydney-based company, Infratech Industries, which successfully installed and trialled phase one of a four-phase system at a water treatment plant in Jamestown in South Australia. Advertisement Infratech CEO Rajesh Nellore said the system at Jamestown, which went live last year, generated up to 57 percent more energy than a rooftop solar system and also helped to improve water quality and reduce evaporation while restricting algal blooms. He said phase one of the project, which would eventually cover five basins, was now self-sufficient. How it works The panels are lying on the water body and they attract the sun, but they can use the water to cool themselves down, Nellore said. What happens with land-based solar or rooftop solar is that when it gets very hot, it starts to lose efficiency -- it produces less power -- its contrary to what we might think. We would think that when its hot it would produce more power, but its actually producing less. So if you can use a water body to cool the panels down, so they dont lose efficiency, theyre at a constant efficiency level, which is an advantage over land-based. Advertisement In Australia, this was the first floating solar plant. A rapid expansion The Jamestown system has been so successful that Infratech has already expanded operations, and landed a contract to build and export an even larger system to the drought-affected town of Holtville in Southern California. The soon-to-be-built one megawatt floating solar system, which will be modular, will consist of 276 rafts, 3576 panels and 12 treatment pumps, and will generate an estimated 20 percent more power than a fixed land-based system. It will also power the towns new water treatment facility, save water from evaporation and reduce the local authoritys reliance on fossil fuels and treatment chemicals. We are in a pre-construction phase right now -- it is being built as a modular kit and much larger than what we built in Jamestown, Nellore said. Its about three times bigger -- its a megawatt project essentially. Sometime in the next three to five months, it should be operational. Advertisement The Jamestown floating solar project generates 57 percent more energy than a land-based system. Holtville Council member David Bradshaw said the system would enable Holtville to save viable farming land while reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. Our decision to use Infratechs floating solar system means we are not losing valuable farmland to massive solar farms; we can use three existing ponds and save our soil for increasing our capacity to produce crops, he said. Bradshaw said the panels would also stop water loss from evaporation. Were in the desert, and we lose more than 1.5m of water a year to evaporation while typically only receiving around 7.6cm of rain annually, he said. Also, our main source of water, the Colorado River via the Hoover Dam, is currently in drought. As the floating solar system is on water, it can also withstand seismic activity prevalent in the southern Californian region. Advertisement Alternatives to land solar While floating solar systems do exist elsewhere in the world, Nellore, who has a background in the automotive industry and headed up Peugeot and Citroens Indian operations, said he and business partner Felicia Whiting came up with the concept of the self-cooled panels while looking into options for traditional land-based solar. We wanted to have something that brings more benefits and is decentralised, rather than a very centralised structure, he said. When you look at farmers and land-based solar, most of the farmers are busy selling off their land to developers, so we came up with this, with our partners -- a solution that allows solar to be deployed on water bodies, so you dont use valuable land. It brings multiple benefits -- in this cost-driven world that we live in, unless you offer more than one benefit no one is really interested. So, we are offering not only power on site, but also giving the water evaporation savings and water remediation possibilities -- so, when you offer multiple benefits, people at least want to listen to you, and take that leap of faith and do something different. Advertisement Infratech CEO Rajesh Nellore. Super-sized energy efficiency Nellore said the Jamestown system offered more efficiency than land-based solar. The efficiency is more, its about 57 percent more on average, because its got tracking -- the panels can follow the sun, its got cooling so is more efficient, and its also got concentrating systems (mirrors) to redirect light back on the panels -- its a mixture of those three that help you achieve higher efficiency, Nellore said. Whiting said the water savings were also significant. "For a one megawatt plant, that's about 70,000 kilolitres a year, she said. That's a big saving and it's also a revenue for any host water utility to save that water and on-sell it." There is also the potential for similar systems to be employed by remote or rural communities to ease their reliance on grid, or non-renewable, generator power. Nelore said some of the benefits of being based in Australia were our strict building codes -- if you can get it past our building regulations, it can pretty much pass inspection anywhere -- as well as our harsh, sun-drenched climate. Networking provides knowledge Nellore said Infratech was staffed by only two employees -- himself and Whiting -- but they worked with revolving teams of specialists to develop, build and install the systems since the launch in 2012. Advertisement We work as a network organisation -- we do have a number of other companies that work together with us, he said. This is a rapidly changing field -- no matter how many people we employ, we wont be up-to-date with these changes in technology. Its better to have a network organisation with other leading players that can work together with you and help you generate newer, better products. The Jamestown project in South Australia. What it costs While estimates put the cost of the completed Jamestown floating solar plant at $12m, Nellore said that figure was relative. This is a highly customised system, its not standard, he said. Costs depends on customisation, but we are comparable to land-based solar. In the US, there was a water utility that spent $36m buying rubber balls to put on the reservoir to prevent water evaporation, he said. Advertisement These systems could save on water evaporation and produce power at the same time. But $36m is what people in drought-affected areas are willing to pay for water savings. Even countries like Australia dont place a value on the water savings, and unfortunately, when you build energy, you cannot offer it at a higher cost than what you pay for black (energy). While the word 'renewable' and the ideas around it all look very good, people dont want to pay a premium. Its a question of being able to get the cost down to the cost levels of black power. Projects need backing Nellore said for systems such as Jamestown to work, a local body was needed to champion the cause. That system was about 2.5 years in research and development, he said. The council there is in a remote area, and they had a need -- they were paying high power costs, and for us, it was an investment as people want to see how things work first. Its just phase one, but it satisfies the water treatment plant requirements behind the meter. With these projects the community need to buy into them. Advertisement The White House delivered its budget proposal with just enough time remaining for pundits to not read it. New Hampshire is voting today, though we cannot say yet which dude in a pullover zipper sweater will take second. And tomorrow the campaigns switch gears and head to South Carolina, and future civilizations will wonder why, in the span of a day, our most important leaders went from to obsessing over national security to obsessing over corn pone. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, February 9th, 2016: NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY, Y'ALL - Despite the Democratic Socialist-like results from Iowa where all the vote resources were evenly split, Sanders is hoping for a more uneven distribution this time around. Pat Grossmith: "Monday's snowstorm appears to have had little effect on New Hampshire residents heading to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. City Clerk Matt Normand said the tabulators are running smoothly; the lines at the polls have been moving along; and the weather has really cooperated. Polls opened at 6 a.m. in the city and by 8:10 a.m., about 700 people had cast ballots in Ward 1, whose residents vote at Webster Elementary School. A steady stream of voters made their way into the school as exuberant supporters of candidates carried on outside. Ward 1 Clerk Sharon Kelly said there are about 6,000 registered voters in the ward. About two hours after polls opened about 700, or 11 percent of them, had voted." [Union Leader] Advertisement @howardfineman: Here's news about likely #Democratic #NH results: #Hillary putting out word right now about how many #SouthCarolina endorsements she has. Jason Linkins looks at the numbers: "On the Democratic side, there's more firmness, with 64 percent of respondents saying that they've settled on a choice. Of the remainder, 21 percent are leaning toward a candidate, and the level of genuine undecideds has fallen to 15 percent, down from 24 percent previously. Head to head, the last CNN/WMUR poll predicts a blowout win for Sanders by a margin of 61 percent to 35 percent...if Clinton is able to keep it reasonably close. As Daily Intelligencer's Eric Levitz explains, 'if Sanders wins by a margin of 55 to 45 percent, Hillary Clinton will walk away with an even share of New Hampshires delegate' the GOP side of the poll is still looking like an unbaked cake. As the WMUR poll notes, 'Currently, only 46% of likely Republican Primary voters say they have definitely decided who they will support, 24% are leaning toward a candidate, and 31% are still trying to decide.' So, Republican voters have firmed up a little (the numbers in the prior poll were 39 percent, 24 percent and 37 percent, respectively), but they're leaving it late." [HuffPost] It's almost like *he* hates Hillary. (via @AshleyRParker) RUBIO IS A PANICKY GUY - McKay Coppins reports that "to those who have known him longest, Rubios flustered performance Saturday night fit perfectly with an all-too-familiar strain of his personality, one that his handlers and image-makers have labored for years to keep out of public view. Though generally seen as cool-headed and quick on his feet, Rubio is known to friends, allies, and advisers for a kind of incurable anxiousness -- and an occasional propensity to panic in moments of crisis, both real and imagined." [BuzzFeed] Advertisement Enjoy this video of Marco Rubio supporters angrily fighting people dressed up as Marco robots. BERNIE SANDERS REGULARLY ASSOCIATED WITH DEMOCRATS: CLAIM - Also, he frequently took advantage of the facilities, according to this vivid Alex Seitz-Wald story sent to us by the Clinton campaign: "During his 10 years on the Senate, Bernie Sanders has been a regular presence at luxurious Democratic fundraising retreats, according to more than a half-dozen lobbyists, donors and former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff members with whom he attended the events. Sanders most recently appeared at one last July, shortly after he announced his presidential run. Some guests said they were surprised to see the populist crusader at these lavish events and suggested he was probably in it for the free vacation. Senators are flown on a private plane chartered by the DSCC to the retreats, which are held at five-star resorts like the Ritz-Carlton. Sanders was often spotted at the pool, walking on the beach, and at the buffet line. He went on a boat ride off Marthas Vineyard organized by the committee. Sanders was even once spotted chatting sociably for close to an hour with a financial services lobbyist who was in a hot tub while the senator sat nearby." [spits coffee] [MSNBC] [Attack ad voice] Bernie Sanders says he's a friend of American workers, but in 1998, Bernie Sanders withdrew money from a Fleet Bank. Bernie Sanders, taking money from banks. Whose side is he on? paidforbyheylookoverthereBernieisusingthebathroomataMcDonaldswhatasellout [/Attack ad voice] WHAT HILLARY CLINTON SAID TO GOLDMAN SACHS: I LOVE YOU - Ben White: "When Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs executives and technology titans at a summit in Arizona in October of 2013, she spoke glowingly of the work the bank was doing raising capital and helping create jobs, according to people who saw her remarks. Clinton, who received $225,000 for her appearance, praised the diversity of Goldmans workforce and the prominent roles played by women at the blue-chip investment bank and the tech firms present at the event. She spent no time criticizing Goldman or Wall Street more broadly for its role in the 2008 financial crisis. 'It was pretty glowing about us,' one person who watched the event said. 'Its so far from what she sounds like as a candidate now. It was like a rah-rah speech. She sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.'" [Politico] 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 OBAMA SUBMITS LAST BUDGET REQUEST - And, just like everything you did your final semester of college, next to none of it will come to anything. Jackie Calmes: "His $19 billion cybersecurity request reflects a 35 percent increase -- $5 billion -- above current spending. But part of that, a $3.1 billion proposal to overhaul the federal governments aging computer systems, was prompted by a huge embarrassment, the successful Chinese theft of security records on 22 million Americans from the system run by the Office of Personnel Management. The attackers were in the system for more than a year, undetected. They shipped the data out of the federal systems almost daily, also without being noticed...The president also has revived and added to a raft of proposals for closing or limiting tax breaks for the wealthy and some businesses, which would raise more than $1 trillion over 10 years to offset the costs for initiatives including worker retirement savings options, wage insurance, college assistance and early education. Most of those tax increases are likely to go nowhere in Congress, yet a few of Mr. Obamas revenue ideas in the past ultimately have been embraced in bipartisan budget deals to offset the costs of initiatives popular in both parties." [NYT] DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T UNDERSTAND DOGS - That could be because his closest connection to them is the golden retriever pelt on his head. Nick Wing: "For Trump, the lack of oratorical creativity hasn't just led him to speak with a fourth-grade vocabulary. It has tainted his speech like a dog. I know what you're thinking. Like a dog? That simile makes no sense in that context. Dogs don't really taint things. Wouldn't 'like toxic waste' make more sense? Or "like a turd floating in a pool?" Pretty much anything is better than saying 'like a dog.' 'Like a dog' is a stupid thing to say. But it's also one of Donald Trump's favorite insulting comparisons, and like much of his shit-talking game, it's stupid. While people typically use 'like a dog' with phrases like 'shot down,' 'treated' (poorly), 'worked' or maybe even 'walked,' Trump uses the expression to describe behavior that simply doesn't apply to dogs. It's unclear if he's just lazy, or if he's truly unfamiliar with canine behavior." [HuffPost] Alternate headline: Make America Grrrrrrrrrrr-eat Again. BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a dog who will be our boss one day. YEAH, BILL? - Take my wife, please. Jason Silverstein: "Bill Clinton told a crowd of Hillary supporters in New Hampshire he sometimes wishes they weren't married because then he could say whatever he wants. 'Sometimes when I am on a stage like this, I wish that we weren't married' the former president said, according to several reporters on the scene in Hudson...Before introducing his stumping wife, Bill quickly added: 'I dont mean that in a negative way. I am happy.'" [Daily News] PAUL RYAN FEELING THIS POVERTY BILL - Mike Lillis: "Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) and other top Republicans are taking a serious look at adopting a sweeping anti-poverty plan long championed by black Democrats on Capitol Hill. Ryan has told the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) hes pressing GOP appropriators to consider the CBCs strategy of shifting more federal money to parts of the country with persistent poverty Ryan is placing more emphasis on alleviating poverty in a presidential election year when the GOP desperately needs to make inroads with minorities. He has expressed regret about not talking more about poverty during his vice presidential run in 2012 and is seeking to rectify that mistake now that hes the top-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill." [The Hill] COMFORT FOOD - Let this rendition of "Clair de Lune" on the harp soothe your New Hampshire jitters. - The fastest log-based car in the world. - The sea is disgusting. TWITTERAMA @nickbaumann: Sounds like someone really needs to pull back on the Reines, amirite? @simonmaloy: [grinds up early exit poll] [snorts it off mirror] GGGGGGGGGGGGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH that's the stuff @pourmecoffee: Early exit polls: How reading skills are the new currency for the revamped test. [NYT] "Detainees held by the Syrian government are being killed on a massive scale amounting to a state policy of 'extermination' of the civilian population, a crime against humanity, United Nations investigators said on Monday." [Reuters] Advertisement The billionaire former mayor said the current crop of politicians was making "the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters. [Financial Times] WHATS BREWING "His fears, and her assurances, mirror conversations that are playing out increasingly between husbands and wives, children and parents, and others as the population of older Americans swells. By 2050, the number of people 85 and older is projected to triple." [WaPo] For us it was January 2nd, so you still won. [USA Today] "When your internal body clock is off, it can contribute to or worsen obesity, insomnia, diabetes, bipolar disorder and depression." [HuffPost] Advertisement Up to 15 percent of it. [HuffPost] Or what some researchers call "the ultimate arousal for the brain." [WSJ | Paywall] And our hearts. Can she teach us some of these moves? [HuffPost] "In other words, when people win against others, they tend to think they're better, or more deserving. And that thinking helps them justify cheating, since, after all, they're the rightful heir to whatever throne is next." [WaPo] We're totally biased and rooting for Sam Hunt. [HuffPost] For more from The Huffington Post, download our app for iOS or Android. WHAT'S WORKING "Arctic communities are highly vulnerable to climate change, but they can adapt, like Arviat has, according to a recent review of more than a decades worth of academic research looking at Arctic communities from around the world." [HuffPost] For more, sign up for the What's Working newsletter. BEFORE YOU GO ~ How to Snapchat like a teen (it's a scary world out there, you've been warned). ~ We have this year's Oscars class photo. ~ Gigi Hadid released photos of her Vogue cover where she is wearing "mostly Chanel No. 5." ~ These are some "underrated" workout moves we could all do more of. But first, to addressing that whole working out thing... ~ Angelina Jolie showed off three new, ginormous back tattoos. ~ The dangers inherent with shipping chlorine across the country by train. ~ How horror films are getting much scarier. ~ The first lady of Mexico faces scrutiny over the legitimacy of her annulment. ~ The inventor "with more patents than Edison" has died. ~ As Singles Awareness Valentine's Day nears, check out the ten most romantic cities across the country. Send tips/quips/quotes/stories/photos/events/scoops to Lauren Weber at lauren.weber@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter @LaurenWeberHP. And like what you're reading? Sign up here to get The Morning Email delivered to you. When I first met Lama Paljor in person, night had already fallen over the Kalimpong monastery and I was weary from the past nine hours of travel to reach the remote village in the Himalayan foothills. I bent to touch his feet, as is customary when meeting elders and spiritual masters in India. He stopped me, laughing and embraced me in a hug instead. This simple gesture of warmth spoke grandly about the man with whom I was to spend the next three days. I was introduced to Lama Paljor through TRAS, The Trans-Himalayan Aid Society, when I started my business Tibetan Socks one year ago and was looking for a children's education program to sponsor. Lama Paljor, through his private school, provides a free primary education to over a hundred children from the poorest families of his village in Sikkim. Penjo Lo, as the younger monks affectionately call him, became a Buddhist monk at the age of thirteen. His parents were refugees from Tibet and fled to Sikkim, a small Indian state boarded by Nepal and Bhutan. Sikkim has a significant minority of Buddhists who have crossed from the Tibet border to escape Chinese oppression. High in the mountains, multicolor prayer flags silently sing "Om mani padme hum" into the wind, strung from nearly every house and hilltop. It is one of the most majestic places in India, but its villages are home to some of its absolute poorest citizens. Advertisement Ten years ago, Lama Paljor created The Pema Tsel Academy, an English primary school offering free education and boarding for children from the severely impoverished local community. Here, the altitude is so high and the weather so cold, not even sustenance level farming is possible, so the only available work for men and women is laboring on the mountain roads, the conditions of which are so abysmal that deaths from overturned cars are not a rare occurrence. During my time in Sikkim, I witnessed men, women, and children breaking rocks by the side of roads, wielding heavy loads of rubble, all the while breathing in toxic diesel fumes from passing trucks. The pay for this labor is usually 7,000 Indian Rupees a month, or about $100. The families are so poor they don't have the time or means to send their children to school with a lunch. So Lama Paljor instated a free lunch program for all the students, ensuring they have a nutritious meal. Even though the Indian government promises a free school lunch to all children in public schools, it is not unheard of the teacher pocketing the subsidized lunch money. Worse still, sometimes teachers in remote villages don't show up to teach at all. Lama Paljor's heart shines when he talks about his school and students. His face beamed as he showed me photos and videos of the children, smiling in their uniforms, reciting the alphabet and performing traditional dances during assemblies. The educational quality his school provides and the care for its students' wellbeing is unique in rural India. With a solid educational foundation, these children can aspire to a better life than the one of hardship and backbreaking toil of their parents. Advertisement I spent a total of three days with Lama Paljor and, in that short time, was moved by his graciousness, his patience, and his generosity. He exemplified Gautama the Buddha's wisdom in his compassion and the awareness he brought to every subtle action: the way he lovingly folded his red wool shawl after removing it, his unsteady but graceful swaying gait. What stays with me most about Lama Paljor's character was his child-like innocence and wonderment, stopping to look at a tree and asking aloud how old it might be, his laughter and amusement when a tourist posed for photos mid zip-line. In the three days I spent by his side, he was always smiling, his eyes creased in a state of permanent joviality. At the same time, there was a deep calm emanating from the center of his being. He was perpetually unperturbed. MANCHESTER, NH - FEBRUARY 09: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets people as he visits a polling station as voters cast their primary day ballots on February 9, 2016 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The process to select the next Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates continues. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) In the final GOP debate before the NH primary, Jeb Bush attacked Donald Trump for his support of eminent domain, which allows governments to seize private lands for projects for the public good. A day later, Marco Rubio repeated Bush's complaint. Interesting, because as attention turns past New Hampshire, Trump could use eminent domain against Bush and Rubio in Florida. Advertisement In Florida today, coastal residents -- mostly in Republican districts -- are furious that the value of their coastal real estate is being trashed because Big Sugar has blocked the buyout by the state of lands adequate to the purpose of storing and cleansing its pollution. What's worse: a 2014 constitutional amendment approved by more than 75% of voters -- expressly for the purpose of generating a funding source for purchase of environmentally sensitive lands -- has been diverted by the GOP-led legislature. It is the state's worst kept secret: Big Sugar counts on elected officials to continue shifting most of the cleanup costs away from its profit margin and to taxpayers and property owners on both Florida coasts. Historic rainfalls in the region -- as much as five times the average -- caused the state's liquid heart, Lake Okeechobee, to rise so fast and so high that the state and US Army Corps of Engineers have fallen back on the formula that benefits Big Sugar first and foremost by releasing hundreds of billions of heavily polluted water into Florida's estuaries and rivers as an escape valve. There is a solution, and it is along the lines of what Trump supports in principle: eminent domain to provide desperately needed surface water storage and trap this excessive rainfall instead of dumping it like a toxic flood on billions of dollars of coastal real estate values and small businesses that depend on tourism. The mismanagement of Florida's water resources both north and south of Lake Okeechobee could have been fixed decades ago if the policy tool chest had been full, including eminent domain. US Sugar in 2008 actually entered into a deal to sell its lands without any discussion of "takings", but its competitor -- the billionaire Fanjuls -- hold key pieces of property and have been steadfast in their refusal to sell. In fact, US Sugar's only competitor, the Banjul billionaires of Palm Beach, threw their support to Marco Rubio in his single victory to win a US Senate seat in 2010 because his opponent, Charlie Crist, had the temerity of starting the state down the road of buying sugar lands for flood control and cleansing marsh purposes. Advertisement Eminent domain is a frequent target of criticism from conservative and anti-government groups. Both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio toed Big Sugar's line: don't use eminent domain under any circumstance to solve "environmental" problems like the Everglades or the estuaries and rivers. Of course it is not just the Everglades that need help: there is the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and property owners along the St. Lucie, the Indian River, the Caloosahatchee and any business owner whose livelihood depends on tourism. Eminent domain is controversial in Florida, thanks to the influence of major landowners like Big Sugar, dairy farmers, and land speculators. Florida's Constitution recognizes a landowner should not be put in a worse position after a condemnation than before. Full compensation, as the Constitution requires, includes attorneys fees. So, no crocodile tears are due if elected officials decided to use eminent domain in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Bush said in the debate, "What Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose. That is downright wrong." Here is what is downright wrong: that Jeb Bush as governor of Florida was too afraid of Big Sugar to do anything to alleviate the conditions that have rematerialized this winter in Lake Okeechobee watersheds and the disastrous disposal of hundreds of billions of gallons of polluted farm runoff into the St. Lucie River, Indian River and Caloosahatchee. Marco Rubio, when asked, points to his experience in the Florida legislature defending property rights. Neither will admit or explain how their refusal to utilize eminent domain has cost taxpayers and the environment billions of dollars already. Advertisement Trump said that eminent domain was "a good thing" and was necessary to building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. "Certainly, it's a necessity for our country." He was right. He added that the GOP supporters of Keystone Pipeline understand perfectly well that the pipeline they support could never be built without eminent domain. As the GOP campaign focus turns to Florida, Trump should emphasize the policy role of eminent domain, ignored by Bush and Rubio not for ideological reasons but because they would never bite the sugary hands that feed them. My friend Katie was raised in a small California mountain community; she is far more easygoing than I am, which is reflected in our parenting styles. I recall her teasing me for reminding our kids for the 5th time not to run around the swimming pool. "Don't you think they heard you?" "Yes." I replied, "But someone is going to slip and get hurt." "Why do you think you can stop that?" I was stunned by the simplicity of her question. Momentarily confounded, I clarified, "If I remind them then there won't be an accident." She shook her head and laughed, "You really think you have that much control? God is in control." Wrong, I thought silently, it was my job to keep the plates spinning. My demeanor was so naturally intense I avoided caffeine, instead hyper-fueled by anticipating the need to take action and solve problems. Perceiving that I possessed a gift, the ability to "will things to happen," I never expected to meet an adversary I couldn't handle. When heroin infiltrated my carefully managed life, it became uncomfortably but undeniably clear, I couldn't conquer addiction for someone I loved. Although I still aspire to possess superpowers, there is something that has made the feelings of powerlessness palatable and it was initially, totally, undesirable: yoga. A few hours sleep, an occasional glass of red wine, hard core workouts while listening to heavy metal music, and Katie's prayers brought temporary relief from the unpredictability of sharing my life with addiction; from a mood swing to a life-threatening event anything was possible and likely. Functioning in stress overload left me suffering from insomnia and intense neck pain (later diagnosed as bone spurs). Advertisement My boyfriend continually recommended I try yoga, but the concept conjured visions of participants sitting in stillness and silent meditation, both of which were entirely unappealing and contradictory to my type-A personality. After months of his encouragement and the inability to normally lift my head off of a pillow, I attended my first class. I was challenged by the competing demands of listening, physically following along, and trying not to look too awkward. I left intrigued -- maybe yoga had some potential for me? Maggie Townsley is building strength, endurance, and willpower in a Warrior 2 pose During the second class, I appreciated the instructor sharing a personal story. Marissa Hamill, the manager of Core Power Yoga in Point Loma, California, explained that their instructors develop a class theme intended to create a connection. "Our teachers develop a message that is both based on yoga philosophy and applicable to modern life, and then weave it throughout the hour-long class." Focused on breathing, learning the nuances of the positions, and executing poses was demanding. Afterward, I snapped a picture of my tank top, not to share but because I was stunned -- I had never sweat through an entire shirt in my life. Extended side angle pose shown by Maggie Townsley increases endurance and stamina While following the sequences in class number three, I forgot about my "to do" lists, and the worries that had been omnipresent were unnoticeably quiet. The final minute of class is often referred to as the most difficult because of the final pose called savasana, the class lay motionless -- on our backs, palms facing upward with the humid heated air between us -- collectively basked in the moment of relaxation. The serenity was unfamiliar; in stillness sweat dripped from every pore, when I realized a tear (rather than another bead of perspiration) slid down my cheek. If it is so powerful, why not jump right into savasana? Marissa's characterization that most of us function in a state of fight or flight; with so much external stress in our lives, we are in high adrenaline mode most of the time. "The savasana state is what we are all seeking, but it is difficult to get there without the work. In vinyasa yoga, the magic is in how the postures are put together, the hour is cohesive. First warming the body to gain access to a wider range of motion, then moving through a powerful, challenging standing series, to finally cooling down, which is when you receive the benefits of your practice. After all the efforts towards breathing, focusing and moving, the relaxation is earned. In essence the hour is crafted to put the mind and body at ease." Advertisement Let's turn the clock back to 2008. Millions of young people were swooning over Barack Obama, a hip, cool, black first-term Senator from Illinois who, in his bid for the presidency, tantalized them with visions of hope and change. For his infectious optimism and promises of a new, united America he was rewarded with a resounding victory over his Republican opponent John McCain: 365-173 electoral votes and 53%-46% of the popular vote. But leading up to that historic win, the Democratic primary was a real slug fest. While Obama took about 15% more delegates than rival Hillary Clinton, it was Clinton who won the popular vote. It was a truly ugly battle. I can't begin to tell you how many verbal brawls I got into with rabid Obamacon friends who were so drunk on the Kool-aid that they could neither understand or accept my support of Hillary. Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, they leaped head-first into the Obama pool while at the same time drowning in their Hillary vitriol. And their hostility towards her, and those who supported her, grew with each stirring Obama speech. The more he became this transformational political figure, the more she became a tired, shrill symbol of the past. Advertisement But the years passed and the hope and change soon turned into anger and disappointment. The progressives bristled at Obama's stand on marriage equality. That the rich got richer. That he was too militaristic. That he caved too quickly and easily to Republicans on the budget and key elements of his healthcare proposal. While the right called him a socialist, the left accused him of being too conservative. He broke their hearts. Which brings us to Bernie Sanders. The new cool kid in school. The one who inexplicably excites you millennials, and whom you believe transcends politics, despite his establishment credentials as a 25-year Washington insider. You love him. Yet you hate Hillary despite the fact that for decades she's been a passionate supporter of myriad progressive causes including marriage equality, paid family leave, a woman's right to choose, universal pre-kindergarten, universal healthcare and gun control. And that "Bern" you've been "feeling" has made you quite nasty. The social media smear campaign against Clinton has become so toxic and sexist that Sanders himself had to tell the bullies to back off this week. I get your "anti-establishment" fervor, and I can certainly appreciate your passion and idealistic view of the world at this early stage in your voting life. But I'm baffled by your enthusiastic support of a shrill, fairly dull, wonkish 74-year-old white-haired Jewish socialist from Vermont with a grating Brooklyn accent... (full disclosure: I'm a NY Jew)... who rants about income-redistribution, breaking up banks and free health care and college education for all. To borrow from my (also Jew) pal Dave, Sanders is that loud curmudgeonly uncle that you hope doesn't corner you on Passover to ask why you're dating a non-Jew, don't have children yet or chose art over medicine. Advertisement Ever wonder where the next paradise you should run off to is? These 45 travel bloggers have revealed their perfect place from all over the world. NOTE: If you have an extreme case of wanderlust, look away now! These places are beyond stunning! New Zealand - A Broken Backpack "What if Paradise is in Kiwi Land? A volcano. And another smile. Happiness helps me see paradise wherever I go. That time was in New Zealand. " Isla de gigantes, Philippines - The Adventures Of Mama Kach "If beauty was by the beholder we'd all be dead. Beauty is nature" Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique - The Travelling Chilli "The Bazaruto Archipelago is a group of 5 idyllic islands off the coast of Mozambique. The islands are well renowned for their white sandy beaches, tropical vegetation and are surrounded by the most crystal blue waters. For me it's a little piece of paradise since it's not at all overrun by tourists and it's nature and marine life gets first priority in conservation. The best way to get there is by a Dhow, or local sailing boat." Advertisement Roses, Spain - Travelling Buzz "Roses is a little coastal town in Costa Brava, Spain and, in my opinion, it has one of the most scenic coastal walks in Europe. You can not stay numb to the glorious landscapes, endless sea and the beautiful little hidden beaches along the way. It is definitely worth it to escape the big city and head to Costa Brava." Interlaken, Switzerland - Wander With Laura "Taken in Interlaken, Switzerland, the feeling of peace you get looking out at this stunning landscape is incomparable. This view cemented Switzerland in my heart as one of the most beautiful countries in the world." El Nido, Philippines - Two Monkeys Travel Group "El Nido,Palawan is hailed as one of the top island destinations in the Philippines and the world. El Nido is truly a heaven on Earth. Pictures won't do justice to this paradise." Curacao, North America - The Daily Self "I visited Curacao in November 2015 and took a day trip to this tiny uninhabited island where I witnessed the most blue water and white sand I've ever seen! Such unspoiled beauty, I even got to see turtles while snorkelling in the crystal clear waters. Paradise!!" Advertisement Griffiths Island in Victoria, Australia - I'll Be Right Back "I'm a great fan of green meadows, and I loved the harmony of colours on this little island." Engelberg, Switzerland - Bel Around The World "I discovered this little lake while en route to Mount Titlis. If not for our adventurous spirit, my partner and I would not have found such a little heaven on earth! It was absolutely stunning and untouched, and captures the best of nature's beauty." Punta Uva, Costa Rica - Beck What The Hell "Punta Uva is a beautiful beach just a short bike ride (around 10km) outside of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking, and you can even rent the equipment on-site!" Jamaica - Fit Two Travel "Not only is the Jamaican culture amazing, but the beaches of Jamaica are absolute paradise! Who wouldn't want to watch the sky turn purple over the crystal clear water?" Airlie Beach, Australia - Packs Light "Airlie Beach is one of the thousands of beaches in Australia, but it is a well kept secret. Let's just say I want to have my honeymoon here!" Pula, Croatia - Read To Travel "Stop number one on my first solo backpacking trip was Pula, Croatia. A local girl offered to show me around to her favourite spots and brought me to this amazing piece of coastline." Advertisement Whitsundays, Australia - Eight Corners "Paradise to me is turquoise seas, warm waters, a thriving marine life, and white sand...and you can't get any better than the Whitsundays. We went on a 5-day catamaran cruise around the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven Beach--which is in the top 3 of the best sand I've ever seen--the Whitsundays remains one of my most treasured destinations." "Switzerland is a country which must have inspired the great masterpieces of art and literature, it is like a painting come to life, a poem wafting tantalizingly in the air, a sculpture skillfully etched by Nature. One relatively unknown gem where you can listen to the sound of your own footfalls and gaze reverently at the lake and soak in nature is Rapperswil." Little Corn Island, Central America - Big World Small Pockets "I discovered the paradise of Little Corn Island, off the coast of Nicaragua in Central America, when I was backpacking through this crazy continent. Planning to explore this tiny Carribean gem for a week, I fell so in love with the island that I actually ended up living there for a year and not going home!" Catherdral Cove, New Zealand - Enchanted Serendipity "Cathedral Cove (Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve) on New Zealand's north island is simply stunning! Often bypassed for more well-known parts of New Zealand; the 45 minute walk, and few detours along the way make this one of the world's truest paradises. It should not be missed!" Malalison Island, The Philippines - Le Misstache "This is Malalison Island, an unspoiled beach getaway in the Western Visayas part of the Philippines. I could spend a full day here, looking above, observing the vastness of the Earth and how I occupy just a tiny, little space in it. " Advertisement Bodrum, Turkey - The World Pursuit "Paradise is walking around the empty alleyways of Bodrum. Taking in all the beautiful white and blue buildings, surrounded with cobblestone at your feet. " Mai Chau, Vietnam - Willful And Wildhearted "Tucked away in the Northern hills of Vietnam, Mai Chau in an area untouched by tourism and the hustle and bustle of the nation's larger cities. I was fortunate enough to do a home stay with a minority tribe in July 2014, which was one of the most eye opening and life changing experiences I've had to date. I loved it so much I'll be returning this spring!" Shetland, Scotland - Elizabeths Kitchen Diary "My idea of paradise is sea kayaking in flat calm seas under the midnight sun in Shetland, an island archipelago located at 60 degrees North, exploring sea caves and arches along the wild and rugged coast of Ronas Voe." Western Tatras, Slovakia - Next Stop Abroad "Rohace mountains are the only place I am visiting year after year. Not only because of the stunning views one gets from the mountain peaks, but also because of the overall feeling I have during my hike - I always relax & forget about problems, I breathe the fresh mountainous air and meet some deer when I am lucky enough. Besides, what can be be better than a walk around crystal-clear glacier lakes?" Socotra Island - Your Exotic World "Socotra is an island off mainland Yemen. It is called the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean and is famous for the indigenous Blood Dragon Trees. They are not found anywhere else on the planet. This island has 1 road, a handful of locals and remains closed to the world for 6 months of the year due to high velocity winds. It is an undiscovered paradise." Advertisement Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, Colombia - Made All The Difference "The cover of Lonely Planet Colombia doesn't begin to do the splendor of Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona justice. The two days I spent hiking along the Caribbean coast was my favourite outdoor adventure while in Colombia." San Pedro de Atacama, Chile - Authentic Food Quest "If you have ever dreamed about going to the moon, visit Moon Valley (Valle de la Luna) in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Here you will "walk on the moon" and experience the best star gazing ever!!" Stavanger, Norway - Sidles Adventures "Stavanger, is one of the most stunning paradises around the world, it is the most beautiful place we have ever traveled to. Not just for it's natural beauty, but also, the feeling of awe you get when you're at the top of the Pulpit Rock looking down at the Fjords." Kuang Si Falls in Luang Prabang, Laos - Adoration 4 Adventure "These are the Kuang Si Falls hidden away just outside of Luang Prabang, Laos. This beautiful area is known amongst backpackers, but is just starting to be discovered by more tourist, so go soon to enjoy the serenity!" Kauai, Hawaii - Dreaming And Wandering "In Kauai (Hawaii) I hiked the strenuous 18 km Kalalau trail to put my tent up on Kalalau beach, under the shade of a kamani tree, whose nuts taste like almonds and near to the waterfall providing fresh water and a pleasure of refreshing shower. This incredible place a real slice of forgotten paradise and getting there is like going back though the time..." Advertisement Sidi Ali Lake, Morocco - Passport and Plates "This is Sidi Ali Lake in Morocco. I stopped here on a road trip to Meknes and couldn't believe how crystal clear the water is...it looks straight out of a postcard!" St. Lucia, Caribbean - Rour Loud "For me St. Lucia fit my idea of a perfect tropical Caribbean vacation. At the cove Gros Islet we were treated to turquoise waters, sandy beaches and pure luxury." Kelimutu National Park in Flores, Indonesia - The Sea Is My Cup Of Tea "Kelimutu national park in the mountains of Flores is a sacred place to the local village people and I can totally see why. They believe the souls of the village people rest in the crater lakes and that this is the reason the lakes keep changing colours without a cause. There's no other places that ever made me so quiet and peaceful inside as this hidden gem did. And did I mention there was no one there?!" Whistler, Canada - Last Fiasco Run "My paradise is Whistler, Canada. The only way to describe it is Never-Never Land for grown ups! Not only is it beautiful, with its lakes and mountains, it attracts travellers from all over the world creating an amazing community. It allows adults to become kids again, spending their days exploring the forests or mountains; hiking, swimming, skateboarding, snowboarding and even white water rafting, there is never a dull day." Holetown, Barbados - What Kirsty Did Next "My stunning paradise was in Holetown in Barbados. We went for a stroll along the beach and about a five minute walk from our hotel was this magnificent stretch of beach. There were only two other people swimming in it so it was pretty secluded. The colour of the water was breath-taking!" Advertisement Kraljevica, Croatia - Legging It "Often people think of paradise as tropical hideaways but we discovered Kraljevica in Croatia. Waking up every morning to this stunning view, walks around beautiful bays and sunsets to die for pure paradise." Salamina Island - Hepburn and Handbags "Salamina Island is the most local spot we could find- hardly any English speakers, no tourists, just locals enjoying a day at the beach. Our plans to visit Hydra fell through (oversleeping...) so a travel agent at our hotel suggested Salamina. It was the perfect, completely unexpected, paradise!" Meeru, Maldives - Tourism With Me "Meeru is an island in the Male atoll, a paradise of white sand beaches, a coral reef, parrot fishes and coral reef sharks. Maldives equals to relax, being comfortable and having time for yourself." Andros Island, Bahamas - Cosmos Mariners: Destination Unknown "If paradise means deserted white sand beaches, scuba diving, fishing, and crystal clear water, look no further than Andros Island, Bahamas! Explore the once forgotten (and now rediscovered) village of Red Bays, tour the Androsia Fabric Factory for the perfect souvenir, and go hunting for the real Captain Morgan's gold at Morgan's Bluff. " Big Sur, California - FOXYOXIE "I recently discovered paradise in Big Sur, California. The undisturbed miles of redwood- and fog-trimmed coastline between San Simeon and Monterey feel like a private and secluded oasis, with majestic, picturesque boulders on one side of the winding road and brutal ocean waves crashing into the rocks below. Standing on the edge of a cliff jutting out above the tumultuous waves - mere steps away from a plunging death - one cannot help but feel incredibly small, yet completely and utterly free." Advertisement Alonissos Island, Greece - Pinay Flying High "The island of Alonissos in the Sporades region of Greece is definitely a paradise that I wouldn't mind going back to over and over again. With it's beautiful beaches and its charming Old Chora, it's definitely a piece of heaven on earth." Isla del Sol, Bolivia - Gamin Traveler "Isla del Sol to me was paradise, because it was a very a beautiful and deserted island. It's an Island in Titicaca Lake, almost 4 000 meters altitude, and with very little population." Santorini, Greece - The Mad Orange "This is from the Suites of the God Hotel on the cliffs of Santorini overlooking the Caldera, it is absolutely stunning. There is something so unbelievable about waking up to this view every morning and something so peaceful about sitting having a glass of wine with that view. " Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam - Yokomeshi "This photo was taken at Long beach on Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam and is completely my definition of Paradise!" Rovinj, Croatia - Jet Setting Fools "Perched on a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea is the idyllic town of Rovinj, Croatia. The distinct Croatian charm is entwined with an Italian flare. Twisting cobblestone streets lead to up to a hilltop church and down to the rocky shore surrounded by translucent water. The sunset was taken from Rovinj's seaside restaurant, Monte Carlo." Advertisement Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia - Boozy Backpacker "The smaller, less populated neighbor to party hard Koh Rong, I actually found this island completely by mistake when I got off the ferry to the latter. On a moonless night, you can see glowing bioluminescent plankton." Porthcurno, Cornwall - Anita Hendrieka (me!) "Just one of Cornwalls beautiful beaches, this place looks like something you would find in Greece and not the UK! " Have you found a paradise you would like to share? Leave a comment below! Also on HuffPost: Forty-five years ago, my father, Joe Colombo, the alleged boss of the "Colombo" crime family, and founder of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, was gunned down among a crowd of thousands in one of the most highly publicized shootings in New York City's history. To the media and the FBI my father was head of one of New York's infamous Five Families. To the Italian-American community he was an organizer and leader. To his family he was a great husband and father. As Joe Colombo's son, who was responsible for my father's death -- and that the efforts he made for the Italian-American community have gone unrecognized -- has weighed heavily on me for years. I finally decided I would write a book to address who my father really was, and to address who should be held responsible for his death. The book is based on my personal life beside my father, my in-depth knowledge surrounding his shooting, and what I've come to learn was a suspiciously flawed investigation into his death. At the time of his shooting, my father had made enemies of the FBI, the NYPD, and various members involved in organized crime. In many ways, my father's shooting parallels the assassination of JFK. After all the shock and finger pointing, an official investigation embraced a "lone gunman" theory. And in both cases, the general public had serious doubts. Similar to JFK, there has never been any question as to who pulled the trigger, but the question has remained for over 45 years who pulled the strings behind the trigger man? My father's life was a classic tale of rags to riches; he was a young boy from the streets of Brooklyn, who in 1971 was voted New York Magazine's top ten most powerful men in New York and was also featured on the cover of Time. Tragically, at the height of my father's influence, on June 28, 1971, he was shot while standing inside a press barricade at Columbus Circle a few hours before an Italian-American civil rights rally. The shooter, Jerome Johnson, was immediately subdued and handcuffed by police. Johnson had posed as a cameraman with official press credentials. Minutes after Johnson was subdued he was shot and murdered while still handcuffed and surrounded by a sea of NYPD blue. Advertisement Jerome Johnson being carried to an ambulance after being shot by an unidentified shooter while in the custody of the NYPD. Chief of Detectives of the New York Police Department, Albert Seedman, led the investigation and within days made statements to the media alluding to the conspiracy involved in the shooting and it being solved. An excerpt from my book Colombo: The Unsolved Murder: "On Friday July 2nd four days after the shooting, Seedman called for a special conference with the city's Chief Inspector Codd and Deputy Police Commissioner Robert Daley. Seedman had just returned from a meeting with a source in Brooklyn and reported excitedly, 'It was a Mob hit! According to my information the contract was let by Gambino himself. The price was $40,000. Furthermore, Colombo is supposed to be the first in a series of hits. Next on the list are Mrs. Colombo and the two oldest sons. It's to be a reign of terror, the object of which is to destroy both the League and the Colombo Mob completely.'" After a year of investigation the NYPD closed my father's case saying Johnson was a lone gunman. This was a theory inconsistent with Chief Seedman's previous certain belief that Johnson had not acted alone. The case was closed even though evidence showed Johnson was not capable of planning and executing such an elaborate plot alone. Johnson's immediate murder after he shot my father also went unsolved. The truth is Chief Seedman still believed this was all a mob hit as he later printed in his book, Chief. Daniel P. Hollman, then the Chief of the Joint Strike Force to Combat Organized Crime, agreed Johnson had not acted alone, but disagreed with Chief Seedman about the shooting and stated to the press he believed Johnson was not a mob affiliate. He noted how organized crime members would never send a crazed gunman shooting into a crowd of women and children. Like Chief Seedman and Agent Hollman, I have not been convinced Johnson was a lone gunman. I believe, just as they both did, there was a conspiracy in Columbus Circle the day of my father's shooting. The information in my book leans towards a more sophisticated plot arguing that certainly a conspiracy existed, but not one perpetrated by elements of organized crime. I know that not to be true. In the decades since the shooting not one mob informant, and there have been quite a few, has corroborated Chief Seedman's or the media's assertion it was a mob hit. An FBI plot to kill my Father? Possibly. Law enforcement's involvement? Most probably. Why the FBI? Why law enforcement? My father was a number one target of the FBI at that time. He had organized the Italian-American community in a way never seen. Within one year my father, through the Italian-American Civil Rights League, forced the U.S. Justice Department to eliminate the use of the words "Mafia" and "La Cosa Nostra", he shut down production of the film The Godfather, and rallied over 200,000 people in pickets and protests of the FBI. Despite the FBI's belief my father was a mob boss, he had criminal cases against him dismissed, and even a conviction reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States with the help of a brilliant young lawyer, Barry Slotnick. My father was beating the FBI in the street, with public opinion, and in court. My father (left with megaphone) and me (far right) organizing a protest of the FBI. The 1960s and 70s were a turbulent time in our nation's history. Evidence of FBI illegal activities leaked in 1971 when an FBI field office in Pennsylvania was broken into and the "Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI" obtained internal FBI memorandum, which outlined an aggressive program of domestic spying. The program known as COINTELPRO (short for Counter Intelligence Program) was exposed. Agents executing the COINTELPRO program had their direct orders from then FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, and were required to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, neutralize, and otherwise eliminate" anyone viewed as subversive. There is no question my father was viewed as subversive. I personally experienced how the FBI treated him, myself, our family, and anyone close to us. I have lived with the question for over forty-five years of how far would Hoover and his agents go to "eliminate" a target such as my father? Advertisement FBI internal memorandum demonstrates the FBI's concerted effort with at least one major media outlet, the New York Daily News, to vilify my father and destroy his reputation by running, "an article concerning Colombo and his associates, which will show just what a 'bum' he is". The Daily News agreed to leave no "trail" leading back to the FBI. These efforts by the FBI failed. My father's influence and power continued to grow. Is it hard to believe that the FBI, under then Director Hoover, would escalate the scale and scope of its efforts and utilize a more permanent method to destroy my father? I interviewed an ex-CIA case officer and asked him whether the FBI would eliminate someone of my father's position and he confirmed during those times agents infiltrated organizations, conducted dirty tricks, psychological warfare, and used the legal system, break-ins, stalking, assaults and beatings for harassment. They inflicted physical, emotional, and economic damage, and he believed they would not stop short of using assassinations to neutralize their adversaries. Today we not only hear more and more about illegal activities of law enforcement but also are shown hard evidence. My book finally reveals the major inconsistencies and suspicious sandbagging of the murder investigation that certainly would lead a reasonable person to question whether, as I long have, that elements of the NYPD, or the FBI were either involved in the shooting, or at the very least didn't want it solved. For example, Chief Seedman told the media during a press interview that the German pistol used to shoot my father was untraceable. Matching serial numbers in the ballistics report from the shooting, which was buried for forty years and only recently authorized for release, are revealed in the book saying something much different. It is clear the gun was in fact traceable, and, strangely, was missing from an NYPD evidence locker. Also suspiciously strange, infamous FBI informant, Greg Scarpa handed FBI agents a photo of a woman who eyewitnesses had identified as Johnson's female accomplice. She was being sought out by the NYPD for questioning for assisting Johnson with my father's shooting. However, the FBI buried her photo and did not turn it over to the NYPD. A clear obstruction of justice and evidence that they did not want this case solved. Is It Too Late For Madeleine And Gloria To Register For The Draft? The gender card keeps getting dealt Bill Clinton is lashing out today at the supporters of Bernie Sanders' campaign. The former president seems as upset today at women supporting Bernie as he did eight years ago when Barack Obama was picking up momentum. After all, Bill Clinton was the self-styled "first black president" Back then he ridiculed Obama and his campaign as "a fairy tale." For reasons too well known to discuss again, Bill Clinton is an unlikely feminist. But one feminist icon wannabee and one feminist icon are out there. At Saturday's Republican debate, the presidential contenders found rare agreement among themselves: women should register for the draft. But draft registration ends at age 45. That rules out Hillary Clinton supporters Madeleine Albright (79) and Gloria Steinem (82). Advertisement "We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you young women think it's done. It's not done," opined Madeline Albright, campaigning for Hillary in New Hampshire. "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other." Madeleine (Hillary, Bernie: first names, please) suffered great discrimination as a woman, at least as she tells it, and things remain awful. Too bad that as Bill Clinton's United Nations Ambassador and then Secretary of State (Hillary was the third woman to hold the post), Madeleine did not confront Arab countries on their treatment of women. These same nations would later fund Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. Why rock the boat? Or the camel? As for Madeleine, she was born in 1937 in Prague, Czechoslovakia to parents who, after fleeing Europe in 1941, then decided to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. They never told her about it until adulthood, the story goes, and she apparently never told others. Perhaps she thought being a Jew and a woman was too much to bear. Albright studied at Columbia University in the 1960s; by 1976 she was in the West Wing of the White House as the National Security Council's liaison with Congress. I guess if she were not a victim of gender bias, she would have advanced sooner. Albright became involved with what Donald Trump would call "losers." At Columbia, she had been mentored by Zbigniew Brzezinski, who would later, as President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, urge Carter to replace the Iran's pro-Western reformist Shah with the Islamist Ayatollah. This move ushered in the Islamist revolution. Madeleine later was foreign policy adviser to losing Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and losing presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. She got her political start with Ed Muskie in his losing 1972 presidential campaign. Advertisement Madeleine suffered so much gender discrimination that as soon as the Democrats finally won back the presidency in 1992, Bill Clinton put her on his transition team and then appointed her to high posts in his administration. When Madeleine this weekend offended women who support Bernie, this was not the first time she was off-message. For example, in August 2012 when she was campaigning for President Obama's reelection, she was asked: "How long will you blame the previous [Bush] administration for all of your problems?" She replied, "Forever." And here's a memo to Bernie: Your signature issue is Wall Street. Did you know that more than a decade ago, Albright, as a board member of the New York Stock Exchange, approved a $187.5 million compensation package for NYSE chairman Richard Grasso? Alas, she is not the only inelegant Hillary endorser. Also campaigning for Hillary a couple of days ago in New Hampshire, feminist icon Gloria Steinem was asked why Hillary does so poorly among younger women. "When you're young, you're thinking, 'Where are the boys?' The boys are with Bernie." (What will the LGBT caucus say to Gloria's affront to lesbians?) Gloria ignores that it's age, not gender, that defines voter preference in the Hillary-Bernie race. Both young men and young women favor the 74 year-old socialist, midway in age between the younger Hillary and older Gloria, because times have changed. The new generation favors ideology over sleaze. Gloria and Madeleine are in a time warp - still playing the gender card. As we have seen with the sexual assaults on women in Europe, especially in Cologne, Germany, the older progressives favor trendy multiculturalism, even over the rights of women. When Bill Maher asked Gloria about the treatment of women in the forty countries that have Sharia, she said the problem was "monotheism." She said that "Muslim feminists" are pointing out that "Mohamed was a reformer." Advertisement One self-described Bernie feminist faulted Madeleine and Gloria for "trying to undo feminism with a vengeance." Gloria posted on Facebook: "I apologize for what's been misinterpreted as implying young women aren't serious in their politics." Who are role models for women "serious in their politics"? How about, from the last generation, Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and Straight Talking Golda Meir? These were strong women of moral clarity and unquestioned integrity. Does anyone believe for a minute that Thatcher or Meir would have enabled or condoned Benghazi and then, when questioned about the genesis of the attack, exclaimed, "What difference does it make?" And consider whether Hillary Clinton is a feminist. She tagged along with her husband, striking a Faustian bargain with Bill Clinton. In exchange for stature and influence, money and power, she enabled his predatory sexual behavior and organized intimidation of his accusers. Madeleine, Gloria, Hillary ... demanding full equality. Just think how different their life would have been if they had been drafted. Last Wednesday, President Obama visited an American mosque for the first time in his eight year Presidency. While POTUS has visited several prominent mosques and Muslim institutions around the world, his visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore was a historic moment for much of the American Muslim community which has felt a rising tide of bigotry unseen since-and in ways perhaps even eclipses-the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I must confess that I haven't had the opportunity to watch his entire address, but the parts I have seen are quite moving (and I particularly love that he praised the fantastic work of Chicago's Inner City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) and its founder and Executive Director Rami Nashishibi, who I had the pleasure of meeting my junior year at Vanderbilt). As the Republicants take turns piling on the small-minded bigotry and political chicanery-inspired xenophobia-and as the debate within the Muslim-American community rages on whether this gesture was a meaningful contribution to combatting Islamophobia or simply a case of "#TooLateObama"-one thought soon emerged at the top of my concerns: It's nice that we can have this debate, but I REALLY hope he visits the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin next. Communal Carnage: Not Just Something That Happens "Over There" If that house of worship doesn't ring an immediate bell: On August 5, 2012 a 40 year old White Supremacist entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and went on a rampage. Six worshipers were murdered in cold blood: 5 men and one women, ranging in ages from 39 to 84. Four more people were injured before police were able to respond and injure the killer, after which he took his own life. Advertisement As a shattered community came together to mourn and heal-and a nation recoiled in shared horror-there was to be some comfort in knowing that a man who has sadly become an expert healer in the aftermath of such tragedies would arrive to relieve the pain. Yet instead of President Obama addressing the grieving congregation, the equally eloquent FLOTUS went in his stead. While this was a beautiful and highly appreciated gesture, many members of the SIkh community, our nation, and the world at large could not help but ask: Why not the President as well? The Day Bottom-Barrel Politics Trumped Compassion The truth soon came out: Because the President would soon be running for re-election, and yet another photo of POTUS wearing a turban (what a "smear" on his competency and integrity!) simply would not do. If the full gravity of that absurdity has not sunk it, let me break it down for you. We live in a country where our President couldn't pay his respects to a grieving congregation-who were victim-survivors of *yet another* gun massacre-simply because (and you'll have to hang in there to really follow this one): 1. Out of respect, he would have to wear a turban 2. Which is religious attire for Sikh men... 3. ,,,Who are mistaken for "Muslims" and "Middle Easterners"... 4. ...By ignorant, racist, bigoted haters... 5. ...Who hate all Muslims, Middle Easterns, immigrants, and minorities in general. Advertisement Thus leading to an absurd situation where: A. One of the most famous American-born Christians B. Whose life has been meticulously documented and is practically a matter of public record C. Could somehow be "mistaken" as a "secret Muslim" and/or "foreign-born" D. By unrepentant, unbreakable, force-of-nature racists. Or you know, the exact target demographic who obviously would have voted for him otherwise. Better "Too Little Too Late" than "Never, Nothing" What happened four years ago was a travesty on so many levels-including being a stunning, mind-numbing indictment of large parts of society (To be particular and specific: White Supremacist society). Yet the Wisconsin Sikh Temple Massacre did not come out of nowhere, and it does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, this massacre was borne out of over a decade of anti-Sikh bigotry, after Sikh Americans became "collateral damage" of a concerted campaign of anti-Muslim and anti-Middle Eastern hysteria, driven by numerous mainstream media and politicians who continue to benefit from the politics of racism and xenophobia. It many ways, you can say it's a bonafide American pastime. But it's never too late to make amends. Even four years after the heart-breaking fact, it's far better for "too little, too late" than "nothing, never. Go do the right thing and visit our Sikh cousins-and our fellow Americans-next. On January 15th, undocumented and black immigrants organized the first ever Undocumented and Black Convening in Miami. BAJI staffer Benjamin Ndugga-Kabuye was able to participate in this gathering and interview a participant whose immigration journey traces major themes in the current movement for black lives. For the purpose of this interview they will be known as A. What was your immigration journey into the U.S. like and what are some of the barriers you faced? A. - I was originally born in the Dominican Republic. But we moved to the British Virgin Islands because it was a more hospitable place for movement work. My father, who had left Cuba when he was doing queer liberation work, was still involved with that. My parents were sort of weird for back home. My parents were queer identified, my mom did sex work, and my parents were in a polyamorous relationship and they were open about all of those things. So with the heavy Christianity and Catholicism they were looked down upon people even burned down our house once. Even though I did not feel safe I still grew up in a home where my parents taught me to never be shamed and never hide any part of who I am. Advertisement Coming from a small place we had a certain trust for the police and other authority figures. This was one of the things we had to learn when we came to the U.S. Seeking out the police for safety led to our family being detained and being sent to Miami Dade detention facility. When we got back my older siblings got into gang life in Miami and for years my mother left the family after getting addicted to drugs. At the time I was going from school to school, living on the street, getting harassed by the police and trying to stay out of the gang life. After all these separations my father committed suicide, broken after all the difficulties we had faced. From that point I moved around with my younger siblings. Eventually moving to the mid-west with a relative before finally reconnecting with my mother in Georgia. What challenges have you faced in your immigration journey and in the immigrant rights movement? A. - For me being Black has always meant exclusion, especially being from the Deep South. People always think immigration is a Mexican or Latino problem. They don't think of African people as immigrants. They don't think it's their neighbor. You end up being silenced and erasing part of yourself depending on the group you are in. This has been a lonely experience. Especially being Caribbean and not being able to speak Spanish. If I go to any function on immigration or supporting the end of deportations I cannot even participate because I can't speak the language and who is speaking Patois? I also have reached out to national groups from Latino and brown organizations and I hear nothing back from them. There is no space. Advertisement Also for me it was different. A lot of the isms people talk about in regards to ableism, sexism and homophobia I didn't really see that because my family was so strong and shielded me from those things. So when I came here and I was funky and didn't identify with the gender binary those things hit me in the face. It's been a very lonely path trying to understand oppression With gender and sexuality within my family it was fine and whatever you did and loved was fine. Then coming here and understanding the idea of being in the closet I had to come back and learn what the closet was! I also had different foster parents whose values were completely different from mine. When I was a teen I was arrested for prostitution. So my gender came into play here when they asked if I was assigned male or female at birth. At the time I was very angry and so I just said I was born a person. I was pissed and this led to me being placed in solitary confinement especially since I wouldn't allow them to strip-search me. How does your story and experiences contribute to the struggle for black liberation and how can people engage Black immigrants? A. - I think it helps open the eyes of other black people so you see how complex we are. We always seem to fight injustice when people are being killed as opposed to the people who are around us. So for me I'm dealing with homophobia, sexism, misogyny and white supremacy and I'm alive. The current movement isn't looking to shift resources right now to people who are alive. The current movement is fighting for people in the past and for the future and with no concern for the present. No one is concerned about shifting resources to me right now. I don't know how people want to just keep surviving this way. My story challenges people to recognize who they are and understand intersectionality within Black people. Advertisement We don't need to just fight for Black straight men but we need to fight for women, women who need power, femmes who need power. I think this is the legacy I want to help build, that the Black Lives Movement is a movement that is inclusive to all Black lives. At the convening we asked for donations for undocumented people who needed housing and other basic needs. So people can support that. Also people should support organizations that fight for Black immigrants like the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and Southerners on New Ground (SONG) who are working with Black immigrants. "Henceforward, the interests of one will be the interests of all, for in concrete fact everyone will be discovered by the troops, everyone will be massacred --or everyone will be saved." - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth The coordinators of UBC can be contacted at Info@undocublack.org. BAJI and the Black Immigration Network will hold Black Love Beyond Borders, another gathering of the entire Black diaspora April 8th in Los Angeles. Illustration by Nancy Lisandra Cepero Dominico Text: "Cada persona tiene su lugar en el mundo que, no ha de ser necesariamente aquel donde nacio, sino donde logra multiplicarse y crecer." "Every person has their place in the world. This place is not necessarily where one was born, but rather where one is able to multiply and grow." Advertisement Female -- and male -- cartoonists didn't see it as a laughing matter when the Angouleme International Comics Festival in France presented its annual list of nominees for the 2016 Grand Prix award. The all-male list of 30 candidates for the prestigious lifetime achievement award engendered protests heard round the world. The Festival is the biggest and oldest comics event in Europe, founded in 1973. BD Egalite (Women in Comics Collective Against Sexism), an organization of 200 female professional cartoonists, drew a hard line and called for a boycott (girlcott?) with an image of Olive Oyl, exclaiming "We Do It Too!" and flexing her muscles. In support of the movement, many of the male candidates withdrew from the Festival's nomination list. Advertisement Organizers originally responded that they could not remake history. Au contraire. Women cartoonists may not have been included in recorded history but they have been producing worthy work for years. They just weren't recognized, as in most professions. Initially, in response to the boycott, Festival executives offered to add six women to the list. Ultimately, as the protest momentum grew louder, the organizers capitulated and announced there would be no shortlist for the prize this year. Members of the academy would have a free vote for their own nominee. Claire Wending was the one woman among the three finalists for the 2016 Grand Prix. In the award's 43-year history, only one woman has been recipient of the award, Florence Cestac, a French artist, in 2000. This sexist experience is reminiscent of the "Masters of American Comics" exhibit at the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, 2005 to 2006. The exhibit featured 14 men and no women American comic artists. In response to protests, both museums added programs with female cartoonists. The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) was founded in 1946. It is "the worlds largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists." (www.reuben.org) Pioneer women cartoonists lobbied hard for membership and three women were admitted in 1950. Today NCS membership is 63 females versus 419 males. Advertisement Lynn Johnston was the first female to receive the coveted "Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year" in 1985. Cathy Guisewite, known for chronicling single career women confronting life's challenges in "Cathy," won in 1992. Roz Chast, staff cartoonist at The New Yorker with over 800 published cartoons, won in 2014. Johnston was the first and only female NCS president, 1988-1989. She drew "For Better Or For Worse" from her family experiences. This year's Reuben Awards will be held May 28 in Memphis, TN. The award nominees will be announced in March. The cartoonist career path for women is no joke. Stay 'tooned! In 2012, Obama and Romney spent $11.75 per registered voter during the election, reports, El Toro. Despite the decline of broadcast TV, more than half of the campaigns' advertising budgets got dropped on TV ads. And thus far in this election cycle, the pattern continues. While digital ad spend is expected to top $1 billion this election cycle, that's still nothing compared with broadcast TV spending. TV ads will cost all 2016 campaigns an estimated $5.8 billion or 51 percent of their total spend, reports Borrell Associates. With evidence clearly showing that TV ads simply aren't worth their high price tag, a larger percentage of this money would be better allocated to digital advertising. Political TV Ads: No Longer Worth the Cost Think about a typical night in front of the TV: how closely are you paying attention? Between second screen distractions (smartphones and computers) and on-demand streaming services, TV ads are unlikely to be viewed at all. Technological advances make it easier than ever to ignore TV ads; tired of seeing yet another Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz ad? Simply hit fast forward. TV channels are saturated with major political advertising buys partially because of the "equal time" rule. This rule states that if a station allows one candidate to buy a 30-second ad slot, then all other opposing candidates running for the same office must be allowed to buy competing slots. In short, an ad war ensues. This is especially true for folks living in hotly contested battleground states. Live in Georgia? Your state's electoral votes are likely going Republican. But just across the border in Florida, the state's votes could go either way, hence the onslaught of ads. Advertisement Are there any benefits to TV advertising? For less-known candidates running for local offices, TV ads on the local news could give these candidates a big name recognition boost. In general, however, the benefits of TV ads are extremely limited. Candidates end up engaged in an ad war, buying ads because their opponent did, rather than making strategic targeted ad choices. From Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" ad and Reagan's "Morning in America" to George H.W. Bush's "Willie Horton" ad and Obama's "Yes We Can" ads, presidential advertisements have been a mainstay of public political discourse. That said, there's little evidence that the majority of ads actually sway voters. Ads are overwhelmingly negative, which only serves to further alienate voters from the political process. We still vote, but we do so almost out of frustration and with a sense of relief that the election process will be ending soon. Are TV ads really worth this chunk of the budget, or would money be better allocated on digital advertising? Despite past iconic TV ads, in general, TV ads don't work. "There's very little evidence that ads make much of a difference in a presidential campaign," political scientists Diana Mutz told NPR during the 2012 election. "Most people are shocked when they learn about what the likely effects are relative to the huge amount of campaign resources that gets poured into advertising." Advertisement Remember that stat of $11.75 per voter? Well, that's for every voter who turned out in every state, including plenty of states that say only a handful of political ads. If you look at the-spend-per voter averages in battleground states, the numbers are even worse. Close to $1 billion in ads means campaigns are spending about $1,000 per persuadable voter, reports NPR. Digital Political Advertising: A Better Way? There's no denying that digital campaign spending is turning heads. While 2016's estimate of $1 billion is large, by the next presidential election in 2020, this number will is estimated to top $3.3 billion. Digital ads are playing a more integral role in politics. Reaching Millennials requires digital campaigns. Millennials spend 3 hours per day on their phones, which adds up to 47 days per year, according to El Toro. Additionally, targeted digital ads based on Internet protocols can grown name recognition and increase campaign awareness faster than TV ads alone. Campaigns could also benefit by putting content marketing best practices to work for their candidates. Rather than hurling character attacks back and forth, what about using content to actually talk about the issues? (I know, that's a crazy idea, but it sure would be refreshing!) Consider this idea from Brian Wallace, the Founder and President of NowSourcing: "Businesses have great success when they take complex issues, fact and figures and break them down into manageable, digestible pieces with infographics. Why aren't candidates doing the same for talking about health care, education or economic policies?" I'd personally rather scan a fact-based infographic or even watch a YouTube clip than sit through another TV ad this election season. Advertisement Bottom line: I have kept the Tuesday, June 9, 2015 page of the New York Times on my desk open to page A20 since I first read this headline: Man Held at Rikers Jail For 3 Years Without Trial Commits Suicide at 22 by Michael Schwirtz and Michael Winerip Advertisement Below is the picture of Kalief Browder and the story of how he hanged himself at his parents' Bronx home where he returned after spending almost three years at Rikers Island NYC jail. More than two of those years, Kalief spent in solitary confinement. He was accused of stealing a backpack. Jennifer Gonnerman wrote two articles about Kalief Browder in the New Yorker magazine which brought his case into the spotlight. Kalief, a 16 year old high school sophomore, and the youngest of seven kids, was walking home late one night with a friend after a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx. They were on Arthur Avenue not far from Kalief's home by the Bronx Zoo. I know the street well. I went to college at Fordham in the Bronx. We'd run over to Arthur Avenue to get a slice of brick oven pizza or a great cup of coffee and pastry. Kalief and his friend were stopped by a squad of police cars. The police told the boys that a witness said they'd robbed him. But the police found nothing on them. The accuser, sitting by in a squad car, said he meant they'd taken something two weeks ago. The boys were put in a police car, and told they'd probably be able to go right home. They were taken to a holding cell in the police station, and then to court. The judge set a bail of $3000 which Kalief's parents couldn't meet. Kalief said he was innocent of any crime. He had taken nothing. Two days later he was being driven across the water to the infamous Rikers Island jail. IStock Kalief Browder never stood trial or was ever convicted of a crime. Nonetheless he spent the next three years of his young adolescent life, most of it in solitary confinement, on Rikers Island. On October, 2010, Kalief was attacked by a group of inmates. In September 2012, a guard threw him to the ground and brutally abused him. There is available footage of both of these incidents obtained by New Yorker magazine. Eight times in jail, Kalief tried to commit suicide. The court offered to release him if he would plead guilty. Kalief refused. He said he was innocent. Finally after three years, the prosecutors dropped the charges and Kalief Browder was released. Photo Paul Prestia Kalief returned home at the age of 20, having lost almost four years of his life. He studied and passed the GED the first time he took the test. An anonymous donor offered to pay his tuition for community college. A civil liberties lawyer named Paul Prestia befriended Kalief and filed suit on behalf of Browder and his family against various law enforcement officials and agencies. Prestia helped him to get a job. Celebrities like Jay Z and Rosie O'Donnell paid attention to Kalief and his story. Advertisement Being home is way better than being in jail, he told Gonnerman. But in my mind, right now I feel like I'm still in jail because I'm still feeling the side effects from what happened there. I feel like I was robbed of my happiness. Deep down I'm a mess. Kalief could not overcome the effects of jail and the more than two years of solitary confinement: the fear, the pain, the paranoia, the flashbacks. Gonnerman reckoned that he started to recreate the conditions of solitary confinement in his room at home. After trying for two years to deal with the world, one Saturday, Kalief pulled an air conditioner out of the next room, took the cord and hung himself. There are words like Freedom Sweet and wonderful to say. On my heart-strings freedom sings All day everyday. There are words like Liberty That almost make me cry. If you had known what I knew You would know why. Langston Hughes Senator John McCain talked about his solitary confinement in North Vietnam as being by far the worst part of his imprisonment; far worse than the physical torture. In fact, it is increasingly known that the effects of long-term solitary confinement are extremely detrimental to the psychological and physical wellbeing of any human being. Recent studies confirm that solitary confinement can cause extreme psychological, physical, and developmental harm. For children, who are still developing and more vulnerable to irreparable harm, the risks are magnified - particularly for kids with disabilities or histories of trauma and abuse. While confined, children are regularly deprived of the services, programming, and other tools that they need for healthy growth, education, and development. Advertisement President Obama referred to Kalief Browder when he said that he was banning solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prison, and told his story. However, this new ban would not have helped Kalief since Rikers is not a Federal prison. In fact, very few juveniles are in Federal prisons. Last January, New York City officials agreed to stop placing most inmates age 21 and younger in solitary. And a lot of the changes we are making at Rikers Island right now are the result of the example of Kalief Browder, said Mayor de Blasio of New York last year. So I wish, I deeply wish we hadn't lost him - but he did not die in vain. The Egyptians believed that the greatest immortality was that your name live forever to eternity. Let's all keep Kalief Browder's name and sacrifice alive. As Black History month starts. Let's add Kalief Browder's name to the list of heroes who died so that others might live a better life. Let's start a Kalief Browder Memorial to fight for the laws against solitary confinement of juveniles in all fifty states in jails and prisons at every level of our penal system. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Tennessee Williams dwelled in Key West for a stretch. He kept away from the clutches of the literary crowd, to their endless mortification, instead focusing on playful sailors, and writing and painting, and his great friend David Wolkowsky. I wish I could have heard them banter. When author/journalist John Hersey traveled to the beyond, where automobiles are of no use, he bequeathed his 1969 robin's egg blue convertible Mercedes Benz to David. Since I've come to town the car, a beauty if you love cars, as I do, has sat idle. At last road-ready David and I puttered that spectacular car down Duval Street, from where it starts at the Atlantic Ocean. We motored especially slowly, counting up the admiring stares, giggling as we scooped compliments. We might as well have had Elvis with us. Car lovers waved, one saluted others cheered and whistled. We were the parade. To turn around we pulled into the Pier House Hotel with its views of the Gulf of Mexico, built by David. He pointed out a cottage by the water, The Chart Room Bar. "I moved it from up the wharf, it was something to do with a fishing boat." Signature David. This winter the weather has been lousy, tourists are glum in their sweaters and jeans. It has rained like a mother for days here on the Rock, except when David and I went cruising the main street, the sunshine came out and he put smiles on people's faces. A colleague related this sad story about the death of his elderly mother. Nearing the end of her life, she was in a coma in the hospital and it was clear to him she would not survive. He had always promised her she would not have to endure extraordinary measures to prolong her life if there was no realistic chance of recovery. The doctors asked if he wanted her to go on a respirator. He responded with an inquiry about her chances of survival. "There's always hope," they told him. He consented to the use of the respirator. She died two days later. "I felt I lost twice," he told me. "Once when she died and another time because I didn't honor her wishes." Advertisement What does this have to do with the returns of active managers? Part of the financial media's agenda, it appears, is to give you "hope" that there's a guru out there who can reliably and consistently "beat the markets." Otherwise, you will succumb to the data supporting evidence-based investing, costing the mutual fund industry billions in profits. It's not just shills like Jim Cramer who engage in this deception. Reliable sources of financial information join in with enthusiasm, adding misplaced credibility to the process. A recent example was a fawning article in Financial Advisor. It told the compelling story of Albert Nicholas, fund manager of The Nicholas Fund (NICSX), who the magazine anointed as its "No. 1 ranked fund manager." According to the article, Mr. Nicholas "has topped the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by an average of 2 percentage points a year for the past 40 years and has beaten it every year since 2008." The article used Mr. Nicholas as an example of stock pickers who can "beat their benchmarks" over the long haul, thereby debunking the views of "some prominent academics" who question the value of active management. Sounds very impressive. Maybe you should consider using Mr. Nicholas or another adept stock picker to manage your portfolio. That seems to be the point of the article. Advertisement Most investors don't have the quantitative skills or experience necessary to take a deeper look at the returns of The Nicholas Fund. Fortunately, Tom Allen and Mark Hebner at Index Fund Advisors don't suffer from that disadvantage. When they analyzed the returns of The Nicholas Fund, they came to a much different conclusion. Here's what they found. Improper benchmarking The Morningstar-assigned benchmark for The Nicholas Fund is the Russell 1000 Growth Index and not the S&P 500. It's misleading to compare the returns of this fund to any benchmark other than the Russell 1000 Growth Index. Since 1979 (the beginning of the index) The Nicholas Fund beat the returns of the Russell 1000 Growth Index in some years and unperformed it in 15 other years. In 1999, the fund was down more than 30 percent relative to its benchmark. Over the entire period, from 1979 through 2015, it did have an average "alpha" (outperformance) of 0.79 percent. Luck or skill? Allen and Hebner calculated the "t-statistic" (a measure of statistical significance) of the fund's alpha to ensure that they weren't "being fooled by randomness." They concluded: "We can be less than 20% confident that this performance is in fact a display of skill and not just random luck." At this point in the analysis, we know there are two things missing from the article in Financial Advisor: Advertisement 1. When you use the correct benchmark, Mr. Nicholas did not outperform for 40 consecutive years. 2. The average outperformance (alpha) of The Nicholas Fund is most likely due to luck and not skill. It gets worse. Style drift Over time, The Nicholas Fund shifted its portfolio from small-cap value stocks to large-cap growth stocks, then to large-cap value stocks, back to large-cap growth stocks and now mainly to large-cap value and large-cap growth stocks. The analysis found that, when compared to the entire market, The Nicholas Fund, on average, has been "slightly smaller and more value oriented." When these factors are taken into account, the fund's alpha is reduced to a minuscule, and statistically insignificant, 0.04 percent.* I am not suggesting Mr. Nicholas isn't a fine fund manager, but the hype about beating his benchmark for 40 consecutive years clearly doesn't withstand scrutiny. It's not impossible to find an active fund manager who will "beat the markets." It's just that the large odds against doing so make it unwise to try. * This alpha was calculated using a Fama-French three-factor regression. Dan Solin is a New York Times bestselling author of the Smartest series of books, including The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read, The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read and his latest, The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read. Advertisement John Kerry, the US Secretary of State came close to revealing his true thoughts when he was accosted by two Syrian aid workers at a reception in London after the collapse of the Geneva talks last week. The Syrians accused him of doing nothing to protect civilians from the onslaught they were facing in Aleppo. One of the aid workers, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her organization, told Middle East Eye that Kerry replied: 'Don't blame me - go and blame your opposition." Kerry blamed the government offensive on the opposition walking out of the talks. Kerry got flustered in the encounter: "What do you want me to do? Go to war with Russia? Is that what you want?" the aid worker said Kerry told her. Kerry then anticipated three months of bombing during which time " the opposition will be decimated." Advertisement Kerry's off-mike encounter deviated significantly from the official line. This was that Russia and Iran had offered Washington a ceasefire. Kerry's remarks differed also from the State Department's mantra that the brutality of Assad against the Syrian people had helped foster the growth of the Islamic State group. Apparently now, Syrians who resisted Assad's brutality were responsible for the barrel bombs being dropped on them. After multiple avowals that Assad's army was on the point of collapse and after the ill-fated CIA training programmes, Syrian rebels are being sold down the river by the country that urged them to rise up five years ago. The Deraa protests started peacefully. To that, all witnesses attest. Four factors turned those protests into an armed uprising: the brutality of the regime's response, Assad's decision to release jihadis from Sednaya Prison, an act which "islamised" the opposition, the Libyan intervention, and the intervention of foreign powers - Iran and Saudi Arabia. The scenes today on the Turkish border are direct consequence of Obama's "intervention-lite" in Syria - a drip feed of weapons - but only 16 bullets per fighter per month. The Free Syrian Army has reportedly stopped receiving weapons for four months. Barack Obama boasted he was leading from behind in the Libyan intervention. That has changed in Syria. He is wringing his hands from behind. Advertisement There can be little doubt that Kerry's policy is twisting in the wind as a result of the Russian intervention. That much was evident from Kerry's meeting with Riyad Hijab general coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee, the body formed in Riyadh in response to American pleas for unity. Kerry told Hijab that talks must begin before the bombardment stopped, that there was no timetable for Assad's departure; that the objective of the talks would be nothing less than a national unity government; and that the failure of the opposition going to Geneva would mean US cutting off aid to the opposition. Michael Ratney, US Special Envoy to Syria, attempted over to smooth things over by claiming there had been a misunderstanding caused by bad translation. But Hijab understood Kerry all too clearly. Kerry's Damascene conversion took place in four stages. The first was Assad's chemical attack on opposition positions in Ghouta, in Eastern Damascus, which paved the way for Russian mediation which persuaded Assad to give up his stockpile of chemical weapons. This gave Russia a good argument to use with Kerry who refused at the time to recognise Assad's authority: If Assad was legitimate enough to negotiate with over the surrender of his chemical stockpile, he surely had to remain as head of a transitional government. Either way he had to be recognised as the de facto head of state. This is the logic Kerry has now accepted. The second was Mosul, a city held by four divisions of the Iraqi army trained by the US to the tune of $25 billion which was captured by 350 ISIS fighters. The third was the Russian intervention on October 30 and the final nail in the coffin of Kerry's Syria policy was the attacks in Paris in November. Gradually Kerry began to see Assad as the lesser of two evils. Kerry bought into Sergei Lavrov's line that Russia had saved Damascus from falling into the hands of IS. Kerry has come dangerously close to seeing the Syrian conflict as a binary fight between two forms of ruthless dictatorship - Assad and the Islamic State group. This is exactly how Assad himself, Russia, Iran and Arab autocracies in Egypt and the Emirates and Jordan, frame the conflict. And it is one of the main reasons why the Islamic State group is growing from strength to strength. Advertisement To see the civil war through this prism, you have to persuade yourself that the opposition to Assad consists exclusively of Salafi Jihadi extremists, supported by the Wahabi doctrines of Saudi Arabia and the imperial conceit of Erdogan's Sultanate in Turkey. You have to persuade yourself that the Syrian rebels, like IS, want to impose a brutal theocracy on a secular state. You have, in short, to airbrush out of this landscape the faces and views of the majority Sunni population. You have to turn a deaf ear to the testimony of 4.6m refugees registered with the UNHCR. Nor are they the last. Another exodus is on its way in Aleppo. There are 150,000 civilians in rebel held eastern Aleppo and up to 250,000 others in the area. 70,000 have crossed into Turkey as a result of the Russian bombing and government advances and 31,000 are waiting at the border. The Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that 600,000 could be heading towards Turkey. Why do they flee? Whom are they fleeing? Are they forced out by Jihadis imposing Sharia Law ? Are fleeing the warm embrace of a liberal, secular multi-confessional republic, as Assad likes to present himself as leading? If the Syrian army is a disciplined force, as its apologists maintain, why are hundreds of thousands of civilians so terrified of being liberated by it? I spent a week in the refugee camps on Jordan's northern border asking these questions, going from tent to tent in search of answers. The following is a representative sample of the replies I got. Meteb was a civil servant, the head of the transportation department in Baba Amr. Homs became the epicentre of anti-government protests, after protests in Deraa had been quelled by a large scale military operation. A Free Syrian Army brigade formed by defecting Syrian Army officers ambushed government forces around Baba Amr in October 2011 and defended the neighbourhood .When an Arab peace mission failed - the Syrian army hid their tanks under fake sand dunes to conceal their presence from the monitors , witnesses claimed - the army launched an offensive in February 2012. Advertisement "For six months there were no arms whatsoever. People only started using arms when they witnessed the brutality of the regime. The police would undress the women, force them to strip and put them on the tanks for people to watch." Meteb said. Meteb's life was saved by an office commanding the operation: "They ( the Syrian Army) went through our village from house to house, arresting or shooting. They wanted to teach the area a lesson. I was one of 16 who were taken away by the commanding officer. I don't know why I was spared. It was God's will. All the rest were sprayed with machine gun fire. They shot people in their homes and left their bodies there to rot. Many of my cousins and the women in my family were killed. 1661 people were massacred on that day." Each refugee had a precise date etched in their mind. Meteb's was February 2012. Anud's was 6 December 2013. This is when she got out with her husband and eight children by moving at night from village to village. She remembered: "They put a man up against a fence and used him for target practice. The soldiers actually took bets on who would hit him." Mohammed recounted how two security guards were caught, strung up and dismembered with a chainsaw. Anud said: "The army comes first followed by the Shabiha ( sectarian militias paid by the state) . We have no army any more. We have Iranians with their machetes. They just slaughter. If you surrender to them , they just slaughter you. I saw it with my own eyes. they chop off your right arm, or your head.there is no longer a Syrian army. the Iranians are the ones who are doing this. They are alien. They steal our goods. If you are tempted to defend yourself, they kill you, after that they loot your house and set it on fire." Suleiman who fled his village 27 kilometres from Aleppo, said: " The village is surrounded by mountains. We had no armed men, no terrorists. On 3 December 2012 the airforce dropped 42 barrel bombs on us and fired Grad rockets. About 1500 people were killed." Advertisement Farhan, a farmer from countryside of Homs said: " We are farmers. We did not go after the regime. The regime came after us. They slaughtered us. If the regime came to provide protection, why did they bomb us, why did they lay siege to us, why did they stop the bread coming through?" Samar was driving with her husband Said in a car with their four children when they drove into a checkpoint. Said was taken away. That was three years ago :" My husband was a farmer . I hope in God that one day he will come back. He is 37." The stories go on and on. Tent after tent. A report by the Human Rights Council of the UN gave people like Samar little hope. It found the Syrian government carried out "massive and systematised violence" in its prisons and detention centres which amounted to "extermination". Here are two snippets. "In the Air Force Intelligence Branch in Aleppo, a detainee suffered severely from an infected wound in his leg sustained during torture. Unable to stand up, he was eventually placed in the corridor outside the cell, receiving no medical care. After a few days, fellow detainees observed that he was dead. His family was later able to obtain the body through unofficial channels. Due to marks of torture and the severe emaciation of his corpse, his family could first only recognise him by an identifying tag" the UN report reads. "In 2014, a detainee held in a centre under the control of the 4th Division of the Syrian army had his genitals mutilated during torture. Bleeding severely and left without treatment, he died three days later. A detainee of a Military Security branch in Homs witnessed an elderly man being severely beaten, and then hung by his wrists from the ceiling. The guards burned his eyes with a cigarette, and pierced his body with a heated, sharp metal object. After hanging in the same position for three hours, the man died. Advertisement The UN did not spare al Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliated rebel group either. It stated: "On 9 July 2015, a Nusra-led alliance of armed groups captured the Abu Al-Douhour airbase (Idlib) from the Syrian army. Approximately 70 soldiers were executed on the runway, with Al-Nusra publishing photographs of the corpses." You get one word answers when you ask the Syrian refugees in Jordan, many of whom are spending their third winter in tents, what would persuade them to return. Yasin, a builder who did not take part in the uprising and who lost three of his cousins in barrel bombs said: "Peace and Security." Could the Syrian Army provide that? Yasmin stared at me as if I were mad. Was there any way Meteb could live under the control of the Syrian Army? "No. Everyone here will tell you that." With a population of 80,000 al Zaatari, Jordan's biggest camp is now the size of a small city. There are tens of thousands outside. Meteb thought a bit longer: "If there was a genuine national reconciliation, provided those who committed these crimes were brought to justice. We know the regime is ultimately responsible for these crimes. If no national reconciliation is achievable , it is impossible to co-exist." Advertisement Assad has lost his legitimacy forever as far as these people are concerned , to say nothing of the majority of the population. There is no ceasefire nor government of national unity in waiting that can undo this political fact. So, too , has the Syrian State, its army and its institutions lost much of their authority. These survive only through foreign intervention, that of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Fars, the official Iranian news agency, has stopped bothering to maintain the fiction that the Revolutionary Guards are present in Aleppo as "advisers". It recently reported the deaths of General Mohsin Ghajarian and six "volunteers". AFP report that more than 100 Iranian troops have died since the start of the Russian bombing campaign in October last year. Volunteers load a vehicle with bottled water at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 in Flint, Mich. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is defending how his office responded to an email flagging a potential link between a surge in Legionnaires' disease and Flint's water. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Americas Coast-to-Coast Toxic Crisis I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids health could be at risk, said President Obama on a recent trip to Michigan. Up there was Flint, a rusting industrial city in the grip of a water crisis brought on by a government austerity scheme. To save a couple of million dollars, that city switched its source of water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a long-time industrial dumping ground for the toxic industries that had once made their home along its banks. Now, the city is enveloped in a public health emergency, with elevated levels of lead in its water supply and in the blood of its children. The price tag for replacing the lead pipes that contaminated its drinking water, thanks to the corrosive toxins found in the Flint River, is now estimated at up to $1.5 billion. No one knows where that money will come from or when it will arrive. In the meantime, the cost to the children of Flint has been and will be incalculable. As little as a few specks of lead in the water children drink or in flakes of paint that come off the walls of old houses and are ingested can change the course of a life. The amount of lead dust that covers a thumbnail is enough to send a child into a coma or into convulsions leading to death. It takes less than a tenth of that amount to cause IQ loss, hearing loss, or behavioral problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the government agency responsible for tracking and protecting the nations health, says simply, No safe blood lead level in children has been identified. Advertisement President Obama would have good reason to worry if his kids lived in Flint. But the citys children are hardly the only ones threatened by this public health crisis. Theres a lead crisis for children in Baltimore, Maryland, Herculaneum, Missouri, Sebring, Ohio, and even the nations capital, Washington, D.C., and thats just to begin a list. State reports suggest, for instance, that "18 cities in Pennsylvania and 11 in New Jersey may have an even higher share of children with dangerously elevated levels of lead than does Flint." Today, scientists agree that there is no safe level of lead for children and at least half of American children have some of this neurotoxin in their blood. The CDC is especially concerned about the more than 500,000 American children who have substantial amounts of lead in their bodies. Over the past century, an untold number have had their IQs reduced, their school performances limited, their behaviors altered, and their neurological development undermined. From coast to coast, from the Sun Belt to the Rust Belt, children have been and continue to be imperiled by a century of industrial production, commercial gluttony, and abandonment by the local, state, and federal governments that should have protected them. Unlike in Flint, the crisis seldom comes to public attention. Two, Three... Many Flints In Flint, the origins of the current crisis lay in the history of auto giant General Motors (GM) and its rise in the middle decades of the twentieth century to the status of the worlds largest corporation. GMs Buick plant alone once occupied an area almost a mile and a half long and half a mile wide, according to the Chicago Tribune, and several Chevrolet and other GM plants literally covered the waterfront of this automotive city. Into the Flint River went the toxic wastes of factories large and small, which once supplied batteries, paints, solders, glass, fabrics, oils, lubricating fluids, and a multitude of other materials that made up the modern car. In these plants strung out along the banks of the Flint and Saginaw rivers and their detritus lay the origins of the present public health emergency. Advertisement The crisis that attracted President Obamas attention is certainly horrifying, but the children of Flint have been poisoned in one way or another for at least 80 years. Three generations of those children living around Chevrolet Avenue in the old industrial heart of the city experienced an environment filled with heavy metal toxins that cause neurological conditions in them and cardiovascular problems in adults. As Michael Moore documented in his film Roger and Me, GM abandoned Flint in a vain attempt to stave off financial disaster. Having sucked its people dry, the company ditched the city, leaving it to deal with a polluted hell without the means to do so. Like other industrial cities that have suffered this kind of abandonment, Flints population is majority African American and Latino, and has a disproportionate number of families living below the poverty line. Of its 100,000 residents, 65% are African American and Latino and 42% are mired in poverty. The president should be worried about Flints children and local, state, and federal authorities need to fix the pipes, sewers, and water supply of the city. Technically, this is a feasible, if expensive, proposition. Its already clear, however, that the political will is just not there even for this one community. Gina McCarthy, the Environmental Protection Agencys administrator, has refused to provide Flints residents with even a prospective timetable for replacing their pipes and making their water safe. There is, however, a far graver problem that is even less easy to fix: the mix of racism and corporate greed that have put lead and other pollutants into millions of homes in the United States. The scores of endangered kids in Flint are just the tip of a vast, toxic iceberg. Even Baltimore, which first identified its lead poisoning epidemic in the 1930s, still faces a crisis, especially in largely African American communities, when it comes to the lead paint in its older housing stock. Just this month, Marylands secretary of housing, community, and development, Kenneth C. Holt, dismissed the never-ending lead crisis in Baltimore by callously suggesting that it might all be a shuck. A mother, he said, might fake such poisoning by putting a lead fishing weight in her child's mouth [and] then take the child in for testing. Such a tactic, he indicated, without any kind of proof, was aimed at making landlords liable for providing the child with [better] housing. Unfortunately, the attitudes of Holt and Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan have proven all too typical of the ways in which Americas civic and state leaders have tended to ignore, dismiss, or simply deny the real suffering of children, especially those who are black and Latino, when it comes to lead and other toxic chemicals. There is, in fact, a grim broader history of lead poisoning in America. It was probably the most widely dispersed environmental toxin that affected children in this country. In part, this was because, for decades during the middle of the twentieth century, it was marketed as an essential ingredient in industrial society, something without which none of us could get along comfortably. Those toxic pipes in Flint are hardly the only, or even the primary, source of danger to children left over from that era. In the 1920s, tetraethyl lead was introduced as an additive for gasoline. It was lauded at the time as a "gift of God" by a representative of the Ethyl Corporation, a creation of GM, Standard Oil, and Dupont, the companies that invented, produced, and marketed the stuff. Despite warnings that this industrial toxin might pollute the planet, which it did, almost three-quarters of a century would pass before it was removed from gasoline in the United States. During that time, spewed out of the tailpipes of hundreds of millions of cars and trucks, it tainted the soil that children played in and was tracked onto floors that toddlers touched. Banned from use in the 1980s, it still lurks in the environment today. Meanwhile, homes across the country were tainted by lead in quite a different way. Lead carbonate, a white powder, was mixed with linseed oil to create the paint that was used in the nations homes, hospitals, schools, and other buildings until 1978. Though its power to harm and even kill children who sucked on lead-painted windowsills, toys, cribs, and woodwork had long been known, it was only in that year that the federal government banned its use in household paints. Advertisement Hundreds of tons of the lead in paint that covered the walls of houses, apartment buildings, and workplaces across the United States remains in place almost four decades later, especially in poorer neighborhoods where millions of African American and Latino children currently live. Right now, most middle class white families feel relatively immune from the dangers of lead, although the gentrification of old neighborhoods and the renovation of old homes can still expose their children to dangerous levels of lead dust from the old paint on those walls. However, economically and politically vulnerable black and Hispanic children, many of whom inhabit dilapidated older housing, still suffer disproportionately from the devastating effects of the toxin. This is the meaning of institutional racism in action today. As with the water flowing into homes from the pipes of Flints water system, so the walls of its apartment complexes, not to mention those in poor neighborhoods of Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, and virtually every other older urban center in the country, continue to poison children exposed to lead-polluted dust, chips, soil, and air. Over the course of the past century, tens of millions of children have been poisoned by lead and millions more remain in danger of it today. Add to this the risks these same children face from industrial toxins like mercury, asbestos, and polychlorinated biphenyls (better known as PCBs) and you have an ongoing recipe for a Flint-like disaster but on a national scale. In truth, the United States has scores of Flints awaiting their moments. Think of them as ticking toxic time bombs -- just an austerity scheme or some officials poor decision away from a public health disaster. Given this, its remarkable, even in the wake of Flint, how little attention or publicity such threats receive. Not surprisingly, then, there seems to be virtually no political will to ensure that future generations of children will not suffer the same fate as those in Flint. The Future of Americas Toxic Past A series of decisions by state and local officials turned Flints chronic post-industrial crisis into a total public health disaster. If clueless, corrupt, or heartless government officials get all the blame for this (and blame they do deserve), the larger point will unfortunately be missed -- that there are many post-industrial Flints, many other hidden tragedies affecting Americas children that await their moments in the news. Treat Flint as an anomaly and you condemn families nationwide to bear the damage to their children alone, abandoned by a society unwilling to invest in cleaning up a century of industrial pollution, or even to acknowledge the injustice involved. Advertisement Flint may be years away from a solution to its current crisis, but in a few cities elsewhere in the country there is at least a modicum of hope when it comes to developing ways to begin to address this countrys poisonous past. In California, for example, 10 cities and counties, including San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oakland, have successfully sued and won an initial judgment against three lead pigment manufacturers for $1.15 billion. That money will be invested in removing lead paint from the walls of homes in these cities. If this judgment is upheld on appeal, it would be an unprecedented and pathbreaking victory, since it would force a polluting industry to clean up the mess it created and from which it profited. There have been other partial victories, too. In Herculaneum, Missouri, for instance, where half the children within a mile of the nations largest lead smelter suffered lead poisoning, jurors returned a $320 million verdict against Fluor Corporation, one of the worlds largest construction and engineering firms. That verdict is also on appeal, while the company has moved its smelter to Peru where whole new populations are undoubtedly being poisoned. President Obama hit the nail on the head with his recent comments on Flint, but he also missed the larger point. There he was just a few dozen miles from that citys damaged water system when he spoke in Detroit, another symbol of corporate abandonment with its own grim toxic legacy. Thousands of homes in the Motor City, the former capital of the auto industry, are still lead paint disaster areas. Perhaps its time to widen the canvas when it comes to the poisoning of Americas children and face the terrible human toll caused by the American century. Last spring, when for-profit Corinthian Colleges abruptly shut down under the weight of allegations of deceptive acts, Corinthian students had a choice under U.S. Department of Education rules: transfer to another school, or receive a "closed school discharge," which would free them from the obligation of repaying the student loans they had incurred at the school. The Department seemed to be steering Corinthian's students toward the transfer option. That may have been because forgiving the loans of all those Corinthian students would have created an enormous expense for taxpayers -- perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars. But because many state and non-profit colleges did not accept Corinthian credits, the Department was advising students that they could transfer to a number of for-profit colleges. Unfortunately, many of those colleges were owned by companies that were, like Corinthian, under investigation by law enforcement for fraud and deception. Those companies and schools included Bridgepoint's Ashford University, Graham Holdings' Kaplan University, Apollo's University of Phoenix, DeVry, Career Education Corp's American InterContinental University, Education Management Corp.'s The Art Institutes, and Alta Colleges' Westwood College. The Department eventually modified its list for Corinthian students to delete a reference to these schools as "viable transfer opportunities" and to note the law enforcement probes, but only after twelve state attorneys general and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) complained. The state AGs wrote to then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: Advertisement By steering unknowing Corinthian students toward these for-profit schools, the Department of Education is setting the students up for the distinct possibility that they will incur substantial additional loans only to be the victims of illegal lending, recruiting, or other practices and faced with yet another college closure. The Department of Education should remove these schools from its website as transfer options and refrain from providing other guidance to vulnerable students encouraging them to consider these schools. In addition, the Department of Education should provide clear and immediate guidance to Corinthian students that, if they transfer their Corinthian credits to another school, they will not be eligible for the option of a closed school discharge (forgiveness) of their student loans... [T]he Department of Education should immediately mail discharge applications to all Corinthian students eligible for the discharge of their student loans. These warnings proved prescient. Many of the schools on the Department's "viable transfer" list are now in precarious financial shape, in addition to facing increased legal scrutiny. And two weeks ago, one of those schools, Westwood College, announced that it would shut down all campuses at the end of March. Advertisement The sudden closing of Westwood and another chain of colleges, Marinello Schools of Beauty, which shut down late last week, highlights the critical need for the Education Department to ensure that students of shuttered schools get accurate information about their future options. Because now there is a growing danger that the schools themselves will start steering students away from their right to a closed school refund. Westwood College, which used outrageously deceptive pitches to attract many of its students, continues to mislead students for its own gain. Westwood, whose operator Alta Colleges is owned by a Boston private equity firm, sent a letter, dated January 25, to its students encouraging them to stay enrolled and lauding the quality and affordability of unspecified "multiple accredited partner schools... that have offered to assist you in achieving your goal of graduation." The letter's author, Alta chief operating office Lou Pagano, adds, heartwarmingly, "Everyone at Westwood College remains focused on your goal of graduation." But actually, of course, not so heartwarming. Because Westwood, which has campuses in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, and Virginia, as well as programs online, seems to want students to choose the option of transferring to another school, which, again, would likely be another for-profit college. Only after Pagano's signature on the letter to Westwood students, in a P.S. that perhaps Alta Colleges hopes that students won't get to, is there any mention that students "may" be eligible for a closed school discharge, and even then it incorrectly states, "If you apply for and receive a Federal discharge, you will forfeit any Westwood credits earned and these credits will not be transferable to a partner school." In fact, as the Department of Education explains on its website, if students get a closed school discharge, they can still transfer credits to a new school, provided they pursue a different program. Advertisement And the likely reason that Alta Colleges wants Westwood students not to elect a closed school discharge is because the Department of Education might be motivated, given a large enough volume of student debt forgiveness claims, to come after Alta for fines to compensate for some of the lost loan money, which otherwise the Department, and taxpayers, will have to eat. This is an approach that the Department has not exercised much, if at all, in the past, but with the growing crisis in the for-profit sector, the volume of students loans piling up, and the Department's increasing determination to hold bad actors accountable, this could be changing. Transfer, depending on the quality of the new school and other factors, may in fact be the best option for some students, but Westwood appears to be steering every student in that direction, for its own benefit. Sources with knowledge of Department procedures say that generally no one in the Department reviews letters that closing schools send to their students, leaving unscrupulous operators to make stuff up. A long-time for-profit industry executive writes me that he suspects "Westwood students are probably about to get shafted. As you know, loans are usually disbursed in two installments for an academic year. January/February starts would have Pell and first half of loans by March. So would students entering the second academic year. The point is that there is probably substantial prepaid tuition that is NOT likely to be honored by other Colleges. The Department probably needs to step in before they close." Alta Colleges has been receiving as much as $338 million a year -- more than a third of a billion dollars -- from U.S. taxpayers. Advertisement The Department still has no webpage posted to advise Westwood students, but it does have one for former students of the for-profit chain Marinello Schools of Beauty, which last Friday suddenly shut down its 56 campuses across the country, after the Department informed Marinello that it was terminating access to federal student aid at 23 of the company's 56 campuses. A Department probe found that Marinello was creating fake high school diplomas for students to make them eligible for federal aid, and forcing students to pay some of their tuition out of pocket while banking their federal loans, among other abuses. Marinello received more than $87 million in federal Pell Grants and student loans in the 2014-15 award year. ("We want you to know that we did everything in our power to avoid this unfortunate conclusion and keep your school open," Marinello said on Thursday in a letter to students. "Unfortunately, the Department of Education's unprecedented and unfounded actions left us with no other option except to close our schools.") At the same time that the Department acted against Marinello, it also suspended aid to for-profit Computer Systems Institute (CSI), which pumped up its placement rates by inventing phony jobs for students. CSI got $20 million from taxpayers last year. To the Department's credit, it has crafted, and updated, its webpage for Marinello students to accurately inform them that they do have a closed school option, in addition to being able to transfer, and it is sending Department personnel into the field to help Marinello students. But it needs to provide comprehensive outreach to these students, reaching them over multiple platforms, including their cell phones. It needs to ensure that the schools themselves are not providing self-interested deceptive information. And the Department needs to stop referring students to other predatory schools. Community colleges and other institutions would make a valuable contribution to addressing this situation if they developed and enhanced efforts to absorb and train some of this student population. Advertisement The Department has now recognized that many students have been deceived and abused by for-profit colleges, and are entitled to debt relief. It has appointed a special master to sort through the claims, and it is in the midst of public rulemaking sessions to develop better rules for the process. But the Department must also stay on top of school meltdowns to ensure that students know what their real options are. Callous, greedy, irresponsible for-profit college owners are likely to continue to shut down schools without warning, without regard to students' interests, and without regard to the law. No doubt the cost to taxpayers from all this debt forgiveness will increase, but that should send the Department itself a clear message as to what it needs to do, at long last. The for-profit college student population -- low-income single parents, returning veterans, and others struggling to build better lives -- deserve better than to be treated like refugees, moving from failed state to failed state, descending deeper into poverty, confusion, and hopelessness. The Department needs to stop treating as too big to fail the predatory companies that are hanging on in Corinthian's wake, causing greater and great damage to students, and wasting billions and billions more in taxpayer dollars. If their abuses and deceptions warrant a cutoff of federal aid -- as the Department just imposed on the smaller Marinello and CSI chains -- then the Department should take decisive action. Meanwhile, both the Department and the failing schools have an obligation to inform students that they can exit this storm and find other means to find a future. The story of the little island that could, and did take on some of the giant agrochemical companies was the backdrop against which the Food Justice Summit in Honolulu unfolded last month. Gary Hooser, founder of the Hawai'i Alliance for Progressive Action (H.A.P.A.) which organized the summit in partnership with the Pesticide Action Network, described how the Kauai delegation went to Switzerland to challenge Syngenta publicly about their harmful agricultural practices. At the Food Justice Summit on Oahu: Gary Hooser, founder of H.A.P.A.(center) flanked by Executive Director, Elif Beall on his right, and Andre Perez whose presentation laid out Hawai'i's struggle for justice on many fronts. Already Kauai is seeing results. Hooser estimates that there has been a 30 percent reduction in land under production. There are bigger buffer zones around the fields currently in use, providing a little more protection from the chemicals that are sprayed routinely by the companies that operate on Kauai. These include paraquat and atrazine, both banned in Switzerland, as well as chlorpyrifos that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be on the verge of banning in this country. The EPA has already taken steps to protect wildlife from the deadly effects of chlorpyrifos. Advertisement Sarojeni Rengam of PAN-AP (center) is also a Steering Committee Member, Asian Rural Women's Coalition (ARWC). Seen here with colleague Devika Ghai from the Pesticide Action Network office in San Francisco, and Bianca Kai Isaki Ph.D.who teaches in the Women Studies Department at the University of Hawai'i, and serves on the board of H.A.P.A. Joining Forces to Fight Corporate Malpractice But more needs to done, locally and globally. Speakers from Switzerland, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria and Hawai'i spoke to community groups across the islands, explaining how, under the guise of philanthropy, small farmers were being systematically cheated. Their outrage was palpable. But there was reason to be optimistic as they described some of the success their activism is yielding. Pix by Patricia Wistinghausen Audiences heard the now familiar stories about farmers being driven into indebtedness by the predatory practices of corporations that control access to seeds. The same companies peddle pesticides detrimental to the health of the community. Those stories hit home a week after the summit as the media reported on the exposure of Syngenta workers on Kauai to chlorpyrifos. The hospitalization of Syngenta workers left many questions unanswered. But it also begged a larger question: why does Hawai'i allow corporations to do on these islands what they cannot do in their own backyard? Advertisement In a recent OpEd, Hooser called for a ban on chlorpyrifos, one of several toxic chemicals that Syngenta uses freely on Kauai . l to r: Eva Schurmann of MultiWatch, Adelita San Vicente Tello of Seeds of Life Foundation, Mexico, and host of the evening, Jonathan Likeke Scheuer, Ph.D. Eva Schurmann, a practicing attorney and activist with MultiWatch, a Swiss-based group said that she wished it was within her power to "throw Swiss companies like Syngenta out of these beautiful islands." She has done the next best thing: she and her fellow activists marched on the Swiss Parliament, carrying a Kauai banner and calling for justice. And they continue to dog Swiss companies around the world, holding them accountable. The Food Justice Summit in Hawai'i was a strengthening of solidarity in a shared struggle. The speakers bore testimony to the value of traditional farming practices that have stood the test of time but were being discarded in favor of the American corporate model. Protect Indigenous Rights, Preserve Traditional Practices Mariann Bassey Orovwuje from Nigeria would like powerful global philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates to back off from their efforts to supplant the sustainable practices of small farmers in Africa with the ideology and practices of corporate America. "Bill Gates does not necessarily know best what African farmers need and want," she said. "Farmers in Africa have long known how to save and share seeds. They know how to irrigate their lands and rotate their crops. But today they are being swindled out of their lands which had been passed down through their families.They are being sidelined by the introduction of Western concepts of land titles, and deals brokered by corporations with local governments in return for promises of services like schools, roads and hospitals that the governments should provide. And those promises are not being kept. Our communities are left landless, cut off from natural water resources, and unable to farm they way they used to," she said. Oruvwuje, a lawyer, gave up a comfortable government job for the work of advocacy as Program Manager of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, and as Coordinator, Friends of the Earth Africa's Food Sovereignty Campaign. Advertisement They came from Switzerland, Malaysia, Mexico and Nigeria to share their stories with the people of Hawaii.Pix by Patricia Wistinghausen The presentations at the Food Justice summit on Oahu built on the foundation of Hawaiian history provided by Andre Perez, co-founder and caretaker of Hanakehau Learning Farm. He spoke candidly about what Hawai'i has lost, both personally, and as a kingdom. He spoke about what it means to grapple with family dysfunction; with the separation from the aina and the pressure of seeing settlers taking over what had once been Hawaiian places of work and play. He also spoke with confidence about rediscovering his connection to the land and what it means to be Hawaiian. "The corporate way is to grow houses on every piece of land. Our kuleana is to take care of the land so that it can take care of us. If we respect how our identity is bound to the land, we will take better care of the planet, and of each other," he said. The encroachment on indigenous rights was a theme picked up by the speakers from Malaysia and Mexico. Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director, Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific (PAN AP), explained how public/private partnerships have provided a smokescreen for land grabs in the Philippines and East Malaysia. Extrajudicial killings of lumad leaders in Mindanao have energized people to demand investigations. In East Malaysia, a Chief Minister was forced to resign in the face of incriminating evidence captured on video. (But Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud thereafter was made the Governor of the state of Sarawak, the very place he is accused of plundering.) Advertisement The work continues, said Rengam, of mapping lands worked by indigenous people so that they have some defense against the corporations who prey on them. Like Sarojeni Rengam, Adelita San Vicente Tello, Director, Semillas de Vida Fundacion (Seeds of Life Foundation) in Mexico and a leader of Sin Maiz no hay Pais (Without Corn there is no Country), believes that a people united will never be defeated. Her coalition kept Monsanto transgenic corn out of Mexico. They organized the free exchange of seeds at fairs to assert their right to be "people of corn," and to continue traditional farming methods. What will we in Hawaii do? Legislators--and the Governor--can, and should exercise the power vested in them to stop what we already know is harmful to these islands and the people who live here. They can simply say NO to the spraying of chemicals that undermine our health, poison our food, and impact the well-being of our children in so many ways. Flag of Syria with vintage old paper texture - Syrian Arab Republic It has lasted already for five years in Syria, and still no light in the end of the tunnel. A lot of talk about a political solution, though on the ground the carnage just intensifies by the day. A civil war long becoming a regional conflict, and recently a worldwide problem with the influx of refugees. When it all started, this blog predicted that the developing conflict will dwarf in intensity and cruelty anything that the Middle East has ever witnessed, and this region, as we all know, has witnessed a lot. Sometimes, even a writer hates to see his predictions materialized. This blog, to start with, was initiated by me in the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring, when I approached the Huffington Post and asked to comment on this volcanic socio/political eruption turned so bloody, and since then, I am privileged to take advantage of the total freedom of expression granted by the editors, and writing a lot about Syria. T Advertisement his is a country which has fascinated me for over 50 years. When I was a member of the Israeli delegation for peace talks with Syria during the Madrid Peace Conference and afterwards, it was almost like a dream realized. To research about Syria, to teach about her, and even to try and make peace. A great package deal, but one which has not led to the hoped-for peace, something which if achieved, would have required Israel to make gigantic concessions. That said, even without formal peace, Israeli-Syrian relations in the last 40 years have been one of the most intriguing in the Middle East. For all these years, since the Disengagement Agreement, which terminated the Yom Kippur war, the Israeli-Syrian border was the quietest of all of Israel's borders. Arab nationalism a-la-Ba'th party notwithstanding, the house of Assad maintained a balance of actual co-existence with Israel. It was the devil that successive Israeli governments have known and come to respect. There was a war by proxies in Lebanon and to some extent by pro-Syrian Palestinian factions, but altogether the two countries were the odd couple of Middle East politics. Formal, full peace though was always a mirage, an unattainable goal, and this is because paradoxically, Syria of the Assads behaved first and foremost as Syria of the Alawites. The sect was really the no.1 priority, so it required the Alawite regime not to go to war with a militarily superior Israel on the one hand, and on the other, to tie Syria to Iran, as part of an unofficial Shi'ite-oriented coalition. Advertisement Bashar Assad proved right, from his perspective, when he turned down most generous Israeli peace proposals in 2007-9, knowing that this would not strengthen his standing among his Sunni Muslim subjects, but ruin his alliance with Iran. If it was ONLY about Israeli interests, this blog would have extolled infinitely the great virtues of Bashar Assad, but it ain't the case. A blog dealing with the toxic issues of the Middle East has to go beyond partisan agenda, and reflect reality, even the most painful one. In the case of Syria, the painful reality is, that a coalition of minorities, led by the Alawites could not indefinitely rule over a Sunni majority. Yes, some of the advocates of Bashar Assad are right, when they mention some prominent Sunnis who are loyal to him, the existence of some Sunni soldiers in his Alawite-dominated army etc., but the situation on the ground is not to be dismissed out of hand. The vast majority of the Sunni-Arab population has turned against the regime. The non-Arab Sunnis, the Kurds, are pursuing their own agenda, and so do the non-Sunni Druze. For Assad to remain the ruler of one Syria may amount to nothing short of a near-ethnic cleansing of the Sunni population. Most of the 11 million Syrians who have been uprooted from their homes and become refugees are Sunnis. A new demographic/geographic balance is being created in Syria, amid unprecedented horrors. Still, Bashar Assad maintains support outside of Syria, being considered the savior of the Arab world in the war against Jihadi Islam. Yes, he fights the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood with all their offsprings, leading all the way to ISIS and AL-Qa'ida, but in the process, he destroys the entire Sunni population. Alawites were the perennial victims of Sunni persecution and sense of domination, but is it a historic revenge now taking place on the part of the historically-oppressed minority? If that is the case, it is a losing battle, regardless of current military successes of the Assad army and foreign intervention, Russian in the first place. What is happening in Syria now is so bad, but if continues like that, many will look back on it in few years time, and miss the good old days of 2016... Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets with officials at the House Of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016 in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) The then Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, in 2008 hammered her for it. 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders repeatedly hammers her for it. Even some have held up Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump opposition to the Iraq war to hammer her for it. The "it" is then New York Senator Hillary Clinton's vote for the 2002 Iraq War resolution. That's the one issue above all others that has driven Bernie Sanders' supporters, and even some liberal Democrats, to rail at Clinton as a hopelessly, hardened war hawk, and vow not to vote for her if she gets the nomination. But Clinton's record on the resolution and the Iraq war is stuffed with as much fiction as fact. Start with the resolution. It did not explicitly call for waging war against Iraq. It demanded that Saddam Hussein permit UN inspectors back into Iraq to determine whether he was indeed ramping up his alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. It gave a hard deadline for him to agree to inspection and failing that authorized military action. It hedged the war call further by emphasizing that the U.S. must continue to push for "further diplomatic or other peaceful means" to get Hussein to comply. It hedged things further by mandating that Bush before waging war tell Congress why a military assault was necessary. Clinton didn't take Bush's statements on Iraq totally at face value. Bush national security advisor Condoleezza Rice swore to her before she voted that the resolution was intended to get inspections going again and not just as a cover to start a war. Advertisement We now know that Bush shamelessly lied about the weapons, and Hussein's aim to make and use them. However, though it was widely suspected that it was all a tissue of lies, given Hussein's hideous and bloody record of invasion, intimidation, and gross human rights violations, there was just enough doubt to make it seem that Hussein was a real threat to blow up the region. This was enough to sell the resolution to 28 other Senate Democrats who along with Clinton voted for it. One of those Democrats could well have been the Democrat who progressives universally hail for having the guts to stand up to the Bush war machine, and parlayed that adulation into a big hit piece on Clinton during the 2008 campaign. That Democrat is, of course, President Obama. Things, though, were not as cut and dry as the adulation for his opposition makes it seem. He did oppose the war. But he did it not as a sitting senator but as a member of the Illinois state legislature. When he was asked what he might have done if he had been in the Senate then, he said he wasn't totally sure and added that he wasn't "privy" to Senate intelligence reports. He emphasized that as an outsider looking in Bush didn't make the case for a possible war. That's a far cry from an unabashed ringing trounce of Bush's war declaration if he had been a Senator then. Advertisement Once Obama was in the Senate it was a different story. Both he and Clinton did not press Bush to scale down the war effort, threaten to cut off funds, or demand a deadline or even a timetable for withdrawal. In fact, in 2004 Obama said that he thought maybe even more troops should be sent in to insure stability. Two years later both he and Clinton opposed an amendment by then Senator John Kerry to start the troop withdrawal from the country. Clinton and Obama voted and acted no different than legions of other Democratic senators who once they backed the Iraq war resolution said or did virtually nothing to stop the death machine once it started rolling and kept rolling during the subsequent years. In time that would change, and as Bush sunk in the polls, and the outrage over the war grew war, the Democrats that caved to Bush on the war became tigers in knocking him and the war. By then Clinton began to openly express doubt about where the war was going and why we were there. She demanded timetables to get out and told supporters and critics that she never intended to vote for a war but for inspections, negotiations and political pressure on Hussein. She pulled no punches in lambasting the Bush administration for "misusing" the resolution to wage war. The fact then is that Clinton voted for the Iraq war resolution based on distortions, deceptions and flat out lies. The fiction is that she voted for a full-blown military assault on Iraq. This makes Clinton at best and worst a willing, naive and misinformed accomplice along with many other Democrats to Bush's hideous deception on Iraq. This does not make her an Iraq war hawk. But that's the noisy refrain she'll have to endlessly hear through the campaign. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is Trump and the GOP: Race Baiting to the White House (Amazon Kindle) He is a frequent MSNBC contributor. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network Last week turned out to be full of surprises for me. And I mean cultural surprises, with dance, music, and politics shared in equal measure. Have you heard about the Marlborough School, a private school for girls in Hancock Park? I was invited to attend a dance performance there, organized by its Artistic Director, Mpambo Wina. The program included various dance numbers, with impressive choreography and elegant costumes for all of these beautiful young ladies. But one dance piece in the program particularly stood out for me. It was called Blue Ride Kandinsky, and it started with all these dancers coming onto the stage holding paint palettes and brushes. Then, for about ten minutes, they proceeded to paint on a huge black canvas a variation of a famous abstract composition by avant-garde Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. And if that is not enough, we in the audience could hear the voice of Kandinsky himself telling us about breaking with traditions of representational imagery for the sake of new, revolutionary abstract art. After well-deserved applause for their painterly efforts, the dancers left the stage for a moment and then reappeared wearing white leotards decorated with a few colorful brushstrokes. Talk about a marriage of music, dance, and painting... As coincidence would have it, I had another surprise encounter with dance last week. This time, it was on the grounds of USC, where I had a hard-hat tour of the construction site of the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center. Advertisement The building is scheduled to be completed by this summer, with classes scheduled to begin in the fall. With William Forsythe --one of the most famous choreographers in the world --as its Artistic Advisor, the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance promises to become the West Coast equivalent of New York's Julliard School. There is one more ambitious cultural project under construction here in LA, this one scheduled to be completed next year. I'm talking about The Wende Museum of the Cold War, currently hidden in plain sight in the southern borders of Culver City. Next year, it will move to the former Armory building in the center of Culver City. I went to the Wende for a lecture about Radio Free Europe and its broadcasts during the Cold War. It reminded me of living then in the Soviet Union, where Voice of America and Radio Free Europe were jammed in major cities. So, those of us who wanted to listen to their broadcasts had to venture a few kilometers out of the city into the countryside. After the lecture, I asked for permission to go into the Wende's storage facilities, packed with statues and portraits of Soviet deities of the past. Take a look at the photo of yours truly smiling in the company of Lenin, Stalin, etc., etc. So my friends, I saved the best --or, should I say, the craziest --for last. This Thursday, February 11, at UCLA's Royce Hall, I will be talking with Maria Alyokhina, member of Russian feminist punk protest group, Pussy Riot. Criticizing policies of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, led to jail time for Maria and another member of the group, Nadya Tolokonnikova. You might want to check out the 2013 HBO documentary titled "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer," as well as Masha Gessen's book, Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, published last year by Riverhead Books, NY. If someone told me four decades ago, when I was still living in the Soviet Union, that one day I'd end up on an American stage with Pussy Riot, I would have called them crazy, absolutely crazy... Advertisement To learn about Edward's Fine Art of Art Collecting Classes, please visit his website. You can also read The New York Times article about his classes here, or an Artillery Magazine article about Edward and his classes here. ___________ Among high-profile Christians making extravagant claims about their favorite politicians are conservative evangelical Rev. Jerry Falwell, Jr. and progressive John Pavlovitz. Because I am positioned on the Christian left, I am particularly disturbed by Pavlovitz, a pastor and influential blogger with millions of followers. I am disturbed that he offers no facts to back up his claim. He exhibits no critical distance between himself and Obama, which any Christian leader needs if he is to have a prophetic voice. Pavlovitz recently said in the Huffington Post that President Obama has "in effect out-Jesused many of his Conservative Christian critics". Obama, he wrote, has "championed justice, equality, and the inherent dignity of all people in a way that closely resembles the stated mission of Christ". Among other claims, Pavlovitz said that Obama has vigorously defended the civil rights of all human beings, has challenged us to be hospitable to refugees and immigrants, and has called out corporate lobbyists and big business special interests that have crippled the middle class and widened the income gap between the richest and poorest. These claims are factually inaccurate. Despite his campaign promise, for example, Obama did not close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base where some prisoners have been held for decades without being charged. Among the detainees' basic rights, which Obama has failed to champion in any meaningful way, are the rights of habeus corpus, a US and international principle providing the right to challenge the legality of one's arrest, and the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution which provides the right to a "speedy and public trial". Then there is the matter of Obama's foreign policy. Jeremy Scahill, a national security correspondent for The Nation and for Democracy Now!, traces the expansion of covert wars. He says that particularly in the Obama administration . . . . we've returned to the kind of 1980s way of waging war, where the US was involved in all these dirty wars in Central and Latin America, in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and beyond. For example, he says, the US and Obama are "using proxies, that effectively are death squads, in Somalia to hunt down people the US has determined are enemies . . . . [and] mercenary forces in various wars, declared and undeclared, around the world." Advertisement Similarly, Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor of the Washington Post, wrote "Obama's Troubling Counterterrorism Allies: Dictators". Hiatt detailed Obama's alarming embrace of Syria's Bashar-Al-Assad, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Kahlifa, and Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov. Hiatt calls Al-Assad the "bloodiest butcher of this young century". He goes on to say that Al-Sisi has "killed and imprisoned opponents with a brazenness Hosni Mubarak never dreamed of," that when Al Kahlifa "cracks down on peaceful dissidents, the United States barely notices", and that Karimov "presides over a closed society of prison camps and forced labor." As for being "hospitable to refugees and immigrants", as Pavlovitz asserts, that has been anything but true of Obama with the exception of his recent welcome of Syrian refugees. Obama supports further militarizing the United States / Mexico border which was militarized to prohibit Mexicans and others displaced by the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA] from coming to the US. Militarization has taken a minimum of 6,000 migrants' lives. Obama has earned the derogatory nickname "Deporter in Chief" among Latinos because under him deportations sky-rocketed, ripping some 2.5 million people from their families. Deportations have left over 5,000 children stranded in foster care and forced other US citizens into exile to be with their deported husband or father. He has deported asylum-seeking Central Americans which has cost 83 their lives, according to London's newspaper, The Guardian. And, according to the Washington Post, his administration failed to protect thousands of other Central American children, placing them in the hands of human traffickers or abusive caretakers in the U. S. As for Pavlovitz's claim that Obama has "called out corporate lobbyists and big business special interests" one needs only to look at his support for free trade agreements [FTAs] to know that is inaccurate. He signed FTAs with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea and has been negotiating vigorously for the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP]. As I demonstrated in my film, The Second Cooler, NAFTA not only pushed some 2 million Mexican peasants off their lands and into migration, it allowed good-paying jobs in the United States to be sent overseas. Displacement of peoples is inherent to FTAs which push people off their lands and out of their jobs in order to fulfill the goal of "opening up markets." Advertisement Economic researchers with Tufts University's Global Development and Environment Institute have projected that the TPP would likely lead to the loss of 448,000 US jobs and cause labor's share of income to decline by 1.3%. This necessarily would increase the gap between rich and poor and widen inequality. The researchers found that while the US job market will suffer the most, the TPP would lead to 771,000 job losses over the next 10 years in the member nations. FTAs, however, are about more than opening up markets, displacement of peoples, and the offshoring of good paying jobs. Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, has called trade deals "backdoor financial deregulation," a "power tool to demolish financial stability policies," and part of the establishment of an "investor-state" system. She concludes that the TPP and other FTAs are mainly about "new rights for corporations and new constraints on governments' non-trade regulatory policy space". You don't have to have a Ph.D. in economics to surmise that it is the middle class that suffers the most from these deals. A couple of weeks ago I was having a light dinner at a restaurant here in town. I have been patronizing the this particular spot of several years. It is one of my favorite places to eat and get an occasional drink. The food is great and the atmosphere is trendy, yet relaxed. I am pretty much a regular and most of the workers know me if not by name, at least by proxy. I pretty much always sit at the bar and mix it up with a couple of the bartenders. Occasionally, we all act like the fool teasing one another. It is all good natured fun. This particular night, there was a substitute bar tender whom I did not know. He was polite and competent but we kept the interaction between us professional and minimal. Sitting beside me were two attractive young ladies who looked to be mid to late 20s. Like me, they ordered light bar food and some drinks. Both women were deep into conversation. I was able to hear the entire conversation as I watched one of the several big screen televisions available. The women sitting directly next to me was informing her friend (I assume they were friends) that according to her mother, her father was apparently going through a midlife crisis. She went into vivid detail with intense examples. Advertisement You might say I was being nosy or eavesdropping. My response to such an assumption is NO I WAS NOT!" Given the fact that we all were sitting so close to one another, it was virtually impossible not to hear what was being said. Her comments led me to the conclusion that both she and her mother were on target with their assumptions. Rather than go into intimate detail or provide tawdry, salacious tidbits about the conversation in question, (which would be tacky and arguably unethical), the cold hard fact is that the situation her father found himself in is probably highly identical to those of many other middle aged men. To be blunt, mid life crisis are often par for the course for a large percentage of men from all walks of life regardless of race, age, class, sexual orientation, religion, educational level. Hey guys, if you are: * Obsessed with remaining youthful * Entering relationships with younger partners * Spending considerable time attempting to become buddies with men considerably younger than you * Suddenly becoming very self critical about yourself *Spending time focusing on unattainable goals * Demanding that your children excel at everything they do *Preoccupied with feelings of eventual mortality *Feeling inadequate or insecure around more successful friends or colleagues *Have developed a nostalgia about your younger years *Abandoned once frugal spending habits for conspicuous consumption *Drinking to the point of abusing alcohol These are just some strong indications that you likely to be experiencing a midlife crisis. You have reached a stage in your life where you are perplexed about many things, including your own self worth. According to many psychologists and psychotherapists, such a journey is very commonplace for many men. The most effective mode for men who are encountering a situation is the following: Advertisement *Acknowledge the Crisis - Confronting the changes happening can help you find a way to move past the crisis *Take a step back and think - Before making any radical changes such as leaving your spouse, buying expensive cars etc... communicate with family an friends. Sometime having an outside perspective can be beneficial. *Seek Professional help - Options could range from various sorts of therapy, medicine and treatment *Move Outside Your Comfort Zone - For men who tend to become stubborn and set in their way by middle age, this is vitally important. Trying new activities, increasing your knowledge base, traveling to new places can all be ideas to consider for moving out of a stagnant routine. * Consider Volunteer Work - Becoming involved with others from different walks of life through volunteering such as working in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, AIDS patients, battered women, lower income children etc... could provide you with context during a midlife crisis. * Talk With Your Family and Friends - Having frank and candid discussions with close family members and close friends can possible help sooth the pain and confusion that often accompanies a mid life crisis There are people out there, including, psychologists, medical doctors and others who question the validity of mid life crisis. Believing the term to be a manufactured myth. Nonetheless, there are many other professionals and average citizens, including myself, who have witnessed others navigate through such dilemmas, acknowledge the reality of such an experience and see nothing "mythical" about it. For all you men (and women) who feel you are enduring a mid life crisis, you must make a genuine effort to utilize whatever resources you possess - economically, psychologically, socially etc... to confront the problem with the determination of a bulldog. It will be worth your time to do so Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, biting into a velvety piece of chocolate is likely a non-negotiable activity on your February 14 agenda. In fact, Americans will eat more than 58 million pounds of chocolate in the weeks leading up to one of the sweetest days of the year. No surprise there, right? We love our chocolate! But what you may not love, or even be aware of, is the reality of what it takes to get our delicious cocoa to market. As is the case with most agricultural commodities, in the cocoa industry it's the people on the front lines of the supply chain -- the farmers -- who get the least return. Cocoa farmers in West Africa, where 70% of the world's cocoa comes from, can earn as little as $0.25-$0.50 a day, and are stuck in deep cycles of poverty. Advertisement The systemically low prices in cocoa have drastic consequences for farmers and their families. More than 2 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana are being deprived of their childhoods, either working in extremely hazardous conditions or working in lieu of going to school, so that we can get our chocolate fix. And even as demand for cocoa increases, as it has over the last five years, dependence on child labor has shown little sign of improving. In fact, according to a study conducted by Tulane University, the number of children involved in hazardous work in cocoa increased by 46% in the Ivory Coast between 2009 and 2014. Why Does Child Labor Happen? Child labor doesn't happen because cocoa farmers don't want a bright future for their kids. More often than not it's simply a means of survival. Three main factors contribute to the prevalence of child labor in the West African cocoa industry: Poverty - Farmers don't make enough to support their business. Cocoa prices are low, yields are low, and farmers are unable to pay for adult laborers, thus leaving them with no choice but to use their children as labor. Limited Access to Education - There is a dramatic shortage of schools and teachers in West Africa. Even where schools exist, many families can't afford necessary school-related expenses such as tuition, uniforms, and books. Lack of Enforcement - While there are laws prohibiting child labor in West Africa, the extreme prevalence of child labor, combined with overextended governments tasked with addressing many difficult issues, truly limits enforcement of these laws. But don't worry--this is not where we tell you to stop eating chocolate. To the contrary, you should eat MORE chocolate. That's because, when done right, your indulgence has the power to shift this industry for the better. What Happens When You Buy Fair Trade Certified Chocolate? The good news is that progress is being made, slowly but surely, to combat child labor. Local governments are working together with cocoa manufacturers and farmers themselves to address the root causes of child labor in order to get kids off of farms and into schools. And Fair Trade has proven to be one of the most effective tools for improvement. Fair Trade aims to address the root causes of child labor by: Raising farmers' incomes such that they can earn a sustainable livelihood, invest in their farms, and hire adult workers. Providing communities with a financial Premium that they can invest in things like education. Ensuring that strict standards that prohibit the use of child labor are monitored and enforced. Of these, the most unique to Fair Trade is the ability to provide farmers with the resources to invest in education. The primary way this happens is via the Community Development Premium. For every metric ton of Fair Trade cocoa sold, farmers earn an additional $200 to invest in farm and community level projects. Farmers vote to spend these funds on important needs like school tuition, lunch programs, and in some cases entirely new schools. Advertisement Fair Trade in Action It's inspiring to see how Fair Trade farmers in the Ivory Coast have collectively elected to spend their Community Development Premiums to combat child labor and improve educational opportunities for children. Among a group of about 2,000 farmers certified in the Ivory Coast in 2013, for example, primary school education levels increased from about 65% to 80% in one year due to the effective spending of Community Development Premiums on education initiatives. Birth Certificates for School Enrollment: Another roadblock to education access is the lack of birth certificates, which is a requirement for school enrollment. In the Ivory Coast, if a family does not obtain a birth certificate within the child's first few months of life, it can be very expensive and burdensome to obtain one. In response, several Fair Trade cooperatives have used Premiums to help families get birth certificates so that their children can enroll in school. New Schools: It is well known that there is a severe shortage of schools in West Africa, and while the governments are working to build more schools, children can be denied access to a suitable education in the interim. Additionally, cocoa growing communities are situated in very rural locations, and much of the population is illiterate. Even where schools exist, it can be very hard to find teachers locally. Instead, teachers often have to be brought in from bigger cities, and provided with housing. Fair Trade Premiums have allowed cocoa growing communities to take these pressing matters into their own hands by constructing new school buildings and/or teacher housing. Bonus: Once a community has a school, the government will contribute funds to pay teacher's salaries. Incentivizing Better Education With School Lunches: Children in the Ivory Coast often walk very far distances (over 2 hours each way) to get to school. When it comes time for lunch, they can either leave for 4 hours in the middle of the day to go home and eat, or stay and go hungry all day. In order to keep kids in school and ensure that they're able to thrive, Fair Trade cooperatives have used Premiums to establish school lunch programs and subsidized canteens. What You Can Do Fair Trade cannot solve every challenge in cocoa, but it is creating tangible, meaningful change, and it can be part of a much larger solution for farmers, industry and consumers. Advertisement When you choose Fair Trade chocolate this Valentine's Day, you're directly helping cocoa farmers build better lives for children. You're also supporting brands that are attempting to make the trade of cocoa more beneficial for its farmers. And of course, you are able to fully enjoy, with much less guilt, the most delicious chocolate around. Here are a few brands to look for when you're buying treats for your sweetheart (or yourself) this Valentine's Day: Also on HuffPost: As the second possibility, suppose that before or during their gubernatorial campaigns, our governors came out with a full-throated endorsement of charter schools. Why would these sworn protectors-to-be of public education do something as provocative as this, unless to signal the charter school industry that a new age was dawning? Charter schools would now have a friend in the statehouse where they could look forward to doing business together as public schools closed and charter schools opened in a new dispensation of school reform. And, of course, a healthy campaign contribution would not go unnoticed. Their election to office would also signal the opening salvo across the bow of public education that Captain Charter School Himself was coming aboard, me Hearties, to shiver the timbers of public schools by scuttling their entire fleet. These new charter-friendly governors would usher in a dynasty of Jolly Roger freebooters, profiteers, and privatizers to loot the state treasury in recompense for "services rendered," with the hope of more "reciprocal favors" to come. Advertisement Given this unambiguous show of support for charters, how could our governors have the chutzpah to swear an oath to protect public schools, as this would pose a crisis of conscience, not to speak of a conflict of interest akin to setting a fox to guarding a hen house? State legislators also deserve a dishonorable mention as the governors' enablers in granting charters to whoever applied to open a school. These politicians have never been known to deny a charter to even the most unworthy of applicants, especially when lobbyists come bearing gifts of hundred dollar bills stuffed in brown paper bags. Charters are Big Business in many a statehouse, as lawmakers line up by the dozens at the feeding trough. *** But perhaps I rash judge these honorable men, and so are they all, all honorable men, by doing them a rank injustice. Perhaps the political class in this country no longer takes seriously its oath of office. Perhaps this new breed dismisses an oath as a superannuated relic from a faraway past before the Age of Corporations with their public-be-damned and predatory practices that do more harm to America than any enemy abroad. Perhaps they regard these oaths as political theater that must be endured as lending a fig leaf of legitimacy to sanctify the greed and corruption of these privatized times. This should be hardly surprising when governors, legislators, and even some Supreme Court justices debase their high office by protecting these corporations whose interests they serve. However, this is by far not the end of this saga. Despite the thousands of public-school closings, none of these governors has offered one scintilla of proof to justify the need for these closures, as if closing them were reason enough. Advertisement We've seen them scapegoat, demonize, and vilify teachers, but insults and name-calling aren't evidence. These governors employ that old legal maxim that "when you don't have a case, just abuse your opponent!" But the question remains: where is the evidence to warrant these closures? *** Accusations aren't proof, and if America's once-proud tradition of investigative reporting weren't now dead, these unjustified closings would have been one of the most sensational news stories in modern times. "Governors Perjure Themselves That They'll Protect Public Schools." "Governors Conspire to Destroy Public Education." "Governors Refuse to Give Reasons for Public School Closures." Reporters would have shouted these headlines from the rooftops because, by failing to provide reasons for these closures, these governors themselves would have become the story! But this never happened, and thereby hangs a tale. Any first-year journalism student knows that a vigilant press is democracy's lifeblood, and that the heart of a story is evidence. When you don't have evidence, you don't run the story. When the governors were attacking public-school teachers, why didn't journalists speak up and ask: "Governor, what's the evidence for these attacks? Where is the educational research that supports your claims?" That would have done it. However, these simple questions were never asked. Instead, by merely reporting these claims without demanding their sources, the press lent these claims credibility. Were reporters that naive to let themselves be used in this way and become the accomplices of a demagogue? Where have all the journalists gone in this country? This is not even investigative journalism, but Journalism Ethics 101. Why were the mainstream media complicit in this political immorality play to which their silence implied their consent? Did their silence betoken objective reporting? Far from receiving equal time, teachers were given no time at all. Advertisement Why did they, with few exceptions like The Washington Post, fail to give the larger picture of what is happening in America today and its effects upon student learning? Why didn't the press address the many factors beyond teachers' control? Why didn't it present the teachers' side of the story? Why did they silently follow the party line that scapegoated, damned, and demonized teachers? (See here, here, here, here, and here.) They should have recalled their Hans Christian Andersen from childhood days and his fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes, about a child who innocently blurts out the truth that everyone fears to utter. We are cursed with a press that obeys corporate dictates as Pravda did the Kremlin's in Soviet times. *** Beyond their contempt for the people and their refusal to be held accountable to them, these governors had other reasons why they failed to justify these public-school closures. There simply was no such evidence and, therefore, no basis whatever for closing these schools. Admitting this would have entailed re-opening them, rehiring their teachers, and ceasing to fund charters with taxpayer dollars since they could no longer maintain the fiction that charters were public schools in the first place. Finally, they would have to admit to deceiving and defrauding the public of billions of dollars, an admission they might be reluctant to make. The irony, however, was that there did exist a large body of evidence - but it contradicted the governors' claims! It wasn't, as the governors said, "bad teaching" that caused low student scores, but student poverty and segregation. These two factors explained the low scores of schools that for decades have been underfunded, as governors played politics with them so that they would "fail" to justify closing and then replacing them with charters. *** However, there is yet another consideration that argues against these governors' credibility. If their claims are so incontestably true and unassailably righteous, why haven't they, or their surrogates, sought public support by debating the education historian, Diane Ravitch? Her latest book, The Reign of Error: the Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, has delivered a withering critique of everything that has been happening to public education in recent years. Whoever reads it will understand at once why the corporate media were so terrified by what she had written that they didn't dare give it the media coverage it so richly deserves. Nevertheless, it became a bestseller and a modern classic, the definitive text against educational "reform" that has never been answered. This may explain why even the educational "reformer" Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of Washington, D. C. public schools, backed out of a scheduled debate with Dr. Ravitch at Lehigh University. The times cry out for answers, yet the bellowing silence of these wrecking-ball governors grows only louder and more curious day after day. This systematic destruction, expropriation, and looting of public schools by charters today is nothing less than the Kristallnacht of public education in America. The wonder of it all is that the very governors who have sworn an oath to protect these schools now eagerly seek and abet their destruction. *** The lights of democracy are steadily going out all over America as corporate wealth and power take control of our institutions. A nation that was once the inspiration of the world with its noble dream of the individual as the center of its political vision is being subverted by corporations and their state Gauleiters. Corporations are now employing on our home population the same ruthless practices they engage in abroad by bribing officials to plunder host countries and their populations. We are seeing in America today the same ruthless imperatives that drive foreign policy all over the world -- but without our consent or even our knowledge. Jefferson was right: "The merchant has no country." In a choice between profit and patriotism, the business class will sell out its country and countrymen every time, whether by destroying its economy, shipping jobs overseas, failing to pay trillions in taxes, or trashing the environment. Their fellow citizens are simply expendables on their corporate chessboards. They would sooner bring down the heavens than post a decrease in profits. *** The future of a nation is always its children, but the future of a democracy is always its public schools. If these schools can be said to teach children a bias, it would be this: that they should always love their country; that their country is not the particular party or administration that happens to be in office at any one time; that the government exists for its people, not the people for its government or corporations; that the people exist for themselves, and each human being for him or herself; that a democracy should always do the will of its people, not that of its governing class; that a democracy does not prey on its people, nor exploit, harass, or deceive them about what it is doing at home or abroad; that no one, no official, no institution or corporation, no matter how powerful, is, under any circumstances, above the law; that a free press exists to keep government honest; and that a press should not get chummy with government officials lest its sole purpose for existing be compromised. These ideals have never been welcome by tyrannical governments. Nor have they ever been accepted by corporations. What better way to subvert these ideals than by destroying the schools that teach them? Now more than ever do we need public schools which teach that we are all in this together; that all of us are united in a common struggle to maintain the dignity of each human person; that the only thing that keeps us strong as a people and nation is a sense of human solidarity in rejecting every kind of intolerance and bigotry toward whoever or whatever is different. During these times, especially, we cannot allow our schools to become Balkanized into hermetically-sealed, self-referential, and privatized enclaves that isolate, divide, and disunite us, instead of bringing us together in mutual respect, understanding, and acceptance. We are wrong, however, in thinking that our present struggle is about the survival of our public schools alone. Much more is at stake. It is the very survival of our democracy against a new kind of enemy -- a Corporate Colossus that, in its pathological mania for limitless profits and power, is destroying our very nation and planet. The older generation may be more aware about what is coming than the young because it has seen this before and knows where it could end. We will be gone, but it is our children and grandchildren who will have to live in that nightmare world that will come if we don't make a stand. Joshua Mast allegedly submitted a doctored passport for the baby and then claimed the child as his own after convincing the family to travel to the U.S. for medical care. A Syrian refugee boys play at a refugee camp in the town of Hosh Hareem, in the Bekaa valley, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. The United Nations said Tuesday the worsening conflict in Syria has left 13.5 million people in need of aid and some form of protection, including more than six million children. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) LONDON -- A special humanitarian conference -- the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul -- promises to be a defining moment for the 24 million out-of-school children in conflict zones worldwide, for two reasons. First, the Syrian civil war has reminded us that crises are rarely resolved quickly. Recognizing that, peacemakers in Istanbul will consider a bold plan to create a new humanitarian fund for the provision of education in emergencies. Advertisement Second, such a fund speaks to an exciting new narrative in humanitarian relief efforts. Partnerships are increasingly mobilizing all the talents at our disposal, cutting across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. So in Istanbul, society's brightest minds must unite, establish and guide a cutting edge fund for education in emergencies. In reaching for this transformative funding facility, we have the benefit of a stiff tailwind. We just wrapped up the Syria Donors Conference in London, where international leaders and diplomats pledged $10 billion for the victims of the war in Syria and made a commitment to focus on the schooling needs for the 2.1 million out-of-school children within Syria itself, plus the 1.7 million vulnerable refugee children in neighboring countries. Syrians who fled the attacks of Syrian and Russian air forces around shelter at a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border on Feb. 8. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) But as a report prepared for the secretary-general of the United Nations by the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien, reminds us, we can do more. The thesis is clear: "education ... is not a luxury that can stop and start due to external circumstances." To see where rhetoric meets reality -- the rubber hitting the road, as it were -- one need only look at what has happened to children during the war. As the report notes, "education can prevent" all the horrors we have seen -- "early, forced and child marriage, abuse and the recruitment of children [to militias --] in the short term." Time and again we are reminded that in periods of crisis, parents and children identify education as one of their highest priority needs. This is not to diminish the importance of food, shelter and safety; in fact, the vast majority of humanitarian aid goes to securing these basic minimums. But therein lies the rub. Humanitarian aid should not stop at basic minimums. For humanitarian emergencies are never over in a few days or months. Increasingly they are protracted crises -- the Syrian civil war now marches into its sixth year, the South Sudanese and Eritrean crises are more than a decade long, the Pakistan-Afghan border disagreement is decades old. The list goes on. Advertisement Syrian refugee boys play at a refugee camp in the town of Hosh Hareem, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) So we need a grander, more sweeping vision recognizing that education provides a dignity that cannot be found underneath a 10 kilogram bag of rice. The report's recommendations to increase the coverage of inter-agency humanitarian appeals to a minimum average of 75 percent and expand the Central Emergency Response Fund from $500 million to $1 billion by 2018 prime the international community for further action. Placing equal, if not greater stock in a permanent funding facility for education in emergencies would provide backbone and intuitive weight to his existing set of proposals. We have seen agreement from a number of U.N. divisions -- UNICEF, UNESCO and UNHCR, as well as external agencies like the World Bank -- on the need for such a platform. As a believer that an education is a child's best hope in a future worthy of planning, perhaps a fitting name for such an education fund would be HOPE: The Humanitarian Operation for the Provision of Education in Emergencies. Circumventing the ritual passing of the humanitarian aid begging bowl during times of crisis, an education in emergencies fund could disburse aid at the first sign of smoke. With the support of U.N. agencies and friendly governments, the fund could be up and running by year's end. And with the goal of educating 1 million out-of-school Syrian refugee children in 2016 -- and all children forced out of school because of this crisis the following year -- the time for action is now. Syrian refugee children at a kindergarten in a refugee camp in Kilis, Turkey. (Kerem Kocalar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Creating an education in emergencies fund at Istanbul can also mark the beginning of what I believe is a defining shift in how humanitarian aid will be delivered. The longstanding tradition of the public sector setting the pace of aid delivery will be increasingly complemented by those who can deliver the same goods faster, safer and cheaper. By releasing the pressure from public institutions spread too thin, we can create a space that is more inclusive and effective. This partnership model aligns with O'Brien's vision of calling for the use of all financial instruments at our disposal to secure humanitarian aid. Some of the world's largest technology firms and most visible philanthropic organizations have lent their support to the cause. Already, $70 million has been contributed to the Syrian refugee education effort by 50 companies. Advertisement But this story is far bigger than dollars and cents. As history shows us, when broad coalitions of individuals across the private, public and nonprofit sectors come together, they can succeed in advancing the human cause. The companies that joined Bill and Melinda Gates to find -- and fund -- a cure for Ebola, for example. The entrepreneurs using solar energy and off-grid electricity to power the most remote tribal villages in Africa a full century after the gift of stable electricity was born. From digital learning in refugee camps to rebuilding schools for the 21st century, these stories will only grow in number when backed by an education in emergencies fund. So inside the humanitarian tent we need charities, philanthropists, businesses and social enterprises as well as governments and international agencies -- not just one sector determining who gets to set the pace of progress. Not dogmatic dismissals writing off creative thinkers. And not divisions where unity is most needed. Humanity is everybody's business, and an education is everybody's right. Also on WorldPost: Randy Berry, the United States Special Envoy for the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Persons meets with the Indonesian government, civil society groups, and the business community as part of a six-country Asia tour that began at the end of January. He is in Jakarta on February 9 and 10. Berry's visit comes on the heels of numerous inflammatory statements by highly placed government representatives that called for banning LGBT Indonesians from entering campus grounds of colleges and universities, warning parents and teachers to watch out for gay and lesbian behaviors, and accusing LGBT people of destroying Indonesian culture and society. These statements were reported widely by Indonesian media and have been condemned by LGBT people in the country and a broad coalition of human rights activists and organizations. Advertisement The next day, on January 24th, the Chair of the People's Consultative Assembly, Zulkifli Hasan, said that same sex relationships were against Indonesian culture and should be banned. Another politician, Reni Marlinawati said that same sex relationships should be unequivocally rejected and opposed. It makes me wonder: Is this spate of condemnatory statements by government representatives a deliberate effort to send a message to and rebuff Special Envoy Berry and his mandate to defend and support LGBTI rights globally? Open aggression towards LGBT people in Indonesia has usually been limited to Islamic conservatives and fundamentalists--for instance, the organized attacks by members of Islamic fundamentalist groups, specifically Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders Front) that have repeatedly disrupted human rights workshops and peaceful gatherings of LGBT groups, physically attacking participants, and causing property damage and human suffering. Some Indonesian cities where LGBT group activities have been violently disrupted include Surabaya in East Java, Yogyakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Depok and Bandung in West Java, and in the capital city of Jakarta. As recently as February 2016, an LGBT human rights training was disrupted and the hotel was heavily pressured to evict activists. The police at the site did nothing to protect LGBT persons and instead pressured them to cancel their events. In addition, in some parts of the country, notably Aceh, a particular interpretation of sharia (Islamic law) has codified severe penalties including prison and caning up to 100 lashes for anyone in an intimate relationship outside marriage, including same sex couples. Advertisement Indonesian President, Jokowi Widodo promised to enforce human rights and protect the rights of minorities during his presidential campaign in 2014. It is his responsibility to rein in his ministers for causing panic among LGBTI students, inciting blatant discrimination, and increasing their vulnerability to discrimination and violence on campuses, in schools, and by their families. The declarations of his ministers would deny LGBTI people the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to education, and the right to personal safety and security. When government officials make derisive public statements about people with non-conforming sexual orientation and gender, and do not experience any consequences, hostilities against LGBTI persons not only increase but also become more severe. A coalition of human rights activists in Indonesia who are LGBTI and non-LGBTI, including the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission have issued public statements, challenging the homophobic actions of the government ministers and demanding accountability. It is critical for government leaders, religious leaders and community leaders to do the same. African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today's prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50% One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime 1 in 100 African American women are in prison Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice). 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense. "Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, Revolution in our hearts" - Dario Fo If Dario Fo were to cast a vote in the forthcoming US presidential election his choice no doubt would lie with the socialist democrat Bernie Sanders, the only candidate openly calling for a political revolution. When interviewed by the British Guardian in 1997 after receiving a Nobel Prize for Literature, Fo said that he had been born politicized, and culturally had always been part of the proletariat: "I lived side by side with the sons of glass blowers, fishermen and smugglers. The stories they told were satires about the hypocrisy of authority and the middle classes, the two-facedness of teachers and lawyers and politicians." (Bohlen). The playwright became the voice of the Italian working class in the 1960s and 70s when his fellow citizens seethed with resentment towards their incompetent governments. It was during the 1970s that he wrote his most popular farces: Accidental Death of an Anarchist (which made him one of the most produced playwrights in 20th century Europe) and They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! encouraging the oppressed to take direct action when authority fails to protect them. The play, brought to DC by the Ambassador theatre in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute and directed by Joe Martin, has been played in over 40 countries and revised by the author several times to suit the changing times. Its working class characters and their plight are very much alive today, bringing to mind memories of the recent financial crisis and the forecasts of more economic gloom. The main protagonists - Antonia (Hanna Bondarewska), her husband Giovanni (Daren Marquardt), his best friend Luigi (Mitch Irzinski) and his wife and Antonia's best friend Margherita (Moriah Whiteman) - could be found anywhere in today's America. Fo's messages, like the one spoken by Antonia, are as relevant now as they were in the 70s: "It's the same in every economic crisis (...). Only now they call it a tsunami (...) destroying everything in its path. First the banks, then the corporations, governments, political parties. But the ones always hit first and hardest are the workers - and the people who scrimped and saved their whole lives." (Fo, p 112). To honor Fo's wish that every production be relevant to its time and place, the play has been located in Newark, New Jersey. In the words of the Director, Joe Martin: "a mythical Newark, with its industry, its role as a transportation hub - much like Fo's Milan - provided for us, a fitting American model. Italian place names and corporate institutions have been changed to American Equivalents. (...) The play is a tribute to the underclass created by the Great Recession, the bail-out of Wall Street, and even to our fellow "off-off" theatre companies working with little to create big artistic statement". Don't be misled by the serious subject matter though, as Dario Fo, who "with comedy (...) can search for the profound", is a master of a political theatre that makes people laugh. Drawing on traditions of Commedia Dell'Arte and its boulevard, grotesque style, as well as the Theatre of the Absurd, Fo delivers serious messages in a ridiculous, absurdist fashion. Recognizing the importance of the concept of 'grotesque body' in popular comedy, he uses it to bring down abstract, lofty ideals to the level of carnal world using physical comedy and slapstick, which abound in They Don't Pay, We Won't Pay. The madness starts when Antonia, who during a food riot takes supplies from a supermarket, hides the groceries behind her friend's coat when her law abiding spouse appears unexpectedly. Imagine the chaos, which ensues once Giovanni (who would rather starve than eat stolen food) and Luigi (convinced of his wife's infertility) find out about Margherita's pregnancy, and the authorities (Peter Orvetti) come searching for the food thieves. The women's clever lies and cheekiness create comedic mayhem of outrageous proportions, producing hilarious scenes involving the feign pregnancy ending in a birth with a bag of olives breaking instead of water; an unconscious cop hidden in a closet; saints, miracles and superstitions; coffin and undertakers. "When the theatre is ironic, grotesque, it's above all then that you have to defend it, because the theatre that makes people laugh is the theatre of Human reason" said the playwright in his speech of thanks at the Nobel Prize Banquet in 1997. In awarding him a Noble prize for literature (the first one bestowed on an actor-author) The Swedish Academy recognized him as a satirist who "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden". A jester and an "extremely serious satirist", who "with a blend of laughter and gravity (...) opens our eyes to abuses and injustices in society" (Bohlen). The author, who turns 90 this year, is a true Renaissance man and an active political and social activist. The actor, director, playwright, satirist, composer, painter, stage designer, assistant architect, teacher, lecturer and novelist has always believed in the interests of common people and devoted his life to improving their lot. His plays, many co-created with his actress wife and a closest professional collaborator, Franca Rame, have been written about people and for people. Both Fo and his wife (no longer with us), have always believed that "A theatre (...), an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance" (Dario Fo). They Don't Pay, We Won't Pay is an excellent example of how Fo's plays directly and sharply reflect the ills of his time, and how pertinent and relevant the issues remain to this day. The play's characters say it all: "Policeman: People can't go on like this. (...) These fat-cat pigs who starve, cheat, and rob us - they're the real thieves" (Fo, pp 24-25). "Luigi: Things can't keep on this way. Somebody's gotta make a move. Forget waiting on government handouts - or for unions to muscle in, or the politicos to step up (...) We gotta make our own moves (...). We gotta shift gears - take control. Don't you see? Everything's changing - big time " (Fo, p 51). We can all feel it - everything is changing in our world, big time, so fast we are finding it difficult to adjust to the unstable present and embrace the unknown future. We need Theatre now more than ever, a magical place that has always been there for us, a place where we can reflect on ourselves and our times and forget about our worries and laugh. They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! has had audiences 'in stiches' since 1974, and continues to delight theatre goers with its physical humor, farcical plot, loveable, colourful characters and a contemporary message. A big 'thank you' to the Ambassador Theater and the Italian Cultural Institute for bringing this gem of a play to DC! They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! plays March 1 - March 26,216 at Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint, 916 G Street NW, Washington DC. For 14yrs+ audiences. Tickets: $20-$40 online: http://www.aticc.org/home/category/get-tickets I appreciate most of President Obama's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 3, and at the Maryland mosque the day before. I agree with the president's call to respect the right of every American to practice his or her religion, and his observation that we can live happier and more productive lives by overcoming blanket, unfounded fear of others. I also agree with the comments he made at the mosque, saying that we all have a responsibility to speak up when any religious group is unfairly targeted. However, in both venues President Obama ignored the growing elephant in our country, those of us who have no need for prayers. Though he claimed to be inclusive, he said nothing about the millions of non-religious American who call ourselves atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists, skeptics and "nones." All of us know that it's easy to be good without a belief in God--just as President Obama's own humanist mother was. And yes, there is some unwarranted discrimination against Muslims in this country. But when people are asked if they would vote for a well-qualified presidential candidate who belongs to a particular group, only atheists are viewed more unfavorably than Muslims. My wife and I are atheists and secular humanists, and we strongly support the rights of others to peacefully practice their religion. We recently visited a local mosque to tell those present how pleased we are to live in the same community with Muslims. We felt inspired to do so after hearing Donald Trump's inflammatory anti-Muslim speech on the aircraft carrier Yorktown near our home in Charleston, South Carolina. Our neighbor Muslims appreciated our visit, and the imam was very surprised to receive such support from atheists, one of whom is also a Jew. Advertisement I had another problem with President Obama's speech: his claim that faith is the great cure for fear. To the contrary, there is abundant evidence that religious faith often creates fear, including fear of outsiders, fear of hell, and fear that people of other faiths or none are evil. There are better cures for fear than faith: evidence, education, experience, knowledge, and rational thought. I'm wary, and sometimes fearful, of people in power who claim to have a faith that is based on blind acceptance of something for which there is no factual evidence. When President Obama said at the prayer breakfast, "My faith tells me that I need not fear death, that acceptance of Christ promises everlasting life and the washing away of sins," I thought of the ISIS "soldiers" who also have no fear of death because they believe that their faith and brutal actions will bring them an everlasting life of bliss. I'm more comfortable with people who prefer to live long and productive lives. Nevertheless, there might be a positive takeaway from President Obama's overlooking secular Americans. He spoke at the mosque in part to support Muslims who might help counter extremist Islamic groups like ISIS. He spoke at the prayer breakfast about the need for people of all religious faiths to cooperate instead of fighting wars with each other. There is no fear of this kind of trouble from secular groups. We do disagree with religious faiths, and sometimes with one another, but our weapons of choice are pens, not swords. In view of President Obama's recent and past ecumenical activities, I hope he will pay more attention to our secular community, perhaps by attending the Reason Rally on the National Mall in DC on June 4 or the 75th annual conference in Chicago of the American Humanist Association. So if you happen to be talking to the president anytime soon, please put a word in for the Americans he forgot to mention in his presidential outreach. This article originally appeared on Inverse. By Sarah Sloat Scientists, more than most other groups, tend to be coy about their political leanings. But as usual, the best way to unearth the truth is to follow the money. If someone has donated cash to a candidate or political committee, you can find their donation on the Federal Election Commission database -- a nice tool of transparency that doubles as an impressively deep rabbit hole of political trivia. (Did you know Kanye West gave $2,700 to Hillary?) On the surface, the results aren't shocking -- a 2009 Pew Research poll found that 55 percent of American scientists are Democrats; their campaign donations tend to lean that way, too. But donated money also reveals more intriguing personal information -- alliances looking to be made or upheld, a bet on who best represents your beliefs -- that the nation's STEM leaders usually don't air publicly. Here are the politicians and Super PACs that have been vouched for by some of the most famous scientific minds of America. Advertisement Bill Nye Bill Nye has recently become visible in the world of politics, partnering with none other than President Obama to speak out against climate-change deniers in Congress. "I have no trouble taking these political stances, because I think the evidence is overwhelming," Nye told The Seattle Times. "Conservatives are so far to one side that things are a little out of balance." But Nye was quietly involved with the Democratic Party as early as 2000. When his job listing was still "Science Guy" (seriously), he made a small donation to Tom Campbell's run for Senate, followed by a $1,000 donation to Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington. In 2010, as the newly selected CEO of the Planetary Society, Nye made donations to Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat. He began to give financial support to Barack Obama in 2012, donating $500 to Obama for America and $500 to the Obama Victory Fund. Craig Venter Venter was the first to decode the genome of a free-living organism and created the first synthetic lifeforms. He is the founder and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute, a merger of several organizations including the Institute for Genomic Research and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives. Venter has also actively donated to politics since the early 2000s. While he has donated to a variety Democratic candidates, his top pick seems to be current Democratic potential Hillary Clinton. In 2006, Venter made a donation to campaign committee Friends of Hillary and then a series of donations toward her 2008 presidential run. While he gave to President Obama's campaign once she lost the nomination, Venter has lent support to Hillary once again in 2015: In July, he donated $2,700 to Hillary for America. Advertisement Craig Venter with his National Medal of Science. Venter, however isn't entirely sold on her -- this July he also gave $1,000 to the Martin O'Malley campaign. Which, when you look at O'Malley's politics, makes sense: He's celebrated by the biotechnology industry for supporting Maryland biotech tax credits. There's also a personal connection here that can't be ignored. In 2007, O'Malley chose Thomas Watkins, then the CEO of the biopharmaceutical corporation Human Genome Sciences, to chair Maryland's Life Science Advisory Board. It was backing from Human Genome Sciences that allowed Venter to establish his Institute for Genomic Research. Neil deGrasse Tyson From the look of it, Tyson isn't a frequenter campaign financier -- there's only one donation on record, to Connecticut Democrat Elizabeth Esty. She was elected to Congress in 2012 and reelected in 2014. Her initiatives (and perhaps the causes closest to Tyson, if donations mean anything) are creating green jobs, protecting access to reproductive services, expanding STEM education, and advocating for gun reforms. James Watson Watson is a tricky character: He's famous for receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology for co-discovering the structure of DNA. He's also infamous for saying some racist, sexist, and homophobic things -- abhorrent enough that the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory stripped him of his title as chancellor of the institution in 2007. Watson, now 87, signing his book in 2013. Apparently Watson still files his political donations with Cold Spring Harbor as his employer. From 2003 until her retirement in 2013, Watson supported Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, a long time gun-regulation advocate. It's likely that Watson saw himself on the same side of a good fight with McCarthy -- in 2004 she was able to obtain government appropriations to launch Cold Spring Harbor's Center for Women's Genomics and the DNA Biopsy Project, both of which provided research for breast and ovarian cancer. Advertisement But Watson's finances didn't go to just Democrats -- in 2012 he also made a $1,000 donation to the New York Federal Campaign Committee. Edward Witten Witten has been called a string theory visionary and "Einstein's true successor." In 1995, he revealed that the five competing string theory variations could actually all belong under the same umbrella. Naturally, he went on to win a MacArthur "Genius Grant" and the Fields Medal. Witten also supports a myriad of Democratic politicians, regardless of their district, including those competing in congressional races in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California. Additionally, Witten is a steady contributor to the PAC of J Street -- a self-described "political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans." The purpose of the nonprofit is to advocate for a diplomatic, two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Elizabeth Holmes Young billionaire Elizabeth Holmes is the founder of Theranos, a hardware and medical company credited with developing new types of blood tests capable of detecting hundreds of conditions with just a prick to the finger (and which is currently mired in speculation over its future). Holmes has also been named an inventor on more than 164 patents, and she's the only 31-year-old to sit on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. But while her fortune is large, Holmes' political fundraising so far has been small -- and close to home. She donated up to $15,200 to the unsuccessful Senate campaign of Democrat Michelle Nunn, now the CEO of CARE USA. Nunn is the daughter of former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn, who is on the board of Theranos. Advertisement Scott Kelly 5yrs ago on @space_station I got awful news from Earth. Recognizing the victims & my sis-in-law @GabbyGiffords todayhttps://t.co/O2TtQJDLY9 Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) January 8, 2016 It seems like astronaut Scott Kelly, now famous for holding the American record for longest consecutive days in space, has made a campaign donation only once. In 2010, Kelly donated to the congressional campaign of his Democrat sister-in-law, Gabrielle Giffords who, in 2011, became the victim of an assassination attempt. Before she retired in 2012, Giffords spent her time in office advocating for health care reform, border trafficking, and small business tax reliefs. MORE FROM INVERSE: Photo from Neil's blog I met Neil last year in Bucharest and it was an honor for me to be able to share my dreams with him. Neil Patel is an entrepreneur, investor and influencer, known for his work in digital marketing and as the cofounder of startups like KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg and Quick Sprout. He is an inspiration to me. I read his incredible blog posts every night and I take serious notes. I'm learning a lot from him and I am very proud of this interview. 1. What is behind your success? Can you tell me something that nobody knows about you? There really is no secret formula. I have always been a hard worker and when I get into a trade or skill-set I am immensely passionate about mastering it. I always compete with myself to make sure that I can be the best at what I do. It's a mindset I have had from an early age. In regards to something no one knows about me... I am pretty transparent but here's one: I wake up at 6am every morning no matter what time zone I am in. I am definitely a morning person. Advertisement 2. What have you always wanted? Did you ever get it? From an early age I have always wanted to be able to help others -- and I know the only way I could do this was to become successful. Hopefully I'll get there soon. 3. What was the weirdest call that you have made for your business? Weirdest call... hmmm. I don't make very many weird calls, I am pretty pragmatic and logical. I have failed many times though -- that can be a weird feeling if you don't put it in perspective. I always make sure I learn from my mistakes though. 4. You help a lot of people in this world. Do you have anyone you go to for advice? In person or online? I consult with my business partner Hiten constantly. He and my sister are definitely my go to people. In all matters related to life I go to my dad -- he's a wise guy. Advertisement 5. What is happiness to you? Happiness is having financial freedom and being able to help other people along the way. Simple as that :) You can follow Neil here and here. #InvisiblePeople is a series of interviews with amazing people around the world who talked to me about what is behind the success, what makes them go further and what makes them happy, but also some personal secrets and interesting answers to my strange questions. You can find more here. Co-authored with Steve Krawciw The first iPhone was launched on June 29, 2007, and the world has never been the same since. The speed and convenience with which we now communicate created the new levels of urgency, including the urgency to understand and participate in further unbridled innovation. Since the launch of the iPhone, many companies have adopted the so-called Digital One company strategy with the idea to integrate social media, mobile technology, fast analytics and cloud data storage. Social media alone creates change and not just because of all the new tools connecting billions of individuals worldwide. People use social networks to gain immediate access to information that is important to them. The increased independence that people feel when they can access their networks whenever and wherever they want makes these networks a treasured part of the way someone spends their day. For investors, the social media may mean wide access to a variety of information on the go. On the train and feel like learning the business model of some obscure public company? Not an issue. At the airport, but thought of investing into a specific municipal bond and need more information on the jurisdiction? Here it is. A successful FinTech business has a social network that reaches investors both proactively and responsively. By offering a social experience, the business can offer traditional services in a setting that is consistent with the social networks way of navigating. Analyzing a customer's use of the social network allows a company to respond to customers in a tailored fashion offering messages and ideas that are consistent with what the customer wants. Advertisement The implications of social media, however, go far beyond the communication and customer service experience a business can have with prospects and clients. Unlike news, social media is a powerful user-generated forum where ideas collide, opinions are formed and beliefs are floated, often completely under the radar of traditional media. The opinion-volunteering participants often join in anonymously, concealing their identity in a degree of masquerade where they feel comfortable to disclose their thoughts honestly and passionately. The same degree of honesty is often impossible in our politically-correct daily interactions, even with the nearest friends behind closed doors. The chatroom-formed opinions then often trickle into the stock markets as people trade on their beliefs, putting their money where their mouths are. Harvesting and interpreting social media content has thus been a boon for a range of financial businesses. Machine-collected sentiment on specific stocks has been shown to predict intraday volatility and future returns. The AbleMarkets Internet Chatter index, for example, has consistently predicted short-term volatility over the past six years, and is used by investors, execution traders and risk management professionals. Is all social media content created equal? As you have guessed it, this is very far from being the case. With the proliferation of automatic social media tools, for instance, a lot of the content comprises "reposts" and "retweets" of information found elsewhere. This duplication of materials sometimes is worthwhile and reflects the copying party's agreement or endorsement of the original content. In many instances, however, duplicate content appears to be streamed simply to fill the informational void of a given social media participant's stream. Advertisement Another social media hazard is fake news. Those may come in the form of individuals' posts or, much worse, via fraudulent posts on hijacked accounts of other users. A classic in the latter category was a Twitter post on the Associated Press account informing followers of an explosion at the White House. Separating the wheat from the chaff in the social media space is not a job for dilettantes, and requires advanced machine learning algorithms. In today's market environment, where the profit margins are thin and every bit of information is valuable, correct inferences are critical and experience in dealing with various circumstances is worth a lot. One of the best shows in the town of Washington, D.C. is not on television. It is an oral argument in before the United States Supreme Court. The nine justices are appointed by the President and confirmed after they assure the U.S. Senate they will be dispassionate "umpires." Despite frequent entreaties by C-SPAN and others, they have refused to allow TV cameras in their august courtroom. Only the handful of spectators who line up for hours--and some lawyers and reporters--have the privilege of entering that truly majestic chamber and seeing them in action. Advertisement The court does make audio recordings of the arguments, and uploads them to its web site at the end of each week. Many of the cases are mundane, brought by those impacted by a provision of law or legislation. On major cases, the justices have agreed to same-day audio release. You have to recognize the voices to appreciate the goings on, unless a lawyer presenting the case responds to a question by addressing, "Justice Kennedy..." or whomever. And if you listen regularly, you can begin to tell Justice Kagan from Justice Sotomayor from Justice Ginsburg (she speaks extremely softly). If someone interrupts with a bitingly funny line, it is apt to be Justice Antonin Scalia. No need to recognize Justice Clarence Thomas; he is seldom heard, except when he is called upon to summarize an opinion, and then the Chief Justice introduces him. The press section is at the side of the courtroom, reporters who cover legal issues full-time seated up front, along with artists if a network sends them. Those of us who cover the court only occasionally sit behind a row of pillars and curtains, so we barely glimpse the justices and strain to listen and puzzle out who is speaking. When the chief justice pounds his gavel after the allotted time and says, "the case is submitted," we reporters rush out and down the marble front steps, grabbing coats on the way if it's a cold winter day. The lawyers, and sometimes their clients, follow and head for a bank of microphones, taking their case to the court of public opinion, giving us our sound bites to flesh out the story. For television, producers have selected video to include. On decision days, it's a breathless race to a microphone to get headlines on the air, and can be a challenge to get the nuances right. Advertisement What makes the argument one of the best shows in town is that the justices are, on average, brilliant. While they pose sharp questions to the lawyers presenting each side of the case--and often begin to interrupt after a lawyer has barely spoken his/her first few words--their goal seems most of all to persuade each other. A memorable example was the argument I covered on the constitutionality of Obamacare, and its requirement that adults either have coverage or pay a penalty, which the Court ultimately upheld by calling it a tax. Justice Scalia assailed the law's requirement that young adults have health insurance: "These people are not stupid. They're going to buy insurance later. They're young and need the money now. When they think they have a substantial risk incurring high medical bills, they'll buy insurance like the rest of us." Justice Elena Kagan scoffed that a youngster hurt in an accident would be able to phone and obtain insurance while awaiting the ambulance: "Young people and healthy people say, 'why should we participate; we can just get it later when we get sick.' So, they leave the market. The rates go up further. More people leave the market. And the whole system crashes and burns, becomes unsustainable." Justice Kagan was making the same assertion the insurance companies made when they insisted on a mandate for coverage if they could no longer turn their backs on applicants with pre-existing conditions. Advertisement Similarly, in the same-sex marriage case, to fellow justices who sought to link marriage to the goal of raising children, Kagan suggested that "the best way to promote this procreation-centered view of marriage is just to limit marriage to people who want children." And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg chimed in, "Suppose a couple, a 70-year-old couple comes in and they want to get married." These cases resulted in ground-breaking 5-4 decisions, that came about when one justice appointed by a Republican President sided with four named by Democrats. Justices Kagan and Sotomayor were appointed by President Obama, Justice Scalia by President Ronald Reagan. Justice Samuel Alito was appointed by President George W. Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who was also appointed by President Reagan. She had been a judge and Republican leader in the Arizona State Senate. O'Connor made it clear she, unlike her successor, would have voted against allowing corporations the unlimited right to contribute to political campaigns, and also viewed issues related to affirmative action and women's rights differently. Since leaving the court, she has campaigned against the election of judges because the public sees them beholden to contributors, and campaigned for the restoration of "civics" education in the schools, so students learn how their government works before they are old enough to be inundated with political half-truths. Ruins of old pillars, Olympia, Greece From An Opinionated Dictionary of Religion. Stylites. noun. Holy pole sitters. Four hundred years after Jesus, to nine hundred years after Jesus, numerous Near Eastern and Greek Christians climbed atop high marble posts and never came down again. Some of these Stylites (from a Greek word for pillar) were elevated to the status of saints and regarded as models of holiness. A harsh holiness. Asceticism is the practice of denying various comforts to oneself and even inflicting upon oneself various occasions of discomfort. Most religions endorse ascetic discipline in the belief that physical and mental hardship is a sure path to spiritual maturity. Advertisement Through the ages, the really dedicated ascetics declined all comforts. They lived on tasteless foods. They rejected fashionable clothing and often wore intentionally uncomfortable clothes. They bathed infrequently. They spent less time (or no time) with the opposite sex. They disdained sex. They had no children and avoided the company of children. They absented themselves from adult society. They rarely smiled. They had no property. They had no money. And they had fewer bells, books and candles. (Actually, they tended to hoard the candles.). Some of these spiritual experts went the added half-mile and bravely sought out pain, inserting jagged pebbles into their sandals for the long walk home, wrapping themselves in razor-sharp nettles, chaining themselves to boulders or trees, burying themselves in soft sand, whipping themselves to a ruddy pulp, holding an arm aloft until it withered, and sitting long years atop cold, bare ruined marble pillars. Saint Simeon was the first of the pillar sitters and became The Very Model of a Pre-Modern Major Saint. Simeon started the pillar trend in fifth century Syria. He lived on a pole top nearly forty years, descending only once to attend his own burial (necessitated by his slipping and falling at a very high velocity from atop the pole). Advertisement Since the human eye is naturally drawn to a large object sitting fifty feet high upon a post, Simeon achieved considerable fame and was even admired by the Roman emperor of his day. Simeon's celebrity produced numerous imitators for the next few hundred years. And so the Stylites, plural, were born. The holy pillar sitters. (Nod approval, Mr. Alfred Lord Tennyson. You wrote a poem to Mr. Simeon Saint Stylite in the third decade of the nineteenth century). We have to grant that the Stylites performed asceticism with an unrestrained flair, and only those ascetics who buried themselves up to their nether lip or tethered themselves to boulders or wrapped themselves in bramble bushes came close to the theatricality of the pillar saints. What is the origin of self-mortification in religions? Why the contrarianism, the rejection of normalcy? Why a harsh holiness? Answer: There is a false dichotomy at work here. Body vs. Soul, Worldliness vs. Other-worldliness. To feed the soul one must punish the body. To win the other world one must disdain this world. Advertisement Wrong. Wouldn't it have been holier even in the age of the Stylites to have kept your feet flat on the ground and worked for a living and raised a family? And yet many still believe holiness is defined by otherworldly asexual asceticism. (What tiny one-digit percentage of any religion's saints was ever married and raised children?) It's a wonder the average layman or laywoman didn't long ago press the case for the unmatched rigors of what might be called Domestic Holiness and the hardships of home and hearth: marriage, child-rearing, home cooking, home work, home repairs, paying debts, paying respects, and the congenial industry of making and keeping neighborly friends. If we could begin right now to elevate world-embracing people as spiritual exemplars, in two hundred years our religions would have altogether new communions of saints to admire and write biographies about. Saints of the future will be commonplace, worldly family types, too busy with the real asceticism of daily life to ever consider the pious antics of addled angels like Saint Simeon. Advertisement Here's a peek at a future biography of a future saint, to be penned in the year 2525: The Problem There is a crushing emphasis in today's world on being productive. It's like having a preacher in your head telling you all the time that leisure is laziness and recreation is borderline sin. At least that's how it is for me sometimes. So in order to oblige this ruthless taskmaster, I have the habit of putting a ton of things on my to-do list, thinking this will make me more productive. I put a long list of things into a short period of time and tell myself, "If I really focus, then I will be able to get all of these things done." But the result is that I usually underestimate the amount of time necessary to complete these tasks, and therefore either do not give each task enough attention, or am not able to finish all of the tasks. Either way, I end up feeling frustrated. Even if I do get a lot of work done, I often find myself feeling dissatisfied with my level of productivity. I have a tendency to focus so much on what I didn't get done, and fail to rejoice in what I did get done. In the same way that I erase the finished items off of my to-do list, I seem to forget about the things that I've already accomplished in an effort to dedicate more attention to the remaining tasks. I think, "I'll be satisfied when I'm done with everything!" The problem with this mindset is that my to-do list is invariably longer than the list of my daily accomplishments, and keeps growing. Focusing too much on what we don't get done results in a perceived deficit of productivity; we feel unrealized because we can't see the significance of our accomplishments in comparison to the mountain of chores we have accumulated. This ends up making life unsatisfying, incomplete, and mundane. Advertisement The Solution Jesus said, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." A scripture in the Book of Mormon says: "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength" (Mosiah 4:27). We always have something to do. There is no shortage of meetings or chores or projects that we could invest our time in. Plus there are always spontaneous opportunities to serve and help. But in the feast of life, we need to give ourselves time to chew, swallow, and enjoy our food, before moving on to the next course. This all ties back to a pretty simple principle called GRATITUDE. Being grateful for what we were able to get done during the course of the day is part of that "wisdom and order" quoted above. Someone who finds time to quietly introspect on what he or she has accomplished is wise and happy indeed. Wall Street has always been a place that prides itself on smoke and mirrors. The "players" on Wall Street have designed confusing language and structures to create a barrier to entry to the average person. Even the most basic language used is absurd. You don't buy - you "go long". You don't sell - you "go short". You don't buy-then-sell - you "flip". A commission is a "clip". An investment is a "ticket". Even as a person who worked at one of Wall Street's biggest institutions for many years, it's almost impossible to follow the myriad of constantly changing acronyms. This confusing framework has contributed to the divergence between the real economy and the financial economy. It's this divide that has encouraged a system where many company executives are directly or indirectly compensated for "short-termism". That is, a focus on short-term (quarterly) company results and "earnings estimates" over long-term value-driving initiatives. Laurence D. Fink, Co-Founder and CEO of the world's largest investor, BlackRock, last week wrote a letter to 500 chief executive officers urging them to refute today's "culture of quarterly earnings hysteria". This isn't the first of such letters - the drum continues to beat louder. However, for us to truly focus on long-term value-driving initiatives, we must consider the underlying ethical impacts of where we invest our money. The institutional investing world is finally starting to take notice, at least when it comes to climate change. During the recent United Nations Climate Change conference in Paris, over 400 of the world's largest investors representing $24 trillion signed a statement of intent to contribute to the transition to a low carbon economy. Truly a step in the right direction, but a much broader framework of ethical corporate behavior is required. Advertisement For example, consider that one signatory of the statement, BNP Paribas, was fined almost $9 billion (with a "B") a little over 18 months' prior for, in particular, providing "...rogue nations, and Sudan in particular, with vital access to the global financial system, helping that country's lawless government to harbor and support terrorists and to persecute its own people", as noted by Assistant Attorney General Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. BNP Paribas is one of the largest banks in the world. And $9 billion is a sum greater than the Gross Domestic Product of approximately 28% of the world's nations. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the majority of people working on Wall Street are not unethical people, in fact in many instances quite the contrary. Yes, there are obviously bad apples, but these are the exception rather than the norm. The challenge is that the system in which people operate on Wall Street is designed to disregard broader repercussions of individual actions. It was this incentive misalignment which was the underlying driver of the housing market collapse in 2008 (check out the movie The Big Short, if you haven't already). So what's the solution for us? Well, it's definitely time for everyday people like us to start voting with our feet, so to speak. Start scrutinizing who's investing your money and truly question which companies you're supporting. And what's the solution for Wall Street? It needs to combat the deep-seated culture of opacity. It needs to embrace values of simplicity, diversity and sustainability. It needs to stop creating barriers to entry through financial mumbo-jumbo. Simply put, Wall Street needs a healthy dose of Sesame Street. Advertisement Republican presidential candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall-style campaign event at Hampton Academy, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, in Hampton, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) Income inequality. Terrorism. These are not things to laugh at. But gosh, the GOP candidates are making it incredibly difficult. In their unrelenting quest to take back the White House, the Republican candidates for president are increasingly inducing headlines that may seem more fit to appear in The Onion than the New York Times. Okay, let's be fair: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are just as conducive to an SNL bit as Donald Trump. But what's different is that when you're laughing at Trump, or Bush, or Christie, you're actually laughing at them, uncovering something deeply flawed about their bid to be the leader of the free world. Advertisement To illustrate the point, let's play a round of "Real Headline or Onion Headline?" If you haven't played before, the rules are simple: For each question, one headline is from the satirical news site The Onion and the other is real. Choose the one you think is real. 1. Which Chris Christie headline is real? a) "Chris Christie: I May Be Old and Smelly, but at Least I'm Not Ted Cruz" b) "Report: Chris Christie Spent $300K From Expense Account On Food, Drinks" This one is tough, because if you're an American with a clear picture of who Chris Christie is and what he looks like, you know neither of these are far off. But if you also pay close attention to Christie's campaign events, you know he actually, in real life, told a retirement community in Bow, New Hampshire, that voters ought to take a close look at him despite his ghastly persona. That's right: Chris Christie 2016, Disgusting but Not Ted Cruz. Indeed, this line of attack makes sense: Not only is the Republican field so void of good options, but also Christie's brand of politics is so infamously crass and unappealing that his greatest selling point may be who he's not. 2. Which Ted Cruz headline is real? a) "Report: Students Had To Attend Ted Cruz Rally Or Face Fine" b) "Ted Cruz, in New List of Endorsements, Includes Lawmaker Who Didn't Endorse Him" Advertisement This one should be a little easier, because after reading a) you may have thought: Who the heck is so brutal that he or she would force kids to listen to Ted Cruz? Well, you're right, which leaves Cruz's conundrum in broad daylight: He is way, way, way too crazy to garner the support needed to be a serious contender for president. So yes, he added to a list of his endorsements a member of Congress who clearly stated he "could not support" Cruz, but that the candidate could print "narrow praise" from the Representative. The episode brought to mind a recent report in the New York Times that found striking discrepancies between the moderate position Cruz is presenting to donors and the radical one he is offering voters. Taken together, we can confirm what we knew about Cruz but has been shielded by his relentlessness: Even he doesn't really believe in his own ideology. 3. Which Marco Rubio headline is real? a) "Campaign Advisers Secretly Enjoying Totally Destroying Marco Rubio During Practice Debates" b) "Marco Rubio Defends His Repetition of Talking Point by Repeating Talking Point" Poor Marco Rubio. If you were to graph the excitement surrounding his campaign, it might look something like a heart rate monitor: Spiking at his campaign announcement, flattening as voters snubbed him, spiking again after his surprise third place finish in Iowa, and then flattening once again at the last GOP debate, when Rubio seemed to spit nothing out other than the same line over, and over, and over again, and again the next day when he tried to defend himself. B) is not only the answer, but it is an insight into the painful irony of Rubio's campaign: that he's only appealing when he's appealing to nobody, when he's not worth any scrutiny. Once the spotlight turns to Rubio, everything--his record on immigration, his lack of a record on anything else, his thin talking points--comes crashing back down on him. 4. Which Jeb Bush headline is real? a) "Jeb Bush Asks Crowd to 'Please Clap' During Speech" b) "Advisors Hopeful Jeb Bush Finally Has Momentum To End Campaign" This one should be easy too, because seasoned 2016ers know two things about Jeb Bush: 1) He is completely unable to spark any buzz and 2) no matter how clear it is that he will not be the Republican nominee, he apparently finds ways to justify staying in the race. So yes, as he delivered a line to his New Hampshire crowd about creating a more peaceful world and the crowd went silent, Jeb asked the audience to "please clap." You can cringe, you can dig your nails into your arm, but you might as well enjoy: In all likelihood, Jeb and his polite awkwardness are not going anywhere soon. Someone dies from gun violence every 16 minutes in America. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT is a series of frank interviews with passionate men and women who are leaders, activists, experts and mentors on the subject of illegal gun violence in America. All of them are warriors on this very complicated and emotional mission. Some are friends and some I have admired from afar for their bravery, audacity and indomitable commitment to the cause. Although our backgrounds are vastly different, and the experiences and challenges we face in our work and lives are as complex as the causes and the solutions to this insidious problem, each has shown through their actions that there is more that can be done to end this senseless loss of human life. I am proud to introduce you to them and share their insights into how you can help Raise The Caliber of your community and help our efforts to end illegal gun violence in America. Interview No 2. WE ARE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT Name: Chase Rosett, Grant Gilbert and Devin McIntyre Occupation/Title: Co-Owners of PWRdetroit, High School seniors http://www.PWRdetroit.com Age: 17yrs old (Chase) 18yrs old (Grant and Devin) Advertisement Race: Caucasian Nationality: American Where do you live? Metro-Detroit What quote do you live by? "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy What are you most proud of about your work? We are proud that with every piece purchased from PWRdetroit, there is a deeper meaning than just style and fashion. Every bracelet we sell supports a cause that has the ability to change lives; specifically with our PWRcaliber collaboration ten percent of the proceeds is donated to the Caliber Foundation which supports the victims, families and communities devastated by illegal gun violence in America. What is the biggest challenge you face in your work? Working so closely to a controversial issue, it feels at times like we're obligated to fix it. Sometimes we have to take a step back, remember that we're still so young and we're working with a complex and deep rooted issue. It's not something that can be fixed overnight, however badly we want it to be. Supporting the efforts to combat illegal gun violence in our beloved city takes diligence, perseverance, hope and most frustratingly, patience. As high school seniors, we still have school and extracurriculars and friends, and balancing it all isn't easy. Juggling business and adolescence, we have lost nights of sleep and sanity, but we've also found ourselves in a rewarding storm of loyalty and confidence and seen what a difference we can make, even at such a young age. Why do you think we have such a problem with gun violence in America? We have to remember that real people are affected by illegal gun violence. We become distracted by the "noise" surrounding the issue, and forget that this person is someone's child or someone's parent or someone's friend. We need to change our focus from debating 'why we have an issue' to asking 'how can we fix it'. Every day that we waste debating the why of illegal gun violence is another day we lose lives. Advertisement What do you think is the biggest misconception about why we have such a problem with gun violence in America? People often think that illegal gun violence is an open and closed issue. In order to get to a solution, you will need to make compromises - there is no one step solution to ending illegal gun violence. Do you think there is a law that the government could enact that would really make a difference in reducing gun violence and building safe communities? There is not one piece of legislation that will eliminate illegal gun violence. The process must begin with a grassroots initiative approach. You need members of each community to bring light to the issue. Start with education on the topic and work from there. Each community is unique and needs to combat illegal gun violence the way that best fits the needs of that community. What are three things the average American citizen can do to "Raise The Caliber" of their community? 1. Become educated. 2. Listen. 3. Don't be afraid to speak. Understanding how and why illegal gun violence affects every community is essential to effectively combating this issue. Listen to what the facts tell you - and speak up! People are scared to speak about their thoughts on controversial topics because they don't want to offend the person next to them. If no one is willing to put themselves on the line to discuss this issue, change will never come. Is there a must read book or article on this topic that has educated and inspired you? Through articles and books, we have become educated on the topic but, it's not an article or piece of writing that inspires us - it's the fact that this issue is so prevalent within the city of Detroit and destroying so many lives of Detroiters. It's for the people that have lost loved ones to illegal gun violence that fuel our fire to continue this fight. We love Detroit and we want to help it succeed - we want to be a part of the change. (This is based on my talk on Sat 2/6 at the Santa Cruz Progressive Christian Forum event on Climate Change.) "If we shall suppose that human-caused global warming is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through God's appointed time, God now wills to remove, and that God gives catastrophe to China and America, Russia and India, the Maldives and Indonesia alike as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of catastrophic climate change may speedily pass away..... With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the wounds wrought by global warming, to care for those who have borne its disastrous effects, to do all which may achieve and cherish a healthy planet for ourselves and all nations." Advertisement Replace "slavery" with "global warming" and Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address in 1865 hits home not just in the ears but in the gut. Lincoln's rhetoric still reaches into the soul of America and swells it with emotion and conviction. And integral to its impact is its use of Judeo-Christian language. People do not just vote their pocketbooks. They'll vote for a politician who would take bread off their tables if they felt like he or she reflected and honored their personal identities. Values mean more to voters than policy statements. Look at what's happening in the primary elections for the presidency in America now. Voters say, over and over again, that they aren't focused on the fine print of policy wonkery. They want simple messages. They want candidates who speak not to them, but for their very souls. And for a lot of voters, faith is a major part of that identity. So in order to get politicians elected who will take real action against climate change, Christian identity must include a heartfelt commitment to save the planet from global warming. Humility before God and restraint from destructive self-gratification are inextricably woven into what it means to be a Christian, almost universally. Fasting as much as possible from the use of fossil fuels must become a year-round Lenten discipline for all Christians, progressives and evangelicals alike. Then, when politicians speak in the language of faith to promise action against climate change, Christians across the theological spectrum will respond from the heart. Lincoln's eternal, elegant words express a sophisticated theology that is needed now more than ever. This president, who never joined a church yet pondered and practiced a deep faith, understood that God and nature are one. Human history, as well as the cosmos as a whole, evolves over time. As did the dinosaur, slavery had its time, but evolution left it behind. Fossil fuels had their time, too, which passed as the God of nature beckoned us toward deeper respect for all life. In hindsight we might say that Lincoln was a process theologian who found God in the deepening interconnectivity among all beings. Advertisement But one need not be a process theologian, much less a theologically progressive Christian, to make a commitment to the survival of the planet integral to his or her Christian identity. Lincoln's rhetoric covers the whole Christian waterfront. There is a growing "creation care" movement working to make this cause part of evangelical identity, just as groups like Progressive Christians Uniting work to make it integral to a progressive Christian self-image. 224 million, and counting. That's how many seconds my son, Matthew, has been enduring his medical nightmare. That's more than seven-and-a-half years. I measure my son's time in seconds because each moment represents his exquisite agony of searing, burning, torture. That's not just Matthew's description but one familiar to others suffering from CRPS - Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Pain is subjective and it's difficult, but not impossible, to quantify. The McGill Pain Index addresses that head on. It was developed by Dr. Ronald Melzack at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec in 1971 to help doctors to more specifically and uniformly evaluate a patient's suffering. The index assesses pain based on answers provided by the patient to a detailed three-part questionnaire. To put the 50 point McGill Pain Index in context: a sprain falls somewhere around 14, while arthritis and a fracture approach 20. Higher up the scale, in the mid-to-high 20's, sit non-terminal cancer, chronic back pain and fibromyalgia, in ascending order. From the mid-30s to 40 are childbirth and the amputation of a finger or toe. CRPS sits above them all. According to the Index CRPS causes some of the most profound pain imaginable. Advertisement My son recently made me aware of this scale, not to gain my sympathy or attention, but in an attempt to explain what each moment feels like for him when he is suffering. The McGill Pain Index only told me what I already knew. His occasional screams have become commonplace in our home -- moments where his pain is too great to hold in. Equally revealing, his eyes expose fatigue and frustration which mar his youthful, striking good looks. Even a smile cannot fully hide his sadness and constant agony. Before the turn of the 21st century, during the so-called "second wave" of feminism, I actually drank the Kool-Aid. I thought women could, should and would change the world. Catch phrases at the time were all about how the personal is political. It made a lot of sense to me - then and now - because I could look around and see palpable, unacceptable gender inequities in the home, in the workplace, in government, at all levels. More, I could see that women's ways of thinking and working were dismissed, not valued. These many years later, for sure, women's roles have changed, most everywhere you look. But honestly? I thought we'd be much further along by now in securing women's parity. Advertisement Who represents us? 19% women in the House; 20% in the Senate Some benchmarks to prove that point: Two decades ago at the UN's Beijing women's conference in 1995, world leaders pledged to work toward achieving 30% women members in their national legislatures. Today, a scant 44 among those 190 countries have met the goal. The US is not one of them. The 114th Congress, elected in 2014, boasted a record number of women. That added up to only 104 among the 535 members of Congress, or 19% women in the House and 20% women in the Senate. Women make up 51% of the population. Who represents us? Last August, presidential candidate Jeb Bush, presumably running to be president of all the people, not just men, announced, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." Public indignation and a social media firestorm forced Bush to walk back that statement, but you know, first utterances out of people's mouths are usually what they really believe. Marco Rubio believes women who've been raped or are the victims of incest should bring those babies to term. Carly Fiorina continues to lie about Planned Parenthood while the videos purportedly showing sales of fetal tissue have now been discredited and banned from public view by a federal judge. Too few voices in Congress and state capitals are demanding solutions for women. How far have we really come? We've shifted to "second-generation bias" I believe we've now shifted from first generation discrimination into what many call "second generation bias." Whereas discrimination against women used to be blunt, blatant and condoned, nowadays it's subtle, intangible and even occasionally unintentional. Advertisement What does this mean in practical terms? First, despite women's inroads into dozens of professions, men still make the rules and decide the teams. Second, challenges for women have moved beyond getting hired. Hurdles to clear now involve being valued and promoted. It's all about advancement. Women are opting out of male-run companies "Women are still underrepresented at every level in the corporate pipeline...," reports a high-profile study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. Released in September 2015, "Women in the Workplace" surveyed 118 companies and nearly 30,000 employees and found, "... it will take twenty-five years to reach gender parity at the senior-VP level and more than one hundred years in the C-suite." Is it any wonder so many women are opting out of male-run companies to assume the reins of their time, lives, families and futures? In fact, if you scan the horizon, you'll see change is looming, mostly because women are leaving corporate compounds to strike out on their own. The rise of the global She Economy is shaping the future hurtling toward us and fueling an unprecedented expansion of women's leadership. Transformation began with women flexing their consumer muscle and purchasing power as CEO of the family amid a rising global middle class. Increasingly, however, that economic impact is bolstered and driven by women entrepreneurs. Advertisement Suffragettes demanded a voice and a vote and it took awhile Around the world, women are launching businesses in never-before-seen numbers. On every continent, women are creating new marketplaces, new classes of customers and significantly greater GDP for their regions and the world. And as we've all learned, money talks. Economic power has a way of leading to political clout. In the early 20th century, British and American suffragettes rewrote the rules of society by demanding that women have a voice and a vote in issues that affect their lives. It got messy and took awhile. Men weren't comfortable seeing women at the ballot box. Similarly, a century later, women are demanding greater power in business and across society. This is also taking awhile. Yet more and more women are no longer waiting for male recognition. They're taking charge by launching enterprises and leading on their own. Women's entrepreneurship is changing women's future As the number of female-owned firms grows, it's clear that women start and run businesses that are categorically different than companies run by men. As a result, worldwide and one business at a time, women's entrepreneurship is changing women's future. ALEPPO, SYRIA - FEBRUARY 09: Syrians who flee the attacks of Syrian and Russian air forces to residential areas on Hayan, Haritan, Kafr, Anadan, Kafr Naya, Mayir and Ihris districts of Syria, try to live at tents and open areas at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing on Turkish-Syrian border near Azaz town of Aleppo, Syria on February 09, 2016. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) As politicians gathered in London last week to discuss aid for Syria, the appalling suffering continued unabated. Syrians are living under bombardment, as hundreds of explosive devices are dropped on their cities and towns each day - predominantly by their own government. This situation is compounded by Russian, U.S., French and British airstrikes forcing even more people to flee in search of safety. Yet their options to escape are rapidly running out. For those trapped inside Syria, the destruction of key infrastructure - including hospitals, clinics, schools, water pumps, grain silos and bakeries - makes life increasingly untenable. According to a credible monitoring group, in the three months until January, 53 medical facilities, 37 schools or educational spaces and 20 marketplaces, food distribution points or bakeries were hit by airstrikes. The war in Syria is being waged against its own people. Advertisement MSF estimates that 1.5 million people are trapped in sieges imposed by Syrian government forces and opposition groups. 12-year-old Salim and his brother, from Syria, rest at the Idomeni refugee camp, on the Greek-Macedonian border. Trucks, transit hubs and roads have also been heavily bombed, disrupting the supply route for bringing essentials including food, fuel and humanitarian aid to some 600,000 people in Azaz district and the east of Aleppo city. Across Syria, people's access to humanitarian aid is extremely limited, with few organizations allowed to work in areas controlled by the government. Even fewer work in areas controlled by the so-called Islamic State. Millions of people receive no assistance whatsoever. A lot of key infrastructure in Syria, including hospitals, clinics, schools, water pumps and bakeries, have been destroyed, Liu writes. Advertisement Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) estimates that over 1.5 million people are trapped in sieges imposed by the Syrian government-led coalition, as well as by opposition groups. Medical supplies are systematically blocked and the evacuation of critically ill or wounded patients is all but impossible under siege. Madaya is an extreme example of the use of siege tactics in Syria, where MSF-supported medics inside the town report that 49 people have died of starvation - so far. Running is the only option for many people, but is becoming harder by the day. The violence has already forced 6.5 million people - half of them children - to flee their homes within the country. Some 120,000 people were forced to leave their homes in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib governorates in September - a direct result of the intensified bombing campaigns. Another four million have left Syria, some trying to rebuild their lives in Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey, others risking their lives by crossing the sea to Europe. Two-month-old Feisal, from Syria, lies next to a camp fire in Polykastro, a town near the Greek-Macedonian border. The violence in Syria has driven 6.5 million people, half of them children, from their homes, Liu said. But escaping Syria is becoming increasingly hard. The Jordanian and Lebanese borders are virtually closed to new arrivals, while Iraq, embroiled in its own violence, is not an option. Even fleeing the bombs for elsewhere in Syria is often out of the question, with so many areas under siege or controlled by groups such as the so-called Islamic State. In the meantime, the European Union has externalized the management of its borders to Turkey, handing over three billion euros in return for a clampdown on Syrians hoping to flee to Europe. There's a knock-on effect of border closures from Europe all the way to Syria, resulting in civilians being trapped in one of the most brutal wars of our times. Advertisement A family from Idlib, Syria, cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Escaping Syria has become increasingly hard, Liu said. Neighboring countries Jordan and Lebanon have "virtually closed to new arrivals, while Iraq, embroiled in its own violence, is not an option," she added. Before Margin Call, 99 Homes and The Big Short, there was this gem of a Swiss docu-drama that should've gotten better play in the States (considering the content) titled Cleveland Versus Wall Street. Produced in 2010 it was set in a courtroom -- sort of Twelve Angry Men meets Judgement at Nuremberg -- postulating a trial of those Wall Street Mega-Banks that had been responsible for turning wide swaths of Cleveland into vast wastelands; all before these self-same banks succeeded in doing the same for the global economy. Based on an actual lawsuit filed by the city of Cleveland in January, 2008, this should-have-happened trial used real folks -- lawyers, judges, witnesses and jurors -- to weigh in on whether 21 banks (Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, among them) were nothing more than irresponsible public nuisances who knowingly peddled mortgages to people who had no realistic means of keeping up with loan payments. Cleveland's mayor at the time, Frank Jackson, quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, mirrored the thinking of many of his constituents. Advertisement To me, this is no different than organized crime or drugs. It has the same effect as drug activity in neighborhoods. It's a form of organized crime that happens to be legal in many respects. Some of the actors (playing themselves) were directly involved in the lawsuit: Josh Cohen at the plaintiff's table was lead lawyer. Kathleen Engel, a Cleveland-Marshall law professor, appears as a prosecution consultant. In reality, she provided the legal research that underpinned the law suit, namely: municipalities have standing to recover damages inflicted on communities by predatory lenders. Witnesses for the prosecution were genuinely compelling. Robert Kole, a Cleveland policeman who participated in hundreds of evictions appears visibly upset as he testifies about the impact of foreclosures on the East Cleveland neighborhood where he grew up. Keith Taylor, an ex-drug dealer turned sub-prime mortgage broker, offers insights into how he baited the homeownership hook with all sorts of pie-in-the-sky BS that suckered in vulnerable Cleveland residents; a spiel that allowed him to reap in hefty commissions. The director, Jean-Stephane Bron, sets up the defense table with a real financial services lawyer, Keith Fisher. While Fisher had no actual role in the lawsuit he does know the terrain and argues that the banks had no culpability in creating the mess. Additional witnesses for the defense include Peter Wallison, a former Reagan White House advisor; unrepentant defender of the free market and proponent of deregulation (to this day), currently serving time at the American Enterprise Institute. Advertisement It's straight from the horse's mouth when Michael Osinski appears on the stand and Bron wisely uses him to explain the "mechanics" of sub-prime lending. One of Wall Street's fabled "Quants," the financial engineers who set up the alchemy that transformed mortgages into securities, he's contrite about his role in creating the sub-prime mess. The courtroom drama reaches a peak with the testimony of Barbara Anderson, an African-American, who moved her family into the formerly all-white working class community known as Slavic Village. As the sub-prime epidemic began to impact homes in her area she mobilized neighbors into a "Street Club" with the goal of keeping vacant homes from falling prey to gangs and drug dealers. Anderson was also active with a community organization, ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People), which put pressure on banks to negotiate with homeowners. While the trial in the film is make-believe the reality is not and while Bron was at work my company, Pacific Street Films, was also in Cleveland shooting for a documentary, Tale of Two Streets. Our tour of the devastation was facilitated by those close to the action and they included Gus Chan, an award-winning Cleveland Plain Dealer photographer, who had documented the human misery wrought by foreclosure. David Rowe, a Cleveland policeman, took us on his eviction rounds and like his counterpart in the film was emotional when discussing the situation. Tony Brancatelli, a Slavic Village City Councilman (who appears in the film as a witness for the prosecution), walked us through one of the vacant houses stripped of anything valuable and made the point that while vandals eviscerated homes, the Mega-Banks ripped out the very soul of the community: its population of long-time blue collar residents. The jury deliberation is a deflated contrivance that doesn't rise to the level of Twelve Angry Men but the outcome isn't a slam dunk either. Bron has intentionally packed the jury with a cross-section of just-plain-folks, from a single mother to a retired soldier with a son fighting in Iraq. Then there are two Tea Party supporters and a Polish immigrant (who sees the US as the land of boundless opportunity) and they remain not-guilty holdouts. Given the Judge's instructions that more than five were needed to convict, their reluctance spells a victory for the defense. The Mega-Banks are off the hook. Advertisement It's art imitating life. The real story, according to Kathleen Engel, parallels the film's outcome, albeit, without the benefit of a trial. After the lawsuit was filed it became an instant hot potato. It bounced around, pin-ball style, between State and Federal courts and on the Fed level it became clear this was mine-field strewed legal territory that judges were reluctant to wade into. By 2011, the lawsuit died an ignominious death Flash forward five years and we're in Big Short territory. These same Mega-Banks, from Goldman to JP Morgan to Wells Fargo, are settling big time with regulators over the same shenanigans that created the sub-prime crisis and the displacement of millions of homeowners, including those in Cleveland. Kathleen Engel believes these settlements should raise eyebrows and give pause for thought: The size of the settlements means they have a lot to hide. They are willing to pay billions of dollars to prevent the truth from coming out. Without lawsuits that include discovery, it is impossible to know the extent of the banks culpability and difficult to gather the evidence needed for criminal prosecutions. Plus, by settling, no law is created. We can only imagine how trials held today, based on evidence hidden by these settlements, might play out. Then again, like the "X" files, the truth is out there waiting to be discovered. Note: Cleveland Versus Wall Street is available for screening on VIMEO but be warned to brush up on your French since the overdub does obscure the English underneath. Advertisement Under the best of circumstances, it is difficult for an obscure issue to grab the attention of Washington's political leadership, no matter how important that issue may be. It's all the more challenging in a noisy election year. That's why it was striking last week to see that a serious conversation may be shaping up in Congress on a subject that has received relatively little attention: the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country rich in minerals that are essential to advanced economies like our own. Advertisement In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry that has received little press coverage, Senator Edward Markey, a prominent member of the Foreign Relations Committee, urged the Obama administration to consider imposing sanctions on the brutally repressive regime of Joseph Kabila, the DRC president. The concerns that Markey raises in the letter -- centering around Kabila's refusal to agree to leave office when his final term ends this year -- is not news to Kerry or President Obama. As Kabila has repeatedly signaled his intentions to delay the 2016 presidential elections, both Kerry and Obama have publicly pushed him to abide by his nation's constitutional term limits for the sake of democracy in a nation once torn apart by sectarian warfare. In late 2014, for example, Kerry used a visit to the DRC to declare that Kabila, who took office in 2001, "has an opportunity, which he understands, to be able to put the country on a continued path to democracy." In sending the letter, Markey, the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policies, is effectively challenging fellow Democrats Kerry and Obama to put action behind their words. Advertisement In fact, Markey goes so far as to suggest that this rogue leader is openly disregarding the American president and his secretary of state. "Over the past year, both you and President Obama have personally delivered strong messages urging Kabila to comply with the DRC Constitution," the senator writes. "It now appears, however, that Kabila does not intend to hold the election unless he understands that failure to do so will bring serious consequences for him and his inner circle." For over a year, Kabila has gone to considerable lengths to make sure that he maintains his grip on power. And the news that has come out of that country should trouble anyone who champions the cause of human dignity and freedom against tyranny and oppression. In March 2015, more than 400 bodies were found buried in rural part of the country called Maluku. Human Rights Watch has suggested that some of the bodies were those of individuals who died in anti-government protests over a proposal to delay the 2016 presidential election and leave Kabila in power. More recently, according to the Markey letter, DRC's Communications Ministry shut down two television channels owned by Moise Katumbi, a former governor of a province known as Katanga who has a strong political following and who is considered a leading candidate for the presidency. Advertisement For his part, Markey warned that if Kabila refuses to allow a democratic transfer of power in the DRC, the country could erupt in warfare that could easily spread to other countries in the region. "For the past fifteen years, President Kabila has been instrumental to the DRC's path from war to relative stability, but that very stability is now threatened by his apparent intent to defy his country's constitutional foundation," Markey writes. "It is imperative to persuade him that the DRC's stability, as well as his own legacy, depends on a democratic transfer of power this year." So how does Markey propose the U.S. persuade Kabila to step down? Well, his plan would include targeted denials of visas (presumably involving Kabila relatives and cronies); the freezing of assets (again, probably involving Kabila relatives and cronies); reductions in economic and security aid that flow to the DRC through the Kabila government; and the discouragement of private investment. Religiously and philosophically I have gone quite a ways away from where I was. I have come to accept the philosophical concept that good people are good people. Our oldest son converted to Judaism because he fell in love with it. We stood in the temple in support of him when he did his conversion. The rabbi asked me later out of curiosity why we were so supportive of his conversion because in his experience Christians converting to Judaism almost always break all ties with their families. I said to the rabbi, 'how would he live different to be a good Jew than he would to be a good Christian?' The rabbi laughed and said 'well it is about ninety percent the same. All major religions are about ninety percent the same in regards to how you act and treat other people, so the other ten percent is usually what man has done out of selfishness.' The biggest difference that I have noticed is that my son no longer eats ham. "A city is more than a place in space. It is a drama in time." So wrote the urban planner Patrick Geddes at the start of the 20th century. Today, that drama has taken on new urgency and complexity. The world's cities have become the global stage for some of humanity's greatest challenges, calling on our collective ingenuity, investment, and commitment to solve. The number of people living in the world's cities has more than quintupled since 1950. Already, there are more than 3.5 billion city dwellers worldwide, and that number is expected to surpass 6 billion by 2050. Urbanization on such a large scale, however, is more than just a trend. It is a fundamental transformation in how people live and societies are structured. And while the rapid pace of urban migration reflects the incredible opportunities that modern cities make possible, it also adds to the urgency of two interrelated challenges: social isolation and environmental sustainability. Advertisement First, we know that people in cities often struggle with feelings of isolation and a lack of belonging. Big crowds and busy streets do not always help to create a sense of connectedness; for many city residents, they actively contribute to feelings of alienation. Rapid urbanization is exacerbating this challenge as walkable spaces shrink, parking lots replace playgrounds, and high-rises eclipse neighborhoods--all of which make it increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy sense of community and belonging. New arrivals, especially immigrant populations who may not speak the language, can struggle to establish a sense of belonging amidst the crowd. Second, as urban areas and populations continue to grow, I believe that cities may become the next environmental frontier. From Burkina Faso to Bangladesh, we have already witnessed the effects of global climate change pushing rural residents to migrate to urban areas. Yet, climate change can have severe consequences for cities too, in the form of extreme weather events, rising sea-levels, and heat waves. Advertisement Meanwhile, as cities expand, the infrastructure needed to sustain new populations often cannot keep pace with demand. For that reason, unchecked urban growth can negatively impact human health and safety, gravely lowering the quality of life for city residents. The impact of these dual challenges is becoming evident in cities around the world. In China, for example, residents of Shenzhen worried that rampant construction growth was creating a dangerous accumulation of debris. Their concerns were largely ignored until December 2015, when a massive landslide of dirt and waste destroyed more than 30 buildings, claiming dozens of lives. Also in December, the capital city of Beijing, which is being developed into a supercity larger than the country of Senegal, issued two unprecedented "red alerts" as a result of hazardous smog in the air. Notably, the burdens of both social isolation and environmental degradation can weigh heavily on the most vulnerable members of urban populations. During his September 2015 visit to New York City, Pope Francis called attention to the "forces that push us into isolation," cautioning that "big cities also conceal the faces of all those people who don't appear to belong." It is these "second-class citizens"--including the poor, the elderly, and children--who are disproportionately at risk of diseases caused by air pollution and other environmental hazards. The good news is that many of the solutions to these challenges are mutually reinforcing. Open spaces and public transportation, for example, promote social connectedness and are good for the environment too. By the same token, a sense of shared purpose and responsibility among city residents and officials is essential to support good environmental policies--which, in turn, can reduce the isolation of marginalized groups and individuals. To provide healthy social and physical living environments, cities and stakeholders at every level need the tools to effectively measure their problems and progress. That is why the 2016 Environmental Performance Index is such an important resource. Launched in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the EPI measures the environmental performance of 180 countries across nine key areas, including air and water quality, wastewater treatment, and energy consumption. And as the EPI shows, many of these issues affect urban populations most acutely. Advertisement Looking ahead, understanding the specific impacts within specific cities and regions will be critical to cultivating increased awareness and action. In Chicago, for example, one recent study found a link between local air pollution and criminal activity. Could such a link exacerbate social isolation, if people are afraid to leave their homes? The 2016 EPI reveals that more than 3.5 billion people live in places with unsafe air quality. At stake may not just be human health, but the health of society itself. Measuring and understanding these challenges at the urban scale is our best hope for success in improving the quality of people's lives in the places that most people live. The time is now to work together to find innovative solutions for combating isolation and promoting environmental sustainability in tandem. Puerto Rico is in trouble. With a faltering economy, $72 billion of municipal debt, and a brain drain of young people packing for the mainland, Puerto Ricans are seriously worried about the future of the U.S. territory. Latino USA explores the Puerto Rican debt crisis, from the history of U.S. involvement in the island's economy to how its fiscal problems are affecting people today. Plus, the battle on Capitol Hill over Puerto Rico's future. Editor's Note A HuffPost article that previously existed at this URL has been removed. Motherhood is the most important role in the world. You are blessed with this little human that is a blank canvas and as a mother you have the ability to create a masterpiece. It's a hard job at times and I don't think till you become a mom you truly understand how much you can give of yourself to another human being. What I found even more amazing was when I had my second daughter that you could replicate the same amount of love to another human being! I remember being pregnant to her being worried that I may not be able to love anymore because what I felt for my first daughter was so astronomical. I did not think it was humanly possible. Wow was I wrong! With no doubt any role I have had post children has influenced by the fact I was now a mom. I have never accepted or even applied for a role where I did not think the work/life balance would suit my family. My children have always come first and I thank my past employers and my husband for being so supporting of this fact. I had my girls late in life and I think that too was an aspect that influenced my choices. By Kelly Fitzpatrick for Life by Daily Burn You know the feeling: You were in a rush out the door and skipped breakfast, or maybe you have a huge dinner planned so you're skimping on your usual afternoon snacks. Slowly but surely, your plain old hunger turns into a simmering grouchiness and you're officially "hangry." While it's not yet a valid defense in court, hanger is a real, physiological phenomenon. When the body is deprived of blood glucose -- which happens when you haven't eaten recently -- the brain receives all kinds of signals to behave aggressively. Here's what's really going on when your empty stomach triggers that rage-y feeling in your head. What Does It Mean When You're Hangry? We've all been there: You're snapping at your partner and shooting death stares at the waiter who's slow to take your order. But why? Well, as one study puts it, "Aggressive and violent behaviors are restrained by self-control. Self-control consumes a lot of glucose in the brain, suggesting that low glucose and poor glucose metabolism are linked to aggression and violence." (Watch out, dinner companions.) Advertisement Exercising self-control all day long uses a lot of energy, largely in the form of glucose. As Medical News Today explains, our bodies break down food to make glucose, which helps the brain function. A simple shortage of this essential sugar (like when you haven't eaten in the past, say, eight hours) can hamper the brain's ability to exercise self-control, one study suggests. But there's more to it than that. Lauren Slayton, MS, RD, founder of Foodtrainers, a nutrition practice in NYC, adds, "The body tries to compensate when blood glucose decreases by releasing certain hormones." These hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, increase aggressiveness, amping up your hangry behavior. The Consequences of Getting Hangry Your hanger can manifest in many ways. One study actually measured couples' aggressive urges and behaviors by having them stick pins into a voodoo doll, or blast each other with an air horn through headphones. Researchers found that couples were more likely to behave aggressively toward each other when their blood sugar was low. Even crazier: In one study, researchers cited the Quolla Indians of Peru as historical evidence that hanger is for real. Plagued with chronically low blood glucose, the tribe had a reputation for violence. Unpremeditated murder was common! Aside from potentially putting you in couples counseling (or...jail), a low blood sugar supply to the brain has other negative side effects, too, including fatigue and impaired concentration, say Slayton. Even if you don't necessarily have an aggressive response to low blood sugar, you may not be firing on all cylinders. How to Stop Hanger in Its Tracks Advertisement The best way to avoid getting hangry is to eat regularly. Slayton suggests a "four-hour rule" -- never go more than four hours without something to eat. It's important to note, Slayton adds, a genuine need to increase blood glucose is not necessarily associated with a grumbling stomach. So you should try to stay ahead of your hunger pangs. (Just stick to healthy snacks like these to avoid consuming too many calories.) Dreams of Dali can be experienced in the Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination exhibit at The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL through June 12, 2016. For a 360-video version of Dreams of Dali visit Dreamsofdali.org. I have recently experienced Dreams of Dali, an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience that allows visitors to discover Dali's world. This VR experience was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) in partnership with The Dali Museum as part of the exhibition Disney and Dali: Architects of the Imagination. It takes viewers inside Dali's surrealist painting Archeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus. The experience of spatiality in a painting is the most striking aspect of Dreams of Dali. We reached out to Dr. Hank Hine, Executive Director of The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL and Jeff Goodby, Executive Creative Director and Partner at GS&P to get a detailed account on how this experience was created. Lilia Ziamou: Tell us about the relationship between Disney and Dali. In one of your earlier interviews you mentioned that they both "wanted to take art off the palette, out of the canvas and into the world." Can you please elaborate? Advertisement Hank Hine: Both these artists began their work in traditional media -- Disney with ink on illustration board, Dali with paint on canvas. But they soon leapt into the newest media, at times pioneering new techniques. Disney took up the young art of animation. Dali made a boundary breaking film. Disney invented a multi-plane camera to enhance the depth of field in animations. Dali experimented with holograms and made the first artist video. They both went beyond individual works to create entire environments drawn from their imaginations. Dali created a surreal funhouse called Dream of Venus for the 1939 World's Fair. A work of art itself, it housed paintings of melting clocks, sculptures, a taxi plumbed so that a torrent of rain poured in the interior, and performance pieces such as topless mermaids diving for sunken treasure. This work certainly paved the way for Disneyland, an environment of fantasy where one can travel through time and the wide world. Perhaps this expansion of the artist's realm into environment, into architectural spaces, is both Disney and Dali's greatest contribution to art. Lilia Ziamou: Describe the VR experience and how/where it can be experienced. Hank Hine: Donning the Oculus Rift headset and earphones you are inhaled into the imagined landscape of the painting. As you look down, the ground beneath you is real and particular and looking up the horizon provides the joy and sorrow of real distance. The remarkable thing about the terrain mapped by the GS&P team is its accessibility. Wherever you look you go. This is a remarkable experience of empowerment. And the accompanying pleasure is to see so secretly the insides, the towers and the imagined rear of the world Dali describes in paint. I say secretly, because the VR experience is a sequestered one. You feel you are alone in a hidden place with infinite time to explore it. We've placed three stations equipped with the Oculus Rift and headphones beside the painting that inspired this experience. Visitors can also look onward at those participating in the virtual reality experience via LED screens that show what the user is currently seeing. They are the last stop in a series of rooms that provide paintings, drawings, environments, and films made by these artists. Disney and Dali worked in every medium that would make their vision real and palpable. Had they lived into this era, they would have embraced the tools of virtual reality to make their dreams ever more real. Advertisement Lilia Ziamou: What was the inspiration behind Dreams of Dali? Why did you work with Archeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus? Jeff Goodby: Director Hank Hine and the people at The Dali envisioned a show exploring the partnership of Dali and Disney. We tried to imagine an experience that both artists would have endorsed and enjoyed. Our creative team wondered what it would be like to actually step inside a Dali painting. This particular work was chosen because it offered such a great variety of landscape and inviting towers to explore. The painting was created at the height of Dali as a Surrealist. The depth and beauty of this painting offered a myriad of options to explore. The viewer is taken around and behind the two stone spires, across a vast landscape populated by icons from Dali's work like the long-legged elephants and the girl jumping rope. Imagined caves inside the spires hide a dizzying staircase and a hologram of Alice Cooper (who is a fan of Dali and the museum). There is even a tiny city in the distance not apparent without magnification. The project was completed entirely in-house at GS&P. We have been very fortunate to have the intellectual and financial support of The Dali throughout this experience. It is not something most museums would have the boldness to explore and offer to their visitors. And the people at Oculus Rift, and their mother company Facebook, have been generous with their help and encouragement throughout the creation of this installation. Lilia Ziamou: How does the VR experience enhance the visual experience of the exhibition Disney and Dali: Architects of Imagination? Hank Hine: After the magic of a VR exploration of Dali's world, we are returned to the old magic of painterly mimesis. The two dimensions that through color, darkness and light pretend to be three dimensions. That is one of the pleasures of VR, to step back out of it. But there is also this. We inhabit a boring timeshare with our imaginations. No matter how vivid what we imagine might be, our imaginings are fleeting. This is our human limitation. Though we may use VR to explore an artist's imagination and take to another level the world the artists propose, as with Dreams of Dali, yet the ultimate use of the medium may be for meditation. One is so clearly and firmly transposed from the pedestrian self, the self that brought us to the VR, that we feel the freedom of quietude and introspection. Advertisement Lilia Ziamou: How will VR change the museum experience? Hank Hine: The VR experience comes at the end of the series of galleries exploring Disney and Dali's similar artistic paths. It is certainly a highlight of the exhibition, and yet the gallery is very quiet, even as people wait their turn to try it out. Museums are a social space. We look at others, hear them, and even as we stand in the palpable awe that an artwork can provoke, we are aware of others. The VR is a kind of cave that takes you out of that space. Brilliantly, GS&P devised a screen that shows the visual experience of the person in VR, and in this way brings other visitors into that moment. In the future, VR will allow a compellingly real visit to a museum by the donning of the headset. How will the technology account for the missing social element? Will you encounter another visitor to Dali's landscape wandering through? Will you communicate, exchange digital addresses? How far will the virtual experience penetrate into that retreating vision we call the real? Lilia Ziamou: At the New York preview of the VR experience you talked about VR and vulnerability. Can you please elaborate? People abusing drugs, with African american man and caucasian guy sharing the same syringe to inject heroin These days, across New England, firefighters respond to more overdoses than fires. So many addicts have been found unconscious in bathroom stalls that fast food chains like Dunkin' Donuts have changed their locks to make it easier for first responders. And even the mundane ritual of logging into Facebook has become such a macabre experience for some Bostonians we met that they now refer to it as "Deathbook." "Everybody sort of has like a gallows humor view of Facebook," a recovering addict named Brendan explained while we reported our latest documentary on the nation's opiate epidemic. "All you see is people who are overdosing and dying. And we're growing used to it. And that's a scary sign." The new normal is anything but. Take Massachusetts, which has been at the center of the opiate crisis since the late 90s. Over the last decade, the state counted an average of about 570 overdose deaths a year, which was already high. But suddenly in 2013 those numbers jumped to more than 900. And for 2014 -- the latest year statistics are available -- overdoses are expected to reach over 1,200. In neighboring New Hampshire, the situation has become so bad that some polls show it's the number one issue for voters in the first-in-the-nation primary, ahead of the economy and education. "I was not prepared to hear from so many about what was happening in the families of New Hampshire -- addiction, the heroin epidemic, which is at one of the highest rates in this state of any in the country," Hillary Clinton told attendees at a town hall in Manchester on Jan. 22. Clinton wasn't the only candidate to express shock at the scope of the crisis. "The first question I was asked in my first town hall meeting was about the heroin epidemic," Jeb Bush said during an interview. "And I was like, 'Really, tell me about it?'" It's both encouraging and maddening to see the scales fall from the eyes of presidential candidates on an epidemic that's been two decades in the making, one that claimed a record 28,647 American lives in 2014. But they're still behind the curve. It's not heroin that's killing people at such alarming rates in New Hampshire and surrounding states. It's something far more dangerous and worrying: a powerful synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin called fentanyl. In New Hampshire, 351 people fatally overdosed on opiates last year, according to the state's medical examiner. Twenty-eight of those victims overdosed on heroin alone; fentanyl was a factor in 253 of the deaths. Advertisement Two weeks before the capture of the world's most notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo Guzman, we entered his stronghold of Sinaloa, Mexico to look at one source of the drug. "There's almost nobody making pure heroin anymore because el diablito is so much stronger," one trafficker, who we'll call Javier, told us, using the local nickname for fentanyl -- "the little devil." Javier explained that his family sourced the precursor chemicals from China, and paid a Colombian chemist $50,000 to teach them how to cook up the fentanyl. It was well-worth the investment he said. Demand for the product has tripled. Javier wasn't the first person to tell us about lacing heroin with fentanyl, however. Back in Massachusetts, we interviewed two young addicts who also sold drugs to support their habit. Well before traffickers in Mexico started mixing fentanyl into their heroin, these guys were doing it to gain a competitive edge over other dealers in the neighborhood. The fentanyl they were using didn't come from clandestine labs, however. They used the stuff that comes from pharmaceutical companies and is prescribed to treat severe pain. Advertisement Both men described how they would squeeze the gel out of a prescription fentanyl patch and mix it into their dope. "You can make your heroin seem so much more explosive," said David Harak, 27.Harak said it was easy to find pharmaceutical fentanyl. He would buy it off a neighbor who was prescribed the drug, use a quarter of it himself, and then mix the rest into the heroin he was selling. "I would microwave the fentanyl patch to get it soft. I'll suck it right up in my needle and put it right in my arm with just a little water added," Harak said. "The fentanyl is the purest form. It's a pharmaceutical." The black market for pharmaceutical fentanyl has grown alongside the black market for all prescription opioids, like oxycodone. Between 1999 and 2010, prescriptions for opioids in America quadrupled, and growing hand-in-hand were rising rates of addiction and overdoses, according to the CDC. One of the reasons why such a big black market exists is because some pharmaceutical companies continue to push these powerful and highly addictive painkillers for conditions for which they aren't approved. Advertisement In our investigation, we found multiple fentanyl companies that have become the subject of lawsuits and indictments for illegally marketing their drugs "off-label," including paying kickbacks to doctors to get them to prescribe more of their product. One whistleblower at a pharmaceutical company called INSYS Therapeutics told us that she was encouraged to mislead insurance companies to get their fentanyl drug, Subsys, covered. "It's real simple: It's only FDA-approved for cancer patients with breakthrough cancer pain. If you don't have cancer, and breakthrough cancer pain, no insurance company is going to pay for this medication," Patty Nixon told us. But most -- 90 percent -- of the patients referred to Nixon and her colleagues for Subsys sales were cancer-free, she said. "When 10 percent of the patients' charts that came over or less were cancer patients, that's not a lot of money. Nobody's going to get rich off of that," she said. "But you have this whole other world of everybody. That 'my back hurts' money, 'my knee hurts' money," said Nixon. Advertisement The solution, she said, was for company reps to tell insurance companies that patients had cancer when they did not. In market research conducted by another fentanyl company, they estimated that there are fewer than a million Americans with the kind of cancer pain for which their product was approved. If the company could sell fentanyl for more common conditions, like back pain or arthritis, they figured their customer base could grow thirtyfold. "You can't make very much money if the product is only prescribed to people with breakthrough cancer pain," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House and a critic of the over-prescribing opioids. "The way you make money is by getting doctors to prescribe it for chronic pain." To be sure, the majority of the fentanyl killing people in places like New England today is likely the stuff coming from Mexico. But the cartels are answering a demand that was created by pharmaceutical companies and their marketing practices. Today, 4 of 5 new heroin (and now fentanyl) users started on prescription opioids. Fentanyl is killing people at such a rate that it's going to be difficult for politicians to ignore. There will be a lot of tough talk about building walls and fighting the cartels, but we shouldn't forget that this epidemic was made in America. Advertisement ### Academics tend to work on puzzles. Here's mine: we live in an era marked by near-universal acceptance of anti-racist norms--an age in which biological conceptions of race have been largely discredited and racial discrimination legally banned--and yet, at the same time, we see persistent or growing racial inequality in almost all measurable categories of social welfare, a massive and unprecedented expansion of the prison system, racialized surveillance, and police use of deadly force with seeming impunity. How can this be? How is it that racial domination continues to thrive in a society that explicitly and sincerely claims to reject it? My research typically approaches this puzzle through the lens of constitutional law. But lately, I've been thinking about it in another context: the wave of protests by students of color and their allies at The Claremont Colleges and on campuses across the country. In part, this is because student protesters have challenged us all to think more carefully about institutional racism in higher education and how racial power works in the post-civil rights era. At the same time, framing the protests around this puzzle might help explain why it is that so many white people experienced the protests as puzzling, irrational, or an attack on free speech. Advertisement In suggesting that "institutional racism" can explain how anti-racist norms coexist with persistent conditions of racial oppression, I am also directing us away from another kind of explanation, which sees the issue chiefly as a problem of hypocrisy or bad intentions, sub- conscious or covert racism. These things still exist and are surely more pervasive than many of us would like to admit. But to imagine that bad intentions are the root of the problem is overly optimistic. Indeed, a vast and growing literature in history and social scientific research documents the myriad ways in which racial segregation has been structured into our built environment--in FHA loans and discriminatory mortgage lending; in federal funds for suburban development, highway construction, and infrastructure projects; in school siting and districting decisions; in virtually every aspect of the prison system; and in countless other areas, as well. Even with the best of intentions, today's decision-makers must operate in the context of structures and institutions that virtually guarantee racially unjust outcomes even in the absence of specific actions particular to any individual case. If I am right that all of this is well documented--and, indeed, is now part of the undergraduate curriculum at The Claremont Colleges and throughout the country--then why is it that so many people (on campus and in the national media) have been so puzzled by student protests against institutional racism? The answer, I think, lies in one aspect of institutional racism that deserves more attention than it typically receives. Our institutions are designed to preserve white privilege, but also to make the ongoing causes of racial inequality seem mysterious. We remain ignorant by design, invested in a mythology of white innocence, even while condemning seemingly anachronistic mythologies of racial inferiority. Institutional racism trades on the privilege of not knowing. No wonder, then, that student protests are portrayed as having come out of nowhere, as hysterical reactions to something as banal as an offensive Halloween costume, or as infantile demands to be shielded from opposing points of view. Protesters are bound to look foolish to those who can't (or won't) see the underlying sources of racial exclusion against which the protests are targeted. Dismissing their grievances in this way is an exercise in power. Advertisement Consider one student demand: to eliminate standardized tests like the SAT from the College's admission process. To many, this will seem far-fetched, since Scripps wants to (and should) admit the best-qualified and most academically talented students possible. Unfortunately, the SAT is a terrible instrument for measuring such qualities. Distorted by cultural bias, the test is well known to be a better predictor of socioeconomic status than of intellect or academic ability. Getting rid of it would send a powerful message that we no longer will reward applicants for doing well on a biased standardized test--and no longer wish to exclude smart, qualified, interesting applicants who happen to do poorly on it. Forgoing consideration of the SAT would have various consequences for the College, but these have less to do with a supposed lowering of academic standards, and more to do with the price of following through on institutional commitments to fairness and inclusivity. How would it affect our standing in national college rankings? What pressure would it place on financial aid? What resources would then become necessary to support students who otherwise would unfairly have been denied admission, and who will no doubt confront other institutional hurdles to success when they arrive on campus? Photo: Anthony Georgis Phillip Margolin, a former criminal defense attorney who defended thirty murder cases, has written many New York Times bestsellers. He is well-known for his Amanda Jaffe and Brad Miller series, and for his many standalone novels. Violent Crimes is the next novel in the Amanda Jaffe series. Amanda is involved in a complex case involving environmentalists, Big Oil, financial fraud, and murder. Not only must she determine who murdered two attorneys while defending the men accused of the crimes; but also faces the most difficult professional decision of her life. Amanda Jaffe is an intriguing character. How would you describe her? My lawyer characters are not super-heroes. Amanda is a regular person who happens to be an exceptional attorney. She's very dedicated and really believes in the legal system. She always puts her clients first. She has a complicated personal life because she has a relationship with Mike Green, a district attorney. It's been an off-again-on-again kind of thing. She has psychological problems because of violent situations in her past. She's empathetic to those who have been victims of violent crimes. She's dogged in her defense of clients, and though she's not willing to break the law, she's able to work along the fringes of the law to help someone she thinks is innocent. Advertisement Speaking of her personal relationships, Violent Crimes gave me the feeling Amanda might be on the cusp of changing things with Mike Green. The relationship has been up and down because of Amanda's difficulties. She suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder after an encounter with a serial killer in Wild Justice. She treats Mike pretty badly, but he's in love with her and sticks by her even when she's at her worst. She recognizes that, and knows she really loves him. She's coming to grips with the fact she can trust him, and she's willing to take a chance with Mike. Early on in Violent Crimes, the legal issue of the Shadow Challenge comes up. Will you describe that for our readers? In Oregon, there's no such thing as automatic bail for someone who has been arrested and charged in a murder case. A defendant can be held in jail without bail if there is strong evidence of the commission of the crime. In cases other than murder, there's the right to have bail set. In the novel, I had to figure out some way to get Amanda's client out of jail because much of the book's action orbits around the accused being out of jail, and trying to find out who really did it. I called Ryan Scott, an attorney, and he mentioned the Shadow Challenge. The term comes from a poem by T.S. Eliot. 'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow.' Here's what it boils down to: to search a house, the police must obtain a search warrant. To get a search warrant, they must convince a judge there's probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, and evidence of that crime is in a specific place. They submit an affidavit to a judge. If all is in order, the judge will issue a search warrant. The police can go to the house, show the warrant, and have the right by law to search the premises for that evidence. Advertisement But, an obscure series of cases holds that probable cause must be valid not only at the time the warrant is issued, but must also be valid later on when the police do the actual search. If, after the search warrant is issued, new facts come to light that make probable cause questionable, the police have an absolute duty to go back to the judge and explain the changed circumstances. Ryan gave me a couple of cases where there were very unusual challenges to search warrants. I use this example in the book: believing there's an Islamic terrorist at a house, the police present an affidavit to a judge about bomb equipment being present in this alleged terrorist's house. In the affidavit supporting the warrant, the police swear the homeowner is a Muslim. The judge issues a warrant based on that information. But, when the police arrive at the house, they see a menorah in the window and a mezuzah on the door, which calls into question whether the occupant is a Muslim. The police are obligated to go back to the judge with this new information so the judge can decide if probable cause still exists. As a defense attorney, I did a great deal of search and seizure challenges, but never ran across that kind of situation. I'd never even heard of the Shadow Challenge until I spoke with Ryan Scott. Violent Crimes also focuses on a defense attorney's obligations regarding client confidentiality and the possibility of suborning perjury. Will you talk about this? First, in order to represent a defendant effectively, the defense attorney must gain the client's trust. Often, a client/defendant is an eye witness to the crime. People forget that. What a client tells you shapes the way a defense attorney mounts an investigation and the defense. Our legal system recognizes the need to have the defendant trust the attorney; hence we have attorney-client privilege. It boils down to this: anything a client tells an attorney in confidence cannot be divulged by the attorney. When I represented clients, I would say to them, 'If you tell me you're a serial killer and there are ten bodies buried in your backyard, I'm not allowed by law to tell anyone. I could be disbarred for revealing that.' Another thing many people don't realize is a lawyer is not only a representative of the client, but is also an officer of the court. As such, the attorney has an ethical duty to obey the law. When I was practicing, I would tell my clients, 'If you tell me you committed this crime, I'm bound to secrecy. But if you take the stand and perjure yourself, I can't let you do that. I would have to resign from your case and tell the judge I must leave your defense without saying why. If your friend takes the stand and commits perjury by saying you were in another state at the time of the crime, and I know you committed the crime, I have a duty to tell the judge the friend is committing perjury. Those are the two aspects of confidentiality and subornation of perjury. I understand you've come up with creative ways of helping charities important to you through your books. Tell us about that. In 1962, right after college, I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I've had some involvement with charities all my adult life. In 1996, I helped develop Chess for Success, a free after-school program to help kids learn study skills through chess. The program is going strong, and is in eighty-two schools in nineteen school districts throughout Oregon. As an author, I have the opportunity to raise money for good causes through my books. Most non-profit organizations have auctions to raise money. I help in this effort for charities involving diabetes, cancer, women's shelters, the ASPCA, and education by auctioning off the opportunity for a character to be named in my next novel after the name of the highest bidder. But the bidder can't choose which character gets the name. (Laughter). One time, I made the highest bidder's son's name a serial killer. She got really upset, so I switched the son's name to another character. (More laughter). I made him President of the United States! (Even more laughter). The other way I help charities is by a prize called 'Murder, Margolin and Merlot.' I go to the highest bidder's house and they have friends over. It's usually catered, and I talk about writing. Over the years, my writing has allowed me to help various worthy causes. Your legal thrillers are often springboards for dealing with social and psychological issues. Will you talk about that? I'm a Democrat, and have strong political beliefs, but when I'm writing a novel, I use certain causes as plot devices as opposed to preaching. In Violent Crimes, I have one character who is over the top about the environment. Advertisement I have both good and bad politicians in my books. Early on, I received two fan letters about a book involving an evil politician. They were letters from two Republicans, and although they really liked the book, they pointed out that my politicians were Republicans. Though I have strong political views, my books aren't really social commentary; they're supposed to be fun and entertaining. After receiving those letters, I made the decision not to connect evil politicians with either party. You're quite prolific. How do you deal with the near-universal human tendency to procrastinate? I love writing. I get up at six in the morning and I can't wait to get down to the office and begin writing. Procrastination occurs when you don't really want to do something and you invent ways of avoiding work. Writing is one of my passions. So procrastination isn't a problem. I'm a puzzle guy, and for me, writing's like a puzzle. I have a plot idea and have to figure out the best way to make it work and be entertaining. Looking back on your writing career, would you change anything now, or do anything differently if you could? No. When I get up every morning I tell myself I'm very lucky. I've had successful legal and writing careers. I had my first two books published in 1978 and 1981. I stopped writing for a number of years, and had my bestseller, Gone but Not Forgotten published in 1993. I've always been grateful that my first two books were not bestsellers when they first came out. If they had been, I might have been tempted to discontinue my legal career, which was really my passion. Now, I'm able to get up every day and do what I love to do and actually make a living at it. So, I've had the best of all possible worlds. Advertisement What's coming next from Phillip Margolin? I saw an Oregon Bar article about our aging population. People are living longer and remaining healthier than before. The article dealt with the problem of a brilliant lawyer, a rain-maker for his firm, beginning to show signs of dementia. I thought it would be an interesting dilemma to explore in a novel. The new book involves a woman who's a brilliant criminal defense attorney in Oregon who is representing a client in a potential death penalty case. There are hints this top-flight attorney is suffering from early-onset dementia. So, what is to be done? Congratulations on writing Violent Crimes, a thriller taking the reader on a gripping journey through a legal minefield, while addressing greed, ethics, psychology, the deepest of human relationships, and truth. (The first few votes in New Hampshire were kind to Bernie Sanders and John Kasich -- who says he'll support Sanders for "president of Ben and Jerry's.") (Updated at 5:50 pm EST) A woman who announced at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that she is weighing three candidates for president of the United States -- John Kasich, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders -- encapsulated the power that voters hold in the vaunted first-in-the-nation primary election. It's a power, and a responsibility. In a year when bigotry, xenophobia and profanity have fueled the campaign of one party's front-runner -- an unofficial status conferred only by polling, and not yet affirmed in any actual voting -- the ability of New Hampshire's independent voters to choose either party's ballot offers a unique early opportunity for course-correction in a campaign that has careered off any reasonable person's concept of a good track. Advertisement If steady judgment is the preeminent qualification for any presidential candidate, this one cashed in all his chips this week when it took him precisely 10 seconds to decide whether to repeat, in front of television cameras on stage, the name that someone in his raucous rally audience offered for the rival who beat him in Iowa . And he voiced it gleefully: "Pussy." The optimists among us are counting on New Hampshire's famously independent-minded voters to fix this. The pessimists say they probably won't. Yet they have the power, and the responsibility, to help redefine the contours of this contest going forward. Advertisement The two winners of today's primary have been predicted for some time now, Donald Trump and Sanders -- though Kasich notes that "God invented pollsters to make astrologers look more accurate." Still, New Hampshire's voters can put a wintry wind in the sails of a few reputable Republicans -- Ohio's Kasich and Florida's Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush -- enabling them to carry their campaigns south and west with some credibility and denying Trump the clear-cut victory on which his entire "I'm No. 1" campaign has been based. Or they could trip Trump hard, here and now, in the early rounds of the 2016 contests. New Hampshire's independents gave that former prisoner-of-war his first national boost, in 2000. And John McCain's subsequent nomination for president in 2008 was built upon the support he found not only in the Granite State, but also in many other states that hold truly open primaries, allowing members of any party to take part in one party's election. Starting in South Carolina on Feb. 20, and again in several of the Southern states taking part in the so-called SEC primary on March 1, open primaries will again enable people to cross party lines in pursuit of reason. (Remember, in stark contrast to Trump's exploitation of a vicious supporter, it was McCain who chided a woman in Minnesota who called Barack Obama an Arab. "No, ma'am,'' McCain said. "He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab].") (Update: One-third of the voters casting Republican ballots today were "undeclared" members of either party, the independents, according to exit-polling.) This isn't to say that any of the Republicans who claim the hard-fought No 2 and No. 3 positions in today's primary are guaranteed success down the road. Advertisement We're not hearing a lot of long bets on the candidates celebrating those few first returns from tiny Dixville Notch, N.H. -- Kasich and Sanders. Indeed, the self-styled independent-minded Kasich exposed a deeply partisan vein in his response to the woman in Windham, N.H., who told him she is considering Kasich, Clinton or Sanders. "I'm for Bernie being president of Ben and Jerry's," Kasich said. "I want them to give everyone free ice cream... Bernie's a socialist. That ain't gonna happen," he continued. "The problem with Hillary is this, 'What's the latest poll say, what's the latest focus group?' "We can't run America with pollsters," Kasich said. This photo of John Davis and Dave Foreman in the early days of Wildlands Network was taken by Doug Tompkins, who had a knack for photography among many other gifts. Doug Tompkins, prematurely deceased at age 72 by way of a kayaking accident, leaves a cadre of older conservationists behind, many of whom are still on the front lines of nature protection. Still, his passing sounded the note of an era's end and a changing of the guard. Old time enviros turned out in good form for Tompkins' memorial service last week, held at Herbst Pavillion in San Francisco's Fort Mason. Herbst is usually filled to the rafters with antiques, art work, used books, or racks of clothing for sale and at first I was taken aback by the plushly perfect art direction that transformed the space into a gigantic sun-filled aerie. A large cadre of volunteer attendants in uniform green Patagonia vests dispensed mint and Earl Grey tea with Tcho chocolates, almonds, and orange slices ahead of the proceedings. Banks of unobtrusive catering stations lined the walls and after several hours of testimonials to the life and times of Doug Tompkins, wine and food were served. To about 400 people. Advertisement Is this the right tone? I wondered, taking my seat and scouting the audience for wilderness celebrities - and sighting among them Terry Tempest Williams and Gary Snyder. A wall-sized photograph of the Andes anchored the stage. It was all simple, and not. The place expressed exactly the kind of understated overstatement that is a hallmark of San Francisco today. But what about Tompkins' message, that protecting nature is our moral imperative? Among many other initiatives Tompkins founded the Foundation for Deep Ecology, building on the philosopher Arne Naess' conception that nature exists for its own sake beyond its utility for people. It's not that loving nature need always be equated with bad granola. Believe me I was very happy to have a cup of tea and a good chocolate (or two), but still, the setting induced some cognitive dissonance. As those close to Tompkins testified, the perfect surroundings began to cohere with their portraits of the man. With his wife Kris, Tompkins protected more than 2 million acres of Argentina and Chile. As she described living remotely and even arduously in the wilds of South America, the picture of a restless and relentless perfectionist emerged. Susie Tompkins Buell, Tompkins' former wife and co-founder with him of the North Face and Esprit clothing companies, reminded those gathered that before he was a conservationist, "Doug was a capitalist." Doug and Susie built their brands the way Doug and Kris protected nature - thinking big, and following beauty. There were many highlights, fine words from fine people, and music. One friend talked amusingly about Tompkins' fastidious attention to art. For me, however, the most moving depiction of Tompkins came from his daughter Quincy Tompkins Imhoff, who managed to portray her father's strengths with appreciation and to indicate his failings with depth but not rancor. In Imhoff's description Tompkins at last sounded like a real person. Imhoff recalled the heady days of growing up with the Esprit brand in full fettle, traveling to its stores all over the world in corporate gangs, with great energy and purpose. "We were a tribe," she said. Imhoff talked about a period in her life when she wondered about organized religion, not present in her upbringing. It wasn't until quite recently, she said, that she realized just how much "spirit" she had been raised with. "Espirit de Corps" suddenly meant something bigger than a line of youthful clothing. Advertisement Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded. The Bear Cub Club meets in the Tongass National Forest, which, with the Great Bear Rainforest is part of the Pacific temperate rainforest, the largest such ecosystem in existence. Source fluffyfeet at pinterest. OO Canada: Most of Great Bear Rainforest Is Now Permanently Closed to Logging Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon OO Another Reason to Save Forests: Adorable Biodiversity - as this rare footage shows of two young primates, Fio, an orangutan, and Chili, a gibbon, playing away in the peat swamp trees of Borneo. Chilli launches surprise tickle attacks on Fio. Advertisement When we harm forests, we harm ourselves. OO Still a Climate Denier? Recent Record Temperatures 'Extremely Unlikely' Without Global Warming say new analyses. Related Headline: OO Global Warming In 2015 Made Weather More Extreme And It's Likely To Get Worse <><> @@ Climate Change 101: Why Care? What You Need to Know - Bill Nye tells it all in five minutes amid graphic, dynamic, engaging, compelling imagery. Check it Out! * * GOOD CLEAN NEWS A Clean 'Hood: Encouraging walking and public transit help keep the neighborhood free of pollution, and cuts climate changing emissions. Credit Alex MacLean Advertisement @@ An Energy Efficient Carbon Landscape - Europe manages a high standard of living using less than 50% of the US emissions per person. It's tied to the landscape, this photo essay shows, through: dense urban centers with an emphasis on pedestrian and bike accessibility; compact rural and suburban communities with sharp growth boundaries; connectivity between public transport and human-powered transportation; integration of commercial and retail space into the fabric of residential areas; a dearth of sprawl. "How we organize ourselves on the ground is the key factor determining how much fossil fuel we burn," photographer Alex MacLean says. Related Headlines: Preserving Life: An overlooked tool in fighting climate change is enhancing biodiversity to maximize the ability of ecosystems to store carbon. Key to that is preserving top predators to control populations of herbivores, whose grazing reduces the amount of CO2 that ecosystems absorb. OO How Preserving Biodiversity Can Help Slow Global Warming OO Where Have All The Animals Gone? "witty, humorous... gut wrenching" chronicle of how humans are driving the disappearance of animals - in this case, through Asia and Africa. Advertisement <><> OO How to Finance a Trillion-Dollar Climate Change Opportunity - The good news is: we can! Major financial analysts find there is enough money at play in the world's financial markets to finance the transition. But policymakers in every country will need to "mind the gap" of over $200 billion annually for the electric power sector that needs to be mobilized to help assure it happens in time. OO Switch To Clean Energy Can Be Fast And Cheap - Strategically placing solar and wind farms across the U.S. could compensate for power lulls during cloudy or calm days. OO Going Green Can Add Value To Your Home - especially in the Washington DC area, says a new study conducted by national appraisal experts: energy improvements and resource-conserving efforts can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. <><> OO Global Investment in Renewable Energy Now Outstrips That In Fossil Fuels The tide is turning... let's speed it up! Vote for Renewable Energy! Advertisement OO U.S. Economic Growth Free From Both Energy And Electricity Use - In a stunning trend with broad implications, the U.S. economy has grown significantly since 2007, while electricity consumption has been flat, and total energy demand actually dropped. OO West Coast States Could Cut Petroleum Consumption in Half by 2030 says a new study, through policies that encourage greater transportation options and the more robust use of existing and emerging low-carbon technologies, and they are already on the way. <><> OO US Wind Industry Sees Its Second-Best Quarter Ever in late 2015 - as 2015 saw a 77% growth in wind power over 2014. * * CLIMATE LEADERSHIP Yo, Frackers - Feel the Bern? OO Bernie Sanders's Radical Proposal: Ban Hydraulic Fracturing - period. OO Obama Officials Rush To Curb Methane On Public Lands Copenhagen's mayor has announced plans to divest the city's $1+ billion investment fund of all holdings in coal, oil and gas. OO Copenhagen Set To Divest From Fossil Fuels OO India: Government Aid Helps Carmakers Go Green And Cheap To Fight Smog with incentives for fuel-efficient vehicles. Advertisement * * CLUELESS LEADERSHIP Credit Joel Pett at USA Today OO Republicans Reject Climate Change Fears Despite Rebukes From Scientists, Voters - Ted Cruz has presented 'misleading' information in the Senate, scientists say, while Marco Rubio rejects 'destroying our economy' - despite pleas for action coming from officials in his own state. * * GOOD IDEAS Tiger, Tiger endangered throughout most of its range, now barely holds onto a graph showing the disappearance of its habitat, forests, over time, in this piece by Jill Pelto. Credit Jill Pelto www.jillpelto.com OO These Paintings Turn Climate Data Into Art - incorporating data charts into artscapes: Meet Jill Pelto. OO Better Power Lines Would Help US Supercharge Renewable Energy study suggests. The U.S. could, in theory, use new high-voltage power lines to eliminate the need to add new storage capacity. Let's Make a Clean Energy Highway in the Sky! Credit Dennis Schroeder NREL OO Grid For Renewables Key To Cutting Emissions - carbon dioxide emissions from generating electricity could be cut by nearly 80% by 2030 if the US makes the same Herculean effort to expand solar and wind technology that it did to build the Interstate Highway System. Advertisement OO Companies Need To Fix Environmental 'Blind Spot' In Supply Chains Many multinationals have a blind spot in judging the environmental impact of their suppliers' operations, adding to corporate risks linked to climate change, says a new study. * * NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS Climate Change Threatens A Delicious, Blue-Eyed Wonder - scallops, which are declining in the eastern US, as warming waters are linked to the die-off of their seagrass homes, and overfishing occurs. They are a delicious seafood to many. OO Warming Waters Linked To Northeast Seagrass Die-Offs indicates a new analysis of two decades of summertime monitoring in Buzzards Bay. Five Months Early - red campion and a host of others were blooming away in the UK on New Year's Day. Credit Rote Lichtnelke at wikimedia OO Monumental Floral MisMatch: 600+ Kinds of British Wildflowers Bloomed Early, New Year's Day 2016 - a major survey shows, after a record warm December, far more than ever recorded before. It may sound pretty, but the fate that awaits them isn't: lack of bees and returning cold means they are unlikely to create surviving seed. Having expended that flowering energy now, they are less likely to bloom later in spring and summer, when they could produce surviving seed. Advertisement Too White Too Late - the white hare is an advertisement for a raptor against a dark melting landscape. Source www.mpgnorth.com OO Climate Change May Be Deadly For Winter Camouflage Animals: Snowshoe Hares - as precipitation replaces snow earlier in spring and later in winter under warmer scenarios, leaving seasonally camouflaged animals out of step, and visually exposed to predators. Baby Bunnies Exposed from their insulating snow burrow can become too cold. Source whortgrassgreenhouse.worpress.com OO As Climate Changes Snow, Animals Suffer - snowpack is a refuge for many winter animals. It: insulates against extreme cold, keeps temperatures stable, keeps the ground beneath unfrozen. Without snowpack, unstable conditions can make life harder for animals. For example, exposed winter ground: will freeze, preventing active rodents from foraging for food will freeze and thaw more often, forcing hibernating frogs and insects to use precious energy to re-adapt to each condition; subsequent survival and reproduction may decrease. And there may be more damaging effects to winter animals. * * SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS Credit www.chrismadden.co.uk OO Ocean Warming Is Making Floods Worse -a new study blames expansion of warming waters for as much sea level rise from 2002 through 2014 as the melting of all the glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined. Ready to Drop - after another good storm, these houses might be found on the beach - deconstructed. Source www.theglobeandmail.com OO Pacifica, CA: State Of Emergency Over Storm Damage worsened by created by a strong El Nino further fueled by climate change. As temperatures rise, so do damages from wildfires. Credit Jill Pelto, www.jillpelto.com OO Insurance Debate Flares As Climate Change Boosts Wildfire Risk - with 2 deadly wildfires that ravaged Northern California last fall caused an estimated $1 billion in damages, state insurance regulators said. <><> OO Soil Productivity Cut By Climate Change, Making Societies More Marginal say new studies: The health of the world's soils hinges on the microbes and fungi they contain; environmental changes will undermine their ability to support humans and other species. Advertisement Think About What She'll Face - and her grandkids, if we fail to dramatically slow climate change. Big bad changes are underway. OO 'If The World Ends In 2100, We're Probably OK.' Are you okay with that? Beyond that, there will be much bigger changes, which will affect the young child you have now, and her/his grandchildren. Scientists see parallels between global warming today and mass extinctions in Earth's past: "most mass extinctions were CO2-driven global warming things " says paleo and present climate scientist Andy Ridgwell of Bristol University. "If you screw with the climate enough, you have huge extinctions," he adds. Our civilization is likely to be one of them. OO Climate Change Could Worsen Diseases Like Zika Virus experts say, allowing carrier mosquitoes to spread to new areas. Advertisement Related Headline: OO What You Need To Know About Zika And Climate Change - chief among the number of factors behind the quick and wide spread of the Zika virus -- a disease that's been associated with birth defects -- is heavy rain and heat, both helped by climate change. <><> One of Millions Homeless -The number of climate change refugees in Bangladesh is expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades. Credit Probal Rashid OO Effects of climate change in Bangladesh: Haunting Photos OO Ethiopia Seeks Donor Support To Meet Drought Needs as 10+ million people are critically short of food. * * FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES OO Big Banks Brace for Oil Loans to Implode as dozens of oil companies have gone bankrupt, and the ones that haven't are feeling enough financial stress to slash spending and cut tens of thousands of jobs. OO Australian Coalmines Are One Of Riskiest Investments In The World because of their exposure to environmental dangers, says a new report from Oxford University. Advertisement OO California Gas Leak Spotlights Shoddy Regulation Of Aging Storage Wells that existed long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles. Utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure even then. OO Negligence Led To Massive Porter Ranch-Area Gas Leak says the govt agency that regulates Southern California's air quality sued Southern California Gas Co., accusing the company of negligence that has forced thousands to leave their homes. Credit David Pope OO Australian Emissions Rising Towards Historical Highs - Will Not Peak Before 2030 based on current trends, with the projected growth rate one of the worst in the developed world, a new analysis says. OO Norway: Industry Plans To Up Fossil Fuel Production Despite Paris Pledge - Norway wants other countries to leave their coal and oil in the ground to meet new global climate change targets instead. Gee, thanks guys! OO In Coal-Powered China, Electric Car Surge Fuels Fear Of Worsening Smog - as the switch to electric cars outpaces a switch to cleaner energy. Advertisement If we do not grow sustainably, Our children will die inhumanely. @@ The Cost of Unintended Pregnancy: Too Young Teen childbearing cost US taxpayers $9+ Billion in 2010 And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother. - US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WHAT YOU CAN DO Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community: publicize where women can access affordable contraception. They can go here to find locations: And there are many more actions you can do, right here. * * * SOLAR KEEPS FLYING OO Costs of Solor Photo Voltaics Decreased 10% per Year Since 1980 - shows a new study. OO As Regulators Create New Compensation Rules, Expect California Solar Spread To Surge @@ VIDEO: Japan's Solution To Its Energy And Space Crisis: The World's Largest Floating Solar Power Plant - a company has work on what they say will be the world's largest floating solar installation by the amount of power produced. Advertisement Related Headline: OO Japan Begins Work On 'World's Largest' Floating Solar Farm OO Green Energy Boom Helps Chile Contain Surging Power Prices - Chile's solar industry is proving a win win: cutting global warming CO2 emissions and helping slash some of the highest electricity costs in Latin America. OO Rwanda, Africa: Company Will Bring Solar to 250,000 Homes by 2018 as the country preps for millions of solar residential projects in coming years. OO China Has the Most Solar PV Installed Globally with 43 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity. OO Australia Taking Solar Power to the Next Level - Mostly put up in the past 10 years, residential solar panels have made Australia the country with the world's largest household uptake of solar panels. Almost 1.5 million homes are solar, creating the highest worldwide national average of 16%; the giant state of Queensland has the highest average, almost 30%. Check it out here, right now! * * * WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Feb 8, 2016 How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide. Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: recent El Nino driven rains have barely changed long term water supplies, making further drought inevitable. Advertisement Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats. * * * There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here. To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out! One Saturday morning, I had the great privilege of spending time with my mother's mentor and former boss, Sr. Soledad Hilado, OSB. She had not only been a teacher and president of St. Scholastica's College, one of the finest all-women Catholic private schools in the Philippines, but she had also been instrumental in the stewardship of PAASCU -- a body that oversaw the standards of accreditation for Philippine Schools, Colleges and Universities, of which St. Scholastica's was a charter member. Slight and demure, she was the embodiment of genteel grace yet a commanding presence. All throughout my life Sr. Soledad has been a presence -- whether we were living in Manila or away -- in all important decisions, or life events, I knew my mother sought her counsel and advise. In my life too, she made a major imprint -- she arranged for my first communion at age 6, when we had just learned that my father was going to be posted overseas to Singapore. I had just finished prep in St. Scholastica's College and she was concerned that going to an international school might interrupt my spiritual formation. So she arranged for me to be a sole communicant at the chapel in St. Scholastica's -- I had private instruction on communion from one of the sisters, Sister Lutgarde. Of course, to me, I didn't see the grandness of the gesture, the over-topness of it all. But looking back, I cannot escape the sense of love for my family that was displayed by Sr. Soledad's orchestration of my first communion as she broke down convention to ensure this one Sacrament was done "properly" -- this was the one great gift she could give us, as we embarked on a lifetime of being expatriated from country to country. Advertisement So that Saturday morning years later, I had come home to visit my parents -- it was my turn to live and work in Singapore. My mom told me Sister Soledad was ailing, and we agreed we should visit her. To our surprise, we found her in room, propped up on a pillow watching The Sound of Music on a DVR player. Her face lit up when she saw my mother. She said "Linda, you are so beautiful." Then she turned to me with characteristic frankness and sincerity, " You look lovely, but not like your mama." And we couldn't stop laughing. She made me sit by her bedside. And that's when the stories poured out of her. "You see, back then I was a ballerina. I loved to dance. And I had suitors. They were fine men, they loved me -- but in my heart I knew something was not right. I loved my papa and my mama -- and it was a hard choice to leave them and my life and become a nun. You see, Mama was sick, and I was the one caring for her -- so my heart, it was breaking. It was like God was asking me to choose. But I knew there was only one choice. So I wrote a letter to Fr. xxxx, a Jesuit priest, when I decided it was time to enter the convent. I told him to fetch me. But of all days, he was at St. Scholastica's listening to a concert. I was so anxious. I got in touch with Sr. xxx and she said to wait outside the back entrance of St. Scholastica's so I could enter. And when I entered, I sent home a note to reach Papa at 6 p.m. to say that I was already inside the convent and nothing could be done. I went to my room, stepped out of my heels and looked at my feet inside my slippers. And that was that. That night the other novitiates -- they knew I was a dancer, so they asked me to perform. I danced a Hungarian folk dance," she recounted, her face beamed, eyes ablaze with the memory of that first night. Advertisement "The next day, my sister arrived. Papa had written a letter to Mother Superior. He said he knew that I could not be changed. He only asked that my mother be allowed to make all my other undergarments -- one last act of love from Mama. She wanted to hand sew everything for me. And it was done. Later on, I was assigned to the mountains. One of my former suitors followed me and asked me to leave. To come back. But how could I? My heart was so happy. So you see, whatever it is you choose, you must not settle -- whatever God gives you -- if you make the right choices -- you will be so joyful in that choice. Never settle. Sometimes you may think your heart is breaking -- like it was hard to leave my mama because she was sick -- but I was going to marry the Lord. When you make the right choices, they will be hard, but you will be filled with joy. Do not settle." And, in that precious hour I spent with her -- I could not help but feel that I had glimpsed some divine spark. I saw her transform before my eyes -- her pale face had filled with light, remembering how she chose her destiny -- recalling the joy and freedom that such a choice gave her. In that moment, she was a teacher once again, illuminating the room with her wisdom, reminding me of how much more I needed to strive for. That in following God's path, it is often difficult, yet rewarding. And there is more than one path in serving the Creator -- the only thing He asks, is that with the gifts He gives us, is that we do not settle. Instead, we must joyfully embrace, and dance to the unique rhythm He gives us. Actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrives for a court appearance Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Norristown, Pa. Cosby was arrested and charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in January 2004. A judge will decide whether to dismiss a sexual assault case against the comedian over an unwritten promise of immunity that a former prosecutor says he gave Cosby's now-deceased lawyer. (Ed Hille/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool) In a Huffington Post blog post last month, "Why Some Men Are Above the Law," University of Chicago law professor Martha Nussbaum declared Bill Cosby's indictment an exception. Last week, we learned that another University of Chicago Professor, Jason Lieb, resigned after the University found he violated its sexual misconduct policy. Advertisement The exceptions are piling up. In her post about her own "Bill Cosby tale," Nussbaum generalizes from her own story of doing nothing, which is an understandable response for some victims. She advises women violated by influential men not to seek justice but to let the powerful keep their power. "Move on. Do not," she counsels, "let your life get hijacked by an almost certainly futile effort at justice ... forget the law." If we disregard the incongruous advice of Nussbaum, the University of Chicago's Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, the egregious Cosby and Lieb cases could be a turning point in justice for sexual assault survivors, not exceptions. Let's take our cues from the women who sought justice and the people who had their backs. It is because former Temple University employee Andrea Constand did not take Nussbaum's "sage advice" and sought justice in the legal system that Cosby is now indicted on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault. It was in the deposition for Constand's case that Cosby damningly admitted under oath to purchasing Quaaludes for what he called "sex" but the women who endured his advances are calling sexual assault and rape. Even without a conviction, it's difficult to look at Cosby's crumbled career, rescinded honorary degrees, mug shot, and perp walk into court and not see some justice. Nussbaum believes she made a good decision for herself, and she may have. But every assault is unique. Every perpetrator unique. Every survivor unique. Every vision of justice unique. We need to honor each survivor's unique path to healing and recognize that what's right for one survivor is not necessarily going to work for all others. It's fair to warn survivors that, with the minute probability of successful litigation, the legal system can constitute a second victimization. Some survivors may choose not to seek justice using law enforcement and the courts, while others may. Advertisement Let's keep the law, imperfect as it is, but also expand our definition of justice beyond it. Nussbaum equates justice and the legal system, but the legal system is not our only venue for justice. Survivors -- and we're not, as Nussbaum implies, only women -- have many options beyond the law. We can take action in informal and institutional venues as well as, or instead of, legal ones. Indeed, by reporting Lieb to the University, UChicago graduate students put Lieb's job in jeopardy. He has not yet been charged with a crime, but the circumstances of his resignation will forever cloud his career. There's some justice there. Cosby and Lieb have also been skewered in the court of public opinion, another powerful venue for justice. It is because survivors aren't taken seriously that they have a difficult time getting justice. Survivors need support, and Nussbaum's advice for what society can do is spot on: "Don't give actors and athletes such glamor and reputational power." That advice also applies to how we treat campus stars. But Nussbaum lets society off the hook. She dismisses the likelihood of such forthright behavior, declaring, "That won't happen in the real world." She's wrong. It does happen. It happened to Cosby: comedian Hannibal Buress called him a rapist on stage. That simple power-denying act broke open the story to a disbelieving public. And, science journal Nature's editorial set the stage for people to challenge sexual transgressions in the scientific world. Survivors need support, and friends, bystanders, and community play a game-changing role in challenging the powerful. We need to start by believing survivors even in the face of perpetrators' glamour and prestige. The reason some people are above the law is because of advice like Nussbaum's. She doubts people will stand up to power and tells survivors that seeking justice is futile. Nussbaum is wrong. Some people will stand up -- sometimes at great personal cost -- and survivors can find justice. We may just need to be creative in terms of how we define justice and pursue it. Let's make Cosby and Lieb the turning point, not the exceptions. ___________________ Co-authored by Ann Fisher Raney, AM, LCSW, chief executive officer at Turning Point, Skokie, IL and Mona Shattell, PhD, RN, FAAN, member of the Board of Directors at Turning Point; and professor and chairperson of the department of community, systems, and mental health nursing at Rush University, Chicago, IL. No one disputes the danger of texting while driving. In a very short time, we've grasped the undeniable truth of this claim. Here's another claim, equally true and equally undeniable: quality behavioral health care (mental health and substance abuse services), especially for low-income individuals and families, is in a state of crisis so dire that we may be on the brink of catastrophe. Without an Illinois State budget to fund community mental health grants, with managed care plans that restrict sessions of care for those with severe mental illness (many of whom depend upon their long-established relationships with providers), and with the dramatically decreased access to care created by losses of funding, the health and stability of our community is in jeopardy. Several days ago, Lutheran Social Services announced a decision to lay off 750 staff, directly because of the lack of State funding, seriously weakening one of the very strong members of our provider community. Advertisement For example, our agency's award-winning psychiatric respite program, The Living Room, has lost one hundred percent of its State funding. Since its inception in 2011, The Living Room has saved the State of Illinois more than $2,000,000 by deflecting persons who would otherwise go to emergency departments to our most cost effective and hospitable alternative. Our success rate is 98 percent. Not funding The Living Room and other programs like it results in higher costs. It's as simple as that. We know the inestimable value of the program, so we are scrambling to save it. This is an exceptionally difficult burden for an organization already stretching to follow its mission to serve our low income clients. What will it take to convince the legislators and other decision-makers that this is a true and dangerous reality? That this is intolerable. Community mental health rests on the capacity of all citizens to access and utilize treatment that allows them to live full and productive lives. When this happens, adults are able to work, to vote, to care for their families, send children to school, and participate in the civic lives of their communities. When access to care is limited, serious harm results that begins with the individual in need. If individual suffering isn't enough (although we believe that it is), lawmakers should know and remember that untreated emotional distress and mental illness can quickly escalate to criminal acts and dangerous behaviors. Advertisement Without a State budget, behavioral health services can't be provided and needs cannot be met. Providers and clients in community-based settings see this clearly. What will it take to convince members of our broader communities, including the IL State governor and other lawmakers? How do we articulate these concerns so that funding can be restored? It's a sad yet indisputable fact that individuals who benefit from State-funded behavioral health care have very little influence when most budget conversations take place. Their lack of socioeconomic power, coupled with the stigma of mental illness, creates a deafening and dreadful silence. Community mental health is in serious trouble. Many state agencies have closed because they cannot afford to continue to operate without State funding for programs that serve low-income clients. Other agencies are restricting services, not taking new clients, laying off staff, shuttering satellite locations, as our colleagues at Lutheran Social Services have been forced to do. Because there are fewer and fewer agencies and services, those that remain are inundated with requests for care that often come from people at high risk for suicide, homicide, and homelessness who deserve immediate, life-saving care. The lack of basic funding for essential services has created a catastrophe for the citizens of Illinois. It is not just those of us who have lost services who are suffering; it is also the families, the employers, the schools and churches and wider communities. The fabric of our community is being torn apart because we are not supporting those with fewest resources and, often, greatest need. Texting while driving may result in death. We understand this and most of us grasp it well enough to curtail our own behavior. Lack of funding for behavioral health is equally perilous. Advertisement We must see these realities clearly. There is still time to restore at least a measure of life-saving services that will allow all of our citizens to access expert care that can result in lives of recovery, enriching the health of all of our communities. I have always avoided spending more than seven consecutive days in balmy Boca Raton. Why? Because there ain't much culture there. Actually the major artistic activity of palm-sheltered snowbirds is sneaking into three multiplex potboilers for the price of one senior citizen admission -- hardly proof of intellectual perspicacity. So why was this winter different? The certainty of the Mother of All Blizzards encouraged me to entertain heartfelt offers from casual acquaintances to squat in their guest bedrooms for "as long as I liked," However, judging from their expressions of dismay when my luggage and I actually appeared on their thresholds I could see that these invitations had been sincere only until I accepted them. A few days after I'd ensconced myself in a soon-to-be-a-former friend's condo and was zapping a previous evening's early bird scraps, my iPhone pinged a discount ticket offer to a musical drama, The Golem of Havana at the Colony Theater on Miami Beach's fashionable Lincoln Road. It was the first production by Miami New Drama, a company just co-founded by Moises Kaufman, the lauded Pulitzer/Tony award-winning director of I Am My Own Wife, playwright of Gross Indecency, The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project and the equally talented Michel Hausmann, a Venezuelan-born playwright/director with impressive international credits. Advertisement i was intrigued by the title and theme of Hausmann's contemporary version of the tale of the Jewish Frankenstein monster, created by the 16th Century Chief Rabbi of Prague to protect his exiled flock from local oppressors. I felt it had great prospects for attracting an audience in a city replete with Jewish and Cuban refugees who've often shared, with their descendants, their fears and feelings of helplessness as foreigners in a strange land. The Golem of Prague, who initially killed only tormentors of Jews, eventually murdered everyone including those it was created to protect, forcing its deactivation. The Golem of Havana sounded well worth a drive to South Beach, even though that meant sharing 42 miles of I-95 with seniors anxious to arrive early for early bird specials. Besides if The Golem of Havana proved less than magical, we'd only be a stone crab's claw away from Joe's Stone Crab, which always made any trip to Miami Beach worthwhile. The theater was filled with an even mix of yarmulked snowbirds and brightly clad Cubanos, who all felt the haunting truths in the opening words of Hausman's magnificent play, as uttered by the young narrator Rebecca Frankel (Liba Vaynberg). "What can you take with you when you can't take anything with you? Only your stories. This one is mine." Advertisement Words that give me the chills every time I think of them. The miniskirted, sweet-voiced Rebecca sang the story of the Golem of Prague to a Yiddish melody against a imaginative backdrop of illuminated cartoon shadow puppets before the setting and actions shifted to pre-Castro Havana where the entire cast performed Ray Sullivan's exuberant Latino choreography to the you-walk-out-of-the-theater-humming-it title song by Salomon Lerner, a brilliant composer who'd mastered melody and rhythm in both Jewish and Latin genres with Len Schiff's clever lyrics supplying additional pizzazz. The story wove together the lives of three families -- the displaced Jewish Frankels, the native Cuban Rondons and the-united-by-ambition-and-greed minions of the about-to-be-ousted-by-Castro's-rebels Dictator, Fulgencio Batista. The Frankels were economically and emotionally impoverished Holocaust survivors. The father, Pinchas (Allen Lewis Rickman) was a superb tailor who lacked any connections that would reward him with financial success. His dour wife Yutka (Yelena Shmulenson) was plagued with guilt about a decision made by her that led to her sister's death, an event replayed in their daughter Rebecca's nightmares which fuels her need for a magical protector. Their maid, Maria Rondon (Rheaume Crenshaw) a descendant of slaves, was widowed when her husband was mistaken for a rebel and murdered by Batista's thugs. She prays to an African goddess to protect her son Teo, an actual Castro rebel. Rebecca, who is closer to Maria than to her mother, joins in Maria's rituals. When Rebecca's prayer is actually answered, the family prospers. Arturo Perez (Chaz Mena) an "adviser to the military" is actually a charismatic, manipulative Batista henchman. One of Arturo's schemes, funded by Pinchas, gives the Frankels enough money to open a shop. Arturo also arranges for Pinchas to become Batista's tailor. Advertisement The dilemma the Frankels face is whether to hide the wounded Teo and risk their newfound prosperity. The direction is subtle and superb. The characters are real and the actors playing them are never maudlin. Sets, lighting and costumes display the triumph of imagination over funding. Special kudos to all, especially National Yiddish Theater and Coen Brothers favorites, Allen Lewis Rickman and his stage and actual wife, Yelena Shmulenson, the exquisite singing of Rheaume Crenshaw, her stage son Ronald Alexander Peet, Liba Vaynberg's compelling innocence as well as Felipe Gorostiza and Chaz Mena playing the only thugs I ever wanted to dance with. January happened to be quite hot. At least 12 people in Russia lost their jobs during that month because they collaborated with me. One new theatre performance I took part in was withdrawn from the stage after the first run. They thoughtfully expelled me from another one well in advance. Seven artistic groups refused to participate in a recently presented anti-corruption musical video ("Chaika") by Pussy Riot because they were afraid of possible political consequences. Another dozen close acquaintances of mine belonging to the musical and theatre environment just lifted their hands in dismay and said: "Nadya, you're nuts. These days it's impossible to find people who would not be scared to work together with Pussy Riot. Nadya, you're an official 'public enemy' -- don't you know that yourself?" Advertisement Sure, I know. Not a big deal, I'm pretty used to being slapped by life. This time I can survive, too. I'm still smiling and laughing out loud. In Stalin times, children of political prisoners that were labeled as "enemies of the people" or "public enemies" in international terms, gave up their parents because it was deadly dangerous to be so closely related to such people. On New Year's eve, I was extremely lucky to meet a fantastic group of artists and brave women. I discovered director and choreographer Vika Narakhsa, a resident of Moscow's Meyerhold Theatre center. We began rehearsing January 2. We voluntarily put aside New Year holidays, ran around with irons and ropes, and practiced that horrible neo-Nazi prosecutors' dance. Advertisement Vika Narakhsa, our director, invited me to play a piano piece on the opening night of her hip-hop opera, "Tarakanishe" ("Cock-the-Roach"), which she was preparing along with our video and which was to be released January 12. Coincidentally, I happened to be the only person within easy reach who could quickly pick out a song and play it on a piano. The composition was a famous romance by Leonid Utesov, "I Have a Heart and My Heart Has a Song..." "Tarakanishe" was produced after a fairy tale in verse for children written by Korney Chukovsky in 1921. The story tells us about a dreadful cockroach that seized power over all animals and makes them his slaves. Here are some lines from it: "Bring me some progeny of yours, you animals. I will have them for dinner tonight." "So they sit and shiver under the bushes, hide under green hillocks. All you can hear and see is the chatter of teeth..." At the end of the fairy tale, a varmint sparrow comes and eats the giant cockroach. "Tarakanishe" managed to survive even the Stalin times and all Soviet epochs, even though the the mustached cockroach's resemblance to Stalin was obvious to everyone. On January 12, "Tarakanishe" was performed for the first time, and it was a total success. I really saw people's shining faces. A hip-hop musical is swinging stuff. Many asked when the next performances would take place. Well, there will be none. At least in that theatre. But not by the artists' choice, rather due to political reasons. Next day after the premiere, "Tarakanishe" was banned from the stage. The artistic director of the Meyerhold Center was given a clear hint that that performance was considered to be "too political." Better to be on the safe side. Vika Narakhsa, the director, was informed that she and her actors are to be expelled from the theatre, and that the play will never be shown again for the following reasons: 1) The cockroach looked too much like Putin, and 2) Tolokonnikova playing the grand piano gave the performance a flavor too political to be allowed. Advertisement My country is placing me in a position where I become a hurricane blazing through everything in my path. Just one month passed by and dozens of people lost their jobs, were told off by their bosses, got reported on. Now they are all unemployed. That makes me even more grateful to them; to everyone still staying by my side and feeling convinced that together we can overcome everything. Astoria Characters: The 5-Bark Barista A chocolate Chihuahua, leading a leash-holding woman, prances into Chateau le Woof. Rocky, for that is his name, is a regular. He's coming to meet his girlfriend, Lola, who's sitting pretty in a sweet sweater on the sofa. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Follow the barks to Chateau le Woof on 14th St. at 30th Ave. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling In puppy love, they romp around and run in circles while everyone coos and oohs at their coy cuteness. Advertisement Soon, they are joined by a parade of pooches who have come to the chic countertop cafe for some doggie down time. Chateau le Woof, which Natassa Contini opened in September, is designed to go to the dogs (and the select humans they deign to invite to their five-woof watering hole). Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Lola all dolled up for Rocky. The canine clientele allows its people to stop in for Parmesan pound cake and macchiato cortados as long as they bring home doggie bags -- pet food and treats. When the cafe closes, the bowwows have their playtime and parties. Natassa, a longtime dog owner, came up with the idea when she was out walking King, her 13-year-old pitbull rescue. Advertisement She recently acquired Lola, who is only 4 months old, from someone in the neighborhood who was moving out of the country. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Natassa sells pet food and people food. "I had to go a half mile to a mile to get a decent cup of coffee," she says. "It sounds silly, but the idea for the cafe came to me in a dream. And the name just popped into my mind." Chateau le Woof was a natural for Natassa because she has made her career in the restaurant/nightclub business. She and her fraternal twin, Jenifer, were born in Greenwich Village. Their mother, who is from Brazil, and their father, who hails from Brooklyn, divorced when they were 5. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Chateau le Woof specializes in coffee. "My parents had a great friendship," Natassa says. "My dad lived around the corner, so we saw him all the time." Advertisement At 12, their mother moved them to Honolulu, Hawaii, where the family frequently spent vacations. "We traded the Big Apple for the Pineapple," Natassa says. The remark makes the customers sitting at the counter laugh. (The joke apparently doesn't translate into Doglish for the canines don't utter a single bark.) Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling A wall for art -- and leashes and dog toys. Natassa, petite, perky and perpetually smiling, has one part-time helper, but today, she's working solo. That means nonstop. When she rings up a cappuccino, she gives the customer a sample packet of Natural Balance's rabbit and potato dry-food formula. "This is good if your dog has food allergies," she says. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Human customers chatting. Where were we? Oh, yes, when Natassa graduated from high school, she returned to New York City, taking up residence in the East Village. "I had an apartment that wasn't really an apartment," she says. "It was a utility closet that was converted into an apartment. I lived alone and slept on a mattress on the floor." Advertisement She soon started a career in nightclubs and restaurants, working as a coat check, waitress, bartender and manager. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Lola greets a customer. In fact, that's what she had been doing for 17 years when the vision of Chateau le Woof, her French poodle cafe, came to her. The corner space announces itself with dog portraits painted on its metal gates and traditional French tunes like La Mer and La Vie en Rose that waft out into the street. Natassa's eclectic menu ranges from Brazilian cheese bread and spinach ricotta puffs to homemade chocolate chip cookies. Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Lola, the cafe mascot, and Natassa. The canine choices include Natural Balance, Orijen, Blue Buffalo and Weruva. Flavors -- poulet et canard, poisson and agneau -- are written in French on the chalkboard behind the cafe counter. Advertisement Natassa sees Chateau le Woof, which hosts music and arts events, as a community center for people and pups. "I'd like to open one in Hawaii with my sister," she says. "And maybe one in Brooklyn." Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling Rocky + Lola: Puppy love unleashed at Chateau le Woof. Between now and then, though, she'll fill hundreds of coffee cups and play with scores of dogs. Amid the dogfest, a canine-less customer comes in. "Ain't it good to have a place you can bring your dog to," he says as he stoops to get a sloppy, wet kiss from Lola. Last month I was lucky enough to go to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While I was over there I helped to run a CoderDojo session for the local school children in Davos and to speak about coding to some amazing people. CoderDojo is a global organization that helps to teach young people how to code (make websites, apps and games). I was delighted to be there and I learned so many amazing things, including: It's Good To Fail Better - While I was helping out at the CoderDojo session in Davos, Will.I.Am came to have a look at what was going on! I got to talk to him about CoderDojo and the apps I have made. He told me that if you fail, get up try again and fail better. I think this is a really good way of looking at things and we all should try to fail better! Switzerland Is Cool - Over in Switzerland, three things stood out to me - languages, scenery and public transport. A lot of the people I met from Switzerland knew how to speak German, French and English (possibly Italian as well). I found this fascinating, especially the fact that people could switch from one language to another without a bother! Davos was such a beautiful place, the sun was shining while the snow was still on the ground - it was very picturesque. The public transport in Switzerland was really well synchronized - if one train arrived a few minutes late, the connecting train would wait for it. This made it easier to travel. Advertisement You Should Stay Healthy While Running A Business - At the Salesforce lunch in Davos, there was a panel of amazing people - Ariana Huffington, Will.I.Am, Bono, Shahrzad Rafati and Brian Moynihan! One thing that stood out to me from what the panellists were saying was Ariana Huffington's tip - to stay healthy while running a company. Ariana told her story of once collapsing from sleep deprivation while starting her business. She explained the real importance of staying healthy and getting enough sleep while running a business, I found this really interesting! Tech Is Growing - More technology is around us than there was ten years ago and this isn't going to stop, it's going to do the opposite! So we need to educate young people about tech so that "they use tech, tech doesn't use them," as Will.I.Am said. As tech gets smarter we don't want people to be left behind, so if we teach young people about tech, this is less likely to happen! Passion Helps Your Business - If you aren't passionate about your business, then why do it? Everyone that I met in Davos was interested and excited about their business or the business they worked in. If you aren't passionate in your idea, what makes you think others will be interested in it? A protestor holds a sign that reads in Spanish: "We didn't take out a loan. We didn't see a dime. We're not going to pay." during a protest in the financial district demanding the island's public debt not be paid to bondholders in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Protesters gathered at what is known as The Golden Mile to demand the banking industry take responsibility for the current economic crisis. This month Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Puerto Rico's outstanding $72 billion public debt is unpayable given the island's long recession. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo) As both parties now agree, the federal government must respond in the coming months to Puerto Rico's economic and fiscal challenges -- most immediately, the $70 billion or so that Puerto Rico owes creditors and on which its government says it must default unless the debt is restructured. Policymakers must address this threat, but they should go further and also implement health and tax policy changes that would prove important pieces of any long-term solution to Puerto Rico's problems. Although Puerto Rico's 3.5 million residents are Americans, they are not represented by voting members of Congress, helping to often make them afterthoughts in congressional debates. But the island's problems are neither small nor remote. Half a million Puerto Rico children live in families that are poor -- more than in 40 states -- according to the KidsCount Data Center. Unemployment is 12 percent, more than twice the U.S. rate. Many workers in Puerto Rico either can't find jobs or work in the underground economy, which means that Puerto Rico's government collects fewer taxes, contributing to its severe fiscal problems. Advertisement The Commonwealth has already made severe cuts in education, human services and other public services. Without a debt restructuring or default, the cuts would have to grow to the point of endangering family well-being and future economic growth. Moreover, these economic and fiscal problems are sending more and more Puerto Ricans to the mainland in search of jobs, placing additional responsibilities on destination states like New York and Florida as they accommodate those newcomers. As a first step toward solving its problems, Puerto Rico must be allowed to restructure its debt. Otherwise, the Commonwealth will face years of complex and costly litigation over which debts have the highest claims on Puerto Rico's limited ability to pay, as a recent analysis from Puerto Rico's premier economic policy institute, the Center for a New Economy, points out. President Obama is expected to reintroduce, in the 2017 budget proposal that he will unveil today, a plan to allow the island to restructure its debt. House Speaker Ryan has said the House will act on the issue. But addressing the immediate debt crisis and default threat should be the start, not the end, of federal attention to Puerto Rico's problems. The federal government should treat Puerto Rico more equitably under various programs. For example, as my colleague Edwin Park has noted, the federal government provides only a fixed amount of federal Medicaid funding to Puerto Rico and leaves the Commonwealth responsible for all costs above the cap. As a result, the federal government effectively picks up a dramatically smaller share of Medicaid's costs in Puerto Rico than in the states -- just 15 to 20 percent of the Commonwealth's Medicaid costs, compared with an average of 57 percent for the states. In fact, if Puerto Rico were treated the same as a state -- i.e., under the federal formula that determines the federal Medicaid matching rate for each state -- the rate for Puerto Rico would be 83 percent. Advertisement These federal Medicaid funding shortfalls contribute to Puerto Rico's troubled fiscal situation. The island's residents heavily rely on Medicaid; 40 percent of them were enrolled in Medicaid in 2014. This puts a heavy burden on the Commonwealth's finances. Although health reform provided a one-time boost in federal Medicaid funding to help address these shortfalls, Puerto Rico is expected to exhaust those funds as early as next year. Similarly, extending the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to Puerto Rico's working families could reduce the twin crises of child poverty and low participation in the above-ground workforce. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch has called for "tax incentives . . . [to] incentivize growth and labor force participation" in Puerto Rico. The EITC is such a tax incentive; as extensive research has found, it strongly encourages workforce participation while also fighting poverty and boosting children's long-term educational attainment and earnings. This post originally appeared on Off the Charts, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' blog. Propelling from the status of mixing tracks in your dorm room to locking down the official "featuring" cosign on Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home" single isn't the most gradual step towards instant fame. But for music duo Majid Jordan, it's understood that timing can be everything, and it's the journey to the top that's most impactful. Consisting of vocalist Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman, the early origins of Majid Jordan took root in the creative hotbed of Toronto almost four years ago. Their musical partnership has since evolved into the experience of a lifetime--from being a part of Toronto's booming music community to recording their debut full-length album, Majid Jordan, out today, with the OVO Sound family. Will solar panels and household battery storage make destructive dams redundant? On February 5 the power utility of California's capital Sacramento decided to cancel the $1.5 billion Iowa Hill Dam, a pumped storage project in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The decision may not be remarkable by itself, but marks a watershed moment and signals the early beginnings of an exciting development away from large dams. The Iowa Hill Pumped-Storage Project had been under preparation since 2001. The utility planned to pump water from the Slab Creek Dam on the American River to the proposed reservoir during off-peak hours, when power is cheap, and release it through a 400 megawatt power house during peak hours, when electricity is more expensive. The pumped storage project would have served as a battery that could store wind and solar power for the times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Ironically, the rapid growth of variable and intermittent wind and solar power has been an important driver for dam building in recent years. A new report from the World Energy Council explains: "When wind turbines or solar panels are injecting energy into a grid, hydropower units can reduce their own output and store extra water in their reservoirs. This storage can then be used to increase hydropower output and fill the gap when the wind drops or the sun is covered by clouds and input from these sources falls." Advertisement In Norway, Portugal, Spain and other countries, a lot of new hydropower plants are riding on the coattails of the European wind and solar boom, and dam builders in other world regions are hoping to do the same. This has raised the question whether the surge in wind and solar power, while very welcome, might condemn the world's last free-flowing rivers to be dammed. As the recent decision by the Sacramento power utility demonstrates, dams and reservoirs are not the only way to balance wind and solar power. The utility explains that new ways of storing power have come up that may soon make large reservoir dams uneconomic. "The electric utility business is moving away from large, central power plants in favor of wider distribution of energy resources, including battery storage and solar installations," the utility says. In particular, "the technology for storing electricity in lithium-ion batteries has advanced at a surprising rate recently and could become economical on a larger scale in the next decade." The growing popularity of electric cars has spurred a lot of research into cheaper, more effective and less environmentally damaging forms of battery storage. Tesla Motors is currently building a giga-factory for the production of lithium-ion batteries for its electric vehicles. As prices fall, such batteries become an attractive option for storing the power generated by solar panels by individual households. Tesla's Powerwall battery, for example, is the size of a suitcase and is sufficient to power most homes during the evening from solar power generated during the day. It currently costs about $3000. Batteries linked to solar panels are still more expensive than the power that the electric grid provides from hydropower reservoirs and other sources. Yet this is changing quickly. Last year, Deutsche Bank predicted that batteries will become the "killer app" and "holy grail" of solar power, and will be cheap enough for mass deployment within five years. Australia's Climate Council predicted at the same time that half of all Australian households will adopt solar systems with battery storage within ten years. Developing countries are expected to experience the same trend a few years later. Advertisement Affordable battery storage will change the way the power sector works. "Power is no longer something that is exclusively produced by huge, centralized units owned by large utilities," the Swiss bank UBS explained in 2014. "By 2025, everybody will be able to produce and store power. And it will be green and competitive, ie, not more expensive or even cheaper than buying power from utilities. ... Large-scale power generation, however, will be the dinosaur of the future energy system: Too big, too inflexible, not even relevant for backup power in the long run." GOP debates in New Hampshire Feb 6, 2016 (AP Photo/David Goldman) The New Hampshire debates on Saturday night cemented the current standings from ridiculous to obscure the bankrupt idea makers who make up the GOP's current top seven candidates as they shred facts and spin 24 hour news cycles in the hopes of capturing the imaginations of confused constituencies they hope will vote for them as the new leader of the free world in 2016. Who's left? Chris Christie, the ham fisted Taft sized Governor of New Jersey, who believes in taking from the rich and basically stopping there. He expects the most from his local and state officials, and when total sycophantic dedication is denied they are turned on vindictively in true Christie style. Casual retaliation is on display potentially at any press conference or town hall where Christie has a history of shouting down and belittling his voters, making women cry and the unemployed humiliated. Advertisement Famously in Bridgegate he showed the pattern of ritualized punishment on the state level, when Fort Lee's Mayor Mark Sokolich, didn't endorse Christie for his 2013 re-election bid, which resulted in Christie setting friend and Port Authority appointee David Wildstein after him, to shut down all the lanes but one to the George Washington bridge and snarl traffic in the town of Fort Lee for weeks which was a municipal disaster. Wildstein pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts for his actions in court last May. Christie also sacrificed his long time aid and Chief Of Staff at the time, Anne Kelly, who's emails and texts showed her collusion as well as another Christie friend and appointee at the Port Authority Bill Baroni. Both who are expected to be indicted. As a former DA does Christie know how to surf scandals and manipulate government? Sure thing. Sacrifice your friends. Is he interested in helping his state? Well, there was that pesky federal investigation in 2014 about why only 25% of the $3.3 billion Hurricane Sandy Relief Aid had been distributed, and why $25 million of it was used for a marketing campaign to promote tourism in New Jersey. Then, surprisingly, another $1 billion was dispersed suddenly at the end of that year. Where's the rest of that Sandy fund? Two years later? Still not disbursed. His approval rating as Gov. is at a new low as of Dec 2015, as he's polling at 33%, and his state is ranked as one of the worst in the country to do business in. New Jersey has only recovered 62% of jobs since the recession while the rest of the country as recovered 135%. Usually those in government tout their successes in office as a mandate for Presidential selection. That ain't happening so much here. But to his credit, he has defunded Planned Parenthood, and taken $50M away from them in six years. So he's got the women's vote. Donald Trump, the Carnival barker and fascist-lite bullying savant became the exact thing that he loathes a week ago when he came in second at the Iowa Primary and became a 'loser'. His famous tweet "No one remembers who came in second - Walter Hagen', says it all. Trump who? Should be the new T-shirts printed by anyone, please. I say fascist -'lite', by the way, because as much as he may want to be a totalitarian dictator, I don't think he has the focus. I don't see Donald Trump spending sleepless nights with his mind burning at the required high temperatures of insanity that propel a xenophobic mass murderer to plot the state-wide military machinery required to eradicate entire clines of people. There's a heads up, people, we're all one race by the way, scientifically, there is no difference between the minor aesthetic differences in humans, (skin color, eye shape, hair texture, etc). So the categories we've become familiar with and happily humiliate each other shouting unpleasant names for these differences for millennia are called 'clines', not races. We're one race. Period. Advertisement As to Trump, his campaign is starting to look a lot like his real estate projects, which no doubt probably look like his typical date nights. He's all talk, smooth talk, loud talk, shouting talk, a self deluded ladies man who pushes himself on the target in question so hard they don't know what hit them before it's too late, only to realize it's all a big fat zero in the sack after he closes the deal. Trump's had so many bankruptcies (at least four) his next book should only have chapters 8 and 11. All that brutish talk gets you some action, but after you close the deal if it's just an embarrassment and humiliating clean up people will move on, which is why he continually spins his own reality so hard it makes the ministry of information in 1984 seem like the Columbia Journalism review. There's been plenty written about the shutting down of his casinos, hotels, airlines and other properties, and the handing over of control of his liabilities in bankruptcy to financial managers who actually made them work. If the poor Joe had invested the money his dad gave him he'd have 8 billion, not 2. That tells you all you need to know about his genius for making money. What does he do now? Sell his name, on chocolates, shirts, steaks, not buildings or municipal projects. Does he plan to build a wall against Mexico? Not really. Does he want to move 11 million undocumented out of America? Of course not. Does he know how to manipulate the media with outlandish statements so he's always being talked about? Yes. Losing the Iowa Primary last week showed us that the bully boy's voting block that's cheering him on are nowhere near large enough to make his campaign a winning one nationally, much less buoyant regionally. After his next nose dive in New Hampshire, or the one following, his campaign will go the way much of his real estate projects over much of his life, swollen, upside down, debt ridden and sink into default. He'll be unable to continue as cold sweats and panic attacks will accompany his realization that he can't spin a losing streak which will be toxic to his brand. He'll probably want to take his name off the campaign, just like he's tried to take his name off his bankrupt casino he lost in Atlantic City, but they won't let him. Guaranteed he'll write a new book on how to win a campaign, even though he didn't, and make some new real estate deals based on the free publicity he's gotten all year. He'll Oprah he could have had it all but decided against it, as it's not his calling. That nagging pathological liar voice in his head just can't stop and handle the truth. It's all for the bigger play: stay relevant, sell some more licensing deals with his name on hit, to some more suckers, walk away and gold gild another 17 bathrooms. Ted Cruz, the sideways talking Canadian is happy to say anything to anyone to get their vote. It doesn't matter that his position on the issues may shift every time. He promised not to go after Gay marriage to supporters in NY, and promised to go against Gay marriage to supporters in the south. He wants to carpet bomb the mid-east, which of course isn't really a position, just a compassionate conservative's stance on war. He wants to turn America 'Theological' as it's the only way to save it. He's anti New York and anti -banking, except he got a $1.4 million loan from Goldman Sachs for his campaign in 2012 that he never disclosed. How did he get away with that? His wife works at Goldman Sachs and Chad Sweet his campaign chairman also worked at Goldman Sachs for a decade. So he loves banks and loves NY, but that just doesn't play on the southern bible belt circuit, he's a Tea Party guy out of Texas, so he campaigned against big banks. Brain hurt yet? He's made so many incorrect quotes of the constitution it's hard to know where to start to correct him, so it's easier to say he's writing a novel in the sand on beaches across the country and to please reference those writings if you have any questions. He won the Iowa Primary, which is fascinating, but understandable as Iowa tracks strongly evangelical and liberal, which is a curious mix. But his theological adulation won't play nationally, as his pro bible rhetoric and anti-woman and anti-immigration positions are too divisive for the mainstream. Political expediency was never more in relief than with this guy as he's claimed he's the candidate standing up for the first responders of 9/11, for example, but voted against their health bill. He has said he wants government out of the new energy biz, but would assure ethanol could come to market with anti trust laws, which is putting government into the energy biz. He takes no position on undocumented immigrants 'until the border is secure." Which will be...never? And here's a good one; billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer has donated up to $31 million to Ted Cruz's campaign, and Cruz has called for the abolition of the IRS, which surprising wants 6 billion from Robert Mercer. It goes on and on like this and is frankly exhausting. That's why he has stated he hates fact checkers with the quote:"There is, however a new, particularly noxious species of yellow journalismis...It's called PolitiFact." If you google 'Ted Cruz fact check', however, your computer may collapse under the avalanche of corrections that download as he's wrong on just about everything he has ever said in public. To say he has a credibility problem is like saying the Fukushima reactor had a water pump problem. The real problem is, he doesn't care. His careful mistatements keep the spotlight on him, advance his own agenda, and are designed to get him air time. Like his famous 11 hour filibuster to stop Obamacare, that did nothing to stop Obamacare and never would, except it got him a news story about himself, which was the only point of doing it. This is what this Senator is all about. Getting himself on camera. Marco Rubio's robotic meltdown on the New Hampshire debate night with his four repetitions, word for word, of his position against Obama even caused Chris Christie to come out of his ever-ready belligerent fugue state and tell Rubio to shut up and not be so scripted. Rubio's a hawk who wants to bomb the mid-east just like Cruz does, as well as the Ukraine to teach Russia a lesson, and Iran to stop them from getting the bomb, and also Syria. He doesn't believe in climate change and opposes laws that support it. He's anti-gay marriage (even though the Supreme Court said it's the law of the land last July), and is so anti woman that it makes the other candidates seem pale in comparison. He's a 100% pro lifer who believes: "I've chosen to err on the side of life," which means no abortion, ever, even in cases or rape in incest. He's gone as far to say "I would tell the rape victim it's a terrible situation, but have the rapist's baby anyway." and "rape victims should be in custody if there is suspicion they are planning an abortion." He has said he would rather lose an election than be wrong on the sanctity of life and he'll probably get his wish. It was a disappointing night for the man who placed 3rd in the Iowa Primary, with 23.1% of the vote to Trump's 24.3%. A few coin tosses and maybe he'd have second place, which suddenly makes him a player. But he came off so scripted at the debates that he doesn't seem able to have a real conversation, let alone give the impression his thinking is as facile as his memorization, which seems to be limited to the one quote about how Obama is wrecking the country. It doesn't build confidence for being the leader of the free world. So a disappointing night for Rubio, this arch conservative who is parading as a moderate. More importantly it was a disappointing night for us who had to listen to his meandering confusion. One had the feeling Rubio wasn't sure where he was, and was just speaking his bullet points into the camera with the red blinking light to play it safe. "Don't worry," his campaign manager is saying, "no one will notice the sound bites are the same when they're cut to pieces on the internet." Jeb Bush, ironically had a better night than Jeb Bush usually has, which is not saying a lot as the bar is so low for this guy as he was tracking at 4.1% the day of the Primary and took only 2.8% of the vote. Advertisement If he had been alone in a room with a cat he would have a had a better night for Jeb Bush, than usual, as cat's in general support people around 5.6% of the time. If he had been acting intelligently during this campaign up to now, people might say he's been hanging back on purpose, the dark horse, waiting for the louder baboons to fight each other to the death and leave the lane to the finish open for him. But it genuinely seems to be his own inability to connect with people, or shoot himself in the foot with statements like "Stuff happens," a day after a massacre on an Oregon college campus, or "People need to work longer hours," only weeks after his campaign launch in a newspaper interview discussing the economy and unemployment, or one of my favorites when asked if Obama was hostile to capitalism:"I definitely do. It think he has a deep-seated belief that through government programs and through government regulation, you can improve the social condition." ...Um, yeah - that's the point. I personally loved the early campaign slogan Jeb! - which perhaps was supposed to evoke the same kind of Broadway excitement as the show; Mama Mia!, and the direct mail flyer it was printed on that was mailed to 10's of thousands of homes which showed Jeb! standing smiling against a cityscape, except one of his hands was African American. Mama Mia! Talk about being all things to all people! His campaign re-design and new slogan "Jeb Can Fix It!" which came a few months later spawned a thousand jokes on Twitter, including "yes - so African Americans in Florida can't vote," and "what, his campaign?" while others suggested the "Walking Jeb" was a better slogan after he was polling at 9% in his own state. Given his lackluster character and monotone voice that could be used as an emergency anesthetic in hospital surgical theaters in times of crisis, you'll find him at many of his town halls, sometimes with other people who've also shown up, as he slowly explains why he's on the wrong side of most issues. Advertisement Even so, I still called Bush to be the last man standing and will be the GOP pick at their convention back in August and do so again here. Because at the end of the day, dark money financiers don't have any imagination, but they can count. And in this case they can count to two. And that's the number the presidents in this guy's family before him. So they'll decide the brand is still a winner and back him, even though he seems just as bad as communicating ideas as his brother did and that's saying a lot. But as governor of Florida he oversaw the election meltdown of 2000 so he's got the looking the other way when the shit hits the fan down cold, which seems to be a Bush skill set,as in: "I think Brownie's doing a heck of a job." He thinks climate change is a concern, but it's unclear if humans cause it - so translate that as no legislation against it. He wants to expand gun owners rights. There were over 204 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2015., so - good call. He wants to create a legal status for illegal immigrants, not citizenship. He wants to put U.S. troops near Russia's regions because Putin is a bully. He believes abortion is okay up to 20 weeks. So, at the end of the day Is he crazy? No. Boring? Yes. Extreme in his positions? No. Nationally he could be in play. He oddly keeps pushing his devalued and embarrassing brother as his own biggest supporter, and points out his father was President as well. You probably knew that. Doctor Ben Carson is leading the race into obscurity faster than previous figures in history who headed into obscurity before him, like Pertinax, the Roman emperor who reigned for 3 months before he was assassinated. Remember him? Exactly. Possibly Carson is trying to set a new record for reaching obscurity faster than that guy. Carson might actually have more impact if he dropped out of the race, as being in the race seems to be having no impact. His half crazy ideas polled well and gained momentum initially, like how the pyramids in Egypt were used to store grain (they are mostly solid with complicated narrow corridors and chambers within to hold the dead pharaoh and his earthly possessions), that "Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery," again not exactly true and a slight over statement to one of the greatest social injustices in human history that took place over centuries, there was "Jews could have prevented the Holocaust if they had guns," another winner right up there with the NRA's thoughts that teachers (and children) should have guns to stop insane shooters. There are many great variations on this socially responsible idea right up there with - if a kid throws a rock in the playground, give all the kids rocks. But Jews had guns in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and inspiring as that act of defiance was, it did little to stop the actual Holocaust. Crazy was working for Carson, so that even when he said Anarchy could cancel the 2016 election his supporters were shouting "Yes!" Probably followed by "what?" which we didn't hear over the sounds of his campaign folding in on itself. In mid-January his finance chair resigned after a $20,000/month salary was revealed, as well as the use of many inexperienced staffers and heavy spending, which made his financial backers re-assess and leave his campaign after hemorrhaging too much cash. He may not recover from this loss of momentum and financial support, and likely will not if we are lucky, as no one really seems to care (see Mike Huckabee 2008. See Gov. Texas Rick Perry 2012, see Herman Cain 2012, see also dust bins of history.) How interesting that it was the balance book that undid him, while his actually being unbalanced was working for him. Governor John Kasich is still in it, to win it, if you can win with 1.9% of the vote (that's his Iowa election result) but he can feel much better about the 5% he's tracking nationally based on polls three days ago after the Iowa Primary. Hey, he's tied with Jeb! Perhaps he should revamp his logo to: Kasich! Advertisement Many say Kasich is the real GOP candidate, the mainstream guy, with moderate positions that would track nationally. And hey, he's the Governor of Ohio, famous for fixing elections and having Ken Blackwell as Secretary of State during the presidential election of 2004, when Ohio claimed computer problems for hours behind locked doors on election night, then awarded Bush the victory after exit polls said John Kerry had won. (Not making any of that up, Google it, Blackwell's still the target of lawsuits). He was also overseeing the election team as GOP re-election chairman in 2008 that got locked out of the electronic voting machines on election night and strangely Obama was elected, so go Ohio! Granted Kasich was voted into office in 2010 after those debacles, but who can ignore such inspiring history in such a red state. Kasich, it has been said, is actually nation-friendly, with a two decade history in congress, who helped balance the budget under Clinton. Yes, he's also not insane, which also makes him 'moderate' by GOP standards. He believes in global warming, but doesn't want the EPA to cut emissions, he wants to cut corporate taxes, and also cut social security, he wants less prison time for non-violent offenders, he wants to let undocumented workers stay here legally. I find these positions not egregious, except for his social security plans, until this fascinating Town Hall tidbit in New Hampshire (of all palces) that comes to light from last year, when Kasich is quoted talking about cutting social security, medicare and other 'entitlement' programs (that's what Republicans call social services and water in Flint, Michigan) and asked for a show of hands for those who would mind a lower payment than expected when they qualify for social security. When hands went up, he said "You're going to have to get over it," and laughed. Nothing like trying to get voters on your side by taking an axe to social security and being proud of it. A true died in the wool conservative, he's not a tea party lunatic, but still believes you get to balance the budget on the backs of the poor because you can't ask corporations to pay taxes. So it's very nice of them to keep him around, but he's about as exciting as a stamp in the monopoly game at Ralphs that gets you a $5 coupon for groceries if you're lucky. I don't think he's gotten the memo that his campaign is already dead. Perhaps the real heads up for him was several nights ago at the New Hampshire debate when there was an embarrassing stack up of candidates in the wings at the start who mis-heard their cues, waiting unnecessarily to go on stage, and when the commentators turned around, and the whole mess was cleared up and they were ready to move forward, someone pointed out that Kasich wasn't on stage yet and hadn't been called. At all. Christie pointed it out. No, not Saturday Night Live, just Saturday Night at the Republican debates. Enjoy the work? Click 'subscribe' below and get my writings in your mailbox! Also join me on Twitter at the top of the article! Anyone who is active on social media has received vulgar comments. Some receive threats, and I've received my fair share. In light of Donald Trump's heightened anti-Muslim rhetoric, I've received an increased number of vulgarity and threats. A few days ago I thought I'd try something different when I received the latest threatening email from a Nazi on Facebook. Not surprisingly, he was a staunch Donald Trump supporter. Let's call him Nate. Rather than block him, I thought I would try to reason with him. I had no idea where the conversation would go, but I was ready to find out. His initial email to me was totally unsolicited. Here's what happened: (Slightly edited for readability) Nate: All muslims will be removed from America and Europe. And you will all ultimately burn in hell for worshipping a demon god. i bet you are a pedophile. Advertisement Qasim: Come on Nate do you know any Muslims personally? Nate: Unfortunately yes. you muslims are sick f***ing freaks. Qasim: Where have you met Muslims? What books on Islam have you read? Can we dialogue without vulgar language and name-calling? Regardless I am sorry that you had a poor experience with the Muslim that you met. It sounds like he severely mistreated you. I am sorry you had to experience that. Nate: Okay. How can you consider Mohammad to be the holiest prophet of god? he killed lots of people and started wars, he was a polygamist and he married children. Qasim: There's unfortunately a great deal of misinformation about Prophet Muhammad(sa) on the Internet. The reality and truth is he never killed anyone, only fought in self defense to protect the rights of all people to worship however they wanted, and certainly never married a child. You should know I agree with you that terrorist groups like Daesh and the Taliban are barbaric monsters. I won't even call them human. My brother is a US Marine veteran and served American honorably against these terrorists. Prophet Muhammad(sa) required Muslims to protect all people from attack and forbade all forms of terrorism. Please don't judge Islam by terrorists and bigots. Nate: Yes he did marry kids. Look at this Wikipedia article about Aisha. Qasim: It's Wikipedia. It's wrong. She was between 15-19. Do you know what the legal age of marriage is in many states? It's 13. Do you know how old Mary Mother of Jesus was when she was married to Joseph? Mary was 12-13 and Joseph was 91. Advertisement Nate: No the gospel does not specify an age for either of them. it says he is old but thats it. 15-19 is still pretty bad, and this other one was only 18. Look at this Wikipedia article about Safiyya. I don't like that he has more than one wife. Qasim: The Catholic encyclopedia explains that she was 12-13 and Joseph was 90. Nate: Well she was also a virgin. Qasim: Yes indeed. Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. Nate: which is somewhat better than Muhammad and Aisha. I am a pagan by the way. Qasim: Why is it a competition of "better"? Pagan? Thanks for clarifying. Nate: Christianity is middle eastern, so I blame that influence for anything perverted in the bible. Not the european people, who had christianity forced upon them 1000 years ago. Around the same time mohammad was forcing his religion onto people. Qasim: Sorry Nate, Prophet Muhammad(sa) did no such thing. In fact the Qur'an commands Muslims to protect all houses of worship and celebrates universal freedom of conscience. Nate: What about this hadith that says to expel Jews and Christians? Qasim: 1) You realize these were written down 300 years after the fact right? They're not totally accurate. 2) The Charter of Medina is a written constitution Prophet Muhammad(sa) made with the Jews in which it says "no Jew will be wronged for being a Jew" and "Muslims and Jews are equal citizens of this state." Prophet Muhammad(sa) also wrote a letter to Christians promising them in writing that no Muslim has the right to ever harm them or expel them. Advertisement Nate: You don't believe the Quran? Qasim: These are written documents from the time of Prophet Muhammad(sa) that have his literal stamp of approval. Of course I believe in 100% of the Qur'an. It guarantees universal freedom of conscience and only permits fighting in self defense when attacked. It forbids offensive attack. Instead of googling online, I encourage you to read a biography of Prophet Muhammad(sa). I can send you some great reads if you want. Learn the history from scholars who have studied it. Nate: Would you invite millions of poor white christians to come live in your richest muslim countries? Qasim: Absolutely. And that's exactly what Prophet Muhammad(sa) did. When Christians came to Mecca he invited them to worship as they wished in his own mosque. He didn't restrict them at all but encouraged them to worship freely. As I said, he wrote a letter to the St. Catherine's Monastery as a covenant with all Christians. Below is the text: "This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Advertisement Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)." Nate: Okay but why do so many now want to kill christians? Qasim: It's not "so many." But I don't say that to pretend terrorism is not an issue in some Muslim mjaority countries. It most certainly and it has to stop. The problem is corrupt Muslim leadership combined with really terrible US foreign policy. But in my view the bigger issue is corrupt Muslim leadership. I assure you that Muslims, the vast vast majority, are beautiful and compassionate people. The terrorists just get the loudest platforms. We needn't sit idle. We are working hard to stop the corruption with education and dialogue. We are countering terrorists online with things like the True Islam campaign (www.trueislam.com). We have a lot of work to do but i'm confident if we work together we can use education to counter and stop terrorism wherever it exists. Nate: Okay I guess theres good and bad people in any demographic. But i still think white people should have their own homogenous living space to preserve their culture and genes. That cant happen with millions of Muslims moving to Europe. Advertisement Qasim: You're correct that there are good and bad in every community. Regarding white people, well for starters there are millions of white Muslims. I know many personally. Also, all humanity is equal. Skin color doesn't make any person superior or inferior to the other. I'm brown and Muslim. You're white and pagan. But I see you as an equal human being. If someone oppressed you for your beliefs or spat on you for your skin color, know that I would stand up to defend you. This human equality is what Islam teaches. This is how we can move past our differences while still respecting our differences, and find a pathway to peace. Isolating ourselves from each other solves nothing. It only creates fear and hate. We are Better than that. Let's work together Nate. Nate? [You are no longer permitted to send messages to this user] Rats, he blocked me. World War I lasted four years. World War II lasted six. The Cold War lasted 44. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has lasted more than a century, beginning in the decades before WWI. The growing sentiment is that it is an intractable conflict with no solution. The Obama administration is signaling after many serious attempts it, like previous administrations, will leave it for the next president. However, the ongoing events on the ground, as well as the growing volatility of the region, do not allow for such a luxury. What is needed now is a solid reevaluation of how to approach this conflict. That is to say, administration after administration has focused on what are called the core issues of the conflict: borders, security, refugees and Jerusalem. While core, it can be argued they are not the heart of the conflict. Rather, the heart of this conflict is about Israeli identity and Palestinian identity. For far too long the issue of identity has not been given the attention it requires in this unceasing conflict. The four aforementioned core issues have been regarded as ends in and of themselves when in fact they are all the means to fulfilling the identity desires and objectives of Palestinians and Israelis. The time has come for the starting point of negotiations to be that orientation. Those core issues will not go away with this perspective, but by reversing the equation new road maps will be given the chance to emerge. Advertisement One of the greatest needs of human beings is to find meaning in life and to feel that our lives matter. Personal identity is also strongly connected to group identity as we search to incorporate our lives within social relationships and the family of humanity. Group identity allows us to see our lives in a larger context providing us with significance and purpose. Group identity grounds us. Saira Yamin of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies points out groups "represent safety, strength, harmony, and familiarity. They fulfill the needs for bonding, identity, cohesiveness, integrity, recognition, and security." Seen in this light, we can understand that a threat to identity can be as serious as a threat to personal safety. This is so true in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the insecurity both sides feel and experience. For over a hundred years high jumpers approached the high jump bar with the front of their bodies. Then at 1968 Olympics Dick Fosbury transformed the high jump event with his "back- first" approach when he won the gold medal. The core components of high jumping - approach, speed, acceleration and clearance - remained, but by literally shifting his approach 180 degrees Fosbury discovered a new and more effective way to meet his challenge. Similarly, a new approach is essential when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Harvard Kennedy School's Ronald Heifetz talks about the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges. We tend to focus more on the former which are easier to locate and not on the latter which can lay below the surface, such as values and beliefs, including identity. As Heifetz points out, when there is the shift to adaptive challenges the door is opened to innovation and new discoveries. Advertisement The growing day-to-day violence between Israelis and Palestinians when seen within the context of the regional unrest requires the United States not to take a sabbatical from its unique leadership and position of responsibility in the world. We recently entered a new year and the final year of the Obama administration. Conventional wisdom says expectations should be minimal at best. However the world does not operate by the four-year cycle of American presidential elections; the US cannot afford to hit the pause button every four years. If anything the last year of an administration affords it the freedom to try something new and audacious as the stalemated Palestinian-Israeli peace process demands. This post is an edited/updated version of Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi's October 1, 2014 Lecture at Columbia University's Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by expressing my delight at delivering my lecture at this great intellectual institution. I see the situation in the Middle East not as being in crisis but rather as one that is at a crossroads: Between moving towards democracy, development and progress; and the relapse of the Arab Spring, the spread of chaos and terrorism and the return of despotic and corrupt regimes. Advertisement A few years ago, the world watched with awe as people flooded the streets of Tunis, Tripoli, Cairo and Sanaa, demanding freedom, dignity and the ouster of repressive, dictatorial regimes. The so-called "Arab exception to democracy" collapsed before the will of the youth. Arabs and Muslims were no longer considered unworthy of democracy; their political culture no longer considered as one rooted in the philosophy of oriental despotism. It became evident that support for repressive regimes by the free world to avoid the risk of power falling into Islamists, is no longer a necessary choice. Stereotypes broke down and the Arab Spring became a source of inspiration for the people of the world - before facts on the ground changed once again and forces working to counter the Arab revolutions began succeeding. Syria was pushed into civil war, Libya deteriorated into chaos, Egypt returned to military rule. Why did the map of the Middle East change so fast - from a promising democratic movement to being hotspots of conflicts and tensions? Is the cause the rise of Islamists and their failure to govern and build stable democratic systems? I will present a view that is based on Tunisia's experience, the last shining candle of the Arab Spring. Tunisia succeeded in developing a modernist constitution that stipulates freedom of conscience and guarantees the rights of women and minorities. It is the fruit of peaceful cooperation between moderate secularists and moderate Islamists. Tunisia was able to overcome its political crisis in 2013 thanks largely to our commitment to consensus and national dialogue that culminated in an independent, technocratic government tasked with managing the process of holding free and fair elections. Advertisement Tunisia is also engaged in a war against terrorism, which began under the Troika government led by Ennahdha, our party of Muslim democrats that on 27 August 2013 designated Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organization, arresting dozens of its leaders, dismantling its cells and foiling many of its operations. Tunisia's experience shows that democracy is possible in the Middle East as long as its conditions are present. There is no "Arab exception to democracy." There is no contradiction between Islam and democracy. And dictatorship is not a necessary destiny. Tunisia was able to embark on this path thanks to a variety of factors that unfortunately were not present at the required level in other countries. The first factor is the rejection of domination and monopoly of power: Ennahdha Party which won the majority in the elections of the National Constituent Assembly in 2011, refused to dominate power. We instead called for a national unity government after the 2011 elections and were able to form a coalition government with two secular parties - Ettakattol and CPR. From the beginning, Ennahdha has been committed to the establishment of a political system where secularists and Islamists coexist. That was not always easy, but Ennahdha's compromises were the principal catalyst for resolving crises and for accelerating the adoption of the Constitution. Advertisement Coexistence with secularists was the result of a reformist intellectual process. Our party was the first Islamic movement to adopt democracy in 1981 and to unequivocally announce that it is a civic party that believes in democracy, citizenship and civic values. It is a conviction that did not dither even after the savage wave of repression of the 1990's in which we were subjected to by Ben Ali's regime. Ennahdha remained a peaceful movement struggling against dictatorship through democratic means, rejecting violence and extremism. Refusing domination of power and opting for coexistence between secularists and Islamists were two important factors in the success of the Tunisian model. The next important factor in Tunisia's success is the adoption of what we call "consensus" politics. This is based on our belief that during transitional periods, ruling with 50% +1 majority does not lead to a stable political system; what is needed is as wide a consensus as possible between the main political trends whether in the majority or minority. That is why we wanted a constitution that doesn't just represent a simple majority but the widest majority possible. This principle of consensus helped save Tunisia from many of the crises that it faced because we focused instead on a national dialogue that brought together all the political trends and views represented by 22 parties, with no exclusions. The national dialogue succeeded in producing a constitution supported by 94% of the constituent assembly. The dialogue helped build consensus on the democratic transition process through the agreement on an independent election commission and on dates for the elections. Many of these successes were the fruit of sacrifices made by the majority party to preserve the country's unity. First, we conceded key ministries, then we conceded the government. It was not an easy decision, but Ennahdha adopted that decision by an overwhelming majority, because it is a responsible party that puts the country's interest above its own, and realizes that guaranteeing freedom for all Tunisians is more important than clinging to power if that led to division and conflict. Advertisement The fourth factor, in my opinion, is our firm opposition to the political exclusion law - our refusal to exclude all members of the dissolved former ruling party, despite the dangers of allowing them to operate politically. We saw the effects of exclusion and eradication in several experiences in our region -- the most recent of which is Libya -- and chose instead to leave it to the people to decide. We agreed not to treat those who oppressed, imprisoned and tortured us, and spread corruption and despotism, like they treated their opponents for decades. The fifth factor is related to the nature of the Tunisian military institution which is a republican institution opposed to coups, which stood by the people during our revolution and committed itself to the protection of the democratic transition. This is also true of the security institution which has recovered its effectiveness and soundness. Ladies and gentlemen, the success of the Tunisian revolution is not a coincidence. It is the fruit of a consensual process led by Ennahdha in collaboration with our partners: Political parties and organizations such as the Workers' Union and Chamber of Commerce. This success, however, does not negate the existence of serious dangers threatening our democratic transition. There are forces determined to abort all Arab Spring experiments and demonstrate that the Middle East is not eligible or ready for democracy - and that the only appropriate place for Islamists is prison, torture cells and exile. You will be told here in the United States that the best option for the region is dictatorship in order to preserve peace. Just as our people are told that they can enjoy security, prosperity and progress only under despotic regimes. Advertisement This idea has been tried in the past. Support for dictatorships in the Middle East indeed led to disasters in the region and to the emergence and spread of terrorism around the world. It also, ultimately led to the revolutions themselves. Linking Islam and violence will only give extremists greater scope to attract broad sectors of youth. If young Arabs' feel there is no genuine commitment to supporting democracy and freedoms, they will feel bitterness towards themselves and their societies. The absence of just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will only feed further tension and hatred. I return to my first question: Is the situation in the Middle East in crisis or at a crossroads? The Tunisian model, ladies and gentlemen, demonstrates that it is possible for you to trust the people of the Middle East -- and that duty calls for all friends of freedom and democracy in the free world to help the region continue its progress towards freedom and modernity. We appreciate the reference to Tunisia in President Obama's speech at the UN General Assembly where he mentioned Tunisia as a positive example of coexistence between Islamic and secular parties. We also appreciated when he stressed that the war on ISIS is not a war on Islam, and that it cannot lead to a clash of civilizations. I believe it is very important to strongly defend and promote this approach, because confusing Islam and terrorism can only benefit terrorists themselves who oppose democracy and consider it to be un-Islamic, and also benefit dictators who know that the presence of democratic states that guarantee freedom, justice and the rule of law hinder their establishment of regimes based on corruption and repression. It is important to stress that a uniquely security solution to fighting terrorism is not enough; doing so will complicate this problem even more both in the short and long term. In addition to security, we need to tackle this problem at a political level through democracy and inclusiveness. We also need to tackle it at the religious, intellectual level by showing that the extreme understanding of Islam that they have is wrong. And we should not forget the socio-economic dimension in the fight against this disease. Advertisement In Tunisia we defeated dictatorship and we hope that we are on our way to defeating terrorism by showing that there is no contradiction between Islam and democracy, and by building a growing economy. I believe that "democratic Islam" is the antithesis to despotism, preventing it from imposing a choice between security and freedom. With this vision, Tunisia goes forward towards a new phase in our democratic process, where we will, for the second time since the revolution, seek the people's will. It is an event which we wish to use as an occasion to strengthen the unity of society and build a strong partnership. Ennahdha has willingly made a further concession in order to ensure the success of the coming phase by choosing not to put forward a candidate for the presidential elections. We have also called for a national unity government that brings together various parties because we believe that Tunisia cannot be managed by a simple 50% +1 majority in the coming years. Based on our reading of the crises of the region, the causes of which include low development indicators and high youth unemployment, we chose the slogan of Ennahdha's electoral program to be "Towards a rising economy and a secure country." Realizing the dangers of delaying our economic development, I appeal to Tunisia's friends to offer the necessary financial support to the current government and the future government, and not await investments that require a long time and specific conditions for their execution. Ladies and gentlemen, I was keen to come to the United States despite our busy election campaign, to address this enlightened elite at a critical moment that requires our unity in defense of freedom and democracy, against the return of dictatorship, to defeat terrorism and to eradicate the causes of its emergence and expansion. Advertisement The Muslim world needs to make greater efforts in the field of reform and renewal, the building the modern cultural and civilizational systems that counter extremism and rigidity - a vision I have defended for more than four decades. But that is not possible until we accurately diagnose the causes that brought our region to its current state, at the forefront of which are the regimes of despotism, repression and corruption, which have wasted the resources and capabilities of the Arab and Muslim world, imprisoned entire populations in the darkness of repression and denial of freedoms, and destroyed the will of youth pushing them to the feeling of political oppression and development failure and towards networks of extremism. Thus it is not surprising that takfiris believe that democratic Islam is more dangerous for them than secular regimes. And it is not surprising to hear the frequent sermons of leaders of terrorist organizations mocking Islamists who choose the democratic path, to the point of calling for our murder. Ladies, and gentlemen, from this platform, I call for a comprehensive approach for countering terrorism, where security efforts are complemented by the efforts we are engaged in to resolve conflicts in the Middle East and support the Arab Spring, in the face of the winter of terrorism and dictatorship. I call for economic support of successful Arab Spring models, and in particular Tunisia, in order for it to maintain its balance. While I call on the international community to stand by the Syrian people to complete its revolution, I call on young people deluded by terrorist groups to realize the danger of the criminal project of takfiris, and to desist from serving its evil interests. I also call on Muslim scholars to continue playing their role in exposing the deviations of takfiris and raising awareness of their dangerous aims that are against peace and against Islam. Advertisement The Tunisian experience, which has become a model of complementarity between Islam and democracy, has demonstrated that the solution in the Middle East to guarantee a stable region is supporting freedom and democracy and guaranteeing the right to development and progress. It has also highlighted that democracy is possible in the Middle East; it can be an effective tool against terrorism; and indeed, the only real alternative. This year it's different. Breathlessly, Republicans await the outcome of today's New Hampshire primary. In times past, New Hampshire was, variously, a check on Iowa, a force for moderation, a safe haven for front runners, a boon to long shots, and quicksand for the presumably anointed. In this unconventional year, it will likely alter the trajectory of the presumptive leaders -- not least because of Marco Rubio's Saturday night train wreck -- as well as of those in the second tier, muddling the contest for "mainstream" candidate while winnowing the brace of also-rans. But that death knell we are hearing is not just the mercy killing of walking footnotes like Carly Fiorina. It is for the GOP establishment and, more profoundly, for the very idea of what a president should be. The ruin of the established order -- big donors, lobbyists, and professionals -- has been a long time coming. For decades the establishment has resembled the once proud family who keeps selling off pieces of their estate so they can keep the house. In exchange for lower taxes and laissez-faire, the establishment subcontracted its electoral fortunes to an overlapping -- and increasingly hostile -- compendium of evangelicals, gun rights advocates, Tea Party fanatics, and less educated whites who feel that their security, and their country, are being snatched from their grasp. Now it is no longer enough to surround the mansion -- they want to burn it down. Advertisement The incongruous agent of their resentment has been the billionaire Donald Trump, followed by the self-styled bomb-thrower Ted Cruz. But in great measure what empowers them is the establishment's surrender to nihilistic rhetoric directed at Washington DC. A throng of voters willing to shut down the government is unlikely to nurture tender feelings for the grandees of the GOP. Trump has simply focused their free-floating hostility on a larger group of scapegoats -- Mexicans, Muslims, rich Republican donors and financiers and, Lord help us, Megyn Kelly. In doing so, he has become an unlikely avatar for socially vulnerable whites who feel threatened by forces they can't control. Too late, the GOP establishment has found out what "class warfare" really means, and they are on the wrong end. Financiers and party professionals feel free to perceive the economic and political upside of resolving the immigration mess. Not so blue collar workers fearful that immigrants -- legal or not -- will take away their jobs, or swell the ranks of welfare recipients who sponge off their hard-earned tax money. For them, the GOP establishment has become another instrument of The Great Sell-Out, the smug proponents of free trade agreements that savage American workers. Like so many elites who discover that they are widely loathed, the establishment has responded with dithering and wishful thinking. The result is a vacuum that has consumed the very idea of leadership. Advertisement A widely respected GOP professional attempted to raise money for a Stop Trump campaign, and found no takers. Even before Iowa, elements of the established order began gingerly propitiating their antagonists -- choosing between Trump and the widely hated Cruz. Bob Dole mused aloud that at least Trump has "the right personality and he's kind of a deal maker"; Mary Matalin hosted a fundraiser for Cruz. And then Iowa reshuffled the deck a bit, with Cruz banishing the panicky myth that Trump was invincible, while Marco Rubio surfaced in third place. Abruptly, some in the party's elite began clutching Rubio like a human life raft, praying that he emerges from the scrum of New Hampshire as the alternative to Trump and Cruz. Beyond ratifying the impotence of the establishment, their desperation confirms the demise within the GOP of something far more important -- the very idea of what qualifies a person to assume the most complex and demanding office in a dangerous world. In saner times, there was a general understanding of those elements which might commend a candidate. Sound judgment. A reasonable command of the issues. At least some relevant experience. A grasp of what the job demands which transcends canned speeches and talking points. A balanced temperament. A certain capacity for dignity and grace. At least a few real achievements, not least in the realm of politics. Add to this the ability to inspire, but also to appreciate the political environment. And something less tangible but no less critical -- some combination of intellectual integrity and emotional health that keeps self regard from spinning into sociopathy turbocharged by power: lying without shame, governing without some genuine regard for the governed, a narcissism so deep that it obliterates all else. In the recent history of the GOP, there were harbingers that these standards were eroding -- that, among a portion of the electorate, all that mattered was anger and disdain for government. One can cite Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and, even more ludicrous, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. But the party's eventual nominees reached the threshold of presidential plausibility -- George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney. Advertisement This year is very different indeed. Of the three most likely Republican nominees, none is remotely qualified to be president. Indeed, their unfitness is so patent as to inspire fear. The challenge with Donald Trump is where to start. Even Ted Cruz pretends that his campaign is about other people. Trump doesn't even get that you're supposed to fake it. His candidacy is, indeed, all about him, his default expression one of aggrieved displeasure at not being "treated fairly," his mouth the pursed "o" of a beached flounder sucking oxygen. Imagine year upon year of crudity, petulance, self-preening and puerile bluster. Imagine Americans' sickening realization that they are trapped in a dysfunctional relationship with a boorish narcissist who has no idea of how to protect their interests, and whose only interest is himself. Imagine the face of America in the world as the face of Donald Trump. That's for openers. Trump understands nothing that a president needs to understand. His nationalistic promise to "make America great again" is hucksterism devoid of substance. He has no idea of governance. He has no coherent policy for anything -- the economy, foreign policy, ISIS or trade. His "solution" to immigration is fantastical and racist. He measures his candidacy by Nielsen ratings. He exudes sexism. He demeans anyone who displeases him -- opponents, reporters, women, a wide assortment of ethnic groups, even the disabled -- the hallmark of a thin-skinned bully wholly focused on himself. Forget Megan Kelly. Imagine Trump's conduct of a press conference -- let alone a summit conference. Advertisement But then imagine a president who is flat out ignorant of the world. You can't make "great deals" if you don't know what the deal is about, let alone negotiate with counterparts you've made no effort to understand. Even an intellectual pygmy like Scott Walker tried to memorize a world globe. Trump can't be bothered. The ego that empowers such obliviousness is a dangerous thing -- even more dangerous when dealing with adversaries in treacherous times. One cringes to imagine the fallout when ISIS or Putin decline to treat Donald fairly. Thus it says a lot about Ted Cruz that his colleagues would prefer to jump into the abyss with Trump. Indeed, one of the striking features of the GOP debates is his fellow senators' visceral loathing for their peer. If Trump is Huey Long without a program, Cruz is Elmer Gantry without the charm -- oleaginous, transcendently phony, relentlessly manipulative, and intellectually dishonest to the point of demagoguery. His triumph in Iowa was buoyed by dirty tricks -- including lies on caucus night about Ben Carson's fictitious "withdrawal," which Cruz then tried to cover up up by repeating more blatant and deliberate lies blaming CNN for his campaign's "mistake." He is the dank Prince of darkness, playing on the resentments of evangelicals and others who feel marginalized -- without offering them, or anyone else, an uplifting vision of the future. Even on the campaign trail, he seems to exist in emotional isolation, viewing voters less as people than interchangeable pawns. One-on-one, he responds to voters' heartfelt expressions of concern about their lives not by answering in kind, but by reciting right-wing boilerplate from his stump speeches. There is something deeply disturbing in his disassociation, a lack of empathy which suggests a barren inner landscape. To study Cruz is to entertain the possibility of emotional disturbance. How else to evaluate his combination of self-absorption, grandiosity, disdain for others, and disregard for truth? What else to make of a graduate of Princeton and Harvard who deliberately plays to the lowest intellectual common denominator for his own ends, with neither compunction nor shame? One hesitates to wander too deeply into the thickets of long-distance psychoanalysis -- it is all too easy to be all too wrong. But whether in verbal combat or miming amiability, at times one imagines glimpsing a faintly feral, wounded look in his eyes, the hint of a damaged soul. Advertisement Whatever drives him, there is a certain scary fascination in watching an exceedingly smart and calculating man condescend to his audience by playing dumb. Cruz exalts homophobic Kentucky clerk Kim Davis as a martyr. He lies about the science surrounding global warming and compares himself to Galileo. He says that he will carpet bomb ISIS into oblivion, well aware that this is laughable as strategy. He claims that President Obama only uses military force "if it benefits radical Islamist terrorists." He doubles down on Trump's nativism in the hope of stealing votes. In his self-scripted political psychodrama, Cruz casts himself as a lonely ideological purist surrounded by spineless sellouts. Routinely, he castigates the "Washington DC cartel," portraying the GOP establishment and its leaders as self-serving liars, the better to galvanize the embittered voters of the right. But this is a matter of convenience, not principle -- far from being a true believer, Cruz sought establishment support for years, and his villainization of them now is a cold eyed tactic. His only permanent loyalty is to his own ambition. Perhaps the most frightening thing about Cruz's act is that it is so transparently that -- an act. His stump speeches are performances, scripted down to the last breathy pause, and delivered with the histrionic stage whisper of a grade B evangelist entranced with his own performance. All this cloaked in a cloying religiosity, often capped with an invocation to "awaken the body of Christ to pull this country back from the abyss." But as is often true of genuine hypocrites, this patina of piety covers the meanness beneath. He savors insults and revels in his own slurs, no matter how gratuitous. Hence his mockery of the last GOP nominee: "I'm pretty certain Mitt Romney actually French-kissed Barack Obama." Truly Christian; sublimely presidential. Quintessentially Ted Cruz. And so it comes to this -- the last, best hope of the establishment is Marco Rubio. Here one struggles to capture the depths of his shallowness, a task akin to grasping at vapor. For it is grim testament to Trump and Cruz that they can frighten grown-ups into proposing Rubio as presidential hardwood. Advertisement In debate and on the stump, Rubio increasingly tries to compete with Trump and Cruz through hyperbolic excess directed at Obama. With a slightly unhinged zeal, he claims that Obama is so "completely overwhelmed" that he has "deliberately weakened America." Like his indictment of the president as an enemy of the Constitution and the free enterprise system, this over-the-top rhetoric is shamelessly stolen from the hysterical alternate reality of talk radio. "When America needed a bold plan of action from our commander-in-chief," Rubio proclaims, "we instead got a lecture on love, tolerance and gun control designed to please the talking heads at MSNBC." But the effect Rubio achieves is not that of a prospective commander-in-chief, but that of a callow aspirant who is over caffeinated, shrill, and willing to say anything -- a man wholly lacking in balance or intellectual ballast. One thinks not of a leader, but of an overambitious sales guy looking for a promotion he doesn't deserve -- say, perhaps, to district manager. That marks a deeper problem. Supporters excuse the swiftness of Rubio's attempted rise by comparing him to Barack Obama. But unlike Obama, in Rubio there is little sign of a deep intellect or even keen intelligence -- as opposed to a certain gift for reciting a memorized sales pitch. Thus Rubio is the most cosseted of candidates, his campaign designed to protect him from exposure. His speeches are canned, recited from a script; he "debates" by repeating whole chunks from memory. Confronted by Chris Christie in Saturday's New Hampshire debate, he at last displayed for a national audience what has been obvious up close -- repeating the same utterly irrelevant attack on Obama four times, almost verbatim, each repetition increasingly panicky and unresponsive. It was dreadful to watch; worse to think of him in the Oval Office. But this is Marco Rubio, the pretender who would be president. He meets reporters guarded by a press aide who selects those permitted to ask the androidal candidate a question. Observing this unearthly phenomenon, one reporter was reminded of "a computer algorithm designed to cover talking points." As political insults go, Christie's characterization of Rubio as "the boy in the bubble" is particularly apt. One wonders if he knows or cares that he appears to have so little pride or substance -- or, in truth, whether he has the capacity to be any better then this. Advertisement He switches positions on a dime. Most notoriously, he came to the Senate as an opponent of a path to citizenship, then signed onto legislation proposing such a path when it appeared politically advantageous, then denounced his own legislation after the GOP base rebelled. He has swapped his once inclusive rhetoric on immigration -- including the legal variety -- for a calculated echo of the barely veiled bigotry and nativism deployed by Trump and Cruz. Thus the deeper shame of his attack on Obama for speaking to American Muslims at a mosque is that, coming from Rubio, it was no surprise. Here, as elsewhere, one searches for his principles. To appease the right, Rubio opposes abortion in the case of rape or incest, then hints at a softer line. Once the proponent of green energy, he flipped and coined the great dodge of climate deniers -- "I'm not a scientist, man." Formerly not given to public pieties, when asked in debate whether he was the "Republican savior," he intoned, "There is only one Savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ, who came down to Earth and died for our sins." Including, one assumes, a reflexive political malleability driven by unwarranted ambition. Indeed, it seems quite clear that Rubio's only reason for becoming a senator was to run for president -- not on the basis of any real accomplishment, but by repeatedly reciting an uplifting biographical speech that has little or no bearing on his policy positions. Beneath that is a spotty voting record and an unseemly eagerness to appease wealthy donors, often to fund super PACs whose activities verge on the illegal. So what, one might ask, is Rubio all about? What are the political passions that drive him? When has he ever done anything courageous, or even hard? And where, in all this, can one locate a president? Yet, come November, it appears likely that one of our two major parties will ask Americans to imagine a President Trump or Cruz or Rubio. One can but hope that, in its collective good sense, the electorate will experience a massive failure of imagination. One of the joys of visiting Cuba is meeting the people in this still remarkably closed society. It's so easy and fun to connect with people on the streets who are curious about the USA and love to talk. I found Cubans joyful, relaxed, and smart -- yet isolated and wired differently, as mainstays of our modern outlook (like the Internet and the opportunity to work hard to prosper) are still novel to most people here. I encountered two kinds of people: Rank-and-file Cubans, and those with relatives in America or with jobs in tourism (which means they have more money, a broader perspective, and more opportunities). These students reminded me that Cuba still categorizes its citizens into three ethnic groups: N (for negro, or black), M (for mestizo, or mixed), and B (for blanco, or white -- generally meaning Hispanic, of Spanish decent). It's like American drivers licenses stipulating what color our eyes are. Discrimination by race is officially illegal in Cuba. But a complex history has created social stratification. The white Cubans were predominantly the ones who supported Batista. Conversely, it was the black Cubans who felt most oppressed by Batista and American interests, and supported the Revolution most wholeheartedly. Advertisement A few weeks ago, the American Dialect Society announced the 2015 Word of the Year: the singular "they." (Lest anyone doubt the authority of the American Dialect Society, let me point out that its "word-of-the-year" event is "the word-of-the-year event up to which all others lead," according to the--wait for it--website of the American Dialect Society.) In honor of that decision, which I have no doubt is being applauded by most true "grammar nerds" despite what the Washington Post might think, I'm reprising a piece I wrote on this very subject for my personal blog several years ago. In those days, I mostly blogged about grammar and writing, but the singular they is not just about strong writing. It's about diversity. In my piece, I talk about it as a perfect solution for the real and important problem of sexist language. The American Dialect Society went even further, describing a relatively newer usage of "they" as an "identifier for someone who may identify as 'non-binary' in gender terms." In other words, it's the answer to what to call someone who says they are neither a he nor a she. Now, without further ado, I bring you: The Pronoun Problem (Reprise) It was so easy when I was growing up. We were taught that "he" referred to all humans, of either sex, and we believed it. In fact it didn't and, as an excellent analysis I just came across points out, throughout history it hardly ever has. Jacobson, who wrote the piece back in 1995, uses this wonderfully oddball example to prove that we don't read "he" as referring to both men and women: Advertisement "The average American needs the small routines of getting ready for work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his pantyhose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the day." (Sadly, my original link to this analysis is now locked to users without a password. However, if you google "Carolyn Jacobson some notes on gender-neutral language" you can find and download it as a Google Doc.) In fact, the use of "man" and male pronouns to refer to human beings reflects a society in which men are the only beings considered fully human. As the second wave of feminism came along to spread this news, we looked for alternatives. It was relatively simple to substitute "human" for "man" and "humanity" (or even "people") for "men." But the problem of singular pronouns--what to do about "he" and "his"--was a much greater one. The problem first arose sometime in the 1970s. Forty-plus years later, we still haven't figured out how to deal with it. What to do about gender neutrality? First, some ground rules. Some folks are still on the fence about this. Hold-outs continue to use "he" as a universal pronoun. But every major stylebook advises against it, and I, personally, think it is inexcusable. Advertisement "He" and "him" refer to a man, a boy, or a male animal. Period. You can no more use "he" to refer to people of both sexes than you can use "boy" to refer to a grown African-American man. This is not something anyone should have a choice about anymore--it is part of the evolution of our understanding about human rights and the role language plays in creating--or shutting down--change. Beyond that, however, you have some choices. Sadly, none of them is very good: 1. You can replace he with "he or she" and him with "him or her." He or she who hesitates is lost. 2. You can skip the "or" and say "he/she," "him/her," or opt for a slimmed down look and say "s/he" (which, however, begs the question of what to do about "him" and "her"). S/he who hesitates is lost. 3. You can try to re-write the sentence completely to leave out pronouns: The person who hesitates is lost. 4. You can turn every problematic singular sentence into a plural one: Those who hesitate are lost. 5. In certain contained circumstances, you can alternate the use of "he" and "she:" A person who isn't quite sure what to do next has several choices: She can consider her options carefully, and make a thoughtful decision. He can ask others for advice. She can hesitate, and be lost. The problem is, solutions like these are cumbersome at best, unworkable at worst. "He or she," which is more clear than alternating the use of "he" and "she," and just slightly more professional and formal than "s/he," can result in impossibly convoluted language, especially when it involves other pronoun forms. Consider: Advertisement "Every employee should talk to his or her manager about what he or she needs to do in order to complete his or her project." It's enough to make the writer gag and the reader jump off his or her ledge. Option four, re-writing a sentence to turn it from singular to plural, is the one I see recommended most often, but it works better in some cases than in others. "Employees should talk to their managers about what they need to do in order to complete their projects," is not too bad, except for the possible confusion about whether individual employees each have multiple managers or projects or just one apiece. But compare these alternatives: Every man must listen to his conscience, following the voice in his head. All people must listen to their consciences, following the voices in their heads. Not only does the original sentence lose quite a bit of poetic (if cliched) punch in the pluralized version, it veers dangerously close to a prescription for mass schizophrenia. Reader, there is a fifth option. It's in common use informally, but represents a radical step for formal grammar and is far from universally accepted. Nonetheless, it is out there, being debated and approved by even some among the grammatical establishment. It's the use of the singular "they." (Alas, another lost link. That stuff you hear about the internet being forever? Baloney.) Advertisement The fact is, as grammarians will point out, the singular "they" (if a person hesitates, they are lost) has been around for a long time. As Jessica Arnold notes (trust me) in the (lost) link above, it can be found in the works of Shakespeare, Austen and Dickens, among others. The arguments against its use seem to have originated in the same misguided attempts to mold English around Latin that led to the now abandoned argument against splitting infinitives. The singular "they" allows us to put away convoluted attempts to neutralize gender in one swift move, no muss, no fuss. Although it can sound odd, I have gradually come to the conclusion that it is the most elegant solution we English-speakers have to this problem-that-will-not-die. That doesn't mean I use it. Most of my work involves writing communications for others and I know usage of the singular "they" in formal writing is still unacceptable to most. Even in my own work, it still often sounds awkward and grating, and I find myself re-writing sentences to avoid it. But having decided it is, ultimately, the best solution, I have vowed to start using it more. It's a matter of conscience for me, because ultimately, it's about removing the language's built-in bigotry. As for you, you'll have to decide for yourself. Everyone must listen to their conscience, and do what they think is right. Women were banned from entering a Starbucks branch in Saudi Arabia last week due to the collapse of the gender wall. The coffee shop in the capital Riyadh had put up a sign that reads, "Please no entrance for ladies, only send your driver to order. Thank you." The issue was first brought up by "Manar M" who tweeted last Monday, "#Starbucks store in Riyadh refused 2 serve me just because I'm a WOMAN & asked me 2 send a man instead." Advertisement Manal further complained of this treatment, comparing the sign on the store to a 1940 sign that reads, "This Park was Given for White People Only. Mexicans and Negros Stay Out." The incident sparked reactions around the world, mostly of those condemning Saudi Arabia's "discrimination against women." Advertisement However, I would like to bring a side of a dialogue that defended the kingdom, and how an Arab-Canadian replied to them. Palestinian-Canadian author Chaker Khazaal tweeted and posted the news, and raised a question, "what year is it over there? This brought to the conversation those who took offense in Khazaal's post. Some wondered what Khazaal's business was. Someone else tweeted, "You are not saudi and u don't live here so u don't have the right to judge us!" Women are now BANNED from a @Starbucks in #SaudiArabia after collapse of "#gender wall". What year is it over there? pic.twitter.com/3JfQ10CJP8 Chaker Khazaal (@ChakerKhazaal) February 6, 2016 On Facebook, Khazaal got similar comments, others going to the extend of accusing him of harming the reputation of Islam. Women are now BANNED from a Starbucks in #SaudiArabia after collapse of "gender wall". What year is it over there?... Posted by Chaker Khazaal on Saturday, February 6, 2016 Among this dialogue and heated conversation, Khazaal replied today with the following statement replying to a woman who had defended her country: I admire your passion for your country, and I thank you for your input in a dialogue regarding the banning of women from a Starbucks branch in Saudi Arabia. It was not my intention to personally offend you. As a journalist and writer, I strive to bring attention to situations that need to be 'heard'. In this instance, I read a tweet from Manar N, @manarn8, claiming that, due to the collapse of the "gender wall", she was refused service at a specific Starbucks branch -- a blatant violation of women's rights. Manar could only share her thoughts. I merely provided a global voice. Opening such a dialogue collaborates opinions, facts, and the democracy of choice. For example, because of this approach, Saudi Arabia allowed women to vote in a local election this last December, for the first time. Although you have a right, as a Saudi citizen, to question my 'weighing' into this issue, I believe that, as world citizens, we have a duty to share our thoughts about any issue happening - in every corner of the world. Social media is a platform to hear voices, not silence them. Sincerely, Chaker Khazaal In this incident, there was a complaint, from a Saudi female resident, about what Khazaal called [and I agree], "a blatant violation of women's rights." Questioning Khazaal's "business" is like questioning our business when a child drowns on the shores of Europe, or when a blogger is flogged for sharing his opinions like it is the case of Raif Badawi in the same country, Saudi Arabia. ALEPPO, SYRIA - FEBRUARY 10: Syrians, who fled bombing in Aleppo, are seen at a tent city and close to the Bab al-Salam border crossing on Turkish-Syrian border near Azaz town of Aleppo, Syria on February 10, 2016. Russian airstrikes have recently forced some 40,000 people to flee their homes in Syrias northern city of Aleppo. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) So many parallels can be drawn between Nazi Germany and the modern-day genocidal regime of Bashar al-Assad. The former annihilated Jews, Romani people, homosexuals and those with any kind of disabilities. Assad and his Iranian backers have killed over 250,000 Syrians during the course of last five years. ISIS is another terrorizing outfit but its atrocities, despite their horrors, pale in comparison to the daily barrage of barrel bombs and mass starvation campaigns. Russia is the late entrant -- the Mussolini to Assad's Hitler -- but has helped intensify the human suffering through its scorched-earth campaign. Like Nazi Germany, one can see mass starvation campaigns carried out by the regime and its Shiite proxies. Madaya may turn out to be an insignificant event if Aleppo is besieged by the Syrian forces, their allies and Russia. All indications are of that becoming a reality and this one will be for the history books; with possible casualties running into thousands. Gassing the citizens to deaths has been a reality for the last four years as barrel bombs asphyxiate many every day. The rumors of Russia using chemical weapons only simplifies the analogy between Holocaust and the post-modern pogrom. Advertisement What the world is doing to stop this? United States has chosen to look the other way. Europe doesn't have that luxury given the mass influx of refugees pouring in from all corners of Syria. Still, Germany seems to be the only European state doing the lion's share of relief and rehabilitation work. And it may cease doing so in the coming months, owing to the mounting opposition at the domestic front. Brits are contemplating opting out of the European Union and border control is the new mantra. So is the enactment of repressive laws by states like Denmark, which once claimed to be the bastion of humanity and freedoms. Turkey and Jordan are hosting millions of refugees. Turkey is taking in more as thousands flee Aleppo, dodging the grim shadows of starvation and death. U.S. is taking none. Perhaps the darkest legacy of President Barack Obama will be his indifference to the plight of Syrians. So much so that staunch supporters like Roger Cohen have started calling out the president for his apathy to the growing crisis. Cohen's recent piece in The New York Times, however, was only a half-truth. He chose to blast Putin's atrocities in Syria while conveniently ignoring Iran, which has been perpetuating terror for the last five years in Syria. It was the Shiite mercenaries, hired from places as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan, who unleashed waves upon waves of terror in Syria. ISIS emerged as a gory countervailing force, matching the former in barbarity. Its share in the human misery is still comparatively smaller, having no access to tanks, planes and barrel bombs. Russia's ruse of tackling the ISIS has long fallen apart. Its guns are aimed at the civilians. The intervention appears to have the sole purpose of shoring up Assad, at whatever human cost it may come. There were some dim hopes of peace finally returning to the battered land. The Geneva talks proved to be a non-starter and are not expected to bring any good. U.S. has allegedly ceded its stance to whatever is endorsed by Moscow -- a not-so-tacit collusion of sorts. Europe is punching below its weight and the Syrian opposition and the Gulf states are largely staying out. The talks have thus become a sham where the perpetrators masquerade as the saviors. Advertisement Blessed are the peacemakers, it says in Scripture - and the peacemakers seem to converging in Havana. This Friday, the leaders of Roman Catholicism and the Russian Orthodox Church, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill I, will meet in Cuba to try and advance the healing process between Eastern and Western Christianity, churches which have been in schism since 1054. In coming to Cuba to seek peace, they are not alone. After two years of a tightly held negotiation, the United States and Cuba ended six decades of hostilities, and the diplomatic effort to normalize relations rolls forward in both capitals. Advertisement Since 2014, Cuba and the European Union have been negotiating a new Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement to update the EU's policy toward the island. The talks, alternating between Brussels and Havana, resume in Cuba later this year. Most of all, negotiations to end the fifty-year civil war between Colombia and its FARC guerrilla movement, a conflict that has claimed more than a quarter-million dead are, as the analyst Ginny Bouvier wrote "Heading toward the Finish Line in Cuba." While the Colombian and FARC delegations deserve the lion's share of the credit - they've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize - Cuba's role hosting the negotiations continues to win praise. As President Obama said at a White House ceremony with Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos at his side, "I want to thank all of the parties for their efforts, including the government of Cuba for hosting the talks. We all know that it's easier to start wars than to end them." Advertisement President Santos replied in part by saying, "Thank you, Mr. President, for your audacity in reestablishing diplomatic relations with Cuba." The President was audacious, indeed, for restoring the diplomacy with Cuba that has produced resumed relations, reopened embassies, prisoner releases, policy reforms and more. After sitting at the center of our Cold War conflict for half the twentieth century, it's hard not to enjoy the emergence of Cuba as a 21st Century staging point for reconciliation. Not everyone feels this way; consider, for example, the editorial writers at the Washington Post. On December 17th, 2014, the day President Obama announced the diplomatic breakthrough with Cuba -The Post called it "an undeserved bailout" of the Castro regime. After just six months, the Post denounced the deal as "one-sided," and took pleasure in the fact that Congress was stopping the appointment of a U.S. Ambassador to Havana. In September, it accused Pope Francis of appeasement for helping to bring America and Cuba together. In October, they slammed the overhaul of U.S. policy for being "one-sided." And last Sunday, they roared again. Their editorial, Failure in Cuba, declared the opening to Cuba was "failing to live up to its declared goals." After concluding that nothing positive has materialized, "the president's only response," they say, "has been more unilateral concessions." Advertisement In the Post's parallel universe, diplomacy has accomplished nothing. To be sure, Cuba has not unilaterally dismantled its system in the last year, just as it didn't for more than fifty years under the old policy. But that's the wrong metric. In his well-argued piece, Inconsistent Impatience on Cuba, Paul Pillar pillages the Post for its way-stale argument giving the administration a single year to do what decades of the failed policy could not. "Evidently half a century," Pillar writes, "through ten different U.S. administrations, is deemed insufficient time to judge whether the policy of isolation can ever achieve any useful results. But the editorial criticizes President Obama's opening for not bringing about a 'sea change in Cuba' during the brief time it has been in effect." Short of a sea-change, the policy is helping Cubans in visible ways. For example, as Engage Cuba pointed out last week, "Before December 17, 2014...there were zero Wi-Fi hotspots outside of hotels and zero in the homes of Cubans. At the end of 2015, there were 65 Wi-Fi hotspots, and the Cuban government has announced it will add 80 more during 2016. It's not just hotspots, but also progress propelled by painstaking diplomacy - on commerce, criminal justice and fugitives, migration and fraud - with more left to be done. Advertisement Rather than rolling the policy back, as several prominent candidates for the U.S. presidency would have us do, or stand and wait until a new Congress is elected capable of dealing with Cuba policy legislation (talk about a parallel universe), we enjoy the elan of President Francois Hollande, who recently called for President Obama to "go all the way (how French)," and end the embargo himself. Now, the President's authority probably doesn't really extend that far. But, as Bill LeoGrande explained in Foreign Policy last week, there's much that he can do with the power he's got within the time he's got left in his term. LeoGrande proposed presidential actions to lift bans on U.S. investments, allow Cuban imports into the U.S., free individuals to make non-tourist trips to Cuba, and change the enforcement of existing regulations so U.S. banks embrace the idea of commerce with Cuba, rather than thwarting it in fear of being fined. A vital and historic three-day international conference on the future of pluralism in the Muslim world opened on January 25th in Marrakesh. It was attended by hundreds of scholars, religious leaders and clergy representing a broad range of religions and schools of thought within Islam, along with government officials from around the world. The Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities: Legal Framework and a Call to Action conference was organized jointly by the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs in the Kingdom of Morocco and the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies based in the United Arab Emirates, under the patronage of Morocco's King Mohammed VI. What's intriguing is that this conference included the participation of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh clergy alongside more than 300 religious and political leaders from Muslim-majority countries - including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran. The conference focused on producing a new declaration equalizing the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries, putting the 622 C.E. Charter of Medina--the Muslim world's first constitution, highlighting the rights of minorities in Islamic law-- in the broader context of human and religious rights as well as international treaties - is a significant step forward for the Muslim world. Advertisement "The need to protect religious minorities is especially urgent in these turbulent times," said former US Ambassador to Morocco Edward M. Gabriel. "And Morocco's long history of peaceful coexistence among its Muslims, Jews and Christians, and the freedom of worship enshrined in its constitution make it the ideal setting for the conference's important work." Adopted by referendum in 2011, the Moroccan constitution states that the country's unity "is forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamist, Berber and Saharan-Hassanic components, nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebraic and Mediterranean influences." It reinforces Morocco's commitment "to the values of openness, moderation, tolerance and dialogue for mutual understanding between all the cultures and the civilizations of the world." One of the tangible outcomes of the Marrakesh conference which took place January 25-27 was the Declaration which emerged from the Conference. It seamlessly combines the religious and cultural ethos and values of 7th century Islam at its inception -- even as it strives to modernize the faith and make it both understandable and more acceptable to both Muslims and non-Muslims. I was struck by the language and clarity of the Marrakesh Declaration and in particular with its nod to a global perspective incorporating various religions. The Charter is excerpted below: "On the 1,400 anniversary of the Charter of Medina, hundreds of Muslim scholars and intellectuals from 120 countries convened in Marrakesh, a constitutional contract between Prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him and the People of Medina, which guarantees religious liberty of all people, regardless of faith. Their goal was to re-affirm the Charter of Medina which protected the constitutional contract between Prophet Muhammad and the people of Medina. Advertisement Conference participants moved by the plight of Muslims and members of other faiths made a firm commitment "to the principles articulated in the Charter of Medina, whose provisions contained a number of the principles of constitutional contractual citizenship, such as freedom of movement, property ownership, mutual solidarity and defense, as well as principles of justice and equality before the law." The Charter of Medina provides a suitable framework for national constitutions in countries with Muslim majorities, which are also in synch with the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Charter of Medina. The conference stresses the need for urgent cooperation among all religious groups, and "the need for mutual tolerance, respect and full protection of rights and liberties to all religious groups in a civilized manner." The Conference calls upon "Muslim scholars and intellectuals around the world to develop a jurisprudence of the concept of "citizenship" which is inclusive of diverse groups. Such jurisprudence shall be rooted in Islamic tradition and principles and mindful of global changes." Further, the conference urges Muslim educational institutions and authorities to conduct a courageous review of educational curricula that addresses honestly and effectively any material that instigates aggression and extremism, leads to war and chaos, and results in the destruction of our shared societies; There was a call to action for various segments of society including politicians and decision makers to take the political lead and establish a constitutional contractual relationship among its citizens, and to support all formulations and initiatives that aim to fortify relations and understanding among the various religious groups in the Muslim World; Advertisement There was also a call directed towards the educated, artistic, and creative members of our societies, as well as organizations of civil society, to establish a broad movement for the just treatment of religious minorities in Muslim countries. A call to action directed at the various religious groups bound by the same national fabric to address their mutual state of selective amnesia that blocks memories of centuries of joint and shared living on the same land; we call upon them to rebuild the past by reviving this tradition of conviviality, and restoring our shared trust that has been eroded by extremists using acts of terror and aggression; Call upon representatives of the various religions, sects and denominations to confront all forms of religious bigotry, vilification, and denegration of what people hold sacred, as well as all speech that promote hatred and bigotry; AND FINALLY, AFFIRM that it is unconscionable to employ religion for the purpose of aggressing upon the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries.(Marrakesh, January 27th,2016)" As a moderate Muslim woman, I would be truly remiss if I did not close out this blog without a special nod to Fatema Mernissi, author of Dreams of Trespass, Hijab and Husband among others. She was one of my all time favorite authors who lived a full life, wrote multiple books and was a passionate advocate for Muslim women's freedom. She passed away in November 30 of last year. Advertisement For Muslim women, she was an icon and an inspiration. Mernissi was the first to construct the concept of Islamic Feminism and set the stage for it to bloom by empowering Muslim women to live fulfilling lives at home and at work. I just returned from a trip to the Balkans. This Building Bridges Journey brought Muslim and Jewish women from the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom to Bosnia and Albania. The trip had two goals. First, we went to witness the results of the attempted genocide against the Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in the early 1990s. Next we traveled to Albania to honor the only country in the world that opened its borders to the Jews during the Holocaust, providing them full protection. Against the backdrop of increasing hateful rhetoric in the U.S. media, we gained additional strength and skills to confront the growing hate. Our time in Bosnia was painful. The Mothers of Srebrencia shared their stories as they relived the horror of watching their sons, daughters, grandchildren and husbands murdered. Over 20 years later, many of the mothers still await the bodies of their loved ones to be identified in newly discovered mass graves. We heard first-hand accounts of how the Dutch UN peacekeeping force, in charge of protecting the Bosniaks, deserted their posts which allowed the Serbians to murder those they considered "other." While the war in Bosnia is over, the fighting continues. Beyond the physical reminders--buildings scarred with holes from bullets and shrapnel--evidence of distrust of the other remains. While presidential leadership is shared among Croates, Serbs, and Bosniaks, the so-called minority populations of Jews and Romas are not permitted to be elected to the presidency. We also heard stories of hope. We met with Jacob Finci, the head of the small Jewish community. This community's benevolent society, staffed by volunteers from all sides, operated throughout the war to provide food and medical care to all in need. Mandated by the Jewish value construct of the sacredness of life, this benevolent society also helped several thousand victims escape during the war. Advertisement During our conversation, Jakob was asked "Would you do it all over again today? Would he risk his life in the midst of a war that was between other communities, not his own. After a few minutes of thought, he said "No, it was too risky." Yet, when the moment came to step up and take such risks, Jakob did so without a second thought. We all felt certain that he would probably have done so again. The travel from Bosnia to Albania through the beautiful country of Montenegro gave us the opportunity to begin to process what we had experienced. It was a journey through the darkness into the light. A predominantly Muslim country, Albanians believe in the promise to protect the stranger, their guest. They applied this value during World War Two. At a time when the world turned its back on the Jewish community, every Albanian family was directed by the country's king to shelter a Jewish family in their homes. They provided these Jewish families with Albanian identification. The number of Jews increased by twenty- fold during the war. As Albania's neighbors complied with Nazi orders to round up their Jews, the Albanians refused to identify even one of its Jewish citizens or guests. We had the privilege of meeting with family members of those righteous individuals who saved Jews during the Holocaust. We came to Albania to thank these families for standing up to the Nazi hate machine. They didn't consider themselves heroes. They simply considered their actions as "the right things to do." They were were perplexed by our admiration. We wanted to make sure that the Albanians knew that we recognized this special country and their people as exemplary. And we were determined to share what they did with the rest of the world. The leaders of each religious party in Albania welcomed us. They opened their hearts and their homes to make us feel like the most honored guests, just as they had done during the war years to those who came before us. Albania's president and first lady met with us and entertained us with a special dinner. Women to women, we learned from the Alliance of Parliamentary Women how the women in government, regardless of party representation, refuse to let political differences drive a wedge in their own consensus-building. Together they protect the needs of women and exhibit the sustaining power of dialogue. Advertisement Every person whom we met expressed an outpouring of gratitude for coming to visit and to hear their stories. We were desperate to understand how this small, poor, rural country broke out of the mold of hate to protect one another. We learned that Albania has a culture of harmony. It may lack the wealth of many other European Countries, but it certainly has one priceless export: the love and protection of the stranger. We met many people during our trip to the Balkans. One thing was clear: our character--the "stuff" out of which we are made--is truly tested not when things are calm and the world seems peaceful. It is tested when there is no time to think. And we are not called to speak. Rather we are called to act. This trip will help all of us navigate our future. It helped us to see with our minds and our hearts. Only then will we be able to learn from the past and help shape a bright future. The walls of Dunnkirk bar shake with frenzied activity as hundreds of students gather on to the small dance floor to see the DJ of the night. As the music starts they throb in unison. Fueled only by booming bass, their heads bang and bodies roll to the audible adrenaline coming from the booth. Standing at the head of it all is electronic producer and DJ Justin Blau. He closes his eyes and reaches one hand up in the air, the other resting on a turntable. Photo by Ben Dulin This underground scene is one of thousands of electronic dance music (EDM) shows that happen every year, and they've only been growing. The industry has shown a 59% increase since 2012, and is now valued at $6.9 billion, according to the 2015 IMS Business Report. Advertisement What used to be a subculture confined to warehouse basements in Chicago has become a mainstream sensation. What's even more peculiar is the academic growth of electronic music. Since EDM's rise to fame, more young bassheads are trying their hand at the tape decks through electronic music production schools and university programs. The DJs have come up from underground and into the classroom, but how did they get here? The Rise of EDM The beginning of electronic music is often traced to the "Disco Demolition Night" of 1979, where Chicago DJ Steve Dahl organized a ceremonial burning of disco records and other "black music" in the middle of Comiskey Park. The event quickly turned into an inner city riot, and drove the disco-lovers underground. From then on the warehouses of Chicago and New York turned into all-night dance sessions. By the mid-'80s, DJs were remixing and producing their own tracks. It wasn't long before record stores were slammed with demands for the newest "warehouse" music. Tom Lonsborough, a professor at the Manchester MIDI School for production, can trace his love for electronic music back to these underground shows in England. Advertisement "The tipping point for me was visiting the Music Box (an iconic electronic music venue in Manchester) to watch Mr. Scruff," Lonsborough said. "The atmosphere with the mix of electronic, funk, soul, disco and reggae blew my mind." Thirty years later, EDM has taken an entire generation by storm. Dance music is now the fourth most popular music genre in both the United States and Canada, and EDM Festival capacities have quadrupled since 2009, according to IMS. Photo by Kevin Olds Despite the advances electronic music has made with pop culture, the artists behind it are often discredited for their reliance on technology. "You don't have to spend the time learning an instrument, which irks some people," Lonsborough said. "I don't think everyone realizes that this is a complicated, often scientific, subject matter that requires a lot of practice before you get good at it." Without this understanding, the idea has formed that anyone can produce electronic music with the simple push of a button. Advertisement "We're aware of the 'button pusher' misconception of EDM, but it's just that: a misconception," said Florida based producing artist Veorra. "In reality it involves composing, scoring, mixing, arranging, and even designing sounds. The possibilities are endless." Despite these misconceptions, the appeal of electronic music has reached a new wave of young musicians, and the academic rise of electronic music has made it attainable to students. Electronic Music in the Classroom Professor John Gibson and I are seated in the mezzanine of Indiana University's Musical Arts Center. Banners commemorating classical composers and Italian operas hang from the ceiling. Underneath their strict baroque gazes, Professor Gibson taps his feet and thumps his hands to demonstrate a classic dubstep wobble bass. "Womp womp womp womp pow womp bum bum," he accompanies himself. "It's just amazing," he said. "Who first thought of that? That's why I try to do things in my class that are a little out of the box. That's where new things happen." As Associate Director of Indiana University's Center for Electronic and Computer Music (CECM), Gibson has studied multiple facets within the electronic music world. A classically trained composer, he had previously worked with orchestras and chamber groups before he found his love for electronic music. Advertisement His beginning class teaches students about the tools they need to create their own electronic music. From sampling to synths, students walk away from Gibson's class with a broader understanding of production. Fellow IU CECM professor Alicyn Warren has been teaching electronic production for over 25 years. She reminisces of her early composing days, spending hours splicing tapes together. These practices have since been modernized thanks to technological advances commonly used in electronic music production like MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). "MIDI is a communications protocol," said Warren. "You have a keyboard and your computer, and MIDI lets them communicate with each other. You can produce these great sounds with the computer and then record that information." "In short, there's no doubt that it's easier to get something going now than it was 20 years ago," Lonsborough said. "That being said, you still need a great musical idea, and you still need the skills to make it sound great." As with any other genre, electronic music has a wide variety of subgenres, each with its own distinct sound, rhythm and tempo. This often attracts a variety of listeners and students. Advertisement "There's the community of composers steeped in classical music, and there's this community of EDM DJs," Gibson illustrates the two circles with his hands. "But it's all connected. There's a lot of back and forth with producing these." This idea of connection is so central to electronic music that some production schools have integrated it into their curriculum. The Icon Collective Production School - located in Burbank, California - offers traditional classes in music business, mixing, arrangement and ear training in addition to theoretical classes like "the art of flow." "(Art of Flow) is where you get to learn about the spiritual or emotional side of doing anything artistic," said Icon graduate, producer and DJ William Black. "It's awesome, because Collective is all about motivating each other and helping each other out." Photo from William Black This community-based mindset is often cited as one of the main reasons for EDM's rapid growth. "It's really an entire culture now," said Bryant MacMahon (ZATAARA), a young Bloomington-based DJ. "It's a very accommodating and inviting atmosphere. You're welcomed the moment you step in, and I think people really like that." With such a strong social backing, electronic music is bridging the gap between listeners and artists. Advertisement "There's a lot of interactivity in this music," said Warren. "People are sitting around with their friends showing each other the cool new beats they made. That's a really important part of it." The Future of Electronic Music Now that dance music has moved into the classroom and flooded the mainstream, it's hard to say where it will go. But some fans are seeing a potential threat to the artistry behind electronic production. "I'd like to see more folks returning to music theory, or mixes that have a more dynamic range," Lonsborough said. "It feels like fewer people go digging. BPMs stay at 128 with no deviation, and it's like speaking to someone with a monotone voice." While musical dilution is a rising concern, if today's young DJs have anything to say about it, electronic music and the culture behind it aren't going anywhere anytime soon. "I think people talk about the EDM scene like it's a bubble that's about to burst, and I don't think that's true," said MacMahon. "I think electronic music is just getting started. It's the most evolved, adapted form of music we have, and it's only going to get weirder and better." Map of North America and USA Are Russia, Ukraine and Georgia part of the "East" or the "West"? What of Turkey, whose largest city, Istanbul, home to 13 million people, is the third most populous European urban area? And what of the Balkans, bearing as they do the "stain" of their prolonged encounter with the Ottomans and briefer experience of socialism? Do they form part of the East or West? Is the West a geographic designation? Clearly not. Had that been the case, Australia and New Zealand in Asia-Pacific and Israel in the middle of the Arab world would not have been considered as forming part of the "Western world." Advertisement The borders of what we now call the West are more imaginary than real. Far from being fixed, they constantly change according to politics and power balances. So too does the control centre within this ill-defined realm. In the 18th century, the political command centre resided in London and, to a lesser degree, Paris. Then, with the collapse of the old empires after World War II, it shifted across the Atlantic, over to Washington. This shift in the military, economic and political gravity axis left the West's perception of itself and the world outside its imaginary frontiers undisturbed, however. The West was still the pivot, the seat of power, progress, reason and creativity. There was a correspondence between the West's self-image and its reality, between its sense of moral/cultural superiority and its status as the dominant force in the world. It reigned over an East which was not only militarily, economically and technologically inferior, but one dismissed as morally and culturally backward, despotic, stagnant and subservient. There have been efforts to question the West's self-image, particularly with Friedrich Nietzsche who cast doubt on the notions of subjectivity, substance, absolute identity, rationality and teleological progress. Deconstructive theory, post-modern philosophy, post-colonial studies and criticisms of Orientalism with Edward Said have since done much to undermine the certainties of the discourse of modernity. But their influence has largely remained within the narrow confines of intellectual milieus, meeting opposition even within universities and academic circles. Mainstream Western discourse has not really moved away from the West's sense of cultural superiority, in spite of the enormous political and economic changes taking place on the world stage. The West today is not the West of the 19th or 20th century, however. The world's centres of command no longer reside in London, Paris, or indeed, Washington. They are no longer to be found in the western half of the globe. Advertisement We live in what some may describe as a multi-polar world, while others prefer to see it as a non-polar system. Whatever the accurate designation, what seems certain is that today, no single power is capable of regulating the rhythm of events on the world arena or of shaping them as it sees fit. The world order is multi-dimensional, with a plurality of centres scattered around the globe in China, Russia, India, Japan, or Brazil, not only at an international, but at a regional level too. Powers like Iran, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, and Venezuela are increasingly wielding more influence over their neighbourhoods than do London, or Washington. Indeed, much of what goes on in the Middle East, in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, or Yemen, for instance, is the effect of the growing power of regional and local players, which have benefited from the vacuum generated by America's defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan and ensuing erratic retreat from there. Even non-state actors have been exerting a degree of influence often larger than that of the "great powers." These have included civil and military players active in their national contexts like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as terrorist groups like ISIS, al-Qaeda and their offshoots which have risen to prominence over the last two decades. Washington, Paris and London no longer dictate the course of events in the region, from the Arab revolutions which took them by surprise, to the counterrevolutionary trend that has sought to abort that process of change. The West has been reduced to a spectator in both, desperately struggling to jump back into the driving seat, often without much success. Take Egypt, for example. The principal actors in its 25 January revolution have been the masses, then the army, which found itself compelled to remove Mubarak, then the Gulf countries, which plotted to topple Mohamed Morsi, the country's democratically elected president, restoring a more vicious form of military rule. Advertisement In Syria, the leading players have been Iran and Russia on one side, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, on the other. In Iraq, it is the Iranians and ISIS. They have taken the lead roles. The West has been relegated to the part of a marginal extra. Even in Tunisia, the political agreements struck there were arranged, negotiated and reached by internal players, incurring the displeasure of some of the international forces historically influential in the North African country. Next door in Libya, the leading actors since its revolution have been the various armed factions, the UAE-Egypt and Turkey-Qatar more than the US, or France. Next door to Ferguson, the town of Bridgton, Missouri is about to become another symbol of a system that fails the most vulnerable citizens who fall through the cracks of economic and racial disparities. While the political fight for justice for people of color still rages in our local municipalities, the ravages of toxic waste on the health of those too poor to relocate or have a place at the power tables is costing more precious lives The thousands of tons of radioactive waste in the Westlake landfill are contaminating the air, the groundwater and the trees of the area. The toxic nuclear waste originated in the 1940s and 50s when Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium for nuclear weapons. This waste was illegally dumped in the landfill in 1973 and has been polluting the waters of Cold Water Creek and the playgrounds where children have been swimming and playing for generations. You can read more about the situation here: These toxic waters will contaminate the Missouri River, make their way to the Mighty Mississippi and there will not be enough bottled water to save us. Advertisement And now, the fires of the neighboring landfill are dangerously close to the radioactive waste. We don't know exactly how this will make the situation worse but the local schools have all sent out letters to parents about their plans for when the fires reach the nuclear waste. They are calling for "shelter in place"-- Reminds me of putting our coats over our heads under our desks in the 1950's. This is not a new story. A local priest tells how he served a parish in Bridgton and in just two years he buried seven children with forms of leukemia. The cancer clusters and prevalence of birth defects and other diseases in the area are well known anecdotally as well as scientifically. The DOH surveyed the surrounding eight zip codes and found higher rates of cancer. Advocates like Kay Drey have been collecting frightening data for thirty years to encourage the government to clean up its mess. The Missouri Attorney General, Chris Koster, published a study that found contamination in the groundwater and the vegetation. Advertisement JustMoms STL fights tirelessly for their children and the neighbors who are too sick to advocate for themselves. Our federal representatives have worked ACROSS THE AISLE to pass legislation that is our only hope for a safe and permanent solution. House Resolution 4100 and Senate Bill 2306 authorize the transfer of the cleanup of the landfill from the EPA to the Army Corps of Engineers FUSRAP. The Senate bill has passed and we hope the House will follow and the President will support both! Once again the people of "Ferguson" and neighboring communities need the nation to stand up to injustice. As we demand justice and clean water as a right for the people of Flint, we need the help of a compassionate nation to ask our President to tell the EPA to step aside and make it possible for FUSRAP to remove the nuclear waste and avert more suffering and another disaster. MESA, AZ - OCTOBER 15: An undocumented immigrant is led towards an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), charter jet early on October 15, 2015 in Mesa, Arizona. The immigrants were to be flown to other states for follow-on ICE deportation flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. ICE builds deportation cases against thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of whom, they say, have criminal records. The number of ICE detentions and deportations has dropped in the last two years since some states adopted laws limiting how state law enforcement agencies cooperate with federal immigration authorities. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) The Obama administration has announced its plan to deport Central American families. Immigration raids are underway in New York, Texas, Los Angeles and Georgia and more than 121 people have been deported since January 1. Sending refugees back will mean certain violence for many families. These raids beleaguer Central American nations already facing increased insecurity. High homicide rates for women, children and LGBTI persons, increased militarization and economic devastation in Central America have redirected their migration to other countries, including the US. Advertisement The violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America would shock most Americans. There have been 13,400 homicides collectively, which translates to 60 homicides per 100 thousand people in Honduras, 41.2 homicides per 100 thousand in El Salvador and 39.9 per 100 thousand in Guatemala. These numbers are staggering for relatively small nations with populations less than 15 million inhabitants. Central American Governments' inability to protect their citizens from lawlessness generates flows of migration and should provide the necessary conditions for international response. The Northern Triangle countries also face economic uncertainty, poor healthcare systems, poor and underfunded public education systems that cannot absorb deported families. In Honduras and Guatemala, corruption is so severe that international commissions of oversight have been requested to investigate the theft of public funds, which can be traced to the Presidents' offices in both countries. Sending refugees back to Central America is irresponsible, especially in light of the U.S. past involvement in Central America which has contributed to the instability of the region. Denying refugee rights to Central Americans is not new in the United States. Indigenous Guatemalan and Salvadoran refugees faced a macabre immigration system in the 1980s that refused their asylum claims, despite compelling evidence of massacres in their home countries. During the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s, over 97% of Central Americans were denied political asylum because the administration feared admitting ties to murderous right wing governments. Advertisement As a result, people from these war-torn regions, many of whom had lost entire families and villages and were still under threat themselves, came to the US, were denied refugee status, and lived as undocumented immigrants making meager wages under exploitative working conditions in US cities. Currently, DEA agents operate in the region in extrajudicial fashion and with little accountability to Central American local governments. In 2011, DEA agents shot two pregnant women along the Honduran North Coast in the dead of night while being transported to the nearest hospital to give birth; DEA agents thought they were narco traffickers. They were never prosecuted. In December of 2015, two Garifuna men, in the same region were shot to death by naval officers working with the DEA, again, because they were thought to be narco traffickers. Five million dollars goes into funding security in Honduras, yet homicide rates have not decreased. Militarization has increased to the point where Garifuna (Afro Indigenous Hondurans) communities are in peril due to excessive violence. Despite winning a case in the Inter-American Court on Human Rights against the Honduran government for land theft, the Garifuna communities continue to face increased militarization and abuse at the hands of police and military. Currently, a rising number of detainees in Texas detention centers are Garifuna facing deportation without due process to their claims. As the U.S. government and media ostensibly enter an era of LGBTI tolerance and acceptance, we do not see the same treatment for LGBTI immigrants seeking security in this country. LGBTI immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras face discrimination in these Central America nations; they are barred from jobs, education and the right to live in peace. They will be returned to certain violence. It is imperative for our nation to heed their asylum claims because it can mean the difference between life and death. Central American cases merit careful consideration because they have credible claims as they flee their countries of origin; the majority are women, children, LGBT youth and other at-risk populations. Advertisement Co-authored by Simon WrightOn February 1st, the World Health Organization declared the spread of the Zika virus a public health emergency. The declaration was the WHO's highest level of warning--so dire, in fact, that it has only been declared three times in the organization's history. We believe that, as with Ebola, the lesson we learn must be the importance of robust universal primary health care services. Spreading rapidly throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Zika virus is now emerging in other parts of the globe. Experts anticipate the virus' impact may be even greater than the Ebola epidemic. As many as four million people in Latin America and the Caribbean alone are at risk of infection by the end of the year. Media coverage of Zika in North America and Europe is already prolific, with the declaration spawning primers on the virus and precautions against mosquito bites, assessments of the adequacy of responses from the WHO and individual governments, updates on vaccine and gene technology, and a plethora of travel advisories--including speculation about the fate of the Olympics in Brazil. Each of these stories is well-meaning, but it's time to shift the lens and focus on those worst-affected. Advertisement The individuals living in affected communities cannot fly away to other locales. They have to deal with the ripple effects of the responses from the WHO and their governments, whether they were effective or not--and no, they cannot simply stop having babies at the behest of policymakers. The Zika outbreak brings into sharp relief just how important primary health care systems are in identifying, preventing, treating, and managing infectious diseases. A young woman living in Recife will not consult WHO bulletins to understand Zika's implications. She will rely first on the same community health workers or primary care nurses and physicians she has always trusted for care. First, for information about the virus and how to prevent its spread. She may want to also understand her contraceptive options so that she may delay pregnancy. If she is lucky, the care she receives will ensure access to affordable, effective quality contraceptives and other reproductive health-related services. If she is a new mother whose baby has been diagnosed with microcephaly, she will turn once again to these same networks for advice about long-term treatment and care for her infant. A strong health system therefore depends on a supportive primary health care system that is organized around the health needs of individual people, serving as the first point of contact for care and making referrals as necessary. Putting ourselves in her shoes forces us to see that the foundation--and sustainability--of the crisis response depends on the quality of care she receives at that primary entry point. Like Ebola, Zika was not a priority for donors or global health projects. It was not predictable that this would develop in the way it has. But it is predictable that primary care has to cope with whatever problems arise in a community. We need to break out of traditional health sector silos and call for cross-cutting and comprehensive measures that reinforce the importance of integrated primary health care. Advertisement Unfortunately, despite the wide-ranging functions of primary health care--immunizations, family planning, diagnostics, antenatal care, maternity services, rehabilitation, counseling, and referrals--it is often underfunded and deprioritized, forcing people to use whatever cash they have for low-quality private services. The volatile Zika outbreak should remind health advocates and policymakers alike that investments in strong comprehensive primary health care systems is the very best precaution for such emergencies. This year in Japan, the G7 will be discussing Universal Health Coverage needs, which is a step in the right direction. In the coming months, we will continue to hear medical experts offering guidelines and weighing in on the global impact of the disease; but to the women directly affected by Zika, the medical advice that will matter the most will be from the local health professionals she already knows. Suzanne Ehlers is President and CEO of PAI. She leads the organization in its mission to ensure that every person has access to quality, effective and affordable reproductive health care. Ms. Ehlers has worked for the last 15 years to promote women's health, rights and empowerment across the globe, and has been honored as a "40 under 40" International Development Leader by Devex and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. On January 29, I had the pleasure of attending a transitional justice workshop in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The event was organized by the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo-based organization. Jehan Perera, executive director of the NPC, participated. The workshop was led by Patrick Burgess, an Indonesia-based lawyer with deep knowledge of human rights and transitional justice. Burgess spoke about the four key parts of transitional justice: truth-seeking; prosecutions; reparations; and institutional reform. He emphasized the importance of taking a holistic approach. While the sequencing of a country's transitional justice process could be up for debate, Burgess reminded the audience that getting to the truth -- actually figuring out what happened -- will always be crucial. He also emphasized that every country is different and that it's up to the Sri Lankan people to decide what type of transitional justice process would work for them. Burgess spent some time talking about truth commissions and noted that South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is the most well-known example. Burgess is an engaging speaker and the material he presented provided some nuance and detail, yet his presentation was still quite accessible. Advertisement After the first part of the workshop, things moved to a more interactive format. The idea was for people to ask questions and perhaps seek clarification on any of the issues which had been raised during the presentation. There were some questions, though there were also several comments. Let's keep in mind that Sri Lanka's Tamil community has suffered disproportionately from a civil war which lasted nearly three decades and an ethnic conflict that continues. There were some emotional moments. Many people are tired and frustrated. They are still hurting and they want to be heard. They want answers. They want the truth. They want to know what happened to their loved ones. They are also disappointed with the United Nations (UN) and the UN system. Approximately 70 people attended the event. Pre- and post-evaluation questionnaires were handed out. Having already conducted a few workshops recently, Perera and Burgess would hold another one in Trincomalee on January 30. "These educational events are important because there are a lot of misconceptions about transitional justice," says Perera. "Most people in the country see it as being about accountability and punishment for war crimes. This leads to false expectations. There is a need for people to learn that transitional justice is a more holistic concept, and includes truth seeking, reparations, and institutional reform also," he added. Advertisement In late January, I spent about a week in Jaffna, and this workshop stands out as a rare (and relative) bright spot. More than one year after Mahinda Rajapaksa's unexpected electoral defeat, the new government's progress on core Tamil issues, including the release of Tamil political prisoners and demilitarization, has disappointed many. Transitional justice in Sri Lanka is going to take time and it's going to be a difficult process. In that context, awareness-raising about such an important topic is vital. Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, and Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spar during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by MSNBC at the University of New Hampshire Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Last week's debate in New Hampshire between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders over who is the "real progressive" said a lot about how they and the Democratic Party have changed over the past half-century. When Clinton and Sanders first came of age politically during the mid-1960s, neither was a natural fit for the Democrats as the party was then. Advertisement Taking a look at how these two very different people and the party they now want to lead have evolved can help clarify the philosophical divide on display in the Democratic Party today. Hillary: from midwest Republican to moderate liberal In the mid-1960s, Hillary Clinton wasn't even a Democrat. She was the child of upper middle-class Republicans living in Park Ridge, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. That world, like the surrounding Du Page County of which Park Ridge was a part, was strongly Republican then. To most people living there, the Democrats were the party of Mayor Richard Daley Sr., a big-city machine politician whose somewhat corrupt organization mostly championed the interests of working and lower middle-class whites living inside Chicago's city limits. Reuters photographer Hillary and Bill in 2000. Reuters photographer The twin upheavals of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement transformed both Hillary Clinton and the Democrats over the following 10 years. By the mid-1970s, she had become a liberal Democrat of the Great Society/George McGovern variety who embraced such new liberal causes as the civil rights movement, detente with the Soviet Union, feminism and environmentalism. Advertisement As the country moved to the right in the later 1970s and '80's, Hillary Clinton became a more moderately liberal Democrat, somewhat more skeptical of big, expensive government programs, tougher on crime and more supportive of military strength as a way to deter aggression. This is the position she and her husband Bill have adhered to ever since. Bernie: from Brooklyn socialist to independent Bernie Sanders' road to where he is today, politically speaking, was even stranger. He grew up in a tightly knit Brooklyn neighborhood where the immigrant Jewish socialist tradition was still strongly felt. The residents there had mostly embraced Franklin Roosevelt during the 1930s, but tended to be New Deal Democratic voters of the most left wing sort. For them, Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace, who opposed a confrontational stance toward the Soviet Union, better reflected in 1948 what the New Deal stood for than did Democrat Harry Truman. Having grown up in that radical milieu during the 1940s and '50's, Bernie Sanders appears to have moved easily into the New Left in the 1960s and '70's, which disdained the Democrats as too "conservative." Brian Snyder/Reuters Senator-elect Bernie Sanders in 2006. Brian Snyder/Reuters Lots of New Leftists like Sanders moved to Vermont in the 1970s and built their own "democratic socialist" movement there, as they called it. That base of support lifted Bernie Sanders (running as an independent) to three major public offices in Vermont: mayor of Burlington, congressman and then senator. Serving in the U.S. House and Senate obliged Sanders to form some kind of relationship with the Democratic Party (lest he be shut out of the committee seniority system there), and so he chose to caucus with them while remaining officially an independent. Only when he decided to run for the Democratic presidential nomination did he register as a Democrat. Advertisement 'The party that never dies' That both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were able to find a home in today's Democratic Party not only reflects the more fluid nature of American political allegiance when compared with the electorate of such similar nations as Britain and Canada. It also says volumes about the shape-shifting nature over time of the Democratic Party. Political scientists have dubbed the Democrats "the party that never dies," because it has enjoyed a continuous existence since its founding in the late 1820s, even though what the party has stood for and who votes for it have changed greatly since then. The Democrats have used the word "progressive" since the early years of the 20th century. Indeed, Woodrow Wilson in the election of 1912 famously described himself as "a Progressive with the brakes on." When Clinton and Sanders were coming of age politically 50 years ago, the Democrats were basically the party of the cities and South, a somewhat bipolar coalition forged during the Roosevelt presidency. Since then, the Democrats have become the party of the country's big metro regions, cities and their suburbs. There has also been a change in the class background of the party's electoral support. Unlike 50 years ago, when the Democrats were much more a party of workers and the lower middle class, today's party enjoys less of that kind of support, especially from the males in those groups. Advertisement Upper middle-class suburban liberals of the 1970s variety and aging New Leftists who see the Democrats - as disappointing as they are in some ways - as infinitely preferable to today's Republicans are the relative newcomers to the Democratic fold. More than one 'real progressive' Keeping all that in mind helps explain the Clinton-Sanders dispute over who is the real "progressive" in this year's race for the Democratic nomination. Who is the person most able to bring about social change - and what kind of change? Gretchen Ertl/Reuters The people will decide. Gretchen Ertl/Reuters To Hillary Clinton, the term "progressive" is synonymous with moderately liberal middle-class reformer, of which she is a leading example. To Bernie Sanders, "progressive" evokes the spirit of the left wing of the New Deal coalition. This reminds us that "progressive" is a word that means different things to different people, and that has been true for a long time. David Stebenne, Professor of History and Law Faculty, The Ohio State University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. "The Internet and technology are incredibly important," Carly Fiorina said in response to an audience member on a snowy Friday in New Hampshire. Of course it is, but what would Fiorina do as president to ensure that Internet access is more affordable? That's when Fiorina fishtailed into a ditch. "The first thing I would do, honestly, is roll back the 400 pages of regulation that the FCC just rolled out over the Internet," she said, referring to the agency's 2015 Net Neutrality decision, which protects Internet users by preventing access providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from blocking, throttling or otherwise interfering with our connections. Advertisement When facing questions about the Internet, Fiorina, who has an extensive albeit pot-holed history in Silicon Valley, routinely gets her answers wrong. And she's not alone. Across New Hampshire last weekend, candidates were blaming Net Neutrality protections for a hypochondriac's list of ailments. Net Neutrality = Higher Prices "I think one of the things that will hurt the availability of the Internet is something the Obama administration has done this past year, which is to declare the Internet to be a Title II-regulated utility, which is going to end up driving up the cost and making the Internet more expensive," Sen. Ted Cruz told another audience member on Friday. There's one problem with that argument. The lack of competition among Internet access providers -- not Net Neutrality -- is the reason why prices in the United States are so much higher than those in most other developed economies. Advertisement To his credit, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says boosting competition is a top priority. He has blamed a lack of choices for driving costs for broadband beyond the reach of many lower-income communities. A recent Pew Research Center report shows that things are heading in the wrong direction. In the past two years, the percentage of adults with wired-line broadband at home has declined from 70 percent to 67 percent. Those declines were more pronounced among African Americans, rural residents and low-income families. This drop in connectivity is happening amid nearly unanimous political support for universal access. Net Neutrality = Investment Shortfall If politicians could just agree on the problem, we could implement policies that would get more people connected at affordable prices. "What bothers me a little bit about the regulation of the Internet is the Obama administration's rule and the FCC rule about using a [1934] law when we had a monopoly, we had Ma Bell," Gov. Jeb Bush said in response to an Internet-access question on Saturday. "They're using that same law to regulate access to the Internet. And I think that will stymie the investment in expanding broadband." Advertisement If the Net Neutrality rules were actually inhibiting investment that would indeed be a problem. But the country's largest providers are now spending more on broadband. Earlier this month, Comcast reported that its fourth-quarter 2015 expenditures on its broadband business exceeded those of all previous quarters. And Comcast spent more in 2015 ($7.034 billion, up 14 percent over 2014's investments) on its cable-communications business than it had in any other year -- this despite the FCC's Net Neutrality ruling back in February 2015. Last month, Time Warner Cable reported that its capital expenditures were up 9 percent in 2015 over 2014's numbers. Meanwhile AT&T's chief executive told investors that the company plans $22 billion in capital expenditures in 2016, which would be its highest-ever annual capital investment. The candidates are making up stories about smaller providers, too. "You know what happened as a result of [the Net Neutrality rules]?" Fiorina responded to a question in New Hampshire. "A whole bunch of electric power co-ops have gone out of business. And they were getting ready to wire up rural communities and small businesses, their market niche." Advertisement No, they didn't, Ms. Fiorina. We checked and couldn't find a single instance where the new rules shuttered operations of an electricity co-op. The Go-To Answer for the Misinformed Why are candidates like Fiorina, Cruz and Bush getting this and other Internet issues so wrong? Perhaps that's a question for a future campaign stop. (And the Free Press Action Fund plans to continue bird-dogging presidential candidates as the election year unfolds.) But blaming Net Neutrality protections, which millions of Internet users of every political persuasion support, is just a knee-jerk response from the misinformed. And few candidates care to acknowledge the devastating effect the digital divide has on the lives of so many. Gov. John Kasich even had the gumption to claim on Friday that users are to blame for the high cost of Internet bills. To be fair, not all candidates are getting Net Neutrality wrong. Both Secretary Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders support the FCC's rules. And we haven't heard the last about Net Neutrality on or off the campaign trail. A federal appeals court is now weighing a challenge brought by Internet service providers that claim the FCC overstepped its authority (Free Press has intervened in court to defend the rules and vehemently disagrees with this view). A decision is expected in the coming months. Advertisement Hispanic voter voting in polling place Marylands legislature today voted to override a gubernatorial veto and restored voting rights to an estimated 40,000 citizens with past criminal convictions. This is a major step forward in the effort to reform the nations harsh and antiquated disenfranchisement laws. Less than a decade ago, the Old Line State disenfranchised these individuals for life. When the new provision goes into effect next month, Maryland will be the 14th state, plus the District of Columbia, to give a second chance to people with past convictions who are living, working, and paying taxes in their communities. Advertisement Prior Maryland law required people to complete all terms of probation or parole before being allowed to vote again. In 2015, the states legislature passed a measure that limited disenfranchisement to when someone was serving a prison term. But despite passing by wide margins, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vetoed the proposal. With this override vote, the legislature underscored the importance of voting rights not only to our democracy, but also to our criminal justice system. This legislation passes in an especially important place and at a critical moment. Baltimore, the state of Maryland, and the nation as a whole continue to grapple with a criminal justice system badly in need of repair. Disenfranchisement laws impact over 5 million people nationwide, and are an important part of that debate because they reproduce the racial disparities of the criminal justice system and make it harder to reintegrate citizens back into the community. According to Sentencing Project data, black Marylanders comprise more than 61 percent of the 40,000 citizens whose rights will be restored when the law goes into effect next month. Research, including studies from law enforcement, shows that restoring voting rights aids the re-entry process and helps rehabilitation. In fact, officials support the policy because it serves public safety and can reduce crime. In less than a decade, Maryland has come a long way. But other states have also made significant strides. In fact, more than 20 states have scaled back their disenfranchisement policies in the last two decades, including six in the last five years alone. There is a growing consensus among law enforcement and leaders of both parties that restoring voting rights is common sense reform. Advertisement Still, there remain challenges. In Kentucky, for example, one of the last acts of outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear (D) last year was to issue an executive order restoring voting rights to an estimated 140,000 citizens who had completed their sentences. Only a month later, Kentuckys new governor, Matt Bevin (R), issued his own order that again made the state, along with Florida and Iowa, one of only three with lifetime voting bans. But Marylands example shows another way that change in this area is achievable, and that we can fully welcome our fellow citizens into a more inclusive democracy. That is a meaningful lesson at any time, but especially in this national election year. By rejecting cynicism and embracing second chances, our communities and country will be stronger for it. WINDSOR, ON - JANUARY 21: Fans bring in donations of bottled water prior to the game between the Flint Firebirds and the Windsor Spitfireson January 21, 2016 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The Windsor Spitfires organization requested that fans bring in a donation of bottled water to help with the Flint Michigan water crisis. (Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images) As a mom of a young daughter, I obsess about everything she eats and drinks. Is this healthy enough? Does that have too much sugar? Every little thing becomes a major deal. I think most moms are this way, so I can only imagine the horror that parents in Flint, Mich., have been going through as they have learned their water has extremely high levels of lead in it--lead that can cause long-term health and learning defects. Advertisement While the health effects are paramount, there is another part of the story. This involves the wealth effects of the crisis. Home equity is the primary vehicle through which many working families build wealth and save for retirement. Who would want to move to Flint today based on what's being reported in the news? We know property devaluations are likely to have a negative effect on homeowners' ability to maximize their economic security for the rest of their lives. So what's to be done? Who is ultimately accountable? The Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative sent a letter to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, calling on him to establish a Flint Health and Compensation Fund to improve protection and services to individuals directly affected by the water crisis. The members of the initiative are more than 200 experts focused on building wealth for communities of color. In addition to financing claims of those affected by the crisis, the fund would cover the cost of health evaluation screenings for eligible residents; monitoring and treatment for related health conditions (without deductibles, co-payments or other cost-sharing); research regarding health and socioeconomic conditions related to the crisis education; and outreach to potentially eligible individuals. Advertisement "Government has a history of creating policies that compensate Americans unduly harmed by circumstances where government was culpable," said Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, president of the Center for Global Policy Solutions and an organizer of the letter. "Residents of Flint should receive the same consideration that others have been afforded." Other recommendations by the group include: Homeowner relief in the form of writing off existing debt and tax liability of all properties affected by the water contamination. Suspending tax cuts and breaks to other groups or industries in Michigan until the infrastructure needs are met. Implementing a state program to modernize aging infrastructure in a way that would create jobs for those living in depressed areas like Flint. "The impact on homeowners is far reaching," said Aracely Panameno, Latino affairs director at the Center for Responsible Lending. "In the absence of comprehensive infrastructure improvements, they face significant losses in property value without any prospect of recovery." "Given the harm that Flint children and residents have had to endure for nearly two years, it is time for a forward-thinking response that not only ensures clean water but also helps residents recover wealth losses and gives Flint children the supports necessary to be successful in school and adulthood," said Trina Shanks, associate professor at the University of Michigan, who co-signed the letter. "The Flint water crisis is a regrettable display of a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to infrastructure maintenance. If Flint residents looked differently, voted differently and had a different heft to their wallets, they would not have been neglected like this. It is time to address the health and wealth effects of this man-made disaster and to prevent this from happening elsewhere," said Rene Bryce-Laporte, an independent consultant on asset building and another co-signer of the letter. It's now official. It turns out that the third branch of the Kenyan government that is supposed to be the blind and impartial arbiter of right and wrong; one that is meant to be immune from the scourge of corruption is NOT impervious to an ailment that is in the very DNA of the other two co-equal branches (of the government) -- executive and legislature. The country's supreme court is at the epicenter of the latest incident of corruption at the highest level of yet another branch of the Kenyan government. Journalist Wilson Kiplagat accused Supreme Court of Kenya Judge Philip Tunoi of accepting -- you guessed it -- a $2 million (1.4 million) bribe. Mr. Tunoi is accused of taking the money to rule in favor of the governor of the capital, Nairobi, Dr. Evans Kidero. For those who have forgotten, election of the former head of Mumias Sugar -- itself a story of gross malfeasance -- was challenged by Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu back in 2014. The vanquished Ferdinand Waititu added his voice to the accusation claiming that "he had fresh evidence indicating that Tunoi received Sh200 million to declare Kidero as the governor." And before the dust had settled, a senior state counsel added that "more judges of the highest court in the land may have benefitted from the alleged bribe." Mr. Ahmednasir Abdullahi tweeted that the bribe amount was not $2 million but "about $3 million": The lawyer went on to explain that the additional amount was "for four judges, whereby two were paid separately." Advertisement NOTE: The Supreme Court of Kenya is comprised of five (5) judges, one (1) deputy Chief Justice and one (1) Chief Justice compared to the eight (8) associate justices and one Chief Justice that make up the US Supreme Court. For some perspective, were this scandal to happen in the United States, seven of the eight justices of the US Supreme Court would stand accused of accepting bribes to decide the outcome of a disputed gubernatorial race during the same election cycle they decided the outcome of a disputed presidential race! Equally unsurprising is the fact that tis this very collection of judges that ruled in favor of the current regime of Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy Mr. William Ruto after the contested 2013 presidential elections; a point raised by the Chairman of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Mr. Eric Mutua: In the theater of the absurd that is Kenya and how the country deals with allegations of corruption at the highest level of its government, the Chief Justice of the soiled court Mr. Willy Mutunga formed a team, ostensibly to investigate the allegations surrounding his colleague Mr. Tunoi. Said the Canadian-educated lawyer and septuagenarian: Advertisement The "we" CJ Mutunga is referring to are members of the Special Committee of the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) including one Githu Muigai, the country's Attorney-General whose impartiality is suspect from the get-go. Mr. Muigai has used his office to do the bidding of arguably the most corrupt government in the sordid history of Kenya; "a bandit economy" as offered by none other than the Chief Justice himself! So to summarize the scandal currently engulfing Kenya's premier judicial body: A tainted Judge Philip Tunoi is being investigated by a special sitting of a body -- the Judiciary Service Commission -- whose former Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei and seven former senior officials were charged with irregular procurement of building material i.e. tenderpreneuring! By Erin Magner for Well+Good You might say Indra Devi was the Madonna of the yoga world in the early 20th century, credited as she was with bringing Hatha yoga to the West. Born to a teenage mother in 1899 Russia, the beloved teacher's life was all about reinvention. After debuting as a Berlin cabaret performer in her early twenties, she went on a spiritual pilgrimage to India, starred in a Bollywood film (where she was given her adopted Indian name), learned yoga from one of the master teachers of the day, and went on to instruct socialites in Shanghai, film stars in Los Angeles, and flower children in Mexico. Clearly, Devi's tale is the stuff best-sellers are made of, so it's not surprising that journalist Michelle Goldberg would choose to chronicle it in The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West. While the book is full of rich history and insider anecdotes, Devi's story is also a guide to living fearlessly and unconventionally--even when, like her, you're living in a war zone or being investigated by the FBI. (Or, you know, when work is crazy and your apartment is a mess.) Advertisement Though she certainly had her flaws (you can read more on that in the book), there are plenty of reasons to be inspired by the original yoga-lebrity. Next time you need a hit of empowerment, consider channeling these seven elements of Devi's one-of-a-kind character--and send her a mental thank-you note for bringing savasana to our shores. 1. She followed her intuition. When Devi discovered Hatha yoga as a bright-eyed spiritual seeker in India, it was totally unfashionable--disgraceful, even. "It was widely seen as the province of magicians, con men, and sideshow contortionists," writes Goldberg. Even so, the actress had a hunch that asanas would help with her chronic anxiety attacks, so she pursued the practice anyway. 2. She refused to take "no" for an answer. Devi was intent on studying with Tirumalai Krishnamacharya--brother-in-law and teacher of B.K.S. Iyengar. But when she approached him, he bluntly told her that his shala was dudes-only and showed her the door. That didn't faze Devi--she just went over his head to the maharaja of Mysore, who ordered Krishnamacharya to admit her as his first foreign, female student. 3. She used movement as medicine. After moving to Shanghai with her husband, Devi opened her first "studio" in a bungalow owned by Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, the then-First Lady of China. Her five daily yoga classes attracted hundreds of students each week, most of them American expats. Many reported relief from chronic conditions like asthma, insomnia, and headaches--so much for sorcery. Advertisement 4. She was unapologetically kooky. Devi was known to practice a monthly day of silence, but she didn't use it as an opportunity to chill at home. Instead, writes Goldberg, "she went out and about in the city, shaking her head and placing her finger to her lips mysteriously if some uninitiated person spoke to her." Some may call it odd; we call it brilliant. Also on HuffPost: NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE-FEBRUARY 8 :Bernie Sanders makes his entrance at a Get Out the Vote Rally at Daniel Webster Community College, Vagge Gymnasium in Nashua, NH(Photo by Lucian Perkins /for The Washington Post via Getty Images) If you're a political junkie like me, one of the great things about being alive in 2016 is that there's more than one way to "watch a debate." Last Thursday, I was commuting by train during a lot of the (relatively) rock 'em, sock 'em debate between the Democratic presidential candidates in New Hampshire... so I "watched" it on Twitter. That meant my view of the clash between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was filtered with a thick layer of Internet snark. But it also meant that a lot of my first impression was set by the pundiocracy, the Acela set, or whatever we're calling these days the D.C. pundits who try -- with mixed results -- to shape our political agenda. Advertisement A lot of those TV and Internet talking heads called it a bad night for Bernie Sanders, because he'd seemed to fumble questions about North Korea and other foreign-policy hot spots. But after I got home and saw the actual debate highlights, I realized that it had, in fact, been a devastating night for Clinton. I saw how her not-so-coherent responses to questions about her $675,000 in speaking fees from the arguably Wall Street's biggest cash cow of our generation -- the "vampire squid" known as Goldman Sachs -- had hurt her in the debate, and possibly down the road. And the pundits didn't have a clue. Clinton had accused Sanders of an "artful smear" in saying she was too close to Wall Street -- but she has struggled mightily to explain why Goldman Sachs paid her so much for seemingly so little. "That's what they offered," she'd tried to rationalize the night before in a CNN town hall -- seemingly the worst sound bite of the 2016 campaign, at least before Sen. Marco Rubio danced "The Robot" on Saturday night. In both the debate and the town hall, Clinton noted that prior ex-secretaries of state have made paid speeches, but none of them had been a presidential frontrunner, facing an election to -- among other things -- someday appoint Wall Street's regulatory watchdogs. Advertisement Yet, the TV talking heads had a hard time getting their heads around whether Goldman Sachs was a legitimate issue. Later, I read that CNN's Cooper -- who'd pressed Clinton so hard on her dealings with Goldman Sachs -- gets $50,000 or more for delivering a speech. Talk about boys and girls in a bubble! Other elite Beltway commentators, like ABC's Cokie Roberts, a panelist at Saturday's Republican debate, also get lucrative speaking fees. The pundits don't understand why the public is getting outraged over a once-and-future public official making more for a 45-minute speech than Joe Sixpack makes in three, four, five years... because they're all soaking in it! And the thing is, the average voter -- the one who's going to trudge through a half-foot of snow on Tuesday and decide the New Hampshire primary -- doesn't care all that much about North Korea and its missile launches. What he or she really cares about is a system that is rigged against them -- that barely offers them a clue on how to get their kid through $100,000 or more of college to maybe get a job, but that throws $675,000 at an elite, well-connected politico for a few speeches. And that's just Goldman Sachs. It's been reported that, out of government, Bill and Hillary Clinton have been paid $153 million for giving speeches, often to corporate or foreign interests that will have a huge stake in what happens in Washington during the next four to eight years. That's the worst kind of corruption...legal corruption. Advertisement Legal, yet still astounding. When I think about why Bernie Sanders seems poised for a stunning win in New Hampshire and is rising in the national polls, I think back on the scores of people I met last fall reporting my e-book on the Sanders phenomenon, The Bern Identity. They were struggling - to juggle their work and caring for an ailing mom or husband, or with a 20-something kid unable to leave their basement as he paid off his student debt. They wanted someone to promise them that America could again be fair, not a place where every break goes to the anointed ones. Clinton's Goldman Sachs fiasco plays right into the storyline they already know by their own heart. PTI As the nation came together to pray for Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive from under 25 feet of snow at the Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas six days after his post was hit by an avalanche, the soldier from Karnataka had a very special visitor today at an army hospital in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the soldier at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital and praised his "endurance and indomitable spirit" after he survived six gruelling days under snow in minus 40 degree celsius. Advertisement "No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," he tweeted. No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 PM SETS ASIDE PROTOCOL TO MEET SOLDIER In an unprecedented move, Modi also set aside his security protocol to meet Koppad. The Prime Minister, who travels in a BMW convoy, took the front seat on a Range Rover car which did not even a have a beacon light. Moreover, there was not adequate security at the Research and Referral Hospital during his silent visit. Advertisement It appeared that even the Delhi Police was not informed about the visit. The ambulance and jammers, which are part of the Prime Minister's cavalcade, arrived five minutes later. Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh, earlier met the Madras regiment soldier, who is said to be in a "critical" condition. No words are enough to describe the endurance and indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. An avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. A wall of ice, a kilometre wide and 800 metres high, came crashing down on their post. The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he said. An army spokesperson said Koppad's rescue is nothing short of a miracle. A report in the Deccan Chronicle said Koppad survived because he was trapped in an air bubble. Advertisement Koppad's wife, who has been praying for her husband's survival, told the media in Dharwad, Karnataka, that she is anxiously waiting to see him. I am very happy, I want to go and see him, says wife of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, in Dharwad, Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/U1Lrc2zIbG ANI (@ANI_news) February 9, 2016 Meanwhile, his nephew, who had lost all hopes, said that it was the blessings of the entire villagers that the Lance Naik has fought with the extremely difficult conditions and stayed alive. Army sources told ANI that the rescue teams have located mortal remains of all the remaining nine soldiers and they are being brought out from the avalanche site. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had yesterday dismissed suggestions for withdrawal of troops from Siachen. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: cyano66 via Getty Images Cropped image of a woman lying on the floor NEW DELHI -- It was a love story that went horribly wrong. She was 21, just about to graduate from college this spring. He was 23, and had been dating her and wanted to marry her. But when the couple's families objected, he decided to move on. She didn't. It was four months ago when Arzoo Singh Chauhan, a final-year, Hindi Honours student in Delhi University's Laxmibai college, and Naveen Khatri, her 23-year-old neighbour from north Delhi, had to part ways after their families refused to get them married to each other. While reports suggest that they continued to meet in secret, Khatri's family had other plans for their son. Advertisement They soon found a match for him and fixed a date for his marriage. According to the police, Khatri met Chauhan outside her college last Tuesday, and even asked her to help him distribute the invitations for his marriage on 4 February. Sometime during this meeting, an altercation broke out between them, and he allegedly ended up strangling Chauhan with a shawl. A purse near the international airport, and a solitary shoe that seemingly fell from Chauhan's feet a little further away are the only remnants of the alleged struggle between the ex-lovers that resulted in Chauhan's death. DU student Arzoo Singh was not pregnant, killed in a fit of rage: Police (@BhardwajAnanya) https://t.co/L2YzGb5lnLpic.twitter.com/9gZjDSQtNu Hindustan Times (@htTweets) February 8, 2016 Delhi police believe that Khatri panicked, and unsuccessfully tried to burn the body, and then packed it into the trunk of the car he was driving, unsure where to hide it. He allegedly then drove home that evening, leaving the body in the car overnight until the crack of dawn, when he woke up and apparently dragged the body to his house where he hid it in a ventilation shaft. The police are still investigating whether he confided in anyone else following the murder. Joint commissioner of police, Sanjay Singh, has toldThe Indian Express that Khatri has named an accomplice during interrogation but their role hasn't been established yet. Advertisement It did not end there. Two days later, Khatri got married, all the time spraying his house with the dozens of bottles of perfume he had bought to hide the stench of the decomposing body. His wedding guests reportedly teased him about it, assuming that his strange action was the result of his excitement about getting married. 22 Yr old girl killed by her boyfriend Naveen Khatri in Delhi's Model Town area. pic.twitter.com/yxJNJadoFs Jitender Sharma (@capt_ivane) February 7, 2016 Meanwhile, after Chauhan did not return home, her parents lodged a missing complaint, which ultimately led to Khatri. By the time the police arrived, he had left for the airport with his new wife, who was unaware that the "stench" she had complained about the previous night was actually the rotting corpse of her husband's ex-girlfriend. When investigators caught up with Khatri and detained him at the airport, he claimed that Singh had been pressuring him to marry her against their families' wishes, and even claimed that she was pregnant. The preliminary autopsy report has revealed that she was not pregnant, and that she had indeed died of asphyxiation. Besides the wounds on her body, her side of the story will never be fully known. Police also suspect the involvement of Khatri's father, who is a murder convict in a separate case, and has been in jail since 2005. He was out on parole to attend his son's wedding and is suspected to have helped his son hide Singh's body. Police are yet to formally charge him in the case. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: PTI CCTV cameras installed in a private school near Varthur in Bengaluru showed the chilling footage of how close a cameraman came to being mauled by a stray leopard that sneaked into the premises on Sunday. The leopard attacked several people, including three forest department personnel. The man eventually escaped as people gathered at the spot started shouting to scare the feline and forest officials directed tranquilliser shots at it. The leopard was first spotted by CCTV cameras inside the Vibgyor School at around 4:13 am. The leopard had escaped from the school premises during the day and was hiding inside nearby bushes. As authorities were in the midst of operations to capture it, it re-entered the school building by scaling a compound wall, officials told PTI. Advertisement AP released this spine chilling video of the attack. There were also these photos that will give you nightmares for days. PTI Photo A leopard attacks a man in a school premise in Bengaluru on Sunday. PTI Photo A leopard attacks a cameraman in a school premise in Bengaluru on Sunday. PTI Photo A leopard attacks a man at a school in Bengaluru. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Twitter This morning, when commuters boarded the Delhi Metro, they were greeted by Asaram Bapu's photos on several posters--asking them to celebrate 'Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas' on 14 February, instead of Valentine's Day. The advertisements, put up across 35 stations by an organisation allegedly belonging to the self-styled godman, advocating 'Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas' has left many commuters enraged. Advertisement Asaram Bapu maybe lodged in jail in connection with a sexual assault case, but that didn't stop his followers from trying to teach Indians 'acche sanskar.' The posters have now prompted the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to order the matter to be examined. The ads bear two contrasting pictures; one showing two kids worshipping their parents and the other showing a young couple holding each other's ears as policemen stand nearby. "Police take strong action against those indulging in degenerate activities by celebrating Valentine's Day in broad daylight. Don't celebrate Valentine's Day," the message in the posters say. Advertisement Meanwhile, social media is quite outraged with this. Delhi Metro runs Asharam's ad's threatening couples celebrating Valentine's Day, Its 'worship' parents on Feb 14.. pic.twitter.com/O56gR2FE2f Rahul Raj (@Iam_rahul_raj) February 8, 2016 Inspired by rape accused Asaram, ads condemn Valentines Day on Delhi Metro https://t.co/v0snQh6VJApic.twitter.com/hxx0yk4Gou Janta Ka Reporter (@JantaKaReporter) February 9, 2016 In fact, the posters have appeared outside Universities and college campuses also. I saw this giant matri-pitri diwas poster - Delhi University north campus. via /r/india #T http://t.co/OC1dWkd11Epic.twitter.com/hgq2Q741ur AAP Strategist (@AAPStrategy) February 14, 2015 "The ads were displayed by a private contractor as all the ad space inside the Delhi Metro premises are allotted to specialised agencies who in turn allot them to interested advertisers. The matter is being thoroughly examined and taken up with the concerned contractor for necessary action," DMRC chief spokesman Anuj Dayal said. A functionary of 'Bal Sanskar Kendra', the organisation behind the posters, told PTI that the objective of the ad campaign was to make youngsters "aware" that Valentine's Day was "against Indian culture". Advertisement "The picture depicts the plight of a couple who were caught celebrating Valentine's Day in a public park at Raipur where the state government officially celebrates 'Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas'. We want other state governments to come up with similar orders," Manish Goswami, the functionary said. The posters also made a few wonder about the advertising policy of DMRC. "I guess Delhi Metro will put up just about anything if you pay them enough money," Govind RS posted on Facebook. A DMRC executive said the company follows the Delhi Outdoor Advertising Policy, 2008 and does not have its own policy in this regard. (With inputs from PTI) Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who was rescued alive from under 25 feet of snow at the Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas six days after his post was hit by an avalanche, now lies in a coma, and has been been placed on ventilator support at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, as the nation prays for his recovery. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke security protocol to pay the soldier from Karnataka a special visit. The Prime Minister, who travels in a BMW convoy, took the front seat on a Range Rover car which did not even a have a beacon light. Not only was there inadequate security at the Research and Referral Hospital during his silent visit, it appeared that even the Delhi Police was not informed about the visit. "No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier," tweeted the Prime Minister. Advertisement No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 PM visited RR Hospital to enquire about Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He also spoke to doctors at the hospital. pic.twitter.com/KSHb4NdWCx PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh, earlier met the Madras regiment soldier, who is said to be in a "critical" condition. An avalanche hit his post at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. A wall of ice, a kilometre wide and 800 metres high, came crashing down on their post. Advertisement The other nine personnel at the post, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and eight other ranks of Madras Regiment, have died, according to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander. "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified," he said. An army spokesperson said Koppad's rescue is nothing short of a miracle. A report in the Deccan Chronicle said Koppad survived because he was trapped in an air bubble. Koppad's wife, who has been praying for her husband's survival, told the media in Dharwad, Karnataka, that she is anxiously waiting to see him. I am very happy, I want to go and see him, says wife of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, in Dharwad, Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/U1Lrc2zIbG ANI (@ANI_news) February 9, 2016 Meanwhile, his nephew, who had lost all hopes, said that it was the blessings of the entire villagers that Koppad has fought with the extremely difficult conditions and stayed alive. Army sources told ANI that the rescue teams have located mortal remains of all the remaining nine soldiers and they are being brought out from the avalanche site. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had yesterday dismissed suggestions for withdrawal of troops from Siachen. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: Getty Images When 35-year-old Ram Meher alias Rambir, a known criminal, was found dead at a friend's house in west Delhi, the police thought it was the result of a gang rivalry. But it was actually a game of Russian roulette that had gone wrong. On Sunday night, Rambir went to an apartment in Uttam Nagar to join a group of friends for drinks. After a few rounds, he whipped out his revolver and challenged his friends to play the "game of death", reported the Times Of India. Advertisement He emptied the gun's chamber, loaded a bullet and spun the cylinder. He told his friends that death could not touch him, and went on to point the gun at his head before pulling the trigger. The first time, he managed to pull off the trick, much like Gabbar in the movie Sholay. Enthused by the cheering of his friends, Rambir repeated the stunt a couple of times and happened to get lucky. However, when he went for a fourth turn, the pistol fired and the bullet pierced his head. After the police were informed, Rambir was taken to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead. "We are awaiting the post-mortem report. From the preliminary investigation, no foul play is suspected. However, we are questioning all the persons present at the party, including [Rambirs] cousin," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Dependra Pathak. According to the Times of India report, the cops cross-examined each of the friends separately and then compared their individual versions to confirm the sequence of events. Advertisement Police officials said the body was sent for a post-mortem and a ballistic report is being prepared to corroborate the finding of accidental suicide. Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE - This Feb. 1, 2005 file photo shows an aerial view of the Siachen Glacier, which traverses the Himalayan region dividing India and Pakistan, about 750 kilometers (469 miles) northwest of Jammu, India. An avalanche hit the Siachen Glacier in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir early Wednesday,Feb.3, 2016 trapping 10 Indian army soldiers in the snow. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File) It's nothing less than a miracle. Six days after 10 Indian army personnel were buried under an avalanche in the Siachen glacier at an altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC), one soldier was on Monday found alive by rescue operators, buried under 25 feet of snow. "It was a miraculous rescue, all efforts are being made to evacute Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa to the RR hospital in the morning," Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander, told PTI. Advertisement "Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," he said. Hooda said he was hoping that the miracle continued for Thappa, who hailed form Karnataka. "He is critical. Pray with us," he said. The Armys rescue parties were cutting through up to 30 feet of ice at multiple locations where the soldiers could probably be buried, the Hindu quoted Hooda as saying. "The probable locations are identified using specialised equipment, he said. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of Madras Regiment were buried in the avalanche that hit their post where temperatures can dip to as low as minus 45 degrees Celsius. Advertisement Army and air force teams were trying to rescue the soldiers and rescue dogs pressed into service. Thousands of Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed on the freezing Himalayan terrain, where more troops have died from the gruelling conditions than from hostile fire. Last month, four Indian soldiers on foot patrol were killed by an avalanche in the same region. In 2012, an avalanche in the Pakistan-controlled part of the glacier killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers. The two countries have discussed ways to demilitarize the Siachen Glacier without success. On 8 Feb, the government had announced the names of the 10 soldiers, giving them up for dead, even as rescue teams continued to shift snow to search for them. (1) Subedar Nagesha TT r/o vill Tejur, Hassan Dist, Karnataka. (2) Havildar Elumalai M r/o vill Dukkam Parai, Vellore Dist, Tamil Nadu. (3) Lance Havildar S Kumar r/o vill Kumanan Thozhu, Teni Dist, Tamil Nadu. (4) Lance Naik Sudheesh B r/o vill Monroethuruth, Kollam Dist, Kerala. (5) Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad r/o vill Betadur , Dharwad Dist, Karnataka. (6) Sepoy Mahesha PN r/o vill HD Kote, Mysore Dist, Karnataka. (7) Sepoy Ganesan G r/o village Chokkathevan Patti, Madurai Dist, Tamil Nadu. (8) Sepoy Rama Moorthy N r/o vill Gudisatana Palli , Krishna Giri Dist, Tamil Nadu. (9) Sep Mustaq Ahmed S r/o vill Parnapalle, Kurnool Dist, Andhra Pradesh. (10) Sepoy Nursing Assistant Suryawanshi SV r/o village Maskarwadi, Satara Dist, Maharashtra (With inputs from PTI and AP) Also on HuffPost: John Rensten via Getty Images hands holding letters spelling words New Delhi -- In yet another case of cruelty against school children, an eighth standard student at a residential school in West Bengal's Murshidabad district died on Tuesday after he was allegedly beaten up by teachers for venturing out of the school premises, according to a report. The incident occurred at the Al-Islamia Mission near Dak Bungalow More. Two teachers were arrested in this connection, PTI reported, quoting police. Advertisement In 2013, a teacher was arrested in West Bengal for allegedly killing a class III student by banging his head against the wall for playing with another student in the classroom. Late last month, the Delhi government ordered a probe and accused the school authorities of criminal negligence after a six-year old Ryan International School student was found dead in the schools water tank. According to the police complaint, 12-year-old Shamim Malik was beaten mercilessly by the headmaster of the school, Halif Sheikh, and warden Liton Sheikh after he met his parents outside the school on Monday evening. The child was rushed to a hospital where he died in the morning. "On the basis of the complaint, we have arrested both the headmaster and warden of the school. They are being interrogated," Superintendent of Police, C Sudhakar told PTI. The parents alleged that their son was beaten only because he had met them outside the school without seeking permission. Advertisement "He had come to meet me to collect some things that I had purchased for him. We want justice for my boy," Shamina Bibi, the mother of the deceased student said. The students father, Julhas Malik, claimed that the school teachers tried to hush up the matter and informed him of hospitalisation only after his sons condition worsened. He alleged that the school authorities told her that Malik had fallen ill, but that he was sure that the kid was mercilessly beaten up by his teachers. Books from the HMML Basement is dedicated to the special collections at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. The collections hold over 10,000 rare printed books, along with several European, Ethiopian and other manuscripts. The articles in this blog will offer insights into these collections. You can search the contents of this blog by typing a term in the space below and clicking on "search." Ex-officer was a churchgoer, family man. Police say he may be a serial rapist. Insurance company chief executives are most concerned about over-regulation of the industry according to a global survey. The annual report from PwC found that 95 per cent of the CEOs fear growth in the sector will be restricted by regulations, although the same number expect revenues to grow over the next three years.New entrants into the market are also seen as a threat by 65 per cent and technology is considered a high risk by 69 per cent. Around two thirds of respondents are also cautious about consumers spending habits changing.Almost three-quarters of insurance CEOs say their business is making significant changes to the way they use technology to assess risk and meet stakeholder changes. Customers are demanding a more interactive experience and continue to focus on cost. FinTech companies operating in the insurance space are knocking at the door and are more than happy to set new competitive benchmarks for customer experience, Jonathan Howe of PwC commented.Howe said that limited interactions with customers is limiting the value of the vast amount of data held and called for insurers to look at how they can change threats into opportunities: With such rapid technological change, insurers have the choice to determine whether they are part of the disruption or one of the disrupted.Regulators in the US and Japan have approved the takeover of New York-listed StanCorp Financial Group Inc. by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company. The merger was announced in the summer of 2015 and is now expected to close on March 7, 2016. Meiji is the third largest life insurance company in Japan and is also the oldest. The StanCorp acquisition builds on its international portfolio which includes Poland, China and existing US operations.For the third year in a row MetLife has been named as the highest-ranking insurance company in the Div50 which recognizes firms which offer high levels of multicultural business opportunities. MetLife is one of fifty firms which are considered to be leaders in offering opportunities to businesses owned by women and minorities based on factors such as the volume, consistency and quality of business opportunities a company grants to multicultural suppliers. McCann Tech teacher Scott Botto shows the trustees a display case on the second floor, made by McCann students, that displays artifacts he has found. The library trustees are looking for ways to advocate for the library in the community. PreviousNext North Adams Librarian to Retire After 30 Years NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Longtime library employee Robin Martin intends to retire in early May, and library officials say they'll feel her absence keenly. Not only are they losing an experienced employee of 30 years, but her departure as adult reference services librarian may lead to a cascade of staffing issues. "She has been with the city for 30 years, and I would like to do something communitywide [to recognize her]. There are a lot of patrons who would like to honor her service," Library Director Mindy Hackner told the trustees Monday. "I am dreading her leaving because she is the keeper of all of our institutional knowledge and she has done a superb job." Hackner said she plans to advertise the position even though the current children's librarian is qualified. She said posting the position would be more fair and would allow her to gather a list of people interested in working at the library. The trustees agreed to have some sort of celebration for Martin, and acknowledged that her leaving could create more staffing gaps in the library. "I am basically taking Robin's salary and redistributing it, but I am not getting the physical body," Hackner said. "The five people that are here, if they take all of their time off, it's over half of our open hours. I don't have enough bodies to plug into the spots so if one person is out and someone has an emergency, we are down to a point where we can't operate unless we have volunteers." She said she often has to leave volunteers running the desk, which is not fair to those giving their time to the library. Hackner said if they use the city's figures in the budget and they move the children's librarian up, a part-time worker would be moved to that position. It would be 33.5 hours a week, which translates to a day without a children's librarian. "It's a modest budget," Hackner said. "If you really want to play hard ball, we can go for more, but I would ask that we stay with this for now given the city's situation." She said the library could also maintain some salaries of $10 an hour and the savings could be used to hire another part-time employee to fill in staffing gaps. She said it also would be possible to shift salaries around. Hackner said there were also discussions about closing the library an extra day a week. Hackner said she recently asked the mayor for an additional 15-hour-a-week employee to help stabilize the library. She said she was refused because even though the money is in the budget, it may not be in coming years and that person would have to be let go. The trustees felt Hackner should submit a budget with the increases that would support the staffing needs. "It seems to me we should be asking for more," Trustee Rich Remsberg said. "Every time this comes up, we spend a lot of time talking about stuff like this and it seems like those should be extreme examples not standard operation." Hackner said she will ask but does not anticipate any a changes in funding from the city. "This has been one of my biggest fears for the library," she said. "That it is being slowly strangled ... strangled is one word, starved is another." Remsberg added that the library should continue to find ways to raise its own funds and to raise the library's political profile so people are aware of its value. Hackner brought up another budget concern and explained the transformers inside the air ducts are obsolete and have to be rebuilt. Each transformer costs $150 and there are 25 in the building. If the library has a power outage, the air ducts shut down and close and someone has to manually adjust them. In other business, McCann Technical School teacher Scott Botto showed the trustees a display case on the second floor, made by McCann carpentry students, that displays many of the artifacts he has found throughout the community with his metal detector. After gaining permission to display a few of his treasures, Botto organized the display and provided information on the artifacts, some going back to the 18th century. Botto said the he often uses the library to research what he finds or to scope out new locations. He added that he felt it was important to return history to North Adams. "This is our history and it belongs to us," he said. "I wanted to bring it back." Botto said he would refresh the box when he finds new objects. The library will receive a new copy machine. After a Xerox technician could not get the notoriously troublesome machine to work correctly, the company pledged to send a new one. The trustees voted to change the temporary status policy for new library patrons from six months to three. The trustees also welcomed new trustee Nicole Prokop. 'Need to Take Clearance From Govt': BCCI President on Whether India Will Travel to Pakistan For Asia Cup This afternoon, State Bar of Arizona President Geoff Trachtenberg sent out his latest blast email update about pending legislation that could impact the practice of law and your Bar. This afternoon, State Bar of Arizona President Geoff Trachtenberg sent out his latest blast email updateabout pending legislation that could impact the practice of law and your Bar. Find below, Mr. Trachtenbergs key points and the accompanying rebuttals. Colleagues: HB2219 is identical to a bill that was defeated in the Legislature last year. It would eliminate our current Bar and require the Arizona Supreme Court to create an entirely new division to handle attorney discipline and assess Arizona attorneys for this expense. REBUTTAL: This is what HB 2219 states: This is whatstates: A. THE SUPREME COURT SHALL LICENSE ATTORNEYS FOR THE PRACTICE OF LAW IN THIS STATE. THE SUPREME COURT SHALL ADOPT RULES TO CARRY OUT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION INCLUDING: 1. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS FOR LICENSURE. 2. TESTING REQUIREMENTS. 3. REQUIRING A BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION BEFORE OBTAINING A LICENSE. 4. DISCIPLINING ATTORNEYS. 5. DISBARRING ATTORNEYS. B. AN ATTORNEY SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO BE A MEMBER OF ANY ORGANIZATION TO BECOME OR REMAIN A LICENSED ATTORNEY IN THIS STATE. There is no language in HB 2219 that eliminates our current bar. In fact, HB 2219 does not eliminate the State Bar of Arizona. It makes membership consensual not mandatory. Furthermore, the Bill gives the State Bar the free-market opportunity to sell membership on the merits not by coercion. Arizona lawyers who thereafter join the State Bar will do so by choice not by compulsion. And unlike the current Bar, a voluntary association member can then truly claim it as My Bar. There is no language inthateliminates our current bar.In fact, HB 2219 does not eliminate the State Bar of Arizona. It makes membership consensual not mandatory. Furthermore, the Bill gives the State Bar the free-market opportunity to sell membership on the merits not by coercion. Arizona lawyers who thereafter join the State Bar will do so by choice not by compulsion. And unlike the current Bar, a voluntary association member can then truly claim it as Nor is there language that requires the Arizona Supreme Court to create an entirely new division to handle attorney discipline and assess Arizona attorneys for this expense. Lawyers in Arizona and in every state of the nation are already assessed 100% of the cost of their regulation and discipline. An entirely new division? Its pure speculative scaremongering along with the specter of new incremental assessments on lawyers. But why the groundless conjecture? In the 18 voluntary bar states, the average regulatory cost lawyers pay their respective supreme courts is $210. And even where lawyers elect to join their voluntary bar associations, in most cases it is lower than the $490 Arizona lawyers are now required to pay (eventually increasing to $520). Again using the 22,000 member Ohio Bar Association as an example, Ohio lawyers pay $175 per year in court-mandated lawyer regulatory registration fees ($350 biennually) and $305 to belong to the voluntary Ohio State Bar. The total annualized cost for both is $480. Lawyers in Arizona and in every state of the nation are already assessed 100% of the cost of their regulation and discipline. Anentirely new division? Its pure speculative scaremongering along with the specter of new incremental assessments on lawyers. But why the groundless conjecture? In the 18 voluntary bar states, the average regulatory cost lawyers pay their respective supreme courts is $210. And even where lawyers elect to join their voluntary bar associations, in most cases it is lower than the $490 Arizona lawyers are now required to pay (eventually increasing to $520). Again using the 22,000 member Ohio Bar Association as an example, Ohio lawyers pay $175 per year in court-mandated lawyer regulatory registration fees ($350 biennually) and $305 to belong to the voluntary Ohio State Bar. The total annualized cost for both is $480. Besides, placing all the public protection functions directly under the active supervision of the Arizona Supreme Court merely finalizes what the Court has already virtually accomplished. In 2011, it removed most of the State Bars core public protection functions from the oversight of the lawyer-elected Board of Governors. Having stripped the core public-protection powers from the mandatory Bars Board of Governors, the Court currently runs them separately or through Bar professional staff as a regulatory-only agency free from Board of Governor control. under appointment of the Colorado Supreme Court. A nine-member Attorney Regulation Committee is composed not by state employees but by lawyers and lay persons and an Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge to administer the procedures. No tax dollars are used to fund the attorney regulation process in Colorado . In Colorado, for example, the voluntary bar state similar in size to Arizona and upon which Arizona based its 2011 revamped lawyer discipline system, attorney regulation is administered by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel under appointment of the Colorado Supreme Court. A nine-member Attorney Regulation Committee is composed not by state employees but by lawyers and lay persons and an Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge to administer the procedures. HB2221 is a new bill that creates new issues. It would require all Arizona attorneys to belong to the Bar but it would create a two-tier membership system. Only those paying an additional fee would be entitled to various services, such as those mentioned in my previous email, and it remains unclear which of those services would survive this type of a restructure. REBUTTAL: House Bill 2221 does not create two-tiers of membership. What it does, in an argument to moderation employed by another state supreme court, is limit the use of mandatory assessments to the arena of regulation of the legal profession . . . [to] ensure that the Bar Association remains well within the limits of the compelled-speech jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court and avoid embroiling this court and the legal profession in unending quarrels and litigation over the germaneness of an activity in whole or in part, the constitutional adequacy of a particular op-in or opt-out system, or the appropriateness of a given grievance procedure. 286 Neb. 1018, 1035 (2013) does not create two-tiers of membership. What it does, in an argument to moderation employed by, islimit the use of mandatory assessments to the arena of regulation of the legal profession . . . [to] ensure that the Bar Association remains well within the limits of the compelled-speech jurisprudence of the U.S. Supreme Court and avoid embroiling this court and the legal profession in unending quarrels and litigation over the germaneness of an activity in whole or in part, the constitutional adequacy of a particular op-in or opt-out system, or the appropriateness of a given grievance procedure. In Re Petition For Rule To Create Vol. State Bar Assn. 286 Neb. 1018, 1035 (2013) What HB2221 additionally does is uphold lawyer First Amendment Freedoms; improve public transparency; assure no government growth at taxpayer expense; fight further bar bureaucratic bloat; affirm Arizona Supreme Court state constitutional authority over lawyer regulation; and transfer all lawyer regulation authority from the lawyer-controlled state bar to the Court to better protect the public. The State Bar of Arizona continues to exist as a professional association empowered only to collect voluntary non-regulatory dues from lawyers. HB 2221: 1. Reaffirms lawyer regulation under the state supreme court; 2. Places all lawyer regulation assessments under supreme court control; 3. Limits bureaucratic expansion since the state bar is authorized to only collect voluntary membership dues for non-regulatory programs and services and requires the bar to file annual independently audited public accountings; 4. Subjects the bar to open records and public meeting laws if the supreme court delegates any of its regulatory authority to it. In sum,1. Reaffirms lawyer regulation under the state supreme court;2. Places all lawyer regulation assessments under supreme court control;3. Limits bureaucratic expansion since the state bar is authorized to only collect voluntary membership dues for non-regulatory programs and services and requires the bar to file annual independently audited public accountings;4. Subjects the bar to open records and public meeting laws if the supreme court delegates any of its regulatory authority to it. The State Bar of Arizona can continue to offer programs and services on their merits . In Nebraska where nonregulatory activities are financed solely by revenues other than mandatory assessments, the Nebraska State Bar Association continues to offer programs and services and practice tools, including such benefits such as: My view is that your Bar is an effective and efficient organization. Having considered these Bills, I agree with those who are concerned about a separation of powers issue between the Legislature and the Arizona Supreme Court. I also believe the changes proposed by these Bills would ultimately harm both attorneys and consumers in Arizona. REBUTTAL: Perhaps only the President of the State Bar of Arizona is in any position to determine whether the Bar is effective and efficient. As for mainstream members, who knows? The Bar refuses to provide drilled-down expense details of how it spends members money. Indeed, but for federal law that it must make public its IRS Form 990 returns, members would not know, for example, that the Bar spends upwards of $1.2M in executive compensation out of a $15M annual budget. HB 2221 would finally require the Bar to become more transparent to the public and to its members. Perhaps only the President of the State Bar of Arizona is in any position to determine whether the Bar iseffective and efficient.As for mainstream members, who knows? The Bar refuses to provide drilled-down expense details of how it spends members money. Indeed, but for federal law that it must make public its IRS Form 990 returns, members would not know, for example, that the Bar spends upwards of $1.2M in executive compensation out of a $15M annual budget. HB 2221 would finally require the Bar to become more transparent to the public and to its members. first statewide bar association was created in 1895 as a voluntary membership organization. It remained voluntary for the next 38 years. But thanks to the concerted lobbying of lawyers who in part sought legislative protection against unauthorized legal practice, the Arizona Legislature passed the State Bar Act in 1933. And for the next 52 years, the Arizona Legislature and Judiciary jointly exercised their respective state constitutional powers with respect to the regulation of the practice of law in Arizona. Under a sunset law provision, the State Bar Act terminated in 1985 along with statutory protections against the unauthorized practice of law. As for the separation of powers issue, the interplay between the coequal branches of state government has an interesting history. The Arizona Territory was formed in 1865 and thewas created in 1895It remained voluntary for the next 38 years. But thanks to the concerted lobbying of lawyers who in part sought legislative protection against unauthorized legal practice, the Arizona Legislature passed the State Bar Act in 1933. And for the next 52 years, the Arizona Legislature and Judiciary jointly exercised their respective state constitutional powers with respect to the regulation of the practice of law in Arizona. Under a sunset law provision, the State Bar Act terminated in 1985 along with statutory protections against the unauthorized practice of law. here is that the opposite is true. To ensure that the regulation of the practice of law is done solely for the benefit of the public as a whole, and not for the benefit of lawyers, the State Bar should not be a mandatory association. As concerns harm to consumers, the truth as pointed outis that the opposite is true.To ensure that the regulation of the practice of law is done solely for the benefit of the public as a whole, and not for the benefit of lawyers, the State Bar should not be a mandatory association. That said, there are at least two sides to every story. For two independent and divergent views on the subject, please see SaveTheBar.com and WorkingForABetterBar.org. REBUTTAL: There are indeed two sides to every story.Unfortunately, the one-sided State Bar only wants its self-interested side widely heard. Last week, Mr. Trachtenberg contacted me to ask for a website link for inclusion in his next member blast email to provide, in his view, equal time to voluntary bar advocates. When asked instead for real equal timethrough access to blast email the members rather than via subordinated hyperlink, his response was akin to the sound of crickets in the desert night. There are indeedtwo sides to every story.Unfortunately, the one-sided State Bar only wants its self-interested side widely heard. Last week, Mr. Trachtenberg contacted me to ask for a website link for inclusion in his next member blast email to provide, in his view,equal timeto voluntary bar advocates. When asked instead forequal timethrough access to blast email the members rather than via subordinated hyperlink, his response was akin to the sound of crickets in the desert night. Working for a Better Bar A Voluntary Bar is not even a half-measure of fairness and equal time. And audaciously, while Mr. Trachtenberg characterizes SaveTheBar as a divergent viewpoint from its own, in actuality, that can scarcely be said. Notwithstanding its unsuccessful effort to inoculate itself from the accusation by proclaiming this is not a cheerleading page for the Arizona State Bar, that is precisely what SaveTheBar is. Visit the website yourself. It is tantamount to a proxy for the State Bar even using some of the Bars own efficient and effective descriptors to gush about the Bar. Compare it to this website to see which is really divergent. So the inclusion of a hyperlink tois not even a half-measure of fairness and equal time. And audaciously, while Mr. Trachtenberg characterizes SaveTheBar as adivergentviewpoint from its own, in actuality, that can scarcely be said. Notwithstanding its unsuccessful effort to inoculate itself from the accusation by proclaimingthis is not a cheerleading page for the Arizona State Bar,that is precisely what SaveTheBar is. Visit the website yourself. It is tantamount to a proxy for the State Bar even using some of the Bars ownefficientandeffectivedescriptors to gush about the Bar. Compare it to this website to see which is reallydivergent. The other two items are House Memorials. The proposed House Memorials are a result of an Ad Hoc Study Committee on the Mandatory Bar that met a few months ago. Notably, both of these Memorials accept the conclusion that the Legislature does not have the authority to change the Bars structure because it is controlled by the Arizona Supreme Court. REBUTTAL: Inasmuch as House Concurrent Memorials 2002 and 2003 are not engrossed, i.e., in final version, I will defer a complete rebuttal here. Nevertheless, to be clear, the purposes of the resolutions are simple. Considering that to the extent provided by the Arizona Constitution, the regulatory functions relating to the practice of law, including the regulation of attorneys in this state, are within the authority of the Arizona Supreme Court, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, requests (1) That the Arizona Supreme Court modify its rules related to the State Bar of Arizona to ensure compliance with Keller and the protection of the First Amendment freedoms of Arizona attorneys; and (2) That the Arizona Supreme Court establish improved transparency measures with respect to the practices and policies of the State Bar of Arizona in spending member dues. info@workingforabetterbar.org If you have a question or want more information, contact M.R. Hernandez, Esq. The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: It will be very tough without question. Not just the matches themselves, but the travel, the tight fixtures, etc. Im expecting it to be a lot more difficult than Im imagining, Endo told the Japan Times. (Guangzhou) are a strong side, theres no doubt about that. But it doesnt make them unbeatable. One thing I learned through the Olympic qualifying is that you have to persevere and when you persevere, it opens up opportunities. The first opportunity for Endo to make an impression at his new club could come on Asias biggest club stage on February 24, when 2007 ACL champions Urawa kick-off their quest for a second Asian club title with their Group H opener against Sydney FC. And having honed his skills with a full season Shonan Bellmare Endo, who also has five senior Japan caps to his name, insists he is ready for the step up that joining one of Japans best-supported and demanding clubs represents, with Urawa having previously turned down a move to the Saitama Stadium citing lack of experience. A year ago, I hadnt played a full season in J1. But after getting something under my belt, I was ready to take the next step and I felt this is where I could improve most, he said. Im absolutely thrilled. I feel like Im finally part of the club. The atmosphere at Saitama Stadium is incredible. Of all the teams Ive played against, Id say theyre the strongest. I like to think one of the reasons Im here is because I can cover several positions. Im going to play with one purpose and that is to help the club win a title. I expect to have very little time off this year if any. Photo: AFC Alcatel Flash is set to join hands with Lazada to offer a New Year Gift Package to the buyers of Flash 2 phones on the largest e-commerce platforms Chinese New Year grand sale celebration. With the theme No Excuse to Miss Flash 2, the promotion is designed to show Alcatel Flashs appreciation for the loyalty of its customers in Southeast Asia in making Alcatel a part of their everyday moments. We hope that through this simple promotion, we will be able to express our sincerest appreciation to all our customers who are capturing special moments using the Flash 2, said Yogi Babria, E-Commerce Operations Director, Mobile Internet Group, TCL Communication. Now that another fruitful year is coming in full stride, we want families and friends to stay closer especially now that we will soon reveal two new Flash 2 coversthe Rose Gold and the Mica White. Flash 2 has become a hot-selling product in Southeast Asia by virtue of its powerful camera features, much loved stock Android UI, and superior cost performance. The first batch of the Flash 2 smartphones was sold out in just ten minutes after the launch. It became the bestselling smartphone at the $150 price level in the entire Southeast Asia. In the recently concluded Double 12 shopping festival in Lazadas website, Flash 2 became the bestselling smartphone at the $150 price level and ranked second among the products in all categories in terms of sales volume. I believe that this promotion for the Chinese New Year will push the popularity of Flash 2 to new heights in Southeast Asia, Babria added. Flash 2 is the third product of the Flash series, with the other two being Flash and Flash Plus. So far, nearly 200,000 units of these products were already shipped in the region. Flash entered the Southeast Asia markets in 2013 and built a considerable user base within a short time. Soon after, the Flash Plus made a phenomenal success in the e-commerce platforms in region, setting the record of selling 1,000 units in one minute for four consecutive times in Indonesia and the Philippines. Furthermore, the Flash 2, which was launched less than half a year ago, became one of the most popular smartphones in Southeast Asia where 83.55 million mobile phone units and other products were sold, according to TCL Communication. This includes the 90-percent sales margin contributed by overseas markets, more particularly in Southeast Asia where the Flash brand has gained ground in. How did Flash made its rise in the Southeast Asia in a short two years and became one of the most popular brands? Aside from its top-of-the-line mobile photography capabilities and optimum performance, the Flash brand has also successfully capitalized on the golden age of smartphones in Southeast Asia. According to statistics, since smartphones in Southeast Asia have already outnumbered the local population with many people owning more than one phone, there is a significant demand for smartphones. Another contributor to Flashs success is its partnership with Lazada, the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, which provides access and conveniently delivers products to 550 million consumers. Back to top Bright and clean: Starmobiles first concept store in Iloilo Starmobile inaugurated recently 2 new stores in the Visayas region. Located at SM Seaside Cebu and SM City Iloilo, the outlets opened its doors to the public just in time for the Sinulog and Dinagyang festivals, respectively. We are thrilled to increase our presence in Cebu and Iloilo, said Starmobile Chief Operating Officer Jerry Manus. Visayas will be one of the strongest growth areas for Starmobile this yearin fact we now have 5 Starmobile-branded channels in Cebu and our outlet in Iloilo is our first concept store in the city, he added. Starmobile Kiosk at SM Seaside City Cebu Apart from the usual games and giveaways, mall-goers were treated to a mini concert by Starmobile ambassador Donnalyn Bartolome where she sang her hit single Happy Breakup. Donnalyn has been an endorser of Starmobile since 2012. Back to top Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) gears up for the launching of the All-New Pilot this month. The much-anticipated luxury SUV makes its way to Philippine shores with sophisticated looks, advanced technology, and top-of the-line safety and utility than ever before. The All-New Pilot is set to elevate the premium SUV market with its debut. First revealed at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show in North America, the All-New Pilot was re-engineered and redesigned from the ground-up. PREMIUM SUV STYLING As Hondas premium SUV, the All-New Pilot brings with it a sleek new design. The 2016 model was restyled to sport a modern, yet commanding and muscular form by incorporating new premium exterior features such as the brighter and more efficient Signature LED Lighting for the front and rear. Hondas newest offering has a smooth aerodynamic shape with sharp character lines. Increasing personal sophistication for driver and all passengers, Premium styling is carried over to the All-New Pilots interior with new soft touch materials, LED ambient lighting and Hondas Display Audio system, making it the most well appointed Pilot ever. CLASS LEADING SAFETY The All-New Pilot is adorned with awards such as the 2015 IIHS Top Safety Pick+. The All-New Pilot earned good ratings in five crashworthiness tests (small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints) and superior rating for front crash prevention. This was made possible by equipping the All-New Pilot with Honda Sensing, an advanced driver-assistive technology to prevent or effectively respond to dangerous driving situations. Using a monocular camera and radar behind the front grille, several safety functions have been incorporated in the All-New Pilot such as the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), and Road Departure Mitigation (RDM). REFINED AND CONFIDENT INSPIRING PERFORMANCE The All-New Pilot is equipped with a more powerful direct injected 3.5-liter SOHC i-VTEC Earth Dreams Technology engine. Together with Hondas Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) cylinder deactivation technology, this allows it to deliver more refined and fuel efficient performance than ever. Power is sent to the ground using a completely new Intelligent Variable Torque Management (i-VTM4) All Wheel Drive system that delivers more dynamic handling and confident all-weather performance. This system is paired with an all-new selectable Intelligent Traction Management system featuring Normal, Mud, Sand, and Snow modes. Garnering reviews that befittingly translate the All-New Pilots top-of-the-line quality, the All-New Pilot promises to deliver the best experience anyone can get from a premium SUV. The Pilot was also awarded the Kelley Blue Books 2016 Best Buy Award Winner which attests to the overall value of the car. Honda dealerships are already accepting reservations for the All-New Pilot. For more information, visit www.hondaphil.com or any Honda dealerships near you. Back to top IMF Survey : Regional Trainers Meet to Discuss Priorities for Asia-Pacific Countries Regular training heads meeting aims to keep IMF regional courses relevant Regions evolving challenges put a premium on economic, financial expertise Training institute allows institutions to share best practices across countries Countries with strong institutions and skilled civil servants can formulate more effective and robust policies, which contributes to economic development, stability, and ultimately more sustainable growth, the audience at a recent meeting on training and capacity development heard. IMF CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT But capacity development does not happen overnightsuccessful institution and skill building requires sustained commitment over the long term. The IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institutes (STI) Fourth Directors of Training Meetingco-hosted by the Singapore government on February 1-2brought together senior officials in charge of training at central banks and finance ministries in 33 countries across the Asia-Pacific. The meeting, held every three years, is part of the effort to maintain the quality and relevance of training provided to IMF member countries in the region. The Directors of Training Meeting is a useful platform for all heads of training institutions to discuss pertinent issues related to capacity building, and to review how the STI can better meet the demand for specialized economic and financial courses in the Asia-Pacific region, said Heng Aik Yeow, Director-General of Singapores Technical Cooperation Directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More complex global environment The STI is the flagship regional training center in the Asia-Pacific, serving 37 IMF member countries. It was established in 1998 to help the region build stronger institutions for more sustainable growth through training of their staff on the formulation and implementation of macroeconomic and financial policies. The meeting featured panel discussions led by directors of training, presentations by IMF staff, and reflections by STIs donors. Participants debated a broad array of issues, including country experience with IMF capacity development, the IMFs new training curriculum for member countries, how best to coordinate technical assistance and training, and the challenges of accurately evaluating the impact of training and technical assistance activities. Ha Hai An, Deputy Director General in the State Bank of Vietnams Department of International Cooperation, pointed to the essential and fundamental character of STI training. He noted that when his staff return from training, they try to impart the knowledge gained to colleagues in order to maximize the value of the training to the institution. Throughout the meeting, participants stressed the importance of keeping pace with the regions evolving training needs. Following the global financial crisis, for example, countries in the region found themselves confronted with a series of financial regulatory and supervisory reforms, which required an entirely new set of skills to implement. Training programs in the region therefore need to keep up to speed with a changing external environment, which can be challenging. Old schools of thought should not be thrown away, but we need to keep abreast of new developments, noted Naomi Kedea, Director of the Human Resources Department at the Bank of Papua New Guinea. Donor perspective The meeting was also attended by representatives of the countries that provide financing to the STI. Senior officials from Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Japanese Ministry of Finance, and the Australian High Commission shared their perspectives in a session highlighting the donors view of capacity building. Tsutomu Kameda, Section Chief in the International Organizations Division of Japans Ministry of Finance, observed that the Japanese approach to capacity development favored concrete, hands-on experience. Other donor representatives praised the IMFs move toward a results-based management system for assessing the impact of training and technical assistance. Participants also discussed how best to take advantage of advances in technology such as online learning and integrate them into their institutions training programs. The IMF offers free online courses available to anyone in the world. Regional diversity The Asia-Pacific region encompasses economies from across the development and population spectra. It includes high-income economies like Hong Kong SAR and the Republic of Korea, emerging economies like Malaysia and Thailand, and low-income countries like Cambodia and Nepal. And global giants such as China and Indiawith populations exceeding one billionsit alongside small states such as Palau and Tuvalu, with populations of less than 25,000. The STI must take into account all their policy challenges. The uncertain economic environment also underscores the need for continued capacity buildingincluding through trainingin the Asia-Pacific region. While Asia has shown resilience and policy frameworks are generally sound, the recent episodes of global volatility have demonstrated that policy tradeoffs can worsen quickly. These new challenges put a premium on the expertise in assessing macroeconomic and financial vulnerabilities. Policymaking has become more complex and multifaceted, so policymakers need to have the requisite skills, knowledge, and judgment to be able to deal with this complex global environment, said Leong Sing Chiong, Assistant Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Hence the importance of capacity development in the region. Gene Protects Women From Heart Disease Los Angeles, California - USC researchers have identified a gene variant that decreases the risk of heart disease - but only among women. Hooman Allayee, senior author of the study and associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, said scientists have long known that heart disease affects men and women differently, but what causes the difference has not been entirely clear. This new finding may shed light on that mystery. The study represents one of the first female-specific genetic associations for heart disease, Allayee said. Women who carried a variant of the CPS1 gene had about a 12 percent decreased risk for heart disease. But the same variant had no protective effect on men when it came to coronary artery disease. The study was published online Jan. 29 in the journal Nature Communications. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death for both men and women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Men comprised more than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009. About half the population carries either one or two copies of the CPS1 variant, Allayee said. The gene variant may control levels of certain metabolites found in blood. Metabolites are small molecules that cells can produce. Of the metabolites analyzed, the CPS1 variant had an especially strong effect on raising glycine levels, said Jaana Hartiala, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher at Keck Medicine of USC. Previous research has shown that glycine, an amino acid, can decrease inflammation in cells that line heart arteries and in immune cells that infiltrate the artery wall, Hartiala said. Inflammation in these two types of cells can promote the buildup of cholesterol-containing deposits in arteries, so the glycine-raising properties of CPS1 may explain why it protects against heart disease, she said. Scientists know of at least 50 genes associated with heart disease in both men and women. Since many more genes must be involved, our results suggest that doing separate genetic studies in men and women could help scientists identify some of the other genes. Allayee chimed in. We still dont know why the protective effect of CPS1 on heart disease is specific to only women, he said. It could be glycine, but it also could be something else that has not been identified yet. Nevertheless, understanding this novel mechanism could pave the way for developing therapies that might be particularly beneficial to women. The researchers performed two genetic studies. The initial discovery was made in 6,092 men and 2,576 women from the Cleveland Clinic. The female-specific association of the CPS1 variant with heart disease was then confirmed in a second sample of 26,905 women and 26,772 men. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and the University of Lubeck contributed to the study. The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and Foundation Leducq. Yes, you can tell if your audience is bored Berkeley, California - Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton may want to take note. If a quick scan of the crowd tells you your audience looks riveted, bored or angry, trust your eyes. New research from UC Berkeley shows that we average out expressions in a sea of faces to get a reliable mood reading. The study, published in the Journal of Vision, shows the human brain is wired to speedily pick up on the overall emotional tenor of a crowd, registering everything from alarm over impending danger to fascination, humor and anger as well as mixed emotions. Our results suggest that we can recognize how united or divided the crowd is, which is useful for guiding our actions, said study senior author David Whitney, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley. For example, he said, Politicians should be able to gauge how polarizing their speech is, and use that to help modify their talking points. In a series of experiments, study participants looked fleetingly at pictures of crowds. In some images, all the faces in the crowd showed similar emotions, say, delight. In others, they showed a variety of emotions ranging from happiness to anger. Study volunteers quickly differentiated between emotional uniformity and emotional diversity in the pictures. The experiments were controlled for such variations as the angle or brightness of faces. The study was conducted at UC Berkeley. The lead author is Jason Haberman, an assistant professor of psychology at Rhodes College in Tennessee and a former student of Whitney. Pegan Lee, a histotechnologist at UCSF and former Whitney lab member, is a co-author. Under Secretary Sewall Travels to Egypt Washington, DC - Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall is on travel to Egypt, February 710. Under Secretary Sewall will meet with government officials and civil society representatives to discuss countering violent extremism, transparency, governance, and human rights issues including gender-based violence. She will also deliver a public lecture, The Role of Women in Overcoming Egypts Economic and Security Challenges in the 21st Century. Ahead of the 1916 Rising Centenary, Dr Ruairi Hanley wraps himself in the tricolour he contends Irish medical institutions should have dropped the Royal prefix when Ireland declared itself a republic. Last time I checked I was living in a Republic with a democratically elected head of State. In this country all citizens are born equal and we have long since abandoned the notion of royalty, a ludicrous medieval concept that implies certain congenital people are genetically predisposed to rule over us. Indeed, the fact that so many civilised nations continue to embrace the concept of the divine right of monarchs is both bizarre and deeply depressing. However, what I find even more extraordinary is the continuing use of a Royal prefix for various institutions operating here in our sovereign Republic. Regrettably, one of the main offenders in this regard is the Irish medical profession. Perhaps the leadership of the RCPI and RCSI can explain to this simple-minded peasant with a medical degree which Royal family they are referring to in their official titles? Presumably it is not that of Norway or Spain? No? Bahrain perhaps that country that likes to reportedly lock up and torture Irish-trained doctors? No not them either eh? God knows no Irish medical institution would ever refuse to unequivocally condemn a brutal regime like that! Perish the thought! Oh I see! Could it be that the Royal is a nod to our former overlords the British Empire? Well I have a newsflash for my eminent colleagues. The Brits are gone chaps. I know it is hard to accept but they left a long time ago. You are now living and practicing in a Republic in which we the people are sovereign. Notions of imperial grandeur have no place in such a society. In fact we have a character called the President who is elected every seven years and has no blue blood whatsoever. Tradition Now, I fully recognise there are British medical institutions that continue to use the Royal prefix. It is their country and they are perfectly entitled to do so. If my colleagues in the UK feel their head of state should be selected by virtue of descent from a deranged serial wife-killing psychopath like Henry VIII then good luck to them. But I fail to see why this free, sovereign nation should follow suit and bestow a Royal acknowledgment on its own postgraduates. No doubt those who would defend this situation will respond by citing tradition. Admittedly, that sounds a lot more acceptable than self-confessed West Britonism (a depressingly widespread phenomenon in modern Ireland). Alas, it is also complete balderdash. An institution will not lose its distinguished alumni by dropping the ridiculous Royal prefix. Instead it will show that it is capable of moving with the times, albeit decades later than it should have. Furthermore, the British imperial tradition that certain Irish medical institutions cling to is from the same ideological pond that sent us such delights as the potato famine, the penal laws and the Black and Tans. It is a tradition that men died to end in this country. It is a tradition that I personally hold in complete and utter contempt. True patriotism If there are those up in the RCSI who have a problem grasping this concept I suggest they step outside and take a look at the bullet holes that still riddle the columns at their front door. You see old chaps, I believe when you embrace Royalism in your title you belittle the brave people who stared down the barrel of those guns a century ago so we could take our place among the nations of the Earth. To be fair, not even the dwindling band of closet Unionists that reside within Trinity College would try to declare themselves Royal in a democratic Republic. Now that we are about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, I would urge all academic institutions to show true patriotism by abandoning their attachment to what is nothing than a titular medical relic of British imperialism. To those many thousands of colleagues who find themselves with the letter R lurking in the qualifications after their name, I say this. Pomposity It is time to end the pomposity. Write to your College and urge them to change their title and the mindset that allows it to persevere a century after the shots rang out in that cold Kilmainham yard. All of you can and should feel proud to be members and fellows of Irish colleges that have served this State with such honour and distinction. You do not need an anachronistic imperialistic title to prove that. I admit my views on this subject are unfashionable. Apparently the mere mention of our sovereignty and the struggle that led to it is deemed politically incorrect in the Irelands Call-singing, Dublin 4 moral universe. Frankly, I could not care less. In conclusion, I believe it is high time our profession finally allows all its members to be unambiguously part of a nation once again. World Rugby has announced the pools for the fifth round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Las Vegas, to be played on 4-6 March 2016.The pools for the HSBC USA Sevens were drawn ahead of the Cup final at the Allianz Stadium, with Cup winners New Zealand heading Pool A at the Sam Boyd Stadium thanks to a 27-24 win over Australia.Sir Gordon Tietjen's side will face Kenya, Portugal and Russia in Pool A while Australia, runners-up on home soil in Sydney, meet England, Scotland and Japan.Ben Ryan's series-leading Fiji await Argentina, Samoa and France in possibly the toughest of the four pools, and an exact repeat of the Sydney event, in Pool C. The Pacific Islanders will be looking to extend their remarkable record of 39 victories from their last 39 pool matches when they hit American soil where they are defending champions.Hosts USA, who ended the Sydney Sevens tournament with a 24-21 defeat to Kenya having held a 21-0 lead at half-time, are in Pool D and face South Africa, Wales and North American rivals Canadan in a mouth-watering clash in Las Vegas.Zack Test said: Sydney was a disappointing tournament for us, we played our way in some matches, and lost our way in others. Were gonna have to go back to San Diego and work really really hard at being a 14-minute consistent team now."With Vegas coming up thats just for fuel for the fire though and were looking forward to it. But we have got to take a hard look at ourselves. Credit to Kenya they played well, but we just left too many holes. Its always extra fire to play in Vegas and we will be looking to regroup and come out stronger. Shashi Tharoor, Cat or Lettuce? UK PM Liz Truss's Resignation Has Twitter Looking for New Contender Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts 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 IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An analysis into whether the Quran is more violent than the Bible found killing and destruction occur more frequently in the Christian texts than the Islamic. Investigating whether the Quran really is more violent than its Judeo-Christian counterparts, software engineer Tom Anderson processed the text of the Holy books to find which contained the most violence. In a blog post, Mr Anderson explains: "The project was inspired by the ongoing public debate around whether or not terrorism connected with Islamic fundamentalism reflects something inherently and distinctly violent about Islam compared to other major religions." Using text analytics software he had developed, named Odin Text, he analysed both the New International Version of both the Old and New Testaments as well as an English-language version of the Quran from 1957. It took just two minutes for his software to read and analyse the three books. What marriage would be like if we followed the bible By categorising words into eight emotions - Joy, Anticipation, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, Surprise, Fear/Anxiety and Trust - the analysis found the Bible scored higher for anger and much lower for trust than the Quran. Further analysis found the Old Testament was more violent than the New Testament, and more than twice as violent as the Quran. Mr Anderson summarises: "Of the three texts, the content in the Old Testament appears to be the most violent. "Killing and destruction are referenced slightly more often in the New Testament (2.8%) than in the Quran (2.1%), but the Old Testament clearly leadsmore than twice that of the Quranin mentions of destruction and killing (5.3%)." Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Show all 10 1 /10 Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis An Iraqi Christian prepares for the first Sunday Mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Qaraqosh Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi priests hold the first Sunday mass Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christian soldiers attend the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis An Iraqi Christian soldier holds his weapon during the first Sunday mass Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis An Iraqi Christian soldier lights a candle Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi priests hold the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi priests hold the first Sunday mass Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Reuters Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Iraqi Christians celebrate liberation from Isis Reuters However, he adds: "First, I want to make very clear that we have not set out to prove or disprove that Islam is more violent than other religions. "Moreover, we realize that the Old and New Testaments and the Quran are neither the only literature in Islam, Christianity and Judaism, nor do they constitute the sum of these religions teachings and protocols. "I must also reemphasize that this analysis is superficial and the findings are by no means intended to be conclusive. Ours is a 30,000-ft, cursory view of three texts: the Quran and the Old and New Testaments, respectively." Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts 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 IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Doctor Who is going through some rather drastic changes at the moment; Steven Moffatt has announced he will be stepping down as showrunner, while Peter Capaldi has hinted the last series could be his final. Rumours have been swelling around Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams taking over as the titular Doctors companion, but now the actress has said it would be cool if she could be the Doctor - as long as Idris Elba doesnt want the role. I think a black doctor would be incredible, she told the Evening Standard. Im all for Idris Elba but if not Ill take it for the team and do it! She also said that, at the moment, shes a little too busy to take on the role full-time, adding that a female doctor would be incredible at some stage. Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Show all 13 1 /13 Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Reece Shearsmith Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Bethany Black Channel 4 Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Elaine Tan Getty Images Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Maisie Williams Getty Images Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Paul Kaye Rex Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Morven Christie (left) in The Sinking of the Laconia Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cas Rufus Hound Getty Images Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Rebecca Front Channel 4 Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Arsher Ali Rex Features Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Steven Robertson Rex Features Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Colin McFarlane Rex Features Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Sophie Stone Rex Features Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Doctor Who series 9 guest cast Neil Fingleton Rex Features Luckily, the next series of Doctor Who wont be coming until 2017, with only a Christmas special airing in 2016, giving Maisie enough time to leave her other projects and get on board with the BBC show. Replacing Steven Moffat as showrunner will be Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall, with Moffat saying of his own departure: Feels odd to be talking about leaving when Im just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out. While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, Ill be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the Tardis warm for him. Capaldi previously said he doesnt want to play the role for too much longer, saying: This could be my final year. I love Doctor Who but it can be quite an insular world and I do want to do other things. He also previously backed Williams as a possible companion for The Doctor. 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At last Thursday's London premiere of the new movie Zoolander 2, at the Empire Leicester Square, the film stars, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Penelope Cruz, were out in force and in their best threads. The men wore Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino; the women wore Yves Saint Laurent (vintage) and Versace. Fashion figures were in attendance, such as the models Jourdan Dunn and Lara Stone, the photographer Mario Testino and Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue. The sequel follows the same formula but this time, fashion is in on the jokes of which it is made the butt (Paramount) That is because the film focuses on the fashion industry: its protagonists are male models; its villains fashion designers. It's a comedy, the crux of the gag being that Stiller and Wilson play two ridiculously good-looking male models, when neither is exactly Brad Pitt. They're also hammily stupid and get hit in the face a lot with things. That's the plot of both Zoolander films in synopsis, with a few other fashion elements thrown into the mix. Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and Ben Stiller, pose for the photographers during the premiere of: 'Zoolander 2' in Madrid, Spain For the premiere, the red carpet had been swapped for a Zoolander-blue one. Before the screening, the ensemble cast including the patrician designer Valentino, who appears in the film briefly posed uncomfortably while Stiller waved an extended monopod camera support, commonly known as a selfie stick, eight metres in the air. He apparently broke one of those rather more spurious Guinness world records. That was before the film had even started. There's been a hefty amount of kerfuffle, generally, leading up to this film, a late sequel to a 2001 original. That caught a fashion moment, a designer called Mugatu showcasing a collection titled Derelicte inspired by the homeless. It poked fun at a similarly inspired 2000 collection by John Galliano for Christian Dior, of which Cathy Horyn, then the New York Times's fashion critic, said: It's hard to imagine a couture client shelling out $25,000 for a dress just so she can look like a bum. Zoolander hooked onto that slightly implausible fashion moment to spin out a fantastical plot of attempted assassination, accented with lots of slapstick. Zoolander 2 Exclusive Interview With Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig & Justin Theroux The sequel follows the same formula but this time, fashion is in on the jokes of which it is made the butt. If last time Mugatu's show was a sly side-swipe at a designer's disconnected, ivory-tower fantasy, this time the designers Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Alexander Wang and Valentino all have cameos, as does American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. I won't spoil the plot and explain exactly how it acrobatically twists to showcase the fashion industry's acting talents but Wintour's blessing on the project probably helped to secure the designer names involved. It was also behind a publicity stunt at last March's Valentino womenswear show in Paris where Wilson and Stiller's characters walked the catwalk and upstaged an entire collection to wild applause. Stiller and Cruz were also featured on the cover of February's American Vogue. Fashion should have a sense of humour about itself. It is healthy that it can recognise its lampoonable qualities before we hit emperor's new clothes territory. That was an accusation often thrown at Galliano's Homeless collection for Dior, which was indeed ripe for parody. Absolutely Fabulous skewered fashion's excesses with both glee and alarming accuracy. Zoolander 2 is gleeful, giddy even, but the accuracy is lacking as is the timing. Zoolander's fashion quotes Show all 4 1 /4 Zoolander's fashion quotes Zoolander's fashion quotes Zoolander Derek Zoolander: 'What say we settle this on the runway... Han-Solo?' Hansel: 'Are you challenging me to a walk-off... Boo-Lander?' REX Zoolander's fashion quotes Zoolander Hansel: 'I'm sorry that good-looking people like us made you throw up and feel bad about yourself.' Zoolander's fashion quotes Zoolander 'Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.' Zoolander's fashion quotes Zoolander Derek: 'I was at a day spa. Day D.A.I.Y.E' Much was made of Benedict Cumberbatch's transgender model All, who was presented as an anomaly just at a point when transgender models such as Hari Nef and Andreja Pejic have been embraced across cultures, by brands including Mac and Gucci. In the film, there's a designer named Don Atari who speaks in hipsterish gibberish and vaguely resembles the former chief executive of American Apparel, Dov Charney, who left the brand in 2014. Wiig plays fashion mogul Alexanya Atoz, a cross between the socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein and Lady Gaga, who wears ball gowns and cages of boning on her head. Except that, again, Gaga hasn't worn that sort of stuff for a while and anyway, isn't she already playing an exaggerated version of herself in the latest incarnation of the American Horror Story franchise? (YouTube) At the moment, fashion is in a fit about speed seasons moving ever-faster, digital imagery beamed with immediate effect. That's the problem, for me, with Zoolander 2. Given the speed of fashion, it already feels dated. At the risk of sounding like the cliched central-casting fashion editor, I can't think of anything worse. A journal of a [former] Peace Corps Volunteer's time in the Warm Heart of Africa intended to inform friends, family, and lonely blog-readers. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This 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 IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Everyone loves pancakes and wants to know the secret of cooking them. And that partly depends on whether youre after the thin, crepe-like European style or the thicker ones more popular in North America as each requires a different approach. When you make pancake batter you are mixing a whole range of different chemicals (so all sorts of reactions take place in the cooking). The dry ingredients contain flour and sugar, as well as salt and maybe either baking powder or baking soda. Flour supplies protein, molecules made of lots of amino-acids joined in chains, along with starch, which similarly is made of lots of simple sugar molecules joined in chains. Much of the protein in flour is gluten. When you mix the flour with eggs and milk, the gluten molecules get more flexible and can bind to each other forming networks. The mixing causes carbon dioxide gas from the air to be trapped by these networks, which causes the pancake to rise (just like bread does) and creates its chewable texture. Eggs give you more protein, while sugar and butter give tenderness to the texture and the fluids help the mixing process and enable chemical reactions to occur. MPs batter journalists in race Raising standards Thicker pancakes need a raising agent which produces carbon dioxide by itself when heated. This is typically sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or baking powder, a mixture of sodium bicarbonate with a weak acid like cream of tartar. You might remember from chemistry lessons at school that when you mix an acid with a carbonate, you get a fizzing. This is the carbon dioxide gas. Professor Peter Barham of the University of Bristol is one of the great experts on the science of cooking and he has some good advice about getting things right when making pancakes: For a start, cooks always use too much batter' and that the pan should be hot, but not too hot almost smoking - but not blue smoke and should just have a smear of butter or fat. He goes on to say that a standing period of between one and three hours before cooking is vital. It is important to beat the mixture hard, so that gluten forms, for the mixture to then stand to allow the starch to swell and any air bubbles to pop. Unless you do this, the structure of the pancake will be weak and it will be full of holes. Nigel Slater says that you dont have to let the batter stand, but half an hour is probably best. Its also important to remember that if you add buttermilk, which is slightly acidic, it will also react with the carbonates, and leave the batter too long, all the gas bubbles will have escaped, and your pancakes will be flat. Most chefs do not suggest a particular cooking temperature (moderate heat seems the norm). The pan should be hot enough for the pancake to brown in less than a minute, but not so hot that the batter sets when you put it on the pan, before it has time to spread. But all seem to agree on the importance of getting the right pan - a nice heavy, flat one, which will hold the heat well. Browning off The aroma and colour of pancakes originate in the same chemical reaction, known as the Maillard reaction, after its French discoverer, Louis-Camille Maillard. It is caused by hot sugars reacting with amino-acids, generating a wide range of small molecules that escape from the mixture and carry their smells (such as nuts, bread or coffee) to your nose. Some of these brown compounds, also found in bread and coffee, are called melanoidins. If you are just a bit mathematically inclined, you will appreciate how university researchers have shown you can even use formulae for making pancakes whether to work out how much batter you need or how to get the perfect flip. At a more complicated level, these formulae bring in factors such as the cooking time and the temperature of the pan to get as near perfection as you can. But ultimately, for all the formulae, advice from chefs and scietific tips, theres only one thing for it start mixing that batter. Simon Cotton, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Birmingham This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Facebook must stop tracking people who dont use the site within three months, the French data protection authority has told it. The site must seek consent from everyone that it tracks, and stop sending some data to the US, the French CNIL has said. The company places a tracking cookie in the browser of everybody who visits the site, whether or not they are logged in or have agreed with Facebooks terms of service. The French privacy regulator said that simply visiting the site did not count as consent, and that the site must stop tracking those users. The demand follows a similar decision last year in Belgium. That countrys privacy regulator took the question to court, which ruled that it must stop tracking Belgian users, in a decision that lawyers said could spread across Europe. The Dutch, Spanish and German authorities have all also launched investigations into how the site uses data. The ruling about data transfers comes after the Safe Harbor decision last year, which ruled that the agreement was unlawful. That agreement had allowed companies to transfer data out of Europe and into the US, without necessarily adhering to the usual rules that apply for moving it out of the EU. The Safe Harbor regulations expired last week. But the French regulator said that the company was still transferring data under that agreement, and demanded that it stop. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty "Facebook transfers personal data to the United States on the basis of Safe Harbour, although the Court of Justice of the European Union declared invalid such transfers in its ruling of October 6, 2015," the French CNIL said in a statement. Facebook has said that it does not use Safe Harbor to move data to the US. It said that it was confident that it was complying with the relevant laws. Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do. We ... look forward to engaging with the CNIL to respond to their concerns, a spokesperson told Reuters. 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 Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Abortion should be decriminalised and women trusted to make their own decisions over pregnancies without fear of arrest, a new campaign is urging. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) is calling for an end to cruel, archaic abortion laws from the Victorian era used to enable prosecutions in the 21st century. Recommended Read more The 10 biggest myths about abortion The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act - passed before women could vote threatens the harshest punishments for self-induced abortion imposed by any country in Europe today, with the exception of the Republic of Ireland the group said. The 1967 Abortion Act did not overturn this law, but made abortion lawful if two doctors agreed a womans mental or physical health would suffer if forced to continue her pregnancy. It did not extend to Northern Ireland, where two women are currently facing imprisonment under for buying abortion medication online - one for inducing her own abortion and a mother who wanted to help her daughter. But even where the law applies, abortion is not a choice a woman can make for herself, but a decision which must be made on her behalf by doctors. Last year in Durham a young mother was imprisoned for two-and-a-half-years for inducing a miscarriage in the third trimester and also using medication bought online. The increasing availability and knowledge of these pills means more women are likely to put themselves at risk of prosecution, Bpas say. Their We Trust Women campaign is being supported by a several womens organisations including the Fawcett Society, Royal College of Midwives and Womens Aid. Ann Furedi, chief executive of Bpas, said: One in three women will have an abortion in their lifetime in the UK. The ability to end a pregnancy has enabled women to live their lives in the way that they see fit and bear children at the time they think is right. It is high time we recognised this by taking abortion out of the criminal law, and making clear that we trust women to make their own decisions about their own lives and bodies. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The high street may be crumbling before us as we become a nation of technophiles, preferring to pore over our phones and do anything to avoid making face-to-face contact as we turn to a plethora of online outlets. And anyone who takes a cursory glance at sales figures from the UKs leading retailers will see that online sales continue to grow at a pace of which traditional shops can only dream. So with that in mind, why would any online player want to start opening physical shops, with the huge overheads, long leases, ruinous business rates and endless, extortionate upward-only rent reviews? Sofa specialists Made.com and Sofa.com have both opened physical showrooms to offer customers the chance to check out their stock before buying. Online womenswear retailer Finery is launching six concessions in John Lewis, while rival Missguided has opened a concession in Selfridges. Overseas, Amazon has been making waves as it opened physical bookshops for the first time, and much excitement was generated over the idea that it wanted to set up even more, possibly in the UK. It seems the high street still has a sense of theatre and service that the internet has not been able to reproduce and that goes some way to explaining it. Richard Hyman, a veteran retail analyst, said: Online retailers are realising that they miss something if there isnt a physical interaction between the customer and the product. Online retailing is about buying rather than shopping. The latter denotes something much larger than buying, because you can go shopping and not buy anything but brands will impact on the customer in a way that online has been unable to do. Ning Li, co-founder and chief executive of Made.com, which recently opened its first showrooms, explained why his business has taken this step: There was always a segment of the customers who were asking us where they can touch and feel the products, and as we grew the business we felt we would be leaving those customers behind. Its not about online or offline its about how do we leverage the offline presence to offer a better experience to our online customers? We look at our showrooms as an extension of our website. People come to our showroom after they saw something on the website, or had something in mind when they come to the store. Its a conversion tool, rather than the typical way of selling to customers. That is not to say opening stores is an easy process, and Mr Li readily admits physical retail is less agile than online a view shared by the boss of Hotel Chocolat, which started life as one of the first online-only retailers in 1997. Angus Thirlwell, its co-founder and chief executive, explained: It took us seven years to open our first store and we felt a certain degree of pressure. You have to impress people and it has to be better than people expect, which is hard when people already have high expectations. But by 2001-02 we got to a point where we were aware our customers could never talk to us, try the chocolate or interact. Thats when we started talking about creating a physical space. It now means the 100-odd stores Hotel Chocolat has in the UK are meticulously planned with thousands spent on designers and materials to portray an upmarket chocolatier. No wonder Amazon is planning carefully. A single bookshop in Seattle now exists, a second is on its way, and if rumours are to be believed, every city could soon have one. James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, explained why Amazon might be looking at physical stores, bearing in mind his own business has turned a profit after years of analysts predicting its demise. He said: Online only takes you so far, and its not the same experience as a store. If you want to dominate the bookselling space you definitely want to do both. 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. Why Amazon has chosen to focus on books, when they have many other things to sell, is perhaps because of the physical interaction with books, which is a key part of the experience. The vast majority of our customers come into our shops not knowing what they are going to buy. So it seems the future of online may well lie in the high street; but with the costs more prohibitive that ever, could there be a stepping stone for etailers before an all-out physical assault? One way could be the pop-up route particularly with department stores keen for more customers. Another could be via click and collect, with eBay teaming up with Argos and Asos offering collection services at Boots. Neil Ashworth, the boss of CollectPlus, which offers collection and return points at about 6,000 convenience stores and newsagents, reckons it could be: The movement of online-only to high street offerings is almost inevitable. Sales from online-only is still small compared with the overall market and multichannel is the most important piece. But we know that 50 per cent of customers who order online for next day delivery are not going to be home, so online retailers are keener than ever to have an alternative, which is where click and collect comes in. No doubt the evolution will continue and the high street cannot live without the internet. Or should that be the other way round? For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The CEO of Google has been issued around $199 million in stocks for the search engine giants new parent company Alphabet, reportedly making him the best-paid boss in the US. Sundar Pichais pay-out was declared in a company filing, and at around 138 million is worth more than the 130 million Google agreed to pay the UK Treasury in back taxes since 2005. Mr Pichai only assumed the role of CEO in October, having previously worked as the companys product chief. He is still some way off the fortunes of former CEO Eric Schmidt, who is now executive chairman of Alphabet and has shares worth $3 billion. The grant was the first given to Mr Pichai since it was announced he would be made CEO in August 2015, Bloomberg reported. His annual salary is not known, but could be revealed in Googles Proxy Statement in April. Best paid jobs of 2014 Show all 10 1 /10 Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Aircraft pilots and flight engineers: 90,420 Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Chief executives and senior officials: 81,521 Rex Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Air traffic controllers: 79,874 AFP/Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Medical practitioners: 71,141 Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Marketing and sales directors: 70,742 Rex Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Information technology and telecommunications directors: 64,511 Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Financial managers and directors: 61,108 Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Senior police officers: 57,896 Getty Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Financial institution managers and directors: 53,621 Rex Best paid jobs of 2014 Best paid jobs of 2014 Senior professionals of educational establishments: 50,367 Getty The news comes amid growing anger at the low rates of tax paid by many large companies. Last month, Google agreed with the HM Revenue and Customs that it would pay 130m in tax for the last 10 years a deal Chancellor George Osborne championed as a major success. Labour's shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has dismissed the amount as mates rates, adding rumour has it that similar deals could be offered to Facebook and Amazon. On Monday, it emerged that the EU could force Google, Facebook and other major multinational companies could be forced to disclose how much money they make and how much they pay in tax in Europe. A source said that EU officials are currently finalising the impact assessment work. Its likely there will be some form of legislative initiative announced for the beginning of April for public country-by-country reporting.to Facebook and Amazon. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The man once known as the Kremlins banker and who was a close friend of Vladimir Putin is facing two years in jail after yesterday being found guilty of 12 charges of contempt of court. Sergei Pugachev, who has three young children with the socialite Alexandra Tolstoy, fled the UK after his assets were frozen during a major fraud trial in which he was accused of embezzling more than 655m. The 53-year-old Russian oligarch and former senator once owned two major shipyards, the worlds biggest mine and large areas of Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s. But he fell out of favour with the Kremlin in 2010 and was eventually forced to move to London in 2011. Soon he faced fraud proceedings, after being accused of siphoning public money from Mezhprombank to a private account. The bank collapsed in the global financial crisis, but Russias state deposit agency claims that hundreds of millions of pounds have disappeared. Countess Tolstoy met the billionaire when asked to give him English lessons while she was living in Moscow and married to a relatively penniless Uzbek show-jumper. Last year she told The Guardian that I only discovered he had disappeared when I read it in the newspaper, and she has claimed Pugachev is the victim of a high-level conspiracy in Russia to take over his empire. Meanwhile Pugachevs lawyers have argued that the British courts acted against international law in seizing his documents. As part of the criminal investigation he had 1bn-worth of assets including two London homes and a villa in Nice frozen in June 2014. 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. It stopped him from selling the properties or doing anything to diminish their value and also bans him from spending cash in bank accounts. However, the court gave him a generous 10,000 a week spending limit. He was also ordered to hand over his Russian and French passports and remain in the UK, but has now been convicted of contempt after breaching the order and giving evidence to the court which he knew was false. He is believed to have fled to the south of France in July and a warrant is out for his arrest. The court has yet to decide on sentencing, which will be heard on Thursday. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices 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 Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government has been accused of "quietly" stopping funds for small schools struggling to provide children with free hot meals. Many smaller primary schools will suffer from the loss of the 32.5 million they received collectively as "additional support" for the financial demand of free school meals to all. While the Department of Education has said the extra 2,300 per school per year was "always intended to be temporary", critics have said these schools will have to raid other areas of their budgets to continue to provide the hot meals. Sharon Hodgson, shadow minister for children, said the move undermined David Cameron's claim to be "proud" of the nutritional free meals policy. "Once again David Cameron's rhetoric doesn't match the reality," she told The Independent. "School budgets are already under a lot of pressure with rising costs and shrinking budgets. Small schools are often especially hard pressed. "The Prime Minister should act to ensure the education of children, and the financial viability of small schools is not put at risk." David Cameron has said he is "proud" of the UIFSM policy brought in by the Liberal Democrats (Rex Features) All schools currently receive 2.30 per meal to help deliver a pledge by former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM). An extra 3,000 a year was granted last year to 2,867 smaller schools - those with 150 pupils or fewer - to help them cope with the new financial demand of UIFSM. This amount was reduced to 2,300 this year. David Cameron confirmed in September last year that the entire budget to keep free school meals for all pupils no matter their background, meanwhile, was set to be continued. Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results Show all 11 1 /11 Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342684.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342686.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342685.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342687.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342683.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342682.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342688.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342691.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342690.bin Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342681.bin Labour has proposed to introduced free school meals for all primary schools in England and pay for the cost with added VAT on private school fees Getty Images Jamie Oliver's better dinners improve pupils' results 342689.bin Getty Images Even with the 2,300 grant, experts had said some smaller schools were continuing to make a loss on hot meals for all. Critics say the complete withdrawal of subsidy would add to the financial demands already on schools. Schools expect to see a 12 per cent cut over the course of this parliament, on top of the ongoing one-per-cent pay rise freeze for teachers, and pension demands on school budgets. According to Schools Week, Andy Jolley, a former school governor and blogger, said: Schools are already dealing with extremely tight budgets. This will have a devastating effect on some of these small schools. He was also critical of how the department had quietly slipped out the news, Schools Week reported. But a Department of Education spokesperson said it had been "clear" with small schools that the extra financial help for free school meals had a time limit. "To help small schools with the transition to universal infant free school meals, we paid them an extra 32.5m over two years over and above the 600m we have spent on the policy as a whole so far," they said. "We have always been clear that this funding was always intended to be temporary to help small schools to put their meals service on a more sustainable footing." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} DMX has been hospitalized after an apparent asthma attack. The 45-year-old rapper was found unconscious outside his room at the Ramada Yonkers in New York on Monday, TMZ reports. When officers responded to the scene, they immediately administered CPR to DMX government name Earl Simmons and reportedly gave the rapper Narcan, a substance used to antidote narcotic drug overdoses. This was an excellent job by the officers and they definitely saved the life," Yonkers Police Lieutenant Patrick McCormack told the New York Daily News without naming the rapper. "They found him in a lifeless condition with no breathing. They were able to bring back some breathing. TMZ is now reporting that the rapper is alive and recovering. DMX was one of the biggest rap stars from the 90s to the 2000s. His first five albums debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Swedish prosecutor is working on a new attempt to question Julian Assange in London. In 2012, the WikiLeaks founder was granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in the capital to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault. Assange denies the claims. Marianne Ny, Sweden's Director of Public Prosecution, said she was "working on a renewed request to interview Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London". A similar attempt was rejected by the Prosecutor-General of Ecuador in January. The request for an interview comes after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled on 4 February that Assange was being "arbitrarily detained" in the embassy. But in the statement, Ms Ny added that the UN report did not "change [her] earlier assessments in the investigation". The UN ruled in Assange's favour last week after he filed a complaint against the UK and Sweden in 2014 in which he said his detention in the embassy was arbitrary because he could not leave without being arrested. The UN working panel said Assange was "entitled to his freedom of movement and to compensation". Following the announcement, Assange addressed the crowd outside the Ecuadorian Embassy and said the UN's decision was a "victory". But UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond rejected the opinion and branded it as "ridiculous". Assange was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of sexual assault. As he sought asylum in the embassy and did not surrender to extradition, he is now subject to arrest by the Metropolitan Police. Despite the findings of the UN panel, the European arrest warrant remains in place and the Met maintains that Assange will be arrested should he leave the embassy. Assange fears that if he is extradited to Sweden, he will then be sent to the US where he could be put on trial over the WikiLeaks website, which has published thousands of classified documents. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices 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 Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Australia is sacking many of its climate research scientists because it has learnt all that it needs to know about global warming. The countrys climate research arm is losing hundreds of staff after it has been decided that it the basic parts of global warming have been proven. But scientists worry that the decision will leave Australia unable to respond to the effects of global warming. The country is already among the hardest hit by global warming, being the driest country on Earth and undergoing massive changes in its weather. Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) employs thousands of scientists and has taken the lead in modelling the climate and observing the effects of its changes on the ocean. It said in a statement that it had made a strategic decision to move away from climate science and work instead on how to adapt to the new environment. But scientists said that basic work is still very much ongoing and that it would damage the state of climate research across the Southern Hemisphere. The CSIRO is effectively saying climate science is done and were moving on to adaptation and mitigation, John Church, a sea-level expert who has been employed by the organisation for 38 years, told Nature News. My view is that there is inaccurate and misleading science in that statement climate science is not done. Up to 110 out of 140 jobs at its atmosphere and oceans division will be cut, according to reports. A further 120 positions at the land and water program will go, and 350 climate staff will be moved to other roles away from their specialism. Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Because the CSIRO is the most advanced institution of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, cuts to its work could affect modelling of the climate of large parts of the world. The organisation creates one of the only high resolution pictures of the Southern Hemispheres climate and the models that data is used in are among the most important for studying how climate change will affect the world. Australia is ground zero for climate change, a CSIRO scientist told Scientific American. In order to adapt, you need climate models that are going to tell us what you need to adapt to, where you need to adapt, and by when you need to adapt. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scientists could be about to announce that they have observed gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of spacetime, in a discovery that could completely change our understanding of the universe. Gravitational waves were first predicted by Einstein 100 years ago, but have never been directly observed. If rumours about an announcement this week are true, then they may have been seen in a vindication of Einsteins theory. Scientists working with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) system, which was built to detect the tiny vibrations that passing gravitational waves can give off, are to host an event giving an update on the search this week. The event is widely-rumoured to be hosting the announcement that those ripples have been discovered for the first time. If the waves were detected they would offer a way of looking into the furthest and oldest reaches of the universe. The waves are thrown out from places like black holes from the beginning of time, and studying them could offer an insight into that early and strange universe. Einstein predicted them a hundred years ago, and work that followed showed that they must exist. But nobody has seen them. Rumours have been swirling about the detection for weeks. Last month, a scientist away from the project said that it had been confirmed that the waves had been discovered and that an announcement would be forthcoming. Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427 more commonly known as WR 124 and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region The invitation to the press is vague and offers few hints at what exactly the scientists will announce. It only says that the team will update the scientific community and give a status report. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first publication of Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, the release notes. With interest in this topic piqued by the centennial, the group will discuss their ongoing efforts to observe gravitational waves. ISS Earth timelapse The event will be hosted on Thursday afternoon UK time, at the National Press Club in Washington DC. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New forensic evidence reveals that a teenage army recruit found dead at Deepcut barracks may not have shot herself and could have been killed by someone else, it has emerged. Unanswered questions over the death of Cheryl James and failings by the original inquest have prompted a new inquest which began at Surrey Coroners Court in Woking last week. Lawyers representing the family of Private James, 18, who was found dead at the army barracks in Surrey in November 1995, have argued that the inquest should be delayed while the new evidence is considered. Now there is distinguished pathological evidence showing that the shot that killed Cheryl James may not have been self-inflicted, said Alison Foster QC. Third party involvement is more than merely speculative, according to this inquests pathologist. Its important such evidence is fully acquired and assimilated, and it was not fair or practical to hear the evidence towards the end of the inquest, she said. High Court judges ordered the fresh inquest in 2014 after they quashed an open verdict recorded in December 1995 into the death of the recruit, who was found dead with a gunshot wound to her head. The original inquest lasted barely an hour and called seven witnesses. By comparison, the new inquest will last at least seven weeks and is expected to hear from at least 100 witnesses. New evidence suggests Private Cheryl James may have been raped the night before she was found dead at Deepcut in 1995 (PA) At a pre-inquest hearing last year, the familys lawyers were given permission by the coroner, Brian Barker QC, to exhume the body of Private James. They had argued the initial post-mortem examination found yellow bullet fragments in the gunshot wound, while German ballistics experts used by Surrey Police noted that the bullets given to them by the Army to test were red. Forensic evidence from a second post-mortem exam, in which bullet fragments were recovered and tested by ballistics experts, will be presented during the inquest. But the suggestion of third-party involvement was speculative in the extreme, argued John Beggs QC, representing Surrey Police. There was an absence of any reason why this popular young woman would be subjected to an attack by another, he said. Coroner Brian Barker QC ruled that the inquest would continue as planned, with no practical unfairness in scientific experts being heard later in the proceedings. Private James, from Froncysyllte, North Wales, was one of four young recruits found shot dead at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002, amid claims of a culture of abuse and bullying at the army barracks. The others were Privates Sean Benton, 20, Geoff Gray, 17, and James Collinson, also 17. Past investigations by the Royal Military Police and Surrey Police have been criticised for failing to follow up leads, including potential suspects, and not collecting key forensic evidence. It has taken the family of Private James more than 20 years to get a proper inquest. Coroner Brian Barker arrives at Surrey Coroners Court, Woking (PA) On the afternoon of 8 February her father, Des James, told the hearing his daughter was a joy and described her as caring and compassionate. She had made an allegation of being raped when she was 14, something we found out about a lot later, and took an overdose of paracetamol after her cousin died in 1992, said Mr James. But he told the hearing that nobody should make assumptions that she took her own life at Deepcut years later. I would like a thorough inquest, a thorough investigation, that takes a look at the forensic evidence that was missed or not checked. As long as at the end of the inquest Im able to feel confident everything that could be done has been done, I would be satisfied, he said. Mr James claimed there had been an assumption of suicide by Surrey Police during its 2002 investigation, which he described as feeling cursory and rushed. Mr Beggs QC, representing Surrey Police, said the force was also investigating the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the M25 rapist at the time and asked: Did it ever occur that you might have been distracting Surrey Police from what they thought were more pressing matters? But the coroner said: Im not happy with that question. The inquest continues. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Media organisations have lost a challenge against continuing restrictions on reporting a terrorism trial which was held in conditions of unprecedented secrecy. Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and two other judges at the Court of Appeal in London announced their decision on Tuesday. The case centred on what should now be allowed to be reported following the Old Bailey trial of law student Erol Incedal. The appeal judges had heard from a lawyer representing a number of broadcasters and newspaper publishers that the case raised "important issues about the constitutional principle of open justice". Incedal, of south-east London, was acquitted last year of plotting with a terrorist in Syria either to target individuals such as former prime minister Tony Blair or carry out a "Mumbai-style" outrage using a Kalashnikov. Erol Incedal (centre) who has been cleared of targeting Tony Blair and his wife Cherie as part of a terrorist plot (PA) Much of the trial was in private, with only a small group of journalists being allowed to attend, but barred from reporting on anything they saw or heard. In addition, parts of the trial were held in secret, with the press as well as the public excluded. Media organisations challenged a decision by the trial judge to refuse to lift reporting restrictions which had covered the parts of the trial which were held in private. PA Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An elderly couple who bought budget flights online for 143 each were charged an extra 2,000 seven times the original fares after having to twice change their flight dates. Audrey Kay, 80, and her husband Brian, 84, are currently on a trip to Australasia to celebrate their diamond anniversary. The couple, from Mawdesley in Lancashire, made all their own travel arrangements. The bookings went without a hitch until they came to buy return flights for the short hop from Sydney to Auckland. Online, they found an agent called CheapOair.co.uk, with the slogan, Travel the world for less. The return flights, operated by Air New Zealand, cost 143 each, totalling 286. A day later, Mr Kay realised he needed to adjust the date of the inbound flight from Auckland to Sydney. He asked CheapOair to amend the flight and was charged 1,049. Being unfamiliar with the typical level of fees in the aviation industry, Mr Kay paid the charge. His son, Richard Kay, said: We were unaware at the time that my father had paid this. Quite extraordinary, but he is 84 and simply must have thought this how it is when re-booking flights. Air New Zealand later told The Independent its usual change fee on the route is around 80 per person. The world's safest low-cost airlines Show all 8 1 /8 The world's safest low-cost airlines The world's safest low-cost airlines WestJet, a low cost Canadian carrier, was voted one of the safest low-cost airlines Alasdair McLellan/Creative Commons The world's safest low-cost airlines Virgin America was named as a low cost carrier by airlineratings.com Virginamerica.com The world's safest low-cost airlines Thomas Cook airlines were ranked highly on the world's best low cost carriers by airlineratings.com The world's safest low-cost airlines Boeing 737 Boeing 737 is part of TUI Fly, a German based subsidiary of Thomas Cook Tuifly.com The world's safest low-cost airlines Volaris, a low-cost Mexican carrier, has been rated one of the safest airlines to fly Volaris/Carribeanairlinenews The world's safest low-cost airlines HK Express was rated highly in the rankings HKExpress The world's safest low-cost airlines Aer Lingus was rated as one of the safest low-cost airlines in the world. The world's safest low-cost airlines America's low-cost carrier has been rated as super safe. Worse was to come when the couple touched down in Sydney after a flight from Hong Kong. On their way in from the airport to the city, their passports were stolen. The British Consulate in Sydney issued temporary documents to enable Mr and Mrs Kay to continue on to New Zealand. But they were told they would need to obtain new passports in Auckland for their homeward trip. This required them to change the date for their inbound flight once more. With the couple in some distress after the theft, their daughter-in-law, Lesley Kay, made the change for them. CheapOair charged her a further 950.40. She paid up, assuming that the travel company was merely passing on the airlines fees. Detachable Cabin for planes could save lives By then, CheapOair had levied Post Booking Charges totalling 1,999.40 meaning the family had paid, including the 286 for two tickets in the first place, eight times more than the flights originally cost. The couples son, Richard Kay, contacted CheapOair to query the astronomical fees. I was told the matter would go to the billings department for clarity, he said. I called several times. I also sent emails to their customer feedback, but got no replies. Richard Kay then alerted The Independent, saying: I feel CheapOair are taking advantage of two old people and their ignorance in travel matters. CheapOair levied 'Post Booking Charges' totalling 1,999.40 When The Independent asked CheapOair to justify the 2,000 charges, the agency said it was a mistake. The firm reimbursed Mr and Mrs Kay with 1,390, and later increased the refund to 1,608 meaning the couple had paid 790 for their flights. The Independent then asked CheapOair to explain how staff had made not one but two mistakes in levying astronomical fees; and why Richard Kays repeated challenges of the scale of the charges were ignored. The company refused to answer these questions. Instead it issued a statement to The Independent: The delay in resolving this error does not reflect the high standards of service that CheapOair strives to achieve. CheapOair is reviewing its checks and measures to reduce the likelihood of human error during a booking amendment. CheapOair is an offshoot of a US-based online travel agent. Its British base is an agency in Chiswick, west London, known as Dukes Court Travel. The local MP, Ruth Cadbury, said: Sadly there are too many so-called businesses who dont put their customers first. I have alerted Hounslows trading standards team to investigate the travel agents concerned. At least in the travel trade there are industry standards and you can look out for their logo. Neither CheapOair nor Dukes Court Travel is a member of the travel association, Abta. A spokesman for Abta said: The amounts charged to Mr and Mrs Kay to change their tickets were utterly unacceptable. The only amounts that should have been charged were the airlines fee, plus possibly a reasonable admin charge. Richard Kay, who described the episode as disgraceful, is now planning to write to the airlines to report the behaviour of CheapOair: I feel airlines should be more selective in choosing companies that can sell their seats online. This is exploitation of the worst kind. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} They were the gutsy northern fishwives who took on the might of the British establishment in the wake of the nations worst trawler disaster and fought to improve safety in an industry that was killing their men. Now the story of Hulls headscarf revolutionaries could become a blockbuster movie nearly 50 years after the women launched a successful campaign for better working conditions at sea in 1968. Recommended Read more Rough Guides reveals the 10 cities to visit in 2016 Producers at the award-winning Red Production Company, which is behind dramas including Happy Valley, have bought the rights to a book by Hull-based author Dr Brian W Lavery that tells the remarkable story of the fishwives and their formidable leader, Lillian Big Lil Bilocca. Writer and director Mark Herman, whose work includes Brassed Off, Little Voice and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, has also been linked with the project, which is hoped could be the next British box-office smash in the mould of Made in Dagenham and The Full Monty. This was a huge story at the time and it took the Vietnam war off the front pages of newspapers around the world, said Dr Lavery, an author and journalist who started researching the story for a PhD thesis. These women were extraordinary people. This was the worlds most dangerous industry. It was giving them a living, but killing their husbands. They were angry and took on the politicians and the industry. They had remarkable courage to do what they did. Dr Laverys book, The Headscarf Revolutionaries, tells the story of the uprising led by Mrs Bilocca following the sinking of three Hull trawlers the St Romanus, the Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland in as many weeks, with the loss of 58 lives in the dark winter of January and February 1968. Harry Eddom, mate of the Ross Cleveland, was the only man to survive. After 12 hours in a life-raft with two dead shipmates in freezing waters off the coast of Iceland, he was washed ashore and spent 36 hours wandering in the Arctic wastes. He was later found by a shepherd boy, exhausted, frostbitten and sheltering behind a farm outhouse. His story made front-page headlines and he became known as the man who came back from the sea. The sinking of the ships was a devastating blow for Hulls close-knit fishing community. The wives and daughters of local trawlermen launched a petition that attracted 10,000 names in three days. They also picketed the docks to ensure departing ships carried radio operators and then marched on Parliament to meet ministers, who ordered trawler owners to implement new safety arrangements with immediate effect. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2022 A salmon leaps up the weir at Hexham in Northumberland, despite the drought warnings and low water levels, the River Tyne is still flowing well allowing the salmon and sea trout to head up river to spawn. Every year tens of thousands of salmon make the once-in-a-lifetime journey along the Tyne to spawn, having been out a sea PA Three inquiries were also triggered, which led to a Public Enquiry and major changes in working practices in the fishing industry, including legal standards for radio equipment. But the changes came at a price for Big Lil, who was mocked by sections of the national media and received poison-pen letters and death threats because the new safety rules meant some trawlers could not go out to sea. Dr Lavery first took an interest in the story of Mrs Bilocca when he was tasked with writing her obituary for The Times as a freelance journalist back in 1988 and says he was determined to return to the story. The book was published last year by Barbican Press. He said: I was very aware while writing the book that these were people with families still living in Hull. They were very brave and they ended up embarrassing the politicians and the industry into doing something to help save the lives of men at sea. Were still at the early stages of the process with the production company, he added. Im delighted. Ive always felt that this was an important story that had to be told. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Junior doctors preparing to walk out on their second 24-hour strike fear contract changes proposed by the Government will give them a pay cut but how much are they really paid? The term junior doctor covers a wide range of roles below GP or consultant level, encompassing jobs performed by 55,000 people in England - around a third of the countrys medical workforce. According to the NHS careers website, the basic starting salary for trainees coming out of medical school is 22,636, although extra pay is awarded for hours outside 7am-7pm Monday to Friday, or more than 40 hours a week. The basic rate rises to 28,000 in the second year of training and it increases again for anyone working as a specialist doctor, reaching 37,000 to 69,000. According to figures from the NHS Employers Organisation, which is opposing the British Medical Association (BMA) in the current negotiations, the average total wage for a doctor in training is around 37,000. According to research carried out by the Association of Graduate Recruiters last year, that average is in line with starting salaries for graduates entering law firms, which it rates as the best-paid profession for those leaving university. But the basic salary for entry-level junior doctors is at the other end of the scale, alongside jobs in the public sector. 2,800 operations cancelled What is the strike about? Proposed changes to junior doctors contracts are at the heart of the current dispute, which continued on Tuesday with last-ditch talks aiming to avert the strike. It would re-define anti-social hours to outside 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturday, making Saturday effectively part of a junior doctor's normal working week. Katharine Mcdevitt, a consultant paediatrician quoted by the BMA, argued that the change would increase hours and reduce pay. This contract is not safe; its going to remove the safeguards that prevent them [junior doctors] working dangerously long hours, she said. Its going to give them a pay cut pay protection for a few years means nothing. I have gaps on every single one of my rotas, I cannot fill them because there arent enough junior doctors in this country. I believe that we need more junior doctors not fewer, we need to pay them more, we need to respect them and we need to train them. Jeremy Hunt said his 'door is open' for negotiations (Getty Images) What does the Government say? The Department of Health argues the new contract is a better deal and insists it will increase basic salaries and improve training so junior doctors will not get paid less on average overall. Sir David Dalton - the chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust who has been drafted in by the Government to broker a deal - was in discussions with BMA representatives and officials from NHS Employers this afternoon. Jeremy Hunt refused to deny claims he rejected a deal on contracts that could have averted the industrial action in the House of Commons. In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London When asked by shadow health minister Justin Madders about the Independents report that he personally vetoed a cost-neutral deal that would have reduced premium pay on Saturdays but stopped it being considered as a normal working day. Mr Hunt refused to answer the question directly as he attacked Labour for failing to condemn the industrial action. If (the BMA) are prepared to negotiate and be flexible on that so are we, he added. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man has died after setting himself on fire outside the home of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge in London. Paramedics and firefighters were called to the scene at Kensington Palace after 3am on Tuesday morning, but the man was pronounced dead on the scene. According to the Evening Standard, officers stationed at the royal household were the first to respond to the incident, involving a man in his forties. They reportedly tried to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher before attempting to provide first aid. A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said police were called at 3.06am and "found a man ablaze". London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade also attended, she said, but despite their efforts the man was pronounced dead at 3.42am. The scene outside Kensington Palace on Tuesday morning (Getty) She said the incident was not being treated as suspicious or as terrorist related, and the man's actions are not thought to have been a form of protest. Police had earlier been alerted after a man walked out of a central London hospital after presenting with mental health problems, the Standard reported. A statement from Scotland Yard read: "Officers in Westminster were called by a central London hospital at 12.06am on Tuesday, 9 February after a man in their care had failed to return. "Police carried out enquiries to trace this missing man at his home address and two associated addresses but the man, aged in his forties, was not present." A large police cordon remained in place at the scene within sight of the palace on Tuesday morning. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of young people who sought refuge in Britain as unaccompanied child asylum-seekers have been deported to repressive regimes and countries partly controlled by Isis and the Taliban, the Home Office has admitted. Over the past nine years 2,748 young people many of whom had spent formative years in the UK, forging friendships and going to school have been returned to countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria. The figures were finally published by the Home Office minister James Brokenshire this week. Previous Home Office figures significantly understated the scale of the deportations. The bulk of those deported some 2,018 were sent to Afghanistan, but around 60 young people have been deported to Iraq since 2014, the year Isis seized control of swathes of the country. The findings, which were triggered by questions from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Labour MP Louise Haigh, raise serious concerns about what happens to child asylum-seekers when they turn 18, and at a time when Britain is being urged to help thousands of orphaned child refugees from Syria. Unaccompanied child asylum-seekers arriving in the UK are given temporary leave to remain. But this expires when they become adults, at which point many are sent back to their home country even if they have taken GCSEs and A-levels, integrated into British society and lost touch with their homeland. They often struggle to start new lives, because their Westernised mannerisms mean they are regarded with suspicion. Ms Haigh said: These shocking figures reveal the shameful reality behind our asylum system. Children who flee countries ravaged by war in the most appalling of circumstances are granted safe haven and build a life here in the UK, but at the age of 18 can be forced on to a flight and back to a dangerous country they have no links to and barely any memory of. With many more vulnerable young children due to arrive in the UK over the next five years the Government needs to answer serious questions and provide a cast-iron guarantee that vulnerable young people will not be sent back to war zones. She now plans to bring a parliamentary debate on the issue, while the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron is to chair an emergency cross-party summit on 10 February to explore how Britain can support future intakes of child refugees. Mr Farron said: It is a sad state of affairs that the Government is stripping the protective blanket of safety we have offered these children on their 18th birthday. Many will have integrated into their communities. Syria: Refugees continue to arrive at makeshift camp near Turkish border As he released the figures, Mr Brokenshire was forced to apologise for previously providing the Commons with inaccurate numbers in November that said just 1,040 former child refugees had been returned to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya since 2007. He blamed the inaccurate data on an error during the extraction process. Ms Haigh said: Ministers have been basing their confident assurances on protecting these extremely vulnerable young people on a calamitous guesstimate. Labour MP Louise Haigh said the figures revealed 'the shameful reality behind our asylum system' The Bureau of Investigative Journalism explored the cases of several Afghan teenagers last year as they battled deportation orders. Some who were returned claimed they had been left homeless, chased by the Taliban, kidnapped, ransomed and beaten. The latest Home Office figures show that in 2015, 57 former child refugees were sent back to Afghanistan, where the Taliban still controls many districts. Removals to the country have now been temporarily halted as lawyers argue that the security situation is so unsafe that no one should be returned. However, earlier this month lawyers for the Home Office argued in a Court of Appeal case that removals should continue. The judgment is expected imminently. The latest figures also show 657 former child refugees have been returned to Iraq since 2007, including 22 last year and 38 in 2014 when Isis began to take territory in the region. The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to half of Iraq, and against any travel to the north-western areas. A Home Office spokesman said: All applications to remain in the UK are considered on their individual merits, including an applicants age, the length of time they have spent in the UK, their ability to reintegrate and any compassionate circumstances. Push for Afghanistan peace talks amid Taliban resurgence Explainer: Child asylum claims Children can apply for asylum when they first arrive in the UK, but the likelihood of getting refugee status at this point is low, and even less likely for Afghan or Iraqi children. The UK Government does not generally deport unaccompanied children so instead they are given temporary leave to remain, which lasts until they turn 17-and-a-half. At this point, teenagers must apply to extend their leave. But the BIJs analysis of appeals from Afghan teenagers found just one in five was granted asylum at this point. Thousands of teenagers are deported after years living in the UK. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email 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 Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of people have been left without power after Storm Imogen lashed the UK with winds reaching speeds of almost 100mph on Monday night. The worst-hit areas were along the coast in Wales, the South West and southern England, where 15,000 homes were left without access to electricity. The power cuts have led to the closure of several schools in Cornwall. Met Office meteorologist Emma Sillitoe told The Independent that Storm Imogen had caused some of the strongest winds Britain had experienced so far this year. Quite a lot of homes lost power overnight, mainly in the south-west and the west of Wales, said Ms Sillitoe. Winds of up to 121mph were recorded south west of County Cork, while winds of 96mph were felt at Needles off the Isle of Wight. The force of the winds managed to rip the roof off of a Lloyds bank in north Somerset. In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A man leans into the wind on the beach at Newhaven. Winter storm Imogen has brought rough seas and gale force winds to many coastal areas of Britain Reuters In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A man moves a traffic cone to close Fistral Beach car park because of strong winds in Newquay Getty Images In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Recovery vehicles work to right an overturned lorry on the M4 between Bridgend and Port Talbot as winds of nearly 100mph battered Britain after Storm Imogen slammed into the south coast bringing fierce gusts and torrential downpours PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Waves crash over the sea wall at Porthcawl in Wales PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A flooded road near Lower Brockhampton in Dorset PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Vehicles drive down a a flooded road near Lower Brockhampton in Dorset PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Fallen sixty foot oak tree blocks a road in the Hampshire village of Hook Rex Features In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Bruno, a bearded collie cross, walks in the wind in Newquay in Cornwall Getty Images In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A car which crashed into a fallen tree on the Romsey Road in New Forest, Hampshire PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A lorry lies overturned off the road when gale force winds hit Brighton EPA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A collapsed wall in the Worcestershire village of Bretforton near Evesham which injured two children PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Waves hit a harbour wall in Newhaven, East Sussex Getty Images In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK The P&O Pride of Burgundy is battered by waves as she arrives at the Port of Dover in Kent PA In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK Waves hit a lighthouse on the harbour in Newhaven, East Sussex Getty Images In pictures: Storm Imogen hits UK A house in Hampshire where a crew from Gosport Fire Station were called to help as a trampoline got stuck on the roof of a conservatory following high winds PA Coastal communities had to deal with choppy waters - a wave of 19.1m was recorded in St Ives on Monday. Storm Imogen also caused problems for road, rail and ferry routes, including the cancellation of Brittany Ferries crossing between south-coast ports and northern France and Spain. Some people caught up in the gale force winds have been injured. Two young children from Worcestershire had to be taken to hospital on Monday morning after a stone wall fell on them. On Monday, the search for RSPCA inspector Mike Reid, who was reported missing after he went to rescue sea birds in Cornwall on Sunday, continued. Storm Imogen - Waves lash sea front as UK endures high winds Storm Imogen has now moved to Norway and Sweden Ms Sillitoe said, adding that Tuesday would be much less windy than previous days. The winds will only be strong along the coast of Wales. Into this afternoon and evening, Wales will see high-force gusts across the coast, [as will] northern Cornwall and northern Devon. She said there would be patchy rain across much of the country, with showers expected in the southern areas, including the Isle of Wight and London, during the morning. A yellow weather warning of rain has been put in place by the Met Office for parts of Scotland including Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway. There will be patchy rain further north across Scotland, then moving into the north-east through the day," said Ms Sillitoe. Across England and Wales, the Environment Agency has issued 54 flood warnings in addition to 184 alerts for possible flooding. Temperatures will be around 6C or 7C in Scotland, northern England and Wales, and between 7C and 8C in the south of the country. Additional reporting by PA Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Teenage offenders could serve their sentences in secure schools instead of prisons as part of a shake-up of youth custody to put a new emphasis on education, David Cameron has announced. He disclosed the move as he set out measures for driving down re-offending rates in English and Welsh jails, including the establishment of prison league tables and stronger powers for police to deport foreign criminals. The Prime Minister said he wanted to drive up recruitment standards in prisons by boosting schemes to attract graduates to the profession and by introducing a financial incentive scheme for high-performing staff. He indicated he wanted to translate the free school model championed by the Conservatives to the education and rehabilitation of offenders aged under 18. It will mean turning existing young offender institutions into what will effectively be high-quality schools that will demand the highest standards, Mr Cameron said. The moves follow the recommendations of a review of youth justice carried out by former headteacher Charlie Taylor. His interim findings, which are published today suggest the system would be more effective and better able to rehabilitate young people if education was at its heart. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2022 A salmon leaps up the weir at Hexham in Northumberland, despite the drought warnings and low water levels, the River Tyne is still flowing well allowing the salmon and sea trout to head up river to spawn. Every year tens of thousands of salmon make the once-in-a-lifetime journey along the Tyne to spawn, having been out a sea PA Under the plan, secure schools would help young offenders master the basics in English and maths and provide vocational education in a more therapeutic environment. Young offenders would stay at them full-time for the duration of their sentence. Mr Taylors review found the number of children in custody has fallen by almost two-thirds in the past decade, reaching the lowest recorded level. In 2014-15 the population stood at 1,048 and is currently below 1,000, but two out of three children commit a new offence within a year of being released. The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, said: Im in no doubt our system of youth justice needs reform. Although youth offending is down, recidivism rates are high and the care and supervision of young offenders in custody is not good enough. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: An impressive 77 per cent drop in youth crime, 81 per cent reduction of first time entrants into the youth justice system and a 64 per cent drop in the child prison population, give Michael Gove the scope he needs for radical reform. And the shocking Panorama documentary of brutality at Medway secure training centre makes it imperative that he acts now to enable children and young people to get out of trouble rather than grow up to be our adult prisoners of the future. Mr Cameron said the Government would legislate to require foreign criminals to declare their nationality and hand over their passports, adding: One of the big barriers here is that we dont systematically record the nationality of offenders early enough and this can hamper our ability to deport them. He also announced that former prisoners looking for careers in the Civil Service will not have to disclose their past convictions when they first submit their job applications to ensure they are not rejected outright before having had a chance to show their worth. Although they will eventually have to declare their offences, Mr Cameron said that it would remove an important first hurdle to them getting a job. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} David Camerons mother has reportedly signed a petition rallying against government cuts to childrens services that are due to be enforced by her local Conservative-run county council. Mary Cameron, a retired magistrate, confirmed to the Daily Mirror that her name appears on the petition condemning a decision by Oxfordshire county council to close 44 childrens centres in the Prime Ministers own constituency. Mrs Cameron said: My name is on the petition but I dont want to discuss this any further. The 81-year-olds name reportedly appears among the 10,000 people who have signed the petition online and in person, which aims to protect the lifeline of childrens centres in Oxfordshire and maintain universal access to their vital services. The petition adds: Cutting these essential services would leave families vulnerable and isolated, and fail an entire generation of children. If current proposals go ahead, most of this support would either disappear entirely or only be available to families who are already in difficulties. An end to universal provision of support for families of under-fives will only increase the stigma associated with seeking out help, and may put people off using these essential services at a time when they feel vulnerable and isolated. Jill Huish, who runs the campaign that Mrs Cameron backed, said: It shows how deep austerity is cutting our most vulnerable when even David Cameron s mum has had enough. David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters Labour has previously mocked the Prime Minister as the leader of the anti-austerity movement in Oxfordshire after leaked documents revealed Mr Cameron wrote to his local council protesting against cuts in his area. The letter, which was sent to the council leader Ian Hudspeth, hit out at the cuts to libraries, early day centres and museums. In his letter, Mr Cameron wrote: I was disappointed at the long list of suggestions floated to make significant cuts to frontline services I would have hoped that Oxfordshire would instead be following the best practice of Conservative councils from across the country in making back-office savings and protecting the frontline. But in the exchange, which was obtained by the Oxford Mail, the council leader describes how the council had already cut back-office functions, disposed of property and reduced staff numbers by the thousands after Oxfordshire County Councils grant funding was slashed from 122m in 2011 to 62m in 2015. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On Monday night, the Conservative Party held its most extravagant fundraising event of the year at a highly secretive location in the heart of London. The Black and White ball, where tables of 10 cost donors up to 15,000, has provoked ridicule for its auction lots in the past. Heres what we learned from this years event. Someone paid 35,000 to walk about with Zac Goldsmith The Conservatives chose Zac Goldsmith as their candidate for London Mayor (PA) Each year, the Black and White fundraiser includes an auction to raise money for the Tory party described in his notes in the brochure by party treasurer Lord Lupton as a fighting fund to keep Corbyn, Livingstone, Abbott and other long standing socialists from ever gaining a proper platform at Westminster. The star lot appeared to be a day on the campaign trail with Tory London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith which according to the Spectator went to a lucky donor for a mere 35,000. If we were being cynical, wed say the main appeal seemed to be the fact it would include lunch with Tory chair Lord Feldman and tea with Lord Dobbs, according to the Mirror, which obtained a copy of the auction brochure. But access to ministers was much reduced Prime Minister David Cameron leaves the ball (PA) At last years ball, the party was largely mocked for offering lots that included shoe shopping with Theresa May and an Iron Man endeavour with Iain Duncan Smith. This year, the auction was apparently largely void of prizes that could be clearly linked to Cabinet ministers themselves. That said, the ball itself offered plenty of cash for access to the most generous Tory backers. A table where you were guaranteed to speak to a Cabinet-level minister cost three times the 5,000 price-tag of a standard place. As a result (?) the purse strings stayed tight Boris Johnson leaves the event on his bike, as is his custom (PA) The general consensus of those who attended the event appeared to be that it was a bit of a failure, in fundraising terms at least, compared to previous years. Last year was estimated to have raised around 3 million, but this time one anonymous guest told the Press Association: It was all pretty low level items - no one bid very much. It was very dull compared to other years. There were no celebrities, it was hunting, shooting and fishing. This chap met everyone Not everyone left the event feeling disappointed, however. Black and White regular Charlie Mullins, who founded the successful Pimlico Plumbers business in London, seemed to eschew the general secrecy surrounding the event and posted lots of pictures from inside The Brewery event space. In an interview with the Standard this week, Mullins said he was regularly consulted by Dave and George when it came to Government policy on employment matters. But no one else remembered anything from the night Besides the Prime Minister, those attending included Sir Eric Pickles, Business Secretary Sajid Javid, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan. But upon leaving the event, it seems no one was able to remember anything about what had gone on inside. Citing another famous obfuscator, Mr Gove told reporters outside: I'm terribly forgetful. Boris has this great phrase: 'Blessed sponge of amnesia wiping the slate of memory clean.' He added: I'm afraid that amnesiac sponge is always there for me. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The French Government has dismissed David Camerons claim that it would scrap a border agreement with Britain in the event of a Brexit. The agreement, drawn up as part of a bilateral treaty between the two countries, allows the UK to operate its border controls on the French side of the channel. The Prime Minister was accused of scaremongering yesterday when he said leaving the EU would lead to the deal being scrapped and the refugee and migrant camps in Calais relocating to southern England as a result. Recommended Read more David Cameron says refugee camps could move to Kent after EU exit A French interior ministry source however pointed the Daily Telegraph newspaper to a recent statement by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and said it had no plans to change the agreement. Mr Cazeneuve had explicitly ruled out changing the border agreement and said such a move could lead to a humanitarian disaster. "Calling for the border with the English to be opened is not a responsible solution, he said in October last year. It would send a signal to people smugglers and would lead migrants to flow to Calais in far greater numbers. A humanitarian disaster would ensue. It is a foolhardy path, and one the government will not pursue." The rejection appears to be embarrassing for Mr Cameron, who made the argument in a speech yesterday in the hope of convincing people concerned about immigration to back EU membership. However, Sir Peter Ricketts, former UK ambassador to France and former national security advisor to David Cameron warned that Frances stance might not last forever. What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence. He said that the French government was using up significant political capital and police resources in its operation in Calais and that opposition parties were keen to pull out of the agreement. This treaty is a bilateral treaty but it was made in a multilateral context where Britain and France are working together across a whole range of issues, he told BBC Radio 4. If the context changed and Britain made a major decision to leave the EU I think its highly likely France would review its position too. Theres a lot of pressure already, if you look at the main opposition party in France, Les Republicains, theyre already openly calling for that treaty [to be scrapped]. Thousands of people are living in camps in northern France, including Calais and Dunkirk, unable to reach the UK. The number of people living in the camp is small compared to the total number of refugees entering Europe as a whole with millions entering the continent in 2016, according to a European Commission estimate. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has previously called for the Home Office to be reasonable and consider allowing those people in the camps with links to the UK to be admitted. Mr Cameron previously sparked outrage by referring to the residents of the camp as a "bunch of migrants". Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jack Straw, one of the longest-serving Cabinet ministers in a Labour government, is to be denied a place in the House of Lords for as long Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader, according to a senior Labour Party figure. Mr Straw served in the Cabinet for the entire time Labour was in power from 1997 to 2010. He is despised by some members of the Labour Party for his role as Foreign Secretary in the 2003 Iraq war. In February last year, Mr Straw was filmed by undercover reporters from Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph, seemingly agreeing to use his political contacts for financial gain. He revealed during that conversation that he was expecting to go into the Lords when he stepped down from the Commons in May, after 36 years as an MP. The Labour grandee served in both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's administrations (Getty) The then-Labour leader Ed Miliband was willing to nominate Mr Straw for a peerage, but had to shelve the idea pending an investigation by Parliaments standards watchdog Kathryn Hudson, who eventually cleared Mr Straw of wrongdoing although the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, came out strongly in defence of the Channel 4 investigation. Mr Corbyns spokesman said the Opposition leader was not thinking of nominating anyone for a peerage or honour but would not be drawn on whether Mr Straw had any chance of being on any future list. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Hunt has refused to confirm or deny whether stepped in to personally block a deal that would have averted tomorrows junior doctors strike. The Independent reported earlier today that officials from both NHS Employers and the Department of Health saw a proposal by the BMA as a way to end the dispute. Sources close to the British Medical Association however said Mr Hunt personally stepped in to block the deal and that negotiations have now completely broken down a day before the strike. Citing the Independent report, Labour MP Justin Madders put the allegation directly to the Secretary of State at Health Questions in the House of Commons. Have the Government at any point rejected a cost-neutral proposal from the BMA on the junior doctor contractyes or no? he asked. Mr Hunt dodged the question and would not answer it directly. The only reason we do not have a solution on the junior doctors is the BMA saying in December that it would negotiate on the one outstanding issuepay on Saturdaysbut last month refusing to negotiate, he said instead. If the BMA is prepared to negotiate and be flexible on that, so are we. It is noticeable that despite 3,000 cancelled operations, no one in the Labour party is condemning the strikes. Doctors are set to walk out again on Wednesday as the latest in a programme of rolling strikes, triggered after they voted by over 98 per cent for action. In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London The industrial action is being taken over a new contract proposed by Mr Hunt which would re-define anti-social hours and make it cheaper for hospitals to roster doctors on weekends and evenings. The Government says this will improve car at the weekends and evenings but junior doctors worry that it will affect patient safety by encouraging unsafe shift patterns, and also that doctors who work the very longest hours will lose out financially. Mr Hunt has also been personally criticised by the British Medical Journal for citing studies it published and claiming they indicated that NHS care was dangerous at weekends. The journals editor accused the Health Secretary of misusing the studies and said they could not be used to justify his conclusion. A number of polls have shown widespread public support for junior doctors in the dispute. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: The BMA has continuously refused to discuss unsocial hours pay, despite their agreement to talk about this as part of ACAS in November and the progress weve made on safety, education and training. Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said: The Secretary of State has supported NHS Employers in making substantive proposals which address the concerns of junior doctors. We have not since the New Year seen a response from the BMA which seeks compromise on these issues. We continue to want to talk with the BMA to agree a contract that is fair and safe for doctors and patients. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Hunt has been criticised by MPs for failing to attend the House of Commons to answer an urgent question on junior doctors contract negotiations. Heidi Alexander, the shadow Health Secretary, called the debate on Monday as a strike loomed following another round of failed negotiations between the Government, NHS Employers and British Medical Association (BMA). Her question was directed to Mr Hunt but she and other MPs were met by junior health minister Ben Gummer. Without giving an explanation for his superiors absence, he said: The Government are clear that our door remains open for further discussion, and we continue to urge the BMA to return to the table. Regrettably, the BMA is instead proceeding with strike action over a 24-hour period from 8am this Wednesday. Robust contingency planning has been taking place to try to minimise the risk of harm to the public. Mr Gummer said an estimated 2,884 operations had been cancelled ahead of the second junior doctors strike, over attempts to introduce new contracts making Saturdays a normal working day, lowering pay rates and changing working hours. Ms Alexander, the Labour MP for Lewisham East, accused Mr Hunt of insulting professionals intelligence in the dispute, adding: If he was here, I would ask him whether he regrets the way he has handled this dispute, but he has not even got the nerve to turn up. Andrew Marr reads junior doctors' letters to Jeremy Hunt She said that although existing contracts for junior doctors - those below GP or consultant-level are not perfect, the Governments strategy has been an exercise in using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Dr Philippa Whitford, a Scottish National Party (SNP) MP and former consultant breast surgeon, said she was disappointed not to be able to question Mr Hunt directly, while Labour MP Ben Bradshaw called his absence very odd, accusing him of choosing to stay away from questions. This would seem to indicate to me that it is the Secretary of State who has become the main obstacle to a sensible solution to this crisis, he added. Liz McInnes, a Labour MP and former NHS biochemist, put the strike down to a failure of negotiation. In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London The Secretary of States door may be open, but the inflammatory and insulting comments he made in the media this weekend do not exactly invite people to cross that threshold and talk to him, she added. Labour MPs including Luciana Berger and Wes Streeting also joined those criticising Mr Hunts absence on Twitter. Mr Gummer said he would be in the Commons to answer oral Health questions on Tuesday and likened Labours conduct in the debate to an arsonist who pours petrol on a fire and then runs to offer help to put it out. Johann Malawana, chair of the BMAs junior doctors committee, said there was no alternative to industrial action but the Department of Health accused the union of refusing to discuss unsocial hours pay. The department has not yet responded to the Independents request for a comment. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Dissatisfaction with the National Health Service saw its biggest jump ever last year, according to a long-running national survey. Satisfaction with the health service has been falling since 2010, while dissatisfaction has been growing, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey. The sharpest change so far came 2015, when the proportion of people actively dissatisfied with the NHS rose in eight per cent to 23 per cent. The number of people who said they were satisfied was at 60 per cent, down from its peak of 70 per cent in 2010. Social care services were a particular drag on satisfaction ratings. That service is funded by councils, who have faced significant cuts to their budgets and have had to pass on savings. The findings come amid controversy over the Governments handling of the NHS and a wave of strikes by junior doctors over a planned new contract. The NHS has also been increasingly missing waiting time targets in recent years, with the latest figures showing more than 100,000 patients spending at least 12 hours in A&E departments in England in 2015, according to BBC Radio 5Live. Officials maintain that the proportion of people waiting a long time is small, however. The Government announced 3.8 billion extra funding for the NHS in November and has permitted some councils to raise a small amount of extra council tax to fund social care services. Source: British Social Attitudes Suvey, NatCen Social Research John Appleby, Chief Economist at The Kings Fund, a health policy think-tank, said the results were based on a number of factors. The British Social Attitudes Survey has traditionally been seen as a barometer of how well the NHS is performing. The latest survey underlines the high value the British public places on the quality of care the NHS provides and its availability free at the point of use, he said. In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London It is no surprise to find that dissatisfaction is driven by waiting times for appointments and perceptions of underfunding and staff shortages. However, it is also apparent that peoples perceptions are influenced by their views about a range of factors including politics, policy and public institutions, as well as by their own experience of the NHS. Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service managers said the stats were deeply concerning. Public perception on NHS funding, staffing and wait times are however driving lower satisfaction. What the public and health service now needs is a strong clear narrative from politicians of all parties on the future of the NHS, he said. The most important set of results are those on social care. We have said consistently that the NHS and social care system cannot be seen in isolation from each other. A further fall in satisfaction of 5 percentage points to just 26 per cent is deeply concerning. This reflects the pressure social care services are facing and these must be addressed if we are to sustain effective care for vulnerable people. Current resourcing levels in social care will, we believe, be insufficient in the short term to make this a reality. The BSA survey covers England, Scotland and Wales and has been running for around 30 years. The health service is devolved to each of the home nations. A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: There is pressure on the NHS as our population ages, and that's why the government is investing record amounts to transform care. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nearly 90 per cent of junior doctors would consider resigning from the NHS if the Government follows through on its threat to impose a new contract on them, according to a poll of more than 1,000 medics. As thousands of junior doctors commence their second strike on 10 February, the survey, seen exclusively by The Independent, reveals the depths of disillusionment within the profession and will increase pressure on the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who indicated he was ready to impose the contract. Doctors union the British Medical Association (BMA) entered into last ditch talks with the NHS on 9 February to avert a strike, but long-running negotiations over the new contract appear to have it an impasse. If no breakthrough is reached, ministers could unilaterally impose the new contract within days. Mr Hunt has called imposition his nuclear option and on 9 February said that failure to deliver the new contract, which would cut junior doctors weekend pay and set a precedent for other staffing groups in the NHS, would be to give up on seven-day care for the most vulnerable patients. The poll, which was conducted via an online junior doctor network, independent of the BMA, asked whether medics were prepared to consider resignation in the face of imposition of the contract in its current form. Of 1,045 junior doctors who responded, 922 said they would. Hunt on junior doctors' strike Responding to the poll, the Department of Health said medicine was an attractive career and assured junior doctors the new contract included safeguards and better training opportunities. However, the BMA said the result was a foreseeable response to the threat of unfair contracts being imposed. Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA council told The Independent: Junior doctors already work weekends for patients and the governments recognition of this in England is to propose cutting fair weekend pay rates in the very medical specialties where patients rely most on weekend working. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2022 A salmon leaps up the weir at Hexham in Northumberland, despite the drought warnings and low water levels, the River Tyne is still flowing well allowing the salmon and sea trout to head up river to spawn. Every year tens of thousands of salmon make the once-in-a-lifetime journey along the Tyne to spawn, having been out a sea PA In putting politics before common sense, the government has given young, committed doctors no choice other than the last resort of industrial action. It is not surprising that many junior doctors are thinking of leaving an NHS where the government threatens to impose such unfair contracts. NHS England has said that 2,884 operations have been cancelled as a result of todays strike action, which affects non-emergency services. However, public support for junior doctors remains strong, according to a new IPSOS MORI poll, which found that 66 per cent support strike action that excludes emergency care. Protesters in London last weekend march against plans to change junior doctors contracts (PA) The poll, for the Health Service Journal, also found that 64 per cent think the government is more to blame for prolonging the dispute than junior doctors. Mr Hunt was challenged in the House of Commons on 9 February on claims, reported by The Independent, that he personally vetoed a major proposal from the BMA that might have resolved the dispute. The proposal would have seen Saturday pay rates reduced, but crucially continued to recognise that Saturday working would attract pay premiums. It is understood it would have included a cut to the basic pay rise the Government has offered junior doctors, would have been cost-neutral, and that NHS officials considered it a possible basis for resolving the dispute and averting the strike. 'Jeremy Hunt is lying' Asked by Labours shadow health minister Justin Madders to confirm whether the Government had at any point rejected a cost-neutral proposal from the BMA on the junior doctor contract, Mr Hunt again blamed the BMA for refusing to negotiate on Saturday pay despite previous assurances. Labours Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander has urged Mr Hunt not to impose a contract, warning that to do so could risk a prolonged period of industrial action. But the Health Secretary hit back, accusing the Labour party of backing unions over patients. Andrew Marr reads junior doctors' letters to Jeremy Hunt The Labour party is saying that if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached, we should not impose a new contractin other words, we should give up on seven-day care for the most vulnerable patients, he said. Ms Alexander told The Independent that the new survey illustrates in stark terms why it is so important Jeremy Hunt doesnt impose a new contract on junior doctors. Contract imposition risks months of disruption to services, further damage to staff morale and long-term loss of staff to other countries none of which would be in the interests of patients, she said. Whilst the current arrangements arent perfect, the risk of imposing a new contract, which doesnt have the confidence of junior doctors, could have very serious consequences. A Department of Health spokesperson said: Medicine is an attractive career and weve already agreed improved safeguards and better training and education for junior doctors with the BMA but the BMA continues to refuse to talk through the outstanding issue of unsocial hours pay, despite their agreement to do so in ACAS talks in November. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email 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 Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Trident nuclear weapons system could become technologically obsolete within its lifetime, Labours shadow defence secretary has warned. Emily Thornberry said that emerging technologies could render Trident ineffective as a nuclear deterrent during its 30-year lifetime. She said the development of under-sea drones and other technologies on the horizon might make a long-term lifetime spending commitment of between 100 billion and 160 billion unwise. The idea of the Trident replacement is that it can hide in the sea if technology is moving faster than that then it may well be that Trident is not able to hide, she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. If thats right and we are to bet everything on mutually assured destruction then we have to be assured that its going to work. If it cant hide any more that is a problem. It is right for the opposition to make sure that it works before voting for a commitment that according to Crispin Blunt would cost 167 billion. The shadow defence secretary is currently leading a review of Labours policy on nuclear weapons. Ms Thornberrys suggestion prompted criticism from Labour peer Admiral Lord West, who said she was talking nonsense and that the US and China were spending billions of pounds making sure submarines would stay undetectable. Labour's shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry (Getty) The shadow defence secretary replied that the fact billions were being spent in this area proved that there was a serious risk that the stealth capabilities of such boats could be compromised. She was reportedly shouted down at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party last night by pro-Trident MPs who were angry that alternatives to Trident were being considered. Four, five, possibly six people at the PLP yesterday kicked off. They were not representative, she said. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2022 A salmon leaps up the weir at Hexham in Northumberland, despite the drought warnings and low water levels, the River Tyne is still flowing well allowing the salmon and sea trout to head up river to spawn. Every year tens of thousands of salmon make the once-in-a-lifetime journey along the Tyne to spawn, having been out a sea PA Our view is that its not necessarily a binary option, we do need to look at all the possibilities. Ms Thornberry reportedly compared the Trident system, which was first developed during the Cold War in 1980, to the Spitfire plane. Meanwhile shadow home secretary Andy Burnham, who supports Trident, said it would be difficult to reach agreement within the party. I was at the Parliamentary Labour party and it confirmed something that many of us had long suspected that the debate about Trident is going to be very difficult, he told the same programme. The discussion in the party has realistically been can you find a half-way house and most people have concluded that you cant. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader on opposition to Trident. The party policy remains, however, to keep it. A vote on the issue at last years party conference in Brighton was narrowly avoided after delegates prioritised other issues for consideration. The leadership was widely expected to lose such a vote as it lacked the support of trade union delegates on the issue, who are concerned about the programmes implications on shipbuilding jobs. The independent Trident Commission estimated that the system would cost 100 billion over its lifetime, though estimates compiled by Reuters with the help of Tory MP Crispin Blunt and official Ministry of Defence statistics suggest the cost could be as high as 167 billion. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Just days after Private Bowe Bergdahl went missing from his base in Afghanistan in 2009, the men in his platoon were ordered to sign papers vowing to never discuss what he did, or their efforts to track him down. Many of them were already exhausted, having searched endlessly in the hot dust and misery of the Afghan desert for a guy they knew had chosen to walk away. More than six months later, long after US Army officials had learned that Bergdahl's captors had smuggled him into Pakistan, commanders still had a sweeping gag order on thousands of troops in the battlefield. Some were told they could not fly home until they signed the non-disclosure agreements. And even now, six years later, as America's most notorious prisoner of war faces an August court-martial that could put him in prison for the rest of his life, the Army is still refusing to let the public see critical documents. The Pentagon finished its formal investigation, known as an Army Regulation 15-6, more than a year ago. That report, led by a two-star general, includes interviews with more than 50 people, including Bergdahl. In 371 pages of sworn testimony, he told General Kenneth Dahl what he did, why and what he endured during his five years as a hostage. The 15-6 is not classified, and at a preliminary hearing, General Dahl testified that he does not oppose its release. But the Army won't budge. And in the absence of facts, ignorance and bloodlust reign. At Donald Trump rallies, crowds roar when he calls Bergdahl a "dirty rotten traitor" who should be shot. On social media, a vast chorus of US patriots and partisans join in. The longest-held American PoW since Vietnam deserves no mercy. And the US Army apparently agrees. But despite the Army's campaign to hide the facts, the truth has slipped from its grasp. You don't need to read the 15-6 to know what Bergdahl did and why. The mystery is why the military, ignoring its own investigation as well as the unspeakable torture Bergdahl endured, seems determined to crucify him. Motive was always the confounding question at the heart of the case, but Fox News claimed it had the answer when it aired a stunning report in early spring 2015. "There is clear evidence," said former Army intelligence officer Tony Shaffer, "that [Bergdahl] was going over to the other side." Citing senior government sources with access to a 2009 report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Bergdahl, Shaffer declared, "was actually trying to offer himself up to the Taliban". This was big news; the cable juggernaut touted its scoop on its most popular shows, and it took root in social media, tarring Bergdahl as a traitor. But there is a serious problem with that report: it doesn't exist. Shortly after the Fox story aired, the NCIS stated that no one at Fox had called to confirm what the report said or even to verify that it existed. Ed Buice, the NCIS public affairs officer, said: "There is no report." No matter. In the court of public opinion, Bergdahl never had a chance. In the absence of a plausible explanation for his disappearance, rumours swirled. Men from his company Blackfoot grumbled that he liked to spend too much time with the Afghans. He didn't drink or hang out. The soldiers didn't question their duty to rescue him, but they weren't happy about risking their lives to save this misfit. Desperate to track him down, the Army solicited tips from Afghan sources and when the reward for quality information climbed to $25,000, intelligence was soon swamped with reports. Mostly false leads and Taliban propaganda, they ranged from the treasonous (he was teaching the enemy bomb tactics) to silly (he had taken several wives and was living in a lavish hilltop villa). But, says a former Defense Department official, "We were chasing rumours." There were "no reliable reports that indicated he was a traitor". Still, shady intelligence was better than none; so rescue teams were told Bergdahl might not leave his captors peacefully and were instructed to use auto-injectors of Valium to quell him. Bowe Bergdahl arriving at the pretrial hearing last month at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Getty) When soldiers desert their posts in war, they typically run from the fight, toward safety. Bergdahl did the opposite, walking directly into his own kidnapping. Over the course of his 1,797 days in chains, he was starved, beaten and under constant threat of execution. For more than three years, he lived in a 6ft by 6ft steel cage with no running water and severe chronic diarrhoea. Several months before his release, as secret negotiations with American officials finally progressed, his captors tried to improve his appearance. They fattened him up and exercised him on a collapsible treadmill. And then, on the morning of 31 May 2014, they dressed him in a white shalwar kameez, drove him to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and handed him over to a group of American agents. About 8,000 miles to the west, five Taliban detainees walked out of the Guantanamo Bay military prison and were flown to Qatar on an American cargo plane. The Taliban videoed all of this, from Bergdahl staggering to the Black Hawk helicopter to the group hug in Qatar, making the entire episode the most documented prisoner swap in American history. Bergdahl was quickly taken to Germany, where he received medical care and was questioned. (He asked if he could have some peanut butter.) He was then transferred to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where hostage experts, survival psychologists, FBI agents and intelligence officers interrogated him further. Meanwhile, General Dahl was appointed to lead the 15-6 and recruited a team: an infantry platoon leader, nine officers, 10 enlisted men, an intelligence analyst, a psychologist, a psychiatrist and a few financial experts. Over the next 59 days, they interviewed 57 people, including members of his platoon, his company and his family. And at a preliminary trial in September 2014, General Dahl would try to explain the seemingly inexplicable. He described a 23-year-old with the delusional and sometimes grandiose perspective of a sheltered adolescent. He said Bergdahl's unique upbringing, eight miles along a dirt-road canyon, "on the edge of the grid, denied him, frankly, some normal social development opportunities". He testified that Bergdahl, who joined the Coast Guard in 2006, "looking for some adventure", only lasted three weeks before "he became overwhelmed and found himself in the hospital". The Coast Guard diagnosed him with "adjustment disorder with depression". In 2008, with the war in Iraq pressuring military recruiters, 20 per cent of US enlistees that year entered the service under lowered standards. The Army issued Bergdahl a waiver for his illness, as it did for thousands of men with felony records. He joined the Airborne Infantry and sailed through basic training. But as the months progressed, so did his confusion. When Bergdahl was shipped out to Afghanistan, he carried small notebooks with him and, in his downtime, filled them with meticulous, handwritten stories. According to Josh Cornelison, a medic in Bergdahl's platoon who found one after he left, he wrote about "a hero against the world, and Bowe Bergdahl was that hero". General Dahl also testified that Bergdahl "was very motivated to deploy": he wanted to do big things in Afghanistan, missions that a Navy Seal team might be assigned, but that he had no realistic hope of doing. He was frustrated that he wasn't kicking in doors and doing hand-to-hand combat. This portrait of Bergdahl is less dramatic than the plotting traitor that cable news portrays, but it's close to the descriptions provided by those who knew him best. "My gut tells me he grossly underestimated what he was doing," another 2nd Platoon soldier says. "I don't think he intentionally sought out the Taliban. I think he left and [then] said: 'Oh shit, I made a monumental, horrible decision.' " The preliminary hearing in September was Bergdahl's first public opportunity to explain why he made it. He said his plan was to hike about 18 miles to a nearby base, thereby triggering a missing soldier alert. After what he imagined would be his triumphant reappearance, he hoped to earn a private meeting with a general who would listen to his concerns about dire leadership and safety issues in his unit. That story suggests he was delusional. But while it is not a guilty plea to the charges he faces "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" and "misbehaviour before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command unit or place" it is close. The defence offered three main arguments in response. One: Bergdahl is guilty of going Awol, during which time he was kidnapped. He did not intend to leave permanently and is therefore not guilty of desertion. Two: the Army shares the blame for this tragedy. Bergdahl washed out of the Coast Guard with a mental breakdown, but they issued him a waiver and deployed him to a dangerous war zone. (In Afghanistan, his superiors ignored a concerned report about Bergdahl's mental state from a sergeant in his platoon.) Three: the many years he spent in brutal captivity should be a mitigating factor. The grim details, as well as his good conduct, make a prison sentence both redundant and inhumane. One of Bergdahl's most grievous sins, in the eyes of many, was putting the lives of fellow soldiers at risk. The routines of the war they had been waging were instantly shattered by his disappearance. Relative calm was replaced by what his platoon's ranking officer, Captain John Billings, called "franticness", a virus of chaos that spread to Blackfoot Company at large, and eventually to all the forces in the region. According to another Pentagon source, the crisis altered strategies at the highest level. Michael Waltz was a Special Forces major who took command of a team of Green Berets that day. "We unequivocally stop what we are doing, pivot and devote every asset we had to this search," he said. After Billings reported his soldier Dust-Wun (duty status whereabouts unknown), he organised a hasty nine-man foot patrol. "Did taking out that patrol decrease your ability to defend Observation Post Mest?" the prosecution asked. "Absolutely," replied Billings. But some veterans and their families want Bergdahl held accountable for more than just rushed foot patrols. Three chairs in that courtroom were reserved for the family of Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews, who they say was killed on a search mission in September 2009. The inconvenient problem here is that the Army has never explained why any infantryman was searching for Bergdahl nearly two months after solid intelligence placed him in another country. But it turns out, according to several military sources, that the Army used the crisis to gain strategic advantages. "It was common knowledge that commanders in the field used searching for Bergdahl as a justification for more aggressive tactics," the former Defense Department official says. A former officer who served in the region adds, "It was a good excuse. 'Bergdahl' became a language tactic to get assets." But regardless of these subterfuges, the former officer's sympathy lies not with Bergdahl but with the men sent to find him: "They all knew that Bergdahl was a shithead, but they still attacked every mission with absolute dedication." Then there are Bergdahl's 1,797 days as a PoW. In the preliminary trial, the defence called Terrence Russell, the Pentagon's lead de-briefer, who has managed 125 such cases, including those of Jessica Lynch (captured in Iraq in 2003) and Bobby Hall (captured in North Korea in 1994). In his career, Russell said, he has met just one or two former hostages he did not believe were being honest. Bergdahl was not one of them. He added that Bergdahl rigorously catalogued his memories of captivity because "he knew he would be an important source of information for the intelligence community and for special operations forces". No one will say whether the military applied that information, but there are some clues. In the five months prior to Bergdahl's release, the CIA drone strikes over Waziristan in north-western Pakistan were suspended. Ten days after he was recovered, the agency opened a sustained campaign in the tribal territories, and in the next two months took out compounds, vehicles and dozens of suspected militants. President Barack Obama with his parents Jani and Bob Bergdahl (AFP/Getty) But for those who call him a traitor, there is a more pressing question: what did he tell his captors? Russell had a simple, blunt rebuttal: "I would be shocked if Bergdahl had any classified information that he would have been privy to anyways He didn't have any information to give." Russell also talked at length about the degradation Bergdahl suffered: how he was beaten with rubber hoses and copper cables; and how, after his first escape attempt, guards tied his hands and feet to a bed frame, and aside from one or two daily bathroom breaks, left him in that position for three months, "purposefully to atrophy his muscles". Each time his captors moved him to a new location, Bergdahl tried to escape: climbing up to the window; trying to get out of the ceiling, to dig through the wall, to dig under the wall. "He's manipulating the locks on his restraints so that he can get out," Russell reported. "And he gets out, and tries to climb the wall." In late 2011, at his sixth location, Bergdahl finally got free. "He successfully breaks his restraints. He gets out of his cell. He climbs down using a makeshift rope and he starts running." He was gone eight and a half days, avoiding people, sticking to the woods. "To survive, he drinks what water he can find. To eat, he eats grass." When they find him, he is sick, weak and nearly naked. This time, his captors built the cage, with no holes larger than what he could fit his hand through. Whenever they moved him, it was broken down and moved with him. "And that was his home for the next three, three and a half years." Russell praised Bergdahl as "an army of one", who took command of his hopeless battle without the psychological benefits of fellow prisoners. "He had to fight the enemy alone for four years and 11 months You can't [overestimate] how difficult that is." Today, as Bergdahl prepares for the court-martial, an information war is still being waged, with many pundits eager to convict him of even more heinous crimes. In the weeks following the September hearing, Fox News viewers were told that "seven of [Bergdahl's] platoon mates died searching for him"; that "this guy defected, he went over to the enemy, he gave them aid and comfort"; that the day before he left, "Bergdahl tells his platoon mates he wants to join the Taliban and voluntarily leaves his unit during combat Afghans tell reporters that Bergdahl came through their villages looking for the Taliban. Bergdahl actually calls his unit and says he's not coming back." Not one of those claims can be verified. But outrage trumps truth. On the witness stand, Russell said Bergdahl could not be accused of a "lack of resistance [or] willingness to serve his country". But a platoon mate of Bergdahl's is in two minds. "He was my friend, but at the same time I resent him," he says. "You don't do that to the guys." He wants to see Bergdahl dishonourably discharged. But, like General Dahl, he doesn't believe he should go to jail for a lengthy sentence. "I think he was just a dude that made a really, really messed-up decision. He paid for it. He paid for it dearly." 2016 IBT Media Inc. All rights reserved Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Canada is set to cease air strikes against Isis by the end of February but will increase its humanitarian aid contributions to the region instead. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was elected to office in November, said his government will end its bombing missions in the war-torn region by 22 February with six fighter jets being withdrawn. Canada will, however, keep two surveillance planes in the region and triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq. "In any mission, you need to make choices. We can't do everything. In our decision, we were guided by our desire to do what we could do best to help in the region and to do it in the right way," Mr Trudeau said during a news conference in Ottawa. "The people terrorised by Isil every day don't need our vengeance, they need our help." The Conservative opposition leader Rona Ambrose accused the Liberal administration of "taking a shameful step backward" from the fight against "the greatest terror threat in the world." Canadian bombing of the region began in April 2015 while the Canadian Conservatives were in power. The Liberal leader had pledged during his election campaign last year to end the air strikes against the so-called Islamic State. He described the decision on Monday to cease bombing as being good for achieving short-term military and territorial gains but not for long-term stability for local communities. In doing so, however, Mr Trudeau is going against public opinion. Two-thirds of Canadians polled recently supported or wanted to extend its support in the US-led bombing coalition, in the wake of extremist attacks in Jakarta and in Bukina Faso that killed seven Canadians in January. The Liberal government will also contribute more than $1.6bn over three years to bolster security, stabilization and humanitarian aid to the region, including increasing counterterrorism efforts in neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan. Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Show all 5 1 /5 Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Canadian Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie wave on stage in Montreal, after winning the general elections Getty Images Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Canada's next Prime Minister The Prime Minister added: We know Canada is stronger, much stronger, than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorizing some of the most vulnerable people on Earth. "Call us old-fashioned, but we think that we ought to avoid doing precisely what our enemies want us to do. They want us to elevate them, to give in to fear, to indulge in hatred, to eye one another with suspicion and to take leave of our faculties. President Barack Obama "welcomed Canada's current and new contributions to coalition efforts and highlighted Canada's leadership in the coalition," the White House said in a statement. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Michigans Senate has passed a bill carrying an anti-sodomy law, which makes it punishable by up to 15 years in prison, as part of new animal cruelty legislation. The bill, dubbed Logans Law and named after a Siberian Husky that died from having acid intentionally poured on him, is designed to stop people convicted of animal abuses from owning pets, The New Civil Rights Movement reports. The bill has been updated to ensure that people with previous animal cruelty convictions cannot own an animal for five years, but it has sparked anger for continuing to carry the out-dated sodomy ban, despite such laws having been ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court 12 years ago. The updated language of the bill states: A person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years. Michigan is one of a handful of states that still has sodomy bans as part of state laws. While these laws have been ruled unconstitutional, critics have said the with mankind definition should be removed to avoid the possibility of gay people being targeted under the archaic law. The Advocate highlighted the potential issue with its report from February last year in which two men in Louisiana engaging in sexual activity in a car were arrested under the state law banning unnatural carnal copulation between people of the same sex, despite this being an unconstitutional law. But Michigan Senator Rick Jones told the New Civil Rights Movement he believed trying to remove the unconstitutional law from the bill would have stopped it being passed. The minute I cross the line and start talking about that other stuff, I wont even get another hearing. Itll be done, he said. Nobody wants to touch it, he added, claiming trying to remove the anti-sodomy law would end up with a big fight thats not needed because its unconstitutional. He said that if there were a bill calling for anything unconstitutional to be removed from the legal books of Michigan, thats something I could vote for. The bill has been passed by the Michigan Senate and is expected to be heard in the House next week. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, just as polls have projected. John Kasich, governor of Ohio, suprised and finished in second place. Please allow a moment for the live blog to load. Mr Trump was leading the Republican field according to opinion polls, after Marco Rubio's rocky performance in a debate left Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, as his main rival. In the Democrats' race, Mr Sanders has held an advantage over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire for weeks. We're running a very radical campaign because we are telling the American people the truth and that's something that is not often told in the political world, he said after finishing a narrow second to Mrs Clinton in the Iowa caucuses. In pictures: US Elections 2016 Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: US Elections 2016 In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters after rival candidate Hillary Clinton was projected as the winner in the Nevada Democratic caucuses Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes photos with workers at her campaign office in Des Moines, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, second from left, prays before lunch with supporters at Drake Diner in Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Governor. Martin O'Malley, speaks during a campaign stop in Waterloo, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks, as his wife Jane OMeara Sanders looks on, at a campaign event at Iowa State University Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks at a campaign event at Fireside Pub and Steak House in Manchester, Iowa. Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum visiting supporters at a house party in West Des Moines, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Ted Cruz campaigns at Greene County Community Centre in Jefferson, Iowa AP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Senator Rand Paul speaks during a Caucus rally at his Des Moines headquarters in Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Republican candidate Jeb Bush speaks at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa AFP In pictures: US Elections 2016 Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin introducing the arrival of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Reuters In pictures: US Elections 2016 A portrait of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders at his campaign headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa Getty In pictures: US Elections 2016 Campaign badges on sale ahead of a Trump rally at the Ramada Waterloo Hotel and Convention Centre in Waterloo, Iowa Getty The New Hampshire primary traditionally plays a pivotal role by providing momentum to the winners heading into the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada. Those candidates who fare poorly could see donations dry up and face pressure to withdraw from the race. In the last 10 elections, the winner of the Republican primary went on to become the eventual nominee eight times and on the Democratic side, seven winners went on to become nominees. Additional reporting by AP Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of the world's largest cruise ships has been forced to return to port after it was struck by 30ft waves and winds of up to 100mph in the Atlantic Ocean. Passengers on the Anthem of the Seas, owned by Royal Caribbean, were forced to stay holed up in their cabins as amateur videos showed furniture sliding around decks. The Anthem of the Seas was on a seven-day voyage to the Bahamas, but it returned to New York when it encountered the rough seas off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The cruise line has stated the ship only incurred minor damage and only four people suffered minor injuries. A video posted by Cruise Ship Follower (@cruisefollower) on Feb 8, 2016 at 1:03pm PST Passenger, Shara Strand from New York City said:"I was shaking all over, panic attack, things like that. "I've been on over 20 cruises, I've been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never." The Anthem of the Seas is the third largest ship of its kind in the world, much larger than the Titanic and is 100ft longer than the US Navy's aircraft carriers. Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port Show all 4 1 /4 Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port Storm damage on the ship's 14th deck Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port The damage to Royal Caribbean's ship Anthem of the Seas. The ship ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean, forcing passengers into their cabins overnight AP Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port The damaged ship turned around and sailed back to its home port in New Jersey AP Storm forces damaged cruise ship back to port The damage to the deck of Royal Caribbean's ship Anthem of the Seas AP US Senator Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate why the ship was allowed out of port. He said on the Senate floor: "The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. "So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?" The cruise line insists the weather was worse than was forecast but that the ship was seaworthy throughout its shortened voyage. Damage to the railings on the Royal Caribbean cruise liner (AP) Royal Caribbean said in a statement: "We know it was tough day on Sunday and apologize for (passenger) discomfort. "Safety is our highest priority and ships are designed to withstand even more extreme circumstances than Anthem of the Seas encountered. "While the weather was unpleasant, the ship remained seaworthy at all times." All passengers have received a full refund for their ticket and credit for a future cruise fo 50 per cent of their fare. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump usually opts for loud, rallying cries to bolster his audiences and make them believe that America can be great again. The Republican candidate, who is speculated to win at the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday evening, took a rather unorthodox approach however at a speech on Syrian refugees in the Granite State. I have a bigger heart than anybody in this room, he told his audience, shortly after saying he had absolutely no problem with looking Syrian children in the face and telling them to leave. The question on refugees had been posed by freelance photographer Darren Ornitz who called out several Syrian families with young children who will be re-located in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Mr Trump has a residence, despite a friendly and welcoming reception from neighbours. I can look in their face and tell them they cant come here, Mr Trump responded to applause. Their parents should always stay with them, I agree that we should keep them together and thats very important but we dont know where their parents come from, they have no documentation whatsoever. They may be Syrian, they may be ISIS, they may be ISIS-related, he said. Mr Trump insisted he had a heart as he would ask the Gulf States to build safe zones in Syria to protect its civilians until the conflict is over. He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel was "insane" to accept so many refugees. Were taking thousands of people. If 2 per cent of those people are bad, the trouble is unbelievable, he said. Anne Corcoran, Editor of anti-refugee blog called Refugee Settlement Watch, agreed with Mr Trumps views. Trump then went on to say, we dont know who they are. He said that the Gulf States should help build safe zones in Syria where refugees could be cared for until the conflict is over. He also said that most of them want to go home anyway. All of that is true. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Footsore but determined, Americas presidential candidates continued to push for votes on Tuesday - reaching out to voters and urging supporters to get people to the polls in what will likely be a crucial contest. Polls in most of New Hampshire opened at 6am - in three small villages voters cast their ballots after midnight on Monday - and were due to stay open until 7pm or later. The states chief election official predicted a record turnout, and with polls showing a tightening of the race, candidates realised that getting supporters to the polls was at important as making their case. Bill Gardner said he believed 550,000 votes will be cast across the state. That would surpass the nearly 530,000 cast in 2008, which was a record. Hillary Clinton is fighting against Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (Rex) Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey and one of eight Republican candidates, visited workers at volunteers at his office in Salem where he thanked them for their work and urged them to keep hitting the phones to urge people to vote until the polls closed. Most recent polls have put Mr Christie far behind frontrunner Donald Trump several other candidates. A poll released on Tuesday by ABC had Donald Trump on 33 points, John Kasich on 17 points, Marco Rubio on 14, Ted Cruz on 10, Jeb Bush on 9, Mr Christie on 8, Carly Fiorina on 3 and Ben Carson on 1 point. But he is one of several candidates who claim to have detected a shift in the public mood since Saturdays debate when he attacked Mr Rubio. Many commentators said Mr Christies claim that Mr Rubio did not have the sufficient experience to be a president, had resonated with many voters. Mr Christie told his workers in Salem: Today is a big day for us. I think a lot of people are rethinking who is qualified to be president of the United States. It is important that every vote we have converted, we get out. He added: Everything you do here is very important. Mr Trump insisted he had the 'biggest heart in the room' when it came to Syrian refugees (AP) Mr Christie told The Independent he was confident of doing well on Tuesday night and would move swiftly on to South Carolina on Wednesday to campaign ahead of the next primary contest. And for the people of the UK, they should know they will have a president who cherishes the relationship with that nation, and who looks forwarding to visiting as president of the United States, he said. The other candidates also continued to reach out to voters. Tycoon Mr Trump did the rounds of a couple of television studios while Mr Rubio, Mr Christie and Mr Bush all stopped at Manchesters Webster School to early voters chat with voters as they arrived. Yet they were not the first to cast their ballot. That honour fell to the residents of a handful of hamlets that began voting at midnight in some hamlets to kick off the first-in-the-nation primary. The towns delivered mixed verdicts. In tiny Dixville Notch, whose residents have been voting at midnight since 1960, all four Democratic votes went to Mr Sanders. On the Republican side, Ohio Governor John Kasich received three, and Mr Trump had two, the Washington Post reported. The night before New Hampshire primary In an interview with ABC Mr Kasich said he took the Dixville Notch contest so seriously that he called every voter in town. Hey, you know, we came out strong, he said. Mr Kasich added that he had already sent my bus my magic bus down to South Carolina to get a jump on the next presidential contest. Mr Rubio, who is struggling to reclaim momentum after stumbling in the last debate, portrayed the growing attacks from rivals as a sign of his campaigns strength. Its great to be targeted, because it means youre doing something right, he said. The ABC poll gave Mr Sanders a nine-point lead over Ms Clinton, suggesting they will 53 and 44 points respectively. If that plays out, the former secretary of state will have done to reduce a lead the Vermont senator enjoyed that once stood at more than 30 points. She has fought hard in New Hampshire and reminded crowds that the state was kind both to her, in 2008, when she bounced back from defeat to Barack Obama in Iowa, and to her husband in 1992 when Bill Clinton came second and declared himself the Comeback Kid. Reports said that at a polling station in the town of Derry on Tuesday morning, Ms Clinton bumped into the husband of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Ms Fiorina, who has repeatedly derided Ms Clinton's marriage to Mr Clinton as loveless. Well, give my best to Carly, Ms Clinton said to Frank Fiorina after they had swapped pleasantries about the marvels of democracy. Want to get a picture? Mr Fiorina said he did, and they posed for the cameras. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email 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 Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A leading professor has warned microcephaly - the condition which has seen babies in Brazil born with small heads and damaged brains - may be the "tip of the iceberg" among birth defects linked to the Zika virus. Albert Ko, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at Yale University, said babies born without the condition could suffer other neurological complications that are not necessarily as obvious. He told the Washington Post that other brain related abnormalities had been linked to the Zika virus outbreak without firm evidence, but that he believes the disease is the probable cause of most. He said researchers investigating cases of microcephaly in maternity hospitals in Salvador, Brazil, are seeing a spectrum of birth defects. Many have fairly severe central nervous system lesions," he said. "There are also a lot of calcium deposits. Those can cause seizures and cause impairment in terms of function for the brain. Dr Ko also said some of the babies brains are smooth, when they would normally have wrinkles, which suggests they have not developed fully. A number of newborns also have visual and hearing impairments, he added. It seems like microcephaly may just be the tip of the iceberg, warned Dr Ko. The Zika virus - in pictures Show all 5 1 /5 The Zika virus - in pictures The Zika virus - in pictures A three-month-old, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil. A rise in microcephaly cases is thought to have been caused by the spread of the Zika virus in affected countries Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A mother holds her baby who has microcephaly Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A five-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A pediatric infectologist examines a two-month-old baby, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil Getty Images The Zika virus - in pictures A baby affected with microcephaly The preliminary evidence is that [some] babies who dont have microcephaly may also have neurological lesions or birth defects that are not as obvious as microcephaly. Speaking about how the virus is affecting pregnant women and families, Dr Ko said: Obviously theres a large amount of fear, especially among pregnant women. For many people, the level of anxiety is extremely great. People want a birth. Its one of the greatest pleasures or expressions of love in a persons life. For many of the families, it really hasnt hit yet what the future is going to be. However, he offered a little hope, saying: Not all the brains are severely compromised. Some of the babies, now one month or two months old, theyre feeding, theyre growing. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A baby less than one month old was pronounced dead but woke up minutes before it was due to be cremated, local reports say. The boy, born in China on 8 January was two months premature, and spent 23 days in an incubator in Panan Peoples Hospital in the province of Zhejiang. Despite recommendations that he stay in an incubator for a month, his parents took him home early in order for him to be home for Chinese New Year, according to Zhejiang Television's Channel Six. After two days at home the baby fell ill, and was brought back to the hospital for emergency care. Doctors declared him dead on 4 February and he then spent 23 hours in a morgue refrigerator at temperatures of -12C. The next day, when pulled out of the refrigerator by a worker to be cremated, the baby reportedly began to cry. The worker cancelled the cremation and contacted the father. Dr Chen, who reportedly pronounced the boy dead, expressed bewilderment. I really cant understand how this miracle happened," he said. Mr Yang, the director of the hospital, said the staff should have confirmed the babys death a second time before issuing a death certificate. Dr Chen said that although the baby was being given emergency care, his odds of survival were low. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hong Kong riot police have fired warning shots during angry clashes that erupted when authorities tried to remove illegal street stalls set up for Lunar New Year celebrations, the worst street violence since pro-democracy protests in 2014. Protesters prised bricks from the sidewalk to hurl at police, while others toppled street signs and set fire to rubbish bins in Mong Kok, a gritty neighbourhood just across the harbour from the heart of the Asian financial centre. As many as 48 police were injured in the clashes, a police spokeswoman said. Hong Kong television showed police officers being beaten with poles and sticks as they lay on the ground. Many protesters and police were also shown with blood streaming down their faces. The police spokeswoman also said 24 protesters were arrested. Police said two warning shots were fired into the air, with pepper spray and batons also used to disperse the crowd. Television footage showed the shots were fired as protesters surrounded several traffic police, pelting them with rubbish, bricks and bottles and wrestling one of them to the ground. Police advance on protesters in Mong Kok (AP) The remains of burned bins and flower pots, chunks of brick and broken bottles lay scattered along the world-famous Nathan Road shopping strip later on Tuesday morning. A taxi with shattered windows was parked nearby. The clashes broke out after police moved in to clear hawkers, or illegal vendors who sell local delicacies, trinkets and household goods from makeshift streetside stalls. The hawkers, a common sight on Hong Kong's bustling streets, quickly attracted a strong social media following under the hashtag #FishballRevolution. Protesters hurl bricks at police (AP) Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters at a hastily called news conference that the city's government strongly condemned the violence. Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said police were investigating indications that the clashes had been organized. When asked about the warning shots, Lai said police had taken all necessary actions. The protesters had dispersed by 8 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) but more than 100 had confronted police in a tense, pre-dawn stand-off during the Lunar New Year holiday, when most of the city is shut down. Demonstrators mount a burning taxi Police told Reuters they were awaiting orders about security plans for Tuesday night. Paul Lee, a 65-year-old security guard, said: This is not the first time there has been violence in Mong Kok. I am deeply disappointed in the government, he said. Some protesters threw bricks and set fire to rubbish bins The underground train station for Mong Kok, a bustling shopping district packed with street markets, shops and high-rise residential buildings, was closed temporarily. The narrow streets in and around Mong Kok were the scene of some of the most violent clashes during protests in late 2014 to demand greater democracy in the former British colony that returned to Beijing rule in 1997. Today's clashes, however, appeared more violent. Hong Kong Indigenous, a localist group that is fielding a candidate in a Legislative Council by-election in a few weeks, was involved in the protest, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported. The group said on its official Facebook page that its candidate, Edward Leung Tin-kei, had been arrested. They could not be reached immediately by telephone to confirm his arrest. More than 40 people have been injured in the clashes Hong Kong police declined to comment on who had been involved in the protests or to confirm who had been arrested. Many so-called localists remain deeply embittered by the lack of any concessions from Beijing or Hong Kong authorities during the pro-democracy protests. Television footage showed protesters on Tuesday shouting: Establish a Hong Kong country! during running battles with the police. Radical protesters and localists demanding greater Hong Kong autonomy have vowed to keep fighting even as China shows signs of tightening its grip. The clashes in December 2014 came when authorities cleared the last of pro-democracy demonstrators from the streets after more than two months of protests that had posed one of the Beijing's greatest political challenges in decades. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The USs top intelligence official has claimed that North Korea has expanded its uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months. In testimony to politicians on Capitol Hill, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said North Korea had announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor, said Mr Clapper, in an opening statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee. North Korea launches rocket despite criticism Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. "We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor," Mr Clapper said. In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Show all 15 1 /15 In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test A lab employee from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety's regional office in Gangneung, east of Seoul, checks for radioactive traces in the air, in Gangneung, soon after North Korea announced it successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The office in Gangneung is the closest one to the site of the North's claimed test. Officials said it will take three to four days to analyze air samples in detail for any traces of radioactivity, the Yonhap news agency reported EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signing a document of a hydrogen bomb test in Pyongyang In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test People watch a TV news program showing North Korea's special announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea AP In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test South Korean people watch TV news at Seoul station EPA In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Japan's meteorological agency officer Yohei Hasegawa displays a chart showing seismic activity, after a North Korean nuclear test, at the agency in Tokyo Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test Ko Yun-Hwa, administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration, briefs reporters showing seismic waves from the site of North Korea's hydrogen bomb test, at his office in Seoul Getty Images In pictures: North Korea hydrogen bomb test North Korea's border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas as North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test Getty Images We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months. Last Sunday, North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed an underground nuclear explosion in January that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, thought many experts were skeptical. Mr Clapper said North Korea was committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, although the system has not been flight-tested. The Associated Press reported that Mr Clappers assessment will deepen concern that North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons programme, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. US-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020. The latest accusations levelled at North Korea came as Mr Clapper warned that Islamic militants and those inspired by Isis will continue to pose a threat to Americans at home and abroad. He said the US will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea. The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness, he said. Isis involvement in homeland attack activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership. Mr Clapper said Russia was assuming a more assertive cyber posture that is based on its willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations even when those operations have been detected and under increased public scrutiny. He said Russias cyber operations are likely to target US interests in part to underpin its intelligence gathering to support Russias moves in the Ukraine and Syrian crises, he said. On Isis, he said: "The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness. "ISIL involvement in homeland attack activity will probably continue to involve those who draw inspiration from the group's highly sophisticated media without direct guidance from ISIL leadership," he added, using an acronym for the militant group. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For victims of alleged war crimes, it was a hopeful moment when the United Nations human rights chief, Jordanian Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, visited the northern districts of Sri Lanka at the weekend. It was the first such visit by a senior UN official for two and a half years to the area worst affected by the countrys 26-year civil war, which ended in May 2009. But for the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it was one more sign that the judicial net is steadily tightening on him and his family after his election defeat in January last year. In the past week, the once untouchable former President has seen his son, Yoshitha, jailed on money-laundering charges and his wife, Shiranthi, grilled by a special presidential unit over corruption allegations. Former ministers have joined the government of President Maithripala Sirisena, to his fury. Some of the ministers who were with me are now talking as if they have never seen me in their lives, Mr Rajapaksa said on Sunday. The crackdown follows a decade of authoritarian rule that was marred by allegations of nepotism and corruption. President Sirisena, who defected from the Rajapaksa camp to launch his own campaign just eight weeks before the election, is at the steering wheel. He is joined by Mr Rajapaksas arch enemies, the current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka whom the ex-President previously had court-martialled and imprisoned for two years after he stood against him in the 2010 election. As his 27-year-old handcuffed son waved farewell from the back of a prison van, a tearful Mr Rajapaksa said: This is an attempt to seek revenge. While he still commands the loyalty of a section of the countrys Buddhist majority, the allegations against him including that he siphoned off millions of dollars meant for the 2006 tsunami victims, many of whom still remain homeless have begun to turn public opinion. Once revered for ending the three-decade ethnic war that claimed 100,000 lives, today Mr Rajapaksa and his family face a series of charges. He, two of his once-powerful brothers, his wife and two sons are accused of involvement in crimes including abduction, murder, weapons offences and large-scale corruption all of which they deny. Last year, soon after his promise to wipe out corruption helped him win power, President Sirisena set in train a series of investigations into the Rajapaksa family. Soon afterwards, the former President was summoned for questioning by the presidential anti-corruption body, World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Meanwhile, a court imposed a travel ban on one brother, the former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and arrested another, Basil Rajapaksa, who controlled Sri Lankas economy for years. The former President was questioned over alleged allegations of bribery, financial fraud, corruption and abuse of state resources and privileges amounting to billions of dollars. There are more than 3,000 cases involving the Rajapaksa family members and his aides, the Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, a former member of the Rajapaksa circle, told The Independent. But loyalists are furious. Arresting Yoshitha [Rajapaksa], who is a naval officer, while the President pardons suicide bombers is pure victimisation and persecution, said Gamini Lakshman Pieris, the former Foreign Minister. The investigators even wanted full details of the cutlery and crockery in his kitchen. Chrishantha Weliamuna, a member of the presidential task force cracking down on corruption, said the Rajapaksa clans control over 70 per cent of the countrys economy, media and military amounted to state capture. With each new case the government digs up, the public is more impatient for justice. Two of Mr Rajapaksas sons are caught up in investigations into the alleged murder of a popular rugby star. Four army officers have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of an anti-Rajapaksa journalist. A former minister, Mervin Silva, has accused the Rajapaksas of the white van abductions and ransom demands common while they were in office; and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is accused of running a torture chamber where victims were allegedly killed. The investigations are right on track, according to the government. Corruption takes years to prove, the world over, Mr Weliamuna said. Sri Lanka is not used to such complex investigations. We just need a bit of patience. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A pregnant woman reportedly tracked down her estranged father after 20 years apart - before he allegedly raped her on the first occasion they saw each other again. The Melbourne woman had been separated from her parents for two decades when she found him in Queensland in 2014. She then invited the man, his partner and their son to visit her home, despite his known history of violence, according to Melbourne newspaper The Age. The woman, who cannot be named, said she was excited and happy to meet her father. Court of Appeal Justices Simon Whelan and Anthony Cavenagh, speaking at the mans appeal to reduce his four-year sentence for incest, said the incident took place when the pair were alone in her house in October 2014. The man, 38, told his daughter to give dad a hug before putting his hands around her waist and kissing her on the neck, The Age reports. The woman allegedly pushed her father away and said: "If you're gonna be like that you may as well take me to your bedroom." She was told to follow him to his room where he raped her while saying: I love you forever. She said: "I didn't say anything or do anything. I felt I had to co-operate and not say anything. I was worried I might get hurt. I thought that if I tried to stop him, he would get angry. "I knew he had a very violent past and had been in jail for physical assaults." 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 She added: "I was very confused with what he said and I still am. I felt gross that it was my dad. I just wanted to get in the shower as I felt so dirty." When questioned by police following his arrest, the man claimed his daughter had instigated the event, the paper reports. "OK, I'm gonna tell you. She made me have sex with her ... I tried to say no. I didn't want to lose her," he claimed. The man admitted having sex with his daughter, but insisted it was not rape. He was sentenced for four years after pleading guilty to incest, however this was reduced to three years on appeal after a psychological report suggested the man had a learning disability and had suffered a tragic background, said the paper. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two trains have crashed into each other in a head-on collision in southern Germany, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 150. Police said one of the trains had derailed and several carriages overturned, and said the final tally of injuries and fatalities was yet to be confirmed. The death toll continued to rise on Tuesday afternoon, as officials said the operation to rescue any remaining passengers from the wreckage was complete. The early morning crash took place near Bad Aibling in Bavaria, and involved two regional trains carrying a large number of commuters - but operators said the "Student" service would have been full of children were it not for the Carnival school holidays. The crash took place south of Munich near Bad Aibling (marked) The latest tally released by Bavarian police said 10 people had died and 50 were seriously injured, while around 100 were reported to have more minor injuries. With so many badly injured in hospital, officers could not rule out the death toll rising further throughout the day. The crash took place shortly before 7am local time (6am GMT), on a stretch of the track between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen. In pictures: Germany train crash Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Germany train crash In pictures: Germany train crash In pictures: Germany train crash In pictures: Germany train crash Members of emergency services stand next to a crashed train near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters In pictures: Germany train crash Members of emergency services stand next to a crashed train near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters In pictures: Germany train crash Rescuers and journalists stand in front of a rescue helicopter near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters In pictures: Germany train crash Paramedics attend to a crash victim near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters In pictures: Germany train crash Members of emergency services boat on the river next to the two trains crash site near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters In pictures: Germany train crash Rescue personnel wait in Bad Aibling, after two regional trains crashed killing at least four people AP In pictures: Germany train crash Firefighters move rescue equipment to the site of a train accident near Bad Aibling EPA In pictures: Germany train crash A rescuer secures a crash victim near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany Reuters Around three hours after the crash, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag updated reporters to say there were still some people trapped. "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," he said. The trains involved would normally be expected to carry children on their way to school, local reports said, but for the German carnival season. A spokeswoman for police in Upper Bavaria said eight rescue helicopters were standing on a lawn near the entrance to the town of Bad Aibling and further rescue staff were on the way to the scene of the crash. Local journalists said they had "never seen so many ambulances" congregated in one place. Broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk 24 said the local carnival in Rosenheim had been cancelled as a result of the incident. It said the crash had taken place near a sewage treatment plant amid a spell of cold weather in southern Bavaria. A rescue helicopter flies to the site of the train accident (DPA) Cars of firefighters and ambulances are parked along a road near Bad Aibling (Reuters) Images posted to social media showed the crash site appeared to be in a wooded area next to a canal. BR 24 said the nearest main road was frozen at the time of the crash, and that the incident was causing extensive local transport delays. The operator of the two trains, Bayerische Oberlandbahn, said on its website that the trains both partially derailed and are wedged into each other. The operator and federal police in Bavaria have activated phone hotlines for families seeking information. The statement did not address the cause of the crash, and officials declined to comment on it. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A shirtless man reportedly sparked a "massive brawl" on board an Air Mediterranee flight after uritinating on a fellow passenger. Flight ML2673 was flying from the Algerian capital of Algiers to Paris on Monday afternoon when flight attendants were forced to overpower the man after he became unruly. The plane was diverted to Lyon halfway through its 90-minute journey when the man became angry because he was not allowed to smoke or drink onboard, French media reported. Flight attendants pinned the man to the ground after he reportedly urinated on a fellow passenger and caused a fight. He was escorted off the Airbus A321 at Lyon's international airport by police, along with another man involved in the brawl. The plane eventually took off again and passengers arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport three hours later than scheduled. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The wife of a senior Isis leader has been charged in the US in connection with the death of US hostage Kayla Mueller. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, 25, an Iraqi citizen who was formerly married to Abu Sayyaf - a Tunisian Isis commander who was killed in May last year - has been charged for her role in a conspiracy that led to Ms Muellers death. The 26-year-old aid worker was kidnapped and tortured by the terror group for two years before being killed in a Jordanian air strike in February 2015. Ms Mueller was captured by Isis when she travelled with a friend to Aleppo in August 2013 to help refugees. She was reportedly repeatedly raped by Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who kept her and several other women as his private property at a house owned by Sayyaf. Bahar, who was also known by the nom de guerre Umm Sayyaf, was captured in Syria in May by US Special Forces and has reportedly been co-operating with military interrogators. The 26-year-old was captured by Isis in 2013 as she tried to help refugees in Aleppo (AP) In August last year, the White House announced Bahir will be prosecuted in Kurdish Iraq and would be held accountable for her actions. According to a Yazidi girl - who was briefly imprisoned in the house with Ms Mueller before her escape in October 2014 - the American would try to protect them from abuse and violence at the hands of Bahar and Isis men. Bahar and her husband are suspected of organising the sex trade within Isis controlled territories where rape is considered a reward for military victories. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty US Justice Department officials say they support that prosecution, but they'll continue to "pursue justice for Kayla." Announcing her death in February, President Barack Obama said: No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kaylas captivity and death. Ms Mueller had epitomised all that is good in our world, he said. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Homs may be the clearest evidence of the destruction that the Syrian civil war has wrought upon the country. The city, which is about 100 miles north of the capital, Damascus, was once the country's third-largest, with a population of more than 600,000. However, after Homs became a rebel stronghold in 2011, it was hit by a military assault by government forces. The ensuing battle nearly destroyed Homs and left it a husk of a city. Despite the destruction, ordinary life goes on to an extent, at least. On 5 February, newlyweds Nada Merhi, 18, and Hassan Youssef, 27, took their wedding photos amid the ruins of the city. Joseph Eid, a photographer with Agence France-Presse, accompanied the couple and their wedding photographer, Jafar Meray, on the shoot Eid said Meray told him he wanted to show that life is stronger than death. Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images) Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images (Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images) Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images (Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images) (Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images) This isn't the first wedding that has been photographed among Homs's ruins. Meray photographed another married couple late last year. On his Facebook page, he explained that the photographs were proof that "life goes on, silently." In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Syrian army forces stand on a street at the entrance of Hamidiya market in the old city of Homs In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Hundreds of exhausted Syrian rebels withdrew from their last remaining strongholds in the heart of Homs, surrendering to President Bashar Assad a bloodstained city that was once the center of the revolt against him In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Rebel fighters wait to be evacuated from the Old City of Homs In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Rebel fighters queue as they wait to be evacuated from the Old City of Homs. After holding the Old City of Homs for nearly two years, around 1,200 rebel fighters and trapped civilians boarded buses which took them out of the "capital of the revolution" in convoys In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Syrian army forces stand on a street at the Old Clock Square in the old city of Homs. The last Syrian rebels in the besieged Old City of Homs were preparing to leave, on the second day of an evacuation deal reached with the government of President Bashar al-Assad In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria A general view for the destruction in the old city of Homs. Syria's third-largest city, has a strategic position linking the country's main north-south axis with the route to the government's strongholds on the Mediterranean coast In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria The last rebels were poised to leave the centre of the battleground Syrian city of Homs, handing a symbolic victory to President Bashar al-Assad ahead of a controversial election In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Syrian government forces look at damages in the old city of Homs In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria Debris lie on a deserted street in the old city of Homs after Syrian government forces regained control of rebel-controlled areas In pictures: Homs left in tatters as rebels quit city Syria A last group of Syrian rebels is on the way to leave the Old City of Homs, completing a negotiated pullout from the heart of the city, provincial governor Talal al-Barazi said In the summer, other photographs showed a wedding in Homs's semi-destroyed St. George's Church, a Greek Orthodox place of worship that had lost its roof in the fighting. Although Merhi and Youssef's wedding photos may suggest that life in Syria can come close to normality, they are far from free of the complexity and divisiveness of the war. Youssef wears a military uniform in the photographs. He is a soldier in the Syrian army the same force that helped destroy Homs with years of airstrikes, artillery attacks, and mortar and rocket fire aimed at the occupying rebel groups. (Jospeh Eid/AFP/Getty Images) (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images) Source: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A suicide car bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group (Isis) struck near a police officers' club in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and destroying a number of cars. Syrian state TV reported the toll and showed footage of the blast scene in Damascus, including several damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car. The police officers' club was next to a vegetable market. Recommended Read more UAE ready to send troops into Syria to fight Isis The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that tracks the civil war, said the blast killed eight policemen and wounded 20. The Isis group claimed the bombing in a statement circulated by its followers on Twitter, saying it was carried out by a fighter known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami. It vowed more attacks. The blast came a day after an international rights group said Syrian government forces and the Russian military have been carrying out daily cluster bomb attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, killing 37 people. The Human Rights Watch report, released Monday, said that cluster munitions, which are widely banned, have been used in at least 14 attacks across five provinces since Jan. 26. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens, HRW said. Cluster bombs open in flight and scatter dozens of explosive munitions over wide areas. Some 98 States are party to a convention banning their use but several countries including Syria and Russia, as well as the U.S., China and Israel have not signed onto the ban. In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps A TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the northern province of Aleppo under the cover of Russian airstrikes in recent weeks in an attempt to besiege rebel-held parts of Aleppo city, the country's former commercial center. Last week, Syrian troops and their allies were able to lift a three-year siege imposed on the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province. HRW said some of the recent attacks using cluster munitions occurred near the two villages. Opposition activists have said that Russia has been using cluster bombs since the start of its aerial campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. HRW previously documented at least 20 cluster munition attacks by the Russian-Syrian joint operation between Sept. 30 and Dec. 14. It called on Syria and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. HRW said the International Syria Support Group that will meet in Germany on Thursday should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority. The ISSG includes 17 regional and world powers trying to end Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011. Cluster bombs have also been used in other recent conflicts in the region, including by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was toppled in a bloody uprising in 2011. The United Nations and human rights groups have said Israel dropped about 4 million cluster munitions during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians, according to U.N. demining experts. AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Horrifying images of Syrian children wounded by suspected Russian air strikes have emerged, fuelling growing international anger at Moscows pounding of civilians in apparent defiance of international law. In a district of Aleppo called Paradise, a video showed doctors in a field hospital working frantically to save the life of a boy, no more than 11 years old, with a gaping shrapnel wound. They pumped his chest to restart his heart, but his fixed eyes suggested it was a hopeless cause. On the other side of the room, a boy covered in dust from the rubble of collapsed buildings writhed in pain and called out to God. The footage, released by the Aleppo Media Centre activist network, could not be independently verified. But Dr Osama Abo el-Ezz, a general surgeon and co-ordinator for the Syrian American Medical Association in the city, said that two Russian attacks on the districts of Paradise (al-Fardous in Arabic) and al-Sukkari had killed 11 people and wounded at least 13. The attacks came as the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said that one of its partner hospitals in the southern province of Deraa was hit by air strikes on 5 February, killing three people and wounding six others, in a flagrant violation of international laws. The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians could starve if, as feared, forces loyal to the Syrian government encircle Aleppo and submit the rebel-held east to a siege. It said that a huge new wave of refugees would be forced to flee from a Russian-backed assault. Syrian activist describes Aleppo devastation Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, added his voice to the chorus of condemnation of Russia, which was accused this week by Human Rights Watch of using banned cluster bombs. He warned that Moscows actions were making an already very bad situation even worse by forcing thousands of people towards Turkey and Europe. Russia maintains that its air strikes do not kill civilians. Responding to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who said that she was not just appalled but horrified by Russian attacks on civilians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: Despite a huge number of such statements, no one up to now has presented a single [piece of] credible evidence as proof of these words. In the past week, Syrian government forces, supported by Russian air strikes, Iranian troops and Hezbollah, have launched a major offensive in the rebel-held area to the north of Aleppo, where al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra has fought alongside more moderate, Western-backed rebel groups. They have severed the main rebel supply route to the city, which was also the primary aid route. The gains have shifted the momentum in a five-year civil war that has claimed at least 250,000 lives and forced 11 million people from their homes. They also triggered the collapse of the first UN-backed peace talks in two years after the opposition refused to negotiate while under heavy attack. In an interview with Reuters, an aide to President Bashar al-Assad said that there would be no let-up in the campaign. Bouthaina Shaaban said Damascus aims to secure the border with Turkey and recapture the whole of Aleppo and the surrounding villages to liberate them from the crimes of terrorism. Syrian opposition asks for help to counter government forces As well as causing spiralling civilian casualties, the encroachment towards the Turkish border has unnerved Ankara, which is staunchly opposed to the Assad government. It has prompted fears of a new influx of arrivals to the EU on top of more than one million migrants and refugees who came to its shores last year. The UN called on Turkey, already home to 2.5 million Syrians, to open its gates to tens of thousands who have amassed near the border after fleeing the attacks. Ankaras position last night appeared confused. While some ministers insisted it was better to keep Syrians on their side of the border, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was in fact admitting refugees in a controlled fashion and had let in 10,000 of the 50,000 people to have reached the border in the latest wave. Turkey has insisted that the needs of those who have fled are being met. The Turkish charity IHH, which is close to the government, is constructing tents and has set up a mobile kitchen serving hot food to 30,000 people per day. Syrians who have fled the attacks congregate at the Bab al-Salama crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border (Getty) (Getty Images) But an aid worker from Islamic Relief, a UK-based NGO that is providing aid in northern Aleppo, told The Independent that conditions for refugees were dire. The staffer, who asked not to be named to protect his safety inside Syria, said: You cant say that these are camps. They are really very primitive, very disorganised. People are living under trees, putting up plastic sheets. The situation is very critical. Nato said that it would treat requests for help with the refugee crisis very seriously after Turkey called for assistance. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Germany and Turkey made the controversial proposal that the alliance should become involved in stemming Europes refugee influx after crisis talks in Ankara between Ms Merkel and Turkish leaders on 8 February. New figures released by the International Organisation for Migration showed that 10 times as many refugees and migrants (over 76,000) arrived in Europe by sea in the first six weeks of 2016, compared to the same period the previous year. Ms Merkel said that this weeks meeting of Nato defence ministers should explore the extent to which the alliance could be helpful in surveillance at sea a proposal that was criticised in Germany, with questions over the legal basis for such a move. But Jens Stoltenberg, Natos Secretary General, responded positively to the suggestion: I think we will take very seriously the request from Turkey and other allies to look into what Nato can do to help them cope and deal with the crisis, he said. Nato defence ministers, who meet in Brussels on 10 February, will tomorrow also discuss a Saudi offer to send troops to Syria as part of the fight against Isis. The US Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, will head a team of Nato defence ministers who will be meeting their Saudi counterpart as well as ministers from the UAE and Turkey. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Week four of the "Blair Years" course at King's College, London, yesterday, and our guest was Sir David Normington, now First Civil Service Commissioner, who was permanent secretary at Education, 2001-05, and at the Home Office, 2005-11. As the top official in two "delivery" departments, he was well placed to tell the story of New Labour's relations with the civil service. He said that, although some Labour ministers and their special advisers were suspicous of civil servants who had worked for Conservatives for 18 years, they were wrong to be. Civil servants "could not be immune" from the feeling in 1997 that it was time for a change, and for him it was "a relief" to work for a government that believed in public service. He said that Tony Blair's leadership and activism "energised" the civil service. "The relentless emphasis from Number 10 on delivery with a capital D", the setting of targets for which ministers and civil servants were accountable, and the belief that active government could bring about change meant that civil servants felt valued, which was "not the same with the governments that preceded it and succeeded it". At Education and the Home Office, he would see Blair every six to eight weeks for stocktake meetings to review progress towards targets. The Prime Minister never let up. After 9/11, on the morning the Prime Minister was departing for Washington, we had a stocktake at which he said, "While I'm away I am relying on you to keep standards in schools going up." Two weeks before he stood down as Prime Minister, we had one on why it was so difficult to send failed asylum seekers back to their country of origin. Over time, the stocktakes became more forensic, and by then he knew more than his officials. This focus on delivery and outcomes was more significant in changing civil service attitudes than anything else. Leadership from Number 10 was the single most important reason public services improved. Although attitudes changed, the organisation of the civil service did not. Sir David felt that more could have been done to bring in outsiders, to identify and promote talent and to develop delivery skills, but that human resources was one of Blair's weak points. "Civil service reform is a very boring subject. Tony Blair thought that it was the job of the civil service leadership, and he felt that in Gus O'Donnell he had someone who had that quality." But O'Donnell became Cabinet Secretary (and head of the Home Civil Service) in 2005, too late to make big changes in Blair's time. Despite his enthusiasm for Blair's reforming zeal, Sir David rejected the charge that New Labour "politicised" the civil service: I really don't think you should get too excited by this profoundly uninteresting question. It is inevitable that if you have strong leaders, over time the senior civil service becomes aligned with them. It was similar in the Thatcher years. It is the job of civil servants to be aware of this alignment. He said that the tensions with the "rival centre of power", Gordon Brown, made life difficult in some ways but had benefits for the Education Department. Not only did he have to attend stocktakes at Number 10, but he had to go to separate "performance reviews" at the Treasury. But, whereas most departments were responsible either for "Blair's issues" or for "Brown's issues", Education was both. "We got money for everything." Sure Start, for example, was devised in the Treasury and handed to Education in 1999. "It came with a vast budget which we couldn't spend. I had to give evidence to the select committee, where I didn't say we hadn't spent it because we were given too much." Charles Clarke, a visiting professor at King's who was Sir David's Secretary of State at Education, 2002-04, and then at the Home Office until 2006, commented. He said: "The Blair-Brown relationship I probably shouldn't talk about at all, but David is right that we often got money when we didn't ask for it." On the myth of the "Tory civil service", he said it arose under previous Labour governments: "You shouldn't underestimate the effect of Tony Benn and Barbara Castle's diaries, in which they built their alibi for failure on civil servants." (He admitted he had a stake on both sides of this debate, as his father, Otto Clarke, was Benn's permanent secretary.) On Blair's Cabinet Secretaries, Clarke said he knew Richard Wilson, now Lord Wilson of Dinton, Blair's second Cabinet Secretary from 1998 to 2002, as he is now Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where Clarke lives. Clarke had given him a tip that he could get 8/1 against the Conservatives winning a majority in the 2015 election, and as a result they had shared some champagne on the winnings. He said Wilson and Blair's personalities "didn't mesh". He agreed with Sir David that allegations of politicisation and "sofa government" were "so much rubbish" and "not remotely true". He said: "If the relationship between the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary is right then everything works." Sir David concluded by saying that the Blair years were some of the best of his career. "We believed we were doing something important sometimes we succeeded, sometimes not. What makes the difference is leadership, and in the Blair years we had that in abundance." Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Junior doctors are preparing to go on a second strike this week over the governments threat to impose a new contract upon them. This is one of many planks in the dismantling and privatisation of the NHS. So now appears to be a good time to outline a plan to save our NHS. As a doctor, heres how I would go about it. Jeremy Hunt, take note. Tear up the new junior doctor contract The government should tear up the new contract, which demonstrates that it does not value the talents and efforts of junior doctors. Plans to scrap workplace safeguards which prevent doctors from working excessive hours will compromise patient safety. The redefinition of anti-social hours would adversely affect the work-life balance of doctors; in short, it means more work for less money. This would be particularly the case for specialties with a greater burden of anti-social hours for example emergency medicine. These are only the highlights. Once you get to the small print, the ramifications are shocking. Non-resident on call doctors could get paid less than the minimum wage for their time. So much for the notion of greedy doctors. The more one scrutinises the contract the more it appears to be a calculated exercise to break the allegiance of staff to the health service. If thats the case, it is having the desired effect - with nearly half of foundation doctors opting not to continue their training in the NHS. Repeal the Health and Social Care Act Dissatisfaction within the NHS is about much more than a single contract. The bigger picture is a government hell bent on the privatisation of the health service. In other words, this is everyones fight, and the public has certainly shown overwhelming support for junior doctors despite efforts to smear them. The Health & Social Care Act is legislation to allow the privatisation of the NHS. It abolishes the governments responsibility for the health service. It effectively means that there is no legal mandate to provide comprehensive services beyond emergency care, and thus enables unlimited rationing of services provided and the outsourcing of those services to profit-making companies. In 2014, out of 9.63 billion NHS deals signed, 3.54bn (nearly 40 per cent) went to private firms. The consequence of this is that private companies cherry-pick contracts, leaving the NHS with an even smaller pot of money with which to attempt to provide a comprehensive service. Reverse privatisation Remember when we were told that GPs would be in charge of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and therefore take full responsibility for organising your care? Well, here is how the promised land looks: those same CCGs are being privatised through the creation of Commissioning Support Units, spun off to bidders such as UnitedHealth. Personal health budgets are being rolled out to up to 5 million patients by 2018 and are a Trojan horse for top-up or co-payments and private health insurance. We are also hearing a lot of buzzwords, such as devolution and integrated care. Devolving control of health and social care spending to the regions means devolving responsibility for cuts, too. Integrating health and social care means that healthcare is likely to go the way of social care: privatisation and means-testing. Many doctors, including me, believe that government advisors are hoping that CCGs can be merged with insurance companies, so that those who can afford it will be forced to pay for their healthcare. That is not what ordinary Britons want. Abolish PFI The scandalous Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is saddling hospitals with enormous debts. The original capital cost of more than 100 PFI hospitals was around 11.5 billion; the repayments on those hospitals will end up costing up to 80 billion. This differential of tens of billions will be siphoned off to banks, financial companies, construction and facilities management firms, instead of being spent on patient care. Recommended Read more Junior doctors could be unilaterally forced to accept new contract We hear a lot about being all in this together and how we cannot afford the NHS. Dont be fooled - theres always plenty of money for those at the top. Instead of renegotiating or buying out PFI contracts, Chancellor George Osborne has introduced PFI2, which is likely to be more expensive with even greater returns for investors. Fund the NHS properly Funding is a fundamental issue, but it can only be tackled once privatisation has been halted for good - otherwise the health budget is merely diverted as profits for private companies masquerading under the NHS logo. During the election, we heard a lot of talk about 8 billion extra pledged to the NHS. What you didnt hear about is the flip-side: 22 billion in efficiency savings, or what you and I might call cuts. This is an extension of the 15 billion in efficiency savings over the previous parliament. Combined with freezing the budget, this means that the NHS is undergoing the biggest funding squeeze since its inception and now, unsurprisingly, it is hitting the buffers. The crisis in the NHS is real, but it is a manufactured crisis due to deliberate policies that have stripped the NHS of funding. We spend significantly less than France, Germany or Holland on our health service, less than the EU average and well below the US. By increasing spending, we would only be matching other advanced economies. Fortunately, the legislation for much of this already exists. The NHS Reinstatement Bill will be put before parliament for a vote in March. Of course, the Conservatives have no intention of supporting these proposals, despite promises that the NHS is safe in their hands. It is up to each and every one of us to save our NHS. This is why we need to support the junior doctors because their struggle is our struggle. Youssef El Gingihy is a GP and author. How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps is published by Zero books. Follow him on Twitter: @ElGingihy Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The British Medical Association has not spread misinformation to junior doctors, as Jeremy Hunt has claimed. Yet even if it had it wouldnt have made a blind bit of difference. Doctors, like all scientists, are trained in the analysis and interpretation of evidence. Evidence to support a diagnosis, evidence for a new pharmaceuticals efficacy, evidence that one operation may be safer than another. This list goes on. The privilege of possessing these skills, is that no longer are you shackled to the inherent bias of another persons discourse you can form an independent judgment. The contracts issue is a case in point. Jeremy Hunts caustic implication that we follow, like gospel, the BMAs every word, is not only an affront the profession, but simply untrue. Weve read the new deal and weve critiqued the data; we didnt vote to walk out en masse by sway of the BMA. They remain, as they should, as facilitators of our cause. Jeremy Hunts apparent disposition to disseminate such pernicious propaganda is provoking threats of the most significant disbandment and emigration of doctors since ironically enough talk of establishing the NHS. Dr Benjamin Kirk Lowestoft, Suffolk Jeremy Hunt has a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford. As our health minister he has no qualification in science nor medicine. Even with one third of an undergraduate degree in economics, it should not be beyond him to comprehend that if he has a diminishing supply of producers of widgets, he should do all that he can to retain those that remain and not goad them into leaving. His previous exploits include trying to (unsuccessfully) sell marmalade to the Japanese. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future, but maybe he should try this again as this is clearly where his skills lie. It would be safer for the future health care of our nation. Dr Paul Baird Weymouth Junior doctors are fighting the Government not just because the new contract will jeopardise patient safety and impact on doctors quality of life. We are fighting to save the NHS. If the Government is allowed to impose its proposed contract changes on junior doctors, a precedent will be set. Soon they will be attacking nurses, physios, paramedics and all other healthcare workers. The NHS is already running on the goodwill of those of us who work in it. If the public want our NHS to survive, everyone must get behind junior doctors and send the Government a message that healthcare workers are not there to be attacked, derided and taken advantage of. Dr Jonathan Barnes London N4 We still have too many women in prison Prison for many women is expensive and ineffective and exacerbates the challenges they have already experienced in life, including childhood abuse, mental ill health, poverty, homelessness and domestic violence. While we welcome the commitment from David Cameron, in his statement on prison policy, to enable greater use of community sentencing for new mothers, we urge the Government to ensure this amounts to an investment in more than tagging, and extends to understanding the current injustice for all women in prison. The last year has seen the highest rate in self-inflicted deaths in the womens prison estate since Baroness Corstons investigation into the treatment of vulnerable women in prison published in 2007. Already this year another two women have taken their own lives. Behind the prison gates self-harming rates for women are still soaring. Too many women are in prison, when they pose no harm to others, only themselves. Many specialist organisations providing services to women affected by the criminal justice system face a struggle for funding. This has not been helped by the upheaval caused by recent changes to the probation service. We urge the Government to consider the value of reducing the number of women in prison by 50 per cent by 2020 and invest in the specialist long-term community support women and their families need so they can rebuild their lives and the lives of their children. Kate Paradine Chief Executive, Women in Prison Deborah Coles Director, INQUEST Jackie Russell Director, Womens Breakout London N1 Brexit means a horde of expat pensioners About a million expatriate Britons live in Europe. Many of these will have retired to sunnier climes, not gone there to work. If Britain leaves the EU, thereby blocking the free movement of productive workers from Europe coming here, there is no reason why retired Britons should be allowed to remain in their chosen EU country. A situation could easily arise where hundreds of thousands of pensioners would be forced to return to the UK, creating chaos in housing and social provision. As such pensioners would have retired to cheaper, warmer, areas and bought homes there, a glut of their houses on the local market would depress prices so that they would have insufficient funds to buy even a modest house in the UK. There is already a crisis in care for the frail elderly in this country and the prospect of hordes (the pejorative term beloved of Europhobes) of pensioners descending on an already stretched system could be catastrophic. This is something worth thinking about before casting a vote in favour of Brexit. Patrick Cleary Honiton, Devon Mr Cameron worries about immigration following Brexit, but he is looking in the wrong direction. If leaving the EU were to lead ultimately to an independent Scotland with relaxed immigration policies, he would find Englands northern counties much more difficult to defend than Kent. Don Newton Oxford The EU referendum will be an event of the most profound consequence. It will decide the fate of a complex, geographically diverse, socially weird, politically divided and extraordinarily pluralistic nation (if indeed, you can imagine the UK into a nation). According to Isabel Hardman (5 February) it is being driven by the disgruntlement of a few Tory MPs and party activists. These latter are few, usually prosperous, often ageing, and hardly representative in any wise of nation. That Cameron should risk all our futures to placate this tiny constituency is beyond shocking. Michael Rosenthal Banbury, Oxfordshire The wrong kind of gay men The pressure to fit a stereotype came about as a defence mechanism, I have been told (Gay men under too much pressure to fit stereotypes, 9 February). But the pressure comes as much from other gay men as anywhere else. When I first came out and went to the gay clubs in London, a gay man of about my current age told me that gay mens biggest enemies are fellow gays vicious, spiteful load of bitches was his description. I thought he was too cynical. Now that I am an old age pensioner I know he was right. I was once being harassed at work (an FE college) by two young gay men. They would not accept I was a real gay because I was not camp and loud like them. I asked for help from my gay MP because I did not want to involve the police, and the college would not help me. I was told I was the wrong sort of gay to be helped. Gay friends of mine include several ex-military men, who lift weights, wear camouflage gear, run and go shooting with their large dogs. They didnt get help either when exposed to homophobic discrimination. We eventually turned to the police, who acted. The establishment gays now file us as traitors to fellow gay men. David Critchard Exeter Shock Trump into silence If Adele does not wish her songs to be played by Donald Trump on his march to the White House, all she need do is be quoted as saying, Im more popular than Jesus Christ right now. No Republican will play her songs at a rally and her CDs will be burnt in the streets by all right-thinking folk. Its happened before. Bob Fennell Bromley, Kent When dogs fall for the demon drink Your report (8 February) of the research into links between canine intelligence and human health ended with the observation by researcher Dr Rosalind Arden that dogs offer a good insight because they are basically teetotal. Basically teetotal? Just how closely, then, were the test subjects watched? Dr Arden seems to be implying that one or two might have strayed from sobriety sneaking in a swift pint at the Rovers Return, perhaps. Jeremy Redman London SE6 Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report 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 The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As a gay man who is mixed-race and identifies as black, it saddens me to hear of yet more racism within the gay community this week. But, sadly, Im not surprised. My eyes were first opened after I read about the UK Black Pride event, a celebration of colour within the LGBT community. I remember vividly many of the racist comments towards black people, and one in particular sticks in my mind: Very few black people come out and when they do all they want to talk about is the imaginary racism of white gay men, just because they've been sexually rejected by white gay men. Needless to say, that completely missed the point of why the black festival exists. It was precisely set up because people of colour felt excluded from the predominantly white gay male prides, and still do. In a survey for the gay charity GMFA magazine FS, 80 percent of black men said they had experienced racism in the gay community. More than two thirds of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic gay men have endured discrimination on the gay scene, which is shocking. One contributor commented that, The only approach Ive had at a gay bar was when I was asked if I supplied drugs. Recommended Read more The police officer who shot Quintonio LeGrier embodies white privilege We then wonder why the visible gay scene is almost unequivocally white, male and gay. Meanwhile, gay social networking apps are awash with user statuses which read No blacks or Asians followed by Im not a racist, its just a preference. The recent case of Chardine Taylor Stone is a classic example of racism. The black writer and activist had complained that a white LGBT performer dressing up in blackface at gay venues with all the usual black racial stereotypes was wrong and racist. She was right. Yet she faced abhorrent racial and misogynist abuse from white gay men. Ive seen many of these so-called acts myself, often uncomfortable and not utterly devoid of humour. It is a fact that the privilege of some white gay men do not allow them to empathise about what it is like for a person of colour to experience LGBT racism. They then make claims that those who complain about the phenomenon are irrational or humourless. Just a couple of days ago, Prossy Kakooza, the LGBT asylum campaigner, tweeted about her own experiences: Sadly the most racism Ive received has been in #LGBT places. Sad but true. Prior to it coming into law, I was a vocal voice for marriage equality especially because I had to marry the man I loved in another country. When we achieved that milestone, however, a lot of people were happy to stop the campaigning when there was a lot more work to do to specifically eradicate prejudice against LGBT people of colour. To advocate for equality on one hand and then to discriminate on another undermines our fight. Because true equality can never come with caveats. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Syrian conflict can no longer be described as a stalemate. Regime forces, aided by Russian air power, are threatening to cut off Aleppo, a key rebel stronghold. If they can retake the city, it will be the oppositions most significant defeat since the revolution began in 2011. As was feared by this newspaper, among others Bashar al-Assad and his allies used the cover of UN-brokered peace talks to step up their military campaign, in an attempt to decisively swing the outcome. They had no intention of pursuing ceasefires, as was clear from increased Russian bombardments in the run-up to the now-postponed Geneva talks. The US has played into Mr Assads hands. With a view to de-escalating conflict, the White House eased support for the rebels ahead of Geneva and pressurised Gulf nations to slow arms deliveries. This exposed the moderates to an onslaught from which they may not recover. Two paths lie ahead. The first will see Russia and Mr Assad gradually crush the rebels. That will involve mass killing: a UN report into Mr Assads rule, and treatment of prisoners, concluded that his policies thus far amounted to the calculated extermination of all those who oppose him. The second will see Western and Gulf powers attempt to tip the balance back towards a stalemate from which negotiations can start. This may require more political capital than Barack Obama is willing to spend. But it is the right thing to do. Mr Obama should seriously consider the offer of ground troops from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He should establish a no-fly zone to protect as many civilians as possible, since Turkey is no longer letting them cross the border. He should drop aid to besieged towns. If the US retreats further, it will have betrayed the Syrian people, and turned its back as the humanitarian catastrophe enters what may be its darkest phase. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Whenever share prices collapse as they do from time to time and are pretty much doing right now there are always three questions. One, why is this happening? A second, what effects will this have on the real economy of output and jobs? And third, are share prices giving a more general warning about economic troubles ahead? It is impossible to give a truly satisfactory answer to the first. If we could, we could predict market crashes and all become vastly rich. The various factors trotted out now to explain the crash (the collapse of the oil price, slowing growth in China, worries about the limits of easy monetary policies, and so on) were all evident last May when shares hit an all-time high. The facts have not changed, or at least not much, but the perception of those facts has shifted radically. So lets leave question one aside and focus on numbers two and three. Asset prices do affect the real economy in a number of ways. For example, buoyant house prices have helped drive the recovery in Britain. People feel richer, and choose to spend more either on their homes or on other things as a result. Economists call this a wealth effect. With share prices, the links are less direct but there nonetheless. There has, unsurprisingly, been a lot of work trying to estimate wealth effects. They vary from country to country. For example, in 2009 the European Central Bank reckoned that a 10 per cent increase in financial wealth boosted consumption in the eurozone by between 0.6 per cent and 1.5 per cent, but changes in housing wealth in Europe had very little impact. In 2005, after the popping of the dot-com bubble, the Bank of England looked at a number of developed countries and concluded that a 0.6 per cent effect for financial assets was about right, but found that the impact changes in house prices were harder to estimate. Still another study, in the International Review of Financial Analysis last year, looked at the UK and Italy and found that, while house prices were important in the UK, they were not in Italy. With the price of financial assets it was the other way round. We dont, of course, know how far shares will fall or for how long, but my back-of-an-envelope calculation is that the fall so far will cut consumption here by a little, say 0.5 per cent. If the rout were to spread to house prices, the hit would be greater, but so far that does not seem to be happening. Maybe, now that many pensioners have become more aware of the value of their pension pots, share prices matter more than in the past but we dont know. There are, however, effects on companies as well as consumers. Aside from general confidence, they are hit in two ways. One is they may find it harder to raise money if they need to. Note how the government has postponed a sale of the last chink of Lloyds Bank shares. The other is if they have defined benefit pension funds, which will have fallen in value and may need a greater top-up. That knocks profits and hence the ability to pay dividends. This in turn further undermines share prices. Pull all this together and what do you get? Lets focus on the UK. The range of estimates for growth this year is from about 2 per cent to 2.7 per cent. The official forecast last November, from the Office for Budget Responsibility, was 2.4 per cent. It is plausible that the share crash, if there isnt a recovery in the summer, could knock 0.5 per cent off growth. That would mean growth of somewhere between 1.5 per cent (if the pessimists prove right) and 2.2 per cent (if the optimists are right). This would not be a catastrophe, but it would be a marked deterioration from present official expectations. Expect these to be revised down at the time of the Budget, now only five weeks away. So a hit. A very palpable hit but not a disaster. Suppose, however, the share crash is warning of something more than a slowdown. This is, after all, a global phenomenon. Japanese shares were off more than five per cent yesterday. The shares of the Deutsche Bank are down nearly 15 per cent this week, and while the German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said yesterday he had no concerns about the bank... well, it is unfair to say so, but you always worry when finance ministers say they are not worried. He did, by the way, say last September that the global economy faced a financial bubble. In particular, he warned against an over-reliance on central bank stimulus to prop up economies, a warning that now seems prescient. Inevitably, the R-word, recession, appears more and more often in economic commentaries, even if only to argue that it would be improbable. You cannot, given past experience, dismiss it out of hand. Very few mainstream forecasters spotted the danger of the global financial crash of 2008, and nobody wants to be caught out this time. A couple of emails hit my inbox in the past few hours with the word panic in the headline. One was from the asset management arm of the Swiss private bank Pictet Group and was clear enough: Theres no need to panic. The other from Schroders was: Time to hit the panic button? Its chief economist, Keith Wade, thought probably not. There are other reports suggesting a US recession is a 20 per cent possibility. At a time like this, it is probably most helpful to take a long perspective, and by coincidence the annual study by Credit Suisse Asset Management of markets going back to 1900 is just out. It looks at the three great financial crises of capitalism, the 1890s, the 1930s, and from 2008 onwards. The dip in the economy after the most recent one was not nearly as serious as the others, but the bounce-back has been somewhat slower. But what is fascinating is that, eventually, US share prices recovered in all three periods, with the present experience somewhere between the not-too-bad recovery after 1890 and the more hesitant one in the 1930s. Moral: that share prices eventually bounce back, provided you wait long enough for them to do so. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email 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 View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} So a lot of British people seem to be wondering why refugees don't stay in their own countries and take up arms to defend themselves ("...like the British did during the Second World War!"). Don't get me wrong, I find it quite endearing that your Average Joe thinks he and his mates from Tuesday night five-a-side could put together a viable army, but maybe joining a 13-year-old civil war is a bit more complicated than an Inbetweeners movie. Let me explain. Have you ever been in a pub when a group of drunk guys starts going berserk, drinking everyone's drinks and punching people in the face? The rest of the patrons come together, over-power and restrain the troublemakers; the police are called and they are taken away to face the music. That's World War II: everyone in the pub is on the same side and there is a clear set of bad guys ruining the 1940s for everyone else (incidentally, there's also a guy who offers to hold everyone's coats and money when the fight breaks out, and when it stops he won't give them back - that guy is Switzerland's banks). Now, consider Syria. You're sitting in the pub with your family having Sunday lunch when suddenly you hear someone at the bar say they've been short-changed. In response, the bar staff open fire with automatic weapons and kill 16 people. You're horrified - in all the years you've been coming to this pub, knowing they've been short-changing people, you never imagined they'd do something like this. You manage to barricade yourself behind an upturned table in the corner, and just when you think things can't get any worse, a bunch of thugs from the rough pub next door hear there's some trouble and decide to use the opportunity to take over the pub and make it as lawless as the one they've come from (where people have been brawling non-stop for the best part of a decade). There are bullets flying past your little shelter and blood and bodies litter the floor. Recommended Read more What the case of Kayden Clarke can tell us about trans acceptance Whose side do you join? The bar staff who started the whole thing by killing the people they were supposed to serve, or the thugs from next door who want to hold you all hostage and make you join a death cult? LESSON NUMBER ONE: NOT EVERY WAR HAS A SIDE WORTH JOINING. So you start your own army, right? This is an excellent idea - well done for taking the initiative! But exactly how do you start an army anyway? First, you find some like-minded people. So you turn to the guy next to you who's barricaded himself and his family under a table and ask if he has any weapons. "I've got my car keys and a bottle opener from a Christmas cracker," he says. "The thing is, I was only planning a pub lunch with my family, I didn't realise we'd get caught up in a gun fight, otherwise I suppose I would have been training and stockpiling guns for years." LESSON NUMBER TWO: STARTING AN ARMY IS REALLY, REALLY HARD. This is tricky. Very tricky. You decide to try and phone the other pubs in the area to ask for help, but they don't know who you are, and ever since they helped a bunch of patrons in the 80s who ended up flying planes into pubs, they're pretty reluctant to help random groups they've never heard of. So you just sit it out and wait for everything to blow over, right? After all, you've heard of other pub fights where the bar staff were beaten in minutes (The Sphinx & Pharaoh, The Crazy Colonel), but it gradually becomes clear that this one won't burn out so quickly. You could crawl out and grab a gun, but that leaves your family completely exposed with nobody to defend them. With every minute that passes, the situation gets more terrifying. Maybe you could chisel a pretty cool spear out of a table leg if you had a few weeks, but right now your children are screaming with terror, begging you to stop the banging and the sounds of people screaming, but you can't. There's nothing you can do. Suddenly, across a sea of broken glass and empty shell cases, you see the door to the street swing open. There isn't even time to think: you grab your children, the most precious things you have in the world, and you run for the exit. Recommended Read more My employer was profiting from illegal settlements in Palestine You stumble into the street, where a crowd has gathered to gawp at the carnage through the windows. As you get to the exit they try to push you and your children back into the pub. "Go back where you came from!" they say. "You're one of those thugs from the rough pub and you want to bring your violence out here into the street! Shame on you for dragging your children through all that broken glass!" You manage to get through the crowd to the Queen Elizabeth pub down the road, which you've heard is a really safe, family-friendly pub where the staff treat their patrons with respect. But when you get to the Queen Elizabeth, you're told by a security guard that there's nowhere to sit because there are too many people already, even though it's clear that the only reason there's nowhere to sit is that the people who own the pub haven't provided enough chairs. There are also loads of coats that have been put on chairs by older people who want to supplement their wine consumption by making youngsters buy them a drink in exchange for somewhere to sit. Finally, with the help of some sympathetic staff, you find a chair in the corner by the toilets, and you put the kids on the chair while you lean against the wall, exhausted. People start accusing you of ruining the pub for everyone else, even though they were short of chairs long before you arrived. That's when some guy with a big sweaty face who's never been in a pub shooting, never feared for his children's lives, never even seen a gun or a hand grenade, comes up to you and asks why you're not in the other pub sorting out the massacre you've just fled from. And that's when you finally break down and cry. Drone video shows levels of devastation in Homs, Syria IN TODAY'S EPISODE WE LEARNT... In Britain, we tend to think of every war as a two-sided battle between good and evil, with an established system on the side of good which is able to organise and direct an army. As a nation, we have no easy frame of reference for wars with many factions, or wars where the government is fighting the people, or civil wars where the enemy is present not just in the air, but on the ground too. Contrary to popular belief, Britain DID produce a flood of refugees during World War II: 3.5 million British refugees fled their homes, but because the war was an international war, with no successful invasion, no enemy boots on the ground and aerial bombardment focused on cities, the vast majority of those refugees went to the British countryside. Had the Germans invaded and started killing Britons on the ground, it's likely we would have seen an even greater exodus to countries like Australia and Canada than the one we did see: not because fleeing from genocide is cowardly, but because self-preservation is deeply ingrained in human nature. Risking your life by crossing a treacherous sea to escape a war that is not of your doing is infinitely more heroic than selling out your principles to fight for a mad dictator or a death cult; and unless you've ever fled a tangled civil war yourself, it might be wise to put a little less effort into judgement and a little more into understanding. Emlyn Pearce blogs here and this piece originally appeared on his public Facebook page. It has been reprinted here with permission from the author The presence of dogs is a factor in two thirds of attacks by cattle on humans. Researchers in the UK carried out a review to identify risk factors into incidents involving cattle and members of the public. Out of 54 attacks on people reported in Britain between 1992 and 2013, two-thirds involved dogs and one in four proved fatal. There is a stronger tradition of people walking in the countryside with dogs in the UK, where there are public access rights to certain lands and bridleways. "We found that walking with dogs among cows, particularly with calves present, was a common factor for an attack," said Dr Carri Westgarth, a dog behaviour expert at the University of Liverpool. "One theory for this is that cows may feel particularly threatened by dogs, especially if they have young to protect. People then try to protect their dogs, which can lead to a tragic incident occurring." It highlighted that injuries from cattle were often under-reported. John McNamara, Teagasc health and safety officer, said farmers and people in the countryside must keep their dogs under control. However, he pointed out there were cultural differences between Ireland and the UK where walking across land in the countryside was more common. Mr McNamara said walking through herds with calves in the spring time is "not to be recommended". "People should not be walking in through fields with dogs or otherwise," he said. "Cattle especially suckler cows will protect their calf at any time of the year. "You might just accidentally get between the cow and calf," he said. Mr McNamara urged farmers to take extra care during the busy spring time on farms, as he highlighted safety measures such as calving pens with easy access gates. "Aggressiveness is an inheritable condition and we are encouraging people to breed for docility and get a calm herd," he said. "Farmers should be calm at all times when they handle animals." Farmers are calling on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to step in to tackle competition issues in the beef sector as concerns mount over a move by Larry Goodman's ABP to take a 50pc stake in Slaney Foods. Farmers from all over the country gathered outside Slaney Meats in Bunclody, Co Wexford last Sunday for an IFA protest that called for measures to address concerns over the consolidation in the sector and to tackle the "unacceptable" price gap between Irish and British cattle. The protest came amid reports that weight and age limits are being imposed by some factories ahead of an expected 50,000 to 80,000 extra supply of cattle for meat processors later this year. Henry Burns, the IFA livestock chairman, stated there is a "lack of competition" on the island. Mr Burns raised concerns over changes in the meat sector that would see ABP move from processing 22pc of the beef kill to 28pc. "We feel there is not enough competition in Ireland and the issue on EU labelling has not been resolved, which impedes live exports to the UK," said Mr Burns. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has yet to be notified of the proposed ABP and Slaney Meats deal. The IFA had called on Mr Coveney to make a submission to the competition watchdog on the merger. "The minister is aware this issue is causing major concern to farmers and producers of meat. "He is writing to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission asking them to examine in full whether there are competition issues of concern," a spokeswoman for the minister said yesterday. An ABP spokesman said the deal was subject to approval. "This is about both companies developing the scale to compete on increasingly competitive international markets," he said. Industry Meat Industry Ireland (MII) strongly rejected the IFA claims over cattle prices and competition. "Irish cattle prices remain higher than in most EU countries and in many instances are higher than prices in many of our key Continental export markets," said spokesman Cormac Healy. "Irish prices have been consistently above the EU average and are currently at 104pc of the EU average prevailing price." MEP Mairead McGuinness said the level of support at the protest demonstrated the "sense among beef farmers that they don't get a fair crack of the whip". She said this matter has been raised with the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. The IFA said the average Irish/UKprice gap for 2015 widened to 82c/kg or 293, up from an average of 27c/kg or 97 in the decade to 2013. Mr Burns said the recent moves on weight limits and age penalties from the quality payment system was a breach of the Beef Forum. MII said the carcase weight moratorium came to an end in December, with processors now adopting their own approach. It added there were less outlets for heavier carcases. IFA presidential candidate Joe Healy described the beef grid as "dysfunctional" and called for changes to the pricing mechanism. He said the grid was currently "stacked in the factories' favour" and had lost farmer support. Presidential candidate Flor McCarthy said the price differential between the Irish and UK market must be challenged. The proposed ABP and Slaney Meats partnership would see a restructuring of the Slaney business that is currently jointly owned by the Allen family and Linden Foods in Northern Ireland. ABP plan to invest in Slaney to form a joint venture with Linden/Fane Valley. Landowners who lost land to compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) for road developments will benefit from a 'goodwill' payments worth up to 8.5m under a new agreement. The payment, which is now worth 3,000 an acre, has been agreed retrospectively with farmers who had lost out on qualifying for payments from the original 'goodwill' fund.. Road schemes to benefit in the short term include the N84 Headford in Galway, N17 Ballindine in Galway, N76 Callan Road re alignment in Kilkenny, N56 Coolboy in Donegal and the upcoming Limerick-Foynes route, as well as the proposed Limerick-Cork road. Minister of State Michael Ring last week signed the agreement for the renewed co-operation between the Transport Department, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) in respect of land compulsorily acquired or to be acquired for the development of the road network. However, payment under the new agreement is reduced to 3,000/ac compared with 5,000/ac for the previous agreement from 2001. IFA national chairman, Jer Bergin, said the agreement restores a fixed payment albeit at a lower rate and it streamlines the assessment process where disputes. He added the payment would be made "retrospective and all eligible farmers who missed out on this payment will now benefit". Land subject to CPOs will also be valued by size, location and quality. Under the deal, the IFA will promote full co-operation with TII, local authorities in implementing the National Roads Programme. The landowner on receipt of at least 14 days notice will be encouraged to allow early access to land for site investigation works to identify and assess potential routes. Milk supplies continue to surge, despite dairy markets weakening further to levels last seen in 2009. Despite expectations that the Ornua index due out tomorrow will slip to a new record low, and large volumes of Irish powder being sold at rock-bottom prices into EU intervention stores, milk supplies were up by as much as 100pc in some southern processors in January. Nationally the figure was closer to 30pc. Tipperary co-op reported a doubling of 2015's intake, Dairygold also reported a big increase of 50pc, while Glanbia, LacPatrick, Carbery and Lakelands all reported a 25pc increase. Arrabawn recorded a 36pc increase, while Aurivo were up 20pc. Dairy calvings are already up 10,000 this year on the same period as last year. The milk supply data comes as new figures show that Ireland is the main culprit for over supplies on the European market. Despite accounting for less than 4pc of the total EU milk pool, Ireland produced a third of the 1.7 million tonnes of the extra milk output from the region in the first eight months of 2015. The 11.4pc increase in Irish output was more than double the next nearest, a 5.3pc increase in Holland. In volume terms, Ireland's 620,000t increase was 70,000t more than the Dutch. The records show that an extra 100,000 dairy cows are due to calve in Ireland in 2016. All analysts agree that the current price slump - now close to the historic lows of 2009 - is driven by a surplus of supply rather than a lack of demand. Again, the finger of blame is being pointed at the EU region, where the biggest increase in milk output was recorded in 2015. Banks While some experts believe that milk prices will not improve materially for Irish farmers before 2017, the main banks are still optimistic that Irish farmers will survive the current trough. "We've only had a handful of clients looking to restructure their loan repayments," said Ulster Bank's head of agri lending, Ailish Byrne. All the banks insisted that they would work with farmers experiencing tightening cash-flows, by providing interest only payments, extra working-capital facilities or restructuring options. "We're confident that dairying is still a good long-term investment when viewed over 20 years, and we've enough set aside to facilitate every dairy farmer on our books if milk price stays low this year," said Ms Byrne. Bankers also note that farmers are in a better position heading into 2016 than in 2009 due to the absence of non-performing off-farm investments and lower overdraft facilities that were extended in 2008 to help many farmers complete building work started during the Farmyard Improvement Scheme. Calves from the dairy herd are likely to rise by another 100,000 this year, exposing already low calf prices to even further downward pressure. Bull calf prices for export slipped by another 10 to 65-110/hd in Bandon mart yesterday. "There was a big increase to 800hd this week, but it will be double that by March. Prices could hold, but only if there's no hiccups with the boats," said mart manager, Tom McCarthy. Prices at Bandon, Macroom and Kilmallock yesterday were at 65-150 for the light dairy bulls for export, 90-180 for the 'farmer types', 200-350 for Angus and Hereford bulls and heifers, and 280-400 for the continental bulls and heifers. The projected increase in calvings comes on the back of a 100,000 head increase in dairy calvings in 2015, the equivalent of an 8.5pc increase to a total of 1.27m head. In addition, dairy farmers that traditionally fed calves to cope with quota restraints will be keen to sell bull calves at a younger age. However, Bord Bia's Joe Burke cautioned beef farmers keen to take advantage of the opportunity of getting dairy bull calves at "first cost". "Rearing calves is a specialised enterprise. Facilities, feeding and stockmanship skills all need to be of a very high standard in order to hit the desired performance targets," noted the beef specialist. Over 80pc of dairy cows calve during the first four months, but experts believe that the calving season will begin slightly earlier on many farms this year following the abolition of quota and a good breeding season in 2015. While dairy farmers will be looking to export the majority of their dairy bull calves into Continental markets as quickly as possible, Mr Burke cautioned farmers to be aware of the regulations involved. Export regulations "Dairy farmers looking to supply the live-export trade should be aware that under EU export regulations calves need to a minimum of 15 days old before they can be exported. Calves aged between 15 and 35 days are of most interest to export buyers. "The younger, lighter calves usually go to the Netherlands for veal, while the slightly older and stronger ones typically go for young bull beef production in Spain," he said. The beef specialist also noted the limited outlets available for dairy crossbred calves. "Crossbred calves with any Jersey influence are not popular among the key export markets, on account of slower growth rates, poor feed conversion efficiency rates and reduced kill-out percentages," said Mr Burke. However, the majority of extra calves are likely to be beef sired, especially Hereford and Angus. "Last year, the majority of the increase in registrations came from extra beef-sired calves out of the dairy herd. Numbers of beef-cross calves are expected to increase again this year. They command a valuable premium," he added. Births predicted to hit 100,000 as dairy expansion kicks in Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo: Reuters The rout fuelled by concern over the strength of the economic recovery took European stocks to their lowest levels in more than a year, with Greek shares again suffering the most and Irish shares plunging by more than 5pc. By the close in Dublin, the ISEQ Overall Index was down 5.36pc, or 325.77 points, to push the index below 6,000 to 5,749.94. Bank of Ireland tumbled 10pc to 26 cents, while insulation group Kingspan dropped 10.6pc to 19.20. Building materials group CRH fell 8.1pc to 21.14. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 3.5pc to 314.49 at 4.30pm in London and Greece's ASE Index plunged to its lowest level since 1990. No industry or market in western Europe was spared. While Greek lenders extended a record low, banks in the region headed for their lowest levels since 2012. With a 7.9pc plunge yesterday, Greece's ASE has once again become the year's worst performer of 93 global equity gauges tracked by Bloomberg. The slides weren't limited to so-called peripheral regions, with Germany's DAX Index down 3.3pc, heading toward its lowest level since 2014. "Investors can't make up their minds about the global economy, but the risk of recession and deflation is rising," said Francois Savary, the chief investment officer of Prime Partners, a Geneva-based investment manager. "It's not enough that valuations have receded quite significantly and earnings haven't been too bad - sentiment is very low and there isn't much visibility right now. That's frightening." Gauges of construction-related companies and banks posted the worst performances of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx 600. Lenders headed for their lowest close since 2012, led by Greece's Eurobank Ergasias and Alpha Bank. Additional reporting by Bloomberg The rental crisis has intensified after the number of properties nationwide available for rent hit a 10-year low. According to the latest report from property website, Daft.ie, there are only 3,600 properties across the country available for rent, the lowest number since the reports began in 2006. In the report Daft chief economist, Ronan Lyons, drew the conclusion that the lack of housing has been caused by a drop-off in construction paired with a growing population. Mr Lyons told RTE's Morning Ireland, the lack of accommodation has intensified over the last number of years. "The previous low had actually been in 2015 but even if you go back a bit in time there had even twice as many properties to rent even two years ago. "If you go all the way back to when the market was as tight as it is now in 2007, even then there was about 4,500 properties to rent to this is uncharted territory, albeit only going back to 2006," Mr Lyons said. The report shows that south County Dublin still remains the most expensive area to rent with the average rent in the area at 1,625. Meanwhile, Lietrim remains the cheapest area in the country to rent at 468. "In one sense we've made a vice out of a virtue," Mr Lyons said. " We have a growing population and a recovering economy and that's showing in improving incomes but more importantly for the housing market its a greater number of households and families starting every year." "We have more demand every year but we don't have new building taking place," he said. In his report the Daft economist said that a lack of lending from banks doesn't amount to a completely feasible reason for the lack of construction, given the increase in commercial property activity. "Some of the reasons given for this lack of construction sound plausible at first glance but don't stack up. For example, it is often said that banks won't lend like they used to, or that Irish developers are either too bust or too greedy to build. But none of that explains why Dublin in particular is witnessing such a boom in commercial construction activity, especially new office space," Mr Lyons said in the report. Mr Lyons also recommended that understanding the unique blockages holding back housing supply should be made a key issue for the next government. Enet, the fibre network operator, has agreed a seven-figure deal with Irish telecoms firm Magnet. The five-year deal will facilitate Magnets delivery of services to customers in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Portlaoise, and Galway. Magnet will now have access to 100GB circuits on Enets backhaul network with the option to acquire additional capacity in the future if it looks to expand into new towns. Magnets head of product, James Canty, says that the move is continuing the firms focus on helping regional businesses grow. This additional network capacity will have a very positive impact on the speed and efficiency of these services for our customers. The internet service provider will look to strengthen its broadband services with the extra capacity. Magnet aims to take full advantage of the growth in cloud-based services. Enets chief executive, Conal Henry, said that the deal is adding to the firms commitment to serving all licensed Irish telecom service providers. Our continued investment in fibre infrastructure in both backhaul and within the metropolitan area network towns has given service providers a wealth of choice and opportunities when it comes to delivering the very best services to their customers, he said. Mr Henry continued, saying that the newly serviced areas will have access to wholly reliable broadband. Last month Enet demonstrated its 1 gigabit-per second fibre power broadband network in north Kerry as part of the Governments National Broadband Plan (NBP). The NBP is a state-funded incentive that looks to connect areas unserved by commercial broadband operators with high-speed connections. The Fair Mortgage Rates Campaign has asked political parties to outline their policies on mortgage rates ahead of the election. (Stock image) At least two political parties are prepared to bring in legislation to give the Central Bank powers to regulate variable mortgage rates. The Fair Mortgage Rates Campaign, headed by Brendan Burgess, has asked political parties to outline their policies on mortgage rates ahead of the election. It said around 300,000 borrowers were being overcharged by banks on variable mortgage rates, which are twice the average charged elsewhere in the Eurozone. The number affected rises to around 500,000 people when the fact that most borrowers are couples is factored in, Mr Burgess said at a briefing for politicians. But half of these are unable to switch, and would not benefit from new lenders entering the market. "Some 150,000 borrowers can't switch because they have high loan-to-values, are in negative equity, or are in arrears," he said. The campaign wants the law changed to stop banks charging lower variable rates to new customers compared with what they charge existing customers. Both KBC Bank and Bank of Ireland charge far higher rates to existing customers who are trapped, Mr Burgess said. Banks were accused of collectively making profits of 1bn a year from excessive mortgage rates. The Fair Mortgage Rates Campaign has proposed legislative changes that would give powers to the Central Bank to limit variable rates to no more than 4pc above the European Central Bank, which is 0.05pc. Fianna Fail's Michael McGrath said his party was in favour of giving powers to the Central Bank to limit what could be charged. He added: "The Central Bank needs to start fulfilling its consumer protection role. It should not allow discrimination between new and existing borrowers." Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell said new business rates should be available to all borrowers, but his party had no plans to legislate to cap mortgage rates. Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty said he was called into the office of former Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan when his party proposed giving the regulator legislative powers to limit variable rates. He claimed he was told the Central Bank did not want this power. "Of course they do not want the powers. But they should be given it. We need a Central Bank that acts in the interests of consumers," he said. Reddit Ireland experienced a user uprising when it briefly banned all conversation about the Irish General Election from the /r/Ireland subreddit. The argument began six days ago with a moderator request to move all political discussions to a re-opened, dedicated subreddit /r/irishpolitics. Users were not happy with this direction, with one writing "one of the things I really liked about r/ireland was the combination of political commentary and stupid funny sh*t... it kept things interesting". Another user wrote "Who ever thought this was a good idea should go and get their head examined". The founder of /r/Ireland, Eoin Madden, wrote on Twitter that he was "appalled" by the decision. One user summed up the anger felt by users, writing "Well you guys are going to be f**king busy deleting threads for the next 3 weeks then, cause ye can f**k right off if ye think we wont discuss the Irish election on /r/Ireland". The moderator's account has now been removed and the subreddit appears to have returned back to normal, with the front page a mix of political discussions, manifestos, photoshopped memes of general election candidates, YouTube videos and posts about Pancake Tuesday. Sarah Mulcahy, (31) A mature Criminology student is being forced to withdraw from her university course in order to keep her rent allowance for the home she shares with her young son. Sarah Mulcahy, (31), was accepted into Ireland's first-ever Criminology course in UCC in 2014. She explained to Independent.ie that, at the time, she had recently become a single mother and that the college were "extremely supportive". She completed her first semester enrolled in the SUSI grants system. However, Mulcahy has a long-term illness, which required surgery after her first semester, in which she received first class honours. She was forced to defer her second semester with the intention to return in January 2016 to complete the year and continue on with her degree. Due to her particular situation, Mulcahy was told that she would be eligible for the single parent allowance, disability benifit and illness benifit. All three provided rent allowance and each would allow her to graduate to the 'back to education' allowance to return to UCC and complete her studies. #CountUsIn - Case study Sarah's story is a heartbreaking story of those that fall between the cracks of the current system.Read more: http://indo.ie/Y7jXq#GE16 #CountUsIn Upload yours here: http://indo.ie/Y6R29 Posted by Count Us In on Tuesday, 9 February 2016 Sarah explained to Independent.ie that she was "not aware" that the illness benefit - the scheme she says she was encouraged to apply for over the others - requires a two-year period before beneficiaries can apply for the 'Back To Education' allowance. She explained that the other two schemes only require nine months, which would have meant she could move to the 'Back To Education' allowance in time to return to college. "I've been told that to keep my rent allowance I need to de-register from UCC". Sarah says that it's not just waiting one year that provides the issue - she would lose her results thus far, and her grant, which covers her tuition fees. "If I de-register, I become a repeat, and SUSI will not give me any tuition fees going forward". "The choice is keep a roof over my head or continue my education". "I remember Joan Burton telling people that... they had to take individual responsibility for their situations. Telling people to upskill and re-educate themselves... That's why I'm trying to do". "To be already in a degree and told you have to remove yourself is devastating". UCC Students' Union Deputy President, James Upton, told Independent.ie that the union were doing all they could to help Sarah, but that "everytime we get somewhere, we hit a wall. We are told it isn't possible and the system doesn't allow it or - my personal favourite - 'legislation is blocking it'". "Over the last three months I have grown frustrated by the lack of coherency evident in the department of social protection, and its liaison with the Department of Education and Skills". "Consistently I've identified a lack of coherency which seems evident when it comes to students. Sarah's first community welfare officer told her to apply for three different schemes. In November she was told in order to maintain her rent allowance she would have to de-register from UCC and recently at a meeting was advised again the only way of maintaining her allowance is to de-register from UCC; what is evident is a scathing reflection of operational procedures of the department of social protection. It's ironic really there is no protection for a single mother who is exercising her right to education". "We have written, called and met with TDs those included Joan Burton, Enda Kenney, Kevin Humphrey's, Jerry Buttimer and Michael Martin none of who have given us a definitive answer to Sarah's situation. Instead they have propagated a culture in Sarah's life of sleepless nights and contemplation on whether to keep a roof over her head or not". Upton accused the Government of focusing on getting re-elected instead of on the issues on their doorstep. "The general election has swept the work off the desks of TDs leaving them fundamentally divorced from the issues that are pertinent in this general election in order to sell dreams to the irish people before February 26th. Unfortunately by the time they are finished selling these dreams Sarah may have no option but to de-register from UCC." Despite this, Sarah is planning to use her vote in the General Election. "I will vote... it's important to vote. A few weeks ago, I thought what's the point... but I will. These are the people who influence decision making in this county. It's important that people have a say... it's important that young people recognise that and have their say, that they vote for who they want to be in power and be involved in that". Upload your video below and tell us your name, age, where you are from and what issue matters most to you and why. A man has been hailed as a hero by police in England after he casually tripped up a suspect being chased by officers in Kingston. CCTV from Saturday night has captured the moment a random punter stuck out his foot, sending the suspected drug dealer flying to the ground. The man was walking arm-in-arm with a woman, but quickly let go when he saw the action coming his way. Afterwards, he casually walked away without even turning his head the other way. The suspect has since been identified as a 17-year-old suspected of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply, according to a statement from Scotland Yard to ITV. "On Saturday, 6 February at 23:20 hours, officers on patrol near to Clarence Street, Kingston, were made aware of a report of two males seen dealing drugs at the location," the statement said. "The males left prior to the arrival of police but one of them was stopped by police near to the scene. Officers attempted to speak to the male who then made off. "With the help of a member of the public he was detained a short time later. The video, which was originally added to Facebook, has been viewed close to 250,000 times in less than 24 hours. Jacob Tremblay stole the show at the Academy Awards luncheon on Monday. The nine-year-old actor has been praised by critics for his role in Room, which also stars the Oscar-nominated Brie Larson. As he attended another red carpet event at the annual pre-Oscars gathering, Jacob appeared to be thoroughly enjoying himself - dashing around and snapping selfies with the hottest stars inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. One picture showed Jacob posing with Jennifer Lawrence, with the actress looking equally delighted to meet the rising star. "J-Trem meets J-Law #jenniferlawrence #oscarslunch #roomthemovie," Jacob captioned the picture. Another showed Jacob with Creed star Sylvester Stallone. Getting into the moment, Sylvester, 69, pretended to block Jacob's "punch". Jacob wrote alongside the shot on Instagram: "Hangin' with the Champ! #sylvesterstallone #oscarslunch #creed #roomthemovie @theacademy." Jacob was accompanied by his father Jason at the star-studded event, with the police detective causing a storm on the internet this awards season thanks to his rugged good looks. Brie admitted to reporters at the event she entirely understands where Jason's #HotDad hashtag stemmed from. "It's been going on quietly for a while," she told USA Today. "And it's really amazing that the internet has finally caught on. "He's here. Just so everyone is aware. Hot Dad is here!" Brie was joined by her fellow nominees at the exclusive luncheon, with all the stars recognised posing up for a 'Class of 2016' picture at the event. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga, Eddie Redmayne and Sam Smith were just some of the famous faces there, but the topic on everybody's lips was the debate about the lack of diversity in Hollywood stemming from the nominations this year. Ocean's Thirteen and a Half @Appaman Thank you for making me look so stylish! pic.twitter.com/3TiAsIzsYB Jacob Tremblay (@JacobTremblay) February 9, 2016 Video of the Day However, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs told the nominees in her opening speech that she would like to leave the debate for the luncheon. "This year, we all know there is an elephant in the room," she said. "I have asked the elephant to leave. Today is all about your incredible work on the screen and behind the camera that has touched millions globally and earned you a place in Hollywood history." Despite Cheryl's comments, Sylvester was one of the actors who chose to address the issue when he stopped by the press room after the lunch. He stars alongside Michael B. Jordan in the film, which was directed by Ryan Coogler - neither of whom were recognised for their work with an Oscar nomination. Best supporting actor nominee Sylvester revealed he offered to boycott the awards like many of his fellow celebrities but was told by Ryan to go to the event and represent their film. "I said, 'If you want me to go, Ill go. If you dont want me to go, I wont.' He said, 'I want you to go.' Because thats the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film," Sylvester explained. A JUDGE has said he would be happy to inspect buildings on Dublins Moore Street when he hears a case over whether they should be preserved as national monuments. Colm Moore, a nominee of the 1916 Relatives Association, has brought an action against the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, over buildings, which are near the GPO, and believed to be where leaders of the Easter Rising gathered prior to their surrender. The case is due to open in the High Court on February 16. When dealing with preliminary matters related to the case today, Mr Justice Max Barrett was told there is a dispute between the sides concerning whether certain buildings have any links to the Rising. Michael McDowell SC, for the State, said they would contend some of the buildings date from after the Rising and have no significance whatsoever while others were in ruins after the Rising. Conleth Bradley SC, for Mr Moore, said those claims are disputed. When Mr McDowell said it may be necessary to inspect the site, Mr Justice Barrett said he would be happy to do so. Mr McDowell also told the judge the State is concerned it may be subject to financial penalties under a building contract if certain works on the Moore Street site are delayed. Lawyers for the Minister previously said the matters in the case relate to the establishment of a commemorative centre for the 1916 Rising and have a certain urgency given the Rising centenary commemorations. An undertaking by the State none of the buildings at issue will be demolished continues pending the hearing. Mr Moore, Sandyford Road, Dundrum, has brought judicial review proceedings against the Minister alleging several buildings on Moore Street and Moore Lane are national monuments which must be preserved. The case arises after a terrace of buildings at Nos 14,15,16 and 17 Moore Street, were designated national monuments. Mr Moore claims the national monument designation should include lands and buildings of the terrace at Nos 13, 18 and 19, plus all and any part of buildings, basements or cellars located on Moore Street and/or Moore Lane. He claims certain lands and buildings are part of the "Moore Street Battlefield Site " and Nos 6,7,10,11,12,13,18 and 19 Moore Lane are also national monuments protected by law. Numbers 8 and 9 Moore Lane come within the curtilage of the terrace located at Nos 15 and 16 Moore Street which are part of a national ,monument, he contends. Lands and buildings at No 10 Moore Street, bottling stores situated to the rear of No 10, the OBriens Mineral Water works Building at Henry Place, the White House at Henry Place and Hanlons at 20/21 Moore Street are also of historic national importance, he claims. The Minister argues the properties outside of the terrace at numbers 14 to 17 are of no historical significance. Some of the buildings at issue, including No 18 Moore Street. are earmarked for demolition. The issues raised in the judicial review include how a national monument is determined. The judicial review will be heard alongside separate proceedings brought by Mr Moore under the Planning Acts which include claims that signs fixed to the terrace at Nos 14-17 Moore Street are unauthorised development and should be removed. Joan Gill, who was ordered to pay 1,500 into the accounts of two patients she admitted assaulting. Photo: Keith Heneghan The family of a vulnerable woman who was assaulted by a number of care workers at the Aras Attracta care home have told of their relief after the staff were convicted yesterday. The family of Miss A, a severely autistic woman who was sat on by two members of staff and dragged across the floor by another, said they were "relieved" that justice had been served. "We attended court every day and I can't explain our delight and relief when the judge found they were guilty. We had to watch some very upsetting images of what happened to our sister but all we ever wanted was these people to be held accountable," said a sister of Miss A. Pat McLoughlin (56), of Lalibela, Mayfield,Claremorris, Co Mayo, was convicted of assaulting Miss A. He was sentenced to four months in prison at Ballina District Court. He had sat on Miss A but claimed his actions were "playful interaction" and "a bit of fun". Four of his colleagues avoided custodial sentences and will be assessed for community service. All of the defendants were ordered to pay compensation to the residents they assaulted. The family said they were relieved Mr McLaughlin was given a custodial sentence. "It was up to him to set an example, but he treated her so badly," she added. Miss A remains in Aras Attracta but has been moved to a new bungalow where her family say she is thriving. Judge Mary Devins said there had been a "hint of cruelty" in Mr McLoughlin's actions to Miss A, describing them as "degrading". In directing a custodial sentence for Mr McLoughlin, Judge Devins pointed to his professional training, his seniority and position of authority and that fact that he was an exemplar who set the standard in the facility in arriving at her decision. She also ordered Mr McLoughlin to pay 1,000 to Miss A's personal fund to be used on things Miss A enjoys. Judge Devins said Mr McLoughlin's actions "dehumanised this lady", ordering that the money should be used on something that gives Miss A enjoyment. However, she stressed the money should not be used on things that should be provided by the HSE. Counsel for Mr McLoughlin, Gearoid Geraghty immediately lodged an appeal on behalf of his client. Judge Devins also sentenced four other staff members yesterday, three of whom had pleaded not guilty to the assault charge. Christina Delaney (35), Seefinn, Lissatava, Hollymount, Co Mayo; Joan Walsh (42), Carrowilkeen, Curry, Co Sligo; and Kathleen King (56), Knockshanvally Straide, Foxford, Co Mayo, were ordered to pay 600 compensation to their victims' personal fund and will be assessed for 120 hours of community service in lieu of a three-month prison sentence. A fifth member of staff, Joan Gill (63), of Dublin Road, Swinford, had pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting two residents. She also avoided a custodial sentence and will be assessed for 240 hours of community service in place of a four-month prison sentence. She was ordered to pay 1,000 into the personal account of Miss A and 500 into the account of Miss B. The case will return to court next month to hear if the defendants are suitable for community service. A former Anglo director has told the trial of four senior bankers accused of conspiring to mislead investors that he was acting under the direction of his former CEO David Drumm when he approached Irish Life about an interbank loan of 7bn. The four men, including former Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) CEO Denis Casey and Anglo Irish Bank's former Head of Finance Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear 7.2 billion more valuable than it was. Mr McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin are on trial alongside Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been ILPs former director of finance and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets . They have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear 7.2 billion more valuable that it was between March 1st and September 30th, 2008. The trial resumed in evidence before the jury today after six days of legal argument when Diarmaid McGuinness SC, defending Mr Bowe, continued his cross-examination of Matt Cullen, the former director of treasury at Anglo. Mr Cullen said that during a meeting with David Drumm, the then CEO of Anglo, Mr Drumm asked him if he would approach ILP to ask Irish Life for six or seven billion for us in September. He said he was sitting beside Mr Drumm and he was specifically asked to approach David Gantley, his counterpart at ILP. Asked if he was acting under Mr Drumm's direction the witness replied absolutely. Mr Cullen previously testified that the scheme to raise six or seven billion in corporate deposits involved money being transferred by Anglo to ILP. It would then be put back on deposit by Irish Life Assurance (ILA), the non-banking entity owned and managed by ILP, so it would appear in Anglo's accounts as a corporate deposit. He said the money had to come from ILA so that it would show up as a corporate deposit as opposed to an interbank loan. Non-banking deposits, from the likes of life assurance and pension funds, have a greater value than inter-bank loans from the point of view of the markets as they were considered stickier or more long term, the trial has heard. The corporate deposits figure was for publishing in the bank's full year accounts, when the money would be seen as deposits coming in from ILA. The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan. Mr Cullen also gave evidence about a similar back to back transaction between Anglo and ILP which took place in the run up to Anglo's half year accounts on March 30. He said he had not been given instructions to conceal the deposits of 750mn and 1bn from either within Anglo or from the financial regulator. He agreed that the transactions were real transactions. He said he didn't think there was anything improper about Anglo placing the money with ILP or with them taking the deposits. Counsel asked him about the practice of trying to fine tune a balance year for the year end account, asking: Is there anything wrong in your view of the bank trying to look it's best on the day? Mr Cullen replied: I assume not. Counsel compared it to Mr Cullen asking his wife and children to go out looking their best on an important day, to which Mr Cullen replied: I want to go home tonight. The jury were also shown an email sent on March 16, 2008 by Mr Drumm to Mr Bowe and Mr McAteer and Matt Moran, the bank's then Chief Financial Officer. In the email, with the subject Central Bank, Mr Drumm writes: John, will you put some thought into what the governor asked us to look at? How the Irish banks could help each other. Who are we talking about? AIB, Anglo, ILP, EBS? How could this work and how could it be structured so to be equitable and get support from all banks? Would you list the interbank takings and placings of each of the above and then figure out how much each bank could take out of the short term market and then pool with the other Irish banks in a facility to be shared by all. Would this work? Is there a better way? I want to get into dialogue with CB (Central Bank) and other CEOs. The jury also heard evidence of a liquidity call conference call with Mr Cullen, his colleague, Ciaran McArdle and Mary Elizabeth O'Donoghue, the senior regulator for Anglo in the Financial Regulator's office on April 2, 2008. During the telephone call Mr McArdle tells Ms O'Donoghue: The focus for our half year end is trying to manage balance sheets, trying to tick as many boxes as we possibly can...knowing that it is just a one day number. A hero detective garda, who thought he would die when he was viciously attacked by two pitbull terriers, has been awarded 207,000 damages against the State in the High Court. Mr Justice Bernard Barton said in a reserved judgment that he was satisfied that Det Garda John Leahy (52) suffered an exacerbation of a degenerative condition in his back and left hip which required surgery. The State had accepted the incident may have exacerbated Det Garda Leahy's back condition, but had denied it was sufficient to result in surgery. Det Garda Leahy, a recipient of a Scott Medal for bravery after he saved a man from a fire, told a Garda Compensation hearing how, in June 2008, he was a member of the Divisional Drug Unit in Galway and was patrolling with Garda Orla Keenan when they noticed two known drug users around Wolfe Tone Bridge. The two gardai followed them until they had entered a house at St Dominic's Road, The Claddagh, which was known as a place used for the distribution of heroin. Married father-of-one Det Garda Leahy said that when they confirmed that suspicious activity was going on inside, they had waited for garda reinforcements and shouted "Garda Drug Unit" as they entered the house. He said he saw a man put what he believed to be a packet of heroin in his mouth and warned the man he was going to be searched. The man went into a room where there were several other people. Det Garda Leahy said the light was switched off as he tried to search the man, who resisted, causing both of them to fall. As the light was switched on again, the man had freed himself while they wrestled on the floor and three dogs - two pitbull terriers and a Yorkshire terrier - were released. The pitbulls attacked Garda Leahy, biting him on the legs. It eventually took six gardai to control the dogs. Det Garda Leahy said the dogs were vicious, snarling, growling and ripping at his jeans and his flesh, particularly his left calf. Garda Keenan said: "It was horrific. I've never ever seen anything like that. The dogs were ripping open his leg. He was screaming and there was blood everywhere." Despite she and her colleagues begging the people in the house to call off the dogs, they refused. One of Det Garda Leahy's wounds required 100 stitches. He was out of work for a year and had to undergo physiotherapy sessions. He said he still suffered from mild symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Judge Barton said he was satisfied his back and hip surgeries were required following the attack and awarded him 207,526 damages. A man who stabbed shop worker Mairead Moran to death while suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. The Central Criminal Court heard that Shane Smyth (29) believed Ms Moran had stolen a vial of his blood and had placed hidden cameras and black widow spiders in his house. Mr Smyth, with an address at McGuinness House, Evans Lane, Kilkenny, was charged with murdering Ms Moran (26) on May 8, 2014, at the Market Cross Shopping Centre in Kilkenny city. Mr Smyth had pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Moran by reason of insanity. The jury at his trial was told that the facts of the case were not disputed and last week forensic psychiatrist Dr Brenda Wright gave evidence that Mr Smyth was suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia at the time. A second forensic psychiatrist, Dr Paul O'Connell from the Central Mental Hospital, also gave evidence that the accused was suffering from schizophrenia and was "not capable of forming a specific intent". Yesterday in her charge to the jury Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan said there were three possible verdicts open to them, but the verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" would be in accordance with the lengthy evidence heard in the case. "The law requires that you must make a finding of fact in this case and a verdict other than the verdict of not guilty of murder by reason of insanity means you would be rejecting the evidence of the two psychiatrists," said the judge. Finishing her charge, Ms Justice Heneghan said the "evidence in this case all points one way". The jury of three men and nine women spent 55 minutes deliberating before bringing in a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. After they had delivered their verdict, the judge thanked the jurors for their time as they had been longer in court "than anticipated" and excused them from jury service for the rest of their lives. Ms Justice Heneghan addressed the jury saying: "You have performed a critical task. It has been a difficult trial and some of the elements were extremely upsetting and disturbing." At the request of prosecution counsel Mr John O'Kelly SC, Ms Justice Heneghan ordered that Mr Smyth be detained in the Central Mental Hospital and put in the matter for February 15. Ms Justice Heneghan said: "There are two families involved and I can only extend my sympathy and those of the registrar to Mairead Moran's family. "It has also been a difficult trial for members of the Smyth family and I thank that family for having behaved as to how I asked them to in court." During the trial, witness James Coffey, who was working as a security guard at the Market Cross Shopping Centre on the day of the fatal stabbing, told how he saw Ms Moran slumped at the door of the Holland and Barrett shop with Mr Smyth standing a couple of feet away. The court heard it was only when Mr Coffey pushed Mr Smyth back that he saw a "bloodied knife in his hand" and shouted at Mr Smyth to drop it. The witness agreed with counsel that there was "a complete blank look on his face" and "he was stone-faced." A Sligo man who sexually abused his young cousin while babysitting her has been jailed for seven and a half years. Photo: Depositphotos A Sligo man who sexually abused his young cousin while babysitting her has been jailed for seven and a half years. The 28-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his victim's identity, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to sexual assault of the child on a date between 2007 and 2010. Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy noted that the man was an alcoholic and had a dysfunctional background, but said the lateness of his guilty plea afforded him only "modest credit". Garda Kevin O'Hora told Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, that the victim and the accused both came from an extremely dysfunctional background and the accused would occasionally babysit the victim while the child's mother was out drinking. The child was later removed to the care of an relative due to neglect. The relative became concerned about the child following a conversation they had and she contacted gardai. The child was interviewed by specialist gardai and disclosed an incident in which she said her cousin had "stuck his private into me". She said it happened when she was four or five years old. The child's relative prepared a victim impact statement on her behalf. She said the accused man had taken the child's innocence and the girl was worried about things no one her age should be. Tara Burns SC, defending, said she had been instructed by her client to apologise to the victim. She said he came from a broken family and had a difficult upbringing. He had never worked in his life and had a severe drinking problem. RYANAIR is not at this stage entitled to certain legal costs relating to it bid to get judgment against the State for millions it says it overpaid in air travel tax, the High Court ruled. Ryanair claimed it was entitled to judgment against the Revenue Commissioner and Minister for Finance over delays in complying with court orders that they provide information the airline said it required to progress its case. The application became moot last month when the State provided the required information. However, Mr Justice Max Barrett said he would not grant Ryanair the costs of making the application and said that should be dealt with at the outcome of its main action. He said he would have rejected the airline's application to strike out the State parties' defence and enter judgment against them. He would also have rejected Ryanair's application that the State defendants not be allowed to recover their legal costs of defending the case, this far, regardless of its eventual outcome. First introduced in March 2009, the tax, which the airlines themselves had to collect by adding it to passenger ticket prices, had two rates. One was 2 for flights with destinations of 300 km or less from Dublin Airport and 10 for those further than that. It had be revised following a complaint to the EU Commission that the higher rate breached EU regulations. It was repealed in 2011 and replaced with a single 3 rate on every departure regardless of distance. Ryanair and Aer Lingus separately sued the State seeking the return of the money they had paid up to March 2011 above the new rate. Both airlines sought sums in excess of 60m. Ryanair sought discovery of documents it needed for its case. Unhappy with the progress of the State's efforts to do so, in December last it brought applications seeking judgment and strike out of the State defence. In January, the required discovery was made by the State. Mr Justice Barrett said, as a result, the issue of whether the State should not be allowed recover costs if it wins the case was now moot. "However, it is only fair to note Ryanair has not exactly showered itself with glory when it comes to discharging its own discovery commitments". The "race for discovery ended up being a close-run thing with Ryanair edging the State into second place", he said. He noted the final costs to the State of making discovery and production of documentation, excluding solicitor and barrister costs, will be around 300,000. He said the State had not been endeavouring to avoid discovery and there was no wilful default. "The fact there has been delay is not of itself suggestive of any negligence", he said. Even if the court was minded to punish the State for delay, and the court was not minded to, it still did not fall within the rules providing for the payment of costs as a result of untimely compliance with a discovery order. "There is not a whiff of suggestion of any deliberate concealment on the part of the State", he said. Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has claimed "confusion" led to Gerry Adams's comments that there were "no ganglands" being misunderstood. Ms McDonald was commenting after remarks by the party leader in reaction to the gangland murder in Dublin last Friday. The Sinn Fein leader said he did not believe that "ganglands" existed and he was also extremely vague about how juries and witnesses would be protected if the non-jury Special Criminal Court was abolished. "Confusions arise. But I'm happy - and he is too - to set the record straight," Ms McDonald told reporters. However, Mr Adams was far from happy to clarify his remarks when quizzed on the campaign trial later. Asked to respond to Taoiseach Enda Kenny's statement that 'gangland' does exist, Mr Adams ignored the question, instead speaking in general terms about the Regency Hotel attack. "Well, I've already responded ... in terms of the awful brutality of what happened in the Regency Hotel, that the people involved in that were acting above and beyond the law. They need to be put behind bars. "There's also a huge issue, if I may say so, around the cuts that the Government have brought in, in terms of 140 garda stations being closed and the thousands of gardai numbers which have been cut. So we want to repair that, we want to replace that, and I firmly believe that this organised crime can be tackled...," he said. Asked again if he was referring to gangland crime, Mr Adams responded: "I firmly believe that organised crime - and criminality of any kind - can be tackled, and it's the government's responsibility to do it. "I heard a claim earlier on that a group styling itself as the Continuity IRA had claimed responsibility for that shooting. "It's also worth noting that I and other Sinn Fein representatives are under viable death threats from the same group, so what we need to do is to tackle it, is to get these people behind bars and to ensure that the government gives an Garda Siochana all the resources they require." Ms McDonald, whose base is close to the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra where the shootings took place, said she unreservedly condemned the "action of gangsters and thugs". She said gardai must get the necessary resources to apprehend these people and ensure that they are locked away. "But we mustn't fall into the trap of describing an area as 'gangland', or conceding for a second that any of our communities belong to them," Ms McDonald said, adding that was the point Mr Adams was trying to make. Fianna Fail will gradually abolish the unpopular prescription charge for medical card holders if returned to government- but it will not extend free GP care beyond under-sixes or over-70s The partys pre-election health service proposals were unveiled today by Fianna Fail spokesman on health Billy Kelleher. He said Fianna Fail is proposing an additional 1.3bn of investment in services in a targeted programme directing resources where they are needed most. He said :The current crisis in health services is based fundamentally on five years of failed Fine Gael policies and an obsession with managing the media rather than managing the health service. The first thing we'll do is to end Fine Gael's damaging changes and return the emphasis to investing in public health services. The Cork deputy who was flanked by Dublin west candidate Councillor Jack Chambers said:We are proposing the recruitment of an additional 500 consultants over five years. This will make a significant contribution to reducing waiting lists and the numbers on trolleys. We will also reactivate the National Treatment Purchase Fund to ensure that patients are not waiting unreasonable periods for scheduled treatments. There will also be significant emphasis on home care for older people in medical need. We will reverse the cut of one million home help hours and provide two million more than what is currently being provided. There will also be a significant increase in home care packages with 3,500 extra projected. On medical cards the Fianna Fail spokesman said children with disabilities whose family are in receipt of the Domiciliary Care allowance will also receive a medical card. He also pledged to ensure a humane approach on discretionary medical cards so that ill health does not result in financial hardship. Other measures that will help people are the abolition of prescription charges and a reduction in the Drug Payment Threshold from 144 to 100. The recruitment of 4,000 more nurses in both the primary and acute sectors will also ensure speedier access health services. We also need to improve dental care and we will provide for another fifty dental surgeons. We will also enable children with urgent dental need access the Treatment Purchase Fund where necessary. He insisted he was being very careful not to overpromise or say he will solve every problem in the health service. Too many unrealistic commitments were made by Fine Gael and Labour in 2011, leading to too many promises being broken over the past five years, eroding public confidence and trust in politics. We are not going down that road. Instead we will make solid commitments to improve services where need is greatest. Junior Finance Minister Simon Harris has accused Gerry Adams of being soft on law and order over the Sinn Fein leaders commitment to abolish the Special Criminal Court. Mr Harris was speaking following yet another brutal gangland murder which is suspected to be a retaliation hit for lasts weeks Regency Hotel killing in Dublin. Expand Close Gerry Adams. Photo: Steve Humphreys / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gerry Adams. Photo: Steve Humphreys Mr Adams pledged to abolish the non-jury Special Criminal Court, which recently convicted former IRA boss Thomas Slab Murphy of tax fraud. Mr Harris said the gangland murders over the past five days have rightly shocked, appalled and sickened good decent citizens of this State. I do hope in light of recent events that Gerry Adams and indeed Shane Ross and indeed the Social Democrats would re-evaluate their position in relation to the Special Criminal Court, he said. I dont think there is any citizen today who would fancy appearing on a jury sitting on judgement of some of these extraordinarily, nasty, dangerous gangland criminals, he added. He said Fine Gael has shown a commitment to the Special Criminal Court and will also open a second non-jury court in the coming months if re-elected. The minister said the Special Criminal Court treats evidence and the burden of proof in the same way as any other court and the only difference is a judge makes the final ruling rather than a jury. We know Gerry Adams has a very nuanced view when it comes to law and order but surely even he can see after the atrocities in recent days the absolute need for the Special Criminal Court, Mr Harris said. You cannot going around offering yourself as alternative Taoiseach and be soft on law and order and soft on justice and soft on support for the court system, he added. Mr Harris insisted that Fine Gael did not have to re-evaluate its stances as the party of law and order in the wake of the recent crime spree and the many garda scandals that emerged over the last five years. Nelson Mandela endorses @RENUAIreland candidate @McMahon_Ronan from the grave. (via Twitter user @dalemcdermott) As Storm Imogen battered the country, some hardy candidates were still out and about hitting the doors the nutjobs. Willie ODea had a large team out in Limerick city and told Floating Voter he had to change his clothes three times after getting drenched. Youre risking life and limb with flying election posters, he added. He says campaigning in February is horrendous. Every morning I curse Joan Burton for opposing a November election, he says. Shes put us all through this. Elsewhere, Fine Gaels Cork East candidate Aine Collins didnt miss a trick. Her canvassers were equipped with nightlight candles to hand out to those whose power was gone. Ms Collins said that some of her constituents homes had their power knocked out in the thunderstorm. Its wet, blustery and cold again today, she added, saying some of the team were smothered with the flu. They said what!? Far too much is at stake to sit idly by and do nothing FFs Cavan-Monaghan candidate Brendan Smith on the North Korean rocket test ****** Health Minister Leo Varadkar insisted it was complete coincidence when he turned up to register for the General Election at the same time as Tanaiste Joan Burton. Mr Varadkars hopes of quietly filing his election papers were dashed when he walked into the Returning Officers headquarters to find the Labour leader already there. Both Ministers are pitted against one another in the Dublin West constituency. However, their brief encounter yesterday remained good-natured. ****** Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams went for comfort over style on a canvass in Tallaght yesterday. His party collegaues Cllr Sarah Holland and outgoing TD Sean Crowe wore a smart pair of boots and polished black shoes respectively as they pounded the pavements. Gerry on the other hand wore a pair of grey trainers. It brought a new meaning to running for election. The Tweeting Voter Nelson Mandela endorses @RENUAIreland candidate @McMahon_Ronan from the grave. (via Twitter user @dalemcdermott) Catherine Martin and Tom Kivlehan, both of the Green Party, outside the Four Courts yesterday. Photo: Collins Green Party: The High Court will rule on Thursday over whether the Green Party should be represented on a live leaders debate to be aired on RTE next week. The Green Party lodged a court action against the national broadcaster when their leader Eamon Ryan was told he would be excluded from leaders' debate due to take place next Monday. At a preliminary hearing in the High Court, Justice Seamus Noonan set this coming Thursday as the date for a full judicial review of the legal challenge against RTE's decision to exclude Mr Ryan. RTE is currently proposing a debate including seven party leaders. Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin welcomed the court's decision. "This court challenge is not so much about the Green Party as it is about democracy; it is about an inclusive and modern Ireland," Ms Martin said. "Unfortunately, RTE's overly rigid and non-negotiable approach to this is in stark contrast to the fair and democratic way that smaller parties were treated in the general election held in the UK last year and also the inclusive and modern approach adopted by TV networks in the USA during the course of the US primary elections. "RTE's approach is not in keeping with a modern inclusive Ireland." Renua Ireland Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has pledged a total clear-out of a host of taxes which would be replaced by a 23pc flat tax. Ms Creighton said that the radical overhaul of the tax system would lead to the abolition of 17 taxes in all. "You don't have to be an economist to know working people are paying too many taxes. Such is the range of taxes they face, working people do not know how much tax they will pay from month to month," Ms Creighton said. "Worse still, they do not know when they will also be hit by water charges, by property tax, the TV licence or motor tax. The Irish tax system is too complex." Ms Creighton said an Irish person on the average industrial wage was liable for 17 different taxes. And she then listed the taxes which would be removed. Abolish the three employer rates of PRSI Abolish the two different employee rates of PRSI Abolish the two different rates of income tax Abolish the differential self-employed tax rates Abolish motor tax and the TV licence Abolish special tax breaks for the wealthy Abolish the army of tax advisers, administrators and accountants who garnish your income so you can fulfil all the tax rules. Renua also argues the change would end politicians indulging in Budget giveaways by tinkering at the edges of a chaotic system to buy votes from selected taxpayers with other taxpayers' money. "We want to put the egregious USC tax into the austerity museum. Unlike Fine Gael, however, this will occur as part of plans for national growth rather than an election stunt," Ms Creighton said. Sinn Fein Sinn Fein's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty committed to abolishing the local property tax (LPT) within a matter of weeks if his party is elected into government. The property tax led to huge public protests when first introduced but there is a high compliance rate with the tax as the payment is taken from salaries at source by the Revenue Commissioner. While unveiling the policy, Mr Doherty denied Sinn Fein treated voters in the South differently to those in the North where people are required to pay property tax. The Donegal TD insisted those who pay property tax in Northern Ireland get more for their money, including health and dental benefits. He defended the difference between Sinn Fein's policy North and South of the Border by saying his party did not have the power to increase or decrease taxes in the Northern Assembly as the responsibility for these decisions lies with the British government in Westminster. He said abolishing the property tax for Irish voters would save 1.8 million people 244 a year - it would cost the Exchequer 440m. Right2Change Right2Change, which groups 96 left-wing election candidates, has pledged to hold a huge anti-water charges rally in Dublin on Saturday week, February 20. The group's spokesman Brendan Ogle, of the Unite trade union, said water charges were a big election issue and the charges remained deeply unjust. "Irish householders use 10pc of the water and waste water services. But they are expected to carry 78pc of the cost and subsidise big business and agriculture," Mr Ogle told reporters at the launch of the Right2Change election campaign in Dublin. He said the grouping was a platform uniting a range of leftist candidates who were giving voice to a rapidly changing Irish political situation. The launch was also attended by Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, as her party is aligned to the group. John Douglas, who heads the Mandate trade union, was also present. Mr Ogle said that a survey last week for Ipsos/MRBI showed that two-thirds of voters wanted a change of government. He said the only people who wanted the status quo were people on high salaries. The grouping's slogan is "Another Ireland is possible" and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will contribute to a conference by video link on Saturday in Dublin. Independent TD Shane Ross has said it is "ludicrous" to suggest that he opposes the use of the Special Criminal Court despite the Dail record showing he voted against it last year. The Dublin Rathdown candidate has described himself as "probably one of the strongest supporters of the Special Criminal Court in the Oireachtas". He told the Irish Independent he opposed the legislation because the Government stifled debate on the issue. Each year the Oireachtas has to sanction laws which govern the court, with the most recent vote last June being passed by 86 to 24. Some 56 members of the Dail missed the vote. "There was no discussion. It was guillotined but it's absurd to suggest I'm against the Special Criminal Court," he said. "I voted against it because I wanted a discussion on it but they only allowed an hour and 15 minutes." A number of Mr Ross's colleagues in the Independent Alliance also opposed section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009, as did co-leader of the Social Democrats, Catherine Murphy. She said: "I don't like it being rubber-stamped. It's brought before the Dail every year. At the very least we should examine how our courts are working. "There were cases where people are threatened but they should be few and far between." Independent Alliance TDs Finian McGrath, Michael Fitzmaurice and John Halligan all said they object to the court. Mr McGrath said he strongly supports the view of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties which opposes the court. "I do accept the point that we have to do something about these gangs. We need more undercover surveillance on these guys," he added. Mr Halligan said: "My view on it is that while it is necessary to deal with criminality and gangs, we should be able to protect jurors. "A judge and jury is the way to deal with it in a democracy." Mr Fitzmaurice said: "It was brought in as a result of events in the North when there was a need because jurors were being gotten to. I think we've moved a bit on from there, thank God," he said. Independent TD Thomas Pringle, who is not part of the Alliance, said he is "on the side of human rights" and the court is opposed by human rights' groups. Gardai are calling for the return of high-powered machine guns to the force after a sudden escalation in gangland violence in the capital in the last few days. The high-powered machine gun is just one of the security measures the President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) is calling for following the gun attack at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on Friday afternoon. David Byrne (34) was shot dead in the foyer of the northside hotel where a weigh-in for a boxing competition was taking place. Two more men were left with injuries, while dozens of innocent families and children were forced to flee the venue. Expand Close Eddie Hutch Snr (59) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eddie Hutch Snr (59) Just three days later, Eddie Hutch Senior (59) was shot dead in his home last night in what is believed to be a retaliation attack for Friday's gun rampage. Expand Close Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row Read More GRA President Mr Dermot O'Brien said An Garda Siochana is under-resourced and said he wants his members "[to be] protected when they go out there". Speaking to RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Mr O'Brien called for the return of high-powered machine guns and the regional support unit in the Dublin Metropolitan area. Expand Close Scene of the fatal shooting of Eddie Hutch Snr last night / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scene of the fatal shooting of Eddie Hutch Snr last night "The RSU is a regional support unit, they are a constantly armed unit, they're around 24/7," he said. "They are ready to respond to incidents like this. Expand Close Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row "We are also looking for the immediate introduction of the MP7 submachine gun. "And the return of the Uzi until the MP7 is introduced," he continued. Expand Close Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Scene of the shooting dead of Eddie Hutch snr on Poplar Row "That was taken away in 2012 and hasn't been replaced. "The MP7 would be better for protection and accuracy," he added. Expand Close Gardai swarm around the scene on Poplar Row in north inner city Dublin where Eddie Hutch was shot / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai swarm around the scene on Poplar Row in north inner city Dublin where Eddie Hutch was shot Mr O'Brien spoke as he said An Garda Siochana are relying on staff to do over-time following Friday's shooting at the Regency Hotel, and they shouldn't be treated the same as other groups in the public sector. Mr O'Brien contradicted Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald's comments and said the gardai do not have enough resources. Expand Close Garda swarm around the scene on Poplar Row in north inner city Dublin where Eddie Hutch was shot / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Garda swarm around the scene on Poplar Row in north inner city Dublin where Eddie Hutch was shot Read More He said they are now seeking additional resources, including extra dedicated recruitment into special units to deal with organised crime. "Nobody else in Ireland has to wear [bullet-proof vests], we have to be treated different to other public sectors," he said. "I want to make sure my members are protected when they go out there. "Over-time is being thrown at this investigation because we don't have enough resources. "I keep coming back to the fact that we don't have resources," he repeated. "We have a two-tier pay system, bringing in young gardai on 23,000, it's unfair to put these people out there." Asked if he was disagreeing with the Justice Minister's statement that there is enough resources, Mr O'Brien said: "What I'm saying is we don't have enough people. "If we had enough people, we would have the people there rather than be doing over-time." The GRA President's comments come as Minister Fitzgerald is set to meet the Garda Commissioner and senior officers today to discuss the sudden escalation in violence in Dublin following two murders within the past three days. The Taoiseach has said the murder of Eddie Hutch Snr is a "new escalation of the crime gangland war in Dublin." Mr Kenny was addressing supporters at a Fine Gael campaign event in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. "As we speak the Minister for Justice is meeting wit the Garda Commissioner," he told them. "There has been a new escalation in the crime gangland war in Dublin with the shooting dead of another person yesterday evening. "I want you to understand I've advised the Minister for Justice that she can say to the Commissioner of the Gardai that we will support the Gardai... 100pc in their efforts to deal with this." Mr Kenny continued: "We will see that the resources that are necessary for emergency response units and the facilities to do their job will be supplied to the Gardai and the force in Dublin and elsewhere around the country. "This is not a situation we can tolerate where innocent people may be caught... in the way of gangland crime. "While this has dropped in numbers... in the last number of years - one is too many." Read More Gardai continue to carry out armed checkpoints in the city after Eddie Hutch Senior was gunned down in his home last night. The father-of-five was killed after a gang of gunmen burst into the property on Poplar Row. The 59-year-old man is understood to have been shot nine times in the attack. Eddie Hutch Snr was not centrally involved in any of the feuding and was seen as a soft target. His murder has sickened investigators. A photograph on Independent.ie today shows the front door of the family home which was smashed in during the attack. The image shows how the glass on the front door, which is on the ground floor of the property, was smashed in before a number of gunmen entered the property. Gardai continue to stand outside the crime scene, which remains taped off. The north inner city remains on tenterhooks this morning, with several locals saying they fear for their safety after two major gun attacks in the past few days. Read More Meanwhile, gangster Fat" Freddie Thompson was arrested by gardai after a high speed chase in central Dublin last night. Officers chased Thompson for several miles from the Crumlin area into the south inner city. Gardai eventually forced the car to stop at Cork Street where the driver fled. Thompson, a well known criminal boss, was found to be in the passenger seat. He was arrested by detectives under drugs legislation and was searched. Officers were also suspicious over the clothes he was wearing. The criminal figure was in a red Audi which had been spotted leaving the home of another major criminal figure. The high speed chase then ensued at around 9.00pm. Gardai across the city are on a heightened state of alert following two murders in recent days and detectives in the south Dublin division have initiated a major clampdown. The division had been the epicentre of the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud which claimed 14 lives and where a gang linked to Thompson was seen as one of the major protagonists. He is now aligned with the Kinahan cartel based in Marbella, Spain which is involved in a vendetta feud with the Hutch gang based in the north inner city. The Hutch/Kinahan feud has led to two murders in the last five days the Regency Hotel shootings and last night the cold blooded murder of Eddie Hutch senior. Meanwhile, following questioning and a search "Fat" Freddie Thompson was released from garda custody last night pending further inquiries. Officers are hopeful his arrest may lead to charges in due course. Challenge A spokesman for the Taoiseach said: "The Taoiseach and the minister for justice have been in ongoing regular contact on these issues. "As previously stated, they are of one mind that no resources will be spared in the hunt for the perpetrators of these appalling acts. "The Minister for Justice will continue to update on further developments on these matters." Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland today, Micheal Martin said the numbers of gardai currently employed needs to be reviewed. "We need an accelerated recruitment drive in Garda Siochana." He challenged the outgoing Government's performance on crime saying: "There is absolutely no doubt that the Government have dropped the ball in terms of crime." Dublin City Councillor and former Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke said it was "the darkest night" he can remember. "My grandchildren are in the area, and young kids, and when they heard from their friends there had been a shooting, they cried," he told RTE Radio One's Sean O'Rourke Show. "This area would normally have plenty of children out playing, only for the dark and wet night that was in it there would have been children out playing. "Both these families are mourning both of these men; sons, daughters, mothers and fathers are suffering. "Both men deserve to be buried with dignity." Councillor Burke suggested a mediation between the two gangs to try and resolve the ongoing feud. "Maybe the archbishop might act as a mediator," he continued. "He could meet with representatives of both sides and try and assist in stopping the taking of further lives and any further misery." Meanwhile, Independent candidate Maureen O'Sullivan TD was canvassing in the area when she heard of the shooting yesterday evening. "The media will call this a gangland killing, but this is happening in an ordinary community with ordinary families, young people and elderly people," she said. She described the recent killings as 'ruthless' and said there is a 'complete disregard for life'. Garda Commissioner Noirin O Sullivan has said gardai are liaising with Spanish police as part of their investigations into Dublin's bitter gangland feud. The deadly rivalry between members of the Hutch family and the Kinahan drugs cartel spilled onto the streets again last night with the murder of Eddie Hutch Snr. Speaking at a press conference at Garda Headquarters in Phoenix Park the commissioner said there would be an organisation-wide response to the violence and sought to reassure the public that as well as an active investigation, preventative measures to quell the violence were also being implemented. However, when questioned on why there were no Gardai present at the Regency Hotel in Dublin on Friday where David Byrne was shot dead after six gun men stormed the venues she said there was no viable intelligence to suggest an attack an attack was imminent. She said officers were deployed on factors including "intelligence and risk assessment" adding that as far as Gardai were concerned the event last Friday was merely a sporting occasion. When asked why Gardai were unable to prevent last night's murder on Poplar row despite the fact of rolling checkpoints across the city she said often when criminals show such intent to commit a crime it can be very difficult to stop them. Garda assistant commissioner Jack Nolan says the force are keeping an "open mind" for the motive of Eddie Hutch's murder. He would not state if the any member of the Hutch family was advised if their life was in danger prior to the shooting of Eddie Hutch. Thats not an avenue Id like to go down at this point in time, Mr Nolan said at a press conference this evening. He added that gardai had no specific intelligence that Eddie Hutch was at risk. Mr Nolan reveals that gardai believe the four gunmen responsible for the murder abandoned the silver BMW and fled in either a dark Isuzu jeep or a Land Cruiser. Mr Nolan said that while the BMW was not stolen, he was keen to speak to anybody who seen the car bearing registration plate 06-G-8965. He also said that gardai are interested in a black Peugeot car which was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. The commissioner also confirmed that it appears handguns were used to kill Hutch and that two of the masked gunmen fired shots. Commissioner Nolan said that he believes the significant garda presence spooked the gunmen and thats why the getaway car was abandoned. The detectives leading the case added they are conscious of retaliation and that there is a focus in particular areas in Dublin which has been managed with enhance patrolling. The name Hutch has been synonymous with crime in Ireland since the 1980s due to Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch who masterminded two of the biggest robberies in the history of the State. Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch In 1987, Hutch made his name in the underworld hierarchy when, at the age of 24, he led the north inner-city gang which robbed 1.3m (1.6m) from a security van in Marino Mart on Dublin's northside. The spectacular heist, the biggest cash robbery in Irish criminal history catapulted The Monk into the big league alongside the likes of John Gilligan, George 'The Penguin' Mitchell and Martin Cahill, the General. Expand Close The Monk Gerry Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Monk Gerry Hutch But it also placed him squarely in the sights of the Gardai. In 1995 Hutch and his gang again made the gangland history books when they were the prime suspects for the robbery of 2.8m (3.5m) in a daring heist from a cash holding facility in north county Dublin. The money was later laundered through construction projects at the beginning of the countrys building boom. Read More However, these days The Monk claims to be retired and spends his time between the Canaries and Dublin. Despite several investigations and arrests, Gerry Hutch managed to escape prosecution although he was forced to pay CAB more than 1.5 million to satisfy a tax demand based on his substantial criminal wealth. Hutch remained one of the countrys best-known criminal godfathers and gardai considered the fact that he was never been singled out for a gun attack as evidence of his standing in the underworld until now that is. Eddie Hutch Snr Father-of-five and taxi driver Eddie Snr was killed last night in his home. The 59-year-old was shot up to nine times after gunmen broke in through his front door. The brother of 'The Monk' was never involved in major crime and not centrally involved in any of the feuding and was seen as a 'soft target'. Expand Close Eddie Hutch Snr (59) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eddie Hutch Snr (59) His murder has sickened investigators. Eddie Hutch Snr was one of a large group of the Monk's associates targeted in Operation Alpha the first major investigation launched by the Criminal Assets Bureau shortly after it was first established in 1996. Read More As part of the enquiry, which was to last over ten years, the CAB seized a bank account in Eddie Hutch's name which contained over 156,000. Eddie Hutch Jr Convicted criminal Eddie Hutch was back in the headlines as he featured on 'Winning Streak' in September 2015. His brother Ross had played on Eddie's behalf. The pair walked away with some 33,000 in cash and prizes from the National Lottery show, amid calls for him to donate his winnings to an organisation which helps the victims of crime. Eddie Jr (40) has served numerous stints in jail for theft and driving convictions. Expand Close Edward Hutch watches from the audience. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Edward Hutch watches from the audience. In January 2015, a judge found Eddie Jr not guilty by reason of insanity for assaulting a prison officer in Mountjoy in 2012. Hutch told doctors he believed his uncle Gerry and his dad had organised a sex change for him and were spiking his methadone in order to turn him into a woman. Read More Dublin District Court also heard that Hutch believed his private parts were shrinking and that he had "breasts like a woman" during the testimony from a psychiatrist. Ross Hutch Ross, the brother of Eddie Jr and son of Eddie Snr, has some 54 convictions. Expand Close Ross Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ross Hutch He featured on Winning Streak last year and left presenter Sinead Kennedy red-faced after he paid her a compliment. Eddie Jr and Ross's cousins Gary and Derek have hit the headlines for more sinister reasons. Read More Gary Hutch The Monk's own children may have eschewed involvement in crime, but his nephews, brothers Gary and Derek followed in his footsteps. Gary Hutch put the family name in lights again when he was involved in the robbery of more than 7.5m from the Bank of Ireland in Dublin following a tiger kidnapping. It set the record as the biggest cash robbery. Expand Close Gary Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gary Hutch The murder of Gary Hutch was the first time a member of The Monk's family was targeted by gangland killers. He was shot dead in Marbella in September 2015. The killing sparked a gangland feud which led to the audacious attack on the Regency Hotel last week. Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch Gary's brother, Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch, is also violent gangster and is currently serving sentences for possession of a firearm and manslaughter. He was unable to attend the funeral of Gary as he was serving time but wrote a letter which was read out to the funeral by a younger male relative. Read More Expand Close Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch Cartel gang target Derek has recently been moved to a special protection wing of Wheatfield Prison because of renewed fears that he could be murdered on the orders of the Christy Kinahan mob. 'Del Boy' is just one of dozens of the extended Hutch gang whose lives are under threat from the Kinahan cartel in the wake of the assassination of David Byrne (34) at the Regency Hotel, and last night's murder in Ballybough. The decision to move 'Del Boy' to a more secure area of Wheatfield Prison happened on Saturday, just hours after Friday's hotel bloodbath, which gardai believe was carried out in revenge for the murder of his brother Gary Hutch in Spain last September. Convicted killer 'Del Boy' (31) has already survived two serious jail attacks since his brother was murdered, and sources say that there is intelligence that the cartel are determined to murder him behind bars. Convicted criminal Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch admits anyone involved in serious crime is a fool, or at least he did back in 2008 during a TV interview when he was questioned about his familys involvement in gangland Ireland. I feel if they're involved in serious crime, they're very foolish, quips Hutch during his first ever television interview almost a decade ago. Read More It was the murder of his nephew Gary last year in Spain that sparked the gangland feud which led to the audacious attack on the Regency Hotel last week which was quickly avenged last night with the murder of Hutchs brother Eddie (Snr) at his home in Dublins inner city. Speaking to RTE's Prime Time in 2008, the convicted criminal shrugged off his own alleged involvement in two of the biggest armed robberies in the history of the State. Read More "Yeah, I done crimes, some of them I got away with [but] I had no choice. You had to get into crime to feed yourself, never mind dress yourself. Hutch goes on, describing his poor background and how there "was nothing around" as a boy. "I have a kid now of 15 and I look at the kid and I say 'my God, when I was 15, I was in prison'. I mean, I was in prison with murderers, rapists, bank robbers, everything. I'll agree I done wrong but I think the severity of being put into Mountjoy Prison at that age, it was like going to college for criminals." Expand Close The Hutch family / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Hutch family Read More Earlier today, RTEs Primetime read out a series of excepts of the infamous 2008 interview with crime reporter Paul Reynolds. Hutch, who allegedly amassed around tens of millions from bank robberies and fraud scams, denied any involvement in drugs and guns during the exclusive RTE interview. One of the first people to make a substantial settlement with the Criminal Assets Bureau, he told RTE in 2008 that his money came from compensation claims subsequently invested into the housing market. Read More Repeating his claims that he had no connection to the IR1.7m Marino Mart and IR3m Clonshaugh raids in the 1990s, he continued: I know all about it. I've been arrested, questioned about it, and been writ about. I've read all about it in the newspapers. That's what I know about it and anytime it's writ about my photograph is thrown in. I'm beginning to believe I done it myself from reading it in the paper. When you read these things every week after week, there must be no smoke without fire. It looks that way, it sounds that way. If it barks it's a dog. I didn't do the robbery, you know." UCD students taking part in the SlutWalk campaign, which calls for an end to rape culture. Sexual consent workshops could soon be mandatory for those attending University College Dublin following allegations that some 200 students were involved in sharing intimate photos of female classmates. The UCD Students Union (UCDSU) is seeking funding to ensure these classes can be taken by all students from the beginning of the next academic year. Read More We will change lad culture in UCD as promised following our election to office. University management must now come completely on board and help us fund badly needed policy changes [it] must work with us to ensure visible, adequate campus supports for survivors of sexual violence. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Proud: Student Victoria Banach at the UCD Students' Union 'Not Asking For It' campaign. Photo: Fergal Phillips. Hazel Beattie UCDSU Graduate Officer with Slutwalk participants. Photo: Fergal Phillips / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Proud: Student Victoria Banach at the UCD Students' Union 'Not Asking For It' campaign. Photo: Fergal Phillips. Read More UCD confirmed last week that it was investigating claims that a group of male students shared explicit images of female students in a private Facebook group. Also alongside the images, users were asked to share stories about the girls and encourage others to rate them. Independent.ie understands that UCD has sent out an email asking students to come forward in confidence so that the university can investigate the circumstances surrounding the allegations. The UCDSUs push for sexual consent workshops follows similar measures adopted Trinity College Dublin, IT Tralee and NUIG, who have all introduced classes on sexual consent for new undergraduate students. An Irish man who once weighed more than 28 stone has found love after shifting more than half his body weight ahead of a family wedding. Paul Carney (38) admitted that he had given up on finding love at his heaviest, but will wed his fiancee Clare next year after losing an incredible 16stone 8lbs. Expand Close Paul Carney and his fiancee Clare Gilsenan / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Paul Carney and his fiancee Clare Gilsenan The barman from Mayo said that his confidence was extremely low when he was heavy and he did not have the courage to talk to women. When I was at my biggest, my confidence was just so low. I didnt have the courage to talk to women at all so I never really had many relationships because of that. I felt like it was pointless chatting to women when I was that weight. Dating is very hard for larger people, its no life, he said. However, after changing his life, Paul had the confidence to join an online dating site where he met his future bride Clare, from Dublin. Clare and I originally met online and we agreed to meet up in Castlebar on a night out and we just hit it off so much. Weve been together ever since. I think shes just gorgeous and were very happy. I proposed to Clare last August on Mulranny Beach and she said yes. We are very happy he said. Expand Close Paul Carney pictured at his heaviest 28 stone before joining Motivation Weight Management Clinic / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Paul Carney pictured at his heaviest 28 stone before joining Motivation Weight Management Clinic Paul revealed that he was encouraged to join Motivation Weight Management Clinic ahead of his nephews wedding in 2011, which he said he was dreading. I knew I was over twenty stone but the scales didnt go beyond that so really I didnt know just how far Id gotten. My nephew was getting married and I knew something had to be done. I always dreaded weddings because when youre that size you just dont want to go on the dance floor and you really just want to sit in the corner for the day. Youre thinking the sooner this day is over the better, he said. The Castlebar man revealed that by the time the wedding came along he had shed more than ten stone in nine months on the programme. I was so big that some weeks I was losing 5 or six pounds and nine months later I had lost ten stone. Expand Close Paul Carney pictured after losing an incredible 16stone 8lbs before joining Motivation Weight Management Clinic / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Paul Carney pictured after losing an incredible 16stone 8lbs before joining Motivation Weight Management Clinic I went from dreading weddings to being a groomsman at my nephews wedding. It felt great, he said. Paul revealed that tackling his weight has opened up a brighter future for him in more ways that just benefiting his health. Clare and I have a whole life planned together, marriage, kids the works. This would never have happened if I hadnt lost the weight. My life has been turned upside down and its now completely different, he said. A 13-year-old YouTuber has taken a stance against online bullies in a moving new video as part of Safer Internet Day. Limerick native Luke Culhane published his video 'Create No Hate' yesterday, which shows him in physical pain when he receives cruel messages from cyber bullies. Expand Close Luke in a still from his video. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Luke in a still from his video. The 1st year student told I Love Limerick that the short video takes inspiration from his real life dealings with cyber bullies. "I have been cyberbullied myself and understand first hand the impact it can have on a young persons self esteem," he said. "I wanted to do something to speak out against it and I wanted to use a medium that I am passionate about such as filmmaking. I felt the Safer Internet Day was an appropriate time to do it to it and create discussion around the issue. Luke spent days planning and initiating the video, which is part of an EU-wide initiative to encourage safer and responsible use of the Internet, especially for younger people. "I felt that Safer Internet Day was an appropriate time to release this video to create discussion around the issue," he said. " I wanted to show that it doesnt have to be physical bullying to hurt someone so thats why I showed the likeness between the two types of bullying." You can watch more of Luke's videos on his YouTube channel here. For more information on Safer Internet Day, click here. Premium Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions. Premium 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. So much in elections is down to timing and, what Harold Macmillan famously referred to as, "events". And right now it seems Sinn Fein's luck is out on that score. Bad enough that the sentencing of Thomas 'Slab' Murphy is due to come smack, bang in the middle of the campaign - but then last Friday's horrific gangland attack in a Dublin hotel turned the party's stance on the Special Criminal Court into an election issue. Murphy's sentencing was always going to be awkward for Sinn Fein. For reasons best known to themselves, senior party figures, including Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald, continue to stand over their description of a convicted tax evader as a "good Republican". It gives their opponents a serious stick with which to beat them. Given that a raid on his property in 2006 resulted in the seizure of 625,000 in cash and cheques, it also seriously jars with the party's stated policy of getting a bigger tax contribution from the wealthy. And, perhaps more importantly, it re-raises age-old questions as to who is calling the shots in Sinn Fein? Which is more important to Gerry Adams - the views of Slab Murphy or those of the Irish electorate? And, if it's the former, as Adams's stout defence of Murphy seemed to indicate, why so? Now Friday's gangland attack has piled further pressure on the party by turning the spotlight onto its strong opposition to the non-jury Special Criminal Court. That opposition always looked utterly self-serving, given it was the court in which Murphy - and indeed many other 'good Republicans' - were convicted. But, after last Friday's shocking incident, Sinn Fein's continued insistence the court should be abolished leaves the party open to the accusation it wants to take away a key weapon in tackling gangland crime. With the public rightly shocked at the brutality and audacity of the gangland attack, that's not an electorally profitable place to be. Ideally, of course, every case would be heard before a jury of the accused's peers. But, as the events at the Regency Hotel so brutally demonstrated, we don't live in an ideal world. There may be strong intellectual and theoretical arguments for abolishing the Special Criminal Court. But they won't find much traction in the heat of an election campaign, where the threat of gangland crime has suddenly become a central issue. Many ordinary voters will instinctively scoff at the notion that gangland figures, with an extraordinary propensity for violence, can be tried by a jury free from the threat of intimidation. There are, as Sinn Fein has argued pretty unconvincingly, measures to mitigate this threat and protect juries and witnesses. But which citizen - however civic-minded and courageous - would relish the prospect of being on such a jury, protected or not? The report suggesting the AK-47s used in the hotel attack might be linked to a cargo of weapons brought in by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles complicates matters further for the party. It was predictably seized upon by the Taoiseach. If true, he said, it was "hypocritical" of Sinn Fein to talk of the abolition of the Special Criminal Court. This was (not unfairly) dismissed as "political point-scoring" by Pearse Doherty. He insisted the IRA was gone and its weapons put beyond use. In all probability, the nuances of where the guns may, or may not, have come from is unlikely to exercise too many voters. However, the Continuity IRA's claimed role in the attack - which emerged after the Taoiseach's comments - might have greater resonance. To be clear, Sinn Fein today can't be held accountable for what dissident groups do. But not all voters - particularly those less clued into the splintering in the Republican movement since the PIRA ceasefire - will necessarily see it that way. But the real problem for Sinn Fein is it's in a hole and it may be unable to stop digging. It can't with any credibility back down on its stance on the Special Criminal Court, even if it wanted or felt able to (and it doesn't seem to). And, for its own internal reasons, it's not going to cut "good Republican" Slab Murphy loose, as every other political party would do in the circumstances. The frustrating thing for the party is it had a good start to the campaign. Who would have imagined that Fine Gael would have been on the back foot with Sinn Fein, all of a sudden the party of fiscal credibility, accusing it - and the other establishment parties - of getting their numbers wrong? But the tables have been turned. It should be said that whatever happens, Sinn Fein is going to have a very solid General Election result, in all likelihood finishing somewhere in the twenties, seats-wise. But, if it wants to be in the mid or high twenties as opposed to the low, it will need to go beyond its urban, working-class heartlands. Shane Coleman presents the 'Sunday Show' on Newstalk.com at 10am There are a lot of reasons why Mary Lou McDonald has one of the safest seats in Ireland. Her reputation as a local representative is well-established. She is one of the strongest performers in the Dail and has made good use of a high-profile position on the Public Accounts Committee. And despite the often ungratifying Thursday handbags with Tanaiste Joan Burton that became a recurring theme over the last year, she is a very pleasant person. Working-class and middle-class voters like her. In any other party, the leader would be looking over his shoulder at a younger, more intelligent pretender to the throne. But Gerry Adams doesn't have to worry about his deputy leader being unfaithful or getting above her station. No matter what he does, no matter how often he slides into the ridiculous and no matter how serious the accusations get, Mary Lou McDonald stands firm. When Adams was arrested in connection with the disappearance of Jean McConville, she cried that it was "politically motivated" by "old guard elements" within the PSNI. The time he failed to alert police to the sexual abuse suffered by his niece at the hands of his brother, McDonald didn't criticise him. After Adams described former IRA chief and tax dodger Thomas 'Slab' Murphy as "a good republican", she went further, saying he was "very nice" and a "typical rural man". All of which begs one massive question: Why does Mary Lou McDonald do it? What is it that prevents her from stating the obvious: that Gerry Adams is a liability to Sinn Fein? Apart from the fact that he is friends with murderers, he is weak on economics and struggles to sell the Sinn Fein message in any coherent way. Yet he is the undisputed leader of the party for more than 30 years. That's hard to explain in a so-called democratic party. By consistently backing Adams, the Dublin Central TD is damaging her own credibility. Whatever about a heave, it would at least be reasonable to admit that he is plain wrong when he makes a suggestion that 'gangland' doesn't exist. I agree with the writer of the letter 'To decide how to vote, we need to look at recent history' about choosing our next government in the upcoming General Election (Irish Independent, February 4). But he concluded that on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, "It's funny how we keep harking back to the heroes of 1916 and the War of Independence, but our history books are so empty of heroes in the political field since the foundation of our country." It is not entirely empty. A political hero in the 1948-51 period was the Health Minister, Dr Noel Browne, who tried to set up a free mother and children health programme. But the government of the day caved in to pressure from the Catholic Church not to introduce it. The church saw it as State interference in the family. Dr Browne resigned as a result. He was successful with his earlier government programme for the treatment and eradication of TB, which had killed thousands. His later career was mixed, and he was involved in a number of political parties. He could alienate political colleagues, but he was a hero who fought against TB. His father and two siblings had died from it, and he never forgot. Meanwhile, Donogh O' Malley, as Education Minister, announced the introduction of legislation for free secondary-level education for all in 1966. Families paid fees until then. He announced it without bringing it first to a Cabinet meeting. He probably thought they'd say no. John Hume was a nationalist Northern Ireland politician, but he too is an Irish political hero. He worked for non-violent ways and dialogue to end the conflict in Northern Ireland which, after 30 years, led to the 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement, for which he and unionist David Trimble were given the Nobel Peace Prize. He urged an end to violence from all sides - when some of the media were concerned about his private talks in the 1990s with Sinn Fein. There were many who contributed to the Peace Process, but he was one of the first. The Agreement was approved by referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic, with a subsequent change to the Republic's Constitution. He worked to secure the support of Irish America and then US President Bill Clinton for his strategy. I think he was an exceptional hero in the political arena. Mary Sullivan Cork To boldly go into 'Fiscal Space' Congratulations to the Government for bringing laughter into politics with its satirical spin on the new buzz word: 'Fiscal Space'. I thought it was an old episode of 'Star Trek', starring Captain Enda Kirk boldly going where no economic enterprise has gone before. Of course, he would be advised by Michael Spock, who believes Fiscal Space to be totally logical in a Vulcan way. And down in the engine room, we have Scotty Joan explaining to her labour-intensive engine workers why warp-speed economics will blow the ship to bits. "Ah canna hold her, Captain! She's breaking up!" Anthony Woods Ennis, Co Clare In defence of consent classes Ian O'Doherty's article on consent classes really took the biscuit (Irish Independent, Review, February 5). Mr O'Doherty rails against the ignominy male students in Trinity College will face in having to attend classes on sexual consent from next year onwards. "Apparently young men all over the Western world need to be taught that rape is wrong - who knew? - and therefore they will be forced to attend a consent class", he states, before continuing: "Demanding that all men attend a compulsory class to prevent a tiny minority from raping is about as dumb as demanding that all pregnant women attend compulsory classes telling them not to kill their newborn. "It's insulting, reductive and also lumps a group of people together on the basis of their gender." What Mr O'Doherty neglects to mention is that it is not only men who will be obliged to attend these consent classes, but also female students. But I suppose that wouldn't fit his narrative. The reader is led to believe that it is men who are being deliberately targeted by mischievously misandrist university authorities, when, in actual fact, these classes are being introduced by the student union with the intent of educating both genders on what consent is and, presumably, dispelling the myths and falsehoods surrounding it. I, as a college-going male, think it is a great idea and were it to be introduced in UCC, where I study, I would be happy to attend. Conor O'Riordan Killarney, Co Kerry Garda station closures In all the coverage of the shocking events at the Regency Hotel on Saturday, there was no mention of the fact that the attack happened directly across the road from the now-closed Whitehall Garda Station! If ever there was a justification to keep garda stations open, then this was it. Indeed, I dare say, the hotel would have been a venue much frequented by gardai off duty at the station. Would the perpetrators have dared to select this family-run hotel if Whitehall Garda Station was still manned? Did the perpetrators operate in the full knowledge that the nearest garda stations to the hotel (Santry, Mountjoy Square and Clontarf) are at least two miles away in congested suburban locations? Paul Kennedy Dublin 5 Doctors' working conditions Health Minister Leo Varadkar's mistake in deciding to reveal his true reason for starving the hospitals of resources was to keep hospital staff "under pressure", proves one thing to me and that is that people make mistakes when they are under pressure and tired. The minister was rushing and under pressure. His mistake in speaking without giving it enough thought, most likely will not have serious consequences and he was able to attempt to rectify it by appearing on TV to say it was not "staff" he meant, but "hospitals" - hardly the four walls. Of course he meant staff. When dealing with people's lives, it very is serious to make mistakes or misjudgments and obviously not always possible to rectify them later. Having nurses and doctors working in overcrowded conditions, short staffed, very often rostered to work over double the legal limit of 48 hours a week is not safe. Mistakes happen "under pressure". I write this as my 25-year-old daughter leaves work, following her 24-hour shift as a junior doctor, having worked over 100 hours in the last seven days, including two back-to-back 24-hour shifts without sleep. Marion Dermody Newbridge, Co Kildare There is no safe way to get a sun tan, Nice warned Hugh Jackman, who took to social media to warn fans of the dangers of not wearing sunscreen. A health watchdog has told people there is no such thing as a safe tan as the actor Hugh Jackman announced his fifth skin cancer has been removed. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said adults need between six and eight teaspoons (35ml) of sun cream per application and should always aim for an SPF of 15 or higher. It comes as Jackman took to Twitter and Instagram to warn fans of the dangers of not wearing sun cream. He also appealed to people to get regular skin checks as he posted a picture of himself with a plaster on his nose after having a fifth skin cancer removed. The Australian actor, who starred as the Wolverine in the X-Men film series, said: "An example of what happens when you don't wear sunscreen. Basal Cell. The mildest form of cancer but serious, nonetheless. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN and get regular check-ups." Jackman had his first skin cancer removed in 2013 after his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suggested he should get a mole on his nose checked. At the time, he wrote on social media: "Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy, was she right! I had a Basal Cell Carcinoma. Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. And USE sunscreen!!!" In its new guidance, Nice said "there is no safe or healthy way to get a tan from sunlight", adding that a tan provides little protection against further exposure to the sun. And it said while people should expose their arms and legs to the sun for short periods in order to build up vitamin D, this had to be balanced against the risks of skin cancer. It stopped short of recommending a specific amount of time people should stay out without sun cream to build up vitamin D, but said experts agreed that " short (less than the time it takes for skin to redden or burn), frequent periods of sunlight exposure are best for vitamin D synthesis". Video of the Day It said this type of exposure is also "less likely to result in skin cancer". Many adults in Britain have low levels of vitamin D (23% aged 19 to 64 and 21% aged 65 and over), as do 14% of children aged four to 10 and 22% of children aged 11 to 18. In the wide-ranging guidance, Nice warns that applying sunscreen too thinly reduces the amount of protection it gives. Higher SPFs - such as 30 - may offer better protection but do "not necessarily mean people can spend more time in the sun without the risk of burning". Nice said sunscreens should be "re-applied liberally, frequently and according to the manufacturer's instructions", including after being in the water (even if it is water-resistant) and after towel drying, sweating or when it may have rubbed off. Sunscreen should also be applied twice if people are going to be out long enough to risk burning - once half an hour before going out, and again around the time they go out in the sun. Sarah Williams, Cancer Research UK's health information manager, said: "While we all need some sun for vitamin D, it's important not to overdo it as the sun's UV rays also increase skin cancer risk. "Far from being a sign of health, a suntan actually means your skin is trying to protect itself from too much UV - and sunburn means that the DNA in your skin cells has been damaged. Over time, this damage can build up and lead to skin cancer." Actor Justin Theroux spends a solid two months in a row lavishing his wife Jennifer Aniston with gifts ahead of Valentine's Day. Lovers all over the world will be celebrating the romantic holiday on 14 February, but the Hollywood it-couple has a head start. Jennifer celebrates her birthday on 11 February every year and her other half Justin pulls out all the stops to make her special day spectacular, with the 44-year-old The Leftovers star confessing he gets started on the gifts around Christmastime. It comes fast and furious, we have Christmas then New Year's, then we have her birthday and then Valentines day," he told Extra. Expand Close Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Read More So she gets a solid of two months of just being lavished with some good stuff. Im thinking of moving my birthday to January to break it up. Justin and Jennifer tied the knot in August at their home in the affluent Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles after being in a relationship since May 2011. He is loving everything about being a newlywed, noting the honeymoon phase has yet to cease. Expand Close Justin Theroux and wife, actress Jennifer Ansiton / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Justin Theroux and wife, actress Jennifer Ansiton Read More Everything is wonderful, getting used to the arithmetic rhythms of shooting a television show, rushing home, going back to the show, going home, going to Rome for Zoolander," he detailed. Expand Close Actress Jennifer Aniston arrives at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actress Jennifer Aniston arrives at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok Video of the Day Justin stars in Zoolander 2, a parody comedy about the fashion industry, alongside Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, who portray iconic supermodel characters Derek Zoolander and Hansel respectively. Although he would have loved for his actress wife to make a cameo in the picture, it proved to be impossible to get Jennifer on set. Expand Close Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Read More She was working, I couldnt get her out there," he shared, before joking: "And we couldnt afford it (her salary) then I finally just gave it (the script) to her at breakfast one day, and she was like, 'Are you kidding me?'" But in all seriousness Justin rehashed, "We did want her to be in it, it was just a scheduling thing. One of the women who has accused ex-US President Bill Clinton of sexual assault says she has agreed to work for an anti-Clinton political group being formed by a former adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who says Bill Clinton groped her in an Oval Office hallway in 1993 when she came to him tearfully seeking a paid job, said she had agreed to become a paid national spokeswoman for a group being created by Roger Stone. Stone, a Republican strategist, said the group would become active should Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton's wife, win the Democratic nomination in the 2016 race for the White House. Ms Clinton is currently the front-runner. "This gives me more of an opportunity to get this message out to young voters who weren't even born or don't even remember what happened and to the women who have suffered," Ms Willey said. Ms Willey added that she would give interviews and speeches and appear in political advertisements to ensure the accusations remain part of the political discourse during the election campaign. "They're going to be confronted every day, on radio, on television, on billboards," Mr Stone said, referring to the Clintons. He said he had reached a verbal agreement with Ms Willey but cautioned that the group was still in the planning stages. Spokesmen for Hillary and Bill Clinton did not respond to questions about Willey. In a 1998 deposition, Mr Clinton "emphatically" denied Ms Willey's accusation he groped her. Donald Trump appeared poised to clinch his first victory in the primary in New Hampshire following a humbling second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. The billionaire Trump has held a commanding lead in New Hampshire preference polls for months as candidates race to collect delegates for parties' nominating conventions later this year. Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who won in Iowa, is in the mix in New Hampshire with Iowa third-place finisher Marco Rubio. They are also challenged by a trio of governors seeking to stop Rubio's rise after his uneven debate performance over the weekend. At the heart of the battle between Rubio and Chris Christie, John Kasich and Jeb Bush is whether the Florida senator has the experience. Without a strong showing, each will face enormous pressure to drop out from Republican Party leaders eager to rally around a single establishment candidate who can challenge the outspoken Cruz and Trump. It is not as if Trump, notorious for his inflammatory, style, has suddenly gone soft. At an event in Plymouth, he reaffirmed his support for reviving the waterboarding of terrorism suspects and, if necessary, doing "much worse." He mocked "poor Jeb Bush" and talked about the "stupid people" running the government. But the past week has revealed a mellower Trump who seems less interested in slashing and burning his way to his party's nomination for the November 8 election and more willing to view his competitors with equanimity. The Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders swerved in a new direction after a pair of prominent Clinton supporters criticised female voters who support Sanders despite the prospect of electing the first female president. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said over the weekend that there was "a special place in hell" for women who don't help women, while writer and famed feminist Gloria Steinem suggested that women backing Sanders were doing so to meet boys. "Young women are active, mad as hell about what's happening to them," Steinem wrote. "Whether they gravitate to Bernie or Hillary, young women are activist and feminist in greater numbers than ever before." A female white spotted bamboo shark which has had no contact with males for more than two years could be set to give birth to two babies A female shark which has had no contact with males for more than two years could be set to give birth to two babies. The white spotted bamboo shark arrived at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre in 2013 having been evacuated from the badly flooded sister centre in Hunstanton. She has been the only member of her species at the centre in that time and has had no contact with male sharks. But now experts at the centre have said she has produced two fertile eggs which are due to hatch in nine months time. If the births are successful, the babies would be examples of an amazing phenomenon to conceive without a male which has only recently been identified in sharks. Marine biologist and shark expert Darren Gook said: "They will be the first such births in the Sea Life network and we're excited and privileged to be expecting such a miraculous event." The discovery of the two eggs containing valid embryos comes within days of the announcement in Germany of a second generation virgin birth involving the same bamboo shark species at a research facility in Munich. Mr Gook said: "The process is called 'parthenogenesis' and has long been known to occur in domestic chickens and some reptiles, but was not recorded in sharks until 2008. "Females somehow manage to add an extra set of chromosomes to their eggs to produce off-spring which are either clones or half-clones of themselves. "It's been recorded in bonnethead, blacktip and zebra sharks as well as white spotted bamboos. "It was assumed offspring born this way were infertile and it was an evolutionary dead end, but events in Germany have now disproved that." Mr Gook added that one explanation of asexual reproduction is that it is natures way of ensuring the survival of the species if there is a drastic decline in numbers making it harder for males and females to locate each other. The two eggs have been removed to the safety of a nursery tank where visitors will be able to see them and where they will be closely monitored for the full term of their development. John Bercow said he read the journal 'very occasionally' when he was a school student, but the publication had not passed his desk since The Commons Speaker has joked that reading the Socialist Worker newspaper as a student "probably" made him a Tory. John Bercow revealed to MPs in the chamber that he read the journal "very occasionally" when he was a school student, but the publication had not passed his desk since. His comments came after Labour's David Winnick (Walsall North) raised a point of order inquiring in jest if browsing the journal made him decide to become a Conservative. Mr Winnick asked: "Correctly you said that in your youth you read the Socialist Worker. Would it be right to come to the conclusion that having read that revolutionary journal, it decided you to become a Tory?" Mr Bercow replied: "The honourable gentleman may be correct in that surmise, there was actually a young lad at my secondary school who was a devoted seller of the paper and another young lad who was a devoted seller of the paper who has since become a distinguished academic and as far as I know he no longer adheres to the precepts of the Socialist Workers Party. "Did reading it make me a Tory?- Probably." He added: "I'm very grateful to the honourable gentleman both for his point of order and for his sense of humour." Mr Bercow's trip down memory lane came after SNP MP Christopher Stephens (Glasgow South West) raised an initial point of order about facility time and check off provisions contained in the Trade Union Bill and whether there would be a removal of those provisions as they applied to Scotland and Wales after he earlier asked a question at Commons BIS questions. Mr Stephens said: "The Socialist Worker newspaper for which you may have a subscription and other media outlets have published a letter from the minister of state to other Government ministers including the Prime Minister which indicates that concessions will be made to devolved administrations effectively taking out the check off and facility time arrangements of the Bill." Responding , Mr Bercow said: "I wasn't conscious that ministers had a hotline to the Socialist Worker newspaper - not yet says the leader of the Liberal Democrats from a sedentary position. I read the journal myself very occasionally when I was a school student, but it hasn't passed my desk since I must readily concede." A newborn baby boy who was pronounced dead in China woke up crying moments before he was due to be cremated after spending the night in a morgue at -12C temperature. A worker at the Pan'an funeral home in Jinhua realised the baby, named An An, was still alive when he pulled the newborn out of the refrigerator and he began to wail, reported Channel Six of Zhejiang Television. The worker then contacted the father and cancelled the scheduled cremation. The boy had been delivered prematurely, after a seven-month pregnancy, on January 8 at the Pan'an People's Hospital in Zhejiang, a coastal province in southeastern China. According to Channel Six, the father of the baby boy, named only as Lu, insisted on taking him out of incubation a week earlier than doctors had recommended to bring him home for Chinese New Year. Two days later, the boys face lost colour and the family rushed him back to hospital for emergency care. By February 4, the baby's state had deteriorated. The paediatrician, Dr Chen Shuanghua, declared that the baby was not breathing and there was no heartbeat. According to the Mail Online after the hospital issued a death certificate, An An's father wrapped him in two layers of clothing and took him to the morgue of the Pan'an Funeral Home at around 6pm. An An, who had spent 15 hours in a freezer with temperatures of -12C, was then sent back to the emergency room, where he was being kept under observation in an incubator on Monday. Having been a paediatrician for over 20 years, I cant really understand how this miracle happened, Dr Chen said according to the Epoch Times. Unfortunately, the odds of his survival are low, Dr Chen said. Mr Yang, director of the People's Hospital, said that the staff made a mistake by not confirming the baby's death a second time before issuing the death certificate. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Donald Trump introduces his wife Melania during a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire (AP) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop in New Hampshire (AP) Hillary Clinton is vowing to "keep working until the last vote is cast and counted" as voting in the New Hampshire primary begins. Ms Clinton is starting her day before 7am at a Manchester polling location. She shook hands and posed for photographs with a group of volunteers and supporters. Polls show Ms Clinton trailing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the nation's first presidential primary. Ms Clinton narrowly defeated Mr Sanders in last week's Iowa caucuses. Ms Clinton declined to predict the outcome to reporters, saying she's "looking for a great election". Meanwhile, Donald Trump says his campaign is 45 million US dollars (31m) under budget as he enters the second race of the presidential nomination process. Speaking to MSNBC's Morning Joe as polls opened in New Hampshire, Mr Trump acknowledged that he has polled well in the Granite State - but urged people to go out and vote. Mr Trump also addressed a possible third-party run by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, calling Mr Bloomberg his friend, but acknowledging some of his shortfalls as mayor with regard to property development. Mr Trump has maintained a lead in most New Hampshire polls among his Republican contenders leading up to today's primary. Top row left to row: Khalid Raja Mahmood, Tauqeer Hussain,Yasser Kabir, (bottom row left to right) Sufyan Ziarab, Bilal Ziarab and Israr Ali, six of the twelve men that have been jailed at Bradford Crown Court for sexual offences against a vulnerable teenage schoolgirl. Photo: West Yorkshire Police/PA Wire Top row left to right: Nasir Khan, Saqib Younis, Hussain Sardar, (bottom row left to right) Zain Ali, Faisal Khan and Mohammed Akram, six of the twelve men that have been jailed at Bradford Crown Court for sexual offences against a vulnerable teenage schoolgirl. Photo: West Yorkshire Police/PA Wire A group of 12 men who sexually exploited a vulnerable teenage schoolgirl for their own "selfish, sexual gratification" have received jail sentences of up to 20 years. Eleven of the men were jailed at Bradford Crown Court after being convicted of raping the girl in Keighley, West Yorkshire, when she was aged between 13 and 14. The 12th man was sentenced for sexual activity with the same girl. A trial last year heard how the teenager was repeatedly raped by the men in encounters arranged by a violent drug dealer over a period of 13 months between 2011 and 2012. On one occasion, the girl was gang-raped by five of the defendants. Tauqeer Hussain, 23, Yasser Kabir, 25, and Sufyan Ziarab, 23, all of Keighley; Bilal Ziarab, 21, of Bradford; and Israr Ali, 19, Nasir Khan, 24, Saqib Younis, 29, Hussain Sardar, 19, Zain Ali, 20, and Faisal Khan, all of Keighley, were all found guilty of rape. Hussain was also convicted of raping a second teenage girl in 2009. Taxi driver Mohammed Akram, 63, of Holker Street, Keighley, was found guilty of sexual activity with the first girl after offering her a lift. The court heard there was no evidence he pressured the teenager to engage in sexual activity and he did not know the other men. Khalid Raja Mahmood, 34, pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and three charges of sexual activity with a child. Peter Hampton, prosecuting, said Mahmood raped the victim on two occasions. The girl submitted to sex at other times, often after Mahmood had plied her with alcohol and cannabis. Mahmood is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence for raping a woman in a park in Keighley and trying to abduct a 10-year-old girl as she played on a scooter near her home, the court heard. Judge Roger Thomas QC handed the men sentences of between three-and-a-half and 20 years detention, including an extended sentence for Mahmood. He said: "You're all to be sentenced, all of you, for offences against a young vulnerable child. "She was only 13 or 14 when the 12 of you took such terrible and heartless sexual advantage of her." The judge said cases such as these were classed as child sexual exploitation. He said: "This is a category of case which involves the sexual exploitation of usually young, vulnerable girls by groups of men who take advantage of a child for their own selfish, sexual gratification." Kabir, who received the greatest jail term of 20 years, was also sentenced for 12 sexual offences against two other young girls after being found guilty at a separate trial. Mr Hampton said the abuse took place over a period of two years when one girl was aged between six and seven and the other was aged between seven and nine. Judge Thomas said all four victims had suffered "severe psychological harm". The judge said: "None of these defendants had any concern for these girls. They were totally uninterested in their welfare and what damage they were causing them." He added: "(The girl) clearly demanded pity and understanding but their view of her was heartless and demeaning. They saw her as a pathetic figure who had no worth and who served no other purpose than to be an object that they could sexually misuse and cast aside. "They showed her no shred of decency or humanity when, as a vulnerable child, she so needed care and understanding." Many of the men smiled, laughed, chatted and waved to family members in the public gallery as they were led away from the dock following sentencing. Judge Thomas criticised them for their "appalling" attitude and behaviour throughout the trial, which he said was "contemptuous, disrespectful and arrogant on a scale that I have hardly seen before in many years of practice in the criminal law". Helen Gaunt, a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, said: "These 12 men are responsible for despicable crimes involving child sexual exploitation and abuse. Their victims were young, naive and vulnerable and were deliberately targeted." She added: "This type of depravity will not be tolerated on our streets or in our communities." Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner, described the crimes as "abhorrent". Two of Europe's most powerful central bankers have called on the eurozone to form its own treasury and push forward with a quantum leap in integration to secure the single currency's future. Germany's Jens Weidmann and France's newly appointed Francois Villeroy de Galhau urged member states to move towards a "comprehensive sharing of sovereignty" which would include a common 19-member treasury and an "independent fiscal council" with a eurozone parliament. "While monetary policy has delivered a lot of support for the euro-area economy, it cannot bring about long-lasting economic growth," they wrote in Germany's 'Suddeutschen Zeitung' newspaper. Powerful "More integration appears to be the most straightforward solution to restore confidence in the euro area." Their comments are a rare sign of unity from the EU's most powerful founding member states, which have often diverged on their visions for the future of the eurozone. Germany has long championed greater budgetary discipline to be at the heart of a "fiscal union", while France has favoured a more flexible investment-led approach which prioritises the creation of new institutions to bolster governance. The central bankers' support for powerful new euro institutions goes even further than visions for eurozone reform laid out in the EU's Five Presidents Report. However, recognising the lack of political will in many countries to transfer more sovereignty to Brussels, Mr Weidmann and Mr Villeroy de Galhau said the only alternative was for countries to move towards a more decentralised single currency "based on individual responsibility and even stronger rules". "Fiscal rules, which have already been reinforced through the fiscal compact and the European semester in particular, would have to be strengthened," they wrote. "We would also have to make sure that risk, including that of sovereign exposures, is properly taken into account by all stakeholders." The eurozone has sought to strengthen its shaky institutional foundations by creating a joint bail-out fund and a common banking union, breaking the toxic link between indebted sovereigns and their financial systems. But more ambitious plans to pool fiscal sovereignty, issue joint eurobonds and cede taxation powers to Brussels are likely to remain beyond the reach of the EU for a number of years. Framework "Despite all the various measures taken to improve the stability of EMU, important weaknesses in its structural framework remain," said Mr Weidmann and Mr Villeroy de Galhau. Eurozone integration has also emerged as a major area of contention between Britain and the EU over David Cameron's bid to rewrite Britain's relationship with Brussels. The British prime minister has pushed for the UK and other non-euro members to have a treaty-based guarantee that Europe is a "multi-currency union". He also wants a guarantee that countries outside the EMU will not have their interests rail-roaded by the 19-member bloc. (Daily Telegraph London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] UK Chancellor George Osborne's psychiatrist brother begged his vulnerable patient mistress not to report him just days after she tried to take her own life after he ended the relationship - telling her it would "destroy" his family in public, a disciplinary panel has heard. Dr Adam Osborne, who is five years younger than his Chancellor brother and was married at the time of the "inappropriate" emotional and sexual relationship, embarked on the two year-affair with his patient, who he had been treating for depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue. Expand Close UK Chancellor George Osborne / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp UK Chancellor George Osborne But after he ended the relationship in February last year, he began making threats towards the woman if she did not retract the complaint she had made to the General Medical Council (GMC). Dr Osborne was not present at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing sitting in Manchester where the tribunal was told that he had "blamed" his patient and saw himself as the "victim". The tribunal is to make a decision on the allegation that the doctor's fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct. The tribunal was told that the woman, who was referred to as Patient A during the hearing, also had problems with substance abuse and self-harm. She had been under Dr Osborne's care at a private practice in central London between February 2011 and late 2014 and had been in a relationship with Dr Osborne for two years. On February 6 2015, Dr Osborne ended the relationship. Emails between the former lovers were read to the tribunal. In one, Dr Osborne said: "We don't seem to be able to live with one another and it's destroying both of us and destroying any relationship that we once had." Patient A was to respond saying that she was "confused", adding "it seems to me like you are breaking it off". She added: "Just please tell me the truth the way it is. I'm very much balancing on the edge and it's so easy for me to tip over just now." Dr Osborne, who admits that he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the woman was a vulnerable patient because of her history of mental ill-health, replied: "Yes I need to break from this relationship". Two days later, Patient A, who is no longer living in the UK, was admitted to hospital after taking an overdose - hours after disclosing the relationship to treating psychiatrist Dr Neil Boast, who had been Dr Osborne's supervisor for a period. Representative for the GMC, Bernadette Baxter said: "Dr Osborne wanted to end the relationship with Patient A, the significance of this date is it was two days before she made a very serious attempt on her own life by taking alcohol and prescription drugs. "On February 8, literally hours before she took the overdose, Patient A sent an email to Dr Boast. She also reveals to him in this email her affair with Dr Osborne. She sets out the time frame: 'I started seeing Dr Osborne maybe four years ago, after two years we started an affair.'" Ms Baxter said the woman had been a "high risk" patient and the two triggers for the overdose has been the "stress" of the relationship and an ongoing custody dispute with her partner over the custody of their two children. The tribunal was told that there had also been contact between Patient A and Dr Osborne's wife. But Ms Baxter told the tribunal: "You have confirmation of that in the emails there, I don't see any need to deal with the details of this." Following complaints made to the GMC by Dr Boast and also by Patient A, Dr Osborne sent a "number of inappropriate emails" to Patient A between February 14 2015 and February 24 2015, requesting that she withdraw the complaint. One email from Dr Osborne read: "Please don't do this to me it will destroy me and my family in public." He admitted making threats towards a "fragile" Patient A and the consequences for her family if she did not withdraw her complaint, as well as admitting to his accusation that she had seduced him. Ms Baxter added: "Patient A said on a number of occasions she wanted him to stop contacting her." She added that the emails "became more imploring" and that he was "highly manipulative" in preying on the woman's vulnerabilities. "He sees himself very much as a victim. Then there are emails where the mood very much changed and spills into the territory where he makes threats towards Patient A, consequences to her family and in fact, the patient seduced him." She added: "It's clear he sees himself as a victim, he is blaming the patient and that is a very unpleasant email." Protesters sing the national anthem of Greece during a rally organised by the extreme right Golden Dawn party (AP) At least 27 migrants attempting to reach Greece have drowned after a boat capsized off the Turkish coast. Turkey's coastguard said the boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit, near the Greek island of Lesbos, and 11 children were among the dead More than 370 migrants have died so far this year while trying to reach Greece. Earlier dozens of Greek riot police were deployed to a demonstration organised by the extreme right Golden Dawn party against plans to build a new transit camp for refugees and migrants near Athens. Four of the party's 18 policymakers were at the rally outside the port of Perama, about 10 miles west of the capital, where the government is planning to build the camp with the help of the armed forces. About 150 people staged a counter-demonstration near the site. Greece is under pressure from the European Union to complete screening centres on five islands and increase its capacity to house asylum-seekers and detain migrants facing deportation. Defence minister Panos Kammenos said the centres will be completed within a week. Kayla Mueller pictured after speaking to a group in Prescott, Arizona, in 2013 (The Daily Courier/AP) The wife of a top Islamic State (IS) leader killed in a US raid has been charged in America with contributing to the death of hostage Kayla Mueller. A criminal complaint accuses Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, and her husband of holding Ms Mueller, 26, captive, where officials say she was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the IS group. Umm Sayyaf is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organisation, resulting in death. The case was filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, a year after aid worker Ms Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though it is not clear if or when Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the US to stand trial. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former IS minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force commando raid on his compound in Syria. Iraqi Umm Sayyaf, 25, who was captured last year, is currently in custody and facing prosecution in her home country. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," assistant attorney general John Carlin, head of the justice department's national security division, said. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the US justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism." Ms Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend Omar Alkhani in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where Mr Alkhani had been hired to fix the internet service for the hospital. Ms Mueller begged him to let her come along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country. Mr Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. In September 2014, Ms Mueller was transferred along with two Kurdish women of Yazidi descent from an IS prison to the Sayyafs, according to the FBI affidavit, which says the couple at times handcuffed the captives, kept them in locked rooms, dictated orders about their activities and movements, and showed them violent propaganda videos. After her capture last year, the affidavit says, Umm Sayyaf admitted she was responsible for Ms Mueller's captivity while her husband travelled on IS business. She said al-Baghdadi would occasionally stay at her home and that he "owned" Ms Mueller during those visits, which the FBI says was akin to slavery. The Justice Department complaint echoes earlier assertions from US intelligence officials who had told Ms Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. "The defendant knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home," the affidavit states. A 14-year-old Yazidi girl who was held with Ms Mueller and escaped in October 2014 said al-Baghdadi took the American as a "wife", repeatedly raping her when he visited. The girl made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she talked to US commandos in November 2014. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to Ms Mueller's parents. SHARE Tara Allen By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail Tara Allen is missing most of her ring finger on her left hand. Her injury is a constant reminder, she said, of the years she spent in an abusive relationship. Allen, who lives in Anderson, told a task force Monday that when an order of protection didn't help her, she bought a gun. She recounted three separate incidents involving her estranged husband. Once, after she left him, he burst into the home where she was staying with her two young boys, she said. "He cut my phone line and pretty much held me hostage and refused to leave," she said. Another time, he came into her home in the middle of the night. "He kicked in my door and just beat me, beat me, beat me," she said. "He hit me in temple, in the head, in the face," she said. Allen said that her husband was jailed for a weekend and back out on Monday. She said that he once had to post about $1,000 bail. He had already threatened to kill her, Allen said. Her youngest son, who was 9 at the time, didn't want to see his father anymore because he was frightened of him. Her young son once picked up a butcher knife and wielded it toward his father, trying to protect her, she said. Against her family's wishes, she decided to buy a gun. "I didn't know anything about shooting," she said. "But I felt like I had to have something that might keep me safe." But that wasn't the end of it. A few months later, in the middle of a summer night in the 1990s, her estranged husband came to her home again, she said. This time he had a gun. "I remember thinking: 'God, I am going to die tonight,'" Allen said. She says she doesn't remember a lot of the details after that. She knows that she shot him and that he was still standing. "He shot me in front of my boys," she said. "That's how I lost my finger." Her estranged husband eventually went to prison. "For a while, even when I knew he was in jail, I would still call there every night and make sure he was still locked up," Allen said. "I know that seems crazy. But that is what fear can do. It got to the point that the people answering the phones knew my voice and they'd say: 'Ma'am, he's still here.' " South Carolina is regularly ranked among the worst states in the country for men killing women they know. Legislators passed domestic-violence reform last year, aiming to change that statistic. Rep. Anne Thayer, a Anderson Republican, decided that she wanted to do something on county level, too. She reached out to Anderson County Councilman Tom Allen and asked if he would work alongside her to create a local domestic violence task force. Tom Allen is not related to Tara Allen. "We need to be able to speak honestly about what is going on," Thayer said. "If we are going to stop domestic violence, we have to figure out where the holes are in the system and fix them." In two meetings, a few community leaders have talked about what they might be able to do. On Monday, representatives of Safe Harbor, a domestic violence shelter, talked about the importance of reaching Anderson County students so they know more about how to respond to domestic violence. Assistant Solicitor Kristin Reeves of the 10th Judicial Circuit also talked about the difficulty of prosecuting domestic violence cases when the victim decides not to cooperate. Tom Allen said he hopes that in subsequent meetings, the group can take some of the issues that have been identified and explore solutions. "This is a gigantic elephant that we all have to deal with," he said. "But we'll do it, because that is the only way to make a difference." Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo SHARE By Lester Lohman, Pendleton How ironic. In a recent letter, the gentleman started off by informing us of what might be the outcome if a person should cut his finger and the necessity of attending to said cut right away. Then he attempted to relate this to the use of the word Muslim in a way that might be construed as a negative viewpoint. Perhaps if we treated Muslims in our country as they treat Christians in their countries, then we would have to move the cut remark from the finger to the neck. They cut off the heads of Christians. Have you read any of their holy book, the Quran? There are many suras instructing them to kill, especially Jews, Christians and other infidels who don't convert to Islam. Again, maybe you would be happier in their world. Wheat exports from Russia are expected to set a new record this year, outpacing the biggest wheat exporters Canada and the US, as the latest report from US Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to USDA statistics, Russian exports this year would rise three percent to 23.5 million metric tons. US wheat exports are projected to fall to a 44-year low, to 21.8 million tons. Canada's exports are expected to be 20.5 million tons, down from 24.1 million the year previous. Record harvests, a strong dollar and cheap oil are the factors which could shake up the multibillion-dollar global wheat market. While the price for wheat is falling, a strong US dollar makes American wheat more expensive for buyers using other currencies. On the contrary, a weaker Russian ruble makes the country's exports more competitive, with long-standing US customers shifting wheat purchases to Russia. Africa's largest economy Nigeria was once a top US wheat customer but has cut the purchases by almost half in the past five years. Russia has boosted exports to one of its biggest customers Egypt. Exports currently average 4-5 million tons a year are expected to reach six million tons per year. Moscow and Cairo are also discussing Russian participation in the construction of grain infrastructure in Egypt. Powered by Commodity Insights Result Highlights: (Rs. in crore) Reported Results yoy % qoq% Consolidated Revenue 1608.22 -0.79 (10.42) Consolidated Net Profit 68.4 -36.07 (34.43) Gujarat Fluorochemicals, subsidiary of Inox Leasing and Finance Limited, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.68.40 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 36.07% yoy and 34.43% qoq. The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 1,608.22 crore, down 0.79% yoy and 10.42% qoq.Its consolidated core operating profit of Rs. 289.91 crore for the quarter, declined by 3.44% yoy and 13.31% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 18.03% contracted by 49 bps yoy and 60 bps qoq.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 246.54 crore, declining by 4.28% yoy. Its consolidated revenue for the period stood at Rs. 4,816.30 crore, registering growth of 27.16% yoy.Gujarat Fluorochemicals' core operating profit stood at Rs. 894.01 crore, recording growth of 18.51% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 18.56% contracted by 136 bps yoy.On standalone basis,Gujarat Fluorochemicals, reported standalone net profit of Rs. 21.18 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering decline of 22.3% yoy and 17.88% qoq. The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 306.39 crore, down 7.8% yoy and 6.27% qoq.Its standalone core operating profit of Rs. 63.66 crore for the quarter, declined by 16.93% yoy and 17.24% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 20.78% contracted by 228 bps yoy and 275 bps qoq.For nine months ended December 31, 2015, the company reported standalone net profit of Rs. 74.05 crore, declining by 9.94% yoy. Its standalone revenue for the period stood at Rs. 986.01 crore, registering growth of 1.28% yoy.Gujarat Fluorochemicals' core operating profit stood at Rs. 218.78 crore, recording growth of 1.91% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 22.19% contracted by 14 bps yoy.Consolidated EPS for the quarter stood at Rs. 6.23.Bloomberg estimated the companys standalone net profit at Rs. 31.30 crore.Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd ended at Rs. 450, down by 25.6 points or 5.38% from its previous closing of Rs. 475.6 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 470.05 and touched a high and low of Rs. 475 and Rs. 447.45 respectively. A total of 31195(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 5226.84 crore.The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 807 on 10-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 430 on 25-Jan-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 518 and Rs. 460.15 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 68.33 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 8.99 % and 22.67 % respectively.The stock traded above its 200 DMA. Give us an overview of the solar industry in India. Renewable energy remains a buzzword but what opportunities and challenges do you see in harnessing solar power in the country? Earlier, the high costs of solar panels were a deterrent. To what extent has that issue been resolved? Explain to us your business model. Do you see it changing in the coming years? Tell us more about the Solar Park at Rajasthans Kolayat Village. What has been your experience here? Give us an idea of the number of projects executed by you. What is your order book position? By when will it be executed? Share some details of your contract with CPWD. How long is it valid? What is the likely revenue expected per annum? Brief us about your financials. What is the vision for your company? Bikaner, and Rajasthan is a young and diligent Technocrat dedicated and determined to harness Solar Power, a perennial source of renewable energy to meet ever increasing energy requirements of India. He is a pioneer in this field, the proud architect of Indias first ever private Solar Park at Kolayat Village in Bikaner district of Rajasthan. A 28-year-old young guy Rahul Gupta, born in a small village of Rajasthan - the land of vast desert and abundance of solar power & dreamt of harnessing solar energy. He graduated from the prestigious IIT Roorkee as Civil Engineer, and envisioned setting up a 5MW solar power plant at the young age of 22 while he was still pursuing his final year of engineering., since its establishment, Rays Power Experts has grown at a brisk pace to become a promising player in the solar independent power producer (IPP) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) segments. Founded by Rahul Gupta in 2011, the company was initially focused on providing consultancy services for solar plant development. It gradually entered the solar park development arena and became a turnkey power developer. In early 2012, it procured land in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and set up a 20 MW solar park. The idea behind following this model was to set up permanent infrastructure like transmission lines, boundary walls and roads at a particular location, and then set up small solar plants at the same location.Replying toof, Rahul Gupta says, The increasing appetite for energy that has developed in the recent past has been further complicated by rapidly diminishing conventional sources, like oil and coal. This is why, while striving to bridge our energy deficit, we want to increase the share of clean, sustainable, new and renewable energy sources.India is in a state of perennial energy shortage with a demand-supply gap of almost 12% of the total energy demand. This trend is significant in the electricity segment that is heavily dependent on coal and other non-renewable sources of energy. Among the RE sources, wind power is the dominating component while solar energy currently contributes to less than 0.1% (on-grid+ off-grid) of the total installed capacity. So far Indias total installed capacity of solar power has crossed the 5-GW-mark. The total commissioned utility solar capacity in the country stands at about 4.7 GW, while rooftop capacity is 525 MW (Sources- Bridge to India). While the central government has laid down the ambitious target of 100 GW by 2022, states have taken the lead over central government schemes in the last year. Encouraged by falling costs and growing need for green energy, states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have all announced substantial policy initiatives. As of today, the country has a solar project pipeline of 15.7 GW. The fiscal year 2016-17 will be Indian solar markets transition year: annual capacity addition could top 6 GW with India becoming one of the leading solar nations globally.The increasing appetite for energy that has developed in the recent past has been further complicated by rapidly diminishing conventional sources, like oil and coal. This is why, while striving to bridge our energy deficit, we want to increase the share of clean, sustainable, new and renewable energy sources. India today stands among the top five countries in the world in terms of renewable energy capacity. In its decentralized or stand alone avatar, renewable energy is the most appropriate, scalable, and optimal solution for providing power to thousands of remote and hilly villages and hamlets. Even today, millions of decentralized energy systems, solar lighting systems, irrigation pumps, aero-generators, biogas plants, solar cookers, biomass gasifiers, and improved cook stoves, are being used in the remotest, inaccessible corners of the country. Providing energy access to be most disadvantaged and remote communities can become one the biggest drivers of inclusive growth. Todays technology provides us with a real opportunity to transform the promise of boundless and clean energy into reality. From rooftop solar power in urban agglomerations, to decentralized and off-grid solutions in remote rural communities the opportunities in renewable power are immense. We believe that governments, in their facilitative role, have to create enabling ecosystems, which will, in turn, in facilitate the healthy unleashing of the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector and lead to the rapid development and deployment of renewable energy.For the solar revolution to penetrate the heart of rural India, prices still have to come down and in a hurry. PV cell price has been declined on average 4% per annum over the past 15 years & expected supply will triple in 10 years, leading to a 50% fall in costs.Initially, we have delivered turnkey PV plants to third parties (EPC contractor), but now gradually added 360 management for the entire life cycle of the plant. Our company operates in a vertically integrated manner including raising financing for large scale projects. Moreover, Now Rays Experts investing own equity in some projects, thus generating electricity from renewable sources through plants it owns and operates on an IPP basis. Currently, utility scale is major portion of our portfolio with over 95% utility scale projects. Rooftop is another division, which we definitely want to grow to a substantial portion & coming up with new attractive business model.Rays Solar Park Kolayat is a special park. It was the first of its kind model in the solar industry in India right after the JNNSM was commissioned by the government. Rays Experts were the first promoters of this concept in India & inspired other developers to adopt similar approach.The solar park is spun across 130 acres and has a total capacity of 25 MWs. More than 15 developers from Rajasthan & Gujarat have invested in the park and by the end of 2016 - all of them would have recovered the investment.We have commissioned 165 MW of turnkey EPC projects and in current FY we are executing over 75 MW of turnkey projects and expecting to add another 40 MW before end of FY. We are very fast growing EPC player and competing against all large EPC players. We can visualize Rays Experts will be holding a good chunk of market share. We believe in delivering quality work at best competitive rate within timeline, with excellent record of commissioning all projects before deadlines gives us repetitive orders from our clients. Our current order book is over 250 MW out of which 75 is already closed and confident of closing another 40MW in 2 months.SECI has awarded two contracts to Rays Power Experts Pvt. Ltd. for the implementation of grid- connected roof-top Solar PV system on the roofs of CPWD. The allocated capacity is 5000 kWp in the NER states and West Bengal. The concession is for 25 years and the levellized tariff in NER states is Rs. 6.491/kWh and in West Bengal is Rs. 5.49/kWh.The EBITDA of the company has considerably increased from Rs. 14.5 crore to Rs. 22.5 crore which is a good indication in terms of profitability of the company. The PAT (profit after taxes) too has increased from Rs. 9 crore to Rs. 13.6 crore along with Rs. 13.5 crore growth in the net worth of the company, which is a clear sign of the good financial strength of the company. There is also a tremendous growth (from Rs. 8 crore to 45 crore) in the cash flow generated by the company through its normal business operations.Our vision is to be the most preferred choice of a solar developer across the world.I would like to mention that Rays Experts is customer centric & the company has been awarded as Solar Park of the Year award. We are focusing on quality installations, being driven by the focus on sustainability; Rays intend to enhance its presence in the sphere of Renewable Energy & will focus on various green initiatives aimed at reducing the carbon footprint. AskmeBazaar is planning to expand its online business with a new fundraising round in the coming months. Getit Infoservices, which owns the e-tailing business Askme Bazaar, is reportedly planning to invest $150-200mn in the latter's business. The online retailer is aiming for valuation of $1billion, which will place it in Unicorn (startups with valuation > $1billion) category, says reports.AskmeBazaar is expected to be valued at $600-700mn. The company is taking advises on investment from US based investment bank Pacific Crest Securities since few months.The company, in Sep'15, updated the investors that their annual GMV has crossed $500mn and they are planning to touch $1bn in the near future.Getit Infoservices is owned by a Malaysian billionaire T Ananda Krishnan's Astro Holdings. Astro Holding, as per the reports, has invested Rs. 800 crore in the last couple of years in the company. has maintained a negative outlook on the cotton sector for FY17. The agency believes the continuation of Chinese direct subsidy based policy and lower demand from spinning mills will keep domestic cotton prices under pressure. Though Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam have replaced China with India as a supplier, volumes are picking up at a slow pace, and are unlikely to match Chinese demand.In CY17 (CY refers to International Cotton Year, which commences from August and ends in July), the agency expects cotton prices to stay firm. The domestic prices had declined in CY16 in line with Ind-Ras expectations and are expected to remain under pressure in CY17 as well. The operating margins will stay in the 1%-2% range for ginners and traders, but the profit after tax margins may improve as sector companies reduce stocks and focus on receivables management. International cotton prices however will remain sensitive to the release of cotton by China from its cotton reserves, which Ind-Ra estimates to be around 59% of global cotton stock at FYE16. Chinese cotton reserves will directly impact the quantum of imports in that country and consequently the global stock levels outside China.The cotton industry is likely to revive moderately in CY17 as exports to Vietnam, Pakistan, and Bangladesh grow. Vietnam is likely to increase its spindles capacity by 30% in FY17. The local cotton production in Pakistan and Bangladesh is unable to keep pace with the increasing demand for apparels from these locations, providing opportunities to Indian exporters. However in view of China reducing imports significantly and the moderating demand from the Indian spinning mills industry, Ind-Ra believes that the demand for cotton will increase at a marginal rate in CY17 and the prices are unlikely to increase materially from the current levels.A substantial increase of Indias exports to China and/or other countries will result in the sector outlook being revised to stable.A rebound in domestic mill consumption driven by a higher demand for Indian textiles, and adequate domestic availability at stable cotton prices above minimum support prices will lead to a stable sector outlook. NTPC: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Madhya Pradesh government to defreeze NTPCs bank accounts and withdraw its notice to cancel registration of its 4,760-megawatt (MW) Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Plant in the state, reports a financial newspaper.JK Tyre & Industries: JK Tyre & Industries , leading tyre manufacturers in India, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.110.64 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 20.51% yoy.NBCC: The company has bagged business worth Rs. 2,525.86 crore (approx) in the last month.PFC, REC, NHPC: Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corp (PFC) may buy Government's shares in NHPC, according to reports. Report says that this move comes as the government had earlier said that it will come out with an alternative strategy to push PSU disinvestment.Atul Auto: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 151.70 crore, clocking growth of 8.88% yoy.Dr Reddys Lab: Dr. Reddy's announced that its US subsidiary, Promius Pharma, LLC, U.S.has received approval for Sernivo (betamethasone dipropionate) Spray, 0.05% from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Suzlon Group: The company announced the completion of the Type Testing and Certification of its S111 turbine for 50 Hz and 60 Hz variants.Wipro: Wipro announced that it has won an IT infrastructure transformation contract from the ASSA ABLOY Group, headquartered in Sweden. ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in door opening solutions.SRF: The company's total income has decreased from Rs. 1,117.8 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 to Rs. 1,106.6 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015.United Bank of India: The bank received approval for raising Additional Tier - 1 capital under BASEL-III norms up to Rs. 1,000 crore through issuance of Perpetual Debt Instruments in the form of subordinated, non-convertible, non-cumulative, listed, Basel-Ill compliant Additional Tier1 Bonds in the form of Debenture/ Promissory Notes of the face value of Rs. 10 lacs each on private placement basis for inclusion in the Additional Tier1 Capital of the Bank for the purpose of ascertaining the capital adequacy ratios.Strides Shasun: Strides Shasun, pharmaceutical industry major, reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 58.81 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 112.23% qoq.GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare: GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare, pharma major, reported standalone net profit of Rs.131.85 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 36.76% yoy.AIA Engineering: The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 493.07 crore, down 4.13% yoy but up 0.99% qoq.Polaris Consulting: The Companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 517.58 crore, witnessing marginal decline of 0.02% qoq but clocked growth of 9.02% yoy.Bombay Dyeing: The company reported its Q3 net loss at Rs.78.1 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs.65.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Inox Wind: INOX Wind reported a 2.4% increase in standalone net profit at Rs.103 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2015.DB Realty: The company said that it allotted over 7.17 crore redeemable preference shares to three of its subsidiaries pursuant to scheme of amalgamation of Gokuldham Real Estate Development Company.Monsanto India:Monsanto India Ltd posted a net profit of Rs. 407.60 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 483.40 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Balrampur Chini Mills: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 848.88 crore, up 0.85% yoy and 69.41% qoq.VST Tillers Tractors: The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 151.79 crore, up by 42.25% yoy and 0.56% qoq.Piramal Enterprises: The company reported a 29% increase in net profit at Rs.322 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2015.HCL Technologies: HCL Technologies announced the launch of an Internet of Things (IoT) Incubation Center in Redmond, Washington, USA, designed to leverage Microsoft Azure IoT Suite to accelerate enterprise IoT adoption.T.V. Today Network: T.V. Today Network, one of India's leading English-Hindi news television networks, reported standalone net profit of Rs. 36.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, registering growth of 40.09% yoy.Phoenix Lamps: The company recorded a fall of 15.7% in its net profit at Rs. 7.42 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs.8.81 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Gail(India): The Tamil Nadu government has asked the Centre to rescind the notification on GAIL gas pipeline passing through the state. Gail India Ltd will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to tumble to Rs. 14,080 crore, at a rate of 5.9% yoy and 0.6% qoq.IIFL expects net profit to plummet to Rs. 437.6 crore at 27.6% yoy and 0.7% qoq.Dr Reddys Lab: Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd, Indias second largest pharmaceutical company, will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to surge to Rs. 4,093 crore, growing at a rate of 6.5% yoy and 2.6% qoq. IIFL expects EBIDTA margin at 29.2%, with a yoy rise of 6 bps.Ramco Cement: The company will announce its Q3 results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net net profit for Q3 FY16 to spurt to Rs. 64.4 crore, growing at a rate of 180% yoy; however, it is expected to fall 53.6% qoq.SAIL: IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to decline to Rs. 9,180 crore, at a rate of 17.3% yoy and 0.8% qoq. IIFL expects EBIDTA margin at -7.6%, with a yoy fall of 18.5 bps.Motherson Sumi: Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd, one of the leading auto parts and equipment manufacturers, will announce its Q3 results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net profit for Q3 FY16 to fall to Rs. 312.80 crore, growing at a rate of 23.1% yoy and 9% qoq.IIFL expects net revenue to surge to Rs. 9,401 crore at 2.8% yoy and 2.2 qoq.MOIL: MOIL Ltd, a mining firm, will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net profit for Q3 FY16 to fall to Rs. 49 crore, at a rate of 54.6% yoy; however, it is likely to rise marginally.Hindalco Industries: Hindalco Industries Ltd, one of the leading aluminium producers in India, will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts that the company is likely to report a loss of Rs. 159 crore for Q3 FY16. IIFL expects EBIDTA margin at 7%, with a yoy fall of 3.7 bps.Apollo Tyres: IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to decline to Rs. 2,890 crore, at a rate of 6.9% yoy and 3.5% qoq.Bharat Forge: Bharat Forge Ltd will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to fall to Rs. 1,083 crore, at a rate of 9.6% yoy and 3.1% qoq.Britannia Industries Ltd: Britannia Industries Ltd, one of the leading producers of packaged foods in India, will announce its Q3 results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 will surge to Rs. 2,336 crore, growing at a rate of 14.9% yoy and 5.8% qoq.Aurobindo Pharma: Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals, one of Indias leading drug makers, will announce its financial results today. IIFL forecasts the companys net revenue for Q3 FY16 to rise to Rs. 3,553 crore, growing at a rate of 10.8% yoy and 5.3% qoq. IndiGo, Indias largest and fastest growing airline and favorite on-time performer, is enhancing its customer experience in the domestic market with the launch of ten new flights across its domestic and international network. The airline will connect Delhi to Dubai with its third flight with effect from February 10, 2016. In addition, IndiGo will commence its non-stop flight between Bengaluru and Patna, Ranchi and Bengaluru effective February 15, 2016. Furthermore, the airline will also begin operations between Delhi and Chandigarh and; Jaipur and Pune with its first flight, with this Chandigarh will also be connected to Kochi (via Delhi). Additionally Delhi - Lucknow route will now have eight daily non-stop flights, with effect from February 18, 2016. With the launch of these new flights the airline will operate 700 daily flights, connecting 39 destinations. These new flights will allow corporate and leisure travelers to experience the matchless on-time performance IndiGo is synonymous with, thus further consolidating IndiGos position as the fastest growing airline in India. Commenting on the addition of new flights, Mr Aditya Ghosh, President IndiGo said, In line with our endeavor to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travelers, IndiGo has commenced its 3rd daily flight between Delhi and Dubai. We have also introduced our 1st flight between Bengaluru-Patna, , Ranchi-Bengaluru, Delhi Chandigarh and Jaipur-Pune; while also launching our 8th flight between Delhi-Lucknow. It gives me immense pleasure in announcing these new frequencies which will provide even more flexibility of choice for our customers. Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond hit zero for the first time, as investors clamour for safe-haven assets in the wake of a global market rout. The yield on the 10-year Japan government bond recovered to 0.015% after touching zero. Meanwhile Yen zooms to one-year high versus dollar.The fall came on the heels of a global stock market selloff overnight that likely spurred safe haven flows back into Japan. The Bank of Japan's move to a negative interest rate policy, which makes the return on Japanese bonds, even at a zero yield, as well as the possibility of further price rises more attractive, report added. In the august presence of Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Shri Raman Singh, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ministry of Railways and State Government of Chhattisgarh for Formation of Joint Venture Companies for Development of Railway Infrastructure in the State of Chhattisgarh was signed. On the event of Signing Ceremony, Chairman Railway Board A. K. Mital, Member Engineering Shri V. K. Gupta, Member Staff Shri Pradip, Financial Commissioner S. Mookerjee and other Board Members and other Senior Officials were present. On behalf of the Railway Ministry Ved Prakash Dudeja, Executive Director/Works signed the MoUs whereas on behalf of Government of Chhattisgarh Shri Subodh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of Chhattisgarh signed the MoUs. The MoU was signed in the background of Railway Ministers Budget announcement regarding setting up of Joint Ventures with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu thanked the Govt. of Chhattisgarh for having agreed to set up JV Company in State of Chhattisgarh. He further said that the Indian Railways has been working vigorously to reach every corner of the Country through railway lines but peoples expectations are lot more with Railway Ministry. He said that to meet the demands of the countrys people, all State Governments will have to join hands with Railway Ministry and with their becoming partner with the Railway Ministry this will become possible. Suresh Prabhu further stated that the Chhattisgarh is a State which is full of natural resources such as coal etc. Chhattisgarh has lot of potential and the exploration and evacuation of its natural resources to other parts will help the whole country at national level. For this purpose, railway infrastructure needs to be developed in the State which will not only help the people of the State in availing better transport but will also bring huge freight to the Railways. He stated that working through JV Companies will bring Railways to Ground Zero for effective implementation. He hoped early completion of formation of JV Companies in the interest of the country. In his address, Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh at the outset thanked Ministry of Railways for supporting the State of Chhattisgarh for development of New Railway Infrastructure. He said that Railway Ministry already did commendable work in Bastar and Saguja District of Chhattisgarh by developing new railway lines which helped Chhattisgarh State a lot. He stated that under the energetic leadership of Shri Suresh Prabhu Railways has been progressing day in and day out. He stated that 760 kilometers additional railway lines have been spread in the State of Chhattisgarh in a very short span of time which in itself is a record. He stated that this new initiative will not only improve transport system of Chhattisgarh State but also help the State in exploring its full potential in better perspective. Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. 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The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others. Rana Kapoor, the Managing Director and CEO of Yes Bank recently attended an interview with ET Now where he spoke about the recent GDP figures.Kapoor responded to economist claims that there is no evidence of growth in Q3 with a statement that bank balances are a clear indicator that things are improving. The CEO added that things are definitely picking up pace despite the stagnation that was previously evident. Mr, Kapoor also spoke about the various incentives that are driving the progress in the market.He believes that there are various important events that should be expected soon, and they will open up opportunities especially for the government. He stated that there should be some adjustments in the budget that he describes as orbit-changing. The changes include sectors such as direct tax rationalization, rural assessment creation, firm infrastructure and stimulation of financial savings. These are just but a few of the areas that require intervention.As for the MIP on steel, Kapoor believes that it is a massive move that should have happened earlier. There is the need for a rationalized price structure so that Indian steel producers are shielded from the effects of China and Japan's dumping. He also stressed the need for developments that will offer some protection to banks in the highly volatile sector. The exposure rate is currently at 3.2% according to the bank's CEO.Mr. Kapoor also stated that banks have a very broad exposure to the steel sector, and it will take some time before the impact is visible in the balance sheets due to the lag effect. He also stated that banks will have it easier if assets that have intrinsic value are restructured under the 5/25 property and the same applies to the promoters of the steel companies. If a more successful 5/25 is in place combined with the MIP move, the banks will start viewing the embedded credit risk in the steel sector as bankable.The CEO further added that the remaining part of the current quarter is vital for some of the various exposures. The banking sector will improve if banks preserve the economic value during restructuring. The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Madhya Pradesh government to defreeze NTPCs bank accounts and withdraw its notice to cancel registration of its 4,760-megawatt (MW) Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Plant in the state, reports a financial newspaper.The apex court also directed NTPC to deposit INR 40 crore towards entry tax with the state high court.A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra also asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court to decide the matter expeditiously within 3 months. However, it clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.The state tax department has alleged that NTPC is liable to pay entry tax of INR 191 crore for the assessment years 2007-2013, according to the business daily.NTPC's counsel Ranjit Kumar argued that the company is entitled to exemption in entry tax and the department cannot ask it to pay enhanced entry tax at the rate of 5%.NTPC Ltd ended at Rs. 123.2, down by Rs. 1.5 or 1.2% from its previous closing of Rs. 124.7 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 124.3 and touched a high and low of Rs. 125.95 and Rs. 122.95 respectively. A total of 2369662(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 101584.07 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 164.7 on 12-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 107.2 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 140.35 and Rs. 122.95 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 74.96 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 22.77 % and 2.28 % respectively.The stock traded above its 50 DMA.He also told the apex court that NTPC is liable to pay the entry tax at 2%.The state government had issued various reassessment orders in May 2014 and January 2015 for the assessment years 2007-2013, for the levy of entry tax at the enhanced rate of 5%, rather than the exempted rate of 2%.This was challenged by NTPC in the high court, which initially in March 2015 restrained the state tax authorities from taking any coercive steps against NTPC, but later vacated its order. I dont have to support both of them, just one of them. That was the quote given to me yesterday by a long-time Republican, when I asked him about Governor Mike Pence nominating former State Chairman Eric Holcomb to be the next Lt. Governor, replacing Sue Ellspermann. And that quote sums up why Holcomb makes sense. Many times Republican Governors need to pick running mates to shore up their conservative credentials, for Pence, this is just the opposite. Since RFRA, Pences favorability amongst those moderate/business Republicans has not been all that great and many of them live in the doughnut counties which he needs to win big if he wants to get re-elected in November. And its not just RFRA. Holcomb understands how state government works from his days with Mitch Daniels. He was running a statewide race prior to getting the call from the Governor. He could also get relatively easy confirmation from the Indiana General Assembly from his days with being a former party Chairman. And there would not be a need for a special session, which the Governor and Speaker are adamant about not happening. Also, he is from the same part of the state as John Gregg, which doesnt hurt either. And with respect to possible conflicts between Pence and Holcomb, I can assure you before Holcomb decided to take the job there was a lot of talk about how those issues would be handled and if you dont think Holcomb wont give Pence very frank, candid advice, which sometimes the Governor might not want to hear, you are wrong. Holcomb is a smart pick and if Pences re-election was ever in jeopardy, his chances for winning just got a whole lot better. If you've ever seen a military function or even the recent Republic Day parade on the telly, then you would know that the one common feature is a salute. The salute is the highest form of respect that the Armed Forces can display. The three chief of staffs salute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate. When the tank lowers it's cannon while passing in front of the President's dias, it is saluting the supreme commander of the Armed Forces. But did you know that the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have different salutes that have evolved over time and are steeped in tradition? Indian Army Indian Express The army's salute is conducted with the palms open, facing the person being saluted to show that they are not carrying any weapons and that they can trust them. Indian Navy In the olden days, since the sailors were always working on their ships, their hands would get greasy and dirty. So they started saluting with their palms facing down, so as to not disrespect their seniors. Indian Air Force The Air Force salutes with their palms at 45 degrees to the ground showing progress towards the skies. Earlier it used to be like the Army's salute with the palm facing up. masala.com Ranveer Singh has done it again! The actor keeps proving that he is the best boyfriend in the world. While his beau Deepika Padukone is away shooting for her first Hollywood film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage opposite Vin Diesel in Canada, Ranveer seems to be missing her a lot. So much so, that he is finding ways to fill the void! in fact, Ranveer has even started promoting the film! He shared a picture today which shows how xXx is becoming a rage in India. Check it out! Already a rage in India! #XXX Deepika Padukone all the best for your 1st day of shoot! Kill it! Posted by Ranveer Singh on Tuesday, 9 February 2016 The hottest love birds of Bollywood have been slaying all public appearances and social media platforms with their PDA. We have already declared them the best couple and why they keep melting our hearts. It seems Deepika doesn't need any PR team, for Ranveer is enough to keep the buzz around her film alive till she returns back to India. While our Mastani has been killing the curios cat with her pictures and videos with Vin from the sets, it seems excitement is only meant to soar! vogue You definitely got to be living under a rock if you still arent aware of Neerja Bhanots greatness. Exactly one year ago, Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor had recreated Neerjas greatness and bravery on the silver screen. Not many know that Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while saving passengers from terrorists on board a hijacked Pan Am Flight Sept. 5, 1986, was into modeling before she became an air-hostess. From medicinal balm Vaporex, Benzer (a top department store in central Mumbai), a saree brand, a detergent brand to a face cream, supermodel Bhanot had done many ads! Here are 11 pictures from Neeraja Bhanots real-life that will give you an insight into her personal life! 1. Daughter of a Mumbai-based journalist, Harish Bhanot and Rama Bhanot, Neerja was born in Chandigarh. Comyan 2. Neerja studied at Bombay Scottish school and graduated from St. Xaviers College. Her parents lovingly used to call her 'Laado'! Twitter 3. Neerja got married at the age of 21 and she later moved to Western Asia with her husband. After unnecessary dowry demands, she returned to Mumbai and joined Pan Am. Pinterest 4. Neerja was the youngest and first woman recipient of Ashok Chakra which is India's highest peacetime gallantry award. She was just 23 when she received it. 5. Some reports claim that Neerjas mother was concerned when her daughter had to sign up for an anti-hijacking course as part of training. When she asked Neerja to leave her job, Neerja replied, if all mothers think like that, what would be the fate of this country? Whoa! Indiatoday 6. Before she became an air-hostess, she featured in advertisements that include brands like Benzer sarees, Binaca toothpaste, Godrej Besto detergent, Vaporex and Vico Turmeric cream. Cntraveller.in Here are some of her ads! 7. Comyan 8. Indiawest 9. Apart from Ashok Chakra, other awards that she received include: Flight Safety Foundation Heroism Award , USA , Tamgha-e-Insaaniyat-Pakistan (awarded for showing incredibly human kindness), Justice for Crimes Award , United States Attorneys office for the District of Columbia, Special Courage award, US Govt. and Indian Civil Aviation Ministry's Award Google search Directed by Ram Madhvani, Sonam Kapoor starrer Neerja will hit the screens on 19th Feb. After he took the Golden Globe this year, we all are placing a safe bet on Leonardo DiCaprio. Everyone wants Leonardo to break the jinx and win the oscar, this time, AT LEAST! However, according to the internet, Leo is surely going to win. Come on, let's jog your mind a little. Obviously, he's a great actor and all but there is something which surely guarantees him an Oscar trophy. Tumblr Internet just made a brilliant observation. Can you guess what? Have a look at these pictures! Twitter Proof no: 2 Twitter Proof No: 3 Twitter Well, a Kalava (the red thread on Leo's arm) is what might just help Leo to win his Oscar! No kidding. Just look! (For people who don't know what Kalava is, according to Wikipedia, Kalava (Sanskrit: ) is the sacred Hindu thread also called mauli or charadu in Hindi. It is tied by a priest on the wrists of all the people attending the prayer ceremony.) From road rage and bar brawls to domestic violence and mass murders, the news is full of bizarre stories where seemingly normal people just lose their minds. As a society, we tend to blame it on the persons personality or upbringing, but neurobiologist Douglas Fields has a different explanation for it. Fields has written a book called Why We Snap: Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain, and this is what he had to say in an interview with National Geographic. via Instagram/lovelyseung89 It all started in Barcelona, when someone tried to steal his wallet. I was on my way to give a lecture on neuroscience in Barcelona. My 17-year-old daughter was accompanying me. We were coming up out of the subway and suddenly I felt something on the pocket of my cargo pants. I slapped it like youd slap a mosquito, and instantly felt my wallet was gone. Instinctively, I reached back and clotheslined the robber and took him to the ground. I dont have any background in martial arts, Ive never been in the military. Im not a violent person. What shocked me was that I had instantly responded. This threat in my environment that I wasnt even aware of unleashed this instant, defensive response. And I wanted to find out why. via Instagram/danmaku Sudden violence can be traced back to a tiny knot of neurons buried deep within the brain. A large part of the human brain, just like the brain of other animals, is devoted to threat detection. These circuits are constantly evaluating our internal and external state for threats. This cannot be conscious, because thats too slow. Its deep in the brain below the cerebral cortex, where consciousness arises, in a region called the hypothalamic attack region. The hypothalamus is where a lot of our urges and automatic functions are carried out, like sexual behaviour. The hypothalamic attack region controls defensive-aggressive behaviour. If scientists stimulate these neurons with an electrode, an animal will instantly become aggressive and attack a test animal in the cage. via Instagram/celiadolci Men are much more prone to violence than women. When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of a man, who probably outweighs her. But although 90 percent of those in jail are men, 90 percent of people who have been awarded medals by the Carnegie Institute for heroism are also men. In a quarter of those cases, these are men who gave up their lives and died in an instant to do something heroic, often for a stranger. So the rage circuit is good and bad. Its a double-edged sword. via Instagram/littlejaneshouse The violent brain circuit is designed to protect us. A bomber started to set off a bomb on a plane headed to Detroit. This one passenger hears a pop and sees some smoke, leaps over several rows of seats and attacks the would-be terrorist and subdues him. Afterwards, people ask him why he did that. He says, I dont know, I didnt think. But all the other passengers around this guy saw the same thing and fled. We have these circuits because we need them. Most of the time, they work amazingly well. We dont call it snapping unless the result of this aggressive response is inappropriate. When it works as intended we call it quick thinking or, in many cases, heroic. We have these circuits to protect ourselves, our family unit, or society. via Instagram/dziura602 These are the triggers that can set off the violence. I looked at research into the brain that produces sudden aggressive responses; it turns out that there are multiple circuits but just a few things that will set off this response. Youre not going to engage in violence and risk life and limb for a trivial reason. There are very specific triggers. I came up with the mnemonic LIFEMORTS because it can teach you to disarm the circuit from going off inappropriately, causing snapping. The L in LIFEMORTS stands for Life or Limb: defensive aggression. If attacked, you will defend yourself. I is Insult. All mammals that are social, especially primates and humans, owe their rank in society to aggressive interactions, like rams butting heads. An insult is a very common trigger for snapping and rage. T is Tribe. We are fiercely tribal organisms. When our brains evolved, another tribe was usually regarded as a threat. At the same time, our success on the planet resulted from us forming tribes. So we defend our tribal group by violence. via Instagram/_daria_s Road rage is also caused by a snap in the brain. We have the same brain we had 100,000 years ago. But were now in a really different environment and these circuits of rage and protection get set off inappropriately by situations in the modern world that didnt exist when our brains were formed. Why are you suddenly enraged when someone cuts in front of you? It makes no sense. It will only make a couple of seconds difference in your journey. The circuit thats been tripped misinterpreted the situation. Road rage hits all of the LIFEMORTS triggers. It perceives the space around your car as though it was your territory, which trips that E trigger to defend your territory or environment. Someone violating the rules also hits the O trigger, for Organisation. Humans become angry when someone violates the rules. via Instagram/onewhiterope If youre prone to rage, heres how you can control it. The minute you find yourself angry, identify why. If its one of the LIFEMORTS situations, youll know two things. First, youre in a situation that is pressing on triggers in the brain designed to produce deadly violence, so youre in a dangerous situation. Two, if its a misfire, you can quickly disarm it. Stress is often a major factor in snapping. The threshold for pulling all nine of the LIFEMORTS triggers is lowered when youre under stress. So if youre held up in traffic and suddenly enragedask yourself why am I angry? Anger is an emotion preparing you to fight. It comes when the threat detection mechanism in your brain says, I detect this threat. When that happens, identify the trigger. Cover image via Phys.org The Delhi government is not keen to implement the next phase of the odd-even scheme during the school exam season. A top source confirmed that the government was tentatively planning to bring the road rationing scheme back after the Board exams. indianexpress "The ideal time would be after the exams. The implementation of the scheme will then not inconvenience children or their parents," said the official while reiterating that the government was keen to bring the anti pollution measure back. The fact that school buses will also be available for the odd-even scheme is another reason why the government wants to postpone the rationing plan till April, particularly because the city faces an acute shortage of public transport buses. During the first phase in January , the Delhi govern ment had asked schools to pitch in with buses to tide over the demand for more public transport. While schools were supposed to supply more than 1,000 buses, they eventually provided just 300. thewire It's precisely because of this that the government has been advised caution in going ahead with the plan, officials said. If implemented over a long period, the scheme would require a solid bus footprint, along with substantial support from Metro. However, the bus cluster system is already facing a crisis, with one of the concessionaires walking out of the agreement. To provide an viable alternative to commuters, the government requires at least 3,000 more buses. Recently , a group of former Blueline bus owners, the STA Operators Ekta Manch, had promised to acquire buses that conform to the urban development ministry's specifications for the scheme. But it wanted the government to allow it to ply permanently under the DTC Parivahan Sewa. The right of gay men to be dull and humourless is being undermined by the common conception that homosexuals are stylish and witty, an academic has suggested. Ashley Brooks, a psychology researcher at Anglia Ruskin University who is conducting a study into "ambivalent homoprejudice", argues that some gay men felt under pressure to live up to a particular stereotypes. The idea that gay men were well-dressed, funny and 'emotionally available' with a particular understanding of women is an apparently positive prejudice with potentially negative consequences, he said. The researcher cited playwright Oscar Wilde, BBC chat show host Graham Norton and Michael Urie's Marc St. James character in US comedy Ugly Betty as examples of the waspish gay man in popular culture. "These overly positive attitudes, which you see a lot in the media - that gay men are particularly fashion conscious, and witty, and a woman's 'gay best friend' - can be extremely pressurising," Mr Brooks said. "It can be particularly harmful for young people, adolescents who are less secure in their identity, who might feel they have to live up to the stereotype. "And because these attitudes appear positive, they gain widespread acceptance and remain unchallenged despite their potential to cause long-term damage." The Stanford Blatch character in Sex In The City and Rupert Everett's role as Julia Roberts' gay best friend in My Best Friend's Wedding are other examples of the stereotype, he said. Mr Brooks said that in focus groups gay men would "deliberately point out their own terrible fashion sense and how they were quite humourless and dull." He added: "There are plenty of introverted gay men who don't want to be shoehorned into the Graham Norton box." To examine the extent of the 'ambivalent' stereotype, Mr Brooks is seeking 1,000 respondents to complete an online questionnaire looking into people's attitudes towards gay men. He said he had already found that more hostile stereotypes - "that gay men make too much fuss about their rights and are too ostentatious and visible" - could coexist in people's minds with the idea that gay men were witty and stylish. Mr Brooks said: "It is encouraging that we have transitioned from horrible, hostile [stereotypes] to something more accepting, but this is about going beyond that and appreciating the diversity within gay men." He was backed by the novelist and cultural commentator Paul Burston, who runs the London-based LGBT literary salon Polari. He admitted he had always felt a strong affinity with women and that at his salon he was "stylish, witty, urbane and very theatrical." But he said: "That is playing a part. It's not the whole of who I am. It's very exhausting being stylish and witty all the time. It may not be a negative stereotype, but it is still quite limiting if you are expected to behave in a particular way when that's not really who you are. He added: "For example, I have an issue with way TV and chick lit novels show gay men as the arbiters of taste, there for women to cry on their shoulders and to help them choose nice frocks - like a girlfriend, but male. I find that very patronising." Besides, Mr Burston said: "This assumption that gay men have the monopoly on being stylish and witty is terribly unfair to straight men. Some gay men are very, very boring and very badly dressed." A fatal microbe that invades the body through the nose and travels through nerve fibres into brain where its feeds on cerebral tissues could be active in Kolkata. Even though extremely rare -with less than 150 cases recorded worldwide since 1965 -primary amoebic meningoencephelitis or PAM struck a 14-year-old boy in Kolkata earlier this month. Dailymail Doctors suspect he contracted the bacteria while swimming and have warned that pools and other fresh waterbodies in the city may be harbouring the bacteria which has the macabre name 'brain-eating amoeba'. The mortality rate for PAM is a staggering 98% but the boy survived.It was touch and go for three weeks because his kidneys were also badly affected, but a team of doctors at CMRI Hospital refused to give up on him and tried out-of-the-box techniques which pulled him back from the brink. He is extremely lucky to be alive, said one of the doctors, adding that they had to seek a rare drug with the help of the state health department to save the boy. It is only the fifth known PAM survival in India. "The principal drug -amphotericin B -is very toxic. It was used along with three other drugs but the child suffered a kidney failure, a common side effect. Then, we had to act very fast. The principal drug was discontinued and we decided to try three other drugs that have been used in recent PAM cases elsewhere. One of these was Miltefocin, a new drug not yet widely available in the market but very effective," said Sushmita Banerjee, paediatric nephrologist at CMRI. The health department was approached for the drug and the directorate of health procured it quickly . After two weeks of being used in combination, the cocktail of medicines managed to control the infection. His kidneys stabilized and other symptoms like headache and vomiting gradually re ceded. By the end of the third week, he was declared fit to leave the hospital. "Initially , it seemed like meningitis. brainsenemy But we were worried when the lumbar puncture report indicated that his cell counts and the CSF protein count were worryingly high," recalled Banerjee. The doctors were surprised by the findings and spoke with family members to find out more about the boy . The feedback revealed that the youngster was a regular swimmer. This prompted doctors to dig deeper and ask for a test to detect PAM. A rare kind of meningitis associated with swimming in fresh water lakes, rivers and pools, it is a devastating infection caused by a free-living microscopic amoeba called naegleria fowleri. It enters the body through the nose, makes its way to the brain and causes PAN. In the brain, it feeds on nerve tissues and multiplies, causing necrosis and bleeding. Cases of PAM are extremely few and research on the infection is also rare, said a doctor. In USA, only 135 cases have been recorded in the last two decades -of whom merely four survived. Four cases of survival have been reported in India. According to a tropical medicine expert, swimming pools are the principal source of the infection. "While PAM could be triggered by either an amoeba or protozoa, usually pools are the source. It could be risky to use a pool that has not been properly chlorinated," he said. But PAM could even spread through other sources of water, said Indranil Ray , consultant microbiologist, CMRI, who was a part of the team treating the youngster. "When we checked recent cases, we found that it had even affected people who never swam in a pool. But pools and ponds remain the principal sources. We have also observed that patients in India, including this one, were probably struck by a less virulent strain. In the West, the common strain is more aggressive and hence more fatal," explained Ray . Six days after he was believed to be dead in the avalanche that hit Siachen glacier, an India soldier was found buried alive under 25 feet of snow on Monday. Twitter Lance Naik Hanamanthappa, a resident of Betadur, in Karnataka was found buried alive under 25 feet of snow late on Monday by the rescue team. Twitter Indiatimes cannot independently verify the authenticity of this video. Rescue operation at Siachen !! Rescue operation at Siachen !! We are proud of Indian Army. #Salutes, JAI HIND! Posted by Vivek Shetty on 8 February 2016 "In the rescue operations, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad has been found alive. All the other soldiers regrettably are no more with us," Northern Army Command chief Lt-General D S Hooda said. "The medical condition of L/N Hanamanthappa is critical but all attempts are being made to evacuate him to the Army Research & Referral Hospital (in New Delhi) on Tuesday morning. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us," he added. Twitter Hanamanthappa was among the ten Indian soldiers who were swept away by a deadly avalanche in Siachen last Wednesday. So far the army has recovered dead bodies of five of the victims. Twitter Twitter Even though specialised Army teams, backed by sniffer dogs, ice-cutters, drilling machines and other heavy equipment, are continuing their search-and-rescue operation, the possibility of finding any more survivors are bleak. A school student from Rajasthan has developed a wearable armour for woman to protect themselves from molesters. Hindustan Times Named as 'Shock Glove' the device is capable of delivering a 220-volt shock on contact. The glove has a SIM card, a GPS chip, a video camera and a 3.4-volt battery and a transformer which amplifies 3.4 volts to 220 volts on contact. The 150-gram device is also capable of dispatching the girls location, help messages and the incidents video clip to the police. All thise was built for Rs 500. Hunt News The inventor of the ingenious device is Niranjan Suthar, 17, is a Class 12 student of Ahor government higher secondary school in Rajasthan. Interestingly he is an arts student, as he scored poorly in his 10th board exams. Suthar who was always interested in electronics and gadgets came up with the idea of the glove following the the Delhi gang rape incident. In the next two years he tried, tested and improved his device to a lethal weapon. And it hasn't gone unnoticed, it won the first prize at a state-level science fair in January 2016. It will also feature in the National Science Fair which will be held in March in Delhi. Hindustan Times quoting Suthar said that a Delhi-based electronic firm had asked for the device model for R&D to explore the possibilities of converting it into a usable consumer format. A husband or a wife entering into an extramarital relationship has invited penal action for adultery or bigamy in the past court rulings, but the Ahmedabad family court has received a curious case wherein the husband is using live-in contract drawn with girlfriend to gain immunity from law. Using the contract he has even invited the girlfriend to stay with his family comprising wife and two children. His wife has filed a plea with the Family Court seeking direction that she be allowed to stay in the house with her children and her husband be directed not to sell the matrimonial house to a third party. en.trend.az A resident of the Ambawadi area, Indu Mavani, 47, went to the police station after her husband Kishore, 47, brought home his girlfriend to stay with them. She tried to lodge a complaint with the Ellisbridge police station against Kishore and his girlfriend Anita. When police summoned Kishore, he appeared with Anita and bluntly announced that they were in a live-in relationship. Even the police was flummoxed as the Indian Penal Code has no statute for such an incident. When Indu's attempt to file a police case of betrayal against her husband failed, she filed a complaint with the family court seeking direction that she be allowed to use the matrimonial house. The petition filed by Indu in the family court states she married Kishore in 1995 and at present they have one daughter and son aged 18 and 17 respectively and that they live at the matrimonial house in Ambawadi. Indu's petition also says Kishore had entered into an illicit relationship with Anita several years ago and at latter's behest he tortured her physically and mentally. Kishore's violent and aggressive behaviour compelled Indu to shift to another residence along with her children, the petition says. According to the petition, Indu had earlier filed for maintenance under the Domestic Violence Act and the court had ordered Kishore to pay Rs 15,000 on a monthly basis. Later, they filed for divorce with mutual consent with the condition that Kishore would transfer the matrimonial house in Indu's name. However, Kishore failed to abide by the condition and the divorce petition was withdrawn. Later, Indu realised that Kishore intended to sell their house to the third party sidelining Indu from its benefit. Indu then filed a plea with the Family Court asking for direction to prevent Kishore from selling the house. The court has issued a notice to Kishore seeking his explanation and posted the matter for February 12. Actor Rupert Grint, who brought alive the character of Ron on the big screen, has said that he and Hermione would definitely have divorced each other. hypable Ask a Harry Potter fan what Ron and Hermione's relationship means to them, and you'll open the very Pandora's Box of feelings. wikia Right? RIGHT?! But Rupert's revelation is definitely breaking our hearts into a million little pieces. According to Rupert, the relationship of Ron and Hermione (essayed by Emma Watson) was doomed and the couple wouldn't have had a happily ever after. The 27-year-old British actor said, "I would expect Ron has probably divorced Hermione already. I don't think that relationship would have done very well." womenwriteaboutcomics And that's hardly it. As an afterthought, Rupert also gave us an insight into Ron's life and said "He's living on his own, in a little one-bedroom apartment. He hasn't got a job." Nope. We refuse to believe. Nope. Google's Sundar Pichai is poised to become one of the highest-paid executives of a publicly traded company this year after parent company Alphabet awarded him restricted stock worth about $199 million. khabarnama Pichai, who is Google's chief executive officer, received 273,328 Class C shares on February 3 that will vest in quarterly increments through 2019 if he remains on the job, according to a filing on Friday from the Mountain View, California-based company. Pichai, the former deputy of Google co-founder Larry Page, was named to run the search engine unit following the reorganisation into holding company Alphabet last year. The award is the biggest ever given to a Google executive officer whose equity grants have to be reported in filings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It is Pichai's first award since taking over the company's highest grossing unit. Alphabet also awarded $42.8 million in restricted stock to Diane Greene, a co-founder and former CEO of software maker VMware, who's led Google's cloud business since November. Greene received equity worth $148 million last year after Google acquired tech company Bebop Technologies, which she founded. Chief financial officer Ruth Porat, who joined from Morgan Stanley last year, received equity worth $38.3 million that will vest under the same conditions as Pichai's award, a filing shows. An Alphabet spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Right now, there are people who are cuddling dogs and playing with them while at work, and it's really not making us feel any better about our jobs. A Massachusetts pet-product company called Kurgo is hands down, the world's most dog-friendly office! Started by brother-duo, Kitter and Gordie Spater in 2003, Kurgo has all of 22 employees and sells all dog-related products - leashes, pet toys, water bowls, backpacks, and much more. But more than that, the office is literally the mother of all kennels. Let's see why. 1. Kurgo is spread across 4000 square feet. 2. The employees get their pets to the office where they can play, eat and play some more. 3. There's fake grass inside cubicles for the dogs to roll on their backs and chew on their toys. 4. There are chairs specially designed to allow people to sit down with their pets and pat them for being good at work. 5. It's literally a dog paradise on earth! 6. There are slides. And swings! 7. And a hanging canoe!!! 8. Hunger pangs no more! 9. A whole lot of lovin'. 10. And a whole lot of sunshine! 11. Ah, it's a dog's life! Planning a job change, already? Yeah, right there with ya! Follow us on google soon to launch new age virtual reality headset New Delhi: Google is reportedly developing a new smartphone-assisted virtual reality (VR) headset that will have better sensors, lenses and a more solid plastic casing for its users, which will take the virtual reality experience to a new level. According to a Financial Times report, the new device with better Android VR technology will succeed the mobile VR viewer Cardboard that Google launched 12 years back. It will also give tough competition to Gear VR - the flagship headset launched by South Korean electronic giant Samsung in collaboration with the US virtual reality technology company Oculus which is now available in India. How is the new Google VR headset going to beat its rivals? According to the report, the company is embedding a new software directly into its Android operating system rather than relying on the app that is there with Cardboard for a better VR experience. The updated Google headset will be compatible with a much broader range of Android devices than Gear VR that requires a compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone. A Cardboard unit consists of a cardboard housing, velcro and two lenses. To use the headset, place a smartphone in front of the lenses and let the app on the smartphone replicate a virtual environment for you. As you turn and move your head, the app adjusts based on the phone's sensors that detect movement. Google is expected to release the updated VR headset this year. (With IANS inputs) Latest Business News Follow us on industry users welcome trai s decision facebook operators cry foul Bengaluru: Industry users and netizens on Monday hailed the regulator's favourable order on net neutrality while social network Facebook and cellular operators cried foul. "We congratulate TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) for enshrining the principles of net neutrality and non-discriminatory access," IT industry representative body Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said in a statement. Expressing disappointment over the telecom watchdog's order, Facebook, however, said it would continue efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to internet. "Our goal with Free Basics is to bring more people online with an open, non-exclusive and free platform," a Facebook spokespersons told IANS. Upholding net neutrality, TRAI on Monday said no to discriminatory pricing of data content as against the offerings by Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero. Hailing Trai's decision Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien said, "Great day because net neutrality has won.We will do all it takes to protect right of the free internet." "No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content," TRAI said in its order. Nasscom's internet council chairman Sanjeev Bhikchandani said the favourable ruling would help address concerns of start-ups on lack of level-playing field. Terming the order a big win for consumer and net neutrality, Rajya Sabha lawmaker Rajeev Chandrasekhar hailed TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma for standing up for consumers. "This is a powerful and positive first step as days of telcos controlling regulations and regulatory policy is over and it's consumer to the fore," Chandrasekhar said in a statement here. Echoing Facebook, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) director general Rajan S. Mathews, however, regretted that the watchdog rejected upfront differential pricing without defining net neutrality. "We expected that they will see our recommendations before coming out with the regulations. It (Free Basics) was a tool to connect the billion of unconnected people in India," Mathews contended. Observing that the watchdog's regulation on differential pricing was a welcome move, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said the order would ensure that the basic tenets of net neutrality were followed across the country. "The ruling vindicates our stand on the issue. The internet start-up eco-system and the internet user community are delighted, as we had taken a 'no exception standpoint' against differential pricing," the association said in a statement. The association also expressed gratitude to the watchdog for being the ultimate authority in deciding cases of violations and its decision was final and binding. The association, however, expressed concern over the exception rule that the order would not apply to tariffs for data services over closed electronic communications networks. Observing that the ruling would enable all netizens to have non-discriminatory access to internet, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) telecom leader Arpita Pal Agrawal said innovative ways had to be found to make every Indian access the net and bridge the digital divide. Global research and advisory firm Gartner said the regulator's notification was in line with the US Federal Communications Commission's ruling on 'open internet' and the European Union, which ruled in favour of treating all internet traffic equally. "The notification is in support of the government's focus on start-up and internet penetration, without compromising on access to content," Gartner India research director Amresh Nandan said in a statement. As start-ups are dependent on open access of internet, any directive to control it can have detrimental effect on them and the government's push to start-up ecosystem. Though telecom service providers may not be happy with the notification, Nandan said they have the ability to create different kind of internet access packages as long as content is not a parameter to provide or bar access to anyone. "Such practices have started elsewhere with products such as bandwidth on demand and bandwidth calendaring to create premium products," he added. (with IANS inputs) Latest Business News Follow us on rescued siachen survivor s condition critical soldier in coma Jammu/New Delhi: The condition of Indian Army's Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, the jawan who was rescued from Siachen Glacier on Monday six days after an avalanche hit their post, is extremely critical, a hospital bulletin said. A health bulletin released by Army's Research and Referral (RR) hospital, where he was flown in today, said that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial for Lance Naik Hanamanthappa. "Lance Naik Hanamanthappa is currently comatose and continues to be in shock with low blood pressure," the first medical bulletin said. Fortunately, the soldier has no cold exposure-related frostbite or bone injuries. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hrs due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body," it said. The soldier, who was earlier declared dead by the authorities, was found to be conscious but drowsy and disoriented yesterday after he was located during rescue operation. "He is currently comatose and continues to be in shock with low blood pressure. He has pneumonia and his investigations have revealed liver and kidney dysfunction," the bulletin read. He was "severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. He was immediately resuscitated by the doctors at the site, who had been there for the past five days in the hope of a survivor," it said. He was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external re-warming. Koppad was flown out from the site today by helicopter along with a medical specialist to the Siachen Base Camp, from where he was brought to the Thois air base. He was then transferred to Delhi by a fixed-wing aircraft of IAF along with a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the base camp. Koppad is being treated by a team of intensivists, neurologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist and surgeons. He has been administered fluids, drugs to bring up his blood pressure, besides antibiotics. A team of experts from cardiology, neurology and general medicine are attending to him. Earlier this afternoon, Hanamanthappa was admitted to RR Hospital in Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Army chief General Dalbir Singh visited the hospital to know about the recovery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. His condition was said to be critical but stable. Modi said Koppad is an "outstanding soldier" whose "endurance and indomitable spirit" cannot be described in words. "We are all hoping & praying for the best," Modi added. On his part, Suhag commended the brave heart for his indomitable mental robustness and his refusal to give in to harsh elements of nature. Earlier this morning, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad was pulled out after remaining under a thick cover of about 26-feet of snow for about six days. "It was a miraculous rescue," Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander, said. On February 3, a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of Madras Regiment were buried after their post was hit by the avalanche at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the temperature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. Rescue efforts had been on since, though on February 4, the army said hopes of finding anyone alive were 'very remote'. The Northern Army Commander expressed hope that the miracle continues with Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, who hails from Karnataka. So far, bodies of 5 soldiers have been recovered in the rescue operation, Lt Gen D S Hooda said, adding that '4 bodies have been identified'. "All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us," he said. The rescue operation has been hampered by frequent snow blizzards, extreme freezing temperatures and low visibility at such high altitude. The Siachen Glacier, located at the northern tip of Kashmir, is the highest and coldest battlefield in the world. Till date, more soldiers have died because of the weather and terrain than as a consequence of the Indo-Pak standoff. At least 869 officers and soldiers have been killed there since the mid-1980s. Latest India News Follow us on india is 2nd largest sender of foreign students to us Hyderabad: Stating that there was no larger issue involved in cases of Indian students, mainly from Telangana and AP, who were sent back from the United States a couple of months ago, a senior US embassy official today noted that each of these cases should be looked at differently. Michael Pelletier, Deputy Ambassador of US in Delhi, said the Indian students were welcome to study in America. "India is the second largest sender of foreign students to the United States," he said. On being asked about the issue of Indian students being sent back on arrival from the US in recent times, he said they were "turned around" and not "deported". "When we saw the news about the students who were turned around, they weren't deported but they were turned around," he told reporters here. Media reports had suggested that there were about 500 such cases but Pelletier said he did not have the numbers on those "turned around". Asked what went wrong in the episode, he said, "Each is an individual case. What I can say is, as a general rule, the immigration officials, when you apply for permission to enter the states at the border crossing (whether that's an airport or a port or land crossing), the border officials are going to want to hear your reason for study. They will look at your visa and they want to see the documentation that supports that. "If there is some reason to believe that you are traveling on the wrong visa or that your purpose is not aligned with the visa, then they may have issues or they may not be able to admit you to the states." There cannot be any generalised view on the students who were "turned around", the US embassy official said. "Each decision is made on a case by case basis. The immigration officer will look at each person who is applying for admission into the United States as an individual. "I think if there is a larger conclusion - there are 1,30,000 people studying successfully in the US and contributing to the economy. But otherwise, for the people who were not granted admission, you would have to look at each case," Pelletier said. The official said the embassy worked with the Ministry of External Affairs, local governments in India and also the department of homeland security and US to figure out the issue following reports of Indian students being sent back. On reports of some students who were not granted admission being handcuffed in the airports, Pelletier said he cannot comment on specific cases. He, however, added that efforts are being made to see that those not granted admission are treated fairly. The US official noted the students who wish to study in America should follow the due process and complete the paper work. "So, I think each case (of students not granted admission) is very different. But what we have found out and keep insisting is that as I said, we very much welcome the visit of bonafide students to the United States. Students who want to travel and study in the US should really take advantage of the education USA resources. "They should have the right purpose, the right documents, the right papers that support their desire to go to the states and I think education USA talks about a five-step process that they should go through. If you follow that process, you get the right information and you should not have any difficulty," Pelletier said. Those who have been "turned around" can apply afresh but it is a lengthy and expensive process, he added. Latest India News Follow us on maharashtra govt favours lifting ban on entry of women at haji ali Mumbai: The Maharashtra government, today, favoured lifting of the ban on entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Haji Ali shrine unless its controlling authority proves the measure has been put in place as part of its religious practice with reference to Quran. The BJP-led government's view was conveyed to the court, hearing a petition challenging the ban, by state's advocate general Shrihari Aney. The Durgah Board, however, told a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Revati Mohite Dere that the women have been barred from entering the sanctum sanctorum since it houses the tomb of a male saint. In Islam, it is a sin for women to touch a male saint or his tomb, it said, defending the ban. Petitioner Raju More, however, contested the Board's argument, contending Haji Ali's official website says nobody was actually buried inside the tomb. "I also gave the court a printout of what is officially mentioned on the Haji Ali's website in support of my argument," he said. After hearing their contentions, the court asked all the parties to submit their arguments in writing within two weeks. The court had on February 3 sought the state government's opinion on the PIL challenging the ban. The HC had indicated last month that it would wait for the Supreme Court's ruling on entry of women in Sabarimala temple in Kerala before deciding on the plea. A petition in the apex court has sought entry for all women and girls into the Sabarimala temple which prohibits girls and women aged 10-50 years from visiting the shrine. The Maharashtra government's submission on the issue came amid an ongoing row over a similar ban on women at a Shani temple in Shani Shingnapur. The authorities had recently thwarted an attempt by a women's group to enter the temple's sanctum sanctorum by detaining them. The agitating women are now waiting for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's decision on whether the ban should be lifted. Latest India News Follow us on siachen 150 soldiers two canines and a mighty rescue operation New Delhi: The miraculous story of rescued soldier Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad who clung to life buried 30 feet under a massive ice and snow debris that hurtled down a mountain slope on unforgiving Siachen glacier, is one of pure grit. While he lies in bed with India praying for his recovery, it is worthwhile to take a note of the herculean efforts of the Army personnel who put in tooth and nail to rescue their man from the clutches of death. Koppad was rescued yesterday from an altitude of 20,500 feet by a team of over 150 soldiers and two canines, Dot and Misha, and was initially declared dead by authorities, was flown in here by an IAF aircraft accompanied by a critical care specialist of the force and a medical specialist from the Siachen base camp. Fortunately, there was no cold exposure-related frost bite or bony injuries to him, a medical bulletin issued by the hospital said. "He has been placed on a ventilator to protect his airway and lungs in view of his comatose state. He remains extremely critical and is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hrs due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body," it said. His family's joy knew no limits as the news trickled in of him being alive. "It is a rebirth for all of us," said Mahadevi, wife of Koppad, with a visible sense of relief as his miraculous survival. Over 150 trained and acclimatized army troops, including specialized teams trained in glaciated terrain, were moved into the avalanche site and round-the-clock rescue operations were carried out in extreme weather conditions where average day temperature was minus 30 degrees Celsius and night temperature below minus 55 degrees. Medical teams and equipment were moved in and a post established to provide emergency treatment at the rescue site itself. Specialized rescue dogs were also pressed into service. "The dogs, Dot and Misha, did a tremendous job," the officials said. The frozen heights of Siachen are toughest battlefield in the world where hostile weather has killed more soldiers than enemy bullets. Over 869 Indian soldiers have died in Siachen since 1984 due to climatic conditions, environmental and other factors. The total number of officers who have died in Siachen since Operation Meghdoot that was launched in 1984 to reclaim the glacier from Pakistan was 33. Besides them, 54 JCOs have lost their lives, while casualties from other ranks are 782. The government has spent over Rs 7,500 crore for procurement of clothing and mountaineering equipment for soldiers posted in high-altitude areas. The guns have largely been silent on the Glacier since 2003 following a ceasefire along the frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir. The then Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had in 2012 called for the resolution of the Siachen issue following an avalanche on the Pakistani side which left 139 dead, mostly soldiers. Pakistan wants India to pull back troops to the positions of 1984. India has asked Pakistan to authenticate and demarcate the 110-kilometre Actual Ground Position Line on the glacier. Stung by the surprise occupation of strategic heights in the Kargil sector in 1999, India has insisted on the authentication and demarcation of current military positions on Siachen. The move is aimed at thwarting the possible re-induction of troops by Pakistan after any demilitarisation of the glacier. (With PTI inputs) Latest India News Follow us on tamil nadu man faces grim consequences of burning indian flag Chennai: Dileepan Mahendran, a 25-year-old from Tamil nadu's Nagapattinam district invited trouble when he posted pictures of a burning Indian flag on facebook to express his ire against the system- an action that would led him to face its grim consequences. On 31 January, images of him setting the Indian national flag on fire went viral on Facebook and WhatsApp. By the time he could take them down, it was too late. Complaints started pouring in, prompting cyber cops from Chennai to start looking for him. Those angered by his act began sleuthing on the internet for information on him, and two persons, including a private airlines pilot, CR Naveenkumar, filed a legal complaint against him. On January 1, City Police arrested Dileepan Mahendran on charges of burning the Indian national flag, a picture of which had gone viral on the social media. But according to his lawyer, Elangovan, his arrest marked the beginning of alleged gruesome police brutality. According to reports, Policemen beat him up through the night of arrest, and he was then blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location. He was told to stand still by two men they threatened to kill him if he moved. With a broken hand and three fingers fractured, Dileepan was taken to Stanley Hospital where the men had told hospital officials not to provide him with adequate treatment because he was a traitor, said his lawyer. He then alleged that the police had threatened him to keep quiet about the issue in court. However, Assistant Commissioner of Police R Rangaraja at the Pulianthope police station has dismissed all allegations. "We simply acted on a complaint and arrested him. He broke his hand when he was on the run from the police and we made sure he got proper treatment for it," R Rangaraja, Assistant Commissioner of Police told reporters. His lawyer also said that Dileepan reportedly is very passionate about social rallies and that's why he did this. He had a list of 30 demands that were not met and burnt the flag to turn people's attention to them. Dileepan was an active participant in rallies and protests calling for action in the cases of Rohith Vemula and the suicides in Villupuram. Human rights activists gheraoed the Pulianthope police department protesting the ill-treatment of Dileepan on Monday and were dispersed later. Latest India News Follow us on committed to help india bring mumbai attackers to justice us Washington: Following Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley's testimony in a Mumbai court, the US has reiterated its commitment help India bring to justice those responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The US Justice Department had made Headley now serving a 35-year sentence in Chicago, "available by video link to a court in Mumbai to provide his testimony on his involvement in the attack," US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters here Monday. "For our part, the United States has committed to doing all we can to assist the Government of India in pursuing every possible lead to bring to justice those responsible for that attack to the fullest extent permitted by US law," he said. "But this was a decision and this was an event set up and established by the Justice Department," he said and the State department "wouldn't have gotten involved in that." Kirby noted that the US has "a very strong relationship with India on a lot of levels, and law enforcement's one of those." "Obviously, we'll always look to try to improve our cooperation across all different aspects of the relationship," he said declining to prejudge the "strategic value" of Headley's testimony. "Certainly it's indicative of our commitment to making sure the perpetrators of that attack are brought to justice, and I think it's indicative of a close relationship with India, again, in a law enforcement realm, but across all others as well," Kirby said. Asked if Headley will be freed from the Chicago jail following his testimony in the Mumbai case, he said it was an issue for the Justice Department to comment on. Son of a Pakistani father and an American mother, Headley changed his birth name Daood Sayed Gilani at the behest of LeT to avoid suspicion for his five spying missions in Mumbai to scout targets for the attacks, which killed 168 people. Latest World News Follow us on i have at least 20 muslim friends says donald trumph Washington: Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump defended himself against accusations of Islamophobia saying he has 'at least 20 Muslim' friends but failed to name even a single out of them. Trump has repeatedly said that 'Muslims love him despite his provocative policies' but has so far failed to name any single individual Muslim supporter. When he was asked 'who his Muslim backers were', Trump said, "Oh, I could give you about 20 of them." Trump made this comments after coming off stage in Sunday's Republican debate in Manchester, New Hampshire. The billionaire business mogul, after the shooting in San Bernadino, California, in which 14 people were killed in an attack by supporters of ISIS, had in past called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US and a database to track the movements of those already living there. Trump's remarks had sparked an international backlash with business partners in Arab countries disowning him. In Dubai, a firm building a multi-billion dollar development in Dubai with Trump stripped his name and image from the property. According to Pew's latest data, 57 per cent of Republicans believe that US anti-terrorism laws don't go far enough in protecting the nation, and just 30 per cent think they are going too far in restricting civil liberties. The percentage of Republicans who think the US does too little to solve the world's problems is up 28 percentage points, to 46 per cent. Meanwhile, ahead of Tuesday's crucial primary in New Hampshire, Trump returned to the debate stage to assert that he has 'the best temperament' to be America's next commander in chief. Trump, whose absence from the last Republican debate apparently pushed him to the second place in last week's Iowa caucuses, had a relatively good time as his rivals ganged up on newly resurgent Senator Marco Rubio. And when Texas senator Ted Cruz who has been crowing about the real estate mogul's "Trumper Tantrums" since besting him in Iowa declined to repeat his attacks on the ABC News debate, Trump noted, "If you noticed, he didn't answer your question." Marco Rubio, on the other hand, was seriously rattled by the attack from his rivals, particularly New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who painted him as someone who delivers soaring speeches but has never made a consequential decision in his political life. Christie also slammed Rubio's poor attendance record in the Senate. "That's not leadership, that's truancy," Christie said. Donald Trump, meanwhile, was booed during an exchange with Jeb Bush about eminent domain that allows a government or private entity to appropriate land or property in return for payment of compensation, when he asked the former Florida governor to be quiet. The billionaire then turned on the audience, suggesting it was made up of party figures and big donors and was therefore biased against him -- and the booing escalated. The tough talking Trump also got support on his stand on immigration from Cruz. "We're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol," he said. "We're going to increase -- and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it." Trump also vowed to bring back the outlawed controversial practice of waterboarding euphemistically called as enhanced interrogation. "I would bring back waterboarding and I would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," he declared. Latest World News Follow us on isis pranksters in new york threaten to blow up train New York: Two mischievous straphangers broke into the conductor's booth aboard a Brooklyn-bound train in Manhattan and announced on the public address system that Islamic State is 'hijacking the train and will blow it up'. The startling announcement aboard the Brooklyn-bound R train had riders scurrying out of the train when it pulled into the next stop. The suspects also slipped off the train at the next stop. According to police, the two mischievous pranksters, in their 20s, broke into the conductor's booth last Thursday and announced over the loudspeaker that they were ISIS members set to 'blow up the train'. Passenger Lauren Crozier, a 30-year-old actor, was aboard the train heading to her home in Sunset Park when the declaration came over the loudspeaker. "At first there was some singing, it wasn't really audible. Then we heard, All hail ISIS!" Crozier said. "Everyone took their earbuds out and stared at each other. I'm not sure any of us thought it was a credible threat. Not after the first moment, anyway," he said. Crozier said the suspects making the announcement also said, "This train has been hijacked". She said that once the train pulled into the next station, "the whole train emptied out". The train was taken out of service and taken to the Jamaica Yards in Queens, where an investigation was conducted. A police source was quoted as saying, "it was a hoax and there was no credible threat." With PTI Inputs Latest World News Follow us on islamic state pay cuts forcing fighters to join rival groups report Washington: The recent defeats of the Islamic State (IS) signify its worsening money problems, desertions and a dwindling pool of fighters with many of them joining rival militant groups after facing pay cuts, according to a media report. Citing top analysts and monitoring groups, the Washington Post reported that the recent losses of the terror group are linked to its struggles to pay fighters and recruit new ones to replace those who have deserted, defected to other militant groups or died on the battlefield. Losing turf U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab forces have seized significant amounts of territory from the extremist group in the parts of Iraq and Syria where it declared a caliphate in 2014. These issues suggest that as an entity that is determined to hold onto territory, the IS is not sustainable, Jacob Shapiro, an expert on the Islamic State who teaches politics at Princeton University, was quoted as saying. And, deserters are on the rise There appears to be a rise in the number of IS fighters who have deserted or, in the case of the Syrian conflict, defected to other militant groups, Vera Mironova, an expert on armed groups in Syria and Iraq at Harvard University's Belfer Centre, was quoted as saying. The salary and benefit cuts have caused for-profit militants in Syria to increasingly look for better deals with other armed factions, she said. The group, she has said, is also struggling to replenish ranks of its foreign fighters, who tend to be more ideologically-driven but also die in relatively large numbers on the battlefield. Juggernaut, no more Only a year ago, the IS was seen as a juggernaut rich, organised and fielding thousands of motivated fighters but in recent months, its momentum has been reversed, the report said. U.S. military officials estimate that the group has lost as much as 40 per cent of the territory it held in Iraq and as much as 20 per cent in Syria, it said. Kurdish and Arab forces, including Iraq's increasingly competent military, have advanced against the group with the help of airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Its key oil infrastructure damaged The air raids have damaged the IS's oil infrastructure, a key revenue source, and the territorial setbacks have stripped the group of populations to tax and assets to seize, analysts say. All of this, they say, appears to have forced the group to reduce salaries and benefits for fighters. Last month media reports had said the terror group's Bayt al-Mal, the Treasury Ministry, has decided to cut the salaries of its fighters in half due to the exceptional circumstances the IS has been witnessing. Latest World News Follow us on madhesis call off 5 month long strike end indo nepal border blockade Kathmandu: Madhesis of Nepal, who were on a strike for nearly five-months, called it off today following the hardships faced by their country due to the blockade at the Indo-Nepal border. The prolonged protest against a new Constitution had resulted in severe shortages of fuel, medicine and other supplies for the people of Nepal. A meeting was held between the United Democratic Madhesi Front leaders after which an official statement confirming the end of the strike was issued. "Considering the current crisis facing the nation and the public necessity and aspirations, the ongoing protest programmes of general strike, border blockade, government office shutdown have been called off for now," said the statement. "The agitation will continue till our demands are addressed," the statement added. The announcement to end the border blockade comes ahead of Prime Minister K P Oli's trip to India on February 19, the first overseas visit of the new Nepalese premier. The UDMF has announced only three protest programmes including a torch rally, a lathi rally and a people's vote collection campaign in district headquarters. Nepal's Madhesi community, largely of Indian origin, are opposed to the new Constitution that divides their ancestral homeland under the seven-province structure and have led an ongoing blockade of key border trade points with India. The agitating community that shares strong cultural and family bonds with India is demanding demarcation of provinces, fixing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional representation, and have launched a protest for months that has claimed at least 55 lives. The agitation by Madhesis in Terai region bordering India paralysed services in Nepal and triggered huge shortage of essential supplies, including fuel and medicines, as the protesters blocked all border trade points between the two countries. Except the Raxaul-Birgunj border point, trade has resumed at all other posts. The Raxaul-Birgunj point was opened briefly a couple of days ago, but it was closed again. The blockade led to strain in the bilateral ties, with Kathmandu accusing New Delhi of imposing an "unofficial blockade". However, India maintains that it has imposed no such blockade, and the restrictions are a result of security concerns as Madhesis are protesting the new Constitution in the Terai region of Nepal bordering India. The UDMF leaders also noted that the comments made by Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato, a key leader of the agitating alliance, have dealt a blow to the Madhes agitation. "As the latest activities and comments of Sadbhawana Party Chairman Mahato have damaged the Madhes agitation, the Madhesi Morcha directs him not to be involved in such activities in the coming days," the statement said. (With PTI inputs) Latest World News Follow us on pakistan behind rise of international jihadi forces including isis report New York: In a stinging commentary on Pakistan's "intervention" in a number of foreign conflicts, a leading US daily has said that Pakistan's powerful intelligence service has long acted as the 'manager of international Jihadi forces and it may have been involved in the rise of the ISIS'. Underlining that experts have found 'a lot of evidence' that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive, an op-ed in the New York Times said, "This behaviour is not just an issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a number of foreign conflicts." "Its intelligence service has long acted as the manager of international mujahedeen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, and there is even speculation that it may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State." It said that though Pakistan denies harbouring the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and points out that it, too, is a victim of terrorism, "many analysts have detailed how the military has nurtured Islamist militant groups as an instrument to suppress nationalist movements, in particular among the Pashtun minority, at home and abroad." "Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard. Determined not to let its archrival, India, gain influence there, and to ensure that Afghanistan remains in the Sunni Islamist camp, Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, promoting those who further its agenda and cracking down on those who don't. The same goes for Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters," wrote Carlotta Gall, the North Africa correspondent for NYT. It said there are reports that Pakistan had a role in the rise of the Islamic State. "....it might come as a surprise that the region's triumvirate of violent jihad is living openly in Pakistan," Gall said as she listed out top terrorist leaders living openly in Pakistan. "First, there's Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network, and second in command of the Taliban. He moves freely around Pakistan, and has even visited the Pakistani intelligence headquarters of the Afghan campaign in Rawalpindi," she said. Then there is the new leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, who has openly assembled meetings of his military and leadership council near the Pakistani town of Quetta, the author said. "Finally, Al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, enjoys sanctuary in Pakistan - one recent report placed him in the southwestern corner of Baluchistan. He has been working to establish training camps in southern Afghanistan," Gall wrote. The daily alleged that the madrasas in Pakistan, "a longtime instrument of Pakistani intelligence, has been training people from the ethnic minorities of northern Afghanistan alongside its standard clientele of Pashtuns." "The aim is still to win control of northern Afghanistan through these young graduates. From there they have their eyes on Central Asia and western China. Pakistani clerics are educating and radicalising Chinese Uighurs as well, along with Central Asians from the former Soviet republics," Gall said. Pakistan, she alleged, was "cooperating with Qatar, and perhaps others, to move international Sunni jihadists (including 300 Pakistanis) from Pakistan's tribal areas, where they were no longer needed, to new battlefields in Syria". "It is just another reminder of Pakistan's central involvement in creating and managing violent jihadist groups," she quoted an unnamed Pakistani politician as saying. "No one has held Pakistan to account for this behaviour. Why would Pakistan give it up now?" Gall said. With PTI Inputs Latest World News Follow us on sikh man in us barred from boarding plane due to turban New York: A Sikh-American actor has been barred from boarding a New York-bound Aeromexico flight after he refused to remove his turban during a security check. Waris Ahluwalia, 41, who had been on a trip to Mexico, took a photo of himself and his boarding pass for an Aeromexico flight back to NYC, explaining in a caption that he had been prohibited from boarding. Ahluwalia said he checked in at the Aeromexico counter at Mexico City's international airport about 5:30 am yesterday and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening. 'This morning in Mexico City I was told I could not board my @aeromexico flight to NYC because of my turban," Ahluwalia wrote on his Instagram account, uploading a photo of himself holding up his now-useless Aeromexico plane ticket. When Ahluwalia showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board. After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down, New York Times reported. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban. "I responded...that I won't be taking off my turban," he said in an interview Monday afternoon from the airport in Mexico City. "And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, 'OK, then you are not getting on the flight.'" He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeromexico flight until he met their security demands. "It is a symbol of my faith," Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. "It is something that I wear whenever I am in public." A statement released by the airline said that Ahluwalia's screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to "reach his destination as soon as possible". It gave no further details but added that it regretted the inconvenience. Ahluwalia, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewelry line and other design work. He was recently nominated for best supporting actor by the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards for his role in a Canadian thriller 'Beeba Boys'. Ahluwalia is also a social activist who has campaigned for greater awareness of the Sikh religion. In 2013, he appeared as a model in a Gap 'Make Love' advertisement that was posted in New York City subways and later defaced with racist graffiti. The letter 'S' was printed on it four times and encircled with a marker Latest World News Follow us on wife of isis militant charged in us in death of american hostage Washington: The wife of a senior Islamic State leader who was killed in a U.S. raid last year has been charged in federal court with holding American Kayla Mueller hostage and with contributing to the aid worker's death, the Justice Department said Monday. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, admitted after her capture last May that she and her husband kept Mueller captive along with several other young female hostages, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. U.S. officials have said that while in custody, Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group The criminal complaint, filed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Umm Sayyaf with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terror organization, resulting in death. The case was brought one year after Mueller was confirmed dead by her family and the Obama administration, though it's not clear when or if Umm Sayyaf will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial. The 25-year-old Iraqi woman, who was captured last year, is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Her husband, Abu Sayyaf, a former Islamic State minister for oil and gas, was killed last May in a Delta Force commando raid on his compound in Syria. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad. We will continue to pursue justice for Kayla and for all American victims of terrorism," he added. Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Omar Alkhani, in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he had been hired to fix the Internet service for the hospital. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country. Alkhani was released after two months, having been beaten. Mueller was transferred in September 2014 along with two Kurdish women of Yazidi descent from an Islamic State prison to the Sayyafs, according to the FBI affidavit, which says the couple at times handcuffed the captives, kept them in locked rooms, dictated orders about their activities and movements, and showed them violent Islamic State propaganda videos. After her capture last year, the affidavit says, Umm Sayyaf admitted she was responsible for Mueller's captivity while her husband traveled on Islamic State business. She said that al-Baghdadi would occasionally stay at her home and that he "owned" Mueller during those visits, which the FBI says was akin to slavery. The Justice Department complaint echoes earlier assertions from U.S. intelligence officials, who had told Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. "The defendant knew how Ms. Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms. Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home," the affidavit states. A Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped in October 2014 said al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited. The 14-year-old Yazidi girl made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she talked to U.S. commandos in November 2014. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to Mueller's parents in June 2015. Latest World News Follow us on aap leader sanjay singh granted bail in defamation case Ludhiana: A local court today granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) senior leader and incharge of the party's Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh in a criminal defamtion case filed by Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia. The case was filed by Majithia, Revenue Minister, against Singh on January 11. Sanjay Singh furnished surety bonds of Rs 50,000. Judicial Magistrate Bikramdeep Singh adjourned the case for February 20 for the service of summons to the remaining accused. Apart from the AAP leader, a reporter and an editor of an English daily were also accused in this defamation case. The statements of Punjab's PWD Minister Sharnjit Singh Dhillon, MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali and Chief Minister's adviser Mahesh Inder Grewal were already recorded by the courrt in connection with the case. They supported the complainant's version that he was defamed. The case was filed in the court of Bikramdeep Singh under section 499/500 (defamation) of IPC. Sanjay Singh had at a rally in Moga on September 9, 2015 and at Fatehgarh Sahib in December made a false and defamatory statement that the Revenue Minister had a hand in the drug racket in the state, Majithia said in his complaint to the court. In his complaint, Majithia, had rejected the allegation levelled against him by the AAP leader of having patronised the drug mafia, saying it was baseless. He had said that the allegation has damaged his reputation. Follow us on bjp sets deadline for pdp over govt formation in jammu and kashmir New Delhi: Talking tough on the issue of government formation in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set a deadline for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti. According to reports, the second largest party in the state has asked the PDP to clear the air before the Parliament's Budget Session, starting February 23. The new government is yet to be formed even a month after the death of former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. At a meeting last week with party leaders, Mehbooba had asked party workers to go back to the people in the state to help strengthen the party instead of speaking about government formation. The PDP has maintained that the Narendra Modi government will have to reach out to the state's people with decisive political and economic confidence-building measures (CBMs) before taking any decision on new government. Meanwhile, there are reports doing the rounds that PDP may take a call after February 15. The PDP is the largest party in the 87-member Assembly with 27 seats. It tied up with second largest party, BJP, which has 25 MLAs, to form government. The coalition government ran for nearly 10 months until the demise of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The latest development comes a day after former CM Omar Abdullah asked the PDP to form an elected government in the state or have the courage to break its alliance with the BJP. "For ten months the PDP had been praising the alliance with the BJP. Now Mehbooba Mufti has been asking the BJP-led government at the centre to announce CBMs. I don't know whether her party leaders know what these CBMs are, but the people of the state don't know what she is demanding," he said. "Mehbooba Mufti must spell out clearly what she wants. Otherwise, she must have the courage to break the alliance and seek fresh elections in state," he added. Abdullah said as far as his NC was concerned, it would not support any alliance in the state, but start preparing for the next elections. Last week, Governor NN Vohra appointed two retired IAS officers as his advisors, a move seen as another indication that state might remain without an elected government for long. Ram Madhav to hold talks with PDP chief to break impasse BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is likely to hold talks with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti next week as the party makes fresh efforts to break the impasse over formation of government in Jammu and Kashmir following the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Madhav, who had played a key role in forging alliance with PDP, may meet her after the 40-day mourning period following Sayeed's demise ends next week, party sources said. PDP wants the central government to make some concessions on its Kashmir-centric political agenda, including relaxation in controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, a demand the BJP has rejected in the past. PDP is also pushing for more financial assistance to the state from the Centre. The regional party apprehends that its alliance with BJP has cost it some popular support and it can recover the lost ground only by pushing its core agenda. While late chief minister Sayeed was an enthusiastic votary of the tie-up with BJP, her daughter is more ambivalent about it, the sources said. Follow us on congress leader attack owaisi surrenders before police granted bail Hyderabad: AIMIM Chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday surrendered before Hyderabad police in connection with an attack on Congress leader in the city. He surrendered before DCP (South zone) V. Satyanarana after an FIR was registered against him and his partymen for assaulting Congress leaders. Owaisi was formally arrested and being shifted to Osmania General Hospital for medical examination. He was produced before a court in the afternoon where he was granted bail. While Asaduddin was booked for his alleged involvement in the attack on Congress MLC Shabbir Ali on Feb 2, a case was filed against Akbaruddin after his followers allegedly assaulted M K Mahender, a BJP civic poll candidate. Ali, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council, had filed a complaint against Asaduddin and his followers for allegedly attacking him in Mirchowk area. AIMIM workers allegedly attacked the leaders in the old city area in Hyderabad during elections for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Reports said they attacked Reddy's car and damaged its window panes and manhandled Shabbir, who received injuries including one near his eye. The trouble started when Congress candidate Mohammad Gouse and MIM MLA Pasha Quadri got into a heated argument in Mirchowk in old city, stronghold of the regional party, following which they were briefly taken into police custody. Reddy and Ali then reached Mirchowk Police station, where Gouse was kept in custody. Asaduddin also reached there at the same time. According to police, they resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse the agitated party workers, who led by their respective leaders, gathered outside the station. The incident led to tension in the area, reports said. Follow us on crime situation in bihar worse than jungle raj of 90s ramvilas paswan Patna: Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan today hit out at Nitish Kumar government over the law and order situation in Bihar, saying the present condition was worse than the jungle raj of the 90s. It's return of jungle raj or say even worse than jungle raj that prevailed from 1990 to 2005 (RJD rule), the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said, adding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has no moral right to continue in the chair when life of common man was not protected. Paswan, who visited family of LJP leader Brijnati Singh who was gunned down here last week, told newsmen Bihar is earning a bad name due to the soaring crime graph and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is busy patting his own back. The LJP President also demanded CBI inquiry into the day-light murder of the leader and attack on his wife and sister-in-law at Kachhi Dargah area of Patna last week. Asked if the killing was political, Paswan said, The family members of the slain LJP leader have mentioned the name of Lalu Prasad in this connection ... Since its a high profile case, Bihar government should recommend a CBI probe into the murder. He said everywhere he went, people were talking about bad law and order situation in Bihar under Kumar's present regime. Hitting out at the RJD, Paswan said Kumar enjoyed free hand to run administration and rein in criminals during his days with the NDA. But he has lost voice in the present secular alliance coalition due to overriding presence of Lalu Prasad, Paswan alleged. Water is now flowing above the head, Paswan said to paint a grim picture of the present law and order situation. The present government has failed to protect life of common man and CM Nitish Kumar and RJD leaders are talking about smart city and smart village, he said. Follow us on don t harass innocent muslims shahi imam tells pm modi New Delhi: Prominent Muslim leader Syed Ahmed Bukhari met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him that innocent Muslims must not be targeted in the name of fighting ISIS. Shahi Imam during his half hour meeting with PM at Prime Minister's residence said, security agencies of our country should be more transparent while confining terror suspects. I urged the prime minister that while detaining people for terrorist activities or suspected links with the Islamic State, special care must be taken to ensure that the lives of innocent Muslim youth and their families are not ruined, Bukhari told IANS. He said a large number of Muslim youths were languishing in jails on terrorism charges. Bukhari also took up the issue of the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia University. He told Modi that the government's stand in the Supreme Court on their minority character had created grave concern among Muslims. We urged the prime minister that the government should review its stand. The prime minister has promised to consider the issues, and said his government won't take any step that may put communal harmony at stake, Bukhari said. (With inputs from IANS) Follow us on government will decide on ram temple issue after sc verdict kalraj mishra Allahabad: Union minister Kalraj Mishra has said the government will take a call on construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya after the Supreme Court comes out with its verdict on the appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement on the title suit. We must wait till the Supreme Court comes out with its verdict. Thereafter, depending upon the situation that emerges, the Centre will take a call on the issue, Mishra told reporters. There has been no change in BJP's stand that Ram temple should be constructed at Ayodhya though we would proceed in a manner that is amenable to all, he said. The Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises was replying to queries about a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) meeting last week during which the Sangh Parivar outfit had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence over the Ram Temple issue. He asked Modi to pay a visit to Ayodhya to underscore his commitment to the cause. Modi is visiting places across the country and there is no reason why he will not go to Ayodhya. We respect the sentiments of our religious leaders, but they should keep in mind that the Prime Minister has to take his own decisions. They can rest assured that Modi will definitely go to Ayodhya at a time that he deems appropriate and also offer his prayers to Ram Lalla, Mishra said. Mishra said our holy men should remember that while BJP is not averse to the option of facilitating the construction of temple by an Act of Parliament, this would require support of two-thirds of the members of the House. We must, therefore, concentrate on building a consensus, he said. The BJP leader also rubbished Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan's allegation that Modi had met underworld don Dawood Ibrahim during his recent visit to Pakistan. By such utterances, the senior Samajwadi Party leader is lowering the credibility of his government in the state which is already facing grave resentment due to its absolute failure in maintaining law and order, he said. Follow us on make in india and hate in india cannot go together shashi tharoor Boston: Taking a jibe at the Modi government, former minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has said policies like 'Make in India' and hatred cannot go together as he asserted that "outrageous" statements against minorities by ruling party members only undermine the country's soft power. To attract foreign direct investment, which is key to the construction and modernisation of the infrastructure sector and manufacturing, the Congress MP stressed on the need to maintain the pluralistic character of the country. Before India tries to leverage its soft power to increase its standing in the world, Tharoor said first there is need to fix the problem at the domestic front. "For us to be credible as a nation that enjoys and wields soft power, we have to fix our domestic problems first. The truth is that we have to do enough to keep our people, healthy, well and secure not just from jihadi terrorism. Progress is being made but not enough to reach everyone," Tharoor said in his keynote address to the Harvard University's annual Indian convention 2016. "If on one hand, we go around saying Make in India, Startup India and Digital India and want to attract foreign investors, we can't do so if we are condoning hatred in India at the same time," Tharoor said in reference to the flagship schemes launched by the Narendra Modi-led government. "It is not good when people in the ruling party make outrageous statements against minorities. These are not good because they undermine the soft power of India," Tharoor told the students in the packed Harvard Business School auditorium. Tharoor asserted that in order to maintain India's soft power, the larger idea of India needs to be sustained. "An India that celebrates the common space of every identity, it would be a secure to be a Muslim, secure to be a kayastha... whatever you define yourself. Because all of those identities are made secure under the Indian identity," he said. Tharoor said if India wants to remain a source of attraction for the world, it must preserve the "precious pluralism like a civilizational asset" "It is not so good when women are assaulted on the streets of Delhi. It is not good when some people begin to fear that it is safer to be a cow than to be a Muslim in India today," Tharoor said. He also told the Indian students that one of his investor friends decided against investing in India because of acts of intolerance in the country. Follow us on modi government is anti students anti poor accuses rahul gandhi Thiruvananthapuram: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today slammed the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor. He also described the Left Front's ideology as "obsolete". Addressing Congress workers at the conclusion of the "Jana Raksha Yatra", which turned out to be a launch pad of the party's election campaign in Kerala, he took swipe at Modi on several occasions during his 30-minute speech at nearby Shangumugham beach. "You will never see Prime Minister of India with farmers or labourers. You will never see a photograph of Prime Minister holding hands with farmers or labourers," he said addressing the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram march led by KPCC President V M Sudheeran. Attacking Modi, Gandhi said he had come to power in 2014 elections by "spreading anger among different sections in the state. He divided Hindus and Muslims and created anger in the country". He also attacked the CPI(M)-led-LDF opposition in Kerala and said "the ideology they believe in was obsolete and belongs to the previous century". "Kerala cannot build its future from the vision of last century," he said. Without referring to the solar and bar bribery scams, which has rocked government in the state, Gandhi made it clear that Congress would not compromise on corruption. "Congress party will not compromise on corruption and I want to make it very clear. If there is even a (minute) evidence, Congress party will take strict action," he said as he praised the five-year achievements of the UDF government. "I am happy that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has delivered many of the things he promised," he said. Hitting out at the CPI(M) for its vociferous attack on the government over the bar bribery scam, Gandhi wanted the LDF to make their liquor policy clear to the people. "I have one question to ask to the Left in Kerala. It is simple. I would like them to answer. They should clearly tell whether they will open more liquor bars or close them," he asked. Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Gandhi said Modi had also had made "tremendous promises" to the people and youth in the country, "but failed to keep his promises". Referring to some of the promises made, including Rs 15 lakh to be given to every household in their bank accounts and fair price to farmers for their produce and measures to check price rise, he said, "But the moment he took power, he forgot all the promises." On the prices of essential commodities, he said dal price had touched over Rs 200 per kg and prices of other commodities are "skyrocketing". Follow us on up has been turned into islamic state shiv sena Mumbai: Lashing out at the Akhilesh Yadav government over Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali's concert in Lucknow, the Shiv Sena today branded Uttar Pradesh as an "Islamic state" and alleged that the state government has begun "anti-national business" for appeasement politics. The ruling ally also took a swipe at the BJP for being a "mute spectator" to the event, and demanded that those who allowed the concert to take place should be booked for anti-national activities. "The 'Islamic Yadav' government says that Ghulam Ali was invited to perform to promote Hindu-Muslim unity. But, to promote unity, why does one need Pakistani artistes only? There are fine Muslim artistes in the country who are famous," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. "Keeping the upcoming Assembly polls in mind, the Yadav government has started an anti-national business (of inviting Pakistani artistes) to play appeasement politics," it alleged. Lashing out further at the UP government, it said, "Uttar Pradesh is a mine of fine artistes, but (Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh) Yadav is only interested in coal from Pakistan," and added that tomorrow Yadav may invite Hafiz Saeed to appease the minority community. "People who feel that the Pathankot terror attack should be forgotten and Ghulam Ali should be allowed to perform are traitors of the country. If Ghulam Ali is allowed to perform amidst the wails of the family of the martyred jawans, then people responsible (for giving permission to perform) should be booked for anti-national activities," it said. Taking a jibe at the BJP, the Sena sought to know if the party bagged 71 seats in the UP Lok Sabha polls to remain mute spectator to Ghulam Ali's performance. "This is bizarre. On one hand ISIS is troubling the Indian government, on the other the Yadavs have turned UP into an Islamic state and welcomed Ghulam Ali," it said. Ghulam Ali yesterday regaled the audience with his popular numbers on the concluding day of Lucknow Mahotsava. His performance went off peacefully despite threats by Shiv Sena, which had forced cancellation of his concert in Mumbai last year. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. Destroy Syria Get Others to Pay By Finian Cunningham February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - Citizens of the world are being asked to dig deep for humanitarian aid to Syria. After five years of war and millions displaced there is an urgent need for the world to lend a hand, we are told. At a so-called "donor conference" in London this week, British prime minister David Cameron appealed to the rest of the world to stump up $8 billion to help war-torn Syria. Among the 60 nations attending the confab were the US, France, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Senior figures from these countries were wringing their hands in anguish over the plight of Syrian refugees. Washington's top diplomat John Kerry told delegates: "With people reduced to eating grass and leaves and killing stray animals in order to survive on a day-to-day basis, that is something that should tear at the conscience of all civilized people and we all have a responsibility to respond to it." UN chief Ban Ki-Moon adjured nations to "take responsibility to end the crisis in Syria". Take responsibility for ending the crisis? How about taking responsibility for beginning it? Cameron, Kerry and the rest of these charlatans should spare us the emotional blackmail. Most of the governments represented at the London conference are the very instigators and perpetrators of Syria's destruction. Why should the rest of the world pay for their crimes? This is not to suggest that people should simply turn their backs on fellow humans in dire need. But let's get some straight-thinking here. Those governments and individual politicians who oversaw regime change in Syria should be paying for their violations, either through massive financial reparations or in jail time. And why not both. The case is irrefutable. The US-led regime-change plot to subjugate Syria goes back several years, according to numerous sources, such as American diplomatic cables released by the whistleblowing site Wikileaks, former French foreign minister Roland Dumas and ex-NATO supreme commander US General Wesley Clark. It is only largely due to the dutiful dissembling by the Western news media that such criminality might seem rather outlandish. But it is not outlandish. It is documented and provable. Western governments are culpable in a criminal scheme of regime change in Syria, as they have been in countless other unfortunate countries. From the outbreak of violence in mid-March 2011, the Arab country has been a charnel house of covert war involving the most vile terrorist mercenaries. Those who take ultimate responsibility for the violence are the authors of the regime-change plot in Syria. Top of the list are Washington, London, Paris, as well as their regional client regimes. With an estimated 250,000 dead and nearly half of the 23 million population turned into refugees, the total war damage to Syria has been estimated to be at least $100 billion. This is what Washington and its allies owe Syria and no doubt far, far more and yet these country-destroying rogue states are trying to wheedle money out of world citizens to pay for their criminal excesses, with the emotional plea of "humanitarian aid". Washington and its co-conspirators for covert war in Syria want the rest of the world to pay for their criminal scheming by cajoling the UN, the European Union and anyone else who will listen to fork out "humanitarian aid". Make no mistake this will eventually translate into ordinary taxpayers, workers and families, paying the bill for their governments' sanctimonious financial pledges. In other words, Western powers like the US, Britain and France together with their regional client regimes in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, unleash mass murder and mayhem on a once peaceful, sovereign country and instead of being held to account under international law for their criminal aggression, these rogue states are getting the rest of the world to subsidize their evil enterprise. The "donor conference" in London this week was the fifth in a series going back to 2012. Last year, the fundraiser fell well short of its appeals. This year, British leader David Cameron went out of his way to give the appeal added urgency. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Cameron said: "Sufficient funding to guarantee the basics of life that these refugees need must be the bare minimum expected of us." The British premier emphasized the need for more aid given to refugee centers in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, where nearly five million Syrians have been displaced and are languishing in squalid camps. Cameron's apparent concern belies his real worry. He doesn't want any more refugees streaming into Europe and towards Britain. That's why the British leader is now calling for more international donations and for the cash to be thrown at Syria's immediate neighbors in order to keep refugees there. Going back to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, he told the London conference: "The situation in Syria is as close to hell as we are likely to find on this Earth." Syria is indeed a hell on Earth. Made by people like Cameron and Kerry with whom Ban Ki-Moon was rubbing shoulders with in London this week. Turkey was represented by prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu who tried to blame the humanitarian crisis on the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and Russia's military intervention. Davutoglu's lies are particularly nauseating given Ankara's role in acting as a conduit for terror brigades infiltrating Syria and his country's ongoing threats of outright military invasion. NATO member Turkey's role in fueling Syria's refugee crisis through its regime-change machinations is acutely reprehensible. And yet Ankara is to receive $3.4 billion from European Union taxpayers, allegedly to help with stemming the flow of refugees into Europe. This is just one aspect of the general trend that Washington and its allies are establishing with breath-taking audacity. They have all but destroyed Syria with their covert war using terrorist proxies, and yet they are getting the rest of the world to pay for their crimes. The cost of war and imperialist crimes was always offloaded on to ordinary people by their rulers. In that regard, nothing much has changed. Except that the scam has become even more brazen. Europe is Built on Corpses and Plunder By Andre Vltchek (Speech given in Rome at the Italian Parliament on January 29, 2016) February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Counterpunch - Friends and Comrades, it is a great honor to be standing here at the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament. *** One year ago I was driving through the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, monitoring the situation in the refugee camps there. Winter was approaching and the mountains on the LebaneseSyrian border were covered by snow. It was cold, very cold. Some 20 minutes, after leaving Baalbek, I spotted an extremely humble makeshift refugee camp, growing literally from the road, in the middle of nowhere. I stopped. Together with my interpreter, I walked inside and engaged several people in conversation. The situation was desperate. Children were hungry and could not register for schools through the UNHCR or through the Lebanese government, which, by that time, had almost collapsed. Many electronic food cards that were issued to the migrants did not function. Work permits were not offered, and without proper paperwork, local social services could not be used. In brief: a total disaster. I was told that in this area, some Syrian migrants had already been starving. This was Bekaa Valley, a tough place to start with, and full of ancient traditions, clans, gangs and narcotic-business. Refugees were expected to keep their heads down, or else Before I left, two little girls, two sisters, approached me. Both had swollen bellies, suffering from malnutrition. Both were dressed in rugs. Both looked deprived. But after spotting my cameras, they were mesmerized, smiling at me, showing tongues, laughing. Their country was in ruins, their future uncertain. But these were just two little girls in the middle of the mountains, two girls excited about each and every little detail of life. Such innocence! Such hope! People are people, and children are children, everywhere, even during wars. Unfortunately, I have witnessed too many of them; too many wars. Too many barbarities performed by NATO, by the Empire, by the United States and Europe. Later, working on the Greek island of Kos and in Calais in France, I kept thinking about those two girls, again and again. The West (or call it NATO, or anything you like we all know what I mean!) has, in the most cynical manner, destabilized and destroyed the entire Middle East. As it has in virtually all the continents of the world, it ruined tremendous cultures, plundered all it could put its hands on, turned proud people into slaves. Libya and Iraq are no more! I can testify, as I work all over the Middle East. And then the West enclosed itself into its gold-plated bunker, slowly and disgustingly digesting its booty! How many refugees are there that Europe says: it cannot accept? 1 million? Tiny, miniscule Lebanon has 2 million, and it is coping; badly but coping! And Lebanon did not destroy Syria, Libya, Afghanistan or Iraq. You know how it all feels like? Like observing a woman who was gang-raped, whose husband was murdered in front of her own eyes, and whose beautiful house was looted. Now this woman, just in order to save her starving children from the rubbles, is forced to go to Europe, to the rapists and thieves who destroyed her life, asking for shelter and food. And they spit into her face! They say: It is too much for us, too difficult to accommodate you and others like you! Woman, you came to take advantage of us. You came to have a better life at our expense! This is how it looks from the outside. This is how I see it. And I want to puke. But there is no time One has to work, day and night, to stop this madness. The West, of course including Europe, is too hardened by its own crimes, too cynical, and too unrepentant. It remains blind, because it simply does not pay to see! *** There is no Left Wing in Europe, anymore. Not the Left as we understand the term in Cuba and other revolutionary nations. To us, true left means Internationalism, solidarity! True left is global, egalitarian, and color-blind. European so-called Left is only concerned with the benefits of its own citizens. It does not care at all where the funds are coming from. As long as French, Greek, Spanish or Italian farmers get their subsidies and perks, who cares that agriculture in Africa or Asia gets thoroughly ruined. The most important is that European farmers could drive their latest BMWs, for producing something or not producing anything at all. I saw absolutely grotesque concepts implemented in countries like Senegal, and other former French colonies: heavily subsidized French food produce flooded West Africa, supermarkets opened, local production collapsed. Then the prices spiked to 2-3 times higher levels than those in Paris. And so, in Senegal where incomes are perhaps only 10% of those in France, a yoghurt costs 3 times more than in Monoprix. Who pays for those 35-hour workweeks? Who pays for socialized medical care and free education in the European Union? Definitely not the Europeans themselves! Most of the funds used to come from the colonies, from that unimaginable plunder of the world performed by the West. Colonialism and imperialism are still there, but they often changed forms, although the toll on people in non-white countries continues to be the same. The Belgian King Leopold II and his cohorts, in what is now Congo, massacred 10 million people, at the beginning of the 20th Century. Between 1995 and now, the West plundered the Democratic Republic of Congo once again, mercilessly, by using its closest allies in Africa Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. Again, between 7 and 10 million people died there, in just 20 years, and these are not some inflated numbers, these are numbers provided by the United Nations and its reports, including the so-called Mapping Report. All that horror, only so the West could have access to coltan (used in our mobile phones), to uranium, and other strategic materials. I compiled the evidence in my feature documentary film Rwanda Gambit. All those ruined lives and countries, so that European citizens could have their benefits, long vacations, and social services. When I discussed the issue with my friend, an Italian filmmaker from Naples, he snapped at me: We dont want to be like the Chinese. We dont want to work hard like them! I replied: Then live within your means! Do not allow your corporations and governments to massacre tens of millions of people, so that the companies could have their insane profits, and citizens those outrageous benefits. Recently, in Thailand, I overheard a group of unemployed Spaniards laughing about having a vacation in Southeast Asia, paid for by their unemployment benefits. I know many countries, dependencies of the West, where losing ones job is synonymous to a death sentence! But we are asked to feel sorry for Spaniards, Italians and Greeks. We are expected to see them as victims. *** I am saddened to say, but it is not only the United States, but also Europe, which is totally, blissfully ignorant about its role in the world, and about the harm, about the horrors that it is spreading all over our Planet. This discovery shocked me so much, that I spent 4 years crisscrossing the world, compiling the evidence and testimonies that illustrate the colonialist, neo-colonialist and imperialist legacy of the West, as well as the current neo-colonialist barbarities. The book is 840-pages long and it is called Exposing Lies Of The Empire. I hope, one day, it will be available in the Italian language! The book has been receiving enthusiastic reception, but for me, this thick volume is not the end. Now I am compiling the second installment. The topic is just too enormous. The crimes, genocides, holocausts committed by the West on the people of our Planet, are too enormous. Everything is linked to them! The entire arrangement of the world uses them as pillars. In our book On Western Terrorism From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, written together with my friend Noam Chomsky, I was asked whether the Europeans actually realize what they have done to the world, during the last centuries. (Just a side note this book is now available in the Italian language Terrorismo Occidentale). I replied to Noam: They definitely dont! And I repeat here, again: most of them, the great majority of them, do not realize it! They dont want to see, to admit, that their opera houses, hospitals, museums, parks and promenades, are all constructed on the corpses of those who were robbed of everything: from Latin America and its open veins, to Asia and Africa. Slavery, unimaginable extermination campaigns, tremendous lists of horrors! Before Noam and I began our discussion, I spent some time with several top statisticians, and our conclusion was chilling: directly or indirectly, the West massacred between 40 and 50 million people, between the Hiroshima A-bomb explosion, and the time of my long dialogue with Noam in 2012. The number of people, who were murdered throughout history, directly or indirectly, by European empires, all over the world, can only be calculated in hundreds of millions, and one of my statistician friends believes that the total accumulative number actually exceeds 1 billion. *** When I was recently speaking at the China Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and later in Moscow, having been invited by Russian philosophers and by several members of the Russian Academy of Science, I publicly declared that I am fundamentally against free medical care and free education in Europe. When asked why? I explained that the cost is too high, and those robbed and destroyed people, all over the world, are almost exclusively expected to cover it. But I continued: I am totally, decisively, supportive of universal free medical care, education and essential social benefits. Or as we say in Cuba: everyone dances, or nobody does! Of course I also can tolerate and support free medical care, education and benefits in those countries that do not plunder the world, like Cuba, China, Venezuela, Bolivia, South Africa or Ecuador. *** Not only the West refuses to face its responsibility for, by now, the almost absolute total destruction of the world, it is also using all sorts of smoke screens and propaganda tactics to divert the attention of the people; it is spreading nihilist economic concepts, propaganda and outright lies. It is using education as a weapon, offering scholarships to children of elites in the countries it is robbing and controlling. After being indoctrinated, they return home and continue violating their own countries on behalf of the United States and Europe. And so the vicious cycle continues! I encountered so many grotesque moments, when for instance, an Indonesian upper class family returning from its vacation in Holland, begins a long litany, about how great are the theaters, trains, museums and public spaces in Netherlands, compared to those in Indonesia. Of course they are! All built from centuries of Dutch plunder of Indonesia, like those Spanish cathedrals stuffed with gold, growing from corpses. As Noam Chomsky often says: not to see all this truly takes great discipline! *** The brutality of the Western Empire is unmatchable. Its cynicism is monumental! Look at those so-called terrorists in Muslim countries, scarecrows that Western governments and media keep waving in front of our eyes! Islamic culture is greatly socialist and socially oriented. After World War II, secular, socialist, revolutionary and anti-Western governments ruled the most important Muslim nations: Egypt, Iran and Indonesia. Within two decades, the West overthrew them all, implementing fascist regimes. It then invented the Mujahideen and injected them into Afghanistan, in order to finish with the Soviet Union. And once it felt the need for some monumental enemy to replace Communism, it manufactured and then armed, trained and educated groups like al-Qaida, al-Nusra and ISIS. This move served two important goals: to justify astronomical military and intelligence budgets, and to portray the Western/Christian civilization as culturally superior, fighting Arab terrorist monsters. Of course, the great majority of the people in Europe and North America are so indoctrinated, intellectually self-righteous and defunct, that they remain blind when faced with those Machiavellian pirouettes. For the European public, there are plenty of good reasons to stick to those inherently racist beliefs, and to protectionism. There are even better reasons for hiding those millions of heads in the sand! And so it goes. *** I am here, in Italy, and today I do not want to discuss the United States, Israel, or other colonies and client states of the West. We can do it some other time, if I am invited back. I spoke about Europe. And I spoke about those two Syrian girls I met in Lebanon. They are your responsibility, too, Italy! They suffer from malnutrition because your part of the world is ruining their country. It is because your country is a member of NATO, and NATO is behaving like a fascist thug with some clear mafia behavioral patterns. I know you have heart! I grew up on you films, on Fellini and de Sica, Rossellini, Antonioni and others. I greatly admire your poetry and music. They had tremendous influence on my work, and on how I see the world. But your heart, it seems, lately goes only to your own people. It is not an internationalist heart. It does not believe that all people are equal. I came here to say this, because not too many people dare to. I came here because I still care for your country. But as a determined socialist realist, I care about Italy as it could and should be, not as it is at this moment. The Vampire Squid Tells Us How to Vote Lloyd Blankfein charges for investment advice but his political wisdom is free By Matt Taibbi February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Rolling Stone " - Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Executive Cephalopod of Goldman Sachs, issued a warning about the Bernie Sanders campaign this week. "This has the potential to be a dangerous moment," he said on CNBC's Squawk Box. The Lloyd was peeved that Sanders, whom he's never met, singled him out in a debate last week. "Another kid from Brooklyn, how about that," he lamented. He ranted about how frightening it is that a candidate like Sanders, who seems to have no interest in "compromising" with Wall Street, could become so popular. "Could you imagine," he asked, "if the Jeffersons and Hamiltons came in with a total pledge and commitment to never compromise with the other side?" The slobbering Squawk Box hosts went on to propose firing all the academics in the country, because clearly it is their fault that so many young people are willing to support a socialist. "I'm ready," said co-host Joe Kernen, "to send my daughter to Brigham Young or Liberty or something." Then Kernen, Becky Quick and Blankfein all made jokes about how socialism doesn't work and how all those Berniebots should take a trip to Cuba. "The best real-time experiment is, I went to Cuba," said Lloyd. "I haven't been," Kernen said proudly. "You should go," said Lloyd. "You go there, stop in Miami and you just see the Cuban community and how much wealth they've generated. Of course the politics of Sanders is closer to what you'd find in Sweden or Denmark than Cuba, but they were rolling by then. Lloyd added that the current popular discontent with Wall Street was just something that happens randomly, like the weather. "There's a pendulum that happens in markets and it happens in political economy as well," he said. He added that he didn't want to pick a candidate because "I don't want to help or hurt anybody by giving an endorsement." For people who so very pleased with themselves for ostensibly being so much smarter than everyone else, people like Blankfein are oddly uncreative when it comes to deflecting criticism. The people who don't like them are always overemotional communists. All those young people who are flocking to the Sanders campaign? Dupes, misled by dumb professors who've never been to Cuba. And their anger toward Wall Street? Causeless and random, just a bunch of folks riding an emotional pendulum that brainlessly swings back and forth. Don't take it personally, people are just moody that way. Bill Clinton apparently agrees. A story about the former president's thoughts on the subject appeared in Stress Test, the vile battle memoir of the financial crisis penned by infamous Wall Street toady and former treasury secretary Tim Geithner. In the book, Timmy goes on at length about how sad it made him that the public was so upset about the bailouts and other policies he engineered to make the Blankfeins of the world whole again. Looking for a way to not feel so hated, he went to Clinton to "discuss the politics of populism with the master practitioner." It's an important detail. Geithner's instinct for figuring out how to deal with ordinary people was not to go talk to any, but instead to talk to someone who'd had success marketing himself to them. This squares with accounts I heard after 2008, about the Treasury Department in the Geithner years. In one story I remember, it took a presentation from a major retail company about expected lower holiday spending levels to enlighten Geithner's staff as to the level of economic pain in the population. Until they saw the graphs from executives, they had no clue. Anyway, according to his book, Geithner got good advice from Clinton. The former president advised him to press for tax hikes on the rich, but to "make sure I didn't look like I was happy about it." Then Clinton added that Timmy shouldn't take the public-anger thing too hard: "You could take Lloyd Blankfein in an alley and slit his throat, and it would satisfy them for about two days," Clinton said. "Then the blood lust would rise again." Ordinary people aren't just overemotional and dumb, they're also zombies! They don't have grievances, just blood lusts. The attitude shared by Lloyd and Geithner and Bill Clinton is that the mindless quality of public discontent means that there's no point in worrying about it, or negotiating with it. This is funny because Blankfein is the one complaining that people like Sanders and his followers don't want to compromise with him. Lloyd apparently thinks politicians should naturally reside in a state of more or less constant accommodation with Wall Street. Thomas Jefferson would have compromised with us, he says! One can assume that his model of a "compromising" politician is Hillary Clinton, who took $675,000 to give three speeches to his company. "Look, I make speeches to lots of groups," Hillary explained. "I told them what I thought." Asked by Anderson Cooper if she needed to take $675,000 to tell Goldman what she "thought," Hillary shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "That's what they were offering." Even more significant than the $675,000 Hillary took from Goldman, or the $30 million in speaking income she and her husband received combined in the last 16 months, is the account of what Hillary apparently told Goldman she "thought" during those speeches. According to Politico, who spoke to several attendees, Hillary used the opportunity to tell the bankers in attendance that the "banker-bashing so popular within both parties was unproductive and indeed foolish." She added that the proper attitude should be, "We all got into this mess together, and we're all going to have to work together to get out of it." This squares with Geithner's account of what Bill Clinton said. The former president told Geithner that slitting Lloyd's throat would only satisfy "them" for about two days. Them was all those pissed-off regular people, and the we or us were politicians like himself and Geithner. In her speech, Hillary's we included the executives in her audience. Her message was basically that It Takes a Village to create a financial crisis. This was the Robin Williams breakthrough scene in Good Will Hunting, with Hillary putting a hand on the Goldmanites' shoulders, telling them, "It's not your fault. It's not your fault." But it was their fault. The crash was caused by a tiny handful of people who spent years hogging fortunes through a bluntly criminal scheme in the home lending markets. The FBI warned back in 2004 of an "epidemic" of mortgage fraud that could have an "impact as big as the S&L crisis," but those warnings were ignored. What the FBI was talking about back then mainly had to do with smaller local lending operations that were systematically creating risky home loans, falsifying credit applications to get unworthy borrowers into mortgages they couldn't afford. What they didn't understand back then is that the impetus for that criminal activity was the willingness of massive banking institutions on Wall Street to buy up those bad loans in bulk. They created a market for those fraudulent loans, bought billions' worth of them from local lenders, and then chopped up and resold those bad loans to pension funds, unions and other suckers. The "village" didn't do this. Lloyd Blankfein and his buddies did this. (Goldman just a few weeks ago reached a deal to pay a $5.1 billion settlement to cover its history of selling bad loans to unsuspecting investors, joining Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan Chase and others). People aren't pissed just to be pissed. They're mad because a tiny group of crooks on Wall Street built themselves beach houses in the Hamptons through a crude fraud scheme that decimated their retirement funds, caused property values in their neighborhoods to collapse and caused over four million people to be put in foreclosure. And they're particularly mad that they got asked to pay for this criminal irresponsibility with bailouts funded with their tax dollars. What the Clintons have done by turning their political careers into a vast moneymaking enterprise, it's not a value-neutral activity. The money isn't just about buying influence. The money also physically moves people, from one side of an imaginary line to another. You will never catch Bernie Sanders standing in a room as a paid guest of a bank under investigation for ripping billions off pensioners and investors, addressing the audience in the first-person plural. He doesn't spend enough time with that kind of crowd to be so colloquial. The Clintons meanwhile have by now taken so much money that when they stand in a room full of millionaires and billionaires, they can use the word "we" and not have it sound odd. The money has irrevocably moved them to that side of the ropeline. On that side of the line, public anger isn't legitimate, but something to be managed and waited out, just as Lloyd suggests. When people like Blankfein tell us they don't take criticism personally, what they're saying is that it's too brainless and irrational to be taken any other way. He means to be insulting. And we should all take it that way. 2016 Rolling Stone Flints Crisis Is About More Than Water By Chris Hedges February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Truth Dig " - What is in the mind of someone who knowingly poisons children and impairs their lives? Why did the politicians, regulators and bureaucrats who knew the water in Flint, Mich., was toxic lie about the danger for months? What does it say about a society that is ruled by, and refuses to punish, those who willfully destroy the lives of children? The crisis in Flint is far more ominous than lead-contaminated water. It is symptomatic of the collapse of our democracy. Corporate power is not held accountable for its crimes. Everything is up for sale, including children. Our regulatory agenciesincluding the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Michigans Department of Environmental Qualityhave been defunded, emasculated and handed over to corporate-friendly stooges. Our corrupt courts are part of a mirage of justice. The role of these government agencies and courts, and of the legislatures, is to sanction abuse rather than halt it. The primacy of profit throughout the society takes precedence over life itself, including the life of the most vulnerable. This corporate system of power knows no limits. It has no internal restraints. It will sacrifice all of us, including our children, on the altar of corporate greed. In a functioning judicial system, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Flints former emergency manager, Darnell Earley, along with all the regulatory officials who lied as a city was being sickened, would be in jail facing trial. Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism, Gitta Sereny in Into That Darkness, Omer Bartov in Murder in Our Midst, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, Primo Levi in The Drowned and the Saved and Ella Lingens-Reiner in Prisoners of Fear argue that the modern instrument of evil is the technocrat, the man or woman whose sole concern is technological and financial efficiency, whose primary measurement of success is self-advancement, even if it means piling up corpses or destroying the lives of children. Monsters exist, Levi noted, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men. These technocrats have no real ideology, other than the ideology that is in vogue. They want to get ahead, to rise in the structures of power. They know how to make the collective, or the bureaucracy, work on behalf of power. Nothing else is of importance. The new state did not require holy apostles, fanatic, inspired builders, faithful devout disciples, Vasily Grossman, in his book Forever Flowing, wrote of Stalins Soviet Union. The new state did not even require servantsjust clerks. We churn out millions of these technocrats or clerks in elite universities and business schools. They are trained to serve the system. They do not question its assumptions and structures any more than Nazi bureaucrats questioned the assumptions and structures of the Final Solution. They manage the huge financial houses and banks such as Goldman Sachs. They profit from endless war. They orchestrate the fraud on Wall Street. They destroy the ecosystem on behalf of the fossil fuel industry. They are elected to office. They are empty shells of human beings who stripped of their power and wealth are banal and pathetic. They are not sadists. They do not delight in cruelty. They are cogs in the machinery of corporate power. These technocrats are numb to the most basic of human emotions and devoid of empathy beyond their own tiny inner circle. Michigan state officials, for example, provided bottled water to their employees in Flint for nearly a year while city residents drank the contaminated water, and authorities spent $440,000 to pipe clean water to the local GM plant after factory officials complained that the Flint water was corroding their car parts. That mediocre human beings make such systems function is what makes them dangerous. The long refusal to make public the poisoning of the children of Flint, who face the prospect of stunted growth, neurological, speech and hearing impairment, reproductive problems and kidney damage, mirrors the slow-motion poisoning and exploitation of the planet by other corporate technocrats. These are not people we want to entrust with our future. Theodor Adorno warned in his essay Education After Auschwitz that if we did not create an educational system that taught us to think morally and trained us how to make moral choices, another Auschwitz would appear on the horizon. Schools must teach more than vocational skills; they must teach values. They must, as Adorno wrote, teach citizens about the societal play of forces that operates beneath the surface of political forms. And they must do this without fear of offending any authorities. We live in an age that has eradicated social and cultural consciousness and left us in a rootless, ahistorical, emotionally driven void. Whole populations in our poorest communities are poisoned or, in countries such as Iraq, murdered en masse. But we have no context for measuring human actions and human evil. We find our collective identity in childish nationalist cant and patriotic propaganda that bombards the airwaves, not in the cold reality of our callousness and ruthlessness. We do not know who we are. People who blindly slot themselves into the collective already make themselves into something like inert material, extinguish themselves as self-determined beings,Adorno writes about the technocrat. With this comes the willingness to treat others as an amorphous mass. The manipulative characteras anyone can confirm in the sources available about those Nazi leadersis distinguished by a rage for organization, by the inability to have any immediate human experiences at all, by a certain lack of emotion, by an overvalued realism, Adorno goes on to say in his 1966 essay. At any cost he wants to conduct supposed, even if delusional, Realpolitik. He does not for one second think or wish that the world were any different than it is, he is obsessed by the desire of doing things [Dinge zut un], indifferent to the content of such action. He makes a cult of action, activity, of so-called efficiency as such which reappears in the advertising image of the active person. If my observations do not deceive me and if several sociological investigations permit generalization, then this type has become much more prevalent today than one would think. Humanity as an idea, as the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut has pointed out, is itself mortal. It can be extinguished along with millions of human beings. Barbarism is not the inheritance of our prehistory, Finkielkraut reminds us. It is the companion that dogs our every step. Indeed, one of the most frightening consequences of the Holocaust may well be that rather than serving as a warning to preserve humanity at all cost, it has provided a license to privilege physical survival over moral existence, writes Omer Bartov in Mirrors of Destruction. This may be one reason, along with the realization that mass murder has continued unabated since 1945, that such men as [Tadeusz] Borowski, [Jean] Amery, Paul Celan, and [Primo] Levi finally decided to put an end to their own lives. We have turned our universities into temples dedicated to corporate vocational training. Most graduates of Princeton or Harvard have no more ability to question the operating systems of the corporate state than an inner-city boy or girl who is taught basic functional literacy only so he or she can stock shelves or sell fast food. We all have our place in the great machine of corporate self-immolation. We all are drones. The technical skills vary from intricate and complex to rudimentary. But the commonality is that we lack the capacity to measure our actions against the ideas, outrages and injustices of the past. We have ceased to be moral beings. The devil in Goethes Faust grasps that the element most essential to the perpetration of evil is the obliteration of memory. Now it is over. What meaning can one see? It is as if it had not come to be. And yet it circulates as if it were. I should preferEternal Emptiness. We do not possess the intellectual skillsand this is by designthat permit us to question power, to see ourselves as part of a long human continuum. We have forgotten, or never been taught, that each individual must be seen as an ultimate end if we are to retain any human decency and hope. Once we depersonalize others, once we forget who we are and where we came from, we make evil possible. Act so that humanity, both in your own person and that of others, be used as an end in itself, and never as a mere means, Immanuel Kant wrote. If we cannot think morally, if we live devoid of empathy, if our advancement comes at the expense of the other, if we lose touch with the wisdom of the past, we cannot rebel. And if we do not rebel we will sustain a system that will ultimately slay us. Chris Hedges, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. After Entering Aleppo With Russia's Help, The Syrian Army May Set Its Sights On Raqqa By Robert Fisk February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Independent " - After losing up to 60,000 soldiers in five years of fighting, the Syrian army has suddenly scored its greatest victory of the war smashing its way through Jabhat al-Nusra and the other rebel forces around Aleppo and effectively sealing its fate as Russia provided air strike operations outside the city. The rebel supply lines from Turkey to Aleppo have been cut, but this does not mean the end of the story. For many months, the regimes own military authorities along with tens of thousands of civilians, including many Christians were trapped inside Aleppo and at the mercy of shelling and mortar fire by the Nusra fighters, who surrounded them until the army opened the main highway south. During this period, the only way to Aleppo was by plane because the army held a tiny peninsula of territory going to the airport I flew out one night on a military aircraft crowded with wounded Syrian troops. But the tables have turned. It is the rebels themselves who are now surrounded, along with the tens of thousands of civilians in their sector of the city but they have no airport to sustain them. On the basis of so many other battles in this appalling war, there is unlikely to be any offensive for the centre of this greatest of Syrian cities; rather it will be a slow and grinding siege to force the insurgents to surrender. In an ironic twisting of recent history, the two Shia villages of Nubl and Zahra whose people had been surrounded by rebels and starved for three years, fed only by Syrian military airdrops have now been retaken by the Syrian military. The Shia, co-religionists of the Alawite people from which President Bashar al-Assad comes, have been cornered in several villages in the region, although their plight has gone largely unreported. Now the people in the rebel-held part of Aleppo are going to feel the same sense of isolation and, no doubt, the shellfire of their besiegers. There has always been a movement of people between the two sectors of the city will these passages now be closed? And what of the tens of thousands of civilians streaming north towards Turkey? Aleppo itself was late to join the war. By some kind of historical miracle, it remained disentangled from the conflict until 2012 when rebels thinking they were en route to Damascus managed to infiltrate into the ancient city. Its streets were then burned out in months of fighting. Now it appears to be the first of Syrias large cities to be effectively back in the hands of the regime. What comes next? The retaking of the Roman city of Palmyra? The clearing of the lands around Deraa (of Lawrence of Arabia fame)? And, much more dramatically, how soon will the Syrian army, its Hezbollah allies and the Russian air force set their course for the Isis capital of Raqqa? Isis, which holds Palmyra, must be learning of the extraordinary developments of the past few hours with deep concern. The everlasting Sunni Islamic Caliphate in Syria doesnt look so everlasting any more. Is this why the Sunni Saudis have suddenly offered to send ground troops to Syria? And why the Turks are so flustered? I doubt if anyone is weeping in Shia Iran. Anyway, the Saudi military is already having its feet chewed off in the disgraceful Yemen war. As for the Turks sending their own Nato soldiers across the Syrian border presumably at risk of being attacked by the Russians that is a nightmare which both Washington and Moscow must avoid. Otherwise, well find ourselves in another Gavrilo Princip moment and we all know what happened in 1914. Why Kerry Blames The Opposition For The Continuing Bombing In Syria By Moon Of Alabama February 08, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Moon Of Alabama " - According to this report from Middle East Eye U.S. Secretary of State blamed the opposition for the continuing bombing in Syria: US Secretary of State John Kerry told Syrian aid workers, hours after the Geneva peace talks fell apart, that the country should expect another three months of bombing that would decimate the opposition. During a conversation on the sidelines of this weeks Syria donor conference in London, sources say, Kerry blamed the Syrian opposition for leaving the talks and paving the way for a joint offensive by the Syrian government and Russia on Aleppo. He said, Dont blame me go and blame your opposition, one of the aid workers, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her organisation, told Middle East Eye. ... "He said that basically, it was the opposition that didnt want to negotiate and didnt want a ceasefire, and they walked away, the second of the aid workers told MEE in a separate conversation and also on the basis of anonymity. What do you want me to do? Go to war with Russia? Is that what you want? the aid worker said Kerry told her. The hapless State Department spokesperson claimed that the story was wrong: John Kirby Verified account @statedeptspox @Charles_Lister Story wrong. @JohnKerry didn't blame oppo for collapse of talks, doesn't have comms w/regime & hasn't wavered on Asad. But this lets me believe that the report of Kerry chastising the opposition is right on point: U.S. Embassy Syria @USEmbassySyria #SecKerry on bombardment of civilians in #Syria: This has to stop. But its not going to stop by walking away from the table or not engaging So while the State Department spokesperson denies that the U.S. blames the opposition, another part of the State Department does exactly that: "its not going to stop by walking away from the table or not engaging". Kerry is clearly embarrassed that the Saudi opposition group ran away from the UN talks in Vienna. He should blame his "allies". The Wall Street Journal says the opposition group ended the talks before they began on Turkish and Saudi orders: The Syrian opposition abruptly withdrew from peace talks in Geneva this week under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, two of the main backers of the rebels, according to diplomats and at least a half-dozen opposition figures. After sabotaging the talks the Saudis came out with an offer to send ground troops to invade Syria if the U.S. would take the command of such an operation. No one is taking that offer seriously. The Saudi troops who try to invade Yemen get beaten to pulp. The Saudis themselves say they had to closed 500 school and evacuate 12 villages with 7,000 people in Saudi Arabia because the Yemenis are now invading them. Their army has lots of expensive toys but is clearly not able to put them to use. The offer to send troops is simply to goad the U.S. into starting a war with Russia. That is not going to work. The U.S. is now trying to find some end to the conflict in Syria. Someone finally told Kerry that Russia is not in a "quagmire" in Syria but is winning. The U.S. is in a hurry now as it knows that it will have zero influence left on the issue should the Syrian government and Russia have the time to kill off the opposition. It needs a ceasefire to stay relevant. As Kerry says himself that "whining" about the situation and skipping negotiations will not help the opposition. It will kill it. Secretary Kerry also called on the Russians to stop their bombing campaign in Aleppo province. But that contradicts the UN resolution 2254 under which the talks in Geneva are held. That resolution clearly calls for a continuation of the Russian and Syrian campaign: THE UNSC [r]eiterates its call in resolution 2249 (2015) for Member States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Daesh), Al-Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL, and other terrorist groups, [...] and to eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Syria, and notes that the aforementioned ceasefire will not apply to offensive or defensive actions against these individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, as set forth in the 14 November 2015 ISSG Statement; The insurgents in Aleppo province as well as in Idleb province are officially allied with the Nusra Front which is Al-Qaeda in Syria. They are clearly a target of the above resolution and thereby a legitimate target of Russian bombs. Indeed those who criticize Kerry for blaming the opposition because it ran away from Geneva ignore the resolution. It is the plan the U.S. and Russia have agreed to follow. That plan ends the war in Syria in a ceasefire but only when the opposition agrees to one AND cuts all ties with al-Qaeda and ISIS. As the opposition, and its sponsors, are unwilling to do so the Syrian-Russian campaign against them will continue, as agreed upon by the UNSC, until their end. Former governor of Rivers State now Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has described the statement credited to Governor Nyesom Wike that he took $150 million belonging to the state to fund the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2015 general election as an imaginary tale, a bogus and fallacious concoction. Wike made the allegation on Sunday during a thanksgiving service in Port Harcourt to celebrate his victory at the Supreme Court. The Minister said the latest allegation was in furtherance of the irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous, albeit, feckless mission of the Wike administrations one-point agenda to denigrate and disparage his person and the office he occupied as a former governor of the state. Amaechi also said that all efforts by Wike and his cohorts to denigrate his name in the media will fail. In a statement by the media office of the minister on Monday, Amaechi said that it was worrisome and sad that Governor Wike picked a church, a sacred temple of God, to tell his tales. He said, It continues to baffle us, like most right-thinking Nigerians that Governor Wike will stand in a church, a solemn place of worship, and carelessly, brusquely tell such a profound lie. He condescendingly descended to falsely and indecorously shout corruption against Amaechi without providing a single shred of evidence to back his claims. The story-story this time is about another phantom $150 million that Amaechi purportedly stole from Rivers State Government coffers and siphoned to his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, within 18 days, from December 1 to 18 of 2014. This new scurrilous fabrication by Governor Wike is in sync with the one-point agenda of the Wike administration, which is to throw as much mud as possible at former governor Amaechi, hoping that some may at least stick. All sorts of spurious stories about alleged corruption and stealing of state funds against the Amaechi administration, have been bandied in the media with no attempt to substantiate or prove these distorted false claims that completely make nonsense of common sense. Even, when Amaechi challenged the Wike administration and its agents to use any constitutionally available legal process or procedure to prove their jaundiced, deceitful allegations against him and his administration, they have rather elected to do their own corruption probe, trial and conviction in the media, and now, even inside our solemn places of worship. Why would a government be so determined to desecrate and destroy every institution all in the name of playing politics? He challenged Governor Wike to explain to Nigerians how the money transfer was done and where it was transffered from. Governor Wike should tell Nigerians who collected the $150 million on behalf of APC. From which state government account(s) was the $150 million taken? How was the $150 million taken and given to APC? Was it by wired transfer from Rivers State Government account(s) to APC account(s)? Rivers people and Nigerians are indeed sick and tired of this old worn-out trick of Governor Wike to hoodwink and distract Rivers people from the real issues. Making a new spurious allegation of corruption against Amaechi every day will not make Rivers people forget that most of the beautiful, working institutions built by the Amaechi administration are now being allowed to rot away despite of the billions of naira that had accrued to the state and the billions of naira borrowed by Wike. Rivers people want to know why weeds and grasses have taken over the beautiful schools built by Amaechi. More than ones it has been reported that Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau had been killed in one of the Nigerian militarys many raids on Nigerian territories under the control of the deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram. The latest of his death being reported was sometime last year when the Nigerian military released a photo of a dead Boko haram insurgent comparing it with Shekaus photo and many people did see a lot of resemblance between them. Aside this, there has been nothing to further prove the death of Shekau. INFORMATION NIGERIA in this report brings you 3 things that could prove that Shekau may have been truly killed or has been replaced 1. Speaking during an interview with British publication The Telegraph, Buhari said that he had received conflicting information on the militant leaders whereabouts, saying that he may have been replaced by a less charismatic leader. 2. Shekaus voice was last heard in an audio message dated March 7 2015, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS). 3. Shekau has also failed to appear in the latest video released by the militant group in August 2015. In the eight-minute video, an unidentified young man spoke in the name of the Islamic State in West Africa calling on people to be patient: We are still present everywhere we had been before. The video showed the militants attacking a security checkpoint, seizing weapons, and slitting the throat of a man dressed in a police uniform. What do you think???? The British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Joyce Anelay is visiting Nigeria to highlight the importance of protecting civilians in the fight against Boko Haram as well as preventing sexual violence in conflict. Anelay is visiting Nigeria to highlight the importance of protecting civilians in the fight against Boko Haram as well as preventing sexual violence in conflict. Baroness Anelay, the British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the UK Prime Ministers Special Representative for Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI), is visiting Nigeria to hold high level discussions with government officials on how to better ensure the protection of civilians in the fight against Boko Haram. It is estimated that over 2.2 million people have been displaced and over 14.8 million affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. The Minister will also meet with a range of civil society activists and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to discuss the importance of protecting civilians in the fight against Boko Haram and preventing sexual violence during the conflict in the north east. The Minister will discuss additional humanitarian support that the UK is providing in helping those affected by the fight against Boko Haram. This includes 6.7 million to enable the Government of Nigeria, as well as Non Governmental (NGOs), UN agencies and the Red Cross, to deliver food assistance, education, sanitation and safe water, shelter material and other basic necessities. The Minister will meet with the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign and reiterate the importance of preventing gender based violence in conflict. She will also visit UK sponsored projects that work to reduce intra-community conflict and violence against women and girls, promote community-government security dialogue and improve access to schooling. Area Fada of Abuja entertainment, Charly Boy has released an article about the story of Olajumoke Orisaguna, the bread seller who now has a modeling career, thanks to ace Photographer, Ty Bello Checkout the article below: Am sure you all know what Im talking about precisely. Yes, youve heard about it but just in case you didnt get a hold of the full gist, here you go. Recently, TYBello, a Nigerian recording artist and photographer, was having a photo-shoot with an American music star called Tinnie Tempah. She had chosen to pitch her set on the streets of Lagos so as, according to her Instagram post, to showcase the beauty of her Lagos rather than be confined in some hole. While on the shoot, a bread seller from Sabo market strayed into the shot. Upon realizing what damage she could have done, this bread hawker became confused, perhaps a little scared, especially with boos and jeers from people who asked her to quickly get out of the set. Alas, TYBello, the photographer, signaled her to walk back into the set and asked for her photograph to be taken and she obliged. TY had seen, through her lens, diamond though very much in the rough at this time. When I saw the pics on TYBellos Instagram page, I was pleasantly surprised to know the bread seller concept was not pre-scripted. Kudos to TYBello for her ingenious shots. The effect of these photos was so overwhelming that the scout for this Waka Pass model began. Finally, she was found. She is Olajumoke, 27year old mother of two: a boy of 5 and a 2year old daughter. She cant write or speak a word of English, she communicates in Yoruba. Though shes not literate, today, she shares the coveted ThisDay Style Cover with the likes of Dangote, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, AList Socialites and Celebrities, the Creme de la Creme of society, From a most indigent background, Olajumoke left Osun State where she was a hair dresser, to come to Lagos in search of the Golden Fleece, hawking bread 7times a week with a profit of 200 naira daily. Even with two children, she didnt fold her hands and beg for hand-outs, she hawked her way into her destiny. She was the Golden Fleece that TYBello was going to search for. In no time, with a make-over, the gold in her is brought to fore and shone in her pictures that have gone viral on the internet. TYBello has proved with this story that we can create positive movement for one another without waiting for government (government should play their role though). Its obvious that most of the people who walk around the streets have gold in them, they are all waiting on a gold digger to dig it up. Nobody is ever useless, no matter the condition you find yourself,no condition is permanent, as long as you are not lazy. This is the moral of Olajumokes story. People pray to God to meet them at the point of their needs but they need to know that God is waiting to meet them at the point where they are making use of that which is in their hands. Hard work and tenacity will always win it for you. Opportunities are all around us everyday but we seize them (or not) by time and chance Cross River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, his deputy, Professor Ivara Esu and all members of the state executive council have agreed on a cut on their monthly salaries. The governor is leading by example, offering 80 percent of his salary. His deputy and all Executive Council members, however, agreed to forfeit 20 percent to make provision for the large number of political aides appointed by the governor. The Commissioner for Information, Mrs Rosemary Archibong, who announced the pay cut by the governor and his aides in Calabar, Tuesday, said that the decision was voluntary and would take effect retroactively from when the aides were appointed. What the governor wants is to reach as many people as possible by appointing many people into government and this involves huge financial commitment and so to make sure our brothers and sisters who are part of government go home with something at the end of every month, Archibong said. According to her, the Executive Council members were in support of the vision of the governor to impart positively on the people of the state and volunteering part of their monthly emoluments was in support of that vision. Mrs Archibong said that the deductions from each commissioners salary would be based on the amount due each one as salary monthly based on calculations by the Revenue Moblisation and Fiscal Commission in Abuja. The Department of State Service, Tuesday, announced the arrest of Abdussalam Enesi Yunusa, a 400-level student of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, for being the operational arrowhead of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Nigeria. Yunusa, who is studying Information and Media Technology, was arrested in Kano. His arrest was sequel to available intelligence which indicated his terrorist antecedents and covert drive to indoctrinate and recruit susceptible youths in the country. A statement by DSS spokesman Tony Opuiyo said that prior to his arrest, Yunusa had completed arrangements to embark on a journey to join an ISIS terrorist training camp in Libya, with other Nigerians whom he recruited for the Islamic State. These recruits include the trio of one Muhammed Rabiu, Yahaya Momoh Jimoh and Zainab Sunday. He was subsequently radicalized and became a member of an extremist cell, comprising of one Ibrahim and Abubakar Ligali, whom he revealed are currently undergoing terrorist training in Libya. He listed one Aminu and Ibrahim Jihadi (Nigeriene), as other ISIS agents operating in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. The cell was being funded by one Abu-saad Al Sudani, a media expert with the extremist group using Western Union money transfers to fund the terrorist cell agenda. On 17th January, 2016, in Daura township of Daura LGA, Katsina State, another budding extremist cell affiliated to ISIS, was intercepted by the Service. One Ibrahim Mohammed Daura, Zaharadeen Salisu and five other elements of the proscribed extremist group, Ansaru, were arrested by the Service. This group was discovered in an active stage, as its members were already co-ordinating themselves for attacks in Katsina and Kano States. In the same vein, on 22nd January, 2016, one Obansa Salami, Ejide Tijani aka Abu Uwaise II, Mohammed Rabiu aka Ubida II, Zainab Mohammed and Abdulqadir Salisu Ahmad were arrested in Kano by this Service, while migrating to Libya, with their immediate families including infants, in a bid to join ISIS. This group was apprehended after painstaking monitoring of its network and plans. On 29th January, 2016, the Service arrested Mohammed Aliyu Ndakoin Kwara State. Ndako is a seventeen (17) year old undergraduate student of a tertiary institution in the State. He was arrested sequel to credible intelligence on his plans with one Abdulkadir Salisu AHMAD a.k.a Daddy Tall, another student in Kano State, to carry out coordinated lone-wolf attacks on selected populated targets in Nigeria preferably worship centres or recreation venues. Suspect had hitherto been communicating with foreign extremist elements, while sourcing online terrorist training and support, the DSS said. More than 400 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and refugee crossings in the first six weeks of 2016 are running at nearly ten times the rate of the same period last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The IOM reported on Tuesday that the number of arrivals topped 76,000, and the number of deaths shot up to 409 on Mediterranean routes, compared with 69 in the first six weeks of 2015. The daily average of nearly 2,000 arrivals is nearly ten times the daily average of a year ago, the IOM said in a statement. IOM expects Greece to receive its one millionth migrant since the beginning of 2015 by some time next month. More than 1.1 million people fleeing poverty, war and repression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa reached Europes shores last year, most of them heading for Germany. Around half the arrivals are refugees from the Syrian war, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says. The IOM reported that 70,365 migrants and refugees had arrived by sea in Greece so far this year, and 5,898 in Italy. Some 319 have died while crossing the eastern Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and 90 on the central route between North Africa and Italy. IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the organisation did not expect the number of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe to fall in the foreseeable future. Aljazeera. Stakeholders in the forest sector have urged governments at all levels to invest heavily in the sector because of its huge potential in addressing the nations emerging environmental, social and economic challenges. They made the appeal last week at the 14th Annual Chief Shafi Lawal Edu Memorial Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in collaboration with Chevron Nigeria Limited, in Lagos, themed: Valuing Nigerias Forests: Issues and Context. The guest lecturer and President, Forestry Association of Nigeria, FAN, Prof. Labode Popoola said, Nigeria with a total land area of 923,678km square has a forest area that has been on a continuous decline owing to its increasing population among other factors. He said heavy demand for construction, wood and other purposes by the wood-based industry encouraged logging which led to large scale deforestation of Nigerias forests. He noted that non-forest policies, particularly, energy policies, continue to pose grievous threats to the forest sector. The last major forest resources assessment in Nigeria took place between 1996 and 1998 through a $4m grant provided by the African Development Bank. The database established from that assessment was expected to be updated frequently through a Forest Information System, FIS in each of the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with a terminal at the Federal Department of Forestry, Popoola said. The gains of the Forest Resources Assessment of 1996-1998 have been completely lost. As of today, there is nothing on ground in this regard. Also, there has not been any updating since then. Forest cover remains under pressure as a result of human activities such as agricultural development where vast lands are cleared without conservation considerations, large-scale per-urban housing project development, fuel-wood generation, uncontrolled forest harvesting, including poaching for logs and poles and urbanization. He highlighted the environmental, socio-economic, socio-cultural services forests provide, however, lamented that the deforestation rate in Nigeria is about 3.5 annually, adding that this translates to a loss of about 350,000-400,000 hectares of forest land annually. Moving forward, Nigeria will need to invest heavily in the forest sector because of its continuing topicality in the global discourse for sustainable development and the inherent huge potentials the sector has in addressing emerging environmental, social and economic challenges. Forests remain Nigerias most under-valued resource, and as long as planners and policy makers continue to disregard the economic importance of the forest sector, as well as those of sectors and activities that depend or impact it, so will forests continue to be degraded and lost, and their potentially vast economic opportunities will be lost. We can no longer afford the business as usual approach in the forest sector, Popoola said. Earlier, the Director-General, NCF, Adeniyi Karunwi said the NCF has been successful in implementing projects such as restoration and conservation of dry lands and wetlands habitat in the Sahelian region to wetland and coastal restoration for improved livelihood in the coastal region of the country, noting that this has made NCF the foremost leader in conservation efforts in Nigeria. The 2016 budget, which has been submitted by President Muhammadu Bubari to the National Assembly, has a deficit of N2.2tn. Super Eagles Chief Coach, Sunday Ogochukwu Olisehs days with the senior national team may be numbered if the words of an enraged top shot of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF are anything to go by. The 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, said yesterday that suspected cultists have destroyed a pipeline belonging to the Nigeria Agip Oil Company. President Muhammadu Buhari risks undermining progress in fighting Boko Haram and tackling corruption by endorsing exchange rate policies that are doomed to fail, the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Lamido Sanusi II, has said. Guardian CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Shehu Sani, has said that the move by northern leaders to exploit oil in the region without success over the years was a cause of concern, saying that they had so far sunk $3 billion on elephant projects on exploration. Daily Trust Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla personally intervened to stop a physical fight between his Chief of Staff, Abdurrahman Abba Jimeta and the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Yola North Local area last weekend. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, yesterday countered the senator representing Borno Central District in the National Assembly, Kaka Bashir Garbai, saying that none of the local government areas in the state was being occupied by Boko Haram insurgents. The senator was widely reported yesterday as telling reporters at the weekend that three LGAs of Abadam, Mobbar and Kala Balge were fully under the control of Boko Haram, puncturing claims by the Nigerian military and President Muhammadu Buhari that no Nigerian territory was under the control of the insurgents. Senator Garbai, who visited Dalori, Alomari and other villages surrounding Maiduguri, which were recently attacked by insurgents, said that The military are not doing their best to end the war against terrorists, as only Maiduguri, Bayo and Kwaya Kusar council areas were safe and free of insurgents, while 21 of the council areas are partially controlled by terrorists with other three fully still under Boko Haram caliphate. Reacting to the comment, Shettima said the military and other security operatives on the platform of Operation Lafiya Dole, had been doing their best in the last six months as the terrorists capacity had been heavily degraded leaving only pockets of them remaining in the Sambisa Forest. Governor Shettima, who just returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia where he led some other northern governors for a meeting with officials of Islamic Development Bank and Saudi authorities on rebuilding the north, particularly north east, said, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, all the 27 local government areas had been liberated by the military. He said: As Chief Security Officer of Borno State, I am telling you authoritatively that our military deserves commendation, because all my local government areas have been liberated. Only few insurgents that remain in the Sambisa Forest desperate to launch some pockets of attacks are what we are now witnessing as a result of the bombardment that is going on in their hideouts. Maybe, the statement Senator Garbai gave to the media was done out of his emotions when he visited the affected areas or he was misquoted. I have been trying to get contact with the Senator on this unfortunate statement. The governor later drove straight to Dalori and other surrounding villages that were destroyed by insurgents last week where he condoled with the victims and prayed for quick recovery of the injured. He also told people of the affected communities that government had already liaised with the military to provide them with adequate security and urged them not to flee as his administration would spend N100 million to rebuild their destroyed houses. Subsequently, he announced the establishment of a committee, headed by his deputy, Usman Durkwa, to ensure that all the houses destroyed by the insurgents were rebuilt promptly. Governor Shettima also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment towards ending the deadly activities of Boko Haram and other terror act in the country. The Palace of the Oba of Benin has rejected the recent ranking of Yoruba traditional rulers as declared by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, saying the stool of the ancient city of Benin is superior to that of any Yoruba monarch. Oba Gbadebo had while receiving the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi in his Ake, Abeokuta, Ogun State palace on Sunday, said there were five principal obas in Yorubaland and listed the Oba of Benin third on the hierarchy after the Alaafin of Oyo (2nd) and Ooni (1st). The Alake listed his own title as fourth and the Awujale of Ijebuland at fifth. Reacting to the ranking, the Esogban of Benin and Odionwere of the Kingdom (traditional head), Chief David Edebiri, yesterday, said the Alake got his history wrong as the Benin stool had no connection to Yoruba, adding that the Ooni of Ife was a son of the Oba of Benin. Esogban, third in command in the palace of the Oba of Benin, said: We wanted to discard this report as something that was not necessary at all. We do not see how the Alake of Egbaland suddenly woke up to think that the Oba of Benin is also a Yoruba Oba. There is no basis for such classification; Oba of Benin has nothing to do with the Yoruba Obas. It is simply unnecessary, unless they simply want to stir up an unnecessary controversy. We are not in Yorubaland. To be frank, it is because many of them are not willing to come up with the truth, the word Oba is alien to Yoruba monarchy; it is not part of their title from time immemorial. For instance, the one they call the Oba of Lagos, these are recent adaptations. In the 50s, there was no Oba of Lagos, what we had was the Eleko of Eko. That is the title of the King there. In Ibadan, you have the Olu Ibadan. You come to Abeokuta, you have the Alake of Egba land. You come to Oyo, you have the Alaafin of Oyo. In Ilesha, you have the Owa-Obokun of IIesha. So no Yoruba monarch had as part of his titles the word Oba except the Oba of Benin. That word Oba is indigenous to Benin. It is only in recent times you find everybody bearing Oba. When the Western Regional conference of traditional rulers took place in Benin City in 1942, go and check the attendance, there was no other monarch in the whole of the Western Region then that bore the title of Oba, except the Oba of Benin. So it is an unnecessary excursion, an unnecessary attempt to turn history upside down by the Alake by classifying the Oba of Benin as third in the hierarchy of kings. Our own traditional history says that the Ooni of Ife was a Benin Prince who wandered from here to Ife, settled there and became the ruler there. That is the position, if they dont know, they should send people here; we will teach them. We will show them landmarks. So this is unnecessary misrepresentation of history. Maybe the Alake wanted to mention a different place and not Benin. The monarchical rulership in this part of the world started from Benin during the era of the Ogisos. It was the son of the last Ogiso, Owodo, that wandered from here to Ife and he became a ruler there, carrying everything about the Benin monarchical system to that place. There is no basis for such classification. The Ooni of Ife by historical facts, is a son of the Oba of Benin, so they are not in the same class. The Oba of Benin is the only one that answers Oba, the rest dont. But today, we hear Oba here and there, they are all recent adaptations. I am saying categorically that the word Oba is indigenous to Benin and not to Yoruba nation. In conclusion, I find no merit in the appeal which is accordingly dismissed. Justice Walter Onnoghen of the Supreme Court. He expresses disappointment over the judgement of the apex court in the country on the six grounds of appeal. Yusuph Olaniyonu, spokesman for Bukola Mesujamba Saraki Our Constitution guarrantees the right to equality before the law. For most part of our history, our justice system has not been accessible, fair, and accountable to the poor. In Nigeria, it is not uncommon to send a man to jail for stealing mangoes to feed his family, while the thieves who milk the country dry go free. Rich people in Nigeria get off easier when they break the law. Our criminal justice system treats rich people differently than poor people. There is double standard depending on how much money a defendant has to navigate the criminal justice system than for people without. A just society we believe, is one in which everyone is treated equally before the law. Equality under the law is a prerequisite for a just society. There is good reason to believe that the Nigerian criminal justice system has two laws one for the rich and one for the poor. The rich regularly get away with looting billions and even if theyre caught, get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Ordinary Nigerians who are convicted of petty street crimes or minor offenses can go to jail for years even decades. The Nigerian criminal system is like a spider web, ensnaring the weak, the poor, and the defenseless while the rich break free. Ours is a privilege system where we enforce laws differently based on status. There is a widening gap in both wealth and law. Take the members of the National Assembly who are engulfed in corruption. None of the corrupt abusers have gone to jail. In fact, some deranged Nigerians advocate that the thieves be spared jail time once they returned their loot. Justice means giving each person his or her due. Aristotle, more than two thousand years ago laid down the fundamental principle of justice: Equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally. Meaning individuals should be treated the same. It is just when people who have done wrong are given punishments that are commensurate to their offenses. Retributive or corrective justice must be met with punishments that are fair and just. In the past, Bukola Mesujamba Saraki because of his stolen wealth, has abused and misused the legal system and make a mockery of our criminal justice. All the years, Bukola Mesujamba Saraki has been shielded, protected, and absolved from criminal prosecution by his god fathers in politics, in industry, and by our corrupt judges bought at basement prices buy one get all free! These god fathers for criminals sit on top of prosecution pyramids who have committed crimes more virulent than 99% of those serving their time in prisons now. Despite the fact that Saraki is an organized crime figure and numerous investigations that lasted years, Saraki was never charged with a crime until now. Take a look at few of Mesujambas crime spree: He was accused of dual citizenship and so cannot be the Senate President. He was caught in the web of forgery of Senate Standing Orders. The police investigated the matter and submitted its report to the Attorney General of the Federation. So far, nothing has been done to the report. As governor of Kwara State, he was said to have embezzled billions. As a Senator, hes awash in treasury loot i.e. CBN, Dasukigate, name it. His wife Toyin Saraki according to EFCC, was allegedly involved in a N2 billion fraud. The case still pending. EFCC claimed Mr. Saraki and Mr. Kennedy Izuagbe were involved in Societe Generale Banks money laundering to the tune of N3.6 billion. According to reports, Saraki was responsible for the collapse of three or more banks. The latest of the anti-corruption war against Mr. Saraki is the 13-count charge of falsification of assets declaration leveled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Mr. Saraki is popular with the annual ritual of stampedes. The harvests of death stain Mr. Sarakis hands. On November 17th, 2010, at least, 11 supporters died in his Mandate House Campaign Headquarters. On May 27th, 2011, up to 25 people died in the pandemonium following the distribution of six yards of cloth and N500 to mark the inauguration of Mr. Saraki as the Governor of Kwara State. In 2013, the media variously reported between 10 and 20 deaths during a stampede at a gathering in Ilorin organized by Mr. Saraki where he distributed money and pieces of cloth. Premium Times quoted a mortuary source at the Sobi Specialist Hospital in Ilorin as having counted 15 corpses. The rumor mill in Ilorin put the number of deaths at 40 from the tragic stampede. A lot of power, mystery, and myth surround Saraki. He certainly has influence and friends in high places and was able to tell them what to do and how to act or what not to do or how not to act. He bought his way through easy. He has strong ties in government, business, judiciary, name it. Saraki was an imposing criminal who demonstrates both criminal talents and special con skills coupled with his political stature and clout. That gave him an incredible reach, and incredible clout. Bukola Mesujamba Saraki is a crime boss beyond his middle name Mesujamba. The cash and carry five-man panel of the Supreme Court headed by the retired Justice John Fabiyi had put Sarakis trial on hold. But all is about to change now. In a reversal of fortune for Mesujamba, last Friday, a seven-man bench led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed effectively vacated the order of stay of proceedings earlier granted by the Fabiyi Court. Saraki was charged with 13-count for allegedly corruptly acquired many properties while in office as Governor of Kwara State, but failed to declare some of them in the said forms earlier filed and submitted. He is also accused of sending money abroad for the purchase of a property in London, Britain and that he maintained an account outside Nigeria while serving as governor. Justice Walter Onnoghen, who delivered the lead judgment dismissed all Sarakis seven grounds of appeal, affirming that the charges brought against him were valid and that the tribunal was validly constituted with requisite jurisdiction to try him. In conclusion, says Justice Onnoghen, I find no merit in the appeal which is accordingly dismissed. Meanwhile, the Federal Government has lined up eight witnesses that will eventually nail Sarakis political coffin by sending him to Kuje or Kirikiri for his smorgasbord of crimes. Hellooo Bukola Mesujamba Saraki Can you hear me now? Why are you still hanging on to the Presidency of the Senate? We know you have no name or reputation left to protect, but dont you think its time for you to resign from the Senate? Are you ready to face the music now? Well, you have no choice than to take your medicine like a man. Dino Buffoon Melaye the Saraki bodyguard, the Toyin Saraki handbag carrier, are you there? Its me, can you hear me good now? Youre on your way back home to Kogi. The Kogi West Peoples Forum (KWPF) wants you back home for your grandiose display of infantile exuberance, cronyism, for infamy, for neglecting primary responsibility to Senatorial District, for unwanted ego tripping, personal aggrandizement and other shameful vices unbecoming of Distinguished Senator. Get ready to be shipped back to Kogi and stop embarrassing the Kogi people who sent you to Abuja. Let the trial of Bukola Mesujamba Saraki begin in earnest! [email protected] On this day in 2010, the National Assembly passed a resolution making Dr. Goodluck Jonathan the acting president. The controversial doctrine of necessity was invoked This raised a lot of legal questions as to the legality or otherwise of that act. Some people argued that the act of the National Assembly was unconstitutional; some argued that it was constitutional and legal; while there are still some that argued that though it may not be strictly constitutional, it was necessary and thereby legal. Also in 1979, on this day, air crash at Kano killed 176 Muslim pilgrims. A plane returning Muslim pilgrims from Mecca crashed in Kano, killing 176 people. It was the deadliest air disaster of its time And in 2013, February 9, insurgents in Portiskum, Yobe State in north eastern Nigeria, killed 3 North Korean doctors, beheading one of the physicians. The Korean Doctors had lived in the State since 2005 as part of a medical program between Nigeria and the North Korean government. The Senate has rejected calls for the resignation of Senate President Bukola Saraki, following the ruling by the Supreme Court that his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal should proceed. This was disclosed by the Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, in a statement on Monday. According to Senator Abdullahi, who said he was speaking on behalf of his colleagues, there was no basis for the Senate president to resign, insisting that Mr. Sarakis ordeal was politically motivated and not about any anti-corruption fight. From the beginning of the trial last September, we have declared that this case is not about any fight against corruption. It is simply a case of political vendetta. Our position remains the same. We still believe that the case is politically motivated, he said. On this ground, he stressed that we want to state categorically that there is no basis for the call on the Senate president to resign until after the matter is decided in that final judicial forum. Such a call at this time is premature, mischievous and unwarranted. The Senates stand was in response to a call by Senator Kabiru Marafa, a member of the Unity Forum, for the Senate president to step down, so as not to drag the image of the red chamber in the mud with his trial. Giving further grounds for the rejection of calls for Mr. Sarakis resignation, the Senate spokesperson added, We also noted that the decision of the Supreme Court given last Friday was on preliminary matters arising from the commencement of the trial. The trial proper is yet to begin. And since the fundamental principle in our legal system is that a defendant is deemed innocent until proven guilty, we have decided to patiently observe the proceedings until the case runs its full circle in the nations final judicial forum. While expressing support of senators for Saraki, who is facing a 13-count charge bordering on false assets declaration and money laundering when he was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011, Abdullahi said: We stand by him as he goes through the trial at the CCT where we believe he will be able to prove his innocence. We also call on members of the public to ignore the ranting of a few Senators who having failed to get the wish of their sponsors done on the floor of the Senate are now launching media campaign against the leadership of the Senate, he added. Mr. Abdullahi said the Senate is stable and focused on objective consideration and timely passage of the 2016 budget proposal. We also want to say that we will not make any further statement on this case until the matter has been decided in the final judicial forum, he concluded. Cloud providers and users are facing a real dilemma: The Safe Harbor agreement between the United States and European Union was struck down in October by EU courts, and a new agreement under review to replace it may not provide the ease of user-data transfer that U.S. companies seek -- and it may not protect user privacy enough either. That means uncertainty all around. The EU is the latest government to voice concern that data stored on U.S. cloud servers would be subject to U.S. government seizures -- as the feds have already tried with a Microsoft server in Ireland. Thus, U.S. cloud providers cannot guarantee privacy, as required by EU laws, and the EU will not allow U.S. cloud servers to store its citizens' data. It's that simple. The essence of cloud computing is to provide utility-based computing services that use any cloud resource available. If it's in another country, so be it. But the data-management laws come from a very different perspective: that of data isolation. If public cloud providers are forced to build and operate infrastructure in each country that has a beef with data transmission outside its borders, they can easily comply. But doing so will raise costs, which are passed down to the users. In some cases, the price hikes will undo the cloud's economic viability. But there's more at risk than cost efficiency. IT organizations, providers, and consultants (like me) will also be burdened with taking on legal expertise to understand and comply with the changing rules and regulations, because most of the larger corporations are multinational. That means we won't be able to focus on the technology as much due to the increased attention on the changing, more-complex data-management rules. And the cloud will get much less efficient. The trends to data isolationism are not good, and they benefit no one. I understand the motivation behind protecting sensitive data from bad actors -- but not at the price of draining value from a very important technology. Nigerian cyber criminals are shifting away from traditional email-based scams and using malware to target bank accounts. One source of that malware comes from Adwind, the largest malware-as-a-service platform currently in operation, according to Kaspersky Lab researchers. Kaspersky Lab researchers uncovered a website that operates as a malware marketplace, where anyone can create an account and purchase remote administration tools with advanced features, said Vitaly Kamluk, director of Global Research & Analysis Team in APAC at Kaspersky Lab. The website, JSocket, is well-designed and even has an accompanying YouTube channel showing customers how to use the software. Customers can sign up for an account and purchase one of the many subscription plans available to actually get the software. "It looks like a software company's website," Kamluk said. JSocket is the latest iteration of Adwind, the cross-platform malware that has been around since 2012 under various names, including Frutas, Unrecom, Sockrat, jRat, and AlienSpy. Written entirely in Java, Adwind can infect Windows, OS X, Linux, and Android platforms. JSocket/Adwind is different from other commercial malware in that it is distributed as a paid malware as a service. Kaspersky Lab researchers estimate the platform currently has approximately 2,100 customers and 150 unique malware samples. "It's not just another malware," Kamluk said, calling it an "all-in-one for criminals" interested in a "one-stop shop" to create and manage their fraudulent campaigns. One-stop shop for malware campaigns JSocket provides a malware builder and control panel to manage the campaigns. The malware has a built-in keylogger and can steal VPN certificates as well as passwords from browsers, Outlook, databases, and messaging software. It also provides an impressive array of features, including a VPN anonymizer and add-on modules such as the Downloader module, which automatically installs Java on the victim machine, and a cryptographic tool. It offers chat software to communicate with victims, remote desktop control software, file transfer tools, APK management for Android, and the ability to collect general system and user information, and capture video from the webcam and audio from the microphone. JSocket can also test the generated malware against popular antivirus engines to determine whether the new build would be able to bypass security tools. Adwind is so basic anyone with elementary computer skills can carry out surveillance campaigns. Kamluk believes Adwind clients are typically scammers interested in using malware for more advanced fraud campaigns to move to the "next level" of cyber crime, unscrupulous competitors sniffing out company secrets, cyber mercenaries, and private individuals interested in spying on people they know. "The Adwind platform in its current state lowers significantly the minimum amount of professional knowledge required by a potential criminal looking to enter the area of cyber crime," said Aleksandr Gostev, chief security expert at Kaspersky Lab. The fact that customers find it easy to use the platform means Adwind "is not going to go away easily," and banks should brace themselves for a wave of targeted attacks, Kamluk said. It is already popular among criminals in Nigeria, the United States, Canada, Russia, and Turkey, and cross-platform RATs will soon become standard among criminal groups. Similar multifunction platforms will also be available on the market, Gostev predicted. Criminals have used Adwind to launch attacks against companies across most major industries, including manufacturing, finance, engineering, design, retail, government, shipping, telecommunications, software, education, food production, health care, media, and energy. Victims are infected when they open the malicious JAR file attached to spear phishing emails. Kaspersky Lab said Adwind was being used globally, although nearly half the victims were concentrated in United Arab Emirates, Germany, India, the United States, Italy, Russia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Turkey, and Taiwan. Researchers observed 200 examples of spear phishing attacks delivering Adwind malware to more than 68,000 users between August 2015 to January 2016. Keep in mind that people using Adwind software are not working together, nor are they members of the same attack group. Criminals buy a subscription and craft their own campaigns, Kamluk said. Plans range from a 15-day plan for $35 to a yearlong plan for $300. Customers pay using the AdvCash payment system, where buyers can fund accounts from various sources including traditional wire transfers or bank transfers, bitcoin, Yandux, Paxum, and Perfect Money. While some of the attacks were targeted, Kasperksy Lab researchers have also seen Adwind being used in opportunistic attacks, Kamluk said. Putting puzzle pieces together There have been hints over the years suggesting that Frutas, Unrecom, and AlienSpy were all variants of the same Adwind malware. JSocket and the recent activity on underground forums provide stronger evidence that the tools are all related, Gostev said. Back in 2012, when Kaspersky Lab was studying Duqu, researchers came across a posting on a Spanish-language underground forum from a developer looking for testers for a new remote administration tool. That tool eventually was released as Frutas, and as the product evolved, it became more sophisticated, Gostev said. Adwind 2.0 was released in January 2013, with a nice interface and plug-in-based architecture. By the time AlienSpy came along, Adwind had added Android support and become a true cross-platform RAT. JSocket 1.0 launched in June 2015, two months after a report from Fidelis Cyber security shut down AlienSpy. Kaspersky Lab researchers were able to link the previous versions with JSocket thanks to a forum posting from the same developer claiming someone was trying to ruin his or her reputation by spreading malware to Adwind customers. Kamluk said there were clues suggesting the developer had been working on Adwind as far back as 2005. "Despite multiple reports about different generations of this tool, published by security vendors in recent years, the platform is still active," Kamluk said, noting the JSocket website is still active. The fact that Jsocket was live two months after Fidelis shut down AlienSpy showed that current methods aimed at disrupting criminal operations are ineffective. New approaches are needed to disrupt this platform completely, he said. The brains behind the operation Gostev and Kamluk worked up a profile of the individual they believe is behind Adwind. Based on forum postings and coding patterns, they believe the individual is between 22 and 30 years old and lives in central Mexico -- or at least works hours corresponding to Mexico's workday. The hours of operation appear to be from a little after 9 in the morning and working through the evening, seven days a week. The Adwind mastermind is estimated to earn an estimated $200,000 a year from JSocket, they said. "This is the story of a Mexican businessman with a successful software startup," Kamluk said. "He has a fantastic website called JSocket." Let me know if youve heard this one before: With around 60 million people forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict, the world is currently in the midst of the worst refugee crisis in history. We knowwe beat the drum pretty loudly here at IP to bring increased attention to the global refugee crisisoften highlighting those funders that are paying attention and questioning those that arent. While most U.S. funders havent lifted a finger to help the worlds refugees, there are some notable exceptionsmost recently, Tent.org, which offers rapid response grants for immediate refugee relief operations through the $1 million Tent Challenge. Additionally, the organization has managed to bring a group of corporate funders together to take the Tent Pledge. Tent.org was established by Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani. To Ulukayas credit, this isnt his first commitment to the crisis. Back in 2014, Ulukaya pledged $2 million to the UNHCR and the IRC to aid Syrian refugees. He created Tent to aid refugees and to end displacement everywhere. He is also a Giving Pledge signatory, promising to dedicate the vast majority of his wealth to refugees and displaced people. Ulukaya is the kind of philanthropist we admire: someone who brings an intense sense of urgency to his giving, and isn't afraid to take risks in engaging an issue where there are no easy fixes. Related: A Yogurt Tycoon Steps Up His Philanthropy, Going Where Other Funders Wont The Tent Challenge is a $1 million commitment in the form of 20 $50,000 rapid impact grants awarded to organizations or qualified individuals that are providing immediate relief operations, innovations in relief work, programs to improve livelihoods, and conducting research and analysis to inform more effective policies concerning refugees and displaced people. Tent is currently accepting unsolicited applications for the challenge. The Tent Pledge is a platform for like-minded corporations to more effectively leverage their resources in the following areas: supply chain management, employment opportunities, direct giving, in-kind donations, and the provision of services. There are a number of familiar names making the Tent Pledge list including Western Union, UPS, and the Ikea Foundation, all three of which have been huge supporters of alleviating the suffering endured by the worlds refugees, whether through their corporate giving or philanthropic arms. Some newcomers here include Airbnb, MasterCard, LinkedIn, Pearson, Henry Schein, and Johnson & Johnson. Related: With Help Dwindling for Syrian Refugees, Western Union and UPS Step Up Weve said it before, but it bears repeatinga crisis this big must have triggered a huge response from U.S. NGOs and major donors opening their checkbooks, right? Unfortunately, support from funders like UPS, Western Union, Ikea, and Tent are the exception, rather than the rule. And the crisis shows no sign of abating. According to the Council on Foreign Relations Global Conflict Tracker, there are some 15 to 20 critical and significant ongoing conflicts occurring around the world. And as far as displaced people are concerned, none have been hit as hard by conflict as Syrians. Yet its estimated that only one percent of funding appeals regarding Syrian refugees have been met. Refugee funding shortfall amounts vary, but the U.N. has put the number at around $15 to $20 billion for all refugeesnot just those fleeing Syria. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (a U.N. agency) has even taken to Kickstarter to raise money. Recently, the New York Times reported the story of a philanthropist suing the University of Alabama. The thesis of the story was that the university, after receiving the last payment due from the mans private foundation, wrote to say the program he was funding was being discontinued. Those of you who follow my posts know that this is the type of story that gets my blood boiling. Especially when it is the academic industry apparently failing to play fair with the donor. So I decided to investigate a little more. Eric Suder and his wife Deborah created the Suder Foundation in 2008. The mission of this charitable entity is to support first-generation college students to improve the graduation rate of these individuals. The program they developed is called the First Scholars program and it provides scholarship funding as well support for the universities conducting the program. The Times article mentioned that eight universities were chosen to receive $1 to $2 million over four years and that his money was to fund scholarships and create a mentoring and support system for the beneficiaries. The article indicates that the universities agreed they would take over the programs after the funding ran out. It goes on: Three universities have stopped the program and the University of Alabama, which has received over $1.3 million from the Foundation, canceled the program two weeks after cashing the final check for $250,000. Mr. Suder has filed a lawsuit against Alabama for breach of contract and is seeking return of the $1.3 million, plus interest and damages for the harm done to the First Scholars brand. The university has denied that it was in default on any agreements. While the remainder of the Times article is written from the Suders' viewpoint, referring to the abrupt terminations of the agreements, it is unclear to me what agreements actually existed. The article says that Alabama indicated in their application for the funding that it had designated an endowed support fund to be used to continue the Suder Scholars program once the Suder Foundation funding was completed in 2015. This application will be the key to the dispute. Were the Suder Foundation funds to be used to establish an endowment fund for which the income was restricted to the First Scholars program? Or, did the university say it would designate some of its existing endowment funds for the support of the First Scholars program? There is a significant difference between the two, and frequently donors ignore the subtle differences. Donating money for the establishment of a restricted-purpose endowment fund establishes a contractual obligation on the part of the charity. But when a charity indicates that it will designate a portion of its general endowment (not otherwise restricted as to purpose) for a specific program, the charity is free to change its mind and un-designate those funds at any time. I analyzed the Suder Foundation tax returns for the seven years from inception through 2014. None of the donations to any of the eight participating universities indicated that the money was for the establishment of a restricted endowment fund. Over those seven years, the foundations wording for the purposes of the donated funds were as follows: planning; scholarships; operating funds; scholarships and operating funds; scholarships, operating funds and professional development. (The wording is inconsistent from return to return as the years go by.) Nothing in the Suder Foundation tax returns gives me the impression that the eight universities received restricted endowment funding. In the description of the foundations charitable activitiesin its own words, on their own tax returnit speaks about the First Scholars program serving as a laboratory to develop and establish the effectiveness of best practices for first-generation student success and for identifying proven strategies that can be adapted and scaled into broader initiatives. There is nothing about an endowed program. The lesson here appears to be one for donors. They need to understand the language of the restricted funding contract and engage a professional or otherwise ensure that the written agreement signed with the recipient charity contains exactly what is intended. One must not rely on anything said during verbal meetings or discussions of the potential of the program and its future. I will be surprised if the University of Alabama does not easily prevail in defending itself from the Suder lawsuit. The University of Utah, Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Kentucky are also ending their First Scholars programs. None apparently believe they have a long-term commitment to the program. The University of Memphis, on the other hand, believes it has learned some valuable lessons for assisting first-generation students and is continuing the program without further financial support from the Suder Foundation. It appears that the Suders have good intentions, developed a good program, but did not have a clear, concise contractual understanding with the charities they financially supported. At the University of Memphis, the program envisioned by the Suders appears to have taken root. The fact that it did not survive at all eight universities does not appear to be a broken contract issue to this writer. Related: These are interesting times for classical music, a field buffeted by changing demographics, tough financial challenges, and pressing questions about relevance. It's also an interesting time for philanthropy in this niche, with some funders keenly attuned to how classical music needs to evolve and broaden its mission. We've come across a number of funders who are on the case, including both individual donors and major foundations. A while back, I wrote about David Bohnett, a top donor to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who has been boosting the L.A. Phil's efforts at music education and community engagement in one of America's most diverse cities. Related: What's Behind This New, Massive Give to the LA Philharmonic? And we've written a whole bunch about funders who see the arts, including classical music, as a key driver of urban vitalityand all the good things that flow from such vitality, including drawing young professionals to cities and creating more robust local economies. Many arts funders keep an eye on two trackshelping mainstream arts organizations survive and thrive, fueling economic development, by engaging the young creative class through improved programming and outreach; and helping these organizations reach more diverse populations through better community engagement and by themselves becoming more diverse. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is among those funders with an eye on both tracks, and nonprofit music organizations would be wise to acclimate themselves to Mellon's thinking. One Mellon grant that recently caught out attention was $50,000 to help the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) develop a "musician diversity fellowship program." First, though, some background. Back in November of 2015, we looked at a study by Createquity titled "Why Don't They Come?" It examined why individuals with lower incomes and less education (low-SES) tend to avoid arts events. One reason, according to Createquity, may surprise you. It's television. As we noted: Createquity cites supporting research noting that "individuals with less than a high school diploma spent 3.77 hours per weekday watching TV in 2013, almost double the TV hours consumed by those with a bachelors degree and higher." These less-educated individuals spent twice as much time consuming television than all other leisure activities combined. The study also notes that individuals in this demographic simply don't consider themselves the "kind of person" to attend an art opening or a musical performance. So what's it have to do with Mellon? Quite a bit, as you might guess. Mellon remains committed to boosting diversity across the classical ranks. And while Mellon's grant to fund the MSO musician diversity fellowship program isn't about explicitly addressing the dearth of low-SES arts participants, there's an obvious connection between who's on stage in cultural events and who's likely to be in the audience. If classical music wants to engage an increasingly diverse U.S. population, its professional ranks need to be similarly diverse. This basic insight, we might add, lies behind efforts by many major institutions in U.S. society to become more diverse. And so Mellon's gift to the MSO aims to attract young musicians from Latin, African-American and other "underrepresented" communities to the orchestra by recruiting emerging professional musicians from conservatories and music schools to spend a year or two with the orchestra, participate in full performances, and community events. We'd like to draw your attention to that latter phrasecommunity events. As if responding to the sentiments of the Createquity study, the symphony has pivoted toward community engagement lately, highlighting the need to recruit minority players. "People, frankly, need to see musicians who look like they do, so they know this is music that speaks to everybody," said Rhonda Causie, a longtime MSO supporter and administrator. "The reality is we've failed to connect to a lot of people in the past." Well, that may be true, but better late than never, right? In the meantime, check out similar news out of Nashville, where Mellon gave Nashville Symphony's Accelerando music education program a $959,000 grant to help prepare gifted young musicians from underrepresented communities to pursue music at the collegiate level and beyond. Related: How is Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Seeking to Boost Diversity in the Classical World? The Creole Service of the Voice of America is celebrating its 30th anniversary. From its first five-minute news feed with one broadcaster to its current Radio-on-TV programming, VOA Creole has been one of the most reliable and authoritative sources of news in Haiti. More than eighty percent of weekly listeners say they trust the news and information they receive from the service, according to the latest polling research. For three decades, VOA Creole has provided in-depth coverage of stories important to Haiti -- including the rise and fall of the countrys first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and the 2010 earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the country and left more than one million others homeless. Today, VOA Creole is on radio and the web 15 hours each week. These programs are placed on affiliate stations throughout the country and cover the latest developments in Haiti, U.S. news and international affairs of interest to Haitian listeners. The service also provides audiences with valuable information on reconstruction, democracy building, health and the environment. The services call-in shows offer listeners a unique opportunity to voice their opinions and ask questions of experts on key issues. As VOA Creole Service Chief Ronald Cesar noted, We will continue to accompany the Haitian people as they build democracy. The Creole Service, in collaboration with other U.S. government agencies, also has been instrumental in training more than 100 Haitian journalists since 2008. Media giant Fairfax, owners of the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review and other titles, has made its bow in the insurance space with the launch of a new travel insurance product.The policy, backed by international insurer ACE will be named Traveller Insure and will join the panel of brands offered on comparetravelinsurance.com.au, it has been announced.With its publishing perspective from its successful travel website traveller.com.au, Fairfax hopes to make an impact on the competitive Australian market as Sue Bennett, general manager of travel at Fairfax, said that their customer insights could be key.Launching a new travel insurance product in the market is very exciting for Fairfax, Bennett said.From an editorial background we have expert knowledge in the holidays that people want insured.Natalie Ball, director of Comparetravelinsurance.com.au, said that the move will benefit consumers as Fairfaxs long history in the travel industry makes an insurance project a good next step.Australians love to travel and no one knows this better than Fairfax, Ball said.Were excited to be expanding our panel of providers with a brand that not only offers insurance, but also inspires travel experiences and ideas. Little Rock, Ark., developer Aaron Jones, who was convicted of setting fire to his $1.6 million home in an insurance scheme, was taken into custody so he can start serving time pending a prison sentence. Arkansas Business reported that a federal judge ordered Jones into custody after a hearing on Jones request to remain free pending sentencing. Prosecutors asked that he be locked up on grounds that arson is a crime of violence. Jones was heavily in debt when he allegedly burned the home in hope of collecting a $2.8 million insurance payment. Jones claimed intruders bound him and burned the home. Jones was convicted on Sept. 28, 2010, on three counts of mail fraud and one count of using fire to commit mail fraud. Prosecutors accused Jones of setting the house ablaze on May 30, 2008, then filing a $2.8 million insurance claim. A grand jury indictment said the fire occurred not long after Jones was unable to make a $331,000 balloon payment on the home. Jones maintained his innocence throughout, telling investigators armed intruders bound him with duct tape, doused the home in diesel fuel and set it on fire. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters called Jones story absolutely false. Peters cast doubt on whether armed intruders would return the crowbar to the place in the garage they found it after using it to break into the house. These are not only the neatest intruders in the world, they are the most efficient intruders in the world, because Aaron Jones says they did all that in 15 minutes, Peters said. Peters also cited the testimony of a forensic accountant who said Jones had financial problems. Aaron Jones was a man who needed cash to keep up with his lifestyle, Peters said. He did not have the cash. He saw the writing on the wall. And so he burned his house down. Defense attorney Tim Dudley said the forensic accountant examined only bank records and no other financial documents. Other witnesses testified that Jones had money and therefore had no motive to set the fire. Dudley said the prosecution botched the investigation by narrowly focusing on Jones. He said investigators ignored a possible lead about a car speeding off just before the fire was reported. Other items, including the duct tape Jones said he was bound with, were discarded without DNA testing, Dudley said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Arkansas 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 last month through the Utah Attorney Generals Office. Monjazeb was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. 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 assert that the other driver was at fault and would intimidate them to 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, 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. It is unknown how many additional accidents may have occurred wherein police and insurance carriers were not contacted and victims paid Monjazeb in cash. Topics Auto Fraud In 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized and funded a study regarding prescription drug formularies in workers compensation claims brought by state employees. While this statute does not create a formulary, it certainly shows that the General Assembly is considering the issue and likely to take the issue up for review in 2016. A drug formulary is, very simply, a preferred list of prescription drugs. This list can include both generic and brand name drugs, and is composed to identify drugs that are: (1) appropriate to treat the compensable injuries and (2) offer good value. The drugs included on a formulary are considered to be medically-appropriate and also cost-effective when prescribed for certain medical conditions. It is not uncommon for health care payors to maintain lists of pre-identified and pre-approved drugs. Formularies are widely considered an appropriate tool to encourage the safe and affordable use of prescription medicines. Normally, a workers compensation-related formulary will be designed to cover prescription drugs which are typically related to certain workplace injuries, but will exclude (or require additional substantiation) drugs which are not work-related or may have increased risk. Supporters of formularies cite cost savings to payors and better utilization. By requiring additional approval for certain drugs, such as certain narcotics or opioids, formularies can direct prescribers to select less dangerous or potentially-addictive treatment options. For instance, in the 2014 Fiscal Report for the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, the adoption of a formulary has resulted in large declines in the prescription rates of opioids. Pursuant to the North Carolina directive, the designated agency, the North Carolina Industrial Commission the administrative court which hears workers compensation claims shall study the implementation of a drug formulary in workers compensation claims filed by State employees (Session Law 2015-241, Section 15.13A). The statute goes on to explain that the study should specifically address four factors: The pharmacy-related expenses incurred by North Carolina on an annual basis in workers compensation claims; The savings, if any, that would result from the use of a drug formulary in workers compensation claims; Whether the use of a drug formulary would result in the more efficient delivery of medications, provide workers with reasonable and necessary care, and provide a disincentive for health care providers to utilize costly name brand drugs and habit-forming opioids and narcotics; The adoption of an appeals process that would allow health care providers and injured workers to seek approval for the use of drugs that are not on the formularys approved list. Additionally, the study may consider any other issues relevant to implementation of a drug formulary. The results of this study are supposed to be ready for reporting to the North Carolina General Assembly by April 1, 2016. Cost Savings It is relatively clear from the language used by the General Assembly that it is seeking ways to control costs related to state employee workers compensation claims. In addition, it shows that there are already stated factors to consider regarding specific drug classes like generics, opioids, and narcotics. This new task represents a broader directive by the Industrial Commission to reduce system costs. Recently, the North Carolina Industrial Commission revised its Medical Fee Schedule, which sets the maximum reimbursement rates for medical providers unless the insurers and providers have a separate agreement. The 2015 Industrial Commission Annual Report concluded that the fee schedule changes will save the workers compensation system $27 million annually. Further, the Industrial Commission has implemented a faster decision process for medical treatment disputes. This fast track procedure for medical disputes helps injured workers get disputed treatment sooner. If a prescription formulary is adopted, a similar fast track procedure could also be implemented for prescription drugs. Rate Impact A prescription formulary will likely have an impact on workers compensation rates for North Carolina in the future. Using national data compiled by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services in their biennial reports, trends can be observed. Over the last seven years, North Carolina workers compensation rates have steadily declined, but remain average when compared to other states rates. The data showed that North Carolinas workers compensation rates declined from $2.43 per $100 of payroll in 2008 to $1.85 per $100 of payroll in 2014. However, this reduction may reflect broader softening in workers compensation rates nationally; over the same period of time North Carolinas premiums ranked roughly 25th in the nation compared to other states. This may change in 2016, as the North Carolina Rate Bureau has recommended average loss costs rates or pure premium in North Carolina be reduced by around 10 percent. Thus far, neither the General Assembly nor the Industrial Commission have reported how a formulary would be created and applied to state employees. One option would be to hire a group to establish a formulary; alternatively, a group could be appointed by the Industrial Commission to further study the issue and develop a formulary. Either way, this group would probably be comprised of primary care physicians, pharmacists, and certain medical specialists who regularly treat workers who were injured while on the job. The committee may also include other health care professionals, nurse case managers, or individuals with health care management expertise. Drugs for Formulary In composing the list of drugs to include in the formulary, the reviewers typically consult with medical journals and clinical studies, information provided by the FDA, interviews or studies of actual prescriber activity in North Carolina, and their own experience as health care professionals. Since the directive was to review the system for state employees, the hope is that it would also be able to look for actual prescribing trends within the state system. If multiple medications seem equally effective in clinical usage, then the committee would look at economic factors such as cost, availability, and delivery method to select which drug to include in the formulary. Likely, the formulary would set out a specific list of prescription drugs which are included and thus preauthorized. There will probably be an explanation of how or why certain drugs were included in the formulary. There may be an appeal process included so that specific medications can be included on a case-by-case basis for certain patients. Similarly, there may be broad swathes of prescription drugs excluded from the formulary. In other states, this has included narcotic medications, compounded medications, and experimental drugs that are still in clinical trial phases. North Carolina has enacted sweeping changes to its workers compensation system over the past few years. While drug formularies have been discussed in other states, only a handful of states (California, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington) actually have state-regulated drug formularies in place. Given the climate in North Carolina regarding workers compensation reform, North Carolina stands a good chance of potentially enacting this new measure. Topics Claims Workers' Compensation North Carolina Medical Professional Liability Drugs The New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB) announced that its Board of Governors has unanimously elected Jeremy Attie as NYCIRBs next president after a recommendation from a Search Committee made up of five present and former members of the Board of Governors. Attie will succeed current president Monte Almer who plans to retire effective June 30, 2016. Almers retirement plan was previously announced in August 2015. Attie will join NYCIRB late February or early March and assume the role of president effective July 1, 2016. Attie has served in the Office of the New York State Governor since 2012, most recently as assistant counsel to the Governor for Labor and Financial Services and, prior to that appointment, as assistant secretary for Civil Rights. Throughout his tenure in the Governors Office, Attie has developed, negotiated and implemented civil rights, labor, and financial services reforms with a focus on the states workers compensation system. Prior to joining the Governors Office, he spent a number of years practicing law at a boutique firm in New York City. NYCIRBs Board of Governors said that it is extremely grateful for the many contributions Almer has made over a distinguished 36-year career at the NYCIRB, as well as the superb leadership Almer has provided during his 25 years as president for NYCIRB. His intelligence, diligence, integrity and workers compensation expertise will be missed not only by the NYCIRB but also by the greater New York community, NYCIRBs Board of Governors said of Almers contributions. NYCIRB is a non-profit, unincorporated association of insurance carriers, including the State Insurance Fund. Since the enactment of the New York Workers Compensation Law in 1914, NYCIRB has been designated as New Yorks official rate service organization to collect the loss, premium and payroll data from each carrier, summarize this information and develop an adequate rate structure. Topics New York Talent Sompo Canopius AG has announced a number of changes to its organizational structure. The company is simplifying its underwriting management and structure to enhance cohesiveness and focus on profitability across the group. It is also making some changes to its executive team. (Canopius announced on Feb. 1 that it is now operating under the brand, Sompo Canopius). Mike Duffy is appointed as group chief underwriting officer, responsible for all underwriting operations. He is supported by a team of underwriters, who each retain oversight of their individual product lines. Duffy will also become active underwriter of Syndicate 4444, subject to regulatory approval. Stephen Manning becomes group chief operating officer and retains responsibility for Sompo Holdings regional ERM center. Gaynore Moss is promoted to group chief risk officer, and will join the group executive. Stephen Gargrave will retire from his current full time role following four decades in the market. However, he will take up a new role in June as a non-executive director of Canopius Managing Agents Ltd. (subject to regulatory approval) and as an adviser to Mike Duffy. After five years successfully building the groups UK franchise, Tim Rolfe has decided to move on, the company announced. He remains at Sompo Canopius until March 31, 2016 to assist with the transition to the new structure. Sompo Canopius is home to some exceptionally talented people, and I am pleased that this allows us to promote from within, commented Stuart Davies, group CEO. The new structure will support our focus on underwriting profitability and operational efficiency, as well as our one game, one team culture. We are fortunate that we will continue to benefit from Steve Gargraves expert knowledge built up over nearly 40 years. I am also very grateful to Tim Rolfe for all his hard work and contribution to the companys success over many years and I wish him all the best in the future. About Sompo Canopius The Sompo Canopius rebranding on Feb. 1 follows the acquisition of the specialty re/insurer by Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. in 2014 and its subsequent integration into the Sompo Holdings group. Sompo Canopius is one of the top 10 insurers in the Lloyds insurance market, writing premiums in excess of 1 billion ($1.4 billion) and also operates through company platforms in Europe and the U.S., as well as other overseas offices. Source: Sompo Canopius Related: Topics Underwriting While UK-based small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) want to access opportunities in emerging and growth economies, they remain dependent on the European Union, which suggests that SMEs could be disproportionately affected if Britain votes to leave the EU in the upcoming referendum, according to the UKs RSA. RSA based this interpretation on a study it published called The New Internationals*, which reveals that UK-based SMEs are EU-dependent, with over four-fifths (82 percent) seeing European markets as important to their future growth (52 percent say they are very important), with 24 percent describing themselves as a European business. More than half (56 percent) of SMEs complain that uncertainty around the EU referendum is already holding back their growth, while 55 percent say that the government is not supportive in dealing with the possibility of Brexit, (if Britain exits the EU). The RSA report went on to say that 66 percent of SMEs are calling for greater clarity now on the UKs future role in Europe. Small Firms with Global Ambitions Three-quarters (74 percent) of SMEs believe the perception that small businesses are local by default is outdated and damaging, with the same proportion saying that international growth is important to their business. Nearly nine in ten (88 percent) stated that international growth is increasingly important to SMEs as a whole. Four in five SMEs believe that accessing new markets is important to their business (47 percent very important), with the same proportion stating that accessing new customer bases in emerging markets is critical. SMEs consider North America (67 percent) their most important market opportunity, followed by Asia Pacific (61 percent), the Middle East (59 percent), South America (58 percent) and Africa (54 percent). Barriers to Global Growth But while 85 percent of small business leaders believe SMEs are more globally minded than ever before, the export potential of SMEs is bounded by the EU with 72 percent of UK SMEs struggling to export beyond EU borders. RSAs The New Internationals study, which was originally released in October 2015, reveals major barriers to seizing global growth opportunities, particularly outside of the EU, including red tape (62 percent), lack of funding (58 percent), lack of access to information (53 percent) and their own lack of international experience (61 percent). Three-quarters of SMEs say that there is less support available when exporting to emerging economies, despite the considerable growth opportunities they present. Tellingly, RSA said, the study reveals a major disconnect between government-led initiatives to boost exporting, such as plans to double exports to 1 trillion per year by 2020, with four in five SMEs stating the government must do more to champion small exporters. Seven in ten (71 percent) SMEs call for the UK government to help relax controls in emerging markets to encourage free trade, while three-quarters (74 percent) say less red tape on exports would help SMEs to grow internationally. The UKs SMEs are stuck in the gravitational pull of the EU. Current government export support isnt working for our smaller businesses, who are struggling to trade beyond Europe, commented David Swigciski, SME director at RSA. Not only are our SMEs missing out on growth markets, they face significant risk from uncertainty over a possible Brexit and our future relationship with Europe, he said. Tips for Global SMEs RSA provided tips to create successful export businesses for SMEs in the UK and anywhere in the world: Expand. Expand your network by speaking to as many SMEs, trade bodies and associations about your ambitions as you can, and attend relevant support and information groups, seminars and events both online and in your region. Dont forget that importers looking to do business in the UK can be a great source of advice about doing business in their own home market. Expand your network by speaking to as many SMEs, trade bodies and associations about your ambitions as you can, and attend relevant support and information groups, seminars and events both online and in your region. Dont forget that importers looking to do business in the UK can be a great source of advice about doing business in their own home market. X-Change. Exchange ideas with others to inspire new ways of achieving your ambitions. You can learn a lot from other peoples successes and failures. Identify peers and leaders who have been successful in your chosen market and ask them to become mentors or informal advisors to your business a couple of hours with someone who has done it before can help make your plans much more realistic. Exchange ideas with others to inspire new ways of achieving your ambitions. You can learn a lot from other peoples successes and failures. Identify peers and leaders who have been successful in your chosen market and ask them to become mentors or informal advisors to your business a couple of hours with someone who has done it before can help make your plans much more realistic. Protect. As your business grows, your risk profile changes so you need to know what your new risks are and how to manage and mitigate them. Speak to a specialist insurance broker or insurer about your growth ambitions, and work together on creating a global risk management plan to help you protect your business and your personal liability, at home and abroad. As your business grows, your risk profile changes so you need to know what your new risks are and how to manage and mitigate them. Speak to a specialist insurance broker or insurer about your growth ambitions, and work together on creating a global risk management plan to help you protect your business and your personal liability, at home and abroad. Observe. Observe different cultures and customs, and make sure that you understand how business is done in different markets. This covers everything from national and religious holidays to special requirements for foreign businesses setting up there, and less familiar risks like bribery and corruption, IP infringement, employee safety and environmental risk. Remember that cultural differences can be just as important as financial and regulatory compliance. Observe different cultures and customs, and make sure that you understand how business is done in different markets. This covers everything from national and religious holidays to special requirements for foreign businesses setting up there, and less familiar risks like bribery and corruption, IP infringement, employee safety and environmental risk. Remember that cultural differences can be just as important as financial and regulatory compliance. Resilience. Be prepared to staying in your chosen market for the long haul. Finding good customers and partners can take time, and walking away too early could mean losing your investment and missing out on big opportunities. Consider how you can finance your plan over the medium to long term, and how you can ensure your core business remains successful while you pursue ventures elsewhere. Be prepared to staying in your chosen market for the long haul. Finding good customers and partners can take time, and walking away too early could mean losing your investment and missing out on big opportunities. Consider how you can finance your plan over the medium to long term, and how you can ensure your core business remains successful while you pursue ventures elsewhere. Trust. Trust your instincts if something doesnt feel right, go back and look at it again and seek advice until youre happy that youre heading in the right direction. Its important that you know your international business as well as your business at home, so dont be afraid to ask basic questions. Likewise, work with an insurance broker to protect your business against as many risks as possible you only want to take the risks that will help you to reap rewards. * The New Internationals study is based on interviews conducted between June and July 2015 by Opinion Matters, with 1,002 SME owners and leaders in UK companies, sized between 10 and 150 employees. Although originally released in October 2015, RSA published its latest interpretations about the study on Feb. 8, 2016. Source: RSA Related: Topics Europe American International Group Inc. plans to exit at least half the hedge funds in which the insurer is invested, according to people familiar with the companys portfolio. The insurer has holdings in more than 100 funds and plans to cut that number to 50 or fewer, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing investing decisions. AIG is planning for increased volatility that could pressure high-risk assets, and for a possible period of limited liquidity in financial markets, the people said. AIG had about $11 billion dedicated to hedge funds as of the third quarter, and returns on the holdings have slumped in recent months. Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock said at a Jan. 26 investor presentation that the company intends to lower the allocation, but he didnt say how many hedge fund managers the company would stick with or provide details on the planned amount of exits. We had a very negative experience in hedge funds, Hancock said in the presentation. Shifting the allocations will lead to a much better return on risk and especially return on capital. New Investing Chief AIG has an investment portfolio of more than $340 billion, mostly in bonds, and is seeking to free up funds to return to shareholders. Hancock hired former J.P. Morgan & Co. colleague Doug Dachille in July as chief investment officer, and the two are working to reshape the portfolio. Hedge funds globally have underperformed the Standard & Poors 500 Index for seven straight years, and money managers including BlackRock Inc. have decided to wind down some strategies. Seneca Capital Investments and Lucidus Capital Partners are among firms that have disclosed plans to shutter funds, while others suffer client redemptions. MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, said Feb. 4 that private equity and hedge fund investing has proved effective over time, even if fourth-quarter results were disappointing. Chief Investment Officer Steve Goulart said that while MetLife intends to stick with the strategy, the insurer had pared some bets and plans to be really concentrating on the managers and strategies that have been the longer-term stronger performers for us. The people familiar with AIGs plans didnt list the funds that the insurer plans to exit. Nor did they specify how much money the company intends to pull. Jon Diat, a spokesman for the New York-based insurer, declined to comment. AIG is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter results after the market closes on Feb. 11. The California Public Employees Retirement System announced plans in 2014 to divest the assets that it invested with hedge funds, saying theyre too expensive and complex. With assistance from Simone Foxman. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions Ltd. and Veolia have joined forces, under the auspices of The Rockefeller Foundation, to launch an infrastructure recovery initiative to speed up economic recovery in the aftermath of catastrophic events for cities across the globe. The partnership, designed to support cities worldwide in the areas of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, infrastructure enhancement and recovery, was announced in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, by Swiss Re Corporate Solutions CEO, Agostino Galvagni; Antoine Frerot, chairman and CEO of Veolia, and Rockefeller Foundation president, Dr. Judith Rodin. The current reality is that cities rarely have financial plans in place to protect critical assets against shocks before they occur, and in the aftermath of such events, cities must determine what is damaged, how it will be fixed, who can fix it and how to fund these repairs, which can take months or years, said a statement issued by the three organizations. This initiative is designed to dramatically improve and streamline the existing process, the statement said. Under the partnership agreement, Swiss Re and Veolia, which is a resource management company with expertise in water, energy and waste systems, will work with cities to understand the risk exposure of critical assets under current and future climate scenarios. Under this agreement, both partners will perform risk assessments of cities, identify their most vulnerable and valuable assets, and work together to build resilience strategies around these assets, the organizations said, noting that these assessments could help cities develop resilience plans while reducing their risk exposure over time, the statement said. Swiss Re and Veolia said they will work to develop a pilot for the initiative in a city, such as New Orleans, which could focus on some of the citys infrastructure, including critical water and wastewater systems. By planning ahead for major shocks and stresses, cities not only strengthen the resistance of their vital infrastructure, they can also limit economic interruption and begin to quickly repair damage without waiting for insurance assessments, payouts, and solicitations for repair proposals, the statement continued. The partnership was brokered by 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), a Rockefeller Foundation funded initiative, aimed at helping cities better understand the susceptibility of their critical infrastructure to disaster risk, provide the resources to better protect this infrastructure, and enable these assets to be more quickly functional following a disaster. When we joined the 100 Resilient Cities project as one of its founding partners in 2013, part of the commitment was to create a functional toolbox for cities to assess, price, prepare for and mitigate risks. Our partnership with Veolia brings us one step closer to fulfilling that vision, and were convinced that if we can make it a success, the concept can be scaled and replicated for other cities, and for other services. Its an important step in moving resilience from talk to action, said Agostino Galvagni, CEO Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. We support the initiative as we hope our expertise in risk management is central to building cities that are more resilient by helping them to identify, quantify, prioritize and ultimately transfer this risk away from their citizens and into the private market, said a Swiss Re spokesperson. This partnership is a sign that the private sector better understands what cities need to build resilience, and cities will no longer have to make difficult and often inefficient decisions after experiencing a disaster. They will know what is at risk, how it needs to improve, who will fix it, and where the funds will come from, all which allows them to rebound more quickly, said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities. Hopefully, this is the just the beginning, and when other market leaders recognize the importance of what Swiss Re and Veolia are doing, they too will begin to really innovate. Our partnership with Swiss Re embodies the fact that resilience goes much beyond risk prevention and recovery in case of natural disaster, said Antoine Frerot, chairman and CEO of Veolia. We are strongly convinced that resilience reinforces cities attractiveness and represents a competitive advantage for cities. Through the combination of their expertise, this initiative will help cities identify both vulnerabilities and opportunities, and pave the way for enhanced resilience. Investments in resilience-building ensure that the very fabric of our communities remains strong, in good times and bad, said Dr. Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation. About Veolia and The Rockefeller Foundation Veolia designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. With more than 179,000 employees worldwide, the group helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and to replenish them. The Rockefeller Foundations mission for more than 100 years has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. The foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Related: Topics Swiss Re Legislation to create a workers compensation alternative in Tennessee is already facing serious setbacks in the just started legislative session, despite being amended in 2015 and refiled in 2016. An emerging scandal involving one of the lawmakers sponsoring the bill may have hindered its second chance of getting through the state legislature. However, advocates for workers compensation options say that their efforts in the state are not over yet and they are working with other legislators to get a workers comp alternative passed. State lawmakers Sen. Mark Green and Rep. Jeremy Durham introduced bills to establish the Tennessee Employee Injury Benefit Alternative (TEIBA) during the 2015 session. The goal of the legislation, they said at the time, was to give private employers in Tennessee the option to opt-out of private insurance plans. Instead, employers would create and implement their own either fully insured or self-insured occupational injury benefit plans for their employees. The group worked with the Association for Responsible Alternatives to Workers Compensation (ARAWC) in developing the legislation, which was modeled after the option models currently utilized in Texas and Oklahoma. The opt-out model offers a cost savings to employers in the state, proponents said. Green and Durham were unable to get the bills passed in their original form by their respective chambers in 2015. Opponents, including the Tennessee Workers Compensation Board, questioned aspects of the original bill and if employers would run responsible workers compensation programs. Lawmakers amended and revised the option legislation with the intention of trying again this year, according to Green. The bill is now in its ready state and when the committees open in the House and next year we should get it through, Green wrote in an email to Insurance Journal last year. That plan may have been derailed since news broke of accusations against Durham by three different women who say they were sexually harassed by the lawmaker via text message. According to Tennessee media outlets, Durham has since resigned as the House majority whip and is now on a leave of absence. A hearing that was scheduled in the House for the option legislation on Feb. 10 was cancelled and The Memphis Business Journal reported there doesnt appear to be any intention of bringing back the legislation this session. But ARAWC said its work on introducing an opt-out model isnt done yet. The bill is not dead. The legislative session is just gearing up in Tennessee, said AJ Donelson, spokesperson and consultant for ARAWC. In the coming weeks, ARAWC members and Tennessee employers will continue to have conversations with legislators about the benefits to employees and employers of enacting a Tennessee option. Sen. Green did not respond to requests from Insurance Journal on if he is still working to get the revised Senate version of the opt-out legislation passed, but a spokesperson in Greens office said that bill wouldnt be pulled out and heard this session. The bill was assigned to the General Subcommittee of Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee in October. Donelson said ARAWC is currently working with state lawmakers, including Sen. Green, on introducing an opt-out bill in 2016 but said there were no details at this time on when exactly that would be. The sponsors are taking their time to carefully craft a Tennessee option. We look forward to Tennessee legislators further considering of a workers comp option, he said. Related: Topics Trends Legislation Workers' Compensation Tennessee Southern California is in for another day of increased fire danger as gusty Santa Ana winds and unseasonably warm temperatures bring down humidity levels. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for large swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. A high wind warning is in place for the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains, where gusts topping 58 mph are possible. The winds are being kicked up by a strengthening high pressure system that could produce record-breaking heat. Forecasters say temperatures in the 80s are possible in some areas through Tuesday. Ventura County crews quickly contained a wind-fanned brush fire that briefly threatened homes Sunday near the Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo. No damage or injuries were reported. Meanwhile, money from a fire prevention fee paid by some California residents will be used to remove dead or dying trees. The Fresno Bee reports that Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant says several counties are facing high fire risks from trees dying from drought and bark beetle infestation. He says there were 29 million dead or dying trees in the Sierra last year. The counties received $1.75 million from the State Responsibility Area fee charged to foothill and mountain residents. About 37,700 home and business owners pay into the fire prevention fee. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed a class-action lawsuit against the state arguing that the fee was actually an illegal tax. Berlant says the fee is critical to keep the Sierra safe from catastrophic fires. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Agency acquisition complements AISs strong record of internal growth. Cerritos, CA, February 9, 2016 Auto Insurance Specialists (AIS) today announced the acquisition of Suncal Insurance Services based in Santa Clarita, California. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2003, Suncal Insurance Agency is an independent insurance agent providing their Southern California area clients vehicle and property insurance from insurance companies such as Mercury Insurance and Foremost Insurance. Tim Lewis will continue to manage client policies from the AIS service center in Northridge, CA. AIS is a company that focuses on strong client and carrier relationships, said Peter Caird, President of Suncal. Were confident AIS will be an excellent agency fit for our clients. Suncal is a well-known and respected agent with a solid book of business, said Mark Ribisi, president and CEO of Auto Insurance Specialists. Acquiring the Suncal client base provides growth for AIS, and we look forward to serving these new clients with the high level of commitment theyve come to know and that all AIS clients deserve. Auto Insurance Specialists has been providing insurance coverage to customers for almost 50 years. One of the nations largest independent insurance agencies, AIS is based in Cerritos, California and offers consumers a comparison shopping experience on a wide variety of insurance types, including auto, homeowner, renters, motorcycle, recreational vehicles, business insurance and more. In CA, AIS is Auto Insurance Specialists LLC | CA Insurance Lic 0524784; Outside of CA, AIS is PoliSeek AIS Insurance Solutions, Inc | CA Insurance Lic 0F51713 DBA AIS Auto Insurance Specialists Agency. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions California Auto This growth is supported by a wealth of natural resources, particularly in the mining sector, which accounts for the majority of its export earnings. The emerging oil and gas industry is also spearheading the overall economic growth in the country with multiple discoveries of oil and gas sources led by the considerable natural gas deposits in the offshore field of Banda. With the aim of maintaining the expeditious growth of Mauritanias economy, a series of amendments were implemented to the tax legislation throughout the past few years in order to simplify the tax system and prevent tax evasion and erosion of the tax base. One of the main changes to the tax law occurred three years ago, when the local government introduced a simplified taxation regime for non-resident entities which do not have operations lasting for more than six months in the country, and thus do not require a local establishment. Even though this new regime was not explicitly communicated in the law, it made a significant difference for investors by limiting the administrative burden associated with the registration of a local presence. The tax reform has continued in 2016 with the implementation of the Finance Act 2016, which focuses on this issue of transfer pricing. Whilst Mauritania does not have formal transfer pricing requirements, under the Mauritanian general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR), the tax authorities are entitled to adjust the prices applied for related party transactions to ensure that intercompany transactions are at arms-length. The Finance Act 2016 provides more clarification around the key concepts in respect to this issue. It has, inter alia, introduced a definition of related parties which states that two enterprises are deemed to be related parties if an enterprise owns the majority of the shareholding capital / voting rights of another enterprise or when two enterprises are placed under the control of another enterprise. In addition, the Finance Act has defined a thin capitalisation ratio of 25:75 (debt-to-equity), limiting the capacity to deduct interest against taxable profits. It has also introduced a similar provision into the controlled foreign company (CFC) rules preventing erosion of the domestic tax base by discouraging residents from shifting income to jurisdictions that do not impose tax, or that impose taxes at rates lower than 50% of the Mauritanian corporate income tax rate which is at 12.5%. Mauritanias investment in developing and improving its tax system is seen as an important measure to ensure continuous economic growth through promoting foreign investments, combatting tax evasion and limiting the burden on both taxpayers and the tax collectors. This update was prepared by Khadija Idboujnane (khidboujnane@deloitte.com) of Deloitte in the Middle East. Nel terzo trimestre del 2016 il prodotto interno lordo, espresso in valori concatenati con anno di riferimento 2010, corretto per gli effetti di calendario e destagionalizzato, e aumentato dello 0,3% rispetto al trimestre precedente e dello 0,9% nei confronti del terzo trimestre del 2015. Lo sostiene lIstat. La crescita congiunturale e la sintesi di un aumento del valore aggiunto nei comparti dellindustria e dei servizi e di una diminuzione nellagricoltura. Dal lato della domanda, vi e un contributo ampiamente positivo della componente nazionale (al lordo delle scorte), in parte compensato da un apporto negativo della componente estera netta. Nello stesso periodo il Pil e aumentato in termini congiunturali dello 0,7% negli Stati Uniti, dello 0,5% nel Regno Unito e dello 0,2% in Francia. In termini tendenziali, si e registrato un aumento del 2,3% nel Regno Unito, dell1,5% negli Stati Uniti, dell1,1% in Francia. Nel complesso, il Pil dei paesi dellarea Euro e cresciuto dello 0,3% rispetto al trimestre precedente ed dell1,6% nel confronto con lo stesso trimestre del 2015. I dati Istat sul Pil sono in linea con le stime del governo ha commentato il ministro dellEconomia, Pier Carlo Padoan, arrivando alla Camera per lincontro con il gruppo Pd sulla legge di Bilancio. ll titolare di via XX Settembre in un tweet, poco prima, aveva sottolineato come i dati Istat confermano che leconomia e sulla strada giusta e le stime di crescita sono affidabili. Ma occorre spingere per accelerare Which of John Hancock's funds are the top ones for retirement? Saving for retirement comes with many decisions to make, which can be overwhelming, especially if you are trying to ensure you have the right asset allocation and a diversified portfolio. There are thousands of investment options from which to choose. Like many large investment firms, John Hancock, a unit of Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, has funds that provide broad exposure to all the asset classes you should include in a retirement portfolio. The right mix of funds depends on your risk tolerance, your number of years to retirement, and your overall financial picture. The following funds offered by John Hancock are among the top choices in different asset classes to consider for your retirement portfolio. Key Takeaways Large asset managers, like John Hancock, provide a variety of options that make it possible to have a balanced, diversified retirement portfolio with only a handful of mutual funds. Choosing which funds best fit your retirement portfolio depends on your risk tolerance and time horizon. Fund fees have an impact on returns so dont forget to factor them in. Don't Overlook Fees Before we get into the funds, first lets talk about fees. John Hancock, like all asset managers, operates its funds with different share classes. Each comes with a different fee structure. Some of the classes have front-end loads; others have deferred loads or no loads at all. All of the funds mentioned below are actively managed. If you decide to invest in one, remember to double-check which mutual fund share class you are investing in. Fees can have a big impact on returns. Actively-managed funds typically have higher expenses than index funds, which are passively managed. Types of Funds U.S. Stocks When investing in U.S. stocks you want to ensure that you are getting broad diversification across large, medium, and small-capitalization companies. In order to do this with John Hancock, you should consider the following funds. The Fundamental Large Cap Core Fund (TAGRX) invests mainly in large-cap, growth and value companies. The Disciplined Value Mid-Cap (JVMAX) will provide exposure to mid-cap stocks, and the Small Cap Value Fund (JSCAX) to small-cap stocks. (All these funds have Class A shares.) International Stocks For international exposure, you can buy shares in the Disciplined Value International Fund (JDIBX), which invests primarily in large companies in developed countries. If you prefer to also add emerging markets to your portfolio, consider the Emerging Markets Equity Fund (JEMQX). (All these funds have Class A shares.) Bonds John Hancock has a good multi-sector bond fund that will give your portfolio exposure to government and corporate bonds in developed and emerging markets. This fund is the John Hancock Income Fund (JHFIX) and is designed, like its name implies, to produce ongoing income for investors. This fund is also Class A. Asset Allocation If you prefer just one fund for both bonds and stocks, you can consider one of John Hancock's asset allocation funds. The John Hancock Balanced Fund Class R4 (JBAFX) has a breakdown of about 60% stocks and 40% bonds and cash. The Bottom Line By exploring the options of a company like John Hancock, you can easily save for retirement without having to manage a large number of funds and still achieve diversification and the right asset allocation. Just remember to make sure you invest in the right share class for your needs. What Is an Electronic Check? An electronic check, or e-check, is a form of payment made via the Internet, or another data network, designed to perform the same function as a conventional paper check. Since the check is in an electronic format, it can be processed in fewer steps. Additionally, it has more security features than standard paper checks including authentication, public key cryptography, digital signatures, and encryption, among others. Key Takeaways An electronic check is a form of payment made via the internet that is designed to perform the same function as a conventional paper check. One of the more frequently used versions of the electronic check is the direct deposit system offered by many employers. Generally, the costs associated with issuing an electronic check are notably lower than those associated with paper checks. An electronic check has more security features than standard paper checks. How an Electronic Check Works An electronic check is part of the larger electronic banking field and part of a subset of transactions referred to as electronic fund transfers (EFTs). This includes not only electronic checks but also other computerized banking functions such as ATM withdrawals and deposits, debit card transactions and remote check depositing features. The transactions require the use of various computer and networking technologies to gain access to the relevant account data to perform the requested actions. Electronic checks were developed in response to the transactions that arose in the world of electronic commerce. Electronic checks can be used to make a payment for any transaction that a paper check can cover, and are governed by the same laws that apply to paper checks. This was the first form of Internet-based payment used by the U.S. Treasury for making large online payments. The Benefits of Electronic Checks Generally, the costs associated with issuing an electronic check are notably lower than those associated with paper checks. Not only is there no requirement for a physical paper check, which costs money to produce, but also electronic checks do not require physical postage in cases of payments being made to entities outside the direct reach of the entity issuing the funds. It is estimated that while a traditional check may cost as much as $1 to issue, an electronic check costs closer to $0.10. Electronic checks also come with a lower risk of the associated funds being stolen, as there is no tangible item to intercept. Further, there are multiple levels of authentication to help ensure funds are routed properly. Special Considerations One of the more frequently used versions of the electronic check is the direct deposit system offered by many employers. It is an electronic method of sending an employees wages directly into the employees bank account. Additionally, taxpayers who are owed a refund on federal tax returns can elect to receive a directly deposited electronic check from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) instead of having a physical paper check sent through the mail. India is currently one of the fastest-growing economies in the world since 2000. It is also the worlds fifth-largest economy in nominal GDP terms. Overall, in 2019, the economy of India grew at a rate of 5%. This growth was primarily due to strong demand for the country's goods and services, in addition to a high level of industrial activity. The country, once a supplier of British tea and cotton, now has a diversified economy with the majority of activity and growth coming from the service industry. India is now considered a "global player" in the world of international economics. In 2020-2021, India's economy has been hard hit by the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020 India's GDP for the second quarter came nearly 24% below the second quarter of 2019, as COVID-19 motivated restrictions on all non-essential businesses sharply curtailed economic activity. Key Takeaways India is currently one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Agriculture, once Indias main source of revenue and income, has since fallen to approximately 18.32% of the countrys GDP, as of 2020. Over the past 60 years, the service industry in India has increased from a fraction of the GDP to approximately 55% between 2018 and 2019. In 2019, almost 10 million foreign tourists visited India; the World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 9.2% of India's GDP in 2018. Historical Development of India's Economy In 1947, after gaining independence from Britain, India formed a centrally-planned economy (also known as a command economy). With a centrally planned economy, the government makes the majority of economic decisions regarding the manufacturing and the distribution of products. The government focused on developing its heavy industry sector, but this emphasis was eventually deemed unsustainable. In 1991, India began to loosen its economic restrictions and an increased level of liberalization led to growth in the country's private sector. Today, India is considered a mixed economy: the private and public sectors co-exist and the country leverages international trade. Citizens can choose their own occupations and start their own private enterprises. However, in certain areas of the economy, such as defense, power, banking, and other industries, the government maintains a monopoly. The countrys economy has grown exponentiallyfrom $288 billion in 1992 to $2.66 trillion in 2020. Agricultural Sector Agriculture, once Indias main source of revenue and income, has since fallen to approximately 18.32% of the countrys GDP, as of 2020. However, analysts have pointed out that this fall should not be equated with a decrease in production. Rather, it reflects the large increases in Indias industrial and service outputs. The agricultural industry in India currently faces some problems. First, the industry is not as efficient as it could be: millions of small farmers rely on monsoons for the water necessary for their crop production. Agricultural infrastructure is not well developed, so irrigation is sparse and agricultural product is at risk of spoilage because of a lack of adequate storage facilities and distribution channels. Today, India is the world's second-largest producer of fruit, and the global leading producer of lemons, bananas, mangoes, papayas, and limes. While forestry is a relatively small contributor to the country's GDP, it is a growing sector and is responsible for producing fuel, wood-based panels, pulp for paper, paper, and paperboard. An additional small percentage of Indias economy comes from fishing and aquaculture, with shrimp, sardines, mackerel, and carp being bred and caught. Industrial Production Chemicals are big business in India; The petrochemical industry, which first entered the Indian industrial scene in the 1970s, experienced rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to chemicals, India produces a large supply of the worlds pharmaceuticals as well as billions of dollars worth of cars, motorcycles, tools, tractors, machinery, and forged steel. India also mines a large number of gems and common minerals including iron ore, bauxite, and gold along with asbestos, uranium, limestone, and marble. From 2019 to 2020, for example, India mined 729 million tons of coal (which, surprisingly, was not enough to meet the countrys coal needs). Oil and gas were extracted at a rate of 34.2 million metric tons and 32.9 billion cubic meters, respectively, in the 2018 to 2019 year. Information Technology (IT) and Business Services Outsourcing Over the past 60 years, the service industry in India has increased from a fraction of the GDP to approximately 55% between 2019 and 2020. Indiawith its high population of skilled, English-speaking, and educated peopleis a great place for doing business. Among the leading services industries in the country are telecommunications, IT, and software, and the workers are employed by both domestic and international companies including Intel (INTC), Texas Instruments (TXN), Yahoo (YHOO), Meta (META)formerly Facebook, Google (GOOG), and Microsoft (MSFT). Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a less significant but more well-known industry in India and is led by companies like American Express (AXP), IBM (IBM), Hewlett-Packard, (HPQ), and Dell. BPO is the fastest-growing segment of the ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) industry in India thanks to economies of scale, cost advantages, risk mitigation, and competency. BPO in India, which started around the mid-90s, has grown by leaps and bounds. Retail Services The retail sector in India is huge. But it's not just apparel, electronics, or traditional consumer retail that is booming; agricultural retail, which is important in an inflation-conscious country like India, is also significant.However, in recent years, the issue of agricultural wastage has come to the forefront. It is estimated that from 2018-2021, over 400,000 tons of wheat and rice were wasted due to storage and transportation issues. This is enough to feed over 80 million people within the country. Reports suggest there is little storage for Indian agricultural products, and experts believe that the solution to the massive waste issue is a combination of government policy, technology, and infrastructure. The Indian government is purported to be exploring a range of options. Other Services Other parts of Indias service industry include electricity production and tourism. The country is largely dependent on fossil fuels oil, gas, and coal but it is increasingly adding capacity to produce hydroelectricity, wind, solar, and nuclear power. In 2018, over 10 million foreign tourists visited India. In 2018, the estimated foreign exchange earnings from tourism in India was $28.585 billion. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 10.3% of India's GDP in 2019. Medical tourism to India is also a growing sector. India's market for medical tourism is expected to touch the $9 billion mark by 2020, according to a report released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Ernst & Young. Medical tourism is popular in India because of its low-cost healthcare and international standards compliance. Customers come from all over the world for heart, hip, and plastic surgery procedures, and a small number of people take advantage of Indias commercial surrogate facilities. The Bottom Line India has become a rising economic power in the 21st century. Between the years 2011 and 2015, more than 90 million people in India rose out of extreme poverty, thanks in part to robust economic growth that has improved the overall standards of living in the country. According to the World Bank, growth in India is projected to be 6% this fiscal year; it is expected to rise to 6.9% between 2020 and 2021 and to 7.2% in the following year. Among the major emerging economies, India is one of the fastest-growing. It has also become a focus of investors across the globe. Is Walmart's Biggest Liability Labor Costs? In a company as large as Walmart Stores Inc (WMT), it can be hard to increase profit by a measurable degree. Increasing margins on soap wont affect the bottom, nor will saving on nominal expenses like plastic bags. What Walmart can control though, is its labor force. Walmarts biggest expense is its labor costs. Currently, Walmart is the third-largest employer in the world after the United States and Chinese Armies. Finding a way to save money on labor, or to eliminate jobs altogether, may be a huge boon to the retailer. Key Takeaways The greatest single cost for Walmart is labor. Walmart has a well-known history of labor disputes and a strong anti-union culture. Since the mid-2010s, Walmart has put in place some changes in the type and number of employees on its payroll and has increased its reliance on automation to bring labor costs down. Understanding Walmart's Labor Costs Walmarts Labor History Labor problems are not new to Walmart. The United States largest retailer has been fighting with employees, labor organizations, and unions since the 1970s. Sam Walton, a strong anti-unionist, instilled a non-union culture into Walmart that continues today. In fact, the company has run into legal troubles throughout the world as it defends its labor policies. For example, the company has shut down stores that have voted for unions, arguing that the reason for closure was related to finances rather than the union itself. Other labor violations include illegal firings, threats, unpaid overtime, and forced overtime. In short, Walmart isnt a stranger to an unhappy workforce. What Walmart Workers Want Walmart employees complain of their inability to be hired full-time, a lack of medical benefits, and inconsistent scheduling that makes their lives difficult. Most of the $2.7 billion turnaround program was implemented, but employee hours have been cut, resulting in lower net pay than before. In addition, Walmart workers are fighting to have their employee discount apply to all food as well as general merchandise. Currently, only fruits and vegetables are subject to 10% employee discounts, and only when the items arent on sale. Increasing the discount could cost Walmart almost half a billion dollars more per year, albeit with the added potential of getting more customers. Why Does Walmart Act Like This? Walmart doesnt give in to these demands because it cant afford to. In the 2015 fiscal year, Walmart made a profit of $16 billion. This figure, when divided among Walmarts 2 million-plus employees worldwide only works out to an additional $7,355 per year, or $3.67 per hourand thats with the company making no profit, something that private companies arent in the habit of doing. Aside from wages, Walmart spent $500 million on hourly associate bonuses in fiscal 2015, as well as almost $900 million in retirement benefits. Walmart currently provides a 6% 401(k) match. (For more, see: Three Reasons Costco Is a Great Company.) It should also be noted that since the 2015 fiscal year annual report was released in January 2015, Walmart has increased its wages twice and that its minimum wage now stands at $10 per hour, making the $16 billion profit figure unlikely to be repeated for some time. Walmart increased employee wages because it had to. The company was facing immense pressure from the media, its employees, and outside organizations for wage increases. With churn costs 1.5 to 2.5 times the cost of the employees salary, Walmart needs to continually focus on employee retention. With the media running weekly stories about the poor working conditions at Walmart or the social services received by Walmart employees, the company needed a plan to stop the negative PR. Plus, as other retailers increase their wages and benefits, Walmarts management is forced to do so as well, otherwise it would be left with a lack of applicants for its positions. Cost Savings Instead of paying each employee a higher wage and then reducing their hours, Walmart ought to revamp its entire strategy to cut the number of workers it employs. (For more, see: Wal-Mart Plans Corporate Job Cuts.) Walmart has 1.4 million American workers. What Walmart doesnt have is mass-automation. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) uses robots in its distribution centers to pick orders. Competing retailers and grocers have replaced cashiers with self-serve checkouts. Walmart could replicate some of Amazon's practices by automating more of its distribution centers (at a high cost) or, it can easily cut its number of cashiers by 50% to 75% by replacing people with self-serve machines. These workers can be hired full-time and receive benefits. Employees will be happier with their increased competition and their jobs will be easier as they supervise a bank of self-serve check-outs, rather than have to serve customers themselves. Self-serve has been implemented in every industry because of its incredible savings power. Retailers, airlines, restaurants, bankstheyve all convinced consumers that doing work themselves is the best thing for them and the companies have reaped the financial benefits from it. Walmart needs to follow suit. Although the two terms are used interchangeably, profit and profitability are not the same. Both are accounting metrics in analyzing the financial success of a company, but there are distinct differences between the two. To adequately determine whether a company is financially sound or poised for growth, investors must first understand what differentiates a companys profit from its profitability. Definition of Profit Profit is an absolute number determined by the amount of income or revenue above and beyond the costs or expenses a company incurs. It is calculated as total revenue minus total expenses and appears on a company's income statement. No matter the size or scope of the business or the industry in which it operates, a company's objective is always to make a profit. Definition of Profitability Profitability is closely related to profit but with one key difference. While profit is an absolute amount, profitability is a relative one. It is the metric used to determine the scope of a company's profit in relation to the size of the business. Profitability is a measurement of efficiency and ultimately its success or failure. A further definition of profitability is a business's ability to produce a return on an investment based on its resources in comparison with an alternative investment. Although a company can realize a profit, this does not necessarily mean that the company is profitable. 1:08 Profitability Index Real-Life Applications To determine the worth of an investment in a company, investors cannot rely on a profit calculation alone. Instead, an analysis of a companys profitability is necessary to understand if the company is efficiently utilizing its resources and its capital. If a company is deemed to have a profit but is unprofitable, there are tools for increasing profitability and overall company growth. Failing projects can quickly bog down a company, which directly leads to sunk costs. Companies can explore a profitability index to determine whether a project is worth pursuing to reduce the occurrence of project failures. This metric provides company management with insight into the costs versus the benefits of a project, and it is calculated by dividing the present value of future cash flows by a project's initial investment. A company can also increase profitability through the theory of marginal returns. One of the first steps a company takes to increase profitability is to boost sales, which requires an increase in production. Marginal return, also known as marginal product, is a theory that states that the addition of workers up to a certain point increases the use of capital in an efficient way; exceeding that number of workers leads to diminishing returns and ultimately less profitability. To be profitable, it is necessary for a company to apply this theory to its specific business and production needs to experience growth in an efficient, cost-effective manner. The Bottom Line Although they sound similar, profit and profitability are handled almost exclusively when it comes to investing and business management. Rearranging of product lines and increasing prices are two theories that hold the most sway over whether a company has a profit or can experience future profitability. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) is one of the most coveted stocks and one of the biggest companies in the world. The conglomerate has made a name for itself, thanks to the investing prowess of Warren Buffett who acquired the company in the mid-1960s. The billionaire investor has made Berkshire into a holding company by buying up troubled businesses and turning them around. With familiar brand names like GEICO, Duracell, and Fruit of the Loom under its belt, the Omaha, Nebraska company has a market capitalization close to $700 billion and Class A stock trading above $460,000 per share. This article looks at how Buffett turned the company into the success that it is today. Key Takeaways Warren Buffett purchased Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 and over the years, created the world's largest holding company. Buffett looks for troubled companies, buys them, and turns them around. Premiums paid to Berkshire Hathaway insurance companies can be invested as its managers see fit. Berkshire Hathaway invests in companies that have a long history of paying dividends. Buffett's strategy is to reinvest these dividends but not pay one to Berkshire Hathaway investors. 1:41 How Warren Buffett Made Berkshire A Winner Alison Czinkota / Investopedia Berkshire Hathaway: an Overview Berkshire Hathaway's history begins in the 19th century as two, separate Massachusetts cotton mills called Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates and Hathaway Manufacturing. The two companies merged in 1955 to become Berkshire Hathaway. In 1965, Warren Buffett and his investment firm purchased enough shares to take full control of the struggling company. Under his leadership, Berkshire Hathaway became one of the world's biggest holding companies. Buffett officially made Berkshire Hathaway a conglomerate, purchasing National Indemnity, the first of what would become many insurance acquisitions for the company. He distanced Berkshire from the textile industry by liquidating those assets completely. The company expanded its holdings to include other insurance companies as well as companies in the financial, clothing, entertainment, food and beverage, utilities, furniture, household products, media, and materials and construction industries. Some of the major, well-known subsidiaries under the Berkshire Hathaway banner include: GEICO Dairy Queen Fruit of the Loom Benjamin Moore Duracell Pilot Travel Centers Berkshire Hathaway's War Chest Berkshire Hathaway's lifeblood is what industry insiders call a float. This is any money paid to Berkshire Hathaways insurance subsidiaries in premiums that has yet to be used to cover any claims. This moneyalso referred to as available reservedoesn't actually belong to the insurance company. Yet, it remains on hand to be invested as its managers see fit. The company's float was $147 billion in 2021, $9 billion more than in 2020. Float allows Berkshire Hathaway to purchase temporarily wounded companies quickly and breathe life back into them. That's exactly what it did with Fruit of the Loom. Berkshire purchased the struggling clothing company for a mere $835 million in 2002 after its stock lost 97% of its value. One of the prime tenets held by Buffetts mentor, Benjamin Graham, is that dividends are an investors secret weapon. Many of the Fortune 500 companies in which Berkshire Hathaway holds large positionsApple (AAPL), Coca-Cola (KO), and American Express (AXP), to name a fewhave a steady history of paying and maintaining or increasing dividends every year. Coca-Cola, for example, increased its annual dividend 55 years in a row. While imprudent speculators chase hot stocks whose prices are rising, their patient brethren load up on companies with fundamentals formidable enough to allow regular cash payments to shareholders. Financial news outlets rarely showcase dividend data the way they do stock price and price movement figures, even though dividends provide one of the surest measures of a companys potency. After all, management will hand cash over to owners only when operations turn a large enough profit to make said payments feasible. So, perhaps it's not surprising that Buffet has pursued dividends along with value investing, and, as a result, has made Berkshire Hathaway so consistently successful. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett's unofficial successor will be Greg Abel, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Vice Chair in charge of noninsurance operations. This was unofficially announced by Vice Chair Charlie Munger on May 1, 2021. No date was suggested for the succession. Pay a Dividend? No Way Dividends may be what attract Buffett to a company. However, the same man declines to pay them out to his own investors. At first, this seems so self-evident that it barely counts as an observation. It makes sense to take the cash that other companies offer you, but never to pay cash out yourself. The only time that Berkshire Hathaway paid a dividend was once in 1967, to the tune of 10 cents per share. To this day, Buffett claims that he must have been in the bathroom when the dividend was authorized. That being said, it would be short-sighted for any Berkshire Hathaway shareholder to complain about the companys refusal to pay dividends. The stock price for Class A shares has skyrocketed since Buffett took the helm, trading at $275 in 1980, $32,500 in 1995, and $424,840 as of the May 5, 2021 market close. As of the May 17, 2022 market close, the share price was $471,670. That's quite a track record. Class B shares haven't done badly either. The price rose from $20.66 per share when first issued in 1996, to $79 in 2010, to $282 as of May 5, 2021. As of the May 17, 2022 market close, the Class B share price was $314.60. Berkshire Hathaways rationale is simple and arguing with it can be difficult. Think about it. As an investor, would you rather receive a dividend payment or see it reinvested by the team that turned a humble textile investment into one of the largest, most respected, and most financially robust companies to date? Since a single share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock is equivalent to several years worth of the average American salary, its no wonder that shares trade infrequently. Anywhere from 400 to 3,000 shares change hands daily. Buffett has never entertained the notion of a Class A split, as doing so could encourage speculation. However, Buffett did authorize the creation of the Class B share (BRK.B) in 1996, which was valued at 1/30 the value of its Class A counterpart. After a 50-for-1 split of BRK.B in 2010, the Class B stock replaced BNSF on the S&P 500 index. Its lower price and concomitant liquidity make Class B stock suitable for an index that attempts to gauge the value of the market. Class A stock is too expensive and too sparsely held to make an effective index component. What Is Berkshire Hathaway's Float? It refers to the money Berkshire Hathaway receives as premiums through its Property/Casualty insurance business that doesn't need to be paid out immediately. This money eventually will be distributed to others. However, until that time, the company invests it for its own and its shareholders' benefit. What Is a Dividend? A dividend is a portion of its profit that a company pays to its shareholders. Dividends must be approved by the company's board of directors. They're usually paid in cash. They represent a return shareholders can earn on an equity investment without selling their shares. How Much Does Berkshire Hathaway Stock Cost? It may be difficult to believe, but a single share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock recently closed at $471,670. In 1980, a share was priced at $275.00. The overall return of this stock from 1965 to 2021 was 3,641,613%. The Bottom Line Some investors look for value and then purchase shares of companies that fit their criteria. Berkshire Hathaway takes a similar approach. However, instead of buying a few shares of a company's stock, it buys the whole company. After applying that investment strategy for decades, Berkshire Hathaway became the massive global conglomerate that we know today. The cosmetics industry makes consumer beauty products such as makeup, lotions, shampoos, perfumes, hair colors, and accessories. Companies in this group include Revlon Inc., Inter Parfums Inc., and South Korea-based Amorepacific Corp. Cosmetics stocks can be found in both the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors, with the former including consumer staples companies that also sell cosmetics and the latter including dedicated high-end cosmetics companies. Over the last year, the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Sector Index has provided investors with a total return of 3.6%, while the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Sector Index has returned -14.1% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the Russell 1000 has returned -12.5%. Note that these sectors are not benchmarks for the cosmetics industry, but they can be used to get an idea of cosmetics stocks' performance. Both sectors include a much wider array of stocks than just cosmetics names. These market performance numbers and the statistics in the tables below are as of Sept. 19, 2022. Here are the top 3 cosmetics stocks with the best value, fastest growth, and the best performance. Best Value Cosmetics Stocks These are the cosmetics stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Because profits can be returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks, a low P/E ratio shows youre paying less for each dollar of profit generated. Top News - Investor Idea Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F) Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Top AI Cybersecurity Stock News - Investor Idea AI Cybersecurity Stock GBT (OTCPK: $GTCH) is Researching the Development of a Machine Learning Driven, RF Cybersecurity System and Protocol San Diego, CA - October 13, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) is researching the development of a machine learning driven radio frequency (RF) cybersecurity system and protocol. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire Kurdish region of Iraq has declared that the regional government will disburse the salaries of government employees except the security personnel. The region also noted that it is currently going through economic crisis due to low oil prices. The decision was taken "in order to ensure the continued distribution of part of the monthly salaries and allowances," the autonomous region's government said. Delayed salary payments from last year "will remain as loans to the finance ministry and will be entered in a special account... Until the financial situation improves," it said. Iraqi Kurdistan has been independently exporting crude via Turkey since a deal between it and Baghdad on oil and revenue sharing collapsed last year. Plunging prices have made a major dent in the oil revenues on which the region relies for the vast majority of its funds. Salaries for some Kurdish government employees have fallen months in arrears, and some have gone on strike to protest unpaid wages. The announcement about salaries came after Kurdish leader Massud Barzani called for a referendum on independence for Iraqi Kurds. But with immediate independence not a practical option, Barzani's call was likely an appeal to nationalism ahead of the bad news on salaries, or an attempt to otherwise aid himself politically. | Soruce: Business Standard | By S.Seal To halt internet services, Iraq is planning to persuade satellite firms in those areas, which are under control of Islamic State. The country is attempting to give a blow to IS potent propaganda machine which relies heavily on social media to inspire its followers to wage jihad. They use social media apps, like Twitter, Facebook, etc. These social networking websites are already trying to limit IS activities in their websites. So far that has proven to be a cat-and-mouse-game, with the group re-emerging through other accounts with videos showing beheadings and extolling the virtues of living in a caliphate. For Iraq then, the key is to stop the militant group from accessing the web at all - a feat, which if achieved, could sever a significant part of a propaganda campaign that has inspired deadly attacks in the West. Three telecom industry sources said that mobile networks are largely inoperable in the Islamic State-held swathes of Iraq, areas which also have little fixed-line broadband infrastructure. Militants instead use satellite dishes to connect to the web, or illicit microwave dishes that hook them into broadband networks in government-held areas. There are many challenges for the Iraqi authorities: within the satellite Internet industry, no one assumes responsibility for identifying and vetting end users, the territory under Islamic State's often shifts, and a complex web of middlemen makes it tough to pinpoint who is selling militants Internet capacity. The group has control over or operates in parts of western Iraq and northern and central Syria which have a population of up to 5 million people, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, most of them in Iraq. To connect to the web via a satellite; all that is required is a V-sat terminal - a small dish receiver and a modem - and an Internet subscription. Islamic State uses "the V-sat system to access the Internet in areas it controls," an Iraqi communications ministry official told Reuters. "What's still difficult for us is controlling V-sat receivers which connect directly to satellites providing Internet services that cover Iraq." In the IS-held northern city of Mosul, V-sat units can be bought for about $2,000-$3,000 at a sprawling electronics market near the university. The official said Iraq was in talks with satellite companies covering Iraq to halt Internet services to IS-controlled areas, adding that he had received "positive signals" from them, but "the process is complicated and needs more time and procedures." Accordingt o officials, Abu Dhabi state-owned Yahsat, both a satellite owner and provider of end-user connectivity through its consumer broadband brand YahClick, is the only company so far to cooperate with the ministry's request. Highlighting the complicated task, Reuters traced an IP address of an Islamic State fighter in Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria, which showed he was accessing the Internet using YahClick. Yahsat would not directly comment on whether Islamic State had used its services, but said it complied with all laws and regulations. It has no official presence in Syria. The company, among the biggest providers of satellite Internet in Iraq, relies on local agents to sell YahClick; three are listed on its website for Iraq, but other companies also sell the brand there. Another industry source stated, "Anybody can become a reseller. It's very informal and wholesalers probably want to keep it that way." Satellites owners such as Britain's Avanti, France's Eutelsat and Yahsat cover most of the Middle East. These sell capacity to other companies, such as Abu Dhabi's Wafa Technical Systems and Britain's Bentley Walker, which then use this capacity to sell services and equipment to businesses and consumers. Like Yahsat, these firms rely on in-country partners to distribute and sell their products. A company spokesperson said, "In common with all satellite operators, Avanti does not maintain identity or accurate location detail on end user customers." V-sat units, which are potentially portable, transmit their location and so should be traceable. But no one in the industry seems willing to take on the responsibility to vet users. Wafa and rival Bentley Walker, who buy satellite capacity and sell V-sat units, say they are unaware of who is ultimately using their services. Wafa, which has about 2,500 V-sat units in Iraq, said in online adverts it could deliver to any Iraqi city including Mosul. "The re-sellers are the people who know the clients and where the end users are located," said Kamal Arjundas, assistant director at the company. Customers of Bentley Walker can still use its services even if the V-sat unit is in an area beyond state control, said sales manager Neil Denyer. As of July last year, the firm said its service covered over 1,500 sites in northern Iraq. The company says it is Europe's largest re-seller of satellite Internet equipment. It sells its own FreedomSat brand and those of other companies such as YahClick. Denyer declined to identify the company's Iraqi partners, citing political and commercial concerns, and later did not respond when asked whether Islamic State could be using his company's products and services. Wafa's Arjundas also declined to identify its Iraqi partners and did not respond when asked about the militant group. Even if Iraq cuts off Islamic State from satellite Internet, the group can remain online through illegal networks set up by businessmen in towns such as Kirkuk, Arbil and Duhok. Three industry sources stated that these entrepreneurs buy data capacity from fixed broadband providers, passing through many middlemen first. They connect this to microwave dishes, which have a range of about 40 kilometers to eventually reach end users in IS-controlled areas. Another industry source said, "It's two hops via microwave dishes to Mosul." "Their activities have very little chance of being detected. If you can buy a certain amount of capacity for $100 in Arbil and sell it on for $500, it's good business." Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that rules over an autonomous area of northern Iraq have banned the sale of Internet capacity that could end up in Islamic State hands, but it is hard to enforce. There are many microwave dishes pointing in all directions in Iraq. The vast networks that mostly provide Internet connectivity to civilian homes and businesses make it difficult to establish who is using them. Industry sources claimed, "If you close one (of the businesses) down, they reappear under another disguise in a matter of days. They're very difficult to identify." "It would take enormous resources, knowledge and competency which Baghdad or the KRG don't have," said the third source. A moral quandary is whether IS-held areas should be denied Internet access thereby cutting off civilians living there, said Rafaello Pantucci, of Britain's Royal United Services Institute think-tank. Some have used the Internet to relate the abuses they have suffered. "Would cutting off such communications have a major impact in disrupting and degrading Islamic State's operations, or would it mostly just make the lives of people living under Islamic State even more difficult?" | Soruce: Business Insider | By S.Seal Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said that his country will send a team specialized in treating war wounded to Iraq as it prepares to send troops to guard Mosul dam maintenance workers. In the wake of the deadly Islamic State attacks in Paris in November, Italy declined French and American calls to join in air strikes in Syria. But it has since announced an increase in its non-combat presence in Iraq, where Islamic State's self declared caliphate also extends. In a media interview, Pinotti stated that Italy's cabinet would approve a mission to send 130 military personnel to retrieve and treat the wounded in the coming weeks. He added, "It is a big commitment (of personnel) because to go and pick up a wounded person in a war zone is not something one can do without risks." The mission responds to France's calls after the Paris attacks for allies to do more to fight Islamic State, she said, giving no further details about the planned operation. In December, the Italian government said it would deploy 450 soldiers to protect workers making urgent repairs on the Mosul dam. Together the two new missions will at least double Italy's presence in Iraq in coming months to more than 1,000. On Tuesday Italy said its Trevi Group had won a bid to carry out urgent repairs to Mosul's 3.6-km-long (2.2-mile) hydro-electric dam, which has suffered from structural flaws since its construction in the 1980s. A U.S. general said last week there was chance of catastrophic collapse of the dam, which would unleash a wall of water down the heavily populated Tigris River valley. Italy has about 530 soldiers in Iraq already. Some are in Erbil training Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, while others are providing training to counter terrorism forces and police in Baghdad. | Soruce: Business Insider | By S.Seal Finance minister of Iraq stated that the OPEC cartel of oil-producing nations is "trying, really" to cut output and raise prices as his country suffers the effects of the weakness. Hoshyar Zebari said the country's revenues had fallen "dramatically" as a result of the market turmoil - at a time the government is trying to defeat so-called Islamic State (IS) in the country - putting a huge strain on resources. Iraq relies mostly on oil revenues. Hence, due to global oil price glut, the country is passing through financial pains. The government forecast the price of oil this year at $45 per barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) failed to cut output last year to help prop up prices as it battles to maintain its market share from the challenge posed by cheaper, US-produced shale oil. However, a former Iraqi oil minister - now an MP on the parliament's energy committee - is optimistic that prices will soon recover. Ibrahim Bahr Al Ulloum said, "We are seeing some discussion between Saudi Arabia and Russia and also from inside the OPEC to push Saudi Arabia to reduce production." The solution sounds simple reduce production of oil and the price will increase. But in the long term, experts here, including Dr Ulloum, believe that OPEC, which was founded in Baghdad to unify the oil price, needs to be restructured to include other big oil producing nations including Russia. Mr. Zebari mentioned, "OPEC is trying really to cut production collectively and the gap between supply and demand will close by the end of this year - but these are all expectations." Across Iraq, businesses are going under. People are trying to save whatever money they are making in case things get worse. Prices are going up but salaries are not. The government has warned its 8 million employees that soon, it may be unable to pay their wages because of the huge state deficit - a deficit Mr. Zebari put at 24%. Managers like Haider Rasheed, who owns a car dealership in Baghdad, say people are worried about the deteriorating security. He said, We have militias, we have gangs in Iraq and now those people dont have money and that means they will kidnap and commit crimes more. He further added, Maybe they kill people to take money from them. The huge deficit also affects the war effort and has the potential to reverse gains made against IS in recent months, which could not only destabilize Iraq but also its neighbors. Oil analyst Dr. Sajad Jiyad thinks declining oil prices may also contribute to the European migration crisis. He said, Additionally youve got the young people who have had enough of, number one, the violence that has happened in Iraq in the last few months, and, number two, the economic fallout, and they are seeking a better life elsewhere. | Soruce: Yahoo | By S.Seal It is anticipated that in forthcoming days Kurdistan region of Iraq would serve as the launch pad for U.S.-supported efforts to liberate Raqqa and Mosul, the capitals of the so-called Islamic State. In longer terms, it is expected that Kurdistan may emerge as a separate state, liberated from Iraq both financially and politically. Foreign policy advisor of Kurdistan regional government, Hemin Hawrami is set to participate in a Policy Forum, hosted by the Washington Institute. In the event, he will discuss US and Kurdish military cooperation, economic crisis and opportunities of Kurdistan and the situation of Iraq as well as Syria. David Pollock, the Institute's Kaufman Fellow, will also throw lights on a few crucial things about the future of Iraqi Kurdistan. It has a lot of challenges ahead, and at the same time there are some crucial opportunities. | Soruce: washington Institute | By S.Seal According to the oil minister of Iraq, OPECs top oil producer Saudi Arabia and top non-OPEC producer Russia are now keen on showing flexibility about agreeing to tackle an oil glut that has pushed prices to 12-year lows. Adel Abdel Mahdi, whose country is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said, We have seen some flexibility from the brothers in Saudi and a change in tone from Russia. His comments, made in Kuwait, boosted Brent crude by 3% to above $31 a barrel, although such an idea has been repeatedly mooted and dismissed for more than a year. He also mentioned, This should be finalized and we should hear some solid suggestions coming from all parts, from OPEC and non-OPEC, at least from OPEC. A day earlier, senior officials from OPEC and Russia stepped up vague talk of possible joint action to fix the supply glut. OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said other producers should work with the group to tackle swollen global stockpiles so prices can recover, essentially reiterating OPECs position that it would consider cutting output only if others pitched in. Moscow, seen as key to any agreement, has so far refused to cooperate. But Leonid Fedun, vice-president of Lukoil, Russias second-largest oil producer, was quoted as saying on Monday Moscow needed to start working with OPEC. OPEC is considering a request from cash-strapped member Venezuela to hold an emergency meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices, and Venezuela has called for a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC in February. Kuwaiti acting Oil Minister Anas al-Saleh said they were willing to back an emergency meeting of OPEC, but only if an agenda were agreed in advance. Adel Abdel Mahdi further mentioned, It is useless to go to a meeting without deciding up front. We said yes if others are willing to go but we have to decide before, otherwise this will backfire on us. We have to go forward - I think the market needs that but we also look at our partners outside OPEC to do the same. OPECs Gulf members, led by Saudi Arabia, insist OPEC will not cut production by itself, as this would give up market share to rivals, and expect the market to balance itself over time. Qatar said oil could turn into a bull market before the end of 2016 as investments in the industry were dropping too fast and more companies were poised to go bankrupt while global demand continued to grow. Dr. Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, minister of energy and industry said, The current price of oil is not sustainable and hence it should change. | Soruce: Gulf Times | By S.Seal Mr. Big is Mr. Irish! "Sex and the City Star" Chris Noth headed to County Cavan last week to trace his Irish roots. Noth discovered that his great-grandfather was from Cavan, and left home for Canada around 1840. Grandpas surname was Maguire, and he was originally from Knockbride. Noth visited the Cavan Library to do some research. A big day at Johnston Central #cavan. Hollywood actor Chris Noth visits, the library tweeted last Wednesday. The man who broke and eventually healed Carrie Bradshaws heart on "Sex and the City" had lunch in the Farnham Arms Hotel, and was lovely to all the locals he met. He was very charming in real life and made time for everyone, an onlooker told Independent.ie. He had previously known that he has Irish roots but didnt know where it was in his family so he was very excited. Gangland killings, two in a few days, have suddenly become the centerpiece of the Irish election as violent crime races to the top of the agenda. A drugs war between two rival gangs ended in a further killing on Monday night when Eddie Hutch Senior, brother of reputedly notorious crime lord Gerry The Monk Hutch was gunned down in his home despite extra police security in the city. The Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald described the killing as deplorable and ruthless. The chief suspect is said to be alleged international drugs trafficker Christy Kinahan, whose criminal enterprise reportedly operates out of Spain. Last week the Kinahan gang was attacked by the Hutch gang in a Dublin hotel and one man was killed, leading to the latest feud. Regency hotel murder - astonishing photos emerge of 'transvestite' gunman fleeing the scene https://t.co/Zzn7bNZZzt pic.twitter.com/3v9LYYBULm Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) February 7, 2016 Minister Fitzgerald said the fatal shooting in Dublin is another deplorable example of the ruthlessness of gangland criminal. She continued It seems that some gangs are intent on waging a feud where human life counts for nothing. The impact on the Irish general election will be considerable with lawlessness considered a prime issue to begin with. Now with bullets flying and Irish police unable to stop the feud it will become a major issue between the parties. Sinn Fein may have the most difficulty with the issue and Enda Kenny has been quick to point out their own violent associations in the past and say they cannot be trusted in government. Sinn Fein for their part say Fine Gael have made police job cuts an unfortunate priority and the force needs badly to be strengthened. Overall then the Irish general election is hotting-up and it looks like there will be no clear and decisive outcome after voting takes place on Friday, Feb 26. For a leader who appeared to hold all the aces in the card-game, Taoiseach Enda Kenny screwed-up badly at the start of his campaign and will need to recover lost ground. Meanwhile, his coalition partners at present, the Labour Party, is also in difficulty surrounding controversial comments by their deputy leader Alan Kelly. Having announced the election in Dail Eireann, Kenny left the chamber in less than a minute and without giving opposition leaders a chance to respond. It was a bizarre episode. He clearly didn't want political rivals getting free publicity and, of course, Micheal Martin of Fianna Fail and Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein would have seized the opportunity to launch a sharp attack on the outgoing government. But that's how democracy works and Kenny's action was seen as insulting to the main house of the Irish parliament on the last day of a five-year term. Irish people like their prime ministers to show respect for an institution which was hard-won through the 1916 Rising and subsequent War of Independence. Many of the young people who died in those years would have been forebears, in political and/or family terms, of the current Fine Gael party. For one of the most successful heads of government Ireland has seen in a long time, the man from Mayo is strangely lacking in self-confidence. At a press conference later in the day, he balked at answering a question about Fine Gael's economic policy. I was there and it looked very much as if Kenny was wary of getting into deep water where he might find himself floundering and maybe pleading for help. It is about the only feature Enda Kenny and Gerry Adams have in common. The Sinn Fein president has had some unhappy media encounters on economic issues and will never be Ireland's answer to Joseph Stiglitz or Paul Krugman. The Taoiseach relies heavily on his seasoned Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, a smooth Limerick Man who talks a good game, while Adams for his part depends on Sinn Fein's highly-articulate Finance Spokesperson, Pearse Doherty from Donegal. Read more: Irish election pits the Haves against the Have nots As if it couldn't get any worse, Kenny did not appear on the main RTE news bulletin that evening at six o'clock when other leaders were putting their case. This may have been the result of a mix-up rather than a deliberate decision, but it looked bad and the impression came across that the Taoiseach was fearful of the media spotlight. Yet this is the man who has a fair chance of becoming the first leader of the Fine Gael party to be returned to the office of Taoiseach after a general election. His supporters are fond of proclaiming that when he took over from Brian Cowen in 2011, he inherited an economy that had fallen into ruins under the outgoing Fianna Fail-Green Party administration. Five years on, the Fine Gael and Labour partners in government boast of having led us through the desert to the promised land and their message is that if we don't give them another term in office the economic recovery will be put in serious danger. A constant theme is that we shouldn't trust Fianna Fail, who made a mess of things in the past , or Sinn Fein, whose policies would destroy the economy in the future. Such was the level of controversy a few months ago on a whole range of issues concerning Gerry Adams and his party that it looked as if the entire election would be about "SF" (for Sin Fein) but now the main topic of debate is "FS" (for Fiscal Space). This is a phrase that was barely mentioned until very recently but, since the campaign started, it has been the main issue, day in and day out. Fiscal Space is the economic equivalent of "wiggle room", the amount of spare cash that could be available to the next government to cover tax cuts, spending on welfare increases and other public programs or projects, provided the economy grows at an average of three percent annually over the next five years. There has been disagreement between parties over the figure involved, with estimates varying from 8.6 to 12 billion or $9.6 to $13.4 billion. That's a modest amount in US terms but a vast sum for a small state like the Republic of Ireland. Unusually, for a party that gets little positive media coverage, Sinn Fein were adjudged by respected journalists to have been the only ones to do the math properly from the start and opt for what is deemed to be the correct figure of 8.6bn. Gerry Adams on the high moral ground is a rare sight in Irish politics, but he took the opportunity to declare at a press conference that the other major parties had been "caught out cooking the books" and he called on them to withdraw their manifestos because they were based on false figures. He was speaking at the launch of Sinn Fein's election campaign in the Royal Irish Academy on Dublin's Dawson Street. There are several institutions in the Republic which retain the word "royal" in their titles although it is worth pointing out that a former president of the RIA, John Kells Ingram (1823-1907) was the author of the famous ballad, "Who Fears to Speak of '98?" in memory of the 1798 rebellion. The latest opinion polls at time of writing have Sinn Fein at 17 to 21 percent which is considerably higher than the 9.9 percent achieved in the last general election five years ago and suggests it will increase its Dail representation from the current 14 seats to around 24 or perhaps more. Small wonder, then, that the mood at the SF launch was quite upbeat. The tone of Labour's campaign launch later that day was rather somber by comparison. The party currently has 33 seats in Dail Eireann, but the most positive poll finding at present suggests it will only have 15 when the votes are counted this time and, on a really bad day, could end up with fewer than ten. There is considerable media focus on the personality of the party's deputy leader, Alan Kelly, who is Minister for the Environment in the outgoing government and does not mince his words or suffer fools gladly. Given that his leader, Joan Burton, is facing a very tough challenge in her Dublin West constituency, the Tipperary Man might end up replacing her after the election, but as head of a much-smaller party. Given the ham-fisted start to Fine Gael's campaign and the likely heavy losses in store for Labour, the current coalition looks as if it will need to call on independent members of the new Dail plus smaller, fringe parties to put a government together next time. The other main option could be a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail alliance, healing the Civil War divisions dating back to the early 1920s. The next Dail assembles on March 10, almost two weeks after the general election and it should be a fascinating game of parliamentary arithmetic as parties scramble for power. It's all to play for in Irish politics these days. NOTE: Deaglan the Breadun's latest book, "Power Play: The Rise of Modern Sinn Fein" is published by Merrion Press. Read more: America could learn a thing or two from Irelands election process 1. Printers were barely able to print the Proclamation. The printers of the Easter Proclamation did not have enough letter es so they used fs and hammered off the bottom bar. The antique printing press had to print the proclamation in two parts and there are numerous typographical problems and different fonts were used. 1,000 copies were printed of which about 15 remain, though some claim 30 but there were many bogus ones printed later. 2. Joseph Plunkett's sister did not like Michael Collins, called him a Pup. The family of proclamation signatory Joseph Mary Plunkett was a famed one with noble ancestors. However, his nephew remembers Plunketts sister taking a mighty dislike to Michael Collins before The Rising. Eoghan Plunkett told the Irish Times, I have to explain to you that my mother knew Mick [Michael] Collins very well, he says. He had an office in her flat and she despised him. He was a pup, a nasty piece of work. Whenever he came into their living room, the carpet on the livingroom floor was surrounded by a timber floor, but he walked on the timber part, says Plunkett. Why? Because it made more noise. Thats the sort of fellow that he was. She and he were both from west Cork; she recognized him for what he was. Was Collins was one of the greatest Irishmen? Plunkett laughs. Not in our eyes. 3. The son of a 1916 leader went on to rule the country. The father of future Irish leader Garret FitzGerald took part in the uprising. Desmond FitzGerald and his wife married in 1911, moved to Brittany and then in 1913 to Irish-speaking Dingle in County Kerry, where he organized the newly-formed Irish Volunteers, according to Peter McDermott of the Irish Echo. They had gone to Ireland to take part in the national movement, a cause distinct from that of the predominant Home Rule party. After being prohibited by the authorities from operating in Kerry, FitzGerald moved to Bray, Co. Wicklow, 15 miles from Dublin, where the family lived thereafter. Mabel FitzGerald worked in Dublin for Cumann na mBan, whose offices didnt have a typewriter, She would go home to do the typing at night, having spent the day meeting people, her son said. She was involved in the first few days of the Rising. After shed completed a couple of important missions for him, Patrick Pearse said: You cant have the parents of two small children here you go home. Desmond FitzGerald had been put in charge of the food supplies on the third floor of the GPO, where the restaurant was, Everybody came up to eat there, said his son. 4. Another 1916 father and son led the Irish nation. Another future leader whose son also became leader was W. T. Cosgrave, his son Liam, still living, became Irish leader in the 1970s. W. T. Cosgrave was Irish leader in the first post-civil war government. He was widely criticized for allowing the execution of 77 political opponents and his reputation never recovered. His son Liam Cosgrave was Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977 and is still hale and hearty at 95, and he recently launched a new biography on his father. 5. Looting was a huge problem in Dublin during the Rising. The regular unarmed police were withdrawn after several deaths and the poorest citizens took the opportunity to fill their coffers. 425 people were arrested as looters. 6. Off to the races as revolution broke out. The reason Dublin was almost denuded of British officers on Easter Monday 1916 was because most of them were at the Fairyhouse Races, where Irelands most famous race, the Irish Grand National was being run. It was a huge fashion day at the track with everyone, especially the ladies, in their finery. News of the insurrection eventually reached the racetrack and there was a rush to return to Dublin, but the officers were held up by a massive horse and carriage and automobile jam. When many got back to Dublin they could not get to their posts because of snipers. 7. Oldest living relative of the executed rebels is 102 years old. The oldest survivor of those executed is Father Joseph Mallin, now 102 and in good health, son of Michael Mallin whom he visited in his death cell as a very young child. Joseph Mallin was just two years old when his father, Michael, was executed at Kilmainham Gaol for his part in the Easter Rising. As Chief of Staff of the Irish Citizen Army, Michael Mallin was second-in-command to James Connolly. Before he was shot, on May 8, 1916, Michael wrote to his family, telling his baby son: Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can. Joseph became a priest. He is now 102 years old and lives in Hong Kong. There he worked at the Wah Yan College, a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys run by the Society of Jesus, Ireland. Joseph Mallin is the last surviving child of any of the Easter Rising leaders. In a letter dated July 2011, he recalled some of his memories of 1916 and the aftermath. Fr Joseph also described a 2009 visit home to Ireland, and to Kilmainham Gaol, scene of his fathers execution. The young lady at the entrance mentioned the entrance fee. I couldnt refrain from a wee joke. I said, The first time I came here I didnt have to pay entrance fee but went on Ah, that time I was only two and a half years of age and I was asleep. Later, when she was leading us round the prison and the group had dispersed, I told her who I was. As he was just an infant, Fr Joseph remembers little of the year 1916, or the day he was first brought to Kilmainham. As I said to the young lady in Kilmainham, I was asleep. I know I was asleep on the metal stairway in the main hall. My sister told me that. A soldier came over and said he was very sorry for me. My first memory comes later. Father Joseph said his father or the events of Easter week were not common topics of conversation in the years that followed the executions as his mother did not want to burden him. Perhaps it was wise of my mother in those years not to speak of my father. She was very wise. Mrs Pearse and Mrs Austin Stack held her in a certain sort of reverence, he said. Michael Mallin was survived by his wife Agnes, his three sons (including Joseph) and two daughters, the youngest of whom was not born until four months after his execution. Joseph explained: The 1916 event took a toll on my mothers health. I accidentally heard Surgeon Stokes say her breakdown in health was a direct result of 1916. 8. One brave priest attended all of the leaders executions. Father Eugene McCarthy officially attended at each execution. He was roused from his bed each morning at 4am. After the prisoners were placed against the wall and the firing party fired, his duty was to anoint the body where it fell. On the morning of Joseph Plunketts execution he was taken away earlier than usual and told he was to perform the marriage ceremony of the prisoner and Grace Gifford prior to the execution. Mrs Plunkett afterwards visited him in the presbytery, during which time the place was raided by the military. In giving a description of James Connollys execution Fr McCarthy told me that the prisoner, who was in a bad condition, elected to stand like the rest but failed. He was then tied to a chair but slumped so much that he overbalanced. Finally he was strapped to a stretcher and placed in a reclining position against the wall. The sight left an indelible impression on Fr McCarthy. Describing the scene to me afterwards he said: The blood spurted in the form of a fountain from the body, several streams shooting high into the air. After the storm of executions had passed it was arranged to have Mass in the Richmond Barracks, where most of the rank and file were being held captive and in Kilmainham. By degrees the number of prisoners dwindled until we eventually had Mass for the last time in 1916 for William Partridge, who was far advanced in TB and who died the following week. The jail then closed until the advent of the Black and Tans. 9. The final resting place of the executed leaders is not where you might think. Many expect it is Glasnevin but not so, The military cemetery at Arbour Hill is the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the insurrection of 1916. Among those buried there are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John McBride. The leaders were executed in Kilmainham and their bodies were then transported to Arbour Hill, where they were buried. The graves are located under a low mound on a terrace of Wicklow granite in what was once the old prison yard. The grave site is surrounded by a limestone wall on which their names are inscribed in Irish and English. On the prison wall opposite the grave site is a plaque with the names of other people who gave their lives in 1916. The adjoining Church of the Sacred Heart, which is the prison chapel for Arbour Hill prison, is maintained by the Department of Defence. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery, where lie the remains of British military personnel who died in the Dublin area in the 19th and early 20th century. 10. No one really knows what the weather was like during the Rising. What was the weather like at Easter 1916? We don't really know. The weather records from Trinity College Dublin from 1904 to 1959 were the official record. The observations were handwritten on broadsheet sized templates, which were issued by the Meteorological Office in London. At 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily, readings for atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind direction, wind speed, cloud cover and rainfall (among other data) were recorded. Each template sheet also had a field for Remarks, where observers could record additional information. Generally, an observer might record a thunderstorm, a gale or another unusual weather event in this field but on one occasion, something different was recorded. In the Remarks made by an observer at TCD in April 1916 he writes Owing to the disturbances in Dublin the observations were not taken from 24th to end of month. It was, of course, on the 24th of April 1916, that Patrick Pearse stood outside the G.P.O to read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The disturbances to which our observer referred was the start of the Easter Rising. The meteorological records did not resume again until May 18, 1916. For a period of almost four weeks, weather recording stopped. Labour has committed to cutting student fees by 500 if re-elected to government. It is part of a range of promises for higher education including providing 100,000 free part time education places. The party had promised during the 2011 election campaign to not raise student fees and subsequently increased them to 3,000 a year once in Government. Tanaiste Joan Burton has said that the resources were not available at the time to fund the cost of third level education. I would certainly hope that as resources become available well be able to provide more resources into our third level system in Ireland, said Burton. To make college an experience again that everyone who wants to go to college and qualifies to go to college will be in a position to do that. By Elaine Loughlin, Irish Examiner Political Reporter The Taoiseach has remained silent on last nights gangland shooting and criticisms of Garda resources. Read More: It is believed his murder was in retaliation for the shooting dead of David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra last Friday. This morning the GRA, which represents rank and file gardai, has come out strongly against the Government for not providing enough resources to the force. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is due to meet with Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan this morning and has promised gardai will be given all the resources required to hunt the killers down. Enda Kenny was interviewed live on local radio this morning in Wexford, but was not asked about the shootings this week. He has yet to make a public statement on the latest murder on the campaign trail, however he is expected to later today. In a statement this morning a spokesman for Mr Kenny said: The Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice have been in ongoing regular contact on these issues. As previously stated they are of one mind that no resources will be spared in the hunt for the perpetrators of these appalling acts. The Minister for Justice will continue to update on further developments on these matters. A man has died after being found on fire outside Kensington Palace in the early hours of this morning, police said. Officers were called to the London home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after receiving reports a man was behaving suspiciously. On arrival a man, believed to be in his forties, was found on fire. London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade were called to the scene but the man was pronounced dead at around 3.42am, despite efforts to save him. It is understood that the incident is not being treated as suspicious, and no-one else was thought to be involved. A spokesman for the Met said officers were called by a central London hospital at just after midnight on Tuesday after a man in their care had failed to return. They added: Police carried out inquiries to trace this missing man at his home address and two associated addresses but the man, aged in his forties, was not present. Subsequently, police in Kensington and Chelsea were called to an area near the locked parks of Kensington Palace at 3.06am following reports of a man behaving suspiciously. Officers attended and found a man, believed to be aged in his 40s, ablaze. Inquiries are ongoing. This incident is not being treated as terrorist-related. A spokesman for the royal family confirmed the Duke and Duchess Cambridge were not in the palace on Tuesday. They are believed to have been in Norfolk at the time of the incident. The latest KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index for January basically shows that an improvement in household finances is outweighing concerns over jobs and the wider economy, at the moment. The index shows a reading of 108.6 points for last month; up from 103.9 in December. The December reading was a 10-year high and Januarys index shows the strongest level of confidence since February 2001. The improvement in Irish consumer sentiment in January seems largely due to domestic developments as comparable confidence measures for many other countries posted slightly weaker readings last month, said KBC Ireland chief economist Austin Hughes. However, there was a notable weakening in employment sentiment in the latest survey. While still reasonably positive, 49% of respondents said they anticipate a fall in the unemployment rate over the course of the next 12 months. This was down from 51% in the December survey, however. Similarly, the percentage of those anticipating a worsening in employment levels has gone up from 16% to 21% in the past month. We cant fully explain why thinking on the Irish jobs market weakened last month, said Mr Hughes. It could reflect concerns that the most threatening consequence of poorer global conditions would be felt in their impact on employment. "These results may also owe something to substantial job losses at C&C reported during the survey period. "It might even be that some consumers feel quite removed from the sort of jobs market conditions implied by a range of recruitment surveys suggesting pay growth is picking up notably. "Of course, it is also possible that this result could simply be a statistical blip, he added. The end of year pick-up in consumer spending patterns may have had a knock-on effect on sentiment levels, leading the surveys authors to suggest the potential for a slight dip in Februarys readings. However, they claim to have seen enough in the January index to suggest Irish consumer confidence is on a firm enough footing. According to Mr Hughes: The strength seen in other aspects of the survey, related to personal finances, seems to reflect growing confidence that household spending power is now set on an improving trajectory. "For the first time since 2006 slightly more consumers reported an improvement, rather than a deterioration, in their personal finances over the past year. Admittedly, the balance was relatively small, which suggests the turn is still uneven. "However, some sense of how much more broadly-based the economic upswing has become of late is suggested by a comparison with the January 2015 survey, when negative responses outnumbered positive responses by about two-to-one, he said. Mr Hughes said while household finances are at their strongest since 2000, and should stay strong for 2016, this shouldnt be read as implying a surge in Irish households spending power is now underway. PDForra the organisation which represents 8,200 enlisted men in the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps estimate rank and file members spend nearly 3m a year on dry-cleaning, shoe polish, and other sundries necessary for their work. PDForra is still awaiting a decision on a claim it lodged with the Revenue Commissioners in December 2014 to have the expenses legitimately recognised, estimating that each serviceman has to pay out 300 a year on dry-cleaning. Under Defence Forces regulations, it is an offence to turn out on parade in a dirty uniform, a misdemeanor that can lead to a caution or even a fine. PDForra said its members are so conscious of this they will even dry-clean their uniforms after practice parades. They could participate in three of these before any major event. This year, they are likely be involved in around 42 major parades, on top of participating in a number of smaller local events. Every day this year, members of the Defence Forces will provide a colour party to raise the national flag outside the GPO in Dublin. In addition, around 3,500 of them are expected to parade through the capital on Easter Sunday. For regular updates on news and features (as well as twitter action action as it may have happened 100 years ago) to mark the revolutionary period follow @theirishrev HERE Boot polish costs about 3 a tin and is likely to only last a couple of weeks. Personnel also have to pay out of their own pockets to mount medals on a special bar which they attach to their uniforms. This costs about 50 a time and some can have up to 13 medals. Nurses, gardai and prison officers get allowances to cover cleaning uniforms etc. PDForra deputy general secretary Gerard Guinan said military personnel in a number of other countries get the allowances. You cant put a uniform in a washing machine, it just doesnt work, he said. It has to be dry-cleaned. Its ironic that 100 years on members of the Defence Forces have to pay for the upkeep of their uniforms just like the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers did. Nothing has moved on. Mr Guinan said it is frustrating for his members that it is taking so long to get a decision when they see other personnel within the public and private sectors, with similar responsibilities to maintain their uniforms, attaining recognition in the form of a flat rate expense. The Revenue Commissioners said it has sought clarification on a number of issues relating to the claim and was involved in ongoing examination of the categories of duty carried out and the types of expenses wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred. David Stanton, outgoing chairman of the Oireachtas Commmittee on Defence, said he would look into it after the election. Mr Stanton, who served as an officer in the Reserve Defence Forces for several years, said he would speak with the Minister for Finance about adopting legislation to have such expenses recognised by the Revenue Commissioners. He also said he would look into it with the Department of Defence. It would be reasonable to expect that legitimate expenses would be reimbursed as is the case in most jobs, Mr Stanton said. For regular updates on news and features (as well as twitter action action as it may have happened 100 years ago) to mark the revolutionary period follow @theirishrev HERE Mr Justice Bernard Barton said he was satisfied that Detective Garda John Leahy, aged 52, suffered an exacerbation of a degenerative condition in his back and left hip which required surgery. The State had claimed that it accepted the incident may have exacerbated Det Garda Leahys back condition, but denied that it was sufficient enough to result in surgery. Det Garda Leahy had told a Garda compensation hearing that in June 2008 he was a member of the Divisional Drug Unit in Galway and was patrolling in a car with Garda Orla Keenan when they noticed two known drug users around Wolfe Tone Bridge. The court heard that the two gardai followed them until they entered a house at St Dominics Rd, The Claddagh, which was known as a place used for the distribution of heroin. Det Garda Leahy said when they confirmed that suspicious activity was going on inside, they waited for Garda reinforcements and shouted Garda Drug Unit as they entered the house. Det Garda Leahy told his barrister, Bruce Antoniotti, that the light was switched off in the room as he tried to search the man who resisted, causing both of them to fall. The court heard that as the light was switched on again, the man succeeded in freeing himself while they wrestled on the floor. Three dogs, two pitbull terriers and a Yorkshire terrier, were released from another room. The pitbulls attacked Det Garda Leahy, biting him on the legs. Other gardai managed to beat off the dogs. Det Garda Leahy said the dogs were extremely vicious, snarling, growling, and ripping at his jeans and his flesh, particularly on his left calf. Garda Keenan, who burst into tears as she recollected the incident, said it was the worst experience she had seen in her life. It was horrific. Ive never ever seen anything like that. The dogs were ripping open his leg. He was screaming and there was blood everywhere, she told Judge Barton. The court heard that the gardai eventually managed to remove one of the pitbulls by hitting him on the head with a baton. Det Garda Leahy, after wrestling with the dog for several minutes, managed to lie on his back, holding the dogs throat. Judge Barton heard that it took six gardai to eventually control the dogs. Mr Antoniotti told the court Det Garda Leahy was taken to Galway Hospital where his injuries were sutured. One wound required 100 stitches. The court heard the wounds have left multiple scars on Garda Leahys legs. He had been out of work for a year and needed to undergo physiotherapy sessions. Det Garda Leahy, who is part of the Crime Unit in Galway and in 1989 received a Scott Medal for bravery after he saved a man from a building in a Dublin fire, said he was still suffering from mild symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Judge Barton said he was satisfied his back and hip surgeries had been required following the attack, awarding him 207,526 damages. Counsel Paul Howard told Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that she had earlier directed that 4,500 be paid to Declan Heffernan to provide him with shelter during the cold spell over Christmas and New Year. Mr Howard, who appeared for Mr Heffernan with solicitors CN Doherty and Co, said the earlier payment had been used to pay hotel accommodation for him but that money had run out. He said solicitor Colm Doherty was paying Mr Heffernans hotel bill until a further payout could be released by the court. Mr Howard sought short service of notice on the trustees, Michael J Kennedy, solicitor, and Carolyn Heffernan, a retired solicitor and sister of Mr Heffernan, of Castle Avenue, Clontarf, for direction of a further pay-out. Judge Linnane put the matter in for February 11, and suggested Mr Doherty ask the trustees to agree to periodic payouts to keep down legal costs while all issues were set down for trial. The court heard that the 1.5m trust fund, consisting of the value of two properties, was left by their late mother between Mr Heffernan and his sister Carolyn and may yet be wound up by consent. Mr Heffernans former home at Kincora Rd, Clontarf, Dublin, was badly damaged by fire and until just before Christmas he had been sleeping in an outhouse attached to the property. Judge Linnane was told an insurance company had paid the trustees 100,000 compensation following the fire but the house had not been made habitable since. The second property was being rented out by the trust. The judge said that if the trustees agreed to periodic payments to Mr Heffernan through his solicitor there may be no need to proceed with Thursdays application and further legal costs could be kept to a minimum. Pat McLoughlin, aged 56, of Lalibela, Mayfield, Claremorris, Co Mayo, was one of five Aras Attracta staff who were convicted of assaulting residents with intellectual disabilities in their care at Ballina Court yesterday, but McLoughlin was the only one to be handed down a prison sentence. Covert CCTV footage showed the manager sitting on Ms A, a resident with severe intellectual disabilities. Handing down the sentence, Judge Mary Devins said there was a hint of cruelty, an invasion of the ladys bodily integrity, and an abuse of power by the defendant. She sentenced him to four months in prison and directed he pay 1,000 to Ms As personal fund to be used on the things she enjoys. She ordered the money be used on things to humanise Ms A again . Counsel for McLoughlin lodged an appeal against his clients sentence. Christina Delaney, aged 35, of Seefin, Lissatava, Hollymount, Co Mayo, a health care assistant, was also seen sitting on Ms A. She was ordered to pay 600 to Ms As personal fund. Her case was adjourned to see if she is suitable for community service. Nurse Joan Walsh, aged 42, of Carrowilkeen, Curry, Co Sligo, slapped Ms B, a non-verbal patient looking for her attention. Judge Devins said her actions were on the minor side of minor, and all of the witnesses spoke highly of her. She directed her to pay 600 to Ms Bs personal fund and she will be assessed for community service. Kathleen King, aged 56, of Knockshanvally, Straide, Foxford, Co Mayo, who was found guilty of slapping Ms C, a 66-year-old resident, was directed to pay 600 to the residents personal fund. If found suitable for community service, all three will serve 120 hours in lieu of three months imprisonment. Joan Gill, aged 63, of 35 Dublin Rd, Swinford, Co Mayo, was found guilty of three counts of assault. The judge directed her to pay 1,000 to Ms A, and 500 to Ms B. If found suitable for community service, she will serve 240 hours in lieu of four months prison. The four defendants deferred for community assessment reports will come before the courts on March 11 . An overwhelming majority (88%) of people who took part in a Newstalk/Red C poll also believe refugees should be Garda vetted. However, most people (67%) support the Governments commitment to receive 4,000 refugees but one in three believe the figure is too many. One in five believe Ireland should take more. It also found that most people remain open to accommodating refugees in their communities 60% are happy to have refugees live close to where they live. Irish Refugee Council Chief executive Sue Conlon said peoples concerns about refugees were not well-founded. Refugees are security cleared, either before they come or when they arrive in the country and their fingerprints are taken, she said. Ms Conlon said some people might be confusing EU migrants with refugees. Ms Conlon said she the survey showed people were willing to have refugees live alongside them as long as they had security clearance. Ms Conlon said her biggest concern was that the poll might have confused issues and wanted to pursue the matter further. Some peoples views may have mistakenly been given because they did not have accurate information about refugees and that was not their fault, said Ms Conlon. I would like to see the questions these people were asked. When it comes to housing refugees, the survey found that 65% of Irish people believe local authority housing would be the most suitable. Some 43% of people support direct provision, 38% support voluntary host accommodation, with 26% favouring hostels and hotels. Red C Research Chief executive Richard Colwellsaid it was clear that immigration is an issue that divides voters in Ireland. A third of voters believe bringing in 4,000 refugees from Syria is too many, he said. Even more are concerned about the possible impact of increased crime, with the majority demanding Garda vetting. However, if assured by proper vetting, the majority of Irish citizens retain their legendary welcome for outsiders, showing a clear desire to help at least the 4,000 refugees that has been agreed and an openness to accommodating them in close proximity to their homes. The refugees will be taken in over the next two years as part of the new Irish Refugee Protection Programme. Around 200 have already arrived in Ireland. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said assessments and decisions on refugee status would be made within weeks. World: 11 CyberSafeIreland has raised concerns that pre-teenage children are not being adequately protected when using social networking sites. It pointed to data from the Net Children Go Mobile project (studying internet access and use, and risks and opportunities for European children online), which shows that more than half (56%) of pre-teens using social networking sites in Ireland are lying about their age. That study found that 17% of children between nine and 12 years old have been in contact with a stranger. More than one in 10 children have received sexual messages on the internet and 20% have seen sexual images. There was a five-fold increase in the number of nine and 10 year olds exposed to sexual images in 2014 compared to 2010. CyberSafeIreland said its experience in schools is that childrens use of these platforms is growing rapidly and that the research likely understates the scale of the problem. The group is rolling out a programme of education to children in fourth to sixth class. Training sessions are designed to teach children and their parents how to use the internet without engaging in risky behaviour, how to protect themselves by using privacy settings, and how to report abuse. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all require users to be over 13 years old to register, meaning many children lie about their age to set up a profile. Cybercrime expert and co-founder of CyberSafeIreland Cliona Curley said it was clear young children were lying about their age to engage in social media. Research shows that 26% of pre-teens are using social networking sites and half of these admitted to lying about their age, said Ms Curley. From our experience talking to kids in schools, this is only the tip of the iceberg and usage of social media apps is now a daily feature of most pre-teens lives. As parents and educators, we need to be doing a lot more to prepare young children for a connected future, enabling them to engage online in a safe and responsible manner, and expert support is needed to do this in an effective way. Mick Moran, assistant director for vulnerable communities at Interpol and special advisor to CyberSafeIreland on online criminality, said children can be exposed to danger by playing online games. The reality of online exploitation is witnessed by law enforcement every day, either through cyberbullying or grooming which can end in online solicitation or physical abuse, he said. It is not just children who need to be informed, but parents also have an important non-technical role to play to make sure their kids are safe online. The theme was echoed at a Bully4u anti-bullying conference in Cork, where it was stressed that parents also need to step up to the plate and educate themselves about the dangers their children face being on social media at a young age. Senior facilitator with Bully4U, Kevin Deering, who gives workshops in bullying to schools around the country, said that parents needed to be involved in their childs online life and be aware that being on Facebook as a child is dangerous. If a child in primary school mentions Facebook, I just see red, he said. They shouldnt be on it. I would say that to a parent: Your child should not be on it. They have started out their social media career on a lie as the lower age limit for a site like Facebook is 13. Earlier this week it emerged that less than 20 of irish parents supervise their childs social media activity. The killing of a well-known criminal yesterday was an act of retaliation for last Fridays murder of David Byrne, gardai said. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald is to hold an emergency meeting with Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan today on foot of the murders. The second gangland killing in Dublins north inner city since Friday has brought law and order to the centre of the general election campaign. Eddie Hutch was gunned down by what was described as a four-man hit squad on Poplar Row in Ballybough at about 7.45pm and died instantly. Hutch, who was in his fifties, was well known to gardai. He was dead by the time emergency services arrived at the scene so they did not even attempt to resuscitate him. He was shot several times including a gun shot to the head. He was killed in his hallway and gardai believe his killing was a direct retaliation for the killing of criminal David Byrne, 33, at the Regency Hotel in nearby Whitehall last Friday. Eddie Hutch senior shot in suspected Dublin gangland killing https://t.co/TMaCkIW4y8 pic.twitter.com/3suMxSJpK8 Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016 Last night, Ms Fitzgerald said: The fatal shooting in Dublin is another deplorable example of the ruthlessness of gangland criminals. It seems that some gangs are intent on waging a feud where human life counts for nothing. The gardai will take all necessary steps to try to prevent further bloodshed but we have to recognise the challenges they face. Members of gangs who have fears for their safety should come forward to the gardai. I will be meeting with the Garda Commissioner and her senior officers. Given the two killings in four days, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams is under increasing pressure over his partys proposals to abolish the Special Criminal Court. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said such a move would risk the security of the State. There has also been criticism of Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan over the failure of gardai to stop the two murders. Mr Adams links to the IRA took centre-stage in the election campaign yesterday as party leaders rounded on him in the wake of the attack, for which dissident republicans claimed responsibility. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: When I see the Sinn Fein party talking about abolishing the Special Criminal Court, I think that the people of this country would want to be very careful and take very careful note of the propositions on the table... The security of your State, the security of your community, the security of our society is at stake here. Report: Dissidents claim responsibility for Regency Hotel shooting https://t.co/0jjeu3sTYk pic.twitter.com/3I4bTTkwbu Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 8, 2016 Tanaiste Joan Burton, who called Mr Adams a spokesman for the IRA, said the Sinn Fein leader needed a reality check. They [Sinn Fein] are suggesting that we would basically disable our gardai and have them fight crime with not just one hand behind their backs, but two hands behind their backs, because they would be heavily limited in getting witnesses to go to court and seriously limited in how we might protect jurors. Ms Fitzgerald has defended her record and said gardai had no intelligence that last Fridays murder was about to happen. Media reports a week before had signalled the potential of trouble at the events. She also said gardai made an operational decision not to send officers to the event. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said that getting rid of the Special CriminalCcourt would give solace to the likes of the criminals who carried out the shooting last Friday. News: 6-8 Editorial: 12 Following those incidents in Bandon, the county council decided it would carry out some works to negate further risk prior to the completion of major flood relief works by the OPW. Council chief executive Tim Lucey, county engineer David Keane, and West Cork divisional manager Clodagh Henahan met councillors yesterday to outline the planned works. Following consultation with the OPW design team, the council has decided to put in 15 non-return valves at key locations around the town. The local authority also plans to increase the height and length of the embankment at the Lidl car park and will organise an inspection of all drains in the area by Dynorod to assess their state. Meanwhile, the OPW has said it has met all its targets so far in assessing tenders for contractors for the main 25m flood relief project and it envisages work will start on it by the middle of May. Bandon and Kinsale municipal district chairman Fine Gael councillor James ODonovan said he welcomed the interim works and thanked county council bosses for the time they had spent assessing the latest measures. However, the interim works will not include dredging the river, which had been sought by a number of business people in the town. Inland Fisheries Ireland said it would not permit any dredging of rivers where major flood-relief works were being drawn up by the OPW. The bar also extends to dredging in Skibbereen, Clonakilty, and Glanmire. Bandon has suffered two major floods since December as well as minor flooding in certain parts of the town. Mr ODonovan said the interim works will hopefully aid in preventing any major flooding, but acknowledged until the main OPW scheme is completed there will still be a risk. He said he hoped business people in the town would welcome the interim works, but acknowledged they would not be completely satisfied until the main project is completed, which is likely to take around two years. GLEN HANLEY From: Sligo Profession: Construction worker Based in: Archway, north London. Glen Hanley is a crane operator working beside Archway Tube Station in north London. He came to England after the economic crash. Hes one of a number of Irish construction workers on his building site. I wouldnt be interested in the election in Ireland because Im not living there anymore. It might sound a bit bad to say but it doesnt affect me. Saying that, Id care for the people living at home, I just wouldnt have that much of an interest in it. If Im pushed on one issue Id be interested in as an emigrant, it is repealing the eighth amendment on abortion. Thats the biggest thing. Ireland is behind the times again because its a Catholic country and its time they woke up and caught up with the world. I wouldnt be waiting to see if the economy is going to improve because I cant ever see myself settling there again. Maybe here in the UK, theres a group of people who plan on settling back, so theyll probably cast an eye on it to see whats going on. I dont think Irish people of my generation living in the UK, Canada and Australia would really be thinking about it at all they are having too much of a good time. How do I feel about the prospect of Enda Kenny being Taoiseach again? Well, I dont even like him for being Taoiseach now, so no, Im not really a big fan of his. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE KATY HARRINGTON From: Cork Profession: Journalist Based in: Central London Katy Harrington is digital editor with Britains long time Irish news platform, The Irish Post. My generation of emigrants are definitely engaged with home and Ireland. They read Irish newspapers online, they keep in touch. But heres the litmus test, if you asked any member of the Irish population here under the age of 40, to name 10 people from the front bench of the current government, they would be hard pressed. But they are interested in the bigger issues because they are thinking maybe theyll move back one day. London can be exhausting and Im not going to be able to afford a house here, ever. Its at the back of peoples minds that they will one day go home. So the big issues are Brexit and abortion. Irish people here are worried about Britain not being part of the Euro and the repercussions of same. Abortion is the other one. If you are not planning on going back then youre not going to be affected by these but people are planning to or believe theres a chance they might. If you can find me one Irish person here who will go back specially to vote in this election, Ill take my hat off to you. But if a referendum on gay marriage comes up or something that gets them interested, then they are willing to participate. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE COLM LYNCH From Meath Profession: Publican/Entrepreneur Based in: Wandsworth, south west London Colm Lynch is a publican and businessman living and working in Wandsworth for over 20 years. His pub, the Hop Pole, is popular with Irish emigrants living around South West post codes like Fulham, Putney and Clapham Junction. Im here nearly 21 years but Id always have an interest in whats going on at home. Ive a property back there and laws are changing all the time. Ive a brother in the guards back there also, so what happens in the public service is close to my heart too. And, Id never rule out thoughts of moving home. I think most Irish people here would have an interest in the election. Theres always an Irish paper on the bar counter here and people pick it up. My age group are still young enough to go back and its a question wed often ask each other. Ive seen a lot going back in the last few years and whats going to happen with the economy and who is in government will play a major part in that. Ive never been a one party man and Ive never gone home to vote in over 20 years. To be quite honest Im not sure if we still have a vote at home now but if I felt strongly enough about something Id like to think Id go back to vote. I dont think any politician has ever inspired me to be honest and my view of Enda Kenny from abroad is that hes a figure head. Its not a personal thing but who else is going to do it? I guess you have to give Fine Gael some credit for what recovery there is. Its probably a case of better the devil you know right now but Id like to see them in a coalition again so theyd be kept in check. I know at home in Navan, Sinn Fein have guys like Peadar Toibin and Joe Reilly who have done an awful lot at local level. If I lived there they would be guys Id vote for. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE PAT QUINN From: Wicklow Profession: Retired Based in: North London Pat Quinn from Wicklow and his wife Patricia from Kerry are grandparents and have lived in London for over 40 years. They are retired, Labour voters and party leader Jeremy Corbyn is their local MP. The couple are one of a handful of Irish families living on Hatchard Road near the Holloway Road a thoroughfare still synonymous with Irish emigrants. I wouldnt have an affiliation with any party at home, not with me being here 40 years. Im so long out of it I cant even remember who my family voted for back then, but I always remember big chats after Mass about politics. I still read the Irish papers to try and keep up with things, the sport especially and Id be interested in the outcome of the election because there are people in Ireland that belong to me. Id like to see them get a good deal. There are similar problems there as here, difficulties with housing, accommodation doesnt seem to be there and people down the country seem to be getting it rough. In terms of issues Id like to see addressed as an emigrant, maybe if they could do something for the homeless Irish here so they could retire back there. I know a certain amount has been done but you feel for them after all the years, fellas who have worked hard all their lives and are now down on their luck. Back in Ireland, my interest would be from the point of view that Ive family there: Rural crime and older people having their homes broken into, the cutting back of gardai and police stations. You would like to see whoever comes in address those issues. Our children and grandchildren are here so you wouldnt be looking at the election through the perspective that we might live there again. I know we will finish out our lives here. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE PJ Mara was a legend, but he was also a tough taskmaster. The scene was the Treasury Building. It was May 2002 and, after a week of churning out almost identical speeches for the Fianna Fail general election campaign, I was bored. I decided to vary the message slightly and to introduce some new themes into a speech subsequently delivered by Bertie Ahern. Mara was not happy. He told me bluntly that there was to be no further deviations from the core campaign message. I want you to repeat the same message over and over again, and when you are blue in the face writing it, write it some more, was his unceremonious advice. There was an inescapable logic to Maras position. Election messages only gain traction through constant repetition. The best politicians and the best communications experts recognise that, even in the white heat of an election campaign, the public are often apathetic or distracted by their own lives and daily pressures. There are few members of the public who have either the time or the inclination to hang on the every word of our politicians and to digest every single speech, interview, or press release. In short, people are not listening all the time. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE In 2011, some commentators ridiculed Enda Kenny for the amount of times he mentioned his five-point plan, but this was a classic communications performance. The Fine Gael leader brought every single media opportunity back to this plan. By the end of the campaign, floating voters and even those largely unimmersed in politics could recite the plan off by heart. People voted for it in their droves. Ahern had performed a similar communications accomplishment in 2002. His three Ps of peace, prosperity, and progress condensed his entire election agenda down into a memorable and simple soundbite. Fianna Fails catchy election slogan from that same campaign, A Lot Done, More to Do, was plastered over billboards throughout the country. It remains arguably the best-known and impactful election slogan in Irish political history. Whatever peoples attitudes may be to the Celtic Tiger today (and there is a lot of historical revision), back in 2002 A Lot Done, More to Do had serious public resonance. To widespread acclaim, Ahern barnstormed around the country repeating this mantra. It neatly encapsulated his campaigns core message that the country was doing well and that people should not change horses while there was still progress to achieve. They say imitation is the best form of flattery. Although Kennys strategists may take umbrage, there is a huge dollop of Aherns approach to political communications in Fine Gaels current election campaign. In essence, Fine Gaels 2016 slogan of Lets Keep the Recovery Going is a less catchy variation of A Lot Done, More to Do. Kennys core message is that the country is getting back on track and that people should not change horses while the work of economic renewal has still to be completed. Nothing will have been left to chance by any of the big political parties in formulating the slogans, the messages, and the policies they will repeat ad nauseam up until polling day on February 26. Eamon de Valera was fond of saying: Whenever I need to know what the Irish people want, I look into my own heart, but, in the modern political era, political parties look into everyones heart and mind via focus groups and expensive polling. This market research gives the big political parties a huge insight into what people actually want. It also allows them to package their policies and messages in a manner that will meet public approval. We now live in an age of retail or consumer-focused politics, where ideology is less important than serving up the electorate a large slice of whatever pie they require most, and increasingly, Irish elections are becoming more like a science. Every policy and message has been polled and focus grouped. There are few hostages to fortune. Key announcements are not just thrown out as shots in the dark, they are tested for popularity and credibility beforehand. Whirlwind tour just the job for Enda Kenny as coalition promises more jobs https://t.co/5v6SPvGBNt #GE2016 pic.twitter.com/wbrxOZKDXx Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 6, 2016 After almost eight years of economic hardship, there are real signs that the country has at last turned the corner, to borrow Brian Lenihans phrase from 2009. Not all voters will have noted that, the day after the general election was called, the European Commission forecast that Ireland will remain the fastest-growing economy in the EU this year and that our unemployment levels are expected to fall even lower. Meanwhile, the focus groups are clearly telling the political parties that many people are much more confident about the future. Put simply, people believe in a recovery. The background music to this election is different to 2011 when there was a real public mood that the country was trapped in an economic abyss. Kenny has been astute enough to concede that the recovery has not reached everyone, but the main communications challenge for his campaign is to own the recovery. Fine Gaels key messaging is about persuading the public that Ireland is on the threshold of a new era of prosperity because,in government, they have taken the hard decisions to fix our broken economy. An important sub-theme of the Fine Gaels campaign is that the partys opponents do not have the competence to secure the recovery and that they, in fact, caused the wreckage. Kenny has a good story to tell the electorate as Ireland bounces back. In truth, at least some of the credit for our economic renewal is rooted in the financial plan spearheaded by Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan a point that many in Fianna Fail had been unwisely reticent to make until recently. The phrase its the economy, stupid entered the political lexicon in 1992 to describe the unrelenting focus of Bill Clintons first successful presidential bid. It would, however, be not so clever to think the general election can be solely defined as its the recovery, stupid. Ireland has a relatively small electorate and no party can afford to ignore a large demographic. It was surprising that in his set-piece ard fheis speech, Kenny risked giving offence to Irelands 600,000 people with disabilities and our 275,000 farmers by choosing not to mention them even once in his televised remarks. He may also have insulted some voters by suggesting that they dont understand economic jargon; however, technical arguments about fiscal space do contravene the cardinal rule of political communications known as Kiss (keep it short and simple). Though many voters will have been tuned out of this debate, it may be significant in altering the landscape of future political discourse. For years, Sinn Fein has been repeatedly labelled economically illiterate. But given that Sinn Fein was the only party to get its fiscal space sums right, the potency of this charge is now much diminished. Dr Brian Murphy is a lecturer in communications at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He is a former speechwriter for two taoisigh. For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE Detainees held by the Syrian government are dying on a massive scale amounting to a state policy of extermination of the civilian population, a crime against humanity, United Nations investigators said. The UN commission of inquiry called on the Security Council to impose targeted sanctions on Syrian officials in the civilian and military hierarchy responsible for or complicit in deaths, torture and disappearances in custody, but stopped short of naming them. In their report, the independent experts said they had also documented mass executions and torture of prisoners by two jihadi groups, Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State (ISIS), constituting war crimes. The report, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Deaths in Detention, covers March 10, 2011 to November 30, 2015. It is based on interviews with 621 survivors and witnesses and evidence gathered by the team led by chairman Paulo Pinheiro. Over the past four and a half years, thousands of detainees have been killed while in the custody of warring parties, the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said. The killings and deaths described in this report occurred with high frequency, over a long period of time and in multiple locations, with significant logistical support involving vast State resources, the report said. There are reasonable grounds to believe that the conduct described amounts to extermination as a crime against humanity. Tens of thousands of detainees are held by the government of President Bashar al-Assad at any one time, and thousands more have disappeared after arrest by state forces or gone missing after abduction by armed groups, it said. Through mass arrests and killing of civilians, including by starvation and untreated wounds and disease, state forces have engaged in the multiple commissions of crimes, amounting to a systematic and widespread attack against a civilian population. There were reasonable grounds to believe that high-ranking officers, including the heads of branches and directorates commanding the detention facilities and military police, as well as their civilian superiors, knew of the deaths and of bodies buried anonymously in mass graves. They are thus individually criminally liable, the investigators said, calling again for Syria to be referred to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Over the past four years, the investigators, who include former ICC prosecutor Carla del Ponte, have drawn up a confidential list of suspected war criminals and units from all sides which is kept in a UN safe in Geneva. Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS have committed mass executions of captured government soldiers and subjected civilians to illicit trials by Sharia courts which ordered death sentences, the report said. More than 100 people are believed to still be under the debris in a disaster that struck during the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar the Lunar New Year. Saturdays quake killed at least 38 people in Tainan city in southern Taiwan, all but two of them in the collapse of the 17-storey building. Even though the 6.4-magnitude quake was shallow, few buildings were damaged, which experts said was because Taiwans building standards are high. Authorities have rescued more than 170 people the majority in the immediate hours after the quake using information about the building layout and the possible location of those trapped. Five survivors are believed to have been pulled out on Sunday, and at least four yesterday. One of them, Tsao Wei-ling, called out Here I am as rescuers dug through to find her, Taiwans Eastern Broadcasting Corp reported. She was found under the body of her husband, who had shielded her from a collapsed beam, the government-run Central News Agency reported. Ms Tsaos husband and two-year-son were found dead, and five other members of the family remain unaccounted for. Teams also rescued a 42-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl. Mayor Lai Ching-Te told reporters he had briefly exchanged words with the girl, Lin Su-chin. She is awake, but looks dehydrated, lost some temperature but shes awake and her blood pressure is okay, he said. I asked her if theres anything wrong with her body. She shook her head. Shortly afterwards, rescue workers also pulled out a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, identified as Chen Mei-jih, who had been trapped on what was the buildings fifth floor. Family members of the missing flooded into the information centre to wait for news of their loved ones. Tensions rose as some relatives, losing patience, demanded to speak to rescue workers directly to get the latest information. Earthquakes rattle Taiwan frequently. Most are minor and cause little or no damage, though a magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. The spectacular fall of the high-rise, built in 1989, raised questions about its construction. Huang Jia-rui, a structural engineer in Tainan, said Taiwans buildings are not as safe as Japans, which is a leader in engineering quake-proof structures, but the island is catching up. Mr Regeni, a 28-year-old graduate student at Britains Cambridge University, had been researching independent trade unions in Egypt and had written articles critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisis government. The incident has strained ties between Rome and Cairo, which has made no arrests so far. We want the real perpetrators to be discovered and punished according to the law, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told La Repubblica newspaper. He said Italy will not be satisfied with suppositions to explain the death. Cambridge University said it had written to the Egyptian authorities to demand a full investigation into Giulios death. An initial autopsy in Egypt showed Regeni had been hit on the back of the head with a sharp instrument, beaten and burnt with cigarettes, said an official at the Cairo public prosecutors office and a forensic doctor. Both spoke on condition of anonymity. A second autopsy in Italy confronted us with something inhuman, something animal, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told Sky News 24 television. It was like a punch in the stomach and we havent quite got our breath back yet. Italian media said the second autopsy ascertained Mr Regenis neck had been broken. This has not been officially confirmed. Italian opposition parties have demanded that Prime Minister Matteo Renzis government take a tougher stand with Egypt. Asia Suspect in Murder of Dismembered Spaniard in Thai Custody A Spanish man who is the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a fellow Spaniard was in Thai custody Monday after being arrested in Cambodia. BANGKOK A Spanish man who is the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a fellow Spaniard was in Thai custody Monday after being arrested in Cambodia, where he fled after the victims dismembered body was recovered over several days from Bangkoks Chao Phraya River. The suspect, identified as Artur Segarra Princep, 36, was arrested Sunday evening at a restaurant in the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville, where he had checked into a guesthouse a few days earlier, regional Cambodian Police Chief Gen. Chuon Narin said Monday. We received a request from Thai police to arrest this man, and after launching an investigation we found him, Chuon Narin said. Thai police sent a helicopter to Cambodia and it returned with the suspect Monday evening. Thai police have identified the victim as David Bernat, who was described as a consultant. They have speculated that he was abducted, tortured and forced to transfer a large amount of money before being killed. Thai police have declined to publicly comment on media reports of large transfers of money from Bernats bank account to accounts in Spain and Singapore. At a news conference, Thai National Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters that Segarra only said that they were friends, referring to him and the victim. Police obtained records showing that Segarra had withdrawn money from ATM machines in the Bangkok area as recently as Thursday, and also had video of him with an unidentified woman and in a black Isuzu pickup truck. Immigration police said Segarra has visited Thailand frequently, but his latest visa expired late last year. Records show that Bernat also visited Thailand many times, arriving most recently on Jan. 19 on a flight from Iran. He was last seen alive while leaving his Bangkok apartment on Jan. 20. Medical examiners said they believe he died between Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, with the cause being suffocation. Thai media reports over the weekend said Segarras motorcycle was found at the Thai border, and a Thai woman described as his girlfriend was quoted saying that he fled Bangkok after seeing his picture on Thai television news reports. Burma Central Bank Says 13 Foreign Banks Vying for Operating Licenses The Central Bank of Myanmar announced on Tuesday that 13 foreign banks have applied to operate in Burma in a second round of licensing. RANGOON The Central Bank of Myanmar announced on Tuesday that 13 foreign banks have applied to operate in Burma in a second round of licensing. In the announcement, which came a day after the Feb. 8 application deadline, the Central Bank said that the final decision would be made by March 31, the final day of President Thein Seins administration. Contenders in the second licensing round include the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam; Taiwans Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank, E.SUN Commercial Bank, First Commercial Bank and Mega International Commercial Bank; South Koreas KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank; the State Bank of India; the State Bank of Mauritius; Taiwan Business Bank; Taiwan Cooperative Bank; and Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank. The announcement said that unsuccessful applicants from the previous round of licensing were eligible to participate in the final stage of the process. Following the preliminary approval of licenses will be an intervening period during which time operations will be set up. All nine winners that competed for licenses in 2014 the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Australias ANZ Bank, the Bangkok Bank, Malaysias Maybank, the United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation of Singapore and Japanese lenders Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Sumitomo Bank and Mizuho Bankare based in the Asia-Pacific. These banks operate in Burma under rigid conditions. They are barred from competing against local lenders in the retail banking sector and are only allowed to run one branch. Soe Thein, executive director of the local Asian Green Development Bank, said that he is unconcerned about this latest licensing round because of the restrictions on foreign banks. As Burma gradually opens, the Central Bank will issue more foreign bank licenses, but I dont think it will harm the local industry, as foreign banks cant compete in the local market, he said. I also dont think that the Central Bank is rushing to issue new licenses before the new government comes to power because it [the Central Bank] stands as an independent body. However, Zaw Lin Htut, chief executive officer of the Myanmar Payment Union, said that he expects almost a half-dozen foreign banks to receive licenses by the end of March. Ive heard that four or five more banks may receive licenses before power is handed over to the new government, he said. And because more foreign banks are coming into the country, we will also see more job opportunities for banking professionals. Burma FDA Opens Investigation into Nearly a Dozen Coffee Factories Burmas Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened an investigation into nearly a dozen coffee factories in Rangoon over rumors of malpractice. RANGOON Burmas Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened an investigation into nearly a dozen coffee factories in Rangoon over rumors of malpractice. A joint committee formed last year by multiple local organizationssuch as the FDA, Consumer Protection Association, Consumers Union and City Development Committeemade a surprise visit on Saturday to 11 coffee factories in Rangoons industrial zones, according to Zin Zin Nwe, director of the FDAs Rangoon office. Factories being investigated include makers of local coffee brands such as Super, Premier, Sunday, Gold Roast and Mikko. Zin Zin Nwe said that the FDA would reveal the laboratory results as soon as possible but that the process could take up to a week. Rumor has it that coffee factories were mixing powder made from coconut shells and tamarind seeds into their instant coffee mix, Zin Zin Nwe told The Irrawaddy on Monday. Our teams collected traces of raw ingredients from the factories and had them sent to a laboratory to see if they contain any improper substances, she continued. According to Zin Zin Nwe, 12 coffee factories are registered with the FDA. Investigation teams were unable to check one of the factories because it was closed. Maung Maung, secretary of the Myanmar Consumers Union, expressed some doubt over the veracity of the rumors. The cost of turning coconut shells and tamarind seeds into powder similar to that of instant coffee powder is more expensive than the typical mixing process, he said, explaining that a small packet of instant coffee mix costs only 100 kyats (US$0.08) in Burma. But the FDA results will ultimately substantiate or dispel the speculation, he added. According to Article 28 of Burmas 1997 National Food Law, anyone who produces, imports, exports, stores, distributes or sells food that may be poisonous, dangerous or injurious to the health of consumers could be jailed for up to three years or fined 300,000 kyats. The surprise check was the third such investigation by the committee, and the FDA hopes to carry out similar actions in other parts of the country. Nevertheless, many local consumer organizations have criticized the FDA for not better guaranteeing food safety, though Zin Zin Nwe also explained that a dearth of human resources and laboratories has hampered the FDAs efforts. Burma New Parliamentary Reporting Guidelines Criticized as Restrictive In a Feb. 5 statement, the Union Parliament Office set out media guidelines that reporters say limit their ability to cover parliamentary affairs. RANGOON In an 18-point statement released on Feb. 5, the Union Parliament Office set out guidelines for the media which reporters say limit their ability to cover parliamentary affairs. The statement, with a subject line reading Cooperation related to the media, pointed out that some supposed inconveniences occurred on Jan. 29 during a welcome lunch for first and second session parliamentarians, as well as on Feb. 1, the first day of the Lower House of Parliament. The office called on the Ministry of Information, the Myanmar Press Council (MPC), the Myanmar Journalists Association and the local Foreign Correspondents Club on Friday to cooperate in submitting a list of no more than five journalists from each registered media outlet to cover parliamentary affairs. The press council has helped to compile the list, sending in the names of 454 local reporters and 53 foreign reporters to the Union Parliaments Office, according to MPC secretary Thiha Saw. However, the secretary said the press council did not take part in helping to formulate the new guidelines. [Some] rules, like where journalists should stay, are up to them [the parliamentary office]. But we journalists, if possible, want news freely and want to be able to question freely, Thiha Saw said. He added that the parliamentary office should have consulted with media groups before issuing the guidelines and prior to the opening of the new Parliament last week. We think it is bad management, Thiha Saw said. In the statement, the Union Parliament Office also told journalists to dress in clothes suitable for the dignity of Parliament, warning that those who did not would be turned away. Other constraints included no filming or photography in restricted buildings and certain areas without express permission and limited access to the parliamentary grounds on non-sitting days. Designated spaces have also been set for interviews with officials. According to an Irrawaddy reporter, this initiative was restrictive as lawmakers or other officials had to be asked to walk to the designated area before being interviewed. In May last year, journalists were banned from an observation booth above the Union Parliament chamber without explanation, a restriction that was broadened to include sessions of both the Upper and Lower houses. It was speculated that the decision was prompted by unflattering photos and videos captured in the booth, including an image of lawmakers asleep during a session and a photograph that appeared to show a military lawmaker voting on behalf of his absent neighbor. Many reporters covering the opening of Parliament last week were forced to gather in a crowded corridor to watch the session on a TV screen. More than 600 journalists were reportedly present at the parliamentary complex on Monday for the opening of the Lower House, outnumbering the chambers lawmakers. May Kha, a local reporter for Voice of America, said of the restrictions: its more annoying and difficult to cover news at the moment when we [the media] are being suppressed. The Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN) released a statement on Monday rejecting the new reporting guidelines. MJN cannot accept the rules released by the Union Parliament Office which treat the media as a lower class, the statement read. The body urged the parliamentary office to ensure media freedom and negotiate on any reporting rules, stressing that it was the right of all reporters to freely cover affairs of the Parliament. Burma NLD MPs Elected to Top Local Parliament Positions in 12 of 14 Assemblies State and division parliaments on Monday elected their speakers and deputy speakers, with NLD lawmakers taking the top posts in all but two legislatures. RANGOON Burmas local legislatures elected speakers and deputy speakers on Monday, with lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) assuming the posts in all but two parliamentsin Arakan and Shan states. In Rangoon Division, Tin Maung Tun, representing Dagon Township, was elected speaker and Lin Naing Myint of Kamayut Township, will serve as deputy. The Kachin State parliament was a close run affair, with the NLDs Tun Tin edging out Yar Wan Jone of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) for the speakers chair. NLD lawmakers U Tar, Aung Kyaw Oo and Aung Kyaw Khaing were elected speakers of the Magwe, Mandalay and Irrawaddy Division parliaments, respectively. Aung Kyaw Khaing, 56, is a descendant of Bo Aung Kyaw, a prominent student leader who was killed during a police crackdown on students during British rule in 1938. In his address to the local parliament on Monday, Aung Kyaw Khaing outlined his priority as speaker. Around 70 percent of the population in Irrawaddy Division is rural folks. And there are ownership disputes over 300,000 acres of land in the division. It is our first priority to improve the socio-economic lives of these people, he said. In Sagaing Division, U Than was elected speaker while Khin Maung Aye and Khin Maung Yin will assume the position in Tenasserim and Pegu division parliaments, respectively. Hla Htwe was elected speaker in Karenni State, Saw Chit Khin in Karen State and Zo Bwe in Chin State. All are lawmakers of the NLD, whose members dominate 12 of the countrys 14 state and divisional assemblies. In Shan State, USDP members Sai Lone Hsai of Kengtung Township and Sao Aung Myat, the incumbent state chief minister, will serve as speaker and deputy speaker. In Arakan State parliament, where the Arakan National Party (ANP) won 23 seats in last years general election, San Kyaw Hla and Phoe Min, both of the ANP, were elected as speaker and deputy. Burma North Korea Rocket Launch May Spur US Missile Defense Buildup in Asia North Koreas latest rocket launch might kick off a buildup of US missile defense systems in Asia, US officials and missile defense experts say. WASHINGTON North Koreas latest rocket launch might kick off a buildup of US missile defense systems in Asia, US officials and missile defense experts said, something that could further strain US-China ties and also hurt relations between Beijing and Seoul. North Korea says it put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, but the United States and its allies see the launch as cover for Pyongyangs development of ballistic missile technology that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon. Washington sought to reassure its allies South Korea and Japan of its commitment to their defense after the launch, which followed a North Korean nuclear test on Jan. 6. The United States and South Korea said they would begin formal talks about deploying the sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to the Korean peninsula at the earliest possible date. South Korea had been reluctant to publicly discuss the possibility due to worries about upsetting China, its biggest trading partner. Beijing, at odds with the United States over Washingtons reaction to its building of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, quickly expressed deep concern about a system whose radar could penetrate Chinese territory. China had made its position clear to Seoul and Washington, the Foreign Ministry said. When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others security interests, spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. Tipping Point But the North Korean rocket launch, on top of last months nuclear test, could be a tipping point for South Korea and win over parts of Seouls political establishment that remain wary of such a move, a US official said. South Korea and the United States said that if THAAD was deployed to South Korea, it would be focused only on North Korea. An editorial in the Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Chinese Communist Partys official Peoples Daily newspaper, called that assurance feeble. It is widely believed by military experts that once THAAD is installed, Chinese missiles will be included as its target of surveillance, which will jeopardize Chinese national security, it said. Japan, long concerned about North Koreas ballistic missile program, has previously said it was considering THAAD to beef up its defenses. The North Korean rocket on Sunday flew over Japans southern Okinawa prefecture. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday the Defense Ministry had no concrete plan to introduce THAAD, but added the ministry believed new military assets would strengthen the countrys capabilities. Riki Ellison, founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the launch would give Japan momentum to deploy THAAD. Washington moved one of its five THAAD systems to Guam in 2013 following North Korean threats, and is now studying the possibility of converting a Hawaii test site for a land-based version of the shipboard Aegis missile defense system into a combat-ready facility. Effectiveness Questioned Some experts questioned how effective THAAD would be against the type of long-range rocket launched by North Korea and the Pentagon concedes it has yet to be tested against such a device. THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It has so far proven effective against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. John Schilling, a contributor to the Washington-based 38 North project that monitors North Korea, said THAADs advanced AN/TPY-2 tracking radar built by Raytheon Co could provide an early, precise track on any such missile. David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said that while THAAD could not shoot down the type of rocket launched on Sunday its deployment could reassure the South Korean public. Much of what missile defense programs are about is reassuring allies and the public, he said. Suitable Site Identified One US official said the North Korean launch added urgency to longstanding informal discussions about a possible THAAD deployment to South Korea. Speed is the priority, said the official, who asked not to be named ahead of a formal decision. Renewed missile-defense discussions with the United States could also send a message to Beijing that it needs to do more to rein in North Koreas ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, another US official said. South Korean officials have already identified a suitable site for the system, but it could also be placed at a US base on the Korean peninsula, Ellison said. THAAD is a system built by Lockheed Martin Corp that can be transported by air, sea or land. The Pentagon has ordered two more batteries from Lockheed. One of the four THAAD batteries based at Fort Bliss, Texas, is always ready for deployment overseas, and could be sent to Japan or South Korea within weeks, Ellison said. Lockheed referred all questions about a possible THAAD deployment to the US military. Burma SkyNet Clarifies Broadcast on Suspension of Article 59(f) The local outlet sought to clarify a program that aired Sunday which many viewers interpreted as expressing support for suspending the contentious clause. RANGOON Local broadcaster SkyNet has moved to clarify a news piece that aired on Sunday which many viewers interpreted as expressing support for the suspension of a constitutional clause which effectively bars Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency. The same broadcast, run by both SkyNet and Myanmar National Television, aired the opinions of three ethnic leaders on whether Article 59(f) of Burmas 2008 Constitution should be suspended to allow Suu Kyi to assume the countrys highest office. An onscreen caption at one point read positive results could come out of negotiations for the suspension of the constitutional Article 59(f). The program caused a minor storm online, with many Burmese social media users apparently interpreting the content as implying that the military was supportive of the much-rumored plan. Ye Min Oo, senior general manager of SkyNets central news bureau, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the broadcast was opinion-based and had been misunderstood by many viewers. We just reported the three ethnic leaders opinions. They said the result may be positive, we didnt report that it will be positive. People have misunderstood the report, Ye Min Oo said. Article 59(f) of the military-drafted charter disqualifies anyone with a foreign spouse or children from becoming president, effectively barring Suu Kyi because her two children are British nationals, as was her late husband. Since December, debate has surfaced over whether the clause could be suspended, paving the way for Suu Kyi to assume the countrys highest office. However, it remains uncertain whether the countrys powerful military would support such a plan which some lawmakers have described as possibly unconstitutional. On Monday, Union Parliament Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than announced that nominations for the presidency would begin on March 17, more than four months since the National League for Democracy (NLD) claimed a hefty majority in last years election. Burma Space to Live: Rangoons Squatters Place Housing Hopes in NLD Govt Many in Hlaing Tharyar Township feel that a solution to the issue of homelessness and illegal tenancy will be a test of Burmas new government. RANGOON A mother of two children, 34-year-old Thuzar Moe originally hails from the Irrawaddy Deltas Hinthada Township. She has been living for almost two decades in an industrial zone in Hlaing Tharyar Township on the outskirts of Rangoon, since her family migrated to the area when she was 16 years old. She spoke to The Irrawaddy on November 8, the day of Burmas general election, and exactly four months later in February, following the National League for Democracys (NLD) victory. My family voted for the NLD, Thuzar Moe said, echoing the sentiments of nearly all those interviewed by The Irrawaddy in Hlaing Tharyar on election day. The township is reportedly one of Burmas most densely populated, and home to tens of thousands of squatters like Thuzar Moe, who have eked out a living on industrial and government land for years. Many feel that a solution to the issue of homelessness and illegal tenancy will be a test of Burmas new government. But for the time being, things have yet to improve in Shwe Lin Pan quarter, where Thuzar Moe and her family live. Despite recent bulldozing of squatter housing around Rangoon intended to deter undocumented settlements, even more people have arrived in Hlaing Tharyar in recent months: 600 families who Thuzar Moe said have come from Arakan State. She said she has seen photos of the home demolitions on social media. On Jan. 26, local authorities in Rangoon hired 1,500 men and employed excavators to destroy about 500 houses in Kon Ta La Paung village in the citys Pyinmabin Industrial Zone. They alleged that people living there were trespassers. I am also a squatter like them. I know how they feel, she said. If the authorities are going to remove us, we have no place to run. No Apartment, No Land Near Thuzar Moes house, a white four-story concrete building towers over makeshift shelters. She said they have been built by the government and are classified as low cost apartments. Chit San Ko, another squatter who lives near the building, said that government staff live there and bought their apartments through an installment plan. Many owners then lease their rooms to tenants, but the rentals still remain too costly for laborers like Chit San Ko. We cant afford to rent those apartments, he said. Over 70,000 kyats (US$56) for a month is a burden for me. If migrants had the opportunity to rent space in these buildings, the number of those living on the land as squatters would decrease everyday, he said. Homeless people have been encouraged to apply for subsidized apartments in Rangoons South Dagon Township, where Bandula Housing offers rooms for 30,000 kyats (US$24) per month. Yet the demand is much higher than the number of available units, and every applicant must provide a household registration form in order to be considered for tenancy. How can the squatters get one of these apartments? They dont have a [household registration] form, said Myat Min Thu, a newly elected NLD regional MP representing constituency number two in Hlaing Tharyar Township. In Rangoon, this documentation requirement excludes most of the homeless population. The divisions electoral sub-commission chief, Ko Ko, estimated in 2015 that up to 100,000 people in the region had not been issued household registration certificates. He pointed out that no up-to-date list of squatter populations in Rangoon existed, but estimated that Hlaing Tharyar had an unregistered migrant population of at least 30,000. With little hope of landing a government apartment, Thuzar Moe instead looked into renting a plot of land in Shwe Lin Pan quarter. When her family first arrived in the township, they had also rented land; at that time, the leasing fee was a mere 3,000 kyats (less than US$2.50) per month. Now the rate is 50,000 kyats (US$40) and any housing on the land has to be constructed by the tenant. Mothers like Thuzar Moe end up choosing between schooling their children and paying for legal housing. I have to pay for my children [to go to school]. Instead of renting an apartment, I can spend that money on my childrens education. A Solution in Six Months If more opportunities existed in their native towns, fewer people would be tempted to leave them, Myat Min Thu told The Irrawaddy. He hypothesizes that development of the states and divisions outside of Rangoon would decrease the internal migration that leads to squatting. Better law enforcement will be integral in learning how to address the issue in Hlaing Tharyar, where, he said, many squatters live under the protection of gangs, who collect tax in exchange for protection from authorities. Myat Min Thu also lamented the acceptance of bribes by the local administration in exchange for residency or roadside shop permits, both of which contribute to growing squatter settlements. Aung Ko Oo, the third Hlaing Tharyar township administrator to serve in the last five years, declined to be interviewed for this article. Although Myat Min Thu did not describe an NLD strategy to address the squatting issue, he promised to reveal a plan soon. I will submit a proposal for the squatter problem within six months, he said. Hlaing Tharyar is now represented by NLD MPs in the Lower and Upper Houses and in the two constituencies in the regional parliament. Thuzar Moe believes better living conditions will accompany the partys leadership over the next five years. All I need is space to live here, she said. Interview Bill Committee Chairman: I Would Like to Change Outdated Laws The NLDs Tun Tun Hein, head of the Lower Houses Bill Committee, spoke with The Irrawaddy about his plans to propose laws within Parliament. Tun Tun Hein, of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was appointed head of the Lower Houses Bill Committee last week. Already a member of the NLDs central executive committee and the voter list reviewing committee, the 66-year-old MP representing Nawnghkio Township in Shan State is lauded as an expert on legal issues. He spoke with The Irrawaddys Htun Htun about his plans to change and propose laws within Parliament. What preparations have you made to take the helm of the bill committee? Since I became a Lower House lawmaker, I have talked about my stance: I would like to change outdated laws, enact necessary laws for national development and change the constitution. After I was appointed head of the bill committee, I met the former committee members, mostly to review the draft laws they had submitted. I checked the process and found that we can recommend or draft and submit the laws we want. We have to take cues from the former bill committee and then think about how we can do better. Which outdated laws will you prioritize changing? There are many outdated laws, from the time of Anti-Fascist Peoples Freedom League, Burmas Socialist Program Party, to the State Law and Order Restoration Council and the State Peace and Development Council. I learned that around 229 laws were enacted over the past five years, so it would be quite difficult to review all the laws. As the first step, we will divide up that responsibility. There are draft laws which the previous bill committee could not pass. What will you do regarding those laws? Yes, there are 23 remaining laws to be passed. We have yet to discuss in which stages they are in before proceeding with them. What steps have you taken for constitutional amendments? The NLD wants to amend 168 provisions in the Constitution. We have yet to discuss if we can amend all of them and to which provisions we should give priority. The bill committee alone cant handle this. But then again, it would not be [totally] impossible to change all of them. What is your view as the chair of the bill committee on suspension of Article 59(f)? There are different views among the general public and legal experts. The 2008 Constitution itself does not provide for the suspension of a particular provision. However, in the countrys history, the 1947 Constitution was suspended for a while, from 1958-59, to form an interim government. Citing this, some argue that that clause can be suspended. But, some are against it, warning that it will lead to frequent demands for [constitutional] amendment unnecessarily in the future. I have no comment on those views. In our view, it is inappropriate if Article 59(f) is targeted at a particular person. A law should be concerned with the entire country; if it concerns only a particular person, it is not a law. I heard that the NLD will submit a proposal to suspend Article 59(f) in the parliament? When? I dont know which NLD member said that. I dont know yet if the proposal will be submitted. Have you held negotiations with the military to amend constitutional provisions related to them? It is undeniable that the military plays an important role. We just cant do as the people and our party wish overnight. We have to negotiate and we need to build trust, which takes time. The possibility is faint that over 75 percent of the Parliament will vote in favor of changing the Constitution. But it is not that it is impossible. It is a question of how we might need to bargain and make compromises. Though the military says it would not change provisions [for itself] at present, it does not mean that it will never change. It needs to be changed peacefully for the sake of the country. The NLD has appointed military representatives to the parliamentary affairs committees. Is this part of a compromise? We do not have such attitude that our party alone can handle rebuilding the nation. We have to collaborate with everyone in the interest of the country. Everyone is valuable. I dont want to use the term national reconciliation. There are small differences between us. We have to accept the reality that there are differences between us; only then can we make conciliatory moves. National reconciliation is important and we have to work with others. The NLD has appointed Shwe Mann as the head of the legal affairs and special cases assessment commission and most of the members are former lawmakers from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Why? We cant be well versed in every field. For example, we do not know as much about energy as someone in the field. Suppose a bill on energy is submitted, we have to seek the views of the experts. We need people who can give professional advice. All 23 members of the commission are experts in their related fields. There has been criticism that the NLD has deliberately appointed those who are close to Shwe Mann to the commission. Let them say that. I have no comment about the criticism. If we can get experience and advice from them, it is an advantage for us. For example, it would be better for our country if we could make use of the experience of the former bill committee. We have to start from the very beginning if we dont utilize their experience just because they are from the USDP. Well seek their experiences and help. If it needs to be, the commission can be expanded. Will significant members of the former cabinet, like Aung Min, the peace negotiator from the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), be appointed to the NLD government? Minister U Aung Min assumes lots of responsibilities in the MPC. We need to seek help from them for peace building. They might be appointed within an NLD government. However, this is just my view and I am not in a position to make a decision regarding this. The former bill committee was criticized as passing laws contradictory to one another. What will you do about these laws? Yes, they were. For example, the law about the election of a ward or village administrator states that their terms are equal to that of the Parliament, but the bylaws say that their terms are the same as that of the government. We have to review them. Do you have any further comments? I will fulfill my duties to the best of my ability with a commitment to serve the country. Translated by Thet Ko Ko. Tuesday, February 9th, 2016 (11:18 am) - Score 369 The Intelligence and Security Committee has described parts of the Governments new Draft Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB), which aims to expand the United Kingdoms existing Internet spying laws to include every citizen, as being inconsistent and largely incomprehensible. The bill would among other things force broadband ISPs to log a much bigger slice of everybodys online activity and then keep that log for up to 12 months, irrespective of whether or not youve committed a crime. It would also require companies to provide access to view encrypted communications, which could be difficult in situations where even the provider cannot see what is being said; this also risks making UK built Internet communications services less competitive. Furthermore the bill would also make the related Internet Connection Records more easily accessible for law enforcement agencies through a complex Request Filter (not unlike a central database) and Police wouldnt need a full warrant in order to gain access, although a warrant would still be needed for more targeted and detailed interception. Suffice to say that ISPs, rights groups, politicians and many others have raised concerns about the bills impact upon personal privacy, its cost, the limited time for debate and the technical challenges with even being able to make it work. Todays report from the ISC supports some of those concerns and highlights a few others. Dominic Grieve QC MP, Chairman of the ISC, said: Taken as a whole, the draft Bill fails to deliver the clarity that is so badly needed in this area. The issues under consideration are undoubtedly complex, however it has been evident that even those working on the legislation have not always been clear as to what the provisions are intended to achieve. The draft Bill appears to have suffered from a lack of sufficient time and preparation. The Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, Jim Killock, has also welcomed the Intelligence and Security Committees report and suggested that a revised bill could soon follow. There have been suggestions that a new version of the Bill will be published by the end of February. The Home Office needs a lot longer than two weeks to redraft their bill. Theresa May must ensure that the ISCs very serious and considered demands are dealt with in full. ISC Summary of the Key Concerns * Privacy: We had expected to find universal privacy protections applied consistently throughout, or at least an overarching statement at the forefront of the legislation. Instead, the draft Bill adopts a rather piecemeal approach, which lacks clarity and undermines the importance of the safeguards associated with these powers. We have therefore recommended that the new legislation contains an entirely new Part dedicated to overarching privacy protections, which should form the backbone of the draft legislation around which the exceptional powers are then built. This will ensure that privacy is an integral part of the legislation rather than an add-on. * Equipment Interference: At present the draft Bill only covers the Agencies ability to conduct Equipment Interference to obtain information (Computer Network Exploitation): other IT operations will continue to sit under the broad authorisations provided to the Agencies under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 regime. This discrepancy is unnecessary and counter to transparency. We therefore recommend that all IT operations are brought under the same legislation, with the same authorisation process and the same safeguards. In relation to the authorisation process, we have not been provided with sufficiently compelling evidence as to why Bulk Equipment Interference warrants are required: in our opinion Targeted Equipment Interference warrants can be drawn sufficiently broadly that a separate Bulk warrant is unnecessary. We therefore recommend that Bulk Equipment Interference warrants are removed from the legislation. Bulk Personal Datasets: The draft Bill provides for the Agencies to obtain a Class warrant allowing them to obtain any number of Bulk Personal Datasets of a general class or type (for example, travel data). As a general principle the Committee consider that class authorisations should be kept to an absolute minimum. In this case, given that each Bulk Personal Dataset potentially contains personal information about a large number of individuals the majority of whom will not be of any interest to the Agencies the Committee considers that each dataset is sufficiently intrusive that it should require a specific warrant. We therefore recommend that Class Bulk Personal Dataset warrants are removed from the legislation. Communications Data: The approach to the examination of Communications Data is currently inconsistent and confusing. The Committee considers it essential that the same safeguards are applied to the examination of all Communications Data, irrespective of how it has been acquired. This must be clearly set out on the face of the legislation: it is not sufficient to rely on policy and good practice. The full report is now available to download and covers a much wider remit, although were waiting for Thursday when the Joint Committee will issue their extensive and much more detailed study of the bill. Happy love month everyone! It's the season of love once again, and the time when restaurants are packed with diners struck by cupid's arrow is here. It's another season of hearts, flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, greeting cards and gift-giving among couples, friends and families. Gifted.PH So how does Gifted.PH works? Giving and receiving gift cards from Gifted.PH is as easy as 1-2-3. Don't settle for last minute gifts and check out Gifted.PH for some personalized Valentine's Day gift ideas. 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Whatever it is, you are sure to give the gift of freedom of choice on this special day with Gifted.PH.You may also customize your gift card and personalize it with a note or greeting. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the layoff and replacement of IT workers at a state energy utility. Approximately 200 IT workers at Northeast Utilities (now called Eversource Energy) lost their jobs in 2014. It happened after the firm brought in two India-based IT services firms. Some of the IT workers reported training foreign replacements. The IT firms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, are major users of H-1B visa workers. This incident might have faded away by now, but new details gave rise to Blumenthal's letter. Although it has been long known that the utility's severance included a non-disparagement clause, the specific wording has never been public until Computerworld published it last week. This clause bars discussion "that would tend to disparage or discredit" the utility [emphasis added]. Computerworld also published a photograph of a row of American flags in the IT department. The flags were a means of protesting the replacement of U.S. workers, something that visualized employees' emotional response to this action. In letters released Friday, Blumenthal says he is "outraged" by the replacement of U.S. IT workers. He also called it "shocking." In a letter to Thomas May, the CEO of Eversource, Blumenthal called the non-disparagement provision "an effective gag order" keeping workers from "speaking openly about their experiences, and further smacks of intimidation and maltreatment of your workforce." Blumenthal said he "demands" that Eversource clarify that the non-disparagement clause "does not prevent them [former employees] from stating honestly what happened to them -- and that you will not threaten any of them with litigation if they choose to discuss their experiences with me, my staff, or with other government officials." In the letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Blumenthal is asking the Department of Justice to review whether the utility has violated the law. Blumenthal wrote: "The statute and regulations governing certain nonimmigrant worker visa programs, like the H-1B program, require employers utilizing the visas in many cases to attest that they offered the job to qualified American applicants and sought to avoid the displacement of American workers. In light of the fact that at least some of the workers laid off by Eversource were coerced into training their replacements, it seems highly possible that the company's behavior in this matter violated its legal obligations." The U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Justice were asked last spring by 10 senators, including Blumenthal, to investigate Tata and Infosys following similar layoffs at Southern California Edison. But that effort went nowhere. The Department of Labor said last week, in a statement to Computerworld, that the investigations into Tata and Infosys are concluded. The investigations may have been completed early last fall. "Infosys and Tata are H-1B dependent employers; however, they were found to have only hired H-1B exempt workers," a Labor spokesman said in an email. "Therefore, the displacement and recruitment provisions do not apply to any of the H-1B applications examined and no violations were found." Companies that are heavy users (dependent firms) of H-1B visa workers can get around requirements that they have not displaced a U.S. worker if the visa worker is paid at least $60,000 in annual wages, or has a master's or higher degree. The $60,000 wage is no barrier at all. That threshold is well short of a minimum IT wage in Connecticut, and the East and West Coast generally. For instance, the lowest prevailing wage for an entry-level systems analyst in central Connecticut is $68,000. It's unknown whether Blumenthal's letter will prod the Department of Justice to do anything. The department has the ability to look at whether discrimination issues were involved in IT worker displacements. The DOJ will not comment, as a matter of policy, about whether it is investigating something or not. Blumenthal's letter to Eversource's May included a long list of information demands, including "a description of the skillset that nonimmigrant workers brought to Northeast Utilities from 2010-2014 that Northeast Utilities was unable to obtain by hiring U.S. workers." One Eversource IT worker who was laid off wrote the following email in response to Blumenthal's action. The person's name is not used because of the non-disparagement agreement. "In light of Sen. Blumenthal's recent letter to Tom May, former and current Eversource employees are relieved that Tom May is finally under scrutiny, but sadly, feel a sense of discouragement. Eversource has a very large in-house legal team and an active Political Action Committee in Washington. 'We'll be lucky if he gets his hands slapped,' one person said. 'Where was everyone two years ago when this was happening? It's too late now.' " The former worker went on to write: "It's sad to see them feel so browbeaten. Most of them feel the system is rigged in favor of the billion-dollar company whose pockets are far reaching." "This time, Eversource employees hope lawmakers are sincerely concerned with halting this type of abuse and are willing to come forward if they can without fear of litigation by Eversource," the employee wrote. The former employees say what happened to them represents indifference and greed. May received a $1.3 million pay raise in 2014, a 17% increase, the Boston Globe reported last year. An Eversource spokesman said the firm would not make any comments beyond the one it made last week. At that time, the company said, "These are private arrangements between affected employees and our company that were made more than two years ago during a period of transition and change in support of our merger. We have successfully moved on to form a new organization focused on providing superior service and value to our customers." Admit it: you can always use more cloud storage. is offering you an easy way to score more Drive space get some extra peace of mind about your account security. st as it did last year, is honoring Safer Internet Day by giving you 2GB of Drive space if you perform an account security check. After a quick check-up, two GB of Drive storage will be yours. Its a simple walkthrough where you can ensure your recovery information, connected devices, account permissions, app password access, two-step verification settings are all up to date. Once you check all of these out, youll see the free Drive storage added to your account. It only takes a minute or two. y this matters: Your account is a pretty important hub of your day-to-day computing, so its a good practice to take some time ensure there hasnt been any unusual sign-ins from other devices that you have two-step authentication turned on. The bad guys are out there, so being smart about your security is the best way to beat them. Microsoft last week announced that a public preview of the enterprise-specific synchronization of settings, apps and passwords between devices running Windows 10, first touted nine months ago, is now available. Dubbed "Enterprise State Roaming," the capability is tied to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Premium, the commercial cloud-based directory and identity management service. Azure AD is, at the most basic, an in-the-cloud replacement for on-premises Windows Server-based Active Directory. Enterprise State Roaming (ESR) was first mentioned by Microsoft in May 2015 when it trumpeted several Windows 10-specific functions powered by Azure AD, including self-provisioning, single sign-on and a corporate-oriented Windows app marketplace. ESR was to be the enterprise-grade cousin to the personalization sync available in Windows 10, and before that, in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 -- a souped-up, more granular version of the consumer-level skill set, essentially. Rather than having to take or leave synchronization of everything -- what Directions on Microsoft analyst Wes Miller called a "blob" -- as was the case with the consumer functionality, ESR lets administrators pick and choose exactly what is synced, for whom and to what devices. "This [Enterprise State Roaming] is very different from the roaming technology native in Windows 10," said Miller. "[IT administrators] were saying, 'I need to take this apart if I'm to use it.'" Apps licensed by the company, for instance, roam -- in other words, synchronize so that they're available on multiple machines -- only on workplace-owned devices; ditto for office Wi-Fi passwords, and desktop and Internet Explorer settings mandated by corporate. The ESR preview requires Windows 10 -- the November upgrade, to be specific, that's labeled 1511 -- and a subscription to Azure AD Premium. The Windows 10 system must be Azure AD joined, or joined to an on-premises Active Directory that is set to automatically register with Azure AD. Azure AD Premium is a paid service, available separately for $6 per user per month; most commonly, it's obtained through a license to Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), which includes Azure AD Premium as part of the package. Microsoft is pushing enterprises to adopt Azure AD as part of their move to Windows 10, said Miller. But the process won't be quick, as the cloud-based directory and identity service doesn't blend well with legacy and near-legacy editions of Windows, like Windows 7, and the user profiles that power settings-and-more synchronization there. Traditionally, mixing and matching profiles generated by different editions of Windows has produced problems for enterprises -- one reason companies try to standardize on a single platform, such as Windows 7, and before that, Windows XP -- because of very specific requirements for hosting Active Directory. User profiles in Windows 7, for instance, require that Active Directory run on Windows Server 2008 R2. "We'll see hybrid [environments] there for a good, long time," said Miller, referring to a blend of cloud-based and on-premises Active Directory. But as the older OSes age out and Windows 10 becomes dominant, Miller expects Azure AD -- and its feature set -- to become more attractive to enterprises. "Azure AD is definitely something organizations should be looking into," said Miller. "People are doing profile roaming today anyway, so [enterprises] should keep a watch on Azure AD regardless of whether they're now using on-premises." This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. IT'S time to get your body moving because Mr Motivator is in town next month for one of his cardio-funk workouts. The famous keep-fit guru will be putting fellow fitness fanatics through their paces at Lee Valley Leisure Centre, Picketts Lock Lane, Edmonton, on Saturday, May 13, from 10.30am. Jewish Humor Central is a daily publication to start your day with news of the Jewish world that's likely to produce a knowing smile and some Yiddishe nachas. It's also a collection of sources of Jewish humor--anything that brings a grin, chuckle, laugh, guffaw, or just a warm feeling to readers. Our posts include jokes, satire, books, music, films, videos, food, Unbelievable But True, and In the News. Some are new, and some are classics. We post every morning, Sunday through Friday. Enjoy! Online submission of resumes is a thing in this world driven by technology. Some employers who prefer to hire online freelancers look for resumes that would fit in their company and contribute to its success. Did you know that using keywords in the right way can help boost your online presence and increase your chances of getting hired? It is vital that you use keywords, get past the robots, and land in employers' inboxes. Here are some tips in using keywords effectively. 1. Be specific Be as specific as you can possibly be. Providing generic keywords decreases your chances of getting seen by employers. Don't tell them you are good in "administrative work" or "marketing". Instead, use specific keywords such as "document typing," "answering customer queries," Facebook and Twitter management," etc. These keywords have more chances of getting attention as employers search for people with these specific skills. "You could have had any role within those departments and the reader wouldn't know which position you held," Lisa Rangel, founder and managing director of New Jersey-based Chameleon Resumes, says. 2. Provide context Provide description instead of just providing keywords. In other words, provide an explanation and give them a glimpse of what it is that you are actually doing. "Applicant tracking systems are getting smarter and looking for context," Michelle Robin of Brand Your Career in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. "When you tell the story, the keywords will fit in naturally," says Atlanta-based career advisor Jacqueline Twillie. Another tip for this is to make sure that the keywords you use in your "skills" section comes out in other section of your resume, like experiences, past work, training, etc. Stacey Sykes of Sweet Resumes in Dallas, Texas, believes that a more sophisticated resume can have more chances of passing the applicant tracking systems check. 3. Don't overdo it While it is advisable that you use keywords in your resume, it is also important to understand that you need to use it properly and with limitations. Do not overdo it, especially if your keywords are not that easy to understand. "To find the right balance, write your resume with keywords and ask a colleague to read it," Twillie says. To cross check if you are making the right resume, review it yourself once or twice. If you are having a hard time understanding it, then maybe you should revise it. Read about writing your cover letter and resume or look for more tips in writing an effective resume, cover letter, and CV through our Resume Center. The USA and other countries have condemned North Korea for its recent launching of a long-range rocket, a defense ministry official of South Korea has reported Sunday. The report said the missile launch is "destabilizing and provocative." The action of North Korea of putting a satellite in orbit was regarded by other nations like South Korea and Japan as just a facade for a missile test, considering that the communist country has just tested a hydrogen bomb last month. The rogue country was also condemned by Russia on Sunday, stating that this action dealt a major blow to the area's regional security including their own. "It is obvious that such actions lead to a serious aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia on the whole ... (and) inflict serious damage to the security of the countries of the region, first and foremost North Korea itself," said the Russian foreign ministry in a statement. The statement added that this missile launch by Pyongyang will definitely result in decisive protest in many nations. Russia remains among the few nations supporting North Korea and shares its borders. But it noted in the statement that the North Korean government again showed "audacious disdain for the norms of international law." A report from CNN said that the USA, along with South Korea and Japan, has requested the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday. In South Korea, it was reported that its own national security council has already held an emergency meeting as a reaction to the launch. "This is the second time in just over a month that the DPRK has chosen to conduct a major provocation, threatening not only the security of the Korean peninsula, but that of the region and the United States as well," the USA Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. The Conestoga Valley Middle School was this year's host for the Pennsylvania Technology Student Association Regional Conference that was attended by at least 300 students from Lancaster and Lebanon counties. The participants of this year's regional conference competed in several events that showcased their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills. Teachers consider events and conferences like this as a stepping stone towards a brighter future. They consider the challenges in STEM as one of the helping factors that would help them to succeed in life after school. "As a middle school adviser I get to see these students as 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, and all the way up to their senior year," Conference Director Christopher Miller said. "It just really makes me proud to see what these kids are producing and how they develop over that time frame, their problem-solving skills, their engineering skills and they need that to be successful in today's workforce," Miller added. Meanwhile, the host school also had students who excelled in a variety of events at the annual conference. The students were given the chance to prove their STEM skills and competed against teams from 19 schools. There were at least 60 events during the conference. These were animatronics, architecture, biotechnology, construction, engineering, video/photo and transportation modelling, among others. Winners from Saturday's competition qualify to compete in the TSA's State Conference held on April 13 to 16 of this year. Winners qualify for the TSA state conference in April. For those who are in need of further information about the upcoming April state conference, you may find important information as well as other pertinent documents at PATSA website. Included in the site are the fees of lodging houses as well as forms for the student participants who will be joining the upcoming event. A PA TSA Handbook is also available for reading. Google had been busy making sure its Virtual Reality products are leading the industry and its next step may be leaving the Cardboard behind. Imagine Google's VR without the Cardboard. Google has been making waves with its virtual reality products. Since the creation and release of the Google Cardboard, the company has been making sure it's moving forward. Talks have circled the net about the company hiring for engineers to work on a Virtual Reality Camera. Now, it's taking it a step further. With only less than two years since its birth, the Cardboard may be dropped. The company is planning to release a Google VR headset later this year which will make the product the successor of the Cardboard. What makes this new VR headset interesting? The new smart phone based headset will have improved sensors and lenses housed in solid plastic casing which would make the user wear something more technological and futuristic. The headset will be compatible with a broader range of Android devices. Google's aim is to enhance the consumer's VR viewing experience and the aesthetics may just be the start of the trend. This goes to show that Google is maturing fast when it comes to the Virtual Reality industry as it readies itself to compete with and challenge Facebook's Oculus headset - to be released soon. The company is pushing further to advance itself in the niche-turned-mass industry. There has been no update regarding the price of the headset - comparing it to the Cardboard which was low-cost. Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO explains that the Cardboard was just the first step, "Beyond these early efforts, you'll see a lot more from us and our partners in 2016," he adds. The Cardboard has been successful, with 5 million units shipped but when the headset comes out, it may be time for the Cardboard to retire. A cyberattack was carried out on Monday, when an unknown hacker managed to infiltrate the federal government gaining access of records containing around 9,000 of employees information at the Department of Homeland Security and 20,000 at F.B.I in less than 24 hours. The information that was obtained by the hacker appeared when an internal government directory was breached, allowing the cybercriminal to access employees email addresses, phone numbers and job titles. According to a technology news site, Motherboard reports on early Sunday that the hacker claimed to have committed the cyberattacks as a promise to dump online a list of employees at Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security. The hacker that gave out the information on Sunday and Monday, also advocated the support for pro-Palestinian groups, and made it a duty to release the information publicly as an attempt to embarrass the federal agencies. While examining the breach, Peter Carr a spokesman for the Justice Department said, "There is no indication at this time that there is any breach of personally identifiable information," Marsha Catron a spokeswoman for Homeland Security confirms the statement. Speculation leaves both agencies unsure if the breach was in any way connected to last fall's intrusion, when Homeland Security secretary's Jeh Johnson's private email account was exposed, along with C.I.A director John O. Brennan. Reports also suggest, the hackers that carried out the similar cyberattacks acted on behalf of the Palestinians. Apparently the new breach didn't result from an outside computer used to hack in the system. Rather, officials claims that the intruder pretended to be a government employee to gain easy access into other parts of the system. The officials couldn't clarify on how the attack had been executed, but they narrowed it as a social engineering breach, by means of digging out private information from social media, and using it to find out a user's password. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, now in the single digits in New Hampshire, had nothing to lose on Saturday night by going into attack mode against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). But in overdoing it, and more important, overlooking his real objective, he may have only helped Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who had strong nights without making themselves seem overbearing. Sure, Bush had been baiting Rubio all week with slurs on his readiness and preparation, but in the face-to-face moment, Bush barely touched Rubio and instead fired at Donald Trump, especially on eminent domain. Kasich did not have to lay a finger on anyone; he simply nailed down his message as an upbeat, competent governor. Christies problem is not Rubio, at least not now. Rather, it is that he trails two other governors in a race in which he must beat both to continue the argument of his candidacy. Does he pass Bush, who had the best debate of his campaign and who leads Christie by almost 4 points in the RealClearPolitics averages? Maybe, but not likely. Does he pass Kasich, who leads Christie by 7 points in the RCP averages? Thats more unlikely, although possible. Politics is akin to the story about a bear chasing two men. You dont have to outrun the bear, just the other man. In this case, it is three men the three governors who stay in the race only by outpacing the other two. From Rubios perspective, all he has to do is finish second in New Hampshire, which is likely, but by no means certain. If he loses second, the debate will indeed have been a turning point and a serious blow to Rubio. If Rubio glides to second, the media hype about repeating his lines (as if no politician ever says the same thing over and over again) will go by the wayside like all the other misguided predictions in this primary. Provided he does nail down second, Rubio would be pleased to see Kasich finish third, dealing a setback to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) who had an unimpressive night and came out of Iowa with zero momentum. Down the road, Kasich who lacks a strong infrastructure in other states may be a less formidable competitor from Rubios perspective than Bush, who is finally hitting his stride. Rubio also would probably be content to see Cruz hold onto third, likely dealing a blow to all the governors while cementing Rubios domination over Cruz outside deep red states. Rubio nevertheless has a challenge, one that will make or break his candidacy. If he fights through the media storm, does what he set out to in New Hampshire, and demonstrates that he really is light on his feet and tough enough to stand up to Republicans and Democrats alike, he will have answered the criticism about his unpreparedness. If not, he will make way for others to claw their way back into the race. In short, New Hampshire has one potentially bad (devastating, even) possible outcome for Rubio: Losing second. In every other scenario, some of his competition, including some of the most able governors, will be fatally wounded. Kasich, however, is not likely to be one of the casualties. Thats because he had a consistent, effective message suited to the state and because his fellow governors never took him seriously. The latter may have been a lethal error. State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley (left), Circuit Court Judge Joe Donald (center) and Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg are facing off in the Feb. 16 state Supreme Court primary. Credit: Journal Sentinel files All Politics Blog From Milwaukee, Madison and beyond, a daily dose of political news and glimpses behind the scenes SHARE By of the Madison In the final days before a three-way primary for state Supreme Court, two candidates have launched TV ads one attacking Justice Rebecca Bradley as being "backed to the hilt by right-wing special interests" and one arguing politics have no place on the courts. Milwaukee County Judge Joe Donald and Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg debuted their ads in recent days as they challenge Bradley, who was appointed to the state Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in October. The two who perform best in the Feb. 16 primary will advance to the April 5 general election. Bradley has not run her own TV ad, but is benefiting from about $1 million in spending by the conservative Wisconsin Alliance for Reform. Kloppenburg's ad includes a photo of Bradley with Walker and notes he appointed her to three different courts in as many years and is strongly backed by conservative groups. It goes on to note Donald has supported Bradley in the past. "JoAnne Kloppenburg she's different," the narrator says in the ad. "We can count on her. Independent. Principled. Experienced." Donald narrates his ad and doesn't mention his opponents. It begins with a blurry image of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on a TV screen. Later, it shows someone closing a laptop that features a picture of Bradley and Walker. "Politics. It's on our TVs, our radios, our computer screens and in our mailboxes," Donald says. "But the one place it shouldn't be is in our courts. I'm Judge Joe Donald and for 20 years I've been guided by the simple belief that rich or poor, black or white, Republican or Democrat, under the law, we are all the same." Donald's ad is to begin running Tuesday in the Milwaukee and Green Bay markets at a cost of about $150,000, according to his campaign. Kloppenburg's ad began running statewide on Saturday and the buy cost more than $200,000, according to Kloppenburg's campaign. Bradley's campaign manager, Luke Martz, in a statement criticized her opponents, saying Bradley had "run a positive campaign from day one." "We are disappointed that our opponents feel compelled to attack Justice Bradley at every opportunity," Martz said in his statement. Also Monday, the candidates released figures that showed Bradley had outraised her opponents in January, but had less money on hand than they did as of Feb. 1. Bradley pulled in about $88,000, Kloppenburg about $56,000 and Donald about $36,000. Bradley had about $107,000 available as of the beginning of the month, compared to about $269,000 for Kloppenburg and about $207,000 for Donald. By of the The scandal at the Tomah VA Medical Center has become the focus of the hotly contested race between U.S. Ron Johnson and his predecessor, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold. Now a bitter debate has broken out on Facebook between the original whistleblower in the case and a union official at the Tomah hospital. Ryan Honl, a Gulf War vet who helped call attention to the problems at the facility, claimed in an interview with Wisconsin Watchdog last week that he had gone to a staffer for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Democrat running for president. Honl said the staffer did nothing with the complaints about overprescription of opoids and retailiatory measures in Tomah. Legislative records show the staffer, Tucker Zrebiec, was actually assigned to the U.S. Sen. Veterans Affairs Committee by two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina -- not by Sanders. That story prompted harsh criticism from Lin Ellinghuysen, president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees that represents Tomah employees. Ellinghuysen is backing Sanders for president. "Bernie Sanders is an honorable man!" Ellinghuysen wrote Saturday on Facebook. "This is unethical bull!" On Tuesday, Honl responded in a lengthy post on his Facebook page, He said he used to tout Ellinghuysen to the media, saying she held a position of "distinct honor to veterans and VA employees who've been abused by a corrupt government department." But he then lashed out at her, focusing on a 2009 memo that Ellinghuysen wrote laying out many of her concerns about the Tomah hospital. The document says it was hand-delivered to Feingold and U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, though Ellinghuysen has since said that never happened. Ellinghuysen also told an investigator in 2009 that she had met with officials in Washington, D.C. to raise concerns about the abuses at Tomah. Honl said it's clear why Ellinghuysen reversed course on the 2009 memo. "AFGE contributes to Democrats," Honl wrote. "As Howard Dean recently said, they're basically a super PAC for Democrats (that would be from a horse's' mouth). Who are those Democrats? Russ Feingold's a Democrat, and Bernie Sanders' a Democrat; (their) connections to unions is well documented. "Lin is a staunch supporter of Democrats," he said. "She is a staunch supporter of Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders as she stated numerous times in my presence." Honl said he has endorsed Johnson, a Republican, because he and his office have done the most since the scandal became public. Honl calls Johnson the "least culpable" of the federal lawmakers on the scandal. "Although Lin may not want to admit it, Johnson's committee has been flooded with union member whistleblowers and their documents," Honl wrote. "The vast majority of whistleblowers have entrusted their complaints to his committee because, politics aside, he has gone after VA bureaucrats and VA criminals who abuse veterans like a rabid dog. If Ron Johnson were a Democrat, I'd be a staunch supporter of his for not letting politics get in the way of facts." A liberal veterans group is running a radio ad criticizing Johnson's congressional staff for failing initially to refer a whistleblower's complaints about the Tomah facility to the head of a U.S. Senate oversight committee. SHARE By of the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. said Tuesday it has sold more than $500,000 of early stage seed tax credits to a group of individual buyers led by Mark Bakken, managing partner of HealthX Ventures and former Nordic Consulting chief executive officer. The tax credits came from companies in which BrightStar made investments. Because it is a nonprofit organization, BrightStar cannot use the credits, but state law allows it to sell them to others who can claim them on their state taxes. The sale will "more than offset" the foundation's annual operational expenses, also allowing it to provide some funding for Wisconsin companies, said BrightStar, which uses donations to make venture capital investments in state companies. "Our group saw an opportunity through purchasing these credits to both support BrightStar's mission of funding Wisconsin innovation, but also to then re-invest in start-ups around the state," Bakken said in a statement. "We were excited to help support new job growth and company formation in Wisconsin." In unrelated news, BrightStar also said it has made its first investment of 2016 in Monona-based Phoenix Nuclear Labs. The company, a maker of particle acceleration and neutron generation systems, said in a regulatory filing in January that it had raised $790,000 of a planned $1.5 million of debt financing. "This is the type of investment opportunity that BrightStar was created for innovative, market changing technology that creates high-quality jobs here in our state," said Jeff Harris, BrightStar's board chair and investment committee member. According to BrightStar, the lead investor for the round was Wisconsin Investment Partners of Madison. Co-investors included Knox LLC, Venture Management of Madison and Chippewa Valley Angel Investment Network of Eau Claire. A sign from the Milwaukee County Historical Societys Brew City MKE exhibit. SHARE By of the Looking to quench a thirst? Here's where you can tap into special events that celebrate beer. Feb. 12-13: Try a brew from Luxembourg when Bofferding hands out samples from 4 to 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at Discount Liquor, 5031 W. Oklahoma Ave., and noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 13 at Discount Liquor, 919 N. Barstow Ave., Waukesha. Feb. 12:Sprecher Brewery and Sprecher Restaurant & Pub host a Valentine's beer pairing dinner of three courses beginning with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. at the brewery, 701 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale. The cost is $95 a couple. Feb. 13-14: Cafe Bavaria, 7700 Harwood Ave., Wauwatosa, wishes all a Hoppy Firkin Valentine's Weekend by serving Central Waters firkins with brunch and dinner. There's more at the Cafe Bavaria Facebook page. The same happens at Cafe Hollander, 2608 N. Downer Ave., the Hollander at 7677 N. State St., in Wauwatosa and Cafe Centraal, 2306 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Feb. 16:Bernie's Tap Room, 351 W. Main St., Waukesha, pairs four courses with Raised Grain Brewing Co. beer starting at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $35. Feb. 16:Erv's Mug, 130 W. Ryan Road, Oak Creek, pairs Lakefront beers with four courses starting at 5 p.m. Special guest is brewery co-founder Jim Klisch. Dinner costs $40. Feb. 17:Ray's Growler Gallery, 8930 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, gives over its taps to New Belgium Brewing starting at 5 p.m. The star of the show is Citradelic Tangerine IPA. Feb. 17: Only for the strong, the Milwaukee Beer Society samples barleywines from 6 to 9 p.m. at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, 901 W. Juneau Ave. Barleywines include American Barleywines, English Barleywines, Wheatwines, Ryewines and maybe some other strong ales. Price to be determined. Feb. 18:The Milwaukee County Historical Society, 910 N. Old World 3rd St., hosts the discussion "Why Beer, Why Here?" with Milwaukee historians at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5. Feb. 18: The Malt Shoppe, 813 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, welcomes August Schell Brewing's traditional Bock, Doppelbock and the brewery's Pre-Prohibition Bock and Heirloom Bock from 5 to 9 p.m., according to the Malt Shoppe Facebook page. Feb. 20:Food & Froth at the Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 W. Wells St., features more than 100 beer names, eight bands and dinosaurs from 7 to 10 p.m. Ticket prices range from $125 for VIP admission to $75 for general admission. Feb. 21:Midwinter Brewfest raises money for the MACC Fund. It's held at the Milwaukee Ale House, 233 N. Water St. The fest runs from 1 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $45. Feb. 23:Atlas BBQ, 1304 12th Ave., Grafton, and Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. team up for beers including Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Stout and Kentucky Peach Barrel Wheat. The menu includes Smoked Osso Bucco to strawberry shortcake. It's $40 for three courses, each with a beer or cocktail pairing. Call (262) 618-2181. Other dates to keep in mind: Milwaukee Beer Week kicks off on April 16 and the annual Crafts & Drafts Spring Beer Festival is set for April 17 at Serb Hall, 5101 W. Oklahoma Ave. Beer Camp Across America stops at Veterans Park on June 11, one of six stops for the beer festival. The Sierra Nevada collaboration beer fest welcomes brewers and tasters. For a guide to beer news and more, check out Tap Milwaukee's Beer Here page: jsonline.com/beer. You can't go too far wrong with wine and chocolate whether it's for Valentine's Day or some other occasion for deliciousness. But what wine and which chocolate should you choose? To gather advice, we checked in with two of Wisconsin's top chocolatiers, both wine lovers, it turns out. Anette Righi DeFendi, head chocolatier at Kohler Original Recipe Chocolates at the American Club Resort, has a dream job. And things only get better when a beverage distributor shows up with wine samples. A nibble or two of chocolate and a sip of wine it's all in a day's work. "I'm still learning which combinations are spot-on. And half the fun is the trial and error. For me, it's about the experience," says Righi DeFendi, who was recently named one of the top 10 chocolatiers in the country by Dessert Professional Magazine. There's no Platonic ideal here: "What I might think is perfect, you might think is just OK. There's no right or wrong about what you like or don't like. Everyone's palate is different." For Valentine's Day, she's partial to the Kohler Hearts, which have a dark chocolate shell and raspberry ganache filling with hints of champagne and cognac. They are available at the shop in Kohler, online at kohlerchocolates.com, and at a handful of stores in the Milwaukee area. A box of four is priced at $9.99. With these glossy red hearts, one of her favorite pairings is California's Domaine Carneros Brut Rose, at about $35 a bottle. "Sparkling wines are fantastic with chocolate," she said. "And this one has some fruitiness that goes well with the raspberry ganache. Plus, it's really gorgeous to serve the hearts on a white plate accompanied by a glass of pink sparkling wine." If you can't find the Domaine Carneros, there's no shortage of other pretty pinks to choose from. One good match for chocolate, which I sampled recently, is the Zardetto Z Sparkling Rose Wine, about $17. From Italy, it's off-dry with a hint of cherry and lots of finely textured bubbles. It tasted best with dark chocolate but held its own with milk chocolate, as well. If wine isn't your beverage of choice, Righi DeFendi says robust beers especially bourbon barrel stouts "can be really interesting with chocolate." She encourages people to try matching the likes of truffles with a variety of beverages, from coffee and tea to scotch and yes! mimosas. At Indulgence Chocolatiers, owner and chocolatier Julie Waterman agrees that "off-dry to dry bubbly" is one of the most reliable partners for chocolate, especially when there's sea salt sprinkled on top. Indulgence has three locations: Milwaukee's Walker's Point, which has a chocolate tasting bar, Shorewood and Wauwatosa. The confections are also sold at shops around town. A box of four truffles costs about $8. Waterman has a genius for matchmaking and she loves to come up with "extreme combinations that take people outside what they would usually imagine." At the tasting bar, for example, you might find yourself trying an old vine Zinfandel with one of her Cherry & Hazelnut Smoked Chocolate Truffles. And at a recent sold-out pairing event, she married six different truffles to six different Northern California wines. It was co-hosted by Bill Gardner of L'eft Bank Wine Co., a McFarland-based distributor. My favorite matchup was the dry Smith-Madrone Riesling from Napa Valley's Spring Mountain district with dark chocolate dipped ginger. The wine retails for about $28 a bottle. To decide on a pairing, Waterman explains that she carefully tastes the wine "and imagines the savory food it might be served with." In this instance, the dry Riesling is a worthy partner for mildly spicy food and hence the spiciness of the lightly candied ginger comes into play. The dark chocolate 64% from the Dominican Republic balances well with the dry wine, she noted. Another dream-come-true duo was the Duxoup (pronounced duck soup) Charbono with an Indulgence Pomegranate Molasses Truffle. The earthy red Charbono, with grapes grown just outside the town of Calistoga, Calif., costs about $18 a bottle. Both the Riesling and the Charbono are sold at Indulgence, 211 S. 2nd St., in Walker's Point, as well as at a scattering of wine shops around town. Wine expert Gardner mentioned an even simpler pairing to me. "Save some of the red wine you're having with dinner" and enjoy it with a piece or two of chocolate. Dessert doesn't get much easier than that. Tips for savoring the flavor of wine, chocolate Our wine-loving chocolatiers offered tips on how to get the most out of a tasting. Kohler's Anette Righi DeFendi says to have a glass of lukewarm water on hand to use as a palate cleanser along the way. Ice water numbs the taste buds, she warned. Then begin by taking a small bite of chocolate let's say it's one of the Kohler Original Hearts or some other sinfully good truffle: "Don't put the whole thing in your mouth. Take small bites. It's not like eating a handful of M&Ms." As she explains, "I like to start with the chocolate because I'm a chocolate person. A sommelier might start with the wine." The idea is to slow down and taste carefully. So chew the chocolate slightly, letting it melt in your mouth. "This allows you to really get the flavor of the chocolate and also to feel the texture. Is it full-bodied? Is it bitter? Think and concentrate while you're tasting," she said. Next, it's a sip of wine. "See what happens to the flavors in your mouth." And then another nibble of chocolate. "With the second bite, the chocolate will taste very different" because of the wine's influence. With any luck, both the wine and chocolate will be enhanced with "nuances" brought out all around. By contrast, Julie Waterman at Indulgence Chocolatiers starts with the wine because she wants to "taste the wine before the chocolate influences it." But either way works it's that "back and forth tasting," as Waterman describes it that's at the heart of the matter. Pairing events Here is a list of upcoming pairing events at Indulgence Chocolatiers. And at the American Club Resort in Kohler, the 4th annual "Celebration of Chocolate" will be held from Feb. 19 to 21. Righi DeFendi's presentations will include one on pairing variously flavored mimosas with Kohler Original chocolates, as well as one on chocolate and wine pairing. Participants will have the chance to sign up for a variety of sweet events, from hands-on chocolate making to a chocolate-themed brunch. For more information, call (855) 444-2838. Ah, Valentine's Day...the universal day to celebrate love and romance often over a special meal at a nice restaurant. But a fancy restaurant meal isn't everyone's cup of tea or glass of wine. Some people prefer to cook at home, and for these cooking couples, working together to prepare a meal isn't a chore, it's an ongoing way to share their love and strengthen their bonds year-round. A chance to catch up Heather and Scott Shaffer are busy professionals with demanding careers she as an information technology manager, he as a mechanical designer. Heather also sings with the Choral Arts Society of Southeastern Wisconsin and is president of the group's board of directors. In their limited spare time, the Shaffers love to cook and entertain in the Caledonia home they share with two cats and a dog. Heather grew up learning to cook from her mother and grandmother. "I brought some basic cooking skills to our marriage, but Scott wasn't the cook in his family growing up, so we learned a lot together." To get beyond the basics, the Shaffers have taken classes together at Sur La Table's cooking school at Bayshore Town Center. "We like to focus on specialty courses," Heather says. "We've taken a tamale class and a Thai cooking class together. I've taken pastry courses and croissant courses." Working long hours requires the pair plan meals in advance. "We do heavy prep on weekends and cook dishes that we can incorporate during the week, like a roast on Sunday that can be used to make tacos on Tuesday," Heather explains. Cooking together is a way for the Shaffers to connect while doing something they both love. "Cooking gives us time to talk about what's going on in our lives and just generally catch up," says Scott. Adds Heather: "We joke that when you cook together, you're forced to plan and communicate and you have to be open and honest, especially if you don't like something." Along with their share of successful dinners, they've also had some mishaps. "We did a lime ceviche chicken that was just not good, and we tried salt-crusted potatoes that were way too salty and had no depth of flavor," recalls Heather. "When that happens, we order pizza or Chinese." All relationships have their ups and downs, but the Shaffers learned it's important not to dwell on negatives in or out of the kitchen. "You can't let cooking failures discourage you, you figure out what you did wrong and move on to something else," says Heather. Unplugging in the kitchen Through three states and four homes in 5 years of marriage, one place has always been special to Chelsea Smith and Chase Deobald: their own kitchen. "The kitchen is our meeting place, it's a very comfortable room in the house, I just enjoy being there," says Smith. In all four homes she and Deobald have lived in, "The kitchen is the one room we keep furnished," Smith said. This full-time mom balances caring for 1-year-old son, Henry, and blogging for MKEmomsblog with writing her own blog: chelsea-bea.com. With a busy schedule as an emergency room resident at Froedert Hospital, Deobald finds cooking together a rare opportunity for he and Smith to talk about both the mundane and the serious. "Cooking is the one thing we know we're going to do together," he explains. "We've got so much work to do, it's the time we put the phones and computer away." And unplugging lends itself to deep conversations. "We've talked about advanced directives while cooking dinner," Smith said. From homemade pizzas to mussels to pheasant, the couple build special meals around an abundance of fresh ingredients practically at the doorstep of their east side home. "We love that we live across the street from Glorioso's grocery store and Peter Sciortino's Bakery," Smith said. Cooking at home is just as special as going out for this pair. One of their favorite date night/special occasion activities is preparing a homemade pizza. "We do go out on date night once a month," Smith said, "but most likely we'll make something at home, have an indoor picnic and watch movies." A team effort Living with a food professional might intimidate some spouses, but Pat Diglio, deputy project director for Xerox, isn't afraid to do his own thing in the kitchen. "I use the same knife for everything, even though Jay will say, 'you really should use this knife instead.'" Husband Jay Herr, general manager for Sodexo food service, teaches culinary principles at the College of Lake County in Illinois and is smart enough to refrain from correcting his husband's cooking techniques. Herr admits, "It makes me cringe, but Pat is not my student. The fact that he uses the same knife for everything also makes me laugh, and that's a good thing." Diglio says that cooking is a team effort, not a competitive sport. "Jay and I can be competitive, but with cooking there's no competition; we're doing this together, and we're enjoying it." And plenty of other people are enjoying it, too. The couple are known for an annual, all-day party they host every Labor Day at their home in Kenosha. "We had about 110 people here throughout the day last year," Herr said. Adds Diglio: "We do everything from scratch. We buy everything from the farmers market; to me that's important." The event starts with a chocolate fountain, shrimp cocktail, an antipasto tray, cheese platter and relish tray. "We have your basic hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken, but our guests say 'this is not picnic food,' because at around 6 p.m. we put out three to four whole tenderloins," Diglio said. When they're not entertaining, spending time together cooking and eating great food are vital to Diglio and Herr's marriage. "When we can spend time alone and sit down and have a nice romantic dinner...that solidifies what we're all about. It's a way to keep romance alive," Diglio said. "When you're stressed at work and you come home, chocolate is the best solution," Herr said. "My husband is a chocoholic and I'm a diabetic, but I bake stuff for him," explains Diglio. "Anytime I come home and I have homemade brownies waiting for me," Herr said, "that's like Valentine's Day every day of the week, knowing that you have that kind of connection because someone understands you." SHARE A serial drunken driver, whose defense against his 10th operating while intoxicated charge was that beer-battered fish were responsible for his blood alcohol level, was found guilty of the felony Monday, according to state court records. John Przybyla, 75, of Friendship, denied drinking the night of Oct. 12 when he was pulled over in Adams County, WISC-TV in Madison reported. Though the legal blood-alcohol limit for motorists in Wisconsin is 0.08, because of his nine previous convictions of operating while intoxicated the limit for Przybyla is 0.02, according to a story posted on the television station's website. Przybyla also was found guilty of felony operating with a prohibited blood-alcohol content, and misdemeanor operating while revoked, according to the court records. Paris Chambers (left) and Earl Blackman III (right) are accused of stealing several cars and using BB guns to shoot out the windows of 58 vehicles parked at Mitchell International Airport. Credit: Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office SHARE By of the Two Milwaukee teenagers are facing seven criminal charges after authorities say they stole several cars in Milwaukee, caused two crashes and used BB guns to shoot out the windows of 58 vehicles parked at Mitchell International Airport. Paris M. Chambers, 17, and Earl Blackman III, 18, were charged Tuesday in connection with the airport vehicle break-ins on Jan. 30 and 31, and Feb. 2 and 3. Chambers also is charged with two counts of bail jumping because at the time of the incidents he had been free on a $500 signature bond on an earlier theft case. According to the criminal complaint: The pair's trail of mayhem began Jan. 22, when police were called to a crash at S. 15th Place and W. Holt Ave. A female driver told police she was hit by a blue Dodge Neon, which authorities later learned was stolen. A witness to the crash identified the driver as Blackman. About the same time, another crash was reported at S. 15th St. and W. Morgan Ave. In that case, a stolen PT Cruiser ran a stop sign and crashed into another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle followed the stolen car until three people fled. Concerned citizens brought two of the three Chambers and an unnamed juvenile back to the crash scene. Court records show Chambers was charged with two theft charges on Jan. 25 and was released on a $500 signature bond. About a week later, Chambers and Blackman were back in a stolen car. This time, they were driving a stolen Jeep Liberty in the area of W. Mill Road and N. Sidney Place, looking for another car to steal because the SUV was low on gas. They tried unsuccessfully to steal another car and then shot BB guns at nearby vehicles, looking for things to steal inside. On Feb. 3, a Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy saw the stolen Jeep Liberty at the airport, where deputies had reports of two men shooting BB guns at vehicles and breaking into them. The deputy followed the Jeep, which left the parking structure and jumped the curb to avoid paying for parking. The deputy chased the Jeep on Howell Ave. but ended his pursuit when he lost sight of it. While investigating the damage at the airport parking garage, deputies learned a red pickup truck had been stolen a day earlier. On Feb. 4, residents in the 8800 block of W. Howard Ave. called police about BB guns being fired into their homes or cars. All the residents reported seeing a red truck drive off after the shots. The two were arrested by Greenfield police Thursday while using the red truck stolen from the airport Feb. 2. A BB rifle, two BB pistols and ammunition for all three were recovered from the truck, according to authorities. During an interview with detectives, Blackman said he and Chambers were "bored" so they shot their BB guns at vehicles and houses. Blackman's bail was set at $5,000 on Tuesday and he is due back in court Feb. 17 for a preliminary hearing. Chambers made an initial court appearance and remained in custody Tuesday. SHARE By of the If you thought stealing some cheese was a petty crime, think again. In Wisconsin, especially, it makes for a pretty good detective story, and these were no minor cheese thefts. Authorities from Marshfield to Germantown and from Grand Chute to Milwaukee have been investigating two separate thefts of a combined $160,000 worth of cheese in semitrailer trucks last month, but no arrests have been made, as USA Today Network reporter Duke Behnke explains in his painstakingly detailed report on the great Wisconsin cheese theft(s) of 2016. "They better get a Gouda detective." Wisconsin police investigate who stole $160,000 worth of cheese last month. https://t.co/lnVWWl975H Duke Behnke (@DukeBehnke) February 9, 2016 "Cheese thieves really grate my nerves" is just one of the cheesy puns Behnke serves up, but behind the humor populating social media is a serious issue. Large-scale cheese thefts aren't as unusual as you might suspect, and they're being thoroughly investigated in Wisconsin. For second time in a week, Wisconsin police recover stolen load of cheese worth tens of thousands: https://t.co/os6NWcwyLQ #odd AP Oddities (@AP_Oddities) January 29, 2016 The cheese stolen in Marshfield, a $70,000 value, was recovered in Grand Chute on Jan. 28, but it could not be resold and was instead sent to a landfill, the USA Today Network story says. And the Germantown load, valued at $90,000, was never recovered, though its semitrailer was found empty in Milwaukee. Investigators' somewhat surprising conclusion: These appear to have been two totally unrelated thefts. "It's a weird coincidence," Marshfield detective Kevin Hamill told USA Today Network, "but there's nothing right now that points to anything connected between the two." Stay tuned to see if he and the other detectives investigating the thefts are able to develop gouda-nough leads to catch these dairy-minded crooks. People of Wisconsin, lock up your cheese, apparently there's a grand theft cheese mafia crime ring situation happening in the fox cities! Elizabeth (@elizmJOLLY) January 29, 2016 SHARE By of the Students with disabilities are restrained and secluded in Wisconsin's public schools at an alarming rate, despite a 2011 law intended to curb the practices, according to a report released Tuesday by three disability-rights groups. They are calling on legislators to strengthen the law on a number of fronts, from requiring the state Department of Public Instruction to collect data on incidents to expanding it to cover police officers working in schools. "We know that these incidents can be traumatic for children," said Sally Flaschberger, an advocacy specialist with Madison-based Disability Rights Wisconsin, which issued the report along with Wisconsin Family Ties and Wisconsin Facets. "Overall, the goal is to be doing de-escalation for these students...And we think school districts can be looking at their data and talking about how they can reduce the use of these techniques," she said. According to the report, nearly 3,600 students in 381 districts, 80% of them with disabilities, were restrained or isolated for disruptive or "challenging" behaviors in public schools across the state in 2013-'14, the most recent data available. In all, it says, there were more than 20,000 incidents, although advocates could not say for certain that some incidents weren't counted twice, because of inconsistencies in district reporting methods. Of the districts that provided information, the report says, 43 reported more than 100 incidents, six reported more than 500. Wisconsin lawmakers passed Act 125 in 2011 limiting when school employees can physically restrain students or isolate them in rooms away from their classmates, in response to a 2009 report by the disability-rights groups. The law banned some restraints altogether, including mechanical and chemical restraints; allowed the techniques only when it is necessary to ensure safety; and required schools to report incidents to their school boards annually. Disability advocates called it a good first step but say problems persist, including inconsistent reporting and lack of a statewide database that would allow parents and advocates to monitor districts' progress. Report findings According to the report: Families continue to report instances in which children are being secluded and restrained repeatedly, sometimes daily across a span of time. Parents report lapses in notification and are not made aware that written reports are available. Incidents involving police officers, who are not covered under the law, appear to be on the rise. Elementary school students and students with disabilities are disproportionally restrained and secluded. Families are being urged to consent to the practice on their disabled students' individualized education plan documents, "thereby increasing the likelihood that the techniques will be used again," according to the report. "The practices can have a devastating effect on children," said Amy Puccio of Madison, who moved her son from the school he had attended since 4-year-old kindergarten after she said he was repeatedly restrained and secluded at the beginning of the school year. "In a span of 16 days, he was secluded or restrained 31 times," said Puccio, whose son has been diagnosed with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder and is considered to be on the autism spectrum. "Most of the time, they did not reach out to me. He spent 21/2 hours in the seclusion room the one day," she said. By the time she arrived, she said, "he had been screaming for almost two hours straight. He was exhausted. When I got there, he was laying on the floor in an empty room. He had lost his voice." The disability advocates are asking lawmakers to revisit the law to require districts to report incidents to the state Department of Public Instruction. The groups are also asking the state to eliminate the state statute that requires inclusion of seclusion and restraint in individualized education plans created for disabled students and to expand the law to cover incidents in private schools that accept students through state-funded voucher programs. The report offers an incomplete and sometimes unclear picture of the scope of the problem. The data were collected through open records requests to 450 individual districts. However, 40 did not respond and 29 of those that did refused to provide information citing confidentiality concerns. The report also does not include enrollment data for the 2013-'14 school year, so a per capita analysis of incidents is not possible. The shortcomings in the data, disability rights advocates say, only reinforce the need for the state to collect and maintain the data in a consistent format. Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is accused of plotting a mass shooting inside the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Milwaukee. SHARE By of the A grand jury indicted a Milwaukee man Tuesday in an alleged plot to launch a machine gun attack on a Masonic center in Milwaukee, and federal prosecutors revealed they have several hundred hours of recorded conversations in the case. Samy Hamzeh, 23, pleaded not guilty. He remains behind bars. Craig Albee, his attorney, said he would argue for his client's release on bail but he must first start reviewing the voluminous recorded conversations between Hamzeh and FBI informants. "We don't have a single recording, we don't have a single scrap of paper," Albee said in court. "I anticipate we will move for bail once we have a chance to review some of the discovery." Albee, of the federal defender's service, now has that chance. At the end of the 15-minute hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Kanter gave Albee more than 100 CDs of recordings made by the FBI. Kanter said there were "several hundred" hours of conversations to review, all in Arabic. Prosecutors quoted heavily from those conversations in the criminal complaint, quoting Hamzeh on how the attack would unfold. Entering the Masonic center with their faces covered, the shooters would quietly kill the receptionist, the first person they were likely to see, he said. "If she was alone, it is OK, if there were two of them, shoot both of them, do not let the blood show, shoot her from the bottom, two or three shots in her stomach and let her sit on the chair and push her to the front, as if she is sleeping, did you understand?" Hamzeh was indicted on two counts of possessing a machine gun and one count of possessing a silencer. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Jones set the next court date for March 29 to give Albee time to start translating the recordings, which were made between October and late January. On Jan. 25, Hamzeh bought two fully automatic H&K MP5 machine guns and a silencer from undercover FBI agents in Kenosha and was arrested. As U.S. deputy marshals led him out of court Tuesday, a handcuffed Hamzeh smiled at his parents who were in the courtroom. His mother, who had been weeping, blew a kiss to her son. In earlier interviews and on social media, Hamzeh's family said he was set up by the FBI. A criminal complaint filed last month charging Hamzeh quotes him as saying he was plotting the attack as a way of "defending Islam" and hoped to kill at least 30 people. "We will be marching at the front of the war," he said, according to the criminal complaint. Hamzeh is not charged with terrorism-related counts. There are no federal laws for a case like the one being mounted against Hamzeh a so-called lone wolf suspect who planned an attack using guns, according to former prosecutors and other legal experts who reviewed the case at the request of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Asked after Tuesday's hearing whether prosecutors had reviewed using the federal hate crime statute, Kanter said it was "a fair question" but he was unable to answer. Federal law experts said it was unlikely prosecutors could use the statute because the Masons are not a protected group. However, it might be applicable if Hamzeh thought he was targeting a religious group, they said. A U.S. citizen who has lived in Milwaukee for five years, Hamzeh has no criminal record. His family said he was set up by people close to Hamzeh who were secretly recording him for the FBI. Those informants have not been identified. In online postings, his family said he was passionate about the plight of the Palestinians but was not a religious zealot and launching such an attack would be completely out of character. Friends echoed that, saying Hamzeh smoked marijuana and hung out in bars and coffee shops, but was no radical. The criminal complaint says Hamzeh plotted to launch an attack on a Masonic center, which was identified as the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center in downtown Milwaukee, with two others the two who were secretly recording him for the FBI. Hamzeh came to the attention of the FBI because he had been talking about traveling to the Middle East to wage attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians in October, the complaint says. In preparation for the attack, Hamzeh toured the center and practiced shooting at a range, according to the complaint. SHARE By Career and technical education is celebrated across Wisconsin in February. Milwaukee Area Technical College and the Wisconsin Technical College System are proud to partner with the state Department of Public Instruction and Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to promote hands-on, skills-based learning programs to high school students. Such programs encourage students to align their academic coursework and plans with their college and career goals. The types of career and technical education programs are as varied as the areas of studies that are represented. Transcripted credit programs allow students to take college credits at no cost while still in high school. Students enrolled in youth options programs take college courses at MATC to enhance their educational opportunities. Through youth apprenticeships, students can earn high school credits and industry and state certification in work-based learning programs. About 87,000 Wisconsin high school students, more than two-thirds of our state's high school population, participate in such programs. And the success rate for students is impressive. Students in CTE programs graduate at a 96% rate, which exceeds the rate for students who are not in such programs. National data show students who complete rigorous academic coursework combined with a career focus are more likely to pursue postsecondary education, have a higher grade-point average in college and are more likely to continue a college education. An example of a local success story is a student who was enrolled in South Milwaukee High School's CTE program. By taking advantage of a hands-on academic camp during the summer and then completing college coursework while still in high school, the student was able to enroll at MATC with one semester worth of credit. Students who participate in CTE programs have a smoother transition from classroom to the workforce. In addition to learning essential workplace abilities, such programs allow students to hone skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem solving, entrepreneurship and leadership, all of which will help them be successful throughout their careers, no matter their field of study. Wisconsin businesses benefit as well. Business and industry leaders play a vital role in creating strong school-to-work connections. Career and technical education programs help keep the talent pipelines filled for the state's essential industries. Wisconsin's technical colleges are uniquely poised to respond to evolving industry needs to help ensure that the pool of professionals for these rapidly growing sectors stays stocked with skilled, knowledgeable and productive individuals. The National Skills Coalition projects that 51% of job openings in Wisconsin between 2010 and 2020 will be middle-skill jobs those that require education beyond high school but not a four-year degree. Middle-skill jobs make up the largest percentage of labor markets in both the state and nationally. Career and technical education programs help put students on the pathway to careers more quickly and in a more cost-effective manner. Vicki J. Martin is the president of Milwaukee Area Technical College. If you want an example of how bizarre U.S. tax laws can be and how companies can game the system look no farther than the recently announced deal for Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee to desert our country by combining with a previous corporate deserter, Tyco International PLC. Tyco is run out of Princeton, N.J., but for tax purposes is based in Ireland, where the combined Johnson Controls PLC will be based. This isn't your standard "corporate inversion," as polite people call these kinds of tax-avoiding deals. Technically, it's not even an inversion. Rather, it's an especially aggressive transaction that, among other things, will let Johnson game the tax system by having its shareholders get about $3.9 billion of cash in order for Johnson PLC to get tax-free access to $8.1 billion of cash Johnson Inc. currently holds overseas. You don't believe that even our absurd tax system will let this happen? Let me take you through the numbers, and show you how it works. First, a brief aside. Normally, I spare you as many numbers as possible, and don't use Inc. or PLC after corporate names. But today, I'm departing from form, because you need to see the details in order to understand the transaction. Back to the main event. Under our tax laws, if a U.S. company combines with a foreign company (or a nominally foreign company such as Tyco), it can play a variety of tax games, provided that the shareholders of the U.S. company own more than 60% but less than 80% of the stock in the new, combined company. However, the company can play far more games and avoid certain kinds of embarrassment that there's no space to discuss today if the shareholders of the U.S. company own more than 50% of the combined company but less than 60%. This is where the $3.9 billion of cash comes in. Under terms of the Johnson-Tyco transaction which involves Tyco buying Johnson, although Johnson's management will run the combined company Tyco will have about 404 million shares outstanding when the deal consummates. (Tyco currently has more shares than that, but each current Tyco share will become 0.955 of a Johnson PLC share). Johnson has about 647 million shares outstanding. If the companies just combined without playing the cash game I'm about to describe, Johnson holders would own about 61.5% of the combined company 647 million of the 1.051 billion shares. But Tyco will use the $3.9 billion of cash to buy in about 112 million Johnson shares. That way, Johnson Inc. holders end up with 535 million Johnson PLC shares, about 57% of the 939 million shares that will be outstanding. When I emailed my math, which is based on public filings, to Johnson spokesman Fraser Engerman, he answered, "Not going to dispute your numbers." If Johnson rather than Tyco bought the shares, it would be violating rules the Treasury has adopted to stop U.S. companies from "skinnying down" to make transactions like this one fit into the necessary parameters. But Tyco's buying the shares doesn't violate skinnying down rules. Of course, money is fungible, and after the transaction closes, the combined company can use Johnson's offshore cash to replenish the $3.9 billion that Tyco laid out. By being in the more than 50%-less-than-60% sweet spot, Johnson PLC can get its hands on its offshore cash directly, instead of having to leap through various hoops as less aggressive deserters do. I have no idea why on Earth more than 50%-less-than-60% deals are treated so much more favorably for companies (and unfavorably to those of us who pick up the tab for the taxes they avoid) than more than 60%-less-than-80% transactions are. I asked tax expert Ed Kleinbard of the University of Southern California law school about this. He said it's because of the way Congress wrote Section 7874 of the Internal Revenue Code, which it passed about 10 years ago to try to plug loopholes through which companies squeezed in order to invert. "Congress drew the 60% line when it enacted the statute," Kleinbard emailed me. "There's no fundamental economic explanation for that decision. ...I am not aware of any history that explains why Congress drew the inversion line at 60%." Pfizer Inc. of New York, which is doing the biggest corporate desertion in history by combining with Allergan PLC of Parsippany, N.J., also is doing a stock buyback and a more than 50%-less-than-60% deal. But the arithmetic there isn't as clear cut as in the Johnson-Tyco deal. So there you have it. Johnson, a vendor to the taxpayer-rescued U.S. auto industry, repays us by doing not only a desertion, but a mega-desertion. Thanks, guys. If U.S. vehicle makers hit the skids again, maybe Johnson PLC can get Irish taxpayers to help it by bailing out the U.S. auto industry. I can hardly wait. Allan Sloan is a business columnist for The Washington Post. He is a seven-time winner of the Loeb Award, business journalism's highest honor. This is a modified version of a column that ran in the Post. SHARE Socialists did well for Milwaukee In light of the upcoming Democratic debate that will take place here in Milwaukee this Thursday between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as a "democratic socialist," I think it particularly significant to recall that, for almost 50 years, our city was governed by the Socialist Party. From 1910 to 1960, Milwaukee was governed by three different socialist mayors (Emil Seidel, Daniel Hoan and Frank Zeidler), and it is generally acknowledged that it was the period of the greatest civic honesty and integrity, public progress and fiscal responsibility in our city's history. Zeidler served as mayor from 1948 to 1960, being re-elected three times, and during that time many improvements were made to public infrastructure, transportation, upgrading the status of the middle class and labor, and construction of portions of the interstate through the city. It was my great privilege to have known Zeidler, a kind, well-educated man, who raised his family and lived almost his entire married life in a modest bungalow at N. 2nd and W. Locust streets. While mayor, he took public transportation every day to his job in City Hall. (In 1972 he was the Socialist Party candidate for president.) Socialism in not necessarily a dirty word. One needs to educate oneself as to the aims and philosophy of democratic socialism before totally condemning it. Franklin S. Miller Cedarburg Dismayed by Christian right Speaking as a Christian, I am dismayed by so many on the Christian right supporting political candidates who exhibit little personal Christian character and seek to gain support by pandering to our worst fears. The whole point of the kingdom of God is that Jesus has come to bear witness to a far better truth, which is peaceful and inclusive. When God wants to take charge of the world, he doesn't build walls or scare us into going out and buying more guns. He sends in the poor and the meek. I have traveled extensively in the Middle East, and my son is currently a military commander deployed to Jordan. We have both encountered many Muslims of good will who do, indeed, desire peace and are appalled over how the radical Muslims have hijacked their faith. In our superheated paranoia and rhetoric of late, we forget that the majority of Muslims in the world, and certainly in the United States, interpret jihad as the struggle with sin within oneself. Maybe we could all benefit from engaging the true enemy, which is found precisely there. Scott McMurray Pastor United Methodist Church Waterford Thanks to Kohler Thank you, Ruth DeYoung Kohler ("Kohler steps down to focus on Art Preserve project," Feb. 5). When my husband interviewed for a job at Kohler Co. 37 years ago, he glossed the area by saying Sheboygan had an art center. My reply was, "Sure, what kind of art center does a town of 50,000 have?" Well, I found out only one of the best, most innovative in the nation. Having been here now as an artist and teacher all these years, it has been my pleasure and honor to meet and work with interesting artists from all over the world thanks to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and its director, Kohler. From association with the Kohler Foundation and the Kohler Arts Center I have seen over and over that mankind's most positive gene is the one that wants to create and leave a positive mark in the world regardless of materials used. Thank you, Ruth, and the Kohler Arts Center. I am totally excited about your next endeavor. The best to you you are not replaceable. Michele Gutierrez Kohler Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner says reforming the tax code is essential to the nations long-term economic prosperity. Credit: McClathchy Tribune SHARE By When it comes to business, most companies will choose their bottom lines over patriotism it is simply the reality of today's economic environment. Global competitiveness, economic prosperity and smart money management are prioritized over paying a premium for an American Zip code, which is why we continue to see corporate giants relocating to greener economic pastures without a second thought. Inversions simply stated take place when businesses relocate their headquarters outside of the United States through an acquisition. They allow companies to pay the corporate tax rates of their new home country, potentially saving them millions of dollars. Unfortunately for us, the most recent example of this corporate maneuver is happening in our own backyard. Johnson Controls our state's largest public company has called southeastern Wisconsin home for more than 130 years. But recently the company announced its acquisition of Tyco International, and subsequent relocation to Ireland. The company will presumably take hundreds of jobs and certainly millions of tax dollars along with it putting a significant dent in the national economy and dealing a huge blow to our local and state economies. Although Johnson Controls has publicly stated that the merger's production of an estimated $500 million in annual savings is the main reason for the acquisition and relocation, it's impossible to ignore the massive tax savings of the decision and naive to think it had no bearing on the company's final decision. The situation playing out in Wisconsin isn't unique. Over the past few years, American companies have increasingly sought refuge from our burdensome corporate tax code. So much so, in fact, that the United States Department of the Treasury released new rules in late 2014 to curtail inversions and keep tax dollars flowing. However, the measure did little to prevent companies from relocating to foreign tax havens. According to the Wall Street Journal, "the Johnson Controls-Tyco deal is at least the 12th inversion pursued by American companies" since the Department of the Treasury implemented the new rules. Despite the negative effects the departures of these companies are having on the American economy, it is difficult to blame corporate leaders when you crunch the numbers. The current rate paid by American companies is 35% the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries. Plainly stated, this is unacceptable and is causing serious problems for this nation. Looking specifically at the Johnson Controls-Tyco merger, Johnson Controls will stand to adopt Ireland's 12.5% tax rate upon relocation. As noted in a recent Wall Street Journal article, the company would save "at least $150 million a year on taxes over the first three years." It is difficult to argue against massive savings such as these, which is why it's urgent that Congress take on serious and comprehensive tax reform. The discrepancy between our corporate tax rate and those of competing countries is alarming. In a competitive global economy, the United States cannot afford to lose American-built businesses due to our overwhelming and burdensome tax code. We must simplify the tax code, close loopholes, and cut tax rates that is the only way to be competitive in the international market and keep our businesses here in America. Additionally, a simpler, more efficient tax code also may entice foreign companies to relocate here, turning the tables on our competitors and enhancing our local and national economies. Over the past few decades, our tax code has been increasingly used as a political tool, making real reform a difficult proposition in Washington. However, with the economic prosperity of our nation hanging in the balance, it is imperative we turn our attention to finding serious solutions that will not only help our businesses, but also individual citizens. Reforming the tax code is necessary for the continued success of our nation. We've seen the consequences of kicking the can down the road, and here in Wisconsin we're experiencing the devastating effects of out-of-control tax rates. Although we cannot prevent Johnson Controls from leaving, through true reform we can avoid losing additional companies to competing nations. We must take swift action and protect our economy, our jobs and America's long-term economic prosperity. Jim Sensenbrenner is a Republican congressman representing Wisconsin's fifth district. With Democrat Bernie Sanders (left) and Republican Donald Trump leading every poll, a GOP scramble for second place was providing much of the heat and most of the drama. Credit: Getty Images SHARE JS on Politics Loading... By of the Manchester, N.H. Voters here will put their stamp on the 2016 campaign when they turn out en masse Tuesday. But in a year when both nominating contests could easily drag on, they may not resolve all that much. The candidates ratcheted up their rhetoric Monday as they plowed through a pre-election snowstorm in a final flurry of rallies. More than 50% of New Hampshire's eligible voters are expected to go to the polls, a testament to this state's hyper-engaged electorate and a volatile, high-stakes election. "Half of the voters will make their choice in the last week. The question is where are those late deciders going?" said former U.S. Sen. John Sununu, a Republican. With Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump leading every poll, a GOP scramble for second place was providing much of the heat and most of the drama. It's a wild free-for-all enlivened by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's debate woes, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's poignant struggle to survive and Ohio Gov. John Kasich's dogged hunt for the critical but fickle votes of moderates and independents. "We get to see the fight in all its glory," said Georgetown University political scientist Hans Noel, who studies the nominating process, especially the influence of party leaders and activists. In the GOP race, that group has conspicuously failed to coalesce around a single "establishment" choice this time. Whether New Hampshire helps make that happen is a big part of the story here. "The party (establishment) to this point has been pretty paralyzed. It really needs the voters to help it out," said Noel, who spent the weekend in New Hampshire with graduate students following the candidates around. "This is a very unusual election," Rubio told NBC News on Monday. "I think this nomination's going to take a little longer." Front-runner Trump held what he called "our final lovefest" with a few thousand supporters at a downtown arena Monday night, promising to take care of "all of the things that you can't stand looking at, that you can't believe is happening to our country ... you won't be angry anymore." On the Democratic side, New Hampshire is a must-win for Sanders, because the state's liberal and very white Democratic electorate works to his advantage. "Tomorrow, the eyes of the country and a lot of the world, by the way, will be right here on New Hampshire, and what people will be asking is not just who wins, but whether the people of New Hampshire are prepared to lead this country in a political revolution," Sanders told a modest Monday morning crowd at a college in Nashua. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is hoping to narrow Sanders' sizable margin as much as possible to minimize the political cost of an early defeat before she moves on to more favorable terrain in Nevada (Feb. 20) and then South Carolina (Feb. 27), where a large African-American segment of the electorate plays to her strengths. "We have to make up ground," Clinton strategist Joel Benenson said last week. "I think definitely the landscape changes post-New Hampshire." More uncertainty ahead A report Monday by the website Politico that Clinton is weighing a shake-up of her campaign team underscored the struggles of a candidate who is still widely favored to win the nomination but faces a longer, tougher slog than expected. Her battle with Sanders has been far less adversarial than the all-out feud that Republicans have waged. But former president Bill Clinton brought the heat Sunday when he ridiculed Sanders' revolutionary fervor, and the Sanders camp Monday accused its Democratic rival of running "an increasingly negative and dishonest" race, and falling into "disarray." The two Democrats will meet Thursday in Milwaukee for a debate sponsored by PBS. The political makeup of the Democratic vote in New Hampshire is similar in many ways to Iowa, where Sanders and Clinton fought to a virtual tie. But New Hampshire's Republican voters are nothing like Iowa's. "Iowa and New Hampshire are on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the GOP electorate. Iowa is heavily conservative, heavily evangelical; New Hampshire has one of the most moderate electorates of any primary state...(and) one of the least religious," said Steve Koczela, who has been polling in the state for WBUR in Boston. That means Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won't replicate his win in Iowa. And it raises the stakes as Rubio, Bush, Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie battle for the support of more pragmatic Republican voters worried about the hard-line conservatism and electability of Cruz, and the personality, unpredictability and electability of Trump. Rubio's heavily panned debate performance may have cut short his drive here to consolidate establishment support, and given Bush and Kasich an opening to survive New Hampshire and soldier on. Kasich has run a race custom-tailored to this state, and Bush, after all his troubles as a fallen front-runner, was drawing good crowds and campaigning with more ease than ever. If either or both perform well Tuesday, three and possibly four Republican contenders could remain viable heading into March, which would create the conditions for a more protracted battle. "This could be exciting," said Noel, noting that a true three-way race pitting a very conservative Cruz against the populist Trump and a more mainstream or establishment candidate would make it harder for any one of them to capture the lion's share of delegates until the later stages of the nominating fight. In a continuing feud, Bush blasted Trump on Twitter Monday, saying, "You aren't just a loser, you are a liar and a whiner." Trump ripped Bush on CNN, saying he is "having some kind of breakdown" and is "an embarrassment to his family." Rubio continued to take flak from rivals for his rote and repetitive-sounding debate answers, which played into critics' accusations that he is scripted and unproven. "Rubio got his ass handed to him on a platter," was how one voter here, Khris McKay, put it afterward. McKay, a transplant from Wisconsin to New Hampshire, was enjoying the experience of being an undecided GOP voter in a state that plays such a big early role in the process. "I used to hate New Hampshire. I used to hate Iowa, why the hell they have so much say," McKay said. But now that he lives here, "this is pretty interesting," he said. "I've been to Carly (Fiorina), Christie, Bush, Rubio, Hillary, Trump." The fact that independent voters (known here as "undeclared") can vote in either party's primary adds an extra measure of "volatility" to the contests, said Koczela. If most independents vote in the GOP contest, that could help Kasich, who does better with independents than partisan Republicans. If they vote in the Democratic contest, that could help Sanders. Susan Holden Martin was having trouble making up her mind as she struggled to find a GOP candidate with the right combination of electability, experience and political appeal. "No sweet spot yet," she said. "I think a lot of New Hampshire people are (still looking). We're all in the same spot." The Wisconsin Senate is considering dozens of bills in its session Tuesday. Credit: Journal Sentinel files By of the Madison The state would implement online registration for voters by the spring of 2017 and eliminate the special deputies who help citizens sign up to vote, under a bill approved by Senate Republicans Tuesday. In a packed session stretching late into the evening, the Senate also approved 20-11 a proposal to allow landowners to keep the public off tens of thousands of additional forest acres while receiving a tax break. Democratic Sens. Julie Lassa of Stevens Point and Janet Bewley of Ashland voted with all Republicans on the bill. The Senate and Assembly also both approved on bipartisan votes a bill, SB 289, to eliminate the requirement that deer and bear hunters in the state wear back tags. These tags come with unique identification numbers that are issued by the state and that can be used to show hunters have licenses as well as potentially to track down trespassers or lawbreakers. That measure now goes to Walker. Under the voter registration bill, SB 295, passed on a party-line vote of 19-13, citizens could register online for election day if they have a current and valid state driver's license or ID card and if they use the same name for voter registration that they use on their license or ID. At the same time, the proposal would eliminate the use of special registration deputies by political parties or nonprofits to help citizens sign up to vote. Those workers and groups could still potentially set up with an iPad or other electronic device in public places and help citizens use it to sign themselves up to vote in real time. Wisconsin law also allows voters to register at the polls on election day. The measure goes to the Assembly. More than a dozen local, state and national groups came out against the proposal Tuesday before the Senate vote, saying that it needlessly restricted voters' access to the ballot. The groups included the League of Women Voters, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Common Cause and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "No other state that has passed online voter registration has tied its passage to such severely restrictive measures on other methods of voter registration," a letter from those groups read. Senate Democrats also railed against the bill. But GOP senators said that the special deputies are an unusual feature of Wisconsin politics and that the bill would actually make voter registration drives easier. "Whether you have an app that allows somebody to register somebody to vote or a piece of paper that allows somebody to register somebody to vote, that's where (society) is headed," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said. The proposal would also: Permit the use of a veterans ID card issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as an acceptable form of photo identification for obtaining a ballot. Require all absentee ballots to be received by 8 p.m. on the Tuesday of election day, rather than the current practice of accepting them for up to three days afterward. Require county clerks to post all election returns on a county website within two hours of receiving the returns. Limit contributions by political action committees of legislative leadership to political parties and leadership committees of lawmakers to $12,000 a year. Forestland bill. The forestland bill approved Tuesday, SB 434, would allow property owners to close off twice as much land to the public while receiving a tax break, though not the full potential tax break. It now goes to the Assembly. The state's 3.3 million-acre Managed Forest Law gives property tax reductions to owners of forestland who adopt a plan to periodically log timber and allow the public to use their land for hunting, fishing and other uses such as hiking. The law now allows landowners to set aside up to 160 acres for exclusively private use and receive a tax break. Under the proposal, the total closed acres for landowners could rise to 320 acres in each municipality, with an estimated impact of 119,000 more closed acres. Managed forest lands that are open to the public get the largest tax break while closed forest lands get a somewhat smaller one. So the additional closed lands under the bill would lead to $7.3 million more in local property taxes. Opponents of the bill argue that it further erodes the original spirit of the forest program and continues the gradual loss of program lands open to the public. Supporters say the changes are needed to keep land in timber and slow the loss of forestland. Experienced-based licensing. Senators also approved on a party-line vote of 19-13 a bill, SB 449, to allow more people without traditional education degrees to teach high-demand subjects. The measure expands on a 2015-'17 budget provision that created an experienced-based method for teacher licensing for technical education subjects. The bill before the Senate would expand that to more subjects such as agriculture, health care and business. The proposal would also limit the use of these experience-based licenses to the school district that issued them. Holders of these licenses could qualify for a permanent license if they are effective in the classroom and get teacher training. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report SHARE By of the Two Milwaukee teenagers are accused of using BB guns to shoot out the windows of 58 vehicles in the parking structure at Mitchell International Airport and then stealing items from the vehicles, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. One of the two, Paris M. Chambers, 18, was free on a $500 signature bond related to two felony theft charges when he and a 17-year-old boy allegedly committed the airport vehicle break-ins Jan. 30 and 31, and Feb. 2 and 3, according the sheriff's office and state court records. The two were arrested by Greenfield police Thursday while using a red Ford pickup truck stolen from the airport Feb. 2, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. A BB rifle, two BB pistols and ammunition for all three were recovered from the truck, according to the release. The two teens confessed to the airport incidents and are awaiting criminal charges in that case, according to the sheriff's office. SHARE By of the A man known in the Madison area as the public face of the Rocky Rococo restaurant chain has died, WISC-TV reports, quoting the Madison franchise owner. James Martin Pedersen portrayed the sunglasses-clad, fedora-wearing, white-suited "Rocky Rococo" in promotions for the pizza restaurants for years and lived in the Madison area, according to WISC-TV. "He became literally the face of Rocky. Everything was built around him," owner Wayne Mosely told the TV station. "He was a wonderful, talented guy." The first Rocky Rococo opened in 1974 on Gilman St. in Madison. The news is generating a growing number of tributes on social media Monday. No, no, no, no! James Martin Pedersen, the man known as "Rocky Rococo" has died. Sad day. https://t.co/nc4HbootI0 pic.twitter.com/PxhQ3llP2h Chad Allan Holloway (@ChadAHolloway) February 8, 2016 Rocky Rococo is dead. Long live Rock Rococo. RIP. Valenlimeade Youth (@LimeadeYouth) February 8, 2016 Some sad news today The man known as 'Rocky Rococo' dies. I loved the one on State street. :( https://t.co/n6NjbYm3o3 Rockfordstillrocks (@rockfordrocked) February 8, 2016 Aw... I have fond memories of the Rocky Rococo pizzas sold in my hs cafeteria. https://t.co/TMFcuks4dQ Susan Garcia Hagen (@SuzeMSP) February 8, 2016 His advertisements always brought a smile to my face #21ToppingSalute https://t.co/zqbI9hVtMt Chris Scheele (@its_scheele_out) February 8, 2016 RIP, Rocky Rococo.* *This will probably only mean something to you if you're from Wisconsin. https://t.co/mCx3YDSCSt Jennifer Anne Woods (@StillAmJennifer) February 8, 2016 Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Reuters reports that Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan allegedly bullied European leaders and threatened to drown Europe in refugees if his terms were not met. He wanted 6 Bn Euros to keep the 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey happy enough in that country to discourage them from moving to Europe. In the course of the meeting, Erdogan was alleged to have interrupted the EUs Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk repeatedly. For all the world like a Donald Trump, Erdogan is said to have rebuked Juncker, who is from Luxembourg, for disrespecting him, belittling him by saying that Luxembourg is just a village in Turkish terms and that Turkeys population is 80 million [a slight exaggeration]. Erdogan is said to have demanded 6 bn. euros [$6.7 bn] to keep the refugees in Turkey, but in the end settled for 3 bn. euros plus revival of Turkeys application to join the European Union, plus visa-free travel for Turks to the European Union. If this report is correct, Erdogan has become slightly unbalanced. He had a tiff with another of his NATO allies on Monday, complaining bitterly about the visit of American official Brett McGurk to Kobane. That city in Syrias northeast was besieged by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), and would have fallen had it not been for US airstrikes in support of the YPG guerrillas. The latter are considered by Turkey to be a branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and so to be terrorists. The US disagrees, and has found them the most reliable ally against Daesh. Erdogan said that the US had to choose between him and the terrorist Kurds. But actually the US doesnt have to choose, and wont. The Department of Defense finds the Syrian Kurds irresistible as as partner because they are willing actually to fight Daesh. (Turkey, aside from a few air strikes, hasnt done much about Daesh). But Turkey is a NATO member, so the US will find some boilerplate language to make Ankara satisfied. At a time when his plans for Syria are in deep trouble, Erdogan seems to be alienating the very allies he most needs with his bluster. Related video: RT: How can we trust you? Erdogan urges US to choose between him or Kurds Reddit Email 0 Shares By: Ramzy Baroud | (Maan News Agency) | It is not true that only three wars have taken place since Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Other wars that were deemed insignificant or skirmishes also took place. Operation Returning Echo in March 2012, for example, killed and wounded over 100 people. But since the death toll, relative to the other major onslaughts seemed trivial, it was not cited as war, per se. According to this logic, so-called operations Cast Lead (2008-9), Pillar of Defense (2012) and the deadliest of them all, Protective Edge (2014) were serious enough to be included in any relevant discussion, especially when the prospective new Israeli war on Gaza is considered. It is important to denote that most of the media, mainstream or other, adheres to Israels designations of the war, not those of Palestinians. For example, Gazans refer to their last confrontation with Israel as the Al-Furqan Battle, a term we almost never hear repeated with reference to the war. Observing the Israeli war discourse as the central factor in understanding the war against the Resistance surpasses that of language into other areas. The suffering in Gaza has never ceased, not since the last war, the previous one or the one before that. But only when Israel begins to mull over war as a real option, do many of us return to Gaza to discuss the various violent possibilities that lie ahead. The problem of relegating Gaza until Israeli bombs begin to fall is part and parcel of Israeli collective thinking government and society, alike. Gideon Levy, one of the very few sympathetic Israeli journalists in mainstream newspapers wrote about this in a recent article in Haaretz. The addiction to fear and the eternal wallowing in terror in Israel suddenly reminded one of the existence of the neighboring ghetto, he wrote in reference to Gaza and sounding of Israeli war drums. Only thus are we here reminded of Gaza. When it shoots, or at least digs (only then) we recall its existence. Iran dropped off the agenda. Sweden isnt scary enough. Hezbollah is busy. So we return to Gaza. In fact, Israels exceedingly violent past in Gaza does not hinge on Hamas relative control of the terribly poor and besieged place, nor is it, as per conventional wisdom, also related to Palestinian factionalism. Certainly, Hamas strength there is hardly an incentive for Israel to leave Gaza alone, and Palestinians pitiful factionalism rarely help the situation. However, Israels problem is with the very idea that there is a single Palestinian entity that dares challenge Israels dominance, and dares to resist. Moreover, the argument that armed resistance, in particular, infuriates Israel the most is also incorrect. Violent resistance may speed up Israels retaliation and the intensity of its violence, but as we are currently witnessing in the West Bank, no form of resistance has ever been permissible, not now, not since the Palestinian Authority was essentially contracted to control the Palestinian population, and certainly not since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967. Israel wants to have complete monopoly over violence, and that is the bottom line. A quick scan of Israels history against Palestinian Resistance in all of its forms is indicative that the Israel vs. Hamas narrative has always be reductionist, due partly to it being politically convenient for Israel, but also useful in the Palestinians own infighting. Fatah, which was Palestines largest political party until Hamas won 76 out of the legislative councils 132 seats in the early 2006 elections, has played a major rule in constructing that misleading narrative, one that sees the past wars and the current conflict as an exclusive fight between Hamas, as political rival, and Israel. When seven of Hamas fighters were recently killed after a tunnel collapsed which was destroyed during the 2014 war by Israel and was being rebuilt Fatah issued a statement that appeared on Facebook. The statement did not declare solidarity with the various resistance movements which have operated under horrendously painful circumstances and unremitting siege for years, but chastised the war merchants in reference to Hamas who, according to Fatah, know nothing but burying their young people in ashes. But what other options does the Resistance in Gaza actually have? The unity government which was agreed on by both Fatah and Hamas in the Beach Refugee Camp agreement in the summer of 2014 yielded no practical outcomes, leaving Gaza with no functioning government, and a worsening siege. That reality, for now, seals the fate of a political solution involving a unified Palestinian leadership. Submitting to Israel is the worst possible option. If the Resistance is Gaza was to lay down its arms, Israel would attempt to recreate the post-1982 Lebanon war scenario, when they pacified their enemies using extreme violence and then entrusted their collaborating allies to rearrange the subsequent political landscape. While some Palestinians could readily offer to fill that disreputable role, the Gaza society is likely to shun them entirely. A third scenario in which Gaza is both free and the Palestinian peoples political wishes are respected is also unlikely to materialize soon, considering the fact that Israel has no reason to submit to this option, at least for now. This leaves the war option as the only real, tragic possibility. Israeli analyst, Amost Harel highlighted in his article, Hamas Desire to Increase West Bank Attacks Could Trigger New Gaza War the reasoning behind this logic. To date, Israel and Palestinian Authority security forces have succeeded in scuttling most of Hamas schemes, he wrote, referring to his allegations that Hamas is attempting to co-opt the ongoing uprising in the West Bank. In one of several scenarios he offered, The first is that a successful Hamas attack in the West Bank will spur an Israeli response against the group in Gaza, which will lead the parties into a confrontation. In most of Israeli media analyses, there is almost total disregard for Palestinian motives, aside from some random inclination to commit acts of terror. Of course, reality is rarely close to Israels self-centered version of events, as rightly pointed out by Israeli writer Gideon Levy. After his most recent visit to Gaza, Robert Piper, UN envoy and humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Territories, left the Strip with a grim assessment: only 859 of homes destroyed in the last war have been rebuilt. He blamed the blockade for Gazas suffering, but also the lack of communication between the Ramallah-based government and Hamas movement in Gaza. Theres no changes to the underlying fragility of Gaza, he told AFP, and the situation remains on a frankly disastrous trajectory of de-development and radicalization, as far as I can tell. Of the blockade, he said, It is a blockade that prevents students from getting to universities to further their studies in other places. Its a blockade that prevents sick people from getting the health care that they need. Under these circumstance, it is difficult to imagine that another war is not looming. Israels strategic, political and military tactics, as it stands today, will not allow Gaza to live with a minimal degree of dignity. On the other hand, the history of Gazas resistance makes it impossible to imagine a scenario in which the Strip raises a white flag and awaits its allotted punishment. Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, author and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gazas Untold Story. The views expressed in this article are the authors and do not necessarily reflect Maan News Agencys editorial policy. Via Maan News Agency Related video added by Juan Cole: AFP: Hamas Gaza chief: were ready for a confrontation with Israel Reddit Email 0 Shares Human Rights Watch | (Beirut) The Syrian-Russian joint military operation in Syria has included the use of internationally banned cluster munitions in at least 14 attacks across five governorates since January 26, 2016. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens. The International Syria Support Group, a group of 17 countries and three organizations that is scheduled to meet on February 11, should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority, Human Rights Watch said. Any solution of the Syrian crisis needs to address ongoing indiscriminate attacks, said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. A good place to start would be a commitment by Russia and Syria to stop using cluster munitions. The surge in cluster munition use has taken place in the context of intensified Russian and Syrian military action to establish control over key strategic territory in the governorates of Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Homs, and Hama. The recent offensive around Aleppo has caused at least 20,000 people to flee towards the Turkish border. At least seven attacks also took place as government and anti-government forces met for peace talks in Geneva, which were suspended on February 3. Any solution of the Syrian crisis needs to address ongoing indiscriminate attacks. A good place to start would be a commitment by Russia and Syria to stop using cluster munitions. Nadim Houry deputy Middle East Director In the 14 documented cases, Human Rights Watch both interviewed at least one local source who was a witness to the attack or its immediate aftermath, and identified the type of cluster munition used by reviewing photographs or videos. Casualty numbers are based on name lists provided by medical personnel, local responders, and journalists. The real number of cluster munition attacks is most likely higher, Human Rights Watch said. Local activists have reported at least eight additional attacks since January 26, including providing photographs and videos of remnants, but Human Rights Watch was not able to reach witnesses to those attacks. Some of the cluster munition attacks in recent weeks occurred in the northern governorate of Aleppo, near Nubbul and Zahraa, where government and pro-government forces attempted to break the siege imposed by armed opposition groups, including the Nusra front, on the two majority-Shiite towns. In Anadan, seven kilometers from Zahraa, cluster munitions and other weapons were used in an air attack that also struck a field hospital on January 27, killing a nurse; two first responders and a local media activist said. A local television report shows fragmentation damage and flat tires on an ambulance and minivan indicating cluster munition use as well as the clearance of AO-2.5 RT/RTM submunitions. Other cluster munition attacks have been recorded in pockets of opposition-controlled territory in government-controlled areas. For example, three witnesses told Human Rights Watch that on January 27, an aircraft dropped cluster munitions on Kafr Laha, a town in opposition-controlled territory near the city of Homs that is surrounded by Syrian government forces . . . Read the whole report at Human Rights Watch Related video added by Juan Cole: Warning: Viewers may find this disturbing ODN: Eight-year-old Syrian boy loses both legs in blast VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 8, 2016) - Revelo Resources Corp. ("Revelo" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:RVL) is pleased to announce that it has signed an Option and Sale Agreement (the "Agreement") with Guanaco Cia. Minera SpA, a wholly owned Chilean subsidiary of Austral Gold Limited (ASX:AGD) ("Austral"), whereby Austral will have the sole and exclusive option and right to acquire a 100% undivided interest in Revelo's 12,500 hectare San Guillermo project (the "Project"), located in Northern Chile, by paying Revelo a total of US$2.65 million over three years (out of which US$ 2 million is the optional payment in year 3 to fully acquire the Project) plus spending US$ 3 million on exploration over the same time frame of three years. Revelo will also retain a royalty on any future production from the project. Tim Beale, President & CEO of Revelo, had the following comments about the deal. "Revelo has been diligently pursuing third party deals to advance its portfolio of projects and to add to the joint venture agreement already signed with Newmont Mining. This deal with Austral provides cash to Revelo and exploration investment in the ground to advance the project, as well as developing Revelo's nascent future royalty portfolio. Both Revelo and Austral believe that San Guillermo has potential to host extensions to the vein systems at the Amancaya project owned by Austral. Previous drilling at San Guillermo resulting in several mineralized intercepts supports this thesis (see project Fact Sheet on Revelo website for details). We are pleased to be partnering with Austral and we look forward to them advancing exploration at San Guillermo. Identifying the right partner and sealing a deal in the current market requires considerable patience, but we are determined to deliver more such deals in the months to come." ABOUT THE AGREEMENT Austral has the irrevocable right to earn a 100% interest in the San Guillermo Project by executing a three year exploration program and committing to a three year cash payment plan as outlined below: Signing of the Agreement Cash Payment to Revelo of US$ 50,000 Repayment to Revelo of the 2015 land maintenance fees First Year Exploration Work Commitment: US$ 500,000; First Anniversary Cash Payment to Revelo of US$ 50,000 Second Year Exploration Work Commitment: US$ 1,250,000 Second Anniversary Cash Payment to Revelo of US$ 550,000 Third Year Exploration Work Commitment: US$ 1,250,000 Third Anniversary Cash Payment to Revelo of US$ 2,000,000 Should Austral fail to complete any of the above indicated payments or investments, or otherwise abandon the Agreement, the project will revert 100% to Revelo, with Austral obliged to deliver all exploration data and results up to the point of abandonment. Austral will be responsible for funding the property maintenance costs during the term of the Agreement. Additionally, the Agreement provides for Austral to take responsibility for the payment of underlying existing royalties to both Minera Fuego and SQM (see Revelo website project page for further details) on any and all future production from the project. Revelo will also retain a 0.5% NSR royalty on all metals produced from the project. For those areas subject to the underlying SQM royalty, Austral has the right to reduce the Revelo royalty in those areas only (790 hectares out of the total 12,500 hectares), to 0.25%, by making a one-time cash payment to Revelo of US$ 250,000. ABOUT THE SAN GUILLERMO PROJECT The San Guillermo project is strategically located along the highly productive "Paleocene" Mineral Belt in northern Chile that contains several important gold, silver and copper mines and projects. Numerous indications of gold and silver mineralization occur on the property, including several drill intercepts. The project surrounds the Amancaya precious metals mining project of Austral. San Guillermo consists of approximately 12,500 Ha of 100% owned tenement comprising both exploration and mining concessions, all of which were acquired from Minera Fuego (see Revelo website project page for further details). Significant portions of the property are characterized by large, post-mineral, gravel-covered pampas, where surface geochemistry, float mapping, trenching and geophysics are the main exploration tools prior to drilling. Exploration activities to date have included geological mapping of outcropping areas; restricted areas of surface MMI geochemical sampling grids; trenching of some geochemical anomalies; limited areas of geophysical coverage including magnetics and IP; and drill testing (41,000 m of drilling was completed in several phases) of several widely spaced targets. Surface geochemical sampling and pH analyses have been extended across the property and additional geological mapping of outcrops and trenches has been carried out. Historic data and newly acquired data have been recompiled and target models have been refined. Drill results suggest significant potential for mineralised epithermal veins of the type sought, along trend from the defined resource at Amancaya. A number of untested targets and extensions remain. San Guillermo is easily accessed, being located within a short driving distance from the Pan-American Highway along a well-maintained dirt road, some 3 hours' drive from Antofagasta and 1 1/2 hours from Taltal. The property is situated at modest altitudes ranging from around 1,900 m to 2,100 m. ABOUT AUSTRAL GOLD Austral Gold Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:AGD) and is a growing precious metals mining and exploration company building a portfolio of assets in South America. The Company's flagship Guanaco project in Chile is a low-cost producing mine with further exploration upside. With an experienced and highly regarded major shareholder, Austral Gold is strengthening its asset base by investing in new precious metals projects in Chile and Argentina that have near-term development potential. For more information, please consult the company's website www.australgold.com.au. ABOUT REVELO Revelo is building a sustainable exploration business focused on securing prospective land along the prolific mineral belts of northern Chile, and by implementing effective exploration and capital management strategies to grow, advance and de-risk its portfolio to provide shareholders with multiple opportunities for exploration success. Revelo controls more than 350,000 hectares of 100% owned exploration tenement along proven mineral belts in northern Chile. The portfolio is comprised of 21 high-quality exploration projects prospective for copper, gold and silver including the Montezuma project already under JV agreement with a subsidiary of Newmont Mining. In addition, Revelo retains a 2% royalty interest in the Victoria Project, an important copper-gold-silver exploration project in northern Chile. Revelo is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX VENTURE:RVL). For more information please visit Revelo's website at www.reveloresources.com. Dr. Demetrius Pohl, Ph.D., Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG), an independent consultant, is the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and has approved the written disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Timothy J. Beale, President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Revelo expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Revelo believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 9, 2016) - Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (TSX:DML)(NYSE MKT:DNN) is pleased to announce the discovery of a new high-grade uranium intersection near the Gryphon deposit on Denison's 60% owned Wheeler River property in Northern Saskatchewan. Drill hole WR-633D1, located approximately 100 metres north of the Gryphon deposit, intersected approximately 11 metres of basement-hosted uranium mineralization including intervals of 5.7% eU 3 O 8 over 1.0 metre and 6.3% eU 3 O 8 over 1.7 metres. In late 2015, Denison reported a significant increase in the estimated mineral resources on the Wheeler River property. The initial estimate for the Gryphon Deposit added inferred mineral resources of 43.0 million pounds U 3 O 8 at a grade of 2.3% U 3 O 8 to 70.2 million pounds U 3 O 8 of indicated mineral resources grading 19.1% U 3 O 8 at the Phoenix deposit. The Gryphon deposit is basement-hosted and consists of a set of parallel, stacked, northeast plunging lenses that are broadly conformable with the basement stratigraphy. Four groups of lenses have been interpreted to date, namely the A, B, C and D series, based on their position relative to the different basement stratigraphic units. The estimated mineral resources contained in the Gryphon deposit include only the results from the A, B and C series lenses. The D series lenses were excluded as there was insufficient drilling completed at the time of the resource estimate. Denison's President and CEO, David Cates, commented, "With the successful delineation of the Gryphon deposit, completed in 2015, our exploration team set out in 2016 to discover new uranium mineralization in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit. We view the geological trend that Gryphon is situated on as a highly prospective district for the discovery of additional mineralization, and only a few short weeks into our exploration program, the property and our exploration team have delivered again with the discovery of additional high-grade uranium mineralization." New Intersection of High-Grade Uranium Mineralization Drill hole WR-633D1 was designed to test for further basement-hosted mineralization immediately north of the Gryphon deposit, and down plunge of previous mineralized intercepts. The drill hole encountered the sub-Athabasca unconformity around 500 metres below surface, followed by weak basement-hosted mineralization and alteration around 675 metres, 680 metres, 682 metres and 684 metres before entering high-grade uranium mineralization around 751 metres, as detailed below in Table 1. Table 1: WR-633D1Intersection Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)4 eU 3 O 8 1(%) WR-633D12 751.5 754.7 3.2 2.0 (includes) 3 753.6 754.6 1.0 5.7 (and) 2 757.7 765.3 7.6 1.7 (includes) 3 760.3 762.0 1.7 6.3 (includes) 3 764.2 765.2 1.0 1.2 Notes: 1. eU 3 O 8 is radiometric equivalent uranium from a total gamma down-hole probe 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% eU 3 O 8 3. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% eU 3 O 8 4. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths The high-grade mineralization occurs within altered pelitic gneisses and pegmatite that both occur within the Basal Pegmatite Unit and represents the best intersection to date in this unit, which has undergone little previous drill testing. The mineralization is open in all directions and will be prioritized for follow-up this winter. Possible Continuation of the D Series Lenses Previous 50 x 50 metre delineation drilling has shown the Gryphon mineralized lenses to be structurally controlled with a plunge to the northeast. In this regard, the mineralized intersections in drill hole WR-633D1 possibly represent the down plunge extent of some of the D series lenses located approximately 180 metres up plunge to the southwest. Additional drilling will be required to validate if the stratigraphy is continuous and if the intersection of mineralization in WR-633D1 is a continuation of the mineralization occurring in the D series lenses. The D series of lenses is currently defined by intersections from drill holes completed previously. Table 2 provides highlight intersections of the D Series lenses. Table 2: DSeriesLensIntersections Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m)3 Assay U 3 O 8 (%) WR-5581,4 611.7 612.2 0.5 7.3 WR-5652,4 686.0 689.9 3.9 0.6 Notes: 1. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 1.0% U 3 O 8 2. Intersection interval is composited above a cut-off grade of 0.1% U 3 O 8 3. As the drill hole is oriented steeply toward the northwest and the basement mineralization dips moderately to the southeast, the true thickness of the mineralization is expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths 4. The intersections listed above are both from the D1 lens. Drill hole WR-558 is located approximately 140 metres up plunge to the southwest of WR-565. Wheeler River Property The Wheeler River property is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits. The Phoenix deposit is estimated to include indicated resources of 70.2M lbs U 3 O 8 at a grade of 19.1% U 3 O 8 , and is the highest grade undeveloped uranium deposit in the world. The Gryphon deposit is hosted in basement rock, approximately 3 kilometres to the northwest of Phoenix, and is estimated to contain inferred resources of 43M lbs U 3 O 8 at a grade of 2.3% U 3 O 8 . Wheeler River is a joint venture between Denison (60% and operator), Cameco Corp. ("Cameco") (30%), and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (10%). A 47,000 metre exploration drilling program is currently underway at Wheeler River with a focus on testing numerous unconformity and basement exploration targets in the vicinity of the Gryphon deposit, as well as other priority target areas on the property. Concurrent with the winter 2016 drilling program, a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") is underway studying the economic potential of co-developing the Gryphon and Phoenix deposits. The PEA is expected to be completed during the first half of 2016. Illustrative Figures & Further Details A property location and basement geology map is provided in Figure 1. Figure 2 provides a plan map of the northeast plunging Gryphon mineralized lenses projected up to the basement geology at the sub-Athabasca unconformity. The cross-section in Figure 3 represents section line 5187GP and illustrates the new mineralization discovered in drill hole WR-633D1, which occurs to the north of the stacked A, B and C series lenses that define the Gryphon deposit. The cross-section in Figure 4 represents section line 5050GP and illustrates the stacked lenses (A, B and C series) that define the Gryphon deposit, as well as the D series lenses, which occur up plunge of the mineralization intersected in WR-633D1 illustrated in Figure 3. Further details regarding the Gryphon deposit and the current mineral resources estimated at Wheeler River are provided in the report titled "TECHNICAL REPORT ON A MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE FOR THE WHEELER RIVER PROPERTY, EASTERN ATHABASCA BASIN, NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA.", dated Nov. 25, 2015, authored by William E. Roscoe Ph.D, P.Eng. and Mark B. Mathisen C.P.G of RPA. A copy of this report is available under Denison's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Qualified Person The disclosure of a scientific or technical nature contained in this news release was prepared by Dale Verran, MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat., Denison's Vice President, Exploration, who is a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. For a description of the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied by Denison, please see Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About Denison Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan. Including its 60% owned Wheeler River project, which hosts the high grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, Denison's exploration portfolio consists of numerous projects covering over 390,000 hectares in the eastern Athabasca Basin. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture, which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest deposit and a 61.55% interest in the J Zone deposit on the Waterbury Lake property. Both the Midwest and J Zone deposits are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. Internationally, Denison owns 100% of the Mutanga project in Zambia, 100% of the uranium/copper/silver Falea project in Mali, and a 90% interest in the Dome project in Namibia. Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Denison Environmental Services division and is the manager of Uranium Participation Corporation, a publicly-traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "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". In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: exploration (including drilling) and evaluation activities; total expected cost of such activities and Denison's share of same; completion of the PEA; CNSC's approval to increase the annual production limit of U 3 O 8 at the McLean Lake mill as well as the collective bargaining with unionized employees at the McClean Lake mill, and their respective impact on the 2016 production plan and Denison's share of revenue from the Cigar Lake toll milling arrangement; Denison's share of operating and capital expenditures; acceptance by Mongolian authorities of application for applicable mining licenses, and receipt and amount of contingent payments in a timely manner; Denison's ability to complete a spin-out or disposal transaction of its African interests; DES' expected revenue from operations, and its forecast expenses and expenditures; and renewal of the MSA with UPC and forecast revenue and expenses associated with providing services under MSA. 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 Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the "Risk Factors" in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 5, 2015 available under its profile at www.sedar.com and in its Form 40-F available at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These factors are not, and should not be construed as being, exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this press release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in its expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. Maps are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1042313_maps.pdf. PROSPECTING SAMPLES RETURN UP TO 53.2 GRAMS PER TONNE GOLD Toronto, Canada / TheNewswire / February 8, 2016 - Savary Gold Corp. (TSX-V: SCA) ("Savary") announces new grab sample assay results from a recently completed field mapping and prospecting program over the Karankasso JV Project in south western Burkina Faso which is currently 65% owned by Savary and 35% owned by Sarama Resources Limited ("Sarama"). A summary of new zone significant results are as follows: -5.99 g/t gold - DS Zone - mafic intrusion-hosted -1.53 g/t gold - New zone, Sera 1 Main W1 - felsic intrusion hosted -2.19 g/t gold - Fakoto zone - sediment hosted -2.12 g/t gold - Nosa zone - intermediate volcanic* hosted -7.63 g/t gold - NW QV2 - felsic intrusion hosted -3.08 g/t gold - DSN Zone -mafic volcanic hosted -7.18 g/t gold - Sera 1 Main E 1 Trend - sediment hosted -2.55 g/t gold - Sera 1 Main E 1 Trend - sediment hosted -1.63 g/t gold - Diosso West - felsic* volcanic hosted -22.8 g/t gold - S-Nosa zone - felsic intrusion hosted -13.6 g/t gold - 140 to 200 metres east of the Kueredougou Zone, Nosa Trend, mafic volcanic hosted -1.58 g/t gold - 220 metres west of Kueredougou Zone, Nosa Trend, intermediate volcanic hosted -1.46 g/t gold - 290 metres west of Kueredougou Zone, Nosa Trend, intermediate volcanic hosted -12.2 g/t gold - 3,700 metres north of Karangosso Zone, intermediate volcanic hosted -53.2 g/t gold - New gold occurrence, Kueredougou Zone area -8.98 g/t gold - 2,400 metres north of Karangosso Zone, Intermediate-intrusion hosted * Host rock composition unclear due to the intensity of the alteration Highlights of this work include the following target areas: -Discovery of 25 new, previously untested, gold zones -Development of a new target area, Nosa Trend, immediately east of the Kueredougou Zone with the discovery of a series of new gold occurrences related to newly mapped artisanal workings -Identification of two new gold-bearing trends, DH and Fakoto, in the eastern portion of the property - approximately 4 km and 13 km east, respectively, of all previously documented gold occurrences 0Identification of new gold occurrences on the western portion of the property - approximately 400 metres and 700 metres west of the Karangosso Zone Trend -Delineation of four separate mineralized structures or groups of mineralized structures in the Serakoro 1 Main Zone area with best wide-spaced RC drill results on separate structures of 2.66 g/t gold over 10 metres, 4.37 g/t gold over 4 metres and 1.48 g/t gold over 5 metres. -Development of a predictive mineralization model that will be tested in a follow-up drill program "Boots on the ground has once again worked in our favour" stated Don Dudek, President and CEO of Savary "Not only have we discovered new, strategically interesting gold-trends, we have found new mineralized zones adjacent to our known zones and developed new conceptual drill targets based on the geological character of existing zones. Our plan is to drill test the best of the new targets and continue to build on our current resources in a follow-up drill program currently planned to commence in Q2, 2016." During December, 2015 and January, 2016 geological mapping and prospecting were carried out over an area that extended ~35 km north-south and ~19 km east-west. This work led to the discovery of 25 new gold occurrences (see Figure 1) and resulted in the development of an updated geological/mineralization model that will be used in the next drill program. Mapping focused on areas of inferred structural intersections, known mineralized trends and untested gold-in-soil anomalies. During the field program, data from 1,034 mapping stations was collected. An updated geological map is in progress. Click Image To View Full Size DHFN Zone Figure 1 - New occurrences and samples grading >1 g/t gold on the Karankasso Property The following paragraphs provide greater details for four of the new targets areas. Nosa Corridor A series of nine new gold occurrences (seven in 2015-16, two in 2014) were discovered 200 to 600 metres east and northeast of the Kueredougou Zone (Inferred mineral resources of 795,000 tonnes grading 3.31 g/t gold - Savary news release November 24, 2015) with recent grab samples of the artisanal workings returning up to 22.8 g/t gold. Other than a few scattered drill holes, none of the new zones have been tested by drilling. This target, which is approximately 2 km long, lies where the geological units are structurally rotated counter clockwise to a more northerly trend and where numerous cross-structures are evident in the geophysical and geological data. In this target area, the scattered artisanal miner's excavations have intersected intensely sericitic, quartz and pyrite-altered intermediate volcanic rocks that returned up to 26.8 g/t gold (from a sample collected in 2014), intensely silicified, sericitized and sulphidized rock of undetermined protolith and stockwork quartz-veined, pyritic felsic intrusion that returned 22.8 g/t gold. As well, one of the artisanal workings returned a potassically-altered felsic intrusion with 1-3% disseminated molybdenite. The presence of mineralized and altered felsic intrusions along with occurrences of rocks that are so strongly altered that the original rock composition is not evident and the interpreted presence of numerous cross-structures, indicates that the Nosa target area would be, in management's opinion, a high priority area for drill testing. Click Image To View Full Size Nosa Corridor Figure 2 - Nosa Trend Karangosso North area Two new gold occurrences were discovered in the Karangosso North area. The new occurrences, both of which are associated with artisanal workings, are located 220 metres and 290 metres west of the projected north-northeast strike extension of the Karangosso Zone (Inferred mineral resources of 1.43 million tonnes grading 2.68 g/t gold - Savary news release November 24, 2015) and approximately 1.2 to 1.8 km north of the Karangosso Zone. The southern-most of the occurrences, which returned two samples grading, 1.82 g/t and 8.98 g/t gold, is associated with a quartz veined, pyritic, sericite- and carbonate-altered intermediate intrusion. Recently completed, induced polarization gradient (IP) geophysical survey data, suggests that the intrusion may be 350 meters by 900 meters in size; soil sample data, through the middle of the geophysical feature is strongly anomalous with eight samples containing from 27 to 218 ppb Gold across a 350 meter wide east-west portion of the geophysical feature. IP chargeability data, which is interpreted to represent areas with enriched pyrite, indicate chargeability highs adjacent to the edges of the inferred intrusion, coincident with the artisanal workings and the sites of the +1 g/t gold samples and along a structure across the middle of the inferred intrusion. The northern-most sample, which returned 12.2 g/t gold, is located approximately 750 metres south of a 2014 grab sample that returned 11.55 g/t gold. Both occurrences lies along the same, coincident, northerly trending, IP resistivity and chargeability highs. Neither target has been drill tested. The Karangosso North area is underlain by intermediate volcanics and sedimentary rocks that are intruded by several different ages of felsic-, intermediate- and mafic-composition intrusions. DH Trend The newly discovered DH trend was examined in two areas approximately 5 km apart along a north-northeast trend. The southernmost gold occurrence, DH Zone, and the portion of the trend subject to the most intense artisanal work, appears to be hosted by a northerly-trending gabbroic mafic intrusion that is cut by a series of northeast-trending, quartz-mineralized structures over a 700 metre long by 250 metre wide area (Figure 3). In this area, nine, parallel, up to 300 metre long mineralized structures have been subject to shaft-style artisanal mining (see Figure 3) with the deepest shafts reportedly extending to 80 metres vertical. It is expected that the mineralized structures are made up of multiple mineralized veins, as the artisanal miners along one of the trends reported that they were mining three, separate narrow quartz vein zones from one shaft. Only the deepest shafts, along one of the nine mined structures, return fresh rock, which in this case, is strongly silicified gabbro in which all primary textures are overprinted by alteration. All of the rest of the shafts, which extend to approximately up to 25 metres depth, remain in oxidized saprolitic rocks. The artisanal miners are focussed on the silicified core of the mineralized structures which is best described as a mixture of quartz vein and silicified mafic intrusion with trace to 10% granular pyrite. Rocks peripheral to the core silicified zone, which are discarded in waste piles, contains from, trace to 2% coarse grained pyrite and up to 30% coarse bladed arsenopyrite along with trace to 15% quartz veins; grab samples of this material return up to 5.99 g/t gold. Sulphide content is not directly related to quartz vein percentage and occurs more as disseminations throughout the rock. A large area of shallow artisanal diggings, surround the area of deeper shafts and extend southward for another 1,300 metres and up to 650 metres east-west. Only one surface exposure of rock was observed in this area with most shafts displaying close to two metres of laterite above the saprolitic rock. The northern-most occurrence along this trend, DHN Zone, is hosted by intermediate volcanic debris flows that are bound along the eastern contact by a folded sedimentary package. Grab samples of quartz-rich material returned up to 3.08 g/t gold. This cluster of artisanal workings extends for approximately 900 metres along a north-northeast trend with one of the working areas extending for approximately 350 metres in an east-west orientation. The quartz vein zones trend northeast, similar to the DH Zone, to the south. A third area of artisanal workings, DHFN Zone, visible on a satellite image, which were not examined, occurs approximately five km north of the DHN zone. This workings area lies approximately in the same stratigraphic position as determined by both airborne magnetic data and multi-element soil geochemical data. Historic samples collected over this portion of the trend, returned 2.82 g/t gold, 5.21 g/t gold and 18.2 g/t gold. The northern portions of the DH trend, from the DHN to the DHFN Zones is bound on the east by a northeast-trending zone of manganese enrichment that is up to 500 metre wide, 7,500 metre long, in which numerous soil samples contain greater than 1% manganese. This manganese-in-soil anomaly parallels both the eastern edge of the DH trend and the regional structural grain as evident in the airborne magnetic data. There is no manganese-in-soil data collected south of the DHN Zone. The area between the DH and DHN zones, has not been covered by soil surveys. The DHN zone is located proximal to a 900 metre long gold-in-soil anomaly that returned gold-in-soil values to 360 ppb. The DH zone, which was covered by three soil lines 200 metres apart with sample stations every 25 metres, is not related to a corresponding soil anomaly. It is possible that the laterite cover in the DH zone area, masks the bedrock response. Click Image To View Full Size Figure 3 - DH Zone Serakoro 1 Main Trend Mapping and sampling in the Serakoro 1 Main Trend has identified three new gold occurrences and documented four, parallel, north-trending zones of gold mineralization. These zones occur lie within a regional scale, northerly-trending gold-in-soil anomalous trend that can be traced the length of the Karankasso Property, approximately 45 km. The Serakoro 1 Main zones (Sera 1 Main W1, Sera Main, Sera Main E1 and Sera Main East 2) are hosted by sedimentary units intercalated with well foliated, sericitic, lenses of felsic intrusion (or felsic tuff). Mineralization is related to quartz veining and associated pyritization along shear-zones within the sedimentary package. This large area of mineralization can be traced for just over seven kilometers north-south and is approximately 700 metres wide. Wide spaced drill fences, to test portions of the gold-in-soil anomaly trend, were completed in 2012 and 2013. This package of mineralization has not been traced further north or south due to a lack of outcrop and artisanal workings. An IP Gradient survey was just completed over a seven kilometre portion of the northerly strike extension of this trend, extending southward from the Diosso South and Kueredougou West Trend zones, located in the central part of the Karankasso Property. No IP surveys have been carried out over the Serakoro 1 Main area. A summary of results and drilling over the Serakoro 1 Main zone: Sera 1 Main - Three, drill fences, 1,000 metres apart - the best hole returned 2.66 g/t gold over 10 metres and 0.81 g/t Gold over 11 metres. A hole 1,000 metres to the south returned an intercept of 1.96 g/t gold over 2 metres. There are no other holes that tested this eastern portion of the zone. Sera 1 Main W1 - Two, drill fences 1,000 metres apart. Best hole returned 3.31 g/t gold over 2 meters. This hole is 1.8 km south of the new occurrence on this trend. Sera 1 Main E1 - Two, drill fences 4,000 metres apart. Best, hole at northern fence returned 1.48 g/t gold over 5 metres. New gold occurrences 7.18 g/t gold and 2.55 g/t gold, are approximately 200 metres and 700 metres south of this drill hole, respectively. Sera 1 Main E2 - Two drill fences 4,000 metres apart. One hole at the southern end of this trend returned 4.37 g/t gold over 4 metres. QA/QC All samples were collected in plastic bags, which were stapled shut with a sample tag before inserted into a larger poly sample bag for shipment to Actlabs in Ouagadougou. Sample blanks and assay standards were inserted every ten to 20 prospecting samples resulting in 5% to 11% of the assayed samples being reference/blank control samples. Upon reception of the assay results, the results for the reference and blank control samples were compared against expected results. All standards and blank control samples returned results within expected ranges. Don Dudek, P. Geo. has reviewed and supervised the QA/QC program. About Savary Gold Savary Gold is a Canadian exploration company, along with partner, Sarama Resources Limited, are focused on exploring the Hounde South and Serakoro 1 Gold Properties in Burkina Faso. The properties are in the Birimian age Hounde Greenstone Belt, which hosts Semafo's Mana mine and additional gold deposits that are presently subject to extensive exploration efforts (including Endeavour Mining's Hounde Project, Roxgold's Yaramoko Project, Orezone's Bondi Project and Sarama's South Hounde Project, which is adjacent to Savary Gold's property). The property contains an Inferred open pit constrained mineral resource of 9.16 million tonnes grading 2.28 g/t gold (Savary news release November 24, 2015) For additional information please visit our website at www.savarygold.com. Don Dudek, P.Geo., President and CEO of the Company and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. SAVARY GOLD CORP. On behalf of the Board "Don Dudek" President & Chief Executive Officer For more information, please contact: Don Dudek, President and CEO T: 647-259-2097 E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.savarygold.com Cautionary Notes Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the field program, the discovery of new gold mineralization, the identification of new gold trends, historical drill intercepts and the results of historical data being indicative of the potential of the property. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. Nashville, TN, USA, 02/08/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/ Timothy Singhel has just released three essential components required to draft a comprehensive Social Media Policy for the workplace, and the information included in this informative resource is proving extremely valuable to HR Managers. As part of an ongoing educational series on the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act), Attorney Timothy Singhel has provided Human Resource Managers with an efficient strategy to manage the use of Facebook and Twitter within the work place. The complete resource guide on how to develop a comprehensive Social Media Policy is set for release March 18, 2016 free of charge for HR Managers. Timothy Singhel says employers use social media in a variety of ways. Some examples include, disseminating important information about the company, screening potential employees, monitoring current employees and obtaining information about competitors or customers. Engaging in these activities absent any policy or analysis of the legality of such practices is fraught with peril. All of these topics and more are covered in the free Social Media Policy Resource Guide set for release in March. Timothy Singhel has provided advice and counsel to national, and international companies, as well as not for profit organizations, ranging in size from small and closely held family businesses and organizations to Fortune 100 companies on all aspects of employment law, wage and hour law, traditional labor law, and benefits compliance as well as international transactions, mergers and acquisitions due diligence, intellectual property/trade secrets, corporate compliance, unfair competition, and privacy law. If you would like to know more about the upcoming resource guide on how to draft a social media policy for your office please visit Timothy Singhel Linkend. Social Media Tags:timothy singhel, timothy matthew singhel, fired because of facebook post, attorney timothy singhel, can I get fired because of my facebook page?, timothy singhel Tennessee, social media workplace policy, social media experts timothy singhel , Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution SubmitMyPressRelease.com Like Us on Facebook It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print February 8 marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the joyous holiday which is known by Koreans as Seollal. The Year of the Sheep may be over, K-pop and K-Drama stars born in the Year of the Monkey are poised for 12-months of success. While there are numerous stars who were born in 1980 and 1992, are seven Korean celebrities who will have luck in the Year of the Monkey. Kim Tae Hee March 29, 1980 Kim Tae Hee experienced meteoric success in 2015 with her portrayal of Han Yeo Jin, a comatose heiress who awakens with a vengeful streak in the SBS' hit, "Yong Pal." The real-life girlfriend of K-pop superstar Rain continues to deny marriage rumors, but the Year of the Monkey promises to be another bountiful period for the powerhouse couple. Jin Goo July 20, 1980 Jin Goo is on the precipice of his first major Korean drama comeback, following his starring role in the 2013 series, "Ad Genius Lee Tae Baek." He kicks off The Year of the Monkey as Seo Dae Young in the KBS2 action drama, "Descendants of the Sun." Lee Dong Gun July 26, 1980 Lee Dong Gun met his real-life girlfriend, Park Ji Yeon of T-ARA during the filming of the Korean-Chinese co-production, "Encounter." The movie promises to deliver his best on-screen chemistry to-date. Kim Ji Won October 19, 1992 Kim Ji Won may have appeared in "Gap Dong" and "Hidden Identity," but she continues to be recognized by international drama fans for her portrayal of Rachel Yoo in the 2013 teen series, "The Heirs." She returns to Korean television in the highly anticipated KBS series, "Descendants of the Sun." EXO's Baekhyun May 6, 1992 September 2015 marked the end of contentious SM couple, Baekhyun and Taeyeon, but he followed the breakup by making musical magic with Suzy on the hit duet, "Dreams." This could be his luckiest year to date as the EXO member prepares for his first major K-Drama role in "Moon Lovers." EXO's Chanyeol November 27, 1992 Chanyeol led the members of EXO in the 2015 Naver TV Cast web drama, "EXO Next Door," much to the delight of adoring fans. He delivered a notable film debut as Min Sung in the endearing family comedy, Salut d'Amor and is poised to take back with silver screen in the Korean-Chinese "So I Married My Anti-Fan," opposite Seohyun of Girls' Generation. EXO's Chen September 21, 1992 Chen received acclaim beyond EXO through his performance in the Korean musical adaptation of "In the Heights." The Year of the Monkey could mark his transition from the stage to other acting opportunities. Go Ah Sung August 10, 1992 Go Ah Sung recently returned to film opposite ZE:A's Siwan in "A Melody to Remember." A muse of acclaimed auteur Bong Joon Ho, she won the hearts of high-brow international critics through her role in the dark 2015 melodrama, "Office." INFINITE's L March 13, 1992 L (Kim Myung Soo) appeared in a small role in the romantic comedy, "The Time We Were Not In Love," as a young man who created a heartbreaking situation for heroine Oh Ha Na (Ha Ji Won). He returns to acting with a meatier role in the 2016 film, "Mr. Shark." Chef Allyson Adams calls order up as she places a pair of burgers in the kitchen window at Genuine Burger in Silverdale. SHARE Genuine Burger prides itself on its fresh ingredients, including beef ground every morning. Chef Allyson Adams calls order up as she places a pair of burgers in the kitchen window at Genuine Burger in Silverdale. Jamie Reitz serves up a pair of Merican burgers at Genuine Burger in Silverdale. The restaurant opened three months ago. Chef Allyson Adams (right) places finished burgers in the window of the kitchen for server Jamie Reitz at Genuine Burger in Silverdale. By Terri Gleich SILVERDALE Genuine Burgers owner Stephen Foster-Shaner has a simple philosophy: Start with great ingredients. Don't mess them up. That's why he and his crew grind just enough grass-fed beef chuck for each day's burgers, bake fresh buns every morning and make almost everything on the menu in-house, including ice cream for the milkshakes and ketchup for the hand-cut fries. Only cheese and bottled drinks are purchased. "We do things a little bit differently here," he said. One example: They take up to 15 minutes to cook each burger low and slow to avoid drying out the meat. And, because the beef is ground fresh daily, the 3-month-old restaurant sometimes sells out of burgers. Customers appreciate the extra effort. "It's the best restaurant burger I've probably had in my whole life," said Carmen Fraser, a regular from Bremerton. "Because the meat is ground fresh, I always order it rare, and that's a big deal because I'm a germaphobe. But because of the freshness, I can order it that way and it's delicious." Agreed Julie Jablonski: "It has a different texture and a different flavor than chain and processed burgers. It's just a really straight-up good burger." Jablonski is a commercial real estate broker who became a fan after helping Foster-Shaner secure the Silverdale space once occupied by Pip's Bagels. The seed for the restaurant was planted about a decade ago, when Foster-Shaner was working in a fine-dining restaurant and one of his fellow chefs remarked that he couldn't afford to eat the food he was making. "That's the day Genuine Burgers was born," he said. "I want to use fine-dining standards and the best quality ingredients at prices nearly everyone can afford. My goal is that if you can afford to eat at a chain, you can afford to come here." His third-pound burgers come with fries or a salad and sell for $10.95-$11.95, depending on sandwich toppings. The most popular are the Barbecue with sharp cheddar, caramelized onions, barbecue sauce and mayo, and the Mushroom with garlic-sauteed cremini mushrooms, Swiss cheese and mayo. There's also a 3.5-ounce kid's burger for $7.50. Customers can substitute a house-made veggie patty made with mushrooms, black beans, onions, garlic, breadcrumbs, eggs and spices for any of the burgers. Because Genuine Burgers uses grass-fed beef, Foster-Shaner said, the flavor varies through the year depending on what the animals are eating. He recommends ordering the thick, juicy patties cooked medium-well but is happy to prepare them to order. He prefers medium-rare. Shakes cost $4.50 and are served in an old-fashioned ice cream parlor glass with a dollop of whipped cream and an eco-friendly paper straw. Vanilla, chocolate and mocha are always available, along with a seasonal special. A California transplant, Foster-Shaner went to cooking school while getting his business degree at Sonoma College. He and his wife moved to Kitsap in 2008, and he worked at the Four Swallows and the Blackbird Bakery on Bainbridge Island before striking out on his own. It took Foster-Shaner about six months to open Genuine Burgers. He spent part of the time making his own tabletops and benches from salvaged flooring and barnwood, learning the necessary skills from YouTube videos. The restaurant seats 20 at tables, booths and a bar. Its sparse decor is dominated by two chalkboard walls: One features a rotating gallery of customer drawings, the other a stunning undersea mural by Amanda Wearstter, who was chosen after answering a Facebook post. Since opening Veterans Day, Foster-Shaner said he and his staff have been learning on the job. His original fast-casual concept, in which people ordered at the counter, has evolved to a full-service restaurant. He's constantly seeking customer feedback and introduced the kid's burger after customers asked for it. Making everything from scratch is labor-intensive. The restaurant has six employees, whom Foster-Shaner encourages to act and think like a team. "Making everything from scratch makes us proud," morning chef Allyson Adams said. "I didn't know you could make so many condiments from scratch," said Andi Paulsen, who works in the front of the house as hostess and server, as well as doing some cooking. "And they're so good." That enthusiasm underscores Foster-Shaner's approach. "It's more important to me to put out something I care about than to make a huge amount of money," he said. "If people come back, then I'm making a living doing something I believe in." Genuine Burgers Where: 9517 Silverdale Way, Silverdale Contact: 360-399-6006, genuineburgers.com Hours: 11-8 p.m. daily Info: Accepts cash and credit/debit cards except American Express; handicapped accessible Suquamish Elementary third-grader Wiley Turgeon, 8, gets help playing his recorder Monday in class from music teacher Gabe Grieser. The students are practicing for a concert in May with the Seattle Symphony. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN SHARE Suquamish Elementary fourth-grade music student Ava Clark, 9, plays her recorder Monday in class. She is practicing for a concert in May with the Seattle Symphony. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN Suquamish Elementary fourth-grader Khloe Deardorff, 9, works the notes on her recorder in class. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN Suquamish third-grader Mannix Bottoms, 9, studies his music for his recorder Monday in class. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN Suquamish third-grader Likoodzi Ross, 9, (right) plays the recorder Monday in class. Next to him is Sophia Weis, 8, and fourth-grader Gray Nicolas, 10. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN By Chris Henry SUQUAMISH Students in Gabe Grieser's music class at Suquamish Elementary make their way through "Hot Cross Buns" on their plastic recorders. Some struggle with the fingering, hitting a squeaky note here and there. While some in the class have a year or more experience, a number just started playing the recorder in January. In May, they'll be playing with the Seattle Symphony. Suquamish Elementary is one of nine schools (700 students) from Kitsap and North Mason counties participating in Link Up, a music curriculum program that culminates in an audience participation concert in May at Benaroya Hall. Schools cover the cost of the program in different ways. Suquamish received a $760 grant from the North Kitsap Schools Foundation to pay for sheet music and other materials, as well as transportation for 120 students. A grant from the Suquamish Tribe covered the school's participation last year. Mya Diggs, a third-grader in Grieser's class who has just started learning the recorder, contemplated playing with the symphony. "I'm kind of nervous and, like, all those people, and I don't even know 'Hot Cross Buns!'" she said. Link Up is a program of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute in New York City, which supplies the curriculum to symphonies across the country. This spring the Seattle Symphony will host more than 10,000 students at six Link Up concerts, said You You Xia, the symphony's public relations manager. Imagine 1,500 to 2,000 third- through fifth-graders filling Benaroya Hall. "Everyone is just excited. They're carrying their recorders. They're wearing their Link Up T-shirts," Xia said. "It's so full of energy and excitement, and kids being excited about hearing music and making music." This is the fourth year for the Link Up program in Seattle, including a pilot year. The program is among an array of youth education and outreach efforts by the symphony aimed at exciting a new generation of music lovers. Repertoire highlights include Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro Overture," Strauss' "The Blue Danube," Bizet's "Toreador" from "Carmen" and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Xia said. The students also learn "Come to Play," a soaring piece about the joy of music, composed for Link Up by Thomas Cabaniss. But first the basics. In Grieser's classroom, students are quickly making progress thanks to "recorder karate." Students earn "belts," colored scraps of yarn tied to their recorders, by playing progressively harder songs. A black belt, the highest, is level nine, requiring proficiency on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." "I have yellow, white and orange, and I'm struggling for green," a competitive Dylan Sanden said. "You have to be able to do the song without squeaking or mistakes." Third-grader Ruby Dylan played "Merrily We Roll Along," trying for her orange belt. Dylan's notes were clear with only a couple of mistakes. "Keep on working on it. You're getting there," Grieser told her. Carter Altenbrun nailed "When the Saints Go Marching In," earning a red belt, the sixth level. And on it went, with students taking turns showing their skills. Ruby Dylan later tried her song again, then scampered over to claim her orange string. It's easy to see that by May these students will be ready to join the symphony, at least for a day. Those who don't feel comfortable playing recorder can sing. At Suquamish Elementary more than 50 percent of children are low income. For many, just the trip to Seattle on the ferry will be a new experience, Grieser said. "They haven't had a lot of opportunities that often kids in other schools have had." Among the 96 schools (341 classrooms) participating in Seattle Symphony's Link Up this year, nearly 70 percent have a free-and-reduced lunch rate (a relative poverty indicator) of 60 percent or higher, Xia said. Suquamish students who attended last year already are stoked for symphony day. "It's amazing," fourth-grader Alice Moe said. "There was a lot of schools there. They filled up the whole auditorium." "It was a huge opportunity that we got to go there," said Elspeth Cockroft, a fourth-grader who also plays piano. "They let us sing along with them. We got to listen to a ton of music. It was really amazing." Other local elementary schools participating in Link Up are Crownhill (Bremerton), Sand Hill and Belfair (North Mason), Wolfle and Pearson (North Kitsap), and Ordway (Bainbridge Island). Commodore Options' Odyssey multi-age program and Mosaic Home Education Partnership Program on Bainbridge also will take part. This story was corrected to add Mosaic students to the list of those participating. SHARE By Kitsap Sun Staff BREMERTON Residents can apply to join a waiting list for rental assistance vouchers this week. Housing Kitsap opened an application period for Section 8 housing vouchers Monday and will continue to taking applications through Feb. 15 at www.housingkitsap.org. One hundred qualifying applicants will be entered into a lottery to determine who will be placed on the waiting list for vouchers. Section 8 is a federally funded rental assistance program for lower-income households. Anyone can apply. "We're urging people to take advantage of this waiting-list opening," said Kurt Wiest, executive director of Bremerton Housing Authority, which administers the program. For information, call 360-479-3694. SHARE By Cal Thomas Watching last Thursday's debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders one might have thought a Republican had been in the White House for nearly eight years. Hearing their complaints about the economy (bad), discrimination (rampant), health care (too many without it), unemployment (too many not working, or working at low-paying jobs), it appeared hope had died and change is all we have left in our pockets. To hear these two ultraliberals tell it, we are a horrible, miserable, evil nation. We are bigots, we are greedy because we won't surrender more of our income to the government gods, we hate anyone who isn't white, male and heterosexual, and we want to deport everyone who isn't a Christian. I wouldn't want to live in a country like that, would you? But that is not who we are. It is only who Democrats think we are. Hillary Clinton hasn't yet released transcripts of speeches she gave to Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers. When asked why not, she reverted to familiar Clinton obfuscation, promising to "look into it." In fact, Laura Myers, of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, writes that, according to Clinton's standard speaking contract, she " ... won't allow any press coverage or video- or audio-taping ..." of her speeches, for which she charges six figures. McClatchyDC adds that the former secretary of state "routinely demanded that a stenographer be present at her events so she could maintain a record of what she said." So we know the transcripts exist. Want to bet they're never released? Look how long and how many lawsuits it took to pry her emails from the State Department. And we still haven't seen them all. She didn't ask for those big speaking fees, she said. They just gave the money to her. Why would anyone expect those generous Wall Street brokers and hedge fund managers to ever ask for anything in return? How dare you! During this and in previous Democratic debates, we heard nothing about what you can do to make your life better. It is all about government. Clinton and Sanders would never qualify for membership in the Optimist club. Theirs is a steady stream of gloom, doom and pessimism. America's best days are behind us and they weren't so good after all. Slavery, racism and denial of women's rights ... the list goes on. In Bernie Sanders' America no one will ever have to work again. College will be "free," as will health care. The "rich" will pay for it all. Never mind that taking away their incentive to work and make a profit will reduce the amount of money they make and the government can take. Bernie will just borrow it from others and America will become like Greece. Socialism seems nothing more than mutually shared poverty. Adopt it, and we will all be equally poor. At last Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast, Mark Burnett, president of MGM Television and Digital Group, and his actress-wife and co-producer Roma Downey, told stories about immigrating to America he from England and she from Northern Ireland. Burnett, fresh from service in the British Army, took a job as a chauffeur and part-time nanny in Los Angeles. Downey's first job was checking coats at a fancy New York restaurant where she said she could not afford to eat. Burnett can now see the house where he once worked from his office window in Beverly Hills. He and Downey are producing biblical and family-friendly television programs. They own a home in Malibu. These are the kinds of success stories we used to tell and examples we used to urge Americans to follow. No matter one's present circumstances, you could make it in America. Success stories aren't in the Democratic playbook. For Democrats, the only way to improve your life is for you to rely on government led by Democrats. Those who make it on their own it seems are punished by higher taxes and more regulations. "The sun will come out tomorrow," sings an optimistic Annie in the Broadway musical. For Hillary and Bernie, it's a "hard knock life" and it's always Midnight in America. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Gareth Morgan writes: Kiwis have generously got behind a campaign to buy 7 hectares of beach and scrub, with the aim to fold it into the Abel Tasman National Park. So far the campaign has raised over $1.3m, attracting over 20,000 donors. Even Stuff has got behind the campaign, no doubt sensing that this foray into campaign journalism could yield them more clicks. Its a great campaign and so far 22,457 Kiwis have pledged $1.42 million to purchase the land to donate to the conservation estate. Over the weekend, Andrew Little has suggested that the public purse could pick up the balance of the fundraising currently at least $650,000 given we have no idea what the other bids in the tender are. There is no doubt it is a popular campaign, and fair enough to the donors after all people can decide to spend their money however they like. But it doesnt follow at all that this project is an appropriate way to spend public money. Before any politician commits taxpayers money to any project they should think beyond the kudos of the publicity and be sure it is the most beneficial and hence responsible way to spend the next million of other peoples (i.e.; taxpayers) money. It is the norm before any public money is spent for the Treasury to give advice on the value for money that the spend offers. To let politicians to just spray taxpayers property around like confetti is a recipe for disaster. While running on their gut political instincts is their natural predisposition, any politician who expects tenure needs to be a bit above that. Id be more impressed if Little had pledged his own money to the campaign, instead of demanding taxpayers be forced to fund it. Nothing kills a great community spirit more than politicians trying to muscle into the action and claim credit. DOC has already said that the land is too expensive at $2m for them to invest. Quite rightly they have done their sums and there are other projects that give infinitely more return to the ecological estate than a piece of sandspit. We all know DOC has plenty of land in its portfolio and cant look after the estate it has already. The true conservation dividend it can earn comes from killing stuff eliminating predators so that our native species can flourish. It does not come from buying more hectares that it cant protect. Predator free zones are our best investment in conservation. I agree. Finally heres an offer. I will make up the difference between the crowd-funding amount and the tender offer of $2m. I will guarantee that the public have access to the same extent that the current owner has kindly bestowed. But I will go further than that. I will undertake to give the property to DOC once my family has finished enjoying it. But I expect something in return I want to use the property for my own private benefit meanwhile, just as the current owner does.1 That way we dont have politicians irresponsibly spending taxpayer funds, there is no risk of public access to this threatened sand-spit being denied, and the beach is guaranteed to end up in public ownership. I can do this because its my money. Thats a big difference from politicians generously promising to spend you money on such folly. What do you say taxpayers sound like a deal to save you money? It is a generous offer. However Im not sure one can combine the public appeal with this offer. People have pledged their donations for a very specific purpose to donate immediately to the conservation estate. While many donors may be willing to accept Morgans offer, there would need to be some mechanism for people who have donated to withdraw if they dont want to have it done this way. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Stuff reports: Former Labour MP Shane Jones has thrown his weight behind calls to shift Waitangi celebrations involving the Crown, away from Ti Tii Marae. The national day and lead-up was marred by in-fighting among trustees of the lower marae. Drawn-out confusion over whether Prime Minister John Key was even invited, and a gagging order placed on him by some trustees led to his withdrawal from Waitangi celebrations at the weekend. Northland-based Jones, now New Zealands economic development ambassador to the Pacific, said he supported the calls. Unfortunately all Tai Tokerau (Northland) tribes are tainted by the Te Tii Marae circus. Their decision that the PM could go on the Marae but not talk makes a mockery of Marae culture. What were they thinking, that the leader of the nation would stand and hum Pokarekare ana? said Jones. Scott Robinson blows insulation in the roof of a new home under construction at the Clayton Homes Norris Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. A new partnership between TVA and Clayton Homes guarantees an Energy Star home, at no extra cost, to anyone in the Tennessee Valley who purchases a new house from the Alcoa manufacturer. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE By Ed Marcum of the Knoxville News Sentinel Maryville-based Clayton Homes is adding a New York-based mobile home retailer to its roster of brands. Clayton announced Monday that G & I Homes, which has been in business more than 50 years, will be joining Clayton's family of brands in February. G&I has been a major Clayton partner in the New York region. In June, the company was recognized by Clayton as the top retailer of homes from Clayton's Lewistown, Pa., manufacturing facility. G & I purchased 53 homes from the facility in 2014, representing more than $2.2 million in sales, according to a G & I newsletter. Established by Gerald and Irene Bushey in 1965, G & I will continue to be run by the Bushey family. The company has six locations in New York state and Clayton announced it will hire additional employees to join the G & I team. "We look for wonderful people who have built a great business and reputation like the Bushey Family," Clayton CEO Kevin Clayton said in a statement. "We would not be interested unless they desired to stay on and keep delivering great local service." Clayton will also be introducing its Energy Smart Home to the lineup of homes G&I sells. These homes have extra thick insulation and other energy saving features. G&I is one of at least two major acquisitions Clayton Homes has made within the last year. In October, the company announced it had acquired Georgia-based residential community developer and homebuilder Chafin Communities. The Chafin deal gives Clayton Homes, which builds, sells, finances, leases and ensures manufactured and modular homes, a chance to expand into the site-built home market. The purchase of Chafin included 1,100 developed, undeveloped and contracted building lots. Chafin is another family owned business and Clayton left brothers Eric and Daryl Chafin in charge of the operation. Clayton, which was founded in 1956, is one of the largest providers of homes in the country, with more than 1,000 authorized home centers across the nation. Migrating Sandhill cranes feed in harvested corn and other grain fields and roost along shores of rivers, coves and marshes. Trumpeting calls announce the presence of flocks in flight. Photo credit: Ken Thomas SHARE HIKING AND CRANES The Smoky Mountains Hiking Club will host a hike on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge to see hundreds of Sandhill cranes and 80-foot-hight Laurel Falls in Laurel Snow Pocket Wilderness. See an abandoned mine, remnants of a former rail line and reservoir, Richland and Laurel Creeks, and several interesting rock formations along the trail. Hike: 6 miles, rated moderate. Meet at Lenoir City Cracker Barrel, Exit 81, 325 Fort Loudon Medical Center Drive, at 8 a.m. Leader: Steve Madden, smadden@aaasouth.com On Sunday, Feb. 14, join the hike to Mizell Bluff on the East Lakeshore Trail along Tellico Lake to Mizell Bluff with views of scenic Tellico Lake and north towards the Cumberland Mountains. Total hike of 6 miles rated moderately strenuous due to the climb. This hike was recently featured as the Hike of the Month in the GoKnoxville section of the News Sentinel. Meet at Lenoir City Cracker Barrel, Exit 81, 325 Fort Loudon Medical Center Drive, at 12:30 p.m. or at the trailhead at 1. Leader: Andy Zimmerman, andyzim@gmail.com MONSTER TRUCKS The Monster Truck Nationals are back for a high-velocity night at The Corbin (Ky.) Arena on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19 and 20, at 7:30 p.m. Everyone can get up-close to the monsters and their drivers for photos and autographs at a free pit party two hours before the show. Advance tickets are $18 and on sale now by phone at 800-745-3000, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Day of show tickets are $21. Info: www.eventsatthearena.com or www.MonsterTruckNationals.com BIRDING BRUNCH There are several species of birds that can only be found in the Tennessee Valley in winter. By the time April arrives, birds like the winter wren, hermit thrush and brown creeper will be gone back to their nesting territory farther north. Ijams Nature Center will host a Birding Brunch at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, to learn about them and hopefully spot them on a walk around the property. Bring binoculars. The fee for this program is $5 for Ijams members and $8 for non-members. To register, call 865-577-4717, ext. 110. ART EXHIBIT "The Anxious Landscape Artist: Jeffrey Morton" exhibit will be held at Pellissippi State Community College through Feb. 26 in the Bagwell Center for Media and Art Gallery. The free exhibit, by East Tennessee transplant Jeffrey Morton, focuses on the importance of place in shaping and molding human life through depictions of East Tennessee's geography and that other well-known transplant, kudzu. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Like us at www.facebook.com/knoxvillefamily and www.facebook.com/knoxvilledotcom Campbell County General Sessions Judge Amanda Sammons (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel JACKSBORO, Tenn. A wrongfully accused woman should not have to buy her innocence nor should any other citizens too poor to hire an attorney. That was the argument 8th Judicial District Assistant Public Defender William C. Jones made Monday in asking that a controversial policy by Campbell County General Sessions Court Judge Amanda Sammons be struck down as unconstitutional. Sammons is the subject of a growing number of complaints, including one from a fellow judge, to the state Board of Judicial Conduct for actions that include the removal of children from their homes without legal grounds, altering a warrant to increase a woman's charge without any hearing or request to do so and charging poor people a fee for using court-appointed lawyers when they instead hired private counsel and even when they were wrongfully accused. Jones' case added a new twist to the fee issue. Crystal D. Roberts was too poor to hire a lawyer. Jones was appointed to represent her. Citing a state law that allows a fee to be assessed to help offset the expense of providing public defender services to the poor, Sammons ordered Roberts to pay $50 after Roberts was charged in November with two misdemeanor prescription drug offenses. Less than a week after her arrest, according to Jones' motion, Roberts presented proof she had a prescription for the drugs found in her possession. District Attorney General Jared Effler's office then filed a motion to dismiss the charges since she legally possessed the medication, court records show. Sammons refused to drop the case unless Roberts paid the $50 fee. In an interview with the News Sentinel in December, Sammons insisted the fee is "not waivable," although the law itself says a judge can waive it. And nowhere in the law does it require the fee to be assessed against someone who never used the public defender's office. Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton already has struck down as legally flawed Sammons' requirement of the fee for citizens who hire their own attorneys. Roberts' case represented the first time the public defender's office has challenged her fee policy on behalf of their clients. Jones asked Sexton on Monday to not only order the charge of which she has now been cleared by the state dropped but to once and for all declare Sammons' fee policy for the wrongfully accused unconstitutional. "By denying the state's motion to dismiss, (Sammons) has continued a prosecution of a citizen for crimes she did not commit, knowing she didn't commit them, solely for the purpose of leverage in collecting a civil debt," Jones wrote. Even though innocent, Jones argued, Roberts remains under the court's thumb via her original bond conditions and subject to arrest if she violates them. As long as Sammons refuses to formally dismiss the charge, Roberts cannot seek to have her arrest expunged from her record, which could impact her ability to seek a job or even housing, he noted. "Ms. Roberts was wrongly accused of possession of controlled substances," Jones wrote. "She has proven that she is innocent of these accusations. The court should not continue a prosecution of a citizen it knows to be innocent for the purpose of collecting an administrative fee." Sexton made short work of Roberts' case. "Granted," he said as soon as Jones stood to argue his motion. "Granted. Granted." He declined to issue a blanket order to cover future cases, though he made clear how he will rule should Sammons continue to refuse to dismiss charges because of an administrative fee. "Today, you win," Sexton said. "You will win tomorrow. You will win the next day." Sammons has said Sexton and other sessions court judges who do not adhere to her policy are wrong. Related: DCS: Campbell judge took children from their homes without legal grounds Judge confirms complaint against fellow Campbell County jurist Records show Campbell County judge upped charge, altered record Campbell County judges fee order struck down Campbell County judge charging fee to the poor for legal services they didn't receive Campbell County judge becomes defendant for failing to sign order SHARE Bronx Washington By Bob Fowler CLINTON A grieving mother's heart-rending statement about her son's murder left an Anderson County courtroom silent Monday, save for the quiet sobbing of another of the victim's relatives. Amparo C. Atencio read her statement following Bronx Washington's plea to reduced charges in the shooting death of Atencio's 22-year-old son, Antonio "Tony" J. Phillips. Phillips died after he was shot in the leg the bullet piercing his femoral artery during a marijuana deal gone awry on Aug. 8, 2011, in Phillips' Rolling Hills Apartment in Oak Ridge. "You were the person who set everything in motion," Atencio said as she stared at the handcuffed and shackled Washington, now 22. "You not only robbed Tony of his life, but me of my future. He (Antonio Phillips) trusted you, and you bought evil into his life." Washington asked Judge Don Elledge for an opportunity to respond. "I can't come to words how sorry I am," the defendant said, turning to face Atencio. "I didn't bring no kind of monster to your son." Washington and two cousins, Brandon Brooms, now 25, and James Brooms, 27, all of Oak Ridge, were originally charged with first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. Washington on Monday pleaded guilty to amended charges of facilitation to commit second-degree murder and facilitation to commit aggravated robbery, receiving concurrent sentences of 12 and six years, respectively. He also received a two-year sentence for a felony drug conviction arising from an April 2014 traffic stop while he was out on bond and police found more than a half-ounce of marijuana in his possession. His bond on the murder charge was subsequently revoked, and he's been jailed since then. In all, Washington received a 14-year sentence, but he's eligible for parole after serving 30 percent of it. Brandon Brooms, identified as the triggerman, earlier pleaded to second degree murder and especially aggravated robbery and received a 25-year prison sentence. James Brooms pleaded guilty to reduced charges of facilitation to commit second-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery and received a 12-year sentence. Both brothers remain behind bars. In piecing together the incident, police said Washington had earlier purchased pot from Phillips and returned just before midnight. Phillips' roommate, Jacoby Breeden, said he heard a gun being cocked in Phillips bedroom, went inside, saw a scuffle between Brandon Brooms and Phillips, and attacked Washington in a bid to protect Phillips. During the melee, Brandon Brooms shot Phillips and either he or his brother fired a gunshot that hit Washington in a hand. Prosecutor Emily Faye Abbott said Washington turned himself in to authorities "and did cooperate from Day 1" in the investigation. Former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood, far left, was arraigned Tuesday morning, Feb. 9, 2016, on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud as well as witness tampering. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel KNOXVILLE After approving an expansion of scheme to defraud small trucking companies of promised diesel fuel rebates, former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood made a prediction, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. "We're all going to be winners for 2013," the indictment quotes Hazelwood telling sales managers at a November 2012 meeting in which he was secretly recorded. Hazelwood was arraigned Tuesday on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud as well as witness tampering in a nearly three-year investigation. Seven other Pilot employees were named in the 14-count indictment. All eight are accused in the conspiracy count and nine specific charges of wire fraud. Hazelwood faces an additional charge of witness tampering. Former Pilot vice president of direct sales Scott Wombold is also charged with three counts of lying to agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Ten former Pilot employees have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. In addition to Hazelwood and Wombold, the following former Pilot employees are named in the indictment: John Freeman, who was vice president of sales and who has been identified in an FBI affidavit as the architect of the fuel rebate scheme; Vicki Borden, who supervised various sales support staff; sales representatives Katy Bibee, Heather Jones and Karen Mann; and John Spiewak, who is listed as a former regional sales manager. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Trey Hamilton and David Lewen obtained the indictment from a federal grand jury on Feb. 3. It has remained under seal until Tuesday's arraignments. The prosecutors turned to a rare device in federal court the "speaking" indictment, which lays out with specificity the alleged scheme and reveals sections of the government's evidence against each defendant. That evidence includes emails and audio recordings in which Hazelwood and his alleged co-conspirators made no bones about their intent to deceive trucking companies less wise to the ways of fuel rebates. "Say one thing, do another," Freeman wrote. "Use smooth talking and a little change." Hazelwood is captured on secret recordings in late 2012 not only giving his approval of an expansion of the alleged fraud but advising his sales executives exactly how to choose victims. "Customer A, looks (at) every orifice," Hazelwood explained. "You have Customer B, who doesn't even know you have an orifice." It's "customer B," he added, the sales staff should target. Eleven trucking companies are specifically named in the indictment, including BP Express Inc., in Rockford, Tenn. The other companies were located across the country, including in North Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. The indictment alleges that one month after Hazelwood was fired from Pilot in May 2014 he "wilfully tried to persuade his former administrative assistant" to mislead or refuse to cooperate the FBI or the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. That employee is only identified as "Pilot Employee 1." The indictment alleges the conspiracy began in 2008 and ended with the raid on April 15, 2013. The indictment indicates that Hazelwood agreed on the day of the raid to speak with law enforcement. The indictment does not indicate how forthcoming he was. Not named in any indictments returned so far is CEO Jimmy Haslam, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Also not named is Pilot Chief Financial Officer Mitch Steenrod. The indictment suggests Steenrod was specifically kept out of the loop with Borden at one point writing in an email, "I don't want (Steenrod) to know what happens after that." All of the defendants will be appearing in court Tuesday throughout the day. An April 11 tentative trial date was set, but prosecutors signaled that a delay likely would be necessary because of the sheer volume of evidence they are required to turn over to attorneys. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton allowed Hazelwood to go free under standard conditions of release, restricting his travel to Knoxville and Nashville. Defense attorney Rusty Hardin entered a not guilty plea on Hazelwood's behalf. Also entering not guilty pleas Tuesday morning were Freeman, Wombold and Borden. Hazelwood, Freeman and Karen Crutchman, a senior account representative, all received "target letters," an indication the government was focusing on a possible role in the fuel rebate fraud. Crutchman was not named in the indictment. Of the 10 former Pilot employees who have already pleaded guilty, Brian Mosher was the last to enter a plea and the highest-ranking former staffer to do so. Mosher was director of sales for national accounts. The company struck a deal last year to avoid criminal charges against Pilot itself by paying a $92 million penalty over two years and cooperating in the fuel rebate fraud investigation. The firm also has reached an $85 million settlement with trucking customers who sued the company. The 10 former staffers who struck plea deals in the case all admitted to some form of wire and mail fraud. Each is being held responsible for varying loss amounts and for varying victims. Mosher was hit the hardest, agreeing to a loss calculation of $20 million and a maximum victim count of 250 firms. Those figures boost his penalty range 24 levels under federal sentencing guidelines. Probation is no longer an option as a result. A sentencing chart suggests a penalty range of five to 10 years for Mosher. Three other former staffers have been granted immunity and cooperated in the early days of a probe that began in 2011 with a tipster who secretly recorded chats with a sales executive who later turned FBI mole. That mole is widely believed to be Vincent Greco, who was director of sales for the firm's west region at the time. Greco, too, was granted immunity. The probe went public in April 2013 when federal authorities, including the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division launched a high-profile raid on Pilot headquarters on Lonas Drive. More details as they develop online and in Saturday's News Sentinel. Related coverage: Did 'Dr. John' start Pilot probe? (March 13, 2015) Feds: Pilot Flying J probe will extend into summer (Jan. 28, 2015) Judge seeks details in reviewing fraud claims against Pilot (Jan. 9, 2015) Jimmy Haslam rejects fraud claims in connection with Pilot Flying J suit (Dec. 6, 2014) Two companies continue to press Pilot lawsuits (Nov. 16, 2014) Pilot Flying J seeks dismissal of fraud lawsuits (Sept. 20, 2014) Freeman on hot seat in Pilot investigation (Aug. 3, 2013) Former Pilot regional sales manager, account manager plead guilty in federal court (July 29, 2013) Three more Pilot Flying J employees plead guilty (June 18, 2013) Exclusive: Pilot Flying J investigation highlights plane deal (June 5, 2013) Pilot mum on Ralenkotter, Judd (May 30, 2013) 2 Pilot employees plead to federal fraud charges (May 30, 2013) Pilot president also under scrutiny (April 27, 2013) Box by box, Pilot Flying J records shed more light on rebate-fraud probe (April 22, 2013) Trucking companies reeling from Pilot Flying J fraud allegations (April 19, 2013) CEO Jimmy Haslam: Pilot 'run the right way' (April 19, 2013) Documents in the Pilot Flying J investigation (April 18, 2013) FBI: Pilot engaged in fraud; Haslam knew of scheme (April 18, 2013) Unpaid rebates focus of Pilot Flying J investigation (April 16, 2013) FBI, IRS raid Pilot Flying J HQ; company 'cooperating fully' (April 15, 2013) Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen, center, listens to students including Zuriya Minor, right, during class at Green Magnet Math & Science Academy on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE By Lydia X. McCoy of the Knoxville News Sentinel Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said she is disappointed the state will have to administer its new TNReady student assessment with paper and pencil, instead of moving forward online as planned. "The new nature of the issue yesterday morning highlighted the uncertainty around the stability of the MIST platform," she said during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. "Despite the many improvements the department has helped to make to the system in recent months, we are not confident in the system's ability to perform with consistency." On Monday, the first day for the assessment's rollout, the online assessment crashed because of computer-networking glitches. TNReady assesses math and English skills for grades 3-11. It replaces the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, known as TCAP tests. The state contracted with Measurement Inc., a North Carolina-based company, to develop the assessment. McQueen said the state paid the company $1.6 million last year for the tests' development and there will be no additional costs to them for printing and distributing the paper tests. More details as they develop online and in Wednesday's News Sentinel. SHARE The Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley will offer $25 spay-and-neuter services during a three-day event Feb. 18-20, in an effort to reduce animal homelessness and euthanasia. The Love Kitchen, a Knoxville organization that feeds and clothes the hungry, is partnering with the Humane Society on the 18th and 20th by providing transportation from the Love Kitchen to the Society's Bearden Hill facility. Both organizations are dedicated to reducing the number of homeless puppies and kittens, often euthanized because they have nowhere to go. This is part of World Spay Day, a national movement to curb overpopulation of cats and dogs. Vets, animal rescue organizations and pet owners across the country are expected to participate in spaying and neutering events. Participants also wish to educate the public on the issues of animal overpopulation and euthanasia, with the goal of ending pet homelessness. Pet owners can schedule their pet's procedure by calling the society's low-cost clinic at 865-579-6738, or by contacting the Love Kitchen at 865-579-6738. Space is limited, so schedule soon. The Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley is a nonprofit organization established in 1885. The Humane Society works in more than 20 counties of East Tennessee to rescue and rehabilitate dogs and cats. The organization also offers affordable training and pet behavioral services intended to prevent pet relinquishment in the community. The organization is funded solely through donations and grants. For more information, visit HumaneSocietyTennessee.com or call 865-573-9675. For spay and neutering information, visit http://humanesocietytennessee.com/fix-a-pet/. Empty voting booths await voters at Rocky Hill Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015 during the 14th District special primary election. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE By Gerald Witt of the Knoxville News Sentinel A Knox County man wants to give local people the choice over medical marijuana, and he said he only needs 20,000 signatures on a petition to make that happen. Steve Cooper is frustrated by his efforts being ignored by state and federal lawmakers, he said, so he's using a local petition to get a medical marijuana item on ballots. "After several years of trying to appeal to our representatives in Nashville and Washington I have come to the conclusion that representation at both the federal and state level no longer works and it is time for a different approach," he wrote in an email. Cooper said he plans to file petitions on two measures with the Knox County Election Commission in the Feb. 29 regular meeting. The first petition will ask Knox County voters whether the Knox County Charter should be changed to allow the medical use of marijuana. The second petition will ask whether the Knox County Charter should be altered to allow the recreational use of marijuana by people 21 years old or older. After the election commission meeting, he will push for 20,000 signatures needed to get the items on ballots. Knox County elections director Cliff Rodgers said getting a charter amendment on ballots requires signatures from 15 percent of the total number of voters in the previous gubernatorial election. "Once he gets (petitions) blessed by the election commission," Rodgers said, "he goes out and amasses supporters to get signatures ... kind of like wine in grocery stores, and that was done statewide." Cooper, a local accountant, said he's trying the petition route to send a signal up to legislators he knows that local votes can't supersede state rules. "When it comes to marijuana, the legislators tend to close their ears and close their eyes," Cooper said. He said people interested in joining the cause him can email him at steve@tnmarijuana.org. More information on his effort can be found at tennesseemarijuana.org. ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL Jeff Fraysier and Adam Monroe, from left, ascend a staircase through Arch Rock on the Alum Cave Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Nov. 5, 2015. SHARE Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group/TNS Alpenglow lights up the Half Dome at sunset as seen from Sentinal Bridge in Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Dec. 29, 2015. By The Associated Press WASHINGTON The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, but the system faces a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog that officials say is no cause for rejoicing. Long-delayed projects range from replacing water works at the Grand Canyon to making sure the Jefferson Memorial doesn't sink into the Tidal Basin to improving roads at Yosemite National Park. The bill for deferred work is nearly $12 billion nationwide a $440 million increase over last year. About half the total is for roadwork. The remainder is for buildings, campgrounds, trails and infrastructure such as water systems and wastewater treatment. Hoping to take advantage of the Park Service's August centennial, President Barack Obama has proposed spending $900 million over three years to reduce the backlog, with another $300 million targeted for restoration projects. Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis said the annual bill for maintaining America's national parks is nearly twice as much as appropriated by Congress, with expenses growing every year. Still, Jarvis said he is encouraged Congress seems to be getting the message after years of complaints. Lawmakers approved $547 million for maintenance in the current budget year, a $118 million increase over last year. The figure includes spending in the agency's budget and in the five-year transportation law Congress approved in December. "We have a lot yet to do, but I think everything is moving in the right direction," Jarvis said Friday. "Congress has pitched in." The Park Service also hopes to expand a Centennial Challenge project that enables the agency to leverage private contributions to complete important projects that improve visitor services in the parks, Jarvis said. Congress provided $15 million for projects this year that will be matched by almost $33 million from more than 90 park partners, Jarvis said. The centennial project includes $4 million to support the "Every Kid in a Park" program that provides opportunities for children, especially 4th graders, to experience national parks. Most of the nation's 409 park sites have a piece of the maintenance backlog. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park faces $232.3 million in deferred maintenance. Those needs include rehabilitating the water and wastewater systems at Cades Cove and the Sugarlands Visitor Center; rehabilitating park headquarters and other major buildings, and upgrading campgrounds and trails. The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennessee and Kentucky has almost $30 million in deferred maintenance, while at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia, the maintenance backlog adds up to $14.9 million. Alcatraz, the former federal prison in California, has crumbling walls and deteriorating windows. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky needs to have dirt trails replaced for safety. And a historic hotel at Montana's Glacier National Park needs a new fire sprinkler system and other work. "Failure to rehabilitate this building will pose serious health and life safety threats to park visitors and park and concession employees," the Park Service said in a report to Congress detailing its budget requests. Emily Douce, a lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, said spending increases approved by Congress "will add up to vital improvements for park visitors across the country." Still, lawmakers can do more, Douce said. Magnolia pushback Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero used downtime in an airport Wednesday to catch up on what turned into a rather contentious City Council meeting this past week. "I watched it later the next day on my iPad," Rogero recalled Friday. "I was stranded in the airport, and so I had my earbuds in, and I was like, 'Whoa!' " Rogero was in Washington, D.C., when protestors used the public forum portion of this month's City Council meeting to rail against the city's Magnolia Avenue streetscape project. Six protestors spoke at the podium, and one woman became so frustrated she yelled and banged her fist on the lectern. More protesters behind the speakers held signs as they sat among the audience. Members of group said they were concerned the project to overhaul the East Knoxville corridor would lead to gentrification. They also spoke about economic disparity and a lack of opportunities. City officials have received overwhelming community support for the project over the past nine years, when discussions about the project began, according to Bill Lyons, Rogero's deputy and chief policy officer. Dems' delegation The Knox County Democratic Party has announced plans for its Democratic Party County Delegate Selection Caucus. Members of the political party will meet at noon March 5 at West High School's gymnasium, according to a news release. The caucus begins the process of helping select the Democratic nominee for president. Locally, the party will elect Knox County delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on March 19. The Democratic event is open to all registered voters in Knox County who support the Democratic Party, the news release said, and those who plan to support the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2016 election. The party welcomes all who wish to participate in the process of selecting delegates to the Democratic National Convention. For information about becoming a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and the rules for the DNC Delegate Selection process, go to tndp.org, or from the Tennessee Democratic Party, 1900 Church St., Ste 203, Nashville, TN 37209, call 615-327-9779. A night out Grab a sandwich and have a chat. Knox County commissioners Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas are holding another of their regular community meetings over dinner this month at Henry's Bakery and Deli. They will converge there at 5 p.m. Feb. 17 for the meeting that's open to the public. "Henry's has made its reputation on using quality ingredients and serving large portions at a fair price," the restaurant's website says. SHARE Two La Vergne hunters have been banned from hunting in Tennessee and 43 other states after they illegally killed as many as 40 deer, and then took photos and videos mocking the animals. Densibel Calazada, 23, and Eddy Albert, 21, received the harshest penalty ever issued by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. We will never know how many deer these two killed, but we believe they could have poached at least 40, said TWRA Sgt. Matt Brian. We charged them with violations based on the strongest evidence we found showing the seriousness of their poaching crimes. Continue reading at The Tennessean, a News Sentinel partner. David Hunter Valentine's Day will arrive in a few days. I know, there are those who call the holiday a "made-up" occasion to sell candy and Valentine cards. But I pay little attention to the naysayers. I'm a big fan of Valentine's Day and always have been. I am what you might call a born romantic. From childhood on, my life plan included a devoted marriage. It was easy for me to understand, once I thought it through, that marriage of same-sex couples involved the same needs and emotions I feel for my wife. As a species, we yearn for stable relationships. Despite the ongoing controversy over same-sex marriage from the likes of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who is so fond of marriage she has done it four times, this is not a crusading column about civil rights. It's about relationships in particular, my relationship with one Cheryl Krooss Hunter, a Latina beauty with whom I will celebrate my 39th wedding anniversary on Feb. 14. We chose Valentine's Day because of its significance to lovers. My model of a romantic relationship from the time I was in high school has always been the poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Both were from the Victorian age, and Elizabeth was already famous when Browning persuaded a friend to introduce them. She was a few years older, unusual for the customs of the times, and a partial invalid her entire life. Robert, however, fell madly in love with her and eventually persuaded her to marry him in a secret ceremony (her father disapproved). It was after they married that Elizabeth wrote perhaps the best-known love poems in the world, "Sonnets From the Portuguese." The title was from the nickname Robert called her because of her dark complexion: "My little Portuguese." Even those unfamiliar with poetry will recognize the words from one of her most famous verses from that collection: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Her father and a brother disowned her after the marriage, but the couple lived happily and produced a son. Theirs was not a long marriage, lasting only from 1846 until her death in 1861. Her death, however, was not the end of their romance. When Robert was a very old man, he ran across a book of literary criticism, published after his wife's death, in which a critic made a snide remark about his beloved's poetry. The elderly poet grabbed his coat and cane and told the family that he intended to find the critic and soundly thrash him. Family members finally calmed him down by explaining that the critic had been dead for years and it was unlikely very many people had even read the book. Neither Cheryl nor I are world-famous poets; it is I who am older by eight years, but we have things in common with the Brownings. We were in love almost from the time we met; I knew our relationship was for life; and I've never regretted a moment of it, though our friends gave us six months together and at times quarrels got lively. If a relationship is easy, it may not be worth much. So say what you will about Valentine's Day, Cheryl and I will be celebrating Feb. 14, even though after 39 years it's hard to find each other a new and different gift. We're not wealthy but we have everything we want. More from David Hunter at his blog: For the past 36 years, I have seriously studied the histories of black churches in Knoxville. I began by reading the histories compiled by the churches. Some had purposefully omitted information because it was unpleasant and sometimes scandalous. When I discovered that most were lacking, I looked to other sources for answers. While some churches sanitized their histories, old newspapers have not been expunged and tell the real stories. Through the years I have developed a file on church activities of the type mentioned, as well as items from local writers who attempted to poke fun at black churches. For example, an article in the Knoxville Daily Tribune of Nov. 8, 1906, goes overboard describing the 46th anniversary of Mount Zion Baptist Church, referring to "100 fine possums cooked in brown gravy that promises to make many dreams come true." It is in a file I have labeled "Church history you don't want to know." Yet, it is important. I am aware that several church events were sensitive, but they, too, are a part of those churches' histories. A number of our churches were established by disputes and splits at earlier churches. The first split came in 1869 when a group left Mount Zion and organized Mount Olive Baptist. In 1925 others left Mount Zion to form Ebenezer Baptist. Then in 1935 a group left Ebenezer to form Payne Avenue Baptist. Just five months after Logan Temple A.M.E. Zion Church dedicated its magnificent edifice in downtown Knoxville on June 21, 1886, a faction of that congregation started a new church on Willow Avenue. The Knoxville Journal of Nov. 23, 1886, reported on the farewell sermon of Pastor Andrew J. Warner: "He went to the building to find a large congregation ready to worship. The door was locked, and after waiting some little time, the use of Maple's hall was tendered and services held there, the room being overfilled. Yesterday one of the church members swore out a warrant against Will Massengill, who had the key to the church, charging him with preventing a public worship." On Aug. 28, 1906, police were called to a disturbance at St. Paul Independent Methodist Episcopal Church on Patton Street when the Rev. E. Burbridge tried to collect $75 owed him. The Knoxville Tribune said, "Trouble appeared to be brewing when the chairman ordered the pastor out of the church. The latter declined to go and the police were called. The pastor said that the money had been collected, but it had been spent and not all of it had gone where it should." In 1914 the deacons at Mount Olive Baptist Church had their acting pastor arrested in a dispute over the "retirement" of Frank Parker, a member of the Deacon Board. On Feb. 16, 1914, the Tribune reported on the trial of the Rev. James Tate: "The congregation was there in a body. It overflowed to State Street and almost blocked traffic. Charges were dismissed holding that Rev. Tate was not guilty of the charge, and that it was not the policy to interfere in church quarrels, anyhow. He was sustained in his actions against the Deacon Board by the congregation." One year after it was organized, Ebenezer Baptist had a day in court. The deacon and trustee boards had Chancery Court issue a mandatory injunction requiring Pastor G.W. Hester to remove himself and his property from the parsonage at Prichard Street and Church Avenue. The Knoxville Journal of Dec. 29, 1926, said: "Hester was called to act as pastor in Jan. 1926 at a salary of $100 a month, and it's alleged that he has overdrawn the salary account by more than $600. The Deacons and Trustees allege that Hester's failure to withdraw from the church property is un-Christian like, unjust, and illegal." By Choi Sung-jin Korea's tourism industry deficit increased sharply last year, as more Koreans travelled abroad and fewer foreigners visited the nation, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. According to the central bank's balance of payments statistics, foreign tourists spent $15.17 billion in Korea while Korean travelers spent $21.27 billion abroad last year. The nation's travel account deficit widened to $6.1 billion, about 3.5 times higher than the $1.7-billion deficit recorded in 2014, and was the biggest deficit since the $10.86-billion loss recorded in 2007. Last year's deficit also marked the first increase in the amount of loss since 2010. The tourism deficit plunged to $1.26 billion in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. It temporarily rose to $3.98 billion in 2010 but fell back to $3.18 billion in 2011, $3.13 billion in 2012 and $2.81 billion in 2013, the BOK data showed. The sharp increase in the deficit last year was due to a steep rise in the amount of foreign travel expenditures. A total of 19.31 million Koreans went on overseas trips last year, up 20.1 percent from the year before, according to Korea Tourism Organization. Their total spending exceeded the $20-billion threshold for the first time and marked the growth of 9.3 percent from the $19.46 billion spent abroad in 2014. Foreigners who visited Korea totaled 13.23 million in number last year, down 6.8 percent from 2014. The nation's revenue from foreign tourists also fell 14.3 percent from $17.71 billion spent here in 2014. The fall in the number of inbound travelers was the first such decline since 2003. The main culprit was the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory syndrome last summer, which claimed 36 lives and sparked a nationwide health scare. Also the steep fall of the Japanese yen took Chinese travelers away from Korea to Japan, the KTO said. By Choi Sung-jin After North Korea launched its sixth satellite, or long-range missile, on Saturday, U.S. experts of international politics seem to have given up all hope for changing Pyongyang's policy, according to media reports Tuesday. Prevalent views among these gurus of regional politics are that Washington should put ultrahigh pressure on the North that exceed the sanctions it put on Iran before the Islamic country reached an agreement with the United States to abandon its nuclear programs, the reports said. They call on the Barack Obama administration to discontinue its "strategic patience" policy and turn toward far bolder and more destructive steps with some even suggesting a shift such that regime change in North Korea might be inevitable. This indicates how seriously the U.S. experts regard the North's "lethal combination" of nuclear warheads and long-delivery vehicles, they said. "The recent nuclear test and missile launch have put an end to the possibility of improving the relationship between the U.S. and North Korea," Revere Evans, former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. "There is no room for passive approaches like strategic patience' any longer in the face of escalating threats from North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles." Evans, also a former U.S. deputy mission chief in Seoul, said he could not rule out the possibility that Washington would turn toward changing the North Korean regime given Pyongyang's ability to increase its nuclear and missile capacity. "Some experts here think the only way to terminate the North's nuclear programs is put an end to its regime," he said. This is a dangerous approach but the North Korean provocations and its pursuit of nuclear power have shut off room for all alternatives, said Evans who had emphasized the two-track approach of dialogue and pressure. "Some U.S. military officials think North Korea is capable of attacking the mainland U.S. with miniaturized nuclear weapons," he said. "The U.S. and its allies ought to take new, strong and unprecedented sanctions, and the focus of these measures is to put the stability and survival of the North Korean regime in danger." Evans said the allies should not only deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system but strengthen the joint military drills of the U.S., Japan and Korea, and put economic, financial and political sanctions on the North. "They should block oil supplies to the North, interrupt its access to the international financial system and adopt a secondary boycott' of banks, businesses and individuals that deal with North Korea," Evans said. Robert Manning, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, agreed, saying, "The U.S., Korea and Japan will need to take strong measures in ways to drastically increase costs for the North's nuclear and missile development." He said the U.S. should strip Kim Jong-un of his "credit cards," as Washington did with Iran, and called for South Korea to stop all activities that could help the North earn hard currency, such as the operation of the inter-Korean factory park at North Korea's border city, Gaeseong. Alan Romberg, a researcher at the Stimson Center, said North Korea has already crossed an important line or is on the border line, and the Obama administration has no other choices but to cope with it on a different dimension. "As direct military sanctions accompany too huge a cost, however, the U.S. administration would avoid them," he was quoted as saying. Other experts also agreed on the need for drastically toughening sanctions on the North and to prepare for its eventual collapse while emphasizing China's role in the process. Victor Cha, chief Korea analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has returned from "track two" (private) contact with the North, expressed concerns about escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula. "Sanctions may be important but we are entering into a dangerous phase," Cha said. "Regional countries conducting nuclear tests, and then having military exercises against them without any channel of dialogue are highly likely to lead to a misjudgment and likely raise the tension to an unthinkable level." President Park Geun-hye named the ambassador to Lebanon as the new third deputy chief at South Korea's spy agency to oversee industrial intelligence and cyber security affairs, the presidential office said Tuesday. Choi Jong-il, who formerly served as military intelligence director at the defense ministry and the Combined Forces Command's deputy operation chief, was nominated to the new post at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Blue House spokesman Jung Young-kuk said in a briefing. Last week, Park selected the first and second deputy chiefs in charge of overseas and domestic affairs, replacing all heads of the three divisions. Park conducted the reshuffle at a time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last month and fired off a long-range rocket Sunday in defiance of international sanctions. Following the rocket launch, seen as a cover for testing its ballistic missile technology, Seoul has vowed to step up cooperation with the United States and Japan by sharing military intelligence on North Korea's weapons program to deal with additional provocations. (Yonhap) The National Assembly will hold a rare session during the Lunar New Year holiday to adopt a resolution denouncing North Korea's rocket launch, seen as a cover for a missile test banned by international sanctions, party officials said Tuesday. Rival parties agreed to hold the extra session on Wednesday to adopt the resolution, three days after the North fired off a long-range rocket and place a satellite into orbit. The resolution will urge Pyongyang to stop weapons development and become a responsible member of the international community, stressing repeated provocations will only deepen the impoverished regime's isolation. The lawmakers will also call for the government to beef up military readiness and work with the United Nations and allies to resolve the North Korean issue. It will be the second resolution this year after the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test last month. South Korea is currently working with the U.S., Japan and other regional powers for the swift adoption of a U.N. resolution to slap strong sanctions on North Korea. North Korea has already been under U.N. sanctions for its three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. (Yonhap) The satellite North Korea launched Sunday has been put into orbit, the Defense Ministry confirmed Tuesday. But CNN reported that the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite is "tumbling" and incapable of functioning in any useful way, quoting a senior U.S. defense official. The international community has condemned Sunday's rocket launch, seeing it as a covert test of the reclusive regime's intercontinental ballistic missile technology. The firing follows a purported hydrogen bomb test last month. According to the Defense Ministry's examination of the launch, the North is presumed to have a long-range missile with a 12,000-kilometer range. But Pyongyang still lacks the "re-entry" technology needed to bring the satellite back into the atmosphere, the ministry said. A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party on Thursday called for "balanced" sanctions against North Korea following its latest nuclear test, reiterating Beijing's opposition to tougher sanctions against its closest ally. The state-run Global Times newspaper also warned North Korea against launching a long-range rocket, saying Pyongyang would pay a "new price" if it goes ahead with the planned launch, which is widely viewed as cover for a ballistic missile test. Weeks after conducting its fourth nuclear test, North Korea notified U.N. agencies this week of its plan to launch a long-range rocket carrying what it calls an "earth observation satellite" sometime between Feb. 8 and 25. "If North Korea launches a satellite, it will pay a new price," the newspaper said in an editorial, without specifying what the "new price" would be. However, the newspaper made it clear that China wants to maintain "stability" in North Korea. China, which had voted in favor of U.N. sanctions against North Korea's nuclear tests, should keep its "balanced approach to prevent the collapse of the North Korean economy, while imposing sanctions against North Korea," the editorial reads. China, North Korea's diplomatic backer and economic lifeline, has expressed displeasure over the North's nuclear and missile programs, but resisted calls for tougher new sanctions against North Korea following the latest nuclear test. Many analysts believe that China's Communist Party leadership won't exert enough leverage on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the North's regime could threaten China's own security interests. (Yonhap) One of the best parts of seeing any group live is getting to see each member shine as they take the spotlight to perform individually. EXO, in particular, is a group known for their heart-stopping individual performances. As the North American leg of the beloved group's EXO'luXtion World Tour draws ever nearer, we thought it'd be fun to take a look at some of these individual stages. Because let's face it, you can never have enough reasons to be excited about seeing EXO in person. Can you? 1. Chen "Uprising" 2. D.O "Boyfriend" 3. Chanyeol "All of Me" 4. Kai "Baby Don't Cry" Unfortunately, due to visa complications, Kai will be unable to attend at the Dallas concert on Feb. 10. 5. Baekhyun "Beautiful" 6. Xiumin "You Are the One" 7. Suho Singing 8. Sehun "It's You/What You Know" And even though Lay won't join his fellow EXO members for the North American tour because of his filming schedule in China, he will certainly be missed! 9. Lay "I'm Lay+I'm Coming Lay" If you weren't already excited about seeing EXO as they tour North American in the next couple of weeks, we hope you are now. The North American leg of the EXO'luXtion World Tour kicks off in Dallas on February 10. After wooing the devoted EXO-L's in Texas, SM's beloved boys head to Vancouver, Canada where they'll perform at the Thunderbird Arena on February 12. From there the boys will makes stops in Los Angeles on February 14, Chicago on February 19 and will wrap up this leg of their tour in New York City on February 21. Tickets for all 5 shows are on sale now via axs and Ticketmaster. Be sure to follow MyMusicTaste on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest tour information. Secretary of State Alex Padilla conceded that the five Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor districts are big. But he declined to say whether he still favors plans that would increase the number of districts to boost Latino representation and to possibly help the election of an Asian American. A district of 2 million people is a lot, he said. Those are big districts. But when I pressed him about how he felt about the proposal, he wouldnt say. Padilla spoke at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, presided over by public affairs consultant Emma Schafer, who also compiles the web site Emmas Memos. He is a former Los Angeles city councilman and state senator from the San Fernando Valley. I wondered about Padillas feelings on board expansion for a couple of reasons. As the top elected Latino official in the stateand a prospect for future officehis opinions are important. And as a state senator, he introduced legislation that would have given judges the power to expand boards of supervisors if they found minorities were being denied representation. It was part of a bill to strengthen the state voting rights act. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the legislation. He did not touch on the board expansion issue. He said the present voting rights act is sufficient. But the expansion issue remains. There is a Latino on the five person county board, but Hilda Solis presence doesnt disguise the fact that Los Angeles Countys Latinos should be better represented. Same with Asian Americans. Latinos comprise about half of Los Angeles Countys population but the board has opposed proposals to draw new districts or to add two more districts to give them a better chance on election day. That is why Padilla and other Latino politicians and activists pushed for giving judges the power to expand boards. No doubt board expansion advocates will be back at Padilla for help again. Mine wasnt the only question Padilla ducked. Peter Jamison of the Los Angeles Times asked Padilla if he would run against Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti next year. I am not running for mayor, Padilla replied, without letting on whether he might run in the future. But I left in a good mood. Padilla gave a ringing endorsement to my favorite section of the secretary of states office, the archives. My wife Nancy and I spent many days in the state archives doing research for my biography of Jesse Unruh. Its a great place and if youve got some spare time in Sacramento, make sure to visit. PRESS RELEASE Gen. Barry McCaffrey Warns of Dangerous Consequences of Obamas Deal with the FARC Cartel Feb. 8, 2016 (EIRNS)Gen. Barry McCaffrey (ret.), who headed the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton, said on Feb. 3 that he was very concerned about the agreement that Barack Obama has personally orchestrated with Colombias FARC drug cartel, in collaboration with Colombian President and British asset, Juan Manuel Santos. As reported by PRNewswire, McCaffrey pointed out that the 15th anniversary celebration Feb. 4 at the White House of "Plan Colombia," demonstrated its success. Plan Colombia was the program that McCaffrey personally formulated, and on which he coordinated closely with Colombian military and civilian leaders to wipe out the FARC narcoterrorists and restore stability to that country. "Cooperation with the government of Colombia led to massive cocaine transit reduction to the U.S., reduced crime, and improved Colombian stability," McCaffrey underscored. But, as for the pending agreement with the FARC, tentatively scheduled to be signed in March, General McCaffrey said he fears it would allow the FARC "to maintain or increase cocaine and heroin production, ease transit restrictions and enforcement, keep enormous profits for the FARC, worsen the heroin crisis in our country, threaten the security of Colombia and increase U.S. drug abuse." Note that most of the heroin entering the U.S. today comes from either Mexico or Colombianot from Afghanistan. McCaffreys fears are justified. British tool Obama, whose drug-legalization policies have been instrumental in destroying the populationespecially youthof the United States, has personally overseen negotiations with the FARC. He sent his special envoy, former State Department official and now private equity executive Bernard Aronson, to participate in negotiations with the FARC leaders in Havana. According to the New York Times Feb. 5, Aronson was crucial in moving negotiations forward when "they appeared in danger of stalling." Who is Aronson? Former Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs under George H.W. Bush, he was involved in the 1989 invasion of Panama, and was a strong supporter of the drug-trafficking Contras in Nicaragua, whom he called "freedom fighters" against Soviet expansion. The FARC has committed unspeakable atrocities in Colombia. So what? In discussing his involvement in the Havana peace talks, Aronson told the New York Times his strategy was to "simply treat the FARC negotiators with respect, cracking the stereotype of the arrogant imperialist." As is appropriate for a woman whose novels were set in the luxurious bedrooms (and yachts and hotel suites and limousines and offices) of Hollywoods elite, Jackie Collins house is slated to go on the market for, the Wall Street Journal reports, a whopping $30 million. That kind of scratch is more than most authors can expect to make in their careers. But Collins, who died in 2015 at age 77 after a bout with breast cancer, was not just any author. The British emigre was said to have sold 500 million books, topping bestseller lists with titillating titles like The Stud, Rock Star, Poor Little Bitch Girl, Hollywood Wives, Hollywood Husbands and Hollywood Divorces. Advertisement Jackie Collins in the entrance foyer of her Beverly Hills home in 2000. (Iris Schneider / Los Angeles Times) My secret is that my women characters are the aggressors. My women are like Harold Robbins men. I dont want my women stepped on. I havent been stepped on, and thats why I can write these books, she told The Times in 2004. Jackie Collins in her grand Beverly Hills home in 2008. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) As a teen, Collins was a self-described major juvenile delinquent who was thrown out of boarding school; in the late 1950s, she followed her older sister, actress Joan Collins, to Hollywood. Im a street writer who doesnt pretend to be anything else, she told The Times in 1985. Im not grammatical in the way I talk, or in the way I write, and I dont pretend to be. Im a high school dropout who eavesdrops. Nevertheless, her books were big hits with readers, who propelled Collins to the kind of wealth that led to her 20,000-square-foot house on an acre in Beverly Hills with a pool, cabana, guest house, art gallery, sauna, gym and office. Collins designed it, inspired by a David Hockney painting. The house was completed in 1992. Below is a photo of Collins before that, working, glamorously, in the 1980s. Jackie Collins -- more glamorous than most authors -- at work in 1987. (Tony Barnard / Los Angeles Times) Book news and more; Im @paperhaus on Twitter Theres an unusual new entry to the long list of reasons why Californians spent the last year paying significantly more for gasoline than other U.S. drivers: a mystery ship. The explosion at Exxon Mobils huge Torrance refinery a year ago undoubtedly was a major factor contributing to high gasoline prices in California, especially in the Los Angeles area, fuel experts have said. Consumer advocates contend that the oil company could have done more to bolster gasoline inventories and help lower prices, and on Monday they backed up the argument with the help of a wandering oil tanker. Advertisement SR American Progress, an Exxon Mobil ship, sailed for 70 days off the coast of Singapore but never picked up fuel for California from the companys two refineries in Singapore that produce the states special blend of environmentally friendly gasoline. Jamie Court, president of advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog, told the state Petroleum Market Advisory Board that the ship stopped in Los Angeles after its Southeast Asia excursion but didnt unload any gasoline before taking its fuel to Florida. We have a real troubling, dysfunctional market, Court said during the meeting in Sacramento. Exxon Mobil in a statement dismissed Courts allegations without discussing the SR American Progress sailing records or deliveries. Exxon Mobil rejects these allegations and is committed to the highest standards of business conduct, has operated responsibly and in strict compliance with all laws, said Todd Spitler, a spokesman for the oil giant. Court and others have accused the industry of manipulating the markets to obtain record profits that some of the oil companies gained in California with the gas price increases. Although the average California gas price typically runs higher than the national average, unusually wide gaps persisted throughout 2015, in particular between the L.A. area and the rest of the country. At one point, the average gas price in the L.A. region stood at $1.50 more than the U.S. average, with some gas stations in the city listing prices as high as $5.49 a gallon. SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >> The national average Monday continued its steepest decline in years to $1.74 for a gallon of regular gas. But the Los Angeles area maintained its stubborn position almost a dollar higher at $2.66, according to AAAs daily survey of fuel prices. This is the most unusual year that I have seen in my 50-year career, Bob van der Valk, a petroleum analyst, told the advisory panel. Troubles began with the Feb. 18 explosion at the Torrance refinery. The explosion destroyed a pollution control system and crippled the facility so much that it produces less than 20% of its normal capacity. With the Torrance plant at a fraction of normal production levels, the market in Southern California became strained. That refinery provides 10% of the states overall capacity and 20% in Southern California. Van der Valk said that more imports would have blunted the effect of the crippled Torrance facility. But he said the market thought the plant would return to service by July, even if only with a temporary fix. Then there was talk that Exxon would increase production by years end. Neither happened. And now the plant isnt expected to return to full capacity until sometime before Exxon Mobil sells the plant to contracted buyer PBF Energy, a Parsippany, N.J., firm, in the second quarter of this year. In Courts estimation, Exxon Mobil could have helped replenish dwindling gasoline stockpiles in California, but instead the company contributed to the drain on available resources within the state. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Court pointed out that a second ship arrived in Los Angeles from Singapore in three weeks at Exxons behest last year but only after, he contends, the oil company faced some challenges in meeting demand. If Exxon had used its flagship, Court said, we wouldnt have had this kind of problem. Severn Borenstein, chairman of the advisory panel, challenged some of Courts assertions. Borenstein questioned why Exxon would spend more money buying up expensive gasoline in the market instead of importing fuel at cheaper prices. That piece of the story doesnt make much economic sense, Borenstein responded to Court. Gordon Schremp, senior fuels analyst for the California Energy Commission, said it is difficult to know what Exxon Mobils intent was in regard to the SR American Progress, given that the company also is a supplier to other locations across the country and the world. Schremp added that Exxon Mobil met its contractual obligations in California. Exxon Mobil sold 4% more gasoline in 2015 than in 2014, Schremp said. The company did that in part by buying gasoline from other companies with the Torrance facility not at full production levels, he said. ivan.penn@latimes.com Twitter: @ivanlpenn MORE BUSINESS COVERAGE Why Canada is better at disrupting the corporate status quo 5 futuristic oddities from the weird world of wearable tech Hiltzik: Why Apple fans are really coming to hate Apple software Lets not go that way. Lets just use other peoples steps. It wasnt meant to be some heavy-handed father-son advice, but it rings that way now. My 15-year-old son and I dont talk like the people in after-school TV specials. When my wife asks what we talk about on what she pictures as father-son bonding trips in the wilderness, I tell her, stuff weather, routes, equipment, supplies, the other trips weve taken. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Advertisement On Sunday, we didnt talk about the guy who had slipped and plunged to his death last Tuesday, en route to our destination: the 10,069-foot summit of Mt. San Antonio, better known as Mt. Baldy. We didnt talk about the guy who fell to his death Saturday in nearby Ice House Canyon. Or the dozen unprepared hikers who had to be rescued, causing officials to close that trail. Five others, including our route, would be closed Monday. Like most Southern Californians, we dont consider Baldy a particularly hard mountain to summit, though thats probably why it claims a few lives every year or so. We have summited four 14,000-foot California peaks together Mts. Whitney, Langley, Tyndall and White. The one we talk about most, though, is the one we missed, Mt. Williamson, at 14,380 feet. Two years ago, we hiked toward Shepherd Pass. Rain turned to sleet. Creeks flowed from their beds. Descending hikers warned of fresh snow at upper elevations. This was in the first week of August. We talked it over, but I let him decide. We headed home. Last year, we tried again. We got through a snow-clogged pass and summited nearby Mt. Tyndall. Overnight, 3 inches of snow fell. We looked across at Mt. Williamsons slopes, layered with scree loose rock fragments that are dangerous enough. Those rocks were now covered with snow. We headed home. It was his call. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> On the way up from the Manker Flats trail head Sunday we talked about trying Williamson again. It was chilly when we started, at 8 a.m., but as the sun rose, we stripped down to T-shirts. By the time we got to the Baldy Bowl, an 8,200-feet elevation, deep snow covered the trails, and the wind was stiff. We had read the weather forecast and were prepared. We put on another layer of clothes, slipped spikes onto our boots, and crossed the bowl to its gentler southern side. We started up toward the ridge line atop the bowl, under pines blocking the sun. Thats when my son opted to cut his own trail. I watched him slip and slide. Lets not go that way, I said. Lets just use other peoples steps. We walked in footsteps not yet softened by the sun, kicking and leveling them for others who might follow. By the time we hit the ridge line leading north to the summit, a knock-over wind made it feel below freezing. We ate some food, put on our shells, cinched down our packs, and discussed the route toward the western side of the ridge, where maybe we could catch a break from the wind. Stay in other peoples tracks, I said. He walked ahead. I let him go. He picked his way to the summit, sometimes on paths through the snow, sometimes cutting his own. A few times, I took easier routes, hoping he would mimic. He didnt. We made it to the summit separately. The rock walls where we once had taken shelter against the wind were buried under snow. A few hikers lingered, and a few more straggled up behind us. No one was eager to stay, least of all Liam. He has never been one for John Muir moments on summits. He wouldnt pose for a picture, but he took one of me. This was my birthday hike, so I had that card to play. Many mountaineering accidents happen on the way down from summits. People push too hard to get there, and are weak and tired on the way down. Some dont even think about the route home. I teach this kind of stuff for the Sierra Clubs Wilderness Travel Course. Dont underestimate the mountain. Be ready for anything getting lost, bad weather, injury, delay. Summits are optional; coming home is mandatory. I repeat that to both my sons, including Bryant, who is away from home for the first time, at college. Liam and I walked methodically along the broad ridge, on snow the consistency of mashed potatoes. Even with spikes, it was hard to stay upright, and I showed him how to glissade a sleigh ride on our rumps, holding our compressed hiking poles like canoe paddles to steer and slow. When we turned east to descend the bowl, we found ourselves behind a line of other hikers picking their way gingerly down the laddered footsteps we had used coming up. Some of the steps gave way, and it was treacherous, even with spikes. It was 1 p.m. We were glad to get to the bottom of the bowl before it would all turn to ice again. By 7,000 feet, the trail was muddy, and water trickled where once it had been frozen. We stowed our winter gear and stripped down to T-shirts again. It was a perfect Southern California day. Late-starting hikers looked the part. Most wore sneakers, and a few wore shorts. We didnt have to say it. geoffrey.mohan@latimes.com Twitter: @LATgeoffmohan ALSO Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? Zika virus raises more questions than answers for pregnant women Happy Birthday lawsuit: Tentative settlement puts song in public domain When futurists first began to predict the merging of man and machine, they surely couldnt have predicted this: wearable furniture. The Japanese-made Archelis is literally a wearable chair that surgeons can wear during long operating procedures. And there are more wearable chairs in the offing Audi, for example, has partnered with Swiss start-up Noonee on a chairless chair that workers can wear while they assemble high-end vehicles. The thought of a wearable chair might sound crazy, but its also a sign of where the super-hot field of wearable technology is taking us. If you thought the wearable tech space was only about smartwatches and activity trackers, here are just a few examples of new forms of wearable tech that are completely changing our notions of human-machine interaction. Advertisement MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed >> 1. Robotic exoskeletons The first generation of exoskeletons included those that were largely for purposes of rehabilitation or regeneration a way for humans to regain the performance of a damaged limb, for example. But the next generation of exoskeletons promises to give humans super-abilities such as the ability to lift a Mini Cooper off the ground with ease or the ability to experience new sensations. The bionic exoskeleton built by Applied Minds, for example, enables users to feel what its like to age 40 years in a single day. We could also see the arrival of military exoskeletons that give troops superhuman abilities as early as August 2018. The U.S. militarys Talos exoskeleton could be one way for troops to gain superhuman abilities during combat. The Talos Iron Man suit provides full bulletproof body armor, a helmet-based heads-up-display of the surroundings and enhanced capacity to carry more powerful weaponry while overcoming any obstacles in the environment. 2. Portable mind monitors If you think about the current generation of human-computer interaction, it usually requires tapping on a keyboard or swiping a finger on a mobile device to get things to work. But what if there were a way to communicate with computers using only your thoughts? Thats the goal of the next generation of portable mind monitors that are worn strapped around the head, much like a virtual reality headset. At UC San Diegos engineering school, theres a wearable brain monitor that you strap to your head that enables users to type their commands using only their brains. Of course, projects like these are still in the experimental stage, but some researchers say that these devices could become as popular as smartphones within the next decade. On the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, for example, its possible to find similar types of projects from researchers who are already blending cutting-edge knowledge in neuroscience and computer science to create brain-computer interfaces. 3. Stealth wear If, like most people, youve been concerned about your privacy and how much information might be being gathered about you without your knowledge by surveillance cameras, stealth wear could be the solution. The idea for stealth clothing is similar to the idea of stealth technology used by the military; in this case, you need to find the right reflective material that can block surveillance cameras and mobile tracking devices. Of course, if you actively fear being trailed by surveillance drones and want to go completely off the grid, its unlikely that donning a cool anti-drone hoodie is going to do much to dispel your paranoia. 4. Smart textiles and smart clothing One of the stranger products at this years CES show last month was a smart suit from Samsung that comes embedded with NFC tags in the sleeves. With those magic NFC sleeves, you can unlock your smartphone or exchange business cards digitally when you shake hands. And, if you happen to live in a heavily polluted area, you might want to consider the Diffus Climate Dress, which contains sensors that measure the level of carbon dioxide in the air. Depending on the level of carbon dioxide, the climate dress will trigger LEDs woven into the fabric to create a light show. Just imagine how the dress would fare in smoggy Beijing. On a more conventional note, new smart textiles are already starting to make their way into the fitness space, where they can monitor the bodys performance potentially more accurately than the current range of activity trackers. 5. Wearable tech that runs on the human operating system One of the surprise breakout hits of the CES show was TipTalk, a watchband from Samsungs super-secret Innomdle research and development team that lets you make phone calls by sticking your finger in your ear. That means its possible to transform any dumbwatch into a smartwatch just by swapping out the watchband. The motion of raising your arm will accept an incoming call, while the watchband helps to transmit the sound vibrations through your finger into your ear by using body conduction technology. The human body acts as a way to send digital messages. *** Its clear that the merging of man and machine is leading to the formation of entirely new ways of thinking about the human body. At the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, there is research being conducted in fields such as mechanobiology and bioinspired robotics, both of which hint at the merging of the natural world and the programmable world. There are two basic paths for the future of wearable tech either the machines will end up inside us, or we will end up inside the machines but either way, the hybrid man-machine future is closer than we might think. Dominic Basulto is a futurist and blogger based in New York City. ALSO How and when to install a rooftop solar system Snapchat and Viacom strike a unique deal, hoping itll boost ad revenue for both Mysterious ship helped keep California gas prices high, consumer advocate says Viacom Inc. has signed a multi-year deal with Snapchat Inc. to sell ads on behalf of the popular photo- and video-sharing app and increase the amount of programming on it. The unique arrangement is a coup for Venice-based Snapchat, enabling the TV advertisers the company craves to buy ads on the app at the same time they purchase spots on Nickelodeon, MTV and other Viacom networks. We can now offer television advertisers a way to tell their stories across television and mobile in a frictionless way, Imran Khan, Snapchats chief strategy officer, said in a statement. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Snapchats size 100 million daily users worldwide has attracted many advertisers. It also offers unusual formats: Snapchat was the first major app to sell both full-screen, vertically oriented video ads and animated ads that can be overlaid on photos. But the company has avoided banner ads and has limited the amount of data advertisers can use to pinpoint who sees which ads, hindering deals with many brands. This deal could be a turning point, bringing Viacoms help selling ads that run during videos produced by the media giants networks or by Snapchat. We believe we are a great fit, Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman told analysts on a conference call Tuesday morning. I dont want to toot our own horn, but they saw in us the most forward-looking ad-sales group out there. Its also a significant digital play for Viacom, which is facing increased scrutiny from investors as cable viewership and revenue sags. Viacoms shares plummeted Tuesday, falling more than 10% to $36 a share a new 52-week low after reporting a 10% profit decline in its fiscal first quarter. See the most-read stories this hour >> Dauman said the Snapchat deal is indicative of the flexible and innovative approach we are taking to grow our digital and mobile expertise rapidly and at a global scale. Viacom has faced criticism for licensing shows to Netflix and other video providers, boosting those companies fortunes while fueling its own demise. Still, the New York City-based media giant will double down on Snapchat. Snapchat Discover, a feature on the app that promotes stories from about 20 media companies, will now have MTV and Comedy Central content worldwide. Previously on the feature, MTV was available everywhere but the U.S., and Comedy Central only in the U.S. In addition, Snapchat will produce more Live Stories, or curated batches of user-generated videos, that are tied to Viacom events such as the Video Music Awards and BET Awards. Last year, MTV drew 12 million users to a Live Story for the VMAs, though only 5 million watched the main telecast. This deal between Viacom and Snapchat is a major step forward in the evolution of the marketplace, made possible by our shared focus on young audiences and Viacoms content expertise, proprietary targeting, custom marketing solutions, industry-leading sales force, and our global strength, Dauman said. Viacom wont be able to sell ads for Discover channels or Live Stories that are tied to other media companies or for Live Stories outside the United States. Chat with me on Twitter @peard33 MORE BUSINESS NEWS Mysterious ship helped keep California gas prices high, consumer advocate says Viacom Chief Philippe Dauman takes a swing at critics -- and stock price plummets Chipotle hopes free burritos and new food-safety efforts will bring back customers Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs opened the academys annual Oscar nominees luncheon Monday by acknowledging a topic that has touched nearly every event this awards season -- the question of diversity. This year, we all know theres an elephant in the room, Boone Isaacs said to more than 150 nominees gathered at the Beverly Hilton, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Sylvester Stallone, Lady Gaga, Rachel McAdams and Alejandro G. Inarritu. I have asked the elephant to leave. Boone Isaacs, who has been the public face of some controversial rule changes the academy board of governors passed in January in an effort to make the organization more inclusive, urged the group to relax. Advertisement #OscarsSoWhite: Full coverage of the boycott and Hollywoods reaction Normally, the nominees luncheon is one of the most upbeat events of the long march of awards season, as some of Hollywoods lesser-known craftspeople, such as production designers, sound mixers and the makers of short films, bask and mingle with A-list actors and directors, all of them sharing one happy trait -- an Oscar nomination. 1 / 46 The class photo of present Oscar nominees at the Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 46 Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Sylvester Stallone arrive for the Academy Awards nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 46 Rachel McAdams, center, talks with fans at the Oscar nominees luncheon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 46 Leonardo DiCaprio is called to join the class photo. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 46 Lady Gaga waits for her name to be called to join the Academy Awards class photo. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 46 Directors Steven Spielberg, left, and Alejandro G. Inarritu at the luncheon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 46 Alicia Vikander arrives for the Academy Awards nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 46 Brie Larson is all smiles at the nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 46 Rooney Mara, left, and costume designer Jacqueline West pose for pictures at the luncheon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 46 Matt Damon poses for a photo with a fan at the Academy Awards nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 46 Rooms Jacob Tremblay and film mom Brie Larson get set to walk the red carpet to the Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 46 The Weeknd arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 46 Lady Gaga arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 46 Jennifer Lawrence arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 46 Sam Smith arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 46 Saoirse Ronan arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 46 Jennifer Jason Leigh arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 46 Steven Spielberg arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 46 Ridley Scott arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 46 Alicia Vikander arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 46 Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Alejandro G. Inarritu arrive for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 46 George Miller arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 46 Mark Ruffalo arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 46 Matt Damon arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 46 Rachel McAdams arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 46 Rooney Mara arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 46 Director Tom McCarthy arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 46 Charlotte Rampling arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 46 Sylvester Stallone arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 46 Adam McKay arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 46 Hank Corwin arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 46 Arthur Max arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 46 Evgeny Afineevsky arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 46 Den Tolmon arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 46 Phyllis Nagy arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 46 Andy Nelson arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 46 Adam Stockhausen, left, Rena DeAngelo, and Bernhard Henrick arrive for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 46 Matt Charman arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 46 Andrea Berloff arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 46 Ale Abreu arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 46 Drew Kunin arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 46 Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle arrive for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 46 Konstantin Bronzit arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 46 Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman arrive for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 46 Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sorensen arrive for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 46 Ed Lachman arrives for the 88th annual Academy Awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Rob Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) But this year, much of the conversation on red carpets and in hotel ballrooms has involved the academys controversial selection of all-white acting nominees for the second year in a row. On Monday morning, as nominees started to arrive at the luncheon, a tiny group holding #OscarsSoWhite signs was stationed on Santa Monica Boulevard outside the Hilton parking lot. Inside the Hilton, many nominees said they had been soul searching about the issue. Nominees with opinions about the role of race in Hollywood face a delicate public relations balance, wanting to offend neither academy members, who will cast their votes for the Oscars between Feb. 12-23, nor fans. Oscars 2016: Full Coverage | Complete list | Snubs, surprises and reactions In an interview before the luncheon, Stallone, who is nominated for supporting actor for his performance in Creed, said he spoke with his films black writer-director, Ryan Coogler, about attending the Oscars. You are responsible for me being here, Stallone said he told Coogler of his invitation to the luncheon. If you want me to go, Ill go. If you dont, I wont. He said, I want you to go. Thats the kind of guy he is. He wanted me to stand up for the film. Later during the luncheon, when the Oscar telecast producers talked about winners forgetting to thank their directors, Stallone, whose acknowledgment of Coogler at the Golden Globes happened off-camera, raised his hand. Other nominees at the luncheon talked about the academys new rules, which include an initiative to double the number of female and minority members and an end to lifetime voting rights. I dont think there is one solution, Spotlight director Tom McCarthy said of the academys efforts to reflect more diversity. It comes down to accountability. I think Cheryl [Boone Isaacs] has done an amazing job at navigating change. I have faith in our community to lead the way to be progressive, inclusive and pushing that needle and that rock up that hill. Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy said she was glad to see the diversity issue arising persistently around town. Im part of that conversation, as a woman and a gay person, so Im glad people are having it, Nagy said. Bridge of Spies screenwriter Matt Charman said the responsibility for telling more stories about people from diverse backgrounds rested on the shoulders of writers like him. If the buck stops with the academy, it starts with us, the writers, Charman said. We need to do better. In addition to a chance to celebrate and take a class photo, the Oscar luncheon is also traditionally an event where the telecast producers appeal to the nominees to make their speeches brief. This years producers, David Hill and Reginald Hudlin, unveiled a new strategy to keep the show rolling on Feb. 28 -- a text scroll that will appear under winners as they speak. They then showed a cautionary video of one of last years winners, documentary short producer Dana Perry, nearly getting cut off as she dedicated her award to her son who had committed suicide. Over the years, acceptance speeches have become a list of names, and time ran out before anything could be said from the heart, Hill said. ALSO: Theres talk about bringing back the Black Oscars Meet the woman who refused Marlon Brandos Oscar and inspired Jada Pinkett Smiths boycott Not only is #OscarsSoWhite, its also #OscarsSoStraight with Carol snub If Samantha Bees game plan for Full Frontal, her new TBS late-night show that debuted Monday night, was to leave the audience wanting more, she certainly succeeded. One minute she was there taking down presidential candidates like Calamity Jane at a Frontierland shooting gallery, and then she was gone, trailing laughter in her wake. If theres only one female host on late-night, maybe she needs more than an hour. And do we honestly have to wait another week to see her again? Advertisement See more of Entertainments top stories on Facebook >> Bees debut drew an audience of 2.2 million across the Turner networks, proving many people have been waiting quite a while for The Daily Shows longest-running correspondent to get her own show. Certainly anticipation has been high since last fall, when Vanity Fair ran a story with the headline Why Late-Night Television Is Better Than Ever and no real discussion of the fact that the accompanying photo made painfully clear: that late night is the most male-dominated field this side of the NFL, a comic Sterling Cooper, before Peggy and Joan had a seat at the table. Bee responded to the magazines claim that it had talked to all the titans of late-night by tweeting the photo with a picture of herself as a laser-eyed centaur inserted into its ranks. Those already irritated by CBS decision that no woman was good enough to host even The Late, Late Show or Comedy Centrals choice of two more men for the slots left empty by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert grew incensed. The countdown Bees debut began, drawing more attention, and putting more pressure on Full Frontal than was usual for a show on TBS, (which some have criticized for not making the weekly aspect clear enough.) As late-nights new first lady (Chelsea Handler, who held the position for years on E! will be returning, on Netflix, in May), Bee addressed her new status as feminist symbol directly and immediately. In addition to the title, Full Frontal opened with a faux news conference in which every question she was asked included the phrase as a woman and she revealed exactly what sort of magic is involved in getting a female-led late-night show off the ground. The very scary kind. Then she was off to the races, describing a level of frustration that only a Daily Show alum can feel watching such a deranged presidential election unfold while she waited for her premiere. Like former boss Jon Stewart and former colleague Stephen Colbert, Bee favors a comedic macrame of news clips laced with comedic commentary. First came the Democrats Hermione Clinton; how have I never heard/said this!--but they were mere bagatelle. Bee admittedly could not wait to get to the Republicans and their banquet of all you can eat crazy. Many jokes were made but a cut from Ted Cruz saying tonight the state of Iowa has spokento God be the glory to Bee humming as she fashioned her post-Cruz election noose pushed the show into laugh-until-you-cry territory, and she was only six minutes in. Alas, those minutes flew by like seconds, taking us too quickly to Bees introduction of Elected Paperweight of the Month, in this case Kansas State Sen. Mitch Holmes, who recently wrote a dress code for the State Senate aimed only at women. Bee had a field day, and if the targets and tone of her comedy were clearly flavored by her Daily Show roots, Bees voice is completely her own. Not for her the desk favored by all her male competitors or the couch required by the women of daytime; Bee stands tall like CNNs John King before his magic screens. She does not care that her red jacket may not have been the best choice for her aggressively purple set. She has better things to do. Like pointing out that Marco Rubios insistence that Hillary Clinton thinks all abortion should be legal even on the due date of that unborn child is literally the stupidest thing Ive ever heard and calling out public officials who feel unable to do their jobs because Shelley wore skinny jeans on Arbor Day. And though she didnt ever transform into a centaur shooting lasers from its eyes, she did effectively use some big scary voices once in a while. The only bad thing about the premier of Full Frontal was its brevity. What with commercials, the time with Bee felt so dazzlingly fleet that during the shows last segment, a brilliant Herzogian look at Jeb Bush in New Hampshire, it was difficult not to begrudge the Bee-less minutes. Even the ones filled with a HuffPo reporter going deer-in-headlights over a remarkably large breakfast or Jeb Bush being asked if the campaign process is like the brilliant night sky whose beauty obscures the fact that its a terrifying endless void. (Not at all; he thinks campaigning is fun.) It just felt so much shorter than other half late-night shows. Of course over at HBO Last Week Tonight With John Oliver doesnt have to cope with commercials. Or maybe its just the lack of the desk that made the time go by so fast. Either way, its clear Bee knows how to make every second count. An earlier version of this story said Last Week Tonight With John Oliver was an hour long. mary.mcnamara@latimes.com Follow me @MaryMacTV Name: Himalayan Cafe in Baldwin Park. Why you made the trip: Chef Uttham Adhikari is turning out several Newari-inspired festival dishes, served exclusively at his newest Himalayan Cafe (with branches in Old Town Pasadena and San Dimas). The food-obsessed Newari clan the acknowledged gourmands of Nepal is known for its elaborate celebratory foods. Where you are: Inside a repurposed Mexican marisqueria on the edge of a partially occupied shopping mall where the contrast of hand-crafted Himalayan wall hangings and artisanal table accessories makes for an endearing L.A. mash-up. The restaurants downtown Baldwin Park neighborhood in the San Gabriel Valley sits just east of the 605 Freeway and north of the 10 Freeway. Dishes that represent the restaurant: One of the new specials, Choila, is among the Internets most clicked-on Nepali recipes. Lamb (or chicken) saturated with freshly ground spices is seared in a tandoor, then combined with vegetables in a heavy pan and simmered until tender. For his Lukla lamb, the chef uses a rack (perhaps a more extravagant cut than the Nepali original), bathes it in an elaborate marinade, then tandoor-roasts the buttery-textured chops in their garlic-laden coating. Lukla lamb is a perennial favorite in Londons Himalayan restaurants. Advertisement Dont forget the momos: Symbolic of the cuisines merging of Chinese and Indian elements, these variously shaped steamed dumplings laced with faint traces of garlic and cumin are to Nepal and Tibet what xiao long bao are to Taiwan that is to say universally known and loved. Their thin, supple skins hold chicken, lamb or vegetable fillings. Theyre delicious on their own, but its their creamy dipping sauce of crushed sesame seeds sparked with fresh basil and ginger that carries them over the top. Although the meat-centric grills and curries appeal to many of the restaurants local guests, everyday Nepali eating is emphatically vegetarian (and this restaurant is Nepali-owned). If the cafes many vegetable dishes seem northern Indian, thats because the regions are closely linked geographically and culinarily. But Nepali cooks season differently, and use less oil and ghee so the food tends to be lighter, says Adhikari. Look for bnadagopi tareako, sauteed cabbage and onion zapped with mustard seed. Or compare saucy aloo kauli and sauteed mismas tarkari. Both use cauliflower in entirely different but inspired ways, making it easy to see why Nepalis dont get bored eating the vegetable almost every day. The cafes Himalayan roll flaky griddle bread wrapped around a meat or veggie filling is the burritos Himalayan cousin. What youre drinking: Freshly made lemonade spiked with ginger is a great match for this food. Beer aficionados will appreciate the two Nepali imports: Real Gold, with its slight sweetness, and Mustang, a bracing pilsner. The collection of Indian beers includes Haywards, and there are about 10 wines. Whos at the next table: Around noon the restaurant gets crowded with locals in office-appropriate attire. They usually come for the $9.99 lunch buffet, although the whole menu is available throughout the day. Appropriate for: Casual group dining is ideal for sharing the generously served dishes. But single diners will appreciate the eight different Nepali-style thali combination plates, one of which includes an entree of boka ko masu stewed kid (young goat) on the bone. Info: 4291 Maine Ave., Baldwin Park (626) 856-5100. Open daily 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; until 10:30 Saturday and Sunday. ALSO: Where to go for good ramen in Atwater Village Spring, the highly anticipated French restaurant in DTLA, opens today This grilled cauliflower recipe will actually make you forget about steak As public health officials and epidemiologists race to understand the Zika virus, doctors in the United States are struggling to counsel patients and ease their fears amid a flood of constantly changing information. Over the last two weeks, an outbreak of the virus has spread to dozens of countries in the Americas. The illness was once believed to have only mild symptoms, but is now suspected of causing serious birth defects, most notably in Brazil. Experts say pregnant women in the United States who havent traveled to countries with outbreaks have no risk of being infected. But with a rapid stream of new information about how the illness is transmitted, new worries keep emerging among pregnant women. Advertisement Join the conversation on Facebook >> You cant reassure them, said Dr. Kathleen Berkowitz, an obstetrician who practices in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Last week, officials said that a person living in Dallas had been infected with Zika originally thought to be only carried by mosquitoes by having sex with someone who returned from Venezuela. The news set off concerns not just about sexual transmission, but about spending time with people whove recently visited countries with outbreaks and or places with reported cases. One patient asked Berkowitz if she should reconsider a trip to Dallas. Berkowitz told her patients that they could safely travel within the United States and that, in general, sexual transmission hasnt been shown to be a major pathway for the illness. But on Friday, federal officials, who hadnt yet released guidelines regarding the sexual transmission risk, advised men who recently visited countries with outbreaks to abstain or use protection when having sex with pregnant women. They also said that men who are worried about infecting their nonpregnant partners should also consider taking the same precautions. Though officials say the risk from sexual transmission remains low, the new recommendations heightened alarm among women. Also on Friday, officials in Brazil said that the Zika virus had been found in the urine and saliva of infected patients, setting off more concerns about catching it through close contact. As the epidemic evolves, medical providers face the challenge of staying up to date and providing clear advice to patients. This isnt behaving like most of the viruses we know about, Berkowitz said. We dont know the attack rate, we dont know the susceptible period, we dont know how long its going to take before youll be able to see the effects of the viral infection, on and off an ultrasound. The Zika virus was long thought of as a less-threatening mosquito-borne illness, compared with dengue and malaria, but doctors started paying attention after an outbreak last year when thousands of babies in Brazil were born with microcephaly, a condition in which the head is abnormally small. But even the link between Zika and microcephaly has not been proved. When a pregnant woman planning to visit Brazil stopped by Dr. Robert Winters travel clinic in December, he didnt know much about Zika, other than telling people to generally avoid mosquito bites. It really wasnt on my radar, said Winters, whose clinic is in Santa Monica. Zika is a relatively new virus first isolated in humans in the 1950s but information about it is lacking because its often a silent illness, infecting people without them ever knowing. Before last year, there wasnt much interest in studying Zika, which was believed to cause only body aches, fever or rashes. Up to 80% of people who get Zika have no symptoms. The connection to microcephaly probably went unnoticed because it was limited to small populations in Africa and Southeast Asia, experts say. Now, with the threat of birth defects, Zikas once-subtle symptoms have turned insidious, making it difficult for public health officials to track and control the diseases spread. After living in Haiti for a year, Rory Felton and his wife returned home to Long Beach last month. Theyd had friends in Haiti who were infected with the Zika virus, but they said they became concerned only recently. Last week, the World Health Organization designated the outbreak a global public health emergency. Then Felton learned that he couldnt get tested, even though his wife is five months pregnant. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is limiting testing to pregnant women, and others wth symptoms. But Felton has heard about the risk of transmission through sexual contact and wants to know for sure that he isnt infected. And theres no commercial testing available to put his fears to rest. Some days we get really freaked out about it, based on whatevers on the news, he said. Though officials have confirmed cases of sexual transmission, they dont know how long the virus remains in semen. And though Zika was recently detected in the saliva and urine of infected patients, its unclear whether it can be transmitted through those fluids. Though the information keeps shifting, Dr. Neil Silverman, an obstetrician in L.A. who specializes in high-risk pregnancy, said as long as women dont visit countries with outbreaks or smaller countries nearby, they neednt panic. If youre in an area where theres no native transmission for mosquitoes that has occurred, and the U.S. is still within that category, then pregnant women do not have anything to fear about living in their own areas, he said. Still, disquiet has spread to pregnant women who arent traveling abroad. Every day, Silverman sees about five patients who ask about Zika and answers about four phone calls about the infection, he said. Other doctors say patients showing up for their scheduled ultrasounds have been asking them to double-check that the babys head size is normal. Sarah Gottlieb, who is 14 weeks pregnant, called her physician after worries about Zika began to grow in the United States. Shed read about it three weeks ago, but when national health officials began telling women not to travel to countries with outbreaks, I started getting all these phone calls from parents and my in-laws and everybody freaking out, she said. Her doctors advice was simple: Dont go to South America or Africa. Gottlieb, who lives in Santa Monica, continues to follow Zika virus developments, concerned that public health officials should have told pregnant women to stop traveling sooner. Im just kind of nervous that the warnings have been late, she said. Disease experts dont know whether theres a correlation between having symptoms of Zika and having a baby with microcephaly, or whether the trimester during which the mother is infected matters. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> There is uncertainty here, and uncertainty, of course, always leads to concern and anxiety, said Dr. Robert Amler, a professor of public health and pediatrics at New York Medical College, who also used to work at the CDC. Laboratories are scrambling to make a vaccine, scientists are attempting to reengineer the carrier mosquitoes so they wont be able to transmit the virus, and epidemiologists are investigating its effects. And until all thats figured out, well be forced to live with that uncertainty, Amler said. soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com Twitter: @skarlamangla MORE ON ZIKA VIRUS Obama asks Congress for emergency funding to combat Zika virus CDC confirms a case of Zika transmission via sex in Texas Fighting mosquitoes with mosquitoes: Biological weapons target Zika virus An Anaheim police officer fatally shot a man at a park early Tuesday following reports that someone was causing a disturbance. The 22-year-old Anaheim man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police spokesman Sgt. Daron Wyatt said. An investigation is underway into the shooting that occurred at 12:38 a.m. at Sage Park in the 1300 block of West Lido Place. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Two officers responded earlier to reports of a man who had been seen knocking on the front door of a nearby home just before midnight Monday. The homeowner told police that a man, whom he did not recognize, knocked on the front door, left the area, then returned and knocked again, Wyatt said. The homeowner provided officers with a description of the man, he said. Officers searched the neighborhood but could not find the man, so they decided to move on to the next call. However, one of the officers decided to check the park before leaving the area, so they split up, Wyatt said. Three minutes later, the officer reported that he had been involved in a shooting in the dimly lit park, he said. The officer was wearing a body camera, which filmed the shooting, Wyatt said. All Anaheim police officers are required to wear body cameras, he said. The Orange County district attorneys office is investigating the shooting and will be given a copy of the video from the body camera. The officer involved in the shooting will be placed on paid administrative leave and undergo a psychological evaluation. He must pass the evaluation before returning to work, Wyatt said. For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA ALSO Calendar says winter, but its hot and dry: Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? Man found dead in bullet-riddled car with Uber sticker in Lincoln Heights A showdown looms to determine the future of the Coastal Commission chief, and the agency Juicho Ortiz was enjoying a warm, quiet Sunday on the porch of his Boyle Heights home when he and a friend looked up the hill and spotted a white car barreling toward them. It was coming down fast and swerving on the wrong side of the street, the 59-year-old recalled. The men wanted to bolt, but their legs froze. It was going to crash but [we] didnt know which way to run because of the way it was moving, Ortiz said. Advertisement The men watched as the vehicle sank into a dip and then launched itself into the air for several seconds. They braced for impact as the car plowed into a parked van, shattered an avocado tree and then exploded through the porch of a century-old home next door. It was very violent, like those crashes you see in the movies, Ortiz said. I felt the ground shake. As smoke poured from the crumpled sedan, Ortiz said he heard a woman screaming, Help, get me out! Get me out! As bystanders rushed to free her, another passenger crawled from the wreckage. He was bleeding from the head and arm, Ortiz said. He was in shock. The woman died at the scene, while the driver died later at a hospital. Only the man in the vehicles rear seat survived. On Monday, investigators said they believe Sundays carnage was the end result of an armed gang attack on a group of teenagers who were unfamiliar with the area and didnt know they had stumbled into danger. Authorities have yet to publicly identify the victims, but they described the driver as a 19-year-old man from El Monte. In the passenger seat was a 19-year-old woman who was three months pregnant with the drivers child. In the back seat was the couples friend, police said. The three decided to have lunch at Prospect Park before the man took the mother-to-be to work on the other side of town, LAPD Det. David Alvarez said. Being that area is known for a male, Hispanic gang being a male Hispanic from another area you can be a target, Alvarez said. Even wearing your favorite [article of clothing] and being in the wrong area, that can trigger something. The three victims, all Latino, didnt have any gang ties or police rap sheets, Alvarez said. The survivor told police that hed noticed a dark SUV cruising the park while they were eating and it made him nervous. The three decided to leave and didnt see that the SUV was following them, Alvarez said. At about 11 a.m., the white sedan stopped at a red light at East Cesar Chavez Avenue and Echandia Street. The SUV pulled up alongside it. Police said it was at that moment that someone stepped outside the SUV and began firing at the drivers side of the victims car. The shooter then got back into the SUV and the vehicle sped west down Cesar Chavez, Alvarez said. The bullet-riddled sedan accelerated forward, south down Echandia Street, toward where Ortiz and his friend were talking on the porch. It crashed into the home next door, wedged inside the homes wooden frame. There was smoke coming from the car. They didnt know the area and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, Alvarez said of the victims. When they realized they had to get out of the area they were shot at. There were no words exchanged. On Monday morning, neighbor Guillermo Gonzalez surveyed the damage done to his van and the neighboring property. Broken vehicle parts lay scattered on the street and sidewalk. The impact of the victims car knocked the home off its foundation and shook Gonzalezs room next door, he said. Area residents streamed onto the sidewalk and dialed 911, moments after the crash, but there was little anyone could do for the people inside the car, he said. We wanted to help but we couldnt, Gonzalez said. The car was upside down and there was wood and other debris all around it. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna. ALSO Uber driver arrested on suspicion of DUI after Super Bowl Murder suspect mistakenly released from L.A. County jail is captured Another hiker dies amid icy conditions, prompting closure of trails around Mt. Baldy Four people were taken into custody early Tuesday after a man was found shot to death in a car bearing an Uber sticker in Lincoln Heights. TV news footage showed the man in the drivers seat of a bullet-riddled Toyota sedan in the 2900 block of Broadway near Griffin Avenue. Police responded at 2:12 a.m. to a report of shots fired and found the 35-year-old man covered in blood inside the car, said Officer Liliana Preciado, a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman. Advertisement The man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not identified. Preciado said detectives were investigating. The shooting appeared to be gang-related, officials said. LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday that although the man was driving a vehicle with an Uber decal, he did not work for the ride-sharing company. The sticker was tied to someone else who is an Uber driver, he said. We dont know the connection between those two people yet if there is any, he said. Capt. Edward Pape told reporters earlier that certain tactics are used to disguise criminal activity. Uber drivers right now are the big craze, are the big thing instead of using taxis, so that may or may not be the case here, Pape said. Officers responding to the shooting report spotted four people leaving the area in an SUV and followed them onto the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said. California Highway Patrol officers took over the pursuit from the LAPD and followed the vehicle on the freeway and along several surface streets. The SUV was finally stopped about 3:15 a.m. in Hacienda Heights, CHP Officer Peter Bishop said. The occupants of the SUV two men and two women were handed over to LAPD detectives, officials said. All four, as well as the man found dead in the Toyota, were documented gang members, Beck said. Staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report. For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA See the most-read stories this hour >> ALSO Anaheim police officer fatally shoots man in park Calendar says winter, but its hot and dry: Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? A showdown looms to determine the future of the Coastal Commission chief, and the agency Warner Music Group and others who fought to hold the copyright on Happy Birthday to You have given up their claims to the popular song, according to the terms of a proposed settlement deal that signals the end of a contentious three-year dispute. The proposed deal, which was disclosed Monday in court filings, offers up to $14 million for those who paid licensing fees to use the song. The lawyers who battled Warner Music and its publishing arm, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., could also see a windfall. In court papers, attorneys said they planned to ask a federal judge for about $4.6 million to cover their legal costs. Advertisement The settlement is tentative pending approval by U.S. District Judge George H. King. If the judge signs off on the agreement, Warner/Chappell Music would no longer collect fees to use the song, which by some estimates brought the company as much as $2 million per year in royalties. The lawsuit was filed in 2013 by a group of filmmakers who believed the ubiquitous song should be in the public domain. The tune, written in 1893 by Patty Smith Hill and her sister Mildred J. Hill was originally titled Good Morning to All. The sisters included it in a childrens music book and left the copyright with their publisher. At some point in the songs tangled history, the Happy Birthday lyrics were added. In 1988, Warner began collecting royalties for Happy Birthday after it purchased the company that had the copyright from the Hill sisters publisher. But King, the federal judge, ruled in September that Warner/Chappell and other prior companies never had the right to charge for use of the song. In December, days before trial, attorneys for all sides in the dispute informed the judge they had settled, but the details of the agreement were not disclosed. The exact terms of the settlement were hammered out during the last week, which featured almost around the clock negotiations, lawyers wrote in court papers. Two other groups related to the Hill family also joined the settlement: the Assn. for Childhood Education International, a designated charity of the Hill family that receives a third of the songs licensing profits, and the Hill Foundation. Both groups argued they were the true owners of the songs copyright. To be clear, Warner/Chappell and others who claimed to have the copyright did not admit any wrongdoing and denied that the song is in the public domain, according to the provisions of the agreement. The tentative settlement allows those who paid for use of the song as far back as 1949 to recoup some or all of their money, according to court papers. The filmmakers and others who filed the suit have asked for an additional incentive payment of $10,000 to $15,000, a customary award for the named parties in class action lawsuits. A hearing on the preliminary approval of the settlement is scheduled for March 14 at a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. Times staff writer Christine Mai-Duc contributed to this report. Join the conversation on Facebook >> ALSO Calendar says winter, but its hot and dry: Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? YOLA returns home to flowers and praise after Super Bowl performance with Beyonce and Coldplay Big turnout is expected at a showdown over the Coastal Commission chiefs future The long-running saga of a partially built Target shopping center in Hollywood took another twist Tuesday, with the citys latest attempt at approving the project derailed by a disagreement over a child-care facility. Targets three-story shopping center has stood empty on Sunset Boulevard since August 2014, when a judge struck down the City Councils approval of the project. The judge said the council should not have approved a 74-foot-tall shopping center in a location where such projects are limited to 35 feet. The councils Planning and Land Use Management Committee is weighing a proposal to change the planning rules for the Target site, increasing the height limit for the property. Advertisement City officials say that move would allow the project to move forward and withstand a legal challenge. But the committee postponed its decision for six weeks after learning that Target and the city are still at odds over the child-care issue. Three months ago, Mayor Eric Garcettis appointees on the Planning Commission voted to require that Target Corp. provide a 3,895-square-foot child-care facility within a mile of the Hollywood site as part of the projects approval. In paperwork filed with the city, Target representatives called that demand excessive, impractical, illegal, erroneous and an abuse of discretion. The company said it would rather make a one-time payment of $407,619, with other businesses at the shopping center chipping in $76,381, to support a child-care facility in the area. A Target spokeswoman declined to comment on the child-care issue. Meanwhile, city officials say they need more time to vet Targets counterproposal. Councilman Mitch OFarrell, who represents part of Hollywood, said through a spokesman that he backs completion of the project but declined to say whether he supports Targets child-care request. The areas zoning requires that certain projects provide either a child-care facility or funding to support one, said Tony Arranaga, the councilmans spokesman. OFarrell is actively searching for solutions to fulfill this need in the community, Arranaga said in an email. The Target project has had a tortured history at City Hall. City lawmakers first approved it in 2010, drawing a legal challenge from the La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Assn. The council then obtained more extensive environmental review and re-approved the project in 2012. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> The La Mirada organization filed another lawsuit that year, saying the city improperly spared Target from having to comply with rules covering building height, signage and other design elements. A judge agreed, ruling that city officials failed to show that Target would experience an unnecessary hardship if it was forced to comply with city planning rules. Leron Gubler, president and chief executive of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, voiced dismay at the latest delay for the Target project. The No. 1 question asked by neighborhood residents and business owners is when will Target open, he said. It is frustrating to see it taking so long to resolve these issues and move this forward, Gubler said. Development of the Target property is governed by the citys 2001 Station Neighborhood Area Plan, one of the citys earliest attempts at spurring transit-oriented development near Metro Red Line subway stations. That document states that retail projects cannot be taller than 35 feet unless they include housing. In November, the Planning Commission recommended the council amend the zoning plan so that taller retail projects could be constructed on the site. But Hollywood activist Doug Haines, who belongs to the La Mirada group, warned he would go back to court if the council made that change. Instead of reconfiguring the building to conform with the law, theyre trying to reconfigure the law to conform to the buildings, he said. Follow @DavidZahniser for whats happening at Los Angeles City Hall ALSO L.A. homeless plans near approval, but where will the money come from? Record-breaking heat in February? Expect temperatures to hit 89 in L.A. Happy Birthday lawsuit: Tentative settlement puts song in public domain Dozens voiced their opinions last week at a public hearing on the Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa to express both concern and support for a plan to close the state-owned facility. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed transitioning developmentally disabled residents out of Fairviews institutional-style setting by 2021 and into smaller regional centers that are more integrated into communities. To that effort, Brown has budgeted $78.8 million this fiscal year toward the closure of Fairview and two similar facilities. The governors proposal, however, was met with considerable skepticism at Saturdays hearing. Advertisement Family members of Fairview residents expressed concerns that their loved ones wouldnt receive the high level of care that the centers staff have provided for decades. Maggie Flavia, whose son has lived at Fairview since 1983, was unconvinced that he would receive such specialized care outside the center. Can the care at Fairview be duplicated out in the community? I say its an impossibility, she said. For some residents, Flavia added, leaving Fairview is literally a matter of life and death. Michael Fitzgerald told state officials his brother has lived at Fairview for most of his life. There, he lives a very regimented existence, and that works for him. To rip him away from this place is a discredit to our taxpayers, a discredit to the community, Fitzgerald said. We should be ashamed of ourselves. A representative with Disability Rights California, a Sacramento advocacy group, said it supports the closure, provided that the plan safely transitions Fairviews population into appropriate settings. State officials have noted that should the center close, its residents will receive individualized care, and that no one will be moved until supportive services such as housing and medical care are in place. City Councilwoman Sandy Genis and other Costa Mesa residents urged the state to reuse Fairviews land for veterans or homeless services. Robert Sterling, who works at Estancia High School, said the land could be used for nonprofits, such as Save Our Youth, the Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area and Girls Inc. We need more real estate for our students, he said. Ray Ceragioli, president of Fairview Families and Friends, a nonprofit that supports the center, said his organization has not yet taken a stance on whether to close the center. All of Saturdays comments will be summarized into a state Legislature plan submitted by April 1. As of this month, the 114-acre developmental center is home to 244 people, some of whom cannot live independently and require round-the-clock care. Fairview employs 984 people. It opened in 1959. Its population peaked in 1967 at 2,700 residents. bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint Zint writes for Times Community News. For more than four decades, the California Coastal Commission has policed land use and preserved public access along more than 1,100 miles of shoreline some of the most valuable and scenic real estate in the nation. Now an internal battle over whether to fire its executive director has set off an intense public fight over the direction of the agency and its ability to control development and protect the states vast coastal resources. On Wednesday, the commission will consider ousting Charles Lester, a 23-year veteran of the agency, during its regular meeting in Morro Bay. If he is removed, it would be a first in the agencys history. Advertisement Lester is the target of a group of commissioners, including appointees of Gov. Jerry Brown, who have questioned the directors management and leadership abilities. But their efforts to focus the discussion on job performance have been met with a torrent of outrage. Environmental groups, elected officials and members of the public up and down the coast have registered vociferous opposition, arguing that the commissions real motive is to shift the agency more toward development interests. The objections promise to make Wednesdays hearing less about Lester and more about the commission and its decisions in recent years, which many say already reflect a tilt toward developers and a growing coziness with them. What we take for granted today that spectacular drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, the sweeping vistas of Big Sur, the small, older motels offering families friendly, affordable accommodations, the wildness of the coastal redwoods, the last great coastal open spaces in Southern California not yet overrun by wall-to-wall development and gated communities all of that is at risk of disappearing, decision by decision, said Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network. Mel Nutter, a Long Beach attorney who served on the panel from 1977 to 1985, contends that the stated reasons for firing Lester are a smoke screen. This is about the direction of the Coastal Commission and whether were going to see a professional, independent staff or a politically driven agency, he said. Nutter has sent a letter to commission Chairman Steve Kinsey signed by 35 former members opposed to firing Lester, whom the panel unanimously appointed in 2011. Its one of more than 20,000 emails and letters, including one signed by 153 current staff members, that have arrived at the agency as of Friday voicing opposition to removing the executive director. Lesters supporters question the commissions timing because it coincides with a number of major projects requiring evaluation to determine whether they comply with the California Coastal Act of 1976. The law sets priorities, requirements and significant restraints for coastal land use. Those projects include a large desalination plant in Huntington Beach and the Newport Banning Ranch a plan for hundreds of homes, a hotel and commercial development on 401 acres of arroyos, mesas, wetlands and oil operations overlooking Newport Beach. See the most-read stories this hour >> A Coastal Commission report describes the Banning Ranch site as the largest and last remaining privately owned land of its size along the coast in Southern California. The plan has been in development for a decade and is backed by real estate company Brooks Street, Cherokee Investment Partners and Aera Energy, which is jointly owned by Shell and Exxon Mobil. Its a poster child of how the Coastal Act sometimes frustrates people who want to build big developments on the coast, said Terry Walsh, president of the Banning Ranch Conservancy, a nonprofit that has fought to preserve the land as open space. You have really, really powerful people pushing this huge project forward, and they have tremendous amounts of money, deep pockets, Walsh added. But under the Coastal Act, you cant just build a project like that. Last fall, agency staff members recommended denial of the Banning Ranch project after a biological review found endangered species and more than half the land covered with environmentally sensitive habitat and wetlands. The finding has been challenged by some commissioners, including Brown appointees. The commission is scheduled to consider the project at a meeting next month. According to the developer, the environmentally sensitive areas are not as extensive as the commission staff has said. However, the partnership has scaled back the size of the residential project from 1,375 to 895 homes to address some of the concerns. Environmentalists point to other examples that they say suggest a troubling closeness between commissioners and development interests. On Nov. 18, commission Vice Chairwoman Dayna Bochco and Susan McCabe a consultant who has clients with business before the panel co-hosted a reception and fundraiser for then-Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), who last month was elected speaker of the chamber and will have the power to appoint as many as four coastal commissioners. Two other coastal commissioners, as well as consultants and companies with business before the commission, attended the event. Days later, some gave donations of $1,000 to $2,500 to Rendon, according to campaign disclosure statements. Among them was Poseidon Resources, which plans the desalination plant in Huntington Beach, and D.B. Neish Inc., an Orange County consulting firm that represents Newport Banning Ranch and other major projects before the commission. Bochco, who is active in Democratic Party politics, defended her attendance at the fundraiser, saying Rendon was a longtime friend and one of many elected officials whom she has supported over the years. I doubt that it is unusual for businesspeople of all stripes to support candidates for office, Bochco said. The co-host list for Speaker Rendon was not dictated by me. I was one of many, I believe. David B. Neish said the Rendon fundraiser was one of a number of political events his firm has attended, but he had no further comment. Another example highlighted by environmentalists is the commissions involvement with a proposed single-family residential development in Seal Beach. Commission staff members recommended denial on grounds that single-family housing is a low priority under the Coastal Act because it is a use that benefits only a few people. Staff members favored plans for a hotel instead because it would be open to the general public. But at a hearing, commissioners negotiated directly with developers from the dais and approved the housing project. Kinsey, the commission chairman, defended the action, saying it was difficult to get a workable proposal out of the commission staff. Join the conversation on Facebook >> They did not give us a suggestion of what could be done, Kinsey said. We ended up with housing, visitor serving facilities and a public park. We view this as a success. The move to fire Lester has stunned his former colleagues, some of whom say he is intelligent, hardworking and dedicated to the agencys mission. Lester, a former college professor, has a bachelors degree in geochemistry as well as a law degree and a doctorate in jurisprudence and social policy from UC Berkeley. After years as the second in command of the commissions staff, he was handpicked by former Executive Director Peter Douglas to succeed him. If Lester is dismissed, coastal protection will suffer a serious setback, said Les Strnad, a 25-year veteran of the agency and a former deputy director for the central California district. His knowledge of California law and coastal management is unparalleled, Strnad said. He is ethical, very professional and looks for solutions. He is not a no man and is willing to sit down and see how a project might be able to work. This is a witch hunt. Kinsey disagreed, saying commissioners have concerns about management, leadership, trust and confidence involving Lester and the staff. He said problems have existed since roughly half the commissioners were replaced in 2011, after Douglas retirement. We hear from applicants that they cant get their e-mails answered, that they cant get their calls returned, Kinsey said. Commissioners feel they are not getting the attention from staff when they call for it. There has been a feeling that staff has tried to impede the commissions understanding of projects that were coming before them. Kinsey defended the commissions decisions, noting that 90% to 95% of project approvals are consistent with staff recommendations. Some critics mentioned what they thought were unnecessary and costly delays in recent approvals for a sand replenishment project for Broad Beach in Malibu and the construction of five mansions in the Malibu hills by David The Edge Evans, guitarist for the rock group U2. Both projects took five years to clear the commission. The process is often a black hole, with people not knowing what the rules are and commission staff taking a very long time to get items to the agenda, said Fred Gaines, a Calabasas councilman and attorney who has represented developers and property owners before the panel for 25 years. Dissatisfaction among commissioners is a long-held frustration, but theres a feeling that its gotten worse, Gaines said in a recent interview. Agency records show, however, that the commission has been denying fewer permits to projects in recent years, voting to reject 24 over the last four years. In 2006 alone, the commission issued 26 denials. Streamlining requirements have helped reduce a backlog of permit applications, and a report by Lester last year concluded that an increase in staffing since the recession has allowed the agency to process appeals more quickly. The agency also began addressing sea-level rise and secured about $8 million in additional funding for various coastal planning efforts and to hire 25 more employees, according to a memo from Lester to the commission released Thursday night. Nevertheless, the commission has tried to exert greater control over the day-to-day activities of Lester and his staff. In 2013, commissioners adopted a five-year strategic plan that includes a dashboard to track the status of 163 specific actions required of Lester and his staff. Some commissioners, including Mark Vargas, who was reappointed to the panel by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins in 2015, wanted much more detailed metrics on how Lester and his staff use their time, but abandoned the effort after public opposition. Over the last few years, commissioners have spent about 25 hours in closed-door performance reviews of Lester, including lengthy annual evaluations and several check-ins a year, according to people familiar with the matter. Such frequent reviews were not required of his predecessor, leaving some to suspect the increased scrutiny was intended to force the agencys staff to be more accommodating to commissioners, and eventually, as a pretext to fire Lester. Wednesdays hearing, which is expected to last much of the day, will probably include hours of testimony from Lester, the public, elected officials and supporters as well as critics of the commissions work. Hundreds of people are expected to attend. Commissioners may deliberate and vote on the executive directors fate in public or behind closed doors. They must disclose any vote taken in closed session. An attempted ouster has gone to a public hearing only once before, in 1996. Then, commissioners backed down after hundreds turned out in support of former director Douglas. Lester, in his memo defending his performance, said he asked for a hearing on his termination as much for the public as for my desire to continue as the commissions executive director. Lester added, I believe the public should be heard. dan.weikel@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @LADeadline16 tony.barboza@latimes.com Follow on Twitter: @Tonybarboza ALSO Youth Orchestra L.A. returns home to flowers and praise after Super Bowl performance with Beyonce and Coldplay Calendar says winter, but its hot and dry: Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? L.A. homeless plans near approval, but where will the money come from? The one-story ranch house looks lonely, even from the highway, slouched on a dust-blown ridge 30 miles from the Mexican border. Here lived the Beans, according to a nameplate long since abandoned. Now, according to locals, it serves as a convenient way station for migrants and drug cartel lookouts along the Mexican border. So when Border Patrol agents recently found two drug-running suspects in a mud-stuck truck with 2,300 pounds of marijuana near here, it was little surprise that one of the suspects made a run for the house on the ridge. Advertisement What happened next goes to the heart of a long-simmering debate among the Border Patrol, police responsibility groups and civil liberties advocates: When the Border Patrol uses lethal force, how much does the agency have to tell the public? The suspect who ran for the house was cornered by an agent and fought back, according to a statement issued Jan. 25, the day of the incident, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The statement also said the man was wounded. A day later, the agency released another statement. Preliminary reports indicate that the suspect assaulted the agent during the struggle, the agency said. At approximately 10:45 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, the agent fired his service-issued firearm, striking the suspect. The statement said that the agent suffered minor injuries and that the suspect was taken by air ambulance to a Tucson hospital, where he was in stable condition. No mention was made of whether the suspect had a weapon. For two weeks, citing ongoing investigations by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the Border Patrols parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, would not say whether the suspect was alive or dead or disclose further details of the shooting. On Wednesday, a CBP spokeswoman said the man shot by the agent was still alive. The agency hasnt said where on his body the man was shot, nor the injuries suffered by the agent. Critics say that unlike most major police forces, the Border Patrol does not move swiftly to announce the names of the agents or suspects involved in shootings. Neither the agent nor the suspect in the Apache shooting has been identified. Such an approach is at odds with the pledge made last year by Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, who said the Border Patrol would be more transparent, especially when it comes to its use of force. On Tuesday, a CBP spokeswoman declined to provide details on the Apache shooting and said the agency had turned over the investigation to the FBI. The Justice Department did not respond to questions. The ultimate goal is to have the case transferred back to the CBP, said Assistant Commissioner Matthew Klein in an interview Tuesday. As for providing details, such as the name of the agent, we cant release information to that level of detail because its a criminal investigation handled by the DOJ, Klein said. Then, when asked whether his agency had asked the Justice Department for information that could be released, Klein said the CBP had not. I cant say weve asked DOJ specifically at this stage, he said. The Border Patrols most high-profile uses of force usually involve the border itself, especially when agents fire from the U.S. on targets in Mexico. A review by the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum analyzed Border Patrol use-of-force policies and focused on cross-border shootings, as well as shootings from police watercraft at people standing in Mexico. The Border Patrol has pledged to be more transparent, primarily after the review criticized the agency. In May 2014, Kerlikowske ordered that the Border Patrols Use of Force Handbook be made public, along with the research forums report. The Border Patrol also created Use of Force Incident Teams to respond to shooting sites and document evidence. Then, last year, the Department of Homeland Security restored the CBPs authority to conduct criminal internal affairs investigations. This authority will translate to more timely and transparent misconduct investigations, Kerlikowske testified to Congress in September. He said that allowing the agency to conduct criminal internal affairs investigations would ensure integrity within the CBP workforce and improve CBPs responsiveness, transparency and accountability. When an agent uses deadly force, CBP has committed to issuing a statement on the incident within an hour after local authorities notify the agencys Washington headquarters, and a second, more involved statement 12 hours after that. ------------- For the record Feb. 11, 5:05 p.m.: An earlier version of this story misstated the CBPs procedures on issuing statements concerning incidents involving the use of deadly force. It said the agency had pledged to issue a statement on an incident within 12 hours of an incident, and a second, more involved statement within days. In fact, CBP has committed to issuing a statement on a deadly force incident within an hour after local authorities notify the agencys Washington headquarters, and a second, more involved statement 12 hours after that. ------------ Critics say that most police departments release basic information about incidents in a more timely fashion. Chris Rickerd of the American Civil Liberties Unions Washington legislative office said that any police agency would have to report when and where they used lethal force, and who was involved. I just dont understand why this agency is exempt. When asked how the agencys silence on the shooting in Apache reflects Kerlikowskes pledge of transparency, the agency said he would address that question at some point in the future. For news from the southwest, follow @nigelduara on Twitter. ALSO Anaheim police officer fatally shoots man in park A father, son and lessons from Mt. Baldys deadly weekend Man found shot to death in bullet-riddled car with Uber sticker in Lincoln Heights President Obama unveiled a budget proposal Tuesday that earmarks $19 billion for a wide range of cybersecurity projects, including $3.1 billion to replace out-of-date federal computer systems that are vulnerable to attack. The investment, a more than 35% increase over last year, underscores a long-delayed shift in U.S. government priorities to recognize the constant barrage of attacks on government agencies, major companies and crucial infrastructure as a major threat to U.S. national security. The Obama administration has scrambled to boost cyber defenses for federal agencies and crucial infrastructure as foreign-based attacks have penetrated government websites, email systems, and vast data troves containing Social Security numbers, financial information, medical records and other personal data on millions of Americans. Advertisement MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed >> The money is part of Obamas $4.1-trillion proposed budget for fiscal year 2017, which prioritizes everything from the war against the Islamic State to combating climate change. The budget is all but sure to run into headwinds from the Republican-controlled Congress, which will modify the spending plan before it is ultimately passed. The cyber strategy involves a number of initiatives at several federal agencies that build upon previously announced programs to shore up the nations computer networks. To oversee implementation across the federal government, the White House announced the newly created position of federal chief information security officer, to be filled within 90 days. It will also establish the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, which will be comprised of cyber professionals from outside of government to help to impress upon American businesses and citizens the need for better security practices. The myriad cyber-attacks that we have endured on both private and government networks, show our continuing vulnerability, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. Additional funding for cybersecurity is essential to modernizing our governments lagging cyber-infrastructure, and to investing in the next generation of cyber talent. The White House also plans to invest $62 million in programs to address the shortage of workers specializing in cybersecurity. One initiative is a new CyberCorps Reserve program to offer scholarships for Americans to earn a cyber-related degree and then work to protect government computers. The most rapidly changing threat facing the U.S. comes from rivals and adversaries deploying new cyber technologies, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told a Senate panel Tuesday. Russia and China continue to have the most sophisticated cyber programs, Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Iran and North Korea continue to conduct electronic espionage. Islamic State has unprecedented online activity for an extremist group, using the Internet for theft, extortion and other crimes, he said. Over the last year, the Obama administration stepped up efforts to bring private industry and the government together to combat cyber attacks such as those that wreaked havoc at Sony Pictures, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Target Corp. and other U.S. companies. ------------ FOR THE RECORD 12:40 p.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly included Bank of America in a list of companies that had suffered cyber attacks; it should have listed JP Morgan Chase & Co. ------------ But a major hurdle standing in the way of collaboration is a lack of trust on the part of business leaders, particularly in the wake of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowdens revelations about how the government used private companies systems in spying. Tech companies have bolstered their security to keep both hackers and government authorities out of private data. The resulting tension has been highlighted with decisions by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. to encrypt data on some of the software they produce, hindering the government from spying. In an effort to ease spying concerns, Obama will also sign an executive order Tuesday to create a federal privacy council to help ensure the implementation of privacy guidelines. Even before it was formally unveiled, Republicans had declared the presidents budget dead on arrival. GOP leaders even refused to extend the traditional invitation to administration officials to come to Capitol Hill to testify about it. Among other things, the presidents budget includes a $10-a-barrel tax to discourage oil consumption. The tax could translate into as much as an additional 25 cents on a gallon of gas. This isnt even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hard-working Americans, said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, adding that Republicans are already working on their own proposals. Staff writer Brian Bennett in Washington contributed to this report. ALSO Obama asks Congress for emergency funding to combat Zika virus Supreme Court to render a verdict on Obamas use of executive authority Obama is proposing a $10-a-barrel oil tax, but GOP says its dead on arrival FBI technicians have been unable to unlock encrypted data on a cellphone that belonged to the terrorist couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino on Dec. 2, the FBI director said Tuesday. The failure, the second such case in recent months, has left investigators in the dark about at least some of the married couples communications before they were killed in a shootout with police. We still have one of those killers phones that we havent been able to open, FBI Director James B. Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee. It has been two months now and we are still working on it. Advertisement Join the conversation on Facebook >> FBI investigators have struggled to retrace the movements and plans of Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, before and after they attacked a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center. The encrypted data could shed light on why Farook left a bag with several homemade pipe bombs in the conference room, whether they considered additional attacks, or whether the couple was in communication with anyone about their plans before the attack. So far, the FBI has said that it has found no evidence indicating the couple had received any outside direction or support. Farook, a county health inspector, had become self-radicalized via the Internet and he and his wife pledged allegiance to Islamic State on the day of the mass shooting. Comey did not describe the phones model or say if it belonged to Farook or Malik. Several cellphone models, including Apples iPhone 6 and Samsungs Galaxy S6, use advanced encryption algorithms that scramble all the data on the device when a pin code is set. Encrypted cellphones and text messaging apps have made it harder for investigators and intelligence services to track suspected plots in real time, or trace locations and connections once they acquire a suspects device, Comey said. In December, Comey said that one of two gunman who sought to attack a Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, last May 3 had exchanged 109 electronic messages with an overseas terrorist that morning. We have no idea what he said, because those messages were encrypted, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time. Both gunmen were killed by police. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the plot. Law enforcement officials have warned for more than a year about their inability to access data on encrypted phones, even after a cellphone company or carrier is served with a warrant. Companies insist they dont keep a separate, back door key to unscramble the devices memory because that would weaken security and privacy. I dont want a back door. ... I would like people to comply with court orders, and that is the conversation I am trying to have, Comey said Tuesday. Follow me @ByBrianBennett on Twitter. ALSO Islamic State will continue to target the U.S., top intelligence officials say Man found shot to death in bullet-riddled car with Uber sticker in Lincoln Heights A Border Patrol agent shot a suspected drug runner. Is he alive or dead? Agency wont say Federal rules that took effect this year in many states will require some adult food aid recipients to work if they want to continue receiving federally funded benefits. The requirements generally are kicking in because unemployment rates have fallen. Here are some questions and answers about the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often referred to as food stamps, which is administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Who has to work to get food stamps? Advertisement More than 45 million people receive food stamp benefits in the U.S. But the work requirements at issue apply only to some of the fewer than 5 million recipients who are considered to be able-bodied adults ages 18 through 49 and without children or other dependents in their homes. The 1996 federal welfare reform law requires those people to work, volunteer, perform community service or participate in education or job skills programs for 80 hours a month. If they dont, their benefits are cut off after three months. Federal figures show that many in this category are single adults, with slightly more men than women. Case studies have shown they are less likely than the general population to have high school diplomas and valid drivers licenses. Advocates say some are homeless, recently released from prison or dealing with trauma from military service, abuse or violence in their communities all of which can make it harder to get a job. Why must some people work but not others? The U.S. Department of Agriculture can waive work requirements when unemployment rates are high and jobs are lacking. During the recession that began in 2008, nearly every state received a waiver. But just seven states remain covered by full waivers, including California. Statewide waivers ended this month in at least 21 states, the largest batch since the recession. According to a tally by the Associated Press, that affects nearly 1.1 million people. States also can request partial work waivers covering certain regions where the unemployment rate is higher. Many states have done this. For example, about 36,000 residents in the Seattle area must meet the work rules or lose food stamps, although residents in the rest of Washington state remain exempt. In Alaska, only an estimated 3,000 food aid recipients in Anchorage must comply with the work rules. In New York, about 51,000 adults became subject to the work requirements Jan. 1, but waivers remain in place for most of New York City, 16 counties and seven other cities. Whats the likely fallout? Many adults are likely to lose their food aid for failing to comply with work requirements if the recent experiences of other states holds true. After Maine Gov. Paul LePages administration began enforcing work requirements in October 2014, the number of able-bodied adults receiving food aid fell from about 12,000 people to 2,680 in March 2015. Two-thirds of Wisconsin residents subject to work rules that took effect last spring were dropped from the rolls three months later for failing to comply. A similar pattern may already be taking shape elsewhere. In Mississippi, where the end of a statewide work waiver affected about 75,000 people this month, the state Department of Human Services says just 20% of people have been showing up for scheduled appointments. Could people go hungry? Directors at nonprofit food banks say they expect to see at least a temporary increase in people seeking help as their food stamps are cut. Its also possible that more people may simply go hungry throughout the day. Several of the states where the work-for-food requirements took effect this month rank high in hunger among their residents. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, Arkansas had the highest rate of residents (8.1%) with very low food security, defined partly as skipping meals because of a lack of money and food. More than 31,000 people there became subject to the work requirements this month. Missouri, which ranked second nationally in very low food security, has about 60,000 food aid recipients who are newly subject to the work rules. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> ALSO Hiltzik: Why Apple fans are really coming to hate Apple software Calendar says winter, but its hot and dry: Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? Mysterious ship helped keep California gas prices high, consumer advocate says Alligators have been used as shoes, briefcases, university mascots, lunch and now, authorities say, a deadly weapon. Joshua James, 24, was arrested Monday and charged with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill after Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officials say he threw a 3 1/2-foot-long alligator through a Wendys drive-through window in Palm Beach County in October. Hes also charged with illegally possessing an alligator and petty theft. Bail was set Tuesday at $6,000, and James was ordered to have no contact with animals. Wildlife officer Nicholas Guerin said in his report that James drove his pickup truck to the window at about 1:20 a.m. Oct. 11. After an employee handed James his drink, he threw the alligator through the window and drove off. No one was hurt. Guerin captured the alligator and released it into the wild. Guerin said James was tracked down through video surveillance and a purchase he made at a neighboring convenience store. Advertisement See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Guerin wrote that James admitted throwing the alligator in a December interview. He said James told him he had found the alligator on the side of the road and put it in his truck. James mother, Linda James, told WPTV that her sons actions were a stupid prank. He does stuff like this because he thinks its funny, she said. She said he meant no harm and had no problem turning himself in. Phone numbers listed for the James family were disconnected Tuesday. James P. Ross, a professor emeritus at the University of Floridas Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, said a 3 1/2-foot alligator would likely weigh about 20 to 30 pounds, and its hard body could deliver quite a jolt if it struck someone. He said the gators bite would be comparable to a dogs and would be unlikely to cause serious injury or snap off a finger, although it could tear tendons. Perhaps the biggest concern would be infection if a bite went untreated, he said. The alligator would be unlikely to attack people and more likely to be in a highly traumatized and frightened defensive mode, he said. It could, and quite likely would, snap and lunge at anyone approaching it closely and could project its head and jaws 12 to 18 inches in most any direction. ALSO Has El Nino abandoned L.A.? Tiny Chihuahua kicked, violently swung in South Pasadena police lobby Serial murder case: Will alibi witness win Adnan Syed a new trial? Kristy Stowell was blunt with the two Donald Trump volunteers who trudged across a deep blanket of snow to greet her in her frontyard: He seems like a ticking time bomb, she told them. He can say some pretty nasty things, Stowell, a 37-year-old Republican, said as her dog hopped around the fresh powder and barked at the visitors. After losing the Iowa caucuses last week, Trump said he would try to be more understated and statesmanlike in his run for the Republican presidential nomination. Advertisement But bursts of profanity still punctuate his public remarks, along with insults he cant resist. At a debate Saturday night, Trump badgered rival Jeb Bush with renewed gusto, at one point putting a finger to his lips and telling Bush to keep quiet. Hes a total stiff, Jeb Bush, Trump snarled Monday at an Elks Lodge town hall in Salem, N.H. He went on to mimic the former Florida governor in a babys voice: Donald Trump said this, Donald Trump said that Im not afraid of Donald Trump. Hes like a spoiled child, Trump said. Not smart. At a Manchester rally a few hours later, he took a dig at Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, saying he was sweating like a dog at the debate. Trumps belligerent style has not kept him from holding a steady lead in New Hampshire polls ahead of Tuesdays primary. But to some voters, like Stowell, its a turnoff. To call people ugly and fat is immature, she told the young Trump volunteers as they tried to persuade her to ditch her No. 1 choice, Rubio. I would like to see him be just a little more cautious, she said, even while allowing that she had a little inner Donald Trump herself. Julie Kfoury, 47, heard Trump speak at a cloth-napkin business luncheon of the Manchester Rotary Club, where she found him uncharacteristically reeled in. One of her main misgivings about him is Trumps swearing at rallies. I dont think thats OK, she said, recalling that a friend took children to a vulgarity-tinged Trump event in Portsmouth. At a town hall in Exeter, Trumps language was too profane to broadcast on television as he alleged that no politician would solve the problem of veterans dying while awaiting medical care. I was going to say theyre full of [expletive], but I wont say that, Trump said to laughter. He went on to criticize foreign women having anchor babies in the United States, using a term many find offensive. Thats where somebody comes over, walks across a line, has a baby, now we take care of the baby for the next 85 years, OK? Trump opponent Ted Cruz said last week that the New York businessman was too volatile to be commander in chief. I dont know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button, the Texas senator said. I mean, were liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark. Many supporters say they admire Trumps willingness to say out loud what most people feel obligated to keep to themselves. He ridiculed Cruz on Monday for trying to be politically correct in responding to a question about waterboarding in the last GOP debate. Ted was very queasy on whether or not he liked it, the billionaire told the audience in Salem. As Trump volunteers James Radcliffe and Dave Chiokadze, both 22, knocked on doors in a prosperous neighborhood here last week, they met resistance to the former reality TV stars antics. Stowell told them that some of the things that come out of his mouth are a little out there. Radcliffe made a case for Trumps bluntness, contrasting him with smooth talkers in politics to no avail. Stowell stuck with Rubio. The volunteers had better luck down the street at the front door of pharmaceutical manager Tony Ramy, 49, a Trump supporter. Look, I get how he operates, because Ive got plenty of bosses like that, Ramy said. And Im a direct and candid guy myself. Theres no kind of gray area in certain things. michael.finnegan@latimes.com Twitter: @finneganLAT Just as Donald Trump was supposed to be savoring an all-but-sure victory in the New Hampshire primary, a vulgar remark that he made has cast a shadow over his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. At both of his stops Tuesday at Manchester polling places, reporters asked the brash Manhattan developer to explain why hed called rival Ted Cruz a pussy at a Monday night rally. Trump was telling the thousands of spectators in the sports arena what a woman in the crowd had just shouted at him. As soon as Trump stepped out of his black SUV Tuesday afternoon at Webster Elementary school in Manchester, a TV newswoman told him that many women find the term offensive. She asked if he had any regrets about using it. No, not at all, he responded. We had a lot of fun. Another reporter confronted Trump outside another school polling place and asked him about uttering what he called the p word. The place was going wild, Trump replied before greeting a few dozen chanting supporters, many of them from neighboring Massachusetts. Youre so politically correct," Trump said. "And I didnt say it. This was a repeat of a woman who was screaming it from the audience, right in front. She was screaming it. All I did was repeat, because people said, `What did she say? What did she say? I repeated the word. In TV interviews earlier, Trump was asked repeatedly whether it was presidential to say such a word in public. Questions about Trumps temperament have dogged his candidacy for months. He often swears in public, but hed been relatively subdued in the days before the New Hampshire vote. After losing the Iowa caucuses last week, Trump said he would try to be more understated and statesmanlike. On Tuesday, NBC News anchor Lester Holt asked Trump whether he would say the word in public as president. No, Trump said. So are you going to be a different guy as president? Holt asked. Yeah, Trump responded, adding that he had been a good student, went to the best school and came from a good gene pool including an uncle who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Is this an act? Holt asked. No, its not an act, Trump said. Last night I had thousands of people. We had a great time, and it wasnt my word. It was a word that a woman kept shouting. When youre president, or if youre about to be president, Trump said, you would act differently. Secretary of State John F. Kerry has for years been trying to produce a diplomatic process that could not just alleviate the suffering in Syria but, in time, end the conflict there. Not long ago, he was optimistic that his efforts were bearing fruit. So much so that after the November talks in Vienna, when Russia and others agreed that negotiations should begin in January, be accompanied by a cease-fire and culminate in elections after an 18-month transition process, the secretary declared: Were weeks away conceivably from the possibility of a big transition in Syria. Unfortunately, there has been no big transition in Syria and now, with Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy, calling for a pause in his indirect talks, there is no negotiating process. The reason is quite simply that Russia agreed to the so-called Vienna principles without having any intention of implementing them. Indeed, at the very moment the negotiations were to start, the Russians intensified their bombing and even used Spetsnaz, or special, forces to back regime and Iranian/Hezbollah offensives around the country. If Russian President Vladimir Putins priority had been the diplomatic process, he would have acted to promote the cease-fire, not increased the tempo of Russian military operations. He would have conveyed to us that he would stop Syrian President Bashar Assad from using barrel bombs and force him to open humanitarian corridors for food and medicine. Advertisement Moreover, if the Russians had actually been willing to stop Assad from using starvation as a tactic, the opposition might have believed that a transition from the Assad clique was possible. Instead, even as Kerry pressured the non-Islamic State opposition to come to the talks or lose American assistance, the Russians were increasing their operations in support of Syrian military and Iranian/Hezbollah offensives. These operations were designed to strengthen the Assad regime and weaken the non-Islamic State Sunni opposition in different parts of the country: in the Alawite heartland around Latakia, in the south around Dara, and in the north by cutting Sunni supply lines across the Turkish border to Aleppo attacks that are triggering a new mass exodus of civilian refugees. The nature of the Russian strikes makes clear that Putin was not just trying to improve Assads leverage before negotiations. No, he was intent on changing the balance of power fundamentally on the ground and sending a message to Arab leaders. Namely: You may not like our support for Assad, but unlike the Americans we stand by our friends. If you want to deal with problems in Syria or in the region, you deal with us. Putin aims to demonstrate that Russia, and not America, is the main power broker in the region and increasingly elsewhere. Putin aims to demonstrate that Russia, and not America, is the main power broker in the region and increasingly elsewhere. And he is leaving no doubt that his priority is to use the Syrian conflict for his purposes not to pave the way for an end of the war. Certainly, were Russias costs to increase, Putin might look for a way out. But for now, hes convinced that we will not directly or indirectly provide the types of arms to the opposition that would significantly raise the military costs to the Russians. Leaving aside the prospects for continued warfare in Syria, Putin is also undercutting our aim of isolating Islamic State and having Sunnis lead the fight against it. (Islamic State is a Sunni group.) Sunni-led governments in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan wont seriously join the fight against Islamic State so long as there appears to be a war against their coreligionists in Syria. And that is what they perceive today as Russia hits non-Islamic State Sunni opposition targets and the U.S. strikes ever harder against the Sunni Islamic State. Rather than being opposed to the Russian efforts, we look to be in league with them. We press for the diplomatic process even as Russian military strikes undercut the prospects for diplomacy. If we want the Sunnis to join the fight against Islamic State, it is time we make it clear to the Russians that unless they impose a cease-fire on Assad and Hezbollah and insist that humanitarian corridors are open, we will have no choice but to act with our partners to create a haven in Syria for refugees and for the organization of the Syrian opposition. The last thing Putin wants is a haven. Staunching the refugee flow would give the Europeans less reason to look to Putin to solve the Syrian crisis and their refugee problem and, thus, reduce his leverage on them to drop sanctions over Ukraine. Organizing a less fractured opposition on Syrian territory could, meanwhile, raise the costs of supporting Assad militarily. So a haven could be a lever on Putin to change course and would show Sunnis we were acting to protect the Sunni population in Syria. It is, however, not risk free, and we cannot threaten to create a haven without following through if Putin refused to alter his course. But we also have to be honest about our strategy toward Syria today: Unless we are prepared to use more leverage against what the Russians are doing, we will not have Sunni partners and there will be little prospect of diplomacy working. Dennis Ross is counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and served in senior positions in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations. His latest book is Doomed to Succeed: The US-Israeli Relationship From Truman to Obama. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook MORE FROM OPINION GOP leaders reject Obamas final budget before its even printed Zika outbreak bears an eerie resemblance to the spread of Ebola Hillary Clinton tweaks her safe, legal and rare abortion mantra When a large enterprise like Los Angeles County government attempts something extraordinarily ambitious such as effectively eliminating homelessness, yet repeatedly falls short, its sometimes hard to tell whether the rubble left by each failure forms a series of impenetrable barriers against the next attempt or whether it instead forms a staircase layered with experience gained and lessons learned, leading upward toward eventual success. The County Board of Supervisors sees a staircase, and on Tuesday it will try to climb it by adopting a far-reaching homelessness initiative. Much is at stake, not least of which is the well-being of tens of thousands of county residents now living in misery and danger on streets, sidewalks, shelters and jails. The effort also is a test of governments ability to sufficiently cut through its own bureaucratic knots and move past its own political jealousies in order to perform as its constituents demand and to vindicate democracy as a viable and meaningful system for meeting the challenges of basic human need, justice and equity. Advertisement In recounting and describing past failures, such as the homeless initiative of 2006, the goal is to map a successful route around the detritus of half-forgotten previous efforts. So as the county tries again, its worth looking back this time to 2009, when the board rejected a proposal to expand a program known as Project 50. Based on a project in New York and built on the belief that people who had lived on the street for more than a year should be offered housing units rather than shelters, and supportive services to address issues like mental illness and addiction, Project 50 was championed by then-Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. His project had housed 50 chronically homeless people, and he and the countys deputy chief executive officer, Miguel Santana wanted to turn it into Project 500 (and then presumably 5,000, and upward) and take it countywide. As bad luck would have it, though, Santanas report and Yaroslavskys motion came before the board on May 26, 2009. It was the depth of the great recession and Californias budget crisis. That morning, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had emerged from the Memorial Day break with plans to erase a multibillion-dollar state shortfall by eliminating programs like CalWorks, the state-funded, county-administered welfare-to-work program. Under the circumstances, Yaroslavskys colleagues were in no mood to entertain expanding a program that would impose substantial new costs. But wait, Santana told them Project 50 saves money. The county was spending $650 million annually dealing with homeless people in repeat visits to emergency rooms, clinics, jails and other county institutions. By spending some money upfront, hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to the county health department, the sheriff and others would be avoided. The supervisors werent having it. That should have raised some questions then, and it raises them today, seven years later. For example Was the failure to move forward essentially a matter of bookkeeping? In other words, was the problem that all those the savings would be recouped by county departments other the ones that did the spending? Was the county seriously willing to pass up hundreds of millions of dollars in cost avoidance because the inter-departmental accounting was difficult? Its infuriating to think that might be the case. Yet the current boards decision to merge three departments health services, mental health and public health just might help by allowing revenue and costs from the three units to be more easily exchanged. Meanwhile, lets note that a recent report says the county now spends $1 billion dealing with homeless people without the initiative. So any new spending to keep people housed and treated should be balanced against the expected avoidance of at least part of that current $1 billion cost. Or was it a question of territory? Yaroslavsky represented most of the wealthiest county neighborhoods, like Malibu, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, plus much of the San Fernando Valley but Project 50 at first focused on people on skid row, in Gloria Molinas district. That violated a county rule of the roost. Each supervisor is expected to keep his or her nose out of each others district. Or was it personal? People who worked at the Hall of Administration in that era confide that the other supervisors flat-out disliked Yaroslavsky, and that their staffs didnt like his, because Yaroslavsky and his people had a missionary zeal about Project 50 that the others found off-putting. And that reaction may be understandable but what if Yaroslavsky was right about his program? So what if his colleagues were miffed? Did the welfare of thousands of people living on the street really depend on how chummy five elected officials were? The supervisors say everythings different this time; they all like each other, and theyre all on the same page on the homelessness initiative. Terrific. But the current line-up changes again at the end of the year when two supervisors are termed out and two new ones are voted in, and then the five of them will live with each other for years, much like strangers thrown together in a beach house on one of those reality shows. There will be disagreements, bruised egos and factions but none of that can be allowed to undermine the countys commitment to move people off the street. Meanwhile, anyone who fails to have spotted tension even among the current members hasnt been paying very close attention. Success will depend on their being grown up enough to work for a common purpose despite how they may feel about each other. Or was the breakdown in 2009 ideological so ideological that the supervisors predispositions led them to see different facts? Consider, for example, the question of just who the homeless are. To some, it was simply common knowledge that pretty much everyone on the street was affected by some degree of mental illness. How many? 95%, Santana told the Board of Supervisors. That suggested that the Department of Mental Health should lead of any homelessness reduction effort, which should be based on providing permanent supportive housing, with continuing treatment at its core. But no, others asserted and continue to assert the issue is poverty, equity, affordable housing. Only 20% have some mental illness, and the rest lost their homes because they were living on the edge economically, and then were pushed over by some crisis, such as an illness, or a job loss. That means the countys primary effort should be in economic justice and economic assistance, and programs like rapid rehousing, to quickly get a roof back over peoples heads and help them with their rent until they are again economically self-sufficient. Of course a comprehensive homelessness plan has to deal with multiple populations with distinct challenges. But seriously, how could county officials be so far apart on the basic facts of homelessness? And doesnt that affect how well they respond? Should their focus today be on the population subset known as the chronically homeless, where mental illness and substance abuse do indeed play a major role? Or will those folks always be there, so that the emphasis should be on the newly homeless, a population that seems to have exploded since the great recession? Are the facts on the ground so unknowable that service providers and commentators can select their own, to suit their own ideologies? There are federal standards for counting, describing and diagnosing the homeless population, and using those standards, it may well be possible to bring the various assertions about who the people are into accord with each other. But if thats the case, the clarifying message is not getting out. Those of us in the news media may be doing a lousy job of differentiating between the various homeless populations and their needs, but thats because county and city leaders are doing a monumentally poor job of explaining, leaving reporters to pick and choose from among assertions and presumed experts. Furthermore, there historically has been tension between service providers who emphasize emergency shelter and those who press for permanent supportive housing. The factions compete for limited public contracting funds, and they squabbled over the housing first model on which Project 50 was based. People from both factions have helped craft the countys new plan. Does that mean that particular fight is ancient history? Are the supervisors, at least, finally on the same page about what the problem is and what to do about it? Yes, they say. But there are the occasional troubling signals. Mental illness continues to be the major factor contributing to the homelessness problem, Supervisor Michael Antonovich asserted earlier this month. "[A]lthough the most visible percentage of our homeless population are those on the streets who are often mentally ill, they represent only about 20% of our total homeless population, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl wrote last week. So what does all this mean? If many of the problems that doomed expansion of Project 50 continue to exist, is the countys latest homeless initiative destined for failure? No, it doesnt have to be that way. A comprehensive plan just may be able to unite people with different outlooks and priorities and to get important things done. The supervisors deserve credit for getting to this point. But because so much is at stake, they should expect to be watched carefully. They must understand that they are inviting scrutiny of their working relationships with each other. They should do a better job of gathering, understanding and disseminating the facts of homelessness, and should acknowledge and account for differences in the understanding of those facts when they arise. They should consider whether it is more important that their particular diagnoses of the homelessness problem prevail, or that they get people safely and sustainably off the street. They should know that most of the things that they tout today, like interdepartmental cooperation, strategic plans, metrics and the like have been tried before, and that those previous efforts should be the steps on which they climb rather than the rubble that blocks their way. They should know that the people who watch them and talk about them their constituents, journalists, commentators are somewhat jaded by past failures, but want them to succeed in ending the misery that is homelessness and the inefficiency and ineffectiveness that too often is county government, and will support them if given half a chance. After all, this is the easy part. Just wait until they try to figure out how to raise money to build needed housing, and how they convince their constituents to welcome the new construction and their new, formerly homeless neighbors. robert.greene@latimes.com Follow me @RGreene2 The final round of New Hampshire polls all project that Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders will win their respective primaries on Tuesday. After that, its anybodys guess. On the GOP side, Trump has slumped a bit and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has been moving up. Several late surveys show Kasich in second place, still well behind the leader but inching ahead of his rivals. TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >> Advertisement If Kasich does take second, that would represent a big setback for other candidates with appeal to the GOPs establishment wing, particularly Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who came into the state with momentum from a strong third-place finish in Iowa last week. On the Democratic side, the big question appears to be the size of Sanders win. Recent polls have shown anything from a seven- to a 26-point victory for the Vermont senator. Given how high expectations for Sanders have risen, Hillary Clintons campaign would probably claim a single-digit loss as a success. New Hampshire is notorious for confounding pollsters. A lot of voters make up their minds at the last minute; non-party voters, known as undeclared in New Hampshire, can vote in either partys primary; and the multitude of candidates gives voters lots of choices. But, setting aside those caveats for a moment, some polls have shown Clinton gaining ground in the final days. A tracking poll -- a small nightly sample designed to track changes in the race -- by the American Research Group showed Sanders support remaining steady but the remaining undecided voters breaking Clintons way. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Even those polls still indicate that Sanders will win. Keep in mind, though, in 2008, polls taken late in the race still showed then-Sen. Barack Obama leading Clinton by about 10 points. He lost. One factor that might hold down Sanders vote: He does better among independents than registered Democrats. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner says he expects most non-party voters to choose the more suspenseful Republican primary this year. Kasich has also shown strength among independent voters. Trump consistently had been getting about one-third or more of the vote in New Hampshire. The final polls show him doing a little worse -- between 28% and 34%. Even if significant numbers of Trumps backers fail to show up, as happened in the Iowa caucuses last week, that level should still be enough for a win in a field with eight serious candidates. Although Trump has the odds with him, his current lead is not so big that it guarantees a win. A loss by him would qualify as an upset, but not an enormous shock. Moreover, even if Trump does win, an important question will be what his level of support signifies about his strength down the road. Patrick Buchanan, the former Nixon administration speechwriter and conservative commentator, got 27% of the vote in New Hampshire in 1996, beating Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas in a six-person field. Dole had little trouble dispatching Buchanan after the roster of candidates slimmed down. Trump has strengths Buchanan lacked -- lots of money, for starters -- but his populist campaign resembled Buchanans in several ways, and if Trump fails to do much better than he did, it would not be a sign of lasting strength. Rubio also has a lot riding on the order of finish. Last week, his backers talked up their 3-2-1 strategy -- that the Florida senator would follow his third place in Iowa with second in Florida and then a victory in the next round of states. Another third-place showing, or worse, would clearly set him back. Averages of the publicly released, nonpartisan polls showed Rubios support rising sharply after Iowa, hitting a peak late last week, then gradually declining. His shaky performance in Saturdays candidate debate may have worsened that decline. Given how tightly bunched the candidates are below Trump, however, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Iowa winner Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas both have realistic prospects of a second- or third-place finish. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seems a longer shot. For more on politics and policy, follow @DavidLauter MORE ON NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY New Hampshire secretary of state predicts record turnout for primary Our podcast gets you up to speed on todays primary. Who must do well to survive? In New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton sounds both tone deaf and human: This is hard for me Every four years, politicians descend on New Hampshire to genuflect to the states legendary voters. They tell them how wise, how discerning, how independent, how engaged they are. While voters in other states are accustomed to receiving a certain level of puffery, the New Hampshire voter is put on a pedestal that would make a Nobel laureate jealous. Leave it to a pair of locals to blow the whole gig open. While there is a kernel of truth to many aspects of this caricature, it is primarily a myth, write David Moore and Andrew E. Smith, a pair of University of New Hampshire professors who may not be invited to many more faculty teas. Advertisement Moore, a former senior editor of Gallup Poll and founder of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, and Smith, a pollster who directs the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, lay out their case in a chapter of The First Primary: New Hampshires Outsize Role in Presidential Politics, released late last year, just in time to take all the joy from the primary season. Their biggest beef is with the so-called independence of the New Hampshire voter. Though about 44% of the states residents are registered undeclared, only 15% actually call themselves independent in polls. They blame journalists for confusing the term independent with undeclared, a status many voters take either to avoid being identified publicly as a partisan or so they can vote in whichever partys primary is most competitive. But these undeclared voters may not have the impact they are credited with because they tend to show up at the polls less often than registered partisans. The idea that independent voters can swing a primary election is also overstated, the authors conclude. Exit polls consistently show that candidates never win the top spot in their primaries without garnering the most support from registered members of their own parties. And there is little evidence supporting the theory that undeclared voters use the open primary system to cause mischief by supporting a dolt in the party they most dislike. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> The question of whether New Hampshire voters are truly more engaged than voters elsewhere is similarly open to debate. Moore and Smith concede there is strong evidence that some voters are highly engaged but the great majority of adults do not, in fact, attend campaign events. Their research shows an average of about one in five New Hampshire voters has attended a campaign event during each primary since 2000. On the other hand, a rather remarkable 12% have told pollsters that theyve shaken a presidential candidates hand in those elections. Good luck getting that kind of access in Houston, Los Angeles or New York City during a mayors race, much less a presidential election. Still, its fair to say not everyone in the Granite State catches the political bug. Wendy Fife, 37, who was coming out of a restaurant in Rochester last week, said she has never voted, and shes sick of political news and advertisements on television. It doesnt interest me, she said. Its not like sitting down and watching the Patriots game. And not everyone among the crowded political rallies shown on television is actually a voter. At a Bernie Sanders rally at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire on Monday morning, some students of voting age at the event were not even sure why they were there. One woman said she had shown up because her professor mandated it. Was she planning to vote Tuesday? There is a vote Tuesday? she responded. At that event and other Sanders rallies in the finals days of campaigning, in fact, actual New Hampshire voters were hard to find. Some crowds were made up in large part by political tourists from other states who came to take advantage of the chance to meet presidential candidates. More significantly, Moore and Smith found that the candidates who camp out in the state are seldom the ones who win. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is fighting for second place in the state, said he has held more than 100 town halls in New Hampshire. Its all about town halls, he said on CNN recently. People want to take your temperature. TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >> But as seen in nearly every other state, New Hampshires primary winners tend to be the ones who spend a lot of money, reaching more voters on television than at the Elks Club. This years Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, is an exception to that rule, using his celebrity to get free news coverage and fill large rally halls. He even largely avoided spending the night in the state or shaking hands in small diners. More often than not, Moore and Smith write, the big dog gets the bone. Still, dont count on politicians departing from their earnest rhetoric about the thoughtful geniuses who inhabit early voting states. National media narrative doesnt impact voters, especially in places like New Hampshire, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Tuesday, in an interview with WMUR, the states largest television station. These are serious voters. These are people that have taken their time, theyve met with the candidates, they know the issues better than anybody Ive ever interacted with. Theyre not listening to Sunday shows. Theyre going to make their decisions based on who they think is right for the country and thats why we feel so good about it. Los Angeles Times staff writers Evan Halper and Chris Megerian contributed to this report from New Hampshire. Follow me @noahbierman on Twitter. ALSO Listen to the Essential Politics Podcast on New Hampshire Sanders supporters may not be there for Clinton if he loses With New Hampshire defeat likely, Clinton shifts attention to Nevada, S.Carolina Key issue dividing Democrats: How much change do they want? As the New Hampshire campaign comes to a close, a super PAC supporting Sen. Marco Rubio has changed its ad strategy to try to slap down a possible rally by his Florida rival, Jeb Bush. Since Friday, Conservative Solutions PAC has pulled more than $1 million in positive ads for Rubio, plus another $360,000 in ads attacking Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to focus a barrage of ads against Bush more than $1.6 million in all, campaign filings at the Federal Election Commission show. Most of the money went toward airing an attack ad portraying Bush as the head of a hapless campaign, picturing him with his head in his hands and saying his ideas are old and wrong. Advertisement A mailer by the super PAC showed Bush with a goofy crown on his head, alongside pictures of Henry VIII and the Burger King mascot, with an old quote by Bushs mother before he launched his campaign: Weve had enough Bushes. Bush called that a pretty low blow in an interview on CNN. The shift in spending is a sign of concern among Rubios supporters about a possible late surge in New Hampshire by Bush, who joined New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in mocking Rubio during Saturdays GOP candidate debate. Bush and Rubio are both from south Florida, and the former two-term governor was once Rubios friend in the Florida state House. But the two men have been in an increasingly personal feud as they compete in the same pool of voters and donors. Right to Rise, the $100-million super PAC supporting Bush, has spent heavily in New Hampshire on ads attacking Rubio. In an email, Conservative Solutions spokesman Jeff Sadosky declined to answer questions about the PACs strategy. Other attack ads in the last week show supporters of Christie focusing more than $500,000 worth of attack ads on another establishment-aligned GOP governor, Ohios John Kasich. Both governors have bet their hopes on a strong showing in New Hampshire. For more on campaign finance, follow @JTanfani When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke to a group of employees at a technology company in Manchester, N.H., on Monday, there was one couple who didnt quite belong. They dont work at the company and dont even live in the state they were visiting from California to get an up-close look at the presidential candidates they usually get to see only on television. Linda Verraster and John Alkema, who live in San Clemente, arrived in New Hampshire on Friday and plan to stay until Wednesday. This is Alkemas third time visiting the state for the primary and his wifes first. Theyre among the political peepers a term coined by New Hampshires secretary of State who flock here during a presidential campaign to get a glimpse of the candidates. Advertisement Because California holds its primary in June, usually after both parties nominees are already clear, presidential candidates have little incentive to hold intimate events in the state. Often the only reason they visit is to replenish their campaign accounts with money from deep-pocketed donors. We dont get this in California, said Alkema, 71. In California, if you went to see something like this, youd have to make a donation. Verraster, 61, and Alkema usually vote for Democrats, they said, but they were attending events for both parties candidates. Besides attending the Christie town hall, they saw Hillary Clinton and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz speak, and they were hoping to see Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as well. They were both impressed by Christie, who they said came across much nicer in person than hes portrayed by MSNBCs Rachel Maddow. This is a guy I could have a beer with, Alkema said. Follow @chrismegerian for more updates. For more political coverage, go to www.latimes.com/politics. ALSO Rubio super PAC launches last minute attack on Bush New Hampshire voters could reshape the presidential race Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers with this mornings Essential Politics. By the time you read this, the New Hampshire primary will already be history in the tiny towns of Dixville Notch, Harts Location and Millsfield. All three hamlets weighed in with their presidential preferences in ballots cast at midnight. Those votes were the very first of the Granite States "first in the nation" results, a moniker shortened in this social media era to the hashtag #FITN. Of course, thats the first primary, given Iowas caucus beat them to the electoral punch. Tradition aside, New Hampshires political realities are shifting. Cathleen Decker writes that those changes may explain whats fueled Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders strong effort and could help smooth out the recent rocky road for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. As for Donald Trump, Michael Finnegan reports the celebrity businessman is discovering that politics is a tougher task than his years of building a personal brand. Decker and Christina Bellantoni discussed the primary in an Essential Politics podcast. Stay tuned for live results from New Hampshire and full coverage of tonights returns on Trail Guide. CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS DESCEND ON NEVADA Meantime, the closely watched caucuses in Nevada are just 11 days away for Democrats (Republicans will convene to cast their votes three days later), and a high-profile group of California Democrats blitzed the Silver State over the weekend, led by state Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). Patrick McGreevy reports that the Democrats were in both Reno and Las Vegas over the weekend, making it back to Sacramento in time for Mondays Senate floor session. By the way, dont forget that you can always get a quick fix of the latest California political news on our Essential Politics news feed. OBAMA KNOWS THE WAY TO SAN JOSE President Barack Obama heads to San Jose tomorrow for fundraising events, and then to Los Angeles on Thursday for more of the same. Hell be in the Golden State quite a bit over the next few days, leading up to next weeks gathering of leaders from Southeast Asia in Rancho Mirage. ROCKY CHAVEZ QUITS U.S. SENATE RACE Take one candidate off of your watch list in this year's race to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer next year: Assemblyman Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside), who surprised everyone late Monday afternoon by stepping aside during a live radio debate in San Diego. As Phil Willon reports, Chavez had struggled for months to raise significant cash for his campaign and will instead run for reelection to the Assembly. His departure leaves two former state GOP chairs Duf Sundheim and Tom Del Beccaro as the most prominent candidates in a race featuring Democratic heavyweights Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana). DONT FORGET 2018 Willon also caught up recently with Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor and Assembly speaker whos mulling a run for governor. In case youre counting, there are only 847 days until Californias next gubernatorial primary. Okay, so its not just around the corner. And to hear him tell it, poverty could be one of the 2018 races biggest issues. TODAYS ESSENTIALS Californias presidential primary ballot is shaping up to have 43 names on it, combined, from the recognized political parties. And many of those names were selected by Secretary of State Alex Padilla as "generally recognizable" hopefuls. Keep an eye on the campuses of the Cal State University system this spring, after Mondays announcement of a strike in April if no pay raise is granted. Political watchers will note the strike, which would begin on April 13, comes just about a month before Gov. Jerry Brown revises his state budget plans. Remember when? See video of Clinton on sexism on the eve of the 2008 New Hampshire primary. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? You can find it here. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our new politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. The Democratic primary race here has not provided the sort of drama the Republican contest has wrought, but it has shined a bright light on the woman who remains the partys front runner, Hillary Clintonand demonstrated both troublesome and enticing halves of her candidacy. Despite months of campaigning, Clinton can still be tone deaf when it comes to explaining herself on key voter concerns, like the private email system she used as secretary of State and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees that she received from Goldman Sachs. That would be surprising in a candidate new to the stage, much less someone who has been in the public eye for decades. Yet she can also surprise, brushing aside a lifelong penchant for privacy at a televised town hall a few days ago to talk movingly about how she balances ego and humility. In politics at this level, where nearly everything is calculated to the word, a human response is rare indeed. Advertisement 1 / 25 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Concord, N.H. (Jewell SamadJ / AFP/Getty Images) 2 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a primary night rally in Manchester, N.H. (David Goldman / Associated Press) 3 / 25 Ohio Gov. and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich, joined by his wife, Karen, speaks to supporters during a primary election watch party in Concord, N.H., after finishing second to Donald Trump. (Dominick Reuter / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 25 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks as former President Clinton applauds at her New Hampshire primary campaign rally in Hooksett. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) 5 / 25 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders onstage during a primary night rally in Concord, N.H. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images) 6 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visits a polling station in Manchester, N.H. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 7 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz leaves a campaign stop at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. (Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images) 8 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio speaks with Stephanie Tespas outside Gilbert Hood Middle School in Derry. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) 9 / 25 Supporters of Bernie Sanders cheer at a rally in Concord as they watch primary results on TV. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 25 Cesare Del Vaglio, a campaign volunteer for Donald Trump, makes phone calls to New Hampshire voters at Trumps campaign office in Manchester. (Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images) 11 / 25 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders walks through downtown Concord, N.H. (Spencer Platt / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visits a polling station as voters cast their primary day ballots in Manchester. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 13 / 25 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush thanks his supporters outside the polling place at Webster School in Manchester. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 14 / 25 Voters in Nashua, N.H., walk to their polling place to cast their ballots in Tuesdays primary. (David Goldman / Associated Press) 15 / 25 A Bernie Sanders supporter arrives with campaign signs outside the town hall in Canterbury, N.H. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images) 16 / 25 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets voters carrying Donald Trump signs outside a polling station in Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 17 / 25 Voters wait in line at a fire station in Loudon, N.H. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images) 18 / 25 Sen. Marco Rubio boards his campaign bus after stopping to thank supporters outside a polling place in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 9. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 19 / 25 Supporters and detractors of Sen. Marco Rubio, including one in costume to resemble a robot, meet in the snow in Manchester, N.H. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 20 / 25 Supporters of various presidential candidates hold signs outside a polling place at the Webster School in Manchester, N.H. Tuesday is the 100th anniversary of the New Hampshire primariy, the first in the nation test for presidential candidates from both parties. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 21 / 25 A man attempts to take a selfie with Republican candidate Gov. Chris Christie as he greets supporters outside the Webster School polling place in Manchester, N.H. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) 22 / 25 An election worker hands out stickers to voters afer they cast their ballots in Belmont, N.H. (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images) 23 / 25 Wayne Peirce shovels snow off the sidewalk at a polling station in preparation for opening in Laconia, N.H. (Michael reynolds / EPA) 24 / 25 A voter leaves Canterbury Town Hall in Canterbury, N.H., after casting her ballot in Tuesdays presidential primary. (CJ Gunther / EPA) 25 / 25 A voter in Nashua, N.H., leaves a polling site after casting his ballot at dawn. (David Goldman / Associated Press) The question coming out of New Hampshire is not, barring a shocking surprise, who will win: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has held an expansive lead throughout. The question for Clinton -- which is more crucial to a general election than a primary, to be sure is whether those moments she has been at her best suggest shes capable of expanding her persona in the months to come. Theres always been an almost visible tension in Clintons public life, a sense only exacerbated by comparisons to a husband who so thoroughly embraces all of the hand-shaking and glad-handing of politics as if its gasoline to his engine. If he seemed to be almost too familiar, she seemed always to have her armor on. (Not without reason; as she has pointed out in New Hampshire, she remains the chief target of moneyed Republicans.) See the most-read stories this hour >> There was even an odd bit of wordplay at work in New Hampshire, where Bill Clinton in 1992 vowed to keep fighting til the last dog dies. In Hillary Clintons terminology, it was a little less evocative: Im going to keep fighting until the last vote is counted on Tuesday. She acknowledged the difference between herself and Bill Clinton in an exchange at Wednesdays town hall, which was something of a revelation. This is hard for me, she said when asked by a rabbi about the humility/ego balance. You know, I never thought Id be standing on a stage here asking people to vote for me for president. I always wanted to be of service. I met my husband, who was such a natural, knew exactly what he wanted to do" She said she was constantly trying to balance seeking the mantle of the presidency with not losing track of who I am, what I believe in and what I want to do to serve. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> I have that dialogue at least, you know, once a day in some setting or another. And I dont know that there is any ever absolute answer, like, OK, universe, here I am, watch me roar or Oh, my gosh, I cant do it, its just overwhelming, I have to retreat. Its that balance that I keep to try to find in my life that I want to see back in our country. The idea of Hillary Clinton retreating from anything came later in that same town hall, however, in ways that suggest rocky times ahead for her candidacy. At the very least, she handed rival admakers a video clip to remember. When asked why she took at least $675,000 for speeches to Goldman Sachs before her campaign began, she replied that I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions. But nearly $700,000? Well, I dont know, she replied. Thats what they offered. The answer reeked of dismissiveness, and seemed the antithesis of her raw talk minutes before. TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >> But throughout the New Hampshire campaign, she also seemed to be refining, and improving, the argument she will put to voters in more hospitable states as the election year unfolds. In Manchester on Monday, as she kicked off the last full day of campaigning before the vote, she delivered an address that asked her audience to imagine a world where the nations problems are rectified, whether that be the economy gaining jobs, schools improving, or college becoming more affordable. It was an effort to put into a singular vision the laundry list of items that Clinton promises to fight for as president. It wont happen by wishing for it, she said, a line that seemed aimed at Sanders supporters but also distilled her dogged political style, it will happen by working for it. She also took another whack at the question of whether money she had received from companies like Goldman Sachs or other Wall Street lions had corrupted her. That has been the none-too-subtle underpinning to Sanders campaign, and an issue that would follow her into a general election campaign. I say what I mean and I do what I say, she said firmly, and put a positive, less contentious spin on her long political history. I will take them on, and I know how to beat them. The New Hampshire campaign will soon fade; by weeks end Clinton will be in South Carolina, a state that lines up more favorably with her demographic strengths. Nevada votes before that, and right now is also in her corner. Things can change, however, as Obamas surprising challenge to Clinton demonstrated in 2008. That year, New Hampshire was central to salvaging her candidacy. This year it may matter less, but it may also have served to bring her closer to crafting a candidacy that will work in all the states to come. cathleen.decker@latimes.com For political news and analysis, follow me on Twitter: @cathleendecker . For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker. ALSO Listen to the Essential Politics Podcast on New Hampshire Sanders supporters may not be there for Clinton if he loses With New Hampshire defeat likely, Clinton shifts attention to Nevada, S.Carolina Key issue dividing Democrats: How much change do they want? In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, on a Disney Cruise to Norway, Olivia Cremarosa, then 5, instructed her parents to pose for a photo in the golden light of a beautiful sunset dad behind mom, with moms hands on her pregnant belly, thumbs and forefingers forming a familiar loving shape. I said, Put a heart on moms belly, and my mom did it, Olivia, now 6, said of her photographic process. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> This week, the resulting photo won the top award in the 12 and under category in the Friends of the Burbank Public Librarys 2016 Amateur Photography Contest. The judges said, The heart was at the heart of the photograph, according to Louise Paziak, vice president of the nonprofit, who presented awards for winners in each of the 10 categories and 18 sub-categories during a reception at the Buena Vista Branch Library on Thursday night. Burbank resident Renee Silverman won Best in Show for her black-and-white photo of Malaysian singer Yuna on stage at the Troubadour in Hollywood. Renee Silverman, of Burbank, placed first in B&W Photojournalism, and Best in Show at the awards show at the Buena Vista Branch Library. (Tim Berger / Burbank Leader) Silverman, a former musical performer, said she got the idea to start shooting concerts after attending a show at the Greek Theatre and noticing the photographers up in the front row. I thought, thats what I should be doing, Silverman said, adding that from then on, it became an obsession. The Yuna photo, reminiscent of a classic image from the Jazz Age, is one of the rare special ones [that] become art for me, Silverman said. This year, there were more than 110 entries in the contest, which has been held annually since shortly after the Friends nonprofit was founded in 1980 to support the library. Selected photos are on display at the Burbank Central Library, 110 N. Glenoaks Blvd., through Feb. 27. Bonnie Burrow, a photography teacher at John Burroughs High School and former Burbank Leader staff photographer, has helped coordinate judging of the contest for several years. She said the low number of entries about half as many as in recent years was due to the earlier dates of the contest this year to accommodate anticipated construction at the Central Library. One of the judges, professional photographer John Dlugolecki, said fewer entries made the judging somewhat easier, overall, though he said choosing Best in Show this year was tougher than he remembers it having ever been, because of the quality of the finalists entries. Burrow surveyed the contest participants at the reception on their chosen format and gear film vs. digital, cellphone vs. camera and found most had used digital cameras. Roughly the same number had submitted photos taken on film as had submitted photos taken with cellphone cameras. Debbie McBrides photo of overlapping bluish curves, a detail of the ceiling in the cabin of a commercial airliner, took first place in the color architecture photography category. After awards were handed out, Dlugolecki excitedly showed off the original and similar shots, all stored on the smartphone with which McBride snapped them. Judge and professional photographer Andre Murray said hes often asked for recommendations about cameras, but he said thats not what matters. Its the person behind the lens, Murray said. The eye. -- Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com Twitter: @chadgarland As rivals India and Pakistan try to get oft-derailed negotiations on track, a familiar obstacle reappeared this week in the electronic form of David Coleman Headley. The American-born militant of Pakistani origin has dominated the Indian media for two days with court testimony via videoconference from an undisclosed location in the U.S., where he is serving a 35-year sentence for involvement in the 2008 terrorist attacks in this commercial hub. Granted a pardon in India in exchange for testifying against another alleged plotter, Headley on Tuesday repeated his assertions that Pakistans military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, helped Pakistani militants carry out the attacks that killed more than 160 people in Mumbai. Advertisement Headley said he was working for the ISI as well as the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that India blames for the attacks. He said he scouted the luxury Taj Mahal Palace hotel which was one of the targets and passed video and photos to a Lashkar leader as well as an ISI contact he called Maj. Iqbal. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> Much of Headleys testimony repeated statements he made at his federal terrorism trial and in interviews he gave to Indian investigators in the U.S. But his reemergence comes at an awkward time, as India and Pakistan nuclear-armed rivals that have fought four wars against each other in the last 70 years struggle to revive wide-ranging security, economic and political talks. Pakistan denies involvement with terrorism and has cast doubt on Headleys credibility, frequently pointing out that he was a double agent. When he moved from the United States to Pakistan in 2002 to train with Lashkar, Headley was also working as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. India has long sought to have Headley testify to raise pressure on Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, whom Headley said was Lashkars operations commander, is free on bail in Pakistan where he awaits a long-delayed trial. Hafiz Saeed, Lashkars spiritual leader whose speeches Headley said inspired him, has a $10-million U.S. bounty on his head but lives freely in the Pakistani city of Lahore. On top of this, Pakistani officials this week said they had found no evidence to support Indias claims that Jaish-e-Mohammad, a domestic militant group, was behind a deadly attack last month on an air base in northern India. The raid deflated hopes of better relations after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December. The developments this week reinforce the lack of seriousness in Pakistan to deal with this problem, said Alyssa Ayres, a South Asia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. As New Delhi and Islamabad attempt to restart dialogue, its the opposite of a confidence-builder, Ayres said. Still, Sharif, the Pakistani leader, said last week that he hoped talks between the two countries foreign secretaries, which were postponed in January and have not been rescheduled, would still go forward. In the long-running drama between the two nations, Headley has proven an unusual and enigmatic figure. Born Dawood Gilani to a Pakistani father and American mother, Headley was convicted on drug charges before making a deal with the DEA to become a federal informant and travel to Pakistan to investigate heroin trafficking in 2002. Under questioning for several hours this week by Indian public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, Headley described himself as a true follower of Lashkar who was influenced and motivated by Saeed, the groups founder and spiritual leader. He also juggled relationships with multiple women and stood out for having eyes of two different colors, a condition known as heterochromia. Headley conducted reconnaissance of the Taj hotel while staying there with his wife, posing as a honeymooning couple, he said. He also surveyed naval and air bases, the state police headquarters and the crowded Siddhivinayak temple in northern Mumbai on behalf of Lashkar, he said. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Since most of what Headley said in court was already known, analysts said efforts to restart high-level talks would continue. Back-channel talks are on between the countries, said Jatin Desai, general secretary for the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, an independent group that advocates for better bilaterial ties. It should eventually lead to the official talks. Others said that getting Headley to testify was a public-relations victory for India, which has expressed frustration that U.S. authorities did not inform them about Headley despite tracking him before the 2008 attacks. His statement will definitely help India building its case and will put more pressure on Pakistan, said Amir Rana, an independent security expert based in Islamabad, Pakistan. Parth M.N. is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Aoun Sahi contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan. shashank.bengali@latimes.com Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia ALSO How sweet it is, WikiLeaks Julian Assange declares after U.N. panel backs his freedom In China, no Revenant, but mad Oscar buzz for Leonardo DiCaprio How are Muslims around the world reacting to Obamas visit to a mosque? North Koreas launch of a long-range rocket Sunday has policymakers in the United States, South Korea and China scrambling to answer to an old, vexing question: Whats the most effective strategy for dealing with an isolated state with a growing arsenal of increasingly dangerous weapons? Since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, the United States, South Korea and their allies have tried a range of measures to stop Pyongyang from becoming a fully armed nuclear state. They have implemented heavy economic sanctions and held multilateral meetings, the six-party talks. On occasion, South Korea has even tried giving North Korea unconditional aid with the hope that it would create a better climate for negotiations. Advertisement Yet North Korea continues to move forward with its nuclear ambitions. The rocket launch came a little more than one month after the countrys fourth nuclear test, when the states official media announced the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, which would be its most powerful weapon tested to date. Though an investigation involving air sampling and seismic analysis is still underway, experts do not believe it was in fact a hydrogen bomb. North Korea claims that its testing of long-range rocket technology is simply part of a peaceful space program, while the United Nations and U.S. view its tests as steps toward becoming able to strike the mainland U.S. with a missile armed with a nuclear warhead. U.S. Strategic Command said the launch placed two objects into orbit the rocket body and an unknown payload which are now circling over both poles. On Monday, the U.N. Security Council debated stiffening sanctions for North Korea as punishment for the launch. China, however, has indicated that it would prefer dialogue rather than more sanctions. China is North Koreas only real ally, and has customarily used its diplomatic sway to shield North Korea from punishment. Amid the unease, the Pentagon is considering deploying a high-altitude missile defense system in South Korea to increase protection from a possible attack. Were beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Monday. The $800-million system, known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, bolsters other lower-altitude systems already in place as well as U.S. warships in the Pacific that can shoot down missiles. It can hit targets hundreds of miles away. If South Korea allows the system to be deployed, it risks damaging a blossoming trade and diplomatic relationship with China. China has opposed the system out of concern that it could be used against its own missile arsenal, and this week summoned South Koreas ambassador to Beijing to register its displeasure with the idea. A Tuesday editorial in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper in China, argued that deployment of the system will not put an end to the vicious interaction of varied forces in the region, only causing more troubles to Northeast Asia. Charles Armstrong, a historian and North Korea specialist at Columbia University, said deploying the missile defense technology could backfire by nudging North Korea further down the road toward full nuclear armament. Such demonstrations of military force might make the U.S. and South Korea feel better, but they actually feed into North Koreas claim that theyre surrounded militarily and need nuclear weapons to defend themselves, he said. The debate over how to deal with the volatile state is at its core about punishment versus engagement. Experts said there are no great options. Sung Yoon Lee, an assistant professor at the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University, said the U.S. should impose unilateral sanctions that would not only punish North Korea but also penalize any entity that does business with it. The majority of transactions around the world are still carried out in U.S. dollars, so that gives the U.S. tremendous power to cut North Korea off financially, Lee said. Others see negotiation as the best approach. Over the long run we need something like the Iranian deal, which combines sanctions with a diplomatic road map that would show North Korea how they might benefit by giving up their nukes, Armstrong said. U.S. officials said Sundays launch never posed a risk to North America. Thus far, North Korea has not demonstrated that its missiles have the range to hit Hawaii, much less the U.S. mainland. Borowiec is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report. ALSO Pope Francis plans a symbolically freighted trip to Mexico Fighting mosquitoes with mosquitoes: Biological weapons target Zika virus U.S. Supreme Court to render a verdict on President Obamas use of executive authority Two commuter trains crashed head-on Tuesday morning in southern Germany, killing at least nine people and injuring around 150, slamming into each other on a curve without braking after an automatic safety system apparently failed to stop them, the transport minister said. The first rescue units were on the scene within three minutes of receiving emergency calls, but with a river on one side and a forest on the other, it took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage. Rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall River to waiting ambulances. Authorities said they were taken to hospitals across southern Bavaria. Advertisement This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said. German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said safety systems on the stretch had been checked as recently as last week, but Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested a system designed to automatically brake trains if theyve accidentally ended up on the same track didnt seem to have functioned properly. Dobrindt, however, said it was too early to draw conclusions. The site is on a curve, we have to assume that the train drivers had no visual contact and hit each other without braking, Dobrindt told reporters in Bad Aibling, near the crash scene, adding that speeds of up to 100 kph (60 mph) were possible on the stretch. Black boxes from both trains had been recovered and are now being analyzed, which should show what went wrong, Dobrindt said. We need to determine immediately whether it was a technical problem or a human mistake, he said. The two regional trains crashed before 7 a.m. local time on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria, and several cars overturned. The two train drivers are thought to be among the dead, and 50 of those hurt were being treated for serious injuries, authorities said. Each train could hold up to 1,000 passengers and are commonly used by children traveling to school, but because of regional holidays to celebrate Carnival, fewer than 200 were on board in total. Were lucky that were on the Carnival holidays, because usually many more people are on these trains, regional police chief Robert Kopp said. About 700 emergency personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria were involved in the rescue efforts and about a dozen helicopters were used. Train operator Bayerische Oberlandbahn said it had started a hot line for family and friends to check on passengers. This is a huge shock. We are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees, Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, said in a statement. In Munich, the city blood center put out an urgent call for donors in the wake of the crash. The Munich Blood Donation Service, which delivers blood products to local hospitals, said on its website that there was an acute increased need for life-saving blood products after the accident and called for immediate donations. Germany is known for the quality of its train service, but the country has seen several other accidents, typically at road crossings. Most recently, a train driver and one passenger were killed when a train hit the trailer of a tractor in western Germany in May, injuring another 20. In 2011, 10 people were killed and 23 injured in a head-on collision of a passenger train and a cargo train on a single-line track close to Saxony-Anhalts state capital Magdeburg in eastern Germany. Germanys worst train accident happened in 1998, when a high-speed ICE train crashed in the northern German town of Eschede, killing 101 people and injuring more than 80. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> ALSO: Former murder capital of Mexico presents sunnier image for pope Punish or engage? No easy answer to North Koreas nuclear ambitions Fighting mosquitoes with mosquitoes: Biological weapons target Zika virus As the Syrian army pushes toward the Turkish border in the north, the government is also achieving major gains in strategic southern Syria near the Jordanian frontier. Aided by Russian airstrikes, Syrian officials have vowed to close off the Turkish and Jordanian borders, long crucial conduits for opposition arms, supplies and fighters entering Syria. On Monday, a pair of rebel-controlled towns near Dara, the souths major city, agreed to a cease-fire with the government as part of a deal that would stop airstrikes and allow aid into the towns, according to opposition and pro-government accounts. Advertisement MORE: Get our best stories in your Facebook feed >> Meanwhile, pro-government forces in the north continued to overrun opposition-held territory in Aleppo province, which stretches to the Turkish border. The city of Aleppo, like Dara, has long been divided between government and opposition forces. The recent fighting in the Aleppo area has driven more than 30,000 Syrians toward Turkey, with more on the way, aid groups say. But Turkish officials, who already host more than 2 million Syrian refugees, were not allowing the recent arrivals to enter the country. Instead, Turkey said it was providing aid in camps on the Syrian side, just inside the border gate. In Ankara, Turkeys capital, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as the two sought new ways to reduce the influx of Syrian and other migrants into Europe via Turkey. The German leader is under fierce political pressure at home after more than 1 million asylum seekers were registered last year in Germany, causing social and economic strains in the heart of Europe. But neither leader offered new solutions to the problem as the numbers fleeing fighting in Syria continued to grow. The government of President Bashar Assad has for years pursued truces known as reconciliation deals in rebel-held zones, with mixed success. Some in the opposition assail the accords as de facto capitulations, but others call them a means of avoiding further bloodshed while retaining some degree of self-governance. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> The latest such agreement, with the southern towns of Ibta and Dael, will also see the release of detainees. In addition, the accord will allow rebel fighters and gunmen to be in charge of the towns security and protection, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group based in England. Regime authorities warned the notables [leaders] during the meeting that if any government forces are targeted by the fighters in the town[s] then government forces will intervene militarily, the observatory said in a statement. Details of the accord in the two southern towns also appeared in a number of pro-government outlets, including Al Manar, a Lebanese news broadcaster affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group and staunch Damascus ally. Videos circulated on social media Monday purported to show the Syrian flag being raised over public institutions in Ibta as part of the deal. Opposition activists, however, reported that the flag was later taken down and burned by those opposed to any agreement with the government. The truce with the two towns gives the Syrian army effective control of the old Damascus-Dara highway, a vital supply route that had been partially under rebel sway for more than three years. The accord came days after government forces retook control of a pair of previously rebel-held southern towns, Atman and Al-Sheikh Maskin, both north of Dara. The setbacks reflect a wider malaise in rebel ranks in the south, where, less than six months ago, the opposition seemed poised to wrest control of Dara province and its provincial capital. That offensive was reportedly backed by the Military Operations Command, a secret command center in Jordan staffed by Western and Arab intelligence operatives that has provided logistical and arms support to the rebels. But the offensive, spearheaded by a loose coalition of rebel factions named the Southern Front, soon floundered. Since then, rebels in the south, once touted by Western officials as the best hope for moderate opposition forces in Syria, have been on the defensive. Some observers contend that the international operations center has largely cut back its support an assertion vehemently denied by spokesmen for the rebel factions. United Nations-brokered peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition figures broke down last week in Geneva with each side blaming the other for the lack of progress. U.N. officials hope to reconvene the talks this month. Special correspondent Bulos reported from Amman and Times staff writer McDonnell from Beirut. Twitter: @mcdneville ALSO Former murder capital of Mexico presents sunnier image for pope Hong Kong protesters supporting food hawkers clash with police Punish or engage? No easy answer to North Koreas nuclear ambitions Islamic State has taken advantage of weak and collapsing governments to expand its reach, and remains determined to attack the United States, the top U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday. The Sunni extremist group, which is based in Syria and Iraq but has affiliates in Africa and Asia, has become the preeminent global threat, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee in the annual worldwide threats hearing. In what he called a litany of doom, Clapper outlined a diverse list of threats facing the United States, including terrorism, cyberattacks sponsored by China and Russia, drug trafficking, missile tests by Iran and continued enrichment of nuclear material by North Korea. Advertisement Violent extremists are active in about 40 countries, he said, including seven that are experiencing a collapse of central government authority and 14 others threatened by conflict. There are more cross-border military operations underway in the Middle East since any time since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Clapper said. He cited the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen as an example of the unstable conditions that Islamic State and other militant groups can use to expand and recruit and to plot attacks against the United States. Clapper appeared later before the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with CIA Director John O. Brennan, FBI Director James B. Comey, National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers and Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagons top spy agency. The intelligence officials said North Korea continues to enrich fissile material that could be used to fuel a nuclear bomb, adding to fears that the Pyongyang government is expanding its nuclear weapons program. Over the weekend, Pyongyang launched a rocket that put a satellite into orbit in what U.S. officials believe was also a ballistic missile test. But Clapper pushed back North Koreas claim Jan. 6 that it had tested a hydrogen bomb for the first time. He said the yield was too low for a thermonuclear device. North Korea is developing a submarine-launched missile as well as a nuclear-tipped missile that could threaten the U.S., although the system has not been flight-tested, Clapper said. Cyberattacks continue to mount, he said, noting that Chinese cyberespionage has not let up since top officials from both countries met in September to hammer out an agreement on cybersecurity. Russia also is assuming a more assertive cyberposture that indicates a desire to target critical infrastructure and spy on U.S. government operations, he warned. He highlighted drug trafficking as a major concern. Heroin traffic across the southwestern border has doubled since 2010, Clapper said, and presents a major challenge to law enforcement. In some cases, U.S. officials have intelligence about more shipments than the Border Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy have ships and personnel to interdict, he said. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said his state has been particularly hard hit by the influx of cheap narcotics. A tidal wave of death is what we are talking about, King said. This is killing people now in the United States in every state. It is not an abstract concern. Amid the panoply of threats, officials returned to Islamic State as the most urgent concern. The groups leaders are determined to strike the U.S. homeland, beyond inspiring homegrown extremist attacks, Clapper said. In 2014, the FBI arrested nine Islamic State supporters in the U.S., Clapper said, and last year that number increased fivefold. Follow me @ByBrianBennett on Twitter. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> ALSO Cybersecurity among top goals of Obamas $4.1-trillion budget blueprint Former murder capital of Mexico presents sunnier image for pope Syria and Iran warn Saudis against sending troops, who would return in wooden boxes Haiti's President Michel Martelly has stepped down from his position without leaving the country a successor. Martelly, who spent five years as the nation's president, delivered a farewell address to Haiti's National Assembly on Sunday, CNN reported. He was able to leave his post due to a last-minute agreement made hours before that allows a transitional government to take over, according to AFP (via Yahoo! News). "During its long road to the promised land, Haiti will remember that a certain Michel Joseph Martelly -- Micky to his people -- loved, gave, and built," the former musician said during his speech before lawmakers, as quoted by AFP. Two presidential runoffs in October and December were postponed as security became threatened by violent protests from anti-government demonstrators and "because such large swatches of Haitian society had rejected the election," according to Jake Johnston, research associate for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, as reported by CNN. Johnston is currently in the capital of Port-au-Prince. In his address, Martelly thanked those who supported him during his five-year presidency, and defended his family against embezzlement allegations, AFP further reported. The outgoing president, however, also agreed that history "will recall my failures, for which I take sole responsibility, among them the delay of presidential elections," the news outlet added. The electoral process was halted by defiance from the opposition, which denounced an "electoral coup d'etat" instigated by the executive power. Martelly's favored candidate, Jovenel Moise, won 32.76 percent of the presidential votes in the first round of elections in October. Opposition Jude Celestin, who got 25.29 percent votes, said that the results are a "ridiculous farce," AFP noted. Demonstrators argued that foul play was involved to make Moise win the first round. The second round of presidential and partial legislative voting on Dec. 27 was postponed indefinitely, stopping Martelly from transferring power to an elected successor on Feb. 7 as what the Constitution requires. Johnston said that further investigation should be launched into the alleged fraud in the October elections. "The key for whoever is provisional president is to restore credibility to an electoral system which no longer has the trust of the Haitian people. Less than a quarter of all registered voters participated in October. In order to achieve this, first, there must be an investigation and verification of the October 25 vote," Johnston explained, as quoted by CNN. With the new agreement, Haiti's Parliament will elect an interim president for a 120-day mandate and confirm a consensus prime minister, CNN reported. A new round of elections will be held on April 24, with the elected winner to assume the presidency on May 14. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Puerto Rico will likely receive $250 million in federal funds from President Barack Obama's administration to combat the growing number of Zika cases in the Caribbean island. Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's representative in the United States Congress, announced on Monday that some of the money would fund improved health services for pregnant women, The Associated Press reported (via ABC News). He added that the money would also be used for the prevention and detection of Zika. Obama's request for Puerto Rico is part of a $1.8 billion emergency funding for the Zika outbreak in the Latin American region, AP further reported. The U.S. territory has declared a state of emergency last week as 22 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus was reported, the news outlet noted. Among the patients is a pregnant woman in her first trimester and a man who developed a temporary paralysis condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Zika is transferred by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and is suspected to be connected with microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with small heads and incomplete brain development. Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said that the State Emergency and Disaster Administration is forming a task force to address the crisis, which includes an outreach campaign aimed to educate people on Zika prevention tactics, RT reported. The regional government has also ordered a price freeze on products such as condoms to prevent the disease's spread, the news outlet added. Zika was originally believed to be only transferred through mosquitoes, but some cases have suggested that blood transfusion and sexual intercourse with an infected individual can also transmit the disease, according to RT. "Our new guidance is that pregnant women should use condoms during sex or abstain if their partner has traveled to an area where Zika has been spreading," Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters in the U.S. on Friday, as quoted by RT. Frieder also acknowledged the reports from Brazil claiming that traces of the virus were found in saliva and urine samples from patients with Zika, the news outlet noted. However, he said that more data is required for those findings, as well as the methodology behind the studies conducted. "We're still learning more about [the virus in] saliva and how it works in the body," Frieden added, as quoted by RT. "There's been a total of three cases in the world literature of Zika being present in male secretions." Puerto Rico's first reported case of Zika was in December 2015, according to Caribbean360. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A 4,000-passenger luxury cruise ship faced extremely stormy seas on the Southeast coast of the United States as it sailed toward the 'most powerful storm' the Atlantic has ever had in winter. On its way to Florida, the vessel called the 'Anthem of the Seas,' owned by Royal Caribbean International, struggled to bring thousands of passengers to safety after it sailed amidst waves as high as 30 feet and strong winds that matched that of Category 2 Hurricane Isabel. According to Tico Times, the ship 'inexplicably' proceeded to sail towards the middle of the storm despite days of advance warnings of treacherous seas. However, a statement from the cruise line sent to USA Today claimed that the strength of the winds brought about by the storm was unexpected. As the vessel navigated through the storm, all 4,529 passengers, as well as the 1,616 crew members, were advised to stay below deck until they had reached calmer waters. As expected of the experience, passengers were shaken, with some posting videos and photos of what was happening to them inside the ship and how they felt about it. Detroit Free Press executive editor Robert Huschka was onboard the ship and said that the even the captain of the ship admitted that it was "among his most challenging -- if not his most challenging -- at sea," per USA Today. Another passenger posted his experience over CruiseCritic.com, saying that the Anthem's captain decided it was too late to turn back the ship and was struggling to drive it towards a safer place. "Captain said they are in communication with the coast guard, struggling to point ship into wind but can't move forward. All passengers told to stay in cabins water entered ship on upper decks, large white structure broke off top of ship landed in pool," stated the post. Meanwhile, more passengers used the Internet to share their experience onboard the Anthem, with some taking to Twitter to show how dreadful their experience was. Some showed the damage the powerful storm brought to the ship This caught the U.S. Coast Guard's attention who later contacted Royal Caribbean regarding the incident. "After seeing pictures and people's comments on Twitter and other social media platforms, the USCG contacted the Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas to check in. The ship said that everything was fine, and no distress calls have been issued," USCG spokesperson Mark Barney told ABC News. A report from Florida Today states that only four were injured from the rocky voyage, which U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, believes should be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said that the National Liberation Army, or ELN, must release two hostages before a peace process pushes through. The ELN, the country's second largest leftist group, is currently holding a civilian named Ramon Jose Cabrales, from the eastern Norte de Santander province, for five months, according to Reuters (via Channel NewsAsia). The government soldier is identified as Jair de Jesus Villar, who was captured by the rebel group last week in Antioquia. "We demand the liberation of Corporal Villar and of citizen Ramon Cabrales," Santos said after his meeting with security officials in the city of Arauca, as quoted by the news outlet. "If they (ELN) want to begin any type of negotiation they must liberate these hostages." The Colombian government and the ELN have been holding preliminary discussions for over two years while the former also negotiates a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's most popular leftist group, Reuters further reported. The discussions with FARC taking place in Cuba are aiming to arrive at a final deal in the coming months. FARC's head negotiator Ivan Marquez insisted that peace in Colombia would be "incomplete" if the ELN refuses to take part in the peace negotiations, Reuters added. The ELN bombed an army brigade in Arauca using six explosives on Monday. The ELN, which has around 2,000 fighters, was founded in 1964 and is considered as a terrorist organization by the United States government and the European Union, Reuters noted. Despite the ongoing negotiation talks, the group has continued kidnapping and its attacks on infrastructure. Santos said that he ordered the military "to intensify operations against the ELN and all the forms of delinquency that stem from its presence," BBC reported. The Colombian leader said that he issued the order after the group's attack in Arauca's military brigade. "The ELN is dead wrong if it thinks that with attacks like this it can smooth the path to peace," the president said, as quoted in BBC's report. "If they think it will strengthen their position at the negotiating table, they are totally mistaken." The attack on the army brigade damaged the compound's electricity supply, as well as buildings and cars, according to Colombia Reports. No one was injured during the attack. Arauca, a city with 80,000 inhabitants, sits on Colombia's border with Venezuela, Colombia Reports added. The city, which is located at the midpoint of a territory controlled by the ELN, has long suffered from the armed conflict that came from the FARC and the ELN's efforts to overthrow the government. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. To better reach Spanish-speaking readers, The New York Times has launched a Spanish news website on Monday. Latino Fox News reported that the website will contain articles that have been translated from English to Spanish as well as even more original Spanish content. It added that this introduction is in addition to the print edition that is distributed weekly in Latin America and has been for a few years now. According to the newspaper's deputy international editor Lydia Polgreen, this new website will have stories that are relevant to the South American population, and popular among them. Content will be provided by a team in the region and in Spain. It was added in the Knight Center report that a team composed of Latino journalists will also be based in Mexico City to produce content for the new website. The same report underscored that it is only in Latin America where The New York Times is putting effort to produce news in the local language since the region is an important market for them. "For Spanish and Portuguese-language media organizations aiming to extend their coverage on key events, The New York Times News Service provides a curated selection of in-language news analysis and commentary, paired with images and video, for use in print, online and mobile environments," read a line in their website. In 2013, the Times wanted to build a website in Portuguese for readers in Brazil, but Knight Center claimed that it did not prosper. The well-known newspaper has only been able to publish stories in Chinese, besides the regular English medium. It was also highlighted that the Spanish-language website can be accessed for free now. However, it is still unclear if a change in the rates of their News Service will be implemented because of the website's launch. Meanwhile, Media Post said that the content on the website is also not limited to 10 articles a month for people who are not subscribed to the website. It claimed that there is also an option for readers to sign up for Boletin, the e-mail newsletter of The New York Times. The launch of the website was said to be done with the help of sponsors like Spanish renewable energy business Acciona, Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico 2016 and bank chain Banamex. Media Post also noted that the introduction of the website was done in time for Pope Francis' visit to Mexico. Readers should expect photos, videos, reviews on the website aside from the usual news and investigative reports. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In order to adapt to the country's drought brought about by El Nino, store owners in Venezuela are forced to cut their operating hours by half in order to save power. Shops all across Caracas will be reducing their store operating hours to just four hours a day in order to address the Venezuelan government's orders to regulate power. El Nino has caused severe problems all across South America, which includes water shortage in the northern parts of Venezuela. Last year, the Venezuelan government launched a communication campaign in order to inform Venezuelans of the effects of El Nino and how it would affect the urban and agricultural sectors of the country. Venezuela's state energy corporation Corpoelec has asked all store owners and residents in Venezuela to have energy cuts twice per day. The first is between the hours of 1pm and 3pm and the second is between 7pm and 9pm. The Venezuelan government has also asked resident homeowners to cut water usage and keep a ready supply of water at hand, according to The Globe and Mail. BBC reports that El Nino has brought about a severe drought within the country which has already affected Venezuela's 18 hydro-electric dams. While the Venezuelan government hopes that this will greatly help solve the country's energy crisis, many businessmen fear that this will severely affect jobs in the country. The retail association of Venezuela, CAVECECO, has proposed another energy saving scheme that would be more feasible to business owners, proposing that stores and businesses open later in the day, like 12 noon and close at 7pm, which would save the country at least five hours of energy a day. Many business owners and their employees have raised their concerns on the impracticality of the government's proposal, saying that suggesting to cut the power at 1pm would impact their business. For most business owners, mid afternoon is where business is at its peak. Many restaurant owners complain that peak hours are mostly around noon. CAVECECO also said that having businesses open and close twice daily would be impractical and unfeasible. The retail association added that the Venezuelan government should conduct a feasibility study before going through with the plans. CAVECECO also warned the Venezuelan government that proposing something so impractical could severely affect key operating sectors in the country, including the banking industry, supermarkets, pharmacies and even restaurants. While CAVECECO has already sent its alternative proposal, they said that they have yet to hear a reply from the government. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Presidential candidate Marco Rubio is balking at the after-effects of the GOP debate fiasco. The Florida senator was riding on the coat tails of a successful run at the previous Iowa caucus. While many were taken by Marco Rubio's charisma and wit during the Iowa caucuses, Rubio now finds himself to be in the hot seat following Saturday's GOP debate in which he denounced President Barack Obama. In addition, it was noted by his critics that his debates seemed scripted, uttering familiar lines that were repetitive and redundant. Fox News Latino reports that while Marco Rubio has enjoyed a strong following in Iowa, his critics have made a mockery out of the Florida senator, saying that the presidential hopeful tends to be on auto-pilot when he speaks, which was apparent during his GOP debate in New Hampshire, reports The Washington Post. The presidential candidate appeared to be flustered and at a loss for words during the campaign event, prompting the junior senator to take a tumble over his own words. Rubio challenged Obama's "flawed" term as president but was clearly unprepared at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's punches. The presidential candidate, however, did manage to stay afloat by dodging other candidates and choosing to stick to his safeties, such as discussing his own policies and campaign proposals. The strategy worked, managing to keep him afloat so far. However, Rubio's political adversaries have criticized the young senator for cracking under the slightest pressure, which they believe is not befitting for someone who is to take the role as the commander-in-chief of the United States. Jeb Bush, for instance, has called the Florida senator "too young" and full of ideals. He added that Rubio has never been challenged enough to have a backbone. While Bush did admit that he admired the young senator's intelligence and charisma at one point, he said that this would not be enough in politics. He fears that Rubio's taking the heat and backing away could be a sign of things to come. Bush believes that the senator has not encountered anything that would force him to grow a backbone and stand his own ground when facing conflict. Rubio's poor performance in Monday's debate could affect the rest of his political campaign but that remains to be seen, for now. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Donald Trump's comments about immigration and Muslims are making him among the most popular and most hated in the GOP presidential race, to the point of people refusing to mince words regarding his policies. Former president Felipe Calderon, for instance, shared tough words when asked about Trump's plan to build a border wall with funds from Mexico. Calderon told NBC, "We are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall! And it's going to be completely useless." He also pointed out that the ludicrous notion of an "admirable society" like the US allowing people like Trump to run in the presidential race. The former Mexican president said, "No offense, no offense to America. So Donald Trump ... is ambitious but not exactly very well-informed man, I don't want to say ignorant, but he is not very well informed." His heat with the business mogul is in regards to the border issues and immigration policies that Trump has centered his campaign around, with comments like Mexico sending "rapists" and "criminals" to the US. Politico noted that in June, Trump said at his campaign launch that Mexicans are "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." Understandably, these comments set off condemnation from the Latino community -- including the Latino Republicans. Trump's often racist remarks also led to severed ties between himself and other business relationships, including that of NBC's. Calderon also added that Trump's policy of closing borders is unthinkable in international relations matters. He said that "the first loser of such a policy would be the United States -- If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade [or] for people is going to provide prosperity to the United States, he is completely crazy." Besides, it is wrong for Trump to assume that the influx of immigrants come from Mexico. News Max noted that the opposite is actually true, as younger generations are looking into emigrating back to their home country rather than staying in the US. In fact, the Mexican labor force in the US has been declining steadily. Among the things Calderon pointed out is that the Mexicans in the US will have the same opportunities in their own country, noting that "They don't want to go; they can work for a motor company [that's] not in Detroit, I am sorry to say they are working for a motor company in Hermosillo and Toluca, so Mazda is coming to Mexico, Honda is coming to Mexico. Those kids have jobs in that industry in Mexico." 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Late last year, high school students in Goias, Brazil, have been occupying buildings and in the last week, reports have stated that police violence in these schools has increased. The student occupation movement is trying to say what's on their mind: on January 14, a local court ordered the repossession of three schools in the state of Goiaia and in the city of Anapolis, where the police violently ejected them from the property. To protest such acts, the students opted for an occupation demonstration -- and fighting for their rights are children between the ages 13 and 16. These students were protesting the government's plan to transfer up to 30 percent of the school's administration to private organizations and the military police. The latter is not highly unusual: Global Voices noted that in Brazil, some secondary schools are actually run by the armed forces or the police. However, the presence of private and military sectors in basic educational institutions has concerned the UN's Committee of the Children's Rights. To stop the police controlling their schools, the youth in Goias began to occupy their schools late last year, a move inspired by the student movement of Sao Paulo, where a government measure to close an estimated 90 schools in the area was stopped. According to TeleSur TV, the government measure, if not stopped, would have caused overcrowded classrooms, salary reduction, and mass firing of teachers. Unlike the Sao Paulo movement, however, national news failed to cover the crisis in Goias, which meant that their cries for their cause was limited to social networks and local media. By January 25, students in Goiania reported that police officers had become violent, attacking the occupiers as they climbed over school fences. According to a Facebook page, students were injured, and those residing at the Ismael Silva de Jesus school gate were suffering from violence from the community members, one of whom was bowled over at the door. Another was hit and had to be sent to the hospital sporting an exposed fracture. A supporter of the movement, Mariana Barbosa, confirmed that students have been attacked by the local police. Barbosa, who works at the Federal University of Goias, said that the police officers who attacked did not come in marked cars, nor were they wearing their official badges. She shared, "They approached us, left their cars with guns in their hands, and told us to pull over and put our hand on our heads. So we did. They treated us with great brutality." She added, "They shouted at the children, wouldn't let us use our phones to call a lawyer, they searched the cars, searched our bags, and tossed the kids' stuff in the road." Teachers from the Federal University of Goias rebuked all violence against students. However, will this be enough to make a difference? 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Once more, some facing the threat of extinction. This time, they are fellow human beings. The Ecologist reported that an uncontacted tribe called the Kawahiva Indians who lived in the Amazonian rainforest is facing death and extinction due to Brazil's encroachment of logging and deals with foreign companies in the lands. The Kawahiva people are among the last tribes in the Amazon. Unless Brazil acts on their legal right to land, security, and communication with outsiders, they will die out. As The Ecologist noted, the Kawahiva tribe needs to be isolated -- the smallest contact with outsiders could prove deadly for their society, as a handshake or a hug or even a brush of clothing could transmit infectious diseases that they are not equipped to handle. Unlike the rest of the world, their immune systems have yet to see Afro-Eurasian diseases like the flu and the common cold. These kinds of illnesses may be just another cough in a modern human's day, but to them this could be deadly, thus emphasizing that their involvement with the outside world could threaten to wipe out their society forever. Brazil's Kawahiva people have no contact with the modern world, but they have a completely sustainable lifestyle by hunting small game and gathering fruits, nuts, and berries. However, with nobody to speak on their behalf, they are facing very real possibilities of genocide. The countries surrounding the Amazon rainforest have been quite lax in their treatment of the protected area. For instance, Ecuador only recently made a deal with China, giving them rights for oil exploration in one part of the rainforest, despite the fact that two indigenous tribes live in the area. The Kawahiva could be the next ones to disappear. As Survival International noted, the Kawahiva are among the most vulnerable tribes on earth, and with their forest being invaded by modern humans like armed loggers, miners, and ranchers, they are forced to live their lives constantly on the run, many of them already killed in genocidal attacks. Asking them to adapt to the modern society is not a valid argument either, as it is an attempt to foricbly impose one's way of life upon those who do not wish to live their life in that way. Demonstrating their unwillingness to be contacted, the Kawahiva should be respected and their lands must be protected. Actor Mark Rylance, in his attempt to help fight for the rights of the uncontacted tribe, said in October, "If the Kawahiva's land is not protected, they will disappear forever. But if Brazil's government acts fast, they can survive." 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In November 2015, the Brazilian government announced that it will grant permanent residency to over 43,000 Haitian immigrants. TeleSur TV noted that back then, Brazilian Minister of Labor Miguel Rossetto said, "This act establishes a period of up to a year for them to request foreign resident identification documents. Those who are formally accepted by Brazil will be granted stability and security." A large number of Haitians moved to the country when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed over 230,000 people and left more than one million displaced. Years later, the effectivity of the act will grant them the right to live and work legally in Brazil, which is a welcome change for the immigrants. However, it seems the act is only good on paper. The Huffington Post said that the migrants weren't able to find a warm welcome in the country, saying that the government is promoting foreign policy, but there is no public policy available for them. For instance, 26-year-old Alex Mustivas was offered only $70 by his employer in Brazil when he was injured on the job. He was also told to take the money if he wants it, and not to take it if he doesn't. Mustivas refused the amount, saying that his life is worth more than the $70 offered. Professor Glaucia Assis of the Center for Migration Observation in Santa Catarina said that the Ministry of Labor and Employment already lists Haitians as the largest presence in Santa Catarina's formal market in 2013, with around 7,000 living in the state. However, the increased presence came because most of them were able to find work before the crisis ate up Brazil's economy. She added, "immigrants, once they are established and find work, tend to pass that information to their friends and relatives, who are more likely to go to a place where they know someone who is established and can help them find employment and housing." Difference in culture is also a major barrier when it comes to welcoming Haitians. Assis explained that when an immigrant comes from a poorer country and is black, the image given to them -- even in a country that opens their borders to immigrants -- is almost always unwelcoming. "Haitians are affected by racism in various everyday situations, like when they take a bus, and in gaining access to the labor market and to public services." What do you think of Brazil's policies welcoming but not protecting Haitian immigrants in their country? 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The National Liberation Party won 47 of the 81 seats in the local elections, while the Citizen Action Party, which currently governs the country, only managed to win six. These are the preliminary results presented by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, outlining wins from the National Liberation Party as the victor, followed by the Social Christian Unity Party with 16 wins. Telesur TV noted that Costa Rica's dismal voter turnout during elections has always been one of the things that the government wanted to change, and the National Liberation Party President Jose Maria Figueres said that he's "quite happy" with the results, despite the high abstention rates. He also told Prensa Latina, "We have proven that we are not a finished party with any future even though we came from our worst national defeat." The local elections, however, proves that Costa Ricans feel strongly about their democratic rights. Caribbean News noted that the preliminary reports and observations, as presented by the Organization of American States Electoral Observation Mission (OAS/EOM), said that the OAS should be congratulated for "the prompt and reliable transmission of preliminary results within the context of a new electoral process, where all the local authorities in the country were elected on the same day for the first time, during the mid-term of the presiding government." The mission also highlighted the role played by all the actors in the electoral process, expressing their appreciation of the spirit of cooperation by the OAS and the electoral authorities. The effectivity of the elections were thanks to the initiative of the electoral tribunal to inform and encourage their citizens to participate in the process. Still, the voter turnout is still low and Costa Rica wants to one day improve on that. At this point, as noted by Prensa Latina, only 35 percent of all the registered voters took the time to vote in the local elections even though it will define about 6,000 public positions in the municipal government -- positions that include mayors, deputy mayors, and even trustees. Why the turnout, though? Political analyst Constantino Urcuyo said "People don't feel that the municipal governments have much impact on their lives," per Tico Times. In reality, these municipal government positions that they didn't care too much to vote for were the ones in charge with maintaining their streets, handling wastewater and trash, and giving construction and business permits. Still, this year's turnout, which accounts for 70 percent of the registered number of voters, is still better than the 20 percent that named their leaders in 2010. 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Zika Virus Outbreak: Miami at a High Risk? Residents on High Alert media@latinoshealth.com By Ivan Menchavez Feb 09, 2016 05:53 AM EST For many months now, Zika virus has been the most talked about health threat in Latin America. However, it has slowly garnered much attention in the United States after several people were infected with the virus. The virus itself does not really have a major effect on an adult human being; however, for pregnant woman, they are very dangerous because they can cause microcephaly birth defect in infants. According to a report by NBC News, the virus, which is spread to people through mosquito bites, has already infected a number of Americans who travelled to South America since the first Zika case was discovered. According to the news outlet, people have cancelled trips to the countries affected because of the risk of getting an infection. There are also reports that the American government might put you in quarantined upon return from those countries. In Miami Florida, residents are getting wary about the threat of the virus spreading onto their city. There are reports that some people infected with the virus are already in the city after they landed from their trip in Latin America. City officials have already confirmed 12 cases of the virus. Nevertheless, infected people got the virus overseas, which is a sign of relief for all the residents in Florida knowing that their everglades are not infested with Zika-infected mosquitoes, according to a report gathered by USA Today. Rick Scott, the Governor of Florida, have already declared a state of emergency for the areas where the Americans with the Zika virus live. His concern is not about people bringing the mosquitoes to the United States, but local mosquitoes may bite some of the patients with Zika and get infected in the process. It has definitely raised a huge concern to so many people not only in Florida but also in the whole country. According to the World Health Organization, there are currently almost 4 million people in South America who are infected with the virus. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, there is still no available vaccine for Zika virus. The agency has also warned pregnant women not to travel to South America to avoid getting the infection that may cause terrible effects to their baby. Moreover, they have also confirmed that the use of insect repellant against these mosquitoes will actually work. They recommended pregnant women who have travelled to South America to see their health care provider once they experience a fever, which is an indication that you might have the infection. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! MacBook Pro, Air 2016 Release Dates: Experts Say Release is After March, Touch Screen Feature NOT Happening [Rumors] media@latinoshealth.com By Czarmecin Feb 09, 2016 04:46 AM EST Many are excited for the arrival of Apple's MacBook Pro 2016 and MacBook Air 2016. Although the company is trying to keep things under wrap, their anticipated laptops continue to make headlines. New reports claim that these devices might arrive only after the March event. The experts are torn between the dates when Apple MacBook will be unveiled because two events are coming up in March and June. Youth Health Magazine reported that Apple always upgrades their MacBook lineup once a year. The last update was during the first and second quarter of 2015. Breathecast supported the first reports claiming that MacBook Pro will arrive in June but they believe that MacBook Air 2016 will be unveiled in March. However, Yibada has a new scope. Per the report, Apple is planning to hold a stand-alone event in March and will focus on Apple Watch 2, iPad Air 3 and smaller iPhones. The new rumors suggest that the new laptops will be displayed at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June. An insider revealed that, while the new MacBooks will be introduced in WWDC in June, their launch dates would come in the later part of the year. There are speculations that Apple is targeting for a Q3 and Q4 release dates. The new laptops that the Cupertino-based tech giant would introduce are the redesigned MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air that will come with at least three new products for its lineup. The insider disclosed the three forthcoming Apple laptops that includes a new 12-inch laptop, which may not necessarily be part of the new Air iteration, 13-inch and 15-inch models for MacBook Air. The rumors mills are reporting that the MacBook Air might arrive with a thinner frame and retina display. There are also speculations that it will be equipped with Intel Broadwell or Skylake processor and a USB-C port, Latinos Health reported. Meanwhile, in a separate report from Latinos Health, there are also speculations that MacBook Pro 2016 will arrive with TouchScreen feature and Skylake chips. Many users want the laptop to run in Skylake because the newest Intel processor offers an improved performance, graphics and power efficiency. Ryan Reith, program director with IDC, believes that adding the TouchScreen feature to MacBook is inevitable, Forbes reported. "I think [a touch Mac] is inevitable. There's nothing from the supply chain or from Apple that supports that right now- I just think it's inevitable," he said. "I don't know if that's two years out or what." However, Inquisitr countered the report and stressed that Apple is not interested in adding the TouchScreen feature in their lines of laptop because "their touchpad provides all the experience your fingers need." When do you think MacBook Pro 2016 and MacBook Air 2016 will arrive? Share your thoughts below. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Vacation Weight Gain can Contribute to Obesity Down the Road media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Feb 09, 2016 05:30 AM EST Holidays and vacations mean giving one's self a little bit more room for indulgence, and oftentimes, people do indulge in food and alcohol without knowing the ultimate consequences of these holiday binges. About 69% of Americans are overweight, and 35.1% of the population are obese, according to the CDC. Being overweight and obese contribute to a number of health problems, most prominently diabetes and heart disease. A small study conducted by an associate professor in the department of foods and nutrition at the University of Georgia has revealed the relationship between holiday binges and vacation weight gain, and one's long term health, Eurekalert reports. The study, which was published in the journal "Physiology and Behavior" shows that most people who go on vacations come back with some extra baggage--in their bodies. HealthDay reports that researchers studied 122 American adults aged 18 to 65 who went on one- to three-week vacations between March and August. They found that among these people, 61% gained weight while on vacation, with an average of 0.7 pounds. Moreover, they found that this weight gain was maintained even after they went back home. Some study subjects even put on as much as seven pounds, while others lost weight. Researchers found that one of the main factors of vacation weight gain was the increased intake of calories, especially from alcohol. Before a vacation, the average number of drinks were at eight, but during a vacation, it went up to 16 drinks per week on average. "If you're only gaining a pound or two a year and you gained three-quarters of that on a one- to three-week vacation, that's a pretty substantial weight gain during a short period of time," study author Jamie Cooper said, as per WebMD. "One of the challenges people face is unless you're diligent about weighing yourself before and after vacation, usually you're not going to notice a pound of weight gain," he added. "People don't realize it's happening, and that's why they don't lose weight following a vacation." However, there are still benefits to a vacation, as Cooper explains that study participants showed lowered levels of stress and a slight reduction in systolic blood pressure that continued up to six weeks after the vacation. Cooper attributes this to the physical activities during vacation, such as sports. He added, however, that it is yet to be determined whether or not the positive health benefits outweigh the weight gain. He also recommends additional research to determine the effectiveness of targeted interventions for cutting back on certain foods and drink can help maintain good weight. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Venezuela: Health Crisis Declared Due to Shortage in Medicine media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Feb 09, 2016 05:50 AM EST Government officials have declared a human health crisis in Venezuela because of shortages of medicines and medical equipment. The congress, controlled mostly by the opposition, has also pointed out the poor quality of public health institutions. The lawmakers discussed the situation during the presentation of the president of Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation (Fefarven), Freddy Ceballos, of the different challenges in the distribution channel of almost 80 percent of medications across the country, according to Latino Fox News. "We are witnessing a human crisis, patients are dying for lack of medication," Ceballos told EFE. It was also "very difficult" to keep records of patients affected by diseases that appeared recently, such as Zika, he added. Ceballos noted the lack of epidemiological bulletin, a report that Congress should reinstate. Ceballos has predicted a worsening of the situation and asked the World Health Organization and other international bodies to intervene. Although Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently promised "13 engines" to mobilize the economy in the country, he did not include any healthcare issue n his agenda, Ceballos said. The government has not come up with any solution to the pressing issue. Shortages of medications to treat high blood pressure, convulsions, cancer as well as antibiotics and contraceptives are allegedly created by currency controls according to Ceballos. More so the production of these medications need raw materials that require huge dollar investments, Ceballos said. The legislation has reserved the authority to buy and sell hard currencies for the government since 2003. After which, the currencies are distributed to businesses often through complex procedures. Ceballos called for the government to implement "realistic and binding" agreements for the distribution of hard currency to manufacturers and importers of pharmaceutical products. He emphasized that domestic production should precede over imports since a dollar in Venezuela has five times more return. As an example, the Fefarven president noted immunoglobulin used for the treatment of Guillain-Barre syndrome. He said that this medicine can be manufactured in the country but instead it is imported from other countries. International Business Times has already reported the healthcare crisis in Venezuela August of last year. A demonstration took place in front of Jose Manuel de Los Rios hospital in Carcas, Venezuela middle of last year. Children and teenagers wearing face masks, hunching over in wheelchairs gathered with their parents in front of the hospital, asking for help. The Venezuelan pre-eminent medical center for children was running out of drugs. Their supply of 19 different chemotherapy medicines had been used up, leaving several young cancer patients untreated for more than two weeks. The problems extend far beyond cancer patients. Around 70 percent of medicines in Venezuela including ibuprofen, treatments for hypertension and birth control had been in short supply since last year according to Fefarven. This may unfold to a full-scale humanitarian crisis if no solution could be made. Check out the video report on Venezuelan's health system crisis last year: Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Hereditary Angioedema Definition, Symptoms & Treatment: BioCryst's Genetic Disorder Drug Fails Phase 2 media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Writer Feb 09, 2016 05:30 AM EST BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s drug for genetic disorder Hereditary Angioedema failed to pass the study. Avoralstat, the drug made by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. did not reduce the number of swelling in hereditary angioedema (HAE) patients, Reuters reports. During a trial, BioCryst administered either 500 mg or 300 mg of the avoralstat drug to patients. However, when compared to the placebo control group, the drug did not reduce the edema or recurrent swelling. The drug is meant to be taken orally as all other similar drugs are injectables. During a press conference for the trial results, the drug company said that the failure may be because of its liquid gel capsule formulation. Additionally, it failed to retain in the proper concentration in the body as it was meant to be taken three times a day per eight hours. "While the studies make every effort to make the patients stick with the compliance of every eight hours, it doesn't always happen," said Marc Riedl, clinical director of the Angioedema Center at the University of California, San Diego, via XConomy. The company is currently on to the second version of their HAE drug in pill format called BCX7353. Although it is different than the first one in terms of structure, they both work similarly as they target the same enzyme called kallikrein. Their goal is to compound the new drug so it can be taken only once a day to reduce dosing errors and to prolong its effect. HAE or Quickne disease is a rare and hereditary genetic disorder of the blood that causes recurrent swelling in the many parts of the body including the genitals, face, hands and feet to name a few. The swelling usually happens under the skin instead of on the surface, according to Medline Plus. The condition is potentially deadly as the swelling can occur on the inside the trachea which can complicate breathing. It can also occur in the larynx as well as the intestinal tract. Treatment options for HAE are limited as antihistamines and current therapies used to treat it do not work well. Sometimes, the swelling can become worse with other treatments. According to the US Hereditary Angioedema Association, the condition affects 1 in 10,000 or 1 in 50,000 people. Families with HAE history have a 50 percent of passing it down to their children if one parent has it. However, it is not unheard of for those who have no family history to be diagnosed with it. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Adult Survivors of Brain Cancer, Childhood Tumors can Experience Lingering Difficulties media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Feb 09, 2016 05:30 AM EST About 700,000 people in the United States are living with a primary brain and central nervous system tumor, and an estimated 4,600 children aged 0 to 19 will be diagnosed with a primary brain tumor this 2016, as per the American Brain Tumor Association. A new study published in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology" reveals how adults who survived childhood brain tumors may have some lingering effects of the illness, such as treatment-related thinking, attention, and memory problems, HealthDay reports. Researchers led by Tara Brinkman from the departments of Epidemiology and Cancer Control and Psychology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, analyzed 224 adults aged 19 to 53 who survived brain tumors. These patients were treated through radiation to the whole brain and spinal cord, radiation on the tumor location, or no radiation at all. Another group was given a shunt to drain out the cerebrospinal fluid that built up in the brain. According to Eurekalert, the study subjects were tested on their intelligence, memory, attention and academic ability. Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about the effect of cognitive problems on daily life and reported on their educational attainment, employment, and independent living. Researchers found that patients who were treated with craniospinal radiation were three times more at risk for severe impairment in intelligence compared to their counterparts who were not treated with radiation. They also had impairments in other cognitive skills like attention and memory. The patients who underwent radiations were also four times more at risk of severely impaired academic skills. Researchers also found that these patients were more likely to be unemployed and living with parents or caretakers. Hydrocephalus was linked to poor cognitive function even decades following the treatment. According to Brinkman, their study was the most comprehensive analysis of a large number of adult survivors of pediatric brain tumors, which assessed their cognitive function and how it affected their social attainment. According to US News and World Report, the study is also the first to report on the long-term outcomes for several types of brain tumors. The study compared the long-term effects of traditional radiation therapies that targeted the whole brain compared to newer radiation therapies that more precisely targets the tumor using the 3-D beam. "We hope to help these kids while they are on therapy, to prevent the onset of some of these neurocognitive difficulties," Brinkman said. "For the survivors who have finished therapy, we want to intervene to mitigate such problems, so they don't develop into the severe problems we are seeing with the current adult survivors." Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! How to Treat Jet Lag: Night Lights can Help, Scientists Suggest media@latinoshealth.com By Christon Jervil Feb 09, 2016 06:00 AM EST Scientists may have found a cure for jet lags other than medication and other conventional treatment procedures. This one comes in the form of short flashing lights at night. The findings of a study published on Monday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that when people are exposed to short flashes of light while sleeping, the brain responds by resetting the biological clock that could help those travelling from different time zones adjust more easily. "Jet lag itself is really a nuisance syndrome as it is self-resolving," senior author Jamie Zeitzer told Reuters Health in an email. "However, the treatments that are developed for jet lag can be used for less prevalent, though far more significant societal problems including delayed sleep in teens (in whom we have an ongoing clinical trial using the flash technique) and shift workers who try to flip between a night time schedule for work and a daytime schedule for leisure," added Zeitzer, who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California. In the study, 39 participants between the age of 19 and 36 were asked to go on a regular sleep cycle where they go to bed and wake up at the same time on a daily basis for about a couple of weeks. Some of the participants were then exposed to continuous light for an hour while sleeping in the lab. Another group was exposed to a sequence of flashes of various frequencies for an hour. The researchers found that there was about a two-hour delay in the sleepiness the following night on those who were exposed to two-millisecond flashes of light every 10 seconds. Those who were exposed to continuous light, on the other hand, had a delay in sleepiness of just 36 minutes. "The circadian clock is the central conductor of the many clocks that are found in nearly all tissues of your body," Zeitzer said. "This clock remains synchronized with the external day through regular exposure to light." The researchers concluded that using flashes of light can be more effective in developing countermeasures to jet lag as compared to continuous light, which is being used today in some light therapy treatment, notes CNN. The findings of the study is a positive step towards finding treatment that could benefit not just those who travel and experience jet lag in the process, but also those who have irregular sleeping patterns, such as people with shifting work schedules. But, Zeitzer was also quick to admit that there is still a long way to go and more tests to be done before making any recommendations for the public. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Latin Post presents "Turnout," a series featuring leading politicians, government leaders and advocacy groups discussing the most important issues facing the Latino voting bloc. -- Although born in Mexico, Ruben Kihuen actually has been living the American Dream, and he's currently campaigning to bring his progressive work ethic to the next level: Congress. If elected to Congress, he would be the first Latino from Nevada to serve in the federal bicameral legislature. In March 2015, Kihuen became the first Democrat to announce his campaign for Nevada's 4th Congressional District. The 35 year old's political history, however, started during his senior year in high school. Becoming Politically Active Kihuen political journey started when he was a senior in high school. During 1998, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, was running in a competitive election against Republican John Ensign, and Kihuen was recruited as a campaign volunteer in exchange for extra credit. Kihuen admits he wanted to pass his class, so he went out to knock on doors and made phone calls on Reid's behalf. Reid would narrowly win the election with 401 votes ahead of Ensign. "That was a defining moment because I realized that all of those doors that I knocked on, those phone calls that I made as a high school student, actually made an impact in a U.S. Senate race," Kihuen told Latin Post. "That was the first time where I've seen the ability that we have, as individuals, to make an impact in politics." Although helping a campaign, Kihuen still did not see himself running for political office, but the experience provided him with the first-hand opportunity to see how campaigns function and how decisive engagements through phone calls and door knocking can play. During his time in college, he continued to work for other campaigns -- this time, he was recruiting volunteers and mobilizing. In 2005, he recognized that the people who were in political office "were not necessarily any smarter or any better than anyone else." He decided to run for office, namely for the Nevada Assembly's 11th District. At the time, he was 25 years old, just graduated college and "had nothing to lose," and continued campaigning despite comments that he was too young, lacked funding, didn't come from a political family, was born in Mexico and that an immigrant had never been elected in Nevada's history. "All the odds were against me. I still decided to run and went out there and knocked on every single door at my district, three times, and we ended up winning the election with 61 percent of the vote in the primary," said Kihuen, who thanked his volunteers and the Culinary Workers Union who endorsed him. Giving Back & Paving the Road for Latinos "It began as an opportunity to give back to a state that has given my family and I so much -- that has allowed us with the opportunities to achieve the American Dream. Serving in office, especially being in the legislature, it's about leaving a legacy, being able to open the doors for others to be where I am," said Kihuen, explaining when he was first elected 2006 there was only one fellow Latino lawmaker -- Moises "Mo" Denis, a Cuban American who was then-serving the Nevada Assembly for the 28th District between 2004 and 2010. When Kihuen assumed his Assembly office, he was the only Mexican-American serving in the entire Legislature. Denis and Kihuen would create the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus. Although it started as a two-member caucus, Denis and Kihuen were determined to recruit more Latinos and Latinas to run for political office during the 2010 election. In 2010, both Kihuen and Denis each won State Senate seats for the 10th District and 2nd District, respectively, which opened opportunities for fellow Latinos to run for their Assembly seats. Once Election Day 2010's result came in, six more Latinos and Latinas were elected to Nevada's Assembly, while Denis and Kihuen became the first Latinos to serve in the State Senate. "It's not just about making it to the top but it's also about paving the way for others to be where you are because the more Latinos you have in office, that understand the needs of our community, the more that those needs are going to be addressed," said Kihuen, who has since become the first Latino to serve as Senate Majority Whip. Having a Track Record Taking pride in being a progressive Democrat, Kihuen said he's proud of legislations that have helped evolve the state's Legislature. Kihuen was presented the bill to increase Nevada's minimum wage to $15 an hour, co-authored the college affordability bill, which created need-based grants, and co-sponsored equal pay for equal work legislation for women. "I have a track record of getting things done," said Kihuen, adding that there will be candidates who will speak about college affordability, wages and equal pay, but these are areas he's already helped present and champion in Nevada and now he wants to bring that same work to Congress. He described Nevada's 4th Congressional District as the most diverse congressional district in the state. "Not only ethnically diverse, but geographically," Kihuen said, identifying the district as a microcosm of the state due to its mix of rural and urban areas with mix of Latinos, African Americans and Asian populations. Kihuen didn't have a negative word to say about his congressional challengers, but noted two items: "I have a proven track record of getting things done and working on progressive causes. It's not just talking points, it's about actually having a record of having done these things. ... I have a proven track record of winning elections. Every election that I've had and won, I've won it with over 60 percent of the vote. I have a track record of getting people to the polls, and having the ability to be able to bring people to the polls matter." As he continues campaigning, Kihuen has received the endorsements of several groups and individuals such as the Culinary Workers Union, Congressional Hispanic Caucus members Xavier Becerra, Tony Cardenas and Lucille Roybal-Allard and the senator he campaigned for in high school: Senate Minority Leader Reid. The Latino Vote Kihuen acknowledged that the Latino vote helped his election in 2006, and the electorate has been influential in subsequent elections, including Reid's 2010 reelection and President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection. "The Latino vote has been and will be decisive in this election, and I'm not talking just in our congressional race but also at the presidential level, the U.S. Senate level and here, particularly in Nevada." "[The Latino vote's] influence is only going to significantly grow as the Latino populations continues to not only grow but also get more educated in the political process," he added. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Latinos remain a small minority in New Hampshire making up about 5.7 percent of the population up from 3.7 percent in 1990. The fastest-growing demographic in the country continually participates in general elections at lower rates than other ethnic groups, mainly because campaigns historically haven't spent much time courting them. Come Election Day, Hispanic voters are expected to make up about four percent of New Hampshire's electorate. The goal advocacy groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens have is to educate Latinos about the blossoming impact they have. "Most of the time, Latino organizations are focused on general elections rather than the primary states and caucuses," said Brent Wilkes, LULAC national executive director. "We realized that the problem with doing that is that you have folks like Donald Trump in the primaries that get very negative with the issues that impact a community, even if they never make it into office." LULAC of Iowa played a pivotal role in attracting a record 10,000 Latinos to participate in last week's caucuses. The organization reached nearly 50,000 people through phone calls, mailers, caucus trainings, among other methods. A similar outcome isn't expected in New Hampshire, where approximately 23,000 Latinos are eligible to vote. LULAC didn't carry out a state-wide effort as they did in Iowa, instead focusing on large populations in cities of Concord, Manchester and areas near the Massachusetts border. This is LULAC's first endeavor into the Granite State. Their focus isn't in matching the Iowa total. It's in reaching out to as many Latinos as they can ahead of Tuesdays' first-in-the-nation primaries. "It doesn't matter how small your population is, it's important to come out and express your viewpoint. We don't care who you vote for, it's really important that you engage in the election by having Latinos participate," Wilkes said. Wilkes said candidates will start gravitating towards Latino voters because "nobody wants to alienate a voter and a lot of candidates are going to change their position if it helps them reach out to more people within the state." A CNN/WMUR poll released Monday found Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic grassroots candidate Bernie Sanders carry overwhelming leads heading into the New Hampshire primaries. Wilkes said LULAC never endorses a candidate, but derogatory comments Trump made about Mexicans last summer -- calling them rapists and murderers -- prompted the organization to denounce his rhetoric and warn against supporting him in Iowa. "In this case, we felt it was important to come out in opposition to him because of the fact that he was really using the Latino community as a punching bag in order to get votes in what he thought would be a very white primary," Wilkes said. "We were able to push back on his rhetoric and at the same time turn out more Latinos that he was counting on." Unlike Iowa, where caucus-goers either divide into groups or hear stump speeches before casting a ballot, New Hampshire voters will do little more than cast a ballot. Those who registered but don't have a party affiliation don't have the pressure of choosing a side beforehand, they can vote Republican or Democrat upon reaching their polling place. Getting New Hampshire Latinos to participate in the primaries could be as simple as explaining the difference. "Every vote in Iowa and New Hampshire is magnified by the fact that those two states have such a huge influence on who will eventually become president of the United States. It's important to turn out not just for yourself and your family, but for the entire community across the country," Wilkes said. After beating Donald Trump in Iowa, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's star has risen, becoming the most likely Republican candidate to potentially win the 2016 presidential nomination. With this in mind, Latin Post looks at where the 45-year-old candidate stands on core issues. The Constitution & Religious Freedom According to his official campaign site, Cruz has been a lifetime defender of the U.S. Constitution. Cruz believes the Obama administration has gone against the Constitution, effectively rendering the government more powerful. "We need to restore the Constitution as our standard. We need to protect the people by rolling back the federal government to the functions the Constitution sets out. We need to give power back to the states and the people so that we remain a land where liberty can flourish," the site reads. Many of Cruz's actions supporting constitutional rights appear to be centered on the candidate's firm stance regarding religious freedom. In 2003, he successfully defended the constitutionality of the Texas' Ten Commandments monument, winning a 5-4 landmark decision before the U.S. Supreme Court. "The effect of the monument, in the eyes of the reasonable observer, is merely a governmental acknowledgment of the substantial contribution of the Ten Commandments to the development of Western civilization and legal codes, a commemoration of one influence, among many, on who we are as a People," Cruz wrote at the time. In 2014, Cruz defended Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties against Obamacare's contraception mandate when the companies objected to certain FDA-approved forms of contraception that prevent implantation of the embryo. Gun Rights Cruz has a noted track record for supporting gun rights and has been lauded by National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. "Ted Cruz is one of our nation's leading defenders of the Second Amendment," LaPierre said, according to the Cruz campaign site. "For over a decade, Ted has fought tirelessly to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and his leadership was absolutely critical to our major victories before the U.S. Supreme Court." The NRA named Cruz their 2010 recipient of the Harlon B. Carter-George S. Knight Freedom Fund award, calling attention to his work on the McDonald v. Chicago case, a landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the right of an individual to keep and bear arms regardless of state. "Ted Cruz's contributions in the District of Columbia v. Heller and the McDonald v. Chicago cases were vital to the Supreme Court's ruling in the favor of gun rights," NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Chairman, Bill Dailey said, as quoted in Shooting Wire. "We are deeply grateful for his unwavering efforts in our fight to protect the Second Amendment." Cruz explains his gun philosophy on his official site. "As we have seen over and over again, criminals prey on the defenseless," he said. "You don't reduce violent crime by taking away the right of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families." Immigration & Border Security Cruz believes national security is a vital issue, and he would use his powers as president to secure the border and reform the immigration system as to protect jobs for American workers. In order to address border security, Cruz plans on building a border wall and tripling border security. Aside from this, he would use surveillance and biometric tracking technology. Cruz opposed the so-called "Gang of Eight" bill, a 2013 bipartisan Senate plan that would allow undocumented immigrants who were in the U.S. before Dec. 31, 2011, to be able to apply for provisional resident status and eventually have the option of navigating a 13-year path to citizenship. Cruz has expressed his belief that, if the GOP follows the Democrats by seeking amnesty for undocumented immigrants, the party will lose the election. Speaking at the fourth Republican debate, Cruz described the criticism he was receiving for his views on immigration as insulting. "For those of who believe people ought to come to this country legally and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant," he said. Taxes Under Cruz, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would be completely overhauled and a flat tax would be implemented across the board. According to the Cruz campaign, the flat tax would boost the gross domestic product by 13.9 percent, increase wages by 12.2 percent, and create 4,861,000 jobs. Under Cruz's new tax plan the current seven rates of personal income tax will become a single rate of 10 percent. Cruz is not alone among Republicans promoting a Flat Tax. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul have all proposed similar plans. Terrorism In a recent campaign commercial, Cruz said that under Obama's leadership the world has become less safe. The candidate promises to rebuild the U.S. military and kill terrorists "Every Islamic militant will know, if you wage jihad against us, you're signing your death warrant," Cruz said in the clip. Cruz's official site explains that, if elected president, he will not withdraw from the Middle East, but defend U.S. allies in the region and immediately repeal every word of President Obama's "dangerous" Iran deal, which would allow roughly $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released. In a piece written for Politico, Cruz called a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic of Iran "the single greatest threat facing our nation." Israel Cruz wants the world to know the U.S.-Israel alliance would be a fundamental part of his administration. How a candidate sides with Israel is a major issue for conservative voters. According to a Blommberg Poll, two-thirds of Republicans said they were more sympathetic to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than to President Obama. On his first day in office, Cruz would recognize Jerusalem as the "eternal, undivided capital of Israel" and move the U.S. embassy to that city from its current place in Tel Aviv. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders fight for the female vote is growing as spirited as ever with only hours remaining before final votes are tabulated in New Hampshire. According to Yahoo Politics, Clinton's campaign continues to struggle to attract the level of female support she and her supporters seem to have anticipated. Heavyweight allies Gloria Steinem and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright both recently made comments about women who have pledged allegiance to Sanders. The two took exception with the throngs of female voters who have been turning out at rallies for the Vermont senator, suggesting these women are doing themselves and history a disservice by not rallying around what would be the nation's first female commander-in-chief. The Fight for the Female Vote "When you're young, you're thinking, 'Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,'" Steinem told talk show host Bill Maher in explaining why so many women seem to gravitate toward Sanders. "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other," Yahoo reports Albright added at a recent rally in New Hampshire. While Sanders hasn't directly commented on the mounting controversy, his wife Jane recently told Yahoo she finds it "ridiculous" any voter would be belittled in such a way simply because they have concluded her husband is the superior candidate. Many female voters seem to agree. "Well, I don't want to think that I have to vote for a woman, being a woman, because there's a woman running," Cokie Giles, a registered nurse in Bangor, Maine told Yahoo. "They have to be who I would look at as ... my best choice," Giles added. "I'm not trashing Hillary. I'm just saying Bernie is the better of the choices." Eileen Frazier, an attorney who attended a recent rally for Sanders in Massachusetts, was even more outraged. "Shame on Albright," she said. "You mean women don't have a brain, Gloria? I'm for Bernie because Bernie represents the people, not special interests. I certainly would never vote for Hillary just because she's a woman. That's insulting to my intellect." Sanders Holding on in New Hampshire Despite all the back and forth, Sanders appears to be picking up steam. After losing the female vote to Clinton in Iowa by 11 points, a CNN/WMUR New Hampshire Primary Poll finds he now leads her 53 to 42 percent among women there. The survey also finds women between 18-34 favor him by a staggering 87 to 9 percent margin. Overall, a CNN Poll of Polls finds him leading Clinton in New Hampshire 54 to 40 percent. In addition, some now even argue his endless cries to end income inequality among the genders make him every bit the feminist Clinton has shown herself to be. On The Issues has also reported Sanders has a history of being a pro-choice advocate and has long fought for funding to preserve family planning resources. The Washington Post reports such talk now has Clinton tweaking some of her campaign speeches to put a keener focus on her advocacy for women. She is also reportedly trying to make amends for the possible damage caused by the words of some of her most well known supporters. "I think what she was trying to do -- what she's done in every setting I've ever seen her in going back 20-plus years -- was to remind young women, particularly, that you know, this struggle, which many of us have been part of, is not over, and don't be in any way lulled by the progress we've made," she said of Albright in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." Just the same, Clinton has been able to win the endorsements of such key and influential women's rights organizations as the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the National Organization for Women, Emily's List, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Feminist Majority Foundation, where foundation president Eleanor Smeal launched the She Wins We Win campaign on Clinton's behalf. Meanwhile, Steinhem has since taken to Facebook to apologize for her comments. Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship "Anthem of the Seas" was forced to head back to New Jersey after it was hit by a storm on Monday. According to Yahoo News, with around 4,000 passengers on board, the ship was expected to arrive in Port Canaveral, Florida today after it left Cape Liberty in New Jersey on Saturday. Passengers are supposed to experience the seven-night cruise to Bahamas when officials of the ship decided to turn back after experiencing an unstable and rocky journey. As objects inside the ship started to fall and tumble, officers of the cruise ship instantly knew it was worse than they expected. The company has since released a statement saying, "We know it was a tough day last Sunday and apologized for their discomfort. We also thank our captain and crew for guiding the ship safely back to better weather. Safety is our highest priority, and ships are designed to withstand even more extreme circumstances than Anthem of the Seas encountered." Currently, the company has not reported any serious injuries caused by the unfortunate voyage, as approximately 4,000 passengers were ordered to stay in their cabins during the turbulence. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) on the other hand was prompted to make an inspection after the incident was widely talked about on different social media platforms. The company, in their statement, also said, "In an abundance of caution, the Captain asked all guests to stay in their stateroom until the weather improved. At this time, there have not been any serious injuries reported." Worries began to settle when some passengers noticed how the ship started to tilt at around 45 degrees. The ship has encountered approximately 76 miles per hour of wind gusts. Spokesman Mark Barney, however, made a reassuring comment by stating that everything is fine inside the ship and that there was no record of distress calls from the captain. According to USA Today, the strength of the wind and the distressful condition of the sea caused the "Anthem of the Sea" to head back. The situation has been unexpected, with winds surpassing the expected forecast according to the cruise line. At least four passengers were reported to suffer minor injuries. Some passengers were able to update their situation through message boards saying waves as high as the Deck 5 of the Promenade was spotted. According to Yahoo News, the U.S. Coast Guard said they are aware of the situation and will continue to do some close monitoring. A United Airlines flight heading to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in Tucson International Airport last Sunday morning, Feb. 7, as reported by ABC Arizona. According to airport authorities, the plane's cockpit and cabin were filled up with smoke causing the pilot to turn around and make the emergency landing. A spokesperson from TIA Jessie Butler revealed that the United Airlines Flight 6517 came from Tucson heading to LAX and took off at exactly 6 a.m. with a total of 77 passengers. Butler noted that there was no fire, but smoke from the cockpit and cabin began to cause breathlessness to the passengers on board. "I was too concerned with my daughter that I had put a blanket over her head because for a newborn the smell was just too strong. We were so scared that I actually at the door handed my baby to my husband and told him to run because he's a faster runner than I am," Tiffany Lizares, a passenger, said, who was with her husband, Ryan and their three-month-old daughter. "Luckily I ran out to the left, which had an exit ramp. The other passengers who went to the right or over the wings had to jump out of the plane, so it was about a six-foot drop," her husband added. Another one of the passengers, Jessica Scott said that everyone in the plane was terrified and in total panic. In a report by Tucson News Now, no one was reportedly hurt during the incident, but the Federal Aviation Administration has started the investigation to know what exactly happened to the United Airlines flight. The Associated Press added that the United flight was being operated by SkyWest Airlines that took off from Arizona that Sunday morning. However, 30 minutes into the air the cabin started to get filled with smoke forcing the plane to return back to the airport. This news comes just a few weeks after United was named one of the 22 safest airlines in the world by Airline Ratings to start the New Year. The system rating uses a host of different factors related to aviation audits from the government and private sectors as well as fatality records. The Economist also noted that ever since the merger between United and Continental Airlines last 2010, the Chicago-based company has been called one of the worst airlines in terms of their services. United has been starting to repair their image with the latest news of hiring Chef Art Smith to bolster customers' experience at its United Club, per their official website. A mother from California who was shamed for breastfeeding inside a United Airlines flight is starting a social media campaign against the Chicago-based company, per FOX News. Juliet Thomson revealed that a female passenger complained to the crew about her during a flight from Salt Lake City, Utah heading to LAX last Jan. 29. Thomson was done breastfeeding her four-month-old daughter, Charlie, when the woman told one of the crew, "She's feeding her child on this plane and it's inappropriate. You need to go tell her to put some clothes on." The passenger even threatened that she will not fly with United Airlines again. Minutes later, a female flight attendant approached Thomson and said that if she didn't mind covering up because one of the passengers was offended. According to Thomson, the flight attendant said, "I know that breastfeeding is natural. It's normal to do it, but this other passenger is really offended by it so if you wouldn't mind covering up, it seems your child is sleeping." The incident did not end there as the female passenger continued to yell at United crew members, to the point of saying that breastfeeding was a disgusting thing to do in front of people. Security at the gate was able to tell the complainant and Thomson that there is no law against breastfeeding in public. However, the 28-year-old mother felt that she was harassed, humiliated and attacked during the whole situation. Thomson told Joey Salads in an interview that she plans on taking legal actions because she feels that her rights as a mother were violated. She started the social media campaign #MomsDontFlyUnited that points out how United's crews are ignorant of her rights as a mother. "We, the passengers, are putting our lives into your hands when we fly with you. How can you then bend and twist the rules according to what suits you? You have a moral responsibility to us United," Thomson wrote on Instagram. A photo posted by Juliet Summer (@julseyjules) on Feb 1, 2016 at 4:39pm PST United Airlines and Skywest Airlines that operate the United Express flight released a statement via The Huffington Post that moms are always welcome in all of their flights and should be taken care of by their employees. "Skywest is researching the circumstances of that flight to confirm whether the flight attendants efforts may have simply been to try to calm a difficult situation for Ms. Thomson," the statement said. Finally, the birds and the schools of fish are making their way back to Havana Bay. Their return marks the fruits of the Cuban government's efforts to clean up the famous bay and reduce the pollution in the area. According to a report from Fox News Latino, experts have spoken up about the success of the cleanup efforts, revealing that the pollution in Havana Bay has already decreased by about 50 to 60 percent over the last decade. Cuba's Havana Bay stretches two square miles with an average depth of 30 feet. Due to being the dumping ground for industrial and community waste, the large body of water has earned a reputation for being one of the most contaminated areas in the entire Carribean. Things began turning around in 1998 when Cuban officials started the cleanup program that also aimed to determine the sources of the waste and chemicals that were continually flooding the bay. Eventually, 124 industries were identified as "aggressively" dumping waste, while 53 more were tagged as "highly polluting". A bulk of these industries is going to be transferred to the port of Martiel, the site of the new Special Economic Development Zone that's being developed. The cleanup of the country's different zones and the consequent return of the wildlife spell good things for Cuba's tourism industry, especially as the U.S. tourists rediscover the destination upon the lifting of the embargo. In fact, the influx of travelers flooding in may be too much too soon for the small Latin American country. According to a report from The Guardian, the IMF has revealed that Cuba's improving relations with the U.S. could result in as much as 10 million American tourists visiting the country annually. "The infrastructure just isn't there to cope with such numbers," Belmont Freeman, a Cuban-American architect, said. "The city is woefully underserved for hotels and even if more were built, the services couldn't supply them. The mains water system hasn't been improved since the 1920s - it still loses around 50% through leakage." Still, luxury hotels and resorts are popping up in Cuba, anticipating the surge of tourists and the business they bring. Late last year, renowned architect Frank Gehry sailed into the country and offered his expertise to the country. "You know that Cuba is at the centre of attention of many people," Gehry said. "And in the immediate future, it will attract many investors -- particularly the tourism sector. But I am sure that you know to be careful with those projects." Zika virus not only made Latin American women wary of becoming pregnant, it also sparked a resurgence of an age-old debate: whether to or not to legalize abortion. Groups in different Latin American countries are calling for the loosening of restrictive abortion laws, but they are meeting some strong resistance. The Washington Post reported that El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, and other more Latin American countries are now rethinking their restrictive abortion laws. In El Salvador, the health minister claimed that it has become imperative for a revision of the law in light of the Zika virus outbreak. The virus has a known relationship to microcephaly, a condition that can affect fetal development. Babies with microcephaly are born with abnormal head sizes and facial features. Because El Salvador is known for its very strict abortion laws, a call for revision is a sign that concerns over the virus have reached an alarming rate. In Colombia, an organized movement has been formed to call for less strict abortion laws as well. The group has gained the attention and the support of the government. However, determined religious groups cannot be swayed. They are determined to counter any form of revision that might take place. In Brazil, the same circumstances can be observed. While the government dilly-dally on whether restrictive abortion laws can be revised, doctors claimed that the number of illegal abortions being performed is now on the rise. With the Zika virus now labeled as a global health crisis by the World Health Organization, UN Health officials are urging the affected Latin Americans to decide faster and act more swiftly over the issue of abortion. Aggravating the problem is the lack of contraceptives in the Latin American countries. Even if Latin American governments claimed that pregnancy should be postponed up until the cure for the virus has been found, women have limited access to contraceptives because church authorities in the heavily Roman Catholic region are not likely to give their consent on their use. Outside Latin America, the urgency to fight Zika virus is also felt. The Obama Administration is taking the matter very seriously. ABC News reported that it has asked for $1.8 billion in emergency funding from Congress so that the fight against Zika virus can be mobilized more effectively. President Obama also said that Americans should not panic over the outbreak but at the same time, take it seriously as well. Here is an in-depth discussion of what zika virus is: Mexicos former president recently shared how he thought Donald Trumps plan to set up a border wall was a stupid idea. Felipe Calderon said that Mexico will not be paying a single cent for such a project. According to Washington Times, Trump said in October 2015 that he would build a wall along the southern border of the United States and have Mexico pay for it. Calderon, who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, had a harsh response to the candidates plan. We are not going to pay any single cent for such as stupid wall! And its going to be completely useless, Calderon said at the AmCham Egypt for Business Conference earlier in February 2016. Calderon continued by describing the U.S. as the first loser of such a policy. He said that if Trump pretends that shutting the borders to anywhere either for people or trade will add prosperity to the U.S., he is completely crazy. NBC News wrote that Calderon continued to lambast the Republican presidential contest, saying that it was incredible that the United States had candidates like Trump. He said he means no offense to America, but Donald Trump is ambitious and lacks information. He added that he does not want to say that Trump is ignorant, but only not very well informed. Among the main focuses of Trumps campaign revolved around border issues and immigration problems. He particularly targeted Mexico since the day he announced that he was running for the presidency and immediately garnered backlash from the Latino community. Calderon also frowned upon Trumps claim that illegal immigration from Mexico is a growing problem, considering how a November report by Pew Research indicated that more Mexicans were leaving the U.S. than entering. Calderon said that fewer Mexicans wish to move to the U.S. A number of huge companies are coming to Mexico, so the youth actually has job opportunities at home. The unemployment rate is about four percent, although Calderon admitted that some local places still offer very low salaries. An article by CNBC noted that from 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexicans and their families, including those born in the U.S., left for Mexico. U.S. census data during the same period presented that about 870,000 Mexicans moved to the U.S., which means that there are more Mexicans emigrating from the U.S. More updates and details on Donald Trump and Felipe Calderon are expected soon. Cambodian authorities arrested the main suspect of the horrific manslaughter of a Spanish man whose body was dismembered in Bangkok, Thailand. Yahoo News reported that the suspect identified as Artur Segarra Princep, 36, was apprehended Sunday evening in the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville for the murder of David Bernat, said the regional police Chief Gen. Chuon Narin. The news source narrated that the chief of police said they received a request from Thai police for the arrest of Segarra who checked in into a guesthouse in Cambodia few days earlier after he fled Thailand following the recovery of Bernat's dismembered body from Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. According to autopsy, Bernat died between January 25 and 27 from asphyxia, as per report of International Business Times in UK. The police speculated that the victim was abducted, tortured and forced to transfer a large amount of money from his bank account before being killed. Investigations disclosed that Segarra had withdrawn money from various ATM in Thailand. Pritsana Saen-ubol, 22, Segarra's girlfriend, testified that the suspect fled on his motorcycle after seeing his picture on news channel. Over the weekend, reports reached authorities that the get-away motorcycle was found close to Thai border. On Sunday, Immigration Bureau chief Pol. Lt. Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn had requested his Cambodian counterpart Gen. Sokphai to help look for the wanted Spaniard, IBTimes said. Daily Mail shared that the multiple body parts of businessman Bernat were found floating in Bangkok's Chao Praya river last month. Police believe he was kidnapped and murdered for financial reasons, as investigators tracked more than $1 million withdrawn from the victim's bank account after his death. The wide Chao Praya curves its way through Bangkok, which boasts a large network of canals, and it is not unusual for bodies to be dumped in the city's waterways. But it is uncommon for a foreigner to encounter such a horrid fate, the news source observed. Segarra was later handed over by the Cambodian authorities to Thai police in the eastern province of Trat. The Venice Commission, an international human rights group began two days of meetings with Polish officials to investigate Poland's recent changes to its Constitutional court. Polish officials are trying to prove to the members, which is also a branch of the Council of Europe, that recent changes to the legislation are in accordance with Polish constitution and European standards. ABC News reported that the government of Poland requested the review by the Venice Commission after the government passed the law last year. The legislation sparked local demonstrations and international criticism. Although the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe are not part of the European Union, it will make a legally binding decision. According to the Jurist, the outcome of the investigation will be announced in March and is expected to influence EU's investigation whether Poland's government has executed systematic violations of the rule of law. The European Union is concerned about the changes in the legislation to the constitutional court, as it will make it harder for the organization to strike down the law. Poland also refused new leadership to permit three judges into the court who were chosen legally by the previous centrist government. Moreover, the EU is also worried about a new media law passed by Polish officials that provide the government greater control of state news agencies. Meanwhile, Gianni Buquicchio, the head of Venice Commission met with President Andrzej Duda on Monday and discussed the issue, as reported by Radio Poland. The two parties are expected to have more meetings along with Polish judicial officials and other members of the commission over the next two days. Last year, the Law and Justice Party used its majority in parliament to quickly enact constitutional changes. The legislative changes then ignited huge protests from critics who say that the government violated democratic norms. The government then defended the move, saying it is necessary for Poland to develop as a nation. A United Nations probe is calling out the Syrian government for allegedly implementing a state policy of extermination against many detainees in jails and detention centers. The investigators revealed a culture of "massive and systematized violence" has proliferated in the Assad regime, as evidenced by multiple accounts of torture and executions A U.N. commission of inquiry on Syria stated in its latest report that thousands of detainees have been killed after being caught up in the middle of Syria's conflict. The report also contains a cluster of evidence gathered by the commission and other investigators that details the violence and killings that are taking place in government-run jails and detention centers. According to interviewed witnesses, while other victims were beaten to death, others perish because of "inhuman living conditions." "The mass scale of deaths of detainees suggests that the government of Syria is responsible for acts that amount to extermination as a crime against humanity," commission head Paulo Pinheiro said. The commission accused both the government and rebels of responsibility for the crimes. The pattern of arrests since March 2011indicate those who were thought to be loyal or sympathized with the opposition were apprehended. Even those who showed "insufficient loyalty" to the Assad regime were taken in to suffer torture and violence. BBC News noted that senior government authorities were aware of the atrocities going on within the prisons and they reportedly gave their approval for such. "Government officials intentionally maintained such poor conditions of detention for prisoners as to have been life-threatening, and were aware that mass deaths of detainees would result," Pinheiro stated in the U.N. report. The data accumulated for the report was obtained from March 2011 to November 2015, and include accounts from 621 survivors and witnesses. Moreover, the U.N. report suggests that the Assad regime is responsible for far more crimes against humanity compared the number committed by ISIS militants and other jihadist groups. The alarming rate at which the violence in Syria is thriving has put pressure on the United Nations Security Council to impose "targeted sanctions against Syrian officials. The Independent reported the commission of inquiry recommends for the U.N. Security Council call an end to the deaths and summon those responsible before the International Criminal Court. "Accountability for these and other crimes must form part of any political solution," the commission said in its report. The commission also asks the Syrian government, armed groups and the international community to take the necessary steps to prevent the occurrence of deaths and torture in the future. Police officials in Maldives arrested a former prosecutor for allegedly issuing a fraudulent arrest warrant to arrest President Abdulla Yameen. The presidential spokesman announced to the public that a judge was also involved in issuing such warrant to the president without requesting to the police. Fox News reported that the president's spokesman, Ibrahim Hussain Shihab says that Judge Ahmed Nihan and former Prosecutor General Muhthaz Muhsin were arrested on Sunday Night. Shihab said that the warrant is fraudulent because it didn't originate from any official authority.The warrant that was issued was related to a corruption allegation against President Abdulla Yameen. Former opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed, who is now in London for surgery, released a statement saying the government was trying to cover up corruption and money-laundering. Nasheed was Maldive's first democratically elected president. Last March, he was sentenced to 13 years on charges that were related to terrorism over the alleged abduction of a judge which drew an outcry from international human rights group, as reported by Voice of America. According to ABC News, the police officials of Maldives are currently investigating a complaint against President Yameen of embezzlement of state funds, which is the reason for the warrant. Meanwhile, President Yameen has not responded to the allegations thrown against him. In 2008, Maldives held its first multiparty party election, but its transition to democracy has been very difficult with its judiciary as the bureaucracy and police still deemed heavily politicized. In recent years of conflict inside Maldives' government, Nihan is the second sitting judge who was arrested. Meanwhile, Nasheed was released temporarily few month ago because he was scheduled for surgery in London due to spinal condition and it is uncertain whether he will return home or move to other countries. Maldivian Democratic Party, which Nasheed is an active member, said that it had evidence to implicate the president's corrupt activities. An Australian woman hostage was freed by an Al-Qaida affiliated group on Burkina Faso. She, together with her husband was held captive by the group for several weeks. However, her husband remains as a hostage with the group. According to the Guardian, Jocelyn Elliott, was released over the weekend and was presented by Mahamadou Issoufou, the neighboring Niger president during a news conference in Dosso, south-west Niger, Saturday. Malcom Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister appreciated Niger's government officials as well Burkina Faso on their efforts secure the Elliott's safe released. Turnball also said, Elliott already had a short talked with the foreign minister, Julie Bishop after she was freed on Saturday. Yahoo News reported, Elliott was released because the terror affiliate group said, they "do not want to make women involved in the war." Bishop said, "She was relieved and she was very tired. Our overriding concern now is for her husband, Dr. Kenneth Elliott."Both captives are on their 80s. The released Australian hostage is also expected to meet with the president of Burkina Faso shortly after she arrived on Monday at Ouagadougou, ABC News reported. Elliott's family released their official statement regarding the freed family member. "We are trusting that the moral and guiding principles of those who have released our mother will also be applied to our elderly father who has served the community of Djibo and the Sahel for more than half his lifetime." The said militant group behind the kidnapping has released a statement in Al-Qaida's Telegram Channel. The group said they would freed Jocelyn Elliott, expecting nothing in return. "The primary motive behind their kidnapping was an attempt to gain release of our captives who sit behind bars and suffer the pain of imprisonment, as well as being deprived of their basic rights."Elliott's children are also hoping the said militant group will also released their father. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, rose to prominence in large part of the area through abducting and asking for ransom operations with their targets are foreign aid workers and tourists. A 25-year-old woman working as a nanny in Vienna, Austria was found dead in her apartment late January this year. A Gambia native man has been arrested as he is linked to her death, authorities have confirmed. In a report by Time, the woman, identified as Lauren Mann, was found dead in her apartment in Vienna. Officials said that she was suffocated to death and now a 23-year-old man was arrested for the crime. He has not been identified yet but officials confirmed that his DNA was discovered at the crime scene and investigators were tracking his cell phone activity before his arrest. There were no further details regarding the suspect but People reported that he was arrested from a Swiss refugee center in the town of Kreuzlingen as per the statement of spokeswoman for the Austrian state prosecutor, Nina Bussek. An Austrian newspaper claims the suspect has been resisting the extradition back to Austria and it remains unclear if he has entered a plea deal or if he has an attorney representing him. New York Daily News reported that the man was sharing the apartment with Mann and he was in Austria illegally. The nature of the suspect's relationship with Mann has not been revealed yet. He also faced sex abuse charges in Germany in the past. Mann was partially-dressed when her dead body was found on a mattress that was surrounded by blood. Officers had to force their entry in an effort to find her after employers reported that she was missing. She reportedly failed to pick up the child she was caring for from school. Originally, officials were sent to her apartment and it was locked. There was no evidence of a crime scene and they also knocked at the door but no one answered. They then went back to the police station and filed a follow-up report. Authorities went back to her apartment and when no one answered, they had to knock down the front door. Authorities said in a statement, "The family she was working for described her as someone you could count on and when she didn't turn up at the school, they became worried and notified the police." Vienna police spokesman Thomas Kieblinger said that the investigation is ongoing and they are still looking to see if Mann took drugs or was given drugs. They are also to speak with her social media contacts, her friends, family, schoolmates, and the child that she was taking care of before. A Bethlehem city worker who had just finished his shift was found to be intoxicated a short while later when he was stopped in his personal vehicle, police said. Jeffrey Bogardo, 51, of Michigan Court in Bethlehem Township, had a blood-alcohol content of .27, more than three times the legal limit, according to court records. Penalties for most drivers begin at .08. Bogardo was stopped around 6 a.m. on Jan. 26 not long after he had finished snowplowing, a source said. Neither Police Chief Mark DiLuzio nor Mayor Bob Donchez would confirm that Bogardo had been plowing snow. "My comment is that is a personnel issue," said Donchez, who wouldn't elaborate on Bogardo's job status. Bogardo declined comment. He was charged Monday with drunken driving at the highest rate of alcohol. Court records don't specify that he had been plowing with a city vehicle shortly before getting in his own pickup truck and leaving a city-owned lot that morning. In 2014, Bogardo made $53,824 working maintenance for the city's water and sewer department, according to a lehighvalleylive.com salary database. Just before 6 a.m. on Jan. 26, several city employees saw Bogardo fall and hit his head as he was trying to get into his Nissan Titan pickup truck in the city lot on Stefko Boulevard, according to court records. A co-worker tried to rouse Bogardo, who was not responsive, and another called for an ambulance, police said. When Bogardo awoke, he was wobbly, staggering and unable to stand, a co-worker told police. Bogardo said he did not want medical help, climbed into his truck and drove off, hitting several snow embankments as he pulled out of the parking lot, police said. Co-workers flagged down a police officer, who was on patrol in the area, and the officer stopped Bogardo's pickup in the 1200 block of Stefko Boulevard, according to the arrest affidavit. Bogardo seemed confused, disoriented and intoxicated, police said. DiLuzio said Bogardo was "not on duty" and was in his personal vehicle when he was pulled over. When stopped by the officer, Bogardo at first denied hitting his head and then said he had, police said. Bogardo smelled of alcohol, had red glassy eyes and was slurring his speech, according to the court document. He told the officer that he had about five alcoholic drinks about eight hours earlier, police said. Police said they found a flask and a closed bottle of alcohol in the pickup truck. The type of alcohol was not specified. Police did not have Bogardo perform field-sobriety tests due to his possible head injury. He was transported by ambulance to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill, where Bogardo consented to blood being drawn, according to police. Bogardo demanded to be taken to rehab immediately, according to the affidavit. He allegedly told police, "I have alcohol in my system, I don't have drugs in my system. I don't do drugs," the records state. Reporter Tony Rhodin contributed to this report. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Two people were injured when a pickup truck exiting Route 33 South onto William Penn Highway in Bethlehem Township hit the back of a stopped Volkswagen and tractor-trailer Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania State Police said. The driver of the 2006 Ford F150 pickup, Chad Goeppert, 40, of Easton, was taken for treatment to a Lehigh Valley Hospital after the crash. The driver of the 1997 Jetta, Thomas Butler, 27, of Bushkill, Pennsylvania, was taken to a St. Luke's Hospital, police said. Lehigh Valley Hospital had no information Tuesday afternoon on Geoppert's condition. A nursing supervisor couldn't immediately be reached at St. Luke's to check Butler's condition. The driver of a 1995 Kenworth tractor trailer, Ronald Herman, 58, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was not injured in the crash, police said. The car and tractor-trailer were stopped at 9:20 a.m. at a red light when the pickup hit them from behind, police said. Butler's car missed the tractor-trailer and stopped on William Penn, police said. Butler and Herman were wearing seat belts, Goeppert wasn't, police said. Damage was severe to the pickup and the car, and minor to the tractor-trailer, which was driven away, police said. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. An Easton man was sentenced Monday to more than 14 years in federal prison for his role in the robbery of a Connecticut jewelry store. Kasam Hennix was among a group of four men in masks and gloves who broke into a Meriden, Connecticut, home on April 11, 2013, and bound four victims with duct tape and covered their heads with pillowcases, towels and jackets. They took the victims to Lenox Jewelers in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the two of them worked, authorities said. The robbers took jewelry, watches and loose diamonds valued at between $4 million and $5 million. Hennix was ordered to pay back more than $3 million. Hennix was convicted of third-degree murder in 1992, served 13 years, violated his parole and served an additional seven years, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Lee Dayton. Within two months of his release in 2012, he helped rob Bixler's Jewelers in South Whitehall Township. Within months of that crime, he helped rob Shuler's Jewelers outside Norristown and the Connecticut jewelry store, she wrote. In a sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Robert Sullivan said Hennix robbed the store because he was desperate to help his family and couldn't find a job. Dayton disagreed. "To suggest that he only started committing armed kidnappings and robberies because he was frustrated that he did not get a job at Dunkin Donuts is ridiculous," Dayton wrote. "He spent only two months 'attempting to achieve a productive family life.' When that did not come easy to him, he returned to a life of crime." Co-defendant William Davis, of Allentown, was sentenced to 14 years and 8 months in prison, and Christopher Gay, of the Bronx, New York, is serving eight-and-a-half years in prison. Allentown resident Jeffrey Houston pleaded guilty but has not been sentenced. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness MEP, has reassured young farmers across the EU that the Parliament is aware of and working on the concerns of young farmers in the EU. The Midlands North West MEP joined with President of CEJA - the European Young Farmers organisation, Alan Jagoe in Brussels recently to debate the big issues facing young farmers. "These young people are the future for our farming and food sector and we must respond to their concerns. I was particularly pleased to welcome Irish representatives including the President of Macra na Feirma, Sean Finan, and the Chief Executive of Macra, Edmond Connolly," McGuinness said in Brussels. "The implications of the Russian food import ban is an immediate worry with farmers carrying the costs of what is a geo-political issue. Young farmers cite a lack of fairness in the food supply chain a priority for them, requiring political action. "Work in the Parliament which I am spearheading is important in attempting to stop unfair trading practices. We need young people to talk to consumers about the challenges they face in the food supply chain as power is concentrated into the hands of a just a few powerful buyers. "We are actively encouraging young people to get involved in farming, because there are too few currently farming. Without young people coming into farming there will be no future and I am glad that my efforts to target support for your farmers in the recently reforms CAP is showing results," MEP McGuinness added. Supported by the Liberal Democrats International Office, the Africa Liberal Network (ALN) has grown to become the largest network of liberal parties outside Europe, with 47 member parties from across 30 African nations. Taking place from 27 31 January 2016, the ALN held its 12th General Assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted by South Africas largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). With the theme of Winning elections: the strategies, policies and solutions for success, the General Assembly brought together nearly 80 delegates from 30 countries across the continent to discuss strategies to win elections and champion liberalism in their home countries. Through sharing techniques and approaches to campaign strategy, policy development and youth mobilisation, the ALN focused its efforts on helping member parties to win elections, emerge out of opposition and make liberal government a reality across Africa. Olivier Kamitatu, the ALN President, said in his opening speech: The ALN has grown because Africa is at a crossroads and needs a liberal offering now more than ever. Our goal now must be to win elections across Africa in 2016-17. The ALN has a vision of a prosperous and integrated Africa of flourishing democracies that are at peace with one another, in which every person has the right and opportunity to fulfil their potential and be what they want to be. This year the ALN grew to encompass three new member parties, the Independent Peoples Party of Ghana, the Peoples Liberal Party of South Sudan, and the Alliance of the Republic, the ruling party in Senegal. With these new members, the ALN is now the largest network of liberal parties outside of Europe, second in size and scope only to the Alliance of Liberal Democrats in Europe (ALDE) Party. This year, we were hosted by the Democratic Alliance (DA), our liberal sister-party in South Africa and the countrys main opposition party. Addressing the entire Assembly, the DAs Party Leader Mmusi Maimane laid out the DAs plans to build a liberal South Africa, challenging the politics of racial division and fear which has held South Africa back under President Zuma: Nelson Mandela fought for democracy in South Africa. He did not fight for the right of the ANC to cling on to power forever. The ANC and EFF are dividing South Africans with campaigns based on race. As liberals, we are uniting people around our shared values. In 2014, the ALN, with support from the Liberal Democrats, provided technical assistance to the Botswana Movement for Democracy in their election campaign, helping them to become the main opposition party in the country. In the upcoming year, the ALN will build on this model, working closely with its members to help them to out-perform their opposition and build a liberal, progressive and prosperous Africa. By working together as a network, the ALN aims to bring liberalism out of the shadow of opposition and work together to build a brighter, more liberal future for Africa. * Harriet Shone is Head of the Liberal Democrats International Office. This weekend a leaked letter from Skills Minister Nick Boles showed that the Government is considering conceding certain points on the Trade Union Bill in the face of almost certain defeat in the House of Lords. Liberal Democrat BIS spokesperson Lorely Burt had this to say: We are pleased that the Government apparently recognises the need to allow electronic balloting of trade union members if they want to impose voting thresholds on unions. We hope they will therefore listen to Liberal Democrats who have tabled amendments to the Trade Union Bill to allow electronic voting. This leaked letter shows just some of the problems with this politically motived attack on trade unions. This is not about good industrial relations, it is about attacking one of their political opponents. Liberal Democrats oppose this Bill because it will make it harder to prevent strikes and more difficult to encourage employers and workers to work together to resolve disputes As a child in school, I remember learning about human failings throughout history and wondering repeatedly: how did so many people effectively neglect the problems they faced? So many years later, I still have the same question swirling around in the recesses in my mind. Last week simply brought this to the forefront of all I think about, thanks to the rude awakening that was our offices fact-finding mission in Calais and Dunkirk. These failings of humanity to pay attention to and help fellow human beings in a humanitarian crisis are still prevalent today. Whats worse? This problem is right in our backyard. With this horrific realisation, I am left wondering once more: how do we fix it? When we took up our posts, Lord Roberts asked us to try and address the refugee crisis which Europe was just beginning to recognise. None of us could have possibly understood the immensity of the problem when we first began research. It seemed like something in another place, another time, so distant and far removed from us that its tangibility faded to nothingness. Then, we began speaking to those people who had been working tirelessly on the ground to try and stem the seriousness before it escalated out of control. Meetings between our office and NGOs helped to uncover greater barriers to solutions than any of us could have ever imagined. A few months later, after countless briefings, questions, and attempts to put greater pressure on Her Majestys Government to act, it became apparent that our office needed to explore the situation on the ground for ourselves. We arranged travel to Calais and Dunkirk with a grassroots organisation and an international non-governmental organisation, both of whom took us around the camps and provided insights from their differing perspectives. We arrived in Calais unsure of what we would find there. At the train station, grassroots organisers picked us up in a volunteer taxi they arranged and took us to Dunkirk. As we were driving along the motorway, I was staring out the window at the grey skies and vast, flat fields of France. This is when I saw a line of two dozen refugees traipsing through the mud next to a small canal, heads bowed against the fierce wind that was bending even the largest of trees. One of the young men had stopped and was staring at the road, his scarf billowing violently and his hat pulled low against the frigid air. The next sight from the shuttle was even more compelling. There were police vans parked with blue lights flashing and sirens hushed, visible in their haunting form as we drove past in silence. Once we arrived in Dunkirk, we were shown to a muddy field in a barren forest filled with tents. These tents house thousands of people Kurdish families who have fled Northern Iraq because of the violence. As we walked into this camp, I looked down in the mud and spotted a small babys welly. It was nearly buried, barely visible through the dense, quicksand-like mud. As we were shown around, the volunteers explained to us how the French authorities have prevented all construction materials from entering Dunkirk. The reasoning? Fear. Fear that these materials, intended for shelter and safety, might encourage more people to join the camp. Inherent in this assumption is that this is a desirable state of living, yet one long look around the camp is enough to understand that nobody wanted this. Despite such attempts at deterrence, upwards of a hundred new arrivals show up on the metaphorical doorstep of Dunkirk every day, where they are relegated to tents when any are available. These are the people who need help the most, even as they are categorically ignored. Within the camp, there are an incredible number of dangers faced by refugees each and every day. The conditions (low availability of daily sustenance, freezing cold conditions, poor shelter, and difficulties with showers and drinking water) are burden enough on their own, yet these are not the only hazards faced. Those who fall ill have access to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), but there is no doctor allocated to the site outside normal working hours. Volunteers are thus faced with the challenge of guessing what to do in case of medical emergencies when no doctor is accessible. Another danger families face is the ease with which traffickers and smugglers may enter the camp. They are matched with little resistance from authorities. A little over a week ago, three refugees were shot dead in the camp. Even though there was an enormous police response to the incident, it appears that there will be no further investigation into the incident. The police turn a blind eye. After leaving the camp in Dunkirk, the grassroots group we were with took us to their warehouse. This is the place where donations for both Dunkirk and Calais are sorted, boxed, and organised for distribution. From donations alone, this organisation manages to feed 5,500 people each week. As we walked around, it became apparent that this is thanks to the many volunteers bustling around, some peeling vegetables and stocking donations while others load prepared food into vans to deliver to refugees in the camps. Upbeat music plays in the background, seemingly in rhythm to the clanking of pots and pans in the industrial kitchen. Despite the constant urgency motivating their work, spirits in the warehouse were high and productivity was incredible. As we looked on, I could not help but be amazed by the dedication of both donors and volunteers in helping the people of Calais and Dunkirk. Once our group finished having a look around the warehouse, we continued on to the Jungle in Calais. When we arrived at the camp, a mosque had just been destroyed and a church was being mowed down by French authorities. Our group looked on as the pastor of the church clung to the cross, and members of his congregation stood around with overwhelmingly forlorn expressions on their faces. These holy sites, promised protection by the authorities, were torn down punitively after a clash between xenophobes throwing stones and refugees who defended themselves. This has created a greater sense of distrust between the refugee communities and authorities, whom refugees fear will tear down the newly built school next. As the armed guards pushed us away from the barren site where the church had stood minutes before, we decided it was time to move on and see more of the conditions. The first thing I noticed is that there is graffiti all around the camp. The majority of this is filled with messages of love, hope, and optimism as written by the refugees themselves. Yet in some places, swastikas have been drawn on their tents a clear threat from right-wing, xenophobic groups. We saw one which the refugees had attempted to obscure with a bit of orange paint and a message of love, yet it still glared through the covering paint ominously. Who could miss such blatant symbolism? These groups have done more than paint threats, however. Refugees have been victimised by brutal attackers, who come in the night with metal pipes and hearts filled with hate. Only recently have the authorities begun to take notice of the dangers these vulnerable people face. As we walked around, we came upon the newly-built shelters sanctioned by French authorities. These white, sterile units are surrounded by a fence, and their presence has instilled fear of internment in many of the refugees. Some of the people we talked to feared that they would lose their ability to be free, to have community spaces, and to have basic human dignity. The authorities have built enough of these units for 1,500 people, yet there are an estimated 6,000 people in the camp. Where will the rest of these vulnerable people go? This is a problem that cannot be solved by simply pretending the numbers are not so high and bulldozing the only shelters available for so many. Another problem within the camps at Calais and Dunkirk is the information deficit. Many of the refugees are not able to access well-presented options of where to go next. Because of this, many feel confused about where they can or should turn next. They are then stuck in these deplorable conditions, with little access to legal recourse. As we walked around the camp, learning of these problems and seeing the conditions first-hand, my colleagues and I also had an opportunity to speak with a few of the refugees themselves. One man came up to me, eager to tell his story. It was heart-breaking, especially when he finished by gesturing to the rubbish heap and broken tents next to us with a sigh and then explained, this is my life now. Many of the refugees were coughing, though the cause could be anything from cold and flu to lungs filled with tear gas. These people we encountered were desperate, that much was apparent. There were doctors and nurses and economists in the camp, who had fulfilling lives before this civil war upset their equilibrium. After returning home from this fact-finding mission, at first I was speechless. Then, I sobbed. I wept in the way a grassroots organiser did as she stood in a muddy field surrounded by tents and hopelessness. The situation in Calais and Dunkirk is incredibly dire for thousands of people, yet little is being done. Grassroots organisations are overwhelmed with the scale on which they are expected to work, while international organisations have their hands tied by bureaucracy and legal hurdles. As one young woman told us, this is not a refugee camp. Its a camp filled with refugees. That was unmistakably shown as we looked around. Another of the aid workers, who has previously worked as a crisis respondent in many different refugee camps across the world, informed our group that this is substandard compared with any refugee camp she had been in. Due to the lack of camp management, paired with the French governments rejection of various resources and Britains feeble claims of not being involved, basic humanitarian needs are not being met. Even in the face of hopelessness, there are symbols of hope around the camp. Makeshift restaurants serve food and love, while spray-painted messages of hope conceal hate. There is a firm belief that our societies will not ignore these people forever. Lets prove them right. Photo credits: Mark Lavender * Annie Curie works for Lib Dem Peer Lord Roger Roberts ONE of Limerick citys best known nightspots, the Brazen Head - home to Teds nightclub - could be set for a new lease of life, as it goes up for auction for a mere 380,000. The property was previously listed for sale for 550,000 just over a year ago, but it will now be up for auction at Allsop's first 'private' auction in Dublin. Allsop have just launched Allsop Private, a new platform specifically designed for higher value commercial and investment assets, valued at over 250,000. The legendary Limerick bar has a reserve of 380,000 to 420,000, and will go under the hammer on March 9 next. That auction will feature some 30 lots nationwide, each with six-figure sums, and a combined reserve of 18m. Another Limerick property which will be up for sale on that day is the site of the former ACC ban at 17/19 Patrick Street, which has a reserve of 695,000 to 755,000. Its total floor area is 11,885 sq ft. The corner office building is arranged over basement, ground, and four upper floors. The famed nightclub, which was frequented by Johnny Depp, Richard Branson and other stars who came to Limerick over its storied history, has been closed for some time. The "landmark" property encompassing parts of 102 and 103 OConnell Street, spans to 7,236 sq. ft overall. It first opened in 1947, and has been one of Limerick's most popular locations until its closure a few years ago. The property includes a restaurant, bar, lounge, kitchen, nightclub, cold room, stores and toilets. It was previously up for sale through Rooneys auctioneers in the city in December 2014. The complex underwent a major refit in mid-2012, reopening after being closed for two years. Extensive building works, including the addition of a kitchen, took place. Everyone has some sort of a connection to the good old days of Teds and the Brazen Head and I think it would be fantastic for Limerick for someone to get their hands on it and reinvent it, auctioneer Gordon Kearney said previously. The complex initially closed in 2004 after three decades in business and had opened sporadically before the refurbishment and reopening in 2012 - the year that marked 75th year of the Brazen Heads location on OConnell Street. I agreed the sale with Ted on March 25, 1985 that is when it came our hands, said previous owner Frank Murray in 2012. It is 75 years this year since the Brazen Head opened on OConnell Street, they moved the stone from Johns Street up to the wall outside the complex in 1947. COUNCILLORS have paid a formal vote of sympathy to legendary broadcaster, the late Terry Wogan. And it has been agreed that Mayor Liam Galvin will formally represent Limerick at the stars funeral in Britain. However, it remains to be seen if the mayor will travel, with the BBC in a statement Friday saying it will be a private family affair, declining to release any further information. Mayor Galvin said Terry Wogan was one of the great leaders of our city. He always spoke up for Limerick and kept it close to his heart. Labour councillor Joe Leddin, who was mayor when Mr Wogan became a Freeman of the City, said the broadcaster was surprised to receive the honour. After the meeting, where it was decided to bestow the honour, I was worried about it leaking out before I had a chance to spoke to him. So I called his home straight away. When I spoke to him and told him, there was a huge pause. I had a sense of nervousness. But he then asked: Why me?. He was so honoured and humbled, Cllr Leddin said. His untimely death has left people across Limerick and far beyond with a deep sense of sadness. People who had never met him felt they knew him that was the mans genius, he added. When Mr Wogan did arrive back in Limerick for the conferring, Cllr Leddin recalled his pride at surveying the city from the top of the Hilton Hotel, now the Strand Hotel. Cllr John Sheahan, Fine Gael, added: He was forever a prankster, forever able to laugh at himself. But underlying that was a unique genius. I do not think we will see a style like his anymore. Fine Gaels Jerome Scanlan met Mr Wogan on a number of occasions when he was working for Bank of Ireland at its Shepherds Bush branch, near the former BBC television centre. He said: Every St Patricks Day, when it fell on a weekday, we organised hospitality for our customers. And Terry Wogan had no difficulty at all in attending. We also organised a social event, a pre-match get-together in advance of the bi-annual rugby at Twickenham, which Terry always referred to on his radio show as the headquarters. He would always come to the winning post. He was always there to throw in a word or two. Cllr Daniel Butler, Fine Gael, said Mr Wogan was a man who could be considered one of the greatest broadcasters of all time. Deputy council CEO Pat Dowling had a special recollection of Mr Wogans visit to Limerick in 2012 for Cllr Jim Longs mayors ball, recalling how delighted he was to receive, as a gift from the council, a print of the old Leverett & Fry shop, where his father Michael was manager. He is probably looking down on us now, and wondering what all the fuss is about, he added. The meeting attended by 12 of the 40 councillors ended with a minutes silence. A SOUTHILL man was fined 250 after he admitted entering a parked bus less than 24 hours after pleaded guilty to assault and violent disorder charges. Francis Casey, aged 23, who is originally from Clonlong Halting Site, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Road Traffic Act relating to an incident last Thursday morning. Detective Garda David Bourke told Limerick District Court the defendant was observed entering the bus, which was out of service, at around 9.30am. He said gardai believe he used a key to open the door of the bus, which had been parked at OConnell Street for around an hour beforehand. He said the father-of-two went in and searched around before leaving the bus around a minute later. Solicitor Darach McCarthy said his client, who has 70 previous convictions, disputed having a key to the bus and Det Garda Bourke agreed no key was found when Casey was arrested a short time later. Mr McCarthy insisted his client did not realise the bus was out of service when he boarded it. The door opened, he went onto the bus, his intention was to get to Dooradoyle, he thought the bus was in service, he said, Imposing a 250 fine, Judge Mary Larkin told Casey he should obey a very simple rule when it comes to other peoples property. What doesnt belong to you leave it alone. Casey is due to be sentenced in May after he pleaded guilty, last Wednesday afternoon, to a number of charges relating to a violent incident at a petrol station in Croagh on November 23, 2014. He is also currently banned from entering Clonlong Halting Site after Limerick City and County Council was granted an exclusion order late last year. Seeking the order, an official with the local authority said employees of a independent contractor which works at the site had been assaulted and threatened by Mr Casey and that one had been stabbed with a screwdriver. He said over a lengthy period, a number of residents made complaints about Caseys behaviour but that none were willing to make formal statements or come to court out of fear. THE three whistleblowers who spoke out regarding irregular financial practices at the University of Limerick - as first revealed by the Limerick Leader last September - have been "totally vindicated" by the findings of a report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority, according to two local TDs. The report states that instances of irregular claims by staff occurred in the university, and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has now expressed concerns "that there may have been, or may still be, a culture in the university of inappropriate claims being made, until challenged. However, it adds that this view was "strongly rejected by the university". In a statement, UL said it "welcomes the fact that the report is consistent with the university's position that no financial mismanagement or wrongdoing took place". UL said it would be seeking clarification from the HEA on certain aspects of the authority's response, in particular the suggestion by the HEA that a culture of inappropriate expense claims may have existed or may still exist. UL said it regarded this suggestion as "offensive to past and present staff of the university". When the Leader reported the story, UL issued High Court proceedings against the paper and its editor, Alan English. UL said it had been left with no choice but to sue when the Leader refused to retract the allegations and issue an apology. The Leader story stated that both employees had been offered severance packages amounting to two years' salary, or nearly 60,000 each, in return for the termination of their employment, and the signing of confidentiality agreements. The UL offer also stated that they would be obliged to withdraw the complaint they made under the 2014 Protected Disclosures Act. This severance agreement, which was drafted by Dublin solicitors Arthur Cox, is not mentioned in the 42-page report by Mazars, and neither is it addressed in the statement issued by UL today. Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins said legal action against the Limerick Leader and its editor should now be dropped, while Deputy Willie O'Dea said the two complainants who have been suspended should be reinstated in their positions, given the report's findings. "Given comments of the HEA following receipt of the Mazars report is very clear that the actions of the whistleblowers have been totally vindicated. The HEA have acknowledged quite clearly that the whistleblowers' concerns were both merited and genuine and furthermore that UL's handling of these was totally inadequate," Deputy Collins told the Leader. There was no reference in the UL statement to the university's legal actions. Nor is there any reference to the employment status of the two suspended whistleblowers. Deputy O'Dea also said the whistleblowers had been "completely vindicated". "I am very happy for the women, because they have been vindicated, and they were branded as troublemakers. That view has been found to be completely and totally wrong. As far as I am concerned they are 100% vindicated, and I think the Limerick Leader is 100% vindicated for bringing this to public attention." "Why is there such a culture of resistance in UL if someone makes a complaint and an automatic assumption that they were a troublemaker, or someone with a vendetta against management or the university? Those are bigger questions that have to be raised and have to be asked in the Dail," he added. The Minister for Education, Jan O'Sullivan, said: "I welcome the report, and for the people who did come forward, it certainly does establish that they were of merit and it was appropriate that they brought their concerns forward. The HEA will be working closely with UL to ensure that any poor practices or lack of procedures are identified and addressed. I think that will be a positive for UL in the longer term." Welcoming the report, one of the whistleblowers told the Leader today: "We never wanted to harm the university and it's reputation, we just tried to do what was right. Even though this has been the most horrible time, my hope is that it will somehow make me a better person and change UL for the better, so that other people don't have to go through what we went through. We just want the truth to finally be told and for lessons to be learned from this." A second whistleblower added: "I wouldn't have wished this on my worst enemy. I got 18 sessions of counselling in 18 months to help get me through this. The review was unnecessary in one sense - UL should have listened to us. We were hands on in our jobs, we knew what was right and what was wrong. We would never had gone through half of what we went through if they had just sat us down and said 'What's wrong? How can we help?' We used to love going in to work." Limerick Leader editor Alan English said: "In reporting this story, we were extremely mindful of the human cost involved to the whistleblowers. We have stressed from the very beginning that we all believe that UL has brought great pride to the people of Limerick throughout its history, but as a newspaper we have a responsibility to hold public institutions to account. We believe the Leader's decision to highlight these matters so prominently has now been entirely vindicated." The review by independent consultants Mazars establishes that irregular claims were appropriately identified and challenged at the time by the staff, namely Persons A, B and C in the finance department. It also shows that the instances were ultimately appropriately dealt with by the university and that the university did follow the correct formal processes and put appropriate actions, policies and procedures in place in response where needed. While the review team conducted extensive interviews with the whistleblowers and examined documentation provided by them, the report by Mazars also relied on the university's own internal inquiry process in respect of the financial allegations raised by the whistleblowers, which established five recommendations for improvement. Mazars stated that "adequate evidence is available to support the inquiry process followed by the university and further noted the independence of that process". The complainants raised concerns regarding a number of financial practices, including in the areas of expenses, and their treatment by senior management and human resources as a result of highlighting concerns. The report has been welcomed by the three complainants who brought these issues to public attention, as well as the two deputies who raised concerns regarding the treatment of these employees in the Dail. The women - all staff and former staff of UL's finance department - have now been praised by the HEA for the "public service" they have helped to achieve, "in bringing these matters to attention". In light of the report, which contains more than a dozen action points for UL to address, the HEA has also expressed its concerns in relation to a number matters raised. Among the action points is that an investigation should take place, within the shortest possible time-frame, into "whether financial issues identified are indicative of wider practices within the institution when any such issues are raised". "The report instances the difficulty in establishing the facts around the alleged refusal of more senior staff to sign off or give direction to Person A in particular but also to Persons B and C in circumstances where their requests for such direction appears not only reasonable but reflected a very responsible approach to claims where a doubt arose. "The HEA is not satisfied by the response of the University that as all the people directly involved are now unavailable the matter cannot be more fully examined and determined. "On a more general level, the HEA has a concern at the absence of policies in relation to key financial transactions at the time that they occurred in UL (while noting that the situation has been addressed in the meantime); the weaknesses identified, and acknowledged by the university, in areas including sabbatical expenses, procurement of equipment, travel and subsistence; failures in the management approach to, and application of, HR policies around management of the absence of Persons A, B and C, and the processes relating to return to work of staff on sick leave." UL's decision to take legal action against the Leader was heavily criticised by Seamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and a number of politicians, who stated that the university could have aired its grievance through other avenues, such as the Press Council and Press Ombudsman. Deputies Collins and O'Dea raised the matter in the Dail, urging that a review be undertaken of the allegations raised. The HEA also thanked Mazars for their "thorough and forensic approach" to the review into the processes employed by UL to inquire into allegations made by Persons A, B and C. Person A has since left UL, after bringing her concerns to the Public Accounts Committee in 2012. Those concerns were only made public last year. Persons B and C remain suspended by UL and are not allowed on campus as part of their suspension, unless they receive written permission. They were both suspended in June 2015. - See the weekend editions of the Limerick Leader for comprehensive coverage of and reaction to this story 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 We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. The famous Niagara Falls, found at the border of New York and Ontario. The falls is actually made up of three waterfalls: the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. For the first time in nearly 50 years, officials are debating turning off the tap for part of Niagara Falls. Officials have proposed drying out two of the three waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls so that workers can repair the aging pedestrian bridges that span the rapids along the river that feeds the falls. (Horseshoe Falls is the third waterfall that makes up Niagara.) The proposed "dewatering" would do more than provide the curious with a rare chance to see the landscape transformed. It could also yield unprecedented insights into the rock-cutting process that is hidden beneath the flow of millions of gallons of water. Niagara Falls are "very spectacular aesthetically, but they're not studied a lot geologically," said Marcus Bursik, a geologist with the University at Buffalo, who is proposing to measure some of the changes in the falls if the water is cut off. The new plan could provide a one-time chance to do some of that geological research, he added. [Photos: The Most Famous Waterfalls in the US] Fixing old bridges The proposed dry-out would allow workers to fix two 115-year-old pedestrian bridges that provide stunning views of the falls. The two bridges have been deemed too dangerous for people to traverse, and have been closed since 2004, CBC News reported. The dry-out would take advantage of the fact that a narrow channel feeds both Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls, which hold just 10 to 15 percent of the total flow over Niagara Falls. (The rest of Niagara's water goes over Canada's Horseshoe Falls.) This feature would enable workers to temporarily plug that channel with something called a cofferdam, an enclosure that would keep water from entering that part of the falls. "You couldn't do that to the Canadian falls, it's not small enough," Bursik told Live Science. The flow from the two falls would simply be diverted to the much mightier falls on the Canadian side, he added. Unprecedented insights The new project could provide geologists with a rare chance to understand how the rock is cut by the flow of the water. In 1969, engineers did the same thing, and took detailed pictures of the dry rock face. The cofferdam placed at that time spanned 600 feet (183 meters) and used 28,000 tons of rock, according to CBC. To create detailed maps of the underlying rock, the team would use stereophotography, which produces a 3D photograph; laser ranging, which measures how long light from the falls takes to ping several satellites around the world; or even overhead drones with mounted cameras, Bursik said. The whole process would take at most several weeks, whereas the falls are slated to be dry for months, he added. These images would then be compared with the 1969 images of the same falls (which were also stereophotographed) to see how the water has carved the underlying rock over the intervening years. In addition, engineers had bolted some of the rock face beneath the falls to prevent it from toppling. The new images could show how well those fixes held up. For instance, hunks of the rock at the top of the falls occasionally topple off and fall into the pools below. Once the falls are dried up, the team can look at the placement of large boulders and other debris to recreate that toppling process, Bursik said. It could also reveal exactly which path the water takes as it flows over the land, he added. The map of the falls could also provide generalizable principles for how waterfalls carve out their paths over the land. "It's absolutely translatable to other waterfalls and other examples, so it's pretty important," Bursik said. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. A strike by a medium-size asteroid could change Earth's climate dramatically for a few years, making life difficult for people around the world, a new study suggests. Such an impact on land (as opposed to at sea) could cause average global temperatures to plunge to ice age levels and lead to steep drops in precipitation and plant productivity, among other effects, researchers said. "These would not be pleasant times," Charles Bardeen, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said in December during a presentation at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)] Short-term climate change Bardeen and his colleagues modeled what would happen to Earth's climate if a 0.6-mile-wide (1 kilometer) space rock plowed into one of the planet's landmasses. Such an impact would probably gouge out a crater about 9 miles (15 km) wide, throw huge amounts of dust into the atmosphere and trigger large-scale fires that lofted lots of soot into the air, provided the strike didn't occur in a desert area with little vegetation, Bardeen said. The material lofted after this hypothetical asteroid strike would stay in the atmosphere for a long time about six years in the case of dust and 10 years for soot, according to the researchers' results for the "worst-case scenario" (which assumed widespread fires). These particles would warm in the sun, heating the stratosphere significantly and speeding up chemical reactions that destroy ozone, which protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Indeed, atmospheric ozone would be temporarily reduced by 55 percent, causing the surface UV index to top 20 in the tropics for several years. (According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a UV index of 11 or above denotes "extreme risk of harm from unprotected sun exposure.") The atmospheric soot and dust would also reduce the amount of sunlight hitting Earth's surface by up to 70 percent for the first year or two, Bardeen said. As a result, average global surface temperatures would cool by 14.5 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), "which is about the equivalent of the ice ages," Bardeen said during his AGU presentation. The bulk of this temperature drop would occur on land, he added. But effects would be felt in the oceans as well; sea-ice cover would increase, and water has a high thermal inertia, so changes in ocean temperature would last for a relatively long time. For example, the team's models suggest that the top layers of the ocean would still be about 0.9 degrees F (0.5 degrees C) cooler than normal 15 years after the asteroid impact. The global cooling would also lead to a drop in precipitation of about 50 percent around the world, Bardeen said. "This is due to the lost heating and the lost temperature, so we lose convection; we don't have as many [weather] fronts," he said. The decrease in sunlight, rain and snow would lead to a roughly 50 percent drop in plant productivity not good news for farmers and the people who depend on them (which is to say, everyone in the world). Crops in North America, Europe and northern Asia would be especially hard-hit, while agricultural lands in India, South America and Africa would not be affected as much, Bardeen said. So, the overall picture is not pretty. A strike by a 0.6-mile-wide asteroid could cause "a very severe global impact" for several years, Bardeen said. But a space rock would likely have to be about 10 times bigger to cause a mass extinction, he added. (The asteroid that's thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs, along with many other species, 65 million years ago was probably about 6 miles, or 10 km, wide.) [Wipe Out: History's Most Mysterious Extinctions] Ocean impact? Bardeen and his team modeled the aftermath of an asteroid strike on land. But it's more likely that a space rock would come down in water, since oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface. What would happen then? A 2010 modeling study by the late Elisabetta Pierazzo and her colleagues looked into this scenario, and determined that the effects on Earth's protective ozone layer would be dramatic. An ocean strike by a 0.6-mile-wide asteroid, the team found, would loft enough salty water vapor to destroy huge quantities of ozone, causing the surface UV index to spike temporarily to 56. Such high radiation levels, which have never been experienced in human history, would probably force people to stay inside during the day, Pierazzo said when the study came out. But an ocean strike would not have the same climatic consequences as a land impact, Bardeen said. "The temperature effects, the precipitation effects, the effects on plants those would all really only come with the land impact," Bardeen said. However, the chances of an asteroid strike with serious global consequences seem remote, at least in the near future. To date, astronomers have spotted 879 near-Earth asteroids that are at least 0.6 miles wide, and none of them pose an immediate threat. Models suggest that these 879 represent more than 90 percent of the total population of such mountain-size space rocks in Earth's neighborhood, NASA officials have said. If a dangerous asteroid does line Earth up in its cross hairs, humanity doesn't have to sit idly by, just waiting for the end to come. If the space rock is detected with enough lead time ideally, a decade or more before a potential impact it could conceivably be steered off course using one or more "kinetic impactor" spacecraft that would slam into the space rock, and perhaps a fly-along "gravity tractor" probe as well, which would further nudge the asteroid slowly over long periods of time. Destroying the incoming object with a nuclear bomb is also an option, researchers say, especially if the threatening rock is extremely large and/or was first spotted shortly before its encounter with Earth. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. A long crack that popped up in a Michigan forest on Oct. 4, 2010, uprooted trees and caused others to tilt. A strange and sudden buckling of the earth in Michigan five years ago is now being explained as a limestone bulge, researchers reported today (Feb. 9). The upheaved rock and soil was discovered after a deep boom thundered through the forest near Birch Creek on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, north of Menominee. The sound shook nearby homes with the strength of a magnitude-1 earthquake on Oct. 4, 2010, at about 8:30 a.m. Central time, residents said at the time. The next day, locals discovered a long crack atop a narrow ridge. The crack was 360 feet (110 meters) long and about 5 feet (1.7 m) deep; and the ridge was nearly 7 feet (2 m) high and about 30 feet (9 m) wide at its largest point. Tilted trees leaned away from the crack at about 14 degrees on either side proof the ridge was new. Torn roots stretched for their former companions, now stranded on the other side of the crack. [See Photos of the Weird Crack and Uprooted Trees] "It was interesting to see that the crack seemed to ignore the roots," said senior study author Wayne Pennington, dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan Technology University in Houghton. "The forces were stronger than the roots." Based on a seismic study, the most likely explanation for the ridge is a pop-up in the upper layers of limestone beneath the clay soil, Pennington and his co-authors, all MTU students, concluded in a study published in the journal Seismological Research Letters. If I had a hammer Even though the researchers can't say for sure what caused the pop-up, they now have a better picture of what happened underground. The teams surveyed the underground rock by creating sound waves with a sledgehammer. The researchers slammed a sledgehammer into a metal ball sitting on the ground, and tracked how the waves passed through the soil and rock layers below. The analysis revealed a sharp buckle in the limestone below the crack. That picture suggested the bedrock limestone violently heaved upward when the pop-up appeared, displacing the overlying clay layer. The clay soil is about 5 feet (1.5 m) deep along the ridge. The crack resulted from the stretching of the surface clay as it bent upward, much as a crack forms in the top of a loaf of bread as the dough rises. The survey confirms there is no earthquake fault underlying the ridge. Besides, it would take a tremendous earthquake to move the rock and soil several vertical feet, Pennington said. Pop goes the bedrock Pop-ups are common in quarries in eastern North America, where rock removal releases pent-up strain in the underlying rocks. Pop-ups also appear after glaciers retreat; however, the last glaciers retreated from Menominee 11,000 years ago, and there is no quarrying in the area. Rocks in the area are squeezed by plate tectonics, the researchers said. The Midwest is under pressure from squeezing coming from the West Coast and the East Coast. Yet the region is not experiencing increased stress that would result in future larger earthquakes, Pennington added. The pop-up appeared in the uppermost bedrock, whereas large earthquakes strike miles deep. There have been two moderate earthquakes in Michigan since 2010, which were in different areas and unrelated to the crack, the scientists said. One final clue was the loss, to lightning, of a giant white pine tree in the week before the crack appeared. "The timing is remarkable, and it leads us to be suspicious, but the tree weighed less than a fully loaded dump truck," Pennington told Live Science. "The earth is still full of surprises," Pennington said. "It's just a little surprise, but it's still interesting and we're always learning more." Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. For Jordan Grafman, it was just a split-second vision. "About 15 years ago, my mom died," Grafman told Live Science. "I was walking down the street to catch the bus at about 5 a.m., and I looked down the street and saw who I thought was my mom, although my mom had been dead for a week. I looked back, and whatever was there was gone." That momentary flicker in perception intrigued Grafman, who is a cognitive neuroscientist and the director of brain injury research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. "That, to me, was a mystical experience," Grafman said. "As a scientist who has seen something that, to me, seemed mystical, I'm interested in figuring out what happened to my brain." Now, Grafman and his colleagues have pinpointed some of the brain processes that lead to such transcendent moments. It turns out, mystical experiences may stem from the brain letting go of inhibitions, opening a "door of perception," the researchers found. [Spooky! The Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena] Brush with the infinite During mystical experiences, people feel connected to a higher power and often describe gaining hidden knowledge or having revelatory insights. Although people around the world have reported mystical experiences, ranging from near-death experiences to ecstatic visions to meditative trances, these visions remain shrouded in mystery, with little neuroscience research to explain their underpinnings in the brain. Previous research suggested two broad camps of theories to explain the brain origins of mystical experiences, called "push" and "pull" theories, respectively. "Push theories argue that activation of a single 'God spot' causes mystical beliefs, suggesting that injuries to these spots would reduce mysticism," study co-author Joseph Bulbulia, a religious studies researcher at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, said in a statement. "In contrast, pull theories argue that the suppression of our inhibitory functions opens up the brain to mystical experiences. It is a hotly disputed topic, and we set out to clarify the debate." Now, Grafman and his colleagues have evidence to suggest that pull theories may help to explain mystical experiences. In their new study, the scientists analyzed 116 Vietnam War veterans who experienced brain damage and had mystical experiences, and compared them with 32 combat veterans without brain injuries or neurological disorders. All of the veterans took psychological tests before and after their conflicts. [Top 10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders] "Often, the veterans said they heard the word of God, or had visions of their family," Grafman said. "Those are common mystical experiences." The researchers also conducted interviews of the patients using the Mysticism Scale, a well-established test for analyzing reports of mystical experiences. The scale asks respondents about feelings of unity and joy, as well as a sense of transcending time and space. The scientists also carried out high-resolution computed tomography (CT) brain scans of all of the Vietnam veterans participating in the study. The researchers found that damage to the frontal and temporal lobes was linked with greater mystical experiences. Previous research found that the frontal lobes, located near the forehead, are linked to movement, problem solving, memory, language and judgment, among other functions. The temporal lobes, located near the bottom of the brain, are linked to the senses, language and memory. Further investigation revealed that damage to a specific area of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was linked to markedly increased mysticism. Previous research found that this brain region, located in the frontal lobes, is key to imposing inhibitions. "The frontal lobes are the most evolved areas of the human brain, and help control and make sense of the perceptual input we get from the world," Grafman said. "When the frontal lobes' inhibitory functions are suppressed, a door of perception can open, increasing the chances of mystical experiences." The brain's door of perception Previous research into mysticism in the brain examined only a few volunteers, or did not analyze participants both before and after brain injuries. The new findings are the first to both analyze subjects' intellectual function before and after combat and to investigate a significant number of such volunteers, the researchers said. The findings also suggest that activity in the temporal lobes can generate mystical experiences, the researchers said. However, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex appears to have a critical role in interpreting and modifying these phenomena, the scientists said. The researchers suggested that when the brain's inhibitory functions are suppressed and then people undergo an experience without a direct explanation, the brain might then settle for supernatural explanations. "The more we understand the brain, the more we can make fundamental advances and translate findings into clinical settings," Grafman said in a statement. The scientists detailed their findings in the Jan. 8 issue of the journal Neuropsychologia. Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. A hormone known for its role in bonding and caregiving could predict whether new moms and dads stay together in the first years of their child's life. Researchers found a link between low oxytocin levels in the mother during pregnancy and shortly after the baby's birth and the likelihood that new parents would break up by the time their child was 2 1/2 years old, according to the results, presented Jan. 29 at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in San Diego. "What these data suggest is that lower maternal oxytocin levels are associated with the risk of relationship dissolution by the time the child is a toddler," study researcher Jennifer Bartz, a psychologist at McGill University in Canada, told an audience at the meeting. "Suggest" is a key word. The research has yet to be peer-reviewed and published in a journal, Bartz told Live Science, and the total number of breakups among the couples in the study was small. Nevertheless, the research hints at how hormones might influence relationships, perhaps by altering how people cope with stress or handle caregiving, Bartz said. "Ideally, the point of using neuroscience methods is, what we know about the biological processes can then deepen our understanding of the psychological processes," Bartz told Live Science. [11 Interesting Effects of Oxytocin] Oxytocin's predictive power Oxytocin is a powerful molecule, well known for promoting social bonding in animals. And research on humans has found that this hormone affects both parenting behavior and caring for the offspring of others, Bartz said. In the new study, Bartz and her colleagues collected saliva samples from 341 pregnant women during their first trimester of pregnancy, in the third trimester and then seven to nine weeks after they gave birth. Then, they followed up with the women two and a half years later. Of the 188 moms who could be reached at the last follow-up, about 90 percent (170) were still with their original partners. Seven had gone through breakups. (The rest had either been single the entire study period or had been single and were now in relationships.) It's rare for people to break up in the first few years of their child's life, Bartz said even if they're having relationship problems, parents are usually motivated to stick together for their kid. The reasons for the seven breakups in the study were unknown. "There are lots of good reasons why it doesn't make sense to stay in a relationship," Bartz said. But theseven women who had been through breakups had lower oxytocin levels during their first trimester of pregnancy and during the postpartum period than the women who'd stayed with their partners, on average. Each unit increase in oxytocin in the first trimester increased the odds of relationship survival by about seven times, Bartz reported, and each unit increase in the postpartum period raised those odds even more, by about nine times. Stressful babies This doesn't mean, however, that the low oxytocin caused the breakups. It's possible, Bartz said, that women with high oxytocin might interact more smoothly with their infants, as per the hormone's role in bonding. Any improvement in mother-child bonding could have a ripple effect on the overall climate of the household, Bartz said. Alternatively, high oxytocin levels could be a sign of a "tend and befriend" approach, rather than a "fight or flight" approach to handling stress, she said. Moms who tend to reach out for support rather than withdraw might cope better with the disruption of a newborn. A third possibility is that a woman's oxytocin levels are not a reflection of her traits, but of her situation. Women with low levels of the hormone might not have as much social or partner support as women with high levels. In other words, something was rotten in the state of the woman's life, and the oxytocin was just a warning sign. "Just because we've identified a characteristic in the mother doesn't mean it's causal," Bartz said. Big questions remain, she said, including the partner's role in this puzzle. A study that involved couples "would probably give us a lot of insight," she said. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. A new product called Foria Relief offers marijuana compounds in the form of a vaginal suppository, and its makers claim it can relieve menstrual cramps. But is this product safe? Experts say that, because of the lack of studies on the product, there's no clear evidence that it is safe to use, or that it works. Foria Relief contains 60 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 10 mg of cannabidiol (CBD), along with cocoa butter. Both THC and CBD are active ingredients in marijuana; THC is responsible for producing the "high" effect of the drug. The product became available last month in Colorado, where the recreational use of marijuana is legal, and California, where people need a physician's recommendation to obtain marijuana for medical purposes. The company says that THC and CBD can relax muscles and that, as such, these compounds may help with menstrual cramps, which are caused by the contraction of the uterus muscles. The compounds can also act on the nerve endings of the uterus, cervix and ovaries to block pain, the company says. However, Foria Relief has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, meaning that the effectiveness and safety of the product have not been proven. The company notes in a disclaimer that information on its product is "based on patients' reported experiences." Because the product is not FDA-approved, it cannot be marketed to treat or cure any disease. What's more, there's little scientific research on the effect of any type of marijuana on menstrual cramps. "With exception of a study in the 1800s, I see no evidence in the medical literature that supports that use" of marijuana for menstrual cramps, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Although there are barriers to studying marijuana in the United States, "the alternative isn't to recommend a treatment in the absence of evidence," Mishori told Live Science. [11 Odd Facts About Marijuana] There is also a lot of concern about the safety of marijuana-based products including Foria, as well as edible marijuana products because these products have little regulation, said Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York. "You don't know what these products contain," Krakower told Live Science. A study published last year of 75 edible marijuana products found that just 13 of these products accurately listed the amount of THC on the label. And because there are no safety studies on the new product, the risks are unknown, Krakower said. For instance, it's not clear how much, or how fast, the drug would be absorbed into the bloodstream through the vaginal route. "It's a mistake to market this, until these agents are studied further," Krakower said. Although the company markets Foria as a "natural alternative" for menstrual cramps, people should remember that marijuana is "still a drug," and can have side effects, Krakower said. The company says on its website that most users of Foria Relief do not report experiencing a high when using the product, either vaginally or rectally. The company also says that users should ask their doctor whether Foria is safe to use with other medications, including over-the-counter painkillers. It does not recommend using Foria during pregnancy, or while trying to become pregnant. Live Science attempted to contact the company for a comment through its website but was not successful. Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! Carrickedmond native Siona Cahill, who serves as Maynooth Students Union's Welfare & Equality Vice President, has warned candidates to avoid young people at your peril in their quest for votes ahead of this month's General Election. Ms Cahill told the Longford Leader that the union has assisted large numbers of students to sign-up to the supplementary voting register ahead of today's (February 9) deadline. It's no surprise to me from working with the students that there's an appetite there, she said. There's a huge underestimation of the appetite students have for politics. Since the Taoiseach made the election announcement I've been getting emails and texts [from students wanting to register]; the first person came into my office within half an hour of the announcement. The students union representative outlined how many candidates fail to engage with student voters, leaving them frustrated. Candidates say we won't engage on the doorstep, but they're forgetting that we're away at college. And when we are at home and answer the door to them, they just ask to speak to our parents. If you're not talking about the red-line issues for students and avoiding the student vote, they will go somwhere else, she continued. Ms Cahill went on tohighlight the impact young voters had on the outcome of the Marriage Equality Referendum. People engaged with the referendum because they themselves were engaged, she stated, adding that to achieve similar levels of participation at the General Election is all about candidates reaching out. Don't discount the student vote, Ms Cahill concluded. You may not meet them on the doorsteps but they're following it all online. Tech & Science, School & Education, Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: February 09 2016 On Thursday, February 4, 2016, the Elmont Memorial High School Model United Nations (MUN) team and Intel Science Talent Search Finalist were honored by Assemblywoman Solages for their achievements. Elmont, NY - February 9th, 2016 - On Thursday, February 4, 2016, the Elmont Memorial High School Model United Nations (MUN) team and Intel Science Talent Search Finalist were honored by Assemblywoman Solages (Elmont-D) for their achievements. The Elmont Memorial High School MUN team attended the Yale University Conference in New Haven, Connecticut, from January 21, 2016 to January 24, 2016. The team competed against students from all around the world, from 40 different countries and over 1,600 delegates. They debated on topics, such as Ethnic Conflicts, Refugee Crises, Curbing Pollution, and Human Trafficking. The Elmont MUN team was victorious, winning awards in five different committees, including the best delegate award. Pictured: The Elmont Memorial Model United Nations Team, Advisors Nkenge Gilliam and Melvin Khon, Elmont Memorial High School Principal Kevin Dougherty, and New York State Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages. Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, a student in the Elmont Memorial High Schools Science Research Program, was a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search program. The program is the nations oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition. Augustas socially conscious work, Rheological Characterization of Attapulgite Nanoclay Modified Cement Slurries for Oil Well Applications, was chosen among over 1,800 students. Augusta is one of 40 finalists who will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in March, and will appear before a judge panel to present her work. It is truly remarkable what these students are doing, stated Assemblywoman Solages. They are pushing their limits and engaging themselves in deeper, globally conscious issues. The success of these students is a strong statement for the amazing work that their teachers and administrators are doing. The students and advisors were all honored with New York State Assembly citations. 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 Ansar al Sharia, an al Qaeda-linked group, claims to have shot down a Libyan jet earlier today. The claim of responsibility (seen above) was posted on Twitter feeds maintained by Ansar al Sharias propaganda arm (Al Rayah Media) and radio station. The organization says a special air defense brigade was responsible for the jets crash, but no other details were provided. Jihadists also tweeted images of the planes wreckage (see below). Libyas Air Force chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Saqr al-Jaroushi, told the Associated Press (AP) that a plane was in fact shot down. The Libyan MIG32 fighter was striking the positions of Islamic State militants and other militias in the eastern town of Derna when it came under fire by anti-aircraft guns, according to the AP. Al-Jaroushi said the pilot ejected and landed safely. Although the Islamic State has grown significantly inside Libya since 2014, Ansar al Sharias leadership remains loyal to al Qaeda. The organization operates its own training camps in Derna and elsewhere in Libya. An alliance of jihadist groups known as the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) also maintains an extensive presence in the eastern Libyan city. The MSC, which was formed in late 2014, opposed the Islamic States expansion in Derna. The two sides have repeatedly clashed. In mid-2015, the MSC pushed Abu Bakr al Baghdadis followers out of their strongholds inside the interior of the city, but the caliphate still has cadres of fighters in Dernas suburbs. Ansar al Sharia Libya and the MSC are both backed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al Qaedas official branch in North Africa. Pictures of the Libyan jet Ansar al Sharia claims to have downed: 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. The Taliban has announced the death of Mullah Hassan Rahmani, a member of its top leadership council who until recently opposed the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as the jihadist groups new emir. Rahmanis death was announced today on Voice of Jihad, the official website of the Taliban. With deep sadness news has been received that a renowned Jihadi figure of the country, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani, has passed away, the Taliban stated. According to the group he was recently battling chest cancer and passed away last night due to this illness. The Taliban said that Rahmani served admirably as a member of the Leadership Council in the Jihadi ranks of Islamic Emirate up until the time of his death. He served as the governor of the important Afghan province of Kandahar from the time the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996 up until the US invasion after al Qaedas attack on America on 9/11. Asia Times journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad described Rahmani in 2008 as a close adviser to [former] Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who died in the spring of 2013. At the time, Rahmani was said to be in daily contact with Omar. So much so that in Taliban circles he is considered Mullah Omars shadow, Shahzad, who was killed in May 2011 by Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, wrote. Rahmani, a member of the Rahbari Shura, which is better known as the Quetta Shura because it is based in the Pakistani city of the same name, was one of several senior Taliban leaders who initially opposed the naming of Mullah Mansour to replace Mullah Omar. Omar died of natural causes in April 2013, but his death wasnt disclosed by the Taliban until July 2015. Mansour is said to have been picked to succeed Omar by a small cadre of Taliban leaders. Weeks before his death, Rahmani withdrew his opposition to Mansour and swore allegiance to the new Taliban emir . Rahmani is the latest Taliban dissident to return to the fold and embrace Mansour as its leader. In September 2015, Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, a brother of Mullah Omar, and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Omars eldest son, swore allegiance to Mansour after initially opposing him. Yaqoub was rumored to have sought to replace his father as the emir of the group. Additionally, Taliban commanders Niaz Mohammad, Abdullah Jan, and Abdul Rauf have recently embraced Mansour as their emir, according to the Associated Press. The three commanders were previously loyal to Mullah Mohammad Rasul, a senior leader based in Farah province who still opposes Mansour. Followers of the two Taliban factions have clashed in Zabul and Farah provinces over the past year. While Rahmanis death is a loss to the Taliban, his recent return to the fold is a major coup for Mansour and his followers. The Taliban seeks to present a united front, and the existence of rival factions as well as the emergence of the Islamic States Khorasan province cuts into this narrative and saps both the Talibans military and political strength. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of 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. WASHINGTON D.C. (Feb. 9, 2016) - The Presidents Budget for fiscal year 2017 includes $4.620 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "The 2017 Civil Works budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reflects the Administration's priorities to support and improve the Nation's economy, protect the American people, and restore our environment," said the Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. "This Budget supports the core mission areas of coastal and inland navigation, reducing flood and storm risks, and restoring aquatic ecosystems. "The Budget enables the Corps to responsibly carry out its important missions, while advancing key Administration initiatives to increase renewable energy production, reduce greenhouse gas impacts, combat invasive species, and increase community resilience in the wake of natural disasters," said Darcy. "The Budget continues to reflect the tough choices necessary to put the country on a fiscally sustainable path." New federal funding in the Civil Works budget consists of $3.59 billion from the general fund, $951 million from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, $45 million from Special Recreation User Fees, and $34 million from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The FY 2017 funding will be distributed among the appropriations accounts as follows: $2.705 billion for Operation and Maintenance $1.09 billion for Construction $222 million for Mississippi River and Tributaries $200 million for the Regulatory Program $180 million for Expenses $103 million for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) $85 million for Investigations $30 million for Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies $5 million for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works The FY 2017 Civil Works program is also provided approximately $845 million in funding from additional sources not included in the Budget, bringing the FY 2017 total program funding to $5.465 billion. The FY 2017 Budget includes $1.934 billion for the study, design, construction, operation and maintenance of inland and coastal navigation projects. It funds capital investments on the inland waterways based on the estimated revenues to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The Budget gives priority to coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial traffic. It also funds harbors that support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation benefits. The FY 2017 Investigations program as a whole is funded at $92 million, including $7 million from the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) account, to fund studies to determine the need, engineering feasibility, and economic, environmental and social return of potential solutions for water and related land resource problems. This includes $6.7 million for work on proposals to deepen and/or widen ten high and moderate commercial use U.S. harbors and channels: Houston Ship Channel, TX; Manatee Harbor, FL; Matagorda Ship Channel, TX; Mississippi River Ship Channel, Gulf to Baton Rouge, LA; Mobile Harbor, AL; New Haven Harbor, CT; Norfolk Harbor, VA; Port of Long Beach, CA; San Juan, PR; Seattle Harbor, WA; and Unalaska (Dutch) Harbor, AK. The Budget also funds completion of 12 studies and designs, one of which is in the Preconstruction Engineering and Design (PED) phase. These studies comprise four ecosystem restoration studies, four navigation studies, and four flood risk management studies. These study completions include Adams and Denver Counties, CO; Boise River, Boise, ID; Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock, LA (GRR); Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration Mississippi River Hydrodynamic Modeling and Delta Management Study; Minnesota River Watershed Study, MN & SD (Minnesota River Authority); Mississippi River Ship Channel, Gulf to Baton Rouge, LA (GRR); Norfolk Harbor and Channels, VA (55-Foot) (GRR); Rahway River Basin (Upper Basin), NJ; Red River of the North Basin, ND, MN, SD & Manitoba, Canada; Seattle Harbor, WA; South San Francisco Bay Shoreline, CA (PED); and Sparks Arroyo Colonia, El Paso County, TX. There are no new study starts included in the FY 2017 Investigations program. The Investigations account also includes $26 million for Corps' efforts, in conjunction with state floodplain management authorities, to provide technical and planning assistance to enable local communities to reduce their flood risk, including non-structural approaches. The Budget continues to invest in the development of interagency teams known as Silver Jackets to provide unified federal assistance in implementing flood risk management solutions. The FY 2017 Construction program is funded at $1.154 billion, including $64 million in the MR&T account. The construction program uses objective, performance-based guidelines to allocate funding toward the highest performing economic, environmental, and public safety investments. The Budget funds 33 construction projects, consisting of seven dam safety assurance, seepage control, and static instability correction projects; six projects funded to address a significant risk to human safety (includes one completion); five additional project completions; one new construction project; and 14 other continuing projects. By program area, the 33 funded construction projects consist of 17 flood risk management projects (two funded for completion), nine aquatic ecosystem restoration projects, six commercial navigation projects (three funded for completion), and one hydropower project (funded for completion). The FY 2017 Budget includes $239 million for safety modifications on seven dam safety, seepage control and static instability correction projects and $3.3 million for interim risk reduction measures for dams with a significant risk. Among the ongoing construction projects in the FY 2017 Budget, the ten highest funded projects are: Olmsted Locks and Dam, IL & KY ($225 million); the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (Everglades), FL ($106 million); Columbia River Fish Mitigation, WA, OR & ID (CRFM) ($84 million); Isabella Lake, CA (Dam Safety) ($70.5 million); Lower Mississippi River Mainstem (MR&T) ($64.3 million); Poplar Island, MD ($62.3 million); East Branch Clarion River Lake, PA ($56.3 million); Herbert Hoover Dike, FL, seepage control ($49.5 million); Savannah Harbor Expansion, GA ($42.7 million); and Center Hill Lake, TN ($40 million). The six construction projects funded for completion in the FY 2017 Budget are: American River Watershed (Folsom Dam Modifications), CA; Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Bridge Replacement at Deep Creek, Chesapeake, VA; Delaware River Deepening, NJ, PA, & DE; Oakland Harbor (50-Foot Project), CA; Richard B Russell Dam and Lake, GA & SC; and Topeka, KS. The FY 2017 construction program includes one high-priority new construction start, Mud Mountain Dam, WA, an Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration project in response to a Biological Opinion for endangered salmon. The FY 2017 O&M program is funded at $2.856 billion, including $151 million in the MR&T account. For O&M, the Budget emphasizes performance of existing projects by focusing on those coastal harbors and inland waterways with the most commercial traffic, as well as safety improvements at federal dams and levees based on the risk and consequence of a failure. The Budget also funds maintenance work at harbors that support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation benefits. The FY 2017 O&M program also funds the completion of 28 master plans and water reallocation studies at Corps projects. Collaborating with federal, non-federal, state and local partners, the Corps completed the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (Comprehensive Study) in 2015, a report that developed a universal Coastal Storm Risk Management Framework that identified a set of structural, non-structural natural, nature-based, and programmatic measures to manage flood risk and promote resilience for approximately 31,000 miles of coastline, from New Hampshire to Virginia. The FY 2017 Budget will fund work for six of the nine Focus Areas identified in the Comprehensive Study. They are New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries, NY and NJ; New Jersey Back Bays, NJ; City of Norfolk, VA; Nassau County Back Bays, NY; Delaware Inland Bays and Delaware Bay Coast, DE; and the District of Columbia, DC. These areas were selected based on the readiness of the local sponsors to cost-share further investigations work. The FY 2017 aquatic ecosystem restoration program is funded at $375 million with $336 million from Construction, $20 million from O&M and $19 million from Investigations. This program supports restoring aquatic habitat to a less degraded, more natural condition in ecosystems where ecosystem structure, function, and processes have been degraded. Priority aquatic ecosystems supported by the Budget include the California Bay-Delta, the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf Coast. Other ecosystem efforts include the Columbia River and priority work in the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The Corps will continue to work with other federal, state and local agencies, using the best available science and adaptive management to protect and restore these ecosystems. The FY 2017 Budget funds Recreation at $267 million, with approximately $255 million in the O&M account and $12 million in the MR&T account. The Corps is the nations largest provider of federal recreation opportunities, with 370 million visits to Corps lands and waters per year. The FY 2017 Regulatory Program is funded at $200 million and will improve the protection of the nations waters and wetlands, while providing greater efficiency in permit processing. The FY 2017 FUSRAP program is funded at $103 million to continue remediation activities at 20 sites contaminated by the Nations early efforts to develop atomic weapons. Based on the Corps contribution to the response and recovery of communities after natural disasters strike, and the inevitability that there will be more, Emergency Management is funded at $35 million in FY 2017, with $30 million in the FCCE account for preparedness and training to respond to floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, and $5 million in the O&M account. The FY 2017 Budget includes $91.7 million in operations and maintenance funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District, which funds the operation, maintenance, and facility protection of existing projects in the Cumberland and Tennessee River basins that include hydropower facilities, locks and dams, recreation areas, and navigable channels and waterways. It also includes $40 million in Construction funding for the Nashville District to continue the dam safety rehabilitation project at Center Hill Dam. The presidents FY 2017 budget did not include funding for the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project and the Kentucky Lock Addition Project. The FY 2017 Civil Works budget press book is available at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx, under the heading Program Budget: Press Books. (The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the districts website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps.) A British-led initiative to create a back-up to satellite navigation systems for ships has been pulled after failing to garner interest from other European countries, despite its proponents pointing to the growing risk of disasters at sea. Vessels increasingly rely on devices that employ satellite signals to find a location or keep exact time, including the Global Positioning System (GPS). Paper charts are used less frequently due to a loss of traditional skills among seafarers. Experts say GPS is vulnerable to signal loss from solar weather effects or radio and satellite interference or deliberate jamming, which South Korea experienced from North Korea in recent years. The General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland (GLA) have pioneered a radio-based back-up prototype called eLoran that would provide alternative position and timing signals for navigation, but faced a hard sell in other European countries, which are needed for a signal network. France, Norway, Germany and Denmark have closed their transmitters. George Shaw of the GLA cited "cost-related" issues in Europe for pulling the project, leading the GLA to start decommissioning stations in Britain. "In Europe, navigation is becoming less and less safe," Shaw said. "We see larger ships and the competition for sea space is intense." "Getting high-integrity precise navigation into ports and around obstacles at sea is becoming ever more important and we cannot rely on GNSS (global navigation satellite systems) alone to do that," he said. France and other countries were meant to maintain and upgrade older radio transmitter stations called Loran-C, which date back decades, for eLoran to gain momentum. French and German government sources said they did not need or use eLoran, pointing to Europe's satellite navigation system Galileo. A German official said Galileo offered an encrypted navigation signal and "maximal protection" against manipulation. An official from Denmark said the country had opted out. Norway's Ministry of Transport and Communication said eLoran was "outdated and had very few users", adding that lighthouses, markers, and radar beacons provided sufficient navigation safety in waters near the shore. "Further out from the coast, the risk of collisions and of running aground is considerably smaller. In these waters, it's the Norwegian Coastal Administration's opinion that a ship's radar constitutes sufficient backup." In contrast, South Korea and Russia - which had received previous GLA assistance - are pressing ahead with their versions of eLoran, Shaw said. The United States was also working on a version. In late January, the U.S. Air Force said there were GPS timing disruptions after a satellite was removed that may have caused timing issues over several hours for global users. The GLA had previously recorded incidents involving hours of signal disruptions on ships off Britain's coast. Martyn Thomas, chair of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering's GNSS working group, said it was easy to purchase GPS simulators that can "fool GPS equipment into giving the wrong coordinates", known as spoofing. "Any of the satellite navigation systems such as Galileo ... are all extremely vulnerable firstly to jamming and increasingly to spoofing," Thomas said. "That raises security questions." By Jonathan Saul Fratelli Neri S.p.A has taken delivery of a Damen ASD Tug 3212. The new vessel, called Luisa Neri, was handed over from Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam in the Netherlands, on 25 January 2016. The vessel represents two firsts: it is Fratelli Neris first Damen newbuild tug and it is the first ASD Tug in the Mediterranean with a Damen render-recovery winch. Damen is renowned for its quick delivery times and this contract further reinforces that fact: the smooth process from contract to delivery taking just 5 months. With the vessel built for stock, Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam carried out the final outfitting works to bring the Luisa Neri up to client specifications. These modifications included, amongst other things, the installation of a deck crane and all equipment necessary to comply with FiFi 1 notation, Oil Recovery notation and Italian flag. As one of the largest tug owners in Italy, Fratelli Neri will be putting the Luisa Neri to use in its home port of Livorno. With some tight turns, Livorno is well known for being quite a challenging harbour to operate in, comments Damen Regional Sales Manager Andrea Trevisan. The Luisa Neri has the power just over 80 tonnes of bollard pull the manoeuvrability and the right equipment to handle these difficult escorting duties though. High performance towing equipment The vessel is provided with a Damen render-recovery winch on the fore deck and a Damen towing winch on the aft deck. Both winches are designed and engineered by Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam and produced by Damen Marine Components. These winches allow operators to work in the toughest offshore conditions. The render-recovery winch on the fore deck is a double drum anchor/towing winch, with 200 metres of Dyneema towing wire on each drum. The winch is directly driven by two Hagglunds hydraulic motors connected to the main shaft. The aft towing winch is a single drum towing winch, with 750 metres of steel towing wire on the drum. The winch is directly driven by one Hagglunds hydraulic motor connected to the main shaft. Because the winches are not provided with gearboxes the design is very compact, robust and maintenance friendly. All operating conditions Each winch drum can be connected to the main shaft by means of a spring released, hydraulically engaged friction clutch fitted on the inside of the stainless steel brake drum connected to the winch drum. The use of friction clutches guarantees a safe and fast quick-release operation of the winches in all operating conditions. Each winch drum can be connected to the deck by means of a hydraulically released, spring engaged band brake fitted on the outside of the stainless steel brake drum connected to the winch drum. An accumulator with sufficient capacity to release the band brakes several times is installed in the hydraulic system to guarantee a safe and fast quick-release operation of the winches in all operating conditions. The maximum brake holding capacity is 200 tonnes. In control This winch outperforms its competitors by far, says Damen Senior Design & Proposal Engineer Tugs Erik van Schaik. When working in the automatic mode the winch system is capable of a rendering speed up to 100 m/min with a line force of 100 tonnes and a recovery speed up to 50 m/min with a line force of 60 tonnes. The system prevents high peak loads in the towing wire during open water operations in sea conditions up to 3 metre significant wave heights and 6 second wave periods. Thus reducing the chance of the towing line breaking and making offshore towing and escorting duties much safer. It really is unique in the industry. The render-recovery winch also gives tug captains an outstanding degree of flexibility, continues Mr Van Schaik. They can work with various operating modes depending on the weather, the sea conditions and the work needed to be done. These modes are used to control either the distance or the forces acting between tug and the vessel it is assisting. Tight turns Damens ASD Tug 3212 has excellent seakeeping characteristics, manoeuvrability and is optimised for operations in exposed waters by numerous features. The design consists of a large freeboard and more pronounced V-shaped frames in the lines of the fore ship. This, in combination with a more raised forecastle deck, ensures a relatively dry working deck. Providing high dynamic stability, the vessels deep skeg, bilge keels and relatively low wheelhouse ensure low accelerations for increased comfort, safety and seakeeping performance. The fendering system has a large contact area to assure low static contact pressure and large energy absorption capacity: This guarantees a low dynamic contact pressure during impact. 89 years Like Damen Shipyards Group, Fratelli Neri is a proud family-owned company with a long history. Damens origins go back 89 years. Neris activities began at the end of the nineteenth century when Costante Neri was involved in the coal trade from the United Kingdom. He expanded operations with the acquisition of a 65 hp coal-powered tug to offer salvage and wreck removal services. While Fratelli Neri has previously taken delivery of a Damen Stan Tender 1905 and two second-hand Stan Tugs 2608, the Luisa Neri is the companys first new build Damen tug. We are really looking forward to serving Fratelli Neri in the future. Although we hope that it doesnt take another 89 years for us to work together, quips Mr Trevisan. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the whole management team at Fratelli Neri for all the trust they put in this project. Their excellent cooperation throughout the building process made this a truly enjoyable experience for the project managers and the production team at Damen Maaskant. Considering the challenging delivery time, this contributed to the final success of the project, concludes Mr Trevisan. The extremely flexible characteristics of this tug, the experience and the professional capacities of Damen Shipyards Group together with the experience of the crew are such as to make us confident that this new unit will be able to fulfil the duties it will be asked to perform in a ready, efficient and safe way, says Fratelli Neri Managing Director, dott Piero Neri (great grandson of Costante Neri). A particular thanks goes to the workers, employees and the managers of Damen Shipyards Group, who have built such a powerful and efficient tug and also a thank to the management and inspectors of Neri Group, who have helped us in our long lasting project of renewal and improvement of our fleet. To Damen may the delivery of this tug be only the beginning of a long series of new building tugs with us. To this new ship, Luisa Neri, a long, safe navigation with her crew. Ten times as many migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea in the first six weeks of the year as in the same period of 2015, and the number of deaths also soared, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. The number of arrivals topped 76,000, and the number of deaths shot up to 409 on Mediterranean routes from 69 in the first six weeks of 2015, it said. The IOM also said it expected no fall in the number of arrivals in Europe and predicted that next month Greece would receive its one millionth arrival since the migrant crisis began. More than 1.1 million people fleeing poverty, war and repression in the Middle East, Asia and Africa reached Europe's shores last year, most of them heading for Germany. Around half the arrivals are refugees from the Syrian war, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says. The IOM reported that 70,365 migrants and refugees had arrived by sea in Greece so far this year, and 5,898 in Italy. Some 319 have died while crossing the eastern Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece and 90 on the central route between North Africa and Italy. IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the organization did not expect the number of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe to fall in the foreseeable future. "There are more concurrent crises around than we've ever seen at one time," he said. "Conditions on the ground in the countries that are feeding the migrant crisis are largely unchanged, so we think the numbers will probably stay the same." The short eastern Mediterranean crossing is safer than the central Mediterranean route, where there were a number of major sinkings in 2015. But Millman said the number of Aegean deaths had suddenly shot up at the end of last year, when small boats sank almost daily - possibly showing that migrants were using less seaworthy boats. By Emma Batha The Mighty Mississippi River connects 31 states and 2 Canadian Provinces by a liquid superhighway that includes over 250 tributaries and features more miles of inland waterways than the rest of the world combined. As I contemplate my thoughts on the importance of this great river system, there is no doubt that muddy water also runs through my veins. Nevertheless, much of my advocacy involves explaining to others not so closely in tune with this economic superhighway as to just how important it truly is. Follow the Money The Mississippi River is our countrys river, a history our heritage and all of that embodies our prosperity. The American farmer remains competitive in world markets because of the cost savings offered by waterborne transportation that connects the over 350 million acres of farm land to world markets. This month, however, Reuters reported that not one, but two cargoes of Argentine wheat were scheduled to arrive at Wilmington, North Carolina, indicating a rare situation where U.S. buyers actually found it cheaper to purchase imported grain than abundant domestic supplies. Surely, some of that price advantage stems from cheaper grain from South America. No doubt, the challenged state of U.S. locks, waterways and channels (not dredged to their controlling depths) had something to do with it, as well. Separately, dismal U.S. per capita investment in infrastructure ranks us globally at 143rd, or about $18 dollars per capita. Well before those numbers became public, however, I attempted to determine why navigation folks apparently did not like dredging contractors and ultimately, my conclusion was that it was all about funding. If the Corps of Engineers was properly funded and dredges were available then our channels would be maintained at fully authorized dimensions and in the end everyone would be happy with fluid commerce. At the same time, I also came to understand that dredging contractors were businessman too and that investing in a new dredge large enough to work on the nations deep-draft channels meant investing between $125 to $175 million dollars in one piece of equipment. In order to make such a large investment, the business model must predict a sizeable return on investment. The first real agreement I reached with dredge contractors was that the Harbor Maintenance Tax and related Trust Fund had to be unlocked. The surplus of over $9 billion unaccounted for dollars generated by this ad valorem tax has to be allocated for what it was originally intended for. Current Conditions Today, and as the Mississippi River stage at the Carrollton Gauge (New Orleans) over the last few weeks crested at just over 17 feet, there is a real need for additional dredges to recover the channel. But, even the most passionate stakeholders often misunderstand the hydrology of this great river, For example, a common assumption is that there is more water at flood stage so there is no need to dredge. The one place I know that is not true is in Southwest Pass, the critical entrance to the countrys interior from the Gulf of Mexico. Typically, the Corps Mississippi Valley New Orleans group (MVN) needs to actively dredge in Southwest Pass when the Carrollton Gauge approaches 10 feet and rising. The Carrollton Gauge has been over 12 feet since December 15, 2015, with a crest of 17.06 feet reported in mid-January, with the stage manipulated by the operation of the Bonnet Carre Spillway. The Carrollton Gauge is predicted to remain over 14 feet until February 10, 2016. Also in January, the Bar Pilots who are responsible for moving ships from the Gulf of Mexico to Pilottown were forced to implement a draft reduction of 4 feet to the new maximum draft of 43 feet from 47 feet. The scary part is that much more shoaling occurs when the stage level begins to recede, yet we lost 4 feet of draft before cresting. To make matters worse, the Corps only had one industry hopper dredge working on the channel, with another Government hopper dredge expected to arrive the following week. Nevertheless, recovering this channel after a flood event requires multiple dredges. A previous flood required up to eight hopper dredges to be used simultaneously to restore Southwest Pass. Without a doubt, more shoaling is coming and without additional dredges to respond, more severe draft reductions are likely. Since Hurricane Sandy, however, there have been considerable efforts to recover multiple east coast channels and to rebuild coastal acreage by pumping sediment to synthetically create land. The impact now is that all most if not all available dredges large enough to work on the Mississippi are working on Sandy Restoration or channel deepening projects on the east coast. Together, the Corps of Engineers and their dredging contractors are trying to figure out how to get the job done, keeping Southwest Pass, the revolving door to international trade, open. If you have never seen what 1.25 million cubic feet per second looks like you are really missing a spectacle. Locally, the reference is that this rate of flow would fill the Super Dome in one second. There are areas of river that have currents of over 15 knots and although there are dozens of navigation restrictions in place, commerce continues to move for now. Still, every foot of draft lost equates to $1 million in cargo left behind, so for each vessel that had to light load to 43 feet it left behind $4 million in cargo. Eventually, the cargo will get moved, but those higher costs are passed on to the consumer. Unless, of course, someone decides to import more wheat from South America. Even at 1.25 million cubic feet per second, Southwest Pass remains in crisis. Thats because, as the water goes, the mud and dirt stays. As the Corps of Engineers once again tries to solve the crisis, funding is no longer (at least for now) the problem. More equipment and dredges are needed. They will come, but only if stable and adequate funding is consistently available; year in and year out. This years USACE budget is a start. (As published in the February 2016 edition of Marine News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeNews) Qatar Petroleum has reached an agreement with Chevron Morocco Exploration Ltd., a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, to acquire a 30% participating interest from Chevrons 75% share in three deep-water offshore leases in the Kingdom of Morocco. Under the agreement, which was approved by the Moroccan government, Qatar Petroleum will acquire the 30% interest in the deep-water leases, while Chevron will retain a 45% interest and remains the operator and Morocco's Office National Des Hydrocarbures Et Des Mines will continue to have a 25% interest. The three offshore areas are Cap Rhir Deep, Cap Cantin Deep and Cap Walidia Deep. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, expressed pleasure at the finalization of the agreement, which he described as an important step towards building a mutually beneficial relationship with Chevron with particular emphasis on international upstream activities. It is no coincidence that Qatar Petroleums international presence is now extended to Morocco, a country which Qatar enjoys special relations with, he added. Ali Moshiri, President of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production said The agreement is a milestone in both companies efforts to maximize the value of exploration and production assets through long-term relationships. We are pleased to partner with Qatar Petroleum in offshore Morocco and are looking forward to use our joint capabilities in this exciting sub-salt play for the benefit of Morocco. The three offshore lease areas are located between 100-200 kilometers west and northwest of the Morocco city of Agadir. They encompass approximately 29,200 sq. kms with average water depths ranging from 100 meters to 4,500 meters. Getting ready to battle the cold in Norway, Marines with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 464 prepared for Operation Cold Response 2016 by loading CH-53E Super Stallions into a massive C-5 Galaxy at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Feb. 3. Loading the disassembled aircraft onto the C-5, the Marines closely monitored the giant heavy-lift helicopters to ensure they remained undamaged, as they were delicately maneuvered inside the aircraft. One of the struggles when loading these aircraft would include putting an already large aircraft into a slightly larger aircraft, said Cpl. Dennis L. Tice Jr., a CH-53E helicopter mechanic with HMH-464. It is almost like playing a game of operation, said Tice, referring to a once-popular childs game penalized players if they were careless in removing parts from small confined spaces. For some of the Marines, this was their first time loading a CH-53E into another aircraft. It is something that is not done very often, said Sgt. Kevin T. Peters, a crew chief with HMH-464. Its a rare occurrence, but doing it creates leaders for the next Marines that need to load an aircraft by giving them the knowledge and experience on how to properly load the CH-53E onto a C-5. After the aircraft were loaded, the Marines departed on their flight to Norway to begin training. Up to 2,000 Marines and 15,000 military personnel from 14 nations will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-level exercise. The key purpose of Cold Response is to train and educate participants on how to conduct joint combat operations in a cold-weather environment. After landing, we will off-load the aircraft and build up our training area, said Peters. When everything is put into place, we will begin conducting Operation Cold Response. U.S. Marines and sailors with Black Sea Rotational Force started cold-weather training 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle, Skoganvarre, Norway Feb. 4-6, 2016. Skoganvarre is in the Finnmark region of Northern Norway and is filled with plateaus and more than 130 lakes. We are doing cold-weather training in preparation for the upcoming exercise Cold Response 16, said Staff Sgt. Jake Roby, a platoon sergeant with Black Sea Rotational Force. Being able to work with NATO allies and conduct our mission in a cold weather environment effectively is the goal. The Norwegian military is hosting BSRF Marines and sailors at the Arctic Training Center North while the U.K. Royal Commando mountain leaders are teaching them how to survive and operate tactically in extreme environments. A snowshoe hike and setting up 10-man tents aimed to test the skills learned within the first weeks of classroom and hands-on training. Setting up involved a lot of small-unit leadership as well as [efficiency] said Cpl. Jimmy Sarath, a radio operator with BSRF. The unit conducted night movements, led by the U.K. Royal Marine instructors, assessing and hands-on analysis of ice thickness, and survival and avalanche skills while exposed to the arctic elements. I think the snowshoe hike through the thick snow and pulling the pulk [sled] emphasized a teamwork mentality that comes out when you are working as a group for an extended period of time, Roby said. Applying the skill sets the [U.K.] Royal Commandos taught us will ensure we receive the best training possible. Survival skills taught Marines and sailors techniques to be used in extreme and dangerous situations, from setting up a shelter to catching and killing their own food. Working with the [U.K.] Royal Commandos is a positive experience; they demonstrate professionalism in all the classes we have been taught, Sarath said. It is great seeing that military-to-military training strengthening ties and Marines grasping knowledge from them. Operating in winter conditions exposes Marines to new environments and creates new capabilities by learning from NATO allies. The avalanche training we received was beneficial, especially for Marines who have not experienced the snow before, Sarath said. This is my first time dealing with extreme cold. It isnt hard to adjust if you do exactly as the Royal Commandos have taught. The training will help Marines better support their NATO allies when they deploy for Cold Response 16 later this month. Marines have a better understanding of the signs and symptoms of cold weather injuries and how to prevent them, Roby said. When they are conducting a mission in extreme weather, they can move to the objective more effectively knowing how to operate in this environment. More Media Lieutenant Gen. William H. Fitch (ret.), the former Deputy Commandant for Aviation and a 32-year Marine veteran, died Jan. 19, 2016. A ceremony to celebrate his life was held at the Quantico National Cemetery in Triangle, Virginia, Feb. 4, 2016. With approximately 50 people, including family, friends and service members, gathered under a gazebo, Fitchs family took time to reflect on what he meant to them. When I look back at it, Uncle Bill was a patient and deliberate force in my life; when I needed it the most, he helped guide my life in and out of the military, said Cmdr. Jason Fitch, Fitchs nephew. By living life on his terms, [he] has reinforced everything I know about living life; how to honor and love your wife, take care of family first, and how to serve your country with integrity. So really, truly everyone should grow up with an Uncle Bill like I did, said Jason. Fitch was commissioned as a Marine Corps second lieutenant April 1, 1952. As a pilot, Fitch flew 310 combat missions in Vietnam and logged more than 6,800 flight hours in various aircraft, to include the F4U-5N Corsairs fighter aircraft, the AD-4B Skyraider attack aircraft, the A-4C Skyhawk attack aircraft and the FJ-4B fighter aircraft, of which the last two were still in development. During his tour in Vietnam, Fitch flew a night mission to take out a communication installation. Fitch was awarded the Silver Star for the bombing of the installation and maneuvering through dangerous terrain. Fitch was also the commanding officer for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 225, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 533, Marine Aircraft Group 14 and the 32nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. He also served as the commanding general of 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing before his final assignment as Deputy Commandant for Aviation until his retirement in 1984. A lot of the things the Deputy Commandant for Aviation has to do is drive programs to make sure tomorrows Corps is set up for success, said Lt. Gen. Jon M. Davis, the current Deputy Commandant for Aviation. General Fitch did that better than anyone I know. During Fitchs time as the Marine Corps top aviator, he voted to bring in the F-18D instead of the A-6F. Fitch felt the A-6F would not be up to what the Marine Corps needed in the future, despite being awarded his Silver Star while flying this aircraft. Everyone I knew and everyone I met who worked with him speaks of his ability to directly express what he wanted to see and what he expected of you, said Jason. Fitch was known for his unique leadership capabilities, according to Davis. An example of this is when he was at VMA-533, where he took them to Yuma, Ariz., and conducted more than 900 flight hours in 30 days, improving the young Marines confidence and experience with the aircraft in their unit. He then took them to Vietnam, where the squadron flew some of the most dangerous missions in North Vietnam. He was a visionary; his whole career was about supporting the Marine on the ground with Marine aircraft, said Davis. In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. This Privacy Policy (Policy) sets out our data collection and processing practices and your options regarding the ways in which your personal information is used. This Policy contains important information about your personal rights to privacy. Please read it carefully to understand how we use your personal data. We may update this Policy from time to time without notice to you, so please check it regularly. The provision of your personal data to us is voluntary. 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We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. Third party websites We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website. Updating information You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com Contact We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer however we have a Data Protection Manager. Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com From 1937-45, China became one of the main theatres of the Second World War. This entangling of China in World War II raised the country out of its subjugation on the world stage, such that at the Wars conclusion China was given a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Only 4 years later the immense Chinese revolution was finally completed, freeing China from imperialist domination. The war's violent dragging of China onto the world stage had effected a thoroughgoing internal transformation of China. In this article we examine the war and its effect on China, the role of the Chinese ruling class in the war, and the strategy and tactics of the Chinese Communist Party that led the revolution of 1949. [Editor's note: this was originally a 10 part serialised article, which has now been combined into a single article.] All this time was required to produce the philosophy of our day; so tardily and slowly did the World-spirit work to reach this goal. What we pass in rapid review when we recall it, stretched itself out in reality to this great length of time. For in this lengthened period, the Notion of Spirit, invested with its entire concrete development, its external subsistence, its wealth, is striving to bring spirit to perfection, to make progress itself and to develop from spirit. It goes ever on and on, because spirit is progress alone. Spirit often seems to have forgotten and lost itself, but inwardly opposed to itself, it is inwardly working ever forward (as when Hamlet says of the ghost of his father, Well said, old mole! canst work i the ground so fast?) until grown strong in itself it bursts asunder the crust of earth which divided it from the sun, its Notion, so that the earth crumbles away. Hegel, Philosophy of History In the dead of night on 8th July 1937, a unit of the Japanese Army opened machine gun fire on Chinese troops stationed around the Marco Polo or Lugou Bridge in Wanping, now a suburb of Beijing. The shots were fired in retaliation for the apparent (but not actual) kidnapping or killing of a Japanese soldier by the Chinese. But by the end of the night, the bridge was back in Chinese hands and both sides swiftly came to a gentlemanly agreement to prevent anything like this happening again. However, the high-minded intentions of the peace-loving Japanese and Chinese Generals notwithstanding, by the very next day hostilities had not only recommenced but increased, beginning an unavoidable slide to all out war. How can an insignificant little skirmish quickly resolved have been allowed to start a war? The Israeli occupation of Palestine has familiarised the contemporary reader with the principle that imperialist occupations have an insane logic of their own. The contradictions and injustice of the occupation are precisely the fuel for further encroachments and oppression; each act of resistance or even miscommunication a justification for defensive assaults on the occupied. The Japanese occupation of China after 1931 was no different, and it was just such a mistake which sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45, which was to be the Pacific theatre of World War II, claiming around 32m lives, the vast majority Chinese civilians. With a similar unconscious necessity, this entangling of China in World War II would raise the country out of its passivity and subjugation on the world stage, such that at the Wars conclusion China was given a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. But this violent dragging of China into world relations could not be achieved without effecting a thoroughgoing internal transformation of China. China could only match the tasks of modernity by throwing off all its accumulated baggage and mess from the past, and thus its modernisation and active participation in world politics meant the long overdue Chinese social revolution. The accidental spark known as the Marco Polo Bridge or Lugouqiao Incident is possibly the best example of necessity expressing itself through chance one could imagine. Crossed wires, mutual stubbornness and minor (or not so minor) outbreaks of verbal or actual hostilities are inherent in imperialist occupations, and of course they are always the responsibility of the imperialists. As the only point of connection between free China and the key city of Beijing (not then Chinas capital), the taking of the Marco Polo Bridge was naturally an immediate aim of the Japanese occupation of China, which was in reality a one-sided war ongoing since 1931 [see http://www.marxist.com/chinese-comminist-party-1927-37-part-8.htm]. Chiang Kai-shekFor that reason the Japanese had been patrolling the bridge every night with the kind permission of Chiang Kai Shek (the dictator of China), on the condition that the Japanese only inform the Chinese each night of their plans. For one reason or another, on the night of 8th July 1937 this communication failed to take place, leading the Chinese troops to interpret the maneuvers as an actual attack, who as a result fired their weapons (ineffectively). When a Japanese soldier failed to return with his squad, it was assumed he was killed or kidnapped, leading ultimately to the Japanese attack. Japan had its own reasons for using this pretext, which was an inevitable outcome of six years of occupation and exploitation, to further invade and enslave the profitable regions of China. But in addition to its main motivation of greed, several authors contend [see Guillermaz 1968, p287 and Eastman, Nationalist China During the Sino-Japanese War 1937-35] that a major cause of the Japanese aggression after this incident was the appearance of growing Chinese resolve to resist Japan as realised in the Guomindang governments new alliance with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. They wanted to strike before the Chinese had time to mobilise. The likelihood of this as a factor demonstrates the inseparability of the twins of the Sino-Japanese war and the Chinese revolution - as we have previously shown this resolve and unity came not from Chiang Kai Shek and his Guomindang. It was instead a product of the powerful impetus amongst the Chinese masses towards launching a revolutionary war against the Japanese invaders, an impetus that was fast propelling the CCP to the power it would finally take in 1949. Therefore, before we look at the eight years of war, we will examine this second unlikely alliance between the two nemeses of the Chinese revolution, the Guomindang and the CCP. This alliance to defend China was struck in the months before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident under revolutionary pressure. As Marxists we are naturally most interested in the perspectives and justification for the alliance that the CCP elaborated around 1937, in order that we can compare this with the actual history of the war and its aftermath. The CCPs Opportunist and Nationalist Perspectives in 1937 As explained previously, the CCPs perspectives for the Chinese revolution and war with Japan had been changed under Moscows orders in late 1935 in the direction of opportunism. The first major fruit of this perspective was the alliance struck with Chiang Kai Shek at gunpoint in late 1936. Why a revolutionary party, finding itself in possession of the defenceless dictator responsible for killing thousands of its own members, would then sign a deal with him on terms favourable to his regime, is analysed in our above linked article. Such a choice of action should in itself be enough to condemn the new perspectives of the CCP. What followed was a rapid degeneration of the partys programme along nationalist lines. National unity between the CCP and Guomindang was preached; talk of socialism was relegated, in its place the CCP promoted democratic reforms to be introduced by the Guomindang at its leisure; property, including of the landed kind, was not to be touched; rural soviets and the independent Red Army were to have their names changed and placed under Guomindang leadership. Outlining to party members his new perspectives, Mao stated that the democratic [i.e. not socialist] revolution (will) transform (itself) in the direction of socialism. There will be several stages of development in the democratic revolution, all under the slogan of the democratic republic, not under the slogan of the Soviet...We maintain that socialism will be reached through all the necessary stages of the democratic republic...To maintain that the bourgeoisie should be eliminated because of its transitional nature and to accuse the revolutionary groups of defeatism and collaboration with the bourgeoisie are Trotskyite words with which we cannot concur. The present alliance between the bourgeoisie and the revolutionary group is a necessary bridge to socialism. (Mao, speech to the National Conference of the CCP, 1937, our emphasis) We have already explained at length why the perspective of a necessary bourgeois democratic stage to the Chinese revolution was utterly false, as was proven concretely in 1927. For now, it is sufficient to point out that the very man whose personal dictatorship of China proved in practice the falseness of this perspective, was the man whom the CCP was here allying with as the embodiment of the present alliance between the bourgeoisie and the revolutionary group. If Chiang Kai Shek obliterated his previous alliance with the CCP and all hopes for a democratic stage to the revolution in 1927 by staging a violent coup, why rekindle that alliance only ten years later, during which time he had done nothing but strive for the physical liquidation of the CCP? Of course, what had changed since 1927 was the invasion by Japan. But it was elementary to anyone in the CCP that Chiang Kai Sheks dictatorship was the primary obstacle to fighting Japan, since he had pursued a policy of total capitulation to the stronger Japanese forces, concentrating instead on eliminating the CCP. Thus the Japanese invasion only further increased his criminality. Nevertheless, Mao argued that these policies must be carried out only with the consent of the Guomindang [i.e. of Chiang Kai Shek], because the Guomindang is at present still the largest party in power. (Mao, Urgent Tasks of the Chinese Revolution since the Formation of the KMT-CCP United Front, 1937). Well, it was the only party in power, because China was a one-party dictatorship! It is not an exaggeration to say that at this stage, the CCP was transforming itself into the chief prop of Chiangs dictatorship. Such a perspective requires the substitution of the reactionary nationalist ideology of national unity at all costs for one of class struggle. It is no surprise then, that at the same time the CCP, in a public statement only one week earlier than Maos above remarks, claimed that the aggression of imperialist Japan can only be overcome by the internal unity of our nation...all our fellow-countrymen, every single zealous descendent of Huangdi [Chinas first emperor] must determinedly and relentlessly participate (CCP Public Statement on KMT-CCP Co-operation, 1937, our emphasis). To clear up what was meant by all countrymen, Mao stated it is a united front of the whole nation...of all parties, groups, classes (Mao, op cit., our emphasis). The ideology of the CCP was at this time, under Maos leadership, drifting away from Marxism and internationalism and emphasising nationalism above all else. According to Brandt, Schwarz and Fairbank, Mao answered to the question whether the Communists are Chinese first or Communist first, with Without a Chinese nation there could be no CCP. The implication is clear - we are nationalists who use Marxism only insofar as it is useful to achieve national ends. This compares very unfavourably with Marx and Engels statement in the founding document of Marxism that the workers of the world have no country. Maos biographer Schram believes that for Mao himself, the alliance of all Chinese for the salvation of their country was not merely skilful tactics; it was a value in itself. (Schram, Mao Tse-Tung, our emphasis). The same author points out that the main content of political work [by the CCP at this point] both within the army and among the population was to preach national revival, to stimulate national consciousness (ibid). Defenders of the Party will argue that this emphasis merely reflected the concrete reality of fighting a war of national liberation, and that tapping into the national feeling to fight Japan was a revolutionary act, the first step on the road to social revolution. But the task of Marxists in preparing the masses for socialist revolution would in these circumstances be to elevate the national consciousness of the workers to class consciousness. This should not be hard to do given that the bourgeois nationalist party with which they were now in alliance, which was the only serious bourgeois party in China, had been practising a complete national sellout to the Japanese by refusing to fight them. This is further underlined by the fact that the Guomindangs new pledge to fight Japan was only won against their wishes and under revolutionary pressure from below. Contrary to Maos claims, the invasion did not make possible the alliance of all classes, instead it revealed the traitorous complicity of the ruling class in that invasion. To this should be added the general fact that, since the end of the Opium Wars, the Chinese bourgeoisie had always sacrificed the wider nations interests in favour of the imperialists for a share in the latters profits. The lesson for China was that, along with all other capitalist countries, it was not one nation to be united but a class divided nation. The perspectives outlined for the party by Mao in 1937 cut across the very real tendency for the CCP to gain support at the Guomindangs expense (being rightly seen as the only force prepared to stand up for the oppressed Chinese). The new programme worked to lower the masses consciousness of the need for the overthrow of Chiangs dictatorship. This is clear from the extraordinary historical revisionism in the Guomindangs favour which we find in Maos justifications for the alliance. He explained that as a result of the co-operation between the two parties on major policies, the Great Revolution of 1925-7 was successfully guided[!!] to the point where we were able to achieve, within two or three years, the revolution for nationalism, democracy, and peoples livelihood (Mao, op cit.). For those unclear on exactly what happened in the revolution of 1925-7, please see our series of articles here:http://www.marxist.com/90-years-of-the-chinese-communist-party-part-one.htm. For the aftermath of this successful revolution, please see our subsequent series of articles: http://www.marxist.com/chinese-comminist-party-1927-37-part-1.htm. Suffice it to say here that the revolution of 1925-7 was wrecked because of this alliance, and its product was twenty two years of dictatorship, the virtual breakup of the nation into warlords fiefdoms, and the continuing domination of the country by Japan and the West. One can hardly imagine a less successful revolution. This revisionism was followed up with poetic praise for Chinas dictator and his apparent role in freeing China, If [the Guomindang] do not consent [to our offer of an alliance to fight Japan], then...Japanese imperialism will not be defeated[but] the more intelligent members and leader of the KMT will certainly not allow this to happen. (Ibid). No wonder then that Roosevelts personal envoy to Chiang Kai Shek Patrick Hurley did not believe that Mao and his comrades were real Communists (Schram, op. cit.), and that Molotov had told him that the Chinese were radish Communists, red on the outside, white on the inside! (Harrison, The Long March to Power). The alliance between the bourgeoisie and the revolutionary group in Practice Mao in 1946Given that Chiang Kai Shek described the Communists as Chinas disease of the heart as opposed to the mere skin disease that were the Japanese, the second attempt at mixing the oil and water of the Guomindang and CCP would require a special recipe concocted to meet Chiangs tastes. This can already be seen in the above quoted historical revisionism of Mao in which he paints the Guomindangs history in bright colours. At this time Mao also predicted a brilliant future for the Guomindang, and praise[d] its great leader Chiang Kai Shek (Schram, op cit.), whom Mao also especially hope[d] would take up the task of reform (Mao, op cit.). The concrete application in policy was of subordination to the Guomindangs political programme and leadership, under the one precondition that the Guomindang remain committed to fighting the Japanese - though that too was predictably violated, as Mao admitted in 1945 that 64% of the fighting against the Japanese and 95% of that against Japanese puppets was carried about by the much smaller CCP forces (Mao, Chinas Strategy for Victory). This meant in practice that the CCP publicly pledged that it abandons all its policy of overthrowing the KMT by force and the movement of sovietization, and discontinues its policy of forcible confiscation of land from landlords...abolishes the present Soviet government and practices democracy based on the peoples rights in order to unify the national political power...abolishes the designation of the Red Army, reorganises it into the [Guomindang controlled] National Revolutionary Army, places it under the control of the Military Affairs Commission of the National government, and awaits orders (CCP Public Statement on KMT-CCP Co-operation, 1937, our emphasis) For any who still believe that in making such statements, the CCP was merely maneuvering to gain legality and breathing space for itself, or to tap into any feeling for national unity without actually surrendering independence from the Guomindang, it must be noted that these public pledges were accompanied by a drive from Mao and the CCP for a common political programme for both parties (Mao, op cit.). In the same document of 1937 Mao argues for the need for co-operation between officers and men in the army, without in any way putting forward concrete demands regarding the character of the army, the election of officers or any other social or progressive content whatsoever. Such a position, when coupled with the offer of abolishing the Red Army, the Soviet political bases and for a common political programme acceptable to the Guomindang dictatorship, could only mean supporting the domination of rank-and-file peasant soldiers by the corrupt Guomindang officers. We have argued in our previous series on China that such a strategy of political alliance with the Guomindang may indeed have been cleverly engineered to gain the party greater organisational breathing space; but as we showed, this only reveals a complete degeneration for a Marxist organisation. In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels stress that The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. As we argued previously, the point is that they publicly declared they were [following the Guomindangs orders]. They publicly supported and propped up the Guomindang bourgeois dictatorship. They deflected popular anger away from Nanjing, and thus made themselves incapable of mobilising the masses for a political overthrow of the regime. This is borne out by the fact that little was gained in the way of recruits or influence from within the Guomindang. CCP members doing entry work in the Guomindang were generally isolated and for the moment served mainly in intelligence work (Harrison, op cit, p350). It must be understood that this inversion of priorities, of sacrificing the duty to raise the class consciousness of the masses for organisational gains, flows from its abandonment of its urban working class base for a strategy of using the countryside to win power militarily and independently of any mass class mobilisation. This thinking is revealed in a Party meeting in August 1937 in which a compromise was reached whereby the CCP accepted Guomindang military leadership and the "suspension of the political commissar system", but "would keep real control under the CCP". "Zhang Wentian proposed and won approval for, first, following nationalist orders in Shanxi and assigned areas in order to gain nationalist confidence... Then expanding into other areas." (Harrison, op cit.). In September 1938 Mao reported to the CCP Central Committee that to subordinate the class struggle to the present national struggle to resist Japan - that is the fundamental principle of the united front (Ibid). [I]n September and November he sent pledges of support for Chiangs leadership (Ibid), as did Zhou Enlai according to Chiang himself. He even accepted in advance two limitations similar to those which Chiang had imposed in 1926 [and which aided his coup and subsequent slaughter of Communists] on the activity of Communists in the Guomindang: a complete list of Communist Party members who joined the Guomindang would be handed over to the latter, and Guomindang members would not be recruited into the Communist Party (Schram, op cit.). Finally, we can add to this that the party publicly promoted in its Manifesto on the Current Situation that it was not only cooperating with the dictatorship under the special and dire circumstances of the war, but also that it is determined to cooperate [with the Guomindang] for national reconstruction after the successful conclusion of the war (Harrison, op cit., our emphasis). There can be no doubt that the CCP was in this time guilty of out and out opportunism and a complete abandonment of any Marxist, class based perspective for the war and Chinas future. All this was justified under the tag united front. Let us therefore compare Maos United Front with the classical United Front worked out by Lenin and Trotsky in the Third International. Lenins United Front The starting point for the united front tactic of Bolshevism is political independence. We mean by this not necessarily refusing to work with or in other parties and tendencies, but only steadfastly committing to a truthful Marxist analysis, irrespective of this or that trend or pressure. In fact, the Bolsheviks were always independent, in the sense that they never compromised in the defence of their revolutionary programme, policy and theory (Woods, Bolshevism). As Trotsky said on behalf of the leadership of the Communist International in 1922, In order to summon the proletariat for the direct conquest of power and to achieve it the Communist Party must base itself on the overwhelming majority of the working class. So long as it does not hold this majority, the party must fight to win it. The party can achieve this only by remaining an absolutely independent organization with a clear programme and strict internal discipline. The question of all questions for Marxist parties is how to help the working class become conscious of this programme and its necessity, in other words, how to unite the maximum possible number of proletarians around a revolutionary programme. It is the role of the united front tactic to bridge the gap between Marxists and their programme on the one side and the working masses on the other, many of whom will be involved in and loyal to non-revolutionary organisations. Now, it is a rather difficult and clumsy discussion to compare the united front tactic as worked out in the Communist International under Lenins leadership, with Maos purported united front with Chiang Kai Sheks Guomindang, since none of the conditions for the former apply to the latter. In particular, the united front is not operable outside the context of working class organisations. It has no purpose other than to raise the need for unity amongst workers and to reveal that the chief obstacle to that is the erroneous reformist leadership of many workers organisations, such as the Social Democracy. Only those who cannot think dialectically imagine that a united front of different political forces requires the denial or suppression of those differences. On the contrary, it opens up a broader and more equal platform for the fighting out of those forces, within the confines of and in relation to certain agreed common aims. A common campaign allows all forces of that campaign to debate with one another as to the best means to achieve the campaigns ends, and of course to debate the real causes of and solutions to the issue at hand. Hence the fact that in the Communist Internationals formulations for the United Front tactic to be employed under different circumstances by different sections, it was expressly stated that any sort of organizational agreement which restricts our freedom of criticism and agitation is absolutely unacceptable to us. We participate in a united front but do not for a single moment become dissolved in it. We function in the united front as an independent detachment. It is precisely in the course of struggle that broad masses must learn from experience that we fight better than the others, that we see more clearly than the others, that we are more audacious and resolute. (Trotsky, On the United Front, 1922) It is self evident that the logic of these two united fronts is diametrically opposite. The united front of Marxists is a clear and carefully chosen political programme advanced to raise the revolutionary consciousness of the working class, and operates only in the context therefore of workers organisations. The demands and political content of the call for a united front must be framed in relation to the workers real problems and their solutions; thus the programme has an educational content. It is not so much about necessarily achieving unity in action, although that would be desirable, especially if under the instigation of the Marxists: A policy aimed to secure the united front does not of course contain automatic guarantees that unity in action will actually be attained in all instances. On the contrary, in many cases and perhaps even the majority of cases, organizational agreements will be only half-attained or perhaps not at all. But it is necessary that the struggling masses should always be given the opportunity of convincing themselves that the non-achievement of unity in action was not due to our formalistic irreconcilability but to the lack of real will to struggle on the part of the reformists. (Ibid) Maos United Front with Chiang Kai Shek, on the other hand, has a directly contrary logic. Mao was indeed correct to centre the CCPs programme around the need for a war to be waged against the Japanese occupation. Given that there were no mass organisations of the working class in China at this time, there was no basis for a united front proposal to fight Japan, since workers were not loyal to reformist leaders. However, if we allow ourselves the luxury of imagining the Guomindang was a mass workers organisation, then it would have been necessary for the CCP from 1931 onwards to place the demand on it for a united front to fight Japan. This call could then be filled with a Marxist content - in other words, its concrete points would be that such a war should be organised by the workers organisations involving such weapons as a general strike, occupations of Japanese owned factories and the formation of a workers militia responsible to the trade unions etc. There can be no doubt that such a call, if energetically campaigned for in the cities amongst the working class, would have gained an enormous echo and helped the CCP to rebuild in urban centres. It would not matter from this point of view if the proposal were rejected by the other party; the CCP would have made its point and would have advanced class consciousness thereby. Precisely because the Guomindang was not a democratic workers organisation with a real base, but was instead a bourgeois party under the direct control of the state apparatus, the CCPs offer of unity with it could have no such character. It would be useless and absurd to fill the proposal with a revolutionary class content, for the Guomindang represented a different class and was already detested by workers. That is why the proposal lacked any programmatic content. It served no educational value for workers and can only have alienated them from the CCP - which had up till 1936 regained a degree of respect from workers for being the only organisation willing to fight Japanese imperialism and for its unjust suppression by the Guomindang. At a stroke, the alliance with Chiang Kai Shek served to destroy much of this. Maos sole justification for the alliance was that it rallied a greater number of people to fight Japanese imperialism because armed invasion by Japanese imperialists has brought about changes in class relations in China, thus making imperative and making possible the alliance of all classes (Mao, Urgent Tasks of the Chinese Revolution since the Formation of the KMT-CCP United Front, 1937, our emphasis). If that were the case, the Guomindang would have not spent the first six years of the occupation co-operating with the Japanese to fight the CCP. Why was the proposal for the alliance made before the intensification of the occupation after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, and why could the Guomindangs hand in this alliance only be won on the basis of literally holding a gun to Chiang Kai Sheks head, if the invasion had made possible and natural an alliance of all classes? As argued above, a far better way to rally greater numbers to fight would have been to consistently make an appeal to the working class for a general strike and the formation of urban workers militias like in Shanghai in 1927 to overthrow the Japanese and the capitulationist dictatorship of Chiang, and to organise militias in the cities to cripple the Japanese. We will see in the course of these articles that there is no evidence that the unity of these two parties ensured a stronger resistance. Japan maintained its occupation and got what it wanted from China throughout the war until it was defeated by the US in 1945, and a class based mobilisation of strikes in the industries the Japanese were profiting from would have been far more effective. We will also see how, far from changing the class relations and somehow bringing the bourgeoisie into solidarity with the workers, the rotten Chinese bourgeoisie only intensified its plundering of the nation and used the oppression of the Japanese as an excuse to economically and politically crush the working class. Unfortunately, the CCPs alliance with the bourgeoisie only aided the latter in doing so. The CCPs Direct Participation in the Regime A Marxist organisation must be extremely flexible in its tactics. Any opportunity to reach a bigger audience with its ideas should be considered. That can even mean, in conditions of dictatorship or political repression, forging temporary alliances with liberals to gain political freedoms or changing the language of ones publications to get it past the censor - but always under the condition that the fundamental revolutionary ideas and programme are not thereby violated. Indeed, the more the party understands correctly the necessary political programme for building socialism, the more confident it will be of applying this flexibly without selling out. After the CCPs mistaken alliance with Chiang was made, there were many more legal openings for the party to take. The question is, did they skilfully use these to advance a socialist programme to the working class? One such political opening was the convening of the Peoples Political Council in 1938, which is comparable to the Dumas formed under the Tsar in Russia, but without even the slither of democracy the Dumas represented. In the workers elections to the Shidlovsky Commission in 1905, the Bolsheviks rightly participated in the early stages, despite the sham democracy the elections represented. This is because for the first time in Russian history it afforded the working class a limited opportunity to express itself politically and organisationally, and so by participating the Bolsheviks linked themselves and their programme with the masses, gained a larger audience for their ideas and in turn themselves learnt from the working class. However, there was a strict political limit placed on this tactic which was that there could be no democratic liberal intrusions into the politics they put forward. Instead, they used the opportunity of the elections to denounce the Tsarist regime and the idea of a peaceful, liberal democratic reform of it. At no point did the Bolsheviks use the elections to seek careers for themselves nor did they entertain any illusions in reforming the regime from within. In some cases they ran in the first round of elections, to gain a hearing, only to boycott the second round. In genuine bourgeois democracies, Marxists would participate in Parliament under certain conditions, but again would in no way seek to sow illusions in its democratic nature as the true voice of the people, but would instead simply use it as a soap box for revolutionary ideas. Given the CCPs perspectives of national unity with the Guomindang dictatorship, it is not surprising that when these legal openings for the CCP did arise after 1937 they did precisely the opposite of the Bolsheviks up to 1917. The Peoples Political Council was a mere consultative assembly formed by Chiang in 1938 to appease demands for democratic reform without threatening his own rule. Several leading Communists were invited (not elected) by Chiang to participate in this body. Given that this body had no democratic legitimacy or independence whatsoever, it is elementary that the CCP should have denounced this move and demanded instead a real Constitutional Assembly. Instead they participated in the council which they used chiefly not to address the masses with revolutionary ideas but to develop alliances with the liberals, both within and without the Guomindang, who also sat in this council. One can only imagine the spectacle this presented to the Chinese workers enduring the twin evils of occupation and Guomindang dictatorship as well as ruthless exploitation and poverty made constantly worse by hyper-inflation. The effect would not be dissimilar to that of the discrediting of social democracy in contemporary Western society in the eyes of the working class. In total contradiction with this was Lenins method, which always warned most sharply against alliances and illusions in liberalism, the nice face of the regime of capitalist dictatorship, the most dangerous of advisers are those liberal friends of the workers who claim to be defending their interests, but are actually trying to destroy the class independence of the proletariat and its organisation. (Lenin, The Liberals Corruption of the Workers, 1914) At the same time, Zhou Enlai was invited to attend the Guomindang National Executive Congress...he was even appointed Deputy Minister of Political Training in the army, maintaining the post until 1940, though its attributions were entirely honorific (Guillermaz, op cit., our emphasis). In other words, the leading Communist Zhou Enlai accepted political and moral responsibility for the bourgeois Guomindang dictatorship without even gaining the consolation of a little control of the army! It is interesting to note that at exactly the same time as this, the Stalinists in Spain (along with the Anarchists) were participating in another bourgeois government to save the country from the threat of fascism. In both cases the tactic led to the negation of any effective working class based resistance to fascism, whether foreign or native. Finally, the CCPs self-debasement in favour of liberalism was completed when it enthusiastically lent support to the US governments proposals for liberal reform in China in 1944, taking the opportunity to flatter the American imperialists at the same time by heap[ing] lavish praise on the American democratic tradition (Schram, op cit.) - despite the fact that at this time, as previously and as they would do in the civil war after Japans defeat, the US continued to arm and support the Guomindang against the CCP. Just before they agreed a project with US General Hurley for liberal democratic reform (on terms agreeable to US imperialism of course), the CCPs Liberation Daily wrote that: Democratic America has already found a companion, and the cause of Sun Yat Sen a successor, in the Chinese Communist Party and the other democratic forces (quoted in Schram, op cit.). This reveals the full extent of the CCPs descent into opportunism in the late 1930s on the eve of the war that would decide Chinas fate and put all political and class forces to the test. With this understanding of the programme of the CCP and the alliance of political forces, we must now evaluate the playing out of the Second Sino-Japanese War not only so that we can better understand the background to the peculiar revolution of 1949, but also so that we can understand what could have happened had the party had a Marxist programme and leadership. The Sino-Japanese War If the Japanese leadership had not planned the Marco Polo Bridge Incident which sparked the full-scale war, they didnt let that show. By October, only three months after the war started, the Japanese had already reached the most westerly point of the entire war. They succeeded in totally destroying Chinas air force in only a few weeks, which enabled them to mercilessly bomb civilians for the remainder of the war with no threat to themselves, like shooting fish in a barrel (Guillermaz, op cit. pp287). Between 1939 and 1941, the temporary capital of free China, Chongqing, was bombed 268 times, with 4,400 being killed in the first two raids (Eastman, op cit.). Within a year Japan had effectively taken control of all the lucrative areas of China it desired - that is the industrially developed and agriculturally productive North and East of the country. In a number of key battles that were all over by the end of 1938, the Japanese brutally crushed any hopes of an effective Guomindang led resistance. Losing 15 of 18 Provinces We have argued that a far more effective means of fighting the Japanese would have been to organise a revolutionary war of resistance by mobilising the hundreds of millions of Chinese workers and peasants on a socialist programme to make the occupation impossible. Given that the CCP sacrificed this perspective for one of collaboration with the militarily stronger but politically reactionary Guomindang, it is our duty to honestly assess the calibre of this fighting force with which the CCP had allied at such great political cost. Evidently, the Guomindang did not match up well to the Japanese since it only took the latter twelve months to achieve all it wanted - the control of North and East China and the total destruction of the Chinese air force. The anti-Japanese united front for which Mao argued so vociferously failed spectacularly to defend China. But how and why? Part of the reason for Japans rapid success was Chiang Kai Sheks cruel contempt for the Chinese people. Despite Chiangs nationalism, these hundreds of millions never entered his plans as Chinas greatest force for resistance. Anticipating the war he argued in 1935 that even if we lose 15...of the 18 provinces of China proper, with Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces in our control we will definitely beat any enemy (quoted in Eastman, op cit.). Instead of spending the period from 1935 onwards to prepare the masses in the 15 other provinces to make the Japanese occupation impossible, he sacrificed those millions to Japans tender mercies with barely a fight. The key northern cities of Beijing and Tianjin were taken with ease by Japan in only a few days in late July 1937 thanks to Japans already existing military occupation of Manchuria. Immediately after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan was able to mobilise 160,000 troops in Northern China in only a few weeks. The vital southern city of Canton (now Guangzhou) fell without a fight in October 1938. The most graphic application of Chiangs policy of sacrificing the majority of China to the Japanese was his scorched earth policy in which he took the trouble to kill and destroy Chinese people and industry on behalf of the Japanese in order to make their occupation less feasible. For example, in November 1938, as the Japanese were approaching Changsha, capital of Hunan province, it was decided to set fire to the entire city to make its occupation strategically pointless and costly. Tragically, in their haste they started the blaze before everyone had evacuated, so not only was this historic city destroyed but so were the lives of 2,000 of its inhabitants. A much worse incident had already taken place in June of 1938 on the Yellow River at Kaifeng, Henan province. Retreating from encircling Japanese forces, the Guomindang commanders hit upon the idea of destroying the entire valley behind them by diverting the great river in order to halt the Japanese. It worked rather too well, flooding 4-5,000 whole villages and leaving over two million homeless, destitute and without crops and food (Eastman, op cit.). Guillermaz even claims that millions of Chinese peasants died from the loss of harvest. It was a funny kind of national united front against Japan when the nationalists were often responsible for more death and destruction of Chinese than were the Japanese. The Invasion of Shanghai and the Nanjing Massacre Despite the policy of retreat and self-sacrifice (or rather, the policy of sacrificing the Chinese masses on their behalf), there were some instances of determined Guomindang led-fight backs and even victories in the early days of the war, however these often only sparked off a more vicious Japanese assault for which the Chinese were not prepared. Only one month after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Japanese found a pretext for invading the lucrative city of Shanghai when a Japanese lieutenant was killed by a Chinese guard in August 1937. The Japanese lost no time in seizing the excuse for an invasion with a front line of troops formed outside the city in a couple of weeks. Feeling that to lose Shanghai without a fight would be too politically humiliating, Chiang moved in roughly 300,000 soldiers to the city to fight the 200,000 of Japan (Guillermaz, op cit. p291). However despite not only their numerical superiority but also their enormous home advantage, the Guomindang army lost the battle with around 270,000 killed and by November were retreating from Shanghai. History shows that an occupying force, even one of tremendous technical superiority, can have enormous difficulties in winning a war in a large city if its inhabitants are united in fighting against the occupation. Every building becomes a war zone, a potential hiding place for snipers and bombs, every citizen a potential soldier. It is therefore testament to the Guomindangs fear of and hostility to their own people, as well as their general ineptness and corruption, that they failed to hold Shanghai or make the Japanese occupation of it particularly difficult despite the fact that the latter had not even made plans to invade this far south. As Guillermaz points out (referring to later battles), the Japanese action was helped at a political level by the unpopularity of the nationalist troops who, underfed and undisciplined, laid waste countryside already hit by severe famine. Had the CCP spent the decade since 1927 rebuilding a base in cities like Shanghai, campaigning against the bourgeois dictatorship of Chiang Kai Shek and for the need to wage a revolutionary war with Japan, they could have mobilised the working class of Shanghai (their original stronghold along with Canton) for a general strike and urban guerrilla warfare against this Japanese invasion. But worse was to come from this defeat, for Chinese forces retreated in such a way as to give the Japanese open access to Nanjing, the then capital of free China, failing even to use the deliberately constructed concrete fortifications outside the city, which the Japanese entered on 13th December 1937. This was when the defenceless population suffered the infamous rape of Nanjing in which up to 300,000 civilians were raped and massacred, for which one of the chief perpetrators Prince Asaka was never tried. The methods of killing included burying alive and burning alive with kerosene (Eastman, op cit.). The Guomindang government fled Nanjing and set up a temporary command in Hankou (now part of Wuhan) before reestablishing the national government in Chongqing, which would remain the capital until the end of the war. The Character of Chiang Kai Sheks Military If war is a continuation of politics by other means, than it is no surprise to find the Guomindangs army was as corrupt, inefficient, inept and exploitative as was his political tutelage. We have already explained the reasons for the corruption and degeneracy of Chiangs regime. In summary, despite being a so-called party of national unity and modernisation, because in coming to power it had to base itself on Chinas weak and corrupt bourgeoisie in order to defeat the working class-led revolution, the party sunk into the worst backwardness. It abandoned itself to the most reactionary forces, in particular landlordism and warlordism, since those were the ones who were allies against the CCP. Thus Chiang maintained his power by balancing between, flattering and bribing the archaic local warlords and the most corrupt speculative capitalists. His regime had to be one of corruption because its power base was an inherently corrupt class. He had no independent power to unite the country, and so it actually became more divided into competing warlord fiefdoms than before. Frequently, when his power loomed too large above those of his lords, they would forge alliances against him, and he would have to bribe one or the other with promises of political influence. Chiang very much resembled a feudal king or chief thief sitting uneasily atop many lesser thieves. Given that Chiangs power was based on that of local warlords, it is unsurprising that such corruption and disunity found its sharpest expression in the military and the war against Japan. Many Chinese commanders were hesitant and cowardly. Most of them had enjoyed regional autonomy too long to risk their lives and power merely at Chiang Kai Sheks command. Governor Han Fuju, for example, ignominiously abandoned Shandong province to the Japanese, although he, in contrast to most, paid for his disregard of Chiangs orders with his life. He was executed in January 1938...It was not, however, a united, national army, but a coalition of armies which differed in degrees of loyalty to the central government as well as in training, equipment and military capabilities...Long Yun, governor of Yunnan, for example, resisted central government encroaches upon his provincial power...Governor Yan Xishan, commander of the Second War Zone in North China and vice chairman of the Military Council, ruled his native Shanxi as an autonomous satrapy. He prohibited units of the Central Army from entering his war zone...since 1941, Yan had even maintained close and amiable relations with the Japanese. (Ibid). Eastman points out that from non-Central Chinese armies, 12 generals defected to the Japanese in 1941, 15 in 1942 and 42 in 1943, taking with them around 500,000 troops who were now used against the Guomindang and, in the main, the CCP! And of course we cannot leave out the most infamous of all desertions, that of Wang Jingwei, who in 1927 was trumpeted by the CCP as the leader of the Guomindangs left wing and a reliable ally for the Communists. In 1938 he deserted the Guomindang and by 1940 was installed as the leader of Japans puppet Reorganised National Government of China based in Nanjing. As with all gangster politicians, Chiang demoted or minimised the influence of the few generals with actual talent since they posed a threat to his power with their independent ideas and incorruptibility. The others were promoted precisely because they were mediocre or came from powerful warlord backgrounds but typically with no idea how to fight a modern war - nor the desire to do so. The epitome of this was reached when in 1944 Roosevelt demanded that Chiang place the US general Stilwell in full command of the war effort since Chiang and his commanders could not be relied upon, and instead Chiang sent Stilwell back to America, understanding this as a mortal threat to his own power. Stilwell was replaced by General Wedemeyer, who quickly drew the same conclusions and hit the nail on the head when he described Chiangs commanders as incapable, inept, untrained, petty...altogether inefficient. Class exploitation in the Military What they lacked in talent, determination and unity, they made up for in the art of exploitation and cruelty for their own troops. All males between 18 and 45 were subject to military conscription, however recruitment was left in the hands of the local gentry [again revealing Chiangs complete dependence on these anachronistic classes and lack of any real national state apparatus], which meant that al the relatively well-off families escaped conscription. Consequently the poorest and physically weakest sections of the population found themselves herded into primitive depots, and then had to cover several hundred or thousand kilometres on foot to join their units. Out of 1,670,000 men conscripted in 1943, 750,000 never reached their destination. (Guillermaz, op cit., p302, our emphasis) In many cases peasants were simply rounded up without any formal conscription process taking place. Guillermaz quotes General Wedemeyer on the realities of conscription, Conscription comes to the Chinese peasant like famine or flood, only more regularly - every year twice - and claims more victims. Famine, flood, and drought compare with conscription like chicken pox with the plague. Eastman adds more horrific details to the treatment of peasant conscripts, Frequently the recruits were tied together with ropes around their necks. At night they might be stripped of their clothing to prevent them from sneaking away. For food, they received only small quantities of rice, since the conscripting officers customarily squeezed the rations for their own profit. For water, they might have to drink from puddles by the roadside - a common cause of diarrhoea. Soon, disease coursed through the conscripts bodies. Medical treatment was unavailable, however, because the recruits were not regarded as part of the army until they had joined their assigned units...Within a month [of General Wedemeyers appointment] he realised that the soldiers were too weak to march and were incapable of fighting effectively, largely because they were half starved...An American expert, who in 1944 examined 1,200 soldiers from widely different kinds of units, found that 57% of the men displayed nutritional deficiencies that significantly affected their ability to function as soldiers. Unsurprisingly, not only did millions of soldiers die from starvation and disease - more than from fighting the Japanese - but in many cases over half the soldiers in a given unit would desert - sometimes to the CCP, others just fled in desperation. It is genuinely not an exaggeration to say that during the Sino-Japanese war, the most fearful and directly harmful enemy of the Chinese people was their own Guomindang government (and the class it represented). This is the reality of the regime established by Chinas successful bourgeois revolution of 1927. It is undeniable proof that the Chinese bourgeoisie, to the extent it even existed, was incapable of taking society forwards or even holding it together. This was a rotten, bedraggled and crisis ridden regime ripe for the overthrow. We believe we have shown enough evidence of corruption, cruelty, ineptness and disunity to prove that the CCPs about-face and silencing of all anti-Guomindang propaganda was profoundly wrong. The united-front was clearly a farce because the Guomindang could not even hold together its own army to fight Japan, not to speak of the way it ran the economy and exploited the working class (more on that soon). And yet despite finding itself unable to organise an army worthy of the name, it did manage to keep one generals forces well fed and trained - those of General Hu Zongnan, because it was his troops that in the early 40s - whilst the united front was still being practiced by the CCP - that were charged with containing the CCPs forces in the north. At times in the war Chiang committed as many as 500,000 of his best troops to blockading the CCPs bases, especially after the Guomindangs treacherous role in the New 4th Army Incident, which will be explained in part III. Throughout the war Chiang deliberately held back the anti-Japan war effort in order to save his forces for a future struggle to wipe out the CCP. This fact says everything about the sincerity of the Guomindangs alliance with the CCP to defeat Japan. The united-front was always a fiction dreamt up in Moscow and imposed onto the Chinese reality, because for Stalin the CCP was not an agent of the Chinese revolution but a bargaining chip in his negotiations with Chiang Kai Shek. This is underlined by the fact that the USSR signed a treaty of nonaggression [with Chiang Kai Shek] on August 21, 1937, sent aid of about $300m to the Nationalists, and stationed as many as 500 military advisors and pilots with them, though none with the Communists, so far as is known. All this aid reportedly led Mao to query in December, 1937, If so much could be given to Chiang Kai Shek, why could we not get a small share? Why indeed. The Literal Bankruptcy of Chiang Kai Sheks Regime The same ossified, fractured approach to the war effort was the defining characteristic of Chinas economy in this period. Social and economic life was choked by an intolerably corrupt, short sighted and grasping bureaucracy taking advantage of the absence of a strong capitalist class able to control the state. This state of affairs, already firmly entrenched by the ten years of Chiangs rule before 1937 fed off itself in a vicious circle; the dead end of Chinese capitalism and all pervasive corruption it caused only further encouraged those with the ability to fleece the state, workers, peasants and anyone else to do so with abandon. Faced with a Japanese blockade of what was already an extremely sickly economy, the government increased its issuance of currency over 700 fold from 1937 to 1945; as a result average prices rose over the same period by a multitude of 2,395! There are a number of reasons why price rises were around three times as high as the increase in currency; the main one was most likely the huge decline in industrial output after Japan took possession of the most productive cities, meaning that supply could not meet demand. Industrial production fell to below 12% of the prewar level. As well as the loss of factories to Japan, within Guomindang controlled China 82% of factories folded due to a particularly short-sighted boom in 1939-40 (Eastman, op cit.). Farmers in turn started to hoard grain as they had lost confidence in the currency, the resulting lack of grain naturally caused this staple commodity to rise in price, worsening the inflation. Additionally, during the 1930s the rural economy suffered under the iron fist of Chiang, who imposed compulsory labour onto the peasantry that benefited the rich landowners, and the brutality of this experience forced them into striking (Bianco & Lloyd, Peasant Movements, Cambridge History of China volume 13, p290). Agricultural production worsened still thanks to the Japanese invasion, especially from 1942 onwards, further impoverishing both rural and urban workers (Myers, The Agrarian System, Cambridge History of China volume 13, pp267-9). Indeed the effects of this on the working class were devastating, as wages failed to rise by anything like this amount, a fact which Eastman perversely celebrates as the one success of Chinas hyper-inflation, the consequences of inflation were not all negative. During the eight years of war, for example, real wages of workers rose only during 1938; thereafter, to the benefit of employers, they declined. The destitution of the working class is always a silver lining for the capitalists when enduring a crisis! With rampant inflation came rampant speculation, which had always been the chief vice of Chinas capitalist class (see the above linked article), diverting investment from productive activity: investors made substantially larger profits simply by storing the cotton than by chancing long term investment in mills that processed cotton (Ibid). 86% of liquid capital went into speculation as opposed to real investment in 1944! Thanks to all this, from 1937-45 industrial workers real wages fell by more than half! Roughly the same figure applies to rural workers, although farmers who owned their land only saw their incomes fall by around 20%. But extraordinarily, the real wages of civil servants, university workers and professors and soldiers all fell by around 90%! (Ibid). The poverty of soldiers, professors and civil servants is explicable by the governments austerity drive to counter the costs of inflation on war expenditure, and in the case of the civil servants also gives an insight into why corruption became so rampant. We apologise for the lack of a discussion of the CCPs analysis, propaganda and political intervention regarding this dire economic situation and class exploitation, but thanks to its alliance with Chiang Kai Shek and its absorption in rural and military survival, the CCP said and did little or nothing about this state of affairs. Consequently it failed to make political headway amongst urban workers, students and professors. Rapidly spiralling prices, which the government had failed to anticipate, forced a reaction. In 1941 it started to scratch around for tax revenue to pay for the war. Thus it fell back on the hated likin tax (again, please see above linked article), one of the most economically depressing taxes possible, as well as other ingenious taxes like the contribute-sandals-to-recruits tax, the comfort-recruits-families tax, the train-antiaircraft-cadres tax, and the provide-fuel-for-garrisoned-troops tax! (Fairbank & Goldman, China: A New History, p314). For the same reasons the government also pursued a harsh austerity agenda. Through measures like holding down the wages of government employees during extreme inflation and cutting back on government support for industry, the government actually reduced its real expenditure during the war by more than three quarters, despite having to feed a huge army! Although, as we have seen, it barely fed the soldiers if it could help it. Bureaucratic Capital Far from uniting the working class with the bourgeoisie, the rigours of the war revealed the bourgeoisies rotten, self-serving and venal characteristics, preferring as it did to use the chaos of war to speculate and hoard, driving millions to starvation. Wartime, more than any other, demands the superiority of a collective plan and unified effort to overcome what are profoundly social questions. Such an effort and coordination was far beyond the capacities of a class raised on a diet of usury and easy money. Whereas the planned economy of the USSR was able, despite all its bureaucracy, to move the key war industries in a short space of time from European Russia to behind the Urals, the anarchic Chinese capitalists failed in their equivalent task. Despite the governments bribery of guaranteed 5-10% profit rates for 7 years, plus low interest rate loans and free factory sites for capitalists who moved their factories into the interior far away from the Japanese, only 120,000 tons of equipment ever got moved, far less than both what was available to be moved and what needed to be moved. [M]ost industrialists and financiers felt little or no personal involvement in the cause of Chinese resistance...They did not allow patriotism to dull their business instincts. (Eastman, op cit.). And yet the CCP remained wedded to this patriot class right to the end of the war. Indeed the failures of the capitalist class in the war forced the government to play the leading economic role long before the CCP nationalised the means of production after 1949. By 1942 the state controlled 17.5% of all factories, 70% of all capital, 32% of workers and 42% of horsepower (ibid). This tendency towards statisation of Chinese capitalism is important to note for the later discussion on exactly why - contrary to their stated aims and perspectives - the CCP proceeded to expropriate capitalism after taking power. It also forms important evidence in our argument that the alliance with the bourgeoisie was totally unjustified for it lacked the capacity to and interest in taking China forwards. Of course, this had been obvious ever since the bourgeoisie backed Chiang Kai Shek to become the dictator of China. His autocracy was the political expression of the same inability of Chinese capitalism to develop the productive forces that forced the government to play an increasingly large economic role. The terms of the CCPs deal with Chiang was that his regime would gradually reform itself into a democratic one in which the CCP could legally participate, and yet in 1939 the Military Affairs Commission, chaired by Chiang, arrogated to itself all administrative functions of government, making Chiangs control direct for every aspect of Chinas life. Chiang Alienates the Imperialists Given the basket case of China under Chiang Kai Shek, the British and American imperialists were in 1939 giving serious thought to forging an alliance with Japan, which they correctly estimated as being so much stronger than China that it might be worth abandoning the latter. The British, perhaps understanding how rotten and unpopular Chiangs regime was, even wanted to wait to see if Wang Jingweis Japanese puppet regime in Nanjing might manage to be more popular than that of Chiangs before choosing whether to back China or Japan. However these designs were scuppered by Japanese intransigence with regard to British and American interests in China (Akira Iriye Japanese Aggression and Chinas International Position, Cambridge History of China volume 13, pp525-6). The imperialists had no concern for the plight of the Chinese masses under the heel of Japan and only sided with China to protect their narrow interests there, and in the hope that China could be used in an American dominated post-war setup to contain Russia and grind Japan and Germany into the ground. With China apparently an important inclusion in the schemes of the imperialists, the egotistical Chiang began to fantasise that this had elevated China into one of the worlds great powers. In reality Chinas lying prostrate in the face of Japanese imperialism meant that it required the American and British imperialists, who were concerned about the Japanese threat to their interests only, to fight the battle on its behalf. We have already seen how the Chinese capitalists were not prepared to lead the fight themselves, economically or militarily. Chiangs foolish delusion that having the US fight on his behalf (whilst he concentrated on the CCP) would mean the future elevation of China at the hands of the US led to increasing frustration from the US, to the point where they refused Chiangs government a $1bn loan and considered supporting the CCP more (which they saw as the better fighters, and not really Communists anyway). Chiang Kai Shek was a miserable, grasping and lazy leader only ever interested in the preservation of his own power. He staffed his army with incompetent generals simply because they were loyal, and concentrated his best troops not against Japan but the CCP. As disastrous as this was for the Chinese ruling class, they could have it no other way, for they had not the means to effectively resist Japan without arousing the masses to military activity, the last thing they wanted. Chiangs cowardice and preference for passivity in the war by banking on the US to fight on his behalf, and his determination to get the maximum for his regime from the US with the minimum disturbance to his kingdom, is the true political expression of a capitalist class born too late and with no role to play. The CCP at war For twenty two years after 1927 the comrades of the CCP knew of no state other than constant war. Physically liquidated from the cities in 1927-8, they fled to the countryside, where they suffered one extermination campaign after another by the Guomindang, forcing them to embark on the Long March in 1934. This exhausting state of affairs brought the party to near extinction (it certainly was enough to destroy its Marxist programme), a big factor in its forging an alliance with Chiang Kai Shek in 1936 to gain breathing space. And yet no sooner had this truce been signed when Japan launched an all out war with China, a war whose secondary motivation for the Japanese (after the exploitation of Chinese industry and raw materials) was the extermination of the communist threat. Throughout this new and higher stage to the struggle, it must be noted that the CCPs successes and survival owed themselves to its politics and not its military. Despite its erroneous support for Chiangs dictatorship the party continued, at least to some extent, to be seen as the only genuinely anti-Japanese and anti-landlord force in China. Beneath the surface of shoddy deals the CCP cadres continued to organise the peasants and dish out something resembling revolutionary ideas of a way out from endless poverty and exploitation. Of course, this was nothing as compared with what the party could have done had it retained political, revolutionary independence from the loathed Chiang regime. However it was something and that was enough to distinguish the CCP from the rest. In many cases the objective necessity for an independent left wing party was forced onto the CCP by events themselves. The Expansion of the Red Bases through Political Work Throughout this war the CCPs headquarters, as agreed with Chiang, remained where they ended up after the Long March, in Yenan (now known as Yanan; we will use Yenan as this is the form of the name most closely associated with the CCP), Shaanxi province, north west of Chinas population centres. Our thesis is that the CCPs strength lay in its political role as apparent liberator of the peasant masses and leader of the anti-Japanese and anti-Guomindang movement and not in its armed struggle. This is backed up by the fact that when the CCP concentrated not on fighting the Japanese or Guomindang, but concentrated on consolidating its bases, implementing its (admittedly somewhat mild) land reforms and recruiting and training cadres, it significantly expanded its membership and areas under its control. The Red Army fought no major battles for more than two years after late 1937, and its most rapid growth came during this period of relative calm, with the recruitment of up to 400,000 men into the Eighth Route Army and 100,000 into the New Fourth Army by 1940 (Harrison, The Long March to Power, p294). Although the CCP forces managed to expand massively during the war, they were always playing catch up with the much larger and better equipped Japanese and Guomindang forces - in 1937 the Guomindang had around 1.5m troops in total, and the Japanese roughly 600,000, whereas the CCP had at most 100,000 - all of whom were worse equipped. The CCP expanded significantly, as the above figures suggest, but never nearly enough to catch up with the also expanding forces of their enemies. The CCPs one advantage would always be its independent political role and ability to inspire its own troops and the wider peasant population with its propaganda and land distribution. During the years 1937-9, when it fought no major battles, its military forces increased not through military victories but through political expansion and recruitment. Without any battles taking place, the [Guomindang] government watched its rivals steady military and territorial expansion far outreach the three divisions of the Eighth Army and the eighteen districts in the Pien chu laid down by the agreement of September 1937...The population under communist control was to increase almost a hundredfold in eight years (Guillermaz, A History of the Chinese Communist Party 1921-49, p345). Between 1937 and 1940, the party membership increased from 40,000 to 800,000! Thanks to its political influence the CCP managed to expand into areas far away from its headquarters in Yenan, setting up new soviet bases without military invasion. For example, it managed to recruit the remnants of anti-Japanese militias formed in the western Shandong province so that by 1943 the CCP controlled an area with 15 million inhabitants with a 500,000 strong militia (Harrison, op cit. p302). According to Guillermaz, from 1937 onwards the CCP even managed to maintain a force of up to 50,000 behind Japanese lines (Guillermaz, op cit. p308). Their effectiveness is proof of the military advantages the Red Army enjoyed thanks to its political basis, The teams were organised on the three in one principle - they were to fight as troops, to do political work on behalf of the government but to act like the common people in ordinary times. Military and political struggles thus went hand in hand...The armed work teams would appear or disappear unexpectedly in the very heart of the enemy occupied areas. Their whereabouts were known to the people all the time, but the enemy could never find them. Naturally such political successes were profoundly uncomfortable for the Japanese and Guomindang alike, and therefore each square mile and military division gained by the CCP was pregnant with military conflicts. It is in fact not quite true that the CCP fought no battles whatsoever between 1937 and 1939, for in September 1937 Lin Biaos 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army distinguished itself in a joint strike with the Guomindang on Japanese forces at the Battle of Pingxingguan in Shanxi province, capturing 1000 weapons and 100 vehicles and inflicting around 500 casualties on the Japanese (Ibid, p308). A similar, smaller scale success was achieved shortly after nearby. These were however ultimately insignificant and involved few CCP forces. They did however allow the CCP to establish the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei military zone on the basis of these victories, since Guomindang officials had left the area with the Japanese defeat (Harrison, op cit. p299). Out of this zone the CCP managed to form the Chin-Cha-Chi Border Region government, which involved a great many local residents in its administration who were not in the CCP. This government was very successful in organising the peasant masses of this region into womens, youth and self-defence organisations, and in educating them and establishing medical facilities, and consolidated itself by recruiting disaffected Manchurian Guomindang troops and commanders who had disobeyed Chiangs orders (we mustnt forget that the Japanese had long established a colonial regime in Manchuria, to which Chiangs regime had completely acquiesced, causing Manchurians to be much more sympathetic to the CCP than most). It was strong enough to resist the Japanese counter-attack which involved the burning to the ground of this governments capital in March 1938. Following the capture of another region further to the south by other CCP forces with the aid of local activists, the CCP was able in July 1941 to establish a much larger government linking these two and other bases in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Hunan provinces, despite intense Japanese attacks (Ibid, pp301-2). These successes caused not only frictions with the jealous Guomindang but were part of the cause of the complete breakdown of relations between the two parties, more of which later. The Conditions Behind CCP Lines in the Sino-Japanese War There were however severe economic and military difficulties implicit in this strategy of forming politically independent rural bases. We have analysed at length the economic and political realities of such rural submergence in our previous series of articles ( http://www.marxist.com/chinese-comminist-party-1927-37-part-4.htm) , (http://www.marxist.com/chinese-comminist-party-1927-37-part-5.htm), and later in this series we will look more closely at the limitations of the peasant movement and how this conditioned the opportunist programme on which the party rose to power. Nevertheless it should be pointed out here that the new administrative systems [of the newly conquered areas] had great difficulty in gaining a foothold and their power was precarious right to the end. As the region was important both strategically and politically, the Japanese felt obliged to purge it from time to time. Cleaning up campaigns...acted as a deterrent to the inhabitants, who as far as possible avoided taking part in elections, with the risks they involved (Guillermaz, op cit. p311). In a moment we will take a look at both these attacks and others from the Guomindang. Before we do so, we must note that the effect on the CCP of having to maintain a viable administration responsible for leading the economic life of millions of peasants and landlords etc. Generally, the rural areas most revolutionary were those most densely populated and fertile, for these had the highest, most exploitative rents. The logic of taking administrative and military responsibility for certain areas, against constant attacks from two militarily stronger powers, politically consumed a party which had already lost all trace of proletarian politics and obliged it to seek solace in non-revolutionary areas and layers of the population (see Bianco and Lloyd, Peasant Movements, in The Cambridge History of China Volume 13 p324) The CCPs forces had therefore to be constantly replenished by new recruits. Its survival depended on the fine quality of its cadres and its strict discipline (Ibid, p328), and yet these cadres were regularly being killed or absorbed in the tasks of bare survival. True, its effective propaganda conducted by ordinary people among other ordinary people who were their fellow-countrymen, in the language of their region or even their profession, could not fail to succeed among the Chinese (Ibid, p335), and thus furnished a regular supply of new faces. However, this propaganda was limited in scope by the shackled political programme of the CCP we have discussed above. The rapid turnover in membership and the influx of rural recruits lacking any political experience in organisations of their own (unlike the working class, who have experience in trade unions), led Mao in 1937 to decry the tendency towards warlordism in the Eighth Route Army, many of whose members have become unwilling to submit strictly to Communist Party leadership, [and] have developed individualistic heroism (quoted in Guillermaz, op cit. p329). Mao therefore stressed that the Red Army must oppose the danger in which the military does not obey the political and that the army must be one led by the proletariat (Ibid, p329). But that was exactly the problem - thanks to Moscows shortsighted strategy, to which Mao adapted so well, the party had long ceased to have any relation to the proletariat, and the army could in no way be led by anything other than the largely petty bourgeois individuals at the top of the CCP. These very problems, inherent not only in submerging the party in a rural environment, but even more so in attempting to establish on that basis an alternative government under constant siege, were to lead in the early 1940s to the Zhengfeng or Rectification Campaign as the party leadership struggled to keep control of this band of roving-rebels. In this campaign around 10,000 were killed and was the precedent for the Cultural Revolution more than twenty years later. The Hundred Regiments and Three Alls Campaigns The CCPs enormous gains in northern central China described above were as mentioned causing serious concern amongst both Japanese and Guomindang leaders. Their fears were proved correct when the CCP launched its biggest and most successful (unless we count its consequences, as we shall see) military campaign of the entire war period, ending its period of peaceful advance. This is known as the Hundred Regiments Campaign, and it lasted from August to December 1940 and involved 400,000 CCP led troops against roughly 290,000 Japanese. The fighting spanned five provinces in northern central China. It is difficult to assess the damage inflicted by the CCP onto the Japanese forces, as both sides claimed (and still claim) wildly divergent figures. There is no doubt however that the initial battles were an enormous success for the CCP, with tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers killed and much of the Japanese military infrastructure destroyed. The ability of the CCP armies to fight head on a far more well equipped and trained imperial army is testament to the incredible growth of CCP forces from their political work and organisation, as well as their tactical nous. Nevertheless the true results of this military adventure once again underline the futility of the strategy of armed rural struggle and further justify our contention that the CCP should have stuck to clandestinely recruiting workers in the cities with socialist propaganda. For ultimately the CCP was and always would be powerless in the face of the Japanese army, which maintained complete freedom of action at a strategic level (Ibid, p332). This harsh fact was proven by the Japanese counter-attack to the Hundred Regiments Campaign, which was aptly named the Three Alls Policy - standing for kill all, burn all, loot all. Since the Japanese imperialists managed to so succinctly sum up the character of their invasion of China, I think it is only reasonable to suggest that their entire invasion of China and other countries be known by this name. There was a calculated purpose behind such an indiscriminate strategy of literally killing, burning and looting everything within areas associated with the CCP, which, as with all ultra-reactionary and counter-revolutionary campaigns, was to punish the masses for daring to pose a political challenge to the status quo and to traumatise them into never doing so again. In particular, the aim of this campaign was to drain the water from the Communist fish (Harrison, op cit. p301) - in other words, to so effectively massacre the rural poor that the CCP could have no social basis in this region. According to Mitsuyoshi Himeta the death toll of this vile campaign totalled more than 2.7m Chinese. This campaign devastated the CCP in northern central China, and the CCP would not launch another campaign of any significance against Japan for the remainder of the war. Although the CCP did manage to recover their influence in the region around three years later, this was tellingly achieved through political action and propaganda, not military offensives. Not only would it have been possible, it would have been easier and far more effective to carry out this political propaganda had the CCP concentrated on work amongst the urban proletariat and, having won influence this way, among the rural poor. This would have freed the party up both politically and organisationally to campaign for the need to paralyse the Japanese occupation with strikes and for a government of the workers to carry out a revolutionary war against the Japanese. Guomindang Betrayals As if to underline the fact that the CCP had fallen into an opportunist trap by accepting the Guomindangs proposal for Zhou Enlai to be Deputy Minister of Political Training in early 1938 (as discussed in Part I), a few months later the very government in which leading Communist Zhou Enlai was now a minister dissolved a mass organisation [in Hankou] suspected of having strong communist sympathies. The Guomindang then rebuffed communist overtures towards forming a new inner block (Guillermaz, op cit. p348). These (entirely inevitable and predictable) traitorous actions should have been taken as a sign that the Guomindang was planning an attack on the CCP. No quantity of overtures and second-rate ministerial portfolios could protect the CCP from the Guomindang, which only lulled the CCP into a false sense of security. In the spring of 1939, 300 CCP guerrillas were allegedly slaughtered in Shandong province by Guomindang forces (Brandt, Schwartz & Fairbank, A Documentary History of Chinese Communism, p240). What the communists represented both to the poor and the rich was in itself enough to invite repression. CCP speeches were sufficient to whet the peasants appetite for land and freedom, but proved unable to put that genie back in its bottle when the CCP line changed. Nor for that reason could such acquiescence ever convince the Guomindang and the ruling class of the CCPs loyalty, especially when it had armed layers of the peasantry. Beneath the surface of the alliance the Guomindang was always maneuvering and strategizing to inflict mortal blows on the CCP. Different tendencies and factions within it proposed different ways to deal with the CCPs continuing popularity, including dissolving its bases in different provinces by dictat. Local armed clashes with the CCP began to increase and certain generals from Chongqing [the seat of governmental power since late 1938] were plotting with the Japanese to attack the CCP (Guillermaz, op cit. p315). These tensions were caused by the very objective forces which the CCPs political allegiance with the Guomindang made it incapable of anticipating, explaining or consciously leading. Despite the formal alliance, these contradictory forces operated in and through these two parties because of their conflicting class bases. The political successes the CCP scored, particularly in Shanxi and around the western ends of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers as described above, by basing themselves on the peasant masses, made inevitable the Guomindangs betrayal of their alliance. Rising tensions led to more numerous skirmishes until the barely suppressed conflict exploded in the New Fourth Army Incident in 1941 in precisely this geographical area. This was already presaged by the Pinzhiang and Zhukou Incidents in June 1939, in which the Guomindang raided the New Fourth Army and executed CCP members and their families (see Harrison, op cit. p305 & Kataoka, Resistance and Revolution in China: The Communists and the 2nd United Front, p233). The New Fourth Army Incident In June 1940 an agreement had been reached between the two parties that the CCP could keep its newly conquered bases in the northern part of central China, i.e. north of the Yellow River, so long as it abandoned the peasants of central China in between the two great rivers. Chiang could not tolerate the success of the CCP in this area and here attempted to exploit the CCPs opportunist policy. On the basis of this agreement, Chiangs representatives showed active hostility to CCP forces in the central China region they had now been ordered to evacuate (Schram, op cit. p218). Because of this, as they were leaving the area the CCP forces successfully attacked Guomindang troops encountered on the way. This caused Chiang to hasten his demand that the CCPs New 4th Army evacuate the entirety of the area south of the Yellow River. For one reason or another, despite the vast majority of the army meeting the deadline, the 9,000 strong HQ force had failed to cross the river in time and in January 1941 it was ambushed and wiped out by the Guomindang. Following this, the Guomindang demanded the dissolution of the remainder of this strongest of CCP armies. This the CCP refused to do and the ensuing strengthening of the army ended the farce (though not officially) of CCP/Guomindang allegiance. From a revolutionary point of view, we cannot help but conclude that the New Fourth Army Incidents taking place was a good thing precisely because it brought the infamous national united front to an ignominious conclusion. This is proven by the fact that following this incident the CCP continued its meteoric rise throughout China, so much so that arguably no single event in the entire Sino-Japanese war did more to enhance the Communists prestige vis- a-vis the Nationalists than the destruction of the New Fourth Army headquarters while it was loyally following orders (Johnson, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power: The Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1937-1945, p140). Once again we can see that the CCPs gains came not from military successes - indeed in this case its biggest success came from a defeat - but from its political role as the (perceived) opposition to a capitulationist government. In this case the objective forces, which required (and rewarded) such an opposition, were so strong that they were imposed onto the CCP against its will. Interestingly, Mao, who was evidently under pressure from left wing critics inside the CCP, felt the need to explain that the New Fourth Army incident did not prove that the allegiance with the Guomindang was a mistake (see Mao, Conclusions on the Repulse of the Second Anti-Communist Onslaught, May 1941). He argued that the war with Japan meant that the primary contradiction of Chinese society was not a class one but a national one. In Maos article On Contradiction, he reveals his highly mechanical interpretation of dialectical materialism, whereby different contradictions supplant one another whilst remaining entirely unaffected and self-contained, like billiard balls knocking into each other. He uses this to justify the opportunism of allying with the Guomindang, for according to him the primary contradiction now being between China and Japan, the internal class contradictions of China are effectively negated. A real understanding of dialectics would teach the direct opposite - that Japans exploitation of China would happen through Chinas class system, making the two inseparable. The New Fourth Army Incident is merely one in a long list of examples where the Chinese ruling class proved that the dynamic of the Sino-Japanese war was the class struggle. There is one final betrayal of their alliance by the Guomindang we ought to mention. In the remote province of Xinjiang the CCP struck a similar alliance with its warlord Sheng Shicai (who was not in the Guomindang) as its national alliance with Chiang. However, for the very same reasons as the New Fourth Army Incident, namely the CCPs gains in Xinjiang (along with Moscow ceasing to butter-up Sheng with arms), Sheng turned in 1942. He joined the Guomindang and arrested 600 Communists, many of which he then executed, including Maos brother. And yet flying in the face of reality the CCP continued to articulate a thoroughly acquiescent and frankly liberal line with regards to the Guomindang. One would expect and hope it would use its repression at the hands of the Guomindang as the political justification for the need to overthrow the Guomindang to liberate China from both imperialism and its stooge the Chinese ruling class. Instead the leadership demanded in March 1942 only legal status for the CCP and the recognition by the government of its war efforts, including the request for more troops. Proving the utter failure of the attempt since 1936 to ally with the Guomindang, even these demands were rejected. It is very interesting to note that the character of these demands is not only exclusively bourgeois-democratic, lacking a single social demand, but also in its demands for political liberty refers only to the CCP, not the Chinese working class and peasantry. There are no demands for political liberty or a constituent assembly. More than a decade of isolation in rural armed struggle found its expression in the CCPs inward looking demand for CCP, not Chinese, freedom. When the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937, the CCP had already been an exclusively rural party for almost ten years. As we pointed out previously, this was an improvisation born out of the partys confusion at Chiangs power grab. By 1935, when Mao became the undisputed leader of the party, this improvisation and temporary retreat had been transformed into the partys raison detre. The Peasants Sans CCP According to Bianco and Lloyd, the revolutionary decade of 1922-31 saw no significant increase in all types of peasant disturbances - from theft of landlords property to local uprisings. The fluctuations that do occur seem only correlated to particular years in which there happened to be a good or bad harvest. Furthermore, the type of action taken remained in its traditional form - riots or petitions - and rarely if ever escaped a purely local horizon. Furthermore, they contend that in any case the total number of disturbances remain extremely small (Bianco and Lloyd, Peasant Movements, in The Cambridge History of China Volume 13, pp278-9). The peasants, without the CCP would, quite simply, never have conceived the idea of a revolution thanks to their parochialism which overrode distinctions of class. The typical village, to which peasants narrow horizons and allegiances were restricted, was a socially heterogeneous community that villagers sought to protect against attacks from outside. This is attested by the frequent incidence of vertical movements resembling wars between different peoples rather than social warfare. As in a national war, the natural enemy is not the privileged member in ones community but the foreigner (Ibid, p302). Bianco and Lloyd give many examples of movements in the early 1930s, around the time the CCP was embedding itself in this milieu, which were based exclusively on opposition to new taxes, not rent, and thereby could unite peasants and landlords, with the latter more often than not initiating and leading the movements. The character of such movements, more common than those aimed against rent and landlordism, are not progressive since they aimed to preserve local privileges in the tax system, chiefly to the benefit of the local landlords. Indeed, sometimes the wrongs against which the taxpayers rise up are purely imaginary. They suspect any project of fiscal reform...allow[ing] themselves to be incited into a revolt, which is harmful to their own interests, by a handful of large landowners practicing tax evasion on a large scale (Ibid, p284). Throughout these movements, what is notable is the lack of a questioning of landlordism by its peasant victims: the principle of paying rent is almost never called into question (Ibid, p278). Along with hostility to new tax codes, most peasant disturbances were strictly local in the sense that they pitted one village or Xien against another. So one group of peasants, led by their landlord, would frequently fight those with the same conditions of poverty in a neighbouring village, because the latter had, say, dredged rivers to improve their crop, which threatened to flood the other village. These conflicts, which Bianco and Lloyd argue should be known not as peasant but as rural disturbances due to their vertical social character, frequently had an extremely violent character. They were spontaneous, chaotic and unplanned explosions of rage with no political perspective attached to them. They were not prepared and the rebels do not appear to have had a strategy nor is there any discernable progression in the forms taken by the resistance. There was no fundamental questioning of the principle of tenancy, simply a protest against sudden changes in the status quo (Ibid, pp274-5). Instead of landlords or even local government leaders being attacked, it was usually their underlings, who were more visible to the peasants. Bianco and Lloyd insist that we cannot even speak of a rural movement (other than the CCPs army), only local flare-ups of fury. The theory of Marxism has always explained that the peasantry can be an important ally of the revolutionary working class but can never politically lead. It must be led by a more organised and homogenous urban based class. This evidently applied to 1920s and 30s China, to the extent that Maos talk of the Sinification of Marxism due to Chinas special rural conditions and revolutionary peasantry must be rejected entirely. According to the evidence, the peasants themselves hardly ever take up arms offensively with a view to improving their lot. The apparent peasant basis of the 1949 revolution is therefore an outcome not of peasant revolutionary initiative and elan, but of the CCPs dogged hiding out in its mountain fastness. The peasant revolts had nothing in common with the CCPs Red Army, which latter had a national political character that the former lacked entirely. They were generally conservative, more interested in rising up to maintain old privileges, against local rivals or the mysteries of the governments vicissitudes. They were not inspired by any overall vision of society nor questioned the bases of its organisation (Ibid, p303). It was precisely this parochialism and passivity that suited the CCP, because in the rural backwaters they were hard to find and suffered no danger of ambitious revolutionary demands from the politically passive peasants the Soviet bases administered. The rural submersion of the party was ideal for launching a military struggle but not a social and revolutionary one. Wearing the Peasants Coarse Garb As we shall see, the CCPs approach in the countryside resembled the discredited strategy of the Russian Narodniks of the 19th Century. It is a profound irony that the Chinese offshoot of the Communist International should repeat the mistakes of the Russian forefathers of the Bolsheviks, when it was precisely the learning and overcoming of these mistakes that produced the Russian Marxist organisation that in turn gave birth to the Communist International! When Peng Pai, before he joined the CCP, experimented with a Chinese Narodnism in the early 1920s, he was initially, just like the Narodniks, rejected by the peasants as a strange outsider with grandiose and unrealisable goals. He found that he had to change his clothes and speech and enticed and entertained [the peasants] as a conjuror and magician, taught the children a song of his own composition, had them listen to a gramophone he had brought along, and put on a puppet show (Ibid, p308) in order to get them to take seriously his ideas of liberation. Ten years later, the CCP found itself having to perform similar routines each time they settled in a new rural location. Because of the completely rural base of the party, the CCP was obliged to send any workers or intellectuals it recruited in the cities to the countryside. Whereas in the cities they would have been able to carry out political work quite naturally, Mao explained the requirements of their work in the countryside: they should enthusiastically go to the villages, exchange their students clothes for the coarse garb of the peasants, start willingly from the bottom...help awaken the peasants...and fight for the completion of the extremely important task in Chinas democratic revolution - the rural democratic revolution (Mao, < On Coalition Government<, April 1945). Despite these efforts, the CCP leadership regularly found that the organisations of peasant liberation and awakening they had set up, when left on their own, frequently pursued policies quite different from the Party line and resented the directions of outsiders, whatever their politics (Harrison, < The Long March to Power<, p312). It is quite clear that the contradiction between the self-appointed leadership of the rural revolution in the CCP and the peasants themselves was never overcome. This relationship is in stark contrast to that of a Marxist organisation and the working class, since the aim of the former is always to win the confidence of the workers not by dressing up as them but by being part of and giving voice to the already existing class struggle. Marxists recruit, and themselves often are, workers. They do not parachute in members from elsewhere to occupy and administer workers districts! Indeed the CCP sent vast swathes of its recruits away from the cities in which they were recruited, thus negating any potential they may have presented for building a permanent urban working class base for the party. They used the legal openings gained through the allegiance with the Guomindang not so much to begin building in the cities but to set up within them Communist Liaison Offices to facilitate the emigration of volunteers to Yenan (Guillermaz, A History of the Communist Party 1921-49 , p348). Peng Shuzi, an early leader of the CCP before being expelled for Trotskyism, stresses that the CCP did everything possible to encourage the most active elements of the working class to leave the struggle in the cities and join the peasants in the countryside. It was for precisely this reason that while the CCP considerably increased its armed peasant forces during the Resistance War, its influence remained extremely weak among the worker masses of the cities (Peng, The Causes of the Victory of the Chinese Communist Party over Chiang Kai-Shek, and the CCPs Perspectives). The environment into which these workers and urban intellectuals were taken was one of extreme poverty and backwardness. As with the pre-Long March bases in Jiangxi and especially the Jinggangshan, Yenan made an effective base precisely because it was so barren and therefore hard to penetrate and considered strategically irrelevant by the Guomindang. Here CCP comrades, including leaders, were forced to live in caves carved into the cliffs. The area at the time had an estimated 60% infant mortality rate, 1% literacy rate, the death of up to 2.5m people (one-third of the provincial population), and the migration of another half-million in the catastrophic famine of 1927-30 (Harrison, op cit., p310). Because the Guomindang suspended its subsidy of $100,000 per month (part of the united front agreement) in 1940 due to the above discussed breakdown in the alliance, the CCP was obliged to increase the tax burden on the Shaanxi population it was occupying, especially of the peasants (Ibid, p316). In other CCP bases inflation rose to even higher than in Guomindang controlled areas, but this failed to take place in Yenan as the economy was largely a barter one! As described in more detail our previous series, the bare struggle to survive in these remote conditions absorbed the partys attention to the detriment of its political and theoretical development - although it must be said that the biggest obstacle in that respect was not the rural conditions but the non-revolutionary programme. As a result the number of leaders with Jae Crowder, Jusuf Nurkic Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder (99) swats the ball as he tries for a steal against Denver Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic (23 during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Boston Celtics wing Jae Crowder revealed Tuesday that the injury bothering him over the past two games is a high ankle sprain. Crowder on ankle injury: "It's a high ankle sprain... It's mind over matter. I'm trying to suck it up; do my job." pic.twitter.com/3aEERITEXF Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 9, 2016 High ankle sprains typically require a longer recovery period -- Celtics rookie Jordan Mickey suffered one on Jan. 16 and still hasn't returned to game action. Crowder should probably consider sitting out, but could be trying to make it to the All-Star break when he can rest without missing any games. The forward suffered the injury with 4:04 left in Wednesday's win against the Detroit Pistons. Two days later, he played through the ankle issue against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but scored just three points on 1-for-9 shooting. After that game, he said he probably wouldn't have played against any other opponent. "I didn't have it," Crowder said. "I probably should have sat out but pride got in the way a little bit. You know how that goes. I wanted to just give our team a chance to not lack in any perspective. I knew it was a big task for us to try to stop LeBron (James) and try to slow him down as much as possible, but I just didn't have it physically. I was there mentally, though." The way Crowder spoke that night, an absence seemed likely. But he played again Sunday against the Kings, racking up six points on 3-for-7 shooting over 31 minutes. In the two games since the injury, the forward has averaged just 4.5 points. For the sake of reference, he scored in single digits just three times throughout December and January, when he averaged 16.0 points on 46.0-percent shooting. Miguel Zenon Miguel Zenon (Facebook) HOLYOKE -- One of the best alto saxophone players in the world will be in Western Massachusetts this week to discuss cultural identity and perform his latest work. Miguel Zenon will participate in a community conversation at the Holyoke Public Library Wednesday evening and perform at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday. Born in San Juan, Zenon grew up listening to folk music that inspired him to perform jazz. He moved from Puerto Rico as a teen to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston then the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he currently resides. The multiple Grammy winning artist has released numerous recordings, most recently Identities Are Changeable. He has taught at several institutions, from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he is a permanent faculty member, to the Conservatoire de Paris. The community conversation on Wednesday will discuss the question, "What does it mean to be Puerto Rican in 21st century New York City?" The free event will feature a musical video presentation in addition to a conversation between Zenon and the audience. On Thursday, Zenon will perform Identities Are Changeable at UMass with a 12-piece band. The performance will be held in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $40 for adults with discounted rates available for seniors, children, college students and multiple ticket purchases. Registration ahead of the event at the Holyoke Public Library is requested. For more information and registration, call 413-420-8101. suffolk superior.JPG Suffolk County Superior Court (SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN) BOSTON - A Suffolk Superior Court jury on Tuesday found Edward Scigliano IV, a Boston Fire Department district chief, guilty of procurement fraud and larceny as part of an effort to enrich himself. The 46-year-old Kingston resident was found guilty of two schemes involving five counts of procurement fraud and five counts of larceny over $250, and he was released on his own personal recognizance. He sought to acquire a 52-inch high-def television, a living room set and gift cards from stores like Home Depot. He is set to be sentenced in Superior Court on Feb. 25. His trial lasted two weeks. The Boston Fire Department cooperated with authorities' investigation, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey's office. Scigliano has also served as drillmaster for Boston Fire Academy (BFA). He was placed on paid leave in 2012, according to the Boston Herald. He was later placed on unpaid leave in 2014, after he was indicted, the Associated Press reported. "This defendant abused his position as a public employee and stole tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars that should have gone back to the City of Boston," Healey said in a statement. "Our office is committed to holding accountable public employees who exploit their position for personal profit and defy the public's trust." Healey's office launched the investigation after a referral from the state Inspector General and the Boston Police Department's anti-corruption division. Healey's office alleged that Scigliano worked between 2008 and 2011 to personally profit from checks provided by Greenwood Emergency Vehicles Inc., a supplier of BFD fire trucks. The company issued checks totaling more than $32,000 to Scigliano's personal credit cards. "He falsely represented that he was authorized by the Fire Commissioner to receive these checks," Healey's office said. "He falsely claimed that the money was for items that he had purchased for the BFA." Separately, he pushed Northeast Rescue Systems, Inc., an equipment distributor, to buy $17,000 worth of items for his personal use, such as a 52-inch high-definition television, a gas grill, a living room set, an elliptical machine and gift cards for Home Depot and Lowes, according to Healey's office. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Monday that the National Weather Service is maintaining a winter storm warning in the city through 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. Calling Winter Storm Mars a "major Atlantic storm," Walsh said, "We are lucky much of it has stayed offshore." "We've seen high winds and periods of low visibility all day and bands of snow have come through the city," Walsh added. Walsh said he expected Boston Public Schools to be open on Tuesday, after a closure on Monday. According to Walsh, the city has spent $7 million on snow removal so far this year. There has not been enough snow to allow for Boston residents to put out space savers if they shovel out their parking spot, Walsh said. Gov. Charlie Baker, in a press conference at the State House earlier on Monday, said southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape and Islands would likely see the heaviest accumulation of snow. "Plymouth County, at this point, appears to be what I would describe as the big winner in this storm, most likely to get somewhere between 12 and 18 inches there," Baker said. Baker called the Monday performance of the MBTA public transit system, which struggled to provide reliable service last year, "satisfactory." stoneham robbery suspect.jpeg Authorities are asking anyone who recognizes the man pictured above to call Stoneham police at 781-438-1215, ext. 3133, or the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force at 617-742-5533. He is accused of robbing a Bank of America branch in Stoneham on Monday morning, Feb. 8, 2016, according to investigators. (Stoneham Police Department) STONEHAM Police in the Middlesex County town of Stoneham are "actively searching" for a suspect who robbed a bank Monday morning, Chief James McIntyre said. is asking for the public's help identifying the suspect. At about 10:20 a.m., officers responded to the Bank of America branch at 323 Main St. for a robbery report. The suspect handed a note demanding money to a teller before fleeing the bank with an unknown amount of cash, according to video surveillance reviewed by authorities. The suspect was described as a 5-foot-8 white man with a thin build who appeared to be in his forties. He had gray facial hair and was wearing thin wire-rimmed glasses, dark pants and a blue hooded sweatshirt. "We are actively investigating this incident, along with the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force," McIntyre said. "If anyone was in the area at the time of the robbery, or recognizes this suspect, we ask that they immediately contact police." Stoneham Police Detective Chris Dalis can be reached at 781-438-1215, ext. 3133, and FBI Task Force Officer John Oliveira can be reached at 617-742-5533. A cash reward will given to anyone who provides information leading to an arrest, according to McIntyre. SPRINGFIELD A regularly scheduled meeting of the Maple High/Six Corners Neighborhood Council will include a visit from State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, Steve O'Neil of the Hampden County Sheriff's Department and other local officials. Melvin Edwards, president of the council and Ward 3 City Councilman, said the meeting is held once a month to discuss neighborhood concerns and projects. The meeting coincides with a meeting of the Springfield City Council Public Safety Committee, chaired by Tom Ashe, who is expected to attend along with Police Commissioner John Barbieri. Edwards said he is expecting a large crowd due to the recent news that the new Western Massachusetts Correctional Addiction Center will be housed at the former Ring Nursing Home on Mill Street after a 10-year lease was signed by the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, the Hampden County Sheriff's Department and Mill Street Iconic, LLC. "That is not the main focus of the meeting, but we anticipate people coming out to ask questions and express their feelings about the decision," he said. The meeting will be held Tuesday night at 6 at Primus Mason Court at the Mason Wright Retirement Community, 74 Walnut St. Seating and parking are limited. While the Addiction Center discussion is not on the formal agenda, Edwards said residents are invited to attend and ask questions. A formal proposal for the new treatment facility will be held on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Revival Time Evangelistic Center on Florence Street. O'Neil said residents can expect a thorough explanation for the plans of the facility at the second meeting. va northampton.jpg A town hall-style meeting about services for veterans is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Greenfield Community College, 1 College Drive. The meeting is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the college's Sloan Theater, located in the main campus building. (Facebook) GREENFIELD VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System is seeking input from veterans on how the organization can improve its operations. To that end, VA officials will address patients' questions and concerns at a town hall-style meeting Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Greenfield Community College, 1 College Drive. The session is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the college's Sloan Theater, which is located in the main campus building. Organizers say the purpose of the meeting is to promote a dialogue involving veterans, veterans service organizations, non-governmental organizations and other groups. VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System provides mental health care, including psychiatric, substance abuse and PTSD services, to more than 120,000 veterans in Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties, according to the organization's website. Facilities are located in Northampton, Springfield, Worcester, Greenfield, Pittsfield and Fitchburg. The organization's main facility in Northampton serves more than 25,000 veterans. Click HERE for m\ore information about Tuesday's meeting. mgm pre 00.jpg A sign states that the the former Hampden County Sheriff's facility on Howard Street is closed and the area is prepared for construction of the MGM project. (MARK M. MURRAY / THE REPUBLICAN) (Staff-Shot) SPRINGFIELD While it has been referred to by many names including Howard Street and Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center, the actual name of the treatment facility is the Western Massachusetts Correctional Addiction Center. "We are just catching up to the reality of the population we serve," said Steve O'Neil, Community Affairs Officer for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department. O'Neil, as well as other representatives from the sheriff's department, will meet with residents of the Maple High/ Six Corners neighborhood on Thursday to discuss the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance decision to sign a 10-year lease for the former Ring Nursing Home on Mill Street. O'Neil said the new facility will reflect the name change. "Several years ago, about 2001, we started referring to ourselves as the addiction center because we noticed that a majority of participants we served were struggling not only with alcohol abuse, but with substance abuse of all types," he said. The center opened 30 years ago along with two other facilities in the state. Today, only the Western Massachusetts facility remains. "I think that reflects not only the need that still exists, but the success of the program here (in Western Massachusetts)," O'Neil said. O'Neil said it was in 2014 when they were forced out of the Howard Street location in order to make room for the MGM casino that they decided the new name going forward would be the Western Massachusetts Correctional Addiction Center. "We were not going to change the name on the building just for the sake of changing it, but the new facility will have the new name because we believe it better represents the population we serve," he said. WORCESTER - A jury found Dax Gibson guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday in the 2013 shooting death of Luis Rodriguez in Fitchburg. Gibson, 39, of 365 Elm St., Gardner shot 26-year-old Rodriguez three times inside a Marshall Street on June 21 as part of a home invasion and robbery. Rodriguez ran from the apartment and was found bleeding on a neighbor's porch a short time later. He was taken to Leominster Hospital and was pronounced dead. Gibson allegedly fled to New York, then to Richmond, Virginia, where he was arrested a little over a month after the slaying. A jury also found Gibson guilty of home invasion, armed assault to rob, and several weapons charges on Tuesday afternoon. Judge Richard Tucker continued Gibson's case to Feb. 29 for sentencing and consideration of enhanced penalties contained in the armed career criminal portion of the firearm and ammo possession charges. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Joseph Dale, a co-defendant of Gibson, was found not guilty of three counts of kidnapping Tuesday. Dinkue Brown, 29, of 33 Adams St., Fitchburg, is also charged with Rodriguez's murder and is awaiting trial. Technology has upended where we work. The line between work and play has been blurred, and the difference between the office and home has all but disappeared. As a result, theres a new class of white-collar workers (or no collar, to be precise) who roam the earth looking for places to get their jobs done. Some of them work from home, curled up on the couch or in a home office maybe with a drone hovering nearby. Others camp out at expensive cafes, refilling their mugs of fancy coffee throughout the day. (Yes, Im referring to myself.) But increasingly, these untethered employees are gathering in a new kind of office known as the co-working space. By NICK BILTON Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/fashion/co-working-spaces-neuehouse-rvcc-wework.html?_r=1&WT.mc_id=SmartBriefs-Newsletter&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=smartbriefsnl The Montana District Export Council is seeking business leaders interested in helping strengthen export opportunities for Montana companies. Closely affiliated with the U.S. Commerce Departments Export Assistance Centers and the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, the Montana District Export Council is one of 59 nationally working to strengthen American exports. The mission of the Montana District Export Council includes: Full Story: http://www.montana.edu/news/15965/montana-district-export-council-seeking-business-leaders-interested-in-helping-strengthen-export-opportunities-for-montana-companies Housing, Ninemile restoration, UM highlight State of Community forum Three of Missoulas most powerful decision-makers gave an update on everything from watershed restoration to jail diversion to housing at the annual State of the Community forum hosted by City Club Missoula http://www.cityclubmissoula.com/ at the DoubleTree Hotel on Monday. Missoula County Commissioner Cola Rowley, University of Montana President Royce Engstrom and Missoula Mayor John Engen each spoke in depth about past accomplishments, current trends and future challenges. DAVID ERICKSON [email protected] Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/housing-ninemile-restoration-um-highlight-state-of-community-forum/article_ad0273a9-ef0b-55a7-8e30-1881c98b9297.html *** Working collectively ultimate message of State of Community event hosted by City Club Missoula On Monday, City Club Missoula http://www.cityclubmissoula.com/ held its State of the Community event at the DoubleTree Hotel in Missoula. Presentations included Missoula Mayor John Engen, Missoula County Commissioner Cola Rowley and UM President Royce Engstrom. Some of the topics covered included the Universitys budget, new University programs that could increase enrollment, incarceration statistics, mental health and the possibility of creating a 100 year plan for the city. The speakers addressed progress made in 2015 and discussed future plans. Each speaker agreed that if the city, county and university work as a collective, progress can be made to improve the citys future. By Montana MacLachlan, KECI Reporter, [email protected] Full Story: http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/city-club-missoula-to-hold-state-of-the-community-event/37879322 *** Mt. Water, UM enrollment on topic at Missoula Community address The Mountain Water condemnation, the expansion of Southgate Mall and the decline of enrollment at the University of Montana were just some of the hot button issues discussed at Missoulas State of the Community event of Monday. Missoula leaders outlined big projects the county faced in 2015, and gave us a glimpse of what we can expect in 2016. By Don Fisher Full Story and Video: http://www.kpax.com/story/31171285/officials-hold-3rd-state-of-the-community-address *** Derniere touche ou retouche du ministre des Finances avant la presentation de son budget pour lannee financiere 2022-2023 ce 6 juin 2022. Le Dr Dr Renganaden Padayachy aura une ultime rencontre de travail avant la session de travail avec ses collegues lors dun Conseil des Ministre et la lecture des divers propositions et mesures au parlement le 7 juin 2022 a partir de 16 h 00. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, February 9, 2016 Chipotle Mexican Grill shut all its more than 2,000 outlets nationwide for four hours at lunchtime yesterday as co-CEOs Steve Ells and Monty Moran led a pep rally cum apologia from a studio in Denver, where the company is based, that was broadcast to about 50,000 employees at more than 400 theaters and conference centers across the country. Chipotle has no intention to curb its growth and will continue to open new locations, according toFast Companys Mark Sullivan, who filed live reports from a San Francisco movie theater as one of a couple of reporters allowed into a meeting. People will come back, [Ells] said, urging employees to treat Chipotle patrons with more care than usual. Our customers should never have to wonder whether the food is safe, Sullivan informs us. advertisement advertisement And if they were just dying to eat a Chipotle burrito [yesterday] for lunch, only to have [their] plans ruined by the company-wide shutdown, all they had to do was text the word raincheck to 888-222 for an SMS coupon for a free burrito, reportsWireds Davey Alba under the headline Chipotles Big Comeback Plan Is Free Burritos. The APs Candice Choi, who watched in Manhattan, writes that workers were told to come wearing their uniforms to two locations in Union Square and were paid for attending. In a video, employees were told to watch for symptoms [in themselves] such as nausea, vomiting, explosive diarrhea, yellowing of the skin and eyes and dark urine, Choi reports. And were instructed to take a sick day if they felt ill. Marketing experts applauded the company for its transparency about the meeting, but said the company would need to do a lot more to win back the trust of consumers, writes the New York Times Stephanie Strom. Its going to take significant meaningful action that goes beyond telling employees to be more careful and, unfortunately, some time before consumers start to believe it, Allen Adamson, founder of marketing consultancy BrandSimple, tells Strom, citing Johnson & Johnsons adept handling of the Tylenol crisis in the 1980s as the role model for handling a crisis that could erode consumer trust. Liz Fuerst, a professor of public relations at Rutgers University in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, tells Maxwell Reil of PressofAtlanticCity.com that the move was a very good public relations message that followed a series of missteps in how the company handled the response. And, she said, theres a lesson therein for everybody else in the age of viral reaction. I think they were very hesitant to react to this. Companies have to be transparent. They have to react right away because social media is everywhere, she said. Including within the meeting, which was live tweeted. Deeply sorry that some people became ill after eating Chipotle. Committed to make sure it won't happen again, one corporate tweet said as Ells reiterated that the Centers for Disease Control said last week that two outbreaks tied to the chain appeared to be over, Samantha Masunaga, Shan Li and James Rufus Koren report for the Los Angeles Times. At the Monday meeting, company executives also urged employees to take advantage of a new sick pay policy; some of the outbreaks, the company said were due to employees who worked despite being ill, they write. Since the outbreaks of E. coli and other food-borne illnesses at several locations nationwide, Chipotle has implemented a new food-safety program, that includes more rigorous testing, preparing some produce in central kitchens, blanching certain ingredients to kill germs, and changing its marinating techniques for steak and chicken, Samantha Allen writes for The Daily Beast. Ells also announced a $10 million initiative to help local farmers meet food safety standards that was streamed live on #Periscope. The approach of publicly shutting down for a chunk of a day proved effective for Starbucks back in 2008 when the coffee chain orchestrated the closing of 7,100 U.S. stores for a three-hour retraining session as it dealt with sluggish sales, observes Kate Gibson for CBS Money Watch. It set the tone for how to deal with lost sales and a declining customer base, Christopher Muller, a professor at Boston University's School of Hospitality, tells Gibson, who says he does not believe the tactic will have the same positive effect for Chipotle. As he put it: Years from now, this will be case study in how not to manage a crisis. At least initially. The proof will be in the burrito sales. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, February 9, 2016 Is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders engaged in an artful smear of the Hillary Clinton campaign with regards to her relationship with big business and Wall Street? It depends on how you look at it. In last weeks Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders attempted to pin Hillary Clinton as an establishment candidate and himself as a candidate of the people. One of the exchanges culminated with Clinton getting noticeably irked and saying: I think its time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out. Certainly, Sen. Sanders has repeatedly questioned the progressive credentials of his opponent, pointing to Clintons close relationship with many of the banks that were involved in the economic collapse at the end of the last decade. Sanders notes in the debate that in the last quarter, a pro-Clinton super PAC raised $15 million from Wall Street and that throughout her life she raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. advertisement advertisement The argument that Clinton may be hiding something about her relationship with big banks and corporate America holds, especially in light of her campaigns unwillingness to release the transcripts of talks and speeches she gave over the past many years. As Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post puts it, any coziness with Wall Street executives could look really, really bad in the context of the campaign. Voters can interpret Clintons decision not to release the transcripts in one of three ways. Either she actually has something to hide, or she just doesnt want it look like shes been put on trial by progressives in the Democratic party. Or, she doesn't want to be treated differently. No other candidate, Democrat or Republican, has been asked to release speeches. So far, not so much of an artful smear on Sanders part, just politics. However, if we look at a recent Bernie Sanders campaign advertisement titled The Problem, Clintons claim of a smear looks stronger. The 30-second spot doesnt refer to Clinton by name but artfully alludes to the capture of Washington lawmakers by Wall Street. The ad names Goldman Sachs, which according to a CNN analysis, is one of many banks that paid Hillary Clinton a total of about $1.8 million in speaking fees. Sanders has done well bringing up the former Secretary of States relationship with banks as often as he can. He seems to be trying to connect Clinton with Wall Street in voters minds, while highlighting the campaign finance issue that he has made a pillar of his campaign. The Problem ends with: As long as Washington is bought and paid for, we cant build an economy that works for the people, a clear slight at candidates who take money from big business and Wall Street, which includes Hillary Clinton. Clinton defended her scruples during the CNN town hall the evening before the MSNBC debate. When prompted by Anderson Cooper, she said: Name anything theyve influenced me on, just name one thing. It is fair game in politics to smear your opponents. It is likewise fair to call it out, as Clinton has been doing: Enough is enough. If youve got something to say, say it directly. Children with asthma are most likely to experience an attack at the start of the school year and after long breaks, and exacerbations appear to be linked to the common cold virus. These are the findings from research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Share on Pinterest Asthma exacerbations are more likely after long school breaks, researchers say. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asthma is one of the most common long-term health conditions among children, affecting 6.8 million, or 9.3% of the under-18 population. It also affects 8% of American adults, or 18.7 million people, and tends to be hereditary. A person who has asthma always has it, but an attack, or exacerbation, will only occur when something irritates the lungs. Symptoms include wheezing and difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest and coughing at night or early in the morning. The CDC note that the causes of asthma have not been established; nor is there a cure. Asthma exacerbations lead to millions of days of absenteeism from work or school, as well as hospitalizations. Spending on direct health care totals $50 billion annually in the US. Previous attempts to determine the causes of an attack have involved swabbing individual patients to detect viruses. Scientists have suggested that air quality in schools or other environmental factors might be to blame. Among older men with heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, hospitalization at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, compared with hospitalization at non-VA hospitals, was associated with lower 30-day all-cause mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure, and higher 30-day all-cause readmission rates for all 3 conditions, both nationally and within similar geographic areas, although absolute differences between these outcomes were small, according to a study in JAMA. Little contemporary information is available about comparative performance between VA and non-VA hospitals, particularly related to mortality and readmission rates, important outcomes of care. Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., S.M., of Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn., and colleagues conducted an analysis that included male Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries age 65 years or older hospitalized between 2010 and 2013 in VA (n = 104) and non-VA (1,513) acute care hospitals for acute myocardial infarction (AMI; heart attack), heart failure (HF), or pneumonia, using Medicare and VA data. Each condition-outcome analysis cohort for VA and non-VA hospitals contained at least 7,900 patients, in 92 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The researchers found that mortality rates were lower in VA hospitals than non-VA hospitals for AMI (13.5 percent vs 13.7 percent) and HF (11.4 percent vs 11.9 percent), but higher for pneumonia (12.6 percent vs 12.2 percent). Hospital readmission rates were higher in VA hospitals for all 3 conditions (AMI, 17.8 percent vs 17.2 percent; HF, 24.7 percent vs 23.5 percent,; pneumonia, 19.4 percent vs 18.7 percent). In within-MSA comparisons, VA hospitals had lower mortality rates for AMI (percentage-point difference, -0.22) and HF (-0.63), and mortality rates for pneumonia were not significantly different (-0.03); however, VA hospitals had higher readmission rates for AMI (0.62), HF (0.97), or pneumonia (0.66). The authors write that the differences in mortality and readmission rates persisted after accounting for geographic variation in hospital location by limiting comparisons of VA and non-VA hospitals to those within the same metropolitan statistical area. "In general, however, the magnitudes of differences were small for both measures across all 3 conditions." Editorial: Learning From the Past to Improve VA Health Care Ashish K. Jha, M.D., M.P.H., of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, writes in an accompanying editorial that the study by Nuti et al begins to answer the question of whether the VA is meeting its obligations to adequately care for veterans. "The authors focus on a narrow set of questions: how does the VA compare with the rest of the health care system on care for a common set of medical conditions? The findings are reassuring and make plain that even though the VA has much work to do, it is starting off from a substantially better place than it was in 2 decades ago." "These findings are important because they suggest that despite all of the challenges that VA hospitals have faced, they are still able to deliver high-quality care for some of the sickest, most complicated patients. In addition, although there are large variations in outcomes among VA hospitals, on average, the system seems to be performing reasonably well." Doctors should discuss treatment effects, adverse effect profiles, costs, accessibility, and preferences with patients when selecting a first line treatment. Doctors should select cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or second generation antidepressants (SGAs) to treat adults with major depressive disorder (MDD), the American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends in a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline published today in Annals of Internal Medicine. "Patients are frequently treated for depression by primary care physicians, who often initially prescribe SGAs," said ACP President Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP. "However, CBT is a reasonable approach for initial treatment and should be strongly considered as an alternative treatment to SGAs where available, and after discussing treatment effects, adverse effect profiles, costs, accessibility, and preferences with patients." Depression is a medical condition causing sadness that interferes with daily life, not a normal reaction to life situations such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job. Common depression symptoms are lack of energy and loss of interest in things previously enjoyed. ACP developed the guideline to summarize and grade the evidence on the comparative effectiveness and safety of non-drug treatments and SGAs (including SSRIs, SNRIs, bupropion, mirtazapine, nefazodone, and trazodone), alone or in combination, for MDD in adults. Evaluated outcomes included response, remission, functional capacity, quality of life, reduction of suicidality or hospitalizations, and harms. Moderate-quality evidence showed that CBT and SGAs are similarly effective treatments for MDD and that discontinuation rates are similar for CBT and SGAs. Low-quality evidence showed no difference in effectiveness or adverse effects between first line treatment using SGAs compared to non-drug treatments (complementary and alternative medicines, or exercise monotherapies or combination therapies). Adverse effects commonly associated with SGAs include constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, insomnia, nausea, sexual adverse events, and drowsiness. For second line treatment after treatment failure with SGAs, low-quality evidence showed that strategies to switch to or augment with another drug or non-drug therapy are similarly effective. Low-quality evidence showed that St John's wort may be as effective as SGAs for treating MDD, and moderate-quality evidence showed that St John's wort was better tolerated than SGAs. However, St. John's wort is not currently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. Because no standard is in place regarding the contents and potency of the medication, patients in the U.S. may not be able to get quality-controlled St John's wort or reliably obtain preparations with similar effectiveness as those used in the included studies. Adverse effects associated with St. John's wort may include mild gastrointestinal symptoms, skin reactions, fatigue, sedation, restlessness, dizziness, headache, and dry mouth. St. John's wort is associated with important drug-drug interactions, is known to induce CYP3A4, may reduce the bioavailability or efficacy of some drugs, and is contraindicated in patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors or SSRIs. Faster access to acute care and an end to sending severely-ill mental health patients long distances are among the recommendations made in a new report launched today by an Independent Commission led by Lord Nigel Crisp and supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Commission was set up in 2015 to address the issues facing patients in England needing acute care for mental health problems; patients who currently have no guarantee that they will be treated swiftly or even that the care they receive will be of an expected standard. In 2014/15, 1.8 million people in England used mental health services, with 103,840 being admitted to hospital. Current estimates suggest that around 500 mentally ill people have to travel over 50km to be admitted into hospital every month. These long distance admissions are mainly due to difficulties in finding acute inpatient beds or suitable alternative services in their home area, and are a symptom of far more widespread problems in the functioning of the whole mental health system. With system-wide problems including variable quality of care in inpatient units, inadequate availability of inpatient care or alternatives to inpatient admission when needed, and patients remaining in hospital for longer than necessary due to inadequate residential provision, the acute psychiatric care system was well overdue for a review. The Commission's report consequently recommends significant changes to how mental health services are commissioned, organised and monitored across the whole mental health system. The report clearly lays out exactly what is required to address the problems in accessing acute inpatient care for adults, with twelve recommendations that will help to close the gap that currently exists between access to acute mental and physical healthcare provision. These include: The introduction by October 2017 of a maximum waiting time of four hours for admission to an acute psychiatric ward for adults or acceptance for home based treatment following assessment. Phasing out nationally the practice of sending acutely ill patients long distances for non-specialist treatment by October 2017. More investment in home-based treatment, information systems and staff. That patients and carers are enabled to play an even greater role in their own care as well as in service design, provision, monitoring and governance. The piloting of a Patients and Carers Race Equality Standard in mental health alongside other efforts to improve the experience of care for people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities. Better access to a mix of types of housing - and greater flexibility in its use - to provide for short-term use in crises, reduce delayed discharges from inpatient services, and to offer long-term accommodation. That service providers, commissioners and Health and Wellbeing Boards work together to improve the way the mental health system works locally - sharing information, simplifying structures where appropriate, and finding innovative ways to share resources and deliver services. Chair of the Commission, and formerly Chief Executive of the NHS in England and Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health from 2000 to 2006, Lord Nigel Crisp said: "It is time to end the difference in standards between mental and physical illnesses. People with severe mental illnesses need to be able to find care just as quickly as people suffering from physical illnesses - and they shouldn't have to travel long distances to do so. "Most of what is needed is already being done somewhere in the country with committed and innovative people - patients and carers as well as professionals - working hard to improve services. This report's recommendations are designed to get behind their efforts and help them to share their learning and achieve their ambitions." President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Professor Sir Simon Wessely said: "Everyone agrees that it is a scandal that patients with serious mental disorders who need admission can end up being sent anywhere from Cornwall to Cumbria in a search for a bed. And yet it continues. "When I became President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists I asked Lord Crisp to chair an independent commission into the state of acute psychiatric care. He and his team have travelled the length and breadth of the land looking at inpatient services, finding much to like, but still not enough being done. "The answers lie not in just providing more beds, although there are definitely places where that might help in the short term, but assessing the entire system. In particular we stand alongside Lord Crisp in asking that there is a new pledge for a maximum four hour wait for admission or home treatment by 2017, and that the unacceptable practice of sending seriously sick patients around the country is ended by the same date. If we were talking strokes, heart attacks or cancer, we wouldn't even have to ask." NMDA glutamate receptors, which function as receptors that bond with glutamates, are known to be deeply involved in animal memory and learning. In order for memories to be created inside the brain, these NMDA glutamate receptors must first be transported to and accumulated in the synapses. University of Tsukuba Faculty of Medicine Professor Yosuke Takei, in a joint study with the University of Tokyo, has for the first time clarified the mechanism in the brain that inhibits derailment of the receptor transport that supports memory. The research group has ascertained that a molecule known as MAP1A connects NMDA glutamate receptors as they are being transported to the synapses to the microtubules, stabilizing the receptors and preventing them from becoming "derailed," and playing a role in improving the overall efficiency and stability of the transport process. In the nerve cells of mice that lack MAP1A, the NMDA glutamate receptors are not carried effectively to the synapses, resulting in a remarkable loss of memory capabilities in the mice. The transport of NMDA glutamate receptors is a fundamental system that supports brain functions such as memory and learning. Recently, however, discoveries such as receptor transport abnormalities in the brains of schizophrenia patients, have started to show the receptors' deep involvement in neuropsychiatric disorders. Developments of drug and gene therapies that can be effective on the receptor transport support system clarified in this study are expected to give rise to new treatment strategies for memory impairment and schizophrenia. The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey for 2015 reports a five percentage point fall in satisfaction with the National Health Service compared to 2014, data published today by The King's Fund shows. The public's satisfaction with the health service fell to 60 per cent in 2015. While satisfaction is still high by historical standards, it is now nine percentage points below its peak of 70 per cent in 2010. Dissatisfaction with the NHS increased by eight percentage points to 23 per cent in 2015, the largest single-year increase since the survey began in 1983, taking it back to the levels reported between 2011 and 2013. The survey, conducted by NatCen Social Research, reports that satisfaction with GP services is at 69 per cent. Although general practice is still the service people are most satisfied with, this represents a ten percentage point drop since 2009 and is the lowest rating for GPs since the survey began. Satisfaction with social care services provided by local authorities is much lower than satisfaction with health services, falling by five percentage points to 26 per cent. For the first time in 2015, some respondents that were satisfied or dissatisfied with the NHS were asked why. The biggest drivers of satisfaction were the quality of care provided (61 per cent), the fact that the NHS is free at the point of use (59 per cent) and the range of services and treatments available (54 per cent). The main reasons for dissatisfaction are waiting times for GP and hospital appointments (55 per cent), not enough staff (44 per cent) and under-funding (39 per cent). The survey highlights a sharp divergence of views between supporters of the main two political parties. Satisfaction levels among Conservative supporters continued to remain stable at 65 per cent. However, perhaps reflecting the general election campaign and its outcome (the survey was conducted in the months afterwards), satisfaction among Labour supporters dropped by 11 percentage points back to its 2013 level of 59 per cent. This brings it back in line with historical precedent - satisfaction tends to be higher among supporters of the party in power. Satisfaction with other services remained relatively unchanged: Satisfaction with dentistry is unchanged from 2014 with slightly more than half of respondents satisfied with the service (54 per cent). Satisfaction with inpatient services remained stable at 58 per cent, while 66 per cent of people were satisfied with outpatient services. Satisfaction with A&E, which has fluctuated over the past few years, was 53 per cent in 2015. John Appleby, Chief Economist at The King's Fund, said: 'The British Social Attitudes Survey has traditionally been seen as a barometer of how well the NHS is performing. The latest survey underlines the high value the British public places on the quality of care the NHS provides and its availability free at the point of use. It is no surprise to find that dissatisfaction is driven by waiting times for appointments and perceptions of underfunding and staff shortages. However, it is also apparent that people's perceptions are influenced by their views about a range of factors including politics, policy and public institutions, as well as by their own experience of the NHS.' The NHS Confederation response to The British Social Attitudes survey findings Responding to The British Social Attitutudes survey findings published by The King's Fund, Rob Webster, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation said: "This is an important set of results for the health and care sector and shows that the public continues to value the NHS very highly. Public perception on NHS funding, staffing and wait times are however driving lower satisfaction. What the public and health service now needs is a strong clear narrative from politicians of all parties on the future of the NHS. "The most important set of results are those on social care. We have said consistently that the NHS and social care system cannot be seen in isolation from each other. A further fall in satisfaction of 5 percentage points to just 26 per cent is deeply concerning. This reflects the pressure social care services are facing and these must be addressed if we are to sustain effective care for vulnerable people. Current resourcing levels in social care will, we believe, be insufficient in the short term to make this a reality." Significant Step Forward in Understanding the Workings of the Heart. Researchers at Illinois Institute of Technology and Loyola University have discovered new clues in the 100-year-old mystery of the Frank-Starling law of the heart: What makes the heart contract more strongly at longer lengths given the same level of calcium activation? Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Biology professor Thomas Irving of Illinois Tech and Pieter de Tombe of the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine demonstrated that the muscle protein titin plays a key role in the Frank-Starling mechanism. The findings will enable researchers to develop more realistic models of cardiac function and improve their understanding of cardiac dysfunction in heart failure. First proposed in 1914, Frank-Starling refers to the physiological observation that the greater the volume of blood that enters the heart during diastole - or normal heart dilation, when chambers fill with blood - the higher the blood pressure when more blood is sent out of the chambers during systole, when the ventricles contract. Although researchers have known of the phenomenon for a long time, they have not known how it works. They knew only that the Frank-Starling mechanism does not properly work in people with heart failure; the heart does not pump enough blood. To explore the mechanism, Irving, De Tombe, and their team examined live rat heart muscle at the millionth of a millimeter (nanoscale) level, using small angle X-ray diffraction techniques at Illinois Tech's Biophysics Collaborative Access Team (BioCAT) beamline 18ID at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. BioCAT is considered by scientists to be one of the best facilities in the world for muscle diffraction studies. A heart muscle contracts because of interactions between bundles of proteins called myosin assembled into so-called thick filaments with the protein actin assembled into so-called thin filaments. When a nerve impulse stimulates the muscle, calcium is released from stores that can move into the thick and thin filaments. Portions of the myosin muscle then interact with the thin filaments, causing muscle to shorten and generate force. Another important protein, titin, acts like a rubber band that stores energy when muscle is stretched and releases it when it shortens. Earlier researchers proposed that alterations in the titin molecules were connected to heart failure. But they did not know why muscle generates more force for the same amount of calcium when muscle is stretched to longer lengths. Illinois Tech and Loyola researchers found that normal titin molecules pulling on the thick filaments caused changes in thick filament structure that were simultaneously accompanied by changes in the thin filament structure, and these thin filament changes were those normally associated with allowing the muscle to contract. These structural changes were absent in muscles that had longer titin molecules that did not pull as hard on the thick filaments. What tells the proteins that the muscle has been stretched as it would be at larger diastolic volumes, is how much the titin pulls on the thick and thin filaments. This provides an important part of the long-sought explanation for the increased force at longer muscle length that underlies the Frank-Starling mechanism. "This is a significant step forward in our understanding of the workings of the heart," said Irving. "Although we still don't know what the connections are chemically that transmit titin's force from the thick filaments to the thin filaments, we now know that there must be such connections. The next step is to identify this missing link." NIH-funded study could lead to new tick control methods. With tenacity befitting their subject, an international team of nearly 100 researchers toiled for a decade and overcame tough technical challenges to decipher the genome of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, contributed primary support to the research, which appears in the online, open-access journal Nature Communications. "Ticks spread more different kinds of infectious microbes to people and animals than any other arthropod group," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The spiral-shaped bacterium that causes Lyme disease is perhaps the best known microbe transmitted by ticks; however, ticks also transmit infectious agents that cause human babesiosis, anaplasmosis, tick-borne encephalitis and other diseases. The newly assembled genome provides insight into what makes ticks such effective disease vectors and may generate new ways to lessen their impact on human and animal health." Catherine A. Hill, Ph.D., of Purdue University, headed the team of investigators. Aside from the logistical challenges of coordinating activities of dozens of workers across many time zones, the researchers' focus was a creature that is extremely difficult to maintain and that lives a long time - up to two years in the wild and nine months in the lab, Dr. Hill noted. Ixodes ticks have three blood-feeding life stages, and during each one, they feed on a different vertebrate animal. During feeding, ticks ingest blood for hours or days at a time. After mating, adult female ticks rapidly imbibe a large blood meal during which they expand hugely. "Because genes may switch on or off depending on the life stage of the tick, we needed to culture and collect ticks at each stage for analysis. This was not easy to do," said Dr. Hill. Another challenge was the sheer size of the tick genome - some 2.1 billion DNA base pairs - and expansive regions where sequences are repeated. "The degree of DNA repetition - approximately 70 percent of the total - made assembling the full genome in the correct order very difficult," Dr. Hill said. In the end, the team determined the order and sequence of about two-thirds of the total genome. "We determined the sequence for 20,486 protein-coding genes," she said, "of which 20 percent may be unique to ticks. Those tick-specific genes are like guideposts that say 'start here' as we look for new ways to counter infectious ticks." Although the latest research represents just a first look at the tick genome, the scientists have already identified genes and protein families that shed light on why Ixodes ticks succeed so well as parasites and hint at the reasons they excel at spreading pathogens, Dr. Hill noted. For example, compared with other blood-feeders, ticks have many more proteins devoted to consuming, concentrating and detoxifying their iron-containing food. Although mosquitoes - which quickly siphon up relatively small amounts of blood through a tube-like mouthpiece - have several proteins dedicated to blood digestion, ticks have many more proteins involved in this process. Other genes code for proteins that help ticks concentrate the blood and rapidly excrete excess water that accompanies large blood meals. Still other genes allow ticks to quickly expand their stiff outer coats to accommodate a 100-fold increase in total body size during blood feeding. Other peculiarities of the tick's lifestyle reflected in the genome include genes associated with the multifaceted sensory systems that the parasite uses when "questing" for a host during each of its separate blood-feeding stages. Compared with mosquitoes, ticks appear to have fewer genes used to detect hosts, and, unlike a mosquito's "smell" receptors, ticks may use "taste" receptors to locate their food sources. Each of the newly identified proteins is a potential target for new, tick-specific interventions, explained Dr. Hill. "The genome gives us a code book to the inner workings of ticks. With it, we can now begin to hack their system and write a counter-script against them." In an effort to explain variations in Lyme disease prevalence across the United States, the team also examined genetic diversity within and among I. scapularis populations gathered from five states in the Northeast and Midwest and three in the South. Some have speculated that ticks in the Northeast and Midwest spread the bacteria that cause Lyme disease more easily than those in the South, or that the two populations perhaps comprise separate species. The genetic analysis showed that there is only one species of I. scapularis, said Dr. Hill, but subtle genetic differences were detected, and these may help explain some of the variance in the ability of populations to transmit disease and, therefore, affect disease prevalence. Dr. Hill admits to a grudging admiration for her eight-legged subjects. "I find them almost endearing in the way they stick so firmly to the business of parasitizing their hosts. They are persistent and resilient. In a way, our team took a page from the tick's book in working together over so many years until we achieved our goal." Other team members in the multi-disciplinary project included Bruce Birren, Ph.D., of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, MA; Frank H. Collins, Ph.D., of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN; Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D., of the Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore; and Karen E. Nelson, Ph.D., of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Rockville, MD. The NIAID Genomic Centers for Infectious Diseases program supported the sequencing activities at The Broad Institute, JCVI and the University of Maryland. NIAID scientist and co-author Jose M. Ribeiro, Ph.D., was supported through the NIAID intramural research program. Additional Department of Health and Human Services, NIH and NIAID grants and contracts used in support of this research: N01-AI30071, HHSN272200900007C, HHSN266200400001C, 5R01GM77117-5, HHSN266200400039C, HHSN272200900039C, NIH-1R01AI090062, NIH 1R21AI096268, TL1 TR000162, HHSN272200900040C, R01AI017828 and R01AI043006. Researchers at Umea University in Sweden help assess the risk that Zika will spread to Europe by describing the transmission season, areas at risk and intervention strategies. By using previous knowledge on Dengue, they are now strategizing on how Zika can be controlled. "From a European perspective, the best immediate response to Zika is to help prevent the spread of the virus where the outbreak takes place," says Joacim Rocklov, epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health and Clinical medicine at Umea University. As Europe responds to the global threat of the Zika virus, a team of leading experts on Dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses are providing crucial expertise. Dengue and Zika viruses are carried by some of the same mosquito types and also share a number of characteristics in terms of how viral infections manifest. Therefore, what the scientific community already knows about Dengue will be key in efforts to understand and prevent the spread of Zika. In this effort, Umea University's current leading role in the Dengue research is highly relevant. Umea University researchers are in dialogue with the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control (ECDC) to advice on the many knowledge gaps on Zika. Umea University has since 2011 hosted DengueTools, an EU funded research consortium, developing innovative interventions for predicting and fighting the mosquito transmitted virus. This international research effort, which includes 14 partners in 11 different countries, has resulted in a model research infrastructure that can now be applied to fight the Zika virus. "We can now use the well-functioning infrastructure we have already built through the Dengue Tools consortium to fight the spread of Zika. And in this existing model, Brazil, which has been hit hard by Zika, is already a strong partner," says Joacim Rocklov. The World Health Organization announced on 1 February that the rapid spread of the Zika virus amounts a global health emergency, echoing a call by the EU to fund research on the topic. In addition to the Umea researchers' role as expert consultants to the ECDC, the Umea University researchers, led by Joacim Rocklov and Professor Annelies Wilder-Smith, are answering this call and capitalizing on the existing partnerships, infrastructures, technologies and knowledge developed through DengueTools consortium to combat the ongoing Zika pandemic. Joacim Rocklov, interview about Zika and other virus: https://vimeo.com/154571562 A new model developed to examine the relationship between factors that impact how African Americans approach advance care planning (ACP) reveals how little is known about improving ACP in this population and points to new approaches to improve care and quality of life. The model is described in an article published in the special issue "Palliative and End-of-Life Care for African Americans" of Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The issue is available to download free on the Journal of Palliative Medicine website until March 8, 2016. Guest Editor of the special issue Ronit Elk, PhD, University of South Carolina College of Nursing (Columbia), and Guest Associate Editors Timothy Quill, MD, Tammy Quest, MD, and Kimberly Johnson, MD, have gathered a series of insightful and informative Editorials, Original Research articles, Brief Reports, Palliative Care Reviews, and Personal Reflections that capture a broad scope of the key issues, novel approaches, and leading research in this important area. In the article *"Factors Impacting Advance Care Planning among African Americans: Results of a Systematic Integrated Review," Justin Sanders, MD and Susan Block, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Ariadne Labs (Boston, MA), and Maisha Robinson, MD, University of California Los Angeles, reviewed the ACP literature to develop their model for understanding the factors that affect decision making regarding future medical care in this population. Among their conclusions, they report that African Americans are more likely to engage in discussions of end-of-life care rather than to complete formal documents. The Guest Editorial entitled **"Their Bodies, Our Conduct: How Society and Medicine Produce Persons Standing in Need of End-of-Life Care," authored by Karla Holloway, PhD, James B. Duke Professor of English and Professor of Law and African-American Studies at Duke University (Durham, NC), describes end-of-life care for African Americans as "an opportunistic occasion that spans the life cycle." Dr. Holloway states: "The critical ethic of individualized care must guide our practice and this means we must ask each patient what matters, and listen for the answer without our own cultural biases as the interpretive agent." "Our ability to relieve suffering and improve quality of life has never been more powerful in the history of human medicine. It is essential we get this to all Americans, including African Americans," says Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine and Clinical Professor of Medicine, Ohio University. Advertisement Dr. Ankit Sakhuja, a graduate of Mayo Clinic Renal Transplant Fellowship, said, "Past studies and patient data have shown that we can improve a person's quality of life and chance of surviving end-stage renal disease if we can avoid or minimize the amount of time they spend on dialysis." He also currently is an assistant professor and director of the kidney paired donation program in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Michigan.Mayo Clinic and University of Michigan researchers examined data from the United Network for Organ Sharing to evaluate the use of timely kidney transplants from 2000 to 2012 for 68,128 patients who received living donor transplants. Although data showed an improvement in the use of pre-emptive and early living donor transplants between 2000 and 2006, there has been no improvement since.Dr. Sakhuja said, "Patients who are receiving transplants from compatible living donors should, theoretically, not need to go on dialysis at all. In comparison, patients with no living donors may wait for a deceased donor organ for a long time. But in reality, we see a wide variation in the timing of transplants and no improvement in the use of timely transplants from living donors, despite the potential availability and known benefits."Factors that influence a person's chance of receiving a timely living kidney transplant are thought to include lack of available living donors, decreased number of living donors, lack of insurance, lack of education or knowledge, delayed diagnosis and delayed referral.Paired donations and direct donation represent two viable and available options for timely living kidney transplant. Yet both can be influenced by early referral and by a patient's understanding of their situation and the transplant evaluation process. The use of timely kidney transplant can vary greatly from one transplant center to another, based on factors including the patient population, the transplant team and its comfort in evaluating living donors, and providing prompt transplant evaluations for patients. But according to Dr. Stegall, approximately 80% of kidney transplants at Mayo Clinic in the past 15 years have been from living donors, with 40% of those being pre-emptive living donor transplants.Source: Eurekalert Introduction For the past seven months, the Syrian town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, has been besieged by Hizbullah and forces of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The town's plight has made headlines lately because of numerous media reports that its residents are malnourished and even starving to death because food and humanitarian aid are not being allowed in. Madaya is included in a six-month ceasefire agreement between rebel forces and the besiegers, under UN oversight. The agreement, which came into force on September 20, 2015, stipulated that humanitarian aid be allowed into the city of Al-Zabadani, also besieged by Hizbullah and the Syrian regime, and that wounded fighters and civilians can be evacuated from it. In return, Shi'ite civilians will be allowed to leave the towns of Fu'ah and Kefraya, located in Shi'ite enclaves in the Rif Idlib area, which are besieged by rebel forces. As to Madaya, which is near Al-Zabadani, the agreement states that the siege on it will be lifted, humanitarian aid will be allowed in, and the seriously wounded, to be identified by the Red Crescent under UN oversight, will be evacuated.[1] Humanitarian aid was indeed allowed into Madaya on October 18, 2015, and again some three months later, on January 11, 2016. However, despite the UN's wish, as expressed by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, to evacuate from the town some 400 malnourished civilians,[2] and despite reports that 16 people have died of starvation,[3] the siege on Madaya continues, and Hizbullah has even reportedly escalated it and has not allowed any evacuation.[4] As noted, Madaya has received much attention in the global media, including in the Middle East and Lebanese media. Images of starving civilians, among them children and the elderly, have been circulated widely via media and social networks, with blame being placed on the Syrian regime and Hizbullah. Hizbullah, for its part, denied the accusations, saying that the photos had been fabricated and circulated as a smear campaign. Hizbullah's denials had no effect on the organization's critics in Lebanon, including both the March 14 Forces and independent Shi'ite activists and journalists. Both harshly criticized it, accusing it of perpetrating crimes against humanity and of starving an entire town to death, and compared these actions to Nazi crimes and other acts of mass extermination in history. Hizbullah's opponents in Lebanon argued that these deeds exposed the organization's immorality as well as its hypocrisy in claiming to protect the weak and oppressed, and that they tarnished the image of the entire resistance axis. Anti-Hizbullah articles and cartoons also appeared in the Saudi press, which supports the March 14 Forces and is known for its hostility towards the organization. This report reviews Hizbullah's denial of the accusations against it regarding the siege of Madaya, and the harsh criticism of Hizbullah in Lebanese media. Hizbullah Denies Accusations It Is Starving Madaya To Death As stated, Hizbullah denied that it was besieging Madaya and was responsible for starving its residents. In a January 7, 2016 statement posted on the Hizbullah-owned Al-'Ahd website, the organization complained that it was the victim of "an organized campaign aimed at harming the image of the resistance." It even questioned the authenticity of some of the shocking photos of starving people being circulated by media and on social networks, claiming that some of them were not from Madaya at all. It added that the accusations against Hizbullah were nothing but "organized libel and fabricated allegations being deliberately spread by the biased media and press of the Sa'ud family [the Saudi royal family]" and that "these relentless media campaigns, whose goal is well known, constantly take every opportunity to hurl groundless accusations [at others] without backing them up with evidence or proof..." Hizbullah blamed the situation in Madaya on militants within the town, saying in its statement: "Responsibility for what is happening in Madaya rests solely with the armed terrorist groups that are holding the town hostage, and with external elements that support these militants..." It continued: "On October 18, 2015, dozens of trucks were allowed into [the towns of] Madaya, Serghaya and Baqin, loaded with food and medical supplies that were supposed to last for months. The same quantity [of supplies] was also brought into [the Shi'ite towns of] Fu'ah and Kefraya... It is the leaders of the armed gangs who are controlling [the distribution] of the food. They are hoarding it in their warehouses in the [town] center, stealing it from the populace and selling it to residents who can afford to pay. Madaya was not part of the battle until fighting erupted in nearby Al-Zabadani, when militants [began] using it as a base from which to launch operations against the Syrian army and Hizbullah, with the aim of changing the course of the war. The armed terrorist groups are using the residents, of which there are no more than 23,000, as human shields and as a political bargaining chip, as part of their deceptive media campaign. So far there have been no deaths [of starvation] in Madaya. Many civilians are attempting to leave it, but the armed groups are not letting them..."[5] Hizbullah deputy-secretary-general Na'im Qassem likewise said that "false claims" were being made against the organization, and accused militants inside Madaya of starving the populace. He added: "We are committed [to the agreement] and are implementing it fully. It is the other side that is not meeting [its obligations]."[6] Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV also rallied to the organization's defense, airing a report from inside Madaya featuring several residents stating that armed militants controlled the town and had appropriated the humanitarian supplies and divided them amongst themselves. These residents also attested that the "terror organizations" controlled the supply storerooms, one of which was inside the home of a senior commander, and that these organizations were selling supplies to the townspeople at "unbelievable" prices.[7] Syrian opposition sources said that these residents had been bribed to say these things in exchange for food and permission to leave the town.[8] March 14 Forces: Madaya Will Remain An Indelible Mark Of Shame On Hizbullah's Forehead The siege of Madaya and the starving of its people, and Hizbullah's refusal to acknowledge its responsibility for the situation, evoked harsh condemnations from Hizbullah's political rivals in Lebanon. Sa'd Al-Hariri: Madaya Is Being Executed With The Sword Of Starvation Sa'd Al-Hariri, former Lebanese prime minister and current head of the Al-Mustaqbal political camp, stated that Madaya was being executed. On January 7, 2016, he tweeted: "Two months of siege and of withholding food and medicine from 40,000 civilians in Madaya. Where is the world's conscience? The siege of Madaya is the execution of a city by the sword of starvation."[9] Al-Hariri's tweet Likewise, March 14 Forces general secretariat called the Madaya siege a crime against humanity, and urged the international community to help its residents and to prosecute the Syria regime and its allies - hinting at Hizbullah. It stated in a communiqu: "The siege of starvation on the Syrian city of Madaya reaches the level of a crime against humanity, and requires the international community to take immediate steps to ensure that the necessary humanitarian aid is delivered to the people of this town, and that they are saved. Furthermore, the international legal agencies must take the necessary steps [against] the ones who are responsible for this crime, among the Syrian regime's leaders, allies, and supporters, and bring them before the competent international judicial authorities for punishment. The Lebanese, who in principle oppose Hizbullah's participation in the war on the Syrian people because [this war] violates the [Lebanese] constitution and the legitimate international resolutions, see Hizbullah's participation [in this war], and especially its besieging and starving [of populations], as a mark of shame that contradicts the political ethics that Hizbullah purports to uphold."[10] Lebanese MP: Hizbullah Is Worse Than Nazi Regime Druze MP Marwan Hamadeh said that no one who participates in the siege of Madaya, or who fails to protest against it, should be allowed to call themselves part of the "resistance and struggle," and added: "Hizbullah [aka] the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and the Syrian regime should be ashamed of themselves. Moreover, the world, and its envoy Staffan de Mistura, should also be ashamed, in light of what is happening in the Syrian town of Madaya. We have reverted to something more despicable than Nazism, Stalinism, and Zionism; this requires that we revoke the title of resistance and struggle from any person, organization, or nation participating in the siege of Madaya or remaining silent regarding this horrendous crime against humanity."[11] Al-Mustaqbal Editorial: The World Must Not Remain Silent In Light Of Madaya's Siege And Starvation Criticism of Hizbullah was also expressed in the pro-March 14 Forces Lebanese press. An editorial in the daily Al-Mustaqbal also claimed that Madaya was a victim of the Syrian regime and called on the world to not remain silent: "The unjust siege on the town Madaya and the nearly 40,000 residents remaining there does no honor to the regime of the tyrant dictator Bashar Al-Assad, nor to his supporters and allies. Moreover, it is a scarlet letter that will remain on the breast of them all until the Day of Judgment... The strangled and besieged Madaya, which was 'sentenced to death by the sword of starvation,' as [Al-Mustaqbal Stream] Chair Sa'd Al-Hariri said, is a victim of the Assad regime and its ally Hizbullah, just as it is a victim of the international community's dodging the fulfillment of its simplest human and political duty towards this miserable town and its residents and towards the Syrian disaster in general. Madaya is a cry of pain in the face of the entire world, which stands by and witnesses, at the dawn of the third millennium, a sight reminiscent of the acts of horror, crimes, and genocides of the very distant past."[12] "Hizbullah" feeds "Madaya" residents to the Grim Reaper (Source: Alwatan.com.sa, February 3, 2016) Al-Mustaqbal: The Fruits Reaped By Hizbullah In Its "Holy War" In Syria Are The Children Of Madaya Lebanese columnist 'Ali Al-Husseini wrote in Al-Mustaqbal that "Hizbullah and its media outlets are showing extremism and arrogance regarding a town whose population is lining up in preparation for death. [This] party [ Hizbullah] sows hatred in its public, misleading it into thinking that this is a holy war, the winds of which might kill them if they do not reap its 'fruits' at the earliest opportunity. These fruits... today are the corpses of children, whose bodies, ravaged by famine before the January frost painted them blue and turned them into lifeless wooden planks, bear no indication that they were once alive... Hizbullah boasts that it was born and reared on foundations that are religious, cultural, and educational, and claims to belong to a philosophical school that champions the slogan 'We reject humiliation'... and therefore it is despicable for it to use all these actions and operations against unarmed civilians who share its geographical space and language. The surprising thing is that its members never used such operations when they fought the Israelis in the South..."[13] Al-Mustaqbal Columnist: Hizbullah Is Like Dracula Sucking The Syrians' Blood In a particularly caustic article in the Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal titled "Dracula in the Arab Lands," Lebanese poet and literary critic Paul Shaul compared Hizbullah to Dracula sucking the Syrians' blood: "Behold Hizbullah, the agent of [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and [Iran's Islamic] Revolutionary Guards Corps, which has, since it entered Syria, played the role of Dracula sucking the Syrians' blood, as if the blood of young Shi'ites or Lebanese and Arabs, or its murders, was not enough for it... Hizbullah has launched a policy of extermination and expulsion... a major [forced population] transfer! [It has implemented] a policy of ethnic, racial, and sectarian expulsion, in order to destroy Syria's demography, and to empty the land of its inhabitants! It 'appropriated' their blood and sucked it, as Dracula sucked his victims' blood. "It carried out these crimes against humanity in several regions, until chance brought it, as an ally of Syria's spillers of blood, to besiege 40,000 Syrians in Madaya... a barbaric siege that is as deranged as the deeds of Israel, Putin, and Hitler. They are starving Madaya out of hatred and sectarianism. And they [the Madayans] are turning into skeletons... The party of Iran eats human flesh; what is the difference between the bloodsucking Dracula and a party that gorges itself on the flesh of people and animals?"[14] The turbaned "Party of Iran" vulture awaits the death of the starving man of "Madaya." (Image: Aleqt.com, January 8, 2016) Lebanese Writer: "Hizbullah Is Starving Syria's Children" Lebanese writer Ahmad 'Ayyash wrote under the headline "Hizbullah Is Starving Syria's Children" in the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar: "All Hizbullah's media attempts to change the picture of the siege on the Syrian [town of] Madaya and its starving residents have been unsuccessful. This is because the photos of children in this unfortunate city clearly refelected [the disaster] that befell it after seven consecutive months of siege by the Syrian regime forces and Hizbullah... "This is how Hizbullah, whose secretary-general Nasrallah boasts of being a soldier in the army of the Iranian Rule of the Jurisprudent, won a new reputation as the starver of Syria's children, to go with its reputation as a supporter of the dictator Bashar Al-Assad.[15] Hizbullah leader Nasrallah crushes infant "Madaya" (Image: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, January 10, 2016) Lebanese Journalist: The Lebanese Government, Some Of Whose Ministers Are From Hizbullah, Is Becoming An Accomplice To War Crimes In Syria In a January 8, 2016 article on the Lebanese website Now Lebanon, which is known for its anti-Hizbullah positions, Lebanese political researcher Ziad Majed, a cofounder of the Democratic Left Movement in Lebanon, wrote: "Two hours away from Beirut, Syrian men, women, and children are hungry for bread, and some are dying of starvation... Two hours away from Beirut, a war crime is thus being carried out. This is not the first war crime in Syria; it was preceded by many crimes like it, carried out by the Assad regime and its militias across Syria... "But this time [these crimes] are being carried out by Lebanese youths whose party has ministers in the Lebanese government as well as a highly influential parliamentary faction. [They are doing so] in the sense that Hizbullah, by participating in the siege and starvation of Madaya, is making the Lebanese authorities partially responsible for this crime. Likewise, [Hizbullah] is placing the onus of this barbaric crime upon many Lebanese who support it [i.e. Hizbullah], stripping them of the option of using the arguments - arguments refuted from the outset - that justified its intervention in Syria in 2012. 'Defending borders' is not accomplished by starving Syrian children; 'defending the shrine of Zaynab' does not require snipers to fire on mothers seeking milk and flour... As for the new argument [used] to justify the crime of Madaya, Al-Zabadani and Baqin - that is, the [anti-Assad forces' purported] siege on the towns of Nabal and Al-Zahraa, or Fu'ah and Kefraya - this is no less refuted... first of all, because it is not Hizbullah's business to besiege any Syrian community in response to a siege on another Syrian community, and second of all because the response to a crime, if one was committed, is not the commission of a more serious crimeOC"[16] Hizbullah Criticized By Lebanese Shi'ites: We Oppose Hizbullah's Atrocities Independent Shi'ite elements in Lebanon, considered anti-Hizbullah,[17] were also critical, condemning the siege and stating that it violated all human values and that Hizbullah does not represent the Shi'ites. They also criticized Shi'ite clerics for remaining silent in the face of Hizbullah's actions. Communiqu By Shi'ite Personages From Lebanon: The Shi'a Renounces The 'Holocaust' Committed By Hizbullah In Syria As stated, in January 2016 several prominent independent Shi'ite figures, among them Supreme Shi'ite Islamic Council member Mustafa Hani Fahs, Shi'ite journalist Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin who is editor of the Lebanese anti-Hizbullah website Janoubia.com, Arab Center for Dialogue director Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari, and others, published a "Madaya Declaration" condemning Hizbullah's besieging of Madaya for political objectives and explaining that by doing so Hizbullah was not representing the Shi'ites. Al-Amin explained that it was decided to publish the declaration in light of senior Shi'ite clerics' and officials' failure to speak out about the Madaya events, and added that its planners and signatories wanted to clarify that Hizbullah and Hizbullah's actions were not representative of the views of all Shi'ites.[18] The Madaya Declaration states: "In light of the atrocity of the policy of killing and of besieging to death that is being implemented by the regime and its supporters against the residents [of Madaya], and based on human sentiment, on Arab responsibility, and on Islamic and historical fraternity, we raise our voices in solidarity with the residents of the town of Madaya, and we reject the use of the language of starvation, killing, siege, and subjugation. We hereby announce that: The Madaya Declaration (Source: Facebook.com) "We absolutely condemn the term 'balance of death' and the siege, particularly when its outcome is tragic because bringing in food, water and medicines is banned, with the aim of accomplishing political objectives. We view this as a violation of all human values, Arab understandings, and human rights conventions. We oppose Lebanese nationals' participation in killings and siege against our brothers in Syria on the pretext of 'wiping out the terrorists'... We hereby declare that the Shi'a denounces the Syrian 'holocaust' and its outcomes, and finds these unacceptable and condemnable by any standard. "We demand the immediate withdrawal of the armed Lebanese nationals who are involved in the war in Syria, particularly from areas facing Lebanese soil such as Al-Zabadani and Al-Qalamoun. We maintain that what is happening [there] is the uprooting of the people of this region with the aim of creating despicable demographic shifts that will destroy the unity of the socio-historical fabric shared by the Syrian and Lebanese peoples, and will damage neighborly relations and shared life for decades to come. Therefore, we do not agree that any Lebanese national participate in these despicable crimes."[19] Lebanese Journalist: I Am Ashamed To Be Lebanese And Shi'ite, And Am Ashamed To Eat At the same time, the Lebanese website Janoubia.com, operated by 'Ali Al-Amin, published a series of articles by Shi'ite writers harshly criticizing Hizbullah. Al-Amin himself penned an article stating that Hizbullah had tarnished the image of the resistance, in which he said: "Hizbullah knows that the image of the resistance has been tarnished by its leadership... Hizbullah released a communiqu responding to those who condemned it for besieging Madaya and starving its children, in which it claimed that the protests by the starving people and by those enraged at the murder of dozens by means of the weapon of starvation were nothing but 'an organized campaign aimed at blackening the image of the resistance'... "Didn't the writers of this communiqu consider for a single minute that their own child or children could fall victim to a similar siege? ... Can any impudence be greater?... Hizbullah merely fears for the image of the resistance - the image of a young, beautiful idea that is now one of an old man drinking the blood of his opponents and starving the children of those who refuse to leave their land to him and depart... [In Hizbullah's eyes,] killing 10,000 or 20,000 men, women, and children is a fair price for eliminating 600 armed men... [In that case,] who is blackening the image of the resistance? The starving people who cried out and posted photos of their children and their dead? Or Hizbullah, drunk on blood and no longer knowing right from wrong? ... "I feel ashamed - not just because I am Lebanese, not [just] because I am Shi'ite, and not [just] because I am a resident of South [Lebanon] like some of the young people who are starving the children of Madaya. [I feel ashamed] because I had lunch before writing this article. I feel ashamed for filling my belly. Forgive us, people of Madaya. Forgive us, and do not blame us for the actions of the witless among us."[20] Hizbullah Supporters, Opponents Clash On Social Media The argument between the pro- and anti-Hizbullah camps was also evident on social media. Thus, for example, Shi'ite opponents of Hizbullah launched the "Lebanese Unrelated To Hizbullah" hashtag. One tweet using the hashtag stated: "I refuse to be party to the blood[letting] of the Syrian people. I refuse to make Lebanon an arena to implement Iran's expansionist ambitions."[21] The Facebook hashtag "Madaya Dying Of Starvation" featured an image of an emaciated Bashar Al-Assad, Hassan Nasrallah, President Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with the caption: "I wish that just as they starved the residents of Madaya, they will die of starvation..."[22] On January 7, 2016, Shi'ite Lebanese journalist Nadim Koteich, who is close to the March 14 Forces, posted on his Facebook page an image of Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah surrounded by starving children, with the text: "Yes, yes, the path to Jerusalem runs through the empty stomachs of Madaya's children."[23] Poster mocking the Hizbullah flag: "The Starvation Party: Iranian Terrorism in Syria and Lebanon" (Source: Facebook.com, January 9, 2016) On the other hand, Hizbullah supporters launched the hashtag "Solidarity With The Madaya Siege," under which they taunted those besieged in the town and posted photos of the large repasts they themselves enjoyed. However, the widespread criticism that this sparked appears to have caused many to delete the images. Tweets featuring food to taunt those besieged in Madaya (Source: Alaraby.co.uk, January 9, 2016) (Source: Twitter.com, January 8, 2015) (Source: Facebook.com, January 8, 2016) *Dr. M. Terdiman and E. B. Picali are research fellows at MEMRI. Endnotes: [1] Orient-news.net, September 19, 2016. Introduction On February 1, 2016, four Hizbullah foreign security operatives were arrested in France for running an international network that used millions in drug money to fund the organization's military activity in Syria. According to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official, the Hizbullah division was "a revenue and weapons stream... responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world" and that additional arrests were likely in the case. Seven countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and Belgium, were involved in the investigation and arrests. It was also reported that the Hizbullah operatives could face extradition to the U.S. The case is similar to an earlier case, that began with the April 2014 Prague arrest, on similar charges, of three Lebanese nationals, continued with the kidnapping of five Czech nationals in Lebanon in July 2015, and concluded recently with a secret deal between the Czech government and the Lebanese elements behind the kidnapping, under which both the kidnapped Czechs and the Lebanese held in Prague were freed. This report will shed light on both cases, and examine their similarities and a possible connection between them. January 2016: Following U.S. Request, France Arrests Hizbullah Operatives For Drug Trafficking, Funding Terrorism On February 1, 2016, the DEA announced the arrest of a number of Hizbullah foreign security operatives for running an international network trafficking in millions of dollars' worth of drugs, laundering the profits, and using the funds to purchase weapons for Hizbullah's military operations in Syria. The operatives, part of a European Hizbullah cell, included Mohamad Noureddine, a Lebanese money launderer who worked with Hizbullah's financial apparatus and funneled its funds through a Lebanese company that he owns, and who maintained direct ties with Hizbullah commercial and terrorism elements in Lebanon and Iraq. According to the DEA, the network was established by 'Imad Mughniyah, Hizbullah's chief operations officer who was killed in Damascus in 2008, and is now operated by Hizbullah's representative in Tehran, Abdallah Safieddine, and by businessman Adham Tabaja, a Hizbullah official who was recently named as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S. Hizbullah worked with South American drug cartels providing cocaine to U.S. and European markets. Also according to the DEA, the investigation, which began last February, uncovered a sophisticated network of money couriers bringing millions of euros in drug profits back to the Middle East, with much of these funds passing through Lebanon. According to the DEA, "this ongoing investigation spans the globe... and once again highlights the dangerous global nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism."[1] While the DEA announcement did not specify how many people were arrested and where the arrests took place, the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar reported that four Lebanese citizens were arrested in France in late January 2016, one of them Noureddine who was apprehended as he disembarked from a flight into France.[2] The report also stated that this cell had operated in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan, in Belgium, and in Latin America, with Paris as a money transfer point. Al-Nahar's sources said that the detainees could be extradited to the U.S. Also according to Al-Nahar, several weeks earlier, French authorities had arrested the son of a prominent Lebanese "figure," also for drug trafficking and laundering funds for "a terror organization." According to this report, U.S. authorities requested extradition as part of the customary cooperation among the countries in such cases, but the young man's father was trying very hard to get his son released and cleared of all charges against him even though upon his arrest he was found to be in possession of a large sum of money.[3] A Similar Case: Hizbullah Associates' Arrest For Drug Trafficking In Czech Republic - Leads To Kidnapping Of Czech Nationals In Lebanon This recent arrest of Hizbullah operatives in France, and the effort to obtain the release of one of them before he could face extradition to the U.S., are reminiscent of another case that began in the Czech Republic two years ago and concluded only recently in Lebanon. In April 2014, at the U.S.'s request, Czech authorities arrested three Lebanese nationals, 'Ali Fayad, Faouzi Jaber, and Khaled Marabi, in Prague for suspected drug and arms trafficking with FARC, the Colombian organization named by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). According to Arab and Lebanese media reports, Fayad is an Hizbullah associate[4] who is also a citizen of Ukraine; at the time of his arrest he was Middle East affairs advisor in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and was involved in arms deals with various Arab countries.[5] Then, in July 2015, five Czech nationals were abducted in Lebanon's Western Beqaa Valley, along with their Lebanese driver who had picked them up at the Beirut airport. The driver was later revealed to be none other than Saib Fayad, the brother of 'Ali Fayad, one of the Lebanese arrested by the Czechs in Prague. The kidnapped Czechs included two journalists, apparently in Lebanon to cover the 'Ali Fayad story; an interpreter; Fayad's attorney; and a Czech military intelligence officer. Left: 'Ali Fayad during his 2014 arrest in Prague (source: Alarabiya.net, July 21, 2015); right, the five abducted Czech nationals (source: Al-Nahar, Lebanon, February 2, 2016) Was The Abduction Of The Czechs Staged, With The Aim Of Obtaining Fayad's Release? The Lebanese daily Al-Safir reported that the abduction of the Czechs came just as the Czech Republic was about to extradite 'Ali Fayad and the two other Lebanese nationals to the U.S. According to reports in Lebanese media, Lebanese security forces quickly realized that this was a kidnapping not for ransom, but for a different purpose - to lead to a deal with the Czech Republic under which the Czechs would be released in exchange for 'Ali Fayad.[6] Other Lebanese media reported that the abduction was staged, with Fayad's brother the driver, Fayad's attorney, and the Czech intelligence officer as accomplices, with the aim of opening negotiations with the Czech Republic for Fayad's release. A diplomatic source even told Al-Safir that Fayad's attorney had been well paid for his participation in the events.[7] A Lebanese security official assessed that "a Lebanese political element" with ties to Fayad had organized the abduction of the Czechs; it appeared that he was attempting to hint that Hizbullah was behind the events.[8] Secret Negotiations Via Hizbullah Associate Led To Prisoner Exchange Deal Indeed, following the Czechs' abduction, a Czech intelligence delegation arrived in Lebanon for talks with Lebanese General Directorate of General Security head Abbas Ibrahim, who was in contact with the kidnappers.[9] Ibrahim, it should be noted, is known for his good relations with Hizbullah, and the General Directorate of General Security is considered to be close to it. According to Lebanese media reports, the talks to release the Czechs in return for Fayad were absolutely secret and involved international elements;[10] they concluded after the Czechs guaranteed that Fayad would not be extradited to the U.S.[11] The affair wound down earlier this month, when the Czechs were brought to Ibrahim, who transferred them to Beirut so that they could be returned to the Czech Republic. At the same time, Czech authorities released Fayad, and he arrived in Lebanon shortly thereafter. Another Prague detainee, Khaled Marabi, was also released.[12] Several days later, Czech authorities announced that they would release Faouzi Jaber, the third Lebanese national.[13] As soon as they arrived in Lebanon, on February 4, 2016, Fayad and Marabi were arrested and interrogated by Lebanese security forces.[14] Two days previously, on February 2, 2016, U.S. State Department Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Jim O'Brien arrived in Lebanon, for reasons unspecified.[15] Left to right: The Czechs after their release, with Czech Ambassador to Lebanon Svatopluk Cumba (center left) and Abbas Ibrahim (center right) (Source: Al-Safir, Lebanon, February 5, 2016) Conclusions It was very apparent that the Lebanese state itself had little or nothing to do with the case. No Lebanese official - not Prime Minister Tammam Salam, not Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, nor any other government official - ever mentioned the events, the deal, or the release of either the Czech nationals or the return of Fayad and Marabi. While there were reports in the Lebanese media that Ibrahim had kept PM Salam, Interior Minister Nohad Al-Machnouk, and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri updated regarding the deal, it appears that the negotiations were conducted by Ibrahim himself.[16] These events also raise a number of questions: In light of the reports that Fayad is close to Hizbullah, was Hizbullah the Lebanese political element behind the Czechs' abduction? What was the role of Czech intelligence in the affair, in light of reports that one of the men abducted was a Czech intelligence officer? The similarity between this affair and the arrest this month of Hizbullah operatives in France for drug trafficking and financing terrorism gives rise to the question of whether this same unidentified Lebanese element will use the same modus operandi in this case as well - that is, will French citizens be abducted to secure the release of the Hizbullah activists arrested in France at the request of the U.S.? *E.B. Picali is a Research Fellow at MEMRI; H. Varulkar is Director of Research at MEMRI. Endnotes: The Cyber & Jihad Lab monitors, tracks, translates, researches, and analyzes cyber jihad originating from the Middle East, Iran, South Asia, and North and West Africa. It innovates and experiments with possible solutions for stopping cyber jihad, advancing legislation and initiatives federally including with Capitol Hill and attorneys-general and on the state level, to draft and enforce measures that will serve as precedents for further action. It works with leaders in business, law enforcement, academia, and families of terror victims to craft and support efforts and solutions to combat cyber jihad, and recruits, and works with technology industry leaders to craft and support efforts and solutions. Yes, you heard that right! We might soon have high-speed Spanish trains in India, running from Delhi to Mumbai. These trains manufactured by a Spanish company called Talgo will soon have trial runs on the already-existing Delhi to Mumbai corridor! These high-speed trains can run from 160 kmph to 200 kmph! To put things into perspective, the Delhi Metro runs at 80 Kmph. Whats more is that Talgo has offered to conduct these trial runs from Delhi to Mumbai absolutely free of cost. talgo "We will be issuing the permission letter to Talgo after getting the Railway Board's approval for importing the rake to India. They (Talgo) have offered to do the trial with no cost to railways," revealed a senior official in the Railway Ministry. At present, it takes about 17 hours to travel from Delhi to Mumbai. If India gets these super fast trains, the travel time will be cut down by a good five hours. The official also revealed that if the trial runs are successful on the Delhi Mumbai corridor, other routes in the country may also get high-speed trains! In what is nothing short of a miracle, one of the 10 soldiers, buried in the avalanche at the Sonam post in the Siachen glacier since last Wednesday, was found alive in the rescue operations at the 19,600-feet altitude on Monday. In the rescue operations, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad (resident of Betadur, Dharwad district of Karnataka) has been found alive. All the other soldiers regrettably are no more with us," said Northern Army Command chief Lt-General D S Hooda late on Monday night. newsminute, Youtube "The medical condition of L/N Hanumanthappa is critical but all attempts are being made to evacuate him to the Army Research & Referral Hospital (in New Delhi) on Tuesday morning. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us," he added. The soldier, with a faint pulse, was found under 25-feet of snow and was rushed to a "warm tent" in the location to stabilise him with the help of doctors. When possible, he will be flown out of the glacial heights. YouTube The army had earlier virtually given up hope of rescuing alive any of the 10 soldiers whose post in the Northern Siachen Glacier was buried deep under tonnes of crystalised snow when the ice-wall, measuring almost a km wide and 800-m-tall, had collapsed on the post and the adjoining helipad early on Wednesday. But specialised army teams, backed by sniffer dogs, ice-cutters, drilling machines and other heavy equipments, had continued with their major search-and-rescue operation braving the harsh weather and terrain. indiandefencereview Apart from Hanumanthappa, the other ill-fated soldiers from 19 Madras Regiment had been identified as: Subedar Nagesha TT (village Tejur, Hassan Dist, Karnataka), Havildar Elumalai M (Dukkam Parai, Vellore Dist, Tamil Nadu), Lance Havildar S Kumar (Kumanan Thozhu, Teni Dist, Tamil Nadu), Lance Naik Sudheesh B (Monroethuruth, Kollam Dist, Kerala), Sepoy Mahesha PN (HD Kote, Mysore Dist, Karnataka), Sepoy Ganesan G (Chokkathevan Patti, Madurai Dist,Tamil Nadu), Sepoy Rama Moorthy N (Gudisatana Palli , Krishna Giri Dist, Tamil Nadu), Sepoy Mustaq Ahmed S (Parnapalle, Kurnool Dist, Andhra Pradesh), and Sepoy Nursing Assistant Suryawanshi SV (Maskarwadi, Satara Dist, Maharashtra). This video shows how the rescue operations team worked hard to get this soldier out and were constantly supporting and encouraging the soldiers. We salute these bravehearts! She died in 1996, but her words lived and baffled mankind for the years to come. What once looked like strings of words strewn together suddenly began to make sense a decade later. Were talking about Baba Vanga, a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant who made some predictions in her career spanning over 50 years that shockingly came true! Facebook She predicted Horror, horror! The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds. The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing, in 1989. In 2001, the 9//11 attacks happened! Reuters She even predicted the disastrous Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean in 2004. Reuters Kursk will be covered with water and the whole world will weep over it. - she wrote in 1980. In 2000, A Russian submarine called Kursk sank in the Barents Sea. Facebook The blind woman who could foresee some major events to happen in the coming years also predicted some calamities for 2016 and they sound very dangerous for the world. According to one of her predictions, a religious war in Europe shall cause destruction and Europe would cease to exist as a result. In her own words, by the end of this war, Europe will be almost empty, like wasteland almost entirely devoid of any form of life. Theres a good chance this prediction actually might come true as Baba Vanga had already predicted that this Great Muslim War will originate in Syria. Reuters She also predicted that Obama will be the last US President and that he will destroy America. A lot of her predictions have actually come true. Just saying. Sikh actor, model and jewellery designer Waris Ahluwalia was barred from boarding his flight yesterday by Aero Mexico because of his turban. He was headed to New York from Mexico to attend the NY Fashion Week. The incident occurred when Waris was randomly selected for a security check where he was asked to remove his turban for further checking to which he refused completely. Pinterest On his refusal to remove his turban, Waris was warned that hed not be allowed to board the flight. Waris stood his ground and told the officials about his religion and faith in Sikhism which does not allow him to remove the turban. Even after hearing the case, the officials were adamant on not allowing Waris to board the flight. He is reportedly still at the airport with unable to board a flight to New York even after 13 hours. Instagram Waris Ahluwalia is an American citizen who has been staying in America for the longest time and is also a frequent traveller overseas for work and leisure. Its not the first time that a Sikh has been profiled as a security threat. The issue of harassment on the basis of appearance is shocking and saddening in this date and age! Waris said in an interview, If this is happening to me, it is happening to other Americans and its not acceptable. Instagram Waris has demanded a public apology from the airlines Aero Mexico; and that they engage in training their employees about the Sikh religion, and how to work respectfully with Sikh passengers and to address other religions traditions as well. Your circumstances dont define you. How you deal with them does. These women were subjected to acid attacks. It left them with burnt faces and tattered souls. Being a woman in India is hard and nobody knows it better than these bravehearts. The attackers thought they could ruin them forever. What they didnt know was these women had nerves of steel. They endured it all and came out even stronger, more beautiful. What could have been a hindrance to their lives, became their biggest motivation to make it big in life. In 2014, these acid-attack survivors came together to run Sheroes Hangout, a cafe in Agra, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country. Will Noor, a London-based photographer, recently visited India and was awestruck by their courage. Noor developed a deep connection with them in just a few weeks and decided to portray it in a series of stunning portraits. These pictures show what a true fighter's spirit looks like. Will Noor A lot of these girls were attacked when they were just teenagers. Will Noor The attackers destroyed their faces, but couldnt touch their spirits. Will Noor Even since the cafe was founded, people have been flocking to Agra to show their support and salute their courage. Will Noor Its awe-inspiring to see these bravehearts rising above their struggles and taking each day as a new challenge. Will Noor She even tried to learn Hindi for 3 months before visiting Sheroes Hangout just so she could understand their stories better. Will Noor She wanted to explore the beauty that now lays hidden beneath scars. Will Noor She believes these acid-attack survivors are some of the most amazing people shes ever met. Will Noor Sheroes Hangout is Indias first cafe to be run by acid-attack survivors a path-breaking step towards a more accepting country. Will Noor So, the next time you travel to Agra, do visit Sheroes Hangout and say hi to these brave women! Will Noor Nobody resonates the image of a strong woman on screen better than Nimrat Kaur. Thats not only because shes a good actor but also because she is actually a strong woman in real life. And what she recently revealed fosters her image even further. hdwallpapers While its pretty well-known that Nimrat comes from an army family, people hardly know about the loss her family suffered when her dad was kidnapped and killed by Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists. Major Bhupinder Singh, Nimrats father, was an engineer posted on the border roads of the armys patrol area in a place called Verinag in Kashmir. It was in the winter of 1994 that her father was kidnapped, and demands to release some terrorists were made in return of his release. The government didnt agree to the demands of the terrorists and her father was murdered. rachitvora (dot) com Nimrats life turned upside down after the fateful incident. They moved to Delhi permanently, abandoning the army lifestyle she had been brought up in. After staying with her Nani for the first few months, her mother bought a place with her deceased husbands pension money and savings. But she swears by the moral support the Indian Army offered them. Nimrat has evidently grown out of the incident as a strong woman and we salute her perseverance and her will to never give up! So, this man did what all of us have ever wanted to. He was 18 when he decided he was never made for academics. He was born to explore. So, he quit his studies and began travelling. He is 27 years old today, and has already travelled to 97 countries so far! This is the story of Christian Lindgr and it will give you some very serious travel goals. Christian Lindgr recently shared some of his best photographs and they will make you want to pack your bags and take a vacation right away! Heres Registan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in all its magnificence. Christian Lindgr Christain Lindgr believes it is one of the most impressive buildings in the world! Christian Lindgr The ruins of a boat in Uzbekistan. Christian Lindgr He visited the Mt. Everest base camp thrice, twice from Nepal and once from Tibet. Heres how it looks like from Tibet! Christian Lindgr While he was in Tadjikistan, he even got invited to a wedding. Christian Lindgr He captured the beauty of Iran in these stunning pictures. Christian Lindgr Christian Lindgr He spent the night at the church at the top of the Katski Pilar in Georgia. What a view it must have been! Christian Lindgr He also travelled to North Korea. Christian Lindgr And managed to capture the essence of North Korea in these spectacular photographs. Christian Lindgr Heres another one. Christian Lindgr He travelled to Larung Gar in Tibet, the largest religious institute in the world! Christian Lindgr The place inhabits about 10,000 people! Christian Lindgr And heres comes our favourite picture. Thats a truck against the scenic Attabad Lake in Pakistan. Christian Lindgr *Sigh* If only, we could do the same! The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, had successive meetings today with the Minister of the Interior of Austria, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, and the Secretary General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Michael Linhart, in Vienna, his first stop on a tour of central European countries. Mr. Xydakis meeting with Ms. Mikl-Leitner took place in a constructive atmosphere. The two ministers focused on the refugee crisis, of historic dimensions, that Europe is facing, as well as on the need for the countries of Europe to work together in facing the crisis. Ms. Leitner referred to the shared historical course of the two countries, while Mr. Xydakis stressed that the two partner countries are essentially in the same boat. Ms. Leitner referred to the problem posed for Austria by the increased number of refugees it is being called upon to accommodate. Moreover, she requested a detailed briefing on a number of issues that concern the management of refugee flows. Mr. Xydakis highlighted that Greece, based on international law, must rescue these people, and that that is what it is doing. At the same time, he explained that the Greek Coastguard is operating beyond its capabilities and needs material and personnel support. Mr. Xydakis noted that the European Union must collaborate to support Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan where Syrian refugees are being hosted to improve refugees living conditions and cut off the refugee flows. He highlighted the need to strengthen the UN World Food Programme, which in 2015, due to lack of funding, dramatically reduced refugees daily nutrition rations, which in large part caused refugees to seek alternative refuge. He also informed the Austrian Minister of the Interior of the fact that Greece is adequately guarding its maritime borders in ongoing cooperation with Frontex, a European organization as well as its land borders. You cant stop refugees with fences at sea. Desperate people will seek another route, Mr. Xydakis noted, stressing that throughout the previous time Greece has been requesting assistance that it has not received at the rate it should. Naturally, we are seeing weaknesses, but, due to the unprecedented size of the refugee flows, these were to be expected. We believe, however, that these issues can be dealt with through the revitalization of European solidarity, and not by falling into the trap of a blame game, Mr. Xydakis highlighted, referring to the debate that has opened up in the EE with regard to the Schengen treaty. In response to a question from Ms. Leitner regarding the Greek-Turkish readmission protocol, Mr. Xydakis noted the delays that have been seen on the part of Turkey and the efforts that have been made recently to improve cooperation between the two countries. Ms. Leitner assured Mr. Xydakis that Austria will support Greece with human resources and equipment, and the two ministers agreed on the need for sincere relations of cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Xydakis met subsequently with the Secretary General of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Dr. Michael Linhart. The two collocutors focused on the refugee issue. Mr. Linhart acknowledged that Greece is facing a demanding situation just as difficult as that of Austria and noted that the two countries must work together with the aim of finding European solutions. He referred in particular to the completion of the hotspots and the functioning of the relocation mechanism, stressing that every positive step that is taken restores European cooperation. Mr. Xydakis thanked Austria, stressing that the two countries share a common burden. He explained the technical issues Greece is facing with regard to guarding its maritime borders; issues that it is coping with while at the same time rescuing thousands of people. He noted the delay in European assistance and requested Austrias political and substantial support: The European Union is coming up against the lack of trust between its members, and diplomacy must play a positive role, Mr. Xydakis stressed. Mr. Xydakis also referred to the issue of the support of FYROM by the member states of the EU an issue that has arisen in recent days and stressed that the member states must safeguard the Union, strengthening the trust and cooperation amongst them. Finally, he noted that Greece has redoubled its efforts but sees as necessary a European solution, the implementation of the relocation plan, as well as the implementation of the Joint Action Plan with Turkey. On Tuesday, Mr. Xydakis will travel on to Bratislava, where he will meet with the Foreign Minister of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak, and the Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Ivan Korcok. Mr. Xydakis will complete his tour on Wednesday, in Budapest, where he will meet with Hungarys Interior Minister, Sandor Pinter, Deputy Minister of State for European Affairs, Takacs Szabolcs Ferenc, and Economic Diplomacy Minister, Levente Magyar. The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, had successive meetings in Bratislava today with Slovakias Foreign Minister, Miroslav Lajcak, and Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Ivan Korcok, on the second day of his tour of Central European countries. At Mr. Xydakis working luncheon with Mr. Korcok, the discussion focused on the refugee crisis the European Union is being called upon to manage, as well as on Slovakias upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Mr. Korcok noted that Europe went through difficulties handling the economic crisis, but managed. He briefed Mr. Xydakis on Slovakias preparations ahead of its first European presidency. Moreover, he showed strong interest in the management of the refugee crisis by Greece, as well as in the course of the Greek Economic Programme. With regard to the implementation of the programme, Mr. Xydakis stressed that the quick and positive completion of the assessment that Greece is pursuing will provide the optimistic messages necessary for jumpstarting the Greek economy. Mr. Xydakis then briefed his colleague on the intensive efforts Greece is making to manage a refugee crisis of historic dimensions, in collaboration with Frontex and the European institutions. He noted that the country is accelerating its efforts to complete the necessary facilities that will contribute to the smooth management of the refugee influxes. This is now being done with the participation of the Hellenic Armed Forces. He highlighted, however, that, beyond technical issues, the refugee crisis must be dealt with through a common European policy. We remember with pleasure Slovakias signing of its treaty of accession with the European Union, which took place during a Hellenic Presidency, in Athens, at the Stoa of Attalos, Mr. Xydakis noted, adding that we need to defend the European Union otherwise we will return to the dark period between the two World Wars; a period of fragmentation and national conflicts. And that is why we do not believe in the policy of building fences. Mr. Xydakis also briefed his counterpart on the Greek-Turkish readmission protocol, which obligates Turkey to respond to Greeces requests for the return of irregular migrants within a maximum of seven days if the protocol is to have a practical effect. At the same time, he stressed that Turkey can play a substantial role in reducing refugee flows, noting, however, that implementation of the joint action plan agreed upon by Turkey and the EU has not begun. Mr. Korcok noted, in turn, the close ties between the two peoples and the hope that there will be further close cooperation in the future. Mr. Xydakis took this occasion to invite Mr. Korcok to visit Greece, and the Slovak Deputy Minister accepted the invitation with pleasure. Mr. Xydakis met subsequently with the Foreign Minister of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajcak. During the discussion, which took place in a warm atmosphere, Mr. Lajcak asked Mr. Xydakis to brief him on the issues concerning Greeces management of the refugee crisis and the guarding of Greeces borders. Mr. Xydakis reiterated that Greece is guarding its maritime borders with the help of Frontex, but that it cannot resort to violent pushbacks, which in any case is contrary to the rules of international law. Mr. Xydakis highlighted that the European Union was absent for five years for as long as the Syrian crisis was going on and that the time has come for immediate peace-making initiatives. The Slovakian Foreign Minister offered to assist by undertaking the construction of a hotspot or in any other way Greece would accept. Mr. Xydakis thanked Mr. Lajcak for this initiative. Mr. Xydakis will complete his tour on Wednesday, in Budapest, where he will meet with Hungarys Interior Minister, Sandor Pinter; Deputy Minister of State for European Affairs, Takacs Szabolcs Ferenc; and Deputy Foreign Minister for security and international cooperation affairs, Dr. Istvan Mikola. In New Hampshire, the storm could last into early Tuesday, when the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary is held. Police in Hampstead on Monday turned away people from a full coffee shop where Republican candidate Chris Christie was making a campaign stop. One woman lamented that she couldn't stand out in the cold because she has asthma, but authorities were adamant that no one else would be allowed in because doing so would violate fire codes. Driving on treacherous roads caused accidents across the region. In Connecticut, a bus carrying about 70 passengers from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino crashed on a snowy Interstate 95 and fell on its side in Madison. At least 30 people were injured, and the northbound side of I-95 there shut down. Some areas of the Cape and Martha's Vineyard already had more than 7 inches of snow Monday afternoon. The National Weather Service said the islands appeared to have met the conditions for a blizzard. Boston could see 6 to 10 inches, and areas south of Boston were getting moderate coastal flooding. In Rhode Island, crowds of mourners lined the streets amid bitter temperatures and falling snow to bid farewell to former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, whose casket was carried by horse-drawn carriage from City Hall to the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. Other parts of the Northeast, including Northern New England and the New York City area, were expected to get much less snow. New York City, Philadelphia and northern New Jersey could get 2 to 3 inches from Monday into Tuesday night, the weather service said. Elsewhere, the snow meant unpleasant outdoor work for some workers. Sean Nardone, a custodian for the U.S. Postal Service, was scheduled to spend the day shoveling and treating the front steps of several post offices south of Boston. "I don't like it very much," Nardone said as he tossed rock salt on the steps of the Whitman post office while a howling wind blew. "I hope global warming friggin' helps out this winter," he said. "I hate to sound selfish, but I could use some warmth." Raj Patel, who co-owns a convenience store in Whitman, said the storm is good for business. "It's convenient for the neighborhood. We are always open for them. In past storms, we've sold out of milk right away. Milk, bread, water a lot of people walk from their homes, so we stay open," he said. Communities across the region closed schools and issued on-street parking bans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker closed state offices in nine counties Monday, and state courts were closed in 10 counties. Boston's Logan Airport remained open, but hundreds of inbound and outbound flights were canceled. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which was crippled by a series of historic storms during Boston's record-breaking winter last year, was operating on a normal weekday schedule with winter routes in effect for buses. Although there were delays, no major problems were reported. Chinda Trate, 27, said her train ride from Lowell, about 30 miles northwest of downtown, was uneventful. She arrived on time for work after catching her usual morning train. "It's just another day for me so far," she said as she took a late afternoon break from work at a downtown law firm. "We live in New England, so you kind of expect this kind of weather." Justin Trudeau, following up on campaign promises he made last year, also announced that the government will expand efforts to train local forces and rebuild the war-torn region. Military personnel in the region will increase to 830 from the current 650 and provide planning, targeting and intelligence expertise. "As I said many times throughout the campaign in my commitment to Canadians, this is a non-combat mission," Trudeau said. The Liberal leader said Canada's contribution to the U.S.-led coalition's mission against the Islamic State group is being extended until the end of March 2017. The U.S. had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeau's promise that Canada would pull its jets was already part of his winning campaign. "While airstrike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities," Trudeau said during a news conference Monday. The country had six fighter jets carrying out the strikes. "We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that ... they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future," the prime minister added. Canada will keep two surveillance planes in the region as well as refueling aircraft, and it will triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq to about 200, from about 69 now. The size of Canada's "train, advise and assist" mission will triple, including additional medical personnel and equipment including small arms, ammunition and optics to assist in training Iraqi security forces. Trudeau said the government will spend more than US$1.15 billion (CA$1.6 billion) over the next three years on the mission as a whole, including on security, stabilization and humanitarian and development assistance. Last March, one Canadian soldier was killed and three others were injured in a friendly fire incident in Iraq. The military has said that during Canada's decade of operations in Afghanistan, 158 Canadian Forces personnel died. Trudeau said Monday that Canada learned the hard way in Afghanistan that airstrike operations do not on their own result in long-term stability. He said Canada gained valuable experience training local Afghan police and military forces. "Experience that the Canadian Armed Forces should be bringing to bear in Iraq and Syria," he said. The U.S. has said it respects Canada's decision to pull its fighter jets out of the air campaign. But the Americans did not invite Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan to recent coalition meetings in Paris. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook welcomed Canada's announcement and said Defense Secretary Ash Carter would be discussing it with his Canadian counterpart in Brussels on Thursday at a meeting of anti-IS coalition members. "The secretary sees these as significant contributions, and he appreciates the decision by the Trudeau government to step up Canada's role in the campaign at this critical time," Cook said. Zika virus disease is mainly spread by mosquitoes. Most people who catch it experience mild or no symptoms. But mounting evidence from Brazil suggests that infection in pregnant women is linked to abnormally small heads in their babies a birth defect called microcephaly. "What we now know is that there appears to be some significant risk for pregnant women and women who are thinking about having a baby," Obama said in an interview aired Monday on "CBS This Morning." The White House said that as spring and summer approach, the U.S. must prepare to quickly address local transmission with the continental U.S. Obama added, however, that "there shouldn't be a panic on this." Two health care experts will answer reporters' questions Monday at the regular White House press briefing: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The administration's request to Congress is separate from the budget for the next fiscal year that Obama will submit to Congress on Tuesday. The administration seeks the Zika money much more quickly than the regular budget process would allow. On Tuesday, administration officials are slated to brief Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.) and other congressional leaders on the administration's Zika prevention and response plan, McConnell's office said. The lawmakers also expect to hear more about the new funding request and the administration's other spending priorities "given limited federal resources," according to a statement from McConnell spokesman Don Stewart. The Pan American Health Organization reports 26 countries and territories in the Americas with local Zika transmission. To date, there has not been transmission of the Zika virus by mosquitoes within the U.S., but some Americans have returned to the U.S. with Zika infections from affected countries in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. Most of the money would be allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services to improve laboratory capacity, launch educational programs and establish rapid response teams. About $250 million of assistance would be directed specifically to Puerto Rico though extra Medicaid funding. The island is in the midst of a fiscal crisis. And $200 million would go toward research and commercialization of new vaccines and diagnostic tests. The remainder, about $335 million would go to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The money would help affected countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean provide training to health care workers, stimulate private sector research and help pregnant women gain access to repellant to protect against mosquitoes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 50 laboratory-confirmed cases among U.S. travelers from December 2015- February 5, 2016, the White House said. So far, the only recent case that has been transmitted within the U.S. is believed to have occurred in Texas through sex. Zika usually is transmitted through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are common in Florida, along the Gulf Coast and states that border Mexico. BAD AXE A Bay City man, who has become familiar with prison in the last 25 years, will return to a cell again following the judges decision Monday morning. After a night of drinking on Dec. 20, 2014, Scott Joseph Abbe, 43, decided to throw a brick through the window of a home and steal various items. As a result, Abbe was charged with second-degree home invasion. He later pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 2, 2015. My client was very forthcoming on a factual basis of what he did, Abbes attorney Dallas Rooney said at sentencing. ... Its always a good thing when a person takes responsibility in what they do. When he (Abbe) found out about the warrant for his arrest, he turned himself in, he added. Rooney described his client as a person who has problems with logical thinking and noted to the judge Abbes lack of thinking causes Abbe to do what he does. The Bad Axe attorney said virtually all of his clients offenses have been property-related. Abbe then expressed remorse for his actions to the court. I just want to get this over with and move on with my life, Abbe said. Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski briefed the court of Abbes criminal history which dates back to 1989 when he was sentenced to 180 days in jail for a breaking and entering. On behalf of the people, were asking for protection for this community with a prison sentence, Rutkowski said referencing an eight-year sentence request. ... I think his record deserves that. Rutkowski told Huron County Circuit Court Judge Gerald M. Prill that after having conversations with the victims, the items Abbe stole are irreplaceable such as jewelry from a deceased family member. Theyre unique to this victim (and) theyre important to this victim, Rutkowski said. Following all statements, Prill moved forward with sentencing. Youd think after so many times of being punished, youd think, OK, this has to stop, Prill said to Abbe. Clearly you didnt get it. Youve taken away something from this individual that they will never get back. Does prison or county jail work? Prill asked. I believe it does work and you will be going to prison as a result of that. Abbe was sentenced to a minimum of four years in the Michigan state prison system, with a maximum of 30 years. Prill noted the reason for the amount of prison time was because Abbe has been through the system time and time again. Prill ordered Abbe to pay $750 in restitution and the amount owed will remain open until a restitution hearing at 1:30 p.m. on May 23. BAD AXE A developer with plans to build wind turbines standing almost 500 feet tall near Huron County Memorial Airport wont need a special permit to do it. Twenty-three of DTE Energys 30 turbines planned for its Pinnebog Wind Park in Oliver, Chandler and Colfax townships are within a 10-mile radius of the public airport. The townships have OKd the plan, but it needed approval from the county in accordance with an airport zoning ordinance approved in 2014, which in part helps eliminate hazards posed to the airport and its users. I did review all 23 sites, said Jeff Smith, the countys building and zoning director. He said he ensured all sites were under lease and verified distances turbines were from the airport. I even took the time and created my own Google map and I used all the latitudes and longitude coordinates for all the turbine sites to confirm that what DTE provided me was accurate, Smith said. Youd think that close to the airport, they couldnt possibly build these turbines because of the height. But as you go away from the airport, the grade elevation falls off. In order to build a turbine, developers must obtain a determination of no hazard to air navigation from the FAA and a tall structure permit from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Smith says he confirmed with MDOT that DTE has done this. We planned for that 10-mile radius, former DTE Energy Project Manager Mike Serafin told the Tribune in 2014 (http://bit.ly/1mgaR7R). We knew there was some latitude within the last four miles, so we planned accordingly with that also. Smith said the owners of Engler Field Airport in northern Colfax Township objected to a few of DTEs proposed sites, and the developer couldnt build some sites it wanted to. A separate but related scenario isnt playing out as easily. Patrick Smith, director of environmental planning at the Minnesota-based Geronimo Energy, said the developer plans to start construction for 30 turbines in the Apple Blossom Wind Farm in McKinley and Winsor townships once frost laws are lifted, around April. An Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association official sent a letter to the county in January claiming the ability for general aviation pilots and a landowner whos participating in the project to safely use a private airstrip near one of the planned sites is threatened. The organization asked county planners to hold off on approvals or granting permits until a time when safe ingress and egress from private airstrips in the immediate vicinity can be assured. (That story here: http://bit.ly/1Q7FEf4.) Weve actually already eliminated one turbine but also were getting pretty far down the road, Patrick Smith of Geronimo said. Weve got conditional approval from this board and were concerned that its a little bit late in the process for us to do anything. Because the airstrip isnt registered and is not for public use, planners say their hands are tied in terms of local regulation. All we can do is try to encourage (Geronimo and the landowner) to resolve this, Planning Chair Clark Brock said. Editors note: This is part of the Huron Daily Tribunes Your Seniors section that will appear all week and highlight senior citizens from the Pigeon area. PIGEON Once in a great while, a person finds the prefect job. That seems to be the case with Sherry Helmuth. She began working for the Pigeon District Library a year and a half ago, and she hasnt regretted a minute of it. I enjoy working with people and working with them in different capacities, Helmuth said. She does programing for area kids, but also organizes reading programs for children, teens and adults. Helmuth works the circulation desk and assists people on computer usage. In fact, she assists patrons on any aspect of library usage. Theres a lot more to this library than I expected, Helmuth said. There is so much information here. The library does far more than loan books. It loans CDs, DVDs and even puzzles. In fact, the Pigeon District Library will loan puzzles for a month at a time. They tend to loan puzzles more in the winter months than in the warmer months. And the library is always looking for donations of puzzles and books. In this day of ever-growing technology, a person doesnt need to come to the library to get information. Much can be gained by going online to pigeondistrictlibrary.com, or they can go the librarys Facebook page. Theres a lot of information there, Helmuth said. Of course, a library member can always call the library at 989-453-2341. Helmuths propensity to help others dates back to her early years. She honed her skills after she married Gareth Helmut in 1976. I married a pastors son, she explained. The couple raised three children, Jon, Christina and Joel, and they are the proud grandparents to nine kids. She is the daughter of Carl (deceased) and Betty Parsell. She was born and raised in Pigeon and is proud to call it her hometown. Some of her first memories date back to her days in school. She attended Pigeon Elementary school until the eighth grade. She then went to Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port High School and graduated in 1972. School was quite different in those days. In grade school we wore either skirts or dresses, Helmuth said. We wore slacks under our dresses if it was cold, but we had to take them off at school. She also remembered there were two grades in every classroom while she was in elementary school. For the most part, she and her sibling and friends walked to school. But, for a while, she was treated to a car rides. There was a time we rode with the school secretary, Helmuth said. She lived in the apartment above my parents. But things changed greatly by the time she got to high school. Never a lazy person, Helmuth decided to work a part-time job. The Student Coop Program was very popular in her school days. As a senior, I worked a Coop job, she said. I worked at Don Brown Electric in accounts receivable, and I waited on customers. As near as she could remember, her school day ran 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and she worked Coop from 1:30 to 5 p.m. In school, she was very interested in the performing arts, including drama and choir. I played piano and, occasionally, Id play for the choir, Helmuth said. I sang too. She said Pigeon is a town of grand pianos, as there are two at Lakers, and one at Salem Methodist Church, the Pigeon First Methodist, and Cross Lutheran Church. And people still play them, Helmuth said. School day memories kept flooding back to Helmuth. Wed stop at the pharmacy on the way home to get candy, she said. Snickers and Hershey bars were my favorite. I remember stopping at the Pigeon Dairy Barn. It was a soda shop with ice cream and pop and hot dogs. I remember hearing my first juke box song at the Dairy Barn in the early 1960s. Unfortunately, the business burned down and the owners did not rebuild. Other childhood memories included going to the local meat market. I remember going to the Schumachers Meat Market and getting a hot dog, Helmuth said. It was just a cold dog, but it was good. My parents would buy meat there. I loved their Braunschweiger. As a child and young adult, there were many stores and businesses in Pigeon that no longer exist. The Gambles store is gone. So is De Grows Ben Franklin. She said Harjos Ben Franklin is now up town, but it is totally different from the original store. One of the largest retailers in town was the Polewach store in Pigeon. It was huge, Helmuth said. You could get material, any type of clothing you need and shoes. Oesch Shoe Store was also a popular place to buy footwear, although it was more expensive than Polewach. If you bought a certain type of shoe, youd get a golden egg with a little treasure inside that the kids loved, Helmuth said. She noted there also was a Spence Jewelry store. Id love to go in there and look at the jewelry, Helmuth said. I also remember the newspapers. They always fascinated me. And I remember the canning factory over on the west side of town. They canned locally grown vegetables. Later, they packaged one-pound packs of beans. Although several businesses have disappeared, others have come on the Pigeon scene. Thumb Cellular and AVCI are two of the big ones. Blue Diamond, Huron Castings and Axis are huge employers of local residents and others within the county. The coop has grown tremendously since I was a little girl, Helmuth added. I remember going to the top of one of the silos when I was 12-14 years old. Over the years, the town has definitely changed, but so has she. Her interests are much different than 40 to 50 years ago. One thing that hasnt changed is her love for her church. My church (Elkton Missionary Church) is primarily the biggest. I play piano for services, said Helmuth, who also works with childrens programs and special events. I work wherever needed. When not doing things at church, she plays the piano for various functions including the Port Austin Playhouse and the Community Theatre at USA High School. She also gives piano lessons. And although these are important, they are not the most important things in her life. Her grandchildren are a huge part of her life. She attends many events in which they participate, including sports, school, church events and drama productions. I dont want to miss anything my grandchildren are involved in, Helmuth said. Jason A. Miller, 36, of Gaylord, died Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. He was born Aug. 15, 1979, to Yvonne Miller. Jason was known to be a conversationalist, creating theories and philosophies on all things including the political and spiritual realm. Although not formally educated after graduation from Swan Valley High School in 1997 and one year at Northwood University, he loved learning, writing and reading. He appreciated the arts in all forms and films and was a painter. He enjoyed cooking for others. His favorite poet was Edgar Allan Poe, and two of his favorite authors were Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina) and Fyodor Dostoevsky. He loved the outdoors, travel and adventure. He lived in the Keyes, however, found it hard to adjust to island time. After his foot healed, he had plans to travel to the Philippines. He was incredibly loyal to those he loved, as a son, brother, uncle, and friend. He was very forgiving and had an incredible sense of humor through his illness; strength and stubbornness which kept him working construction when he should have been off of his feet. He will be forever missed. Jason is survived by his mother, his sister, Toni-Michael Miller; his brothers, Derek Miller and Jeremy Tomczak and his nephew, Wynter Miller. He is also survived by his aunts, uncles and cousins. Funeral services for Jason Miller will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11 at the Knoblock Funeral Home in Kinde. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday and from 10 a.m. until the time of service on Thursday. Hosting business McDonalds Food & Family and the many volunteers at the recent Huron County CA/N Council Roof Sit to fight against child abuse and neglect. The 10 all-star band students at Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker High School, who were invited to the Tri-County Honors Band concert. All the honor roll students at Laker Junior High, Huron County Rural Schools and Our Lake of Lake Huron Catholic School. Ubly FFA Chapter members, who recently dominated the leadership competition in Peck by winning six of the 11 events. Ron and Martha (Gerlach) Szymarek of Kinde, who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The Thumb Area Community Health Center, which recently moved to a larger location on North Van Dyke Road in Bad Axe, to better serve its patients. The Laker High School Theater, which plans to host an award-winning production of Flowers for Algernon on Sunday. Jake Aymen of Bad Axe High School, who has been chosen as one of two Michigan students to attend the 54th annual U.S. Senate Youth Program in March in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Hearst Foundation. Sheridan Pawlowski of North Huron and Jesse Vogel of Ubly high schools, who have been chosen to represent their FFA chapters at the State FFA Convention in March. All the students and staff from Cross Lutheran School in Pigeon and St. Johns Lutheran School in Port Hope. They recently went on a combined field trip. Olivet College students who, once again, spent a service day helping the Port Austin Historical Society. Consumers Energy and the Dairy Farmers of America, which recently donated money to help the Unionville-Sebewaing Area school district purchase a 3D scanner and printer. All the Ubly Community Schools students who provided artistic work for the Inspirations page in the Tribune. Upper Thumb sugar farmers, whose productivity has Michigan Sugar Co. planning for more expansions at its facilities. Bad Axe High School students who have painted some school spirit onto the glass at the entranceway of the school. Members of the Huron Daily Tribune staff Dave Shane, Kate Hessling, Chris Aldridge, Seth Stapleton, Paul P. Adams and Casey Johnson who turned out numerous awards in many categories of the annual Michigan Press Association contest. The Tribune was runner-up for best newspaper of the year among daily publications of similar size. All the Upper Thumb students recently named to the deans list at Saginaw Valley State University. Educator Kathy Dickens, who was chosen Citizen of the Year by the Elkton Lions Club. Members of the Grindstone-Port Hope Sportsmens Club who are working to bring pheasants back in greater numbers to the Upper Thumb. The nominated royalty for Bad Axe Snow Carnival Week. Those who attended the Huron County Dairy Herd Improvement Association annual meeting, where leaders in the industry strive to make things even better. David Binder of the Owendale-Gagetown High School basketball team, who scored 30 points in a winning effort to earn Thumb Truck & Trailer Athlete of the Week honors. Everyone who accepted the bumps and bruises of donkey basketball in the recent fundraiser in Caseville. Ubly High School Coming Home King Daniel Rutkowski. Harbor Beach High School Coming Home King Cody Siemen. Kelsey Collings of Howard City, whose grandparents reside in the Thumb, who has graduated from Ferris State University with a bachelors degree in allied health sciences. Congress will seek to raise commissary prices while lowering others under a variable pricing plan as part of upcoming 2017 legislation governing the Defense Department, one lawmaker told Military.com. "I do expect there to be additional commissary provisions within the National Defense Authorization Act, some of which are to give the Defense Commissary Agency the authorities and flexibility they need to move forward with some of the things they've already said they would like to do," Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nevada, who oversees the House Armed Services subcommittee on personnel, which sets commissary legislation, told Military.com in a recent interview. "We think we've got to move the variable pricing," he added. Under current law the Defense Commissary Agency sells goods at-cost, plus a 1-percent price bump to cover loss and spoilage and a 5-percent surcharge on shoppers' final bill. An ongoing push by Congress, however, looks to institute "variable pricing," a move that would allow commissary officials to raise or lower prices regardless of what those items cost the system. Since store sales only cover the cost of goods, the commissary currently receives $1.3 billion a year in taxpayer funding, which largely pays for employee costs and store operations worldwide. Lawmakers and the Pentagon have sought for several years to cut that funding and move the commissary to a self-sustaining model, but advocates warn that raising prices to pay for the system's operation will drive away customers and eliminate the benefit, seen by many as a non-monetary form of military pay. While a variety of price-setting schemes have been floated, Heck said he expects a push for a rule that would set commissary prices on a region-by-region basis. That plan would set prices at a yet to be determined percentage below the regional average of goods outside the gate. For example, if a gallon of milk costs an average $2.50 in civilian stores in the Washington, D.C., area and the commissary were to set all prices at 15 percent below local averages, that milk at the commissary would cost $2.12. But coming up with what that average savings over the civilian marketplace should be is likely to be a sticking point. Heck said that any savings number has to be above the breakpoint where shoppers will no longer bother making a trip to the commissary. "We know that there's a break point, we know that if the savings is less than 'X' people will say 'well I'll just go to the Walmart superstore,'" he said. "So we want to make sure that the savings is adequate to allow the commissary shopper to remain a commissary shopper so they see it as a valued benefit." As part of that process lawmakers have asked the commissary to produce a "market basket" of products that could be compared in each region against prices outside the gate. But military family advocates and industry representatives say there are major problems with that plan, including determining what products should be compared, how often a survey should be done and what kinds of stores should be included in the comparison. Military family advocates also warn that unless such a change is paired with increased cost of living allowances, a bump lawmakers are unlikely to give, families stationed in high-cost regions will be paying more out of pocket for groceries and, in effect, be punished for going where the military sends them. And no data has shown that such a model would actually result in savings. "It puts at a disadvantage families living in locations where already they are dealing with a high cost of living," said Eileen Huck, a deputy government relations director at the National Military Family Association. "I haven't seen numbers that demonstrate how adopting this model would make the commissary more efficient and allow it to operate at a lower appropriation." Clarification: This story was updated to clarify that prices for commissary items can both increase and decrease under a variable pricing model, depending on demand. -- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @amybushatz. ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, the Airman realized he was nearing the limit of his willpower. He placed his rucksack on the ground for a brief moment of rest and glanced toward the mountain peak ahead. He could hear the rain dripping from the tree branches above, soaking his gear and clothes. Exhausted, craving sleep, food and a warm bed, he played with the idea of giving up. Deep down, however, he knew this wasnt an option. He took a deep breath, forced himself to take another step and continued with his squad up the ridge. Staff Sgt. Robert Keefe, the 736th Security Forces Squadron NCO in charge of training, was in the middle of the U.S. Army Ranger School. It was his chance to prove his mettle as a combat-ready Airman among some of the militarys toughest warriors. Rangers are uniquely skilled service members who specialize in conducting airborne and air assault operations, seizing key terrain such as airfields, destroying strategic facilities and capturing or killing enemies of the nation. Only a few Airmen are given the opportunity to attempt to join this elite brotherhood. Located in Fort Benning, Georgia, the school prepares volunteers in combat arms related functional skills. With a 40 percent graduation rate from 2011-15, Ranger school is one of the most grueling training courses a military member can attend. Ranger school is what I would consider the Department of Defenses premier leadership course, Keefe said. It exists only to build the best leaders in combat for whatever branch you're in. At Andersen Air Force Base, Keefe usually trains security forces Airmen to be proficient for contingency operations around the world. With 11 years of experience under his belt, the battlefield expert has sharpened his skillset with sniper training; learned how to survive and return with honor through evasion and conduct after capture training; and spent time as an investigator with a security forces unit at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Preparing for Ranger school Early 2015, while providing security support for the president, Capt. Nathaniel Lesher, Keefes executive officer at the time, approached him and asked if he was interested in the opportunity of becoming a Ranger. I selected Keefe to attend Ranger school, because it was apparent that he was both physically and mentally tough enough to finish the course, Lesher said. He is the guy who subordinates look up to and peers respect. Additionally, Keefe excelled at all core tasks and physical requirements in order to attend the school and with a short notice completed another physically and mentally challenging school the Close Precision Engagement Course earlier in the year. At first, the Airman shrugged it off thinking his captain was only joking. After all, only a handful of Airmen get the chance to join Soldiers each year. When he first asked me, I told him, Sure Ill go if you send me, Keefe said. At first I didn't think he was serious, but he asked me again a few more times over the course of the next couple days. Then I thought that he might actually be serious. After returning to Andersen AFB from a security mission in India in mid-2015, Keefes leaders decided he was ready to represent his unit at Ranger school and succeeded in securing his place on the class roster. Used to him being gone for months at a time due to contingency response missions or deployments, Keefe said his wife, Ayesha, and their two sons Nicholas and Tighe, were very supportive with his decision to attend the school. Knowing how important it was to his boys, however, he made a promise to be home for Halloween. This commitment put Keefe on a tight timeline. To be back on Guam by that date required him to go straight through the course and pass all challenges without being recycled or phased back. RELATED VIDEO: To prepare Keefe for his imminent struggle, he attended the Ranger Training Assessment Course an evaluation split up into two weeklong phases. During the Ranger Assessment Phase, Keefe persevered through unique tasks such as the Ranger Physical Fitness Test, a combat water survival assessment and various other physical fitness events. In addition, he learned troop leading procedures, patrolling techniques and small unit operations. In order to continue to the second phase, Keefe had to pass all RAP events. During the second phase, Keefe and other students rotated into leadership positions and proved their ability to successfully accomplish small unit combat operations from planning through execution. In addition, the instructors evaluated Keefe on his ability to lead squad-sized patrols. Once he successfully completed RTAC, Keefe gained passage into the Ranger course. Air Force, what are you doing here? Pulling up to the training center at 7 a.m., Keefe noticed he was the first one to arrive. He anxiously stepped out of the taxi and collected his baggage. After passing under a large Ranger tab suspended above him, he knew it was go-time. Seconds later, a Ranger instructor stopped Keefe and asked, Air Force, what are you doing here? Without hesitation, the Airman replied confidently, I'm here for Ranger school. The instructor chuckled and told him to go sit down. Listening to his instruction, Keefe placed his gear down beside him and took a seat on the training pad. While waiting for other trainees to arrive, he said he first questioned himself on what he was even doing there. As time passed and more students arrived, Keefe noticed the operational camouflage pattern uniforms. As he observed operators pulling off their patches, leaving only their name and service branch signifiers, he noticed he was surrounded by some of the Armys most elite Soldiers as the only Airman among his peers. I overheard some of the men talking and heard some say they were with special forces, Keefe recalled. I started to think, These are some real guys I'm sitting here with right now. These guys are going to dominate this course and I'm going to have a tough time. Then I thought, These guys aren't better than me, they're just like me. Theyre probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking right now who is that kid and why is he in the Air Force? Why is he here, he must be something special, he added. Benning phase The Benning phase kicked off the 61 days of hell for Keefe and the other students. In the first week, Keefe demonstrated his physical stamina and mental toughness by exceeding the minimum of 49 pushups and 59 sit-ups in a two-minute span, six chin-ups and by running five miles in 40 minutes or less. Nearly 40 percent of failures occur during the first few days of this phase. Seeing trainees drop out motivated Keefe to push through the physical pain and mental strain. Here, he was introduced to the instructors disciplinary measures. As often as they deemed necessary, the students were ordered to execute pushups, sit-ups, squats, and burpees until they were told to stop. The instructors are pretty much holding your hand throughout that phase, Keefe said of the frequent pressure. They beat you into the ground all day long. They worked us till we didnt want to breathe anymore, but they showed us exactly how to do everything. They wanted us to perform, so they were very critical on the way they graded us. Keefe quickly realized how little sleep he was receiving during this experience. Sleep deprivation is part of the course and requires Ranger candidates to dig deep. Some nights he only slept for little more than 15 minutes or not at all. Keefe noted the most sleep he got during the training was a trifling two hours. One thing I learned about Ranger school is that I could literally sleep doing anything, Keefe said. I would sleep during conversations and at times, I would sleep walk. There was an instance when I woke up walking in the woods not knowing how I got there. Halfway there mountain phase After learning the tactical fundamentals during the Benning phase, Keefe found himself in the northern Georgia Mountain Range for the stage of challenges. Here, he learned about knots, belays, anchor points, rope management, and the basic fundamentals of climbing and rappelling. In addition, he trained on how to properly evacuate simulated injured personnel and perform raids in a mountainous environment. Since Keefe had very little previous mountaineering experience up to this point, this segment proved to be difficult. Between hiking through the mountains ambushing training sites, Keefe found himself exhausted and pushed to his limits. Mother Nature didnt make things any easier for Keefe, either. It rained on us the whole time we were there, Keefe said. It was terrible, our ruck sacks were already heavy enough and the rain just made it even heavier. There were times where my ruck would weigh in excess of 80-100 pounds. Home stretch Florida phase Battling exhaustion and hunger, Keefe knew he only had a few weeks left during the final stretch of the school. The finish line inched close, yet Keefe needed to survive the swamps of Florida. With his fellow classmates, he received instruction on waterborne operations, small boat movements and stream crossings upon arrival. By this time, we were expected to operate without help from the instructors, Keefe recalled. Youve got it all figured out at this point and the missions should go well. It was hot, humid and the mosquitoes were like dinosaurs. You live in a swamp and you're always soaking wet with mud. It wasnt easy. After braving some of the harshest environments of the continental U.S., from mountain elevation to the humid heat of Florida, Keefe had proven that he met demanding requirements of the curriculum. Without delay and recycle, Keefe graduated from the school on Oct. 16, and became the 266th Airman to earn the black and yellow Ranger tab. Not only did this enable to keep his promise to his sons, but according to Keefe, only 8 percent of students can say they accomplished this feat. (I didnt make it straight through) because I was (exceptional) or anything like that, Keefe said. It was because I had a bunch of people around me who helped me get to through it. Not a day passed when Keefe didnt experience a trial, but he knew he was never going to be presented this opportunity again. Dreading the thought of returning to his unit and being known as a failure, the Airman fought tooth and nail to earn the title of a Ranger school alumnus. Every single day I wanted to quit, Keefe said. I kept telling myself tomorrow youre going to quit, then tomorrow came and I kept saying the same thing. I kept telling myself, if you quit then you're going to be that guy who says they made it to the second phase of Ranger school then quit. Sporting the Ranger tab on his left shoulder, Keefe said he takes pride in knowing he is one of a few select Airmen whos persevered through the grueling training and can now consider themselves a Ranger. I wanted my kids to be proud, I wanted my wife to be proud and I wanted to do it not only for myself, but for everyone who is important to me, he said. 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... A shrinking U.S. Army rolled out its proposed fiscal 2017 budget today -- a plan that funnels more money into readiness but cuts every other area including personnel, modernization and construction. "As we built this budget and sought to strike the best possible balance within our top line funding levels, we ensured that our absolute, number-one priority remained readiness," Maj. Gen. Thomas Horlander, director of Army Budget, said during a Feb. 9 Pentagon briefing. The $125.1 billion request is $1.4 billion less than the service's approved fiscal 2016 budget, according to budget documents. The Army proposed personnel budget is for $55.3 billion, compared to fiscal 2016's $56.2 billion. The active force is scheduled to get $40 billion -- down from last year's $40.9 billion. The Reserve and National Guard receive slight increases with the Guard getting $8 billion and the Reserves getting $4.6 billion. The Army's active component takes the biggest hit to personnel compared to other services. The Army is the largest service, but its active force is scheduled to shrink from 475,000 to 460,000 -- that's a 3-percent decrease, compared to the Navy's 1-percent cut to its active component. Both the Air Force and the Marine Corps have no planned cuts to their active components, according to budget documents. The Army National Guard is slated to cut its force from 342,000 to 335,000 and the Army Reserve plans to shrink its force from 198,000 to 195,000. This is the last that the Guard and Reserve will downsize, but the active force is scheduled to cut another 10,000 in fiscal 2018 for an end-strength of 450,000, according to budget documents. The Army plans give $22.6 billion to its modernization efforts, compared to last year's $23.9 billion. Procurement programs take the largest cut with a proposed $15.1 billion, compared to last year's $16.4 billion. "This is an area where the Army has had to take risk as funding levels have come down," Horlander said. Army aircraft accounts for the biggest drop from $5.9 billion in fiscal 2016 to 3.6 billion for fiscal 2017. The budget prioritizes modernization of AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook helicopter fleets, according to budget documents. The budget supports the Army's Aviation Restructure Initiative by providing $1.1 billion for 52 Apaches and $1 billion for 36 Black Hawks. By comparison, the Army purchased 107 Black Hawks and 64 Apaches in fiscal 2016. For land programs, the Army's budget funds a "next-generation shoulder-launched weapon," as well as a replacement for the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, and increased firepower for the Stryker armored vehicle fleet. The budget also adds "significant survivability improvements" to the Stryker fleet, according to budget documents. Additionally, the budget funds 1,828 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles for fiscal 2017 as well as 567 Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, compared to last year's purchase of 166. The Army is also slated to spend $1.5 billion on ammunition, an increase from last year's $1.2 billion, according to budget documents. The budget is scheduled to invest $7.5 billion in research, development, testing and evaluation efforts -- a slight drop from the service's $7.6 billion investment last year. It is scheduled to fund efforts to include "combat vehicle and automotive technology, Joint Multi-Role Helicopter, and high-energy lasers," according to budget documents. The Army budget's only real winner is readiness. The service plans to give $45.2 billion to operation and maintenance, a $1.4 billion increase from last year's $43.8 billion, according to budget documents. "This is the one funding area where we are requesting growth," Horlander said. "This budget has been formulated to provide the combatant commands with the best trained and ready land forces that we can generate." The active force is slated to receive $35.4 billion, compared to last year's $34.2 billion. That money is earmarked to pay for "19 Combat Training Center rotations, 17 Decisive Action and two Combination Decisive Action/Mission Rehearsal Exercises," according to budget documents. The focus on these rotations will eventually result in a new level of readiness and enable the Army to have "two thirds of its regular Army forces ready at any one time," Horlander said. This is a significant increase compared to the "tiered readiness of previous years where only approximately one third of the Army's brigade combat teams were ready for contingency force operations," Horlander said. The budget maintains 30 brigade combat teams, which includes the conversion of one Stryker BCT to an infantry BCT. The National Guard is scheduled to receive $6.9 billion in O&M funding over last year's $6.6 billion. The Reserve would get $2.7 billion in the proposed budget, the same amount it got in fiscal 2016, according to budget documents. The Army also plans to invest $1.3 billion into facilities, that's down from $1.6 billion last year. Military construction in the Army remains at "historically low spending levels" with funding proposed at $805 million compared to the $1.1 billion the service spent last year, budget documents show. Army Family Housing, however, is scheduled to get $527 million, an increase over last year's $484 investment. -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com It's official: The U.S. Navy plans to reduce its Littoral Combat Ship buy from 52 to 40 vessels over the next five years, according to the service's fiscal 2017 budget request released on Tuesday. With a base budget request of $155.4 billion, the Navy's spending plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 is about $4 billion less than it was for fiscal 2016, though some of that will be offset by a $9.5 billion request in overseas contingency operations funding. The Navy is also set to lose 4,400 active-duty sailors, nearly all enlisted, as it approaches a long-term steady state that will have 50,000 sailors underway on ships year-round. This end strength reduction, from 327,300 sailors to 322,900 sailors, represents the most significant reduction in forces since fiscal 2012. Current projections show the service maintaining its end strength after this year with small adjustments, with a projected active-duty force of 323,100 by fiscal 2021. "Over the next five years the Navy will continue to make adjustments to properly size manpower accounts to reflect force structure decisions, reduce manning gaps at sea, and improve fleet readiness," the service budget request states. In a briefing to reporters at the Pentagon, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget Rear Adm. William Lescher said the drawdown would take place through natural attrition, primarily as the service deactivates its 10th Carrier Air Wing in the coming fiscal year. This deactivation, he said, will also allow the Navy to match its air wings up with its deployable aircraft carriers, and shore up readiness through the reallocation of aircraft to remaining wings. This strategy has its critics, though. In one of a series of statements Tuesday criticizing the Navys budget request, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, called the deactivation of a carrier air wing a "dangerous" move. "This administration is committed to the reduction of our naval forces. Two years ago, they proposed to eliminate an aircraft carrier. This year, they want to eliminate an aircraft carrier wing. I think this is a dangerous trajectory," Forbes said. "My subcommittee added almost $1 billion to ensure we retain our aircraft carrier force structure and have added over $2 billion to support additional strike fighters over the last two years. I opposed the elimination of the aircraft carrier and will seek to oppose any ill advised reductions in our aircraft carrier wing." The Navy's budget outlook has been a subject of much speculation since December, when Defense Secretary Ashton Carter sent a memo ordering the service to decrease its long-term LCS and frigate buy by 12 ships, down-select to one variant and builder, and reinvest some of the savings in aircraft and other weapons systems. The service's budget request keeps to that plan, with funding to purchase two LCS in fiscal 2017 and one each until 2020. In a brief to reporters, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said the decision to buy fewer LCS/frigates emphasized the Defense Departments focus on "shape, rather than size." "This is not an indictment against the LCS. If we didnt like the ship, we would stop buying it," he said. "But those 12 ships would take us from 321 to 309 ships, and it allowed us to put more money into torpedoes, more money into P-8 [Poseidons], more money into advanced munitions, more money into tactical aviation. So it was more about achieving that balance between size, readiness and modernization we made a decision to go for capability." The Navy now plans to purchase 30 P-8 Poseidon aircraft between now and 2021, 11 of which will be procured in FY 2017. Lescher said savings from the LCS down-select would also fund long-term investments in procurement of certain weapons systems. The Navy will purchase 10 long-range anti-ship missiles [LRASM] in FY 2017, for example, and 25 each in FY 18 and 19, equipping aircraft including the F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35C Joint Strike Fighter with cutting edge munitions. The FY 17 request includes the purchase of 100 Tactical Tomahawk missiles, a move Lescher said was also tied to ship-buy savings. Procurement is also up for the SM-6 ship-launched missile in the next five years, from 113 missiles in FY 16 to 125 per year from FY 17 to FY 21. Other key investment areas include the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, with proposed funding to procure four in the coming fiscal year; the Virginia-class submarine, with two planned for purchase; and the LHA (R) America-class amphibious assault ship. The budget would fund the purchase of LHA-8, the yet-to-be-named third America-class ship, at a cost of $1.6 billion. The Navy is also moving into the procurement phase of the Ohio replacement program, with funding to replace the existing class of Ohio-class fleet ballistic missile submarines. The budget contains $773 million for advance procurement of long-lead items, plus more than $1 billion in continued research, development and design. The purchase of two additional Arleigh-Burke class destroyers will mean a total procurement of seven new ships in the next fiscal year. Overall, the Navy is set to have 308 ships by 2021, up from 280 at the end of 2016, according to budget documents. The biggest year-over-year budget reductions for the Navy will come in aircraft procurement, where the service is set to spend about $14.1 billion -- more than $3.5 billion less than the previous year. The budget line for research, development, testing and evaluation is also down about $835 million from the current year. This year's request also zeroes out the National Defense Sealift Fund, a decades-old spending account used to purchase unarmed Navy vessels. That account contained $474 million last year. The budget would support initiatives laid out in Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson's campaign design for the fleet. The proposals were released last month. It also reaffirms plans to invest in innovation through new uses of simulators, gaming and other technologies to enhance training and support "high-velocity learning." It would also fund Navy cyber capabilities, including development of control point defense capabilities for aviation control systems and investment in better fleet cyber situational awareness, according to budget documents. In a statement released Tuesday, Richardson voiced cautious approval for the budget request. "Today's budget environment is forcing tough choices but must also inspire new thinking as we seek to achieve balance," he said. "The margins of victory are razor thin, and only the team that fights for every inch wins. Our budget request supports this urgent business." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related Video: President Barack Obama's last defense budget proposal totals $583 billion and marks a legacy document that seeks to prolong a fundamental shift in the ways the nation prepares for and fights wars -- changes for which he has advocated with mixed results. The $583 billion proposal for fiscal 2017, an amount some lawmakers in Congress have already charged isn't enough, represented an increase of $2.4 billion or less than 1 percent from the level enacted in fiscal 2016. The total included $524 billion for the base budget that pays for the daily operations of the Defense Department and weapons programs, and $59 billion for the so-called war budget, known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Arriving at the final figures involved last-minute bickering between the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon over which items should go into the OCO account, which is not subject to the restrictions of the Budget Control Act and the sequester process, according to sources. "This budget marks an inflection point" for the military, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a statement. "Even as we fight today's fights, we must also be prepared for the fights that might come in 10, 20 or 30 years." In a lengthy fact sheet, the White House said that the $4.1 trillion overall federal budget proposal "provides the resources to address security threats wherever they arise and continues to demonstrate American leadership around the world." Counting Defense and State department resources, the White House said that the budget was devoting a total of $11 billion to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, also known as ISIL, in fiscal 2017. The formal presentation of the budget at a Pentagon news conference was left to Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Carter was in Brussels to press allies for more contributions to the fight against ISIS. With a major exception, the budget as outlined by Carter essentially put new emphasis on deterring Russia and China in the base budget. In its background material on the budget, the Pentagon said that Russian aggression in Crimea, Ukraine and the Mideast, and China's spate of island building and provocations in the South China Sea, "all necessitate changes in our strategic outlook and in our operational commitments." In the first of a string of news conferences at the Pentagon Tuesday afternoon on the budget, Work said the proposal was intended to prepare the military to contain Russia along its periphery while also seeking to deter a "resurgent revanchist China" at sea. Selva pushed back at charges emerging from the Republican presidential debates that Obama has "gutted" the military by denying resources. Selva said the services were prepared to meet the nation's national security needs "despite the enduring strains of restrained resources." He added, "Make no mistake, today's security environment is more unpredictable than I've seen in my 35 years of service." Even so, "I would take umbrage with the notion that the military has been gutted," Selva said. "Do we have challenges? Of course, we do." Recovering readiness after 14 years of grinding warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan will be one of those challenges, he said, "but I would say that we're far from gutted." Mike McCord, the Pentagon's comptroller, touched on concerns within the building on the pace of modernization of the force. McCord told Defense News, "Leaders have to step back and ask themselves 'are we investing enough?' The Army and Marines would tell you -- and we would tell you -- that we are not investing enough in their modernization right now." The budget documents state, "The [fiscal year 2017] budget reflects recent strategic threats that have taken place in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe." In previewing the budget last week, Carter said, "The U.S. military will fight very differently in coming years than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan or in the rest of the world's recent memory. We will be prepared for a high-end enemy," an apparent reference to Russia and China. The administration asked for a quadrupling of the European Reassurance Initiative, or ERI, from about $800 million to $3.4 billion, which would go into the OCO account to pay for the stationing of three Army brigades in Europe on a rotational basis. The Pentagon also said that the military costs of the campaign against ISIS would total $7.5 billion -- double the amount requested for FY2016 -- and another $1.8 billion to replenish the stock of precision-guided munitions used exclusively by the U.S. in the air campaign against the terrorist group. Defense hawks led by House Republicans immediately charged that Obama was shortchanging the military. In a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, a Republican from Georgia, Rep. William "Mac" Thornberry, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama's budget proposal should be increased by at least $23 billion. "An adequate national defense requires significantly more funding," Thornberry said. He recommended adding the $23 billion to the OCO fund, which is exempt from the cost-cutting mandates of the Budget Control Act and the sequester process. Thornberry was also expected to seek an increase in spending for missile defense following the launch Sunday of what North Korea claimed to be a satellite atop a rocket capable of hitting the U.S. Last year, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency proposed $8.13 billion in fiscal 2016 to improve and expand U.S. anti-missile programs. The proposal was a 3-percent increase from the previous year. "Unfortunately, this Administration continues to play budgetary games with our country's security and diminishes what credibility it had left," Thornberry said in a statement. As an example of the upcoming annual fight over the size of the defense budget and how money is divided among competing priorities, Rep. Price, the Budget Committee chairman, has indicated that he won't even hold a hearing on the defense budget proposals. The budget was the final one to be proposed by Obama, whose term in office has been marked by fitful attempts to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a de-emphasis of the counter-insurgency strategy, and a reliance on Special Operations and local forces for regional conflicts that critics have mocked as "leading from behind." Obama and his defense secretaries -- Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel and Ashton Carter -- have also presided over a downsizing of the military. The Army, which swelled to 570,000 soldiers during the peak of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is projected to go down to 450,000 by the end of 2017. Against the arguments of Gates and others, Obama effectively ended what some have called the era of the "celebrity general." He fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal and moved Gen. David Petraeus to the CIA, where his government career was ended over an extramarital affair. Obama has also presided over the most profound and lasting changes in the military personnel system since the desegregation of the armed forces after World War II by scrapping the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy against gays serving openly and recently eliminating the combat exclusion rule against women. According to the documents, the proposals for fiscal 2017 on personnel would focus on enhancing the readiness of the force while insuring family stability. The proposals included a 1.6-percent pay increase and modernization of TRICARE through improving access to care and encouraging the use of military treatment facilities through lower fees and copays. "My most immediate priority is to sound the alarm" for higher pay for the troops, said Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican from Nevada and chairman of the House Armed Services' Military Personnel Subcommittee, said in response to the pay proposal. The troops by law must receive a pay raise within 0.5 percent of the Employment Cost Index, Heck said in a statement. By that standard, the military pay raise should be 2.1 percent rather than 1.6 percent, he said, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates. In a cost-cutting move, the Defense Department was also going to try again to eliminate excess infrastructure through another round in 2019 of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission -- a move that has repeatedly been rejected by Congress. The proposals also included another attempt to reduce management headquarters by 25 percent. Budget documents show the Pentagon is asking to devote $112 billion to develop and procure new weapons systems and technology, and another $74 billion for research and development. Under the proposals, the Army would again bear the brunt of the military downsizing, with 460,000 active duty troops in fiscal 2017, reducing further to 450,000 in the following year. It would have 335,000 in the Army National Guard and 195,000 soldiers in the Army Reserve. The troops would support a total of 56 Army Brigade Combat Teams. The Marine Corps would be sized at 182,000 troops in fiscal 2017 and 38,500 Marine reservists. The Navy, which would be projected to grow to 308 ships from 280 over the next five years, would have a total of 380,900 active duty and reserve sailors. The Air Force would have 491,700 active duty, Reserve and National Guard airmen and would include 55 tactical fighter squadrons The overall funding proposals for the services, according to the documents, would be $148 billion for the Army, an increase of about $1 billion; $165 billion for the Navy, a decrease of nearly $4 billion, and $167 billion for the Air Force, an increase of $5 billion. Other highlights from the budget proposal included $6.7 billion for cybersecurity for a range of offensive and defensive capabilities to protect the Pentagon's vast cyber systems; a $1.3 billion decrease in planned buys for Army aviation; $1.4 billion for engineering and development on the new Long Range Strike Bomber to be known as the B-3; and delays in the purchase for the Marine Corps of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the planned replacement for the Humvee. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Check out the latest pay-related news on our Military Pay app. Get it now on Google Play or iTunes. Everything You Need to Know About the Amazon Military Discount, Tips and Tricks The Amazon military discount is a promotion Amazon.com has given around Veterans Day for its Amazon Prime service. A security clearance is often essential to landing a technology job with a government contractor or federal agency handling sensitive information. If you want to work at an organization serving the national interest, you may find your path slowed considerably, if not blocked entirely, by the lack of a security clearance. To obtain a clearance, you need an employer's backing and patience. Delays are common, given the government's backlog of clearance applications. Related: Search for Security Clearance jobs. Here's our guide to security clearances. What is a security clearance? A security clearance is a government authorization for you to view classified information as your job requires. The information can be as varied as reports about border security or details on how spy satellites work. A clearance is not a blanket authorization to view all classified information; it simply allows you to view the information you need to know to do your job. Dave Underwood, president of TAC Secured, a TAC Worldwide subsidiary that places IT professionals with active security clearances, stresses the importance of a clearance to work at defense contractors, homeland security firms and in other government-related positions. He likens the clearance to "a secret handshake" once you get it, it's transferable, meaning it will help you find other jobs that require a clearance. Related: Does your resume pass the 6-second test? Get a FREE assessment. Are there different types of clearances? Yes. The most common are labeled "confidential," "secret" and "top secret," corresponding to the sensitivity of the information you are allowed to handle on the job. Top-secret clearances may also give you authorization to view "sensitive compartmented information" specific information that's deemed particularly sensitive. Your employer will work with government officials to determine the appropriate clearance. Can I apply for a clearance on my own? No. Sponsorship from a company or government agency is necessary to apply for a clearance. "The challenge for most candidates is that you can't obtain a security clearance on your own without having a government contractor or agency sponsor you for the background investigation," says Michael Fitzgerald, principal consultant at staffing firm Winter, Wyman and Company. "Such investigations also take time and money, which means obtaining your clearance requires patience and planning, as they can often take many months to finish." Employers pay the cost of the clearance process. How does the government evaluate clearance applications? The process varies depending on the type of clearance being sought, the information involved and the urgency of the project. A lower-level clearance may entail a background check into your education, job history, criminal record, credit history and residences. If you're applying for a job involving more sensitive information, expect government or private investigators to interview you personally and delve into various areas of your personal and professional life. Investigators will also interview neighbors and friends and possibly have you take a polygraph test. Falsehoods and omissions in an application can disqualify you from receiving a clearance. Related: Discover your perfect career path and get customized job recommendations based on your military experience and vocational interests with Military.com's Military Skills Translator + Personality Assessment. Does a clearance last a lifetime? No. If you need to continue to view sensitive information on the job, you will have to undergo a reinvestigation every five years for a top-secret clearance, every 10 years for a secret clearance and every 15 years for a confidential clearance. A clearance becomes inactive when your job no longer requires you to view sensitive information. Is it worth applying for a job requiring a clearance even if I don't have one? Lack of a clearance shouldn't stop you from seeking a job that requires one. If you don't have a clearance, the company may hire you, start the clearance process and have you work on other projects until your clearance is approved. Related: For the latest veteran jobs postings around the country, visit the Military.com Job Search section. The Next Step: Find the Right Veteran Job Whether you want to polish up your resume, find veteran job fairs in your area, or connect with employers looking to hire veterans, Military.com can help. Sign up for a free Military.com membership to have job postings, guides and advice, and more delivered directly to your inbox. The White Sox agreed to sign first baseman Travis Ishikawa, MLBTR has learned. He'll join their Triple-A Charlotte club. Ishikawa recently elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Yankees. After signing a minor league deal with the Orioles in December, the 29-year-old Ishikawa hit .316/.413/.525 in 208 plate appearances. His contract was selected as his opt-out date approached, but the Orioles designated him soon after. A waiver claim by the Yankees led to even less playing time. Ishikawa, a former 21st round draft pick of the Giants, did fine work at Triple-A but has yet to find a consistent opportunity in the Majors this year. Lars Anderson and Andy Wilkins have played first base for the Charlotte Knights this year; both have struggled offensively. For the big league club, Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko have combined for a .750 OPS at the position. 4:22pm: SB Nations Chris Cotillo tweets that Ishikawas deal comes with a $900K base salary in the Majors the same figure hed received on the Mariners deal that ultimately fell apart. 3:54pm: The White Sox and first baseman Travis Ishikawa have agreed to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, MLB.coms Scott Merkin tweets. Ishikawa had previously agreed to a minor league deal with the Mariners earlier this offseason, but that deal fell through last month. This will mark Ishikawas second stint with the Sox, as he signed there in July 2013 and finished out that season with Chicagos Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. The 32-year-old Ishikawa, a Jim McDowell client, split the 2015 campaign between the Pirates and Giants, batting a combined .206/.306/.302 in 72 Major League plate appearances and a combined .267/.337/.420 in the minors with the two organizations. Though he hasnt occupied a semi-regular role since his 2009 season with the Giants, Ishikawa has averaged 112 big league plate appearances per year across the past six seasons, and hes a career .255/.321/.391 hitter in the Majors. The White Sox dont appear, on the surface, to have much in the way of at-bats for another first baseman, though Ishikawa does have a bit of corner outfield experience. Hell serve as a depth option for the Sox, who have Jose Abreu and Adam LaRoche penciled in as their primary first base and DH options, with right-handed sluggers Mike Olt and Jerry Sands serving as potential corner/DH alternatives on the 40-man roster. With roughly 1,800 properties included in 14 historic districts, it's no secret Ann Arbor takes historic preservation seriously. Those designations over the years have protected the integrity and charm of some of the city's oldest neighborhoods from the Old West Side to the Old Fourth Ward, where blocks of original homes from the 1800s and early 1900s remain intact. They've also helped maintain some of the original character of many parts of the downtown, including the Main Street area. Local preservationists are now sounding the alarm as legislation proposed by state lawmakers threatens to weaken those protections and create new hurdles for establishing and maintaining historic districts in Michigan. Longtime Ann Arbor resident Frank Wilhelme, former executive director of the Historical Society of Michigan, is among those closely following the controversy surrounding House Bill 5232 and Senate Bill 720. The twin bills were recently introduced by state Rep. Chris Afendoulis and Sen. Peter MacGregor, both Republicans from the Grand Rapids area. Preservationists are calling it the most serious threat to historic preservation since the Local Historic Districts Act of 1970 was enacted. "If this legislation becomes law, it would effectively gut Michigan's 46-year-old historic district legislation," said Wilhelme, noting 78 communities across Michigan have used the 1970 law to protect several thousand historic structures. Wilhelme, the retired director of development for the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, served on Ann Arbor's Historic District Commission through the 1970s and was chairman for six years. He also co-founded the Old West Side Homes Tour in the 1970s, a tour that remains popular today. As a member of the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board in the 1970s, Wilhelme voted to place Ann Arbor's Old West Side on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the University of Michigan's Central Campus. If the pending legislation in Lansing is adopted, it would effectively destroy 46 years of community efforts across Michigan, Wilhelme argues. "The layer upon layer of changes would make it virtually impossible to maintain the current districts or add any in the future," he said. "It needs to be defeated. It's too odious." A map of Ann Arbor's historic districts. Under the proposed law, to start the process of establishing a historic district, a local municipality would need to obtain preliminary approval from at least two-thirds of property owners within a district. That would be a new requirement. The proposed law maintains the historic district study committee process for recommending historic districts, with some modifications. But instead of leaving committee recommendations solely to the City Council to accept or reject, the ultimate establishment of a historic district would have to go to a citywide vote, so voters would get to decide if any area of the city is worth protecting. Currently, there is no end date for historic districts. The proposed law would add a provision to dissolve all historic districts after 10 years, unless the historic district designations are approved by local voters in an election. Any newly created districts also would have to go back to voters for approval after 10 years. "The idea that the entire city would be required to hold a referendum every 10 years on whether a district should exist just doesn't seem practical," said Patrick McCauley, another former chairman of the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission. "How can a homeowner plan on what they are going to do to their house if it's possible that the ordinance will possibly be eliminated in the coming vote on the district?" McCauley asked. "Also, are these municipal-wide elections really a good way to ensure that the people of a particular neighborhood have a say in what will in the end regulate their neighborhood? I don't think so." The proposed law would add other provisions for eliminating historic districts, giving the City Council sole discretion and eliminating requirements to have a historic district study committee review the matter, issue a preliminary report, hold a public hearing, and issue a final report stating the reason for elimination. Under the proposed law, local historic district commissions would continue to ensure the exterior appearances of homes within historic districts are in compliance with the historic character of the districts. But appeals of decisions no longer would go to a state historic preservation review board. Instead, appeals would go to the local governing body -- in Ann Arbor's case, the City Council. Additionally, while a local historic district commission currently applies the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's standards for rehabilitation and guidelines for rehabilitating historic buildings, the proposed law would allow the commission to consider different standards it determines are in the best interest of the community. It also would add "reasonableness of the additional costs required to complete a historically accurate rehabilitation" to the list of factors the commission would consider when considering permits. Among his motivations for introducing the legislation, Afendoulis has cited concerns that some people who live in historic districts and want to rehab their houses can't afford to do so in an authentic fashion because the rules are too restrictive. He has said he's open to tweaking parts of his bill, like the requirement for voter renewal of historic districts every 10 years. As for why he wants to re-route appeals, Afendoulis has said property owners might find more sympathy from their elected officials than from preservation boards. City Council Member Sabra Briere, D-1st Ward, is planning to bring forward a resolution at the council's meeting on Monday, voicing opposition to SB 720 and HB 5232 and directing the city administrator to cooperate with other municipalities, organizations and the city's lobbyist in opposing the bills. Briere believes reinvestment in historic buildings has enhanced the quality of life in Ann Arbor, and has helped ensure the city remains attractive and vital. If the pending legislation is approved, she argues, it would have an immediate and significantly chilling effect on property values, new investment and redevelopment in historic districts. She believes property owners would lose confidence in the regulatory climate and the protections afforded by historic districts. Briere served on the historic district study committee about a decade ago that recommended the establishment of the Broadway Historic District. The district was established in 2008, providing new protections for the neighborhood, including Briere's home believed to date back to the 1830s. "This was one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and had some of the oldest structures in it," Briere said of the importance of establishing the district. Missing from the discussion about HB 5232 and SB 720, Briere argues, is the cost such changes would impose on the city's budget. In addition to the costs of holding elections, she argues the community -- through its governmental or non-governmental organizations -- would need to routinely spend significant amounts of time and money educating the public about historic districts. Briere sees it as a negative that the proposed law would allow local governing bodies to eliminate historic districts without justification or community input. She also argues it would politicize the process for appealing decisions of the Historic District Commission, as the city's elected officials -- responsive to pressures from development interests as well as the public -- would become the appeals board. She's not convinced that should be their role. Briere noted studies about the economic impact of historic district designations have concluded that local regulation of historic districts -- both commercial and residential -- tends to stabilize and even increase property values. She said property owners have a shared interest in the appearance and quality of their historic neighborhood, and all owners share the reward that comes with a well-regulated neighborhood, and all owners share the risk of allowing the deterioration of the character of their districts. Owners who have no interest in maintaining the character of their property, she said, bring a risk not only to their own property values, but to the stability and value of their neighbors' properties. Mayor Christopher Taylor is urging the Legislature to suspend action on what he considers harmful legislation. "Ann Arbor's historic character is so important to our quality of life," he said. "The historic districts throughout the downtown and in our residential neighborhoods strengthen our community, build economic value, and help make Ann Arbor a place beloved by residents, workers and visitors." If there weren't historic district protections, local preservationists believe many of the homes and buildings that are protected in Ann Arbor might have been demolished long ago by developers looking to make a buck -- replacing rows of houses with boxy apartment buildings, and destroying the fabric of neighborhoods. Wilhelme noted that already was starting to happen in the Old West Side before the neighborhood received historic district status in the 1970s. McCauley argues the existing historic district process works. He noted when he first moved to Pontiac Trail, there was a vote on creating a Northside Historic District. "The people on Pontiac were generally opposed," he said. "The people on Broadway and Traver were generally in favor. The whole district got voted down, and then a new district was created for the people that wanted it on Broadway and Traver. Isn't that our local representatives giving the local citizens what they want? I think so." If there is a change in what the community wants for a historic district, the mayor and council already can appoint a study committee to evaluate whether a district should be de-listed, McCauley said. "Following that recommendation, the City Council could vote to de-list a district or possibly change a boundary if they wanted to," he said. "This legislation seems to be a solution in search of a problem." McCauley argues historic districts have been the anchor of some of the greatest urban revitalizations that have happened in Michigan. "Think Heritage Hill in Grand Rapids, or Greektown in Detroit," he said. "These districts have helped to preserve and stabilize the neighborhoods in their worst years, and now we are reaping the rewards of the vision that these preservation activists had in the '70s and '80s. I remember Ann Arbor's Main Street in the '80s. It was not that nice. Look at it now. It's humming at all hours of the day. It's feels good to be down there, and a big part of that feeling is the historic architecture and scale that has been preserved by the efforts of the the citizens of Ann Arbor." He added, "Could we have more density if we tore down these great buildings and built giant high-rises in their place? Sure we could. Who would benefit from this, though? Big developers for one, but the costs to our community would be huge and it would ruin one of the best assets our city has to offer: Character." With the amount of new development going on in Ann Arbor, and some of the development pressure already on the edges of historic districts, Wilhelme argues it would open up all kinds of new development concerns and uncertainty in Ann Arbor if the historic district designations were jeopardized. Wilhelme said one of his prouder moments as chairman of the Historic District Commission in the 1970s was fighting to prevent three buildings along the south side of Liberty Street -- between Ashley Street and the alley to the east -- from being demolished to make way for a small parking lot. "The city was proposing tearing those down to put in parking spaces," he said. "We were absolutely horrified and we were able to prevail." The Liberty Street Historic District was adopted in 1975. The buildings there now house the Ann Arbor Art Center, West Side Book Shop and Salon Vox. Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. Snow Feb 9 2016.JPG Snow is causing slippery roads and car crashes in the Ann Arbor area on Tuesday, Feb. 9. (Lindsay Knake | MLive.com) Slippery roads are causing car crashes Tuesday morning in Ann Arbor and in Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor police are dealing with six crashes as heavy, wet snow falls on Feb. 9. In Chelsea and Dexter, two cars reported sliding off the road. There was another minor crash with no injuries at North Territorial and Dixboro roads in Northfield Township, according to police. The National Weather Service had issued a hazardous weather statement for Washtenaw County and Southeast Michigan. A winter storm is bringing up to an inch of snow through mid-morning. Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com. Police are investigating a purse snatching of an 88-year-old woman in Ann Arbor. The incident occurred about 1 p.m. Feb. 8 in the 800 block of West Washington Street as the woman was walking westbound, said Ann Arbor police Detective Lt. Robert Pfannes. The three juveniles approached the woman from behind and one pulled her purse from her shoulder. The three then turned and ran eastbound on Washington. The woman was not injured in the incident. The suspects are described as three black males, about 15 or 16 years old, wearing dark hooded sweatshirts, police said. Two of the teenagers were described as having medium complexions and the third was described as having a dark complexion. One or more were possibly wearing an "earth tone" jacket. Police said the three teens were seen loitering in the area before the incident. The Ann Arbor police ask anyone with information to call the tip line at 734-794-6939 or e-mail TIPS@a2gov.org 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. Tyler M. McKeon BAY CITY, MI -- Bay County authorities say a hunter accused of using two guns to kill a family dog has to wait a while longer for his next court date, though animal lovers are getting their dander up online. The preliminary examination of Tyler M. McKeon, 33, was scheduled to take place Tuesday, Feb. 9, before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly. However, Kelly adjourned the hearing on Friday, Feb. 5, due to the need for further investigation. McKeon's case is now slated for a settlement conference before Kelly at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. McKeon is charged with one count of killing or torturing an animal, which is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. In the wake of The Times reporting on McKeon's case on Jan. 28, a petition was started on animalpetitions.org. The petition's goal is to "prosecute (the) man facing a felony charge for shooting a family dog to the fullest extent of the law." It is addressed to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, though the case is handled by the Bay County Prosecutor's Office rather than Schuette's. As of 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9, the petition had 17,757 signatures. The majority of the comments attached to it are incendiary and express a desire for eye-for-an-eye-style retribution, calling for corporal and even capital punishment. Michigan does not have the death penalty for any offense, and was the first state to ban the practice in 1846. McKeon's charge stems from an incident that happened Sunday, Dec. 20. That afternoon, police responded to a farm of Jeffrey and Denise Pickvet in the 2400 block of East Erickson Road in Fraser Township. The Pickvets had called 911 to report they believed their dog Tippy, a Labrador/pit bull mix, had been shot. Jeffrey Pickvet told police he was outside when he heard a shot, followed by his dog yelping. He called for Tippy, then heard several more shots, court records show. Police and the Pickvets found Tippy dead, lying in a wooded area a few hundred yards west of the farm, court records show. He had been shot multiple times. Blood spots indicated he initially was shot about 41 yards from a raised hunting blind, court records show. Inside the blind, police found a shell casing from a 9 mm pistol. Police described the weather as clear and sunny, with high visibility, according to reports in court documents. Denise Pickvet told police she observed a man walking to the road carrying a gun shortly after hearing the shots. She asked him if he had shot her dog, to which he replied he only shot a deer, court records show. The man then entered a black 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and drove off, flipping off the Pickvets as he did so, they told police. The Pickvets followed him in their truck and confronted him a second time. He again denied having shot a dog, court records show. The Pickvets went home and called 911. They added they have "No Trespassing" signs on their property, court records show. Police linked the Chevrolet to McKeon, whose home they visited. "All right, I shot him," McKeon allegedly told police after they told him what they knew. He added he shot Tippy because dogs have been chasing deer on his property for the past two years and Tippy, in particular, had been hanging around his blind all morning, court records show. McKeon said he shot Tippy with a muzzleloader, then shot him again with a handgun, court records show. He said he previously spoke with the Pickvets and asked them to control their dogs. He added he had called Bay County Animal Control, and staff there told him to "take care of the dog," court records show. Police again spoke with the Pickvets, who denied having spoken with McKeon about their dogs. Animal Control records also show no complaints from McKeon or anyone else about the Pickvets' dogs, court records show. Authorities issued a warrant for McKeon's arrest Monday, Jan. 25. McKeon on Tuesday, Jan. 26, appeared for arraignment in Bay County District Court. McKeon is represented by Bay City attorney Matthew L. Reyes, who said the dog was killed on property owned by his client's father. "Obviously, our thoughts on this is it's an unfortunate situation where a dog is killed in a hunting accident, and that's what this is," Reyes said. "Unfortunately, the animal was on private property that was being legally hunted, and sometimes there are hunting accidents. I think once all the facts and circumstances come out, that will be clear and we'll be able to move forward." Denise Pickvet, speaking with The Times, said Tippy was 2 1/2 years old. The couple has two other dogs on their 38-acre ranch. She said Tippy was shot a total of five or six times. "He was a very loving dog," Pickvet said. "He was always taking care of everyone. He would make sure my in-laws, who are in their late 80s, would get back in the house when they came outside. If one of the horses or pigs got out, he would tell us. He loved everyone. He was a one-of-a-kind dog that had his own personality. He would talk to you, and if he wanted something, he would get your attention and show you." BAY CITY, MI -- Pazcki lovers swarmed Krzysiak's House Restaurant in Bay City Tuesday morning, Feb. 9, for its 19th annual Paczki Palooza. The event features hundreds of folks lined up for dozens of paczki, that peculiarly Polish pastry used to celebrate Fat Tuesday, the day before the beginning of the Christian observance of Lent. The Kowalski Brothers Polka Band entertained through the morning. Doors opened at Krzysiak's House at 5 a.m. for the annual pre-dawn eating of the paczki. If you haven't picked up your paczki yet, here's where you can get them in Bay and Saginaw counties. DETROIT, MI -- Flint has been back on Detroit water since October 2015, and the Great Lakes Water Authority wants to keep it that way. The authority, which took control of Detroit's sprawling regional water system assets at the start of 2016, has offered to restart conversations with Flint about sticking with Detroit water, even after the construction of the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline from Lake Huron is complete. "An offer for conversation has been extended," said Amanda Abukhader, a spokesperson for the Great Lakes Water Authority. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department made a last-ditch effort to hold onto Flint as a customer before the city joined the Karegnondi Water Authority in April 2013. But Flint officials rejected the 30-year proposal because it didn't offer fixed rates. Since then, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department turned over control of 300 miles of pipe and five water treatment facilities outside the city to the Great Lakes Water Authority in a $50 million-a-year lease. And the new authority wants to try to rekindle a long-term relationship with Flint, although it's unclear how it would lure in the city. "I can't speculate about terms or rates or anything that would be offered to Flint," Abukhader said. "If we even got to that point, it wouldn't be anything that would be different than any of our other customers." Detroit water officials back in 2013 claimed staying put would save Flint and Genesee County $800 million over time, but after years of water rate hikes and no guarantee that costs wouldn't continue to rise, officials committed to joining the Karegnondi Water Authority with Lapeer and Sanilac Counties. Flint's final year-to-year contract with Detroit expired in April 2014, and officials turned to the Flint River as a temporary source of water until the new pipeline was complete. A failure to effectively treat the water for corrosion control led to the city's current crisis. More on the chain of events that led to the water crisis here: How government poisoned the people of Flint DETROIT, MI -- Hillary Clinton is opening a Detroit campaign office, Jeb Bush plans to keynote an Oakland County GOP event next month, and Fox News has named a downtown location for its Republican presidential debate in March. With Michigan's March 8 presidential primary approaching, Metro Detroit is starting to get its share of attention in the White House race. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who supports Clinton, plans to lead the Tuesday opening of her new downtown office, 5:30 p.m. at 600 West Lafayette Blvd. And the Oakland County Republican Party announced Monday evening that Bush will keynote its annual Lincoln Day Dinner, a major GOP fundraising event, on March 7 at the Troy Marriott. The party said all presidential candidates were invited to that event, and that Bush was the first to accept. That event will come days after Fox News hosts a GOP presidential debate at the Fox Theatre in the heart of Downtown Detroit, March 3 at 9 p.m. Detroit is a longtime Democratic stronghold, but it was Republican Gov. Rick Snyder who ordered the government takeover that led to the city's bankruptcy case, which allowed the city to shed some $7 billion in debt and to begin shifting funds toward some improvement in services. That fact could give Republicans fodder for a Detroit crowd. But the emergency manager appointed by Snyder who led Detroit's restructuring was a Democrat who supported President Barack Obama in the last election. Clinton and her Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders plan to debate in Flint on March 6. The former Secretary of State was also in Flint earlier this week. More coverage from Clinton's Flint visit here. Clinton has also been vocal about Detroit schools in recent weeks. Update with meeting coverage DETROIT, MI -- Wayne County Executive Warren Evans called a news conference Wednesday afternoon to address public health matters related to the storage of radioactive fracking waste at landfills in the Detroit suburb of Belleville. It's not clear what the forthcoming announcement will address, but Gov. Rick Snyder, whose administration is embroiled in the public health failure that to the Flint water crisis, in 2014 commissioned a report on the subject. That report found the low-level radioactive waste wasn't harmful, but with failures by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to alert the public about high levels of lead in Flint's drinking water, some may be wary. U.S. Ecology, an international environmental services company, owns the landfill and operates four other facilities in southeast Michigan. Belleville is Wayne County's westernmost suburb, located midway between Detroit and Ann Arbor. Industry insiders call the radioactive waste TENORM, an acronym that means technologically-enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive material. The fracking process involved the high-pressure injections of water, sand and chemicals into rock to release gas and oil. The activity creates materials with higher than normal radioactivity levels. Wayne County Commissioner Timothy Killeen, D-Detroit, said he is unsure what Evans plans to discuss, but said the county recently created an environmental task force to look at the fracking waste landfill, the Marathon petroleum coke piles along the Detroit River and other potential environmental concerns in the county. He said U.S. Ecology has proposed expanding its fracking landfill business "10-fold" at the Belleville location. Check back with MLive after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday to find out more about what officials had to say regarding the landfill facility and radioactive fracking waste storage in Van Buren Township. FENTON, MI - Argentine Township Detective Doug Fulton told Fenton School District administrators that a simple tip from a student to a school resource officer probably prevented a school shooting at Linden High School in November. Fulton's investigation, with the help of the FBI, revealed that an argument over social media led to the arrest of three people and a plot to shoot up the school. "They were looking for guns and we got ahead of it," Fulton said on Monday, Feb. 8. Ryan William Stevens, 18, of Linden, Lamar Michael Dukes, 15, of West Bloomfield, Cody Anthony Brewer, 15, of Wolverine Lake, are in the process of getting competency exams. Fulton said the teens are due back in Genesee Circuit Court on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Fenton School District administrators heard from Fulton and Michigan State Police troopers about school safety training on Wednesday. Detective/Trooper Andy Knapp described the ALICE Training System, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate and is age-appropriate school safety training for staff and students. "I've got kids who go to your school district," Knapp said. "I want this district to be as safe as possible." Trainers went through scenarios with administrators on Monday that featured Fenton staffers being put through situations where a shooter fired an airsoft gun at them and there were blank rounds being fired by officers during the simulation. "If you don't practice it - when the event really happens - people are going to die," Knapp said. The first simulation the staff members couldn't do anything except hide in the classroom. It was dubbed the "Columbine" simulation because it mimicked the Colorado massacre. Knapp gathered the participants afterward. "Who called 911," he asked them. "No one. You don't think about it during the event. The first scenario there was 10 out of 10 people dead." The Fenton School District undergoes hours and hours of school safety training, said Interim Superintendent Doug Busch. "This is a chance for us to learn more about the different active shooter training," Busch said. Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. FLINT, MI -- A two-phase, $55 million plan to begin replacement of thousands of lead service lines at Flint homes still needs money to move forward. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver announced the Fast Start lead service line replacement program during a Tuesday morning press conference at Flint City Hall, joined by retired National Guard Brigadier General Michael C.H. McDaniel. The plan, in conjunction with the Lansing Board of Water & Light, would begin replacement of lines first at "high-risk" households, including children younger than 6, children with elevated blood lead levels, pregnant women, and senior citizens. Others targeted in the high-risk group include residential daycare facilities, those with compromised immune systems, and households where water tests have indicated high lead levels at the tap. "In order for Flint residents to once again have confidence and trust in the water coming from their faucets, all lead pipes in the city of Flint need to be replaced," said Weaver, echoing a call last week for work to begin immediately on the service lines. McDaniel said the $55 million is based on an assumption of 15,000 lead service lines in the city, and figures provided by the plan show an estimated cost of $3,670 per home but cost may be more or less. Technical experts with the Lansing Board of Water & Light met on Monday with city public works staff to discuss the plan and potential work. Weaver said the city of Lansing undertook a previous project to replace roughly 13,500 water service lines over the course of 12 years. McDaniel, head of the Flint Action and Sustainability Team created by Weaver, said the work from main to meter could be completed in Flint in one year's time by 32 crews. Emails from the state said it could take up to 15 years and $60 million to finish all the lines. The service lines have been in the spotlight and blamed on the source of lead leaching into water in the city after the Flint River was switched to become the main drinking water source between April 2014 and October 2015. "We are trying to balance urgency with precision. We have made a number of assumptions in our plan is what I'm saying because we had to make those," said McDaniel. "We do not have all the data that we would like to have to make the clearest, fullest plan possible, but we do know enough based upon the assumptions that we had to make to go forward." But funding has not yet been secured for the plan. Weaver asked Gov. Rick Snyder and the state to partner with the city on the effort, as well as reaching out to Congress to look for funding. An email to Gov. Snyder's office for comment was not immediately returned, but officials stated last week that there is a consensus among experts, including Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards and state Sen. Jim Ananich, that work still needs to be done and phosphates built up before replacing lines. "We'll let the investigations determine who's to blame for Flint's water crisis, but I'm focused on solving it," said Weaver. "It's going to take time to get this done, but we're going to move quickly to begin small-scale operations, then build from there. We are going to restore safe drinking water, one house at a time, one child at a time, until the lead pipes are gone." [February 09, 2016] Zipwhip Chooses AdaptiveMobile to Keep Its Fast-Growing Enterprise-to-Person (E2P) Text Messaging Service Abuse-Free DALLAS and DUBLIN, Ireland, Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AdaptiveMobile, the world leader in mobile security, today announced that Zipwhip, the leader in enterprise-to-person (E2P) communications, has selected the company's Network Platform Protection (NPP) and Messaging Security Product for protection across North America. Zipwhip is the backbone for E2P messaging in the United States. All SMS and MMS traffic from wireless carriers to toll-free phone numbers and most business landline numbers are routed through Zipwhip. Zipwhip has achieved impressive growth with virtually no instances of unsolicited messages, spam or other threats, and the company has chosen AdaptiveMobile to keep its customers' communications abuse-free. Other service providers have followed Zipwhip's decision to choose AdaptiveMobile's Messaging Security Solution, making it the leading choice for E2P messaging protection in North America. Zipwhip's cloud-based texting platform lets businesses add text messaging to any existing landline or toll-free phone number. Incoming texts are routed to a computer, tablet or smartphone. For companies in any industry but especially those in insurance, automotive, staffing, fitness, transportation, radio and healthcare Zipwhip provides an easy, cost-effective way to reach customers using their preferred method of communication: text message. "Customers love text messaging, and it is a powerful way to communicate, provided the customer receives only sanctioned messages from brands they trust," said John Lauer, CEO and Co-Founder of Zipwhip. "Adaptiveobile understands the damage that spam can do, and the company's technology is a powerful means to make sure the Zipwhip network remains abuse-free." "As the emerging leader in a space we expect to grow exponentially in North America, Zipwhip is the type of innovative customer we seek," said Brian Collins, CEO of AdaptiveMobile. "Zipwhip is transforming the way that companies interact with customers by allowing enterprise-to-person texting. AdaptiveMobile can draw on its decade-long experience in the mobile security industry, knowledge of threat prevention, and carrier-grade technology to help make sure this growth occurs in an environment that is free of unsolicited communications." About AdaptiveMobile: AdaptiveMobile is the world leader in mobile security protecting over one billion subscribers worldwide and the only mobile security company offering products designed to protect all services on both fixed and mobile networks through in-network and cloud solutions. With deep expertise and a unique focus on network-to-handset security, AdaptiveMobile's award-winning security solutions provide its customers with advanced threat detection and actionable intelligence, combined with the most comprehensive mobile security products available on the market today. AdaptiveMobile's sophisticated, revenue-generating, security-as-a-service portfolio empowers consumers and enterprises alike to take greater control of their own security. AdaptiveMobile was founded in 2004 and boasts some of the world's largest mobile operators as customers and the leading security and telecom equipment vendors as partners. The Company is headquartered in Dublin with offices in North America, Europe, South Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. About Zipwhip Zipwhip, a Seattle-based cloud texting provider, pioneered the concept of utilizing the cloud to enable existing mobile, landline, and toll free numbers to send and receive text messages from any connected device. Additionally, Zipwhip offers a carrier-grade cloud texting platform to help mobile and landline operators modernize the texting medium. Its technology introduces trailblazing functionality while holding true to the distinct culture that consumers have grown to love. Press contacts: ACSCom PR (USA) Anne Coyle, +1 857-222-6363 Email or AxiCom (UK) Daniel Beattie, +44 (0)20 8392 4050 Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zipwhip-chooses-adaptivemobile-to-keep-its-fast-growing-enterprise-to-person-e2p-text-messaging-service-abuse-free-300217107.html SOURCE AdaptiveMobile [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 08, 2016] ONEm welcomes T-2 to its growing Mobile Ecosystem LONDON, Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ONEm Communications, the company revolutionizing the communications services landscape, is pleased to welcome T-2 to its ever-growing mobile ecosystem. ONEm is a B2B service for Mobile Operators. ONEm provides Mobile Operators a growing number of voice and SMS based services which transform the traditional mobile user experience from simple Voice and SMS closer to what people experience on the Internet. T-2 customers will also be able to access a range of social content and services called DEETS (Dynamic Ecosystem Enabled Text Services). ''Mobile services market is very competitive and T-2 as a small mobile operator has to strengthen its position of innovative and vigorous one. T-2 is excited to work with ONEm'' said Miroslav Stravs, CTO of T-2. "We are proud to partner with T-2," said Christopher Richardson, CEO of ONEm Communications. "We believe this Partnership is a perfect fit and we are extremely delighted to see T-2 innovate and join the ONEm ecosystem." ONEm helps Mobile Operators leverage their existing assets to generate new revenues. It also provides a fast way to innovate with ready services tha are easy to use and work over a Private Global Platform. ONEm will be announcing Partnerships at the biggest telecom event, The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. As a sponsor of the MWC, ONEm will have a large presence including the GSMA Conference Village and Media Village. ONEm will be hosting a Theatre event where all partners are invited. About ONEm Communication ONEm sees itself as a friendly global innovator for the benefit of Mobile Network Operators to further their reach with global community services that work over their voice and SMS networks. ONEm is a company focused on developing an ecosystem that enables these core assets to reach their true potential. In the face of relentless internet innovation, ONEm sees an opportunity to provide mobile operators with a new ecosystem that is complementary to their existing business. ONEm creates a new user experience by bringing to ordinary mobiles a capability to date only enjoyed by internet enabled devices. About T-2 T-2 is the leading alternative provider of telecommunications services for residential and business subscribers in Slovenia with its main office in Ljubljana offering its customers quad play services on DSL, FttH and mobile networks. T-2 offers internet service with a subscriber capacity up to 1Gbps on its FttH network, IP telephony service, IP TV service with more than 300 TV channels and time shift, video on demand and mobile service including mobile TV. PRESS CONTACTS MyHoa Tien Chief Commercial Officer [email protected]om To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/onem-welcomes-t-2-to-its-growing-mobile-ecosystem-300216564.html SOURCE ONEm Communications [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The King of African Dancehall, Shatta Wale, on Monday 8th February 2016 visited the childrens ward of the Police Hospital in Accra. As part of the visit, he donated several items including three (3) flat screen televisions, wheelchair, detergents and children toys to the hospital. After discussions with parents of some of the children on admission, Shatta Wale gave them an undisclosed amount of money to help with the medication of their children. IMG-20160208-WA0026 IMG-20160208-WA0031 IMG-20160208-WA0033 IMG-20160208-WA0036 IMG-20160208-WA0037 Agnes Emefa Essah (middle) presenting the prize to the winners 09.02.2016 LISTEN Vodafone Ghana has presented prizes to the winners of senior high schools of the Vodafone Icons High School Edition. The winning school, Accra Academy Senior High School, was presented with music studio with a complete band set, laptops with audio editing software for music production. Speaking during the presentation in Accra recently, Agnes Emefa Essah, chief marketing officer at Vodafone Ghana, stated that Accra Academy would also be given the opportunity to attend the High School Musical Global Concert that is coming off in Turkey. . The each member of the five-man band will also get a one-year scholarship package from Vodafone. Last year, we decided that we will go to the senior high school (SHS) and were we amazed. We found such wonderful talent that I'm still reliving every single moment and this is an area that we are going to continue to push into this coming year as well. You hear about us saying 'Power To You' and when we say power to you we mean we want to encourage you for you develop and find out what your potential is. Icons is one of the routes we have been using, she said. The five remaining schools, including Osei Tutu Senior High School (SHS), Adisadel College, Presec, among others, also received PA systems, shopping vouchers, mobile phones, tablets, Vodafone souvenirs and hampers as consolation prizes. She commended the Ghana Education Service and the heads at the various schools for their commitment and direction which led to a very successful debut of the Vodafone Icons High School Edition. By Nii Ogbamey Tetteh [email protected] 09.02.2016 LISTEN If a race has no history it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and stands in danger of being exterminated Carter .G. Woodson This poignant quote is one of the underlying tenets for the celebration of Black History Month across the world. Black history month, as known now, was originally called the Negro History Week. It was created by Carter .G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, educator, scholar and publisher. It became a month-long celebration in 1976. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, significant players in the abolishment of slavery in the United States. Black History Month has evolved over the years, with other countries joining the celebrations. In the United Kingdom, the Month was first celebrated in 1987 through the leadership of Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a Ghanaian who served as coordinator of special projects for the Greater London Council (GLC). In Canada, it was celebrated in 1995 after a motion by politician Jean Augustine, representing the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in Ontario, made Canada's House of Commons to officially recognise February as Black History Month and honour Black Canadians. The celebrations have been marked extensively in Ghana and some parts of Africa. The US Embassy in Accra, Ghana has over the years collaborated with educational institutions as well as non-profit and cultural advancement agencies to mark the celebrations. This year the Purple Rain Foundation, a non-profit organisation set up in early 2012 to amongst other things initiate cultural programmes to enhance diverse cultural cohesion and global unification, will be partnering with the US Embassy in Accra to present for the first time in Ghana, Lorraine Hansberry's revolutionary play, A Raisin In The Sun, to be staged at the National Theatre on Friday, 19th of February, 2016 as part of activities to mark the month-long celebrations. The play is being staged by a carefully selected cast to afford patrons the appreciation of the Broadway play debuted in 1959. The play is produced by Naa Ahima Nunoo, Executive Director of the Purple Rain Foundation and Directed by Phanuel Parbey with support from Professor Wallace Bridges from the Eastern Michigan University as Consulting Director and Melanie Van De Staag, leader of the International Players, as Associate Director. Afetsi Awoonor, son of late Prof. Kofi Awoonor - the Ghanaian author and poet who was killed by Al-Shabaab terrorists in 2013 during the Westgate Mall crisis in Nairobi, Kenya - has signed a pact with the organizers of the StoryMoja Festival in Kenya to have the literary and creative arts festival in Ghana from the 21 to 25 September 2016, at the W.E.B Dubois Centre in Accra. The festival which attracts over 6,000 participants in Kenya, was founded by Muthoni Garland, Kenyan writer, publisher and editor who along with a group of writers as well as, the festival patron Dr. Auma Obama, are committed to publishing contemporary East African writing of world-class standard. According to Awoonor, the Ghanaian StoryMoja Team, will focus on nurturing, showcasing and celebrating ideas and creativity that will shape Africa's future by bringing together writers, opinion leaders and role models from the creative arts world. Speaking further at the contract signing event which happened at the W.E.B Dubois Centre here in Accra, Awoonor, who before now has pledged to uphold his fathers legacy said "Although creative literary talents abound in Ghana, there are very few platforms for literary performances and discussions, more so on a platform as renowned as the StoryMoja festival." The Ghanaian StoryMoja Team, comprises of - Mr. Afetsi Awoonor, Producer (Entreprenuer, Poet, Philanthropist) - Sena Tsikata, Partnerships (Actor, 'Marcia from Things We Do For Love, Writer and Activist) - Oswald Okaitei, Programmes/Artist Management (Playwright, Poet, Artistic Director) - Nana Nyarko Boateng, Schools and Careerpedia (Writer, Editor at the Gird Center) - Festus Dzogbewu, Media Relations (Writer, Actor) - Martin Odoi, Site Management (Pan-Africanist, Programs Manager Du Bois Centre) - James Appiah, Protocol - and Anita Bukky Olu, Logistics As part of the StoryMoja Festival, the Ghana Team will be in charge of the start-a-library initiative which aims to refurbish and creating new libraries for schools, as well as to rehabilitate the open air theatre at the Center for National Culture, Accra and make it a place that would be more attractive to visitors. The organizers also pointed out that the discussion sessions of the festival would be used to tackle diverse issues facing Africa /Ghana from a Pan-African perspective. Beside this, the festival will also include memorial lectures, book launches, meet the author sessions as well as create an avenue for networking. "The StoryMoja festival will also help inspire and empower the youth to become active citizens as well as become better prepared to take on the mantle of leadership in Ghana, Awoonor said. Expressing gratitude to the Ghanaian StoryMoja Team for inviting her to come to Ghana to help prepare for the festival in September, the founder, Muthoni Garland said I was a big fan of Kofi Awoonor and his writings meant a lot to me as I was growing up. So I am privileged to be here to help Ghana start its own Storymoja festival. AFETSI AWUNOOR AND MUTHANI GARLAND SIGNING THE CONTRACT AFETSI AWUNOOR AND MUTHANI GARLAND Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. Accra (AFP) - A leading opposition lawmaker in Ghana, Joseph Boakye-Danquah, has been found stabbed to death at his home in the capital Accra, police said on Tuesday. Greater Accra regional police commander George Dampare said the killing happened early on Tuesday and an investigation had been launched. "We can't immediately tell what might have led to this," he added. Boakye-Danquah, who represented the Abuakwa North constituency in the Eastern Region, was a member of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). In 2010, he was attacked and stabbed, suffering deep cuts to his hand. Three people were prosecuted and convicted for the attack in 2013. But it was not immediately clear whether there was a link with the latest attack. Dampare said two security guards at the politician's house were taken in for questioning. The NPP is Ghana's biggest opposition party and its candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, was President John Dramani Mahama's rival in the 2012 presidential election in Ghana. The pair will face off again for the presidency at elections scheduled in November. Attacks on politicians are rare in Ghana but another leading member of the NPP, Adam Mahama, died in May last year after an acid attack. Mahama, who is no relation to Ghana's head of state, was at the time chairman of the NPP in the Upper East Region. The younger brother of a leading NPP figure was later charged in connection with the attack. Director of the Ghana Tourism Development Company, Gideon Aryeequaye, has reportedly been involved in an accident. The accident is said to have occurred Monday morning at Gomoa Assin, near Apam junction in the Central Region. The former broadcaster was on his way to a tourism seminar being organised by the Ministry of Tourism when an articulated truck run into his Toyota Fortuner. He has since been sent to the St Luke Hospital at Apam where he is receiving medical attention. His official driver, according to reports is however in a critical condition and is receiving treatment at the same hospital. London, Feb. 8, GNA - The UK parliament's International Development Committee is holding a month-long inquiry into tackling corruption overseas where it is costing developing countries an estimated $1 trillion each year. This is in preparation for British Prime Minister David Cameron's Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May. At the UN Sustainable Development Goals Summit in New York last September, Mr Cameron put tackling corruption at the top of his government's development agenda. He told the gathering: 'Let's be frank about what keeps so many stuck in poverty. Corruption. Rotten government. No access to justice. No property rights. No rule of law. 'Today, for the first time, every country in the world is committing to tackle corruption, to promote the rule of law and access to justice, to reduce illicit financial flows and to strengthen the return of stolen assets.' Sustainable Development Goal 16 commits signatory governments to significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, substantially reduce bribery and corruption and develop accountable and transparent institutions. The inquiry is looking at the direction and effectiveness of the Department for International Development's 2013 anti-corruption strategy in countries where DFID is working although it has received criticism in the past for not doing enough to deal with the menace. The Committee is taking written evidence that deals with a number of crucial issues: 'Should DFID have a zero tolerance policy towards corruption in the countries where it is working or is a more nuanced approach needed to tackle corruption over the long-term? 'How can DFID manage the risks associated with corruption and reconcile them with its value-for-money agenda?' Crucially, the Committee wants to know how to strike a balance between tackling corruption top down at institutional level and bottom up at the grass roots. Conceding that 'corruption and poor governance can be a key cause of instability in fragile states', the inquiry wants to know whether 'the government [is] appropriately prioritising and managing anti-corruption strategies in these settings'. The Committee added: '[Corruption] can have a devastating effect on a country's democratic system, economy, civil society and the provision of public goods and services. 'It is also a very complex problem to tackle, often embedded in social norms with numerous groups and actors involved. 'Rule of Law, local ownership, governance, taxation, and private sector behaviour in a global marketplace all have an impact, so efforts to tackle corruption require significant coordination and a comprehensive understanding of the context.' The Committee is also looking into thorny issues such as beneficial ownership, tax havens, illicit flows and the arms trade and how the UK government could tackle these in order to limit the effects of corruption on developing countries. Beneficial ownership is a legal term where specific property rights in equity belong to a person even though legal title of the property belongs to another person. The UK government has in the past come in for criticism by anti-corruption watchdogs such as the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI) for being rather slow in dealing with beneficial ownership and tax havens that are used as tax evasion mechanisms. GFI's mission statement notes: 'More money flows illegally out of developing and emerging countries each yearfacilitated by secrecy in the global financial systemthan they receive in foreign direct investment and foreign aid combined. 'Beyond bleeding the world's poorest economies, this propels crime, corruption and tax evasion globally.' The parliamentary inquiry will also look the UK's domestic anti-corruption policy and practice and whether there is a coherent government strategy to combat corruption in developing countries. Last month, a small British printing company, Smith & Ouzman Ltd, was fined 2.2 million for making corrupt payments of about 400,000 to public officials in Kenya and Mauritania in exchange for contracts to print ballot papers. It became the first UK company to be convicted for overseas bribery but legal experts pointed out that this was 'in part due to the fact that as a small, family-owned printing company, corporate attribution was easier to establish than it would have been in the case of a larger corporate'. They also criticised the UK government for shelving plans to review a section of the Bribery Act 2010 to see whether it should be extended to encompass a wider range of economic crimes. GNA The Ashanti Region Minister designate Alexander Ackon is calling for an all team effort in fighting the debilitating herdsmen menace in Agogo and other parts of the country. Mr Ackon who is on his way to becoming the chairman of the Ashanti Region Security Council maintained that a divided front will certainly be suicidal in resolving the canker. The Ashanti Region, Agogo to be precise has been in the news recently over reports of violence between herdsmen and native farmers. There have been deaths recorded from both sides with threats of an escalated violence from the feuding parties. The natives are accusing the herdsmen of maiming, killing, and raping their women whilst the herdsmen also complain of being killed by the natives. A court had directed that the herdsmen be driven out of Agogo but that order has yet to be executed. There has been heightened security in the area with intense military, police patrols. The situation could not have escaped the attention of the Appointment Committee of Parliament. During vetting on Monday, a member of the Committee Baba Jamal asked the Ashanti Region minister designate what new ideas he is bringing on board to resolve the canker which began in 1997. Mr Alexander Ackon believes team work by major stakeholders is what is needed to solve the problem. "The main players in the field should stay united. I am very concerned about that one. Parliamentarians, traditional rulers, REGSEC, Regional Minister we should all stay on the same side of the field and be part of the winning team. "How united are the players and that will be the first approach. The rest will be acting on what REGSEC has done," he answered. But a security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre Dr Kwasi Aning believes a more nuanced approach is needed to fight the canker. He would rather an intelligence led approach is used in solving the problem. He insisted that persons who sat back and did not pick up intelligence that the two feuding parties were arming themselves for a full blown conflict have failed and should be sacked. 09.02.2016 LISTEN Security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre believes it was foolhardy to allow Dr Abu Philips, a controversial Islamic preacher into Ghana. Dr Kwasi Aning said with the level of unemployment in Ghana and the "dangerous times" we live in, "it is not too wise" to allow Dr Philips entry into Ghana. Dr Philips, Canadian citizen with a reputation for holding extreme views, indicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and deported from the United States in 2004, deported from the Phillipines, banned from entering the UK, Australia and even Bangladesh which is a predominant Muslim country is in Ghana preaching to Muslim students in Tamale. He advertised his public speaking activities on facebook prior to his coming to Ghana and has since managed to hold few lectures. He has already held a number of lecturers in various parts of Accra and in Kumasi at the KNUST. He is in Tamale for another lecture at the Tamale Jubilee Park on the topic Islamic Identity Under Globalization. On the 9th of February, he will hold another lecture at the Tamale UDS with the title Islam and Media: Enemies or Foes. He has already delivered lectures on the theme Insurgency In Gods Name: Revelation or Rebellion. - The controversial preacher is an advocate for suicide bombing and has not failed in supporting such acts anytime it happens. He is believed to have links to Al-Qaeda, an allegation he has dismissed. The preacher who was questioned by the Tamale police but has been given a go ahead with his lectures. But questions have been raised about why such a man with questionable background would be allowed entry into Ghana at a time when the National Security is blowing alarm over the possible recruitment of Ghanaian students into terrorist group ISIS. A Ghanaian student with the KNUST has already been converted into ISIS family with fears many more students could be recruited. And with the presence of the two GITMO ex-detainees in the country, some have said this is not the right time to allow Dr Philips entry into Ghana. The National Security says the presence of Dr Philips has no security implications to Ghana but Dr Aning holds a contrary view. Speaking to Joy News, Dr Kwasi Aning said it would have made lots of sense for a person with such track record of radicalising people to kept off the borders of Ghana. "I don't think we are being biased against him. Look we live in a dangerous neighborhood. These are dangerous times. We have a huge unemployed and unemployable youth base. We have an increasingly radicalised population and therefore i think it makes sense that anybody with a track record of being banned for radicalised activity is looked at with a little bit of caution and taking into consideration all the things that is happening in this country in the last 18 months. "Probably it is not too wise and advisable to allow Dr Philips to be in here to do his preaching. He was unequivocal in saying that "somebody had failed" to do job in allowing Dr Philips to come into the country. "The problem is not about Dr Philips making public statements or preaching and we having access to what he is going to say before he says it. "It is the whispered conversation in corners, the networks that he has, the networks he will be introducing others to. That is where the problem lies "He will come in here on a two weeks visa and leave but the after effect of his presence and activities will stay with us. Dr Aning scorned what the president said was a unique partnership between the US and Ghana in terms of intelligence sharing in fighting terrorism. "There is no substance to what president said about intelligence sharing with the US. The so called beneficial relationship with the US in terms of intelligence sharing will not materialise because the US does not see us as a critical ally. "We are a country that can be used for their ad-hoc activities and dismissed. This is a classic case. He said if they had shared the list of supposedly dangerous or radicals with Ghana's Immigration, our immigration officers would have flagged this fellow. It also reflects the poverty of research capabilities in our security institution. He said when the GITMO situation arose in Ghana, some of these preachers were berating Ghana for accepting the two suspects and wondered why Ghana would allow Dr Philips to come to Ghana. Embattled high court judge Paul Uuter Dery has lodged a formal complaint with President John Dramani Mahama over what he has deemed an attempt by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to have him and other justices of the superior court removed from office. According to him, Anas lacks identity and is virtually non-existent. Your Excellency, we have the instructions of our client to draw your attention to these serious identity problems of the petitioner for in our view, the identity of the petitioner is paramount to any petition for the removal of Justices of the Superior Court pursuant to Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, the letter intercepted said. The 13-point letter dated Monday, February 8 asked President Mahama to cause an investigation to be conducted into the true identity of the petitioner since from the evidence adduced herein, the petitioner Tiger Eye PI who purported to file a petition with your office is non-existent. The letter written on behalf of Justice Dery by his counsel Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo was copied to the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood. Justice Dery is among 12 high court judges indicted in a petition filed by Anas after a landmark expose on the judiciary. Two judges- John Ajet Nasam and Ernest Obimpeh - have already been dismissed. 09.02.2016 LISTEN Folks, the political temperature in Ghana is gradually rising to unacceptable heights and must be condemned by all well-meaning people, especially if it results in negative happenings . The news is that the NPP MP for Abuakwa North (Joseph Boakye Danquah) has been shot dead by unknown assailants. (See Abuakwa North MP gunned down). This happening is disturbing, annoying, and problematic. It causes fear and anxiety. What exactly could have set this MP up for this dastardly act? We have all along been sounding the note of caution that the kind of politics being done in Ghana, and the role of the MPs themselves, is too dirty and that unless the situation changes for the better, "anything" could go. And from the news report, that "anything" is gone. Too frightening!! Immediate questions arise. What has this MP done to set himself up for such a painful death at the hands of "unknown assailants"? Could he have been doing anything as an MP to step on toes? Whose toes, anyway? Or could he have been targeted for anything politically motivated, meaning that his political opponents wished him dead for working against their interests? What could that "anything politically motivated" done by him be? And why snuff out his life this way? He seems to be a young man in the prime of his life. Oh, what a loss? To be honest, I haven't heard much about this NPP MP to know the extent to which he would be targeted on the basis of political motivation. But who am I? This incident is terrible and must be condemned by everyone who values human life. Being an MP is just an opportunity to serve one's country as such; whether one pleases society or not in that capacity is another issue. In truth, though, killing such a person this way is unacceptable. Could the act be carried out by armed robbers? Or who else? Enemies within or without? What for, especially when this MP isn't known as one of those wielding power and influence to threaten anybody? I am saddened!! We are concerned that our MPs haven't been performing well, but killing an MP this way (no matter which political divide he/she belongs to) is unacceptable. This kind of murderous activity shouldn't be part of our Ghanaian collective. it is foreign, strange, and unbecoming. Folks, we are beginning to see nasty happenings that, I am afraid, foreshadow the nastiness that awaits the country as Election 2016 approaches. Oh, why? Politics is about ideas and not the elimination of those participating in it. Can we in Ghana ever know this truth to be able to accommodate all kinds of political persuasions and politicians choosing to be what they want to be? The police and other security agencies must act quickly to arrest the perpetrators of this dastardly act, and the law must take its course as such so they are dealt with expeditiously. The problem is that there is nothing concretely being done about gun production (take the Vane-Avatime gun industry as an example), gun possession, and gun use in the country. Our laws aren't working!! A note of caution: Even though Ghanaians are politically divided, they don't expect their politicians to be murdered this way. After all, politics is all about a fruitful interchange of ideas on nation-building, not the physical elimination of opponents. I hope that the truth will emerge for us to know who did this act. If not, then, serious danger looms. Who goes next? If, indeed, this incident should be an eye-opener, then, it serves only one purpose: Our Parliamentarians themselves have to wake up to the reality that they are not doing well to enact laws and support other state institutions in interpreting and enforcing those laws to secure limb and property. The time for them to respond to the wake-up call is long overdue. Building Ghana can be done in an atmosphere of lawfulness, not lawlessness, which enjoins the MPs to be up and doing. For far too long, they have been lackadaisical, mindless, and unsympathetic to the woes of the citizens constantly suffering from insecurity. Talk about the spate of armed robbery and wanton criminal acts against innocent civilians and the absolute silence from our MPs, and you should begin to know the depth of the problem. Even, passing the laws on the "Right to Information" is impossible for these MPs. Yet, they turn round to do negative partisan politics with whiffs of information that they stumble upon, provided it will promote their agenda of political mischief. Eventually, they create needless enemies for themselves. What do they think they need to know and use for the narrow politicking that the individual Ghanaian not doing partisan politics doesn't? Their advantage to information, the ordinary deprived Ghanaian's woe!! Will this murder of one of their own now wake them up to reality for them to act responsibly? How about the government itself? Will it look over its shoulders to admit that it hasn't done enough to secure functionaries of the system? Elsewhere, known and acceptable political figures are given protection by the state security apparatus, be they for or against the government. Here is a gripping aspect. The shooting to death of this MP is an act of terrorism (for as long as there is a political purpose involved-which is a major determinant for anything qualifiable as terrorism). Will political opponents now use this incident as a confirmation of their fear that by bringing in the GITMO ex-detainees the government has opened the floodgates for hitherto-unknown and condemnable acts of terrorism to begin in Ghana? Folks, the killing of a politician this way is foreign to Ghana, and must be condemned as such. Targeted killing is a terrible happening. Are we sure we know what to do to secure limb and property in Ghana? Too much to worry about at this time, folks!! The first point is that he shouldn't have been killed. Our kind of politics is assuming frightening dimensions. If, indeed, nation-building is anything to go by, it shouldn't involve acrimony, violence, and this kind of hardline stance. After all, Ghanaians won't really care who solves their existential problems for as long as they can live in peace, harmony, and measurable comfort. Ghanaians cannot be trusted when it comes to long-term memorable and gratitude/appreciation for their politicians. Ask the late Kutu Acheampong why he dismissed Ghanaians as difficult people and the Great Osagyefo why he would lament that if he had known that it was milk that Ghanaians needed (and for which the would support his overthrow), he would have made the streets of Accra flow with milk. Alas, it was too late to pick up the pieces. How many people using the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, for instance, even care about the effigy of Kotoka standing there? Do they even have to remember who built the airport, who rehabilitated it when it was in a shambles, or whatever will happen to it in future before using it to get out of the country or enter it? All he cares about is that the facility that he needs to live his life is available for use; and he uses it with all the alacrity that he can muster up. Sometimes, he even insults the one instrumental in providing that facility, especially if he happens to be a pensioner or someone paying tax but not knowing how his tax money is spent by the government. (Which government in Ghana has ever informed the tax payer about how the tax deductions are spent, anyway? Which tax payer ever gets to know how the income tax deduct ions ate effected? How about the death-throes that the pensioner goes through before getting his pittance to send him off into the world beyond?) For what they are, Ghanaians are Ghanaians. When a Ghanaian in the rural area goes to use the KVIP facility, for instance, does he have to remember that it came into being under the Rawlings administration? No!! He just uses it and moves on. So is it with other development projects. The Ghanaian is a chameleon, changing colours to reflect personal inclinations when and where, and why. For good or bad, so is it. Politicians who don't recognize this fact work themselves into a frenzy and end up woefully. I wonder if this Abuakwa North NPP MP really read between the lines as such. We in Ghana are still stuck on primitive issues about partisan politics, which our lazy, lousy, and clumsy self-seeking politicians exploit. That stance comes with a huge cost, though. I hope the dastardly murder of this MP will open our eyes to the reality that has helped our democracies elsewhere grow to serve the interests of the people. May he begin to rest in peace, even as we wait for the authorities to unravel the truth and set our minds at ease. Despite the challenges facing Ghana, it still remains a lovely country worth belonging to. Our leaders have to secure it as such. I shall return Mr. Harry Anthony Attipoe, Registrar of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, has disclosed that the days when people catch up with chiefs, remove their sandals, and slaughter sheep on their feet to signify their destoolment are over. According to him, the Chieftaincy Act has made provision for enstoolment and destoolment of chiefs, which, he said, requires that for someone to destool a chief, he ought to go through laid down procedures to achieve that. The process, Mr. Attipoe indicated, starts from filing a petition to the respective traditional council, if the chief is not a Paramount Chief, or the respective regional house of chiefs, if he is a Paramount Chief. For example, if the person is a Paramount Chief, after his case has been dealt with and he is not satisfied, he can appeal at the National House of Chiefs, and if he is still not satisfied, he can go to the Supreme Court, where whatever decision that emerges becomes final. The Registrar of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs made the disclosure at a one-day workshop to train traditional leaders in the Prampram Traditional area at Prampram on Wednesday. Mr. Attipoe explained that there are about 13 unsettled chieftaincy cases before his office as at the close of 2015. The cases, as at 2013, were 15, but the House was able to clear only two, thus leaving the backlog of 13 as at the close of 2015. Mr. Attipoe, who bemoaned the legions of difficulties and challenges such chieftaincy disputes and litigation are causing to developments in the region, said the House thought it prudent to therefore embark on a one month's sensitisation education and exercise in the 12 traditional councils, where almost all of them are faced with such disputes. He explained that most stakeholders in the region do not understand the installation and de-stoolment processes of chiefs, hence the rampant disputes. For example, he said, some of the charges leveled against some of the chiefs for their de-stoolment in the region are unfounded, however, as a chieftaincy institution, the weak charges cannot be refused hearing. The House of Chiefs Registrar observed that cases are delayed for trial, because, often, a member on the panel fails to show up for various reasons, "otherwise, for me, cases could be heard and tried within a month or two. That way, all the backlog of cases could be settled among the parties." Mr. Attipoe reminded chieftaincy litigants that chieftaincy disputes are not settled in the law courts, saying the most appropriate place for the hearing and settling of such disputes is the chieftaincy institution. He described it as illegal for any wealthy or a highly educated person to impose himself as the chief of an area, even if that person is a royal. He, consequently, hoped that all stakeholders would be better informed on the legal processes of the nomination and installation or de-stoolment of chiefs. That way, chieftaincy disputes will drastically take a nosedive in the region to fast-track development. The workshop is intended to end in mid February. A youth-based political interest group is to be launched on Sunday to garner support for Ghanas President John Mahama ahead of the 2016 elections. Youth Empowerment for Mahama will be officially unveiled at an event at the Sango Beach in Nungua on Sunday. It is the brain child of businessman and NDC sympathizer Jesse Kofi Kumordjie. The event will also be a mini rallying point for the group, which is seeking to position itself strategically ahead of the general elections tentatively due for November. Organizers remain optimistic they will be able to assemble a decent crowd on Sunday. Ghana goes to the polls in November to either elect a new President in the main opposition NPPs Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, or retain John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress. For the past week, I kept on asking myself: how come we (Africans) are so fortunate to receive miracles? Or is it that we are quick to attribute the little victories in our lives to supernatural interventions? When he gets a job, he calls it a miracle; when he receives his visa from the embassy, he calls it a miracle; when he buys his coveted car, this is called miracle; when he gets admission to a top school, he calls it a miracle; when a man takes her to the altar, she calls it a miracle, and when he survives a curable disease that is killing millions in our part of the world, he calls this miracle. Nothing is normal here. No one African is deserving of the basic luxuries jobs, good healthcare system, security, safe running water some citizens elsewhere in the West are entitled to without spiritualizing them. This drive to explain everything within the prism of spirituality, is reflective in the approach Africans take to handle matters of national interest. When President Yahya Jammeh President of Gambia, first announced to the world in 2007 that he had found natural remedy to cure AIDS, there was mixed reaction from his people and the international community. This is a man who has sought spiritual meanings for his own failures. The United Nations and World Health Organization found Jammehs HIV/AIDS treatment to be dangerous because his patients are required to cease taking the anti-retroviral drugs exposing them to other risks. Perhaps, unscientific or hyper-scientific. Jammeh is said to tell his patients that they must refrain from drinking alcohol, tea and coffee. They are also to stop taking kola nuts, and desist from having sex. After which he would say: In the name of Allah, in 3 to 30 days you will all be cured. In a response to the reaction of the international community on Sunday 7 October, 2012 when he announced that 68 patients had been cured and ready for discharge from his treatment center, he said, Who am I to expect that everybody would praise me. However, this is a president accused of human rights abuses during his rule, especially, when he ordered the execution of nine death row inmates by firing squad. When the former President John Evans Atta-Mills initiated prayer meetings in the Osu Castle then the seat of government, many well-meaning Ghanaians felt our president was losing it. Many found issues with the president including his own party members. He was ascribing his leadership ineptitudes, and inefficiencies to spirituality very typical of African leaders. And so, when Archbishop Duncan Williams founder of Action Chapel International (ACI), broke protocols in heaven to pray for God to stop the Ghana Cedi from falling, many of us were astounded. Perhaps, not because he did what has not been done before, but that he did what is usual of Africans whats expected of us when we feel incompetent in handling matters so basic at times. In Ghana, like many parts of the continent, when our politicians deny us those fundamental things essential to our survival in the country of our birth, our people would tell us to: leave it to God. So on Thursday, 4 February, 2016 when news trickled in that major roads in the capital have been blocked by the Police ahead of Fridays Night of Bliss encounter with Pastor Christopher Oyakhilome Ph.D. the recognizable brand ambassador and founder of the Believers' Loveworld Incorporated, also known as Christ Embassy, I wondered how many of the attendees, already numbering in thousands, have real problems that warrant Gods supernatural intervention. Are their problems so esoteric that they would not set God thinking if hed created Africans equal to his compatriots in the other continents? Would God be excited to receive the countless problems which could be solved by thinking right something we lack in the continent? Or would Pastor Chris Oyakhilome Ph.D. be able to carry all the burdens of Ghanaians something they would gladly do, and other Africans attending the program? In all the footages I saw of participants that night, one thing remained certain: that all the people were ready to leave everything to God as usual. The tears dancing on the cheeks of repentant Ghanaians, hands spread in the air, and bodies willingly lying down on the floor before the man of God, demonstrate how hopeless many of their problems are. However, my question is: how many of these problems are the people leaving for President Mahama to solve? What is the need in electing a right-thinking leader when in the end we will run to God for every solution? Now let me herein remark that while I concur that spiritual intervention be sought for some of our problems, I vehemently disagree when we want to proffer the same solution to other problems that require human solutions. Why were we given brains if not to help navigate us through many of lifes intriguing puzzles? And so I am convinced that not all the attendees would receive Gods intervention for their conditions. I could almost see their own shame of disappointment as they made way for their various homes. The truth is that they will need to go to President Mahama for the rest of the solutions. He has to answer for the rise in graduate and non-graduate unemployment in the country; the abnormal persistent increment in utility tariffs; lack of the will to stamp out corruption from his government; and the absence of his readiness to accept his own failings. He has to account. If ever theres anyone thing I would ask of God, it would that he should open the eyes of President Mahama to see some of the prayers offered at the Black star Square on that night when the son of Nigeria opened himself up to receive the innumerous challenges of Ghanaians problems which could have been solved by political correctness. Surely, there are somethings that must left for the politician. They must be left for the African president. Lawyers for Mr Justice Paul Uuter Dery, the embattled Justice of the High Court, have called on the President to cause an investigation into the true identity of Tiger Eye PI, the company that petitioned the Chief Justice for the removal of their client from the bench. According to them, events and statements after the filing of the petition for the removal of the judge indicated that there was confusion as to the true identity of the petitioner. This was contained in a petition filed by the lawyers to the office of the President on February 8, 2016, a copy of which has been made available to the Daily Graphic. Confused identities According to the petition, it was on record that the Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Eye PI was Anas Aremeyaw Anas and that same person was one of the two directors of Tiger Eye PI Media Limited and the sole shareholder and one of the two directors of Stallion Tiger Company Limited and the sole shareholder. 'On the face of the petition, the petitioner is Tiger Eye PI. However, statements put on social media by the Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Eye PI, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, and the company lawyer, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, indicate otherwise. 'This change of identity again does not end the identity problems of the petitioner. If one was asked what the identity of the petitioner was, the answer would be problematic. Is the petitioner Tiger Eye PI as appears on the petition? Is it Tiger Eye PI Ltd or Tiger Eye PI Media Limited or Stallion Tiger Limited?' 'Your Excellency, we have the instructions of our client to draw your attention to these serious identity problems of the petitioner for in our view, the identity of the petitioner is paramount to any petition for the removal of Justices of the Superior Court pursuant to Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution,' the petition added. Searches According to the petition, Mr Justice Dery had caused his lawyers to file various searches at the relevant statutory institutions to determine the identity of the petitioner, Tiger Eye PI, pointing out that the revelations from the searches appeared to show that there was no company in Ghana by the name Tiger Eye PI. 'Your Excellency, the search report from the Registrar of Companies of Ghana, who is the legitimate statutory body who registers companies limited by shares, on its search report dated 3rd November, 2015 significantly states thus: We do not have any company on record called Tiger Eye PI. We have on record Tiger Eye PI Media Limited,' it stated. Search at SSNIT It said the petitioner must register with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and pay the social security contributions of its employees and that prompted the lawyers to file a search with SSNIT. According to the petition, the lawyers were informed by SSNIT after the search that the name on its records was Tiger Eye Consult Limited, which was registered on June 13, 2013 and not Tiger Eye PI. Search at Ministry of the Interior It said the petitioner claimed to be a private security organisation licensed by the Ministry of the Interior pursuant to the Police Service (Private Security Organisations) Instrument, 1992 (L.I.1571) to carry out its operations. 'We, therefore, filed a search with the Ministry of the Interior and this is what the report says: 'Records available in this Ministry indicate that Tiger Eye PI Media Limited was licensed as a private security company by this Ministry in 2010 but later the name was changed to Stallion Tiger Limited in 2012',' the petition indicated. According to the petition, throughout all the happenings in respect of the petition of Tiger Eye PI, the lawyers had never heard of Stallion Tiger Limited. 'Since the regulator of private security organisations, that is the Ministry of the Interior, has come out with a company by name Stallion Tiger Limited, we became curious and did an informal search online about Stallion Tiger Limited and found that it was incorporated on September 12, 2012,' it stated. The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah has been killed at his residence at Shiashi in Accra on Tuesday dawn. Accra-based Joy FM reported that the police have launched an investigation to determine whether the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislator was killed by armed robbers or hired killers. He was said to have been stabbed. The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander COP George Dampare has confirmed the killing of the MP to Joy News. He said the Police have been collectng evidence and examining the MP's body. ....More to follow. The British High commissioner to Ghana, Mr. Jon Benjamin on Monday embarked on a day working visit to the volta region. Mr. Benjamin upon arrival , paid a courtesy call on the volta regional minister, Helen Ntoso and her deputy Francis Ganyaglo at the Volta regional coordinating council in Ho. According to him, the visit is to afford him the opportunity to familiarize with other parts of the country beyond the national capital Accra. As a High commissioner, I see it necessary to travel out of Accra to other parts of the country just to see things for myself. There is a historic British involvement in the volta region and my visit here is to strengthen that relationship, Mr. Benjamin, who is also the British ambassador to Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso, noted. He said that currently, the UK government through the Department of International Development (DFID) is funding a nationwide project dubbed ENGINE, a multi-year competitive venture project aimed at equipping Micro and Small scale business with the needed skills and resources to enhance their operations and urged businesses in the region to take advantage of the project. Touching on the November, 7 general elections, the British diplomat expressed UK governments readiness to provide technical and logistical support to the Electoral Commission of Ghana and other allied agencies to ensure transparent and peaceful election. Our only interest is for the election to be peaceful and credible, so we will work with the electoral commission with other donor partners, and that is to do with logistics and administration of the election. So we are waiting for what request the EC will make from us. Mr. Benjamin who earlier paid a courtesy call on the paramount chief of the Asogli traditional area, Togbe Afede XIV, was scheduled to hold separate meetings with leadership of the various political parties as well as the security chiefs in the region. The Volta Regional Minister, Helen Ntoso on here part thanked the high Commission for their continuous support to the development of the country and the region at large. She however appeal to the High commission to assist the region in harnessing some of its natural resources such as the volta Lake to create jobs for the teeming youth through into irrigation and fish farming. Ghanas national security has allayed fears of Ghanaians about the presence of a controversial Islamic Scholar Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, who has been banned in the US. Philips has also been barred by other countries including the UK and Kenya. He is alleged to have ties with extremist groups around the world and operating under the guise of Islamic teachings. The National Security Coordinator, Yaw Donkor, said there is no need to worry as far as the activities of Philips in Ghana are concerned. "There is no cause for alarm," Donkor told Graphic Online. If the one who sponsored him comes to ask us why are you refusing him Visa, what are we going to tell him? Are we going to tell him that because Czechoslovakia deported him, we dont want him to come to Ghana or because Germany says that the man has written a book that is talking about anti-Semitism, we dont want him to come [to Ghana]. How can you use that reason to refuse a visa to a sovereign country? he said. Donkor assured the national security has its eyes on the scholar. So, as far as Im concerned, since he entered this country, he hasnt said anything that requires me to take any action against him. We should be careful. He is not here on his own. Thirty per cent of this country are listening to him or they think he came because of them. If you have no reason to throw him out, you are going to create a problem by your own action. So we should watch it that way, he said. Dr Philips books and teachings have been controversial, with countries like the UK accusing him of condoning suicide bombings and rape. Background Dr Philips was named by the US government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing. In 2007, he was banned from entering Australia on the advice of national security agencies. In 2010 he was banned from entering the UK by home secretary Theresa May for holding "extremist views". In April 2011, Dr Philips was banned from re-entering Germany as persona non grata. In 2012, he was banned from entering Kenya over possible terror links. The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has questioned why the state continues to refuse Members of Parliament police protection, despite offering such services to other government appointees. He wondered why the state finds it appropriate to provide security to Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), yet is unmoved to do same for members of the legislature. He made the comments on Accra FM News Tuesday February 9, 2016 following the murder of the MP for Abuakwa North at his Shiashie residence in Accra. Theres protection for ministers, deputy ministers, and DCEs. Theres nowhere in the world, in the culture of reckoning, that DCEs rank above MPs. How do DCEs get police protection, while MPs are denied same? the Suame MP inquired. When you ask they say they would like to do it but the MPs are too many hence we cannot offer them protection. We do not have to let this (the murder of the MP) happen before we take action but it has happened. Mr Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu suffered multiple stab wounds Tuesday when unknown assailants stormed his residence at Shiashie. Reports say the hitmen gained access to the MPs bedroom by climbing onto a ladder, where, after a brief struggle with the lawmaker, managed to overpower him and inflict the stab wounds on him. The 51-year-old MP was the grandson of Dr J B Danquah, who was christened the doyen of Ghanaian politics. He served as deputy Minister for Women and Childrens Affair winning the Abuakwa North seat in the Eastern Region in the December 2012 elections when he defeated the National Democratic Congress Victor Smith. He was a chartered accountant. The Police have opened investigations into the MPs murder. The legislator was survived by a wife and two children. The Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana has lauded the purported dismissal of radio presenter Afia Schwarzenegger by the Despite Group of Companies and has condemned Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong. The two have been engaged in unsavoury verbal exchanges the past few days with the MP threatening to release nude photos of the presenter. But the Concerned Clergy is worried about the public insults and has called on the National Media Commission, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and parliament to intervene. A press release signed by the president of the group, Bishop Prince Benny Wood, said: We are impressed by the reported decision of the owners of the radio station in which the said lady works to relieve her of her position and we hope she will take it in good faith for a better future. The Concerned Clergy also indicated their disappointment in Kennedy Agyapong, saying: For an MP to engage in public insults may not be a new thing but to threaten a female radio presenter with naked pictures is, to say the least, unacceptable by any standard. They are demanding an end to politics of insults and entreated stakeholders to intervene to prevent the situation from escalating. Below is a copy of the statement: SHOW LEADERSHIP PARLIAMENT, NPP AND MEDIA COMMISSION The Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana has observed with shock and embarrassment the level our politics is degenerating as far as insults are concerned. We are conscious of the fact that our politics have experienced some kind of insults from time past but we are very worried the level it is getting into. Of recent is that of the Hon Member of Parliament for Assin Central Hon. Kennedy Agyapong and a female radio presenter by name Afia Schwarzenegger that has generated huge discussion on radio, TV and social media. For an MP to engage in public insults may not be a new thing but to threaten a female radio presenter with naked pictures is, to say the least, unacceptable by any standard. Whatever the provocation, the honourable member could've found other means of addressing the issues rather than the kind of engagement he adopted. What has taken place in our view undermines our moral culture and the respect we expect the citizens to accord our political leaders and MPs and must not be encouraged in any way. We are impressed by the reported decision of the owners of the radio station in which the said lady works to relieve her of her position and we hope she will take it in good faith for a better future. We are therefore calling on the New Patriotic Party and Parliament in this specific instance to take the necessary steps to address this situation as soon as possible so it doesn't degenerate further. We are also calling on the National Media Commission to be proactive in its work to protect our political leaders and the innocent citizens of Ghana from being unduly insulted and run down by people who take advantage of the free media we have in Ghana. Unfortunately if you go to the Internet and Google Politics of Insults the only country that shows up is Ghana and all articles are about Ghana's politics. This is sad and contradicts the enviable record as the Island of Peace and hospitality in the sub-region of Africa. Let us do our very best to create a society of tolerance and co-existence . God bless our homeland Ghana and make it stronger and greater SHALOM!! Signed.... Bishop Prince Benny Wood- President / Spokesperson CCAG 09.02.2016 LISTEN There was a clash between Bukurusung youth, supporters of Rashid Tanko, the newly appointed Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Coordinator and the Gbewa Youth Group at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) when Alhassan Umar, outgoing Acting Regional Director of YEA, was handing over to him (Rashid Tanko) at a short ceremony. It took the timely intervention of the military and the police to separate the two youth groups who were battling in a Rambo style at the entrance of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC). A National Democratic Congress (NDC) group in Tamale called the Coalition of Youth Groups, has referred to the regional treasurer, Mr. Rashid Tanko, as a shark and urged President Dramani Mahama to revoke his appointment as the Coordinator of the Youth Employment Agency. In a petition presented to the RCC, the youth group accused Tanko of defrauding the NDC over GH40,000.00 meant for party activities in the region. According to the deputy secretary of the group, Nuredeen Wemah, Rashid Tanko was indicted in a report for embezzlement at the National Health Insurance when he was the Northern Regional manager of the scheme. He indicated that considering the upcoming general election and the position of Rashid Tanko, he (Tanko) could not help the party to win massively in the region and therefore should be removed immediately. It will be recalled that some NDC youth (Gbewa Youth Group) in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, accused the regional chairman of the party, Sofo Azorka, of overturning a decision by the Board of the YEA to appoint Abdul Rashid Tanko aka Computer, as the Northern Regional Director of the scheme. Allegation . The Gbewa group accused Sofo Azorka of threatening the Chief of Staff that he would sanction Tamale if Abdul Rashid Tanko was not appointed the new YEA Coordinator, indicating that we are equally telling the Chief of Staff Julius Debrah, not to pay heed to what Sofo Azorka says, if the government and the party want peace in the region. The NDC youth said they were reliably informed that the Chief of Staff had directed the Board to rather appoint Abdul Rashid Tanko, the party's regional director of elections, as the director of YEA in the region. Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the secretary of the Gbewa Youth Group, Isuben Nagumsi said, We will resist any attempt to impose anyone who does not have the youth of the party at heart; we are prepared to fight anybody who thinks he can take the group for granted, including Sofo Azorka. Bukurusung NDC Youth Respond Meanwhile, another youth group calling itself Bukurusung Youth Group, has come out to defend the appointment of Rashid Tanko, indicating that the group was agitating for his appointment as deputy minister of state, considering his enormous experience in party administration and election management. FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale Alexanda Kotey 09.02.2016 LISTEN It is turning out that a British citizen of Ghanaian descent is a leading member of the dreaded terrorist group, Islamic State (IS), which stock in trade is beheading people. Leading United Kingdom newspaper, The Guardian, published at the weekend that Alexanda Kotey, a 32-year-old Londoner, was among the terrorists that oversaw the detention and beheading of western hostages in Syria. According to the newspaper, Kotey, a convert to Islam who grew up in West London, was named as part of the British group nicknamed, the Beatles, which included the notorious Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed Jihadi John. It said Emwazi's kidnap gang had overseen the videoed beheadings of victims, including the British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, and the US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley. The Guardian described Kotey as having Ghanaian and Greek-Cypriot background and his whereabouts are unknown. . His fellow west Londoner, Emwazi, was killed in a drone strike in November. Another West Londoner, Aine Davis, 31, has also been confirmed as part of the cell. Emwazi, Kotey and Davis, a former drug dealer who went to Syria in 2013, were friends in West London and attended the same mosque, the paper disclosed. It said a spokesman for the Home Office in London did neither confirm nor deny that Kotey and Davis were members of Emwazi's group. It said The Washington Post and Buzzfeed media outlets identified Kotey earlier on Sunday, citing a US intelligence official, while ITV News also named Kotey as well as confirming that Davis had been part of the terror cell. The Guardian had independently verified the names. Members of Kotey's family are quoted by the newspaper as saying they were deeply distressed at the claims and confirmed they had not seen him for a number of years. The Guardian said, Kotey is believed to have attended the al-Manaar mosque in Westbourne Park, which was also frequented by Emwazi. Raised a Greek Orthodox Christian, The Guardian said, Kotey converted to Islam as a teenager, at which point he met Emwazi. By William Yaw Owusu The police have picked up five persons to assist in investigations into the killing of the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah on Tuesday dawn. Graphic Online correspondent at the residence of the late MP, Emelia Enin-Abbey, said those arrested included two women and three men. She said the Accra regional Police Command PRO, Assistant Superintendent of police, Mrs Afia Tenge, who disclosed this to the media did not disclose the identities of those arrested. Graphic Online, however, understands that those arrested included a security guard at the house, and others who were said to have been in the house when the incident occurred. Mr Danquah was stabbed by an unknown assailant (s) at his Shiashie residence in Accra, prompting the police to launch an investigation. Graphic Online understands that the assailant (s) used a ladder to climb to the MP's bedroom, struggled with him for a while, overpowered and stabbed him. Dr Gilbert Buckle (right) explaining the situation to Alex Segbefia 09.02.2016 LISTEN The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) seems to be in a predicament over the temporary closure of three of its surgical clinics for renovation works. Already, the hospital's intensive care unit has been closed for the past two years for the same reason. The closure of the clinics urology, general surgical and neurosurgery which started yesterday, has sent panic waves among patients who need specialist care, as specialists at the clinics have been forced to postpone surgeries of patients for months. To make matters worse, the specialists disclosed that there are no consumables for them to work with, leaving patients with the risk of dying. Casualties have been recorded as a result of the situation at the hospital. One patient who needed surgery lost her life because the specialist postponed her surgery for six months. KBTH last Friday announced the suspension of activities of three surgical clinics until further notice. The hospital stated that the clinics will, therefore, not receive any cases from patients, other hospitals and the general public. It, however, indicated that emergency cases in the affected areas will, however, be attended to after prior arrangements are made in respect of such cases. . Explanation The management of KBTH, led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Gilbert Buckle, explaining the situation to Minister of Health Alex Segbefia, who paid an unannounced visit to the hospital, said emergency cases will be cared for at the surgical medical emergency unit which is currently being used as the main emergency of the hospital. They will be seen, they will be cared for, if they need admission they will be referred to the hospital and consultants and specialists will see to them. Now, if you are referred to KBTH for specialty care and you are not an emergency then you will be told to wait till we finish with the work, he said. Dr Buckle, taking the sector minister through the expanded emergency unit and the ICU as well as other facilities of the hospital, mentioned that works at the emergency unit are expected to be completed in October this year, while the surgical clinics will be reopened for activities in March. He also indicated that the equipment for the ICU were ready, however, the hospital has a challenge in the procurement of the consumables. We are talking with the suppliers to get the required consumables for work to begin at the ICU, he added. The minister on his part gave his condolence to families who have lost their loved ones as a result of the current situation at the hospital. He, however, challenged the management of the hospital to act fast on the concerns of consumables for the ICU to start running, as the facilities are being upgraded for the better treatment of patients. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 09.02.2016 LISTEN I am back. They wanted to keep me in a hospital bed for a long time, pushed me to ease up on the workload and stay away from the President. All very bad advice. But I have enjoyed a bit of rest but feel particularly lost with all the stories under the bridge. And I have been busy with OccupyGhana in spite of all the good advice from close friends, who thought I was tired and stressed out too much with Ghana. I am back, with more venom in my fingers. But how can you not be? This is week five of my water dearth. Ghana Water Company has lost its head after taking an increase of over 50% of the taxpayer's money and they are punishing us on McCarthy Hill with no water through our pipes. Yet the NDC Government claims the water sector is their most invested tenure and they have increased capacity with so much water available to us, we still do not understand that water is in abundance. But it runneth not to my home and I am buying tanker water to stay clean and healthy. A Better Ghana, now a cash in your pocket Ghana. See 2017 around the corner ooo, and take note of how you will be blessed once you make another vote in the proper direction. And Papa J wants you to vote correctly. You might not be able to vote for Zanetor, because she has somehow muddled herself in the law courts by not registering to vote in Ghana, she must have forgotten while she was decoupling Mr. Mensah from the two children they birthed she also had to fire up her political registration. But not to get into her business too much, I wonder why she wants to be a politician? Has she peaked in her medical profession already? I would hope that a true patriot would at least make some significant contribution in a profession and then take off after that on a political flight, as her father taught her to fly light airplanes and as he demonstrated to her by his specialty in coup making. His contribution to the military will hopefully show us how to get the timing right for taking over a country and ruling it by force. She is lucky he is still alive to part some knowledge of disruption and chaos mongering, but good to see she is not letting him down. A white charger into the murky world of NDC foot soldiers. Those brigands will have her for desert with the Mahama branded chocolates, which has made CPC think twice. Can you get it? In a country where you have more cocoa than everybody in the world except your neighbor. A country where your cocoa is so sought after that people pay a premium for the flavor and the anti-oxidant properties, a brand that is so healthy you can make the crappiest chocolate and we all still buy. Yet, we cannot continue to keep our factory working. Countries as far away as Switzerland, where they cannot even grow a single cocoa tree, make and run chocolate products and we, who Tetteh Quarshie stole and brought cocoa to us and unknowingly created our mainstay export product, cannot move cocoa from Brong-Ahafo to Tema, a distance that can be covered in five hours, in order that we can compete with the rest of the world and beat them. Looks like the cost of shipping to Europe is cheaper than the extortion costs of the roadblocks and police barriers from west to east Ghana. I wonder how much they take these days after the useless petrol taxes and levies? Ghana has become an expensive country. Gone are the days when family would come from UK, US, Germany and bring wealth in $, and Euros. Now do you hear them? They are complaining more than us. Pure water is at 30 pesewas a sachet. Who would ever have thought that the once critical thirst redeemer of five pesewas would now trundle in a head pan from the unemployed, who we cannot count because we do not even have a births and deaths proper count. I was so traumatized this week. We were at a panelist discussion on National ID cards and we heard that over 30% of births are never registered in Ghana. Similarly, deaths miss out close to 40%. Yet we see nothing wrong with the voter register. By now you would have read that OccupyGhana has sued the Attorney General and many others about the bus branding deal. It is the first in a salvo this year, an election year and we are looking forward to major unfolding events. . There are now so many cases against Government and I don't feel sorry for them one bit. Citizen activity created a good corruption perception for Ghana on the index and Government tried to crow about it. We are in the full-blown era of citizen engagement, and I can proudly say with the support of many CSO's each looking from different angles, we are making a dent in bad governance in Ghana. Forget that the Parliamentarians think ACP Kofi Boakye has no right to threaten to arrest an MP. He too, I wonder why he didn't go ahead and just arrest the man. Inciting people to violence then yelling I am an MP is not acceptable. Same way that trespassing the rights of farmers by Fulani herdsmen has to be legislated and remedied, same way we need to ensure that a proper policy on livestock and developing a good policy on how we handle dairy and meat availability in the country is resolved. When South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and others have done all these a long time ago, where is the Minister of Agriculture? Before he could do anything and be held accountable for what he did not do, he was moved to another lame duck position. In Ghana you are better off as a Minister not making decisions. Stay quietly where you are, the President will see fit to move you where another is efficiently messing up. Please give me a Government who cares about its Ghana and the citizens and this deteriorating stature. We were blessed with resources and then taken off the list for great leaders. We have been denied the brainpower to use the resources, which have become a noose around our thinning necks. A friend of mine says; brains develop a nation not resources. True dat. But I agree wholeheartedly with our President when he claims that just like Kwame Nkrumah who spent all our money building infrastructure and investing in useless edifices and factories, which we had to leave to rot because he did not see that the source of raw material input needed to be developed in tandem with infrastructure and couldn't see that private enterprise in the end trumps central control and resource manipulation, failed with a bankrupt Ghana and a ruined economy. By the time the Osagyefo was escorted off the scene, Ghana's reserves were totally decimated and we were yelling for sardines, corned beef and ice cream. Few were those who were rich with huge edifices; cronies and family had much to boast of and the rest who believed in Freedom and Justice, were jailed and harassed out of the country. Which is why I am on record saying the CPP is done and will never rise again. Nkrumah never understood private sector development. He never understood how to make an economy work, believing that if the State was CPP and CPP was the State, then all things would be added and the Black Man had become capable of managing his own affairs. Same for our President. He cannot see it and does not understand how to plan an efficient economic ecosystem that enables private sector and supports essential growth sectors to fuel the ingredients of development. I agree with him. Just as Nkrumah left this country bankrupt, so also has John Mahama pushed us into bankruptcy and won't get us out by the time we vote in November. Dream on and look forward to cash in your pocket come 2017. Obinim will bring it to you in a snakeskin wallet. Ghana, Aha a y din papa. Alius atrox week advenio. Another terrible week to come! Sydney Casely-Hayford, [email protected] Rev.Dr Opuni in a handshake with the Okyenhene 09.02.2016 LISTEN The Local Council of Churches, in collaboration with the Okuapeman Traditional Council, has held a thanksgiving service in honour of the late Okuapehene, Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III. The event which was held at the forecourt of the Okuapeman Traditional Council in Akropong in the Eastern Region was heavily attended by the membership of the Local Council of Churches, chiefs and people from all walks of life including the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong. Preaching the sermon, Rev G.O. Kwapong of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, who is the Akuapem Presbytery Chairman, described the late chief as a visionary leader who lived his life as a true Christian and an advocate of peace and development. Rev Kwapong, who spoke extensively on the history of the Akuapem state, urged the kingmakers to allow fair play to govern their choice of a successor. While commending the security agencies for what he described as a display of a new policing approach to handling crowd, Rev Kwapong also called on the people to unite against any unforeseen development which is likely to hinder progress. . The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, commended the chiefs and people of Okuapeman for what he described as the successful performance of the final funeral rites and burial of the late Okuapehene. The Okyenhene observed that the high level of cooperation exhibited by the chiefs and people at the event was an indication that Okuapeman's reunification process had significantly progressed, adding that this spirit should be sustained in all endeavours. The late Okuapehene is survived by a wife, Awo Ayebea, five childrenNana Asumka, Beatrice, Michael, Tony and Nana Dokuaand a number of grand and great grandchildren. By Solomon Ofori John Owusu 09.02.2016 LISTEN MANAGEMENT OF AngloGold Ashanti has expressed its profound condolences to the family of the late John Owusu, its Corporate Affairs Manager, who lost his life over the weekend in a motor accident that occurred at the company's Obuasi Mine in the Ashanti Region. Mr Owusu met his untimely death on Saturday when he was knocked down by the company's vehicle as it was reversing during a renewed clash between illegal miners and AGA security guards. In a press statement, AngloGold confirmed the death of Mr Owusu and extended its condolences to his family for his untimely departure. According to the statement, AngloGold Ashanti is deeply saddened to confirm the death of an employee, John Owusu, who was killed in a car accident on Saturday, 6th February, 2016, after a large group of illegal miners trespassing on the site hurled stones and other projectiles at a group of mine employees who were observing the incursion. It said Our thoughts and sympathies go to the bereaved family, especially his wife and children, in these difficult times. AngloGold Ashanti is stopping all but the most critical functions at the Obuasi Mine in order to minimise contact between its employees and the illegal miners. The safety of its employees and others is AngloGold Ashanti's first priority. AngloGold Ashanti continues to engage with all relevant and delegated government authorities in the region and at the national level in order to manage the situation, the statement added. [email protected] BY Melvin Tarlue A police constable stationed at Bole in the Northern region was shot in the leg on Monday evening when he attempted to forcibly enter the official residence of the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Kofi Boakye. Constable Dennis Makagor was said to have engaged in exchanges with the armed police guard at the entrance of the police commander's house. The incident happened about 6:45pm. DCOP Kofi Boakye was however not in the house. According to the Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police, ASP Yusif Mohammed Tanko, Constable Makagor demanded to see DCOP Boakye when he got to the gate. But when he was told he was not there, he persisted and was said to have attempted to forcibly enter the compound of the house. It resulted in exchanges and the guard shot him in the leg, ASP Tanko told Graphic Online. He said however that Constable Makagor was not armed. ASP Tanko told Graphic Online the police suspect Dennis was mentally ill. The suspect is currently on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Parliament has suspended sitting in memory of the late Abuakwa North MP, Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu who was stabbed to death Tuesday morning at his Accra home. The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu moved a motion for the suspension of sitting before noon expressing his condolences to the bereaved family. "I believe the entire House is not in a good mood to do business today," he said. The long and short of it is that Hon. JB Danquah who only last week Thursday paid a glowing tribute to the memory of Dr. JB Danquah has had his life cut short by somebody, he told Parliament. Early on, the leadership of parliament had been locked up in a meeting over the shocking news. More soon... The Islamic scholar whose presence in Ghana has raised some security concerns has condemned acts of terrorist groups like the so-called Islamic State. Dr Abu Phillips runs the Islamic Online University and is in the country to deliver a series of lectures at the invitation of a Ghanaian Islamic group. Speaking to journalists in the northern regional capital Tamale, Dr Phillips denounced acts carried out by the so-called Islamic State and Boko Haram. We have so many examples in the time of the prophet where he forbade the killing of women and children and they have gone into schools to massacre children and women. ISIS has gone on television and cut the necks of people who have converted to Islam and people who have come as aid workers helping the needy of Syria. He said their acts can never be attributed to the teachings of the Quran and described the terrorists as deviated, misguided, disillusioned Muslims", who needed to be stopped. We can stop them by educating young people on what Islam really is, he added. Meanwhile, Dr Phillips credibility had been questioned. He has been accused of holding extremist views and having terrorist links. He is also said to have been deported from countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Kenya. He is reported to have written: Western culture, led by the United States, is the enemy of Islam. The US Government, according to the Sun Herald Newspaper in the UK, named him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing that killed six people and injured 1,000. Dr. Bilal Philips has repeatedly denied connections to terrorists insisting the West, led by America, is only demonizing him. A letter he wrote while in detention in the Philippines where he was deported from on similar accusations accused Western media of sensational journalism bent on portraying him as evil. The recent press conference held by some party member in Wa in the Upper West Region to complain about neglect from the national party was un-characteristic of PPP. We pride ourselves as a disciplined people in a seriously focused party voluntarily working together in the national interest. We wish to place on record that the allegations thrown into the air during the Wa press conference are simply unfounded and untrue. The Progressive Peoples Party has its own internal mechanism by which internal problems and misunderstandings are solved amicably. To jump into the media without channeling grievances through the structures of the Party is a grievous offense and will not be encouraged by the Party. The Party has directed the 3rd Vice Chairman of the Party to investigate the matter and report to the National Committee for final determination of the matter. We call on our rank and file members especially those in the Upper West region to be rest assured that the PPP will resolve this matter within our party and let order and understanding prevail. The bright red sun will continue to shine in the Upper West region. Awake! Signed; Murtala Mohammed National Secretary Mohammed Amin Adam 09.02.2016 LISTEN The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has criticized government for failing to invest the country's mineral revenues. Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of ACEP, indicated that mineral revenues have been used for consumption rather than investments, resultantly, its contribution to productivity has been limited. Speaking at a National Forum on the proposed Mining Revenue Management Law Friday in Accra, he said future generations have no guarantee of benefiting from the mineral revenue since it is being consumed by the present generation. This also affects future sustainability. Public financial management is poor as it makes it difficult to track mineral revenues and development projects funded with the revenues. Transparency in the management of mineral revenues is limited to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process. State institutions that have responsibilities for the management of mineral revenues are not subject to any accountability process. Dr Adam stated that the fairness of the formula for sharing benefits has also been contested. Hannah Owusu Koranteng, Associate Executive Director of Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM), said the country's natural resource was becoming a curse because the exploration of natural resources had led to increased poverty, conflict, environmental and social problems. . According to her, mining has done more harm than good because huge farm lands have been destroyed while water bodies were being polluted. Ghana's three northern regions have the highest incidence of poverty at 80 percent. The Ghana Chamber of Mines recently advised the government to support a statutory allocation of 30 percent of mining revenues to local communities. By Samuel Boadi 09.02.2016 LISTEN INDIVIDUALS WHO posed as connection men by taking money from desperate people with the promise of helping them to enroll into the Ghana Police Service, have been sternly cautioned to refrain from doing so. ASP Mohammed Yussif Tanko, the Ashanti Regional Police PRO, has stated that it is illegal for anybody to collect money from people with the assurance of helping them to become policemen. He therefore warned unscrupulous persons that are secretly acting as connection men in the recruitment of people into the police service to stop in their own interest, or risked having an issue with the laws of the land. Anybody that will be apprehended acting as a link man for people that want to be enrolled into the Ghana Police Service would be quickly processed to court for the laws of the country to deal with him/her, he cautioned. The police PRO lamented that there had been several instances where innocent people got duped by such con men. ASP Tanko was speaking with Don Dada, who is the host of 'Dwabirem,' a flagship programme of Otec FM in Kumasi. This was when the programme was aired live from the premises of the police headquarters in Kumasi, recently. . Speaking on the show which was dubbed 'Time with the Police,' the police PRO admonished people who are hankering to be enrolled into the police service to adhere to due process so that they would not be in trouble. According to him, anyone that would be caught trying to pay money to someone to assist him/her to be enrolled into the police service would also be processed before the law court because such action is illegal. ASP Tanko observed that the police service had become attractive in recent years and this positive development, he indicated, had increased the number of people that want to be enrolled into the service. He however said that some unscrupulous persons have taken advantage of the mad rush to dupe innocent people, urging the public to watch out. ASP Tanko stated that when the recruitment time into the police service is due, the police hierarchy would announce it and direct interested people to places that they could get the application forms to purchase. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi 09.02.2016 LISTEN Visiting Canadian Islamic cleric Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips who is domiciled in Doha, Qatar, is in the country to deliver a number of lectures but some Ghanaians are apprehensive because they think he could be radicalizing figure. A top security manager has however given the man a bill of good conduct following the hullabaloo over whether he should have been given an entry visa or not. The highly respectable state security manager, whose details are provided, said we had no reason to refuse the visa and it is important not to make such decisions on the basis of only what other countries had done. So far he has not disappointed though. This should put paid to the fears being expressed some people about the assignments of Dr. Bilal. They say he had been barred from entering Britain among other countries. During his stay in the country, he is billed to deliver a lecture titled, Insurgency In God's Name: Revelation In Rebellion in Accra. He is also expected to lead a congregational prayer at the Al-Hashim Mosque at Adabraka in Accra. Also lined up is a lecture he is going to deliver titled, Role of Islamic Scholar and Professional in Conflict Resolution. A correspondence from the cleric in a Philippine detention centre dated 10 September 2014 was released yesterday to explain the circumstances underpinning his arrest in that country. Im happy to inform you that I am safe and well-treated in Davao City immigration custody, as my request for voluntary deportation is being processed. Though I appreciate your rallies and demonstrations of support in Marawi City, Zamboanga and elsewhere, I advise you all to keep calm and not let your genuine expressions of support spiral out of control and degenerate into wanton destruction of property and the loss of life and limb. Please allow the due process of law to take its course. The false allegations and misunderstandings circulating in the media will be tackled legally in order to clear my name and lift the ban on any future visits to the Philippines God willing. There is sufficient evidence to prove my innocence in my hundreds of youtube video lectures and khutbahs (see my youtube channel: aabphilips), over 50 published books, many of which can be downloaded freely from my website:www.bilalphilips.com or www.kalamullah.com or the hundreds of posts on my official facebook page: Dr. Bilal Philips, with almost 2 million likes. Peace be upon you all. Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips Chancellor, Islamic Online University, it stated. By A.R. Gomda 09.02.2016 LISTEN Yaw Ofori Owusu (Airtel employee and leader of the project) and Eleanora Agyei handing over the new-born arrival packs to some of the mothers at the Ashaiman Polyclinic Employees of Airtel Ghana, in collaboration with the Centre for Pregnancy and Childbirth Education (CePaCE), have begun a distribution project to benefit over 120 new mothers in the Ashaiman community. The project, dubbed 'New-Born Arrival Pack', forms part of Airtel employee-led initiative 'Make your Change' which is aimed at improving maternal health and reducing child mortality. The initiative involves an initial donation of baby care products and an Airtel starter pack that connects the beneficiary mothers to CePaCE for information sharing and education on post-natal care for the new-born babies and their mothers. Hannah Agbozo, legal and corporate affairs director of Airtel Ghana, in a statement, expressed the company's commitment to supporting health-related initiatives in communities, especially those led by employees. . Our employees leading worthy causes in their local communities to inspire change are what the company is passionate to invest in. As a responsible corporate entity, we believe that it is in the right direction if we support issues related to maternal and child health education in the society, she mentioned. Executive Director of CePaCE, Eleanora P. Baffour Agyei, commented that CePaCE is very excited about this project because of the impact it will make in the lives of beneficiaries. The project targets people who truly need this intervention and we were amazed at how the beneficiary mothers welcomed it. Airtel Ghana, indeed, has made a difference and put smiles on the faces of these mothers. We are very grateful to the company and its employees. We pray that the company continues to grow so it can touch more lives. CePaCE is a non-governmental organisation that focuses on reducing child mortality and improving maternal health education, with women and children enabled to realise their right to the highest attainable standard of health. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 09.02.2016 LISTEN The Gbawe-Mallam SSNIT District Pensioners Association has celebrated its first anniversary with a call on members to remain united. The National General Secretary of the Association, Edward Ameyibor appealed to members to be each others keeper. Mr. Ameyibor, who was the guest of honour at the event, said that he was happy to see members of the association in good health even in these difficult times in the country. He mentioned that the national body of the association was in dialogue with SSNIT for a post-retirement health endowment fund to take full care of the health needs of all pensioners. Mr. Ameyibor therefore called on the pensioners to continue to help each other and take care of the critically ill and sick among them. . In her address, Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mrs. Rosemund Abrah congratulated the pensioners for the impressive turn out which indicated their contentment in old age. She urged them to continue to exhibit Christian love while eschewing tribal sentiments and tendencies. On the Health Endowment Fund, the MP said she would liaise with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health to improve the lives of the aged. In his remarks, the chairman for the occasion, K. K. Moffat, who is also the Greater Accra Regional Vice Chairman of the association, congratulated the district for the milestone, calling for unity among members. There were solidarity messages from Mamprobi, Korle Gonno and Russia districts and the Ghana Government Pensioners Association. New Yorkers are fond of saying that Whatever goes around comes around. This dictum is akin to the Akan maxim that The very stick used in striking Takyi is also used in striking Baah. In other words, our fates and destinies are inextricably intertwined. It is the moral and ideological equivalent of the Biblical Golden Rule whose authorship is widely attributed to the Lord Jesus. I quite vividly remember that during the tenure of the Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP), when the then-Vice Presidential Candidate John Dramani Mahama and his soon-to-be-boss and three-time National Democratic Congress Presidential Candidate, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills, late, went to town on President John Agyekum-Kufuor over the recent publication of a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that claimed that the Kufuor administration was widely perceived to be more corrupt than the Rawlings-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which had been succeeded by the New Patriotic Party. Back then, Messrs. Mills and Mahama had traipsed the length and breadth of the country self-righteously claiming that the Kufuor administration was the most venal of all postcolonial Ghanaian governments. Seven years later, Transparency International (TI), the global monitor of corruption perception, has conducted a survey in which more than 70-percent of the Ghanaian respondents claim that corruption in the country has significantly increased over the past 12 months. And, predictably, President Mahama is up in arms vehemently lambasting the nations media operatives, particularly newspaper and electronic-media reporters, for playing politics with the dignity and international image of the country. Maybe the President ought to be told that in the sort of virtual one-room global village in which we live, the era when any particular countrys media operatives acted as the main conduit of information dissemination is well behind the times. After all, need we remind the President that it was a Norwegian newspaper, VG, that alerted Ghanaians and the global community to the epic scam that had just been deftly, if also shamefully, pulled over their heads in the form of the criminal contractual collusion struck between the Dubai-based AMERI Group and the Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress involving the purchasing, assembling and operating of the 10 thermal power-generating turbines at more than twice their combined market price? In other words, there is the sort of illusion or perception of corruption in the country, as academically and professionally documented by Transparency International, and then the grim reality. It is quite certain that the 71-percent of the Ghanaian respondents of the TI survey, the second highest of its kind on the African continent, who strongly believed that corruption in government was at an all-time high under President Mahama, knew precisely what they were talking about. Indeed, as of this writing, Mrs. Dzifa Akua Attivor, Ghanas Minister of Transportation, was reported to have resigned her cabinet appointment over the exposure of a scandal involving the rebranding of some 116 intra-city buses at the cost of nearly GHC 4 million, for a contract estimated not to have been worth more than GHC 40,000. Now, my high school-level math of some 40 years ago is rather too rusty to be reliably applied here; nevertheless, I am quite certain that I may not be wide off the mark to suggest that GHC 4 million is about a thousand times more than GHC 40,000. It is also quite certain that if the MMT-bus scandal only existed in the poetic or flighty imagination of the average Ghanaian citizen, Mrs. Attivor would not have tendered her resignation within 24 hours of the Attorney-Generals submission of her findings on the affair to Mr. Julius Debrah, the Presidential Chief-of-Staff. Put more creatively, what I am clearly suggesting here is that rather than quixotically shadow box or tilt at windmills over the morally indefensible presence of widespread corruption both in government and the civil service at large, Mr. Mahama would do far better to roll up his sleeves, hunch down and go to work pronto. Merely clasping his fingers over his pate and screaming like a disgruntled teenager who just had his girlfriend carried off by a much bigger and well-loaded man would not do the infamous architect of shit-bombing any good. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs 09.02.2016 LISTEN Commercial drivers across the country have expressed frustration over the recent increase in insurance premiums, with some threatening to embark on a strike if nothing is done about the situation. Charles Danso, Chairman of the Ghana Committed Drivers Association (GCDA), told BUSINESS GUIDE that by the increment, commercial drivers were expected to pay GH357 for third party insurance, from a previous GH75, representing over 500 percent increase. It would be recalled that in June, 2015, the GIA attempted to increase motor insurance premiums (third party) by 800 percent which was strongly rejected by Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) and GCDA, among other transport operation bodies. Following negotiations between the Ministry of Transport, Road transport operators, the GIA and the National Insurance Commission (NIC), a mutually agreed incremental rate of between 240-260 percent was arrived at. But the GIA earlier this year, increased the premium rate by over 500 percent. The recent percentage of increment in the insurance premium is more than 500 percent. In fact the new insurance premium is affecting all commercial drivers and their car owners. This is not good, and is bad faith by the GIA, Mr Danso said. He said the various transport operators met with the GIA on Monday to kick-start the negotiation process but the GIA asked for some time to consult with the NIC and get back to them. We met them today and we are telling them to reduce it, the price is outrageous and we cannot bear it. We will be meeting with them in the middle of this week to conclude this matter. The insurance guys say they have to consult the National Insurance Commissioner herself so that they come back to the consultation table with them, he added. . Mr. Danso stated that if the GIA decides not to reduce third-party insurance premium, the transport operators would embark on a nationwide strike to protest against the insensitivity on the part of the NIC and Ministry of Transport. [email protected] By Nii Ogbamey Tetteh 09.02.2016 LISTEN The tricycles lined-up at the handling over ceremony. Inset: President Mahama addressing the gathering President John Dramani Mahama on Friday officially handed over 5,000 new motorized tricycles and 400 trucks to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country on behalf of the Jospong/Zoomlion Group of Companies. The move is to ensure the effective collection of waste in the various towns and cities in Ghana According to the President, the equipment will be distributed to persons interested in collecting waste. President Mahama commended the Jospong/Zoomlion Group of companies, saying that its partnership with government over the years in the sanitation sub-sector had yielded positive results for the state. He said the Group continues to lead in the management of waste in Ghana, adding that rapid urbanization calls for new waste management skills. The President also appealed to private players to partner government in the management of waste in the country. Touching on new measures being taken by government to improve the sanitation situation in the country, President Mahama disclosed that he had directed the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to close down the Lavinda Hill site in Accra where liquid waste products from the city are dumped. . He said with the directive, liquid waste will no longer be dumped in the sea, noting that other assemblies in major cities of the country have been directed to do so. According to him, government was in the process of ensuring the treatment of liquid waste. Joseph Siaw-Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong/Zoomlion Group of Companies, in an address, pointed out that beneficiaries of the trucks and tricycles would use them over a period of 18 months after which they will be required to pay back. He said with the provision of the trucks and tricycles, worth about $50 million, 11,200 jobs are expected to be created for the citizenry. [email protected] BY Melvin Tarlue A police officer from Bole has been shot at the residence of the Ashanti regional police commander DCOP Kofi Boakye, the command has confirmed. The Ashanti Regional Police PRO ASP Yussif Tanko told Ultimate FM that the incident occurred on Monday evening, but suspect the visiting officer Constable Dennis Makorge is mentally deranged. ASP Tanko said the victim went to the commanders residence at Danyame and demanded to see him, but the guard informed him DCOP Boakye was not around. The ensuing conversation degenerated into violent confrontations, leading to the guard firing the visiting policeman in the legs and thigh. Makorge is currently on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. According to ASP Tanko, the police administration is expecting the full recovery of the victim before they could launch investigations into the matter. At the moment, we have only taken the side of the police guard while we wait for his colleague on admission to recover. But from the narration he gave us, it looks like his colleague from north is mentally deranged, ASP Tanko claimed. The murder of the Abuakwa North Member of Parliament has reignited calls for the provision of security protection for the 275 MPs. Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu was stabbed by unknown assailant(s) in his home near Angel Hill Hotel, East Legon in Accra, Tuesday morning. Preliminary investigations by police show that the deceased suffered multiple stab wounds inflicted by his attacker(s). The residence of the late MP, JB Danquah Adu They have arrested some five people including his security man to assist in investigations. The Member of Parliament for Atwima Nwabiagya, in the Ashanti region, Benito Owusu-Bio described the late MP as a serious person who did not joke with his job on Adom FMs morning show, Dwaso Nsem. Joseph Boakye was a lovely person who would see everyone and start smiling, according to Benito. He added that the nation has lost a great person. But the MP said the murder of JB Danquah could have been avoided if he had police protection. Owusu-Bio stated that it is very important to protect every Ghanaian but MPs are being paid with state funds to serve and it will be better to get protection for them than to lose them this way. Recounting his experience with armed robbers, the MP said on October 4th 2013, armed men visited his house and asked him to lock himself up in his bathroom. They stole everything they wanted and went away. But the armed men who visited Kofi (JB) were not that lenient. Asking policemen to follow MPs will be outrageous, he indicated, but stressed that stationing at least a policeman at the residence of each MP will make them feel secure. He argues that police officials are given training, they have guns but they are given protection, how much more MPs who know little about security? Speaking on the same platform, the Member of Parliament for Mpraeso, Seth Acheampong and the Member of Defense and interior Committee in parliament also added his voice to the calls for security for MPs. He pleaded with the security agencies to wake up and deal with robbers and assailants who have in recent times committed a number of these crimes. Mr. Acheampong said many Ghanaians think that MPs are paid well enough and do not need security protection. Security is expensive but it is crucial, very essential. This is a wakeup call to all of us, he added. Bia East MP, Richard Aceampong said the extra money spent to conduct by-elections after the nation loses an MP can be used to protect them and prevent such incidents. He said the leadership of parliament and ministers already have police protection and it will not take much to provide the rest of the members of the house with security. Richard Aceampong said the job will not be attractive to the young ones in the near future if nothing is done about the situation. Speaking to Joy News Elton John Brobbey in Parliament, Tuesday, some members said they fear other MPs may be targeted. We do not feel safe anymore. This is a wakeup call to us all, one said. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Akosua Asiedua Akuffo| [email protected] 09.02.2016 LISTEN People in the US state of New Hampshire are voting in the contests to select the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. On the Republican side, frontrunner Donald Trump is hoping for a better performance than in last weeks Iowa caucuses, won by Senator Ted Cruz. The main Democratic race is between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The tiny town of Dixville Notch cast the first votes at midnight, favouring Bernie Sanders and John Kasich. Under New Hampshire state law, towns with populations of under 100 can apply to cast their vote as the clock strikes midnight and close the polling station as soon as everyone has voted. Of the handful of voters in Dixville Notch in the early hours, four Democrats chose Mr Sanders, while of the Republicans two picked Donald Trump and three went for Ohio Governor John Kasich. Mr Sanders, a senator from neighbouring Vermont and a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is hoping for a victory in New Hampshire over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mrs Clinton, who is backed by the Democratic establishment, narrowly won in Iowa. For those of you who are still deciding, still shopping, I hope I can close the deal, she said at a campaign event in Manchester on Monday. Meanwhile Mr Sanders told cheering supporters: We have come a long way in the last nine months. There is nothing, nothing, nothing that we cannot accomplish. . A winter storm threatened to complicate Tuesdays voting, bringing sub-zero temperatures and a heavy fall of snow. Grassroots victory The Republican race has been particularly fractious. Several candidates tore into Florida Senator Marco Rubio who came a strong third in Iowa during a televised debate at the weekend. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie accused Mr Rubio of being inexperienced and scripted. You have not been involved in a consequential decision, he said. Mr Rubio was also assailed by billionaire Donald Trump and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. On Monday Mr Trump repeated his pledge to strengthen harsh interrogation technique to terrorism suspects, vowing to bring back waterboarding and a hell of a lot worse. Mr Cruz, an evangelical conservative from Texas who like Mr Trump is running on an anti-establishment platform, has called his win in the Iowa caucuses a victory for the grassroots. Several of the seven Republicans on stage have staked much on New Hampshire, analysts say. Despite its small size, the states place in the primary season gives it special importance as candidates try to build an early momentum. Over the coming months each US state will pick delegates who pledge to endorse a candidate at their partys convention in July. The victor on each side will compete in the November presidential election. -bbc The growth of Ghanas public debt stock has been slashed by a chunk, Finance Minister Seth Terkper has said. Public Debt stood at GH 93,064.8 million as of November 2015 mainly as a result of exchange depreciation, Mr Terkper told journalists at a press conference. He said reduction in the growth of the debt stock could be put down to new debt management strategies implemented with regards to onlending/escrow, sinking fund, refinancing, etc., as well as maturity lengthening. Growth in public debt reduced significantly, he told journalists, adding that Public Debt to GDP Ratio tapered in 2015. He said there was a decline in public debt stock between 2000 and 2006 due to HIPC/MDRI reliefs. The debt stock has always been a topic of heated political argument. The current total debt stock increased by GHS5 billion between May and June 2015. As of September last year, figures from the Bank of Ghanas economic and financial data showed the total debt stock stood at GHS94.5 billion, representing 70.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). After its first review of Ghanas implementation of a three-year bailout programme, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the countrys performance under the Extended Credit Facility programme exceeded pre-HIPC levels. Per the trend of the growing debt stock, the Bretton Woods institution projected that Ghana will end 2015 with a 75% debt-to-GDP ratio. Ghanas total public debt in the first-half of 2015 increased consistently by about GHS15.1 billion, growing from GHS79.4 billion in January, to GHS94.5 billion in June. Late last year, the flagbearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, said Ghanas total debt stock will hit GHS110 billion by the time President John Mahama leaves office, a situation he believes amounts to mortgaging the countrys future. The indebtedness of Ghana has gone from GHS9.5 billion in a space of six years; a growth of over a 1,000 per cent. At the rate that its going, its going to be close to GHS110 billion by the time Mahama leaves office, Mr Akufo-Addo told an audience in Canada. He said: The future of our nation is being mortgaged and compromised, and that is why it is vital that next year, we put a stop to it and bring sanity to the administration of our country. In September last year, he said Ghanas total debt stock will more than triple by 2020 if President John Mahamas mandate were renewed at the polls in 2016. In 2009, when they [NDC] came into office, Ghana's debt was GhS9.5 billion; this was Ghanas debt from Nkrumahs time to when Kufuor left office. Four years later, by 2012 ending, it had gone up more than three times to GhS33.5billion. The NDC got a second term in office, in 2012. We are not even at the end of 2015, but Ghana's debt has shot up another three times to GHS95 billion! the three-time presidential candidate observed. Using that trend to compute his prediction, the former Abuakwa South Member of Parliament told party supporters at Shama, on the final day of his Rise and Build tour of the Western Region on Thursday, September 24, that Ghanas debt stock will hit GHS300 billion if the Mahama administration is given another four-year term. What is the future of our youth? What future can they have with these statistics? That is why we have a huge responsibility to reverse the trend of our future and bring Ghana back onto the path of progress and prosperity, he said. President Mahama said late last year in the Volta region that his governments borrowing accounted for only 17 per cent of Ghanas total external debt stock. According to his calculation, the Kufuor administrations borrowing accounted for 41 per cent of the total $14 billion external debt with which Ghana is currently saddled. "Recently you'd have heard that this government has borrowed so much money it has put Ghana in debt. Government is a continuum, and, so, governments leave debt behind and other governments inherit them and pay them off, but they also borrow in order to be able to do infrastructural projects. So, its a rolling thing. "Now let me do a little analysis here. Our external debt amounts to $14 billion. If you disaggregate the debt and you apportion it by the different governments, then from 1980 that is part of Limann's government through Rawlings' government from 1980 up to the year 2000 that is the NDC onethat period is responsible for nine per cent of the debt. "Then if you take that same debt, and you break it down, 41 per cent of that debt is attributable to the time between 2001 and 2008now from Profs [John Mills'] time to my time, if you take Prof's time, its 33 per cent of the debt and [from] 2013 to 2015 is 17 per cent of the debtso from Profs time to my time accounts for 50 per cent of the debt. The other 50 per cent is debt that we have inherited and that we are paying, and 41 per cent of that debt was borrowed by the NPP administration. So, when you come and say NDC government has borrowed $14 billion, 41 per cent of the $14 billion was borrowed by the NPP administration. "And, so, normally when they throw these figures out, if you dont analyse the figures, they just throw them out in a Goebellian fashion to confuse the electorate and just put blame on some government, but weve taken that debt. We are paying it. Were servicing it because I know that it was used for development," Mr Mahama explained to a crowd of NDC supporters to wrap up his Changing Lives, Transforming Ghana tour. Mr Mahama's analysis of the debt situation was a response to former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who had earlier said the rate of borrowing by the government will leave the country with a debt close to GHS100 billion by the end of 2015. "Well reach GHS99 billion by the end of this year," Nana Akufo-Addo's running mate told journalists after Finance Minister Seth Terkper read the 2016 budget to Parliament. "The interest on this debt alone is going to be six times Ghanas oil revenue," Dr Bawumia said. "When we found oil, we were happy that we found oil, but the borrowing of this government has compromised the whole oil discovery; you need six times our oil revenue just to pay interest on the debt, not even capital, so, it is a really sad development," he complained. Per his computation, the amount of money borrowed by the Government so far is equivalent to over $37 billion over seven years. Can you imagine what $37 billion can do for this economy? he asked. 09.02.2016 LISTEN The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has described the death of his colleague, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu as contract killing. According to him, the circumstances surrounding the Tuesday dawn killing points to the fact that it was executed by individuals with ill-intent. Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu was stabbed to death at his residence at Shiashi where he lived with his family. Five persons including two women, and three men, have been arrested in connection with the murder of MP for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu. The five includes a private security guard who was in the house on the day of the incident. The others are said to be residents of the house, but the police did not give further details about their identity. Speaking after a visit to the residence of the late MP, Mr. Atta Akyea said, It should be obvious to everybody that this is contract killing. We trust that very soon, it will come to the fore as to who is responsible for this dastardly act of murder. Mr. Atta Akyea also called for the security of MPs to be beefed up, describing the lack of security afforded MPs as embarrassing. It is an embarrassment to even describe this issue because the MCEs and DCEs have security. The judges of the superior court have security and the ministers too have security including deputy ministers; so we are end of the joke because we do not matter to government thats why we are not provided with security. He further expressed that hope that the circumstance surrounding the unfortunate death of Mr. Danquah-Adu would push government to provide better security to MPs. Probably the death of this man will wake them up that indeed and in fact, if its not good at all we should have night and security policemen. Neighbors claims In an interaction with some neighbors of the late MP, they told Fred Djabanor that they heard about the struggling between the MP and his attackers, which forced them out of their homes only to find out that he had been killed. They claimed to have seen a ladder behind the late MPs bedroom, which they suspect was used by the assailants. According to them, they saw a man run out of the house but he could not use the main entrance because they had by then called in the police who were stationed at the gate waiting to enter. About J.B Danquah The late Joseph Boakye Danquah, once served as a Deputy Minister for Women and Childrens Affairs. He was the Abuakwa North MP from 2000 until 2008, when he lost the seat to the NPPs Prof. Samuel Amoako. He returned in 2012 to win the seat. He left behind a wife and two children. Joseph Boakye Danquah, a chartered Accountant by profession, is the grandson of late J.B Danquah, a Ghanaian statesman, pan-Africanist, scholar and historian, who played a significant role in pre- and post-colonial Ghana. J.B Danquah escaped similar attack in 2010 J.B Danquah escaped similar attack in 2010. The late MP escaped a similar attack in 2010, although Citi News has no facts to suggest that the incident of 2010 is connected to the current one. In that attack, the MP sustained a deep cut on his arm. The assailants attacked him at a house at East Legon, believed to be his then girlfriends house. In February 2013, three persons who were prosecuted for allegedly causing harm to the late MP in that attack, were convicted with fines. In that case, the married MPs girlfriend, was the one accused of plotting the attack on him over his refusal to give her money. 09.02.2016 LISTEN The leadership of the New Patriotic Party has asked that all party flags across the country should be flown at half-mast, for a six-day period beginning Tuesday, February 9, 2016, in honour of the memory of two party stalwarts who passed away hours apart under tragic circumstances. Ben Kwaw, acting NPP Chairman In the Western region Ben Kwaw was pronounced dead at the Effia-Nkwanta regional Hospital in Sekondi Monday morning after he collapsed at his private residence at Airport Ridge. According to a source close to the family, the 54-year collapsed whiles preparing to go and chair their usual Regional Executive Committee meeting. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors on duty pronounced him dead. Hon. Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu, NPP Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, was stabbed to death at his residence at Shiashi in Accra by some unknown assailants on Tuesday dawn. PeaceFMs Yaw Obeng Manu, who is stationed at the deceased residence reported that the unknown assailants might have scaled the late MPs wall by using a ladder, climbed to the upper terrace and accessed his bedroom through the window. He suffered multiple stab wounds after a struggle with his attacker(s) and died whilst being rushed to the hospital, according to the police; who suspect foul play. A statement signed by the partys acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay, said the party mourn and stand together with the families of our departed patriots in this moment of shock and grief. Whiles appealing to all to avoid any form of unnecessary and possibly harmful speculation even as the security agencies conduct investigations to ensure perpetrators of this horrible crime are made to face the full rigours of the law, he catalogued a litany of instances of cases which have still not been resolved and prayed government revise its policies and strategies at the growing levels of insecurity in the country. We also call on the government, in the light of a long list of such incidents in recent times, to take a critical look and revise its policies and strategies towards the growing levels of insecurity and unsolved murders in the country, the statement read. Read the full statement below NPP DIRECTS PARTY FLAGS TO FLY AT HALF-MAST The leadership of the New Patriotic Party hereby directs that all party flags at all regional and constituency offices across the country should be flown at half-mast, from today, February 9, 2016, to Monday, February 15, 2016. This is in honour of the memory of the late Mr. Ben Kwaw, NPP acting Western Regional Chairman, and the late Hon. Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu, NPP Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, who passed away within the last couple of days. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of these two distinguished sons of our Great Party, and we also call on all party faithful to remain calm in these trying moments. . Regarding the murder of Hon. J.B Danquah Adu, for which the Police currently suspect foul play, it is our hope that a professional and swift investigation will be carried out, so that the perpetrators of this horrible crime will be made to face the full rigours of the law. We call on all to avoid any form of unnecessary and possibly harmful speculation at this time. We also call on the government, in the light of a long list of such incidents in recent times, to take a critical look and revise its policies and strategies towards the growing levels of insecurity and unsolved murders in the country. Instances of cases which have still not been resolved are as follows: December 5, 2014- Branch Manager of Ecobank Ghana shot at Abrepo in Kumasi November 12, 2015 Vodafone marketing officer shot dead at his house in Sakumono November 3, 2015 Nkwanta South DCE in the Volta Region shot dead September 14, 2015 Nana Adusa Gyapong, the chief of Atwima Koforidua in the Ashanti Region gunned down by unknown assailants. June 21, 2014 Paramount Chief of the Nanumba Traditional Area, Naa Dasana Andani, killed. March 12, 2014 Nii Ayittey Noyatse, the Joma Mantse, shot and killed by unidentified assailants. November 5, 2013 Paramount Chief of Seikwa, Nana Kwaku Dwumah Ankoana II, assassinated March 13, 2014 Fennec Okyere, manager of hiplife artiste, Kwaw Kese, shot dead. We mourn and stand together with the families of our departed patriots in this moment of shock and grief. Signed Freddie Blay National Chairman, Ag. Zebilla (U/E), Feb. 9, GNA - A woman and her son were burnt to death in an attempt to keep themselves warm at Kukuruzua, a suburb of Zebilla in the Bawku West District. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) James Ankran said the police received a call from an unknown person at about 05:00 hrs, on Saturday, to report the tragedy and immediately proceeded to the scene. He said the deceased, Madam Ananti Ayabogot, had that morning swept her uncompleted mud hut and then called her son, Master Kofi Ayabogot also deceased, to bring her a matchbox to burn the rubbish she had collected in the room. ASP Ankran said the two decided to keep themselves warm by that fire, set at the entrance of the hut, and unfortunately, they got trapped when the fire spread into the room and engulfed the place. He said both mother and son burnt beyond recognition. Preliminary investigations, ASP Ankran said, revealed that the deceased, Madam Ananti Ayabogot was alleged to have a mental problem. At the time the Ghana News Agency arrived at the scene, the police and fire service personnel with Dr Patrick Atobrah, the Medical Superintendent of the District Hospital, were about leaving the scene. GNA Ho, Feb. 09, GNA - Leadership ought to be sought for through prayers rather than by violence, the Bible Society of Ghana has admonished. 'True transformation comes from the realization that God makes leaders,' the Society noted. The admonishing was contained in a message from the Bible Society signed by Reverend Erasmus Odonkor, General Secretary, and read to the congregation of the Elorm Parish of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Ho Bankoe, as part of the Bible Week celebration. 'The theme for the celebration, 'the Bible, guide to Godly leadership', must therefore be the compass to navigate this year's general elections and after, he said. He said those seeking to lead must be 'servant leaders' like Jesus Christ who washed the feet of his disciples' and others who were extolled in the Bible for their compassion and vision. The citizenry, majority being Christians, must therefore pray hard and work towards a peaceful elections this year, he added. On the Bible Week, Reverend Odonkor said the occasion was meant to promote 'unity in diversity' among Christians where denomination was insignificant. The occasion was also to thank God for the translation of the Bible into several languages and making it accessible and affordable to many people. It was also a week of prayers and actions by all Christians for peace this year. Rev Odonkor admonished Christians to take Bible reading and study very seriously in order to build steadfast lives because the word of God provides solutions to all human challenges. Work to translate the Bible into the Guruni language in the Upper East Region was progressing steadily, he stated. The General Secretary exhorted Christians to support its work with prayers and resources towards the fulfillment of its charge of taking the 'Word' to the world. GNA Oyibi (GAR), Feb. 9, GNAProfessor Dr Dr Daniel Bour, immediate past Vice Chancellor of the Valley View University has been honoured at a send-off ceremony at Oyibi in the Greater Accra Region. Prof Bour, who was Vice Chancellor of the University from July 2010, retired on June 30, 2015. Prof Daniel Bediako, the Vice Chancellor of the University, commended Prof Bour for his loyalty and commitment to duty. He said during the tenure of Prof Bour, enrolment shot up from 3,400 to 10,114 in 2015. Prof Bediako said the University also won many awards including Global Management Competition, Gold award from Othyerways Association Club and it was also voted International Star for Leadership in Quality in Gold Category in Geneva in 2012. The Vice Chancellor said Prof Bour initiated a number of profitable ventures for the University and these included a bakery, grocery, brick-making and water sachet factory which contributes about five percent of the University's budget. Prof Bediako said two basic schools were also opened under his leadership at Oyibi and Techiman Campuses of the University and called on those in active service to emulate his shining example. Pastor Kwame Boakye Kwanin, Chairman of the University Council, commended Prof Bour for his hard work which had greatly helped the University. He said the University improved on its ranking from 32nd in 2011 to fifth in 2013 as assessed by 4icu, an international ranking organization. Pastor Kwanin expressed hope that the University would continue to provide better service conditions to its pensioners Mr Stephen Sekyere-Abankwah, Managing Director of Prudential Bank Limited, described Prof Bour as a man whose achievements were clear for all to note. He said Prof Bour's leadership had expanded the infrastructural development of the University and urged him to continue to lend his experience and support to the University when called upon. Prof Bour expressed his gratitude to the University for the honour done to him. There were gifts from corporate bodies, institutions and individuals as well as various citations for the retired Vice Chancellor. GNA 09.02.2016 LISTEN Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, the Minister of Education, said the importance of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) in providing funding for educational infrastructure and facilities within the public sector cannot be understated. She said despite the fact that about 30 per cent of the national budget is dedicated towards the educational sector there still remains daunting challenges that require 'huge' resources to meet the sector's targets. Prof Opoku-Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration of a 17-member Board of Trustees of the GETFund in Accra on Monday. The members of the Board are responsible for the management of the Fund and the GETFund Act 2000(Act 581) enjoins them to pursue policies to achieve the objectives of the Fund; collect or arrange to be collected monies lawfully due to the Fund; account for the money in the Fund; contribute in accordance with section 2 (2), (C), monies from the Fund towards the operation of student's loans schemes for tertiary institutions, etc. Other responsibilities of the Board are to approve and pay expenditure charged on the Fund under the Act and any enactment, organize fund-raising activities to raise money for the Fund, and impose such charges as it considers necessary for services rendered by the secretariat of the Fund. She said the GETFund was established to provide financial support to supplement the provision of education by the central Government and has creditably performed its role. The Minister said Ghanaians were very much aware of the significant interventions that have come in to support education from the Fund at the various levels all in a bid to improve quality of teaching and learning outcomes. She said an amount of GH843,899,000.22 was allocated to the GETFund in 2015 and that this amount was spent on various projects including the Community Day Senior High Schools, Basic Education Infrastructure, the Students Loan Trust Fund and scholarships amongst others. Prof Opoku-Agyeman said there is a growing demand for GETFund support from all institutions and that there is the need for the Board to reposition itself and be more strategic in its operations to satisfy the needs of the sector. 'I entreat the Board to familiarize or equip themselves with on-going developments and interventions in the education sector in order to advise and communicate effectively on issues relating to the Fund and the sector at large.' Mr Adjetey, the Board Chairman, said resources have always been scarce and that the Board will make an efficient use of the available resources to serve the educational infrastructure needs of the country. He thanked President John Dramani Mahama for the confidence reposed in him and assured him of bringing his long time experience and expertise to promote the GETFund. The Board is chaired by Mr Larry Adjetey, Chairman and members include Mr Sam Garba, Administrator; Mr Patrick Nomo, Ministry of Finance; Mr George Blankson, Ghana Revenue; Mr Enoch H. Cobbinah, Ministry of Education; Alhaji Osuman Seidu, Office of the Chief Imam; Dr Josiah Cobbah, National Council for Tertiary Education; Mr Ivan Abubakar Avereyireh, Financial Institution - Insurers; Mr Daniel Asiedu, Financial Institutions- Bankers; and Mr Helene C. Quaye, Financial Institutions. Other members are Professor William Otoo Ellis, Vice Chancellors- Ghana; Mr Paul Apanga, Ghana National Association of Teachers; Mr Michael Zigah, Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students; Nene Sakitey II, Ghana Education Service Council; Mr Kweku Bedu Addo, Ghana Employers Association; Mr Charles A. Atuahene, Association of Ghana Industries; and Ms Dinah Adiko, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. GNA Zebilla (U/E), Feb. 9, GNA - Dr Patrick Atobrah, the Medical Superintendent of the Bawku West District Hospital, has cautioned health personnel against carrying out abortions in their houses. He said the situation is alarming and urged pregnant women who have problems with foetal movement or any other difficulty to report immediately to the nearest hospital to prevent complications. Dr Atobrah was speaking at the 2015 Health Performance Review of the District health Directorate. The event was on the theme: 'Adequate resourcing of district health services, a key to improving maternal and child health'. The meeting attracted health workers from all 34 health centres in the District and opinion leaders to deliberate on their performance in 2015 and strategise for the year. He said the District Hospital was well prepared to handle emergency cases and advised both health centres and private health facilities to refer cases beyond their control to the hospital. Dr Atobrah expressed dissatisfaction with the behaviour of some major referral hospitals, saying they often delayed in handling emergency cases. Dr Atobrah said the District Hospital currently had no laundry equipment and the only haematology machine serving the whole District, which was acquired about five years ago, had broken down. 'In all the wards especially the pediatric ward mothers are compelled to lie on the floor in the rainy season when admissions at the hospital peaks, this could lead to infections', he said. Mr Benjamin Aggrey, the District Health Director, said the District recorded 14 neonatal deaths in 2015 as compared to 2014 and 2013 when it recorded five and six respectively; and maternal deaths reduced from five in 2014 to two in the year under review. He said teenage pregnancy increased from 7.6 per cent in 2013 to 17.6 per cent both in 2014 and 2015; and supervised deliveries increased from 78.2 per cent in 2013 to 88.5 per cent and 88.3 per cent in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Mr Aggrey commended health workers in the District and called on them to 'work genuinely to enjoy what you earn'. The Health Director expressed gratitude to Naba Yusuf Akebelingo VI, the Chief of Tilli, for providing a four room accommodation block to health workers in his town to aid in health delivery. GNA Cape Coast, Feb. 9, GNA - Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, the Minister of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts says government has allocated an amount of one million Ghana cedis towards the development of the creative arts industry for 2016. She said the release of the funds was in line with the President's commitment towards improving the sector. She advised members to draft proposals to be able to access the funds in their respective region. Mrs Ofosu-Adjare announced this when she paid a working visit to members of the Creative Arts industry in the Central Region to interact with them and discuss their challenges and concerns for redress. She said the visit was also to inform them of the Creative Arts Bill currently in parliament and to sensitise them on it before its passage. Mrs Ofosu Adjare said a secretariat would be established in the Region to serve as an avenue to sensitise and educate members on the Bill. She indicated that 3,000 young people would be trained in the industry of which 300 would be selected from the Region. Miss Christiana Carl Oparebea, Director, Centre for National Culture, Cape Coast, expressed appreciation to the Minister for the visit, which she described was in the right direction. GNA 09.02.2016 LISTEN Accra, 9 February 2015- In the interests of safety, AngloGold Ashanti Ghana Limited has withdrawn all employees performing non-essential functions from its Obuasi Gold Mine, following the incursion of hundreds of illegal miners inside the fenced operational areas of the site since 5 February 2016. Employees remaining on site are performing critical tasks including underground pumping and ventilation, water treatment, provision of medical services and maintenance of electrical facilities that provide power and water to employee homes and surrounding communities. This latest invasion of the site followed the withdrawal of government military protection from the mine on Tuesday, 2 February, after an initial incursion on 30 and 31 January 2016. No reasons for the militarys withdrawal were given and to AngloGold Ashantis knowledge no other mine sites in Ghana with a military presence have been affected. It is important to point out that Ghana Army has a Memorandum of Understanding (Military MOU) with the Chamber of Mines, on behalf of its members, to provide military personnel for deployment at their mining operations. AngloGold Ashanti Ghana has noted the conflicting reports about the events at Obuasi mine, including the circumstances leading to the tragic death of AngloGold Ashanti employee John Owusu. John was fatally injured in a car accident as he and colleagues tried to flee after a large group of illegal miners hurled rocks and other projectiles at mine employees, police and security personnel observing their activities. This attack was entirely unprovoked. AngloGold Ashanti Ghana cannot reasonably be expected to prevent or control a situation such as that at the Obuasi mine. The company has established a significant security system for the mine, including a 21km security fence around the operational area, as well as the deployment of a large security force of almost 400 personnel due to the size and spread of the operation. The companys security forces do not carry lethal weapons, which is in accordance with Ghanaian law. The companys security forces also operate under the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights. The onus for ensuring safety and security of individuals and property in any country, and therefore restoring safety and security to the site, lies with the authorities. AngloGold Ashanti Ghana has made appeals to government representatives for the reinstatement of the previous security arrangements, as without them, the companys employees and assets have been left vulnerable to attacks from illegal miners who ultimately do not respect other forms of protection. AngloGold Ashanti Ghana appreciates that the mineral wealth of Ghana is a national asset for the benefit of all Ghanaians. However, the company is the formal holder of permits governing the regulated development of the Obuasi mine. This latest invasion of the site undermines that right provided under the law and jeopardises the safety of employees and the future of this asset. AngloGold Ashanti committed in 2014 to following due legal process in returning as much as 60% of the Obuasi mining concession area to the Government of Ghana. We are working with the relevant delegated authorities in this regard, and the process is now awaiting completion. Thereafter, the Government will be at liberty to utilise the land as it sees fit. It is crucial that the Ghanaian government, as well as local and regional authorities, work with AngloGold Ashanti to resolve threats to the viability of the Obuasi gold mine and its ongoing contribution to the Ghanaian economy. The immediate priority should be to ensure safety and security of the mine employees and the mine. 09.02.2016 LISTEN Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said there is something strange happening in Ghana, as far as the recent spate of killings and deaths are concerned, the latest being the murder of Abuakwa North MP J B Danquah Adu. I just dont understand. The killings and deaths are becoming one too many. Both children and adults are dying. Its not normal, Mr Kufuor told Kwadwo Asare-Barfour Acheampong (KABA) on Asempa FMs Ekosii Sen political talk show on Tuesday February 9. Making reference to some recent accidents and killings in some parts of the country, Mr Kufuor said the spate is becoming abnormal. Mr Danquah Adu was murdered Tuesday dawn. He was found by the police lying in a pool of blood in his bedroom at his Shiashie residence in the national capital, Accra. His assailant (s) got access to him through his front window via a ladder. He was survived by his wife and two children. The Police have opened investigations into the killing. Five suspects: two females and three males have been arrested for interrogation by the Police, who have urged the public to provide any information they may have that could help unravel the murder mystery. Mr Kufuor expressed his condolence with the family of the late MP saying: Its very painful because I just was with him this Saturday at Oseadeeyos funeral. Im crestfallen, and dumbfoundedif there is anything bad coming into this country, God should stop it for usI dont understand.something is happening, the killings and deaths are becoming too many.it is not normal death, it is not good, I dont get it.we plead with the securities to really look into it, its becoming one too many Ghana, the NPP and the family have lost a great treasure. He had a lot installed for him Mr Kufuor, who appointed the late MP as a deputy Minister in his government said. 09.02.2016 LISTEN From our survey report at the grassroots, most of the grassroots are in a state of confusion with mixed feelings on who to vote for, making a comparative analysis based on current situation in Ghana, as a result throwing back questions to us, as the research team, whom do we think stand the potential to win 2016/2017 coming election event. It is obvious that all these people have categorized their position to floating voters Colum as at now. It may look like; they need some kind of reliable advice to support their voting decision with the aim of not casting a vote that will turn to be wasteful, if the true candidates they desire fail to emerge as the President of the day. It was further realized through the survey that the percentage of the floating voters, is going to rise very higher than ever in the history of this country. The rest of our analysis and findings are not meant for public consumption but for indoor decisions. But the content of this paper is to advice holistically, if you are chasing a political party due to its popularity and influence only, without considering a party who has a team capable to solve the basic economic problem facing us, as Ghanaians, then you are not helping matters but rather forcing all of us including you to economic prison as the current situation seems to depict. After all, the major reason of queuing in the hot sun to vote is to appoint a competent leader who could better and further advance our economic welfare through a political authority or good governance. Therefore our vote casting in this year should go beyond the perception of who you think, has the higher probability of winning 2016/2017 election, a strategy, which many a Ghanaian view as means to avoid waste of time and ballot paper. We, instead appeal, to these floating voters to consider who could give us our economic freedom, to make us happy, translating it into money in our pocket, business expansion and sustainable growth of Ghanas economy. This is what the blowing Green Revolution seeks to achieve; to selflessly fight together with all the experience and learned comrades to give Ghana not only that kind of economic freedom but permanent economic freedom inasmuch as we are still in office of government to control and manage affairs. The other parties have always made it look impossible, when they were sworn to office, with propaganda and excuses against former regimes as a base, since they could not fulfill their promises. We, in the CPP, understand the level where Ghana has reached now and are ready to accept the failures of previous regimes without complaining, but just to provide the antidote of transformation to restore the lost happiness in Ghana due to the present economic hardship and punishment inflicted on us. With the impending launch of the Green revolution manifesto, it would seek to define clearly and realistically transformational agenda for the disabled, the youth, the business community, our women, the education, agricultural, which the CPP has a track record of our capabilities and capacity and finally outstanding policies governing our capital market. Join us and lets together build for the Change we want. Member of CPP-Communication Team Tweneboah Senzu, PhD. Juba (AFP) - The United Nations warned Tuesday it had received just two percent of the cash needed for South Sudan, a day after experts said 40,000 people are being starved to death. Some war-zone areas are on the brink of famine. "If we are unable to act now, the situation will be much worse," UN aid chief in South Sudan Eugene Owusu said. "About two percent of the $1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros) required to provide life-saving assistance and protection has been received". On Monday, the UN children's agency UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP), in a joint statement, described some of the worst conditions yet in more than two years of a civil war marked by atrocities and accusations of war crimes, including the blockading of food supplies. Over 2.8 million people need aid, almost a quarter of the country, while in war zone northern areas 40,00 are being starved to death with aid blocked amid violence. For South Sudan, the beginning of the year is "when the country is traditionally most food secure," the UN added. "We are facing widespread food insecurity, malnutrition, displacement and disease," Owusu said, pleading for an initial $200 million to fill gaps until May. "We are facing increasing needs with diminishing resources." The UN-backed specialised hunger assessment, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, warned in October of a "concrete risk of famine" without aid. On Monday, it said areas are most concern were too dangerous for experts to access, meaning it was not possible to gather the statistics needed to declare famine. Civil war erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines. A sandal of the assailant who is suspected to have stabbed Abuakwa North MP, Joseph Boakye Danquah Adu, to death has been found. The unknown killer was fleeing the scene of the murder which was committed upstairs and hopped out of the house. He jumped off a polytank close to the wall behind the Shiashie home of the slain politician when the sandal fell off, Abuakwa South MP Samuel Atta Akyea told Joy FM's Top Story. The blood stained footprints on the wall can be spotted, tracing the assailants escape as security men stood helplessly during the attack. JB Danquah Adu was stabbed first in the rib while he slept in bed, his brother George Twum Barimah told Atta Akyea. After some moments of resistance a second stab in the abdomen sealed his fate. Joseph Boakye Danquah Atta Akyea, a close friend of the deceased politician criticised the security detail at JB Danquahs residence for being lax. According to him, the security man saw a ladder stretched across the wall in front of the house at least an hour before the politician returned home Tuesday dawn. The father of two entered his home and his bedroom upstairs while his family were downstairs asleep. Atta Akyea said the security men while making nocturnal rounds saw shifty movements in the politicians bedroom. The suspected assailant moved a curtain and closed the window. Photo: The ladder was used to climb upstairs into the politician's bedroom But the security men were afraid and made no attempt to close in on the attacker, Atta Akyea continued. Although they called in the police, no further attempt was made while the security officers were yet to come to help. They were not wise enough to surround the building...so the guy knowing that they were standing in front of the house, tactically fled through the back. In his haste, the assailant jumped outside the back wall and fled. The Police were called in after 1:30am. JB Danquahs body was found in a pool of blood. Atta Akyea says the murder has signs of a contract killing. The assailant "timed him well [and] came for him, and was given instructions to go do this singular thing and finish this man off." Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected] 09.02.2016 LISTEN Illegal miners operating in Anglogold Ashanti concessions at Obuasi are vowing to resist any attempt to forcibly evict them from the companys sites. Members of the Artisan Small Scale Miners Association say they will protect their means of livelihood even at the peril of their lives. Secretary of the association, Rufus Borry, says only dialogue with Anglogod Ashanti officials will resolve the current stand-off. He warned not even the presence of the military could force them to abandon their operations in Anglogold Ashantis concessions. That will not prevent us from operating. That will only augment a conflict. There would be a conflict between the mine and the community, and the military will come in. May be, somebody may lose a life. The indigene- the local people, somebody may lose a life and in the mine somebody may lose a life. Even the military that is coming somebody may lose a life because we are here. We know the area more than them so if you want to use force, it will end up generating a conflict, Mr. Borry emphasized. According to the illegal miners, only mutual understanding, through discussions, can help solve the stand-off between them and the mining giant. We want a dialogue. It is only dialogue and mutual understanding that can solve the problem. Right now our intention is to sit on the drawing board. Speaking to Nhyira FM at the associations Tutuka suburb office, Mr. Borry indicated no amount of force can compel them to leave the concession area. He warns Obuasi may be heading for bloodshed because the indigenes are bent on protecting their interest. During a visit to the Cote Dor area, members of the Artisan and Small- Scale Miners Associations Task Force had taken over, preventing mining activities there. The leadership says the nearly 100-member taskforce will continue to man the area until further notice. The warning comes as the Obuasi Municipal Security Committee announces the deployment of more police personnel to protect the companys concession from encroachment. AGA suspends operations over staff safety Despite police presence, Anglogold Ashanti says its staff are unsafe, prompting suspension of operations in the Obuasi mine. A statement signed by Head of Legal Affairs, Juliet Manteaw-Kutin, says the mining giant is stopping all ancillary activities, except critical functions, to ensure safety of employees. This means most administrative and surface activities will henceforth cease but others such as water pumping and treatment will continue. AngloGold Ashanti is stopping all but the most critical functions at the Obuasi Mine, in order to minimize contact between its employees and the illegal miners. The safety of its employees, and others, is AngloGold Ashantis first priority. AngloGold Ashanti continues to engage with all relevant and delegated government authorities in the region and at a national level, in order to manage the situation, the statement said. A clash between officials of Anglogold Ashanti and the small -scale miners on Saturday led to the death of the Corporate Communications Manager, John Owusu who was run over by vehicle. Anglogold Ashanti confirmed the tragedy in the statement, and expressed deep sympathy with the family of the late Communications Manager. AngloGold Ashanti is deeply saddened to confirm the death of an employee, John Owusu, who was killed in a car accident, on Saturday 6th February 2016, after a large group of illegal miners, trespassing on the site, hurled stones and other projectiles at a group of mine employees who were observing the incursion. Our thoughts and sympathies go to the bereaved family, especially, his wife and children in these difficult times. The Obuasi mine has been on government-approved limited operations since the end of 2014, when underground mining operations were suspended A driver believed to be in his late 40s is wanted by police for allegedly murdering his wife at Kasoa, in the Central region. Eyewitnesses say the suspect Nana Adu surmised that the deceased, Comfort Babdoh was having an extra marital affair. He is alleged to have hit her head with a metallic object Monday night and hid the body under their bed. The couple has one daughter of about four years old but lived together with the deceaseds two children in the same room. The residents suspect Nana Adu, committed the crime when the children had left for school on Monday. They had a misunderstanding the previous day and he had threatened to kill her, an eyewitness told Joy News. Friends of the deceased got alarmed after their fruitless efforts to reach her on phone since Monday. Another neighbor, Obiri Yeboah said on Tuesday, Nana Adu called a neighbor to tell him that he had killed his wife. The suspect fled the house after the confession. Obiri Yeboah says he and Nana Adus confidant called the police and reported the incident to them. The body of the deceased was found under the couples bed. It has since been deposited at the Police Hospital. Sunyani, Feb. 09, GNA - The School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has organized a youth camp to provide junior high school (JHS) students in the Brong-Ahafo Region with accurate information on reproductive health to bring down teenage pregnancies. On hand to participate in the week-long programme, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom (UK), were 135 students drawn from across the eight municipalities and 19 districts in the region. 'Building the future through positive adolescent reproductive health' was the theme. The students were exposed to different environments to interact with their peers and role models and engaged in other activities to help them to develop negotiation and decision-making skills, become more assertive and boost their self-esteem - to shape them into responsible adulthood. Mrs. Kate Opoku, Director of SHEP, addressing the closing ceremony in Sunyani, asked them to avoid mistakes and ensure that they made the right choices. They should always seek information from the appropriate sources to prevent getting misinformed and misled to engage in premarital sex. She spoke of the determination of the GES to create positive social attitudes, and practices that would promote gender equity in terms of access to school, retention and performance. 'This strategy for the youth has been identified as being helpful in achieving the goal of equity and empowerment', she stated. Mrs. Opoku expressed optimism that the Ghana adolescent reproductive health project (GHARH) it was implementing with support from an NGO in UK, Palladium Group, would significantly help to provide a safe and healthy school environment to increase not only access and retention of school children but raise the quality of education She applauded the DFID and the NGO for joining the effort to build a better future for the nation's youth. Mr. Moses Nanang, the Regional Manager of the Palladium Group, urged the assemblies to do more to support youth development programmes. The wide range of topics treated included 'The concept of adolescent', 'Career guidance and goal setting', 'Gender and gender roles', 'Gender violence', 'Introduction to human reproductive system', 'Personal hygiene', 'Menstrual hygiene management', 'HIV/AIDS', 'Values', 'Early marriage and rights of children', 'Psychosocial skills including decision-making and communication skills' and 'Substance abuse'. GNA Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - The seventh Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR) under the patronage of Mrs Lordina Mahama, the First Lady, who is also the President of the African First Ladies Against HIV & AIDS (OAFLA) begins in Accra tomorrow. Among the speakers of event, which is from 10th to 12th February are Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director, who would give the keynote address at the opening ceremony of this conference. Curious Minds, a youth-led organisation is coordinating this critical conference under the theme 'Realizing Demographic Dividend in Africa: the Critical Importance of Adolescents and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights'. Dr Osotimehin would give a lecture to Members of Parliament, on Ghana's development prospects given the nation's population dynamics, and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRH&R), the demographic dividend and achieving the 2030 Agenda in the context of Ghana's development vision, on Wednesday 10 February. He would also participate in a Ministerial round table being organised with the endorsement of the Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana on the topic - 'Risk and Opportunity in Ghana's Harnessing of the Demographic Dividend' on Thursday, February 11. As part of the activities, Dr. Osotimehin's will pay a working visit to the Mallam Atta Market to interact with 'kayayei' (female porters) in the quest of helping girls to reach their full potentials. The National Development Planning Commission and the UN in Ghana will also capitalize on the UN Under-Secretary General's visit to commemorate the appointment of President John Dramani Mahama, by the UN Secretary-General as Co-Chair of Eminent Advocates Group for the Sustainable Development Goals, which came into effect on January 2016. GNA 09.02.2016 LISTEN Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - The Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has called on French businessmen to take advantage of Ghana's conducive environment to invest in the nation. He said the government was actively encouraging joint venture businesses between Ghanaians and their foreign counterparts as well as promoting Public Private Partnership. Vice President Amissah-Arthur made the call at the Ghana-Bordeaux Business Forum in Accra. The forum, organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), in collaboration with the Ghana Embassy in France and the French Embassy in Ghana, is to showcase the various business opportunities in Ghana to the visiting French business delegation. The visit by the group to the country is a reciprocal visit to an earlier one by President Mahama to the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce in October last year. The 30-man Business Delegation from Bordeaux who would be in the country for five-days are expected to explore business opportunities in the areas of agri-business, hospitality and tourism, education, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, transport, energy, ICT, waste management and infrastructure. Vice President Amissah-Arthur also said over the past 15 years Ghana and France had witnessed a rapid increase in economic and commercial relations. He said bilateral trade between the two countries exceeded $1.5billion in 2013, exports of $1.2billion made up mainly of cocoa, fish and fruits and approximately $340 imports mainly of wheat, chemicals and electronic equipment. He called for clear objectives to increase trade between Ghana and France for the mutual benefit of their people. Vice President Amissah-Arthur further stated that the reasons why French businesses continue to maintain interest in Ghana were due to the country's reputation as a performing African economy. He said Ghana being broad-minded and tolerant of differing views has created this remarkable atmosphere of peace and security. He said despite the hostile global environment, the country's economy continues to make progress, adding that the nation possesses natural resources whose exploitation provides for the employment for the people. 'We treasure our political and social stability and the freedom we have created that allow our people to express their views,' he added. Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, called on the participants to use the first meeting of the forum to enhance their business relationship as well as build huge future entities. She also called for constructive engagement between Ghanaian and French businesses to collaborate in their respective fields of engagements GNA We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. 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. LOOKING FOR HELP? 100% Confidential. Thousands Helped. No upfront fees you are here: Why should gold bugs keep an eye on crude? Because golds near-term future will be affected by the continuing slump in oil. Many punters love gold. Its a strange love-hate relationship. They point to the global debt bubble, rising unemployment, money printing, Germany repatriating their gold and emerging markets buying more physical gold. The list goes on While the arguments in theory resonate with a higher gold price, something isnt right. Gold has crashed since 2011. After peaking at US$1,920 per ounce, its down nearly 45%. Why? Putting it into perspective The world is facing a major sovereign debt crisis, a commodity junk bond crisis, an emerging market crisis, a global banking collapse and a major war in the years ahead. Youd think punters would join the dots and buy gold Yet, precious metals have collapsed. And many gold stocks have crashed by 8090%. Meanwhile, punters still love gold. They cheer every move higher, thinking the bottom has arrived. For example, last week the yellow metal jumped from US$1,117 to US$1,173 per ounce. And as youre likely aware, gold has surged from its December low of US$1,046 per ounce. But theyre ignoring the bigger pictureat their own peril Looking forward, the US gold price remains in a down trend. Itll get worse, before it gets better. If you love gold, watch crude Why should gold bugs keep an eye on crude? Because golds near-term future will be affected by the continuing slump in oil. Ill explain As I wrote to Resource Speculator readers on 5 March 2015: The fact is that supply [of crude] far outweighs demand. On the demand side growth in the major economies is stagnant This deflationary phase is crippling the need for crude oil. On the supply side were seeing significantly more oil brought to market. Two main players influence the supply side OPEC and the US. Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC producer, has increased production to 9.5 million barrels of oil per day; the highest level since 2013. At the same time, US oil producers are now pumping roughly 9.5 million barrels per day. US crude inventories have climbed to the highest levels in over 80 years. Unfortunately, the demand and supply story will get worse before it gets better. Although, if you believe the mainstream, you may think otherwise. Reuters reported, Saudi Arabias oil minister Ali al-Naimi discussed cooperation between OPEC members and other oil producers to stabilize the global oil market with his Venezuelan counterpart on Sunday, state news agency SPA reported. Venezuelas Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino, who is on a tour of oil producers to lobby for action to prop up prices, said his meeting with Naimi was productive, his ministry reported. Cash-strapped OPEC member Venezuela has been calling for an emergency meeting of producers to discuss steps to prop up prices, which are close to their lowest since 2003. No doubt, crude should jump if production is cut. That said, theres little chance OPEC will cut production. Iran wants to bring on another 500,000 barrels per day to recover its lost market share. Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, the US is pumping more crude than Saudi Arabia. Saudi isnt going to cut production in the months ahead. If they did, others will only produce more and say thanks for the extra coin. This doesnt bode well for Venezuela Get ready for the gold crash To pay the bills, Venezuelas been selling its gold reserves. As I reported in Resource Speculator on 5 November 2015, Making matters even worse for gold, hedge funds have flagged their interest in selling 430 tonnes on gold onto the open market according to mining.com. And since Venezuela has already started dumping its gold reserves onto the market to meet its debt repayments, this will only add fuel to the coming gold crash. With US$12 billion in debt due in 2016, it is likely that Venezuela will run out of liquid reserves in the next 12 months. Barclays analysts said, We expect Venezuela will use gold reserves to gain liquidity to ensure bond payments through at least the first quarter of 2016. According to Barclays, Venezuela needs to raise US$22.7 billion in 2016. Venezuela has less than US$10 billion in gold reserves. Nonetheless, the market seems confident it can meet its next debt commitment: US$2.23 billion due next month. But, US$2.23 billion of gold should be dumped onto the market to pay the bill. When this happens, the gold price should crash to US$931 per ounce. Of course, this wont happen in one day. But, after the gold dump, the trend should accelerate quickly Remember, gold crashed by more than US$100 per ounce this time last year. Punters are sick and tired of seeing the gold price crash. When Venezuelas gold hits the market, more are likely to throw in the towel. Despite the lower Aussie dollar, you can expect a number of Aussie gold miners to crash hard. Over at Resource Speculator Ive been bearish on gold for over two years. And while the trend is still down, it wont stay this way forever. Ill be looking at sweeping up the bargains, near or at the bottom. If you want to be on the right side of the market, click here. Regards, Jason Stevenson, Resources Analyst Right now it is extremely difficult to tell investors to remain bullish on emerging markets, not when emerging markets are at the core of this global crisis. The global market is in crisis modebut I guess you already know that. In times of a bear market, investors tend to panic. They become irrational in the face of losses. That fear reinforces selling, deleveraging and down-sizing, until the market eventually settles at a point below its fundamentals. Once it hits oversold territory bargain-hunters enter to produce a renewed rally towards recovery. You probably know that I have been a long-time bull on emerging markets. After all, I came from one. And I own plenty of assets there. But right now it is extremely difficult to tell investors to remain bullish on emerging markets, not when emerging markets are at the core of this global crisis. Some readers have questioned my belief in emerging markets and my methods in analysing them. Am I still bullish on emerging markets? Of course I am. I cant wait to buy more assets in emerging markets, especially the South East Asian economies. However, I am a long term investor. I dont look at one crisis and think that is it. I look at long term data and it tells me emerging markets do well overtime. What I have come to realise is that many investors who claim to be long term investors are kidding themselves. As soon as the markets take a turn for the worse, they head for the exit. With that said, I am not denying there are problems with emerging markets and indeed the wider global economy. The multi-dimensional reforms in China are a unique event to hit global markets. The collapse in commodities was due to a profound technological change in shale oil and shale gas. I wont hesitate to include central bank excess as one of the influencers on the global markets. And it looks like the consumer credit market in China is starting to wobble a bit. Defaults are on the rise. And corrupt officials are fleeing the country with massive amounts of money. But despite all the negative press and fear, heres the thingIts not really a big deal. If you really hate the emerging market, short it. As I read through the letters of discontent on how disastrous emerging market stocks have done, one thought crosses my mind. If you are truly bearish on emerging markets short them. Or at least go into cash. There is nothing wrong with either choice. The market is made of individuals, and when the market is volatile investors hold very different views. Then, when markets are doing well, everybody is bullish. And when it is not, everybody is very bearish. So if youre in the bearish camp on emerging markets today, go short. Of course shorting is not an easy thing to do. Try constructing a short-only portfolio firstGo to the ASX and consistently pick out stocks that will go down in value. Thats how you construct a short portfolio. Sounds easy right? Not so fast. Remember, most stocks go up in value in the long term, simply because most businesses create value instead of destroying value over time. Even if they fall, the downside is simply capped by 100% (you cant lose more than the value of your stock), whereas the upside is not capped. Stocks can gain multi-hundreds of percent. Think of Commonwealth bank of Australia [ASX:CBA] and BHP Billiton [ASX:BHP]. CBA has gained 200% since the year 2000 and BHP was up almost 600% at the height of the commodity bull market. It is why our economy grows at positive rates and not negative. Long-only portfolios are by far the most straight-forward approach to investing for most institutions and retail investors. Now that doesnt mean that emerging markets and in fact the entire global market arent going through a period of downward pressure. Of course they are. Market excess led to a long bull market, and this is logically now followed by a correction in the form of a bear market. But I have zero doubt that a bull market will resurface. And when it does, emerging markets will offer some of the best gains out there. In the meantime, if youve got the stomach for it and youre convinced the rebound isnt just around the corner, you can always go short. Emerging trends is another matter. For the past few years Ive focused my investment microscope on emerging markets. And I will continue to keep emerging markets in tight focus. However, to capture the best emerging opportunities, Im expanding my outlook and also analysing promising emerging trends. Emerging trends is an abstract concept. To me, trends need to carry some form of predictive power. If artificial intelligence and driverless cars are identified as emerging trends, then the best companies in those fields should create a lot of value. Those are the companies you want to be investing in before they make the mainstream headlines. Trends can also directly relate to stock prices. Positive trends in stock prices can produce a short term momentum in the share price until that trend eventually fades away. That is, in essence, momentum investing. Ill have more for you on how to spot the best emerging trends, and potentially profit from them soon. Until then, happy investing. Ken Wangdong, Editor, New Frontier Investor From the Port Phillip Publishing Library Special Report: The biggest stock gains can come from the least likely places. While the ASX fell 9% in the 12 months to November 2015, one tiny, hated mining stock soared 1,200%. What seemed like an ugly, bad investment quickly transformed every $5,000 worth of shares into $65,000. This is the power of 10-bagger companies. Where will the next one come from? Read Greg Canavans special Crisis & Opportunity presentation to find out[more] February 09, 2016 The Wannabe Sultan Meets A Russian Airborne Division - What Is He Going To Do? The Syrian campaign against the foreign supported terrorists continues with the help of Russia, Iran and other associated forces. This campaign is aimed at killing all terrorists and their associated forces as demanded by the United Nations Security Council resolution 2254. [r]eiterates its call in resolution 2249 (2015) for Member States to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Daesh), Al-Nusra Front (ANF), and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al Qaeda or ISIL, and other terrorist groups, [...] and to eradicate the safe haven they have established The U.S. for now seems to go along with that resolution and lets Syria and Russia do what they must. But there are others who are more invested in Syria than the Obama administration. The immediate aim of the Syrian forces is to close the border with Turkey and to liberate Aleppo city from the Jihadi insurgents. 6,000 additional soldiers from Iran have arrived to support that effort. A major campaign is planned to launch during next months. But the Saudis, Qataris, Turks and Israelis want to fight the Syrian government down to the last Syrian rebel and foreign mercenary. They will not give up the dreams and the very large investments they made to bring Syria down. The Syrian insurgent groups were just summoned to Ankara to receive new orders. The Saudis made an insincere offer to send its own troops to fight in Syria. This is likely just a cover to incite others to invade the country. Turkey is the most likely candidate. Here a much read Turkish columnist, a feverish follower and mouthpiece of Erdogan, makes the crazy argument that the self defense of Turkey demands to attack Syria and its Russian and Iranian allies: The war Tehran and Moscow are carrying out in this country is a war against Ankara. These two countries are actually directly fighting Turkey. There is no way to hide this any longer. ... Turkey must directly intervene in the Syria issue. Military action included. If Iran and Russia are able to enter this country with such flimsy pretexts, if they are able to bomb even the zero point of our border, if they are exiling Syrian civilians to Turkey and attacking Turkey from Syria, then Turkey has far more reason and right than they. Nobody would want an open war. Nobody would want a war between Russia and Iran and Turkey. They would not even wish this. But this time it is very serious. If a step is not taken today, we are going to have to fight under tougher conditions than today in the future. There is no such thing as the Syrian regime or Damascus administration anymore. The country is being re-designed and this situation is clearly threatening us, the way is directed at Turkey and we are expected to sit in silence and accept this! Which country can surrender to such a thing? There is threat, physical condition and legal reason to intervene. Similar crazy words are written by Zionist propaganda clowns in major U.S. newspapers. A not yet existing siege of thousands of al-Qaeda/al-Nusra fighters and maybe some 40,000 civilians in insurgent held parts of Aleppo is used to demand a U.S. attack on Syrian and Russian forces. From the Washington Post: Operating under a NATO umbrella, the United States could use its naval and air assets in the region to establish a no-fly zone from Aleppo to the Turkish border and make clear that it will prevent the continued bombardment of civilians and refugees by any party, including the Russians. It could use the no-fly zone to keep open the corridor with Turkey and use its assets to resupply the city and internally displaced people in the region with humanitarian assistance. If the Russians and Syrians seek to prevent humanitarian protection and resupply of the city, they would face the military consequences. A map published last Friday in the Italian 'La Repubblica' without further explanation shows a Turkish invasion of the northern part of Syria which is currently held by the Islamic State. Such an operation would allow the communication line between Turkey and the Islamic State to stay open. That line is endangered by Kurdish and Russian plans to attack the same area and to eliminate the ISIS presence there. That communication line is important. Last year the U.S. intelligence community stated that there were some 20,000 foreign fighters with ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorists groups in Syria and Iraq. In a congressional testimony today (pdf) the director of national intelligence James Clapper put the current number at 38,000. Turkey claims it closed its border for foreign fighters going to Syria and Iraq. If so how did those additional 18,000 foreign Jihadis enter Syria and Iraq? Did they just drop from the sky? Those ISIS fighters are unlikely to have come as airborne troops. Russian troops though would indeed fall from the sky should Turkey do something stupid. Russia has already warned that it was observing Turkish preparation for an invasion. Yesterday it launched an alarm drill for the airborne troops and and military transport aviation of its southern command. The 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade in Kamyshin and the 7th Guards Airborne Division at Novorossiysk were put on alarm. Both units are elite and took part in the Chechen wars. Last year a Russian airborne air defense brigade also underwent alarm training. These force, plus additional air force assets, would likely be the Russian response to a Turkish invasion of Syria. They would fight on Syrian, not Turkish ground, and would beat any medium-size Turkish invasion force to pulp. Erdogan is blackmailing the EU with the threat to send hundreds of thousands of refugees. I do not understand why the EU, and especially the German chancellor Merkel, allow such behavior. If the EU, or even Germany alone, would use the available economic thumbscrews on Turkey its economy would scream. A warning to German tourist to not go to Turkey because of the danger of terror attacks would cost Turkey billions per year in income. Credit warnings about over-leveraged Turkish banks could be made. Export credit lines could be shortened. Agricultural imports from Turkey could come under greater scrutiny. Within a year Turkey would lose at least 10% of its GDP. But EU and Merkel seem not to mind to be laughed at by the wannabe Ottoman sultan. The U.S. just snubbed Turkey by declaring that it does not see the Syrian Kurdish YPG as a terrorist organization. Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador over the issue. Erdogan seems to be losing it. He is now the most incalculable factor in the further developments in Syria. But should he invade Syria he can not count on U.S. or NATO support. What is he going to do? Posted by b on February 9, 2016 at 19:29 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page Channel lenders offering exclusive in-branch deals are perplexing brokers. "Every Meridian deal that comes from a broker has to get closed through a servicing branch whether it's plain vanilla residential or construction financing, a broker, who spoke to MortgageBrokerNews.ca on condition of anonymity, said. So the higher up people at Meridian should allow brokers to have access for two reasons: one is the bigger volume and having more consumers being exposed to the brand and two if the deal has get closed through the branch anyway, who cares who is originating it? The comment was in response to a limited time offer at the popular credit union for 1.69% fixed mortgage rate, which is being offered exclusively in Meridian branches. And its a product some brokers would like to be able to offer clients. I send Meridian a few deals every year and they have always been great to work with. Surely they're paying something to their own reps to close this deal, the broker said. Offer a small commission to the broker, say 30 bps, and then cross-sale other products to the consumer which is what Meridian is really looking to do with that kind of short term offer. It isnt the first time the credit union has offered exclusive deals. Meridian launched a limited time 18-month fixed-rate mortgage at 1.49 per cent last April. It was claimed to be the lowest posted mortgage rate in Canadian history at the time. When offered the chance to comment, a Meridian rep reiterated that Given the economics and the limited timing of this offering, we chose to have it offered in branch only. Meridian values our broker partnerships and we continue to offer great mortgage options to this channel including our niche mortgage products like business-for-self and construction mortgages. With a potentially above-average return of 7.2 per cent at a 20 per cent discount, H&R REIT represents an ideal option that can provide a generous yield, according to a Canadian analyst. In an opinion column published by The Motley Fool Canada, investment commentator Kay Ng noted that the share prices of H&R REIT (between $18 and $25 throughout 2015) are benefiting from the major exposure that its Albertan segment is currently experiencing. Ng added that as of last September, the product stands among Canadas largest diversified REITs. H&R REIT covers 512 properties, including industrial, office, retail, and residential assets. A major factor in this dynamic is the continuous oil price drops in the global market, which has weakened domestic purchases while at the same time stimulating substantial investment from foreign nationals due to the prevailing exchange rates. In the third quarter for its Albertan portfolio, 62% of its operating income came from office properties, 33% came from retail properties, and 5% came from industrial properties, Ng observed. Particularly, Encana contributed 72% of its Albertan operating income. Although Encana is BBB rated and its lease expiry is in 2038, its falling earnings and cash flows wont improve until oil prices recover, Ng wrote. Comprising 11.6 per cent of H&R REITs rental income, Encana is among the products leading tenants. Ng concluded that these characteristics make H&R REIT a relatively safe bet in the in the short and medium term. If you believe oil prices will head higher, H&R REIT is a potential investment to hold to get a handsome yield while you wait for its price appreciation, Ng said. A Midland man was arrested in Culberson County Saturday for allegedly cutting a womans throat in Midland, according a press release from the city. The woman is in critical condition at Midland Memorial Hospital from injuries suffered in the incident, according to the release. Esequiel Macias Rivas, 24, was being held Monday at Midland County jail on a $250,000 bond for a first-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a weapon against a family or household member. Midland police responded to the assault at about 6 a.m. Saturday in the 2900 block of West Louisiana Avenue. Macias Rivas had come to the residence and banged repeatedly on the door, yelling for the woman to open the door or he would kill her and her children, according to the affidavit. When the woman opened the door, Macias Rivas pulled her into the hallway and then cut her throat with a knife, according to the affidavit. Her children witnessed the assault, according to the police report. Macias Rivas, who allegedly recently moved out of the residence, then fled the scene. After officers had arrived at the scene, a woman identified as Macias Rivas mother stated that she believed he was going to flee to Georgia or Juarez, Mexico, according to the affidavit. Macias Rivas had allegedly called his mother to say good-bye after the assault, according to the affidavit. By approximately 9 a.m. Saturday Department of Public Safety troopers located Macias Rivas in Culberson County as he was driving at a high rate of speed on Interstate 10. When troopers attempted to stop him, a vehicle pursuit occurred, according to the affidavit. Troopers pursued Macias Rivas into Hudspeth County where he wrecked. He was later transported to Midland County jail. PHILADELPHIA (AP) James Wanda, a senior at Pennsylvanias Lafayette College and one of two black computer science majors in his class, says at times he has felt pressure to succeed not just for himself, but for his entire race. I realized if I fail, in some ways, it means that people might take that as either confirmation that other black students will fail, or as a sign that they might fail, said the 21-year-old from Arlington, Virginia. For black students especially men at many mainstream colleges, these pressures, racial slights and other negative interactions can push them to transfer or even drop out. A new study in the Harvard Educational Review is highlighting how some black male college students are overcoming those challenges, and the reasons for their success. Shaun Harper, a professor and executive director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, surveyed more than 140 students at 30 predominantly white public and private colleges. Among his findings: While high-achieving black male students arent immune from racial stereotypes, they have found a way to push back against them often through taking on confidence-building campus leadership roles that can change perceptions of them among their white peers and faculty. White students get to be students and learn; students of color have to deal with racial stress, Harper said in an interview. As they become more skillful at not internalizing low expectation, it frees them up from this distraction. Columbia University psychology and education professor Derald Wing Sue has researched the stress-producing slights and insensitivities tinged with bigotry, or microaggressions, cited in Harpers study. He said the positive responses outlined in his research are a kind of social activism that gives black men a feeling that they have the ability to impact their environment. A person who is able to be involved in leadership, who speaks out on behalf of change, it really gives them a sense that the locus of control is within them, not others, Sue said. When a microaggression occurs, it assails your racial identity. It tells you that you are a lesser being, that you are impotent, that you dont belong here. Many of the black male students surveyed got their start as campus leaders through involvement in predominantly black organizations before taking on such roles in more mainstream school groups. As they became involved on their campuses, they said, their days were more structured, they were more focused and their grades improved. They would find people in these (mainstream) organizations to be study buddies with, to share notes with, Harper explained. It put them in the company of others who were also succeeding academically. In his four years at Lafayette, a small, private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania, Wanda has served as a resident assistant and president of the computer science and anime clubs. He said he took the leadership roles, in part, to help break down stereotypes. It gave me a sort of way ... to influence and talk to others, Wanda said. Recently, Wanda questioned an exchange he viewed as a racial slight: a white dorm residents dismissal of a rap song he was listening to. As an underclassman, Wanda said he doubts he wouldve challenged the comment. The study challenges white students and leaders at these institutions to confront their biases, so that the responsibility for dispelling myths doesnt fall entirely on black male students. Harper said universities have a role in disrupting environments that perpetuate racial bias, and that this is the most important takeaway from his study. Gary Gordon, a math professor at Lafayette who mentors minority students, recalled a class discussion where race became part of the conversation and he caught himself resisting the urge to ask the lone black student in the class to speak for her race. She was used to that, but I felt terrible, he said. I dont think I do that so much anymore. Online: Black Male College Achievers and Resistant Responses to Racist Stereotypes: http://bit.ly/1Pbq04L A new supplemental learning enterprise is eyeing Midland for late 2016. Best in Class Education Center, a Seattle-based company, provides math and English curriculum, private tutoring, test preparation and other learning services to students of all ages. The franchise will join two other supplemental education companies in Midland -- Sylvan Learning Center, which offers reading, writing, math and test prep education -- and Mathnasium, a math-only learning center. What sets Best in Class apart from competitors like these is the curriculum, said Sharon Peterson, BIC franchise sales director, in a phone interview. A lot of our competitors target just working with high school students or just working with elementary school students, Peterson said. We work with kids from pre-k through 12th grade. Our primary goal is recruiting them from a very young age, so if they start at 4-years-old we get to work with them until theyre getting to apply for their dream college. BIC has had exponential growth, in Texas and California in particular, since its founding by Hao and Lisa Lam in Seattle in 1995. After fleeing communist Vietnam in the 1980s, the Lams arrived in the United States, working to put themselves through school and gained education that changed their lives as former refugees. Thus, educating others became a passion for the Lams, according to the BIC website. Our ability to grow and really develop these successful centers is really because of the recognizable achievements our students have had at our centers, Peterson said. The first BIC center in Texas was opened in Katy in 2013. In the past two months, the franchise has signed for 11 new locations in Texas alone, Peterson said. When selecting viable locations, BIC looks at household income, number of families and competition, Peterson said. There arent too many competitors (in Midland), but there are a few there, which indicates theres a demand and a need for it as well, she said. The core program that all BIC franchisees offer is the mathematics and English enrichment program, which is $120 per month, per subject, Peterson said. Students come in once a week for a 75-minute session. The maximum student-teacher ratio is eight students to one teacher, who is required to be licensed and certified. The first thing we do with a child when they come to us is we give them an assessment to see where they are at (in math and English), Peterson said. Whether theyre extremely far ahead and theyre just not getting challenged enough in school, or theyre very far behind and really need that remedial and extra help -- we can help students of all levels. (With the student-teacher ratio) theyre really getting that personalized attention for a very cost-effective price. So were very affordable, our material is very effective." If a child needs help in another subject such as history or science, BIC offers private tutoring. Another program that sets BIC apart, Peterson said, is the teacher- incentive program, which began in November of last year. This incentivizes teachers to start BIC centers in their communities for a reduced franchising cost and waived royalties for the first three months. We love working with educators, theyre passionate about children, Peterson said. Our teacher-incentive program has been really effective and beneficial for us and our franchisees. Belle and Arvinder Kainth just purchased a center in Houston, which they expect to open in the next three or four months. The Kainths chose Best in Class over centers such as Sylvan Learning and Kumon Math and Reading because of the companys community-mindedness, affordability and curriculum. Arvinder is now retired and Belle has worked in education for most of her career and they wanted to find a way to give back, they said in a phone interview. When we went to look at Sylvan it looked top heavy, geared toward making money, Arvinder Kainth said. If we had children of our own there, we would find it pretty expensive. We werent given a straight answer on a per-hour basis. Its OK for people who can afford it, but for the general public, people like us, its not. We were looking to give something back to the children. The Kainths had sent their son to Kumon while he was growing up, but he quickly grew tired of the repetitiveness of the curriculum. Their daughter also tried Kumon for her children, Kainth said. We felt (they) didnt learn any problem-solving, didnt learn critical thinking and it was just repetitiveness all the time, Kainth said. We thought, Well, thats no good for them to grow into the market with. Critical thinking and problem-solving are the two most important things you can have. We just had a great feeling about the Best in Class. The whole team is absolutely brilliant. We cant brag about them highly enough, really. Every franchisee weve talked to around the country and here in Texas, theyve given us any and all information we could have possibly wanted. Its like a big family and thats what we like. DENTON -- Midlander Christina Diane Flores graduated from the University of North Texas during winter commencement. She received a bachelors of business administration in marketing. * * * AUSTIN -- U.S. Army veteran Lance Lynn of Midland has received a Salute to Veterans Scholarship from Western Governors University Texas, an online university. Lynn, who completed two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, is working toward a degree in information technology - network administration, according to a press release from WGU. * * * Lee High School students Braden Alford and Anuj Mocherla received Distinguished Delegate awards at the State Youth and Government Conference, which was Jan.28-31 in Austin. The award is the highest honor a student can receive at the annual event, according to information provided by Midland ISD. Alford introduced in the House of Representatives a bill that called for property tax reduction for homeowners who use solar as their primary power source. It was passed in the House and Senate and signed by the youth governor. Mocherla participated in the Senate. Other students participated in county court, broadcast and print media. A total of 22 LHS students attended the conference. * * * GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Midlander Jared Nelson has been named to the Deans List for the fall semester at Grove City College To be eligible, students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.4. After finally announcing the release date for Ransom 2, Mike WiLL Made-It recently revealed that the project had been delayed for a special contribution from Gucci Mane, who was slated to host the compilation. On Sunday (Feb. 7), the Atlanta-based producer revealed that the Feds shut down the incarcerated rappers plans to contribute. He also said that Beyonce's "Formation" was the real reason behind the project's delay. Kicking off a series of tweets, Mike WiLL told his followers that he had to push back Ransom 2 to make sure everything was A1 on his end for Beyonces surprise new single, which he produced. He followed up adding that Gucci will not host the project from jail, as originally intended, and that Ransom 2 is now officially an album. Mike WiLL capped off his tweets announcing that his Trap Tape, presumably a collab with Gucci, will be released once the rapper is free. Prior to sharing the release date, he put out a collaboration with Future named after civil rights activist Al Sharpton as well as a new track by Rae Sremmurd, titled "By Chance." Both tracks are expected to be featured on Ransom 2. The first installment of Ransom, which dropped in December 2014, featured a slew of guest spots by artists like Juicy J, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Chief Keef, 2 Chainz, DeJ Loaf, Young Thug and Migos. Ransom also included contributions from up-and-coming artists like Key!, Yung Joey, Eearz and Bankroll Fresh. Aside from his forthcoming album, Mike WiLL has also been working on Rae Sremmurd's sophomore release, SremmLife 2. Back in December, Slim Jxmmi confirmed that the album would drop in February. Its gonna be banger after banger after slapper, he said. The other half of the duo, Swae Lee, co-wrote Formation. To see it all rollout & be so A1, salute Bey, HOV, Big Jon, & her whole team. Mike WiLL Made-It (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) February 8, 2016 But when in Rome, live in Rome. New deals on the line & prior agreements etc... Mike WiLL Made-It (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) February 8, 2016 Saying all this to say. #RANSOM2 is now officially an album. Coming very very very soon. Mike WiLL Made-It (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) February 8, 2016 My "Trap Tape" is still coming once the Trap God comes home.#FreeGucci Mike WiLL Made-It (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) February 8, 2016 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Flava Flav is pleading no contest to a driving under the influence charge stemming from an incident in Las Vegas. This past Monday (Feb. 8) Flav pleaded no contest to the charges against him, which was also the second plea in two weeks that involved charges in the state of Nevada. Flava Flav, whose given name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr. is a 56-year-old rapper and television star who scored a notable hit with his show Flava of Love back in the mid-2000s. When police pulled Flav over this past May, the TV personality did admit to having some remaining marijuana residue in his system according to Billboard. Drayton lives in Las Vegas. The other charge stemmed from a DUI involving marijuana when the television star was found asleep at the wheel parked on a side street this past August. His defense attorney, David Figler, helped Drayton plead no contest to the charges, although he was fined for the incident. Las Vegas judge Suzan Baucum fined Drayton $685 per incident and also instructed him to attend DUI school as well as a victim impact panel in order to meet his plea requirements. The hype man was also caught speeding near the McCarran International Airport on May 21, which instigated the plea in Las Vegas. Drayton seems to be plagued by charges of this nature and according to SPIN, was also heavily fined for speeding in Long Island in January of 2014. He paid a whopping fine of $3,600 in that case. There were also some darker charges against the rapper and television star, when he had felony charges brought against him for threatening a second party (his girlfriend's teenage son) with a kitchen knife in a domestic dispute in October 2012. In that case, Drayton was instructed to complete a domestic violence course and ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery charges. 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ST. PAUL, Minn. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its 2016 Work Plan today, which includes $4.5 million in funding for a sewer project in northern Minnesota. The Island View Sanitary Sewer Extension Project is located near Rainy Lake in Koochiching County, Minnesota. The project, which is covered under the Corps Environmental Infrastructure Assistance Program, will install permanent systems to replace the failing septic tanks in the gateway communities to the open waters of northern Minnesota. Bordering Canada, these open waters are of national and international significance, and the local communities are working to preserve the water quality and prevent contamination from failing septic tanks. The project design is already 95 percent complete using Koochiching County funds, and the county has secured $8.35 million from the state of Minnesota. The $4.5 million in federal funding through the Corps Environmental Infrastructure Program, also known in Minnesota as the Section 569 program, will provide all the remaining funds needed to complete the project. The project will be beneficial to the Voyageur National Park, as it will connect to a new sewer line to be installed outside the park boundaries. The work plan listing the amounts provided to various programs, projects and activities for each of the four appropriations accounts can be found at http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/Budget.aspx. 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. -30- We have independently selected these offers and products because we love them and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links. Items are Please enable JavaScript to experience the functionality of this website. - MWEB Sarkodie should have been bigger than ... Microphone and US Flag View Photos New York Rep. John Katko delivered this weeks Republican address, talking about visa waiver laws. Katko was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words: In todays interconnected world, hundreds of thousands of people enter and leave our country every day. One of the greatest security challenges we face is eliminating vulnerabilities in our visa system so terrorists cant slip into our country. In December, we passed a law to tighten the rules of our Visa Waiver Program so terrorists could not use it to come to the United States. The program allows people from certain countries to come here for up to 90 days without a visa. This is to make it easier for tourists and business people from friendly countries like Canada and Britain to come here. And on the whole, the program works very well. But ISIS has been recruiting people from these very same countries. So as a precaution, we added a new rule: If you have traveled to a country with significant terrorist activitylike Iraq, Iran, or Sudanany time after 2011, you are not eligible for the program and must apply for a visa. We negotiated this requirement with the administration, and the president signed it into law. Unfortunately, the administration is now carving loopholes into the law. Last month, the administration announced that it would grant waivers to people engaged in journalism, humanitarian work, or, for people traveling to Iraq or Iran, legitimate business-related purposes. These waivers have no basis in law. In fact, members of Congress explicitly rejected this idea when negotiating the bill with the administration. The bill we passed allows the secretary of Homeland Security to offer waivers for law enforcement or national security reasons only. But it is not at all clear how granting a waiver to a New York Times reporter is in our law enforcement or national security interests. Thats why Congress is pressing this administration for a full report on who exactly are getting these waivers. We expect, at a minimum, the name and nationality of each traveler; the explicit, detailed national security or law enforcement justification for granting the waiver; and the number of people who are asking for and using these waivers in each category. I am a former federal prosecutor, and I can tell you a law is only as good as how you enforce it. This is not a time to start lowering our guard. And we should not put Irans feelings before Americas security interests. This law is a common sense measure we need to keep us safe, and we House Republicans will do all we can to make sure the administration enforces it in full. Thank you. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM. Marijuana Grow Site View Photos Mariposa, CA A man from Mexico was sentenced to five years in a federal court for illegally growing marijuana on public land in Mariposa County. 40-year-old Juan Pedro Jimenez was taken into custody this past July when he was found at an illegal marijuana grow site on Chowchilla Mountain in the Sierra National Forest. 6,919 marijuana plants were located in the area, as well as fertilizer, trash, water lines and propane tanks. According to federal documents, the cultivation activities caused notable damage to the land and natural resources. Native trees and plants were cut down and steep hillsides were terraced to plant the marijuana. The investigation into the incident was carried out by the Mariposa County Sheriffs Office and U.S. Forest Service. This past week in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump showed off his Bull pride by holding up a USF T-shirt with a group of University of South Florida St. Pete students. By Friday, Trump will be speaking to students and thousands of others at USF in Tampa when he holds a rally at the Sun Dome. Tickets for the rally are still available. Student Richie Marini went online to get one. "I want to see how he does with college age students," Marini said. USF Professor Judith Ann McLauchlan is not surprised voters want to attend Trump's rally. "It's not surprising that folks in our area who haven't got to see him yet are eager to start sizing him up and see what he's really like in person," McLauchlan said. This will be Trump's first visit to Tampa as a presidential candidate. He visited Sarasota in November. Doors to the rally open at 5 p.m. Friday. The event starts at 7 p.m. For more information or to get tickets go to http://www.sundomearena.com/events/detail/donald-j-trump-presidential-rally. Florida Presidential Primary coverage Less than 20 percent of children in Osceola County are academically prepared for their first day of elementary school. But a brand new app aims to increase childrens literacy rate countywide. Ileana Mendez-Szasz and her two-year-old Broderick are already thinking about the future. I want him to be able to be ready for school, she said. The Osceola School District along with the county, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, and the Education Foundation are coming together to give parents a tool to push early literacy. Its called Osceola Reads Footsteps 2 Brilliance. We believe that it will also encourage parents to become involved with this early learning, said school board member Kelvin Soto. The reason is because we know the popularity that apps and mobile devices have. The app can be used with any electronic device and is free to all families in Osceola. Right now, only 13 percent of children in Osceola County are ready for kindergarten. With families coming from Puerto Rico and other places, Soto said English is a second language for many children in the district. It is a bilingual application and it recognizes the duality of languages that a lot of our community has, stated Soto. So it doesnt just help young students learn English but it also strengthens their understanding and knowledge of Spanish. Its something different, its something that helps educate. Its something that is fundamental to a learning curve that our children need to receive at a really early age, said Mendez-Szasz. This mom added that its never too early to start. Osceola Reads formally rolls out in a couple of weeks. The kick off for the app is on February 24 at 8:30 a.m. at Ross E. Jeffries Elementary in St. Cloud. A Volusia County Sheriffs Office K-9 who was shot while responding to a domestic disturbance was honored Tuesday for his heroic efforts. K-9 Endo was shot in the neck Nov. 5, 2015 when he and his handler, Deputy Brett Whitson, responded to a disturbance at a home on Buttonwood Avenue in Deltona. Investigators said Endo was struck after Marlon McCray, 39, fired at deputies. The Sheriffs Office said even after being shot, Endo remained vigilant and poised and was willing to re-engage the armed, fleeing suspect to protect the lives of his fellow deputies. McCray was later found dead in nearby woods from a self-inflicted gunshot, the Sheriffs Office said. K-9 Endo is now back at work and for his exceptional bravery, service and dedication, the 4-year-old German Shepherd was awarded a Purple Heart and Medal of Valor from Sheriff Ben Johnson. Endos K-9 handler, Deputy Brett Whitson, was also honored as the Sheriffs Offices Deputy of the Quarter. Sheriff Johnson also presented the Outstanding Citizenship Award to the DeLand Animal Hospital for treating Endos bullet wound and helping him to make a full recovery. Sheriff Johnson also presented the Outstanding Citizenship Award to the DeLand Animal Hospital for treating Endos bullet wound and helping him to make a full recovery. Deputy Brett Whitson and K-9 Endo (Volusia County Sheriff's Office) NASA would get slightly less of the federal budget this coming fiscal year. President Obama sent a $19 billion request to Congress on Tuesday, down from $19.3 billion last year. But experts say it should be enough to keep the agency's deep space and commercial ventures on the right course -- $8.5 billion would go to the Human Exploration Program. That includes funding for the space agency's major projects like the Space Launch System and Orion Capsule which will send astronauts to Mars in the 2030's and money for the commercial crew program -- including for private companies like SpaceX and Boeing's efforts to ferry crew to the International Space Station. Some $5 billion would be spent on operations to keep the ISS running. Coverage from the Space Coast: Headlines, Launch Schedule, Resources NASA Administrator Charles Bolden addressed a crowd at the agency's Langley Research Center in his State of NASA speech Tuesday. "And because we are closer today than ever before in human history to sending American astronauts to the Red Planet. The state of our NASA is strong," Bolden said. The President also proposed to keep paying the Russians $70 million for astronauts to hitch rides on Soyuz rockets bound for the ISS, until the U.S. can send our own people up on commercial rockets. NASA has selected both Boeing and SpaceX to build spacecraft to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Since the retirement of the space shuttle about five years ago, the United States has paid Russia more than $70 million for a seat to send astronauts to the space station. The Republican-controlled Congress might have other plans for NASA, since they control the purse strings, though. Congress is expected to vote on the 2017 fiscal budget in November. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A number of emergency medical personnel above the Lubbock County line brought home some well-deserved honors in their fields this past Saturday as the South Plains Emergency Medical Service (SPEMS) organization held their annual conference. Local first responders were recognized at the event including Hale Center EMS Director Matt Carter, who was named the 2016 EMS Administrator of the Year. Carter has worked with the Hale Center organization for more than five years and has served as their director for more than a year and half. "He came in and took over that organization as a young man and really changed it around," said SPEMS regional coordinator Jim Waters. "He's doing a fantastic job and is keeping that EMS stable, which is sometimes difficult to do in rural areas." Carter was on hand at the event to accept the award. "I'm just very proud to receive this award," Carter said. "It's an amazing achievement to bring this back to this amazing community. Thanks to my family for being patient and understanding, and thanks to the crew that I have the pleasure of working with. A special thanks to SPEMS as well as the city of Hale Center for being such a supporting community. And it's been a pleasure working with the amazing paramedics EMTs outside of our community." For their efforts in advancing EMS education in the South Plains region, SPEMS also honored the hard work of brothers Tyeson and Mason Powers. Tyeson and Mason are the 28-year-old twin sons of Plainview Fire Chief Rusty Powers, who has also won this award in the past. Both Powers brothers are currently paramedics at the University Medical Center in Lubbock. When they are not saving the lives of those in the Hub City, the two are busy teaching life-saving skills to members of rural West Texas. With deep ties in Olton, Tyeson and Mason offer EMS education classes in the community. The classes are attended by EMT hopefuls from across the region. The courses are designed to ensure that communities across the South Plains, especially smaller towns, are able to provide adequate medical capabilities to their citizens. "It feels really great to get this honor," said Tyeson. "It really means a lot to us, especially knowing that our father won this award before." Both brothers have been paramedics for the past nine years and were teenagers when they became certified emergency medical technicians. Earning the 2016 Volunteer Provider of the Year award was Petersburg's Volunteer Emergency Medical Service led by paramedic Kevin Layton. The award honors an organization staffed primarily by volunteers that assumed a leadership role in EMS by achievement in areas of patient care, public access, medical control, disaster preparedness, public education, and training. Emergency Medical Technician of the Year went to Floydada EMT Rhonda Guthrie. The award honors the EMT-B who has excelled in the areas of patient care, service to their EMS organization, service to the community and service to EMS in the South Plains Region. Earning this year's Scott Murry Lifetime Achievement Award was Allen Gray, who currently works for Abernathy's Emergency Medical Service. The award honors an individual who has spent a lifetime of dedication to patient care. It is the intent for this award to be given to an outstanding individual who has either given the ultimate sacrifice or has given many years of service and contributions to emergency medical services in their community. Feb. 9, 1946: A prefabricated all-steel building is en route by rail to Plainview from St. Louis for erection as headquarters for Consolidated Fabrication, Inc., according to Jim Hoffmann. It will be erected at 1202 Date St. The company specializes in making cooling towers of redwood. --Funeral services were held Wednesday at College Heights Baptist Church for Elton W. Swift, 23, who died Monday in a freak farming accident. He was penned beneath a tractor when it overturned on the B.F. Jarvis farm, six miles west of Plainview. --A committee appointed by Mayor J.N. Jordan is to select a site in the Seventh Street Park for the new Girls Scout headquarters building. That group includes L.M. Frogge, W.C. Malone and C.H. Hancock. They are to report their decision at the next council meeting. Feb. 9, 1956: Floyd County farmers will meet in the District Courtroom in Floydada on Feb. 16 to organize a Floyd County unit of cotton growers, according to Lockney banker and cotton grower Bill McClaskey. --The annual Hale County Cotton Production Banquet has been set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Hilton Hotel, according to B.F. Yates, assistant county agent. The banquet is sponsored by Hale County ginners. --Americas First Boys Ranch, Amarillo, has been given a new intercom system connecting each classroom in its building along with a new clock and bell system by the Liberty Community Center of Plainview. The community sold its buildings and used the proceeds to buy the equipment for Boys Ranch. Feb. 9, 1966: Reita Tallen, Georgie Cobb and Dottie Poston are now associated with Haute Coiffure, 1403-B W. Fifth St. Owners and operators are Curtis Spearman and John DeLeon. --Joe Lyndon Foster, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Foster, received a B.S. degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene during January commencement exercises. --Wilburn Ussery of Ussery Sheet Metal, Plainview, was among about 250 Southwestern air conditioning dealers attending a recent meeting in Dallas, hosted by Carrier Air Conditioning Co. Feb. 9, 1986: Susan Alayne Bryan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Boyce Bryan, and Tonya Suzanne Clark, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Clark, have been named to the Deans List at McMurry College. --Plainviews Brent Barton, a 6-4, 230-pound linebacker, has committed to attend Texas Tech. He was a first-team All-State pick and is the first Bulldog to verbally commit to play college ball this season. --Dr. Mary Karen Clardy, a Plainview native, will be one of the guest artists performing with Plainviews Symphony of the Llano Estacado on Feb. 11 in Harral Auditorium. A 1970 PHS graduate, she is flute instructor in the School of Music at North Texas State University at Denton. Shes the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.W. King Jr. Compiled by Doug McDonough Several highway accidents were reported Monday due to a storm that was expected to bring up to six inches of snow locally. Three to six inches of snow were projected to fall, according to Meteorologist Gary Lessor of the Western Connecticut State University Weather Center. Light snow continued into the evening Monday. Lessor said that on Monday afternoon snow was not accumulating because high pressure from northern New England was ridging south. High pressure is not good for a storm, kind of takes humidity away from it, Lessor said. On Interstate 91 southbound, a jackknifed tractor trailer closed three lanes between exits 10 and 12 Monday afternoon, according to the state DOT. Traffic was backed up to exit 15. About 12:30 p.m., an overturned charter bus closed Interstate 95 northbound between exits 61 and 62, according to the state DOT. About thirty of 70 people on board were injured, according to the Associated Press. Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said Monday afternoon the highways were in reasonably good shape. For a motorist traveling at appropriate speeds, they shouldnt have any trouble getting about, Nursick said. Nursick said additional snowfall could cause delays. Take it slow, give yourselves more time to get to your destinations, he said. The biggest problem when it comes to winter weather is a driver in a rush. Meriden public works director Bob Bass said Monday afternoon main roads were more suitable for travel than residential streets. Bass added roads were pre-treated Monday morning and were being plowed throughout the day. My guys have been out almost the entire day, he said. As of Monday night, six accidents had been reported in Meriden, according to Meriden police website MeridenP2C.com. Wallingford police said there were nine reported accidents. Meriden, Wallingford, Southington and Cheshire each issued parking bans Monday. Schools in Meriden, Wallingford, Southington and Cheshire canceled classes Monday. Meriden School Superintendent Mark Benigni said he hopes to have school Tuesday. Were gonna participate in a couple conference calls tomorrow and will make a decision accordingly at that time, he said. Southington School Superintendent Timothy Connellan said a decision will be made on whether to have school between 4 and 5 a.m. Tuesday. Hopefully the snow tapers off and all of the roads, walkways and parking lots can be cleared on time for a regular day, Connellan said in an email. Information from the Associated Press was used in this story. ltauss@record-journal.com 203-317-2231 Twitter: @LeighTaussRJ A historic fire station near the intersection of Alamo Street and Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard will soon become part of the Southtown culinary scene. Andrew Goodman, owner of the Southtown restaurant Feast, plans to spend $550,000 to turn the two-story building into a restaurant, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Renovation work is expected to begin in March and last until October. Forty days is a long time to go without something you love. But when it comes to deciding what to give up for Lent, Pope Francis has some advice: Try to think outside yourself. The Lenten season is a solemn one which prepares Christians for the annual acknowledgement of Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends Holy Thursday, totaling 40 days. While it's become popular to use this time to cut back on carbs or chocolate, Pope Francis has suggested giving up indifference toward others. Its a scene that may only happen at Garner State Park: Camping under the stars, two-stepping on an old outdoor dancefloor and instantly freezing as soon as your kneecaps meet the Frio River. That experience never gets old to the thousands of Texans that visit the park each year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A jury sentenced a 42-year-old Guadalupe County man to 892 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting five children. Edward Navarro was convicted Thursday on eight counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child and a two counts of indecency with a child, according to News4SanAntonio. RELATED: Police arrest boyfriend on sexual assault charge following death of 15-year-old girl in South Texas The time hes received in prison will be run consecutively, meaning he must serve out one sentence in full before serving another sentence, according to the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. Navarro will be in prison for the rest of his life. Police first learned of his actions in 2014 when an outcry occurred. This spurred a string of arrests in November 2014, including Navarro, his brother and four other suspects. RELATED: Orange County youth pastor to be sentenced again for child sexual assault The first victim who reported the abuse told police the assault occurred when she was about 14 years old. The police learned of four other victims. They learned of incidents and sexual acts involving both male and female children between the ages of 6 and 14, beginning as early as 1995, according to the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise. RELATED: Bexar County juvenile probation officer accused of sexual assault of a child Some of those victims are still children now male and female and through investigation, I learned of more, Det. Lance Wright told the Seguin newspaper. Click through the slideshow to see a collection of photos of Texas Most Wanted Sex Offenders. twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Travis County prosecutor accused of drunken driving tried to drive away after she crashed into a parked car over the weekend, according to Austin police. Officers arrested Erika Arroyo Hansen, 37, at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday after responding to a call that she had crashed into the car on the city's East Side. RELATED: Central Texas sheriff's deputy had open vodka bottle in cruiser while on duty, charged with DWI The caller told police that Hansen's 2010 Hyundai sedan was "revving its engine and appeared to be attempting to leave the scene," according to an arrest affidavit. Hansen told officers that she had been driving at around 25 to 35 mph before she was distracted and hit the vehicle. The crash had happened 25 minutes prior to their arrival, police said in the affidavit. RELATED: Nearly 50 suspects, including teacher and umpire, arrested in Central Texas prostitution sting Hansen submitted to a blood alcohol test, which showed her driving with a level more than twice the legal limit: 0.19. The officer also noted that Hansen was swaying and smelled strongly of alcohol, the affidavit said. She also had mumbled speech and bloodshot eyes. RELATED: Police: East Texas man stole car from Taco Bueno parking lot after applying for job there Hansen was booked into Travis County Jail that morning but was released Sunday afternoon, the Austin American-Statesman reported. John Neal, first assistant district attorney in Travis County, told the American-Statesman that the office had not placed Hansen on leave as of Monday. Hansen has been with the office for about a year prosecuting felony domestic violence cases, according to the American-Statesman. This isn't the first time a Travis County prosecutor has come under fire for driving while intoxicated: District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg sparked a political maelstrom after her drunken driving arrest in April 2013, prompting then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry to veto $7.5 million to the office's Public Integrity Unit. Perry was indicted in August 2014 on charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The latter charge was later dismissed. jfechter@mySA.com Twitter: @JFreports One of the most jarring images to resurface the carnage that occurred on the U.S.-Mexico border more than a century ago is a 1910s postcard titled 'Dead Mexican Bandits.' Three Texas Rangers are perched on their horses, standing over the dead bodies of four Tejanos of Mexican descent; the Ranger seem to have killed them at random in retaliation. This bloody state-sanctioned racial violence is the crux of "Life and Death on the Border, 1910-1920," an exhibit at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin intended to provoke dialogue on border security. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A new criminal organization wants to "clean out" one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels, according to banners hung around the city of Zamora over the weekend. RELATED: Graphic photo of dead father clutching baby killed in Mexican drug gang shootout ignites outrage The organization calling itself the "Nueva Familia" wrote on banner messages that there will be a "cleaning out" of members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to Insight Crime. "Nueva Familia" also pledged to target other criminals including extortionists, kidnappers, robbers, rapists and assassins, the website said. RELATED: The crazy reasons Mexican drug cartel leaders got busted or killed Photos published by El Blog Del Narco on Saturday show apparent members of the new organization wearing masks and holding guns. Banners signed by the organization are also shown, bearing a seal with eight white stars and the initials "L. N. F." on top of two assault rifles that form an "X." RELATED: 3 Mexican cartel 'sicarios' arrested near Texas border, suspected of 5 murders Mexican intelligence officials told El Universal that the messages were circulated by an organization called the Viagras and a splinter cell of the Knights Templar cartel, considered an enemy of the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Both criminal organizations are at war as they try to gain control of the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacan. The Jalisco New Generation cartel is relatively new as far as cartels go, forming from the ashes of the Milenio Cartel following the 2009 capture by Mexican authorities of Oscar Nava Valencia. The Knights Templar cartel itself is an offshoot of the Familia Michoacana cartel after its leader Nazario Moreno was reportedly killed in a gunfight with police in December 2010. However, Mexican authorities didn't actually kill Moreno until a gunfight with the cartel leader in Tumbiscatio in March 2014. jfechter@mySA.com Twitter: @JFreports When Pope Francis visited the United States in September, he called this country to its better self pulling no punches in his respectful, prayerful and thoughtful way. He reminded us of our moral responsibilities on everything from inequality to family to the environment and immigration. He should be similarly frank during his upcoming visit to five Mexican cities, including Ciudad Juarez. The visit begins Friday and ends Feb. 17, with a Mass at the border. On matters of social justice, Mexico like the United States would do well to listen. Mexico is beset with violence, needless loss of life, corruption that apparently reaches to the highest levels, an absence of rule of law, and weak social institutions combining to make life very difficult for ordinary Mexicans. Mexico and Mexicans cannot be defined solely by the circumstances inflicted by the powerful drug cartels there. There are better selves obviously existing in Mexico. But these circumstances imperil security and quality of life for those not even remotely associated with the drug trade. Mexico, during its revolution and after, has had its conflicts with the Catholic Church. There was the Cristero War a 1926-to-1929 insurrection that occurred after President Plutarco Elias Calles tried to impose the anti-clerical provisions of his countrys 1917 Constitution. But the country, in large part, still views itself as Catholic, as does much of Latin America. We suspect that the present and future will be on Pope Francis mind more than the past. And the present, fraught with danger and inequities, threatens Mexicos future. That these words will be spoken by a fellow Latin American the pope is Argentinian may make them resonate more. Even if the pope says nothing of U.S. immigration policies and rhetoric during his visit to the border, the symbolism will be there. And something else will be as well. On one side of the border lies the vast market on which the cartels on the other side depend for their very existence. It is a symbiotic relationship that is destructive to both, and if the pope addresses this, there will be a message for both. Historically, culturally and economically, it cannot be any other way for countries as intertwined as Mexico and the United States. Pope Francis represents a moral force respected throughout the world. On matters of social justice and just plain justice we hope the powers in each country will be open to the words he speaks during his visit to Mexico and the border. Biosensors on demand (Nanowerk News) Biosensors are powerful tools in synthetic biology for engineering metabolic pathways or controlling synthetic and native genetic circuits in bacteria. Scientists have had difficulty developing a method to engineer designer biosensor proteins that can precisely sense and report the presence of specific molecules, which has so far limited the number and variety of biosensor designs able to precisely regulate cell metabolism, cell biology, and synthetic gene circuits. But new research published in Nature Methods ("Engineering an allosteric transcription factor to respond to new ligands") by a team at Harvards Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has leveraged combination of computational protein design, in vitro synthesis and in vivo testing to establish a first-of-its-kind strategy for identifying custom-tailored biosensors. "Our original motivation for developing customizable biosensors was to get a life or death feedback loop for metabolic engineering," said George Church, Ph.D., Wyss Institute Core Faculty member, Professor of Genetics at HMS, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the senior author on the study. "This would essentially give us 'Darwinian evolution on steroids', where colonies of bacteria genetically programmed to output a desirable commodity molecule would rapidly become more efficient from generation to generation as only the best metabolic producers will be 'self-identified' for survival." "This advance represents a powerful new way for us to access the chemical diversity of the biosphere by mining for new pathways to make useful molecules," said Srivatsan Raman, Ph.D., formerly a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and HMS and currently Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is the corresponding author on the study. To develop the method, researchers chose as their test case a natural regulatory protein from E. coli called LacI. LacI is an allosteric transcription factor (aTF), which becomes active in response to sensing "inducer" metabolites or molecules in the bacteriums environment, thereby triggering expression of a downstream gene. Using LacI, the team set out to develop a framework for re-engineering new biosensor variants that would respond to four inducer molecules (lactitol, sucralose, gentiobiose, and fucose) that cannot be metabolized by natural E. coli. Sucralose, for example, is a completely synthetic sugar molecule sold commercially as Splenda. To synthesize and identify the custom-made LacI variants for sensing these four new inducers, the team designed a novel workflow incorporating a combinatorial synthesis strategy that relies on computational protein design and the Wyss Institutes custom DNA synthesis resources to build a variant library of potential new biosensor designs comprising hundreds of thousands of mutated LacI proteins. Then, to identify the variants with the most specific responses to the four target molecules of interest, the team engineered groups of E. coli bacteria to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) when the desired molecule was detected, thereby making the bacteria fluoresce. Performing high-throughput in vivo screening of the sensor library in the engineered E. coli, the team identified the most effective variants by their high fluorescence, then filtered them out and genetically sequenced them to reveal the DNA profiles and design maps for transforming aTFs into custom-tailored sensors with high specificity. The results are striking in that an optimized engineered aTF sensor can be identified for sensing any arbitrary molecule using this approach, opening new doors in synthetic biology by putting allosteric proteins in the control of genetic engineers. "The LacI protein we chose to re-design into a custom biosensor is only one of thousands of different allosteric transcription factors that exist in nature," said Noah Taylor, a graduate researcher at the Wyss Institute who recently finished his Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at HMS, and the first author on the study. "The ability to engineer LacI using nothing more than sequence and structure information suggests we could find tens, hundreds, or even thousands of other biosensors that respond to different molecules." Biosensors built using this approach provide feedback on how much of a certain metabolite is present inside a cell. Metabolically engineered bacteria can be outfitted with these custom aTFs, enabling them to monitor their own bioproduction of a desired chemical, pharmaceutical or biofuel. This allows sophisticated designs in which the lack of sufficient product could result in the death of an individual cell, eliminating it from the culture. In this way, powerful evolutionary methods can be harnessed for metabolic engineering. Sensitive detection of metabolites within cells also presents a new paradigm for the way scientists can interrogate single cells. Until now, it has been very challenging to study the metabolic state of a single individual cell. But designer biosensors could be utilized as custom responders to metabolites of interest, giving insight into the metabolic states of live cells in close to real time. "We are now utilizing the method to find biosensors for a variety of high-value targets, particularly those that can aid in protecting the environment," said Alexander Garruss, co-author on the study, who is a graduate researcher at the Wyss Institute and a Ph.D. candidate in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at HMS. Beyond measuring metabolites within cells, the combinatorial synthesis approach paves a path forward toward designing countless new and highly specific biological sensors for novel applications such as environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, bioremediation, and precision gene therapies. SHARE Truly Nolen Pest Control said six of its service offices, including Naples, have been recognized as 2015 Angie's List Super Service Award winners. Appointments The Women's Network of Collier County 2016 board of directors includes President Rosalia Podolak, Vice President Amber Phillips, Secretary Jill Dixon and Treasurer Amy Blair. Events Bob Edwards, managing directorinvestments, senior PIM portfolio manager of Moran Edwards Asset Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, will host a seminar titled, "Meet the Portfolio Manager," at 2 p.m. Friday at the Naples Daily News Community Room, 1100 Immokalee Road. Reservations: 239-513-2511 To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com. Mackenson Vilius, from left, Lindoo Blemur and Medache Genelus of Latite Roofing load tile onto a roof on Ferrari Ave. Lance Shearer/Special to the Daily News It took the wisdom of Alexander the Great, who had studied under Aristotle, who had studied under Plato, who had studied under Socrates, to undo The Gordian Knot, the intractable puzzle of mythology. For a hundred years the knot remained tied with the promise that whoever solved it would go on to rule Asia. In 333 B.C. Alexander came up with a solution and the rest is ancient history. Collier County's modern leaders are faced with their own version of the knot. Affordable housing, housing within financial reach of not just the poor but even young professionals and seasoned service workers, eludes the county just as the answer to the knot eluded thousands who came before Alexander. On March 1 Collier County commissioners will conduct an affordable housing workshop to try to find an Alexandrian solution. They'll need to confront issues that, while hardly 100 years old, have bedeviled their predecessors on the board for more than a decade. Among them: # Land prices in coastal Collier County are simply too high to expect affordable housing will be built there. That pushes the housing to the east, where there is a sentiment that neighborhoods are being burdened with housing that is not up to the standards of the coastal county. In a commentary last week, Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala responded to a suggestion that county owned land just east of the Naples City line would be a good spot for apartments geared to moderate income renters. "When an area is covered with low-income housing, do we really need more for that same area?" she asked. In reality, affordable housing will go where land prices are conducive to affordability. The key is to recognize that "affordable" doesn't necessarily equate to "blight." # Out east there's lots of land available for less expensive housing. In Ave Maria, for example, homes can be purchased for $200,000. A married couple with a household income of $70,000 a year could afford such a home. That should fit in the budget of the teachers, first responders and store managers we hear so much about when affordable housing is discussed. But it's a long, sometimes arduous, drive into town. One solution is to place more businesses and places of employment to the east, diminishing the need for so many trips. But a determined group of residents in Golden Gate Estates will always fight that idea. They moved out east to be away from urban life and have no desire to see shopping centers or offices popping up. # People complain about traffic. But where is it written you have a right to a house close to everything? How many people in New York, Chicago or even Miami face a commute of an hour or more each way just to get to work? # And about those roads. As more people move in, we'll need more of them. More schools, parks, water plants and fire stations to boot. It isn't fair to ask people who've lived here for years to foot the bill for infrastructure to accommodate new arrivals. So the county levies impact fees among the highest in the state to pay for it. Builders pass the impact fees on to customers, driving up the cost of a house. For someone buying a $1 million home, an extra $25,000 in impact fees might not make much of a difference. But when a $200,000 home becomes a $225,000 home, potential buyers, like that married couple making $70,000 can be priced out, or at the very least, stretched even thinner financially. # Diversifying the economy is an important step in creating good-paying jobs that allow people to afford a house. But without affordable housing for their employees already in place, companies are reluctant to relocate here. # Not everyone in need of housing is looking to buy a house. Plenty of people making $25,000 a year would love to find an apartment to rent for less than $1,000 per month. There just aren't very many of them. Apartments went out of style in Naples in the latter half of the last decade. In the housing boom going on then there was a rush to convert apartments into condominiums. That took hundreds of units off the rental market. The recession that hit in 2009 killed any enthusiasm to build new apartment complexes. Can that enthusiasm be rekindled? # Although builders say the situation has gotten better, Collier County is still known as a place where it is takes a long time and a lot of effort to get a building permit. Satisfying environmental concerns and meeting architectural and landscaping requirements add to the cost of construction. These could be reduced, but Collier County's environment and its look are part of the quality of life that draw people here. How much of it can be sacrificed in the name of affordability? # Government involvement, in the form of land donations for builders or down payment assistance for buyers, is a way to lower the cost of housing. But Collier County is conservative by nature and the idea of government injecting itself into the free market goes against the grain. When Collier County did have an affordable housing trust fund it never got around to spending any of the money collected. # Effectively addressing affordable housing will come about only when a critical mass of commitment is reached among government and builders. But history shows that it takes time for that critical mass to accumulate. In 2008, there was a lot of talk about doing something. Then the housing bubble burst and the recession hit. The crisis of economic collapse replaced the one of unaffordable housing. Now, as it appears there's renewed commitment to face the problem, there are familiar rumbles in the distance. A shaky stock market and home prices skyrocketing beyond rational levels suggest another collapse is possible. Rather than trying to unravel the Gordian Knot, Alexander drew his sword and abruptly cut through it, to the consternation of the locals who had vested interests in keeping its mystique. To solve their dilemma, Collier County commissioners will need to be equally as bold. (Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter@NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten) SHARE By Ashley Mccann Although Florida boasts beautiful views of nature, outside time can feel stifled by the heat, rain and biting bugs for a good portion of the year. Our warm winters are usually the ideal time for camping and exploring the great outdoors as a family. Unplug and recharge by connecting with each other and nature as you make new memories through adventure with family camping Florida-style. Koreshan State Historic Site: Step back into history by exploring the remains of a pioneer colony who believed that the universe existed within a sphere. The landscaped grounds of the former Koreshan Unity colony still have 11 well-maintained historic buildings and offer an interesting look into the daily lives and beliefs of this unique community. The campground has a boat launch, canoe rentals and nature trails, with campfire programs on Wednesdays and Saturdays from January through March. Conveniently located off of U.S. 41 in Estero, this is an easy and inexpensive escape for local families. (3800 Corkscrew Road, Estero. 239-992-0311.) Cayo Costa State Park: The fact that this campsite is located on an island ups the adventure factor (and the need for prioritizing while packing) but a day and night at the beach are worth the extra effort. Located 4 miles west of Pine Island, Cayo Costa is a 2,426-acre barrier island with 9 miles of beaches and is only accessible by private boat or via a ferry service like Captiva Cruises. Bikes and kayaks are available for rent, or campers can hike nature trails, fish, swim, snorkel and sun. Primitive cabins and tent sites are both available. (941-964-0375) John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park: Add some marine biology to your camping voyage by seeing coral reefs from a glass-bottom boat or get more up close and personal with a snorkel tour. The park has camping, canoeing and kayaking, nature trails, a visitor center with an 30,000 gallon aquarium and small museum and offers clean facilities and concessions. The short road trip to Key Largo is its own detour through nature and Florida history as you cut through the Everglades. (Mile marker 102.5, Key Largo. 239-451-1202.) Lion Country Safari KOA: Have a wild time near West Palm Beach at a campground attached to a drive-through wildlife preserve and amusement park. Featuring a heated pool, playground, general store, and the choice between tent or cabin accommodations, the campground itself is enough to keep a family busy but the attached Lion Country Safari makes it an exotic overnight option. (2003 Country Safari Road, Loxahatchee. 561-793-9797.) Disney World's Fort Wilderness: If you're not a fan of roughing it but still want to provide campfire memories for your little ones, Fort Wilderness is a fun option for comfortable family-friendly camping. Enjoy easy amenities like resort-style pools, a petting zoo, a character sing-along, recreational activities and restaurants to bring a little of that Disney magic to your camping vacation in this 750-acre area that offers options for tent and cabin campers. (4510 North Fort Wilderness Trail, Lake Buena Vista. 407-824-2900.) Camping is a great way to inspire curiosity, conversation and connection with the added benefit of being an affordable and nearby vacation option. Choose your own adventure by researching for a destination to pique your family's interests and enjoy more time playing outside together. - - - Ashley McCann is a Naples mom of two who editorializes the messes and mayhem of motherhood as a columnist and blogger. Named to Ignite Social Media's "100 Women Bloggers You Should Read," her candid humor and frank advice puts a fresh spin on modern family life. SHARE By Terri Schlichenmeyer "The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt" By Eric Burns c. 2016, Pegasus Books $26.95/$37.95 Canada; 300 pages You are a chip off the oil' block. Like father, like son. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You're just like your dad. That's often how it goes in families, and in the new book "The Golden Lad" by Eric Burns, it happens in famous, historic families, too. Theodore Roosevelt loved two things above all: War and children. As a sickly boy growing up in the shadow of his beloved father, "Teedie" dreamed of glory on the battlefield. Alas, he suffered from several childhood illnesses but, with help and inspiration from Theodore Senior, young Roosevelt healed, "making his body" and his attitude, which was adventuresome and "manly." That steely determination, perhaps, enhanced his eagerness for war "any war" which Roosevelt finally got in 1897 when he left for Cuba just months after his youngest son, Quentin, was born. And yet, despite his thirst for fighting, letters from Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War show how much he missed his family: He updated his wife, Edith, on his battles; advised his elder sons; told his younger daughter how much he loved her; and seemed eager for news of the baby. Once the war ended, Roosevelt came home and plunged into politics, first as governor of New York, then as vice president and, with the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, as President of the United States. Americans loved the former Rough Rider, and they loved his rambunctious family especially rowdy Quentin, who had become the favorite child. After a happy eight years in office, leaving the White House in 1909 was tough on the entire Roosevelt family, but more so on Roosevelt. Not knowing "what to do with himself," he departed for a yearlong African safari; upon returning, he suffered from ill health, exacerbated by an empty house as his sons left home for school. "And then," says Burns, "it happened." World War I broke out and Roosevelt hoped to have a hand in it, though then-President Wilson would have none of that. Instead, Roosevelt got second-best: over the course of months, his four sons each enlisted. One of them didn't come home. I have to admit, I was no fan of "The Golden Lad" for a good part of it. I wasn't sure what point author Eric Burns was trying to make, and I grew impatient. Was it a biography of Roosevelt, a story of accomplishments, adventures, family, or ... ? The answer is: All of the above, and I was glad I stuck around. About halfway through, this book turns the story somewhat away from the "old lion" and toward that of his beloved son, becoming a daredevil-adventure tale of a swashbuckling (though not-quite-prepared) soldier. And then it becomes a tear-jerker that, because I was then so wrapped up in the story, left me lump-in-the-throat bereft. Ultimately, though, I think this book is best for historians or fans of TR, and I don't think it's anything that should be hurried. Savor it; in fact, "The Golden Lad" is a book you'll want to chip away at. "The Battle for Room 314" By Ed Boland c. 2016, Grand Central $26/$31.50 Canada; 243 pages What was the name of your favorite teacher? Even after all these years, you still remember the smell of chalk, the sound of her reading aloud, the way he pulled ideas from your head or music from your fingers. That teacher changed your life, and "The Battle for Room 314" by Ed Boland, you'll get a view of today's classroom one you'll barely recognize. What was a nice, educated gay man doing in a snarling pit of teenage attitude? With sweaty palms and a worthless planner, newly-minted teacher Ed Boland wondered that himself. Inspired by teachers in his family, he'd given up a well-paying job to teach but the ninth-grade class he'd gotten wasn't what he bargained for. Because Boland had spent a year teaching English in China, he figured he had a "leg up" on a job at Manhattan 's Union Street School, "a new combined middle and high school" that focused on history and international studies. Teaching there, he'd been led to believe, was a dream job and, since he'd already worked with "promising" but disadvantaged New York-area minority students through Project Advance, he thought he knew the kind of fresh-faced students he'd have. Instead, what he found in the classroom that fall were sullen, attitudinal, sometimes violent young adults, many (if not most) of whom were dealing with absentee parents, drug abuse, poverty, pregnancy, and bullying. Some of his new ninth-grade students were in their very late teens; many were unable to write in complete sentences or do age-appropriate schoolwork. At least one barely spoke English. And yet, with a Hollywood-happy ending on his mind, Boland persevered. He hoped to connect with the kids, though they were often uncontrollable. He dreamed they would eventually learn something, though they usually ignored his lessons. And when the year was over, he had considered staying at Union Street but he just couldn't. "I so wish it were a different ending for me and for the kids," says Boland, "but some stories have to end like a seventies movie gritty, real, and sad." The solution to the country's school- and grade-based issues, says author Ed Boland, is a multifaceted one, beginning with more education for the educators. There are other fixes, too, and "The Battle for Room 314" offers them. But that's not all: Boland, overall, tells a story that's both shocking and unsurprising; part To Sir, With Love and part battlefield skirmish. There are occasional moments of too much information (both personal and classroom) but even more of frustration and missed opportunity (again, on two levels). What Boland shares left me feeling glum, mostly, but there are shadows of hope in this book especially at the end, when he wraps up his story with a chapter of follow-ups. Though you should be reminded that it's representative of one man's experience in one school, this book offers hard lessons. Still, if you've ever fretted about the state of education on either side of the teacher's desk "The Battle for Room 314" goes to the head of the class. The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. She has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. Terri lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books. SHARE By Daily News Staff Update: Charges were never filed in the case against Pamela Moore. In a notice of "no information," which is the notice that charges will not be filed, prosecutors stated "insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt." Deputies arrested an East Naples woman accused of stealing gift cards from the restaurant where she worked. Pamela M. Moore, 40, of the 3000 block of Estey Avenue was arrested by Collier County Sheriff's deputies Monday. She faces a charge of grand theft. Reports show Moore was a waitress at Martin Fierro on Livingston Road. Her boss learned she had stolen about $3,000 in gift cards from the business. The owner discovered the fraud when two different customers tried to use a prepaid gift card for a meal. In both cases the card showed a balance of zero and had been sold to the customer by Moore. Moore later returned seven stolen gift cards to the owner, who called deputies. The returned gift cards had money on them totalling $405. In all, the stolen gift cards had balances totalling about $3,000, reports show. SHARE By Isadora Rangel TALLAHASSEE A Florida jury would have to unanimously agree to a death penalty sentence under a bill approved Monday by a Senate committee, a proposal that is at odds with the House and state prosecutors. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved the bill to bring state law in line with a January U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared Florida's death penalty system unconstitutional because it gives judges too much power. Florida is one of three states among the 32 that authorize the death penalty that do not require a unanimous jury decision. Sen. Thad Altman, a Rockledge Republican, has for three years unsuccessfully introduced bills to make a death penalty dependent on a unanimous jury. Though the Supreme Court ruling didn't address that issue, the Senate decided to require that if the jury cannot reach a consensus on the death penalty, the defendant must serve life in prison without parole. The House version, however, only requires a 9-3 jury vote, which is still above the 7-5 vote that's required today. Prosecutors oppose the unanimity requirement because they said people who committed gruesome murders could end up only getting a life sentence. James Holmes, who killed 12 people and injured 70 in a Colorado movie theater in 2012, was spared the death penalty because a jury couldn't reach a unanimous agreement. "One juror gets to decide that no one else will be able to recommend death," said State Attorney Brad King of Ocala. Altman said if lawmakers don't address the unanimity issue now, they might have to do so in the future if Florida law is challenged again. The bill, SPB 7068, also requires a unanimous decision on at least one aggravating factor such as whether the defendant was convicted of another felony in the past that makes someone eligible for the death penalty; requires the prosecutor to notify defendants they are seeking the capital punishment and list the aggravating factors the state wants to prove; and prohibits judges from overriding a jury's recommendation of life imprisonment but allows them to reduce a death recommendation to a life-without-parole sentence. In the case that prompted the Supreme Court ruling, a jury recommended, 7-5, sentencing Timothy Lee Hurst to death for fatally stabbing his co-worker in 1998 with a box cutter. Hurst challenged the sentence, arguing the jury was required to find specific aggravators and to issue a unanimous advisory. The Florida Supreme Court denied the appeal, but Hurst took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found Florida's law violated the 6th Amendment right to a jury trial. Only 21 percent of the Florida death cases over the past 15 years had unanimous jury verdicts, according to a Senate staff analysis. The other two states that don't require a unanimous decision are Alabama, which requires a 10-2 vote and a unanimous finding of at least one aggravating circumstance; and Delaware, which requires a unanimous decision that at least one aggravating circumstance is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Florida does have requirements on the aggravating circumstances. Old Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee. SHARE By Jeff Schweers TALLAHASSEE After speeding through the Florida House of Representatives last week, a measure to prevent counties from passing so-called "sanctuary" policies and force them to help federal immigration officials round up illegal immigrants is all but dead in the Senate. "I don't think the sanctuary bills will find safe haven in my committee," said Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Republican leader from Miami. That should be welcome news to a host of interests opposed to the legislation immigration advocates, law enforcement agencies, civil liberties groups, labor unions, and county and city governments. "It's a good sign" the measure has not been placed on a Senate agenda going into the fifth week, said Francesca Menes, spokeswoman for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, "but you never know." There are a number of procedures that would allow some other committee chairman to take up the matter, but Senate President Andy Gardiner is a firm believer in the traditional process and gives great discretion to those who lead committees as chairs where bills are first assigned, said Katie Betta, Gardiner's chief of staff. Still, Gardiner has often said, "Nothing is dead" until the session ends. The Senate version, SB 872, was filed by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, and co-introduced by Senate President-designate Joe Negron, R-Stuart. The House version, HB 675, by Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, was approved last Tuesday 80-39, with all but two Latino Republicans voting in favor of the measure even though Miami-Dade leaders and law enforcement officials said it would impose a big cost on county government. Rep. Jose Felix Diaz of Miami, a Republican and head of the Miami-Dade Hispanic caucus, walked out of the House chamber rather than vote on the measure, and Rep. Rene Plascencia, R-Orlando, voted against it with most Democrats. The Florida Immigrant Coalition and other groups are planning a rally at the capitol on Feb. 17 to hand petitions to state lawmakers to oppose several anti-immigration bills. "We're definitely going to be holding Latino elected officials accountable," said Menes with the coalition. The federal government in January 2015 rolled out the Priority Enforcement Program to replace the Secure Communities Program, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement began asking local law enforcement to detain people up to 48 hours while it decides if it wants to take them into custody for deportation. Within months, county and law enforcement officials around the state began opting out of the requests, citing the high cost of detaining people for days and weeks at a time with no chance of federal reimbursement. Miami-Dade County said it spent $12.5 million the year before the county commission voted not to cooperate on ICE detainers. The Florida Sheriffs Association issued an advisory opinion to its 67 county sheriffs that detaining these people without a warrant raises Fourth Amendment concerns. Many courts have held that the immigration detainer doesn't give ICE the right to require someone's detention without a warrant or an order of deportation or removal, the association said. The sheriffs' association said no county in Florida has passed a sanctuary ordinance like San Francisco, the example often raised of what happens when local governments don't help enforce federal immigration laws. Investigators say a woman there was slain in July by an undocumented immigrant who has been deported more than once and has a felony record. The Florida bill would punish local governments and law enforcement agencies that "shield such persons from personal responsibility for their unlawful actions" by charging a civil penalty of $1,000 to $5,000 a day for each day the sanctuary was in effect before injunction was granted. Thirty counties have some sort of policy that "attempt to safeguard against unconstitutional detention requests from ICE" according to Shalini Goel Agarwal, lead author of an ACLU report that studied the hardships those counties would face under the proposed legislation. No jurisdiction in Florida has what Agarwal would call a sanctuary ordinance, and she said law enforcement does cooperate with ICE in at least two significant ways. "Everybody who gets picked up in Florida by police has their fingerprints sent to ICE," Agarwal said. "Also, there is a separate notification step when someone is released from the county jail, and all are complying with that in Florida." The detainer requests are not a basis for restricting a person's liberties, and would open local law enforcement to the exposure of civil lawsuits, she said. "Detainees who have sued local jails over ICE detainers have won significant victories," Agarwal said. "You can't legislate your way around the constitution." The Florida legislation also doesn't indemnify the county or sheriff against lawsuits. "That would be one thing to say that we are confident of the legality of the legislation that we'll pay if you get sued," she said. If the measure passes, counties would either have to "detain these people and open themselves up to lawsuits, and spend lots of money that the federal government won't reimburse them for, or honor their constitutional obligation and pay thousands of dollars in fines to the state," Agarwal said. Contact Tribune reporter jschweers@tampatrib.com and (850) 765-0807 An aerial view of the Collier Hogan well on Thursday, July 24, 2014. Scott McIntyre/Staff SHARE By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News TALLAHASSEE A plan to create statewide fracking regulations and strip local say from the process has stalled in a Senate committee after the chairman demanded the Florida Department of Environmental Protection explain the science behind the drilling practice and its impact. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said he was unclear what parts of the drilling process are environmentally hazardous. He told DEP officials to prepare a presentation for a future meeting, although a date has not been scheduled. Lee said he's concerned that an earlier Senate hearing on the bill did not include scientific experts. "Like myself, there are a lot of members who want to know the scientific perspective of what's being done now and what the bill would do," Lee said Monday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, has been hard fought by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. The group does not believe DEP will provide an unbiased review of the bill because the agency has worked too closely with the oil industry to craft the measure. "They have not offered any views that differ in any way from what the industry already says," said Jennifer Hecker, director of natural resource policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Richter said the Conservancy and other groups opposing his bill have not provided facts. "DEP will provide Chair Lee's committee with those facts and not emotion," Richter said. Lee also said he did not understand why SB 318, sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, includes a clause that would toss out bans passed by 64 counties and cities. The Hillsborough County Commission became the latest local government to ban fracking last week. Lee County's Bonita Springs and Estero towns also have passed bans that would be tossed out under Richter's bill. Lee said he respects the decision made by his local commission, which is included in his Brandon district, but he must make his own decision about whether the state should regulate the process. "This is an issue where you really need to separate the emotion and look at the facts," Lee said. "That's what I plan to do when we bring up the bill in the coming weeks." The proposal would provide statewide regulation for the drilling method where an acidic fluid is blasted into rock to free up oil and gas well below the ground. Richter introduced the bill last year after DEP and the Collier County Commission raised concerns from an incident involving Texas-based Dan H. Hughes Co. The company began fracking in western Collier and refused to heed orders from DEP to stop so the state agency could perform an environmental assessment. Hughes eventually was fined $25,000 and ordered to install groundwater monitors around the site where it had drilled. The bill Richter introduced last year died with the abrupt end to the legislative session, and he brought it back this year with stronger language that tosses out local bans of the practice. Richter's previous bill included loosely written language that prohibited cities and counties from banning fracking, but it didn't specifically negate local ordinances passed before the bill's passage. This year's bill makes it clear that only the state would regulate fracking and specifies that local ordinances passed earlier would be void. The bill would place a moratorium on fracking in Florida until DEP performs a $1 million study to determine how it impacts the environment. The agency would use the results from the study to create rules that would be ratified by the Legislature. The House version of Richter's bill passed the chamber Jan. 27 with a vote of 73-45. HB 191 is identical to its Senate version, which includes language that would give cities and counties the ability to enforce local zoning rules at fracking sites such as lighting, the installation of barriers and traffic. Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com or 850-559-7620 Carolina Hidalgo/Staff Ulf Leiste runs his one-man taxi company and has joined Uber as a way to pick up more fares. SHARE In this file photo, Rick Malinowski, a driver for Superior Airport Shuttle, right, drops off Wallace Fulton at Southwest Florida International Airport on Monday, December 15, 2014. Malinowski has been a cabdriver in Cape Coral for the past 20 years. When it comes to Uber, Malinowski wants them to abide the same rules as other cab services do. I dont mind the competition, said Malinowski, as long as its fair. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) In this Jan. 4, 2013 photo, Lyft driver Nancy Tcheou uses her phone to accept a ride from a passenger in San Francisco. Fed up with traditional taxis, city dwellers are tapping their smartphones to hitch rides from strangers using mobile apps that allow riders and drivers to find each other. Internet-enabled ride-sharing services such as Lyft, Uber and Sidecar are expanding rapidly in San Francisco, New York and other U.S. cities, billing themselves as a high-tech, low-cost alternative to cabs. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) By Jeff Schweers TALLAHASSEE The latest challenge to Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing companies in Florida comes down to insurance for their drivers. On Tuesday the Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss SB 1118 by Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, that would require drivers working for ride-hailing companies to carry the same amount of coverage as taxicab and limousine drivers from the time they log on to a network app until they log off. Taxicab and limousine industries seeking a level playing field praise the bill, as do local municipalities that want to maintain some regulatory control over the booming ride-hailing industry. But officials for Uber, Lyft and insurance companies oppose Simmons' bill as too onerous. "We are disappointed that Sen. Simmons chose to depart from the approach taken by the 28 states that have adopted Transportation Network Company insurance guidelines," said Bill Gibbons, communications director for Uber Technology Inc. "By adding red tape and imposing artificial costs, the amended Simmons bill would limit the number of Floridians who can access the economic opportunity provided by ride-sharing." Instead, they support the House version by Rep. Matt Gaetz, HB 509, which passed out of the House with a supermajority vote of 108-10 and vast bipartisan support. It follows recommendations made by a coalition of insurance companies and transportation network companies as a compromise after years of fighting each other and is being promoted by conservative free market groups like R Street and the American Legislative Exchange Council. Another stark contrast is that Simmons' bill only deals with statewide insurance standards and doesn't pre-empt local governments from adopting their own licensing or permitting requirements. The Gaetz bill pre-empts all cities, counties, special districts, airport authorities, port authorities and any other political subdivision from imposing their own licensing and permitting regulations. Lee County has applied county regulations to Uber and other services, while Collier has removed local regulations from all taxi-for-hire companies. Although Senate Bill 1118 addresses the insurance industry's concerns about gaps in coverage, the bill as amended requires more insurance coverage than the National Conference of Insurance Legislators model act recommends, said Logan McFaddin, state government regulations manager for Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "We are still working with legislators in the Senate to come up with a compromise that best protects Floridians," McFaddin said. Uber has launched a statewide petition drive to persuade Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and other Senate leaders "to pass modern, sensible ridesharing legislation." The biggest deviation in Simmons' bill is that it requires ride-hailing drivers, while logged on the network app, to have personal liability insurance of at least $125,000 death and bodily injury per person, $250,000 per incident and $50,000 in property damage. It also would require that the rest of the time they aren't logged in, drivers carry their own personal liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person, $50,000 per incident and $10,000 in property damage more than state law currently requires. Ride-share company officials have said that requirement seems punitive to drivers who choose to work with them. Gaetz's bill requires no minimum insurance coverage for drivers when they are not logged into the network app. It would require a minimum of $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 when the driver is logged into the app. Once the driver picks up a passenger, the insurance would go up to $1 million in death, bodily injury and property damage while carrying passengers the amount already covered by Uber and Lyft. Both bills would also require the drivers to carry personal injury protection, something state law doesn't require of cabdrivers. Gaetz's bill wouldn't prevent an airport authority from charging "reasonable fees for use of the airport's facilities or designating locations for staging, pickup, and other similar operations at the airport." Drivers would be considered independent contractors under Gaetz's bill, and the companies would be exempt from paying workers' compensation insurance. Justin Ziegler, a personal injury lawyer and member of the Florida Justice Association, a consumer advocacy organization, said the biggest downside is that passengers who get into an accident while in an Uber car would have to deal with surplus insurance underwriters. Surplus insurance underwriters are not subject to the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, which was created by the Legislature to handle the claims of insolvent property and casualty insurance companies. Both bills require that the insurance carriers be members of FIGA or a surplus carrier with a superior, excellent, exceptional or equivalent rating. James River, used by Uber, and Steadfast, used by Lyft, both carry top ratings. Uber's insurance coverage for passengers gets a 10 of 10 rating from consumer advocate Ziegler, who has written several articles about the pros and cons of ride-hailing companies' insurance coverage. He was puzzled, however, that the Gaetz bill doesn't codify the uninsured motorist coverage that Uber provides for its drivers in Florida. Uber provides $1 million of death, bodily injury, property damage and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage for its drivers. While not in the House bill, the provision is a national Uber policy that the company doesn't plan to discontinue. The million-dollar coverage requirement in the House bill would block a new market entry by a smaller transportation network company, said Jennifer Condie, a Palm Beach County cabdriver who has been pushing for broader reforms in the public transportation industry. She said the bill language about who is responsible is murky. "You have to hire an attorney and figure out who to sue, which is exactly the situation here in Florida," Condie said. SHARE Dianne Rhodes, Naples Fracking knowledge In contributions to the Daily News, George Ahearn generally employs name-calling instead of facts. Recently he again resorted to labeling another contributor a "radical environmentalist" without explaining what he knows about that person, and in the process revealed how little he himself seems to know about fracking. Ahearn attempted to dismiss the source of information cited by the "radical environmentalist" The Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risk and Harms of Fracking (2015) by reviling the compilers of the Compendium rather than addressing its contents. I invite readers to visit the Compendium to judge for themselves whether the hundreds of articles listed there for easy reference should be dismissed without appraising the evidence they present. Some are based on the industry's own reports of mishaps. Most are peer-reviewed scientific articles, some of which admit that links between fracking and health impacts are so far only suggestive rather than absolutely conclusive. Others demonstrate definite linkages between fracking, water and air contamination, and serious medical disorders. Most readers with scientific interest who review the evidence will certainly reach the conclusion that a powerful and growing case for dangers from fracking is emerging, which merits at the very least a tightening of regulations aimed at public safety. The Compendium is periodically updated and soon will add news, for example, of the Porter Ranch methane storage leak in California currently pumping the equivalent of emissions from 500,000 automobiles into the air and residents' homes. Similarly, updates on property values and employment in fracking states like Pennsylvania, which Ahearn touts as great successes of fracking, will show those "benefits" crashing owing to market fluctuations. SHARE Ed McFadden, Marco Island Hillary will skate A quick review of a recent article on Gen. David Petraeus and the failure of the government to further censure him by reducing his rank should be an omen of things to come for Hillary Clinton. How can the government at the highest level penalize him any further for an infraction of leaking his schedule to a reporter to the up and coming damaging report by the FBI on the handling of top secret information on her private server. Once the evidence from the FBI is turned over to members of the Justice Department, who serve at the pleasure of the president, the offences take on a lesser degree of criminality. So go light on the general a private plea by Clinton: "I'm sorry I did not realize what was going on" will be accepted by the president and a full pardon by him in private with the Justice Department present, record expunged, regardless of the offenses presented to the Justice Department from the FBI. End of story. Clinton skates. SHARE Fred Forbes, Bonita Springs City Councilman Elect District 6 Simmons for mayor I believe the upcoming Bonita Springs City Council and mayoral election on March 15 is a pivotal point in the evolution of our great city of Bonita Springs. The core theme of our city's adopted motto, "Small Town Charm Big Bright Future" is at stake. Depending on the results of the election, Bonita Springs stands a chance of looking very much like the east coast of Florida within the next decade. Picture cities like Fort Lauderdale and Miami with an abundance of flyovers, eight-lane superhighways and high-rise towers framing the landscape. As city councilman-elect for District 6 and having held a citywide office as a Bonita Springs fire commissioner, I have been able to get the pulse of the current residents of Bonita Springs. The last thing they want is more urban sprawl, bumper to bumper traffic and "plain Jane" developments. They want a vibrant, exciting and beautiful Bonita Springs. There are three candidates running for mayor and all three are nice people with varying degrees of experience but this election isn't about who is the nicest candidate. It is about which one will ensure we become the best place to visit, open a new business and reside. To determine that, we can fairly judge them by their previously demonstrated actions and that is why I am endorsing Peter Simmons for mayor. SHARE Beth-Ellen Povlow, President Coalition for Quality Public Education By Beth-Ellen Povlow, Marco Island Keith Flaugh and the Florida Citizens Alliance (FCA) are working hard to control decisions that teachers and parents collaboratively make for the education of Collier's public school students. FCA helped elect Erika Donalds and Kelly Lichter to the School Board in 2014 after each promised to fulfill the terms of a "Contract with Collier County, Florida, Voters." Published on the Southwest Florida Citizens Alliance website, this contract describes their strategies to take control of public schools. First, FCA will try to elect a majority of "reform"-oriented board members. They were unsuccessful in securing a board majority in 2014. In August 2016, they will endeavor to fill a third (and possibly fourth) seat with candidates who may also sign their "contract." Then, one of the first acts of an FCA-approved School Board is likely to be to minimize the input of teachers and content-area coordinators in the selection of curriculum materials. Flaugh has already petitioned the Collier County School Board to reduce the percentage of teachers and content-area coordinators on instructional materials selection committees. The committees are currently made up of 1/3 teachers, 1/3 coordinators, and 1/3 parents-citizen members who have subject-area expertise. As we have witnessed in Collier County over the last year, the FCA and board members it supports believe that censorship needs to be exercised at every level and reinforced by local policy and Tallahassee mandate. The motivation for such censorship will be reflected in adopted public school classroom materials. History and literature texts that present multiple perspectives will be stripped of any reference to mistakes made and lessons learned: Japanese-American internment will have never happened; immigrants, indigenous peoples, and women will have never struggled. Accounts of slavery will be watered down. Now the FCA is trying to legislatively mandate this de facto censorship of "inflammatory" topics. In a whopper of a contradiction, the FCA says that its curriculum bills SB1018 and HB899 will get Tallahassee out of the business of managing local K-12 curriculum. But these bills are in fact Tallahassee mandates that would prevent students from learning about anything controversial. If any taxpayer finds students learning about a controversial topic, he or she could file a challenge to prevent all students in the taxpayer's district from encountering that topic. If the challenger doesn't like the district's final decision, he or she could appeal it to the circuit court. Florida school districts would experience a "wild west" of curriculum challenges. Collier County parent Eric Otto described the expected outcome accurately in a Jan. 14 Naples Daily News letter to the editor: "Given what Flaugh and others frequently bemoan as 'objectionable' content, SB 1018/HB 899 will open the door for taxpayer-initiated challenges of, for example, Greek mythology, Native American literature, diverse historical understanding, and peer-reviewed science." In his recent response to Otto, Flaugh did nothing to refute this claim. The impact of these court challenges would be a drain on district staff time and financial resources. People supportive of the FCA have demonstrated they are fine with wasting district resources. Parent-attorneys have cost Collier County Public Schools $200,000 in operational funds as they unsuccessfully attempted to sue the district on several occasions. Ask taxpayers how they feel about their hard-earned money going to attorneys whose rapid-fire challenges deplete school resources. Ask middle school math teachers who have to rotate one student to the library every class because there aren't enough computers, how they would spend a tiny fraction of that money. Ask parents how they feel about letting politics drive decisions about classroom materials. Educators make these decisions now using educational and pedagogical criteria, with parent input. Ask the FCA and its elected officials how they can claim to represent teachers and parents, then enact policy that operates under the assumption that any citizen with common sense can do a teacher's job. Members of this group routinely underestimate the complexity, skills, and resources required to do an educator's job well. The district hired teachers to teach. Let's help them do their jobs better, rather than micromanaging educational decisions to serve political ends. If education "reformers" want to improve the local school system, they should propose a better plan. We're listening. Contact Florida Senate and House education subcommittee members and your elected officials to urge them to reject Senate Bill 1018 and House Bill 899 (http://tinyurl.com/zuvjtpd). __ Povlow was a K-12 reading specialist and high school English teacher in Pennsylvania for 25 years before retiring. She has a master's in Psychology of Reading from Temple University. Journeys of a Lifetime: Luxe Travel Consultants joins with Merrill Lynch to Host Educational Travel Event Leading companies invite the public to explore the benefits of luxury travel Naples, FLLuxe Travel Consultants has partnered with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in hosting an educational evening with ten of the top luxury travel suppliers in the world. The event, Journeys of a Lifetime for the Avid Traveler, will take place on February 23 from 4-7 p.m. at the Naples Sailing and Yacht Club. The event will give attendees the opportunity to learn from travel experts about the trend in multigenerational travel and discover how travel nourishes the mind, body, and spirit. Rodney George, Managing Partner of Luxe Travel Consultants and the events primary speaker, knows well the myriad benefits travel can provide. Frequent vacationing is proven to decrease the release of stress hormones that contribute to degrading mental and physical health. One study found that men who took at least one vacation per year were 30% less likely to die from heart disease than their non-traveling peers, he said. Travel is also linked to happiness; a 2014 survey conducted by Diamond Resorts International found over three-quarters of respondents reported feeling happier when they planned a trip at least once a year. Luxe Travel Consultants partnered with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management to host the event because they knew the companys vision was in line. Advisors at Merrill Lynch understand the importance of leisure, which is one of the seven key life priorities the company identities as part of their wealth management process. At Merrill Lynch we value what is important to our clients. Over the years we have had the opportunity to observe the tremendous joy and anticipation that our clients experience through travel, said Rochelle H. Jackson, Financial Advisor, Sanchez & Associates, Merrill Lynch. So when presented with the opportunity, we were delighted to partner with Luxe Travel Consultants to provide our clients additional options to experience exciting once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities. In addition to access to exclusive travel deals, guests will enjoy heavy hors doeuvres, wine, and the opportunity to win a 7-night cruise for two. The event is open to the public, but reservations are required. Interested parties can register by calling (314) 3698232. ### About Luxe Travel Consultants For over a decade, Sun, Sand, and Sea Travel co-founders, Rodney and Lisa George, have been assisting clients in designing their dream vacations by developing customized, hassle-free itineraries based on the clients travel priorities and budget. In 2015 the entrepreneurs launched a wholly-owned subsidiary company called Luxe Travel Consultants to meet growing market demand. The professionals at Luxe Travel Consultants are committed to top-shelf servicea priority that has earned them a solid reputation within the luxury travel industry. With offices in St. Louis, MO and Naples, FL, Luxe Travel Consultants is known for experience-based advice and suggestions, and unparalleled attention to detail. The company has helped thousands of clients experience the world in a unique, personalized way. For more, www.luxetravelconsultants.com. Naples-based law firm Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti & Rudnick, LLP is expanding its footprint in the Naples and Indianapolis, Indiana markets with the addition of a new law partner, three attorneys, and seven additional legal support personnel on February 8. Brad A. Galbraith, Esq., a Florida Super Lawyer who is also board certified in Wills, Trusts and Estates by the Florida Bar, joins the firm as a partner and as the Chair of the firms Estate Planning Group. With his addition, the firm will become Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti, Rudnick & Galbraith, PL. The firm also welcomes attorneys David A. Ruben, Joseph O. Hankins, and Joanna S. Feltz, formerly of Hahn, Loeser & Parks, LLP. Assisting the attorneys are seven trained legal services personnel including several seasoned paralegals. The strategic growth in counsel and resources allows the firm to continue to provide expert legal services while deepening its ability to deliver more advanced estate planning services to its clients. Adding Brad and David to our Naples office enhances our commitment to serve the Collier community, said Casey Weidenmiller, managing partner. Joseph and Joanna will continue to work at the former Hahn, Loeser, Parks Indianapolis office. The Indiana office addition strengthens our ability to grow in a new market and offer new areas of expertise. Were confident our clients will be pleased as they will enjoy access to an even broader range of legal resources. Galbraith began his professional career as a Certified Public Accountant. He worked in the field for a few years until deciding to return to school, where he obtained his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law. After switching to the practice of law, Galbraith focused on finding more opportune legal solutions to assist his clients with estate, tax, and business planning. As an estate planning attorney, he developed a model designed to provide clients with comprehensive, personalized estate, tax, and business succession plans that withstand the test of time. Galbraith continues to keep his CPA license active, has active licenses to practice law in Florida and Indiana and is also licensed to practice law in the U.S. Tax Court. Galbraith has a great reputation in Naples and Im certain hell provide an added level of efficiency and responsiveness, said Weidenmiller, a commercial real estate and civil litigation lawyer. Our commitment to our core values of integrity, initiative and impact is an important ingredient in our recipe for success. Galbraith and his team are the type of quality manpower were glad to bring onboard as each has the experience necessary to help us serve the community and stay competitive. Founded in 2010, Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti, Rudnick & Galbraith, PL, is an emerging law firm with advanced proficiency in digital business technologies that simplify, safeguard and organize client account data, documents and communications for optimum management and timely filings, updates and retrieval. The client-focused firm has offices in Naples, Florida and Indianapolis, Indiana. Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti, Rudnick & Galbraith, PLs major areas of practice expertise include: business law, real estate law, estate planning, and litigation. The firm is located in Florida at 9045 Strada Stell Court, Fourth Floor, Naples and in Indiana at 5750 Castle Creek Parkway North Drive, Suite 350, Indianapolis, IN. For more information, please call the main office at 239-325-4070 or visit the firms website at www.lawfirmnaples.com. American Banker Regulatory Symposium. Se. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Richard Cordray, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Marriott Gateway Hotel, Sept. 24, 2013 Alexandria VA Rick Reinhard 2013 email rick@rickreinhard.com Rick Reinhard/ Rick Reinhard 2013 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray waved his finger this week at software vendors that have prevented lenders from meeting new mortgage-disclosure requirements -- but he stopped short of promising tough action. That combination of harsh words and mild threat only invited speculation about whether a crackdown on mortgage-technology vendors is imminent. Cordray was clear that he suspects vendors have hindered mortgage lenders' compliance with the regulations that took effect this month. "Quite frankly, I have been disturbed by reports I have been hearing about the vendors on whom so many of you rely," Cordray told lenders Monday at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in San Diego. "Some vendors performed poorly in getting their work done in a timely manner, and they unfairly put many of you on the spot with changes at the last minute or even past the due date," Cordray said. "It may well be that all of the financial regulators, including the consumer bureau, need to devote greater attention to the unsatisfactory performance of these vendors and how they are affecting the financial marketplace." Cordray did not specifically threaten to take enforcement actions, and some CFPB officials cautioned that his words should not be taken to mean that such actions are planned. Still, the mortgage industry and technology vendors remain on high alert given the bureau's past actions against other types of vendors. The CFPB's "Know Before You Owe" disclosures were designed to give consumers three days to review loan documents before closing on a home loan. But the rollout has been fraught with problems including a delay of the initial Aug. 1 deadline and demands for a grace period from enforcement to give lenders more time to prepare. The industry had nearly two years to make systems and operational changes to integrate disclosures already mandated by the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The rule is known in the industry simply as TRID. The CFPB has supervisory authority over the service providers of bank and nonbank lenders including software vendors, said agency spokesman Sam Gilford. In 2012 the CFPB issued a bulletin specifically stating it would hold service providers responsible for violations of the law. Cordray said at the time that consumers "are at a real disadvantage because they do not get to choose the service providers they deal with the financial institution does." He went further, saying: "Consumers must not be hurt by unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices of service providers. Banks and nonbanks must manage these relationships carefully and can be held accountable if they break the law." The bureau has other tools at its disposal beyond enforcement. In supervising bank and nonbank lenders, the bureau can target areas of failure such as compliance management systems and require that they be improved. Don Lampe, a partner in the financial services group at Morrison & Foerster, predicted that the CFPB will look specifically at service providers such as software vendors apart from their supervision of bank and nonbank lenders. "The agency will be paying more attention directly to service providers (vendors) rather than indirectly through supervision of, and enforcement against, financial institutions," Lampe wrote in an email. Richard Andreano, a partner at Ballard Spahr, also said the CFPB may look more closely at software vendors. "Director Cordray's remarks suggest that the CFPB may be questioning whether various vendors are qualified to provide the services they offer and is preparing to use its supervisory and enforcement authority ... to take a closer look," Andreano wrote on the firm's blog Tuesday. He added that under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPB can examine "service providers" of the entities it supervises. One of the CFPB's statutory missions is to ensure that financial markets operate transparently and efficiently. So the agency could take actions against lenders or vendors if consumers are delayed in obtaining a home loan. The TRID regulations required updates to loan origination systems, document preparation, as well as title and settlement platforms. The implementation was complex and required input from a wide range of vendors. Cordray did not identify specific technologies affecting lender readiness though some industry experts said a few large loan-origination-system vendors were not prepared. Bob Davis, an executive vice president at the American Bankers Association, told members days before the Oct. 3 deadline that many loan-origination-system vendors had not delivered final upgrades. His letter also cited numerous instances of system malfunctions complicating the implementation process. At the MBA conference, several experts said a large number of mortgage lenders were not using an electronic version of TRID, meaning some aspect of their work is still being done manually. Past traditions celebrated closeness to wild animals and revered the fly agaric mushroom (NaturalNews) The Marin Humane Society of Western Nevada County, California, has been fielding calls concerning coyotes that are staring down cars and approaching passersby off Highway 1. The strange coyote behavior has been the talk of the county, especially at Beth's Community Kitchen in the Bolinas area.Several reports indicate that a coyote is staring down vehicles as they make their way through the twisting, turning section near the Slide Ranch turnoff. The coyote will then reportedly "attack" the car, before trotting back off into the wilderness.Some drivers see the coyote coming in advance, and stop the car on the highway, trying not to hit it. The coyote reportedly sniffs around the vehicle and then takes off into the bush. One local says the coyote stare-down has become a routine experience as he makes his way to the airport each week.Lisa Bloch, director of marketing and communications for the Marin Humane Society says, "We are trying to figure this out." Some fear that the coyotes have rabies . "If this is going on longer than a week or so, then it's likely not rabies," says Bloch. "And we don't suspect rabies, just because it is pretty rare."One possible scenario is that the coyotes are being fed by someone who drives on the highway frequently. Bloch says, "It's possible that someone was feeding him and thinking that it's cool, and magical and mystical to have a coyote eating out of his hand." One would think the coyotes would give up after unsuccessfully stalking several vehicles.Another plausible scenario is that the coyotes are eating the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom ), and acting out of character as a result. Lisa Bloch hasn't ruled it out. The coyotes could be tripping on the mushrooms, and be more willing to interact with people passing by. Bloch has cautioned dog owners to watch their animals closely to make sure they aren't tripping on the fly agaric mushrooms. If the mushrooms are not dried properly, they can be toxic The state of California says there could be up to 750,000 coyotes living in the wilderness. According to Bloch, no one should interact with the wild animals. "What this means is that basically we want the animals to be afraid of us naturally," Bloch says. "If they are not afraid of us, they come close to our cars, get hit, fight with domestic dogs and can possibly become aggressive."Many of our Christmas traditions come from cultures that were close to wild caribou (reindeer), and the hallucinogenic use of the fly agaric mushroom. In ancient, snowy Siberia (close to the North pole), the northern Tungusic people (also known as the Evenki), worked together in close knit communities where they herded reindeer. The reindeer provided them with clothing, milk, housing material, tools, transportation and spiritual inspiration.The Evenki also believed in the shamanic journey or soul flight, and they used altered states of consciousness to connect with Spirit. One of the ways they celebrated this connection was through the fly agaric mushroom . The bright red and white to golden orange and yellow-capped mushrooms grow under certain kinds of evergreen trees. The amanita mushrooms possess psychoactive qualities, but are also very toxic if not dried properly.Before gathering the mushrooms in sacks and carrying them back to the village on their reindeer-pulled sleds, shaman gatherers would dry the mushrooms out in the boughs of the evergreen trees. The colorful, rounded caps hanging in the trees must have inspired the modern day decoration of Christmas trees.Oftentimes, the shaman would have to travel down villagers' individual chimneys to deliver the mushrooms, because the individual yurts were often snowed in. The Evenki would dry the mushrooms out further in socks that they hung next to the fireplace. The shaman would then demonstrate how to use the mushrooms for spiritual purposes. One of the common visions they experienced was flying. This is likely where the idea of flying and flying reindeer originated. (The also observed the reindeer eating the mushroom and then consuming their own pee.)The original gifts under the Christmas tree were of spiritual nature the fly agaric mushrooms. The Evenki's connection to the natural world and the wild reindeer goes beyond what we can fathom in modern day, consumerist America. Abuse of prescription medications can lead to criminal behavior, health risks University study's original intent was to research teens misusing their own prescriptions Use of prescription drugs more likely gateway to drug abuse (NaturalNews) Big Pharma is responsible for turning teenagers into illegal drug users by prescribing them dangerous medications which they may later misuse, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.A study conducted by the UM School of Medicine revealed that teens who were given prescriptions for drugs designed to treat sleep disorders or anxiety were 12 times as likely to abuse those same drugs later, compared to those who had never had those types of drugs prescribed to them.The teens who had received these medications were prone to later experiment with them or use them to get high, sometimes mixing them with alcohol - a very dangerous combination. Misusing these drugs is a felony, which means, for instance, that anyone who shares them with friends is committing a crime.The result is not only risky behavior in terms of health, but also criminal behavior when the drugs are used for anything other than their intended purposes.Drugs such as Xanax and Ativan, which are prescribed for anxiety, or Ambien and Restoril, used to treat sleep problems, are among the medications which are commonly misused. Combining them with alcohol or other drugs can lead to deadly consequences - the death of actor Heath Ledger is one example of what can happen when these types of medications are abused.Professor of Nursing Carol Boyd, the first author of the study, said:When Boyd and her co-authors first conceived of the study, their intention was to conduct research into teens misusing their own prescriptions. When they began seeing the results, which indicated that many of them were later taking other people's medications, the focus of the study was changed.The study is the first to investigate the tendency of those who were prescribed these types of medications towards later abusing them by obtaining them from other people.Concerns about these drugs have been voiced by many others who feel that they are often over-prescribed and that they are dangerous, even when used as intended. Many are addictive to begin with, and there are usually other natural alternatives to the chemicals Big Pharma peddles to the masses for huge profits.For many years, we have been warned about so-called 'gateway drugs' - ones which lead users to harder, more dangerous substances. Marijuana is one of the most common examples - its use has been decried as having the potential to turn people into hopeless junkies, but the evidence suggests that this is not the case at all.Marijuana is almost completely harmless, especially when compared to some of the prescription drugs mentioned above. It is a natural medicine which can be used to treat a wide range of illnesses and symptoms, but since it is non-patentable, Big Pharma has no use for it.In fact, it could be argued that alcohol and tobacco, which are much more dangerous and cause hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, have far more potential to become gateway drugs than marijuana.It's time to recognize the value of marijuana and other natural treatments, as opposed to the addictive and dangerous substances that the pharmaceutical industry pushes. Nature provides almost everything we need to stay healthy and maintain a sense of well-being - we need to criminalize the real drug pushers in the medical industry and remove the obstacles to pursuing a natural, healthy lifestyle. Importance of copper in the body The dangers of too much copper How can doctors track metal in the body? (NaturalNews) A British student is asking for doctors to pay greater attention to the amounts of metal that could be present in the human body, after being diagnosed with life-threatening Wilson's disease . The illness causes a toxic build-up of copper in the body, which is deadly if left untreated.Alicia Goss first became conscious of a problem after she was repeatedly refused entry to clubs and shouted at in the street because she was staggering and her speech was slurred. She soon became unable to hold a pen, and her symptoms intensified rapidly before doctors were able to identify what was wrong.Copper is important for keeping our bodies functioning properly it plays a crucial part in the body's production of red blood cells, keeps nerve cells healthy and helps our immune systems. Copper also helps form collagen, which is a key component of bone and connective tissue.As well as these important functions, copper acts as an antioxidant, reducing the amount of free radicals in your body that can damage cells and DNA. It also helps the body absorb iron and is crucial for energy production. In short copper is important for your health.Copper is found in a number of foods, particularly oysters, liver, wholegrain bread, cereals, shellfish, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and chocolate. However, the body doesn't actually need a lot of copper to be able to function, and too much copper can be very dangerous as Goss found out.Wilson's disease is a genetic disorder that causes a toxic overload of copper in the body, causing severe damage to the liver, brain and other organs as well as a range of unpleasant symptoms. Motor skills can be severely inhibited, meaning that walking, talking and even writing can be extremely difficult.This genetic defect means that the liver is unable to metabolize and remove excess amounts of copper, so it builds up and reaches toxic levels over time. However, it seems that doctors are not as familiar with the symptoms of copper toxicity as you might hope. Goss visited her general practitioner several times, and her symptoms were put down to the stress of university, rather than the life-threatening illness she actually had.Her condition quickly deteriorated to a point where she was wheelchair-dependent and had to leave the university. An MRI scan was needed before doctors were able to diagnose the problem, by which point Goss had been suffering horrific symptoms for many months.Routine blood tests by her family doctor revealed a low platelet count; however, liver function tests were normal, so doctors were not immediately alerted to the possibility that her liver may not be functioning properly.It is hard to diagnose problems relating to metal levels in the body , as the symptoms related can often be associated with other conditions. It is often not until many symptoms come to light at the same time that conditions such as Wilson's disease can be properly diagnosed.Goss is responding well to her treatment a drug called penicillamine, which helps remove the excess copper and is also taking vitamin E. However it can take up to a year for some patients to see any improvement.The faster a diagnosis for metal-related toxic illnesses, the lower the intensity of the symptoms and faster the recovery showing just how important it is that doctors track the quantities of metals we have in our body.1. DailyMail.co.uk 2. UMM.edu Big Pharma, Big Donor On recreational [use], you know, states are the laboratories of democracy. We have at least two states that are experimenting with that right now. I want to wait and see what the evidence is. I don't think we've done enough research yet. Although I think for people who are in extreme medical conditions and have anecdotal evidence that it works, there should be availability under appropriate circumstances. But I do think we need more research, because we don't know how it interacts with other drugs. There's a lot we don't know. Hillary Big Pharma's abuela Pharmaceutical manufacturers donated more than $340,000 for her 2008 presidential bid and in just the first six months of her 2016 campaign, Clinton has received over $160,000 from drug companies. To top it off, Big Pharma giants Pfizer and Proctor & Gamble each have donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation. And that's likely just the tip of the iceberg, as Clinton enjoys the support of numerous Super PACs whose finances are notoriously obscure. (NaturalNews) Well, once again, as in 2008, the Iowa Caucus was not the coronation that she and her supporters thought it was going to be.Nominal Democrat presidential "frontrunner" Hillary Clinton barely made it out of the nation's first caucus as the technical victor (though the campaign her main opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has contested those results), leaving many to wonder if she's got the mojo in 2016 that she lacked in 2008 when she was younger and less scandal-plagued in her loss to a relatively unknown U.S. senator from Illinois.Time will tell, of course, and to be fair, Clinton is expected to do better down South. But her positions on a number of issues continue to run afoul of those held by the same young Millennial voters she, at 68 years old, is trying to woo.One of those positions has as much to do with her loyalty to a class of donors than it does to any real conviction, and that's her deference to Big Pharma over the opinions and views of a majority of both young people and medical experts when it comes to marijuana use . Despite her often pathetic attempts to court the young and hip in America, when all is said and done, she's much more comfortable cashing Big Pharma donor checks.As reported by the website, fully 77 percent of young Democrats say they believe recreational use of pot should be legal, but "Hillary Clinton is unwilling to support meaningful marijuana reforms." Further, the site notes, "She's opposed decriminalizing marijuana during her previous presidential run and has given little indication that she changed her position on the issue since."The Pew Research Center also found that 63 percent of Republican Millennials favor legalizing marijuana too. Approval among the Gen X and Baby Boomer generations of both Democrats and Republicans are significantly lower, though in each case more Democrats than Republicans favor legalization.Clinton was asked during a CNN town hall in June 2014 what her thoughts were on legalizing recreational pot use. She said:When asked about the utility of medical marijuana, she said:Fast-forward to Clinton's current campaign. As noted bymagazine, which supports legalization, the candidate said at an event in South Carolina that she supports reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which would put it on par with cocaine and methamphetamine.Not much consolation there. That said, Clinton's dope views are pretty much in line with a key ally Big Pharma, notesThough she has called the pharmaceutical industry one of her greatest "enemies," her campaign has actually accepted more money from drug companies than any other candidate in this election cycle. They must know something we don't, because these companies wouldn't support someone who was truly an "enemy."reports further:No, Clinton might be attempting to appeal to younger Democrat voters, but on an issue where they overwhelmingly disagree, that is likely to cost her support.Sanders, meanwhile, backs decriminalizing pot , while GOP front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have said the decision should be left up to individual states. Dr. William Thompson and the 2004 CDC study The CDC response and interpretation of the study Doubt persists among protesters in Atlanta (NaturalNews) In 1971, the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella was licensed in the United States. Since then, it has been marketed in more than 60 countries around the world under various names such as M-M-R II, Priorix, Tresivac and Trimovax. As recommended by its developers, the first dose of the vaccine is administered to children around age one, while the second dose is administered between ages four and five. Doubts about the MMR vaccine first became public in 1998, due to a paper published by the world-renowned gastrointestinal surgeon and researcher Andrew Wakefield . In his research, Dr. Wakefield observed that there is a link between the MMR vaccine and gastrointestinal conditions related to autism. He did not recommend that parents should reject the vaccine, but rather that a single vaccine rather than a combo should be implemented.Now, a new documentary from critically acclaimed journalist Ben Swann exposes the CDC's dirty secrets for the whole world to see. Click here to watch the revealing video, "CDC, Vaccines & Autism."In 2010, Dr. Wakefield's research was found "dishonest" by the UK's General Medical Council. His career was ruined and his name discredited, as the Council barred him and the co-author of the study from practicing medicine. Although he issued challenges to his accusers to debate him in the media, he was of course ignored. Until now.On August 27, 2014, Dr. William Thompson , who was and remains a scientist at the CDC, hired a whistleblower attorney to make a major statement about the 2004 CDC study regarding vaccines and autism. As expected, the mainstream media paid little attention to the claim.Nevertheless, after being secretly recorded by a Dr. Brian Hooker, Dr. Thompson declared that he regrets omitting "statistically significant information" in the 2004 article published by the journal. He continued by adding that this data suggested an "increased risk for autism " in African American males who received the vaccine before the age of three. As it was later discovered in the official documents that Dr. Thompson handed over to Congress, evidence about the link between the MMR vaccine and autism was not only omitted but also destroyed by the participating scientists.When journalist Ben Swann finally managed to get a hold of these documents from congressman Bill Posey, he was joined by other journalists, doctors and CDC specialists in creating a comprehensive documentary on Dr. Thompson's claim, which you can watch here According to the official statement published by the CDC in response to Dr. Thompson's claims, the 2004 CDC study revealed that vaccination between 24 and 36 months of age was slightly more common among children with autism. This association was most relevant among children aged three to five. However, the authors of the report claimed it was not evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and a higher risk of autism.Instead, they assumed that the statistics reflected "immunization requirements for preschool special education program attendance in children with autism." In other words, the CDC claimed that an increased rate of autism among children who received the MMR vaccine before age three was not a case of vaccine injury . According to them, the statistics just appeared this way because children with autism were more likely to be vaccinated before entering a special education program.All of a sudden, it seems that the career of Dr. Andrew Wakefield was buried into the ground for no other reason than scientific curiosity and honesty, as new evidence suggests that he might have had serious reasons for concern regarding the MMR vaccine. Is the CDC , the media or the public going to apologize? No. On the contrary, more studies claiming the absolute safety of vaccines will flourish to cover up previous leaks.On October 23, 2015, more than 100 protesters gathered in front of the CDC headquarters in Atlanta to demand answers about vaccines. But with all these controversies covered up by the CDC in the past, how much honesty can the people really expect? (NaturalNews) If you've ever wondered how Forbes Inc., which owns Forbes.com and Forbes magazine, ended up as the corporate publishing arm of Monsanto and the chemical industry , look no further than the entity's origins.A complete history of how Forbes was founded, and more importantlyit was founded, is available at TruthWiki.org. And one important fact you need to know is that Forbes has always been a capitalism-at-all-costs propaganda outlet Founded by Bruce Charles Forbes, a financial columnist for the Hearst family of newspapers, Forbes has always worshiped money, no matter the source. In the beginning, it was about staying on the forefront of technology; today, it's about pushing things like genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and crop chemicals anything to make a buck!It's unfortunate, but true. Anyone looking for honest journalism should know that, or evenchoice when it comes to honesty and transparency. And here are a few solid reasons why:Forbes has had many an identity crisis over the years, including during and after the dot-com boom and bust when it lost significant clout and cash flow. Consequently, it has since resorted to all sorts of schemes to bring in the dough , including allowing its advertisers to write news stories.In addition to hiring on some 2,500 different writers specifically assigned to push the company's pet agendas, Forbes now grants access to its advertisers to publish posts and editorials in exchange for corporate payoffs. Forbes lets advertisers publish blog posts directly on its website with other editorial content on 'AdVoice' to help keep the magazine afloat (AdVoice brings in about 10% of Forbes' digital revenue), along with propaganda newsletters and other subscription investment online marketing hooks," explains TruthWiki.org.GMO labeling is a hot topic these days, and Forbes sees this controversy purely in terms of dollar signs. Recognizing that the biotechnology industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, Forbes has taken to capitalizing on the issue by pushing it on readers.Shill pieces like "How Biotech Will Help Achieve Zero Hunger" and "Why University-Industry Collaborations in Biotechnology Matter" are just a few of the many propaganda articles that Forbes has published over the years in favor of GMOs and crop chemicals.Forbes has intentionally blurred the lines between hybridization and gene modification to confuse the public about what GMOs actually are. Forbes also ignores science showing that GMOs and crop chemicals are harmful, both to humans and the environment.Former Forbes writer Jon Entine is a perfect example of what Forbes is all about, as this industry-connected scam artist was held up by Forbes as a "journalist," when in reality he's a corporate hack who's supported by corporations like Syngenta and Monsanto."Entine, who has multiple, well-documented ties to biotech companies Monsanto and Syngenta (two of the Big 6), plays a key role in the GMO propaganda group and web front known as the ACSH 'American Council on Science and Health' a thinly-veiled corporate front group that holds an apologetic stance regarding virtually every health and environment hazards produced by modern industry," explains TruthWiki.org."Entine knowingly and repeatedly publishes false and fictitious information in mainstream publications including Forbes.com, and his posts are often retracted after being challenged on their lack of factual basis."Forbes also goes on the offense whenever anyone challenges its corporate dogma. As you may recall, the propaganda outlet aggressively denounced Consumer Reports magazine for warning readers that most of the soybeans grown in the U.S. are GMO, which means much of the soy milk people drink is also GMO.For more on the sordid history of Forbes, visit: TruthWiki.org Certain volcanos seem to erupt with no forewarning, but scientists have now seen that it is actually an accumulation of gas over several days that is prompting the eruptions. This finding may change the way scientists observe active and dormant volcanos. Scientists generally believed that volcanic eruptions were incited by a collection of pressure resulting from the slow buildup of gas-laden magma. This bubbly magma was thought to accumulate over decades or hundreds of years. However, this new study indicates that sudden volcanic eruptions are generated by a rapid accrual of gas-over only a few months or even days. The gas bubbles head to old magmas chambers, according to the study published in Nature Geoscience. The study authors from the University of Oxford and the University of Durham used Campi Flegrei volcano, located near Naples, Italy, as an example. With the help of the Vesuvius Volcano Observatory in Italy, the scientists were able to come up with an explanation as to why more and more volcanic eruptions are taking place with little warning. Instead of looking to seismic activity or ground deformation alterations as a sign of an imminent eruption, gas composition at the Earth's surface is a better indicator a coming explosion, according to the study. "When the magma forms bubble, the composition of gas at the surface should change, potentially providing an early warning sign," lead author Mike Stock, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, said in an official statement. Campi Flegrei, which has not erupted since 1538, has shown recent hints of unrest. The scientists studied small crystals of apatite, a mineral that came out during the ancient eruptions of Campi Flegrei. By studying the apatite at different times during the evolution of the volcano's magma, the crystals act as a time capsule of sorts offering the researchers information about when the magma became saturated with gas. To the surprise of the scientists, the magma had minimal gas during the majority of its lifetime and did not begin to bubble until a short time before eruption. This shows that the movement of the ground and earthquakes may point to the arrival of "new batches of magma" under the ground rather than a sign of an impending eruption. "This has significant implications for the way we monitor active and dormant volcanoes, suggesting that the signals we previously thought indicative of pre-eruptive activity - such as seismic activity or ground deformation - may in fact show the extension of a dormant period between eruptions," Stock explained. Since the analysis of apatite worked in this instance, the scientists are interested to see if this pattern is common throughout all volcanos. "This research will also help us refine our ideas of what we want to measure in our volcanoes and how we interpret the long-term monitoring signals traditionally used by observers," Prof. David Pyle, volcanologist and co-author of the study, said. For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN). U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz took the high road Tuesday in his response to rival Donald Trump's use of profanity to describe the Texas Republican. Trump, the GOP frontrunner, derided his opponents while addressing about 5,000 people at a rally Monday, the day before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary election. He contrasted his recent statements on bringing back waterboarding to those of Cruz. "You know he's concerned about the answer because well, some people," Trump said pointing to a woman in the audience, "she just said a terrible thing. You know what she said? Shout it out 'cause I don't wanna." Then he said it anyway: "She said, 'He's a p---y.'" When asked about the comment Tuesday in New Hampshire, Cruz shrugged. "Oh, listen. Nothing Donald says surprises anyone. Donald does not handle losing very well. He didn't like that he lost in Iowa and his response often is to simply yell and insult and engage in profanity," Cruz said. "My approach is not to respond in kind ... I'm going to stay focused on the issues. I'm going to stay focused on the substance." Sen. Ted Cruz on Donald Trumps's comments last night " I won't respond in kind . He does not like losing " @NBCDFW #Decision2016 Julie Fine (@JulieFineNBC5) February 9, 2016 All polls in New Hampshire close by 8 p.m. EST. Up for grabs are 23 Republican delegates, awarded proportionately. Cruz currently leads the delegate count with eight to Trump's seven after the Iowa caucus. Both candidates and Ohio Gov. John Kasich earned nine primary votes in New Hampshire's three smallest communities, where residents cast their ballots at midnight. A group of Chicago aldermen on Monday shot down Mayor Rahm Emanuels plan to increase the citys smoking age from 18 to 21 and add a $6 million tax on all types of tobacco. The City Councils Finance Committee voted against Emanuels plan, arguing that it would encourage black market sales of loose cigarettes and force small retailers out of business, namely those located near the city limits. Ald. Nicholas Sposato warned of these unintended consequences as a result of the proposed tax hike that would be catastrophic for certain areas of our city. It doesnt make any sense to me, Ald. Roderick Sawyer said. It hurts us more than the few people it helps. Tanya Triche, spokeswoman for the Illinois Retail Merchant Association, referred to tobacco sales as a critical profit center for convenience stores and gas stations and warned that the illegal sale of cigarettes is on the rise. The move exemplifies Emanuels diminished support among city legislators in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting. McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014. Calls for Emanuels resignation erupted last November when dash-cam footage of the incident was made public. "Mayor Emanuel has stood up to the tobacco industry countless times throughout his career to reduce youth smoking, and he's not about to back down now," City Hall Spokesman Adam Collins told Ward Room. Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita championed the mayors plan, calling smoking the leading cause of preventable disease." I know that smoking kills, Morita said. This [tax] package would end up saving lives. Emanuels proposal, which was co-sponsored by Aldermen Joe Moreno, Will Burns and Ameya Pawar, would raise the citys smoking age, ban the use of coupons and discounts for cigarettes and tax tobacco beyond cigarettes. Pawar pledged his unwavering support for the measure and accused opponents of carrying the water for big tobacco companies. "The tobacco industry can lobby as much as they like," Collins said. "We'll continue speaking to and working with aldermen on this ordinance that will prevent young people from picking up smoking, while investing in their education." Emanuel holds that the new taxes would serve as a way to fund an orientation program for incoming Chicago Public School freshmen. Chicago currently has the nations highest cigarette tax at $7.17 per pack. The FBI is investigating at least two of four incidents in which schools in Connecticut received threatening phone calls on Tuesday. Schools in Bristol, Hartford Public Schools, Stamford High School and West Haven High School all received threatening phone calls around the same time on Tuesday afternoon. The FBI is assisting Hartford and West Haven police in their investigations. It was not clear if they were also involved in the Stamford and Bristol threat investigations. Bristol Central High School and South Side School in Bristol dismissed students early on Tuesday as a precaution after receiving two separate a telephone threats at 12:45 p.m., according to a voicemail the superintendent left with parents. The schools evacuated students and buses brought the children home. Police said patrol officers responded to both schools and determined there was no immediate danger to students. Police are now investigating. A Tweet from the principal says the threat was not specific. BCHS Dismissing early. Non-specific telephone threat made. SRO and BPD evaluated situation building safe. Dismissal precautionary only. Pete Wininger (@BCHSprincipal) February 9, 2016 Bristol also canceled all afternoon activities for the day. Officials from Hartford Public Schools also received phone threats. According to Hartford police, it was a false bomb threat consistent with other threats to schools in the region. It's not clear which school received it. Officials from Stamford schools said Stamford High School received a called in bomb threat early in the afternoon. The school was evacuated, but buses were called because of the cold temperatures and students were dismissed. Officers cleared the scene in Stamford late Tuesday afternoon. Police in West Haven added officers at West Haven High School until dismissal as police investigated the threatening phone call there around 12:30 p.m. It's not clear if there is any connection between the threats. NBC Connecticut reached out to Connecticut State Police, but they said they are not involved in the investigations. They are being handled at the local level. West Haven Public Schools, Bristol Police and Hartford Police put out separate statements confirmed they received a phone call threat at 12:30 pm. Hartford Police said the threat came from an out of state number and the man first spoke in an unknown language. The called said he had placed bombs on the school's roof, Hartford police said. Nothing suspicious was found at the school. Bristol Police said the threat received at Bristol Central High School referenced a person with a gun on school grounds while the threat to South Side School referenced a bomb on campus. Rediscovering Purpose After surviving unimaginable loss, Madonna Badgers path forward was uncertain. "You know, I thought I had to change everything," Badger said. "My whole life basically had been taken away from me." Following the Christmas Day fire that claimed the lives of her daughters and parents in 2011, Badger moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, for a year and stayed with a college roommate while undergoing intensive therapy. She tried her hand at becoming an antiques dealer but didnt sell a thing. What she missed, she said, was a sense of purpose. "So I turned to my friend Kate and I said, 'Look, I have this company in New York, this advertising agency that I've had for like over 20 years and I think I'm going to go back and give it a shot.' In 2013, Badger returned to New York. Today, she is back at the helm of her Fifth Avenue agency, Badger & Winters, where she is forging a new path: fighting for two missions that have redefined her purpose in life. #WomenNotObjects As a veteran advertising executive, Badger worked for major fashion designers and brands, and can readily rattle off telling statistics. "Eleven percent of the creative directors in this country at advertising agencies are women," she told NBC Connecticut. "Women are responsible for 70 to 80 percent of the purchases made in this country. Eighty five percent of women say ... most advertising does not speak to them." Those jarring discrepancies, she said, prove the need for change. Thats why Badger is calling on her industry colleagues to stop using images that objectify women and girls. Its a mission she calls #WomenNotObjects, which is also the title of a viral video her agency created thats garnered millions of views and impressions online since it was posted on Jan. 11. Its based on an idea she first had in 2009 while attending a beauty summit that explored the paradigm of advertising psychology; a project that went on hold after the tragedy in 2011. Now Badger said the memory of her daughters Lily, Sarah and Grace has become the renewing, guiding force behind it. "Three little precious girls," she said. "You know, I would be mortified if they were seeing some of the things that are out there today. Mortified. The #WomenNotObjects video begins with a Google search for "objectification of women." Sexualized images appear in advertisements for recognizable major brands as women mockingly critique them. "I love sacrificing my dignity for a drink," one woman says in the video. "Id sell my body for a burger," says another. Badger said her agency will reject such advertisements and lead by example by putting all campaigns through a four-point test: 1) No women as props, without a voice or choice. 2) No women as solely body parts. 3) No "plastic", unrealistic standards of Photoshopped perfection. 4) The "What if?" test: Asking "What if the woman portrayed here was my mother/sister/daughter/someone I love?" Badger hopes consumers will follow her lead. We can vote with our wallets. You know, that's the way to change the world is to say, 'Hey, I don't like that. Don't talk to me that way. I'm not going to buy that,' Badger said. Search For Answers Taking on the world of advertising isnt the only fight that Badger isnt backing down from. "I'm a fighter, Ive been a fighter my whole life. And I'm still fighting the city of Stamford," she said. "I'm still searching for the right answers there." Fire officials determined discarded fireplace ashes were the cause of the deadly blaze. Badger isn't convinced. "When you look at the photographs ... I mean, it's so obvious that it started in the basement and that it was an electrical fire," she told NBC Connecticuts Heidi Voight. But all the evidence, Badger said, and all her personal belongings were destroyed when the house was demolished within 24 hours. Badger is careful to point out that shes not critical of the first responders who worked to save her family and even served as pallbearers at her daughters funeral. "I believe they did everything they knew how to do," she said. "I believe that." Her fight and her legal action on behalf of her children and parents estates is against city officials. NBC Connecticut reached out to the city of Stamford for comment, including representatives from the Mayors office, building and fire departments as well as the citys legal counsel. Only the mayors office responded saying, due to ongoing legal proceedings, they cannot comment. Several of the 36 people who were injured when a charter bus heading to Mohegan Sun Casino flipped onto its side on snow-covered Interstate 95 in Madison, Connecticut on Monday afternoon remain hospitalized on Tuesday. Officials from Mohegan Sun said the Dahlia charter bus based in New York was en route to the Uncasville casino around 12:20 p.m. on Monday when it rolled over on I-95 north, between the exit 61 off-ramp and the on-ramp. The driver told police he was merging from from the left lane to right lane and lost control on the snow-covered road and hit the metal barrier. The highway was shut down for around four-and-a-half hours and crews were able to get the bus back on its tires around 3:30 p.m. The highway reopened around 5 p.m. The bus was carrying about 55 people, including the driver, according to state police, and video from the scene captured the frightening ordeal. It showed several people climbing out of the front and top of the bus. Ambulances lined the highway and transported passengers to nearby hospitals, including Yale-New Haven Hospital, Saint Raphael's and Middlesex Hospital. At least four of the patients remain in critical condition on Tuesday, hospital staff members said during a news conference on Tuesday. Several of the patients do not speak English and have been using interpreters to speak with medical staff. Dr. Kimberly Davis, vice chair of the department of surgery and the chief of general surgery and trauma and critical care at Yale-New Haven Hospital, said they shut down for a little while on Monday in anticipation of the influx of patients, but resumed normal operations fairly quickly. [[368069641,C]] On Tuesday, officials from Yale-New Haven Hospital said they initially received 16 patients, including four of whom were in critical, and 12 in non-critical condition. The four critical patients and one who was in non-critical condition were admitted. Then, six more patients from the emergency department of Middlesex Hospital were transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Three patients were in critical condition and were admitted. As of Wednesday, three patients at Yale-New Haven were still listed as critical, while two are non-critical. Davis described the injuries as "thoracic," or chest, rib fractures, lung injuries and injuries of that nature. "Obviously, a number of bone fractures, and a couple of more critical vascular injuries and things along those lines," she said. While the patients are in critical condition, their injuries are not considered life-threatening at this point. Some patients were going home on Tuesday, Davis said, while others will remain for extended periods of time. Dr. Andy Ulrich, operations director for the department of emergency medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, said this was potentially a very dangerous and life-threatening accident. In other circumstances, where the care wasnt as good, certainly people could have died, he said. The Yale-New Haven Shoreline Medical Center received four patients who were all non-critical two were admitted. The New Haven-Yale Saint Raphael campus received one patient. Some injuries ranged from shoulder injuries to people who had trouble breathing. Thirty-three passengers were initially taken to a warming center at the Madison town gym, but some later went to nearby hospitals after they warmed up, the adrenaline wore off and they began to feel symptoms of injuries, according to Madison police. Middlesex Hospital said the Shoreline Medical Center received 16 patients. Patients were also brought to Yale-New Haven in Guilford, Middlesex Hospital and Saint Raphael's in New Haven, Madison police said. The Red Cross was called in to help and it appears another bus has also been brought in. All additional buses from the New York area to Mohegan Sun have been rerouted and are being turned around, according to a spokesperson for Mohegan Sun. Connecticut State Police are investigating the circumstances of the crash. [[368076011,C]] In a statement, VMC East Coast, which operates the bus for Dhalia, said it was saddened "that this has happened today" and thanked firefighters, paramedics and police. "We pray that all our passengers are OK and will be safely returned to their families soon," the statement says. "We may release more information in the coming days." Dallas city leaders have blocked a sex expo from coming to the city-owned convention center this year. Exxxotica held an event at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center for its first visit to Dallas last year. But this year, Mayor Mike Rawlings and others pushed back against it. On Wednesday, Dallas city council voted 8 to 7 to support Rawlings' resolution to deny the convention to be held at the city-owned facility. "I believe in civil liberties, as well as in my civic obligation to fight for what is right for the city of Dallas. Based on what I know about this organization and event, it is not something that belongs in our city," Rawlings said in a statement. The sentiment was echoed by Dallas-based nonprofit New Friends New Life, a support group for victims of human trafficking. The organization does not believe Exxxotica is appropriate for a city space. CEO Katie Pedigo argued that the city can deny Exxxotica access to the convention center on the grounds that it violates a city ordinance prohibiting a "sexually oriented business" from operating within 1,000 feet of parks, schools, hospitals and other spaces shared by families and youth. "We need to enforce our own laws," said Pedigo. "A sexually-oriented business could contribute to a secondary harm and that secondary harm is crime and in particular, prostitution." But not all city officials agreed. According to District 1 Councilman Scott Griggs, the Dallas city attorney's office does not believe there is any legal argument that could keep Exxxotica out of the city convention center. "Our attorneys did not agree with that assessment last year and do not agree with it this year," Griggs explained. "It's a First Amendment right. Any group is entitled to use any facilities. And this is a city owned, city subsidized facility." The council voted on a resolution that called for prohibiting the event to take place at the convention center. A spokesperson for Exxxotica was in attendance. In response to concerns that the event could inadvertently lead to crime and prostitution, Exxxotica sent NBC 5 a statement refuting the claim. "It is a topic that anybody in their right mind would be concerned about. It just doesn't have anything to do with our event," wrote the group's event director, J. Handy. "Our event couldn't be further from that." Handy told the Dallas City Council his event is protected by the Constitution and he has won fights to uphold it before. As he left the meeting Wednesday he said he was going to see his lawyers and plans to sue Dallas. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is named for the former U.S. senator who watched the entire city council debate Wednesday. Hutchison said she was horrified to see Exxxotica in the building last year and pleased the Dallas City Council blocked it this year. "They made the right decision and the mayor was a leader," Hutchison said. "This year, thank goodness, the mayor brought it forward before there was a contract, so there was no contractual obligation that would have been broken." NBC 5's Holley Ford and Robert Wilonsky of The Dallas Morning News contributed to this report. A federal judge Monday again ruled against Texas in its efforts to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees, saying that while it would be "foolish" to deny there are risks following the Paris attacks, state officials have never shown an imminent danger to the public. The decision by U.S. District Judge David Godbey is another setback for Republican leaders in Texas, which was the first state that sued the Obama administration over resettling families from the war-torn country but has failed to halt or even slow the arrival of any new refugees. Godbey, who in December knocked Texas for offering "largely speculative hearsay" about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees, seemed to wink this time at the state demanding action from a judicial branch that GOP leaders often accuse of overreach. "Somewhat ironically, Texas, perhaps the reddest of red states, asks a federal court to stick its judicial nose into this political morass, where it does not belong absent statutory authorization," wrote Godbey, who was appointed to the Dallas court by former President George W. Bush. A spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the Republican is evaluating his next options. "At a minimum, Texans deserve to know if the people moving into our communities and neighborhoods have a history of providing support to terrorists," spokeswoman Katherine Wise said. Nearly 30 states vowed to ban Syrian refugees following the Paris attacks, which occurred in November and have been linked to the Islamic State group operating in Syria. Texas mounted the most aggressive campaign from the start by suing the federal government, which failed to halt the arrival of 21 Syrian refugees in December. Alabama filed a similar lawsuit in January. The Obama administration says refugee vetting is rigorous and can take up to two years. In an 11-page ruling, Godbey wrote that "it is certainly possible that a Syrian refugee resettled in Texas could commit a terrorist act, which would be tragic." But he said it is up to the federal government -- and not courts -- to decide that level of risk. Wise said Godbey acknowledged "the validity of our concerns" and says it is effectively up to Congress to give states a bigger voice when it comes to resettlements. A resettlement group has asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. In a statement released Monday evening, Rebecca L. Robertson, legal and policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, said: "We are relieved that Judge Godbey has once again denied Texas' attempt to bar an entire group of refugees from resettling in Texas based solely upon their nationality. That kind of discrimination would violate the Constitution, to say nothing of undermining our fundamental Texan values of equality and humanitarian aid to those in need." There was a new twist on the campaign trail Monday in New Hampshire: lots of snow. Snow fell all day while we tried to get to several candidate events the day before the state's primary election. But the candidates were dealing with it as well. For myself and NBC 5 photographer Juan Rodriguez, the day started off by tracking down volunteers from Texas in Manchester. Neal Mehrotra was in law school in Austin, but decided to take some time off to volunteer after meeting U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Mehrotra has been on the trail for nine months and is so accustomed to cold weather he's not even wearing a jacket while he works. Mehrotra said he is determined and when he met one woman who said she was supporting Ben Carson, he stood outside in the cold and wind for 10 minutes, trying to get her to change her mind. The next stop was in Nashua, which should have been a 15-minute drive but was much longer because of the snow. Rodriguez, my Texas-born photographer, is an excellent driver in the snow. (I am, too, by the way. It's the Buffalo, N.Y., roots.) Luckily, we made it on time to hear from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. His son, Jeb Bush Jr., spoke with us about the campaign falling short of early expectations. He said they always expected it to be a grind and have a good ground game in New Hampshire. The New Hampshire primary is Tuesday, and there is still a lot up in the air. The latest polling points to Bernie Sanders leading the Democrats and Donald Trump leading the Republicans. Then came a 40-minute drive in the snow to a Cruz event, where the Senator spoke with us briefly about his Texas volunteers and he said the support from them is incredible. NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt said he expects some type of surprise in the primary results Tuesday night, but does not know what it will be. So, all in all, Monday was a very busy day. Now it's time for a bowl of chowder to warm up. If you got hurt on the job, are you sure your workplace health coverage would cover your needs? Christina Eastland says her insurance struggles have left her and her children in a desperate situation. A former bus driver with Orange County Transportation Authority, Eastlands professional life was all about mobility. Then, in 2014, she was assisting a passenger off a bus and slipped, backing into a standing pole. An MRI revealed the injury. Just found a mass that was pressing against my spinal cord like an abscess, Eastland says. She says she was told shed need surgery or paralysis was a certainty. She chose surgery. But during her recovery, she says she realized something was wrong. Eastland lost the use of her legs, and now fears shes losing touch with her children because of the unusual housing situation her injury landed them in. The family lived in Long Beach before her injury, but was no longer a feasible place to live with the space needed for her to maneuver in her wheelchair. We have a barrier because were not in the same household, she says. For 14 months, Eastland and her kids have been living at the Residence Inn, paid for by workers compensation insurance. The youngest, Jaedyn, sleeps on a rollaway in moms room. Her three oldest children sleep down a corridor in a separate room. I usually sleep right here, my sister sleeps on that side and my brother be like usually sleeping on the couch or on the floor, Damion Eastland says, describing the living situation. The separation goes beyond physical to emotional for teens adapting to reversed roles, caring for their mother. I just miss being able to walk inside my moms room and being able to talk to her just one on one, says Bryttany. And Eastlands attorney says thats the courts order: the insurance company for OCTA must purchase an accessible home near Eastlands medical facilities. Just put them in one house under one roof, thats it, says Keith More, Eastlands attorney. A spokesperson for the insurance company, Safety National tells the I-Team Its not healthy or cost-effective to have her in a hotel but that Eastland has rejected all our housing offers. Its like, heres a bone and you can just chew on it a little bit and then they snatch it right back, says Donovan Lane Jr. The Eastlands attorneys shared a list of addresses submitted by the insurance company. They chose a home from the list, only to have that choice denied, attorneys for Safety National writing my clients have advised me that they will not agree to the purchase of this home. A Safety National spokesperson now admits to the I-Team a mistake was made, and says the home the Eastlands chose was never properly vetted and shouldnt have been on the list. Another delay, leaving Eastland and her children with no ability to move forward with their lives. My kids shouldnt have to be put in this type of situation. Nobody should be in this type of situation, she says. Safety National tells the I-Team its now expanding the search for a suitable home for Christina Eastland. If youre having issues with an insurance company about an unresolved claim, there are some sources you can turn to, including the California Department of Insurance and the Department of Industrial Relations. A former church assistant was convicted Monday of molesting two girls under the age of 14 after he befriended their families through the church, the Orange County District Attorney's office said. Branden Edward Shumate, 37, of Hawaii, was found guilty of three felony counts of lewd acts upon multiple victims, prosecutors said in a news release. Between Sept. 13, 1997 and Sept. 12, 1998, Shumate, then 18 years old, worked as an assistant in a Lake Forest church where his father was a pastor and leader. During that time, prosecutors said, he organized a trip to a water park in Irvine for members of the church. During that trip, Shumate digitally penetrated a 6-year-old girl after she had fallen asleep while waiting for other children attending the trip to arrive, prosecutors said. Shumate remained in contact with the girl's family for five years, prosecutors said, and he molested her again when she was 12 years old. When Shumate tried to contact her again in 2006, she told family members about the incidents, prosecutors said. Shumate then moved to Hawaii with his family. In August 2010, Shumate attempted to engage in a sexually explicit conversation with a 10-year-old girl, prosecutors said. In between 2010 and 2011, Shumate sexually assaulted the girl while she was drying off from a shower at her house, prosecutors said. The girl told her mother about the incident after her family moved to Alaska. Prosecutors said Shumate was arrested in 2011 in Hawaii and was extradited back to Orange County. Shumate faces a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in state prison and a mandatory lifetime sex offender registration. He is scheduled to appear at West Justice Center in Westminster on March 25. The trial of the men accused of being behind the 9/11 attacks are heading back to court next week and they don't want women guarding them at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. A military court ruled they can't but the female guards are fighting back. Nearly one in five guards in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay is a woman. Their job is the same as the men, to guard detainees who dont see them as their equals. "Of course being a female in this specific and unique environment has its limitations and its challenges," one female guard told NBC 6. NBC 6 has learned that there are detainees who reject the role of the female guard. Some even go further. "There are some detainees who do not like females and if they see a female's face in an item they will scratch it out," said one library officer, who displayed a magazine that had been damaged. Some of the detainees have actually filed official complaints saying that they did not want female soldiers guarding them. A military court ruled female guards cannot escort alleged 911 mastermind Khalid Shiekh Muhammed and four others to and from their upcoming hearings. Their argument is that having a female, who isn't a family member, touch them violates their religious beliefs. "As far as doing our job, the females are every bit as competent, every bit as happy to be here and performed this mission as their male counterparts," one female guard said. "I am not going to address the religions objections," said Colonel David Heath, the commander of the guards. He says he cant talk about efforts to overturn the courts ruling. "I will say that my soldiers here are just that, soldiers, they are all trained the same way," Heath said. "There's no regard given to whether they are males, females, blacks, gay. It doesn't matter to me." A Jordanian-born man called Zak is the conduit between the guards and the detainees. He believes its all just an attempt to slow down the prosecution. "We made it very clear to the detainees that in the U.S. military there's no discrimination in gender," Zak said. "This current issue right now is becoming something everybody talks about it, because somebody said 'how I can keep the United States busy? How can I keep the courts busy? How can I delay the procedure? Let's use religion.'" The 9/11 hearings are scheduled to begin next week. Theres no indication if a final decision will be made about the female guards' role before then. New Hampshire votes Tuesday with billionaire Donald Trump trying to lose the loser label, Ted Cruz looking to fashion a victory with far fewer Christian evangelicals than in Iowa and Marco Rubio aiming to shake off doubts following his disastrous debate performance. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, hopes to prevent a victory by Bernie Sanders by putting her ground game in New Hampshire against his popularity in the state. In the countrys first primary, the candidates want to capitalize on their success in Iowa or show their campaigns are still alive. A week after the caucuses officially kicked off the race for president, a state that prides itself on its independence now makes its picks. Usually what they do in New Hampshire is correct Iowas mistakes, said Patrick Griffin, who worked on President George W. Bushs primary campaign and is now a political and media strategist at Purple Strategies New England, a communications and government affairs company in Boston. On the Republican side, Trump competes after being handed an embarrassing second-place finish to Cruz, though political consultants in New Hampshire doubt that Iowas results will matter much in the Granite State. As everyone will tell you, all that gets shuffled and thrown back on a table essentially, said Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. Trump accepted defeat graciously the night of the caucuses, but afterward unleashed a stream of insults against Cruz on Twitter, accusing him of fraud in Iowa and demanding the results be invalidated. Trump was leading in the final 7News Boston/UMass Lowell tracking poll on Monday with 34 percent. Rubio and Cruz each were at 13 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, at 10 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 5 percent, Carly Fiorina, 4 percent and Dr. Ben Carson 3 percent. Cruzs win in Iowa came after he visited often, traveled throughout the state and appealed to two important groups, evangelicals and the homeschool community. Trump had his celebrity name, combative comments and the free media coverage that followed. In New Hampshire, Trumps campaign appears to be trying to jump-start a more traditional campaign with Walkin & Talkin for Donald J. Trump fliers appearing asking supporters to help spread the word. Cruz proved that Iowa is a place were organization matters, where identifying voters and getting them out, hand-to-hand retail politics or combat, depending on how you look at it, truly matters, Griffin said. Cruz, who is not expected to replicate his success in Iowa in New Hampshire, is looking ahead to the primary in South Carolina. But he could be damaged by Saturday night's Republican debate, where he was forced to apologize again to Carson for his supporters' behavior in Iowa. The night of the caucuses, they spread false reports that Carson was dropping out of the race. Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said Rubios finish in Iowa means Kasich, Christie and Bush must make a strong showing to become the candidate for the Republican establishment. Theyve got to find places where they can punch through because between now and March 15 theres going to be a ton of contests and the money is not going to be sufficient to wage a decent fight in those places, Miringoff said. People may pick a state or two to try to reverse their fortunes but that doesnt get them in the contender status. But Rubio may also be hurt by the debate. He was widely mocked for robotically repeating himself even as Christie made fun of his memorized "30-second" speech. Twenty-eight states plus the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and Democrats who live outside of the United States will make their choice by March 15. The day before the primary saw all of the candidates but Carson campaigning in New Hampshire, according to the NECN candidate tracker. Rubio had seven stops scheduled, the most of anyone. Kasich and Christie have campaigned heavily in the state, doing more than 180 town halls, meet-and-greets and other events. Fiorina and Bush have both made more than 110 stops, while at the other end Trump and Carson have made fewer than 50. Among the Democrats, Sanders is ahead in the polls, but by how much? The 7News/UMass poll has him ahead by 16 points, 56 percent to 40 percent, but one by the Boston Herald/Franklin Pierce University puts the lead at seven points, 51 percent to 44 percent. Both campaigns have been trying to manage expectations, Miringoff said; Sanders by stressing that Clinton won New Hampshire over Barack Obama in 2008, Clinton by emphasizing that Sanders is from Vermont. Independents, who make up 44 percent of the electorate in New Hampshire, can vote in the primary, which could help Sanders, Miringoff said. Clinton is making a determined appeal to the young women who have been drawn to Sanders. Griffin said he did not know that Clintons organization in New Hampshire and the support she has from prominent Democrats such as U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan would be enough to overcome Sanders strengths. Im not sure that that necessarily works to her advantage in a race with an insurgent Bernie Sanders who points to the politicians and basically says, Theyre the problem, shes the problem, Wall Streets the problem, we need a revolution, he said. But Levesque said he would not discount Clinton. My opinion is always buy Clinton stock when its undervalued, he said. New Hampshire voters have a reputation of being free thinkers, but truly independent voters could be hard to find in the Granite State. Undeclared voters in the state are allowed to vote in Tuesday's Democratic or Republican primary, which has made them a valuable get for candidates in both parties. But just because a voter is Undeclared does not mean theyre undecided or dont identify with the standard parties, according to a professor at the University of New Hampshire who has studied voter patterns and interviews with several voters days before the primary. I think youd have a hard time finding a true independent voter in New Hampshire, said Peter Soreff, 73, an attendee of the New Hampshire Democratic National Conventions McIntyre Shaheen dinner in Manchester on Friday. Voters are really either liberal or conservative and theyre basically Republican or Democrat. Elizabeth Arakelian Soreff, of Nottingham, has called voters and canvassed homes for the past month and a half as a volunteer with the Hillary Clinton campaign. Most people didn't answer their phones and of the roughly 20 people with whom he spoke, none were interested in being swayed, he said. Soreff said the idea that independents have enough weight in the primary to determine a candidates outcome is oversimplified as voters have usually made up their minds, at least over which party they most identify. I know were supposed to say we choose the person not the party, but thats garbage. If you go and see how people vote, they usually vote a straight ticket, Soreff said. A recent WBUR poll found that 44 percent of the states voters are Undeclared, a population that pollster and University of New Hampshire Associate Professor of Political Science Andrew Smith says should be viewed as Democrat lites and Republican lites. His center's analysis of polling data since 1999 found just one-third were true independents. While much attention is placed on obtaining these independents votes, such voters are actually the least likely to show up on Election Day, Smith said. People out of the state, the press, and locals as well, are guilty of calling them Independents, Smith said. Thats fine if you understand that theyre not truly independent. If you say Independent for a long enough time, you get the impression that theyre not partisan and not locked in with one party. The truth is, theyre very much locked into one party. Theyre quite partisan with their positions. People often wonder which way independent voters will swing in an election, but thats the wrong way to look at them, Smith said. We should ask ourselves which of the races is exciting those people that are less likely to vote more, the Republican or the Democratic race? The race that is more exciting, especially if its close, pulls out more of those Undeclared voters, Smith said. An exciting race can pull out voters of all parties, though, and may even prompt voters to reconsider where they stand. Crystal Berberich, 41 of Manchester, is a registered Republican, but said she considered becoming Undeclared. I share a lot of views of the Republicans, but I also have a lot of very liberal views as well, said Berberich during her post-run coffee stop in downtown Manchester on Saturday. Im going to vote Republican in the primary because I dont want Trump to get any further and I may vote for a Democrat in the general election. Im so anti-Donald Trump I think that if he was to make it to the final election, I'm hoping you would see some people switch parties. Peter Noonen, of Manchester, is also straddling party lines. Noonen, 44, is the type of open-to-influence voter candidates search for when campaigning in New Hampshire. He has campaigned for George W. Bush, but voted for President Barack Obama. This year his top two candidates are Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. Elizabeth Arakelian Im a registered Republican, but we have the ability in New Hampshire to go back and forth," Noones said. "It takes an extra five minutes to undeclare yourself and then, if you really feel passionately about someone on the other side of the ticket, you can say, Yes, I want to vote for that person. I've done it before for governor, even for mayor for Manchester. Although Berberich and Noonen are registered Republicans, their open-mindedness suggests a certain independent spirit. Megan Doyle, a political reporter at the Concord Monitor, said that the common theme she has noticed when interviewing voters in New Hampshire is not their partisanship, but their passion. They want someone authentic. They want someone they feel like they connect to, Doyle said. They cant always articulate why they like that person, or what puts them over the edge to support them, but when you get to a primary like this where candidates can line up similarly on issues, Ive noticed voters will talk a lot about passion and character. Thats one of the hallmarks of the New Hampshire primary. Voters are very much putting candidates to a character test here, in addition to grilling them on the issues that they care about. A Fairfield County high school was one of four schools in Connecticut to receive a threat Tuesday afternoon, authorities say. Stamford High School was evacuated Tuesday after police responded to reports of a bomb threat at the school early in the afternoon. West Haven High School and two schools in Bristol, Bristol Central High School and South Side School, also received the threats Tuesday afternoon. Students at the school on Strawberry Hill Avenue were dismissed early and sent home on buses because the threat was reported close to the normal time of dismissal. Police are still at the scene clearing the building. Students in Bristol were similarly dismissed after the two schools received telephone threats at about 12:45 p.m. All afternoon activities were canceled at the school. Police said patrol officers responded to both schools and determined there was no immediate danger to students. Police are now investigating. A Tweet from the principal says the threat was not specific. In West Haven, extra officers were posted at the school until dismissal. It's not clear if there is any connection between the threats. The wife of a senior Islamic State leader killed in a U.S. raid last year has been charged in federal court with contributing to the death of American hostage Kayla Mueller, the Justice Department said Monday. A criminal complaint accuses Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, also known as Umm Sayyaf, and her husband of holding Mueller captive, where officials say she was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group. The case was brought in the Eastern District of Virginia, though Umm Sayyaf is currently in Iraqi custody and facing prosecution there. Justice Department officials say they support that prosecution, but they'll continue to "pursue justice for Kayla." Her husband, Islamic State financer Abu Sayyaf, was killed in a Delta Force raid of his Syrian compound in June. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement. "At the same time, these charges reflect that the U.S. justice system remains a powerful tool to bring to bear against those who harm our citizens abroad." A Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped in October 2014 said al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited. The 14-year-old Yazidi girl made her way to Iraqi Kurdistan, where she talked to U.S. commandos in November 2014. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to Mueller's parents in June 2015. The complaint echoes assertions from U.S. intelligence officials, who had told Mueller's family that their daughter was repeatedly forced to have sex with al-Baghdadi. Her parents have said that Umm Sayyaf also confirmed to American interrogators that al-Baghdadi had "owned" their daughter. San Diego Police Department reports show officers responded to the Childrens Park in downtown San Diego more than 400 times in a two-year period. The park is located on Island Avenue and Front Street, built by the city of San Diego when the city hosted the Republican National Convention in 1996. The tax-payer funded park is described by Google as a place "where ducks swim" and "a kids' playground under the pines." Area residents and San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria paint a different picture of the park. You never know what's going to happen or what you are going to see, so we never really think of coming here, Will Carreras, a downtown resident and father of two girls, told NBC 7 Investigates. He said he would never bring his family to play at the park. What we see are people camped out, tents, sometimes shopping carts, Carreras said. Gloria said the park has been a concern of his for several years and the physical layout of the park is attracting criminals. You have these mounds, and collectively it really creates an opportunity for folks not to be seen, and that's certainly not good for children, Gloria said. NBC 7 Investigates reviewed years of police records from the SDPD. The records reveal officers were called to the Children's Park 234 times in 2014 and 226 times in 2015. Some of the crimes recorded by police included petty theft, disturbing the peace with violence, arson in progress, domestic violence, prostitution, vandalism and drug possession. Click here to view SDPD records for the Childrens Park. The 460 calls for service is more than double the number the SDPD received for other downtown parks during that same time period. According to police records, Pantoja Park on G Street had 139 calls for service and Amici Park on State Street in Little Italy had 12. Click here to view SDPD records for Amici Park. Police records show officers did more than respond to calls for service at the park. In 2014 and 2015, 20 arrest warrants were issued at the Children's Park, including parole violations, possession of methamphetamine and commercial burglary. In that same time period, seven warrants were issued in Pantoja Park and zero were issued in Amici Park. The SDPD provided the records to NBC 7 Investigates, but declined to comment further. Gloria said one solution to reducing crime at the Childrens Park is redesigning the space. Parks need activation, and without it you tend to invite other elements that people don't want in their neighborhood, he said. In 2011, Civic San Diego approved a $3.2 million master plan for the 1.5-acre park. The proposed changes included new landscaping and adding playground equipment and a restroom. Click here to see more details about the approved plan. But the plan was never put into action. In 2012, state redevelopment money, the primary funding source for neighborhood projects, was cut. Gloria said without state funding, there wasn't enough money for the improvements. Since the 2011 plan was approved, area residents have new ideas for the future of the park. One possibility being discussed is transforming the land into an off-leash dog park. Gloria said he supports the idea, but finding the funding will be difficult. The citys budget is $1.2 billion, so it should be able to find something like that, he said. But that has to compete with other demands not just across the city but within downtown. Brad Richter with Civic San Diego declined NBC 7 Investigates request for an on-camera interview. In an email he said $600,000 was allocated last year to begin implementing the 2011 park improvements. If the plan were to include the addition of an off-leash dog park, the approval process starts over. Carreras said he hopes the city makes "cleaning up" the park a priority. I think San Diego has the opportunity to revitalize places like this and make them more family friendly," he said. A 25-year-old San Diego woman who had recently moved to Chicago was killed over the weekend when she was hit by a stray bullet outside her apartment. Aaren OConnor was returning from work around 7:30 p.m. Friday and was sitting in her car when a stray bullet hit her in the back of the head, police said. OConnors roommate found her unresponsive in the vehicle and she was transported to John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County in critical condition. She later died Sunday, her family said. I knew right away that we lost our baby, said her father David OConnor. Its just absolutely the worst time of my life. OConnor moved to Chicago a year and a half ago from San Diego to work at Tomy, a toy company with offices in suburban Oak Brook. Her father said he was nervous about his daughters move from the beginning. I dont want to say devastated but fearful because I knew the kind of things happening in Chicago, David said. Friends and colleagues in the Chicago area say they vow to continue OConnors memory by giving at-risk kids in Chicago an outlet to keep them away from violence. Donations will fund an after-school program and scholarship in her name. We want to target people who want to travel abroad since we know that was something that was very passionate for her, said her co-worker Sarah Moen. After all, it was studying abroad that led to her love, friends and family said. OConnors move to Chicago also meant she would finally be with her long-distance boyfriend, who lived in suburban Elgin. The couple met while studying abroad in Japan and was looking forward to living together after years of long distance. When it really happens to you, it feels like a void, said her boyfriend Carlos Sorto. A GoFundMe page had been set up to help OConnors family with the funeral costs and remaining donations will start the scholarship program in her memory. Our long-term goal is to develop an after school program at a community center in Aarens name where Chicagos youth can come together to receive the caring and resources they need to choose a non-violent path and open their hearts to others, the page reads. Other suggestions to provide healing to our community in Aarens memory are welcome and encouraged. May she rest in peace. After a brief pursuit, deputies captured a sex offender Saturday, according to a release from the Calvert County Sheriffs Office. Sheriffs deputies responded to a report of an abandoned Dodge Charger Saturday, according to the release. Once on the scene at Whirlaway Drive and Gate Dancer Court in Prince Frederick, Maryland, deputies determined the vehicle was occupied, according to the sheriff's office. The sole occupant of the vehicle jumped out and stood behind the Chargers door wielding a knife in his hand. The man, identified as 34-year-old James Stewart Brown III of Chesapeake Beach, told a deputy he had a knife and the deputy must shoot him, according to the sheriff's office. As more deputies arrived, Brown jumped back into his vehicle and locked the door, still wielding the knife. Deputies boxed the vehicle in and attempted to break out a window to gain access. Brown placed the Charger in drive and drove over a curb, and a pursuit ensued, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies used their vehicles to stop the Charger and broke the windows to get Brown. He yelled for the deputies to shoot him while he held the knife to his neck. Despite the deputies efforts to get Brown to release the knife, he refused and began to cut his neck, according to the sheriff's office. Two deputies used Tasers to get Brown to stop cutting himself and to take him into custody. Brown was eventually detained without injury to any officers. He was taken to Calvert Memorial Hospital to be treated for self-inflicted superficial injuries before being transported to the Calvert County Detention Center. The sheriff's office determined Brown had an open felony warrant for multiple sex offense charges. He was charged criminally with failure to obey a lawful order and disturbing the public peace, in addition to multiple traffic violations that occurred during the pursuit. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser revealed the locations for the District's new homeless family shelters in each ward during a breakfast with the D.C. Council Tuesday. In November, District officials voted to close the notorious shelter located in the old D.C. General Hospital. Bowser hopes to phase out D.C. General over the next two years, as the new short-term homeless shelters open in the following locations: Ward 1: 2105-2107 10th St. NW (29 units) Ward 2: 810 5th St. NW (213-bed women's shelter) Ward 3: 2619 Wisconsin Ave. NW (38 units) Ward 4: 5505 5th St. NW (49 units) Ward 5: 2266 25th Place NE (50 units) Ward 6: 700 Delaware Ave. SW (50 units) Ward 7: 5004 D St. SE (35 units) Ward 8: 6th & Chesapeake Sts. SE (50 units) Bowser said the new shelters will provide a safer environment than the old hospital, from which an 8-year-old girl, Relisha Rudd, disappeared almost two years ago. Rudd was last seen March 1, 2014, on surveillance video at a D.C. motel with a janitor from the shelter. He later committed suicide. "We worked hard over the last several months to make sure we have smaller, dignified facilities all over Washington, D.C., where families can have a safe place to move toward permanent housing," Bowser said. The new facilities will be located in neighborhoods and in locations that will likely meet some resistance from neighbors not accustomed to having a short-term residential facility close to their homes and schools. Bowser said she knows there will "difficult conversations" ahead when she takes her plan to the community in coming days. "You know, I am a ward council member, ANC commissioner at heart and now I'm mayor, so I know how we can place facilities in neighborhoods where they fit in," Bowser told News4. The proposed facilities will house between 29 and 50 families each. The Ward 2 facility will have 213 beds for women only and opens Wednesday. The other seven shelters will open in 2018. "We're on a pretty strict timeline, and so we need all of the proposed units to come online in 2018," Bowser said. "And if we are able to do that, and there's no reason we shouldn't be, we can close D.C. General in 2018." Opponents have said they're against the smaller shelters because they lack private bathrooms. Parents cite concerns for children potentially sharing a bathroom with adults not related to them. D.C. General currently costs about $17 million a year to operate. The new shelters that will replace it will cost about $22 million a year, said Laura Zeilinger, director of the District's Department of Human Services. "From the outside it will look like other buildings in the neighborhood, and it will not be distinguishable as a program that serves people who are experiencing a housing need," Zeilinger said. D.C. General is currently home to about 250 families; another 730 are being housed in hotels in the District and Maryland at a cost of about $90 a day. The Bowser administration has ramped up efforts to transition families from shelters to more stable housing. Last year, more than 1,000 families were moved to permanent housing. This is not the first time the District has tried to open homeless shelters in neighborhoods. An attempt to turn Guy Mason Recreation Center into a homeless shelter by former Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly was rejected by neighbors and ultimately was scrubbed. In 2013, the D.C. Council considered funding a shelter at the former Hebrew Home on Spring Road in Ward 4. But neighbors pushed back with the help of then-councilmember Muriel Bowser. Bowser said her concerns about the Hebrew Home location back then are not in conflict with her plan now. "The proposals around 1125 Spring Road were nothing like this because what we've said is that these locations should not be more than 50 units," Bowser said. "These locations must fit into the neighborhoods where they are." The mayor will need the support of the council to implement her plan as it will need funding and some zoning changes. When asked if the locations might change after she's had feedback from the community, Bowser indicated that wasn't likely. "In some cases, it was very hard to find locations," Bowser said. "I think that communities are going to find that we put a lot of thought into how these units will be located. We are going to look forward to a follow-up discussion with community members about how the communities look and how they can be designed to best fit into the neighborhood." After racking up multiple snow days due to January's harsh winter storm, Fairfax County schools could push up the start date for the 2017-2018 school year. The Fairfax County School Board is considering starting school before Labor Day now that the school district qualifies to waive the state's post-Labor Day requirement, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) announced Tuesday. Typically, schools in Virginia start classes the week after the final summer holiday, complying with a state code known as the "Kings Dominion Law." The 1986 legislation grants students an extra weekend of vacation to boost local tourism and amusement park business in Virginia, as well as keep teen employees working through the end of summer. However, Virginia's Board of Education offers an opt-out option if a school district is closed for an average of eight days per year during five of the past 10 years. Fairfax County has averaged 8.4 missed days due to adverse weather conditions and other emergencies for five of the past 10 years, FCPS said Tuesday. However, a later start date is not a done deal. The school board will discuss the matter further during a future work session, and will ask for feedback from parents, faculty and community members before taking a vote. FCSP will maintain its post-Labor Day start date for the 2016-2017 school year. Classes will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 6 this fall. A friend of slain Virginia girl Nicole Lovell says the seventh-grader talked of running away and starting a family with the man now charged in her slaying. Natasha Bryant told The Washington Post that Nicole, 13, had called 18-year-old Virginia Tech student David Eisenhauer her boyfriend. Natasha said Nicole described Eisenhauer as "funny and really nice." On Jan. 27, Nicole apparently climbed out of her bedroom window. Her body was found four days later just across the state line in North Carolina. She had been fatally stabbed. Eisenhauer has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder in Nicole's death. Another Virginia Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Keepers, is charged with accessory before and after the fact and with illegally dumping Nicole's body. Natasha said Nicole met Eisenhauer online, and that she and other friends had worried about Nicole's social media interactions. On a recently recorded episode of "Dr. Phil," Nicole's father said his daughter had recently been grounded from social media for chatting inappropriately online with older men. "You could tell these older guys had fake profiles," her father, David Lovell, told host Phil McGraw, according to excerpts in a release from the show. "Some of the things they said were way too grown up for the picture they had." Nicole's parents took away her phone before Christmas, but she later got it back, he said on the show, which airs Wednesday. Nicole told people she was talking to Eisenhauer, Natasha told the Post, which reported that her father permitted the interview. "She always talked of running away with him," Natasha said. "She used to talk to a lot of older guys. A lot of people told her not to. I told her it's not safe. I told her she was going to be hurt or kidnapped or something." Nicole's mother, Tammy Weeks, has said her daughter was bullied at school. Natasha said many of Nicole's peers "talked behind her back" about a tracheotomy scar on her throat, and Nicole turned to social media "looking for someone who would give her attention and give her some compassion." Authorities have not disclosed any possible motive for Nicole's slaying, and her father seems to still be searching for answers. "How can it go from being my wonderful, happy daughter to she was murdered a few days later? I talked to her about a week before she went missing and everything was normal. She was my little baby girl," he said, according to the "Dr. Phil" statement. Monday night, organizers held a vigil in Blacksburg, Virginia, to remember Nicole. The Roanoke Times reported that more than 100 people gathered in downtown Blacksburg honor Nicole's memory. Light poles in the area were strung with blue Christmas lights, and members of the community held candles throughout the night. Weeks addressed the crowd, thanking the community for their thoughts and prayers and speaking about her daughter, whom she called "Coley." "As I stand here tonight, my family and I are broken," Weeks said. "God, I miss you Coley." Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam also spoke at the event, saying the community is strong and standing together. The event was sponsored by Womanspace at Virginia Tech and Take Back the Night, two organizations dedicated to student and citizen safety. Friends and others who know Eisenhauer and Keepers have described them as motivated young people who seemed to have a bright future before their arrests. But at a bond hearing last week for Keepers, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettit said the defendants met at a fast-food restaurant and carefully plotted Nicole's death. Eisenhauer and Keepers, who both are from the Maryland suburbs in the D.C. area, are being held without bond. Their next court appearance is set for March 28. Defense attorneys have declined to give interviews. A Virginia rock climber pleaded guilty Monday to beating another man to death with a claw hammer at a popular rock climbing site in Maryland. David DiPaolo, 33, of Bristow, Virginia, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. According to his plea agreement, on Dec. 28, 2013, DiPaolo argued with Geoffrey Farrar, 68, of Arlington, Virginia, in the parking area of Carderock Recreation Area in Bethesda, Maryland. DiPaolo struck Farrar in the head with a claw hammer multiple times after the altercation. Farrar was found with massive head injuries at the bottom of a cliff. He was airlifted to a hospital in Bethesda, where he died later that day. DiPaolo told investigators in Jan. 2014 that he and Farrar got into an argument in Carderock's parking lot, and that when he later encountered Farrar at the bottom of a cliff, Farrar began choking him. DiPaolo said the two fell to the ground, and that he reached for a claw hammer, striking Farrar in the head until he let go of his neck, according to a police document. Witnesses reported seeing DiPaolo running up a trail and leaving in a minivan shortly before they found Farrar's body. Acquaintances say the two men knew each other for years. "They were different generations, but one common place that they loved, which was Carderock," said Dave Giacomin, a rock climbing club official previously said. After his arrest, DiPaolo told police, "I'm sorry this happened. I didn't want this to happen." Prosecutors said the plea deal calls for DiPaolo to get between 10 and 15 years in prison at his sentencing May 9. A bill that's making its way through Virginia's General Assembly would prevent political parties from requiring voters to sign a party affiliation statement in a presidential primary. The Republican-led Senate voted 34-5 to approve the bill Monday. It heads to the House. The state Republican Party had planned to require voters in the party's March 1 primary to sign a statement affirming they're Republicans before casting a ballot. But it later changed its mind amid criticism from Donald Trump supporters. A judge rejected Trump supporters' attempt to block the loyalty oath, but the party rescinded its decision to use it anyway, calling it "bad publicity.'' The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the bill applies only to state-sponsored primaries and that parties could still hold their own nominating contests with an oath. More than 1,000 people braved a snow storm to hear Hillary Clinton make her final pitch Monday night to New Hampshire voters before Tuesday's primary. At a rally in Hudson, New Hampshire, Clinton described herself as a bridge-builder and change-maker who will fight to expand economic opportunity, while protecting national security and always listening to the concerns of Americans who have often been overlooked. "Imagine that we are actually putting people to work to fix and build the infrastructure that this country needs to be competitive in the twenty-first century economy," Clinton told the crowd. "Imagine that we're not only building and repairing roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, airports-- we're actually also repairing and building the pipes that carry water into the homes of children like those who live in Flint, Michigan." Dennis Frenette of Hudson said he wanted to hear Clinton to learn more about her priorities, and see in-person how she carries herself. Frenette said he often votes Republican, but has been discouraged at what he labels a negative tone he believes many Republican candidates have taken this primary season. "The biggest thing is that foreign policy type stuff," Frenette told necn, describing Clinton. "She really knows what she's talking about with that stuff." Supporters in attendance said no one has been tested the way Clinton has, dismissing nagging concerns over her use of a private email server for some official business as Secretary of State. "I think it's politics," voter Dori Higgins, a teacher in Hudson, said of the email server controversy. "I think everybody, if you dig far enough, you'll find something." "I don't really care about her emails," added voter Gail Koutroubas, who attended the primary eve rally. "All I care about is policy, and that she does a good job, and that she brings the country forward, and she does great things for America." Several people in attendance whom necn spoke to expressed great admiration for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Clinton's rival in Tuesday's primary, who is showing leads in many polls across the Granite State. However, those same Clinton backers who said they respect Sanders for the economic inequality and campaign finance reform issues he has advanced in his campaign added they believe Clinton is better positioned to win a general election against any eventual Republican nominee. The Clinton supporters said she has the experience required to serve as President of the United States on day one. "I think Bernie is a wonderful candidate, and in different circumstances, I would probably be willing to back him, but I'm also thinking about electability," explained Paul Coppens, a New Hampshire voter who was one of the first people in line for Monday's rally. "I'm looking at Trump, Rubio, or Cruz, and I think Hillary has good electability factors against any of those three." Clinton said she will continue to campaign and encourage get-out-the-vote efforts through Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders won a commanding victory Tuesday over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, giving him a crucial win over the onetime front-runner who narrowly beat him in Iowa last week. Sanders garnered a majority of support from men, women and independents and surged past Clinton in a state she won eight years ago against then-candidate Barack Obama. Near-record turnout and a recent shift in political ideology among Democrats helped buoy Sanders' early electoral feat. His win will likely prompt rank-and-file Democrats - and some major campaign donors - to give his candidacy a second look as the race shifts to contests in Clinton-friendly states like Nevada and South Carolina. Most polls in the state closed at 8 p.m. EST, except for a handful in a few tiny towns. "We started off here in New Hampshire 30, 40 points behind. That's not the case today," the Vermont senator told cheering supporters in Derry, New Hampshire, earlier in the day. He said a "good night" from his campaign would "show the American people that the voters in New Hampshire understand that this country needs a political revolution." Once labeled a "fringe candidate" by his detractors, Sanders received majority support from younger voters and those who called themselves moderate or political liberal. He was also narrowly favored by women. Clinton, meanwhile, was backed by a majority of voters 65 and older, according to preliminary exit poll data compiled by Edison Research for The Associated Press and the television networks. Clinton had braced for a potential loss in New Hampshire, the site of her 2008 comeback. She traversed the state's snow-covered highways with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, in a push to maintain her edge in national polls and reassure the Democratic establishment backing her campaign. "This is a great process and as I have said over the last couple of days we're going to keep working literally until the last vote is cast and counted," she said Tuesday morning while visiting a Manchester polling station. In the week since her slim victory in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, Clinton's campaign has tried to lower expectations for New Hampshire, where Sanders has maintained a steady lead despite her family's longstanding ties. Sanders' gains come amid shifting political ideologies in the state, with two-thirds of Democratic voters on Tuesday identifying as politically liberal. During the 2008 primary, only 56 percent of Democratic voters said the same, exit poll data show. Sanders, well-known to voters along the state's Vermont border, stuck to core campaign themes this week in an effort to avoid upsetting a race trending his way. "I felt like he was the most honest," said Nicole Reitano, a 24-year-old from Nashua, New Hampshire, who voted for Sanders on Tuesday. "He's had the same views forever, and he's never budged. That makes me feel confident in him." Clinton, meanwhile, was shouldering renewed troubles amid talk of a potential campaign reshuffling - talk that the former secretary of state dismissed. "I have no idea what they're talking about or who they are talking to," Clinton said on MSNBC. "We're going to take stock, but it's going to be the campaign that I've got." Clinton's campaign had sought to manage expectations with a circular to her supporters, noting that "whatever happens tonight, we're ready to get back out there and fight twice as hard tomorrow." As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Free Julian of Norwich reflection and prayer day The Friends of Julian of Norwich present a free Quiet Half-Day with Robert Fruehwirth, author and former Priest Director of the Julian Centre, on Saturday November 12, 10.30am-2pm. Read more What it means for us to repent Nigel Fox believes that now is the time for a tide of repentance, and shares his thoughts about what that actually means for our society. Read more Christmas card shop opens in Norwich church Thousands of Christmas cards from around 30 local Norfolk charities have gone on sale today (October 19) at the Original Norwich Charity Christmas Card Shop inside St Peter Mancroft church in Norwich city centre. Read more Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none. Read more Farewell as Yarmouth church leader moves on Captain Marie Burr, the Salvation Army leader in Great Yarmouth, has paid tribute to everyone at the church and charity after she left her post at the end of last month to move to a new role. Read more Norwich Cathedral chorister in BBC final Norwich Cathedral chorister Alice Platten has her sights set on being crowned BBC Young Chorister of the Year after reaching the final stages of the prestigious nationwide competition. Read more Norwich to hear pastor, Policeman and tramp tale Essex Baptist Pastor Dave McDowell has been a Policeman, fed orphans in India and lived under a boat as a tramp. He will tell his remarkable story at the October dinner of Norwich FGB on Wednesday October 26. Read more Pioneer UK leader speaks at Sheringham church Ness Wilson, national leader of the Pioneer network of churches, was the main speaker at a day of teaching and worship held at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham on 12 October, to be followed up by Word and Worship sessions at October half term. Read more Norwich event to give tips on bouncing forwards St Stephens in Norwich will be hosting an evening in October with Patrick Regan OBE, as he explores themes from his book Bouncing Forwards. Read more Youth for Christ lights a fire in north Breckland North Breckland Youth for Christ will be putting on a mini residential camp this year to coincide with Bonfire Night. Read more Delia Smith interviewed at Norwich church Top TV cook and well-known writer Delia Smith spoke about her faith at SOUL Churchs weekly Chapel gathering on October 11. Read more Children's Christian holiday club in Briston A half term childrens holiday bible club is taking place in Briston next week, and there is no charge to take part in the fun. Read more Ashill church puts on music to touch the soul The Fountain of Life Church in Ashill is hosting an afternoon concert in early November with classical, jazz, opera, ballads and pop classics. Read more Fakenhams new rector is officially installed Rev Tracy Jessop has been officially installed as Rector for Fakenham during a service at Fakenham Parish Church on Tuesday September 27, fourteen months after their last reverend retired. Read more Norwich homeless charity holds information evening Homelessness charity St Martins is holding an information evening on Thursday 3rd November at The Forum in Norwich for anyone who would like to know more about the work of the charity and to potentially become a volunteer. Read more Sheringhams harvest flowers and Fairtrade boost Giving thanks for Harvest was the theme of the Harvest Flower Festival held at St Andrews Methodist Church, Sheringham at the beginning of October, which included a Traidcraft stall. Read more ENYP needs Project Coordinator and Youth Worker Norfolk Christian charity ENYP is seeking to appoint new workers who have a passion to support children, youth and community food provision. Read more Trifacta isn't a company that has gained much attention, but it operates in a sector that, to a certain extent at least, is protected from the general downturn in tech investing. We've all seen how an economic slowdown has major impacts on every industry. The thinking goes that, in a recession, organizations close the spigot on spending, and hence opportunities for growth are limited. But while that is the general trend, some areas are less impacted by slowdowns. In the technology space, while slowing economies mean that greenfield spending on new initiatives decreases, technology solutions that can save money or drive more revenue tend to be somewhat insulated from the greater negativity. Data is a good example of an area that is likely to be safe if global economic woes continue. Taking an organization's existing data and deriving insights that can reduce expenditure or increase revenue is attractive - both in good economic times and bad. This fact could well have helped Trifacta with its conversations with investors. Either way, the $35 million funding round the company announced today is an indication of some positivity. Trifacta is all about creating software that helps organizations wrangle their data. Specifically, Trifacta offers value to its customers by enabling users to easily transform and enrich raw, complex data into clean and structured formats for analysis. Trifacta creates a kind of continuous improvement cycle whereby both users and machines learn from the other and get smarter with experience. In terms of the funding round, the $35 million comes from existing investors Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Ignition Partners and new investor Cathay Innovation, the Sino-French fund based in Paris and Shanghai. The new funding brings the companys total amount raised to more than $76 million. Trifacta's 2015 performance seems to confirm the company's ability to weather external storms. It increased sales by a reported 700% and added 3,000 companies to its user base. That growth saw the company expand to 105 countries globally and sign up such high-profile names as Citco, TeliaSonera, Royal Bank of Scotland, Proctor & Gamble, Juniper Networks, Sanofi, Kaiser Permanente, Pfizer, and PepsiCo. From an industry perspective, Trifacta has inked partnerships with important players such as Salesforce, MapR Technologies, and Zoomdata, in addition to expanding efforts with existing partners Cloudera, Hortonworks, and Tableau. Industry analysts seem to concur that there is something good going on here. "Trifacta is a pioneer of self-service data preparation and data wrangling, and the rapid adoption of Wrangler, combined with expansion into Europe, illustrates there is significant interest in modern approaches to data discovery, governance and preparation as enterprises explore the benefits of more agile analytics environments," said Matt Aslett, analyst at 451 Research. Data is increasingly critical to efficiency and growth for all types of organizations. We may be heading into a period of economic decline, but companies that help organizations understand their data should be sitting pretty. If company CEOs can be replaced by computers, why not the president of the United States? That, in fact, is exactly what's been proposed for IBM's Watson. Watson has already made quite a name for itself, of course, dating back to its 2011 victory on Jeopardy. Since then, it's gone on to make medical predictions, critique written text and offer insight on product performance, among other accomplishments. Now, a group called The Watson 2016 Foundation -- which "has no affiliation with IBM," according to its Watson for President website -- has emerged to help promote the cognitive computer's presidential prospects. Watson was designed to compete against humans by understanding a question, using key information to analyze vast volumes of data and then deriving the best possible answers, the group notes. "This is a task all politicians undergo on a daily basis, including the president, and could be more suitably and efficiently executed by an artificial intelligence," Watson for President says. "Watsons capabilities for parallel processing on a given query allow it to evaluate concerns on a variety of metrics, gauging the most beneficial response across all areas," the website says. "Watson can advise the best options for any given decision based on its impact on the global economy, the environment, education, health care, foreign policy, and civil liberties." Ready to welcome this new AI overlord? You can keep your wallet in your pocket for now: The Watson 2016 Foundation is not accepting donations at this time and does not expect to in the foreseeable future. "IBM made 12 billion dollars last year, so contributions from the public are not required for the continued research on Watson," the website says. People who want to support Watson are encouraged to donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation instead. In the meantime, while it's clearly a stunt, the effort also offers some food for thought. "Just in the same way humans have facial expressions to convey emotions, Watson changes its visual form to express its level of confidence in a selected answer," the foundation's website notes. "Wouldnt the country be better if all politicians were that transparent?" So, would you vote for Watson? You can share your view in a poll now under way on the Watson for President website. In very convenient timing for Netflix, whose planned expansion to 130 new countries will require a crackdown on people who use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to view content that is restricted in their region due to copyright, PayPal has announced that it will stop processing payments to VPN services, BGR reported today. The reported announcement comes just a few days after one VPN service, UnoTelly in Canada, informed its users that PayPal had ceased processing payments for its customers on copyright grounds. UnoTelly called the decision an attack on "services that enable open and unrestricted Internet access." However, an Ars Technica article pointed out that UnoTelly's site claims its SmartDNS service "removes geo-blocks imposed by streaming sites and allows you to watch geo-restricted channels regardless of where you live." See also: Netflix will have trouble blocking VPNs used to stream blocked content That kind of language is likely what attracted the attention of copyright holders. The studios that hold the rights to the content made available on Netflix have restrictions on which regions are allowed to access which content. This means Netflix users in Canada, for example, can't access certain content that is available just over the border in the U.S. To get around this, many users have turned to VPN services that re-route their streaming traffic to make it look like they're located in the U.S., granting them access to the content available in that market. Netflix announced in January that it will begin cracking down on these services as it looks to expand into new worldwide markets, and the PayPal announcement looks like an attempt to help. PayPal is setting a controversial precedent with the announcement, essentially outlawing a web tool that is used for a variety of purposes, including privacy for users in countries whose web browsing activity falls under scrutiny from government censors and monitors. The decision is likely to alienate privacy advocates whether they use PayPal or not for withdrawing support for VPNs out of concern for the studios that hold the rights to the content on Netflix. PayPal found itself in a similar situation when it cut off donations to WikiLeaks in 2010. The announcement might eventually seem even more questionable when you consider whether it will actually work. PayPal is just one method of payment at a time when we have more alternatives available than we care to use. UnoTelly has already told its customers who were paying via PayPal to just switch to credit cards, for example. However, the move could have some kind of financial impact on VPN services like UnoTelly. The subscription business model is so attractive because it withdraws money whether customers use the service or not, and since the monthly payment requires no direct action on the part of the customer, the customer doesn't always notice. By cutting off payments from its customers, PayPal is doing a favor for those who have been meaning to close their accounts with the VPN services, but just hadn't gotten around to it. That's revenue that VPN services will lose. However, those who don't want to lose service to their VPN accounts will just switch to an alternate payment method. Some of them might even abandon PayPal and urge others to join in the boycott. This even opens up an opportunity for a PayPal competitor to step up as a hero for VPN users. So what will PayPal accomplish? Attract backlash from privacy advocates and push VPN users worldwide to abandon PayPal, all for a decision that may or may not have an effect on the number of VPN users evading copyright restrictions on online content. Meanwhile, Netflix reveals that its only recourse to thwart VPN users is financial (we already knew they'd have difficulty shutting them down), and the role of VPN services in evading regional content restrictions gains worldwide publicity in the process. On February 2016 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released 13 security bulletins, six of which are rated as critical for remote code execution. The rest deal with fixing elevation of privilege, denial of service, and security feature bypass vulnerabilities. Rated critical MS16-022 resolves 23 flaws in Adobe Flash Player by updating Flash libraries in Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11, and Microsoft Edge. This patch is meant for all supported editions of Windows. It was ranked at the top of the list for patching, according to Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek, who called the patch a packaging change since there is a real bulletin for it, as opposed to a security advisory. MS16-009 is the monthly cumulative security fix for Internet Explorer, patching 13 vulnerabilities including remote code execution. Microsoft intends not to patch any version older than IE 11, so if you use a legacy IE browser then its time to move on from that attack vector. MS16-011 is to patch six vulnerabilities in Microsoft Edge; the most severe could allow RCE if a user browses a maliciously crafted webpage. MS16-012 deals with bugs in Microsoft Windows PDF Library, the most severe of which could allow RCE. The security update is rated critical for all versions of Windows that come with PDF Reader: Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2. Kandek noted that this is the first patch for Microsofts PDF Reader. Core Securitys Bobby Kuzma said, MS16-012 is probably the most interesting of the bunch, if only because its refreshing to see someone besides Adobe having a remote code vulnerability in PDF. MS16-013 patches an RCE vulnerability in Windows Journal. For an attacker to successfully exploit this memory corruption bug, a user would need to open a maliciously crafted Journal file such as via email. MS16-015 closes holes in Microsoft Office. Therefore, it should be close to the top of your deployment list priority. Kandek ranked it as second most important as it resolves seven flaws in Word, Excel, and SharePoint. Rated important Although not rated as critical, MS16-014 resolves RCE and other flaws in Windows; if an attacker were to exploit the most severe hole, then he or she could pull off remote code execution. The security update also addresses bugs that could allow elevation of privilege, denial of service, and security feature bypass. Regarding MS16-014, Jon Rudolph, principal software engineer at Core Security, noted that although it is categorized as a remote code execution vulnerability, it bears a lot of resemblance to an escalation of privilege vulnerability as it requires the user to login in order to load shared libraries before being authenticated. MS16-016 resolves a hole in Windows by correcting how WebDAV validates memory. Microsoft wrote, The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker uses the Microsoft Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) client to send specifically crafted input to a server. MS16-017 patches Windows remote desktop display driver. The flaw could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs into the target system via RDP and sends maliciously crafted data. If you dont have RDP enabled, then Microsoft says you are not at risk. Kuzma added, MS16-017 is interesting for its potential to expand footprints for attackers who already have a toehold in an environment, such as after a success phishing payload delivery. While systems that do not have RDP enabled are not vulnerable, lets be honestalmost every server is going to have RDP enabled for at least network management purposes. MS16-018 addresses a vulnerability in Windows kernel-mode drivers that an attacker could exploit for elevation of privilege. MS16-018 worries Kuzma a bit. Its a local privilege escalation vulnerability, so it requires the user running a specially crafted program. What worries me here is that its got vulnerable systems all the way back to Windows Vista, so its HIGHLY likely that the venerable XP is also vulnerable. MS16-019 fixes vulnerabilities in Microsoft .NET Framework. The most severe flaw, according to Microsoft, could cause denial of service if an attacker inserts specially crafted XSLT into a client-side XML web part, causing the server to recursively compile XSLT transforms. MS16-020 patches another denial of service vulnerability but in Active Directory Federation Services this time. MS16-021 squashes a Windows bug that could cause denial of service on a Network Policy Server if an attacker sends specially crafted username strings to the NPS, which could prevent RADIUS authentication on the NPS. All in all, it's a normal month in terms of number of patches, but an attack vector of poisoned files is an active battleground right now, with issues being discovered and fixed on a constant basis, summed up Core Securitys Rudolph. If you use Java and havent done so, then you might grab Oracles newest version of Java 6, 7 or 8, as a security alert was issued yesterday for a vulnerability in the installer. Oracle wrote, Though relatively complex to exploit, this vulnerability may result, if successfully exploited, in a complete compromise of the unsuspecting users system. Happy patching! District council will still have to save 17.5m next year after government decision COUNCIL leaders have said that a small government cash windfall announced last night is unlikely to make a big difference to the raft of cuts proposed next year. West Berkshire Council has been given a small reprieve after the government gave it 1.4m towards softening the blow of the 18.9m cuts. But it still means the council will have to find 17.5m next year. During a debate in the House of Commons last night, Local Government Secretary Greg Clark announced that he was offering councils across England 300m of "transitional cash" to ease the pain of the funding cuts. West Berkshire's share will be 2.8m over the next two years. Council leader Roger Croft said he was "mildly pleased" with the outcome, but conceded that it was unlikely to make a big difference to its proposals. The council will still have its revenue support grant - its main source of income from government - cut by 44 per cent. The council's first phase of cuts - totalling 10.8m - are expected to go ahead as planned this Thursday. They include the closure of children's centres and care homes as well as cuts to 36 other areas of spending. The second round of cuts, which was expected to be another 8.1m on top of the 10.8m, is now likely to be nearer 6.7m after last night's decision. Although details of the second phase have not yet been formally announced, the council hinted that it was considering raising council tax by four per cent and closing eight of the district's nine libraries. Mr Croft refused to speculate on whether th extra money could mean libraries or other services could be saved. Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News this morning, Mr Croft said: "I'm not going to speculate because we still need to go through the detail. "I am mildly pleased and grateful for any softening, but it is not a lot of money. It reduces the savings we have to make from 18.9m to 17.5m, which is still a lot of money." Newbury MP Richard Benyon, who spoke at last night's debate, said: "I am less unhappy than I was and am grateful that he has listened to our concerns. "I'm pleased we have got some transitional relief funding." Kintbury resident and best-selling author Robert Harris describes plans as a "war on reading" A RENOWNED author has described West Berkshire Councils proposals to close all but one of the districts libraries as an act of significant cultural vandalism. Kintbury resident Robert Harris, who has written nine best-selling books including Fatherland, Pompeii and Imperium, called it a war on reading. The district council is looking to close eight out of its nine libraries as it looks to make savings of 17.5m next year. Speaking to Newburytoday yesterday, Mr Harris, who is married to the well-known author Gill Hornby, said: I think it is appalling. Libraries play an important part in educating people and it is very, very, short sighted to cut learning and reading in that way. The repurcussions will be felt in ways we cannot see. Going to a local library, I was always reading history when I was younger and that played a big part in my writing. I understand that cuts have to be made but to close all but one library seems extremely drastic. Once you lose this service it is not coming back. Once it is gone it is gone. West Berkshire Council's portfolio holder for community culture and leisure services, Hilary Cole, said: A proposal to reduce the number of libraries is one of the areas we have no choice but to consider as we seek to save 17.5m next year. "We know our communities value libraries immensely and its with a heavy heart that we have to look for further savings within our library service. Entertainment / Celebrity by Staff Reporter Urban groove top dog Trevor Dongo's seven month marriage to Ashley Maumbe has collapsed.They got married in May last year.Dongo accused Maumbe of doing 'something not expected of a married woman".Sources close to Ashley said she got fed up with Dongo's string of mistresses.Dongo is said to be in a habit of sending love messages to other women as well as bringing them at the matrimonial home."They have been keeping their split a secret but the news has now become the talk of their circles."She has been staying at her place for the past three months, when she left they were just on separation but now their marriage has officially ended."Trevor still wants Ashley but it is now impossible since Ashley doesn't want him and her relatives no longer want Trevor in Ashley's life,' said a source to H-metro.Added another source, "Trevor used to brings girl's at the house claiming that they were his friends un told Ashley saw love messages of those women in Trevor's phone." Ashley's family planned to give back Trevor back his money that he paid as lobola and Ashley brother who is said to be based in Namibia is the one who is supposed to raise the money and give it back".Ashley confirmed the break up."Yes we broke up but no one is giving him back anything and I stay in Zimre Park" she said. News / Africa by Staff Reporter A SEXUALLY-STARVED husband of Kitwe has refused to continue in a sexless marriage after his wife started denying him his conjugal rights for the past one year.The Zambia Daily Mail reported that Albert Kapambwe begged the Garneton Local Court to dissolve his six year old marriage because he has not been intimate with his wife for the past year.Albert said his wife Thelma Kapambwe has not respect for him and his sexual needs."Thelma has no respect for me and my sexual feelings and needs. She has now extended her moods to my family and denies them food when they come to visit,'' Albert said.He complained before local court magistrate Fredrick Ndhlovu that his wife Thelma gets his salary every month-end."She denies me money for transport and food yet I am the one who works for the money. She is also an irresponsible mother as she constantly leaves the baby without proper care. Sometimes she goes for church meetings for two weeks leaving the baby behind," Albert said.But Thelma told the court that the problem in their marriage is that Albert likes spending nights away from home."This man left home on 11 December, 2015 and only came back on 11 January 2016 to take a table from the house and left again,'' Thelma said.The court advised the couple to seek counsel from both families to try and reconcile them. The matter was adjourned to February 12, 2016. News / Africa by Staff Reporter A suspected thief who lost his thumb while trying to steal from a 65 -year -old man in Gaborone has been arrested after an alert Voice reader who saw a man with a bandaged finger quickly notified the police.The Voice reported that Thoti Vandi, 44, was arrested at Jamataka village where he was visiting his sister. He appeared at Extension 2 court for attempted theft.The victim, Motseothata Sanka had gone to a motor spares shop in G- West to buy a propeller shaft for his car when he was approached by a man posing as a shop assistant and offering to sell the propeller shaft to him at a give-away price.The old man became suspicious and told him he only buys from reputable shops and not on the streets.As Sanka reversed, Vandi allegedly opened his car and grabbed his pocket which had a wallet full of money.Sanka then grabbed Vandi's hand and bit his finger off.Old Naledi Station Commander King Tshebo thanked The Voice for running the story which led to arrest of the culprit.He said after the alert, police went to Jamataka and managed to arrest the suspect.He also commended Batswana for their cooperation and helping police to fight crime.Meanwhile, Sanka said though nothing was stolen from him he hopes Vandi would face the consequences of robbing people of their hard earned cash One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 It's well known that peanuts can cause severe reactions in people who are allergic, but research suggests that the risk of developing a life-threatening reaction could be higher for those allergic to cashews. Now scientists have come up with a fast and simple method to purify the three main cashew allergens to help better grasp how they work and their effects on people. Their report appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Allergies to tree nuts and peanuts can cause mild symptoms, such as hives and itchy eyes. But some people who are allergic experience anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction that includes shortness of breath, swelling, dizziness and other symptoms. Scientists have identified three proteins associated with cashew allergies, but no one had isolated them with a high degree of purity or characterized them. Doing so, however, would help identify which specific allergen people react to, how the proteins might cross react with other allergens and potentially how to treat the allergy. Harry J. Wichers and colleagues decided tackle this challenge. The researchers used three different methods -- precipitation, ultrafiltration and gel filtration chromatography -- to purify the three main cashew allergens. They then identified the proteins' subunits. Additionally, testing found a difference in how allergens bound to immunoglobulin E, an allergen-binding antibody, in Dutch children and American adults, shoring up previous suggestions that geography and age can play a role in allergies. Researchers say further studies can build on these results to analyze allergen structure, cashew varieties and the stability of proteins during processing. For more than 30 years, Mississippi and West Virginia were the only states in the country that disallowed nonmedical exemptions to mandatory school vaccination laws for religious or philosophical reasons, until they were joined by California last year. These exemption laws have provoked debate over the rights of parents versus the responsibility of government to protect public health. Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, led by James Colgrove, PhD, professor of Sociomedical Sciences, conducted a review of vaccination policies through legislative rulings and accounts by health officials. They found policy changes remain controversial and alternatives exist to eliminating nonmedical exemptions entirely. The paper appears in the February issue of the journal Health Affairs. While all 50 states allow exemptions for children who have a valid medical reason, and almost all states allow nonmedical exemptions for parents with either religious or philosophical objections, the political climate has recently shifted in favor of making exemptions more difficult to obtain. In 2015, California, long known as a state with lenient provisions and high rates of opting out, followed the example of Mississippi and West Virginia and eliminated nonmedical exemptions. This move came in response to the widely publicized outbreak of measles in June 2015, traced to two Disneyland theme parks. That same year, at least twelve states considered bills on nonmedical exemptions. Immunization rates in Mississippi and West Virginia show the benefits of strict exemption policies. In the 2014-15 school year, vaccinations in Mississippi for measles-mumps-rubella and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis stood at over 99 percent for kindergarteners, the highest rate in the country. Only 17 children of kindergarten age received medical exemptions. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, it may be politically feasible to limit exemptions to only medical reasons," writes Colgrove. "Health officials in both Mississippi and West Virginia report that overwhelming majorities of the public support their policies and that opposition comes from a very small number of the population. However, while sustaining policies is one thing, revoking a legal right that people have previously enjoyed presents a very different set of political circumstances." Colgrove and his co-author, Abigail Lowin of Columbia Law School, suggest there are alternatives to eliminating nonmedical exemptions entirely. Many public health professionals are recommending retaining nonmedical exemptions but making them more difficult to obtain, requiring parents to receive educational counseling from a licensed health care provider, or to renew the exemption annually. The most dangerous times of year for children with asthma are soon after their schools reopen after a break, and a new study finds that cold viruses are largely to blame. Health experts have observed that children with asthma tend to have the worst symptoms at the same times each year when school starts in the fall and after extended breaks such as Spring Break. Researchers previously speculated that environmental factors such as air quality in schools might be to blame, but the new study confirms that the primary driver of seasonal waves of worsening asthma symptoms, which can lead to hospitalizations, is the prevalence of common colds. "This work can improve public health strategies to keep asthmatic children healthy. For example, at the riskiest times of year, doctors could encourage patient adherence to preventative medications, and schools could take measures to reduce cold transmission," says Lauren Meyers, professor of integrative biology and statistics and data sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and senior author of the paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Exacerbations, the medical term for worsening asthma symptoms, result in millions of missed work and school days and $50 billion in direct health care costs in the United States each year. Earlier studies into the cause of exacerbations involved swabbing individual patients to detect viruses, but Meyers, a mathematical biologist, and her team investigated population-wide patterns of how common colds circulate among adults and children throughout the year to learn about the role of the viruses. The researchers built a computer model that incorporated possible drivers of asthma exacerbations and compared the output of the model to a large set of real-world health data: the timing and locations of about 66,000 asthma hospitalizations from cities across Texas during a seven-year period. By testing each driver independently, the researchers could determine the relative impact of each and find the weighted combination of factors that best fit the data. They determined that the spread of cold viruses, which is heavily influenced by the school calendar, is the primary driver of asthma exacerbations. "The school calendar predicts common cold transmission, and the common cold predicts asthma exacerbations," says Meyers. "And this study provides a quantitative relationship between those things." The authors speculate on the mechanism behind this relationship: When children are out of school, they tend to spend less time with other children and are exposed to fewer viruses. As a result, their viral immunity decreases. When they return to school, they are exposed to viruses at much higher rates, and this is also the time when they are most susceptible. The researchers also found that for adults, unlike children, the primary driver of asthma exacerbations is prevalence of the flu virus. Finally, the team developed more accurate rates of transmission of cold viruses than have been produced by previous studies. That information might help shed light on how common colds spread, and how we can protect people who are most vulnerable to them. Researchers at Umea University in Sweden help assess the risk that Zika will spread to Europe by describing the transmission season, areas at risk and intervention strategies. By using previous knowledge on Dengue, they are now strategizing on how Zika can be controlled. "From a European perspective, the best immediate response to Zika is to help prevent the spread of the virus where the outbreak takes place," says Joacim Rocklov, epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health and Clinical medicine at Umea University. As Europe responds to the global threat of the Zika virus, a team of leading experts on Dengue and other mosquito-borne viruses are providing crucial expertise. Dengue and Zika viruses are carried by some of the same mosquito types and also share a number of characteristics in terms of how viral infections manifest. Therefore, what the scientific community already knows about Dengue will be key in efforts to understand and prevent the spread of Zika. In this effort, Umea University's current leading role in the Dengue research is highly relevant. Umea University researchers are in dialogue with the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control (ECDC) to advice on the many knowledge gaps on Zika. Umea University has since 2011 hosted DengueTools, an EU funded research consortium, developing innovative interventions for predicting and fighting the mosquito transmitted virus. This international research effort, which includes 14 partners in 11 different countries, has resulted in a model research infrastructure that can now be applied to fight the Zika virus. "We can now use the well-functioning infrastructure we have already built through the Dengue Tools consortium to fight the spread of Zika. And in this existing model, Brazil, which has been hit hard by Zika, is already a strong partner," says Joacim Rocklov. The World Health Organization announced on 1 February that the rapid spread of the Zika virus amounts a global health emergency, echoing a call by the EU to fund research on the topic. In addition to the Umea researchers' role as expert consultants to the ECDC, the Umea University researchers, led by Joacim Rocklov and Professor Annelies Wilder-Smith, are answering this call and capitalizing on the existing partnerships, infrastructures, technologies and knowledge developed through DengueTools consortium to combat the ongoing Zika pandemic. Migraine is a common ailment which debilitates sufferers and can be chronic. About ten percent of adults have recurring migraines, women more often than men, but sufferers also include children and young people. In its "Global Burden of Disease Study", the WHO lists migraine as disabler number six in a list of more than 300 afflictions worldwide. Migraines often involve heightened sensitivity to light. A Vienna team of researchers is investigating new treatment options such as light therapy. Quelle: Shutterstock/Myimagine Migraines are often accompanied by heightened sensitivity to smells, noise or light, with light sensitivity representing a particular burden for patients. Light stimuli can also be what triggers headaches. In both cases, those affected are severely diminished in their daily life. Sufferers who cannot bear even normal levels of daylight have to withdraw to darkened rooms during an attack, but are also inclined to avoid light between attacks. Until now, such a deliberate strategy of avoidance has been among the recommendations doctors give to migraine patients. IMPROVEMENT INSTEAD OF AVOIDANCE "With the passage of time we have come to suspect that avoiding light may be detrimental, because it can heighten sensitivity to light so-called photophobia even more", explains migraine specialist Christian Wober. This can be compared to people who are afraid of heights or of confined spaces. Avoiding such fear-provoking situations will not solve the problem. In a recently initiated study funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a team of researchers from the Medical University of Vienna is exploring whether there are other, more sustainable ways of dealing with light sensitivity during migraine attacks. First investigations have shown that the opposite approach, namely desensitising the brain to light stimuli, might be a better strategy than avoiding light. In one-week training sessions patients are exposed to "flickering light" in order to accustom the brain to bright or normal light. NEW APPROACHES CONTRASTING CONCEPTS "The ongoing research project will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to obtain the initial functional brain data that will help to devise the best possible strategy", says the fMRI expert Roland Beisteiner who submitted the project to the FWF. Migraine patients and non-sufferers will be treated with both measures light exposure and light withdrawal. For the first time, the reactions of their brain will be measured to discern the effects of these two opposite strategies. The project is being conducted by a fMRI research group headed by Beisteiner and a research group on headaches under the leadership of Wober and Stefan Seidel. The Australian psychologist Paul Martin is assisting the Vienna team. "As yet, we don't know for certain whether desensitisation, i.e. treatment using light, actually improves the brain's tolerance of light. If it does, it would open up a completely new therapeutic avenue", the researchers emphasise. As every patient undergoes both therapies at an interval of three months, the team can compare the effects on individual patients and observe the difference in brain activity between sufferers and healthy control groups. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today PROGRESS IN MIGRAINE RESEARCH In recent years, researchers have come to understand many aspects of migraine attacks. Migraine is a genetic disorder and involves functional modifications of the nervous system. Signals from the cortex, the brainstem and the facial nerves trigger an inflammation response in the cerebral membrane leading to typical migraine symptoms. Messenger substances that play an important role in migraines have been identified and have permitted researchers to develop drugs that are specifically effective against migraines. Why an attack is triggered at a certain point or what triggers it are questions that still need further investigation. In the current FWF-project, the researchers from the Medical University of Vienna focus on a fact well known from numerous studies namely that migraine is linked to a defect in the brain's processing of stimuli. Migraine sufferers often react differently to sensory stimuli such as light, noise and smells compared to non-sufferers. They have a sharper perception of these stimuli and are unable to ward them off. The FWF-project seeks to answer the question as to whether avoiding light stimuli, the traditionally recommended route, or targeted exposure to light is the better strategy. Source: http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/ News / Africa by Staff Reporter A 44-year old police officer at Gaborone West police, Sergeant Samuel Keamogile this morning appeared before Village magistrate court for a single count of threat to kill.The Voice reported that Keamogile is alleged to have threatened to kill his Special Constable girlfriend, Gladys Moagaesi, 25, last week Thursday in Gaborone.The court heard that the accused had uttered the words, If you think you are going to be in the house forever, I am going to break that door and blow your head with a gun', compelling the frightened woman to lock herself up in the house the whole day.State Prosecutor, Christina Ramokwena, pleaded with Magistrate Godwill Makofi, to have the accused remanded in custody as, she said, the two workmates could not share the same office as their tempers were still flaring.Ramokwena also argued that the matter was still fresh, and that the investigation teams were still to establish whether the suspect had the gun he mentioned. "I understand that the accused has the right to liberty, but it can be limited as he instilled fear in another human being," she said.She also asked the court to have Keamogile's plea reserved.When pleading for bail, Keamogile said he had many responsibilities that would suffer if he was to be sent to jail. "I am a pastor and I'm supposed to be ordained soon. I live with my late sister's child who is sick and if I'm denied bail the child will die," he said.Magistrate Makofi turned down the bail application as he said threat to kill was a serious offence punishable by a 10-year jail term. GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Boy Thunder's secret identity will be revealed in January's Batman/Superman: World's Finest #11 - but who is he? Boy Thunder is secretly "someone DC fans have known for decades" - but who? Machel waits for crown Waiting on the Stage accounted for about 77 percent of the eligible songs played at that judging venue alone in the first three hours of judging. A distant second, with 18 percent, was Kes Dieffenthallers People. Soca Monarch winner Voice (Aaron St Louis) trailed in third with about three percent with his Cheers to Life. But the very first song played on the Big Stage was Olatunji Yearwoods Oh Yay, his mellifluous Afro-soca. However, the song did not seem to win favor with subsequent bands. If Montano takes home the Road March crown, it will be his eighth. He will tie with The Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) for the third most Road March wins but still trails Austin Super Blue Lyons (nine) and late great Aldwyn Lord Kitchener Roberts, with ten wins. One of Montanos titles was a collaboration with Patrice Roberts, namely 2006s Band of the Year. It will also be the first hat-trick in the competition since Chris Tambu Herbert achieved this in the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 with This Party is It, Free Up and We Aint Going Home, respectively. Montano won last year with Like Ah Boss, and in 2014 with, Ministry of the Road. But if masqueraders were waiting for the stage all year - as suggested by the popularity of Montanos soca - spectators have not been. The stands were largely empty, as is often the case on Carnival Monday. Even when larger bands arrived, there were more people on stage than there were spectators. The Parade of the Bands began at the Savannah at 11.08 am and within the first half-hour, five bands passed. On the day when masqueraders normally dress-down, traditional forms of mas dominated. The first band to cross the stage, at 11.08am, was Simply Culturals Minstrel presentation entitled, Is So Calypso Start. That mini-band was soon followed by Vintage Peoples Lipan-Warriors of the Mountain, a group of Fancy Indians. The third band onstage was The Original Jab Jab with Traditional Warriors, an ole mas band. The first medium band, D Krewes Flashback, appeared at 11.25am. Besides the traditional mas, the band with the biggest impact was K2Ks Searching for Sangri- La which featured standards bearing the national flower, the chaconia, a cloth canopy carried by a few masqueraders and some sleekly-designed costumes, such as a section with red modified jackets. Though twenty-eight large bands, 13 medium bands, 17 small bands and 32 mini-bands were registered, the traffic was slow with a long lull at 11.32am as judges awaited masqueraders to parade before them. Reigning King of Carnival Ted Eustace crossed the stage with a scaled-down version of his costume Psychedelic Nightmares. Though many elements were removed to make the costume more portable for the road, Eustace had to be assisted by two muscular band members to glide the costume across the stage. News / Africa by Staff Reporter The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit has secured four life sentences for rapists across the province.Detectives have been working hard to arrest perpetrators of rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, sexual assaults and other sex-related cases. And last month, they were able to secure life sentences in three cases reported between 2009 and 2014.Themba Dlamini (38) was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Port Shepstone Regional Court for raping a six-year-old child at the Mkholombe area in January 2009. Sibonelo Ngobese (20) was sentenced to life in prison by the Mtubatuba Regional Court for raping two 10-year-old children at Mduku Reserve in August 2014. Finally, a 32-year-old man, who raped and impregnated his cousin in September 2013 in the Mgababa area, was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment by the Empangeni Regional Court.The KZN Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, appealed to parents to take special care of their children in light of the fact that sexual crimes are often committed by someone close to the victims."It remains a source of concern that despite the hard work of police in putting these depraved individuals behind bars, our women and children still remain vulnerable to predators who live amongst them," she said. Mas fun and revelry in Southland Shortly after 3 pm, the first band, Nations People crossed the stage with their depiction of The way it was. This band was followed by Southern Mas Association portraying Tribal Bliss. Kalicharan presented their rendition of Call to duty featuring seven sections displaying radiant colors of red, blue ,yellow and green. Revelers danced and jammed to the music of Stage, many even singing the lyrics as they moved. Fireworks Tribu The Forgotten People also displayed seven sections such as Zulu, Cheyenne, Alamani, Amazon in an array of colours coupled with traditional Amerindian designs. Southern Mas Associates and Lionel Jagessar and Associates portraying an array of brilliant colours The Hunting Party caught the attention of spectators as a traditional midnight robber delivered a speech about his great ancestry. I ndian Mas was also showcased by this band. The judging point for this year was in the vicinity of Scotia Bank, High Street San Fernando. There was also a heavy presence of police officers along the streets. A senior police officers told Newsday that there were no incidents of crime during the parade of bands. There Were Rules on Handling Asbestos. They Were Ignored (Newser) An Alabama State Trooper got quite the shock when he pulled over a speeder on US 72 Sunday morning, WHNT reports. Trooper Michael Kesler found Danny Lowe behind the wheel and Lowe's wife, Shawna, on the verge of giving birthso Kesler lent her a hand. "Without hesitation, Trooper Kesler quickly acted and assisted in the delivery of the baby," says a state official. Kesler apparently also called an ambulance and helped keep the baby and mother warm while they waited. Then he joined Danny at the hospital and bought them a newborn starter kit, cupcakes, and flowers. "He was awesome," Danny tells WTSP. "He settled me down." Kesler also let the new dad off with a mere speed warning. (Read more Alabama stories.) (Newser) A woman who says Bill Clinton sexually assaulted her is now campaigning against Hillary Clinton. Kathleen Willey, who says Clinton groped her in an Oval Office hallway when she was a White House volunteer in 1993, will be a paid national spokesperson for an anti-Clinton PAC that will become active if Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic nomination for president, Reuters reports. The group, originally named Women Against Hillary but now called the Rape Accountability Project for Education PAC (RAPE PAC), is being put together by Roger Stone, a former advisor to Donald Trump who says he is still on good terms with Trump. Stone says planning for the group is still in the early stages, but that the Clintons would "be confronted every day, on radio, on television, on billboards." Willey, who says Bill Clinton groped her when she tried to ask him for a paid position, says she would make sure her accusations get discussed in interviews, speeches, and political ads she'll participate in. Bill Clinton has denied Willey's accusations. Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones McFadden, who have also accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, have also spoken up lately; Broaddrick says it's hypocritical of Clinton not to believe Bill Clinton's accusers if she truly thinks sexual assault victims have a "right to be believed." (Read more Hillary Clinton stories.) (Newser) There's no happy ending to the story of an Australian woman who tracked down her father two decades after he last saw her when she was a baby: The unnamed man raped his daughter when they were reunited, she says. The man says his daughter's mother walked out on him when he was 18 and their daughter was just 26 days old. Twenty years later, in 2014, the daughter finally found her father and invited him to come visit her Melbourne home, despite the fact that she knew he had a violent criminal record, the Age reports. She says that, while they were alone in the house, he asked for a hug and then started kissing her. She pushed him away, but he took her into the bedroom, pushed her down, and raped her while telling her he loved her, she says. "I didn't say anything or do anything. I felt I had to cooperate," the woman recently told a court. "I was worried ... I knew he had a very violent past and had been in jail for physical assaults." The father, who originally told police his daughter initiated sex, ultimately pleaded guilty to a count of incest and was sentenced to four years in prison, but appealed. On appeal, judges reduced his sentence to three years after testimony as to his impoverished upbringing with an alcoholic mother and his intellectual disabilities. (Read more rape stories.) (Newser) The widow of an ISIS commander killed in an American raid last year could be spending the rest of her life in a US prison for her brutal mistreatment of American hostage Kayla Mueller and other captives, federal prosecutors say. Umm Sayyaf, a 25-year-old Iraqi woman captured in the raid that killed Abu Sayyaf, is accused of taking part in the kidnapping of Mueller, who was "owned" and sexually abused by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, NBC News reports. Federal prosecutors filed charges Monday against Sayyaf, who was transferred to Iraqi Kurdish custody a few months after her capture and is currently in prison in Iraq. Sayyaf has been charged with providing support to ISIS, which authorities say contributed to Mueller's death in ISIS custody. According to court papers, Sayyaf and her husband sold and traded women to ISIS fighters, and she was in charge of the captives when her husband was away. The court papers state that Sayyaf threatened to kill Mueller and two Yazidi women she was being held with, calling them "infidels" and showing them gruesome ISIS propaganda videos. Mueller died a year ago, and the Guardian reports that the court papers offer new details about her captivity. The 26-year-old was captured by ISIS fighters in August 2013, on her second day in Syria, and was kept in prison until September 2014, when she was turned over to the Sayyafs, according to federal investigators. (Read more Kayla Mueller stories.) (Newser) Is this the dawn of "gotcha" cooking? A talented chef in Los Angeles managed to trick food writers into praising McDonald's ingredients through the cunning method of rearranging them into completely new dishes, the Guardian reports. Chef Neal Fraser, a former Top Chef Masters contestant, told the group of 40 foodies invited to a special dinner that he was using "experimental" ingredients. The dishes included chilled avocado soup, spicy meatballs, and a coffee custard dessert, all made with ingredients that normally go into McDonald's menu items. "I just hope no one hits me," he said before the event. Fraser's gourmet creations appeared to be a hit, with the diners clearing nearly every plate in the five-course meal, reports the OC Register, which notes that McDonald's execswho paid Fraser an undisclosed feewatched the event on a live feed. Food blogger Danielle Salmon tells the Register that the food seemed a "little off from what he normally serves" and that there was plenty of speculation about a "weird secret ingredient." When Fraser asked the diners to guess the secret, one correctly shouted out "Golden Arches," though most of the group appeared surprisedand while the general reaction was positive, a few foodies seemed disturbed. The meal was recorded and releases signed, so don't be surprised if the video ends up as part of a McDonald's commercial in the near future. A blog post at Eater is critical of Fraser for what it views as a corporate "scam." It cites a litany of problems with McDonald's, from labor issues to nutritional issues to the sourcing of ingredients, and calls the stunt "shocking and disturbing for a number of reasons." (This McDonald's kale salad contains more calories than a Big Mac.) News / Africa by Staff Reporter THE death sentence slapped on the five Patriotic Front cadres by the High Court last week for killing a political rival is a step in the right direction that will send a warning to all political parties in this country that violence does not pay.This was said by Action Governance Forum executive director Justin Mushoke.Mushoke said his organization was against all those who engaged in violence for the sake of satisfying their political leaders who did not mean well to this country.He said Zambia needed youths who were responsible for their lives and not those who could be used and abused by selfish politicians.Lusaka High Court judge Gertrude Chawatama sentenced to death five PF cadres after finding them guilty of murdering a UPND cadre, Grayzer Matapa, in Mtendere township last year."The sentence given to these cadres is a protection of human rights for the citizens of this country; as a forum we are always against all those who engage themselves in violence for the sake of satisfying their political leaders who don't mean well to this nation," he said.Mushoke advised youths not to be used by selfish politicians as Zambia prepared for the general elections in August.He said there was need for political parties to engage youths in issues which contributed to the development of the country, and not in violence."There is also need for the Zambia Police Service to handle upcoming violence cases with the seriousness they deserve and not to side with any political party," he said.He said Zambia in its current form needed leaders who were sober to provide solutions too many challenges the country was facing, saying the only weapon that would give this country good leaders was a vote."Youths should wake up so that hungry politicians do not use them for political gain which has no value for the youths and the nation at large," he said. (Newser) The Syrian regime has been engaged in war crimes on a scale that dwarfs even the actions of ISIS, according to a United Nations report that warns of a human rights crisis as the country's civil war approaches its sixth year. The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights says the Assad regime has committed "crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; rape or other forms of sexual violence; torture; imprisonment; enforced disappearance and other inhuman acts," the Independent reports. "Extermination" refers to the "massive and systematized violence" against detainees, who are believed to number in the tens of thousands. The regime was responsible for more than 12,000 civilian deaths in 2015, compared to 1,366 for ISIS, just over 1,000 for the other opposition, 849 for Russia, and 277 for the US-led coalition, according to the UN. The regimebacked by Russian airstrikeshas made major gains in Aleppo province in recent days, and tens of thousands of refugees are stuck at the border with Turkey, which has only allowed a few seriously injured people in, reports the New York Times. In a Turkish hospital, the Times spoke to a family injured when a Russian airstrike destroyed their home. "Obama has been saying every day that Bashar al-Assad is finished," says farmer Mahmoud al-Dik. "But we are the ones who are being finished." "There is no hope," adds his 13-year-old daughter. Two younger children were unconscious with fractured skulls. (Syria's foreign minister says foreign troops that intervene will go home in coffins.) (Newser) Visiting Dixville Notch has paid off for John Kasich: The Ohio governor has prevailed in the northern New Hampshire village that casts the first ballots of the country's first primary, the AP reports. The Ohio governor, the only candidate to make it to the village, had 3 votes to Donald Trump's 2, while all four Dixville Notch Democrats voted for Bernie Sanders. Two other nearby towns also vote at midnight and release results immediately. In Millsfield, CNN reports that Ted Cruz beat Trump 9-3, with a few other GOP candidates getting 1 vote apiece, while Clinton beat Sanders 2-1. In Hart's Location, Sanders beat Clinton 12-7 and Kasich had 5 votes to Trump's 4, with four other GOP candidates splitting the other five votes. (Read more Bernie Sanders stories.) (Newser) Hong Kong's Lunar New Year celebration descended into chaotic scenes Monday night as protesters and police, who fired warning shots into the air, clashed over a street market selling fish balls and other local holiday delicacies, with dozens injured and arrested. The violence is the worst in Hong Kong since pro-democracy protests rocked the city in 2014, leaving a growing trust gap between the public and authorities. Activists held running battles with police into the early morning hours of Tuesday. Protesters pelted officers with paving stones, glass bottles, and other pieces of debris. Some threw garbage cans, plastic safety barriers, and wood from shipping pallets. They also set fires on the street. The unrest, which has been dubbed the "fish ball revolution," started when authorities tried to prevent unlicensed street food sellers from operating on Monday night. The hawkers have become a local tradition during the Lunar New Year holiday, but this year authorities tried to remove them. The hawkers were backed by activists who objected to the crackdown over concerns that Hong Kong's local culture is disappearing as Beijing tightens its hold on the semiautonomous city. The Hong Kong Free Press reports that police made 54 arrests during the unrest and vowed to step up security for Tuesday night's New Year fireworks display. (Read more Hong Kong stories.) (Newser) North Korea's long-range rocket achieved its supposed goal of getting a satellite into space over the weekend. It was not so successful, however, in that the satellite, Kwangmyongsong 4, is now tumbling in its orbit. US Strategic Command notes the satellite and a rocket booster stage "are in a nearly circular orbit, essentially over the poles" and are rotating at a 97.5-degree angle from the equator, per ABC News. In other words, the satellite is useless, says a US official. South Koreawhich fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat in the Yellow Sea on Mondayis studying debris from the launch, but the international community already believes it was a front to test a ballistic missile capable of reaching the US as it requires the same technology, per CNN. President Obama tells CBS This Morning that US officials are "consulting with the South Koreans for the first time about more missile defense capabilities to prevent any possibility that North Korea could reach US facilities or US populations." A missile defense system could be in place within weeks, reports CNN. The UN has also promised additional sanctions on North Korea after the launch, though Pyongyang appears unconcerned. The capital held an official fireworks display on Monday to celebrate the launch, and the vice director of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces promised nations' efforts to stop North Korea from developing its technology were "nothing more than a puppy barking towards the moon." (Read more North Korea stories.) (Newser) It's the kind of low-grade gaffe any politician might make on the campaign trail, but the timing could not have been worse for Marco Rubio. The candidate who's been ridiculed for robotically repeating talking points offered up Exhibit A during a speech in New Hampshire on Monday. The New York Times has the full quote: "We are taking our message to families that are struggling to raise their children in the 21st century because, as you saw, Jeanette and I are raising our four children in the 21st century, and we know how hard it's become to instill our values in our kids instead of the values they try to ram down our throats." Followed immediately by: "In the 21st century, it's becoming harder than ever to instill in your children the values they teach in our homes and in our church instead of the values that they try to ram down our throats in the movies, in music, in popular culture." And what does this mean for Rubio as New Hampshire prepares to pick a winner? Headlines like this: Vox: "RubioBot experiences new software glitch ..." Gawker: "Beep Boop Robot Marco Rubio Malfunctioning in New Hampshire" USA Today: "Marco Rubio repeats speech line amid attacks he's too scripted" The Week: "Marco Rubio repeats himselfagain" Amid the jokes, Matthew Yglesias at Vox highlights the potential danger for Rubio: "There's very little distinguishing Rubio from, say, Jeb Bush except for the perception that Rubio is dynamic and charismatic whereas Bush is lame. Small stumbles can wreck that kind of perception and tip people over to another candidate in a way that wouldn't be possible if there were big ideological gaps." (Read more Marco Rubio 2016 stories.) (Newser) "This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region," said a German police rep of a deadly head-on collision involving two regional trains around 7am local time today. German police say the death toll in Bad Aibling, Bavaria, has risen to nine, with the ninth body still being removed from the train; another 150 were injured, including 50 severely. All survivors have now been taken to safety and investigators are beginning to look through the wreckage. The Guardian reports that the drivers of both trains are dead, and it's as of yet unclear why they were simultaneously using the same stretch of track in opposite directions. Further complicating matters, the stretch of line on which the two trains crashed is squeezed between the Mangfall river on one side and a forest on the other, which is making rescue operations very difficult. The AP reports that rescue helicopters were carrying people on a rope across the Mangfall to ambulances waiting on the other side, four hours after the two trains crashed head-on. Local media reported that the rail line is used by commuters going to Munich for work; the city is located about 40 miles from the accident site. Usually schoolchildren also take the trains, but they are currently on winter vacation. (Read more train crash stories.) (Newser) Red Lobster is reaping the benefits of what Fortune is calling "the mother of all branding gifts." The seafood restaurant has seen a surprise jump in salesa 33% increase Sunday from the previous yearand it looks like it has Beyonce's new single to thank, CNNMoney reports. In "Formation," which takes on serious topics such as Hurricane Katrina and police brutality, there's also a line in which she brags about taking her lover to Red Lobster as a reward for good sex. (Actual NSFW lyrics here.) That line helped nab Red Lobster 42,000 mentions on Twitter in one hour and placed it on the top trends list for the first time ever, a Red Lobster rep says. It also saw a boost in Google searches, the company tells CNBC. "We are absolutely delighted with what we saw over the weekend, particularly the consumer sentiment that we saw expressed," company CEO Kim Lopdrup says. "It's clear that Beyonce has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that." Grateful and excited, apparently, since whoever runs Red Lobster's Twitter account took advantage of the situation a few hours after it started seeing its name all over social media. "'Cheddar Bey Biscuits' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" the company finally tweeted. Its response to the groans it received for its delayed pun-diting: "You try to bake Cheddar Bay Biscuits and tweet at the same time! #harderthanitlooks #Formation." (Beyonce has pretty much ruled everything over the past few days.) (Newser) Last Wednesday, an avalanche hit an Indian army base in Kashmir, burying 10 soldiers under 30 feet of ice and snow, the Wall Street Journal reports. Five days later, one soldier was miraculously found alive. The basenearly 20,000 feet above sea levelwas struck after a 320,000-square-foot chunk of ice broke off the Siachen glacier, according to the Times of India. India's defense minister called it an "unpredictable show of strength by nature." More than 150 soldiers, along with two dogs and radar and snow-cutting equipment, responded to the area near India's border with China to search for the missing soldiers. They were slowed by blizzards and high winds. But on Monday, Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad was found "dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic, and in shock"but alive. Koppad is currently in critical condition at a hospital in Delhi. We hope the miracle continues," the Journal quotes a lieutenant general with the Indian army. "He is expected to have a stormy course in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the complications caused by re-warming and establishment of blood flow to the cold parts of the body," the army said in a statement picked up by the Washington Post. The search team also recovered the bodies of the nine other soldiers. UPI notes the glaciercalled the "world's highest battlefield"is claimed by both Pakistan and India. Hundreds of soldiers have died on the glacier, where temperatures can drop as low as -60 Fahrenheit. Four soldiers were killed in another avalanche just last month. (Another avalanche last week proved deadly for skiers.) Two of the remaining three members of ISIS terrorist quartet known as Beatles have reportedly been identified as British individuals who visited the same West London mosque as Jihadi John. According to The New York Times, 32-year-old Alexanda Kotey, is one of them. Half-Ghanaian, half-Cypriot. Kotey is a convert to Islam and father of two who separated from his partner. He reportedly left Britain in 2009 and travel to Gaza strip with an aid convoy. While it is not clear where Kotey met the executioner Jihadi John, identified last year as Briton Mohammed Emwazi, it was learnt that Kotey and John attended the Manaar Mosque in West London. Kotey with Emwazi and two others were nicknamed The Beatles by their captives. The group was involved in the gruesome beheadings of Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff besides two Britons captives. Fox News reports that Kotey could be the terrorist nicknamed 'Ringo' as his profile matches that of the terrorist who had reportedly posted online saying he was raised in Shepherd's Bush, which is a London neighborhood. Kotey's family has expressed distress about reports of unmasking saying they had not heard from him in years. It was also reported by Fox that the third member of the 'Beatles' was Londoner Aine Lesley Davis who may also have attended Manaar Mosque. Davis was picked up in Turkey last year before the deadly serial blasts. As time thins out, rescuers are pulling out more survivors from the rubble of a collapsed Taiwanese high-rise apartment block toppled by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. Recent updates indicate that four people including an eight-year-old girl and her aunt were pulled out alive after more than 60 hours of being buried in the rubble as families of the victims grow anxious and extremely frustrated over the situation. According to a CBS News report, official death toll has risen to 38 while more than 100 people are still feared to be under massive debris in a calamity that hit Taiwan during the country's most important cultural and family-centered celebration- the Chinese New Year. Local tv news channels identified the girl as Lin Su-Chin and her aunt as Chen Mei-jih who were among the lucky ones to be rescued alive from the 17-storey Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building. Other people known to have survived the wreckage were Tsao Wei-ling and Li-Tsung-tian who are both receiving medical treatment as of this time as mentioned in a Yahoo News report. As rescuers rummage through endless sea of wreckage where many people are still unaccounted for, the government indicates that the priorities of the rescue mission are shifting as the operations enter a "third stage" according to Mayor William Lai- the local chief of Taiwan's worst-hit city of Tainan. "There are more fatalities than those pulled out (alive), and the number of fatalities will probably exceed 100," remarked Lai as quoted saying by Vice News. As stated in a report by The Wall Street Journal, 300 survivors, so far, were rescued from the Wei-guan wreckage and from all other damaged buildings in Tainan City and surrounding areas. A hundred more were immediately taken to the hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, Taiwan has expressed gratitude for the generous aid Japan and United States pledged for the victims of the disaster. Citing an article from Focus Taiwan, the Japanese government promised to donate $1 million for post-relief and reconstruction efforts that will be coursed through Red Cross Taiwan. United States also pledged $500, 000 and extended condolences for those who perished while expressing concern for those who survived. News / Education by Pamela Shumba THE government has temporarily stopped hiring temporary teachers to pave the way for an audit to establish if there are any vacancies that need to be filled in schools.The Civil Service Commission (CSC) cancelled teachers' vacation last month and ordered all teachers on leave to report to their work stations.Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Tapiwa Matangaidze yesterday said the government recalled teachers "to check on the gaps" in primary and secondary schools.He said the government will have a firm position on temporary teachers after the exercise."We recalled teachers on leave last month to check on the gaps that need to be filled. This is a follow up of a staff audit that the CSC conducted last year."It'll give us indications on how many qualified teachers we've and how many temporary teachers we've in our schools," Matangaidze told The Chronicle."Once the exercise is complete we'll have a firm position on temporary teachers. It'll also help us know how best we can fill the gaps."He said the exercise will also pave way for the government to engage qualified teachers who are yet to be employed.Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfumira, recently said teachers will only be able to go on vacation leave when the government is in a position to pay relief teachers who replace them when they are away.Teachers have since gone to court challenging the cancellation of their vacation leave, but the government is not obliged to consult anyone when taking measures on civil servants' conditions of service and has discretion to withdraw vacation leave and reset it for another day.Last year, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora said the government was finalising the documentation for standards, which recommends exclusion of unqualified personnel from schools.Dokora said no one should be accommodated in the education sector with no qualifications. The Turkish government has recently expressed frustration over the worsening migrant crisis saying that it has now reached the end of its "capacity to absorb" more refugees as the country faces increasing pressure from the international community to take in tens of thousands of displaced people amassing outside its border with Syria. "Turkey has reached the end of its capacity to absorb (refugees). But in the end, these people have nowhere else to go. Either they will die beneath the bombings and Turkey will ... watch the massacre like the rest of the world, or we will open our borders," remarked Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus in an interview with CNN-Turk as quoted by Sacramento Bee. Currently, Turkey already hosted 2.5 million Syrians- the largest refugee population to date- and probably more as Syrians flocked to Turkey to escape the onslaught of fresh government offensive towards Aleppo backed by Russian firepower according to Reuters. Despite its existing efforts of sheltering Syrians fleeing from war, Turkey is still in a dilemma over how to deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Syrian war and its spillover refugee crisis in Europe. On one hand, the Ankara government was criticized by EU for not doing enough to provide help to displaced Syrians and blasted yet again for not doing enough to stem the flow of refugees en route to Europe. In a recent deal, EU offers 3 billion euros to Turkey in order to help cope with the massive surge of refugees coming in mostly from Syria and particularly those who have escaped from Aleppo as stated in a report by BBC News. In another development, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had discussed with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on how to best manage the refugee crisis in partnership with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)- a collective defense pact in which Germany and Turkey are both members as mentioned in a report by USA Today. According to health authorities, about 1, 500 women reportedly give birth in 28 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the state of Borno in the northeastern part of Nigeria where a violent insurgency is being waged by Boko Haram- a radical jihadist group with ties to ISIS. The mothers are part of the larger wave of people fleeing from war in an Islamic extremist-led insurgency that has already claimed the lives of 20, 000 people. State Primary Health Care Management Board of Borno stated that it has established 20 Integrated Primary Health Care Centers in all IDP camps in order to extend healthcare services, psycho-social therapies, and child nutrition support to the women. "The Borno Government has procured health kits for each of the IDPs to help cater for their immediate needs. We have equally distributed mosquito nets to each and every one of them," remarked Executive Secretary of the Board Sule Mene as quoted saying by Premium Times. The secretary, however, regretted that the meager resources they have overstretched the capacity of the IDP camps that's why his agency is currently forging partnerships with other government agencies and non-government organizations NEMA, WHO, UNDP, Doctors without Borders and UNICEF, in order to provide a better environment for IDPs especially women and children in a report by TV360 Nigeria. Meanwhile, the Chibook community blamed former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo for the failure of the government to rescue 219 schoolgirls two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram rebels presumably as bargaining chips. The members of the said community reacted strongly to Obasanjo's claim that it was impossible for the military rescue the missing girls during his watch. "Obasanjo...may have his reasons for making such statement but, to us,...the girls are alive and can be rescued...Our hope lies on the fact that since their abduction, none of them has been found dead or alive; and that, to us, it is a good sign that they are alive," said the community leader as mentioned in a report by All Africa. Microsoft has been going for a downhill ride with its phone business since the software giant acquired Nokia's handset division- under the Lumia brand- in a 2014 deal. In 2011, the Finnish company had established its smartphone brand using Windows OS until giving Microsoft ownership of its struggling mobile phone business. Unfortunately, the brand failed to get a decent global market share currently dominated by Android-based phones and iOS mobile devices. In a report by News4C, Windows-based brand only account for 3.6% of the total smartphones sold worldwide. Now, news of Lumia's impending doom appears clearer than ever. According to a report by The Motley Fool, Microsoft is bound to release just one last Lumia smartphone- Lumia 650. The news outfit picked up the news from Windows Central. Although unconfirmed as of press time, the decision is probably likely given the dismal sales performance of the brand. In a report by The Marshall Town, Microsoft is expected to unveil its last Lumia device sometime in late February at the Mobile World Congress. The death of Lumia does not necessarily mean the ultimate end of Microsoft's attempt to carve its own place in the global smartphone market. Currently, there had been persistent rumors indicating Microsoft's viable shift from Lumia to a consolidated Surface brand sometime in the near future. While it disassociates itself from Lumia, the company is believed to be laying the groundwork for better and even more powerful next-generation phones. In this case, Microsoft's Surface brand is particularly promising- contributing a modest $1.35 billion in profits on annual basis. While the situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo worsens due to the advancement of pro-government forces, the nation's capital, Damascus continues to face attacks as the Syrian civil war wages on. According to Syrian state TV, reported by the New York Times, a suicide bomber blew up his car right next to a police officer's club, killing 10 people and destroying several cars. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. In their statement, the terrorist group, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL, named IS fighter Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Shami as the bomber. The group vowed to carry out more attacks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, reported that eight policemen were killed and 20 were injured. This attack came just one day after the international rights group, Human Rights Watch, reported that the government, with the backing of Russia, has carried out cluster bombs that have killed 37 civilians over the past two weeks. Although the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is an international treaty that includes nearly 100 states, banned the use of cluster bombs, Russia, Syria, the U.S. and China have not. Organizations and States have also publicly opposed Russia's involvement in the recent attacks on Aleppo. Over the past few days, government forces, with the help of Iranian and Lebanese allies, have been very aggressive in their efforts to take back rebel parts of Aleppo. The United Nations warned that aid could be cut off to certain areas of Aleppo due to the encirclement of government forces "It would leave up to 300,000 people, still residing in the city, cut off from humanitarian aid unless cross-line access could be negotiated," the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said reported by Reuters. The recent attacks have forced thousands of Syrians to flee north toward the Turkish border, worsening the migrant crisis. After days of waiting by the Turkish border of Oncupinar, Syrian refugees were finally able to cross. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey is letting refugees through the border in a "controlled fashion" after being pressured by the United Nations to do so. So far, thousands of people have already been let through. "Recently more than 50,000 people came to the border with Turkey due to Russia's air attacks. We took in 10,000 of these migrants and we are building some camps at the other side of the border for some," Cavusoglu said on his trip to Budapest, reported by Reuters. "We are allowing in those who want to come, in a controlled fashion." More than 30,000 Syrians have fled from Aleppo as pro-government forces, with the help of their allies, advance into the city in order to take neighborhoods back from rebel fighters. The progress of the forces has left many humanitarian organizations worried that aid to civilians could be cut off. Cavusoglu warned that if Russian airstrikes and ground attacks continue in Aleppo, the number of migrants seeking safety in Turkey could reach one million. At the beginning of the attacks, instead of opening the border gate , Turkey offered assistance and aid to the people camped out at Bab al Salama, which is located on the Syrian side of the border. However, after the U.N. and the European Union urged Turkey to open its border, the country acquiesced. In response to the influx of migrants, the E.U. has also agreed to pledge 3 billion euros that would be used to fund programs to help Syrians settle into Turkey. The E.U. wants Turkey to prevent migrants from traveling illegally into Europe. Turkey has taken in about 2.5 million refugees since the Syrian Civil War started in 2011. The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Fairbanks, AK (99707) Today Snow showers. Low 29F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%. About one inch of snow expected.. Tonight Snow showers. Low 29F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%. About one inch of snow expected. Mumbai: Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day today, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel here and that he was asked by Pakistans ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. He also said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Continuing to spill the beans, Headley said, I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked. I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him, he told the court. He also revealed that, In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headleys handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai. The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time, Headley revealed. They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled, he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, further said that he had discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman sahab that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money. In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT, he said. Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her In his first deposition yesterday, Headley had told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes in Mumbai that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a true follower of LeT, Headley had also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting influenced and motivated by the speeches of terrorist outfits founder Hafiz Saeed. Here are the highlights of what Headley said on Day 2: Lashkar Planned To Attack Scientists At Taj Hotel Lashkar, Jaish and Hizbul working under UJC against India Was asked to recruit Indian Armymen to spy for ISI David Headley also admitted that in 2003, there was a gathering of LeT where Maulana Masood Azhar was the guest speaker Headley's wife Faiza, in Jan '08, complained to US Embassy in Islamabad that he was involved in terrorist activities Conspiracy to conduct terror attacks in Mumbai started in Nov '06 Headley says he met Zakhi-ur-Rehman Lakhvi for the first time in 2003 in Muzzafarabad, which was the headquarters of LeT Former ISI chief Abdul Rehman alias Major Pasha was part of LeT. He later joined Al-Qaeda For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Siachen: In a miraculous escape, an army soldier, who was buried 25 feet under snow after an avalanche hit Siachen 6 days back, was found alive by rescuers and transported to Delhi hospital where Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him. #SiachenMiracle PM Narendra Modi leaves Army RR Hospital after meeting Lance Naik Hanumanthappa pic.twitter.com/ILnngURVbx ANI (@ANI_news) February 9, 2016 PM reached Army RR Hospital to meet Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who survived an avalanche in Siachen around 1PM. He is ssaid to be in critical condition. No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier: PM PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 The discovery of his survival was made suddenly after a group of soldiers found Lance Naik Hanaman Thappa Koppad (alive in critical condition in the rescue operations at the 19,600-feet altitude on Monday. The soldier, with a faint pulse, was found under 25-feet of snow and was rushed to a "warm tent" in the location to stabilise him with the help of doctors. When possible, he will be flown out of the glacial heights. Team of doctors is attending to Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. We are all hoping & praying for the best: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 9, 2016 According to Lt Gen D S Hooda, Northern Army Commander, "It was a miraculous rescue. The medical condition of L/N Hanamanthappa is critical but all attempts are being made to evacuate him to the Army Research & Referral Hospital (in New Delhi) on Tuesday morning. We hope the miracle continues. Pray with us. Five bodies have been recovered so far and four bodies have been identified. All other soldiers are regrettably no more with us. Koppad is a resident of Betadur, Dharwad district of Karnataka and was lucky enough to survive the battling conditions. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and nine other ranks of Madras Regiment were buried after their post was hit by the avalanche at the altitude of 19,600 feet close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan where the tempreature was minus 45 degrees Celsius. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: It will be a keen contest between major political parties, when they will fight it for the crucial electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh next year. It will be a contest between BJP, BSP and SP in the state. Both SP and BSP have CM candidates but BJP has to project someone to face the biggies in the state. After the debacle in Bihar polls without naming a chief ministerial candidate, but this time BJP might go for a face in the unstable state. After the Bihar fiasco, the right wing party named Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the assembly polls in Assam. The problem for the BJP is despite winning 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, they dont have many credible faces to project. The saffron party has some good leaders like Laxmi Kant Bajpai, Kalraj Mishra, Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh and many more but one is competent quiet enough to lead the party in the state. Earlier, BJP chief Amit Shah met UP leaders to discuss the strategy for the polls. Ramlal and Sunil Bansal, the RSS representatives working in the BJP were also present in the meeting. According to sources, five-term MLA Dharampal Singh, a Lodh leader from Ruhelkhand, and junior railway minister Manoj Sinha, a Bhumihar leader from eastern UP, can be the state chief job. The saffron has upper caste faces in the state but they need a backward face as they hold the key to form the government in the state. However, the BJP is also worried about its upper caste votes as they can drift towards Mayawati if they will not project itself as contender to form the government. Not only Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi could be another contender for the CM post, but he does not enjoy a rapport with party chief Amit Shah. HRD minister Smriti Irani gave a tough fight to Congress vice-president Rahul Gadhi in Amethi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but she doesnt have the charisma to be the potential face in the state. It will be a rock smashing job for the BJP top brass to decide the face before the crucial polls. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. News / Local by Stephen Jakes Senator Chief Chisunga has challenged the government to improve on the issues of irrigation in order top save the nation for escalating food crisis."I was deeply touched by the debate that is in this House, which is emanating from the report that was presented by Members of Parliament who went to Korea for the conference that focused mainly on water. My intervention will mainly touch on water; that it is very important. Hon. Members have said a lot but I only want to emphasise on words that were spoken. Yes, water is very vital in all aspects of life. For us to survive on agriculture it is because of water. The hunger that we are experiencing today is because of shortage of water," he said."My request is the government should put in place policies that ensure that people have access to water through affirmative action on the availability of engines that are able to draw water from various sources into fields."He said the government should also improve on the issues of irrigation."Most of our farms have dams that have water ranging from 80% to 100%. I am saying this from experience because I once worked for ZINWA and my duties entailed moving around in different farms monitoring water. I remember Hon Emmerson Mnangagwa saying that, when he flew, at one time, he had not realised that as Zimbabwe we had so many dams with water. The hunger we are talking about today, can be alleviated if people were availed with irrigation equipment that they were given during the mechanisation programme in order to engage in irrigation farming," he said."More funds should be allocated to ensure that we have dams that are able to harness water. Our economy is agro-based, for our economy to develop, what it means is that we need to finance our agriculture. For now we are able to get inputs but water is not available because when it rains, most of the water is not being harnessed for use in our farms, so we need to harness that water so that we do not suffer from hunger.""If you look at the way things are progressing, you will realize that a bottle of water that I am holding now, in a few years time, it will be more expensive than it is today. Why? Because most people prefer mineral water, which means in the rural areas, water will also be expensive. So, it will be good if the Government embarks on programmes that ensure harnessing of this water," he added.He asked if there was a policy that provides for the payment of water as it is being used."The sub-catchment areas charge the farmers for using the water. I think the Government needs to review such policies to ensure that our farmers are able to access water at an affordable cost so that our crops are able to get the required water. This will improve our food security. If there is no water, our economy will not develop and it will not be stable. If you look at all the water that we move around with, all cars need water, be it a Pajero or a Mercedes Benz, it needs water. Without water, we are not going anywhere. In our industries, there is need for water," he said."In other countries they convert water that is used in the sewerage reticulation and purify it and recycle it for other purposes. Water easily vapors and our efforts should be towards harnessing and harvesting water in order to utilize it for our irrigation projects. With these few words." Bangalore: Since, Ola cabs have started its operations in India; it has been marred with controversy from rape cases to misbehaving with women. The crime against women in these cabs is rising every day. Ola Cabs has landed in another controversy after a Bengaluru-artist who had cancelled the cab after booking got abusive message. She had booked a cab with Ola and for some reason decided to cancel it. After the cancellation, she got the customary response and it seemed like that was that. But the cab driver called her continuously and when she didnt reply, he text him abusive words. The passenger shared it on Twitter. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is likely to hold talks with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti next week as the party makes fresh efforts to break the impasse over formation of government in Jammu and Kashmir following the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Madhav, who had played a key role in forging alliance with PDP, may meet her after the 40-day mourning period following Sayeeds demise ends next week, party sources said. PDP wants the central government to make some concessions on its Kashmir-centric political agenda, including relaxation in controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act, a demand the BJP has rejected in the past. PDP is also pushing for more financial assistance to the state from the Centre. The regional party apprehends that its alliance with BJP has cost it some popular support and it can recover the lost ground only by pushing its core agenda. While late chief minister Sayeed was an enthusiastic votary of the tie-up with BJP, her daughter is more ambivalent about it, the sources said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kolkata: Congress leaders in West Bengal are awaiting the outcome of CPI(M) state committee meeting next week on a possible allaince between the two parties for the coming assembly elections in the state. We are eagerly waiting for the outcome of CPI(M) state committee meeting to be held on February 12 and 13. It is true that senior leaders have openly spoken in favour of alliance. But we feel there is need for an official stand (alliance with Congress) by CPI(M) as only then people of Bengal, who are opposed to TMC will have clarity, said a senior state Congress leader on condition of anonymity. We have done our bit. We have spoken to our party leadership and have appealed in favour of forging an alliance. Now it is for CPI(M) to make their stand clear and official. Lets see what CPI(M) state committee and central committee decides, another senior state Congress leader Abdul Manan told PTI. The issue gained momentum in the last two months after several senior CPI(M) leaders sent feelers to Congress for forging a tie-up to oust ruling Trinamool Congress from Bengal. Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra during public meetings had called upon Congress to join hands with the Left Front. CPI(M) will hold a two-day state committee meet from February 12 to take a final call on the issue of electoral tactics, including alliance with Congress for the coming assembly polls in West Bengal. The final decision on the issue of alliance will be taken by the partys central committee. Congress leaders from West Bengal had unanimously rejected any alliance with TMC but remained divided on a tie-up with the Left when party Vice President Rahul Gandhi held consultations with them. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : The Centre today announced plans to double the output of oil and natural gas in North East at an investment of Rs 1,30,000 crore over the next 15 years. Releasing the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the region has enormous potential in the oil and gas sector. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we decided to prepare a separate vision document for the North East to take the region forward. The entire region has huge potential and requires specific attention and investment for its development, Pradhan said. The Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India sets a goal to increase production of oil and natural gas by two times. To achieve this target, we will invest Rs 1.3 lakh crore in the next 15 years in North East. This means, every year Rs 8,000-10,000 crore investment will be made and most will come to Assam, the minister said. To increase the output, new technologies will be brought in association with private players and the refineries will be upgraded to produce BS VI fuel, he added. We are talking to Schlumberger for exploration. We will get advanced technologies from the tie-up and this will help in increasing the output, Pradhan said. He also said the distribution network, including setting up of an additional 7,000 km pipelines, will be strengthened in the region during the period. The crude oil production in Northeast stood at 4.54 MMT in 2014-15, while the natural gas production was 11.3 MMSCMD. Of the Rs 1,30,000 crore investment, Rs 80,000 crore are earmarked for upstream activities, while Rs 20,000 crore for midstream. Rest Rs 30,000 crore would be for downstream activities, the document said. The document also envisages providing access to clean fuel (LPG, PNG) to all households at affordable prices, to promote production of bio fuel and to develop service provider hubs. It also aims expansion of refining capacity in Northeast, develop crude import infrastructure and promote trade between the region and neighbouring SAARC countries. Besides, the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 decided to generate employment through promotion of manufacturing industry and focus on skill development in the region. For all the Latest Business News, Economy News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis wife Amruta has come in for flak from rationlists after accepting a necklace, apparently produced from thin air by a godman. The incident occurred during an awards event organised by a Pune-based educational institute. In visuals aired non-stop by Marathi channels, the godman, Guruvanand Swami, is shown giving Amruta, a banker, a necklace, which apparently materialises from thin air. Avinash Patil, president of the Committee for Eradication of Superstition in Maharashtra, said the chief minister should clarify his stand on the act of his wife. Fadnavis should issue a clarification on the incident. If needed, he should tender an apology, Patil said. We are willing to offer a Rs 21 lakh prize to the godman if he is able to perform his miracle in controlled conditions as specified by us scientifically, he said. Amruta today said she does not believe in miracles. I offered my salutations to him as respect to an elderly person. These are values I have been brought up with and these are the values I will continue to practice, she said. Guruvanand Swami gave me a necklace as a blessing. I dont believe in miracles of any sort, she said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Wellington: Indians bagged all the five gold medals up for grabs in the recurve event along with two more silver to make a clean sweep of the archery competition in the 12th South Asian Games here today. Having claimed men, women and mixed pair team gold in the morning session, the recurve archers bagged two gold and as many silver in the all-Indian final in the afternoon to sign off in style with a maximum possible of 10 gold and four silver in total. Making a comeback after the 2014 Asian Games, Tarundeep Rai retained his SA Games individual title to finish with a hattrick of gold along with Deepika Kumari as the duo also bagged the mixed pair and their respective team events. The two-time Olympian Rai, who had bagged the SA Games gold in 2010, held nerve under pressure to down his Army colleague Gurucharan Besra 6-2 in the individual final. Up 4-2 after three sets, Rai shot 19 (10-9) in his first two set of arrows, while Besra also shot an identical 19 (9-10) as the former needed a Perfect 10 under windy conditions at the Polo Grounds. Showing nerves of steel, Rai was bang on target to clinch the fourth set 29-28 en route to retaining his gold as Besra had to settle for a silver. Its difficult to assess the wind conditions, but it was my day. The medal means a lot to me as it has given me a perfect start in the Olympic year, Rai told PTI. Deepika began with a poor five to lose the first set but she bounced back to win second, third and fifth sets for a 6-4 win against Bombayla Devi Laishram in an intense womens individual final. Deepika had earlier in the day won the womens team gold with Laxmirani Majhi and Bombayala, and mixed pair with Rai. The trio shot below par scores but it was enough for them to blank their misfiring Sri Lankan opponents 6-0 to open their tally in recurve. Wind was circulating inside the stadium and it was getting difficult to adjust to get a Perfect 10. Thankfully it was easy for us, Deepika told PTI after the win. Mens team followed suit with a 5-1 win in what seemed a one-sided final in three sets but the scoreline did not reflect the stiff challenge Rai, Besra and Jayanta Talukdar faced from their Lankan rivals. While Rai and Talukdar were not in their elements, it was Besra who continued his dream comeback run and made all the difference with their one-point and two-point wins in the first and decisive third set. New Delhi: Dogged determination of over 150 soldiers helped by two canines, Dot and Misha, besides earth penetrating radars and special ice cutting equipment helped rescue Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was buried under tonnes of ice at 19,500 feet on the Siachen Glacier. On February 3, an 800X400ft ice wall broke off and covered an army post in northern glacier in Siachen, the worlds highest battlefield. The debris, including massive ice boulders, some the size of a small room, spread over 800x1000 metres. The rescue teams had the arduous task of breaking through 25-30 ft of blue ice, which is harder than concrete, and had to chip it away inch by inch, army officials said explaining the rescue operation. Over 150 trained and acclimatized army troops, including specialized teams trained in glaciated terrain, were moved into the avalanche site and round-the-clock rescue operations were carried out in extreme weather conditions where average day temperatures was minus 30 degrees celsiuc and night temperature below minus 55 degrees. Medical teams and equipment were moved in and a post established to provide emergency treatment at the rescue site itself. Specialized rescue dogs were also pressed into service. The dogs, Dot and Misha, did a tremendous job, the officials said. Specialized digging and boring equipment, like rock drills, electrical saws and earth augers were flown in. In addition, deep penetration radars, capable of detecting metallic objects and heat signatures at a depth of 20 meters, and radio signal detectors were also flown in using Air Force fixed wing aircrafts and Army Aviation helicopters. Using the specialized equipment the rescue teams were able to identify locations, where digging were carried out. However, rescue efforts were frequently hampered by high velocity winds and blizzards. By yesterday, the rescue teams were able to reach the location of the buried habitat and Koppad was recovered alive. The bodies of nine soldiers were also extricated from their icy grave. Him being found alive electrified the entire rescue team. There was a sudden burst of energy among the men, officials said. When rescued, Koppad was conscious but drowsy and disoriented. He was severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. He was immediately resuscitated by the doctors at the site, who had been there for the past 5 days in the hope of finding a survivor. He was treated with warm intravenous fluids, humidified warm oxygen and passive external rewarming. He was later moved to the Army andResearch Hospital here, they said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today led an all-party delegation to Nepal for funeral of former Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who passed away early in the day. Together with Nepal, at its time of loss. Minister Swaraj is leading an all-party delegation for funeral of former Koirala, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. The delegation comprised of Congress leader Anand Sharma, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Koirala, who was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 February 2014 to 10 October 2015, passed away due to pneumonia at his residence early today. He was 79. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Pakistans Supreme Court today stayed the execution of three men convicted by a military court for their involvement in the Peshawar school carnage that killed at least 150 people, mostly children, in 2014. A two-member bench comprising Justice Dost Muhammad and Justice Qazi Faez Isa ordered a stay on the implementation of the military court decision, which convicted Mohammad Zubair, Ali Rehman and Taj Mohammad, the Dawn reported. The families of the convicts had challenged the military court verdict through petitions filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), however, after PHC dismissed the appeals, they moved the Supreme Court through Advocate Latif Afridi. During the hearing, Afridi claimed that the high court did not even open the record and dismissed the appeals without hearing them. The court issued notices to the attorney general and jail branch, and directed the former to explain the dismissal of the appeals. The hearing was subsequently adjourned to February 16, the report said.The attack by Taliban on an army-run school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 killed at least 150 people, mostly children. On December 2 last year, four terrorists involved in the massacre were hanged at a civil jail in Kohat. The hangings were the first executions of civilians convicted by Pakistans military courts. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: President Barack Obama proposed new taxes on wealthy Americans in his final USD 4.15-trillion budget, as he informed the Congress about the path-breaking defence ties with India as part of its Asia-Pacific rebalance. In his budgetary proposals running into 170 pages, Obama said the Department of Defence continues to develop its India ties through Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation, and Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group. Obama said the budget supports his commitment to a comprehensive regional strategy in Asia and the Pacific that reinforces a rules-based order and advances security. Recognising that security in the Asia-Pacific region underpins regional and global prosperity, the budget aligns resources and activities to strengthen US alliances and partnerships with emerging powers, promote regional economic cooperation, and build a constructive relationship with China that simultaneously supports expanding practical cooperation on global issues while candidly addressing differences. In his message to the Congress, Obama said his budget is about looking forward. It is about making sure our economy works for everybody, not just those at the top. The White House said by cutting tax loopholes and special breaks for the wealthy, reforming business and capital gains taxes, and adding a USD 10 a barrel tax on crude oil, the deficit can be held below 3 per cent of GDP. In his final budgetary proposal, Obama said: It is about answering the big questions that will define America and the world in the 21st Century. Unlike Indias parliamentary system, where the annual budget is proposed by the Union Finance Minister before the Lok Sabha, in the American presidential system the President submits his budgetary proposals as a written document. The budget proposed is for the fiscal year 2016-2017 beginning October 1. The US Congress both the House of Representatives and the Senate would debate threadbare over the next several months before it passes the budget. Among other things, the budget includes goals like cutting carbon pollution, universal preschool and criminal justice reform as well as billions in new investments in cybersecurity and clean energy. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. News / Local by Pamela Shumba THE Bulawayo City Council lost more than $300,000 in botched ambulance and vehicle tracking system deals to two briefcase companies.The Deputy Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Christopher Chingosho revealed how the local authority was failing to recover $303,000 paid as deposit in two separate deals for a fleet of ambulances and the installation of a tracking systemChingosho was responding to questions posed by Nketa MP Phelela Masuku in the National Assembly.The MP wanted to know why it has been impossible to track down the companies.The Deputy Minister said the municipality paid $100,000 deposit for the vehicle tracking system and $203,106,40 for the ambulances."On the issue of installation and the commissioning of the vehicle tracking and a fleet management system, council tendered out for the supply, installation and the commissioning of vehicle tracking and a fleet management system in 2010. The tender was awarded to Tracker Engineering Private (Ltd). A company incorporated and its address duly incorporated. Its address of service was in Harare," said Chingosho."The contract price was US$501,500 and council was supposed to pay a deposit of US$100,000 and the balance was to be paid within a period of 36 months. The deposit was paid in the sum of US$100,000 and Tracker then started requesting for extension and relaxation of certain clauses in the contract," said Chingosho.He said the company disappeared and its e-mails started bouncing back."Their telephone numbers were no longer reachable. We took the matter to court and have since obtained a judgment which is ready to be implemented as soon as we locate them. Council tried to use the services of a tracking agent, but we reached a dead end," said Chingosho.He said they will continue to search for the company so that the $100,000 deposit which was paid could be recovered."Council awarded the contract to Tracker because they had favourable conditions and a flexible payment plan. They had a good back-up system and had promised to work with the council until the system was up and running," added the Deputy Minister.He said on the supply and delivery of ambulances, council tendered out for the supply and delivery of four ambulances in 2010 and the tender was awarded to Access Medical Corporation."The contract price for these ambulances was $341,844. The terms of the tender were that council was to pay 60 percent deposit and the rest over 12 months. The 60 percent deposit was paid, which was $203,106,40 and the unit price of each ambulance was $85,461 and the deposit paid was sufficient to pay for two ambulances," he said.The Deputy Minister said after paying the deposit, Access Medical kept promising that the ambulances would be delivered to no vail."There were several correspondences between the supplier and council and they just vanished after realising that legal action was now being taken against them. Meanwhile, we had handed over the matter to our lawyers after realising that the supplier wasn't cooperating."Efforts to serve them with summons were unsuccessful because they were nowhere to be found. Well continue searching and using the services of private investigators to trace them. The contract price wasn't paid in full. It was 60 percent deposit"He justified the engagement of the companies, saying they offered favourable payment terms."It's important to note that these contracts were in 2010 soon after the introduction of the multicurrency and council was operating on a cash budget Council's cash flows weren't good and the idea was to try and buy these ambulances on credit and then pay in instalments."All the other tenderers wanted cash on delivery and so we then opted for this tenderer who could give council terms. All the other tenders, which came after these were strictly cash on delivery to avoid further loss," said the Deputy Minister.He said all the necessary procedures were taken into consideration and the companies appeared to be the best amongst others. News / Local by Stephen Jakes MP Sarah Mahoko has lamented that government workers salaries were too little and asked the parliament to move for the deduction of members of the house in order to share the spoils with civil servants."The salaries for government workers are very little and my suggestion is that deductions be made on the salaries of Members of Parliament. The monies so deducted should be added to the salaries of civil servants because these Members of Parliament also have privileges which they enjoy," she said. "I think in these problematic times, we need to share the burden by getting the deductions from Members of Parliament and distribute them to the civil servants. All the civil servants are receiving peanuts and I think."Mahoko said nurses in Karoi are working very hard but the problem they face is that there are no medical supplies and equipment to use for treating patients."We realise that when funds are distributed in the health sector, more money is given to urban health institutions and rural health institutions are given peanuts. I think this unequal distribution is very unfair for the health workers," she said. "We need to have an equal distribution for these medical supplies. We should also be cognisant of the fact that in urban areas we have a lot of health institutions, some of which are private. Also, the people in urban areas can work to these health institutions unlike in the rural areas where people have to be transported and part with a lot of money in the process."She said the President Robert Mugabe talked about corruption."He said corruption was bad and is a cancer. An Hon. Member also talked about corruption and monies which were abused, and said Ignatias Chombo did abuse certain funds. Now that he has this evidence that Chombo stole so much money to buy such properties, we therefore ask him to go to the powers that be and lead to the arrest of Chombo so that we have what is going to be seen as an example. We are a parliament of action because we are saying if we have an individual who has houses all over the country, and we have a witness to this effect, this individual is encouraged to go to the police and lead to the arrest and trial so that these funds are given back to the State," she said."Let me now turn to irrigation which was included in the Presidential Speech. Irrigation schemes are of a great help to all the people in the country. I get surprised by some of the Hon. Members who instead of indulging in constructive speech make remarks which are very adverse, yet they could be part of that problem."She said when the economy of the country sunk, it was during the time of the Government of National Unity (GNU), that is when the economy of the country was destroyed beyond redemption and also the sanctions were called for by the people from the opposition, MDC."During that period, the members of this party were also supporting corruption because they were saying it was one of the ways of getting these sanctions but it has been seen that these are the people who were letting us down. Hence, at the re-election the electorate supported Zanu PF and not the people who let them down," she said."With the end of the GNU period, Zanu PF is now doing it singlehandedly and they need to look for money to support developmental projects in this country. On the other hand, MDC went and called for sanctions which are destroying the economy of the country and lives of the people of Zimbabwe. When the MDC asked for these sanctions, they thought the sanctions were going to be targeted sanctions aimed at Zanu PF people only and then the MDC would develop."She said the sanctions hit everyone and she was glad that the electorate was able to see that the people who were on the wrong side were the MDC and the only organised party is Zanu PF."Hence, Zanu PF is making a clean sweep in all the elections which are being held. Turning to irrigation which was stated by His Excellency, in my constituency we have already started implementing these irrigation projects because they are a way of fighting poverty and starvation. The hunger facing the country at the moment is caused by climatic change. For your own information, most of our national granaries in this country are full with food. Hon. Speaker, if there is a constituency which has no food, it means that particular Member of Parliament is not working for the people but is selfish. The method which is used in distributing the grain is that each family is given a bag of 50kgs, this maize in not given to put into granaries but it is for eating during that month," she said. News / National by Walter Mswazie MASVINGO province has seen a 25 percent increase in murder cases, with a High Court judge bemoaning the absence of up-to-date forensic analysis of evidence.Officially opening the 2016 legal year for the Masvingo High Court circuit yesterday, Justice Joseph Musakwa of the Bulawayo High Court said lack of DNA evidence in police investigations was either letting criminals off die hook or nailing innocent people.He also raised concern over the use of lethal weapons in resolving disputes and called on members of the public to exercise restraint when provoked."It also came to my notice that police statistics reveal that there was an increase in murder cases by 25 percent within the province in 2015. I'm also informed that there are 83 outstanding matters for this circuit court. Factoring an average clearance rate of 20 cases per year, it would take about four years to have outstanding cases cleared. You then have to factor in new cases coming up," said Justice Musakwa."This then underscores the need for a permanent High Court in Masvingo. A permanent court also enhances access to justice as parties will not have to travel inordinately long distances and spend a lot of time away from their families and their undertakings."He said 11 murder cases are being tried during the present quarter."Some among our population don't hesitate to shed blood despite murder being among 10 Commandments in the Bible. We urge our people to restrain and avoid yielding to anger. It's only when one is put in a corner and has nowhere to run that one should ever think of resorting to violence," said the judge.Justice Musakwa commended all law enforcement agents for their work in resolving reported cases."The only blemish is the absence of up-to-date forensic analysis of evidence gathered from the scene of crime. In some cases, samples taken remain untested at the laboratory until cases are tried. DNA analysis which enhances the quality of evidence before the courts is seldom resorted to, even if it can be outsourced," he said.This, he said, may sometimes compromise the adequacy of evidence placed before the courts and result in guilty suspects getting off the hook or innocent people being convicted."Even finger-print, palm-print identification is way behind," the judge noted.The National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo has offered its DNA testing services to the Zimbabwe Republic Police after commissioning a revolutionising $500,000 DNA centre last year.The ZRP does not have a crime lab and prosecutes crimes without the benefit of DNA - which can be used to clear or convict suspects based on crime scene evidence testing. For instance, semen left on a rape victim can be tested to generate a DNA profile which can be compared to those of suspects, eliminating the chances of wrongful convictions. DNA profiles can also be generated from blood, sweat, hairs and body tissue.Zephaniah Dhlamini, the chairman of the Department of Applied Biology in Biochemistry at Nust, said they were keen to find legal ways of helping the police in solving crime, and one such method was to keep a DNA database of every convicted offender for future comparison when new crimes are committed."This will help in databasing all criminals so that their DNA is stored for future references. If a crime is committed in certain areas, they can do a check on the evidence that's found at the crime scene or on the victim and find a match," said Dhlamini"Ifs unfortunate that some innocent people are rotting in jail for crimes they didn't commit, and this facility comes in handy under such circumstances."Meanwhile, Justice Musakwa urged all those involved in the justice delivery system to respect the rights of detained and accused persons noting that such rights are enshrined in the country's constitution.He said any evidence that is obtained in violation of the constitution may result in an unfair trial. News / National by Staff reporter OWEN Kuchata, leader of a fringe political party, the Zimbabwe People's Front, faces a lengthy jail term after admitting a plot to bomb a plant of Alpha Omega Dairy - a business owned by President Robert Mugabe and the First Lady.Kuchata, 34, made a dramatic change of plea to the charge of terrorism before Harare magistrate Hoseah Mujaya last Friday.He will be sentenced today, and could face life in jail.Kuchata and alleged accomplice Borman Ngwenya, 30, face charges of planning an insurgency, sabotage, banditry or terrorism.He is facing an additional charge of money laundering for terrorism purposes.In a related case, he is charged with treason alongside Ngwenya, Solomon Makumbe, 29, and Silas Pfupa, 37, after further investigations revealed that they sought to overthrow the government through unconstitutional means.Ngwenya is a member of the Zimbabwe National Army's 1 Field Regiment, and Makumbe a member of the Zimbabwe Intelligence Corps.Prosecutors say the quartet had established a militia training base in Mapinga, Mashonaland West, where they planned to commit terror acts, sabotage and banditry.The gang, according to prosecutors, went to President Mugabe's rural home in Zvimba where they carried out a reconnaissance mission, identifying suitable vulnerable points to sabotage.On Friday last week, Kuchata was brought before magistrate Mujaya for plea recording and pleaded guilty to the terrorism charge.He said it was his idea to commit the crime.But in an about turn, Kuchata later took exception to the charge of terrorism and changed his plea to not guilty, arguing that Alpha Omega Dairy was not a government facility, but President Mugabe's private enterprise.Michael Reza, the lead prosecutor, maintained that the terror charge was appropriate, insisting the attack was not targeted at the dairy as a business, but at the Office of the President of Zimbabwe.Mujaya had set his trial date for February 24, but in a dramatic twist, Kuchata was later returned to court on the same day, changing his 'not guilt/ plea to 'guilty*.Kuchata told the court that when he initially changed his guilty plea to 'not guilt/, he had misunderstood the interpreter.He said when the interpreter told him what was happening in Shona, it came out as if he was alleged to have wanted to bomb State property.Kuchata repeated that his sole intention was to bomb the private property of the President in his personal capacity, not State property.Kuchata, who had been given the State papers for him to prepare his defence, said after carefully going through all the papers, he came to the conclusion that at law he did not have the right to commit the crime.Initially, he had told the court that he believed he had the right to bomb Alpha Omega Dairy saying: "Since Fm representing the rights of other Zimbabweans,I had the right to bomb his private property because Robert Mugabe is causing disorder and problems in this country"Before sentencing today, Mujaya ordered prosecutors to produce original documents from the Standards Association of Zimbabwe which certified that the petrol bombs recovered from Kuchata and his associates were real and lethal.Prosecutors had tendered a photocopy of the documents from the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.The First Family's multi-million-dollar dairy and processing plant produces milk, ice cream, chocolate and other products.Police reportedly got wind of the men's plans and arrested them on the morning of January 29 metres from the facility.They were allegedly found in possession of four 750ml brandy botdes containing petrol, ammonium nitrate, nails, and sand - ingredients of a petrol bomb.Party documents, including the ZPF manifesto and constitution were also seized. News / National by Patrick Chitumba LOCAL Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere is not in contempt of court over his handling of the matter involving suspended Gweru mayor Hamutendi Kombayi and other 11 councillors, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.Responding to a parliamentary question by Mkoba MP, Chibaya, if the government plans to discipline Kasukuwere over his alleged contempt of Mnangagwa said Kasukuweres hands were clean."The question by the Hon Member stems from the Provisional Order that was granted by the High Court of Zimbabwe sitting in Bulawayo on October 1,2015. The provisional order was granted as the consequence of the urgent chamber application by the Gweru councillors who were applicants in the matter, with the Minister of Local Government cited as one of the respondents."This was an urgent chamber application wherein the applicants sought the following temporary relief: That pending finalisation of this matter, all disciplinary proceedings against applicants that are pending before a tribunal appointed by first respondent are hereby stayed," he said.VP Mnangagwa said the judge did surely grant the provisional order, which in any event is temporary relief until confirmation of the matter.He said the judge did not make any ruling or determination on the suspension of the councillors since that matter was not before him.The VP said the provisional order was complied with as no disciplinary proceedings were instituted against the councillors."In fact, the respondent, who's the Minister of Local Government, as a law abiding subject, also awaits the fate of the councillors' application pending confirmation of the same or otherwise," he said.He said Kasukuwere will not be arrested since there was no reason to do so."The Hon. Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing was never in defiance of the order of the court and therefore as government, wefve no reason to be worried," he said.Recently, the councillors' legal representative, Reginald Chidawanyika, confirmed that he had been instructed by his clients to apply to the High Court for a final order for them to be reinstated. China building nuclear reactors at sea so they can float in the middle of the ocean Last August, a massive explosion at a chemical storage facility rocked the Chinese port of Tianjin, killing more than one hundred people and spewing an untold amount of toxic sodium cyanide into the environment. Despite the debacle, Beijing plans to build a new portable reactor that can float. Authorities attempted to undermine the severity of the explosion back in August. Nevertheless, a number of unexplained episodes occurred in wake of the disaster, including a massive die-off of fish and the emergence of a mysterious white foam paving the streets after a thunderstorm. Beijing said they would conduct an investigation about the explosion. Questions came to surface about whether warehouse authorities had connections to the Party and if those connections were responsible for why sodium cyanide in the storage facility vastly exceeded the amount permitted by law. Beijing throws caution to the wind with new floating reactor The incident was likened to a nuclear explosion. Nevertheless, this has not stopped Beijing from building a portable, floating nuclear reactor. China General Nuclear (CGN) anticipates they will complete and provide a demonstration of the offshore multi-purpose reactor by 2020. The company said it is currently working on the preliminary design for a demonstration of the reactor, dubbed the ACPR50S project. The project will advance to construction starting next year. In addition to offshore oil and gas exploration, the purpose behind the 200 MWt (60 MWe) reactor is to provide electricity, heat and desalination to islands and coastal areas. CGN said they are developing a ACPR100 small reactor that can be used on land. This reactor will be able to churn approximately 450 MWt (140 Mwe) and is expected to provide power to major industrial parks and remote regions in the mountains. Having reactors both on shore and off adds to CGNs large-scale plants currently in operation. In October 2015, Lloyds Register of the UK declared it had made an agreement with the Nuclear Power Institute of China to help with the design and construction of a floating nuclear power plant, using a small modular reactor. The plant would be modeled after a marine type CNNCs ACP100 SMR design called the ACP100S. The 100 MWe began development in 2010. The preliminary drawings were finished in 2014. Akademik Lomonosov is the only floating power plant in existence today. A pair of 35 MWe reactors like those used to power ships are being installed on the boat, which will be secured at a harbor. The Baltiysky Zavod in St. Petersburg is expected to provide the first floating nuclear reactor to Russias nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom, by September 2016. The benefits and hurdles of offshore reactors Floating reactors are touted for their various benefits. Their construction in a shipyard has a low environmental impact and allows decommissioning efforts to take place in a specialized facility. On the other hand, officials need to find a way to guarantee radioactive waste from the reactor does not leak into the sea. Since CGN is an SEO, however, if something does go awry, dont expect creators of the reactor to do anything about it. ACPR100 has its fair share of environmental risks. Given the explosion in Beijing last year, lets just hope history doesnt repeat itself anytime soon. Sources include: (1) ZeroHedge.com (2) World-Nuclear-News.org Submit a correction >> News / National by Staff reporter ZANU-PF Deputy National Secretary for Science and Technology Patrick Zhuwao has refuted claims by war veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa that he has agreed to differ with him on their divergent political positions.Zhuwao told a media briefing yesterday that he had no "modus vivendi" with Mutsvangwa.He said this was impossible, especially after Mutsvangwa admitted to having cordial relations with the European Union.A modus vivendi is an accommodation where parties agree to disagree as well as to continue on a direction of their choice.Zhuwao said: "I wish to state that I have not agreed to disagree with Chris Mutsvangwa."Zhuwao said in order to prove that he had no "modus vivendi" with Mutsvangwa, he supported the position taken by the Zanu-PF Provincial Coordinating Committee of Mashonaland West to pass a vote of no confidence in the war veterans leader in December last year. Starbucks introduces three new chocolate beverages for a limited time TORONTO, Feb. 9, 2016 /CNW/ - Now through Sunday, Feb. 14, participating Starbucks stores in Canada and the U.S. are inviting customers to bring their friends, family and loved ones on a #StarbucksDate with a new Molten Chocolate trio of beverages: Molten Chocolate Latte: Chocolaty chips are melted into espresso and topped with steamed milk combined with bittersweet mocha sauce. Finished with a special mocha and espresso-infused whipped cream with an espresso mocha drizzle. Available hot and iced. Molten Chocolate Frappuccino Blended Beverage: Coffee with rich mocha sauce and chocolaty chips blended with milk and ice. Finished with a special mocha and espresso-infused whipped cream with an espresso mocha drizzle. Molten Hot Chocolate: Bittersweet mocha sauce and chocolaty chips melted into steamed milk for a smooth and creamy taste. A special mocha and espresso-infused whipped cream and espresso mocha drizzle tops off the beverage. Valentine's Day Gifts & Greetings Starbucks offers a variety of ways for customers to express their love or appreciation, including a collection of mugs and tumblers available in stores across Canada and at Starbucks.ca. Valentine's Day Starbucks Card designs include a heart-shaped keepsake card that can attach to a key chain with heartfelt messages such as, "You are my sunshine," "I love you," and "You have my heart." Valentine's Day eGifts are also available at Starbucks.ca. SOURCE Starbucks Coffee Canada Image with caption: "Celebrate Valentines Day with Starbucks Molten Chocolate Trio (CNW Group/Starbucks Coffee Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160209_C2957_PHOTO_EN_616008.jpg Image with caption: "Starbucks offers a variety of ways for customers to express their love or appreciation. (CNW Group/Starbucks Coffee Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160209_C2957_PHOTO_EN_616009.jpg For further information: Media Contact: Mary Saunoris, Starbucks Canada, at [email protected] or [email protected] TRUMP'S "TRUMP CARD" - GET USA OUT OF THE UNITED NATIONS By Charlotte Iserbyt February 9, 2016 NewsWithViews.com Congressman Mike Rogers Introduces Bill to Get U.S. Out of UN Citing wasted tax dollars and attacks on the constitutionally guaranteed liberties of Americans, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) introduced a bill to restore U.S. soverei... In my humble opinion, Donald Trump, if he wants to "make America great again", should jump on this one ... should support Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers bill to get the USA out of the United Nations. Support for H.R.1205, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2015, could hand him the Presidency on a silver platter. Even "normal" Democrats hate the United Nations. It's only the hard-left Democrats, neoconservative Trotskyites, like the Heritage Foundation, leftist-oriented and New Age churches, the U.S. State Department, multinational global corporations, the Federal Reserve Bank, and billionaires from both political parties who support it. When will thoughtless support for this evil, very elitist, atheistic communist organization cease? There is no way any one of us can have victories related to the individual evils we are confronting in our nation and on this planet until the head of the octopus is cut off. That head is the United Nations, and the evils are its affiliated organizations: United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and all other acronym groups, and the UN's unelected/"controlled" non-governmental agencies. The enemy of the majority of normal human beings living on Planet Earth, who want to be left alone, is the United Nations. The groups mentioned in the above paragraphs will howl, and tell us unwashed humans how much we need this evil organization in order to: (1) "keep the peace". Oh, really?...remember the two "No Win" so called "peace actions": Korea (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1961-1975), both of which were directed by a Soviet General out of the UN? Americans lost 54,246 soldiers in Korea and 58,209 soldiers in Vietnam; (2) "educate/Marxist brainwash" the world's population, using UNESCO's Skinnerian/Outcomes Based Education, OBE/TQM/Communist Core to create a global workforce to spin off profits for the global elite. (3) wipe out local wars, poverty and disease. There is more war/strife, poverty, and disease in the world in 2016 than there was prior to creation of the United Nations. Don't believe UN statistics! (4) control immigration (definition of "control" please!!!!); (5) control population (through disease, abortion and euthanasia?); (6) bring about sustainable development, through United Nations 2030 Smart Growth regionalism (communism); (7) create "free trade" with NAFTA, TPP, etc. Karl Marx loved "free trade". (8) plans in the making to create a North American Union. If former President of he USSR referred to the European Union as the "new European Soviet", what does that make the North American Union? (and this writer could go on and on) The UN is the head of the octopus. Even if we succeed in cutting off the above-cited various tentacles of the UN octopus , which it appears we are unable to do, we cannot and will not win the global battle for human freedom, dignity, and prosperity until we (all citizens) focus on cutting off the head of the octopus, which designs, dictates and controls all the above activities, and throwing it into Hell where it originated. Doesn't the rest of the word deserve a crack at experiencing some of the wonders of the greatest experiment in human freedom, found in our own backyard...here in America? Let's not continue to allow UN directives and mandates to kill the United States of America, the goose that laid the golden egg, to which millions of foreigners have immigrated in order to enjoy and benefit from the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Nothing will change for the better on this planet until the totally unconstitutional United Nations is abolished, never, ever to be resurrected in any form whatsoever. Get out of the United Nations! Support Cong. Mike Rogers H.R 1205, American Sovereignty Restoration Act! (*)THE UNITED NATIONS IS A COMMUNIST ORGANIZATION AND HAS BEEN ONE SINCE IT WAS CREATED IN 1945, HEADED UP BY SOVIET AGENT ALGER HISS. THE CHARTER WAS WRITTEN BY RUSSIAN LEO PASVOLSKY. Chicago Tribune Archives i 2016 Charlotte T. Iserbyt - All Rights Reserved Charlotte Iserbyt is the consummate whistleblower! Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America's classrooms. Iserbyt is a former school board director in Camden, Maine and was co-founder and research analyst of Guardians of Education for Maine (GEM) from 1978 to 2000. She has also served in the American Red Cross on Guam and Japan during the Korean War, and in the United States Foreign Service in Belgium and in the Republic of South Africa. Iserbyt is a speaker and writer, best known for her 1985 booklet Back to Basics Reform or OBE: Skinnerian International Curriculum and her 1989 pamphlet Soviets in the Classroom: America's Latest Education Fad which covered the details of the U.S.-Soviet and Carnegie-Soviet Education Agreements which remain in effect to this day. She is a freelance writer and has had articles published in Human Events, The Washington Times, The Bangor Daily News, and included in the record of Congressional hearings. Charlott's Blog: http://www.abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com/ Website: www.deliberatedumbingdown.com Website: www.americandeception.com E-Mail: dumbdown00@yahoo.com News / National by Staff reporter DEBATE on the abuse of social media by some Zanu-PF members to deride others and factionalism will top the agenda of the revolutionary party's first Politburo meeting for 2016 slated for tomorrow, a senior official has said.The meeting comes against the backdrop of frenzied tweeting by Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is attacking fellow Cabinet ministers and Politburo members as well as journalists on social media daily.Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday said although it was not his intention to pre-empt the agenda of the Politburo meeting, there was no way social media and factionalism would escape attention.The Politburo is the revolutionary party's supreme decision-making body outside congress.Yesterday, the Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators Association turned the heat on Prof Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere, calling for their expulsion over the continued abuse of social media like Twitter.Khaya Moyo said there will be a robust and frank exchange on several other issues, after which he would give a detailed briefing to the media as per tradition.The party spokesperson's revelations of part of the Politburo meeting's agenda comes after national commissar Kasukuwere downplayed the matter last week, claiming that the Politburo had more serious issues to discuss, and accused the media of attempting to craft the agenda for the party.But Khaya Moyo yesterday said: "I don't want to pre-empt the agenda of the Politburo meeting. I will speak after the meeting, but there will be a lot of discussion on those issues (social media and factionalism), among other discussions."It is better that I talk after the meeting where I will give you a comprehensive briefing."Over the weekend, Khaya Moyo told The Sunday Mail that the party was alarmed that the notorious practices (of abusing others on social media and factionalism) were still going on, adding that President Mugabe condemned them."We cannot go on with this disease called factionalism. It does not help us to attract investment and bring stability and unity> which is our motto as a party. It must be weeded out and those responsible must be dealt with, without fear or favour," he said.Khaya Moyo said Zanu-PF had one centre of power in President Mugabe who was the only leader elected at Congress."The person who is at the centre of all party activities is, naturally, the President. He is the head of the party, the centre of power; the reason being that he is the only one, in terms of our amended constitution, who is elected at Congress," he said."The rest of the people, including the VPs and the Politburo, are appointed by the President from elected Central Committee members. Given that scenario, naturally, he is the centre of power."This is why some of us have always been bewildered and surprised when we hear that there are factions in the party."A faction obviously has a leader, and if you are a leader of a faction, it means you are also a centre of power. This is totally unacceptable and abominable."Other Zanu-PP organs, affiliate organisations and concerned groups have since condemned the abuse of other party members on social media and warned that could destabilise both the party and the State. The Zanu-PF Youth League and the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association have voiced their concern over the abuse of social media, while the Zimbabwe Republic Police have weighed in expressing serious concern over the same issue.President Mugabe, in his official capacity as the party's First Secretary, has on many occasions implored party members to desist from abusing social media to attack each other.Ziliwaco secretary-general Jabulani Mbetu said they were fully behind the position taken by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) calling for the sacking of Prof Moyo and Kasukuwere.The comments by Ziliwaco followed a position announced by war veterans secretary-general, Victor Matemadanda who said Prof Moyo should be expelled from the ruling party, for his abuse of social media, where he is denigrating senior party members, in defiance of a directive by President Mugabe.Kasukuwere weighed in last week when he said the rev-olutionary party had no time discussing social media issues in its Politburo meetings.Kasukuwere, who is also Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister told journalists last Friday that the party had more serious issues to discuss."As liberation war collaborators of this country, we are not happy with the utterances of Jonathan Moyo. We are in support of ZNLWVA national chairperson Christopher Mutsvangwa's stance that the party should expel Jonathan Moyo. We want to remind our fellow comrade that the liberation struggle was not fought through Twitter. As war collaborators, we will not allow Twitter to destroy our revolutionary party," said Mbetu.He said Prof Moyo, who is also Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister was attacking the President indirectly."We are aware of the utterances of Jonathan Moyo when he promised the nation that to destroy Zanu-PF one has to fight while being inside it/ As war collaborators, we will not sit back and watch Jonathan Moyo destroy the party," he said.He rapped Zanu-PF national political commissar, Kasukuwere, for condoning the abuse of social media, saying uprisings that have occurred in other countries were spawned by the abuse of social media."That is not our culture as a party. Kasukuwere should know better as the political commissar. Mind you, social media has been a recipe for uprisings in many countries,1" he said.The meeting was attended by Ziliwaco national executive and provincial chairpersons across the country.Organs of the party such as the Youth League have also expressed grave concern over the abuse of social media. News / National by Staff reporter Zanu-PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and some members of the Women's League are reportedly organising a demonstration against Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) chairman Chris Mutsvangwa and Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba at the party's headquarters tomorrow to counter a threat by war veterans to bar Professor Jonathan Moyo from attending the Politburo.At least 61 buses have been mobilised to ferry people today from various provinces.Part of the fleet is understood to have been mobilised by Kasukuwere in his personal capacity.The demo was called under the cover of a solidarity meeting aimed at congratulating President Mugabe for his achievements as African Union chairman and his recent appointment as AU rapporteur.This is despite the fact that a solidarity gathering for the President's AU achievements was held at Harare International Airport upon his return from Addis Ababa, Ethi-opia, on January 31.The claim that the event seeks to celebrate the President's appointment as AU rapporteur is out of order in that the position is not new, but a natural route every outgoing chairperson takes for administrative purposes.A crowd of about 10 000 people mainly women and youths is expected.Surprisingly, Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said he was not aware of such an event.Under normal circumstances, the office of the national spokesperson is the one that should deal with events of national appointments."I am not aware of it," he said."Maybe you can check with the secretary for Administration (Ignatius Chombo) because I was not briefed about it."Some provincial chairpersons, questioned the aunthenticity of the event, saying the communication was not through normal party structures.Masvingo provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamiara said: "All party communication comes through circulars, but for this one, I was told by the (provincial) Women's League chairperson Mai Makonese that she just received a phone call from Harare. We don't know where the resources for that event are coming from, but I heard that a bus is coming, but I don't know from where."In the Midlands, provincial chairperson Kizito Chivamba said he had not received any official communication from the commissariat relating that event."I did not attend last Friday's meeting with the national commissar, but my vice who attended did not brief me about anything relating to such an event," he said."I don't know if the commissariat has chosen to leave our province from that event. They will be the best to answer that."Joel Biggie Matiza, who is the Zanu-PF Mashonaland East provincial chairman said there was no clarity from the national commissar on the purpose of the gathering."I am yet to get clarity from the national commissar (Kasukuwere). So can you call later."The Youth League, which is touted as the major contributor to the event, said it was waiting for guidance from the President.The league's secretary Pupurai Togarepi said: "We report to the President. We have to consult his office first. We have heard about that being announced at different fora that people will be coming on Wednesday but we have to consult"The Herald is reliably informed that the event was not being organised through normal party structures, but through designated individuals and selected constituencies."In Manicaland for instance, people are coming from Chimanimani, Makoni and Buhera," said a source close to developments."Mrs Letina Undenge is the co-ordinator in the province. In Midlands, people are coming from Makhosini Hlongwane, Tapiwa Matangaidze and Chiratidzo Mabuwa's constituencies. Mrs Smelly Dube is co-ordinating the operations."Minister Tabeth Kanengoni is in charge of coordinating people in Mashonald Central."Kanengoni and Dube could not be reached for comment last night while Mrs Undenge and Matangaidze and Mabuwa denied being part of the organising team of that event. They referred questions to the national commissariat."I am not involved. I am not privy to the details," said Matangaidze.Said Mabuwa said: "I am actually hearing it from you. I do not organise anything because I was suspended from the Women's League. I am operating from the cell level."A Politburo member who spoke to The Herald yesterday said the President should not allow certain elements pushing personal interest to abuse party structures."I think this should just stop. When President Mugabe was appointed African Union chairman, why did we not gather people to celebrate?"Now that he is a rapporteur, which is an exit post from AU affairs, we say we want to celebrate. This is just a plot to cause an orchestrated clash with war veterans who have also threatened to come at the party headquarters tomorrow."The President should just stop this thing because it is going to be nastier, even more than the MDC's final push. It is not in the best interest of the party."Messages are also being circulated on the social media WhatsApp platform, on a false pretext that there would be a special Women's League in Harare tomorrow.Some of the messages seen by The Herald read: "Be advised that there will be a special conference for the Women's League in Harare on 10th February 2016. The following are required: women's national executive members, all provincial members of the Women's League, chair lady and political commissar per party district. Party district chairpersons are thus urged to advise their chairladies and their political commissars accordingly as a matter of urgency."Kasukuwere last night said: "It is a gathering to thank the President for what he has done for the nation and also his successful tour of the AU."It will be a disciplined thing, and the talk of violence is madness. There is no room for violence. It is uncalled for. There will be lots of women and youths and those who support the President. We have mobilised resources here and there, and people in provinces will use their own fuel, as always. There is no special fund."Mashonaland West and Central provinces, together with Harare confirmed that they were mobilising to attend the event.Efforts to get a comment from the deputy secretary for the Women's League Eunice Sandi-Moyo were fruitless as her mobile phone was not reachable. [February 08, 2016] AnyWhereMobile Allies Community Banks and Credit Unions with Merchants to Expand Mobile Payment Network NEWARK, Calif., Feb. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Together with Team One Credit Union, MShift Inc. is aggressively expanding its AnyWhereMobile Mobile Payment Network in Michigan with merchants ranging from gas stations to restaurants to retail and services. Merchant-funded rewards play a major role in driving the growth and expansion of AnyWhereMobile. With AnyWhereMobile, merchants pay a very low flat interchange fee and are highly motivated to pass that savings back to their customers through Rewards Programs. Target's Debit Card (REDcard Debit) is one of the most successful and popular examples of a merchant influencing their customers to pay using a lower cost payment option by offering its customers "5% Off Today & Everyday" to use REDcard. Yet customers generally prefer to have a single payment method that can be used to earn great discounts and other rewards at all of the merchants they frequent. Moreover, ACH-based payments provided by merchants, such as REDcard Debit, come with the risk of insufficient funds. Being able to secure the payments in real-time and be assured the funds are good would greatly reduce any merchant's cost of offering ACH-based payments. With its patented payment system, which combines account transfers with ACH aggregation, AnyWhereMobile is able to satisfy the needs of both customers and merchants that are not met with existing merchant ACH-based payments programs today. To pay with AnyWhereMobile, the customer launches their mobile banking app with AnyWhereMobile, scans the QR code at the POS, authorizes the transaction amount usin their PIN or fingerprint recognition and then receives a transaction receipt via their mobile banking app. For large merchants, AnyWhereMobile has an API so that it can be plugged into a merchant's own app as a debit mobile payment option. The merchant's customers initiate the payment by launching the merchant app and scanning the QR code at the POS, which then automatically launches the mobile banking app for that customer to authorize the payment through their bank or credit union's app. In both cases, the funds for the purchase are secured from the customer's account in real-time by the customer's bank or credit union and transferred into a holding account. At the ACH cut-off time for each business day, all aggregated transactions for each merchant from the same bank or credit union are delivered to the merchant via a single ACH transaction. This ACH aggregation effectively makes the ACH cost allocated to each individual purchase made at the merchant that day negligible. From a regulatory and consumer perspective, an AnyWhereMobile transaction is equivalent to a real-time account transfer within the same bank or credit union, not an ACH transaction, which means there is no risk of insufficient funds for the merchant. The AnyWhereMobile combination of low interchange and ensured good funds enable merchants to concentrate on improving and expanding their own customer rewards programs. "AnyWhereMobile is unlike any other mobile payment platform on the market today," says Jacqueline Snell, VP of Strategic Initiatives at MShift. "Through innovation, we have built a payment network that reverses the growing conflict between issuers and merchants due to high interchange costs, so that they are motivated to join together in offering AnyWhereMobile to the benefit of their shared customers." "Merchants in our community are excited to have a mobile payment option that is issued by a trusted local financial institution and at the same time lower their interchange costs by more than half," said Tim Ferrio, eServices Supervisor at Team One Credit Union. "We have gotten very positive responses from the merchants that are participating in the pilot so far, and we are in the process of bringing on board a growing number of merchants who have agreed to accept AnyWhereMobile payments." AnyWhereMobile offers an inherent win-win model by drastically lowering costs for merchants, banks and credit unions as well as consumers. This win-win model serves to ally merchants with thousands of credit unions and community banks to work together to expand the AnyWhereMobile Payment Network to jointly benefit their shared customers. About Team One Credit Union please see www.teamonecu.org, Press Release contact: Dana Tell About MShift Inc. please see www.mshift.com, Press Release contact: Jacqueline Snell. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199036LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150416/199037LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anywheremobile-allies-community-banks-and-credit-unions-with-merchants-to-expand-mobile-payment-network-300216927.html SOURCE MShift, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 09, 2016] Attivio Announces Strategic Collaboration with PerkinElmer to Accelerate Insights in the Life Sciences Industry NEWTON, Mass., Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Attivio, the Data Dexterity Company, today announced it has expanded its strategic relationship with PerkinElmer, making PerkinElmer the exclusive reseller of Attivio solutions in the life sciences markets worldwide. PerkinElmer recently unveiled PerkinElmer Signals Perspectives, powered by Attivio, a new solution within its data discovery platform that helps provide unified access to all relevant data sourcessignificantly reducing the time spent to prepare data for analysis. With the newly launched PerkinElmer Signals Perspectives solution, Attivio and PerkinElmer help to solve a major challenge for researchers in the life sciences space: the time required to find and understand relationships between data and information from disparate sources. Now, life science professionals can expedite data analysis projects from weeks or months to minutes to deliver results more quickly across almost any research or scientific field. "In the life sciences industry, leveraging a complete view of clinical trial information, databases, lab materials and third party content is critical to scientific excellence," said Karen Mdden, President, Informatics, at PerkinElmer. "We're pleased to join Attivio in helping to transform R&D productivity, better predict experimental success and expedite analysis of trial information for our customers across the life sciences marketplace." The PerkinElmer Signals Perspectives solution provides scientists with a true 360-degree view of relevant information to accelerate their research. Powered by the Attivio platform, the solution profiles data across silos, instantly identifies the right information for analysis, and unifies disparate sources into a data model to provision to TIBCO Spotfire software. This software investigates and analyzes the data, generating visually intuitive, interactive displays to support collaboration and decision making. "There is a massive opportunity to streamline the research process in the life sciences industry," said Stephen Baker, CEO of Attivio. "PerkinElmer's deep heritage of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry coupled with Attivio's passion for bringing massive efficiencies to data-driven insight promises to yield breakthroughs and time-to-market advantages for R&D." For more information, visit http://www.attivio.com/solutions/life-sciences. About Attivio Attivio, the Data Dexterity Company, provides software that empowers its customers to get their hands on the right data and to work with it to quickly get it to the point of informing decisions. At Attivio, we believe that there is tremendous untapped value in enterprise information ecosystems. Many of the world's leading brands rely on us to gain immediate visibility into all of their information, not just the data sitting in known databases. Our data obsession means that our customers don't just manage their data; they achieve true Data Dexterity to crush deadlines, transform productivity, achieve global impact, and act with certainty. For more information, please visit www.attivio.com. Media Contact: Elizabeth Banta 212.704.4510 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20071003/ATTIVIOLOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/attivio-announces-strategic-collaboration-with-perkinelmer-to-accelerate-insights-in-the-life-sciences-industry-300217032.html SOURCE Attivio, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [February 09, 2016] Zentera Systems Offers CoIP (Cloud over IP) Session Network Solution Through CenturyLink's Cloud Marketplace SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Zentera Systems, Inc., the leader in cross-cloud session network solutions, announced today its participation in the CenturyLink Cloud Marketplace Provider Program. Inclusion in the program allows Zentera to offer its CoIP (Cloud over IP) session network solution to businesses through the CenturyLink Cloud platform. "Zentera was cited by Gartner in its How to Optimize Your Enterprise Network for Hybrid Cloud Report," said Mike Loftus, Marketing VP for Zentera Systems. "Our CoIP platform is the next-generation virtual network that supports hybrid networking, unified security policies and virtualization management across the emerging cloud ecosystem." CoIP provides enterprise-grade security that spans across cloud datacenter administrations and uses but does not change the underlying IP network. CoIP presents a single virtual network to applications as if all resources were deployed in one corporate network and it can be put in place in hours. It can cnnect corporate datacenters to public and private clouds, enable on-demand networking for cloud computing bursts, support rapid datacenter network migration and allow existing corporate authentication to operate across cloud domains. The CenturyLink Cloud Marketplace Provider Program allows participating technology companies to integrate their solutions with the CenturyLink Cloud platform. These add-on and business-ready solutions are available to CenturyLink's cloud, hosting and network customers. "At CenturyLink, we sit at the heart of enterprise networking and cloud-based applications. It's an amazing time for software-defined network innovation, and Zentera is an example of agile network management technology that business customers can incorporate into their hybrid cloud architecture," said David Shacochis, Vice President of Cloud Platform at CenturyLink. Zentera will be exhibiting CoIP for the CenturyLink Cloud platform at CenturyLink Partner EXPO Feb. 9-11 in Denver, Colo. Follow the event on Twitter at #CTLEXPO16.To learn more about the Zentera CoIP session network solution in the CenturyLink Cloud Marketplace, visit www.centurylinkcloud.com/marketplace. About Zentera Zentera Systems, Inc., enables companies to secure production datacenter operations across public, private and managed hosted network domains. The CoIP (Cloud over IP) cross-cloud session solution offers enterprise-grade networking and security for the emerging cloud ecosystem, protecting the new attack surface exposed by remote cloud endpoints. CoIP creates a unified overlay network plane across multiple private and cloud domains that connects dispersed computers, virtual machines and containers. Its agnostic network virtualization can be provisioned in hours over existing IP infrastructure. Based in Silicon Valley, Zentera offers CoIP through select regional channel partners, managed cloud service providers and Ingram Micro. Visit us at www.zentera.net . Media Inquiries Mike Loftus, VP Marketing Zentera Systems, Inc. +1 408 436 4811 [email protected] All trademarks cited here are the properties of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151005/273759LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zentera-systems-offers-coip-cloud-over-ip-session-network-solution-through-centurylinks-cloud-marketplace-300217313.html SOURCE Zentera Systems, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] It's possible that the page is temporarily unavailable, has been moved, renamed, or no longer exists. Here are some suggestions to find what you are looking for: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), in connection with his alleged role in the $2.1bn arms purchase scam.Badeh, who was clad in a brown kaftan and a black cap, arrived at the EFCC office around 10am on Monday.The former defence chief had visited the commission on Thursday last week but was asked to report to the agencys office on Monday.Badeh, who was accompanied by three unidentified men, was escorted into the Idiagbon House headquarters of the EFCC by armed operatives.He was subsequently interrogated by detectives for several hours.As of 10pm, Badeh was still in the custody of the anti-graft agency.An EFCC operative, said, Badeh arrived at our office at 10am and as of 10pm, he is still with us.It was gathered that the commission had assembled two teams of EFCC operatives, who began the interrogation of the former chief of defence staff at about 10.30am on Monday.It was learnt that he was asked to account for contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force when he was the chief of defence staff.According to reports, contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were by the military awarded under the leadership of Badeh.The money is said to be part of the $2.1bn, which was under the control of the Office of the National Security Adviser, then under the headship of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).Badeh is also said to be answering questions on the non-specification of procurement costs, absence of contract agreements, award of contracts beyond authorised thresholds, transfer of public funds for unidentified purposes and general non-adherence with provisions of the Public Procurement Act.Meanwhile, the EFCC has obtained repeated holding charge to keep a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), and some senior officers of the NAF.A top operative of the EFCC said on Monday that the legal department of the commission had approached the court to obtain an extension of the holding charge for Amosu and other military officers in its custody.It was learnt that the commission took the action to avoid being accused of violating the law that stipulates that suspects should not be detained for more than 48 hours.It was gathered that Amosu refused to sign an undertaking that he would return some money or contract sums traced to him.According to the report, Amosu is being interrogated in connection with 10 contracts awarded by the Nigeria Air Force.The EFCC has been holding the former chief of air staff for two weeks after he was arrested in relation to the ongoing probe into arms procured under the Jonathan administration.Amosu and some of the top personnel of the Air Force were picked up on January 28, 2016, by the EFCC to answer questions in connection with the arms probe.It was further gathered that the commission released some of the officers, who were grilled in connection with the ongoing probe, on Friday.It was learnt that the commission was still holding the former Air Chief because the investigation had not been concluded.It was gathered that the EFCC operatives had been dispatched to several formations of the NAF in response to statements made by those being probed.The source added that the men of the task force, involved in the ongoing probe, moved Amosu from Abuja to Lagos last week as part of the efforts to confirm some of the claims he made.Several officers are said to be in detention alongside Amosu for making statements which linked their activities to Badeh.The source added, The commission has been making efforts to keep the former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, and some of the senior officers being interrogated in connection with the arms issue.The legal department has been going to court to seek the extension of the holding charge against Amosu and others, who have been in detention since January 28, 2016. In fact, the department has obtained a holding charge against the former chief of air staff.You know that there is this provision in law that citizens should not be detained for longer than 48 hours without a holding charge. The commission does not want to run foul of that.However, some of the officers were released on Friday. The ones that are being detained have made statements linking them to Badehs interrogation.They are asked to wait because they have made statements that may need clarification when Badehs interrogation takes off.The commission is believed to have several military personnel and civilians in detention in connection with the ongoing probe.The source said some of the detainees had spent over a month while others had spent between two and three weeks in the detention facility of the anti-corruption agency.Among those detained are the military assistant to the late Gen. Owoye Azazi; Dasuki, and an Austrian businessman, Wolf Gang Reln.We could not get the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, to comment on the story as calls to his mobile did not connect.The Media Adviser to the former finance minister, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, could not be reached for comments on the scheduled probe of Okonjo-Iweala as calls made to his mobile failed to connect.Similarly, he had yet to respond to a text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report on Monday. President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed reservations over the delay in bringing to Nigeria officials of former President Goodluck Jonat... President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed reservations over the delay in bringing to Nigeria officials of former President Goodluck Jonathan and its collaborators indicted in corrupt deals taking refuge in Britain.Buhari, in an interview with Britains The Telegraph also expressed regrets that the Jonathan administration had to mobilise South African mercenaries to fight the Boko Haram insurgents instead of properly equipping the armed forces.Full details of the interview first revealed last week also saw Buhari confirm that Nigerians Islamic radicals were increasingly taking sides in the conflicts in Libya and Syria. Buhari in the interview nevertheless welcomed the assistance of Britain and some other western countries in restoring normalcy to the countrys troubled Northeast which he said had been almost eradicated of insurgency.Noting his frustration in bringing those indicted of corruption to justice, he said: One of the biggest suspects is in Britain now, although I am not going to name that person. But Britain has earned our respect in the way it deals with these matters.Our only problem is that it seems to be too thorough and it takes too much time. If there are obvious cases, like bank accounts, infrastructure houses and hotels, I would hope they could do it quicker, so that we can claim these things back promptly. As military head of state 31 years ago, Buhari brought himself to international reckoning when his government allegedly employed Israeli agents to help smuggle the wanted official of the preceding regime, Umaru Dikko out of Britain.Also expressing his disapproval of the use of mercenaries against Boko Haram by the Jonathan administration, Buhari said: I personally was very disappointed that the previous government resorted to mercenaries. I was also disappointed by the recent revelations of how military allocations were also misappropriated.How is it that Nigerias military, which has a good record across West Africa, cannot claim back to 14 out of 774 local governorates from Boko Haram? They have to ask for mercenaries from South Africa? How the mighty has fallen! News / National by Stephen Jakes A political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya has asked the Prophets Emmanuel Makandiwa and Walter Magaya to tell the nation the fate of Zanu PF warring parties ahead of the politburo meeting today."Why can't Prophets Makandiwa and/or Magaya just tell us the fate of these warring Zanu PF politicians ahead of the party's so-called decisive Politburo meeting on Wednesday 10 February 2016. Surely these men of God should stand up. This could be the time really!" he said.Zanu PF's politburo is seating today in which the party's spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said they will deal with members who use social media to destroy the party while war between Jonathan Moyo and Christopher Mutsvangwa has escalated to a point where Mutsvangwa and war veterans have threatened to bar Moyo from attending the politburo meeting.But Party's Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere and Patrick Zhuwao have vowed to fight against the move calling for the dismissal of Mutsvangwa from the party. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed an application by leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biaf... A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed an application by leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, for the release of certain items, including his British and Nigeria passports, which are in the custody of the Department of State Service.Justice James Tsoho dismissed the application made orally by Kanus lawyer, Mr. Chuks Muouma (SAN), who had sought the release of the items because they would not be needed by the prosecution since they were not listed as part of exhibits to be tendered.Apart from the passports, other items which Muouma sought to be released to the IPOB leader who is currently in detention at Kuje prison along with his two co-accuse, are cash sums of $2,200 and N87,000.Justice Tsoho, in dismissing the application for lacking in merit, insisted that the fact that the items were not listed as possible exhibits did not foreclose the possibility of their being later used by the prosecution as exhibits.He then adjourned the case till February 19 for the hearing of an application by the prosecution for protection of its witnesses.The judge, before adjourning the case, granted the request by the defence lawyer to the effect that relations of the accused persons be allowed in the court room subject to security screening and the capacity of the court room.Kanu, David Nwawusi and Benjamin Madubugwu are being prosecuted on six counts of treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and other offences bordering on their agitation for secession of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria.Justice Tsoho had on January 29 denied bail to Kanu and the two other defendants and ordered that they remained on remand pending the period of their trial.The judge in rejecting the accused persons bail application, held that they were not entitled to bail as they failed to challenge the allegation by the prosecution that they would continue to commit the alleged crime for which they were being prosecuted if granted bail.Kanu was in the custody of the Department of State Service from the time of his arrest in a Lagos hotel on October 14, 2015 till January 20, 2016, when he was transferred to prison by an order of Justice Tsoho , shortly after he was arraigned along with two others. A group of yet to be identified gunmen have shot and killed one of the officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps attache... A group of yet to be identified gunmen have shot and killed one of the officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps attached to the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.The incident happened on Sunday night at a private residence of Oba Ogunwusi located in Ile Ife.It was gathered on Tuesday that the NSCDC operative identified as Marcus just returned to the entrance of Oonis private residence from where he had gone to buy a recharge card when his assailants opened fire on him.Although sources in the area said the hoodlums did not attack the residence nor rob any of the occupants, they were said to have removed the officers rifle and fled the scene.Other colleagues of the deceased who were in the premises were said to have rushed out on hearing the sound of the gun but the assailants had sped off before they came out. Marcus was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.The deceased was said to have gone to buy recharge cards and returned immediately to his duty post but was attacked almost immediately and his attackers only took away his gun.Some sources said the hoodlums were probably members of an armed robbery gang returning from an operation and just attacked Marcus because he was seen standing alone.The Head, Public Relations Unit of the NSCDC in the state, Mr. Wale Folarin, when contacted on the telephone confirmed the killing to our corespondent.He said, It is true that one of our officers attached to the Oonis palace was shot dead by some unidentified persons. He was shot n front of a private residence of of the Ooni.His killers went away with his gun and he died at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife.Folarin disclosed that three suspects had been arrested in connection with the killing and the command was still investigating the matter.According to him all security operative in the state are working together to arrest the perpetrators of the crime. He stated that security operatives in the state had resolved to ensure that none of the hoodlums escaped arrest. The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, said Nigeria would not have found itself in its current sorry state if her handlers ... The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, said Nigeria would not have found itself in its current sorry state if her handlers had been transparent in handling the nations resources.According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Vice-President said this when he received a delegation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.If we (as a nation) had handled our resources better, with transparency, and good governance, we would not find ourselves where we are now, he reportedly told his guests.Osinbajo said that was the reason why President Muhammadu Buhari had decided to make transparency, especially in the extractive industry, a critical pillar of his administration.It is important for us that we handle our resources with transparency and good governance. One of the objectives that we have set for ourselves is to ensure that we are transparent and able to handle our resources well, he added.Osinbajo added that the government would work transparently and generate more revenues.He stated that as a government, the Buhari administration was determined to work with the Nigeria Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative to ensure good governance and keep proper accounts.On the Petroleum Industry Bill, the Vice-President assured the delegation that government was working with the National Assembly to get the bill passed into law.We want to see what will come out of the bill because this will give some regulatory direction and we are working very closely to get that done, he said.Earlier, the incoming Chairman of EITI, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, a former Prime Minister of Sweden, had commended Nigerias commitment to the EITI process.He said he had been following the restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other developments in the oil sector.The Vice-President also received delegations from the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, Class of 2015 and the National Institute for Legislative Studies.He told the delegation from the NLI that considering the extent of efforts required to address the socio-economic impact of the insurgency in the North-East, Nigerians with the required capacity should partner different agencies of government to rehabilitate and rebuild the area.It would be useful to work with the Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative to achieve some of its objectives, the Vice-President told the class led by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr. Okey Enelamah; and the Central Bank Deputy Governor, Mrs. Sarah Alade. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will soon begin the probe of the nations oil and gas industry as part of the current ant... The roles of some principal officers in the former Goodluck Jonathan administration, including the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; her counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and an oil magnate, will come under intense scrutiny.The Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said this in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes to defend the commissions 2016 budget proposals.In his presentation before the lawmakers on Monday, Magu tactically avoided giving direct answers to questions on whether Alison-Madueke would come under the searchlight of the agency.The anti-graft agencys boss merely responded to such questions by saying, The commission will soon move into the petroleum sector, but called on the National Assembly to support the efforts of the agency by making more funds available for its operations.Shortly after the presentation of the EFCCs chairman, however, a member of the committee, Mr. Razak Atunwa, told reporters that Magu actually informed the committee that Alison-Madueke, Okonjo-Iweala and the oil baron would be investigated.Atunwa was the lawmaker, who asked Magu the question on whether the commission would probe the oil sector.Atunwa added, I said the EFCC has recovered a lot of money for Nigeria and he (Magu) mentioned that in that regard, more sectors of the economy are likely to come under investigative activities.I said will it include the petroleum sector? He said, yes. And I said would it include investigating the following people Diezani Alison-Madueke, Okonjo-Iweala and a particular oil magnate, and he said yes; those people are already under their investigative radar.It can be recalled that in October last year, Switzerland wanted to extradite the oil marchant to the United Kingdom.The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in an email the media, had confirmed that the UK had sought for mutual legal assistance from its country.In an e-mail sent to it, the office of the AGF of Switzerland was asked if it had received extradition request from the UK on the businessman.It was also asked to specify the time the extradition process would begin and when he would be extradited.In his response, Nathalie Guth of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, said, I refer to your request of today and we can confirm that the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has received a request for mutual legal assistance from England in this context.Magu told the lawmakers that at a time the commission was stepping up the anti-graft war, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning cut its overheads by over N1bn this year.He added that while the EFCC proposed N2.9bn as overheads, the ministry slashed it to N1.3bn, a figure, he said, represented a shortfall of N1.6bn, or 116 per cent.He complained that the budget cut would affect the operations of the agency, particularly investigations into corruption allegations.The areas that will be adversely affected are investigative activities, manpower development and maintenance of logistics.Although he admitted being aware that governments revenue had dwindled due to a sharp fall in crude oil prices, Magu argued that corruption-fighting was capital-intensive.He appealed to the committee to consider approving additional N500m for operational activities as more sectors of the economy may come under investigative activities during the year.Magu also spoke of plans by the agency to recruit 750 personnel this year in its bid to build its core members of staff and reduce the number of its operatives on secondment from other organisations.Ironically, the budget ministry cut the EFCCs personnel cost for this year by 6.5 per cent.In 2015, the personnel cost for 2,173 employees was N7.1bn.But in the 2016 budget, the budget ministry reduced it to N6.6bn, a decrease of N463.2m.The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Kayode Oladele, nonetheless, made promises that the House would look into the complaints of the EFCC.He said, As we all know, the current economic downturn has drastically reduced projected earnings for the 2016 fiscal year.Despite the paucity of funds, the funding of the EFCC remains a priority for the government.The committee shall support the vision of elevating the EFCC to sustain the current anti-corruption crusade. The north will never discover oil in the Chad basin of Nigeria even after it has wasted $3 billion, approximately (N900 billion) in oil ... The north will never discover oil in the Chad basin of Nigeria even after it has wasted $3 billion, approximately (N900 billion) in oil exploration in the basin, said Senator Shehu Sani, Chairman, Senate Committee on foreign and domestic debts.Sani, made the above affirmation Monday when members of Kaduna State Students Union paid him a courtesy call in his Kaduna office. This in variance with the position of the Chairman, of the Northern Nigeria Development Company, (NNDC) Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, who had said last year NNDC would commence the exploration of oil and gas in the said basin and the upper Benue trough. Said Sani: Oil exploration in the north has been carried out back to days far beyond that of former President Jonathan Goodluck.I am calling on President Mohamadu Buhari to order a probe into this questionable search for oil. Past leaders have amassed wealth through this venture, and I want the president to investigate this. If we cannot fine oil, we must get our money back because so far over $3 billion US Dollars had been wasted on oil exploration in the north, particularly in the Chad Basin and Benue trough. Acting president, Professor Yemi Osinabjo has accused the previous governments of managing the countrys vast resources without transpare... Acting president, Professor Yemi Osinabjo has accused the previous governments of managing the countrys vast resources without transparency and accountability.According to him, lack of transparency was responsible for Nigerias economic backwardness and underdevelopment. Osinabjo who spoke while hosting a delegation of the global body-Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI, in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja remarked that a critical pillar of the President Mohammadu Buharis presidency was transparency, even as he pledged transparency in the extractive industry. It is important for us that we handle our resources with transparency and good governance. One of the objectives that we have set for ourselves is to ensure that we are transparent and able to handle our resources well. Of we (as a nation) had handled our resources better, with transparency, and good governance, we would not find ourselves were we are now, he said. While acknowledging that we have learnt our lesson, the Acting president declared that from now henceforth, the government would work transparently and generate more revenues.He stated that as a government, the Buhari administration has determined to work with the Nigeria Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to ensure good governance and look at how we can generate revenues and keep proper accounts. Speaking on the issue of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Osinbajo assured that government was working with the National Assembly to get the PIB passed into law, stating we want to see what will come out of the bill because this will give some regulatory direction and we are working very closely to get that done.A statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Laolu Akande stated the meeting attracted the Minister of State for Budget & Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed and the former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI. Others included the Acting Executive Secretary of the NEITI, Mr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji and the Deputy Head of the EITI global, Mr. Eddie Rich. Earlier, the in-coming global Chairman of EITI, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, a former Prime Minister of Sweden commended Nigerias committed to the EITI process, saying he has been following the restructuring of the NNPC, and other developments in the oil sector.In a similar development, the Acting President also received delegations from Nigeria Leadership Initiative, NLI class of 2015 and the Nigerian Institute of Legislative Studies, NILS led by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr. Okey Enelamah and Central Bank Deputy Governor, Mrs Sarah Alade. He told the delegation from the NLI that considering the extent of effort required to address the socio-economic impact of the insurgency in the Northeast, Nigerians with the required capacity should partner with different agencies of government to rehabilitate and rebuild the area.It would be useful to work with the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative to achieve some of its objectives, he said. While commending the class for its work, he said the group should go further and play a more active role beyond making a documentary submission. Observing the sheer scale of what has gone wrong, Osinbajo stated that there was quite a lot to be done and lots of effort were underway.The leader of the delegation, Dr. Okey Enelamah informed the Vice President about the proposed documentary project of the group, which focused on the humanitarian crisis in the North East is a collective issue rather than government concern alone. Acting President Osinbajo expressed government readiness to support the work of the Institute, stating that the Institute played a prominent role in the legislative arm of government. In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, the Senate Committee Chairman on Water Resources and also a member of the Governing Council of NILS, Senator Muhammad Ubali Shitu, expressed their support for the change agenda of the Buharis Administration and hailed Osinabjos pledge to support the Institute. Supremacy battle in Yorubaland is starting to gear up as the Palace of the Oba of Benin has stoked controversy over the supremacy of Oba... Supremacy battle in Yorubaland is starting to gear up as the Palace of the Oba of Benin has stoked controversy over the supremacy of Obas in the South West, saying it was not true that the Benin monarch was the third in the ranking of kings in the region as declared by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo. The Esogban of Benin and Odionwere of the Kingdom (traditional head), Chief David Edebiri, yesterday, said the Alake of Egbaland, goofed when he said the Oba of Benin was third in the hierarchy of Obas.He explained that the Ooni of Ife was a son of the Oba of Benin, adding that the stool of the Oba of Benin could not be compared with that of any Yoruba King.Esogban, third in command in the palace of the Oba of Benin, said: We wanted to discard this report as something that was not necessary at all. We do not see how the Alake of Egbaland suddenly woke up to think that the Oba of Benin is also a Yoruba Oba. There is no basis for such classification; Oba of Benin has nothing to do with the Yoruba Obas.It is simply unnecessary, unless they simply want to stir up an unnecessary controversy. We are not in Yorubaland. To be frank, it is because many of them are not willing to come up with the truth, the word Oba is alien to Yoruba monarchy; it is not part of their title from time immemorial.For instance, the one they call the Oba of Lagos, these are recent adaptations. In the 50s, there was no Oba of Lagos, what we had was the Eleko of Eko. That is the title of the King there. In Ibadan, you have the Olu Ibadan. You come to Abeokuta, you have the Alake of Egba land. You come to Oyo, you have the Alaafin of Oyo. In Ilesha, you have the Owa-Obokun of IIesha. So no Yoruba monarch had as part of his titles the word Oba except the Oba of Benin. That word Oba is indigenous to Benin.It is only in recent times you find everybody bearing Oba. When the Western Regional conference of traditional rulers took place in Benin City in 1942, go and check the attendance, there was no other monarch in the whole of the Western Region then that bore the title of Oba, except the Oba of Benin.So it is an unnecessary excursion, an unnecessary attempt to turn history upside down by the Alake by classifying the Oba of Benin as third in the hierarchy of kings. Our own traditional history says that the Ooni of Ife was a Benin Prince who wandered from here to Ife, settled there and became the ruler there. That is the position, if they dont know, they should send people here; we will teach them.We will show them landmarks. So this is unnecessary misrepresentation of history. Maybe the Alake wanted to mention a different place and not Benin. The monarchical rulership in this part of the world started from Benin during the era of the Ogisos. It was the son of the last Ogiso, Owodo, that wandered from here to Ife and he became a ruler there, carrying everything about the Benin monarchical system to that place.There is no basis for such classification. The Ooni of Ife by historical facts, is a son of the Oba of Benin, so they are not in the same class. The Oba of Benin is the only one that answers Oba, the rest dont. But today, we hear Oba here and there, they are all recent adaptations. I am saying categorically that the word Oba is indigenous to Benin and not to Yoruba nation.Most traditional rulers in Yorubaland who were contacted for their reactions on the issue declined making any remark, saying since the Alake had spoken on the issue, they would not want to be drawn into any controversy.Specifically, one of the monarchs who occupied a prominent office of a national forum who does not want his name in print, said the 1903 gazette spoke extensively on the issue.But the Olowu of Owu-Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyetunde, said the ranking by the Alake was not new. Even the colonial masters have done the ranking. Spiritually, Ooni occupies the territory of Oduduwa. So, he is the landlord of Oduduwa House. I dont think there is any controversy, he said. He advised all Yoruba sons and daughters to support the incumbent Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, in his on-going efforts at uniting the Yoruba race. There are so many things wrong with the PDP. It is an understatement to insist it is a very imperfect political party. But for everything... There are so many things wrong with the PDP. It is an understatement to insist it is a very imperfect political party. But for everything that is wrong with the PDP, the APC is worse. It is ludicrous to pretend the APC is squeaky-clean while the PDP is corrupt when a large chunk of APC members were formerly in the PDP. Today, both the Senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives, for example, are former PDP members. These turncoats did not become new creations when they crossed over to the APC.When queried about why APCs so-called anti-corruption campaign is mostly directed at PDP opposition members, the APC party chairman John Odigie-Oyegun insists the PDP has been the party in power for the last 16 years. This is disingenuous because the APC and its legacy parties have also been in power for the last 16 years. ACN/APC has ruled Lagos for the last 16 years. Let EFCC beam its anti-corruption searchlight on that state and let us see if it will not throw up a cesspool of corruption.If EFCC can probe Sule Lamido who was governor of Jigawa for eight years, what prevents it from probing Rotimi Amaechi who was governor of Rivers State also for eight years? Even if we were to accept the ridiculous APC treatise that there is a corruptible seed in the PDP which immediately disappears when a PDP member becomes an APC member, then it becomes necessary to probe Amaechi in the years he was still a PDP governor, before he became a new creation of the APC. The same would apply, for example, to Rabiu Kwankwaso as PDP governor of Kano before he switched to the APC.To win the last presidential election, APC had to match the political rigmaroles of the PDP. Indeed, APC prevailed because it was ultimately more unscrupulous. APC successfully exaggerated the vote in its areas of strength in the North-West far more than the PDP did in the South-South and the South-East. In the process, twice the number of people were alleged to have voted in old Kano (Kano and Jigawa) than did in Lagos. So meticulous were Kano voters that they did not void a single ballot out of over two million votes cast. If you believe that, you can believe anything.In the final analysis, APC won the election because of the humanity and political maturity of one man: Goodluck Jonathan. Presidents dont lose elections in Nigeria. The Nigerian president possesses the power and resources to manipulate any and every election to his advantage. Make no mistake about it, Goodluck Jonathan wanted to win the last election. However, he did not want to win at all costs. He lost the election because, from the get-go, he was prepared to lose for the sake of advancing the democratic process in Nigeria.The evidence is there for all to see. Out of five elections conducted between 2011 and 2015, the PDP lost four, in spite of being the party in power at the centre. It lost in Ondo. It lost in Edo. It lost in Anambra. It lost in Osun. It only won in Ekiti. In effect, the presidential election was paradoxically the icing on the cake. The PDP not only lost that election, Jonathan accepted defeat even before the final results were tallied, in spite of all the rigmarole that attended it. He did not ask for dogs and baboons to be soaked in blood.It should be clear to Nigerians today that we are now in the grip of a very different captivity in the APC. During the campaign for the last elections, APC members were lavish with threats of fire and brimstone should their party lose. They told Nigerians in no uncertain terms that if they lost, they would not accept defeat but would even form their own kangaroo government. Now that the APC has captured power at the centre, they are hell-bent on prosecuting the principle of winner-takes-all.Today, the APC not only controls the presidency, it prevails in 22 of the 36 states in Nigeria. The PDP, on the other hand, controls only 13 states; with the remaining solitary state held by APGA. However, the APC is not satisfied with this supremacy. It is determined to contest the verdict of the election virtually everywhere it lost. While it claims the 2015 election was free and fair where it won, it insists the election was crooked where it lost. In short, the APC is determined to have its cake and eat it too.Immediately President Buhari was elected, he started preparing the grounds for 2019. This involves releasing EFCC dogs against 2019 presidential hopefuls. During the congratulatory visit of a delegation from Benue, he said jokingly: I beg Senator Akume and the governor-elect not to make my 2019 attempt too difficult. Jokes often reveal true intentions. Otega Emerhor, APC governorship candidate in Delta State, spoke the mind of the APC during a congratulatory visit to the newly-elected Buhari. He told the president:As you are aware, Delta State, along with Akwa Ibom and Rivers, are rich in oil resources and PDP is determined to hold on to these states at all cost to utilise the huge revenue base of these states to re-launch itself to national reckoning. It is, therefore, strategic for APC and your administration to pay particular attention and to assist us put in place modalities to break the stronghold of PDP in Delta and the other states.This agenda has been executed with single-minded APC rascality. APC challenged the outcome of elections in the oil-rich Southern states. It then embarked on an onslaught of intimidatory attacks on the judiciary to make it fall in line with its agenda. To ensure it prevailed, some tribunal chairmen were summarily dismissed, replaced with more maleable choices. Some cases were even transferred to APCs presidential stronghold in Abuja on spurious grounds. So doing, APC secured the verdicts it wanted. The tribunals cancelled the elections in Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom, requiring them to be rerun.However, APC met a firewall in the Supreme Court. The apex court refused to be intimidated, in spite of President Buharis loaded statement in far-away Ethiopia that the Nigerian judiciary is his major headache in the fight against corruption. It overturned the doctored verdicts of the appeal courts in Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom, restoring the mandate of their PDP governors. So doing, the Supremes immediately became public enemy number one of the APC.APC Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, put his foot in his mouth when he could not hide his displeasure that big fish Rivers State slipped away from APCs greedy clutches. He said: I still find the judgment on the Rivers State governorship election totally astonishing. There is something fundamentally wrong in the judiciary. We have lost very important resource-rich states to the PDP. No matter how crude oil prices have fallen, it is still the most important revenue earner for the country.There was nothing wrong with the judiciary when it ruled in favour of the APC in Yobe, Ogun, Lagos and Benue. But when it ruled against the APC in Rivers, Abia and Akwa Ibom, something became fundamentally wrong with it. The truth is that the issue of the legality of the usage of the card reader as opposed to the manual register had been established in the case of Agbaje versus Ambode in Lagos. To that extent, the tribunals in the South-South erred in law by not using the same principle in subsequent cases. Instead they agreed to kowtow to APC pressure.For a party that insists it is anti-corruption and claims to be prosecuting the PDP for using public funds to fight elections, Oyegun revealed APC interest in the South-South states is because they are resource-rich. This is the same language we heard from APC legislators when they were fighting themselves silly over juicy chairmanship positions in the National Assembly. If APC were not a past-master at using public funds to finance elections, why would it be so determined to control the resource-rich South-South oil-states by hook or crook?The APC is not only determined to winner-take-all today. It is equally determined to winner-take-all the 2019 election at all costs. Jonathan is from the South-South; a minority region. Nevertheless, he chose a Northerner, Attahiru Jega, to be INEC chairman. Many will tell you that was a major blunder that cost him re-election. Compare that scenario to what we have now. Buhari is from the North-West; a majority region. Nevertheless, he has chosen another Northerner to be INEC chairman.When Jonathan chose Jega, he chose him to great national approbation. But when Buhari chose Amina Zakari as Acting INEC chairman, he chose her to widespread public uproar. The Nigerian Constitution does not make any provision for the appointment of an Acting Chairman of INEC. Buhari is from the North-West: Zakari is from the North-West; violating the convention that the president and the INEC chairman should come from different geopolitical zones.Moreover, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai revealed that Zakaris late father, the former Emir of Kazaure, was married to Buharis elder sister. Yakassai further disclosed that Buhari spent a significant part of his formative years in the home of Zakaris father. This makes Zakaris choice as INEC Acting Chairman totally inappropriate. Certainly, her appointment could not have arisen out of the presidents commitment to INEC impartiality.This inclination continued with the appointment of a substantive INEC chairman. Again, President Buhari chose Mahmud Yakubu, another Northerner from Bauchi in the North-East. In the few months Yakubu has been INEC chairman, the organisation has become infamous for conducting inconclusive elections at the promptings of the APC.APCs strong-arm political tactics are deleterious to Nigerian democracy. Its contempt for the rule of law and its blatant violation of judicial verdicts are anti-democratic. Its witch-hunt of the PDP ensures it will not agree to lose in 2019, for fear of being paid back in its own coin. It also ensures that another Jonathan will think twice before agreeing to accept defeat in the future, learning from the fate of the PDP at the hands of the APC.The evidence suggest the APC is far more interested in securing its political future than it in promoting the growth and development of democracy in Nigeria. In view of the milestone achieved in 2015 as a result of Jonathans gentlemanly departure, APC represents the worst thing that has happened to Nigerian democracy in recent times. The All Progressives Congress has dismissed the insinuation it was planning to turn Nigerian into a one-party state. The ruling party ... The All Progressives Congress has dismissed the insinuation it was planning to turn Nigerian into a one-party state.The ruling party said that it emerge stronger to win future elections in the country.This declaration was made by the partys national deputy chairman and former governor of Ekiti state, Segun Oni, on Monday, February 8, at Akpugoeze in Oji River local government of Enugu state, when he received the former governorship candidate of the defunt All Peoples Party, Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu into the party at a ceremony in the area.Oni described Gbazuagu as a grassroots politicians and a veritable assets to any party he belongs to and asked progressives outside the aprty to come back home by joining the APC.The deputy national deputy led other national officers of the party to receive Gbazuagu popularly known as GNG as a large crowd of party supporters from all parts of the South East came together to welcome him back into politics after nearly 15 years of absence.APC in Rivers state had reacted to allegations by Governor Nyesom Wike against his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi.The party described Wikes claim as a big lie from the very depth of hell.The rivers state governor had on Sunday alleged that between December 1 and 18 of 2014, Amaechi had used $150m to fund the APC elections. News / National by Staff reporter HIGHER and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo jumped the gun in unilaterally taking charge of a programme that falls under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, it has emerged.Prof Moyo announced two weeks ago that there will be free education for pupils who register for Science subjects at Advanced Level, with Government paying full tuition and boarding fees.It emerged yesterday that the programme - ostensibly aimed at promoting the learning of Science technology, Engineering and Mathematics, popularly known as STEM - was done without consulting the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, which has a mandate over A-Level pupils.Apparently, the responsible ministry is promoting the learning of Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics through its new school curriculum.It also emerged that the pulling off of STEM adverts by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation last week was done fol-lowing "repeated complaints by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education".This is contrary to assertions by Prof Moyo during an interview with The Standard that the adverts were pulled at the instigation of the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Mr George Charamba.Prof Moyo has been attacking Mr Charamba daily on his Twitter account since the Presidential spokesperson warned successionists against building messages around the First Family and denigrating people appointed by President Mugabe during the 2014 Zanu-PF National People's Congress.Even though Mr Charamba did not mention the names of the successionists, it was surprising that only Prof Moyo responded.The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango said her ministry had nothing to do with the STEM being promoted by Prof Moyo's ministry.She said their promotion of Science technology and Mathematics would be done in line with the dictates of the new school curricula being spearheaded by her ministry."No, we do not have anything to do with that programme. They are the best people to talk about that," she said."As a Ministry, we have the new curricula which is emphasising any area in education including STBAM from BCD up to Form Six. We are implementing and rolling the curriculum in stages. This year, we are piloting the syllabus and in 2017, we will start. If we were involved, you should have seen it emanating from our office not from a ministry whose mandate is really not about Primary and Secondary Education. To us, it is not a question of publicity but transformation. We will share with them the curriculum because they are the consumers of our products. We will do ours with their cooperation."ZBC acting chief executive Mr Patrick Mavhura said he was surprised to read in The Standard that Mr Charamba had telephoned him to pull off the STEM adverts."That's incorrect," he said."I was not phoned by anyone but what happened was an issue of verification and we resolved to stop the adverts."Prof Moyo said all high schools that registered full lower six STEM classes this year would stand a chance to win a state-of-the-art bus and a cash prize of $100 He said all lower six students in all high schools who register for STEM subjects in 2016 would stand a chance to win a trip of a life time to Microsoft and other Silicon Valley STEM companies in the United States of America (10 winners), or a state-of-the- art STEM laptop (100 winners), or a state-of-the-art iPad (100 winners).Sources said it defied logic for Prof Moyo to "busy himself" with other Cabinet ministers' ministries at a time he should be fighting to ensure university students on cadetship ge1 paid. News / National by Staff reporter A BLIND prostitute allegedly teamed up with four men and assaulted a Sunday Mail journalist in Harare over a news article that appeared in the paper in 2012.Tendai Chara was on Saturday morning assaulted by four men over an article titled 'Blindness no barrier for sex worker', that appeared in The Sunday Mail in January 2012. One of the suspected assailants was by yesterday afternoon being held at Kuwadzana Police Station with other suspected assailants still at large."I was at Kuwadzana 5 Shopping Centre when the blind sex worker, Melody Mutomba, whom I wrote about in 2012, approached me and asked me why I had written about her. She was accompanied by her sister Priscila Pasuwa and four men."They manhandled and assaulted me using fists and empty beer bottles before I was rescued by police," Chara, who sustained visible injuries, said.Chara sustained bruises and cuts all over his body and a deep cut on the left hand. He was treated at Harare Central Hospital arid discharged. A medical report which was signed by Dr Kapuya at Harare Central Hospital confirmed that Chara sustained moderate injuries.According to Chara, the sex worker once threatened him with death in 2015. The case is being handled by Kuwadzana police.Mr Foster Dongozi,the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists condemned the attack."What happened on Saturday is a dear manifest of the poor safety, security and working conditions of journalists," he said. "As ZUJ, we have always urged individuals, institutions and high profile people to desist from attacking journalists while doing their work."As a union, we are also hopeful that steps being taken by the Government to improve the safety and security of the journalists will bring to an end these outrages. We will allow the law to take its course." News / National by Staff reporter Jonathan Moyo tore down into commercial radio station ZiFM Stereo after the station pulled out of an interview that it had granted him to discuss a government scholarship programme.Moyo alleged that political hands were behind the station's last-minute decision to withdraw the offer to host him in an interview.But ZiFM vehemently denied the claims that it had banned Moyo from its station at the behest of George Charamba, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information. Moyo accused ZiFM of postponing the program, falsely citing a clash of schedules.Charamba was also accused of gagging ZiFM after fearing that Moyo would stray from the STEM agenda and start discussing Zanu-PF's succession wars.This comes after Charamba was given an interview with the same radio station in which he attacked Moyo. News / National by Staff reporter Gideon Gono former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor has backed John Mangudya in the fight against illicit financial flows saying his successor was "acting wisely".Last week, Mangudya introduced a raft of measures to plug leakages amid revelations that nearly $2 billion was spirited out of the country by individuals and corporates.The measures entail suspension of the free funds concept, putting restrictions on offshore investments and withdrawals above $10 000 now required at least one-day notice to the bank.He said $1,2 billion was externalized by companies in the form of export proceeds, high management and expert fees. During his tenure at the apex bank, Gono complained of externalization by individuals and corporates, but got the flak from critics who accused him of trying to settle personal scores.But yesterday, Gono played down suggestions that he has been vindicated, adding that "each governor deals with challenges that confront him or her at that particular time in his/her discharge of a given mandate". News / National by Thobekile Zhou Prince Khumbu-Zindela Malinga: "The Midlands Briga Mbusonzima Dlodlo: l think we have a problem in this country , mainly being caused by Midlands guys , because if u oppose them they create factionalism" Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel Moyo: "Moses Mzila Ndlovu, Priscilla Mushonga, Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube, Josh Mhambi(?) all senior leaders and gone or fired, and am expected to believe they are the problem? After all they have sacrificed for the party and the struggle? NO!" Mkhokheli Ncube: "The dissmisal of Mr Moses Mzila is a demonstration of a leadership crisis. Infact to only speak of Mzila may be missing the point. The professor has failed to keep unity of purpose in the party. Madoda we are suffering from the same diseases affecting the country. Passing on the button stick is unkwon .....sithi kungcono kudilike konke as if the political party is a personal ndlu yamadlwane ongayakha uyidilize willy nilly." Mbusonzima Dlodlo: "l think we have a problem in this country ,mainly being caused by Midlands guys ,because if u oppose them they create factionalism" Godfrey Phiri: Our biggest challenge as Zimbabwean is that we believe in party politics and not looking at Socio- Economic , Cultural and Religious rights that can shape our struggles .The top to bottom politics is now history .Class struggles should have a link with grassroots challenges not political positions .Our whole struggle needs revisions. we have all lost it. Dont worry about Mzila and Welshman it's as good as worrying about Mugabe , build up the revolution and never loose touch with reality. Dirty water ,unemployment media diversity, freedom of expression etc etc ." The dismissal of Moses Mzila Ndlovu as acting secretary general of MDC on Saturday has sparked heated debate among party members.Some party members have taken to social media to voice their views on the matter with same claiming that MDC president Welshman Ncube is a tribalist from Midlands.Below are some of the comments extracted from Facebook:de!" News / National by Stephen Jakes Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have declared that it is now 11 months since the journalist cum democracy activist Itai Dzamara was abducted last year.ZLHR Communications officer Kumbirai Mafunda posted on Facebook that Tuesday 09 February 2016 marks 11 months since Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy campaigner and freelance journalist was abducted and disappeared from his Harare home."It has and is painful accepting that mwana vevhu can just remain unaccounted for, almost a year in this Zimbabwe which was "liberated" 36 years ago. May those responsible for carrying out such a reprehensible act never know and enjoy peace in their lifetime," he said. 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. News / National by Staff Reporter A Waterfalls man in Harare fondled his sister's breast claiming that no one could stop him.That was after Robson Mussa went home around 3 am dead drunk on February 6 and woke up all tenants and ordered them to immediately pay rentals.They pledged to pay the next day.Robson sister woke up and tried to calm down his drunk brother but he refused poking her on the chest.She is said to have told Robson to stop since he was touching her breasts.Robson allegedly went onto fondle his sister's breast's saying no one was going to stop him from doing so.He accused her of interfering in his business.She then lodged a complaint with the police leading to his arrest.He appeared in court and denied the indecent assault charges and was remanded to February 17 for trial. Malcolm Fitt is a London-based commercial and lifestyle photographer who had yet to experience the joys of a British winter spent by the coast. Malcolm with some help from pro photography retoucher Sarah Whitby set out to create a photo shoot in Cornwall to capture what it is to surf in the UK winter. As they are both South African, getting in the cold British waters was a challenge. (OK Cornwall has the gulf stream and the water doesnt get super cold but compared to more southern climates it does get chilly!). Sarah kindly invited Northcore to be involved in the shoot as our team rider Corinne Evans was one of the models. So we were stoked to see the results below and interviewed Malcolm about the day. Could you introduce yourself and the team involved in your project Malcolm SK Fitt Photography is essentially a two man team, Shaun and of course Malcolm. Both have worked in the creative, marketing and photography industry for almost 20 years. Malcolm set up his business officially in 2015 and has already been working with some fantastic brands in the UK and abroad. Every project requires select talent and crew over and above the skills of both Malcolm and Shaun. This project is no different. Sarah, who is collaborating with Malcolm SK Fitt photography on this project, was able to source some amazing talent for this shoot which will help reflect a true winter surf in the UK. Sarah is the owner of Reborn Retouching; she is a professional Photography Retoucher now based in the UK since her relocation out of South Africa. Our models for the shoot were: Jack Buckingham, Matt Burner, Corinne Evans, James Price and his girlfriend Ally Toullec. The team comprised of adventure-seeking ocean lovers who should have been born with gills rather than lungs. Dedicated surfers always on the lookout for an opportunity to catch some waves ( even if that means bracing the icy waters during the winter months.) We had a great team and were really pleased with results of the photoshoot and film. We believe our models represented the Cornish and Devonian surf-scene in the most genuine form. Could you tell us about the film and photo shoot project. This project was born from the idea that as a commercial, lifestyle, advertising and fashion photographic business, we have been spending too much time on beaches abroad in the sun. We were looking to capture something that is portrayed far less often. A more raw way of life; other than the often publicised scenes of perfect sunshine. We wanted to capture the real surf culture in the UK winter time. As with all the projects we do, we capture the process from start to finish to give a sort of behind the scenes look into how we work. Alongside this, we captured some footage of surfers braving the cold with the magnificent Cornish coastline as our backdrop. We hope this project will appeal to surfers and beach goers alike as well as lovers of surf brands, clothing and accessories. But really the essence of the shoot was about young people hanging out and making the most of life outdoors, whatever the weather. So anyone for a love of British life, travel and the great outdoors will appreciate the imagery. How does UK winter surfing differ to summer surfing (other than the cold of course!)? Having grown up on the beaches of Cape Town and beaches all over the world from Vancouver, the North sea in Germany, Orlando, Miami, LA, Italy, Bordeaux, I had yet to experience a mid-winter surf in the UK. Preparation is key, a winter surf is not as simple as a pair of board shorts and a surf board. We didnt leave the house without our Northcore flasks filled with a hot brew! Also as a professional photographer I also needed to think carefully about equipment needed. Do you have any other plans for 2016 We have a few upcoming shoots in the UK and in Cape Town for a well-known health and fitness publication and then off to Costa Del Sol shooting for an international travel company. Thankfully some warmth amongst the cold shoots. Thanks to Malcolm SK Fitt, Sarah Whitby and of course our Corinne Detective pulls distraught girl from bridge A GSPS officer pulled a 19-year-old female back off the Paris Street bridge on Feb. 8 at around 6:30 p.m. Two off-duty nurses spotted the young woman holding on to a pole, with her feet dangling over the Paris Street bridge. Greater Sudbury Police Services are seeking the public's assistance in locating a suspect involved in an attempted robbery. File photo. A GSPS officer pulled a 19-year-old female back off the Paris Street bridge on Feb. 8 at around 6:30 p.m. Two off-duty nurses spotted the young woman holding on to a pole, with her feet dangling over the Paris Street bridge. According to a reports from the GSPS, the girl was clearly emotionally distraught. The nurses phoned 911 and then drove underneath the bridge to try to calm the girl down and prevent her from jumping. Greater Sudbury Police Detective Ryan Johnson was the first to arrive, closely followed by uniformed officers and the southbound lanes were subsequently closed. Johnson spoke with the female who did not want him to assist her. Fearing the female would jump off the bridge, the officer grabbed her around the waist in a bear hug and pulled her to safety. The female was apprehended under the mental health act according to GSPS Staff Sgt. John McCormick, and two officers stayed with her at the hospital. "We will not be charging her criminally," said McCormick. "Two of our officers will stay with her at the hospital until the doctors make an assessment." Neither the female nor the officer were injured, and McCormick commended the work of Detective Johnson. "We're very proud of him for the way he sacrificed his own safety to ensure the safety of this young woman," said McCormick. "I know the chief (Paul Pedersen) has already reached out to him as well." The Greater Sudbury Police Service would like to thank the two nurses who assisted in trying to help this woman. Greater Sudbury Police are encouraging parents and caregivers to have a conversation with their kids about keeping safe online. Greater Sudbury Police are encouraging parents and caregivers to have a conversation with their kids about keeping safe online.Today is Safer Internet Day, when people around the world join forces to teach children and youth about using online technology in a safe and responsible way, a press release from Greater Sudbury Police said.Parents are encouraged to go to CyberTip.ca for up-to-date information on how to start that conversation.The Greater Sudbury Police Service partners with the Canadian Center for Child Protection to promote and distribute Internet safety resources for Canadians to help protect children from abuse and exploitation.The police service's Cyber Crime Unit is part of the Ontario Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet, which has been made possible by a grant from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Ministry of the Attorney General. News / National by Staff reporter A 34-year old leader of a political party, Owen Kuchata, who was convicted of attempting to bomb Gushungo Dairy in Mazowe has been sentenced to an effective eight years in prison.The case resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the Prosecutor General Johannes Tomana after he had released two of the accused's accomplices in the attempted arson on the first family's business.Magistrate Hosiah Mujaya initially slapped Kuchata with nine years but suspended one year on condition that he will not commit a similar offence in the next five years.In passing the sentence, Mr Mujaya said Kuchata is a politician who is expected to lead by example by not destroying other people's properties.The presiding magistrate also noted that Kuchata went for reconnaissance before the commission of the crime, a clear indication that he was determined to commit the offence.The state represented by Mr Michael Reza, who was praying for a maximum sentence of 20 years, said it is unfortunate that Kuchata was leading his supporters and teaching them to perpetuate violence.Kuchata was charged under Section 27 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act that provides for a life imprisonment for those convicted of possessing weapons for sabotage.In mitigation, Kuchata said he was sorry for what he did and said he has now realised that what he did was wrong.Kuchata revealed that petrol bombs were manufactured by Borman Ngwenya and Solomon Makumbe, his accomplices. News / National by Staff Reporter Government requires US$1,5 billion to import grain and other related social safety nets.1.4 million tonnes of grains are needed to feed at least three million people until March 2017.The US$1.5 billion appeal from the government to domestic partners follows the declaration of the 2015-2016 agricultural season as a national disaster owing to the El-Nino effects which saw a some parts of the country receiving below normal rainfall.Appealing for assistance from domestic partners in Harare, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said 95 percent of the country has received below 50 percent of normal rains with Masvingo Province being the most affected.He added that there is need to feed at least 3 million people who have been affected."Masvingo has 75 percent of maize being a write off while Matabeleland South has 65 percent write off. 30 percent of the rural communities, which is 3 million people are food insecure and they require food assistance. So we need US$1.5 billion from the private sector and other organisations to support the emergence relief programme.," said Mnangagwa.The effects of the El Nino have not spared livestock and wild animals.Dams have dried up, while 71 percent of boreholes are mal-functioning, leading to the death of about 16 000 cattle."The prices of livestock have plummeted, a situation compounded by the foot and mouth disease which has seen 16 681 cattle dying. Masvingo alone had a death toll of about 6566 cattle," said Mnangagwa.The US$1.5 billion will be used for the importation of grain, food security and social protection programmes to vulnerable people, livestock support programme, wildlife support programme and irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation, among other initiatives. News / Press Release by Jacob Mafume - PDP Spokesperson The chickens are coming home to roost and they are roosting very loudly for ZANU PF. The party has been thrown into a tumultuous raucous whose end is clearly going to drag Zimbabwe into the chaos scenario' which we in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) have long warned will soon be the sad reality in Zimbabwe.It is sad, however, that in the thick of the factional fights to succeed Robert Mugabe, who turns 92 this month, it is the ordinary people who are suffering.Government business is now at a standstill as even top civil servants are fighting in the corners of their political masters.So petty are the fights in ZANU PF that whole grown up men are busy squabbling over under wears, which went missing some three decades ago during the liberation war.Some of the ZANU PF politicians are questioning the paternity of their fellow comrades, which for all intents and purposes will not take the country anywhere except into the deep abyss.This is coming at a time when the country is reeling under a serious drought which is killing hundreds of cattle every week and with over 1.5 million citizens in need of urgent food aid.The clueless regime has declared a state of disaster on the drought but what is apparent is that ZANU PF is the biggest national disaster, a dozen times more disastrous than the current El Nino drought.In addition to the acute food shortages, hospitals have no drugs and recent statistics show that one in every five women dies while giving birth. Such shocking levels of maternal mortality are akin to a soft genocide and the blood drips fresh from Mugabe's hands.To add salt to injury, while the health sector is on its knees, the Health Services Board's (HSB) moribund leadership of one Ruth Kaseke takes the time to victimize and suspend doctors.All the while the Minister of Health and Child Care is burying his head in the sand after his shameful looting at PSMAS.It has not occurred to the selfish and clueless ZANU PF politicians that our doctors are the last string holding the almost broken down health system and it moves an inch it would be hell.Education which has been in perpetual crisis since the appointment of Lazarus Dokora as Minister in 2013 has entered a new crisis as he attempts to out-compete each other with Jonathan Moyo as to who must introduce the STEM learning programmes.It is sad that the future of thousands of children is being sacrificed on the altar of political convenience and cheap propaganda.To institute a viable STEM programming requires serious and deliberate long-term policy intervention not some fly by night campaign gimmick.It is the ultimate evil for ZANU PF to actually take the platform of education curricula as a battle ground for their toxic factional politics.It is now apparent that ZANU PF's factionalism and hate politics is the greatest threat to Zimbabwe and as the PDP we reiterate our call which is gaining currency; that Zimbabweans need to find each other and liquidate ZANU PF.We cannot end the current rot and chaos if we are balkanized in our small corners, we must come together and end the vicious circles of exclusion imposed by Mugabe and his cronies.In this regard, we in the PDP remain committed to pushing for a grand coalition of democrats that will put an end to the madness and vulgar which ZANU PF has reduced our nation to.We believe that collectively we must push for the National Transitional Authority (NTA) which will give Zimbabweans time to heal and recover from ZANU PF's long years of trauma and decay.The NTA will sanitise our politics and create a level electoral field, institute a programme of economic recovery, embark on the long overdue question of national healing, align the country's laws to the new Constitution, address the all important question of devolution of power and ensure that all those who committed crimes under ZANU PF rule are brought to book.Released by; News / Press Release by ZLHR 11 MONTHS ON-ITAI DZAMARA STILL DISAPPEAREDTUESDAY 09 February 2016 marks 11 months since Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy campaigner and freelance journalist was disappeared.Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) remains gravely concerned about the continued disappearance of Itai, who disappeared without a trace.Itai, a father of two children was abducted by some unidentified men from a barber-shop near his home in Glen Norah at around 11:00 hours on 9 March 2015 for yet to be established motives. The unmarked vehicle used during his abduction has been identified as a white Nissan Hardbody.It is saddening to note that while in March 2015, High Court Judge Justice David Mangota issued an order directing authorities to investigate, establish his whereabouts and update his family and lawyers on progress, this has not been fully complied with.ZLHR remains very concerned that probe reports submitted by the ZRP as ordered by the High Court in March 2015 show very little progress if at all.Those responsible for disappearing Itai have committed a serious crime under international law. It is pertinent to note that in Zimbabwe it is not only Itai who has been disappeared but also other citizens among them Paul Chizuze and Patrick Nabanyana have been missing for several years without being accounted for.Zimbabwe's new Constitution adopted in May 2013 contains some progressive provisions particularly section 53 that guarantees freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and section 51 on the right to human dignity.But it is regrettable, that citizens and human rights defenders continue to be subjected to flagrant violations of their fundamental rights by State and non-State actors. Abduction, arbitrary arrest, torture and detention of human rights defenders remain common.So traumatising is the painful reality that the government and all the powerful State security organs cannot account for the whereabouts of Itai, Paul and Patrick. The situation of these people is not only disheartening but also shocking as they remain unaccounted for several years and months after they were disappeared.Each case is not only a part of the global statistics on enforced disappearance but signifies a flagrant violation of the most basic rights to life and liberty, the right to a family, to a community, to a decent work and many more. From the testimonies of those who surfaced alive, after being subjected to involuntary abductions, enforced disappearance subjects people to torture, degrading and inhuman treatment. Not only does it instill excruciating pain and suffering to the immediate victims, it also causes pain and anxiety to the surviving families and relatives. Especially if the victims were breadwinners, the disappearance not only causes emotional and psychological anguish, but also economic dislocation to the surviving families.Perpetrators of abductions and enforced disappearances must understand that abduction and holding people incommunicado is an outdated, inhumane, and ultimately ineffective practice that destroys the lives of innocent people the victims, it also affects their relatives and friends.As an organisation committed to foster a culture of human rights in Zimbabwe, ZLHR therefore calls upon the government to;(a) Take all necessary and urgent measures to ascertain the whereabouts of Itai, Paul and Patrick among other disappeared and missing people;(b) Fully investigate the circumstances surrounding their abduction and afford them their own right to truth including the full reasons of their abduction and ensure that those responsible for their enforced disappearance are brought to account;(c) Ratify, domesticate and implement provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Protocol;(d) Stop enforced disappearances now! Employees at NebraskaLand National Bank in North Platte have pledged more than $13,000 in funds to various organizations through its My Fair Share program. On Friday morning, the recipient organizations of 2015s program were treated to a breakfast and presented checks. The employees of NebraskaLand nominate various organizations and they decide what percentage goes to each. Were really looking forward to the future and the dollars that will continue to be raised through this program, said Mike Jacobson, president and CEO of NebraskaLand National Bank. To go back to worthwhile organizations in the communities that we serve. For 2015, the organizations selected are Gift of Hope, Nebraska Childrens Home Society, Adopt-A-Backpack Program and Kearney Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program. All of us here at NebraskaLand National Bank are committed to upholding our pledge to make our communities better places to live and work, said Molly Harm, marketing officer at NebraskaLand. We applaud these organizations for the good work they are doing and look forward to supporting their efforts for many years to come. The program has donated $80,087 since its inception in 2004. Some of the organizations that have received funds from the program in the past are Creativity Unlimited Arts Council, North Platte Childrens Museum, Rape and Domestic Abuse Program and Bridge of Hope Advocacy Center. Sarah Louise Smith returned to her Heavenly home Feb. 7, 2016, at her home, surrounded by loved ones. Sarah recently celebrated her 72nd birthday with family and friends, showing how much they love her. Sarah was an example of humble strength for all who knew her. She loved deeply and her family was the highlight of her life. She was once quoted as saying, I love my kids, but the grandkids are so much fun! Sarah was born in Griswold, Iowa, and later moved with her parents and two siblings to Valley, where she attended Valley High School. In 1963, she married for the first time and started her family with three children. A daughter and two sons in tow, she zig-zagged her way across Nebraska, leaving her footprints wherever she lived. Some of her more exciting adventures include racing Powder Puff motor cross, placing in first or second in every race. She drove a school bus for six years in both Odell and Blue Hill schools districts. She also worked in home health care and spent 11 years working for the local co-op. In 1977, Sarah met Larry Smith while working at the Dalton Cafe and truck stop. They married soon after and from this union, her arms were filled once more with her youngest daughter. Maywood was the place they planted their roots. She had been a pillar in the community for more than 30 years, standing up for the needs of the community as a member of the town counsel and attending school board meetings, ensuring the needs of the children were met. She had a beautiful heart and welcomed people into her life without question. If you knew her, you loved her. Sarah was preceded in death by her husband, Larry Dee Smith; mother, Martha McGehee; and father, Riley (Buck) McGehee. She is survived by her sister, Sharon Fike, of Sun Valley, Nevada; children, Kathryn Miller, of Las Vegas, Arthur Allen (Shelly) Miller, of Manhattan, Kansas, Michael Miller, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Kimberly Smith Cuellar (Chad Conard), of Maywood; her forever daughter-in-law, Lisa Miller; eight grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Memorials are suggested to the Maywood Veterans of Foreign Wars, Village Market or the Maywood co-op. Online condolences may be shared at blasestrauser.com. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13, at First United Methodist Church in Curtis. Burial will follow at the Maywood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1-7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, at Blase-Wetzel-Strauser Memorial Chapel, Curtis, which is in charge of arrangements. GARY Everyone's seen the statistics and big losses steelmakers have suffered, but there's reason to feel positive about the Region's steel industry, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky told the Gary Chamber of Commerce on Monday. "Last year, 2015, we enjoyed one of the better legislative sessions we've had for steel and domestic manufacturing generally than we've had for some great period of time " Visclosky said. He said laws are now in place to help the International Trade Commission with their investigative processes, at a time when steel has three significant trade cases coming up. The U.S. government agency can now crack down on trading partners that violate standards and don't share information, Visclosky said. It can use economic data like historical precedents and market conditions to determine whether domestic steelmakers have been injured, which will lead to more timely tariffs. Under the current system, steelmakers typically prove economic injury after high levels of imports force them to idle mills and layoff workers. The United Steelworkers union calls the process backwards. Steel imports captured a record 29 percent of the market share in the United States last year, when more than 12,000 steelworkers were laid off nationwide. The global steel crisis led ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel to lose a combined $9.4 billion last year. Under pending legislation, the U.S. Customs Department would be able to initiate investigations into illegal dumping as it's happening at the ports, Visclosky said. There would also be a time limit, so the cases don't get drawn out. "Everyone in this room understands we have trading partners who will circumvent our laws," Visclosky said. Visclosky plans to lobby for tariffs against South Korea, China and other countries at upcoming trade case hearings. He and other members of the U.S. Congressional Steel Caucus also plan to urge Customs to more aggressively enforce trade laws. Northwest Indiana however must look at other ways to grow, Visclosky said. "Steel and manufacturing will continue to be a fight," he said. "Steel is so efficient. Twenty years ago, it was 10.1 hours of labor for a ton of steel. Today, it's 1.9 hours. It's not a job growth industry. We have to make transformation investments. We are past the tipping point of the decline in industry and jobs we have seen in Northwest Indiana." Lake County has lost 10 percent of its population since 1970, while the country has grown 52 percent during that time period. Median household income declined 19.9 percent in Lake County over that period of time. "We have to make transformational investments just as people like John Rockerfeller and J.P. Morgan made in this Region over 100 years ago," he said. Northwest Indiana is making progress, such as by expanding the runway at the Gary/Chicago International Airport, speeding up South Shore Line service and opening up more of the lakefront for public use. "No matter who you are or what your station in life is, you should be able to get to the largest freshwater body on Earth and not have to pay someone for it," Visclosky said. Gary also has been making progress, such as by razing blighted buildings, revamping Marquette Park, and expanding its bus service to serve seven other communities, he said. Indiana University finally freed up a few dollars for Gary to invest in the new Arts & Science building at Indiana University Northwest. "Gary's a steel city, a tough city," Visclosky said. "It's had some hard times. Nothing's going to be perfect tomorrow. But it's going to get better, except for bad weather during the winter." GARY, IN | When Lake County Police officer Mario Alaguetes Embassies of Christ Ministries does its part in giving back to the city of Gary and its neighboring regions. In their 23 years within the ministry, Senior Pastors Drs. Cedric and Joyce Oliver, have made providing opportunities and support, for Embassies Of Christ members and residents of the Northwest Indiana area, a priority. With their vision of R.E.A.P. , Restoration, Evangelism, Advancing Spiritual Maturity, and Purpose Fulfillment, in mind, Drs. Cedric and Joyce Oliver hope to restore the city, one soul at a time. Our mission, we believe, is that we are called and planted for restoration in the city of Gary, to help restore the city, and to restore the desolate areas. Also, not just through church activities but outside of preaching and teaching, and that is why we have several programs that are for the city, said the Senior Pastors. One of the programs that Embassies of Christ Ministries offers is a Transitional Housing Program. This program allows families that are in financial crisis to stay in one of our homes for up to two years, without paying rent or utilities," said Dr. Cedric Oliver. "Another purpose it serves is that the renovated homes, some of which had been vacant for years prior to renovation, help restore the neighborhoods. The ultimate goal for the housing program is to sell the people who went through the program a home, that they can afford, after they complete the program." "We want those people, that if they earn 8 to 10 dollars an hour, to be able to have their own homes, states Dr. Cedric Oliver. Currently the church obtains ten homes, eight which are presently renovated. Throughout the years, since 2002, the homes have serviced 19 families. Ambassador Senior Residence in Merrillville, Indiana is a residence operated by Embassies of Christ Ministries. It serves as an alternative option to traditional nursing homes for people who may eventually consider living in a nursing home. The residence exemplifies a home-like environment that traditional nursing homes may not offer. Another program offered by Embassies of Christ Ministries is their Food 4 U program. The church collaborates with the Jelly Pancake House of Merrillville, Indiana every 3rd Sunday of every month. The pancake house provides breakfast for residents of housing projects, senior citizen highrises, and other residents of the city with the help and assistance of church members. The families are then encouraged to attend service and receive a food basket from the church prior to their departure from service. We have a lot of volunteers, not just from the members of the church but also from members of the community as well. We have people from the high schools and also people from different organizations that come to help and serve, says Dr. Joyce Oliver. Pastor Cedric Oliver states that the biggest Food 4 U thus far is the one held around Thanksgiving, which has an attendance of about 1,200 people, and there's an average of 300 to 500 people served every 3rd Sunday of each month. In addition to the Transitional Housing and Food 4 U programs, Embassies of Christ Ministries offers other programs that not only strengthen the spiritual body but also the physical body of its members and residents of the community. Embassies of Christ Ministries has four services every week, two of which are on Sundays at 9am and 11:30am. They also have five core Foundation Classes for adults and Children's Church and Nursery classes for children. The church also provides: Aerobics, Zumba classes, Women's Volleyball, Fitness Boot Camp, and Open Gym for different age groups, all of which are open and free to the community. One thing I like about the diversity at Embassies of Christ is that, although the church is located in Gary, the church is open to everyone," said Mario Alaguete, Embassies of Christ member. "We are very diverse and there are people of all races. Also, the different heritages and cultures are embraced and celebrated by the members and the Pastors." We are big on diversity at our church; we have a goal of being a diverse ministry," said Pastor Oliver. "We have had a Hispanic Diversity Day and coming up we have an All Nations Day at the end of this month. We want people of all races and all cultures to feel comfortable coming and worshipping with us." Embassies of Christ Ministries recently hosted its 7th annual Market City Fair which had a turnout of an estimated 25,000 people during a five day period. The carnival was held in the Plaza and Market City which are both owned by Embassies of Christ Ministries. Senior Pastor Dr. Cedric Oliver explains that the whole purpose of the carnival is restoration, to bring people back to the city of Gary, and to provide a nice, safe, and family-friendly event in Gary. We had the Gospel Fest during the carnival, with about 24 acts that performed, and fireworks, stated Pastors Cedric and Joyce Oliver. In addition to the Market City Fair, Market City isn't simply a flea market but it's a place where businesses are nurtured. One of the most inspiring and successful stories is that of Big Daddy's Barbeque. Embassies of Christ Ministries have owned the Market City Flea Market for over six years. The Flea Market features a barbershop, a food court, and a children's area called Fun Zone. Embassies of Christ Ministries has also offered a gateway to employment through a C.N.A training program. Our church recently started a C.N.A training program because a lot of our members that come are unemployed. We have found that about 40% of the people that joined were unemployed. We started our first class in May and had 23 graduates, who have gone from unemployed to employed in a matter of 6 weeks, said Dr. Joyce Oliver. We believe that the heart of God is not just inside the walls of Embassies of Christ, explains Pastor Cedric Oliver. The Ministry also has a Christian School called Ambassador Christian Academy, that serves children in preschool through 10th grade. Our goal, first and foremost, is to have an impact for the kingdom of God in this city, in this region. Our vision has always been to see Gary change from all the negative things that we experience and see now, to a be place that is considered an oasis that was once a desert, states Dr. Cedric Oliver. In the future, we hope to see multiple campuses for Embassies of Christ Ministries, and to have our school reach to the 12th grade, in order to have a full high school. Also, in addition to the C.N.A training we would like to add barber and trades training in order to provide variety to those seeking employment and more homes for senior citizens, explains Pastor Joyce Oliver. There's so much that Embassies of Christ Ministries does for the community. This is somewhere where people can come and develop and learn how to be good people. If the people don't have the tools, the church teach them rather than just simply giving them things, explains Mario Alaguete. I love the people of the church, and they love me, and we embrace each other. This is my family, exclaims Mario Alaguete. To learn more about the Senior Pastors of Embassies of Christ Ministries, Drs. Cedric and Joyce Oliver, service times, or other ministries that the church offers, you may visit their website at: www.embassiesofchrist.org or stop by Embassies of Christ Ministries at 4285 Cleveland Street, Gary, Indiana, 46408. The Region's casinos began the year with across-the-board gains, collectively taking in $79.2 million in gambling revenue in January, up 4.2 percent from the same month a year ago. A favorable calendar and good weather helped. "January was very mild from a weather perspective, and had the benefit of five full weekends," said Matt Schuffert, senior vice president and general manager of Ameristar Casino in East Chicago. "This calendar is about as good as you can have it," Horseshoe Casino Senior Vice President and General Manager Dan Nita said. And, "usually we plan on having one weekend that's a washout" because of bad weather, and that didn't happen this January, Nita said. Ameristar was up more than 6 percent in gambling win for the month, to $18.7 million. It has had year-over-year gains 14 out of the last 16 months, Schuffert noted. "We've seen large growth in our table games business," he said. Schuffert also said low gas prices help, by boosting consumers' discretionary income. The Region's largest casino, Hammond's Horseshoe, recorded a 2.9 percent gain in gambling win to $35.1 million, about $1 million more than January 2015. And, "our February has gotten off to a good start," Nita said. Casino admissions were up across the Region, to 830,231 this January from 823,374 in January 2015. That gain was carried by Blue Chip and Horseshoe. Others saw slight drops, though gaming revenue still rose. "We're getting more revenue per visit from our guests," Schuffert noted. That's been typical recently, Horseshoe's Nita said, as some slot machine players visit "strip mall casinos" in Illinois, where video gambling machines are legal in businesses other than traditional casinos. Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City showed the highest percentage revenue gain in January, jumping 7.1 percent to $12.6 million. The two Majestic Star boats combined for $12.8 million in gaming revenue, up 2.4 percent from a year ago. Statewide, Indiana's 13 casinos had $179.5 million in gambling win, up 1.76 percent from last year's $176.4 million. HAMMOND A former Lake County Jail officer is accused of taking $400 from a woman to provide a cellphone to an alleged Latin Kings member being held at the county lockup. David Victor, 23, of Merrillville, met Ellisa Salazar, 22, of Griffith, on Feb. 2 in the parking lot at Meijer in Merrillville and accepted the money and a white Motorola cellphone he planned to deliver to inmate Julian R. Rebeles, 24, of Hammond, U.S. District Court records say. Authorities followed Victor's Chevrolet Spark to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, where they conducted a traffic stop. Victor told authorities he had just called 911 because he was followed to the parking lot from Meijer, a complaint says. Victor consented to a search of the vehicle, and authorities found an envelope labeled "Ellisa" containing $400 under the driver's seat and the cellphone in Victor's lunchbox on the passenger seat, according to the complaint. Victor later admitted Rebeles had passed him several notes while he was at work in the jail offering him money in exchange for a cellphone, the complaint says. Rebeles is accused of offering Victor $1,000 to pick up a cellphone from Rebeles' girlfriend. Victor told authorities he contacted Salazar and made arrangements to meet her at Meijer. Victor has been terminated from employment at the Lake County Jail, sheriff's spokesman Mark Back said. Rebeles is among 17 reputed gang members and associates named in a December indictment alleging they were involved in a racketeering and narcotics conspiracy that involved murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, kidnapping, sex trafficking and drug dealing in Hammond, East Chicago and Gary from 2003 to 2015. An officer assigned to the FBI's Gang Response Investigative Team began monitoring Rebeles' calls from the jail after authorities received information that Rebeles had taken on a leadership role for the Latin Kings while in jail and was discussing "silencing" witnesses and cooperating defendants in the case, court records say. This isn't the first time Rebeles has been accused of a gang-related crime while incarcerated. The December indictment alleged Rebeles signed a letter in August directing an unidentified Latin Kings member to kill another unidentified member of the gang. The letter said the second gang member has "a wide mouth," according to the indictment. "I want him hit a knife will be sent to you by my guy on trustee this weekend handle or get handled," Rebeles allegedly wrote. Rebeles possessed Latin Kings literature in the jail in spring 2015, the indictment says. He's also accused of breaking into a Hammond residence in October 2012 with three other people, according to court records. One of them pistol-whipped a person in the residence, and the group took about an ounce of cocaine, the indictment says. INDIANAPOLIS Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann confirmed Tuesday she is not joining Republican Gov. Mike Pence in his re-election bid, and will resign her office this month in anticipation of becoming Ivy Tech Community College president. "We agreed that this might be an even better seat on the bus for me, as leading Ivy Tech could impact workforce development and the economic future of our state in a very significant way," Ellspermann said. Pence immediately announced his intention to nominate Eric Holcomb to finish the 10 months remaining in Ellspermann's term, as well as be Pence's running mate in his November rematch against Democrat John Gregg. Holcomb is a former top aide to U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., former Gov. Mitch Daniels, and former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Blairsville, but never has held elected office. He ended his campaign for Coats' Senate seat Monday after Pence offered him the lieutenant governor post. "Eric Holcomb is ready day one to assume the duties of lieutenant governor," Pence said. "He knows the executive branch, he knows the legislative branch here in Indiana and in our nation's capital, and most importantly to me, he knows and loves the state of Indiana." Holcomb said he "could not be more excited" to partner with Pence at the Statehouse and on the campaign trail. "This man does not sleep," Holcomb said pointing at Pence. "He has Hoosiers on his mind and on his heart every minute of the day." Holcomb said he is of one mind with Pence on issues facing the state, including the idea that any civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers come with strong exceptions for religious liberty. Both House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, proclaimed Holcomb a sound choice to succeed Ellspermann. "Eric is a highly competent and effective leader. He is a man of character, and I have a great amount of respect for him and his ability to get things done," Long said. "I'm confident he will serve Hoosiers well." Indiana's lieutenant governor, in addition to presiding over the Senate and being first in line to succeed Pence should he resign, die or be incapacitated, also leads the state agencies for agriculture, rural affairs, defense development, housing, entrepreneurship and tourism. Ellspermann, who holds a doctorate in industrial engineering, has made no secret of her interest in taking over leadership of Ivy Tech, a 32-campus institution that educates some 173,000 students, following the retirement of President Thomas Snyder. She acknowledged the schedule for Ivy Tech trustees to appoint a new president sometime between April and July is not perfect since the Legislature is required to adjourn in March. As a result, she plans to resign in coming weeks so the Republican-controlled General Assembly can vote on Holcomb's nomination without having to hold a $10,000 per day special session. Ellspermann is the third consecutive female lieutenant governor since 2003. She will be the first lieutenant governor to resign since Republican Richard James quit in 1948 to become vice president of Butler University in Indianapolis. MUNSTER Police responded Tuesday morning to a preschool at the Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana after someone phoned in a bomb threat there, officials said. Lt. Ed Strbjak, spokesman for the Munster Police Department, said employees at K'Ton Ton Preschool, 585 Progress Ave., called police immediately after receiving the threat. He declined to elaborate on what the caller said, saying the incident remains under investigation. K'Ton Ton staff and police evacuated the building. Officers searched the building and found no evidence of explosives, Strbjak said. Michael Steinberg, executive director of Jewish Federation of Northwest Indiana, declined comment Tuesday morning. News / Regional by Staff reporter A NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe employee almost plunged into the Zambezi River after he fell off the Victoria Falls Bridge.Tafi Shava was painting the bridge's railings when he slipped. He suffered a broken spine after landing on some steel poles on the bridge's arc - breaking a 111 metre plunge which would have almost certainly killed him.Shava, whose age could not be readily established but is believed to be in his 40's, was rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo in a critical condition.Witnesses said Shava was rescued by his colleagues on the lower ramp of the bridge.NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati said they were investigating what could have caused the accident as safety measures "have always been in place to prevent accidents.""I can confirm that we received a report about one of our employees who got injured while on duty at the Victoria Falls Bridge. We're investigating the cause of the accident because we've never had such an incident since we started working on the bridge as there are safety harness belts and nets which should be in place whenever a team is working," he saidMasikati said Shava was an experienced worker who had spent more than 10 years with the NRZ.The bridge is jointly maintained by NRZ and its railway counterparts in Zambia.Shava was working with about six other workers when he allegedly tried to scale up the bridge, but lost his grip and dipped.Added Masikati: "There are safety nets and harness belts and we're actually shocked about what happened because these things are meant to prevent such incidents. None of our staff on the ground has given full details and investigations are being carried out."In all our workshops, safety comes first and we really have to investigate this."The Chronicle visited the accident scene yesterday and there were no workers on site. EAST CHICAGO | The City Council declined to expel jailed Councilman Robert Battle despite pleas from the family of the man he is accused of killing. East Chicago City Council members said can't say whether they have the legal authority to stop Battle's pay or declare his seat vacant. However, Battle's 3rd District seat was empty Monday night. He cannot attend meetings in the foreseeable future since he is behind bars in the Porter County Jail awaiting trial on federal drug and homicide charges. Instead, they will ask the Indiana attorney general's office and the State Board of Accounts for "guidance." They also complained state legislators need to make the law clearer. Battle, 42, has been held without bond since Nov. 17 on federal drug conspiracy and possession charges alleging he fatally shot Reimundo Camarillo Jr., 31, on Oct. 12 in East Chicago after Camarillo allegedly confronted Battle about cooperating with authorities investigating alleged drug activity. "I heard everything, but I can't understand," said the victim's father, Reimundo Camrillo Sr. "He's using that money to pay his attorney. I pay taxes. ... He was my only son. " Maria Camarillo, Reimundo's wife, said she was there representing the victim and their three children. "He was caught with drugs and a lot of money," she said of Battle. "I feel you guys can influence it and not just by a letter." They and other family members stood in silent protest before the meeting outside City Hall and later brought their signs and a photograph of Reimundo Camarrillo Jr. into the council room. Council members met behind closed doors an hour before the regular meeting. Their attorney, Stephen Bower, explain the situation during the public session. Bowers said state law does permit a council to expel members unable to perform their official duties, but doesn't define what those duties are. He said it usually is interpreted as a council member physically or mentally incapacitated. Bowers said there is no law specifically giving the council power to remove a member charged with a felony and unable to make bond, unless they are convicted. Camarrillo's father said the family had to confront council members. "My son was no angel, but a bullet in the back?" he said. Police say they stopped Battle on Interstate 94 in Porter County and found cocaine, marijuana and $100,700 in cash. They released Battle to live with his girlfriend and keep his gun after he agreed to participate in a controlled transaction of money between him and Reimundo Camarillo Jr. Battle's defense attorney said the shooting victim was a high-ranking Two Six gang member who was suspicious of Battle after reading about Battle's arrest in newspaper stories and confronted Battle in the 4200 block of Euclid Avenue in East Chicago. Battle claims to have shot Camarillo in self-defense, but federal authorities claim Battle fired three shots, hitting Camarillo in the back. GARY | Volunteers plan to roll up their sleeves next week to help transition the former Tolleston Middle School into the new home for the John Will Anderson Club of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana. The current club, at East Fifth Avenue and Broadway, has grown to exceed its capacity, forcing the need for the new location at 2762 W. 18th Ave. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana completed the purchase of the former Tolleston School in December, ending two years of negotiations between the Gary Community School Corp. and the organization. "I cannot believe the amount of community support we've received for this project," said Alison Martin, vice president of development and marketing for Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana. "A lot of that is due to Bill Masterson because he's such an enthusiastic advocate for it." Times Media Co. Publisher Bill Masterson Jr. is a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana board of directors and serves as chairman of the Tolleston Capital Campaign Committee. Eddie Melton, communications and community relations manager for NIPSCO, organized the cleanup event. Melton said organizers have been overwhelmed by the support they've received for the work needed to prepare the building for demolition and rebuilding. Masterson agreed. "I am extremely appreciative of NIPSCO and Eddie Melton for leading this cleanup charge along with the other volunteer groups that have raised their hands," he said. "In fact, we have had so many offers for help we are breaking it up into different segments to give everyone an opportunity to contribute and participate." To date, volunteers from Embassies of Christ Kingdom Ministries in Gary, Urban League of Northwest Indiana Young Professionals, Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council and the city of Gary have joined NIPSCO and The Times in committing volunteers to assist with the cleanup Thursday through Saturday. "The efforts that NIPSCO and The Times have done for this project are phenomenal," Martin said. The group hopes to be in the new building by Nov. 1. Martin said future opportunities for volunteers will be announced as they become available. Indiana State Police said a woman who believed a man was posing as a police officer Sunday near Crown Point actually was a police officer. The 46-year-old woman told Indiana State Police officers she was driving south on Interstate 65 around 5:50 p.m. Sunday just north of the 109th Street Crown Point exit when a black SUV pulled her over using red and blue lights on the dashboard. She said a man wearing a dark battle dress uniform with no identifying patches and possibly a bulletproof vest under his shirt approached her driver's side window and told her she was driving too fast. The woman said she handed the man her driver's license and he went back to his vehicle, sat for about 30 seconds then drove off with her driver's license. On Monday, Indiana State Police issued an alert about the incident, encouraging drivers to be alert and report any suspicious activity. On Tuesday, Indiana State Police said the man in question was actually a law enforcement officer wearing his uniform with patches identifying his police agency, a badge and a gun belt. He was driving an unmarked police Ford Explorer with emergency lights on the visors and grill activated at the time of the stop, police said. The officer did not issue her a ticket and told Indiana State Police he returned the woman's driver's license. Police urged anyone who believes they may have been stopped by someone who is not a police officer to ask for identification, call 911 and provide the location, roll down the window just enough to communicate with the person and stop in a well-lit, highly populated area. CROWN POINT Three Lake County Democratic candidates headed for the exits Monday. Vicky Lang, of Crown Point, decamped from the Lake County coroner's race. Jesus Luis Ortiz Jr. and Kimberly A. Poland, both of East Chicago, departed from the 3rd District Lake County Board of Commissioner's race. Late additions include: Willie "Faithful and True" Brown as a challenger to U.S. Rep. Pete J. Visclosky in the May 3 Democratic primary and Rosa Maria "Rose" Rodriguez for the Indiana General Assembly's 2nd District House seat. The spring ballot will be set after a final test Friday's deadline for the public to challenge a candidate's qualification to run for office. The county elections board, which is set to meet Feb. 16, could remove any candidate successfully challenged on grounds of political affiliation, residency or other election rules. If unchallenged, 16 Democrats and Republicans are unchallenged and already have won a spot as their party's candidate in the fall general election. They include: Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican and his Democratic challenger John R. Gregg; Baron P. Hill, Democratic candidate for Indiana U. S. Senate and John Meyer, Republican candidate for 1st District U. S. Representative. Also: 2nd District state Sen. Lonnie M. Randolph, a Democrat; 1st District state Rep. Linda Lawson, a Democrat; 11th District state Rep. Michael Aylesworth, a Republican and his Democratic challenger James Metro; 12th District state Rep. William I. "Bill" Fine, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Mara Candelaria Reardon; 14th District state Rep. Vernon G. Smith, a Democrat; 15th state Rep. Hal Slager, a Republican; 19th state Rep. Julie Olthoff, a Republican and her Democratic challenger Shelli Vandenburgh. Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, a Democrat, is unopposed for re-election to his 2nd District seat. Mark J. Leyva is the only Republican candidate for the 3rd District commissioner seat. For a complete list of candidates, see the Indiana secretary of state's website for state offices at http://www.in.gov/sos/files/May_3_2016_Primary_Election_Candidates-feb5.pdf for state offices and the Lake County Board of Elections and Voter Registration's website for local offices at: https://www.lakecountyin.org/portal/media-type/html/group/voters/page/default.psml/js_pane/P-13b9cba7c46-107f8 Charlotte Read is the February senior of the month at the Dunelnd YMCA -- and she stays very active. Read has lived her life with a passion for commerce, history and the preservation of natural resources. Her varied work experience included time with Commerce Clearing House, public administration service, as assistant editor of the Oceanology magazine, as a seasonal park ranger at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. She also was a member of Save the Dunes Council from 1974 until 2004. Lobbying for the Dunes has necessitated trips to Washington, D.C. She is married to Herb and they have five children and nine grandchildren. Traveling to see their children and grandchildren occupies a substantial amount of her time. Besides working to provide for herself and her family, Read has an extensive history as a community volunteer. For four years, Read served as a board member of Save the Dunes. She has also served as president and secretary for the Izaak Walton League of America. With the Izaak Walton League, Indiana Division, she served as director at large and has chaired the Air Quality Committee. She was a former member and served on the Project Committee for the Indiana Heritage Trust Program. Besides her family duties and her volunteer activities to support the Dunes community, Read has a passion for reading, especially mysteries. Maintaining and enlarging her collection of copper tea kettles is a special interest for her. But one of her highest priorities is her involvement in the Y Seniors Program. PORTAGE Tibor Klopfer told eighth-graders Monday that his mother turned right and his grandmother and aunt turned left when they got off a bus at Auschwitz on July 7, 1944. His aunt, age 9, and grandmother perished in the gas chambers that same day. His mother, Manci, lived, but only after being forced into labor camps and suffering on a forced march in February 1945 to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. His mother was liberated by British troops two months later. Klopfer, a retired attorney from Indianapolis, also is a volunteer speaker with the Holocaust Education Center of Indiana. He traveled Monday to Portage to talk to some 400 Willowcreek Middle School students who are reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" and studying World War II. His mother, he told them, arrived at Bergen-Belsen about the same time Frank died there in a gas chamber. Both Klopfer's parents were Hungarian Jews. Both were interned in concentration camps during the end of WWII and both survived. Many of his family members died, including aunts and uncles, cousins and two half-sisters he didn't know. He immigrated with his parents and other family members in 1956 to Indianapolis just after the Hungarian revolution. Klopfer tells his parents' story, he said, because he doesn't want anyone to forget. Nor does he want anyone to repeat the tragedy of the Holocaust. Klopfer said there are still genocides today, in Syria and Darfur. They happen, he said, because good people who can make a difference stay silent. "Even in Europe, the lessons of the Holocaust are forgotten," Klopfer said. He said they begin when a government sanctions "hatred, bullying and dehumanization" of a class of people. Laws are adopted to discriminate against those people. "The Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers. It began with words," he said, encouraging the youngsters not to close their eyes to wrong. "Silence never helps a victim. There is complicity through silence. All of us have a personal responsibility not to allow it to happen again," Klopfer said. Signed Thursday at a New Zealand casino, the TPP is a treaty between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. Together with the TTIP between the U.S. and the European Union countries and TiSA between the U.S. and 49 other nations, the trio represent what consumer advocate Ralph Nader calls a "corporate coup d'etat." They have been negotiated in secrecy for the last eight years by 600 corporate lawyers and our State Department. President Obama exerted his political muscle to obtain fast-track authority that limits debate and forces Congress to vote up or down on the treaties without amendments. It's benignly called a trade deal, yet only six of the TPP's 30 chapters deal with trade. "The other two dozen chapters amount to a devilish 'partnership' for corporate protectionism. They create sweeping new 'rights' and escape hatches to protect multinational corporations from accountability to our governments ... and to us," according to syndicated columnist Jim Hightower. As treaties, the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause will anoint the trio "the supreme law of the land," superior to all state law and all prior federal law. "By the Constitution of the United States, a treaty and a statute are placed on the same footing, and if the two are inconsistent, the one last in date will control..." (Whitney v. Robertson, U.S. Supreme Court, 1888) The TPP now confronts us 5,544 pages of undecipherable legalese. Obama, the Republican Congress and just enough Democrats have joined with the huge transnational corporations supporting the TPP. What could possibly go wrong with it? President Clinton predicted NAFTA would result in 1 million new jobs. Instead, we lost 700,000. He predicted normalizing trade with China would gain jobs, and instead we have lost in excess of 3 million. Obama predicted 70,000 new jobs would result from the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Instead, we lost 40,000. Trade unions, environmental organizations and Internet freedom groups all normally aligned with the Democratic Party vigorously oppose the TPP. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called them thinly disguised tools to increase corporate profits by poisoning workers, polluting the environment and hiding information from consumers. Obama, however, says, "We have an opportunity to set the most progressive trade agreement in our nation's history." Ralph Nader's response: "One must seriously question what President Obama and his corporate allies believe to be the definition of 'progressive' when it comes to this grandiose statement. History shows the very opposite of progress when it comes to these democratic sovereignty-shredding and job-exporting, corporate-driven trade treaties unless progress is referring to fulfilling the deepest wishes of runaway global corporations. "Congress must stand up for American jobs, clean air and water and a healthy climate and environment by rejecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership," according to Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. Obamacare, 11,000 pages of legalese, was unintelligible enough that Obama himself did not understand that many people would not be able to keep their health insurance policies. The TPP likewise makes general statements that environmental and labor standards will be upheld and then proceeds to offer pages of unintelligible mumbo jumbo that paves the way for legal action challenging these generalities. Citizens, labor groups, environmental groups, etc. will have no standing to bring legal action within the TPP, TTIP and TiSA. Only the corporations are given the right to adjudicate claims, and this will be done before secret tribunals of corporate lawyers. What could possibly go wrong, indeed? Call your congressman and senators. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. A spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says the public will not be able to attend when President Barack Obama delivers a speech in the Illinois House chamber on Wednesday. Spokesman Steve Brown tells The State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/1nYuXVW) the only people allowed inside the chamber will be elected officials, people with credentials and invited guests. The White House says Obama's speech will address the Illinois General Assembly about can be done to "build a better politics." The speech will be broadcast live on local television stations and whitehouse.gov. White House officials said Monday that after the speech Obama will visit with a crowd of supporters, stakeholders, and volunteers gathered to watch his remarks at a local viewing location. The location was not specified. ___ Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com INDIANAPOLIS A Hoosier who recently traveled to Haiti is the state's first human infected with the Zika virus, state health officials announced Tuesday. The illness was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was not severe enough to require hospitalization. The person was not pregnant. "I'm thankful for the work of the Indiana State Department of Health as they have tracked the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean in the event it would arrive here in Indiana," Governor Mike Pence said in a statement issued Tuesday. The Associated Press said the person was from Grant County, between Fort Wayne and Muncie. "Hoosiers can be assured that the Department of Health is working diligently to study the latest information on the Zika virus and will be proactively keeping Hoosiers informed in the weeks and months ahead." State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams said the health department is anticipating more cases of travel-related Zika virus and is working with local health officials and healthcare providers to increase preparedness. "The risk of contracting Zika virus here in Indiana remains low, but we know that many residents are concerned," Adams said. "We urge anyone visiting affected areas to take steps to avoid mosquito bites." An epidemic of Zika virus is plaguing Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. The virus is spread to humans primarily through bites from an infected Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito. The CDC has also reported isolated cases spread through unprotected sexual contact with an infected person. Most people who are infected with Zika virus will not develop symptoms, but those who do are most likely to experience mild illness including fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (pink eye), state health officials said. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika virus. State health officials advised patients who think they might have Zika virus infection to contact their health care providers and to avoid mosquito exposure for the first week of their illnesses to reduce the likelihood of transmission through mosquito bites. The CDC has advised pregnant women to avoid traveling to areas where Zika virus has been detected because of concern about birth defects. It also recommends that men who have a pregnant partner and reside in or have traveled to an area of active Zika virus transmission abstain from unprotected sexual activity for the duration of the pregnancy. Opinion / Columnist THE turn of the century saw the emergence of a new-fangled and red-hot political opposition. The new party, with a strong labour backing, could be described earnestly as a total package; it had it all: from trade unionists, student leaders, distinguished academics, workers, the middle class to the ordinary common in the street.Identifying with the suffering masses and the downtrodden at a time when everything begun to crumble like a deck of cards in the land between Zambezi and Limpopo, the party was magnetic drawing hundreds of thousands in record time.The party, in its infancy, went on to wrestle 57 of the 120 parliamentary seats in the 2000 legislatorial election giving Zanu-PF its biggest scare in history. It was a huge feat for a party hardly a year old. The young party had done what no other opposition movement had ever done in the history of post-independence opposition politics. The united MDC kicked Zanu-PF in the shins, awakening it from a deep slumber. Its antics of 2000 is historic.It can be safely said that the turn of the millennium saw real battle lines being drawn on the Zimbabwean political topography. Here was a real fight; a fight that put Zanu-PF to the defence; a fight that has somehow kept Zanu-PF on its toes in the last decade and half.The MDC gave people a basis for comparison. It was unheard of that an opposition party could scoop more than a million votes in a single election against a then default election winner; Zanu-PF. Edgar Tekere's Zimbabwe United Movement (ZUM) emerged in the late 80s, made noise and fizzled out. Ndabaningi Sithole's Zanu (Ndonga) also made a mark on the political landscape successfully defending a single seat for years but could not last the distance. Margaret Dongo's Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD) also came, made noise and plunged into oblivion.But the year 1999 brought something that had nearly everyone standing up in scrutiny. Here was something that upped the hopes of long-suffering Zimbabweans. The emergence of the MDC and its sterling performance in the 2000 parliamentary election was like a long awaited bus that would take people to the Promised Land. The Zimbabwean dollar had started on a free-fall then; prices of basic commodities had started a march towards the north, food student riots were fast becoming the order of the day.Perhaps, it is for this reason that some critics have maintained that the MDC was an opportunist party; but I digress. With the increasingly volatile national situation, the MDC became a formidable alternative to better governance. To say that the MDC was a threat to Zanu-PF rule would be to put it mildly. The MDC, at its inception, had become some sort of government-in-waiting. It had the country eating from its palm and it is sad that many unfortunate deaths of activists also resulted from the momentous rise of the party.Now fast forward to 15 years later and one can only look in bafflementat what happened to the impetus over the years. Could it be the acrimonious splits of 2005 and 2014 that took the steam off the former vibrant party? The silence, by its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, since the 2013 presidential election, especially the better part of 2015, has not helped matters either. The once glowing embers of the main opposition are slowly turning grey and soon might become cold ash if no meaningful trajectory is found towards revamping the party.It is strange that at a time when Zanu-PF has been ripped apart by ugly internecine fights, the opposition is itself at its lethargic best. The economic malaise is there for all to see, dying industries, a collapsing health system and a general lack of answers to serious national questions yet the opposition seems to be snoring on the wheel. Shouldn't the MDC be profiting from the chaos to launch an offensive?We continue to witness an opposition seemingly indifferent to the national cause. Could it be political fatigue? Could it be the drying up of funds? Honestly, the opposition's silence is deafening. The opposition has been its worst enemy resulting from its perpetual bickering that has led to fragmentation. The general populace, it would appear, have lost the hope and frenzy that characterized the turn of the century. People have resorted, instead, to focusing on survival under the unrelenting economic climate. Was he right who said, Zimbabweans should look beyond Mugabe and Tsvangirai?'That vending has become the default trade for millions of Zimbabweans speaks volumes about the situation facing this southern African nation. The Zimbabwean crisis has reached a tipping point and, in my view, if ever a time existed for an alternative government to show its relevance, it certainly is now.The opposition has unfortunately been reduced to the role of commenting and shouting on the side-lines. Shouldn't this be the time to be mapping a solid way forward; articulating a clear vision of what the country needs to do to untangle itself from the economic quagmire? Shouldn't this be the time to be capitalising on the palpable holes within the current establishment? A few more months of this ruinous silence and we might as well write an epitaph on the opposition movement. In an exclusive interview with NY1, Mayor Bill de Blasio today strongly defended a new Police Department training course designed to combat officers' prejudices. Responding to criticism from the police sergeants' union to the implicit bias program, the mayor explained the rationale behind the training program, which is set to go into effect this spring. "I think implicit bias trainings an enlightened approach," de Blasio told NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis. "I dont know any of one us that doesnt grapple with the biases we grew up with, or that are all through our culture. I mean, thats what the Black Lives Matter movement has been about." The mayor also strongly supported members of the City Council who voted themselves a pay raise last week and discussed his continued opposition to the horse-carriage industry despite the collapse of legislation last week that would have curtailed the industry. "It's something I committed to in my election campaign very clearly. And I said why. And I believe its the right thing to do. So everyone knows what I believe. Im not going to change my beliefs. Im going to stick to them," de Blasio said. See the full interview on "Inside City Hall" at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Mr. Adamson said the best example of a company regaining consumer trust was of Tylenol in 1982 after seven people died after taking medicine that had been tampered with. Johnson & Johnson, the maker of the painkiller, moved quickly to recall the product and establish ties with the police, the Food and Drug Administration and other authorities so that the company would have accurate information on the investigations. Tylenols market share crashed, but Johnson & Johnson introduced new tamper-proof packaging and heavily promoted the brand. Today, Tylenol is a best-selling over-the-counter analgesic. Johnson & Johnson bent over backwards and made meaningful changes to the way the product was sold, Mr. Adamson said. To rebuild trust, actions speak louder than words. Consumers are clearly still concerned about eating at Chipotle. Stores in places like Seattle, New York City and Boston have been far less busy since the outbreaks became big news, driving Chipotles sales in stores open at least a year down by 14.6 percent in the last quarter of last year. Patrick Quade, the founder of Iwaspoisoned.com, a website that allows people to report when they get sick after eating something, said he had detected a potential problem in Chipotles Simi Valley, Calif., store long before news of the norovirus issue was reported because an unusually high number of people had been reporting illnesses after eating there. Now, some 35 state, county and city health departments have signed up for services from the site, which are free. When asked about the illnesses on Iwaspoisoned.com, a Chipotle spokesman, Chris Arnold, said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that roughly one in six Americans get some form of food-borne illness every year. Absent a medical diagnosis and epidemiological analysis, he added, its very difficult to actually determine what caused someone to become ill. Image Credit... Paul J. Richards/Agence France-Presse Getty Images Chipotle has a loyal customer base, and many company tweets during the town hall meeting were in response to consumers who had asked when the stores would reopen on Monday. For some at the top of Wall Street, there is only one job considered better: a top job in Washington. Every presidential election cycle, financiers jockey for position among the candidates to become their biggest fund-raisers and, more important, close advisers. The conventional view is that these investment bankers and money managers enter politics to influence policy. But thats only part of it. For Wall Streets elite bundlers and consiglieres, the endgame is a senior role in a White House administration the most prestigious of which is secretary of the Treasury. Speculation has long been rampant that a small group of Wall Street executives, including Hamilton E. James of Blackstone Group, Laurence D. Fink of BlackRock and Roger C. Altman of Evercore, would love the top Treasury post if Hillary Clinton won the election. Warren E. Buffett once suggested that Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase should be Treasury secretary. The proposed rules signaled the first time that the aviation sector had been given emissions standards, just as cars and commercial trucks now have. The new standards would require a 4 percent reduction in fuel consumption of new aircraft starting in 2028 compared with 2015 deliveries. They also set new limits for airplanes in production that are delivered after 2023. Depending on the size of the aircraft, actual reductions would be from zero to 11 percent, with a bigger emphasis on larger commercial airplanes, according to analysts with the International Council on Clean Transportation. Before they become binding, the new standards must be formally adopted by the civil aviation council of 36 member states, in June this year, and then endorsed by the councils assembly in October. They would then need to be enacted by each member state in its national legislation or regulation, although countries have the option to adopt even stricter restrictions on emissions. The Obama administration last year issued a legal finding that aviation emissions are a threat to human health because of their contribution to global warming. That finding initiated a requirement under the Clean Air Act that the government release new regulations to curb airplane emissions. Because of the global nature of the industry, however, the administration said at the time it would wait for the new rules before drafting its own standard. The standards should cut carbon emissions more than 650 million metric tons between 2020 and 2040, the equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year, the White House said. For some environmentalists, though, that was not enough. The standard as proposed is not going to make a dent in the emissions growth curve of airlines, and that is really deplorable, said Vera Pardee, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity. Its just unfair for an industry as large as the airline industry not to be called to account on their contribution to climate change. Artur Fischer, a German inventor who registered more than 1,100 patents, including the first synchronized camera flash and an anchor that millions of do-it-yourselfers use to secure screws into walls, died on Jan. 27 at his home in Waldachtal, in southwestern Germany. He was 96. His death was announced by his company, the Fischer Group. Mr. Fischer, a locksmith by training and an obsessive tinkerer, came up with his first patented invention in 1947, when he wanted to take pictures of his newborn daughter. At the time, you could only use a powder flash for interior shots, which you had to ignite with a cord, he told the magazine Der Spiegel in 2015. It was dangerous, and the picture quality was poor because the subject usually blinked at the flash. He came up with a synchronized mechanism that triggered the flash when the shutter was released. The device was bought by Agfa, a large camera company, and Mr. Fischer was on his way, coming up with hundreds of solutions to nagging technical problems over the next seven decades. VOLGOGRAD, Russia At a sprawling pipe factory in this gritty industrial town, an exhibit of Surrealist art, featuring reproductions of Mondrian, Malevich and Magritte, lines the walls. One of the companys biggest shareholders, a collector of Surrealist works, says the art will stretch engineers minds and unlock workers creativity. Commentary at the exhibit gets to an existential debate with Shakespearean flair: Tube or Not Tube? It is a fitting question for the factory owner, the Tube Metal Company, the biggest supplier of pipes to oil and natural gas producers. Like many players in the oil patch, the Tube Metal Company, or TMK for short, is being hurt by weak energy prices. With oil dipping below $29 a barrel, TMK has been pulling back in the United States and elsewhere. But TMK contends it has an edge in a relatively untapped market, Iran, a country with warm political relations with Moscow that has tens of billions of dollars in newly unfrozen, shah-era money to spend on oil infrastructure. During the Soviet era, TMK was the dominant provider of pipes to Iran. LOS ANGELES This year, we all know theres an elephant in the room, said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as she officially opened the annual Oscar nominees luncheon on Monday. I have asked the elephant to leave, Ms. Isaacs added. And with that, the academys diversity controversy which began last month when its actors branch nominated only white performers for the second year in a row, and continued when Ms. Isaacs and her fellow governors announced steps to broaden the groups membership and choices was taken off the table for the afternoon. Theres your story, Charlie Kaufman, co-director of Anomalisa, said with a laugh. Minutes before, Mr. Kaufman, at Table 19, had been puzzling over the problem of reporting news from an event that, by design, generates so little. Ms. Isaacss message, firmly and briefly delivered, was simply that the Oscar rituals including its awards ceremony, set for broadcast on Feb. 28 will proceed as planned, no matter the debate about their validity or racial balance. In the waning moments before todays New Hampshire primary, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio who has bet his entire presidential aspirations on a strong showing in the Granite State sounded like a man in the swoon of a spiritual conversion. Ive found great clarity here in New Hampshire, he said into a hand-held microphone, the emotion swelling in his briny voice as he paced slowly across the cafeteria floor of Concord High School, surrounded by a hushed audience of 500. He spoke of voters he had met, their acute interrogatories and the stories they had shared with him. He felt their loneliness, their waywardness as the world spun frantically out of their control. He said that he could relate that after considering their anxieties, Im going to try to slow my own life down. To these hundreds of strangers, Kasich confided, I finally figured it out in New Hampshire. This was Kasichs 102nd town-hall-style meeting in the state. Among the Republican suitors, he led the field in personal appearances here. But Kasich was not the only candidate counting on a breakthrough performance. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey boasted of having spent the most days in the state 73 before the primary while Gov. Jeb Bushs campaign pointed out that it had personally contacted more voters than any other Republican contender. Having each performed dismally in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier (Bush finished sixth, Kasich eighth and Christie 10th), the three governors are seeking a reset in a state that is more ideologically broad-minded than Iowa but also more inclined to play hard-to-get. Those who have managed to win the wary hearts of New Hampshire voters, as John McCain did in 2000, later speak of the experience in unabashedly romantic terms. The problem is that New Hampshire, like a romantic relationship, can be awfully hard to figure out. Andrew Smith of the University of New Hampshires Survey Center, possibly the states best pollster, predicted that the pre-primary polls will be even more flawed than those conducted just before the Iowa caucuses, which were uniformly wrong. Historically, the New Hampshire polls are less accurate than the Iowa polls because of the high turnout and high percentage of those who make up their minds very late, Smith told me. This time around, our polls show that the day before the election, only 45 percent of Republicans have decided who theyre going to vote for. MADISON, Conn. A charter bus that was driving through a snowstorm to reach a casino flipped onto its side on Monday, leaving more than 30 people injured and closing the northbound side of Interstate 95 in Connecticut. The bus, which was on its way from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Conn., crashed around 12:30 p.m. in Madison, east of New Haven. Kelly Grant, a trooper with the Connecticut State Police, said the bus was carrying about 70 people. Passengers were taken to several hospitals, with the most seriously injured going to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Mark DAntonio, a Yale hospital spokesman, said the hospital had received eight patients, far fewer than the 30 they had originally been told to expect. One person suffered several broken bones, and the others were less seriously injured with cuts and bruises, he said. Opinion / Columnist The former ZANU PF Mashonaland West chairperson Temba Mliswa expresses admiration and envy for the leadership qualities of President Robert Mugabe. His attempts at slighting President Mugabe's economic policies are a question of sour grapes.Mliswa is not sincere as the man was fired from the ruling party. He is saying that President Robert Mugabe should have mercy on long suffering Zimbabweans and should hand over power to any of his deputies. Surely speaking Mliswa was the one who campaigned for President Robert Mugabe in Mashonaland West when he was still in ZANU PF.Mlisaw's efforts to blame President Mugabe's decision making on economic matters is both importune and unfortunate and leads to the conclusion that the leader of the pressure group, Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (Yard) is a lightweight on the issues of economic importance.It seems that he believes that Zimbabwe's economic woes, past and present should be solely laid at the door of one man and his party. He is in a desperate mode to raise his political profile. Mliswa fools no one except his small group of youths who are characterized by confusion and profusion.The man is either a very stupid man or else there is a method in his madness as he attempts to spruce up his image to gain access to the highest office on this land. Mliswa and his YARD on their own are insignificant coterie of individuals politically; it is who they represent that is a threat; that is the agents of regime change.The truth is that this man suffers from an extreme case of premature self-congratulation and above all he is power hungry. He is simply unfit to rule let alone to govern a country with such a deep and complex history as Zimbabwe. Instead Mliswa should proffer how we should improve the economy.In President Robert Mugabe we have a visionary leader who has proved to be a statesman in the world and has embarked on sound policies which has improved the image of Zimbabweans throughout the world. Therefore Mliswa and his brood of vipers should go to hell. HARTFORD A Connecticut man who fired a rifle at a mosque next to his home after the Paris terrorist attacks last year is expected to plead guilty to a federal hate crime. A lawyer for the man, Ted Hakey Jr., said his client would plead guilty on Thursday in a federal court in Hartford to damaging religious property. The authorities said Mr. Hakey shot at Baitul Aman Mosque in Meriden, a city about halfway between Harford and New Haven, shortly after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. The mosque was empty, and no one was hurt when four bullets struck it. Mr. Hakey is free on $400,000 bail. His lawyers disputed arguments by the prosecutors that Mr. Hakey was too dangerous to be released on bail. A sentencing date has not been set. Mr. Hakey could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Responding to a lawsuit, the Department of Defense last week released 198 photos that added little to our understanding of the shameful period after the Sept. 11 attacks during which American troops systematically abused detainees. If the military has its way, the period will be largely forgotten. The Pentagon continues to fight the release of roughly 1,800 photos gathered as part of criminal investigations into allegations of prisoner mistreatment by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those images are believed to provide grisly evidence of prisoner abuse and are far more graphic than those just released. They belong in the public domain. Americas recent wartime history, which includes ugly chapters, should be fully recorded and reckoned with. Since 2004, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit seeking records of detainee abuse, the Pentagon has argued that dissemination of the images could put American troops at risk. That is not a frivolous concern. But it cannot be used indefinitely to shield senior government officials from accountability or to keep Americans in the dark about the scope and nature of barbaric acts committed in their name. The leaked photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad in 2004 set off international outrage, which prompted the Bush administration to characterize it as an isolated lapse. In fact, it soon became clear that those images, which depicted naked Iraqi detainees being taunted by dogs and military guards, were part of a broader pattern. The latest photos include close-up shots of body parts of detainees bearing welts and bruises. They believe the Constitution is clear about what guns are for, and hunting and target shooting are the least of it. Guns dont threaten safety. Self-defense is a right, and law and order is a citizens duty, especially when cops and ambulances are farther away than rapists and home invaders. Yes, gun massacres happen, and suicides, and accidents, but the evil and sickness that drive people to homicide will find their outlet without guns. The solution to accidents is training. Our back-and-forth was a game of hypotheticals. No serve went unreturned. What about the danger to children with guns in the house? Well, what about the danger from a burglar? New Hampshire is heroin country, and robberies and violence are serious threats. Yes, but crime is so low in your state! Hah, point proved: New Hampshire is safe because of guns. The men could not have been friendlier, or more serious and sincere, or less moved by my case for gun restrictions. Laws that strike me as common sense they see as ominous. At some point in the second hour the tone shifted in my view from prudence toward paranoia. The unanswerable hypotheticals this time involved government tyranny. Registering gun owners, the men said, simply makes it easier to round us up. Think of Japanese-Americans in 1942. Mr. Obama, Hillary Clinton, San Bernardino, Newtown, ISIS to me these are abstract, empty reasons to buy a gun. To my new friends, and so many of their friends, they are concrete and immediate reasons. Gun clubs across the state are bursting with new members. Mr. Boilards women-only class is filled every weekend. The class is called Badass Divas. The students, in quilted down vests and pink hoodies, did not strike me as particularly badass, but most seemed less intimidated by handguns than I was. Some said their fathers, husbands or partners had urged them to go. Others said they wanted to take responsibility for protecting themselves and their families. With the Darwinian efficiency that characterizes our modern electoral system, voters representing less than 1 percent of the American electorate may by Wednesday have effectively spoiled the chances of a half-dozen people who hoped theyd be the next American president. The financing machine that drives Americas political system rarely produces sleepers later in the year. If candidates cannot strike a winning chord in the early contests, Iowa and New Hampshire, the money often dries up. New Hampshire voters are notorious last-minute deciders, giving the final hours of Mondays campaigning special urgency. Having ceded first place to Donald Trump, the Republicans are scrambling for second and also for enough votes to maintain their plausibility going forward. On the Democratic side, the main interest is seeing by how much Hillary Clinton can control the damage of an expected Bernie Sanders victory. Mr. Trump leads the Republican field. The contenders for second place include Marco Rubio, bruised in Saturday nights debate when he seemed to go on automatic pilot, thrice babbling the same anti-Obama talking point in answer to a charge by Chris Christie, the chosen bully of the stop-Rubio crowd. The initiative was introduced at the Washington outpost of Hillsdale College of Michigan, under a large painting of the signing of the Constitution. It aims to spur Congress to re-establish its power of the purse, end the series of cliffs used as leverage to force bills through as deadlines loom, reassert congressional power over federal regulation and limit executive discretion. The agenda calls for changing budget laws to give Congress more direct control over spending, eliminating the risk of default that has led to years of fiscal brinkmanship, bringing regulatory agencies under stricter congressional review and more clearly spelling out how much latitude executive agencies have in interpreting federal laws. Success on any one of these would be a triumph. But those behind the Article I Project might have a better chance than the Republican governors now clamoring for a new constitutional convention to restore states rights. The only federal constitutional convention that has occurred so far is the original one depicted in that oil painting hanging at the Hillsdale College building. Those involved with the new undertaking, which is being referred to in shorthand as A1P, say they cannot dawdle if they are to have any hope of reasserting the supremacy that the founders intended when they made the creation of Congress the first element of the Constitution. There is no way we can win the political battle if we have one bill at the end of the year and have one up-or-down vote, said Mr. Flake, a longtime advocate of congressional reform, referring to last years huge spending and tax bill. Programs like this stay in the budget when they become jobs programs, and then senior members of Congress try to protect them, even if they have no redeeming value, said David Hobson, a former Republican congressman from Ohio who said he tried and failed to kill the MOX program while he was in the House. Where are all the budget hawks on this? Mr. Wilson countered that the administration had used discrepancies in data to overestimate costs for finishing the project. Proponents of the MOX plant also cited a recent study, paid for by the main contractor working on the plant, that concludes that the costs of the program are much lower than the estimates in recent studies sponsored by the Energy Department. The Obama administration has wanted to get rid of the program for years. In a budget request three years ago, it said the idea of making reactor fuel may be unaffordable. But Congress has repeatedly restored funding. The plant is being built to comply with an agreement with Russia in 2000, when both countries said they would eliminate 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium from their nuclear arsenals. Construction started during the George W. Bush administration, but has been plagued by long delays, cost overruns and little interest from commercial nuclear plants in buying the fuel that the plant was designed to produce. Even proponents of the program have long said the Energy Department badly managed it. This is one of the most important nonproliferation programs ever, but when it comes to implementing this agreement, its been a nightmare, Mr. Graham said. Giving up on the plant means the administration will abandon plans to turn the weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors, and will instead switch to a process that dilutes the plutonium into nuclear waste. A federal judge has again ruled against Texas in its efforts to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Judge David Godbey of District Court in Austin said Monday that state Republican leaders attempts to block families fleeing the war-torn country needed to be handled through the political process, not the courtroom. It was the second time that Judge Godbey had ruled against Texas since it sued the Obama administration over the resettlement. The lawsuit was filed after nearly 30 states vowed to ban Syrian refugees following the Paris attacks in November. The judge said that it would be foolish to deny that Syrian refugees posed some danger but that Texas had given no evidence of a substantial risk. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada would withdraw its six fighter jets from the American-led military coalition against the Islamic State on Feb. 22. But an aerial refueling tanker and two long-range surveillance aircraft will remain part of the military mission. While airstrikes can help achieve short-term military objectives, he told reporters, they do not, on their own, achieve long-term stability. HONG KONG The police and protesters clashed in Hong Kong early on Tuesday, leaving several people injured and a district on lockdown. Police officers used batons and pepper spray to disperse protesters. The police also fired at least two warning shots, the local broadcaster RTHK reported. On Tuesday morning, officers and protesters continued to face off in the Mong Kok district, a dense, busy shopping and residential area. A fire burned in a street cordoned off by the police. People gathered in the district late Monday to visit food stalls on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a holiday tradition. The confrontations began after officers tried to shut down unlicensed food vendors. A police spokeswoman said that 48 police officers had been hurt, many hit by glass bottles and other objects. Forty-seven men and seven women, ranging in age from 17 to 70, were arrested on charges that included assaulting the police, resisting arrest and other related crimes. Increasingly alarmed, five Iranian-American advocacy groups on Monday released the text of a letter sent on Friday to Secretary of State John Kerry imploring him to redouble your efforts to secure Mr. Namazis release. Siamak Namazi has committed no crime, the letter stated. He was simply doing what he loved: building bridges between Iran and the Western world. A spokesman for the State Departments Office of Iranian Affairs, Sam Werberg, said in a statement that he could not comment because of privacy concerns. But he said, The U.S. government does everything and will continue to do everything it can on behalf of its citizens detained around the world who request our assistance. There had been widespread anticipation when news of the prisoner deal was first leaked by Iranian news services on Jan. 16 that Mr. Namazi would be among those freed. Some accounts asserted that Mr. Namazi was on the list, along with Amir Hekmati, a Marine veteran; Saeed Abedini, a pastor; and Jason Rezaian, The Washington Posts Tehran correspondent. Then Fars News, a service linked to the Revolutionary Guards, said Mr. Namazis reported inclusion was false, instead listing another Iranian-American, identified as Nosratollah Khosravi and an alternate name, Nasrollah Khosravi-Roodsari, who had never been reported as imprisoned and whose background remains mysterious. Mr. Namazis attributes as a dual citizen may seem ideal for reconciliation between Iran and the United States. But friends and acquaintances say his background also worries the hard-liners who control Irans intelligence and security agencies, sensitive to what they view as influential Iranians poisoned by Western values. There are a lot of Siamaks out there in the Iranian diaspora, said Farhad Alavi, a Washington lawyer who is a friend of Mr. Namazis. I think arresting him was an effort to send a message. Opinion / Columnist Last week President Mugabe threatened UN Secretary General that Africa will walk out en mass if the AU's demands for two permanent seats on the UN Security Council complete with veto powers are not met."Mr Ban Ki Moon, just tell them (West) for the last time that there should be real equality in the Security Council. We cannot just come to the General Assembly to make empty and hollow speeches and go back home and nobody takes care of all the concerns we have expressed. No!" dictated President Mugabe.The most of world's leading media gave President Mugabe's speech fair coverage his "empty and hollow speeches", his words not mine, have always provided a comical moment for many listeners. If at all Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon had at all intended to even mention President Mugabe demand in his report, events on the Korea peninsular a few days later must have forced him to delete any reference to the demand.North Korean has just launch a spacecraft with 12 000 km reach carry a pay load of 800kg against UN Security Council resolution banning such activities. The same craft can be used to deliver a nuclear or hydrogen bomb to Japan and South Korea beyond to main land USA.A last month ago North Korea tested its hydrogen bomb, again, in complete defiance of the UN resolution.Secretary Ban Ki Moon rushed back to New York to attend an emergency UN Security Council meet-ing on Sunday to discuss the latest developments. Secretary Moon is a South Korean national and he is only too familiar with the never ending antics of North Korea, the neighbour from hell, ever since the split of Korea in 1945.The presence of China, North Korea's friend and backer, on the UN Security Council, one of the five permanent members with a veto, has made it impossible for the world body to stop North Korea doing as she damn well pleased.North Korea does not have many other friends around the world but it would be correct to say it counts Zimbabwe as one of its friends. Many of Mugabe's freedom fighters received their military training in North Korea the most well know unit being the Fifth Brigade, Gukurahundi, which was responsible for most of the serious human rights violations and murders against mostly Joshua Nkomo's PF Zapu supporters. The crashing of PF Zapu cleared the way for Mugabe to launch his de facto one-man dictatorship, a copy-cat of North Korea.The thought of a Robert Mugabe type tyrant being grant a permanent seat complete with a veto must have occurred in Secretary Ban Ki Moon and it must have sent a cold chill down his spine! As UN Secretary General he must have known many frustrating days as North Korea continued building on its nuclear bomb capabilities and threaten South Korea and many other nations with total annihilation. The UN could not do anything to stop this rogue because China vetoed all decisive action pro-posed by the Security Council. How much worse the situation would be if rogue States like North Korea had even more friends in the Security Council with vetoes! CAIRO Egypts interior minister on Monday rejected allegations that an Italian student whose brutalized body was found on the outskirts of Cairo last week had been in the custody of the authorities before his death, calling such talk unacceptable. The comments by the minister, Maj. Gen. Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar, were the strongest public denial yet by an Egyptian official of persistent suggestions that security officers might have played a role in the torture and death of the student, Giulio Regeni, 28, after he vanished on Jan. 25. He has never been arrested, General Abdel-Ghaffar said at a news conference. We are dealing with a crime. The timing of Mr. Regenis disappearance and the vicious manner of his killing had immediately cast suspicion on Egypts security services. Cairo had been blanketed by officers in the weeks leading up to Jan. 25, the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, in an effort by the government to ensure that no protests occurred. CHICHESTER, England The British artist, poet and critic David Jones was something of a prodigy. In 1909, at age 14, he won a place at Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts in London, where his first teacher held his work up as an example to older students, saying: Look at that, you see, Jones leaves everything out except the magic. His art, especially his watercolors, continued to win him acclaim as he grew older. In 1936, the critic Kenneth Clark, then the director of the National Gallery in London, wrote that he was in many ways the most gifted of all the young British painters. The next year, Joness first significant foray into verse, the long poem In Parenthesis, inspired by his experiences as an infantryman in World War I, was described by T.S. Eliot as a work of genius. Yet his choice of genres worked against his long-term popularity. He wrote few short poems suitable for anthologies. And most of his painted works are watercolors, which are too delicate for permanent display, and their subtle colors make them difficult to reproduce. Mike Silver, the musician known as CFCF, was shaken awake by his girlfriend in December to receive surprising news: He had been nominated for a Grammy. Specifically, he was up for best remixed recording, for his version of Max Richters violin composition Berlin by Overnight, performed by Daniel Hope on his album Spheres. Basically everyone knew before I did, and I was flabbergasted, Mr. Silver said. His surprise is understandable. Mr. Silver, a Canadian musician who has fewer than 4,000 Twitter followers, isnt a household name. He records subdued, idiosyncratic electronic music that eludes easy description. The other nominees in the category had all put their spin on towering pop and dance tracks, from Bruno Marss Uptown Funk to Galantiss Runaway (You & I). In contrast, Berlin by Overnight is restrained and atmospheric, with one muted kick drum threaded through a swirl of chopped-up violin and balmy electric piano chords. Since it was first awarded in 1998, best remixed recording has tracked consistently with popular dance music. The first winner was the Chicago house pioneer Frankie Knuckles. In 2003, it was the D.J. Roger Sanchez, for his remix of No Doubts Hella Good. Justice won in 2009 for its remix of MGMTs single Electric Feel, and last year Tiesto took the trophy for his remix of John Legends ballad All of Me. The award reflects the cultural moment, and as dance music has shifted from dark clubs to massive outdoor festivals, the type of nominee has changed. So why honor a tricky, undanceable remix of a violin composition now? In the cold open of Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, her new weekly show Mondays on TBS, Ms. Bee addressed the elephant in the man cave. The sketch had her taking questions at a news conference, all of which had to do with the challenges of hosting the show as a woman. (How can I watch your show as a man? one person asked.) Her secret, she said, was hard work, a great team, maybe just a little bit of magic and the scene cut to Ms. Bee at the center of a horror-movie occult ritual: Were all witches! If the setup was that people were obsessed with Ms. Bee being the lone female host in late-night (or, at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, almost-late-night) TV, the punch line was that she was glad to embrace the role and to be fearsome in it. There was no uptalking or shy self-deprecation; she swaggered forward in the title sequence, to the grind of Boys Wanna Be Her by Peaches. It was go time. The 2016 presidential campaign has yet to produce a distinctive comedy voice, but Ms. Bee made a bold early case that it could be hers. She took the stage standing no desk for her and moved into a caustic, basic-cable profanity-laced set on the presidential campaigns. The most important thing about the first episode of a political comedy show is to set a tone, and Ms. Bees was fiery and fierce the acid delivery, cut with a touch of Canadian syrup, she honed as a correspondent on The Daily Show. Jhumpa Lahiri is one of literatures linguistic nomads. Born in London to Indian immigrants, her first language was Bengali. She learned English while young (she was raised in Rhode Island) and in it has written four authoritative works of fiction, including Interpreter of Maladies (1999), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. In Other Words is Ms. Lahiris first nonfiction book. Its a slim memoir that examines her long sense of lexical displacement. Bravely, it does so from an outpost of further exile. She has written it in a third and only recently mastered language, Italian, and has had it rendered back into English by Ann Goldstein, the gifted translator of Elena Ferrante and Primo Levi. For English-language readers, this book has taken the long way home. Learning to read and write in Italian has clearly been an invigorating experience for Ms. Lahiri; she speaks of it as one speaks of an intense sexual affair. When youre in love, you want to live forever, she writes. You want the emotion, the excitement you feel to last. Reading in Italian arouses a similar longing in me. I dont want to die, because my death would mean the end of my discovery of the language. Because every day there will be a new word to learn. Thus true love can represent eternity. In Other Words is, sadly, a less ecstatic experience for you and me. Its a soft, repetitive, self-dramatic and self-hobbled book, packed with watercolor observations like: There is pain in every joy. In every violent passion a dark side. That someone gets a lot out of writing something does not necessarily mean anyone else will get a similar amount from reading that thing. If only literature worked that way. LONDON James E. Staley, the new Barclays chief executive, has turned to another veteran of JPMorgan Chase, his former employer, to fill out the banks executive ranks. Barclays said on Tuesday that Paul H. Compton, who most recently served as JPMorgans chief administrative officer, would join Barclays in May as chief operating officer. In his new role, Mr. Compton would become a member of the executive committee at Barclays and report directly to Mr. Staley. Mr. Compton is the second JPMorgan veteran to join the British bank in the last two weeks. Barclays announced last month that C. S. Venkatakrishnan, the head of operational risk at JPMorgan, would join the bank as its chief risk officer in May. For nearly 20 years, Mr. Compton has served in a variety of senior operating roles, Mr. Staley said in a news release. His huge, directly relevant experience will prove invaluable as we continue our strategic transformation. LONDON With a referendum looming on whether Britain will leave the European Union, the countrys voters seem sharply divided on whether to stay or go. But for the big banks that dominate the City, as Londons financial industry is known, there is little disagreement: They dont want to risk going it alone. London is a major financial gateway, the biggest and busiest in Europe and rivaling Wall Street as a hub of international trading in stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities. In the extreme, banking executives worry about a painful economic and financial fallout from a British exit known, in the political shorthand, as a Brexit. Even without a major shock, it could force global banks like HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to reassess their European operations, a logistical challenge that would affect the most basic transactions. London is a global center; its also a European center one is contingent on the other, said Alan Houmann, managing director of European government affairs for Citigroup. Financial institutions come into London from third countries, like the U.S. and from the rest of the E.U., so this creates this huge ecosystem at which London sits at the center. In a coda to one of the most notable music copyright lawsuits in years, the Warner Music Group has agreed to pay $14 million to settle claims over Happy Birthday to You, after a judge ruled last year that the companys long-claimed copyright to the famous song was invalid. Warner Music, through its publishing subsidiary Warner/Chappell, agreed after mediation to pay the settlement to a class of thousands of people and entities who had paid licensing fees to use the song since 1949, according to filings in federal court on Monday. The terms of the settlement, which are subject to approval by the judge in the case, George H. King of United States District Court in Los Angeles, call for the judge to declare Happy Birthday part of the public domain. The settlement would also grant $4.6 million in fees to the lawyers for the plaintiffs, a group of independent artists and filmmakers who filed separate suits in 2013 that were later combined. Headliner Salvation Burger April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, who started the Salvation brand with tacos, now welcome burgers and hot dogs into the tent. I love burgers and I take pride in cooking them, but I always wanted to grind my own meat and make all the other stuff, Ms. Bloomfield said as she layered two flattened patties with house-made processed cheese that is based mostly on English Cheddar. Theres also a steak burger seared over wood, a vegetable burger that oozes beet juice and a homemade hot dog. The beef, raised upstate, is butchered in house. The restaurant is spacious and handsome, with an open kitchen, curtained booths, waiter service and a collection of bovine tchotchkes. Milkshakes, spiked or not, and creamy pies ramp up the calorie count: (Opens Wednesday): 230 East 51st Street, 646-277-2900, salvationburger.com. Opening Freud Expect modern Austrian fare, which the chef, Eduard Frauneder, has made his specialty. His new bistro serves a fully loaded onion tart with mountain cheese and gravy, Wiener schnitzel, dark rye spaetzle with Cheddar and cauliflower, grilled skirt steak with celeriac mille-feuille, and rutabaga with Jonah crab, lentils and mushrooms. Like his East Village places, the Third Man and Edi & the Wolf, the restaurant evokes Freuds Vienna with Thonet chairs, marble-topped tables, vintage wallpaper and Art Deco sconces. (Wednesday): 506 La Guardia Place (Bleecker Street), 212-777-0327, freudnyc.com. Gentilly New Orleans is the inspiration for Andre Neyrey, the chief executive of Blackwood Hospitality and a native of that citys Gentilly neighborhood. The restaurant will feature classics like grilled oysters, crawfish and corn beignets and trout amandine along with contemporary blackened foie gras. The drinks list includes five Sazerac cocktails. (Saturday): 64 Carmine Street (Bedford Street), 646-912-9655, gentillynyc.com. La Sirena A staircase leads from Ninth Avenue to the second-floor plaza, paved in black-and-white mosaic, at the Maritime Hotel, where Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich are opening their latest collaboration. A 38-foot stretch of bar in the middle is flanked by spacious glass-enclosed dining rooms, with the potential for outdoor seating. Josh Laurano is the executive chef, and Michael Laiskonis heads the pastry department. The restaurant will start with dinners, and a menu showcasing some old-time red-sauce dishes like beef braciola with broccoli rabe. Breakfast and lunch will be added soon. (Thursday): 88 Ninth Avenue (16th Street), 212-977-6096, lasirena-nyc.com. A wedge of light burns in the night on one of Williamsburgs less picturesque intersections, just below the dark rumble of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Down the block is an old-school Brooklyn-Italian dining room serving linguine, veal parm and clams casino. All around, theres hipster bait: fried chicken, pedigreed pizza, cans of Narragansett, tacos from a truck in a bars backyard. Behind the windows on this triangular lot, the Llama Inn is something different. There are skewered beef hearts under a red mash of salsa that rattles with the heat of rocoto peppers. Bites of goat neck, thickly seared and braised until tender, are dark under a glaze that gets its mouthwatering tang from chicha, a beer brewed from Andean corn. Together with a fresh cilantro sauce, it makes the goat so compulsively good that we were all clamoring for the last forkful. Chilly and firm pieces of fluke ceviche, starting to go opaque in the acid of a smoky dashi, are wonderful to eat with soft bits of fried sweet plantain and crisp chips of green plantain. Opinion / Columnist Man rapes 2 year old step daughter, by Masvingo Correspondance_: 02.07.2015 New Zimbabwe MASVINGO: A 33 year old man from Chiredzi has appeared before a Masvingo magistrate accused of raping his 2 year old step daughter. John Chisasa was not asked to plead when he appeared before a regional magistrate Collet Ncube facing rape charges. He was remanded in custody. Prosecutor Sophia Busvumani told the court that on 7 November last year, the mother left the infant with Chisasa while she went to a village borehole to fetch water. On her way to the borehole, she remembered that she had forgotten a towel and returned home where she found her daughter crying uncontrollably. As she wept, the minor kept touching her private parts with her hands. The woman asked her husband what had happened to the child but Chisasa professed ignorance. However, the mother checked the infant and noticed the little girl had sperms on her thighs and private parts. The following day, the mother took the infant to Chiredzi general hospital after the two year old started producing a bad smell from her private parts. Doctors confirmed that the baby had been raped. A police report was made leading to the arrest of Chisasa. HIV+ man rapes niece; by Staff reporter; 08 July 2015 : New Zimbabwe A KWEKWE man has been slapped with a 45-year jail term after he raped and infected his eight-year-old niece with HIV. The 46-year-old-man, of Yellow Snake Honey Mine in Kwekwe, had pleaded not guilty to raping the girl on three occasions when he appeared before Gokwe-Kwekwe regional magistrate, Amos Mbobo. He was convicted after a full trial and sentenced to 15 years for each count. Mbobo suspended 10 years on condition of good behaviour. In passing sentence, Mbobo said the man deserved a stiff penalty considering that the child looked up to him for protection as a guardian. Prosecuting, Robert Ndlala said the man raped his niece on three different occasions and deliberately infected her with HIV. Ndlala told the court that the man was diagnosed with HIV in 2013 and was staying with the complainant while she was going to school. He said sometime in December last year on a date unknown to the prosecutor, the man sneaked into the complainant's bedroom and raped her. The court heard that the man used the same method to rape the complainant on two different occasions. Ndlala said the girl told her aunt, who is the man's wife, that her husband was sexually abusing her. The aunt, however, did not take any action and tried to conceal the heinous act. Hidden in plain sight: Child sexual abuse in Zimbabwe | The Herald February 4, 2015 by Richard Nyamanhindi Child sexual abuse is on the rise in Zimbabwe. With law enforcement authorities reporting that more than 100 girls are sexually abused every day more than at any other time in the history of the country it is likely that everyone will encounter children who have been sexually abused in their day-to-day activities. What should you do if you see or hear of a child who has been sexually abused? How can ordinary Zimbabweans play a part in bringing child sexual abuse to an end? It is important for every Zimbabwean to recognise and confront child sexual abuse. There are both moral and practical reasons to take a stand. Child sexual abuse is internationally recognised as a crime against children and laws against child sexual abuse vary by country, based on the local definition of who is a child and what constitutes child sexual abuse. Despite concerted effort by key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the Department of Social Services and non-governmental organizations, cases of child sexual abuse are on the increase. Helping children escape sexual abuse is part of what we owe our children. It is unthinkable that a teacher or a neighbour would observe the symptoms of a pupil being abused and do nothing about it. Child sexual abuse involves the same imperative to act. Communities should learn the warning signs of child sexual abuse and the actions they can take when they see it, because homes are among the most likely spots for child sexual abuse. Among the poorest communities, the vulnerability to child sexual abuse, and its prevalence, are usually much higher. Government especially through the Department of Social Services often has very little presence or is sometimes thinly represented as to offer real value to local people in these areas. Communities may be the only mechanism to help affected children and households to take action against child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is typically hidden in plain sight. Sexually abused children are often too afraid to talk and their abusers are often close by. But there are red flags to watch for: any signs of fear, or people saying that things are going fine when it is obvious that children especially girls do not play as other children and are always withdrawn for daily normal activities. Another red flag is increased dropout rates for girls in schools. Children who are sexually abused usually do not perform well in school. Other signs include distraction or distance at odd times; writes, draws, plays or dreams of sexual or frightening images; develops new or unusual fear of certain people or places; refuses to talk about a secret shared with an adult or older child; talks about a new older friend; suddenly has money, toys or other gifts without reason and exhibits adult-like sexual behaviors, language and knowledge. So what steps can communities take when they discover child sexual abuse? First, one needs to watch out for the safety of the child or children they encounter. Children can be beaten into submission or threatened with death if the abuser discovers they are interacting with outsiders. Second, do not try to deal with child sexual abuse single-handed. People are tempted to just "get the child out." That is a very human, natural response. But child sexual abuse survivors need somewhere to go that is safe, where they will receive basic services, where they will have space to recover and where they can be reintegrated into society. Find out who is doing what about child sexual abuse in the country and in your local area. Last but not least, communities need to find out about the country's laws and what assistance is supposed to be available for a child who has been sexually abused. Beyond helping individuals, communities can help by getting the issue into the open. Short-term awareness raising and one-time meetings may not make much of a difference. But sometimes with a little re-engineering, communities can provide a real pathway to liberation for those affected by child sexual abuse as well as some long-term protection to reduce the risk that child sexual abuse will reoccur. The author is a Communications Officer at UNICEF Zimbabwe, For comments and contributions, email: harare@unicef.org In our effort to empower our girl-children in one way or the other, our comments should be practical and not insult the already insulted girl-children who would have endured rape and serious sex abuse at the hands of persons they trusted most! Can we still afford to make a statement of upholding virginity in a country that is witnessing horrendous cases of toddlers, children, young girls, and young women raped at the rate of every 90 minutes in 24 hours tact? How does MP Tshinga Dube then categorise those girls who have lost their virginity for one reason or the other? What name are we then going to give them because certainly they are no longer virgins? MP Tshinga I am not joking below are few cases please read for your self!---------MP Tshinga Dube, these are just three examples of numerous, thousands of cases of rape in Zimbabwe. These cases are real and we live to read them in the social media almost every day. I wish to know the term you are going to use to categorise such girls who have been raped by people who are in most cases relatives, the guardians; fathers, step-fathers, uncles, sibares, grand-fathers, nephews, brothers, the hands of trust!Did you ask Guta Ramwari how these girls will be tested as proof that they are virgins? Are all going to be frog-matched to Mpilo Hospital for virginity tests? Who is going to violet their privacy; which doctor will instruct them to open their crossed legs for virgin tests? Is the Church Guta Ramwari going to authorize that? Who gives the Church the mandate to infringe on a child's most private part, a vagina?MP Tshinga, there are many other reasons apart from rape, when girls actually lose their virginity. Playing sports, riding a bicycle or horses, some diseases can cause a girl of a young woman to lose her virginity. Losing virginity does not always mean "aha you slept with a man!"Is it the physical presence of a hymen that the girl-child has to preserve to be called a virgin? What about those girls whose hymen got broken without their knowledge whatsoever? What do you call them? What categories are they then classified if they are found to be without hymen during virgin test? Are they then less-value human -being than virgins with their physical hymen intact?MP Tshinga, as a politician I will never dwell on the virginity of girls only without dwelling on the virginity of boys in equal measure. If it was a fatherly advice, I think it is, I would, at the same breath, send the same message to boys to remain virgins too until they got married to their first wives. To me that makes sense to advocate morals to both genders. It is not the responsibility of the girl to remain virgin alone but the boys equally.To emphasize the preservation of virginity on girls alone sends a very wrong message; you are saying if the girl-child lost her virginity then it is her fault? This blame-game on young girls should be abolished as it is the very issue that reduces the women and young girls and makes them objects of sex. You are pure if you don't know sex this and you are less if you know it already before marriage!When it comes to sex there is a lot of guilt-play-game on women and young girls all the time. How many girls are blamed for being raped in our society? They did not sit properly and that is the reason why the father, the brother, the step father, the uncle raped the girl. If a two year old child gets raped, is it because she did not have diapers on, then it is her fault? Please let's think.MP Tshinga Dube, lets visit our cultures, (give just one example among many cultural practices,) and see where girls are and young women are sexually exploited literally. If a nephew decides to get married, his wife-to-be will have to sleep with an uncle to prove that this particular woman who is getting married to the nephew is indeed a virgin! This practice has been banned of late because of HIV/AIDS scourge ravaging the country, Mr. Dube. This is a gross violation of our vulnerable niche young women! These to-be married girls concede to these practices out of fear of losing marriage altogether. Which young woman does not want to get married in our Zimbabwe society even today? How many of them get reduced because of this exposure to more than one male in the family?MP Dube, my advice, if you allow me to, as a politician with that mandate you have, is to indeed visit these church institutions and advocate the girl-child empowerment instead. Plead with these Church institutions never to force under-age girls for marriages because that where these girls are forced to marry very old men who are HIV/AIDS sick in most cases and numerous wives.While it was right and correct to pay attention to their invitation, it is the massage that you leave behind for them to ponder on and think. But not to smear them with "good words" they would like to hear from you, MP from Makhokhoba. Sure that message did not bring bread and butter on the girls' tables. It is some message that makes men feels good about themselves. (Going to bed with a virgin is every man's dream, it is for this reason it is used to cure HIV/AIDS)Again MP Dube, remember too that in these churches, it is these false prophets from such churches that tell HIV/AIDS sick men to look for virgins to have sex with, to ever have their HIV/AIDS cured. One cannot just advocate for the virginity of the girl-children and end there, without us having to conclude that they are meant to cure HIV patients. This is now very common in Zimbabwe; cases of rape are related to curing AIH/AIDS. It is these powerful messages coming from these church prophets and ngangas. I wish you should have asked such pertinent questions: why virginity for whom, to cure who?Our task as politicians is to give practical services to the people who gave us the mandate to lead them. How are these girl-children going to survive the economic down-turn without resorting to easy cash: prostitution, or relocating to neighbouring countries where they face serious hardships, xenophobia attacks? Bulawayo needs to industrialize to give those girls some semblance of decent lives. Citizens need work and not empty words that are poverty stricken.Bulawayo needs water from the Zambezi River. Water is a basic human right never to be tempered with. Mpilo needs to be refurbished to give better health services in the region as it is a referral regional hospital. Young women who go to Mpilo to give birth should not be detained for non payment; they do not have the money. This is what we want to hear from you MP Dube and not the virginity of girls! If you empower the girl-child moral practice falls in place automatically.Schools in Makhokhoba need face lift, books, proper furniture, well qualified teachers that speak the local language, IsiNdebele, the language that the pupils know ever to bring out their potential to ever compete with global challenges of this millennium. Are Kendall and Kylie Jenner the Olsen sisters of the midprice market? Celebrity siblings bringing a new kind of style to the people? A party Monday evening (in the prelude to New York Fashion Week, which begins on Thursday) to celebrate their new line titled (surprise!) Kendall & Kylie suggests they would like the answer to be yes. The line, their third clothing venture, after a juniors line with PacSun and capsules with Topshop, will debut this season at stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks and Shopbop, and it is a full collection of ready-to-wear and shoes, with items from $68 to $498. Of course, the sisters didnt exactly hold their event during fashion week, a canny move that suggests a little less bombast than that attached to, for example, the fashion ambitions of their in-law Kanye West (who shows on Thursday), and that they know they may need to develop things a bit further. If so, they are correct. The Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has been the It Girl of this awards season, not least because of the one-two-punch performances she delivered in 2015, first as the seductive humanoid Ava in Ex Machina and then as Gerda Wegener, the devoted wife of Eddie Redmaynes pioneering transgender character, Lili Elbe, in The Danish Girl. Shes won nominations and awards for both, and is the projected front-runner for the best supporting actress Oscar for her work in The Danish Girl. In an interview at a Midtown Manhattan hotel this winter, she recalled that during production of The Danish Girl, the filmmakers were obsessed with me not looking Scandinavian and I was like, Im the only Scandinavian in the whole film. They paled my skin, to make me lighter. People say that Im tanned, but thats my natural color. She also spoke about the explosive arc of her career and getting Googled by Eddie Redmayne. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation: Q. Its been such a whirlwind year for you. Did you see it coming at all? A. I grew up in Sweden. I never even thought I would work in English. I didnt think you could. While Dr. Perry said in a message posted online that she was arrested over a single parking ticket, Captain Sutter said that the officers who stopped her a man and a woman learned during a routine check that her driving privileges had been suspended and a warrant had been issued for her arrest over two unpaid parking violations from 2013. The warrant commands the officer to take the person into custody, Captain Sutter said. The officers searched, handcuffed and placed Dr. Perry into a squad car, the captain said. At the police station, she was handcuffed to a workstation and booked. After paying outstanding fines totaling $130, he said, she was released. Dr. Perry, who declined to comment via email on Tuesday, wrote about the episode on Twitter and Facebook on Monday, saying it had left her humiliated and frightened. She said the male officer had performed a body search despite the presence of a female officer, and that she had not been allowed to make a phone call before being placed in the squad car. She was handcuffed to a table at the police station, she said. Dr. Perry said that her accounts of the arrest had drawn abusive comments and suggestions that she had brought it on herself. At the same time, she said, she had also attracted supporters who questioned whether a white suspect would have been treated the same way. Kiev, Ukraine After centuries of nearly continuous foreign control, we Ukrainians achieved our independence from the Soviet Union 25 years ago, in 1991. In 2005, after a fraudulent election brought Viktor Yanukovych into power, our Orange Revolution helped defeat him. And this month, we mark two years since Maidan the Revolution of Dignity when we overthrew kleptocratic rule by Mr. Yanukovych a second time. For Ukrainians, it seems the new Ukraine is never here; its always coming. But momentum may be shifting. Again and again, our country has expressed its desire to integrate more fully with the European Union; now, for the first time, the European Union roiled by nationalism and a refugee crisis may need us as much as we need it. We are a rare breed these days, a people in support of the European Union and its shared identity, rather than in contempt of it. Today, we are making progress toward integration with the help of our allies. The United States has promised at least $2 billion in loan guarantees and direct aid of nearly $760 million. In December, the European Commission issued a report indicating that Ukraine had met standards allowing Ukrainians visa-free travel throughout the union. And last week, the United States Defense Department unveiled a plan to increase the rotating deployment of heavy weapons, armored vehicles and troops within NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe a signal to Russia to back off. Nevertheless, achieving the new Ukraine wont be easy. Russia has annexed Crimea and occupied part of eastern Ukraine, leaving a so-called frozen conflict that could reheat at Russias bidding. Even in the face of that, some of our politicians are better at arguing and lining their own pockets than at governing. And despite our serial changes in leadership, we dont have enough practice at mutual trust to work together at building a democracy. SEOUL, South Korea On Dec. 28, the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan announced the final, irreversible resolution of the controversy over the sexual enslavement of Korean women by the Japanese military from the early 1930s until the end of World War II. They said neither government will raise the issue ever again. While foreign media organizations praised the deal and a minority of South Koreans accepted it, there was a strong backlash here across the political spectrum. The main opposition Minjoo Party condemned President Park Geun-hyes complacent historical consciousness for calling on the public to accept the agreement. One survivor, speaking to the left-leaning outlet OhmyNews, was blunt, We need to replace the president that pro-Japanese collaborators daughter, Park Geun-hye. Even some conservative papers normally supportive of Ms. Park grumbled that Prime Minister Shinzo Abes apology felt insincere. Protests continue at the Japanese Embassy. The reaction to the agreement from both the right and left shows how much the history of the colonial period continues to shape South Koreas domestic politics. Politicians and ideologues of all stripes have long fanned anti-Japanese sentiment simply to further their own agendas. They dont appear to care that this obsession with the past is holding their country back. South Korea has become an economic powerhouse, but much of the postwar era has been dominated by poverty and dictatorial rule. External entities like North Korea, the United States and Japan are routinely blamed for the nations ills. But feelings toward Pyongyang and Washington are more complicated; the anti-Japanese sentiment, however, is shared by almost everyone and informs the national narrative: Koreas glory was thwarted by Japan, a morally and culturally inferior country. Singapore Wandering through the spectacular new National Gallery here, its easy to discern Singapores urge not just to showcase the best of its art, but to educate its visitors. Among the exhibitions are a solo show of works by Tang Da Wu and a lavish display of paintings by Chua Ek Kay, hugely important local artists who remain little known outside Southeast Asia. Then there is an entire floor dedicated to an exhibition titled Siapa Nama Kamu? (What Is Your Name?), which traces the history and identity of Singapore from its origins as a British colony to a modern cosmopolitan city-state. Just as revealing, though, of the gallerys educational mission and of the tension between Singapores past and future are the numerous warnings to visitors of potentially sensitive content. These labels are applied, particularly in the contemporary collection wings, to anything dealing with race and religion to nudity, sexual content and alternative social norms. As it pushes to become the global center for Southeast Asian art, this island republic is being forced to test the boundaries of its conservative society and rethink its much-admired educational system. Having successfully tackled the high levels of illiteracy it had in the 1960s, Singapore now heads the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments global schools rankings (by comparison, the United States languishes at 28th). The education system here scores particularly high in science and math, but faces criticism for its rigidity and lack of creativity. With this in mind, Singapore has stepped up efforts over the last decade to become the regional hub for art, with major events like the Singapore Biennale and the International Festival of the Arts jostling for space on the cultural calendar. Just last month was the annual Art Stage, Singapores version of the high-end contemporary fair Art Basel, which matches influential international galleries with the growing number of wealthy collectors in the region. To the Editor: Re Bloody Gloves and Police Brutality (Op-Ed, Feb. 4): John McWhorter writes about racism and police brutality, but neither of these was a factor in the actual crime: the 1994 murder of O. J. Simpsons ex-wife, Nicole. They might explain how a jury could ignore mountains of obvious evidence and render the wrong verdict, finding Mr. Simpson not guilty. That is the real story, and sort of a crime as well. The courtroom has to be a place where facts are looked at without racism or reverse racism. I watched that trial, avidly, from gavel to gavel. An abusive man stabbed his ex-wife and a friend of hers, and no one seemed to care. JANE WARDEN Malibu, Calif. To the Editor: I congratulate the writer for investigating the outlook of other blacks who cheered the O. J. Simpson verdict. In thousands of trials, whites of every ilk and preponderance of guilt have walked away and still walk away, freed by an institutional conspiracy of prosecutors, grand juries, judges and juries. Blacks never expect to get and usually dont get justice. Also, unlike with other boutique properties, there will not be an on-site restaurant. The developers do not want to compete with the citys thriving food scene, Mr. Bowd said. Instead, the front desk will sell breakfast sandwiches, salads and bottled water to guests who are expected to spend much of their time on the go. Upstairs, room sizes have not changed much since the Salvation Army days, though developers have upgraded them with blond wood, en-suite bathrooms and historical black-and-white photos of beach and concert scenes. They have also been tailored to a range of guests, from large families to single travelers. Ten of the 110 rooms will contain four bunk beds and lockable closets, so that solo vacationers on tight budgets can stay hostel-style. Rates will start at $50 a night, for one of those bunks, or $125 a night for a room with a queen-size bed, according to a project spokeswoman. Earlier efforts to redevelop the area often failed. Economic downturns, corruption convictions, and lawsuits between the city and developers seemed to hobble large-scale plans, which often razed buildings but put nothing up in their place. One hard-to-miss symbol of those failures may be the block at Ocean and Third Avenues, near the Asbury hotel. A condo planned there in the 1980s, Ocean Mile, was never completed, leaving a skeletal frame. In the 2000s, that frame was cleared to make way for Esperanza, a different condo. Yet it failed, too, and a half-built structure still haunts the area. Along the same lines, Asbury Partners, a developer picked to transform dozens of acres near the waterfront, also failed to complete much of what it promised. After the recession hit, iStar, a major lender to Asbury Partners, ultimately took over its properties. Today, iStar, a publicly traded company with numerous condo projects in its national portfolio, controls 35 acres in Asbury Park. It has pledged to build thousands of homes, hundreds of hotel rooms, night life venues and storefronts, helped by generous property tax breaks, while reviving that desolate Esperanza site with a 16-story condo-hotel. Robert Fairchild, who has spent the past year in the demanding lead role of Jerry Mulligan in the Broadway musical An American in Paris, will leave the production in March to return to New York City Ballet, where he is a principal dancer. His farewell is scheduled for March 13, exactly one year since the shows first preview on Broadway. Garen Scribner, who performs in lieu of Mr. Fairchild on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons, will take over full-time beginning March 15. Like Mr. Fairchild, Mr. Scribner will perform in six of the eight shows per week, with Dimitri Kleioris of the Royal New Zealand Ballet filling in twice weekly. In an interview, Mr. Fairchild said he was leaving in part because of the roles physical demands. In the show, he juggles ballet, singing and acting for about two and a half hours, followed by an ice bath for healing. If he performed any longer, he said, Id probably be in a wheelchair. Mr. Fairchild, who earned a Tony nomination for his performance, has been involved with the musical since its first workshop in 2013 and subsequent engagement at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in 2014. DALLAS, Tex.This Wednesday, February 10, will be an interesting day for the city of Dallas. That's the day when the Mayor and City Council will meet to decide how much taxpayer money they're willing to lose by 1) keeping the very popular, well attended Exxxotica Lifestyle Convention out of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center by denying the convention's owner, Three Expo Events, LLC a contract to put on the event there, thereby losing the rental fee for the hall, not to mention all the money those attendees would have fed into the local economy, and 2) how much they'll be willing to "donate" to Three Expo when it sues them for discrimination for having turned down the contract for no other reason than that the Mayor and Council don't like Exxxotica's brand of sexual speech. Since we last wrote about this impending fiasco, a couple of new players have joined the anti-porn "cause," the most notable being Ray Lee Hunt, the billionaire oilman son of thrice-married oil millionaire/moralist H.L. Hunt, who got rich by parlaying his last $100 into $100,000 at a New Orleans casino and investing the loot in oil fields. According to the Dallas Morning News, Ray Lee Hunt owns more than 30 acres in downtown Dallas, including the Hyatt Regency hotel, Union Station, the Reunion Tower (considered Dallas' tallest and most recognizable landmark) and the "Reunion Arena parking garage's air rights"so it's probably fair to say that when Hunt says "Jump," the Mayor and Council break out the yardsticks. "Obviously, 'Freedom of Speech' is foundational to American societyand my letter does not question the right of Exxxotica to have a 'convention,'" Hunt, who apparently has difficulty understanding what a "convention" is, wrote in a letter to council members. "The real issue is the venue and whether the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is the proper venue for an Exxxotica 'convention' versus some other venue in the greater Dallas area that is not owned by the City of Dallas and is more than 1,000 feet from the set of 'protected' activities and uses in that portion of Dallas' City Code which deals with sexually-oriented businesses." Trouble is, "that portion of Dallas' City Code which deals with sexually-oriented businesses," which can be found here, has no application to Exxxotica renting the convention center. It deals with licensing of and restrictions on sexually oriented businesses, but nothing in the code's definitions includes anything about exhibiting adult materials at a convention, except of course for the prohibition against minors being given accesssomething Exxxotica's management has been very careful about in all of their venues. Also bent out of shape by the impending convention rental agreement is the organization New Friends New Life, oddly enough chaired by Hunt's wife Nancy Ann, which claims to "restore[] and empower[] formerly trafficked girls and sexually exploited women and their children," and which wrote an "Open Letter to the Citizens of Dallas," wherein the group, besides also claiming the convention would violate the City Code, describes Exxxotica as "arguably little more than a traveling strip club, adult book store, and promoter of the sex trade." But apparently the primary person to blame when Dallas gets socked with thousands of dollars in legal fees will be Mayor Mike Rawlings, who had little problem with Exxxotica when it rented the convention center last August, but recently asked the city attorney's office to draft the Council resolution that, if passed, would direct the City Manager not to enter into the contract with Three Expo Events, even though they would have just as much right to rent the convention center as any other legal entity. "My concern is to do the right thing as the mayor of Dallas," Rawlings told the Dallas Morning News. "Each of us as members of the council has to make that decision weighing all aspects. I have done that, and whats why I put it on the agenda." Thankfully, not everyone on the Council agrees. "If the mayor wants us to chase convention business, this is what it looks like. Even the dentists, a group I assume meets [the mayor's] approval, love Exxxotica," said council member Philip Kingston, referring to the Southwest Dental Conference which was at the convention center at the same time as Exxxotica last August. "If were going to compete with Vegas, we have to be prepared to get a little Vegas on us." The Dallas Morning News's editorial board was even more upfront about the situation. "We dont like this sexpo's content any more than Rawlings and other critics do," the editors wrote. "The 'Comic-con for porn' sends a terrible message about the objectification and exploitation of women, possibly even undermining efforts to combat human trafficking. "But, as we wrote before Exxxotica came to town last year, many disgusting messages exist in the marketplace of ideas," the editorial continued. "And none of them empowers a government agency to bar an otherwise legal enterprise from a publicly owned building based solely on content... A vote to prohibit Exxxotica from returning to the city-owned convention seems only an invitation for Dallas taxpayers to fund a loser of a lawsuit." Now, let's see what happens on Wednesday! Mr. Kavanagh was among the crucial supporters of the measure, which Mr. Duceys predecessor, Jan Brewer, approved. The legislation divided a state already scarred by years of targeted enforcement against Latinos, who make up one-third of the population. The municipal identification bill, which Mr. Kavanagh also sponsored, is primarily to protect the integrity of government ID cards, he said, but it does have an impact on illegal immigration, because it prevents illegal immigrants from getting one of those cards. Mr. Ducey has not said a word about this or the other immigration bills. But people on both sides of the immigration debate are eagerly awaiting any action he might take on the measures. They could serve as a litmus test for his positions on the subject, which, as governor, he has deftly avoided articulating. If the bills hit Mr. Duceys desk, will he sign them? asked State Senator Martin J. Quezada, a Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled Legislature, whose district includes the Maryvale section of Phoenix, where three in four residents are Latino. Remember, just because he can, it doesnt mean that he should. Mr. Ducey is focused on the priorities he laid out in his State of the State address on Jan. 11, said his spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato. They include overhauling Arizonas beleaguered foster care system and opening a corrections center to offer intensive drug treatment and other services to certain inmates in Maricopa County, the states most populous. He also proposed spending $31.5 million to send 200 state troopers after drug smugglers along the border, the only border-related program he has championed so far. The scope of the effort is a far cry from the $800 million that Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, also a Republican, secured from his states Legislature last year to extend indefinitely the deployment of National Guard troops and air and ground surveillance along the Rio Grande Valley, which has faced questions over its cost and results. Our goal, because of limited resources, was going after what was most hurtful, and that was why we went after the drug cartels, Mr. Ducey said in the interview, drawing a distinction between his and Mr. Abbotts approaches. Michigan health officials on Tuesday defended their handling of a deadly Legionnaires disease outbreak in Flint after widespread criticism of their failure to promptly notify the public, and questions about state regulators cooperation with their local counterparts. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also released emails related to its handling of the outbreak, in a seeming attempt to prove it sought a thorough investigation but was thwarted at times by local health officials in Genesee County, which includes Flint. The health department acted as state investigators on Tuesday said that the scope of their inquiry into the contamination of Flints water was broad, and that charges could range from involuntary manslaughter to official misconduct. And Flints mayor said residents had so little faith in the governments response to the problem that the only way they could be reassured would be if all the lead service lines in the city were replaced. Gov. Rick Snyder was expected on Wednesday to propose $195 million in additional aid for Flint, according to a state official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the request had not been made public. A spokesman for Mr. Snyder declined to comment. Join us for live coverage of the New Hampshire primary. _____ MANCHESTER, N.H. Half a million New Hampshire voters will pour into their polling places on Tuesday, many of them slogging through snow banks and wobbling across ice to get there, in the first primary election of the 2016 presidential campaign. It is a state built for surprises: a famously independent-minded political battleground, where new voters can register to cast ballots on the day of the election and people unaffiliated with either party can vote in primaries. Winning New Hampshire, or at least doing well, is such a strategic prize that candidates and super PACs have plastered the states television screens with more than $80 million in ads and turned its rambling two-lane highways into an endless procession of caravans. There are few certainties in New Hampshire politics, but for most of the 2016 campaign there have been two: Donald J. Trump has led in statewide polls on the Republican side, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has led on the Democratic side. While Mr. Sanders led New Hampshire polls for the last month, and Mr. Trump was ahead here since July, the wave of support for both men was nonetheless stunning to leaders of both parties who believed that in the end, voters would embrace more experienced candidates like Mrs. Clinton or one of the Republican governors in the race. Yet the two men won significant support from voters who felt betrayed by their parties and were dissatisfied or angry with the federal government. Beyond Mr. Trump, four Republicans were clustered together, each receiving less than 20 percent of the vote. Mr. Kasichs surprise second-place finish was driven by voters who described themselves as moderates and independents and were charmed by his pragmatism and his upbeat campaign. Effectively skipping Iowa, Mr. Kasich spent 62 days in New Hampshire, holding 106 town-hall-style events. We never went negative because we have more good to sell than to spend our time being critical of somebody else, an ebullient Mr. Kasich told supporters, vowing to reshine America, to restore the spirit of America and to leave no one behind. But as striking as Mr. Kasichs surge may have been, the fall of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida may have been more significant. Mr. Rubio initially appeared to be capitalizing on his strong finish in Iowa, rising in the polls here, but a disastrous debate performance on Saturday halted his momentum. Mr. Rubio; Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who won the leadoff Iowa caucuses; and Mr. Bush, whose campaign was all but left for dead after a series of poor debate performances and staff cutbacks, were bunched together. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey finished a disappointing sixth after staking his campaign here. With little money left and a slim chance of being eligible for a Republican debate on Saturday, the governor said he was going back to New Jersey on Wednesday to take a deep breath. Supporters of Mr. Bush, who formed an alliance with Mr. Christie here as both sought to diminish Mr. Rubio, are lobbying him to endorse the former Florida governor. Mr. Trumps win is the biggest victory in a New Hampshire Republican primary since at least 2000. He won pluralities of both Republican and independent voters, and showed strength across demographic groups. At an exuberant victory party at a banquet hall in Manchester, people waved foam fingers reading Youre hired! or Make America great again! Mr. Trumps remarks ranged from emotional expressions of thanks to his late parents to more belligerent assertions that echoed his stump speech. SEOUL, South Korea The rocket launched by North Korea on Sunday had a longer range and carried a heavier payload than the one used to put a satellite in orbit in 2012, indicating that Pyongyang had made modest advances in its rocket technology, the South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The launch on Sunday was condemned by South Korea, the United States and other countries, which consider such efforts by the North to be a cover for developing intercontinental ballistic missile technology. The rocket, the Kwangmyongsong, or shining star, put a satellite into orbit nine minutes and 29 seconds after its takeoff from the Tongchang-ri launch site in the countrys northwest, according to Defense Ministry officials, who briefed journalists on the condition of anonymity. It resembled the Unha-3 rocket that North Korea used to launch a satellite in 2012, but the officials said the satellite on Sunday was heavier. The ministrys analysis indicated that the new rocket, if successfully reconfigured as a missile, could fly more than 7,400 miles with a warhead of 1,100 to 1,300 pounds, compared with 6,200 miles for the Unha-3 launched in 2012 in both cases, far enough to reach the West Coast of the United States. NEW DELHI Using ice picks and chain saws, Indian Army rescue teams had tunneled their way 35 feet down through the ice around Siachen Glacier, to the spot where they expected to find the bodies of 10 soldiers. Their post was located at an elevation of 19,500 feet, opposite Pakistani positions on what has been called the worlds highest battlefield. Five days earlier, in the predawn hours on Feb. 3, a wall of ice more than a half-mile in length thundered down onto the encampment, in a place where nighttime temperatures can drop to 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit; officially and unofficially, the soldiers had been given up for dead. What the rescue teams discovered late on Monday came as a shock: an infantryman named Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, described by doctors as drowsy, severely dehydrated, hypothermic, hypoxic, hypoglycemic and in shock. KABUL, Afghanistan The United States Army will deploy hundreds of soldiers to the southern Afghan province of Helmand, where government forces have been pushed to the brink by Taliban militants, a military spokesman said Tuesday. It will be the largest deployment of American troops outside major bases in Afghanistan since the end of the NATO combat mission in 2014. Though the military insists that the soldiers will not take active combat roles, American Special Operations forces have increasingly been drawn into the fighting in Helmand as one important district after another has fallen or been threatened by Taliban insurgents. Col. Michael T. Lawhorn, a spokesman for the United States military in Afghanistan, said in a statement that the new deployment would provide protection for the current Special Operations troops in Helmand and give extra support and training for the 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army. Afghan forces in Helmand have taken heavy casualties in recent months and have been cut off by the Taliban in many places. Our mission, Colonel Lawhorn said, remains the same: to train, advise, and assist our Afghan counterparts, and not to participate in combat operations. He has a black jacket, but he has not been in the group long enough to earn the Odin insignia on the back. I dont think that the police have enough resources, he said. The 1,200 new asylum seekers seem to be well aware that they are the subject of considerable controversy and fear. Some of them are afraid of us, said Ahmed Ramzi al-Bayati, 22, an asylum seeker from Iraq. When they see us, they step aside. But he said he has nonetheless been made to feel welcome by volunteers and instances of local hospitality. I think they are afraid for their country, he said of the Finns. They dont want anyone to demolish it after what they did to build it. No one wants that. But if they see the good side of us ..., he trailed off and smiled. Mayor Anna-Kaisa Ikonen said most people in Tampere view the influx of migrants with a moderate mix of generosity and pragmatism that belies the extremism on both sides of the issues. I hope we wont see this polarization going any further, she said. Vigilante patrols definitely are not the tradition, she said, stressing that she has always felt safe in her city, but that on the other hand, taking to the streets dressed in a clown suit was probably not my way of doing things. Taina Kopra, the ringmaster of the local Sorin Circus and an experienced clown teacher, reviewed videos of the clowns at a demonstration in Tampere and found their performance wanting because they were inconsistent in sticking to their characters. It may not be good clowning, she said, but it certainly seems they got their message across. However imperfect, Prevent is about making teachers aware that some of their kids might go in the direction of terrorism, said Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute. He raised the example of four girls from the Bethnal Green Academy in London who traveled to Syria in 2014 and last year. Clearly a mini social movement was going on within that school, he said. Those teachers now know what to look for and how to tell authorities. Patsy Kane is the executive director of two all-girls high schools in Manchester. Most of the 2,500 pupils are Muslim, she said, and the schools have already dealt with sensitive issues, such as students being forced into marriage. Prevent, she said, is an added duty, a moral duty. You cant take away the risk, and we cant control who is influencing our students outside of school, she said. But what we can do is to find alternative narratives, like those given by Islamic State defectors, and try to chip away at the groups missionary zeal. Anyone flagged by the program is screened several times by the police and local officials. If a formal referral is made, the person is encouraged to take part in Channel, the de-radicalization program. This often involves an imam who plays the role of counselor, psychotherapist and religious scholar. Intervention is voluntary because referred individuals are in what the government calls a pre-criminal stage. The teenager from Blackburn and his family, for example, refused to participate in Channel after a referral from Prevent in July 2013 and another in November 2014. Although he was within his rights to decline, he was nonetheless put into a special school for youngsters showing unruly behavior. Globway is proud to be a sponsor of one of this year's most important meetings of the adult industry, The European Summits in Sitges and Prague. Globway, part of Telefuture Group, is a rapidly expanding mobile aggregator with a clear focus on billing subscriptions through premium SMS and carrier billing. Dont leave money on the table, says Globway. There are customers on your site right now, ready to spend, waiting for you to offer the right payment option. Improve your mobile conversion with IVR, premium SMS or Direct Carrier Billing. Globway asks, Why you should work with us? Are you still trying to convert Europeans on mobile devices with just credit cards? 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One dedicated account manager will get you connected in Europe and is always there to improve your conversions in Europe to the max. Let us deal with the Europeans, so you can focus on more sales! Check out this video to see how it works or visit our website for more information. Schedule your meeting at the European Summit here. The service symbolized in part a growing reconciliation between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Both are grappling with internal divisions, including a battle over homosexuality, and the service came as several high-profile figures, including some members of the royal family and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, have left the Anglican Church. (In 2011, a ban on a British monarchs marrying a Roman Catholic was lifted after more than three centuries, but Roman Catholics are still barred from taking the throne.) For his part, Pope Francis announced changes last year that were intended to make it easier for Roman Catholics to obtain annulments and remarry within the church, and he will soon meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in what will be the first meeting between leaders of the two churches in almost 1,000 years. Amid the backdrop of change in both churches, the popes personal preacher, Raniero Cantalamessa, led a prayer at Westminster Abbey in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II in November. He told his audience in London that Roman Catholics should celebrate Protestantism and benefit from its achievements. The schism dates to 1534, when Henry VIII declared himself the head of the Church of England. The split allowed Henry to leapfrog from one marriage to another in search of a male heir: He had two marriages annulled and had two other wives executed, including Anne Boleyn, the former mistress for whom he had rejected papal authority in the first place. (Another wife died after giving birth.) JERUSALEM Gilad Erdan is one of the rising stars of the conservative Likud Party: a 45-year-old former yeshiva student, a lawyer and an adviser to two prime ministers, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. For the March 2015 elections, he was No. 2 on the party list, just after Mr. Netanyahu, whom he now serves as minister of public security, strategic affairs and public diplomacy. But only after Mr. Erdan played hardball and refused initial offers. Like many aspiring young Likudniks, Mr. Erdan is no shrinking violet. In fact, in an interview in his Parliament office, he spoke so loudly across a modest desk that I thought we were in an auditorium. He has a lot on his mind the wave of stabbing and shooting attacks on Israelis by Palestinians; relations with the weakening Palestinian Authority; more effective outreach to young Americans of all kinds; and what he considers the responsibility of social media companies to police themselves against anti-Semitism and incitement to terrorism. He says he is particularly concerned with the effort to boycott and delegitimize Israel, which he sees expressed in the European Unions labeling of products imported from settlements and in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. GAZIANTEP, Turkey The Islamic State claimed its first attack inside the Syrian capital on Tuesday, asserting responsibility for a car bomb that destroyed a police officers club and left several people dead and dozens wounded. The bombing, witnesses and regional news reports said, struck Masaken Barzeh, a neighborhood on the northern edge of the city that had been largely secure and quiet. Within hours the Islamic State, using its official media channels, said it had orchestrated the blast. The Islamic State had said it was behind an assault last month on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine on the outskirts of the capital that left dozens dead. The blast on Tuesday came amid government advances against insurgents in northern Syria, a signal that even as the leadership goes on the offensive in some parts of the country, government-controlled areas, including those believed to be secure, remain vulnerable. JERUSALEM The debate about national identity among Israels Arab minority and its representatives in Parliament burst out again after three Arab lawmakers met recently with the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces when they attacked Jews. The lawmakers, members of the Balad faction of the Knesset, or Parliament, were censured this week by the legislature. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had overstepped the boundaries of appropriate behavior, declaring from the podium of Parliament, There is such a thing as national pride. A leading Arab lawmaker suggested that such questions of pride were not so single-minded for him and his colleagues. We are Arab Palestinians, and we are also Israeli citizens, Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties, said. There is always tension between the two identities. In recent years, the scientists and polemicists known as the New Atheists have been telling a certain type of evolutionary story. It goes like this: Once upon a time, when our ancestors were struggling for survival on the African savanna, it was good to see ghosts. What was that rustle in the grass? What was that passing shadow? If your instinct was to detect agency, even in lifeless features of the natural world, you did well for yourself. Sure, you made some silly mistakes, sometimes fleeing from what turned out to be a gust of wind. But you didnt overlook any genuine threats, and in the end you survived. The result is a human population hard-wired to detect agency. We hear a noise in the night and assume its an intruder when its actually a falling tree branch. Researchers report that babies as young as 5 months old perceive intention in the movements of animated colored disks. And grown-ups everywhere ascribe purposefulness to the world at large, understanding the workings of the universe in terms of divine agency another silly mistake! The New Atheists tell other stories in this vein: about our predilection to believe in nonphysical entities, to believe in life after death, to believe that everything happens for a reason. These narratives, in which prehistoric habits of survival become todays intellectual liabilities, are supposed to undermine religion by scientifically demonstrating the irrationality at its core. But for the psychologist and religion professor (and Episcopal priest) James W. Jones, the author of CAN SCIENCE EXPLAIN RELIGION?: The Cognitive Science Debate (Oxford University, $24.95), they do no such thing. Suppose, Jones suggests, that someone were to advance a similar argument against the field of biology. Back in the Paleolithic days, the story would go, it was advantageous to differentiate living from nonliving things, to assume that things had causes, to see patterns in nature. But today, far removed from the wilds of East Africa, these cognitive tendencies, detectable in children, drive our biological beliefs. As the misfiring of faculties developed for another purpose, these beliefs should be discredited, or at least strongly distrusted. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, professor of social work at New York University, has been named a Presidential Leadership Scholar for 2016, joining a six-month, executive-style program that begins this week at Monticello, Thomas Jeffersons home. The unique initiative draws on the resources of the presidential centers of Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush, enabling the select scholars to learn from former presidents, key administration officials, and leading academics. Guilamo-Ramos is one of 61 scholars invited to participate in the programs second class due to their desire and capacity to take their leadership strengths to a higher level to help their communities and the country. In addition to teaching at NYUs Silver School of Social Work, where his research focuses on adolescent health and well-being, Guilamo-Ramos co-directs the school's Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH). As part of the Presidential Leadership Scholars opportunity, Guilamo-Ramos will further develop his Fathers Raising Responsible Men project, an intervention that enables fathers in low-income communities to engage effectively in promoting healthy and responsible decisions by their adolescent sons. I am honored and thrilled to be selected for this six-month initiative, said Professor Guilamo-Ramos. It is an amazing opportunity to intersect with a range of truly outstanding thinkers and practitioners across a variety of sectors and disciplines, and enhance my evidence-based work to improve positive sexual health outcomes. Lynn Videka, Dean, NYUs Silver School of Social Work, said, Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is an exemplary educator, researcher, and mentor. His commitment to excellence in teaching and learning is rooted in his passion for improving the health and well-being of poverty-impacted communities, and scholarly expertise. On behalf of the Silver School community, I would like to congratulate Dr. Guilamo-Ramos on joining this prestigious group of leaders and scholars. Over the course of the program, the scholars will travel to each participating presidential center, and study and put into practice varying approaches to leadership. They will also develop a network of peers, and exchange ideas with mentors and others who can help them make an impact in their communities. The program encompasses about 100 hours of informative sessions and case studies, and covers expansive approaches to leadership theory, drawing upon examples from recent presidents. The new cohort of 61 scholars was chosen through a rigorous process that began with more than 600 applications. Scholars were selected based on their leadership growth potential and the strength of their personal leadership projects aimed at improving the civic or social good by addressing a problem or need in a community, profession, or organization. Lee County Habitat for Humanity hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for its second home being built in Auburn this year. In addition to the two homes in Auburn, there also will be a home in Opelika. Our purpose is to share the love of Jesus in many different ways in our community, and we bring together many diverse people all through our community to help partner with us and build homes for qualified families in our community, said Mark Grantham, executive director for the local Habitat chapter. The home will be for April Moultry, an Auburn University employee who has worked on other Habitat homes in the area as part of her 500 volunteer hours that is required of partner families. Moultry said she was first approved for a home in 2012. Its such a blessing, Moultry said. Im thankful that this is happening for me and my daughter. It was worth the wait. The sponsors for the home are AuburnBank and two anonymous donors. One of the anonymous donors gave the property. Auburn Mayor Bill Ham expressed his appreciation of the partnership the city has with Habitat. Were just blessed to have been a part of this ministry from the beginning, Ham said. Its a great thing to be a small part of homeownership. The average length of time for the construction of a home is three to six months, according to Grantham. Five more homes are expected to be built this year, Grantham said. Eight-year-old Phoebe DeMoss chases her puppy down a sandy cliff that a month ago was a flat, dirt parking lot and hangout spot for surfers at San Onofre State Beach. Trailed by her father, Bob, she heads toward a 10-foot concrete pillar topped with a sign warning visitors to stay clear from the stretch of beach. The massive, tilted structure encircled by cobblestone unearthed by recent wild weather is one of a half-dozen like it, giving the once-pristine beach the look of a scene from an apocalyptic movie. Its crazy to see what Mother Nature can do, right? Bob DeMoss said. Recent fierce storms and their accompanying whipping winds, strong rain and extreme high tides have made a notable dent on the coastal landscape, cropping out chunks of sand and sucking it out to sea. The result is evident up and down Orange Countys shoreline. If youre headed to the beach to enjoy this weeks summerlike weather, youll find less sand in some spots to lay down your towel. At already cramped San Onofre State Beach, theres less access and parking. Parts of Laguna Beach and San Clemente have been closed off to protect beachgoers safety. And in areas like the Balboa Pier, walls of sand rise up where it once was flat. Longtime lifeguards and beach regulars say they havent seen this kind of erosion in decades. With El Nino-driven storms likely to be a threat through March, the upcoming weeks could bring even more upheaval along the beach. This is probably the most that Ive seen in my 20-plus years, Laguna Beach Marine Safety Lt. Kai Bond said of the erosion, standing above a staircase at the Montage resort where yellow caution tape blocks access to Treasure Island beach. NOAA (the National Ocean Atmospheric Administration) is saying the worst of it is yet to come. I would expect for there to be more. This is the beginning. Some of the coastlines changes are subtle. Wind clocking in at 60 mph took sand off the beach and pushed it into streets and parking lots, up to 3 feet in some places along Newport Beach. Lagunas Main Beach normally brimming with sand is instead much rockier as lower layers have been unearthed. Other changes are more dramatic and potentially dangerous. In addition to caution tape blocking beachgoers at Treasure Island from entering the beach at a big drop where sand once was, the same measures have been put in place in San Clemente at Calafia, where a 4-foot drop between the end of a staircase and the sand poses a hazard. We have it closed off because of public safety, said Rich Haydon, south sector superintendent for State Parks. The more apparent effects can be seen in areas where waves and wind about a week ago were so strong, they battered the coast and created big walls of sand. After the storm, an area north of San Clemente Pier had a steep 6-foot wall, and sand was more than 10 feet high on both sides of Balboa Pier. Deanne and Patrick Hemmens of Costa Mesa were out on their morning run on a recent day, the sand looming next to them. The kids love it, they can jump off or slide down it, said Patrick Hemmens. The shifting sands also have unearthed some unusual finds. Were finding a lot of stuff uncovered glass, rope and pieces from a sailboat, said Patrick Hemmens, who said he has not seen erosion this severe in his 20 years exercising out on the sand. The part of coast most impacted is where the DeMoss father and daughter duo were found frolicking on a recent day. In October, farther north at San Onofre State Beach, a 30-foot-tall wind indicator that surfers made decades ago from a surfboard toppled over after getting battered by high tides and strong surf. The erosion that closed a big portion of the parking lot at San Onofre happened about a month ago, near the stretch of beach called Dog Patch. That was a hangout spot for years for all the stand-up paddle guys. Now they dont have anywhere, Bob DeMoss said. I think its kind of sad. Already, the tight parking situation can make the wait to get into San Onofre more than an hour on a busy weekend. Now, there are about 75 to 100 fewer spots. Haydon said there are no plans to restore the lot, because adding a wall to hold the sand in place would mess with the natural process. He said its not the first time the area has been closed; in 2009, similar erosion caused a stretch of lot to close. Haydon said the erosion is a cyclical part of Mother Nature and that while big chunks of coast are cropped out in winter months, summer south swells eventually bring it back. It might be more on peoples radar because of El Nino, but its typically a natural process, he said. Were watching some of our erosion areas now. Were interested in maintaining safety first and foremost, and access second. In some cases, the sand doesnt reappear. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and cities spend millions of dollars in areas that need help with sand-replenishment projects. As for the recent erosion, only time will tell if some beaches will ever look the same, Haydon said. Weve had a couple winters where its been mellow, with no major storms that caused erosion. I think people have forgotten how the beach transforms dramatically before and after these storm events. Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com The American Red Cross will soon ask travelers returning from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America places where the Zika virus is spreading rapidly to wait about a month before giving blood. The risk is extremely low, but its possible that a person infected with Zika could contaminate the blood supply, according to the Red Cross, which has a blood donation center in Santa Ana. There are no approved tests to screen donated blood for the virus. On Thursday, health officials in Brazil said two people contracted the virus through blood transfusions. Zika has spread widely across Brazil and the Americas since October. By Monday, the Red Cross will turn away potential donors who visited countries affected by Zika in the previous 28 days. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus usually stays in the blood for a few days to a week. Anyone who develops symptoms consistent with the disease fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain and headaches within 14 days of making a donation was asked to immediately notify the Red Cross. It and other blood banks across Orange County, including those at MemorialCare Health System and UC Irvine, are following recommendations released last week by AABB, an association of blood banks. A nationwide survey by AABB found about 2 percent of donors traveled to affected countries in 2014 and 2015, and about 3 percent of donors tested positive for Zika amid an outbreak three years ago in French Polynesia. Saddleback Memorial Medical Center has turned away two potential donors since implementing the guidelines, said Hugo Folli, the hospitals vice president of ancillary services. To make up for the loss, its important that others step up, Folli said. The need is constant. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @jennakchandler Michael Bloomberg confirmed to the Financial Times on Monday that, yes, he was considering a presidential run. I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters, Bloomberg told the paper in the first instance on record of Donald Trump being called banal. It is funny to think of a presidential race featuring a guy from Manhattan, a guy from Queens and a guy from Brooklyn. Granted the Manhattan guy is Bloomberg who is actually from Boston, and granted the guy from Brooklyn lives in Vermont, and granted the guy from Queens now also lives in Manhattan but theres something perfect about the idea. Bernie Sanderss gruff Brooklyn socialism battles Donald Trumps appropriated Queens blue-collar roughness, facing off against the polished persona of Michael Bloomberg, the guy who wouldnt move into the New York City mayors mansion a freestanding house in the middle of a beautiful park because he would rather stay in his expansive Upper East Side townhouse. If the election were today, as the saying goes, Michael Bloomberg would not be elected president. Michael Bloomberg would probably not win a state, including the state of New York. Quinnipiac University asked about this last week, finding that Bloomberg came in third in hypothetical match-ups against Sanders and Trump and Sanders and Ted Cruz. He did slightly better among Republicans than Democrats against Trump but didnt come close to winning. Not that this matters! More than half of the people surveyed told Quinnipiac that they hadnt heard enough about Bloomberg to have an opinion of him, a pretty staggering number for a guy who 1) owns a magazine and 2) was mayor of the largest city in the country for 12 years. But still: People dont know him. So asking how this unknown person would fare against Bernie Sanders (who is still unknown to a fifth of Americans) and Donald Trump is a bit iffy. Clearly, Michael Bloomberg thinks that he might actually win if he were to run. And, as the Financial Times reminds us, no one thought Donald Trump would win either. (As of writing, of course, he hasnt won anything, but we shall see.) But Bloombergs motivating principle is that he knows better than you. He knew better than the people he asked to watch over the Bloomberg media empire while he was mayor, cleaning house and upending the organizations newly created politics site. He knew better than the people who opposed his various efforts to fight obesity in New York City, including the infamous ban on large sodas (which is not in effect, FYI). He knew better than the term limits placed on mayors in the city of New York, convincing the city council to allow him to run for a third term despite those limits, a third term that he won by a surprisingly narrow margin. (Whyd the city council go for it? They got another term, too.) And Michael Bloomberg knows better than to think has no shot at winning the White House. When these rumors about Bloomberg possibly running first circulated (this year not various other times in the past when theyve circulated and not last May when also they circulated), there was a slew of thinkpiecehottakes looking at whether or not he could win. Hell hurt the Democrats! some argued, because of his liberal anti-gun views. Hell hurt Republicans! said others, since hed appeal to moderates on the right who oppose Cruz or Trump. Hell hurt them both! Frank Luntz argued, hedging his bets. That vagueness plays to Bloombergs advantage. The never-ending theoretical appeal of Michael Bloomberg is that he is a grown-up, that he will enact sensible policies which translates as policies that wealthy moderates would like to see. At the heart of Bloombergs statement to the Financial Times is that talking about things that the voters are concerned about, like immigration and income inequality, is so tedious as to be offensive. Why are we not instead talking about the sort of things that Bloombergs Upper East Side neighbors think is important? Bloomberg will, at last, be that candidate for that Manhattan. The former mayor only has about a month to figure out if he wants to do it, because he needs to get on the ballot in enough states to be viable. No one really knows what might happen at that point, with one exception: The general election debate stage would have a lot of well-informed opinions about pizza. TORONTO Canadas prime minister on Monday announced that the country will end airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq by Feb. 22, saying that the people terrorized by ISIL every day dont need our vengeance, they need our help. Justin Trudeau, following up on campaign promises he made last year, also announced that the government will expand efforts to train local forces and rebuild the war-torn region. Military personnel in the region will increase to 830 from the current 650 and provide planning, targeting and intelligence expertise. As I said many times throughout the campaign in my commitment to Canadians, this is a non-combat mission, Trudeau said. The Liberal leader said Canadas contribution to the U.S.-led coalitions mission against the Islamic State group is being extended until the end of March 2017. The U.S. had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeaus promise that Canada would pull its jets was already part of his winning campaign. While airstrike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities, Trudeau said during a news conference Monday. The country had six fighter jets carrying out the strikes. We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future, the prime minister added. Canada will keep two surveillance planes in the region as well as refueling aircraft, and it will triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq to about 200, from about 69 now. The size of Canadas train, advise and assist mission will triple, including additional medical personnel and equipment including small arms, ammunition and optics to assist in training Iraqi security forces. Trudeau said the government will spend more than US$1.15 billion (CA$1.6 billion) over the next three years on the mission as a whole, including on security, stabilization and humanitarian and development assistance. Last March, one Canadian soldier was killed and three others were injured in a friendly fire incident in Iraq. The military has said that during Canadas decade of operations in Afghanistan, 158 Canadian Forces personnel died. Trudeau said Monday that Canada learned the hard way in Afghanistan that airstrike operations do not on their own result in long-term stability. He said Canada gained valuable experience training local Afghan police and military forces. Experience that the Canadian Armed Forces should be bringing to bear in Iraq and Syria, he said. The U.S. has said it respects Canadas decision to pull its fighter jets out of the air campaign. But the Americans did not invite Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan to recent coalition meetings in Paris. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook welcomed Canadas announcement and said Defense Secretary Ash Carter would be discussing it with his Canadian counterpart in Brussels on Thursday at a meeting of anti-IS coalition members. The secretary sees these as significant contributions, and he appreciates the decision by the Trudeau government to step up Canadas role in the campaign at this critical time, Cook said. CHAMBER to CELEBRATE COX SOLUTIONS STORE The Rancho Santa Margarita Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the grand opening of the Cox Solutions Store with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. on Jan. 29. The store, at 30652 Santa Margarita Parkway, offers bill payment, customer service, product and service sales and interactive demos of all products. The grand opening will run through 5:30 p.m. COMPUTER REPAIR SHOP CELEBRATES EXPANSION The Computer Guys of Orange County, owned by Glen Hackler of Irvine, will celebrate the opening of its second location of the computer repair shop with a ribbon cutting by the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce at noon Feb. 5. The business, at 27901 La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel, supports PCs, Macs, iPads and iPhones. Six technicians work between the Laguna Niguel and Tustin stores to offer tuneups and virus removal and to install operating systems, back up data, replace screens or recover data. Hackler, who owned a printing company in Orange and has been doing IT work since 1984, started the Tustin location in 2012 and the Laguna Niguel location in December. Details: computerguysofoc.com. CHAMBER WELCOMES CAPISTRANO MAZDA The San Juan Capistrano Chamber of Commerce is having a ribbon cutting to celebrate the new Capistrano Mazda at 32852 Valle Road in San Juan Capistrano at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 18. An evening chamber mixer will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Co-owners Miles Brandon of San Juan Capistrano and Gary Willenborg of San Clemente also own the adjacent Capistrano Volkswagen. The dealerships have about 100 new cars on each lot. Buy mixer tickets at sanjuanchamber.com. LICE CLINIC OF AMERICA opens in laguna hills Co-owners Patricia Willemsen and Mercedes Domingo have opened a Lice Clinic of America at 24953 Paseo de Valencia in Laguna Hills. The two are using the FDA-approved AirAlle medical device to kill 99.2 percent of lice and nits. The one-hour removal treatment works through heated air. It was invented at the University of Utah and kills lice and eggs through dehydration, using a technique that combines temperature and airflow for a certain length of time. Willemsen and Domingo also have two more stores in San Diego. Information: liceclinicsofamerica.com. Contact the writer: marieek@hotmail.com LOS ANGELES It has been one of the most powerful governmental agencies in the nation, with sweeping powers to determine what gets built, or does not get built, on the 1,100 miles of cliffs, mountains and beaches along the Pacific Ocean, one of the countrys great destinations. The California Coastal Commission, created 45 years ago, is an independent entity whose authority has been likened to that of Robert Moses, the powerful New York City planner. It has scrutinized projects large and small, from adding a deck to a home to building an oceanfront luxury hotel. It has mediated the often clashing agendas of two of the most influential forces that help to define this state: environmentalism and the drive for growth. But now, with the roaring California economy fueling demand for luxury housing, these conflicting priorities have burst into a dispute that could redefine the role and power of this agency and, more important, the way the state manages its revered and majestic coastline. A bloc of commission members, backed by developers frustrated with a commission staff they see as stifling legitimate growth, has moved to try to oust the agencys executive director, Charles Lester. With any other state agency, this would be little more than a bureaucratic power struggle involving a relatively obscure official whose work is overseen by a 12-member commission appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. But given the high stakes the aesthetics of the California coastline and who has access to it the action against Lester, which will come to a head at a public hearing Wednesday, has created a firestorm. The commission had received 14,000 letters demanding that it cease trying to remove Lester, a sentiment echoed by a number of newspaper editorials. Its a power grab to undermine crucial protections for one of Californias most precious jewels, the 1,000-mile coastline stretching from Eureka to San Diego, The San Jose Mercury News said as it demanded that Gov. Jerry Brown block what it called a coup. The fight has highlighted the nuanced position of Brown on environmental protection and development. He appointed four of the commissioners who state officials say are leading the charge against Lester. And while Brown often invokes Californias natural resources, he has at times expressed irritation at what he sees as excessive regulation that has slowed development. The commission was voted into existence under Californias ballot proposition system in 1972, and it was made permanent when Brown signed the California Coastal Act of 1976 during his first of two consecutive terms as governor. But he grew critical of the commission in the late 1970s after it denied an application by Linda Ronstadt, Browns girlfriend at the time, for work on her home in Malibu. Brown was elected governor again in 2010 and 2014. Browns press secretary, Evan Westrup, said the governor had not discussed the possible dismissal of Lester with his appointees. This is a personnel matter, initiated without any involvement from our office, for the Coastal Commission to decide, Westrup said. Environmentalists, former commission members and state lawmakers including the speaker of the State Assembly, Toni Atkins have mobilized behind Lester, describing the effort to fire him as a move by pro-development forces to develop valued coastline. We are not just talking about whether or not the current executive director retains his position as executive director, said Mel Nutter, who was chairman of the commission from 1982 to 1985. We are looking at a dynamic where the whole focus and the mission of the commission itself may be at risk. The commission applies the strict development and wildlife protection provisions of the states Coastal Act to protected coastal land, acting on the recommendations of the commission staff led by Lester. He declined to be interviewed for this article. The California Coastal Commission staff is one of the most difficult bureaucracies to work with, I believe, in the entire United States, said Fred Gaines, a lawyer and lobbyist who has represented owners of oceanfront homes such as Dustin Hoffman and Steven Spielberg. They put severe limitation on property owners right to use their property. Jana Zimmer, who served on the commission from 2011 to 2015, said environmentalists were unfairly characterizing the intentions of the board, which she said regularly ratified staff recommendations. I am extremely troubled that some of the environmental leadership in this state has resorted to black-hat-versus-white-hat, Trump-like tactics in their zeal to retain Lester at all costs, she wrote in an essay in the Santa Barbara Independent. The issue is not whether retaining or terminating Lester will protect or destroy the coast. This is a false choice, and the polarization it has created is unnecessary. The commission is scheduled to vote next month on one of the largest coastal development proposals that has ever come before it: 1,100 acres at Banning Ranch on Newport Beach, a project that is said to be worth over $1 billion and has stirred huge community opposition. The pressure to develop Californias coast is an everlasting tug of war, said Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, coastal preservation manager with the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group. Unfortunately, we are starting to see special interests gaining some ground. Its taken us 40 years to protect what we have now. Assigned ballot number 50 by the secretary of state, the only statewide measure in Californias June primary election is ready for the voters. The measure, Proposition 50, would allow either chamber of the state Legislature Senate or Assembly to suspend sitting members with or without pay by a two-thirds vote. Prop. 50 is a morality initiative prompted by a series of corruption scandals which rapidly unfolded in 2014. These scandals spurred an otherwise political-reform somnambulant legislative body finally to enable not only the suspension of members accused or convicted of corruption, but the ability to do so without pay. In 2014 Sacramento was rocked by a succession of corruption and bribery cases from elected state senators. Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Whittier, and Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, were indicted on various corruption charges. Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, was convicted by a jury of his peers of perjury and voter fraud for lying about whether he lived in his state Senate district. Wright, who testified on his own behalf, appealed the conviction and is awaiting a new trial. One month after the Wright conviction, Calderon was indicted on federal charges of bribery and corruption. When the indictment was announced, legislators were rocked by reports of undercover wiretapping having occurred in the Capitol. Today, Calderon professes his innocence and, represented by acclaimed defense attorney Mark Geragos, awaits trial. Despite the unfolding scandals, then-Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg refused to suspend or expel sitting members. But in March just one month after the Calderon conviction a third senator, Leland Yee, was indicted by the federal government on sundry charges, including gun-running, illegal sale of firearms and bribery. Senate leadership, facing growing criticism for failing to address a culture of corruption, finally advanced the measure now identified as Prop. 50. Before being termed out of the Senate in 2010, I served with all four senators. Steinberg considered Wright a loyal ally, and chose to stand by him even after his conviction. Likewise, Steinberg stood by Calderon, presumably because since he hadnt demanded the resignation of an African American senator, it would be awkward to demand expulsion of a Latino who, unlike Wright, only had been charged and not even convicted. Public calls from Republican senators decrying Steinbergs silence mounted. They demanded senators be allowed to vote on a formal resolution to expel Wright. Steinberg refused to schedule a vote. But then Yee was indicted, a member Steinberg strongly disliked, and one who had bucked his leadership including not voting for a budget that Steinberg and the Democratic Caucus had endorsed. As punishment, Lees name was stripped from legislation he authored. Now, with a third senator indicted, the Capitol was in upheaval. It was not possible to only single out Yee (who ultimately accepted a plea deal in 2015 to federal racketeering charges) for punishment, so Senate leaders huddled and finally allowed a vote to suspend Calderon, Wright and Yee. The measure passed. Yet there was no constitutional authority to stop paying their $90,526 salary and benefits. Hence, Prop. 50 was born reflecting another chapter in the sometimes sordid history of why Californias Constitution reads as it does. Staff opinion columnist Gloria Romero is an education reformer and former Democratic state senator from Los Angeles. One of three inmates who escaped from the Orange County Jail before all were nabbed after a massive manhunt appeared in court on Monday to face a previous attempted murder charge. Bac Duong, 43, broke out of jail on Jan. 22, along with fellow tank mates Hossein Nayeri, 37, and Jonathan Tieu, 20. After spending a week as a fugitive, Duong turned himself in on Jan. 29 at a Santa Ana auto shop. Nayeri and Tieu were captured in San Francisco the following day. Before his escape, Duong, a Vietnamese immigrant with a history of criminal convictions, had been in custody since November for allegedly shooting a 52-year-old man in the chest in the 5600 block of West Highland Street in Santa Ana. On Monday, Duong appeared in court to face his prior charges of attempted murder, motorcycle theft and resisting arrest. Other charges against him from before the escape stem from alleged drug sales, possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property. Judge Derek G. Johnson agreed to continued the hearing to April 15. Duongs attorney, Assistant Public Defender Abby Taylor, declined comment. While the three men were one the run, Duong and Nayeri got into a heated fight over whether to kill a taxi driver they had kidnapped, the taxi driver and investigators said. Nayeri, a former Marine facing charges of kidnapping and torture stemming from a 2012 case, allegedly wanted to kill the cab driver. Duong later left with the taxi driver and released him unharmed before he turned himself in. Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com PARIS As miniseries go, the early rounds of the U.S. presidential elections have had everything required to capture the attention of the French. From billionaire Donald Trump to conservative Ted Cruz to anti-establishment Bernie Sanders, the primary contest offers up characters who, as seen from France, could be summed up as The Ugly, the Bad and the Good a list that skips over Hillary Clinton, seen here as an enduring fixture on the U.S. political stage. The casting this year was amazing, said Thomas Snegaroff, a history teacher and author of several books on U.S. politics. The French media adore telling stories, and here was one they couldnt resist. What has made this years crop of candidates particularly compelling is the way in which they have fed a French fascination with America that swings easily from admiration to disdain. Exhibit A, of course, is Trump, whose explosion onto the political scene shocked the French, just as it did many Americans. Snegaroff detected an ill-disguised delight on the part of some local commentators, who clearly relished Trumps vulgar, boastful and insular remarks as confirmation of the ugly American stereotype. These traits allow the French to nourish a certain anti-Americanism, he said. Trump is a caricature, when we hear him say things like the French could have protected themselves better during the November attacks if they had had guns, or his idea of banning Muslims. Such comments conjure attitudes from earlier periods, when people were saying that Americans are stupid, that they lack culture, Snegaroff said. During the Obama era, the French have had to set aside some of these stereotypes, marveling at the election of a black president who was both cool and cerebral, without the familiar American swagger. And now there is Sanders, the Vermont senator seeking the Democratic nomination, who bills himself as a socialist hardly a dirty word in France, where a Socialist government has been in power since 2012. The strong showing by Sanders in Iowa was greeted last week as a welcome surprise by the Communist newspaper LHumanite, which reminded its readers that claiming to be a socialist in the United States is as good as calling yourself a devil. Snegaroff said that after Iowa, he picked up Twitter posts from French leftists who hailed Sanders as a credible voice for radical change, something they see as lacking at home. In the French view, both Trump and Sanders have been able to channel the anger and frustration shared by young and blue-collar voters who feel betrayed by the system and fear an uncertain future a mood often attributed to supporters of Frances extreme-right National Front. Seen from here, the spectacle of U.S. politics can be mystifying: the arcane complexities of the Iowa caucuses and the seemingly uncontrolled flow of money into political campaigns. The role of religion in political debate, perhaps best exemplified by Cruzs courting of evangelical voters with vows to defund Planned Parenthood, is baffling for a country that stakes its identity on secularism. And yet for all its flaws, the American system is showing itself to be lively, engaging and full of surprises elements noticeably lacking in French politics, where the potential candidates for the 2017 presidential election include a former and a sitting president, two former prime ministers and a number of other familiar faces. There is a lot of respect for a democracy that is capable of renewing its political class, Snegaroff said. With both major French political parties contemplating primaries this year, many here are watching the hurly-burly of the American experience with a mix of envy and worry, he said. American politics are a constant frame of reference for us, Snegaroff said. We either want to be like them, or we want to do the opposite. Investors were unfazed by billionaire Bill Ackmans latest salvo in a three-year battle to make good on his $1 billion bet that Herbalife Ltd. is an illegal pyramid scheme. The shares rose 1.3 percent to $43.99 on Tuesday after Ackmans Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund released a 13-minute video that tells the stories of people claiming to be victims of Herbalife, which sells weight-loss shakes and other supplements through independent distributors around the world. Ackman, who has a short position in the company, is trying to drive down the stock price. Speaking mostly in Spanish, the participants in the video called The American Dream Denied recount similar tales of losing thousands of dollars as Herbalife distributors. The companys business model mixes selling the nutrition supplements with recruiting others to do the same. Many of the subjects said they tapped their savings, borrowed from family members and sold possessions to stay in the Herbalife system. In the end, they said they lost most of their money. The interviewees support Ackmans claims that Herbalife is taking advantage of immigrants and the poor, who are lured by Herbalife recruiters with promises of riches. People in the video say they were told that the way to make money in Herbalife is to recruit people, not sell products, which Ackman says is the hallmark of a pyramid scheme. Herbalife has countered by saying it doesnt record who is the end user because it only sells to distributors. It has also pointed to third-party surveys that show its products have about 8 million customers in the U.S. Herbalife didnt respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. For Ackman to make money on his short position, he needs Herbalifes stock to fall. Before today, the shares had gained about 3.5 percent since December 2012, when he went public with his allegations and disclosed his short position. This isnt the first time an attack by Ackman has fallen flat. A three-hour presentation in July 2014 boosted the stock a record 25 percent in one day. That prompted Ackman to deem the talk a PR failure. Pershing Squares campaign against the company has included hiring outside firms to investigate it. Herbalife has repeatedly denied the accusations, but the criticism has prompted a probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Investigations by the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office and the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation into Herbalife have failed to find evidence to support bringing charges, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. The two entities also dont have evidence to charge Pershing Square for manipulating Herbalifes stock, the newspaper said. In the past two years, major scientific developments have suggested that all of our eyes should be on a place that only a tiny fraction of us will ever visit Antarctica, the frozen South Pole continent thats larger than the continental United States and contains the majority of the planets land-based ice. In 2014, scientists revealed that key parts of remote West Antarctica, may have been destabilized by warm ocean waters reaching the bases of vast submarine glaciers and melting them from below. West Antarctica, as a whole, contains nearly 11 feet of potential sea level rise. And last year, research hinted that a similar vulnerability may exist for the truly gigantic Totten Glacier of East Antarctica. Now, in a study in Nature Climate Change, researchers provide a new way of looking at how vulnerable Antarcticas ice is and the approach, unfortunately, largely reinforces the conclusions of the prior studies. To understand the new research, you first have to understand a truly astonishing feature of Antarctica that is virtually without rival anywhere else it is ringed with gigantic ice shelves. These are sometimes country-sized sheets of ice extending out over the surface of the ocean and floating on top of it. Antarctic ice shelves play a critical role in ensuring that Antarcticas inland ice, which flows toward the sea through multiple vast glaciers, moves relatively slowly. They are sometimes likened to the flying buttresses of Gothic cathedrals, because they in effect act as a brace, holding back the flow of glaciers a role they exert because they tend to be attached to islands or seafloor rises. These ice shelves, they are hundreds of meters thick, its different than sea ice, says Johannes Frst of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, lead author of the new study. The ice shelves are really, really huge, and thats why they can support this buttressing basically. But ice shelves sometimes break off or calve large pieces of ice that can be as big as cities. Indeed, they can also collapse entirely, as happened with the Larsen A ice shelf in 1995 and the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002. Meanwhile, the huge Larsen C ice shelf has a large and advancing crack across it. After Larsen A and B collapsed, scientists documented a rapid acceleration of the glaciers behind them, pouring much more ice into the sea. Ice shelves do not themselves raise sea level if they collapse, since they are already afloat. But the land based glaciers behind them do raise seas if they flow into the water. Therefore, the stability of Antarctic ice shelves has key implications for global sea level. Enter the new study: Frst and a group of colleagues from France and Germany examined the totality of ice shelves around Antarctica to see how much ice they could lose before the glaciers that they hold back become destabilized. Ice shelves, they say in the paper, are Antarcticas safety band. And they concluded that in the Amundsen Sea region of West Antarctica in particular, the situation is alarming. This is a region where ice shelves can lose very little ice if they are still to play their buttressing role of holding back larger glaciers. Frst and his colleagues use satellite imagery and model simulations to calculate what percentage of each Antarctic ice shelf is passive, meaning that it isnt playing any major buttressing role. Antarctica-wide, they determined, about 13.4 percent of the total area of ice shelves is comprised of passive ice, and therefore can be lost without worrying about the consequences for the glaciers held back behind them. In some key regions that passive percentage was considerably larger, while in others, it was much smaller. The latter are the danger regions for Antarctica and for coasts across the planet. Visually, ice shelves that dont have much passive ice tend to look quite different from those that do, the study notes. They tend to have a concave shape, sinking inward toward land rather than being convex and pushing outward into the ocean. Before they disintegrated, the study notes, both the Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves took on a concave shape. So what parts of Antarctica look the most vulnerable? In particular, key regions of West Antarctica were found to have very little margin of safety. Getz ice shelf was comprised of just 4.6 percent passive ice; Cosgrove ice shelf had just 2.7 percent; and Dotson ice shelf had just 1.5 percent. Similarly, along the Bellingshausen Sea between West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, there were many regions of high vulnerability (although this area contains considerably less total vulnerable ice than West Antarctica does). The ice shelves in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas have limited or almost no passive portion, which implies that further retreat of current ice-shelf fronts will yield important dynamic consequences, write the authors. The regions which dont show so much passive shelf are the ones that already dynamically react, so we there see already a big dynamic signal. Thats where we find mass loss as well, says Frst. Finally, far over in East Antarctica, Totten Glacier was again identified as a vulnerability zone with just 4.2 percent of its ice shelf able to be lost without consequences. Destabilization of Totten could ultimately lead to about as much sea level rise as the entirety of West Antarctica. Its a confirmation of what some of the vulnerable sectors are, and its an eye opener on some of the other places that we havent thought through completely that need a little bit more attention, says Eric Rignot, an expert on Antarcticas ice at the University of California-Irvine, who was not involved in the research. On Totten, I was a little bit surprised to see a 4.2. Apparently its a very sensitive one. In those places where ice-shelf shrinkage and ice-stream acceleration have been observed, there is little or no passive ice shelf, confirming the inference that these places are sensitive to additional warming and ice-shelf loss, and likely have been subject to ice-shelf loss in the past, added Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Penn State University who was not involved in the study. Granted, the study also found some more stable zones including Larsen C. While it looks like this ice shelf may soon lose a large portion in a major calving event, the research suggested that the loss would not speed up glaciers behind it, because although the event would be very dramatic, the ice lost would mostly be passive. The vulnerability of ice shelves is a separate issue from the question of what might ultimately cause them to lose ice in an amount that pushes beyond a critical threshold, Rignot notes. That could be either warmer air temperatures, which have been blamed for the collapse of Larsen A and Larsen B, or warmer oceans melting ice from below, which seems to be the case in West Antarctica. But either way, an ice shelf with more passive ice will be more able to weather a warming trend, while one with less passive ice will be more easily pushed over the brink. What we still dont understand and the next challenge that arises in the wake of this research is how to predict when an ice shelf is going to calve a large piece, or collapse, says Rignot. Its like studying plate tectonics and earthquakes, he says. We have good control on the rate of motion of the plates, and the calving is like the next earthquake. Its a bit of different physics, its more chaotic, its difficult to understand. For lead study author Frst, in the end the research allows scientists to know which regions of Antarctica really need monitoring. Now we kind of know where to look, he says. It remains to be determined if scientists, studying these key areas, will see what many fear continued loss of ice and acceleration of the glaciers behind ice shelves. Two Orange County chefs went head-to-head last week in Bravos new deviously-themed culinary competition Recipe for Deception. In the third episode, Jason Quinn of Playground in Santa Ana battled Tony Nguyen of AnQi in Costa Mesa, executive chef of House of An restaurants (which include Crustacean locations in Beverly Hills and San Francisco). They join a growing list of local chefs who have competed in popular TV food shows, including Amar Santana. The chef-owner of Vaca and Broadway by Amar Santana is currently competing in Bravos Top Chef. Similar to Food Networks Cutthroat Kitchen, Recipe for Deception chefs battle in head-to-head elimination rounds until a champion is crowned. In each episode, the chefs are tasked with creating a dish featuring a main ingredient. The twist: only their opponent knows the ingredient. A series of clues are given, but one hint can be a lie by the opposing chef. Quinns ingredient is eggs. Nguyens is onions. Using the clues, Quinn has nailed his ingredient so he makes a hollandaise sauce to top crab legs. But Nguyen is clueless, thinking his crunchy ingredient is chicharrones, fried pig skin. After his secret ingredientonionsis revealed, Nguyen scrambles to flash fry some to top his tuna tartare dish with crumbled chicharrones. Though Quinn had the advantage of knowing his ingredient early, the judges fault him for not providing a more creative use of the egg. Nguyen wins and moves on to the finale, where he is once again deceived into using the wrong secret ingredient. His crunchy ingredient is pickles, but he decides to use cereal as a coating for fried fish. Quinn negotiates a 20 percent cut in the final prize by offering him another clue. Nguyen agrees. Quinn tells him cereal is not the secret ingredient. With two minutes left, Nguyen is thrown for a loop when he learns about the pickles. He creates a pickled broth for his soba noodles and crowns the soup with cereal battered fish and sliced pickles. His flavors prevail and the judges deem him the champion. That dish had real chef quality to it, judge Jonathan Waxman said. On Monday, Nguyen, who referred to himself on the show as a human panda, said he filmed the show last spring. Hes appeared on Food Networks Guys Grocery Games and FYIs Man v. Child. This was one of the most confusing shows Ive ever competed in and watched, he told the Register. How did he manage to pull off the win? Nguyen said he made two dishes for each challenge to cover his bases. But none of that was shown on TV. For the pickle challenge, he also made ice cream. But he scrapped the frozen treat once he knew he had to use pickles. Ironically, he said, pickles are one of the three ingredients I dont like working with. He kept the soup dish, and hoped for the best. Ultimately, did Quinns clue help him? (Quinn told him the ingredient wasnt cereal, which Nguyen was using for his fried fish.) That was kind of a lousy clue, Nguyen said. The clue didnt make him change direction of his soup dish. After winning, Quinn received a 20 percent cut of Nguyens $10,000 prize. I wanted to give him a good clue. I just wasnt able to, Quinn told the Register this week. Nguyen has no regrets. He wanted to include Quinn on the final prize, no matter what kind of help he gave. Im a big believer in karma. I dont want to be selfish, he said. When the challenge was over, how did he feel? I swear a lost about 20 pounds that day. I was a sweaty mess, Nguyen said. How do you keep the music playing? Its the title of a 1982 song by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans, Alan and Marilyn, that is often heard at jazz performances, but its also an apt question for anyone involved in organizing and running any sort of annual jazz event. As audiences age, attendance can thin out. So the challenge for people like John McClure and Joe Rothman, producers of the Newport Beach Jazz Party, is how to continue to attract core fans without losing ground yet still try to create something that will appeal to younger audiences. Despite the declining age group which supports their style of jazz and the Great American Songbook, McClure said in a recent telephone interview, plenty of baby boomers around the country are tempted enough to travel to sunny Newport Beach every Presidents Day weekend to rub elbows with their favorite jazz heroes. Yet, as promoters, were sometimes criticized that we dont fill the room with more young people. Its a misconception of where the young listeners are coming from someday they will eventually come. Longtime jazz and swing clarinetist and sax player Ken Peplowski, a frequent performer at the Jazz Party, said the best route for annual event producers like McClure and Rothman is to hire younger musicians who are into performing standards-based jazz. Doing so, he said, brings a high probability of attracting those of similar age. From almost the start, Rothman and McClure have done exactly that. Young musicians presented at the event fall into two categories. The first of these involves high-school and college-age bands, screened by reputation in an effort to reach the most award-winning, highly polished young aggregations. Since 2004, the Washington Prep High School Big Band, El Dorado High School, CSULB Concert Jazz Orchestra and the Cal State University A Band have been featured. McClure said that a very popular and unique presentation of the CSULB Vocal Jazz Ensemble, known by the name Pacific Standard Time, was first hired in 2009. A multi-award-winning vocal jazz group thats appeared numerous times at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the group was brought back by patron demand in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Rothman and McClure refer to the second category as young working professionals. Two years ago, this involved presenting several such up-and-coming, full-time professional musicians. Bassist Katie Thiroux, who has been mentored by Peplowski and John Clayton, and drummer Matt Witek, mentored by Jeff Hamilton, are often hired by Peplowski for his New York City and Los Angeles gigs. Trombonist Ryan Dragon is an Orange County native who at age 10 studied under the guidance of Bill Tole, Ira Nepus and Joey Sellers, and McClure said pianist Sam Hirsh performed with this group at age 25 and is well on his way as a full time pro. McClure noted that perhaps the most amazing and spectacular youth to emerge from the 2014 Jazz Party was trumpet and cornet player Geoff Gallante who, at age 13, traveled from Alexandria, Va., with his father/manager. Having youthful faces on the bill, though, is only the first step: Peplowski notes the challenges of getting the attention of those in the 15-to-30-year-old demographic, whose focuses are digital devices and the Internet, not live jazz. The hope is that younger performers will use social networking to reach peers otherwise not inclined to attend. Its this aspect, Peplowski insists getting the attention of younger audiences and getting them to attend in person thats the key, not making changes to the program, performance roster or the music itself. Peplowski said technology-based contemporary musical forms offer very little thats human, personal or relatable. By contrast, he said, standards are universal. If you can just get (younger audiences) into the room, theyll see and hear how exciting the music is and how different it is from anything else, and theyll be hooked. With respect to achieving this, McClure and Rothman are, Peplowski said, getting there slowly, but they are getting there. Nguoi Viet Daily News, Orange Countys oldest Vietnamese newspaper, can take control of a competitor, Little Saigon News, to settle a $4.5 million libel case, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled last week. The ruling by Judge Mark Wallace, which Little Saigon News immediately appealed, is the latest development in an ideological and commercial battle that has divided the countys large Vietnamese community for the past three years. In December 2014, an Orange County Superior Court jury found Little Saigon News and its owner, Brigitte Huynh, had libeled Nguoi Viet and its editor, Dat Huy Phan, by accusing them of communist ties in a 2012 column. The court ordered Little Saigon News to turn over its assets to Nguoi Viet, but Huynh forestalled the move by declaring bankruptcy. In last weeks ruling, Wallace wrote he would waive the 14-day stay typical in bankruptcy cases so that Nguoi Viet could take immediate control of Little Saigon News. The Court is greatly concerned about the possibility of additional defamation, he wrote. Huynhs 2012 column was published amid a fierce struggle between the two media companies as they vied for readership among the nations 1.7 million Vietnamese. Both are based in Westminster on Moran Street, a cul-de-sac that also hosts two other Vietnamese-language newspapers. Little Saigon News called itself The Voice of the non-Communist Vietnamese, while Nguoi Viet espoused an evenhanded approach to newsgathering. Anti-communist factions in Little Saigons fraught politics have frequently attacked Nguoi Viet over the years. Little Saigon News started as a weekly tabloid, eventually publishing editions in more than a dozen cities around the country and claiming a circulation of 70,000. A few years ago, it began to publish a daily edition, competing directly with Nguoi Viet. Meanwhile, Nguoi Viet, with a print circulation of 15,000 in Orange County and 60,000 daily Web visitors, launched publications in Houston and other U.S. cities, a direct challenge to Little Saigon News. In a statement released Tuesday by her attorneys, Huynh said she would respect the bankruptcy judgment, pending appeal. But she disputed the libel charge, which is also under appeal, adding, I shall be resilient and persistent in pursuing my quest to serve the oppressed and defenseless. Phan was unavailable to comment Tuesday. Contact the writer: mroosevelt@ocregister.com; on Twitter @MargotRoosevelt WASHINGTON The national intelligence director, James R. Clapper, warned Tuesday that North Korea had expanded its production of weapons-grade nuclear fuel, making clear that the Obama administration now regarded the reclusive government in Pyongyang, rather than Iran, as the worlds most worrisome nuclear threat. Clappers warning, delivered in his annual worldwide threat assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee, came a day after President Barack Obama called the leaders of Japan and South Korea to reassure them after a satellite launch by North Korea deepened fears that the North could strike the two countries with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Pyongyang continues to produce fissile material and develop a submarine-launched ballistic missile, Clapper said. It is also committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile thats capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, although the system has not been flight-tested. In his testimony, Clapper put North Korea at the top of his list of nuclear- and proliferation-related threats. U.S. intelligence agencies say that North Korea has expanded its uranium-enrichment facility at its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon and restarted a plutonium production reactor. Clapper sounded less worried about Iran, which for years topped most lists of nuclear threats. He said there was no evidence so far that Iran had breached the terms of last summers nuclear agreement with the West. Still, Clapper said, we in the intelligence community are very much in the distrust and verify mode. Nuclear proliferation was only one entry on a long list of threats Clapper raised, which included failing states, the migration crisis, terrorist plots by Islamic State and potential cyberattacks. With North Korea testing a nuclear device and launching a satellite in quick succession, the White House has grown frustrated by its inability to curb the government in Pyongyang. Obama spoke with President Xi Jinping of China a few days before the satellite launch to urge him to use Chinas influence over North Korea to prevent it. The United States has begun negotiations with South Korea about moving equipment to place an anti-ballistic missile system known as the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD, on the Korean Peninsula. Installing the system has been a subject of intense debate in Seoul because it could upset an already delicate relationship with Beijing. On Monday, the Chinese government expressed deep concern about the prospect of an anti-missile system in the region, because the radar from such a system would penetrate its territory. SANTA ANA An Irvine attorney was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison on obstruction of justice charges for taking money to help a material witness in a sweeping birth-tourism case leave the country. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford also ordered Ken Zhiyi Liang, 39, to serve three years supervised release and pay a $1,000 fine. He will get credit for the seven months he has spent in jail since his May 2015 arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Yang described Liang as remarkably brazen and argued Monday that he should receive three years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Liangs arrest followed a massive raid in March by federal agents who swarmed apartment complexes and homes in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. They interviewed pregnant Chinese women and seized computers and documents. Federal officials said three Chinese companies engaged in visa and tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy as part of an elaborate, illegal plan to bring the women into the country so their children could automatically obtain citizenship. In September, Guilford found Liang guilty on two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct. On Monday, the judge chastised Liang for failing in his obligation as a lawyer to help clients navigate the complexities of the legal system. It reflects very poorly on you, he said. I consider it a serious offense. Liang, wearing light-brown, jail-issued clothing and handcuffs, said while seated next to his attorney James D. Riddet that he was sorry for his actions. I sincerely apologize for my terrible judgment, he told Guilford. Liang said he plans to surrender his law license. Federal prosecutors accused Liang of accepting $6,000 from a Chinese woman in exchange for getting her out of the country, despite a court order that she remain in the U.S. The woman, a former client of Liangs referred to as D.L., was cooperating with the government and recorded several conversations with Liang. In portions of the recorded conversations, Liang appears to warn D.L. that he could get in trouble for helping her return to China, suggests using a medium or third party to communicate, and indicates that in exchange for the $6,000, he could guarantee she would get out of the country. Riddet contended during trial that his clients words were taken out of context and that he only advocated legal routes the woman could take to be allowed to return to China. D.L. reportedly traveled to the United States in early 2015 to give birth to a baby who would be an American citizen. The attorneys indicated that D.L. paid nearly $40,000 to a company that set up the birth tourism trip. She didnt realize the company was at the center of a federal investigation. No charges have been filed against the companies accused of setting up vacation-style trips for the pregnant women who wanted to give birth in the United States. But 29 Chinese nationals including D.L. were designated as material witnesses. D.L. and some of the other witnesses hired Liang to represent them. Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline Corporations do lots of things to tell you the economy is doing well. Like changing their names. In tough times, corporate leaders have better things to do than tinker with their image. Like reviewing every expense to make sure payrolls can be met and the banker is paid off. When were in good times, like today, those chores become routine. Bosses have brief delusions of growth. Theres even enough spare cash for new business cards. Thus, new identities are born. Revising a company persona reflects a dream that a corporate makeover can propel the institution to new heights. The reality is often only confusion. I often question the logic behind most name changes because it takes years to successfully build a new brand. More troubling is that the new name is often laughable. Please ponder Conexant, born in 1999 as a spinoff of a communications technology business created by the old Rockwell defense contractor. It is Orange Countys worst corporate name ever. Heres how it was explained: The connect root signifies bringing people together through communications, putting ideas into motion and merging technologies into integrated solutions. The next root represents a forward-looking orientation, with a disciplined next-step application. The suffix ant implies a proactive action-oriented approach to business. Only an engineer could think that way. And worse, at its birth, this was one of the largest makers of gear that enabled Internet connections remember dial-up modems? Today, Conexant is a tiny maker of audio and imaging technologies. Sadly, three recent Orange County name changes came awfully close to unseating Conexant with this dubious honor. GOING GLOBAL Some companies change their names in an attempt to hide a checkered past. Look at four hospitals owned by Integrated Healthcare Holdings, a small chain of Orange County hospitals that have struggled with numerous challenges since being spun off from Tenet Healthcare in 2004. Profitability has been challenging. An ugly fight broke out between senior management and certain doctors. The reputation of ownership has been questioned. So last June, Western Medical Center in Santa Ana morphed into Orange County Global Medical Center; the West Med in Anaheim became Anaheim Global; Chapman Medical became Chapman Global; and Coastal Communities Hospital became South Coast Global. And Integrated became KPC Health the initials are of its owner. The new hospital names a mix of a local place name and global makes no sense to me. The company sees it as a message for patients to take a broader view of services offered. I think the only way a hospital name means anything to patients is if its listed as an in-network facility with their insurance carrier. GOING BICOASTAL Corporate mergers apparently spur an urge to name change as the combined entity tries to craft a new personality both internally as well as to the consuming public. When Orange County homebuilder Standard Pacific merged with Ryland Group last year, CalAtlantic was born. The CalAtlantic Homes name points to the breadth of the new companys footprint expanding from coast to coast and all points in between, a company statement said. But tell me: Where does California meet the Atlantic? Forget geography, think about style and culture. Surf vs. stuffy. Cool vs. cocky. Wine vs. whiskey. Any similarities? Standard Pacific builds upscale housing, primarily in the West. Ryland largely creates more affordable options in the East. Yes, it may look like a match on paper. But the awkward name suggests some challenges ahead. GROWING TENFOLD Some companies think their old name inhibits future growth. Take Auction.com, the Irvine-based online pioneer of distressed property sales. In January, it became Ten-X. Apparently, the company wants to tell everyone that its no longer just an auction house as its grows its share of transactions of non-distressed properties and tries more traditional sales processes. Theres a slim chance I could buy this argument, but what does Ten-X mean? In what I must admit is a bold statement backing up the new name, the company said: Our vision is to make buying and selling real estate ten times better for everyone involved. As an occasional consumer of real estate transaction services, I hope the lofty goal sticks. But I fear nobody will ever get this corporate moniker. Contact the writer: jlansner@ocregister.com ANAHEIM A 22-year-old man was shot and killed by an Anaheim police officer early Tuesday morning in Sage Park, officials said. A man was reportedly knocking on multiple residences doors shortly before midnight Monday in the 1300 block of West Lido Place. One of the residents told the man to go away, but he came back a short time later and knocked again, so (the resident) told him to go away again, Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said. The resident called 911, and two Anaheim police officers searched the neighborhood until 12:38 a.m. before giving up. One officer drove into the nearby northwest side Sage Park as a last-ditch effort to search for the man. At 12:41, the first broadcast is that hes been involved in an officer-involved shooting, Wyatt said. Details about what lead up to or caused the officer to fire his gun were not released. The District Attorneys Office responded to the park to handle the investigation. No weapon was found at the scene, Wyatt said. Gustavo Najera, 22, of Anaheim, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange where he died at 1:21 a.m., according to the coroners office. Police said the officers body camera was on. The park, on a quiet street surrounded by numerous apartments, was closed Tuesday morning during the initial investigation. Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com LANCASTER, Calif. Officials at a Los Angeles County state prison said they are investigating the death of an inmate found unresponsive in his cell as a homicide and that his cellmate is a suspect. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Monday 39-year-old Rashell Clarke was found unresponsive Saturday at the prison in Lancaster. It says prison staff immediately began lifesaving measures and called an ambulance. Clarke died 38 minutes later. Clarke was serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted in 2010 for endangering the health of a child. Officials said his cellmate, 33-year-old Leron Morris, is considered a suspect. Morris was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 and is serving a life sentence. Business Lessons From An Entrepreneur 15 Valuable Business Lessons I learned From My First Year Of Entrepreneurship Page 1 of 2 2015 was the best year of my life. It represented my first year as a full-time entrepreneur. At this exact time last year, I was still working full-time for my previous employer the market research tech firm Decipher (acquired by FocusVision). On February 19th of last year, my now co-founders and I left our positions at Decipher to pursue Benchmark Intelligence, a product suite that helps retail chains analyze the performance of their different locations. A year later, weve graduated from two awesome start-up accelerators (Boomtown & The Brandery). We began generating revenue, collected data from over a 1,000 brick and mortar locations, and grew our team. Weve built an amazing product that is changing the way restaurant and retail chains measure the performance of their establishments. Here are 15 lessons I learned in 2015 my first full year in business. A photo posted by Andre Mello ? (@andreme11o) on Jan 28, 2016 at 6:09am PST 1. You dont have to have it all figured out. When my co-founders and I left our jobs and packed our bags to move to Colorado, we didnt have it all figured out. Its quite alarming how much we didnt have figured out, to be honest. However, we had faith in what we were doing and more importantly in each other. A year later, we are still figuring out some of the details. I am not saying the details arent important. What I am saying is: When youre chasing your dreams, its all right to figure out the details as you go. 2. Everything will take much longer than you expect. This past year, I learned the hard way that everything takes longer than you expect. Whether you are building the MVP, getting a customer or raising funds, everything will most likely take longer than you think. In our case, some things have taken two to five times more time than we were expecting. However, the important thing is that they are happening. Just remember, you cant always plan everything; sometimes life happens. 3. Sometimes vulnerability is a strength. One of the biggest takeaways I learned from Boomtowns leadership team was that its all right to be vulnerable. They wanted us to be vulnerable with them, with our co-founders, and with the other teams in the cohort. As soon as I began allowing myself to become a leader who showed vulnerability, I was able to create stronger relationships with my team members. They began trusting me more because I would always be transparent and upfront with them. I was also able to build great relationships with the mentors in the programs as well as become great friends with other entrepreneurs in both cohorts because I allowed myself to be vulnerable instead of hostile and competitive. 4. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I cant stress how important it is. I owe everything to my team. I know that as a CEO, my biggest motivator is seeing my team eat and my co-founders happy. I wouldnt grind half as hard if I were just doing it for myself. Entrepreneurship is a team sport, and there is no position on the team called boss. 5. You dont need to be in Silicon Valley to succeed. I spent the first half of 2015 in Boulder, CO and the second half in Cincinnati, OH. One is an established startup ecosystem (Boulder) and the other is a rapidly growing startup ecosystem (Cincinnati). Ive seen friends in both cities raise over a million dollars. This past year taught me you dont have to be in Silicon Valley to succeed. I would actually suggest starting your business outside of Silicon Valley, as the cost of living and talent in Silicon Valley is ridiculous. There are plenty of great angel investors, VC firms, and talent all around the US. 6. Travel often. I traveled more last year than I did during the previous 25 years of my life combined. Traveling around the US hasnt only helped me explore new business opportunities that I otherwise wouldnt have had access to, but it has also helped me grow as an individual. Traveling is the only thing you buy that makes you richer. 7. Your time is more valuable than money. An entrepreneur's most valuable resource is time. I know youre probably thinking its money (especially in the early stages when cash is scarce) but I promise you that its always time. With that being said, always do your best to manage your time and make sure you spend it creating the highest value possible whether its monetary value or some other sort of value. Not all tasks are equal, but every hour is always 60 minutes. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabias offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdoms growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering U.S. calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially explosive risk of confrontation between one of the Arab worlds most powerful militaries and forces keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Thats if the Saudi proposal even gets translated into action. Just putting the offer on the table gives the Saudis an opportunity to show leadership in addressing U.S. concerns that its regional allies arent doing enough to fight IS. It also puts pressure on Washington to do more as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and allied defense ministers gather in Brussels this week for talks on confronting the extremists. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi military spokesman, made clear the kingdoms offer is contingent on the support of the U.S.-led coalition battling the militant group in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also has offered to deploy ground forces, are part of the coalition but have eased up on their contributions to the air campaign after earlier, high-profile sorties over Syria. In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir implied Monday that his countrys willingness to send special forces to Syria was contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort. The coalition will operate the way it has operated in the past, as an international coalition, even when there is a ground-force contingent in Syria, al-Jubeir told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The U.S. is leading the international coalition against ISIS in Syria, he said, declining to discuss potential Saudi troop numbers, deployment dates or targets. There would be no international coalition against ISIS in Syria if the U.S. did not lead this effort. Saudi Arabia is far more focused on another war even closer to home. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition heavily supported by the Emirates is battling Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and a former presidents supporters who control the capital of Sanaa and other parts of the impoverished country. The Yemen intervention highlights Saudi Arabias growing assertiveness since King Salmans ascension to the throne just over a year ago, along with the rise of his son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The 30-year-old prince was named by his father as defense minister and second-in-line to be king. Prince Mohammed has announced the creation of a Saudi-based Islamic military alliance intended to fight terrorism. The bloc includes much of the Sunni Arab world, several African and Asian countries, as well as NATO member Turkey. Not included are IS front lines Syria and Iraq, or Saudi Arabias chief rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran. The Salman doctrine is about projecting power and military strength, said Dubai-based geopolitical analyst Theodore Karasik, who believes the Saudis offer for troops in Syria could portend other military expeditions in the region. It may be looking for leverage, but its also very serious, he said. While the Saudis say their aim is to fight IS, the timing of the kingdoms announcement raises questions about its motives. Russias intervention in Syria has sharply altered the military landscape, routing Saudi-backed rebels from key areas in the north and giving Assad the upper hand. Prospects for any meaningful peace talks appear to be dwindling by the day. Any ground troops deployed to fight IS would almost certainly have to enter from the Turkish border, close to the area where Syrian government troops and allied militiamen have been advancing under cover of blistering Russian airstrikes. Saudi ground troops would find themselves embroiled in complex terrain where hundreds of Shiite fighters from Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan also are fighting. That would make the proxy sectarian wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging suddenly more intimate, potentially putting Saudi and Iranian troops in the same fighting space. IS would certainly relish the chance to take on Saudi ground troops, given that it views the Saudi monarchy as a top enemy in the region. Saudi troops might well find themselves less battle-hardened than the jihadists and would no doubt be singled out for capture. The seizure by IS militants of a Jordanian pilot whose plane crashed over Syria in 2014 and his subsequent videotaped killing was a factor in dampening Arab participation in the air campaign in Syria. At a news conference Saturday in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem ridiculed the Saudi offer to send troops to Syria, vowing they would return home in wooden coffins. The question that Saudi Arabia should be asking itself is, what did it accomplish in Yemen? Was it successful? he asked. It has sown destruction, hitting every target two, three times and did not leave a stone standing. Did the Yemenis surrender? Al-Moallem said the offer was a sign of Saudi frustration that their tools in Syria were losing in the face of sweeping victories by the Syrian army. The head of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said Saturday that Riyadh lacked the courage to make such a move. Tackling IS head-on in Syria also risks blowback in Saudi Arabia. The militant group already has carried out multiple suicide bombings in the kingdom, possibly including one late last month at a Shiite mosque in the countrys east that has not yet been claimed by any group but bore the hallmarks of IS militants. Many of the attackers have been Saudi citizens, pointing to the home-grown jihadist sympathies that Saudi authorities struggle to contain. Fahad Nazer, a political analyst at Virginia-based consultancy and security firm JTG Inc., predicted that a ground campaign against IS would nonetheless garner considerable support inside the kingdom, at least initially. But it is hard to say how long that support would last if casualties started mounting, he added. Very few countries would want to go into Syria without reservations, he said. I dont think Saudi Arabia would go into this lightly. It would be kind of a last resort. Federal prosecutors filed charges Monday against an Iraqi woman accused of taking hostage an American aid worker who was killed last year in Syria. The Iraqi woman, known as Umm Sayyaf or Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, was captured in May in a U.S. commando raid in eastern Syria. Her husband, a senior Islamic State terrorist, was killed in the assault. Sayyaf was charged with conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Justice Department officials and federal prosecutors had been debating charges in the case for months. Authorities believe that Sayyaf played a role in the imprisonment of Kayla Mueller, 26, an American woman from Prescott, Arizona, who was repeatedly abused and raped by the leader of the Islamic State. Mueller, who was abducted in 2013 after leaving a hospital in Syria, had traveled to the region to help refugees trying to escape civil war. After Sayyafs capture, she was taken to a U.S. air base near the Iraqi Kurdish city of Irbil, where the FBI-led High-Value Interrogation Group questioned her for intelligence purposes. Then FBI agents from the Washington Field Office, known as a clean team, interviewed her repeatedly, working to build a criminal case against her for a future prosecution in federal court. According to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent William R Heaney, Sayyaf admitted that she and her husband were responsible for maintaining custody of Mueller and other captives, and that she thought Mueller was being held for ransom or some type of prisoner exchange. Sayaff also admitted, according to the affidavit, that her home was used to store large amounts of cash that the Islamic State had made through its oil and gas businesses, and that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, and other terrorists sometimes stayed there. It also apparently was used to store firearms, according to the affidavit. The Iraqis took custody of Sayyaf in August, and it is unlikely she will ever make her way back to the U.S. Still, federal prosecutors and FBI agents felt charges in the case might bring some measure of comfort to Muellers family, officials said. There also were concerns, officials said, that the Kurds could eventually release Sayyaf in a prisoner exchange. Charges allow the FBI to arrrest her should that happen. The Islamic State claimed Mueller was killed in February after a Jordanian fighter plane dropped a bomb on her. The terrorist group sent photographs of the dead woman to her family. U.S. intelligence officials have said they still do not know how she died. The charges revealed some new information about Muellers time in captivity. According to the affidavit, she was moved from an Islamic State prison to Sayyafs and her husbands custody around September 24, 2014. She and the other captives were at times handcuffed or kept in locked rooms, chastised by Sayyaf as kafir or infidels, according to the affidavit. The affidavit alleges Mueller was shown violent Islamic State propaganda videos and raped by al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State. Muellers exact whereabouts in captivity remain murky because she was moved several times and always a step ahead of U.S. intelligence. Officials said she was being held for months with other American and western hostages in Raqqa, the groups de facto capital in Syria. In late June 2014, the U.S. confirmed their location and U.S. Delta Force commandoes launched a raid the next month, but she and the others were gone. U.S. intelligence later learned Mueller was taken to another location, where she lived with Sayyaf and her husband along with a pair of Yazidi women who later escaped in October 2014. A U.S. intelligence official said they didnt locate the house until late 2014 or early 2015. It took a while to figure out the Yazidi story, the official said. U.S. intelligence watched the house for any signs of Mueller, the Sayyafs or even Baghdadi himself. Officials said FBI and Delta Force commandoes prepared to raid the house and devised a plan to collect evidence, according to one of the intelligence officials. But Mueller and the others never returned, and the U.S. called off the raid. Officials said theyre not sure where Mueller was taken after the Yazidi women escaped but suspect she spent her last months alive near Raqqa, where she was killed around this time last year. Sayyaf was eventually captured at a house in eastern Syria which her husband used for his illicit oil business. Officials said that Delta Force commandoes and members of the FBIs elite Hostage Rescue Team recovered a gold mine in intelligence after that raid, which killed Sayyafs husband, Fathi ben Awn ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi, a Tunisian man known as Abu Sayyaf. Sayyaf told investigators that her family members belonged to the terrorist group that preceded the Islamic State, and she married her husband in 2010 while he was a member of that group. A 37-year-old former Lake Forest church assistant was convicted Monday of molesting two girls he met through his fathers congregation. An Orange County Superior Court jury convicted Branden Edward Shumate of three felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14. Jurors at the West Justice Center in Westminster also found true a sentence-enhancing allegation of multiple victims, prosecutors said. Shumate faces 45 years to life in prison when he returns to court for sentencing on March 25. Between 1997 and 1998, prosecutors said, then-18-year-old Shumate worked as an assistant in a church where his father was a pastor in Lake Forest. During that time, prosecutors said, Shumate molested a 6-year-old girl after she fell asleep in a car while waiting for other church members to arrive for a trip to a water park in Irvine. Prosecutors said Shumate remained in contact with the girls family over the years and molested the girl again when she was 12 years old. The girl told a family member about the incidents after Shumate tried to contact her in 2006, prosecutors said. Shumate later moved to Hawaii with his family. Shumate is also accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl between 2010 and 2011 after her family moved into his familys home. Prosecutors said Shumate assaulted the girl as she was drying off after a shower. The girls family later moved to Alaska, where the girl told her mother about the incident, prosecutors said. Shumate was arrested in 2011 by the Honolulu Police Department and extradited to Orange County. City News Service contributed to this report. ORANGE City officials will discuss Tuesday updating Oranges party and housing laws in response to a growing population of Chapman students living off-campus and tentative expansion plans that could add nearly 3,000 more students to the university. For inspiration, city officials took a look at what other college towns have done to address the proximity of schools and residents. I think the overall goal is to tighten up the existing party law, said Councilman Mike Alvarez, who has voiced concerns about the impacts of off-campus living. Students have learned how to work that law to the point where its not effective. They know the loopholes. Were also hoping to look at the overcrowding and how to apply existing laws, like our boardinghouse laws, to limit the number of students that can live in a house. Chapman University released new expansion plans in May that would add 17 acres and 2,950 students. The proposal was met with an outcry from residents voicing concerns about the growing student population and complaints of students disturbing longtime residents. University officials suspended processing their plans with the city in August to address the community concerns. The university created a Neighborhood Advisory Committee. Options suggested by city staff include: tightening rules for holding parties, limiting the number of residents in a house, making it hard to turn spaces such as family rooms into more bedrooms, a renters permit program and new residential parking standards. The council would not vote on new laws tonight; options leaders like would come back later for consideration. BOSTON For thousands of college hopefuls, the stressful college admissions season is about to become even more fraught. The College Board, which makes the SAT, is rolling out a new test its biggest redesign in a decade, and one of the most substantial ever. Chief among the changes, experts say: longer and harder reading passages and more words in math problems. The shift is leading some educators and college admissions officers to fear that the revised test will penalize students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading or who speak a different language at home like immigrants and the poor. It has also led to a general sense that the new test is uncharted territory, leaving many students wondering whether they should take the SAT or its rival, the ACT. College admissions officers say they are waiting to see how the scores turn out before deciding how to weight the new test. Its going to change who does well, said Lee Weiss, vice president of precollege programs at Kaplan Test Prep, one of the nations biggest test-prep programs. Before, if you were a student from a family where English was not the first language, you could really excel on the math side. It may be harder in the administration of this new test to decipher that because there is so much text on both sides of the exam. The College Board said that the total number of words on the reading section had remained the same about 3,250 on the new test, and 3,300 on the old one and that the percentage of word problems in the math sections of the old and the new test was roughly the same, about 30 percent. We are very mindful of the verbal load on this test, Cyndie Schmeiser, the chief of assessment at the College Board, said. We are keeping it down. I think kids are going to find it comfortable and familiar. Everything about the test is publicly available. There are no mysteries. But outside analysts say the way the words are presented makes a difference. For instance, short sentence-completion questions, which tested logic and vocabulary, have been eliminated in favor of longer reading passages, from literary sources like Ethan Frome and Moby-Dick, or political ones, like John Lockes ideas about consent of the governed. These contain sophisticated words and thoughts in sometimes ornate diction. The math problems are more wrapped in narrative, as Serena Walker, a college-bound junior at the Match charter school here, found when she fired up her laptop for a practice quiz on the new test. An anthropologist studies a womans femur that was uncovered in Madagascar, one question began. She knew a femur was a leg bone, but was not sure about anthropologist. She was contemplating Madagascar just as she remembered her teachers advice to concentrate on the essential, which, she decided, was the algebraic equation that came next, h = 60 + 2.5f, where h stood for height and f stood for the length of the femur. I feel like they put in a lot of unnecessary words, she said. Jed Applerouth, who runs a national tutoring service, estimated that the new math test was 50 percent reading comprehension, adding, in a blog post, that students will need to learn how to wade through all the language to isolate the math. The new SAT is probably less correlated with IQ testing than the old one, Applerouth said in an interview. But given the more difficult reading level of some passages and more demanding curriculum, it may be the rich get richer, he said. Jay Bacrania, the chief executive of Signet Education, a test-prep company based in Cambridge, said he found blocks of text from the new test to average at least a grade level higher than text from the old one. When students open the exam, I think to some degree the sticker shock that first impression is almost even worse, he said. College admissions officers say they are just as confused. Were going to need to see how they did, which test is going to be better, how can we weigh it, said Eric J. Furda, the dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania. The SAT is rooted in aptitude testing and is known for its trickiness, as educators say, like partly correct or plausible but wrong choices on answers. It long dominated college admissions on the East and West Coast while the ACT dominated in the Midwest. The ACT, created by the company of the same name, is based on surveys of curriculum across the country and is overall considered more straightforward. But it gives less time for more questions and has a science section. Competition for market share has been growing, and in 2012, the ACT surpassed the SAT. College Board officials said the new test was devised to satisfy the demands of college admissions officers and high school guidance counselors for an exam that more clearly showed a connection to what students were learning in school. The College Board has also been grappling with complaints that the old SAT, with its arcane vocabulary questions, correlated with advantages like parental income and education, and that whites and Asians performed better on average than blacks and Hispanics. Schmeiser said that despite educators fears, a preliminary study did not show the new test giving any disadvantage to Asians who excel in math but do slightly less well than whites in reading. We did look at how students of color and various races and ethnicities looked, Schmeiser said. It suggested the gap may be narrowing. As the March rollout date for the new SAT approaches, many test-prep companies are suggesting that students take one of each practice exam to see which they do better on. When President Barack Obama announced last month that he is taking executive action to ban the solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons, it was a rare case of Washington setting policy more liberal than what comes out of Sacramento. In Californias Democrat-controlled Legislature, bills to restrict the use of solitary confinement on youth have stalled for four years amid objections from labor and law enforcement groups that run juvenile halls. Now, citing the enormous mental health impacts the practice has on youth, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is hoping that Obamas action will bring momentum to the issue in California. Hes preparing to introduce a new version of his bill that died last year to limit the use of solitary confinement in state and county-run juvenile detention centers. You have to remind yourself that these children are in our system to begin with because they are troubled, Leno said. Theyve got mental health issues when they come through our door, and we exacerbate their problem. Yet even with the nations most powerful Democrat in his corner, Leno is up against a formidable challenge: the influential law enforcement lobby. The unions that represent prison guards are major campaign donors in Sacramento, and many politicians are reluctant to cross them. Groups that opposed Lenos earlier bill including the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the State Coalition of Probation Organizations have poured $14.3 million into California political campaigns over the last five years. Complicating matters, juvenile detention officials after years on the defensive over solitary confinement are now working to advance their own bill that could clash with Lenos. Guards and local corrections officials say Lenos bill is unnecessary because California has sufficient rules on the treatment of youth offenders. The four state-run juvenile facilities which together house about 700 youth are under a 2004 court order that has significantly reduced the use of solitary confinement. About 8,000 youth offenders are housed in county-run programs, which are governed by regulations that were updated in 2014. Within those regulations, there are very stringent guidelines and standards as to how that is to be used and when, Danielle Sanchez, lobbyist for the Chief Probation Officers of California, said in a hearing last year. There has to be checks on the minor every 15 minutes. But the human rights groups behind Lenos bill say they routinely hear from young people who report being locked up alone. My whole mind would play games, said Eddie Flores, who said he spent two months in a Los Angeles County juvenile hall in 2012 after being convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. Now 19 and involved with the Youth Justice Coalition that is a sponsor of Lenos bill, Flores said he was routinely alone in his cell for 16-hour stretches when the facility went into lockdown. The cells had no toilets, Flores said, so he and others would relieve themselves on a towel or a T-shirt. All you hear is people screaming, a couple cuss words here and there. Theres pounding and kicking, doors being punched. You would hear people crying because they wanted to come out. Flores account could not be corroborated juvenile crime records are sealed, and the Los Angeles County probation department did not return calls for this story. Not tracked currently Juvenile halls are not required to keep track of their use of solitary confinement. A lawsuit that was settled last year alleged that youth detained in Contra Costa County juvenile halls were routinely locked in small cells for up to 23 hours a day. In settling, the county probation department agreed to stop the practice as a form of punishment. The settlement allows youth to be separated for no more than four hours and only if their behavior poses a threat. Lenos bill is modeled after the terms of that settlement, putting limits on the use of solitary confinement but not banning it entirely. It also would require facilities to log how much they use it. He said the measure is necessary because the current standard for solitary confinement is more lenient in Californias youth facilities than in its adult prisons, where a court order restricts it to violent inmates. In California, a juvenile a child can be placed in solitary confinement for a lesser act of misbehavior than an adult, Leno said. That is tragic. CALmatters is a nonprofit journalism venture dedicated to explaining state policies and politics. Noela Rukundo is one of the few people in the world who can claim to have attended their own funeral. That might sound funny, but her story is actually rather chilling, involving a vengeful husband, assassins with a conscience, and a trip halfway across the world. It all started a year ago when Noela, a resident of Melbourne, travelled to her native country, Burundi, in East Africa to attend her step mothers funeral. She was accompanied by her husband, Balenga Kalala, a refugee from Congo whom she had met 11 years ago. She used to translate for him when he first arrived in Melbourne, and they eventually fell in love, got married, and had three children. Over the years, Noela learned that her husband had suffered a violent past that had brought out an abusive streak in him. I knew he was a violent man, she told the BBC. But I didnt believe he can kill me. But thats exactly what Kalala did, or had planned to at least. Suspecting that Noela was going to leave him for another man, an accusation that she now denies, he hired hit men in Bujumbura, Burundis capital city, to have her killed. As she rested in her hotel room after the funeral, Kalala called Noela and asked her to step out for some fresh air. And when she did, she found herself face-to-face with a man pointing a gun at her. Photo: ABC News The man blindfolded her, took her to a building and tied her to a chair, and she heard other male voices around her. You woman, what did you do for this man to pay us to kill you? one voice asked her. When she told them she had no idea what they were talking about, they revealed that her husband had actually sent them to kill her. To prove it, they called Kalala on speakerphone and had Noela listen to his voice saying, Kill her. Shocked beyond her wits, Noela fainted. When she came to, the kidnappers told her they wouldnt kill her because they didnt believe in killing women. They set her free two days later, but they kept the 7,000 Australian dollars her husband paid them, telling him theyd completed the job. They also gave her a memory card containing the recordings of their phone conversations with Kalala. We just want you to go back, to tell other stupid women like you what happened, they told her, before they drove away. Photo: Noela Rukundo Meanwhile, Kalala began to make arrangements for his wifes funeral back home in Melbourne, believing that the hitmen had done their job. And Noela began to plot her next moves. She returned to Melbourne with the help of the Kenyan and Belgian embassies in Burundi. Once she got home, she called the pastor of the church where her funeral was being arranged and told him what was going on. The pastor kept her return a secret and helped her get back to the neighborhood where she lived. From the pastor, Noela learned that her funeral was to take place on the night of February 22, 2015. That night, she drove to her house and waited outside in a car, as the people inside mourned her death. After the service, guests started filing out of the house, and eventually, her husband emerged as well. Thats when she stepped out of the car and confronted him directly. Photo: Facebook Kalala was flabbergasted. Is it my eyes? she recalled him saying. Is it a ghost? Surprise! Im still alive, she told him. Kalalas shock soon turned to terror as he realised that his wife was not dead. He began to scream and wail and apologise for what he did, but it was too late Noela had already called the police. Kalala later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison for incitement to murder. Photo: video caption Had Ms. Rukundos kidnappers completed the job, eight children would have lost their mother, Chief Justice Marilyn Warren had said, according to ABC News. It was premeditated and motivated by unfounded jealousy, anger, and a desire to punish Ms. Rukundo. Sadly, although the ordeal is now over, Noela hasnt been able to put the past entirely behind her. The court may have pronounced her husband a criminal, but Melbournes Congolese community prefers to hold Noela accountable for everything that happened. They have ostracized her for reporting her husband to the police, leaving her threatening messages and even breaking her back door. She has had to flee her own home and rely on the Department of Human Services to find her a new place to live. She also repeatedly relives the nightmare of being kidnapped for two days, traumatized by her husbands voice saying the words Kill her. Despite everything shes been through, Noela is determined to remain strong for her children. I will stand up like a strong woman, she said. My situation, my past life? That is gone. Im starting a new life now. Sources: ABC News, BBC, Washington Post The millions who pass through Times Square are being dosed with amounts of radiation deemed excessive by Parents for Safe Technology. U.S. safety standards do not protect children, it says. The group on Feb. 6 published a 1:32-minute YouTube video titled, New York City Radiation from Cell Towers that includes scenes from Time Square overlaid with text that warns of the dangers of excessive radiation. Children are victims of lifelong exposure to harmful electromagnetic radiation but have no say in the matter, says the video. Text says: We measured radiation in New York and were shocked to see such high radiofrequency levels throughout the City. At our home the radiation is at zero, and Times Square was thousands of times higher. Learn more at parentsforsafetechnology.org . We love our Wi-Fi but Wi-Fi is radiation, too, says the video. Be smarter than your smart phone, it urges. Excessive radiation has been linked to brain cancer and many other maladies, it notes. Maybe we should ask children for their consent, is one of the copy lines. "Hot Spot Terminals on Griddle The 7,500 hot spot Wi-Fi terminals planned for New York as replacements for phone booths will be discussed Wednesday Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. by Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, at the National Grid auditorium on the first floor of One MetroTech Center, Jay street, Brooklyn. Reservations are now closed for the event. Seating capacity is 380. Registration can be obtained by filling out this form. The first terminal is already in operation at the corner of 15th st. and First ave. It was described in the Jan. 25 New Yorker. Bankrolling the $200 million project are Google and Qualcomm. EMF Safety Network says that Wireless disrupts cellular communications, damages immune and nervous systems, desynchronizes brain and heart rhythms, and causes headaches, sleep problems, ringing in the ears, anxiety and a host of other health problems. Forms being distributed by EMF concerned citizens say the Sidewalk Lab terminals violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York City Human Rights Law and the New York State Human Rights Law by subjecting passersby to unwanted radiation. Especially at risk, say the RF health advocates, are children, babies and fetuses because of thinner skulls and smaller bodies. The Ashland, Mass., public library has a six-part series on the dangers of excessive radiation. Resonance: Beings of Frequency, is the title of the last part of the series set for Feb. 11. Its all around us now, invisible, but we know its there, says the copy. Every time you lift up your mobile phone you know its there: electromagnetic radiation (EMR). It is very hard to turn the clock back. It fact, its impossible, but we need to be aware of the adverse health effects so that we can have the choice of taking precautions against exposures. Grassroots Group Will Attend Feb. 10 Grassroots Environmental Education, based in Port Washington, N.Y., will have a representative at the Doctoroff talk. It tracks various environment pollutants including those involving chemicals and wireless radiation. Wireless technologies are proliferating rapidly in every aspect of our lives, and while they may be convenient, emerging research suggests that they are also impacting our health, even at levels far below Federal Communications Commission standards. The small but powerful transmitters and personal devices, routers, wireless utility meters, distributerd antenna systems and other components combine to increase our exposure to wireless radiation, it says. Patti and Doug Wood, who head Grassroots, also operate Green Street Radio, an environmental podcast. Wireless transmitters should not be used in day care facilities, schools, playrooms and other places where children spent time, Grassroots advises. Wireless baby monitors should not be used. Cordless phones should be unplugged at night, wired computer and internet connections should be used and speaker phone should be used for cellphones. The phones should never be placed directly against the head, says Grassroots, noting that this is also the advice of the cellphone manufacturers. This years Parker 425 would go down in the history books as one with many changes. For the first time in more than 40 years of racing Parker, the event would be split into two heats separating the faster classes such as the Trick Trucks from the slower, more budget friendly classes. In the past few Parker 425 races the issue of heavy dust and closing speeds of unlimited car and trucks made for some interesting situations out in the Arizona desert, and a few spectacular crashes as well. Luckily no one was hurt in any of these, but in the interest of safety for the racers BITD made the decision to split the race. The pre-dawn start for the first heat would have the class 1000 cars take off first. Roger Starkey opened up a lead and never looked back, taking the overall win for the first heat with a time of 7:21:39.861. This was a blistering pace never seen before in class 1000 at Parker and just 10 minutes slower in what would be the overall Trick Truck time. Following Starkey in class 1000 was Jason Coleman in his Jimco with a time 7:33:28.137 for the 425-mile course. Rounding out the top three for the morning race was Corey Goin, who was just four minutes back from Coleman. The second race started with Robby Gordon first off the line followed by SCOREs 2015 TT Champion Apdaly Lopez and off-road legend Rob MacCachren. Gordon held a commanding lead until misfortune hit, forcing him to bow out of the race at RM106. This handed the lead over to Lopez but it was very short lived, as Lopez ran out of gas just a mile or two after passing Robby. Being that all BITD races are no chase races, Apdaly had to wait over an hour to for race officials to bring in some fuel and get him going again. This gifted Rob MacCachren the lead going into the second lap, which he would dominate until running into trouble himself with engine issues that would take him out of the race. The second place overall and first unlimited buggy of Sam Berri would also drop out with engine issues. All of this carnage would place the overall lead into the hands of Justin Matney, who would maintain that lead position for duration of the race despite being challenged by an angry pack of racers behind him. This would mark the first time in years that a 4WD truck wins an overall at a major race. Following Matney was the team of Tracy Graf and Justin (Bean) Smith. This combo has come a long way in the last year and are steadily making their way up the grid. Coming off of semi-retirement and a Baja 1000 win with Rob MacCachren was Andy McMillin, who announced his return to a full schedule in desert racing just days before. McMillin teamed up in a new truck under the TSCO brand and Toyo tires. It was a great showing for the five-time Baja 1000 champion who will surely get faster as he gets used to the new program. Next on the list for the BITD season is the every popular Mint 400. Stay tuned for our coverage. MORE BITD COVERAGE Robby Gordon Fastest in BITD Parker 425 Qualifying Parker 425 Photo Highlights Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Ferrari GTC4 Lusso AWD Supercar Trending News: Ferrari Unveils A Sexy New Supercar Why Is This Important? Ferrari introduces the latest supercar in its stable, the GTC4 Lusso coupe. Long Story Short Maranello updates the first four-wheel drive vehicle in its history, the FF, with the latest 208-mph shooting brake superstar. Long Story When Ferrari debuted its polarizing FF in 2011, many enthusiasts from around the world caught the vapors. Not only was the pricetag exorbitant (base over $300k), but the FF was also the first Prancing Horse in history to eschew rear-wheel-drive performance for all-wheel-drive stability. Compound that setup with its station-wagon-on-steroids shooting brake profile, and you had a surefire recipe for controversy. But Ferrari gave a stiff-arm to the purists, and while the FF hasnt been a runaway success it still lowered the average buyers of age of the Italian performance brand considerably. The FF was also significant in that owners actually drove them clocking in 30% more mileage every year than the average Ferrari. Now, weeks ahead of its scheduled debut at the Geneva Motor Show at the end of the month, Ferrari introduces the FFs replacement: the GTC4 Lusso. The GTC4 Lusso will use an updated version of the FFs 6.3-liter V12, but retuned to produce 680 hp and 514 lb-ft. of torque, a significant jump from the last models 651-hp and 504 lb-ft. That slots the GTC4 Lusso above the V8-powered 488 in Ferraris stable, and below the F12 Berlinetta and LaFerrari hypercar. Of course it still offers the FFs AWD, sending power to all four wheels. But it improves the 4RM Evo system by also implementing four-wheel steering as well a technology lifted from the limited edition F12 TdF model. Design-wise, the new GTC4 Lusso refines the shooting brake coupe concept by tapering the greenhouse even more, adding a more streamlined, fastback-like silhouette that still allows adults to sit in the back seats (although not for long stretches, were sure). It also receives a new fascia, diffuser and rear spoiler. Despite the increased downforce, the GTC4 Lusso boasts improved aerodynamics. Although the transmission specifics have not been yet divulged, Ferrari did release some performance figures revealing that GTC4 Lusso would accelerate from 0-62 mph in just 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 208 mph. And with 80% of its torque dump available at only 1,750 rpm, you can expect plenty of get-up and go even at low revs. Those are some crazy figures for all AWD Ferrari you can use as your sled to the ski slopes, with actual real-world humans sitting in the back seat you can expect lots of grinning donuts on snow-packed alpine roads. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question: How many people out there really need a four-seater, nearly $400,000, AWD Ferrari? Disrupt Your Feed: Maranellos in-house design team changed the tail-lamps from single units to Ferraris signature twin rear round lights in order to better reflect the brands rich heritage. Drop This Fact: The GTC4 Lussos name references illustrious Ferrari predecessors like the 330 GTC and 330 GT, while the Lusso moniker reflects how the 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso combined elegance with high performance. Notably, the 4 is not a reference to the cars AWD capability, but rather to its four real-world seats. Economist Claims Bernie Sanders' Economic Plan Would Boost Jobs, Income Trending News: Economist Reveals Which Candidate's Plan Will Work Best Why Is This Important? Because the economy is arguably the most important thing a President manages. Long Story Short In an exclusive for CNN Money, an economist claims that Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' economic plan would significantly benefit the country. Incomes would rise, unemployment would decrease, and GDP would grow. Long Story Most of us are sick and tired of the Presidential campaign circus, and the damned election isn't until November. But now that we're in primary season, things are getting a bit more interesting as the candidates have to show their work, so to speak, for how they'd move the country forward if elected. If you haven't made up your mind about a candidate yet, you're likely starting to now. While the Republicans talk walls, tax cuts and deportations in a bizarre and at-times terrifying race to the bottom, the Democrats are busy arguing over their liberal bonafides. The prospect of raising taxes is scary for anyone, but at least one economist says you needn't worry: According to his analysis, a vote for Bernie Sanders is a vote for an incredibly prosperous America. "Like the New Deal of the 1930s, Senator Sanders' program is designed to do more than merely increase economic activity," says University of Massachusetts Amherst economics professor Gerald Friedman. It will "promote a more just prosperity, broadly-based with a narrowing of economy inequality." Sanders' economic plan is either a wet dream or your worst nightmare, depending on your outlook. He wants to pour some $14.5 trillion into the economy, mostly through tax hikes on the upper-middle class, the wealthy and businesses. He says the money would go towards improved infrastructure, higher Social Security Benefits, free college tuition and expanded health care. Sanders also wants to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, a point which I encourage you to discuss/shout about at this guyQ thread. According to Friedman, any tax hikes would be worth it. He says that median household income would rise to $82,300 by 2026, more than $23,000 higher than the Congressional Budget Office predicts. Poverty would in-turn plummet to 6%, and the increased spending would create higher demand on businesses, meaning unemployment would drop to 3.8%, below even the "effective zero" rate that we're reaching now. All told, he would expect GDP to grow by 5.3% per year, as opposed to a glacial 2.1%. Our $1.3 trillion deficit, currently the biggest argument against increased government spending, would turn into a surplus. These are outrageously optimistic numbers (to put it mildly), and other economists consulted by CNN Money dismissed them as fantasy. It's also important to keep in mind that economists are routinely terrible at predicting the future, particularly with numbers this specific. But if you're a self-identified #BernieBro, it's undoubtedly nice to hear some expert support of your candidate's ambitious economic plans. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question How would we implement such radical changes? Disrupt Your Feed I don't know if it will be as good as this guy says, but I know what we're doing right now isn't working. Drop This Fact Sanders would be the oldest President ever elected, as he'll be 75 by November. Lupe Buckingham has always fancied creaky old buildings. But the local ghost hunter couldnt shake the image of a certain narrow brick structure she saw recently while flipping through a magazine. She finally fired off an email to the tenant of that 132-year-old property in downtown Omaha. To recap more recent history, the building named after its original owner, Christian Specht is one of three similar-era structures standing in the path of proposed downtown expansion by Omaha Performing Arts. The City of Omaha is poised to buy and turn over all three buildings to the arts group, which hasnt announced its ultimate plan for the structures. Performing Arts Chairman John Gottschalk said that, at least, the Spechts historic architectural features could and should be preserved. The Spechts current tenant, Julia Russell, dreads the notion of losing all or part of the historic landmark that for a decade has housed her design studio. (Hence, the magazine ad she placed to drum up support.) After listening to Buckinghams spiel, and the suggestion that the Specht might be haunted, Russell thought: Why not? If landmark status cant ensure preservation, and public outcry turns up short, then perhaps a little supernatural intervention could stir things up. She agreed to open her doors to RIP the Rural Investigators of the Paranormal. *** Buckingham is RIPs lead investigator, and she said shes seen it before: The community value of a historic structure can soar if deemed to be a haunt for dead people. She cited the old Missouri State Penitentiary, which had a 168-year run as a jail in Jefferson City before closing in 2004. Once dubbed by Time magazine as Americas bloodiest 47 acres, the part of the prison grounds that still stands today crawls with ghost hunters and historic tours. For about four years before she moved to Omaha a year ago, Buckingham was in the thick of it. She was a guide for the jails paranormal tours, which helped fuel the budget of the local convention and visitors bureau. Once, her stationary camera captured a window opening and closing with no one in sight. (That snippet was featured on a Ghost Adventures TV episode). Certainly the Specht history is less creepy and bloodstained than gas chambers and hangings. And the local arts group, which controls the fate of the Specht, does not list paranormal activity as part of its mission. But the property does have its share of intrigue including a Berlin-born, rabble-rousing creator who was active in Omaha politics before decamping for sunny California. Specht in 1884 had the Renaissance Revival-style factory built at 1110 Douglas St. to house his growing cornice company. Among the companys prized products was the rare cast-iron facade that a century later would help elevate the Specht to a local and national landmark. According to local historian Ryan Roenfeld, the fiery Specht once was hauled off to jail after he tussled with a warrantless cop whom Specht had asked to leave his factory. News accounts of the day also reported that Specht, while serving on the Omaha City Council in 1891, publicly accused fellow aldermen of accepting boodle, or bribes. A few years later, Specht left the council. Soon after, he left Omaha. Not long after that, part of a Lady Liberty statue a statue crafted on the second floor of Spechts factory fell from atop City Hall, the arm clutching the book of law nearly hitting a pedestrian. If unexplained things were to surface today, perhaps public curiosity could stave off demolition, say Buckingham and other RIP members. Lets say we capture something a window opening, a voice, said former social worker Buckingham. Other investigators will come. RIPs Ashley Chism, a communications student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said people pay money for the chance to see such a spectacle. People are kind of sick-minded, she said. They wanna get scared. *** At 9:15 p.m. on a recent Friday after outside traffic had slowed to a trickle the Spechts lights went dim. Buckingham and Chism stationed themselves on the main level; three other RIP squad members retreated to the chilly basement. Infrared cameras, recorders, spirit boxes, glow-in-the-dark buttons and other pieces of ghost-outing equipment were positioned on all three levels to capture any nonhuman shapes or voices lurking amid the studios inventory of exotic home accessories. Mr. Specht, are you here with us? Buckingham said in a soft yet firm voice seasoned by scores of similar investigations. Lights on her hand-held electromagnetic field detector flickered. The K2 meter is going off now, she said. It may indicate something is here with us. A series of yes-no questions from Buckingham followed. Do you mind if we are in the building? Do you know this building is on the verge of getting torn down? Do you know Julia? Do you like her fancy furniture? Despite the electric start, Buckingham after a while noted the lull. She and the video-toting Chism prepared to move to a different part of the building. Earlier, Russell had told the RIP team that she believes in earthly spirits, and that she might even have had a spirit-in-residence at a previous apartment. But she hadnt sensed anything strange in her Specht studio. Co-worker Jacqueline Lovato said she, too, was open to the possibility of ghosts, and wasnt spooked by what might be roused in the probe. Its a creaky old building, Lovato said, but Ive never had any reason to believe I was not alone. Hours later, though, RIPs Ashley DeBolt and Desire Marchitello felt otherwise. DeBolts ghost-detecting tools of choice were copper dowsing rods. On the lower-level floor, the energy-conducting rods in her hands slid together several times when she posed questions. Her interpretation: A presence was giving an affirmative response. Then DeBolt and Marchitello felt a rush of cold air. More rod movement. But a request for the apparent spirit to make a noise was met with disappointing silence. DeBolt, a kindergarten teacher and former director of UNOs paranormal club, said her sense overall was that a nonthreatening male spirit or two lingered in the building, which also had been a grocery and warehouse. To skeptics, she urged an open mind and explained that, at death, some people leave behind energy. The energy here feels low, yet calm, DeBolt said. Our sense is they care about the building, want to protect it and people in it, but dont want help from us. *** RIPs six-hour visit which included a walk-through and equipment setup turned out to be just the beginning. The sensitives in the group left the Jan. 29 session convinced that they felt paranormal energy. Buckingham called it nothing evil and nothing to be afraid of. Days later, as they started to analyze and amplify recordings, they claimed to have heard an EVP: electronic voice phenomenon. It came after one of the humans asked about going to the second-floor loft area. Is it part of this building? No, says a gravelly whisper. (Or, maybe a brush against the microphone? A skip in the tape?) While each of RIPs six members has had previous field experience, the Specht marked the newly formed groups inaugural project. Buckingham said they have yet to pore over more video and voice recordings, but they also have day jobs and studies. They hope for a second visit and plan to document findings on the groups Web page. Ghost hunting is a slow process, Buckingham said. Sometimes you get it; sometimes you dont. Proof or not, Russell and Lovato welcomed the new and spirited chapter in the Specht saga. If they find something, well take it in stride, Lovato said. It will be quite a story. Contact the writer: 402-444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com For David Headley his testimony is one big joke Feature oi-Vicky By Vicky David Headley who began testifying before a court in Mumbai in connection with the 26/11 case showed no remorse and at times it appeared that the proceedings were all one big joke to him. Let us begin with stating that Headley has nothing to lose. He has already been sentenced to 35 years in jail at the United States of America and also been pardoned so that he turns approver before the Mumbai court. Live Updates: David Headley's testimony to continue Headley too is aware that this testimony is nothing more than just an academic interest and of course will help India piece together yet another dossier to Pakistan so that they can reject it. For Headley his testimony appeared to be quite a casual affair and very often he was seen giggling, yawning and even clapping. For Headley this testimony means nothing Headley all through his 4 hour testimony yesterday stuck to the same points that he had already made before the FBI at the time of his arrest. Revelations such as Hafiz Saeed being the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba or the fact that they tried and attacked Mumbai twice in the past but failed are all present in detail in the various confessions that he has made in the past five years. I hate India and hence decided to be part of the Lashkar-e-Taiba plan to attack Mumbai is something he has said in the past and he repeated it yesterday as well. Headley during the testimony was seen clapping softly at one point in time. When he was faced with a question whether he felt remorse he was heard giggling. At one point during the proceedings he even let out a yawn. There was at a time when he sounded arrogant while correcting the prosecutor in the case. When asked if he visited India 7 times, Headley shot back, " 8 times. Seven times before the attack and once after." Towards the end of the proceedings when the prosecutor bid him good night, Headley smiled and pointing towards the time difference, he signed off by saying "good day to you." For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 7:32 [IST] My party-BJP have different ideologies but common aim of uplifting poor: Nepal ex-PM Prachanda Sushil Koiralas death poses potential problems for minorities in Nepal Feature oi-Jagriti Kathmandu, Feb 9: Former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, who breathed his last in the wee hours of Tuesday, will have an adverse impact on minorities attempt to gain greater rights in new constitution in Nepal. He died soon after five month old economic blockade in Nepal ended on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death of Sushil Koirala, he took Twitter to express his grief over death of Koirala. Koirala who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014 and a devoted member of the Nepali Congress party, presided over the promulgation of the new constitution in Nepal which raised dissatisfaction among minority Madhesis in Nepal, also played attempted to resolve the issue by negotiating with the protesters. Turmoil erupted in Nepal after inaction of Nepal's new constitution in September. Madhesi, representing people living in Nepal's southern plains bordering India, launched the strike in September to force Nepal's major political parties to amend the new charter for better representation under the new constitution. They alleged that the new constitution did not address their desire for a greater say in government. The blockade had caused much hardship to the general public as they were faced with acute shortage of petroleum products, cooking gas, medicines and other essentials due to closure of all border trade points between the two countries. Clashes linked to the protests have resulted in the deaths of over 50 people. Sonia condoles Nepalese leader Sushil Koirala's death Koirala elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014, once spent three years in an Indian prison for his involvement in the hijacking of a Nepali plane during the democracy struggle of the 1970s. "Koirala's death would not derail talks aimed at securing greater rights for minorities," said Laxman Lal Karna, from the Sadbhavana Party, reported the Economic Times. His tenure as prime minister ended after the first election under the new constitution of Nepal was held in October 2015. New elections brought Kharga Prasad Oli as the next Prime Minister. Koirala, fondly called as "Sushilda" born in India was a suitably trustworthy channel to speak to the angry opposition led by the Madhesi protesters. Now its time to wait and watch what will be the course of the Nepal to tackle the Madhesis as it has lost a key speaker who negotiated with protesting Madhesis. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 14:17 [IST] Why everybody wants DMDK in TN Assembly polls 2016 Feature oi-Shubham By Shubham It's election time in Tamil Nadu and yet again, major political parties in the state are desperate to make alliances to script a story that doesn't favour J Jayalalithaa, who will be eyeing her sixth stint as the chief minister of the southern state. And like in the past, Vijaykanth's DMDK is being wooed by major parties including the DMK, BJP and the People's Welfare Alliance (PWA) comprising the MDMK, VCK and the Left parties but the actor-politician has kept everybody waiting so far. Sources in the DMK have said the veteran politician has certain demands and the final decision could be taken only by the end of the month. The BJP will be particularly keen to enter into an alliance with the DMDK, which is known to be a vote-catcher in elections (2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 2006 and 2011 Assembly polls), after the back-to-back disasters it faced in Delhi and Bihar last year. Speculation is rife that Union minister Prakash Javadekar is likely to meet Vijayakanth or his brother-in-law LK Sudheesh in sometime to talk about an alliance. The fate of a stronger NDA in Tamil Nadu depends heavily on the DMDK leader's stand because of his solid vote-catching, if no seat-winning, ability. The fact that the DMK and Congress, two former allies who fell apart in 2013 over the Sri Lanka issue but have every possibility of joining hands again, will also keep the saffron party on its toes and strengthen its position in a state where it has not been a strong player. According to sources, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke to DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi last week and both sides have reportedly shown interest in coming together, forgetting what had happened during the UPA rule (the DMK had pulled out of the UPA at the Centre over the issue of a draft resolution at the UN of the alleged human rights' violations of Sri Lankan Tamils). However, there are also voices in the DMK that harbour an ambition to forge an alliance with the BJP and DMDK to halt the AIADMK's run. However, given Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cordial relation with Jayalalithaa, one can't be sure whether the former would be comfortable with the idea of going ahead with the DMK. In that case, the DMK's idea will be to go with the Congress and DMDK. As far as the ruling AIADMK is concerned, apparently it is confident of going all alone and is not in talks with any major party. The party, which looked down following the conviction of Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case in 2014, were boosted once she was acquited by a higher court last year. AIADMK, which had contested the 2011 state elections it had swept in alliance with the DMDK, has the support of parties like the AISMK and MMK and looks to have tie-ups with small outfits like the KMDK. According to AIADMK sources, the party could eye an alliance with the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) led by former Congress leader GK Vasan only if the latter agrees to Jayalalithaa's terms. Why former Nepal PM Sushil Koirala's death is bad news for India Feature oi-Shubham By Shubham The death of Nepal's former prime minister Sushil Koirala could pose a potential threat to the efforts to reconcile the minority rights in the country's new constitution which saw a lot of controversy in the recent past. And moreover, with the departure of one of the moderate figures of Nepal's biggest political dynasties, Kathmandu's relation with New Delhi could also witness some uncomfortable moments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said that "India lost a valuable friend" with Koirala's death, must have sensed the challenges that lie ahead now, both in respect to the bilateral relations between the two neighbours as well as South Asian politics. Sushil Koirala ji's simplicity holds lessons for all of us. My condolences to the Koirala family & people of Nepal in this hour of grief. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 In Sushil Koirala ji, NC has lost a big leader who served Nepal for decades & India lost a valued friend. Pained by his demise. RIP. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 Koirala's moderate stand helped finding a way out of Nepal crisis Speaking about Nepal's domestic politics first, India-born Sushil Koirala had made a big contribution towards preparing the Himalayan country's first republican constitution which, it was hoped, would take the nation towards peace and stability. But the new constution saw a serious locking of horns with the ethnic Madhesis claiming that it they were deprived of a bigger say in the government. Clashes ensued and it led to India expressing its dissatisfaction over the Nepali constitution, something which hurt Nepal's nationalist sentiments. Kathmandu accused India of imposing a 1989-90-like blockade, causing Nepal's people immense difficulties. It was then Koirala, who preceded the current Nepali Prime Minister K P Oli, who acted as a bridge between the more radical Oli and the Madhesi protesters. Two months after the crisis began in September 2015, an ailing Koirala and Oli came together to hold a dialogue with the fellow Nepalis of the Terai/Madhesi region. Even after his return from the US in November 2015 after a treatment for his lungs, the Madhesi leaders went to his residence and started talks that ultimately opened the doors for breakthrough with both the Indian and Nepali leaderships. The next Nepali Congress leadership: India hopes it is moderate too Koirala, as the prime minister, had also initiated amendments to the constitution on India's suggestion amid opposition from the CPN-UML. His departure is certainly going to create a vacuum in the centrist Nepali Congress and New Delhi would not know how the successor to Koirala in the party would be like. The Nepali Congress's new untested leadership might now focus fully on registering the downfall of Oli over the Madhesi issue. A polarisation in Nepali politics could create more problems for New Delhi. It is where it will miss a moderate figure like Sushil Koirala. Koirala was one of the first audience of Modi's fresh neighbourhood policy initiative In terms of bilateral relations, Koirala also holds significance for he was among the first with who Modi's revived neighbourhood policy found its first audience. He had agreed to "review, adjust and update" the peace and friendship treaty of 1950 so to reflect the new realities in the two countries' relations. Koirala's efforts in breaking the ice between India, Pak at Saarc summit Another important contribution that Koirala had made towards peace in South Asia was during the November 2014 Saarc Summit in Nepal. Then, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan were under immense pressure from various quarters to sit and talk but the strained relations had stopped both from doing so. It was then Koirala, who was the prime minister then, appealed to Modi to take the initiative of reaching out to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, given India's bigger size and clout. He was also behind creating a conducive ambience at the picturesque Dhullikhel retreat where Modi andved the way to some proposed agreements. When Koirala was asked about his role in breaking the impasse between India and Pakistan, he said: "Saarc means a family. It is natural that hands and souls match here. It should happen and it is happening." India and PM Modi will be missing the old man and not without the reasons. Dhanteras 2022: PM to participate in Griha Pravesham of 4.50 lakh families in MP With LiFE, India leads the world in mission on climate change | 10 points 'Is this the respect for women?': Mallikarjun Kharge asks PM Modi over release of Bilkis case convict 7th Pay Commission: Good news for defence personnel! Govt to address concerns over OROP, allowance India oi-Reetu New Delhi, Feb 9: There is a good news for the defence personnel as the ministry has sought a fresh analysis of the concerns raised by the Army, Navy and the Air force- over the recommendations of the seventh pay commission. The government has studied representations from the armed forces vis-a-vis the 7th Pay Commission and their concerns will be addressed "in the near future", Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said. 7th Pay Commission: Ministries may raise fresh salary hike demand "I have interacted with the three service chiefs and discussed the concerns of the forces. The concerns will be addressed in the near future," he said. The concerns include the way in which pensions were calculated on the basis of number of years put in at a particular rank. Another grudge is the risk-hardship matrix. While a soldier posted in the Siachen glacier gets Rs. 31,500 as allowance per month, a civilian bureaucrat draws 30 per cent of his salary as "hardship allowance". About the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue, he said concerns of ex-servicemen will be addressed by a one-member judicial committee headed by L Narasimha Reddy, a retired chief justice of the Patna High Court. Mr Parrikar said the Modi government had fulfilled its promise on the OROP which had been implemented after 43 years. Seventh Pay Commission: Good News! PMO orders to speed up process; notification soon "As promised by the BJP, we have already issued a table of various pensions as per the OROP scheme," said the Defence Minister. "The community of retired servicemen is large; one formula cannot solve all issues. Any contentious issues will be referred to the one-man committee," Mr Parrikar said. As for the protesting ex-servicemen's stand on approaching the court on the OROP issue, the minister said: "Fundamentally, every person has the right to approach a court. "To the best of our understanding of the issues, we have fulfilled our promise," he asserted. Furthermore, he said that the expenditure on OROP of Rs.7,500 crore each year was much larger than what the previous government had allocated for the scheme. The arrears total of Rs.10,900 crore. 7th Pay Commission decoded: All you need to know about salary increment; past pay commissions The previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had allocated Rs.500 crore for the OROP. Concerned over increasing pay disparity between defence personnel and their civilian counterparts, the three Service Chiefs earlier met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and discussed issues related to "anamolies and shortcomings" in the 7th Pay Commission report. The service chiefs had earlier written to Parrikar highlighting various aspects of the Pay Commission report which the military felt was a "let down". OneIndia News (With inputs from agencies) Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Assam elections: Tarun Gogoi turns Singham, beats opponents India oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah Bengaluru, Feb 9: Meet Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in his latest avatar. In a video that has gone viral, Gogoi is seen donning the role of Singham, the popular Bollywood cop, and mercilessly beating his political opponents. Nobody knows the originals of the video featuring Gogoi and other political heavyweights from the state. Currently, the video has been widely shared on WhatsApp and various social media platforms. The creator of the viral video has cleverly superimposed the faces of the Chief Minister and his political rivals upon characters in the movie. While Gogoi, clad in jeans and T-shirt, plays the role of Singham, BJP leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma and Bijoya Chakravarty are seen getting intimidated and thrashed by "Singham" Gogoi. The popularity of the hilarious video holds great significance this election season. Assam is all set to vote in the forthcoming assembly elections in the coming months. The Congress is trying its best to remain in power. It won't be easy for Gogoi to be back as Assam Chief Minister once again. The political pundits are predicting a tough fight between the Congress and the BJP. After BJP's stellar performance in the last general elections in 2014 in Assam, the party is hoping to form the next government in the state. Moreover, the Congress in recent times has seen several of its top leaders, including Sarma, joining the BJP. Now, we don't know, whether the viral clip is a part of the Congress' publicity strategy or a mere comic relief to the voters. However, we can say Gogoi seems to be having the last laugh bashing his rivals. OneIndia News Headley testimony: None are still interested in probing the local link India oi-Vicky Mumbai, Feb 9: Today's deposition by David Headley was a lot about the ISI and the Pakistan army's role in the 26/11 attack. During his deposition before a Mumbai court today, he took more names of those part of the Pakistan establishment when compared to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba itself which carried out the attack. Another interesting aspect of the deposition today was Headley taking the name of Basheer, the man who received him at the Mumbai airport when he made his first visit in 2006. He said that Basheer was a friend of Tawahhur Rana who made all the arrangements for him in Mumbai. [Live Updates: Attacking the Taj hotel was crucial, says David Headley] This could be considered as the biggest take away from the Headley deposition and one must bear in mind, none have investigated this link in India. The follow up was lacking: All through the testimony, the prosecution posed questions to Headley. There were certain key points that Headley spoke about and there was never any follow up question from the prosecution. For instance take the Basheer link. Although reported several times, none really know who exactly this man is. [Who received David Headley at the Mumbai airport?] What one can say is that he is of Indian origin and a friend of Tawwahur Rana. Now Rana is a friend of Headley's who made travel arrangements for him. Moreover Rana had also served as a doctor in the Pakistan army. Basheer becomes a key link and yet it was surprising that this angle was never probed. Neither did the prosecution press too much on this issue today. One would have also expected some questions on who else had Headley met in Mumbai and did he seek assistance from anyone else. The other aspect was when Headley said that the original plan was not to attack CST first. He said although a reconnaissance was conducted of the CST or VT station, it was meant to be used as an exit point for the terrorists. No questions about where they were planning on exiting to or what exactly Headley meant when he said this were asked. Takeaways from Headley's deposition: Headley today was asked to identify various persons who were part of the attack. Sajid Mir was a name he took a lot as he was directly reporting to him. While Pakistan has always denied the existence of this man, Headley today told the court when shown the photograph, " yes he is the one." The other person he identified today was Major Iqbal. This was another name that Pakistan had vehemently denied. However Headley spoke about this army officer from Pakistan who had played such a key role in the attack. Right from training him in intelligence gathering to providing him equipment to conduct surveys of targets in Mumbai, Major Iqbal played a very important role leading up to the attack. Headley further took the name of Major Pasha who was part of the 6 Baloch regiment in Pakistan. He was closely associated with the ISI and even joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Headley said. However, Pasha according to Headley is now with the al-Qaeda. Further, Headley speaks about the role of the ISI in the attack. The manner in which he detailed the relationship between the ISI and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was quite telling although one must confess that it is quite an open secret. The ISI is a moral and financial support for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba he says. He further stated that when he had told Hafiz Saeed to challenge the ban on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba he was told that he would need to consult with the ISI first. Will Pakistan act or at least react? After every such deposition concerning Pakistan the first question is will they act? The fact of the matter is that India will prepare a dossier give it to Pakistan and they on the other hand are most likely to acknowledge the receipt of the same. They will neither act nor react. For starters the information that Headley has put out is 6 years old. If Pakistan had to act it would have done so by now. Secondly, the US telling India that it will help bring the perpetrators of the attack to Justice is yet another run of the mill statement. The US had first information about all that Headley had said, but since 2009 there has been no action. In a nut shell this testimony aids the prosecution in strengthening the case against Abu Jundal the man who gave Hindi tuitions to the ten terrorists. Moreover, legally it is always considered to be strong when a testimony is made before a court rather than before an investigating agency. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 12:19 [IST] Delhi air quality projected to cross 301 by Sat; GRAP stage II comes into effect ahead of Diwali 'This Feb 14, say no to Valentine's Day, 'worship' parents' India oi-Reetu New Delhi, Feb 9: Western ways of displaying affection on Valentine's Day always find some or the other opposers. In 2015, Saffron outfit Hindu Mahasabha opposed it by floating its own traditional equivalent to celebrate the festival of love in the form of Basant Panchami. This time a new opposition has come up which says this February 14, worship your parents instead of celebrating Valentine's Day. A series of billboards put up at Delhi Metro stations by a religious group, which also endorsed police action against couples says so. The advertisements, put up across 35 stations by an organisation of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu , advocating 'Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas' has left many commuters enraged, prompting Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to order the matter to be examined. Saffron outfit to marry off young couples on Valentine's Day Asaram is lodged in jail in connection with a sexual assault case. The ads bear two contrasting pictures; one showing two kids worshiping their parents and the other showing a young couple holding each other's ears as policemen stand nearby. "Police take strong action against those indulging in degenerate activities by celebrating Valentine's Day in broad daylight. Don't celebrate Valentine's Day," the message in the posters say. "The ads were displayed by a private contractor as all the ad space inside the Delhi Metro premises are allotted to specialised agencies who in turn allot them to interested advertisers. The matter is being thoroughly examined and taken up with the concerned contractor for necessary action," DMRC chief spokesman Anuj Dayal said. When contacted, a functionary of 'Bal Sanskar Kendra', the organisation behind the posters, said the objective of the ad campaign was to make youngsters "aware" that Valentine's Day was "against Indian culture". "The picture depicts the plight of a couple who were caught celebrating Valentine's Day in a public park at Raipur where the state government officially celebrates 'Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas'. We want other state governments to come up with similar orders," Manish Goswami, the functionary said. The posters also made a few wonder about the advertising policy of DMRC. "I guess Delhi Metro will put up just about anything if you pay them enough money," Govind RS posted on Facebook. A DMRC executive said the company follows the Delhi Outdoor Advertising Policy, 2008 and does not have its own policy in this regard. Unlike DMRC, Transport for London, which runs the vast London subway train service, has its own advertising policy. "Technology wise we compete with west, #mentality wise we compete with 19th century !!" one Hamraj Singh posted on Twitter, while a tweet by one Shalu Dyani reads, "Asaram Bapu's ads in Delhi Metro threatening couples celebrating Valentines! DMRC has some serious explaining to do." OneIndia News (With inputs from agencies) "He is my son, I knew he would be alive", says Siachen survivor Lance Naik Hanamanthappa's mother India oi-Vicky He is my son and somewhere I knew that he would come back to me. This is what an overjoyed mother of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa said from Betadur in North Karnataka before leaving for New Delhi. The 62-year-old Basamma who is currently travelling to New Delhi along with Lance Naik Hanamanthappa's wife Mahadevi said that she was extremely sad when she heard the news. However, deep within me I always felt that he would come back to me. [Lance Naik Hanumanthappa's family members on the way to Delhi] Lance Naik Hanamanthappa was buried under 25 feet of ice at the Siachen Glacier. While the army launched a mission to find the missing soldiers they found Hanamanthappa and after feeling a faint pulse, immediately put him on a rescue chopper and took him for treatment. He is said to be in a stable condition. Betadur erupts in joy: Ramesh Koppad a relative of Hanamanthappa said over phone to OneIndia that while they are happy that he is alive. Our prayers have been answered. He has come up the very hard way and belongs to a very poor farming family. This news is a relief for us. We however share the pain of those families who lost their loved ones in this accident, he also said. We are praying that he recovers soon. The family is travelling to New Delhi so that they can be with him and take care of him. The entire village came to our homes to celebrate the news, he also added. The family members however said that they were not informed by anyone in the government about him being alive. We watched it on the television channels and found out. We are however sure that the army will provide him with the best of treatment he also said. Earlier prior to leaving for Delhi, Mahadevi said that it was a miracle and the prayers of the family is what saved him. I am just waiting to see him now she also said. The mother further said that I gave birth to him and somewhere I felt that he was alive. I felt very sad hearing the news, but somewhere deep within I felt that he would come back. I was proven right she also said. Going to see Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, with prayers from the entire nation. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2016 I Pray for a quick recovery of Hanumanthappa Koppad the Brave soldier from Dharwad, Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/HzuH9PkkS0 CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) February 9, 2016 We pray for the speedy recovery of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa.His miraculous survival is a gift for the nation #SiachenMiracle Sushilkumar Shinde (@SS_ShindeINC) February 9, 2016 I join the Nation in praying for speedy recovery of India's brave son Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) February 9, 2016 OneIndia News Headley tightens the rope on ISI; Reveals plans to recruit a spy from Indian military India oi-Pallavi Mumbai, Feb 9: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley has spilt the beans for the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. He said that the agency had asked him to recruit Indian army men as spies. Headley also admitted that his wife Faiza had lodged a complaint in the US Assembly (Islamabad) that he is involved with terrorist activities and is having close links with LeT. He confessed that the LeT groups were reponsible as a whole for terror attacks on India and there is no one person that can be identified. He further added,"I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." He further said,"I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. He also revealed that, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headley's handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." [Read: Live Updates: Attacking the Taj hotel was crucial, says David Headley] He further said,"The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time." He also said,"They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said. It was also revealed that the place for the terror attacks was not decided prior to November 2007. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 12:55 [IST] India likely to spend $1 tn on power by 2030: Piyush Goyal India oi-PTI Sydney, Feb 9: India is expected to spend a whopping USD 1 trillion (about Rs 65 lakh crore) by 2030 on ramping up its power infrastructure as one of the world's largest energy consumers aims to provide 24/7 electricity to its citizens. The power sector in the country is at an inflection point and the focus is on developing an integrated outlook with transparent policies on tariffs and fuel pricing which enhance the ease of doing business, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here. "When the world is witnessing a depressed economic atmosphere and there is almost no growth, India is a shining spot. We will use this image and further strengthen it to invite countries such as Australia to invest in the country," he told PTI on the sidelines of the India-Australia Energy Dialogue. India and Australia should come together and invest in several fields, with energy being an important dimension. India's focus is on LNG for power plants, coal mining, clean coal technologies, renewable energy, R&D as well as tie-ups with premier research institutes, he added. "We are a very big and growing market. It is estimated that India will spend around Rs 65 lakh crore on the power sector in the next 15 years to meet its growing demands and providing clean, affordable and 24/7 electricity to its citizens," said Goyal, who also holds the Coal and Renewable Energy portfolios. Goyal is leading a high-level government delegation to deliberate with Australian government and businesses on ways to increase their participation in India's power sector. An industry delegation, led by business chamber CII, is also accompanying the minister. India has set an ambitious plan to add 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. The country aims to have 100 GW of solar power by 2022 along with 260 GW of thermal and nuclear generation and 62 GW of hydro generation capacity. As per International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, India would invest about USD 845 billion in T&D (transmission and distribution) networks between 2015 and 2040 to ensure universal access to power for customers. Explaining the steps taken by his ministry to provide clean energy, the minister said India has one of the toughest regulations on thermal power. "Our Prime Minister has pledged his commitment towards protecting the environment and we are working on his vision. Our norms on thermal power are more stringent that those in some of the developing countries," he noted. The minister said for India to further strengthen its position on creating a sustainable environment and at the same time expand the economy, it has to seek cooperation from countries working on clean energy technologies and utilise them. "We have to use this clean tech, but for that we also need to ensure that the price is right. For a company or country to sell such technologies to India, it should understand that we have a very, very large market which will give them good returns in the long term," he added. Citing an example, he said that the price of an LED bulb has come down by as much as 40 per cent in India as there is bulk procurement. It has already distributed almost six crore LED bulbs. The minister said that India will concentrate on expanding R&D and is willing to invest on cutting edge technology. "India will lead the world in the future in one of our thrust areas of clean energy through joint initiatives in research and development (R&D). We will leverage technological innovation to improve efficiency of our coal-based power plants at competitive costs. We are also inviting cutting edge technology in the renewable energy space. "My ministry is working on the holistic development across all energy generating platforms and is inviting firms to come to India and manufacture under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative," Goyal said. On opportunities in Australia, the Minister said, "We want to combine the high technology available in Australia with India's skilled labour in renewable energy products that would be state-of-the-art and will be considered the among the world's best." On bringing down the price of technologies that reduce pollution in the coal and power sector, the minister said countries need to come together and work in this direction. "(Countries like) US, China, Australia and India can come together and work on bringing down the price of technologies and products to reduce pollution in coal-based power plants," Goyal explained. Separately, at a meeting in Brisbane with the Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Anthony Lynham and Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Mark Bailey, Goyal said Indian manpower and Australian technology can be a potent force. "...a combination of Indias manpower and Australian technology would lead to a world beating outcome," a statement quoted Goyal as saying. He also pointed out the need to increase training collaboration through focused initiatives like Train the Trainer. Palaszczuk spoke about the need for an energy mix, including the need to use different forms of energy and also take into account environmental concerns. PTI India not immune to ISIS, warns UAE India oi-Jagriti New Delhi, Feb 9: The UAE which has been fighting against the Islamic State (ISIS) has warned that India is not immune to the threat from the Sunni radical group. This has been stated by the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash in a TV interview ahead of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's visit to India. "This is a long-term threat we need to cooperate, need to have zero tolerance. There are no grey areas, we need to tackle this threat and nobody is immune. If you think you are immune, you are going to be negligent and you are going to be hit. Everybody... whether India or the UAE," said Gargash to NDTV. Dozens of Indians with links to the ISIS have been deported from the UAE in recent time. Three Indian ISIS sympathisers deported from UAE, detained by NIA India and the UAE have started a new strategic partnership after a landmark visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi in August last year. PM Modi became first prime minister to pay a visit to oil rich nation in three decades. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 10:36 [IST] India sanctions funds for railway link with Bangladesh India oi-IANS By Ians English Agartala, Feb 9: Six years after the finalisation of a new India-Bangladesh railway project, the Indian government has sanctioned Rs.580 crore for the vital rail link, an official said here on Tuesday, Feb 9. The Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railway project was finalised in January 2010 when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her visit to New Delhi. "Following the Tripura government's persistent persuasion and Prime Minister's Office (PMO) intervention, the DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) ministry has agreed to provide Rs.580 crore for the new railway project," Tripura government's transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik told reporters. He said: "If the DoNER ministry releases the funds by March, the necessary work for acquisition of required land would start immediately." "Transport Minister Manik Dey wrote several letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and met Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha a number of times. He requested them to sanction the necessary funds." During his recent visit to Tripura, Sinha said the PMO has been supervising the new India-Bangladesh railway project with Tripura. "The Indian government is according highest priority to the Agartala-Akhaura railway project that would automatically connect the rail network of both the countries," Sinha said. He said the Agartala-Akhaura railway project would provide a major boost to development and economy of the northeastern region of India and eastern Bangladesh. "The project would boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Act East' policy." Modi discussed the over Rs.1,000 crore railway project with Hasina during his visit to Dhaka in June last year. "India's external affairs ministry would provide necessary funds for the Bangladesh portion of the Agartala-Akhaura rail project. The DoNER ministry's funds would be spent for the Indian portion of the project," Bhowmik said. The 1,650-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata would be reduced to only 550 km once the new rail track is linked through Bangladesh. "The NITI Aayog had decided in a meeting in Delhi in June last year to put in place the vital railway project between India and Bangladesh by December 2017," Bhowmik added. Bhowmik, who attended the NITI Aayog meeting, said: "The alignment and other technicalities of laying the track to link the Agartala railway station with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station have been changed recently. A final report on the new alignment was also submitted for sanction of funds." Transport Minister Dey quoting Suresh Prabhu said that the railway minister talked to the Railway Board and external affairs ministry about the funding of the project. "On the Indian side, some portion of the track is likely to be elevated," the minister said. The project's cost was earlier estimated at Rs.271 crore. In addition, Rs.302 crore was needed to acquire around 97.6 acres of land in Tripura for laying the track. "After the latest alignment of the project, now 72 acres of land would be required. Hence, to acquire land, the requirement of funds would be reduced to Rs.98 crore from Rs.302 crore," Dey added. Currently, India and Bangladesh have four rail links with West Bengal. IANS US: Ajit Pai under fire for his stand on net neutrality Net neutrality: Industry, users laud TRAI; Facebook, telecom operators cry foul India oi-IANS By Ians English Bengaluru, Feb 8: Industry users and netizens on Monday hailed the regulator's favourable order on net neutrality while social network Facebook and cellular operators cried foul. "We congratulate TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) for enshrining the principles of net neutrality and non-discriminatory access," IT industry representative body Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said in a statement. Expressing disappointment over the telecom watchdog's order, Facebook, however, said it would continue efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to internet. (Net Neutrality: Highlights of TRAI's order on discriminatory data pricing) "Our goal with Free Basics is to bring more people online with an open, non-exclusive and free platform," a Facebook spokespersons told IANS. Upholding net neutrality, TRAI on Monday said no to discriminatory pricing of data content as against the offerings by Facebook's Free Basics and Airtel Zero. "No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content," TRAI said in its order. Nasscom's internet council chairman Sanjeev Bhikchandani said the favourable ruling would help address concerns of start-ups on lack of level-playing field. Terming the order a big win for consumer and net neutrality, Rajya Sabha lawmaker Rajeev Chandrasekhar hailed TRAI chairman RS Sharma for standing up for consumers. "This is a powerful and positive first step as days of telcos controlling regulations and regulatory policy is over and it's consumer to the fore," Chandrasekhar said in a statement here. Echoing Facebook, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) director general Rajan S. Mathews, however, regretted that the watchdog rejected upfront differential pricing without defining net neutrality. "We expected that they will see our recommendations before coming out with the regulations. It (Free Basics) was a tool to connect the billion of unconnected people in India," Mathews contended. Observing that the watchdog's regulation on differential pricing was a welcome move, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said the order would ensure that the basic tenets of net neutrality were followed across the country. "The ruling vindicates our stand on the issue. The internet start-up eco-system and the internet user community are delighted, as we had taken a 'no exception standpoint' against differential pricing," the association said in a statement. The association also expressed gratitude to the watchdog for being the ultimate authority in deciding cases of violations and its decision was final and binding. The association, however, expressed concern over the exception rule that the order would not apply to tariffs for data services over closed electronic communications networks. Observing that the ruling would enable all netizens to have non-discriminatory access to internet, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) telecom leader Arpita Pal Agrawal said innovative ways had to be found to make every Indian access the net and bridge the digital divide. Global research and advisory firm Gartner said the regulator's notification was in line with the US Federal Communications Commission's ruling on 'open internet' and the European Union, which ruled in favour of treating all internet traffic equally. "The notification is in support of the government's focus on start-up and internet penetration, without compromising on access to content," Gartner India research director Amresh Nandan said in a statement. As start-ups are dependent on open access of internet, any directive to control it can have detrimental effect on them and the government's push to start-up ecosystem. Though telecom service providers may not be happy with the notification, Nandan said they have the ability to create different kind of internet access packages as long as content is not a parameter to provide or bar access to anyone. "Such practices have started elsewhere with products such as bandwidth on demand and bandwidth calendaring to create premium products," he added. IANS J&K- BJP's Ram Madhav to meet PDP's Mehbooba Mufti India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Feb 9: The BJP which has decided to set a deadline for the formation of a government in Jammu and Kashmir has also instructed senior leader Ram Madhav to hold talks with Mehbooba Mufti. The BJP had decided that it would wait until the start of the Parliament session before taking a final call on the formation of the government at Jammu and Kashmir. In the meantime BJP chief Amit Shah has told Ram Madhav to hold talks with Mehbooba Mufti on the formation of the government. There has been a deadlock in Jammu and Kashmir since the death of late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Saeed in Januray. The PDP has listed out a set of demands for the BJP. Among the demands are the introduction of confidence building measures. The BJP however is averse to the idea of talking with separatists which also form part of the CBMs. The BJP has made it clear that it would want to follow the agenda of alliance which was set when the PDP and the BJP formed the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir: Speculations rife as Congress cozies up to Mehboob It has also made it clear that if there are any issues then the leaders of both parties should address it before the coordination committee. The BJP leadership feels that the issue cannot drag on and there has to be some clarity. It wants to address the issue and settle it for good before the start of the Parliament session. The talks that Madhav will hold with Mehbooba will be crucial. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 10:10 [IST] Qualfon Purchases Interact Media Call Center Services Featured Article Qualfon Purchases Interact Media By Oliver VanDervoort, Contributing Writer Share The Page has moved to: http://call-center-services.tmcnet.com/topics/call-center-services/articles/417403-qualfon-purchases-intermedia.htm Related Call Center Services Articles [ Read More ] LeT planned to attack defence scientists at Taj Hotel: Headley India oi-PTI Mumbai, Feb 9: Testifying before a Mumbai court for the second day today, Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley said LeT had planned to attack Indian defence scientists at the Taj Mahal Hotel here and that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to recruit Indian armymen to spy for them. He also said that the LeT group as a whole was responsible for the terror attacks in India, and it can be speculated that all orders came from its top commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Continuing to spill the beans, Headley said, "I met Major Iqbal of ISI in Lahore in early 2006. He asked me to gather military intelligence from India and also try to recruit someone from the Indian military to spy. I told Major Iqbal that I would do as he asked." "I cannot tell this court who specifically from LeT instructed to conduct terror acts in India. The group as a whole was responsible. We can, however, speculate that since Zaki-ur-Rehman was the head of operations of LeT, and hence all orders would have logically come from him," he told the court. He also revealed that, "In November, December 2007, the LeT held a meeting in Muzaffarabad which was attended by (Headley's handler in the outfit) Sajid Mir and one Abu Kahsa. In this meeting it was decided that terror attacks would be conducted in Mumbai." "The task of conducting recce of Taj Hotel in Mumbai was assigned to me. They (Sajid and Kahsa) had some information that there was going to be a meeting of Indian defence scientists at the conference hall in Taj Hotel. They wanted to plan an attack at that time," Headley revealed. "They also made a mock (dummy) of the Taj Hotel. However, the meeting of the scientists was cancelled," he said, adding that prior to November 2007, the place was not decided where terror attacks would be conducted in India. The 55-year-old, who has turned approver in the case, further said that he had "discussed with LeT leaders Hafiz Sahab and Zaki-ur-Rehman 'sahab' that it would be a good idea to take the US govt to court to challenge its decision to designate LeT as a foreign terrorist organisation and banning it." "Hafiz said it was a good idea but then did not say anything more on it. Zaki thought it will be a long process and many agencies of the Pakistani government like the ISI will have to be involved," said Headley, while appearing from an undisclosed location via video conferencing. Headley, who is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attacks, also revealed that his wife had complained to police about his links with LeT. "In December 2007, my wife Faiza lodged a complaint with the Racecourse police in Lahore alleging that I had duped her of money." "In January 2008, she complained to the US Embassy in Islamabad that I was involved in terrorist activities and was closely associated with LeT," he said. "Later when I asked her about this complaint, she told me that the "US Embassy officials seemed to have believed her" In his first deposition yesterday, Headley had told the court that Pakistani terrorists attempted to attack Mumbai twice before the 26/11 strikes in Mumbai that killed 166 people but failed both times. Describing himself as a "true follower of LeT", Headley had also admitted during his examination by special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam that he joined the ranks of LeT after getting "influenced and motivated" by the speeches of terrorist outfit's founder Hafiz Saeed. PTI 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 Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav Diwali 2022: Major sites to be illuminated in Mumbai between Oct 22-29 Mulayam to hold rally in Mumbai on February 16 India oi-PTI Lucknow, Feb 9: Apparently stung by Shiv Sena branding Uttar Pradesh as an "Islamic state", Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will address a public rally in Mumbai on February 16 to take on the BJP's ally in Maharashtra. "Mulayam will address a 'desh banao-desh bachao' rally in Mumbai on February 16," SP's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi told PTI today from Mumbai. The SP supremo's decision to hold a rally in Mumbai assumes significance against the backdrop of Sena accusing the UP government of doing "anti-national business for appeasement politics". Sena had lashed out at the Akhilesh Yadav government for allowing Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali to hold a concert here on Sunday. "The 'Islamic Yadav' government says that Ghulam Ali was invited to perform to promote Hindu-Muslim unity. But, to promote unity, why does one need Pakistani artistes only? There are fine Muslim artistes in the country who are famous," Sena had said in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. The party had also alleged that keeping the upcoming UP Assembly polls in mind, the SP government had started "an anti-national business (of inviting Pakistani artistes) to play appeasement politics." Meanwhile, addressing newly elected block pramukhs, zila panchayat members and district panchayat heads, Mulayam pulled up party leaders for not highlighting the achievements of the state government. He also threatened to oust them within six months if they failed to ensure victory of party candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council polls. The elections to 36 MLC seats are to be held on March 3. Mulayam also blamed party legislators and ministers for SP's poor performance during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party was reduced to five seats out of 80 in the elections. PTI Gap between rich and poor has widened, needs to be bridged: Gadkari Plan to introduce amphibious plane on Ganga: Nitin Gadkari India oi-PTI Lucknow, Feb 9: The Centre is working on a proposal to ply an amphibious aircraft on the Ganga between Varanasi and Kolkata and has a target of developing 111 waterways in the country. "My target is to develop waterways in rivers. Parliament has given the consent to such five inland waterways in which Ganga and Brahmaputra are included. The target is to develop 111 such waterways. "There will be trade up to Bangladesh and Myanmar through waterways.An amphibious aircraft will be operated between Varanasi and Kolkata. It will be a cheaper mode of transport," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said yesterday at a public meeting here. "620 km-long Farrakha to Patna inland waterway will be completed 6 months," he said. Electric bikes, buses and cars will also be introduced in two years to boost environment protection, he said. "These vehicles will be operated with lithium-ion battery that is used in satellites and rockets. Such an electric bus has been given to Parliament," he said. The Surface Transport and Shipping Minister said the Narendra Modi government will in five years fulfil the dream of ensuring a clean and pure Ganga. The minister said there was a target to start transportation from Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka through underground sea tunnel. He said 5,000 institutes would be set up in the country having facility from driving licence, fitness to pollution certificate and would provide employment to one lakh people. PTI Why former Nepal PM Sushil Koirala's death is bad news for India Sushma to visit Nepal to offer condolences for Koirala Sushma to lead all-party delegation for Koirala's funeral India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi/Kathmandu, Feb 9: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead an all-party delegation from India for the funeral of former Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala who died early on Tuesday in Kathmandu, an official said. "Together with Nepal, at its time of loss. EAM @SushmaSwaraj to lead all party delegation for funeral of former PM Sushil Koirala," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a tweet. In Kathmandu, officials said that Sushma Swaraj will land at 5 p.m. (Nepali time) and will fly back to New Delhi later in the evening. She will meet Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Gopal Khanal, the foreign relations advisor to Oli, said. India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Congress leader Anand Sharma and Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sita Ram Yechuri will accompany Sushma Swaraj. The Nepal government has decided to accord the state funeral to Koirala. His last rites will be conducted at the Pashupatinath temple on the bank of Bagmati river. The government has also announced a public holiday on Wednesday. IANS As per constitutional norms: Goa Speaker on merger of Cong MLAs with BJP Telecom industry investing to improve network quality in Goa India oi-PTI Panaji, Feb 9: Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today said that quality of service (QoS) levels for all operators in Goa is in conformity with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)-mandated benchmark. "These measures have resulted in a substantial decrease in instances of dropped calls in almost all key areas in Goa under supervision of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and TRAI, along with government's support," Rajan S Mathews Director General COAI told reporters here. The industry body said operators have been working in service delivery, including unavailability of requisite and adequate tower infrastructure. "More than 1,200 cell sites (cell tower) need to be added to the current total of 3,500 cell sites to facilitate efficient network quality and better connectivity for residents and as well as for tourists in Goa," he said. The industry was doing everything possible to ensure the best possible service delivery to customers, Mathews said, adding operators acknowledge there are areas, especially in dense urban areas where drops and quality could be a problem. Mathews highlighted several factors that are creating network problems in specific areas, which relate principally to availability of cell sites. "More than half of the cell sites are either non- operational or have been shut down due to unfounded concerns about Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF) or delays in obtaining timely clearance from local authorities," he said. Despite such challenges, the industry continues to undertake several measures in order to address network quality issues. "Telecom operators have been working towards improving network coverage and capacity enhancement through expediting capital investment, network optimisation, expansion and roll-out of 3G networks to offload traffic from 2G network, additional sites coming online etc," he said. The telecom industry has stressed on the importance of support received from each state government, including Goa. "Industry seeks partnership opportunities with state governments in order to understand major challenges facing them. It is also aiming at implementing the DoT's guidelines on tower infrastructure and EMF to ensure residents' safety. These guidelines were framed by the DoT keeping in mind all regional concerns of tower installation and after a consultation process with State authorities," he said. The guidelines cover aspects like payment of a pre- determined administrative fee which covers all administrative expenses, timely single-window clearance options for the approval of applications, ensuring availability of adequate resources like water and electricity supply, which are needed to structure the effective and developed mobile infrastructure. PTI Top Naval officer flags off sailing ships on IFR's last day India oi-PTI Visakhapatnam, Feb 9: The sailing ships, including INS Tarangani, were flagged-off by a senior Naval official on conclusion of the five-day-long International Fleet Review (IFR) held here. During the IFR, which concluded yesterday, President Pranab Mukherjee had embarked on Presidential Yacht 'INS Sumitra' and reviewed the imposing international parade of fleet at IFR-2016 where 50 countries across the globe came together to participate in this show of prowess and preparedness by the Indian Navy. Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) flagged off the sailing ships - INS Tarangani, INS Sudarshani and sailing boat Mhiedi - from INS Sumitra. "The IFR went off in a grand success as we (Navy) planned and more than our expectations," Soni said. According to him, IFR was a great opportunity for public to see the capability of the country's Navy. "Without people's cooperation it (the event) would not (have) been possible. It was great experience for the 20,000 young naval personnel who took part in it for showcasing their talent," the Flag officer said. Soni further said the Chiefs of various Navies across the globe expressed happiness over the event and particularly the cooperation and hospitality extended by people of Vizag. The visiting foreign ships, who participated in the IFR were escorted to the open seas on their way home. These ships will sail out from here in two groups of 27 ships each for a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) beginning this evening. This is the first ever PASSEX in Indian waters with combined participation of such larger number of foreign and Indian warships, a Defence release said. On completion of the PASSEX, the foreign ships will shape course for their next destination and Indian Naval ships from other Naval commands will proceed for their designated tasks, it added. Meanwhile, asked about the decommissioning of the aircraft carrier - INS Viraat -, the FOC-in-C said the ship will be decommissioned this year. On commissioning of the aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant, Soni said it was likely to be commissioned either in 2018 or 2019 after sea trials in 2017. PTI Believe we are even with the Indians, Headley told Rana after 26/11 attacks Why did US keep India in the dark over David Headley? India oi-Vicky Bengaluru, Feb 9: There are some questions that come to mind while writing about the David Headley testimony before the Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 case. First and foremost, it seems like it is a testimony more for an academic interest as everything that Headley has said so far is known to both the National Investigating Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The second thought that comes to one's mind is why did the United States of America not inform India about Headley despite knowing everything about him. Live Updates: David Headley's testimony to continue Lastly why did the Indian government continue to assure all of us that he would be brought to India when there was clearly a 35 page plea bargain deal that he had entered into while pleading guilty on three charges. Why did US keep India in the dark? David Headley was not a new revelation for the Americans. He was their agent who had turned rogue and there was a surveillance on him at all times. V Balachandran, former officer with the Research and Analysis Wing tells OneIndia that there were misgivings following Headley's arrest in 2009 as to why India was not forewarned about him. The problem for America was the Intelligence Identities' Protection Act which prohibits anyone from disclosing the identity of informants to others, including foreign governments. Scooter Libby, a close confidante of vice-president Richard Cheney was convicted under this law in 2007 for revealing the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deep cover agent. However the US did pass on advance information on 26/11 and the same was admitted by the then Home Minister of India, P Chidambaram. However in the advance information the name of Headley was not mentioned. Ordinarily, even within a country, the name of the informer is never revealed while passing on such intelligence says Balachandran. Headley's revelation will take 26/11 case to 'logical conclusion' The plea bargain and India's false assurance After Headley was arrested in the US, India assured all of us that there were attempts on to secure his extradition. However this was never to happen and if one does go through the plea bargain deal then it became clear that the government all along was lying. On March 18, 2010 Headley entered into a 35-page "Plea Bargain Agreement" with the state attorney at the Illinois Northern District Court. He pleaded guilty on three conditions to a dozen US federal terrorism charges, including planning the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. As per the deal he would not be given a death sentence. He would also not be extradited to India, Denmark or Pakistan. Lastly sentencing guidelines would be followed. Balachandran says that the previous government was wrong in assuring us that they would try to get Headley extradited to India. The plea bargain conditions are irrevocable. Headley was sentenced to 35 years in jail followed by five years of "supervised release". So any chance of his coming to India to stand trial would happen only in 2054 the former R&AW officer points out. Headley wanted to fight against Indian Army in Kashmir What can India do with this testimony? Balachandran says that we could do a much better job of exposing Pakistan's perfidy compared to the 1993 Bombay blasts probe. Headley knew much more about the culpability of Pakistan than what has been judicially known. So the question was how to get his testimony in an Indian court without his physical presence? That is where his plea bargain agreement came in handy. On March 18, 2010 he had agreed to fully participate in any debriefings for the purpose of gathering intelligence or national security information. He also agreed to testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the United States by way of deposition, video-conferencing or letters rogatory when directed by the United States Attorney's Office. This is what he is now doing. We need his testimony to fully understand Pakistan's conspiracy. This would enable us to mount international pressure on Pakistan. The Kasab investigation and trial had revealed only one dimension. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 7:48 [IST] Prosecutions story may be attractive but should be backed by evidence IS widow charged over US hostage death International oi-PTI Washington, Feb 9: The widow of late Islamic State group financial leader Abu Sayyaf has been charged for her alleged role in the death of US aid worker Kayla Mueller last year. Nisreen Assad Ibrahim Bahar, a 25-year-old known as Umm Sayyaf, was accused of conspiring to provide support to the violent extremists, forcibly detaining Mueller and other captives in the couple's homes, where she was sexually assaulted by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Bahar acknowledged that Baghdadi "owned" Mueller during her captivity at the Sayyaf residences, describing "owning" as equivalent to slavery, federal prosecutors said yesterday. IS fighters claimed that Mueller, who was kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo in August 2013, was killed in a February 2015 coalition air strike that buried her in rubble. US officials say the circumstances of her death remain unclear. She was 26. Abu Sayyaf was killed in May 2015 in a rare US commando raid inside war-torn Syria. Bahar was captured during the operation, and US forces also rescued a young woman from the Yazidi minority and seized a stash of firearms, the complaint recalled. Mueller and other female "captives were at various times handcuffed, held in locked rooms and given orders on a daily basis with respect to their activities, movements and liberty," according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Virginia. "While in captivity, Kayla Jean Mueller was sexually abused by Baghdadi, who forced her to have sex with him," it added. "The defendant (Bahar) knew how Ms Mueller was treated by Baghdadi when Ms Mueller was held against her will in the defendant's home." The complaint also alleged that Bahar told the captives that "she would kill them if they did not listen to her." Arizona woman killed by Islamic State militants honored Bahar admitted that she had sole responsibility for holding the hostages captive while her husband traveled on IS business, and that Baghdadi and other members of the group would stay at the residence at times, according to the complaint. If convicted, Bahar faces life in prison. She is currently in Iraqi custody, facing prosecution for terror-related activities. "We fully support the Iraqi prosecution of Sayyaf and will continue to work with the authorities there to pursue our shared goal of holding Sayyaf accountable for her crimes," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a statement. AFP Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. By Frank Griffin, Contributing Writer Share Walmart is a company that has 11,620 stores in 28 countries around the world, and in 2015 it generated $485.6 billion. With 2.2 million employees and customers numbering in the tens of millions, having a single point of contact for its IT helpdesk and call center services can introduce new levels of efficiency for the company. The Canadian branch of Walmart has deployed Toshiba's TCxCare solution to accomplish that task to all of its 395 stores across the country. Toshiba (News - Alert) announced Walmart Canada will be deploying its TCxCare solution so it can manage the Toshiba point of sale hardware and all other OEM retail store equipment. This collaboration between the two organizations extends the 2013 agreement in which Toshiba started providing retail store maintenance and servicing POS and other core systems in all the stores in Canada. Under the new agreement, Toshiba will be in charge of all IT helpdesk requests, including general set up, quality assurance, IT diagnostic information and support for retail system maintenance by addressing any responses. This includes managing the different Toshiba hardwares that are installed in the stores, including the SurePOS 700TM, Self Checkout System 6, SureMarkTM printers and equipment as well as OEM peripherals from other vendors. Toshiba TCxCare is a single point of contact for installed hardware and IT support. The platform brings the retail experts within Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions to develop, customize and integrate store-level technology and business solutions. The company is known for quickly integrating solutions while reducing the risk associated with implementing new technologies into existing systems. Currently Toshiba has installed its services in more than 30,000 retail stores around the world for organizations of all sizes without limitations to scale. Walmart Canada has a record of providing an unparalleled, one-stop, cost saving shopping experience for their customers, said Steve Petruk, Senior Vice President, Global TCx Care, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Inc. Our Toshiba team is proud to further enable high availability and performance of OEM and Toshiba equipment across the network of over 395 Walmart stores in Canada. For retailers such as Walmart, which operate under very slim margins, every process that saves the company the cost of doing business is welcomed. The scale in which Walmart operates necessitates automated and new generation IT solutions to ensure every installed technology is operating at optimal levels all the time. With the Toshiba TXxCare system in place, Walmart Canada hopes to continue its lead as the largest retailer in the country. Edited by Kyle Piscioniere 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. The Registrar of Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission, IPPACC, Dr. Alphonse Gelu is still waiting on parliament to pass a law that will confine the limit of every political party or independent candidate fundraiser to K500000 only.One of the main things we are working on is the revised organic law that is before parliament - we submitted that in 2014 and we are still waiting on them to pass the law.From IPPACCs perspective, we understand why they do not want to pass the law because there are certain things in there such as party donations.Under the current organic law, the amount cap of donation is K500000 that means anyone can donate that amount to a respective political partys fundraiser, irrespective of how many donate that amount.But what we have in the submitted revised organic law to parliament, is that each fundraiser will not surpass the amount of K500000 essentially meaning that all contributions and donations put together must not exceed K500000, Dr. Gelu said.Dr. Gelu says pre-election and during election, the scrutiny of monetary contributions has been frail.When it comes to campaign financing, its one of Papua New Guineas weakest area that has never been monitored and never been policed and this is where IPPACC and our revised organic law submission are coming from - we are coming down hard on that, Dr. Gelu said.With elections a year away, Dr. Gelu has given prior notice to all political parties to conduct their activities diligently and within legal bounds.PNG TV A New AGA Election Guide Ensures the Voice of Online Gaming Will be Heard Published February 9, 2016 by Lee R All gaming stakeholders should join the Gaming Votes initiative. The Presidential elections are coming, and the American Gambling Association has taken it upon itself to make sure that all the right people are informed. Voter Guide The AGA has released its first-ever voter guide to inform the nearly one-million gaming employees about the presidential candidates and their stances gambling. The guide includes voting information on participation such as when to vote, where to vote and how to register, which is relevant not just to the gaming stakeholders, but any member of the US voting public. Gaming Votes Initiative The guide is part of the initiative Gaming Votes which the AGA launched last year to inform the candidates themselves in an effort to ensure full awareness by all Presidential candidates on the value of gaming to the states when effectively regulated. Statistics in the guide point out how in key battleground and early vote states the gaming industry supports over half-a-million jobs and generates $75 billion in economic activity. AGA Goal The AGA is committed to targeting all specific groups and stakeholders at this point so that politicians, employees, casino operators, and players can all participate in making online gambling work in the US and increase revenues for the many currently cash-starved and/or debt-ridden states while bringing safe and fulfilling gaming experiences to meet the wide demand that exists. Individual Positions Revealed Regulation of gaming is not a partisan issue but a matter of individual policy stance. Of course, some candidates are obviously in favor of online gambling, such as megacasino owner Donald Trump and New Jersey Governor Doug Christie, who has shepherded regulated gaming in his state to early success and state benefits. A chart in the guide provides the positions of all candidates, in alphabetical order, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, for which there currently exists no record of his stance or activity. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, the chart reveals opposed casinos in Arkansas as First Lady in the 80's but softened her stance running for Senator in New York in 2000 by saying she would leave it up to the citizens to decide if they felt that casinos was the way towards economic recovery. Educate Yourself All information will go a long way towards informing and empowering all voters for the future of online gambling in the US. Yggdrasil Sets Sights on Gibraltar License Published February 9, 2016 by Lee R Fast-rising Malta-based software company Yggdrasil aims for Gibraltar licence. Fresh off securing UK licensing last December, provider Yggdrasil is now closing out its application process in Gibraltar as well. A Lot to Offer The fast-rising Malta-based received company is taking up an invitation to pursue licensing for its proprietary gaming platform to implement the diverse array of games and promotions it now boasts after a signing a flurry of agreements with operators over the past 12 months. Thrilled Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist said his company was over the moon with excitement after being invited to apply for Gibraltar licensing due to the exclusivity of jurisdiction. With their games already found on leading online casinos such as Mr. Green, Cherry and Casino Estrella. Yggdrasil joins a select handful of major operators licensed out of Gibraltar. Gibraltar represents a complementary piece of the unique licensing opportunities that markets such as Antigua, Malta and the Isle of Man have proven to provide for operators. More About Yggdrasil The litany of games within the greater Yggdrasil portfolio includes Chibeasties, Cyrus the Virus, Cazino Zeppelin, Jokerizer, Winterberries, Reef Run, Dark Joker Rizes, Vikings Go Wild, progressive jackpot Joker Millions, Holmes and the Stolen Stones, Doubles and Nirvana. The wide array of titles, combined with its Yggdrasil's recent industry recognition as iGaming Software Supplier of the Year at the 2016 International Gaming Awards and Software Rising Star at the 2015 EGR B2B Awards undoubtedly added to the appeal of the company for Gibraltar. There are people who think it would be great to have a women in the White House. But not all women embody the traits that we often associate with women. For example, psychologist Carol Gilligan, in her ground-breaking book In a Different Voice, argues that women emphasize relationships, caring, social cooperation, and harmony much more than men. [1] This may well be true, but, of course, we know that some women have also embodied horrific qualities: some women have been murderers, child abusers, or the commandants of Nazi concentration camps. Women can repress or distort the so-called feminine characteristics through becoming sociopaths, or through primary identification with their super-wealthy social class, or through assimilating cultural hatred of some out group, for example Jews, Blacks, Communists, or Muslims. Will Hillary likely bring "feminine" characteristics to the US Presidency if elected? Will she promote peace, cooperation, economic and political equality, and justice for all within our country and will she promote peace, the sovereign equality of nations, obedience to UN principles of international law, and multilateralism among nations? (None of these conditions among nations, of course, reflect the highest world federalist values, but we cannot expect more at this point in history of any US President.) The answer is clearly "no" to all of these goals. Internally, within the US, Hillary has identified herself with the oligarch ruling class, with Wall Street, the big banks, and the multinational corporations. Her orientation is quite the same as that of her husband, Bill Clinton, when he was President and she was first lady. Bill Clinton betrayed the American working class by promoting neo-liberal economics of global trade agreements like NAFTA, in which corporations got richer while working people both lost their jobs and those still working had to accept wage cuts, pension cuts, and reduction in their benefits packages. Hillary's public statements and behavior as Secretary of State have been consistent with this same orientation, which is the ideological stance of the US oligarchy: big banks, big business, a thriving industrial-military complex, and multinational corporations, which are supported by most of Congress and by the Executive branch. Obama has made some weak "progressive" gestures in some areas of prison reform, immigration reform, and healthcare, but these gestures are weak precisely because he is a representative of the "middle of the road" democratic oligarchy. Obamacare, even while extending coverage to millions, caters to private business and the huge insurance industry. And Hillary has repeatedly said in her debates that she supports President Obama and his policies. The internal rule of the Oligarchy in the US is, of course, linked with their external global financial rule as well. President Obama has intensified the war on independent journalism far beyond that of George W. Bush. He has continued the human rights obscenity of Guantanamo Bay and has vastly increased the policy of target drone assassinations and terror tactics that deny the due process of law to perceived enemies everywhere on the Earth. Hillary has not spoken out against these human rights obscenities. Her rhetoric of rights (as, for example, concerning Syrian refuges or the Ukraine conflict) merely repeats US imperial ideology and has very little to do with actual concern for human rights. Just as her husband Bill Clinton supported NAFTA, so Hillary as Secretary of State supported the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), at one time calling it the "gold standard" of trade agreements. In her debates with Bernie Sanders, she has changed her tune, now saying that she is "reserving judgment" about the TPP and that she "hoped it would be the gold standard." We should not be fooled by the change of rhetoric. Hillary's entire record, going back to when she was first lady, speaks of someone who identifies with the rich and powerful who run this country and who also aspire, through transnational banking and corporations, to control world trade in their own favor. To them, speech is a pragmatic tool for defending their class interests, and words like "justice," "human rights," "equality before the law," "world peace," "free trade," are simply tools in their war chest. Like the people who staff the Pentagon, they are basically sociopaths who care nothing about human suffering. What about US foreign policy? As Senator from the state of New York from 2001-2009, Hillary was and is an ardent supporter of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. She also voted "yes" to George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, which was in direct violation of international law and the UN Charter. As Secretary of State, she has supported the entire imperial juggernaut with its assumption of US exceptionalism and superiority right down the line. She supported the overthrow of the elected government of the Ukraine and the neo-Nazi takeover of the Maiden government and continues to push a hawkish stance toward Russia, repeating the well-known State Department lies that Russia is the aggressor in the region and the US must act to block that aggression. Scholars of world affairs such as James Petras [2], Michel Chossodovsky [3], Pepe Escobar [4], and William Engdahl [5] have demonstrated in great depth that US foreign policy (behind the rhetoric and behind the scenes) has long been a coordinated attack on perceived rivals to US global dominance: Russia, China, and Iran, as well as against the lesser pieces in the Afro-Asian "chessboard": Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yeman, etc. In a recent article, Michael Hudson, eminent economist of global imperialism, has written about the US use of the IMF and World Bank to destroy the economic well-being of the Greek people and, then, changing the IMF rules to allow for an exception in the case of the Ukraine, to use support of the neo-Nazi Ukrainian government to economically undercut and marginalize Russia [6]. Hillary was Secretary of State under Obama from 2009-2013. It would be impossible for any person to hold this position and not be an insider to the secret strategy to destroy the stable and prosperous government of Libya (which she was explicitly part of), destroy the Russian-linked stable government of Syria (she is explicitly against the government of President Assad), and in general wreak military and economic havoc in Afro-Asia (as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and the Ukraine) in the service of US geopolitical imperialism. Her false rhetoric of sympathy for the miserable refugees now flooding out of Syria only confirms her wretched hypocrisy, since she and her government are most directly responsible for the destruction of stability in the region first in Iraq and now in Syria. As President of the US, we could only expect more of this horrific global imperialism without any care for the hundreds of millions of ordinary people whose lives, livelihoods, and homes are destroyed by this callous imperial foreign policy in the service of the west's rich and powerful ruling oligarchy. It is always true that internal and external policies are linked. Hillary would clearly continue to support the military-industrial complex, and US big business, which are both destroyers of the internal well-being of the US working class, major polluters of the environment, and essential to the imperial drive for world domination. Bernie Sanders, by contrast, is not a neocon, nor an oligarch, but an old-time FDR-New Deal social liberal. He believes in a social democracy that puts restraints on unfettered capitalism (that neocons support). He would break up the supper-big banks, protect workers from rapacious employers, and create an internal economic resurgence through FDR style stimulus packages (like Roosevelt's Civil Conservation Corps (CCC)). He would lead the way in trying to convert the internal US economy to a more sustainable and environmental friendly form. He would end the shame of being the only industrialized country without a decent single-payer national health system. The extent to which he would be able to do these things, as he himself points out, would be dependent on his continued support of the majority of ordinary citizens, since all this would obviously be opposed by the ruling class in the country. A corollary of this appeal to a resurgence of democracy includes Sanders support for dialogue, real journalism, and factually informed debate. The present repression of journalistic debate by the Obama administration, and the obsession with making everything the government does secret, would most likely be mitigated under a Sanders presidency. On foreign policy, Bernie has taken the stance that he would encourage a multilateral world in which nations would be encouraged to cooperate to deal with terrorism, extremism, and other international problems. He would try to limit imperial uses of US military forces and probably support obedience to international laws and norms. Doing this might help to restore a multilateral world in which nations cooperated more and lived more in peace, perhaps joining together against the common enemy of climate collapse. However, in this endeavor, Bernie would again be in conflict with the US oligarch class, the industrial military complex, and the powerful Pentagon system. And here he could not so easily appeal to the popular support of the people of the US. The people of the US may be waking up to the oligarchy that is screwing them internally, but they are not nearly as awake to the imperial juggernaut of the US toward world domination and the utter callousness of US foreign policy toward the well-being of ordinary people everywhere on the Earth. Since internal and external policies are linked: since the global domination of US multinational corporations and banking cartels (in large part through the IMF and World Bank) is linked to the loss of jobs and benefits within the US, Bernie would be facing an uphill battle. But at least there would be a battle, and in the course of such a battle, public education becomes possible and real change becomes at least possible. If Hillary were President, it would be just one more instance of the fox guarding the henhouse: continued repression of independent journalists, etc. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Iran since it was taken over by the Ayatollahs in 1979 has become a theocracy state where the religious figures, not political ones rule the country. Khomeini when he took over Iran in 1979, didn't proclaim himself as a leader or even a religious leader, but he went further than that. He declared himself a prophet based on his well-known idea of Vilayat-Al-Faqih ( the rule of the most sacred religious man or better translated as the rule of the jurist ). To understand the change that Khomeini introduced to the Shiite sect, some background must be said. Shiite sect has many sub-sects but the main one is in the Twelvers . The Twelvers believe that the twelve decedents of Prophet Muhammad are the most sacred and are infallible. They also believe that the last of them ( Imam Mahdi ) has occulted and disappeared ( against his well ) but he will reappear. Shiite are praying for his reappearance. Khomeini idea is that why wait until Mahdi reappears, I will be acting for him until his reappearance. This change elevated Khomeini from the religious leader of Iran to the acting prophet for all Shiite across the world. Many political analysts believe that the motives for this change are rather political than religious and time has proven that. Shiite across the Middle East began to see Iran as the savior and the mecca. It became a duty for every Shiite regardless where he lives or to what country he belongs, to abide by whatever Khomeini says and follow him. Shiite at large began to believe that disobeying Khomeini means disobeying God. Now the platform is set and ripe, Iran begun its second move. Hezbollah was created in Lebanon and small destabilizing cells began to form in Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia. It couldn't succeed in Iraq because the then Iraqi strong President Saddam who has an army that already has a deep ideology (The Ba'ath Party). Fast-forward to today, Iran struggles to keep its influence in Syria but has failed to maintain influence in Bahrain and Yemen. Iran Stronghold is now in Iraq (Thanks To America). Iran and ISIS are similar in the principles but vary in the approach. Both want to use religion to expand and conquer as many land as they can. ISIS resorts to direct terrorism and violence to achieve that. Iran uses proxies (who are already convinced that Iran's Supreme Leader is an acting prophet) to perform the terror they want them to do such as the horrible killing of Rafiq Hariri or the alKhobar bombing that killed 18 Americans or the 1983 Beirut massacre that killed 250 Americans and list goes on and on. The only difference is that ISIS kills some twenty or so people in front of the world, while the Ayatollahs in Iran kill hundreds using their proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. One last world. It is sad to see the Europeans who fought against the rule of the Church and many lives were lost to get rid of that and of the Inquisition, receive, in the 21st century, a reminder of the rule of the Church when they in France and Germany received Hassan Rouhani , a religious man in his turban and cassock who is ruling over the people and the land of Iran. As long as Iran is ruled by religion and Priests, the Middle East will never regain stability, and it is a shame that the civilised world allow some 80 million Iranians who are looking for the Good life to live in the Dark Ages where religion rules. Hamad S Alomar Riyadh FEBRUARY 7, 2016 - Martelly Leaves in Disgrace A GREAT DAY FOR PEOPLE POWER AGAINST OVERWHELMING FORCES Martelly is gone! Finally. Nasty stuff is gone. Bought-by-the-Internationals, indecent, pornographic and proudly misogynistic Martelly is no longer the puppet president of Haiti! The people celebrate today. Tomorrow they've vowed to address the illegitimately elected authorities the Internationals are forcing down Haiti's throat to make the disputed 2015 foreign-supported, corrupt elections count anyways. The alliance of eight top presidential candidates known as the G-8, disavowed the February 6, Trojan Horse Accord signed between the outgoing Martelly and the unconstitutionally formulated new Parliament. (See,Haiti illegal Parliament to carry forth US-EU International Crimes in Haiti.) 30 years ago on February 7, 1986, the people of Haiti had a victory almost as big as today. The people took down the US-sponsored Duvalier dynasty dictatorship and sent Jean Claude Duvalier into exile. Today, we honor the victims of empire and took down their Martelly neoDuvalierist. It's not a "grim" day as Reuters and the rest of the corporate media would have you believe. It's a great day for people power against overwhelming forces. " Blan Kolon te mete Marteli sou pouvwa. Se menm Djab saa yo ki fe maniget pou kite yon pelen pou Ti Pep la ak 'san elu yo' ki lan Palman a." The invading OAS/UN/US and Core Criminals brought Martelly to power and shepherd him out, leaving behind the fraudulent parliamentary votes of Aug 9th and October 25th the people protested to destroy Haiti some more. See, La domination etrangere en Haiti. " Bye bye Michel Martelly. Take all your legal bandits with you. And we're telling that thug Guy Philippe and the PHTK paramilitary buffoons wearing former military fatigues that "2016 is not 2004." The UN troops have been raping and abusing Haiti children and women for 12 years. Brought in cholera that killed over 10,000 innocent Haitians. But it's now these cretins decide they're men and ready to go to war against, not the foreign goons hurting our women and children, but against unarmed Haitians protesting dictatorship and foreign oppression. For shame. " -- Ezili Danto, HLLN/Free Haiti. Part of the next order of business is for an honest new electoral council (CEP) to de-certify the fraudulently seated Opont Parliament, evaluate all the votes for August 9th and October 25. See, Haiti illegal Parliament to carry forth US-EU International Crimes in Haiti. The Core Group criminals in Haiti did all they could to silence Haiti voices for clean elections. The Core Criminals said "no" to a provisional government and insisted on a January 24th run off that would look like August 9 and October 15 where all the International criminals declared were not fraudulent. The people protested, Jude Celestin boycotted the sham and the people scored the January 22 indefinite postponement of the fake elections. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). What is becoming a very significant issue in this presidential primary is the state, or condition, of this country's government and political system that is not aligned with the needs and interests of the American people. Donald Trump proclaims that if elected he would make America great "again." He is clearly indicating that he doesn't consider America to be great but that, by his leadership, he can restore that distinction. Bernie Sanders doesn't specifically talk about greatness one way or the other but concentrates on emphasizing that we have a failed government and that we Americans must rise up and take an active part in a political revolution if we are to reverse this condition. Trump seems to think that he possesses the personal power to turn this country in the right direction. Sanders, on the other hand, has a vision for taking America in a new direction but he strongly believes can only be accomplished through a peaceful political revolution which is driven by Americans who will stand together to demand change and refuse to take no for an answer. What then is the primary objective of this political revolution? It's simply this: a revolution in which the first and most critical task would be to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in order to remove Corporate America's control over this government and the political process. And the only way to do that is to elect a president who will subsequently appoint new Supreme Court Justices who will vote to reverse that decision. If that is accomplished the money, power and suffocating influence of Corporate America will be removed from this Congress and our elections. Corporations must be completely banned from interfering in governmental affairs. Then, over time, when this Congress has been thoroughly cleansed of this political contaminant and new, more ethical, rational-minded individuals fill its chambers, that will open the door to address more badly needed government reforms. Talking about greatness is one thing but earning that distinction is clearly another. To achieve it a newly constituted government would have to shelve a host of its former policies and actions and start anew; this time listening to the people and to their needs and wants and the direction that they want to see this country take. Here are some thoughts on how America can achieve this greatness; about what a great country and government would do and what it would refrain from doing: The safety and security of the American people must be the #1 priority of this government. We should continue to maintain a very strong military together with appropriate alliances with other nations. What we don't need is a massive, extremely costly network of military bases all across the world and a Pentagon that has aggressively initiated actions to invade and occupy other sovereign nations which posed no direct, immediate threat to the U.S. That totally misguided foreign policy agenda must come to an end. Instead, America should once again play a constructive, leading role in world affairs, not by aggressively using its military power but by creating strong coalitions with other major countries to prevent rogue governments such as North Korea from threatening other nations. But while that would be a tremendous step forward for the future we won't see that happen unless this political revolution proves to be successful. Let's talk about the setting of priorities in U.S. foreign policy relative to potential enemies. It's astounding how reckless, misguided politicians continue to condemn Iran and even suggest that the U.S. consider launching a pre-emptive attack on that country which doesn't have a current nuclear capability, has just signed an agreement to prevent that possibility, and is not threating to attack the U.S. And then they watch as North Korea, which has a nuclear arsenal, is developing a missile delivery system, and has, on numerous occasions, threatened to attack America; and they do absolutely nothing. Now we turn to jobs. How can a country aspire to greatness when the creation of jobs for American workers is not even one of its top priorities? The leaders of this government and the Congress must somehow grasp the fact that a strong manufacturing sector with a skilled, well paid workforce is the key to increasing consumer purchasing power which, in turn, fuels and grows the economy. What we need is for this government and the business sector to work together to make America more competitive in the world, and to strengthen this country and its middle class. Major U.S. corporations justify their practice of outsourcing American jobs to cheap foreign labor because they say that they can't be competitive as long as they are weighed down by a corporate tax rate of 35%, the highest in the world. Well if we had excellence in government that problem could easily be addressed and alleviated. A competent Congress would take the necessary steps to reform the corporate tax code, lower corporate taxes, close existing loopholes, establish appropriate tariffs on imported goods and services, and place strict controls on corporate use of tax havens and the practice of tax inversions. This would make corporations more competitive in the world and make certain that they pay their fair share of taxes. Unfortunately this is not a competent Congress. Further, relative to the issue of job creation; if we had competent and visionary leaders and members of this government they would identify areas of significant potential to move this nation forward. We constantly hear that our national infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating. That may be a problematic condition but it actually represents a tremendous opportunity for creating millions of new, good paying jobs. This Congress knows that and does nothing. Speaking of new opportunities we could also greatly reduce our dependence on petroleum if this government would lead the efforts to develop new forms of energy, in particular, solar power which would also create millions of permanent jobs for our workers. Yes we could do these things that would contribute to making America a great nation if we had excellence in government. In a new, different America with a functional government Wall Street and its Banksters would no longer be allowed to bend and twist government regulations. Sanders and others have vowed to break up these too-big-to-fail banks. They would be restricted to lending money and banned from highly speculative practices such as dealing in toxic derivatives. This would help to prevent massive future bank bailouts using taxpayer dollars. One day, and soon, we must have this government prosecute and send devious, scheming CEOs to prison instead of just levying heavy fines on the banks. We will never be able to call America a truly great nation as long as we tolerate the massive inequality of wealth and income that is now present. It's as if there is a pipeline that transports all newly generated income directly to the top of the income spectrum. What kind of a country has over 10 million millionaires and 536 billionaires and, at the same time, has 47 million Americans on food stamps and an equal number living below the poverty line? That's anything but greatness; that's a national disgrace. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). The debate over the present and future of Afghanistan has remained centric to notable policy centers across the globe since the country was invaded and later liberated from Taliban in 2001 by US-led coalition. Almost 15 years on, it won't be naive or premature to say that, in comparison to the successes, the losses are immense and grave. Instead of keeping ourselves limited to the corruption, ever-increasing influence of Taliban, the incompetence in governance, failing institutions and drug-fueled insurgency, the case of an 11-year-old child (by some reports 10) will serve as the best reflection of the progress made, or contrary to this the opportunity lost in rebuilding not only Afghanistan, but curtailing what we see today from Syria to Tripoli as the rise of "barbarianism". Wasil Ahmed, the unfortunate nucleus of this write-up, hailed from Tarinkot city of Urozgan province. Last week, while on his way to school where he was enrolled in 4th grade, the young boy was gunned down in a targeted mission by Taliban fighters. As per reports, he received two bullets in the head, which proved fatal. If you read until this, you would ask yourself what is so different about it? After all from a group of militants who strive through maintaining fear, you do not expect norms of warfare to be followed or maintained, and Wasil will serve as just another case.... Right! However, this remains the one side of the story. What made Wasil the target of those two brutal bullets was his inclination last year by the Afghan Defense apparatus (ANP, ANSF) as a symbol of resurgence for leading the resistance, and as per the official accounts working in the capacity of the field commander. NY times quoted his uncle saying that Wasil used to fire rockets from roof top on the Taliban and led his men, which is Afghan Local Police militia, for 44 days during the siege by the Taliban. Snaps circulating around social and mainstream media showed Wasil in the regular army gear, receiving award and holding assault rifle. Converging the two accounts, the time arises to answer what killed Wasil instead of striving around who killed Wasil, the innocent 10-year-old boy. The trail of this tragic incident starts from 2015, which is almost 14 years since international coalition laid its feet on Afghan ground. Urozgan neighbors Kandahar and Helmand, and is geographically seen as situated in the center of Afghanistan. If 14 years on, the US-led coalition could only succeed in inspiring 10-year-old Wasil instead of an established institute of safeguard against Taliban, the failure lies here. Wasil's uncle was himself a commander of Taliban insurgency before he switched sides to support government, almost a decade after the invasion. He along with his 36 men were tasked to spearhead the security of the region, by making Wasil's uncle Mullah Abdul Samad a commander of not only his militia, but 70 Afghan local police too. The unprofessionalism is reflected from every step in this direction, up to the fact that Wasil was made the top target by rewarding him in public as a figure of defiance and a soldier of Afghanistan. Knowing well that Taliban has from time to time demonstrated that they can make significant inroads into the Afghan security forces, which has caused numerous causalities through its insiders, this was a grave mistake. But one shouldn't limit our words and thoughts to Wasil. As he lay martyred, it's not him but the future of every child in Afghanistan that lay martyred. Coalition approach towards institutional reconstruction in Afghanistan stands on a weak ground, which has fractured the structure built on top of it. The battle in Afghanistan against terrorists and insurgents depended upon the popular support, what we term as winning "hearts & minds". The ordinary Afghanis need a hope, a promising future ahead for which they could strive, fight and devote themselves and in all this equation since 2001, the only factor missing in coalition strategy is this hope to the Afghanis. The responsibility equally lies to all stakeholders, including those in power and those exerting influence from outside of this modern-day tragedy. As of now, Afghanistan is at ground zero almost 15 years on from where it started. Tragedy like the one of Wasil is just an example of how dire and demanding the situation remains in Afghanistan. If the mistakes are not identified and corrected, this war-torn country will continue to produce Wasil, and loose them. Reprinted from Consortium News Sen. Bernie Sanders's candidacy raises the question of whether there can be a better system than free-market capitalism -- with its bloated income inequality and its hollowed-out middle class -- while Hillary Clinton's message is that the system needs only minor reforms at the edges, said economist Richard Wolff. Wolff, a Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, taught economics for some 15 years and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University, New York City, and author most recently of the book Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism. DB: Let's just start off with the fact that there are about 45-million Americans who live in poverty now. And the word poverty or poor doesn't seem to exist in the lexicon of most of the debates. In the following interview, Wolff said the enthusiastic response to the Sanders campaign suggests that there is a growing public awareness that free-market capitalism -- left to its own devices -- doesn't fulfill the nation's needs. He also explored what a "socialist" administration under Sen. Sanders might look like. RW: It's amazing that it doesn't exist. It's amazing that, indeed, the whole world's poverty story doesn't exist. One of the most revered anti-poverty agencies in the world, Oxfam in Great Britain, issued a report about 10 days ago timed to happen together with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. And the point of their report was about poverty. And it had two basic statistics, which if there were any justice in the world would be the number one topic of the debates, and of the political campaigns in the United States and elsewhere. The first statistic was that the 62 richest people, the 62 richest individuals, most of whom by the way, are Americans, own together more wealth than the bottom half of the population of this planet. That's 3.5 billion people. That is a level of inequality for which you'd have to go back to ancient Egypt and the pharaohs, to find comparable kinds of numbers. The second statistic that they released was even worse, in a way. It said that 2015 was a banner year, a turning-point year, because in that year for the first time since records have been kept, the top 1% of wealth holders in the world, the richest 1% together own more than the total wealth of the other 99% in the world. This is a level of inequality that is a product of an economic system that has dominated the world for 300 years, named capitalism. It's the one we live in. And any system with a result like that, with a level of inequality, and the poverty that goes with it, is a system that ought to be questioned and challenged. And the significance of the Bernie Sanders campaign is that what it does is bring back into the American political life, into the American political discussion, the alternative to capitalism. He calls it democratic socialism, but the important thing is not the details of what he's proposing, but rather the opening of American politics to finally dealing with the topic it should have been discussing for the last 50 years, which is ... can we do better than capitalism? And, if we can, how do we go about it? DB: Maybe we can hone in a little bit. What do you perceive, what do you see, what's your understanding of the bottom-line differences between what Bernie Sanders is saying about the economy, and what Hillary Clinton is saying. I'm not even getting into Trump, at this point. RW: Sure, I think there are a number of ways of going at this. But let me try this one. Hillary Clinton [and] her husband Bill Clinton are people who came to their high political office, and indeed came to their ways of thinking, in a period of American history, the last three or four decades, when the governing ideology in this country was that capitalism is the greatest thing since sliced bread. That it's a magical, ultimate achievement of human civilization. That it provides growth and prosperity in an endless vista into the future. And that therefore anyone thinking about alternatives must have been asleep at the wheel, must be a backward-looking person, maybe even an evil person, but someone whose thinking and speech we don't have to take seriously. So like everyone else in these dominant positions in America in the last 30-40 years, they spent no time worrying about how to do better than capitalism, no time learning or exploring the alternatives. That's no good anymore because capitalism has shown us its vulnerabilities: the inequality that I mentioned a few minutes ago, but we can go on ... the instability, the crash of 2008, and the failure of most Americans to recover in a significant way, from that crash. The uncertainty that now suggests we may have another recession this year, later. This is a system whose inequality and instability, the injustice of everything we read about in the papers, from the scandal of the Flint water system, to Dupont's poisoning of the water, to the absurd prices of apartments in New York City. I mean, one could go on and on. This is a system that has given us more than enough reason to think about alternatives. And the fundamental difference between Sanders and Clinton is Sanders is about alternatives, Clinton acts as if they are not necessary because that's been the way she, and the people she represents, have been thinking for 40 years. DB: Now they say, we hear this again and again and again. Bernie Sanders, he is a great idea with what he wants to do, impossible to afford. $17 trillion, $18 trillion, Hillary Clinton sort of jumps on the bandwagon with the Wall Street Journal. Are these ideas that Bernie Sanders has that everybody deserves health care, and so on and so forth? Are they possible, or is it ridiculous? RW: Well, they're absolutely possible. And there's a certain shame that should be attached to Mrs. Clinton using these arguments. It has been the standard trope, the standard argument of conservatives that anything that sounds good of the sort that liberals, socialists, radicals propose ... if they admit that they sound good, the way to get rid of the population's' interest is to suggest that they are either undoable or too expensive. This is so silly. And let me give the example from American history that proves the point. In the Great Depression of the 1930's, when the unemployment was much worse than it is today, when the bankruptcy and economic difficulties of cities, towns was much more severe than it is today, it was thought to be a crazy idea, in the midst of the Great Depression to come up with extraordinary new, expensive programs to help the mass of people, which is basically what Sanders is proposing, now. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. Talk about nightmares: the children of a city, thousands of them, may have been poisoned by lead in its drinking water in a process set off by adults intent on saving a little money, who learned of the dangers and then ignored the warnings of scientists, revealed nothing to the public about the risks to their health, insisted on the water's safety, and in some cases suppressed information about its actual state. As anyone who has picked up a paper or turned on the TV news in recent weeks knows, this is a basic description of the ongoing crisis in Flint, Michigan, in which "austerity" economics dictated that a city switch to extremely corrosive water that often came out of the tap discolored, and sometimes left those who bathed in it with severe rashes. You undoubtedly also know that an anti-corrosive agent which might have prevented most of the corrosion in the city's water pipes, and so the lead poisoning of untold numbers of its residents, was skipped at a savings of approximately $100 a day. And lest you think that any lessons have been learned, Republicans in Congress, eager (like Michigan Governor Rick Snyder) to save a few bucks at whatever cost to the health of people they could care less about, refuse to fund a fix to the problem. As Reuters reported recently, "Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said aid to Flint must not add to U.S. budget deficits for 'what is a local and state problem.'" And while we're on the topic, the activist group Progress Michigan uncovered a revealing document from Michigan's Department of Technology, Management, and Budget. By January 2015, 10 months before the administration of Governor Snyder admitted that Flint's water was unsafe to drink, the state had already begun trucking water into that city and setting up water coolers next to drinking fountains in state buildings "so that state workers could choose to continue to drink Flint water or a safe alternative." In such a grim situation, is there a ray of hope to be found? Let me suggest one in a group of workers who may feel austerity-bound in their own lives but haven't let that affect their sense of generosity to their fellow human beings. For months, from across Michigan, union plumbers by the hundreds have been driving to Flint and volunteering their time and skills to install filters and faucets that will help get at least some of the lead out of the water flowing into people's homes. Unfortunately, they can't replace the corroded pipes in the city's water system on a volunteer basis. Today, TomDispatch has called on two of this country's top experts on the corrosive effects of lead on human health and on the ways in which corporations have profited from the use of lead while covering up its effects. David Rosner -- the first guest author ever to pen a TomDispatch piece back in December 2002 -- and Gerald Markowitz, authors of Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children, survey the situation not just in Flint, but nationally when it comes to ways in which Americans, particularly our children, are being poisoned by lead. Without a doubt, it's the story from hell. Tom Two, Three... Many Flints America's Coast-to-Coast Toxic Crisis By David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz "I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids' health could be at risk," said President Obama on a recent trip to Michigan. "Up there" was Flint, a rusting industrial city in the grip of a "water crisis" brought on by a government austerity scheme. To save a couple of million dollars, that city switched its source of water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a long-time industrial dumping ground for the toxic industries that had once made their home along its banks. Now, the city is enveloped in a public health emergency, with elevated levels of lead in its water supply and in the blood of its children. The price tag for replacing the lead pipes that contaminated its drinking water, thanks to the corrosive toxins found in the Flint River, is now estimated at up to $1.5 billion. No one knows where that money will come from or when it will arrive. In the meantime, the cost to the children of Flint has been and will be incalculable. As little as a few specks of lead in the water children drink or in flakes of paint that come off the walls of old houses and are ingested can change the course of a life. The amount of lead dust that covers a thumbnail is enough to send a child into a coma or into convulsions leading to death. It takes less than a tenth of that amount to cause IQ loss, hearing loss, or behavioral problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the government agency responsible for tracking and protecting the nation's health, says simply, "No safe blood lead level in children has been identified." President Obama would have good reason to worry if his kids lived in Flint. But the city's children are hardly the only ones threatened by this public health crisis. There's a lead crisis for children in Baltimore, Maryland, Herculaneum, Missouri, Sebring, Ohio, and even the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., and that's just to begin a list. State reports suggest, for instance, that "18 cities in Pennsylvania and 11 in New Jersey may have an even higher share of children with dangerously elevated levels of lead than does Flint." Today, scientists agree that there is no safe level of lead for children and at least half of American children have some of this neurotoxin in their blood. The CDC is especially concerned about the more than 500,000 American children who have substantial amounts of lead in their bodies. Over the past century, an untold number have had their IQs reduced, their school performances limited, their behaviors altered, and their neurological development undermined. From coast to coast, from the Sun Belt to the Rust Belt, children have been and continue to be imperiled by a century of industrial production, commercial gluttony, and abandonment by the local, state, and federal governments that should have protected them. Unlike in Flint, the "crisis" seldom comes to public attention. Two, Three... Many Flints In Flint, the origins of the current crisis lay in the history of auto giant General Motors (GM) and its rise in the middle decades of the twentieth century to the status of the world's largest corporation. GM's Buick plant alone once occupied "an area almost a mile and a half long and half a mile wide," according to the Chicago Tribune, and several Chevrolet and other GM plants literally covered the waterfront of "this automotive city." Into the Flint River went the toxic wastes of factories large and small, which once supplied batteries, paints, solders, glass, fabrics, oils, lubricating fluids, and a multitude of other materials that made up the modern car. In these plants strung out along the banks of the Flint and Saginaw rivers and their detritus lay the origins of the present public health emergency. The crisis that attracted President Obama's attention is certainly horrifying, but the children of Flint have been poisoned in one way or another for at least 80 years. Three generations of those children living around Chevrolet Avenue in the old industrial heart of the city experienced an environment filled with heavy metal toxins that cause neurological conditions in them and cardiovascular problems in adults. As Michael Moore documented in his film Roger and Me, GM abandoned Flint in a vain attempt to stave off financial disaster. Having sucked its people dry, the company ditched the city, leaving it to deal with a polluted hell without the means to do so. Like other industrial cities that have suffered this kind of abandonment, Flint's population is majority African American and Latino, and has a disproportionate number of families living below the poverty line. Of its 100,000 residents, 65% are African American and Latino and 42% are mired in poverty. The president should be worried about Flint's children and local, state, and federal authorities need to fix the pipes, sewers, and water supply of the city. Technically, this is a feasible, if expensive, proposition. It's already clear, however, that the political will is just not there even for this one community. Gina McCarthy, the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, has refused to provide Flint's residents with even a prospective timetable for replacing their pipes and making their water safe. There is, however, a far graver problem that is even less easy to fix: the mix of racism and corporate greed that have put lead and other pollutants into millions of homes in the United States. The scores of endangered kids in Flint are just the tip of a vast, toxic iceberg. Even Baltimore, which first identified its lead poisoning epidemic in the 1930s, still faces a crisis, especially in largely African American communities, when it comes to the lead paint in its older housing stock. Just this month, Maryland's secretary of housing, community, and development, Kenneth C. Holt, dismissed the never-ending lead crisis in Baltimore by callously suggesting that it might all be a shuck. A mother, he said, might fake such poisoning by putting "a lead fishing weight in her child's mouth [and] then take the child in for testing." Such a tactic, he indicated, without any kind of proof, was aimed at making landlords "liable for providing the child with [better] housing." Unfortunately, the attitudes of Holt and Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan have proven all too typical of the ways in which America's civic and state leaders have tended to ignore, dismiss, or simply deny the real suffering of children, especially those who are black and Latino, when it comes to lead and other toxic chemicals. There is, in fact, a grim broader history of lead poisoning in America. It was probably the most widely dispersed environmental toxin that affected children in this country. In part, this was because, for decades during the middle of the twentieth century, it was marketed as an essential ingredient in industrial society, something without which none of us could get along comfortably. Those toxic pipes in Flint are hardly the only, or even the primary, source of danger to children left over from that era. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Middle East Eye The major developments on the Syrian battlefield in recent months have brought a corresponding shift in the Obama administration's Syrian policy. Since the Russian military intervention in Syria upended the military balance created by the victories of the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and its allies last year, the Obama administration has quietly retreated from its former position that "Assad must go." These political and military changes have obvious implications for the UN-sponsored Geneva peace negotiations. The Assad regime and its supporters are now well positioned to exploit the talks politically, while the armed opposition is likely to boycott them for the foreseeable future. Supporters of the armed opposition are already expressing anger over what they regard as an Obama administration "betrayal" of the fight against Assad. But the Obama policy shift on Syria must be understood, like most of the administration's Middle East policy decisions, as a response to external events that is mediated by domestic political considerations. The initial Obama administration's public stance on the Russian air campaign in Syria last October and early November suggested that the United States was merely waiting for Russia's intervention to fail. For weeks the political response to the Russian intervention revolved around the theme that the Russians were seeking to bolster their client regime in Syria and not to defeat ISIS, but that it would fail. The administration appeared bent on insisting that Russia give in to the demand of the US and its allies for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad from power. But the ISIS terror attacks in Paris focused the political attention of Europeans and Americans alike on the threat from ISIS terrorism and the need for cooperation with Russia to combat it. That strengthened the position of those within the Obama administration -- especially the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA -- who had never been enamored of the US policy of regime change in the first place. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, they pressed for a rethinking of the US insistence on Assad's departure, as suggested publicly at the time by former acting CIA director Michael Morell. The political impact of the Paris attacks has now been reinforced by the significant gains already made by the Syrian army and its allies with Russian air support in Latakia, Idlib and Hama provinces. The bombing and ground offensives were focused on cutting the main lines of supply between the areas held by ISIS and the Nusra-led coalition and the Turkish border, which if successful would be a very serious blow to the armed opposition groups. Dramatic successes came in late January, when Syrian government troops recaptured the town of Salma in Latakia province, held by al-Nusra Front since 2012, and the strategic al-Shaykh Maskin, lost to anti-Assad rebels in late 2014, thus regaining control of Daraa-Damascus highway. Even more significant, the Syrian army has cut off the lines of supply from Turkey to Aleppo, which is occupied by al-Nusra and allied forces. By the time Secretary of State John Kerry met with the head of the Syrian opposition delegation, Riyad Hijab, on 23 January, it was clear to the Obama administration that the military position of the Assad regime was now much stronger, and that of the armed opposition was significantly weaker. In fact, the possibility of a decisive defeat exists for the first time in light of the Russian-Syrian strategy of cutting off the supply lines of the al-Nusra front. What Kerry told Hijab, as conveyed to the website Middle East Briefing, reflected a new tack by the administration in light of that political-military reality. He made it clear that there would be no preconditions for the talks, and no formal commitment that they would achieve the departure of Assad at any point in the future. He was unclear whether the desired outcome of the talks was to be a "transitional government" or a "unity government" -- the latter term implying that Assad was still in control. The armed opposition and its supporters have been shocked by the shift in Obama's policy. But they shouldn't be. The administration's previous Syria policy had been based in large part on what appeared to be a favorable political opportunity in Syria. As described by Washington Post correspondent Liz Sly's official US source, the policy was to put "sufficient pressure on Assad's forces to persuade him to compromise but not so much that his government would precipitously collapse...." The Obama administration had seen such an opportunity because a covert operation launched in 2013 to equip "moderate" armed groups with anti-tank missiles from Saudi stocks had strengthened the Nusra Front and its military allies. American Syria specialist Joshua Landis estimated last October that 60 to 80 percent of the missiles had ended up in the hands of the Nusra Front in Syria. Those weapons were the decisive factor in the Nusra-led Army of Conquest takeover of Idlib province in April 2015 and the seizure of territory on the al-Ghab plain in Hama province, which is the main natural barrier between the Sunni-populated area inland and the Alawite stronghold of Latakia province on the sea. That breakthrough by al-Nusra and its allies, which threatened the stability of the Assad regime, was serious enough to provoke the Russian intervention in September. Gene Biggi, chairman of Beaverton Foods, was honored Jan. 18 by induction into the Specialty Food Association's Hall of Fame at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Biggi joined the business founded by his mother, Rose Biggi, in 1950, and has a long history of innovation in condiments, especially mustards. Biggi said he is humbled by this honor, adding "During the 1950s, 60s and 70s I developed horseradish, mustards and sauces that no other companies in the U.S. or overseas were manufacturing," he explained. "In the 1980s we were the first to produce horseradish and specialty mustards and sauces in squeeze jars. We have been awarded more gold medals than any other specialty food company. I am honored by the Hall of Fame induction and to be recognized for growing a successful, fourth generation business that my mother Rose started in the Great Depression." Kayla Van Lydegraf, vice-president of Dale's Remodeling of Salem, was recently confirmed as the Salem Director for the board of directors of the Oregon Remodeler's Association. Van Lydegraf is the daughter of Dale Van Lydegraf, founder of Dale's remodeling. The ORA is a chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Kayla Van Lydegraf Industry. Members of the 2016 ORA board of directors include Robert Kraft, president; Wade Freitag, president elect; Scott Weaver, treasurer; Allen Tankersley, secretary; Debbie Anderson, immediate past president; Andrew R. Curtis, Portland Director; Kayla Van Lydegraf, Salem Director; and directors Chris Kreipe, Mike Roloff and John Stone. Colby Schlicker has been named executive Colby Schlicker vice-president of Watson Creative, a Portland-based firm specializing in sport, design and marketing. He comes to his new assignment after seven years at Lewis & Clark Bank. Schlicker will take on the role of General Manager with the company, and will work with clients such as Tone Fitness, The Vape Cycle, Ness & Campbell Cranes and In Focus. As executive vice president of Marketing, Schlicker's main responsibilities will include client communication, strategy development, project scope, time management and business development and internal general management. Ashley Damm of Eugene has been promoted to manager of the Wells Fargo bank branch at 1500 E. Main St. in Cottage Grove. In her new position, Damm is responsible for the customer service, sales, professional development and community involvement efforts of five team members. Damm initially joined Wells Fargo in 2007 as a teller in Central Point. She later served as a lead teller, customer sales & service rep and service manager before Ashley Damm being promoted to her current position. Wells Fargo has recognized Damm in the past for her superior service. She was also nominated for and completed a Wells Fargo leadership training program last year for future branch managers. Thomas Finley has been named Wells Fargo's Applegate Trail district manager. He will oversee seven banking stores in five cities--Roseburg, Coos Bay, Grants Pass, Cottage Grove and Springfield. Thomas Finley Finley is a 12-year Wells Fargo veteran who started his financial services career as a teller. He has managed five Wells Fargo banking stores, and most recently worked as a store manager in Sacramento, Calif. Finley looks forward to getting involved with the Roseburg community. Jamie Stark has been added to the staff of Portland's Mosaik Design & Remodeling as an interior designer. Prior to joining Mosaik, Stark operated her own business for eight years, where she worked on projects ranging from single rooms to whole house Jamie Stark design. -- Compiled by Roger Gregory Twitter: @washcoaide 503-294-5962 The nonprofit owner of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville filed for bankruptcy, blocking a foreclosure auction that was scheduled to take place late last month and leaving in flux the ultimate fate of the space museum and neighboring Wings & Waves Waterpark. The Michael King Smith Foundation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 26, court documents show. Lisa Anderson, trustee for the foundation, said in the filings that the foundation still owes more than $2.2 million to Portland-based Hoffman Construction Co. The foundation and Delford Smith, the late patriarch of the Evergreen operation, already paid the company in excess of $150 million for "development and construction services related to the museum campus and its surroundings," Anderson said in the filing. Anderson said the foundation had been negotiating to sell its assets to satisfy its debt with Hoffman but could not close the transactions before a Jan. 27 foreclosure sale involving the space museum and waterpark. Hoffman refused to postpone the foreclosure sale, which had already been rescheduled multiple times, beyond that date, Anderson said. The foreclosure sale does not involve the aviation museum. "As a result...the foundation was forced to file this bankruptcy case," Anderson said in the filing. "The foundation intends to propose a plan that will pay its creditors in full and preserve assets in a way that will continue to support the museum." Anderson estimated that the foundation owes a total of $9.2 million to secured creditors and less than $40,000 to unsecured creditors. The foundation estimated its assets between $100 million and $500 million. The museum was the public face of Smith's for-profit aviation company, Evergreen International Aviation. That company provided aviation services to the U.S. government, among other clients. Its collapse in 2013 resulted in years of ongoing fallout and left questions about whether funds were improperly mixed between the nonprofit and for-profit operations. The Internal Revenue Service examined the operations at the request of the Oregon Department of Justice in 2014. A lawyer for the museum said in December of that year that "the IRS is happy." Read more about the Evergreen fallout: California wine giant buys former Evergreen buildings in McMinnville Property at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum faces foreclosure auction -- Luke Hammill lhammill@oregonian.com 503-294-4029 @lucashammill Vancouver Farm Fire9010.jpg Vancouver firefighters extinguished a blaze at the Redwood Acres apartments early Tuesday. (Beth Nakamura/Staff) Vancouver firefighters quickly brought a two-alarm apartment fire under control early Tuesday in the 3400 block of Northeast 62nd Avenue. No one was injured in the blaze that broke out about 5:15 a.m. at the Redwood Acres apartments, said firefighter/paramedic Pete Adams, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman. Two people were in the third-floor unit where the fire began, but they escaped. Their unit sustained fire and smoke damage, and the unoccupied unit beneath them suffered water damage. Adams said a second alarm was called on the fire because of the time of day, not the size of the fire. The fire was out in about 15 to 20 minutes, Adams said. "We had 24 firefighters respond," Adams said. "We were anticipating people sleeping so we wanted to get them out quickly." The cause of the blaze was not immediately known, Adams said. The displaced residents will be able to move to another empty unit in the complex. -- Andre Meunier After more than 30 years on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, Pastaworks has a new home in Northeast Portland, with a few new friends. On Feb. 10, the gourmet food market will launch as the centerpiece tenant at Providore Fine Foods, Portland's European-inspired response to Seattle's Melrose Market, found in the historic, 5,000-square-foot De Soto Building on Northeast 24th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. The market will also be home to Little T American Baker; Arrosto, a new, Italian-style, wood-fired rotisserie chicken concept from Pastaworks; an oyster bar and retail space from the sustainably-minded Flying Fish Company; Emerald Petals, an eco-conscious florist; and Rubinette Produce Market, a Pacific Northwest-sourced fruit and vegetable grocer. Pastaworks will continue to offer its specialty products at Providore, from fresh pastas and prepared foods to dry goods and wine, in addition to a new dine-in menu of sandwiches, salads, cheese and charcuterie boards, wines-by-the-glass and bottle, an Illy espresso bar and more. The market has seating for 40 indoors and plans to add outdoor patio tables. Their new concept, Arrosto, will serve Mediterranean-style rotisserie chicken with sides (think chicken fat crispy potatoes and focaccia) from a window opening out onto Northeast Sandy Boulevard. Arrosto will open after Feb. 10. Flying Fish Company and Oyster Bar's eight-seat corner oyster bar, modeled after Seattle's popular Taylor Shellfish bars, will have a simple shucking station rotating through three different oysters, a smoked fish menu and a selection of self-serve chowders and soups set up around a curved bar. Fish, along with local eggs, dairy and other products, will be available both fresh and frozen. Flying Fish Company's newest concept, The Meat Monger, will offer fresh, locally-sourced grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, alongside frozen cuts and sausages. Emerald Petals, an eco-friendly botanical florist will sell fresh arrangements and wraps. Pop by the Little T Baker counter for a quick breakfast pastry or loaf of bread on the way home. Produce at Providore will be run by Josh Alsberg's Rubinette Produce Market with fruits and vegetables sourced from local farmers across Oregon, Washington and California. Providore Fine Foods is located at 2340 N.E. Sandy Boulevard. The market will open Feb. 10. They will be open daily from 9 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. -- Samantha Bakall sbakall@oregonian.com Follow @sambakall Years ago, Sanford resident Ruth Lafevor wrote a novel. Around 1999, she finished it, and the manuscript sat on her computer until recently, when her children decided to surprise their mother by having the novel published. On Christmas Day, Lafevor was amazed when she opened the gift from her four children: a beautifully bound paperback copy of Memories of Silver Bay. The novel is set in a fictitious town that is based on the Rogers City and Presque Isle area in Michigans northern Lower Peninsula. Its a suspense/romance novel with a Christian perspective. Lafevor and her husband, Del, have lived in the Midland/Sanford area since 1967. This summer they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Ruth taught English classes, mostly on a part-time basis, for 35 years, at Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University. Memories of Silver Bay is her first novel. She started writing the novel after a memorable sailing trip on Lake Huron. She and Del have been avid sailors for many years, and on this particular trip, while motoring their sailboat on Lake Huron, headed for Mackinaw City, fog came down all of a sudden like a curtain. Del managed to get the boat safely into a harbor. Ruths imagination was stirred by the experience. I thought this place would be a great setting for a mystery novel, she said. We had to stay on the boat for about a week, until the weather cleared, and our children were with us. The lighthouse area was very rustic and remote. Her imagination took over, and soon after that she began to write the novel. She worked on it off and on for about 12 years, starting in 1985. An effort to get the book accepted by a publisher didnt work out, so she moved on and continued writing other things. Through the years, Lafevor has had a number of Bible-based short stories published by a Nazarene publishing house, and she also has written skits and plays for church groups, particularly for young people. Ruth had a very special Christmas by getting her book published, Del said. Our daughter, Karen Solomon, had asked me about it in November. She and I and the other kids knew Ruth had been writing a novel. I found it on Ruths computer. Karen talked to her sisters, Debbie McNett of Sanford and Pam Brown of Newcastle, Ind. A friend of Pams recommended an online publisher, createspace.com, and Karen arranged to get the novel published. Karen and the Lafevors son, David Lafevor, are residents of Hope Township. Del and Ruth also have nine grandchildren. Ruth originally began writing creatively during sailing expeditions with her family. Spending hours on a sailboat, I got tired of reading all the time, so I started writing, she said. I really enjoy mystery stories. When I read, I try to figure out who dunnit. Reading mystery books led to me writing one. Ive always done a lot of personal writing. Writing about problems has always helped me more than talking to people. As for her Christmas surprise, Ruth said Del and all of their children and grandchildren were staring at her as she opened her gift, as all of them were in on the surprise. When I saw the book, my first thought was, Where on earth did this come from? I didnt even realize I had completed the novel. I was shocked. I wondered how they did it. Crying came a little later, when I was alone. Ruth is working on a new novel, whch she describes as another Christian mystery, but this time the setting is a church, much like the one that she and Del attend. Memories of Silver Bay is available for purchase from these sources: www.createspace.com/5902527 and Kindle (follow link on the createspace address) and Amazon. Paper copies sell for $12.99 plus shipping, and the Kindle version is $3.99. There will be a book signing event Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. at Midland Community Nazarene Church, 1200 Jefferson Ave. in Midland. Bay Citys Tall Ship Celebration will return to the region from July 14 to July 17. The Bay City site has won the coveted Port of the Year award from Tall Ships America three times, more than any other host community in all of North America. Event organizers have been busy wrapping up details for the sixth event in 15 years. The only official host port in Michigan for the Tall Ships Challenge Great Lakes, Bay City event organizers are hoping their efforts will bring home the title once again. Nine companies have signed on to join presenting sponsor Dow Corning Corp. as major ship sponsors: The Dow Chemical Co., FirstMerit Bank (also as Citizens Bank), MLive Media Group, St. Marys of Michigan, Independent Bank, Wildfire Credit Union, Consumers Energy, McLaren Bay Region and Chemical Bank. The companies and organizations that have agreed to invest in Tall Ship Celebration recognize the importance of the event to our community and our region, said Kathy Czerwinski, chair of the Tall Ship Celebration Board of Directors. Representing the state of Michigan to the tall ship fleet, the other Great Lakes states and the more than 100,000 people from around the world who are expected to attend is a humbling and daunting task. It would not be possible without the strategic investment of our sponsors. On July 14, 12 vessels will sail up the Saginaw River to downtown Bay City. Ten will remain dockside and will be available for touring July 15 through July 17. Bay Citys own tall ships, Appledore IV and V, will provide sail away trips. With appearance fees ranging from $12,000 to $45,000, the cost to secure the 2016 fleet is expected to be about $215,000. New to the Great Lakes and the Bay City event are El Galeon Andalucia, a 160-foot replica of a 16th-17th century Spanish galleon; Draken Harald Harfagre, a 115-foot. replica of a traditional Viking long boat; and When and If, an 83- foot schooner built for General George S. Patton in 1939. Returning vessels include the Pride of Baltimore II, a 157-foot Baltimore clipper, and Madeline, a 95-foot gaff topsail schooner from Traverse City, perennial favorites at every Bay City event since 2001. The Flagship Niagara is a 198-foot brig from Erie, Pa., that appeared at the Bay City festival in 2006 and 2013; Denis Sullivan is a 137-foot 3-masted schooner from Milwaukee, Wisc., that appeared in 2010 and 2013; and Mist of Avalon is a 100-foot 2-masted gaff schooner that hasnt appeared since 2003. Negotiations are ongoing to secure two additional vessels. The Tall Ships Challenge is a series of races and rallies produced annually by Tall Ships America, a nonprofit membership organization based in Newport, R.I. The event rotates among the east and west coast of the United States and the Great Lakes. Tall Ship Celebration: Bay City hosts the fleet when it visits the Great Lakes; Bay City has been the only official host port in the state of Michigan since 2006. BaySail, a non-profit educational organization that owns and operates the tall ships Appledore IV and V, is producing the 2016 maritime festival on behalf of the Tall Ship Celebration Board of Directors. For more information about Tall Ship Celebration or BaySail, contact Shirley Roberts by phone at (989) 895-5193, by email at Shirleyr@baysailbaycity.org, or visit the following websites: www.tallshipcelebration.com or www.baysailbaycity.org. The Clare Downtown Historic District and the Bay City Masonic Temple were nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places at the January State Historic Preservation Review Board meeting. Masonic Temple The Masonic Temple is a very worthy site for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, said state Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville. Its an architectural gem on Bay Citys historic east side that has been used for countless ceremonies over the years, making it a pillar of local memories and stories. The original Masonic Temple was built in 1893 but burned in 1903 after being struck by lightning. The exterior walls, constructed with a red-brown sandstone quarried in Michigans Marquette County known as Rock River brownstone, survived the fire. Clare Downtown Historic District This is quite an achievement for Clare Downtown Historic District, said Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan. This area makes up the historic commercial core of the city and is certainly deserving of a listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The Clare Downtown Historic District is located entirely within the original plat of the city, situated along four blocks of North McEwan Street. The district is home to 51 buildings, two structures, one site and two objects, dating as early as 1873. The key feature of the downtown district is its many neoclassical buildings. The number, size and detailing of these buildings visually dominate the McEwan streetscape and is responsible for giving the downtown much of its character. If you have ever visited downtown Clare you know it has a charm all its own, said state Rep. Joel Johnson, R-Clare. I am proud to say that the city I call home has been nominated for this prestigious distinction. Kathryn Spencer and Makayla Ogg, both of Coleman, recently participated in the Michigan FFA Job Interview Contest at Alma High School, placing 5th and 6th out of 13 participants from the area. For this contest, Spencer and Ogg prepared a cover letter and resume, filled out a job application and completed a 10-minute mock interview with industry representatives. Michigan State Police troopers from the Caro Post arrested two suspects over the weekend in connection with an armed robbery and assault which occurred on Wednesday in Sanilac County's Evergreen Township. The MSP said today that an 18-year-old victim reported that she had met a man online and had invited him to her residence. The encounter was initially friendly, but she was suddenly physically attacked by the man. Soon thereafter, a second subject arrived at the house and assisted in the physical assault and robbery, the MSP stated. Stew Milne | AP photo BOSTON (AP) The second winter storm in four days to hit the Northeast centered on New England on Monday, bringing howling winds and coastal flooding and threatening Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts with up to 18 inches of snow. The storm could last into Tuesday, when New Hampshire's first-in-the nation presidential primary is held. The storm was accompanied by high winds that brought scattered power failures, as well as coastal flooding from south of Boston to Cape Cod and Connecticut. A major surface road in south Boston was closed by flooding late Monday morning. BLOOMINGTON Hancock Fabrics plans to close its Bloomington store at 908 Eldorado Road. The fabric and sewing supply retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 2, seeking to reorganize for the second time in nine years. The Bloomington store has been open since 1989. A going-out-of-business sale will begin Thursday, according to spokesperson Brenda Adrian. She did not know how long the sale would last and when the store would close. Senior Vice President Dennis Lyons, in a court document, said Hancock wants to close at least 70 money-losing stores among the 250-plus stores it operates in 37 states, leaving it with a smaller, more profitable core group of stores. The company, based in Baldwyn, Miss., made the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, saying that revenues for the holiday retail season were $8 million below expectations, that its burdened by high debt costs and that its borrowing limit has been cut. We believe the restructuring is a positive step for the future of the company and we are committed to providing our customers quality fabrics and crafting essentials, both online and in stores, CEO Steve Morgan said in a statement. Hancock says it owes about $110 million to banks and vendors. The company said in its bankruptcy petition that it has between $100 million and $500 million in assets. It has arranged bridge financing during bankruptcy from a group of lenders led by Wells Fargo & Co. Those banks have claims on Hancocks assets to secure nearly $80 million in pre-existing loans. BLOOMINGTON Its been a warmer-than-average winter so far, but forecasters with the National Weather Service in Lincoln say temperatures are going to drop below normal the rest of the week. We are to the point in the year where the average temperatures are actually starting to increase slowly, said Matt Barnes, a meteorologist with the NWS. At this point, normal temperatures should be in the middle 30s. Much colder arctic air has moved into Central Illinois that will result in high temperatures from the upper teens through the 20s Tuesday through Thursday. On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, wind chill readings will fall to between 10 and 15 degrees below zero with primarily single-digit lows, he said. Temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until next week at the earliest. Wednesday is going to be our coldest day, he said. It will be sunny, but the high is only going to be about 16 degrees. Light snow that fell much of Monday was blowing across streets in the Twin Cities, but roads are clear. The temperate was 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Even worse, said Barnes, the winds will be out of the northwest at 11 to 18 mph with gusts as high as 28 mph. Wind chill factors are going to be dangerous so people certainly have to keep an eye on that, he said. Temperatures will increase slightly toward the end of the week, he said. Sundays high is expected to be about 28 degrees. About 1 inch of snow fell across Central Illinois on Monday, keeping snowplow drivers and first responders active. A parking ban for snow routes went into effect only for the city of Bloomington late Monday morning. While our crews are trying to provide snow response on the city streets, it is always the most efficient for the vehicles to be removed from the road, said Bloomington Public Works Director Jim Karch. That allows for the best operation. We always hope snow events are less than predicted, but in Illinois, you can never tell how much snow will actually come. The town of Normal did not issue a parking ban. The Illinois State Police responded to several slide-offs and crashes said District 10 Sgt. Mark Holley. Mixed precipitation, dropping temperatures and high winds have caused scattered slick spots and ice, he said. But that is most likely the only precipitation expected in the short term, Barnes said. BLOOMINGTON A California woman who has accused a man of raping her twice when she lived in Bloomington three years ago testified Monday that she cannot recall much of what happened during the first alleged assault. Gregory Suddreth, 48, is charged with sexually assaulting a woman with whom he was acquainted on Dec. 6 and Dec. 12, 2012. The two worked as consultants for State Farm at the time and lived in the same apartment building. The alleged victim, now 27, told the jury she accepted an invitation from Suddreth to have a drink on the night of the first alleged assault. She said he then coaxed her into going to a strip club at Kappa before returning to his apartment to pick up her keys. Describing Suddreth as "menacing," the woman said he blocked her exit from the apartment and directed her into his bedroom. "The next thing I remember is he was raping me," said the witness, adding that she does not recall how she came to be in the man's bed without her clothes. Six days later, Suddreth followed the woman back to her apartment after a company Christmas party and sexually assaulted her, according to her testimony. It was Jan. 10, 2013 after a trip to visit relatives in California when the woman confided in a co-worker that she had been assaulted and she filed a report with Bloomington police, she told the jury. When asked by Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Alferink why she did not report the incident sooner, the woman said, "I knew it was wrong but it didn't fit the mental model I had of rape, walking down a dark alley and being assaulted." The timing of the woman's reports to colleagues and the police will be the focus of Suddreth's defense, his lawyer Donald Angelini told the jury in opening remarks. The state lacks sufficient evidence of any type to link Suddreth to a sexual assault, said Angelini. The alleged victim's accounts of what happened more than three years ago is the basis for the charges, he said. "This is an emotional case for me because it's all nonsense," said the defense lawyer. Urging jurors to closely scrutinize the testimony of the alleged victim, Angelini said their accounts must be credible and consistent. "It's dangerous if we can convict people merely on stories. It's got to be more than a story," said Angelini. In her opening statement, Alferink said the woman was so traumatized by the incidents that she left her assignment in Bloomington and took a much lower-paying job in California to get away from the situation. The alleged victim will be questioned by Angelini when the trial resumes Tuesday. Among the dozen witnesses expected to testify are police officers, co-workers and a California psychiatrist who treated the woman for post traumatic stress disorder. The trial is expected to last four days. If convicted on both counts, Suddreth faces up to 30 years in jail. BLOOMINGTON The defense lawyer for an Arizona man accusing of sexually assaulting a woman twice in 2012 made good on his promise Tuesday to put tough questions to the alleged victim during her time on the witness stand. Gregory Suddreth, 48, is charged with raping a woman on Dec. 6 and 12, 2012, in Bloomington where both worked as consultants for State Farm. Suddreth and the woman are acquainted and share a family connection. The Pantagraph does not does not name alleged victims of sexual assault. Defense lawyer Donald Angelini started off his cross-examination of the woman with questions about gaps in her memory. In her testimony as the state's first witness Monday, the alleged victim claimed she is unable to recall some details of the Dec. 6 incident, including how she became undressed in Suddreth's apartment. Fear and trauma are behind the memory lapses, the woman told Angelini. "I know I did not undress myself," she said. The petite, 27-year-old witness showed an array of emotions during her testimony, smiling at times and wiping tears during other portions when she was asked about the two incidents. Suddreth took notes from his seat at the defense table during the questioning. He turned and smiled at family members behind him during questions about the woman's diary. Several diary entries describing the alleged assaults were mentioned in notes from one of the woman's doctors, but the entries no longer exist, according to Angelini. The witness denied she deleted the material to avoid defense questions. "If they're not in there now, they never were," the woman said of the entries. Angelini also peppered the witness with questions about a Cook County civil lawsuit seeking damages against Suddreth and STA Group, the consulting firm that employed the woman and Suddreth. The woman admitted the lawsuit characterizes her trip to a restaurant and a Kappa strip club with Suddreth on Dec. 6, 2012, as "company-sponsored" events. She rejected Angelini's suggestion that such a characterization is necessary in order to make a legal claim against her former employer. Later Tuesday, the jury was shown a two-hour videotaped deposition of Dr. Prapti Mehta, the California psychiatrist who treated the woman. According to the doctor, the woman suffers from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incidents. In the deposition taken in August 2015, Angelini questioned the doctor about the lack of specifics in her records about the alleged rapes. Inclusion of sparse details in reports protects a patient's privacy, she responded. The doctor also told Angelini she did not ask the woman if she was too intoxicated to give consent on Dec. 6, 2012. The woman's account of the second incident included her attempts to end the unwanted sexual contact, said Mehta. "She was crying, she screaming, she was saying 'no,'" the doctor testified. The state will conclude its case Wednesday morning with one additional witness. Angelini told Judge Casey Costigan the defense will rest its case without calling any witnesses, including Suddreth. It's possible the jury could begin deliberations in the case Wednesday after closing arguments. SPRINGFIELD Four months after the Illinois State Museum and its satellite branches closed to the public, the state Department of Natural Resources has announced a plan to reopen most of the facilities. Using his amendatory veto power, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who shuttered the museum as a cost-saving measure, has rewritten a Senate bill to allow the main museum in Springfield, Dickson Mounds Museum in Lewistown and the Lockport Gallery to reopen. However, the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake and the Chicago Gallery at the James R. Thompson Center would close permanently. Under the governors plan, the state museum would begin charging admission fees and private fundraising efforts of the Illinois State Museum Society would increase to reduce the institutions reliance on state funding. The state of Illinois is in a financial mess, Department of Natural Resources Director Wayne Rosenthal said at a news conference Monday morning at the museum, standing near a diorama of black bears on Lake Michigan sand dunes and other nature scenes. Weve got a crisis, so to move forward, its important to develop new models and new ways of thinking about how we operate and fund state government. The governors proposal, developed with the department over the past several months, would save an estimated $1 million annually and would reorganize the museums management and organizational structure. When the facilities would reopen is undetermined because the Democratic-controlled General Assembly would first have to concur with Rauners changes to the bill, which simply required the state to operate the museum and the four branches and keep them open to the public. State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, urged the Senate to take up the measure quickly. I support this effort because I believe this is a reasonable, actionable step forward in reopening the museum, Butler said. I think it lays out a transformational future for the museum, a plan to engage the public in our community like we have not done before. Butler suggested a $5 admission fee for adults and noted that other state museums in the region charge similar fees. State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, who sponsored the original bill, said many of the changes Rauner proposed could have been implemented without locking the museums doors to the public. Those things should have been proposed by the administration months ago, he said. Manar said he is reviewing the proposal before deciding his next step. The overarching question is, Did the governor overstep his constitutional authority in his veto message? he said. Michael Wiant, director of the Dickson Mounds Museum, will become the interim director of the state museum, and the search will begin for a permanent replacement. Since the doors closed to the public Oct. 1, about 15 staff members have left, but key people remain in every department, Wiant said. Unionized employees at the museum have been reporting to work throughout the closure because they filed a lawsuit challenging proposed layoffs. There has been plenty of behind-the-scenes work to keep them busy, Wiant said. Guerry Suggs, who chairs the Illinois State Museum Board and wasnt at the announcement Monday, said this plan is probably as good as were going to get. He said the board has been open to admission fees in the past. Like Manar, Suggs said he believes the agreement could have been worked out without closing the museums doors to the public. Case Paper Hires Kim Guarnaccia as Marketing Director Feb. 9, 2016 - Case Paper Company announced that Kim Guarnaccia has joined the company as Marketing Director. Guarnaccia comes to Case Paper from the Markens Group, where she served as the director of marketing and communications primarily for the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC), Prior to this, she published, edited, and designed print magazines and ran her own advertising and design agency. Guarnaccia holds a design degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. We are thrilled to welcome Kim to our executive marketing team, said Simon Schaffer, CMO/Vice President of Business Development at Case Paper. Her experience in design, writing, and marketing as well as in paperboard packaging will undoubtedly accelerate the company's growth as we move forward into the future. Guarnaccia commented, After working for years first in the publishing field and most recently with folding carton converters and rigid box manufacturers, it is fascinating to now be a part of the paper and board side of the industry. Case Paper is one of the largest paper merchants and converters in the United States. The company supplies printers, publishers, packagers, and designers with fine paper products from paper mills around the world. To learn more, please visit: www.casepaper.com. SOURCE: Case Paper Company Domtar Develops 'Paperpal' Project to Link Senior Citizens, Students Growing Amount of Research Shows that Both Groups Benefit from Handwriting; More Locations Can Join the Letter-Writing Effort That Connects Generations Feb. 9, 2016 - As more researchers and doctors recommend the benefits of handwriting for both children and senior citizens, Domtar Corporation unveiled a new program today called PaperPal. The effort will connect generations through letter-writing. It will help youths develop fine motor skills, spur seniors to practice a useful cognitive exercise and give both groups a way to develop enjoyable and enriching connections. Domtar tested the program in 2015 with a school and retirement community in Van Nuys, Calif. The idea, chronicled in a short video, was so successful that the groups wanted to continue writing letters even after the initial two-month program officially ended. Research about the benefits of handwriting shows why this program can be useful, said Paige Goff, Domtar's Vice President of Sustainability and Business Communications. But besides the educational and cognitive benefits, Domtar is excited about how it will spark smiles and hugs for both children and senior citizens. You see that in the video, and we can't wait to see it at the new places where PaperPal will debut. PaperPal will now expand to Wisconsin locations near a Domtar mill: Rothschild Elementary School, senior apartment community Birchwood Highlands and assisted living facility Stoney River. The program is also available to other facilities. To learn more about PaperPal or to receive a starter kit, please visit www.paperbecause.com/handwriting. To understand more about the benefits of handwriting for different generations, consider the research and expert opinions cited in this Wall Street Journal article: Experts at Indiana University conducted brain scans on pre-literate children to determine whether printing letters, tracing them or typing is the most effective method in the learning process. The children tried each method, and then received a functional MRI scan in a device designed to look like a spaceship. The results? If children wrote by hand, the experts saw neural activity in three areas of the brain that was far more enhanced. These areas get activated in adults when they read and write. A study in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience shows how hand-writing can help adults learn new symbols anything from music notes to Mandarin. Researchers found that if adults wrote the symbols, there was a stronger, longer-lasting recognition. Good handwriting can play a role in classroom performance. It can take a generic classroom test score from the 50th percentile to the 84th percentile, while bad penmanship could tank it to the 16th, said an education professor at Vanderbilt University. Handwriting can be a useful cognitive exercise for baby boomers trying to keep their minds sharp as they grow older, according to a neuroscientist at Duke University. Children in grades two, four and six wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand instead of with a keyboard, according to a study by a University of Washington professor of educational psychology. Handwriting remains valuable for all ages, and it's especially useful when it connects senior citizens and students, Goff said. We're excited that more schools and senior centers are joining PaperPal, because we know the results will be so positive. Domtar Corporation designs, manufactures, markets and distributes a wide variety of fiber-based products including communication papers, specialty and packaging papers and absorbent hygiene products. Domtar is the largest integrated marketer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America. Domtar is also a leading marketer and producer of a complete line of incontinence care products marketed primarily under the Attends brand name as well as baby diapers. To learn more, visit www.domtar.com. SOURCE: Domtar Corp. The Pentagon has offered to start freezing eggs and sperm of young military service men to make them stay and serve their country longer. According to Military Times, approximately 72% of soldiers who enlisted are in their 20s and 30s, which can be considered an appropriate age to start a family. The Pentagon is worried that these young service men will leave to have a family since they are already in their prime age to do so. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the program, which will be a two-year pilot program, will give service men who want to start a family more option without having to leave the military. However, Secretary Carter also said that they are probing more on the moral and legal issues this program has already brewed. A professor of bioethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center, Arthur Caplan stated that there are a lot of question the program needs to consider before it launched. "Freezing sperm and eggs is not like freezing chicken for dinner," he said. There were several questions Dr. Caplan asked that he said needs to be addressed, like, "What will happen if the soldier with frozen eggs or sperm dies, will his wife be able to use it still? Or what if the mother of the soldier wants a grandchild but the wife doesn't, can the frozen sperm used with a surrogate? And what happens if the company housing your sperm or eggs goes bankrupt?" A spokesperson from the Pentagon refused to comment on these questions stating that details of the program are being put together. The Department of Defense is expected to draft the program in a memo from Secretary Carter in the weeks to come. The New York Times reported that thousands of military men in Iraq and Afghanistan usually suffer injuries to their reproductive organs. However, when soldiers have sperm or eggs frozen in storage, it will still be possible for them to have children despite the damage to their genitals. Military wives and some advocacy group urged the Defense and Veterans affair to pay for advanced reproductive technologies for those military personnel who suffered infertility while on duty. They also said that sperm and egg freezing should be done before deployment. At the moment, there are seven military treatment facilities who offer artificial insemination and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) to those personnel and their spouses who are in active-duty as long as they meet the criteria. Those services and others, including sperm extraction and embryo preservation, are available at no charge to severely wounded personnel on active-duty and their spouses. Video Credit: youtube.com/devichechi A doctor from University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee performed mistakenly a procedure called frenectomy in which the flap of the skin under the tongue is cut to a healthy baby Nate. "The baby was perfect, healthy and beautiful," Jennifer Melton, the mother of baby Nate said. She thought that it would only be a routine physical check-up when they took baby Nate. When the baby was returned to her, the nurse said that frenectomy was performed to baby Nate to free up the muscles range of motion and for easier breastfeeding. "At that point, the nurse started to mention the procedure they had done, that they had clipped his tongue...Essentially, they took our child, who was healthy, from the room and cut his mouth. At that point, I began to cry hysterically," mother Jennifer said. "It's recklessness. There is no excuse for cutting on a healthy child. There's no excuse for mixing up babies at a hospital," Clint Kelly, the attorney of Melton said. Parenting reports that the doctor asked for an apology. "I had asked for the wrong infant. I had likely performed the procedure on an infant different than the one I intended to...and I admitted my mistakes and apologized," the doctor who executed the procedure said. Melton said that they were sorry for the mistake but she and her attorney were worried about the effect of the wrong surgery to baby Nate. "We don't know if the child will have speech problems or eating problems. The concern here is this was a healthy baby that was supposed to leave the hospital, but instead was harmed by the hospital," Kelly said. News Channel 5 reports that the University Of Medical Center refused to give any comments on what happened and mentioned federal privacy regulations. Latin America has been hit the hardest by the Zika Virus outbreak, which is linked to the development of birth defects. Because of this, a debate has been going on between people who want to loosen up some of the laws against abortion and people who are against abortion despite the circumstances. The Washington Post reports that the health minister in El Salvador is proposing to revise the law because of the harmful effects of Zika virus on the fetus inside a mother's womb. "El Salvador criminalizes abortion on all grounds including cases of rape or even if the mother's life and health are both at risks," Vocativ reported. It also stated that in Colombia, some government officials have already joined forces with a movement to allow abortion despite opposition from religious organizations, especially the Catholic Church. In Brazil, illegal abortions are on the rise because of the panic caused by the Zika virus. Columnist Helio Schwartsman wrote in the daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo that all mothers should be allowed to follow their own instincts. "If I were a woman, had just got pregnant and discovered that I had been infected by the Zika virus, I would not hesitate an instant to abort the gestation." Some Latin American governments have encouraged couples to avoid pregnancy for a couple of months to a few years through the use of different birth control methods. However, Catholic-dominated regions have little access to birth control methods and contraceptives such as condoms and pills. The main reason why the Zika virus outbreak has many health experts and women requesting for abortion is because of the effects of the virus on the development of fetus. Zika has been linked to the development of microcephaly, which is a birth defect that involves brain and head deformities, according to Huffington Post. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions There are certain things any reader familiar with Irvine Welshs work will expect when picking up one of his novels. The seedy underbelly of Edinburgh, profanity, sex, drugsWelsh has established himself as a leader in the miniature sub-genre where these four things meet. But even this foreknowledge cannot prepare most readers for A Decent Ride, Welshs latest foray into his Scottish universe of criminals, addicts and otherwise unsavory characters. Bit-character Terry Juice Lawson is the focal point of A Decent Ride, a title that has many cringe-inducing interpretations given the context. A cab driver in Edinburgh and part-time porn performer (star is too aggrandizing a word for the weekend shoots he does with Trainspottings Sick Boy), Terry grapples with aging and the loss of his virility as he gets up to the usual blend of criminality and woman-chasing that one would expect from a Welsh novel. Within the first chapter, Terry meets a pseudo-Donald Trump developer-turned-reality-TV-star who offers him a chauffeuring gig. A few paragraphs later, hes ruining the funeral of his friend Alan by sharing the story of their last night out, when Alan got so drunk he fell asleep in his own vomit with his head in the freezer. He then inexplicably hooks up with Maggie, an old fling and niece of the deceased. When they are discovered by her daughter, he insinuates sexual interest in her before heading out to trawl for more possible conquests. Again, thats the first handful of pages. The books heart is in Terrys eventual struggle with his history and the realities of aging, but any nuggets of wisdom are hidden deep beneath the painful prose and vulgarity of the characters. Terry is brash, seemingly living a grotesque life with no consequences beyond his eventual medical impotency, capable of picking up women despite being a middle-age weirdo with a collection of pick-up lines that could have been lifted straight out of the pornos in which he stars. Its clear that Terry thinks hes on the titular decent ride, but viewed from the outside, his life is crushingly sad. Terry would play as tragic if not for the infuriating prose he lives within. Welsh seems to have phoned it in, relying on underdeveloped characters and a plot that moves so fast it defies all logic rather than actually engaging the reader in a meaningful way. Bouncing between points of view and featuring entire chapters written in the phonetic Scottish dialect Welsh favors, the more experimental storytelling elements arent endearing given the subject matter. It just feels like an effort with no real payoff. Is working through Terrys thick Scottish accent worth it when all hes going to do is talk about his penis or the penises of others? None of this is to say that sex and vulgarity have no place in fiction, but Welshs overreliance on his favorite calling card strips the novel of any deeper meaning, if there is one at all. Given the sadness one feels immediately for Terry, an insatiable aging man with multiple divorces and dead friends, it would be possible to tell a compelling story about what it means to age beyond the very thing you hung your identity on. The reader can even see Welsh reaching for this sort of meditation. But without fail, it crumbles under the weight of Terrys libido and sexism. Time and time again, it all boils down to Terrys peniswhich, sadly, isnt enough to make this almost 500-page book worthwhile. Theres a lot about Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong thats familiar. With much of the film made up entirely of conversations between its two main characters, Ruby (Jamie Chung) and Josh (Bryan Greenberg), as they wander around a non-U.S. city, and much of the drama revolving around their unspoken romantic tensions, Emily Tings debut feature owes a clear debt to Richard Linklaters Before trilogyperhaps too clear. For all the easy chemistry between the two stars (easy, in part, because the two actors are married to each other), their characters feel a bit blander and more generic than Celine and Jesse in Linklaters films, their dialogue less thoughtful and incisive. And the moments when Ting tries to ramp up the drama, mostly through late-breaking revelations, cant help but seem artificial in this otherwise naturalistic context, smacking of writers contrivance more than anything else. Nevertheless, Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong charms anyway if you can get onto its swooning romantic-fantasy wavelength. And if the larger story it tells isnt exactly fresh, Ting peppers her film with enough well-observed details to keep us thematically and emotionally invested. Take, for instance, Rubys action of stepping away to secretly take a peek at Joshs Face-book profile after he sends her a friend request in order to get a glimpse of Josh outside of their two separated-by-one-year nights togetheran accurate depiction of the kind of behavior native to our social-media-saturated time. Theres more to the films attention to detail than just such cute topical grace notes, though. Consider the irony of the white American Josh being the one who has lived in Hong Kong for many years and being much more knowledgeable and comfortable with the culture than Ruby, a Chi-nese-American toy designer born and raised in the U.S. who has never learned Cantonese and thus feels ill at ease in the country of her parents birth. Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong swims freely in such cultural contradictions, forming the basis of much of the conversation between the two characters. Josh passionately extols Hong Kongs metropolitan glamour (enchantingly captured by cinematographer Josh Silfen), while Ruby finds it not only alienating, but indicative of a culture she sees as predominantly focused on conspicuous consumption (a perspective Josh doesnt challenge so much as accept as fact, without judgment). Other such culture-clash matters abound in their dialogue. Ruby feels a certain measure of guilt over the long-distance interracial romance shes carrying on with a guy in Los Angeles, while Josh doesnt bat an eye when he talks about his Chinese girlfriend. Still, there are things they miss as expats: One of the more insightful exchanges between the two revolves around a Seinfeld joke that they can only share between each other, since few people in Hong Kong would understand the humor in the reference. Outside of its cultural concerns, however, Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong tells a more universal tale of characters struggling with professional and personal desires, romantic or otherwise. Josh begins the film as one of the many in hustling and bustling Central Hong Kong work-ing in finance, and in their first night together, he candidly discloses to the more risk-taking Ru-by his fears about quitting his high-paying, cushy job in order to focus on his passion for writing. Later in the film, during their second night together after a year apart, Ruby admits she has put aside her dream of creating her own fashion design business, rationalizing it by saying she finds enough challenges in designing stuffed toys to get by, for now at least. Especially for the economically volatile state in which the world currently exists, such worries are bound to resonate with many viewers. In the end, though, romance is at the heart of Tings film, coming down, as it inevitably must, to a decision one of the characters is forced to make when they both realize how much they love each other, and how acting on their feelings would mean hurting their current significant others. This thread turns out to be less satisfying, especially in the cop-out way its (not really) resolved. Nevertheless, Tings occasional insights into characters negotiating cultural differences and professional/personal transitions are bound to linger long after the specific details of its characters have faded from memory. Director: Emily Ting Writer: Emily Ting Starring: Bryan Greenberg, Jamie Chung Release Date: February 12, 2015 Kenji Fujishima is a freelance film critic, contributing to Slant Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Playlist and the Village Voice. He is also Deputy Editor of Movie Mez-zanine and former editor-in-chief of In Review Online. When hes not watching mov-ies and writing and editing film criticism, hes trying to absorb as much music, art, and literature as possible. He has not infrequently been called a culture vulture for that reason. I dont even know how it came to this: Ghost versus Peter Pan in 2016, Ghostface Killah wonders to the camera in his response video to pharma-bro Martin Shkreli. The nearly 12-minute long diatribe-cum-Wu-Goo commercial is a testament to how absurd this whole feud has gotten. Last week, Shkreli, who paid $2 million for the sole copy of Wu-Tang Clans Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, threatened to erase all of Ghosts contributions to the album in a cartoonish dis video. Now the saga continues as Ghost taunts Shkreli, the man with the 12-year-old body, plays clips of his untoward court appearance and hands the mic over to his sister who pleads with Shkreli, with tears in her eyes, to lower the price of Daraprim. At this point in the century-long history of cinema, its pretty hard to tell a story that hasnt already been told. This is particularly true of the horror genre, where nearly every way to make our spines tingle and stomachs turn has already been offered in its most horrific and gruesome form to audiences, establishing a thick lexicon of tropes. But believe it or not, in an industry where the art of scare and suspense has no choice but to evolve in order to keep audiences guessing, the genre is doing just that. Patricia Pisters, professor of media studies at the University of Amsterdam, argues that we have now entered a new age of fright. Today, the things that go bump in the night have far less to do with creepy music and cheap thrills, and far more to do with how the brain responds to stimulus. In a new essay at Aeon, Pisters acknowledges that movie-makers are becoming increasingly aware of how our brains work and how we respond to emotional stimuli. Gone are the days where Alfred Hitchcock dreamed of being able to manipulate peoples emotions at will as they watched his films. This is now a reality, courtesy of new research in the field of neuroscience. Perhaps the most recent example of the industrys growing understanding of how we as humans work (and how to use that to make us scared) isnt a horror movie at all. Pisters references Pixars Inside Out as a shining illustration of how writers, editors and directors interpret peoples thoughts and actions for the screen based on these new scientific findings. The essay not only explores the data behind the new scary, but also names it. Known as the neurothriller, this subset of horror uses our whole range of human emotion to drive our terror (lust, hope, guilt), instead of the plot like much of the genre. Scary has moved from the suspense of us knowing whats coming and being unable to communicate that to characters (a.k.a. dramatic tension) to an emphasis on both character and confusion. Yes, the neurothriller is so successful because it knowingly rejects context or explanation, leaving the viewer disoriented. We often need answers to rationalize whats happening, but if we dont get them it more than unsettles us. It terrifies us. Pisters points to Lars Von Triers work, including his films Antichrist and Melancholia, as prime examples of this new emotion-driven and mentally unsettling narrative approach. 2011s We Need to Talk About Kevin and Red Road are other examples of films cited to fall within the genre. serene hour, we were human cargo in a world of pink. The sky was Persian rose; the river, reflecting it, ran ruby as it flowed as smooth as glass. We forgot the world as we stood on the roof of the riverboat, chugging its way downriver on our third day. Down the Huallaga to the Maranon, down past the two-colored confluence with the Ucayali, where the Amazon proper begins. Tourists pay top dollar to witness these Amazonian scenes, but there was no room for luxury on the Eduardo IX as it made its way from Yurimaguas to Iquitos. And having paid just $45 for the three-day riverboat trip, I was happy to be just another piece of freight in transit. in Yurimaguas is small, hot and inefficient. I watched from the bow of the Eduardo IX as wiry men below me hauled assorted cargo from dusty trucks up sagging planks of timber to the waiting boats. Each dockworker ascended with stuttering steps, dead weights digging into their shoulders: furniture, old refrigerators and crates of beer. The Eduardo vessels are cargo boats that also carry peoplenot the other way around. When the cargo bay is full, only then will the captain sound the horn to mark the departure for Iquitos. If youre late, youll be left behind in Yurimaguas. If you dont have a tiny cabin, youll need to find a space to hang your hammock. The food bell will ring three times a day. As human cargo, youll be fed a muddy brown soup of something hot and sweet for breakfast, and chicken with oily spaghetti for lunch and supper. If you have a cabin, youll have a private space and security for your bags. If you dont, you wont. We had to wait in Yurimaguas for two days, having missed the last boat out by an hour. Each day we received different answers regarding the supposed next departure: We leave at six, We leave tomorrow, We leave when the boat is full. Only the latter answer mattered. of excitement was palpable as the Eduardo IX began to vibrate, its hull trembling as the engines came to life in the late afternoon. And while there was nothing dark or foreboding about the start of this endeavor, it was hard not to think of Kinskis wide-eyed Fitzcarraldo or Charles Marlow in search of Mr. Kurtz. With my bag safely stored in my hot little cabin, I spent the first night in my hammock, where I drifted off to the chug-chug-chug of the engines and the subtle nocturnal sounds of one of the worlds largest river systems. I awoke to a grey day, the light sitting flatly on the jungle to either side, but unable to subdue the Amazons ever-powerful greens. The breakfast bell pierced the calm, calling passengers to queue up outside the cramped galley. Cabinless passengers are not provided with plates, bowls or cutlery on these riverboats, so most bring their own fork and containers to receive their daily rations, including the standard breakfast of a hot thick muddy concoction that might have been hot chocolate. It was edible, once you peeled the copious skin from the brown surface. By lunchtime, a wall of rain fell in the distance, blurring the landscape downriver like a godly thumb smudge. The Eduardo IX plowed into this deluge and rain blasted across the small upper deck area that we had claimed for ourselves, hitting us horizontally with face-stinging force. Papers flew; backpacks and hammocks were drenched instantly. So this was why all the Peruvian passengers chose to stay in the overcrowded but sheltered deck below. I swiftly retreated to my cell of a cabin, which had suddenly become a refuge, something far more than just a storage space for my backpack. stopped two hours later and I poked my head out from my metal sanctuary. The riverbanks were still sliding nonchalantly by, and the Eduardo IX held its course in stoic fashion. A grey river dolphin surfaced just to starboard. Hearing splashes rising up from the river below me, I leaned out over the guardrail expecting to see more dolphins. Instead, I saw passengers on the lower deck throwing trash into the river: black bin liners full of scraps, plastic bottles, yogurt pots, plop, plop, plop. Large signs on both passenger decks clearly state that throwing trash into the river is prohibited. But this unabashed dumping of trash is all too common in Peru, and the captain and crew had chosen to ignore, or had simply given up, trying to enforce this simple rule. At the time, the U.N.s major Climate Change Conference in Lima was just weeks away; sometimes, its hard not to be a cynic. The Eduardo IX carried on regardless, stopping at a handful of small ports serving little wood-shack villages. One took a delivery of 50 cartons of eggs; another received at least 30 crates of Cristal beer and returned 30 crates of empty bottles, as is the way in Peru. I spent the rest of the day looking through my binoculars at dolphins and colorful birds, occasional aguaje plantations in the middle of nowhere, and a group of villagers wandering through a flooded field, perhaps in search of giant snails. I wondered how it would be to grow up there, so isolated from the wider world but never too far from the next village up or down river. Looking to the horizon, it was hard to grasp the true depths of the Amazon rainforest, so vast and full of life but almost devoid of humans. Without the river, there would be no one here at all. day was a day of port stops, pickpockets and the world turning pink. The morning sky was a gunboat grey as we pushed on downriver toward Nauta, a tin-roofed riverside town of some 28,000 inhabitants. Most riverboat passengers disembark in Nauta where they catch a bus to Iquitos, saving at least eight additional hours on the boat. The mass exodus at Nauta was quite a sight. I watched from the upper bow railing as passengers clambered off the Eduardo IX and onto a steep muddy slope that passed as a docking area. Young men carried cargo, including broken refrigerators, goats and more cartons of eggs. A teenage boy descended from the crowd to help an elderly woman make the climb, while a young girl stuttered her way up carrying a box full of yapping puppies. Smiling families and concerned merchants watched from the street above, where a woman shrieked at a man who she accused of pickpocketing her cell phone. A local policeman stood beside them in the heat and commotion, apparently uninterested. In stark contrast to the scene at Nauta, the emptied Eduardo IX was a floating testament to tranquility as it continued on to Iquitos. The Rio Maranon joins the Rio Ucayali 10 miles downriver from Nauta, a confluence most cartographers take as the beginning of the Amazon River. The river now ran wider, deeper, and the sky seemed more expansive than before. In the late afternoon, the remaining foreigners assembled on the dented metal roof of the Eduardo IX in anticipation of a clear-skied Amazonian sunset. With the Peruvian flag whipping above us, the sun began to set behind the silhouette of trees, its final yellow rays pooling across the inky water and illuminating white wisps of cloud arching across the darkening sky. The bulbous head of a pink dolphin surfaced as the sun dipped below the horizon, and soon the whole world turned pink. By whatever union of high atmospheric pressure and airborne particles, the remaining light above us had painted a series of pinks across the heavens, from French rose to ruby. The slate-like river reflected the colors of the sky: everything was pink as we slid towards Iquitos, until night settled and left us with the stars. two oclock in the morning on what was officially day four, we began the approach to Iquitos. Lights twinkled in the distance below a sliver of a moon, marking the location of the sleeping city. A moonlit ghost appeared to starboard, a hulking half-submerged thing that looked like the bleached bones of some giant river creature. It was a riverboat hull, long abandoned. To the port side, now, where another vessel languished half stuck on a river spit. It looked a hundred years old, like the failed venture of a long-broke rubber baron. Both slipped into the darkness as we neared a half-lit and deserted port. The Eduardo IX slowly veered into place. With no fanfare, with not a soul to greet us, we nudged up to the banks of Iquitos. We slept on the Eduardo IX that night, which was fine with the captain and his skeleton crew. See yourself off in the morning, they said. Just be gone with the rest of the cargo. Photos: Tony Dunnell Tony Dunnell is a freelance writer living and traveling in Peru since 2009. Sarah Michelle Gellar, whose performance as the emotionally merciless Kathryn Merteuil defined the queen bee label, may be coming back to help NBC reboot the iconic Cruel Intentions. It is unclear whether or not Gellar has agreed to return to the series, but Deadline reports that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress is currently looking at the script. If she does accept the role, this show would mark only her third television role since completing Joss Whedons female-led cult series. She previously starred in the CBS series The Crazy Ones alongside the late Robin Williams, and in The CWs Ringer. The network has already given the go-ahead on a pilot for the 1999 dark romance reboot, which would pick up 15 years after the movies end. The film followed Gellars character and her stepbrother Sebastian (Ryan Phillipe) as they seduced and destroyed the lives of their high school classmates in a vicious game of manipulation. Reese Witherspoon played Annette Hargrove, a new student and the virgin daughter of the headmaster. Hargrove becomes the next target of the twisted siblings, but things dont go as planned when Sebestian begins to develop feelings for her. NBC plans to focus its new series on the 16-year-old son of Annette and Sebastian, Bash Casey. After uncovering his fathers journal, the small town Kansas teen learns of his familys legacy and trades his quaint upbringing for a scholarship to the prestigious Brighton Preparatory Academy. There he finds himself, like his mother, in a world ruled by sex, money, power and corruption. Gellar would return as her original character, who the series will see vying for control of her late step-brothers son. Cruel Intentions is backed by the films writer-director Roger Kumble and producer Neal H. Moritz. The team behind The Unauthorized Musical Parody Of Cruel Intentions, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross are also working on the series. Sony Pictures TV will produce the television adaptation with Original Film and AMBI. In honor of Valentines Day, airlines, hotels and even Costa Rican bungalows have released their ridiculously romantic packages for a brag worthy Valentines gift thats significantly better than chalky, candy hearts or a regrettable confessional with an ex. Go ahead and snatch a discounted flight or plan your upcoming vacation with some of these amorous adventures: All-inclusive packages Spend a week in Chinafor less than the cost of airfare: World Sprees Timeless Beijing package currently begins at $1,038 for trips as early as next month.The deal includes round-trip air from San Francisco or LA, six nights at a four-star hotel, six all-American breakfasts, three Chinese lunches and three days of sightseeing. Whew. On Cloud 9 at Nayara Springs, Costa Rica: This Valentines Day On Cloud 9 package begins with a three-night stay in a villa situated in the midst of Costa Ricas Arenal Volcano National Parkliterally considered one of the prettiest places on Earth. Guests will also enjoy a private helicopter ride over Arenal Volcano and the surrounding rainforest and waterfalls. Wait, it gets better: Therell be a guided tour of Doka Coffee plantation, a hot-stone massage and an intimate dinner for two in a rainforest bungalow, accompanied with live music. Air Tahiti Nui savings to the South Pacific: This special involves mass savings on a variety of packages to the paradisiac island, including six-nights at Tahitis Hidden Island Paradise, which includes round-trip air from LA to Papeete and a five-night stay in an overwater bungalow. Oh, and its only bungalow like life is suddenly some 60s Cary Grant film. Oh, and its only $2398the flight alone is usually $1,600. Cruises Two-for-one Fares on Crystal Cruises: Two-for-one on one of the worlds most luxurious cruise lines? Oh yeah. Crystal Cruises is about to expand into the European river cruise market, and they want you in on their latest deal. Through February 29th, the cruise lines hooking up potential passengers with a major steal: Two-for-one fares on all sailings through 2018. The luxurious roster includes the 10-night Crystal Mozart cruise through the Danube capitals, complete with stops for wine tasting in Durnstein. $100 off romantic Costa Cruises: This Valentines Day, Costa Cruises is running a special on a few of its most romantic itineraries along the Mediterranean. While the deal extends through Valentines Day, the cruises occur through March, April and May. Costa Diadema departs from Barcelona and floats through the Balearic Islands to France and Italy and takes relaxing on the French Riviera to the next level. Rates begin at $592 per person, and kids can sail for free. Buy One, Get One on Fathom: Fathoms voluntourism sailings for the Dominican Republic give first and second passengers a 50% discount. The deal lasts through February 29th, and rates begin at $628 per person in May and $733 per person in June. The BOGO promo isnt skimping out on the amenities, either. Youll enjoy comped meals, social impact immersion experiences, and three social impact activities during your days in the Dominican Republic. To book, you wont find this deal on Fathoms website. Call 1-855-932-8466 and use the reference code FA. Naughty lodging The Burlesque Suite at Kameha Grand Zurich Hotel: This silky suite comes with a box of Agent Provocateur surprisesyou know, handcuffs, masks, and whipsdelicately placed next to the king-size bed. The suite also comes equipped with a kitchenette, so you can literally cook up some love. Love Sensations Package at Hotel Colon Guanahani, Tenerife: This adults-only hotel whips lovers into a romantic frenzy with a package that includes a five course meal, champagne and something called the Dreams Intimate Kit, complete with honey dust body powder with au natural feather duster, stimulant body gel, edible massage oils and other toys for a night of passion. A night in The Secret Dungeon at High Wycombe: If you find yourself isolated in the middle of Buckinghamshire, England then The Secret Dungeon bed and breakfast will almost certainly be a hit. Equipped with a kinky dress-up box, sex furniture, mirrored ceilings and, if necessary, a set of chains, this boutique B&B is more like a BDSM&B. For all of the epicureans and foodies hoping to escape the cold this winter, look no further than the idyllic island of Martinique. Located in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, Martinique is an ideal warm weather destination welcoming tourists with open arms to experience their unique Creole cuisine made with a French flair while lounging under the sun. Infusing French cooking styles with Creole flavors, traditional local dishes showcase the diverse culinary landscape on the island. Here is a look at five of the best restaurants to visit on the island of Martinique. The more contemporary traveler should venture over to Les Trois-Ilets to experience La Suite Villa, a trendy 5-star hotel perched on top of a hill that overlooks Martiniques capital Ford de France. Each room has been designed to satisfy your sweet tooth filled with playful decor items inspired by candy and French confectioneries. Chef Ivan Duchene designed the menu at the on-site restaurant, Le Zandoli. Duchene experiments and reinvents traditional Creole dishes with his own French flair using only the finest local and fresh ingredients. Try their take on the traditional foie gras, which turns this French delicacy into a parfait topped with a blood orange marmalade and salad. Hidden in Pointe Thalemont le Francois, Le Plein Soleil is a stunning 3-star hotel with a view of the bay. A local gem, this boutique hotel is colorfully decorated and has an exquisite on-site restaurant led by chef Nathaniel Ducteil. Mixing together French and Caribbean cuisine, this refined menu offers guests a chic interpretation of traditional dishes and they are known to prepare local seafood in innovative ways. Hop on over to the Atlantic coast along the northeast side of the island to try traditional Creole cuisine at Restaurant Le Point de Vue in Sainte-Marie. This cozy beachfront gem serves up generous portions of local favorites, like Conch Stew and locally grilled fish like snapper, at affordable prices with an unparalleled view of the ocean. Be sure to try this local favorites traditional Chicken Colombo, which is made from a curry that is mixed with coconut milk and ginger. If youre looking to experience the true taste of Martinique, venture off the resort to explore the island and dine like a local. Located on the Northwest tip of the island in Le Precheur under the direction of Thierry Dasini, Lari ZAbime has been able to keep traditional creole dishes alive. Their menu showcases local produce and game by way of traditional dishes that bring Old World cooking into a modern environment. He also ensures that little is left for waste by using every ingredient and piece of food, from turning the skin of the breadfruit into a baked chip to baking the fruit into a cheesy gratin. The Cap Est Lagoon Resort and Spa is a secluded hotel situated on a beautiful white sand beach. This luxurious hotel is also home to a standout restaurant under the direction of chef Jordan Delamotte, former chef of the Sers Palace on Les Champs Elysees. This restaurant has put their own spin on traditional dishes like the boudin sausage, which they modernize while incorporating classic flavors and ingredients. Caleigh Alleyne is a travel and lifestyle writer and editor of The Creators Commune. Follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram. As one of the largest cities in central Europe, theres a lot to cover. Hungarys capital city is known for its stunning architecture, thermal baths, and historical bridges that connect the Buda and Pest sections of the city. While all of these sights are definitely worth a visit, its what lies beneath the bustling streets of Budapest that offers a surprising array of unique attractions. From ancient underground cave systems to a museum that pays tribute to the citys tumultuous past, here are five fascinating underground sites to explore in Budapest. Located in the Castle District just west of the Danube River, youll find the medieval Buda Castle, initially constructed in the 13th century and expanded upon by successive waves of kings. Beneath the castle, youll find the =">Labyrinth. A part of Hungarys sprawling cave system, these ancient winding tunnels once served as hunting grounds and even a place of refuge for prehistoric peoples. As the castle above this cave was built, the tunnels were filled in and connected to form a labyrinth. Through the years, the rooms of the labyrinth were used for a variety of purposes from wine cellars to prison chambers. Perhaps its most well-known prisoner was Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Vlad Dracula, who was held here in the 15th century. There is even a special exhibition dedicated to his chamber. Visitors to the Labyrinth can explore the various exhibits or take guided tours, and brave ones can take the eerie nighttime tour. Photo by Ruiwen Chua CC BY-NC-ND In 1945, the Soviet Army liberated Hungary from Nazi Germany, marking the start of four decades of Communist rule. During this time, the new regime took over a building on Andrassy street previously used by the Nazis. The basement of this building was used as a prison, and it was here that thousands endured gruesome interrogations, torture, and even executions. In 2000, The Public Foundation for the Research of Central and East European History and Society purchased the building. Over the next two years, it underwent renovations and restorations to be reopened as a museum. The aptly named House of Terror Museum serves as a memorial to the victims who suffered and died here, and shines a light on what life was like in Budapest during this time. The extensive underground section of the museum features exhibition halls (pictured at top) as well as the actual cells where prisoners were held (pictured above). Budapest is home to the oldest continental underground subway line in Europe, and the second oldest line in the world. It was originally built to avoid construction of a tram route on the picturesque surface of Andrassy street. After almost two years of construction, the Millennium Underground was completed in 1896. Its inaugural line was called Metro Line 1, and it is still in operation today. Fittingly located in Deak Ferenc Ter, a square where several subway lines intersect, the =">Underground Railway Museum is dedicated to the history of the Millennium Underground. Here you will find the original royal carriage used by Emperor Franz Joseph during its opening ceremonies, as well as photo exhibits that detail the subways history. During Budapests annual Night of the Museums, when museums keep their doors open into the early morning hours, you can even check out the original 19th century streetcars. Photo by Addy Cameron-Huff CC BY The same cave system responsible for the citys many hot springs and the Labyrinth beneath Buda Castle also gave rise to the Szeml?hegyi Cave located in the Buda Hills. This cave is over one mile long, with a small portion open to visitors for hiking and exploration. Szeml?hegyi Cave is filled with visually stunning gypsum crystal formations and mineral deposits for visitors to view. The caves air is so clear and therapeutic that a section of it is an official part of the Szent Janos Hospital for patients with respiratory difficulties. With its relatively small length and dedicated hiking route illuminated artificially, this cave is very accessible for visitors of all types, from the disabled to the elderly. Guided tours are available, and there is also a dedicated exhibition in the reception area that provides more information about Budapests extensive cave system. Photo by gregoriosz CC BY-NC Less than a mile away from the Szeml?hegyi Cave, youll find the Palvolgyi Cave. At over four miles long, its the longest cave located in the Buda Hills. Like many caves in Budapest, it was only discovered in the early 20th century, and connections to other caves are still being found. In this cave, visitors can explore stalactite rock structures such as the Organ Pipes and Beehive formations. Additional sites to see include the Chapel, a small cavernous room used as a shelter during World War II, and the Theater, which is somewhat of an echo chamber with impressive acoustics. There are guided walking tours available on constructed walkways throughout the cave. But for the more adventurous visitor, there are caving tours that take you off the beaten path, where you can crawl and climb through the narrow and steeper areas of the cave. Top photo by Toni Almodovar Escuder CC BY-NC-ND Dylan Hill is a Los Angeles based freelance writer and travel blogger. The Junkie Twins are releasing their brand new single, Untitled Love Song, streaming exclusively above. The Brooklyn-based indie rock duo, originally from Melbourne, AU, are set to release their forthcoming Push to Exit LP, due out April 29. We had the piano riff from the start, which wed actually written in Melbourne a while back, said vocalist/guitarist Anthony Gill of the track. But it sounded completely different; initially it was much faster. Later, when we decided to develop the riff, we wanted to slow it down a bit. I had an idea to introduce more of a funk influence on it, so we used a clavinet, inspired by Stevie Wonders Superstitious. At the end of production I kept hearing this lies voice in my head, and even though I loved how the song sounded already I thought, hey, why not. We tried it out and loved it, so we kept it. The idea for the song was written while I was living in Philadelphia. Its about having a night out on the town and that feeling when you wake up the next morning in the hell of a massive hangover a feeling us musicians know all too well. I feel you, dude. Listen to Untitled Love Song above. It's being reported by The Guardian that Apple has come under pressure to scrap its controversial policy of permanently disabling repaired iPhone 6s when software is upgraded, following a global consumer backlash and claims the company could be acting illegally. At least one firm of US lawyers (PCVA) said it hopes to bring a class action against the technology giant on behalf of victims whose 500 (US$720) phones have been rendered worthless by an Apple software upgrade. In the UK, a barrister told the Guardian that Apple's 'reckless' policy of effectively killing people's iPhones following the software upgrade could potentially be viewed as an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. The act makes it an offence to intentionally destroy the property of another. Thousands of iPhone 6 users found an iOS software upgrade permanently disabled their phone, which was left displaying an "Error 53" code. Nothing could be done to restore it to working order. Apple has described this as a security feature, but some have suggested the policy could be designed to increase revenues by forcing anyone needing a repair to their home button to pay the 236 the company charges in the UK (roughly US$340). People whose phones have been shut down and have complained at Apple stores have been told that nothing can be done and they must buy a new handset. Within hours of publication of the Guardian story, the Seattle-based law firm PCVA called for victims to get in touch, with a view to bringing a class action suit. Consumers have reacted with disbelief and growing anger. "Show me where, in consumer law, the vendor has the right to render inoperable the hardware you just bought," said one poster on the Guardian's website. PCVA said it believed Apple's stance may violate various consumer protection laws in the US, and is offering to represent victims for free. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments. Over the last few weeks we learned that Europe's Antitrust Chief is more determined than ever to pursue Apple in their tax case and that Australia is likely next to clamp down on Apple's 'Double Irish' tax strategy. Today we're learning that Russia's new internet Czar German Klimenko (German the name not the country) now has Apple and other U.S. firms in his crosshairs over taxes. In a 90-minute interview peppered with expletives, Klimenko said forcing Google and Apple to pay more taxes and banning Microsoft Windows from government computers are necessary measures best explained in terms of barnyard economics and marital infidelity. Klimenko stated that "We are breeding the cow and they are milking it." BloombergBusiness reports that "Klimenko, 49, is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru. His efforts mirror those of governments across Europe and beyond to squeeze more revenue out of Google, Apple and other multinationals with increasingly complex billing and ownership structures." Russian politicians are now pushing a bill that would apply an 18 percent value-added tax to as much as 300 billion rubles ($3.9 billion) of revenue that Google, Apple and other foreign companies earn each year. Side Note: Apparently Klimenko is an Apple fan. Our cover graphic shows Klimenko owning a MacBook Pro and an iPhone 6 which is shown sitting on his desk. 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. Select a Category About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. 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This is a reprint of a piece Anne did last August for Patheos on the Future of Paganism. I didnt give this essay a lot of thought when it first came out, but perhaps since weve been talking a lot about the future lately, it made more of an impression on me this time. The editorial chides Pagans for fighting among ourselves, for fiddling while Rome burns. It looks back nostalgically to the days when We All Come from the Goddess was pretty close to a Pagan national anthem. It concludes by saying: In the end, our challenge is to create a culture that brings joy to the downtrodden and inspires us to campaign on behalf of Life, even when that work may seem hopeless. What we need from our religion and what we owe to the Gods is to build a faith that binds us in a single unbroken web to the living, to the dead, and to the generations that are yet unborn. While Im in sympathy with the sentiment behind this editorial, I find it telling that Anne perhaps intentionally, perhaps unconsciously begins by asking does our religion work? but concludes by saying our challenge is to create a culture Religion and culture are intertwined, but they are not the same thing. At a very high, simplistic level, culture is an expression of a peoples identity. Religion is an expression of their highest values and how they deal with the Big Questions of Life. A culture that works helps people build a common identity and work together to survive and succeed. A religion that works helps people deal with the deep questions of why were here, whats most important in life, and how to deal with the inevitability of death. The problem with religious questions is that theyre unanswerable. Not because we havent discovered the answers yet as though every problem could be solved if only we had a stronger microscope, a faster supercomputer, or a bigger particle accelerator (or perhaps if the Library of Alexandria had survived intact) but because theyre beyond the capacity of our amazing but finite brains. Because these big religious questions are unanswerable, some people assume theyre unimportant and not just atheists. Any time someone says deep down its all the same what theyre really saying is religion doesnt matter. And yet these questions remain: where did we come from? Why are we here? How should we live? Whats most important? And perhaps the most troublesome of all, what happens when we die? We can choose to ignore religious questions, but they never go away. Neither do the questions that bore some people but intrigue others, such as the number of Gods (zero? one? two? many?), the nature of spirits, and how we can form and maintain meaningful relationships with persons who are other than living humans. Religion that works does not distract us from the Big Questions of Life, it helps us struggle with them. Religion that works deals with religious matters. It does so honestly, transparently, and unapologetically. If we water down our deepest traditions in the name of unity, we end up with a religion that doesnt work. Religion that works facilitates religious experiences. These experiences are among the most meaningful we can have, but the simple fact that we have them reminds us that there is more to Life than what we can discover with microscopes, supercomputers, and particle accelerators. The Deepak Chopra quote Religion is belief in someone elses experience. Spirituality is having your own experience is bullshit, but it resonates with many people because the Abrahamic religions that dominate the West and the Middle East have downplayed experience to the point that most Jews, Christians, and Muslims assume having a first-hand religious experience is something that only happened in Biblical times, or if it happens today it only happens to rare, saintly individuals. No! Paganism is growing in part because the Pagan religions make religious experience available to everyone. Religious experience is more than wonder and awe at pretty sunsets. Religious experience is unpredictable and messy. It can fill you with meaning and inspiration, and it can fill you with fear and dread. It can be a Mother Goddess holding your hand and telling you its all going to be OK, and it can be a Battle Goddess shoving a spear in your hand and telling you to get your ass on the front lines where youre needed for something thats more important than your safety and comfort. Religious experiences rearrange your priorities and makes you hard to control. Is it any wonder the priests and preachers of the religions of the status quo (whether theyre tied to governments or just the rich and powerful) downplay and deride experiences unless theyre in charge of them? Is it any wonder most people are happy to believe the priests and preachers so they dont have to deal with this literal holy terror? Religion that works gives us a framework for interpreting our religious experiences. It gives us a model of the Universe that does not contradict science (not if its any good, that is) but that goes beyond the reach of science. It gives us sacred stories to provide inspiration and context. Religion that works gives us the thinking of our ancient ancestors and immediate predecessors. We are of course free to interpret our experiences in the ways that seem most right to us, but we dont all have to start from zero. We can build on the wisdom and experience of those who came before us. Religion that works gives us spiritual practices that reinforce our virtues and values, that strengthen our relationships with our co-religionists, and that build and maintain relationships with the Gods, ancestors, and spirits of Nature. Religion that works understands that different Gods call different people to work with Them in different ways, something that should be obvious from a casual examination of the many religions of the world. We shouldnt expect to all worship in the same ways, practice in the same ways, or come to the same conclusions about religious questions. None of this is an excuse for not working together to bring joy to the downtrodden and campaign on behalf of Life. None of this is an excuse for religious bigotry or triumphalism. None of this is an excuse for aggressive proselytization or for making truth claims where none are justified. Does your religion inspire you to struggle with the Big Questions of Life and to deal with the mundane requirements of life? Does it inspire you to explore the world of the Gods and ancestors and to live fully here and now? If it does, your religion works. If it doesnt, perhaps you should find a new religion. Several months ago, I preached about the ongoing suffering of Christians in the Middle East to a packed cathedral in Savannah. When Mass ended, an elderly man dressed in a roman collar approached me and began thanking me for the homily. I had not noticed him during Mass. He stretched out his hands, grabbed my forearms tightly, and with eyes that pierced my soul, told me he was a retired Syriac Orthodox Bishop. This confirmed for me the fact that this particular homily needed to be preached that morning. Before starting the Vigil Mass for Palm Sunday three years ago, I decided to check the headlines on a Catholic news website. My heart sank as I read towards the bottom of the page, Syrian priest kidnapped as war rages on. During my time in seminary I became a good friend of two Armenian-Catholic seminarians from Aleppo, Antoine Tahan and Michel Kayal. Throughout the three years that we studied together in Rome I compared the conditions that awaited me in the United States and those that awaited them in Syria. Any personal challenge I foresaw was quickly crushed by considering the challenges they would face by returning to Aleppo. I admired their courage and bravery. I was returning to a sandbox, they were going to a war zone. I hesitantly clicked on the headline and to my horror saw a picture of Father Michel Kayal in red vestments. I immediately emailed my other friend, Antoine, and he responded confirming the sad news. A few weeks prior, on February 9th, 2013, Father Kayal and a Greek Orthodox priest were taken off a bus by rebels near Damascus and they were never seen again. On July 2013 I heard from Father Tahan again. Aleppo was under siege by rebels making it impossible to leave the city. Food was scarce and expensive. Factories lay in ruins. He described the situation as truly difficult. His greatest fear was that Christians in Syria would imitate Christians in Iraq and leave their homeland. In mid-2014 while taking some time to rest in Rome, a missile hit his bishops residence in Aleppo. Part of the complex was destroyed, much of it damaged, including my friends bedroom. Father Tahan wrote to me, for the moment there is no hope because the war is already so long. [Note that two years ago there appeared to be no hope, now here we are in 2016]. In February of 2015 his church was bombed and it had to be closed. My friend now lives with his parents, and teaches at a school. In the midst of all this, Father Tahan continues to serve the many families entrusted to his care. He does so faithfully and courageously. Any money he receives he divides among his parishioners; there are now many orphans and widows. Fighting in Aleppo has intensified these past few days, and just today, thousands of refugees have fled into neighboring Turkey. Someone recently asked me regarding my friend, why doesnt he stay away? He goes to Rome occasionally, he goes to Lebanon, why does he return to Aleppo? The answer is found in the words of Jesus: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it. While Saint Paul traveled in Syria centuries ago, he heard the following words from Jesus himself: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? This led Paul to the realization that those he persecuted were part of the Body of Christ; the same body that was nailed to the cross. The Body of Christ continues to be desecrated and profaned today as Christians are killed for their faith. Very recently the European Parliament recognized that the killing of religious minorities by ISIS is genocide. All Christians, as part of the same body, must feel the pain of those suffering tremendously. Their pain must be ours. Their sorrow must be ours. We cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ. They are not just a headline or a statistic; they are one with us in the communion of saints. We must stand in solidarity with the suffering Body of Christ. If we do not care about the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Christ, then who will? Persecution is not something new in the Church, but rather, something that has existed from the beginning. Christ did not present to us a nicely manicured Church, but rather a radical way of life that pricks the worlds conscience something the world often dislikes. Today we criticize those who remained silent during the Holocaust will we be judged for not speaking against the systematic atrocities happening today in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the world? There are millions of refugees, even more millions of internally displaced people, and Christian minorities are quickly disappearing. We must remain informed about the situation in Syria. We must not dismiss the suffering of these ancient Christian communities. We must share with others what is happening. We must pray for them to persevere in faith and not waiver. Make contributions to Catholic institutions that directly help the churches in Syria such as Aid to the Church in Need. May Jesus Christ grant us the grace to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, even if it means following the footsteps of the courageous Syrian Christians. All pictures are mine (except the last one courtesy of Father Antoin Tahan), all rights reserved The Phoenix City Council has voted to replace the traditional prayer before their city council meetings with a moment of silence rather than allow a Satanist group a turn to give the prayer. As I was reading about this decision, I was struck by this image: The text reads Prayer circle forms outside council meeting following vote to switch to moment of silence and the image shows a large circle of people, some in suits, holding hands. Do you know what I feel when I look at that picture? I feel outside. I feel excluded. Whats interesting is that the people forming that circle probably see prayer as unitive, and in a group of people who share the same beliefs, it can be. But the public prayers they are defending divide rather than uniting, because not everyone shares the same faithor any faith at all. I am not religious. My husband is also not religious, and at this point, our children arent religious either. In many ways, were just like anyone else. Our children go to school, gymnastics, and martial arts. We go to the childrens museum, the park, the Y, and come home to have supper together, read books, and do some gaming together as a family. We go to a UU church, which is founded on common values rather than on common religious beliefs. But when I look at the circle in the image above, I become an outsider. Dont get me wrong, I have no problem with people gathering in like-minded religious groups and worshiping together. I have no problem with prayer circles in general, and I recognize that the people in that picture had a right to form that circle. But in that image, in that moment, those people were coming together in defense of Christianyes, Christianprayers at the beginning of their city council meetings. That wasnt just some spontaneous outbreak of religious fervor. The strange thing is that they probably saw their act as unitivethe good people of the town coming together in the face ofof what, exactly? And thats the problem. Its not just the nonreligious who are made to feel like outsiders in the face of the Christian majority working to cement its supremacy through public displays of Christianity such as opening prayers, its also those who arent Christian who are excluded. Its also Jews, and Muslims, and Hindus, and Sikhs, and pagans. And this exclusion isnt new. In the 1800s, amidst concerns about new immigrants, many common schools included daily reading from the Protestant Bible, which made the Catholic students feel like outsiders. In the 1950s, at the heart of the Cold War, schools in New York state opened with a prayer developed by Catholics, Protestants, and Jewish clergya prayer that made children who werent religious feel excluded. Our public displays of what is often called civil religion should unite us, not divide us. We may be a majority-Christian nation, but we arent an only-Christian nation, and we are a nation ostensibly founded on religious freedom. When the founding founders declined to create an established religion, what they did was revolutionary. At the time, most countries had a state church. They chose a different route, because they knew that the young United States was already home to a religious diversity that would make an established church divisive, to say the least. While the United States doesnt have a perfect record vis a vis a state establishment of religionsee the Bible reading and prayers mentioned aboveit would behoove us to remember the underlying messagean establishment of religion in a country of diverse religious beliefs is divisive rather than unitive. The people who formed that prayer circle in the image above had every right to do so, but it is only natural that their actions would leave people like me feeling like outsiders. When we look at controversies over public prayers at city councils or school board meetings, we need to ask who we leave standing on the outside looking in. Stay in touch! Like Love, Joy, Feminism on Facebook: Evangelicals need to observe Lent, in part, because our troubling lack of tradition leaves us untethered from the past. A church without the great traditions of the faith is like a church with amnesia. Rejecting tradition means submitting ourselves and our churches to the tyranny of the relevant, the oligarchy of the innovative, and the arrogance of the avant-garde. More than ever before, the church needs to rediscover our tradition. When I say tradition, I dont mean pews and organs and choir robes and classical music. Those things are once exalted pop-cultural markers, like todays video projectors and podcasts. Tradition goes to the heart of the faith. Traditionalism is different from tradition. Traditionalism is when we worship the traditions as though maintaining them is the whole point of the faith. Thats really a form of ancestor worship. To borrow the words of Jaroslav Pelikan, Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition. Lent is one of the great church traditions. Observing Lent is like submitting to the memory of our grandparents, trusting that if we are ever going to learn to experience and tell the story of God rightly, were going to have to learn the words to say from them. Chesterton famously said that submitting to tradition is like giving our ancestors a vote in how we live our lives right now. Its nothing less than a generational honoring of our fathers and mothers. Lent is the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday excepting Sundays. During Lent, we are invited to shed a skin. For 40 days we embrace an intentional wilderness experience meant to help us to break out of the deadly patterns that keep us anesthetized and numbed to life. Traditionally Christians fast from something during Lent as a means of preparation for the celebration of Easter. Lenten fasts giving up candy, coffee, soda, television, or meat on Fridays are meant to help us see things in a new light. When we fast we voluntarily switch off the lights in our daily routines, hoping that in the self-induced darkness we might actually be able to see our way forward a little better. And if ever a people needed to turn out the lights and sit in the darkness for awhile, it is the typical American Evangelical Christian. When we observe Lent, we allow our imagination to be provoked. We let God mess with us through ascetic interactions with the physical world. In doing so, we submit our appetites and patterns to God in a new way. We are forced into the wilderness with Jesus to be tested and tried. At Redemption we have embraced the lenten traditions. Here are some of the things we do as a part of our observance of Lent. Not everyone does all of these, but there is enough opportunity here for everyone to find a some way to observe this important tradition. Feel free to use these ideas to formulate your own lenten practice. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. The Nuclear Deal Implementation Day: A Win-Win Agreement (part one) 02/09/16 By Farhang Jahanpour, Oxford by Iranian cartoonist Hadi Heidari After many years of unprecedented, crippling Western sanctions that stopped Irans oil exports and even banking transactions, the long and arduous negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany) culminated in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed on 14 July 2015. That agreement finally reached the Implementation Day on 16th January 2016, coincidentally 37 years to the day when the late Mohammad Reza Shah left Iran for good and paved the way for the victory of the Islamic revolution. In a Joint statement, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, speaking for the European Union, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stated: Today, we have reached Implementation Day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Ever since Adoption Day, we worked hard and showed mutual commitment and collective will to finally bring the JCPOA to implementation. Today, six months after finalization of the historic deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran has implemented its nuclear related commitments under the JCPOA. On the same day, United Nations sanctions related to Irans nuclear program were lifted, and the Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), which endorsed the JCPOA, terminated the provisions of resolutions 1696 (2006), 1737 (2007), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008), 1835 (2008), 1929 (2010) and 2224 (2015). In order to reach Implementation Day, Iran had to carry out its part of the deal, which it did meticulously and ahead of the deadline. According to the JCPOA, Iran halted its production of uranium enriched to 20 per cent, removed the core of the heavy water reactor in Arak and filled the channels with cement, rendering it inoperable. Iran dismantled over 13,000 centrifuges, leaving the country with 6,104 first-generation IR-1 machines, of which 5,104 are enriching uranium to 3.67 percent, and 1,044 machines at the Fordow site will remain inoperative. Meanwhile, all of this has been carried out under strict IAEA supervision, which will also continue to closely monitor Irans future nuclear activities. The Implementation Day coincided with the successful prisoner exchange, involving five Americans (including four dual citizens) held in Iran, in return for seven Iranians (including six dual citizens) who had been charged with violating US sanctions against Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry called it one of the days that I enjoyed the most as secretary of state. A few days earlier, Iran had released ten US sailors who had inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters. Initially, it was said that the two boats travelling between Kuwait and Bahrain, equipped with three 50-caliber machine guns, had developed mechanical problems, or their GPS equipment had failed, or that they had run out of fuel, but later all those excuses were proven to have been incorrect. So far, US authorities have provided no satisfactory explanation as to how two US Navy ships had lost their way together and had ended up miles away in Iranian waters next to Farsi Island, a very sensitive Iranian naval base. Some Iranian hardliners saw it as a provocation and an attempt to spy on Iranian military installations. It should be noted that Saudi Arabia executed the prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr on the eve of Implementation Day. Al-Mimrs execution led to attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, leading to Saudi Arabia cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran and forming a mainly Sunni coalition against that country. Some conspiracy theorists have wondered whether al-Nimrs beheading and the US Navy ship that drifted into Iranian waters might have been a last-ditch effort by some of the opponents of the deal to derail the agreement. Be that as it may, some hawks in Washington immediately accused Iran of aggressive behavior and called for harsh punishments. Sen. John McCain criticized what he called Irans provocative behavior. Sen. Cory Gardner even suggested that President Barack Obama had to postpone his State of the Union address until the sailors had been released. The columnist Charles Krauthammer seized on the incident to discredit the nuclear deal. He wrote: The premise of the nuclear deal was that it would constrain Iranian actions. Its had precisely the opposite effect. However, the speedy release of American sailors disappointed the hawks on both sides and paved the way for closer cooperation between the United States and Iran. President Obama rightly celebrated the combination of those events as the vindication of his efforts over the previous years. In a Sunday 17 January 2016 statement at the White House, the President said: This is a good day, because once again were seeing whats possible with strong American diplomacy. The President touted his administrations efforts at diplomacy and advancing relations between the two adversaries, rather than resorting to another war in the Middle East. Obama also pointed to the speedy release of the U.S. sailors as more evidence of the benefits of diplomacy. Some here in Washington said this was the start of another hostage crisis, Obama said, referring to some Republicans in Congress. Instead we secured their release in less than 24 hours. Irans President Hassan Rouhani, speaking almost simultaneously with President Obama, said that the official implementation of the landmark deal had satisfied all parties except radical extremists. He said the deal had opened new windows for engagement with the world. He described the deal as a win-win agreement for all negotiating parties and all factions inside Iran and in the West: Nobody has been defeated in the deal, neither inside the country nor the countries that were negotiating with us. The agreement has provided the best example of the resolution of one of the most difficult international issues through negotiations and without resorting to war, which would have had a devastating outcome for the region and beyond. Indeed, it can serve as a model for the resolution of other difficult conflicts such as the civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Note: This article was first published by IPS and it's reprinted here with the author's permission. About the author: Farhang Jahanpour is a former professor and dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Isfahan and a former Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University. He is a tutor in the Department of Continuing Education and a member of Kellogg College, University of Oxford Iran ready to expand cooperation with EU, Greece: President Rouhani 02/09/16 Source: Islamic Republic News Agency President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Iran is ready to expand cooperation with European Union, including Greece and that strengthening relations and cooperation between Tehran and Athens are beneficial for both nations. President Rouhani made the remarks in a meeting with Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Tehran. Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (L) meets Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, February 8, 2016. (photo by (photo by Islamic Republic News Agency Referring to growing ties between Tehran-Athens, President Rouhani said that Iran does not consider Greece only a member of EU, at the same time, the two countries made major contribution to the world scientific development. President Rouhani said that Iran and Greece have wide-range economic capabilities to develop cooperation in all economic, cultural and academic areas. He underlined necessity of more cooperation between Iran and EU in fight against terrorism and said that it needs a firm resolve of the international community. Unfortunately, in spite of widescale economic potentials, some western governments have not shown necessary resolve in international campaign against terrorism and currently, a number of states are trying to use terrorists for their short term interests. President Rouhani expressed Iran's readiness for more consultations and collaboration with EU and Greece in the field of confrontation with terrorism. He said that countries supporting terrorism should be convinced that instrumental use of terrorists is wrong and useless and terrorism will finally damage their own interests as well. He said that the governments must actively participate in strengthening peace and stability in the region and that the international community should try to cut the channels for the financial and arsenal assistance to terrorists. Tsipras underlined his country's resolve for expansion of all-out ties with Iran and said that although Greece is a member of EU, it will work beyond the EU framework with Iran. He said that Greek companies by support of European banks are interested in joint venture investment in Iran in all fields, especially shipping industry, housing and services sectors. The Greek premier said that cooperation and coordination between countries for fight against terrorism are necessary and that considering Iran's excellent role in regional stability, Greece will stand by Tehran. Tsipras expressed his country's readiness for establishment direct flight between Tehran and Athens and development of tourism relations between the two countries. Iran, Greece ink 3 cooperation agreements Iran and Greece have signed agreements on developing bilateral cooperation, an MoU on political cooperation and diplomatic visa waiver. Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were present in the signing cermony. Jahangiri officially welcomed Greek Prime Minister in Sa'dabad Complex on Monday morning. Tsipras arrived in the central city of Isfahan late on Saturday night, heading a high ranking politico-economic delegation. Adopting a multilateral and open policy, Greece aims at developing ties with other countries and especially with the Islamic Republic of Iran. France's data protection authority this week gave Facebook an ultimatum: Stop tracking non-users' Web activity without permission, or pay up. A 17-page order(Opens in a new window) by the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL)dated Jan. 26, but published on Mondaysaid the social network must change its ways (aka stop using cookies to collect info for ad purposes without permission) or face penalties of 150,000 ($168,000). CNIL also ordered Facebook to stop transferring personal data to the U.S., following the repeal of the Safe Harbor deal. Established 15 years ago to ensure businesses treat data moving between countries with the same privacy protections as inside the region, the Safe Harbor deal came under fire following mass surveillance revelations in the Snowden documents. In October, Europe's high court ruled that it was invalid. In November, the European Commission said it would wrap up discussions on a new deal within three monthsi.e. February 2016. But, as Reuters reported(Opens in a new window), the deadline expired last week, meaning regulators can now take legal action against companies still relying on Safe Harbor. Shortly after the invalidation, Irish officials said they would investigate Facebook's data practices. Now, CNIL has jumped in, making its order public this week "due to the seriousness of the violations and the number of individuals concerned by the Facebook service," which is used by more than 30 million people in France. "Protecting the privacy of the people who use Facebook is at the heart of everything we do," Facebook told PCMag. "We are confident that we comply with European Data Protection law and look forward to engaging with the CNIL to respond to their concerns." According to Reuters, Facebook says it uses methods allowed under EU law to transfer data, not safe harbor. Last month, Facebook opened its first data center in Ireland, which could come in handy if a safe harbor deal is not reached. France is not the only country that has tangled with Facebook over privacy, though. Last year, the Belgian Privacy Commission, working with Dutch, French, German, and Spanish authorities, accused Facebook of breaching European privacy laws. In December, the company said it would comply with a court ruling to stop tracking non-usersby requiring all visitors to sign in to view social content. Hackers want to break into Apple's systems so bad that they're willing to pony up tens of thousands of dollars for employee login details, according to a new report. Business Insider(Opens in a new window) recently spoke to an unnamed Apple employee in Ireland, who said hackers have offered north of $20,000 for login credentials to Cupertino's internal systems. "You'd be surprised how many people get on to us, just random Apple employees," the source told Business Insider. "You get emails offering you thousands [of euros] to get a password to get access to Apple. "I could sell my Apple ID login information online for 20,000 (15,000 / $23,000) tomorrow. That's how much people are trying." Meanwhile, another former Apple employee told the publication that hackers typically target newer employees. "They look for someone who has jumped diagonally into a junior managerial position, so not a lifer working their way up, and not a lifer who has been there a long time," the source told Business Insider. As for what the hackers are really after, it could be any number of things like access to individual Apple user accounts, the company's extremely valuable intellectual property, or internal corporate strategy information, the report notes. Apple has reportedly set up an employee security program dubbed "Grow Your Own" to address the issue, though details about it are scant. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report. In other Apple security news, iOS 9 and third-party fixes are reportedly to blame for Error 53, a bug that will brick your iPhone 6 and make the device unusable. Those who upgrade to iOS 9 and have their Touch ID button fixed by someone other than Apple may encounter the vexing Error 53, which makes their device largely useless. Registration is open for Claremont McKenna Colleges half-day conference about the future of Ontario International Airport. Envisioning a New Ontario Airport will take place 8:30-11:30 a.m. March 4 at the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, 1021 North Dartmouth Ave., Claremont. The conference is for local government and business leaders, said professor Kenneth P. Miller. Ron Loveridge, member of the Ontario International Airport Authority and direcotr of the UC Riverside Center for Sustainable Suburban Development, will moderate a panel on economic development. Alan Wapner, OIAA president, will moderate a panel on airport operations. Panelists and keynote speaker are yet to be announced. Tickets are $50. Information: 909-607-7265, inlandempirecenter.org/ Contact the writer: fbuck@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9551 Moreno Valley officials hosted officials from the Mexican city of Zacapu on Monday, Feb. 8, to discuss establishing sister city ties and a student exchange program. Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez and other members of the City Council hosted Zacapu Mayor Gerardo Torres for a City Hall visit, where he was presented with a key to the city and a certificate of appreciation. Officials with Zacapu, located in the state of Michoacan, cited the large number of immigrants Michoacan in Moreno Valley and surrounding cities in suggesting the sister city relationship. A 21-year-old Temescal Valley man has been sentenced to seven years in state prison for the stabbing death of a man whose friends said he was trying to break up a fight between two party goers east of Temecula in June 2015. Drake Sebestien Felde had been charged with murder, but during a settlement conference Friday, Feb. 5, the Riverside County District Attorneys Office offered a plea agreement with a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, with a use of a weapon sentencing enhancement. Felde pleaded guilty to the charges. In sentencing Felde, Judge John M. Monterosso recommended the defendant be considered for a fire camp assignment, according to minutes of the hearing in Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. The original murder charge was dismissed. It was determined that given the defendants lack of criminal history, his willingness to take responsibility, and the evidence in this case, that this would be a fair disposition, John Hall, district attorneys spokesman, wrote in an email Monday, Feb. 8. The victim, Joseph Zimowski, 20, was found lying on the ground in the 44000 block of Bouchaine Street in the Morgan Hill housing development east of Temecula on June 15, 2015 and died the same day at a hospital. Re: Generation S [Opinion, Feb. 7]: If youre age 19 to 30 and you cant get a job, you need help to live. That help comes either from parents or government. If youre a veteran and cant get a job, you are living on the streets. These kids were raised on subsidies. Thats all they have ever known. Food stamps, childcare, health care, subsidized this and subsidized that. Theyve been exposed to handouts all their lives, and thats what they expect. Is it any wonder that this group of young people supports socialism? Thats why they love Bernie. He promises free education, free food, free transportation, etc. Hes their hero because hes going to give them even more. A liberal solution is to keep raising taxes and make everyone with a job share with those that cant get a job. Bernie wants to create yet another government program to help people find jobs. However, eventually those that have wont have anymore to give. This is called socialism. We dont need government intervention. We need jobs for everyone so each of us can support and pay our own way for goods and services. We can get those jobs when the government gets out of our way and lowers taxes to encourage business to grow, thrive and create jobs so all of us can prosper and realize our dreams. This, friends, is capitalism. If we dont change the course of America now, our youth will fall into the abyss of socialism perhaps even communism. And, alas, they may never know the joy and pride of self-sufficiency and freedom. Sharon Waitman Beaumont California is predictable Re: State back to begging for money [Editorial, Feb. 6]: In 2012, when Gov. Jerry Moonbeam Brown scammed the people of California into voting for Proposition 30, I knew that wouldnt be the end. Moonbeam and the rest of his merry band of liberals are always crying for more money, and California doesnt seem to get any better. What have they been doing the last four years with the money? Pensions are still unfunded, and the liberal government idiotically pulled out of good investments and put it in losing green investments to make themselves feel better. They want to increase the excise tax on diesel fuel. Now, who is gonna pay for that? We will every time we buy something at the store. Now they want to hike car registration fees, and poor people wont be able to afford to register their cars, So they will be given a pass. Only the shrinking middle class and rich will pay. I can see this state going for Bernie Sanders everything is free if you dont pay taxes. John W. Burn Fontana SANTA ANA An Irvine attorney was sentenced Monday, Feb. 8 to 21 months in federal prison on obstruction of justice charges for taking money to help a material witness in a sweeping birth-tourism case leave the country. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford also ordered Ken Zhiyi Liang, 39, to serve three years supervised release and pay a $1,000 fine. He will get credit for the seven months he has spent in jail since his May 2015 arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Yang described Liang as remarkably brazen and argued Monday that he should receive three years in prison and a $50,000 fine. This person lies when it is convenient to him, Yang said. He lies about the truth. Liangs arrest followed a massive raid in March by federal agents who swarmed apartment complexes and homes in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. They interviewed pregnant Chinese women and seized computers and documents. Federal officials said three Chinese companies engaged in visa and tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy as part of an elaborate, illegal plan to bring the women into the country so their children could automatically obtain citizenship. In September, Guilford found Liang guilty on two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct. On Monday, the judge chastised Liang for failing in his obligation as a lawyer to help clients navigate the complexities of the legal system. It reflects very poorly on you, he said. I consider it a serious offense. Liang said he was sorry for his actions. I sincerely apologize for my terrible judgment, he told Guilford. Liang said he plans to surrender his law license. Federal prosecutors accused Liang of accepting $6,000 from a Chinese woman in exchange for getting her out of the country, despite a court order that she remain in the U.S. The woman, a former client of Liangs referred to as D.L., was cooperating with the government and recorded several conversations with Liang. In portions of the recorded conversations, Liang appears to warn D.L. that he could get in trouble for helping her return to China, suggests using a medium or third party to communicate, and indicates that in exchange for the $6,000, he could guarantee she would get out of the country. James D. Riddet, Liangs attorney, contended during trial that his clients words were taken out of context and that he only advocated legal routes the woman could take to be allowed to return to China. D.L. reportedly traveled to the United States in early 2015 to give birth to a baby who would be an American citizen. The attorneys indicated that D.L. paid nearly $40,000 to a company that set up the birth tourism trip. She didnt realize the company was at the center of a federal investigation. No charges have been filed against the companies accused of setting up vacation-style trips for the pregnant women who wanted to give birth in the United States. But 29 Chinese nationals including D.L. were designated as material witnesses. D.L. and some of the other witnesses hired Liang to represent them. Ten of the Chinese nationals ignored the court order and left the country. Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline He didnt just let it go. Menifee teen Austin Lacey, with the full support of his mother, Brooke Francev, wore a skirt and blouse to school Monday to protest the actions of administrators at Ethan A. Chase Middle School, who told him to remove the Elsa costume he wore Thursday to mark Disney Day. He was upset, Francev said Monday during a phone interview. He always goes all out for everything. Hes part of ASB (Associated Student Body). Hes that kid who always goes above and beyond. The school scheduled various dress-up days, including Disney Day and Pajama Day, last week for Spirit Week. Lacey, inspired by his stepfathers use of the same costume to win a lip sync contest, thought it would be funny to go as Elsa, a female character from the Disney movie Frozen, for Disney Day. He didnt make it to first bell. Before school started, Lacey, 13, was surrounded by his peers, including some who took photos with him. They were coming up to give him props, she said. School Principal Chris Hernandez noticed a large congregation of students causing a disruption on campus, and asked Lacey to remove the costume, according to a statement from Romoland School District Superintendent Julie Vitale. Francev said both she and her son were told by the principal that boys wear boys clothing and girls wear girls clothing. Hernandez did not respond to a request for comment. Vitale, however, said in an email to The Press-Enterprise on Monday, Our review of the matter to date does not substantiate that there were comments or decisions made related to gender identity or gender expression. Francev also said she questions the districts contention that the crowd was causing a disturbance. At no point in time did anyone ask that crowd to disperse, she said. There was no warming, no Hey, lets not do this. Francev said there were no incidents Monday. She added her son is not looking to become a poster boy for challenging gender stereotypes, and the family isnt looking for an apology from the district or school. She hopes that Mondays protest, which included an outfit that met all of the districts dress code requirements for both skirts and blouses, is the end of the matter. Im hoping that helps them see that its not OK, she said. Contact the writer: 951-368-9698 or aclaverie@pressenterprise.com